Two of the articles in this Series are concerned with
the history of mysticism, a phase of human nature
that deserves careful and close study. It is the out-
break in man of a spiritual element which cannot be
ignored, cannot be wholly suppressed. It is capable
of regulation, but unregulated, it is a most mischievous
faculty.
“ The Patarines of Milan ” appeared in Frasers
Magazine in 1874. It is a curious episode in the
history of religious fanaticism, that has, I believe,
never before been worked out so completely from
the contemporary historians. When the Jews are
menaced with expulsion from Russia, and regarded
with bitter hostility in other parts of Eastern Europe,
the article on the accusations brought against them
may prove not uninstructive reading.
S. Baring Gould.
Lew Trenchard, Devon,
Sept . 2 ytk % 1890.
a Swiss passion play.
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 Winterthur, in a valley, lies
the insignificant hamlet of Wildisbuch, its meadows
overshadowed by leafy walnut trees. The hamlet is
in the parish of Trullikon. 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
Triillikon ; Susanna, Elizabeth, Magdalena married to
A
2
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 of
the pores of the skin is prevented, or the circulation
of the blood is impeded. Fever and hallucination
ensue. So is it with the spiritual life in man. If
_
A SWISS PASSION PLAY. 3
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 in-
dependence 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, w 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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
i Si i, 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
Triillikon 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 Jiiggli. 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 Kiindig,
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/’ Her
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 SWISS PASSiON PLAY.
7
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 ail 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 Daidaius, 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 medieval 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
• HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 Kriidner ; 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 Kriidner, 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 Kriidner 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 1814
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 1817, when she was conducting her
apostolic progress along the Rhine, that she and
Margar etta 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES,
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.
ii
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
Hablutzel.
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 fathers 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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
R ue gg» a nd 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 . S W/SS PASSION PLA F.
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 fathers 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
14 HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 SWISS PASSION PLA V. 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 pilgrims
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
i6
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Jaggli, 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, foaming at the mouth.
A SWISS PASSION PLA Y. 17
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 S&tan, 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
B
i8
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
devil and all his host, and the obedient cobbler
girded his loins and hastened to. Wildisbuch, 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 was aiming. The woman was no vulgar im-
postor ; 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, da
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 W/SS PASS/OX PLA Y.
>9
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, 14 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 w f ere far removed
from the thought of in any w*ay contesting the
will of the prophetess, or putting the smallest im-
30
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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,
a, I 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
<lays. The son of Napoleon ” (that poor, feeble mortal
the Duke of Reichstadt) “will appear before the world
as anti-Christ, and 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 SWISS PASSION PLAY .
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 Ktindig 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 *
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Jiiggli 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 remaind 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 SWISS PASS I OX PLAY.
*3
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 floor, 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 loscth 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 w ind-mills was
nothing to this. What blows and w ounds the devil and
the young Duke of Reichstadt obtained is unrecorded,
but w'alls and floor and furniture in the room w'ere
wrecked; indeed pitchfork and axe had broken down
one w'all 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 w as regarded as a very sanctuary of religion.
No sooner did the saint behold the faces of the
2 4
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
crowd outside than she shrieked forth, “ Behold them ?
the enemies of God ! the host of Satan, coming on S
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 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 tr/SS PASS/OX 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
ones 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
historic oddities .
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 done, 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, was 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,
“ offered resistance, excited thereto by the women
A S WISS PASSION PLA Y. 2 7
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 to 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-
strances 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 exami-
nation, 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 Illnau, John
and Conrad Moser to return to their home, and
Ursula Kundig 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 Trtillikon. 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 PLA Y.
*9
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 Jiiggli, 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.
Margarctta now solemnly announced, “ I have given
a pledge for many souls that Satan may not have them.
30
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 Vogel, 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 PLA Y.
3 *
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 and 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 Moser and Ursula
Ktindig. Then she suddenly caught the latter by the
wrist and bade her kill Elizabeth with the iron
32
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 SWISS PASS I OS PLAY .
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, 11 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, 11 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. Go, 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
c
34
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 myself 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 religiosus , 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 Ktindig
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 when and where required. He signed
it with composure, " I declare that I will cause my
3 $
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 Kiindig and the servant
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
A S WISS PASSION PLAY.
37
toTriillikon to inform the pastor that his daughter
Elizabeth had died on the Saturday at jo 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 Zurich and sentence was pronounced on the
following day. Ursula Ktindig 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 ct pnrvafcbit.
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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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. Sherr 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 Griiuel — Scenen in Wildisbuch.”
a northern 'Raphael.
Here and there in the galleries of North Germany
and Russia may be seen paintings of delicacy and
purity, delicacy of colour and purity of design, the
author of which was Gerhard von Ktigclgen. 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
Horcb 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 1 772, the wife of Franz Kiigclgcn.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 Co’ogne, 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Raphaels 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 Reval, 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 burger-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, 1819, he
A NORTHERS RAPHAEL.
4i
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.
Ktigclgcn 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 enhance
the picturesqueness of the spot At some time be-
42
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 overflowed 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-&-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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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, 1819, 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 obsesved. 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 poorcharwomen 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.
