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. 715
the witticifm of a traveller, who eftimating the country not from its fize, but from its
trivial confequence in the feale of the north, affirmed that the palace was larger than
the dukedom. The academy, inftituted by the prefent Duke at a confiderable expence,
contained, in May 168s, eight profeffors, and only twenty ftudents.
The duchy of Courland and Semigallia is bounded on the north by the Baltic, on the
eaft by Livonia, and by Poland on the fouth and weft. It ftretches in length two hun-
dred and fifty miles, and the average breadth may be eftimated at forty.
Gothard Ketler, grand-mafter of the Livonian knights, having ceded Livonia to Po-
land, at Wilna, received, in 1561, the inveftiture of Courland and Semigallia, as an he-
reditary fief of the crown of Poland. Dying in 1587, he was fucceeded by his fon
Frederic ; and in 1589, it was enatted by the diet of Poland, that, on the extinétion of
the heirs male of the line of Ketler, the duchies of Courland and Semigallia fhould be
united to Poland,
Frederick William, Duke of Courland, dying in 1711, without iffue, the right of fuc-
ceffion devolved on his great uncle Ferdinand, the only furviving branch of the Ketler
line; but Peter the Great took poffeffion of Mittau and great part of Courland, under
pretence of fecuring the dowry for his niece Anne, widow of Frederick William. Fer-
dinand, who was abfent, and at variance with his nobility, was unable to enforce his
right, and Courland, during feveral years, was governed by the Ruffian court, under
the name of the Duchefs Anne. The country was in a {tate of civil confufion, and
feveral ineffectual attempts were made to raife, firft; a Prince of the houfe of Saxony,
and afterwards Frederick William, Margrave of Schvedt, to the ducal throne.
At length, in 1726, the infirmities and abfence of Ferdinand afforded a pretext; a
party of nobles determined to appoint a fucceflor, and Auguftus the Second, King of
Poland, fecretly influenced the diet to nominate his natural fon Maurice, afterwards well
known under the title of Marfhal Saxe. This appointment was contefted by the repub-
lic of Poland, and by Catharine Emprefs of Ruffia.
The Polifh diet, which affembled at Grodno, denied the right of the nobles to appoint
a duke, declared that duchy a vacant fief belonging to the republic, annulled the elec-
tion of the Count of Saxe, and propofed, on the death of Ferdinand, to incorporate the
duchies of Courland and Semigallia with the crown, according to the edi& in 1589.
Catharine the Firft, confidering Courland almoft as a province of the Ruffian empire,
equally oppofed the election of Maurice, and the incorporation of Courland ; and Prince
Mentchikof, who on her death afpired to the ducal throne, difpatched a.corps of Ruffian
troops to Mittau, and drove Maurice from Courland. The fall of Mentchikof pre-
vented his nomination ; but the Ruflians, under Peter the Second, and Anne, maintained
their influence in Courland, and promifed to fupport the ftates in their right to ele& a
Sovereign on the deceafe of Ferdinand.
The death of Auguftus the Second annihilated the hopes of Maurice; and on the
demife of Ferdinand in 1737, the Emprefs Anne forced the ftates to nominate her
favourite Biron, and fupported his election in oppofition to the claims and remonftrances
of Poland. At length, deputies from the Emprefs and the new Duke on one fide, and
from the King and the republic of Poland on the other, arranged the convention called
Pada Subjeionis, or Aéts of Vaflalage, which regulated the conftitution of Courland
according to former acts of vaffalage, and eftablifhed the fucceffion in the male line of
Biron. In 1749, the Chancellor of Courland did homage in the name of the Duke to
Auguftus the Third. But, in 1743, Biron being arrefted and imprifoned, the ftates
declared the ducal throne vacant, and elected, at the recommendation of the regent
Anne, Louis Erneft, Prince of Brunfwick, and brother of her hufband Anthony Ulric.
4¥ 2 The
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
