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FREAKS   OF  FANATICISM 


OTHER  STRANGE  EVENTS 


FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM 


OTHER  STRANGE  EVENTS 


;„ 


S.v  BARING-GOULD,,   M.A. 

I| 

AUTHOR  OF    "  MEHALAH,"    "  OLD  COUNTRY  LIFE,"    "HISTORIC   ODDITIES, 

"  SONGS   OF  THE  WEST,"  ETC. 


JSUtijtmt  Sc  Co. 

18,  BURY  STREET,  LONDON,  W.C. 
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Or 


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PREFACE. 


This  Volume,  that  originally  appeared  as  a  Second  Series 
to  "  Historic  Oddities  and  Strange  Events,"  is  now  issued 
under  a  new  title  which  describes  the  peculiar  nature  of  the 
majority  of  its  contents.  Several  of  the  articles  are  con- 
cerned with  the  history  of  mysticism,  a  phase  of  human 
nature  that  deserves  careful  and  closestudy.  Mysticism  is 
the  outbreak  in  man  of  a  spiritual  element  which  cannot  be 
ignored,  cannot  be  wholly  suppressed,  and  is  man's  noblest 
element  when  rightly  directed  and  balanced.  It  is  capable 
of  regulation,  but  unregulated,  it  may  become  even  a  mis- 
chievous faculty. 

When  •  the  Jews  are  being  expelled  from  Russia,  and 
are  regarded  with  bitter  hostility  in  other  parts  of  Eastern 
Europe,  the  article  on  the  accusations  brought  against  them 
may  prove  not  uninstructive  reading. 

There  is  political  as  well  as  religious  and  racial  fanaticism, 
and  the  story  of  the  "  Poisoned  Parsnips  "  illustrates  the 
readiness  with  which  false  accusations  against  political 
enemies  are  made  and  accepted  without  examination. 
"  Jean  Aymon  "  exhibits  the  same  unscrupulousness  where 
religious  passions  are  concerned.  The  curious  episode  to 
"  The  Northern  Raphael "  shows  the  craving  after  notoriety 
that  characterises  so  much  of  sentimental,  hysterical  piety. 

S.  Baring  Gould. 

Lew  Trenchard,  Devon, 
September  1st,  1891. 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

A  Swiss  Passion  Play i 

A  Northern  Raphael         -                -        -        -        -  39 

The  Poisoned  Parsnips       ------  fy 

The  Murder  of  Father  Thomas  in  Damascus      -  86 

Some  Accusations  against  Jews       -        -        -        -  107 

The  Coburg  Mausoleum -  120 

Jean  Aymon  -        -        -        -        -        -        -        -        -  129 

The  Patarines  of  Milan   ------  146 

The  Anabaptists  of  Munster 195 


FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 


H  Qvom  paesion  pla^. 

We  are  a  little  surprised,  and  perhaps  a  little 
shocked,  at  the  illiberality  of  the  Swiss  Government, 
in  even  such  Protestant  cantons  as  Geneva,  Zurich, 
and  Berne,  in  forbidding  the  performances  on  their 
ground  of  the  "  Salvation  Army,"  and  think  that  such 
conduct  is  not  in  accordance  with  Protestant  liberty 
of  judgment  and  democratic  independence.  But  the 
experiences  gone  through  in  Switzerland  as  in  Ger- 
many of  the  confusion  and  mischief  sometimes 
wrought  by  fanaticism,  we  will  not  say  justify,  but 
in  a  measure  explain,  the  objection  the  Government 
has  to  a  recrudescence  of  religious  mysticism  in  its 
more  flagrant  forms.  The  following  story  exempli- 
fies the  extravagance  to  which  such  spiritual  exalta- 
tion runs  occasionally — fortunately  only  occasionally. 
About  eight  miles  from  Schaffhausen,  a  little  way 
on  one  side  of  the  road  to  Winterthlir,  in  a  valley,  lies 
the  insignificant  hamlet  of  Wildisbuch,  its  meadows 
overshadowed  by  leafy  walnut  trees.  The  hamlet  is 
in  the  parish  of  Triillikon.  Here,  at  the  beginning  of 
this  century,  in  a  farmhouse,  standing  by  itself,  lived 
John  Peter,  a  widower,  with  several  of  his  children. 
He  had  but  one  son,  Caspar,  married  in  1812,  and 
divorced  from  his  wife  ;  he  was,  however,  blessed  with 
five  daughters — Barbara,  married  to  a  blacksmith  in 


2  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Triillikon  ;  Susanna,  Elizabeth,  Magdalena  married  to 
John  Moser,  a  shoemaker ;  and  Margaretta,  born  in 
1794,  his  youngest,  and  favourite  child.  Not  long 
after  the  birth  of  Margaretta,  her  mother  died,  and 
thenceforth  the  child  was  the  object  of  the  tenderest 
and  most  devoted  solicitude  to  her  sisters  and  to  her 
father,  Margaretta  grew  up  to  be  a  remarkable 
child.  At  school  she  distinguished  herself  by  her 
aptitude  in  learning,  and  in  church  by  the  devotion 
with  which  she  followed  the  tedious  Zwinglian 
service.  The  pastor  who  prepared  her  for  confirma- 
tion was  struck  by  her  enthusiasm  and  eagerness  to 
know  about  religion.  She  was  clearly  an  imaginative 
person,  and  to  one  constituted  as  she  was,  the  barn- 
like church,  destitute  of  every  element  of  beauty, 
studiously  made  as  hideous  as  a  perverse  fancy 
could  scheme,  and  the  sacred  functions  reduced  to 
utter  dreariness,  with  every  element  of  devotion 
bled  out  of  them,  were  incapable  of  satisfying  the 
internal  spiritual  fire  that  consumed  her. 

There  is  in  every  human  soul  a  divine  aspiration, 
a  tension  after  the  invisible  and  spiritual,  in  some 
more  developed  than  in  others,  in  certain  souls  ex- 
isting only  in  that  rudimentary  condition  in  which,  it 
is  said,  feet  are  found  in  the  eel,  and  eyes  in  the 
oyster,  but  in  others  it  is  a  predominating  faculty,  a 
veritable  passion.  Unless  this  faculty  be  given 
legitimate  scope,  be  disciplined  and  guided,  it  breaks 
forth  in  abnormal  and  unhealthy  manifestations.  We 
know  what  is  the  result  when  the  regular  action  ot 
the  pores  of  the  skin  is  prevented,  or  the  circulation 
of  the  blood   is  impeded.     Fever   and    hallucination 


A  S  W1SS  PASSION  PL  A  Y.  3 

ensue.  So  is  it  with  the  spiritual  life  in  man.  If 
that  be  not  given  free  passage  for  healthy  discharge 
of  its  activity,  it  will  resolve  itself  into  fanaticism, 
that  is  to  say  it  will  assume  a  diseased  form  of 
manifestation. 

Margaretta  was  far  ahead  of  her  father,  brother  and 
sisters  in  intellectual  culture,  and  in  moral  force  of 
character.  Susanna,  the  second  daughter  of  John  Peter, 
was  an  amiable,  industrious,  young  woman,  without 
independence  of  character.  The  third  daughter, 
Elizabeth,  was  a  quiet  girl,  rather  dull  in  brain  ; 
Barbara  was  married  when  Margaretta  was  only  nine, 
and  Magdalena  not  long  after ;  neither  of  them,  how- 
ever, escaped  the  influence  of  their  youngest  sister, 
who  dominated  over  their  wills  almost  as  completely 
as  she  did  over  those  of  her  two  unmarried  sisters, 
with  whom  she  consorted  daily. 

How  great  her  power  over  her  sisters  was  may  be 
judged  from  what  they  declared  in  after  years  in 
prison,  and  from  what  they  endured  for  her  sake. 

Barbara,  the  eldest,  professed  to  the  prison  chap- 
lain in  Zurich,  in  1823,  "I  am  satisfied  that  God 
worked  in  mighty  power,  and  in  grace  through 
Margaret,  up  to  the  hour  of  her  death."  The  father 
himself  declared  after  the  ruin  of  his  family  and  the 
death  of  two  of  his  daughters,  "  I  am  assured  that 
my  youngest  daughter  was  set  apart  by  God  for 
some  extraordinary  purpose." 

When  Margaret  was  six,  she  was  able  to  read  her 
Bible,  and  would  summon  the  family  about  her  to 
listen  to  her  lectures  out  of  the  sacred  volume.  She 
would  also  at  the  same  time  pray  with  great  ardour, 


4  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

and  exhort  her  father  and  sisters  to  lead  God-fearing 
lives.  When  she  read  the  narrative  of  the  Passion, 
she  was  unable  to  refrain  from  tears ;  her  emotion 
communicated  itself  to  all  assembled  round  her,  and 
the  whole  family  sobbed  and  prayed  aloud.  She 
was  a  veritable  "  ministering  child  "  to  her  household 
in  all  things  spiritual.  As  she  had  been  born  at 
Christmas,  it  was  thought  that  this  very  fact  indicated 
some  special  privilege  and  grace  accorded  to  her.  In 
181 1,  when  aged  seventeen,  she  received  her  first  com- 
munion and  edified  all  the  church  with  the  unction 
and  exaltation  of  soul  with  which  she  presented 
herself  at  the  table.  In  after  years  the  pastor  of 
Trullikon  said  of  her,  "  Unquestionably  Margaretta 
was  the  cleverest  of  the  family.  She  often  came  to 
thank  me  for  the  instructions  I  had  given  her  in 
spiritual  things.  Her  promises  to  observe  all  I  had 
taught  her  were  most  fervent.  I  had  the  best  hopes 
for  her,  although  I  observed  somewhat  of  extra- 
vagance in  her.  Margaretta  speedily  obtained  an 
absolute  supremacy  in  her  father's  house.  All  must 
do  what  she  ordered.  Her  will  expressed  by  word 
of  mouth,  or  by  letter  when  absent,  was  obeyed  as  the 
will  of  God." 

In  personal  appearance  Margaretta  was  engaging. 
She  was  finely  moulded,  had  a  well-proportioned 
body,  a  long  neck  on  which  her  head  was  held  very 
upright ;  large,  grey-blue  eyes,  fair  hair,  a  lofty,  well- 
arched  brow.  The  nose  was  well-shaped,  but  the 
chin  and  mouth  were  somewhat  coarse. 

In  1816,  her  mother's  brother,  a  small  farmer  at 
Rudolfingen,  invited   her  to  come  and    manage  his 


A  SWISS  PASSION  PLAY.  5 

house  for  him.  She  went,  and  was  of  the  utmost 
assistance.  Everything  prospered  under  her  hand. 
Her  uncle  thought  that  she  had  brought  the  blessing 
of  the  Almighty  on  both  his  house  and  his  land. 

Whilst  at  Rudolfingen,  the  holy  maiden  was 
brought  in  contact  with  the  Pietists  of  Schaffhausen. 
She  attended  their  prayer-meetings  and  expositions 
of  Scripture.  This  deepened  her  religious  convictions, 
and  produced  a  depression  in  her  manner  that  struck 
her  sisters  when  she  visited  them.  In  answer  to  their 
inquiries  why  she  was  reserved  and  melancholy,  she 
replied  that  God  was  revealing  Himself  to  her  more 
and  more  every  day,  so  that  she  became  daily  more 
conscious  of  her  own  sinfulness.  If  this  had  really 
been  the  case  it  would  have  saved  her  from  what  en- 
sued, but  this  sense  of  her  own  sinfulness  was  a  mere 
phrase,  that  meant  actually  an  overweening  self-con- 
sciousness. She  endured  only  about  a  twelve  month 
of  the  pietistic  exercises  at  Schaffhausen,  and  then 
felt  a  call  to  preach,  testify  and  prophesy  herself,  in- 
stead of  sitting  at  the  feet  of  others.  Accordingly, 
she  threw  up  her  place  with  her  uncle,  and  returned  to 
Wildisbuch,  in  March,  1817,  when  she  began  opera- 
tions as  a  revivalist. 

The  paternal  household  was  now  somewhat  en- 
larged. The  old  farmer  had  taken  on  a  hand  to  help 
him  in  field  and  stable,  called  Heinrich  Ernst,  and  a 
young  woman  as  maid  called  Margaret  Jaggli.  Ernst 
was  a  faithful,  amiable  young  fellow  whom  old  Peters 
thoroughly  trusted,  and  he  became  devoted  heart  and 
soul  to  the  family.  Margaret  Jaggli  was  a  person  of 
very  indifferent  character,  who,  for  her  immoralities, 


6  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

had  been  turned  out  of  her  native  village.  She  was 
subject  to  epileptic  fits,  which  she  supposed  were  pos- 
session by  the  devil,  and  she  came  to  the  farm  of  the 
Peter's  family  in  hopes  of  being  there  cured  by  the 
prayers  of  the  saintly  Margaretta. 

Another  inmate  of  the  house  was  Ursula  Kundig, 
who  entered  it  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  and  lived  there 
as  a  veritable  maid-of-all-work,  though  paid  no  wages. 
This  damsel  was  of  the  sweetest,  gentlest  disposition. 
Her  parish  pastor  gave  testimony  to  her,  "  She  was 
always  so  good  that  even  scandal-mongers  were  un- 
able to  find  occasion  for  slander  in  her  conduct."  Pier 
countenance  was  full  of  intelligence,  purity,  and  had 
in  it  a  nobility  above  her  birth  and  education.  Her 
home  had  been  unhappy;  she  had  been  engaged  to  be 
married  to  a  young  man,  but  finding  that  he  did 
not  care  for  her,  and  sought  only  her  small  property, 
she  broke  off  the  engagement,  to  her  father's  great 
annoyance.  It  was  owing  to  a  quarrel  at  home  re- 
lative to  this,  that  she  went  to  Wildisbuch  to  entreat 
Margaretta  Peter  to  be  "her  spiritual  guide  through  life 
into  eternity."  Ursula  had  at  first  only  paid  occasional 
visits  to  Wildisbuch,  but  gradually  these  visits  became 
long,  and  finally  she  took  up  her  residence  in  the 
house.  The  soul  of  the  unhappy  girl  was  as  wax  in 
the  hands  of  the  saint,  whom  she  venerated  with  in- 
tensest  admiration  as  the  Elect  of  the  Lord  ;  and  she 
professed  her  unshaken  conviction  "  that  Christ  re- 
vealed Himself  in  the  flesh  through  her,  and  that 
through  her  many  thousands  of  souls  were  saved." 
The  house  at  Wildisbuch  became  thenceforth  a  great 
gathering  place  for  all  the  spiritually-minded  in  the 


A  S  WISS  PASSION  PL  A  Y.  y 

neighbourhood,  who  desired  instruction,  guidance,  en- 
lightenment, and  Margaretta,  the  high  priestess  of 
mysticism  to  all  such  as  could  find  no  satisfaction  for 
the  deepest  hunger  of  their  souls  in  the  Zwinglian 
services  of  their  parish  church. 

Man  is  composed  of  two  parts  ;  he  has  a  spiritual 
nature  which  he  shares  with  the  angels,  and  an  animal 
nature  that  he  possesses  in  common  with  the  beasts. 
There  is  in  him,  consequently,  a  double  tendency,  one 
to  the  indefinite,  unconfined,  spiritual  ;  the  other  to 
the  limited,  sensible  and  material.  The  religious 
history  of  all  times  shows  us  this  higher  nature  striv- 
ing after  emancipation  from  the  law  of  the  body,  and 
never  succeeding  in  accomplishing  the  escape,  always 
falling  back,  like  Daedalus,  into  destruction,  when 
attempting  to  defy  the  laws  of  nature  and  soar  too 
near  to  the  ineffable  light.  The  mysticism  of  the  old 
heathen  world,  the  mysticism  of  the  Gnostic  sects,  the 
mysticism  of  mediaeval  heretics,  almost  invariably  re- 
solved itself  into  orgies  of  licentiousness.  God  has 
bound  soul  and  body  together,  and  an  attempt  to  dis- 
sociate them  in  religion  is  fatally  doomed  to  ruin. 

The  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  was  the  indis- 
soluble union  of  Spirit  with  form  as  the  basis  of  true 
religion.  Thenceforth,  Spirit  was  no  more  to  be 
dissociated  from  matter,  authority  from  a  visible 
Church,  grace  from  a  sacramental  sign,  morality  from 
a  fixed  law.  All  the  great  revolts  against  Catholicism 
in  the  middle-ages,  were  more  or  less  revolts  against 
this  principle  and  were  reversions  to  pure  spiritualism- 
The  Reformation  was  taken  advantage  of  for  the 
mystic  aspirations    of  men  to  run  riot      Individual 


8  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM, 

emotion  became  the  supreme  and  sole  criticism  of 
right  and  wrong-,  of  truth  and  falsehood,  and  sole 
authority  to  which  submission  must  be  tendered. 

In  the  autumn  of  1817,  Margaretta  of  Wildisbuch 
met  a  woman  who  was  also  remarkable  in  her  way, 
and  the  head  of  another  revivalist  movement.  This 
was  Julianne  von  Krtidner  ;  about  whom  a  word  must 
now  be  said. 

Julianne  was  born  in  1766,  at  Riga,  the  daughter 
of  a  noble  and  wealthy  family.  Her  father  visited 
Paris  and  took  the  child  with  him,  where  she  made 
the  acquaintance  of  the  rationalistic  and  speculative 
spirits  of  French  society,  before  the  Revolution.  In  a 
Voltairean  atmosphere,  the  little  Julianne  grew  up 
without  religious  faith  or  moral  principle.  At  the 
age  of  fourteen  she  was  married  to  a  man  much  older 
than  herself,  the  Baron  von  Krudner,  Russian  Am- 
bassador at  Venice.  There  her  notorious  immoralities 
resulted  in  a  separation,  and  Julianne  was  obliged  to 
return  to  her  father's  house  at  Riga.  This  did  not 
satisfy  her  love  of  pleasure  and  vanity,  and  she  went 
to  St.  Petersburg  and  then  to  Paris,  where  she  threw 
herself  into  every  sort  of  dissipation.  She  wrote  a 
novel,  "  Valerie,"  in  which  she  frankly  admitted  that 
woman,  when  young,  must  give  herself  up  to  pleasure, 
then  take  up  with  art,  and  finally,  when  nothing  else 
was  left  her,  devote  herself  to  religion.  At  the  age  of 
forty  she  had  already  entered  on  this  final  phase. 
She  went  to  Berlin,  was  admitted  to  companionship 
with  the  Queen,  Louise,  and  endeavoured  to  "  convert" 
her.  The  sweet,  holy  queen  required  no  conversion, 
and  the  Baroness  von  Krudner  was  obliged  to  leave 


A  SWISS  PASSION  PLAY.  9 

Berlin.  She  wandered  thenceforth  from  place  to 
place,  was  now  in  Paris,  then  in  Geneva,  and  then  in 
Germany.  At  Karlsruhe  she  met  Jung-Stilling ;  and 
thenceforth  threw  herself  heart  and  soul  into  the 
pietistic  revival.  Her  mission  now  was — so  she  con- 
ceived— to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  poor.  In  18 14 
she  obtained  access  to  the  Russian  Court,  where  her 
prophecies  and  exhortations  produced  such  an  effect 
on  the  spirit  of  the  Czar,  Alexander  I.,  that  he  entreated 
her  to  accompany  him  to  Paris.  She  did  so,  and  held 
spiritual  conferences  and  prayer  meetings  in  the 
French  capital.  Alexander  soon  tired  of  her,  and 
she  departed  to  Basel,  where  she  won  to  her  the 
Genevan  Pastor  Empeytaz  and  the  Basel  Professor 
Lachenal.  Her  meetings  for  revival,  which  were  largely 
attended,  caused  general  excitement,  but  led  to  many 
domestic  quarrels,  so  that  the  city  council  gave  her 
notice  to  leave  the  town.  She  then  made  a  pilgrimage 
along  the  Rhine,  but  her  proceedings  were  everywhere 
objected  to  by  the  police  and  town  authorities,  and 
she  was  sent  back  under  police  supervision  first  to 
Leipzig,  and  thence  into  Russia. 

Thence  in  1824  she  departed  for  the  Crimea,  where 
she  had  resolved  to  start  a  colony  on  the  plan  of  the 
Moravian  settlements,  and  there  died  before  accom- 
plishing her  intention. 

It  was  in  18 17,  when  she  was  conducting  her 
apostolic  progress  along  the  Rhine,  that  she  and 
Margaretta  of  Wildisbuch  met.  Apparently  the  latter 
made  a  deeper  impression  on  the  excitable  baroness 
than  had  the  holy  Julianne  on  Margaretta.  The  two 
aruspices  did  not  laugh  when  they  met,  for  they  were 


io  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

both  in  deadly  earnest,  and  had  not  the  smallest 
suspicion  that  they  were  deluding  themselves  first, 
and  then  others. 

The  meeting  with  the  Kriidner  had  a  double  effect. 
In  the  first  place,  the  holy  Julianne,  when  forced  to 
leave  the  neighbourhood  by  the  unregenerate  police, 
commended  her  disciples  to  the  blessed  Margaret ; 
and,  in  the  second  place,  the  latter  had  the  shrewdness 
to  perceive,  that,  if  she  was  to  play  anything  like  the 
part  of  her  fellow-apostle,  she  must  acquire  a  little 
more  education.  Consequently  Margaret  took  pains 
to  write  grammatically,  and  to  spell  correctly. 

The  result  of  the  commendation  by  Saint  Julianne 
of  her  disciples  to  Margaret  was  that  thenceforth  a 
regular  pilgrimage  set  in  to  Wildisbuch  of  devout 
persons  in  landaus  and  buggies,  on  horse  and  on  foot. 

Some  additional  actors  in  the  drama  must  now  be 
introduced. 

Magdalena  Peter,  the  fourth  daughter  of  John  Peter, 
was  married  to  the  cobbler,  John  Moser.  The  influence 
of  Margaret  speedily  made  itself  felt  in  their  house.  At 
first  Moser's  old  mother  lived  with  the  couple,  along 
with  Conrad,  John  Moser's  younger  brother.  The 
first  token  of  the  conversion  of  Moser  and  his  wife  was 
that  they  kicked  the  old  mother  out  of  the  house, 
because  she  was  worldly  and  void  of  "  saving  grace." 
Conrad  was  a  plodding,  hard-working  lad,  very  useful, 
and  therefore  not  to  be  dispensed  with.  The  chosen 
vessels  finding  he  did  not  sympathise  with  them,  and 
finding  him  too  valuable  to  be  done  without,  starved 
him  till  he  yielded  to  their  fancies,  saw  visions,  and 
professed  himself  "saved."     Barbara,  also,  married  to 


A  SWISS  PASSION  PLAY.  n 

the  blacksmith  Baumann,  was  next  converted,  and 
brought  all  her  spiritual  artillery  to  bear  on  the  black- 
smith, but  in  vain.  He  let  her  go  her  own  way,  but 
he  would  have  nothing  himself  to  say  to  the  great 
spiritual  revival  in  the  house  of  the  Peters.  Barbara, 
not  finding  a  kindred  soul  in  her  husband,  had  taken 
up  with  a  man  of  like  soaring  piety,  a  tailor,  named 
Habliitzel. 

Another  person  who  comes  into  this  story  is  Jacob 
Ganz,  a  tailor,  who  had  been  mixed  up  with  the 
movement  at  Basel  under  Julianne  the  Holy. 

Margaret's  brother  Caspar  was  a  man  of  infamous 
character;  he  was  separated  from  his  wife,  whom  he 
had  treated  with  brutality ;  had  become  the  father  of 
an  illegitimate  child,  and  now  loafed  about  the  country 
preaching  the  Gospel. 

Ganz,  the  tailor,  had  thrown  aside  his  shears,  and 
constituted  himself  a  roving  preacher.  In  one  of 
his  apostolic  tours  he  had  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Saint  Margaret,  and  had  been  deeply  impressed 
by  her.  He  had  an  elect  disciple  at  Illnau, 
in  the  Kempthal,  south  of  Winterthur.  This  was 
a  shoemaker  named  Jacob  Morf,  a  married  man, 
aged  thirty  ;  small,  with  a  head  like  a  pumpkin.  To 
this  shoemaker  Ganz  spoke  with  enthusiam  of  the 
spiritual  elevation  of  the  holy  Margaret,  and  Morf  was 
filled  with  a  lively  desire  of  seeing  and  hearing  her. 

Margaretta  seems  after  a  while  to  have  wearied  of 
the  monotony  of  life  in  her  father's  house,  or  else  the 
spirit  within  her  drove  her  abroad  to  carry  her  light 
into  the  many  dark  corners  of  her  native  canton. 
She  resolved  to  be  like  Ganz,  a  roving  apostle.     Some- 


12  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

times  she  started  on  her  missionary  journeys  alone, 
sometimes  along  with  her  sister  Elizabeth,  who  sub- 
mitted to  her  with  blind  and  stanch  obedience,  or  else 
with  Ursula  Kiindig.  These  journeys  began  in  1820, 
and  extended  as  far  Zurich  and  along  the  shores  of 
that  lovely  lake.  In  May  of  the  same  year  she  visited 
Illnau,  where  she  was  received  with  enthusiasm  by  the 
faithful,  who  assembled  in  the  house  of  a  certain 
Ruegg,  and  there  for  the  first  time  she  met  with  Jacob 
Morf.  The  acquaintance  then  begun  soon  quickened 
into  friendship.  When  a  few  weeks  later  he  went  to 
Schaffhausen  to  purchase  leather,  he  turned  aside  to 
Wildisbuch.  After  this  his  visits  there  became  not 
only  frequent,  but  were  protracted. 

Margaret  was  the  greatest  comfort  to  him  in  his 
troubled  state  of  soul.  She  described  to  him  the 
searchings  and  anxieties  she  had  undergone,  so  that  he 
cried  "for  very  joy  that  he  had  encountered  one  who 
had  gone  through  the  same  experience  as  himself." 

In  November,  1820,  Margaret  took  up  her  abode 
for  some  time  in  the  house  of  a  disciple,  Caspar  Notz, 
near  Zurich,  and  made  it  the  centre  whence  she 
started  on  a  series  of  missionary  excursions.  Here 
also  gathered  the  elect  out  of  Zurich  to  hear  her 
expound  Scripture,  and  pray.  And  hither  also  came 
the  cobbler  Morf  seeking  ease  for  his  troubled  soul, 
and  on  occasions  stayed  in  the  house  there  with  her 
for  a  week  at  a  time.  At  last  his  wife,  the  worthy 
Regula  Morf,  came  from  Illnau  to  find  her  husband, 
and  persuaded  him  to  return  with  her  to  his  cobbling 
at  home. 

At  the  end  of  January  in   1821,  Margaret  visited 


A  SWISS  PASSION  PLAY.  13 

Illnau  again,  and  drew  away  after  her  the  bewitched 
Jacob,  who  followed  her  all  the  way  home,  to  Wildis- 
buch,  and  remained  at  her  father's  house  ten  days 
further. 

On  Ascension  Day  following,  he  was  again  with 
her,  and  then  she  revealed  to  him  that  it  was  the  will 
of  heaven  that  they  should  ascend  together,  without 
tasting  death,  into  the  mansions  of  the  blessed,  and 
were  to  occupy  one  throne  together  for  all  eternity. 
Throughout  this  year,  when  the  cobbler,  Jacob, 
was  not  at  Wildisbuch,  or  Saint  Margaretta  at  Illnau, 
the  pair  were  writing  incessantly  to  each  other,  and 
their  correspondence  is  still  preserved  in  the  archives 
of  Zurich.  Here  is  a  specimen  of  the  style  of  the  holy 
Margaret.  "  My  dear  child !  your  dear  letter  filled 
me  with  joy.  O,  my  dear  child,  how  gladly  would  I 
tell  you  how  it  fares  with  me !  When  we  parted,  I 
was  forced  to  go  aside  where  none  might  see,  to 
relieve  my  heart  with  tears.  O,  my  heart,  I  cannot 
describe  to  you  the  distress  into  which  I  fell.  I  lay 
as  one  senseless  for  an  hour.  For  anguish  of  heart  I 
could  not  go  home,  such  unspeakable  pains  did  I 
suffer !  My  former  separation  from  you  was  but  a 
shadow  of  this  parting.  O,  why  are  you  so  unutterably 
dear  to  me,  &c./'  and  then  a  flow  of  sickly,  pious 
twaddle  that  makes  the  gorge  rise. 

Regula  Morf  read  this  letter  and  shook  her  head 
over  it.  She  had  shaken  her  head  over  another  letter 
received  by  her  husband  a  month  earlier,  in  which  the 
holy  damsel  had  written  :  "  O,  how  great  is  my  love  ! 
It  is  stronger  than  death.  O,  how  dear  are  you  to  me. 
I  could  hug  you  to  my  heart  a  thousand  times."     And 


i4  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

had  scribbled  on  the  margin,  " These  words  are  for 
your  eye  alone."  However,  Regula  saw  them,  shook 
her  head  and  told  her  husband  that  the  letter  seemed 
to  her  unenlightened  mind  to  be  very  much  like  a 
love-letter.  "  Nothing  of  the  sort,"  answered  the 
cobbler,  "  it  speaks  of  spiritual  affection  only." 

We  must  now  pass  over  a  trait  in  the  life  of  the 
holy  maid  which  is  to  the  last  degree  unedifying,  but 
which  is  merely  another  exemplification  of  that  truth 
which  the  history  of  mysticism  enforces  in  every  age, 
that  spiritual  exaltation  runs  naturally,  inevitably,  into 
licentiousness,  unless  held  in  the  iron  bands  of  disci- 
pline to  the  moral  law.  A  mystic  is  a  law  to  himself. 
He  bows  before  no  exterior  authority.  However 
much  he  may  transgress  the  code  laid  down  by 
religion,  he  feels  no  compunction,  no  scruples,  for  his 
heart  condemns  him  not.  It  was  so  with  the  holy 
Margaret.  Her  lapse  or  lapses  in  no  way  roused  her 
to  a  sense  of  sin,  but  served  only  to  drive  her  further 
forward  on  the  mad  career  of  self-righteous  exalta- 
tion. 

She  had  disappeared  for  many  months  from  her 
father's  house,  along  with  her  sister  Elizabeth.  The 
police  had  inquired  as  to  their  whereabouts  of  old 
John  Peter,  but  he  had  given  them  no  information  as 
to  where  his  daughters  were.  He  professed  not  to 
know.  He  was  threatened  unless  they  were  produced 
by  a  certain  day  that  he  would  be  fined.  The  police 
were  sent  in  search  in  every  direction  but  the  right  one. 

Suddenly  in  the  night  of  January  nth,  1823,  the 
sisters  re-appeared,  Margaret,  white,  weak,  and  pros- 
trate with  sickness. 


A  S  WISS  PASSION  PL  A  Y.  15 

A  fortnight  after  her  return,  Jacob  Morf  was  again 
at  Wildisbuch,  as  he  said  afterwards  before  court, 
"  led  thither  because  assured  by  Margaret  that  they 
were  to  ascend  together  to  heaven  without  dying." 

From  this  time  forward,  Margaretta's  conduct  went 
into  another  phase.  Instead  of  resuming  her  pilgrim's 
staff  and  travelling  round  the  country  preaching  the 
Gospel,  she  remained  all  day  in  one  room  with  her 
sister  Elizabeth,  the  shutters  closed,  reading  the  Bible, 
meditating,  and  praying,  and  writing  letters  to  her 
"  dear  child  "  Jacob.  The  transgressions  she  had  com- 
mitted were  crosses  laid  on  her  shoulder  by  God. 
"  Oh  !  why,"  she  wrote  in  one  of  her  epistles,  "  did  my 
Heavenly  Father  choose  that  from  all  eternity  in  His 
providence  for  me?  There  were  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  other  crosses  He  might  have  laid  on  me. 
But  He  elected  that  one  which  would  be  heaviest  for 
me,  heavier  than  all  the  persecutions  to  which  I  am 
subjected  by  the  devil,  and  which  all  but  overthrow  me. 
From  the  foundation  of  the  world  He  has  never  so 
tried  any  of  His  saints  as  He  has  us.  It  gives 
joy  to  all  the  host  of  heaven  when  we  suffer  to  the 
end."  Again,  "  the  greater  the  humiliation  and  shame 
we  undergo,  and  have  to  endure  from  our  enemies 
here  below  " — consider,  brought  on  herself  by  her  own 
scandalous  conduct — "  the  more  unspeakable  our 
glorification  in  heaven." 

In  the  evening,  Margaretta  would  come  downstairs 
and  receive  visitors,  and  preach  and  prophesy  to 
them.  The  entire  house  was  given  over  to  religious 
ecstasy  that  intensified  as  Easter  approached.  Every 
now  and  then  the  saint  assembled  the  household  and 


t6  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

exhorted  them  to  watch  and  pray,  for  a  great  trial  of 
their  faith  was  at  hand.  Once  she  asked  them 
whether  they  were  ready  to  lay  down  their  lives  for 
Christ.  One  day  she  said,  in  the  spirit  of  prophecy, 
"  Behold  !  I  see  the  host  of  Satan  drawing  nearer  and 
nearer  to  encompass  me.  He  strives  to  overcome  me. 
Let  me  alone  that  I  may  fight  him."  Then  she  flung 
her  arms  about  and  struck  in  the  air  with  her  open 
hands. 

The  idea  grew  in  her  that  the  world  was  in  danger, 
that  the  devil  was  gaining  supremacy  over  it,  and 
would  carry  all  souls  into  captivity  once  more,  and 
that  she — and  almost  only  she — stood  in  his  way  and 
was  protecting  the  world  of  men  against  his  power. 

For  years  she  had  exercised  her  authority,  that 
grew  with  every  year,  over  everyone  in  the  house,  and 
not  a  soul  there  had  thought  of  resisting  her,  of  evad- 
ing the  commands  she  laid  on  them,  of  questioning 
her  word. 

The  house  was  closed  against  all  but  the  very  elect. 
The  pastor  of  the  parish,  as  "  worldly,"  was  not  suffered 
to  cross  the  threshold.  At  a  tap,  the  door  was  opened, 
and  those  deemed  worthy  were  admitted,  and  the  door 
hastily  barred  and  bolted  behind  them.  Everything 
was  viewed  in  a  spiritual  light.  One  evening  Ursula 
Ktindig  and  Margaretta  Jaggli  were  sitting  spinning 
near  the  stove.  Suddenly  there  was  a  pop.  A  knot 
in  the  pine-logs  in  the  stove  had  exploded.  But  up 
sprang  Jaggh",  threw  over  her  spinning-wheel,  and 
shrieked  out — "  Hearken  !  Satan  is  banging  at  the 
window.  He  wants  me.  He  will  fetch  me ! "  She 
fell  convulsed  on   the  floor,  fcaming   at   the   mouth. 


A  S  WISS  PASSION  PL  A  Y.  i7 

Margaret,  the  saint,  was  summoned.  The  writhing 
girl  shrieked  out,  "  Pray  for  me  !  Save  me  !  Fight 
for  my  soul  ! "  and  Margaretta  at  once  began  her 
spiritual  exercises  to  ban  the  evil  spirit  from  the 
afflicted  and  possessed  servant  maid.  She  beat  with 
her  hands  in  the  air,  cried  out,  "  Depart,  thou  murderer 
of  souls,  accursed  one,  to  hell-fire.  Wilt  thou  try  to  rob 
me  of  my  sheep  that  was  lost  ?  My  sheep — whom  I 
have  pledged  myself  to  save  ?  " 

One  day,  the  maid  had  a  specially  bad  epileptic  fit. 
Around  her  bed  stood  old  John  Peter,  Elizabeth  and 
Susanna,  Ursula  Kiindig,  and  John  Moser,  as  well  as 
the  saint.  Margaret  was  fighting  with  the  Evil  One 
with  her  fists  and  her  cries,  when  John  Moser  fell  into 
ecstasy  and  saw  a  vision.  His  account  shall  be  given 
in  his  own  words  :  "  I  saw  Christ  and  Satan,  and  the 
latter  held  a  book  open  before  Christ  and  bade  Him 
see  how  many  claims  he  had  on  the  soul  of  Jaggli. 
The  book  was  scored  diagonally  with  red  lines  on  all 
the  pages.  I  saw  this  distinctly,  and  therefore  con- 
cluded that  the  account  was  cancelled.  Then  I  saw 
all  the  saints  in  heaven  snatch  the  book  away,  and 
tear  it  into  a  thousand  pieces  that  fell  down  in  a  rain." 

But  Satan  was  not  to  be  defeated  and  driven 
away  so  easily.  He  had  made  himself  a  nest,  so 
Margaret  stated,  under  the  roof  of  the  house,  and  only 
a  desperate  effort  of  faith  and  contest  with  spiritual 
arms  could  expel  him.  For  this  Armageddon  she 
bade  all  prepare.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that 
it  could  not  be  fought  without  the  presence  of  the 
dearly  beloved  Jacob.  She  wrote  to  him  and  invited 
him  to  come  to  the  great  and  final  struggle  with  the 


'fc>£>J 

B 


18  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

devil  and  all  his  host,  and  the  obedient  cobbler 
girded  his  loins  and  hastened  to  Wildisbuck,  where 
he  arrived  on  Saturday  the  8th  March,  1823. 

On  Monday,  in  answer,  probably,  to  her  summons, 
came  also  John  Moser  and  his  brother  Conrad.  Then 
also  Margaret's  own  and  only  brother,  Caspar. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  climax  of  this  story  we 
may  well  pause  to  ask  whether  the  heroine  was  in 
her  senses  or  not;  whether  she  set  the  avalanche  in 
motion  that  overwhelmed  herself  and  her  house,  with 
deliberation  and  consciousness  as  to  the  end  to  which 
she  wras  aiming.  The  woman  was  no  vulgar  impos- 
tor;  she  deceived  herself  to  her  own  destruction.  In 
her  senses,  so  far,  she  had  set  plainly  before 
her  the  object  to  which  she  was  about  to  hurry  her 
dupes,  but  her  reason  and  intelligence  were  smothered 
under  her  overweening  self-esteem,  that  had  grown 
like  a  great  spiritual  cancer,  till  it  had  sapped 
common-sense,  and  all  natural  affection,  even  the 
very  instinct  of  self-preservation.  Before  her  diseased 
eyes,  the  salvation  of  the  whole  world  depended  on 
herself.  If  she  failed  in  her  struggle  with  the  evil 
principle,  all  mankind  fell  under  the  bondage  of 
Satan ;  but  she  could  not  fail — she  was  all-powerful, 
exalted  above  every  chance  of  failure  in  the  battle, 
just  as  she  was  exalted  above  every  lapse  in  virtue,  do 
what  she  might,  which  to  the  ordinary  sense  of  man- 
kind is  immoral.  Every  mystic  does  not  go  as  far 
as  Margaret  Peter,  happily,  but  all  take  some  strides 
along  that  road  that  leads  to  self-deification  and 
anomia.  In  Margaret's  conduct,  in  preparation  for 
the  final  tragedy,  there  was  a  good  deal  of  shrewd 


A  S  WISS  PASSION  PLA  Y.  19 

calculation;  she  led  up  to  it  by  a  long  isolation  and 
envelopment  of  herself  and  her  doings  in  mystery;  and 
she  called  her  chosen  disciples  to  witness  it.  Each 
stage  in  the  drama  was  calculated  to  produce  a  cer- 
tain effect,  and  she  measured  her  influence  over  her 
creatures  before  she  advanced  another  step.  On 
Monday  all  were  assembled  and  in  expectation ;  Ar- 
mageddon was  to  be  fought,  but  when  the  battle 
would  begin,  and  how  it  would  be  carried  through, 
were  unknown.  Tuesday  arrived;  some  of  the  house- 
hold went  about  their  daily  work,  the  rest  were 
gathered  together  in  the  room  where  Margaret  was, 
lost  in  silent  prayer.  Every  now  and  then  the  hush 
in  the  darkened  room  was  broken  by  a  wail  of  the 
saint:  "I  am  sore  straitened!  I  am  in  anguish! — but 
I  refresh  my  soul  at  the  prospect  of  the  coming 
exaltation!"  or,  "  My  struggle  with  Satan  is  severe. 
He  strives  to  retain  the  souls  which  I  will  wrest  from 
his  hold;  some  have  been  for  two  hundred,  even  three 
hundred  years  in  his  power." 

One  can  imagine  the  scene — the  effect  produced 
on  those  assembled  about  the  pale,  striving  ecstatic. 
All  who  were  present  afterwards  testified  that  on  the 
Tuesday  and  the  following  days  they  hardly  left  the 
room,  hardly  allowed  themselves  time  to  snatch  a 
hasty  meal,  so  full  of  expectation  were  they  that 
some  great  and  awful  event  was  about  to  take  place. 
The  holy  enthusiasm  was  general,  and  if  one  or  two, 
such  as  old  Peter  and  his  son,  Caspar,  were  less 
magnetised  than  the  rest,  they  were  far  removed 
from  the  thought  of  in  any  way  contesting  the 
will  of  the  prophetess,  or  putting  the  smallest  im- 


so  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

pediment  in  the  way  of  her  accomplishing  what  she 
desired. 

When  evening  came,  she  ascended  to  an  upper 
room,  followed  by  the  whole  company,  and  there  she 
declared,  "Lo!  I  see  Satan  and  his  first-born  floating 
in  the  air.  They  are  dispersing  their  emissaries  to 
all  corners  of  the  earth  to  summon  their  armies  to- 
gether." Elizabeth,  somewhat  tired  of  playing  a 
passive  part,  added,  "  Yes — I  see  them  also."  Then 
the  holy  maid  relapsed  into  her  mysterious  silence. 
After  waiting  another  hour,  all  went  to  bed,  see- 
ing that  nothing  further  would  happen  that  night. 
Next  day,  Wednesday,  she  summoned  the  household 
into  her  bedroom;  seated  on  her  bed,  she  bade  them 
all  kneel  down  and  pray  to  the  Lord  to  strengthen 
her  hands  for  the  great  contest.  They  continued 
striving  in  prayer  till  noon,  and  then,  feeling  hungry, 
all  went  downstairs  to  get  some  food.  When  they 
had  stilled  their  appetites,  Margaret  was  again  seized 
by  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  and  declared,  "  The  Lord 
has  revealed  to  me  what  will  happen  in  the  latter 
days.  The  son  of  Napoleon"  (that  poor,  feeble  mortal 
the  Duke  of  Reichstadt)  "  will  appear  before  the  world 
as  anti-Christ,  aud  will  strive  to  bring  the  world  over 
to  his  side.  He  will  undergo  a  great  conflict;  but 
what  will  be  the  result  is  not  shown  me  at  the  present 
moment;  but  I  am  promised  a  spiritual  token  of  this 
revelation."  And  the  token  followed.  The  dearly- 
loved  Jacob,  John  Moser,  and  Ursula  Kiindig  cried  out 
that  they  saw  two  evil  spirits,  one  in  the  form  of 
Napoleon,  pass  into  Margaret  Jaggli.  and  the  other> 
in  that  of  his  son,  enter  into  Elizabeth.     Whereupon 


A  S  WISS  PASSION  PLA  Y.  21 

Elizabeth,  possessed  by  the  spirit  of  that  poor,  little, 
sickly  Duke  of  Reichstadt,  began  to  march  about  the 
room  and  assume  a  haughty,  military  air.  There- 
upon the  prophetess  wrestled  in  spirit  and  overcame 
these  devils  and  expelled  them.  Thereat  Elizabeth 
gave  up  her  military  flourishes. 

From  daybreak  on  the  following  day  the  blessed 
Margaret  "  had  again  a  desperate  struggle,"  but  with- 
out the  assistance  of  the  household,  which  was  sum- 
moned to  take  their  share  in  the  battle  in  the  after- 
noon only.  She  bade  them  follow  her  to  the  upper 
chamber,  and  a  procession  ascended  the  steep  stairs, 
consisting  of  Margaret,  followed  by  Elizabeth  and 
Susanna  Peter,  Ursula  Kiindig  and  Jaggli,  the  old 
father  and  his  son,  Caspar,  the  serving-man,  Heinrich 
Ernst,  then  Jacob  Morf,  John  Moser,  and  the  rear 
was  brought  up  by  the  young  Conrad.  As  soon  as 
the  prophetess  had  taken  her  seat  on  the  bed,  she 
declared,  "  Last  night  it  was  revealed  to  me  that  you 
are  all  of  you  to  unite  with  me  in  the  battle  with  the 
devil,  lest  he  should  conquer  Christ.  I  must  strive, 
lest  your  souls  and  those  of  so  many,  many  others 
should  be  lost.  Come,  then  !  strive  with  me  ;  but 
first  of  all,  kneel  down,  lay  your  faces  in  the  dust  and 
pray."  Thereupon,  all  prostrated  themselves  on  the 
floor  and  prayed  in  silence.  Presently  the  prophetess 
exclaimed  from  her  throne  on  the  bed,  "  The  hour  is 
come  in  which  the  conflict  must  take  place,  so  that 
Christ  may  gather  together  His  Church,  and  contend 
with  anti-Christ.  After  Christ  has  assembled  His 
Church,  1260  days  will  elapse,  and  then  anti-Christ 
will  appear  in  human  form,  and  with  sweet  and  entic- 


22  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

ing  words  will  strive  to  seduce  the  elect  ;  but  all  true 
Christians  will  hold  aloof."  After  a  pause,  she  said 
solemnly,  "  In  verity,  anti-Christ  is  already  among  us." 

Then  with  a  leap  she  was  off  the  bed,  turning  her 
eyes  about,  throwing  up  her  hands,  rushing  about  the 
room,  striking  the  chairs  and  clothes-boxes  with  her 
fists,  crying,  "  The  scoundrel,  the  murderer  of  souls  !  " 
And,  finding  a  hammer,  she  began  to  beat  the  wall 
with  it. 

The  company  looked  on  in  breathless  amaze.  But 
the  epileptic  Jaggli  went  into  convulsions,  writhed  on 
the  ground,  groaned,  shrieked  and  wrung  her  hands. 
Then  the  holy  Margaretta  cried,  "  I  see  in  spirit  the 
old  Napoleon  gathering  a  mighty  host,  and  marching 
against  me.  The  contest  will  be  terrible.  You  must 
wrestle  unto  blood.  Go  !  fly  !  fetch  me  axes,  clubs, 
whatever  you  can  find.  Bar  the  doors,  curtain  all  the 
windows  in  the  house,  and  close  every  shutter." 

Whilst  her  commands  were  being  fulfilled  in  all 
haste,  and  the  required  weapons  were  sought  out, 
John  Moser,  who  remained  behind,  saw  the  room 
"  filled  with  a  dazzling  glory,  such  as  no  tongue  could 
describe,"  and  wept  for  joy.  The  excitement  had 
already  mounted  to  visionary  ecstasy.  It  was  five 
o'clock  when  the  weapons  were  brought  upstairs.  The 
holy  Margaretta  was  then  seated  on  her  bed,  wringing 
her  hands,  and  crying  to  all  to  pray,  "  Help  !  help! 
all  of  you,  that  Christ  may  not  be  overcome  in  me. 
Strike,  smite,  cleave — everywhere,  on  all  sides — the 
floor,  the  walls  !  It  is  the  will  of  God  !  smite  on  till 
I  bid  you  stay.  Smite  and  lose  your  lives  if  need 
be." 


A  S  VVISS  PASSION  PL  A  Y.  23 

It  was  a  wonder  that  lives  were  not  lost  in  the 
extraordinary  scene  that  ensued  ;  the  room  was  full 
of  men  and  women  ;  there  were  ten  of  them  armed 
with  hatchets,  crowbars,  clubs,  pick-axes,  raining 
blows  on  walls  and  floors,  on  chairs,  tables,  cupboards 
and  chests.  This  lasted  for  three  hours.  Margaret 
remained  on  the  bed,  encouraging  the  party  to  con- 
tinue ;  when  any  arm  flagged  she  singled  out  the 
weary  person,  and  exhorted  him,  as  he  loved  his  soul, 
to  fight  more  valiantly  and  utterly  defeat  and  destroy 
the  devil.  "  Strike  him  !  cut  him  down  !  the  old 
adversary  !  the  arch-fiend  !  whoso  loseth  his  life  shall 
find  it.  Fear  nothing !  smite  till  your  blood  runs 
down  as  sweat.  There  he  is  in  yonder  corner  ;  now  at 
him,"  and  Elizabeth  served  as  her  echo,  "  Smite!  strike 
on  !  He  is  a  murderer,  he  is  the  young  Napoleon,  the 
coming  anti-Christ,  who  entered  into  me  and  almost 
destroyed  me." 

This  lasted,  as  already  said,  for  three  hours.  The 
room  was  full  of  dust.  The  warriors  steamed  with 
their  exertions,  and  the  sweat  rolled  off  them.  Never 
had  men  and  women  fought  with  greater  enthusiasm. 
The  battle  of  Don  Quixote  against  the  wind-mills  was 
nothing  to  this.  What  blows  and  wounds  the  devil  and 
the  young  Duke  of  Reichstadt  obtained  is  unrecorded, 
but  walls  and  floor  and  furniture  in  the  room  were 
wrecked  ;  indeed  pitchfork  and  axe  had  broken  down 
one  wall  of  the  house  and  exposed  what  went  on 
inside  to  the  eyes  of  a  gaping  crowd  that  had  assem- 
bled without,  amazed  at  the  riot  that  went  on  in  the 
house  that  was  regarded  as  a  very  sanctuary  of  religion. 

No  sooner  did  the  saint  behold  the  faces  of  the 


24  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

crowd  outside  than  she  shrieked  forth,  "  Behold  them! 
the  enemies  of  God!  the  host  of  Satan,  coming  on  ! 
But  fear  them  not,  we  shall  overcome." 

At  last  the  combatants  were  no  longer  able  to  raise 
their  arms  or  maintain  themselves  on  their  feet. 
Then  Margaret  exclaimed,  "  The  victory  is  won  !  fol- 
low me  !  "  She  led  them  downstairs  into  the  common 
sitting-room,  where  close-drawn  curtains  and  fastened 
shutters  excluded  the  rude  gaze  of  the  profane.  Here 
a  rushlight  was  kindled,  and  by  its  light  the  battle 
continued  with  an  alteration  in  the  tactics. 

In  complete  indifference  to  the  mob  that  surrounded 
the  house  and  clamoured  at  the  door  for  admission, 
the  saint  ordered  all  to  throw  themselves  on  the 
ground  and  thank  heaven  for  the  victory  they  had 
won.  Then,  after  a  pause  of  more  than  an  hour  the 
same  scene  began  again,  and  that  it  could  recommence 
is  evidence  how  much  a  man  can  do  and  endure,  when 
possessed  by  a  holy  craze. 

It  was  afterwards  supposed  that  the  whole  pious 
community  was  drunk  with  schnaps;  but  with  injustice. 
Their  stomachs  were  empty;  it  was  their  brains  that 
were  drunk. 

The  holy  Margaret,  standing  in  the  midst  of  the 
prostrate  worshippers,  now  ordered  them  to  beat 
themselves  with  their  fists  on  their  heads  and  breasts, 
and  they  obeyed.  Elizabeth  yelled,  "  O,  Margaret ! 
Do  thou  strike  me !     Let  me  die  for  Christ." 

Thereupon  the  holy  one  struck  her  sister  repeatedly 
with  her  fists,  so  that  Elizabeth  cried  out  with  pain, 
"  Bear  it !  "  exclaimed  Margaret ;  "  It  is  the  wrath  of 
God  ! " 


A  S  WISS  PASSION  PLA  Y.  25 

The  prima-donna  of  the  whole  comedy  in  the 
meanwhile  looked  well  about  her  to  see  that  none  of 
the  actors  spared  themselves.  When  she  saw  anyone 
slack  in  his  self-chastisement,  she  called  to  him  to  re- 
double his  blows.  As  the  old  man  did  not  exhibit 
quite  sufficient  enthusiasm  in  self-torture,  she  cried, 
"  Father,  you  do  not  beat  yourself  sufficiently  ! "  and 
then  began  to  batter  him  with  her  own  fists.  The 
ill-treated  old  man  groaned  under  her  blows,  but  she 
cheered  him  with,  "  I  am  only  driving  out  the  old 
Adam,  father  !  It  does  not  hurt  you,"  and  redoubled 
her  pommelling  of  his  head  and  back.  Then  out 
went  the  light. 

All  this  while  the  crowd  listened  and  passed  re- 
marks outside.  No  one  would  interfere,  as  it  was  no 
one's  duty  to  interfere.  Tidings  of  what  was  going 
on  did,  however,  reach  the  amtmann  of  the  parish,  but 
he  was  an  underling,  and  did  not  care  to  meddle  with- 
out higher  authority,  so  sent  word  to  the  amtmann  of 
the  district.  This  latter  called  to  him  his  secretary, 
his  constable  and  a  policeman,  and  reached  the  house 
of  the  Peter's  family  at  ten  o'clock.  In  his  report  to 
the  police  at  Zurich  he  says  :  "  On  the  13th  about  10 
o'clock  at  night  I  reached  Wildisbuch,  and  then  heard 
that  the  noise  in  the  house  of  the  Peter's  family  had 
ceased,  that  all  lights  were  out,  and  that  no  one  was 
stirring.  I  thought  it  advisable  not  to  disturb  this 
tranquillity,  so  left  orders  that  the  house  should  be 
watched,"  and  then  he  went  into  the  house  of  a  neigh- 
bour. At  midnight,  the  policeman  who  had  been  left 
on  guard  came  to  announce  that  there  was  a  renewal 
of  disturbance  in  the  house  of  the  Peters.     The  amt- 


26  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

mann  went  to  the  spot  and  heard  muffled  cries  of 
"  Save  us  !  have  mercy  on  us  !  Strike  away  !  he  is  a 
murderer  !  spare  him  not ! "  and  a  trampling,  and  a 
sound  of  blows,  "  as  though  falling  on  soft  bodies." 
The  amtmann  knocked  at  the  window  and  ordered 
those  within  to  admit  him.  As  no  attention  was  paid 
to  his  commands,  he  bade  the  constable  break  open 
the  house  door.  This  was  clone,  but  the  sitting-room 
door  was  now  found  to  be  fast  barred.  The  constable 
then  ascended  to  the  upper  room  and  saw  in  what  a 
condition  of  wreckage  it  was.  He  descended  and  in- 
formed the  amtmann  of  what  he  had  seen.  Again  the 
window  was  knocked  at,  and  orders  were  repeated 
that  the  door  should  be  opened.  No  notice  was  taken 
of  this ;  whereupon  the  worthy  magistrate  broke  in  a 
pane  of  glass,  and  thrust  a  candle  through  the  window 
into  the  room, 

"  I  now  went  to  the  opened  window,  and  observed 
four  or  five  men  standing  with  their  backs  against  the 
door.  Another  lay  as  dead  on  the  floor.  At  a  little 
distance  was  a  coil  of  human  beings,  men  and  women, 
lying  in  a  heap  on  the  floor,  beside  them  a  woman  on 
her  knees  beating  the  rest,  and  crying  out  at  every 
blow,  '  Lord,  have  mercy ! '  Finally,  near  the  stove 
was  another  similar  group." 

The  amtmann  now  ordered  the  sitting-room  door 
to  be  broken  open.  Conrad  Moser,  who  had  offered 
to  open  to  the  magistrate,  wras  rebuked  by  the  saint, 
who  cried  out  to  him  :  "  What,  will  you  give  admission 
to  the  devil  ? " 

"  The  men,"  says  the  magistrate  in  his  report, 
"  onered  resistance    excited    thereto  by  the  women, 


A  SWISS  PASSION  PLAY.  27 

who  continued  screaming.  The  holy  Margaret  espe- 
cially distinguished  herself,  and  was  on  her  knees 
vigorously  beating  another  woman  who  lay  flat  on  the 
floor  on  her  face.  A  second  group  consisted  of  a  coil 
of  two  men  and  two  women  lying  on  the  floor,  the 
head  of  one  woman  on  the  body  of  a  man,  and  the 
head  of  a  man  on  that  of  a  girl.  The  rest  staggered 
to  their  feet  one  after  another.  I  tried  remonstrances, 
but  they  were  unavailing  in  the  hubbub.  Then  I 
ordered  the  old  Peter  to  be  removed  from  the  room. 
Thereupon  men  and  women  flung  themselves  upon 
him,  in  spite  of  all  our  assurances  that  no  harm  would 
be  done  him.  With  difficulty  we  got  him  out  of  the 
room,  with  all  the  rest  hanging  on  him,  so  that  he 
was  thrown  on  the  floor,  and  the  rest  clinging  to  him 
tumbled  over  him  in  a  heap.  I  repeated  my  remon- 
strance, and  insisted  on  silence,  but  without  avail. 
When  old  Peter  prepared  to  answer,  the  holy  Margaret 
stayed  him  with, '  Father,  make  no  reply.  Pray!'  All 
then  recommenced  the  uproar.  Margaret  cried  out: 
'Let  us  all  die!  I  will  die  for  Christ!'  Others 
called  out,  'Lord,  save  us!'  and  others,  'Have  mercy 
on  us!'" 

The  amtmann  gave  orders  that  the  police  were  to 
divide  the  party  and  keep  guard  over  some  in  the 
kitchen,  and  the  rest  in  the  sitting-room,  through  the 
night,  and  not  to  allow  them  to  speak  to  each  other. 
The  latter  order  was,  however,  more  than  the  police 
could  execute.  In  spite  of  all  their  efforts,  Margaretta 
and  the  others  continued  to  exhort  and  comfort  one 
another  through  the  night. 

Next  morning  each  was  brought  before  the  magis- 


28  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

trate  and  subjected  to  examination.  All  were  sullen, 
resolute,  and  convinced  that  they  were  doing  God's  will. 
As  the  holy  Margaretta  was  led  away  from  examina- 
tion, she  said  to  Ursula  and  the  servant  Heinrich, 
"  The  world  opposes,  but  can  not  frustrate  my  work." 

Her  words  came  true,  the  world  was  too  slow  in  its 
movements..  The  amtmann  did  not  send  in  his  re- 
port to  the  authorities  of  Zurich  till  the  16th,  where- 
upon it  was  taken  into  consideration,  and  orders  were 
transmitted  to  him  that  Margaret  and  Elizabeth  were 
to  be  sent  to  an  asylum.     It  was  then  too  late. 

After  the  investigation,  the  amtmann  required  the 
cobbler,  John  Morf,  to  march  home  to  Tllnau,  John 
and  Conrad  Moser  to  return  to  their  home,  and 
Ursula  Ktindig  to  be  sent  back  to  her  father.  This 
command  was  not  properly  executed.  Ursula  re- 
mained, and  though  John  Moser  obeyed,  he  was  pre- 
pared to  return  to  the  holy  Margaret  directly  he  was 
summoned. 

As  soon  as  the  high  priestess  had  come  out  of  the 
room  where  she  had  been  examined  by  the  amtmann, 
she  went  to  her  own  bed-chamber,  where  boards  had 
been  laid  over  the  gaps  between  the  rafters  broken  by 
the  axes  and  picks,  during  the  night.  Elizabeth, 
Susanna,  Ursula,  and  the  maid  sat  or  stood  round  her 
and  prayed. 

At  eight  o'clock,  the  father  and  his  son,  Caspar, 
rejoined  her,  also  her  eldest  sister,  Barbara,  arrived 
from  Triillikon.  The  servant,  Heinrich,  formed  one 
more  in  the  re-assembled  community,  and  the  ensuing 
night  was  passed  in  prayer  and  spiritual  exercises. 
These  were  not  conducted  in  quiet.     To  the  exhor- 


A  S  WISS  PASSION  PL  A  Y.  29 

tations  of  Margaret,  both  Elizabeth  and  the  house- 
maid entreated  that  the  devil  might  be  beaten  out  of 
them.  But  now  Ursula  interfered,  as  the  poor  girl 
Elizabeth  had  been  badly  bruised  in  her  bosom  by 
the  blows  she  had  received  on  the  preceding  night. 
When  the  Saturday  morning  dawned,  Margaret  stood 
up  on  her  bed  and  said,  "  I  see  the  many  souls  seeking 
salvation  through  me.  They  must  be  assisted ;  would 
that  a  sword  were  in  my  hand  that  I  might  fight  for 
them."  A  little  later  she  said,  with  a  sigh  of  relief, 
"The  Lamb  has  conquered.     Go  to  your  work." 

Tranquillity  lasted  for  but  a  few  hours.  Magdalena, 
Moser's  wife,  had  arrived,  together  with  her  husband 
and  Conrad.  The  only  one  missing  was  the  dearly 
beloved  Jacob,  who  was  far  on  his  way  homeward  to 
Illnau  and  his  hardly  used  wife,  Regula. 

At  ten  o'clock,  the  old  father,  his  five  daughters,  his 
son,  the  two  brothers,  John  and  Conrad  Moser,  Ursula 
Klindig,  the  maid  Jaggli,  and  the  man  Heinrich  Ernst, 
twelve  in  all,  were  assembled  in  the  upper  room. 

Margaret  and  Elizabeth  sat  side  by  side  on  the  bed, 
the  latter  half  stupified,  looking  fixedly  before  her 
Margaret,  however,  in  a  condition  of  violent  nervous 
surrexitation.  Many  of  the  weapons  used  in  wreck- 
ing the  furniture  lay  about;  among  these  were  the 
large  hammer,  and  an  iron  wedge  used  for  splitting 
wood.  All  there  assembled  felt  that  something  extra- 
ordinary was  about  to  happen.  They  had  everyone 
passed  the  line  that  divides  healthy  common-sense 
from  mania. 

Margaretta  now  solemnly  announced,  "  I  have  given 
a  pledge  for  many  souls  that  Satan  may  not  have  them. 


30  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Among  these  is  the  soul  of  my  brother  Caspar.  But 
I  cannot  conquer  in  the  strife  for  him  without  the 
shedding  of  blood."  Thereupon  she  bade  all  present 
recommence  beating  themselves  with  their  fists,  so  as 
to  expel  the  devil,  and  they  executed  her  orders  with 
wildest  fanaticism. 

The  holy  maid  now  laid  hold  of  the  iron  wedge, 
drew  her  brother  Caspar  to  her,  and  said,  "  Behold, 
the  Evil  One  is  striving  to  possess  thy  soul ! "  and 
thereupon  she  began  to  strike  him  on  head  and  breast 
with  the  wedge.  Caspar  staggered  back  ;  she  pursued 
him,  striking  him  and  cutting  his  head  open,  so  that 
he  was  covered  with  blood.  As  he  afterwards  de- 
clared, he  had  not  the  smallest  thought  of  resistance; 
the  power  to  oppose  her  seemed  to  be  taken  from  him. 
At  length,  half  stunned,  he  fell  to  the  ground,  and 
was  carried  to  his  bed  by  his  father  and  the 
maid  Jaggli.  The  old  man  no  more  returned  up- 
stairs, consequently  he  was  not  present  at  the  terrible 
scene  that  ensued.  But  he  took  no  steps  to  prevent 
it.  Not  only  so,  but  he  warded  off  all  interruption 
from  without.  Whilst  he  was  below,  someone  knocked 
at  the  door.  At  that  moment  Susanna  was  in  the  room 
with  him,  and  he  bade  her  inquire  who  was  without. 
The  man  gave  his  name  as  Elias  Vogal,  a  mason,  and 
asked  leave  to  come  in.  Old  Peter  refused,  as  he  said 
the  surgeon  was  within.  Elias  endeavoured  to  push 
his  way  in  but  was  resisted,  and  the  door  barred 
against  him.  Vogel  went  away,  and  meeting  a  police- 
man told  him  what  had  taken  place,  and  added  that 
he  had  noticed  blood-stains  on  the  sleeves  of  both  old 
Peter  and   Susanna.     The  policeman,  thinking  that 


A  S  WISS  PASSION  PL  A  Y.  31 

Peter's  lie  was  truth,  and  that  the  surgeon  was  really 
in  the  house,  and  had  been  bleeding  the  half-crazy 
people  there,  took  no  further  notice  of  what  he  had 
heard,  and  went  his  way. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  upper  room  the  comedy  had 
been  changed  into  a  ghastly  tragedy.  As  soon  as 
the  wounded  Caspar  had  been  removed,  the  three 
sisters,  Barbara,  Magdalena,  and  Susanna  left  the 
room,  the  two  latter,  however,  only  for  a  short  while. 
Then  the  holy  Margaret  said  to  those  who  remained 
with  her,  "  To-day  is  a  day  of  great  events.  The 
contest  has  been  long  aud  must  now  be  decided. 
Blood  must  flow.  I  see  the  spirit  of  my  mother  call- 
ing to  me  to  offer  up  my  life."  After  a  pause  she 
said,  "  And  you — all — are  you  ready  to  give  your 
lives  ?  "  They  all  responded  eagerly  that  they  were. 
Then  said  Margaret,  "  No,  no  ;  I  see  you  will  not 
readily  die.     But  I — I  must  die." 

Thereupon  Elizabeth  exclaimed,  "■  I  will  gladly  die 
for  the  saving  of  the  souls  of  my  brother  and  father. 
Strike  me  dead,  strike  me  dead  !  "  Then  she  threw 
herself  on  the  bed  and  began  to  batter  her  head  with 
a  wooden  mallet. 

"  It  has  been  revealed  to  me,"  said  Margaret,  "  that 
Elizabeth  will  sacrifice  herself."  Then  taking  up  the 
iron  hammer,  she  struck  her  sister  on  the  head.  At 
once  a  spiritual  fury  seized  on  all  the  elect  souls,  and 
seizing  weapons  they  began  to  beat  the  poor  girl  to 
death.  Margaret  in  her  mania  struck  at  random 
about  her,  and  wounded  both  John  Moserand  Ursula 
Kundig.  Then  she  suddenly  caught  the  latter  by  the 
wrist   and   bade    her    kill    Elizabeth  with   the    iron 


32  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

wedge.  Ursula  shrank  back,  "  I  cannot  !  I  love 
her  too  dearly  !  "  "  You  must/'  screamed  the  saint  ;  "  it 
is  ordained."  "  I  am  ready  to  die  "  moaned  Elizabeth. 
"  I  cannot  !  I  cannot  !  '•  cried  Ursula.  "  You  must," 
shouted  Margaret.  "  I  will  raise  my  sister  again,  and 
I  also  will  rise  again  after  three  days.  May  God 
strengthen  your  arm." 

As  though  a  demoniacal  influence  flowed  out  of  the 
holy  maid,  and  maddened  those  about  her,  all  were 
again  seized  with  frenzy.  John  Moser  snatched  the 
hammer  out  of 'her  hand,  and  smote  the  prostrate  girl 
with  it  again,  and  yet  again,  on  head  and  bosom  and 
shoulders.  Susanna  brought  down  a  crow-bar  across 
her  body,  the  servant-man  Heinrich  belaboured  her 
with  a  fragment  of  the  floor  planking,  and  Ursula, 
swept  away  by  the  current,  beat  in  her  skull  with  the 
wedge.  Throughout  the  turmoil,  the  holy  maid 
yelled  :  "  God  strengthen  your  arms  !  Ursula,  strike 
home  !  Die  for  Christ,  Elizabeth !  "  The  last  words 
heard  from  the  martyred  girl  were  an  exclamation  of 
resignation  to  the  will  of  God,  as  expressed  by  her 
sister. 

One  would  have  supposed  that  when  the  life  was 
thus  battered  out  of  the  unfortunate  victim,  the 
murderers  would  have  come  to  their  senses  and  been 
filled  with  terror  and  remorse.  But  it  was  not  so. 
Margaret  sat  beside  the  body  of  her  murdered  sister, 
the  blaze  of  spiritual  ecstasy  in  her  eyes,  the  blood- 
stained hammer  in  her  right  hand,  terrible  in  her  in- 
flexible determination,  and  in  the  demoniacal  energy 
which  was  to  possess  her  to  the  last  breath  she  drew. 
Her  bosom  heaved,  her  body  quivered,  but  her  voice 


A  S  WISS  PASSION  PLA  Y. 


33 


was  firm  and  her  tone  authoritative,  as  she  said, 
"  More  blood  must  flow.  I  have  pledged  myself  for 
the  saving  of  many  souls.  I  must  die  now.  You 
must  crucify  me."  John  Moser  and  Ursula,  shivering 
with  horror,  entreated,  "  O  do  not  demand  that  of  us." 
She  replied,  "  It  is  better  that  I  should  die  than  that 
thousands  of  souls  should  perish." 

So  saying  she  struck  herself  with  the  hammer  on 
the  left  temple.  Then  she  held  out  the  weapon  to 
John  Moser,  and  ordered  him  and  Ursula  to  batter 
her  with  it.     Both  hesitated  for  a  moment. 

"  What ! "  cried  Margaret  turning  to  her  favourite  dis- 
ciple, "  will  you  not  do  this  ?  Strike  and  may  God  brace 
your  arm  !  "  Moser  and  Ursula  now  struck  her  with 
the  hammer,  but  not  so  as  to  stun  her. 

"  And  now,"  said  she  with  raised  voice,  "  crucify 
me !     You,  Ursula,  must  do  the  deed." 

"  I  cannot !  I  cannot ! "  sobbed  the  wretched  girl. 

"  What !  will  you  withdraw  your  hand  from  the  work 
of  God,  now  the  hour  approaches?  You  will  be  re- 
sponsible for  all  the  souls  that  will  be  lost,  unless  you 
fulfil  what  I  have  appointed  you  to  do." 

"  But  O  !  not  I—!  "  pleaded  Ursula. 

"  Yes — you.  If  the  police  authorities  had  executed 
me,  it  would  not  have  fallen  to  you  to  do  this,  but 
now  it  is  for  you  to  accomplish  the  work.  Goy  Susan, 
and  fetch  nails,  and  the  rest  of  you  make  ready  the 
cross." 

In  the  meantime,  Heinrich,  the  man-servant, 
frightened  at  what  had  taken  place,  and  not  wishing 
to  have  anything  more  to  do  with  the  horrible  scene 
in  the  upper  chamber,   had   gone  quietly  down  into 


34  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

the  wood-house,  and  was  making  stakes  for  the  vines. 
There  Susanna  found  him,  and  asked  him  for  nails, 
telling  him  for  what  they  were  designed.  He  com- 
posedly picked  her  out  nails  of  suitable  length,  and 
then  resumed  his  work  of  making  vine  stakes. 
Susanna  re-ascended  to  the  upper  room,  and  found 
Margaret  extended  on  the  bed  beside  the  body  of 
Elizabeth,  with  the  arms,  breast,  and  feet  resting  on 
blocks  of  wood,  arranged,  whilst  Susanna  was  absent, 
by  John  Moser  and  Ursula,  under  her  in  the  fashion 
of  a  cross. 

Then  began  the  horrible  act  of  crucifixion,  which  is 
only  conceivable  as  an  outburst  of  religious  mania, 
depriving  all  who  took  part  in  it  of  every  feeling  of 
humanity,  and  degrading  them  to  the  level  of  beasts 
of  prey.  At  the  subsequent  trial,  both  Ursula  and 
John  Moser  described  their  condition  as  one  of  spiritual 
intoxication. 

The  hands  and  feet  of  the  victim  were  nailed  to 
the  blocks  of  wood.  Then  Ursula's  head  swam,  and  she 
drew  back.  Again  Margaret  called  her  to  continue 
her  horrible  work.  "  Go  on  !  go  on  !  God  strengthen 
your  arm.  I  will  raise  Elizabeth  from  the  dead,  and 
rise  m)/self  in  three  days."  NaiLs  were  driven  through 
both  elbows  and  also  through  the  breasts  of  Margaret ; 
not  for  one  moment  did  the  victim  express  pain,  nor 
did  her  courage  fail  her.  No  Indian  at  the  stake 
endured  the  cruel  ingenuity  of  his  tormentors  with 
more  stoicism  than  did  this  young  woman  bear  the 
martyrdom  she  had  invoked  for  herself.  She  im- 
pressed her  murderers  with  the  idea  that  she  was 
endowed  with  supernatural  strength.     It  could  not  be 


A  S  WISS  PASSION  PLA  Y.  35 

otherwise,  for  what  she  endured  was  beyond  the 
measure  of  human  strength.  That  in  the  place  of 
human  endurance  she  was  possessed  with  the 
Berserker  strength  of  the  furor  religiosics,  was  what 
these  ignorant  peasants  could  not  possibly  know. 
Conrad  Moser  could  barely  support  himself  from 
fainting,  sick  and  horror-struck  at  the  scene.  He 
exclaimed,  "  Is  not  this  enough  ?  "  His  brother,  John, 
standing  at  the  foot  of  the  bed,  looked  into  space  with 
glassy  eyes.  Ursula,  bathed  in  tears,  was  bowed  over 
the  victim.  Magdalena  Moser  had  taken  no  active 
part  in  the  crucifixion  ;  she  remained  the  whole  time, 
weeping,  leaning  against  a  chest. 

The  dying  woman  smiled.  "  I  feel  no  pain.  Be 
yourselves  strong,"  she  whispered.  "  Now,  drive  a 
nail  or  a  knife  through  my  heart." 

Ursula  endeavoured  to  do  as  bidden,  but  her  hand 
shook  and  the  knife  was  bent.  "  Beat  in  my  skull !  " 
this  was  the  last  word  spoken  by  Margaret.  In 
their  madness  Conrad  Moser  and  Ursula  Kundigf 
obeyed,  one  with  the  crowbar,  the  other  with  the 
hammer. 

It  was  noon  when  the  sacrifice  was  accomplished — 
dinner-time.  Accordingly,  all  descended  to  the 
sitting-room,  where  the  meal  that  Margaret  Jaggli 
had  been  in  the  meantime  preparing  was  served  and 
eaten. 

They  had  scarce  finished  before  a  policeman  entered 
with  a  paper  for  old  Peter  to  sign,  in  which  he  made 
himself  answerable  to  produce  his  daughters  before 
the  magistrates  wThen  and  where  required.  He  signed 
it  with  composure,  "  I  declare  that  I  will  cause  my 


36  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

daughters,  if  in  good  health,  to  appear  before  the  Upper 
Amtsmann  in  Andelfingen  when  so  required."  Then 
the  policeman  departed  without  a  suspicion  that  the  two 
girls  were  lying  dead  in  the  room  above.  On  Sunday 
the  16th,  the  servant  Heinrich  was  sent  on  horseback 
to  Illnau  to  summon  Jacob  Morf  to  come  to  Wildisbuch 
and  witness  a  great  miracle.  Jacob  came  there  with 
Heinrich,  but  was  not  told  the  circumstances  of  the 
crucifixion  till  he  reached  the  house.  When  he  heard 
what  had  happened,  he  was  frightened  almost  out  of 
his  few  wits,  and  when  taken  upstairs  to  see  the 
bodies,  he  fainted  away.  Nothing — no  representations 
would  induce  him  to  remain  for  the  miraculous 
resurrection,  and  he  hastened  back  to  Illnau,  where 
he  took  to  his  bed.  In  his  alarm  and  horror  he 
sent  for  the  pastor,  and  told  him  what  he  had 
seen. 

But  the  rest  of  the  holy  community  remained  stead- 
fast in  their  faith.  On  the  night  of  Sunday  before 
Monday  morning  broke, Ursula  Kundig  and  theservant 
man  Heinrich  went  upstairs  with  pincers  and  drew  out 
the  nails  that  transfixed  Margaretta.  When  asked 
their  reason  for  so  doing,  at  the  subsequent  trial,  they 
said  that  they  supposed  this  would  facilitate 
Margaretta's  resurrection.  Sanctus  furor  had  made 
way  for  sancta  simplicitas. 

The  night  of  Monday  to  Tuesday  was  spent  in 
prayer  and  Scripture-reading  in  the  upper  chamber, 
and  eager  expectation  of  the  promised  miracle,  which 
never  took  place.  The  catastrophe  could  no  longer 
be  concealed.  Something  must  be  done.  On  Tues- 
day, old  John  Peter  pulled  on  his  jacket  and  walked 


<;\v 


A  S  WJSS  PASSION  PLA  Y.  37 

to  Triillikon  to  inform  the  pastor  that  his  daughter 
Elizabeth  had  died  on  the  Saturday  at  10  a.m.,  and 
his  daughter  Margaretta  at  noon  of  the  same  day. 

We  need  say  little  more.  On  Dec.  3rd,  1823,  the 
trial  of  all  incriminated  in  this  frightful  tragedy  took 
place  at  Ziirich  and  sentence  was  pronounced  on  the 
following  day.  Ursula  Kiindig  was  sentenced  to  six- 
teen years'  imprisonment,  Conrad  Moser  and  John 
Peter  to  eight  years,  Susanna  Peter  and  John  Moser  to 
six  years,  Heinrich  Ernst  to  four  years,  Jacob  Morf 
to  three,  Margaret  Jaggli  to  two  years,  Barbara  Bau- 
mann  and  Casper  Peter  to  one  year,  and  Magdalena 
Moser  to  six  months  with  hard  labour.  The  house  at 
Wildisbuch  was  ordered  to  be  levelled  with  the  dust, 
the  plough  drawn  over  the  foundation,  and  that  no 
house  should  again  be  erected  on  the  spot. 

Before  the  destruction,  however,  a  pilgrimage  of 
Pietists  and  believers  in  Margaret  Peter  had  visited 
the  scene  of  her  death,  and  many  had  been  the  ex- 
clamations of  admiration  at  her  conduct.  "  Oh,  that 
it  had  been  I  who  had  died  ! ''  "  Oh,  how  many  souls 
must  she  have  delivered  !  "  and  the  like.  Magna  est 
stultitia  et  prczvalebit. 

At  a  time  like  the  present,  when  there  is  a  wave  of 
warm,  mystic  fever  sweeping  over  the  country,  and 
carrying  away  with  it  thousands  of  ignorant  and  im- 
petuous souls,  it  is  well  that  the  story — repulsive 
though  it  be — should  be  brought  into  notice,  as  a 
warning  of  what  this  spiritual  excitement  may  lead  to 
— not,  indeed,  again,  maybe,  into  bloodshed.  It  is  far 
more  likely  to  lead  to,  as  it  has  persistently,  in  every 
similar  outbreak,  into  moral  disorders,  the  record  of 


38  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

which,  in   the   case    of  Margaretta    Peter,   we  have 
passed  over  almost  without  a  word. 

Authority:  Die  Gekreuzigte  von  Wildisbuch,  von  J.  Scherr, 
2nd  Edit,  St.  Gall.  1867.  Scherr  visited  the  spot,  collected  in- 
formation from  eye-witnesses,  and  made  copious  extracts  from 
the  records  of  the  trial  in  the  Zurich  archives,  where  they  are 
contained  in  Vol.  166,  folio  1044,  under  the  heading  :  "  Akten 
betreffened  die  Grauel — Scenen  in  Wildisbuch." 


H  mortbern  IRapbael. 

Here  and  there  in  the  galleries  of  North  Germary 
and  Russia  may  be  seen  paintings  of  delicacy  and 
purity,  delicacy  of  colour  and  purity  of  design,  the 
author  of  which  was  Gerhard  von  Kiigelgen.  The 
majority  of  his  paintings  are  in  private  hands  ;  but 
an  Apollo,  holding  the  dying  Hyacinthus  in  his  arms, 
is  in  the  possession  of  the  German  Emperor;  Moses  on 
Horeb  is  in  the  gallery  of  the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts 
at  Dresden ;  a  St.  Caecilia  and  an  Adonis,  painted  in 
1794  and  1795,  were  purchased  by  the  Earl  of  Bristol; 
a  Holy  Family  is  in  the  Gallery  at  Cassel ;  and  some 
of  the  sacred  subjects  have  found  their  way  into 
churches. 

In  1772,  the  wife  of  Franz  Kiigelgen.  a  merchant  of 
Bacharach  on  the  Rhine,  presented  her  husband  with 
twin  sons,  the  elder  of  whom  by  fifteen  minutes  is  the 
subject  of  this  notice.  His  brother  was  named  Karl. 
Their  resemblance  was  so  great  that  even  their  mother 
found  a  difficulty  in  their  early  childhood  in  distin- 
guishing one  from  the  other. 

Bacharach  was  in  the  Electorate  of  Cologne,  and 
when  the  Archbishop-Elector,  Maximilian  Franz, 
learned  that  the  twins  were  fond  of  art,  in  1791  he 
very  liberally  gave  them  a  handsome  sum  of  money 
to  enable  them  to  visit  Rome  and  there  prosecute  their 
studies. 

39 


40  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Gerhard  was  at  once  fascinated  by  the  statuary  in 
the  Vatican,  and  by  the  pictures  of  Raphael.  The 
ambition  of  his  life  thenceforward  was  to  combine  the 
beauty  of  modelling  of  the  human  form  that  he  saw 
in  the  Graeco-Roman  statues  with  the  beauty  of 
colour  that  he  recognised  in  Raphael's  canvases. 
Karl,  on  the  other  hand,  devoted  himself  to  land- 
scapes. 

In  1795  the  brothers  separated,  Gerhard  that  he 
might  visit  Munich.  Thence,  in  the  autumn,  he  went 
to  Riga  with  a  friend,  and  there  he  remained  rather 
over  two  years,  and  painted  and  disposed  of  some 
fifty-four  pictures.  Then  he  painted  in  St.  Petersburg  • 
and  Revel,  and  finally  settled  into  married  life  and 
regular  work  at  Dresden  in  1806.  There  he, became 
a  general  favourite,  not  only  on  account  of  his  artistic 
genius,  but  also  because  of  the  fascination  of  his 
modest  and  genial  manner.  He  was  honoured  by  the 
Court,  and  respected  by  everyone  for  his  virtues. 
Orders  flowed  in  on  him,  and  his  paintings  com- 
manded good  prices.  The  king  of  Saxony  ennobled 
him,  that  is  to  say,  raised  him  out  of  the  biirger-stand, 
by  giving  him  the  privilege  of  writing  a  Von  before 
his  patronymic. 

Having  received  an  order  from  Riga  for  a  large 
altar  picture,  he  bought  a  vineyard  on  the  banks  of 
the  Elbe,  commanding  a  charming  prospect  of  the 
river  and  the  distant  blue  Bohemian  mountains. 
Here  he  resolved  to  erect  a  country  house  for  the 
summer,  with  a  large  studio  lighted  from  the  north. 
The  construction  of  this  residence  was  to  him  a  great 
pleasure    and    occupation.     In    November,    18 19,  he 


A  NORTHREN  RAP  HEAL.  41 

wrote  to  his  brother,  "  My  house  shall  be  to  us  a 
veritable  fairy  palace,  in  which  to  dwell  till  the  time 
comes,  when  through  a  little,  narrow  and  dark  door 
we  pass  through  into  that  great  habitation  of  the 
Heavenly  Father  in  which  are  many  mansions,  and 
where  our  whole  family  will  be  re-united.  Should  it 
please  God  to  call  me  away,  then  Lily  (his  wife) 
will  find  this  an  agreeable  dower-house,  in  which 
she  can  supervise  the  education  of  the  children, 
as  the  distance  from  the  town  is  only  an  hour's 
walk." 

The  words  were  written,  perhaps,  without  much 
thought,  but  they  foreshadowed  a  terrible  catastrophe. 
Kiigelgen  would  pass,  before  his  fairy  palace  was 
ready  to  receive  him,  through  that  little,  narrow  door 
into  the  heavenly  mansions. 

The  holy  week  of  1820  found  him  in  a  condition 
of  singularly  deep  religious  emotion.  He  was  a 
Catholic,  but  had,  nevertheless,  allowed  his  son  to  be 
confirmed  by  a  Protestant  pastor.  The-ceremony  had 
greatly  affected  him,  and  he  said  to  a  friend,  who  was 
struck  at  the  intensity  of  his  feeling,  "  I  know  I  shall 
never  be  as  happy  again  till  I  reach  Heaven." 

On  March  27th,  on  the  very  day  of  the  confirma- 
tion, he  went  in  the  afternoon  a  walk  by  himself  to 
his  vineyard,  to  look  at  his  buildings.  He  invited 
one  of  his  pupils  to  accompany  him,  but  the  young 
man  had  some  engagement  and  declined. 

At  5  p.m.  he  was  at  the  new  house,  where  he  paid 
the  workmen,  gave  some  instructions,  and  pointed  out 
where  he  would  do  some  planting,  so  as  to  enchance 
the  picturesqueness  of  the  spot.     At  some  time  be- 


4=  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

tween  six  and  seven  he  left,  to  walk  back  to  Dresden 
along  the  road  from  Bautzen. 

Every  one  who  has  been  at  the  Saxon  capital 
knows  that  road.  The  right  bank  of  the  Elbe  above 
Dresden  rises  in  picturesque  heights  covered  with 
gardens  and  vineyards,  from  the  river,  and  about  a 
mile  from  the  bridge  is  the  Linkes  Bad,  with  its  plea- 
sant gardens,  theatre,  music  and  baths.  That  road  is 
one  of  the  most  charming,  and,  therefore,  the  most 
frequented  outside  the  capital.  On  the  evening  in 
question  the  Easter  moon  was  shining. 

Ktigelgen  did  not  return  home.  His  wife  sent  his 
son,  the  just  confirmed  boy,  aged  17  years,  to  the  new 
house,  to  inquire  for  her  husband.  The  boy  learned 
there  that  he  had  left  some  hours  before.  He  returned 
home,  and  found  that  still  his  father  had  not  come 
in.  The  police  were  communicated  with,  and  the 
night  was  spent  in  inquiries  and  search,  but  all  in 
vain.  On  the  following  morning,  at  9  a.m.,  as  the 
boy  was  traversing  the  same  road,  along  with  a 
gensdarme,  he  deemed  it  well  to  explore  a  footpath 
beside  the  river,  which  was  overflown  by  the  Elbe, 
and  there,  finally,  amongst  some  reeds  they  discovered 
the  dead  body  of  the  artist,  stripped  of  his  clothes  to 
his  shirt  and  drawers,  lying  on  his  face. 

Gerhard  von  Ktigelgen  had  been  murdered.  His 
features  were  cut  and  bruised,  his  left  temple  and  jaw 
were  broken.  Footsteps,  as  of  two  persons,  were 
traceable  through  the  river  mud  and  across  a  field  to 
the  highway.  Apparently  the  artist  had  been  mur- 
dered on  the  road,  then  carried  or  dragged  to  the 
path,  stripped  there,  and  then  cast  among  the  rushes. 


A  NORTHERN  RAPHAEL.  43 

About  twenty-four  paces  from  where  he  lay,  between 
him  and  the  highway,  his  cap  was  found. 

The  excitement,  the  alarm,  aroused  in  Dresden 
was  immense.  Not  only  was  Kiigelgen  universally 
respected,  but  everyone  was  in  dismay  at  the  thought 
that  his  own  safety  was  jeopardised,  if  a  murder  such 
as  this  could  be  perpetrated  on  the  open  road,  within 
a  few  paces  of  the  gates.  Indeed,  the  place  where 
the  crime  was  committed  was  but  a  hundred  strides 
from  the  Linkes  Bad,  one  of  the  most  popular  resorts 
of  the  Dresdeners. 

It  was  now  remembered  that  only  a  few  months 
before,  near  the  same  spot,  another  murder  had  been 
committed,  that  had  remained  undiscovered.  In 
that  case  the  victim  had  been  a  poor  carpenter's 
apprentice. 

On  the  same  day  as  the  body  of  Kiigelgen  was 
found,  the  Government  offered  a  sum  equal  to  £150 
for  the  discovery  of  the  murderer.  A  little  later,  some 
children  found  among  the  rubbish,  outside  the  Black 
Gate  of  the  Dresdener  Vorstadt,  a  blue  cloth  cloak, 
folded  up  and  buried  under  some  stones.  It  was 
recognised  as  having  belonged  to  Kiigelgen.  More- 
over, in  the  pocket  was  the  little  "  Thomas-a-Kempis  " 
he  always  carried  about  with  him. 

It  was  concluded  that  the  murderer  had  not  ven- 
tured to  bring  all  the  clothing  of  Kiigelgen  into  the 
town,  through  the  gate,  and  had,  therefore,  hidden 
portions  in  places  whence  he  could  remove  them  one 
by  one,  unobserved.  The  murderer  was,  undoubtedly, 
an  inhabitant  of  the  city. 

From  March  29th  to  April  4th  the  police  remained 


44  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

without  any  clue,  although  a  description  of  the  gar- 
ments worn  by  the  murdered  man,  and  of  his  watch, 
was  posted  up  at  every  corner,  and  sent  round  to  the 
nearest  towns  and  villages. 

The  workmen  who  had  been  engaged  on  Kiigelgen's 
house  were  brought  before  the  police.  They  had  left 
after  his  departure,  and  had  received  money  from 
him  ;  but  they  were  discharged,  as  there  was  no  evi- 
dence against  them. 

As  no  light  seemed  to  fall  on  this  mysterious  case, 
the  police  looked  up  the  circumstances  of  the  previous 
murder.  On  December  29th,  18 19,  a  carrier  on  the 
highroad  had  found  a  body  on  the  way.  It  was 
ascertained  to  be  that  of  a  carpenter's  apprentice, 
named  Winter.  His  skull  had  been  broken  in.  Not 
a  trace  of  the  murderer  was  found  ;  not  even  foot- 
prints had  been  observed.  However,  it  was  learned 
that  the  wife  of  a  labourer  had  been  attacked  almost 
at  the  same  spot,  on  the  28th  December,  by  a  man 
wearing  a  military  cap  and  cloak ;  and  she  had  only 
escaped  him  by  the  approach  of  a  carriage,  the  sound 
of  the  wheels  having  alarmed  him,  and  induced  him 
to  fly.  He  had  fled  in  the  direction  of  the  Black 
Gate  and  the  barracks. 

The  anxiety  of  the  Dresdeners  seemed  justified. 
There  was  some  murderous  ruffian  inhabiting  the  Vor- 
stadt,  who  hovered  about  the  gates,  waylaying,  not 
wealthy  men  only,  but  poor  charwomen  and  apprentices. 

The  military  cloak  and  cap,  the  direction  taken  by 
the  assailant  in  his  flight,  gave  a  sort  of  clue — and  the 
police  suspected  that  the  murderer  must  be  sought 
among  the  soldiers. 


A  NORTHERN  RAPHAEL.  45 

On  April  4th  two  Jewish  pawnbrokers  appeared 
before  the  police,  and  handed  over  a  silver  watch 
which  had  been  left  with  them  at  9  a.m.  on  the  20th 
March — that  is  to  say  on  the  morning  after  the 
murder  of  Ktigelgen — and  which  agreed  with  the 
advertised  description  of  the  artist's  lost  watch.  It 
was  identified  at  once.  The  man  who  had  pawned  it, 
the  Jews  said,  wore  the  uniform  of  an  artillery  soldier. 

At  the  request  of  the  civil  authorities,  the  military 
officers  held  an  inquisition  in  the  barracks.  All  the 
artillery  soldiers  were  made  to  pass  before  the  Jew 
brokers,  but  they  were  unable  to  identify  the  man  who 
had  deposited  the  watch  with  them.  Somewhat  later 
in  the  day  one  of  these  Jews,  as  he  was  going  through 
the  street,  saw  a  man  in  civil  dress,  whom  he  thought 
he  recognised  as  the  fellow  who  had  given  him  the 
watch.  He  went  up  to  him  at  once  and  spoke  about 
the  watch.  The  man  at  first  acknowledged  that  he 
had  pawned  one,  then  denied,  and  threatened  the  Jew 
when  he  persevered  in  clinging  to  him.  A  gendarme 
came  up,  and  hearing  what  the  controversy  was  about, 
arrested  the  man,  who  gave  his  name  as  Fischer,  a 
gunner. 

Fischer  was  at  once  examined,  and  he  doggedly 
refused  to  allow  that  he  had  given  up  a  watch  to 
the  Jew. 

Suspicion  against  him  was  deepened  by  his  declaring 
that  he  had  heard  nothing  of  the  murder — a  matter  of 
general  talk  in  Dresden — and  that  he  had  not  seen 
the  notices  with  the  offer  of  reward  for  the  discovery 
of  the  murderer.  On  the  following  day,  April  5th, 
however,  he  admitted  having  pawned  the  watch,  which 


46  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

he  pretended  to  have  found  outside  the  Black  Gate. 
A  few  hours  later  he  withdrew  this  confession,  saying 
that  he  was  so  bewildered  with  the  questions  put  to 
him,  and  so  alarmed  at  his  arrest,  that  he  did  not 
well  know  what  he  said.  It  was  observed  that  Fischer 
was  a  man  of  very  low  intellectual  power. 

The  same  day  he  was  invested  in  his  uniform,  and 
presented  before  the  pawnbrokers.  Both  unanimously 
declared  that  he  was  not  the  man  who  had  entered 
their  shop  and  deposited  the  watch  with  them.  They 
both  declared  that  though  Fischer  had  the  same 
height  and  general  build  as  the  man  in  question,  and 
the  same  fair  hair,  yet  that  the  face  was  different. 

With  this,  the  case  against  Fischer  broke  down  ; 
nevertheless,  though  he  had  been  handed  over  by  the 
military  authorities  to  the  civil  power,  he  remained 
under  arrest.  The  public  was  convinced  of  his  guilt, 
and  the  police  hoped  by  keeping  him  in  prison  to 
draw  from  him  later  some  information  which  might 
prove  serviceable. 

And,  in  fact,  after  he  had  been  a  fortnight  under 
arrest,  he  volunteered  a  statement.  He  was  con- 
ducted at  once  before  the  magistrate,  and  confessed 
that  he  had  murdered  Von  Kiigelgen.  He,  however, 
stoutly  denied  having  laid  hands  on  the  carpenter 
Winter.  Nevertheless,  on  the  way  back  to  his  cell  he 
told  his  gaoler  that  he  had  committed  this  murder  as 
well.  Next  day  he  was  again  brought  before  the 
magistrate,  and  confessed  to  both  murders.  He  was 
taken  to  the  spots  where  the  two  corpses  had  been 
found,  and  there  he  renewed  his  confession,  though 
without  entering  into  any  details. 


A  NORTHREN  RAPHAEL.  47 

But  on  the  next  morning,  April  21,  he  begged  to 
be  again  heard,  and  he  then  asserted  that  his  former 
confessions  were  false.  He  had  confessed  merely 
because  he  was  weary  of  his  imprisonment  and  the 
poor  food  he  was  given,  and  decided  to  die.  When 
spoken  to  by  the  magistrates  seriously,  and  remon- 
strated with  for  his  contradictions,  he  cried  out  that 
he  was  innocent.  Let  them  torture  him  as  much  as 
they  pleased,  he  wished  to  die. 

But  hardly  was  he  back  in  his  prison  than  he  told 
the  gaoler  that  it  was  true  that  he  was  the  murderer 
of  both  Kiigelgen  and  Winter.  Again  he  confessed 
before  the  magistrate,  and  again,  on  the  27th,  with- 
drew his  confession  and  protested  his  innocence. 

On  the  2 1st  April  a  new  element  in  the  case  came 
to  light,  that  perplexed  the  question  not  a  little. 

A  Jewish  pawnbroker,  Lobel  Graff,  announced  that 
on  February  3,  1820,  he  had  received  from  the  gunner 
Kaltofen,  a  green  coat,  and  on  the  4th  April  a  dark- 
blue  cloth  coat,  stained  with  spots  of  oil,  also  a  pair 
of  cloth  trousers.  As  both  coats  seemed  to  him 
suspicious,  and  to  resemble  those  described  in  the 
advertisements,  he  had  questioned  Kaltofen  about 
them,  -but  had  received  equivocal  answers,  and 
Kaltofen  at  last  admitted  that  he  had  bought  them 
from  the  gunner  Fischer. 

John  Gottfried  Kaltofen  was  a  young  man  of  24 
years,  servant  to  one  of  the  officers,  and  therefore  did 
not  live  in  the  barracks.  He  was  now  taken  up.  His 
manner  and  appearance  were  in  his  favour.  He  was 
frank,  and  at  once  admitted  that  he  had  disposed  of 
the  two  coats  to  Graff,  and  that  he  had  bought  them 


48  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

of  Fischer.  On  confrontation  with  the  latter  he 
repeated  what  he  had  said.  Fischer  fell  into  con- 
fusion, denied  all  knowledge  of  Kaltofen,  protested 
his  innocence,  and  denied  the  sale  of  the  coats,  one  of 
which  had  in  the  meantime  been  identified  as  having 
belonged  to  Winter,  and  the  other  to  Kiigelgen. 

On  April  27th  a  search  was  made  in  the  lodgings 
of  Kaltofen,  and  three  keys  were  found  there,  hidden 
away,  and  these  proved  to  have  belonged  to  Kiigelgen. 
At  first  Kaltofen  declared  that  he  knew  nothing  of 
these  keys,  but  afterwards  said  that  he  remembered 
on  consideration  that  he  had  found  them  in  the 
pocket  of  the  blue  coat  he  had  purchased  from 
Fischer,  and  had  put  them  away  before  disposing  of 
the  coat,  and  had  given  them  no  further  thought. 
Not  many  minutes  after  Fischer  had  been  sent  back  to 
prison,  he  begged  to  be  brought  before  the  magistrate 
again,  and  now  admitted  that  it  was  quite  true  that 
he  had  sold  both  coats  to  Kaltofen. 

Whilst  this  confession  was  being  taken  down,  how- 
ever, he  again  hesitated,  broke  down,  and  denied 
having  sold  them  to  Kaltofen,  or  any  one  else.  "  I 
can't  say  anything  more,"  he  cried  out ;  "  my  head  is 
dazed." 

By  this  statement  he  remained,  protesting  his 
innocence,  and  he  declared  that  he  had  only  conlessed 
his  guilt  because  he  was  afraid  of  ill-treatment  in  the 
prison  if  he  continued  to  assert  his  innocence.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  the  gaolers  were  as  con- 
vinced of  his  guilt  as  were  the  public  of  Dresden;  and 
it  is  noticeable  that  under  pressure  from  them  Fischer 
always  acknowledged  his  guilt ;  whereas,  when  before 


A  NORTHERN  RAPHAEL.  49 

the  magistrates  he  was  ready  to  proclaim  that  he  was 
innocent.  At  this  time  it  was  part  of  the  duty  of  a 
gaoler,  or  was  supposed  to  be  such,  to  use  every 
possible  effort  to  bring  a  prisoner  to  confession.  And 
now,  on  April  27th,  a  third  gunner  appeared  on  the 
scene.  His  name  was  Kiessling,  and  he  asked  the 
magistrate  to  take  down  his  statement,  which  was  to 
the  effect  that  Kaltofen,  who  had  been  discharged, 
had  admitted  to  him  that  he  had  murdered  Ktigelgen 
with  a  cudgel,  and  that  he  had  still  got  some  of  his 
garments  hidden  in  his  lodgings.  But — so  said 
Kiessling — Kaltofen  had  jauntily  said  he  would  lay 
it  all  on  Fischer.  Kiessling,  moreover,  produced  a 
pair  of  boots,  that  he  said  Kaltofen  had  left  with  him 
to  be  re-soled,  as  he  was  regimental  shoemaker.  And 
these  boots  were  at  once  recognised  as  having  been 
those  worn  by  Ktigelgen  when  he  was  murdered. 

Kaltofen  was  at  once  re-arrested,  and  brought  into 
confrontation  with  Kiessling.  He  retained  his  com- 
posure, and  said  that  it  was  quite  true  that  he  had  given 
a  pair  of  boots  to  Kiessling  to  re-sole,  but  they  were  a 
pair  that  he  had  bought  in  the  market.  But,  in  the 
meantime,  another  investigation  of  his  lodgings  had 
been  made,  and  a  number  of  articles  found  that  had 
certainly  belonged  to  the  murdered  men,  Winter  and 
Ktigelgen.  They  were  ranged  on  the  table,  together 
with  the  pair  of  boots  confided  to  Kiessling,  and 
Kaltofen  was  shown  them.  Hitherto,  the  young  man 
had  displayed  phlegmatic  composure,  and  an  open- 
ness of  manner  that  had  impressed  all  who  saw  him 
in  his  favour.  His  intelligence,  had,  moreover,  con- 
trasted   favourably  with    that   of  Fischer.     But    the 


50 


FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 


i 


Slg 


lit  of  all  these  articles,  produced  before  him, 
staggered  Kaltofen,  and,  losing  his  presence  of  mind, 
he  turned  in  a  fury  upon  his  comrade,  the  shoemaker, 
and  swore  at  him  for  having  betrayed  his  confidence. 
Only  after  he  had  poured  forth  a  torrent  of  abuse, 
could  the  magistrate  bring  him  to  say  anything  about 
the  charge,  and  then — still  hot  and  panting  from  his 
onslaught  on  Kiessling — he  admitted  that  he,  not 
Fischer,  was  the  murderer  in  both  cases.  Fischer,  he 
said,  was  wholly  innocent,  not  only  of  participation  in> 
but  of  knowledge  of  the  crimes.  The  summary  of  his 
confession,  oft  repeated  and  never  withdrawn,  was  as 
follows : — Being  in  need  of  money,  he  had  gone  out- 
side the  town  thrice  in  one  week,  at  the  end  of 
December,  1819,  with  the  intent  of  murdering  and 
robbing  the  first  person  he  could  attack  with  security. 
For  this  purpose,  he  had  provided  himself  with  a 
cudgel  under  his  cloak.  On  the  29th  December  he 
selected  Winter  as  his  first  victim.  He  allowed  him 
to  pass,  then  stole  after  him,  and  suddenly  dealt  him 
a  blow  on  the  back  of  his  head,  before  the  young  man 
turned  to  see  who  was  following  him.  Winter 
dropped,  whereupon  he,  Kaltofen,  had  struck  him 
twice  again  on  the  head.  Then  he  divested  his 
victim  of  collar,  coat,  hat,  kerchief,  watch,  and  a 
little  money — not  more  than  four  shillings  in  English 
coins,  and  a  few  tools.  He  was  engaged  on  pulling 
off  his  boots  and  trousers,  when  he  was  alarmed  by 
hearing  the  tramp  of  horses  and  the  sound  of  wheels, 
and  he  ran  off  across  the  fields  with  his  spoil.  He  got 
Kiessling  to  dispose  of  the  hat  for  him,  the  other 
articles  he  himself  sold  to  Jews.     Whether  it  was  he 


A  NORTHERN  RAPHAEL. 


51 


also  who  assaulted  the  poor  woman  wTe  are  not  in- 
formed. In  like  manner  Kaltofen  proceeded  with 
Kiigelgen.  He  was  again  in  want  of  money.  He 
had  been  gambling,  and  had  lost  what  little  he  had. 
On  the  Monday  in  Holy  Week,  1820,  he  took  his 
cudgel  again  and  wrent  out  along  the  Bautzen  Road. 
The  moon  shone  brightly,  and  he  met  a  gentleman 
walking  slowly  towards  Dresden,  in  a  blue  cloak.  He 
allowed  him  to  pass,  then  followed  him.  As  a  woman 
was  walking  in  the  same  direction,  but  at  a  quicker  rate, 
he  delayed  his  purpose  till  she  had  disappeared  be- 
hind the  first  houses  of  /the  suburb.  Then  he  hastened 
on,  walking  lightly,  and  springing  up  behind  Kiigelgen, 
struck  him  on  the  right  temple  with  his  cudgel  from 
behind.  Kiigelgen  fell  without  uttering  a  cry. 
Kaltofen  at  once  seized  him  by  the  collar  and  dragged 
him  across  a  field  to  the  edge  of  the  river.  There  he 
dealt  him  several  additional  blows,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded to  strip  him.  Whilst  thus  engaged,  he 
remembered  that  the  dead  man  had  dropped  his 
walking-stick  on  the  high  road  when  first  struck. 
Kaltofen  at  once  desisted  from  what  he  was  about,  to 
return  to  the  road  and  recover  the  walking-stick.  On 
coming  back  to  his  victim,  he  thought  there  was  still 
life  in  him  ;  Kiigelgen  was  moving  and  endeavouring 
to  rise.  Whereupon,  with  his  cudgel,  Kaltofen  re- 
peatedly struck  him,  till  all  signs  of  life  disappeared. 
He  now  completed  his  work  of  spoliation,  pulled  off 
the  boots,  untied  the  neckerchief,  and  ransacked  the 
pockets.  He  found  in  addition  to  the  watch  the  sum 
of  about  half-a-guinea.  He  then  stole  away  among 
the  rushes  till  he  reached  the  Linkes  Bad,  where  he 


5  2  FREA  KS  OF  FAN  A  TIC  ISM. 

returned  to  the  main  road.  He  concealed  the  cloak 
at  the  Black  Gate,  but  carried  the  rest  of  his  plunder 
to  his  lodgings. 

His  confession  was  confirmed  by  several  circum- 
stances. Kiessling  was  again  required  to  repeat  what 
he  had  heard  from  Kaltofen,  and  the  story  as  told  by 
him  agreed  exactly  with  that  now  confessed  by  the 
murderer.  Kiessling  added  that  Kaltofen  had  told 
him  he  was  puzzled  to  account  for  Fischer's  self- 
examination,  as  he  knew  that  the  man  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  murder.  A  third  examination  of 
Kaltofen's  lodgings  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  all 
the  rest  of  the  murdered  man's  effects.  Moreover, 
when  Kaltofen  was  confronted  with  the  two  Jews 
who  had  taken  the  silver  watch  on  the  24th,  they 
immediately  recognised  him  as  the  man  who  had 
disposed  of  it  to  them. 

Finally,  he  confessed  to  having  been  associated 
with  Kiessling  in  two  robberies,  one  of  which  was  a 
burglarious  attack  on  his  own  master. 

The  case  was  made  out  clearly  enough  against 
Kaltofen,  and  it  seemed  equally  clear  that  Fischer 
was  innocent.  Moreover,  from  the  24th  April  on- 
wards, Fischer  never  swerved  from  his  protestation  of 
complete  innocence.  When  questioned  why  he  had 
confessed  himself  guilty,  he  said  that  he  had  been 
pressed  to  do  so  by  the  gaoler,  who  had  several  times 
fastened  him  for  a  whole  night  into  the  stocks,  and 
had  threatened  him  with  severer  measures  unless  he  ad- 
mitted his  guilt.  The  gaoler  admitted  having  so 
treated  Fischer  once,  but  Fischer  insisted  that  he  had 
been  thus  tortured  on  two  consecutive  niehts. 


A  NORTHERN  RAPHAEL.  53 

It  was  ascertained  that  Fischer  had  not  only  known 
about  the  murder  of  Kiigelgen,  but  had  attended  his 
funeral,  and  yet  he  had  pretended  entire,  or  almost 
entire,  ignorance  when  first  arrested.  When  asked  to 
explain  this,  he  replied  that  he  was  so  frightened  that 
he  took  refuge  in  lies.  That  he  was  a  dull-minded, 
extremely  ignorant  man,  was  obvious  to  the  judges 
and  to  all  who  had  to  do  with  him  ;  he  was  aged 
thirty,  and  had  spent  thirteen  years  in  the  army,  had 
conducted  himself  well,  but  had  never  been  trusted 
with  any  important  duties  on  account  of  his  stupidity. 
He  had  a  dull  eye,  and  a  heavy  countenance. 
Kaltofen,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a  good-looking,  well- 
built  young  fellow,  of  twenty- four,  with  a  bright, 
intelligent  face  ;  his  education  was  above  what  was 
ordinary  in  his  class.  It  was  precisely  this  that  had 
excited  in  him  vanity,  and  craving  for  pleasures  and 
amusements  which  he  could  not  afford.  His  obliging 
manners,  his  trimness,  and  cheerfulness,  had  made 
him  a  favourite  with  the  officers. 

As  already  intimated,  he  was  fond  of  play,  and  it 
was  this  that  had  induced  him  to  commit  his 
murders.  He  admitted  that  he  had  felt  little  or  no 
compunction,  and  he  said  frankly  that  it  was  as  well 
for  society  that  he  was  taken,  otherwise  the  death  of 
Kiigelgen  would  have  been  followed  by  others.  He 
spoke  of  the  crimes  he  had  committed  with  openness 
and  indifference,  and  maintained  this  condition  of 
callousness  to  the  end.  It  seems  to  have  been 
customary  on  several  occasions  for  the  Lutheran 
pastors  who  attended  the  last  hours  of  criminals  to 
publish    their   opinions    as   to  the  manner  in  which 


54  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

they  prepared  for  death,  and  their  ideas  as  to  the 
motives  for  the  crimes  committed,  an  eminently 
indecent  proceeding  to  our  notions.  In  this  case,  the 
chaplain  who  attended  on  Kaltofen  rushed  into  the 
priest  after  the  execution.  He  said,  "  Play  may  have 
occasioned  that  want  of  feeling  which  will  commit 
the  most  atrocious  crime,  without  compunction,  for 
the  gratification  of  a  temporary  requirement.  Kal- 
tofen, without  being  rude  and  rough  towards  his 
fellows,  but  on  the  contrary  obliging  and  courteous, 
came  to  regard  them  with  brutal  indifference."  Only 
twice  did  he  feel  any  twinge  of  conscience,  he  said, 
once  before  his  first  murder,  and  again  at  the  funeral 
of  his  second  victim,  which  he  attended.  The 
criminal  was  now  known,  had  confessed,  and  had 
confessed  that  he  had  no  accomplice.  Moreover,  he 
declared  that  Fischer  was  wholly  innocent.  Not  a 
single  particle  of  evidence  was  forthcoming  to  in- 
criminate Fischer,  apart  from  his  own  retracted  con- 
fessions.    Nevertheless  he  was  not  liberated. 

The  police  could  not  believe  that  Kaltofen  had  been 
without  an  accomplice.  There  were  stabs  in  the  face 
and  body  of  Ktigelgen,  and  Kaltofen  had  professed 
to  have  u  ed  no  other  weapon  than  a  cudgel.  The 
murderer  said  that  he  had  dragged  the  body  over  the 
field  to  the  rushes,  and  it  was  agreed  that  there  must 
have  been  evidence  of  this  dragging.  Some  witnesses 
had,  indeed,  said  they  had  seen  such,  but  others  pro- 
tested that  there  were  footprints  as  of  two  men. 
This,  however,  could  be  explained  by  Kaltofen's 
admission  that  he  had  gone  back  to  the  road  for  the 
walking-stick. 


A  NORTHERN  RAPHAEL.  55 

Then,  again,  Fischer,  when  interrogated,  had  given 
particulars  which  agreed  with  the  circumstances  in  a 
remarkable  manner.  He  was  asked  to  explain  this. 
"  Well,"  said  he,  "  he  had  heard  a  good  deal  of  talk 
about  the  murders,  and  he  was  miserable  at  the  thought 
of  spending  long  years  in  prison,  and  so  had  con- 
fessed." When  asked  how  he  knew  the  particulars  of 
the  murder  of  Winter,  he  said  that  he  had  been  helped 
to  it  by  the  gaoler.  He  had  said  first,  "  I  went  to  his 
left  side " — whereupon  the  gaoler  had  said,  "  Surely 
you  are  wrong,  it  was  on  the  right,"  thereat  Fischer 
had  corrected  himself  and  said,  "  Yes,  of  course — on 
the  right." 

