Bartholomew Sastrow - free ebook by Bartholomäus Sastrow

1905

Introduction...

1 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER I

Abominable Murder of My Grandfather--My Parents and their Family--Fatal Misadventure of my Father--Troubles at Stralsund--Appeal of the Evangelical Preachers...

5 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER II

My Student's Days at Greifswald--Victor Bole and his tragical End--A Servant possessed by the Devil--My Brother Johannes' Preceptors and Mine--My Father's never-ending Law Suits...

7 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER III

Showing the Ingratitude, Foolishness and Wickedness of the People, and how, when once infected with a bad Spirit, it returns with Difficulty to Common-Sense--Smiterlow, Lorbeer, and the Duke of Mecklenberg--Fall of the Seditious Regime of the Forty-eight...

10 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER IV

Dr. Martin Luther writes to my Father--My Studies at Rostock and at Greifswald--Something about my hard Life at Spires--I am admitted as a Public Notary--Dr. Hose...

7 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER V

Stay at Pforzheim--Margrave Ernest--My extreme Penury at Worms, followed by Great Plenty at a Receiver's of the Order of St. John's--I do not lengthen this Summary, seeing that but for my Respect for the Truth, I would willingly pass over many Episodes in Silence...

12 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER VI

Travels in Italy--What happened to me in Rome--I take Steps to recover my Brother's Property--I become aware of some strange Particulars--I suddenly leave Rome...

7 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER VII

From Rome to Stralsund, by Viterbo, Florence, Mantua, Trent, Innspruck, Ratisbon and Nuremberg--Various Adventures...

5 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER I

I am appointed Pomeranian Secretary--Something about my diurnal and nocturnal Journeys with the Chancellor--Missions in the Camps--Dangers in the Wake of the Army...

6 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER II

A Twelve Months' Stay at Augsburg during the Diet--Something about the Emperor and Princes--Sebastian Vogelsberg--Concerning the Interim Journey to Cologne...

6 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER III

How I held for two Years the Office of Solicitator at the Imperial Chamber at Spires--Visit to Herr Sebastian Münster--Journey to Flanders--Character of King Philip--I leave the Prince's Service...

9 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER I

Arrival at Greifswald--Betrothal and Marriage--An Old Custom--I am in Peril--Martin Weyer, Bishop...

3 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER II

Severe Difficulties after my Marriage--My Labours and Success as a Law-writer and Notary, and subsequently as a Procurator--An Account of some of the Cases in which I was engaged...

8 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER III

The Greifswald Council appoints me the City's Secretary--Delicate Mission to Stralsund--Burgomaster Christopher Lorbeer and his Sons--Journey to Bergen--I settle at Stralsund...

6 minute read

Read Chapter

INTRODUCTION

If we wish to understand the pedestrian side of German life in the sixteenth century, I know of no better document than the autobiography of Bartholomew Sastrow. This hard-headed, plain-spoken Pomeranian notary cannot indeed be classed among the great and companionable writers of memoirs. Here are no genial portraits, no sweet-tempered and mellow confidings of the heart such as comfortable men and women are wont to distil in a comfortable age. The times were fierce, and passion ran high and deep

19 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER I

Abominable Murder of My Grandfather--My Parents and their Family--Fatal Misadventure of My Father--Troubles at Stralsund--Appeal of the Evangelical Preachers My father was born in 1488, in the village of Rantzin, in the inn close to the cemetery, on the road to Anclam. Even before his marriage, my grandfather, Johannes Sastrow, exceeded by far in worldly goods, reputation, power and understanding, the Horns, a family established at Rantzin. Hence, those Horns, frantic with jealousy, constantly a

32 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER II

My Student's Days at Greifswald--Victor Bole and his tragical End--A Servant possessed by the Devil--My Brother Johannes' Preceptors and Mine--My Father's never-ending Law Suits Having acquired the certainty that the Hartmanns would never consent to my father's return to Greifswald, my parents, like the conscientious married couple they were, desired to bear in common the domestic burdens. In the spring of 1528 my mother, after having let her dwelling at Greifswald, joined her husband at Stralsu

35 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER III

Showing the Ingratitude, Foolishness and Wickedness of the People, and how, when once infected with a bad Spirit, it returns with Difficulty to Common-Sense--Smiterlow, Lorbeer and the Duke of Mecklenburg--Fall of the seditious Regime of the Forty-Eight The ecclesiastical affairs of Stralsund had assumed more or less regular conditions; the Gospel was preached in all the churches without opposition either on the part of the princes or of the council. Smiterlow had sanctioned the return of Rolof

33 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER IV

Dr. Martin Luther writes to my Father--My Studies at Rostock and at Greifswald--Something about my hard Life at Spires--I am admitted as a Public Notary--Dr. Hose My parents recalled me in 1538, having discovered that at Greifswald I more often accompanied my grandfather in his strolls than sat over my books. I attended school during the stay of a twelvemonth at the paternal home. One instance will show into what kind of hands the chief power had fallen. In 1539, Duke Philip, travelling to Rügen

