in grosse of regaining and reuenging from all vice and fault the Maiestie Pontificâ—ll at this day is deliuered will perswade vs with their loquence that this is a fiction and that no such thing could be Albeit vpon the matter there iâ— no great moment in it whether it bee a fable or a veriety of this Pontificall and Great-bellyâ— yet to expresse in this pageant their harlots foreheads and the whoores faces of these Parasites and how much in other great matters they are to be beleeued and trusted vnto and that men may be warned and armed the more from their frawde I will with Gods helpe truely repeate the breuitie of Historio-Graphers as many certaine as haue beene seene of me their testimonies the matter in fact not a fiction and affirmed and confirmed by them which being red let any stoute and iust arbitrator censure whether more faith and credite is not to bee ascribed vnto the tradition old and concenting together of so manie excellent men in pietie and integritie or rather vnto the deniall new and neuer heard of before of a fewe fresh Hipocrites and Gnathos denying what they lust and affirming what they lust in fauour of their owne Maister Of al that truly are read of the men of our time as I suppose the most ancient writer of this Feminine Lord is olde Raphe Flaniencis a benedictine Monke alleadged in the centuries of the Ecclesiasticall Historie and whom Trithemius termeth a briefe Cronicle which the Authors of the Centuries name Polycronicon they say that he writ it referring his age vnto the yeare of our Lord 930. my selfe haue not yet obtained the reading of it but they scite the fifth booke of Radulphe Chapter the 32. To produce the first that I haue red I haue Marianus after his natiue country sirnamed Scotus whose honestie and veritie by this may be esteemed that the fellowship of the Benedictines both Cullin Fulda Mons receiued him and striuing with entertainement at his first comming into Germany where he dyed Anno Domini 1086. He in the third booke in the sixt age of his Cronicle in fewe words sheweth the matter to be so ignoâ—inious and especially in that time not to be ripped vp nor heaped vpon yet of all faithfull Historiographers not to be preâ—ermitted neyther in briefe he saith thus In the yeare of Lotharius the 14. the woman Ione succeeded Lâ—â— for two yeeres fiue monthes and foure daies This testimony of Martine the Esauites doe eleuate and make light of because in their manuscript bookes it is not extant But with what face can these falsaries require that in this matter or manner can trust be giuen to them who themselues in describing omit what they lust and thinges that other men write some they eate out and some they blot out The Coppy which the Printer of Basile did imitate came foorth of the Librarie of the Colledge of Saint Bartholmewes in the Citty of Frankeford by the commandement of the Bishop of Mens in which exemplare these words which they deny to be in their coppy were found coÌ„texed With like fidelity they denie this story also to be found in a certaine olde booke of Cronicles of Sigisbert a Monke which in all other his bookes are expressed and are to bee read in this manner Fame reporteth that this Iohn was a woman and knowen familiar to some one onely who it seemed imbraced her being great with childe she was deliuered being Pope Wherefore some doe not number her amongst the High priestes Therefore he maketh no number of that name Sigisbert liued in the time of Henry the fourth about the yeere of our Lord God 1110. I finde next vnto Sigisbert Martine sirnamed of Polone a Monke of the order of Preachers penitentiarie vnto Pope Nicholas the third after Archbishop of Consentinâ— at the yeare of our Lord 1320 whose Narration of Iohn the Pope is this Iohn English borne at Mens sate in the Seate two yeares and fiue months he dyed at Rome and all the offices were void theÌ„ for one month This Iohn as it is affirmed was a woman And when in her childhood of a certaine louer of hirs shee was brought to Athens in mans apparrell she did so profit in diuers Sciences that no one was found to bee comparable vnto her in so much that afterwardes shee reading at Roome openly obtayned great Masters to be her schollers And then in the Citty she being of great fame by her conuersation and science by counsell of them all she was chosen to be Pope But in the Papall seate by her familiar friend shee became pregnant with childe yet vnskilfull of the time that women recon for their birth-right when shee was tending her iourney from Saint Peters vnto Lateranâ— the Popes Pallace being inuironed betwixt the Colossis and Saint Clements Church she fell in labour and was deliuered and afterward when she was dead she was buried there as it is said in the Colossis Now because that my Lord the Pope dooth alwaies shunne that place that way it is beleeued on all sides that he doth it for detestation and hate of that fact Neyther is it put into the Catelogue of the holy high Priestes as well for the sex of her womanhood as for the deformity of so fowle a deede These same wordes wholy in a manner are to be red in the booke of Richard the Monke of Cluniacens the tytle whereof is The number of the Romane high-priestes which is kept in the Librarie Which words a man very honest certainely tolde vnto vs that he saw them at that place written being there about sixteene yeere agoe Richard was before Martine and was his antecessor a hundred and fifty yeares vpon Trithemius report This same expresse and so cleare a narration of Martine the Popes owne