Part 12 (1/2)
The city itself is large and in ancient style. The country around is barren, the soil consisting of coal, stone and slate. Previous to the foundation of the city it was simply a wilderness. There are some excellent mineral springs; the bath, constructed in beautiful hewn stone, is square, and about fourteen feet long; three steps enable one to sit down with the water up to the throat, or to be immersed at a small depth. Except the baths of the landgravate of Baden, I know of no other arrangement equally comfortable. At the town hall, castle, and a.r.s.enal of Charlemagne there are hundreds of thousands of sharp iron arrows stowed away in closed chests. On entering the church one immediately notices an ivory and gold armchair, fastened with exceeding great art. At the lower end of the nave, to the west, a huge crown of at least twelve feet diameter is suspended. I do not know the nature of the material, but it is gilt and painted in colours. In the way of relics there are the hose of Joseph. They are only shown at stated times, but whoever has the privilege of seeing them has a great many of his sins remitted.
On September 24 we reached Brussels in Brabant, and there I received the order to go back to my country, the functions of solicitor to the Imperial Chamber having been conferred upon me. Hence, on St. Denis'
Day, I began this journey of more than a hundred miles, alone and across unknown countries, with abominable roads, above all in Westphalia. I was often obliged to stay the night at places which were more than suspect, and when only half-way my horse came to grief in consequence of Normann's former rough usage. I had to swop it, paying a sum of money besides, and was unfortunate enough to have come across a veritable crock which I was obliged to keep, there being no help for it. Finally, through good and evil I reached Wolgast on All Saints'
Day.
CHAPTER III
How I held for two Years the Office of _Solicitator_ at the Imperial Chamber at Spires--Visit to Herr Sebastian Munster--Journey to Flanders--Character of King Philip--I leave the Princes' Service
As soon as my nomination was drawn up, I was dispatched with it to Chancellor Citzewitz, at his estate of Muttrin, near Dantzig. The princ.i.p.al personages of the land had come to consult him, and he kept me for more than ten days with him in excellent company, making me share their favourite recreation, and the thing that bored me most, namely, the chase, to which the country admirably lends itself. I returned with the chancellor to Stettin, where my warrant of appointment was duly signed and sealed.
At Wolgast Duke Philip interrogated me at length in his own study, and with no one else present, on the condition of affairs at Augsburg and Brussels. He was much surprised at my boldness in having given him such a plain and straightforward account of the doings of the court. ”If only one of your letters had been intercepted, they would have strung you up at the nearest tree,” he said. This was no exaggeration on his part; and supposing such a catastrophe had happened, he would, in spite of everything, have remained a prince of the empire, while there would have been an end of me. Of course, my behaviour gave him the measure of my devotion to him. He promised me a good horse; besides this, the ducal kitchen provided all that was necessary for a farewell banquet, and, in fact, at supper some pages brought us two hares from the prince's larder. I received a hundred crowns for my loyal services, and an appointment of one hundred and forty per annum; the cost of copying and dispatch of messengers being charged to their Highnesses.
I went to say good-bye to my parents at Stralsund. My mother had ordered for my sister chains and clasps which the goldsmith had as yet not delivered. I paid for them, and, moreover, left thirty crowns at home. ”Use them, if there be any need. I'll manage to make both ends meet with what remains.” Duke Philip had given me a strong and lively hunter. Behind the saddle I had a small saddle-bag, like the court messengers. My brother Christian accompanied me as far as Leipzig, where we wished to be for the fair.
Our journey was an uneventful one, except that one day in Mesnia, having lost our way, we came at the end of a big forest upon a small tenement which was the residence of a poor gentleman. The fast gathering darkness compelled us to knock at the n.o.ble's dwelling, which was inhabited by a young widow of only a few weeks' standing with her mother-in-law. The bad-tempered old woman roughly refused us shelter.
”Go wherever you like,” she snarled. Her daughter-in-law, on the other hand, said; ”We did not expect any one, and we do not keep an inn, but it is getting darker and darker, and you would have to go a long way before finding one. If you will be content with our humble accommodation, you may remain for the night.” At these words the other one storms and raves. ”May the devil take you and them. You have found some youngsters who are to your taste, and you have already forgotten my son.” I tried to appease her. ”We have never before been in this country,” I said to her; ”at daybreak we'll be able to find our way.
You need not be afraid of our using unsuitable language or doing aught that is not right, and we'll be satisfied with whatever accommodation you can give us, as long as our horses have some fodder and some straw.