4S
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 Kligelgen — and which agreed with the
advertised description of the artists 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 clingingto him. Agensdarme
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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 Ktigelgen. 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 NORTHERN 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 magistrate 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 Ktigelgen 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 Grafif, 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 HISTORIC ODDITIES,
of Fischer. On confrontation with the latter he
repeated what he had said. Fischer fell into con-
fusion, denied all knowledge of Kaltofcn, 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 confessed
his guilt because he was afraid of ill-treatment in the
prison if he continued to assert his innocence. It
must he 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 Kiigelgen
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 Kiigelgen when he was murdered.
Kaltofen was at once re-arrested, and brought into
confrontation with Kiessling. He retained his com-
posure, and sa^d 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
Kiigelgen. 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
D
50
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
sight 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 .
5 *
also who assaulted the poor woman we arc not in-
formed. In like manner Kaltofen proceeded with
Kiigclgen. 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 went 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 Kiigclgen,
struck him on the right temple with his cudgel from
behind. Kiigclgen 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 ; Kiigclgen 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-guinca. He then stole away among
the rushes till he reached the Linkes Bad, where he
52
HISTORIC ODDITIES,
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 nights.
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
e.ooQle
54
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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, 14 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 Kligelgen, and Kaltofen had professed
to have used 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
thatKaltofen 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Ktigelgen
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 NORTHERS RAPHAEL.
57
— his name was Eisensttick — took a bold line of de-
fence. He charged the gaolor 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. Eisensttick 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. 1 8th, to give judgment on the fol-
lowing points.
1. The examination of the body of Ktigclgen 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
58
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 localties.
A NORTHERN RAPHAEL .
59
8. Kaltofen’s asservations 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 he 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 Kiigelgen’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, 1821, the Court at Leipzig issued
its judgment ; that Kaltofen, on account of two
murders committed and confessed, was to be put to
V^ooQle
6o
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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, 1820, 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 NOR THERN 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 np to the last He had
62
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 1 6 years, and in the campaigns of 1813, 1814,
and 1815, 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Ktigelgen, 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-
cution before Dresden was shocked to hear of another
murder — on this occasion by a young woman. On
August 1 2th, 1821, 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
jen. 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 Bottigcr.
His tomb may still be seen in the cemetery; on it
is inscribed : —
Franz Gerhard von Kugelgen.
Bom, 6 Feb, 1772.
Died 27 March, 1820.
On the other side is the text, S. John, xiv. 27.
E
66
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
Kiigelgen left behind him two sons and a daughter.
The eldest son, Wilhelm, pursued his fathers 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.
Ktigelgen’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.
Zbc po(sonct) 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 XVIII., his wife, the Duke and
Duchess of Angoul&me, 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 Foyal Family. The Courier of August
21st, 1804, says: “Some of the daily papers, which
were not over anxious to discredit the conspiracy iin-
67
68
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 the XVI I I/s
1 Drake was envoy of the British Government at Munich; he
and Spencer Smith, Charg 6 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 Strassburg
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 F rench police.
2 Unfortunately the British Museum file is imperfect, and does
not contain the Number for August 20th.
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-
70
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 ? Fouch6 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 this
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.
7 l
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 tfcat 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 emigrd 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 \yent 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 louisd’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, he 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 40olouisd , 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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.
Le$vre, and the Warsaw physican, Dr. Gagatkiewicz,
together with the Apothecary Guidel and a certain
Dr. Bergonzoni. The seals were broken in their
presence, and the three roots were examined. It was
ascertained that they were stuffed with a mixture of
white, yellow, and red arsensic. This having been
ascertained, and a statement of the fact duly drawn
up and signed, the president of the police, Herr von
Tilly, was communicated with. He, however, de-
clined to interfere, as had the President von Hoym.
“Thus,” says M. Beauchamp, “one court shuffled the
matter off on another, backwards and forwards, so as
not to have to decide on the matter — a specimen of
the results of the system adopted at this time by the
Prussian Cabinet.”
No other means of investigation remained but for
THE POISONED PARSNIPS. 7$
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 Frottd, of Piqhegru, of
Captain Wright, of the Duke d’Enghien, of Toussaint
POuverture ; 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
Legitimist party clustered about the fallen mon-
arch.
Louis XVIII., obliged to fly from one land to
another before the forces of Napoleon, was staying
for awhile at Warsaw, in the year 1804, under the
incognito of the Count de ITsle. 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’Avr^ 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. n
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 Ruffo. 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’Avte 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 cate 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 Chargd d’Affaires at Warsaw was
Galon Boyer ; he does not appear in the documents
relative to the Affaire Coulon , 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Cafd 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
€xact 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 Tlsle, 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-
8o
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 prochs
verbal drawn up by the courtiers of Louis XVIII., to
Berlin, and asked for further instruction*.
According to this proczs 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 louis 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 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 the
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
F
82
HISTORIC ODDITIES
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 procbs 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 l'lsle he would obtain for himself
a sum of money, with which to escape out of his
difficulties. He had reckoned on making ioo 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 clienteile, and he was concerned
because he owed money for the cate 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
8 4
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 io 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 manqud”
But it is impossible to believe that the emigrd 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 1 imprisonment. The judgment
of the court was that he had acted in concert with
certain members of the retinue of the Count de ITsle,
but it refrained from naming them.
ZY ) e fl&ur&er of jfatber Thomas In
Damascus.