penitenciary which office is not a little credite among these vaine Paper-puffed men in which he behaued himselfe so that for his reward he was indued with an Archbishopricke by the which no body could be more certaine of the Actes and Histories of the high Priestes then he might And yet these Esauites chiefly Bellarmine do enuic still-that before Martine Polone not â—ne betraied this to the memory But haue you not marked how both Sigebert Mariane Radulphe and Richard were all before him yea and many more out of whome he but gathered these and other things too as hee himselfe in the Proaeme beginning his Chronicle doth well signifie And besides that Mariane in the verie entry of his worke doth rehearse out of whose monuments hee heaped vp this story who were eyther all of them interred then or else done to dust some where or being dead they were dismembred and lay hid not any aliue But if it were true that Martine was the first that euer commaunded this to writing shall we therefore thinke it to be a fable Many thinges certes in stories both diuine and prophane we read of the which their owne Authors hauing heard it of olde men
sentence yeelds was more then womans worth By Sex as sequence plaine demonstrate doth Abbreauiate voice though Annals do exceed Of her of whom lesse said the better meede She was the Queene Amason by our creede But Mens her natiue bowre relinquished She studious sought and schooles vnfinished Of Colchis learned men diminished Of Roome the walles by her wit raised were As musicke Thebes or Athens Phrines geare Her sex exalted she was nere the neare Tis said her seruant holpe her to a sonne At hand she climb'd a horse at noone Neere weeping Crosse Precession was begun Enormity Gods shamed in our Citty In Clements streete a childe borne without pitty Both by Colossis buried nothing witty Shal Poets know that Popes do in by hate And loue by reason of this mortall fate And all we misse the way to heauen gate O then denie that euer we so slided And that her name is from our names deuided This Poet heere saying de qua breuiâ—s dicta minus ledunt dooth insinuate that he himselfe is ashamed of this declaration and feares least some should bee offended with it he adioyneth Ione to Sergius after Leo the fourth was past In the Chronicle of Albert Abbot of Stadeâ—s which endeth in the yeere of our L. 1255. lately Printed at Helmestade he is named Iohn the seauenth and a little after Iohn the nynth there being left out and omitted Ione the eyght Otto Bishoppe of Frisingens of equall age with Fredericke the first in his first booke in his Catelogue of Popes placed Iohn the woman in number the seauenth as doth the Sculpture and grauen Image at Seene in Tussis Which diuersity and perturbation in Chronicles rise vp of this because certaine of the Antyquaries did altogether exclude this woman others did conclude and agree of her but placed her in a spare place distant out of order as the Author of Fasciculus Temporum the fardel of flowers hath and as heere this Poet of theirs doth intimate it was done But it is no more absurde that such a Pontificall should confound the order of history then that Pontifex puer pera the woman Pope with his Feminine name and nature shoulde disturbe all the Rules in Grammer In the antique Chronicles Augustiano written in Latine hand I red this Furthermore not farre from that tempestious tyme of the yeare of our Sauiour Christ 855 there was at Roome a Pope Iohn the eyght named qui mulier a hee woman yea that filthy harlot Gilberta of Mens ledde about in mans apparell of a certaine Monke of the Monasterye of Fulda both thorough Greece and Italie a beast moste littered I would say lettered and moste learned moste changeable and crafty Camelion like escaped out and indued with a Pope-doome inscaped in the Citty likewise Raphaell Ualaterane in his Commentaries Dedicated to the verie Pope Iulius the second was not afeard to write thus of Iohn Iohn Englishe whome they call a woman in her desembling habite otherwise most famous for learning they say was ouertaken in the way where shee brought foorth a Childe Now let vs produce Platina who albeit hee had tryed the cruelty and seueritie of the Pope Paule the second towardes him yet hee feared not to write of Ione vnto Sextus the fourth which story now as vaine these pield fellowes doe reprooue so farre were they from indyting or penning it they durst not write a word of it the which hee confesseth is taken out of Martine and because they are induced before time and recited as his I will not repeate them nowe to which hee subioyneth these There are which obiect these two things That the Pope when he should goe vnto the Princely Court of Laterane for detestation of so foule a fact doth decline from that way of a set or consulted purpose and for because he would shunne the sight of such an errour whiles first he is placed in the seate of Peter which is bored thorough with a round hole that the secret parts may be handled of the last of all the Deacons there Touching the first of these obiections I wil winke at it for the second thus I thinke That Seate to be prepared to this ende that he that is constitute and ordained in such a Magistrates place for Magistracy wil soone shew what a man is may know himselfe not to be a God but to bee subiect to the necessities of nature as for example digestion and such like whence the seate is called meritoriously A close stock this that I haue said is commonly carried about but by vncertaine and obscure Authors which I therefore instituted to set downe