Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Pages ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
COXE’S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA. 623
his new dignity, upon condition of efpoufing Maria, and paying an annual tribute to
the Tzar.
Magnus, however, being oppofed by the Swedes, who maintained a large army in
Livonia, and not unanimoufly acknowledged even by the natives, was {till only a titu-
lar fovereign ; and after a fruitlefs attempt to take poffeflion of his crown, continued
to difplay his mock dignity at Mofcow. At length, in 1577, being efcorted to Livonia
by the Tzar, at the head of fifty thoufand troops, he obtained the town and territory
of Wenden, the remainder of the province being referved to Ruffia.
Magnus was fcarcely admitted into Wenden, where he was received with great
demonttrations of joy, than, defpifing a precarious fovereignty, he was prevailed upon
by his new fubjects to form a fecret alliance with the King of Poland, and counteraét
the Tzar’s progrefs in Livonia. Ivan, apprized of this negotiation, laid immediate
fiege to Wenden with a numerous army, and compelled the inhabitants to capitulate.
Magnus himfelf carried the terms of capitulation, and, advancing to fupplicate the
incenfed monarch, threw himfelf at his feet, and interceded for the town. The Tzar,
fpurning at him with his foot*, and ftriking him on the face, loaded him with re-
proaches for his ingratitude, and ordered him to prifon; and entering the town, his
troops committed every fpecies of horror and devaftation. Many of the principal
inhabitants, retiring into the citadel, determined to defend it to the laft extremity ;
but perceiving all refiftance fruitlefs, and expecting no quarter, they calmly affembled,
received the facrament, and deftroyed themfelves by blowing up the citadel. Thus
ended the kingdom of Livonia, four years after it was erected into a fovereignty.
Magnus obtained his enlargement by paying a confiderable fum of money; and re–
paired, with his confort Mary, to Pilten in Courland, where he died in 1583, in ex-
treme diftrefs t. After the death of her hufband, Maria was enticed in Ruflia, and
thrown into a nunnery, with her only daughter Eudokiat. She was never releafed
from her confinement, and the time of her deceafe is uncertain. ‘The remains, both
of the Queen and her daughter, were depofited in the convent of the Holy ‘Trinity.
In the fame church repole the afhes of Boris Feodorovitch Godunof, who, upon the
demife of Feodor Ivanovitch in 1597, was raifed froma private {tation to the throne of
Ruffia. It is a circumftance extremely favourable to a virtuous conduét, that a fove-
reign cannot commit one flagrant offence without fuffering the imputation of man
others ; and that fuppofititious cruelties are always added to acts of reat tyranny. This:
_ was the fate of Boris Godunot, who, having defervedly acquired the deteftation of pof-
* Henning, author of the Livonian Chronicle, relates this tranfaétion more to the honour of Ivan,
He is thus quoted by the authors of the Univerfal Hiftory. vol. xxxv p-242. ‘* The Tzar laid fiege
to the place, till, at the carneft requeft of the citizens, Magnus, with only a few attendants, went
into the [zar’s camp, and, falling on his knees, begged pardon for himfelf and the city. Bafilowitz no
fooner faw the King of Livonia thus proftrate before him, than he difmounted from his horfe, and delired
him to rife, returning him his fword, and, after reproaching him with the ingratitude of his late condua,
freely pardoned him and the city, and affured them of his protection. At this inftant a cannon-ball from
the caitle narrowly miffed killing the Tzar; which fo incenfed him, that he mounted his horfe and rode
away directly, {wearing by St. Nicholas, that, for this frefh inftance of perfidy, every perfon in Wenden
fhould fuffer death. Magnus was then put under an arreft in a farm-houfe, and obliged to fign an obliga.
tion, by which he engaged to pay the T’zar 40,000 Hungarian florins by the next Chriftmas, asa fatis-
faGtion for the money taken from Poluben{ki; in cafe of failure of payment at that time, to forfeit double
the fum, and remain a prifoner at Mofcow tillthe whole fhould be difcharged.”? I have followed the princi-
pal hiftorians of Sweden and Denmark, alfo Heidenftcin, and Oderborg, who feem to have given the moft
probable account of this event. {+ Holberg, vol. i.-p. 488.
t. Fletcher’s State-of Ruflia, chap. vy,
terity
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
