monasteries. It was founded by Benedictines from St. Gallen in the
eighth century, became an imperial free town in 1289, and in 1360 the
abbot was made a prince. The old town, as Montaigne saw it, is still
Protestant, and a new Catholic suburb has grown up outside the walls.
The legend of Hildegarde’s burial there and that she was once abbess of
the convent seems to be false.
[63] Iller.
[64] Pfronten.
[65] Füssen.
[66] Hohenschwangau.
[67] St. Magnus was the first abbot of Kempten.
[68] Schongan.
[69] Landsberg.
[70] Schweikhart, son of Count George von Helfenstein. He was president
of the Imperial Court at Innsbruck from 1562-1564. He was a man of
learning and literary taste, and translated into German the works of S.
Basil and the story of Barlaam and Josaphat. He died in 1591.
[71] Livy.
[72] Fuggers.
[73] Augsburg was one of the first cities in Europe to be supplied with
water by artificial means. The old water-works are still to be seen.
The view of Augsburg in Münster’s _Cosmographia_ shows them exactly as
Montaigne writes of them.
[74] Variants of this legend are numerous. Hector Boece (cap. ix.)
affirms there are no rats in Buchan, and Sir Robert Gordon, writing on
Sutherlandshire, says: “If they come thither from other parts in ships
they die presently as soon as they do smell the air of that country.”
In Sir John Sinclair’s “Statistical Account of Scotland,” in an account
of Roseneath, in Argyleshire, it is stated: “From a prevailing opinion
that the soil of this parish is hostile to that animal, some years ago
a West India planter actually carried out to Jamaica several casks of
Roseneath earth, with a view to kill the rats that were destroying his
sugar canes.”
[75] “And this their entrance is so curiously admitted, as many
strangers desirous to see the fashion, suffer themselves of purpose
to be locked out at night, and willing give a reward to the souldiers
letting them in.”--Fynes Moryson, _Itinerary_, i. 20.
[76] In 1552: Münster, _Cosmographia_ (1559), p. 607.
[77] Sauerbrunnen.
[78] Bruck.
[79] Wilhelm, who married Renée of Lorraine, and abdicated in 1596.
[80] “... denique Laici usque adeo persuasum habent nullos Cœlibes esse
ut in plerisque parochiis non aliter velint Presbyterum tolerare, nisi
Concubinam habeat, quo vel sic suis sit consuetum uxoribus, quæ nec sic
quidem usque quaque sunt extra periculam.” Nicolaus de Clemangis, _De
Præsulibus Simoniacis_, p. 165.
[81] Probably the Starnberger See. This road was made by the Romans.
[82] The Kochel, or Walchen See.
[83] Mittenwald.
[84] Seefeld.
[85] Martinswand.
[86] Innsbruck.
[87] Ferdinand of Tirol, son of the Emperor Ferdinand I. and brother of
Maximilian II. He was born 1537 and died 1595.
[88] The tomb of Maximilian I. in the Hofkirche at Innsbruck.
[89] Cardinal Andreas, the son of Ferdinand of Tirol and Philippina
Welser. He was made a cardinal at nineteen years of age by Gregory
XIII. He became legate in Germany, and Philip II. at one time wanted to
make him governor of the Netherlands. He died in Rome in 1600, and lies
buried in the church of S. Maria dell’ Anima. He was about twenty-four
when Montaigne saw him.
[90] Karl, the second son of the Archduke.
[91] _Bouchet_, sugar and water flavoured with cinnamon.
[92] _Nef_, which, according to Querlon, here means, “_étui ou boîte où
se met le couvert des princes et des rois_.”
[93] Ferdinand I. left nine daughters. The Three Queens were Margaret,
who died in 1566; Helena, who died in 1570; and Magdalen, who was alive
at the time of Montaigne’s visit. Barbara was duchess of Ferrara,
Joanna, grand-duchess of Florence, and Catherine duchess of Mantua.
