s, who all
lived together in the great castle) long refused; they represented that
their ancestors had been faithful vassals; they had served the Electors
with blood and treasure; they wished "to remain in the pleasant place to
which they had been assigned by God Almighty." It was all of no use; the
Prince insisted, and his wrath was dangerous. The Bismarcks gave in;
they surrendered Burgstall and received in exchange Schoenhausen and
Crevisse, a confiscated nunnery, on condition that as long as the
ejected nuns lived the new lords should support them; for which purpose
the Bismarcks had annually to supply a certain quantity of food and
eighteen barrels of beer.

Of the four co-proprietors, all died without issue, except Friedrich,
called the Permutator, in whose hands the whole of the family property
was again collected; he went to live at Schoenhausen, which since then
has been the home of the family. No remains of the old castle exist, but
the church, built in the thirteenth century, is one of the oldest and
most beautiful in the land between the Havel and the Elbe. House and
church stand side by side on a small rising overlooking the Elbe. Here
they took up their abode; the family to some extent had come down in the
world. The change had been a disadvantageous one; they had lost in wealth
and importance. For two hundred years they played no very prominent part;
they married with the neighbouring country gentry and fought in all the
wars. Rudolph, Friedrich's son, fought in France in behalf of the
Huguenots, and then under the Emperor against the Turks. His grandson,
August, enlisted under Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar; afterwards he fought in
the religious wars in France and Germany, always on the Protestant
side; lastly, he took service under the Elector of Brandenburg.

It was in his lifetime that a great change began to take place which was
to alter the whole life of his descendants. In 1640, Frederick William,
known as the great Elector, succeeded his father. He it was who laid the
foundations for that system of government by which a small German
principality has grown to be the most powerful military monarchy in
modern Europe. He held his own against the Emperor; he fought with the
Poles and compelled their King to grant him East Prussia; he drove the
Swedes out of the land. More than this, he enforced order in his own
dominions; he laid the foundation for the prosperity of Berlin; he
organised the administration an