^x THE EARLIEST NEWSPAPER PRINTED, THE RUSSIAN INVASION OF POLAND IN 1563. An Exact Facsimile, and a full Translation into English. Published at I ouay. Only 250 Copies Pr-"i'ed. CHATTO & VVINDUS, 1874. n ^» Convent of tKc odcred lledrt iHenlo lark, Cdiiiornia AN EARLY NEWS-SHEET. A.D. 1563. [Only 250 copies printed.] / AN ^ARLY NEIVS-SHEET . THE RUSSIAN INVASION OF POLAND IN 1563. AN EXACT FACSIMILE OF A CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNT IN LATIN, PUBLISHED AT DOUAY. TOGETHER WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL NOTES, AND A FULL TRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH. LONDON: CHATTO AND WINDUS, PUBLISHERS. 1874. 5±i. CHISWICK PRESS : — PRINTED BY WHITTINGHAM AND WII.KINS, TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE. INTRODUCTION. HIS tiny volume is interefting, amongft other things, as being a fpecimen of thofe early printed news-fheets which were the precurfors of modern jour- nalifm. After the invention of printing, the prefs was foon employed as a difleminator of current news. Religious difputations were the principal topics in the early part of the fixteenth century, and therefore we find the pamphlets of the time — for thefe were the firft news-{heets — moftly occupied with the argu- ments and anathemas of the reformers of Northern 6 An Early News- Sheet. Europe, and the Catholics of the South. Some very early tra£ts, giving nev^^s of a more fecular character, have recently been found in Germany ; and Seiior de Gayangos, of the Efcurial in Madrid, informs me that Spain had news-fheets of a date quite as early as any which have yet been recorded by Italian and German bibliographers. To Venice is generally accredited the earlieft newfpaper. Its commercial pofition, in the early part of the fixteenth century — great, although fomevi^hat on the decline from its previous fplendour when a branch of the Medici family refided there — rendered the diflemination of news neceflary for the trade of the city. The fhips of Venice then covered all the feas which were counted as within the confines of the habitable globe ; although fcarcely a month pafled but fomeadventurous captain would ftray beyond the limits defined in his rude chart, and bring back with him to Venice the news of another land-difcovery in the far Weft or in the far South. The arrival of the fhip in the IntroduBion. 7 Adriatic, the contents of its cargo, the price of com- modities abroad, together with fome account of the new ifland/ its wonderful people and marvellous produdls, would form the ftaple of the news-fheet of the hour. This document was in manufcript. ' The earlieft accounts of the difcoveries of Columbus were given in little books of a few pages, very fimilar to thofe quaint eight-page relations of our own Civil War, which recorded the defeat at Nafeby, the victory at Edgehill, the death of Charles outfide Whitehall, and the other great events of the hour. It is a lingular fa6l that the fubftance of all thefe "re- lations," whether a barn be burnt " by accident of a foldier's fireing," or 5,000 men flain and half a town levelled to the ground, was invariably given in eight pages of fmall quarto. In turning over a bundle of thefe "Intelligencers," it is amufing to note that when the newfmonger was more ignorant than ufual, and could neither find words to amplify his material, nor any additional news to infert, he generally gave the fub- ftance of the firft page over again on the laft, enforcing it with repeated ejaculations of " may the Lord help us," " O tnill in God, ye hypocrites," " may the ever-blefled God allilt us all," " Amen, Amen," and fuch like. 8 ^n Early News- Sheet. written in a legible hand, and copies were affixed here and there at different points of the city — the news-iooms^ — for the immediate perufal of thofe merchants who chofe to pay a gazzetta^ for the reading. In 1536 the Venetian poffeffions and fadtories in the Eall: were attacked by the Turks, who at this period were very powerful, and in clofe alliance with Francis the Firft of France. As may be imagined, the people of Venice were extremely anxious