An Account of Denmark

1 Of the Territories belonging to the King of Denmark, and their Situation

27 CHAPTER I Of the Territories belonging to the King of Denmark, and their Situation  If we consider the Extent of the King of Denmark’s Dominions, he may with Justice be reckoned among the greatest Princes of Europe; but if we have regard to the importance and value of them, he may be put in Balance with the King of Portugal, and possibly be found lighter. His Style is King of Denmark and Norway, of the Goths and Vandals, Duke of Sleswick and Holstein, Stormar, and Ditmarsh; Earl in Oldenburg and Delmenhorst; all which Countries he actually possesses either in whole or in part: so that except that of the Goths and Vandals, which Title both he and the King of Sweden use, and which the Crown of Denmark has retained ever since it was Master of Sweden (as we in England do that of France) all the rest are substantial and not empty Titles. My design is to acquaint you with the present State of these Countries, and to offer nothing but what I have either Collected from sensible grave Persons, or what my own Knowledge and Experience has confirm’d to be Truth. Since the late Wars between that famous Captain Charles Gustavus of Sweden, and Frederic the Third, which ended in a Peace Anno 1660 Den- 28  An Account of Denmark mark has been forced to sit down with the loss of all its Territories which lay on the other side of the Baltick Sea; Schonen, Halland, and Bleking remaining to the Swedes, notwithstanding frequent Struggles to recover them. These three (especially Schonen) were the best Provinces belonging to Denmark, and therefore are still looked upon with a very envious Eye by the Danes: And for this very reason ’tis reported, that the Windows of Cronenburgh Castle, whose Prospect lay towards Schonen, were wall’d up, that so hateful an Object might not cause continual heart-burnings. Denmark therefore, as it is thus clipp’d, is at present bounded on all sides with the Sea, except one small Neck of Land, where it joins to Holstein ; the German Ocean washes it on the West and North-west; the entrance into the Baltick, called the Categate on the North, and NorthEast ; the Baltick on the East; and the River Eyder on the South; which having its source very near the East Sea, takes his course Westward, and falls into the Ocean at Toningen, a strong Town of the Duke of Holstein Gottorp’s: So that if a Channel were made of about three Danish Miles from that River to Kiel, ’twould be a perfect Island. I include in this Account the Dutchy of Sleswick as part of Denmark, but not the Dutchy of Holstein; because the former was a Fief of that Crown, the latter of the Empire. All Denmark therefore comprehending its Islands, as I have thus bounded it, lies in length between the degrees of 54gr. 45min. and 58gr. 15min. North Latitude, the breadth not being proportionable; and may at a large Computation be reckoned to amount to the bigness of two thirds of the Kingdom of Ireland. Norway, which lies North from Denmark, and is separated from it by that Sea which is usually called the Categate, is a vast and barren Country, full of Mountains and Fir trees; it reaches from 59 to 71 degrees of North Latitude; but is very narrow in respect to its length. It is bounded on the West and North by the Ocean, on the East by Sweden and the Territories belonging to it; on the South by the Sea lying between it and Denmark. The Sea is so deep about it, that there is no Anchorage for Ships; and therefore its Coasts are accounted the most dangerous of any in Europe to run with in the Night, or in a Storm; on which if you chance to be driven, Chapter I  29 there is no scaping, the Shoar being all along high Rocks, at the very foot of which one may find 200 Fathom Water. Holstein, which includes Ditmarsh and Stormar, is bounded by the Dutchy of Sleswick on the North, the Dutchy of Saxe Lawenburg on the South-East, the River Elbe on the South-West, the rest of it is washed by the Ocean and Baltick Sea. It lies between the 54th and 55th degrees of North Latitude. Oldenburg and Delmenhorst...