484 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



cities and provinces, and the other 

 magistrates and chiefs both of peace 

 and war, were deemed the first no- 

 bility : the body of freemen com- 

 possd the second rank; those bom 

 in bondage, who having acquired 

 their freedom, held lands in base te- 

 nure, were of the third : and the 

 slaves, or bondmen, constituted the 

 fourth, or lowest order.' — 



' The king's immediate bondmen 

 ranked with the freemen, and those 

 whom he manumitted with the no- 

 bility.' 



To those who have studied this 

 country, or to such as have had the 

 enviable felicity of visiting it, Chap. 

 III. must prove highly interesting. 

 Conformably to what we have be- 

 fore observed, we advise the readers 

 of this history to peruse this chapter 

 more than once, with the assistance 

 of the map. Helvetia is a little 

 world within itself ; it is an aggre- 

 gate of states, the relative situation 

 of each of which must be well im- 

 pressed on the mind, if we would 

 draw from these volumes all the 

 pleasure and instruction which they 

 are capable of yielding. This chap- 

 ter treats of the origin of the great 

 families, of the religious houses, 

 and of the cities of Switzer- 

 land. 



Among the families which thus 

 early had struck deep root in Helve- 

 tia, were the towering house of 

 Hapsburg, that of Savoy, so well 

 known to history, and that of Zae- 

 ringen, so honourably distinguished 

 in the early annals of this country ; 

 the dukes of which house were the 

 beneficent founders of its cities, and 

 the liberal granters of the privileges 

 to which these owed their subse- 

 quent prosperity. We are here 

 lold that learned Scots from the 

 north of Ireland wern the apostles 



of a great part of Helvetia, and 

 the founders of some of its most re- 

 nowned abbies ; as those of Disen- 

 tis, St. Gall en, and Seckingen. 

 At this remote period, Arnold of 

 Brescia, the disciple of Abelard, 

 and who afterward received the 

 crown of martyrdom at Rome, dis- 

 seminated rational opinions respect- 

 ing the power of the priesthood, 

 among the people of Zuric. 



Early in the 13th century, died 

 Berthold V. last duke of Zseringen, 

 and the Imperial Vicegerent over 

 Burgundian Helvetia. At this 

 time, the Helvetic territory was 

 divided between counts, great ba- 

 rons, and religious houses, who 

 were in almost all respects indepen- 

 dent. The counts of greatest note 

 were those of Kyburg, Hapsburg, 

 and Tockenburg ; and the leading 

 religious communities were those of 

 St. Gallen, Seckingen, and the nun- 

 nery of Zuric. 



Chap. IV. gives the traditional 

 account of the origin of this renown- 

 ed and venerated people, the 

 Schwitzers, the founders of Hel- 

 vetic liberty, and of the confede« 

 racy which afterward became so 

 formidable a power. They believe 

 themselves to be of Scandinavian 

 origin : but they were so incon- 

 siderable about the beginning of the 

 12th century, that neither they nor 

 their valleys were known to the 

 Imperial court. 



Chap. V. presents us with the 

 history of two men who laid the 

 foundation of the future greatness of 

 their houses, Peter of Savoy and 

 Rudolph of Hapsburg ; whose re- 

 spective descendants might have 

 long remained no unequal rivals, 

 had not the better fortune of Ru- 

 dolph raised him to the first throne 

 of Christendom. 