to hear the news from the fleet ; fo the firft regular monthly journal was eftablifhed by the government to fupply this information, and men were paid to read the particulars at the principal points of the city. But the heads of the Republic were fearful of the fpread of falfe news and opinions dangerous to their pofition, fo they ordained that no (heets ' An obfolete Venetian coin, equal in value to one-third of our penny. Jnt7'odu5iion. 9 ftiould be iffued but fuch as were faiKSlioned by the Doge and his Council. Thefe fun6tionaries, liberal in many things, were yet very jealous of the printing- prefs ; and it was nearly fifty years after this time that the firfl: printed newfpaper was publifhed in the city under official authority. A traveller informs us that fo recently as the beginning of the prefent century manufcript news-fheets were in circulation amongft the poorer clafTes of Venice. The origin of the now univerfal term Gazette is thus feen to have come— and very naturally — from the fmall coin originally paid for its perufal. Blount, in his Glojfographia^ publifhed in 1656, gives the following definitions to the word : — " Gazzetta. — A ceitain Venetian coin, fcarce worth one farthing; alfo, abill of news, or fhort relation of the occurrences ot the time, printed mod commonly at Venice, and thence dif- perfed every month into moft parts of Chriftendom." At this date the Venice "Gazette" had evidently become a widely-circulated journal of confiderable lo Aji Early News-Sheet. importance, prefenting its readers with news of a much more general chara6ter than the mere local affairs of the city where it was iflued. Blount's ftatement that the "Gazzetta" was read everymonth in moft parts of Chriftendom, receives corroboration from our own "Diurnals" and "Weekly Intelli- gencers" of the Civil War period. In a great many of them we find " Newes from Venice," "The Gaz-zette from Venice," "Our News Letter from Venice," &c. M. Libri pofleffed four old news (heets : — Avvisi di Giaverino con Narrazione del Campo Chriftiano e Turchefco, 4to. {on t/ie title a ^woodcut 'vie--w). Fiorenza, 1594. Aviso nuova della Preia della Cella chiamata la Maometta in Barberia, 4to. Roma, 1602. Relazione della Prejfa d'Agliman in Caramania, &c., 410. Fiorenza, 1 6 1 3 . NuovA e vera Relazione di Quanto e Succeflb tra I'Armata Maritima di Venezia e li Corfari di Barberia con la tolta De- ftruzione di eflTi Corfari, 410. (nvoodcut on title). Roma, 1638, IntrodtiBion. 1 1 In reference to them this diftinguifhed biblio- grapher gives the following note in his catalogue : — *' Four curious early News-Letters, the prototypes of the fubfequent Newfpapers or Gazettes, a name erroneoufly fuppofed to have been given to them from the commencement, which, however, was not the cafe, as they derived it from the 'Gazetta,' the fmall coin ufually paid for their perufal." With all due deference to the bibliographical knowledge of the writer, I muft here exprefs a contrary opinion. The fadl of a "Gazetta" having been printed in 15 70, which is preferved in the Britifh Mufeum, at once fets afide the conclufion, too quickly arrived at, that a newfpaper of 1594- 1602 was not fo ftyled. Apart from this we have plenty of other proof. An acknowledged fuccefs is invariably copied or caricatured in one way or another. Amongll the other printed trifles which appeared under the title of Gazette, foon after the Venice newfpapers were printed, we find : 12 An "Early News- Sheet. La Gazette. ■ La Gazette en ces vers Contente les cervelles, Car de tout I'univers Elle re^oit nouvelles. Paris^ jouxte la copie irnprjmee a Rouen, par Jean Petit ^ 1609.^ There were alfo : — Gazette fur la culbute des coyons. A Montalhan^ 161 7. La Gazette franfoife pour le temps prefent. Troyes^ 1622. ' Brunei fays of this: — "Volume peu comnnin, qui contient, independamment du programme d'une Gazette fatirique en vers, deux autres fatires dont voici les litres: Les ballieurs (balayeurs) des ordures du T7ionde, et la Cahalle des matois, plus un Difcours de la mode et higarrure du monde, et Les joyeux et attrijlez par la Blanque." — (Voir fur ce petit recueil la Bibliot/ieque poetique lie Viollet-Ie-Duc, p. 349.) Introdudlion. 