3K i sto'ri c a
JiPQCHi.
tienburg acquired this dtt'chyf;‘and in i& w his foeceffdr re v iv e d the
fdlemn in-vcftiture, from the k in g of- Poland. N o r was it, as already
mentioned, an independent fovereignty till 1656, after- which period
th e chief events may be traced unde r thofe o f Brandenburg..
Silefia affords few materials for hiftory. . T h is co u n try was,formerly
a Slavonic province o f -the Polifli d om in io n ; b u t in the fourteenth
•century was feized b y Jo h n o f Lux em b u rg king o f Bohemia,
.(February 1339,) and -pafled with th a t fovereignty' to the houfe o f
Auftria. T h e h o u fe o f B randenburg certainly had fome ancient claims
■to this province, which -were finally ascertained b y t-lie' fwo'fd inn 1-742,
a s already mentioned.
As not only the recent acquisitions in Poland are o f fa r more coin-
p a r ative confequence to Pruffia-, th an either to Auftria-, or Ruffia ; and
,as~ in f a d this fovereignty is in pofleffton o f the metropolis, and all the
-chief ioities., and ports o f Poland, and may be faid to ,exift only 'on the
h a ils of th a t ancient kingdom, which .it reprefents in th e modef n
•balance o f power, it will be proper here to repeat, in 'a fewlwords,
th e ch ie f epochs o f the Polifli hiftory-.
1. Even in the Roman times Poland Was chiefly poflSflred b y th e
;Sarmate, o r Slavons ; and the Poles p re ten d to trace the ir dukes from
th e Sixth century. But the authentic hiftory only begins with Piaft^
A . D. 842. In 992 th e chnftian religion was introduced. -
2. Uladflas, duke -of Poland, aflumed the title o f king A. D. 13205
a n d was fucceeded by h is Ton Cafimir furnamed the -great. "*
3. T h e houfe o f Jagellon dukes o f L ithuania afcended th e Polifh
th ro n e 1384, and ruled till 1572, in hereditary fuccelEon, though
-With pretended c lcd io n . ' ’ ' - -
4. T h e throne o f Poland becomes merely elective in the perfon o f
H e n ry de Valois 1 5 7 4 ; -but it was afterwards chiefly cotiteftcd by
native princes, and b y the electors of-Saxony.
j . Jo h n Sobiefki, king o f Poland, in 1683 forced the Tu rk s to raife
th e fiege o f V ienna, which was the laft valiant a d io n achieved by the
Poles.
6< T h e recent annihilation o f the monarchy'.
‘ a . . Fr-om
From this general view o f the component parts o f the Pruffian
hiftory it will appear th a t few ancient monuments, can be. ex p e ^ e d in,
fte g io p ^ jy h e re [eVen a rude, knowledge o f the arts is, comparatively fo
"ifecenti, tf’Sbme ^ v o n i g idipls,, t caflj in, bronze,ye4nftitute, almoft the
P agait antiquities : and the Gallies,and?cburches, e red ed after the
in tro d u d io n o f the-chriftian religiom| have few fingnlarities to at-trad
particular attention. T h e Polifli coinage begins about the twelfth,
century, and is upon the German, model..
VOL, r. 3 D