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 FA THER 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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
was that of a Jewish barber, Negrin. He gave a con-
fused and contradictory account of himself, but abso-
lutely 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 FA THER THOMAS. 89
torture, Mohammed-el-Telli was at his side urging
him to make a clean breast. Unable to endure his
sufferings longer, the barber 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 cornet of the room lay or
leaned against the wall the 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Arari’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-Fallat, 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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.
5 th. 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 OF FA THER 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 ioth 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 follow him thither, saying, ‘ Here, I
bring you what you desired? He took the bottle and
94
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
put it behind a book-case. Then I went home. I
have forgotten to say that, when I left Aran'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. 1 knew nothing about the servant of Father
Thomas. The Wednesday following, I met David,
Isaac, and Joseph Arari, near the shop of Bahai.
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 wha
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 {lay 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 beea
bound and put to death by seven Jews, namely, by
the four already mentioned, young Picciotto, f 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 HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 murder. 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 FA THER THOMAS. 9 7
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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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
0.ooQle
THE MURDER OF FA THER THOMAS.
99
Farhi and their child were imprisoned, and the child
bastinadoed before its mother's eyes. At the three
hundredth blow the mother's heart gave way, and she
betrayed 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 be 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
withdrew their confessions. Again were they* beaten
and tormented. Thenceforth they remained stedfast.
Two of the seven, David Arari, aged eighty, and
Joseph Laniado, not much younger, died of their
sufferings. Laniado had protested that he could bring
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 Ali, 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 FA THER THOMAS . ioi
was offered to the rabble to indulge in false witness
against rich Jews, whose wealth was coveted !
Mohamed Ali’s government desired nothing
better than 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Fieritz 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 FA THER 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 Egyptiaq
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-
0.ooQLe
io6 HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 incriminated
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.
tjOOQle
Some accusations against 3ews
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 : —
I. 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 ‘lefty should they be supposed to require
107
io8
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 caught 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 1144; 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 Jews 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. 1 ., 3,
gives four reasons. Thomas Cantipratensis, Lib. II., c. 29,
gives another and preposterous one, not to be quoted even in
Latin.
SOME ACCUSA TIOXS AGAINST JEWS , . 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 Matthew 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 Talcs.
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
no
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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-
ously.”
The story of S. 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 S. Johanettus of Siegburg.
S. Andrew of Heiligenwasser, near Innsbriick, is
another case, in 1462; S. Ludwig of Ravensburg, in
1429, again another. Six boys were said to have
been murdered by Jews at Ratisbon, 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 Woznik 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 ACCUSATIONS AGAINST JEWS.
hi
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 12
HISTORIC ODDITIES ,
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 ACCUSA TIOXS AGAINST JE ITS. 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
,x 4
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 sajce 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.” 1
In 1290, a Jew named Jonathan was accused in
Paris of having thrown a Host into the Seine. It
floated. Theq^he stabbed it with his knife, and
blood flowed. The Jew was burnt alive, and the
1 Fleury, Hist. Eccl., vi. p. no.
SOME ACCUSA TIONS AGAINST 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 1351, 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 1 6
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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
stories 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
Morelli, 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 CCUS A TIONS A GAINS T JE IVS. 1 17
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
lxx, quae defamata fuerant de sacramentis punic& et
furtivfe 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
n8
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
obtained the Hosts.” “ Punice” is an odd word, but its
signification is clear enough. Now, in 1581, 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
1351, 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 entiy in the register of accounts was
published by the Pfere Ydens, after a notary had been
required to collate the text. This notary — his name
SOME ACCUSA TIONS A GAINS T JE WS. 119
was Van Asbroek — gave his testimony that he had
made an exact and literal transcript of the entry.
What he and the P&re Ydens gave as their exact, literal
transcript was “recepta de bonis dictorum Judoeorum
. . . 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 punicl , “ guiltily/’
into punctOy 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.
Le Jubite d’un faux Miracle (extrait de la Revue de
Belgique), Bruxelles, 1870.
Gbe Coburg Mausoleum,
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, 1816. 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-
120
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,
1831. 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
1806 as Duke of Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld, and in
1826 became Duke of Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha. The
second son, Ferdinand, married in 1816 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
1818, and was the mother of our Queen, Victoria.
The third married Duke Alexander of Wurtemberg.
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 fathers 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 COBURG MAUSOLEUM.
123
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
124
HISTORIC ODDITIES . ‘
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 COB URG MAUSOLEUM.
>25
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 w'hat 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 w f ould 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
chamber. With great difficulty he succeeded at length
in breaking one of the hinges, and he was then able to
snap the low’er 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 ruffian at
THE COBURG MAUSOLEUM.
i*7
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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 a^mon.
JEAN Aymon was born in Dauphind, in 1661, of
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
i
130
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
chaplain, and had him ordained, by brief of Inno-
cent XI., 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, w*as 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 XI. 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
Bibliothfeque 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
— nay ! he had discovered it to be a hot-bcd 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 of
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. dc 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 Amalekitcs 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
T 34
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 Aymons 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 Etrang&res, 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 Biblioth&que
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
136
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 YA/ON. 137
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, Dc
Voys brought an action against Aymon for the
recovery of the “Council of Jerusalem” and the
44 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
138 HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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
eared 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 Bibliothfeque 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.