1 3 La Gazette des Halles. 1649. The title was alfo a common one for pamphlets in this country. Thus we have: — The Gazette of Health. Lond. 1635. The new Gazette, or a perfe6l Relation of af- faires from abroad. 1638. Maffinger, too, ufes the word to indicate a coin of trifling value : — " Since you have faid the word I am content, But will not go a gazet lefs." — Maid of Honour , in. i. Thefe adoptions of the Venetian title only ferve to fhow the popularity which attended the Italian newfpaper. It feems probable that the term Gazette, or " Gazzetta," was for a long time peculiar to the Venice newfpapers, and that the temporary recitals. 14 ^f^ Early News-Sheet. or news-fheets, of other towns, merely gave a pithy title, or fenfational heading, to attract the neceffary attention. "Mercuries," "Advices," "Journals," "News" or "Novelties," "Relations," "Diaries," "Summaries," "News Letters," "Chronicles," with many other titles of a more fanciful chara6ter, appear to have been the earlieft attractive headings of ancient newfpapers iflued in this country and on the Continent. In the famous Magliabechian Library at Florence, thirty volumes of manufcript Gazzettas, ifTued at Venice in the fixteenth century, are preferved. In our own Britifh Mufeum fome of thefe Italian news- ftieets may be found, and the oldefl printed one amongft them bears, as was remarked above, the date of 1570. It will be feen that the little news-fheet here reproduced in facfimile gives a date feven years earlier than this. The reader will pleafe to remark the thoroughly "penny-a-line" charader of the pro- dudtion, the want of fufficient news to eke out the Introduclion. 15 four pages, and therefore the diitance apart of each paragraph, the great ornament at the end, and the arrangement of dots at the beginning to aflift in filling up. J. C. H. [Translation.] Memorable and likewife Horrible Narrative of the Cruel Rxpedition of the Mufcovites. Translated from the German into Latin. HE Army of the Mufcovite, fome weeks ago, invaded the territory of the Pole, and after fix brave afl'aults, carried the City of Polotzlci or Plefki by ftorm, (a town of Lithuania at a diftance of feventeen miles from the deferts,) the which they plundered, and, putting fire to it, levelled with the ground ; and B 1 8 All Early News-Sheet. from that place they ordered twenty thoufand people, firft to have their arms and legs chopped off", and then to be ftrangled, a frightful fpedlacle to behold ! No words can exprefs the outrages they committed upon Matrons, Maidens and Children : fixty-two thoufand and more people from that neighbourhood were lead into Mufcovia ; Matrons and Maidens were ftripped naked and (when they were naked and without any garment) they were led chained into captivity. Amongft thofe that were carried off was likewife the Wayn'oda of the Lithuanian Milice, otherwife the leader of their army, with his wife, whofe life the enemy had fpared. And this matter threw fuch an exceeding terror into the whole of this province, that Sir Nicholas Radziwit, who was accounted the firft among the Lithuanian Chieftains, quitted his eftates on his own account, leaving them either to the fafe keeping of his friends or as a prey to his enemies. This fuccefs of their affairs ftill increafed the Tranjlation. 1 9 valour of the barbarous and, by their cruelty, already too formidable enemy. Anon they hurried to the aflault of the town of KiofF, fituated in another diftridt of Poland ; the which town, becaufe it is fituated on the river Dnieper, feemed moft oppor- tune to them for cutting off the provifions from the whole of that diftri6i;, whereby the enemy hoped, that by thefe means it would come to pafs, that all the other places in the neighbourhood, as in the former expedition, would fall into their hands, and become their property, for evermore. For this reafon they began by fending before them four thoufand of the fix thoufand Tartars which were among them, into the deferts and wildernefles, who were to deftroy every thing far and near by fire and by fword, up to the very walls of the City; imagining, perchance, that after having vifited that whole diftricl with fuch a calamity, they would meet with the fame good fortune in the fiege of this town as they had done before. 