CARRIAGE. 



547 



Iii 1;V.2;J, 'A Uw was enacted in Hungary to prevent 

 the us- ofcaniago. Then- was also a curious do- 

 cument published by Duke Julius of Brunswick, in 

 t.irb dtling his vassala the use of carriages, 

 which is in substance as follows : " As we know from 

 ancient historians, from the annals of heroic, honour- 

 able, and glorious achievements, and even by our own 

 experience, that the respectable, steady, courageous, 

 and spirited Germans were heretofore so much celebra- 

 ted among all nations.on account of their manly virtue, 

 i ity, boldness, honesty, and resolution, that their 

 assistance wa- courted in war, and that in- particular 

 t!ie people of this land, by their discipline and in- 

 trepidity, both within and without the kingdom, ac- 

 quired so much celebrity, that foreign nations readi- 

 ly united with them ; we have for some time past 

 found, with great pain and uneasiness, that their 

 useful discipline and skill in riding in our electorate 

 county and lordship, have not only visibly declined, 

 but have been almost lost, (and no doubt other elec- 

 tors and princes have experienced the same among 

 their nobility ) ; and as the principal cause of this is, 

 that our vassals, servants, and kinsmen, without dis- 

 tinction, young and old, have dared to give them- 

 selves up to indolence and to riding in coaches, and 

 that few of them provide themselves with well equip- 

 ped riding horses, and with skilful experienced ser- 

 vants, and boys acquainted with the roads ; being 

 not able to suffer any longer this neglect, and being 

 desirous to revive the ancient Brunswick mode of 

 riding, handed down and bequeathed to us by our 

 forefathers, we hereby will and command, that all 

 and each of our before-mentioned vassals, servants, 

 and kinsmen, of whatever rank or condition, always 

 keep in readiness as many riding horses as they are 

 obliged to serve us with by their fief or alliance, 

 and have in their service able, experienced servants,, 

 acquainted with the roads ; and that they have as 

 many horses as possible, with polished steel furni- 

 ture, and with saddles proper for carrying the neces- 

 sary arms and accoutrements, so that they may ap- 

 pear with them when necessity requires : We alo 

 wili and command, our before- mentioned vassals and 

 servants, to take notice, that when we order them to 

 assemble, either altogether or in part, in, times of 

 turbulence, or to receive their fiefs, or when on 

 other occasions they visit our court, they shall not 

 travel or appear in coaches, but on their riding 

 horses," &c. (Lunig. Corp. jur. feud. Germ. ii. 

 p. 144-7.) Nor was Duke Julius the only great lord 

 that attempted to suppress the use of carriages, for 

 Philip II. Dukeof Pomerania Stetten, tried the same 

 thing in 1608. 



All these orders, however, proved ineffectual ; for 

 about the end of the 15th century, emperors, kings, 

 and princes, began to employ covered carriages in 

 journeys, and afterwards on public solemnities, there- 

 by setting an example, which, in the course of the 

 16th century, was generally followed. 



Early in the beginning of this period, covered car- 

 riages appear to have been used by women of high 

 rank, while yet the men considered it as unbecoming 

 to indulge themselves in such a luxury. Ambassa- 

 dors appeared in coaches for the first tirm in 1613, 

 at th- imp rial commission held at Erfurth. (Ludolf. 

 Eiecta juris publici, v. p. 416. Von Mosers Ho- 



free/it, ii. p. 337. ) The wedding carriage of the firrt Carriage- 

 wife of the Emperor Leopold, a Spanish princess, "** "" """ 

 cost, with the harness, 38,000 florins. (Ktnfc, I^bfit 

 /. l.<(j/x>ld, p. 607.) The coaches used by that 

 emperor, are thus described by Kink : " In the im- 

 perial coaches, no great magnificence was to be n-m ; 

 they were covered over with red cloth and black 

 nails. The harness was black, and in the whole work 

 there was no gold. The pannels were of glass, and 

 on this account they were called the imperial glass 

 coaches. On festivals, the harness was ornamented 

 with red silk fringes. The imperial coaches were 

 distinguished only by their having leather traces ; 

 but the ladies in the imperial suite were obliged to 

 be contented with carriages, the traces of which 

 were made of ropes." Twisssays, that coaches were 

 seen for the first time in Spain, in the year 1546*. 

 In 1681, there was a magnificent display of carriages 

 in Hanover, belonging to the Duke Ernest Augus- 

 tus, who had fifty gilt coaches, with six horses to 

 each. (Lunings 'ikeatr. cer. i. p. 289.) In the be- 

 gining of tht- 17th century, there were elegant coaches 

 13 Russia. (Essai tntr la Bibliotheque de I' Academic 

 de& Sciences de St Petersburg, par J. Bacmiester, 

 1776, 8vo. p. 38.) 



Carriages appear to have been very early in use in 

 England. For it is said in the life of St Erkenwald, 

 who died about the year 685, " Qttadam vero die, 

 verbi Dei pabu/a, cftmmisso aibi grcgi, ministraturus, 

 dum duarum rolarum ferretur vcliiculo, injirmitute 

 prcenedic'ilc. vcl senio, contigit id altera rotarum se- 

 mitis dijficultute axem relifqueret, el ibidem soda re- 

 lictfl remaneret. (See Sir William Dugdale's History 

 ofSt Paul's Cathedral, fol. Appen. p. 5. ) In Brook's 

 Catalogue of Kings, Princrs, fyc. p. 67, he says, 

 sneaking oi William, third Earl of Derby, " this 

 William dyed of a bruise, taken with a fall out of his 

 coach, in the yeare 1253, the 38th of King Henry 

 the Third." We find in Stowe's Summarie of tin: 

 English Chronicles, p. 287> the following notice ta. 

 ken of carnages : ** This yere Walter Rippon made 

 a coche for the Earle of Rutland, which was the 

 first coche that ever was made in England since, to 

 wit, in anno 1564. The said Walter Rippon made 

 the first hollow turning coche, with pillars and arches, 

 for her Majesty, being then her servant. Also, in 

 anno 1584, a chanot throne, with foure pillars be- 

 hinde to beare a canopie, with a crowne imperiall on 

 the toppe, and before two lower pillars, whereon 

 stoode a lion and a dragon, the supporters of the armes 

 of England." Stow, in his History o/ London, (fol. p. 

 70.), says, " The oldest carriages used by the ladies of 

 England, were called tvhirlicotes, and that they were 

 in ia-hiun but for a short time." And Anderson, in 

 his History of Commerce* (vol. iv. p. 180.), says, 

 " That coaches were first brought toEngland, in 1580, 

 from Germany, by Fjtz-AHan, Earl of Arundel." 



In 1598, the English Ambassador came to Scot- 

 land in his coach. (Scott* & History of Scotland, p. 

 551.) Anderson says, coaches began to be in com- 

 mon use in England in 1605. In 1610, one Henry 

 Anderson, an ii. habitant of Trail Sound, or Stral- 

 sund, in Pomerania, offered to bring from that coun- 

 try to Scotland, coaches and waggons, with horses 

 to draw, and servants to attend them, provided he 

 was secured in the exclusive privilege of keeping 