>39
0
'* 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 Biblioth^que 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 dc Nantcuil ; but he
defied any one to sec 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 Benedictine
140 HISTORIC ODDITIES,
monastery. “ It is true/' he said, “ that in the
Monastery of S. Germain-des-Prds 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 Foucqu&re ; 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 YAfON.
* 4 *
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 4 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-
o.ooQLe
142
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 YA/ON .
MS
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-
th&que du Roi. It still bears traces of the mutilations
and additions of Aymon.
In 1710, 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 Abbd de
Targny, who made vain attempts to recover the lost
treasures. The Abbd 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
144 HISTORIC ODDITIES.
to inquire whether any of the MSS. had been bought
there.
The Baron von Stocks wrote to say that he had
purchased some leaves of 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 Abbd
Bignon, Mr. Bentley entreated him not to mention
the source of his information. M. de Boz6 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 Fleury, 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 1718 he in-
habited the Chateau of Riswyck. Thence he sent to
the brothers Wetstein, publishers at Amsterdam, the
JEAN A YAfON.
X 4S
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 Pr&onisd et Ministre Secret
de Pie IV. et de ses creatures.” The date of his death
is not known.
Authority: Haur^au, J. Singularity Historiques et Litdraires.
Paris, 1881.
K
Zbe lpatadnes of fIMlan.
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 vitarn.*
“Et ipsi, ut ccrnitur, sicut laici, palam uxores ducunt P—Andr.
Strum, “ Vit . Arialdi .” “ Quis clericorum non esset uxoratus
vel concubinarius ? — Andr . Strum. “ Vit. S. Joan. Gualberti .”
2 “ Coeperunt ipsi presbyteri et diacones laicorum more uxores
ducere suscepsosque filios haeredes relinquere. Nonnulli etiam
episcoporum verecundift omni contempt^, cum uxoribus domo
simul in una habitare Victor Papa “ in Dialog
146
THE PA T ARISES OF MILAN.
x 47
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 contentu$. ,, — ist Cone, of Toledo, can. 17.
“ Hae quippe, licet nec uxoribus, nec Reginarum decore et
privileges 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 devinctae.”— Acta SS.,
Jun. T. L. p. 178.
2 It is the same with St. Gregory, Nyssen, Baronius, Alban,
Butler, and other modem 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.
248
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 ;
quae donavit dotem suam monasterii S. Dionysii, quae usque
hodie Uxoria dicitur .” — Calvattcus Fiamma , sub arm. 1040.
2 “ Nec vos terreat,” writes St. Peter Damianl to the wives of
the clergy “quod forte, non dicam fidei, sed perfidiae vos
annulus subarrhavit ; quod rata et monimenta dotalia notarius
quasi matrimonii jure conscripserit : quod juramentum ad
confirmandam quodammodo conjugii copulam utrinqueprocessit
Ignorantes quia pro uniuscujusque fugaci voluptate concubitus
mile annorum negotiantur incendium. >
THE PA TARINES 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 the Patarines 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.
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
150
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 PATARINES OF MILAN . 1 5 «
ciplcs. 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 1031 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.
x 52
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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.
1170, 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.
v^ooQle
THE PATARINES OF MILAN .
*53
the populace was at once set on fire 1 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 -
lus, “ Vit. Arialdi .”
2 Arnulf., Gesta Archiepisc. Mediol. ap. Pertz, x. p. 17.
THE PATARINES OF Ml LAW
*55
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, and 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 . Strutn.
THE PATAR1NES OF MILAN.
15 7
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 ? 99 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 stercora) !
Confiscate their goods, and every one of you take
what he likes ! 991 We can imagine the results of such
1 Amulf., Gesta Ep . Mediol. ap. Pertz, x. p. 18. It is neces-
sary not to confound Landulf Cotta, the demagogue, with Lan-
*53
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 ! 99 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 the churches,
dulf the elder, the historian, and Landulf the younger, the dis-
ciple and biographer of Ariald.
ji
THE PA TARINES OF MILAN.
*59
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
II.,and says that the Pope adopted a middle course, and
1 Ap. Pertz, l.c., pp. 19, 20.
160 HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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, Amulf,
and Landulf the elder.
THE PA TAP/AES 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
L
1 62
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Simon iacs 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 PATAR/XES 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, Vercclli, 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 subintrodtuta 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, Adclmann 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 Patarincs. 3
1 Peru, x. p. 21.
* u Nulla miscricordia 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 Patan s thus showing that it was
really made up of the Manichcan heretics.
164
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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
1 Opp. t. iii. ; Opusc . xiii. p. 188.
THE. PA TARINES 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 advantage of the unguarded simplicity
of the old man to extract the desired secret from him . 1
rt 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,
44 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 coeperunt,”
&c 44 ille utpote simplicissimus homo coepit jurejurando
dicere,” &c. — Andrew of Genoa y c. 62.
2 44 Alacres et avidi rem scisitari.”
i66
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
“ 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 simon iac, 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 . 8
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 patemis rebus solummodo non
studebat ? Qui potius inveniretur, proh dolor ! qui non esset
uxoratus vel concubinarius ? De simonili quid dicam ? Omnes
pene ecclesiasticos ordines haec mortifera bellua devoraverat,
ut, qui ejus morsum evaserit, rarus inveniretur.” — Andr. Sttum .