[94] Charles was crowned at Bologna in 1530. The monument referred to
still stands in the pass of Lueg on the Brenner.
[95] “M. de Montaigne disoit que c’estoit la lune de ses tretes.”
Querlon remarks, by way of explanation: “Parceque cette poussière
obscurcissait le jour, ne lui laissoit, ainsi que la lune, que ce qu’il
falloit de clarté pour se conduire.”
[96] Stertzing. Here the watchman still calls the hours of the night as
he did at Innsbruck in Montaigne’s time.
[97] Eisack, a stream which rises on the Brenner and joins the Adige
near Botzen.
[98] “Qu’elles se laissent testonner et peigner jusques aus oreilles.”
[99] Leonore, the only one of his children who survived him. In
alluding to those who died in infancy he says, _Essais_, ii. 8: “Ils
me meurent touts en nourrice: mais Leonor, une seule fille qui est
echappée à cette infortune, a attainct six ans et plus.”
[100] Klausen.
[101] Kolmann.
[102] Botzen.
[103] In his _Voyage faict en 1600_, the Duc de Rohan puts this matter
in a different light: “Je passay à Trente nullement agréable--et
si ce n’estoit pour ce qu’elle est demy Italienne, me rejouissait
de sortir de la petite barbarie et beuvette universelle, je n’en
parlerois pas: ne trouvant point que tous les mathematiciens de nostre
temps puissent jamais si bien trouver le mouvement perpetuel que les
Allemans le font faire à leur goblets ... cette si grand frequentation
de bouteils obscurcit tellement leurs autres belles parties que cela
les rends méprisables et inaccostables de tout le monde. Car ils ne
pensent faire bonne chère ny permettre amitié ou fraternité, comme
ils disent, à personne sans y apporter le seau plein de vin pour la
sceler à perpetuité.” The love of eating and drinking is still a marked
characteristic amongst the Tirolese.
[104] Branzoll.
[105] Adige.
[106] Trent.
[107] Salurn.
[108] Montaigne shows himself here less judicial than usual. He had
evidently been so well pleased with his sojourn in Germany that he
looked on everything over the frontier with a jaundiced eye.
[109] It was begun in 1212 and is built entirely of marble. The tower
alluded to is the Torre di Piazza, in which was hung Rengo, the great
bell of Trent.
[110] The work of Vincenzio Vicentini, 1534.
[111] Bernardo Clesio, bishop from 1514 to 1539. He was made cardinal
in 1530.
[112] The relations of the bishops of Trent with the counts of Tirol,
which resulted in the _quasi_ subjection of the first named, had been
embroiled by disputes over the right of taxation which the counts of
Tirol claimed over Church property in Trent ever since the twelfth
century. Cardinal Madruccio held the see from 1567 to 1600. He was a
member of an illustrious family of the city.
[113] Probably Castel Beseno, a notable stronghold in these times. Or
it might have been Castelbarco, afterwards a Venetian frontier fortress.
[114] Roveredo. It had formerly been Venetian, but was now under Tirol
as a fee of the bishop of Trent.
[115] In the _Essais_, iii. 13, Montaigne writes of his horror of dew
and vapours.
[116] Another instance of his love of German customs.
[117] Garda has always been famous for its fish, and the fishing
industry gave its name to the town at the outlet, Peschiera. Cardan
(_De Vita Prop._, c. xxx.) tells of a mighty pike he ate at Sirmio
after a narrow escape from drowning in the lake. In Coryat’s time it
was celebrated for its abundance of “Carpes, Troutes, and Eeles.”
[118] Now an important town at the head of the lake.
[119] In describing this excursion the secretary uses sometimes the
first and sometimes the third person plural, but this sentence seems to
show that he did not accompany the others, and on leaving Roveredo he
went to Verona on a raft in charge of the luggage.
[120] Borghetto.
Transcriber’s Notes
Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations
in hyphenation have been standardised but all other spelling and
punctuation remains unchanged.
Italics are represented thus _italic_, superscripts are represented
thus y^n.