20 An Early News- Sheet. Amongft other things moft dreadful to relate, the Mufcovite fent word unto the Polifli king, that he carried about with his army a Bier, fuch as thofe ufed in burying the dead, which was made of filver, and that he did not mean to make peace with him, until either the King's or his own head were placed on that Bier. The army with which the Mufcovite makes this plundering expedition, amounts (if report be true) to two hundred and fixty thoufand men and more. May the moft good and moft great God preferve us from fuch a furious and cruel enemy, and inftil the right wifdom into thofe Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, who have the government in their hands, and may He inftil into the whole of Europe fuch counfels as be moft proper to revenge the enormity of this crime and to drive away thofe pefts! NOTES. 5HE Czar at that time on the throne of Ruflia was Ivan IV. Bafilowitch, furnamed "the Terrible," who was one of thofe curfes fent into the world, decked in imperial purple, for no other apparent reafon but to make their fubjedts miferable. He fucceeded his father in 1533 ; the opening ten years of his reign he was a minor, and therefore could only fliow juft enough of his temper to awaken the darkcfl: forebodings in the hearts of thofe over whom he was one day to have an unlimited fway. The firft three years after he took up the reins of government, he fully realized all thofe anticipations. But all at once a change came over him. At the age of feventeen the voice of religion and humanity found its way into his heart, and for thirteen years a Trajan was feated on the throne of Ruffia, fo that 22 A?i Early News- Sheet. his fame I'pread abroad, and he was bleffed by thofe he reigned over. On the 7th of Auguit, 1560, tlie Czarina Anaftafia died. She had been the good angel of Ruffia, and with her life the happy period of his reign came to a clofe. Seven years before, the Czar had been vifited by a fevere illnefs, which no doubt had left the germ of that terrible madnefs which the lofs of his wife, whom he dearly loved, fully developed. From that moment he entered on a career of guilt, crime, and recklefs cruelty, which was never furpaffed by the darkeft pages in the life of Tiberius or of Nero. Some of his friends and counfellors, hoping that the foftcning influence of a fpoufe might curb the devil who now pofTeffed the Czar, propofed a fecond marriage, and Catherine, filler of Sigifmund Auguft, King of Poland, was afkcd to fharc his throne. Old chroniclers tell us that the fair lady refufed with contempt, and fent him a white mare in her place. ^ ' " Liefz der Ruflen Czaar Jwan Bafilowiz um die Polnifche Printzefzin Catherinam ehelich vverbenj an ihre Statt bekam er aber ein aufzgeputzts weifles Mutter Pferd von den Polen gefchickt, welches ihn fehr verdrofz." — Curieufes Gefchichts- Kalender, darinnen die inerknAiurdigjlen Gefchichte des Grofs- Fiirjientkums Rujland etc. forgejMtet nverden. Leipzig. 1697. Notes. 2 3 Thisinfult rankled in the brcallof the paffionatc man, and the dogs of war were flipped to avenge the flighted fuitor. Shortly before that time, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, difl'atisfied with its connexion with the German Empire, had detached itfelf from that ftatc, and chofcn Sigifmund Auguft as its protedor and mailer; that annexation gave a plaufible pretext for war, and the doomed province of Lithuania was invaded. On the 1 5th of February, i 563, the wealthy and thriving commercial town of Polotzko was invelled by an army of 300,000 men; great numbers were killed in the afiault, and 80,000 prilbners were carried off, befides immenfc treafures.