The  case  was  now  ready  for  final  sentence,  and  for 
this  purpose  all  the  depositions  were  forwarded  on 
September  12th  to  the  Judicial  Court  at  Leipzig. 
But,  before  judgment  was  pronounced,  the  deposi- 
tions were  hastily  sent  for  back  to  Dresden — for,  in  the 
meantime,  the  case  had  passed  into  a  new  phase. 
On  October  5th,  the  gaoler — the  same  man  who  had 
brought  about  the  confession  of  Fischer — announced 
that  Kaltofen  had  confided  to  him  that  Fischer  really 
had  been  his  accomplice  in  both  the  murders.  Kal- 
tofen at  once  was  summoned  before  the  magistrate, 
and  he  calmly,  and  with  emphasis,  declared  that 
Fischer  had  assisted  him  on  both  occasions,  and  that 
he  had  not  allowed  this  before,  because  he  and 
Fischer  had  sworn  that  neither  would  betray  the 
other.  Fischer  had  never  mentioned  his  name,  and 
he  had  accordingly  done  his  utmost  to  exculpate 
Fischer. 

According  to  his  account,  he  and  Fischer  had  been 


56  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

walking  together  on  the  morning  of  March  26th,  be- 
tween 9  and  10,  when  they  planned  a  murder  together 
for  the  following  day.  However,  there  was  rebutting 
evidence  to  the  effect  that  on  the  morning  in  question 
Fischer  had  been  on  guard,  at  the  hour  named,  before 
the  powder  magazine  ;  he  had  not  been  released  till 
noon.  Other  statements  of  Kaltofen  proved  to  be 
equally  untrue. 

What  could  have  induced  Kaltofen  to  deliberately 
charge  a  comrade  in  arms  with  participation  in  the 
crime,  if  he  were  guiltless  ?  There  was  no  apparent 
motive.  He  could  gain  no  reprieve  by  it.  It  did  not 
greatly  diminish  his  own  guilt. 

It  was  necessary  to  enter  into  as  close  investigation 
as  was  possible  into  the  whereabouts  of  Fischer  at  the 
time  of  the  two  murders.  It  was  not  found  possible 
to  determine  where  he  was  at  the  time  when  Winter 
was  killed,  but  some  of  his  comrades  swore  that  on 
March  27th  he  had  been  present  at  the  roll-call  at  6 
p.m.,  and  had  come  into  barrack  before  the  second 
roll-call  at  half-past  eight.  The  murder  of  Ktigelgcn 
had  taken  place  at  eight  o'clock,  and  the  distance  be- 
tween the  barrack  and  the  spot  where  it  had  been 
committed  was  3487  paces,  which  would  take  a  man 
about  25  minutes  to  traverse.  If,  as  his  comrades 
asserted,  Fischer  had  come  in  shortly  after  eight,  then 
it  was  quite  impossible  that  he  could  have  been 
present  when  Ktigelgen  was  murdered;  but  not  great 
reliance  can  be  placed  on  the  testimony  of  soldiers  as 
to  the  hour  at  which  a  comrade  came  into  barrack 
just  seven  months  before  on  a  given  day. 

The  case  was  perplexing.     The  counsel  for  Fischer 


A  NORTHERN  RAPHAEL.  57 

— his  name  was  Eisen stiick — took  a  bold  line  of  de- 
fence. He  charged  the  gaoler  with  having  manipu- 
lated Kaltofen,  as  he  had  Fischer.  This  gaoler's  self- 
esteem  was  wounded  by  the  discovery  that  Kaltofen 
and  not  Fischer  was  the  murderer,  and  his  credit  was 
damaged  by  the  proceedings  which  showed  that  he 
had  goaded  an  unhappy  man,  confided  to  his  care,  into 
charging  himself  with  a  crime  he  had  never  com- 
mitted. Eisenstiick  asserted  that  this  new  charge  was 
fabricated  in  the  prison  by  the  gaoler  in  concert  with 
Kaltofen  for  his  own  justification.  But,  whatever 
may  be  thought  of  the  character  and  conduct  of  this 
turnkey,  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  he  could  pre- 
vail on  a  cool-headed  man  like  Kaltofen  thus  to  take 
on  himself  the  additional  guilt  of  perjury,  and  such 
perjury  as  risked  the  life  of  an  innocent  man. 
Kaltofen  never  withdrew  this  assertion  that  Fischer 
was  an  accomplice.  He  persisted  in  it  to  his  last 
breath. 

The  depositions  were  again  sent  to  the  faculty  at 
Leipzig,  on  Dec.  18th,  to  give  judgment  on  the  fol- 
lowing points. 

1.  The  examination    of   the  body  of  Ktigelgen  had 

revealed  stabs  made  with  a  sharp,  two-edged  in- 
strument, as  well  as  blows  dealt  by  a  blunt 
weapon.  Kaltofen  would  admit  that  he  had 
used  no  other  instrument  than  a  cudgel. 

2.  It  would  have  been  a  difficult  matter  for  one  man 

to  drag  a  dead  body  from  the  road  to  the  bed  of 
rushes,  without  leaving  unmistakable  traces  on 
the  field  traversed  ;  and  such  were  not,  for 
certain,  found.     It  was  therefore  more  probable 


5S  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

that  the  dead  man  had  been  carried  by  two  per- 
sons to  the  place  where  found. 
It  must  be  observed  that  crowds  poured  out  of 
Dresden  to  see  the  place  where  the  body  lay  as  soon 
as  it  was  known  that  Kiigelgen  had  been  discovered, 
and  consequently  no  accurate  and  early  examination 
of  tracks  across  the  field  had  been  made. 

3.  That  it  would   have   been   difficult   for    Kaltofen 

alone  to  strip  the  body.  This  may  be  doubted  ; 
it  would  be  difficult  possibly,  but  not  impossible, 
whilst  the  body  was  flexible. 

4.  A  witness  had  said  that  she  had  met  two  men  out- 

side the  Black  Gate  on  the  evening  of  the  27th 
March,  of  whom  one  was  wrapped  in  a  cloak  and 
seemed  to  be  carrying  something  under  it.  We 
should  much  like  to  know  when  the  woman  gave 
this  evidence.  Unfortunately,  that  is  what  is  not 
told  us. 

5.  Kaltofen,  in  a  letter  to  his  parents,  had  stated  that 

he  had  an  accomplice,  but  had  not  named  him. 

These  were  the  points  that  made  it  appear  that 
Kaltofen  had  an  accomplice.  An  accomplice  in  some 
of  his  crimes  he  had — Kiessling. 

There  were  other  points  that  made  it  appear  that 
Fischer  had  assisted  him  in  the  murders. 

6.  Fischer's  denial  that  he   knew  anything  about  the 

murder  of  Kiigelgen  when  he  was  arrested, 
whereas  it  was  established  that  he  had  attended 
the  funeral  of  the  murdered  man. 

7.  His  repeated  confessions  that  he  had   assisted  at 

the  murders,  and  his  acquaintance  with  the  par- 
ticulars and  with  the  localities. 


A  NORTHERN  RAPHAEL.  59 

8.  Kaltofen's  asseverations  that  Fischer  was  his 
associate  in  the  murders. 

In  favour  of  Fischer  it  may  be  said  that  his  conduct 
in  the  army  had  for  thirteen  years  been  uniformly 
good,  and  there  was  no  evidence  that  he  had  been  in 
any  way  guilty  of  dishonesty.  Nor  was  he  a  man  of 
extravagant  habits  like  Kaltofen,  needing  money  for 
his  pleasures.  He  was  a  simple,  inoffensive,  and  very 
stupid  man.  His  confessions  lose  all  their  effect  when 
we  consider  how  they  were  extorted  from  him  by 
undue  influence. 

Against  Kaltofen's  later  accusation  must  be  set  his 
repeated  declaration,  during  six  months,  that  Fischer 
was  innocent.  Not  only  this,  but  his  assertion  in 
confidence  to  Kiessling  that  he  was  puzzled  what 
could  have  induced  Fischer  to  avow  himself  guilty  of 
a  crime,  of  which  he — Kaltofen — knew  him  to  be 
innocent.  When  Kiessling  gave  this  evidence  on 
April  24th,  Kaltofen  did  not  deny  that  he  had  said 
this,  but  flew  into  a  paroxysm  of  fury  with  his 
comrade  for  betraying  their  private  conversation. 

Again,  not  a  single  article  appertaining  to  either  of 
the  murdered  men  was  found  with  Fischer.  All  had 
been  traced,  without  exception,  to  Kaltofen.  It  was 
the  latter  who  had  concealed  Kugelgen's  coat,  and 
had  given  his  watch  to  the  Jews.  It  was  he  who  had 
got  Kiessling  to  dispose  of  Winter's  hat  for  him,  and 
had  given  the  boots  of  the  last  victim  to  Kiessling 
to  be  repaired. 

On  January  4th,  182 1,  the  Court  at  Leipzig  issued 
its  judgment ;  that  Kaltofen,  on  account  of  two 
murders  committed  and  confessed,  was  to  be  put  to 


60  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

death  on  the  wheel  ;  "  but  that  John  George  Fischer 
be  discharged  on  account  of  lack  of  evidence  of 
complicity  in  the  murders."  The  gaoler  was  dis- 
charged his  office. 

Kaltofen  appealed  against  the  sentence,  but  in  vain. 
The  sentence  was  confirmed.  The  ground  of  his 
appeal  was,  that  he  was  not  alone  guilty.  The  King 
commuted  the  penalty  of  the  wheel  into  execution  by 
the  sword. 

The  sentence  of  the  court  produced  the  liveliest 
commotion  in  Dresden.  The  feeling  against  Fischer 
was  strong  and  general ;  the  gaoler  had  but  represented 
the  universal  opinion.  Fischer — who  had  confessed 
to  the  murder — Fischer,  whom  Kaltofen  protested  was 
as  deeply  stained  in  crime  as  himself,  was  to  go  scot 
free.  The  police  authorities  did  not  carry  out  the 
sentence  of  discharge  in  its  integrity;  they  indeed 
released  him  from  prison,  but  placed  him  under  police 
supervision,  and  he  was  discharged  from  the  Artillery 
on  the  plea  that  he  had  forsworn  himself.  The  pastor 
Jaspis  was  entrusted  with  the  preparation  of  Kaltofen 
for  death  ;  and  we  know  pretty  well  what  passed  be- 
tween him  and  the  condemned  man,  as  he  had  the 
indecency  to  publish  it  to  the  world.  Jaspis  had,  in- 
deed, visited  him  in  prison  when  he  was  first  arrested, 
and  then  Kaltofen  had  asserted  that  he  had  committed 
the  murders  entirely  unassisted.  On  Jaspis  remarking 
to  him  in  April,  18:0,  that  there  were  circumstances 
that  rendered  this  eminently  improbable,  Kaltofen 
cut  him  short  with  the  answer,  "  I  was  by  myself." 
Afterwards,  when  he  had  changed  his  note,  Jaspis 
reminded     him     of    his     previous    declaration,     but 


A  NORTHERN  RAPHAEL.  61 

Kaltofen  pretended  not  to  remember  ever  having 
made  it. 

Towards  the  end  of  his  days,  Kaltofen  was  pro- 
foundly agitated,  and  was  very  restless.  When  Jaspis 
gave  him  a  book  of  prayers  and  meditations  for  such 
as  were  in  trouble,  he  put  it  from  him,  and  said  the 
book  was  unsuitable,  and  was  adapted  only  to  the 
innocent.  He  had  visitors  who  combined  piety  with 
inquisitiveness,  and  came  to  discuss  with  him  the  state 
of  his  soul.  Kaltofen's  vanity  was  inflamed,  and  he 
was  delighted  to  pose  before  these  zealots.  When  he 
heard  that  Jaspis  had  preached  about  him  in  the 
Kreuz  Kirche  on  the  Sunday  before  his  execution,  he 
was  greatly  gratified,  and  said,  "  He  would  really 
like  to  hear  what  had  been  said  about  him." 

Jaspis  thereupon  produced  his  sermon,  and  read  it 
over  to  the  wretched  man — but  tells  us  that  even  the 
most  touching  portions  of  the  address  failed  to  awake 
any  genuine  compunction  in  his  soul.  Unless  he 
could  play  the  saint,  before  company,  he  was  cold 
and  indifferent.  His  great  vanity,  however,  was  hurt 
at  the  thought  that  his  assertion  was  disbelieved,  that 
Fischer  was  his  associate  in  his  crimes.  He  was  always 
eager  and  inquisitive  to  know  what  rumours  circulated 
in  the  town  concerning  him,  and  was  gratified  to 
think  that  he  was  the  topic  of  the  general  conver- 
sation. 

On  the  night  before  his  execution  he  slept  soundly 
for  five  hours,  and  then  lit  his  pipe  and  smoked 
composedly.  His  condition  was,  however,  not  one  of 
bluntness  of  sense,  for  he  manifested  considerable 
readiness  and  consciousness  up  to  the  last.     He  had 


62  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

drawn  up  a  dying  address  which  he  handed  to  pastor 
Jaspis,  and  on  which  he  evidently  placed  great  im- 
portance, as  when  his  first  copy  had  caught  fire  when 
he  was  drying  it,  he  set  to  work  to  compose  a  second. 
He  knew  his  man — Jaspis — and  was  sure  he  would 
publish  it  after  the  execution.  The  paper  was  a 
rigmarole  in  which  he  posed  to  the  world. 

On  reaching  the  market-place  where  the  execution 
was  to  take  place,  he  repeated  his  confession,  but  on 
this  occasion  without  mention  of  a  confederate.  His 
composure  gave  way,  and  he  began  to  sob.  On 
reaching  the  scaffold,  however,  the  sight  of  the  vast 
crowd  assembled  to  see  him  die  restored  to  him  some 
of  his  composure,  as  it  pleased  his  vanity  ;  but  he 
again  broke  down,  as  he  made  his  last  confession  to 
the  Lutheran  pastor.  His  voice  trembled,  and  the 
sweat  broke  out  on  his  brow.  Then  he  sprang  up 
and  shouted,  so  that  all  could  hear — "  Gentlemen, 
Fischer  deserved  the  same  punishment  as  myself." 
In  another  moment  his  head  fell  from  his  body. 

The  words  had  been  audible  throughout  the  market- 
place by  everyone.  Who  could  doubt  that  his  last 
words  were  true? 

Fischer  happened  that  very  day  (July  12th)  to  be 
in  Dresden.  He  had  been  seen,  and  had  been 
recognised. 

He  had  come  to  Dresden  to  see  his  counsel,  and 
ask  him  to  use  his  influence  to  obtain  his  complete 
discharge  from  police  supervision,  and  restoration  to 
his  rights  as  an  honest  man  and  a  soldier,  with  a 
claim  to  a  pension. 

A  vast  crowd   of  people  rolled   from  the  place  of 


A  NORTHERN  RAPHAEL.  63 

execution  to  the  house  of  Eisenstiick,  shouting,  and 
threatening  to  tear  Fischer  to  pieces. 

But  Eisenstiick  was  not  the  man  to  be  terrified. 
He  summoned  a  carriage,  entered  it  along  with  Fischer, 
and  drove  slowly,  with  the  utmost  composure,  through 
the  angry  crowd. 

On  August  26th,  1822,  by  command  of  the  king, 
Fischer's  name  was  replaced  in  the  army  list,  and  he 
received  his  complete  discharge  from  all  the  con- 
sequences of  the  accusations  made  against  him.  He 
was  guaranteed  his  pension  for  his  "  faithful  services 
through  16  years,  and  in  the  campaigns  of  1813,  18 14, 
and  181 5,  in  which  he  had  conducted  himself  to  the 
approval  of  all  his  officers." 

How  are  we  to  explain  the  conduct  of  Kaltofen  ? 
The  simplest  way  is  to  admit  that  he  spoke  the  truth; 
but  against  this  is  to  be  opposed  his  denial  that  Fischer 
was  guilty  during  the  first  six  months  that  he  was 
under  arrest.  And  it  is  impossible  to  believe  that 
Fischer  was  guilty,  on  the  sole  testimony  of  Kaltofen, 
without  any  confirmatory  evidence. 

It  is  rather  to  be  supposed  that  the  inordinate  vanity 
of  the  young  culprit  induced  him  to  persist  in  de- 
nouncing his  innocent  brother  gunner,  so  as  to  throw  off 
his  own  shoulders  some  of  the  burden  of  that  crime, 
which,  he  felt,  made  him  hateful  in  the  eyes  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  and  perhaps  to  induce  them  to  regard 
him  as  misled  by  an  older  man,  more  hardened  and 
experienced  in  crime,  thus  arousing  their  pity  and 
sympathy  in  place  of  their  disgust. 

Jaspis,  the  pastor,  did  not  himself  believe  in  the 
criminality  of  Fischer,  and  proposes  a  solution  which 


64  FREAKS  OF  FAN  A  TICISM. 

he  gives  conjecturally  only.  He  suggests  that  Kalto- 
fen  was  misled  by  the  confession  of  Fischer  into  the 
belief  that  he  really  had  committed  a  murder  or  two, 
though  not  those  of  Winter  and  Kiigelgen,  and  that 
when  he  declared  on  the  scaffold  that  "  Fischer  de- 
served to  die  as  much  as  himself,"  he  spoke  under  this 
conviction.  This  explanation  is  untenable,  for  the 
miserable  man  had  repeatedly  charged  Fischer  with 
assisting  him  in  committing  these  two  particular 
crimes.  The  explanation  must  be  found  in  his  self- 
conceit  and  eagerness  to  present  himself  in  the  best 
and  most  affecting  light  before  the  public.  And  he 
gained  his  point  to  some  extent.  The  mob  believed 
him,  pitied  him,  became  sentimental  over  him,  wept 
tears  at  his  death,  and  cursed  the  unfortunate  Fischer. 
The  apparent  piety,  the  mock  heroics,  the  graceful 
attitudes,  and  the  good  looks  of  the  murderer  had  won 
their  sympathies,  and  the  general  opinion  of  the  vul- 
gar was  that  they  had  assisted  at  the  sublimation  of 
a  saint  to  the  seventh  heaven,  and  not  at  the  well-de- 
served execution  of  a  peculiarly  heartless  and  brutal 
murderer. 

A  month  had  hardly  passed  since  Kaltofen's  execu- 
tion before  Dresden  was  shocked  to  hear  of  another 
murder — on  this  occasion  by  a  young  woman.  On 
August  1 2th,  1 82 1,  this  person,  who  had  been  in  a  state 
of  excitement  ever  since  the  edifying  death  of  Kalto- 
fen,  invited  to  her  house  a  young  girl,  just  engaged  to 
be  married,  and  deliberately  murdered  her ;  then 
marched  off  to  the  police  and  confessed  her  crime — 
the  nature  of  which  she  did  not  disguise.  She  desired 
to  make  the  same  affecting  and  edifying  end  as  Kalto- 


A   NORTHERN  RAPHAEL.  65 

fen.  Above  all,  she  wanted  to  get  herself  talked  about 
by  all  the  mouths  in  Dresden.  The  police  on  visiting 
her  house  found  the  murdered  girl  lying  on  the  bed. 
On  the  door  in  large  letters  the  murderer  had  in- 
scribed the  date  of  Kaltofen's  martyrdom,  July  12th, 
and  she  had  committed  her  crime  on  the  same  day 
one  month  after,  desirous  to  share  his  glory. 

Such  was  one  consequence  of  this  execution.  A 
small  farce  also  succeeded  it.  Influenced  by  the 
general  excitement  provoked  by  the  murder  of 
Ktigelgen,  the  Jews  had  assembled  and  agreed,  should 
any  of  them  be  able  to  discover  the  murderer,  that 
they  would  decline  the  £150  offered  by  Government 
for  information  that  might  lead  to  the  apprehension 
of  the  guilty.  But  Hirschel  Mendel,  the  Jew  who 
had  produced  the  watch,  put  in  his  claim ;  whereupon 
Lobel  Graff,  who  had  produced  the  coat,  put  in  a 
counter  claim.  This  occasioned  a  lawsuit  between 
the  two  Jews  for  the  money.  A  compromise  was 
finally  patched  up,  by  which  each  received  half. 

Gerhard  von  Ktigelgen  had  been  buried  in  the 
Catholic  cemetery  at  Dresden  on  Maundy  Thursday 
evening  by  moonlight.  A  great  procession  of  art 
students  attended  the  funeral  cortege  with  lighted 
torches,  and  an  oration  was  pronounced  over  his  grave 
by  his  friend  Councillor  Bottiger. 

His  tomb  may  still  be  seen  in  the  cemetery ;  on  it 
is  inscribed  : — 

Franz  Gerhard  von  kugelgen. 
Born  6  Feb.,  1772. 
Died  27  March,  1820. 

On  the  other  side  is  the  text,  St.  John  xiv.  27. 


66  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Ktigelgen  left  behind  him  two  sons  and  a  daughter. 
The  eldest  son,  Wilhelm,  pursued  his  father's  profes- 
sion as  an  artist,  and  the  Emperor  of  Russia  sent  an 
annual  grant  of  money  to  assist  him  in  his  studies. 
There  is  a  pleasant  book,  published  anonymously  by 
him,  "  An  Old  Man's  Youthful  Reminiscences,"  the 
first  edition  of  which  was  issued  in  1870,  and  which 
had  reached  its  eighth  edition  in  1876. 

Kiigelgen's  twin  brother,  Karl  Ferdinand,  after 
spending  some  years  in  St.  Petersburg  and  in  Livonia, 
settled  at  Reval,  and  died  in  1832.  He  was  the  author 
of  a  "  Picturesque  Journey  in  the  Crimea,"  published 
in  1823. 

Authority  : — F.  Ch.  A.  Hasse  :  Das  Leben  Gerhards  von 
Kiigelgen.  Leipzig,  1824.  He  gives  in  the  Supplement  an  ex- 
cerpt from  the  records  of  the  trial.  As  frontispiece  is  a  portrait 
of  the  artist  by  himself,  very  Raphaelesque. 


£be  fpoiaonefc  parsnips. 

At  the  time  when  the  banished  Bourbons  were 
wandering  about  Europe  seeking  temporary  asylums, 
during  the  period  of  Napoleon's  supremacy,  a  story 
circulated  in  1804  relative  to  an  attempt  made  in 
Warsaw,  which  then  belonged  to  Prussia,  upon  the  life 
of. the  Royal  Family  then  residing  there.  It  was  said 
that  a  plot  had  been  formed,  that  was  well  nigh  suc- 
cessful, to  kill  Louis  XVI II.,  his  wife,  the  Duke  and 
Duchess  of  Angouleme,  and  such  of  the  Court  as  sat 
at  the  Royal  table,  with  a  dish  of  poisoned  parsnips. 
It  was,  moreover,  whispered  that  at  the  bottom  of  the 
plot  was  no  other  than  Napoleon  himself,  who  sought 
to  remove  out  of  his  way  the  legitimate  claimants  to 
the  Gallic  throne. 

The  article  in  which  the  account  of  the  attempt  was 
made  public  was  in  the  London  Courier  for  August 
20th,  1804,  from  which  we  will  now  take  the  leading 
facts. 

The  Royal  Family  was  living  in  Warsaw.  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  employed  an  agent  of  the  name  of  Galon 
Boyer  at  Warsaw  to  keep  an  eye  on  them,  and  this 
man,  it  was  reported,  had  engaged  assassins  at  the 
instigation  of  Napoleon  to  poison  Louis  XVIII.  and 
the  rest  of  the  Royal  Family.  The  Courier  oi  August 
2 1st,  1804,  says:  "Some  of  the  daily  papers,  which 
were  not  over  anxious  to  discredit  the  conspiracy  im- 

67 


68  FREAKS  OF  FANA  TICFSM. 

puted  to  Mr.  Drake,1  affect  to  throw  some  doubt  upon 
the  account  of  the  attempt  upon  the  lives  of  the 
Royal  Family  at  Warsaw.  They  seem  to  think 
that  had  Bonaparte  desired  such  a  plan,  he  could 
have  executed  it  with  more  secrecy  and  effect.  Un- 
doubtedly his  plans  of  assassination  have  hitherto 
been  more  successful,  because  his  hapless  victims 
were  within  his  power — his  wounded  soldiers  at 
Jaffa,  Toussaint  L'Ouverture,  Pichegru,  and  the  Duke 
D'Enghien.  He  could  send  his  bloodhounds  into 
Germany  to  seize  his  prey  ;  but  Warsaw  was  too 
remote  for  him  ;  he  was  under  the  necessity  of  having 
recourse  to  less  open  means  of  sending  his  assassins  to 
act  secretly.  But  it  is  deemed  extraordinary  that 
the  diabolical  attempt  should  have  failed.  Why  is  it 
extraordinary  that  a  beneficent  Providence  should  in- 
terpose to  save  the  life  of  a  just  prince?  Have  we 
not  had  signal  instances  of  that  interposition  in  this 
country  ?  For  the  accuracy  of  the  account  we 
published  yesterday,  we  pledge  ourselves 2  that  the 
fullest    details,  authenticated   by  all   Louis  XVIII.'s 

1  Drake  was  envoy  of  the  British  Government  at  Munich;  he 
and  Spencer  Smith,  Charge  d'Affaires  at  Wiirtemberg,  were 
accused  by  Napoleon  of  being  at  the  bottom  of  a  counter  revolu- 
tion, and  an  attempt  to  obtain  his  assassination.  It  was  true 
that  Drake  and  Smith  were  in  correspondence  with  parties  in 
France  with  the  object  of  securing  Hagenau  and  Strassburgo 
and  throwing  discord  among  the  troops  of  the  Republic,  but 
they  never  for  a  moment  thought  of  obtaining  the  assassination 
of  the  First  Consul,  as  far  as  we  can  judge  from  their  correspon- 
dence that  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  French  police. 

2  Unfortunately  the  British  Museum  file  is  imperfect,  and  does 
not  contain  the  Number  for  August  2otht 


THE  POISONED  PARSNIPS.  69 

Ministers — by  the  venerable  Archbishop  of  Rheims — 
by  the  Abbe  Edgeworth,  who  administered  the  last 
consolation  of  religion  to  Louis  the  XVI. ,  have  been 
received  in  this  country.  All  those  persons  were 
present  when  the  poisoned  preparation  was  analysed 
by  very  eminent  physicians,  who  are  the  subjects  of  the 
King  of  Prussia. 

"  The  two  wretches  who  attempted  to  corrupt  the 
poor  Frenchman  were  openly  protected  by  the  French 
Consul  or  Commercial  Agent. 

"  The  Prussian  Governor  would  not  suffer  them  to 
be  arrested  in  order  that  their  guilt  or  innocence  might 
be  legally  investigated.  Is  it  to  be  believed  that 
had  there  been  no  foundation  for  the  charge  against 
them,  the  French  agent  would  have  afforded  them 
less  open  protection,  and  thereby  strengthened  the 
charge  brought  against  them  ?  If  they  were  pro- 
tected and  paid  by  the  French  agent,  is  it  probable 
that  he  paid  them  out  of  his  own  pocket,  employed 
them  in  such  a  plot  of  his  own  accord,  and  without 
•order  and  instructions  from  his  own  Government,  from 
Bonaparte  ?  Besides,  did  not  the  President  Hoym 
acknowledge  his  fears  that  some  attempt  would  be 
made  upon  the  life  of  Louis  the  XVIII.  ? 

"  The  accounts  transmitted  to  this  country  were 
sent  from  Warsaw  one  hour  after  the  king  had  set 
out  for  Grodno." 

The  Courier  for  August  24th,  1804,  has  the  fol- 
lowing note  : — "  We  have  another  strong  fact  which 
is  no  slight  evidence  in  our  minds  of  Bonaparte's  guilt. 
The  plot  against  Louis  the  XVIII.  was  to  be  executed 
at  the  end  of  July — it  would  be  known  about  the  be- 


7Q  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

ginning  of  August  At  that  very  period  Bonaparte 
prohibits  the  importation  of  all  foreign  journals  without 
exception — that  is,  of  all  the  means  by  which  the 
people  could  be  informed  of  the  diabolical  deed.  Why 
does  he  issue  this  prohibition  at  the  present  moment, 
or  why  does  he  issue  it  at  all  ?  Fouche  says  in  his 
justification  of  it  that  it  is  to  prevent  our  knowing 
when  the  expedition  sails.  Have  we  ever  received 
any  news  about  the  expedition  from  the  French 
papers  ?  No,  no  !  the  prohibition  was  with  a  view  to 
the  bloody  scene  to  be  acted  at  Warsaw." 

The  Courier  of  August  22nd  contained  full  parti- 
culars. We  will  now  tell  the  whole  story,  from  begin- 
ning to  end,  first  of  all  as  dressed  out  by  the  fancy  of 
Legitimists,  and  then  according  to  the  real  facts  of  the 
case  as  far  as  known. 

Napoleon,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  been  appointed 
First  Consul  for  life  on  August  2nd,  1802,  but  the  Re- 
public came  to  an  end,  and  the  French  Empire  was 
established  by  the  Senate  on  May  18th,  1804. 

It  was  supposed — and  we  can  excuse  the  excite- 
ment and  intoxication  of  wrath  in  the  minds  of  all 
adherents  of  the  Bourbons  which  could  suppose  it- — 
that  Napoleon,  who  was  thus  refounding  the  Empire 
of  Charlemagne,  desired  to  secure  the  stability  of  thia 
new  throne  by  sweeping  out  of  his  way  the  legitimate 
claimants  to  that  of  France.  The  whole  legend  of 
the  attempt  to  assassinate  Louis  XVIII.  by  means  of 
a  dish  of  poisoned  parsnips  is  given  us  in  complete 
form  by  the  author  of  a  life  of  that  prince  twenty 
years  after  the  event.1     It  is  to  this  effect : 

1  A.  de  Beauchamp,  Vie  de  Louis  XVIII.     Paris,  1824. 


THE  POISONED  PARSNIPS.  71 

When  the  King  (Louis  XVIII.)  was  preparing  for 
his  journey  from  Warsaw  to  Grodno  an  atrocious 
attempt  to  assassinate  him  was  brought  to  light,  which 
leaves  no  manner  of  doubt  that  it  was  the  purpose  of 
those  who  were  the  secret  movers  in  the  plot  to  remove 
by  poison  both  the  King  and  Queen  and  also  the 
Duke  of  Angouleme  and  his  wife.  Two  delegates  of 
Napoleon  had  been  in  Warsaw  seeking  for  a  man  who 
could  execute  the  plan.  A  certain  Coulon  appeared 
most  adapted  to  their  purpose,  a  man  indigent  and 
eager  for  money.  •He  had  previously  been  in  the  ser- 
vice of  one  of  the  emigre  nobles,  and  had  access  to 
the  kitchen  of  the  Royal  Family. 

The  agents  of  Napoleon  gave  Coulon  drink,  and  as 
he  became  friendly  and  lively  under  the  influence  of 
punch,  they  communicated  to  him  their  scheme,  and 
promised  him  money,  the  payment  of  his  debts,  and  to 
effect  his  escape  if  he  would  be  their  faithful  servant 
in  the  intrigue.  Coulon  pretended  to  yield  to  their 
solicitations,  and  a  rendezvous  was  appointed  where 
the  plans  were  to  be  matured.  But  no  sooner  was 
Coulon  at  liberty  than  he  went  to  his  former  master, 
the  Baron  de  Milleville,  master  of  horse  to  the  Queen, 
and  told  him  all.  The  Baron  sought  the  Due  de 
Pienne,  first  gentleman  of  the  Royal  household,  and 
he  on  receiving  the  information  communicated  it  to 
the  Count  d'Avaray,  Minister  of  Louis  XVIII.  Coulon 
received  orders  to  pretend  to  be  ready  to  carry  on  the 
plot.  He  did  this  with  reluctance,  but  he  did  it.  He 
told  the  agents  of  Napoleon  that  he  was  in  their 
hands  and  would  blindly  execute  their  orders.  They 
treated  him  now  to  champagne,  and  revealed  to  him 


72  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

the  details  of  the  attempt.  He  was  to  get  into  the 
kitchen  of  the  Royal  household,  and  was  to  pour  the 
contents  of  a  packet  they  gave  him  into  one  of  the 
pots  in  which  the  dinner  for  the  Royal  table  was  being 
cooked,  Coulon  then  demanded  an  instalment  of  his 
pay,  and  asked  to  be  given  400  louis  d'or.  One  of  the 
agents  then  turned  to  the  other  and  asked  if  he  thought 
Boyer  would  be  disposed  to  advance  so  much — this 
was  Galon  Boyer,  the  head  agent  sent  purposely  to 
Warsaw  as  spy  on  the  Royal  Family,  and  the  princi- 
pal mover  in  the  attempt. 

The  other  agent  replied  that  Boyer  was  not  at  the 
moment  in  Warsaw,  but  he  would  be  back  in  a  couple 
of  days.  Coulon  stuck  to  his  point,  like  a  clever  ras- 
cal, and  refused  to  do  anything  till  he  felt  gold  in  his 
palm,  and  he  was  bidden  wait  till  Boyer  had  been 
communicated  with.  He  was  appointed  another 
meeting  on  the  moors  at  Novawies  outside  the  city. 

As,  next  evening,  Coulon  was  on  his  way  to  the  place 
named,  be  observed  that  he  was  followed  by  a  man. 
Suddenly  out  of  the  corn  growing  beside  the  road 
started  a  second.  They  were  the  agents.  They 
paid  him  a  few  dollars,  promised  to  provide  hand- 
somely for  him  in  France,  by  giving  him  400  louis  d'or 
and  a  situation  under  Government  ;  and  handed  him 
a  bottle  of  liquor  that  was  to  stimulate  his  courage  at 
the  crucial  moment,  and  also  a  paper  packet  that  con- 
tained three  parsnips,  that  had  been  scooped  out  and 
filled  with  poison.  These  he  was  to  insinuate  into  one 
of  the  pots  cooking  for  dinner,  and  induce  the  cook  to 
overlook  what  he  had  done,  and  serve  them  up  to  the 
Royal  Family. 


THE  POISONED    PARSNIPS.  73 

The  King  then  lived  in  a  chateau  at  Lazienki,  about 
a  mile  out  of  Warsaw.  Thither  hastened  Coulon  as 
fast  as  his  legs  could  carry  him,  and  he  committed  the 
parsnips  to  the  Baron  deMilleville.  The  Count  d'Avaray 
and  the  Archbishop  of  Rheims  put  their  seals  on  the 
parcel ;  after  that  the  parsnips  had  first  been  shown  to 
the  Prussian  authorities,  and  they  had  been  asked  in 
all  form  to  attest  the  production  of  the  poisoned  roots, 
and  to  order  the  arrest  of  the  two  agents  of  Napoleon, 
and  to  confront  them  with  Coulon — and  had  declined. 
Louis,  when  informed  of  the  attempt,  showed  his 
wonted  composure.  He  wrote  immediately  to  the 
Prussian  President,  Von  Hoym,and  requested  him  to 
visit  him  at  Lazienki,  and  consult  what  was  to  be 
done. 

Herr  Von  Hoym  did  not  answer  ;  nor  did  he  go  to 
the  King,  but  communicated  with  his  superiors.  Fin- 
ally there  arrived  a  diplomatic  reply  declining  to  in- 
terfere in  the  matter,  as  it  was  the  concern  of  the 
police  to  investigate  it,  and  it  should  be  taken  up  in 
the  ordinary  way. 

Thereupon  the  King  requested  that  Coulon  and  his 
wife  should  be  secured,  and  that  specialists  should  be 
appointed  who,  along  with  the  Royal  physician,  might 
examine  the  parsnips  alleged  to  be  poisoned. 

But  the  Prussian  Courts  declined  again  to  take  any 
steps.  The  policy  of  the  Prussian  Cabinet  under 
Count  Haugwitz  was  favourable  to  a  French  alliance, 
and  the  King  of  Prussia  was  among  the  first  of  the 
greater  Powers  which  had  formally  recognised  the 
French  Emperor.  On  condition  that  the  French 
troops  occupying  Hanover  should  not  be  augmented, 


74  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

and  that  war,  if  it  broke  out  with  Russia,  should  be  so 
carried  on  as  not  to  inconvenience  and  sweep  over 
Prussian  territory,  Prussia  had  undertaken  to  observe 
a  strict  neutrality.  In  return  for  these  concessions, 
which  were  of  great  moment  to  Napoleon,  he  openly 
proclaimed  his  intention  to  augment  the  strength  of 
Prussia,  and  it  was  hoped  at  Berlin  that  the  price  paid 
would  be  the  incorporation  of  Hanover  with  Prussia. 

At  this  moment,  consequently,  the  Prussian  Govern- 
ment was  most  unwilling  to  meddle  in  an  investiga- 
tion which  threatened  to  lead  to  revelations  most 
compromising  to  the  character  of  Napoleon,  and. most 
inconvenient  for  itself. 

As  the  Prussian  courts  would  not  take  up  the  matter 
of  the  parsnips,  a  private  investigation  was  made  by 
the  Count  d'  Avaray,  with  the  Royal  physician,  Dr. 
Lefevre,  and  the  Warsaw  physician,  Dr.  Gagatkiewicz, 
together  with  the  Apothecary  Guidel  and  a  certain 
Dr.  Bergozoni.  The  seals  were  broken  in  their 
presence,  and  the  three  roots  were  examined.  It  was 
ascertained  that  they  were  stuffed  with  a  mixture  of 
white,  yellow,  and  red  arsenic.  This  having  been 
ascertained,  arid  a  statement  of  the  fact  duly  drawn 
up,  and  signed,  the  president  of  the  police,  Herr  von 
Tilly,  was  communicated  with.  He,  however,  de- 
clined to  interfere,  as  had  the  President  von  Hoym. 
"  Thus,"  says  M.  Beauchamp,  "  one  court  shuffled  the 
matter  off  on  another,  backwards  and  forwards,  so  as 
not  to  have  to  decide  on  the  matter,  a  specimen  of 
the  results  of  the  system  adopted  at  this  time  by  the 
Prussian  Cabinet." 

No  other  means  of  investigation  remained  but  for 


THE  POISONED  PARSNIPS.  7$ 

Count  d'Avaray  to  have  the  matter  gone  into  by  the 
court  of  the  exiled  King.  They  examined  Coulon, 
who  held  firmly  to  his  story  as  told  to  the  Baron  de 
Milleville,  and  all  present  were  convinced  that  he 
spoke  the  truth. 

As  the  King  could  obtain  no  justice  from  the  hands 
of  Prussia,  he  suffered  the  story  to  be  made  public  in 
order  that  the  opinion  of  all  honourable  men  in 
Europe  might  be  expressed  on  the  conduct  of  both 
Napoleon  and  of  the  Prussian  Ministry.  "The  im- 
pression made/'  says  M.  Beauchamp,  "especially  in 
England,  was  deep.  Men  recalled  Bonaparte's  former 
crimes  that  had  been  proved — the  poisoning  at  Jaffa, 
the — at  the  time — very  fresh  indignation  provoked  by 
the  murder  of  the  Count  de  Frotte,  of  Pichegru,  of 
Captain  Wright,  of  the  Duke  d'Enghien,  of  Toussaint 
l'Ouverture  ;  they  recalled  the  lack  of  success  he  had 
experienced  in  demanding  of  Louis  XVIII.  a  formal 
renunciation  of  his  claims,  and  weighed  well  the  de- 
termination of  his  character.  Even  the  refusal  of  the 
Prussian  courts  to  go  into  the  charge  (for  if  it  had 
been  investigated  they  must  needs  have  pronounced 
judgment  on  it) — encouraged  suspicion.  Hardly  an 
English  newspaper  did  not  condemn  Napoleon  as  the 
instigator  of  an  attempt  that  providentially  failed." 

Such  is  the  legend  as  formulated  by  M.  de  Beau- 
champ.  Fortunately  there  exists  documentary  evi- 
dence in  the  archives  of  the  courts  at  Berlin  that  gives 
an  altogether  different  complexion  to  the  story,  and 
entirely  clears  the  name  of  Napoleon  from  stain  of 
complicity  in  this  matter.  It  throws,  moreover,  a 
light,   by    no    means    favourable,   on    those    of    the 


76  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Legitimist  party  clustered  about  the  fallen  mon- 
arch. 

Louis  XVIIL,  obliged  to  fly  from  one  land  to 
another  before  the  forces  of  Napoleon,  was  staying 
for  a  while  at  Warsaw,  in  the  year  1S04,  under  the 
incognito  of  the  Count  de  l'lsle.  His  misfortunes 
had  not  broken  his  spirit  or  diminished  his  preten- 
sions. He  was  surrounded  by  a  little  court  in  spite 
of  his  incognito ;  and  as  this  little  court  had  no 
affairs  of  State  to  transact,  it  played  a  niggling  game 
at  petty  intrigue.  This  court  consisted  of  the  Count 
d'Avaray,  the  Archbishop  of  Rheims,  the  Duke  de 
Pienne,  the  Marquis  de  Bonney,  the  Duke  d'Avre  de 
Croy,  the  Count  de  la  Chapelle,  the  Counts  Damas 
Crux  and  Stephen  de  Damas,  and  the  Abbes  Edge- 
worth  and  Frimont.  Louis  had  assured  Napoleon  he 
would  rather  eat  black  bread  than  resign  his  preten- 
sions. At  Warsaw  he  maintained  his  pretensions  to 
the  full,  but  did  not  eat  black  bread;  he  kept  a  very 
respectable  kitchen.  The  close  alliance  between 
Prussia  and  France  forced  him  to  leave  Warsaw  and 
migrate  into  Russia. 

At  this  time  there  lived  in  Warsaw  a  certain  Jean 
Coulon,  son  of  a  small  shopkeeper  at  Lyons,  who  had 
led  an  adventurous  life.  At  the  age  of  nine  he  had 
run  away  from  home  and  attached  himself  to  a 
wandering  dramatic  company  ;  then  had  gone  into 
service  to  a  wigmaker,  and  had  lived  for  three  years 
at  Barcelona  at  his  handicraft.  But  wigs  were  going 
out  of  fashion,  and  he  threw  up  an  unprofitable  trade, 
and  enlisted  in  a  legion  of  emigres,  but  in  conse- 
quence of  some  quarrel  with  a  Spaniard  was  handed 


THE  POISONED  PARSNIPS.  77 

over  to  the  Spanish  authorities.  He  purchased  his 
pardon  by  enlisting  in  the  Spanish  army,  but  deserted 
and  joined  the  French  Republican  troops,  was  in  the 
battle  of  Novi,  ran  away,  and  joined  the  corps  raised 
at  Naples  by  Cardinal  RurTo.  When  this  corps  was 
dispersed,  he  went  back  to  Spain,  again  enlisted, 
and  was  shipped  for  St.  Lucia.  The  vessel  in  which 
he  was,  was  captured  by  an  English  cruiser,  and  he 
was  taken  into  Plymouth  and  sent  up  to  Dartmoor 
as  prisoner  of  war.  After  two  years  he  was  exchanged 
and  was  shipped  to  Cuxhaven.  Thence  he  went  to 
Altona,  where  he  asked  the  intervention  of  the  Duke 
d'Avre  in  his  favour.  The  Duke  recommended  him 
to  the  Countess  de  ITsle,  and  he  was  taken  into  the 
service  of  her  master  of  horse,  the  Baron  de  Milleville, 
and  came  to  Warsaw  in  September,  1803.  There  he 
married,  left  his  service  and  set  up  a  cafe  and  billiard 
room  that  was  frequented  by  the  retainers  and  ser- 
vants of  the  emigre  nobility  that  hovered  about  the 
King  and  Queen.  He  was  then  aged  32,  could  speak 
Italian  and  Spanish  as  well  as  French,  and  was  a 
thorough  soldier  of  fortune,  impecunious,  loving  plea- 
sure, and  wholly  without  principles,  political  or  re- 
ligious. 

The  French  Charge  d'Affaires  at  Warsaw  was 
Galon  Boyer ;  he  does  not  appear  in  the  documents 
relative  to  the  Affaire  Coition,  not  because  the  Prussian 
Government  shirked  its  duty,  but  because  he  was  in 
no  way  mixed  up  with  the  matter  of  the  parsnips.  It 
is  quite  true  that,  as  M.  de  Beauchamp  asserts,  the 
Court  of  Louis  XVIII.  did  endeavour  to  involve  the 
Prussian  authorities  in  the  investigation,  but  it  was  in 


78  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

such  a  manner  that  it  was  not  possible  for  them  to  act. 
On  July  23rd,  when  the  Count  de  l'lsle  was  deter- 
mined to  leave  Warsaw,  Count  d'Avaray  called  on  the 
President  von  Hoym,  and  told  him  in  mysterious 
language  that  he  was  aware  of  a  conspiracy  in  which 
were  involved  several  Frenchmen  and  as  many  as  a 
dozen  Poles  that  sought  the  life  of  his  august  master. 
Herr  von  Hoym  doubted.  He  asked  for  the  grounds 
of  this  assertion,  and  was  promised  full  particulars 
that  same  evening  at  eight  o'clock.  At  the  hour 
appointed,  the  Count  appeared  breathless  before  him, 
and  declared  that  now  he  was  prepared  with  a  com- 
plete disclosure.  However,  he  told  nothing,  and  post- 
poned the  revelation  to  10  o'clock.  Then  Avaray 
informed  him  that  the  keeper  of  the  Cafe  Coulon  had 
been  hired  by  some  strangers  to  meet  him  that  same 
night  on  the  road  to  Novawies,  to  plan  with  him  the 
murder,  by  poison,  of  the  Count  de  l'lsle.  The  whole 
story  seemed  suspicious  to  von  Hoym.  It  was  now 
too  late  for  him  to  send  police  to  watch  the  spot 
where  the  meeting  was  to  take  place,  which  he  might 
have  done  had  d'Avaray  condescended  to  tell  him  in 
time,  two  hours  earlier.  He  asked  d'Avaray  where 
Coulon  lived  that  he  might  send  for  him,  and  the 
Count  professed  he  did  not  know  the  address. 

Next  day  Count  d'Avaray  read  to  the  President  von 
Hoym  a  document,  which  he  said  had  been  drawn 
up  by  members  of  the  court  of  the  Count  de  l'lsle, 
showed  him  a  paper  that  contained  twelve  small  par- 
snips, and  requested  him  to  subscribe  the  document 
and  seal  the  parcel  of  parsnips.  Naturally,  the  Pre- 
sident declined  to  do  this.     He  had  not  seen  Coulon, 


THE  POISONED  PARSNIPS.  79 

he  did  not  know  from  whom  Coulon  had  received  the 
parcel,  and  he  mistrusted  the  whole  story.  However, 
he  requested  that  he  might  be  furnished  with  an 
exact  description  of  the  two  mysterious  strangers, 
and  when  he  had  received  it,  communicated  with  the 
police,  and  had  inquiry  made  for  them  in  and  about 
Warsaw.  No  one  had  seen  or  heard  of  any  persons 
answering  to  the  description. 

Presently  the  Marquis  de  Bonney  arrived  to  request 
the  President,  in  the  name  of  the  Count  de  l'lsle,  to 
have  the  parsnips  examined  by  specialists.  He  de- 
clined to  do  so. 

On  July  26th,  the  Count  d'Avaray  appeared  before 
the  head  of  the  Police,  the  President  von  Tilly,  and 
showed  him  an  attestation  made  by  several  doctors 
that  they  had  examined  three  parsnips  that  had  been 
shown  them,  and  they  had  found  in  them  a  paste 
composed  of  arsenic  and  orpiment.  Von  Tilly 
thought  the  whole  story  so  questionable  that  he  re- 
fused to  meddle  with  it.  Moreover,  a  notary  of 
Warsaw,  who  had  been  requested  to  take  down 
Coulon's  statement,  had  declined  to  testify  to  the 
genuineness  of  the  confession,  probably  because,  as 
Coulon  afterwards  insinuated,  he  had  been  helped  to 
make  it  consistent  by  those  who  questioned  him. 

Louis  XVIII.  left  Warsaw  on  July  30,  and  as  the 
rumour  spread  that  Coulon's  wife  had  bought  some 
arsenic  a  week  before  at  an  apothecary's  shop  in  the 
place,  the  police  inspector  ordered  her  arrest.  She 
was  questioned  and  declared  that  she  had,  indeed, 
bought  some  rat  poison,  without  the  knowledge  of 
her  husband.     Coulon  was  now  taken  up  and  ques- 


So  FREAKS  OF  FAN  A  TIC1SM. 

tioned,  and  he  pretended  that  he  had  given  his  wife 
orders  to  buy  the  rat  poison,  because  he  was  plagued 
with  vermin  in  the  house. 

Then  the  authorities  in  Warsaw  sent  all  the  docu- 
ments relating  to  this  matter,  including  the  proces 
verbal  drawn  up  by  the  courtiers  of  Louis  XVI 1 1.,  to 
Berlin,  and  asked  for  further  instructions. 

According  to  this  prods  verbal  Coulon  had  con- 
fessed as  follows  :  On  the  20th  July  two  strangers 
had  entered  his  billiard  room,  and  had  assured  him 
that,  if  he  were  disposed  to  make  his  fortune,  they 
could  help  him  to  it.  They  made  him  promise 
silence,  and  threatened  him  with  death  if  he  disclosed 
what  they  said.  After  he  had  sworn  fidelity  and 
secrecy,  they  told  him  that  he  was  required  to  throw 
something  into  the  pot  in  which  the  soup  was  being 
prepared  for  the  King's  table.  For  so  doing  they 
would  pay  him  400  louls  d'or.  Coulon  considered  a 
moment ;  then  the  strangers  promised  they  would 
provide  a  situation  for  his  wife  in  France.  After  that 
one  of  them  said  to  his  fellow  in  Italian,  "We  must 
be  off.  We  have  no  time  to  lose."  Next  day,  in  the 
evening,  a  third  stranger  appeared  at  his  door,  called 
him  forth  into  the  street,  walked  about  with  him 
through  the  streets  of  old  and  new  Warsaw,  till  he 
was  thoroughly  bewildered,  and  did  not  know  where 
he  was,  and,  finally,  entered  with  him  a  house,  where 
he  saw  the  two  strangers  who  had  been  with  him 
previously.  Champagne  was  brought  on  the  table,  and 
they  all  drank,  and  one  of  the  strangers  became 
tipsy.  When  Coulon  promised  to  do  what  was  re- 
quired of  him,  he  was  told   to  secure  some  of  ther 


THE  POISONED  PARSNIPS.  81 

mutton-chops  that  were  being  prepared  for  the  Royal 
table,  and  to  manipulate  them  with  the  powder  that 
was   to   be   given    him.      That   the  cook  might  not 
notice  what   he  was   about,  he  was  to  treat  him  to 
large  draughts  of  brandy.     Coulon  agreed,  but  asked 
first   to    touch    the   400  louis  d'or.     Then  the  tipsy 
man  shouted  out,  "  That  is   all   right,  but  will  Boyer 
consent  to  it  ? "     The  other  stranger  tried  to   check 
him,  and  said,  "  What  are  you  saying  ?     Boyer  is  not 
here,  he  has  gone  out  of  town  and  will   not  be  back 
for  a  couple  of  days."     After  Coulon  had  insisted  on 
prepayment,  he  had  been  put  off  till  the  next  evening, 
when  he  was  to  meet  the  strangers  at  1 1  o'clock  on 
the   road    to    Novawies.     There    he  was    to    receive 
money,  and  the  powder  for  the  King.     He  was  then 
given  one  ducat,  and  led  home  at  one  o'clock  in  the 
morning.     On  the  following  night,  at    1 1   o'clock,  he 
went  on  the  way  to  Novawies,  and  then  followed  what 
we  have  already  given  from  the  story  of  the   man,  as 
recorded   by   M.  de  Beauchamp.     He   received  from 
the  men  a  packet  containing  the  parsnips,  and  some 
money — only  six  dollars.     They  put  a  kerchief  under 
the  earth  beneath  a  tree,  and  bade  him,  if  he  had 
accomplished  his  task,  come  to  the  tree  and  remove 
the   kerchief,   as   a  token  to  them ;    if,    however,   he 
failed,  the  kerchief  was  to  be  left  undisturbed.     The 
tree  he  had  marked  well,  it  was  the  forty-fifth  along 
the  road  to  Novawies.     A  small   end  of  the  kerchief 
peeped  out  from  under  the  soil.     The   strangers  had 
then  given  him   a  bottle  of  liqueur  to  stimulate  his 
courage  for  the  undertaking. 

After  that  Coulon  was  left  alone,  he  said  that  he 

p 


82  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

staggered  homewards,  but  felt  so  faint  that  he  would 
have  fallen  to  the  ground  had  not  a  Prussian  officer, 
who  came  by,  noticed  his  condition  and  helped  him 
home.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  prods  verbal  came 
an  exact  description  of  the  conspirators.  Such  was 
the  document  produced  originally  by  the  Count 
d'Avaray,  and  we  can  hardly  wonder  that,  on  hearing 
it,  the  Prussian  civil  and  police  authorities  had 
hesitated  about  taking  action.  The  so-called  con- 
fession of  Coulon  seemed  to  them  to  be  a  rhodomon- 
tade  got  up  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  money  out 
of  the  ex-King  and  his  Court. 

From  Berlin  orders  were  sent  to  Warsaw  to  have  the 
matter  thoroughly  sifted.  Coulon  and  his  wife  were 
now  again  subjected  to  examination.  He  adhered  at 
first  to  his  story,  but  when  he  endeavoured  to  explain 
the  purchase  of  the  arsenic,  and  to  fit  it  into  his 
previous  tale,  he  involved  himself  in  contradictions. 

The  President  at  this  point  addressed  him  gravely, 
and  warned  him  of  the  consequences.  His  story 
compromised  the  French  charge  d'affaires,  M.  Galon 
Boyer,  and  this  could  not  be  allowed  to  be  passed  over 
without  a  very  searching  examination  that  must  in- 
evitably reveal  the  truth.  Coulon  was  staggered, 
and  hastily  asked  how  matters  would  stand  with 
him  if  he  told  the  truth.  Then,  after  a  little  hesita- 
tion, he  admitted  that  "  he  thought  before  the  departure 
of  the  Count  de  ITsle  he  would  obtain  for  himself 
a  sum  of  money,  with  which  to  escape  out  of  his 
difficulties.  He  had  reckoned  on  making  100  ducats 
out  of  this  affair."  He  now  told  quite  a  different  tale. 
With  the  departure  of  the  court  of  the  emigres,  he 


THE  POISONED  PARSNIPS.  83 

would  lose  his  clientelle,  and  he  was  concerned 
because  he  owed  money  for  the  cafe  and  billiard 
table.  He  had  therefore  invented  the  whole  story  in 
hopes  of  imposing  on  the  court  and  getting  from  them 
a  little  subvention.  But  he  said  he  had  been  dragged 
on  further  than  he  intended  by  the  Count  d'Avaray, 
who  had  swallowed  his  lie  with  avidity,  and  had 
urged  him  to  go  on  with  the  intrigue  so  as  to  produce 
evidence  against  the  conspirators. 

That  was  why  he  had  made  up  the  figment  of  the 
meeting  with  the  strangers  on  the  road  and  their 
gift  to  him  of  the  parsnips,  which  he  admitted  that  he 
had  himself  scooped  out  and  filled  with  the  rat  poison 
paste  he  had  bought  at  the  apothecary's. 

So  far  so  good.  What  he  now  said  was  precisely 
what  the  cool  heads  of  the  Prussian  authorities  had 
believed  from  the  first.  But  Coulon  did  not  adhere 
to  this  second  confession.  After  a  few  days  in  prison 
he  professed  his  desire  to  make  another.  He  was 
brought  before  the  magistrate,  and  now  he  said  that 
the  whole  story  was  got  up  by  the  Count  d'Avaray, 
M.  de  Milleville,  and  others  of  the  surroundings  of 
the  exiled  King,  for  the  purpose  of  creating  an  out- 
break of  disgust  in  Europe  against  Napoleon,  and  of 
bringing  about  a  revolt  in  France.  He  declared  that 
he  had  been  promised  a  pension  of  six  ducats 
monthly,  that  when  he  gave  his  evidence  M.  de  Mille- 
ville had  paid  him  35  ducats,  and  that  he  had  been 
taken  into  the  service,  along  with  his  wife,  of  the 
ex-Queen,  as  reward  for  what  he  had  done. 

There  were  several  particulars  which  gave  colour  to 
this  last  version  of  Coulon's  story.     It  was  true  that 


84  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

he  had  been  given  some  money  by  Milleville;  it  was 
perhaps  true  that  in  their  eagerness  to  prove  a  case  of 
attempted  assassination,  some  of  those  who  conducted 
the  inquiry  had  helped  him  to  correct  certain  discrep- 
ancies in  his  narrative.  Then,  again,  it  was  remark- 
able that,  although  the  Count  d'Avaray  knew  about 
the  projected  murder,  he  would  not  tell  the  Prussian 
President  the  facts  till  10  o'clock  at  night,  when  it  was 
too  late  to  send  the  police  to  observe  the  pretended 
meeting  on  the  Novawies  road  ;  and  when  Herr  von 
Hoym  asked  for  directions  as  to  where  Coulon  lived 
that  the  police  might  be  sent  to  arrest  him  on  his 
return,  and  during  his  absence  to  search  the  house,  the 
Count  had  pretended  to  be  unable  to  say  where 
Coulon  lived.  It  was  also  true  that  de  Milleville  had 
repeatedly  visited  Coulon's  house  during  the  course 
of  the  intrigue,  and  that  it  was  immediately  after 
Coulon  had  been  at  Milleville's  house  that  his  wife 
was  sent  to  buy  the  rat  poison. 

Coulon  pretended  to  have  heard  M.  de  Milleville 
say  that  "  This  affair  might  cause  a  complete  change 
in  the  situation  in  France,  when  tidings  of  what  had 
been  done  were  published."  Moreover,  he  said  that  he 
had  been  despatched  to  the  Archbishop  of  Rheim's 
with  the  message  "  Le  coup  est  manque." 

But  it  is  impossible  to  believe  that  the  emigre  court 
can  have  fabricated  such  a  plot  by  which  to  cast  on 
the  name  of  Napoleon  the  stain  of  attempted  assassina- 
tion. The  whole  story  reads  like  the  clumsy  invention 
of  a  vulgar  adventurer.  Coulon's  second  confession  is 
obviously  that  of  his  true  motives.  He  was  in  debt, 
he  was  losing  his   clientelle  by  the   departure  of   the 


THE  POISONED  PARSNIPS.  85 

Count,  and  it  is  precisely  what  such  a  scoundrel  would 
do,  to  invent  a  lie  whereby  to  enlist  their  sympathies 
for  himself,  and  obtain  from  them  some  pecuniary 
acknowledgment  for  services  he  pretended  to  have 
rendered.  The  little  court  was  to  blame  in  its 
gullibility.  Its  blind  hatred  of  Napoleon  led  it  to 
believe  such  a  gross  and  palpable  lie,  and,  if  doubts 
arose  in  any  of  their  minds  as  to  the  verity  of  the  tale 
told  them,  they  suppressed  them. 

Coulon  was  found  guilty  by  the  court  and  was 
sentenced  to  five  years'  imprisonment.  The  judgment 
of  the  court  was  that  he  had  acted  in  concert  with 
•certain  members  of  the  retinue  of  the  Count  de  l'lsle, 
but  it  refrained  from  naming  them. 


Zbc  fIDur&er  of  ffatber  £bomaa  in 
2)ama6cu0, 

The  remarkable  case  we  are  about  to  relate  awoke 
great  interest  and  excitement  throughout  three 
quarters  of  the  world,  and  stirred  up  that  hatred  of 
the  Jews  which  had  been  laid  asleep  after  the  perse- 
cutions of  the  Middle  Ages,  just  at  the  time  when  in 
all  European  lands  the  emancipation  of  the  Jew  was 
being  recognised  as  an  act  of  justice.  At  the  time  the 
circumstances  were  imperfectly  known,  or  were  laid 
before  the  public  in  such  a  partial  light  that  it  was 
difficult  to  form  a  correct  judgment  upon  them. 
Since  then,  a  good  deal  of  light  has  been  thrown  on 
the  incident,  and  it  is  possible  to  arrive  at  a  con- 
clusion concerning  the  murder  with  more  unbiased 
mind  and  with  fuller  information  than  was  possible 
at  the  time. 

The  Latin  convents  of  Syria  stand  under  the  im- 
mediate jurisdiction  of  the  Pope,  and  are,  for  the  most 
part,  supplied  with  recruits  from  Italy.  They  are 
very  serviceable  to  travellers,  whom  they  receive  with 
genial  hospitality,  and  without  distinction  of  creed* 
They  are  nurseries  of  culture  and  of  industry.  Every 
monk  and  friar  is  required  to  exercise  a  profession  or 
trade,  and  the  old  charge  against  monks  of  being 
drones  is  in  no  way  applicable  to  the  busy  members 

of  the  religious  orders  in  Palestine. 

86 


THE  MURDER   OF  FATHER    THOMAS.  87 

In  the  Capuchin  Convent  at  Damascus  dwelt,  in 
1840,  a  friar  named  Father  Thomas,  a  Sardinian  by 
birth.  For  thirty-three  years  he  had  lived  there,  and 
had  acted  as  physician  and  surgeon,  attending  to 
whoever  called  for  his  services,  Mussulman  or  Chris- 
tian, Turk,  Jew  or  Frank  alike.  He  set  limbs,  dosed 
with  quinine  for  fever,  and  vaccinated  against  small- 
pox. Being  well  known  and  trusted,  he  was  in 
constant  practice,  and  his  practice  brought  him,  or,  at 
all  events,  his  order,  a  handsome  annual  income.  His 
manners  were,  unfortunately,  not  amiable.  He  was 
curt,  even  rude,  and  somewhat  dictatorial ;  his  manners 
impressed  as  authoritative  in  the  sickroom,  but  were 
resented  in  the  market-place  as  insolent. 

On  February  5th,  1840,  Father  Thomas  disap- 
peared, together  with  his  servant,  a  lay  brother  who 
always  attended  him.  This  disappearance  caused 
great  commotion  in  Damascus. 

France  has  been  considered  in  the  East  as  the 
protector  of  Christians  of  the  Latin  confession.  The 
French  Consul,  the  Count  Ratti-Menton,  considered  it 
his  duty  to  investigate  the  matter. 

Father  Thomas  had  been  seen  to  enter  the  Jews' 
quarter.  Several  Israelites  admitted  having  seen  him 
there.  No  one  saw  him  leave  it :  consequently,  it 
was  concluded  he  had  disappeared,  been  made  away 
with,  there.  As  none  but  Jews  occupied  the  Ghetto, 
it  was  argued  that  Father  Thomas  had  been  murdered 
by  Israelites.  That  was  settled  as  a  preliminary. 
But  in  the  meantime  the  Austrian  Consul  had  been 
making  investigation  as  well  as  the  Count  Ratti- 
Menton,  and  he  had  obtained  information  that  Father 


88  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Thomas  and  his  servant  had  been  noticed  engaged  in 
a  violent  quarrel  and  contest  of  words  with  some 
Mohammedans  of  the  lowest  class,  in  the  market- 
place. No  weight  was  attached  to  this,  and  the  French 
Consul  pursued  his  investigations  in  the  Jews'  quarter, 
and  in  that  quarter  alone. 

Sheriff  Pacha  was  Governor  of  Syria,  and  Count 
Ratti-Menton  required  him  to  allow  of  his  using 
every  means  at  his  disposal  for  the  discovery  of  the 
criminal.  He  also  requested  the  Austrian  Consul  to 
allow  a  domiciliary  visitation  of  all  the  Jews'  houses, 
the  Austrian  Government  being  regarded  as  the  pro- 
tector of  the  Hebrews.  In  both  cases  consent  was 
given,  and  the  search  was  begun  with  zeal. 

Then  a  Turk,  named  Mohammed-el-Telli,  who  was 
in  prison  for  non-payment  of  taxes,  sent  word  to  the 
French  Consul  that,  if  he  would  obtain  his  release,  he 
would  give  such  information  as  would  lead  to  the 
discovery  of  the  murderer  or  murderers.  He  received 
his  freedom,  and  denounced,  in  return,  several  Jews' 
houses  as  suspicious.  Count  Ratti-Menton  at  the 
head  of  a  troop  of  soldiers  and  workmen,  and  a  rabble 
assembled  in  the  street,  invaded  all  these  houses,  and 
explored  them  from  attic  to  cellar. 

One  of  the  first  names  given  by  Mohammed-el-Telli 
wasthatofa  Jewishbarber,Negrin.  He  gave  a  confused 
and  contradictory  account  of  himself,  but  absolutely 
denied  having  any  knowledge  of  the  murder.  In  vain 
were  every  means  used  during  three  days  at  the 
French  Consulate  to  bring  him  to  a  confession  ;  after 
that  he  was  handed  over  to  the  Turkish  authorities. 
They  had  him  bastinadoed,  then  tortured.     During  his 


THE  MURDER    OF  FATHER  THOMAS.  89 

torture,  Mohammed-el-Telli  was  at  his  side  urging 
him  to  make  a  clean  breast.  Unable  to  endure  his 
sufferings  longer,  the  barbar  declared  his  readiness 
to  tell  all.  Whether  what  he  said  was  based  on 
reports  circulating  in  the  town,  or  was  put  into  his 
mouth  by  his  tormentors,  we  cannot  tell.  According  to 
his  story,  on  the  evening  of  February  the  5th  a  servant 
of  David  Arari  summoned  him  into  his  house.  He 
found  the  master  of  the  house  along  with  six  other 
Israelitish  rabbis  and  merchants,  to  wit,  Aaron  and 
Isaac  Arari,  Mussa  Abul  Afia,  Moses  Salonichi,  and 
Joseph  Laniado.  In  a  corner  of  the  room  lay  or 
leaned  against  the  wall  Father  Thomas,  gagged 
and  bound  hand  and  foot.  The  merchants  urged 
Negrin  to  murder  the  Capuchin  in  their  presence,  but 
he  stedfastly  refused  to  do  so.  Finally  finding  him 
inflexible,  they  bought  his  silence  with  600  piastres 
(hardly  £6)  and  dismissed  him. 

Thereupon,  the  governor  ordered  the  arrest  of 
David  Arari  and  the  other  Jews  named,  all  of  whom 
were  the  richest  merchants  in  the  town — at  all  events 
the  richest  Jewish  merchants.  They,  with  one  con- 
sent, solemnly  protested  their  innocence.  They,  also, 
were  subjected  to  the  bastinado  ;  but  as  most  of  them 
were  aged  men,  and  it  was  feared  that  they  might 
succumb  under  the  blows,  after  a  few  lashes  had  been 
administered,  they  were  raised  from  the  ground  and 
subjected  to  other  tortures.  For  thirty-six  hours  the 
unhappy  men  were  forced  to  stand  upright,  and  were 
prevented  from  sleeping.  They  still  persisted  in 
denial,  whereupon  some  of  them  were  again  beaten. 
At  the  twentieth  blow  they  fainted.      The  French 


90  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Consul  complained  that  the  beating  was  inefficient — 
so  the  Austrian  Consul  reported,  and  at  his  instiga- 
tion they  were  again  bastinadoed,  but  again  without 
bringing  them  to  confession. 

In  the  meantime,  David  Aran's  servant,  Murad-el- 
Fallat,  was  arrested,  the  man  who  was  said  to  have 
been  sent  for  the  barber.  He  was  dealt  with  more 
sharply  than  the  others.  He  was  beaten  most  cruelly, 
and  to  heighten  his  pain  cold  water  was  poured  over 
his  bruised  and  mangled  flesh.  Under  the  anguish 
he  confessed  that  he  had  indeed  been  sent  for  the 
barber. 

That  was  an  insufficient  confession.  He  was 
threatened  with  the  bastinado  again,  and  promised 
his  release  if  he  would  reveal  all  he  knew.  There- 
upon he  repeated  the  story  of  the  barber,  with  addi- 
tions of  his  own.  He  and  Negrin,  said  he,  had  by 
command  of  the  seven  rich  merchants  put  the  Father 
to  death,  and  had  then  cut  up  the  body  and  hidden 
the  remains  in  a  remote  water  conduit. 

The  barber,  threatened  with  fresh  tortures,  confessed 
to  the  murder. 

Count  Ratti-Menton  explored  the  conduit  where 
the  two  men  pretended  the  mutilated  body  was  con- 
cealed, in  the  presence  of  the  servant  and  barber,  both 
of  whom  were  in  such  a  condition  through  the  bar- 
barous treatment  to  which  they  had  been  subjected, 
that  they  could  not  walk,  and  had  to  be  carried  to  the 
spot.  And  actually  there  some  bones  were  found, 
together  with  a  cap.  A  surgeon  pronounced  that 
these  were  human  bones.  It  was  at  once  concluded 
that  these  were  the  remains  of  Father  Thomas,  and 


THE  MURDER   OF  FATHER   THOMAS.  91 

as  such  were  solemnly  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  the 
Capuchin  Convent. 

David  Arari's  servant  Murad-el-Fallet,  had  related 
that  the  blood  of  Father  Thomas  had  been  collected 
in  a  copper  vessel  and  drawn  off  and  distributed 
among  the  Jews  for  religious  purposes.  It  was  an 
old  and  favourite  belief  among  the  ignorant  that  the 
Jews  drank  the  blood  of  Christians  at  Easter,  or 
mingled  it  with  the  Paschal  unleavened  dough.  At 
the  same  time  the  rumour  spread  that  the  rich 
Hebrew  Picciotto,  a  young  man,  nephew  of  the 
Austrian  Consul  at  Aleppo,  had  sent  his  uncle  a 
bottle  of  blood. 

The  seven  merchants  were  led  before  the  bones 
that  had  been  discovered.  They  persisted  in  the 
declaration  of  their  innocence.  From  this  time  for- 
ward, all  scruple  as  to  their  treatment  vanished,  and 
they  were  tortured  with  diabolical  barbarity.  They 
received  the  bastinado  again,  they  were  burned  where 
their  flesh  was  tenderest  with  red  hot  pincers.  Red 
hot  wires  were  passed  through  their  flesh.  A  German 
traveller,  present  at  the  time,  declares  that  the  first 
to  acknowledge  the  truth  of  the  charge  was  brought 
to  do  so  by  immersing  him  after  all  these  torments 
for  several  hours  in  ice  cold  water ;  after  which  the 
other  six  were  lashed  with  a  scourge  made  of  hippo- 
potamus hide,  till  half  unconscious,  and  streaming 
with  blood,  they  were  ready  to  admit  whatever  their 
tormentors  strove  to  worry  out  of  them. 

The  Protestant  missionary,  Wildon  Pieritz,  in  his 
account  enumerates  the  sufferings  to  which  these  un- 
happy men  were  subjected. 


( 

92  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

They  were,  ist,  bastinadoed. 
2nd.  Plunged  in  large  vessels  of  cold  water. 
3rd.  Placed  under  pressure  till  their  eyes  started  out 

of  their  sockets. 
4th.  Their  flesh,  where  most  sensitive,  was  twisted  and 

nipped  till  they  went  almost  mad  with  agony. 
5th.  They   were    forced  to   stand    upright   for   three 

whole  days,  and  not  suffered  even  to  lean  against 

a  wall.     Those  who  fell  with  exhaustion   were 

goaded  to  rise  again    by   the   bayonets   of  the 

guard. 
6th.  They  were  dragged  about  by  their  ears,  so  that 

they  were  torn  and  bled. 
7th.  Thorns  were  driven  up  the  quick  of  their  nails 

on  fingers  and  toes. 
8th.  Their  beards  were  singed   off,  so  that  the  skin 

was  scorched  and  blistered. 
9th.  Flames  were  put  under  their  noses  so  as  to  burn 

their  nostrils. 
The  French  Consul — let  his  name  go  down  to 
posterity  steeped  in  ignominy — Count  Ratti-Menton, 
was  not  yet  satisfied.  He  was  bent  on  finding  the 
vials  filled  with  the  blood.  Each  of  the  seven 
questioned  said  he  had  not  got  one,  but  had  given  his 
vial  to  another.  The  last,  Mussa  Abul  Afia,  unable 
to  endure  his  torments  any  longer,  gave  way,  and 
professed  his  willingness  to  turn  Mussulman.  Never- 
theless, he  was  again  subjected  to  the  scourge,  and 
whipped  till  he  named  another  confederate — the 
Chief  Rabbi  Jacob  Antibi,  as  the  man  to  whom  the 
blood  had  been  committed.  Mussa's  confession,  com- 
mitted to  writing,  was  as  follows  : — "  I  am  commanded 


THE  MURDER  OE  FATHER  THOMAS.  93 

to  say  what  I  know  relative  to  the  murder  of  Father 
Thomas,  and  why  I  have  submitted  to  become  a 
Mussulman.  It  is,  therefore,  my  duty  to  declare  the 
truth.  Jacob  Antibi,  Chief  Rabbi,  about  a  fortnight 
before  the  event,  said  to  me — '  You  know  that  accord- 
ing to  our  religion  we  must  have  blood.  I  have  already 
arranged  with  David  Arari,  to  obtain  it  in  the  house 
of  one  of  our  people,  and  you  must  be  present  and  bring 
me  the  blood.'  I  replied  that  I  had  not  the  nerve  to 
see  blood  flow  ;  whereupon,  the  Chief  Rabbi  answered 
that  I  could  stand  in  the  ante-chamber,  and  I  would 
find  Moses  Salonichi  and  Joseph  Laniado  there.  I 
then  consented.  On  the  10th  of  the  month,  Achach, 
about  an  hour  and  a  half  before  sun-down,  as  I  was  on 
my  way  to  the  synagogue,  I  met  David  Arari,  who 
said  to  me  :  '  Come  along  to  my  house,  you  are  wanted 
there.'  I  replied  that  I  would  come  as  soon  as  I 
had  ended  my  prayers.  *  No,  no — come  immediately ! ' 
he  said.  I  obeyed.  Then  he  told  me  that  Father 
Thomas  was  in  his  house,  and  that  he  was  to  be  sacri- 
ficed that  evening.  We  went  to  his  house.  There 
we  entered  a  newly-furnished  apartment.  Father 
Thomas  lay  bound  in  the  midst  of  all  there  assembled. 
After  sunset  we  adjourned  to  an  unfurnished  chamber, 
where  David  cut  the  throat  of  the  monk.  Aaron  and 
Isaac  Arari  finished  him.  The  blood  was  caught  in  a 
vat  and  then  poured  into  a  bottle,  which  was  to  be 
taken  to  the  Chief  Rabbi  Jacob.  I  took  the  bottle 
and  went  to  him.  I  found  him  in  his  court  waiting 
for  me.  When  he  saw  me  enter,  he  retreated  to  his 
cabinet,  and  I  followed  him  thither,  saying,  '  Here,  I 
bring  you  what  you  desired.'     He  took  the  bottle  and 


94  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

put  it  behind  a  book-case.  Then  I  went  home.  I 
have  forgotten  to  say  that,  when  I  left  Arari's  house, 
the  body  was  undisturbed.  I  heard  David  and  his 
brother  say  that  they  had  made  a  bad  choice  of  a 
victim,  as  Father  Thomas  was  a  priest,  and  a  well- 
known  individual,  and  would  therefore  be  sought  for, 
high  and  low.  They  answered  that  there  was  no  fear, 
no  one  would  betray  what  had  taken  place.  The 
clothing  would  be  now  burnt,  the  body  cut  to  pieces, 
and  conveyed  by  the  servants  to  the  conduit,  and 
what  remained  would  be  concealed  under  some  secret 
stairs.  I  knew  nothing  about  the  servant  of  Father 
Thomas.  The  Wednesday  following,  I  met  David, 
Isaac,  and  Joseph  Arari,  near  the  shop  of  Bahal. 
Isaac  asked  David  how  all  had  gone  on.  David  re- 
plied that  all  was  done  that  was  necessary,  and  that 
there  was  no  cause  for  fear.  As  they  began  to  talk 
together  privately,  I  withdrew,  as  I  was  not  one  who 
associated  with  the  wealthiest  of  the  Jews,  and  the 
Arari  were  of  that  class.  The  blood  is  required  by 
the  Jews  for  the  preparation  of  the  Paschal  bread. 
They  have  been  often  accused  of  the  same,  and  been 
condemned  on  that  account.  They  have  a  book 
called  Serir  Hadurut  (no  such  a  book  really  exists) 
which  concerns  this  matter ;  now  that  the  light  of 
Islam  has  shone  on  me,  I  place  myself  under  the 
protection  of  those  who  hold  the  power  in  their  hands." 
Such  was  his  confession.  The  French  Consul,  un- 
able to  find  the  blood,  was  bent  on  discovering  more 
criminals;  and  the  servant  of  David  Arari,  after  further 
pressure,  was  ready  to  give  further  particulars.  He 
said  that,  after  the  Father  had  been  murdered,  he  was 


THE  MURDER  OF  FA  THER  THOMAS.  95 

sent  to  a  rich  Israelite,  Marad  Farhi,  to  invite  him  to 
slaughter  the  servant  of  the  Capuchin  friar  in  the 
same  way  as  his  master  had  been  slaughtered.  When 
he  took  the  message,  he  found  the  young  merchant, 
Isaac  Picciotto,  present,  and  delivered  his  message 
before  him.  Next  day  this  Picciotto  and  four  other 
Jews,  Marad  Farhi,  Meir,  and  Assan  Farhi,  and 
Aaron  Stamboli,  all  men  of  wealth,  came  to  his 
master's  house,  and  informed  David  Arari  that  they 
had  together  murdered  the  Capuchin's  serving-man 
in  the  house  of  Meir  Farhi.  On  another  occasion 
this  same  witness,  Murad-el-Fallat,  said  that  the 
murder  of  the  servant  took  place  in  the  house  of 
David  Arari  ;  but  no  importance  was  attached  in  this 
remarkable  case  to  contradictions  in  the  evidence. 

Picciotto,  as  son  of  a  former  Austrian  Consul,  a 
nephew  of  the  Consul  at  Aleppo,  was  able  to  take 
refuge  under  the  protection  of  Merlato,  the  Austrian 
Consul  at  Damascus.  On  the  demand  of  Count 
Ratti-Menton,  he  was  placed  on  his  trial,  but  proved 
an  alibi ;  on  the  evening  in  question,  he  and  his  wife 
had  been  visiting  an  English  gentleman,  Mr.  George 
Macson. 

Arari's  servant  now  extended  his  revelations.  He 
said  that  he  had  been  present  at  the  murder  of  the 
attendant  on  the  Capuchin.  This  man  had  been 
bound  and  put  to  death  by  seven  Jews,  namely,  by 
the  four  already  mentioned,  young  Picciotto,  Jacob 
Abul  Afia,  and  Joseph  Menachem  Farhi. 

The  French  Consul  was  dissatisfied  that  Picciotto 
should  escape.  He  demanded  of  the  Austrian  Consul 
that  he  should  be  delivered  over  to  the  Mussulman 


96  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Court  to  be  tortured  like  the  rest  into  confession. 
The  Austrian  Consul  was  in  a  difficult  position. 
He  stood  alone  over  against  a  fanatical  Christian 
and  an  embittered  Mohammedan  mob,  and  in  resist- 
ance to  the  Egyptian  Government  and  the  representa- 
tive of  France.  But  he  did  not  hesitate,  he  absolutely 
refused  to  surrender  Picciotto.  The  general  excite- 
ment was  now  directed  against  the  Consul  ;  he  was 
subjected  to  suspicion  as  a  favourer  of  the  murderers, 
as  even  incriminated  in  the  murden  His  house  was 
surrounded  by  spies,  and  every  one  who  entered  or 
left  it  was  an  object  of  mistrust. 

All  Damascus  was  in  agitation  ;  everyone  sought 
to  bring  some  evidence  forward  to  help  on  the  case 
against  the  Jews.  According  to  one  account,  thirty- 
three — according  to  the  report  of  the  Austrian  Consul, 
sixty-three  Jewish  children,  of  from  four  to  ten  years 
old,  were  seized,  thrown  into  prison  and  tortured,  to 
extract  information  from  them  as  to  the  whereabouts 
of  their  parents  and  relations — those  charged  with 
the  murder  of  the  servant,  and  who  had  fled  and 
concealed  themselves.  Those  witnesses  who  had 
appeared  before  the  court  to  testify  to  the  innocence 
of  the  accused,  were  arrested,  and  treated  with 
Oriental  barbarity.  Because  Farach  Katasch  and 
Isaac  Javoh  had  declared  that  they  had  seen  Father 
Thomas  on  the  day  of  the  murder  in  another  quarter 
of  the  town  than  the  Ghetto,  they  were  put  to  the 
torture.  Isaac  Javoh  said  he  had  seen  Father  Thomas 
on  the  road  to  Salachia,  two  miles  from  the  Jews' 
quarter,  and  had  there  spoken  to  him.  He  was  racked, 
and  died  on  the  rack. 


THE  MURDER  OF  FATHER  THOMAS.  97 

A  boy  admitted  that  he  had  noticed  Father  Thomas 
and  his  servant  in  another  part  of  the  town.  For  so 
saying,  he  was  beaten  with  such  barbarity  that  he 
died  twenty-four  hours  after.  A  Jewish  account 
from  Beyrut  says :  "  A  Jew  dedicated  himself  to 
martyrdom  for  the  sanctity  of  the  ever-blessed  Name. 
He  went  before  the  Governor,  and  said  to  him, 
'Is  this  justice  you  do?  It  is  a  slander  that  we 
employ  blood  for  our  Paschal  bread  ;  and  that  it  is 
so  is  known  to  all  civilized  governments.  You  say 
that  the  barber,  who  is  a  Jew,  confessed  it.  I  reply 
that  he  did  so  only  under  the  stress  of  torture.  Very 
likely  the  Father  was  murdered  by  Christians  or 
by  Turks/  The  Governor,  and  the  dragoman  of  the 
French  Consul,  Baudin  by  name,  retorted,  '  What ! 
you  dare  to  charge  the  murder  on  Turks  or  Chris- 
tians ? '  and  he  was  ordered  to  be  beaten  and  tortured 
to  death.  He  was  barbarously  scourged  and  hide- 
ously tormented,  and  urged  all  the  while  to  confess 
the  truth.  But  he  cried  ever,  '  Hear,  O  Israel !  The 
Lord  thy  God  is  one  Lord  ! '  and  so  crying  he  died." 

As  the  second  murder,  according  to  one  account, 
was  committed  in  the  house  of  Meir  Farhi,  Count 
Ratti-Menton  had  the  water  conduits  and  drains  torn 
up  all  round  it,  and  in  the  drain  near  them  was  found 
a  heap  of  bones,  a  bit  of  flesh,  and  a  fragment  of 
leather — according  to  one  account  a  portion  of  a  shoe, 
according  to  that  of  the  Austrian  Consul,  a  portion  of 
a  girdle.  It  had — supposing  it  to  have  belonged  to 
the  murdered  man — been  soaking  for  a  month  in  the 
drain,  nevertheless,  the  brother  of  the  servant  who 
had  disappeared  identified  it  as  having  belonged  to 

G 


98  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

the  murdered  man  !  Dr.  Massari,  Italian  physician 
to  Sheriff  Pacha,  and  Dr.  Rinaldo,  a  doctor  practising 
in  Damascus,  declared  that  the  bones  were  human 
remains,  but  they  were  examined  by  Dr.  Yograssi, 
who  proved  them  to  be — sheep  bones.  One  may 
judge  from  this  what  reliance  can  be  placed  on  the 
assumption  that  the  first  collection  of  bones  that  were 
given  Christian  burial  were  those  of  a  man,  and  of 
Father  Thomas.  As  for  the  bit  of  flesh,  it  was 
thought  to  be  a  piece  of  liver,  but  whether  of  a  human 
being  or  of  a  beast  was  uncertain  or  unascertained. 
The  Jews'  houses  were  now  subjected  to  search. 
Count  Ratti-Menton  swept  through  the  streets  at  the 
head  of  twenty  sbirri,  entering  and  ransacking  houses 
at  his  own  caprice,  the  Jews'  houses  first  of  all,  and 
then  such  houses  of  Christians  as  were  supposed  to 
be  open  as  a  harbour  of  shelter  to  the  persecuted 
Israelites.  Thus  one  night  he  rushed  not  only  into 
the  house  of,  but  even  the  women's  bedrooms  of  a 
merchant,  Aiub,  who  stood  under  Austrian  protection, 
hunting  after  secreted  Jews,  an  outrage,  in  popular 
opinion,  even  in  the  East. 

The  Jews  charged  with  the  murder  of  the  servant 
had  not  been  secured.  The  greater  number  of  the 
well-to-do  Hebrews  had  fled  the  town.  A  hue-and 
cry  was  set  up,  and  the  country  round  was  searched. 
Their  families  were  taken  up  and  tortured  into  con- 
fessing where  they  were.  A  German  traveller  then 
in  Damascus  says  that  the  prisons  were  crowded  with 
unfortunates,  and  that  the  pen  refuses  to  detail  the 
torments  to  which  they  were  subjected  to  wring  from 
them  the  information   required.      The  wife   of  Meir 


THE  MURDER  OF  FATHER  THOMAS.  99 

Farhi  and  their  child  were  imprisoned,  and  the  child 
bastinadoed  before  its  mother's  eyes.  At  the  three 
hund-edth  blow  the  mother's  heart  gave  way,  and  she 
betra^  ed  the  hiding-place  of  her  husband.  He  was 
seized.  The  hippopotamus  scourge  was  flourished 
over  his  head,  and  knowing  what  his  fellows  had 
suffered,  he  confessed  himself  guilty.  Assan  Farhi, 
who  was  caught  in  his  hiding-place,  was  imprisoned 
for  a  week  in  the  French  Consulate,  and  then  de- 
livered over  to  Turkish  justice.  Bastinado  and  the 
rack  convinced  him  of  his  guilt,  but  he  found  means 
to  despatch  from  his  dungeon  a  letter  to  Ibrahim 
Pacha  protesting  his  innocence. 

It  is  as  impossible  as  it  is  unnecessary  to  follow 
the  story  of  the  persecution  in  all  its  details.  The 
circumstances  have  been  given  by  various  hands,  and  as 
names  are  not  always  recorded,  it  is  not  always  pos- 
sible to  distinguish  whether  single  cases  are  recorded 
by  different  writers  with  slight  variations,  or  whether 
they  are  reporting  different  incidents  in  the  long 
story. 

The  porter  of  the  Jews'  quarters,  a  man  of  sixty, 
died  under  bastinado,  to  which  he  was  subjected  for 
no  other  crime  than  not  confessing  that  he  had  seen 
the  murdered  men  enter  the  Ghetto. 

In  the  meantime,  whilst  this  chase  after  those  ac- 
cused of  the  second  murder  was  going  on,  the  seven 
merchants  who  had  confessed  to  the  murder  of  the 
Father  had  been  lying  in  prison  recovering  from  their 
wounds  and  bruises.  As  they  recovered,  the  sense  of 
their  innocence  became  stronger  in  them  than  fear 
for  the  future  and  consideration  of  the  past.     They 


ioo  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

withdrew  their  confessions.  Again  were  they  beaten 
and  tormented.  Thenceforth  they  remained  stedfa' :. 
Two  of  the  seven,  David  Arari,  aged  eighty  id 
Joseph  Laniado,  not  much  younger,  died  r  xeir 
sufferings.  Laniado  had  protested  that  he  couiu  oring 
evidence — the  unimpeachable  evidence  of  Christian 
merchants  at  Khasbin — that  he  had  been  with  them 
at  the  time  when  it  was  pretended  he  had  been  en- 
gaged on  the  murder.  But  he  died  before  these 
witnesses  reached  Damascus.  Then  Count  Ratti- 
Menton  pressed  for  the  execution  of  the  rest. 

So  stood  matters  when  Herr  von  Hailbronner, 
whose  report  on  the  whole  case  is  both  fullest  and 
most  reliable,  for  the  sequence  of  events,  arrived  in 
Damascus.  He  took  pains  to  collect  all  the  most 
authentic  information  he  could  on  every  particular. 

Damascus  was  in  the  wildest  commotion.  All  classes 
of  the  people  were  in  a  condition  of  fanatic  excite- 
ment. The  suffering  caused  by  the  pressure  of  the 
Egyptian  government  of  Mohamed  AH,  the  threat 
of  an  Oriental  war,  the  plague  which  had  broken  out 
in  Syria,  the  quarantine,  impeding  all  trade,  were 
matters  that  were  thrust  into  the  background  by  the 
all-engrossing  story  of  the  murder  and  the  persecution 
of  the  Jews. 

The  condition  of  the  Hebrews  in  Damascus  became 
daily  more  precarious.  The  old  antagonism,  jealousy 
of  their  riches,  hatred  caused  by  extortionate  usury, 
were  roused  and  armed  for  revenge.  The  barber, 
though  he  had  confessed  that  he  was  guilty  of  the 
murder,  was  allowed  to  go  scot-free,  because  he  had 
betrayed  his  confederates.     What  an  encouragement 


THE  MURDER  OF  FATHER  THOMAS.  101 

was  offered  to  the  rabble  to  indulge  in  false  witness 
against  rich  Jews,  whose  wealth  was  coveted ! 

Mohamed  Ali's  government  desired  nothing 
bette*~  han  the  confiscation  of  their  goods.  A  pack 
of  ruffians  sought  occasion  to  extract  money  out 
of  this  persecution  by  bribes,  or  to  purchase  pardon 
for  past  offences  by  denouncing  the  innocent. 

It  is  well  at  this  point  to  look  a  little  closer  at  the 
French  Consul,  the  Count  Ratti-Menton.  On  him  rests 
the  guilt  of  this  iniquitous  proceeding,  rather  than  on 
the  Mussulman  judges.  He  had  been  twice  bankrupt 
when  French  Consul  in  Sicily.  Then  he  had  been 
sent  as  Consul  to  Tiflis,  where  his  conduct  had  been 
so  disreputable,  that  on  the  representation  of  the 
Russian  Government  he  had  been  recalled.  He  had 
then  been  appointed  Consul  at  Damascus.  In  spite 
of  all  this,  and  the  discredit  with  which  his  conduct 
with  regard  to  the  Jews,  on  account  of  the  murder  of 
Father  Thomas,  had  covered  him,  his  part  was  warmly 
taken  up  by  the  Ultramontane  Press,  and  the  French 
Government  did  its  utmost  to  shield  him.  M.  Thiers 
even  warmly  defended  him.  The  credit  of  France 
was  thought  to  be  at  stake,  and  it  was  deemed  advis- 
able to  stand  by  the  agent  of  France,  and  make  out 
a  case  for  him  as  best  might  be. 

It  is  quite  possible,  it  is  probable,  that  he  was 
thoroughly  convinced  that  the  Jews  were  guilty,  but 
that  does  not  justify  his  mode  of  procedure.  It  is 
possible  also  that  bribes  may — as  was  said — have 
been  offered  him  by  the  Jews  if  he  would  desist 
from  his  persecution,  but  that  he  refused  these 
bribes  shows  that  he  was  either  not  an  unredeemed 


102  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

rascal,  or  that  he  conceived  he  had  gone  too  far  to 
withdraw. 

The  Turkish  and  Egyptian  authorities  acted  as 
always  has  been  and  will  be  their  manner,  after  their 
nature,  and  in  their  own  interest  We  expect  of  them 
nothing  else,  but  that  the  representative  of  one  of  the 
most  enlightened  nations  of  Europe,  a  man  professing 
himself  to  be  a  Christian,  and  civilized,  a  member 
of  a  noble  house,  should  hound  on  the  ignorant  and 
superstitious,  and  give  rein  to  all  the  worst  passions 
of  an  Oriental  rabble,  against  a  helpless  and  harmless 
race,  that  has  been  oppressed,  and  ill-treated,  and 
slandered  for  centuries,  is  never  to  be  looked  over  and 
forgiven.  The  name  of  Ratti-Menton  must  go  down 
branded  to  posterity;  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that 
M.  Thiers  should  have  allowed  his  love  of  his  country 
to  so  carry  him  away  as  to  induce  him  to  throw  the 
shield  over  a  man  of  whose  guilt  he  must  have  been 
perfectly  aware,  having  full  information  in  his  hands. 
This  shows  us  to  what  an  extent  Gallic  vanity  will  blind 
the  Gallic  eye  to  the  plain  principles  of  truth  and  right. 

Ratti-Menton  had  his  agents  to  assist  him — Baudin, 
chief  of  his  bureau  at  the  Consulate  ;  Francois  Salins, 
a  native  of  Aleppo,  who  acted  as  interpreter,  spy,  and 
guard  to  the  Consulate  ;  Father  Tosti,  a  French 
Lazarist,  who,  according  to  the  Austrian  Consul, 
"  seemed  to  find  in  this  case  an  opportunity  for 
avenging  on  the  race  the  death  of  his  Divine  Master ; 
also  a  Christian  Arab,  Sehibli  Ayub,  a  man  of  bad 
character,  who  was  well  received  by  Ratti-Menton, 
because  of  his  keenness  as  spy,  and  readiness  as 
denunciator. 


THE  MURDER  OF  FA  THER  THOMAS. 


103 


What  followed  now  passes  all  belief.  After  that 
countless  poor  Jews  had  been  accused,  beaten,  tortured, 
and  killed,  it  occurred  to  the  judges  that  it  would  be 
as  well  to  ascertain  the  motive  for  the  crime.  It  had 
been  said  by  those  who  had  confessed  that  the  Pater 
and  his  servant  had  been  put  to  death  in  order  to 
obtain  their  blood  to  mingle  with  the  dough  for  the 
Paschal  wafer.  The  disappearance  of  the  two  men 
took  place  on  February  5th.  Easter  fell  that  year  on 
April  1 8th,  so  that  the  blood  would  have  to  be 
preserved  two  months  and  a  half.  That  was  an 
inconsequence  which  neither  the  French  Consul  nor 
the  Egyptian  authorities  stooped  to  consider.  Orders 
were  issued  that  the  Talmud  and  other  sacred  books 
•of  the  jews  should  be  explored  to  see  whether,  or 
rather  where  in  them,  the  order  was  given  that  human 
blood  should  be  mingled  with  the  Paschal  dough. 
When  no  such  commands  could  be  discovered,  it 
was  concluded  that  the  editions  presented  for  ex- 
amination were  purposely  falsified. 

Now,  there  were  distinct  indications  pointing  in 
quite  another  direction,  which,  if  followed,  might  have 
elucidated  the  case,  and  revealed  the  actual  criminals. 
But  these  indications  were  in  no  case  followed. 
Wildon  Pieritz,  an  Evangelical  Missionary,  then  in 
Damascus,  as  well  as  the  Austrian  Consul,  agree  in 
stating  that  three  days  before  the  disappearance  of 
Father  Thomas  he  was  seen  in  violent'  altercation 
with  a  Turkish  mule-driver,  who  was  heard  to  swear 
he  would  be  the  death  of  the  priest.  The  altercation 
was  so  violent  that  the  servant  of  Father  Thomas 
seized  the  mule-driver  by  the  throat  and  maltreated 


104  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

him  so  that  blood  flowed — probably  from  his  nose. 
Father  Thomas  lost  his  temper  and  cursed  the  mussul- 
man  and  his  religion.  The  scene  created  great 
commotion,  and  a  number  of  Turks  were  very  angry, 
amongst  them  was  one,  a  merchant,  Abu  Yekhyeh, 
who  distinguished  himself.  Wildon  Pieritz  in  a  let- 
ter to  the  Journal  de  Smyrne  on  May  14th,  1840, 
declares  that  when  the  news  of  the  disappearance  of 
Father  Thomas  began  to  excite  attention,  this 
merchant,  Abu  Yekhyeh,  hanged  himself. 

We  may  well  inquire  how  it  was  that  none  of  these 
facts  came  to  be  noticed.  The  answer  is  to  hand. 
Every  witness  that  gave  evidence  which  might  excul- 
pate the  accused  Jews,  and  turn  attention  in  another 
direction,  was  beaten  and  tortured,  consequently,  those 
who  could  have  revealed  the  truth  were  afraid  to  do  so. 

Even  among  the  Mohammedans  complaints  arose 
that  the  French  Consul  was  acting  in  contravention 
to  their  law,  and  a  feeling  gradually  grew  that  a  great 
injustice  was  being  committed — that  the  Jews  were 
innocent.  Few  dared  allow  this  in  the  first  fever  of 
popular  excitement,  but  nevertheless  it  awoke  and 
spread. 

At  first  the  Austrian  Consul  had  been  subjected  not 
to  annoyance  only,  but  to  danger  of  life,  so  violent 
had  been  the  popular  feeling  against  him  because  of 
the  protection  he  accorded  to  one  of  the  accused. 
Fortunately  Herr  Merlato  was  a  man  of  pluck.  He 
was  an  old  soldier  who  had  distinguished  himself  as  a 
marine  officer.  He  not  only  resolutely  protected  young 
Picciotto,  but  he  did  his  utmost  to  hinder  the  pro- 
ceedings of  Ratti-Menton ;    he   invoked   the   assist- 


THE  MURDER  OF  FATHER  THOMAS.  105 

ance  of  the  representatives  of  the  other  European 
Powers,  and  finally  every  Consul,  except  the  French, 
agreed  to  unite  with  him  in  representations  to  their 
governments  of,  the  iniquitous  proceedings  of  Ratti- 
Menton,  and  to  use  their  influence  with  the  Egyptian 
authorities  to  obtain  the  release  of  the  unhappy 
accused. 

The  bastinadoes  and  tortures  now  ceased.  Merlato 
obtained  the  release  of  several  of  those  who  were  in 
confinement ;  and  finally  the  only  Jews  who  remained 
in  prison  were  the  brothers  Arari,  Mussa  Salonichi, 
and  the  renegade  Abul  Afia.  Of  the  supposed  mur- 
derers of  the  servant  only  the  brothers  Farhi  were 
still  held  in  chains. 

Matters  were  in  this  condition  when  the  news  of 
what  had  taken  place  at  Damascus  reached  Europe 
and  set  all  the  Jews  in  commotion.  Every  effort  was 
made  by  them,  in  Vienna,  Leipzig,  Paris  and  London, 
indeed  in  all  the  great  cities  of  Europe,  to  convince 
the  public  of  the  absurdity  of  the  charge,  and  to  urge 
the  governments  to  interfere  in  behalf  of  the  sufferers. 

Finally  all  the  representatives  of  the  European 
governments  at  Alexandria,  with  the  exception  of  the 
French,  remonstrated  with  Mohamed  Ali.  They  de- 
manded that  the  investigation  should  be  begun  de 
novo ;  the  French  Consul-General,  M.  Cochelet,  alone 
objected.  But  the  action  of  the  Jews  of  Europe  had 
more  influence  with  Mohamed  Pacha  than  the  repre- 
sentations of  the  Consuls.  The  house  of  Rothschild 
had  taken  the  matter  up,  and  Sir  Moses  Montefiore 
started  from  London,  and  M.  Cremieux  from  Paris 
as  a  diplomatic   embassy  to   the  Viceroy   at  Alex- 


106  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

andria  to  convince  him,  by  such  means  as  is  most 
efficacious  to  an  Oriental  despot,  of  the  innocence  of 
the  accused  at  Damascus. 

The  arguments  these  delegates  employed  were  so 
extremely  satisfactory  to  the  mind  of  Mohamed 
Pacha,  that  he  quashed  the  charges  against  the  Jews 
of  Damascus,  in  spite  of  the  vehement  protest  of  M. 
Cochelet,  the  representative  of  France.  When  the 
Viceroy  issued  a  firman  ordering  the  uiniiatcirdne 
Jews  to  be  discharged  as  innocent  and  suffered  to 
abide  in  peace,  M.  Cochelet  strove  in  vain  to  have  the 
firman  qualified  or  altered  into  a  pardon. 

Thus  ended  one  of  the  most  scandalous  cases  of  this 
century.  Unfortunate,  innocent  men  were  tortured 
and  put  to  death  for  a  crime  that  had  never  been 
proved.  That  the  two  Europeans  had  been  murdered 
was  merely  matter  of  conjecture.  No  bodies  had  been 
found.  There  was  no  evidence  worth  a  rush  against 
the  accused,  and  no  motive  adduced  deserving  of  grave 
consideration.  "  What  inhumanities  were  committed 
during  the  eight  months  of  this  persecution,"  wrote 
Herr  Von  Hailbronner,  "  will  never  be  wholly  known. 
But  it  must  call  up  a  blush  of  shame  in  the  face  of  an 
European  to  remember  that  Europeans  provoked, 
favoured  and  stimulated  it  to  the  last." 

Authorities  :  "  Morgenland  and  Abendland,''  by  Herr  Von 
Hailbronner, — who,  as  already  mentioned,  was  present  in  Dam- 
ascus through  part  of  the  time.  "  Damascia,"  by  C.  H.  Lowen- 
stein,  Rodelheim,  1840.  Reports  and  debates  in  the  English 
Parliament  at  the  time.  The  recently  published  Diaries  of 
Sir  Moses  Montefiore,  2  vols.,  1890;  his  Centenal  Biography, 
1884,  vol.  I.,  p.  213-288  ;  and  the  article  summing  up  the  whole 
case  in  "Der  Neue  Pitaval,"  by  Dr.  J.  C.  Hitzig  and  Dr.  W. 
Haring,  1857,  Vol.  I. 


Some  Bccueatione  againet  3ew^ 

The  story  just  given  of  the  atrocious  treatment  of 
the  Jews  of  Damascus  on  a  false  accusation  naturally 
leads  to  a  brief  sketch  of  their  treatment  in  the 
Middle  Ages  on  similar  charges.  Not,  indeed,  that 
we  can  deal  with  all  of  the  outrages  committed  on 
the  sons  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob — that  would 
require  volumes — but  only  notice  some  of  those 
which  they  have  had  to  suffer  on  the  same  or  ana- 
logous false  charges. 

These  false  accusations  range  under  three  heads : — 

1.  They  have  been  charged  with  poisoning  the 
wells  when  there  has  been  an  outbreak  of  plague  and 
malignant  fever. 

2.  They  have  been  charged  with  stealing  the  Host 
and  with  stabbing  it. 

3.  Lastly,  with  having  committed  murders  in  order 
to  possess  themselves  of  Christian  blood,  to  mingle 
with  the  dough  wherewith  to  make  their  Paschal 
cakes. 

We  will  leave  the  first  case  on  one  side  altogether, 
and  as  we  have  already  considered  one  instance — not 
by  any  means  the  last  case  of  such  an  accusation 
levied  against  them  in  Europe — we  will  take  it  before 
we  come  to  the  instances  of  their  being  accused  of 
stealing  the  Host. 

But  why  should  they  be  supposed  to  require 
107 


lo8  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Christian  blood  ?  One  theory  was  that  by  common 
participation  in  it,  the  Jewish  community  was  closer 
bound  together ;  another,  that  it  had  a  salutary 
medicinal  effect.  That  is  to  say,  having  made  up 
their  minds  in  the  Middle  Ages  that  Jews  did  sacri- 
fice human  beings  and  drink  their  blood,  they  beat 
about  for  the  explanation,  and  caug.  at  any  wild 
theory  that  was  proposed.1 

John  Dubravius  in  his  Bohemian  History,  under  the 
year  1305,  relates:  "On  Good  Friday  the  Jews  com- 
mitted an  atrocious  crime  against  a  Christian  man, 
for  they  stretched  him  naked  to  a  cross  in  a  con- 
cealed place,  and  then,  standing  round,  spat  on  him, 
beat  him,  and  did  all  they  could  to  him  which  is 
recorded  of  their  having  done  to  Christ.  This 
atrocious  act  was  avenged  by  the  people  of  Prague 
upon  the  Jews,  with  newly-invented  punishments,  and 
of  their  property  that  was  confiscated,  a  monument 
was  erected."  But  there  were  cases  earlier  than  this. 
Perhaps  the  earliest  is  that  of  S.  William  of  Nor- 
wich, in  1 144;  next,  S.  Richard  of  Paris,  1179;  then 
S.  Henry  of  Weissemburg,  in  Alsace,  in  1220;  then 
S.  Hugh  of  Lincoln,  in  1255,  the  case  of  which  is 
recorded  by  Matthew  Paris.  A  woman  at  Lincoln 
lost  her  son,  a  child  eight  years  old.  He  was  found 
in  a  well  near  a  Jew's  house.  The  Jew  was  arrested, 
and  promised  his  life  if  he  would  accuse  his  brethren 
of  the  murder.     He   did  so,  but  was  hanged  never- 

1  Antonius  Bonfinius  :  Rer.  Hungaricarum  Dec,  v.  t,  3, 
gives  four  reasons.  Thomas  Cantipratensis,  Lib.  II.,  c.  29, 
gives  another  and  preposterous  one,  not  to  be  quoted  even  in 
Latin. 


SOME  A CCUS A  TIONS  A  GAINST  JE  WS.  109 

theless.  On  this  accusation  ninety-two  of  the  richest 
Jews  in  Lincoln  were  arrested,  their  goods  seized  to 
replenish  the  exhausted  Royal  exchequer  ;  eighteen 
were  hung  forthwith,  the  rest  were  reserved  in  the 
Tower  of  London  for  a  similar  fate,  but  escaped 
through  the  intervention  of  the  Franciscans,  who, 
says  Matthe.,-  Paris,  were  bribed  by  the  Jews  of 
England  to  obtain  their  release.  On  May  15th,  1256, 
thirty-five  of  the  wretched  Jews  were  released.  We 
are  not  told  what  became  of  the  remaining  thirty-nine, 
whether  they  had  been  discharged  as  innocent,  or 
died  in  prison.  The  story  of  little  Hugh  has  been 
charmingly  told  in  Chaucer's  Canterbury  Tales. 

A  girl  of  seven  years  was  found  murdered  at 
Pforzheim,  in  1271  ;  the  Jews  were  accused,  mobbed, 
maltreated,  and  executed.  In  1286,  a  boy,  name 
unknown,  disappeared  in  Munich,  with  the  same 
results  to  the  Jews.  In  1292,  a  boy  of  nine,  at 
Constance — same  results.  In  1303  "the  perfidious 
Jews,  accustomed  to  the  shedding  of  Christian 
blood,"  says  Siffrid,  priest  of  Meisen,  in  1307, 
"  cruelly  murdered  a  certain  scholar,  named  Conrad, 
son  of  a  knight  of  Weissensee,  in  Thuringia,  after  that 
they  had  tortured  him,  cut  all  his  sinews,  and  opened 
his  veins.  This  took  place  before  Easter.  The 
Almighty,  who  is  glorious  in  His  Saints,  however  did 
not  suffer  the  murder  of  the  innocent  boy  to  remain 
concealed,  but  destroyed  the  murderers,  and  adorned 
the  martyrdom  of  their  innocent  victim  with  miracles. 
For  when  the  said  Jews  had  taken  the  body  of  the 
lad  to  many  places  in  Thuringia  to  bury  it  secretly, 
by  God's  disposition  they  were  always  foiled  in  their 


1 1  o  FREA  KS  OF  FAN  A  TIC  ISM. 

attempt  to  make  away  with  it.  Wherefore,  returning 
to  Weissensee,  they  hung  it  to  a  vine.  Then  the 
truth  having  been  revealed,  the  soldiers  rushed  out  of 
the  castle,  and  the  citizens  rose  together  with  the 
common  people,  headed  by  Frederick,  son  of  Albert 
Landgrave  of  Thuringia,  and  killed  the  Jews  tumultu- 
ous^." 

The  story  of  St.  Werner,  the  boy  murdered  by  the 
Jews  in  1287,  at  Wesel,  on  the  Rhine,  and  buried  at 
Bacharach,  is  well  known.  The  lovely  chapel  erected 
over  his  body  is  now  a  ruin.  But  Werner  was  not 
the  only  boy  martyred  by  the  Jews  on  the  Rhine. 
Another  was  St.  Johanettus  of  Siegburg. 

St.  Andrew  of  Heiligenwasser,  near  Innsbruck,  is 
another  case,  in  1462  ;  St.  Ludwig  of  Ravensburg,  in 
[429,  again  another.  Six  boys  were  said  to  have 
been  murdered  by  Jews  at  Ratisborn,  in  i486 ;  and 
several  cases  come  to  us  out  of  Spanish  history. 
In  Poland,  in  1598,  in  the  village  of  Swinarzew,  near 
Lositz,  lived  a  peasant,  Matthias  Petrenioff,  with  his 
wife,  Anna.  They  had  several  children,  among  them 
a  boy  named  Adalbert.  One  day  in  Holy  Week  the 
boy  was  in  the  fields  ploughing  with  his  father.  In 
the  evening  he  was  sent  home,  but  instead  of  going 
home  directly,  he  turned  aside  to  visit  the  village  of 
Woznik,  in  which  lived  a  Jew,  Mark,  who  owned  a 
pawnshop,  and  had  some  mills.  The  son  of  Mark, 
named  Aaron,  and  the  son-in-law,  Isaac,  overtook  the 
boy  as  they  were  returning  to  Wosnik  in  their  cart 
and  took  him  up  into  it. 

As  the  child  did  not  return  home,  his  father  went 
in  search  of  him,  and  hearing  that  he  had  been  seen 


SOME  A CC USA TIONS  A GA INST  JE WS,  in 

in  the  cart  between  the  two  Jews,  he  went  to  the 
house  of  Mark  and  inquired  for  him.  Mark's  wife 
said  she  had  not  seen  him.  The  peasant  now  be- 
came frightened.  He  remembered  the  stories  that 
floated  about  concerning  the  murder  of  Christian 
children  by  Jews,  and  concluded  that  his  boy  had 
been  put  to  death  by  Mark  and  his  co-religionists. 
At  length  the  body  of  the  child  was  discovered  in  a 
pond,  probably  gnawed  by  rats — but  the  marks  on 
the  body  were  at  once  supposed  to  be  due  to  the 
weapons  of  the  Jews.  Immense  excitement  reigned 
in  the  district,  and  finally  two  servants  of  the  Jews, 
both  Christians,  one  Athanasia,  belonging  to  the 
Greek  Church,  and  another,  Christina,  a  Latin,  con- 
fessed that  their  masters  had  murdered  the  boy. 
He  had  been  concealed  in  a  cellar  till  the  eve  of  the 
Passover,  when  the  chief  Jews  of  the  district  had  been 
assembled,  and  the  boy  had  been  bled  to  death  in 
their  presence.  The  blood  was  put  into  small  phials 
and  each  Jew  provided  with  one  at  least.  This  led  to 
a  general  arrest  of  the  Jews,  when  the  rack  produced 
the  requisite  confession.  Isaac,  son-in-law  of  Mark, 
in  whose  house  the  butchery  was  said  to  have  taken 
place,  declared  under  torture  that  the  Jews  partook  of 
the  blood  of  Christians  in  bread,  and  also  in  wine,  but 
he  professed  to  be  unable  to  account  for  the  custom. 
Filled,  however,  with  remorse  for  having  thus  falsely 
accused  his  people  and  his  relatives,  he  hung  himself 
in  prison.  Mark  and  Aaron  were  condemned  to  be 
torn  to  pieces  alive  ;  and,  of  course,  the  usual  spoliation 
ensued.  We  have  the  account  of  this  atrocious 
judicial  murder  from  the  pen  of  a  Jesuit,  Szembeck, 


1 1 2  FREAKS  OF  FAN  A  TIC  ISM. 

who  extracted  the  particulars  from  the  acts  of  the 
court  of  Lublin,  in  which  the  case  was  tried,  and  from 
those  drawn  up  by  order  of  the  bishop  of  the  diocese 
of  Luz,  in  which  the  murder  occurred,  and  who 
obtained  or  sanctioned  a  canonization  of  the  boy- 
martyr. 

