A. D. 1050. 285 



Adam of Bpemen and fome other old German writers fpeak in drains 

 of high admiration of the populoufnefs and wealth of the great commer- 

 cial cities of Winet and Julin, both at the mouth of the River Oder on 

 the fouth fide of the Baltic fea. But as all things are great or fmall by 

 comparifon, and as it is difficult to conceive how any port of the Baltic 

 fea could pollibly have a very great trade at that time, and more efpe- 

 cially two adjacent ports, we mull believe that thofe accounts arc pro- 

 digioufly exaggerated *. 



The rotundity of the earth and the theory of the inequality of the 

 length of the day were known by Adam of Bremen ; and we do not 

 hear of his being excommunicated or reprehended for his knowlege. 



1052 — Pefenefea, Rumenea, Hythe, Folces-ftane, Dofra, and Sand- 

 wic f , are noted as ports having (hips, which were all feized and carried 

 off by Earl Godwin, after his fon-in-law King Edward had driven him 

 out of the kingdom. 



1063 — The commercial republic of Pifa on the weft fide of Italy was 

 now in a flourifhing flate. The Pifans, defpifing the narrow didates of 

 religious bigotry, made frequent voyages to Panormus (or Palermo) in 

 Sicily, where they traded with the Saracen inhabitants. They alfo trad- 

 ed to the coaft of Africa, where, fome time after this, conceiving them- 

 fclves on fome occafion to be injured, they led an army againft the royal 

 city of Tunis, of which they made themfelves maflers, except one ftrong 

 tower, in which the Saracen king or chief was obliged to fhut himfelf 

 up. {Galfr'idi Mnlaterrce Hijl. Sicul. L. ii, c. 34; L. iv, c. 3.] 



1064 — About the fame time the Genoefe appear to have had a con^^ 

 fiderable fhare of the trade to the Levant, or eaft end of the Mediter- 

 ranean. A fleet of their fliips, which arrived at Joppa, after the mer- 

 chants had bartered their goods among the maritime cities, and paid 

 their adorations to the holy places, brought off the remains of a conir- 

 pany, or rather an army, of pilgrims, who had traveled over land from 

 France and Germany, as we learn from Ingulf, an Englifli hiftorian^ 

 [/». 74, ed. Gale] who was one of the number. 



1065 — The church of Weflminfl:er, which was founded, or refound- 

 ed on a larger fcale, by King Edward, was the iirfl fpecimen in Eng- 

 land of a kind of architedure, which, according to William of Malmf- 

 bury, [f. 52 b] afterwards became very general. It may be prefumed 

 to have been that which is generally, but feemingly improperly, deno- 

 minated the Gothic X- 



* Helmold, the author of the Chronicle of the -j- Now called Pevenfey, Rumney, Hyth, Folk- 



Slavi, who wrote about the end of the twelfth fton, Dover, Sandwich. 



centun-, fays, that the reports of the wonderful + If the Gothic architefture was not introduced 

 wealth of Winet are incredilile. It was the greateft in England till the reign of Henry II, as is gene- 

 city in Europe — and it was reported that it was to- rally fuppofcd, what kind was this ? 

 tally deftroyed by fome namelefs king of Denmark. 

 [C/;/o«. Slav. L, i, c. 2.] 