* The barbarous details of the opening of this campaign are given in this prototype of "our fpecial correfpond- cnts." Hiftory is but fliort and dry upon the whole of this war, and informs us in a few words, that in 1563 the Ruffian General Peter Iwanowitz Chouifkoi' was de- feated at Eynaika by Nicholas Radzivit ; that in 1564 an ' " Ift hierauf mit dreymal hundert taufend Mann vor die grofle Litthanifche Stadt Polotzko gelcommen und lelbige ohne groffe Miihe erobert, auch ohne die fehr viel niedergefebelte viber achzig taufend Menfchen gefangen fammt groflem Reich- thum hinweggefiihrt." — Ibidem. 5110 24 An Early News- Sheet. army of 70,000 Poles, commanded by Kourbfky and Rad- zivit, invaded Ruffia from the fide of Polofk, whilft Dcwlct Gherai", Khan of the Crimea, at the head of 60,000 Tartars, penetrated into the province of Riaifan; after an unfuccefsful fiege of the capital of that province, the Khan retreated on receiving the news that the Ruffians were preparing to attack him. The expedition commanded by Kourbfki and Rad- zivit was equally unfuccefsful, and the following year an armiflice was concluded for three years. Neither of the two powers had obtained any advantage, but thoufands of houfes were defolate, and thoufands of families had a gap in them. And the Poles then as now were a pitiful inftance of the truth of Virgil's line: **Quidquid delirant reges, pleftuntur Achivi." CHISWICK PRESS : PRINTED BY WHITTINGHAM AND WILKINS, TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE. MEMORABILIS. Etperindeftupendade cru DELI MOSCOVITARVM Expeditione narratio , e Germanico inLatinum conuerfa. DVAC I. Ex T/jpographia lacobi 3ofcardiy Ty^ographl lurat'i "E^gice Maiejiatis, MEMORABILISETP ERTNDE ftupendadeMofcouitarumexpeditione narraao , e Germamco m Latintim. conucrfii. \/f Ofcouitarum exercitus fuperioribus fepti- manisagrumPolonicu inuafit, &Polotz- >^, alias PlefKJ (^Lituani« oppidum , quod fede- cim miliaribus a deiertis {i turn e(i ) validifsima manu.fexincurfionibusexpugnauitjdiripuitjSc dimirsis ignibus folo equauit ;" eoque loci fupra viginti hominum milia,trifliadmodum Ipeda- culo primum demenbrari , ac poA Arangulari iufsit. Nee vllis fane verbis queat expnmi,quata in Matronas,in Virgines,in Pueros.Tyrannide grafTatusfit. E propinquis & vicinis inde locis fexaginta & amplius hominum milia in Molco uiam abduxit : Matronas &i Virgines veftibus exuit,&c omnes (vti nudae, ac /ine amicflu erantj vindas in captiuitatem abftraxit. Inter alios ve- roducebatur &Lituanic£e militias Vvaynoda feu duxexercitus,cum vxore, quibus hoftis vi- tamcondonauerat. r^ Vae res tarn magnam toti illi Prouinci» tre- ^pidationem iniecit , vt Dominus Nicolaus Kadtziuit Lituanise Regulorum facile princeps terris fuis fponte exce/Terit, omnemque imperij fui agrum , feuamicis{euKoftibuspra?d«reli- querit. pJlcrerum fuccefTus bofti Barbaro & nimia immanitate formidabili animos addidit. Moxque KioiF alias in Polonia ciuitatem ag- gredi Fedinauit. Quae Ciuitas quia ad flumen Borifchene fita&adcomeatum toti illi plag» fubtrahendumjuifa eft op'ortuniisima, futurum fperabat hoftis,vt bac ratione facile cetera om- nia vicina&propinqua loca,perindevt fuperi- ore expeditione fuae poteftatis fiiique mancipij faceret. TTac^ueante omnia ^ fexmillibus Tartarorum quos {ecum habebat quadringenta milia in de ferta &.{blituclines praemifitqui omnia lonee la teq; v{que ad ipfam Ciuitatem flamma & terro vaftarent. Ratus fore vt poftquam hac calami- tate totumeum agrum afflixilTetin huius ciui- tatis oppugnatione pari {uccefTa & fortunaqua hacflenus vteretur. Inter alia vero relatu triftifsima , Mofcoulta Regi Poloniae ab (enunciari iuisit , qu6dipre Capulum, qao mortuiefTerri folent, eum<^; ar- genteum,cum Caftris circumueheret , nee ante ingratiamcum eoredireconftituifTet^quamaut ipiius Regis, aut fuum proprium caput illi fer- culoforet impofitum. yrXercitus quo Mofcouita in Kac expedition populaturC/i vera eft fam &) e(i fexaginta de centorum milium, & amplius virorum. TQEus Opt. Ma^j^.Tiunctamfaeuum & crude- lem hoftem a nobis auertat, Et Principibus in Sacro Romano imperio fumma rerum tenentibus bonam mentem,totique Europae con{iIia quasc^; ad banc fcelerum immanitatem vindicandam & ad has pe- des propulfandas , {alubria fint immitat. THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. IPIII'll AA 000 774 068 i