briefly and barely least obstinately and frowardly I should seeme to omit that which almost all men affirme Let vs erre therfore with the multitude in this matter albeit it may appeare that this that I haue said is out of those things which may be by possibility beleeued to be true Hitherto Platina whose latter words whiles he saith fieri potuisse do manifest why he said Erremus cum vulgo least God wot hee should offend his Lords in affirming the story directly But the cause of the Popes declining the way he confesseth to bee the young childe of the woman High-priest But for the vse of the Stercorary stoole which he saith is not conuenient for such holines and diuine Pontificiality ô which y e simple foolish superstitious rout is of opinion that hee stooleth nothing but Ambrosia which hee eateth againe to be conuerted wholy into the substance of his deified body which vulgar so religious opinion of Gods Viccar made of earth O it is by no meanes to be dimished no no beware of that Againe if any necessities of humane nature remaining in him were to be represented by any right ô it were more decent to doe it by a dishe of sweete meates and by the receiuing of foode then that that it should be done by egestion of the excrements For by that Antecedent this consequent would ensue and come to light That He that doth eate he must stooles so againe He that doth stoole he must eate Plâ—niâ— remembring like the best remembrancer of a story naturall to the Grashoppers maketh them to haue no wicket neyther for a Cricket to voide excrements by he addeth with all neyther mouth to eate foode by And when brother Robert the French Dominicane in his booke of Visions written 300. yeares since doth report of this Throne to be seated in the Poâ—ch of the Pallace of Laterane by which the Pope is tryed whether he is a man and which he in an extasis or dreame did beholde to be made of Porphyrie stone such as others haue also exhibited vnto vs haue seene it what it was it is nothing likely that the Author of this common place of Aiax being Benedict the third by whoÌ„ he saith it was placed there should riot so insolently and impudently withal that he would prepare an instrument so precious out of
dialogue of Erasmus Hâ—tâ—en so noble so notable in writing depainting out the manners of your Iulius the second and such actes that when he was dead the gates of Heauen which with his owne keyes he was wonte to set open vnto other men at a price for money he could not vnlocke for himselfe and Peter would not open them to him when hee knocked that he might go to hell beneath with his company and his whole court of guarde being excluded Refell if you can these or expurge with true arguments and reasons the actes of these high Priests repugnant vnto the actes God it knowes of the Apostles as one end of the diameter is vnto the other the Axeltree of the world the East vnto the Weast which are of Iohn Bale of England set foorth all which a Christian man yea an Ethnick onely wel mannerd would feare to here them read Such a sinke of wickednes and for the most part of Popes thence from Iohns trauaile with childe vnto this our age is to bee felt If such like you indeuour to purge what else do you seeke but to wash a Negro to be white Seace you therefore froÌ„ hence foorth to cast a miste before mens eyes and to sell smoake for fire in such a world fit for Argus many eyes as this Leaue off leaue off to stuffe with strawe and deck vp your throne of Antichrist any more in vaine vnlesse your selues meane to inioye such flatterie by such deuises and aduises you would perceiue receiue and take more easilie from your Patrons the commodities of this present life feelinglie being honored with the opinion of sanctimonie of your disciples boyes and yong men and of the fatuate common people indeed many of them being Midas riche whom your adulatorie ould songes do please All which if you deeme them more acceptable then Christian veritie sinceritie and blessednes holde on hold on to lie laugh flatter and face to simulate and dissemble to playe the Historions to abuse religion vnto cursed fraude vntill ye trie at last that God will not be deluded if happely you will differ in this one and in all from your Coryphaus and from his purple mantle crew to thinke there is a God who bringeth all humaine soules vnto the vniuersall iudgement after this mortall life To him be all honor and glorie both now and euer Amen Trino vni sit omnis laus honor gloria Amen T. B. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mundum pellectum For Pellicio is with blandishment to intice therefore the whore of Babilon is called pellex quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Gel. lib. 4. c. 3. Scala Gemonia were the sleds for the damned in Rome Cor. Tacit 〈…〉 they lay in Auentine in the thirteenth â—e gion of the Citie Canentes Vernaculum Vile Theatrum eat pessum Cortina lebescat Senica nunc Comus cesses adulteria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deus panim pro papa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the triple Crowne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trianios Puer perium Radal Flauiens by y e course of nature might bee at it so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they re fer his age vnto 930. the fact was done 75. yeares before hee dyed if this reference bee true in 855. I remember I haue seene this in Sigisb Gembl 1. Milo Smith a famous Doctor shewed me the booke printed at Paris Nor am I ignorant that Bellarmine answereth in ipsius Si gisberti 