CHAP. x. MIDDLE AGES. 



account, from a most contagious pestilence, arjd 

 according to another by the falling in of the 

 galleries, by which many lives were lost, and 

 four hundred widows were left to lament their 

 husbands, they were once more abandoned. 



In the year 1356, the golden bull of the 

 Emperor Charles the IVth was issued. By it, 

 these mines, as well as all others within the 

 German empire, were conceded in full property 

 to the several sovereign princes in whose do- 

 minions they were situated. 



This did not communicate to the Hartz mines 

 their former activity until the year 1453, when 

 they were again restored, and have continued 

 at work up to the present time. 



We have no authentic documents to show 

 through the whole series of years what has been 

 the produce of gold and silver; but, supposing 

 the produce, in the years of activity, to be 

 nearly the same as of late years, we may estimate 

 the whole Hartz, including the dominions of 

 Hanover and Brunswick, with the small part 

 which belongs to Prussia, to have yielded about 

 sixty ounces of gold, and about three hundred 

 thousand ounces of silver yearly 1 . 



1 The other minerals of the district are of far greater value, 

 and gold and silver, which were the cause of their original 

 workings, have long continued objects of inferior importance 

 to the iron, copper, lead, zinc, vitriol, and sulphur, which form 