For all this we'll willingly pay.” The virago, however, turned a deaf ear to this. If we were not the lovers of her daughter-in-law why should we have come at this late hour in the neighbourhood where no stranger ever came? The young woman was very patient throughout. After having provided us with hay and straw for our horses, she took us to a lofty room of very modest appearance. There was no man or woman servant to be seen; our supper, though, was none the worse for it. After she had set all our provisions before us, our hostess sat down and told us the sad existence she was leading. The bed was moderately comfortable, and the sheets were clean. We paid more than was asked.
At Leipzig I stopped two days to rest my horse. I gave my brother the wherewithal for his return journey, and continued my way alone. The country as far as Frankfurt was known to me. From Butzbach I went by Niederweisel and the Hundfruck, a route I had often pursued with my former master, the commander of St. John. It is more direct than by Friburg, but it swarms with highway robbers. As I was walking my horse up the slope of the forest I caught sight of two hors.e.m.e.n who were evidently bent on waiting for me, as they posted themselves, the one to the left and the other to the right of the road, and when I was between them they began interpellating me in a gruff voice. ”From what country?” ”From Pomerania.” ”What hast thou got in thy valise?”
”Letters.” ”Whither art thou going?” ”To Spires.” ”To whom dost thou belong?” ”To the Dukes of Pomerania. Here is my safe-conduct.”
Thereupon one of them became more friendly. ”And how is his Highness Duke Philip, that excellent prince? I knew him very well at Heidelberg.” And on my recommendation for them to go their way and to let me go mine, they looked at me very hard for a few moments, but did not follow me. I sold my horse and equipment at Frankfurt, and went down the Main as far as Mayence, whence, going up the Rhine, I got to Oppenheim, and by the coach to Worms and Spires.
I reached the latter town on January 21, 1549. I hired a room with a dressing closet at a clothshearer's, who was also a councillor. I also boarded with him, like many young doctors of law and other notable persons detained at Spires by their functions or by their wish to get practical experience.
Dr. Simeon Engelhardt, who, by the express act of a formal decision of his Imperial Majesty, had not been reinstated in his office of procurator any more than his brother-in-law, the licentiate Bernard Mey and Johannes Helfmann had transferred his household goods to Landau. At his recommendation, Dr. Johannes Portius, for procurator, and I brought him so many clients that he would accept no fees from me. Engelhardt remained my advocate, notwithstanding the inconvenience of the distance between us. How often have I walked the four miles between Spires and Landau! By starting at the closing of the gates, I reached Landau for the hour fixed for their opening; the morning sufficed to transact my business with the doctor, and my return journey was accomplished in the afternoon. Nor did Engelhardt claim any fees, but I remember having taken to him a client who for a single act paid him twenty crowns without his asking. The correspondence, thanks to the Pomeranian couriers always at my disposal, was equally cheap.
The Lloytz of Stettin chose me as their solicitor.[61] Martin Weyer, in the ”Cammin” affair, did the same. There were others, and all, except Weyer, paid me handsomely. I was getting well known among the procurators, and I finally acted _pro princ.i.p.ale vel adjuncto notario_.
I earned, then, sufficient to live comfortably without having recourse to the paternal purse. I even could put aside the whole of my appointments, and something over. The chief benefit, however, lay in the acquisition of experience, the fruits of which have extended to the whole of my family, because my pen has always been the sole means of livelihood. If that business be well learnt and well carried out, it leaves no one to starve. Folks may mention the word scribe with as much contempt as they please; the fact remains that I have had many a choice morsel, and drunk delicious draughts through being a scribe.
From Spires I wrote to Sebastian Munster that their Highnesses were particularly anxious not to hurry the printing of his excellent _Cosmographie_, because a special messenger was to bring him a description of Pomerania the moment it was finished, and that it would prove not the least valuable ornament of his work. He sent word that it was impossible for him to delay; his step-son was so deeply engaged in the undertaking that he would be ruined if he missed the next Lent fair at Frankfurt. I transmitted the reply to Pomerania; the same messenger brought back a big bundle of notes, unfortunately incomplete, as they pointed out to me. I promptly sent them to Sebastian Munster, promising to let him have the rest the moment I received them. He kindly sent me an autograph letter, which my children will find joined to that of Dr.
