BRA 



BRA 



Mavk IB agniii fubdiviJed into the Old Mai'<, the Voi -Mark, 

 or Mark oi' Frigiiitz, the Middle Mark, and the UL-ker 



Mark. 



Tho O'A Marl, extending from call: to weft about 9 Ger- 

 man n;i!t3, and troni north to lonth about I r miles, is fepa- 

 rated, towards the talt, by the Elbe from the Piignitz and 

 the duchy of Mai/debnrg, and bounded aUo by the latter to 

 the foMth and likeu-ilc, in part, to the well, but in other 

 parts by th:' dnchy ot LtnienbDrfr. It contains i.j cities, of 

 wh'ch tlie cap'tal is Ste:id:i!. Its taxable lands are 8058 hides. 



The Vnr-ALii h. or Pii^nilz, is terminated by the Elbe 

 and Havel, the duchy of Mecklenburg, and the circles of 

 Rnppiii and Havelland in the Middle Mark, and is 10^ 

 Gerniai) miles in length, and 7^ in breadth. It contains 20 

 towns, the principal of which i.s Perlberg. 

 land that pay taxes are 521 1. 



and n. 1443, ^''^ "flion was confirmed at Franekfort, by 

 the cledor Frederic II, But in 14^-, their circumflances 

 icqnncd the fale ot it, and it was pnrchafed by the fnid 

 elector; and lince that time it has remained in the houfe of 

 Brandenburg, under the appellation uf the New Mark. It 

 has a regency of its own, courts of jullicc, and other col- 

 leges. It coniills of Cuftrin, or Kullrin, which is the capi- 

 tal, fei'in original circles, and four iiicotporatcd ciiclcs. Its 

 cities are reckoned to be .,'9 ; its hides of taxable land 

 16,738 ; and the value of the ellates is ellimaled at one 

 million of dollars. 



The ancient inhabitants of Brandenburg are fald to ha»€ 



been the Suevi, of whom there are fevcral fnbdivilions. 



As the Romans purfucd their conquelU as far as the Elhtj 



The hides of about the eommcncemtnt of the Chrillian jcra, they were 



probably acquainted with this country. However, the 



The Miildlt J)Ltrl is bounded by the Prignitz, the du- Vandals checked their further prog refs in this dircdion ; but 



chics of Magdeburg, and the cleAorate of Saxony, the about the fifth century, they repaired more to the I'onlh' 



iiower Lulatia, the New Mark, the Ucker Mark, and the abandoning their own country to the Wendi, Vl-neti or 



duchy of Mecklenburg. The moll: fertile part lies near the Heneti, who, being too much confined by the Vilhila oc- 



Oder, in the circles of Havelland and Ruppin ; the marlhes cupied the territory which the Vandals had abandoned 'and 



liaving been drained, and the inhabitants cultivating millet, poffeifing themfelves of the whole country alono- the fouth- 



inadder, and buck-wheat, producing alfo wine, and breeding em lide of the Baltic, formed there a new nation, known by 



filk-worms, and having manufattures of alum and vitriol, the general name of Selavi or Slavonians, who wcie a barba- 



and fome medicinal fprings. Among its cities and towns, 

 which are reckoned 48, the chief are Berhn, Brandenburg, 

 and Potfdam ; and its hides of taxable land are 24,901. 



The ll^ier Mark terminates to the fouth and well on the 

 Middle Mark and the duchy of Mecklenburg, from the lat- 



rous people of very extenlive migration, and invett-raie c«e- 

 mies to the Chrillian religion. With thefe the kings of the 

 Franks, and efpecially Charlemagne, had frequent wars, 

 and his fucccfibrs were indefatigable in their endeavours tu 

 fubdue them. At length, Henry, furnamed the Fowler, 



ter of which it is principally feparated by the Havel ; and fucceeded, about the beginning of the loth century A.D. 



to the north and call on Pomerania and the New Mark, 

 being moilly feparated from the former by the V^Vlfe and 

 Eando, and from the latter by the Oder. Its greatell ex- 

 tent is about 1.3 German miles in length, and ii in breadth. 