Another  still  more  famous  case  is  that  of  S.  Simeon, 
of  Trent,  in  1475,  very  full  details  of  which  are  given 
in  the  Acta  Sanctorum  of  the  Bollandists,  as  the  victim 
was  formally  canonized  by  Pope  Benedict  XIV.,  and 
the  Roman  Martyrology  asserts  the  murder  by  the 
Jews  in  these  terms  : — 

"  At  Trent  (on  March  24th)  the  martyrdom  of  S. 
Simeon,  a  little  child,  cruelly  slain  by  the  Jews,  who 
was  glorified  afterwards  by  several  miracles." 

The  story  as  told  and  approved  at  the  canonization 
was  as  follows  :  On  Tuesday,  in  Holy  Week,  1475, 
the  Jews  met  to  prepare  for  the  approaching  Passover, 
in  the  house  of  one  of  their  number,  named  Samuel  ;, 
and  it  was  agreed  between  three  of  them,  Samuel, 
Tobias,  and  Angelus,  that  a  child  should  be  crucified,  as. 
an  act  of  revenge  against  the  Christians  who  cruelly 
maltreated  them.  Their  difficulty,  however,  was  how 
to  get  one.  Samuel  sounded  his  servant  Lazarus,  and 
attempted  to  bribe  him  into  procuring  one,  but  the 
suggestion  so  scared  the  fellow  that  he  ran  away. 
On  the  Thursday,  Tobias  undertook  to  get  the  boy, 
and  going  out  in  the  evening,  whilst  the  people  were 
in  church,  he  prowled  about  till  he  found  a  child 
sitting  on  the  threshold  of  his  father's  door,  aged 
twenty-nine  months,  and  named  Simeon.  The  Jew 
began  to  coax  the  little  fellow  to  follow  him,  and  the 


SOME  A  CCUS A  TIONS  A  GAINS  T  JE  WS.  113 

boy,  after  being  lured  away,  was  led  to  the  house  of 
Samuel,  whence  during  the  night  he  was  conveyed 
to  the  synagogue,  where  he  was  bled  to  death,  and 
his  body  pierced  with  awls. 

All  Friday  the  parents  sought  their  son,  but 
found  him  not.  The  Jews,  alarmed  at  the  proceedings 
of  the  magistrates,  who  had  taken  the  matter  up,  con- 
sulted together  what  was  to  be  done.  It  was  resolved 
to  put  the  body  back  into  its  clothes  and  throw  it  into 
the  stream  that  ran  under  Samuel's  window,  but 
which  was  there  crossed  by  a  grating.  Tobias  was 
to  go  to  the  bishop  and  magistrates  and  inform  them 
that  a  child's  body  was  entangled  in  the  grate.  This 
was  done.  Thereupon  John  de  Salis,  the  bishop,  and 
James  de  Sporo,  the  governor,  went  to  see  the  spot, 
had  the  body  removed,  and  conveyed  to  the  cathedral. 
As,  according  to  popular  superstition,  blood  was 
supposed  to  flow  from  the  wound  when  a  murderer 
drew  near,  the  officers  of  justice  were  cautioned  to 
observe  the  crowds  as  they  passed. 

It  was  declared  that  blood  exuded  as  Tobias 
approached.  On  the  strength  of  this,  the  house  of 
Samuel  and  the  synagogue  were  examined,  and  it  is 
asserted  that  blood  and  other  traces  of  the  butchery 
were  found.  The  most  eminent  physicians  were 
called  to  investigate  the  condition  of  the  corpse,  and 
they  pronounced  that  the  child  had  been  strangled, 
and  that  the  wounds  were  due  to  stabs.  The  popular 
voice  now  accusing  the  Jews,  the  magistrates  seized 
on  them  and  threw  them  into  prison,  and  on  the 
accusation  of  a  renegade  more  than  five  of  the  Jews 
were  sentenced  to  death.     They  were  broken  on  the 

H 


ii4  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

wheel  and  then  burnt  The  body  of  the  child  is 
enshrined  at  Trent,  and  a  basin  of  the  blood  pre- 
served as  a  relic  in  the  cathedral. 

This  must  suffice  for  instances  of  accusations  of 
murder  for  religious  purposes  brought  against  the 
Jews,  in  every  case  false.  Another  charge  brought 
against  them  was  Sacrilege.  Fleury  in  his  Ecclesias- 
tical History  gives  one  instance.  "  In  the  little  town 
of  Pulca,  in  Passau,  a  layman  found  a  bloody  Host  be- 
fore the  house  of  a  Jew,  lying  in  the  street  upon  some 
straw.  The  people  thought  that  this  Host  was  con- 
secrated, and  washed  it  and  took  it  to  the  priest,  that 
it  might  be  taken  to  the  church,  where  a  crowd  of 
devotees  assembled,  concluding  that  the  blood  had 
flowed  miraculously  from  wounds  dealt  it  by  the  Jews. 
On  this  supposition,  and  without  any  other  ex- 
amination, or  any  other  judicial  procedure,  the 
Christians  fell  on  the  Jews,  and  killed  several  of 
them  ;  but  wiser  heads  judged  that  this  was  rather 
for  the  sake  of  pillage  than  to  avenge  a  sacrilege. 
This  conjecture  was  justified  by  a  similar  event,  that 
took  place  a  little  while  before  at  Neuburg,  in  the 
same  diocese,  where  a  certain  clerk  placed  an  uncon- 
secrated  Host  steeped  in  blood  in  a  church,  but 
confessed  afterwards  before  the  bishop  that  he  had 
dipped  this  Host  in  blood  for  the  purpose  of  raising 
hostility  against  the  Jews."  x 

In    1290,  a  Jew   named  Jonathan  was  accused   in 

Paris  of  having  thrown  a   Host  into  the  Seine.     It 

floated.      Then   he    stabbed   it   with   his    knife,  and 

blood   flowed.       The  Jew  was  burnt  alive,  and  the 

1  Fleury,  Hist.  Eccl.,  vi.  p.  no. 


SOME  A  CCUS A  TIONS  A  GAINST  JE  WS.  115 

people  clamored  for  a  general  persecution  of  the 
Hebrews. 

In  Bavaria,  in  1337,  at  Dechendorf,  some  Hosts 
were  discovered  which  the  Jews  had  stabbed.  The 
unhappy  Hebrews  were  burnt  alive. 

In  1326,  a  Jew  convert,  a  favourite  of  Count 
William  the  Good,  of  Flanders,  was  accused  of  having 
struck  an  image  of  the  Madonna,  which  thereupon 
bled.  The  Jew  was  tortured,  but  denied  the  accusa- 
tion. Then  he  was  challenged  to  a  duel  by  a  fanatic. 
He,  wholly  unaccustomed  to  the  use  of  weapons, 
succumbed.  That  sufficed  to  prove  his  guilt.  He  was 
burnt. 

In  1 35 1,  a  Jew  convert  was  accused,  at  Brussels,  of 
having  pretended,  on  three  occasions,  to  communicate, 
in  order  that  he  might  send  the  Hosts  to  his  brethren 
at  Cologne,  who  stabbed  them,  and  blood  flowed. 

The  traveller  who  has  been  in  Brussels  must  cer- 
tainly have  noticed  the  painted  windows  all  down 
the  nave  of  S.  Gudule,  in  the  side  aisles,  to  left  and 
right.  They  represent,  in  glowing  colours,  the  story 
of  the  miraculous  Hosts  preserved  in  the  chancel 
to  the  north  of  the  choir,  where  seven  red  lamps  burn 
perpetually  before  them. 

The  story  is  as  follows:  In  1370,  a  rich  Jew  of 
Enghien  bribed  a  converted  Hebrew,  named  John  of 
Louvain,  for  60  pieces  of  gold,  to  steal  for  him  some 
Hosts  from  the  Chapel  of  S.  Catherine.  Hardly, 
however,  had  the  Jew,  Jonathan,  received  the  wafers, 
before  he  was  attacked  by  robbers  and  murdered.  His 
wife,  alarmed,  and  thinking  that  his  death  was  due  to 
the  sacrilege,  resolved  to  get  rid  of  the  wafers.     It  may 


1 16  FREAKS  OF  FAN  A  TIC  ISM. 

have  been  remarked  in  the  stories  of  murders  by- 
Jews,  that  they  were  represented  as  finding  great 
difficulty  in  getting  rid  of  the  dead  bodies.  In  these 
stones  of  sacrilege,  no  less  difficulty  was  encountered 
in  causing  the  disappearance  of  the  Hosts.  More- 
over, the  Jews  invariably  proceeded  in  the  most  round- 
about and  clumsy  way,  inviting  discovery.  The 
widow  of  the  murdered  Jonathan  conveyed  the  Hosts 
to  the  synagogue  at  Brussels.  There,  on  Good 
Friday,  the  Jews  took  advantage  of  the  Hosts  to  stab 
them  with  their  knives,  in  mockery  of  Christ  and  the 
Christian  religion.  But  blood  squirted  from  the  trans- 
fixed wafers.  In  terror,  they  also  resolved  to  get  rid 
of  the  miraculous  Hosts,  and  found  no  better  means  of 
so  doing  than  bribing  a  renegade  Jewess,  named 
Catharine,  to  carry  them  to  Cologne.  They  promised 
her  twenty  pieces  of  gold  for  her  pains.  She  took 
the  Hosts,  but,  troubled  in  conscience,  revealed  what 
she  had  undertaken  to  her  confessor.  The  ecclesias- 
tical authorities  were  informed,  Catherine  was  arrested, 
imprisoned,  and  confessed.  All  the  Jews  dwelling  in 
Brussels  were  taken  up  and  tortured  ;  but  in  spite  of 
all  torture  refused  to  acknowledge  their  guilt.  How- 
ever, a  chaplain  of  the  prince,  a  man  named  Jean 
Moreili,  pretended  to  have  overheard  a  converted  Jew 
say,  "  Why  do  not  these  dogs  make  a  clean  breast  ? 
They  know  that  they  are  guilty."  This  man  was  that 
John  of  Louvain  who  had  procured  the  theft  of  the 
wafers.  He  was  seized.  He  at  once  confessed  his  par- 
ticipation in  the  crime.  That  sufficed.  All  the  ac- 
cused, he  himself  included,  were  condemned  to  death. 
They  were  executed  with  hideous  cruelty;  after  having 


SOME  A  CC  USA  TIONS  A  GAINST  JE  WS.  117 

had  their  flesh  torn  off  by  red-hot  pinchers,  they  were 
attached  to  stakes  and  burnt  alive,  on  the  Vigil  of  the 
Ascension,  1370.  Every  year  a  solemn  procession  of 
the  Saint  Sacrement  de  Miracle  commemorates  this 
atrocity,  or  the  miracle  which  led  to  it. 

Unfortunately,  there  exists  no  doubt  whatever  as 
to  the  horrible  execution  of  the  Jews  on  the  false 
charge  of  having  stolen  the  Hosts,  but  there  is  very 
good  reason  for  disbelieving  altogether  the  story  of 
the  miracle  of  the  bleeding  Hosts. 

Now,  it  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  not  a  word  is 
said  about  this  miracle  before  1435,  that  is  to  say,  for 
65  years,  by  any  writer  of  the  period  and  of  the 
country.  The  very  first  mention  of  it  is  found  in  a 
Papal  bull  of  that  date,  addressed  to  the  Dean  and 
Chapter  of  S.  Gudule,  relative  to  a  petition  made  by 
them  that,  as  they  wanted  money  for  the  erection 
of  a  chapel  to  contain  these  Hosts,  indulgences  might 
be  granted  to  those  who  would  contribute  thereto. 
The  Pope  granted  their  request. 

Now,  it  so  happens  that  the  official  archives  at 
Brussels  contains  two  documents  of  the  date,  1370, 
relative  to  this  trial.  The  first  of  these  is  the  register 
of  the  accounts  of  the  receiver-general  of  the  Duke  of 
Brabant.  In  that  are  the  items  of  expenditure  for 
the  burning  of  these  Jews,  a  receipt,  and  the  text  is  as 
follows :  "  Item,  recepta  de  bonis  dictorum  judeorum, 
postquam  combusti  fuerant  circa  ascensionem  Domini 
Ixx,  quae  defamata  fuerant  de  sacramentis  punice  et 
furtive  acceptis."  That  is  to  say,  that  a  certain  sum 
flowed  into  the  Duke's  exchequer  from  the  goods  of 
the  Jews,   burnt   for   having  "guiltily  and   furtively 


1 1 8  FREAKS  OF  FAN  A  TIC  ISM. 

obtained  the  Hosts."  "  Punice"  is  an  odd  word,  but  its 
signification  is  clear  enough.  Now,  in  1 581,  on  May 
1st,  the  magistrates  of  Brussels  forbade  the  exercise  of 
the  Catholic  religion,  in  a  proclamation  in  which,  when 
mentioning  certain  frauds  committed  by  the  Roman 
Church,  they  speak  of  "  The  Sacrament  of  the  Miracle, 
which,"  say  they,  "by  documentary  evidence  can  be 
proved  never  to  have  bled  nor  to  have  been  stabbed." 
No  question — they  had  seen  this  entry  in  which  no 
mention  is  made  of  the  stabbing — no  allusion  made  to 
the  bleeding.  Moreover,  in  the  same  archives  is  the 
contemporary  episcopal  letter  addressed  to  the  Dean 
of  S.  Gudule  on  the  subject  of  these  Hosts.  In  this 
document  there  is  no  mention  made  by  the  bishop  of 
the  stabbing  or  of  the  miracle.  It  is  stated  that  the 
Hosts  were  obtained  by  the  Jews  in  order  that  they 
might  insult  and  outrage  them.  It  is  curious  that  the 
letter  should  not  specify  their  having  done  this,  and 
done  it  effectually,  with  their  knives  and  daggers. 
Most  assuredly,  also,  had  there  been  any  suspicion  of 
a  miracle,  the  bishop  would  have  referred  to  it  in  the 
letter  relative  to  the  custody  of  these  very  Hosts. 

After  the  whole  fable  of  the  stabbing  and  bleeding 
had  grown  up,  no  doubt  applied  to  these  Hosts  from  a 
preceding  case  of  accusation  against  Jews,  that  of 
135 1,  less  than  thirty  years  before,  it  was  thought 
advisable,  if  not  necessary,  to  produce  some  evidence 
in  favour  of  the  story  ;  but  as  no  such  evidence  was 
obtainable,  it  was  manufactured  in  a  very  ingenious 
manner.  The  entry  in  the  register  of  accounts  was 
dublished  by  the  Pere  Ydens,  after  a  notary  had  been 
required  to  collate  the  text.     This  notary — his  name 


SOME  A  CCUS A  TIONS  A  GAINST  JE  WS.  1 19 

was  Van  Asbroek — gave  his  testimony  that  he  had 
made  an  exact  and  literal  transcript  of  the  entry. 
What  he  and  the  Pere  Ydens  gave  as  their  exact,  literal 
transcript  was  '-'recepta  de  bonis  dictorum  Judceorum 
.  .  .  .  quae  defamata  fuerant  de  sacrament  puncto 
et  furtive  accept?."  Ingenious,  but  disingenuous.  In 
the  first  place  they  altered  "  sacramentis  "  from  plural 
into  singular,  and  then,  the  adverb  pumce,  "  guiltily," 
into  puncto,  stabbed. 

Subsequently,  Father  Ydens  and  his  notary  have 
been  quoted  and  requoted  as  authoritative  witnesses. 
However,  the  document  is  now  in  the  Archives  at 
Brussels,  and  has  been  lithographed  from  a  photograph 
for  the  examination  of  such  as  have  not  the  means  of 
obtaining  access  to  the  original.1  The  last  jubilee  of 
this  apocryphal  miracle  was  celebrated  at  Brussels  in 
July,  1870. 

1  Le  Jubile  d'un  faux  Miracle  (extrait  de  la  Revue  de 
Belgique),  Bruxelles  1870. 


Zhe  Coburg  flDausoIeum* 

At  the  east  end  of  the  garden  of  the  Ducal  residence 
of  Coburg  is  a  small,  tastefully  constructed  mausoleum, 
adorned  with  allegorical  subjects,  in  which  are  laid  the 
remains  of  the  deceased  dukes.  Near  the  mausoleum 
rise  a  stately  oak,  a  clump  of  rhododendron,  a  cluster 
of  acacias,  and  a  group  of  yews  and  weeping-willows. 

The  mausoleum  is  hidden  from  the  palace  by  a 
plantation  of  young  pines. 

The  Castle  of  Coburg  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
and  best  preserved  in  Germany.  It  stands  on  a 
height,  above  the  little  town,  and  contains  much  rich 
wood-carving  of  the  15th  and  16th  centuries.  Below 
the  height,  but  a  little  above  the  town,  is  the  more 
modern  residence  of  the  Dukes  Ehrenburg,  erected  in 
1626  by  the  Italian  architect  Bonallisso,  and  finished 
in  1693.  It  has  that  character  of  perverse  revolt 
against  picturesqueness  that  marked  all  the  edifices  of 
the  period.  It  has  been  restored,  not  in  the  best  style, 
at  the  worst  possible  epoch,  18 16.  The  south  front 
remains  least  altered  ;  it  is  adorned  with  a  handsome 
gateway,  over  which  is  the  inscription,  "  Fried  ernahrt. 
Unfried  verzehrt" — not  easily  rendered  in  English: — ■ 

"  Peace  doth  cherish — 
Strife  makes  perish." 

The  princes  of  Coburg  by  their  worth  and  kindly  be- 


THE  COBURG  MAUSOLEUM.  121 

haviour  have  for  a  century  drawn  to  them  the  hearts 
of  their  subjects,  and  hardly  a  princely  house  in  Ger- 
many is,  and  has  been,  more  respected  and  loved. 

Duke  Franz  died  shortly  after  the  battle  of  Jena. 
During  his  reign,  by  his  thrift,  geniality,  and  love  of 
justice  he  had  won  to  his  person  the  affections  of  his 
people,  though  they  resented  the  despotic  character 
of*  his  government  under  his  Minister  Kretschmann. 
He  was  twice  married,  but  left  issue  only  by  the 
second  wife,  Augusta,  a  princess  of  Reuss,  who 
inherited  the  piety  and  virtues  which  seem  to  be 
inrooted  in  that  worthy  house. 

Only  a  few  weeks  after  her  return  from  Brussels, 
where  she  had  seen  her  son,  recently  crowned  King  of 
the  Belgians,  did  the  Duchess  Augusta  of  Sachsen- 
Coburg  die  in  her  seventy-sixth  year,  November  16th, 
1 83 1.  The  admiration  and  love  this  admirable  princess 
had  inspired  drew  crowds  to  visit  the  body,  as  it  lay 
in  state  in  the  residence  at  Coburg,  prior  to  the  funeral, 
which  took  place  on  the  19th,  before  day-break,  by  the 
light  of  torches.  The  funeral  was  attended  by  men 
and  women  of  all  classes  eager  to  express  their  attach- 
ment to  the  deceased,  and  respect  for  the  family.  A 
great  deal  was  said,  and  fabled,  concerning  this 
funeral.  It  was  told  and  believed  that  the  Dowager 
Duchess  had  been  laid  in  the  family  vault  adorned 
with  her  diamond  rings  and  richest  necklaces.  She 
was  the  mother  of  kings,  and  the  vulgar  believed  that 
every  royal  and  princely  house  with  which  she  was 
allied  had  contributed  some  jewel  towards  the  decora- 
tion of  her  body. 

Her  eldest  son,   Ernst  I.,  succeeded  his  father  in 


122  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

1806  as  Duke  of  Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld,  and  in 
1826  became  Duke  of  Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha.  The 
second  son,  Ferdinand,  married  in  18 16  the  wealthiest 
heiress  of  Hungary,  the  Princess  Rohary,  and  his  son, 
Ferdinand,  became  in  1836  King  of  Portugal,  and  his 
grandson,  Ferdinand,  by  his  second  son,  is  the  present 
reigning  Prince  of  Bulgaria. 

The  third  son,  Leopold,  married  Charlotte,  only 
daughter  of  George  IV.  of  England,  and  in  1831 
became  King  of  the  Belgians.  Of  the  five  daughters, 
the  eldest  was  married  to  the  Grand-Duke  Constantine 
of  Russia,  the  second  married  the  Duke  of  Kent,  in 
18 1 8,  and  was  the  mother  of  our  Queen,  Victoria. 
The  third  married  Duke  Alexander  of  Wiirtemberg. 

Among  those  who  were  present  at  the  funeral  of 
the  Duchess  Augusta  was  a  Bavarian,  named  Andreas 
Stubenrauch,  an  artisan  then  at  Coburg.  He  was  the 
son  of  an  armourer,  followed  his  father's  profession, 
and  had  settled  at  Coburg  as  locksmith.  He  was  a 
peculiarly  ugly  man,  with  low  but  broad  brow,  dark- 
brown  bristly  hair,  heavy  eyebrows  and  small  cunning 
grey  eyes.  His  nose  was  a  snub,  very  broad  with 
huge  nostrils,  his  complexion  was  pale  ;  he  had  a  large 
mouth,  and  big  drooping  underlip.  His  short  stature, 
his  lack  of  proportion  in  build,  and  his  uncomely 
features,  gave  him  the  appearance  of  a  half-witted 
man.  But  though  he  was  not  clever  he  was  by  no 
means  a  fool.  His  character  was  in  accordance  with  his 
apperance.  He  was  a  sullen,  ill-conditioned,  in- 
temperate man. 

Stubenrauch  had  been  one  of  the  crowd  that  had 
passed  by  the  bed  on  which  the  Duchess  lay  in  state, 


THE  COB  URG  MA  US  OLE  UM.  1 23 

and  had  cast  covetous  eyes  at  the  jewellery  with 
which  the  body  was  adorned.  He  had  also  attended 
the  funeral,  and  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
Duchess  was  buried  with  all  the  precious  articles  he 
had  noticed  about  her,  as  exposed  to  view  before  the 
burial,  and  with  a  great  deal  more,  which  popular 
gossip  asserted  to  have  been  laid  in  the  coffin  with 
her. 

The  thought  of  all  this  waste  of  wealth  clung  to 
his  mind,  and  Stubenrauch  resolved  to  enter  the 
mausoleum  and  rob  the  body.  The  position  of  the 
vault  suited  his  plans,  far  removed  and  concealed  from 
the  palace,  and  he  made  little  account  of  locks  and 
bars,  which  were  likely  to  prove  small  hindrances  to 
an  accomplished  locksmith. 

To  carry  his  plan  into  execution,  he  resolved  on 
choosing  the  night  of  August  18-19,  1832.  On  this 
evening  he  sat  drinking  in  a  low  tavern  till  10  o'clock, 
when  he  left,  returned  to  his  lodgings,  where  he 
collected  the  tools  he  believed  he  would  require,  a 
candle  and  flint  and  steel,  and  then  betook  himself  to 
the  mausoleum. 

In  the  first  place,  he  found  it  necessary  to  climb 
over  a  wall  of  boards  that  encircled  the  portion  of  the 
grounds  where  was  the  mausoleum,  and  then,  when 
he  stood  before  the  building,  he  found  that  to  effect 
an  entrance  would  take  him  more  time  and  give  him 
more  work  than  he  had  anticipated. 

The  mausoleum  was  closed  by  an  iron  gate  formed 
of  strong  bars  eight  feet  high,  radiating  from  a  centre 
in  a  sort  of  semicircle  and  armed  with  sharp  spikes. 
He  found  it  impossible  to  open  the  lock,  and  he  was 


i24  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

therefore  obliged  to  climb  over  the  gate,  regardless  of 
the  danger  of  tearing  himself  on  the  barbs.  There 
was  but  a  small  space  between  the  spikes  and  the 
arch  of  the  entrance,  but  through  this  he  managed  to 
squeeze  his  way,  and  so  reach  the  interior  of  the  build- 
ing, without  doing  himself  any  injury. 

Here  he  found  a  double  stout  oaken  door  in  the  floor 
that  gave  access  to  the  vault.  The  two  valves  were 
so  closely  dovetailed  into  one  another  and  fitted  so 
exactly,  that  he  found  the  utmost  difficulty  in  getting 
a  tool  between  them.  He  tried  his  false  keys  in  vain 
on  the  lock,  and  for  a  long  time  his  efforts  to  prise 
the  lock  open  with  a  lever  were  equally  futile.  At 
length  by  means  of  a  wedge  he  succeeded  in  breaking  a 
way  through  the  junction  of  the  doors,  into  which  he 
could  insert  a  bar,  and  then  he  heaved  at  one  valve 
with  all  his  might,  throwing  his  weight  on  the  lever. 
It  took  him  fully  an  hour  before  he  could  break  open 
the  door.  Midnight  struck  as  the  valve,  grating  on 
its  hinges,  was  thrown  back.  But  now  a  new  and  un- 
expected difficulty  presented  itself.  There  was  no 
flight  of  steps  descending  into  the  vault,  as  he  had 
anticipated,  and  he  did  not  know  the  depth  of  the 
lower  pavement  from  where  he  stooped,  and  he  was 
afraid  to  light  a  candle  and  let  it  down  to  explore 
the  distance. 

But  Stubenrauch  was  not  a  man  to  be  dismayed  by 
difficulties.  He  climbed  back  over  the  iron-spiked 
gates  into  the  open  air,  and  sought  out  a  long  and 
stout  pole,  with  which  to  sound  the  depth,  so  as  to 
know  what  measures  he  was  to  take  to  descend. 
Going  into  the  Ducal  orchard,  he  pulled  up  a  pole  to 


THE  CO  BURG  MAUSOLEUM.  125 

which  a  fruit  tree  was  tied,  and  dragged  it  to  the 
mausoleum,  and  with  considerable  difficulty  got  it 
through  the  gateway,  which  he  again  surmounted  with 
caution  and  without  injury  to  himself. 

Then,  leaning  over  the  opening,  holding  the  pole  in 
both  hands,  he  endeavoured  to  feel  the  depth  of  the 
vault.  In  so  doing  he  lost  his  balance,  and  the  weight 
of  the  pole  dragged  him  down,  and  he  fell  between 
two  coffins  some  twelve  feet  below  the  floor  of  the 
upper  chamber.  There  he  lay  for  some  little  while 
unconscious,  stunned  by  his  fall.  When  he  came  to 
himself,  he  sat  up,  felt  about  with  his  hands  to 
ascertain  where  he  was,  and  considered  what  next 
should  be  done. 

Without  a  moment's  thought  as  to  how  he  was  to 
escape  from  his  position,  about  the  possibility  of  which 
he  was  not  in  the  smallest  doubt,  knowing  as  he  did 
his  own  agility  and  readiness  with  expedients,  he  set 
to  work  to  accomplish  his  undertaking.  With  com- 
posure Stubenrauch  now  struck  a  light  and  kindled 
the  candle.  When  he  had  done  this,  he  examined 
the  interior  of  the  vault,  and  the  coffins  he  found 
there,  so  as  to  select  the  right  one.  Those  of  the 
Duchess  Augusta  and  her  husband  the  late  Duke  were 
very  much  alike,  so  much  so  that  the  ruffian  had  some 
difficulty  in  deciding  which  was  the  right  one.  He 
chose,  however,  correctly  that  which  seemed  freshest, 
and  he  tore  off  it  the  black  cover.  Under  this  he  found 
the  coffin  very  solid,  fastened  by  two  locks,  which 
were  so  rusted  that  his  tools  would  not  turn  in  them. 
He  had  not  his  iron  bar  and  other  implements  with 
him  now ;  they  were  above  on  the  floor  of  the  upper 


126  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

chamber.  With  great  difficulty  he  succeeded  at  length 
in  breaking  one  of  the  hinges,  and  he  was  then  able  to 
snap  the  lower  lock,  whereas  that  at  the  top  resisted 
all  his  efforts.  However,  the  broken  hinge  and  lock 
enabled  him  to  lift  the  lid  sufficiently  for  him  to  look 
inside.  Now  he  hoped  to  be  able  to  insert  his  hand, 
and  remove  all  the  jewellery  he  supposed  was  laid 
there  with  the  dead  lady.  To  his  grievous  disappoint- 
ment he  saw  nothing  save  the  fading  remains  of  the 
Duchess,  covered  with  a  glimmering  white  mould,  that 
seemed  to  him  to  be  phosphorescent.  The  body  was 
in  black  velvet,  the  white  luminous  hands  crossed  over 
the  breast.  Stubenrauch  was  not  the  man  to  feel 
either  respect  for  the  dead  or  fear  of  aught  supernatural. 
With  both  hands  he  sustained  the  heavy  lid  of  the 
coffin  as  he  peered  in,  and  the  necessity  for  using  both 
to  support  the  weight  prevented  his  profane  hand 
from  being  laid  on  the  remains  of  an  august  and 
pious  princess.  Stubenrauch  did  indeed  try  more 
than  once  to  sustain  the  lid  with  one  hand,  that  he 
might  grope  with  the  other  for  the  treasures  he  fancied 
must  be  concealed  there,  but  the  moment  he  removed 
one  hand  the  lid  crashed  down. 

Disappointed  in  his  expectations,  Stubenrauch  now 
replaced  the  cover,  and  began  to  consider  how  he 
might  escape.  But  now — and  now  only — did  he  dis- 
cover that  it  was  not  possible  for  him  to  get  out  of  the 
vault  into  which  he  had  fallen.  The  pole  on  which 
he  had  placed  his  confidence  was  too  short  to  reach  to 
the  opening  above.  Every  effort  made  by  Stubenrauch 
to  scramble  out  failed.  He  was  caught  in  a  trap — and 
what  a  trap  !     Nemesis  had  fallen   on  the  ruffiant  a 


THE  CO  BURG  MAUSOLEUM.  127 

once,  on  the  scene  of  his  crime,  and  condemned  him 
to  betray  himself. 

Although  now  for  the  first  time  deadly  fear  came 
over  him,  as  he  afterward  asserted,  it  was  fear  because 
he  anticipated  punishment  from  men,  not  any  dread 
of  the  wrath  of  the  spirits  of  those  into  whose  domain 
he  had  entered.  When  he  had  convinced  himself 
that  escape  was  quite  impossible,  he  submitted  to  the 
inevitable,  lay  down  between  the  two  coffins  and  tried 
to  go  to  sleep ;  but,  as  he  himself  admitted,  he  was 
not  able  to  sleep  soundly. 

Morning  broke — it  was  Sunday,  and  a  special 
festival  at  Coburg,  for  it  was  the  twenty-fifth  anniver- 
sary of  the  accession  of  the  Duke,  so  that  the  town 
was  in  lively  commotion,  and  park  and  palace  were 
also  in  a  stir. 

Stubenrauch  sat  up  and  waited  in  hopes  of  hearing 
someone  draw  near  who  could  release  him.  About 
9  o'clock  in  the  morning  he  heard  steps  on  the  gravel, 
and  at  once  began  to  shout  for  assistance. 

The  person  who  had  approached  ran  away  in 
alarm,  declaring  that  strange  and  unearthly  noises 
issued  from  the  Ducal  mausoleum.  The  guard  was 
apprised,  but  would  not  at  first  believe  the  report. 
At  length  one  of  the  sentinels  was  despatched  to  the 
spot,  and  he  returned  speedily  with  the  tidings  that 
there  certainly  was  a  man  in  the  vault.  He  had 
peered  through  the  grating  at  the  entrance  and  had 
seen  the  door  broken  open  and  a  crowbar  and  other 
articles  lying  about. 

The  gate  was  now  opened,  and  Stubenrauch  re- 
moved in  the  midst  of  an  assembled  crowd  of  angry 


128  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

and  dismayed  spectators.  He  was  removed  to  prison, 
tried,  and  condemned  to  eighteen  months  with  hard 
labour. 

That  is  not  the  end  of  the  story.  After  his  dis- 
charge, Stubenrauch  never  settled  into  regular  work. 
In  1836  he  was  taken  up  for  theft,  and  again  on  the 
same  charge  in  1844.  In  the  year  1854  he  was  dis- 
covered dead  in  a  little  wood  near  his  home ;  between 
the  fingers  of  his  right  hand  was  a  pinch  of  snuff,  and 
in  his  left  hand  a  pistol  with  which  he  had  blown  out 
his  own  brains.  In  his  pockets  were  found  a  purse 
and  a  brandy  bottle,  both  empty. 


3ean  H^mon* 

Jean  Aymon  was  born  in  Dauphine,  in  1661,  oi 
Catholic  parents.  He  studied  in  the  college  of 
Grenoble.  His  family,  loving  him,  neglected  nothing 
which  might  contribute  to  the  improvement  of  his 
mind,  and  the  professors  of  Grenoble  laboured  to 
perfect  their  intelligent  pupil  in  mathematics, 
languages,  and  history. 

From  Grenoble,  Aymon  betook  himself  to  Turin, 
where  he  studied  theology  and  philosophy.  But  there 
was  one  thing  neither  parents  nor  professors  were 
able  to  implant  in  the  young  man — a  conscience. 
He  was  thoroughly  well  versed  in  all  the  intricacies 
of  moral  theology  and  the  subtleties  of  the  school- 
men ;  he  regarded  crime  and  sin  as  something  deadly 
indeed,  but  deadly  only  to  other  persons.  Theft  was 
a  mortal  sin  to  every  one  but  himself.  Truth  was  a 
virtue  to  be  strictly  inculcated,  but  not  to  be  prac- 
tised in  his  own  case. 

His  parents,  thinking  he  would  grow  out  of  this 
obliquity  of  moral  vision,  persisted  in  their  scheme  of 
education  for  the  lad — probably  the  very  worst  which, 
with  his  peculiar  bent  of  mind,  they  could  have 
chosen  for  him.  Having  finished  his  studies  at  Turin, 
his  evil  star  led  him  to  Rome,  where  his  talents  soon 
drew  attention  to  him,  and  Hercules  de  Berzet,  Bishop 
of  Saint   Jean  de  Maurienne,  in   Savoy,  named  him 

1 


i3o  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

chaplain,  and  had  him  ordained,  by  brief  of  Inno- 
cent XL,  before  the  age  fixed  by  the  Council  of 
Trent,  "  because  of  the  probity  of  his  life,  his  virtues 
and  other  merits  !  " — such  were  the  reasons. 

Shortly  after  his  installation  as  chaplain  to  the 
bishop,  his  patron  entrusted  him  with  a  delicate  case. 
De  Berzet  had  lately  been  deep  in  an  intrigue  to 
obtain  a  cardinals  hat.  He  had  been  disappointed, 
and  he  was  either  bent  on  revenge,  or,  perhaps,  hoped 
to  frighten  the  Pope  into  giving  him  that  which  he 
had  solicited  in  vain.  He  set  to  work,  raking  up  all 
the  scandal  of  the  Papal  household,  and  acting  the 
spy  upon  all  the  movements  of  the  familiars  of  the 
court.  After  a  very  little  while,  this  worthy  prelate 
had  succeeded  in  gathering  together  enough  material 
to  make  all  the  ears  in  Europe  tingle,  and  this  was 
put  into  the  hands  of  the  young  priest  to  work  into 
form  for  publication. 

As  Aymon  looked  through  these  scandalous 
memoirs,  he  made  his  own  reflections.  "The  publi- 
cation of  this  will  raise  a  storm,  undoubtedly  ;  but 
the  first  who  will  perish  in  it  will  be  my  patron,  and 
all  who  sail  in  his  boat."  Aymon  noticed  that  M.  de 
Camus,  Bishop  of  Grenoble,  was  most  compromised 
by  the  papers  in  his  hands,  and  would  be  most  in- 
terested in  their  suppression.  Aymon,  without  hesi- 
tation, tied  up  the  bundle,  put  it  in  his  pocket,  and 
presented  himself  before  the  bishop,  ready  to  make 
them  over  to  him  for  a  consideration.  He  was  well 
received,  as  may  be  supposed,  and  in  return  for  the 
papers  was  given  a  living  in  the  diocese.  But  this 
did  not  satisfy  the  restless  spirit  of  Aymon  ;  he  had 


JEAN  A  YMON.  131 

imbibed  a  taste  for  intrigue,  and  there  was  no  place 
like  the  Eternal  City  for  indulging  this  taste.  He 
was,  moreover,  dissatisfied  with  his  benefice,  and 
expected  greater  rewards  for  the  service  he  had  done 
to  the  Church.  Innocent  XL  received  him  well,  and 
in  1687  appointed  him  his  protonotary.  Further  he 
did  not  advance.  At  the  Papal  Court  he  made  his 
observations,  and  whether  it  was  that  he  was  felt  to 
be  somewhat  of  a  spy,  or  through  some  intrigue,  his 
star  began  to  set,  when  Aymon,  too  well  aware  that 
a  falling  man  may  sink  very  low,  suddenly  fled  from 
Rome,  crossed  the  border  into  Switzerland,  and  in  a 
few  days  was  a  convert  to  the  straitest  sect  of  the 
Calvinists.  But  the  Swiss  are  poor,  and  their  minis- 
ters are  in  comfortable;  though  not  lucrative  positions. 
Holland  was  the  paradise  of  Calvinism,  and  to  Hol- 
land Aymon  repaired.  Here  he  obtained  a  cure  of 
importance,  and  married  a  lady  of  rank. 

But  even  now,  Aymon  was  not  satisfied.  Among 
the  Protestants  of  the  Low  Countries  there  are  no 
bishops,  and  no  man  can  soar  higher  than  the  pulpit 
of  a  parish  church.  Aymon  was  convinced  that  he 
had  climbed  as  high  as  he  could  in  the  Church  of 
Calvin,  and  that  he  had  a  soul  for  something  higher 
still.  His  next  step  was  extraordinary  enough.  He 
wrote  in  December,  1705,  to  M.  Clement,  of  the 
Bibliotheque  du  Roi,  at  Paris,  stating  that  he  had  in 
his  possession  the  "  Herbal "  of  the  celebrated  Paul 
Hermann,  in  forty  folio  volumes,  and  that  he  offered 
it  to  the  King  for  3200  livres,  a  trifle  over  what  it  had 
cost  him.  He  added  that  he  was  a  renegade  priest,  who 
had  sought  rest  in  Protestantism,  but  had  found  none 


132  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

— nay  !  he  had  discovered  it  to  be  a  hot-bed  of  every 
kind  of  vice,  and  that  he  yearned  for  the  Church  of 
his  baptism.  He  hinted  that  he  had  made  some  dis- 
coveries of  the  utmost  political  importance,  and  that 
he  would  communicate  them  to  the  King  if  he  could 
be  provided  with  a  passport. 

Clement  made  inquiries  of  the  superintendent  ol 
the  Jardin-Royal  as  to  the  expediency  of  purchasing 
the  "  Herbal,"  and  received  a  reply  in  the  negative. 

Aymon  wrote  again,  saying  little  more  of  the 
"  Herbal,"  and  developing  his  schemes.  He  said  that 
he  had  State  secrets  to  confide  to  the  Ministers  of  the 
Crown,  besides  which,  he  volunteered  to  compose  a 
large  and  important  work  on  the  state  of  Protestant- 
ism, "  full  of  proofs  so  authentic,  and  so  numerous, 
that,  if  given  to  the  light  of  day,  as  I  purpose,  it 
would  probably  not  only  restrain  all  those  who  medi- 
tate seceding  from  the  Roman  Church,  but  also  would 
persuade  all  those,  who  are  not  blinded  by  their 
passions,  to  return  to  the  Catholic  faith." 

Clement,  uncertain  what  to  answer,  showed  these 
letters  to  some  clergy  of  his  acquaintance,  and,  acting 
on  their  advice,  he  presented  them  to  M.  de  Pont- 
chartrain,  who  communicated  the  proposal  of  Aymon 
to  the  King. 

A  passport  was  immediately  granted,  and  Aymon 
left  Holland,  assuring  his  congregation  that  he  was 
going  for  a  little  while  to  Constantinople  on  important 
matters  of  religion. 

On  his  arrival  in  Paris,  he  presented  himself  before 
M.  Clement,  to  assure  him  of  the  fervour  of  his  zeal 
and    the    earnestness    of    his    conversion.       Clement 


JEAN  A  YMON.  133 

received  him  cordially,  and  took  him  to  Versailles  to 
see  M.  de  Pontchartrain.  In  this  interview  Aymon 
made  great  promises  of  being  serviceable  to  the 
Church  and  to  the  State,  by  the  revelations  he  was 
about  to  make  ;  but  M.  de  Pontchartrain  treated  his 
protestations  very  lightly,  and  handed  him  over  to 
the  Cardinal  de  Noailles,  Archbishop  of  Paris. 

The  conference  with  the  cardinal  was  long.  The 
archbishop  addressed  a  homily  to  the  repentant 
sinner,  who  listened  with  hands  crossed  on  his  breast, 
his  eyes  bent  to  earth,  and  his  cheeks  suffused  with 
tears.  Aymon  sighed  forth  that  he  had  quitted  the 
camp  of  the  Amalekites  for  ever,  and  that  he  was 
determined  to  turn  against  them  their  own  weapons. 
Clement,  who  was  present,  now  stepped  forward  and 
reminded  the  prelate  that  Aymon  had  abandoned  a 
lucrative  situation,  at  the  dictates  of  conscience,  and 
that  though  he  might,  of  course,  expect  to  be  re- 
warded hereafter,  still  that  remuneration  in  this  life 
would  not  interfere  with  these  future  prospects. 
The  cardinal  quite  approved  of  this  sentiment,  and 
promised  to  see  what  he  could  do  for  the  convert. 
In  the  meantime,  he  wished  Aymon  to  spend  a 
retreat  in  some  religious  house,  where  he  could 
meditate  on  the  error  of  his  past  life,  and  expiate,  as 
far  as  in  him  lay,  his  late  delinquencies  by  rigorous 
penances.  Aymon  thanked  the  cardinal  for  thus, 
unasked,  granting  him  the  request  which  was  upper- 
most in  his  thoughts,  and  then  begged  to  be  allowed 
the  use  of  the  Royal  Library,  in  which  to  pursue  his 
theological  researches,  and  to  examine  the  documents 
which  were  necessary  for  the  execution  of  his  design 


i34  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

of  writing  a  triumphant  vindication  of  the  Catholic 
faith,  and  a  complete  exposure  of  the  abominations 
of  Protestantism.  M.  Clement  readily  accorded  this, 
at  the  request  of  the  archbishop,  and  Jean  Aymon 
was  sent  to  the  seminary  of  the  Missions  Etran- 
geres. 

Aymon  now  appeared  as  a  model  penitent.  He 
spent  a  considerable  part  of  the  night  in  prayer 
before  the  altar,  he  was  punctual  in  his  attendance  on 
all  the  public  exercises  of  religion,  and  his  conversa- 
tion, morning,  noon,  and  night,  was  on  the  errors  and 
disorders  of  the  Calvinist  Church.  When  not  en- 
gaged in  devotions,  he  was  at  the  library,  where  he 
was  indefatigable  in  his  research  among  manuscripts 
which  could  throw  light  on  the  subject  upon  which 
he  was  engaged.  Indeed,  his  enthusiasm  and  his 
zeal  for  discoveries  wearied  the  assistants.  Clement 
himself  was  occupied  upon  the  catalogues,  and  was 
unable  to  dance  attendance  on  Aymon ;  and  the 
assistants  soon  learned  to  regard  him  as  a  bookworm 
who  would  keep  them  on  the  run,  supplying  him  with 
fresh  materials,  if  they  did  not  leave  him  to  do  pretty 
much  what  he  liked. 

Time  passed,  and  Aymon  heard  no  more  of  the 
reward  promised  by  the  cardinal.  He  began  to 
murmur,  and  to  pour  his  complaints  into  the  reluctant 
ear  of  Clement,  who  soon  became  so  tired  of  hearing 
them,  that  the  appearance  of  Aymon's  discontented 
face  in  the  library  was  a  signal  for  him  to  plead 
business  and  hurry  into  another  apartment.  Aymon 
declared  that  he  should  most  positively  publish  noth- 
ing till  the  king  or  the  cardinal  made  up  to  him  the 


JEAN  A  YMON.  135 

losses  he  had  endured  by  resigning  his  post  in 
Holland. 

All  of  a  sudden,  to  Clement's  great  relief,  Aymon 
disappeared  from  the  library.  At  first  he  was  satis- 
fied to  be  freed  from  him,  and  made  no  inquiries  ; 
but  after  a  while,  hearing  that  he  had  also  left  the 
Missions  Etrangeres,  he  made  search  for  the  missing 
man.     He  was  nowhere  to  be  found. 

About  this  time  Aymon's  congregation  at  the 
Hague  were  gratified  by  the  return  of  their  pastor, 
not  much  bronzed  by  exposure  to  the  sun  of  Con- 
stantinople, certainly,  but  with  his  trunks  well-stocked 
with  valuable  MSS. 

A  little  while  after,  M.  Clement  received  the  follow- 
ing note  from  a  French  agent  resident  at  the 
Hague : — 

"  Information  is  required  relative  to  a  certain 
Aymon,  who  says  that  he  was  chaplain  to  M.  le 
Cardinal  de  Camus,  and  apostolic  protonotary.  After 
having  lived  some  while  at  the  Hague,  whither  he  had 
come  from  Switzerland,  where  he  had  embraced  the 
so-called  Reformed  religion,  he  disappeared,  and  it 
was  ascertained  that  he  was  at  Paris,  whither  he  had 
taken  an  Arabic  Koran  in  MS.,  which  he  had  stolen 
from  a  bookseller  at  the  Hague.  He  has  only 
lately  returned,  laden  with  spoils — thefts,  one  would 
rather  say,  which  he  must  have  made  at  Paris,  where 
he  has  been  spending  five  or  six  months  in  some 
publicity.  .  .  .  He  has  with  him  the  Acts  of  the 
last  Council  of  Jerusalem  held  by  the  Greeks  on  the 
subject  of  Transubstantiation,  and  some  other  docu- 
ments  supposed  to  be  stolen  from  the  Bibliotheque 


i36  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

du  Roi.  The  man  has  powerful  supporters  in.  this 
country. — March  10,  1707." 

The  "  Council  of  Jerusalem  "  was  one  of  the  most 
valuable  MSS.  of  the  library — and  it  was  in  the 
hands  of  Aymon  !  Clement  flew  to  the  cabinet  where 
this  inestimable  treasure  was  preserved  under  lock 
and  key.  The  cabinet  was  safely  enough  locked — 
but  alas  !  the  MS.  was  no  longer  there. 

A  few  days  after,  Clement  heard  that  Aymon  had 
crossed  the  frontier  with  several  heavy  boxes,  which, 
on  inquiry,  proved  to  be  full  of  books.  What  volumes 
were  they  ?  The  collections  in  the  Royal  Library 
consisted  of  12,500  MSS.  The  whole  had  to  be  gone 
through.  It  was  soon  ascertained  that  another  miss- 
ing book  was  the  original  Italian  despatches  and 
letters  of  Carlo  Visconti,  Apostolic  Nuncio  at  the 
Council  of  Trent. 

There  was  no  time  to  be  lost.  Clement  wrote  to 
the  Hague  to  claim  the  stolen  volumes,  and  to  insti- 
tute legal  proceedings  for  their  recovery,  before  the 
collection  could  be  dispersed,  and  he  appointed,  with 
full  powers,  William  de  Voys,  bookseller  at  the 
Hague,  to  seize  the  two  volumes  said  to  be  in  the 
possession  of  Aymon. 

A  little  while  after  some  more  MSS.  volumes  were 
missed  ;  they  were  "  The  Italian  Letters  of  Prospero 
S  Croce,  Nuncio  of  Pius  IV.,"  "  The  Embassy  of  the 
Bishop  of  Angouleme  to  Rome  in  1560-4,"  "Le 
Registre  des  taxes  de  la  Chancellerie  Romaine," 
"Dialogo  politico  sopra  i  tumulti  di  Francia,"  nine 
Chinese  MSS.,  a  copy  of  the  Gospels  of  high  antiquity 
in  uncial  characters,  another  copy  of  the  Gospels,  no 


JEAN  A  YMON.  i37 

less  valuable,  and  the  Epistles  of  S.  Paul,  also  very 
ancient. 

Shortly  after  this,  two  Swiss,  passing  through  the 
Hague,  were  shown  by  Aymon  some  MSS.  which 
agreed  with  those  mentioned  as  lost  from  the  Royal 
Library ;  but  besides  these,  they  saw  numerous  loose 
sheets,  inscribed  with  letters  of  gold,  and  apparently 
belonging  to  a  MS.  of  the  Bible.  Clement  had  now 
to  go  through  each  MS.  in  the  library  and  find  what 
had  been  subtracted  from  them.  Fourteen  sheets 
were  gone  from  the  celebrated  Bible  of  S.  Denys. 
From  the  Pauline  Epistles  and  Apocalypse,  a  MS.  of 
the  seventh  century,  and  one  of  the  most  valuable 
treasures  of  the  library,  thirty-five  sheets  had  been 
cut     There  were  other  losses  of  less  importance. 

Whilst  Clement  was  making  these  discoveries,  De 
Voys  brought  an  action  against  Aymon  for  the 
recovery  of  the  "  Council  of  Jerusalem "  and  the 
"  Letters  of  Visconti." 

Jean  Aymon  was  not,  however,  a  man  to  be 
despoiled  of  what  he  had  once  got.  He  knew  his 
position  perfectly,  and  he  knew  the  temper  of  those 
around  him.  He  was  well  aware  that  in  order  to 
gain  his  cause  he  had  only  to  excite  popular  passion. 
His  judges  were  enemies  to  both  France  and  Catho- 
licism, he  had  but  to  make  them  believe  that  a  plot 
was  formed  against  him  by  French  Papists  for  ob- 
taining possession  of  certain  MSS.  which  he  had,  and 
which  contained  a  harvest  of  scandals  and  revelations 
overwhelming  to  Catholics,  and  he  knew  that  his 
cause  was  safe. 

He  accordingly  published  a   defence,  bearing  the 


i38  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

following  title :— "  Letter  of  the  Sieur  Aymon, 
Minister  of  the  Holy  Gospel,  to  M.  N.,  Professor  of 
Theology,  to  inform  people  of  honour  and  savants  of 
the  extraordinary  frauds  of  certain  Papistical  doctors 
and  of  the  vast  efforts  they  are  now  making,  along 
with  some  perverted  Protestants,  who  are  striving 
together  to  ruin,  by  their  impostures,  the  Sieur 
Aymon,  and  to  deprive  him  of  several  MSS.,  &c." — 
La  Haye,  dated  1707.  Aymon  in  his  pamphlet  took 
high  moral  ground.  He  was  not  pleading  his  own 
cause.  Persecuted,  hunted  down  by  Papists,  by 
enemies  of  the  Republic  and  of  the  religion  of 
Christ,  he  scorned  their  calumnies  and  despised  their 
rage.  He  would  bow  under  the  storm,  he  would  endure 
the  persecution  cheerfully — for  "Blessed  are  those  that 
are  persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake ; "  but  higher 
interests  were  at  stake  than  his  own  fair  fame.  For 
himself  he  cared  little;  for  the  Protestant  faith  he 
cared  everything.  If  the  Papists  obtained  their  suit, 
they  would  wrest  from  his  grasp  documents  most 
compromising  to  themselves.  They  would  leave  no 
stone  unturned  to  secure  them — they  dare  not  leave 
them  in  the  hands  of  a  Protestant  pastor.  Their 
story  of  the  "  Acts  of  the  Council  of  Jerusalem  "  was 
false.  They  said  that  it  had  been  obtained  by  Olier 
de  Nanteuil,  Ambassador  of  France  at  Constantinople, 
in  1672,  and  had  been  transmitted  to  Paris,  where 
Arnauld  had  seen  and  made  use  of  it  in  preparing  his 
great  work  on  the  "  Perpetuity  of  the  Faith."  They 
further  said  that  the  Bibliotheque  du  Roi  had  obtained 
it  in  1696.  On  the  other  hand,  Aymon  asserted  that 
Arnauld  had  falsified  the  text  in  his  treatise  on  the 


JEAN  A  YMON.  i39 

"  Perpetuity  of  the  Faith,"  and  that,  not  daring  to  let 
his  fraud  appear,  he  had  never  given  the  MS.  to  the 
Royal  Library,  but  had  committed  it  to  a  Benedictine 
monk  of  S.  Maur,  who  had  assisted  him  in  falsifying 
it  and  making  an  incorrect  translation.  This  monk 
would  never  have  surrendered  the  MS.  but  that  con- 
science had  given  him  no  rest  till  he  had  transmitted 
it  to  one  who  would  know  how  to  use  it  aright.  He, 
Aymon,  had  solemnly  promised  never  to  divulge  the 
name  of  this  monk,  and  even  though  he  and  the  Pro- 
testant cause  were  to  suffer  for  it,  that  promise 
should  be  held  sacred.  He  challenged  the  library  of 
the  King  to  prove  its  claim  to  the  "  Council  of  Jerusa- 
lem ! "  All  books  in  the  Bibliotheque  du  Roi  have 
the  seal  of  the  library  on  them.  This  volume  had 
three  seals — that  of  the  Sultan,  that  of  the  Patriarch 
of  Jerusalem,  and  that  of  Olier  de  Nanteuil ;  but  he 
defied  any  one  to  see  the  library  mark  on  its  cover, 
or  on  any  of  its  sheets.  Aymon  wound  up  his 
audacious  pamphlet  by  prophesying  that  the  Papists 
of  France  would  not  be  satisfied  with  this  claim,  but 
would  advance  many  others,  for  they  knew  that  in  his 
hands  were  documents  of  the  utmost  importance  to 
them  to  conceal  Aymon  was  too  clever  for  Clement: 
he  had  mixed  up  truth  with  fiction  in  such  a  way  that 
the  points  which  Clement  had  to  admit  tended  to 
make  even  those  who  were  not  bigoted  hesitate  about 
condemning  Aymon. 

Clement  replied  to  this  letter  by  stating  the  whole 
story  of  Aymon's  deception  of  the  Cardinal  de  Noailles 
and  others.  With  regard  to  the  "Council  of  Jerusa- 
lem," it  was  false  that  it  had  ever  been  in  a  Benedicient 


i4o  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

monastery.  "It  is  true,"  he  said,  "that  in  the 
Monastery  of  S.  Germain-des-Pres  there  are  documents 
relating  to  the  controversies  between  the  Catholics  and 
Greek  schismatics,  but  they  are  all  in  French."  He 
produced  an  attestation,  signed  by  the  prior,  to  the 
effect  that  the  MS.  in  question  had  never  been  within 
the  walls  of  his  monastery.  Clement  was  obliged  to 
allow  that  a  Benedictine  monk  had  been  employed  by 
Arnauld  to  translate  the  text  of  the  Council;  he  even 
found  him  out.  his  name  was  Michel  Foucquere ;  he 
was  still  alive,  and  the  librarian  made  him  affirm  in 
writing  that  he  had  restored  the  volume,  on  the  com- 
pletion of  his  translation,  to  Dom  Luc  d'Achery. 
Clement  sent  a  copy  of  the  register  in  the  library, 
which  related  how  and  when  the  volume  had  come 
into  the  possession  of  the  King.  It  was  true  that  it 
bore  no  library  seal,  but  that  was  through  an  over- 
sight. 

Aymon  wrote  a  second  pamphlet,  exposing  Cle- 
ment more  completely,  pointing  out  the  concessions 
he  was  obliged  to  make,  and  finally,  in  indignant 
terms,  hurling  back  on  him  the  base  assertion  made 
to  injure  him  in  the  eyes  of  an  enlightened  Protestant 
public,  that  he  had  ever  treated  with  the  government 
or  clergy  of  Paris  relative  to  a  secession  to  the  ranks 
of  Popery.  But  that  he  had  been  to  Paris ;  that  he 
had  met  the  Cardinal  Archbishop,  he  admitted  ;  but 
on  what  ground  ?  He  had  met  him  and  twenty-four 
prelates  besides,  gathered  in  solemn  conclave,  and  had 
lifted  up  his  voice  in  testimony  against  them  ;  had 
disputed  with  them,  and,  with  the  Word  of  God  in  his 
mouth,  had  put  them  all  to  silence !     No  idea  of  his 


JEAN  A  YMON.  141 

ever  leaving  the  reformed  faith  had  ever  entered  his 
head.  No !  he  had  been  on  a  mission  to  the  Papists 
of  France,  to  open  their  eyes  and  to  convert  them. 

The  news  of  the  robbery  had,  however,  reached  the 
ears  of  the  King,  Louis  XIV.,  and  he  instructed  M. 
de  Torcy  to  demand  on  the  part  of  Government  the 
restitution  of  the  stolen  MSS.  M.  de  Torcy  first 
wrote  to  a  M.  Hennequin  at  Rotterdam,  who  replied 
that  Aymon  had  justified  himself  before  the  Council 
of  State  from  the  imputations  cast  upon  him.  He 
had  been  interrogated,  not  upon  the  theft  committed 
in  Paris,  but  on  his  journey  to  France.  Aymon  had 
proved  that  this  expedition  had  been  undertaken  with 
excellent  intentions,  and  had  been  attended  with 
supreme  success,  since  he  had  returned  laden  with 
manuscripts  the  publication  of  which  would  cause  the 
greatest  confusion  in  the  Catholic  camp.  Hennequin 
added,  that  after  having  been  deprived  of  his  stipend, 
as  suspected,  on  it  having  been  ascertained  that  he 
had  visited  Paris  instead  of  Constantinople,  Aymon,. 
having  cleared  his  character,  had  recovered  it.  Such 
was  the  first  result  of  the  intervention  of  Louis  XIV. 
in  this  affair. 

"The  stamp  of  the  Royal  Library  is  on  all  the 
MSS.,  except  the  '  Council  of  Jerusalem,' "  said 
Clement.  "  Let  the  judges  insist  on  examining  the 
books  in  the  possession  of  Aymon,  and  all  doubt  as 
to  the  theft  will  be  removed." 

But  this  the  judges  refused  to  do. 

It  was  pretended  that  Aymon  was  persecuted  ;  it 
was  the  duty  of  the  Netherland  Government  to  pro- 
tect a  subject  from  persecution.     He  had  made  dis- 


142  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

coveries,  and  the  Catholics  dreaded  the  publication 
of  his  discoveries,  therefore  a  deep  plot  had  been  laid 
to  ruin  him. 

Aymon  had  now  formed  around  him  a  powerful 
party,  and  the  Calvinist  preachers  took  his  side 
unanimously.  It  was  enough  to  read  the  titles  of  the 
books  stolen  to  be  certain  that  they  contained  curious 
details  on  the  affairs  which  agitated  Catholics  and 
Protestants  from  the  sixteenth  century. 

All  that  the  Dutch  authorities  cared  for  now  was 
to  find  some  excuse  for  retaining  these  important 
papers,  and  the  inquiry  was  mainly  directed  to  the 
proceedings  of  Aymon  in  France.  If,  as  it  was 
said,  he  had  gone  thither  to  abjure  Calvinism  and 
betray  his  brethren,  he  deserved  reprimand,  but  if, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  had  penetrated  the  camp  of  the 
enemy  to  defy  it,  and  to  witness  a  good  confession  in 
the  heart  of  the  foe,  he  deserved  a  crown.  Clement, 
to  display  Aymon  in  his  true  colours,  acting  on  the 
advice  of  the  Minister,  sent  copies  of  Aymon's  letters. 
It  was  not  thought  that  the  good  faith  of  the  French 
administration  would  be  doubted.  Aymon  swore 
that  the  letters  were  not  his  own,  but  that  they  had 
been  fabricated  by  the  Government;  and  he  offered 
to  stake  his  head  on  the  truth  of  what  he  said.  At 
the  same  time  he  dared  De  Torcy  to  produce  the 
originals. 

He  had  guessed  aright :  he  knew  exactly  how  far 
he  could  go.  The  Dutch  court  actually  questioned 
the  good  faith  of  these  copies,  and  demanded  the 
originals.  This,  as  Aymon  had  expected,  was  taken 
by  De  Torcy  as  an  insult,  and  all  further  communi- 


JEAN  A  YMON.  i43 

cation  on  the  subject  was  abruptly  stopped.  It  was 
a  clever  move  of  Aymon.  He  inverted  by  one  bold 
stroke  the  relative  positions  of  himself  and  his  accuser  : 
the  judges  at  the  Hague  required  M.  de  Torcy  to  re- 
establish his  own  honour  before  proceeding  with  the 
question  of  Aymon's  culpability.  In  short,  they  sup- 
posed that  one  of  the  Ministers  of  the  Crown,  for  the 
sake  of  ruining  a  Protestant  refugee,  had  deliberately 
committed  forgery. 

The  matter  was  dropped.  After  a  while  Aymon 
published  translations  of  some  of  the  MSS.  in  his 
possession,  and  those  who  had  expected  great  results 
were  disappointed.  In  the  meantime  poor  Clement 
died,  heart-broken  at  the  losses  of  the  library  com- 
mitted to  his  care. 

At  last  the  Dutch  Government,  after  the  publica- 
tion of  Aymon's  book,  and  after  renewed  negotiation, 
restored  the  "  Council  of  Jerusalem "  to  the  Biblio- 
theque  du  Roi.  It  still  bears  traces  of  the  mutilations 
•and  additions  of  Aymon. 

In  1 7 jo,  the  imposter  published  the  letters  of 
Prospero  S.  Croce,  which  he  said  he  had  copied  in  the 
Vatican,  but  which  he  had  in  fact  stolen  from  the 
Royal  Library.  In  1716  he  published  other  stolen 
papers.  Clement  was  succeeded  by  the  Abbe  de 
Targny,  who  made  vain  attempts  to  recover  the  lost 
treasures.  The  Abbe  Bignon  succeeded  De  Targny, 
and  he  discovered  fresh  losses.  Aymon  had  stolen 
Arabic  books  as  well  as  Greek  and  Italian  MSS. 
There  was  no  chance  of  recovering  the  lost  works 
through  the  courts  of  law,  and  Bignon  contented  him- 
self with  writing  to  Holland,  England,  and  Germany 


i44  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

to  inquire  whether  any  of  the  MSS.  had  been  bought 
there. 

The  Baron  von  Stocks  wrote  to  say  that  he  had 
purchased  some  leaves  ot  the  Epistles  of  S.  Paul, 
some  pages  of  the  S.  Denis  Bible,  and  an  Arabic 
volume  from  Aymon  for  a  hundred  florins,  and  that 
he  would  return  them  to  the  library  for  that  sum. 
They  were  recovered  in  March,  1720. 

About  the  same  time  Mr.  Bentley,  librarian  to  the 
King  of  England,  announced  that  some  more  of  the 
pages  from  the  Epistles  of  S.  Paul  were  in  Lord 
Harley's  library  ;  and  that  the  Duke  of  Sunderland 
had  purchased  various  MSS.  at  the  Hague  from 
Aymon.  In  giving  this  information  to  the  Abbe 
Bignon,  Mr.  Bentley  entreated  him  not  to  mention 
the  source  of  his  information.  M.  de  Boze  thereupon 
resolved  to  visit  England  and  endeavour  to  recover 
the  MSS.     But  he  was  detained  by  various  causes. 

In  1729,  Earl  Middleton  offered,  on  the  part  of 
Lord  Harley,  to  return  the  thirty-four  leaves  of  the 
Epistles  in  his  possession,  asking  only  in  return  an 
acknowledgment  sealed  with  the  grand  seal.  Car- 
dinal Fieury,  finding  that  the  Royal  signature  could 
hardly  be  employed  for  such  a  purpose,  wrote  in  the 
King's  name  a  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Oxford  of  a  flat- 
tering nature,  and  the  lost  MSS.  were  restored  in 
September,  1729. 

Those  in  the  Sunderland  collection  have  not,  I  be- 
lieve, been  returned. 

And  what  became  of  Aymon?  In  171 8  he  in- 
habited the  Chateau  of  Riswyck.  Thence  he  sent  to 
the  brothers  Wetstein,  publishers  at  Amsterdam,  the 


JEAN  AYMON.  145 

proofs  of  his  edition  of  the  letters  of  Visconti.  It 
appeared  in  1719  in  two  i2mo  volumes,  under  the 
title  "  Lettres,  Anecdotes,  et  Memoires  historiques  du 
nonce  Visconti,  Cardinel  Preconise  et  Ministre  Secret 
de  Pie  IV.  et  de  ses  creatures."  The  date  of  his  death 
is  not  known. 

Authority:  Haureau,  J.  Singularites  Historiques  et  Literaires. 
Paris,  1881. 


ftbe  ipatadnes  of  fllMlaru 

i. 

In  the  eleventh  century,  nearly  all  the  clergy  in  the 
north  of  Italy  were  married.1  It  was  the  same  in 
Sicily,  and  it  had  been  the  same  in  Rome,2  but  there 
the  authority  and  presence  of  the  Popes  had  sufficed 
to  convert  open  marriage  into  secret  concubinage. 

But  concubinage  did  not  in  those  times  mean 
exactly  what  it  means  now.  A  concubina  was  an  uxor 
in  an  inferior  degree;  the  woman  was  married  in  both 
cases  with  the  ring  and  religious  rite,  but  the  children 
of  the  concubine  could  not  inherit  legally  the  posses- 
sions of  their  father.  When  priests  were  without 
wives,  concubines  were  tolerated  wives  without  the 
legal  status  of  wives,  lest  on  the  death  of  the  priest 
his  children  should  claim  and  alienate  to  their  own 
use  property  belonging  to  the  Church.  In  noble  and 
royal  families  it  was  sometimes  the  same,  lest  estates 
should  be  dismembered.     On  the  death  of  a  wife,  her 

1  "  Cuncti  fere  cum  publicis  uxoribus  ....  ducebant  vitam." 
"  Et  ipsi,  ut  ccrnitur,  sicut  laici,  palam  uxores  ducunt." — Andr. 
Strum.  "  Vit.  A?'ialdi.v  "  Quis  clericorum  non  esset  uxoratus 
vel  concubinarius  ? — Andr.  Strum.  "  Vit.  S.  Joan.  Gualberti." 

2  "  Cceperunt  ipsi  presbyteri  et  diacones  laicorum  more  uxores 
ducere  suscepsosque  filios  haeredes  relinquere.  Nonnulli  etiam 
episcoporum  verecund  a  omni  contempta,  cum  uxoribus  domo 
simul  in  una  habitare." — Victor  Papa  "  in  Dialog." 

146 


THE  PATARINES  OF  MILAN.  147 

place  was  occupied  by  a  concubine,  and  the  sons  of 
the  latter  could  not  dispute  inheritance  with  the  sons 
of  the  former.  Nor  did  the  Church  look  sternly  on 
the  concubine.  In  the  first  Toledian  Council  a  canon 
was  passed  with  regard  to  communicating  those  who 
had  one  wife  or  one  concubine  ; — such  were  not  to  be 
excluded  from  the  Lord's  Table,1  so  long  only  as  each 
man  had  but  one  wife  or  concubine,  and  the  union 
was  perpetual. 

But,  though  concubinage  was  universal  among  the 
clergy  in  Italy,  at  Milan  the  priests  openly,  boldly 
claimed  for  their  wives  a  position  as  honourable  as 
could  be  accorded  them  ;  and  they  asserted  without 
fear  of  contradiction  that  their  privilege  had  received 
the  sanction  of  the  great  Ambrose  himself.  Married 
bishops  had  been  common,  and  saintly  married  pre- 
lates not  unknown.  St.  Severus  of  Ravenna  had  a 
wife  and  daughter,  and  though  the  late  biographer 
asserts  that  he  lived  with  his  wife  as  with  a  sister  after 
he  became  a  bishop,  this  statement  is  probably  made 
to  get  over  an  awkward  fact.2     When  he  was  about  to 

1  "  Qui  unius  mulieris,  aut  uxoris,  aut  concubinae  (ut  ei  plac- 
uerit)  sit  conjunctione  contentus." — 1st  Cone,  of  Toledo,  can.  17. 
"  Has  quippe,  licet  nee  uxoribus,  nee  Reginarum  decore  et 
privilegiis  gaudebant,  erant  tamen  verae  uxores,"  say  the  Bol- 
landist  Fathers,  and  add,  that  it  is  a  vulgar  error  "  Concubinae 
appellationem  solis  iis  tribuere,  quae  corporis  sui  usum  uni  viro 
commodant,  nullo  interim  legitimo  nexu  devinctas." — Acta  SS., 
Jun.  T.  L.  p.  178. 

2  It  is  the  same  with  St.  Gregory,  Nyssen,  Baronius,  Alban, 
Butler,  and  other  modern  Hagiographers  make  this  assertion 
boldly,  but  there  is  not  a  shadow  of  evidence,  in  any  ancient 
authorities  for  his  life,  that  this  was  the  case. 


I4»  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

die,  he  went  to  the  tomb  where  his  wife  and  daughter 
lay,  and  had  the  stone  removed.  Then  he  addressed 
them  thus — "  My  dear  ones,  with  whom  I  lived  so 
long  in  love,  make  room  for  me,  for  this  is  my  grave, 
and  in  death  we  shall  not  be  divided."  Thereupon 
he  descended  into  the  grave,  laid  himself  between  his 
wife  and  daughter,  and  died.  St.  Heribert,  Arch- 
bishop of  Milan,  had  been  a  married  man  with  a  wife 
esteemed  for  her  virtues.1 

By  all  accounts,  friendly  and  hostile,  the  Lombard 
priests  were  married  openly,  legally,  with  religious 
rite,  exchange  of  ring,  and  notarial  deed.  There  was 
no  shame  felt,  no  supposition  entertained  that  such 
was  an  offence.2 

How  was  this  inveterate  custom  to  be  broken 
through?  How  the  open,  honest  marriage  to  be  per- 
verted into  clandestine  union  ?  For  to  abolish  it 
wholly  was  beyond  the  power  of  the  Popes  and 
Councils.  It  was  in  vain  to  appeal  to  the  bishops, 
they  sympathised  with  their  clergy.  It  was  in  vain 
to  invoke  the  secular  arm  ;  the  emperors,  the 
podestas,  supported  the  parish-priests  in  their  con- 
tumacious adherence  to  immemorial  privilege. 

1  "  Hie  Archiepiscopus  habuit  uxorem  nobilem  mulierem ; 
quse  donavit  dotem  suam  monasterii  S.  Dionysii,  quas  usque 
hodie  Uxoria  dicitur." — Calvaneus  Fiamma,  sub  ann.  1040. 

2  "  Nee  vos  terreat,"  writes  St.  Peter  Damianl  to  the  wives  of 
the  clergy  "quod  forte,  non  dicam  fidei,  sed  perfidias  vos 
annulus  subarrhavit  ;  quod  rata  et  monimenta  dotalia  notarius 
quasi  matrimonii  jure  conscripserit :  quod  juramentum  ad 
confirmandam  quodammodo  conjugii  copulamutrinqueprocessit. 
Ignorantes  quia  pro  uniuscujusque  fugaci  voluptate  concubitus 
mile  annorum  negotiantur  incendium." 


THE  PATARINES  OF  MILAN.  149 

To  carry  through  the  reform  on  which  they  were 
bent,  to  utterly  abolish  the  marriage  of  the  clergy, 
the  appeal  must  be  made  to  the  people. 

In  Milan  this  was  practicable,  for  the  laity,  at  least 
the  lower  rabble,  were  deeply  tinged  with  Patarinism, 
and  bore  a  grudge  against  the  clergy,  who  had  been 
foremost  in  bringing  the  luckless  heretics  to  the  rack 
and  the  flames ;  and  one  of  the  most  cherished  doc- 
trinesof  thePatarines  was  the  unlawfulness  of  marriage. 
What  if  this  anti-connubial  prejudice  could  be  enlisted 
by  the  strict  reformers  of  the  Church,  and  turned  to 
expend  its  fury  on  the. clergy  who  refused  to  listen  to 
the  expostulations  of  the  Holy  Father? 

The  Patarines,  whom  the  Popes  were  about  to 
enlist  in  their  cause  against  the  Ambrosian  clergy, 
already  swarmed  in  Italy.  Of  their  origin  and  tenets 
we  must  say  a  word. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that,  instead  of  Paganism  affect- 
ing Christianity  in  the  earliest  ages  of  the  Church,  it 
was  Christianity  which  affected  Paganism,  and  that 
not  the  Greek  and  Roman  idolatry,  which  was  rotten 
through  and  through,  but  the  far  subtler  and  more 
mystical  heathenism  of  Syria,  Egypt,  Persia,  and 
Mesopotamia.  The  numerous  Gnostic  sects,  so  called 
from  their  claim  to  be  the  possessors  of  the  true 
gnosis,  or  knowledge  of  wisdom,  were  not,  save  in  the 
rarest  cases,  of  Christian  origin.  They  were  Pagan 
philosophical  schools  which  had  adopted  and  incor- 
porated various  Christian  ideas.  They  worked  up 
Biblical  names  and  notions  into  the  strange  new 
creeds  they  devised,  and,  according  as  they  blended 
more  or  less  of  Christian  teaching   with  their  own, 


ISO  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

they  drew  to  themselves  disciples  of  various  tempers. 
Manes,  who  flourished  in  the  middle  of  the  third 
century,  a  temporary  and  nominal  convert  to  the 
Gospel,  blended  some  of  these  elder  Gnostic  systems 
with  the  Persian  doctrines  of  Zoroaster,  added  to  a 
somewhat  larger  element  of  Christianity  than  his  pre- 
decessors had  chosen  to  adopt.  His  doctrines  spread 
and  gained  an  extensive  and  lasting  hold  on  the 
minds  of  men,  suppressed  repeatedly,  but  never  dis- 
appearing wholly,  adopting  fresh  names,  emerging  in 
new  countries,  exhibiting  an  irrepressible  vitality, 
which  confounded  the  Popes  and  Churchmen  from  the 
third  to  the  tenth  centuries. 

The  tradition  of  Western  Manicheism  breaks  off 
about  the  sixth  century ;  but  in  the  East,  under  the 
name  of  Paulicians,  the  adherents  of  Manichean  doc- 
trines endured  savage  persecutions  during  two  whole 
centuries,  and  spread,  as  they  fled  from  the  sword 
and  stake  in  the  East,  over  Europe,  entering  it  in  two 
streams — one  by  Bulgaria,  Servia,  and  Croatia,  to 
break  out  in  the  wild  fanaticism  of  the  Taborites 
under  Zisca  of  the  Flail ;  the  other,  by  way  of  the  sea, 
inundating  northern  Italy  and  Provence.  In  Piedmont 
it  obtained  the  name  of  Patarinism  ;  in  Provence,  of 
Albigensianism. 

With  Oriental  Manicheism,  the  Patarines  and 
Albigenses  of  the  West  held  that  there  were  two  co- 
equal conflicting  principles  of  good  and  evil ;  that 
matter  was  eternal,  and  waged  everlasting  war  against 
spirit.  Their  moral  life  was  strict  and  severe.  They 
fasted,  dressed  in  coarse  clothing,  and  hardly,  reluc- 
tantly suffered  marriage  to  the  weaker,  inferior  dis- 


THE  PA  TARINES  OF  MILAN.  151 

ciples.  It  was  absolutely  forbidden  to  those  who 
were,  or  esteemed  themselves  to  be,  perfect. 

Already,  in  Milan,  St.  Heribert,  the  married  arch- 
bishop, had  kindled  fires,  and  cast  these  denouncers 
of  wedlock  into  them.  In  103 1  the  heretics  held  the 
castle  of  Montforte,  in  the  diocese  of  Asti.  They  were 
questioned  :  they  declared  themselves  ready  to  witness 
to  their  faith  by  their  blood.  They  esteemed  virginity, 
and  lived  in  chastity  with  their  wives,  never  touched 
meat,  and  prayed  incessantly.  They  had  their  goods 
in  common.  Their  castle  stood  a  siege.  It  was  at 
length  captured  by  the  Archbishop.  In  the  market- 
place were  raised  a  cross  on  one  side,  a  blazing  pyre 
on  the  other.  The  Patarines  were  brought  forth, 
commanded  to  cast  themselves  before  the  cross,  con- 
fess themselves  to  be  heretics,  or  plunge  into  the 
flames.  A  few  knelt  to  the  cross  ;  the  greater  number 
covered  their  faces,  rushed  into  the  fire,  and  were  con- 
sumed.1 

St.  Augustine,  in  his  book  on  Heresies,  had  already 
described  these  heretics.  He,  who  had  been  involved 
in  the  fascinating  wiles  of  Manicheism,  could  not  be 
ignorant  of  them.  He  calls  them  Paternians,  or 
Venustians,  and  says  that  they  regarded  the  flesh  as 
the  work  of  the  devil — that  is,  of  the  evil  principle, 
because  made  of  matter. 

In  the  eleventh  century,  in  Lombardy,  they  are 
called  Patarines,  Patrins,  or  Cathari.  Muratori  says 
that  they  derived  their  name  from  the  part  of  the 
town  of  Milan  in  which  they  swarmed,  near  the  Con- 

1  Landulf  Sen.  ii.  c.  27. 


152  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

trada  di  Patari ;  but  it  is  more  probable  that  the  quarter 
was  called  after  them. 

In  1074  Gregory  VII.  in  solemn  conclave  will  bless 
them  altogether,  by  name,  as  the  champions  of  the 
Holy  See,  and  of  the  Truth ;  in  1179  Alexander  III. 
will  anathematise  them  altogether,  as  heretics  meet  to 
be  burned.  Frederick  II.,  when  seeking  reconcilia- 
tion with  Honorius  III.  and  Gregory  IX.,  will  be 
never  weary  of  offering  hecatombs  of  Patarines,  in 
token  of  his  orthodoxy. 

Ariald,  a  native  of  Cuzago,  a  village  near  Milan,  of 
ignoble  birth,  in  deacon's  orders,  was  chosen  for  the 
dangerous  expedient  of  enlisting  the  Patarine  heretics 
against  the  orthodox  but  relaxed  clergy  of  that  city. 
Milan,  said  a  proverb,  was  famous  for  it  clergy ; 
Ravenna  for  its  churches.  In  morals,  in  learning, 
in  exact  observance  of  their  religious  duties,  the 
clergy  of  Milan  were  prominent  among  the  priests  of 
Lombardy.  But  they  were  all  married.  The  Popes 
could  expect  no  support  from  the  Archbishop,  Guido 
Vavasour  ;  none  from  the  Emperor  Henry  IV.,  then 
a  child.  Ariald  was  a  woman-hater  from  infancy, 
deeply  tinged  with  Patarinism.  We  are  told  that 
even  as  a  little  boy  the  sight  of  his  sisters  was  odious 
to  him.1     He  began  to  preach  in  Milan  in  1057,  and 

1  For  authorities  we  have  Andrew  of  Vallombrosa,  d.  A.D. 
1 170,  a  disciple  of  Ariald.  He  was  a  native  of  Parma.  He 
afterwards  went  to  Florence,  where  he  was  mixed  up  with  the 
riots  occasioned  by  St.  John  Gualberto  in  1063.  He  joined  the 
Order  of  Vallombrosa,  and  became  Abbot  of  Strumi.  At  least, 
I  judge,  and  so  do  the  Bollandists,  that  Andrew  of  Vallombrosa 
and  Andrew  of  Strumi  are  the  same. 


THE  PATARINES  OF  MILAN. 


153 


the  populace  was  at  once  set  on  fire1  by  his  sermons. 
They  applauded  vociferously  his  declaration  that  the 
married  clergy  were  no  longer  to  be  treated  as  priests, 
but  as  "  the  enemies  of  God,  and  the  deceivers  of 
souls." 

Then  up  rose  from  among  the  mob  a  clerk  named 
Landulf,  a  man  of  loud  voice  and  vehement  gesture, 
and  offered  to  join  Ariald  in  his  crusade.  The  crowd, 
or,  at  least,  a  part  of  it,  enthusiastically  cheered  ; 
another  part  of  the  audience,  disapproving,  deeming 
it  an  explosion  of  long-suppressed  Manicheism,  which 
would  meet  with  stern  repression,  thought  it  prudent 
to  withdraw. 

A  layman  of  fortune,  named  Nazarius,  offered  his 
substance  to  advance  the  cause,  and  his  house  as  a 
harbour  for  its  apostles. 

The  sermon  was  followed  by  a  tumult.  The  whole 
city  was  in  an  uproar,  and  the  married  clergy  were 
threatened  or  maltreated  by  the  mob.  Guido  Vava- 
sour de  Velati,  the  Archbishop,  was  obliged  to  inter- 
fere. He  summoned  Ariald  and  Landulf  before  him, 
and  remonstrated.  "  It  is  unseemly  for  a  priest  to 
denounce  priests.  It  is  impolitic  for  him  to  stir  up 
tumult  against  his  brethren.  Let  not  brothers  con- 
demn brothers,  for  whose  salvation  Christ  died." 
Then  turning  to  Landulf,  "  Why  do  not  you  return  to 
your  own  wife  and  children  whom  you  have  deserted, 
and  live  with  them  as  heretofore,  and  set  an  example 
of  peace  and  order?  Cast  the  beam  out  of  thine 
own  eye,  before  thou  pluckest  motes  out  of  the  eyes 
of  thy  brethren.  If  they  have  done  wrong,  reprove 
1  "  Plebs  fere  universa  sic  est  accensa." 


154  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

them  privately,  but  do  not  storm  against  them  before 
all  the  people."  He  concluded  by  affirming  the  law- 
fulness of  priests  marrying,  and  insisted  on  the  cessa- 
tion of  the  contest.1  Ariald  obstinately  refused  to 
desist.  "  Private  expostulation  is  in  vain.  As  for 
obstinate  disorders  you  apply  fire  and  steel,  so  for 
this  abuse  we  must  have  recourse  to  desperate 
remedies." 

He  left  the  Archbishop  to  renew  his  appeals  to  the 
people.  But  dreading  lest  Guido  should  use  force  to 
restrain  him,  Ariald  invoked  the  support  of  Anselm 
de  Badagio,  Bishop  of  Lucca,  and  received  promise  of 
his  countenance  and  advocacy  at  Rome. 

Guido  Vavasour  had  succeeded  the  married  Arch- 
bishop Heribert  in  1040.  His  election  had  not 
satisfied  the  people,  who  had  chosen,  and  proposed 
for  consecration,  four  priests,  one  of  whom  the  nobles 
were  expected  to  select.  But  the  nobles  rejected  the 
popular  candidates,  and  set  up  in  their  place  Guido 
Vavasour,  and  his  nomination  was  ratified  by  the 
Emperor  and  by  the  Pope.  He  was  afterwards,  as 
we  shall  see,  charged  with  having  bribed  Henry  III. 
to  give  him  the  See,  but  was  acquitted  of  the  charge, 
which  was  denounced  as  unfounded  by  Leo  IX.  in 
1059.  The  people,  in  token  of  their  resentment, 
refused  to  be  present  at  the  first  mass  he  sang.  "  He 
is  a  country  bumpkin,"  said  they.  "  Faugh  !  he 
smells  of  the  cow-house."2     Consequently  there  was 

1  "  Haec  cum  Guido  placide  dixisset ;  eo  finem  orationis 
dixerit,  ut  sacerdotibus  fas  esset  dicere  uxores  ducere." — Alica 
his,  "  Vit  ArialdiP 

2  Arnulf.,  Gesta  Archiepisc.  Mediol.  ap.  Pertz,  x.  p.  17. 


THE  PATARINES  OF  MILAN.  155 

simmering  discontent  against  the  Archbishop  for 
Ariald  to  work  upon  ;  he  could  unite  the  lower 
people,  whose  wishes  had  been  disregarded  by  the 
nobles,  with  the  Patarines,  who  had  been  haled  before 
ecclesiastical  courts  for  their  heresy,  in  one  common 
insurrection  against  the  clergy  and  the  pontiff. 

According  to  Landulf  the  elder,  a  strong  partisan 
of  the  Archbishop,  another  element  of  discontent  was 
united  to  those  above  enumerated.  The  clergy  of 
Milan  had  oppressed  the  country  people.  The 
Church  had  estates  outside  of  Milan,  vine  and  olive 
yards  and  corn-fields.  The  clergy  had  been  harsh  in 
exacting  feudal  rights  and  legal  dues. 

Ariald,  as  a  native  of  a  country  village,  knew  the 
temper  of  the  peasants,  and  their  readiness  to  resent 
these  extortions.  Ariald  worked  upon  the  country- 
folk; Landulf,  rich  and  noble,  and  eloquent  in  speech, 
on  the  town  rabble;  and  the  two  mobs  united  against 
the  common  enemy. 

Anselm  de  Badagio,  priest  and  popular  preacher  at 
Milan,  had  been  mixed  up  with  Landulf  and  Ariald 
in  the  controversy  relative  to  clerical  marriage  ;  but 
to  stop  his  mouth  the  Archbishop  had  given  him  the 
bishopric  of  Lucca,  in  1057,  an<^  had  supplied  his 
place  as  preacher  at  Milan  by  seven  deacons.  Lan- 
dulf the  elder  relates  that  these  deacons  preached 
with  such  success  that  Anselm,  in  a  fit  of  jealousy, 
returned  to  Milan  to  listen  to  their  sermons,  and 
scornfully  exclaimed,  "  They  may  become  preachers, 
but  they  must  first  put  away  their  wives." 

According  to  the  same  authority,  Ariald  bore  a 
grudge  against  the  Archbishop  for  having  had  occa- 


156  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

sion  to  rebuke  him  on  account  of  some  irregularity  of 
which  he  had  been  guilty.  But  Landulf  the  elder  is 
not  to  be  trusted  implicitly  ;  he  is  as  bigoted  on  one 
side  as  is  Andrew  of  Strumi  on  the  other. 

In  the  meantime  the  priests  and  their  wives  were 
exposed  to  every  sort  of  violence,  and  "a  great  horror 
fell  on  the  Ambrosian  clergy."  .  The  poor  women 
were  torn  from  their  husbands,  and  driven  from  the 
city  ;  the  priests  who  refused  to  be  separated  from 
their  companions  were  interdicted  from  the  altar.1 

Landulf  was  sent  to  Rome  to  report  progress,  and 
obtain  confirmation  of  the  proceedings  of  the  party 
from  the  Pope.  He  reached  Piacenza,  but  was  unable 
to  proceed  farther  ;  he  was  knocked  down,  and  find- 
ing the  way  barred  by  the  enemies  of  his  party, 
returned  to  Milan.  Ariald  then  started,  and  eluding 
his  adversaries,  arrived  safely  at  Rome.  He  presented 
himself  before  Pope  Stephen  X.,  who  was  under  the 
influence  of  Hildebrand,  and,  therefore,  disposed  to 
receive  him  with  favour.  Stephen  bade  him  return 
to  Milan,  prosecute  the  holy  war,  and,  if  need  be, 
shed  his  blood  in  the  sacred  cause. 

The  appeal  to  Rome  was  necessary,  as  the  Arch- 
bishop and  a  large  party  of  the  citizens,  together  with 
all  the  clergy,  had  denounced  Ariald  and  Landulf  as 
Patarines.  The  fact  was  notorious  that  the  secret  and 
suspected  Manichees  in  Milan  were  now  holding  up 
their  heads  and  defying  those  who  had  hitherto 
controlled  them.  The  Manichees  suddenly  found  that 

1  "  Sic  ab  eodem  populo  sunt  persecuta  et  deleta  (clericorum 
connubia)  ut  nullus  existeret  quin  aut  cogeretur  tantum  nefas 
dimittere,  vel  ad  altare  non  accedere." — Andr.  Strum. 


THE  PATARINES  OF  MILAN.  157 

from  proscribed  heretics  they  had  been  exalted  into 
champions  of  orthodoxy.  It  was  a  satisfactory 
change  for  those  who  had  been  persecuted  to  become 
persecutors,  and  turn  their  former  tyrants  into  victims. 
But  now,  to  the  confusion  and  dismay  of  the  clergy, 
they  found  themselves  betrayed  by  the  Pope,  and  at 
the  mercy  of  those  who  had  old  wrongs  to  resent. 
Fortified  with  the  blessing  of  the  Pope  on  his  work, 
his  orthodoxy  triumphantly  established  by  the 
supreme  authority,  Ariald  rushed  back  to  Milan, 
accompanied  by  papal  legates  to  protect  him,  and 
proclaim  his  mission  as  divine.  He  was  unmeasured  in 
his  denunciations.  Dissension  fast  ripened  into  civil 
war.  Ariald,  at  the  head  of  a  roaring  mob,  swept  the 
clergy  together  into  a  church,  and  producing  a  paper 
which  bound  all  of  them  by  oath  to  put  away  their 
wives,  endeavoured  to  enforce  their  subscription. 

A  priest,  maddened  to  resentment,  struck  the  dema- 
gogue in  the  mouth.  This  was  the  signal  for  a  gene- 
ral tumult.  The  adherents  of  Ariald  rushed  through 
the  streets,  the  alarm  bells  pealed,  the  populace 
gathered  from  all  quarters,  and  a  general  hunting 
down  of  the  married  clergy  ensued. 

"  How  can  the  blind  lead  the  blind  ?  "  preached 
Landulf  Cotta.  "  Let  these  Simoniacs,  these  Nicolai- 
tans  be  despised.  You  who  wish  to  have  salvation 
from  the  Lord,  drive  them  from  their  functions ;  es- 
teem their  sacrifices  as  dogs'  dung  [canina  stercord)  \ 
Confiscate  their  goods,  and  every  one  of  you  take 
what  he  likes  !  vl     We  can  imagine  the  results  of  such 

1  Arnulf.,  Gesta  Ep.  Mediol.  ap.  Pertz,  x.  p.  18.  It  is  neces- 
sary not  to  confound  Landulf  Cotta,  the  demagogue,  with  Lan- 


i58  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

license  given  to  the  lowest  rabble.  The  nobles,  over- 
awed, dared  not  interfere. 

Nor  were  the  clergy  of  the  city  alone  exposed  to 
this  popular  persecution.  The  preachers  roved  round 
the  country,  creating  riots  everywhere.  This  led  to 
retaliation,  but  retaliation  of  a  feeble,  harmless  sort. 
A  chapel  built  by  Ariald  on  his  paternal  estate  was 
pulled  down  ;  and  the  married  clergy  resentfully 
talked  of  barking  his  chestnut  trees  and  breaking 
down  his  vines,  but  thought  better  of  it,  and  refrained. 

A  more  serious  attempt  at  revenge  was  the  act  of  a 
private  individual.  Landulf  Cotta  was  praying  in  a 
church,  when  a  priest  aimed  at  him  with  a  sword,  but 
without  seriously  hurting  him.  A  cripple  at  the  church 
door  caught  the  flying  would-be  assassin;  a  crowd  as- 
sembled, and  Landulf  with  difficulty  extricated  the 
priest  alive  from  their  hands. 

Ariald  and  Cotta  now  began  to  denounce  those 
who  had  bought  their  cures  of  souls,  or  had  paid  fees 
on  their  institution  to  them.  They  stimulated  the 
people  to  put  down  simony,  as  they  had  put  down 
concubinage.  "  Cursed  is  he  that  withholdeth  his 
hand  from  blood  ! "  was  the  fiery  peroration  of  a  ser- 
mon on  this  subject  by  Ariald. 

"  Landulf  Cotta,"  says  Arnulf,  "  being  master  of  the 
lay  folk,  made  them  swear  to  combat  both  simony 
and  concubinage.  Presently  he  forced  this  oath  on 
the  clergy.  From  this  time  forward  he  was  constantly 
followed  by  a  crowd  of  men  and  women,  who  watched 
around  him  night  and  day.   He  despised  trie  churches, 

dulf  the  elder,  the  historian,  and  Landulf  the  younger,  the  dis- 
ciple and  biographer  of  Ariald. 


THE  PA  TARINES  OF  MILAN. 


i59 


and  rejected  priests  as  well  as  their  functions,  under 
pretext  that  they  were  defiled  with  simony.  They 
were  called  Patari,  that  is  to  say,  beggars,  because  the 
greater  part  of  them  belonged  to  the  lowest  orders."1 

"  What  shall  we  do  ?  "  asked  a  large  party  at  Milan. 
"  This  Ariald  tells  us  that  if  we  receive  the  Holy 
Sacrament  from  married  or  simoniacal  priests,  we  eat 
our  own  damnation.  We  cannot  live  without  sacra- 
ments, and  he  has  driven  all  the  priests  out  of  Milan." 

The  parties  were  so  divided,  that  those  who  held 
with  Ariald  would  not  receive  sacraments  from  the 
priests,  the  heavenly  gift  on  their  altars  they  esteemed 
as  "  dogs'  dung  ;  "  they  would  not  even  join  with  them, 
or  those  who  adhered  to  them,  in  prayer.  "One 
house  was  all  faithful,"  says  Andrew  of  Strumi;  "the 
next  all  unfaithful.  In  the  third,  the  mother  and  one 
son  were  believing,  but  the  father  and  the  other  son 
were  unbelieving;  so  that  the  whole  city  was  a  scene 
of  confusion  and  contention." 

In  1058  Guido  assembled  a  synod  at  Fontanetum 
near  Novara,  and  summoned  Ariald  and  Landulf 
Cotta  to  attend  it.  The  synod  awaited  their  arrival 
for  three  days,  and  as  they  did  not  come,  excommuni- 
cated them  as  contumacious. 

Landulf  the  younger,  the  biographer  of  Ariald,  says 
that  Pope  Stephen  X.  reversed  the  sentence  of  the 
synod  ;  but  this  account  does  not  agree  with  what  is 
related  by  Arnulf.  Landulf  the  elder  confounds  the 
dates,  and  places  the  synod  in  the  reign  of  Alexander 
1 1.,  and  says  that  the  Pope  adopted  a  middle  course,  and 

1  Ap.  Pertz,  I.e.,  pp.  19,  20 


160  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

sent  ambassadors  to  Milan  to  investigate  the  matter. 
Bonizo  of  Sutri  says  the  same.  All  agree  that  Hilde- 
brand  was  one  of  these  commissioners.  Hildebrand 
was  therefore  able  to  judge  on  the  spot  of  the  results 
of  an  appeal  to  the  passions  of  the  people.  It  is  the 
severest  condemnation  to  his  conduct  in  1073,  to 
know  for  certain  that  he  had  seen  the  working  of  the 
power  he  afterwards  called  out.  He  then  saw  how 
great  was  that  power  ;  he  must  have  been  cruelly, 
recklessly,  wickedly  indifferent  to  the  crimes  which 
accompanied  its  invocation.  Landulf  the  elder  says 
that  the  second  commissary  was  Anselm  of  Lucca, 
whilst  Bonizo  speaks  indifferently  of  the  "  bishops  a 
latere"  as  constituting  the  deputation.  Guido  was 
not  in  Milan  when  it  arrived,  he  did  not  dare  to  ven- 
ture his  person  in  the  midst  of  the  people.  The  am- 
bassadors were  received  with  the  utmost  respect  ; 
they  took  on  themselves  to  brand  the  Archbishop  as 
a  simoniac  and  a  schismatic,  and,  according  to  Lan- 
dulf, to  do  many  other  things  which  they  were  not 
authorised  by  the  Pope  to  do ;  so  that  the  dissension, 
so  far  from  being  allayed  by  their  visit,  only  waxed 
more  furious. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  1058,  or  the  beginning  of 
1059,  the  Pope  sent  Peter  Damiani,  the  harsh  Bishop 
of  Ostia,  and  Anselm,  Bishop  of  Lucca,  on  a  new  em- 
bassy to  Milan 1  They  were  received  with  respect  by 
the   Archbishop  and   clergy;  but   the   pride   of   the 

1  We  have  a  full  account  of  this  embassy  in  a  letter  of  St. 
Peter  Damiani  to  the  Archdeacon  Hildebrand  (Petri  Dam.  Opp. 
iii  ;  Opusc.  v.  p.  37),  besides  the  accounts  by  Bonizo,  Arnulf, 
and  Landulf  the  elder. 


THE  PATARINES  OF  MILAN.  161 

Milanese  of  all  ranks  was  wounded  by  seeing  the 
Bishop  of  Ostia  enthroned  in  the  middle,  with  An- 
selm  of  Lucca,  the  suffragan  of  Milan,  upon  his  right, 
and  their  Archbishop  degraded  to  the  left  of  the 
Legate,  and  seated  on  a  stool  at  his  feet  Milan  as- 
sembled at  the  ringing  of  the  bells  in  all  the 
churches,  and  the  summons  of  an  enormous  brazen 
trumpet  which  shrieked  through  the  streets.  The 
fickle  people  asked  if  the  Church  of  St.  Ambrose  was 
to  be  trodden  under  the  foot  of  the  Roman  Pontiff. 
"I  was  threatened  with  death,"  wrote  Peter  Damiani 
to  Hildebrand,  "  and  many  assured  me  that  there 
were  persons  panting  for  my  blood.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary for  me  to  repeat  all  the  remarks  the  people  made 
on  this  occasion." 

But  Peter  Damiani  was  not  the  man  to  be  daunted 
at  a  popular  outbreak.  He  placidly  mounted  the 
ambone,  and  asserted  boldly  the  supreme  jurisdiction 
of  the  chair  of  St.  Peter.  "The  Roman  Church  is 
the  mother,  that  of  Ambrose  is  the  daughter.  St. 
Ambrose  always  recognised  that  mistress.  Study  the 
sacred  books,  and  hold  us  as  liars,  if  you  do  not  find 
that  it  is  as  I  have  said." 

Then  the  charges  against  the  clergy  were  investi- 
gated by  the  legates,  and  not  a  single  clerk  in  Milan 
was  found  who  had  not  paid  a  fee  on  his  ordination  ; 
"  for  that  was  the  custom,  and  the  charge  was  fixed," 
says  the  Bishop  of  Ostia.  Here  was  a  difficulty 
He  could  not  deprive  every  priest  and  deacon  in 
Milan,  and  leave  the  great  city  without  pastors.  He 
was  therefore  obliged  to  content  his  zeal  with  exacting 
from  the  bishops  a  promise  that  ordination  in  future 


i62  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

should  be  made  gratuitously;  and  the  Archbishop 
was  constrained  to  deposit  on  the  altar  a  paper  in 
which  he  pronounced  his  own  excommunication,  in 
the  event  of  his  relaxing  his  rigour  in  suppressing  the 
heresy  of  the  Simoniacs  and  Nicolaitans,  by  which 
latter  name  those  who  insisted  on  the  lawfulness  of 
clerical  marriage  were  described. 

To  make  atonement  for  the  past,  the  Archbishop 
was  required  to  do  penance  for  one  hundred  years, 
but  to  pay  money  into  the  papal  treasury  in  acquittal 
of  each  year  ;  which,  to  our  simple  understanding, 
looks  almost  as  scandalous  a  traffic  as  imposing  a  fee 
on  all  clergy  ordained.  But  then,  in  the  one  case  the 
money  went  into  the  pocket  of  the  bishops,  and  in  the 
other  into  that  of  the  Pope. 

The  clergy  who  had  paid  a  certain  sum  were  to  be 
put  to  penance  for  five  years ;  those  who  had  paid 
more,  for  ten  (also  to  be  compensated  by  a  payment 
to  Rome !),  and  to  make  pilgrimages  to  Rome  or 
Tours.  After  having  accomplished  this  penance 
they  were  to  receive  again  the  insignia  of  their 
offices. 

Then  Peter  Damiani  re-imposed  on  the  clergy  the 
oaths  forced  on  them  by  Ariald,  and  departed. 

The  Milanese  contemporary  historian,  Arnulf,  ex- 
claims, "  Who  has  bewitched  you,  ye  foolish  Milanese  ? 
Yesterday  you  made  loud  outcries  for  the  priority  of 
a  see,  and  now  you  trouble  the  whole  organisation  of 
the  Church.  You  are  gnats  swallowing  camels.  You 
say,  perhaps,  Rome  must  be  honoured  because  of  the 
Apostle.  Well,  but  the  memory  of  St.  Ambrose 
should  deliver  Milan  from  such  an  affront  as  has  been 


THE  PATAR1NES  OF  MILAN.  163 

inflicted  on  her.  In  future  it  will  be  said  that  Milan 
is  subject  to  Rome." 1 

Guido  attended  a  council  held  in  Rome  (April  1059), 
shortly  after  this  visitation.  Ariald  also  was  present, 
to  accuse  the  Archbishop  of  favouring  simony  and 
concubinage.  The  legates  had  dealt  too  leniently 
with  the  scandal.  Guido  was  defended  by  his  suffra- 
gans of  Asti,  Novara,  Turin,  Vercelli,  Alba,  Lodi,  and 
Brescia.  "  Mad  bulls,  they,"  says  Bonizo  ;  and  Ariald 
was  forced  to  retire,  covered  with  confusion.  The 
Council  pronounced  a  decree  that  no  mercy  should 
be  shown  to  the  simoniacal  and  married  clergy.2  An 
encyclical  was  addressed  by  Nicholas  II.  to  all  Chris- 
tendom, informing  it  that  the  Council  had  passed 
thirteen  canons,  one  of  which  prevented  a  layman 
from  assisting  at  a  mass  said  by  a  priest  who  had  a 
concubine  or  a  subintroducta  mulier.  Priests,  deacons, 
and  sub-deacons  who  should  take  "  publicly  "  a  con- 
cubine, or  not  send  away  those  with  whom  they  lived, 
were  to  be  inhibited  from  exercising  all  ministerial 
acts  and  receiving  ecclesiastical  dues. 

On  the  return  of  the  bishops  to  their  sees,  one  only 
of  them,  Adelmann  of  Brescia,  ventured  to  publish 
these  decrees.  He  was  nearly  torn  to  pieces  by  his 
clergy  ;  an  act  of  violence  which  greatly  furthered  the 
cause  of  the  Patarines.3 

1  Pertz,  x,  p.  21. 

2  "  Nulla  misericordia  habenda  est." 

3  Bonizo.  It  is  deserving  of  remark  that  Bonizo,  an  ardent 
supporter  of  Hildebrand  and  the  reforming  party,  calls  that 
Papal  party  by  the  name  of  Patari,  thus  showing  that  it  was 
really  made  up  of  the  Manichean  heretics. 


1 64  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

In  the  same  year  Pope  Nicholas  sent  legates  into 
different  countries  to  execute,  or  attempt  to  execute, 
the  decrees  passed  against  simony  and  concubinage — 
as  clerical  marriage  was  called.  Peter  Damiani 
travelled  through  several  cities  of  Italy  to  exhort  the 
clergy  to  celibacy,  and  especially  to  press  this  matter 
on  the  bishops.  Peter  Damiani  was  not  satisfied  with 
the  conduct  of  the  Pope  in  assuming  a  stern  attitude 
towards  the  priests,  but  overlooking  the  fact  that  the 
bishops  were  themselves  guilty  of  the  same  offence. 
A  letter  from  him  to  the  Pope  exists,  in  which  he 
exhorts  him  to  be  a  second  Phinehas  (Numb.  xxv.  7), 
and  deal  severely  with  the  bishops,  without  which  no 
real  reform  could  be  affected.1 

Anselm  de  Badagio,  Bishop  of  Lucca,  the  instigator 
of  Landulf  and  Ariald,  or  at  least  their  staunch 
supporter,  was  summoned  on  the  death  of  Nicholas 
to  occupy  the  throne  of  St.  Peter,  under  the  title  of 
Alexander  II.  But  his  election  was  contested,  and 
Cadalus,  an  anti-Pope,  was  chosen  by  a  Council  of 
German  and  Lombard  prelates  assembled  at  Basle. 
The  contests  which  ensued  between  the  rival  Pontiffs 
and  their  adherents  distracted  attention  from  the 
question  of  clerical  marriage,  and  the  clergy  recalled 
their  wives. 

In  1063,  in  Florence,  similar  troubles  occurred. 
The  instigator  of  these  was  St.  John  Gualberto, 
founder  of  the  Vallombrosian  Order.  The  offence 
there  was  rather  simony  than  concubinage. 

The  custom  of  giving  fees  to  those  who  appointed 


.  t.  iii.  ;  Opusc.  xiii.  p.  188. 


THE  PATARINES  OF  MILAN.  165 

to  benefices  had  become  inveterate,  and  in  many  cases 
had  degenerated  into  the  purchase  of  them.  A  Pope 
could  not  assume  the  tiara  without  a  lavish  largess  to 
the  Roman  populace.  A  bishop  could  not  grasp  his 
pastoral  staff  without  paying  heavy  sums  to  the 
Emperor  and  to  the  Pope.  The  former  payment  was 
denounced  as  simony,  the  latter  was  exacted  as  an 
obligation.  But  under  some  of  the  Emperors  the 
bishoprics  were  sold  to  the  highest  bidder.  What 
was  customary  on  promotion  to  a  bishopric  became 
customary  on  acceptance  of  lesser  benefices,  and  no 
priest  could  assume  a  spiritual  charge  without  paying 
a  bounty  to  the  episcopal  treasury.  When  a  bishop 
had  bought  his  throne,  he  was  rarely  indisposed  to 
sell  the  benefices  in  his  gift,  and  to  recoup  a  scandalous 
outlay  by  an  equally  scandalous  traffic.  The  Bishop 
of  Florence  was  thought  by  St.  John  Gualberto  to  have 
bought  the  see.  He  was  a  Pavian,  Peter  Mediabardi. 
His  father  came  to  Florence  to  visit  his  son.  The 
Florentines  took  advantageof  the  unguarded  simplicity 
of  the  old  man  to  extract  the  desired  secret  from  him.1 

"  Master  Teulo,"  said  they,  "  had  you  a  large  sum 
to  pay  to  the  King  for  your  son's  elevation  ?  " 

"  By  the  body  of  St.  Syrus,"  answered  the  father, 
"you  cannot  get  a  millstone  out  of  the  King's -house 
without  paying  for  it." 

"  Then  what  did  you  pay  ?  "  asked  the  Florentines 
greedily.2 

1  "  Cui  Florentini  clam  insidiantes  tentando  dicere  cceperunt," 

&c "  ille  utpote  simplicissimus  homo  ccepit  jurejurando 

dicere,"  &c. — Andrew  of  Gefioa,  c.  62. 

2  "  Alacres  et  avidi  rem  scisitari." 


1 66  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

"  By  the  body  of  St.  Syrus  !  "  replied  the  old  man, 
"  not  less  than  three  thousand  pounds." 

No  sooner  was  the  unguarded  avowal  made,  than  it 
was  spread  through  the  city  by  the  enemies  of  the 
bishop.1 

St.  John  Gualberto  took  up  the  quarrel.  He  ap- 
peared in  Florence,  where  he  had  a  monastery  de- 
dicated to  St.  Salvius,  and  began  vehemently  to  de- 
nounce the  prelate  as  a  simoniac,  and  therefore  a 
heretic.  His  monks,  fired  by  his  zeal,  spread  through 
the  city,  and  exhorted  the  people  to  refuse  to  accept 
the  sacramental  acts  of  their  bishop  and  resist  his 
authority. 

The  people  broke  out  into  tumult.  The  bishop  ap- 
pealed to  the  secular  arm  to  arrest  the  disorder,  and 
officers  were  sent  to  coerce  the  monks  of  St.  Salvius. 
They  broke  into  the  monastery  at  night,  sought 
Gualberto,  but,  unable  to  find  him,  maltreated  the 
monks.  One  received  a  blow  on  his  forehead  which 
laid  bare  the  bone,  and  another  had  his  nose  and  lips 
gashed  with  a  sword.  The  monks  were  stripped,  and 
the  monastery  fired.  The  abbot  rolled  himself  in  an 
old  cloak  extracted  from  under  a  bed,  where  it  had 
been  cast  as  ragged,  and  awaited  day,  when  the 
wounds  and  tears  of  the  fraternity  might  be  exhibited 
to  a  sympathising  and  excitable  people.  Nor  were 
they  disappointed.  At  daybreak  all  the  town  was 
gathered  around  the  dilapidated  monastery,  and 
people  were  eagerly  mopping  up   the   sacred   blood 

1  For  the  account  of  what  follows,  in  addition  to  the  biography 
by  Andrew  of  Strumi,  we  have  the  Dialogues  of  Desiderius  of 
Monte  Cassino,  lib.  iii. 


THE  PATARINES  OF  MILAN.  167 

that  had  been  shed,  with  their  napkins,  thinking  that 
they  secured  valuable  relics.  Sympathy  with  the  in- 
jured was  fanned  into  frenzied  abhorrence  of  the 
persecutor. 

St.  John  Gualberto  appeared  on  the  scene,  blazing 
with  the  desire  of  martyrdom,1  and  congratulated  the 
sufferers  on  having  become  confessors  of  Christ. 
"  Now  are  ye  true  monks  !  But  why  did  ye  suffer 
without  me  ?  " 

The  secular  clergy  of  Florence  were,  it  is  asserted, 
deeply  tainted  with  the  same  vice  as  their  bishop. 
They  had  all  paid  fees  at  their  institution,  or  had 
bought  their  benefices.  They  lived  in  private  houses, 
and  were  for  the  most  part  married  Some  were  even 
suspected  to  be  of  immoral  life.2 

But  the  preaching  of  the  Saint,  the  wounds  of  the 
monks,  converted  some  of  the  clergy.  Those  who 
were  convinced  by  their  appeals,  and  those  who  were 
wearied  of  their  wives,  threw  themselves  into  the  party 
of  Gualberto,  and  clubbed  together  in  common  life.3 

The  Vallombrosian  monks  appealed  to  Pope 
Alexander  II,    against  the  bishop,4   their   thirst    for 

1  "  Martyrii  flagrans  amore." — Andr.  Strum. 

2  "  Quis  clericorum  propriis  et  paternis  rebus  solummodo  non 
studebat  ?  Qui  potius  inveniretur,  proh  dolor  !  qui  non  esset 
uxoratus  vel  concubinarius  ?  De  simonia  quid  dicam  ?  Omnes 
pene  ecclesiasticos  ordines  hasc  mortifera  bellua  devoraverat, 
ut,  qui  ejus  morsum  evaserit,  rarus  inveniretur." — Andr.  St?um. 

3  "  Exemplo  vero  ipsius  et  adtnonitionibus  delicati  clerici, 
spretis  connubiis,coeperunt  simul  in  ecclesiis  stare,  et  communem 
ducere  vitam." — Atto  Pistor.,  Vit.  S.  Joan.  Gualb. 