34 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER V

Stay at Pforzheim--Margrave Ernest--My extreme Penury at Worms, followed by great Plenty at a Receiver's of the Order of St. John--I do not lengthen this Summary, seeing that but for my Respect for the Truth, I would willingly pass over many Episodes in Silence My brother accompanied me as far as Rheinhausen. From thence I got to Bruchsall, the residence of the Bishop of Spires, then to Heidelsheim, Brettheim, and at last to patria Philippi , Pforzheim. I entered upon my duties at the Chanceller

23 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER VI

Travels in Italy--What happened to me in Rome--I take Steps to recover my Brother's Property--I become aware of some strange Particulars--I suddenly leave Rome I started from Mayence on April 8, 1546, and after crossing an unknown country by bad roads, I reached Kempten, an ancient imperial city at the foot of the Alps, and the see of an important abbey. The unpleasant parts of the journey hitherto had been solitude and fatigue, when at a quarter of an hour from Kempten there appeared two wolves

32 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER VII

From Rome to Stralsund, by Viterbo, Florence, Mantua, Trent, Innspruck, Ratisbon and Nuremberg--Various adventures On the morning of July 6, 1546, in my twenty-sixth year, I left Rome with my faithful companion Nicholas. My gold was sewn up in my neck collar, the chain in my small clothes. In the way of luggage I had a small satchel containing a shirt and the poems composed by my brother at Spires and in Rome; slung across my shoulders I wore a kind of strap to which I tied my cloak in the day.

23 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER I

I am appointed Pomeranian Secretary--Something about my diurnal and nocturnal Journeys with the Chancellor--Missions in the Camps--Dangers in the Wake of the Army When I had recovered from the fatigue of my travels, I came to the conclusion that a life of monotony and frequent visits to the tavern were not at all to my taste. The day would come when I had a wife and children to maintain; I therefore wanted a means of livelihood. I voted for the scribal occupation, and had recourse to the influen

31 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER II

A Twelve Months' Stay at Augsburg during the Diet--Something about the Emperor and Princes--Sebastian Vogelsberg--Concerning the Interim--Journey to Cologne On July 27, 1547, I dismounted at an inn in the wine market at Augsburg. The host was a person of consideration, and endowed with good sense; he was a master of one of the corporations. The latter had administered the city's affairs for more than a century. During a similar number of years the corporations of Nuremberg had ceded their power

49 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER III

How I held for two Years the Office of Solicitator at the Imperial Chamber at Spires--Visit to Herr Sebastian Münster--Journey to Flanders--Character of King Philip--I leave the Princes' Service As soon as my nomination was drawn up, I was dispatched with it to Chancellor Citzewitz, at his estate of Muttrin, near Dantzig. The principal personages of the land had come to consult him, and he kept me for more than ten days with him in excellent company, making me share their favourite recreation, a

32 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER I

Arrival at Greifswald--Betrothal and Marriage--An old Custom--I am in Peril--Martin Weyer, Bishop I reached Greifswald on January 1, 1551, at nightfall. I was thirty years old. After I had written to Stralsund for my parents' consent, and had conferred with my Greifswald relatives and those of my future wife, the invitations for the betrothal were sent out on both sides. On January 5, in the chapel of the Grey Friars, at eight in the morning, Master Matthew Frubose made a solemn promise to give

12 minute read

Read Chapter

CHAPTER II

Severe Difficulties after my Marriage--My Labours and Success as a Law-Writer and Notary, and subsequently as a Procurator--An account of some of the Cases in which I was engaged I trust my children may be enabled to read the following attentively and remember the same as my justification. They will learn that I devoted every moment to my work, and avoided all useless expense, that I kept away from the tavern, went but rarely to weddings or banquets, and only entertained guests when not to do so

54 minute read

Read Chapter

THE END

Aarschot, 273 Acquapendente, xx. 5, 151, 171 Aepinus, Johannes, 39, 249 Affenstein, Ritter Wolf von, 246 Agricola, Johannes, 246 Aix-la-Chapelle, 19, 254, 255 Albrecht, Duke of Mecklenburg, 63, 64, 72, 80, 107, 231 Alexander III., 96 Algau, 192, 221 Alpinus, Johannes, 12 Alsace, 223 Alsen, Island of, 63 Altenkirchen, 40 Altenkuke, Heinrich, 187 Altingk, Johannes, 45, 46 Werner, 45 Alva, Duke of, 216, 218 Amandus, Dr. Johannes, xv., 20 Ammeister, 264 Amsterdam, 3 Anclam, 1 Ancona, xx. 146, 147 An

27 minute read

Read Chapter