8 “ Exemplo vero ipsius et admonitionibus delicati clerici,
spretis connubiis,coeperunt simul in ecclesiis stare, et communem
ducere vitam.” — Atto Piston, 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Damian i, 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 PA TARINES 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 ahigh 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,
4< 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 no. viri fratres, civitatem hanc incendamus atque cum
parvulis et uxoribus nostris, quocumque Christus ieri , secu
170 HISTORIC ODDITIES.
The secular clergy were in dismay ; denounced, de-
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 priests 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
eamus. 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 t
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
172
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Badagio, 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 \
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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 PATARINES 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 “ Haec ut nobilis Herembaldus ceterique Fideles audiere,
176
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Deuvi.
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 vilissimae pecudes.”
— Amir. Strum .
THE PATARINES OP 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 nevpr obeyed the
Roman Church. Shall we be crushed ? Take away
out of the land of the living these disturbers of the
public peace, who 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
M
i 7 8
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 gossip
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.
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
x 8o
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. Xh e 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 PA TAR/NES 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 Castiglione, and almost routed the
1 “ Gloriosus hac vice delusus,” says Amulf.
182
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 tfye 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 PAT ARISES 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 lay under the apostolic
ban. From Capua, on September 27, he wrot^ to
Herlcmbald, 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
Bemried, 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 critntn
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
184
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 sacraments, 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, greater, 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
commisceantur aut consentiant aut negligant. his praecipimus
vos nullo modo obedire, vel illorum praeceptis consentire, sicut
ipsi apostolicae sedis praeceptis non obediunt neque auctoritati
sanctorum patrum consentiunt.” “Quapropter ad omnes de
quorum fide et devotione confidimus nunc convertimur, rogantes
vos et apostolic^ 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 PA TAPINES 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. Hertembald, 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.
i86
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Herlcm-
bald has been canonised by Papal bull.
THE PA T A RISES OF MILAS .
187
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 Patarincs. 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. Mcdiolan . 1095-1137.
i88
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 was 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 PA TARINES OF MILAN .
189
gift of tongue, and gift of homage.” And he gave his
wolf-skin cloak and some bottles 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 archiepiscopal 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 sang 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.”
190
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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, 11 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 withcraft.”
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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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.
mi). During his absence both parties united to re-
ject him, and they elected Jordano of Cliva in his
room (Jan. 1, A.D. 1112). 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 1116; 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, 1113. 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
N
194
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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
3be Hnabaptlst of flDunster.
To the year 1524 Munster, 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 Munster.
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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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. 1 15.
THE ANABAPTIST OF MUNSTER . 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, whilst 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
actcrs,” 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 Grcetcn, 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 Kersscnbroeck, p. 116.
* Ibid. p. 117.
3 IH /. p. 1 2a
198
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 Ibid. p. 126.
THE ANABAPTIST OF MUNSTER. 199
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 Mtinster,
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.
200
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Mtinster, 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 ANABAPTIST OP MUNSTER.
201
ance, using these prophetic words, “ I consent, but I
fear that this man will turn everything in Miinster
and the whole diocese upside down.” Knipperdolling
left prison, after having taken an oath to keep the
peace ; but on his return to Munster 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 Munster 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. Maurices Church at
Miinster, where his exquisite voice had attracted
notice. He was educated in the choir school, then
went to Mainz, where in 1524 he took his Masters
degree, and returning to Munster, 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.
2 Ibid. 148 ; Latin edition, p. 1517 — 9 ; Dorpius, f. 391 a.
202
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
Wittenberg, where he attached himself to Melancthon.
On his return to Munster, 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 ANABAPTIST OF MUNSTER. 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 Munster, 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
nouncing that shortly his doctrine would be published
in a pamphlet, and thus be popularised.
On the 23rd of January, 1 532, Rottmanns profession
of faith appeared, addressed in the form of a letter to
the clergy of Munster. 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
Host 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 Ibid. p. 165 et seq Latin edition, Mencken, p. 1520 — 8 ;
Sleidan, French tr., p. 406.
X
THE ANABAPTIST OF MUNSTER .
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. Lamberts Church. ‘‘Thence-
forth,” says the Munster 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 OsnabrUck, 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 Mtinster, 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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
Munster 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 ANABAPTIST OP MUNSTER.
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. 1 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
1531 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. Osnabriick.” Osnab. 1826, pt. iii.
p. 25.
208
HISTORIC ODDITIES,
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 Munster 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 1 544.
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 MUNSTER. 209
The inferior clergy of Munster 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 senate 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 ; u 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.
O
210
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 MUNSTER.
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 evangelical 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 I2th 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 Munster. 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. * PP* 210, 21 *•
212
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 Mtinster 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 inta
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. 227.
Digiti: . /
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER. 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 Cathedral
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 Munster 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.
214
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Munster, 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, 1 532, he convoked the nobles
of the principality at Wollbeck, gave them an account
of the condition of Munster, 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.
Digitizec
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 . Munster 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 Munster, 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 Munster 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.
C^ooQle
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
*i 6
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 ct seq . 2 Ibid. p. 283 et seq .