Martin Luther.[62]
It struck me that an interview with Sebastian Munster would enable me to inform our princes accurately. The Imperial Chamber had its vacation. It was an excellent opportunity to see Alsace, flowing with corn and wine, so many handsome towns, the seat of the Margrave of Baden, bishops and courts, and, above all, the city of Basle. Hence, I undertook the journey on foot, an affair of about sixty miles there and back. At Strasburg I lodged at my friend's, Daniel Capito, a poor home, but we took our meals at the tavern of the _Ammeister_.[63]
In the church at Basle I saw the stone statue of Desiderius Erasmus, of Rotterdam. I invited Herr Lepusculus, the fugitive of Augsburg, to dinner, and we talked of many interesting things. I also became well acquainted with Sebastian Munster, who gave me a most hearty welcome. A huge room of his house contained a quant.i.ty of plates, either cast, engraved on wood or on copper. They had come from Germany, Italy or France; they were geographical, astronomical, or mathematical drawings, representing pieces of engineering work for the use of miners, and views of cities, countries, castles, or convents, that were to figure in his _Cosmographie_. He was most anxious for me to stay with him, so that he might show me the objects of interest connected with the town; unfortunately, my time was too short. After having taken leave of Munster and Lepusculus, I went back to Spires on foot.
I was just in time for a message from Pomerania relative to the lawsuit between Duke Barnim and the town of Stolpe. The latter, on the pretext of an attempt against its privileges, had deputed Simon Wolder to attend upon the emperor. Wolder was a young jackanapes without education, but pus.h.i.+ng and cunning, and by dint of intriguing he obtained the confirmation of the said privileges, and for himself the Imperial safeguard. The people of Stolpe had their triumph, and to judge by their swaggering one would have concluded they had no longer anything in common with their prince and lord. Duke Barnim, though, having entered the town amidst his soldiers, summoned the council and the burghers to the Town Hall, and when he got them there, he forbade those who had had a hand in the intriguing to stir, while the others should stand aside. The majority of those present changed their positions; the rest, and notably the Burgomaster Schwabe, a near relation to the Bishop of Cammin, were imprisoned at Stettin, at Greiffenberg, and at Treptow, while Simon Wolder fled to the emperor, who was fighting the white Moors (?) in Africa. He succeeded in obtaining from the emperor the categorical order for releasing the prisoners, on the express penalty of being put ”under the ban”; but that injunction arrived too late. The friends of the prisoners humbly interceded for them, and each liberation was bought at a heavy fine and after a long detention. As for Wolder, far from resting on his oars, he pursued his intrigues at the Imperial court, ingratiating himself with the princes, the n.o.bles, and the cities. He enjoyed great favour; he dressed magnificently. Where did the money for all this display come from? In short, at the restoration of the Imperial Chamber, an action was begun.
The dukes of Pomerania had unquestionably cause for anxiety, for their relations with the emperor were already very strained, and the latter's victory made him very disinclined to exercise much consideration to the partisans of the Augsburg confession. Simon Wolder was jubilant; he looked upon the business as good as won; judges and a.s.sessors were papists, and their Highnesses under a cloud of Imperial disgrace. We devoted the most serious attention at Spires to the suit; procurator Ziegler and advocate Johannes Kalte amply did their duty; if need had been, I was there to spur them on. At Stettin, on the contrary, Martin Weyer and Dr. Schwallenberger, to whom the affair was entrusted, were mere sluggards whose conduct was disgraceful. We shall meet with Schwallenberger again.
In May our counsellors wrote to me to take the two golden cups to Brussels to them. The rumour ran, in fact, that the emperor's son was coming from Spain in great pomp; and our envoys hoped to secure, through the influence of certain important personages, his intercession with the emperor. I started immediately, going down the Rhine as far as the Meuse, and pursuing my journey by land by way of s'Hertogenbosch (Bois le Due) and Louvain.
When I had delivered my precious deposit, the wish to see something of Flanders impelled me to Ghent. It is a big city, formerly endowed with important privileges. For instance, the emperor could impose no taxes in Flanders or demand anything without the a.s.sent of the said city.
Charles V has deprived it of its privileges. He has razed a convent and several houses to the ground, and on their site built a castle with huge, deep moats filled with water, besides other remarkable outworks, so that the city is at his mercy. In the centre of Ghent there rises a high steeple. I climbed to the top, and it is from there that the emperor and his brother Ferdinand chose the spot whereon to build their fortress; they traced there, _propriis manibus_, their symbolum in red chalk.