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• Introduction
• A Note On the Text
• Acknowledgments
• The Present State of Germany
• Pufendorf’s Preface to the First Edition of 1667 1
• Preface to the Second Edition (1706) 1
• A Letter of Monsieur Mézeray Concerning the Manuscript On the State of the German Empire, Written to a Bookseller of Paris. 1
• To the Reader
• Chapter I: Of the Origine of the German Empire.
• Chapter II: Of the Members of Which the Present German Empire Is Composed .
• Chapter III: Of the Origine of the States of the Empire, and By What Degrees [ Stages ] They Arrived to That Power They Now Have.
• Chapter IV: Of the Head of the German Empire, the Emperor; and of the Election and the Electors .
• Chapter V: Of the Power of the Emperor, As It Now Stands Limited By Treaties; and the Laws and Customs of the Empire; and the Rights of the States of Germany.
• Chapter VI: Of the Form of the German Empire. 1
• Chapter VII: Of the Strength and Diseases of the German Empire.
• Chapter VIII: [of the German State-interest.] a

A NOTE ON THE TEXT

In addition, there are other, minor, changes to Bohun’s text (made in the interest of readability), though the translation and punctuation remain substantially intact. In all cases, corrections, clarifications, and alternative renditions are clearly noted, appearing in the text between special symbols, and in the footnotes at the bottom of each page. The following markers are used:

Editorial footnotes are of two kinds. Lettered notes deal with textual matters; numbered notes clarify content. Some notes also contain editorial explanations, placed there to avoid having two notes at the same spot in the text. Bohun’s shoulder (margin) notes (six in all), which were originally indicated in the text by single asterisks, have been moved to the footnote area and the asterisks replaced by lowercase Roman numerals in parentheses (e.g., ⁽ⁱ⁾). The shoulder headings are Bohun’s; however, all paragraph divisions, except for numbered sections, are mine (often following previous editions and translations). I have also expanded abbreviations, standardized internal numerations, added numbers (i.e., §1) to the first section of each chapter (to match the remaining sections), and corrected obvious typographical errors. Page breaks in Bohun’s text have been indicated by the use of angle brackets. For example, page 112 begins after <112>.

In-text editorial emendations have been tailored to the diction, structure, and flow of Bohun’s text. However, some of Bohun’s run-on sentences have been subdivided, typically by substituting periods in place of colons or semicolons and then capitalizing the next word in the text. Shorter clarifications or corrections to Bohun’s archaic and sometimes confusing translation have been placed in the text (within brackets); longer ones, in effect alternative renditions, appear in the footnotes (preceded by “Rather:”). These new translations, like the two prefaces and the e.p. insertions, do not attempt to imitate Bohun’s style or terminology but aim at accuracy, clarity, and usability by contemporary readers.