3 Ibid. pp. 284, 285.
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER. 21 7
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 Lttne-
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.
2l8
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Mtinster 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 c^use of all the evil.” At the same time
they had forbidden the Catholic clergy to preach or
to make use of the press in Miinster. 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 Ibia. pp. 335-7.
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER . 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 2 1st December, 1532, Francis of Waldeck
assembled the diet of the principality, and asked its
advice as to the advisability of proclaiming war
against Munster, 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 ct seq.
220
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Munster 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 Munster, praising their love of the
Gospel, and urging them to beware of being dr^wn
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 Ibid. 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 of
the chambers at Wollbeck on the 20th December.
But Munster 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 Kerssenbrceck, p. 351. . -Ibid. p. 351. 3 Ibid. p. 353.
222
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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
Mlinster.
Francis of Waldeck then quitted his diocese of
Minden, and betook himself to Telgte , 1 a little town
about four miles from Munster, 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 Munster 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 Munster. 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
1 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
Munster. 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 HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 Munster 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
Munster 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 Munster. It was already late at
night, so, having given the order, the members of the
diet retired to their beds. The hocse soldiers beat the
country, found all quiet, withdrew some planks from
a bridge over the Werse, between Telgte and Munster,
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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
once to Munster 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 Munster 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 Munster, 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 Munster in anything touching religion.
“ The people of Munster shall keep the pure Word of
God,” said the article ; “ it shall be preached to them,
1 Kerssenbroeck, p. 368. - Ibid. p. 392 et seq .
THE AXABAPT1STS OF MUXS TEE.
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
Providetue 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 sociality 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.
Articc III. interdicted mutual recriminations.
Article IV., in strange contradiction with Article I.,
declared that the town of Munster 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 VII I th Article the senate promised
e.ooQle
228
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Munster, the members
of chapter, the representatives of the nobles of the
principality, and the burgomasters and senators of
Munster, 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-
e.ooQle
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 y 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 Munster, 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 Munster.
“ 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 Munster 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 scq. 2 Ibid. p. 402.
3 Ibid. p. 403. 4 Ibid. p. 404.
230
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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
Sections 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 Munster 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 MUNSTER . 231
far from the other cities agreeing to support Munster,
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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Kibbenbrocck
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 Luthers
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. 2 Ibid, p. 416.
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER. 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 Munster, 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 Munster
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 Munster.
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 Munster
1 Ibid. 41 7 .
234
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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,
* 533 -
The time had now arrived when the Lutheran party,
which had so tyrannically treated the Catholics in the
city of Munster, 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 Strapedius, 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.
v^ooQle
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER. 235
church of the city, in spite of the opposition of the
authorities . 1
The Lutheran senate of Munster, 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 10th 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 MUNSTER. 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, 1533. 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 Ibid pp. 437-9 2 Ibid. p. 441.
238
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 of
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 Munster. 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 1 5th October, the senate wrote to the bishop,
and informed him that they would not permit the
prior Mumpert to preach in the cathedral. 8 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.
240
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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
e.ooQle
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 Munster
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 Strapcdius
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 SC Q*
Q
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
242
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 Munster, 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 ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER. 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 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 et 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 ali 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.
u The Preachers : Do you believe that Christ received His flesh
off the flesh of Mary, by the operation of the Holy Ghost ? John
of Leyden : 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. 41 1.
246
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
who had nothing of their own, in a body joined the
society which proclaimed community of goods.
The bishop again wrote to t:he 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 ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER. 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 1 st 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,
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
348
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 Schroeder. This man, having
preached again on the 1 5th 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
Schroeder, 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. “Schroeder/’
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 Schroeder on the morrow.
1 Ibid. 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
Schroeder swear, before they knocked off his chains,
that he would not attempt to revenge on them his
captivity. 1
On the 2 1 st 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 ; “ 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 ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER. 251
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 ! 99 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.
v^ooQle
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
252
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 nth 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 Munster, 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.
254 HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 “ 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 Munster in 1533, as we have
already seen, and thence passed to Osnabriick, 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 Munster, 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, Strapedius, 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 scq.
256
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 OP 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 Munster. 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.
R
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
258
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.
a6o
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 Munster. 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 Ibid. p. 484.
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER. 261
Munster 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.
263
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
peril. Francis of Waldeck at once replied by letter,
promising to march with the utmost rapidity to
Munster, 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
ofangelscomingtoexterminatetheworshippersof Baal.
1 Kerssenbroeck, p. 405 et seq. Monfort, “Tumult. Anabap.,”
p. 15 et seq . ; Bullinger, lib. ii. c. 8.
THE ANABAPTISTS OP 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 Munster. The prince-bishop was near the
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
264
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 , 1 ” 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. 41 1.
2 Kerssenbroeck, p. 495 et scq.
THE ANABAPTISTS OP 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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, Osnabruck, 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 Ibid. Dorpius, ff. 394-5.
2 Kerssenbroeck, p. 502 ; Mencken, p. 1545.
v,ooQle
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER.
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.
268
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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. 26?.
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 ia
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 Munster 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,
1270 HISTORIC ODDITIES .
ance of their office, because they had been elected
u 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 rctables, 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 Munster, 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 crowbars, 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 Munster,
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. 41 1 ; Dorpius, f. 395.