4  For  what  follows,  in  addition  to  the  above-quoted  authori- 
ties, we  have  Berthold's  Chronicle  from  1054  to  1100  ;  Pertz, 
Mon.  Sacr.  v.  pp.  264-326. 


1 68  .     THE  PA  TARINES  OF  MILAN. 

martyrdom  whetted  not  quenched.1  If  the  Pope  de- 
sired it,  they  would  try  the  ordeal  of  fire  to  prove 
their  charge.  Hildebrand,  then  only  sub-deacon,  but 
a  power  in  the  councils  of  the  Pope,  urged  on  their 
case,  and  demanded  the  deposition  of  the  bishop. 
But  Alexander,  himself  among  the  most  resolute  op- 
ponents of  simony,  felt  that  there  was  no  case.  There 
was  no  evidence,  save  the  prattle  of  an  old  man  over 
his  wine-cups.  He  refused  the  petition  of  the  monks, 
and  was  supported  by  the  vast  majority  of  the  bishops 
— there  were  over  a  hundred  present.2 

Even  St.  Peter  Damiani,  generally  unmeasured  in 
his  invectives  against  simony,  wrote  to  moderate  the 
frantic  zeal  of  the  Vallombrosian  monks,  which 
he  denounced  as  unreasonable,  intemperate,  un- 
just. 

But  the  refusal  of  the  Pope  to  gratify  their  resent- 
ment did  not  quell  the  vehemence  of  the  monks  and 
the  faction  adverse  to  the  bishop.  The  city  was  in  a 
condition  of  chronic  insubordination  and  occasional 
rioting.  Godfrey  Duke  of  Tuscany  was  obliged  to  in- 
terfere ;  and  the  monks  were  driven  from  their 
monastery  of  St.  Salvi,  and  compelled  to  retire  to  that 
of  St.  Settimo  outside  of  the  gates. 

Shortly  after,  Pope  Alexander  visited  Florence. 
The  monks  piled  up  a  couple  of  bonfires,  and  offered 
to  pass  between  them  in  proof  of  the  truth  of  their 
allegation.      He    refused   to  permit  the  ordeal,  and 

1  "  Securiores  de  corona,  quam  jam  gustaverant,  martyrii." — 
Andr.  Strum. 

2  "  Favebat  enim  maxima  pars  Episcoporum  parti  Petri,  et 
omnes  pene  erant  monachis  adversi." — Andr.  Strum. 


THE  PATARINES  OF  MILAN.  169 

withdrew,  leaving  the  bishop  unconvicted,  and  there- 
fore unrebuked. 

The  clergy  of  Florence  now  determined  to  demand 
of  the  bishop  that  he  should  either  go  through  the 
ordeal  himself,  or  suffer  the  monks  to  do  so.  As  they 
went  to  the  palace,  the  people  hooted  them  :  "  Go,  ye 
heretics,  to  a  heretic  !  You  who  have  driven  Christ 
out  of  the  city  !  You  who  adore  Simon  Magus  as 
your  God  !  " 

The  bishop  sullenly  refused  ;  he  would  neither 
establish  his  innocence  in  the  fire,  nor  suffer  the 
monks  to  convict  him  by  the  ordeal. 

The  Podesta of  Florence  then,  with  a  high  hand,drove 
from  the  town  the  clergy  who  had  joined  the  monastic 
faction.  They  went  forth  on  the  first  Saturday  in 
Lent,  1067,  amidst  a  sympathising  crowd,  composed 
mostly  of  women,1  who  tore  off  their  veils,  and  with 
hair  scattered  wildly  over  their  faces,  threw  them- 
selves down  in  the  road  before  the  confessors,  crying, 
"  Alas !  alas  !  O  Christ,  Thou  art  expelled  this  city, 
and  how  dost  Thou  leave  us  desolate  ?  Thou  art  not 
tolerated  here,  and  how  can  we  live  without  Thee  ? 
Thou  canst  not  dwell  with  Simon  Magus.  O  holy 
Peter,  didst  thou  once  overcome  Simon  ?  and  now 
dost  thou  permit  him  to  have  the  mastery  ?  We 
deemed  him  bound  and  writhing  in  infernal  flames, 
and  lo  !  he  is  loose,  and  risen  again  to  thy  dishonour." 

And  the  men  said  to  one  another,  "  Let  us  set  fire 
to  this  accursed  city,  which  hates  Christ."  2 

1  "  Maxime  feminarum." 

2  "  Et  nos,  viri  fratres,  civitatem  hanc  incendamus  atque  cum 
parvulis  et  uxoribus  nostris,  quocumque  Christus  ierit,  secum 


Vjo  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

The  secular  clergy  were  in  dismay ;  denounced,  de- 1 
serted,  threatened  by  the  people,  they  sang  no  psalms, 
offered  no  masses.  Unable  to  endure  their  position, 
they  again  visited  the  bishop,  and  entreated  him  to 
sanction  the  ordeal  of  fire.  He  refused,  and  re- 
quested the  priests  not  to  countenance  such  an  unau- 
thorised venture,  should  it  be  made.  But  the  whole 
town  was  bent  on  seeing  this  ordeal  tried,  and  on  the 
Wednesday  following,  the  populace  poured  to  the 
monastery  of  St.  Settimo.  Two  piles  of  sticks  were 
heaped  near  the  monastery  gate,  measuring  ten  feet 
long  by  five  wide,  and  four  and  a  half  feet  high. 
Between  them  lay  a  path  the  length  of  an  arm  in 
width. 

Litanies  were  chanted  whilst  the  piles  were  reared, 
and  then  the  monks  proceeded  to  elect  one  who  was 
to  undergo  the  fire.  The  lot  fell  on  a  priest  named 
Peter,  and  St.  John  Gualberto  ordered  him  at  once  to 
the  altar  to  say  mass.  All  assisted  with  great  devo- 
tion, the  people  crying  with  excitement.  At  the 
Agnus  Dei  four  monks,  one  with  the  crucifix,  another 
with  holy  water,  the  third  with  twelve  lighted  tapers, 
the  fourth  with  a  full  censer,  proceeded  to  the  pyres, 
and  set  them  both  on  fire. 

This  threw  the  people  into  an  ecstasy  of  excitement, 
and  the  voice  of  the  priest  was  drowned  in  the  cla- 
mour of  their  tongues.  The  priest  finished  mass,  and 
laid  aside  his  chasuble.  Holding  the  cross,  in  alb  and 
stole  and  maniple,  he    came  forth,  followed   by  St. 

camus.      Si  Christiani    sumus,    Christum    sequamur." — Andr 
Strum. 


THE  PATARINES  OF  MILAN.  171 

John  Gualberto  and  the  monks,  chanting.  Suddenly 
a  silence  fell  on  the  tossing  concourse,  and  a  monk 
appointed  by  the  abbot  stood  forth,  and  in  a  clear 
voice  said  to  the  people,  "  Men,  brethren,  and  sisters  ! 
we  do  this  for  the  salvation  of  your  souls,  that  hence- 
forth ye  may  learn  to  avoid  the  leprosy  of  simony, 
which  has  infected  nearly  the  whole  world  ;  for  the 
crime  of  simony  is  so  great,  that  beside  it  every  other 
crime  is  as  nothing." 

The  two  piles  were  burning  vigorously.  The  priest 
Peter  prayed,  "  Lord  Christ,  I  beseech  Thee,  if  Peter 
of  Pavia,  called  Bishop  of  Florence,  has  obtained  the 
episcopal  throne  by  money,  do  Thou  assist  me  in  this 
terrible  ordeal,  and  deliver  me  from  being  burned,  as 
of  old  Thou  didst  deliver  the  three  children  in  the 
midst  of  the  burning  furnace."  Then,  giving  the 
brethren  the  kiss  of  peace,  he  stepped  fearlessly  be- 
tween the  burning  pyres,  and  came  forth  on  the  far- 
ther side  uninjured. 

His  linen  alb,  his  silken  stole  and  maniple,  were  un- 
burnt.  He  would  have  again  rushed  through  the 
flames  in  the  excess  of  his  confidence,  but  was  pre- 
vented by  the  pious  vehemence  of  the  people,  who 
surrounded  him,  kissed  his  feet,  clung  to  his  vest- 
ments, and  would  have  crushed  him  to  death  in 
their  eagerness  to  touch  and  see  him,  had  he 
not  been  rescued  by  the  strong  arms  of  burly 
monks. 

In  after  years  he  told,  and  talked  himself  in- 
to believing,  that  as  he  passed  through  the  fire, 
his  maniple  fell  off.  Discovering  his  loss  ere 
he     emerged,    he     turned     back,    and     deliberately 


]  72  FEE  A  KS  OF  FAN  A  TIC  ISM. 

picked  it  up.  But  of  this  nothing  was  said  at  the 
time.1 

A  letter  was  then  drawn  up,  appealing  to  the  Pope 
in  the  most  vehement  terms,  to  deliver  the  sheep  of 
the  Florentine  flock  from  the  ravening  wolf  who  shep- 
herded them,  and  urging  him,  not  obscurely,  to  use 
force  if  need  be,  and  compel  by  his  troops  the  evacu- 
ation of  the  Florentine  episcopal  throne.  Peter  of 
Pavia,  the  bishop,  a  man  of  gentle  character,  yielded 
to  the  storm.  He  withdrew  from  Florence,  and  was 
succeeded  by  another  Peter,  whom  the  people  called 
Peter  the  Catholic,  to  distinguish  him  from  the  Sim- 
oniac.  But  Muratori  adduces  evidence  that  the  former 
continued  to  be  recognised  by  the  Pope  some  time 
after  his  supposed  degradation.  Thus  ended  the 
schism  of  Florence  in  the  entire  triumph  of  the  Pata- 
rines.  Hildebrand  was  not  unobservant ;  he  proved 
afterwards  not  to  be  forgetful  of  the  lesson  taught  by 
this  schism, — the  utilization  of  the  rude  mob  as  a 
powerful  engine  in  the  hands  of  the  fanatical  or  de- 
signing.    It  bore  its  fruit  in  the  canons  of  1074, 

II. 

ANSELM  DE  B  ADAGIO,  Bishop  of  Lucca,  had  succeeded 
Nicholas  II.  to  the  Papal  throne  in  1061.  Cadalus 
of  Parma  had  been  chosen  by  the  German  and  Lom- 
bard prelates  on  October  28th,  and  he  assumed  the 
name  of  Honorius  II.     But  no  Roman  Cardinal  was 

1  It  is  not  mentioned  in  the  epistle  of  the  Florentines  to  the 
Pope,  narrating  the  ordeal  and  supposed  miracle,  which  is  given 
by  Andrew  of  Strumi  and  Atto  of  Pistoja. 


THE  PATARINES  OF  MILAN.  173 

present  to  sanction  this  election.  Cadalus  was 
acknowledged  by  all  the  simoniacal  and  married 
clergy,  when  he  entered  Italy ;  but  the  Princess 
Beatrice  and  the  Duke  of  Tuscany  prevented  him 
from  advancing  to  Rome.  From  Parma  Cadalus 
excommunicated  Alexander,  and  from  Rome,  Alex- 
ander banned  Honorius.  The  cause  of  Alexander 
was  that  of  the  Patarines,  but  the  question  of  mar- 
riage and  simony  paled  before  the  more  glaring  one, 
of  which  of  the  rival  claimants  was  the  actual  Pope. 

The  voice  of  Landulf  Cotta  was  silenced.  A  terrible 
cancer  had  consumed  the  tongue  which  had  kept 
Milan  for  six  years  in  a  blaze  of  faction.  But  his 
room  was  speedily  filled  by  a  more  implacable  adver- 
sary of  the  married  clergy — his  brother,  Herlembald, 
a  stern,  able  soldier.  An  event  in  Herlembald's  early 
life  had  embittered  his  heart  against  the  less  rigid 
clergy.  His  plighted  bride  had  behaved  lightly  with 
a  priest.  He  was  just  returned  from  a  pilgrimage  to 
Jerusalem,  his  zeal  kindled  to  enthusiasm.  He  went 
to  Rome,  where  he  was  well  received  by  Alexander 
II.  He  came  for  authority  to  use  his  sword  for  the 
Patarines.  The  sectaries  in  Milan  had  said  to  him, 
"  We  desire  to  deliver  the  Church,  besieged  and  de- 
graded by  the  married  priests ;  do  thou  deliver  by  the 
law  of  the  sword,  we  will  do  so  by  the  law  of  God.'' 
Alexander  II.,  in  a  public  consistory,  created  Herlem- 
bald "  Defender  of  the  Church,"  gave  him  the  sacred 
banner  of  St.  Peter,  and  bade  him  go  back  to  Milan 
and  shed  blood — his,  if  necessary,  those  of  the  anti- 
Patarines  certainly — in  this  miserable  quarrel. 

The  result  was  that  the  Patarines  were  filled  with 


174  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

new  zeal,  and  lost  all  compunction  at  shedding  blood 
and  pillaging  houses.  Herlembald  established  him- 
self in  a  large  mansion,  which  he  fortified  and  filled 
with  mercenaries  ;  over  it  waved  the  consecrated 
banner  of  St.  Peter.  From  this  stronghold  he  issued 
forth  to  assail  the  obnoxious  clergy.  They  were 
dragged  from  their  altars  and  consigned  to  shame 
and  insult.  The  services  of  the  Church,  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  sacraments,  were  suspended,  or  administered 
only  by  the  one  or  two  priests  who  adhered  to  the 
Patari.  It  is  said  that,  in  order  to  keep  his  rude 
soldiery  in  pay,  Herlembald  made  every  clerk  take 
a  solemn  oath  that  he  had  ever  kept  innocence,  and 
would  wholly  abstain  from  marriage  or  concubinage. 
Those  who  could  not,  or  would  not,  take  this  oath 
were  expelled  the  city,  and  their  whole  property 
confiscated  to  support  the  standing  corps  of  hireling 
ruffians  maintained  by  the  Crusader.  The  lowest 
rabble,  poor  artisans  and  ass-drivers,  furtively  placed 
female  ornaments  in  the  chambers  of  the  priests,  and 
then,  attacking  their  houses,  dragged  them  out  and 
plundered  their  property.  By  1064,  when  a  synod 
was  held  at  Mantua  by  the  Pope,  Milan  was  purged 
of  "  Simoniacs  and  Nicolaitans,"  and  the  clergy  who 
remained  were  gathered  together  into  a  house  to  live 
in  common,  under  rule. 

Guido  of  Milan  and  all  the  Lombard  prelates 
attended  that  important  synod,  which  saw  the  triumph 
of  Alexander,  his  reconciliation  with  the  Emperor,  and 
the  general  abandonment  of  the  anti-Pope,  Cadalus. 

In  the  following  year,  Henry  IV.  was  under  the 
tutelage  of  Adalbert  of  Bremen  ;  he  had  escaped  from 


THE  P AT  A  R  WES  OF  MILAN.  175 

Anno,  Archbishop  of  Cologne,  who  had  favoured  the 
strict  faction  and  Alexander  II.  The  situation  in 
Lombardy  changed  simultaneously.  Herlembald  had 
assumed  a  power,  an  authority  higher  than  that  of  the 
archbishop,  whom  he  refused  to  recognise,  and  de- 
nounced as  a  heretic.  Guido,  weary  of  the  nine  years 
of  strife  he  had  endured,  relieved  from  the  fear  of  in- 
terference from  Germany,  resolved  on  an  attempt  to 
throw  off  the  hateful  yoke.  The  churches  of  Milan 
were  for  the  most  part  without  pastors.  The  married 
clergy  had  been  expelled,  and  there  were  none  to  take 
their  place.  The  Archbishop  had  been  an  obedient 
penitent  for  five  years,  compromising  his  one  hundred 
years  of  penitence  by  payments  into  the  Papal  trea- 
sury; but  as  the  cause  of  Alexander  declined,  his 
contrition  languished,  died  out ;  and  he  resumed  his 
demands  for  fees  at  ordinations  and  institutions,  at 
least  so  clamoured  Ariald  and  Herlembald  in  the  ears 
of  Rome. 

A  party  in  Milan  had  long  resented  the  despotism 
of  the  "  Law  of  God  and  the  law  of  the  sword  "  of 
Ariald  and  Herlembald,  and  an  effort  was  made  to 
break  it,  with  the  sanction,  no  doubt,  of  the  Arch- 
bishop. A  large  body  of  the  citizens  rose,  "  headed," 
says  Andrew  of  Strumi,  "  by  the  sons  of  the  priests," 
and  attacked  the  church  and  house  of  Ariald,  but, 
unable  to  find  him,  contented  themselves  with  wreck- 
ing the  buildings.  Thereupon  Herlembald  swept 
down  at  the  head  of  his  mercenaries,  surrounded  the 
crowd,  and  hewed  them  to  pieces  to  the  last  man, 
"  like  the  vilest  cattle."  1 

1  Hasc  ut    nobilis    Herembaldus   ceterique   Fideles  audiere, 


176  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Guido,  the  Archbishop,  now  acted  with  resolution, 
and  boldly  took  up  the  cause  of  the  married  clergy. 
Having  heard  that  two  priests  of  Monza,  infected 
with  Patarinism,  had  turned  their  wives  out  of  their 
houses,  he  ordered  the  arrest  of  the  priests,  and 
punished  them  with  imprisonment  in  the  castle  of 
Lecco.  On  hearing  this,  the  Patarines  flew  to  arms, 
and  swarmed  out  of  Milan  after  Ariald,  who  bore  the 
banner  of  St.  Peter,  as  Herlembald  was  absent  at 
Rome.  They  met  the  mounted  servants  of  the  Arch- 
bishop near  Monza,  surprised  them,  and  wrested  from 
them  a  promise  to  surrender  the  priests.  Three  days 
after,  the  curates  were  delivered  up.  Ariald,  at  the 
head  of  the  people,  met  them  outside  the  gates,  re- 
ceived them  with  enthusiasm,  crying,  "  See,  these  are 
the  brave  martyrs  of  Christ !  "  and  escorted  them  to  a 
church,  where  they  intoned  a  triumphant  Te  Denm. 

Herlembald  returned  from  Rome  to  Milan  with  a 
bull  of  excommunication  fulminated  by  the  Pope 
against  the  Archbishop.  Guido  summoned  the 
Milanese  to  assemble  in  the  cathedral  church  on  the 
vigil  of  Pentecost. 

In  the  meantime  the  Patarines  were  torn  into 
factions  on  a  subtle  point  mooted  by  Ariald.  That 
demagogue  had  ventured  to  assail  in  a  sermon  the 
venerable  custom  of  the  Milanese,  which  required 
them  to  fast  during  the  Rogation  days.  Was  he 
greater  than  St.  Ambrose?  Did  he  despise  the 
authority  of  the  great  doctor  ?     On  this  awful  subject 

sumptis  armis,  in  audacem  plebem  et  temerariam  irruere  ;  quos 
protinus  exterminavere  omnes,  quasi  essent  vilissimas  pecudes," 
— Andr.  Strum. 


THE  PAT  A  JUNES  OF  MILAN.  177 

the  Patarines  divided,  and  with  the  division  lost  their 
strength. 

Neither  Herlembald  nor  Ariald  seems  to  have  been 
prepared  for  the  bold  action  of  the  Archbishop.  On 
the  appointed  day  the  cathedral  was  filled  with  sub- 
stantial citizens  and  nobles.  Herlembald  missed  the 
wolfish  eyes,  ragged  hair,  and  hollow  cheeks  of  his 
sectaries,  and,  fearing  danger,  leaped  over  the  chancel 
rails,  and  took  up  his  position  near  the  altar.  The 
Archbishop  mounted  the  ambone  with  the  bull  of 
excommunication  in  his  hand.  "  See ! "  he  ex- 
claimed, "  this  is  the  result  of  the  turbulence  of  these 
demagogues,  Ariald  and  Herlembald.  This  city,  out 
of  reverence  to  St.  Ambrose,  has  never  obeyed  the 
Roman  Church.  Shall  we  be  crushed  ?  Take  away 
out  of  the  land  of  the  living  these  disturbers  of  the 
public  peace  wTho  labour  day  and  night  to  rob  us  of 
our  ancient  liberties." 

He  was  interrupted  by  a  shout  of  "  Let  them  be 
killed."  Guido  paused,  and  then  cried  out,  "  All  who 
honour  and  cleave  to  St.  Ambrose,  leave  the  church, 
that  we  may  know  who  are  our  adversaries."  In- 
stantly from  the  doors  rolled  out  the  dense  crowd, 
seven  hundred  in  number,  according  to  the  estimation 
of  Andrew,  the  biographer  of  Ariald.  Only  twelve 
men  were  left  within  who  stood  firm  to  the  Patarine 
cause.  Ariald  had,  in  the  meantime,  taken  refuge  in 
the  choir  beside  Herlembald.  The  clergy  selected 
Ariald,  the  laity  Herlembald,  for  their  victims. 
Ariald  was  dragged  from  the  church,  severely 
wounded.  Herlembald  escaped  better;  using  his 
truncheon,   he   beat   off    his   assailants   till    he   had 


178  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

climbed  to  a  place  of  safety,  whence  he  could  not  be 
easily  dislodged. 

As  night  fell,  the  Patarines  gathered,  stormed,  and 
pillaged  the  palace  of  the  Archbishop,  and,  bursting 
into  the  church,  liberated  Herlembald.  Guido  hardly 
escaped  on  horseback,  sorely  maltreated  in  the 
tumult.  His  adherents  fled  like  smoke  before  the 
tempest.  Ariald  was  found  bleeding  and  faint,  and 
was  conveyed  by  the  multitude  in  triumph  to  the 
church  of  St.  Sepolcro.  Then  Herlembald  called  to 
the  roaring  mob  to  be  still.  "  Let  us  ask  Master 
Ariald  whose  house  is  to  be  first  given  up  to  sack.'; 

But  Ariald  earnestly  dissuaded  from  further  violence, 
and  entreated  the  vehement  dictator  to  spare  the 
lives  and  property  of  their  enemies. 

The  surprise  to  the  Archbishop's  party  was,  how- 
ever, temporary  only.  By  morning  they  had  rallied, 
and  the  city  was  again  in  their  hands.  Guido  pub- 
lished an  interdict  against  Milan,  which  was  to  re- 
main in  force  as  long  as  it  harboured  Ariald.  No 
mass  was  said,  no  bells  rang,  the  church  doors  were 
bolted  and  barred.  Ariald  was  secretly  removed  by 
some  of  his  friends  to  the  village  of  St.  Victor,  where 
also  Herlembald  had  been  constrained  to  take  refuge 
with  a  party  of  mercenaries.  Thence  they  made  their 
way  to  Pavia  and  to  Padua,  where  they  hoped  to  ob- 
tain a  boat,  and  escape  to  Rome.  But  the  whole 
country  was  up  against  them,  and  Herlembald  was 
obliged  to  disband  his  soldiers,  and  attempt  to  escape 
in  disguise.  Ariald  was  left  with  a  priest  whose  ac- 
quaintance Herlembald  had  made  in  Jerusalem.  But 
a  priest    was  the  last  person    likely  to  secrete  the 


THE  PATARINES  OF  MILAN.  179 

tyrant  and  persecutor  of  the  clergy.  He  treacher- 
ously sent  word  to  the  Archbishop,  and  Ariald  was 
taken  by  the  servants  of  Olivia,  the  niece  of  Guido, 
and  conveyed  to  an  island  on  the  Lago  Maggiore. 
He  was  handed  over  to  the  cruel  mercies  of  two 
married  priests,  who  directed  his  murder  with  cold- 
blooded heartlessness,  if  we  may  trust  the  gossips 
picked  up  later.  His  ears,  nose  and  lips  were  cut  off. 
He  was  asked  if  he  would  acknowledge  Guido 
for  archbishop.  "  As  long  as  my  tongue  can  speak," 
he  replied,  "  I  will  not."  The  servants  of  Olivia  tore 
out  his  tongue ;  he  was  beaten  by  the  two  savage 
priests,  and  when  he  fainted,  was  flung  into  the  calm 
waters  of  the  lovely  lake.  Andrew  of  Vallombrosa, 
or  Strumi,  followed  in  his  trace,  and  hung  about  the 
neighbourhood  till  he  heard  from  a  peasant  the  awful 
story.  He  sought  the  mangled  body.1  It  was  found 
and  transported  to  Milan  on  the  feast  of  the  Ascension 
following.  For  ten  days  it  was  exposed  in  the  church 
of  St.  Ambrose,  that  all  might  venerate  it,  and  was 
finally  disposed  in  the  convent  of  St.  Celsus.  In  the 
memory  of  man,  never  had  such  a  crowd  been  seen. 
The  Archbishop  deemed  it  prudent  to  retire,  and 
Herlembald  profited  by  his  absence  to  recover  his 
power,  and  make  the  people  swear  to  avenge  the 
martyr,  and  unite  to  the  death  for  the  "  good  cause." 
The  events  in  Milan  had  their  counterpart  in  the 
other   cities    of    Lombardy,    especially    at    Cremona, 

1  Ariald  was  murdered  on  June  27,  1065.  Andrew  of  Strumi 
says  1066  ;  but  he  followed  the  Florentine  computation — he  had 
been  a  priest  of  Florence — which  made  the  year  begin  on 
March  25. 


180  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

where  the  bishopric  had  been  obtained  by  Arnulf, 
nephew  of  Guido  of  Milan.  In  that  city,  twelve  men, 
headed  by  one  Christopher,  took  the  Patarine  oath  to 
fight  the  married  clergy ;  the  people  joined  them, 
and  forced  their  oath  on  the  bishop-elect  before  he 
was  ordained.  But,  as  in  1067,  he  seized  a  Patarine 
priest,  a  sedition  broke  out,  in  which  the  bishop  was 
seriously  injured.  The  inhabitants  of  Cremona,  after 
Easter,  sent  ambassadors  to  the  Pope,  and  received 
from  him  a  reply,  given  by  Bonizo,  exhorting  them 
not  to  allow  a  priest,  deacon  or  sub-deacon,  suspected 
of  concubinage  or  simony,  to  hold  a  benefice  or 
execute  his  ministry.  The  consequence  of  this  letter 
was  that  all  suspected  clerks  were  excluded  from  their 
offices  ;  and  shortly  after,  the  same  course  was  fol- 
lowed at  Piacenza.  Asti,  Lodi,  and  Ravenna  also 
threw  in  their  lot  with  the  Patarines. 

In  1067,  Alexander  II.  sent  legates  to  Milan  to 
settle  the  disturbances  therein.  Adalbert  of  Bremen 
had  fallen,  and  again  the  Papal  party  were  in  the 
ascendant.  The  fortunes  of  Milan  fluctuated  with 
the  politics  of  those  who  held  the  regency  in  the 
minority  of  Henry  IV. 

Guido,  now  advanced  in  years,  and  weary  of  ruling 
so  turbulent  a  diocese,  determined  to  vacate  a  see 
which  he  had  held  for  twenty-seven  years  ;  the  last 
ten  of  incessant  civil  war.  He  burdened  it  with  a 
pension  to  himself,  and  then  made  it  over  to  Godfrey, 
the  sub-deacon,  along  with  the  pastoral  staff  and  ring. 
Godfrey  crossed  the  Alps,  took  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  Emperor,  promised  to  use  his  utmost  en- 
deavours to  exterminate  the  Patarines,  and  to  deliver 


THE  PATAR1NES  OF  MILAN.  181 

Herlembald  alive  into  the  hands  of  the  Emperor, 
laden  with  chains.  Friend  and  foe,  without  scruple, 
designate  the  followers  of  the  Papal  policy  as 
Patarines ;  it  is  therefore  startling,  a  few  years  later, 
when  the  Popes  had  carried  their  point,  to  find  them 
insisting  on  the  luckless  Patarines  being  given  in 
wholesale  hecatombs  to  the  flames,  as  damnable 
heretics.  It  was  an  ungracious  return  for  the  battle 
these  heretics  had  fought  under  the  banner  of  St. 
Peter. 

But  Herlembald  refused  to  acknowledge  Godfrey, 
he  devastated  the  country  with  fire  and  sword  where- 
ever  Godfrey  was  acknowledged,  and  created  such 
havoc  that  not  a  day  passed  in  the  holy  Lenten 
fast  without  the  effusion  of  much  Christian  blood. 
Finally,  Herlembald  drove  the  archbishop-elect  to 
take  refuge  in  the  strong  fortress  of  Castiglione. 
Guido,  not  receiving  his  pension,  annulled  his  resigna- 
tion, and  resumed  his  state.  But  he  unwisely  trusted 
to  the  good  faith  of  Herlembald  ;  he  was  seized,1  and 
shut  up  in  a  monastery  till  his  death,  which  took 
place  August  23,  1071. 

The  year  before  this,  1070,  Adelheid,  Margravine 
of  Turin,  mother-in-law  of  the  young  Emperor,  at- 
tacked the  Patarines,  and  burnt  the  cities  of  Lodi  and 
Asti.  On  March  19,  1071,  as  Herlembald  was  be- 
sieging Castiglione,  a  terrible  conflagration  broke  out 
in  Milan,  and  consumed  a  great  part  of  the  city  and 
several  of  the  stateliest  churches.  Whilst  the  army 
of  Herlembald  was  agitated  by  the  report  of  the  fire, 
Godfrey  burst  out  of  Castiglione,  and  almost  routed  the 
1  "  Gloriosus  hac  vice  delusus,"  says  Arnulf. 


1 82  FREA  KS  OF  FAN  A  TIC  ISM. 

besiegers.  Before  the  death  of  Guido,  Herlembald, 
with  the  sanction  of  the  Pope,  had  set  up  a  certain 
Otto  to  be  Archbishop,  nominated  by  himself  and  the 
Papal  legate,  without  consulting  the  electors  of  Milan 
or  the  Emperor,  January  6,  A.D.  1072. 

Otto  was  but  a  youth,  just  admitted  into  holy 
orders,  likely  to  prove  a  pliant  tool  in  the  strong  hand 
of  the  dictator.  It  was  the  Feast  of  the  Epiphany, 
and  the  streets  were  thronged  with  people,  when  the 
news  leaked  out  that  an  archbishop  had  been  chosen, 
and  was  now  holding  the  customary  banquet  after 
election  in  the  archiepiscopal  palace. 

The  people  were  furious,  rose  and  attacked  the 
house,  hunted  the  youthful  prelate  out  of  an  attic, 
where  he  had  taken  refuge,  dragged  him  by  his  legs 
and  arms  into  the  church,  and  compelled  him  to 
swear  to  renounce  his  dignity.  The  Roman  legate 
hardly  escaped  with  his  robes  torn. 

Herlembald,  who  had  been  surprised,  recovered  the 
upper  hand  in  Milan  on  the  morrow,  but  not  in  the 
open  country,  which  was  swept  by  the  imperial  troops. 
The  suffragan  bishops  of  Lombardy  assembled  at 
Novara  directly  they  heard  of  what  had  taken  place 
in  Milan,  and  consecrated  Godfrey  as  their  arch- 
bishop. 

Otto  appealed  to  Rome  (January,  1072),  and  a 
few  weeks  later  the  Pope  assembled  a  synod,  and 
absolved  Otto  of  his  oath  extorted  from  him  at 
Milan,  acknowledged  him  as  archbishop,  and  struck 
Godfrey  with  interdict.  Alexander  II.  died  April 
21,  1073,  and  the  tiara  rested  on  the  brows  of  the 
great  Hildebrand. 


THE  PATARINES  OF  MILAN.  183 

On  June  24,  Hildebrand,  now  Gregory  VII.,  wrote 
to  the  Margravine  Beatrice  to  abstain  from  all  rela- 
tions with  the  excommunicated  bishops  of  Lombardy  ; 
on  June  28,  to  William,  Bishop  of  Pavia,  to  oppose 
the  usurper,  the  excommunicate  Godfrey  of  Milan  ; 
on  July  1,  to  all  the  faithful  of  Lombardy  to  refrain 
from  that  false  bishop,  who  4ay  under  the  apostolic 
ban.  From  Capua,  on  September  27,  he  wrote  to 
Herlembald,  exhorting  him  to  fight  valiantly,  and 
hold  out  Milan  against  the  usurper  Godfrey.  Again, 
on  October  9,  to  Herlembald,  bidding  him  be  of  good 
courage ;  he  hoped  to  detach  the  young  Emperor 
from  the  party  of  Godfrey,  and  bade  him  receive 
amicably  those  who,  with  true  sentiments  of  con- 
trition, came  over  to  the  Patarine,  that  is,  the  Papal 
side. 

On  March  10,  1074,  Gregory  held  one  of  the  most 
important  synods,  not  of  his  reign  only,  but  ever 
held  by  any  Pope.  The  acts  of  this  assembly  have 
been  lost  or  suppressed,  but  its  most  important 
decisions  were  summed  up  in  a  letter  from  Gregory 
to  the  Bishop  of  Constance.  This  letter  has  not  been 
printed  in  the  Registrum ;  but  fortunately  it  has  been 
preserved  by  two  contemporary  writers,  Paul  of 
Bernried,  and  Bernold  of  Constance,  the  latter  of 
whom  has  supplied  a  detailed  apology  for  the  law  of 
celibacy  promulgated  in  that  synod.  Gregory  abso- 
lutely forbade  all  priests  sullied  with  the  crimen 
fornicationis,  which  embraced  legitimate  marriage, 
either  to  say  a  mass  or  to  serve  at  one  ;  and  the 
people  were  strictly  enjoined  to  shun  their  churches 
and  their  sacraments  ;    and   when  the  bishops   were 


1 84  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

remiss,  he  exhorted  them  themselves  to  enforce  the 
pontifical  sentence.1 

The  results  shall  be  described  in  the  words  of  a 
contemporary  historian,  Sigebert  of  Gemblours. 
"Many,"  says  he,  "seeing  in  this  prohibition  to  hear 
a  mass  said  by  a  married  priest  a  manifest  contra- 
diction to  the  doctrine  of  the  Fathers,  who  believed 
that  the  efficacy  of  sacrament,  such  as  baptism, 
chrism,  and  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ,  is  inde- 
pendent of  the  dignity  of  the  minister,  thence  resulted 
a  grievous  scandal ;  never,  perhaps,  even  in  the 
time  of  the  great  heresies,  was  the  Church  divided 
by  a  greater  schism.  Some  did  not  abandon  their 
simony,  others  disguised  their  avarice  under  a  more 
acceptable  name ;  what  they  boasted  they  had  given 
gratuitously,  they  in  reality  sold  ;  very  few  preserved 
continence.  Some  through  greed  of  lucre,  or  senti- 
ments of  pride,  simulated  chastity,  but  many  added 
false  oaths  and  numerous  adulteries  to  their  debauch- 
eries. The  laity  seized  the  opportunity  to  rise  against 
the  clerical  order,  and  to  excuse  themselves  for  dis- 

1  "Audivimus  quod  quidam  Episcoporum  apud  vos  com- 
morantium,  aut  sacerdotes,  et  diaconi,  et  subdiaconi,  mulieribus 
commisce-antur  aut  consentiant  aut  negligant.  His  prsecipimus 
vos  nullo  modo  obedire,  vel  illorum  praeceptis  consentire,  sicut 
ipsi  apostolicas  sedis  praeceptis  non  obediunt  neque  auctoritati 
sanctorum  patrum  consentiunt."  "Quapropter  ad  omnes  de 
quorum  fide  et  devotione  confidimus  nunc  convertimur,  rogantes 
vos  et  apostolica.  auctoritate  admonentes  ut  quidquid  Episcopi 
dehinc  loquantur  aut  taceant,  vos  officium  eorum  quos  aut 
simoniace  promotos  et  ordinatos  aut  in  crimine  fornicationis 
jacentes  cognoveritis,  nullatenus  recipiatis." — Letter  to  the 
Franconians  (Baluze,  Misc.  vii.  p.  125). 


THE  PATAR1NES  OF  MILAN.  185 

obedience  to  the  Church.  They  profaned  the  holy 
mysteries,  administering  baptism  themselves,  and 
using  the  wax  out  of  their  ears  as  chrism.  They 
refused  on  their  death-beds  to  receive  the  viaticum 
from  the  married  priests  ;  they  would  not  even  be 
buried  by  them.  Some  went  so  far  as  to  trample 
under  foot  the  Host,  and  pour  out  the  precious  Blood 
consecrated  by  married  priests. "1 

The  affairs  of  the  church  of  Milan  continued  in  the 
same  unsatisfactory  condition.  The  contest  between 
the  Patarines  and  their  adversaries  had  taken  greater 
dimensions.  The  question  which  divided  them  was 
now  less  that  of  the  marriage  of  the  clergy  than 
which  of  the  rival  archbishops  was  to  be  acknow- 
ledged. Godfrey  was  supported  by  the  Emperor, 
Otto  by  the  Pope.  The  parties  were  about  even  ; 
neither  Godfrey  nor  Otto  could  maintain  himself  in 
Milan  ;  the  former  fortified  himself  in  the  castle  of 
Brebbio,  the  latter  resided  at  Rome.  Henry  IV.,  in 
spite  of  all  the  admonitions  of  the  Pope,  persisted  in 
supporting  the  cause  of  Godfrey.  Milan  was  thus  with- 
out a  pastor.  The  suffragan  bishops  wished  to  execute 
their  episcopal  functions  in  the  city,  and  to  consecrate 
the  holy  oils  for  the  benediction  of  the  fonts  at  Whit- 
suntide. Herlembald,  when  one  of  the  bishops  had 
sent  chrism  into  the  city  for  the  purpose,  poured  it 
out  on  the  ground  and  stamped  on  it,  because  it  had 
been  consecrated  by  an  excommunicated  prelate. 

In  March,  1075,  another  conflagration  broke  out  in 
the  city,  and  raged  with   even  greater  violence  than 
the  fire  of  1071.     Herlembald  had  again  poured  forth 
1  Pertz,  viii.  p.  362. 


1 86  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

the  oils,  as  he  had  the  year  before ;  and  had  ordered 
Leutprand,  a  priest,  as  Easter  came,  to  proceed 
to  the  consecration  of  chrism.  This  innovation 
roused  the  alarm  of  the  Milanese  ;  the  subsequent 
conflagration  convinced  them  that  it  was  abhorrent  to 
heaven.  All  the  adversaries  of  the  Patarines  assem- 
bled outside  the  city,  and  swore  to  preserve  intact  the 
privileges  of  St.  Ambrose,  and  to  receive  only  the 
bishop  nominated  or  approved  by  the  King.  Then, 
entering  the  city,  they  fell  unexpectedly  on  the  Pata- 
rines. Leutprand  was  taken  and  mutilated,  his  ears 
and  nose  were  cut  off.  The  standard  of  St.  Peter 
was  draggled  in  the  dust,  and  Herlembald  fell  with 
it,  cut  down  by  a  noble,  Arnold  de  Rauda.  Every 
insult  was  heaped  on  the  body  of  the  "  Defender  of 
the  Church,"  and  the  sacred  banner  was  trampled 
under  foot. 

Messengers  were  sent  to  Henry  IV.  to  announce 
the  triumph,  and  to  ask  him  to  appoint  a  new  Arch- 
bishop of  Milan.  Henry  was  so  rejoiced  at  the 
victory,  that  he  abandoned  Godfrey,  and  promised 
the  Milanese  a  worthy  prelate.  His  choice  fell  on 
Tebald,  a  Milanese  sub-deacon  in  his  Court. 

Pope  Urban  II.  canonised  Herlembald.  Ariald 
seems  never  to  have  been  formally  enrolled  among 
the  saints,  but  he  received  honours  as  a  saint  at 
Milan,  and  has  been  admitted  into  several  Italian 
Martyrologies,  and  into  the  collection  of  the  Bollan- 
dists.  Baronius  wisely  expunged  Herlembald  and 
Ariald  from  the  Roman  Martyrology  ;  nevertheless, 
the  disgraceful  fact  remains,  that  the  ruffian  Herlem- 
bald has  been  canonised  by  Papal  bull. 


THE  PA  TARINES  OF  MILAN.  j  87 

The  seeds  of  fresh  discord  remained.  Leutprand, 
or  Liprand,  the  priest,  was  curate  of  the  Church  of 
St.  Paul ; 1  having  suffered  mutilation  in  the  riot,  he 
was  regarded  in  the  light  of  a  Patarine  confessor. 
But  no  outbreak  took  place  till  the  death  of 
Anselm  IV.,  Archbishop  of  Milan  (September  30, 
1101),  at  Constantinople,  where  he  was  on  his  way 
with  the  Crusaders  to  the  Holy  Land.  His  vicar,  the 
Greek,  Peter  Chrysolaus,  Bishop  of  Savonia,  whom 
the  Lombards  called  Grossulani,  perhaps  because  of 
the  coarse  habit  he  wore  (more  probably  as  a  corrup- 
tion for  Chrysolaus),  had  been  left  in  charge  of  the 
see  of  Milan.  On  the  news  of  the  death  of  the 
Archbishop  reaching  that  city,  the  Primicerius  con- 
voked the  electors  to  choose  a  successor.  The  vote 
fell  on  Landulf,  Ordinary  of  Milan  ;  but  he  was  not 
yet  returned  from  Jerusalem,  whither  he  had  gone  as 
a  crusader.  Grossulani  declared  the  election  in- 
formal, Thereupon  the  Abbot  of  St.  Dionysius,  at 
the  head  of  a  large  party  of  the  electors,  chose  Peter 
Grossulani.  There  is  no  evidence  of  his  having  used 
bribery  in  any  form  ;  but  he  may  have  acted  unjustly 
in  cancelling  the  election  of  Landulf.  It  is,  however, 
fair  to  observe  that  Landulf,  on  his  return,  supported 
Grossulani  ;  consequently,  it  is  probable  that  the 
latter  acted  strictly  in  accordance  with  law  and 
precedent. 

But  the  election  displeased  Liprand  and  the 
remains  of  the  Patarines.  They  appealed  to  Rome, 
but  Grossulani,  supported  by  the   Countess  Matilda 

1  The  life  of  Liprand  was  written  by  Landulf  the  younger,  his 
sister's  son,  in  his  Hist.  Mediolan.  1 095-1 137. 


1 88  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

and  St.  Bernard,  abbot  of  Vallombrosa,  overcame 
their  objections.  Pope  Paschal  II.  ratified  the  elec- 
tion, and  sent  the  pall  to  the  Archbishop.  Ardericus 
de  Carinate  had  been  sent  to  Rome  on  behalf  of 
Grossulani.  The  people  came  out  of  the  gates,  on 
his  approach,  to  learn  the  result.  Ardericus,  hanging 
the  pall  across  his  umbrella  (protensi  virga),  waved  it 
over  his  head,  shouting,  "  Ecco  la  stola !  Ecco  la 
stola !  "  (Here  is  the  pall  !)  and  led  the  way  into  the 
cathedral,  whither  Grossulani  also  hastened,  and 
ascending  the  pulpit  in  his  pontifical  habit,  placed 
the  coveted  insignia  about  his  neck, 

Liprand  was  not  satisfied.  By  means  of  private 
agitation,  he  disturbed  the  tranquillity  of  public  feel- 
ing, and  the  Archbishop,  to  calm  the  minds  of  the 
populace,  was  obliged  to  convoke  a  provincial  synod 
at  Milan  (1103),  in  which,  in  the  presence  of  his 
suffragans,  the  clergy  and  the  people,  he  said,  "  If 
anyone  has  a  charge  to  make  against  me,  let  him 
speak  openly  at  the  present  time,  or  he  shall  not  be 
heard." 

Liprand  would  not  appear  before  the  council  and 
formally  make  charge,  but  he  mounted  the  pulpit  in 
the  Church  of  St.  Paul  and  preached  against  the 
Archbishop  as  a  simoniac.  He  declared  his  readiness 
to  prove  his  charge  by  the  ordeal  of  fire.  The  bishops 
assembled  in  council  refused  to  suffer  the  attempt  to 
be  made. 

However,  Liprand  wTas  not  deterred.  "  Look  at  my 
amputated  nose  and  ears  !  "  he  cried,  "  I  am  a  confessor 
for  Christ.  I  will  try  the  ordeal  by  fire  to  substantiate 
my  charge.     Grossulani  is  a  simoniac,  by  gift  of  hand, 


THE  PATAR1NES  OF  MILAN.  189 

gift  of  tongue,  and  gift  of  homage."  And  he  gave  his 
wolf-skin  cloak  and  somebottles  of  wine  in  exchange  for 
wood,  which  the  crowd  carried  off  and  heaped  up  in 
a  great  pile  against  the  wall  of  the  monastery  of  St. 
Ambrogio.  The  Archbishop  sent  his  servants,  and 
they  overturned  the  stack,  and  scattered  the  wood- 
Then  the  crowd  of  "  boys  and  girls,  men  and  women," 
poured  through  the  main  streets,  roaring,  "  Away  with 
Grossulani,  away  with  him  ! ''  and  clamoured  around 
the  doors  of  the  archieplscopal  palace,  so  that  Grossu- 
lani, fearing  for  his  life,  said,  "  Be  it  so,  let  the  fellow 
try  the  fire,  or  let  him  leave  Milan/'  His  servants  with 
difficulty  appeased  the  people,  by  promising  that  the 
ordeal  should  be  undergone  on  the  following  Palm 
Sunday  evening.  "  I  will  not  leave  the  city,"  said 
Liprand  ;  "  but  now  I  have  no  money  for  buying  wood, 
and  I  will  not  sell  my  books,  as  I  keep  them  for  my 
nephew  Landulf,  now  at  school."  So  the  magistrates 
of  the  city  prepared  a  pile  of  billets  of  oak  wood. 

On  the  appointed  day  Liprand,  barefooted,  in  sack- 
cloth, bearing  a  cross,  went  to  the  Church  of  Saints 
Gervasius  and  Protasius  and  sung  mass.  Grossulani 
also,  bearing  a  cross,  entered  the  same  church  and 
mounted  the  pulpit,  attended  by  Ariald  de  Marignano, 
and  Berard,  Judge  of  Asti.  Silence  being  made,  and 
Liprand  having  taken  his  place  barefooted  "on  the 
marble  stone  at  the  entrance  to  the  choir,  containing 
an  image  of  Hercules,"  Grossulani  addressed  the 
people  ;  "  Listen,  and  I  will  silence  this  man  in  three 
words."  Then  turning  to  Liprand,  he  asked,  "You 
have  charged  me  with  being  a  simoniac.  To  whom 
have  I  given  anything  ?     Answer  me." 


I9Q  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Liprand,  raising  his  eyes  to  the  pulpit,  pointed  to 
those  who  occupied  it  and  said,  "  Look  at  those  three 
great  devils,  who  think  to  confound  me  by  their  wit 
and  wealth.1     I  appeal  to  the  judgment  of  God." 

Grossulani  said,  "  But  I  ask  what  act  of  simony  do 
you  lay  to  my  charge  ?  " 

Liprand  answered,  "  Do  you  answer  me,  What  is 
the  lightest  form  of  simony  ?  " 

The  Archbishop,  after  some  consideration,  answered, 
"To  refrain  from  deposing  a  simoniac." 

"  And  I  say  that  is  simony  which  consists  in  depos- 
ing an  abbot  from  his  abbacy,  a  bishop  from  his 
bishopric,  and  an  archbishop  from  his  archbishopric."  2 

The  people  became  impatient,  and  began  to  shout, 
"  Come  out,  come  out  to  the  ordeal !  "  Then  Liprand 
"jumped  down  from  the  stone,  containing  the  image 
of  Hercules,"  and  went  forth  accompanied  by  the 
multitude  to  the  field  where  the  pyre  was  made. 
There  arose  then  a  difficulty  about  the  form  of  oath 
to  be  administered.  Liprand,  seeing  that  there  was 
some  hesitation,  said,  "  Let  me  manage  it,  and  see  if 
I  do  not  satisfy  you  all  ! "  Whereupon  he  took  hold 
of  the  hood  of  the  Archbishop  and  shook  it,  and  said 

1  "  Proposuisti  quod  ego  sum  simoniacus  per  munus  a  manu. 
Modo  die  :  cui  dedi  ;  Tunc  presbyter  super  populum  oculos 
aperuit,  et  digitum  ad  eos,  qui  stabunt  in  pulpito,  extendit, 
dicens,  Videte  tres  grandissimos  diabolos,  qui  per  ingenium  et 
pecuniam  suam  putant  me  confundere." 

2  It  is  very  evident  from  this  discussion  that  Grossulani  was 
innocent  of  true  simony  ;  the  whole  charge  against  him  was  due 
to  his  having  quashed  the  election  of  Landulf,  and  thus  of  hav- 
ing deposed,  after  a  fashion,  "  an  archbishop  from  his  arch- 
bishopric." 


THE  PATARINES  OF  MILAN.  191 

in  a  loud  voice,  "  That  Grossulani,  who  is  under  this 
hood,  he,  and  no  other,  has  obtained  the  archbishop- 
ric of  Milan  simoniacally,  by  gift  of  hand,  gift  of 
tongue,  and  gift  of  service.  And  I,  who  enter  on  this 
ordeal,  swear  that  I  have  used  no  charm,  or  incanta- 
tion, or  witchcraft." 

The  Archbishop,  unwilling  to  remain,  remounted 
his  horse  and  rode  to  the  Church  of  St.  John  "  ad  con- 
cham,"  but  Ariald  of  Marignano  remained  to  see 
that  the  ordeal  was  rightly  carried  out.  When  the 
pile  was  lighted,  he  said  to  the  priest,  "  In  heaven's 
name,  return  to  your  duty,  and  do  not  rush  on  certain 
death."  But  Liprand  answered,  "  Get  thee  behind 
me,  Satan,"  and  signing  himself,  and  blessing  the  fire 
with  consecrated  water,  he  rushed  through  the  flames, 
barefooted,  in  sackcloth  cassock  and  silk  chasuble. 
He  came  out  on  the  other  side  uninjured  ;  a  sudden 
draught  had  parted  the  flames  as  he  entered,  and  when 
he  emerged  his  feet  were  not  burnt,  nor  was  his  silk 
chasuble  scorched. 

The  people  shouted  at  the  miracle,  and  Grossulani 
was  obliged  to  fly  from  the  city. 

It  was  soon  rumoured,  however,  that  Liprand  was 
suffering  from  a  scorched  hand  and  an  injured  foot. 
It  was  in  vain  for  his  friends  to  assure  the  people  that 
his  hand  had  been  burnt  when  he  was  throwing  the 
holy  water  on  the  flames  before  he  entered  them,  and 
that  his  foot  was  injured  not  by  the  fire,  but  by  the 
hoof  of  a  horse  as  he  emerged  from  the  flames.  One 
part  of  the  mob  began  to  clamour  against  Liprand 
that  he  was  an  impostor,  the  other  to  exalt  him  as  a 
saint,  and  the  streets  became  the  scene  of  riot  and 


192  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

bloodshed.  At  this  juncture  Landulf  of  Vereglate, 
who  had  been  just  elected  to  the  vacant  see,  arrived 
from  Jerusalem,  and  finding  that  the  Archbishop  had 
fled  the  city,  he  appealed  to  the  people  to  cease  from 
their  riots,  and  promised  to  have  Grossulani  deposed, 
or  at  least  the  charges  brought  against  him  properly 
investigated  at  Rome.  The  tumults  were  with  diffi- 
culty allayed,  and  the  Archbishop,  Landulf,  and  Lip- 
rand  went  to  Rome  (a.d.  1103).  A  Synod  was  con- 
vened and  Liprand  brought  his  vague  accusations  of 
simony  against  the  Archbishop.  Landulf  refused  to 
support  him,  so  that  it  is  hardly  probable  that  he  can 
have  felt  himself  aggrieved  by  the  conduct  of  Grossu- 
lani. Liprand,  being  unable  to  substantiate  his  charge 
of  simony,  was  obliged  to  change  the  nature  of  his 
accusation,  and  charged  the  Archbishop  with  having 
forced  him  to  submit  to  the  ordeal  of  fire.  The  Pope 
and  the  Synod  required  the  Archbishop  to  clear  him- 
self by  oath  ;  accordingly  Grossulani  did  so,  in  the 
following  terms  :  "  I,  Grossulani,  by  the  grace  of  God 
Archbishop,  did  not  force  Liprand  to  enter  the  fire." 
Azo,  Bishop  of  Acqui,  and  Arderic,  Bishop  of  Lodi, 
took  the  oath  with  him  ;  at  the  same  time  the  pastoral 
staff  slipped  from  the  hands  of  the  Archbishop  and 
fell  on  the  floor,  a  sign,  the  biographer  of  Liprand  says, 
that  he  forswore  himself.1 

The  Archbishop  withdrew  his  authority  confirmed 
by  the  Holy  See,  and  he  returned  to  Milan,  where  he 
was  well  received. 

1  It  is  evident  from  the  account  of  Landulf  the  younger  him- 
self, that  the  Archbishop  did  not  force  the  priest  to  enter  on 
the  ordeal. 


THE  PATARINES  OF  MILAN.  193 

The  Archbishop  took  an  unworthy  opportunity,  in 
1 1 10,  of  ridding  the  city  of  the  presence  of  Liprand  for 
that  priest  having  taken  into  his  house  and  cured  a 
certain  Herebert  of  Bruzano,  an  enemy  of  the  Arch- 
bishop, who  was  ill  with  fever.  Grossulani  deprived 
Liprand  of  his  benefice,  and  the  priest  retired  into  the 
Valteline.  Troubles  broke  out  in  Milan  between  the 
two  parties,  which  produced  civil  war,  and  the  Arch- 
bishop was  driven  out  of  the  city,  whereupon  Liprand 
returned  to  it.  The  friends  of  Grossulani  persuaded 
him  to  visit  Jerusalem,  and  he  started,  after  having 
appointed  Arderic,  Bishop  of  Lodi,  his  vicar  (A.D. 
nil).  During  his  absence  both  parties  united  to  re- 
ject him,  and  they  elected  Jordano  of  Cliva  in  his 
room  (Jan.  1,  A.D.  n  12).  Mainnard,  Archbishop  of 
Turin,  hastened  to  Rome,  and  received  the  pall  from 
the  Pope,  on  condition  that  it  should  not  be  worn  for 
six  months.  But  the  rumours  having  spread  that 
Grossulani  was  returning  from  Jerusalem,  Mainnard 
came  to  Milan,  and  placed  the  pall  on  the  altar  of  St 
Ambrose,  whence  Jordano  took  it  and  laid  it  about 
his  shoulders. 

On  the  return  of  Grossulani,  civil  war  broke  out 
again  between  the  two  factions,  which  ended  in  both 
Archbishops  being  summoned  to  Rome  in  11 16;  and 
the  Pope  ordered  Grossulani  to  return  to  his  bishopric 
of  Savonia,  and  confirmed  Jordano  in  the  archbishop- 
ric of  Milan.  But  before  this  Liprand  had  died  3rd 
January,  n  13.  His  sanctity  was  almost  immediately 
attested  by  a  miracle,  in  spite  of  the  disparagement  of 
his  virtues  by  the  party  of  the  Archbishop  Grossulani; 
for  a  certain  knight  of  Piacenza,  having  swallowed  a 


194  FREAKS  OF  FAN  A  TIC  ISM. 

fish-bone  which  stuck  in  his  throat,  in  sleep  saw  the 
priest  appear  to  him  and  touch  his  throat,  whereupon 
a  violent  fit  of  coughing  ensued,  in  which  the  bone  was 
ejected  ;  this  was  considered  quite  sufficient  to  estab- 
lish the  claim  of  Liprand  to  be  regarded  as  a  saint. 


Zhe  anabaptists  of  flDtinster. 

To  the  year  1524  Miinster,  the  capital  of  Westphalia, 
had  remained  faithful  to  the  religion  which  S.  Swibert, 
coadjutor  of  S.  Willibrord,  first  Bishop  of  Utrecht, 
had  brought  to  it  in  the  7th  century.  But  then 
Lutheranism  was  introduced  into  it. 

Frederick  von  Wied  at  that  time  occupied  the 
Episcopal  throne.  He  was  brother  to  Hermann, 
Archbishop  of  Cologne,  who  was  afterwards  de- 
prived for  his  secession  to  Lutheranism. 

The  religious  revolution  in  the  Westphalian  capital 
at  its  commencement  presents  the  same  symptoms 
which  characterised  the  beginning  of  the  Reformation 
elsewhere.  The  town  council  were  prepared  to  hail 
it  as  a  means  of  overthrowing  the  Episcopal  authority, 
and  establishing  the  municipal  power  as  supreme  in 
the  city. 

Already  the  State  of  Juliers  had  embraced  the  new 
religion,  and  faith  had  been  shaken  in  Osnabriick, 
Minden,  and  Paderborn,  when  the  first  symptoms  ap- 
peared in  Miinster. 

Four  priests,  the  incumbents  of  the  parishes  of  St. 
Lambert,  St.  Ludger,  St.  Martin,  and  the  Lieb-Frau 
Church,  commonly  called  Ueberwasser,  declared  for 
the  Reform.  The  contemporary  historian,  Kerssen- 
broeck,  an    eye-witness  of  all  he  describes,   says  of 

195 


196  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

them,  "  They  indulged  in  the  most  violent  abuse  of 
the  clergy,  they  cursed  good  works,  assured  their 
auditors  that  such  works  would  not  receive  the 
smallest  recompense,  and  permitted  every  one  to  give 
way  to  all  the  excesses  of  so-called  Evangelical 
liberty."1  They  stirred  up  their  hearers  against  the 
religious  orders,  and  the  people  clamoured  daily  at 
the  gates  of  the  monasteries  and  nunneries,  insisting 
on  being  given  food  ;  and  the  monks  and  nuns  were 
too  much  frightened  to  refuse  those  whom  impunity 
rendered  daily  more  exacting.2  On  the  night  of  the 
22nd  March,  1525,  they  attacked  the  rich  convent  of 
nuns  at  Nizink,  with  intentions  of  pillaging  it.  They 
failed  in  this  attempt,  and  the  ringleaders  were 
seized  and  led  before  the  magistrates,  followed  by  an 
excited  and  tumultuous  crowd  of  men  and  women, 
"evangelically  disposed,"  as  the  chronicler  says. 
Hoping  to  ally  the  effervescence,  the  magistrates 
asked  the  cause  of  complaint  against  the  nuns  of 
Nizink,  and  then  came  out  the  true  reason,  for  which 
religious  prejudice  had  served  as  a  cloak.  They  com- 
plained that  the  monks  and  nuns  exercised  profes- 
sions to  the  prejudice  of  the  artisans  ;  and  they  de- 
manded of  the  magistracy  that  their  looms  should  be 
broken,  the  religious  forbidden  to  work  at  trades,  and 
their  superabundant  goods  to  be  distributed  among 
the  poor.  The  orators  of  the  band  declared  in  con- 
clusion "  that  if  the  magistrates  refused  to  grant 
these  requests,  the  people  would  disregard  their 
orders,  displace  them   by  force  of  arms,  and   put  in 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  114. 

2  Ibid.  p.  115. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  197 

their  stead  men  trustworthy  and  loyal,  and  devoted 
to  the  interests  of  the  citizens."1  Alarmed  at  these 
threats,  the  magistrates  yielded,  and  promised  to 
take  every  measure  satisfactory  to  the  insurgents.2 
On  the  25th  May,  accordingly,  the  Friars  of  St.  Francis 
and  the  nuns  of  Nizink  were  ordered  to  give  up  their 
looms  and  accounts.  The  friars  yielded,  but  the 
ladies  stoutly  refused.  The  magistrates,  however, 
had  all  the  looms  carried  away,  wrhilst  a  mob  howled 
at  the  gates,  and  agitators,  excited  by  the  four  re- 
negade priests,  ran  about  the  town  stirring  up  the 
people  against  the  religious.  "  All  the  worst  char- 
acters," says  the  old  chronicler,  "joined  the  rioters; 
the  curious  came  to  swell  the  crowd,  and  people  of 
means  shut  themselves  into  their  houses." 3  For 
Johann  Grceten,  the  orator  of  the  band,  now  pro- 
claimed that  having  emptied  the  strong  boxes  of  the 
monks  and  nuns,  they  would  despoil  all  those  whose 
fortunes  exceeded  two  thousand  ducats. 

The  rioters  next  marched  to  the  town  hall,  where 
the  senators  sat  trembling,  and  they  demanded  the 
immediate  confirmation  of  a  petition  in  thirty-four 
articles  that  had  been  drawn  up  for  them  by  their 
leaders.  At  the  same  time  the  mob  announced  that 
unless  their  petition  was  granted  they  would  execute 
its  requirements  with  their  own  hands. 

It  asked  that  the  canons  of  the  cathedral  should  be 
required  to  pay  the  debts  of  the  bishop  deceased  ; 
that  criminal  jurisdiction  should  be  withdrawn  from 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  116. 

2  Ibid.  p.  117. 

3  Ibid.  p.  120. 


198  FREAKS  OF  FAN  A  TIC  ISM. 

the  hands  of  the  clergy  ;  that  the  monks  and  nuns 
should  be  forbidden  to  exercise  any  manufacture,  to 
dry  grain,  make  linen,  and  rear  cattle ;  that  the 
burden  of  taxation  should  be  shared  by  the  clergy  ; 
that  rectors  should  not  be  allowed  to  appoint  or  dis- 
miss their  curates  without  consent  of  the  parish  ;  that 
lawsuits  should  not  be  allowed  to  be  protracted  be- 
yond six  weeks  ;  that  beer  licences  should  be  abo- 
lished, and  tolls  on  the  bridges  done  away  with  ;  that 
monks  and  nuns  should  be  allowed  free  permission  to 
leave  their  religious  societies  and  return  to  the  world ; 
that  the  property  of  religious  houses  should  be  sold 
and  distributed  amongst  the  needy,  and  that  the 
municipality  should  allow  them  enough  for  their  sub- 
sistence ;  that  the  Carmelites,  the  Augustinians,  and 
the  Dominicans  should  be  suppressed ;  that  pious 
foundations  for  masses  for  the  repose  of  souls  should 
be  confiscated  ;  and  that  people  should  be  allowed  to 
marry  in  Lent  and  Advent.  The  magistrates  yielded 
at  once,  and  promised  to  endeavour  to  get  the  con- 
sent of  the  other  estates  of  the  diocese  to  the  legalis- 
ing of  these  articles.1 

On  the  morrow  of  the  Ascension,  1525,  the  magis- 
trates closed  the  gates  of  the  town,  and  betook 
themselves  to  the  clergy  of  the  chapter  to  request 
them  to  accept  the  thirty-four  articles.  The  canons 
refused  at  first,  but,  in  fear  of  the  people,  they  con- 
sented, but  wrote  to  the  bishop  to  tell  him  what  had 
taken  place,  and  to  urge  him  to  act  with  promptitude, 
and  not  to  forget  that  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the 
Church  were  in  jeopardy. 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  126. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF MUNSTER.  igg 

It  was  one  of  the  misfortunes  in  Germany,  as  it  was 
in  France,  that  the  clergy  were  exempt  from  taxation. 
This  precipitated  the  Revolution  in  France,  and 
aroused  the  people  against  the  clergy  ;  and  in 
Germany  it  served  as  a  strong  motive  for  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Reformation. 

The  canons  now  fled  the  town,  protesting  that 
their  signatures  had  been  wrested  from  them  by 
violence,  and  that  they  withdrew  their  consent  to  the 
articles.  The  inferior  clergy  remained  at  their  post, 
and  exhibited  great  energy  and  decision.  They  de- 
prived Lubert  Causen,  minister  of  St.  Martins,  one  of 
the  most  zealous  fautors  of  Lutheranism  in  Minister; 
and  the  head  of  the  reforming  party.  When  his 
parishioners  objected,  a  packet  of  love-letters  he  had 
written  to  several  girls  in  the  town,  and  amongst 
others  some  to  a  young  woman  of  respectable  position 
whom  he  had  seduced,  came  to  light,  and  were  read 
in  the  Senate.  The  reformer  had  in  his  letters  used 
scriptural  texts  to  excuse  and  justify  the  most  shame- 
less libertinage.1  Johann  Tante,  preacher  at  St. 
Lambert,  and  Gottfried  Reining,  of  Ueberwasser, 
were  also  deprived.  As  for  the  Lutheran  preacher  at 
St.  Ludger,  Johann  Fink,  "  his  mouth  was  stopped  by 
the  gift  of  a  fat  prebendal  stall,  and  from  that 
moment  he  entirely  lost  his  zeal  for  the  gospel  of 
Wittenberg,  and  never  uttered  another  word  against 
the  Catholic  religion."2 

By  means  of  the  mediation  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Cologne,  a  reconciliation  was  effected.     The  articles 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  128. 

2  Ibid, 


soo  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

were  abolished  and  the  signatures  annulled,  and  the 
members  of  the  chapter  returned  to  Munster,  which 
had  felt  their  absence  by  the  decrease  in  trade,  and 
the  inconstant  people  "  showed  at  least  as  much  joy 
at  their  return  as  they  had  shown  hatred  at  their  de- 
parture."1 

There  can  be  no  question  but  that  the  Reformation 
in  Germany  was  provoked  to  a  large  extent  by 
abuses  and  corruptions  in  the  Church.  To  a  much 
larger  extent  it  was  a  revolt  against  the  Papacy  which 
had  weakened  and  numbed  the  powers  of  the  Empire 
throughout  the  Middle  Ages  from  the  time  of  the 
Emperor  Henry  IV.  But  chiefly  as  a  social  and 
political  movement  it  was  the  revolt  of  municipalities 
against  the  authority  of  collegiate  bodies  of  clergy 
and  the  temporal  jurisdiction  of  prince-bishops,  or  of 
grand  dukes  and  margraves  and  electors  favouring 
the  change  because  it  allowed  them  at  a  sweep  to  con- 
fiscate vast  properties  and  melt  down  tons  of  chalices 
and  reliquaries  into  coin. 

In  Munster  lived  a  draper,  Bernhard  Knipper- 
dolling  by  name,  who  assembled  the  malcontents  in 
his  house,  or  in  a  tavern,  and  poured  forth  in  their 
ears  his  sarcasms  against  the  Pope,  the  bishops, 
the  clergy  and  the  Church.  He  was  well  known  for 
his  dangerous  influence,  and  the  bishop,  Frederic  von 
Wied,  arrested  him  as  he  passed  near  his  residence  at 
Vecht.  The  people  of  Munster,  exasperated  at  the 
news  of  the  captivity  of  their  favourite,  obliged  the 
magistrates  and  the  chapter  to  ask  the  bishop  to  re- 
lease him.  Frederick  von  Wied  yielded  with  reluct- 
1  Ibid.  p.  138. 


THE  AN  ABA  P  TIS  TS  OF  MUNS  TER.  201 

ance,  using  these  prophetic  words,  "  I  consent,  but  I 
fear  that  this  man  will  turn  everything  in  Mtinster 
and  the  whole  diocese  upside  down."  Knipperdolling 
left  prison,  after  having  taken  an  oath  to  keep  the 
peace ;  but  on  his  return  to  Mtinster  he  registered  a 
vow  that  he  would  terribly  revenge  his  incarceration 
and  would  make  the  diocese  pay  as  many  ducats  as 
his  captivity  had  cost  him  hellers.1 

There  was  another  man  in  Mtinster  destined  to 
exercise  a  fatal  influence  on  the  unfortunate  city. 
This  was  a  priest  named  Bernard  Rottmann.2  As  a 
child  he  had  been  chorister  at  St.  Maurice's  Church  at 
Mtinster,  where  his  exquisite  voice  had  attracted 
notice.  He  was  educated  in  the  choir  school,  then 
went  to  Mainz,  where  in  1524  he  took  his  Master's 
degree,  and  returning  to  Miinster,  was  ordained  priest 
in  1529.  He  was  then  given  the  lectureship  of  the 
church  in  which,  as  a  boy,  he  had  sung  so  sweetly. 
He  shortly  exhibited  a  leaning  towards  Lutheranism, 
and  the  canons  of  St.  Maurice,  who  had  placed  great 
hopes  on  the  young  preacher,  thinking  that  he  acted 
from  inexperience  and  without  bad  intent,  gave  him  a 
paternal  reprimand,  and  provided  him  with  funds  to 
go  to  the  University  of  Cologne,  and  study  there 
dogmatic  and  controversial  theology ;  at  the  same 
time  undertaking  to  retain  Rottmann  in  the  receipt 
of  his  salary  as  lecturer,  and  to  this  they  added  a 
handsome  pension  to  assist  him  in  his  studies. 

The  young  man  received  this  money,  and  then, 
instead    of  going    to    Cologne,   betook    himself    to 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  143. 

-  Ibid.  148  ;  Latin  edition,  p.  15 17 — 9  ;  Dorpius,  f.  391  a. 


202  FREA  KS  OF  FAN  A  TIC  ISM. 

Wittenberg,  where  he  attached  himself  to  Melancthon. 
On  his  return  to  Miinster,  the  canons,  unaware  of  the 
fraud  that  had  been  played  upon  them,  reinstated 
Rottmann  in  the  pulpit.  He  was  too  crafty  to  publish 
his  new  tenets  in  his  discourses,  and  thus  to  insure 
the  loss  of  his  situation,  but  he  employed  his  secret 
influence  in  society  to  spread  Lutheranism.  After  a 
while,  when  he  considered  his  party  strong  enough  to 
support  him,  he  threw  off  the  mask,  and  preached 
boldly  against  the  priests  and  the  bishops,  and  cer- 
tain doctrines  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  more 
violent  he  became  in  his  attacks,  the  more  personal 
and  caustic  in  his  language,  the  greater  grew  the 
throng  of  people  to  hear  him.  Then  he  preached 
against  Confession,  which  he  called  "  the  disturber  of 
consciences,"  and  contrasted  it  with  Justification  by 
Faith  only,  which  set  consciences  at  ease  ;  he  preached 
against  good  works,  against  the  obligation  to  observe 
the  moral  law,  and  assured  his  hearers  that  grace  was 
freely  imputed  to  them,  live  as  they  liked,  and  that 
the  Gospel  afforded  them  entire  freedom  from  all 
restraints.  "  The  shameless  dissolution  which  now 
began  to  spread  through  the  town,"  says  Kerssen- 
broeck,  "  proved  that  the  mob  adopted  the  belief  in 
the  impunity  of  sin  ;  all  those  who  were  ruined  in 
pocket,  hoping  to  get  the  possessions  of  others,  joined 
the  party  of  innovators,  and  Rottmann  was  extolled 
by  them  to  the  skies."1 

The  Senate  forbade  the  citizens  to  attend   Rott- 
mann's  sermons,  but  their  orders  were   disregarded. 
The  populace  declared  that  Master  Bernard  was  the 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  152. 


THE  AN AB APT  IS  TS  OF  MUNS  TER.  203 

only  preacher  of  the  true  Gospel,  and  they  covered 
with  slander  and  abuse  those  who  strove  to  oppose 
his  seductive  doctrine.  "  Some  of  the  episcopal 
councillors,  however,"  says  the  historian,  "  favoured 
the  innovator.  The  private  secretary  of  the 
bishop,  Leonhard  Mosz,  encouraged  him  secretly, 
and  promised  him  his  support  in  the  event  of 
danger."1 

But  the  faithful  clergy  informed  the  bishop  of  the 
scandal,  and  before  Mosz  and  others  could  interfere, 
a  sentence  of  deprivation  was  pronounced  against 
him. 

Rottmann,  startled  by  this  decisive  measure,  wrote 
a  series  of  letters  to  Frederick  von  Wied,  which  have 
been  preserved  by  Kerssenbroeck,  in  which  he  pre- 
tended that  he  had  been  calumniated  before  "  the  best 
and  most  just  of  bishops,"  and  excused  himself,  in- 
stead of  boldly  and  frankly  announcing  his  secession 
from  the  Catholic  Church.  In  reply,  the  bishop 
ordered  him  to  quit  Miinster,  and  charged  his  coun- 
cillors to  announce  to  him  that  his  case  would  be 
submitted  to  the  next  synod.  Rottmann  then  wrote 
to  the  councillors  a  letter  which  exhibits  his  duplicity 
in  a  clearer  light.  Frederick  von  Wied,  hearing  of 
this  letter,  ordered  the  recalcitrant  preacher  to  quit 
the  convent  adjoining  the  church  of  St.  Maurice,  and 
to  leave  the  town.  Rottmann  thereupon  took  refuge 
in  the  house  of  Knipperdolling  and  his  companions. 
Under  the  protection  of  these  turbulent  men,  the 
young  preacher  assumed  a  bolder  line,  and  wrote  to 
the  bishop  demanding  a  public  discussion,  and  an- 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  152. 


204  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

nouncing  that  shortly  his  doctrine  would  be  published 
in  a  pamphlet,  and  thus  be  popularised. 

On  the  23rd  of  January,  1532,  Rottmann's  profession 
of  faith  appeared,  addressed  in  the  form  of  a  letter  to 
the  clergy  of  Miinster.1  Like  all  the  professions  of 
faith  of  the  period,  it  consisted  chiefly  of  a  string  of 
negations,  with  a  few  positive  statements  retained 
from  the  Catholic  creed  on  God,  the  Incarnation,  &c. 
He  denied  the  special  authority  of  the  priesthood,  re- 
duced the  Sacraments  to  signs,  going  thereby  beyond 
Luther  ;  rejected  doctrines  of  the  Eucharistic  Sacri- 
fice, Purgatory,  the  intercession  of  saints,  and  the  use 
of  images,  pilgrimages,  vows,  benedictions,  and  the 
like.  It  would  certainly  have  been  more  appropriately 
designated  a  Confession  of  Disbelief.  This  pamphlet 
was  widely  circulated  amongst  the  people,  and  the 
party  of  Lutheran  malcontents,  headed  by  Knipper- 
dolling,  and  Herman  Bispink,  a  coiner  and  forger  of 
title-deeds,  grew  in  power,  in  numbers,  and  in  audacity. 

On  the  23rd  of  February,  1532,  Knipperdolling  and 
his  associates  assembled  the  populace  early,  and 
carried  Rottmann  in  triumph  to  the  church  of  St. 
Lambert.  Finding  the  doors  shut,  they  mounted  the 
preacher  on  a  wooden  pulpit  before  the  bone-house. 
The  Reformer  then  addressed  the  people  on  the 
necessity  of  proclaiming  evangelical  liberty  and  of 
destroying  idolatry  ;  of  overthrowing  images  and  the 
Llost  preserved  in  the  tabernacles.  His  doctrine 
might  be  summed  up  in  two  words :  liberty  for  the 
Evangelicals  to  do  what  they  liked,  and  compulsion 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  165  et  scq.j  Latin  edition,  Mencken,  p. 
1520 — 8  :  Sleidan,  French  tr.,  p.  406. 


THE  A  NAB  APT  IS  TS  OF  MUNS  TER.  205 

for  the  Catholics.  The  sermon  produced  a  tremendous 
effect  ;  before  it  was  concluded  the  rioters  rushed 
towards, the  different  churches,  burst  open  the  doors, 
tore  down  the  altars,  reliquaries,  statues ;  and  the 
Sacrament  was  taken  from  the  tabernacles  and  tram- 
pled under  foot  The  cathedral  alone,  defended  by 
massive  gates,  escaped  their  fury.1 

Proud  of  this  achievement,  the  insurgents  defied  all 
authority,  secular  and  ecclesiastical,  and  installed 
Bernhard  Rottmann  as  preacher  and  pastor  of  the 
Evangelical  religion  in  St.  Lambert's  Church.  "Thence- 
forth," says  the  Miinster  contemporary  historian,  "it 
may  well  be  understood  that  they  did  not  limit  them- 
selves to  simple  tumults,  but  that  murders,  pillage, 
and  the  overthrow  of  all  public  order  followed.  The 
success  of  this  first  enterprise  had  rendered  the  leaders 
masters  of  the  city." 

Bishop  Frederick  von  Wied  felt  that  his  power  was 
at  an  end.  He  was  a  man  with  no  very  strong  religi- 
ous zeal  or  moral  courage.  He  resigned  his  dignity 
in  the  sacristy  of  the  church  of  Werne,  reserving  to 
himself  a  yearly  income  of  2,000  florins.  Duke  Eric 
of  Brunswick,  Prince  of  Grubenhagen,  Bishop  of 
Paderborn  and  Osnabrtick,  was  elected  in  his  room. 
The  nomination  of  Eric  irritated  the  Lutheran  party. 
He  was  a  man  zealous  for  his  religion,  and  with 
powerful  relations.  Rottmann  at  once  sent  him  his 
twenty-nine  articles,  and  the  artisans  of  Miinster,  who 
had  embraced  the  cause  of  Rottmann,  handed  in  a 
petition  to  the  magistrates  (April   16th,  1532)  to  re- 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  185;  Bullinger,  "Adversus  Anabaptist." 
lib.  ii.  c.  8. 


206  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

quest  that  compulsion  might  be  used  to  force  every 
one  to  become  Lutheran,  "  because  it  seems  to  us," 
said  they,  "  that  this  doctrine  is  in  all  points  and  en- 
tirely conformable  to  the  Gospel,  whilst  that  which  is 
taught  by  the  rest  of  the  clergy  is  absurd,  and  ought 
to  be  rejected."1  The  bishop-elect  wrote  to  the 
magistrates,  insisting  on  the  dismissal  of  Rottmann, 
but  in  their  answer  they  not  only  declined  to  obey, 
but  offered  an  apology  for  his  conduct. 

The  bishop  wrote  again,  but  received  no  answer. 
Wishing  to  use  every  means  of  conciliation,  before 
adopting  forcible  measures,  he  sent  a  deputation  to 
Minister  to  demand  the  expulsion  of  the  preacher, 
but  without  success. 

The  people,  becoming  more  insubordinate,  deter- 
mined to  take  possession  of  other  churches.  One  of 
the  most  important  is  the  church  of  Unsere  Lieb-frau, 
or  Ueberwasser,  a  church  whose  beautiful  tower  and 
choir  attract  the  admiration  of  the  traveller  visiting 
Miinster.  This  church  and  parish  depended  on  the 
convent  of  Ueberwasser  ;  the  rector  was  a  man  of 
zeal  and  power,  a  Dr.  Martin,  who  was  peculiarly  ob- 
noxious to  the  Lutheran  party.  A  deputation  was 
sent  to  the  abbess,  Ida  von  Merfelt,  to  insist  on  the 
dismissal  of  the  rector  and  the  substitution  of  an 
Evangelical  preacher.2  The  lady  was  a  woman  of 
courage  ;  she  recommended  the  deputation  to  return 
to  their  shops  and  to  attend  to  their  own  business, 
and  announced  that  Dr.  Martin  should  stay  at  his 
post ;  and  stay  he  did,  for  a  time. 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  pp.  189-90. 

2  Ibid.  p.  203. 


THE  ANABAPTIS TS  OFMUNS TER.  207 

The  bishop  was  resolved  to  try  force  of  arms,  when 
suddenly  he  died,  May  9th,  1532,  after  having  drunk 
a  goblet  of  wine.  Several  writers  of  the  period  state 
that  it  was  poisoned.  A  modern  historian  says  he 
died  of  excess  of  drink — on  what  authority  I  do  not 
know. *  He  had  brought  down  upon  himself  the  dis- 
like of  the  Lutherans  for  having  vigorously  suppressed 
the  reforming  movement  in  Paderborn.  The  history 
of  that  movement  in  this  other  Westphalian  diocese 
is  too  suggestive  to  be  passed  over.  In  1527  the 
Elector  John  Frederick  of  Saxony  passed  through 
Paderborn  and  ordered  his  Lutheran  preachers  to 
address  the  people  in  the  streets  through  the  windows 
of  the  house  in  which  he  lodged,  as  the  clergy  refused 
them  the  use  of  the  churches.  Next  year  the  agita- 
tion began  by  a  quarrel  between  some  of  the  young 
citizens  and  the  servants  of  the  chapter,  and  ended  in 
the  plundering  and  devastation  of  the  cathedral  and 
the  residences  of  the  canons.  The  leader  of  the 
Evangelical  party  in  Paderborn  was  Johann  Molner  of 
Buren,  a  man  who  had  been  expelled  from  the  city  in 
1 53 1  for  murder  and  adultery;  he  left,  taking  with  him 
as  his  mistress  the  wife  of  the  man  he  had  murdered,  and 
retired  to  Soest,  "  where,"  says  a  contemporary  writer, 
Daniel  von  Soest,  "he  did  not  remain  satisfied  with  this 
woman  only.''  He  returned  to  Paderborn  as  a  burn- 
ing and  shining  gospel  light,  and  led  the  iconoclastic 
riot.  Duke  Philip  of  Grubenhagen  supported  his 
brother,  and  the  town  was  forced  to  pay  2,000  gulden 
for  the  damage  done,  and  to  promise  to  pay  damages 

1  Stiirc,   "Gerchichte  v.  Osnabmck."     Osnab.    1826,  pt.  iii. 
p.  25. 


so8  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

if  any  further  mischief  took  place,  and  this  so  cooled 
the  zeal  of  the  citizens  of  Paderborn  for  the  Gospel 
that  it  died  out.1 

The  chapter  retired  to  Ludwigshausen  for  the  pur- 
pose of  electing  the  successor  to  Bishop  Eric,  who 
had  only  occupied  the  see  three  months  ;  their  choice 
fell  on  Francis  von  Waldeck,  Bishop  of  Minden,  and 
then  of  Osnabruck.  The  choice  was  not  fortunate  ; 
it  was  dictated  by  the  exigencies  of  the  times,  which 
required  a  man  of  rank  and  power  to  occupy  the 
vacant  throne,  so  as  to  reduce  the  disorder  by  force  of 
arms.  Francis  of  Waldeck  was  all  this,  but  the 
canons  were  not  at  that  time  aware  that  he  had  him- 
self strong  leanings  towards  Lutheranism  ;  and  after 
he  became  Bishop  of  Miinster  he  would  have  readily 
changed  the  religion  of  the  place,  had  it  not  been  that 
such  a  proceeding  would,  under  the  circumstances, 
have  involved  the  loss  of  his  income  as  prince-bishop. 
Later,  when  the  disturbances  were  at  an  end,  he  pro- 
posed to  the  Estates  the  establishment  of  Lutheranism 
and  the  suppression  of  Catholicism,  as  we  shall  see  in 
the  sequel.  He  even  joined  the  Smalkald  union  of 
the  Protestant  princes  against  the  Catholics  in  1544. 

With  sentiments  so  favourable  to  the  Reform,  the 
new  bishop  would  have  yielded  everything  to  the 
agitators,  had  they  not  assumed  a  threatening  attitude, 
and  menaced  his  temporal  position  and  revenue, 
which  were  the  only  things  connected  with  the  office 
for  which  he  cared. 

1  Vehse,  "Geschichte  der  Deutschen  Hofe."  Hamburg, 
1859,  vol.  xlvii.  p.  4-6.  Bessen,  "Geschichte  v.  Paderborn; 
Paderb.  1820,  vol.  ii.  p.  33. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  209 

The  inferior  clergy  of  Miinster  wrote  energetically 
to  him  on  his  appointment,  complaining  of  the  inno- 
vations which  succeeded  each  other  with  rapidity  in 
the  town.  "  The  Lutheran  party,"  said  they  in  this 
letter,  "are  growing  daily  more  invasive  and  insolent," 
and  they  implored  the  bishop  to  protect  their  rights 
and  liberty  of  conscience  against  the  tyranny  of  the 
new  party,  who,  not  content  with  worshipping  God  in 
their  own  way,  refused  toleration  to  others,  outraged 
their  feelings  by  violating  all  they  held  most  sacred, 
and  disturbed  their  services  by  unseemly  interrup- 
tions. 

Francis  of  Waldeck  renewed  the  orders  of  his 
predecessor.  The  seriate  acknowledged  the  receipt 
of  his  letter,  and  promised  to  answer  it  on  a  future 
occasion. 

However,  the  warmest  partisans  of  Rottmann  were 
resolved  to  carry  matters  to  a  climax,  and  at  once  to 
overthrow  both  the  episcopal  and  the  civil  authority. 
Knipperdolling  persuaded  the  butcher  Modersohn 
and  the  skinner  Redekker  that,  as  provosts  of  their 
guilds,  they  were  entitled  to  convene  the  members  of 
their  trades  without  the  intervention  of  the  magis- 
trates. These  two  men  accordingly  convoked  the 
people  for  the  1st  July.1  The  assembly  was  numer- 
ously attended,  and  opened  tumultuously.  When 
silence  was  obtained,  a  certain  Johann  Windemuller 
rose  and  proclaimed  the  purpose  of  the  convention. 
"  The  affair  is  one  of  importance,"  said  he ;  "  we  have 
to  maintain  the  glory  of  God,  our  eternal  welfare,  the 
happiness  of  all  our  fellow-citizens,  and  the  develop- 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  207  ;  Dorpius,  f.  391  b.  392. 


2io  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

ment  of  our  franchises  ;  all  these  things  depend  on 
the  sacred  ecclesiastical  liberty  announced  to  us  by 
the  worthy  Rottmann.  We  must  conclude  an  alli- 
ance against  the  oppressors  of  the  Gospel,  that  the 
doctrine  of  Rottmann,  which  is  incontestably  the  true 
one,  may  be  protected."  These  words  produced  such 
enthusiasm,  that  the  audience  shouted  with  one  voice 
that  "  they  would  defend  Rottmann  and  his  doctrine 
to  their  last  farthing,  and  the  last  drop  of  their  blood/ 
Some  of  those  present,  by  their  silence,  expressed 
their  displeasure,  but  a  draper  named  Johann  Menne- 
mann  had  the  courage  to  raise  his  voice  against  the 
proposal.  A  furious  band  at  once  attacked  him  with 
their  fists,  crying  out  that  the  enemies  of  the  pure 
Gospel  must  be  destroyed  ;  "  already  the  bold  draper 
was  menaced  with  their  daggers,  when  one  of  his 
friends  succeeded  in  effecting  his  escape  from  the 
popular  rage."  However,  he  was  obliged  to  appear 
before  the  heads  of  the  guilds  and  answer  for  his 
opposition.  Mennemann  replied,  that  in  weighty 
matters  concerning  the  welfare  of  the  common- 
wealth, tumultuous  proceedings  were  not  likely 
to  produce  good  resolutions,  and  that  he  advised 
the  separation  of  the  corporations,  that  the  ques- 
tions might  be  maturely  considered  and  properly 
weighed. 1 

The  corporations  of  trades  now  appointed  twenty- 
six  individuals,  in  addition  to  the  provosts,  to  decide 
on  measures  adapted  to  carry  out  the  resolution. 
This  committee  decided  "that  one  religion  alone 
should  be  taught  in  the  town  for  the  future  and  for 
1  Ibid  p.  208. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  211 

ever  after ;"  and  that  "  if  any  opposition  was  offered  by 
the  magistrates,  the  whole  body  of  the  citizens  should 
be  appealed  to."  1 

These  decisions  were  presented  to  the  senate  on  the 
nth  July,  which  replied  that  they  were  willing  not  to 
separate  themselves  from  ev  angelical  truth,  but  that 
they  were  not  yet  satisfied  on  which  side  it  was  to  be 
found,  and  that  they  would  ask  the  bishop  to  send 
them  learned  theologians  who  should  investigate  the 
matter. 

This  reply  irritated  Rottmann,  Knipperdolling,  and 
their  followers.  On  the  12th  July  fresh  messengers 
were  sent  to  the  Rath  (senate)  to  know  whether  it 
might  be  reckoned  upon.  The  answer  was  equivocal. 
A  third  deputation  insisted  on  an  answer  of  "Yes"  or 
"No,"  and  threatened  a  general  rising  of  the  people  un- 
less their  demands  were  acceded  to.2  The  magistrates, 
in  alarm,  promised  their  adhesion  to  the  wishes  of  the 
insurgents,  who  demanded  at  once  that  "  sincere 
preachers  of  the  pure  Gospel"  should  be  installed  in 
every  church  of  Miinster.  The  councillors  accord- 
ingly issued  orders  to  all  the  clergy  of  the  city  to 
adopt  the  articles  of  Bernard  Rottmann,  or  to  refute 
them  by  scriptural  arguments,  or  they  must  expect 
the  Council  to  proceed  against  them  with  the  ex- 
tremest  rigour  of  the  law. 

Then,  to  place  the  seal  on  their  cowardly  conduct, 
they  wrote  to  the  prince-bishop  on  the  25th,  to 
excuse  themselves  of  complicity  in  the  institution 
of  Rottmann,  but  at  the  same  time  they  undertook 
the  defence  of  the  Reformer,  and  assured  the  bishop 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  209.         2  Ibid.  pp.  210,  211. 


2i2  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

that  his  doctrine  was  sound  and  irrefutable.  At  the 
same  time  they  opened  a  communication  with  the 
Landgrave  Philip  of  Hesse,  asking  that  bulwark  of 
the  Reformation  to  protect  them.  Philip  wrote  back, 
promising  his  intervention,  but  warning  them  not  to 
make  the  Gospel  an  excuse  for  revolt  and  disorder, 
and  not  to  imagine  that  Christian .  liberty  allowed 
them  to  seize  on  all  the  property  of  the  Church.  At 
the  same  time  he  wrote  to  the  prince-bishop  to  urge 
upon  him  not  to  deprive  the  good  and  simple  people 
of  Minister  of  their  evangelical  preachers.1 

In  the  meantime  the  seditious  members  of  the 
town  guilds  grew  impatient ;  and  on  the  6th  August 
they  sent  a  deputation  to  the  town  council  remind- 
ing it  of  its  promise,  and  insisting  on  the  immediate 
deprivation  of  all  the  Catholic  clergy.  The  magis- 
trates sought  to  gain  time,  but  the  deputation 
threatened  them  with  the  people  taking  the  law  into 
their  own  hands,  rejecting  the  authority  of  the  council, 
and  electing  another  set  of  magistrates. 

"  The  Rath,  on  hearing  this,"  says  Kerssenbroeck, 
"were  filled  with  alarm,  and  they  considered  it 
expedient  to  yield,  in  part  at  least,  to  the  popu- 
lace, and  to  deprive  the  clergy  of  their  rights,  rather 
than  to  expose  themselves  rashly  to  the  greatest 
dangers."2 

They  resolved  therefore  to  forbid  the  Catholic  clergy 
the  use  of  the  pulpits  of  the  churches,  and  to  address 
the  people  in  any  form.  This  was  done  at  once,  and 
all  ceremonies  "contrary  to  the  pure  word  of  God' 
were  abolished,  and  the  faithful  in  the  different  parishes 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  pp.  212-23.  2  Ibid.  p.  272. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  213 

were  required  to  receive  and  maintain  the  new  pastors 
commissioned  by  the  burgomaster  and  corporation  to 
minister  to  them  in  things  divine. 

On  the  10th  August,  a  crowd,  headed  by  Rottmann, 
the  preacher  Brixius,  and  Knipperdolling,  fell  upon 
the  churches  and  completed  the  work  of  devastation 
which  had  been  begun  in  February.  The  Cathedra] 
and  the  Church  of  Ueberwasser  alone  escaped  their 
Vandalism,  because  the  fanatics  were  afraid  of  arous- 
ing too  strong  an  opposition.  The  same  day  the 
celebration  of  mass  and  communion  in  one  kind  were 
forbidden  under  the  severest  penalties ;  the  priests 
were  driven  out  of  their  churches,  and  Rottmann, 
Brixius,  Glandorp,  Rolle,  Wertheim,  and  Gottfried 
Ninnhoven,  Lutheran  preachers,  were  intruded  in  their 
room.1 

The  peace  among  these  new  apostles  of  the  true 
Gospel  was,  however,  subject  to  danger.  Pastor 
Brixius  had  fallen  in  love  with  the  sister  of  Pastor 
Rottmann,  and  the  appearance  of  the  girl  proved  to 
every  one  that  the  lovers  had  not  waited  for  the  cere- 
mony of  marriage.  Rottmann  insisted  on  this  brother 
pastor  marrying  the  young  woman  to  repair  the 
scandal.  But  no  sooner  was  the  bride  introduced 
into  the  parsonage  of  St.  Martin,  of  which  Brixius  was 
in  possession,  than  the  first  wife  of  the  evangelical 
minister  arrived  in  Miinster  with  her  two  children. 
Brixius  was  obliged  to  send  away  the  new  wife,  but  a 
coldness  ensued  between  him  and  Rottmann ;  "  how- 
ever, fearing  to  cause  dissension  amongst  their  adher- 

1  Ibid.  pp.  228-34. 


2i4  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

ents  by  an  open  quarrel,  they  came  to  some  arrange- 
ment, and  Brixius  retained  his  situation."1 

These  acts  of  violence  and  scandals  had  inspired 
many  of  the  citizens  with  alarm.  Those  who  were 
able  sent  their  goods  out  of  the  town  ;  the  nuns  of 
Ueberwasser  despatched  their  title-deeds  and  sacred 
vessels  to  a  place  of  safety.  Several  of  the  wealthy 
citizens  and  senators,  who  would  not  give  up  their 
religion,  deserted  Miinster,  and  settled  elsewhere. 
The  two  burgomasters,  Ebroin  Drost  and  Willebrand 
Plonies,  resigned  their  offices  and  left  the  city  never  to 
return.2  The  provosts  of  the  guilds  next  insisted  on 
the  severe  repression  of  all  Catholic  usages  and  the 
performance  of  sacraments  by  the  priests ;  they  went 
further,  and  insisted  on  belief  in  the  sacrifice  of  the 
altar  and  adoration  of  the  Host  being  made  penal. 
The  clergy  wrote  to  the  bishop  imploring  his  aid,  and 
assuring  him  that  their  position  was  daily  becoming 
more  intolerable ;  but  Francis  of  Waldeck  recom- 
mended patience,  and  promised  his  aid  when  it  lay  in 
his  power  to  assist  them. 

On  the  17th  September,  1532,  he  convoked  the  nobles 
of  the  principality  at  Wollbeck,  gave  them  an  account 
of  the  condition  of  Miinster,  and  conjured  them  to 
assist  him  in  suppressing  the  rebellion.3  The  nobles 
replied,  that  before  adopting  violent  measures,  it  would 
be  advisable  to  attempt  a  reconciliation.  Eight 
commissioners  were  chosen  from  amongst  the  barons, 
who  wrote  to  the  magistrates,  and  requested  them  to 
send  their  deputies  to  Wollbeck  on  Monday,  Septem- 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  pp.  228,  229.  2  Ibid.  p.  230. 

3  Ibid.  p.  248  et  seq. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  215 

ber  23rd,  "  so  as  to  come  to  some  decision  on  what  is 
necessary  for  the  welfare  of  the  republic."  The  envoys 
of  the  city  appeared,  and  after  the  opening  of  the 
assembly,  the  grand  marshal  of  the  diocese  described 
the  condition  of  the  city,  and  declared  that  if  it  pursued 
its  course  of  disobedience,  the  nobility  were  prepared 
to  assist  their  prince  in  re-establishing  order.  The 
delegates  were  given  eight  days  to  frame  an  answer. 
The  agitation  in  Mtinster  during  these  days  was 
great.  The  evangelical  preachers  lost  no  time  in 
exciting  the  people.  The  deputies  returned  to  the 
conference  with  a  vague  answer  that  the  best  way  to 
settle  the  differences  would  be  to  submit  them  to 
competent  and  enlightened  judges ;  and  so  the 
matter  dropped. 

The  bishop's  officers  now  captured  a  herd  of  fat 
cattle  belonging  to  some  citizens  of  Mtinster,  which 
were  on  their  way  to  Cologne,  and  refused  to  surrender 
them  till  the  preachers  of  disaffection  were  sent 
away.1 

The  party  of  Rottmann  and  Knipperdolling  now  re- 
quired the  town  council  to  raise  500  soldiers  for  the 
defence  of  the  town,  should  it  be  attacked  by  the 
prince-bishop — to  strike  2000  ducats  in  copper  for  the 
payment  of  the  mercenaries,  such  money  to  circulate 
in  Mtinster  alone — to  order  the  sentinels  to  forbid 
egress  to  the  Catholic  clergy,  should  they  attempt  to  fly 
— and  to  impose  on  the  Catholic  clergy  a  tax  of  4000 
florins  a  month  for  the  support  of  the  troops.  As  the 
clergy  had  been  deprived  of  their  benefices,  forbidden 
to  preach  and  minister  the  sacraments,  this  additional 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  pp.  268-9. 


2 1 6  FREA  KS  OF  FAN  A  TIC  ISM. 

act  of  persecution  was  intolerable  in  its  injustice. 
The  senate  accepted  these  requisitions  with  some 
abatement — the  number  of  soldiers  was  reduced  to 
300.1 

The  bishop,  finding  that  the  confiscation  of  the  oxen 
had  not  produced  the  required  results,  adopted  another 
expedient  which  proved  equally  ineffectual.  He  closed 
all  the  roads  by  his  cavalry,  declared  the  city  in  a  state 
of  blockade,  and  forbade  the  peasantry  taking  pro- 
visions into  Munster.  The  artizans  then  marched  out 
and  took  the  necessary  food  ;  they  paid  for  it,  but 
threatened  the  peasants  with  spoliation  without  repay- 
ment, unless  they  frequented  the  market  with  their 
goods  as  usual.  This  menace  produced  its  effect; 
Munster  continued  to  be  provisioned  as  before.2 

Proud  of  their  success,  the  innovators  attacked 
Uebervvasser  Church,  and  ordered  the  abbess  to  dis- 
miss the  Catholic  clergy  who  ministered  there,  and  to 
replace  them  by  Gospel  preachers.  She  declined 
peremptorily,  and  the  mob  then  drove  the  priests  out 
of  the  church  and  presbytery,  and  instituted  Lutherans 
in  their  place.3 

Notwithstanding  the  decrees  of  the  senate,  the 
priests  continued  their  exhortations  and  their  minis- 
trations in  such  churches  as  the  Evangelicals  were  un- 
able to  supply  with  pastors,  of  whom  there  was  a 
lack.  Brixius,  the  bigamist  minister  of  St.  Martin's, 
having  found  in  one  of  them  a  monk  preaching  to  a 
crowd  of  women,  rushed  up  into  the  pulpit,  crying  out 
that   the    man    was   telling   them    lies  ;    "  but,"   says 

1  Ibid.  p.  279  et  seq.  2  Ibid.  p.  283  et  seq. 

3  Ibid.  pp.  284,  285. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  217 

Kerssenbroeck,  "  the  devotees  surrounded  the  unfortu 
nate  orator,  beat  him  with  their  fists,  slippers,  wooden 
shoes  and  staves,  so  that  he  fled  the  church,  his  face 
and  body  black  and  blue."  Probably  these  women 
bore  him  a  grudge  also  for  his  treatment  of  Rott- 
mann's  sister,  which  was  no  secret.  "  Furious  at  this, 
he  went  next  day  to  exhibit  the  traces  of  the  combat 
to  the  senate,  entreating  them  to  revenge  the  outrage 
he  had  received — he  a  minister  of  the  Holy  Gospel ; 
but,  for  the  first  time,  the  magistrates  showed  some 
sense,  and  declared  that  they  would  not  meddle  in  the 
matter,  because  the  guilty  persons  were  too  numerous, 
and  that  some  indulgence  ought  to  be  shown  to  the 
fair  sex."1 

The  town  council  now  sent  deputies  to  the  Pro- 
testant princes,  Dukes  Ernest  and  Francis  of  Liine- 
burg,  the  Landgrave  Philip  of  Hesse,  and  Count 
Philip  of  Waldeck,  brother  of  the  prince-bishop,  to 
promise  the  adhesion  of  the  city  to  the  Smalkald 
union,  and  to  request  their  assistance  against  their 
bishop.  The  situation  was  singular.  The  city  sought 
assistance  of  the  Protestant  union  against  their  prince, 
desiring  to  overthrow  his  power,  under  the  plea  that 
he  was  a  Catholic  bishop.  And  the  bishop,  at  heart 
a  Lutheran,  and  utterly  indifferent  to  his  religious 
position  and  responsibilities,  was  determined  to  coerce 
his  subjects  into  obedience,  that  he  might  retain  his 
rank  and  revenue  as  prince,  intending,  when  the  city 
returned  to  its  obedience,  to  shake  off  his  episcopal 
office,  to  Lutheranize  his  subjects,  and  remain  their 
sovereign  prince,  and  possibly  transform  the  ecclesi- 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  330. 


218  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

astical  into  a  hereditary  principality,  the  appanage 
of  a  family  of  which  he  would  be  the  founder.  He 
had  already  provided  himself  with  a  concubine,  Anna 
Polmann,  by  whom  he  had  children. 

Whilst  the  senate  was  engaged  in  treating  with  the 
Protestant  princes,  negotiations  continued  with  the 
bishop,  at  the  diets  convoked  successively  at  Dulmen 
and  Wollbeck,  but  they  were  as  fruitless  as  before. 
The  deputies  separated  on  the  9th  December,  agree- 
ing to  meet  again  on  the  21st  of  the  same  month. 

At  this  time  there  arrived  in  Minister  a  formal  re- 
futation of  the  theses  of  Rottmann,  by  John  of 
Deventer,  provincial  of  the  Franciscans  at  Cologne.1 
The  magistrates  had  repeatedly  complained  that  "the 
refusal  of  the  Catholics  to  reply  to  Bernard  Rottmann 
was  the  sole  cause  of  all  the  evil."  At  the  same  time 
they  had  forbidden  the  Catholic  clergy  to  preach  or 
to  make  use  of  the  press  in  Minister.  This  answer 
came  like  a  surprise  upon  them.  It  was  carried  by 
the  foes  of  the  clergy  to  the  magistrates.  The  news  of 
the  appearance  of  this  counterblast  created  the 
wildest  excitement.  "The  citizens,  assembled  in 
great  crowds,  ran  about  the  streets  to  hear  what  was 
being  said.  Some  announced  that  the  victory  would 
remain  with  Rottmann,  others  declared  that  he  would 
never  recover  the  blow." 

The  provosts  of  the  guilds  hastily  drew  up  a  petition 
to  the  senate  to  expel  the  clergy  from  the  town,  and  to 
confiscate  their  goods  ;  but  the  magistrates  refused  to 
comply  with  this  requisition,  which  would  have  at 
once  stirred  up  civil  war.2 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  332.  2  Ibid.  pp.  335-7- 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  219 

Rottmann  mounted  the  pulpit  on  St.  Andrew's  day, 
and  declared  that  on  the  following  Sunday  he  would 
refute  the  arguments  of  John  of  Deventer.  Accord- 
ingly, on  the  day  appointed,  he  preached  to  an  im- 
mense crowd,  taking  for  his  text  the  words  of  St.  Paul 
(Rom.  xiii.  12),  "The  night  is  far  spent,  the  day  is  at 
hand."  The  sermon  was  not  an  answer  to  the 
arguments  of  John  of  Deventer,  but  a  furious  attack 
upon  the  Pope  and  Catholicism.  Knipperdolling 
also  informed  the  people  that  he  would  rather  have 
his  children  killed  and  cooked  and  served  up  for 
dinner  than  surrender  his  evangelical  principles  and 
return  to  the  errors  of  the  past.1 

On  the  21st  December,  1532,  Francis  of  Waldeck 
assembled  the  diet  of  the  principality,  and  asked  its 
advice  as  to  the  advisability  of  proclaiming  war 
against  Miinster,  should  the  city  persist  in  its  ob- 
stinacy.2 The  clergy  and  nobles  replied  that,  accord- 
ing to  immemorial  custom,  the  prince  must  engage  in 
war  at  his  own  cost,  and  that  they  were  too  heavily 
burdened  with  taxes  for  the  Turkish  war  to  enable 
them  to  undertake  fresh  charges.  Francis  of  Waldeck 
reminded  them  that  he  was  obliged  to  pay  a  pension 
of  2000  florins  to  his  predecessor,  Frederick  von  Wied> 
and  he  affirmed  that  he  also  was  not  in  a  condition  to 
have  recourse  to  arms. 

Whilst  the  prince,  his  barons  and  canons  were  de- 
liberating, Rottmann  had  assumed  the  ecclesiastical 
dictatorship  in  the  cathedral  city,  and  had  ordered,  on 
his  sole  authority,  the  suppression  of  the  observance 
of  fast-days. 

1  Ibid.  p.  338.  2  Ibid.  p.  340  et  seq. 


220  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

The  spirit  of  opposition  and  protestation  that  had 
been  evoked  already  manifested  itself  in  strange  ex- 
cesses. (!  Some  of  the  Evangelicals  refused  to  have 
the  bread  put  into  their  mouths  at  Communion,"  says 
Kerssenbroeck,  "but  insisted  on  helping  themselves 
from  the  table,  or  they  stained  themselves  in  taking 
long  draughts  at  the  large  chalices.  It  is  even  said 
that  some  placed  the  bread  in  large  soup  tureens,  and 
poured  the  wine  upon  it,  and  took  it  out  with  spoons 
and  forks,  so  that  they  might  communicate  in  both 
kinds  at  one  and  the  same  moment,"1 

The  Reformer  of  Miinster  began  to  entertain  and 
to  express  doubts  as  to  the  validity  of  the  baptism  of 
infants,  which  he  considered  had  not  the  warrant  of 
Holy  Scripture.  Melancthon  wrote  urgently  to  him, 
imploring  him  not  to  create  dissensions  in  the 
Evangelical  Church  by  disturbing  the  arrangement 
many  wise  men  had  agreed  upon.  'We  have  enemies 
enough,"  added  Melancthon  ;  "  they  will  be  rejoiced 
to  see  us  tearing  each  other  and  destroying  one  an- 
other. ...  I  speak  with  good  intention,  and  I  take  the 
liberty  of  giving  my  advice,  because  I  am  devoted  to 
you  and  to  the  Church."2 

Luther  wrote  as  well,  not  to  Rottmann,  but  to  the 
magistrates  of  Miinster,  praising  their  love  of  the 
Gospel,  and  urging  them  to  beware  of  being  drawn 
away  by  the  damnable  errors  of  the  Sacramentarians, 
Zwinglians,  aliorumque  schwermerorum?  The  sena- 
tors received  this  apostolic  epistle  with  the  utmost 
respect  and  reverence  imaginable ;  they  communicated 
it  to  Rottmann  and  his  colleagues,  and  ordered  them 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  347.        2  Ibia.  p.  348.        3  Ibid.  p.  349. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  221 

to  obey  it.  But  the  senate  had  long  lost  its  authority; 
and  this  injunction  was  disregarded.1  "  Disorder  and 
infidelity  made  progress  ;  the  idle,  rogues,  spend- 
thrifts, thieves,  and  ruined  persons  swelled  the  crowd 
of  Evangelists."2 

However,  it  was  not  enough  to  have  introduced  the 
new  religion,  to  satisfy  the  Evangelicals  the  Catholics 
must  be  completely  deprived  of  the  exercise  of  their 
religion.  In  spite  of  every  hindrance,  mass  had  been 
celebrated  every  Sunday  in  the  cathedral.  All  the 
parish  churches  had  been  deprived  of  their  priests,  but 
the  minster  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Catholics. 
As  Christmas  approached,  many  men  and  women  pre- 
pared by  fasting,  alms,  and  confession,  to  make  their 
communion  at  the  cathedral  on  the  festival  of  the 
Nativity. 

The  magistrates,  hearing  of  their  design,  forbade 
them  communicating,  offering,  as  an  excuse,  that  it 
would  cause  scandal  to  the  partisans  of  the  Reform. 
They  also  published  a  decree  forbidding  baptisms  to 
be  performed  elsewhere  than  in  the  parish  churches ; 
so  as  to  force  the  faithful  to  bring  their  children  to 
the  ministrations  of  men  whom  they  regarded  with 
aversion  as  heretics  and  apostates.3 

No  envoys  from  the  capital  attended  the  reunion  01 
the  chambers  at  Wollbeck  on  the  20th  December. 
But  Miinster  sent  a  letter  expressing  a  hope  that  the 
difference  between  the  city  and  the  prince  might  be 
terminated  by  mediation. 

This  letter  gave  the  diet  a  chance  of  escaping  from 
its  very  difficult  position  of  enforcing  the  rule  of  the 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  351.        2  Ibid.  p.  351.       3  Ibid.  p.  353. 


222  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

prince  without  money  to  pay  the  soldiers.  The  diet 
undertook  to  lay  the  suggestion  before  the  prince- 
bishop,  and  to  transmit  his  reply  to  the  envoys  of 
Mtinster. 

Francis  of  Waldeck  then  quitted  his  diocese  of 
Minden,  and  betook  himself  to  Telgte,1  a  little  town 
about  four  miles  from  Mtinster,  where  he  was  to 
receive  the  oath  of  allegiance  and  homage  of  his 
subjects  in  the  principality.  The  estates  assembled 
at  Wollbeck,  and  all  the  leading  nobles  and  clergy  of 
the  diocese  hastened  to  Telgte  and  assembled  around 
their  sovereign  on  the  same  day.  A  letter  was  at 
once  addressed  to  the  senate  of  Mtinster  by  the 
assembled  estates,  urging  it  to  send  deputies-  to 
Telgte,  the  following  morning,  at  eight  o'clock,  to 
labour  together  with  them  at  the  re-establishment  of 
peace. 

The  deputies  did  not  appear  ;  the  senate  addressed 
to  the  diet,  instead,  a  letter  of  excuses.  The  estates 
at  once  replied  that  in  the  interest  of  peace,  they  re- 
gretted the  obstinacy  with  which  the  senate  had  re- 
fused to  send  deputies  to  Telgte  ;  but  that  this  had 
not  prevented  them  from  supplicating  the  bishop  to 
yield  to  their  wishes  ;  and  that  they  were  glad  to 
announce  that  he  was  ready  to  submit  the  mutual 
differences  to  the  arbitration  of  two  princes  of  the 
Empire,  one  to  be  named  by  himself,  the  other  by  the 
city  of  Mtinster.  And  until  the  arbitration  took  place, 
the  prince-bishop  would  provisionally  suspend  all 
measures  of  severity,  on  condition  that  the  ancient 
usages    should    be    restored    in    the    churches,   the 

x  Ibid.  p.  354  et  seq.     Sleidan,  French  tr.  p.  407. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  223 

preachers  should  cease  to  innovate,  and  that  the  im- 
prisoned vassals  of  the  bishop  should  be  released. 

This  missive  was  sent  into  the  town  on  the  25th  ; 
the  magistrates  represented  to  the  bearer  "  that  it 
would  be  scandalous  to  occupy  themselves  with 
temporal  affairs  on  Christmas-day,"  and  on  this  pre- 
text they  persuaded  him  to  remain  till  the  morrow  in 
Mlinster.  Then  orders  were  given  for  the  gates  of  the 
town  to  be  closed,  and  egress  to  be  forbidden  to  every 
one. 

