CHAP. X.

MIDDLE AGES.

241

Panonias; the Upper containing the present pro-vinces of Carniola, Carinthia , and the greaterpart of Austria , and the Lower comprehendingBosnia, Sclavonia , and that part of modernHungary which lies beyond the Danube .

There are different opinions respecting thecommencement of mining operations at Chem-nitz and Kremnitz . Ferber 1 , in his work on themines of Hungary, dates the opening of Chem-nitz in 745, and that of Kremnitz in 77 O;whereas George Agricola, who was himself chiefdirector of the mines, as well as burgomaster ofChemnitz , and eminently skilled in mineralogy,in his work entitled -‘De Re metallica, ” pub-lished in 1561, carries the renewal of theseworks back to a date nearly one hundred yearsearlier. Though the simple fact of these minesbeing opened at an early period is related, thereare no records that can lead to a judgment ofthe extent of the operations, or of the portionof metallic wealth they yielded. Ferber, him-self a Saxon , says they were probably workedby natives of Saxony . They were, however,obstructed, and the works destroyed, in 1442,by the Bishop of Erlau , who, at the head offour thousand Poles, took possession of them 2 .

1 See Ferber iiber die Gebirge und Bergwerke in Ungarn .Berlin, 1730.

2 There are no statistical accounts till the year 1690, whena great increase is said to have taken place in the quantity of

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