An Introduction to the History of the Principal Kingdoms and States of Europe

A Note on the Text

xli a note on the text The text of this Liberty Fund edition reproduces An Introduction to the History of the Principal Kingdoms and States of Europe, by Samuel Puffendorf , Counsellor of State to the Present King of Sweden, Made English from the Original (London: Printed for M. Gilliflower at the Spread-Eagle in Westminster-Hall, and T. Newborough at the Golden Ball in St. Paul’s Church-Yard, 1695). It has been checked against the first (1682) and second (1684) German editions (see Appendix 1 at the end of this volume), mainly to detect omissions and additions but also, especially in the chapter on the papacy (chapter XII), for the accuracy and consistency of Crull’s translation, whose variations are indicated in the text or notes. In Crull’s original, Pufendorf’s Preface is followed by an alphabetical index called “The Table.” This has been moved to the rear as “Index I” (see p. 661), followed there by the modern “Index II.” In its place at the front of the work I have inserted a “List of Chapters” referenced to the pagination of the present, Liberty Fund edition. Thus, the page numbers in Index I refer to Crull’s original—shown in the text by horizontal angle brackets —while those in Index II refer to the pagination of the current, edited reprint. Also, Crull’s original enumeration contains some errors, the most serious at p. 292, which is followed by p. 273 instead of p. 293, thus repeating the sequence 273–92. This error is negotiated in the angle bracket enumeration, and in Index I, by marking the repeated page numbers with a lowercase “r”: thus one finds both and (= ) in the text. Like+ Pufendorf’s German original, Crull’s translation contains relatively few paragraph divisions within the numbered sections of each chapter. Since those sections are often quite long and dense, I have xlii a note on the text inserted many additional breaks in order to make the narrative more accessible and to give relief to contemporary readers. Given their quantity , these breaks are inserted without notice. However, Crull’s original divisions are also retained, and identified by a superscripted “plus” sign after the first word, as at the beginning of this paragraph. The marginal dates in Crull’s shoulder notes mostly overlap with Pufendorf’s, except that the latter inserted his dates into the text itself, preceded by A., An., or Anno (“in the year”). Since Pufendorf’s dates are more accurately associated with the events to which they refer, I have used them as my guide, instead of following Crull’s (or his typesetter ’s) often vague and sometimes erroneous marginal placements. Indeed, for reasons of accuracy, consistency, and fluidity, I have also followed Pufendorf’s practice by placing all marginal dates back into the text itself. There, Crull’s marginal dates are enclosed in backslashes, such as \A. xxxx\. Where Crull omits a date found in Pufendorf, I have inserted it by using the standard designators for such additions from Pufendorf’s text, for example, {A. xxx}. In those few instances where Crull inserts a marginal date not reflected in Pufendorf’s text, I have not distinguished it from Crull’s other marginal dates: that is, it too appears as \A. xxxx\. In the case of discrepancies between Crull’s and Pufendorf’s dates, especially where the difference is slight, I have followed the latter. However , in the case of more significant divergences, and where Crull is more obviously correct, I have followed his dates instead. I have not checked all of the dates against the historical record, and so they should be used with caution. Moreover, as will be obvious, there are many other dates in the manuscript besides the reinserted marginal dates; these remain without special indication. That is, backslashes \A. . . .\ and braces {A. . . .} are used exclusively for marginal dates in Crull and their in-text counterparts in Pufendorf. Crull’s translation is accurate and reliable on the whole: as a native of Hamburg he had no difficulty with Pufendorf’s German, including its many colloquialisms (which he sometimes converted into English counterparts and more often ignored, thus losing some of the flavor of Pufendorf’s text). Still, he worked quickly, and this sometimes gives his a note on the text xliii translation a run-on character, especially when compared with Pufendorf ’s stylistically...