Having  taken  these  precautions,  the  magistrates 
assembled  the  provosts  of  the  guilds,  and  held  with 
them  a  conference,  which  terminated  shortly  before 
nine  o'clock  the  same  evening ;  after  which  the  sub- 
altern officers  of  the  senate  were  sent  round  to  rap  at 
every  door,  and  order  the  citizens  to  assemble  at  mid- 
night, before  the  town-hall.  A  nocturnal  expedition 
had  been  resolved  upon  ;  but  the  movement  in  the 
town  had  excited  the  alarm  of  the  Catholics,  who,  think- 
ing that  a  general  massacre  of  those  who  adhered  to 
the  old  religion  was  in  contemplation,  hid  themselves 
in  drains  and  cellars  and  chimneys. 

Arms  were  brought  out  of  the  arsenal,  cannons 
were  mounted,  waggons  were  laden  with  powder,  shot, 
beams,  planks  and  ladders.  At  the  appointed  hour, 
the  crowd,  armed  in  various  fashions,  assembled  before 
the  Rath-haus.1  The  magistrates  and  provosts  then 
selected  six  hundred  trusty  Evangelicals,  and  united 
them  to  a  band  of  three  hundred  mercenaries  and  a 
small  troop  of  horse      The  rest  were  dispersed  upon 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  358  et  seq.  Sleidan,  French  tr.  p.  408. 
Sleidan  also  gives  the  number  as  900  ;  Dorpius,  f.  392  b. 


224  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

the  ramparts  and  were  recommended  to  keep  watch  ; 
then  it  was  announced  to  the  party  in  marching  order 
that  they  were  to  hasten  stealthily  to  Telgte  and 
capture  the  prince-bishop,  his  councillors,  the  barons, 
and  all  the  members  of  the  estates  then  assembled  in 
that  little  town. 

However,  the  diet,  surprised  at  not  seeing  their 
messenger  return,  conceived  a  slight  suspicion. 
Whether  he  feared  that  his  person  was  in  danger  so 
near  Miinster  is  not  known,  but  fortunately  for  him- 
self, the  prince,  that  same  evening,  left  Telgte  for  his 
castle  of  Iburg.  The  members  of  the  diet,  after  long 
waiting,  sent  some  men  along  the  road  to  the  capital 
to  ascertain  whether  their  messenger  was  within 
sight.  These  men  returned,  saying  that  the  gates  of 
Miinster  were  closed  and  that  no  one  was  to  be  seen 
stirring. 

The  fact  was  singular,  not  to  say  suspicious  \  and  a 
troop  of  horse  was  ordered  to  make  a  reconnaissance 
in  the  direction  of  Miinster.  It  was  already  late  at 
night,  so,  having  given  the  order,  the  members  of  the 
diet  retired  to  their  beds.  The  horse  soldiers  beat  the 
country,  found  all  quiet,  withdrew  some  planks  from 
a  bridge  over  the  Werse,  between  Telgte  and  Miinster, 
to  intercept  the  passage,  and  then  returned  to  their 
quarters,  for  the  night  was  bitterly  cold.  On  sur- 
mounting a  hill,  crowned  by  a  gibbet,  they,  however, 
turned  once  more  and  looked  over  the  plain  towards 
the  city.  A  profound  silence  reigned  ;  but  a  number 
of  what  they  believed  to  be  will-o'-the-wisps  flitted 
here  and  there  over  the  dark  ground.  As,  according 
to   popular  superstition   in    Westphalia,   these    little 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  225 

lights  are  to  be  seen  in  great  abundance  at  Yuletide, 
the  horsemen  paid  no  attention  to  them,  but  con- 
tinued their  return.  These  lights,  mistaken  for  marsh 
fires,  were  in  fact  the  burning  matches  of  the  arque- 
buses carried  by  those  engaged  in  the  sortie.  On 
their  return  to  Telgte,  the  horse  soldiers  retired  to 
their  quarters,  and  in  half-an-hour  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  town  were  fast  asleep. 

Meanwhile,  the  men  of  Munster  advanced,  replaced 
the  bridge  over  the  Werse,  traversed  the  plain,  and 
reached  Telgte  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  They 
at  once  occupied  all  the  streets,  according  to  a  plan 
concerted  beforehand,  then  invaded  the  houses,  and 
captured  the  members  of  the  diet,  clergy,  nobles  and 
commons.  Three  only  of  the  cathedral  chapter  es- 
caped in  their  night  shirts  with  bare  feet  across  the 
frozen  river  Ems.  The  Miinsterians,  having  laid  their 
hands  on  all  the  money,  jewels,  seals,  and  gold  chains 
they  could  find,  retreated  as  rapidly  as  they  had  ad- 
vanced, carrying  off  with  them  their  captives  and  the 
booty,  but  disappointed  in  not  having  secured  the 
person  of  the  prince.  They  entered  the  cathedral  city 
in  triumph  on  the  morning  of  the  26th  December, 
highly  elated  at  their  success,  and  nothing  doubting 
that  with  such  hostages  in  their  hands,  they  would  be 
able  to  dictate  their  own  terms  to  the  sovereign. 

But  the  expedition  of  Telgte  had  made  a  great 
sensation  in  the  empire.  Francis  of  Waldeck  ad- 
dressed himself  to  all  the  members  of  the  Germanic 
body,  and  appealed  especially  to  his  metropolitan,  the 
Elector  of  Cologne,  for  assistance,  and  also  to  the 
Dukes  of  Cleves  and  Gueldres.     The  elector  wrote  at 

P 


226  FREAKS  OF  FAN  A  TICISM. 

once  to  Miinster  in  terms  the  most  pressing,  because 
some  of  his  own  councillors  were  among  the  prisoners. 
He  received  an  evasive  answer.  The  Protestant 
princes  of  the  Smalkald  league  even  addressed  letters 
to  the  senate,  blaming  energetically  their  high-handed 
proceeding.  Philip  Melancthon  also  wrote  a  letter  of 
mingled  remonstrance  and  entreaty.1  The  only  result 
of  their  appeals  was  the  restoration  to  the  prisoners  of 
their  money  and  the  jewels  taken  from  them. 

John  von  Wyck,  syndic  of  Bremen,  was  despatched 
by  the  senate  of  Miinster  to  the  Landgrave  Philip  of 
Hesse,  to  ask  him  to  undertake  the  office  of  mediator 
between  them  and  their  prince.  The  Landgrave 
readily  accepted  the  invitation,  and  Francis  of 
Waldeck  was  equally  ready  to  admit  his  mediation,  as 
he  was  himself,  as  has  been  already  stated,  a  Lutheran 
at  heart.  The  people  of  Miinster,  finding  that  the 
bishop  was  eager  for  a  pacific  settlement,  insisted  on 
the  payment  of  the  value  of  the  oxen  he  had  con- 
fiscated, as  a  preliminary,  before  the  subject  of 
differences  was  entered  upon.  The  prince-bishop 
consented,  paid  450  florins,  and  allowed  the  Landgrave 
of  Hesse  to  draw  up  sixteen  articles  of  treaty,  which 
met  with  the  approval  of  both  the  senate  and  him- 
self. 

The  terms  of  the  agreement  were  as  follows : 2 — 

I.  The  prince-bishop  was  to  offer  no  violence  to  the 

inhabitants  of  Miinster  in  anything  touching  religion. 

"  The  people  of  Miinster  shall  keep  the  pure  Word  of 

God,"  said  the  article  ;  "  it  shall  be  preached  to  them, 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  368.  2  Ibid.  p.  392  et  seq. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  227 

without  any  human  additions  by  their  preachers,  in 
the  six  parish  churches.  These  same  preachers  shall 
minister  the  sacraments  and  order  their  services  and 
ceremonies  as  they  please.  The  citizens  shall  submit 
in  religious  matters  to  the  judgment  of  the  magistrates 
alone,  till  the  questions  at  issue  are  decided  by  a 
General  Council." 

II.  The  Catholics  were  to  exercise  their  religion 
freely  in  the  cathedral  and  in  the  capitular  churches 
not  included  in  the  preceding  article,  until  Divine 
Providence  should  order  otherwise.  The  Lutheran 
ministers  were  forbidden  to  attack  the  Catholics,  their 
dogmas  and  rights,  unless  the  Word  of  God  imperiously 
required  it ; — a  clause  opening  a  door  to  any  amount 
of  abuse.  As  the  speciality  of  Protestantism  of  every 
sort  consists  in  negation,  it  would  be  impossible  for  an 
Evangelical  pastor  to  hold  his  position  without  de- 
nouncing what  he  disbelieved. 

Artice  III.  interdicted  mutual  recriminations. 
Article  IV.,  in  strange  contradiction  with  Article  I., 
declared  that  the  town  of  Mtinster  should  obey  the 
prince-bishop  as  legitimate  sovereign  in  matters 
spiritual  and  temporal.  The  bishop  in  the  Vth 
Article  promised  to  respect  the  privileges  of  the 
subject. 

The  Vlth  Article  forbade  any  one  making  an 
arbitrary  use  of  the  Word  of  God  to  justify  refusal  of 
obedience  to  the  magistrates.  Article  VII.  reserved 
to  the  clergy  their  revenues,  with  the  exception  of  the 
six  parish  churches,  of  which  the  revenues  were  to  be 
employed  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Evangelical 
pastors.     By  the  VHIth  Article  the  senate  promised 


228  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

not  to  interfere  with  the  collation  to  benefices  not  in 
their  hands  by  right.  The  IXth  Article  allowed  the 
citizens  to  deprive  their  pastors  in  the  Lutheran 
churches,  without  the  intervention  of  the  bishop.  The 
rest  of  the  Articles  secured  a  general  amnesty,  per- 
mission to  the  refugees  to  return,  and  to  the  im- 
prisoned members  of  the  diet  to  obtain  their  free- 
dom. 

This  treaty  was  fair  enough  in  its  general  provisions. 
If,  as  was  the  case,  a  large  number  of  the  citizens  were 
disposed  to  adopt  Lutheranism,  no  power  on  earth  had 
any  right  to  constrain  them,  and  they  might  justly 
claim  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion.  But  there 
were  suspicious  clauses  inserted  in  the  1st  and  2nd 
Articles  which  pointed  to  the  renewal  of  animosity 
and  the  re-opening  of  the  whole  question. 

This  treaty  was  signed  on  the  14th  February,  1533, 
by  Philip  of  Hesse,  as  mediator,  Francis,  Count  of 
Waldeck,  Prince  and  Bishop  of  Miinster,  the  members 
of  chapter,  the  representatives  of  the  nobles  of  the 
principality,  and  the  burgomasters  and  senators  of 
Miinster,  together  with  those  of  the  towns  of  Coesfeld 
and  Warendorf,  in  their  own  name  and  in  behalf  of 
the  other  towns  of  the  diocese.  The  captive  estates 
were  liberated  on  the  18th  February.  How  the 
magistrates  and  town  kept  the  other  requirements  of 
the  treaty  we  shall  soon  see. 

The  senate  havingbeen  constituted  supreme  authority 
in  spiritual  things  by  the  Lutheran  party,  now  under- 
took the  organisation  of  the  Evangelical  Church  in  the 
city ;  and  a  few  days  after  the  treaty  had  been  signed, 
it   published  an  "Evangelical  Constitution,"  consist- 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  229 

ing  of  ten   articles,  for  the  government  of  the  new 
Church.1 

The  8th  article  had  a  threatening  aspect.  "  The 
ministers  of  the  Divine  Word  shall  use  their  utmost 
endeavours  to  gain  souls  to  the  true  faith,  and  to  direct 
them  in  the  ways  of  perfection.  As  for  those  who  shall 
refuse  to  accept  the  pure  doctrine,  and  those  who  shall 
blaspheme  and  be  guilty  of  public  crimes,  the  senate 
will  employ  against  them  all  the  rigour  of  the  laws,  and 
the  sword  of  justice. 

Rottmann  was  appointed  by  the  magistrates  Super- 
intendent of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  Miinster,  a 
function  bearing  a  certain  resemblance  to  that  of  a 
bishop.2  Then,  thinking  that  a  bishop  should  be  the 
husband  of  one  wife  at  least,  Rottmann  married  the 
widow  of  Johann  Vigers,  late  syndic  of  Miinster. 
"  She  was  a  person  of  bad  character,"  says  Kerssen- 
broeck,  "whom  Rottmann  had  inspired  during  her 
husband's  life  with  Evangelical  principles  and  an 
adulterous  love."3  It  is  asserted,  with  what  truth  it  is 
impossible  at  this  distance  of  time  to  decide,  that 
Vigers  was  drowned  in  his  bath  at  Ems,  in  a  fit,  and 
that  his  wife  allowed  him  to  perish  without  attempting 
to  save  him.  Anyhow,  no  sooner  was  he  dead,  than 
she  returned  full  speed  to  Miinster  and  married  her 
lover.4 

The  reformer  and  his  adherents  had  been  given  their 
own  way,  and  the  senate  hoped  they  would  rest  satis- 
fied, and  that  tranquillity  would  be  re-established  in  the 
city.     But  their  hopes  were  doomed  to  disappointment. 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  398  et  seq.  2  Ibid.  p.  402. 

3  Ibid.  p.  403.  4  Ibid.  p.  404. 


23o  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Certain  people,  if  given  an  inch,  insist  on  taking  an 
ell ;  of  these  people  Rottmann  was  one.  Excited  by 
him,  the  Evangelicals  of  the  town  complained  that  the 
magistrates  had  treated  the  Papists  with  too  great 
leniency,  that  the  clergy  had  not  been  expelled  and 
their  goods  confiscated  according  to  the  original 
programme.  It  was  decided  tumultuously  that  the 
elections  must  be  anticipated  ;  and  on  the  3rd  March, 
the  people  deposed  the  magistrates  and  elected  in  their 
room  the  leaders  of  the  extreme  reforming  party.1 
Knipperdolling  was  of  their  number ;  only  four  of 
the  former  magistrates  were  allowed  to  retain  office, 
and  these  were  men  whom  they  could  trust.  Her- 
mann Tilbeck  and  Kaspar  Judenfeld  were  named 
burgomasters  ;  Heinrich  Modersohn  and  Heinrich 
Redekker  were  chosen  provosts  or  tribunes  of  the 
people.2 

Next  to  the  senate  came  the  turn  of  the  parishes. 
On  the  17th  March,  under  the  direction  of  Rottmann, 
the  people  proceeded  to  appoint  the  ministers  to  the 
churches  in  the  town.  Their  choice  was  not  happy  ; 
it  fell  on  those  most  unqualified  to  exercise  a  salutary 
influence,  and  restrain  the  excitement  of  a  mob  already 
become  nearly  ungovernable.3 

The  new  senate  endeavoured  to  strengthen  the 
Evangelical  cause  by  uniting  the  other  towns  of  the 
diocese  in  a  common  bond  of  resistance.  They  invited 
these  towns  to  send  their  deputies  to  meet  those  of  the 
capital  at  a  little  inn  between  Miinster  and  Coesfeld, 
on  the  20th  March.     The  assembly  took  place ;  but  so 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  404.         2  Ibid.  p.  405.        3  Ibid.  p.  406. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  231 

far  from  the  other  cities  agreeing  to  support  Miinster, 
their  deputies  read  those  of  the  capital  a  severe  lecture, 
and  refused  to  throw  off  their  old  religion  and  their 
allegiance  to  the  bishop.1 

On  the  24th  March,  1533,  the  burgomaster  Tilbeck, 
accompanied  by  the  citizen  Kerbink,  went  to  Ueber- 
wasser,  summoned  the  abbess  before  him,  and  ordered 
her  to  maintain  at  the  expense  of  the  abbey  the 
preachers  lately  appointed  to  the  church  in  connection 
with  the  convent     She  was  forced  to  submit.2 

On  the  27th  of  the  same  month  one  of  the  preachers 
invaded  the  church  of  St.  Ledger,  still  in  the  hands  of 
the  Catholics,  at  the  head  of  his  congregation,  broke 
open  the  tabernacle,  drew  out  the  Host,  broke  it,  and 
blowing  the  fragments  into  the  air,  screamed  to  the 
assembled  multitude,  "  Look  at  your  good  God  flying 
away." 

The  same  day  the  treaty  was  violated  towards  the 
Franciscans.  Some  of  the  senators  ordered  them 
to  quit  their  convent,  their  habit,  and  their  order, 
unless  they  desired  still  more  rigorous  treatment, 
"because  the  magistrates  were  resolved  to  make 
the  Church  flourish  again  in  her  ancient  purity,  and 
because  they  wanted  to  convert  the  convent  into  a 
school."3 

The  superior  replied  that  he  and  his  brethren 
followed  strictly  the  rule  of  their  founder,  and  that 
this  house  belonged  to  them  by  right  of  succession, 
and  that  they  were  no  charge  to  the  town.  He  said 
that  if  a   building   was   needed   for   an    Evangelical 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  407  et  seq.         2  Ibid.  p.  413. 
3  Ibid.  p.  413. 


232  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

school,  he  was  ready  to  surrender  to  the  magistrates  a 
portion  of  the  convent  buildings ;  all  he  asked  in  return 
was  that  he  and  his  brethren  should  be  allowed  to  live 
in  tranquillity.  This  proposal  saved  the  Franciscans 
for  a  time.  The  Evangelical  school  was  established 
in  their  convent,  "  but  at  the  end  of  a  month  it  had 
fallen  into  complete  disorder,  whereas  the  old  Papist 
school  had  not  lost  one  of  its  pupils,  and  was  as 
flourishing  as  ever."1 

Whilst  the  senators  menaced  the  monasteries, 
Knipperdolling  and  his  friend  Gerhardt  Kibbenbroeck 
pillaged  the  church  of  S.  Lambert.  Scarcely  a 
day  now  passed  without  some  fresh  act  of  violence 
done  to  the  Catholics,  or  Vandalism  perpetrated  on 
the  churches. 

On  the  5th  April  the  prior  and  monks  of  Bispinkhoff 
were  forbidden  by  the  magistrates  to  hear  confessions 
in  their  own  church.  The  same  day  the  Lutherans 
broke  the  altar  and  images  in  the  church  of  Ueber- 
wasser,  and  scraped  the  paintings  off  the  walls. 

On  Palm  Sunday,  April  6th,2  at  Ueberwasser,  some 
of  the  nuns,  urged  by  the  preachers  in  their  church, 
cast  off  their  vows,  and  joining  the  people,  chanted  the 
7th  verse  of  the  124th  Psalm  according  to  Luther's 
translation — 

"  Der  Strich  ist  entzwei, 
Und  wir  sind  frei." 

"  The  snare  is  broken,  and  we  are  delivered  ; "  and  then 
they  received  Communion  with  the  pastors. 

On  the  7th  the  mob  pillaged  the  church  of  the 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  415.  8  Ibid.  p.  416. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  233 

Servites,  and  defaced  it.     Next  day  the  Franciscans, 
who  had  made  the  wafers  for  the  Holy  Sacrament  for 
the  churches  in  the  diocese,  were  forbidden  to  make 
them  any  more.     On  the  9th  Knipperdolling,  heading  a 
party  of  the  reformed,  broke  into  the  cathedral  during 
the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Eucharist,  rushed  up  to  the 
altar,  and  drove  away  the  priest,  exclaiming,  "  Greedy 
fop,  haven't  you  eaten  enough  good  Gods  yet  ?  "     Two 
days  later  the  magistrates  ordered  the  chapter  to  sur- 
render into  their  hands  their  title  deeds  and  sacred 
vessels.    On  the  14th,  Belkot,  head  of  the  city  tribunal 
of  Mtinster,  entered  the   church   of  S.   Ledger,  and 
carried   off  all    its    chalices,    patens,    and    ciboriums, 
whilst    others  who  accompanied  him    destroyed   the 
altars,  paintings,  and  statuary,  and  profaned  the  church 
in    the    most    disgusting     manner.      The     unhappy 
Catholics,  unable  to  resist,  uttered  loud  lamentations, 
and  did  not  refrain  from  calling  the  perpetrators  of 
the  outrage  "  robbers  and  sacrilegious,"  for  which  they 
were  summoned  before  the  magistrates,  and  threatened 
with  imprisonment  unless  they  apologised.1 

As  the  news  of  the  conversion  of  the  city  of  Mtinster 
to  the  Gospel  spread,  strangers  came  to  it  from  all 
parts,  to  hear  and  to  learn,  as  they  gave  out,  pure 
Evangelical  truth. 

Amongst  these  adventurers  was  a  man  destined 
to  play  a  terribly  prominent  part  in  the  great 
drama  that  was  about  to  be  enacted  at  Miinster. 
This  was  John  Bockelson,  a  tailor,  a  native  of  Leyden, 
in  Holland.  He  had  quitted  his  country  and  his  wife 
secretly  to  hear  Rottmann.  He  entered  Miinster 
1  Kerssenbroeck  417. 


234  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

on  the  25th  July,  and  lodged  with  a  citizen  named 
Hermann  Ramers.  Having  been  instructed  in  the 
Gospel  according  to  Luther,  he  went  to  preach  in 
Osnabrlick,  but  from  thence  he  was  driven.  He  then 
returned  to  his  own  home.  There  he  became  an 
Anabaptist,  under  the  instruction  of  John  Matthisson, 
who  sent  him  with  Gerrit  Buchbinder  as  apostles  of 
the  sect  to  Westphalia  in  the   month  of  November, 

1533. 

The  time  had  now  arrived  when  the  Lutheran  party, 
which  had  so  tyrannically  treated  the  Catholics  in  the 
city  of  Miinster,  was  itself  to  be  despotically  put  down 
and  trampled  upon  by  a  sect  which  sprang  from  its 
own  womb. 

Rottmann  had  for  some  while  been  wavering  in  his 
adhesion  to  Lutheranism.1  He  doubted  first,  and  then 
disbelieved  in  the  Real  Presence,  which  Luther  insisted 
upon.  He  thought  that  the  reformation  of  the  Witten- 
berg doctor  was  not  sufficiently  thoroughgoing  in 
the  matter  of  ceremonial;  then  he  doubted  the 
scriptural  authority  for  the  baptism  of  infants.  Two 
preachers,  Heinrich  Rott  and  Herman  Stapedius,  fell 
in  with  his  views.  The  former  had  been  a  monk  at 
Haarlem,  but  had  become  a  Lutheran  preacher.  He 
regarded  the  baptism  of  infants  as  one  of  those  things 
which  are  indifferent  to  salvation.  Strapedius  was 
more  decided ;  he  preached  against  infant  baptism  as 
an  abomination  in  the  sight  of  God.  He  was  named 
by  the  people  preacher  at    S.  Lambert's,  the   head 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  429^  seq.\  Sleidan,  French  tr.  p.  409; 
Bullinger,  "Adv.  Anabapt.,"  116,  ii.  c.  8. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  235 

church  of  the  city,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the 
authorities.1 

The  Lutheran  senate  of  Mlinster,  which  a  few 
months  previously  had  been  elected  enthusiastically 
by  the  people,  now  felt  that  before  these  fiery  preachers, 
drifting  into  Anabaptism,  their  power  was  in  as  pre- 
carious a  position  as  was  that  of  those  whom  they  had 
supplanted.  Alarmed  at  the  rapid  extension  of  the 
new  forms  of  disbelief,  they  twice  forbade  Rottmann  to 
preach  against  the  baptism  of  infants  and  the  Real 
Presence,  and  ordered  him  to  conform  in  his  teaching 
to  authorised  Lutheran  doctrine.  He  treated  their 
orders  with  contempt.  Then  they  summoned  him 
before  them  :  he  appeared,  but  on  leaving  the  Rath- 
haus,  preached  in  the  square  to  the  people  with 
redoubled  violence. 

The  senate,  at  their  wits'  end,  ordered  a  public 
discussion  between  Rottmann  and  the  orthodox 
Lutherans,  represented  by  Hermann  Busch.  The 
discussion  took  place  before  the  city  Rath,  and  the 
senate  decided  that  Busch  had  gained  the  day,  and 
they  therefore  forbade  all  innovation  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper. 

Rottmann  and  his  colleague  disregarded  the  moni- 
tion, and  continued  their  sermons  against  the  rags  of 
Popery  which  still  disfigured  the  Lutheran  Church. 
Several  of  the  ministers  in  the  town,  whether  from 
conviction  or  from  interest,  finding  that  their  congrega- 
tions drained  away  to  the  churches  where  the  stronger- 
spiced  doctrine  was  preached,  joined  the  movement. 
It  was  simply  a  carrying  of  negation  beyond  the  pillars 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  pp.  431,  432  ;  Dorp.,  f.  322-3. 


236  FREAKS  OF  FAN  A  TIC  ISM. 

of  Hercules  planted  by  Luther.  Luther  had  denied  of 
the  sum  total  of  Catholic  dogmas,  say  ten,  and  had 
retained  ten.  The  Anabaptist  denied  two  more, 
and  retained  only  eight.  On  the  ioth  August  a 
tumultuous  scene  took  place  in  the  church  of  S. 
Giles.1  A  Dutch  preacher  began  declaiming  against 
baptism  of  children.  Johann  Windemoller,  ex- 
senator,  a  vehement  opponent  of  Anabaptist  disin- 
tegration of  Lutheran  doctrine,  who  was  in  the 
congregation,  rushed  up  the  pulpit  stairs,  and  pulled 
the  preacher  down,  exclaiming,  "  Scoundrel !  how 
dare  you  take  upon  you  the  office  of  preacher — 
you  who,  a  few  years  ago,  were  thrust  into  the  iron- 
collar,  and  branded  on  the  cheek  for  your  crimes? 
Do  you  think  I  do  not  know  your  antecedents  ?  You 
talk  of  virtue,  you  gibbet-bird  ?  You  who  are  guilty 
of  so  many  crimes  and  impieties  ?  Go  along  with  you, 
take  your  doctrine  and  your  brand  elsewhere." 

Windemoller  was  about  to  turn  the  pastor  out  of 
the  church,  when  a  number  of  women,  who  had  joined 
the  Anabaptist  party,  fell,  howling,  upon  Windemoller, 
crying  that  he  wanted  to  deprive  them  of  the  saving 
Gospel  and  Word  of  Truth,  and  they  would  have 
strangled  him  had  he  not  beat  a  precipitate  retreat. 
The  same  afternoon,  some  citizens  who  brought  their 
children  to  this  church  to  be  baptized  were  driven  from 
the  doors  with  shouts  of  derision. 

The  magistrates  played  a  trump  card,  and  ordered 

Rottmann  to  leave  the  town,  together  with  the  ministers 

who  followed  his  teaching.2    Bernard  Rottmann  replied 

much  in  the  same  strain  as  he  had  answered  the  bishop, 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  434.  2  Ibid.  p.  436. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MtJNSTER.  237 

stating  that  his  doctrine  was  strictly  conformable  to 
the  pure  word  of  God,  and  that  he  demanded  a  public 
discussion,  in  which  his  doctrines  might  be  tested  by 
Scripture  alone,  without  human  additions.  Finally  he 
protested  that  he  would  not  abstain  from  preaching, 
nor  desert  his  flock,  whether  the  senate  persisted  in 
its  sentence  or  not.  Five  ministers  signed  this  defiant 
letter — Rottmann,  Johann  Clopris,  Heinrich  Roll,  Gott- 
fried Strahl,  and  Denis  Vinnius.  These  men  at  once 
hastened  to  collect  the  heads  of  the  corporations  and 
provosts  together,  and  urge  them  to  take  their  part 
against  the  Rath.  They  were  quite  prepared  to  do 
so,  and  the  magistrates  yielded  on  condition  that 
Bernard  and  his  following  of  preachers  should  abstain 
from  speaking  on  the  disputed  questions  of  infant 
baptism  and  the  Eucharist.  Rottmann  consented,  in 
his  own  name  and  in  that  of  his  friends,  in  a  paper 
dated  October  3rd,  1 533-1  The  senate  was,  however, 
well  aware  that  its  power  was  tottering  to  its  fall,  and 
that  the  preachers  had  not  the  remotest  intention  of 
fulfilling  their  engagement.  They  saw  that  these  men 
were  gradually  absorbing  into  themselves  the  supreme 
authority  in  the  city,  and  that  a  magistracy  which 
opposed  them  could  at  any  moment  be  by  them  dis- 
missed their  office.  In  alarm  they  wrote  to  the  prince- 
bishop,  and  sent  him  messengers  to  lay  before  him  the 
precarious  condition  of  the  affairs  in  the  capital, 
imploring  him  to  consider  the  imminence  of  the  peril, 
and  to  send  them  learned  theologians  who  could  com- 
bat the  spread  of  erroneous  doctrine,  and  introduce 
those  conformable  to  the  pure  word  of  God.2 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  pp.  437-9.         2  Ibid.  p.  441. 


238  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

It  was  a  singular  state  of  affairs  indeed.  The 
magistrates  had  appealed  to  the  pure  word  of  God,  as 
understood  by  Luther,  against  Catholicism,  and  now 
the  Anabaptists  appealed  to  the  same  oracle,  with 
equal  confidence  against  Lutheranism  ;  the  two  parties 
leaned  on  the  same  support — who  was  to  decide  which 
party  Scripture  upheld  ? 

The  answer  of  Francis  of  Waldeck  was  such  as 
might  have  been  expected  from  a  man  endowed  with 
some  common  sense.  He  reminded  the  magistrates 
that  it  was  their  own  fault  if  things  had  come  to  such  a 
pass  ;  he  feared  that  now  the  evil  had  gained  the  upper 
hand,  and  that  gentleness  was  out  of  place  ;  a  decided 
face  could  alone  secure  to  the  magistrates  moral 
authority.  He  was  ready  to  support  them  if  they 
would  maintain  their  allegiance  for  the  future.  He 
would  send  them  a  learned  theologian,  Dr.  Heinrich 
Mumpert,  prior  of  the  Franciscans  of  Bispinkhoff,  to 
preach  against  error  in  the  cathedral. 

The  senate  was  in  a  dilemma.  They  had  no  wish 
to  return  to  Catholicism,  and  they  dreaded  the  progress 
of  schism.  They  stood  on  an  inclined  plane.  Above 
was  the  rock  of  an  infallible  authority;  below,  faith 
shelved  into  an  abyss  of  negation  they  shrank  from 
fathoming.  If  they  looked  back,  they  saw  Catholicism; 
if  they  looked  forward,  they  beheld  the  dissolution  01 
all  positive  belief.  Like  all  timorous  men  they  shrank 
from  either  alternative,  and  attempted  for  a  little 
longer  to  maintain  their  slippery  position.  They 
declined  the  offer  of  the  Catholic  doctor,  and  turned 
to  the  Landgrave  Philip  of  Hesse  for  assistance.  The 
Landgrave  at  once  acceded  to  the  request  of  the  magis- 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  239 

trates,  and  sent  them  Theodore  Fabricius  and  Johann 
Melsinger,  guaranteeing  to  their  senate  their  ortho- 
doxy.1 

While  these  preachers  were  on  their  way,  disorder 
increased  in  Mtinster.  The  faction  of  Rottmann  grew 
apace,  and  spread  into  the  Convent  of  Ueberwasser, 
where  the  nuns  were  daily  compelled  to  hear  the 
harangues  of  two  zealous  Evangelical  pastors,  who 
exerted  themselves  strenuously  to  demolish  the  faith 
of  the  sisters  down  to  the  point  fixed  as  the  limit  of 
negation  by  Luther.  But  these  pastors  having  be- 
come infected  with  Rottmann's  views,  continued  the 
work  of  destruction,  and  lowered  the  temple  of  faith 
two  additional  stages. 

The  result  of  these  sermons  on  the  excitable  nuns 
was  that  the  majority  broke  out  into  revolt,  and  re- 
fused to  observe  abstinence  and  practise  self-mortifica- 
tion; and  proclaimed  their  intention  of  returning  to 
the  world  and  marrying.  The  bishop  wrote  to  them, 
imploring  them  to  consider  that  they  were  all  of  them 
members  of  noble  families,  and  that  they  must  be 
careful  in  no  way  to  dishonour  their  families  by  scan- 
dalous behaviour.  The  mutineers  seemed  disposed 
to  yield,  but  we  shall  presently  see  that  their  submis- 
sion was  only  temporary.2 

On  the  15th  October,  the  senate  wrote  to  the  bishop, 
and  informed  him  that  they  would  not  permit  the 
prior  Mumpert  to  preach  in  the  cathedral.3  They 
acknowledged  that  according  to  the  treaty  of  Telgte, 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  443  ;  Sleidan,  p.  410  ;    Dorpius,  f.  393  b. 
2  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  443.  3  Ibid.  p.  444. 


24o  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

the  city  had  consented  to  allow  the  Catholics  the  use 
of  the  cathedral,  "  until  such  time  as  the  Lord  shall 
dispose  otherwise,"  but,  they  said,  at  the  time  of  the 
conclusion  of  the  treaty,  there  was  no  preacher  at  the 
minster ;  which  was  true,  for  the  Catholic  clergy  had 
been  forbidden  the  use  of  the  pulpit;  and  they  declared 
that  "in  all  good  conscience,  they  could  not  permit 
the  institution  of  one  whose  doctrine  and  manner  of 
life  were  not  conformable  to  the  gospel." 

Francis  of  Waldeck,  without  paying  attention  to 
this  refusal,  ordered  Mumpert  to  preach  and  celebrate 
the  Eucharist  in  the  cathedral  church,  on  Sunday, 
26th  October,  1533.  The  prior  obeyed.  The  fury  of 
the  Evangelicals  was  without  limits  ;  and  in  a  second 
letter,  more  insolent  than  the  first,  the  magistrates  told 
the  bishop  that  "  they  would  not  suffer  a  fanatical  friar 
to  come  and  teach  error  to  the  people."  The  bishop's 
sole  reply  was  a  command  to  the  prior  to  continue  his 
course. 

At  this  moment  the  learned  divines  sent  by  Philip 
of  Hesse  arrived  in  the  city,  and  hearing  of  the  sermons 
in  the  minster,  to  which  the  people  flocked,  and  which 
were  likely  to  produce  a  counter  current  in  a  Catholic 
direction,  they  insisted,  as  a  preliminary  to  their  mis- 
sion, that  the  mouth  of  the  Catholic  preacher  should 
be  stopped.  "  We  pray  you,"  said  they  to  the  magis- 
trates, "  to  forbid  this  man  permission  to  reside  in  the 
town,  lest  our  pure  doctrine  be  choked  by  his  abomin- 
able sermons.  An  authority  claiming  to  be  Christian 
should  not  tolerate  such  a  scandal." 

The  senate  hastened  to  satisfy  the  Hessian  theo- 
logians, by  not  merely  ordering  the  Catholic  preacher 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  241 

to  leave  the  city,  but  by  outlawing  him,  so  that  he  was 
obliged  in  haste  to  fly  a  place  where  his  life 
might  be  taken  by  any  unscrupulous  persons  with 
impunity.1 

Francis  of  Waldeck,  justly  irritated,  wrote  to  Philip 
of  Hesse,  remonstrating  at  the  interference  of  his  com- 
missioners in  the  affairs  of  another  man's  principality.2 
The  Landgrave  replied  that,  so  far  from  deserving  re- 
proach, he  merited  thanks  for  having  sent  to  Mtinster 
two  divines  of  the  first  class,  who  would  preach  there 
the  pure  Word  of  God,  and  would  strangle  the  monster 
of  Anabaptism.  With  the  outlawry  of  the  Catholic 
preacher,  the  struggle  between  Catholicism  and 
Lutheranism  closed  ;  the  struggle  for  the  future  was 
to  be  between  Lutheranism  and  Anabaptism  ;  a 
struggle  desperate  on  the  part  of  the  Lutherans,  for 
what  basis  had  they  for  operation  ?  The  Catholics  had 
an  intrenched  position  in  the  authority  of  a  Church, 
which  they  claimed  to  be  invested  with  divine  in- 
errancy, by  commission  from  Christ ;  but  the  Lutheran 
and  Anabaptist  fought  over  the  pages  of  the  Bible, 
each  claiming  Scripture  as  on  his  side.  It  was  a  war 
within  a  camp,  to  decide  which  should  pitch  the  other 
outside  the  rampart  of  the  letter. 

Fabricius  and  Melsinger  fought  for  Infant  Baptism 
and  the  Real  Presence,  Rottmann  and  Strapedius 
against  both.  "  Do  you  call  this  the  body  and  blood 
of  Christ  ?  "  exclaimed  Master  Bernard  one  day,  whilst 
he  was  distributing  the  Sacrament ;  and  flinging  it  on 
the  ground,  he  continued,  "  Were  it  so,  it  would  get  up 
from  the  ground  and  mount  the  altar  of  itself  without 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  444  et  seq.         2  Ibid.  p.  457  et  seq. 

Q 


242  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

my  help.  Know  by  this  that  neither  the  body  nor 
blood  of  Christ  are  here."1 

Peter  Wyrthemius,  a  Lutheran  preacher,  was  inter- 
rupted, when  he  attempted  to  preach,  by  the  shouts 
and  jeers  of  the  Anabaptists,  and  was  at  last  driven 
from  his  pulpit. 

Rottmann  kept  his  promise  not  to  preach  Anabap- 
tist doctrine  in  the  pulpit,  but  he  printed  and  circulated 
a  number  of  tracts  and  pamphlets,  and  held  meetings 
in  private  houses  for  the  purpose  of  disseminating  his 
views.2  His  reputation  increased  rapidly,  and  ex- 
tended afar.  Disciples  came  from  Holland,  Brabant, 
and  Friesland,  to  place  themselves  under  his  direction; 
women  even  confided  to  him  the  custody  of  their 
children. 

The  most  lively  anxiety  inspired  the  senate  to  make 
another  attempt  to  regain  their  supremacy  in  the 
direction  of  affairs. 

On  the  3rd  or  4th  November,  the  heads  of  the 
guilds  and  the  provosts  and  patricians  of  the  city  were 
assembled  to  deliberate,  and  it  was  resolved  that 
Rottmann  and  his  colleagues  should  be  expelled  the 
town  and  the  diocese ;  and  to  remove  from  them  the 
excuse  that  they  feared  arrest  when  they  quitted  the 
walls  of  Miinster,  the  magistrates  obtained  for  them  a 
safe-conduct,  signed  by  the  bishop  and  the  upper 
chapter.3 

Next  day,  the  magistrates  and  chief  citizens  reas- 
sembled in  the  market  square,  and  voted  that  "not 
only  should  the  Anabaptist  preachers  be  exiled,  but 

1  Dorpius,  f.  394.  2  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  448. 

3  Ibid.  p.  449. 


THE  ANABAPTIS TS  OFMUNS TER.  243 

also  those  of  the  magistrates  who  had  supported  them; 
and  that  this  sentence  should  receive  immediate 
execution. "1 

This  was  too  sweeping  a  measure  to  pass  without 
provoking  resistance.  The  burgomaster,  Tilbeck,  who 
felt  that  the  blow  was  aimed  at  himself,  exclaimed, 
angrily :  "  Is  this  the  reward  I  receive  for  having 
prudently  governed  the  republic  ?  But  we  will  not 
suffer  the  innocent  to  be  oppressed,  and  we  shall  treat 
you  in  such  a  manner  as  will  calm  your  insolence." 

These  words  gave  the  signal  for  an  open  rupture. 

Knipperdolling  and  Hermann  Krampe,  both  mem- 
bers of  the  senate,  drew  their  swords  and  ranged 
themselves  beside  the  burgomaster,  calling  the  people 
to  arms.  The  mob  at  once  rushed  upon  the  senators. 
The  servants  of  the  chapter  and  the  clergy  in  the 
cathedral  close,  hastened  carrying  arms  to  the  assist- 
ance of  the  magistrates.  Both  parties  sought  a  place  of 
defence,  each  anticipating  an  attack.  The  Lutherans 
occupied  the  Rath-haus  and  barricaded  the  doors. 
The  Anabaptists  retired  behind  the  strong  walls  of 
the  cemetery  of  St.  Lambert.  The  night  was  spent 
by  both  parties  under  arms,  and  a  fight  appeared 
imminent  on  the  morrow.  Then  the  syndic  Johann 
von  Wyck  persuaded  the  frightened  senate  to  moderate 
their  sentence,  and  hurrying  to  the  Anabaptists,  he 
urged  them  to  be  reconciled  to  the  magistrates.  An 
agreement  was  finally  concluded,  whereby  Rottmann 
was  forbidden  for  the  future  to  preach,  and  every  one 
was  to  be  allowed  to  believe  what  he  liked,  and  to 
disbelieve  what  he  chose. 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  450  et  seq. 


244  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Master  Bernard,  however,  evaded  his  obligation  by 
holding  meetings  in  private  houses  at  night,  to  which 
his  followers  were  summoned  by  the  discharge  of  a 
gun.1  Considering  that  it  was  now  necessary  that  his 
adherents  should  have  their  articles  of  belief,  or  rather 
of  disbelief,  as  a  bond  of  union  and  of  distinction 
between  themselves  and  the  Lutherans,  he  drew  up  a 
profession  of  faith  in  nineteen  articles.  That  which  he 
had  published  nine  months  before  was  antiquated,  and 
represented  the  creed  of  the  Lutheran  faction,  against 
which  he  was  now  at  variance. 

This  second  creed  contained  the  following  proposi- 
tions : — 

The  baptism  of  children  is  abominable  before 
God. 

The  habitual  ceremonies  used  at  baptism  are  the 
work  of  the  devil  and  of  the  Pope,  who  is  Antichrist. 

The  consecrated  Host  is  the  great  Baal. 

A  Christian  (that  is,  a  member  of  Rottmann's  sect) 
does  not  set  foot  in  the  religious  assemblies  of  the  im- 
pious {i.e.,  of  the  Catholics  and  Lutherans). 

He  holds  no  communication  and  has  no  relations 
with  them  ;  he  is  not  bound  to  obey  their  authorities  ; 
he  has  nothing  in  common  with  their  tribunals ;  nor 
does  he  unite  with  them  in  marriage. 

The  Sabbath  was  instituted  by  the  Lord  God,  and 
there  is  no  scriptural  warrant  for  transferring  the  obli- 
gation to  the  Sunday. 

Papists  and  Lutherans  are  to  be  regarded  as  equally 
infamous,  and  those  who  give  faith  to  the  inventions 
of  priests  are  veritable  pagans. 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  453  ei  seq. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  245 

During  fourteen  centuries  there  have  been  no  true 
Christians.  Christ  was  the  last  priest ;  the  apostles 
did  not  enjoy  the  priestly  office. 

Jesus  Christ  did  not  derive  His  human  nature  from 
Mary.1 

Every  marriage  concluded  before  re-baptism  is 
invalid. 

Faith  in  Christ  must  precede  baptism. 

Wives  shall  call  their  husbands  lords. 

Usury  is  forbidden. 

The  faithful  shall  possess  all  things  in  common. 

The  publication  of  this  formulary  of  faith,  if  such 
it  may  be  called,  which  is  a  string  of  negative  pro- 
positions, increased  the  alarm  of  the  more  sober  citi- 
zens, who,  feeling  the  insecurity  of  property  and  life 
under  a  powerless  magistracy,  prepared  to  leave  the 
town.  Many  fled  and  left  their  Lutheranism  behind 
them.  Lening,  one  of  the  preachers  sent  by  the  Land- 
grave of  Hesse,  ran  away. 

Fabricius  had  more  courage.  He  preached  ener- 
getically against  Rottmann,  assisted  by  Dr.  Johann 
Westermann,  a  Lutheran  theologian  of  Lippe.2 

According  to  Kerssenbroeck,  however,  half  the  town 
followed  by  the  Anabaptist  leader,  and  brought  their 
goods   and  money  to  lay  them  at  his   feet.      Those 

1  This  is  corroborated  by  the  Acta,  Handlungen,  &c,  fol.  385. 
"  The  Preachers  :  Do  you  believe  that  Christ  received  His  flesh 
off  the  flesh  of  Mary,  by  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ?  John 
of  Leyde?i :  No ;  such  is  not  the  teaching  of  Scripture."  And  he 
explained  that  if  the  flesh  had  been  taken  from  Mary,  it  must 
have  been  sinful,  for  she  was  not  immaculate. 

2  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  456;  Sleidan,  p.  411. 


246  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

who  had  nothing  of  their  own,  in  a  body  joined  the 
society  which  proclaimed  community  of  goods. 

The  bishop  again  wrote  to  the  magistrates,  urging 
them  to  permit  the  Catholic  preacher,  Mumpert,  the 
use  of  the  cathedral  pulpit,  but  the  senate  refused,  and 
continued  their  vain  efforts  to  build  their  theological 
system  on  a  slide.  At  their  request,  Fabricius  and 
Westermann  drew  up  (November  28,  1533)  a  symbol 
of  belief  in  opposition  to  that  formulated  by  Rottmann, 
and  it  was  read  and  adopted  by  the  Lutherans  in  the 
Church  of  St.  Lambert.  A  large  number  of  the  people 
gave  in  their  adhesion  to  this  last  and  newest  creed, 
and  the  magistrates,  emboldened  thereby,  made  a  de- 
scent upon  the  house  of  the  ex-superintendent,  and 
confiscated  his  private  press,  with  which  he  had  printed 
his  tracts.1 

It  was  then  that  the  two  apostles,  Buchbinder  and 
Bockelson,  sent  by  Matthisson  into  Westphalia,  ap- 
peared in  the  city.  They  remained  there  only  four 
days,  during  which  they  re-baptised  the  preachers  and 
several  of  their  adepts,  and  then  retired  prophesying 
their  speedy  return  and  the  advent  of  the  reign  of 
grace. 

Rottmann,  highly  exasperated  against  Fabricius  for 
having  drawn  up  his  counter-creed,  went  on  the  30th 
November  to  the  churchyard  of  St.  Lambert,  and 
standing  in  an  elevated  situation,  preached  to  the 
people  on  his  own  new  creed,  whilst  Fabricius  was 
discoursing  within  to  his  congregation  on  his  own  pro- 
fession of  faith. 

When  service  was  over  Fabricius  came  out,  and  was 
1  Ibid.  p.  456. 


THE  ANABAPTIS TS  OF MUNS TER.  247 

immediately  attacked  by  Rottmann  with  injurious  ex- 
pressions, which,  however,  so  exasperated  the  congre- 
gation of  the  Lutheran,  that  they  fell  upon  the  late 
superintendent  of  the  Evangelical  Church,  and  threat- 
ened him  with  their  sticks  and  fists. 

On  the  1st  December,  Fabricius  complained  in  the 
pulpit  of  the  insult  he  had  received,  and  appealed  to 
the  people  to  judge  between  his  doctrine  and  that  of 
Master  Bernard  by  the  difference  there  was  between 
their  respective  behaviour.1 

A  new  Anabaptist  orator  now  appeared  on  the 
stage ;  he  was  a  blacksmith's  apprentice,  named 
Johann  Schroeder.  On  the  8th  December  he  occupied 
the  position  in  the  cemetery  of  St.  Lambert  from  which 
Rottmann  had  been  forced  to  fly,  and  defied  the 
Lutherans  to  oppose  him  with  the  pure  Word  of  God. 
He  denounced  them  as  still  in  darkness,  as  wrapped 
in  the  trappings  of  Popery,  and  as  enemies  to  the 
Gospel  of  Christ  and  Evangelical  liberty.  Then 
he  dared  Fabricius  to  meet  him  in  a  public  dis- 
cussion, and  prove  his  doctrine  by  the  text  of  Scrip- 
ture.2 

The  magistrates  resolved  on  one  more  attempt  to 
arrest  the  disorder.  On  the  nth  November  they  in- 
formed Rottmann  that,  unless  he  immediately  left  the 
city,  they  would  decree  his  outlawry.  Rottmann  sent 
a  message  to  them  in  reply,  "  That  he  would  not  go ; 
that  he  was  not  afraid ;  and  that  exile  was  to  him  an 
empty  word,  for,  wherever  he  was,  the  heavenly  Father 
would  cover  him  with  His  wings."  He  took  no  further 
notice  of  the  order,  except  only  that  he  instituted  a 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  461.  2  Ibid.  p.  461. 


248  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

bodyguard  of  armed  citizens  to  accompany  him  wher- 
ever he  went.  On  the  Sunday  following,  December 
14th,  he  betook  himself,  surrounded  by  his  guard,  to 
the  church  of  the  Servites,  where  he  intended  to 
preach.  But  finding  the  doors  locked,  he  placed  him- 
self under  a  lime-tree  near  the  building  and  pro- 
nounced his  discourse,  without  any  one  venturing  to 
lay  a  hand  upon  him.1 

The  magistrates  were  equally  unsuccessful  in  silenc- 
ing the  blacksmith  Schrceder.  This  man,  having 
preached  again  on  the  15th  December,  was  taken  by 
the  police  and  thrown  into  prison.  Next  day  the 
members  of  the  Blacksmiths'  Guild  marched  to  the 
Rath-haus,  armed  with  their  hammers  and  with  bars  of 
iron,  to  demand  the  release  of  their  comrade.  A 
violent  dispute  arose  between  the  senators  and  the 
exasperated  artisans.  The  former  declared  that 
Schrceder,  whose  trade  was  to  shoe  horses  and  not  to 
preach,  had  deserved  death  for  having  incited  to  sedi- 
tion. The  reply  of  the  blacksmiths  was  very  similar 
to  that  made  by  the  senate  to  the  bishop  when  he 
ordered  the  expulsion  of  Rottmann.  "  Schrceder," 
said  they,  "  has  been  urged  on  by  love  of  truth,  and  he 
has  preached  with  so  much  zeal  that  he  has  made 
himself  hoarse.  He  has  been  guilty  neither  of  mur- 
der nor  of  any  crime  worthy  of  death.  How  dare  you 
maltreat  this  one  who  has  given  edifying  instruction 
to  his  fellow  citizens  ?  Must  nothing  be  done  without 
your  authorisation  ?  "  Upon  the  heels  of  the  argu- 
ments came  menaces.  The  senate  yielded  again,  and 
promised  to  release  Schrceder  on  the  morrow. 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  163  ;  Dorpius,  f.  394  a. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  249 

"  Not  to-morrow,"  shouted  the  blacksmiths  ;  "  re- 
store our  comrade  to  us  immediately,  or  we  will  burst 
open  the  prison  doors." 

The  magistrates  bowed  to  the  storm,  taking,  how- 
ever, the  worse  than  useless  precaution  of  making 
Schrceder  swear,  before  they  knocked  off  his  chains, 
that  he  would  not  attempt  to  revenge  on  them  his 
captivity.1 

On  the  2 1st  December,  Rottmann  resumed  the  use 
of  his  pulpit  in  the  church  of  the  Servites,  treating  the 
orders  of  the  senate  with  supreme  contempt.  Wester- 
mann,  tired  of  a  struggle  with  the  swelling  tide,  de- 
serted Munster,  leaving  Fabricius  alone  to  fight  against 
the  growing  power  of  the  Anabaptists. 

The  year  1534  opened  under  gloomy  auspices  at 
Munster.  In  the  first  few  days  of  January,  the  new 
sect  dealt  the  Lutherans  the  same  measure  these 
latter  had  dealt  the  Catholics  a  twelvemonth  before. 
They  invaded  their  churches  and  disturbed  divine 
worship. 

Fabricius  attacked  Rottmann  violently  in  a  sermon 
preached  on  the  4th  January,  and  offered  to  have  a 
public  discussion  with  him  on  the  moot  points  of 
doctrine.  The  senate  accepted  the  proposition  with 
transport,  but  Rottmann  refused.  "  Not,"  said  he,  "  that 
I  am  afraid  of  entering  the  lists  against  this  Lutheran, 
but  that  men  are  so  corrupt  that  they  would  certainly 
condemn  that  side  which  had  for  its  support  right  and 
the  word  of  Scripture."2 

On  the  same  day  that  Rottmann  sent  in  his  refusal, 
a  band  of  women  tumultuously  entered  the  town-hall 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  464.  2  Ibid.  pp.  466,  467. 


250  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

and  demanded  that  "  the  miserable  foreign  vagabond 
Fabricius,  who  could  not  even  speak  the  dialect  of  the 
country,  and  who,  inspired  by  an  evil  spirit,  preaches 
all  kinds  of  absurdities  in  a  tongue  scarcely  intel- 
ligible, should  be  driven  out  of  the  city.  Set  in  his 
place  the  worthy  Rottmann,"  said  the  women ;  a  he  is 
prudent,  eloquent,  instructed  in  every  kind  of  know- 
ledge, and  he  can  speak  our  language.  Grant  us  this 
favour,  Herrn  Burgmeistern,  and  we  will  pray  God 
for  you."  The  burgomasters  requested  the  ladies  not 
to  meddle  with  matters  that  concerned  them  not,  but 
to  return  to  their  families  and  kitchens.  This  invita- 
tion drove  them  into  a  paroxysm  of  rage,  and  they 
shouted  at  the  top  of  their  shrill  voices :  "  Here  are 
fine  burgomasters  !  They  are  neglecting  the  interests 
of  the  town  !  Here  are  tender  fathers  of  their  country 
who  attend  to  nothing !  You  are  worse  than  mur- 
derers, for  they  kill  the  body,  but  you  assassinate  souls 
by  depriving  them  of  the  Evangelical  Word  which  is 
their  nourishment."  The  women  then  retired,  but  re- 
turned next  day  reinforced  by  others,  and  among 
them  were  six  nuns  who  had  deserted  the  convent  of 
Ueberwasser  and  exhibited  greater  violence  than  the 
rest. 

The  women  entered  the  hall  where  the  senators  were 
sitting  and  demanded  peremptorily  that  Rottmann 
should  be  instituted  to  the  church  of  St.  Lambert. 
They  were  turned  out  of  the  hall  without  much  cere- 
mony, but  they  waited  the  exit  of  the  magistrates 
when  their  session  was  at  an  end  ;  then  they  be- 
spattered them  with  cow  and  horse  dung,  and  cursed 
them  as  Papists.     "  At  first  you  favoured  our  holy  en- 


THE  AN  ABA  P  TIS  TS  OF  MUNS  TER.  25 1 

terprise,  but  you  have  returned  to  Popery  like  dogs  to 
their  vomit.  Since  you  have  devoured  the  good 
Hessian  God  which  Fabricius  offers  you  in  com- 
munion, you  oppress  the  pure  Word  of  God.  To  the 
gallows,  to  the  gallows  with  you  all !  "  The  senators 
fled  to  their  houses,  pursued  by  the  women,  covered 
with  filth,  and  deafened  by  their  yells.1 

Rottmann  and  his  colleagues  exercised  an  extra- 
ordinary influence  over  the  people  ;  they  persuaded  the 
rich  ladies  and  citizens'  wives  of  substance  to  sell 
their  goods,  give  up  their  jewels,  and  cast  everything 
they  had  into  a  common  fund.  The  prompt  sub- 
mission of  so  many  proves  that  the  number  of  fanatics 
who  were  sincere  in  their  convictions  was  considerable. 
These  proceedings  led  to  estrangement  in  families. 
Kerssenbroeck  relates  that  the  wife  of  one  of 
the  senators,  named  Wardemann,  having  been  re- 
baptised  by  Rottmann,  "was  so  vigorously  confirmed 
in  her  faith  by  her  husband,  who  had  been  informed 
by  a  servant  maid  of  the  circumstance,  that  she 
could  not  walk  for  several  weeks."  Other  women, 
who  had  given  up  their  jewels  and  money  to 
Rottmann,  were  also  severely  chastised  by  their 
husbands.2 

The  magistrates,  afraid  to  touch  Rottmann's  person, 
hoped  to  weaken  him  by  dismissing  his  assistants. 
They  therefore,  on  the  15th  January,  1534,  ordered 
their  officers  to  take  the  Anabaptist  preachers,  Clopris, 
Roll,  and  Strahl,  and  to  turn  them  out  of  the  town, 
with  orders  never  to  re-enter  it.  The  mandate  was  ex- 
ecuted ;  but  the  ministers  returned  by  another  gate, 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  468.  2  Ibid.  p.  472. 


252  FREAKS  OF  FAN  A  TIC  ISM. 

and  were  conducted  in  triumph  to  their  parsonages  by 
the  whole  body  of  the  Anabaptists.1 

The  fugitive  nuns  of  Ueberwasser,  to  the  number  of 
eight,  were  re-baptised  by  Rottmann  on  the  I  ith  Jan- 
uary, and  became  some  of  his  most  devoted  adherents. 
Their  conduct  in  the  sequel  was  characterised  by  the 
most  shameless  lubricity. 

The  prince-bishop  at  this  time  published  a  decree 
against  the  Anabaptists,  outlawed  Rottmann  and  five 
other  preachers  of  that  sect  in  Miinster,  and  ordered 
his  officers  to  check  the  spread  of  the  schism  through 
the  other  towns  of  his  principality. 

On  the  23rd  January,  Rottmann  having  noticed 
some  Catholics  and  Lutherans  amongst  his  audience 
in  the  church  of  the  Servites,  abruptly  stopped  his 
sermon,  saying  that  it  was  not  meet  to  cast  the  pearls 
of  the  new  revelation  before  swine.2  Then  he  de- 
scended from  the  pulpit,  and  refused  to  remount  it 
again.  But  probably  the  real  cause  of  this  sudden 
cessation  was,  that  the  views  of  the  leader  were  under- 
going a  third  change,  and  he  was  unwilling  to  announce 
his  new  doctrine  to  an  audience  of  which  all  were  not 
prepared  to  receive  it.  He  continued  to  assemble  the 
faithful  in  private  houses,  and  to  hold  daily  assemblies, 
in  which  they  were  initiated  into  the  further  mysteries 
of  his  revelation.  In  every  parish  a  house. was  pro- 
vided for  the  purpose,  and  none  were  admitted 
without  a  pass -word.  In  these  gatherings  the 
mystic  was  able  to  give  full  development  to  his  views 
without  the  restraint  of  an  only  partially  sympathis- 
ing audience. 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  473.  2  Ibid.  p.  476. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  253 

On  the  evening  of  the  28th  January,  at  seven  o'clock, 
the  Anabaptists  stretched  chains  across  the  streets, 
assembled  in  armed  bands,  closed  the  city  gates,  and 
placed  sentinels  in  all  directions.  A  terrible  anxiety 
reigned  in  the  city.  The  Lutherans  remained  up  and 
awake  all  night,  a  prey  to  fear,  with  their  doors  and 
windows  barricaded,  waiting  to  see  what  these  prepara- 
tions signified.  The  night  passed,  broken  only  by 
the  tramp  of  the  sectarian  fanatics,  and  lighted  by  the 
glare  of  their  torches. 

Dawn  broke  and  nothing  further  had  taken  place, 
when  suddenly  two  men,  dressed  like  prophets,  with 
long  ragged  beards,  ample  garments,  and  flowing 
mantles,  staff  in  hand  paced  through  the  town 
solemnly,  up  one  street  and  down  another,  raising  their 
eyes  to  heaven,  sighing,  and  then  looking  down  with 
an  expression  of  compassion  on  the  multitude,  which 
bowed  before  them  and  saluted  them  as  Enoch  and 
Elias.  After  having  traversed  the  greater  part  of  the 
town,  the  two  men  entered  the  door  of  Knipperdolling's 
house.1 

The  names  of  these  prophets  were  John  Matthisson 
and  John  Bockelson.  The  first  was  the  chief  of  the 
Anabaptist  sect  in  Holland.  The  part  which  the 
second  was  destined  to  play  in  Munster  demands  that 
his  antecedents  should  be  more  fully  given.  Bockel- 
son was  the  bastard  son  of  Bockel,  bailiff  of  the  Hague, 
and  a  certain  Adelhaid,  daughter  of  a  serf  of  the  Lord 
of  Zoelcken,  in  the  diocese  of  Munster.  This  Adel- 
haid purchased  her  liberty  afterwards  and  married  her 
seducer.  John  was  brought  up  at  Leyden,  where  he 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  476. 


2S4  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

was  apprenticed  to  a  tailor.  He  visited  England, 
Portugal,  and  Lubeck,  and  returned  to  Leyden  in  his 
twenty-first  year."  He  then  married  the  widow  of  a 
boatman,  who  presented  him  with  two  sons.  John 
Bockelson  was  endowed  by  nature  with  a  ready  wit 
and  with  a  retentive  memory.  He  amused  himself  by 
learning  nearly  the  whole  of  the  Bible  by  heart,  and  by 
composing  obscene  verses  and  plays.  In  addition  to 
his  business  of  tailoring,  he  opened  a  public-house  un- 
der the  sign  of  u  The  Three  Herrings,"  which  became  a 
haunt  of  women  of  bad  repute.  The  passion  for  change 
came  over  Bockelson  after  leading  this  sort  of  life  for 
a  while,  and  he  visited  Minister  in  1533,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  and  thence  passed  to  Osnabruck,  from 
which  place  he  was  expelled.  After  wandering  about 
Westphalia  for  a  while  he  returned  to  Leyden.  Next 
year,  in  company  with  Matthisson,  the  head  of  the 
Anabaptists,  he  visited  Miinster,  which  the  latter  de- 
clared prophetically  was  destined  to  be  the  new  Jer- 
usalem, the  capital  of  a  regenerate  world,  where  the 
millennial  kingdom  was  to  be  set  up.1 

The  two  adventurers  reached  their  destination  on 
the  13th  January,  and  Knipperdolling  received  them 
into  his  house.  Some  of  the  preachers  were  informed 
of  their  arrival,  but  were  required  to  keep  the  matter 
secret  till  the  time  ordained  of  God  should  come  for 
their  revealing  themselves  to  the  world. 

A  council  was  being  held  in  the  house  of  Knipper- 
dolling, when  the  prophets  entered  it  after  having 
finished  their  peregrination  of  the  town.     Rottmann, 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  part  ii.  p.  51  et  scq.j  Heresbach,  p.  31  ; 
Hast,  p.  324. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER. 


255 


Roll,  Clopris,  Stapedius,  Vinnius,  and  Strahl  were 
engaged  in  a  warm  discussion.  Some  of  the  party 
were  of  opinion  that  the  moment  had  arrived,  now 
that  all  the  Anabaptists  were  under  arms,  for  a  general 
purification  of  the  city  by  the  massacre  or  expulsion 
of  Catholics  and  Lutherans ;  the  others  thought  that 
the  hour  of  vengeance  had  not  yet  struck,  and  that 
the  day  of  the  Lord  must  not  be  antedated.  The 
quarrel  was  appeased  by  the  appearance  of  the  two 
prophets,  who  were  hailed  as  messengers  sent  from 
heaven  to  announce  the  will  of  God.  Then  Matthisson 
and  his  companion  knelt  down  and  wept,  and  having 
meditated  some  moments,  they  uttered  their  decision 
in  voices  broken  by  sobs.  "  The  time  for  cleansing 
the  threshing-floor  of  the  Lord  is  not  yet  come.  The 
slaughter  of  the  ungodly  must  be  delayed,  that  souls 
may  be  gathered  in,  and  that  souls  may  be  formed 
and  educated  in  houses  set  apart,  and  not  in  churches 
which  were  lately  filled  with  idols.  But,"  said  they 
in  conclusion,  "  the  day  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand." 

These  words  reconciled  the  council.  On  the  evening- 
of  the  29th,  the  Anabaptists  laid  aside  their  arms  and 
returned  to  their  homes.1  The  events  of  the  night 
had  utterly  dispelled  the  last  traces  of  courage  in  the 
magistrates  ;  they  did  not  venture  to  notice  the 
threatening  aspect  of  the  armed  fanatics,  or  to  remon- 
strate with  them  for  barricading  the  streets.  To  avert 
all  possible  danger  from  themselves  was  their  only 
object ;  and  to  effect  this  they  published  an  act  of 
toleration,  permitting  every  man  to  worship  God  and 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  part  i.  p.  477  et  seq. 


sS6  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

perform  his  public  and  private  devotions  as  he  thought 
proper. 

The  power  of  Rottmann  had  become  so  great, 
through  the  events  just  recorded,  that  a  false  prophecy 
did  not  serve  to  upset  his  authority.  On  the  6th 
February,  at  the  head  of  a  troop  of  his  admirers,  he 
invaded  the  Church  of  Ueberwasser,  "  to  prevent  the 
Evangelical  flame  kindled  in  the  hearts  of  the  nuns 
from  dying  out."1  Having  summoned  all  the  sisters 
into  the  church,  he  mounted  the  pulpit  and  preached  to 
them  a  sermon  on  matrimony,  in  which  he  denounced 
convents  and  monasteries,  in  which  the  most  imperious 
laws  of  nature  were  left  unfulfilled,  and  "  he  urged  the 
nuns  to  labour  heartily  for  the  propagation  of  the 
human  race ;"  and  then  he  completely  turned  the 
heads  of  the  young  women,  by  announcing  to  them 
with  an  inspired  air,  that  their  convent  would  fall  at 
midnight,  and  would  bury  beneath  its  ruins  every  one 
who  was  found  within  its  walls.  "This  salutary 
announcement  has  been  made  to  me,"  said  he, 
"  by  one  of  the  prophets  now  present  in  this  town, 
and  the  Heavenly  Father  has  also  favoured  me 
with  a  direct  and  special  revelation  to  the  same 
effect."2 

This  was  enough  to  complete  the  conversion  of  the 
nuns,  already  shaken  in  their  faith  by  the  sermons  they 
had  been  compelled  to  listen  to  for  some  time  past. 
In  vain  did  the  Abbess  Ida  and  two  other  sisters 
implore  them  to  remain  and  despise  the  prophecy. 
The  infatuated  women,  in  paroxysms  of  fear  and 
excitement,  fled  the  convent  and  took  refuge  in  the 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  479.  2  Hast,  p.  329  et  seq. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER,  257 

house  of  Rottmann,  where  they  changed  their  clothes, 
and  then  ran  about  the  town  uttering  cries  of 
joy. 

The  prophecy  of  Rottmann  had  been  repeated  by 
one  to  another  throughout  Minister.  No  one  slept 
that  night.  Crowds  poured  down  the  streets  in  the 
direction  of  Ueberwasser,  and  the  square  in  front  of 
the  convent  was  densely  packed  with  breathless 
spectators,  awaiting  the  ruin  of  the  house. 

Midnight  tolled  from  the  cathedral  tower.  The 
crowd  waited  another  hour.  It  struck  one,  and  the 
convent  had  not  fallen.  Master  Bernard  was  not  the 
man  to  be  disconcerted  by  so  small  a  matter.  "  Pro- 
phecies," cried  he,  "are  always  conditional.  Jonah 
foretold  that  Nineveh  should  be  destroyed  in  forty 
days,  but  since  the  inhabitants  repented,  it  remained 
standing.  The  same  has  taken  place  here.  Nearly 
all  the  nuns  have  repented,  have  quitted  their 
cloister  and  their  habit,  have  renounced  their  vows 
— thus  the  anger  of  the  Heavenly  Father  has  been 
allayed."1 

The  preacher  Roll  was  next  seized  with  prophetic 
inspiration.  He  ran  through  the  town,  foaming  at  the 
mouth,  his  eyes  rolling,  his  hair  and  garments  in  dis- 
order, his  face  haggard,  uttering  at  one  moment  in- 
articulate howls,  and  at  another,  exhortations  to  the 
impenitent  to  turn  and  be  saved,  for  that  the  day  of 
the  Lord  was  at  hand.2 

A  young  girl  of  eighteen,  the  daughter  of  a  tailor 
named  Gregory  Zumberge,  was  next  seized.     "  On  the 
8th  February  she  was  possessed  with  a  sort  of  oratori- 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  479.  2  Dorpius,  p.  394. 


258  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

cal  fury,  and  she  preached  with  fire  and  extraordinary 
volubility  before  an  astonished  crowd." 

The  same  day  the  spirit  fell  on  Knipperdolling  and 
Bockelson  ;  they  ran  about  the  streets  with  bare  heads 
and  uplifted  eyes,  repeating  incessantly  in  shrill  tones, 
"Repent,  repent,  repent,  ye  sinners;  woe,  woe!" 
Having  reached  the  market-place,  they  fell  into  one 
another's  arms  before  a  crowd  of  citizens  and  artizans 
who  ran  up  from  all  directions.  At  the  same  moment, 
the  tailor,  Gregory  Zumberge,  father  of  the  preaching 
damsel,  arrived  with  his  hair  flying,  his  arms  extended, 
his  face  contorted,  and  a  wild  light  playing  in  his  eyes, 
and  cried,  "  Lift  up  your  heads,  O  men,  O  dear 
brothers  !  I  see  the  majesty  of  God  in  the  clouds,  and 
Jesus  waving  the  standard  of  victory.  Woe  to  ye 
impious  ones  who  have  resisted  the  truth !  Repent, 
repent !  I  see  the  Heavenly  Father  surrounded  by 
thousands  of  angels  menacing  you  with  destruction ! 
Be  converted !  the  great  and  terrible  day  of  the  Lord 
is  come.  .  .  ,  God  will  truly  purge  His  floor,  and 
burn  the  chaff  with  unquenchable  fire.  .  .  .  Re- 
nounce your  evil  ways  and  adopt  the  sign  of  the  New 
Convenant,  if  you  wish  to  escape  the  wrath  of  the 
Lord." 

"  It  is  impossible,"  says  the  oft-quoted  writer,  who 
was  eye-witness  in  the  town  of  all  he  describes,  "im- 
possible to  imagine  the  gestures  and  antics  which 
accompanied  this  discourse.  Now  the  tailor  leaped 
about  on  the  stones  and  seemed  as  though  about  to 
fly ;  then  he  turned  his  head  with  extraordinary 
rapidity,  beating  his  hands  together,  and  looking  up 
to  heaven  and  then  down  to  earth.     Then,  all  at  once, 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  259 

an  expression  of  despair  came  over  his  face,  and  he 
fell    on   the   pavement   in    the    form  of  a  cross,  and 
rolled  in   the    mud.       A   good   number  of  us  young 
fellows  were  there,"  continues  Kerssenbroeck,  "  much 
astonished  at  their  howling,  and  looking  attentively  at 
the  sky  to  see  if  there  really  was  anything  extraordin- 
ary to  be  seen  there  ;  but  not  distinguishing  anything 
we  began  to  make  fun  of  the  illuminati,  and  this  de- 
cided them  to  retire  to  the  house  of  Knipperdolling."1 
There  a  new  scene  commenced.     The  ecstatics  left 
doors  and  windows  wide  open,  that  all  that   passed 
within  might  be  seen  and  heard  by  the  dense  crowd 
which  packed  the  street  without.     Those  in  the  street 
saw  Knipperdolling  place  himself  in  a  corner,  his  face 
to  the  wall,  and  carry  on  in  broken  accents  a  familiar 
conversation  with  God  the  Father.     At  one  moment 
he  was   seen   to   be   listening,  then   to   be   replying, 
making  the  strangest  gestures,    This  went  on  for  some 
time,  till  another  actor  appeared.      This  was  a  blind 
Scottish  beggar,  very  tall  and  gaunt — a  zealous  Ana- 
baptist.      He  was  fantastically  dressed  in   rags,  and 
wore  high-heeled  boots  to  add  to  his  stature.  Although 
blind,  he  ran  about  exclaiming  that  he  saw  strange 
visions  in  the  sky.      This  was  enough  to  attract  a 
crowd,   which    followed    him    to   the   corner'  of    the 
Konig's  Strasse,  when,  just   as   he   was   exclaiming, 
"Alas,  alas  !  Heaven  is  going  this  instant  to  fall !"  he 
tumbled  over  a  dung-heap  which  was  in  his  way.     This 
accident  woke  him  from  his  ecstasy,  and  he  picked 
himself  up  in  great  confusion,  and  never  prophesied 
again.2 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p,  483.         2  Ibid.  p.  479. 


260  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

But  his  place  was  speedily  supplied  by  another 
man  named  Jodocus  Culenburg,  who,  in  order  to  con- 
vey himself  with  greater  rapidity  whither  the  Spirit 
called  him,  rode  about  the  town  on  a  horse,  announc- 
ing in  every  street  that  he  heard  the  peal  of  the  Last 
Trumpet.  Several  women  also  were  taken  with  the 
prophetic  spirit,  and  one,  named  Timmermann, 
declared  that  "the  King  of  Heaven  was  about  to 
appear  like  a  lightning-flash,  and  would  re-establish 
Jerusalem."  Another  woman,  whose  cries  and  calls 
to  repentance  had  caused  her  to  lose  her  voice,  ran 
about  with  a  bell  attached  to  her  girdle,  urging  the 
bystanders  with  expressive  gestures  to  join  the  num- 
ber of  the  elect  and  be  saved.1 

These  fantastic  scenes  had  made  a  profound  impres- 
sion on  many  of  the  citizens  of  Mtinster.  A  nervous 
affection  accompanying  mystic  excitement  is  always 
infectious.  The  agitation  of  minds  and  consciences 
became  general ;  men  and  women  had  trances,  prayed 
in  public,  screamed,  had  visions,  and  fell  into  cataleptic 
fits.  In  those  days  people  knew  nothing  of  physical 
and  psychological  causes  ;  the  general  excitement  was 
attributed  by  them  to  supernatural  agency.  It  was 
simply  a  question  whether  these  signs  were  produced 
by  the  devil  or  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  The  Catholics 
attributed  the  signs  to  the  agency  of  Satan ;  the 
Lutherans  were  in  nervous  uncertainty.  Were  they 
resisting  God  or  the  devil  ?  Fear  lest  they  should  be 
found  in  the  ranks  of  those  fighting  against  the  Holy 
Spirit  drew  off  numbers  of  the  timorous  and  most  con- 
scientious to  swell  the  ranks  of  the  mystical  sect. 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  4S4. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  261 

Mlinster  was  exhibiting  on  a  large  scale  what  is  re- 
produced in  our  own  land  in  many  a  Wesleyan  and 
Ranter  revival  meeting. 

The  time  had  now  come,  thought  Rottmann,  for  the 
destruction  of  the  enemies  of  God.  Secret  notice  was 
sent  to  the  different  Anabaptist  congregations  to  be 
prepared  to  strike  the  blow  on  the  9th  of  February. 
Accordingly,  early  in  the  morning,  500  fanatics  seized 
on  the  gates  of  the  city,  the  Rath-haus,  and  the  arms 
it  contained ;  cannons  were  planted  in  the  chapel  of 
St.  Michael,  the  tower  of  St.  Lambert's  church,  and  in 
the  market  place  ;  barricades  of  stones,  barrels,  and 
benches  from  the  church  were  thrown  up.  The  com- 
mon danger  united  Catholics  and  Lutherans ;  they 
saw  clearly  that  the  intention  of  their  adversaries  was 
either  to  massacre  them,  or  to  drive  them  out  of  the 
town.  They  retreated  in  haste  to  the  Ueberwasser 
quarter,  and  took  up  their  position  in  the  cemetery, 
planted  cannons,  placed  bodies  of  armed  men  in  the 
tower  of  the  cathedral,  and  retook  two  of  the  city 
gates.  They  also  arrested  several  of  the  senators  who 
had  joined  the  Anabaptist  sect,  but  they  had  not  the 
courage  to  lay  their  hands  on  the  burgomaster,  Til- 
beck,  who  was  also  of  that  party.  Two  of  the 
preachers,  Strahl  and  Vinnius,  were  caught,  and  were 
lodged  in  the  tower  of  Ueberwasser  church.1 

Messages  were  sent  to  the  villages  and  towns  around 
announcing  the  state  of  affairs,  and  imploring  assist- 
ance. The  magistrates  even  wrote  in  the  stress  of 
their  terror  to  the  prince-bishop,  asking  him  to  come 
speedily  to  their  rescue  from  a  position  of  imminent 
1  Dorpius,  f.  394. 


262  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

peril.  Francis  of  Waldeck  at  once  replied  by  letter, 
promising  to  march  with  the  utmost  rapidity  to 
Mttnster,  and  demanding  that  one  of  the  gates  might 
be  opened  to  admit  him.  This  letter  was  taken  to 
Hermann  Tilbeck ;  but  the  burgomaster,  intent  on 
securing  the  triumph  of  the  fanatics,  with  whom  he  was 
in  league,  suppressed  the  letter,  and  did  not  mention 
either  its  arrival  or  its  contents  to  the  senate.  He, 
however,  informed  the  Anabaptists  of  their  danger,  and 
urged  them  to  come  to  terms  with  the  Lutherans  as 
speedily  as  possible. 

At  the  same  time  the  pastor,  Fabricius,  unable  to 
restrain  his  religious  prejudices,  even  in  the  face  of 
danger,  sped  among  the  Lutheran  ranks,  inciting  his 
followers  against  the  Catholics,  and  urging  them  to 
make  terms  with  the  fanatics  rather  than  submit  to 
the  bishop.  "  Beware,"  said  he,  "  lest,  in  the  event  of 
your  gaining  a  victory,  the  Papists  should  recover 
their  power,  for  it  is  they  who  are  the  real  cause  of  all 
these  evils  and  disorders." 

Whilst  the  preacher  was  sowing  discord  in  the  ranks 
of  the  party  of  order,  Rottmann  and  the  two  prophets, 
Matthisson  and  Bockelson,  roused  the  enthusiasm  of 
their  disciples  to  the  highest  pitch,  by  announcing  to 
them  a  glorious  victory,  and  that  the  Father  would 
render  His  elect  invulnerable  before  the  weapons  of 
their  adversaries. 

The  Anabaptist  women  ran  about  the  streets  making 
the  mostextraordinary  contortions  and  prodigious  leaps, 
crying  out  that  they  saw  the  Lord  surrounded  by  a  host 
of  angelscomingtoexterminate  the  worshippers  of  Baal. 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  405  ct  seq.  Monfort,  "  Tumult.  Anabap.," 
p.  15  et  seq. ;  Bullinger,  lib.  ii.  c.  8. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  263 

Thus  passed  the  night.  At  daybreak  Knipper- 
dolling  recommenced  his  course  through  the  streets, 
uttering  his  doleful  wail  of  "  Repent,  repent !  woe, 
woe !  "  Approaching  too  near  the  churchyard  wall  of 
Ueberwasser,  he  was  taken  and  thrown  into  the  tower 
with  Strahl  and  Vinnius. 

At  eight  o'clock  the  drossar  of  Wollbeck  arrived  at 
the  head  of  a  troop  of  armed  peasants  to  reinforce  the 
party  of  order,  and  several  ecclesiastics  entered  the 
town  to  inform  the  magistrates  that  the  prince-bishop 
was  approaching  at  the  head  of  his  cavalry. 

Before  the  lapse  of  many  hours  the  city  might  have 
been  pacified  and  order  re-established,  had  it  not  been 
for  the  efforts  of  Tilbeck  the  burgomaster,  and 
Fabricius  the  divine.  Mistrust  of  their  allies  had  now 
fully  gained  possession  of  the  Lutherans,  and  the 
burgomaster  took  advantage  of  the  hesitation  to  dis- 
miss the  drossar  of  Wollbeck  and  his  armed  band,  and 
to  send  to  the  prince,  declining  his  aid.  By  his  advice, 
also,  the  Anabaptists  agreed  to  lay  down  their  arms 
and  make  a  covenant  with  the  senate  for  the 
establishment  of  harmony.  Hostages  were  given  on 
either  side  and  the  prisoners  were  liberated.  Peace 
was  finally  concluded  on  these  conditions  :  1st.  That 
faith  should  be  absolutely  free.  2nd.  That  each  party 
should  support  the  other.  3rd.  That  all  should  obey 
the  magistrates. 

The  treaty  having  been  signed,  the  two  armed 
bodies  separated,  the  cannons  were  fired  into  the  air, 
the  drossar  of  Wollbeck  and  the  ecclesiastics  withdrew, 
with  grief  at  their  hearts,  predicting  the  approaching 
ruin  of  Mtinster.     The   prince-bishop   was   near  the 


264  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

town  with  his  troops  when  the  fatal  news  was  brought 
him.  He  shed  tears  of  mortification,  turned  his  horse 
and  departed.1 

Peace  was  secured  for  the  moment  by  this  treaty, 
but  order  was  not  re-established.  No  sooner  had  the 
armed  Anabaptists  quitted  the  market-place  than  it 
swarmed  with  women  who  had  received  from  Rottmann 
the  sign  of  the  New  Covenant.  "  The  madness  of  the 
pagan  bacchantes,"  says  the  eye-witness  of  these 
scenes,  Kerssenbroeck,2  "  cannot  have  surpassed  that 
of  these  women.  It  is  impossible  to  imagine  a  more 
terrible,  crazy,  indecent,  and  ridiculous  exhibition  than 
they  made.  Their  conduct  was  so  frenzied  that  one 
might  have  supposed  them  to  be  the  furies  of  the 
poets.  Some  had  their  hair  disordered,  others  ran 
about  almost  naked,  without  the  least  sense  of  shame  ; 
others  again  made  prodigious  gambles,  others  flung 
themselves  on  the  ground  with  arms  extended  in  the 
shape  of  a  cross  ;  then  rose,  clapped  their  hands, 
knelt  down,  and  cried  with  all  their  might,  invoking 
the  Father,  rolling  their  eyes,  grinding  their  teeth, 
foaming  at  the  mouth,  beating  their  breasts,  weeping, 
laughing,  howling,  and  uttering  the  most  strange  inar- 
ticulate sounds Their  words  were  stranger  than 

their  gestures.  Some  implored  grace  and  light  for  us, 
others  besought  that  we  might  be  struck  with  blind- 
ness and  damnation.  All  pretended  that  they  saw  in 
heaven  some  strange  sights  ;  they  saw  the  Father  de- 
scending to  judge  their  holy  cause,  myriads  of  angels 
clouds  of  blood,  black  and  blue  fires  falling  upon  the 

1  Same  authorities;  Sleidan,  p.  411. 

2  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  495  et  seq. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  265 

city,  and  above  the  clouds  a  rider  mounted  on  a  white 
horse,  brandishing  his  sword  against  the  impenitent 
who  refused  to  turn  from  their  evil  ways.  .  .  .  But  the 
scene  was  constantly  varying.  Kneeling  on  the 
ground,  and  turning  their  eyes  in  one  direction,  they 
all  at  once  exclaimed  together,  with  joined  hands,  '  O 
Father  !  Father  !  O  most  excellent  King  of  Zion,  spare 
the  people  ! '  Then  they  repeated  these  words  for 
some  while,  raising  the  pitch  of  their  voices,  till  they 
attained  to  such  a  shriek  that  a  host  of  pigs  could  not 
have  produced  a  louder  noise  when  assembled  on 
market-day. 

"  There  was  on  the  gable  of  one  of  the  houses  in  the 
market-place  a  weathercock  of  a  peculiar  form,  lately 
gilt,  which  just  then  caught  the  sun's  rays  and  blazed 
with  light.  This  weathercock  caused  the  error  of  the 
women.  They  mistook  it  for  the  most  excellent  King 
of  Zion.  One  of  the  citizens  discovering  the  cause, 
climbed  the  roof  of  the  house  and  removed  this  new 
sort  of  majesty.  A  calm  at  once  succeeded  to  the  up- 
roar ;  ashamed  and  full  of  confusion,  the  visionaries 
dispersed  and  returned  to  their  homes.  Unfortunately 
the  lesson  did  not  restore  them  to  their  senses." 

Shortly  after  the  treaty  was  signed,  the  burgomaster, 
Tilbeck,  openly  joined  the  Anabaptists,  and  was  re- 
baptised  with  all  his  family  by  Rottmann.1 

The  more  sensible  and  prudent  citizens,  including 
nearly  all  the  Catholics  and  a  good  number  of 
Lutherans,  being  well  aware  that  the  treaty  was,  in 
fact,  a  surrender  of  all  authority  into  the  hands  of  the 
fanatics,  deserted  the  town  in  great  numbers,  carrying 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  496. 


266  FREA  KS  OF  FAN  A  TIC  ISM. 

with  them  all  their  valuables.  The  emigration  began 
on  1 2th  February.  The  Anabaptists  ordered  that 
neither  weapons  nor  victuals  should  be  carried  out  of 
the  gates,  and  appointed  a  guard  to  examine  the 
effects  of  all  those  who  left  the  city.  The  emigration 
was  so  extensive,  that  in  a  few  days  several  quarters 
of  the  town  were  entirely  depopulated.1 

Then  Rottmann  addressed  a  circular  letter  to  the 
Anabaptists  of  all  the  neighbouring  towns  to  come  and 
fill  the  deserted  mansions  from  which  the  apostates 
had  fallen.  "  The  Father  has  sent  me  several  pro- 
phets/' said  he,  "  full  of  His  Spirit  and  endowed  with 
exalted  sanctity  ;  they  teach  the  pure  word  of  God, 
without  human  additions,  and  with  sublime  eloquence. 
Come  then,  with  your  wives  and  children,  if  you  hope 
for  eternal  salvation  ;  come  to  the  holy  Jerusalem,  to 
Zion,  and  to  the  new  temple  of  Solomon.  Come  and 
assist  us  to  re-establish  the  true  worship  of  God,  and 
to  banish  idolatry.  Leave  your  worldly  goods  behind, 
you  will  find  here  a  sufficiency,  and  in  heaven  a 
treasure."2 

In  response  to  this  appeal,  the  Anabaptists  streamed 
into  the  city  from  all  quarters,  from  Holland,  Friesland, 
Brabant,  Hesse,  Osnabriick,  and  from  the  neighbour- 
ing towns,  where  the  magistrates  exerted  themselves 
to  suppress  a  sect  which  they  saw  imperilled  the  safety 
of  the  commonwealth. 

In  a  short  while  the  deserted  houses  were  peopled 
by  these  fanatics.  Bernhard  Krechting,  pastor  of 
Gildehaus,  arrived  at  the  head  of  a  large  portion  of  his 

1  Kerssenbroeck ;  Dorpius,  ff.  394-5. 
3  Ibid.,  p.  502  ;  Mencken,  p.  1545. 


THE  ANABAP TIS  TS  OF  MUNS  TER.  267 

parishioners.  Hermann  Regewart,  the  ex-Lutheran 
preacher  of  Warendorf,  sought  a  home  in  the  new 
Jerusalem.  Rich  and  well-born  persons,  bitten  with 
the  madness,  arrived  ,  such  were  Peter  Schwering  and 
his  wife,  the  wealthiest  citizens  of  Coesfeld ;  Werner 
von  Scheiffort,  a  country  gentleman  ;  the  Lady  von 
Becke  with  her  three  daughters,  of  whom  the  two 
eldest  were  broken  nuns,  and  the  youngest  was  be- 
trothed to  the  Lord  of  Dorlo  ;  and  the  Grograff  of 
Schoppingen,  Heinrich  Krechting,  with  his  wife,  his 
children,  and  a  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  town, 
with  carts  laden  with  their  effects.  The  Grograff 
took  up  his  abode  in  Kerssenbroeck's  house,  along 
with  his  family  and  servants,  and,  as  the  chronicler 
bitterly  remarks,  he  took  care  to  occupy  the  best  part 
of  the  mansion.1 

Amongst  those  who  escaped  from  the  town  were 
the  syndic,  Von  Wyck,  who  had  led  the  opposition 
against  the  bishop,  and  the  burgomaster,  Caspar 
Judenfeld.  The  latter  retired  to  Hamm  and  was  left 
unmolested,  but  Von  Wyck  had  played  too  conspicu- 
ous a  part  to  escape  so  easily.  By  the  orders  of  the 
prince-bishop  he  was  arrested  and  executed  at 
Vastenau.2 

Munster  now  became  the  theatre  of  the  wildest 
orgies  ever  perpetrated  under  the  name  of  religion.  It 
is  apparently  a  law  that  mysticism  should  rapidly  pass 
from  the  stage  of  asceticism  into  that  of  licence.  At 
any  rate,  such  has  been  the  invariable  succession  of 
stages  in  every  mystic  society  that  is  allowed  un- 
checked to  follow  its  own  course.  In  the  Roman 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.   503.  2  Ibid.  p.  505. 


26S  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Church  those  thus  psychologically  affected  are  locked 
up  in  convents.  The  religious  passion  verges  so 
closely  on  the  sexual  passion  that  a  slight  additional 
pressure  given  to  it  bursts  the  partition,  and  both  are 
confused  in  a  frenzy  of  religious  debauch.  The  Ana- 
baptist fanatics  were  rapidly  approaching  this  stage. 
The  prophet  Matthisson  led  the  way  by  instituting  a 
second  baptism,  administered  only  to  the  inner  circle 
of  the  elect,  which  was  called  the  baptism  of  fire. 

The  adepts  were  sworn  to  secrecy,  and  refused  to 
explain  the  mode  of  administration.  But  public 
curiosity  was  aroused,  and  by  learning  the  password, 
some  were  enabled  to  slip  into  the  assembly  and  see 
what  took  place.  Amongst  these  was  a  woman  who 
was  an  acquaintance  of  Kerssenbroeck,  and  from 
whose  lips  he  had  an  account  of  the  rite.  "  Matthis- 
son," says  he,  "secretly  assembled  the  initiated  of 
both  sexes  during  the  night,  in  the  vast  mansion  of 
Knipperdolling.  When  all  were  assembled,  the 
prophet  placed  himself  under  a  copper  chandelier, 
hung  in  the  centre  of  the  ceiling,  lighted  with  three 
tapers."  He  then  made  an  instruction  on  the  new 
revelation  of  the  Divine  will,  which  he  pretended  had 
been  made  to  him,  and  the  assembly  became  a  scene 
of  frantic  orgies  too  horrible  to  be  described. 

The  assemblies  in  which  these  abominations  were 
perpetrated,  prepared  the  way  for  the  utter  subver- 
sion of  all  the  laws  of  decency  and  morality,  which 
followed  in  the  course  of  a  few  months. 

When  Carnival  arrived,  a  grand  anti-Catholic  pro- 
cession was  organised,  to  incite  afresh  the  hostility 
of  the   people  to  the  ancient   Church,   its   rites  and 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  269 

ceremonies.  First,  a  company  of  maskers  dressed 
like  monks,  nuns,  and  priests  in  their  sacred  vest- 
ments, led  the  way,  capering  and  singing  ribald 
songs.  Then  followed  a  great  chariot,  drawn  by  six 
men  in  the  habits  of  the  religious  orders.  On  the 
box  sat  a  fellow  dressed  as  a  bishop,  with  mitre  and 
crosier,  scourging  on  the  labouring  monks  and  friars. 
On  the  car  was  a  man  represented  as  dying,  with  a 
priest  leaning  over  him,  a  huge  pair  of  spectacles  on 
his  nose,  administering  to  the  sick  man  the  last  sacra- 
ments of  the  Church,  and  addressing  him  in  the  most 
absurd  manner,  loudly,  that  the  bystanders  might 
hear  and  laugh  at  his  farcical  parody  of  the  most 
sacred  things  of  the  old  religion.  The  next  car  was 
drawn  by  a  man  dressed  as  a  priest  in  surplice  and 
stole.  The  other  cars  contained  groups  suitable  for 
turning  into  ridicule  devotion  to  saints,  belief  in 
purgatory,  the  mass,  &C.1 

The  prophets  now  decided  that  it  was  necessary  to 
be  prepared  in  the  event  of  a  siege.  They,  therefore, 
commissioned  the  preacher  Roll  to  visit  Holland 
and  raise  the  Anabaptists  there,  urge  them  to  arm 
and  to  march  to  the  defence  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 
Roll  started  from  Miinster  on  the  21st  of  February, 
but  the  Spanish  Government  in  the  Netherlands, 
alarmed  at  what  was  taking  place  in  the  capital  of 
Westphalia,  ordered  a  strict  watch  to  be  kept  on  the 
movements  of  the  fanatics,  and  Roll  was  seized  and 
executed  at  Utrecht. 

The  next  step  taken  by  the  prophets  was  to  dis- 
charge the  members  of  the  senate  from  the  perform- 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  509. 


2jo  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

ance  of  their  office,  because  they  had  been  elected 
"  according  to  the  flesh,"  and  to  choose  to  fill  their 
room  another  body  of  men  "  elected  according  to 
the  Spirit."  Bernard  Knipperdolling  and  Gerhardt 
Kippenbroeck,  both  drapers,  were  appointed  burgo- 
masters. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  new  magistrates  was  to 
forbid  the  removal  of  furniture,  articles  of  food,  and 
money  from  the  town,  and  to  permit  a  general  pillage 
of  all  the  churches  and  convents  in  the  city.  The 
Anabaptist  mob  first  attacked  the  religious  houses, 
and  carried  off  all  the  sacred  vessels,  the  gold,  the 
silver,  and  the  vestments.  Then  they  visited  the 
chapel  of  St.  Anthony,  outside  the  gate  of  St.  Maurice, 
and  after  having  sacked  it  completely,  they  tore  it 
down.  They  burnt  the  church  of  St  Maurice,  then 
fell  upon  the  church  of  St.  Ledger,  but  had  not 
the  patience  to  complete  its  demolition.  Thence 
they  betook  themselves  to  the  cathedral,  broke  it 
open,  and  destroyed  altars,  with  their  beautiful  sculp- 
tured and  painted  oak  retables,  miracles  of  delicate 
workmanship  and  Gothic  beauty,  the  choir  stalls, 
statues,  paintings,  frescoes,  stained  glass,  organ,  vest- 
ments, and  carried  off  the  chalices  and  ciboriums. 
The  great  clock,  the  pride  of  Miinster,  as  that  of 
Strasburg  is  of  the  Alsatian  capital,  was  broken  to 
pieces  with  hammers.  A  valuable  collection  of  MSS., 
collected  by  the  poet  Rudolf  Lange,  and  presented  to 
the  minister,  together  with  the  rest  of  the  volumes  in 
the  library,  were  burned.  Two  noble  paintings,  one 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the  other  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist,  on    panel,   by   Franco,    were    split   up   and 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  271 

turned  into  seats  for  privies  to  the  guard-house  near 
the  Jews'  cemetery.  The  heads  and  arms  were 
broken  off  the  statues  that  could  not  be  overthrown 
— statues  of  apostles,  prophets,  and  sibyls,  which 
decorated  the  interior  of  the  cathedral  and  the  neigh- 
bouring square.  The  tabernacle  was  broken  open, 
and  the  Blessed  Sacrament  was  danced  and  stamped 
on.  The  font  was  shattered  with  crowTbars,  in  token 
of  the  abhorrence  borne  by  the  fanatics  to  infant 
baptism  ;  the  tombs  of  the  bishops  and  canons  were 
destroyed,  and  the  bodies  torn  from  their  graves,  and 
their  dust  was  scattered  to  the  winds.1 

But  whilst  this  was  taking  place  in  Minister, 
Francis  von  Waldeck  was  preparing  for  war.  On 
the  23rd  February  he  held  a  meeting  at  Telgte  to 
consolidate  plans,  and  now  from  all  sides  assistance 
came.  The  Elector  of  Cologne,  the  Duke  of  Cleves, 
even  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  now  exasperated  at 
the  ill-success  of  his  endeavours  to  establish  tran- 
quillity and  to  effect  a  compromise,  the  Duke  of 
Brunswick,  the  Regent  of  Brabant,  the  Counts  of 
Lippe  and  Berntheim,  and  many  other  nobles  and 
cities  sent  soldiers,  artillery,  and  munitions. 

The  bishop  appointed  the  generals  and  principal 
officers,  then  he  made  all  the  soldiers  take  an  oath  of 
fidelity  to  himself,  and  concluded  with  them  an  agree- 
ment, consisting  of  the  following  ten  articles  : 

1.  The  soldiers  are  to  be  faithful  to  the  prince,  and 
to  obey  their  officers. 

2.  The  towns,  arms,  and  munitions  taken  in  war 
shall  belong  to  the  prince. 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  510;  Sleidan,  p.  411  ;  Dorpius,  f.  395, 


272  'FREAKS  OF  FAN  A  TICJSM. 

3.  If,  after  the  capture  of  the  city,  the  prince-bishop 
permits  its  pillage  by  the  troops,  he  shall  not  be 
obliged  to  pay  them  any  prize-money. 

4.  If  the  pillage  be  accorded,  the  town  hall  is  not 
to  be  touched. 

5.  The  prince  shall  have  half  the  plunder. 

6.  The  nobles,  canons,  and  those  who  have  escaped 
from  the  city  shall  be  allowed  the  first  bid  for  their 
articles  when  offered  for  sale. 

7.  No  fixtures  shall  be  removed  by  the  soldiery. 

8.  After  the  capture  of  the  town,  the  custody  of 
the  gates  and  ramparts  shall  be  confided  to  those 
whom  the  prince-bishop  shall  appoint. 

9.  The  city  taken,  and  its  pillage  permitted,  the 
soldiers  shall  be  allowed  eight  days  for  distribution 
and  sale  of  the  plunder.  The  soldiers  shall  receive 
their  pay  with  punctuality. 

10.  The  heads  of  the  revolt  shall,  as  far  as  possible, 
be  taken  alive  and  delivered  up  to  the  bishop  for  a 
recompense.1 

The  Anabaptists  were  not  afraid  at  these  prepara- 
tions ;  they  made  ready  vigorously  for  the  defence  of 
the  New  Zion.  As  a  preliminary,  a  body  of  five 
hundred  burnt  the  convent  of  St.  Maurice,  outside  the 
city  gates,  and  levelled  all  the  houses  of  the  suburbs, 
which  obscured  the  view,  and  might  serve  as  cover 
for  the  besiegers. 

On  the  26th  February  Matthisson  preached  in  the 
afternoon  to  a  congregation  summoned  by  the  dis- 
charge of  a  culverin.     At  the  end  of  the  sermon  he 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  513  et  seq.  Sleidan,  lib.  x.  pp.  4I2"3  > 
Heresbach,  p.  36. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER. 


273 


assumed  an  inspired  air,  and  announced  that  he  had 
an  important  revelation  to  communicate.  Having 
arrested  the  attention  of  his  hearers,  he  said  in  a 
solemn  tone,  "  The  Father  requires  the  purification  of 
the  New  Jerusalem  and  of  His  temple  ;  for  our  re- 
public, which  has  begun  so  prosperously,  cannot  grow 
and  endure  if  a  prey  to  the  confusion  produced  by 
the  presence  of  impious  sects.  My  advice  is  that  we 
kill  without  further  delay  the  Lutherans,  the  Papists, 
and  all  those  who  have  not  the  right  faith,  that  there 
may  remain  in  Zion  but  one  body,  one  society,  which 
is  truly  Christian,  and  which  can  offer  to  the  Father 
a  pure  and  well-pleasing  worship.  There  is  but  one 
way  of  preserving  the  faithful  from  the  contagion  of 
the  impious,  and  that  is  to  sweep  them  off  the  face  of 
the  earth.  Nothing  is  easier  than  the  execution  of 
this  scheme.  We  form  the  majority  in  a  strong 
city,  abundantly  supplied  with  all  necessaries ;  there 
is  nothing  to  fear  from  within  or  from  without."1 

This  suggestion  would  have  been  carried  into  im- 
mediate execution  by  the  frenzied  sectarians,  had  it 
not  been  for  the  intervention  of  Knipperdolling,  who, 
fearing  that  a  general  massacre  of  Lutherans  and 
Catholics  would  combine  the  forces  of  the  Smalkald 
union  and  of  the  Imperialists  against  the  city,  urgently 
insisted  on  milder  measures.  "  Let  us  be  content," 
said  he,  "  with  driving,  to-morrow,  out  of  the  city  those 
miserable  creatures  who  refuse  the  sign  of  the  New 
Covenant ;  thus  shall  we  thoroughly  purge  the  floor 
of  the  Lord,  and  nothing  that  is  impure  will  remain  in 
the  New  Jerusalem."  2 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  516.        2ffo'd.  p,  517  ;  Sleidan,  p.  412. 

S 


274  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

This  advice  was  accepted,  and  it  was  unanimously 
decided  that  the  morrow  should  witness  the  expulsion 
of  Catholics  and  Lutherans.  The  27th  Feburary 
was  a  bitterly  cold  day.  A  hard  frost  had  set  in, 
the  north  wind  blew,  cutting  to  the  bone  all  exposed 
to  the  blast,  the  country  was  white  with  snow,  and 
the  streams  were  crusted  over  with  ice.  At  every 
gate  was  a  double  guard  ;  the  squares  were  thronged 
with  armed  fanatics,  and  in  and  out  among '  the.m 
passed  the  prophets,  staffin  hand,  uttering  maledictions 
on  the  Lord's  enemies,  and  words  of  encouragement 
to  those  sealed  on  their  brows  and  hands. 

Matthisson  sought  out  those  who  did  not  belong 
to  the  sect,  and  with  menacing  gestures  and  flaring 
eyes  called  them  to  repentance  before  the  door  was 
shut.  "  Turn  ye,  turn  ye,  sinners,"  he  cried  in  his 
harsh  tones.  "  Judgment  is  preparing  for  you.  The 
elements  are  in  league  against  you  ;  your  iniquities 
have  made  nature  rise  to  scourge  you.  The  sword  of 
the  Lord's  anger  is  hung  above  your  heads.  Turn, 
ye  sinners,  and  receive  the  sign  of  our  alliance,  that 
ye  be  not  cast  out  from  the  chosen  people  !  "  Then 
he  flung  himself  down  in  the  great  square,  and  called 
on  the  Father ;  and  lying  with  arms  extended  on  the 
frozen  ground,  and  his  face  pinched  with  cold  turned 
towards  the  sky,  he  fell  into  a  trance.  The  Anabaptists 
knelt  around  him,  and  lifting  their  hands  to  heaven 
besought  the  Father  to  reveal  His  will  by  the  mouth 
of  the  prophet  whom  He  had  sent. 

Then  Matthisson,  slowly  returning  from  his  ecstasy, 
like  one  awaking  out  of  a  dream,  said,  "  This  is  the 
will  and  order  of  the  Father  :  the  miscreants,  unless 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  275 

they  be  converted  and  be  baptised,  must  be  expelled 
this  place.  This  holy  city  shall  be  purified  of  all  that 
is  unclean,  for  the  conversation  of  the  ungodly 
corrupts  and  defiles  the  people  of  God.  Away  with 
the  sons  of  Esau !  this  place,  this  New  Zion,  this 
habitation  belongs  to  the  sons  of  Jacob,  to  the  true 
Israel." 

The  enthusiasm  of  Matthisson  communicated  itself 
to  the  assembly.  The  Anabaptists  separated  to 
sweep  the  streets,  sword  and  pike  in  hand,  and  drove 
the  ungodly  beyond  their  walls,  shouting,  "  The  lot  is 
ours  ;  the  tares  must  be  gathered  from  among  the 
wheat ;  the  goats  from  the  sheep ;  the  unholy  from 
the  godly  ;  away,  away !  "  Doors  were  burst  open, 
and  the  fanatics  invaded  every  house,  driving  before 
them  men,  women,  and  children,  from  garret  and 
cellar,  wherever  concealed,  in  spite  of  their  cries  and 
entreaties.  Men  of  all  professions,  men  and  women 
of  every  age  were  banished  ;  they  were  not  allowed 
to  take  anything  with  them.  The  sword  of  the  Lord 
was  brandished  against  them  ;  the  hale  and  the  in- 
firm, the  master  and  the  servant,  none  were  spared. 
Those  who  lagged  were  beaten  ;  those  who  were  sick 
and  unable  to  fly  were  carried  to  the  market-place 
to  be  rebaptised  by  Rottmann. 

Through  the  gates  streamed  the  terrified  crowd, 
shivering,  half  clothed,  mothers  clasping  their  babes 
to  their  breasts,  children  sustaining  between  them 
their  aged  parents,  all  blue  with  cold,  as  the  fierce  wind 
thick  strewn  with  sleet  rushed  upon  them  at  the 
corners,  and  over  the  bare  plain  without  the  city  walls, 
growling  and  cruel,  as  though  it  too  were  wrought  up 


276  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

into  religious  frenzy,  and  came  as  an  auxiliary  to  the 
savage  work. 

Thousands  traversed  the  frozen  plans,  uncertain 
whither  to  fly  for  refuge,  uttering  piteous  cries, 
lamentations,  or  low  moans ;  whilst  from  the  walls 
of  the  heavenly  city  thundered  a  salvo  of  joy,  and 
the  Anabaptists  shouted,  because  the  Lord's  day  of 
vengeance  had  come,  and  the  millennium  was  set  up 
on  earth. 

"  Never,"  says  Kerssenbroeck,  "  never  did  I  see 
anything  more  afflicting.  The  women  carried  their 
naked  nurslings  in  their  arms,  and  in  vain  sought  rags 
wherewith  to  clothe  them  ;  miserable  children,  hang- 
ing to  their  fathers'  coats,  ran  barefooted,  uttering 
piercing  cries  ;  old  people,  bent  by  age,  tottered 
along  calling  down  God's  vengeance  on  their 
persecutors  ;  lastly,  some  sick  women  driven  from 
their  beds  during  the  pangs  of  maternity  fell  in  labour 
in  the  snow,  deprived  of  all  human  succour."  1 

Amongst  those  expelled  was  Fabricius,  the 
Lutheran  divine,  who  escaped  in  disguise.  He  was 
so  greatly  hated  by  the  sectarians,  that  had  he  been 
recognised,  he  would  not  have  been  suffered  to  quit 
the  city  alive. 

The  Frau  Werneche,  a  rich  lady,  too  stout  to  walk, 
and  unable  to  find  a  conveyance,  was  obliged  to 
remain  in  Minister.  Rottmann  insisted  on  her  receiv- 
ing the  sign  of  the  New  Covenant. 

"  I     have    been    baptised     already,    as   were    my 
ancestors,"  said  the  good  woman.     Rottmann  replied 
that  if  she  persisted  in  her  impiety  she  must  be  slain 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  5222. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  277 

with  the  sword,  lest  the  wrath  of  the  Father  should 
be  kindled  against  the  Holy  City.  The  poor  lady, 
who  had  no  desire  for  martyrdom,  cried  out,  im- 
patiently, "  Well,  then,  be  it  so !  baptise  me  in  the 
name  of  all  the  devils  of  hell,  for  I  have  already  been 
baptised  in  the  name  of  God."  Rottmann,  not  very 
particular,  administered  the  rite,  and  the  stout  lady 
remained  in  Mttnster. 

The  apostle  now  sent  letters  into  all  the  country, 
announcing  the  glad  tidings  of  the  approaching  reign 
of  Christ  on  earth,  and  inviting  the  Anabaptists  of  the 
neighbourhood  to   flock   into    Zion.      One   of  these 
epistles  of  Rottmann  has  been  preserved.1 
"  Bernard,  servant  of  Jesus  Christ  in  His  Church  of 
Munster,    salutes     affectionately   his    very    dear 
brother  Henry  Schlachtschap.     Grace  and  peace 
from  God,  and  the  strength  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
be  with  you  and  with  all  the  faithful. 
"  Dear  Brother  in  Christ, — 

"  The  marvellous  works  of  God  are  so  great  and 
so  diverse  that  it  would  not  be  possible  for  me  to 
describe  them  all,  had  I  a  hundred  tongues.  I  am, 
therefore,  unable  to  do  so  with  my  single  pen.  The 
Lord  has  splendidly  assisted  us.  He  has  delivered 
us  out  of  the  hands  of  our  enemies,  and  has  driven 
them  from  the  city.  Seized  by  a  panic  terror,  they 
fled  in  multitudes.  This  is  the  beginning  of  what  the 
Lord  announced  by  His  prophets — that  all  the  saints 
would  assemble  in  this  New  Zion.  These  prophets 
have  charged  me  to  write  to  you,  that  you  may  order 
all  the  brethren  to  hasten  to  us  with  all  the  gold  and 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  520  ;  Dorpius,  f.  395. 


278  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

silver  they  can  collect ;  as  for  their  other  goods,  let 
them  be  left  to  the  sisters,  who  will  dispose  of  them,  and 
then  join  us  here  also.  Beware  of  doing  anything 
after  the  flesh  ;  do  all  in  the  Spirit.  The  rest  by 
word  of  mouth.     Health  in  the  Lord." 

This  appeal  had  all  the  more  success  because  several 
executions  had  taken  place  at  Wollbeck  and  Bevergern 
and  other  places,  together  with  confiscation  of  goods, 
and  this  had  struck  alarm  into  the  Anabaptists 
scattered  throughout  the  principality.  Numbers, 
therefore,  answered  the  appeal,  and  went  up,  as  the 
tribes  of  the  Lord,  to  Jerusalem,  out  of  Leyden, 
Coesfeld,  Warendorf,  and  Groningen.  The  vacated 
houses  were  re-occupied,  the  Mtinster  Baptists  select- 
ing for  themselves  the  best.  Knipperdolling,  Kippen- 
broeck,  and  others,  took  possession  of  the  residences 
of  the  canons  ;  servants  installed  themselves  in  the 
dwellings  of  their  masters  as  if  they  were  their  own  ; 
and  the  deserted  monasteries  were  given  up  as  hostels 
to  receive  the  influx  from  the  country,  till  houses 
could  be  provided  for  them.1 

On  the  28th  February,  Francis  von  Waldeck  left 
Telgte  at  the  head  of  his  army  and  invested  the 
capital.  Batteries  were  planted,  seven  camps  were 
established  for  the  infantry,  and  six  for  the  cavalry 
around  Mtinster.  These  camps  were  in  connection 
with  one  another,  for  mutual  support  in  the  event  of 
a  sortie,  and  were  rapidly  fortified. 

Thus  began  the  siege  which  was  to  last  sixteen 
months  minus  four  days,  during  which  a  multitude  of 
untrained,  undisciplined  fanatics,  commanded  by  a 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  523. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  279 

Dutch  tailor-innkeeper,  held  out  against  a  numerous 
and  well-armed  force.  But  there  was  an  element  of 
strength  in  the  besieged  that  lacked  in  the  besiegers. 
Those  within  the  walls  were  members  of  a  vast 
confraternity,  which  ramified  over  Germany,  Switzer- 
land, and  the  Low  Countries,  its  members  bound  to- 
gether by  a  common  enthusiasm,  in  more  or  less 
direct  relation  with  the  chiefs  who  commanded  in  the 
Westphalian  capital.  In  spite  of  the  siege,  news  from 
without  was  constantly  brought  into  the  city,  and 
messengers  were  sent  out  to  stir  up  the  members  of 
the  society  in  other  countries  and  provinces  to  rise 
and  march  to  the  relief  of  the  city  which,  they  all 
believed,  was  destined  to  be  their  religious  capital. 
The  Mlinster  brothers  looked  for  a  speedy  deliverance 
wrought  by  the  efficacy  of  the  arms  of  their  brothers 
in  Holland,  Juliers,  Cleves,  and  Brabant.  The  Low 
Countries  swarmed  with  Anabaptists  who  had 
organised  communities  in  Amsterdam,  Leyden, 
Utrecht,  Haarlem,  Antwerp,  and  Ghent  ;  they  had 
arms  stored  in  cellars  and  garrets,  and  waited  only  the 
proper  moment  to  rise  in  a  body,  massacre  their  oppo- 
nents, and  deliver  the  Holy  City.  Several  attempts 
to  rise  were  made,  but  the  vigilance  of  the  Spanish 
Government  in  the  Netherlands  prevented  the  rising ; 
and  the  hopes  of  the  besieged  were  never  realised. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  army  of  the  prince-bishop 
was  composed  of  mercenaries,  of  soldiers  from  different 
provinces  and  principalities,  speaking  different  dialects, 
with  different  interests,  and  differing  also  in  faith. 
The  Lutheran  troops  would  not  cordially  unite  with 
the  Catholics,  and  the  latter   mistrusted    their  Pro- 


280  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

testant  allies,  whose  sympathies  they  believed  lay 
with  the  Anabaptist  besieged.  And  the  head  of  the 
whole  army  was  a  Catholic  prelate  with  Lutheran 
proclivities,  who  knew  nothing  of  war,  had  an  empty 
purse,  and  desired  to  reduce  his  own  subjects  by  the 
aid  of  foreign  mercenaries,  with  little  expense  to  him- 
self, and  damage  to  his  subjects. 