 This province was anciently called the Ucker, or Uckerland, 

 from the river and lake of that name ; and the title of the 



927, in the conqueft of them, and planted Chriliiaiiity in 

 the country. He then conferred it on his brother-in-l,<w 

 Sigefrid, a Saxon count, with the title of margrave or lord- 

 warden of the marches or borders; and he, with his fuccef- 

 fors, new planted and peopled it from the Netherlands, 

 Wellphalia, Franconia, and Saxony. At firft this title was 



Ucker Mark was firft: applied to it towards the latter end of conferred by the emperor according to his own arbitrary 



the 1 ^th century. If we except a narrow flip, which runs pleafure ; and it did not become hereditary till the time of 



along the Middle Mark, from the frontiers of Mecklenburg Albert, furnamed the Bear, the firll prince of the race of 



towards the Oder, it conilfts of a very good foil, which, by Anhalt, who was made margrave by Conrad II., and after- 



the induftry of the inhabitants, has been fo much improved, wards raifed ts the dignity of an elector by Frederic Barba- 



that the province annually exports great quantities of grain, rolfa, about the year iioo. When this family became 



and more particularly fupphes Berhn. It alfo produces a extindl in i,-;32, feveral others fucceeded; and, in 13-.' 



great number of (heep, fruit, honey, hops, and tobacco, the emperor Charles IV. afligned Brandenburg to his fe- 



The inhabitants are Lutherans, but not without a mixture cond fon Sigifmund, who, in 141";, being then 



of French and German calvinills. The whole territory is 

 divided into the two circles of Ucker-Mark and Stolp, and 

 contains 15 towns, of which the capital is Prenzlo. The 

 hides of land that are taxable are 6379. 



The Nciu Alark is a long narrow tradl of land, feparated 



_ _ . .,. o empe- 



ror of Germany, fold this margravate and electorate ' to 

 Frederic, burgrave of Nuremburg, for four hundred thou- 

 fand ducats. Frederic, the ancellor of the prefent reign- 

 ing race, received the invelliture of Brandenburg, in 1417, 

 at the diet of Conftance, from the hands of the emperor 



to the well from the Middle and Ucker Marks by the Oder, Sigifmund, who, two years before, had conferred upon him 



terminating to the north on Pomerania, and eaftward on the dignity of eleilor and archchamberlain of the holy 



Pomerania, Poland, Silefia, and the Lower Lufatia, and Roman empire. This Frederic was the firft eltdlor of the 



extending about 40 geographical miles in length, and in houfe of Hohenzollern, which fome German genealoirifis 



breadth 10 miles. Although the foil is generally fandy, have traced to Thaffilo or Taihlon, who lived in the begin- 



this province has fome good corn lands, and near the rivers ning of the 9th century. From Frederic the eleftorate 



luxuriant palture grounds and marfhes, the grafs of which is defcended, through different branches of the family, to 



coarfe and rulhy. It abounds in wood, and fupplies Joachhn II. who, in 1539, embraced the Lutheran relipion 



fruits, fi(h, and game. The incorporated circles produce 

 wine, and yield great quantities of iron ore. The New 

 Mark, properly fo called, extends from the river Rega to 

 the river Warte ; and contains, according to the ftate- 

 ment of Hoeck, 279,584 inhabitants. It appears to have 

 been in the pofTeffion of the margraves of Brandenburg as 

 early as the year 1257 ; it was transferred by Otho the 



and who, whilfl the war of religion defolated Saxony, and 

 the neighbouring countries, maintained his elcdtorate in 

 peace ; having declined to enter into the union which the 

 Proteitants concluded at Smalkald : nor did he agree to 

 the interim publiihed by the emperor Charles V. In 1618 

 the eleftor, John Sigifmund, received from the king of 

 Poland, the inveftiture of Prnffia for himfelf and his de- 



Tali to the knights of the Teutonic order in 1286, but foon fcendants ; and reCgned the eledorate in favour of his fon 

 redeemed. In 1429, it was wholly ceded to the fame order ; George William, who, in 1(540, was fucceeded by his fon, 



Frederie 



