A Glimpse into the Seismicity of the Ionian Islands Between 1658 and 1664 - Historical Seismology: Interdisciplinary Studies of Past and Recent Earthquakes - page 46

I Christoff Freyherr von Degenfeldt started from Durnau, and finished in the year
1670, of what happened during such procedures and what else of remarkable I have
seen] (Degenfeld, 1670 ca ).
The author did not divide the manuscript into sections, but chose instead a con-
tinuous writing. When one gets rid of the difficulties in reading its writing and
language, this manuscript appears quite clearly as the result of the juxtaposition
of two quite different items:
1) a diary, or better a travelogue, from fol. 1 to fol. 710, adorned and enriched
by about 150 drawings of the visited places. This is the incipit: “ Im Jahr 1661
nach Christi Unsers Erloser geburth den 12 Martij Stil: Vet: bin ich Von Durnau
in Schwaben, als eines meines herren Vatteren seeligen hinderlassenen guth,
fruhe morgens nach dem ich Von denen damahlen anwesenden geschwistrigen
abschiedt genohmen, abgereyset, Undt um 9 Uhren zu Altenstatt einem Almis-
chen Flecken so nur zwey meyl Von Durnau, angelangt umb mich von daraus auf
die Post gegen Venedig zu begeben, und bin auch noch selbigen Tag uber Ulm bis
nach Dillerdissen ” [In the year 1661 A.D. on 12 March Old Style I departed from
Durnau in Schwaben, one of the manors left by my father, early in the morning
after I took leave from the siblings at that time present, I arrived at Altenstatt
which lies two miles away from Durnau at 9 o'clock, to make my way from
here to the post towards Venice, and I travelled also on the same day via Ulm to
Dillerdissen] (Degenfeld and von, 1670 ca ). For more than 700 pages, Christoff
describes his journeys from Germany to Istria, the Eastern Adriatic coast, the
Italian peninsula, back to the southernmost part of the Eastern Adriatic coast,
the Ionian Sea, and Crete, eventually (March 1661-January 1667);
2) for the remaining two hundred written folios, the text changes into a daily war
report of the 1667-1669 Venetian military campaign in Crete, in the war against
the Turks for the possession of the island. There are no more drawings, the writ-
ing becomes smaller and denser (especially with fol. 770), and abruptly ends
on fol. 888 with the notation “3 July 1669”. The opening of this part contains
details on army batteries and battalion, and on the military operations. Apart
from the total absence of illustrations, the style does not change much from the
previous part.
As for the information about the earthquakes, it has to be unwaveringly looked for,
as it is hidden among the lot of, sometimes second and third hand, news on the places
he went visiting during his quite amazing and ante litteram Grand Tour. Scattered in
the manuscript, there are short, and sometimes inexact, references to earthquakes.
For instance, Degenfeld mentions the one that, in his opinion, determined the actual
shape of the island of Thira/Santorini around 1500 B.C. (fol. 683).
But what makes this manuscript of utter importance to the time-span and area
investigated in this paper, is that Christoff is an eyewitness of an earthquake se-
quence occurred in Zakynthos in March 1662. The pages preceding his testimony
contain plenty of information on his way to Zakynthos, where he got on 24 February
1662, around noon (fol. 26). After describing the island and its main town, and the
high-society style of life he is enjoying (fol. 29), he devotes one and a half page