The  Anabaptists  organised  their  defence  with  pru- 
dence. They  elected  captains  and  standard-bearers, 
and  divided  all  the  citizens  capable  of  bearing  arms 
into  regiments  and  companies.  Every  one  was  given 
his  place  and  his  functions,  and  it  was  decided  that 
the  magistrates  should  be  required  to  mount  guard 
when  it  came  to  their  turn.  Boys  were  drilled  and 
taught  the  use  of  the  arquebus  ;  women  prepared 
brands  steeped  in  pitch  and  sulphur  to  fling  at  the 
enemy,  and  they  melted  lead  from  the  roofs  into 
bullets.  Mines  were  dug  and  charged  with  powder, 
fresh  bastions  were  thrown  up,  and  curtains  were 
erected  before  the  gates,  into  which  were  built  the 
tombs  and  sarcophagi  of  the  bishops  and  canons.1 

The  newly-elected  senate,  though  composed  of  the 
most  zealous  Anabaptists,  was  powerless  before 
Matthisson.  A  sect  governed  by  the  inspiration  of 
the  moment,  professing  to  be  guided  by  the  Spirit 
speaking  through  the  mouths  of  prophets,  ready  to 
spring  into  the  maddest  excesses  at  the  dictates  of 
visionaries,  could  not  long  submit  to  the  government 
of  a  magistracy  whose  power  was  temporal.  The 
way  was  rapidly  preparing  for  the  establishment  of  a 
spiritual  despotism. 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  531  et  scg.;  Hast,  p.  344. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  281 

It  was  in  vain  for  the  senate  to  pass  an  order  with- 
out the  sanction  of  Matthisson,  in  vain  for  them  to 
attempt  resistance  to  the  execution  of  his  mandates. 
One  day  he  announced  that  it  was  the  will  of  the 
Father  that  all  the  goods  of  the  citizens  who  had  fled, 
or  had  been  expelled,  should  be  collected  into  one 
place,  that  they  might  be  distributed  amongst  the 
saints,  as  every  man  had  need.  He  thereupon  des- 
patched men  to  bring  together  all  that  was  left  behind 
in  the  city  by  the  refugees,  and  convey  the  articles 
to  houses  which  he  designated  in  every  parish.  He 
was  promptly  obeyed.  Garments,  linen,  beds,  furni- 
ture, crockery,  food,  wine — everything  was  brought 
away  in  carts.  The  jewels,  the  gold,  and  the  silver, 
were  deposited  in  the  chancery.  Then  the  prophet 
ordered  three  days  of  prayer  to  be  instituted,  "  that 
God  might  reveal  to  him  the  persons  chosen  by  Him 
to  keep  guard  over  the  accumulated  treasure."1 

When  the  three  days  were  at  an  end,  Matthisson 
announced  that  the  Father  had  indicated  to  him 
seven  individuals  who  were  to  be  the  deacons  to  serve 
tables  in  the  New  Jerusalem.  He  therefore  ap- 
pointed the  men  to  distribute  out  of  the  common 
store  to  those  who  needed  that  which  would  satisfy 
their  necessities.2 

It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that,  with  the 
expulsion  of  the  impious  from  the  holy  city,  all 
opposition  had  disappeared.  A  very  considerable 
number  of  citizens,  shopkeepers,  and  merchants,  rather 
than  desert  their  houses,  abandon  their  goods  to 
pillage,  and  lose  their  trade,  had  consented  to  be  re- 
1  Kerssenbroeck  ;  Dorpius,  f.  395.         2  Ibid.  p.  585. 


282  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

baptised.  The  reign  of  the  prophets  was  becoming 
to  them  daily  more  irksome.  A  blacksmith,  named 
Hubert  Riischer,  or  Trutling,  had  the  courage  to 
oppose  Matthisson,  to  charge  him  with  being  a  false 
prophet,  and  an  impostor.1  The  prophet,  feeling  the 
danger  of  his  position,  saw  that  a  measure,  decided 
and  terrible,  must  be  adopted  to  suppress  the  murmurs, 
and  frighten  those  who  desired  to  shake  off  his  yoke. 
"Judgment  must  begin  at  the  house  of  God,"  said 
Matthisson  ;  and  he  ordered  the  immediate  execution 
of  the  smith.  Tilbeck,  the  burgomaster,  and  Re- 
decker,  a  magistrate,  interposed,  but  were,  by  order 
of  the  prophet,  cast  into  prison.  Then  Bockelson, 
bursting  through  the  crowd,  announced  with  frantic 
gesture  that  the  Father  had  commissioned  him  to 
slay  with  the  sword  he  bore  all  those  who  withstood 
the  will  of  Heaven  as  interpreted  by  the  prophets 
whom  He  had  sent.  Then  brandishing  his  weapon, 
he  rushed  upon  the  blacksmith,  but  Matthisson  fore- 
stalled him,  by  running  his  halbert  through  the  body 
of  the  unfortunate  man.  Finding  that  he  still 
breathed,  he  despatched  him  with  a  carbine,  crying, 
"  So  perish  all  who  are  guilty  of  similar  crimes." 
Then,  at  his  command,  the  multitude  chanted  a  hymn 
of  praise,  and  dispersed,  silent  and  trembling,  to  their 
homes.2 

Matthisson  took  immediate  advantage  of  the  power 
this  bold  stroke  had  given  him  to  deal  another  blow. 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  535  et  seq.\  Monfortius,  p.  19  ;  Sleidan 
and  Dorpius  call  the  man  Truteling  ;  Sleidan,  p.  412  ;  Dorpius, 
f.  395  b. 

2  Monfortius,  p.  19. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  283 

When  the  treasure  of  the  enemies  of  Zion  had  been 
confided  to  the  care  of  deacons,  the  faithful  had  kept 
their  own  goods.  But  this  was  to  be  no  longer  toler- 
ated. The  prophet  issued  a  decree,  requiring  all,  old 
and  young,  male  and  female,  under  pain  of  death,  to 
bring  all  their  possessions  in  gold  and  silver,  under 
whatever  form  it  might  be,  into  the  treasury  ;  "  Be- 
cause," said  he,  "such  things  profit  not  the  true 
Christian." 

The  majority  of  the  citizens  obeyed,  in  fear  and 
trembling  ;  but  many  buried  their  vessels  and  orna- 
ments of  precious  metal,  and  declared  that  they 
possessed  no  jewels.1  However,  the  amount  of  money, 
chains,  rings,  brooches,  and  cups,  brought  together 
was  very  considerable.  It  was  placed  in  the  chan- 
cery, and  confided  to  four  of  Matthisson's  most  de- 
voted adherents. 

A  few  days  after,  he  summoned  all  the  inhabitants 
into  the  Cathedral  square,  where,  in  a  long  discourse, 
he  announced  that  the  wrath  of  God  was  excited 
against  those  who  had  allowed  themselves  to  be  re- 
baptised  on  the  26th  of  February,  out  of  human 
considerations,  because  they  did  not  desire  to  leave 
their  homes  and  their  effects,  or  out  of  fear ;  and  he 
advised  them  all  to  betake  themselves  to  the  church 
of  St.  Lambert,  to  entreat  the  Father  to  pardon  them 
for  having  lied  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  soiled  by  their 
presence  the  city  of  the  children  of  God  ;  "  and  if  the 
Father  does  not  remit  your  offence,"  concluded  he 
in  a  loud  and  terrible  voice,  "  you  must  perish  by  the 
sword  of  the  Just  One." 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  538. 


284  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

In  an  agony  of  terror,  the  unfortunate  citizens 
crowded  the  church,  and  the  doors  were  fastened  be- 
hind them.  They  passed  several  hours  within,  weep- 
ing, groaning,  and  deploring  their  lot,  a  prey  to 
inexpressible  terror.1 

At  length  Matthisson  entered,  accompanied  by 
armed  men,  and  the  prisoners,  supposing  they  were 
about  to  be  slaughtered,  fell  at  his  feet  and  embraced 
his  knees,  entreating  him,  with  tears,  as  the  favourite 
of  God,  to  mediate  with  Him  and  obtain  their  pardon. 
The  prophet  replied  that  he  must  consult  the  Father  ; 
he  knelt  down,  and  fell  into  an  ecstasy.  After  a  few 
moments  he  rose,  leaped  with  joy,  and  declared  that 
the  Father,  though  greatly  irritated,  had  granted  his 
prayer,  and  suffered  the  penitents  to  live.  Then  the 
poor  creatures  were  purified,  hymns  of  praise  were 
sung,  and  they  wrere  pronounced  admitted  into  the 
household  of  the  true  Israel.  The  doors  were  thrown 
open,  and  they  were  allowed  to  disperse. 

On  the  15th  of  March,  a  new  decree  appeared, 
forbidding  the  faithful  to  possess,  read,  or  look  at  any 
books  except  the  Bible,  and  requiring  all  the  books, 
in  print  or  MS.,  and  all  legal  documents  that  were 
found  in  the  town,  to  be  brought  to  the  Cathedral 
square,  and  there  to  be  consigned  to  the  flames. 
Thus  perished  many  a  treasure  of  inappreciable 
value. 

In  the  meantime  the  appeal  of  Rottmann  to  the 

Anabaptists  of  the  Low  Countries  to  come  and  deliver 

Zion  had  produced  its  effect.     Thousands  assembled 

in   the    neighbourhood    of   Amsterdam,   crossed    the 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  539. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  285 

Zuyder  Zee,  landed  at  Zwoll,  and  marched  towards 
Miinster,  pillaging  and  burning  churches  and  convents. 
But  Baron  Schenk  von  Teutenburg,  imperial  lieu- 
tenant, met  them,  utterly  routed  them,  cut  to  pieces  a 
large  number,  and  made  many  prisoners.1 

The  prophets  of  Miinster,  warned  of  their  advance, 
but  ignorant  of  their  dispersion,  reckoned  on  an 
approaching  deliverance,  and  continued  their  follies. 
On  Good  Friday,  April  3,  1534,  they  organised  a 
general  festival,  with  bells  pealing,  and  a  mock  pro- 
cession carrying  candles.  The  treaty  concluded  with 
the  prince-bishop,  through  the  intervention  of  Philip 
of  Hesse,  was  attached  to  the  tail  of  an  old  horse, 
and  the  beast  was  driven  out  of  the  gate  of  St.  Maurice 
in  the  direction  of  the  enemy's  camp.2 

Easter  approached,  and  with  it  great  things  were 
expected.  A  rumour  circulated  that  a  mighty  de- 
liverance of  Israel  would  be  wrought  on  the  Feast  of 
the  Resurrection.  Whether  Matthisson  started  the 
report  or  was  carried  away  by  it,  it  is  impossible  to 
decide;  but  it  is  certain  that,  on  the  eve,  he  announced 
in  an  access  of  enthusiasm,  after  a  trance,  that  he  had 
received  orders  from  the  Father  to  put  to  flight  the 
armies  of  the  aliens  with  a  handful  of  true  believers.3 

Accordingly,  on  the  morrow,  carrying  a  halbert,  he 
headed  a  few  zealots  who  shared  his  confidence;  the 
gate  of  St.  Ludgar  was  thrown  open,  and  he  rushed 
forth  with  his  followers  upon  the  army  of  the  prince- 
bishop  ;  whilst  the  ramparts  were  crowded  by  the 
inhabitants  of  Miinster,  shouting  and   praying,  and 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  541,  542  ;  Bullinger,  ii.  c.  10. 

2  Ibid.  p.  542.  3  Ibid,  542 ;  Hast,  p.  348. 


286  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

expecting  to  see  a  miracle  wrought  in  his  favour. 
But  he  had  not  advanced  very  far  before  a  troop  of 
the  enemy  surrounded  his  little  band,  and,  in  spite  of 
a  desperate  resistance,  he  and  his  companions  were 
cut  to  pieces.1 

John  Bockelson,  seeing  that  the  confidence  of  the 
Anabaptists  was  shaken  by  the  failure  of  this  predic- 
tion and  the  fall  of  the  great  prophet,  lost  not  a 
moment  in  establishing  his  own  supremacy.  He 
called  all  the  people  together,  and  declared  to  them 
that  Matthisson  had  died  by  the  just  judgment  of 
God,  because  he  had  disobeyed  the  commandment  of 
the  Father  to  go  forth  with  a  very  small  handful,  and 
because  he  had  relied  on  his  own  strength  instead  of 
on  Divine  aid.  "  But,"  added  he,  "  he  neglected  all 
those  precautions  he  ought  to  have  taken,  solemn 
prayer  and  fasting,  after  the  example  of  Judith  ;  and 
he  forgot  that  victory  is  in  the  hands  of  God  ;  he  was 
proud  and  vain,  therefore  was  he  forsaken  of  the 
Lord.  His  terrible  end  was  revealed  to  me  eight 
days  ago  by  the  Holy  Ghost ;  for,  as  I  was  sleeping 
in  the  house  of  Knipperdolling,  after  having  meditated 
on  the  Divine  Law,  Matthisson  appeared  to  me 
pierced  through  by  the  lance  of  an  armed  man,  with 
all  his  bowels  gushing  forth.  Then  was  I  frightened 
beyond  measure  at  this  terrible  spectacle;  but  the 
armed  man  said  to  me,  c  Fear  not,  well-beloved  son  of 
the  Father,  but  be  faithful  to  thy  calling,  for  the  judg- 
ment of  God  will  fall  upon  Matthisson  ;  and  when  he 
is  dead,  marry  his  widow.'     These  words  cast  me  into 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  542  ;  Sleidan,  p.  413  ;  Bullinger,  lib.  ii. 
c.  9  ;  Heresbach,  p.  138  ;  Buissierre,  p.  310. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  2S7 

profound  amazement,  for  I  have  already  a  legitimate 
wife  at  Leyden.  Nevertheless,  that  I  might  have  a 
witness  worthy  of  confidence  to  this  extraordinary 
revelation,  I  trusted  the  secret  to  Knipperdolling ;  he 
is  present,  let  him  be  brought  forth." 1 

Thereupon  Knipperdolling  stepped  forward  and 
declared  by  oath  that  Bockelson  had  spoken  the 
truth,  and  he  mentioned  the  place,  the  day,  and 
the  hour  when  the  revelation  was  confided  to  him. 

From  that  moment  Bockelson  passed  with  the 
people  not  only  as  a  prophet,  but  as  a  favourite  of 
Heaven,  one  specially  chosen  of  the  Father,  and  was 
held  in  far  higher  estimation,  accordingly,  than  had 
been  the  fallen  prophet.  He  was  seized  with  inspira- 
tion. On  the  9th  of  April,  he  declared  that  "  the 
Father  ordered,  under  pain  of  incurring  his  dire  wrath, 
that  every  exalted  thing  should  be  laid  low,  and  that 
the  work  was  to  begin  at  the  church  steeples."  Con- 
sequently three  architects  of  the  town  were  ordered 
to  demolish  them.  They  succeeded  in  pulling  down 
all  the  spires  in  Mtinster.  That  of  Uebervvasser 
church  was  singularly  beautiful.  It  was  reduced  to  a 
stump ;  and  the  modern  visitor  to  the  ancient  West- 
phalian  capital  has  cause  to  deplore  its  loss.  The 
towers  were  only  saved  to  be  used  as  positions  for 
cannon  to  play  upon  the  besigers.2 

Bockelson  had  another  vision,  which  served  to  con- 
solidate his  power.  "  The  Father,"  said  he,  "  had 
appeared  to  him,  and  had  commanded  him  to  appoint 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  543  ;  Montfort,  p.  24. 
2  Bullinger,  ii.  c.  8  ;  Sleidan,  p.  271  ;  Dorpius,  f.  396. 


288  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Knipperdolling  to  be  the  executioner  of  the  new 
republic." 

This  was  not  precisely  satisfactory  to  Knipperdol- 
ling ;  he  aimed  at  a  higher  office,  but  he  dissembled 
his  irritation,  and  accepted  the  sword  offered  him  by 
John  of  Leyden  with  apparent  transports  of  joy.1 
Four  under-executioners  were  named  to  assist  him, 
and  to  accompany  him  wherever  he  went. 

The  nomination  of  Knipperdolling  was  the  prelude 
to  other  important  changes.  Bockelson  aspired  to 
exercise  absolute  power,  without  opposition  or  con- 
trol. To  arrive  at  his  ends,  a  wild  prophetic  scene 
was  enacted.  He  ran,  during  the  night,  through  the 
streets  of  Miinster  stark  naked,  uttering  howls  and 
crying,  "Ye  men  of  Israel  who  inhabit  this  holy  Zion! 
fear  the  Lord,  and  repent  for  your  past  lives.  Turn 
ye,  turn  ye !  The  glorious  King  of  Zion,  surrounded 
by  multitudes  of  angels,  is  about  to  descend  and  judge 
the  world,  at  the  peal  of  His  terrible  trumpet.  Turn, 
ye  blind  ones,  and  be  converted."  2 

Exhausted  with  his  run  and  his  shouts,  and  satis- 
fied with  having  thoroughly  alarmed  the  inhabitants, 
he  returned  to  the  house  of  Knipperdolling,  who  was 
also  in  a  paroxysm  of  inspiration,  foaming,  leaping, 
rolling  on  the  ground,  and  performing  many  other 
extravagant  actions.  Bockelson,  on  entering,  cast 
himself  down  in  a  corner  and  pretended  to  have  lost 
the  power  of  speech  ;  and   as  the  crowd,  assembled 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  545  ;  Heresbach,  p.  139  ;  Sleidan,  p. 
413  ;  Dorpius,  f.  396. 

2  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  596;  Monfort,  pp.  25,  26;  Heresbach,  p. 
99  et  seq. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  289 

round  him,  asked  him  the  meaning  of  what  had  taken 
place,  he  signed  to  them  to  bring  him  tablets,  on 
which  he  wrote,  "By  the  order  of  the  Father,  I  remain 
dumb  for  three  days." 

At  the  expiration  of  this  period  he  convoked  the 
people,  and  declared  to  them  that  the  Father  had 
revealed  to  him  that  Israel  must  have  a  new  constitu- 
tion, with  new  laws  and  new  magistrates,  divinely 
appointed.  The  former  magistracy  had  been  elected 
by  men,  but  the  new  one  was  to  be  designated  by  the 
Holy  Ghost.  Bockelson  then  dissolved  the  senate, 
and,  as  the  mouthpiece  of  God,  he  declared  the  names 
of  the  new  officers,  to  the  number  of  twelve,  who  were 
to  bear  the  title  of  The  Elders  of  the  Tribes  of  Israel, 
in  whose  hands  all  power,  temporal  and  spiritual,  was 
to  be  placed.  Those  appointed  were,  as  might  have 
been  expected,  the  prophet's  most  devoted  adherents.1 
Hermann  Tilbeck,  the  old  burgomaster,  was  brought 
out  of  prison,  and  it  was  announced  to  him  that  he 
was  to  be  of  the  number  of  elders;  but  perhaps  a  little 
cooled  in  this  enthusiasm  by  his  sojourn  in  chains,  he 
burst  into  tears,  and  in  accents  of  humility  prayed, 
"  Oh,  Father !  I  am  not  worthy  so  great  an  honour ; 
give  me  strength  and  light  to  govern  with  wisdom." 

Rottmann,  who,  since  the  arrival  of  the  prophet,  had 
played  but  a  subordinate  part,  judged  the  occasion 
favourable  for  thrusting  himself  into  prominence.  He 
therefore  preached  a  long  sermon,  in  which  he  de- 
clared that  God  was  the  author  of  the  new  constitu- 
tion, and  then,  calling  the  elders  before  him  by  name, 
he  committed  to  each  a  drawn  sword,  with  the  words, 

1  Dorpius,  f.  396  b. 

T 


29o  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

"  Receive  with  this  weapon  the  right  of  life  or  death, 
which  the  Father  has  ordered  me  to  confer  upon  you, 
and  use  the  sword  conformably  to  the  Lord's  will." 
Then  the  proceedings  closed  with  the  multitude  sing- 
ing the  Gloria  in  excelsis  in  German,  on  their  knees. 

The  senate  resigned  its  functions  without  apparent 
regret  or  opposition,  and  the  twelve  elders  assumed 
the  plenitude  of  power.  They  abolished  the  laws 
and  formulated  new  ones,  published  edicts,  resolved 
difficulties,  judged  causes,  subject  to  no  control  save 
the  will  of  the  prophet ;  but  that  will  they  regarded 
as  identical  with  the  Divine  will,  as  superior  to  all 
law,  and  every  one  obeyed  its  smallest  require- 
ments. 

Immediately  after  the  installation  of  the  govern- 
ment, an  edict  in  ten  parts  was  published.1  The  first 
part,  divided  into  thirteen  articles,  contained  the 
moral  law;  the  second  part,  in  thirty-three  articles, 
contained  the  civil  law. 

The  first  part  forbade  thirteen  crimes  under  pain  of 
death  :  blasphemy,  disobedience,  adultery,  impurity, 
avarice,  theft,  fraud,  lying  and  slander,  idle  conversa- 
tion, disputes,  anger,  envy,  and  discontent  against  the 
government. 

The  second  part  required  every  citizen  to  conform 
his  life  and  belief  to  the  Word  of  God ;  to  fulfil  exactly 
his  duties  to  others  and  to  the  State.  It  ordered  a 
strict  system  of  vigilance  against  night  surprises  by 
the  enemy,  and  required  one  of  the  elders  to  sit  in 
rotation    every   day  as  judge  to   try   cases   brought 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  pt.  ii.  pp.  1-9;  Monfortius,  pp.  26,  27; 
Ha*t,  p,  352  et  seq. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  291 

before  him ;  also,  that  whatsoever  was  decided  by  the 
elders  as  necessary  for  the  welfare  of  the  New 
Jerusalem  should  be  announced  to  the  assembly- 
general  of  Israel,  by  the  prophet  John  of  Leyden; 
servant  of  the  Most  High;  that  Bernard  Knipper- 
dolling,  the  executioner,  should  denounce  to  the  elders 
the  crimes  committed  within  the  holy  city ;  and  that 
he  might  exercise  his  office  with  greater  security  he 
was  never  to  go  forth  unaccompanied  by  his  four 
assistants. 

It  ordered  that  henceforth  repasts  should  be  taken 
publicly  and  in  common ;  that  every  one  should 
accept  what  was  set  before  him,  should  eat  it  modestly, 
in  silence ;  that  the  brothers  and  the  sisters  should 
eat  at  separate  tables  ;  and  that,  during  the  meal, 
portions  of  the  Old  Testament  should  be  read  to 
them. 

The  next  articles  named  the  individuals  who  were 
to  execute  the  offices  of  butcher,  shoemaker,  smith, 
tailor,  brewer,  and  the  like,  to  the  Lord's  people.  Two 
articles  forbade  the  introduction  of  new  fashions,  and 
the  wearing  of  garments  with  holes  in  them.  Article 
XXIX.  ordered  every  stranger  belonging  to  another 
religion,  who  should  enter  the  city  of  Miinster,  to  be 
examined  by  Knipperdolling.  No  communication  of 
any  sort  with  strangers  was  permitted  to  the  children 
of  Zion. 

Article  XXXII.  forbade,  under  pain  of  death,  deser 
tion  from  the  military  service,  or  exchange  of  com- 
panies without  the  sanction  of  the  elders. 

Article  XXXIIL  required  that  in  the  event  of  a 
decease,  all  the  goods  and  chattels   of  the   defunct 


29a  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

should  be  taken  to  Knipperdolling,  who  would  convey 
them  to  the  elders,  and  they  would  distribute  them  as 
they  judged  fitting. 

That  some  of  these  provisions  were  indicative  of 
great  prudence  is  not  to  be  doubted.  All  food  having 
been  seized  upon  and  being  served  out  publicly  to  all 
the  citizens  alike,  and  in  moderation,  the  capabilities 
of  prolonging  the  defence  were  greatly  increased  ;  and 
the  military  dictatorship  and  strict  discipline  within 
the  city  maintained  by  the  prophet,  enabled  the 
Anabaptists  to  preserve  an  invulnerable  front  to  an 
enemy  torn  by  faction  and  with  divided  responsi- 
bilities. 

To  increase  the  disaffection  and  party  strife  in  the 
hostile  camp,  the  people  of  Munster  sent  arrows 
amongst  the  besiegers,  to  which  were  attached  letters, 
one  of  which  has  been  preserved  by  Kerssenbroeck.1 
It  is  an  exhortation  to  the  enemy  to  beware  lest  by 
attacking  the  people  of  the  Lord,  who  held  to  the 
pure  Word  of  God,  they  should  be  regarded  by  him  as 
in  league  with  Antichrist,  and  urging  them  to  repent- 
ance. 

Besiegers  and  besieged  heaped  on  each  other 
reciprocal  insults,  exhibiting  themselves  to  one  another 
in  postures  more  expressive  of  contempt  than  decent.2 

A  chimney-sweep,  named  William  Bast,  had  about 
this  time  a  vision  ordering  him  to  burn  the  cities  of 
the  ungodly.  Bast  announced  his  mission  to  the 
elders  and  to  the  prophet,  and  was  bidden  go  forth  in 
the  Lord's  name.  He  accordingly  left  Munster,  eluded 
the  vigilance  of  the  enemy's  sentinals,  and  reached 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  pt.  ii.  p.  9,         2  Ibid,  pp.  II,  12. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  293 

Wollbeck,  where  was  the  powder  magazine  of  the 
Episcopal  army.  He  fired  several  houses,  and  the 
flames  spread,  but  were  fortunately  extinguished 
before  they  reached  the  powder.  Bast  had  escaped 
to  Dreusteindorf,  where  also  he  attempted  to  execute 
his  mission,  but  was  caught,  brought  back  to  Wollbeck, 
and  burnt  alive. 

In  the  meantime  various  sorties  had  taken  place,  in 
which  the  besiegers  suffered,  being  caught  off  their 
guard.  On  May  22nd,  the  prince-bishop,  finding  the 
siege  much  more  serious  than  he  had  anticipated,  be- 
gan to  bombard  the  town ;  but  as  fast  as  the  walls 
gave  wTay,  they  were  repaired  by  the  women  and 
children  at  night. 

A  general  assault  was  resolved  on  for  the  26th  May ; 
of  this  the  besieged  were  forewarned  by  their  spies. 
Unfortunately  for  the  investing  army,  the  soldiers 
of  Guelders  got  drunk  on  the  preceding  day  in  anti- 
cipation of  their  victory,and  marched  reeling  and  shout- 
ing against  the  city  as  the  dusk  closed  in.  The  Ana- 
baptists manned  the  walls,  and  easily  repulsed  their 
tipsy  assailants  ;  but  in  the  meantime  the  rest  of  the 
army,  observing  the  march  of  the  men  of  Guelders, 
and  hearing  the  discharge  of  firearms,  rushed  to  their 
assistance,  without  order ;  the  Munsterians  rallied, 
repulsed  them  with  great  carnage,  and  they  fled  in 
confusion  to  the  camp.  The  Anabaptists  had  only 
lost  two  officers  and  eight  soldiers  in  the  fray;  and 
their  success  convinced  them  that  they  were  under 
the  special  providence  of  God,  which  had  rendered 
them  invincible.1  They,  therefore,  repaired  their  walls 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  pp.  15,  16;  Sleidan,  p.  413. 


294  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

with  energy,  erected  several  additional  bastions,  and 
continued  their  sorties. 

On  the  30th  May,  a  party  of  the  fanatics  issued  from  a 
subterraneous  passage  upon  the  sentinels  opposite  the 
Judenfeld  gate,  spiked  nineteen  cannon,  and  laid  a  train 
of  gunpowder  from  the  store,  which  they  reached,  to 
the  mouth  of  their  passage.  The  troops  stationed 
within  sight  marched  hastily  to  repulse  the  sortie, 
when  the  train  was  fired,  the  store  exploded,  and  a 
large  number  of  soldiers  were  destroyed.1 

The  prince-bishop  next  adopted  an  antiquated 
expedient,  which  proved  singularly  inefficacious.  He 
raised  a  huge  bank  against  the  walls,  by  requisitioning 
the  services  of  the  peasants  of  the  country  round. 
The  besieged  poured  a  shower  of  bullets  amongst  the 
unfortunate  labourers,  who  perished  in  great  numbers, 
and  the  mole  remained  unfinished.2 

Francis  of  Waldeck,  discouraged,  and  at  the  end  of 
his  resources,  sent  his  deputies  to  the  Diet  of  Neuss 
on  the  25th  June,  to  announce  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Cologne  and  the  Duke  of  Juliers  his  failures,  and  to 
ask  for  additional  troops.  The  two  princes  replied 
that  they  would  not  abandon  their  ally  in  his  diffi- 
culties, and  they  promised  to  bear  a  part  of  the  cost 
of  the  siege,  advanced  40,000  florins  for  the  purchase 
of  gunpowder,  promised  to  despatch  forces  to  his 
assistance,  and  sent  at  once  prudent  advisers.3  The 
prince  was,  in  fact,  utterly  incompetent  as  a  general 
and  incompetent  as  a  bishop.  The  pastoral  staff  has 
a  crook  at  the  head  and  a  spike  at  the  bottom.     Litur- 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  pp.  15,  16.        2  Ibid,  p.  21. 
3  Hast,  p.  357;  Sleidan,  p.  413. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  295 

giologists  assure  us  that  this  signifies  the  mode  in 
which  a  bishop  should  exercise  discipline — the  gentle 
he  should  restrain  or  direct  with  mercy,  the  rebellious 
he  should  treat  with  severity.  To  the  former  he 
should  be  lenient,  with  the  latter  prompt.  Francis  of 
Waldeck  wielded  gracefully  and  effectively  neither 
end  of  his  staff. 

He  shortly  incurred  a  risk,  and  but  for  the  fidelity 
of  one  of  his  subjects  in  Mtinster,  he  would  have  fallen 
a  victim  to  assassination. 

A  young  Anabaptist  maiden,  named  Hilla  Phnicon, 
of  singular  beauty,  conceived  the  notion  that  she  had 
been  called  by  God  to  be  the  Judith  of  this  new 
Bethulia,  and  was  to  take  the  head  from  off  the 
shoulders  of  the  great,  soft,  bungling  Holophernes, 
Francis  of  Waldeck.1 

Rottmann,  Bockelson,  and  Knipperdolling  en- 
couraged the  girl  in  her  delusion,  and  urged  her  not 
to  resist  the  inspirations  of  the  Father.  Accordingly, 
on  the  1 6th  June,  Hilla  dressed  herself  in  the  most 
beautiful  robes  she  could  procure,  adorned  her  hair 
with  pearls,  and  her  arms  with  bracelets,  selecting 
from  the  treasury  of  the  city  whatever  articles  she 
judged  most  conducive  to  the  end  ;  the  treasury  being 
for  the  purpose  placed  at  her  disposal  by  order  of  the 
prophet.  Furnished  with  a  linen  shirt  steeped  in 
deadly  poison,  which  she  had  herself  made,  as  an 
offering  to  the  prince,  she  left  Minister,  and  delivered 
herself  up  into  the  hands  of  the  drossar  of  Wollbeck, 
who,  after  having  dispoiled  her  of  her  jewels,  ques- 
tioned her  as  to  her  object  in  deserting  the  city.  She 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  26  et  seq. 


296  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

replied  with  the  utmost  composure,  that  she  was  a 
native  of  Holland,  and  that  she  had  lived  in  Mtinster 
with  her  husband,  till  the  change  of  religion  had  so 
disgusted  her  that  she  could  endure  it  no  longer,  and 
that  she  had  fled  on  the  first  opportunity,  and  that 
her  husband  would  follow  her  on  a  suitable  occasion. 
"  It  is  to  ask  pardon  for  him  that  I  am  come,"  said 
she ;  "  and  he  will  be  able  to  indicate  to  his  highness 
a  means  of  entering  the  city  without  loss." 

The  perfect  self-possession  of  the  lady  convinced 
the  drcssar  of  her  sincerity,  and  he  promised  to  intro- 
duce her  to  the  prince  at  Iburg  within  two  days. 
Everything  seemed  to  favour  the  adventuress  ;  but 
an  unexpected  event  occurred  on  the  18th,  the  day 
appointed  for  the  audience,  which  spoiled  the 
plot. 

The  secret  had  been  badly  kept,  and  it  was  a 
matter  of  conversation,  hope,  and  prayer  in  Mtinster. 
A  citizen  named  Ramers,  who  had  remained  in  the 
city,  and  had  been  rebaptised  rather  than  lose  his  busi- 
ness and  give  up  his  house  to  pillage,  having  heard  of  it, 
escaped  from  the  town  on  the  18th,  and  revealed  the 
projects  of  Hilla  to  one  of  the  generals  of  the  besieg- 
ing army.  The  unfortunate  young  woman  was 
thereupon  put  to  the  question,  and  confessed.  She 
was  conducted  to  Bevergern  and  decapitated.  At  the 
moment  when  she  was  being  prepared  for  execution, 
she  assured  the  bystanders  that  they  would  not  be 
able  to  take  her  life,  for  the  prophet  John  "  chosen 
friend  of  the  Father,  had  assured  her  that  she  would 
return  safe  and  sound  to  Zion." 

The   bishop    sent    for    Ramers,   provided    for   his 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  297 

necessities,  and  ordered  that  his  house  and  goods 
should  be  spared  in  the  event  of  the  capture  of 
Miinster. 

As  soon  as  one  danger  disappeared,  another  rose 
up  in  its  place.  The  letters  attached  to  arrows  fired 
by  the  Anabaptists  into  the  hostile  camp,  as  well  as 
their  secret  agents,  had  wrought  their  effect.  The 
Lutheran  auxiliaries  from  Meissen  complained  that 
they  were  called  to  fight  against  the  friends  of  the 
Gospel,  and  on  the  night  of  the  30th  June  they 
deserted  in  a  body.1  Other  soldiers  escaped  into 
Miinster  and  offered  their  arms  to  the  Anabaptists. 
Disaffection  was  widely  spread.  Disorder,  misunder- 
standings, and  ill-concealed  hatred  reigned  in  the 
camp.  The  besieged  reckoned  among  their  assailants 
numerous  and  warm  friends,  and  were  regularly  in- 
formed of  all  the  projects  of  the  general.  Their 
emissaries  bearing  letters  to  the  Anabaptists  in  other 
territories  easily  traversed  the  ranks  of  the  investing 
army,  and  when  they  had  accomplished  their  mission 
they  returned  with  equal  ease  to  the  gates  of  Miinster, 
which  opened  to  receive  them. 

One  of  the  soldiers  of  the  Episcopal  army,  who 
had  taken  refuge  in  Miinster,  was  lodged  in  the  house 
of  Knipperdolling,  in  which  also  dwelt  John  Bockle- 
son.  The  deserter  observed  that  the  Leyden  prophet 
was  wont  to  leave  his  bedroom  at  night,  and  he 
ventured  to  watch  his  conduct  and  satisfy  himself 
that  it  was  not  what  it  ought  to  be.2  He  mentioned 
to  others  what  he  had  observed.     The  scandal  would 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  36. 
2  Ibid,  p.  38  ;  H.  Montfort.  p.  28. 


298  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

soon  get  wind.  One  only  way  remained  to  cut  it 
short.  John  Bockleson  consulted  with  Rottmann  and 
the  other  preachers,  and  urged  that  polygamy  should 
be  not  only  sanctioned  but  enjoined  on  the  elect. 

Some  of  those  present  having  objected  to  this  new 
doctrine,  the  prophet  cast  his  mantle  and  the  New 
Testament  on  the  ground,  and  solemnly  swore  that 
this  which  he  enjoined  was  the  direct  revelation  of  the 
Almighty.  He  threatened  the  recalcitrant  ministers, 
and  at  last,  half-persuaded  and  wholly  frightened, 
they  withdrew  their  objections ;  and  he  appointed 
the  pastors  three  days  in  which  to  preach  polygamy 
to  the  people.1  The  new  doctrine  having  been 
ventilated,  an  assembly  of  the  people  was  called,  and 
it  was  formerly  laid  down  by  the  prophet  as  the  will 
of  God,  that  every  man  was  to  have  as  many  wives  as 
he  wanted.2 

The  result  of  this  new  step  was  to  bring  about  a 
reaction  which  for  a  moment  threatened  the  prophet's 
domination  with  downfall. 

On  the  30th  July,  Heinrich  Mollenhecke,  a  black- 
smith, supported  by  two  hundred  citizens,  burghers 
and  artisans,  declared  openly  that  he  was  resolved  to 
put  down  the  new  masters  of  Minister,  and  to  restore 
everything  upon  the  ancient  footing.  With  the 
assistance  of  his  companions,  he  captured  Bockle- 
son, Knipperdolling,  and  the  preachers  Rottmann, 
Schlachtscap,  Clopris,  and  Vinnius,  and  cast  them 
into  prison.  Then  a  council  was  held,  and  it  was 
resolved  that  the  gates  should  be  opened  to  the 
bishop,   the  old  magistracy  should  be  restored,  and 

1  Sleidan,  p.  414  ;  Dorp,  f  396.  2  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  38. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  299 

the  exiled  burgesses  should  be  recalled,  and  their 
property  restored  to  them  :  and  that  all  this  should 
be  done  on  the  morrow.  Had  it  been  done  on  the 
spot  we  should  have  heard  no  more  of  John  of 
Leyden.  The  delay  saved  him  and  ruined  the  re- 
actionary party.  It  allowed  time  for  his  adherents 
to  muster.1  Mollenhecke  and  his  party,  when  they 
met  on  the  following  morning  to  execute  their  design, 
were  attacked  and  surrounded  by  a  mulitude  of 
fanatics  headed  by  Heinrich  Redecker.  The  black- 
smith had  succeeded  in  collecting  only  a  handful. 
"  No  pen  can  describe  the  rage  with  which  their 
adversaries  fell  upon  them,  and  the  refinements  of 
cruelty  to  which  they  became  victims.  After  having 
overwhelmed  them  with  blows  and  curses,  they  were 
imprisoned,  but  they  continued  inflicting  upon  them 
such  horrible  tortures  that  the  majority  of  these  un- 
fortunates would  have  a  thousand  times  preferred 
death."2  Ninety-one  were  ordered  to  instant  execu- 
tion. Twenty-five  were  shot,  the  other  sixty-six  were 
decapitated  by  Knipperdolling  to  economize  powder, 
and  lest  the  sound  of  the  discharge  of  firearms  within 
the  city  should  lead  the  besiegers  to  believe  that 
fighting  was  going  on  in  the  streets.  Some  had  their 
heads  cut  off,  others  were  tied  to  a  tree  and  shot, 
others  again  were  cut  asunder  at  the  waist,  and  others 
were  slowly  mutilated.  Knipperdolling  himself 
executed  the  men,  so  many  every  day,  in  the  presence 
of  the  prophet,  till  all  were  slain.3 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.   39  et  seg  ;   Heresbach,  pp.    41,  42  ;  H. 
Montfort.,  pp.  29,  30;  Bullinger,  lib.  ii.  c.  9,  p.  56. 

2  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  40.       3  Ibid.  p.  41 ;  Dorpius,  f.  536  b. 


3oo  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

"  The  partisans  of  the  emancipation  of  the  flesh 
having  thus  obtained  the  mastery  in  Miinster,"  says 
the  eye-witness,  "  it  was  impossible,  a  few  days  later, 
to  discover  in  the  capital  of  Westphalia  the  last  and 
feeble  traces  of  modesty,  chastity,  and  self-restraint." 

Three  men,  John  GEchinckfeld,  Henry  Arnheim, 
and  Hermann  Bispinck,  having,  however,  the  hardi- 
hood to  assert  that  they  still  believed  that  Christian 
marriage  consisted  in  the  union  of  one  man  with  one 
woman,  were  decapitated  by  order  of  John  of 
Leyden.1 

With  the  death  of  these  men  disappeared  every 
attempt  at  resistance. 

The  horrors  which  were  perpetrated  in  Miinster 
under  the  name  of  religious  liberty  almost  exceed 
belief.  The  most  frantic  licence  and  savage  de- 
bauchery were  practised.  The  prophet  took  two 
wives,  besides  his  favourite  sultana,  the  beautiful 
Divara,  widow  of  Matthisson,  and  his  lawful  wife  at 
Leyden.  These  were  soon  discovered  to  be  too  few, 
and  the  harem  swelled  daily.2 

"  We  must  draw  a  veil,"  says  Kerssenbroeck, 
"  over  what  took  place,  for  we  should  scandalise  our 
readers  were  we  to  relate  in  detail  the  outrageous 
scenes  of  immorality  which  took  place  in  the  town, 
and  the  villanies  which  these  maniacs  committed  to 
satisfy  their  abominable  lusts.  They  were  no  more 
human  beings,  they  were  foul  and  furions  beasts.  The 
hideous  word  Spirit  us  mens  concupiscit  carnem  tuatn 

1  H.  Montfort.  p.  29  ;  C.  Heresbach,  p.  42. 

2  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  42.  Dorpius  confirms  the  horrible  ac- 
count given  by  Kerssenbroeck  from  what  he  saw  himself,  f.  498. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  301 

was  in  every  mouth ;  those  who  resisted  these  magic 
words  were  shut  up  in  the  convent  of  Rosenthal  ;  and 
if  they  persisted  in  their  obstinacy  after  exhortation, 
their  heads  were  cut  off.  In  one  day  four  were 
simultaneously  executed  on  this  account.  On  another 
occasion  a  woman  was  sentenced  to  be  decapitated, 
after  childbirth,  for  having  complained  of  her  husband 
having  taken  to  himself  a  second  wife." 1 

Henry  Schlachtscap  preached  that  no  man  after  the 
Ascension  of  Christ  had  lived  in  true  matrimony,  if  he 
had  contracted  marriage  on  account  of  beauty,  wealth, 
family,  and  similar  causes,  for  that  true  marriage  con- 
sisted solely  in  that  which  was  instigated  by  the  Spirit. 

A  new  prophet  now  appeared  upon  the  scene, 
named  Dusentscheuer,  a  native  of  Warendorf.  He 
rushed  into  the  market-place  uttering  piercing  cries, 
and  performing  such  extraordinary  antics  that  a 
crowd  was  speedily  gathered  around  him. 

Then,  addressing  himself  to  the  multitude,  he  ex- 
claimed, "  Christian  brothers,  the  celestial  Father  has 
revealed  to  me,  and  has  commanded  me  to  announce 
to  you,  that  John  Bockelson  of  Leyden,  the  saint  and 
prophet  of  God,  must  be  king  of  the  whole  earth  ;  his 
authority  will  extend  over  emperors,  kings,  princes, 
and  all  the  powers  of  the  world  ;  he  will  be  the  chief 
authority  ;  and  none  shall  arise  above  him.  He  will 
occupy  the  throne  of  his  father  David,  and  will  carry 
the  sceptre  till  the  Lord  reclaims  it  from  him."2 

T  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  43  et  seq. 

2  Ibid,  p.  47  ;  Sleidan,  p.  419  ;  Bullinger,  lib.  ii.  p.  56  ;  Mont- 
fort,  p.  31  ;  Heresbach,  pp.  136-7,  "  Historia  von  d.  Miinster- 
ischen  Widerteuffer,"  f.  328  b  ;  Dorpius,  f.  397. 


302  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Bockelson  and  the  twelve  elders  were  present  A 
profound  silence  reigned  in  the  assembly.  Dusent- 
scheuer,  advancing  to  the  elders,  demanded  their 
swords  of  office ;  they  surrendered  them  into  his 
hands  ;  he  placed  eleven  at  the  feet  of  Bockelson,  and 
put  the  twelfth  into  his  hand,  saying — "  Receive  the 
sword  of  justice,  and  with  it  the  power  to  subjugate 
all  nations.  Use  it  so  that  thou  mayst  be  able  to  give 
a  good  account  thereof  to  Christ,  when  He  shall  come 
to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead."  1  Then  drawing 
from  his  pocket  a  phial  of  fragrant  oil,  he  poured  it 
over  the  tailor's  head,  pronouncing  solemnly  the 
words,  "  I  consecrate  thee  in  the  presence  of  thy 
people,  in  the  name  of  God,  and  by  His  command, 
and  I  proclaim  thee  king  of  the  new  Zion."  When 
the  unction  was  performed,  Bockelson  cast  himself  in 
the  dust  and  exclaimed,  "  O  Father  !  I  have  neither 
years,  nor  wisdom,  nor  experience,  necessary  for  such 
sovereignty ;  I  appeal  to  Thy  grace,  I  implore  Thy 
assistance  and  Thy  all-powerful  protection  !  .  .  .  . 
Send  clown  upon  me,  therefore,  Thy  divine  wisdom. 
May  Thy  glorious  throne  descend  on  me,  may  it 
dwell  with  me,  may  it  illumine  my  labours  ;  then 
shall  I  be  able  to  accomplish  Thy  will  and  Thy  good 
pleasure,  and  thus  shall  I  be  able  to  govern  Thy 
people  with  equity  and  justice." 

Then,  turning  himself  towards  the  crowd,  Bockelson 
declared  that  he  had  long  known  by  revelation  the 
glory  that  was  to  be  his,  but  he  had  never  mentioned 
it,  lest  he  should  be  deemed  ambitious,  but  had 
awaited  in  patience  and  humility  the  accomplishment 
1  Kerssenbroeck. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  303 

of  God's  holy  will.  He  concluded  by  saying  that, 
destined  by  the  Father  to  reign  over  the  whole  world, 
he  would  use  the  sword,  and  slay  all  those  who 
should  venture  to  oppose  him.1 

Nevertheless  murmurs  of  disapprobation  were 
heard.  "  What ! "  thundered  the  Leyden  tailor, 
"  you  dare  to  resist  the  designs  of  God  !  Know  then, 
that  even  were  you  all  to  oppose  me,  I  should  never- 
theless become  king  of  the  whole  earth,  and  that  my 
royalty,  which  begins  now  in  this  spot,  will  last 
eternally." 

The  new  prophet  Dusentscheuer  and  the  other 
preachers  harangued  the  people  during  three  con- 
secutive days  on  the  new  revelation,  read  to  the 
people  the  23rd  chapter  of  Jeremiah  and  the  27th  of 
Ezekiel,  and  announced  that  in  the  King  John  the 
prophecies  of  the  old  seers  were  accomplished,  for 
that  he  was  the  new  David  whom  God  had  promised 
to  raise  up  in  the  latter  days.  They  also  read  aloud 
the  13th  chapter  of  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Romans, 
and  accompanied  the  lecture  with  commentaries  on 
the  necessity  and  divine  obligation  of  submission  to 
authority.1 

At  the  expiration  of  these  three  days,  Dusent- 
scheuer requested  John  of  Leyden  to  complete  the 
spoliation  of  the  inhabitants,  so  that  everything  they 
possessed  might  be  placed  in  a  common  fund.  "  It 
has  been  revealed  to  me,"  said  he,  "  that  the  Father  is 
violently  irritated  against  the  men  and  women  be- 
cause they  have  abused  grievously  their  food  and 
drink  and  clothing.  The  Father  requires  for  the 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  47  ;  and  the  authors  before  quoted. 


304  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

future,  that  no  one  of  either  sex  shall  retain  more 
than  two  complete  suits  and  four  shirts  ;  the  rest  must 
be  collected  and  placed  in  security.  It  is  the  will  of 
the  Lord  that  the  provisions  of  beef  and  pork  found 
in  every  house  shall  also  be  seized  and  be  consecrated 
to  the  general  use." 1 

The  order  was  promptly  obeyed.  Eighty-three 
large  waggons  were  laden  with  confiscated  clothes, 
and  all  the  provisions  found  in  the  city  were  brought 
to  the  king,  who  confided  the  care  and  apportionment 
of  them  to  Dusentscheuer. 

Bockelson  now  organised  his  court  with  splendour. 
He  appointed  his  officers,  chamberlain,  stewards, 
marshals,  and  equerries,  in  imitation  of  the  Court  of 
the  Emperor  and  Princes  of  Germany.  Rottmann  was 
named  his  chaplain  ;  Andrew  von  Coesfeld,  director 
of  police;  Hermann  Tilbeck,  grand-marshal;  Henry 
Krechting,  chancellor ;  Christopher  Waldeck,  the 
bishop's  son,  who  had  fallen  into  his  power,  was  in 
derision  made  one  of  the  pages;  and  a  privy  council 
of  four,  composed  of  Bernard  Krechting,  Henry 
Redecker,  and  two  others  of  inferior  note,  was  in- 
stituted under  the  presidency  of  Christian  Kerkering. 
John  had  also  a  grand-master  of  the  kitchen,  a  cup- 
bearer, taster,  carver,  gentlemen  of  the  bedchamber, 
&c.2 

But  John  Bockelson  not  only  desired  to  be  sur- 
rounded by  a  court ;  he  determined  also  to  display  all 
the  personal  splendour  of  royalty.     Accordingly,  at  his 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  49. 

2  Ibid.  p.  55  Montfort,  pp.  31-3  ;  Sleidan,  p.  418  ;  Bullinger, 
p.  57  ;  Heresbach,  pp.  137-8. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  305 

order,  two  crowns  of  pure  gold  were  made,  one  royal, 
the  other  imperial,  encrusted  with  jewels.  Around 
his  neck  hung  a  gold  chain  enriched  with  precious 
stones,  from  which  depended  a  globe  of  the  same 
metal  transfixed  by  two  swords,  one  of  gold,  the  other 
of  silver.  The  globe  was  surmounted  by  a  cross 
which  bore  the  inscription,  "  Ein  Konig  der  Gerech- 
tigkeit  liber  all "  (a  King  of  Righteousness  over  all). 
His  sceptre,  spurs,  baldrick  and  scabbard  were  also  of 
gold,  and  his  fingers  blazed  with  diamonds.  On  one 
of  the  rings,  which  was  exceedingly  massive,  was  cut, 
"  Der  Konig  in  dem  nyen  Tempel  furet  dit  zeicheri  vur 
sein  Exempel "  (the  King  of  the  new  Temple  bears 
this  symbol  as  his  token).  The  royal  garments  were 
magnificent,  of  crimson  and  purple,  and  costly  stuffs 
of  velvet,  silk,  and  gold  and  silver  damask,  with 
superb  lace  cuffs  and  collars,  and  his  mantle  lined 
with  costly  furs.  The  elders,  the  prophets,  and  the 
preachers  followed  suit,  and  exchanged  their  sad- 
coloured  garments  for  robes  of  honour  in  gay  colours. 
The  small  house  of  Knipperdolling  no  longer  con- 
tented the  tailor-king ;  he  therefore  furnished,  and 
moved  into,  a  handsome  mansion  belonging  to  the 
noble  family  of  Von  Biiren.  The  house  next  door 
was  converted  into  the  palace  of  his  queens,  and  was 
adorned  with  royal  splendour.  A  door  of  com- 
munication, broken  through  the  partition  wall,  allowed 
King  John  to  visit  his  wives  at  all  hours. 

He  now  took  to  himself  thirteen  additional  wives, 
and  a  large  train  of  concubines.  Among  his  sixteen 
legitimate  wives  was  a  daughter  of  Knipperdolling. 
Divara  of  Haarlem  remained  the  head  queen,  though 

u 


3o6  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

she  was  the  oldest.  The  rest  were  all  under  twenty, 
and  were  the  most  beautiful  girls  of  Miinster.  They 
all  bore  the  title  of  queens,  but  Divara  alone  had  a 
court,  officers,  and  bodyguard,  habited  in  a  livery  of 
chestnut  brown  and  green  ;  the  livery  of  the  king 
being  scarlet  and  blue.1 

The  king  usually  had  his  meals  with  his  wives,  and 
during  the  repasts  he  examined  them  with  great  at- 
tention, feasting  his  eyes  on  their  beauty.  The 
names  of  the  sixteen  queens  were  inscribed  on  a 
tablet  on  which  the  king,  after  dinner,  designated  the 
lady  who  had  attracted  his  favour.2 

The  King  of  Zion  had  abolished  the  names  of  the 
days  of  the  weeks,  and  had  replaced  them  by  the 
seven  first  letters  of  the  alphabet.  He  ordered  that 
whenever  a  child  was  born  in  the  town,  it  should  be 
announced  to  him,  and  then  he  gave  it  a  name,  whose 
initial  letter  corresponded  with  the  letter  of  the  day 
on  which  it  entered  the  world.  But,  as  Kerssenbroeck 
observes,  the  debauchery  which  reigned  in  Miinster 
had  the  result  of  diminishing  the  births,  so  that  the 
number  of  children  born  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
siege  was  extraordinarily  small. 

Bockelson  had  only  two  children  by  all  his  wives, 
and  both  were  daughters.     Divara  was  the  first  to 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  55  et  seq.  ;  and  the  authors  above  cited. 
Kerssenbroeck  gives  long  details  of  the  dress,  ornaments,  and 
manner  of  life  of  the  king  ;  also  "  Historia  von  d.  Munsterischen 
Widerteuffer,"  f.  329. 

2  Kerssenbroeck  gives  the  names  of  all  the  wives  except  one, 
which  he  conceals  charitably,  as  the  poor  child — she  was  very 
young — fell  ill,  but  recovered,  and  was  living  respectably  after 
the  siege  with  her  relatives  in  the  city. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  307 

give  birth ;  the  event  took  place  on  a  Sunday, 
designated  by  the  letter  A  ;  it  was  given  the  name  of 
Averall  (for  Ueberall — Above  all)  ;  the  second  child, 
born  on  Monday,  was  called  Blydam  (the  Blythe).1 

Thrice  in  the  week  Bockelson  sat  in  judgment  in 
the  market-place  on  a  throne  decked  in  purple  silk, 
and  richly  adorned  with  gold.  He  betook  himself  to 
this  place  of  audience  with  great  pomp.  A  band  of 
musical  instruments  headed  the  pageant,  then  followed 
the  councillors  in  purple,  and  the  grand-marshal  with 
the  white  wand  in  his  hand.  John,  wearing  the  royal 
insignia,  mounted  on  a  white  horse,  splendidly  capar- 
isoned, followed  between  two  pages  fantastically 
dressed,  one  bearing  a  Bible,  the  other  a  naked  sword, 
symbols  of  the  spiritual  and  temporal  jurisdiction 
exercised  by  his  majesty.  The  bodyguard  surrounded 
his  royal  person,  to  keep  off  the  crowd  and  to  protect 
him  from  danger.  Knipperdolling,  Rottmann,  the 
secretary  Puthmann,  and  the  chancellor  Krechting 
followed  ;  then  the  executioner  and  his  four  assist- 
ants, a  train  of  courtiers,  and  servants  closed  the  pro- 
cession. The  whole  ceremony  was  as  regal,  as 
punctiliously  observed,  as  at  a  royal  court  where  the 
traditions  date  from  many  centuries.2 

When  the  king  reached  the  market-place,  a  squire 
held  the  horse,  he  slowly  mounted  the  steps  of  the 
throne,  and  inclining  his  sceptre,  announced  the  open- 
ing of  the  audience. 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p,  59. 

2  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  62  ;  H.  Montfort.,  p.  33 ;  Hast,  p.  363  ei 
sec/.j  Sleidan,  p.  415  ;  "Historia  von  de  Miinsterischen  Wider- 
teuffer,"  f.  328  b. 


3o8  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Then  the  plaintiffs  approached,  prostrated  them- 
selves flat  upon  the  ground  twice,  and  spoke.  The 
majority  of  the  cases  were  matrimonial  complaints, 
often  exceedingly  indecent ;  "  the  greatest  abomina- 
tions formulated  in  the  most  hideously  cynical  terms 
before  the  most  cynical  of  judges."  Capital  sentences, 
or  penalties  little  less  severe,  were  pronounced  against 
insubordinate  wives. 1 

The  same  ceremonial  was  observed  whenever  his 
majesty  went  to  hear  the  preaching  in  the  market- 
square,  with  the  sole  exception,  that  on  this  occasion 
he  was  accompanied  by  the  sixteen  queens,  magnifi- 
cently dressed.  Queen  Divararode  a  palfrey  capari- 
soned in  furs,  led  by  a  page ;  the  court  and  the  fifteen 
other  queens  followed  on  foot.  On  reaching  the 
market-place,  the  ladies  entered  a  house  opposite  the 
throne,  and  assisted  at  the  sermon,  sitting  at  the 
windows. 

The  pulpit  and  the  throne  were  side  by  side  ;  a 
long  broad  platform  united  them.  When  the  sermon 
was  concluded,  the  king,  his  queens,  court,  ministers, 
and  the  preacher,  assembled  on  the  platform  and 
danced  to  the  strains  of  the  royal  band. 

It  was  from  this  platform  that  King  John,  as 
sovereign  pontiff,  blessed  polygamous  marriages, 
saying  to  the  brides  and  the  bridegrooms,  "  What  God 
hath  joined  let  no  man  put  asunder  ;  go,  act  according 
to   the    divine   law,   be   fruitful    and    multiply,   and 

1  Kerssenbroeck.  Sleidan  says,  "  Almost  every  case  and 
complaint  brought  before  him  concerned  married  people  and 
divorces.  For  nothing  was  more  frequent,  so  that  persons  who 
had  lived  together  for  many  long  years  now  separated  for  the 
first  time."— p.  415-6. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  309 

replenish  the  earth."  This  sanction  was  necessary 
for  the  validity  of  these  unions. 

John,  wishing  to  exercise  all  the  prerogatives  of 
royalty,  struck  coins  of  various  values,  bearing  on  one 
side  the  inscription,  "  Das  Wort  is  Fleisch  geworden 
und  wohnet  unter  uns "  (The  Word  was  made  flesh 
and  dwelt  among  us)  ;  or  "  Wer  nicht  gebohren  ist 
aus  Wasser  und  Geist  der  kann  nicht  eingehen — " 
the  rest  on  the  reverse — "  In  das  Reich  Gottes.  Den 
es  ist  nur  ein  rechter  Konig  uber  alle,  ein  Gott,  ein 
Glaube,  eine  Tauffe  "  (who  is  not  born  of  Water  and 
the  Spirit,  cannot  enter  into  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
For  there  is  only  one  true  King  over  all,  one  God, 
one  Faith,  one  Baptism).  And  in  the  middle, 
"Minister,  1534." 

Whilst  the  city  of  Miinster  was  thus  passing  from 
a  republic  to  a  monarchy,  the  siege  continued  ;  but 
the  besiegers  made  no  progress.  Refugees  informed 
the  prince-bishop  of  what  had  taken  place  within  the 
walls. 

On  the  25th  August  he  assembled  the  captains  and 
the  princes  and  nobles  who  had  come  into  the  camp 
to  observe  the  proceedings,  to  request  them  to  advise 
him  how  to  put  an  end  to  all  these  horrors  and 
abominations.  It  was  proposed  that  a  deputation 
should  be  sent  into  the  town  to  propose  a  capitulation 
on  equitable  terms ;  and  in  the  event  of  a  refusal  to 
offer  a  general  assault 1 

On  the  28th  August  an  armistice  of  three  hours' 
duration  was  concluded,  and  the  deputation  obtained 
a  safe-conduct  authorising  them   to  enter  the  city, 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  65  et  seq.j  Montfort,  pp.  27,  28. 


3io  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

But  instead  of  being  brought  before  the  inhabitants 
of  the  town,  to  whom  they  were  commissioned  to 
make  the  propositions,  they  were  introduced  to  the 
presence  of  Bockelson  and  his  court. 

The  envoys  informed  King  John  of  the  terms  pro- 
posed by  the  bishop.  They  were  extremely  liberal. 
He  promised  a  general  amnesty  if  the  place  were 
surrendered,  and  arms  laid  down. 

King  John  replied  haughtily,  that  he  did  not  need 
the  clemency  of  the  prince-bishop,  for  that  he  stood 
strengthened  by  the  almighty  and  irresistible  power 
of  God.  "  It  is  your  pretended  bishop,"  said  he,  "  who 
is  an  impious  and  obstinate  rebel,  he  who  makes  war 
without  previous  declaration  against  the  faithful 
servants  of  the  celestial  Father.  Never  will  T  lay 
down  my  arms  which  I  have  taken  up  for  the  defence 
of  the  Gospel  ;  never  in  cowardly  fashion  will  I 
surrender  my  capital ;  on  the  contrary,  I  know  how 
to  defend  it,  even  to  the  last  drop  of  my  blood,  if  the 
honour  of  God  requires  it."  1 

The  bishop,  when  he  learnt  that  his  deputies  had 
been  refused  permission  to  address  the  citizens, 
attached  letters,  sealed  with  his  Episcopal  seal,  to 
arrows,  which  were  shot  into  the  town.  In  these 
letters  he  promised  a  general  pardon  to  all  those  who 
would  leave  the  party  of  the  Anabaptists,  and  escape 
from  the  town  before  the  following  Thursday. 

But  Bockelson  forbade,  on  pain  of  death,  any  one 
touching  or  opening  one  of  these  letters,  and  ordered 
the  instant  decapitation  of  man,  woman,  or  child  who 
testified  anxiety  to  leave  Miinster. 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  21. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  311 

The  bishop  and  the  princes  resolved  on  attempting 
an  assault  without  further  delay.  John  of  Leyden 
received  information  of  their  purpose  through  his 
spies.  He  at  once  mounted  his  white  horse,  convoked 
the  people,  and  announced  to  them  that  the  Father 
had  revealed  to  him  the  day  and  hour  of  the  projected 
attack ;  he  appointed  his  post  to  every  man,  gave 
employment  to  the  women  and  children,  and  dis- 
played, at  this  critical  moment,  the  zeal,  energy,  and 
readiness  which  would  have  done  credit  to  a  veteran 
general.1 

The  assault  was  preluded  by  a  bombardment  of 
three  days.  The  battlements  yielded,  breaches  were 
effected  in  the  walls,  the  roofs  of  the  houses  were 
shattered,  the  battered  gates  gave  way,  and  all  promised 
success.  But  the  besieged  neglected  no  precaution. 
During  the  night  the  walls  were  repaired  and  the 
gates  strenghtened.  Women  laboured  under  the 
orders  of  the  competent  directors  during  the  hours  of 
darkness,  thus  allowing  their  husbands  to  take  their 
requisite  repose.  They  carried  stones  and  the 
munitions  of  war  to  the  ramparts,  and  learning  to 
handle  the  cross-bow,  they  succeeded  in  committing 
no  inconsiderable  amount  of  execution  among  the 
ranks  of  the  Episcopal  army.  Other  women  pre- 
pared lime  and  boiling  pitch  "  to  cook  the  bishop's 
soup  for  him."2  On  the  31st  August,  at  daybreak, 
the  roar  of  the  Hessian  devil,  as  a  large  cannon  be- 
longing to  the  Landgrave  Philip  was  called,  gave  the 
signal.  Instantly  the  city  was  assaulted  in  six  places. 
The  ditches  were  filled,  petards  were  placed  under 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  68.         2  Ibid.  p.  70. 


3i2  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

the  gates,  the  palisades  were  torn  down,  and  ladders 
were  planted.  But  however  vigorous  might  be  the 
attack,  the  defence  was  no  less  vigorous.  Those  on  the 
walls  threw  down  the  ladders  with  all  upon  them,  and 
they  fell  bruised  and  mangled  into  the  fosse,  the  heads 
of  those  who  had  reached  the  battlements  were  crushed 
with  stones  and  cudgels,  and  their  hands,  clasping 
the  parapet,  were  hacked  off.  Women  hurled  stones 
upon  the  besiegers,  and  enveloped  them  in  boiling 
pitch,  quicklime,  and  blazing  sulphur. 

Repulsed,  they  returned  to  the  charge  eight  or  ten 
times,  but  always  in  vain.  The  whole  day  was  con- 
sumed in  ineffectual  assaults,  and  when  the  red  sun 
went  down  in  the  west,  the  clarions  pealed  the  retreat, 
and  the  army,  dispirited  and  bearing  with  it  a  train  of 
wounded,  withdrew,  leaving  the  ground  strewn  with 
dead. 

Had  the  Anabaptists  made  a  night  assault,  the 
defeat  and  dispersion  of  the  Episcopal  troops  would 
have  been  completed.  But  instead,  they  sang  a  hymn 
and  spent  the  night  in  banqueting. 

The  prince-bishop,  despondent  and  at  his  wits'  end 
for  money,  called  his  officers  to  a  consultation  on  the 
3rd  September,  and  it  was  unanimously  resolved  to 
turn  the  investment  into  an  effective  blockade.  This 
resolution  was  submitted  to  the  electors  of  Cologne 
and  Saxony,  the  Duke  of  Cleves,  and  the  Landgrave  of 
Hesse,  and  these  princes  approved  of  the  design  of 
Francis  von  Waldeck. 

It  was  determined  to  raise  seven  redoubts,  united 
by  ramparts  and  a  ditch,  around  the  city,  so  as  com- 
pletely to  close  it,  and   prevent  the  exit  of  the  be- 


THE  ANABAP TIS TS  OF  M&NS TER.  3I3 

sieged  and  the  entrance  of  provisions.  It  was 
decided  that  the  defence  of  this  circle  of  forts  should 
be  confided  to  a  sufficient  number  of  tried  soldiers, 
and  that  the  rest  of  the  army  should  be  dismissed. 

Accordingly,  on  the  7th  September,  all  the  labourers 
of  the  country  round  were  engaged,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  engineer  Wilkin  von  Stedingen,  in  raising 
the  walls  and  digging  the  trenches.  The  work  wTas 
carried  on  with  vigour  by  relays  of  peasants  ;  never- 
theless, the  undertaking  was  on  so  great  a  scale, 
that  several  months  must  elapse  before  it  could  be 
completed.1 

The  cost  of  this  terrible  siege  had  already  risen  to 
600,000  florins,  the  treasury  was  empty,  and  the 
country  could  bear  no  further  taxes.  Francis  of 
Waldeck  appealed  to  the  Elector  Palatine,  the 
Electors  of  Cologne,  Mainz,  and  Treves,  to  give  help 
and  subsidies  ;  he  had  recourse  also  to  the  princes 
and  nobles  of  the  Upper  and  Lower  Rhine  ;  and  it 
was  decided  that  a  diet  should  assemble  on  the  13th 
December,  1534,  to  make  arrangements  for  the  com- 
plete subjugation  of  the  insurgent  fanatics.  All  the 
princes,  Catholic  and  Protestant,  trembled  for  their 
crowns,  for  the  Anabaptist  sect  ramified  throughout 
the  country,  and  if  John  of  Leyden  were  successful  in 
Munster,  they  might  expect  similar  risings  in  their 
own  principalities.2 

Whilst  the  preparations  for  the  blockade  were  in 
progress,  John  Bockelson,  inflated  with  pride,  placed 
no   bounds  to  his  prodigality,  his  display,  and   his 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  75  et  seq.;  Heresbach,  p.  132. 

2  Ibid.  p.  75  ;  Bussierre,  p.  372  ;  Hast,  p.  366. 


314  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

despotism.  He  frequently  pronounced  sentences  of 
death.  Thus  Elizabeth  Holschers  was  decapitated 
for  having  refused  her  husband  what  he  demanded  of 
her  ;  Catherine  of  Osnabnick  underwent  the  same 
sentence  for  having  told  one  of  the  preachers  that  he 
was  building  his  doctrines  upon  the  sand  ;  Catherine 
Knockenbecher  lost  her  head  for  having  taken  two 
husbands.  Polygamy  was  permitted,  but  polyandry 
was  regarded  as  an  unpardonable  offence.1 

However,  the  people  chafed  at  the  tyranny  they 
were  subjected  to,  and  murmurs,  low  and  threatening, 
continued  to  make  themselves  heard  ;  whereupon,  by 
King  John's  order,  Dusentscheuer  announced  from  the 
pulpit,  "  that  all  those  who  should  for  the  future  have 
doubts  in  the  verities  taught  them,  and  who  should 
venture  to  blame  the  king  whom  the  Father  had  given 
them,  would  be  given  over  to  the  anointed  of  the 
Lord  to  be  extirpated  out  of  Israel,  decapitated  by 
the  headsman,  and  condemned  to  eternal  oblivion." 

Amongst  those  who  viewed  with  envy  the  rise  and 
splendour  of  the  tailor-king  was  Knipperdolling.  He 
had  opened  his  home  to  the  prophet,  had  patronised 
him,  introduced  him  to  the  people  of  Mtinster,  and 
now  the  draper  was  eclipsed  by  the  glory  of  the 
tailor.  Thinking  that  the  time  was  come  for  him  to 
assume  the  pre-eminence,  he  made  an  attempt  to  de- 
throne Bockelson. 

On  the  1 2th  of  September  he  was  seized  with  the 
spirit  of  prophecy,  became  as  one  possessed,  rushed 
through  the  town  howling,  foaming  at  the  mouth, 
making  prodigious  leaps  and   extravagant  gestures. 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  75  ;  Bussierre,  p.  372. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  315 

and  crying  in  every  street,  "  Repent !  repent !  "  After 
having  carried  on  these  antics  for  some  time,  Knip- 
perdolling  dashed  into  the  market-place,  cast  himself 
down  on  the  ground,  and  fell  into  an  ecstasy. 

The  people  clustered  around  him,  wondering  what 
new  revelation  was  about  to  be  made,  and  the  king, 
who  was  then  holding  audience,  looked  on  uneasily 
at  the  crowd  drifting  from  his  throne  towards  his 
lieutenant-general,  whose  object  he  was  unable  to 
divine,  as  this  performance  had  not  been  concerted 
between  them. 

He  was  not  left  long  in  uncertainty,  for  Knipper- 
dolling,  rising  from  the  ground  with  livid  face, 
scrambled  up  the  back  of  a  sturdy  artisan  standing 
near,  and  crawled  on  all  fours  "  like  a  dog,"  says 
Sleidan,  over  the  heads  of  the  throng,  breathing  in 
their  faces,  and  exclaiming,  "  The  celestial  Father  has 
sanctified  thee ;  receive  the  Holy  Ghost."  Then  he 
anointed  the  eyes  of  some  blind  men  with  his  spittle, 
saying,  "  Let  sight  be  given  you."  Undiscomfited  by 
the  failure  of  this  attempt  to  perform  a  miracle,  he 
prophesied  that  he  would  die  and  rise  again  in  three 
days  ;  and  he  indicated  a  corner  of  the  market-place 
where  this  was  to  occur.  Then  making  his  way  to- 
wards the  throne,  he  began  to  dance  in  the  most 
grotesque  and  indecent  manner  before  the  king, 
shouting  contemptuously,  "  Often  have  I  danced  thus 
before  my  mistresses,  now  the  celestial  Father  has 
ordered  me  to  perform  these  dances  before  my  king."1 

John  was  highly  displeased  at  this  performance  ; 
and  he  ran  down  the  steps  of  his  throne  to  interrupt 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  81  et  seq.\  Sleidan,  p.  416. 


316  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

him.  But  Knipperdolling  nimbly  leaped  upon  the 
dais,  seated  himself  in  the  place  of  majesty,  and  cried 
out,  "  The  Spirit  of  God  impels  me  :  John  Bockelson 
is  king  according  to  the  flesh,  I  am  king  according  to 
the  Spirit ;  the  two  Testaments  must  be  abolished 
and  extirpated.  Man  must  cease  from  obeying 
terrestrial  laws;  henceforth  he  shall  obey  only  the 
inspirations  of  the  Spirit  and  the  instincts  of 
nature." 

John  of  Leyden  sprang  at  him,  dragged  him  from 
the  throne,  beat  his  head  with  his  golden  sceptre,  and 
administering  a  kick  to  the  rear  of  his  lieutenant, 
sent  him  flying  head  over  heels  from  the  platform, 
and  then  calmly  enthroning  himself,  he  gave  orders 
for  the  removal  and  imprisonment  of  the  rebel. 
He  was  obeyed.1 

Knipperdolling,  left  to  cool  in  the  dungeon,  felt 
that  his  only  chance  of  life  was  to  submit.  He  there- 
fore sent  his  humble  apology  to  the  king,  and  assured 
him  that  he  had  been  possessed  by  an  evil  spirit, 
which  had  driven  him,  against  his  judgment  and 
conscience,  into  revolt.  "  And,"  said  he,  "  last  night 
the  Father  revealed  to  me  that  one  must  venerate 
the  royal  majesty,  and  that  John  is  destined  to  reign 
over  the  whole  earth." 

He  was  at  once  released,  for  Bockelson  needed  him, 
and  the  failure  of  this  attempt  only  secured  the  king's 
hold  over  him.  He  sent  him  a  letter  of  pardon, 
concluding  with  the  royal  signature  in  this  eccentric 

fashion : — 

"  In  fide  persiste  salvus 
Carnis  curam  agit  Deus. 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  Hast  p.  366. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  317 

Johannes  Leydanus. 
Potentia  Dei,  robur  meum."1 

Another  event  took  place  at  Miinster,  which  dis- 
tracted the  thoughts  of  the  people  from  the  events  of 
the  siege,  and  the  attempt  of  Knipperdolling  to  de- 
throne the  king. 

The  prophet  Dusentscheuer,  on  the  same  day,  the 
1 2th  September,  sought  the  King  of  Zion  in  his 
palace,  and  said  to  him  with  an  inspired  air,  "  This  is 
the  commandment  of  the  Lord  to  me  :  Go  and  say 
unto  the  chief  of  Israel,  that  he  shall  prepare  on  the 
Mount  Zion  (that  is,  the  cathedral  square)  a  great 
supper  for  all  Christian  brethren  and  sisters,  and  after 
supper  he  shall  commission  the  teachers  of  my  Word 
to  go  forth  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  world,  that  they 
may  teach  all  men  the  way  of  my  righteousness,  and 
that  they  may  be  brought  into  my  fold." 

The  king  accepted  the  message  with  respect,  and 
gave  orders  for  its  immediate  execution. 

On  the  1 3th  September,  Dusentscheuer  called  to- 
gether the  elect,  traversing  the  streets  playing  upon  a 
flute.  At  noon  1700  men,  capable  of  bearing  arms, 
400  old  men  and  children,  and  5000  women  assembled 
on  Mount  Zion. 

Bockelson  left  his  palace,  habited  in  a  scarlet  tunic 
over  which  was  cast  a  cloth  of  silver  mantle,  on  his 
head  was  his  crown,  and  his  sceptre  was  in  his  right 
hand.  Thirty-two  knights,  magnificently  dressed, 
served  as  his  bodyguard.  Then  came  Queen  Divara 
and  the  rest  of  the  wives  of  the  court. 

1  Persist  secure  in  Faith.  God  takes  care  of  the  Flesh. 
John  of  Leyden.     The  Power  of  God  is  my  strength. 


318  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

When  the  king  had  taken  his  place,  the  Grand 
Marshal  Tilbeck  made  the  people  sit  down.  Tables 
had  been  arranged  along  the  sides  of  the  great  square 
under  the  trees,  with  an  open  space  in  the  centre. 

When  all  were  seated,  the  king  and  his  familiars 
distributed  food  to  those  invited.  They  were  given 
first  boiled  beef  and  roots,  then  ham  with  other 
vegetables,  and  finally  roast  meat.  When  the  plates 
had  been  removed,  thin  round  cakes  of  fine  wheat 
flour  were  brought  in  large  baskets,  and  John,  calling 
the  faithful  up  before  him,  communicated  them  with 
the  bread,  saying,  "  Take  and  eat  this,  and  show  forth 
the  Lord's  death."  Divara  followed,  holding  the 
chalice  in  her  jewelled  hands  ;  she  made  the  com- 
municants drink  from  it,  repeating  the  words  to  each, 
"Drink  this,  and  show  forth  the  Lord's  death."  Then 
all  sang  the  Gloria  in  excelsis  in  German,  and  this 
fantastic  parody  of  the  communion  was  over. 
Bockelson  -  now  ordered  all  his  subjects  to  arrange 
themselves  in  a  circle,  and  he  demanded  if  they 
would  faithfully  obey  the  Word  of  God.  All  having 
assented,  Dusentscheuer  mounted  the  pulpit  and 
said,  "The  Father  has  revealed  to  me  the  names  of 
twenty-seven  apostles  who  are  to  be  sent  into  every 
part  of  the  world  ;  they  will  spread  everywhere  the 
pure  doctrine  of  the  celestial  kingdom,  and  the  Lord 
will  cover  them  with  the  shadow  of  His  wings,  so 
that  not  a  hair  of  their  head  shall  be  injured.  And 
when  they  shall  arrive  at  a  place  where  the  authori- 
ties refuse  to  receive  the  Gospel,  there  they  shall 
leave  a  florin  in  gold,  they  shall  shake  off  the  dust  of 
their  garments,  and  shall  go  to  another  place."     Then 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  319 

the  prophet  designated  the  chosen  apostles — he  saw 
himself  of  the  number — and  he  added,  "  Go  ye  into 
all  the  cities  and  preach  the  Word  of  God."  The 
twenty-seven  stepped  forward,  and  the  king,  mount- 
ing the  pulpit,  exhorted  the  people  to  prepare  for  a 
grand  sortie.1 

The  banquet  was  over  for  the  people ;  but  John, 
his  wives  and  court,  and  those  who  had  been  on 
guard  upon  the  walls,  to  the  number  of  500,  now  sat 
down. 

The  second  banquet  was  much  more  costly  than 
the  first.  In  the  midst  of  the  feast,  Bockelson,  rising, 
said  that  he  had  received  an  order  from  the  Father  to 
go  round  and  inspect  the  guests.  He  accordingly 
examined  those  present,  and  recognising  amongst 
them  a  soldier  of  the  Episcopal  army,  who  had  been 
made  prisoner,  he  confronted  him  sternly,  and  asked — 

"  Friend,  what  is  thy  faith  ?  " 

"My  faith,"  replied  the  soldier,  who  was  half  drunk, 
"  is  to  drink  and  make  love." 

"  How  didst  thou  dare  to  come  in,  not  having  on 
the  wedding  garment  ?  "  asked  the  king,  in  a  voice  of 
thunder. 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  86  ;  Montfort.,  p.  34  ;  Dorpius,  f.  397  b  ; 
Heresbach,  p.  139,  et  seq.j  Bullinger,  lib.  ii.  c.  10;  Sleidan, 
p.  417  ;  this  author  sets  the  number  of  communicants  at  5,000, 
the  "  Newe  Zeitung  "  at  4,000,  f.  329.  This  authority  adds  that 
the  communicants  distributed  the  sacrament  they  had  received 
amongst  themselves  saying,  "  Brother  and  sister,  take  and  eat 
thereof.  As  Christ  gave  Himself  for  me,  so  will  I  give  myself 
for  thee.  And  as  the  corn- wheat  is  baked  into  one,  and  the 
grape  branches  are  pressed  into  one,  so  we  being  many  are 
one."  Also,  "  Letter  of  the  Bishop  to  the  Electors  of  Cologne," 
ibid.  p.  390. 


320  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

"I  did  not  come  of  my  own  accord  to  this  de- 
bauch,"1 answered  the  prisoner  ;  "  I  was  brought  here 
by  main  force." 

At  these  words,  the  king,  transported  with  rage, 
drew  his  sword  and  smote  off  the  head  of  the  unfor- 
tunate reveller. 

The  night  was  spent  in  dancing.2 

Whilst  the  king  was  eating  and  drinking,  the 
twenty-seven  apostles  were  taking  a  tender  farewell 
of  their  124  legitimate  wives,3  and  making  their  pre- 
parations to  depart. 

When  all  was  ready,  they  returned  to  Mount  Zion  ; 
Bockelson  ascended  the  pulpit,  and  gave  them  their 
mission  in  the  following  terms  : — "  Go,  prepare  the 
way ;  we  will  follow.  Cast  your  florin  of  gold  at  the 
feet  of  those  who  despise  you,  that  it  may  serve  as  a 
testimony  against  them,  and  they  shall  be  slain,  all 
the  sort  of  them,  or  shall  bow  their  necks  to  our 
rule." 

Then  the  gates  were  thrown  open,  and  the  apostles 
went  forth,  north  and  south,  and  east  and  west.  The 
blockade  was  not  complete,  and  they  succeeded  in 
traversing  the  lines  of  the  enemy. 

However,  the  prince-bishop  notified  to  the  gover- 
nors of  the  towns  in  his  principality  to  watch  them 

1  The  expression  used  was  somewhat  broad — Hurenhochzeit 

2  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  88  et  seq.j  Heresbach,  p.  139;  Dorp. 
f.  398. 

3  Evidence  of  Heinrich  Graess.  Dorpius  says  that  the 
number  of  apostles  was  twenty-eight,  and  gives  their  names  and 
the  places  to  which  they  were  sent,  f.  398. 


THE  A  NAB  A  P  TIS  TS  OF  MUNS  TEE.  321 

and  arrest  them,  should  they  attempt  to  disseminate 
their  peculiar  doctrines.1 

We  shall  have  to  follow  these  men,  and  see  the 
results  of  their  mission,  before  we  continue  the  history 
of  the  siege  of  Miinster.  In  fact,  on  their  expedition 
and  their  success,  as  John  Bockelson  probably  felt, 
everything  depended.  As  soon  as  the  city  was  com- 
pletely enclosed  no  food  could  enter :  already  it  was 
becoming  scarce  ;  therefore  an  attack  on  the  Epis- 
copal army  from  the  flank  was  most  essential  to 
success ;  the  palisades  and  ramparts  recently  erected 
sufficiently  defending  the  enemy  against  surprises 
and  sorties  from  the  town. 

Seven  of  the  apostles  went  to  Osnabriick,  six  to 
Coesfeld,  five  to  Warendorf,  and  eight,  amongst 
whom  was  Dusentscheuer  himself,  betook  themselves 
to  Soest.2 

On  entering  Soest,  Dusentscheuer  and  his  fellow- 
apostles  opened  their  mission  by  a  public  frenzied 
appeal  to  repentance.  Then,  hearing  that  the  senate 
had  assembled,  they  entered  the  hall  and  preached  to 
the  city  councillors  in  so  noisy  a  fashion  that  the 
magistrates  were  obliged  to  suspend  their  delibera- 
tions. The  burgomaster  having  asked  them  who 
they  were,  and  why  they  entered  the  town-hall  un- 
summoned  and  unannounced,  "  We  are  sent  by  the 
king  of  the  New  Zion,  and  by  order  of  God  to  preach 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  89  et  seq.  j  Heresbach,  pp.  89,  101,  141  ; 
Montfort.,  p.  35  ;  Bullinger,  lib.  ii.  c.  10  ;  Sleidan,  pp.  417-8  ; 
Hast,  p.  368  ;  "  Historia  v.  d.  Miinst.  Widerteuffer."  p.  329  a. 

2  For  the  acts  of  these  apostles,  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  92  et  seq.j 
Menck.  p.  1574;  Montfort.,  p.  36  et  seq.j  Sleidan,  p.  418; 
Bullinger,  lib.  ii.  c.  10  ;  Heresbach,  p.  149. 


322  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

the  Gospel,"  was  the  reply  of  Dusentscheuer ;  "  and 
to  execute  this  mission  we  need  neither  passports  nor 
permission.  The  kingdom  of  Heaven  suffereth 
violence,  and  the  violent  take  it  by  storm."  "  Very 
well,"  said  the  burgomaster  collectedly.  "Guards, 
remove  the  preachers  and  throw  them  into  prison." 
A  few  days  after  several  of  them  lost  their  heads  on 
the  block. 

John  Clopris,  at  the  head  of  four  evangelists, 
entered  Warendorf.  They  took  up  their  abode  in 
the  house  of  an  Anabaptist  named  Erpo,  one  of  the 
magistrates  of  the  town,  and  began  to  preach  and 
prophesy  in  the  streets.  The  first  day  they  rebaptised 
fifty  persons.  Clopris  preached  with  such  fervour 
and  persuasive  eloquence,  that  the  whole  town  fol- 
lowed him  ;  the  senate  received  the  sign  of  the 
covenant  in  a  body,  and  this  was  followed  by  a 
rebaptism  of  half  the  population. 

Alarmed  at  what  was  taking  place,  and  afraid  of  a 
diversion  in  his  rear,  Francis  of  Waldeck  wrote  to  the 
magistrates  ordering  them  to  give  up  the  apostles  of 
error.  They  refused,  and  the  prince  at  once  invested 
the  town  and  bombarded  it.  The  magistrates  sent 
offers  of  capitulation,  which  the  prince  rejected  ;  they 
asked  to  retain  their  arms  and  their  franchises. 
Francis  of  Waldeck  insisted  on  unconditional  sur- 
render, and  they  were  constrained  to  yield.  Some  of 
the  senators  and  citizens  who  had  repented  of  their 
craze,  or  who  had  taken  no  part  in  the  movement, 
seized  the  apostles  and  conducted  them  to  the  town- 
hall.  Clopris  and  his  fellows  cast  down  their  florins 
of  gold  and  declared  that  they  shook  off  the  dust  of 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  323 

their  feet  against  the  traitors,  and  that  they  would 
carry  the  pure  Word  of  God  and  the  living  Gospel 
elsewhere ;  but  escape  was  not  permitted,  and  they 
were  delivered  over  to  the  prince-bishop. 

Francis  of  Waldeck  at  once  placed  sentinels  in 
the  streets,  ordered  every  citizen  to  deliver  up  his 
weapons,  took  the  title-deeds  of  the  city,  withdrew 
its  franchises,  and  executed  four  of  the  apostles  and 
three  of  the  ringleaders  of  the  senators.  Clopris  was 
sent  to  Cologne,  and  was  burnt  there  on  the  1st 
February,  1535,  by  the  Elector.  The  bishop  then 
raised  a  fortress  to  command  the  town,  and  placed 
in  it  a  garrison  to  keep  the  Warendorfians  in 
order.  Seventeen  years  after,  the  greater  part  of 
the   franchises   were    restored,   and    all    the   rest   in 

1555. 

The  apostles  of  the  east,  under  Julius  Frisius,  were 
arrested  at  Coesfeld,  and  were  executed.1 

Those  of  the  north  reached  Osnabrlick.  Denis 
Vinnius  was  at  their  head.  They  entered  the  house 
of  a  certain  Otto  Spiecher,  whom  they  believed  to 
be  of  their  persuasion,  and  they  laid  at  his  feet  their 
gold  florins  bearing  the  title  and  superscription  of 
King  John,  as  tokens  of  their  mission.  Spiecher 
picked  up  the  gold  pieces,  pocketed  them,  and  then 

1  The  "  Newe  Zeitung  v.  d.  Widerteuffer.  zu  Minister,"  f.  329 
b,  330  a,  gives  a  summary  of  the  confessions  of  these  men, 
and.  their  account  of  the  condition  of  affairs  in  the  city.  They 
said  that  every  man  there  had  five,  six,  seven,  or  eight  wives, 
and  that  every  girl  over  the  age  of  twelve  was  forced  to 
marry ;  that  if  one  wife  showed  resentment  against  another, 
or  jealousy,  or  complained,  she  was  sentenced  by  the  king  to 
death. 


324  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

informed  his  visitors  that  he  did  not  belong  to  their 
sect,  and  that  the  only  salvation  for  their  necks  would 
be  reticence  on  the  subject  of  their  mission. 

But  this  was  advice  Vinnius  and  his  fellow-fanatics 
were  by  no  means  disposed  to  accept.  They  ran 
forth  into  the  streets  and  market-place,  yelling,  danc- 
ing, foaming,  and  calling  to  repentance.  Then 
Vinnius,  having  collected  a  crowd,  preached  to  them 
the  setting  up  of  the  Millennial  kingdom  at  Miinster. 
Thereupon  the  city-guard  arrived  with  orders  from 
the  burgomaster,  arrested  the  missionaries,  and  carried 
them  off  to  the  Goat-tower,  where  they  shut  them  in, 
and  barred  fast  the  doors.1 

The  rabble  showed  signs  of  violence,  threatened, 
blustered,  armed  themselves  with  axes  and  hammers, 
and  vowed  they  would  batter  open  the  prison-gates 
unless  the  true  ministers  of  God's  Word,  pure  from  all 
human  additions,  were  set  at  liberty.  The  magistrates 
replied  with  great  firmness  that  the  first  man  who 
attempted  to  force  the  doors  should  be  shot,  and  no 
one  caring  to  be  the  first  man,  though  very  urgent  to 
his  neighbours  to  lead  the  assault,  the  mob  sang  a 
psalm  and  dispersed,  and  the  ministers  were  left  to 
console  themselves  with  the  promises  of  Dusentscheuer 
that  not  a  hair  of  their  head  should  fall. 

A  messenger  was  sent  by  the  magistrates  post  haste 
to  the  prince-bishop,  and  before  morning  the  evange- 
lists were  in  his  grasp  at  Iburg. 

As  they  were  led  past  Francis  of  Waldeck,  one  of 
them,  Heinrich  Graess,  exclaimed  in  Latin,  "  Has  not 
the  prince  power  to  release  the  captive  ?  "  and  the 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  ioo  et  seg. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER. 


325 


prince,  disposed  in  his  favour,  sent  for  him.  Graess 
then  confessed  that  the  whole  affair  was  a  mixture  of 
fanaticism  and  imposture,  the  ingredients  being  mixed 
in  pretty  equal  proportions,  and  promised,  if  his  life 
were  spared,  to  abandon  Anabaptism,  and,  what  was 
more  to  the  point,  to  prove  an  Ahitophel  to  the 
Absalom  in  Zion. 

Graess  was  pardoned,  Strahl  died  in  prison,  the 
other  four  were  brought  to  the  block. 

Graess  was  the  sole  surviving  apostle  of  the 
seventy-seven,  and  the  miserable  failure  of  their 
mission  had  rudely  shaken  out  of  him  all  belief  in  its 
divine  character,  and  he  became  as  zealous  in  un- 
masking Anabaptism  as  he  had  been  enthusiastic  in 
its  propagation. 

There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  man  was  an 
unprincipled  traitor.  On  the  contrary,  he  appears  to 
have  been  thoroughly  in  earnest  as  long  as  he  believed 
in  his  mission,  but  his  confidence  had  been  shaken 
before  he  left  the  city,  and  the  signal  collapse  of  the 
mission  sufficed  to  convince  him  of  his  previous  error, 
and  make  him  resolute  to  oppose  it. 

Laden  with  chains,  he  was  brought  to  the  gates  of 
Miinster  one  dark  night  and  there  abandoned.  In 
the  morning  he  was  recognised  by  the  sentinels,  and 
was  brought  into  the  city,  and  led  in  triumph  before 
the  king,  by  a  vast  concourse  chanting  German 
hymns.1 

And  thus  he  accounted  for  his  presence  : — "  I  was 
last  night  at  Iburg  in  a  dark  dungeon,  when  suddenly 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  103  et  seq.;  Montfort,  pp.  40-1;  Hast 
p.  368. 


326  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

a  brilliant  light  filled  my  prison,  and  I  saw  before  me 
an  angel  of  God,  who  took  me  by  the  hand  and  led 
me  forth,  and  delivered  me  from  the  death  which  has 
befallen  all  my  companions,  and  which  the  ungodly 
determined  to  inflict  on  me  upon  the  morrow.  The 
angel  transported  me  asleep  to  the  gate  of  Miinster, 
and  that  none  may  doubt  my  story,  lo  !  the  chains, 
wherewith  I  was  laden  by  the  enemies  of  Israel,  still 
encumber  me." 

Some  of  the  courtiers  doubted  the  miracle,  but  not 
so  the  people,  and  the  king  gave  implicit  credence  to 
his  word,  or  perhaps  thought  the  event  capable  of  a 
very  simple  explanation,  which  had  been  magnified 
and  rendered  supernatural  by  the  heated  fancy  of  the 
mystic. 

Graess  became  the  idol  of  the  people  and  the 
favourite  of  Bockelson.  The  king  passed  a  ring  upon 
his  finger,  and  covered  him  with  a  robe  of  distinction, 
half  grey,  half  green — the  first  the  symbol  of  persist- 
ence, the  other  typical  of  gratitude  to  God.1  Graess 
profited  by  his  position  to  closely  observe  all  that 
transpired  of  the  royal  schemes. 

John  Bockelson  became  more  and  more  tyrannical 
and  sanguinary.  He  hung  a  starving  child,  aged  ten, 
for  having  stolen  some  turnips.  A  woman  lost  her 
head  for  having  spit  in  the  face  of  a  preacher  of  the 
Gospel.  An  Episcopal  soldier  having  been  taken,  the 
king  exhorted  him  to  embrace  the  pure  Word  of  God, 
freed  from  the  traditions  of  men.  The  prisoner  hav- 
ing had  the  audacity  to  reply  that  the  pure  Gospel  as 
practised  in  the  city  seemed  to  him  to  be  adultery: 
1  Montfort.,  p.  40. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  327 

fornication,  and  all  uncleanness  ;  the  king,  foaming 
with  rage,  hacked  off  his  head  with  his  own  hand.1 

Provisions  became  scarce  in  Miinster,  and  the  in- 
habitants were  driven  to  consume  horse-flesh  ;  and 
the  powder  ran  short  in  the  magazine. 

The  Diet  of  Coblenz  assembled  on  the  13th 
December.  The  envoys  of  the  Elector  Palatine,  the 
prince-bishops  of  Maintz,  Cologne,  and  of  Trier,  the 
princes  and  nobles  of  the  Upper  and  Lower  Rhine 
and  of  Westphalia  appeared.  Francis  of  Waldeck, 
unable  to  be  present  in  person,  sent  deputies  to  repre- 
sent him.2 

These  deputies  having  announced  that  the  cost  of 
the  siege  had  already  amounted  to  700,000  florins, 
besought  the  assembled  princes  to  combine  to  ter- 
minate this  disastrous  war.  A  long  deliberation 
followed,  and  the  principle  was  admitted  that  as  the 
establishment  of  .an  Anabaptist  kingdom  in  Miinster 
would  be  a  disaster  affecting  the  whole  empire,  it  was 
just  that  the  bishop  should  not  be  obliged  to  bear  the 
whole  expenses  of  the  reduction  of  Miinster.  The 
Elector  John  Frederick  of  Saxony,  though  not  be- 
longing to  the  three  circles  convoked,  through  his 
deputies  sent  to  the  Diet,  promised  to  take  part  in 
the  extirpation  of  the  heretics.3  It  was  finally  agreed 
that  the  bishop  should  be  supplied  with  300  horse 
soldiers,  3000  infantry,  and  that  an  experienced 
General,  Count  Ulrich  von  Ueberstein,  should  com- 
mand them  and  take  the  general  conduct  of  the 
war.4 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  no.     2  Ibid.  p.  114. 
3  Ibid.  ;  Sleidan,  p.  419  ;  Heresbach,  p.  132.    4  Sleidan,  p.  419. 


328  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

The  monthly  subsidy  of  15,000  florins  was  also 
promised  to  be  contributed  till  the  fall  of  Miinster. 
It  was  also  agreed  that  the  prince-bishop  should  be 
guaranteed  the  integrity  of  his  domains  ;  that  each 
prince,  Catholic  or  Protestant,  should  use  his  utmost 
endeavours  to  extirpate  Anabaptism  from  his  estates; 
that  the  Bishop  of  Miinster  should  request  Ferdinand, 
King  of  the  Romans,  and  the  seven  Electors,  to 
meet  on  the  4th  April,  at  Worms,  to  consult  with 
those  then  assembled  at  Worms  on  measures  to  crush 
the  rebellion,  to  divide  the  cost  of  the  war,  and  to 
punish  the  leaders  of  the  revolt  at  Miinster. 

Lastly,  the  Diet  addressed  a  letter  to  the  guilty 
city,  summoning  it  to  surrender  at  discretion,  unless 
it  were  prepared  to  resist  the  combined  effort  of  all 
estates  of  the  empire. 

But  if  the  princes  were  combining  against  the  Ana- 
baptist New  Jerusalem,  the  sectarians  were  in  agita- 
tion, and  were  arming  to  march  to  its  relief  from  all 
sides,  from  Leyden,  Freisland,  Amsterdam,  Deventer, 
from  Brabant  and  Strassburg. 

The  Anabaptists  of  Deventer  were  on  the  point  of 
rising  and  massacring  the  "  unbelievers  "  in  this  city, 
and  then  marching  on  Miinster,  when  the  plot  was 
discovered,  and  the  four  ringleaders  were  executed. 
The  vigilance  of  the  Regent  of  the  Netherlands  pre- 
vented the  adherents  of  the  mystic  sect,  who  were 
then  very  numerous,  from  rolling  in  a  wave  upon 
Westphalia,  and  sweeping  the  undisciplined  Episcopal 
army  away  and  consolidating  the  power  of  their 
pontiff-king. 

It  was  towards  the  Low  Countries  that  John  of 


THE  ANABAP TIS TS  OF  MUNS TER.  329 

Leyden  looked  with  impatience.  When  would  the 
expected  delivery  come  out  of  the  west  ?  Why  were 
not  the  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  the  sons 
of  Israel  rising  from  their  fens,  joined  by  trained 
bands  from  the  cities,  marching  by  the  light  of  blazing 
cities,  singing  the  songs  of  Zion  ? 

Graess  offered  the  king  to  hie  to  the  Low  Countries 
and  rouse  the  faithful  seed.  "  The  Father,"  said  he, 
"  has  ordered  me  to  gather  together  the  brethren  dis- 
persed at  Wesel,  at  Deventer,  at  Amsterdam,  and  in 
Lower  Germany;  to  form  of  them  a  mighty  army 
that  shall  deliver  this  city  and  smite  asunder  the 
enemies  of  Israel.  I  will  accomplish  this  mission 
with  joy  in  the  interest  of  the  faithful.  I  fear  no 
danger,  since  I  go  to  fulfil  the  will  of  God,  and  I  am 
sure  that  our  brethren,  when  they  know  our  extremity, 
and  that  it  is  the  will  of  their  king,  will  rise  and 
hasten  to  the  relief."  1 

John  Bockelson  was  satisfied  ;  he  furnished  Graess 
with  letters  of  credit,  sealed  with  the  royal  signet. 
The  letters  were  couched  in  the  following  terms  : — 
"  We,  John,  King  of  Righteousness  in  the  new  Temple, 
and  servant  of  the  Most  High,  do  you  to  wit  by  these 
presents,  that  the  bearer  of  these  letters,  Heinrich 
Graess,  prophet  illumined  by  the  celestial  Father,  is 
sent  by  us  to  assemble,  for  the  increase  of  our  realm, 
our  brethren  dispersed  abroad  throughout  the  German 
lands.  He  will  make  them  to  hear  the  words  of  life, 
and  he  will  execute  the  commandments  which  he 
has  received  from  God  and  from  us.  We  therefore 
1  Montfort.,  p.  40 ;  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  104  et  seq.  ;  Hast, 
p.  368. 


33©  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

order  and  demand  of  all  those  who  belong  to  our 
kingdom  to  confide  in  him  as  in  ourselves.  Given  at 
Miinster,  city  of  God,  and  sealed  with  our  signet,  in 
the  twenty-sixth  year  of  our  age  and  the  second  of 
our  reign,  the  second  day  of  the  first  month,  in  the 
year  1535  after  the  nativity  of  Jesus  Christ,  Son  of 
God." 

Graess,  furnished  with  this  letter  and  with  300 
florins  from  the  treasury,  left  the  city,  and  betook 
himself  direct  to  Iburg,  which  he  reached  on  the  vigil 
of  the  Epiphany ; x  and  appeared  before  the  bishop, 
told  him  the  whole  project,  the  names  of  the  principal 
members  of  the  sect  at  Wesel,  Amsterdam,  Leyden, 
&c,  the  places  where  their  arms  were  deposited,  and 
their  plan  of  a  general  rising  and  massacring  their 
enemies  on  a  preconcerted  day. 

The  bishop  sent  dispatches  at  once  to  the  Duke  of 
Juliers  and  the  Governors  of  the  Low  Countries  to 
warn  them  to  be  on  their  guard.  They  replied,  request- 
ing his  assistance  in  suppressing  the  insurrection;  and 
as  the  most  effectual  aid  he  could  render  would  be  to 
send  Graess,  he  commissioned  him  to  visit  Wesel,  and 
arrest  the  execution  of  the  project. 

Graess  at  once  betook  himself  to  Wesel,  where  he 
denounced  the  ringleaders  and  indicated  the  places 
where  their  arms  and  ammunition  were  secreted  in 
enormous  quantities.  A  tumult  broke  out;  but  the 
Duke  of  Juliers  entered  Wesel  on  the  5th  April  (1535), 
at  the  head  of  some  squadrons  of  cavalry,  seized  the 
ringleaders,  who  were  members  of  the  principal  houses 
in  the  place  and  of  the  senate,  and  on  the  13th  exe- 
1  Montfort.,  p.  40, 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  331 

cuted  six  of  them.  The  rest  were  compelled  to  do 
penance  in  white  sheets,  were  deprived  of  their  arms, 
and  put  under  close  surveillance. 

Another  division  of  the  Anabaptists  attempted  to 
gain  possession  of  Leyden,  but  were  discomfited, 
fifteen  of  the  principal  men  of  the  party  were  executed, 
and  five  of  the  women  most  distinguished  for  their 
fanaticism  were  drowned,  amongst  whom  was  the 
original  wife  of  John  Bockelson.1 

In  Groningen,  the  partisans  of  the  sect  were 
numerous ;  orders  reached  them  from  the  king  to  rise 
and  massacre  the  magistrates,  and  march  to  the  relief 
of  the  invested  city.  As  the  Anabaptists  there  were 
not  all  disposed  to  recognise  the  royalty  of  John  of 
Leyden,  an  altercation  broke  out  between  them,  and 
the  attempt  failed  ;  but  rising  and  marching  under 
Peter  Shomacker,  their  prophet,  they  were  defeated 
on  January  24th,  by  the  Baron  of  Leutenburg,  and 
the  prophet  was  executed. 

We  must  now  return  to  what  took  place  in  the 
town  of  Miinster  at  the  opening  of  the  year  1535. 

Bockelson  inaugurated  that  year  by  publishing,  on 
January  2nd,  an  edict  in  twenty-eight  Articles.  It 
was  addressed  "  To  all  lovers  of  the  Truth  and  the 
Divine  Righteousness,  learned  in  and  ignorant  of 
the  mysteries  of  God,  to  let  them  know  how  those 
Christians  ought  to  live  or  act  who  are  fighting  under 
the  banner  of  Justice,  as  true  Israelites  of  the  new 
Temple  predestined  for  long  ages,  announced  by  the 
mouths  of  all  the  holy  prophets,  founded  in  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  and 
1  Hast,  p.  370;  Bussierre,  p.  403. 


332  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

finally  established  by  John,  the  righteous  King,  seated 
on  the  throne  of  David." 

The  Articles  were  to  this  effect : — - 

"I.  In  this  new  temple  there  was  to  be  only  one 
king  to  rule  over  the  people  of  God. 

2.  This  king  was  to  be  a  minister  of  righteousness, 

and  to  bear  the  sword  of  justice. 

3.  None  of  the  subjects  were  to  desert  their  allotted 

places. 

4.  None  were  to  interpret  Holy  Scripture  wrong- 

fully 

5.  Should  a  prophet  arise  teaching  anything  con- 

trary to  the  plain  letter  of  Holy  Scripture,  he 
was  to  be  avoided. 

6.  Drunkenness,  avarice,  fornication,  and  adultery 

were  forbidden. 

7.  Rebellion  to  be  punished  with  death. 

8.  Duels  to  be  suppressed. 

9.  Calumny  forbidden, 

10.  Egress   from  the  camp  forbidden  without  per- 

mission. 

11.  Any  one  absenting  himself  from  his  wife  for 

three  days,  without  leave  from  his  officer,  the 
wife  to  take  another  husband. 

12.  Approaching    the    enemy's    sentinels    without 

leave  forbidden. 

13.  All  violence  forbidden  among  the  elect. 

14.  Spoil  taken  from  the  enemy  to  go  into  a  com- 

mon fund. 

15.  No  renegade  to  be  re-admitted. 

16.  Caution  to  be  observed  in  admitting  a  Christian 

into  one  society  who  leaves  another. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  333 

17.  Converts  not  to  be  repelled. 

18.  Any  desiring  to  live  at  peace  with  the   Chris- 

tians, in  trade,  friendship,  and   by  treaty,  not 
to  be  rejected. 

19.  Permission    given   to   dealers    and    traders    to 

traffic  with  the  elect. 

20.  No  Christian  to  oppose  and  revolt  against  any 

Gentile  magistrate,  except  the  servants  of  the 
bishops  and  the  monks. 

21.  A  Gentile  culprit  not  to  be  remitted  the  penalty 

of  his  crime  by  joining  the  Christian  sect. 

22.  Directions  about  bonds. 

23.  Sentence  to  be  pronounced  against  those  who 

violate  these  laws  and  despise  the  Word  of 
God,  but  not  hastily,  without  the  knowledge  of 
the  king. 

24.  No  constraint  to  be  used  to  force  on  marriages. 

25.  None  afflicted  with  epilepsy,  leprosy,  and  other 

diseases,  to  contract  marriage  without  informing 
the  other  contracting  party  of  their  condition. 

26.  Nulla  virginis  specie,  cum  virgo  non  sit,  fratrem 

defraudabit  ;  alioquin  serio  punietur. 

27.  Every  woman  who  has  not  a  legitimate  husband, 

to  choose  from  among  the  community  a  man 
to  be  her  guardian  and  protector. 
''Given  by  God  and  King  John  the  Just,  minister 
of  the  Most  High  God,  and  of  the  new  Temple, 
in  the  26th  year  of  his  age  and  the  first  of  his 
reign,  on  the  second  day  of  the  first  month 
after  the  nativity  of  Jesus  Christ,  Son  of 
God,  I535-"1 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  132  et  seq. 


334  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

The  object  Bockelson  had  in  view  in  issuing  this 
edict  was  to  produce  a  diversion  in  his  favour  among 
the  Lutherans.  He  already  felt  the  danger  he  was  in, 
from  a  coalescence  of  Catholics  and  Protestants,  and 
he  hoped  by  temperate  proclamations  and  protesta- 
tions of  his  adhesion  to  the  Bible,  and  the  Bible  only, 
as  his  authority,  to  dispose  them,  if  not  to  make 
common  cause  with  him,  at  least  to  withdraw  their 
assistance  from  the  common  enemy,  the  Catholic 
bishop. 

For  the  same  object  he  sent  letters  on  the  13th 
January  to  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  and  with  them  a 
book  called  "  The  Restitution "  (Von  der  Wieder- 
bringung),  intended  to  place  Anabaptism  in  a  favour- 
able light.1 

The  Landgrave  replied  at  length,  rebuking  the 
fanatics  for  their  rebellion,  for  their  profligacy,  and 
for  their  heresy  in  teaching  that  man  had  a  free  will.2 

This  reply  irritated  the  Anabaptists,  and  they 
wrote  to  him  again,  to  prove  that  they  clave  to  the 
pure  Word  of  God,  freed  from  all  doctrines  and  tradi- 
tions of  men,  and  that  they  followed  the  direct 
inspiration  of  God  through  their  prophet.  They  also 
retorted  on  Philip  with  some  effect.  The  Landgrave, 
said  they,  had  no  right  to  censure  them  for  attacking 
their  bishop,  for  he  had  done  precisely  the  same  in 
his  own  dominions.  He  had  expelled  all  the  religious 
from    their    convents,   and    had    appropriated    their 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  128;  Sleidan,  p.  420;  Hast,  p.  373  et  seq.; 
"  Acta,  Handlungen,"  &c,  f.  365  b.  The  king's  letter  began 
"  Leve  Lips  "  ("  Dear  Phil "). 

2  Sleidan,  p.  421. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MIJNSTER.  335 

lands ;  he  had  re-established  the  Duke  of  Wurtemburg 
in  opposition  to  the  will  of  the  Emperor;  he  had 
changed  the  religion  of  his  subjects,  and  was  unable 
to  allege,  as  his  authority  for  thus  acting,  the  direct 
orders  of  Heaven,  transmitted  to  him  by  the  prophets 
of  the  living  God.  They  might  have  retorted  upon 
the  Landgrave  also,  the  charge  of  immorality,  but 
they  forbore;  their  object  was  to  persuade  the 
champion  of  the  Protestant  cause  to  favour  them,  not 
to  exasperate  him  by  driving  the  tu  quoque  too  deep 
home. 

With  this  letter  was  sent  a  treatise  by  Rottmann, 
entitled,  "  On  the  Secret  Significance  of  Scripture." 

Philip  of  Hesse  wavered.  He  wrote  once  more  ; 
and  after  having  attempted  to  excuse  himself  for 
those  things  wherewith  he  had  been  reproached,  he 
said,  "  If  the  thing  depended  on  me  only,  you 
would  not  have  to  plead  in  vain  your  just  cause, 
and  you  would  obtain  all  that  you  demand ;  but  you 
ought  ere  this  to  have  addressed  the  princes  of  the 
empire,  instead  of  taking  the  law  into  your  own 
hands  ;  flying  to  arms,  erecting  a  kingdom,  electing  a 
king,  and  sending  prophets  and  apostles  abroad  to 
stir  up  the  towns  and  the  people.  Nevertheless,  it  is 
possible  that  even  now  your  demands  may  be  favour- 
ably listened  to,  if  you  recall  on  equitable  conditions 
those  whom  you  have  driven  out  of  the  town  and 
despoiled  of  their  goods,  and  restore  your  ancient 
constitutions  and  your  former  authorities."1 

Luther  now  thundered  out  of  Wittemberg.  Sleidan 
epitomises  this  treatise.  Five  Hessian  ministers  also 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  129  ;  Sleidan,  p,  421, 


336  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

issued  an  answer  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Anabaptists  of 
Miinster,  which  was  probably  drawn  up  for  them  by 
Luther  himself,  or  was  at  least  submitted  to  him  for  his 
approval,  for  it  is  published  among  his  German  works.1 
It  is  full  of  invective  and  argument  in  about  equal 
doses.     A  passage  or  two  only  can  be  quoted  here : — 

"  Since  you  are  led  astray  by  the  devil  into  such 
blasphemous  error,  drunk  and  utterly  imprisoned 
you  wish,  as  is  Satan's  way,  to  make  yourselves  into 
angels  of  light,  and  to  paint  in  brightness  and  colour 
your  devilish  doings.  For  the  devil  will  be  no  devil, 
but  a  holy  angel,  yea,  even  God  himself,  and  his 
works,  however  bad  they  may  be  before  God  and  all 
the  world,  he  will  have  unrebuked,  and  himself  be 
honoured  and  reverenced  as  the  Most  Holy.  For  that 
purpose  he  and  you,  his  obedient  disciples,  use  Holy 
Scripture  as  all  heretics  have  ever  done."2 

"  What  shall  I  say  ?  You  let  all  the  world  see 
that  you  understand  far  less  about  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  than  did  the  Jews,  who  blame  you  for  your 
want  of  understanding,  and  yet  none  spoke  or  be- 
lieved more  ignorantly  of  that  same  kingdom  than 
they.  For  the  Scripture  and  the  prophets  point  to 
Messiah,  through  whom  all  was  to  be  fulfilled,  and 
this  the  Jews  also  believed.  But  you  want  to 
make  it  point  to  your  Tailor-King,  to  the  great  dis- 
grace and  mockery  of  Christ,  our  only  true  King, 
Saviour,  and  Redeemer."3 

1  Luth.  ( '  Sammtliche  Werke,"  Wittenb.  1545-51,  ii.  ff. 
367-375  j  "Von  der  Teuffelischen  Secte  d.  Widerteuffer.  zu 
Minister." 

