The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• The Thomas Hollis Library
• Introduction
• Robert Molesworth and Gothic Liberty
• The Life
• The Ideas
• The History and Reception of the Texts
• Editorial Apparatus
• Bibliographical Descriptions Editions, Translations, and Extracts, 1694–1789
• English Editions
• European Editions 1
• Textual Policy
• Italics
• Spelling and Footnotes
• List of Sources
• Further Reading
• Acknowledgments
• An Account of Denmark
• The Preface
• Chapter I: Of the Territories Belonging to the King of Denmark, and Their Situation
• Chapter II: Of Denmark In Particular, and the Island of Zealand
• Chapter III: Of the Sound
• Chapter IV: Of the Other Islands, and Jutland
• Chapter V: Of the Rest of the King of Denmark’s Countries
• Chapter VI: Of Their Form of Government
• Chapter VII: The Manner How the Kingdom of Denmark Became Hereditary and Absolute
• Chapter VIII: The Condition, Customs, and Temper of the People
• Chapter IX: Of the Revenue
• Chapter X: Of the Army, Fleet, and Fortresses
• Chapter XI: Of the Court
• Chapter XII: The Disposition and Inclinations of the King of Denmark Towards His Neighbours
• Chapter XIII: The Manner of Dispossessing, and Restoring the Duke of Holstein Gottorp
• Chapter XIV: The Interests of Denmark In Relation to Other Princes
• Chapter XV: Of the Laws, Courts of Justice, Etc.
• Chapter XVI: The State of Religion, of the Clergy, and Learning, Etc.
• The Conclusion
• Francogallia, Or an Account of the Ancient Free State of France
• The Preface to the Reader 1
• The Translator’s Preface 3
• A Short Extract of the Life of Francis Hotoman, Taken Out of Monsieur Bayle’ S Historical Dictionary and Other Authors.
• Explication of the Roman Names Mention’d By Hotoman
• The Author’s Preface
• Chapter I: The State of Gaul, Before It Was Reduced Into a Province By the Romans
• Chapter II: Probable Conjectures Concerning the Ancient Language of the Gauls
• Chapter III: The State of Gaul, After It Was Reduced Into the Form of a Province By the Romans
• Chapter IV: Of the Original of the Franks; Who Having Possessed Themselves of Gallia, Changed Its Name Into That of Francia, Or Francogallia
• Chapter V: Of the Name of the Franks, and Their Sundry Excursions; and What Time They First Began to Establish a Kingdom In Gallia
• Chapter VI: Whether the Kingdom of Francogallia Was Hereditary Or Elective; and the Manner of Making Its Kings
• Chapter VII: What Rule Was Observ’d Concerning the Inheritance of the Deceased King, When He Left More Children Than One
• Chapter VIII: Of the Salick Law, and What Right Women Had In the King ’s Their Father’s Inheritance
• Chapter IX: Of the Right of Wearing a Large Head of Hair Peculiar to the Royal Family
• Chapter X: The Form and Constitution of the Francogallican Government
• Chapter XI: Of the Sacred Authority of the Publick Council; and What Affairs Were Wont to Be Transacted Therein
• Chapter XII: Of the Kingly Officers, Commonly Call’d Mayors of the Palace
• Chapter XIII: Whether Pipin Was Created King By the Pope Or By the Authority of the Francogallican Council
• Chapter XIV: Of the Constable, and Peers of France
• Chapter XV: Of the Continued Authority and Power of the Sacred Council, During the Reign of the Carolingian Family
• Chapter XVI: Of the Capetian Race, and the Manner of Its Obtaining the Kingdom of Francogallia
• Chapter XVII: Of the Uninterrupted Authority of the Publick Council During the Capetian Race
• Chapter XVIII: Of the Remarkable Authority of the Council Against Lewis the Eleventh
• Chapter XIX: Of the Authority of the Assembly of the States Concerning the Most Important Affairs of Religion 97
• Chapter XX: Whether Women Are Not As Much Debarred (by the Francogallican Law) From the Administration, As From the Inheritance of the Kingdom
• Chapter XXI: Of the Juridical Parliaments In France
• Some Considerations For the Promoting of Agriculture and Employing the Poor
• To the Gentlemen of the Honourable House of Commons of Ireland
• Some Considerations For the Promoting of Agriculture, Etc.
• Appendix 1
• Selected Sources Cited In Francogallia
• Loeb Classical Library
• Appendix 2
• Ordonnance Pour Les Rangs Du Royaume De Danemarck

TEXTUAL POLICY

The intention has been to produce an edition of Molesworth’s major political writings that is accurate yet easily accessible to modern readers. The text has been modernized only in minor respects. Capitalization has generally been retained according to the original printed editions. Significant adjustment has been made to typographical layout: section titles, running heads, catchwords, and original pagination have been retained only where judged significant for authorial meaning or contemporary readings.

For the Account, which went into six editions—three published during Molesworth’s life—I have taken the third corrected edition as the copy text. The 1738 edition (owned by Thomas Hollis) was also collated, and some corrections of punctuation and spelling have been silently adopted from this edition (most commonly the replacement of a semicolon with a full stop).

Italics

In the original printed editions of the Account and Francogallia, italics were used for proper names, foreign language phrases, and terms under discussion, such as “Cologne” or “publick.” Quotations and paraphrases from other works were sometimes given in italics: the present edition abandons this practice in favor of using quotation marks where possible for citations. Italics for proper names and place names have been preserved where significant.

Spelling and Footnotes

This edition has preserved the irregular orthography of Molesworth’s day, including that of proper names and place names, except where there are clear mistakes (and these have been silently corrected). Spellings in old style have been retained: for example, chuse, compleat, shew, publick (and other –ck endings); similarly, words with contracted –ed endings have been retained, but those like rendred have silently become “rendered.”

Other silent adjustments to spelling and grammar have been made for clarity’s sake: for example, square brackets denote the inclusion of footnotes and words not in the original. Latin phrases have been reproduced as in the original (also italicized).

In this edition of Francogallia all instances of “Capevingian” have been replaced with the more modern “Capetian,” and “Carlovingian” with “Carolingian.”

Unless stated otherwise, all translations are by the editor.