272
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 seq. Sleidan, lib. x. pp. 412-3 ;
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. 2 Ibid \ p, 517 ; Sleidan, p. 412.
S
274
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 them
passed the prophets, staff in 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
Isracl. ,,
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 ; thfe 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Munster. 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, 11 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 / 1 Rottmann, not very
particular, administered the rite, and the stout lady
remained in Munster.
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.
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
278
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 Munster 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 Miinster. 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 MUNSTER . 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 Munster 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-
C^ooQle
28o
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 seq.; Hast, p. 344.
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER. 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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.
3 Monfortius, p. 19.
THE ANABAPTISTS OP 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 were 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 OP MUNSTER . 285
Zuyder Zee, landed at Zwoll, and marched towards
Munster, 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 Munster, 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. 8
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 Munster, shouting and praying, and
1 Kerssenbroeck, p. 541, 542 ; Bullinger, ii. c. 10.
2 Ibid. p. 542. 3 Ibid^ 542 ; Hast, p. 348.
286
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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, 4 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 wbrds cast me into
1 Kerssenbroeck, 542 ; Sleidan, p. 41 3 ; Bullinger, lib. ii.
c. 9 ; Heresbach, p. 138 ; Buissierre, p. 310.
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER. 23 7
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 Munster. That of Ueberwasser
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 ; Monfort, p. 24.
2 Bullinger, ii. c. 8 ; Sleidan, p. 271 ; Dorpius, f. 396.
288
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 Munster 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 ct seq .
Dii i by
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER.
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
290
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
* 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 r ; 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; Mon fortius, pp. 26, 27;
Hast, p, 352 et seq .
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER . 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 Munster, 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 XXXIII. required that in the event of a
decease, all the goods and chattels of the defunct
392
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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. 11, 12.
v^ooQle
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 way, 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 Mtinsterians 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 HISTORIC ODDITIES .
with energy, erected several additional bastions, and
continued their sorties.
On the 30ih 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 MONSTER.
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 Munster, 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 16th 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 Munster, 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 .
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
296
replied with the utmost composure, that she was a
native of Holland, and that she had lived in Munster
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 drossar 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 Munster.
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
Munster.
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
Munster 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.- He mentioned
to others what he had observed. The scandal would
1 Kerssenbroeck, p. 36.
2 Ibid \ p. 38 ; H. Montfort. p. 28.
298
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 Munster, 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 MUNSTER.
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 Mollenhccke 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 seq ; 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.
v^ooQle
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
300
“ The partisans of the emancipation of the flesh
having thus obtained the mastery in Munster,” 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 CEchinckfeld, 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 Munster
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 Spiritus mens concupiscit carnem tuam
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 mar-
riage consisted 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
1 Kerssenbroeck, p. 43 et stq .
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 \Viderteuflfer, ,, f. 328 b ; Dorpius, f. 397.
302
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 tailors 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 down 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 MUNSTER . 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. Pauls 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.
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
3<H
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
rhe 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 MUNSTER.
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 zeichen vur
sein Exempt” (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 Buren. 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
306
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
she was the oldest The rest were all under twenty,
and were the most beautiful girls of Munster. 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. Miinsterischen
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 et
seq.; Sleidan, p. 415 ; “Historia von de Miinsterischen Wider-
teuffer,” f. 328 b.
3°8
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 Di vara rode 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 OP MUNSTER. 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,
“ Munster, 1534.”
Whilst the city of Munster 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 Montfort, pp. 27, 28.
310 HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 I 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 Munster.
1 Kerssenbroeck, p. 21.
THE ANABAPTISTS OP MUNSTER. 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.
312
HISTORIC ODDITIES,
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 ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER. 313
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.
Accor^ftngly, 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 was
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 Trfeves, 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
despotism. He frequently pronounced sentences of
death. Thus Elizabeth Holschers was decapitated
for having refused her husband what he demanded of
her ; Catherine of OsnabrtLck underwent the same
sentence for having told one of the preaches 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 Johns 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 Munster, 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 MUNSTER. 315
and crying in every street, “ Repent I 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, a 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 MUNSTER . 317
Johannes Leydanus.
Potentia Dei, robur meum.” 1
Another event took place at Munster, 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 13th 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.
3 i8 historic oddities.
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 Lords 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,
u 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 ;
Heresbacb, 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, 0
ibid. p. 390.
320
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
“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, 8 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.y 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.
tjOOQle
THE ANABAPTISTS OP MUNSTER. 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 Munster. 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 etseq.y Heresbach, pp. 89, 101, 14 1 ;
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.;
Menck. p. 1574; Montfort., p. 36 ct seq.; Sleidan, p. 418;
Bullinger, lib. ii. c. 10 ; Heresbach, p. 149.
x
322
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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
rebaptisrn 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
v,ooQle
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 Osnabriick. 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 Munster,” 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.
tjOOQle
324
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 Munster.
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 ct seq .
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
Munster 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 seqr, Montfort., pp. 40-1; Hast,
p. 368.
326
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 Munster,
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 Munster, 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 Munster
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 Munster. 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
The monthly subsidy of 15,000 florins was also
promised to be contributed till the fall of Munster.
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 Munster 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 Munster.