2  Ibid.  f.  367.  3  Ibid.  f.  369. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF' MONSTER.  337 

But  this  was  the  grievous  rub  with  the  Reformer — 
that  the  Anabaptist  had  gone  a  step  beyond  himself. 
"You  have  cast  away  all  that  Dr.  Martin  Luther 
taught  you,  and  yet  it  is  from  him  that  you  have 
received,  next  to  God,  all  sound  learning  out  of  the 
Scripture ;  you  have  given  another  definition  of 
faith,  after  your  new  fashion,  with  various  additional 
articles,  so  that  you  have  not  only  darkened,  but  have 
utterly  annihilated  the  value  of  saving  faith."1 

In  a  treatise  of  Justus  Menius,  published  with 
Luther's  approval,  and  with  a  preface  by  him,  "  On 
the  Spirit  of  the  Anabaptists,"  it  is  angrily  com- 
plained, that  these  sectaries  bring  against  the 
Lutheran  Church  the  following  charges  : — "  First,  that 
our  churches  are  idol-temples,  since  God  dwelleth  not 
in  temples  made  with  hands.  Secondly,  that  we  do 
not  preach  the  truth,  and  have  true  Divine  worship 
therein.  Thirdly,  that  our  preachers  are  sinners,  and  are 
therefore  unfit  to  teach  others.  Fourthly,  that  the  com- 
mon people  do  not  mend  their  morals  by  our  preach 
ing."  All  which  charges  Justus  Menius  answers  as  well 
as  he  can,  sword  in  one  hand  against  the  Papists,  trowel 
in  the  other  patching  up  the  walls  of  his  Jerusalem.2 

Melancthon  also  wrote  against  the  Anabaptist 
book,  combating  all  its  propositions,  and  to  do  so 
falling  back  on  the  maxim,  Abusas  non  tollit  stcb- 
stantiam,  a  maxim  completely  ignored  by  the  Re- 
formers when    they  attacked    the    Catholics.3     Thus 

1  Ibid.  f.  373.  2  Ibid.  ii.  ff.  298-325. 

3  Ibid.  ii.  ff.  334-363.  Melancthon  says  that  things  had  come 
to  such  a  pass  in  Miinster,  that  no  child  knew  who  was  its 
father,  brother,  or  sister. 

T 


338  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

the  new  sect  fought  Lutheranism  with  precisely  the 
same  weapons  wherewith  the  Lutherans  had  fought 
the  Church  ;  and  the  Lutherans,  to  maintain  their 
ground,  were  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  the  authority 
of  the  Church  and  tradition — positions  they  had 
assailed  formerly,  and  to  use  arguments  they  had 
previously  rejected. 

In  the  treatise  of  the  five  Hessian  divines,  drawn 
up  by  Philip  of  Hesse's  orders,  the  errors  of  the 
Anabaptists  are  epitomised  and  condemned;  they  are 
as  follows  : — 

"  i.  They  do  not  believe  that  men  are  justified  by 
faith  only,  but  by  faith  and  works  conjointly. 

2.  They  refer  the  redemption  of  Christ  alone  to 

the  fall  of  Adam,  and  to  its  consequences  on 
those  born  of  him. 

3.  They  hold  community  of  goods. 

4.  They  blame  Martin  Luther  as  having  taught 

nothing  about  good  works. 

5.  They  proclaim  the  freedom  of  man's  will. 

6.  They  reject  infant  baptism. 

7.  They  take  the   Bible  alone,  uninterpreted   by 

any  commentary. 

8.  They  declare  for  plurality  of  wives. 

9.  They  do  not  correctly  teach  the  Incarnation  of 

Christ."1 

This  "  Kurtze :  und  in  der  eile  gestelte  Antwort," 

is  signed  by  John  Campis,  John  Fontius,  John 

Kymeus,  John  Lessing,  and  Anthony  Corvinus. 

It  was  high  time  that  the  siege  should  come  to  an 

end,  so  every  one  said  ;    but  every  one  had  said  the 

1  "Acta  Handlung."  &c.  f.  366  a. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MtJNSTER. 


339 


same  for  the  last  twelve  months,  and  Mlinster  held  out 
notwithstanding". 

An  ultimatum  was  sent  into  the  city  by  the  general 
in  command,  offering  the  inhabitants  liberal  terms  if 
they  would  surrender,  and  warning  them  that,  in  case 
of  refusal,  the  city  would  be  taken  by  storm,  and 
would  be  delivered  over  to  plunder.1  No  answer  was 
made  to  the  letter  ;  nevertheless,  it  produced  a  pro- 
found impression  on  the  citizens,  who  were  already 
suffering  from  want  of  victuals.  A  party  was  formed 
which  resolved  to  seize  the  person  of  the  king,  and  to 
open  the  gates  and  make  terms  with  the  bishop.2 
Bockelson,  hearing  of  the  plot,  assembled  the  whole 
of  the  population  in  the  cathedral  square,  and 
solemnly  announced  to  them  by  revelation  from  the 
Father  that  at  Easter  the  siege  would  be  raised,  and 
the  city  experience  a  wonderful  deliverance.  He 
also  divided  the  town  into  twelve  portions,  and  placed 
at  the  head  of  each  a  duke  of  his  own  creation, 
charged  with  the  suppression  of  treason  and  the  pro- 
tection of  the  gates.  Each  duke  was  provided  with 
twenty-four  guards  for  the  defence  of  his  person,  and 
the  infliction  of  punishment  on  those  citizens  who 
proved  restive  under  the  rule  of  the  King  of  Zion.3 
These  dukes  were  promised  the  government  of  the 
empire,  when  the  kingdoms  of  Germany  became  the 
kingdom  of  John  of  Leyden.  Denecker,  a  grocer, 
was  Duke  of  Saxony ;  Moer.  the  tailor,  Duke  of 
Brunswick ;  the  Kerkerings  were  appointed  to  reign 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  130.  2  Ibid.  p.  140. 

3  Sleidan,  p.  419;  Bullinger,  1.  ii.  c.  9;  Heresbach,  p.  156 
Dorp.  f.  498. 


34Q  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

over  Westphalia  ;  Redecker,  the  cobbler,  to  bear  rule 
in  Juliers  and  Cleves.  John  Palk  was  created  Duke 
of  Guelders  and  Utrecht  ;  Edinck  was  to  be  supreme 
in  Brabant  and  Holland  ;  Faust,  a  coppersmith,  in 
Mainz  and  Cologne;  Henry  Kock  was  to  be  Duke 
of  Trier ;  Ratterberg  to  be  Duke  of  Bremen, 
Werden,  and  Minden  ;  Reininck  took  his  title  from 
Hildesheim  and  Magdeburg;  and  Nicolas  Strip  from 
Frisia  and  Groningen.  As.  these  men  were  for  the 
most  part  butchers,  blacksmiths,  tailors,  and  shoe- 
makers, their  titles,  ducal  coronets  and  mantles,  and 
the  prospect  of  governing,  turned  their  heads,  and 
made  them  zealous  tools  in  the  hands  of  Bockelson. 

The  king  made  one  more  attempt  to  rouse  the 
country.  He  issued  letters  offering  the  pillage  of  the 
whole  world  to  all  those  who  would  join  the  standard. 
But  the  bishop  was  informed  of  the  preparation  of 
these  missives  by  a  Danish  soldier  in  Mtinster  ;  he 
was  much  alarmed,  as  his  lantzknechts  were  ready  to 
sell  their  services  to  the  highest  bidder.  He  there- 
fore pressed  on  the  circumvallation  of  the  city,  kept  a 
vigilant  guard,  and  captured  every  emissary  sent  forth 
to  distribute  these  tempting  offers.  On  the  nth 
February,  1535,  the  moat,  mound,  and  palisade  around 
the  city  were  complete  ;  and  it  was  thenceforth  im- 
possible for  access  to  or  egress  from  the  city  to  be 
effected  without  the  knowledge  of  the  prince  and  his 
generals.  The  unfortunate  people  of  Mtinster  dis- 
covered attempting  to  escape  were  by  the  king's 
orders  decapitated.  Many  men  and  women  perished 
thus  ;  amongst  them  was  a  mistress  of  Knipperdolling 
named   Dreyer,  who,  weary  of  her  life,  fled,  but  was 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  341 

caught  and  delivered  over  to  the  executioner.  When 
her  turn  came,  the  headsman  hesitated.  Knipper- 
dolling,  perceiving  it,  took  from  him  the  sword,  and 
without  changing  colour  smote  off  her  head.  "  The 
Father,"  said  he,  "  irresistibly  inspired  me  to  this,  and 
I  have  thus  become,  without  willing  it  or  knowing  it, 
an  instrument  of  vengeance  in  the  hands  of  the 
Lord."  1 

The  legitimate  wife  of  Knipperdolling,  for  having 
disparaged  polygamy,  escaped  death  with  difficulty ; 
she  was  sentenced  to  do  public  penance,  kneeling  in 
the  great  square,  in  the  midst  of  the  people,  with  a 
naked  sword  in  her  hands.2 

Easter  came,  the  time  of  the  promised  delivery, 
and  the  armies  of  the  faithful  from  Holland  and 
Friesland  and  Brabant  had  not  arrived.  The  posi- 
tion of  Bockelson  became  embarrassing.  He  extri- 
cated himself  from  the  dilemma  with  characteristic 
effrontery.  During  six  days  he  remained  in  his  own 
house,  invisible  to  every  one.  At  the  expiration  of 
the  time  he  issued  forth,  assembled  the  people  on 
Mount  Zion,  and  informed  them  that  the  deliverance 
predicted  of  the  Father  had  taken  place,  but  that  it 
was  a  deliverance  different  in  kind  from  what  they 
had  anticipated.  "  The  Father,"  said  he,  "  has  laid  on 
my  shoulders  the  iniquities  of  the  Israelites.  I  have 
been  bowed  down  under  their  burden,  and  was  well- 
nigh  crushed  beneath  their  weight.  Now,  by  the 
grace  of  the  Lord,  health  has  been  restored  to  me, 
and  you  have  been  all  released  from  your  sins.  This 
spiritual  deliverance  is  the  most  excellent  of  all,  and 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  148.  2  Ibid.  p.  149. 


342  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

must  precede  that  which  is  purely  exterior  and 
temporal.  Wait,  therefore,  patiently,  it  is  promised 
and  it  will  arrive,  if  you  do  not  fall  back  into  your 
sins,  but  maintain  your  confidence  in  God,  who  never 
deserts  His  chosen  people,  though  He  may  subject 
them  to  trials  and  tribulations,  to  prove  their  con- 
stancy."1 One  would  fain  believe  that  John  Bockelson 
was  in  earnest,  and  the  subject  of  religious  infatua- 
tion, like  his  subjects,  but  after  this  it  is  impossible  to 
so  regard  him. 

The  princes,  when  separating  after  the  assembly  of 
Coblenz,  had  agreed  to  reassemble  on  the  4th  of 
April.  Ferdinand,  King  of  the  Romans,  convoked  all 
the  Estates  of  the  empire  to  meet  on  that  day  at 
Worms.  The  deputies  of  several  towns  protested 
against  the  decisions  taken  at  Coblenz  without  their 
participation,  and  the  deliberations  were  at  the  outset 
very  tumultuous.  An  understanding  was  at  length 
arrived  at,  and  a  monthly  subsidy  of  20,000  florins 
for  five  months  was  agreed  upon,  to  maintain  the 
efficacy  of  the  investment  of  Munster.  But  before 
separating,  a  final  effort  to  obtain  a  pacific  termination 
to  the  war  was  resolved  upon,  and  the  burgomasters 
of  Frankfort  and  Niirnberg  were  sent  as  a  deputa- 
tion into  the  city.  This  attempt  proved  as  sterile  as 
all  those  previously  essayed.  "  We  have  nothing  in 
common  with  the  Roman  empire,"  answered  the 
chiefs  of  Zion  ;  "  for  that  empire  is  the  fourth  beast 
whereof  Daniel  prophesied.  We  have  set  up  again 
the  kingdom  of  Israel,  by  the  Father's  command,  and 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  pp.  153,  154  ;  Sleidan,  p.  422  ;  Bullinger, 
lib.  ii.  c.  2  ;  Heresbach,  pp.  159,  160. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  343 

we  engage  you  to  abstain  for  the  future  from  assailing 
this  realm,  as  you  fear  the  wrath  of  God  and  eternal 
damnation."1 

The  famine  in  Miinster  now  became  terrible.  Cats, 
rats,  dogs,  and  horses  were  eaten ;  the  starving  people 
attempted  various  expedients  to  satisfy  their  craving 
hunger.  ■  They  ate  leather,  wood,  even  cow-dung  dried 
in  the  sun,  the  bark  of  trees,  and  candles.  Corpses 
lately  buried  were  dug  up  during  the  night  and 
secretly  devoured.  Mothers  even  ate  their  children. 
"  Terrible  maladies,"  says  Kerssenbroeck,  "  the  con- 
sequence of  famine,  aggravated  the  position  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  town ;  their  flesh  decomposed,  they 
rotted  living,  their  skin  became  livid,  their  lips  re- 
treated ;  their  eyes,  fixed  and  round,  seemed  ready  to 
start  out  of  their  orbits ;  they  wandered  about, 
haggard,  hideous,  like  mummies,  and  died  by  hundreds 
in  the  streets.  The  king,  to  prevent  infection,  had 
the  bodies  cast  into  large  common  ditches,  whence 
the  starving  withdrew  them  furtively  to  devour  them. 
Night  and  day  the  houses  and  streets  re-echoed  with 
tears,  cries,  and  moans  ; — men,  women,  old  men,  and 
children  sank  into  the  darkest  despair."2 

In  the  midst  of  the  general  famine,  John  of  Leyden 
lived  in  abundance.  His  storehouses,  into  which  the 
victuals  found  in  every  house  had  been  collected, 
supplied  his  own  table  and  that  of  his  immediate 
followers.  His  revelry  and  pomp  were  unabated, 
whilst  his  deluded  subjects  died  of  want  around  him.3 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  155  ;  Hast,  394. 

2  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  157  et  seq.  ;  Heresbach,  pp.  151,  152; 
Hast,  p.  395;  Montfort,  p.  46.  3  jft&  p#  I57# 


344  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

When  starvation  was  at  its  worst,  a  letter  from 
Heinrich  Graess  circulated  in  the  town,  informing  the 
people  that  his  miraculous  escape  had  been  a  fable, 
and  that  he  had  rejected  the  follies  of  Anabaptism, 
disgusted  at  the  extravagance  to  which  it  had  led  its 
votaries,  and  assuring  them  that  their  king  was  an 
impostor,  exploiting  to  his  advantage  the  credulity  of 
an  infatuated  mob.1 

This  letter  produced  an  effect  which  made  the 
king  tremble.  He  summoned  his  disciples  before 
him,  reproached  them  for  putting  the  hand  to  the 
plough  and  turning  back,  and  gave  leave  to  all  those 
whose  faith  wavered  to  go  out  from  the  city.  "As 
for  me,"  said  he,  "  I  shall  remain  here,  even  if  I 
remain  alone  with  the  angels  which  the  Father  will 
not  fail  to  send  to  aid  me  to  defend  this  place."2 

When  the  king  had  given  permission  to  leave  the 
city,  numbers  of  every  age  and  sex  poured  through 
the  gates,  leaving  behind  only  the  most  fanatical  who 
were  resolved  to  conquer  or  die  with  John  of  Leyden. 

Outside  the  city  walls  extended  a  trampled  and 
desolate  tract  to  the  fosse  and  earthworks  of  the 
besiegers,  strewn  with  the  ruins  of  houses  and  of 
farmsteads.  The  unfortunate  creatures  escaping  from 
Zion,  wasted  and  haggard  like  spectres,  spread  over 
this  devastated  region.  The  investing  army  drove 
them  back  towards  the  city,  unwilling  to  allow  the 
rebels  to  protract  the  siege  by  disembarrassing 
themselves  of  all  the  useless  mouths  in  the  place. 
They  refused,  however,  to  re-enter  the  walls,  and 
remained  in  the  Konigreich,  as  this  desert  tract  was 
1  Montfort.,  p.  47.         2  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  161. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  345 

called,  to  the  number  of  900,  living  on  roots  and 
grass,  for  four  weeks,  lying  on  the  bare  earth.  Some 
were  too  feeble  to  walk,  and  crawled  about  on  all 
fours  ;  their  hunger  was  so  terrible  that  they  filled 
their  mouths  with  sand,  earth,  or  leaves,  and  died 
choked,  in  terrible  convulsions.  Night  and  day  their 
moans,  howls,  and  cries  ascended.  The  children 
presented  a  yet  more  deplorable  spectacle  ;  they  im- 
plored their  mothers  to  give  them  something  to  eat, 
and  they,  poor  creatures,  could  only  answer  them  with 
tears  and  sobs  ;  often  they  approached  the  lines  of 
the  camp,  and  sought  to  excite  the  compassion  of  the 
soldiers. 

The  General  in  command,  Graff  Ueberstein,  sent 
information,  on  April  22nd,  to  the  bishop,  who  was 
ill  in  his  castle  at  Wollbeck,  and  asked  what  was  to 
be  done  with  these  unfortunates  who  were  perishing 
in  the  Konigreich.  The  bishop  shed  tears,  and  pro- 
tested his  sorrow  at  the  sufferings  of  the  poor  wretches, 
but  did  not  venture  to  give  orders  for  their  removal, 
without  consulting  the  Duke  of  Cleves  and  the 
Elector  of  Cologne.  Thus  much  precious  time  was 
lost,  and  only  on  the  28th  May,  a  month  after,  were 
the  starving  wretches  permitted  to  leave  the  Koni- 
greich, upon  the  following  terms :  1st.  That  they 
should  be  transported  to  the  neighbouring  town  of 
Diekhausen,  where  they  should  be  examined,  and 
those  who  were  guilty  among  them  executed ;  2nd. 
That  the  rest  should  be  pardoned  and  dispersed  in 
different  places,  after  having  undertaken  to  renounce 
Anabaptism,  and  to  abstain  from  negotiations,  open 
or   secret,   with   their    comrades    in   the   beleagured 


346  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

city.1  These  conditions  having  been  made,  the  re- 
fugees were  transported  on  tumbrils  and  in  carts  to 
Diekhausen,  at  a  foot's  pace,  their  excessive  exhaustion 
rendering  them  incapable  of  bearing  more  rapid 
motion.  They  numbered  200 ;  700  had  perished  of 
famine  between  the  lines,  of  the  investing  army  and 
the  walls  of  the  besieged  town.  On  the  30th  May, 
those  found  guilty  of  prominent  participation  in  the 
revolt  were  executed. 

The  prince-bishop  might  have  spared  his  tears  and 
sent  loaves.  His  hesitation  and  want  of  genuine 
sympathy  with  the  starving  unfortunates  serve  to 
mark  his  character  as  not  only  weak,  but  selfish  and 
cowardly. 

Whilst  this  was  taking  place  outside  the  walls  of 
Miinster,  John  van  Gheel,  an  emissary  of  Bockelson, 
was  actively  engaged  in  rousing  the  Anabaptists  of 
Amsterdam.  Having  insinuated  himself  into  the 
good  graces  of  the  Princess  Mary,  regent  of  the 
Netherlands,  he  persuaded  her  that  he  was  desirous 
of  restraining  the  sectaries  waiting  their  call  to  march 
to  the  relief  of  Miinster.  She  even  furnished  him 
with  an  authorisation  to  raise  troops  for  this  purpose. 
He  profited  by  this  order  to  arm  his  friends  and  lay  a 
plot  for  obtaining  the  mastery  of  Amsterdam.  His 
design  was  to  make  that  city  a  place  of  rendezvous 
for  all  the  Anabaptists  of  the  Low  Countries,  who 
would  flock  into  it  as  a  city  of  refuge,  when  once  it 
was  in  his  power,  and  then  he  would  be  able  to 
organise  out  of  them  an  army  sufficiently  numerous 
and  well  appointed  to  raise  the  siege  of  Miinster. 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  pp.  161-8. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  347 

On  the  nth  May  he  placed  himself  at  the  head  of 
600  friends,  seized  on  the  town,  massacred  half  the 
guards,  and  one  of  the  burgomasters.  Amsterdam 
would  inevitably  have  been  in  the  power  of  the 
sectaries  in  another  hour,  had  not  one  of  the  guard 
escaped  up  the  tower  and  rung  the  alarm-bell.  As 
the  tocsin  pealed  over  the  city,  the  citizens  armed  and 
rushed  to  the  market-place,  fell  upon  the  Ana- 
baptists and  retook  the  town-hall,  notwithstanding  a 
desperate  resistance.  Crowds  of  fanatics  from  the 
country,  who  had  received  secret  intimation  to  as- 
semble before  the  walls  of  Amsterdam,  and  wait  till 
the  gates  were  opened  to  admit  them,  finding  that  the 
plan  had  been  defeated,  threw  away  their  arms  and 
fled  with  precipitation.1 

Van  Gheel  had  fallen  in  the  encounter.  The 
prisoners  were  executed.  Amongst  these  was  Campe 
whom  John  of  Leyden  had  created  Anabaptist  bishop 
of  Amsterdam.  His  execution  was  performed  with 
great  barbarity  ;  first  his  tongue,  then  his  hand,  and 
finally  his  head  was  cut  off.2 

We  must  look  once  more  into  the  doomed  city. 

In  the  midst  of  the  general  desolation  John  Bockel- 

son  and  his  court   lived    in    splendour   and    luxury. 

Every  one  who  murmured  against  his  excesses  was 

executed.      Heads  were  struck  off  on  the   smallest 

charge,  and  scarcely  a  day  passed  in  May  and  June 

without  blood  flowing  on   Mount  Zion.     One  of  the 

most   remarkable  of   these    executions  was    that    of 

Elizabeth  Wandtscherer,  one  of  the  queens. 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  pp.  73,  74  ;  Hast,  p.  37  ;  Montfort.,  p.  58  et 
seq.  2  Montfort.,  pp.  68,  69. 


348  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

This  woman  had  had  three  husbands  ;  the  first  was 
dead,  the  second  marriage  had  been  annulled,  and 
Bockelson  had  taken  her  to  wife  because  she  was 
pretty  and  well  made. 

She  was  a  great  favourite  with  her  royal  husband, 
and  for  six  months  she  seemed  to  be  delighted  with 
her  position  ;  but  at  length,  disgusted  with  the  un- 
bridled licence  of  the  royal  harem,  the  hypocrisy  and 
the  mad  revelry  of  the  court,  contrasted  with  the 
famine  of  the  citizens,  a  prey  to  remorse,  she  tore  off 
her  jewels  and  her  queenly  robes,  and  asked  John  of 
Leyden  permission  to  leave  the  city.  This  was  on 
the  1 2th  June.  The  king,  furious  at  an  apostacy  in 
his  own  house,  dragged  her  into  the  market-place,  and 
there  in  the  presence  of  his  wives  and  the  populace, 
smote  off  her  head  with  his  own  hands,  stamped  on 
her  body,  and  then  chanting  the  "  Gloria  in  excelsis  " 
with  his  queens,  danced  round  the  corpse  weltering  in 
its  blood.1 

However,  the  royal  magazines  were  now  nearly  ex- 
hausted, and  the  king  was  informed  that  there  remained 
provisions  for  only  a  few  days.  He  resolved  to  carry 
on  his  joyous  life  of  debauchery  without  thought  of 
the  morrow,  and  when  all  was  expended,  to  fire  the 
city  in  every  quarter,  and  then  to  rush  forth,  arms  in 
hand,  and  break  through  the  investing  girdle,  or 
perish  in  the  attempt.2      This  project  was  not  exe- 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  pp.  176-7;  Dorpius,  f.  498  b;  Sleidan,  p. 
422,  says  she  was  executed  for  having  observed  to  some  of  her 
companions  that  it  could  not  be  the  will  of  God  that  they  should 
live  in  abundance  whilst  the  subjects  perished  from  want  of 
necessaries.     Hast,  p.  395  ;  Heresbach,  p.  145. 

2  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  177. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  349 

cuted,  for  the  siege  was  abruptly  ended  before  the 
moment  had  arrived  for  its  accomplishment. 

Late  in  the  preceding  year,  a  soldier  of  the 
Episcopal  army,  John  Eck,  of  Langenstraten,  or,  as 
he  was  called  from  his  diminutive  stature,  Hansel 
Eck,  having  been  punished  as  he  deemed  excessively 
or  unjustly  for  some  dereliction  in  his  duty,  deserted 
to  the  Anabaptists,  and  found  an  asylum  in  the  city, 
where  John  Bockelson,  perceiving  his  abilities  and 
practical  acquaintance  with  military  operations,  made 
him  one  of  his  captains. 

But  Hansel  soon  repented  bitterly  this  step  he  had 
taken.  Little  men  are  proverbially  peppery  and 
ready  to  stand  on  their  dignity.  His  desertion  had 
been  the  result  of  an  outburst  of  wounded  self-pride, 
and  when  his  wrath  cooled  down,  and  his  judgment 
obtained  the  upper  hand,  he  was  angry  with  himself 
for  what  he  had  done.  Feeling  confident  that  the 
city  must  eventually  fall,  and  knowing  that  small 
mercies  would  be  shown  to  a  deserter  caught  in  arms, 
however  insignificant  he  might  be  in  stature,  Hansel 
took  counsel  with  eight  other  discontented  soldiers  in 
his  company,  and  they  resolved  to  escape  from 
Miinster  and  ask  pardon  of  the  bishop. 

They  effected  the  first  part  of  their  object  on  the 
night  of  the  17th  June,  and  crossed  the  Konigreich 
towards  the  lines  of  the  investing  force.  The 
sentinels,  observing  a  party  of  armed  men  advancing, 
with  the  moon  flashing  from  their  morions  and  breast- 
plates, fired  on  them  and  killed  seven.  His  diminutive 
stature  stood  Hansel  in  good  stead,  and  he,  with  one 
other  named  Sobb,  succeeded  in  escalading  the  ram- 


350  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

parts  unobserved,  and  in  making  their  way  to  the 
nearest  fort  of  Hamm,  where  the  old  officer,  Meinhardt 
von  Hamm,  under  whom  he  had  formerly  served,  was 
in  command.  Hansel  and  Sobb  were  conducted  into 
his  presence,  and  offered  to  deliver  the  city  into  the 
hands  of  the  prince-bishop  if  he  would  accord  them  a 
free  pardon ;  but  they  added  that  no  time  must  be 
lost,  as  it  was  but  a  question  of  hours  rather  than  of 
days  before  the  city  was  fired,  and  the  final  sortie  was 
executed.1 

Meinhardt  listened  to  his  plan,  approved  of  it,  and 
wrote  to  Francis  of  Waldeck,  asking  a  safe-conduct 
for  Hansel,  and  urging  the  utmost  secrecy,  as  on  the 
preservation  of  the  secret  depended  the  success  of  the 
scheme. 

The  safe-conduct  was  readily  granted,  and  the  de- 
serter was  brought  to  Willinghegen  concealed  amidst 
game  in  a  cart  covered  with  boughs  of  trees.  Willing- 
hegen is  a  small  place  one  mile  outside  the  circum- 
yallation.  The  chiefs  of  the  besieging  army  met  here 
to  consider  the  plan  of  Hansel  Eck.  The  little 
man  protested  that  with  300  men  he  could  take  the 
city.  He  knew  the  weak  points,  and  he  could  escalade 
the  walls  where  they  were  unguarded.  Four  hundred 
soldiers  were,  however,  decided  to  be  sent  on  the  ex- 
pedition, under  the  command  of  Wilkin  Steding,  "  a 
terrible  enemy  but  a  devoted  friend  ; "  John  of 
Twickel  was  to  be  standard-bearer,  and  Hansel  was 
to  act  as  guide  ;  and  the  attempt  was  to  be  made  on 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  179  et  seq. ;  Sleidan,  p.  427;  Montfort., 
p.  71  ;  Heresbach,  p.  162  et  seq.  ;  Hast,  p.  395  et  seq.  ;  Dorpius, 
f.  499- 


THE  A  NAB  A  P  TIS  TS  OF  Mt/NS  TER.  351 

the  eve  of  St.  John  the  Baptist's  day.1  However,  the 
bishop  and  Count  Ueberstein,  desirous  of  avoiding 
unnecessary  effusion  of  blood,  summoned  the  in- 
habitants to  surrender,  for  the  last  time,  on  the  22nd 
June. 

Rottmann  replied  to  the  deputies  that  "  the  city 
should  be  surrendered  only  when  they  received  the 
order  to  do  so  from  the  Father  by  a  revelation." 

Midsummer  eve  was  a  hot,  sultry  day.  Towards 
evening  dark  heavy  clouds  rolled  up  against  the  wind, 
and  a  violent  storm  of  thunder,  lightning,  and  hail 
burst  over  the  doomed  city.  The  sentinels  of 
Miinster,  exhausted  by  hunger,  and  alarmed  at  the 
rage  of  the  elements,  quitted  their  posts  and  retreated 
under  shelter.  The  darkness,  the  growl  of  the  wind, 
and  the  boom  of  the  thunder  concealed  the  approach 
of  the  Episcopal  troops.  The  400,  under  Steding, 
guided  by  the  deserter,  marched  into  the  Konigreich 
between  ten  and  eleven  o'clock,  and  met  with  no  ob- 
stacles till  they  reached  the  Holy-cross  Gate.  Here 
they  filled  the  ditch  with  faggots,  trees,  and  bundles 
of  straw ;  a  bridge  was  improvised,  the  curtain  of 
palisades  masking  the  bastion  was  surmounted, 
ladders  were  planted,  and  without  meeting  with  the 
least  resistance,  the  400  reached  the  summit  of  the 
walls.  The  sentinels,  whom  they  found  asleep ,  were 
killed,  with  the  exception  of  one  who  purchased  his 
life  by  giving  up  the  pass-word,  "  Die  Erde."  The 
soldiers  then  advanced  along  the  paved  road  which 
lay  between  the  double  walls,  captured  and  killed  the 
sentinels  at  every  watch  tower,  and  then,  entering  the 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  169  ;  and  the  authors  before  cited. 


352  FREAKS  OF  FAN  A  TIC  ISM. 

streets,  crossed  the  cemetery  of  Ueberwasser,  the 
River  Aa  by  its  bridge,  and  debouched  on  the  cathedral 
square,  where  the  faint  flashes  of  the  retreating  light- 
ning illumined  at  intervals  the  gaunt  scaffolding  of  the 
throne  and  gallery  and  pulpit  of  the  Anabaptist  king, 
looking  now  not  unlike  the  preparations  for  an  exe- 
cution. 

The  cathedral  had  been  converted  into  the  arsenal. 
Hansel  led  the  Episcopal  soldiers  to  the  western  gates, 
gave  the  word  "  Die  Erde,"  and  the  guards  were 
killed  before  they  could  give  the  alarm.  The  ar- 
tillery was  now  in  the  hands  of  the  400.1 

The  Anabaptists  had  slept  through  the  rumble  of 
the  thunder,  but  suddenly  the  rattle  of  the  drum  on 
their  hill  of  Zion  woke  them  with  a  start  They 
sprang  from  their  beds,  armed  in  haste,  and  rushed 
to  the  cathedral  square,  where  their  own  cannons 
opened  on  them  their  mouths  of  fire,  and  poured  an 
iron  shower  down  the  main  thoroughfares  which 
led  from  the  Minster  green.  But  they  were  not 
discouraged.  Through  backways,  and  under  the 
shelter  of  the  surrounding  houses,  they  reached  the 
Chapel  of  St.  Michael,  which  commanded  the  position 
of  the  Episcopal  soldiers,  and  thence  fired  upon  them 
with  deadly  precision. 

Steding  turned  the  guns  against  the  chapel,  but  its 
massive  walls  could  not  be  broken  through,  and  the 
balls  bounded  from  them  without  effecting  more  than 
a  trivial  damage.  The  Anabaptists  pursued  their 
advantage.  Whilst  Steding  was  occupied  with  those 
who  held  the  Chapel  of  St.  Michael,  a  large  number 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  176  et  seq.  ;  and  the  authors  before  cited. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OB  MONSTER.  353 

assembled  in  the  market-place  and  marched  in  close 
ranks  upon  the  cathedral  square. 

The  400,  unable  to  withstand  the  numbers  opposed 
to  them,  were  driven  from  their  positions,  and  retreated 
into  the  narrow  Margaret  Street,  where  they  were 
unable  to  use  their  arms  with  advantage.  Steding 
burst  open  the  door  of  a  house,  and  sent  200  of  his 
men  through  it ;  they  issued  through  the  back  door, 
filled  up  a  narrow  lane  running  parallel  with  the 
street,  and  attacked  the  Anabaptists  in  the  rear,  who, 
thinking  that  the  city  was  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy, 
and  that  they  were  being  assailed  by  a  reinforcement, 
fled  precipitately. 

By  an  unpardonable  oversight,  Steding  had  for- 
gotten to  leave  a  guard  at  the  postern  by  which  he 
had  entered  the  city.  The  Anabaptists  discovered 
this  mistake  and  profited  by  it,  so  that  when  the 
reinforcements  sent  to  support  Steding  arrived,  the 
gates  were  closed,  and  the  walls  were  defended  by 
the  women,  who  cast  stones  and  firebrands,  and  shot 
arrows  amongst  them,  taunting  them  with  the  failure 
of  the  attempt  to  surprise  the  city ;  and  they,  un- 
certain whether  to  believe  that  the  plot  of  Hansel 
Eck  had  failed  or  not,  remained  without  till  break  of 
day,  vainly  attempting  to  escalade  the  walls.  The 
Anabaptists,  who  had  fled  in  the  Margaret  Street, 
soon  rallied,  and  the  400  were  again  exposed  to  the 
fury  of  a  multitude  three  times  their  number,  who 
assailed  them  in  front  and  in  rear,  and  they  were 
struck  down  by  stones  and  furniture  cast  out  of  the 
windows  upon  them  by  the  women  in  the  houses. 

Nevertheless  they  bravely  defended  themselves  for 


354  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

several  hours,  and  their  assailants  began  to  lose 
courage,  as  news  of  the  onslaught  upon  the  Avails 
reached  them.  It  was  now  midnight.  King  John 
proposed  a  temporary  cessation  of  hostilities,  which 
Steding  gladly  accepted  ,  and  the  messengers  of 
Bockelson  offered  the  400  their  life  if  they  would  lay 
down  their  arms,  kneel  before  him,  and  ask  his 
pardon. 1 

The  soldiers  indignantly  rejected  this  offer,  but 
proposed  to  quit  the  town  with  their  arms  and  ensigns. 
A  long  discussion  ensued,  which  Steding  protracted 
till  break  of  day. 

At  the  opening  of  the  negotiations,  Steding  bade 
John  von  Twickel,  the  ensign,  hasten  to  the  ramparts 
with  three  men,  as  secretly  as  possible,  and  urge  on  the 
reinforcements.  Twickel  reached  the  bastions  as  day 
began  to  dawn,  and  he  shouted  to  his  comrades  with- 
out to  help  Steding  and  his  gallant  band  before  all 
was  lost.  The  Episcopalians,  dreading  a  ruse  of  the 
besieged  to  draw  them  into  an  ambush,  hesitated  ;  but 
Twickel  called  the  watchword,  which  was  Waldeck, 
and  announced  the  partial  success  of  the  400. 

Having  accomplished  his  mission,  Twickel  returned 
to  his  comrades  within,  cheering  them  at  the  top  of 
his  voice  with  the  cry  from  afar,  "  Courage,  friends, 
help  is  at  hand  ! " 

At  these  words  the  remains  of  the  gallant  band  of 
400  recommenced  the  combat  with  irresistible  energy. 
They  fell  on  the  Anabaptists  with  such  vehemence 
that  they  drove  them  back  on  all  sides ;  they  gave  no 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  385  ;  Heresbach,  pp.  162-6  ;  Montfort,  p. 
72  ;  Hast,  p.  396  et  seq. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER,  355 

quarter,  but  breaking  into  divisions,  swept  the  streets, 
meeting  now  with  only  a  feeble  resistance,  for  the 
soldiers  without  were  battering  at  the  gates.  In  vain 
did  the  sectarians  offer  to  leave  the  town,  their  offer 
came  too  late,  and  the  little  band  drove  them  from  one 
rallying  point  to  another.1 

Rottmann,  feeling  that  all  was  lost,  cast  himself  on 
their  lances  and  fell.  John  of  Leyden,  instead  of 
heading  his  party,  attempted  to  fly,  but  was  recognised 
as  he  was  escaping  through  the  gate  of  St.  Giles,  and 
was  thrown  into  chains. 

In  the  meantime  the  reinforcement  had  mounted 
the  walls,  beaten  in  the  gates,  and  was  pouring  up  the 
streets,  rolling  back  the  waves  of  discomfited  Ana- 
baptists on  the  swords  and  spears  of  the  decimated 
400.  Two  hundred  of  the  most  determined  among 
the  fanatics  entrenched  themselves  in  a  round  tower 
commanding  the  market-place,  and  continued  firing 
on  the  soldiers  of  the  prince.  The  generals,  seeing 
that  the  town  was  in  their  power,  and  that  it  would 
cost  an  expenditure  of  time  and  life  to  reduce  those 
in  the  tower,  offered  them  their  life,  and  permission  to 
march  out  of  Munster  unmolested  if  they  would 
surrender. 

On  these  terms  the  Anabaptists  in  the  bastion 
laid  down  their  arms.  The  besiegers  now  spread 
throughout  the  city,  hunting  out  and  killing 
the  rebels.  Hermann  Tilbeck,  the  former  burgo- 
master, who  had  played  into  the  hands  of  the 
Anabaptists  till  he  declared  himself,  and  who  had 
been  one  of  the  twelve  elders  of  Israel,  was  found 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  pp.  188,  189. 


356  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

concealed,  half  submerged,  in  a  privy,  near  the  gate 
of  St.  Giles,  was  killed,  and  his  body  left  where  he  had 
hidden,  "  thus  being  buried,"  says  Kerssenbroeck, 
"  with  worse  than  the  burial  of  an  ass."  When  the 
butchery  was  over,  the  bodies  were  brought  together 
into  the  cathedral  square  and  were  examined.  That 
of  Knipperdolling  was  not  amongst  them.  He  was, 
in  fact,  hiding  in  the  house  of  Catherine  Hobbels,  a 
zealous  Anabaptist  ;  she  kept  him  in  safety  the 
whole  of  the  26th,  but  finding  that  every  house 
was  being  searched,  and  fearing  lest  she  should 
suffer  for  having  sheltered  him,  she  ordered 
him  to  leave  and  attempt  an  escape  over  the 
walls.1 

On  the  27th  all  the  women  were  collected  in 
the  market-square,  and  were  ordered  to  leave  the 
city  and  never  to  set  foot  in  it  again.  But  just  as 
they  were  about  to  depart,  Ueberstein  announced  that 
any  one  of  them  who  could  deliver  up  Knipperdolling 
should  be  allowed  to  remain  and  retain  her  possessions. 
The  bait  was  tempting.  Catherine  Hobbels  stepped 
forward,  and  offered  to  point  out  the  hiding-place  of 
the  man  they  sought.  She  was  given  a  renewed 
assurance  that  her  house  and  goods  would  be  respected, 
and  she  then  delivered  up  Knipperdolling,  who  had 
not  quitted  his  place  of  refuge.  The  promise  made 
to  her  was  rigorously  observed  ;  but  her  husband,  not 
being  included  in  the  pardon,  and  being  a  ringleader 
of  the  fanatics,  was  executed.2  The  women  were 
accompanied  by  the  soldiers  as  far  as  the  Lieb-Frau 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  195. 

2  Ibid.  p.  196;  Heresbach,  p.  166. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  357 

gate ;  they  took  with  them  their  children,  and  were 
ordered  to  leave  the  diocese  and  principality  forthwith. 

Divara,  the  head  queen  of  John  of  Leyden,  the  wife 
of  Knipperdolling,  and  three  other  women,  were 
refused  permission  to  leave.  They  were  executed  on 
the  7th  July. 

Miinster  was  then  delivered  over  to  pillage  ;  but  all 
those  who  had  left  the  town  during  the  government 
of  the  Anabaptists  were  given  their  furniture  and 
houses  and  such  of  their  goods  as  could  be  identified.-- 

All  the  property  of  the  Anabaptists  was  confiscated* 
and  sold  to  pay  the  debts  contracted  by  the  prince 
for  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  war.  The  division 
of  the  booty  occasioned  several  troubles,  parties  of 
soldiers  mutinied,  and  attempted  a  second  pillage,  but 
the  mutineers  were  put  down  rigorously. 

Several  more  executions  took  place  during  the 
following  days,  and  men  hidden  away  in  cellars, 
garrets  and  sewers  were  discovered  and  killed  or 
carried  off  to  prison.  Among  these  were  Bernard 
Krechting  and  Kerkering.1 

On  the  28th  June,  Francis  of  Waldeck  entered  the 
city  at  the  head  of  800  men.  The  sword,  crown,  and 
spurs  of  John  of  Leyden,  together  with  the  keys  of 
the  city,  were  presented  to  him.  2 

The  prince  received,  as  had  been  stipulated,  half  the 
booty,  and  the  articles  and  the  treasure  deposited  in 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  pp.  198-200.  Dorpius  says,  "  In  the  capture 
of  the  city,  women  and  children  were  spared  ;  and  none  were 
killed  after  the  first  fight,  except  the  ringleaders." — f.  399. 

2  Montfort,  p.  73. 


3S8  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

the  town-hall  and  in  the  royal  palace,  which  amounted 
to  100,000  gold  florins.1 

Francis  remained  in  Miinster  only  three  days. 
Having  named  the  new  magistrates,  and  organised 
the  civil  government  of  the  city,  he  departed  for  his 
castle  of  Iburg.  On  the  13th  July  he  ordered  a  Te 
Deum  to  be  sung  in  the  churches  throughout  the 
diocese,  in  thanks  to  God  for  having  restored 
tranquillity  ;  and  the  Chapter  inaugurated  a  yearly 
thanksgiving  procession  to  take  place  on  the  25th 
June.2 

On  the  15th  July,  the  Elector  of  Cologne,  the  Duke 
of  Juliers,  and  Francis  of  Waldeck,  met  at  Neuss  to 
concert  measures  for  preventing  a  repetition  of  these 
disorders.  The  leading  Protestant  divines  wrote, 
urging  the  extermination  of  the  heretics,  and  remind- 
ing the  princes  that  the  sword  had  been  given  them 
for  this  purpose. 

On  the  same  day,  the  diet  of  Worms  agreed  that 
the  Anabaptists  should  be  extirpated  as  a  sect 
dangerous  alike  to  morals  and  to  the  safety  of  the 
commonwealth,  and  that  an  assembly  should  be  held 
in  the  month  of  November,  to  decide  upon  defraying 
the  cost  of  the  war,  and  on  the  form  of  government 
which  was  to  be  established  in  the  city.3 

The  diet  met  on  the  1st  November,  and  decided, — 
That  everything  should  be  re-established  in  Miinster 
on  the  old  footing,  and  that  the  clergy  should  have 
their  property  and  privileges  restored  to  them.  That 
all  who  had  fled  the  city  to  escape  the  government  of 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  Heresbach,  p.  168  ;  Hast,  p.  400. 
2  Ibid.  p.  200.         3  Ibid.  p.  201. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  359 

the  Anabaptists  should  be  reinstated  in  the  posses- 
sion of  their  offices,  privileges,  and  houses.  That  all 
the  goods  of  the  rebels  should  remain  confiscated  to 
defray  the  expense  of  the  war.  That  the  princes  of 
neighbouring  states  should  send  deputies  to  Miinster 
to  provide  that  the  innocent  should  not  suffer  with 
the  guilty.  That  the  fortifications  should  be  in  part 
demolished,  as  an  example  ;  but  that  Miinster  should 
not  be  degraded  from  its  rank  as  a  city.  That  the 
bishop  and  chapter  and  nobles  should  demolish  the 
bastions  within  the  town  as  soon  as  the  city  walls 
had  been  razed.  That  the  bishops,  the  nobles,  and 
the  citizens  should  solemnly  engage,  for  themselves 
and  for  their  successors,  never  to  attempt  to  refortify 
the  city.  Finally,  that  the  envoys  of  the  King  of  the 
Romans  and  of  the  princes  should  visit  the  said  town 
on  the  5th  March,  1536,  to  see  that  these  articles  of 
the  convention  had  been  executed. 

All  these  articles  were  not  observed.  The  bishop 
did  not  demolish  the  fortifications,  and  the  point  was 
not  insisted  upon. 

As  for  the  civil  constitution  of  Miinster,  its  privi- 
leges and  franchises,  they  were  not  entirely  restored 
till  1553, 

Francis  of  Waldeck  now  set  to  work  repairing  and 
purifying  the  churches,  and  restoring  everything  as  it 
had  been  before.  Catholic  worship  was  everywhere 
restored  without  a  single  voice  in  the  city  rising  in 
opposition.  The  people  were  sick  of  Protestantism, 
whether  in  its  mitigated  form  as  Lutheranism,  or  in 
its  aggravated  development  as  Anabaptism, 

But  Lutherans  of  other  states  were  by  no  means 


36o  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

satisfied.  The  reconciliation  of  the  great  city  with 
the  Catholic  Church,  from  which  half  its  inhabitants 
had  previously  separated,  was  not  pleasant  news  to 
the  Reformers,  and  they  protested  loudly.  "  On  the 
Friday  after  St.  John's  day,"  wrote  Dorpius  "  in  mid- 
summer, God  came  and  destroyed  this  hell  and  drove 
the  devil  out,  but  the  devil's  mother  came  in  again. 
.  .  .  The  Anabaptists  were  on  that  day  rooted  out, 
and  the  Papists  planted  in  again."1 

It  is  time  to  look"  at  John  of  Leyden  and  his 
fellow -prisoners  :  they  were  Knipperdolling  and  Ber- 
nard Krechting.  There  could  be  no  doubt  that  their 
fate  would  be  terrible.  It  was  additional  cruelty  to 
delay  it.  But  the  bishop  and  the  Lutheran  divines 
were  curious  to  see  and  argue  with  the  captives,  and 
they  were  taken  from  place  to  place  to  gratify  their 
curiosity. 

When  King  John  appeared  before  Francis  of 
Waldeck,  the  bishop  asked  him  angrily  how  he  could 
protract  the  siege  whilst  his  people  were  starving 
around  him.  "Francis  of  Waldeck,"  he  answered, 
"  they  should  all  have  died  of  hunger  before  I  sur- 
rendered, had  things  gone  as  I  desired."2  He  retained 
his  spirits  and  affected  to  joke.  At  Dulmen  the 
people  crowded  round  him  asking,  "  Is  this  the  king 
who  took  to  himself  so  many  wives  ?  "     "I  ask  your 

1  "  Hernach  auff  freitag  S.  Johanstag  mitten  in  Sommer, 
kommet  Gott  und  zerstoret  die  Helle,  und  jaget  den  Teuffel 
heraus,  und  komet  sein  Mutter  wider  hinein  ,  .  .  und  sind  die 
Widerteuffer  an  obgemeltem  tag  ausgerottet  worden,  die  Pa- 
pisten  aber  wider  eingepflantzet." — Dorp.  f.  399  (by  misprint  499). 

2  Dorp.  ff.  399  a,  400  a,  b. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  361 

pardon,"  answered  Bockelson,  "  I  took  maidens  and 
made  them  wives."1 

It  has  been  often  stated  that  the  three  unfortunates 
were  carried  round  the  country  in  iron  cages.  This 
is  inaccurate.  They  were  taken  in  chains  on  horse- 
back, with  two  soldiers  on  either  side ;  their  bodies 
were  placed  in  iron  cages  and  hung  to  the  steeple  of 
the  church  of  St.  Lambert,  after  they  were  dead. 

At  Bevergern  the  Lutheran  divine,  Anthony  Cor- 
vinus,  and  other  ministers  "  interviewed  "  the  fallen 
king,  and  a  long  and  very  curious  account  of  their 
discussion  remains.2 

"  First,  when  the  king  was  brought  out  of  prison 
into  the  room,  we  greeted  him  in  a  friendly  manner 
and  bade  him  be  seated  before  us  four.  Also,  we 
asked  in  a  friendly  manner  how  he  was  getting  on  in 
the  prison,  and  whether  he  was  cold  or  sick?  Answer 
of  the  king  :  Although  he  was  obliged  to  endure  the 
frost,  and  the  sins  weighing  on  his  heart,  yet  he  must, 
as  such  was  God's  will,  bear  patiently.  And  these 
and  other  similar  conversations  led  us  so  far — for 
nothing  can  be  got  out  of  him  by  direct  questions — 
that  we  were  able  right  craftily  to  converse  with  him 
about  his  government." 

Then  followed  a  lengthy  controversy  on  all  the 
heretical  doctrines  of  the  Anabaptist  sect,  in  which 
the  king  exhibited  no  little  skill.  The  preachers 
having  brought  the  charge  of  novelty  against  Ana- 

1  Dorp.  f.  399  b. 

2  Luther's  "  Sammtliche  Werke."  Wittenb.  1545-51.  Band, 
ii.  ff.  376-386. 


362  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

baptism,  John  of  Leyden  very  promptly  showed  that 
those  living  in  glass  houses  should  not  throw  stones, 
by  pointing  out  that  Lutheranism  was  not  much 
older  than  Anabaptism,  that  he  had  proved  his 
mission  by  miracles,  whereas  Luther  had  nothing  to 
show  to  demonstrate  his  call  to  establish  a  new  creed. 

The  discussion  on  Justification  by  Faith  only  was 
most  affectionate,  for  both  parties  were  quite  agreed 
on  this  doctrine — surely  a  very  satisfactory  one  and 
very  full  of  comfort  to  John  of  Leyden.  But  on  the 
doctrine  of  the  Eucharist  they  could  not  agree,  the 
king  holding  to  Zwingli.1 

"  That  in  this  Sacrament  the  faithful,  who  are 
baptised,  receive  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ 
believe  I,"  said  the  king  ;  "  for  though  I  hold  for  this 
time  with  Zwingli,  nevertheless  I  find  that  the  words 
of  Christ  (This  is  my  Body,  This  is  my  Blood)  must 
remain  in  their  worth.  But  that  unbelievers  also 
receive  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ,  that  I  cannot 
believe." 

The  Preachers :  "  How  that  ?  Shall  our  unbelief 
avail  more  than  the  word,  command  and  ordinance 
of  God  ?  " 

The  King:  "Unbelief  is  such  a  dreadful  thing, 
that  I  cannot  believe  that  the  unbelievers  can  partake 
of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ." 

The  Preachers :  "  It  is  a  perverse  thing  that  you 
should  ever  try  to  set  our  faith,  or  want  of  faith, 
above  the  words  and  ordinance  of  God.  But  it  is 
evident   that   our   faith   can    add    nothing   to    God's 

1  "  Denn  wiewol  ichs  fur  dieser  zeit  mit  dem  Zwingel 
gehalten,"  &c,  f.  384. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  363 

ordinance,  nor  can  my  unbelief  detract  anything 
therefrom.  Faith  must  be  there,  that  I  may  benefit 
by  such  eating  and  drinking  ;  but  yet  in  this  matter 
must  we  repose  more  on  God's  command  and  word 
than  on  our  faith  or  unbelief." 

The  King:  "If  this  your  meaning  hold,  then  all 
unbelievers  must  have  partaken  of  the  Communion  of 
the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ.  But  such  I  cannot 
believe." 

The  Preachers :  "  You  must  understand  that  our 
unbelief  cannot  make  the  ordinance  of  God  un- 
availing. Say  now,  for  what  end  was  the  sun 
created  ?  " 

The  King :  "  Scripture  teaches  that  it  was  made  to 
rule  the  day  and  to  shine." 

The  Preachers :  "  Now  if  we  or  you  were  blind, 
would  the  sun  fail  to  execute  its  office  for  which  it 
was  created  ?  " 

The  King :  "  I  know  well  that  my  blindness  or 
yours  would  not  make  the  sun  fail  to  shine." 

The  Preachers :  "  So  is  it  with  all  the  works  and 
ordinances  of  God,  especially  with  the  Sacraments. 
When  I  am  baptised  it  is  well  if  faith  be  there  ;  but 
if  it  be  not,  baptism  does  not  for  all  that  fail  to  be  a 
precious,  noble,  and  holy  Sacrament,  yes,  what  St. 
Paul  calls  it,  a  regeneration  and  renewal  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  because  it  is  ordered  by  God's  word  and 
given  His  promise.  So  also  with  respect  to  the 
Lord's  Supper ;  if  those  who  partake  shall  have  faith 
to  grasp  the  promise  of  Christ,  as  it  is  written,  Oportet 
accedentem  credere,  but  none  the  less  does  God's  word, 
ordinance,  and    command  remain,  even   if  my  faith 


364  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

never  more  turned  thereto.  But  of  this  we  have  said 
enough." x 

The  preachers  next  catechised  John  of  Leyden  on 
his  heresy  concerning  the  Incarnation.  He  did  not 
deny  that  Jesus  Christ  was  born  of  Mary,  but  he 
denied  that  He  derived  from  her  His  flesh  and 
blood,  as  he  considered  that  Mary  being  sinful,  out  of 
sinful  flesh  sinful  offspring  must  issue. 

The  catechising  on  the  subject  of  marriage  follows. 

The  Preachers :  "  How  have  you  regarded  mar- 
riage, and  what  is  your  belief  thereupon  ?  " 

The  King :  "  We  have  ever  held  marriage  to  be 
God's  work  and  ordinance,  and  we  hold  this  now, 
that  no  higher  or  better  estate  exists  in  the  world  than 
the  estate  of  matrimony." 

The  Preachers  :  "  Why  have  you  so  wildly  treated 
this  same  estate,  against  God's  word  and  common 
order,  and  taken  one  wife  after  another  ?  How  can 
you  justify  such  a  proceeding  ?  " 

The  King :  "  What  was  permitted  to  the  patriarchs 
in  the  Old  Testament,  why  should  it  be  denied  to  us  ? 
What  we  have  held  is  this :  he  who  wished  to  have 
only  one  wife  had  not  other  wives  forced  upon  him;  but 
him  who  wished  to  have  more  wives  than  one,  we  left 
free  to  do  so,  according  to  God's  command,  Be  fruitful 
and  multiply." 

This  the  preachers  combat  by  saying  that  the 
patriarchs  were  guiltless,  because  the  law  of  the  land 
{die  gemcine  Policey)  did  not  then  forbid  concubinage, 
but  that  now  that  is  forbidden  by  common  law,  it  is 

1  Ibid.  f.  384  b. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  365 

sinful.1  Then  they  asked  the  king  what  other  texts 
he  could  quote  to  establish  polygamy. 

The  King :  "  Paul  says  of  the  bishop,  let  him  be  the 
husband  of  one  wife  ;  now  if  a  bishop  is  to  have  only 
one  wife,  surely,  in  the  time  of  Paul,  laymen  must 
have  been  allowed  two  or  three  apiece,  as  pleased 
them.     There  you  have  your  text." 

The  Preachers  :  "  As  we  said  before,  marriage  is  an 
affair  of  common  police  regulation,  res  Politica.  And 
as  now  the  law  of  the  land  is  different  from  what  it 
was  in  the  time  of  Paul,  so  that  many  wives  are  for- 
bidden and  not  tolerated,  you  will  have  to  answer  for 
your  innovations  before  God  and  man." 

The  King :  "  Well,  I  have  the  consolation  that  what 
was  permitted  to  the  fathers  cannot  damn  us.  I  had 
rather  be  with  the  fathers  than  with  you." 

The  Preachers :  "  Well,  we  prefer  obedience  to  the 
State."2 

Here  we  see  Corvinus,  Kymens,  and  the  other 
ministers  placing  matrimony  on  exactly  the  same  low 
footing  as  did  Luther. 

Having  "  interviewed"  the  king,  these  crows  settled 
on  Knipperdolling  and  Krechting  in  Horstmar,  and 
with  these  unfortunates  they  carried  on  a  paper  con- 
troversy. 

The  captivity  of  the  king  and  his  two  accomplices 
lasted    six    months.      The    Lutheran    preachers   had 

1  Wei  zweiveln  nicht  wenn  ein  bestendig  Policey  und  Regi- 
ment gewesen  were,  wie  itzt  est,  es  wiirden  sich  die  Vetter 
freilich  ang  der  selbigen  gehalten  haben. 

2  Predicanten  :  So  wollen  wir  in  diesemfall  viel  lieber  der 
Oberkeit  gehorsam  sein,  f.   386  b. 


366  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

swarmed  about  him  and  buzzed  in  his  ears,  and  the 
poor  wretch  believed  that  by  yielding  a  few  points  he 
could  save  his  life.  He  offered  to  labour  along  with 
Melchior  Hoffmann,  to  bring  the  numerous  Ana- 
baptists in  Friesland,  Holland,  Brabant,  and  Flanders 
into  submission,  if  he  were  given  his  liberty  ;  but 
finding  that  the  preachers  had  been  giving  him  false 
hopes  and  leading  him  into  recantations,  he  refused  to 
see  them  again,  and  awaited  his  execution  in  sullen 
despair. 

The  pastors  failing  to  convert  the  Anabaptists, 
and  finding  that  the  sectaries  used  against  them 
scripture  and  private  judgment  with  such  efficacy 
that  they  were  unable  in  argument  to  overcome  them, 
called  upon  the  princes  to  exterminate  them  by  fire 
and  sword. 

The  gentle  Melancthon  wrote  a  tract  or  letter  to 
urge  the  princes  on  ;  it  was  entitled,  "  Das  weltliche 
Oberkeiten  den  Widerteuffern  mit  leiblicher  straffe  zu 
wehren  schiildig  sey.  Etlicher  bedenken  zu  Wittem- 
berg  gestellet  durch  Philip  Melancthon,  1536.  Ob 
Christliche  Fiirsten  schiildig  sind  der  Widerteuffer 
unchristlicher  Sect  mit  leiblicher  straffe  und  mit  dem 
schwert  zu  wehren."  He  enumerates  the  doctrines  of 
the  unfortunate  sectarians  at  Minister  and  elsewhere, 
and  then  he  says  that  it  is  the  duty  of  all  princes  and 
nobles  to  root  out  with  the  sword  all  heresy  from  their 
dominions  ;  but  then,  with  this  proviso,  they  must 
first  be  instructed  out  of  God's  Word  by  the  pure  re- 
formed Church  what  doctrines  are  heretical,  that  they 
may  only  exterminate  those  who  differ  from  the 
Lutheran  communion. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MUNSTER.  367 

He  then  quotes  to  the  Protestant  princes  the  ex- 
ample of  the  Jewish  kings  :  "  The  kings  in  the  Old 
Testament,  not  only  the  Jewish  kings,  but  also  the 
converted  heathen  kings,  judged  and  killed  the  false 
prophets  and  unbelievers.  Such  examples  show  the 
office  of  princes.  As  Paul  says,  the  law  is  good 
that  blasphemers  are  to  be  punished.  The  govern- 
ment is  not  to  rule  men  for  their  bodily  welfare, 
so  much  as  for  God's  honour,  for  they  are  God's 
ministers  ;  let  them  remember  that  and  value  their 
office." 

But  it  is  argued  on  the  other  side  that  it  is  written, 
"  Let  both  grow  together  till  the  harvest.  Now  this  is 
not  spoken  to  the  temporal  power,"  says  Melancthon, 
"  but  to  the  preachers,  that  they  should  not  use  physi- 
cal power  under  the  excuse  of  their  office.  From  all 
this  it  is  plain  that  the  worldly  government  is  bound 
to  drive  away  blasphemy,  false  doctrine,  heresies,  and 
to  punish  in  their  persons  those  who  hold  to  these 
things  ....  Let  the  judge  know  that  this  sect  of  Ana- 
baptists is  from  the  devil,  and  as  a  prudent  preacher 
instructs  different  stations  how  they  are  to  conduct 
themselves,  as  he  teaches  a  wife  that  to  breed  children 
is  to  please  God  well,  so  he  teaches  the  temporal 
authorities  how  they  are  to  serve  God's  honour,  and 
openly  drive  away  heresy."1 

So  also  did  Justus  Menius  write  to  urge  on  an 
exterminatory  persecution  of  the  sectaries  ;  he  also 
argues  that  "  Let  both  grow  together  till  the  harvest," 

1  "  Das  weltliche  Oberkeit,"  &c,  in  Luth.  "  Samt.  Werke." 
1545-51,  ii.  ff.  327-8. 


368  FREAKS  OF  FAN  A  TIC  ISM. 

is  not  to  be  quoted  by  the  princes  as  an  excuse  for 
sparing  lives  and  properties.1 

On  the  1 2th  January,  1536,  John  of  Leyden,  Knip- 
perdolling,  and  Krechting  were  brought  back  to 
Mtinster  to  undergo  sentence  of  death.2 

A  platform  was  erected  in  the  square  before  the 
townhall  on  the  21st,  and  on  this  platform  was 
planted  a  large  stake  with  iron  collars  attached  to  it. 

When  John  Bockelson  was  told,  on  the  21st,  that 
he  was  to  die  on  the  morrow,  he  asked  for  the  chaplain 
of  the  bishop,  John  von  Siburg,  who  spent  the  night 
with  him.  With  the  fear  of  a  terrible  death  before 
him,  the  confidence  of  the  wretched  man  gave  way, 
and  he  made  his  confession  with  every  sign  of  true 
contrition. 

Knipperdolling  and  Krechting,  who  were  also 
offered  the  assistance  of  a  priest,  rejected  the  offer 
with  contempt.  They  declared  that  the  presence  of 
God  sufficed  them,  that  they  were  conscious  of  having 
committed  no  sin,  and  that  all  their  actions  had  been 
done  the  sole  glory  of  to  God,  that  moreover  they 
were  freely  justified  by  faith  in  Christ. 

On  Monday  the  22nd,  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, the  ex-king  of  Miinster  and  his  companions  were 
led  to  execution.  The  gates  of  the  city  had  been 
closed,  and  a  large  detachment  of  troops  surrounded 
the  scaffold.  Outside  this  iron  ring  was  a  dense  crowd 
of  people,  and  the  windows  were  filled  with  heads. 
Francis  of  Waldeck  occupied  a  window  immediately 

1  "  Vondem  Geist  d.  Widerteufifer."  in  Luth.  "  Samt.  Werke." 
1545-51,  ii.  f.  325  b. 

2  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  209  ;  Kurtze  Hist.  f.  400. 


THE  ANABAPTISTS  OF  MONSTER.  369 

opposite  the  scaffold,  and  remained  there  throughout 
the  hideous  tragedy.1  As  an  historian  has  well 
observed,  "  Francis  of  Waldeck,  in  default  of  other 
virtues,  might  at  least  have  not  forgotten  what  was 
due  to  his  high  rank  and  his  Episcopal  character ;  he 
regarded  neither  — but  showed  himself  as  ferocious  as 
had  been  John  Bockelson,  by  becoming  a  spectator  of 
the  long  and  horrible  torture  of  the  three  criminals."2 

John  and  his  accomplices  having  reached  the  town- 
hall,  received  their  sentence  from  Wesseling,  the  city 
judge.  It  was  that  they  should  be  burned  with  red- 
hot  pincers,  and  finally  stabbed  with  daggers  heated 
in  the  fire.3 

The  king  was  the  first  to  mount  the  scaffold  and  be 
tortured. 

"  The  king  endured  three  grips  with  the  pincers 
without  speaking  or  crying,  but  then  he  burst  forth 
into  cries  of,  "  Father,  have  mercy  on  me  !  God  of 
mercy  and  loving  kindness  ! "  and  he  besought  pardon 
of  his  sins  and  help.  The  bystanders  were  pierced  to 
the  heart  by  his  shrieks  of  agony,  the  scent  of  the 
roast  flesh  filled  the  market-place  ;  his  body  was  one 
great  wound.  At  length  the  sign  was  given,  his 
tongue  was  torn  out  with  the  red  pincers,  and  a 
dagger  pierced  his  heart. 

Knipperdolling  and  Krechting  were  put  to  the  tor- 
ture directly  after  the  agonies  of  the  king  had  begun. 

1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  210 ;    Kurtze  Hist.  f.  400. 

2  Bussierre,  p.  462. 

3  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  211  ;  Bullinger,  lib.  ii.  c.  10  ;  Montfort., 
p.  74  ;  Heresbach,  pp.  166-7  ',  Hast,  pp.  405-6  ;  Kurtze  Historia, 
f.  400. 

2  A 


37o  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Knipperdolling  endeavoured  to  beat  his  brains  out 
against  the  stake,  and  when  prevented,  he  tried  to 
strangle  himself  with  his  own  collar.  To  prevent  him 
accomplishing  his  design,  a  rope  was  put  through  his 
mouth  and  attached  to  the  stake  so  as  totally  to 
incapacitate  him  from  moving.  When  these  unfortu- 
nates were  dead,  their  bodies  were  placed  in  three  iron 
cages,  and  were  hung  up  on  the  tower  of  the  church  of 
St.  Lambert,  the  king  in  the  middle.1 

Thus  ended  this  hideous  drama,  which  produced  an 
effect  throughout  Germany.  The  excess  of  the  scandal 
inspired  all  the  Catholic  governments  with  horror,  and 
warned  them  of  the  immensity  of  the  danger  they  ran 
in  allowing  the  spread  of  Protestant  mysticism.  Cities 
and  principalities  which  wavered  in  their  allegiance  to 
the  Church  took  a  decided  position  at  once. 

At  Munster,  Catholicism  was  re-established.  As 
has  been  already  mentioned,  the  debauched,  cruel 
bishop  was  a  Lutheran  at  heart,  and  his  ambition  was 
to  convert  Munster  into  an  hereditary  principality  in 
his  family,  after  the  example  of  certain  other 
princes. 

Accordingly,  in  1543,  he  proposed  to  the  States  of 
the  diocese  to  accept  the  Confession  of  Augsburg  and 
abandon  Catholicism.  The  proposition  of  the  prince 
was  unanimously  rejected,  Nevertheless  the  prince 
joined  the  Protestant  union  of  Smalkald  the  following 
year,  but  having  been  complained  of  to  the  Pope  and 
the  Emperor,  and  fearing  the  fate  of  Hermann  von 
Wied,  Archbishop  of  Cologne,  he  excused  himself  as 
best  he  could  through  his  relative,  Jost  Hodefilter, 
1  Kerssenbroeck,  p.  211  ;  Kurtze  Hist.  f.  401 


THE  A NABAPTIS  TS  OF  MUNS  TER.  371 

bishop  of  Liibeck,  and  Franz  von  Dei,  suffragan  bishop 
of  Osnabriick. 

Before  the  Smalkald  war  the  prince-bishop  had 
secretly  engaged  the  help  of  the  Union  against  his  old 
enemy,  the  "  wild"  Duke  Henry  of  Brunswick.  After 
the  war,  the  Duke  of  Oldenburg  revenged  himself  on 
the  principality  severely,  with  fire  and  sword,  and 
only  spared  Miinster  itself  for  100,000  guilders.  The 
bishop  died  of  grief.  He  left  three  natural  sons  by 
Anna  Polmann.  They  bore  as  their  arms  a  half  star, 
a  whole  star  being  the  arms  of  Waldeck. 


Authorities  :  Hermann  von  Kerssenbroeck  ;  Geschichte  der 
Wiederthaiiffer  zu  Miinster  in  Westphalen.  Miinster,  1771. 
There  is  an  abbreviated  edition  in  Latin  in  Menckenii  Scrip- 
tores  Rerum  Germanicaum,  Leipsig,  1728-30.  T.  iii.  pp. 
1503-1618. 

Wie  das  Evangelium  zu  Miinster  erstlich  angefangen,  und 
die  Widerteuffer  verstoret  widerauffgehoret  hat.  Darnach  was 
die  teufnische  Secte  der  Widerteuffer  fur  grewliche  Gotteslester- 
ung  und  unsagliche  grawsamkeit  ....  in  der  Stad  geiibt  und 
getrieben  ;  beschrieben  durch  Henrichnm  Dorpium  Mon- 
asteriensem  ;  in  Luther's  Sammtliche  Werke.  Wittemb.  1545- 
51.     Band  ii.  ff.  391-401. 

Historia  von  den  Miinsterischen  Widerteuffern. 

Ibid.  ff.  328-363. 

Acta,  Handlungen,  Legationen  und  Schriften,  &c,  d.  Mun- 
sterischen  sachen  geschehen.     Ibid.,  ff.  363-391. 

Kurtze  Historia  wie  endlich  der  Konig  sampt  zweien  gerichted, 
&c.     Ibid.  ff.  400-9. 

D.  Lambertus  Hortensius  Monfortius,  Tumultuum  Ana- 
baptistarum  Liber  unus.     Amsterdam,  1636. 

Histoire  de  la  Reformation,  ou  Memoires  de  Jean  Sleidan. 
Trad,  de  Courrayer.  La  Haye,  1667.  Vol.  ii.  lib.  x.  [This  is 
the  edition  quoted  in  the  article. 


372  FREAKS  OF  FANATICISM. 

Sleidanus  :  Commentarium  rerum  in  Orbe  gestarum,  &c. 
Argent.  1555  ;  ed.  alt.   1559, 

I.  Hast,  Geschichte  der  Wiederthaiiffer  von  ihren  Entstehen 
in  Zwickau  bis  auf  ihren  Sturz  zu  Miinster  in  Westphalen 
Miinster.     1836. 


Cowan  &*  Co.,  Limited,  Printers,  Perth. 


METHUEN'S   NOVEL   SERIES. 

THREE  SHILLINGS  AND  SIXPENCE. 

Messrs.  METHUEN  will  issue  from  time  to  time  a  Series  of  copyright 
Novels,  by  well-known  Authors,  handsomely  bound,  at  the  above  popular 
price.     The  first  volumes  (ready)  are  : — 

F.  MABEL  ROBINSON. 

i.  THE  PLAN  OF  CAMPAIGN. 

S.  BARING  GOULD,  Author  of  "  Mekalah,"  &c. 

2.  JACQUETTA. 

Mrs.  LEITH  ADAMS  (Mrs.  De  Cotircy  Laffan), 

3.  MY  LAND  OF  BEULAH. 

G.  MANVILLE  FENN. 

4.  ELI'S  CHILDREN. 

S.  BARING  GOULD. 

5.  ARMINELL:  A  Social  Romance. 

EDNA  LYALL. 

6.  DERRICK    VAUGHAN,    Novelist.      With 

Portrait  of  Author. 

F.  MABEL  ROBINSON. 

7.  DISENCHANTMENT. 

M.  BETHAM  EDWARDS. 

8.  DISARMED. 

W.  E.  NORRIS. 

9.  JACK'S  FATHER. 

S.  BARING  GOULD. 

■10.  MARGERY  OF  QUETHER. 


Other  Volumes  will  be  announced  in  due  course. 

2b 


ENGLISH  LEADERS  OF  RELIGION. 

Edited  by  A.  M.  M.  STEDMAN,  ffl.A. 

Under  the  above  title  Messrs.  Methuen  have  commenced  like  publica- 
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minent leaders  of  religious  life  and  thought  in  this  and  the  last  century. 

Each  volume  will  contain  a  succinct  account  and  estimate  of  the  career, 
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The  following  are  already  arranged — 

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BISHOP  WILBERFORCE.      G.  W.  Daniell,  MA. 
JOHN  KEBLE.  W.  Lock,  M.A. 

CHARLES  SIMEON.  H.  C.  G.  Moule,  MA. 

F.  D.  MAURICE.  Colonel  F.  Maurice,  R.E. 

THOMAS  CHALMERS.  Mrs.  Oliphant. 

CARDINAL  MANNING.  A.  W.  Hutton,  M.A. 


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SOCIAL  QUESTIONS  OF  TO-DAY. 

Edited  by  H.  de  B.  GIBBINS,  M.A. 

Crown  8vo.  2s.  6d. 

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aspect  of  the  subject  and  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  Historial  School  of 
economics  and  social  science.  The  Labour  Question  will  be  treated  of  in 
the  volumes  on  Trades  Unions  and  Co-operation  :  the  Land  Question  will 
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Those  on  Education  and  on  Poverty  will  be  of  similar  importance  in  view 
of  current  discussion,  and  the  volume  on  Mutual  Thrift  will  prove  a  valu- 
able survey  of  the  various  agencies  for  that  purpose  already  in  existence 
among  the  working  classes. 

The  following  form  the  earlier  Volumes  of  the  series: — 

TRADES  UNIONISM-NEW  AND  OLD. 

G.  HOWELL,  M.P.,  Author  of  "The  Conflicts  of  Capital  and 

Labour."  {Ready. 

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"  A  complete  and  intelligent  history  ot  the  rise  and  modern  development  of  labour 

organisations.     The  volume  should  be  read  by  workers  and  employers." — Liverpool 

Post. 

THE  CO-OPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  OP  TO-DAY. 

G.  J.  HOLYOAKE,  Author  of  "The  History  of  Co-operation." 

[Ready. 

MUTUAL  THRIFT. 

Rev.  J.  FROME  WILKINSON,  M.A.,  Author  of  "The  Friendly 
Society  Movement.''  [Shortly. 

POVERTY  AND  PAUPERISM. 

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Edited  by  J.  E.  SYMES,  M.A., 

Pri7icipal  of  the  University  College^  Nottingham, 

Crown  8vo.     2s.  6d. 

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shortly. 

THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF    ENGLAND. 

By  H.   de  B.  GIBBINS,  M.A.,  late  Scholar  of  Wadham  Coll., 
Oxon.,  Cobden  Prizeman.     With  Maps  and  Plans.  [Ready. 

"  A  compact  and  clear  story  of  our  industrial  development.  A  study  of  his  concise 
but  luminous  book  cannot  fail  to  give  the  reader  a  clear  insight  into  the  principal  phe- 
nomena of  our  industrial  history.  The  editor  and  publishers  are  to  be  congratulated 
on  this  first  volume  of  their  venture,  and  we  shall  look  with  expectant  interest  for  the 
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A  HISTORY   OP    ENGLISH   POLITICAL 
ECONOMY. 

By  L.  L.  PRICE,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Oriel  Coll.,  Oxon.,  Extension 
Lecturer  in  Political  Economy.  [Ready. 

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"  This  book  fills  an  important  gap  in  economic  literature." — Glasgow  Herald. 

PROBLEMS  OP  POVERTY :   An  Inquiry  into  the 
Industrial  Conditions  of  the  Poor. 

By  J.  A.  HOBSON,  M.A.,  late  Scholar  of  Lincoln  Coll.,  Oxon., 
U.  E.  Lecturer  in  Economics.  [Ready. 

VICTORIAN   POETS. 

By  A.  SHARP. 

PSYCHOLOGY. 

By  F.  S.  GRANGER,   M.A.,  London,  Lecturer  in  Philosophy  at 
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A  CATALOGUE  OF  BOOKS 

AND    ANNOUNCEMENTS    OF 

METHUEN    AND    COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS  :  LONDON 

36  ESSEX  STREET 

W.C. 

CONTENTS 


FORTHCOMING  BOOKS, 

BELLES    LETTRES,  ANTHOLOGIES,  ETC., 
POETRY,  .... 

ILLUSTRATED  AND  GIFT  BOOKS, 
HISTORY,     ...  . 

BIOGRAPHY,  .... 

TRAVEL,  ADVENTURE  AND  TOPOGRAPHY, 
NAVAL   AND   MILITARY, 
GENERAL  LITERATURE, 
PHILOSOPHY,        .... 
THEOLOGY,  .... 

FICTION,  .... 

BOOKS  FOR  BOYS  AND  GIRLS,      . 
THE  PEACOCK  LIBRARY, 
UNIVERSITY   EXTENSION    SERIES, 
SOCIAL  QUESTIONS  OF  TO-DAY 
CLASSICAL  TRANSLATIONS, 
EDUCATIONAL  BOOKS,  . 


OCTOBER     1900 


October  1900 


Messrs.     Methuen's 

ANNOUNCEMENTS 


Travel,  Adventure  and  Topography 

THE  INDIAN  BORDERLAND  :  Being  a  Personal  Record 
of  Twenty  Years.  By  Sir  T.  H.  Holdich,  K.C.I.E.  Illustrated. 
Demy  Svo.  1 $s.  net. 
This  book  is  a  personal  record  of  the  author's  connection  with  those  military  and 
political  expeditions  which,  during  the  last  twenty  years,  have  led  to  the  con- 
solidation of  our  present  position  in  the  North-West  frontier  of  India.  It  is 
a  personal  history  of  trans-frontier  surveys  and  boundary  demarcations,  com- 
mencing with  Penjdeh  and  ending  with  the  Pamirs,  Chitral,  and  Tirah. 

MODERN  ABYSSYNIA.    By  A.  B.  Wylde.    With  a  Map  and 
a  Portrait.     Demy  Svo.     I$s.  net. 

An  important  and  comprehensive  account  of  Abj^ssinia  by  a  traveller  who  knows 
the  country  intimately,  and  has  had  the  privilege  of  the  friendship  of  King 
Menelik. 

Revised  by  Commanding  Officers. 
THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  BOER  WAR.    By  F.  H.  E.  Cun- 
liffe,  Fellow  of  All  Souls'  College,  Oxford.    With  many  Illustrations, 
Plans,  and  Portraits.     Vol.  I.     Quarto.   \$s.     Also  in  Fortnightly 
Parts,     is.  each. 

The  first  volume  of  this  important  work  is  nearly  ready.  When  complete,  this  book 
will  give  an  elaborate  and  connected  account  of  the  military  operations  in  South 
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enough  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  many  commanding  officers  in  the  revision 
of  the  various  chapters. 

The  History  is  finely  illustrated. 

A  PRISONER  OF  WAR.  By  Colonel  A.  Schiel.  Crown 
Svo.  6s. 
This  remarkable  book  contains  the  experiences  of  a  well-known  foreign  officer  of 
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DARTMOOR:  A  Descriptive  and  Historical  Sketch.  By  S. 
Baring  Gould.  With  Plans  and  Numerous  Illustrations.  Crown 
Svo.  6s. 
This  book  attempts  to  give  to  the  visitor  a  descriptive  history  of  the  antiquities  and 
natural  features  of  this  district.  It  is  profusely  illustrated  from  paintings  and  from 
photographs.  Plans  are  also  given  of  the  chief  antiquities.  The  book  is  uniform 
with  the  author's  well-known  Book  of  the  West. 

THE  SIEGE  OF  MAFEKING.    By  ANGUS  HAMILTON.    With 

many  Illustrations.      Crown  Svo.     6s. 
This  is  a  vivid,  accurate,  and  humorous  narrative  of  the  great  siege  by  the  well- 
known   Correspondent  of  the    Times.     Mr.   Hamilton  is  not  only  an  admirable 
writer,  but  an  excellent  fighter,  and  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  defenceof  the  town. 
His  narrative  of  the  siege  is  acknowledged  to  be  far  superior  to  any  other  account. 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Announcements        3 

THE    PEOPLE    OF    CHINA.    By  J.  W.  Robertson-Scott. 
With  a  Map.     Crown  %vo.     $s.  6d. 
This  book  of  200  pages  contains  a  complete  account  of  the  history,  races,  government, 
religion,  social  life,  army,  commerce,  and  attitude  to  foreigners  of  the  Chinese. 

THE  RELIEF  OF  MAFEKING.    By  Filson  Young.    With 

Maps  and  Illustrations.     Crown  8vo.    6s. 
This  book   gives  a  spirited  and  vigorous   account  of  the  work  accomplished  by 
Mahon's  flying  column  and  its  relief  of  Mafeking.     It  also  relates  the  defeat  of 
Colonel  ViHebois  and  his  death.     The  book  deals  in  the  main  with  episodes  in 
the  war  which  have  not  yet  been  described  in  any  work. 

WITH  THE  BOER  FORCES.     By  Howard  C.  Hillegas. 

With  16  Illustrations.  Crown  8vo.  6s. 
This  highly  interesting  book  is  a  narrative  of  the  episodes  of  the  Boer  war  by  a  corre- 
spondent with  the  Boer  army.  Mr.  Hillegas  was  present  at  many  of  the  most 
exciting  and  most  dramatic  episodes  of  the  war.  He  was  with  the  force  which 
attempted  to  relieve  Cronje  at  Paardeberg,  was  present  during  a  considerable 
part  of  the  siege  of  Ladysmkh,  at  the  battle  of  Colenso,  at  the  surprise  of  Sanna's 
Post.  His  book,  written  with  dramatic  vigour,  is  a  spirited  description  of  the 
Boer  methods,  of  their  military  strength,  and  contains  vivid  character  sketches  of 
most  of  the  Boer  leaders  with  whom  Mr.  Hillegas  was  on  terms  of  fairly  intimate 
friendship.  This  book,  though  written  by  one  who  sympathises  with  the  Boers, 
is  permeated  by  a  spirit  of  chivalry,  and  it  contains  little  that  can  offend  the  most 
sensitive  of  Englishmen.  It  throws  a  flood  of  light  on  many  of  the  episodes 
which  have  been  mysterious,  and  explains  the  secrets  of  the  many  successes  which 
the  Boers  have  won. 

History  and  Biography 

THE  LETTERS  OF  ROBERT  LOUIS  STEVENSON  TO 
HIS  FAMILY  AND  FRIENDS.  Edited  with  an  Introduction  and 
Notes  by  Sidney  Colvin.  Fourth  Edition.  Two  volumes.  Crown 
8vo.    12s. 

This  is  a  completely  new  edition  of  the  famous  Letters  of  Robert  Louis  St&venson, 
published  in  1899. 

THE  LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  SIR  JOHN  EVERETT 
MILLAIS,  President  of  the  Royal  Academy.  By  his  son  J.  G. 
MiLLAlS.  With  over  300  Illustrations,  of  which  9  are  in  Photo- 
gravure. Cheaper  Edition,  Revised.  Two  volumes.  Royal  8vo. 
20s.  net. 

THE  WALKERS  OF  SOUTHGATE  :  Being  the  Chronicles  of 
a  Cricketing  Family.  By  W.  A.  Bettesworth.  Illustrated.  Demy 
8vo.     \$s. 

A  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT,  from  the  Earliest  Times  to 
the  Present  Day.    Edited  by  W.  M.  Flinders  Petrie,  D.C.L., 
LL.D.,  Professor  of  Egyptology  at  University  College.     Fully  Illus- 
trated.    In  Six  Volumes.      Crown  8vo.     6s.  each. 
Vol.  VI.  Egypt  under  the  Saracens.     By  Stanley  Lane- 
Poole. 

Illustrated  and   Gift   Books 

THE  LIVELY  CITY  OF  LIGG.     By  Gelett  Burgess.    With 

53  Illustrations,  8  of  which  are  coloured.     Small  ^to.     6s, 


4         Messrs.  Methuen's  Announcements 

GOOP    BABIES.      By  Gelett  Burgess.      With  numerous 

Illustrations.     Small  tfo.     6s. 
THE  EARLY  POEMS  OF  ALFRED  LORD  TENNYSON. 

Edited,  with  Notes  and  an  Introduction  by  J.  Churton  Collins, 
M.  A.     With  10  Illustrations  in  Photogravure  by  W.  E.  F.  Britten. 
Demy  Svo.     ios.  6d. 
This  beautiful  edition  contains  ten  charming  sketches  by  Mr.  Britten,  reproduced  in 
the  highest  style  of  Photogravure. 

NURSERY    RHYMES.      With    many   Coloured    Pictures  by 
F.  D.  Bedford.     Super  Royal  Svo.     2s.  6d. 

'An  excellent  selection  of  the  best  known  rhymes,  with  beautifully  coloured  pictures 
exquisitely  printed. ' — Pall  Mall  Gazette. 


Theology 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RELIGION  IN  ENGLAND.  By 
Alfred  Caldecott,  D.D.     Demy  Svo.     ios.  6d. 

[Handbooks  of  Theology. 
A  complete  history  and  description  of  the  various  philosophies  of  religion  which  have 
been  formulated  during  the  last  few  centuries  in  England  and  America. 

ST.  PAUL'S  SECOND  AND  THIRD  EPISTLES  TO  THE 
CORINTHIANS.  With  Introduction,  Dissertations,  and  Notes  by 
James  Houghton  Kennedy,  D.D.,  Assistant  Lecturer  in  Divinity 
in  the  University  of  Dublin.     Crown  Svo.     6s. 

THE  SOUL  OF  A  CHRISTIAN.  By  F.  S.  Granger,  M.A., 
JLitt.  D.  Crown  Svo.  6s. 
Professor  Granger  abandons  the  conventional  method  of  psychology  by  which  the 
individual  is  taken  alone,  and  instead,he  regards  him  as  sharing  in  and  contribut- 
ing to  the  catholic  tradition.  Hence  the  book  deals  not  only  with  the  average 
religious  life,  but  also  with  the  less  familiar  experiences  of  the  mystic,  the  vision- 
ary, and  the  symbolist.  These  experiences  furnish  a  clue  to  poetic  creation  in  its 
various  kinds,  and  further,  to  the  miracles  which  occur  during  times  of  religious 
enthusiasm. 

©SforD   Commentaries. 

THE  ACTS  OF  THE  APOSTLES.  Edited,  with  an  Intro- 
duction and  Notes,  by  R.  B.  Rackham,  M.  A.     Demy  Svo. 

Zhc  Xibratg  of  Devotion 

Pott  Svo.     Cloth  25. ;    leather  2s.  6d.  net. 
NEW  VOLUMES. 

A  GUIDE  TO  ETERNITY.     By  Cardinal  Bona.     Edited 

with  an  Introduction  and  Notes  by  J.  W.  Stanbridge,  B.D.,  late 

Fellow  of  St.  John's  College,  Oxford. 
THE  PSALMS  OF  DAVID.     With  an  Introduction  and  Notes 

by  B.  W.  Randolph,  D.D.,  Principal  of  the  Theological  College, 

Ely. 
A  devotional  and  practical  edition  of  the  Prayer  Book  version  of  the  Psalms. 

LYRA  APOSTOLIC  A.  With  an  Introduction  by  Canon  Scott 
Holland,  and  Notes  by  H.  C.  Beeching,  M.A. 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Announcements         5 
Belles  Lettres 

Zbc  Xfttle  (Buioes 

Pott  Svo.      Cloth,  3s. ;  leather,  3s.  6d.  net. 
NEW  VOLUMES. 

WESTMINSTER  ABBEY.    By  G.  E.  Troutbeck.     Illustrated 
by  F.  D.  Bedford. 

SUSSEX.    By  F.  G.  Brabant,  M.A.     Illustrated  by  E.  H.  New. 
Xittle  MoQinvhies 

Fcap.  Svo.     Each  Volume,  cloth  3s.  6d.;  leather,  4s.  net. 

Messrs.  Methuen  will  publish  shortly  the  first  two  volumes  of  a  new 
series  bearing  the  above  title.  Each  book  will  contain  the  biography  of  a 
character  famous  in  war,  art,  literature  or  science,  and  will  be  written  by 
an  acknowledged  expert.  The  books  will  be  charmingly  produced  and 
will  be  well  illustrated.     They  will  make  delightful  gift  books. 

THE  LIFE  OF  DANTE  ALIGHIERI.     By  Paget  Toynbee. 
With  10  Illustrations. 

THE  LIFE  OF  SAVONAROLA.     By  E.  L.  HORSBURGH,  M.A., 
With  Portraits  and  Illustrations. 


Zhc  Works  of  Sbakespeare 

New  volumes  uniform  with  Professor  Dowden's  Hamlet. 

ROMEO  AND  JULIET.    Edited  by  Edward  Dowden,  Litt.D. 

De??ty  Svo.     35.  6d. 

KING  LEAR.    Edited  by  W.  J.  Craig.    Demy  Svo.    3s.  6d. 


ZHbetbuen's  Stanoaro  Xibrarg 

MEMOIRS  OF  MY  LIFE  AND  WRITINGS.  By  Edward 
Gibbon.  Edited,  with  an  Introduction  and  Notes  by  G.  Birkbeck 
Hill,  LL.D.     Crown  Svo.     Gilt  top.     6s. 

THE  LETTERS  OF  LORD  CHESTERFIELD  TO  HIS 
SON.  Edited,  with  an  Introduction  and  Notes  by  C.  Strachey  and 
A.  Calthrop.     Two  volumes.     Crown  Svo.     Gilt  top.    6s.  each. 


6        Messrs.  Methuen's  Announcements 
Zbc  Bovels  of  Gbatles  Dickens 

With  Introductions  by  George  Gissing,  Notes  by  F.  G.  Kitton, 

and  Illustrations. 

Crown  8vo.     Each  Volume,  cloth  ^s.  net,  leather  4s.  6d.  net. 
The  first  volumes  are  : 

THE  PICKWICK  PAPERS.      With   Illustrations   by   E.    H.    New. 
Two  Volumes.  \_Ready 

NICHOLAS  NICKLEBY.      With  Illustrations  by   R.  J.  Williams. 
Two  Volumes.  \_Ready. 

BLEAK  HOUSE.     With  Illustrations  by  Beatrice  Alcock.      Two 
Volumes. 

OLIVER  TWIST.     With  Illustrations  by  E.  H.  New.     One  Volume. 

Gbe  Xittle  ftibrarg 

With  Introductions,  Notes,  and  Photogravure  Frontispieces. 
Pott  8vo.     Each  Volume,  cloth  is.  6d.  net.  ;  leather  2s.  6d.  net. 
NEW  VOLUMES. 

THE  EARLY  POEMS  OF  ALFRED,  LORD  TENNYSON. 

Edited  by  J.  C.  Collins,  M.A. 
MAUD.    By  Alfred,  Lord  Tennyson.    Edited  by  Elizabeth 

Wordsworth. 
A  LITTLE  BOOK  OF  ENGLISH  LYRICS.     With  Notes. 
PRIDE  AND  PREJUDICE.    By  Jane  Austen.     Edited  by 

E.  V.  Lucas.     Two  Volumes. 
PENDENNIS.    By  W.  M.  Thackeray.    Edited  by  S.  Gwynn. 

Three  volumes. 

EOTHEN.     By  A.  W.  Kinglake.      With  an    Introduction  and 

Notes. 

LAVENGRO.     By  GEORGE  BORROW.     Edited  by  F.  HiNDES 
Groome.     2  Volumes. 

CRANFORD.      By  Mrs.  Gaskell.    Edited  by  E.  V.  Lucas. 

THE  INFERNO  OF  DANTE.     Translated  by  H.  F.   Cary. 

Edited  by  Paget  Toynbee. 

JOHN  HALIFAX,  GENTLEMAN.     By  Mrs.  Craik.     Edited 
by  Annie  Matheson.     Two  volumes. 

A  LITTLE  BOOK  OF  SCOTTISH  VERSE.     Arranged  and 
Edited  by  T.  F.  Henderson. 

A  LITTLE  BOOK  OF  ENGLISH  PROSE.     Arranged  and 
Edited  by  Mrs.  P.  A.  Barnett. 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Announcements 


Poetry 


WRIT  IN  BARRACKS.    By  Edgar  Wallace.   Cr.Zvo.  3s.  6d. 

Mr.  Edgar  Wallace,  a  member  of  the  Royal  Army  Medical  Corps,  is  a  follower  of 
Mr.  Kipling,  and  his  ballads  of  soldier  life  and  sufferings  are  well-known  in  South 
Africa.  They  are  spirited,  pathetic,  and  true,  and  at  the  present  time  they  should 
enjoy  a  considerable  popularity. 

THE  RUBAIYAT  OF  OMAR  KHAYYAM.  Translated  by 
Edward  FitzGerald,  with  a  Commentary  by  H.  M.  Batson,  and 
a  Biography  of  Omar  by  E.  D.  Ross.     6s. 

This  edition  of  the  famous  book,  the  text  of  which  is  printed  by  permission  of  Messrs. 
Macmillan,  is  the  most  complete  in  existence.  It  contains  FltzGerald's  last  text, 
and  a  very  full  commentary  on  each  stanza.  Professor  Ross,  who  is  an  admirable 
Persian  scholar,  contributes  a  biography,  containing  many  new,  valuable,  and 
interesting  facts. 

Scientific  and  Educational 

THE  CAPTIVI  OF  PLAUTUS.  Edited,  with  an  Introduction, 
Textual  Notes,  and  a  Commentary,  by  W.  M.  Lindsay,  Fellow  of 
Jesus  College,  Oxford.     Demy  8vo.     10s.  6d.  net. 

For  this  edition  all  the  important  mss.  have  been  re-collated.  An  appendix  deals 
with  the  accentual  element  in  early  Latin  verse.     The  Commentary  is  very  full. 

THE  CONSTRUCTION  OF  LARGE  INDUCTION  COILS. 

By  A.  T.  Hare,  M.  A.     With  numerous  Diagrams.    Demy  8vo.    6s. 

THE  SCIENCE  OF  HYGIENE.  By  W.  C.  C.  Pares,  Guy's 
Hospital.     With  many  illustrations.     Demy  8vo.    i$s. 

THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  MAGNETISM  AND  ELEC- 
TRICITY: An  Elementary  Text-Book.  By  P.  L.  Gray,  B.  Sc.  , 
formerly  Lecturer  on  Physics  in  Mason  University  College,  Birming- 
ham.    With  numerous  diagrams.     Crown  8vo.     3s.  6d. 

LACE-MAKING  IN  THE  MIDLANDS,  PAST  AND 
PRESENT.  By  C.  C.  Channer  and  M.  E.  Roberts.  With  16 
full-page  Illustrations.     Crown  8vo.     2s.  6d. 

AGRICULTURAL  ZOOLOGY.  By  Dr.  J.  Ritzema  Bos. 
Translated  by  J.  R.  Ainsworth  Davis,  M.A.  With  an  Introduc- 
tion by  Eleanor  A.  Ormerod,  F.E.S.  With  155  Illustrations. 
Crown  8vo.     3s.  6d. 

A  SOUTH  AFRICAN  ARITHMETIC.     By  Henry  Hill, 
B.A.,  Assistant  Master  at  Worcester  School,  Cape  Colony.     Crown 
8vo.     3s.  6d. 
This  book  has  been  specially  written  for  use  in  South  African  schools. 

A  GERMAN  COMMERCIAL  READER.     By  S.  Bally,  M.A. 

Crown  8vo.     2s.  \_Methueri' 's  Commercial  Series. 


8         Messrs.  Methuen's  Announcements 
Fiction 

THE  MASTER  CHRISTIAN.  By  Marie  Corelli.  Crown 
8vo.     6s. 

QUISANTE.    By  Anthony  Hope.    Crown8vo.    6s. 

A  MASTER  OF  CRAFT.  By  W.  W.  Jacobs,  Author  of 
'Many  Cargoes.'  With  12  Illustrations  by  W.  Owen.  Crown 
8vo.     6s. 

THE    GATELESS    BARRIER.     By   Lucas   Malet,  Author 

'  The  Wages  of  Sin. '     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

CUNNING  MURRELL.  By  Arthur  Morrison,  Author  of 
'  A  Child  of  the  J  ago,'  etc.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

FOR  BRITAIN'S  SOLDIERS  :  Stories  for  the  War  Fund.  By 
Rudyard  Kipling  and  Others.  Edited  by  C.  J.  Cutcliffe 
Hyne.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

A  volume  of  stories,  the  proceeds  of  which  will  be  given  to  the  War  Fund. 
Among  the  contributors  are  : — Rudyard  Kipling,  Sir  W.  Besant,  S.  R.  Crockett, 
A.  E.  W.  Mason,  Max  Pemberton,  H.  G.  Wells,  C.  J.  C.  Hyne,  Mrs.  Croker. 

THE  FOOTSTEPS  OF  A  THRONE.  By  Max  Pemberton. 
Crown  8vo.     6s. 

SONS  OF  THE  MORNING.  By  Eden  Phillpotts,  Author 
of  '  The  Children  of  the  Mist. '   With  a  frontispiece.    Crown  8vo.    6s. 

THE  SOFT  SIDE.  By  Henry  James,  Author  of '  What  Maisie 
Knew.'     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

TONGUES  OF  CONSCIENCE.  By  Robert  Hichens,  Author 
of  '  Flames.'     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

THE  CONQUEST  OF  LONDON.    By  Dorothea  Gerard, 

Author  of  '  Lady  Baby. '     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

WOUNDS  IN  THE  RAIN  :  A  Collection  of  Stories  relating 
to  the  Spanish- American  War  of  1898.  By  Stephen  Crane, 
Author  of  '  The  Red  Badge  of  Courage. '     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

WINEFRED.  By  S.  Baring  Gould,  Author  of  'Mehalah.' 
With  8  Illustrations  by  Edgar  Bundy.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

THE  STRONG  ARM.  By  Robert  Barr,  Author  of  'The 
Countess  Tekla.'     Illustrated.      Crown  8vo.     6s. 

THE  SEEN  AND  THE  UNSEEN.  By  Richard  Marsh. 
Author  of '  The  Beetle,' '  Marvels  and  Mysteries,'  etc.  Crown  8vo.  6s. 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Announcements         ^ 

SERVANTS  OF  SIN.    By  J.  Bloundelle  Burton,  Author 
<  The  Clash  of  Arms. '     Crown  %vo.     6s. 

PATH  AND  GOAL.     By  Ada  Cambridge.     Crown  Zvo.    6s. 

ELMSLIE'S  DRAG-NET.     By  E.  H.  Strain.    Crown  8w.   6s. 

A  FOREST  OFFICER.     By  Mrs.  Penny.     CrownZvo.    6s. 

A  story  of  jungle  life  in  India. 

FITZJAMES.    By  Lilian  Street.     Crown  Bvo.    2>s.6d. 

Ube  IFlcwelist 

A  monthly  series  of  novels  by  popular  authors  at  Sixpence.  Each 
Number  is  as  long  as  the  average  Six  Shilling  Novel.  Numbers  I.  to 
XII.  are  now  ready : — 

XIII.  THE  POMP  OF  THE  LAVILETTES.    Gilbert  Parker. 

XIV.  A  MAN  OF  MARK.  Anthony  Hope. 

XV.  THE  CARISSIMA.  Lucas  Malet. 

XVI.  THE  LADY'S  WALK.  Mrs.  Oliphant. 

\_October. 
XVII.  DERRICK  VAUGHAN.  Edna  Lyall. 

{November. 

jfl&etbuen's  Sfepenns  Xtibrars 

A  New  Series  of  Copyright  Books. 
I.  THE  MATABELE  CAMPAIGN.    Maj. -General  Baden-Powell. 
II.  THE  DOWNFALL  OF  PREMPEH.  Do. 

III.  MY  DANISH  SWEETHEART.      W.  Clark  Russell. 

IV.  IN  THE  ROAR  OF  THE  SEA.     S.  Baring  Gould. 

V.  PEGGY  OF  THE  BARTONS.         B.  M.  Croker. 

VI.  BADEN-POWELL  OF  MAFEKING :   a  Biography. 
J.  S.  Fletcher. 

VII.  ROBERTS  OF  PRETORIA.    J.  S.  Fletcher. 

A  2 


A  CATALOGUE  OF 


Messrs.    Methuen's 

PUBLICATIONS 


Poetry 


Rudyard Kipling.  BARRACK-ROOM 
BALLADS.  By  Rudyard  Kipling. 
68th  Thousand.  Crown  8vo.  6s. 
Leather,  6s.  net. 

'  Mr.  Kipling's  verse  is  strong,  vivid,  full 
of  character.  .  .  .  Unmistakeable  genius 
rings  in  every  line.'—  Times. 

'  The  ballads  teem  with  imagination,  they 
palpitate  with  emotion.  We  read  them 
with  laughter  and  tears  ;  the  metres  throb 
in  our  pulses,  the  cunningly  ordered 
words  tingle  with  life  ;  and  if  this  be  not 
poetry,  what  is  ?  '—Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

Rudyard  Kipling.  THE  SEVEN 
SEAS.  By  Rudyard  Kipling. 
tflth  Thousand.  Cr.  8vo.  Buckram, 
gilt  top.     6s.     Leather,  6s.  net. 

'  The  Empire  has  found  a  singer  ;  it  is  no 
depreciation  of  the  songs  to  say  that 
statesmen  may  have,  one  way  or  other, 
to  take  account  of  them.' — Manchester 
Guardian. 

'Animated  through  and  through  with  in- 
dubitable genius.' — Daily  Telegraph. 


1 Q."    POEMS  AND  BALLADS. 
"Q."     Crown  Svo.     %s.  6d. 


By 


"Q."  GREEN  BAYS:  Verses  and 
Parodies.  By"Q."  Second  Edition, 
Crown  8vo.     3-r.  6d. 

E.  Mackay.     A  SONG  OF  THE  SEA.  I 
By  Eric  Mackay.     Second  Edition. 
Fcap.  8vo.     5^. 


H.  Ibsen. 

Henrik 

William  Wilson. 
Crown  8vo.     %s.  6d. 


BRAND.      A  Drama  by  ' 
Ibsen.       Translated    by  , 


Third  Edition. 


A.  D.  Godley.    LYRA  FRIVOLA.    By  ' 
A.   D.   Godley,   M.A.,    Fellow    of 
Magdalen  College,   Oxford.     Third 
Edition.     Pott  Svo.    zs.  6d. 
'Combines  a  pretty  wit  with  remarkably 
neat  versification.  .  .  .  Every  one  will 
wish  there  was  more  of  it.' — Times. 

A.  D.  Godley.    VERSES  TO  ORDER. 
By  A.    D.  Godley.      Crown    8vo. 
Q.s.  6d.  net. 
'A    capital    specimen    of    light    academic 

poetry. ' — St.  James's  Gazette. 

J.  G.  Cordery.     THE  ODYSSEY  OF 

HOMER.      A  Translation  by  J.  G.  , 
1      Cordery.     Crown  8vo.    7s.  6d. 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


ii 


Belles  Lettres,  Anthologies,  etc. 


R.  L.  Stevenson.  VAILIMA  LET- 
TERS. By  Robert  Louis  Steven- 
son. With  an  Etched  Portrait  by 
William  Strang.  Second  Edition. 
Crown  8vo.     Buckram.     6s. 

'A  fascinating  book.' — Standard. 

'  Unique  in  Literature. ' — Daily  Chronicle. 

G.  Wyndham.  THE  POEMS  OF  WIL- 
LIAM  SHAKESPEARE.       Edited 
with  an  Introduction  and  Notes  by 
George  Wyndham,  M.P.     Demy 
8vo.     Buckram,  gilt  top.     xos.  6d. 
This  edition  contains  the '  Venus,' '  Lucrece, 
and   Sonnets,  and  is  prefaced  with  an 
elaborate  introduction  of  over  140  pp. 
'We  have  no  hesitation  in  describing  Mr. 
George  Wyndham's    introduction  as  a 
masterly  piece  of  criticism,  and  all  who 
love  our  Elizabethan  literature  will  find  a 
very  garden  of  delight  in  it. ' — Spectator. 

W.  E.  Henley.    ENGLISH  LYRICS. 

Selected    and    Edited    by    W.     E. 

Henley.      Crown   8vo.      Gilt   top, 

3-r.  6d. 

•  It  is  a  body  of  choice  and  lovely  poetry.' — 

Birmingham  Gazette. 

Henley  and  Whibley.  A  BOOK  OF 
ENGLISH  PROSE.  Collected  by 
W.  E.  Henley  and  Charles 
Whibley.  Crown  8vo.  Buckram, 
gilt  top.     6s. 

H.  C.  Beeching.    LYRA  SACRA  :  An 

Anthology  of  Sacred  Verse.     Edited 

by  H,  C.  Beeching,  M.A.     Crown 

8vo.     Buckram.     6s. 

'A  charming  selection,  which  maintains  a 

lofty  standard  of  excellence.' — Times. 

«Q."  THE  GOLDEN  POMP.  A  Pro- 
cession of  English  Lyrics.  Arranged 
by  A.  T.  Quiller  Couch.  Crown 
8vo.     Buckram.     6s. 

W.  B.  Yeats.    AN  ANTHOLOGY  OF 
IRISH  VERSE.     Edited  by  W.  B. 
Yeats.      Revised     and     Enlarged 
Edition.     Crown  8vo.     y.  6d.  _ 
'An  attractive  and    catholic    selection.'— 
Times. 
G.  W.  Steevens.  MONOLOGUES  OF 
THE  DEAD.   By  G.  W.  Steevens. 
Foolscap  8vo.  $s.  6d. 


W.    M.    Dixon.       A    PRIMER     OF 
TENNYSON.      By  W.  M.  Dixon, 
M.A.     Cr.  8vo.     2s.  6d. 
1  Much  sound  and  well-expressed  criticism. 
The  bibliography  is  a  boon.' — Speaker. 

W.    A.    Craigie.     A    PRIMER    OF 
BURNS.      By    W.    A.    Craigie. 
Crown  8vo.     -zs.  6d. 
'  A  valuable  addition  to  the  literature  of  the 
poet.' — Times. 

L.  Magnus.  A  PRIMER  OF  WORDS- 
WORTH.    By  Laurie    Magnus. 
Crown  8vo.    zs.  6d. 
1 A  valuable  contribution  to  Wordsworthian 
literature.' — Literature. 

Sterne.  THE  LIFE  AND  OPINIONS 
OF  TRISTRAM  SHANDY.  By 
Lawrence  Sterne.  With  an  In- 
troduction by  Charles  Whibley, 
and  a  Portrait.     2  vols.     js. 

Congreve.  THE  COMEDIES  OF 
WILLIAM  CONGREVE.  With  an 
Introduction  by  G.  S.  STREET,  and 
a  Portrait.     2  vols.     js. 

Morier.  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 
HAJJI  BABA  OF  ISPAHAN.  By 
James  Morier.  With  an  Introduc- 
tion by  E.  G.  Browne,  M.A.  and  a 
Portrait.     2  vols.     js. 

Walton.  THE  LIVES  OF  DONNE, 
WOTTON,  HOOKER,  HERBERT 
and  SANDERSON.  By  Izaak 
Walton.  With  an  Introduction  by 
Vernon  Blackburn,  and  a  Por- 
trait.   35.  6d. 

Johnson.  THE  LIVES  OF  THE 
ENGLISH  POETS.  By  Samuel 
Johnson,  LL.D.  With  an  Intro- 
duction by  J.  H.  Millar,  and  a  Por- 
trait.    3  vols.  xos.  6d. 

Burns.  THE  POEMS  OF  ROBERT 
BURNS.  Edited  by  Andrew  Lang 
and  W.  A.  Craigie.  With  Portrait. 
Second  Edition.  Demy  8vo,  gilt  top. 
6s, 
'Among  editions  in  one  volume,  this  will 
take  the  place  of  authority.'—  Times. 


12 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


F.  Langbridge.  BALLADS  OF  THE 
BRAVE ;  Poems  of  Chivalry,  Enter- 
prise, Courage,  and  Constancy. 
Edited  by    Rev.    F.    Langbridge. 


Second  Edition.     Cr.   8vo.      35.  6d. 
School  Edition.     2s.  6d. 
The  book  is  full   of   splendid  things.' — 
World. 


jflfcetbuen's  Standard  aiibrarE 


Dante.       LA      COMMEDIA     DI 

DANTE  ALIGHIERI.    The  Italian 

Text    edited  by   Paget  Toynbee, 

M.A.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

'  A    carefully-revised     text,    printed     with 

beautiful  clearness.'— Glasgow  Herald. 

Gibbon.      THE     DECLINE     AND 
FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE. 
By  Edward  Gibbon.    A  New  Edi- 
tion, Edited  with  Notes,  Appendices, 
and  Maps,  by  J.  B.  Bury,  LL.D., 
Fellow  of  Trinity  College,    Dublin. 
In  Seven  Volumes.    Demy  8vo.    Gilt 
top.    8s.  6d.  each.    Also  Cr.  8vo.     6s. 
each. 
'  The  time  has  certainly  arrived  for  a  new 
edition  of  Gibbon's  great  work.  .  .  .  Pro- 
fessor Bury  is  the  right  man  to  under- 
take this  task.     His  learning  is  amazing, 
both  in  extent  and  accuracy.     The  book 
is  issued  in   a  handy  form,   and  at  a 
moderate    price,   and    it  is    admirably 
printed.'— Times. 
1  At  last  there  is  an  adequate  modern  edition 
of  Gibbon.   .  .   .   The  best  edition  the 
nineteenth    century    could    produce.— 
Manchester  Guardian. 
'  A  great  piece  of  editing.' — Academy. 
'  The  greatest  of  English,   perhaps  of  all, 
historians  has  never  been  presented  to 
the  public  in  a  more  convenient  and 
attractive  form.     No  higher  praise  can 
be  bestowed  upon  Professor  Bury  than 
to  say,  as  may  be  said  with  truth,  that 
he  is  worthy  of  being  ranked  with  Guizot 
and  Milman.' — Daily  News. 

C.  G.  Crump.     THE  HISTORY  OF 
THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS   ELL- 


WOOD.    Edited  by  C.  G.  Crump, 
M.A.     Crown  8vo.    6s. 

This  edition  is  the  only  one  which  contains 
the  complete  book  as  originally  pub- 
lished. It  contains  a  long  Introduction 
and  many  Footnotes. 

'  "  The  History  of  Thomas  Ellwood  "holds  a 
high  place  among  the  masterpieces  of 
autobiography,  and  we  know  few  books 
that  better  deserve  reprinting.  More- 
over, Mr.  C.  G.  Crump's  new  edition  is 
accurate  and  convenient,  and  we  com- 
mend it  ungrudgingly  to  all  those  who 
love  sound  and  vigorous  English.' 

—Daily  Mail. 