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 ail
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 Munster, 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 ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER. 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 ; Kcrssenbroeck, p. 104 ct scq . ; Hast,
p. 368.
330
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
order and demand of all those who belong to our
kingdom to confide in him as in ourselves. Given at
Munster, 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 ; 1 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 Munster 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 HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 fofbidden.
1 3. 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.
1 8. 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, 1535.” 1
1 Kerssenbroeck, p. 132 et seq.
C^ooQle
334
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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. 42 1 .
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER .
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.
33 $
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
issued an answer to the doctrine of the Anabaptists of
Munster, 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; "Von der Teuffelischen Secte cL Widerteuffer. zu
Munster.”
2 Ibid. f. 36*’. 3 Ibid. f. 369.
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER. 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 Mcnius, 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 common people do not mend their morals by
our preaching.” 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, Abusus non tollit sub -
stantiam , a maxim completely ignored by the Re-
formers when they attacked the Catholics . 3 Thus
1 Ibid. f. 373. - Ibid. ii. flf. 298-325.
a Ibid. ii. ff. 334-363. Melancthon says that things had come
to such a pass in Munster, that no child knew who was its
father, brother, or sister.
338
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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.” Scci f. 366 a.
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER. 339
same for the last twelve months, and Munster 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 . 8
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.
340 . HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 ; Ratterbcrg 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 Munster ; 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 ?i
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 Munster 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. - Ibid ’ p. 149.
342
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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. 5,1 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 Munster 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. a
1 Kerssenbroeck, p. 155 ; Hast, 394.
2 Kerssenbroeck, p. 157 et seq. ; Heresbach, pp. 151, 152;
Hast, p. 395; Montfort., p. 46. 3 Ibid. p. 157.
3-H
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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. - Kerssenbroeck, p. 161.
V.ooQle
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
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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
Munster, 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 Munster. 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 Munster.
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 Campd
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.
VorOOQle
348
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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.
- Kerssenbroeck, p. 177.
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER. 34 *
cutcd, 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
Munster 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
HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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
<iays 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-
vallation. 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
tb act as guide ; and the attempt was to be made on
1 Kerssenbroeck, p. 179 ct seq , ; Sleidan, p. 427 ; Montfort.,
p. 71 ; Heresbach, p. 162 et seq. ; Hast, p. 395 et seq. ; Dorpius,
£ 499 .
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER . 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
Munster, 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 HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 ct seq , ; and the authors before cited.
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER . 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
z
354
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
several hours, and their assailants began to lose
courage, as news of the onslaught upon the walls
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 y
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 na
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
\ Kerssenbroeck, pp. i£8, 189.’
3S&
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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.
I HE 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.
Munster 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. Dorpiussays, “ 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.
358
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
the town-hall and in the royal palace, which amounted
to 100,000 gold florins. 1
Francis remained in Munster 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 Munster
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, Hcresbach, p. 168 ; Hast, p. 400.
2 Ibid. p. 200. 3 Ibid. p. 201.
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER. 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 Munster
to provide that the innocent should not suffer with
the guilty. That the fortifications should be in part
demolished, as an example ; but that Munster 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 Munster, 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
36 o
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 sec 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
lu Hemach 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, ffc 399 a, 400 a, b.
THE ANABAPTISTS OF M UNSTEP. 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-
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 “ Dcnn 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 HISTORIC ODDITIES .
never more turned thereto. But of this we have said
enough .” 1
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 gemeine 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 MUNSTER . 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 HISTORIC ODDITIES .
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 Widerteuffem 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 Munster 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 OP 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. u Samt. Werke.”
i545-5b ii-ff- 327-8.
368
HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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
Munster 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 to the sole glory of 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 Munster 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. Widerteuffer. ,, in Luth. “ Samt. Werke.”
1545-51, ii. f. 325 b.
2 Kerssenbroeck, p. 209 ; Kurtze Hist f. 400.
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER. 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 VVesseling, 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
370 ' HISTORIC ODDITIES.
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 1 543, 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. 21 1 ; Kurtze Hist. f. 401.
THE ANABAPTISTS OF MUNSTER. 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 Munster 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 Waldcck.
Authorities : Hermann von Kerssenbroeck ; Geschichte der
Wiederthatiffer zu Munster in Westphalen. Munster, 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 Munster erstlich angefangen, und
die Widerteuffer verstoret widerauffgehoret hat. Darnach was
die teufflische Secte der Widerteuffer fur grewliche Gotteslester-
ung und unsagliche grawsamkeit .... in der Stad geiibt und
getrieben ; beschrieben durch Henrichum Dorpium Mon-
asteriensem ; in Luther's Sammtliche Werke. Wittemb. 1545-
51. Band ii. ff. 391 -401.
Historia von den Miinsterischen Widerteuffem.
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 M^moires de Jean Sleidan.
Trad, de Courrayer. La Haye, 1667. Vol. ii. lib. x. [This is
the edition quoted in the article.
372
HISTORIC ODDITIES*
Sleidanus : CQmmentarium rerum in Orbe gestarum, &c.
Argent. 1555 ; ed. alt. 1559,
I. Hast, Geschichte der Wiederthauflfer von ihren Ent$tehen
in Zwickau bis auf ihren Sturz zu Munster in Westphalen
Munster. 1836.