Tennyson.  THE  EARLY  POEMS  OF 
ALFRED,  LORD  TENNYSON, 
Edited,  with  Notes  and  an  Introduc- 
tion by  J.  Churton  Collins,  M.A. 
Crown  8vo.     6s. 

An  elaborate  edition  of  the  celebrated 
volume  which  was  published  in  its 
final  and  definitive  form  in  1853.  This 
edition  contains  a  long  Introduction  and 
copious  Notes,  textual  and  explanatory. 
It  also  contains  in  an  Appendix  all 
the  Poems  which  Tennyson  afterwards 
omitted. 

'Mr.  Collins  is  almost  an  ideal  editor  of 
Tennyson.  His  qualities  as  a  critic  are 
an  exact  and  accurate  scholarship,  and 
a  literary  judgment,  which  has  been 
trained  and  polished  by  the  closest  study 
of  classics  both  ancient  and  modern. 
Mr.  Collins'  introduction  is  a  thoroughly 
sound  and  sane  appreciation  of  the 
merits  and  demerits  of  Tennyson.' — 
Literature. 


Gbe  Works  of  Sbafcespeare 

General  Editor,  Edward  Dowden,  Litt.  D. 
Messrs.   Methuen  have  in  preparation  an  Edition  of  Shakespeare  in 
single  Plays.     Each  play  will  be  edited  with  a  full  Introduction,   Textual 
Notes,  and  a  Commentary  at  the  foot  of  the  page. 

The  first  volume  is  : 
HAMLET.       Edited     by     Edward 
Dowden.    Demy  8vo.    %s.  6d. 


1  An    admirable    edition. 


A    comely 


volume,  admirably  printed  and  produced, 
and  containing  all  that  a  student  of 
"  Hamlet "  need  require.' — Speaker. 

1  Fully  up  to  the  level  of  recent  scholarship, 
both  English  and  German.—  Acadttuy. 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


13 


Ube  ftlovete  of  Gbarles  2>icfcen$ 

Crown  Svo.  Each  Volume,  cloth  3s.  net ;  leather  4s.  6d.  net. 
Messrs.  Methuen  have  in  preparation  an  edition  of  those  novels  of  Charles 
Dickens  which  have  now  passed  out  of  copyright.  Mr.  George  Gissing, 
whose  critical  study  of  Dickens  is  both  sympathetic  and  acute,  has  written  an 
Introduction  to  each  of  the  books,  and  a  very  attractive  feature  of  this  edition 
will  be  the  illustrations  of  the  old  houses,  inns,  and  buildings,  which  Dickens 
described,  and  which  have  now  in  many  instances  disappeared  under  the 
touch  of  modern  civilisation.  Another  valuable  feature  will  be  a  series  of 
topographical  and  general  notes  to  each  book  by  Mr.  F.  G.  Kitton.  The  books 
will  be  produced  with  the  greatest  care  as  to  printing,  paper  and  binding. 

The  first  volumes  are  : 
THE  PICKWICK  PAPERS.   With  Illustrations  by  E.  H.  New.    Two  Volumes. 
'  As  pleasant  a  copy  as  any  one  could  desire.     The  notes  add  much  to  the  value  of  the 
edition,  and  Mr.  New's  illustrations  are  also  historical.     The  volumes  promise  well 
for  the  success  of  the  edition.' — Scotsman. 


XLhc  Xittle  %ffcrar£ 

'  The  volumes  are  compact  in  size,  printed  on  thin  but  good  paper  in  clear  type, 
prettily  and  at  the  same  time  strongly  bound,  and  altogether  good  to  look  upon  and 
handle. ' — Outlook. 

Pott  8vo.     Each  Volume,  cloth  is.  6d.  net,  leather  zs.  6d.  net. 

Messrs.  Methuen  intend  to  produce  a  series  of  small  books  under  the 
above  title,  containing  some  of  the  famous  books  in  English  and  other 
literatures,  in  the  domains  of  fiction,  poetry,  and  belles  lettres.  The  series 
will  also  contain  several  volumes  of  selections  in  prose  and  verse. 

The  books  will  be  edited  with  the  most  sympathetic  and  scholarly  care. 
Each  one  will  contain  an  Introduction  which  will  give  (1)  a  short  biography  of 
the  author,  (2)  a  critical  estimate  of  the  book.  Where  they  are  necessary, 
short  notes  will  be  added  at  the  foot  of  the  page. 

Each  book  will  have  a  portrait  or  frontispiece  in  photogravure,  and  the 
volumes  will  be  produced  with  great  care  in  a  style  uniform  with  that  of  '  The 
Library  of  Devotion.' 

The  first  volumes  are  : 


VANITY  FAIR.  By  W.  M.  Thack- 
eray. With  an  Introduction  by  S. 
Gwynn.  Illustrated  by  G.  P. 
Jacomb  Hood.     Three  Volumes. 

'  Delightful  little  volumes.' — Publishers' 
Circular. 

THE  PRINCESS.  By  Alfred,  Lord 
Tennyson.  Edited  by  Elizabeth 
Wordsworth.  Illustrated  by  W. 
E.  F.  Britten. 

'Justwhat  a  pocket  edition  should  be. 
MissWordsworth  contributes  an  accept- 
able introduction,  as  well  as  notes  which 
one  is  equally  glad  to  get.' — Guardian. 


IN  MEMORIAM.  By  Alfred,  Lord 
Tennyson.  Edited,  with  an  Intro- 
duction and  Notes,  by  H.  C.  Beech- 
ing,  M.A. 

'An  exquisite  little  volume,  which  will  be 
gladly  welcomed.' — Glasgow  Herald. 

'The  introduction,  analysis,  and  notes  by 
the  Rev.  H.  C.  Beeching  are  all  of  the 
sound  literary  quality  that  was  to  be 
expected. ' — Guardian. 

'The  footnotes  are  scholarly,  interesting, 
and  not  super-abundant.' — Standard. 

'  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  a  more  attractive 
edition.' — St.  James's  Gazette. 


14 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


Gbe  Xittle  ©utoes 

Pott  Svo,  cloth  35-.  ;  leather,  3.J.  6d.  net. 


OXFORD   AND    ITS    COLLEGES. 
By  J.   Wells,   M.A.,    Fellow    and 
Tutor  of  Wadham  College.     Illus- 
trated by  E.  H.  New.  Third  Edition. 
1  An  admirable  and  accurate  little  treatise, 

attractively  illustrated. '—  World. 
'Aluminous  and  tasteful  little  volume.' — 
Daily  Chronicle. 

CAMBRIDGE     AND      ITS      COL- 
LEGES.   By  A.  Hamilton  Thomp- 
son.    Illustrated  by  E.  H.  New. 
'  It  is  brightly  written  and  learned,  and  is 
just  such  a  book  as  a  cultured  visitor 
needs.' — Scotsman. 


SHAKESPEARE'S  COUNTRY.  By 
B.  C.  Windle,  F.R.S.,  M.A.  Illus- 
trated by  E.  H.  New.  Second  Edition. 

1  Mr.  Windle  is  thoroughly  conversant  with 
his  subject,  and  the  work  is  exceedingly 
well  done.  The  drawings,  by  Mr. 
Edmund  H.  New,  add  much  to  the 
attractiveness  of  the  volume.' — Scots- 
man. 

'  One  of  the  most  charming  guide  books. 
Both  for  the  library  and  as  a  travelling 
companion  the  book  is  equally  choice 
and  serviceable.' — Academy. 

'  A  guide  book  of  the  best  kind,  which 
takes  rank  as  literature.' — Guardian. 


Illustrated  and  Gift  Books 


Phil     May.        THE     PHIL     MAY 
ALBUM,     tfo.     6s. 
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Standard. 

A.  H.  Milne.     ULYSSES  ;   OR,    DE 
ROUGEMONT   OF   TROY.      De- 
scribed and  depicted  by  A.  H.  Milne. 
Small  quarto.     3 s.  6d. 
1  Clever,  droll,  smart.' — Guardian. 

Edmund  Selous.    TOMMY  SMITH'S 

ANIMALS.    By  Edmund  Selous. 

Illustrated  by  G.  W.  Ord.  Fcap.  Svo. 

■2S.  6d. 

A  little  book   designed  to  teach  children 

respect  and  reverence  for  animals. 
'  A  quaint,  fascinating  little  book :  a  nur- 
sery classic' — AthencBum. 

S.  Baring  Gould.    THE  CROCK  OF 
GOLD.      Fairy  Stories  told  by  S. 
Baring  Gould.     Crown  Svo.    6s. 
'Twelve  delightful  fairy  tales.' — Punch. 

M.L.  Gwynn.   A  BIRTHDAY  BOOK. 

Arranged    and    Edited    by    M.    L. 

Gwynn.     Demy  8vo.     12s.  6d. 

This    is   a    birthday-book    of    exceptional 

dignity,   and    the    extracts    have    been 

chosen  with  particular  care. 

Jonn  Bunyan.  THE  PILGRIM'S 
PROGRESS.  By  John  Bunyan. 
Edited,  with  an  Introduction,  by  C.  H. 


Firth,  M.A.  With  39  Illustrations 
by  R.  Anning  Bell.  Crown  Svo.  6s. 
1  The  best  "  Pilgrim's  Progress.'"— 

Educational  Times. 

F.D.Bedford.  NURSERY  RHYMES. 
With  many  Coloured  Pictures  by  F. 
D.  Bedford.    Super  Royal  Svo.    5s. 

S.  Baring  Gould.  A  BOOK  OF 
FAIRY  TALES  retold  by  S.  Baring 
Gould.  With  numerous  Illustra- 
tions and  Initial  Letters  by  Arthur 
J.  GASKIN.  Second  Edition.  Cr.  Svo. 
Buckram.     6s. 

S.  Baring  Gould.  OLD  ENGLISH 
FAIRY  TALES.  Collected  and 
edited  by  S.  Baring  Gould.  With 
Numerous  Illustrations  by  F.  D. 
Bedford.  Second  Edition.  Cr.  Svo. 
Buckram.  6s. 
'A  charming  volume.' — Guardian. 

S.  Baring  Gould.  A  BOOK  OF 
NURSERY  SONGS  AND 
RHYMES.  Edited  by  S.  Baring 
Gould,  and  Illustrated  by  the  Bir- 
mingham Art  School.  Buckram,  gilt 
top.     Crown  Svo.     6s. 

H.  C.  Beeching.  A  BOOK  OF 
CHRISTMAS  VERSE.  Edited  by 
H.  C.  Beeching,  M.A.,  and  Illus- 
trated by  Walter  Crane.  Cr.  Svo, 
gilt  top.     3s.  6d. 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


i5 


History 


flinders  Petrie.  A  HISTORY  OF 
EGYPT.from  the  Earliest  Times 
to  the  Present  Day.  Edited  by 
W.  M.  Flinders  Petrie,  D.C.L., 
LL.D.,  Professor  of  Egyptology  at 
U  niversity  College.  Fully  Illustrated. 
In  Six  Volumes.     Cr.  8vo.     6s.  each. 

Vol.  I.  Prehistoric  Times  to 
XVIth  Dynasty.  W.  M.  F. 
Petrie.     Fourth  Edition. 

Vol.     II.     The    XVIIth    and 
XVIIIth  Dynasties.     W.  M. 
F.  Petrie.     Third  Edition. 
Vol.   IV.  The   Egypt    of   the 

Ptolemies.  J.  P.  Mahaffy. 
Vol.  V.  Roman  Egypt.  J.  G. 
Milne. 
1  A  history  written  in  the  spirit  of  scientific 
precision  so  worthily  represented  by  Dr. 
Petrie  and  his  school  cannot  but  pro- 
mote sound  and  accurate  study,  and 
supply  a  vacant  place  in  the  English 
literature  of  Egyptology.' — Times. 

Flinders  Petrie.     RELIGION  AND 
CONSCIENCE      IN      ANCIENT 
EGYPT.      By    W.    M.  Flinders 
Petrie,  D.  C.  L. ,  LL.  D.     Fully  Illus- 
trated.    Crown  8vo.     2s.  6d. 
'  The  lectures  will  afford  a  fund  of  valuable 
information    for    students    of    ancient 
ethics.' — Manchester  Guardian. 

Hinders  Petrie.  SYRIA  AND 
EGYPT,  FROM  THE  TELL  EL 
AMARNA  TABLETS.  By  W.  M. 
Flinders  Petrie,  D.C.L.,  LL.D. 

Crown  8vo.     zs.  6d. 
1 A  marvellous  record.     The  addition  made 
to  our  knowledge  is  nothing  short   of 
amazing.'— Times. 

Flinders  Petrie.  EGYPTIAN  TALES. 

Edited  by  W.  M.  Flinders  Petrie. 

Illustrated  by  Tristram  Ellis.    In 

Two  Volumes.     Cr.  8vo.    2s-  &$•  each. 

'  Invaluable  as  a  picture  of  life  in  Palestine 

and  Egypt.' — Daily  News. 


Flinders  Petrie.  EGYPTIAN  DECO- 
RATIVE ART.     By  W.  M.  Flin- 
ders Petrie.  With  120  Illustrations. 
Cr.  8vo.     2s'  6d' 
1  In  these  lectures  he  displays  rare  skill  in 
elucidating  the  development  of  decora- 
tive art  in  Egypt.' — Times. 

C.  W.  Oman.  A  HISTORY  OF  THE 
ART  OF  WAR.  Vol.  11.  :  The 
Middle  Ages,  from  the  Fourth  to  the 
Fourteenth  Century.  By  C.  W. 
Oman,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  All  Souls', 
Oxford.  Illustrated.    Demy  8vo.   21s. 

'  The  whole  art  of  war  in  its  historic  evolu- 
tion has  never  been  treated  on  such  an 
ample  and  comprehensive  scale,  and  we 
question  if  any  recent  contribution  to 
the  exact  history  of  the  world  has  pos- 
sessed more  enduring  value.' — Daily 
Chronicle. 

S.  Baring  Gould.  THE  TRAGEDY 
OF  THE  CAESARS.  With  nume- 
rous Illustrations  from  Busts,  Gems, 
Cameos,  etc.  By  S.  Baring  Gould. 
Fourth  Edition.     Royal  8vo.     15J. 

'A  most  splendid  and  fascinating  book  on  a 
subject  of  undying  interest.  The  great 
feature  of  the  book  is  the  use  the  author 
has  made  of  the  existing  portraits  of 
the  Caesars  and  the  admirable  critical 
subtlety  he  has  exhibited  in  dealing  with 
this  line  of  research.  It  is  brilliantly 
written,  and  the  illustrations  are  sup- 
plied on  a  scale  of  profuse  magnificence.' 
— Daily  Chronicle. 

F.  W.  Maitland.  CANON  LAW  IN 
ENGLAND.  By  F.  W.  Maitland, 
LL.D.,  Downing  Professor  of  the 
Laws  of  England  in  the  University 
of  Cambridge.     Royal  8vo.     js.  6d. 

1  Professor  Maitland  has  put  students  of 
English  law  under  a  fresh  debt.  These 
essays  are  landmarks  in  the  study  of  the 
history  of  Canon  Law.' — Times. 


i6 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


H.  de  B.  Gibbins.  INDUSTRY  IN 
ENGLAND  :  HISTORICAL  OUT- 
LINES. By  H.  de  B.  Gibbins, 
Litt.D.,  M.A.  With  5  Maps.  Se- 
cond Edition.     Demy  8vo.     10s.  6d. 

H.  E.  Egerton.  A  HISTORY  OF 
BRITISH  COLONIAL  POLICY. 
By  H.  E.  Egerton,  M,A.  Demy 
8vo.     12s.  6d. 

'  It  is  a  good  book,  distinguished  by  accu- 
racy in  detail,  clear  arrangement  of  facts, 
and  a  broad  grasp  of  principles.' — 
Manchester  Guardian. 


Albert  Sorel.  THE  EASTERN 
QUESTION  IN  THE  EIGH- 
TEENTH CENTURY.  By  Albert 
Sorel.  Translated  by  F.  C.  Bram- 
WELL,  M.A.     Cr.  8vo.     3^.  6d. 

C.  H.  Grinling.     A    HISTORY   OF 
THE  GREAT  NORTHERN  RAIL- 
WAY,   1845-95.     By  C.   H.   Grin- 
ling.  With  Illustrations.   Demy  Svo. 
10s.  6d. 
1  Mr.  Grinling  has  done  for  a  Railway  what 
Macaulay  did  for  English  History.' — 
The  Engineer. 

W.  Sterry.  ANNALS  OF  ETON 
COLLEGE.  By  W.  Sterry,  M.A. 
With  numerous  Illustrations.  Demy 
8vo.     7s.  6d. 

1  A  treasury  of  quaint  and  interesting  read- 
ing. Mr.  Sterry  has  by  his  skill  and 
vivacity  given  these  records  new  life.' — 
Academy. 

G.W.Fisher.  ANNALS  OF  SHREWS- 
BURY    SCHOOL.        By    G.     W. 

Fisher,  M.A.    With  numerous  Illus- 
trations.    Demy  8vo.     10s.  6d. 
'This     careful,      erudite      book.' — Daily 

Chronicle. 
'  A  book  of  which  Old  Salopians  are  sure 
to  be  proud.' — Globe. 

J.  Sargeaunt.  ANNALS  OF  WEST- 
MINSTER SCHOOL.  By  J.  Sar- 
GEAUNT,  M.A.  With  numerous 
Illustrations.    Demy  8vo.     7s.  6d. 


A.  Clark.  THE  COLLEGES  OF 
OXFORD:  Their  History  and  their 
Traditions.  Edited  by  A.  Clark, 
M.A.,  Fellow  of  Lincoln  College. 
8vo.     12s.  6d. 

'A  work  which  will  be  appealed  to  for 
many  years  as  the  standard  book.' — 
Athenteum. 

T.M.  Taylor.  A  CONSTITUTIONAL 
AND  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF 
ROME.  By  T.  M.  Taylor,  M.  A., 
Fellow  of  Gonville  and  Caius  College, 
Cambridge.     Crown  8vo.     7s.  6d. 

'  We  fully  recognise  the  value  of  this  care- 
fully written  work,  and  admire  especially 
the  fairness  and  sobriety  of  his  judgment 
and  the  human  interest  with  which  he 
has  inspired  a  subject  which  in  some 
hands  becomes  a  mere  series  of  cold 
abstractions.  It  is  a  work  that  will  be 
stimulating  to  the  student  of  Roman 
history. ' — A  thenceum. 

J.  Wells.  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF 
ROME.  By  J.  Wells,  M.A, 
Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Wadham  Coll. , 
Oxford.  Third  Edition.  With  3 
Maps.     Crown  8vo.     3.?.  6d. 

This  book  is  intended  for  the  Middle  and 
Upper  Forms  of  Public  Schools  and  for 
Pass  Students  at  the  Universities.  It 
contains  copious  Tables,  etc. 

'  An  original  work  written  on  an  original 
plan,  and  with  uncommon  freshness  and 
vigour. ' — Speaker. 

0.  Browning.  A  SHORT  HISTORY 
OF  MEDIEVAL  ITALY,  A.D. 
1250-1530.  By  Oscar  Browning, 
Fellow  and  Tutor  of  King's  College, 
Cambridge.  In  Two  Volumes.  Cr. 
8vo.     5-y.  each. 

Vol.  1.   1250-1409. — Guelphs  and 
Ghibellines. 

Vol.  11.  1409-1530. — The  Age  of 
the  Condottieri. 

O'Grady.  THE  STORY  OF  IRE- 
LAND. By  Standish  O'Grady, 
Author  of '  Finn  and  his  Companions. 
Crown  8vo.     zs.  6d. 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


17 


Edited  by  J.  B.  Bury,  M.A. 


ZACHARIAH  OF  MITYLENE. 
Translated  into  English  by  F.  J. 
Hamilton,  D.D.,  and  E.  W. 
Brooks.     Demy  8vo.     12s.  6d.  net. 

EVAGRIUS.      Edited    by    Professor 


L£on  Parmentier  and  M.  Bidez. 
Demy  8vo.     10s.  6d.  net. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  PSELLUS. 
By  C.  Sathas.  Demy  8vo.  15s. 
net. 


Biography 


R.  L.  Stevenson.  THE  LETTERS 
OF  ROBERT  LOUIS  STEVEN- 
SON TO  HIS  FAMILY  AND 
FRIENDS.  Selected  and  Edited, 
with  Notes  and  Introductions,  by 
Sidney  Colvin.  Third  Edition. 
Demy  8vo,  2  vols. ,  25J.  net. 

'Irresistible  in  their  raciness,  their  variety, 
their  animation  ...  of  extraordinary 
fascination.  A  delightful  inheritance, 
the  truest  record  of  a  "richly  com- 
pounded spirit"  that  the  literature  of 
our  time  has  preserved.' — Times. 

'  There  are  few  books  so  interesting,  so 
moving,  and  so  valuable  as  this  collec- 
tion of  letters.  One  can  only  commend 
people  to  read  and  re-read  the  book.  The 
volumes  are  beautiful,  and  Mr.  Colvin's 
part  of  the  work  could  not  have  been 
better  done,  his  introduction  is  a  master- 
piece.'— Spectator. 

J.  G.  MiUais.  THE  LIFE  AND 
LETTERS  OF  SIR  JOHN 
EVERETT  MILLAIS,  President  of 
the  Royal  Academy.  By  his  Son, 
J.  G.  Millais.  With  319  Illus- 
trations, of  which  9  are  in  Photo- 
gravure. Second  Edition.  2  vols, 
Royal  8vo,  32J.  net. 

1  The  illustrations  make  the  book  delightful 
to  handle  or  to  read.  The  eye  lingers 
lovingly  upon  the  beautiful  pictures.' — 
Standard. 

'  This  charming  book  is  a  gold  mine  of  good 
things.' — Daily  News. 


I     'This  splendid  work.'—  World. 

'  Of  such  absorbing  interest  is  it,  of  such 
completeness  in  scope  and  beauty. 
Special  tribute  must  be  paid  to  the 
extraordinary  completeness  of  the  illus- 
trations. ' — Graphic. 

S.  Baring  Gould.    THE    LIFE   OF 
NAPOLEON    BONAPARTE.     By 
S.  Baring  Gould.    With  over  450 
Illustrations    in    the    Text    and     12 
Photogravure  Plates.     Large  quarto. 
Gilt  top.     365. 
'  The  main  feature  of  this  gorgeous  volume 
is  its  great  wealth  of  beautiful   photo- 
gravures    and     finely  -  executed    wood 
engravings,    constituting     a     complete 
pictorial    chronicle    of    Napoleon    I.'s 
personal  history  from  the  days  of  his  early 
childhood  at  Ajaccio  to  the  date  of  his 
second  interment.' — Daily  Telegraph. 

P.  H.  Colomb.  MEMOIRS  OF  AD- 
MIRAL SIR  A.  COOPER  KEY. 
By  Admiral  P.  H.  Colomb.  With 
a  Portrait.     Demy  8vo.     16s. 

Morris  Fuller.  THE  LIFE  AND 
WRITINGS  OF  JOHN  DAVEN- 
ANT,  D.D.  (1571-1641),  Bishop  of 
Salisbury.  By  Morris  Fuller, 
B.D.     Demy  8vo.     10s.  6d. 

J.  M.  Rigg\  ST.  ANSELM  OF 
CANTERBURY:  A  Chapter  in 
the  History  of  Religion.  By 
J.  M.  Rigg.     Demy  8vo.     ys.  6d. 

3 


IS 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


F.  W.  Joyce.  THE  LIFE  OF 
SIR  FREDERICK  GORE  OUSE- 
LEY.    ByF.W.  Joyce,  M.A.  -js.  6d. 

W.  G.  Collingwood.  THE  LIFE  OF 
JOHN  RUSK1N.  By  W.  G. 
Collingwood,  M.A.  With  Por- 
traits, and  13  Drawings  by  Mr. 
Ruikin.  Second  Edition.  2  vols. 
8vo.  32s.  Cheap  Edition.  Crown 
8vo.     6s. 

C.  Waldstein.  JOHN  RUSKIN,  By 
Charles  Waldstein,  M.A.  With 
a  Photogravure  Portrait,  Post  Svo.  5s. 

A.  M.  F.  Darmesteter,  THE  LIFE 
OF      ERNEST      RENAN.        By 


Madame     Darmesteter.      With 
Portrait.  Second  Edition.  Cr.  8vo.  6s. 

W.  H.  Hutton.  THE  LIFE  OF  SIR 
THOMAS  MORE.  By  W.  H. 
Hutton,  M.A.  With  Portraits. 
Second  Edition.     Cr.  8vo.     y. 

'  The  book  lays  good  claim  to  high  rank 
among  our  biographies.  It  is  excellently, 
even  lovingly,  written. ' — Scotsman. 

S.  Baring  Gould.  THE  VICAR  OF 
MORWENSTOW:  A  Biography. 
By  S.  Baring  Gould,  M.A.  A 
new  and  Revised  Edition.  With 
Portrait.     Crown  8vo.     35.  6d. 

A  completely  new  edition  of  the  well  known 
biography  of  R.  S.  Hawker. 


Travel,  Adventure  and  Topography 


SvenHedin.  THROUGH  ASIA.  By 
Sven  Hedin,  Gold  Medallist  of  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society.  With 
300  Illustrations  from  Sketches 
and  Photographs  by  the  Author, 
and  Maps.  2  vols.  Royal  8vo.  -zos.net. 

'One  of  the  greatest  books  of  the  kind 
issued  during  the  century.  It  is  im- 
possible to  give  an  adequate  idea  of  the 
richness  of  the  contents  of  this  book, 
nor  of  its  abounding  attractions  as  a  story 
of  travel  unsurpassed  in  geographical 
and  human  interest.  Much  of  it  is  a 
revelation.  Altogether  the  work  is  one 
which  in  solidity,  novelty,  and  interest 
must  take  a  first  rank  among  publica- 
tions of  its  class.' — Times. 

F.  H.  Skrine  and  E.  D.  Ross.  THE 
HEART  OF  ASIA.  By  F.  H. 
Skrine  and  E.  D.  Ross.  With 
Maps  and  many  Illustrations  by 
Verestchagin.  Large  Crown  8vo. 
ioj.  6d.  net. 
1  This  volume  will  form  a  landmark  in  our 


knowledge  of  Central  Asia.  .  .  .  Illumin- 
ating and  convincing. ' —  Times. 

R.  E.  Peary.    NORTHWARD  OVER 
THE  GREAT  ICE.  By  R.  E.  Peary, 
Gold  Medallist  of  the  Royal  Geogra- 
phical Society.     With  over  800  Illus- 
trations.   2  vols.    Royal  8vo.   32J.  net. 
'  His  book  will  take  its  place  among  the  per- 
manent literature  of  Arctic  exploration.' 
—  Times. 

E.  A.  FitzGerald.  THE  HIGHEST 
ANDES.  By  E.  A.  FitzGerald. 
With  2  Maps,  51  Illustrations,  13  of 
which  are  in  Photogravure,  and  a 
Panorama.  Royal  8vo,  305.  net. 
Also  a  Small  Edition  on  Hand-made 
Paper,   limited    to    50  Copies,    4 to, 

'  The  record  of  the  first  ascent  of  the  highest 
mountain  yet  conquered  by  mortal  man. 
A  volume  which  will  continue  to  be  the 
classic  book  of  travel  on  this  region  of 
the  Andes.'— Daily  Chronicle. 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


19 


F.  W.  Christian.  THE  CAROLINE 
ISLANDS.  By  F.  W.  Christian. 
With  many  Illustrations  and  Maps. 
Demy  Svo.     12s.  6d.  net. 

'A  real  contribution  to  our  knowledge  of 
the  peoples  and  islands  of  Micronesia, 
as  well  as  fascinating  as  a  narrative  of 
travels  and  adventure.'— Scotsman. 

H.  H.  Johnston.  BRITISH  CEN- 
TRAL AFRICA.  By  Sir  H.  H. 
Johnston,  K.C.B.  With  nearly 
Two  Hundred  Illustrations,  and  Six 
Maps.  Second  Edition.  Crown  ^to. 
\Ss.  net. 

1 A  fascinating  book,  written  with  equal 
skill  and  charm — the  work  at  once  of  a 
literary  artist  and  of  a  man  of  action 
who  is  singularly  wise,  brave,  and  ex- 
perienced. It  abounds  in  admirable 
sketches. '—Westminster  Gazette. 

L.  Decle.  THREE  YEARS  IN 
SAVAGE  AFRICA.  By  Lionel 
Decle.  With  100  Illustrations  and 
5  Maps.  Second  Edition.  Demy  Svo. 
10s.  6d.  net. 

'  Its  bright  pages  give  a  better  general 
survey  of  Africa  from  the  Cape  to  the 
Equator  than  any  single  volume  that 
has  yet  been  published.' — Times. 

A.  Hulme  Beaman.  TWENTY 
YEARS  IN  THE  NEAR  EAST. 
By  A.  Hulme  Beaman.  Demy 
8vo.     With  Portrait.     105.  6d. 


Henri  of  Orleans.  FROM  TONKIN 
TO  INDIA.  By  Prince  Henri  of 
Orleans.  Translated  by  Hamley 
Bent,  M.A.  With  100  Illustrations 
and  a  Map.     Cr.  qto,  gilt  top.     25s. 

S.  L.  Hinde.  THE  FALL  OF  THE 
CONGO  ARABS.  By  S.  L.  Hinde. 
With  Plans,  etc.    Demy  Svo.    12s.  6d. 

A.  St.  H.  Gibbons.  EXPLORATION 
AND  HUNTING  IN  CENTRAL 
AFRICA.  By  Major  A.  St.  H. 
Gibbons.  With  full-page  Illustra- 
tions oy  C.  Whymper,  and  Maps. 
Demy  Svo.     15*. 


Fraser.  ROUND  THE  WORLD 
ON  A  WHEEL.  By  John  Foster 
Fraser.  With  100  Illustrations. 
Crown  Svo.     6s. 

'  A  classic  of  cycling,  graphic  and  witty.'— 
Yorkshire  Post. 

R.  L.  Jefferson.  A  NEW  RIDE  TO 
KHIVA.  By  R.  L.  Jefferson. 
Illustrated.     Crown  Svo,  6s. 

The  account  of  an  adventurous  ride  on  a 
bicycle  through  Russia  and  the  deserts 
of  Asia  to  Khiva. 

'An  exceptionally  fascinating  book  of 
travel.  '—Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

J.  K.  Trotter.  THE  NIGER 
SOURCES.  By  Colonel  J.  K. 
Trotter,  R.A.  With  a  Map  and 
Illustrations.     Crown  Svo.     $s. 


Michael  Davitt.  LIFE  AND  PRO- 
GRESS IN  AUSTRALASIA.  By 
Michael  Davitt,  M.P.  500  pp. 
With  2  Maps.     Crown  Svo.     6s. 


W.  J.  Galloway.  ADVANCED  AUS- 
TRALIA. By  William  J.  Gal- 
loway, M.P.     Crown  Svo.     3^.  6d. 

'  This  is  an  unusally  thorough  and  informa- 
tive little  work.' — Morning  Post. 

W.  Crooke.  THE  NORTH- 
WESTERN PROVINCES  OF 
INDIA :  Their  Ethnology  and 
Administration.  By  W.  Crooke. 
With  Maps  and  Illustrations.  Demy 
Svo.     ios.  6d. 

A.  Boisragon.  THE  BENIN  MAS- 
SACRE. By  Captain  Boisragon. 
Second  Edition.     Cr.  Svo.     y.  &d- 

'  If  the  story  had  been  written  four  hundred 
years  ago  it  would  be  read  to-day  as  an 
English  classic' — Scotsman. 


H.  S.  Cowper.  THE  HILL  OF  THE 
GRACES:  or,  the  Great  Stone 
Temples  of  .ripoli.  By  H.  S. 
Cowper,  F.S.  A.  With  Maps,  Plans, 
and 75  Illustrations.  DemySvo.  ios.6d. 


20 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


W.  B.  Worsfold.    SOUTH  AFRICA. 

By  W.  B.  Worsfold,  M.A.     With 

a  Map.  Second  Edition.    Cr.  8vo.   6s. 

'  A   monumental  work  compressed  into  a 

very  moderate  compass.' — World. 

Katherine  and  Gilbert  Macquoid.  IN 
PARIS.  By  Katherine  and  Gil- 
bert Macquoid.  Illustrated  by 
Thomas  R.  Macquoid,  R.I.  With 
2  maps.  Crown  8vo.  is. 
'  A  useful  little  guide,  judiciously  supplied 
with  information.'— A thencBum. 


A.  H.  Keane.  THE  BOER  STATES : 
A  History  and  Description  of  the 
Transvaal  and  the  Orange  Free  State. 
By  A.  H.  Keane,  M.A.  With 
Map.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

'  A  work  of  clear  aims  and  thorough  execu- 
tion.'— A  cadetny. 

'  A  compact  and  very  trustworthy  account 
t  of  the  Boers  and  their  surroundings.' 

— Morning  Post. 


Naval  and  Military 


G.   S.   Robertson.     CHITRAL:   The 

Story   of   a    Minor    Siege.     By    Sir 

G.  S.  Robertson,  K. C.S.I.    With 

numerous  Illustrations,  Map  and  Plans. 

Second  Edition.    Demy  8vo.    xos.  6d. 

'  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  the  kind  of  person 

who  could  read  this  brilliant  book  without 

emotion.     The  story  remains  immortal — 

a  testimony  imperishable.     We  are  face 

to  face  with  a  great  book.' — Illustrated 

London  News. 

'  A  book  which  the  Elizabethans  would  have 

thought  wonderful.  More  thrilling,  more 

piquant,  and    more    human    than    any 

novel.' — Newcastle  Chronicle. 

'As  fascinating  as  Sir  Walter  Scott's  best 

fiction.' — Daily  Telegraph. 

R.  S.  S.  Baden-Powell.  THE  DOWN- 
FALL OF  PREMPEH.  A  Diary  of 
Life  in  Ashanti,  1895.  By  Maj.-Gen. 
Baden- Powell.  With  21  Illustra- 
tions and  a  Map.  Cheaper  Edition. 
Large  Crown  8vo.     6s. 

R.  S.  S.  Baden-Powell.  THE  MATA- 
BELE  CAMPAIGN,  1896.  By  Maj.- 
Gen.  Baden-Powell.  With  nearly 
100  Illustrations.  Cheaper  Edition. 
Large  Crown  8vo.     6s. 

J.  B.  Atkins.  THE  RELIEF  OF 
LADYSMITH.  By  John  Black 
Atkins.  With  16  Plans  and  Illus- 
trations. Second  Edition.  Crown 
8vo.  6s. 
This  book  contains  a  full  narrative  by  an 
eye-witne9s  of  General  Buller's  attempts, 


and  of  his  final  success.  _  The  story  is  of 
absorbing  interest,  and  is  the  only  com- 
plete account  which  has  appeared. 

'  The  mantle  of  Archibald  Forbes  and  G. 
W.  Steevens  has  assuredly  fallen  upon 
Mr.  Atkins,  who  unites  a  singularly 
graphic  style  to  an  equa  ly  rare  faculty 
of  vision.  In  his  pages -we  realise  the 
meaning  of  a  modern  campaign  with  the 
greatest  sense  of  actuality.  His  pages 
are  written  with  a  sustained  charm  of 
diction  and  ease  of  manner  that  are  no 
less  remarkable  than  the  sincerity  and 
vigour  of  the  matter  which  they  set 
before  us.' — World. 

1  Mr.  Atkins  has  a  genius  for  the  painting 
of  war  which  entitles  him  already  to  be 
ranked  with  Forbes  and  Steevens,  and 
encourages  us  to  hope  that  he  may  one 
day  rise  to  the  level  of  Napier  and 
Kinglake.'— Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

'It  is  the  record  told  with  insight  and 
sympathy  of  a  great  conflict.  It  is  as 
readable  as  a  novel,  and  it  bears  the 
imprint  of  truth.' — Morning  Leader. 

H.  W.  Nevinson.  LADYSMITH  :  The 
Diary  of  a  Siege.  By  H.  W.  Nevin- 
son. With  16  Illustrations  and  a 
Plan.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

This  book  contains  a  complete  diary  of  the 
Siege  of  Ladysmith,  and  is  a  most  vivid 
and  picturesque  narrative. 

'  There  is  no  exaggeration  here,  no  strain- 
ing after  effect.  But  there  is  the  truest 
realism,  the  impression  of  things  as  they 
are  seen,  set  forth  in  well-chosen  words 
and  well-balanced  phrases,  with  a  mea- 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


21 


sured  self-restraint  that  marks  the  true 
artist.  Mr.  Nevinson  is  to  be  congratu- 
lated on  the  excellent  work  that  he  has 
done.' — Daily  Chronic 
1  Of  the  many  able  and  fascinating  chroni- 
clers of  the  sad  and  splendid  story,  Mr. 
Nevinson  is  among  the  ablest  and  most 
fascinating.'— Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

E.  H.  Alderson.  WITH  THE 
MOUNTED  INFANTRY  AND 
THE  MASHON ALAND  FIELD 
FORCE,  1896.  By  Lieut. -Colonel 
Alderson.  With  numerous  Illus- 
trations and  Plans.  Demy  8vo. 
10s.  6d. 

Seymour  Vandeleur.  CAMPAIGN- 
ING ON  THE  UPPER  NILE 
AND  NIGER.  By  Lieut.  Seymour 
Vandeleur.  With  an  Introduction 
by  Sir  G.  Goldie,  K.C.M.G.  With 
4  Maps,  Illustrations,  and  Plans.  . 
Large  Crown  8vo.     10s.  6d. 

Lord  Fiacastle.  A  FRONTIER 
CAMPAIGN.  By  Viscount  Fin- 
castle,  V.C.,  and  Lieut.  P.  C. 
Elliott-Lockhart.  With  a  Map 
and  16  Illustrations.  Second  Edition. 
Crown  8vo.     6s. 

E.  N.  Bennett.  THE  DOWNFALL 
OF  THE  DERVISHES  :  A  Sketch 
of  the  Sudan  Campaign  of  1898.  By 
E.  N.  Bennett,  Fellow  of  Hertford 
College.  With  a  Photogravure  Por- 
trait of  Lord  Kitchener.  Third 
Edition.    Crown  8vo.     35-.  6d. 

W.  Kinnaird  Rose.  WITH  THE 
GREEKS  IN  THESSALY.  By 
W.  Kinnaird  Rose.  With  Illus- 
trations.    Crown  8vo.     6s. 

G.  W.  Steevens.    NAVAL  POLICY : 

By  G.  W.  Ste evens.    Demy8vo.    6s. 

This  book  is  a  description  of  the  British  and 

other  more  important  navies  of  the  world, 

with  a  sketch  of  the  lines  on  which  our 

naval  policy  might  possibly  be  developed. 

D.  Eannay.  A  SHORT  HISTORY 
OF   THE    ROYAL    NAVY,   From 


Early  Times  to  the  Present  Day. 

By  David   Hannay.       Illustrated. 

2    Vols.     Demy  8vo.     js.    6d.    each. 

Vol.  I.,  1200-1688. 
*  We  read  it  from  cover  to  cover  at  a  sitting, 
and  those  who  go  to  it  for  a  lively  and 
brisk  picture  of  the  past,  with  all  its  faults 
and  its  grandeur,  will  not  be  disappointed. 
The  historian  is  endowed  with  literary 
skill  and  style.' — Standard. 

C.   Cooper  King.    THE  STORY  OF 

THE  BRITISH  ARMY.  By  Colonel 

Cooper  King.     Illustrated.     Demy 

8vo.     js.  6d. 

'An  authoritative   and   accurate  story  of 

England's     military     progress.' — Daily 

Mail. 

R.  Southey.  ENGLISH  SEAMEN 
(Howard,  Clifford,  Hawkins,  Drake, 
Cavendish).  By  Robert  Southey. 
Edited,  with  an  Introduction,  by 
David  Hannay.  Second  Edition. 
Crown  8vo.  6s. 
'A  brave,  inspiriting  book.' — Black  and 
White. 

W.  Clark  Russell.     THE  LIFE  OF 

ADMIRAL      LORD      COLLING- 

WOOD.    By  W.  Clark  Russell. 

With  Illustrations  by  F.  Brangwyn. 

Third  Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

'  A  book  which  we  should  like  to  see  in  the 

hands  of  every  boy  in  the  country.' — 

St.  James's  Gazette. 

E.  L.  S.  Horsburgn.    WATERLOO :  A 

Narrative  and  Criticism.    By  E.  L.  S. 

Horsburgh,     B.  A.     With    Plans. 

Second  Edition.     Crown  8vo.     $s. 

'A    brilliant    essay — simple,     sound,     and 

thorough.' — Daily  Chronicle. 

H.     B.     George.        BATTLES     OF 
ENGLISH   HISTORY.     By  H.  B. 
George,    M.A.,    Fellow    of    New 
College,   Oxford.      With    numerous 
Plans.     Third  Edition.    Cr.  8vo.    6s. 
'  Mr.  George  has  undertaken  a  very  useful 
task — that  of  making  military  affairs  in- 
telligible and  instructive  to  non-military 
readers — and    has  executed    it   with   a 
large  measure  of  success/ — Times. 


22 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


General  Literature 


S.  Baring  Gould.    THE  BOOK  OF 
THE     WEST.      By    S.     Baring 
Gould.      With  numerous   Illustra- 
tions.    Two  volumes.    Vol.  I.  Devon. 
Vol.     II.     Cornwall.       Crown    8vo. 
6s.  each. 
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they   have   numerous  very  pretty  and 
interesting  pictures,  the  story  is  fresh 
and  bracing  as  the  air  of  Dartmoor,  and 
the  legend  weird  as  twilight  Over  Doz- 
mare  Pool,  and  they  give  us  a  very  good 
idea  of  this  enchanting  and  beautiful 
district.' — Guardian. 
1  A  narrative  full  of  picturesque  incident, 
personal  interest,  and  literary  charm.' — 
Leeds  Mercury. 
S.  Baring  Gould.    OLD  COUNTRY 
LIFE.   By  S.  Baring  Gould.  With 
Sixty-seven  Illustrations.     Large  Cr. 
8vo.     Fifth  Edition.     6s. 
' '  Old  Country  Life,"  as  healthy  wholesome 
reading,   full  of  breezy  life  and  move- 
ment, full  of  quaint  stories  vigorously 
told,  will  not  be  excelled  by  any  book  to 
be     published    throughout     the     year. 
Sound,  hearty,  and  English  to  the  core. ' 
—World. 

S.  Baring  Gould.  AN  OLD  ENGLISH 
HOME.      By   S.   Baring  Gould. 
With  numerous  Plans  and  Illustra- 
tions.    Crown  8vo.     6s. 
'The  chapters  are  delightfully  fresh,  very 
informing,  and  lightened  by  many  a  good 
story.     A  delightful  fireside  companion.' 
— St.  James's  Gazette. 

S.  Baring  Gould.  HISTORIC 
ODDITIES  AND  STRANGE 
EVENTS.  By  S.  Baring  Gould. 
Fourth  Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

S.  Baring  Gould.  FREAKS  OF 
FANATICISM.  By  S.  Baring 
Gould.   Third  Edition.  Cr.  8vo.  6s. 

S.  Baring  Gould.  A  GARLAND  OF 
COUNTRY  SONG  :  English  Folk 
Songs  with  their  Traditional  Melodies. 
Collected  and  arranged  by  S.  Baring 
Gould  and  H.  F.  Sheppard. 
Demy  4to.     6s, 


S.  Baring  Gould.  SONGS  OF  THE 
WEST:  Traditional  Ballads  and 
Songs  of  the  West  of  England,  with 
their  Melodies.  Collected  by  S. 
Baring  Gould,  M.A.,  and  H.  F. 
Sheppard,  M.A.  In  4  Parts.  Parts 
/.,  //.,  ///.,  3 s.  each.  Part  IV.,  5*. 
In  one  Vol.,  French  morocco,  15*. 
'  A  rich  collection  of  humour,  pathos,  grace, 
and  poetic  fancy.' — Saturday  Review. 

S.  Baring  Gould.  YORKSHIRE 
ODDITIES  AND  STRANGE 
EVENTS.  By  S.  Baring  Gould. 
Fourth  Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

S.  Baring  Gould.  STRANGE  SUR- 
VIVALS AND  SUPERSTITIONS. 
By  S.  Baring  Gould.  Cr.  8vo. 
Second  Edition.     6s. 

S.  Baring  Gould.  THE  DESERTS 
OF  SOUTHERN  FRANCE.  By 
S.  Baring  Gould.  2  vols.  Demy 
8vo.     32J. 

Cotton  Minchin.  OLD  HARROW 
DAYS.  By  J.  G.  Cotton  Minchin. 
Cr.  8vo.     Second  Edition.     $s. 

W.  E.  Gladstone.  THE  SPEECHES 
OF  THE  RT.  HON.  W.  E.  GLAD- 
STONE, M.P.  Edited  by  A.  W. 
Hutton,  M.A.,  and  H.J.  Cohen, 
M.A.  With  Portraits.  Demy  8vo. 
Vols.  IX.  and  X.,  12s.  6d.  each. 

J.  E.  Marr.  THE  SCIENTIFIC 
STUDY  OF  SCENERY.  By  J.  E. 
Marr,  F.R.S.,  Fellow  of  St.  John's 
College,  Cambridge.  Illustrated. 
Crown  8vo.     6s. 

An  elementary  treatise  on  geomorphology 
— the  study  of  the  earth's  outward  forms. 
It  is  for  the  use  of  students  of  physical 
geography  and  geology,  and  will  also  be 
highly  interesting  to  the  general  reader. 

'A  fascinating  book,  a  real  fairy  tale.' — 
Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

'  Mr.  Marr  is  distinctly  to  be  congratulated 
on  the  general  result  of  his  work.  He 
has  produced  a  volume,  moderate  in  size 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


and  readable  in  style,  which  will  be 
acceptable  alike  to  the  student  of  geo- 
logy and  geography,  and  to  the  tourist.' 
— A  thenceum. 
'Can  be  read  with  pleasure  alike  by  the 
expert  and  the  general  reader.' 

— Manchester  Guardian. 

M.  N.  Oxford.  A  HANDBOOK  OF 
NURSING.  By  M.  N.  Oxford,  of 
Guy's  Hospital.    Crown  Zvo.    $s.  6d. 

This  is  a  complete  guide  to  the  science  and 
art  of  nursing,  containing  copious  in- 
struction both  general  and  particular. 

'  The  most  useful  work  of  the  kind  that  we 
have  seen.  A  most  valuable  and  prac- 
tical manual.' — Manchester  Guardian. 

E.  V.  Zenker.     ANARCHISM.      By 

E.  V.  Zenker.     De?ny  Zvo.    ys.  6d. 

1  Herr  Zenker  has  succeeded  in  producing  a 

careful  and  critical  history  of  the  growth 

of  Anarchist  theory. 

A.  Silva  White.    THE  EXPANSION 
OF  EGYPT:  A  Political  and  His- 
torical Survey.    By  A.  Silva  White. 
With  four  Special  Maps.    Demy  Zvo. 
1 5 s.  net. 
'This  is  emphatically  the  best  account  of 
Egypt  as  it  is  under  English  control  that 
has  been  published  for  many  years.' — 
Spectator. 

Peter  Beckford.    THOUGHTS  ON 

HUNTING.   By  Peter  Beckford. 

Edited  by    J.    Otho    Paget,    and 

Illustrated    by    G.     H.     Jalland. 

Demy  8vo.     10s.  6d. 

'  Beckford 's  "Thoughts  on  Hunting"  has 

long  been  a  classic  with  sportsmen,  and 

the  present  edition  will  go  far  to  make  it 

a  favourite  with  lovers  of  literature.'— 

Speaker. 

E.  B.  Michell.  THE  ART  AND 
PRACTICE  OF  HAWKING.  By 
E.  B.  Michell.  With  3  Photo- 
gravures by  G.  E.  Lodge,  and  other 
Illustrations.     Demy  Zvo.      \os.  6d. 

A  complete  description  of  the  Hawks, 
Falcons,  and  Eagles  used  in  ancient  and 
modern  times,  with  directions  for  their 
training  and  treatment.  It  is  not  only 
a  historical  account,  but  a  complete 
practical  guide. 

'A  book  that  will  help  and  delight  the 
expert.' — Scotsman. 


'  Just  after  the  hearts  of  all  enthusiasts.' — 

Daily  Telegraph. 
'  No  book  is  more  full  and  authorative  than 

this  handsome  treatise.' 

— Morning-  Leader. 

H.  G.  Hutchinson.  THE  GOLFING 
PILGRIM.  By  Horace  G. 
Hutchinson.     Crown  Zvo.    6s. 

'Without  this  book  the  golfer's  library  will 
be  incomplete.' — Pali  Mall  Gazette. 

J.  Wells.    OXFORD  AND  OXFORD 
LIFE.       By   Members   of    the    Uni- 
versity.    Edited  by  J.  Wells,  M.A., 
Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Wadham  College. 
Third  Edition.     Cr.  Zvo.     3.S.  6d. 
'  We  congratulate  Mr.  Wells  on  the  pro- 
duction  of  a  readable  and   intelligent 
account  of  Oxford  as  it  is  at  the  present 
time,  written  by  persons  who  are  pos- 
sessed of  a  close  acquaintance  with  the 
system  and   life   of  the   University.' — 
A  thenceum. 

C.  G.  Robertson.    VOCES  ACADE- 
MICAL    By  C.  Grant  Robertson, 
M.A.,  Fellow  of  All  Souls',  Oxford. 
With  a  Frontispiece.  Pott  Zvo.  35.  6d. 
'  Decidedly       clever       and       amusing.' — 
A  thenceum. 

Rosemary  Cotes.      DANTE'S  GAR- 
DEN.   By  Rosemary  Cotes.   With 
a  Frontispiece.  Second  Edition.  Fcp. 
Zvo.     2s.  6d.     Leather,  3.?.  6d.  net. 
'  A  charming  collection  of  legends  of  the 
flowers  mentioned  by  Dante.' — Academy. 

Clifford  Harrison.     READING  AND 
READERS.     By  Clifford  Harri- 
son.    Fcp.  Zvo.     2.s.  6d. 
'An  extremely  sensible  little  book.' — Man- 
chester Guardian. 

L.  Whihley.  GREEK  OLIGARCH- 
IES :  THEIR  ORGANISATION 
AND  CHARACTER.  By  L. 
Whibley,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Pem- 
broke College,  Cambridge.  Crown 
Zvo.    6s. 

L.  L.  Price.  ECONOMIC  SCIENCE 
AND  PRACTICE.  By  L.  L.  Price, 
M.A.,  Fellow  of  Oriel  College,  Ox- 
ford.    Crown  Zvo.     6s. 


24 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


J.  S.  Shedlock.    THE  PIANOFORTE 
SONATA  :  Its  Origin  and  Develop- 
ment.    By  J.  S.  Shedlock.    Crown 
8vo.     $s. 
'  This  work  should  be  in  the  possession  of 
every  musician  and  amateur.    A  concise 
and  lucid  history  and  a  very  valuable 
work  for  reference.' — Athencezun. 

A.    Hulme   Beaman.     PONS  ASIN- 
ORUM;     OR,     A     GUIDE     TO 
BRIDGE.      By  A.    Hulme    Bea- 
man.    Fcap  8vo.     2s. 
A  practical    guide,   with    many    specimen 
games,  to  the  new  game  of  Bridge. 

E.  M.  Bowden.    THE  EXAMPLE  OF 
BUDDHA  :   Being  Quotations  from 


Buddhist  Literature  for  each  Day  in 
the    Year.       Compiled    by    E.    M. 
BoWDEN.       Third    Edition.     i6mo. 
2s.  6d. 
F.    Ware.       EDUCATIONAL    RE- 
FORM.   By  Fabian  Ware,  M.A. 
Crown  8vo.     2s.  6d. 
An  attempt  by  an  expert  to  forecast  the 
action  and  influence  of  the  New  Second- 
ary  Education  Act,    with    suggestions 
for  useful  developments. 
'Mr.   Ware's  book  may  be  warmly  com- 
mended  to  all  who  have  at  heart  the 
desire  for  the  intellectual  prosperity  of 
the  British  race.' — Morning  Post. 
'  Any  one  who  really  wants  to  know  how 
education  stands  to-day  should  read  it.' 
— Literature. 


Philosophy 


L.  T.  Hobhouse.    THE  THEORY  OF 
KNOWLEDGE.     By  L.  T.    Hob- 
house,   Fellow  of   C.C.C.,  Oxford. 
Demy  8vo.     21s. 
'  The     most     important     contribution     to 
English  philosophy  since  the  publication 
of    Mr.     Bradley's    "  Appearance    and 
Reality."  ' — Glasgow  Herald. 

W.  H.  Fairbrother.  THE  PHILO- 
SOPHY OF  T.  H.  GREEN.  By 
W.  H.  Fairbrother,  M.A.  Second 
Edition.     Cr.  8vo.     3s.  6d. 


In    every  way    an 
Glasgow  Herald. 


admirable    book.' — 


F.  W.  Bussell.  THE  SCHOOL  OF 
PLATO.  By  F.  W.  Bussell,  D.D. , 
Fellow  of  Brasenose  College,  Oxford. 
Demy  8vo.     10s.  6d. 

F.    S.    Granger.      THE   WORSHIP 

OF  THE  ROMANS.  By  F.  S. 
Granger,  M.A.,  Litt.D.  Crown 
8vo.     6s. 


Theolo 


W.  R.  Inge.     CHRISTIAN  MYSTI- 
CISM.     The  Bampton  Lectures  for 
1899.    By  W.  R.  Inge,  M.A.,  Fellow 
and    Tutor    of    Hertford     College, 
Oxford.     Demy  8vo.     12s.  6d.  net. 
A  complete  survey  of  the  subject  from  St. 
John    and   St.    Paul  to   modern   times, 
covering  the  Christian  Platonists,  Augus- 
tine,    the     Devotional     Mystics,     the 
Mediseval     Mystics,    and    the    Nature 
Mystics     and     Symbolists,      including 
BShme  and  Wordsworth. 
'  It  is  fully  worthy  of  the  best  traditions 
connected  with   the  Bampton  Lecture- 
ship.'— Record. 
S.  R.  Driver.    SERMONS  ON  SUB- 
JECTS     CONNECTED      WITH 
THE  OLD  TESTAMENT.     By  S. 
R.  Driver,  D.D.,  Canon  of  Christ 
Church,  Regius  Professor  of  Hebrew 


gy 

in  the  University  of  Oxford. 
6s. 


Cr.  8vo. 


'A  welcome  companion  to  the  author's 
famous  "  Iatroduction."  ' — Guardian. 

T.  K.  Cheyne.  FOUNDERS  OF  OLD 
TESTAMENT  CRITICISM.  Bv 
T.  K.  Cheyne,  D.D.,  Oriel  Pro- 
fessor at  Oxford.  Large  Crown  8vo. 
7s.  6d. 
A  historical  sketch  of  O.  T.  Criticism. 

Walter  Lock.  ST.  PAUL,  THE 
MASTER-BUILDER.  ByWALTER 
Lock,  D.D.,  Warden  of  Keble 
College.      Crown  8vo.     3^.  6d. 

'The  essence  of  the  Pauline  teaching  is 
condensed  into  little  more  than  a  hun- 
dred pages,  yet  no  point  of  importance 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


25 


is  overlooked.  We  gladly  recommend 
the  lectures  to  all  who  wish  to  read  with 
understanding.' — Guardian. 

E.     Rashdall.      DOCTRINE    AND 
DEVELOPMENT.     By  Hastings 
Rashdall,  M. A. ,  Fellow  and  Tutor 
of  New  College,  Oxford.    Cr.  8vo.    6s. 
'  A  very  interesting  attempt  to  restate  some 
of  the  principal  doctrines  of  Christianity, 
in  which  Mr.  Rashdall  appears  to  us  to 
have  achieved  a  high  measure  of  success. 
He  is  often  learned,  almost  always  sym- 
pathetic, and  always  singularly  lucid.' — 
Manchester  Guardian. 

H.  H.  Henson.  APOSTOLIC  CHRIS- 
TIANITY: As  Illustrated  by  the 
Epistles  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Corinthians. 
By  H.  H.  Henson,  M.A.,  Fellow  of 
All  Souls',  Oxford.     Cr.  8vo.     6s. 

H.  H.  Henson.  DISCIPLINE  AND 
LAW.  By  H.  Hensley  Henson, 
B.D.,  Fellow  of  All  Souls',  Oxford. 
Fcap.  8vo.     2S.  6d. 

H.  H.  Henson.  LIGHT  AND 
LEAVEN  :  Historical  and 
Social  Sermons.  By  H.  H.  Hen- 
son, M.A.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

Bennett  and  Adeney.  A  BIBLICAL 
INTRODUCTION.  By  W.  H. 
Bennett,  M.  A. ,  and  W.  F.  Adeney, 
M.A.     Crow?i  8vo.     js.  6d. 

'  It  makes  available  to  the  ordinary  reader 
the  best  scholarship  of  the  day  in  the 
field  of  Biblical  introduction.  We  know 
of  no  book  which  comes  into  competi- 
tion with  it.' — Manchester  Guardian. 

W.   H.   Bennett.       A    PRIMER    OF 

THE  BIBLE.     By  W.  H.  Bennett. 

Second  Edition.     Cr.  8vo.     2s.  6d. 

'  The  work  of  an  honest,  fearless,  and  sound 

critic,  and  an  excellent  guide  in  a  small 

compass  to  the  books  of  the  Bible.' — 

Manchester  Guardian. 

C.   F.  G.  Masterman.    TENNYSON 

AS    A    RELIGIOUS    TEACHER. 

By  C.  F.  G.  Masterman.     Croxvn 

8vo.     6s. 

'  A  thoughtful  and  penetrating  appreciation, 

full  of  interest  and  suggestion.' — World. 

William   Harrison.       CLOVELLY 

SERMONS.     By  William  Harri- 


son, M.A.,  late  Rector  of  Clovelly. 
With  a  Preface  by  '  Lucas  Malet.' 
Cr.  8vo.     3^.  6d. 
Cecilia  Robinson.     THE  MINISTRY 
OF  DEACONESSES.     By  Deacon- 
ness  Cecilia  Robinson.    With  an 
Introduction  by  the  Lord  Bishop  of 
Winchester.     Cr.  8vo.     y  &d- 
'A  learned  and  interesting  book.' — Scots- 
man. 

E.  B.  Layard.  RELIGION  IN  BOY- 
HOOD. Notes  on  the  Religious 
Training  of  Boys.  By  E.  B. 
Layard,  M.A.     i8mo.  is. 

T.  Herbert  Bindley.  THE  OECU- 
MENICAL DOCUMENTS  OF 
THE  FAITH.  Edited  with  Intro- 
ductions and  Notes  by  T.  Herbert 
Bindley,  B.D.,  Merton  College, 
Oxford.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

A  historical  account  of  the  Creeds. 
'  Mr.  Bindley  has  done  his  work  in  a  fashion 
which  calls  for  our  warmest  gratitude. 
The  introductions,  though  brief,  are 
always  direct  and  to  the  point ;  the_  notes 
are  learned  and  full,  and  serve  admirably 
to  elucidate  the  many  difficulties  of  the 
text.' — Guardian. 

H.  M.  Barron.  TEXTS  FOR  SER- 
MONS ON  VARIOUS  OCCA- 
SIONS AND  SUBJECTS.  Com- 
piled and  Arranged  by  H.  M.  Bar- 
ron, B.A.,  of  Wadham  College, 
Oxford,  with  a  Preface  by  Canon 
Scott  Holland.  Crown  8vo.  $s. 
6d. 

W.  Yorke  Fausset.  THE  DE 
CATECHIZANDIS  RUDIBUS 
OF  ST.  AUGUSTINE.  Edited, 
with  Introduction,  Notes,  etc.,  by 
W.  Yorke  Fausset,  M.A.  Cr.  8v». 
3s.  6d. 

F.  Weston.  THE  HOLY  SACRI- 
FICE. By  F.  Weston,  M.A, 
Curate  of  St.  Matthew's,  Westmin- 
ster.    Pott  8vo.     6d.  net. 

A  Kempis.  THE  IMITATION  OF 
CHRIST.  By  Thomas  a  Kempis. 
With  an  Introduction  by  Dean 
Farrar.  Illustrated  by  C.  M. 
Gere.  Second  Edition.  Fcap.  8vo. 
3J-.  6d.  Padded  morocco,  $s. 
'Amongst    all    the    innumerable    English 


26 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


editions  of  the  "Imitation,"  there  can 
have  been  few  which  were  prettier  than 
this  one,  printed  in  strong  and  handsome 
type,  with  all  the  glory  of  red  initials.'— 
Glasgow  Herald. 

J.  Keble.   THE  CHRISTIAN  YEAR. 
By  John   Keble.    With  an  Intro- 


duction  and  Notes  by  W.   Lock, 

D.D.,   Warden    of   Keble   College. 

Illustrated    by    R.    Anning    Bell. 

Second  Edition.     Fcap.  Zvo.     -$s.  6d. 

Padded  morocco.     5s. 

1  The  present  edition  is  annotated  with  all 

the  care  and  insight  to  be  expected  from 

Mr.  Lock.' — Guardian. 


<§>£forD  Commentaries 

General  Editor,  Walter  Lock,  D.D.,  Warden  of  Keble  College,  Dean 
Ireland's  Professor  of  Exegesis  in  the  University  of  Oxford. 

date  some  of  the  difficulties  presented  in 
the  Book  of  Job.' — Church  Times. 

The  work  is  marked  by  clearness,  light- 
ness of  touch,  strong  common  sense,  and 
thorough  critical  fairness. 

'  Dr.  Gibson's  work  is  worthy  of  a  high 
degree  of  appreciation.  To  the  busy 
worker  and  the  intelligent  student  the 
commentary  will  be  a  real  boon  ;  and  it 
will,  if  we  are  not  mistaken,  be  much  in 
demand.  The  Introduction  is  almost  a 
model  of  concise,  straightforward,  pre- 
fatory remarks  on  the  subject  treated.' — 
Athenceum. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOB.  Edited,  with 
Introduction  and  Notes,  by  E.  C.  S. 
Gibson,  D.D.,  Vicar  of  Leeds.  Demy 
Zvo.    6s. 

'  The  publishers  are  to  be  congratulated  on 
the  start  the  series  has  made.' — Times. 

'It  is  in  his  patient,  lucid,  interest-sus- 
taining explanations  that  Dr.  Gibson  is 
at  his  best-'— Literature. 

'  We  can  hardly  imagine  a  more  useful  book 
to  place  in  the  hands  of  an  intelligent 
layman,  or  cleric,  who  desires  to  eluci- 


fmnoboofes  of  ftbeologs 

General  Editor,  A.  Robertson,  D.D.,  Principal  of  King's  College,  London. 


THE  XXXIX.  ARTICLES  OF  THE 
CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.  Edited 
with  an  Introduction  by  E.  C.  S. 
Gibson,  D.D.,  Vicar  of  Leeds,  late 
Principal  of  Wells  Theological  Col- 
lege. Second  and  Cheaper  Edition 
in  One  Vohtme.     Demy  8vo.     12s.  6d. 

'  We  welcome  with  the  utmost  satisfaction 
a  new,  cheaper,  and  more  convenient 
edition  of  Dr.  Gibson's  book.  It  was 
greatly  wanted.  Dr.  Gibson  has  given 
theological  students  just  what  they  want, 
and  we  should  like  to  think  that  it  was 
in  the  hands  of  every  candidate  for 
orders. ' — Guardian. 

AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE 
HISTORY  OF  RELIGION.  By 
F.  B.  Jevons,  M.A.,  Litt.D.,  Prin- 
cipal of  Bishop  Hatfield's  Hall. 
Dejny  8vo.     10s.  6d. 

'  The  merit  of  this  book  lies  in  the  penetra- 
tion, the  singular  acutensss  and  forco  of 
the  author's  judgment.     He  is  at  once 


critical  and  luminous,  at  once  just  and 
suggestive.  A  comprehensive  and 
thorough  book.' — Birmingham  Post. 

THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  INCAR- 
NATION. By  R.  L.  Ottley,  M.  A. , 
late  fellow  of  Magdalen  College, 
Oxon.,  and  Principal  of  Pusey  House. 
In  Two  Volumes.     Demy  8vo.     i$s. 

1 A  clear  and  remarkably  full  account  of  the 
main  currents  of  speculation.  Scholarly 
precision  .  .  .  genuine  tolerance  .  .  . 
intense  interest  in  his  subject— are  Mr. 
Ottley's  merits.' — Guardian. 

AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE 
HISTORY  OF  THE  CREEDS.  By 
A.  E.  Burn,  B.D.,  Examining  Chap- 
lain to  the  Bishop  of  Lichfield.  Demy 
8vo.     10s.  6d. 

'  This  book  may  be  expected  to  hold  its 
place  as  an  authority  on  its  subject.  — 
Spectator. 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


27 


Gbe  Gburcbman's  Xibrarg 

General  Editor,  J.  H.  BURN,  B.D.,  Examining  Chaplain  to  the 
Bishop  of  Aberdeen. 

THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  ENGLISH 
CHRISTIANITY.  By  W.  E.  Col- 
lins, M.A.  With  Map.  Cr.  8vo. 
3s.  6d. 


'  An  excellent  example  of  thorough  and  fresh 
historical  work.' — Guardian. 

SOME  NEW  TESTAMENT  PRO- 
BLEMS. By  Arthur  Wright, 
M.A. ,  Fellow  of  Queen's  College, 
Cambridge.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 
HERE  AND  HEREAFTER.  By 
Canon  Winterbotham,  M.A., 
B.Sc,  LL.B.     Cr.  8vo.     3s.  6d. 

'A  most  able  book,  at  once  exceedingly- 
thoughtful  and  richly  suggestive.' — Glas- 
gow Herald. 

Zbc  Cbutcbman's  Mble 

General  Editor,  J.  H.  BURN,  B.D. 
Messrs.  Methuen  are  issuing  a  series  of  expositions  upon  most  of  the  books  of 
the  Bible.     The  volumes  will  be  practical  and  devotional,  and  the  text  of  the 
authorised  version  is  explained   in  sections,  which  will   correspond   as  far  as 
possible  with  the  Church  Lectionary. 


THE  WORKMANSHIP  OF  THE 
PRAYER  BOOK:  Its  Literary  and 
Liturgical  Aspects.  By  J.  Dowden, 
D.D.,  Lord  Bishop  of  Edinburgh. 
Crown  8vo.  '  3^.  6d. 
'Scholarly  and  interesting.' — Manchester 
Guardian. 

EVOLUTION.  By  F.  B.  Jevons, 
Litt.D.,  Principal  of  Hatfield  Hall, 
Durham.     Crown  Zvo.     3s.  6d. 

1 A  well-written  book,  full  of  sound  thinking 
happily  expressed.' — Manchester  Guar- 
dian. 

'A  singularly  fresh  and  stimulating  book.' 
— Speaker. 

'  We  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  this 
is  much  the  best  general  account  of  the 
philosophical  consequences  of  the  theory 
of  Evolution  that  has  yet  appeared.' 

— Guardian. 


THE  EPISTLE  OF  ST.  PAUL  TO 
THE  GALATIANS.    Explained  by 
A.    W.    Robinson,    Vicar    of    All 
Hallows,  Barking.    Fcap.  8vo.    is.  6d. 
net. 
'  The  most  attractive,  sensible,  and  instruc- 
tive manual  for  people  at  large,  which 
we  have  ever  seen.' — Church  Gazette. 

ECCLESIASTES.  Explained  by  A. 
W.  Streane,  D.D.  Fcap.  8vo. 
is.  6d.  net. 

Gbe  Xtbrars  of  2>e\>otion 

Pott  8vo,  cloth,  2.s. ;  leather,  2s.  6d.  net. 
'This  series  is  excellent.' — The  Bishop  of  London. 
'  Very  delightful.' — The  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells. 
'Well  worth  the  attention  of  the  Clergy.' — The  Bishop  of  Lichfield. 
'The  new  "  Library  of  Devotion  "  is  excellent.' — The  Bishop  of  Peterborough 
'  Charming.' — Record.  '  Delightful.' — Church  Bells. 


'  Scholarly,  suggestive,  and  particularly 
interesting. ' — Book?nan. 

THE  EPISTLE  OF  PAUL  THE 
APOSTLE  TO  THE  PHILIP- 
PIANS.  Explained  by  C.  R.  D. 
Biggs,  B.D.  Fcap.  8vo.  is.  6d. 
net. 

'  Mr.  Biggs'  work  is  very  thorough,  and  he 
has  managed  to  compress  a  good  deal  of 
information  into  a  limited  space.' 

— Guardian. 


THE  CONFESSIONS  OF  ST.  AU- 
GUSTINE. Newly  Translanted, 
with  an  Introduction  and  Notes,  by 
C.  Bigg,  D.D.,  late  Student  of  Christ 
Church,     Second  Edition. 


The  translation  is  an  excellent  piece  of 
English,  and  the  introduction  is  a  mas- 
terly exposition.  We  augur  well  of  a 
series  which  begins  so  satisfactorily.' — 
Times. 


28 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


THE  CHRISTIAN  YEAR.    By  John 

Keble.       With    Introduction    and 

Notes    by  Walter    Lock,    D.D., 

Warden  of  Keble  College,   Ireland 

Professor  at  Oxford. 

'The  volume   is   very  prettily  bound  and 

printed,  and  may  fairly  claim  to  be  an 

advance    on    any   previous  editions.' — 

Guardian. 

THE  IMITATION  OF  CHRIST.    A 
Revised  Translation,  with  an  Introduc- 
tion, by  C.  Bigg,  D.D.,  late  Student 
of  Christ  Church.     Second  Edition. 
A  practically  new  translation  of  this  book, 
which  the  reader  has,  almost  for  the  first 
time,    exactly  in  the  shape  in  which  it 
left  the  hands  of  the  author. 
'  A  nearer  approach  to  the  original  than 
has  yet  existed  in  English.' — Academy. 

A  BOOK  OF  DEVOTIONS.  By  J. 
W.  Stanbridge,  B.D.,  Rector  of 
Bainton,  Canon  of  York,  and  some- 
time Fellow  of  St.  John's  College, 
Oxford. 

'  It  is  probably  the  best  book  of  its  kind.  It 
deserves  high  commendation.' — Church 
Gazette. 


LYRA  INNOCENTIUM.  By  John 
Keble.  Edited,  with  Introduction 
and  Notes,  by  Walter  Lock,  D.D., 
Warden  of  Keble  College,  Oxford. 
Pott  8vo.  is.  ;  leather,  2s.  6d.  net. 

'  This  sweet  and  fragrant  book  has  never 
been    published    more    attractively.' — 
Academy. 
'  The  work  is  given  in  as  dainty  a  form  as 

any  it  has  yet  taken.' — Scotsman. 
'The  analysis  and  notes  are  discriminating, 
scholarly,  and  helpful. ' — ChurchReview. 
A  SERIOUS  CALL  TO  A  DEVOUT 
AND  HOLY  LIFE.    By  William 
Law.    Edited,  with  an  Introduction, 
by  C.  Bigg,  D.D.,  late  Student  of 
Christ  Church. 
This  is  a  reprint,  word  for  word  and  line  for 
line,  of  the  Editio  Prince/s. 

THE  TEMPLE.     By  George  Her- 
bert.    Edited,  with  an  Introduction 
and   Notes,   by   E.    C.   S.   Gibson, 
D.  D. ,  Vicar  of  Leeds. 
This    edition    contains    Walton's    Life    of 
Herbert,  and  the  text  is  that  of  the  first 
edition. 
'As  neat  and  desirable  an  edition  of  the 
work  as  can  be  found.' — Scotsman. 


XeaDers  ot  IRelfgion 

Edited  by  H.  C.  BEECHING,  M.  A.    With  Portraits,  Crown  Svo.    $s.  6d. 
A  series  of  short  biographies  of  the  most  prominent  leaders  of  religious 
life  and  thought  of  all  ages  and  countries. 
The  following  are  ready — 


CARDINAL  NEWMAN.     By  R.  H. 

HUTTON. 

JOHN  WESLEY.      By  J.   H.   Over- 
ton, M.A. 
BISHOP  WILBERFORCE.      By  G. 

W.  Daniell,  M.A. 
CARDINAL  MANNING.     By  A.  W. 

Hutton,  M.A. 
CHARLES   SIMEON.     By  H.  C.  G. 

Moule,  D,D. 
JOHN  KEBLE.     By  Walter  Lock, 

D.D. 
THOMAS    CHALMERS.       By    Mrs. 

Oliphant. 
LANCELOT  ANDREWES.      By  R. 

L.  Ottley,  M.A. 


AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY. 

By  E.  L.  Cutts,  D.D. 
WILLIAM      LAUD.       By     W.     H. 

Hutton,  B.D. 
JOHN  KNOX.     By  F.  MacCunn. 
JOHN  HOWE.     By  R.  F.  Horton, 

D.D. 
BISHOP  KEN.     By  F.  A.  Clarke, 

M.A. 
GEORGE    FOX,    THE    QUAKER. 

ByT.  Hodgkin,  D.C.L. 
JOHN      DONNE.        By    Augustus 

Jessopp,  D.D. 
THOMAS    CRANMER.      By.  A.   J. 

Mason. 
BISHOP  LATIMER.    By  R.  M.  CAR- 

lyle  and  A.  J.  Carlyle,  M.A. 


Other  volumes  will  be  announced  in  due  course. 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


2g 


Fiction 


SIX     SHILLING    NOVELS 

Marie  Corelli's  Novels 

Crown  Svo.     6s.  each. 


A  ROMANCE  OF  TWO  WORLDS. 
Twentieth  Edition. 

VENDETTA.      Fifteenth  Edition. 

THELMA.     Twenty. third  Edition. 

ARDATH:  THE  STORY  OF  A 
DEAD  SELF.     Twelfth  Edition. 

THE  SOUL  OF  LILITH.  Ninth 
Edition. 

WORMWOOD.     Tenth  Edition. 

BARABBAS :  A  DREAM  OF  THE 
WORLD'S  TRAGEDY.  Thirty- 
fifth  Edition. 

'  The  tender  reverence  of  the  treatment 
and  the  imaginative  beauty  of  the  writ- 
ing have  reconciled  us  to  the  daring  of 
the  conception,  and  the  conviction  is 
forced  on  us  that  c  /en  so  exalted  a  sub- 
ject cannot  be  made  too  familiar  to  us, 


provided  it  be  presented  in  the  true  spirit 
of  Christian  faith.  The  amplifications 
of  the  Scripture  narrative  are  often  con- 
ceived with  high  poetic  insight,  and  this 
"Dream  of  the  World's  Tragedy"  is 
a  lofty  and  not  inadequate  paraphrase 
of  the  supreme  climax  of  the  inspired 
narrative.' — Dublin  Review. 

THE     SORROWS      OF     SATAN. 

Forty-second  Edition. 
'  A  very  powerful  piece  of  work.  .  .  .  The 
conception  is  magnificent,  and  is  likely 
to  win  an  abiding  place  within  the 
memory  of  man.  .  .  .  The  author  has 
immense  command  of  language,  and  a 
limitless  audacity.  .  .  .  This  interesting 
and  remarkable  romance  will  live  long 
after  much  of  the  ephemeral  literature 
of  the  day  is  forgotten.  ...  A  literary 
phenomenon  .  .  .  novel,  and  even  sub- 
lime.'—W.  T.  Stead  in  the  Review 
of  Reviews. 


Anthony  Hope's  Novels 

Crown  Svo.     6s.  each. 


THE  GOD  IN  THE  CAR.  Ninth 
Edition. 
'  A  very  remarkable  book,  deserving  of 
critical  analysis  impossible  within  our 
limit ;  brilliant,  but  not  superficial  ; 
well  considered,  but  not  elaborated  ; 
constructed  with  the  proverbial  art  that 
conceals,  but  yet  allows  itself  to  be 
enjoyed  by  readers  to  whom  fine  literary 
method  is  a  keen  pleasure.'—  The  World. 

A  CHANGE  OF  AIR.   Fifth  Edition. 
'A   graceful,    vivacious    comedy,    true    to 
human    nature.      The    characters    are 
traced  with  a  masterly  hand.' — Times. 

A  MAN  OF  MARK.    Fifth  Edition. 

'Of  all   Mr.   Hope's  books,   "A   Man   of 

Mark"  is  the  one  which  best  compares 

with     "The    Prisoner    of    Zenda."' — 

National  Observer. 


THE    CHRONICLES   OF    COUNT 

ANTONIO.     Fourth  Edition. 

'  It  is  a  perfectly  enchanting  story  of  love 
and  chivalry,  and  pure  romance.  The 
Count  is  the  most  constant,  desperate, 
and  modest  and  tender  of  lovers,  a  peer- 
less gentleman,  an  intrepid  fighter,  a 
faithful  friend,  and  a  magnanimous  foe.' 
— Guardian. 

PHROSO.      Illustrated     by     H.     R. 

Millar.  Fourth  Edition. 
'  The  tale  is  thoroughly  fresh,  quick  with 
vitality,  stirring  the  blood.' — St.  James's 
Gazette. 
'From  cover  to  cover  "Phroso"  not  only 
engages  the  attention,  but  carries  the 
reader  in  little  whirls  of  delight  from 
adventure  to  adventure.'— 'A cademy. 


30 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


SIMON  DALE. 
Edition. 


Illustrated. 


Fifth 


There  is  searching  analysis  of  human 
nature,  with  a  most  ingeniously  con- 
structed plot.  Mr.  Hope  has  drawn  the 
contrasts  of  his  women  with  marvellous 
subtlety  and  delicacy.' — Times. 


THE    KING'S    MIRROR. 
Edition, 


Third 


In  elegance,  delicacy,  and  tact  it  ranks 
with  the  best  of  his  novels,  while  in  the 
wide  range  of  its  portraiture  and  the 
subtilty  of  its  analysis  it  surpasses  all  his 
earlier  ventures. ' — Spectator. 

"The  King's  Mirror"  is  a  strong  book, 
charged  with  close  analysis  and  exquisite 
irony  ;  a  book  full  of  pathos  and  moral 
fibre — in  short,  a  book  to  be  read.' — 
Daily  Chronicle. 


Gilbert  Parker's  Novels 

Crown  8vo.     6s.  each. 


PIERRE  AND  HIS  PEOPLE. 
Fifth  Edition. 

'  Stories  happily  conceived  and  finely  ex- 
ecuted. There  is  strength  and  genius  in 
Mr.  Parker's  style.' — Daily  Telegraph. 

MRS.  FALCHION.     Fourth  Edition. 

*  A  splendid  study  of  character. '— 

Athenezutn. 

THE      TRANSLATION      OF      A 
SAVAGE. 
'The  plot  is  original  and  one  difficult  to 
work  out;  but  Mr.  Parker  has  done  it 
with    great    skill    and  delicacy.' 

— Daily  Chronicle. 

THE    TRAIL    OF    THE    SWORD. 

Illustrated.  Seventh  Edition. 
'  A  rousing  and  dramatic  tale.  A  book  like 
this,  in  which  swords  flash,  great  sur- 
prises are  undertaken,  and  daring  deeds 
done,  in  which  men  and  women  live  and 
love  in  the  old  passionate  way,  is  a  joy 
inexpressible.' — Daily  Chronicle. 

AVHEN    VALMOND     CAME     TO 

PONTIAC:    The  Story  of  a   Lost 

Napoleon.     Fourth  Edition. 

'  Here  we  find  romance — real,  breathing, 

living  romance.     The  character  of  Val- 

mond  is  drawn  unerringly. ' — Pall  Mall 

Gazette. 


AN  ADVENTURER  OF  THE 
NORTH :  The  Last  Adventures  of 
'  Pretty  Pierre.'    Second  Edition. 

'  The  present  book  is  full  of  fine  and  mov- 
ing stories  of  the  great  North,  and  it 
will  add  to  Mr.  Parker's  already  high 
reputation. ' — Glasgow  Herald. 

THE  SEATS   OF   THE  MIGHTY. 

Illustrated.     Tenth  Edition. 

'  Mr.    Parker  has  produced  a  really  fine 

historical  novel.' — Athcnczum. 
'  A  great  book.'— Black  and  White. 


THE   POMP  OF   THE 
TES.     Second  Edition. 


LAVILET- 

3s.  6d. 

1  Living,  breathing  romance,  unforced 
pathos,  and  a  deeper  knowledge  of 
human  nature  than  Mr.  Parker  has  ever 
displayed  before. ' Pall  MallGazette. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  STRONG  : 
a  Romance  of  Two  Kingdoms. 
Illustrated.     Fourth  Edition. 

'  Nothing  more  vigorous  or  more  human  has 
come  from  Mr.  Gilbert  Parker  than  this 
novel.  It  has  all  the  graphic  power  of 
his  last  book,  with  truer  feeling  for  the 
romance,  both  of  human  life  and  wild 
nature. ' — Literature. 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


3i 


S.  Baring  Gould's  Novels 


Crown  Svo.     6s.  each. 

'To  say  that  a  book  is  by  the  author  of  "Mehalah"  is  to  imply  that  it  contains  a 
story  cast  on  strong  lines,  containing  dramatic  possibilities,  vivid  and  sympathetic  descrip- 
tions of  Nature,  and  a  wealth  of  ingenious  imagery.' — Speaker. 

'That  whatever  Mr.  Baring  Gould  writes  is  well  worth  reading,  is  a  conclusion  that  may 
be  very  generally  accepted.  His  views  of  life  are  fresh  and  vigorous,  his  language 
pointed  and  characteristic,  the  incidents  of  which  he  makes  use  are  striking  and  original, 
his  characters  are  life-like,  and  though  somewhat  exceptional  people,  are  drawn  and 
coloured  with  artistic  force.  Add  to  this  that  his  descriptions  ofscenes  and  scenery  are 
painted  with  the  loving  eyes  and  skilled  hands  of  a  master  of  his  art,  that  he  is  always 
fresh  and  never  dull,  and  it  is  no  wonder  that  readers  have  gained  confidence  in  his 
power  of  amusing  and  satisfying  them,  and  that  year  by  year  his  popularity  widens.' — 
Court  Circular. 


ARMINELL.     Fourth  Edition. 

URITH.     Fifth  Edition. 

IN    THE    ROAR    OF    THE    SEA. 

Seventh  Edition. 
MRS.  CURGENVEN  OF  CURGEN- 

VEN.     Fourth  Edition. 
CHEAP  JACK  ZITA.  Fourth  Edition. 
THE  QUEEN  OF   LOVE.         Fifth 

Edition. 
MARGERY  OF  QUETHER.     Third 

Edition. 
JACQUETTA.     Third  Edition. 
KITTY  ALONE.     Fifth  Edition. 


NOEMI.    Illustrated.    Fourth  Edition. 

THE  BROOM-SQUIRE.    Illustrated. 
Fourth  Edition. 

THE  PENNYCOMEQUICKS. 
Third  Edition. 

DARTMOOR  IDYLLS. 

GUAVAS    THE    TINNER.       Illus- 
trated.    Second  Edition. 

BLADYS.  Illustrated.  Second  Edition. 

DOMITIA.     Illustrated.     Second  Edi- 
tion. 
PABO  THE  PRIEST. 


Conan  Doyle.  ROUND  THE  RED 
LAMP.      By    A.    Con  an    Doyle. 

Sixth  Edition.     Crown  Svo.     6s. 
'The  book  is  far  and  away  the  best  view 
that  has  been  vouchsafed  us  behind  the 
scenes  of  the  consulting-room.  '—Illus- 
trated London  News. 

Stanley  Weyman.      UNDER   THE 
RED  ROBE.     By  Stanley  Wey- 
man,  Author  of   'A  Gentleman   of 
France.'    With  Illustrations  by  R.  C. 
Woodville.         Fifteenth   Edition. 
Crown  Svo.     6s. 
'  Every  one  who  reads  books  at  all  must 
read   this  thrilling  romance,  from   the 
first  page  of  which  to  the  last  the  breath- 
less reader  is  haled  along.     An  inspira- 
tion of  manliness  and  courage.'— Daily 
Chronicle. 

Lucas  Malet.  THE  WAGES  OF 
SIN.  By  Lucas  Malet.  Thir- 
teenth Edition.     Crown  Svo.     6s. 

Lucas  Malet.  THE  CARISSIMA. 
By  Lucas  Malet,  Author  of  '  The 


Wages  of  Sin,'  etc. 
Crown  Svo.     6s. 


Third  Edition. 


George  Gissing.    THE  TOWN  TRA- 
VELLER.    By   George  Gissing, 
Author  of  '  Demos,'  '  In  the  Year  of 
Jubilee,'  etc.    Second  Edition.      Cr. 
Svo.     6s. 
'It  is  a  bright  and  wittybook  above  all 
things.     Polly  Sparkes  is  a  splendid  bit 
of  work.  '—Pall  Mall  Gazette. 
'  The  spirit  of  Dickens  is  in  it.' — Bookman. 

George  Gissing.  THE  CROWN  OF 
LIFE.  By  George  Gissing,  Author 
of 'Demos,'  'The  Town  Traveller,' 
etc.     Crown  Svo.     6s. 

'  Mr.  Gissing  is  at  his  best.' — Academy. 

'  A  fine  novel. ' — Outlook. 

S.  R.  Crockett.     LOCH  INVAR.     By 

S.   R.  Crockett,  Author  of  'The 

Raiders,'    etc.      Illustrated.      Second 

Edition.     Crown  Svo.     6s. 

'Full  of  gallantry  and  pathos,  of  tb&  clash 


32 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


of  arms,  and  brightened  by  episodes  of 
humour  and  love.  .  .  .' — Westminster 
Gazette. 

S.  R.  Crockett.  THE  STANDARD 
BEARER.  By  S.  R.  Crockett. 
Crown  8vo.     6s. 

' A  delightful  tale.' — Speaker. 

'  Mr.  Crockett  at  his  best.' — Literature. 

Arthur     Morrison.       TALES      OF 
MEAN    STREETS.      By  Arthur 
Morrison.      Fifth   Edition.      Cr. 
8vo.     6s. 
'Told  with  consummate    art    and    extra- 
ordinary detail.     In  the  true  humanity 
of   the  book  lies  its  justification,   the 
permanence  of  its  interest,  and  its  in- 
dubitable triumph.' — Athenaum. 
'A  great  book.     The  author's  method  is 
amazingly    effective,    and    produces    a 
thrilling  sense  of  reality.      The  writer 
lays  upon  us  a  master  hand.     The  book 
is  simply  appalling  and  irresistible  in 
its  interest.  _  It  is  humorous  also  ;  with- 
out humour  it  would  not  make  the  mark 
it  is  certain  to  make.' — World. 

Arthur   Morrison.      A   CHILD    OF 
THE  JAGO.     By  Arthur  Morri- 
son.    Third  Edition.     Cr.  8vo.     6s. 
'  The  book  is  a  masterpiece.' — Pall  Mall 

Gazette. 
'  Told  with  gieat  vigour  and  powerful  sim- 
plicity.'— A  then&um. 

Arthur   Morrison.      TO    LONDON 

TOWN.     By  Arthur  Morrison, 

Author  of  '  Tales  of  Mean  Streets, ' 

etc.    Second  Edition.   Crown  8vo.  6s. 

'  We  have  idyllic  pictures,  woodland  scenes 

full  of  tenderness  and  grace.  .  .  .  This 

is  the  new  Mr.  Arthur  Morrison  gracious 

and  tender,  sympathetic  and  human.' — 

Daily  Telegraph. 

'  The  easy  swing  of  detail  proclaims  the 

master  of  his  subject  and  the  artist  in 

rendering.' — Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

M.  Sutherland.  ONE  HOUR  AND 
THE  NEXT.  By  The  Duchess 
of  Sutherland.  Third  Edition. 
Crown  8vo.     6s. 

'Passionate,  vivid,  dramatic' — Literatu; e. 
'  It  possesses  marked  qualities,  descriptive, 
and  imaginative.' — Morning  Post. 


Mrs.     Clifford.       A      FLASH      OF 
SUMMER.    By  Mrs.  W.  K.  Clif- 
ford, Author  of  'Aunt  Anne,'  etc. 
Second  Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 
'  The  story  is  a  very  beautiful  one,  exquis- 
itely told.' — Speaker. 

Emily  Lawless.  HURRISH.  By  the 
Honble.  Emily  Lawless,  Author  of 
'  Maelcho, '  etc.  Fifth  Edition.  Cr. 
8vo.     6s. 

Emily  Lawless.     MAELCHO  :  a  Six- 
teenth  Century   Romance.      By  the 
Honble.  Emily  Lawless.     Second 
Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 
'  A  really  great  book.' — Spectator. 
1  One    of   the    most    remarkable    literary 
achievements  of  this  generation.' — Man- 
chester Guardian. 

Emily  Lawless.  TRAITS  AND 
CONFIDENCES.  By  the  Honble. 
Emily  Lawless.     Crown  8vo.    6s. 

Eden   Phillpotts.      THE    HUMAN 
BOY.  By  Eden  Phillpotts,  Author 
of  'Children  of  the  Mist.'     With  a 
Frontispiece.  Fourth  Edition.  Crown 
8vo.     6s. 
'  Mr.  Phillpotts  knows  exactly  what  school- 
boys do,  and  can  lay  bare  their  inmost 
thoughts ;  likewise  he  shows  an  all-per- 
vading sense  of  humour.' — Academy. 

E.  W.  Hornung.     THE  AMATEUR 
CRACKSMAN.      By  E.  W.  Hor- 
nung.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 
'  An    audaciously  entertaining   volume.' — 
Spectator. 

Jane  Barlow.    A  CREEL  OF  IRISH 
STORIES.       By    Jane    Barlow, 
Author    of    '  Irish    Idylls. '      Second 
Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 
'Vivid  and  singularly  real.'— Scotsman. 

Jane  Barlow.  FROM  THE  EAST 
UNTO  THE  WEST.  By  Jane 
Barlow.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

Mrs.Caffyn.  ANNE  MAULEVERER. 
By  Mrs.  Caffyn  (Iota),  Author  of 
'  The  Yellow  Aster.'  Second  Edition. 
Crown  8vo.     6s. 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


33 


Benjamin  Swift.     SIREN  CITY.    By 

Benjamin  Swift,  Author  of  '  Nancy- 
Noon.'     Crown  8vo.     6s. 
'"Siren  City"  is  certainly  his  best  book, 
and  it  is  the  work  of  a  strong  man.     It 
has  sobriety,  not  only  of  manner,  but  of 
spiri  t. ' — A  cademy. 

J.    H.    .Findlater,      THE    GREEN 

GRAVES  OF  BALGOWRIE.      By 

Jane     H.      Findlater.       Fourth 

Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

'  A  powerful  and  vivid  story. ' — Standard. 

■  A  beautiful  story,  sad  and  strange  as  truth 

itself.  '•— r  Vanity  Fair. 
'  A  very  charming  and  pathetic  tale.' — Pall 

Mall  Gazette. 
'  A  singularly  original,  clever,  and  beautiful 

story. ' — Guardian. 
'  Reveals  to  us  a  new  writer  of  undoubted 

faculty  and  reserve  force.' — Spectator. 
'An  exquisite  idyll,  delicate,  affecting,  and 
beautiful. ' — Black  and  White. 

J.  H.  Findlater.  A  DAUGHTER 
OF  STRIFE.  By  Jane  Helen 
Findlater.     Crown  Svo.    6s. 

J.     H.    Findlater.      RACHEL.      By 
Jane     H.     Findlater.       Second 
Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 
'  A  not  unworthy  successor  to  "  The  Green 
Graves  of  Balgowrie."  ' — Critic. 

Mary     Findlater.       OVER     THE 

HILLS.      By   Mary   Findlater. 

Second  Edition.     Cr.  8vo.     6s. 

'  A  strong  and  wise  book  of  deep  insight  and 

unflinching  truth.' — Birmingham  Post. 

Mary     Findlater.      BETTY     MUS- 

GRAVE.      By  Mary  Findlater. 

Second  Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

'  Handled  with  dignity  and  delicacy.  .  .  . 

A  most  touching  story.' — Spectator. 

Alfred  Ollivant.    OWD  BOB,  THE 

GREY  DOG  OF  KENMUIR.    By 

Alfred  Ollivant.   Third  Edition. 

Cr.  8vo.     6s. 

•Weird,    thrilling,    strikingly    graphic.'— 

Punch. 
'  We  admire  this  book.  .  .  .  It  is  one  to  read 
with  admiration  and  to  praise  with  en- 
thusiasm.'— Bookman. 
'It  is  a  fine,  open-air,  blood-stirring  book, 
to  be  enjoyed  by  every  man  and  woman 
to  whom  a  dog  is  dear.'— Literature. 

B.  M.  Croker.  PEGGY  OF  THE 
BARTONS.      By  B.   M.   Croker, 


Author      of      'Diana     Barrington.' 
Fourth  Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 
Mrs.  Croker  excels  in  the  admirably  simple, 
easy,  and  direct  flow  of  her  narrative,  the 
briskness  of  her  dialogue,  and  the  geni- 
ality of  her  portraiture.' — Spectator. 

Mary  L.  Pendered.    AN  ENGLISH- 
MAN.     By  Mary  L.   Pendered. 
Crown  8vo.     6s. 
1  Her  book  is  most  healthy  in  tone,  and 
leaves  a  pleasant  taste  in  the  mouth.' — 
Pall  Mall  Gazette. 
'  A  very  noble  book.   1 1  is  filled  with  wisdom 

and  sympathy.' — Literary  World. 
'At  once  sound  and  diverting.' — Academy. 

Morley     Roberts.       THE     PLUN- 
DERERS.    By  Morley  Roberts, 
Author     of    '  The    Colossus,'    etc. 
Crown  8vo.     6s. 
'The    author    secures  and    maintains  the 
reader's  lively  interest  in  his  clever  ab- 
surdities. '—Pall  Mall  Gazette. 
'  The  whole  atmosphere  is  one  of  high  spirits 

and  high  comedy.' — Globe. 
'  Mr.  Roberts  writes  of  real  people  who  do 
things  and  know  things.' — Black  and 
White. 

Norma  Lorimer.  MIRRY-ANN.  By 
Norma  Lorimer,  Author  of  'Jo- 
siah's  Wife. '     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

'The  heroine  is  rare  and  striking,  but 
thorough  woman  and  altogether  lovable, 
and  the  plot  is  brisk  and  well  sustained.' 
—Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

'  It  is  a  Manx  story,  and  a  right  able  story. 
The  atmosphere  is  excellent,  the  descrip- 
tive passages  fine,  and  the  story  is  one 
which  will  repay  perusal.' — Glasgow 
Herald. 

1  A  Manx  novel  which  is  at  once  sincere, 
poetical,  and  in  the  best  sense  true.' — 
Academy. 

Helen  Shipton.   THE  STRONG  GOD 
CIRCUMSTANCE.       By    Helen 
Shipton.     Crown  8vo.    6s. 
'A  story  of  high  merit  and  many  attrac- 
tions. ' — Scots?nan. 
'  An  up-to-date  story — and  a  very  beautiful 
one  —  of    self-sacrifice.'  —  Daily     Tele- 


A  most  effective  story,  written  with  both 
insight  and  imagination.' — Leeds  Mer- 
cury. 


34 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


Violet  Hunt.     THE  HUMAN    IN- 
TEREST.      By     Violet     Hunt, 
Author  of  'A  Hard  Woman,'  etc. 
Crown  8vo.     6s. 
'  Clever  observation  and  unfailing  wit.' — 

Academy. 
'The   insight   is  keen,    the   irony  is   deli- 
cate.'— World. 

H.   G.   Wells.    THE   STOLEN   BA- 
CILLUS,  and   other    Stories.      By 
H.   G.    Wells.      Second   Edition. 
Crown  8vo.     6s. 
'  The  impressions  of  a  very  striking  imagina- 
tion.'— Saturday  Review. 

H.    G.    Wells.      THE    PLATTNER 
STORY  and  Others.     By  H.  G. 
Wells.     Second  Edition.     Cr.  8vo. 
6s. 
'  Weird  and  mysterious,  they  seem  to  hold 
the  reader  as  by  a  magic  spell.' — Scots- 
man. 

Richard  Marsh.     MARVELS  AND 
MYSTERIES.       By     Richard 
Marsh,    Author    of    'The    Beetle.' 
Crown  8vo.     6s. 
'  While  under  their  immediate  influence  the 
reader  is  conscious  of  nothing  but  thrill- 
ing excitement  and  curiosity.' — Glasgow 
Herald. 
'  Ingeniously  constructed  and  well  told.' — 

Morning  Leader. 
'Admirably  selected  and  of  the  very  best.' 
— Christian  World. 

Esme"  Stuart.     CHRISTALLA.     By 

Esme  Stuart,     Crown  8vo.    6s. 
'  The_ story  is  happily  conceived,  and  enter- 
taining throughout.' — Scotsman. 
'An  excellent  story,  pathetic,  and   full  of 

humour.' — A  thenceunt. 
'  We  wish  that  we  came  across  more  books 
like  this  clever  and   charming  story. — 
Leeds  Mercury. 

Sara  Jeannette  Duncan.  A  VOYAGE 
OF  CONSOLATION.  By  Sara 
Jeannette  Duncan,  Author  of  '  An 
American  Girl  in  London.'  Illus- 
trated. Third  Edition.  Cr.  8vo.  6s. 
'A  most  delightfully  bright  book.' — Daily 

Telegraph. 
'  The  dialogue  is  full  of  wit.  — Globe. 

Sara  Jeannette  Duncan.  THE  PATH 
OF  A  STAR.   By  Sara  Jeamnette 


Duncan,  Author  of  'A  Voyage  of 

Consolation.'     Illustrated.      Second 

Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

'  Richness  and  fullness  of  local  colouring, 

brilliancy  of  style,  smiting  phrases,  and 

the  display  of  very  pretty  humour  are 

graces  which  are  here  in  profusion.    The 

interest  never  flags. ' — Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

C.  F.  Keary.  THE  JOURNALIST. 
By  C.  F.  Keary.     Cr.  8vo.  m  6s. 

'  It  is  rare  indeed  to  find  such  poetical  sym- 
pathy with  Nature  joined  to  close  study 
of  character  and  singularly  truthful  dia- 
logue :  but  then  "  The  Journalist "  is 
altogether  a  rare  book.' — Athenceum. 

W.  E.  Norris.  MATTHEW  AUSTIN. 
By  W.  E.  Norris,  Author  of  '  Made- 
moiselle de  Mersac,'  etc.       Fourth 
Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 
'  An  intellectually  satisfactory  and  morally 
bracing  novel.' — Daily  Telegraph. 

W.E.  Norris.  HIS  GRACE.  ByW.  E. 
NORRIS.  Third  Edition.  Cr.  8vo. 
6s. 

W.  E.  Norris.  THE  DESPOTIC 
LADY  AND  OTHERS.  By  W.  E. 
Norris.     Crown  8vo.    6s. 

W.E.  Norris.  CLARISSA  FURIOSA. 

By  W.  E.  Norris.     Cr.  8vo.    6s. 
'  As  a  story  it  is  admirable,  as  a.Jeu  d esprit 
it  is  capital,  as  a   lay  sermon  studded 
with  gems  of  wit  and  wisdom  it  is  a 
model.'— The  World. 

W.  E.  Norris.    GILES  INGILBY.    By 
W.  E.  NORRIS.    Illustrated.    Second 
Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 
'  Interesting,  wholesome,   and  charmingly 
written.'— Glasgow  Herald. 

W.   E.   Norris.     AN  OCTAVE.     By 
W.    E.    NORRIS.      Second   Edition. 
Crown  8vo.     6s. 
'A    very    perfect    exposition    of   the    self- 
restraint,   the  perfect  knowledge  of  so- 
ciety and  its  ways,  the  delicate  sense  of 
humour,    which    are   the    main  charac- 
teristics    of    this    very    accomplished 
author.' — Country  Life. 

Ernest  GlanviUe.    THE  DESPATCH 

RIDER.     By  Ernest  Glanville, 

Author  of  '  The  Kloof  Bride. '    Crown 

8vo.     6s. 

A  highly  interesting   story  of  the  present 

Boer  War  by  an  author  who  knows  the 

country  well,  and  has  had  experience  of 

Boer  campaigning. 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


35 


W.  Clark  Russell.  MY  DANISH 
SWEETHEART.  By  W.  Clark 
Russell.  Illustrated.  Fourth 
Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

Robert  Barr.     IN  THE  MIDST  OF 
ALARMS.      By     Robert     Barr. 
Third  Edition.     Cr.  Svo.     6j. 
'  A  book  which  has  abundantly  satisfied  us 
byitscapital  humour.' — Daily  Chronicle. 
'Mr.  Barr  has  achieved  a  triumph.' — Pall 
Mall  Gazette. 
Robert    Barr.       THE     MUTABLE 
MANY.    By  Robert  Barr.    Second 
Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

*  Very  much  the  best  novel  that  Mr.  Barr 

has  yet  given  us.  There  is  much  insight 
in  it,  and  much  excellent  humour.' — 
Daily  Chronicle. 

Robert    Barr.     THE    COUNTESS 
TEKLA.  By  Robert  Barr.  Second 
Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 
'Of  these  mediaeval  romances,  which  are 
now  gaining   ground,    "The  Countess 
Tekla "  is  the  very  best  we  have  seen. 
The  story  is  written  in  clear  English, 
and  a  picturesque,  moving  style.'— Pall 
Mall  Gazette. 
Andrew  Balfour.    BY  STROKE  OF 
SWORD.     By  A.  Balfour.     Illus- 
trated. Fourth  Edition.  Cr.  8vo.  6s. 
A  banquet  of  good  things.' — Academy. 
'  A  recital  of  thrilling  interest,  told  with 

unflagging  vigour. ' — Globe. 
1  An  unusually  excellent  example  of  a  semi- 
historic  romance.' — World. 

Andrew  Balfour.  TO  ARMS!  By 
Andrew  Balfour.  Illustrated. 
Second  Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 

*  The  marvellous  perils  through  which  Allan 

passes  are  told  in  powerful  and  lively 
fashion.' — Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

Andrew  Balfour.  VENGEANCE  IS 
MINE.  By  Andrew  Balfour, 
Author  of  '  By  Stroke  of  Sword. ' 
Illustrated.  Crown  8vo.  6s. 
A  vigorous  piece  of  work,  well  written,  and 
abounding  in  stirring  incidents.' — Glas- 
gow Herald. 

J.  Maclaren  Cobban.    THE  KING 

OF    ANDAMAN:     A    Saviour    of 

Society.    By  J.  Maclaren  Cobban. 

Crown  8vo.     6s. 

*An  unquestionably  interesting  book.     It 

contains  one  character,  at  least,  who  has 

in  him  the  root  of  immortality.' — Pall 

Mall  Gazette. 


J.  Maclaren  Cobban.  THE  ANGEL 
OF  THE  COVENANT.  By  J. 
Maclaren  Cobban.     Cr.  8vo.    6s. 

R.  N.   Stephens.     AN  ENEMY  TO 
THE  KING.     By  R.  N.  Stephens. 
Second  Edition.     Cr.  8vo.     6s. 
'  It  is  full  of  movement,  and  the  movement 

is  always  buoyant. ' — Scotsman. 
'  A  stirring  story  with  plenty  a?  movement.' 
— Black  and  White. 

R.  N.  Stephens.      A  GENTLEMAN 
PLAYER.     By  R.   N.  Stephens, 
Author  of  'An  Enemy  to  the  King.' 
Crown  8vo.     6s. 
'  A  bright  and  spirited  romance  of  adven- 
ture,  full   of  movement  and  changing 
action. ' — Scotsman. 

R.  Hichens.   BYEWAYS.   By  Robert 
Hichens.     Author  of  'Flames,  etc' 
Second  Edition.     Cr.  8vo.     6s. 
'  The  work  is  undeniably  that  of  a  man  of 
striking  imagination.' — Daily  News. 

J.  S.  Fletcher.  THE  PATHS  OF 
THE  PRUDENT.  By  J.  S.  FLET- 
CHER.    Crown  8vo.     6s. 

J.   B.    Burton.     IN   THE   DAY   OF 

ADVERSITY.    By  J.  Bloundelle- 

Burton.  Second  Edition.  Cr.  8vo.  6s. 

'  Unusually  interesting  and  full  of  highly 

dramatic  situations. ' — Guardian. 

J.  B.  Burton.     DENOUNCED.     By 
J.    Bloundelle-Burton.      Second 
Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 
'  A  fine,  manly,  spirited  piece  of  work.'— 
World. 

J.    B.   Burton.     THE   CLASH    OF 
ARMS.     By  J.   Bloundelle-Bur- 
ton.   Second  Edition.     Cr.  8vo.    6s. 
'A  brave  story — brave  in  deed,  brave  in 
word,  brave  in  thought.' — St.  James's 
Gazette. 

J.  B.  Burton.    ACROSS  THE  SALT 
SEAS.  By  J.  Bloundelle-Burton. 
Second  Edition.     Crown  8vo.     6s. 
'  The  very  essence  of  the  true   romantic 
spirit.'— Truth. 


36 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


W.  C.  ScuUy.    THE  WHITE  HECA- 
TOMB.    By  W.  C.  Scully,  Author 
of  •  Kafir  Stories. '     Cr.  8vo.     6s. 
'  Reveals  a  marvellously  intimate  under- 
standing of  the  Kaffir  mind.' — African 
Critic. 

W.    C.    Scully.       BETWEEN    SUN 


AND  SAND.     By  W.  C.  SCULLY, 

Author  of  'The  White  Hecatomb.' 

Cr.  8vo.     6s. 

''  The  reader  passes  at  once  into  the  very 

atmosphere  of  the  African  desert :  the 

inexpressible  space  and  stillness  swallow 

him  up,  and  there  is  no  world  for  him  but 

that  immeasurable  waste.' — Athcrueum. 


OTHER  SIX-SHILLING  NOVELS 

Crown  2>vo. 


DANIEL  WHYTE.  By  A.  J.  Daw- 
son. 

THE  CAPSINA.     By  E.  F.  Benson. 

DODO :  A  DETAIL  OF  THE  DAY. 

By  E.  F.  Benson. 

THE  VINTAGE.  By  E.  F.  Benson. 
Illustrated  by  G.  P.  Jacomb-Hood. 

ROSE  A  CHARLITTE.  By  Mar- 
shall Saunders. 

WILLOWBRAKE.  By  R.  Murray 
Gilchrist. 

THINGS  THAT  HAVE  HAP- 
PENED.   By  Dorothea  Gerard. 

SIR  ROBERT'S  FORTUNE.  By 
Mrs.  Oliphant. 

THE  TWO  MARYS.  By  Mrs. 
Oliphant. 

THE  LADY'S  WALK.  By  Mrs. 
Oliphant. 

LONE  PINE:  A  ROMANCE  OF 
MEXICAN     LIFE.       By     R.     B. 

Townshend. 

WILT  THOU  HAVE  THIS 
WOMAN?  By  J.  Maclaren 
Cobban. 

A  PASSIONATE  PILGRIM.  By 
Percy  White. 

SECRETARY  TO  BAYNE,  M.P. 
By  W.  Pett  Ridge. 

ADRIAN  ROME.  By  E.  Dawson 
and  A.  Moore. 

THE  BUILDERS.  By  J.  S. 
Fletcher. 


GALLIA.  By  Menie  Muriel 
Dowie. 

THE  CROOK  OF  THE  BOUGH. 
By  Menie  Muriel  Dowie. 

A  BUSINESS  IN  GREAT  WATERS. 
By  Julian  Corbett. 

MISS  ERIN.     By  M.  E.  Francis. 

ANANIAS.  By  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Alan 
Brodrick. 

CORRAGEEN  IN  '98.  By  Mrs. 
Orpen. 

THE  PLUNDER  PIT.    By  J.  Keigh- 

LEY  SNOWDEN. 

CROSS  TRAILS.   By  Victor  Waite. 

SUCCESSORS    TO    THE    TITLE. 

By  Mrs.  Walford. 
KIRKHAM'S     FIND.       By    Mary 

Gaunt. 

DEADMAN'S.     By  Mary  Gaunt. 

CAPTAIN  JACOBUS  :  A  ROMANCE 
OF  THE  ROAD.  By  L.  Cope  Corn- 
ford. 

SONS  OF  ADVERSITY.   By  L.  Cope 

CORNFORD. 

THE  KING  OF  ALBERIA.  By 
Laura  Daintrey. 

THE  DAUGHTER  OF  ALOUETTE. 
By  Mary  A.  Owen. 

CHILDREN  OF  THIS  WORLD. 
By  Ellen  F.  Pinsent. 

AN  ELECTRIC  SPARK.  By  G. 
Manville  Fenn. 


Messrs.  Methuen's  Catalogue 


37 


UNDER  SHADOW  OF  THE 
MISSION.     By  L.  S.  McChesney. 

THE    SPECULATORS.      By    J.    F. 

Brewer. 
THE    SPIRIT    OF    STORM.       By 

Ronald  Ross. 

THE  QUEENSBERRY  CUP.  By 
Clive  P.  Wolley. 

A  HOME  IN  INVERESK.  By  T. 
L.  Paton. 

MISS  ARMSTRONG'S  AND 
OTHER  CIRCUMSTANCES.  By 
John  Davidson. 

DR.  CONGALTON'S  LEGACY.  By 
Henry  Johnston. 


*  TIME    AND    THE    WOMAN. 
Richard  Pryce. 


By 


THIS  MAN'S  DOMINION.     By  the 
Author  of  '  A  High  Little  World.' 

DIOGENES  OF  LONDON.     By  H. 
B.  Marriott  Watson. 


By    Evelyn 


THE    STONE    DRAGON.     By 

Murray  Gilchrist. 

A    VICAR'S    WIFE. 
Dickinson. 

ELSA.    By  E.  M'Queen  Gray. 

THE  SINGER  OF  MARLY.     By  I. 
Hooper. 

THE  FALL  OF  THE  SPARROW. 
By  M.  C.  Balfour. 

A  SERIOUS  COMEDY.  By  Herbert 

MORRAH. 

THE      FAITHFUL      CITY.        By 
Herbert  Morrah. 

IN  THE  GREAT  DEEP.     By  J.  A. 
Barry. 

BIJLI,   THE  DANCER.     By  James 
Blythe  Patton. 


WIFE.        By     Norma 


JOSIAH'S 

LORIMER. 

THE       PHILANTHROPIST.        By 
Lucy  Maynard. 

VAUSSORE.    By  Francis  Brune. 


THREE-AND-SIXPENNY    NOVELS 

Crown  %vo. 


DERRICK    VAUGHAN,     NOVEL- 
IST.     42nd  thousand.      By   Edna 
Lyall. 
A  SON  OF  THE  STATE.     By  W. 

Pett  Ridge. 
CEASE    FIRE!      By  J.   Maclaren 
Cobban.     Crown  8vo.    3s.  6d. 
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