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non inneâ—itur but without witnes that it is Sigisb owne hande written now aboue 500. yeres saue onely on Iohn Molane lately liuing Doctor of Louane who it may be pluckt out the leafe now is ready to sweare with Beilar that it is not in the first coppy and that they knewe Sigisb owne hand 500. yeeres since written it were a miracle if they sufâ—er any coppy now to remaine in their Territoryes much lesse in their Libeâ—ties therefore I beleeue Bellar. and Mollane both in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ab authoritate negatiue Vocatus de Anglia As many men are called Iohn French Iohn Holland Iohn Ireland that neuer were in any of these Nations much lesse borne there Cardinall Bellarmine saith very ill Ne vestigium quidem literarum in tâ—ta Gracia Resprâ—pâ—ana non prucula phano Monumentum quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Grace That Fleece One Peece The birth Vngirth Oâ—irth Plaine-waies By-waies Noon daies Frisingensâ— Seene not farre from Rome a famous Citty which Breanus Captaine of the French built for his olde soldiers and for his poor Anno ante Christi aduentum 362 Author Pompo â—â—â—s Lib 3. Basilica 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly a hall of iudgement as Hesiod intendeth where the Iudges are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doniuorâ—s Iudices Budâ—â—s 〈…〉 ciolum 〈…〉 Porphyre stone is that we call Marble or Lapis Numidicus of the Romaines indeed a stone out of Numidium so named of the colour because it dooth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 glitter like Rubish or Iron or the priuie stoole might be porphyretica and perforata both euen as they report O inexpected and intollerable blasphemie open to the world by Cardinall Bellarmine Ab infimo Diâ—conâ— membruÌ„ attractatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O â—ane à tergo quem nulla Ciconia pinsit Exoleto They are men that haue bin wanton boyes and are growne out of vse by reasoÌ„ of age of which kind not a few these ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so the Syrians terme their princes as the Sunne rising they make their God and the Papists doe call their Pope a God D. deum nostrum papuÌ„ these are ment by Pontanus heare But ô were they now serued which flow so out of kinde euery where as Alexander Seuerus plagued them whom his predicessor Hielogabalus kept hee sent them all to shipwracke to the Ilands Read Cicero pro Milone and Herodian lib. 5. Clodius vt secum semper scorta semper exoletos semper lupas ducebat filthye wanton Boyes and greedie Shee wolues that is Common whores
vprightnes that what he had suspected to be false he would not haue sent it for a truth in open tables to all after times and prosperities Out of his Chronicle written in Italian and Printed at Florence in the yeere 1478. this I translated into Latine in the yeare of our Lord God 855. Iohn English helde the High Priesthood two yeares fiue months and foure daies The Church was vacant for one month He is not placed in the Catelogue of the Popes because he was a woman who in her nonage of a certaine louer of hers was brought to Athens in the habite of a man there in diuers studies and sciences she escaped their knowledge and did prooue excellent After when she came to Roome shee ascended such a height of fame that she was had in admiration with all men whence it happened by concord suffrage of the best the supreame honour of a Pope was attributed vnto her Which thing afterwardes betrayed it selfe to the world In her time in the Citty of Brixie three dayes and three nights it rayned meruailously blood and in Fraunce appeared monstrous Locusts hauing sixe winges and sixe feete and teeth very hard flying through the ayre admirably which after were all drowned and suffocate in the Sea of Britaine From whence the carcases of them were beaten to the shoare and did so corrupt the ayre that a great part of the inhabitants there dyed This Petrarch dyed in the yeare of our Sauiour Christ 1374. Iohn Bocace inwardest friend to Petrarch both for his wit and for his similitude of study and manners an other he doth rehearse this Ione and describe her first called Gilberta as he saith in his booke of noble women Chap. the 99. which in these words he concludeth To detestation of whose filthy whood and contynuance of memory of her name euen vnto this day the chiefe Priestes of the Rogation with the rest of the Clergie and people going to doe Sacrifice they abhorre that place of her child borne in the middest of her iourney and omitting it they decline thorough by waies and streetes and so that detestable place spurned at reentring home they end theyr iourney which they began There is also placed in a booke to be seene the picture and spectacle of the Child-birth of the Pontificall with circumstances of Cardinals and Bishoppes standing by like Midwiâ—es or Nurses That same booke of Bocaces making is turned into the Germaine tongue of a Phisition in the Citty of Vlâ—â—es and Dedicated to the Dutchesse of Austria in the yeare 1473. Imprinted in the same Cittie with olde Caracters rude and with all the picture of her bringing foorth her childe To this doe agree certaine rimes consonant in Italian out of an olde hande written booke taken whose tytle is Historia de Doâ—ne Famose and of famous Women Historia de Donne Famose Gionâ—â—ni settiâ—o infra queste astute La seâ—â—a gloria del Pontificato Administro con cure altâ— c. Eper in temperantia lei difâ—sâ— Noâ— fâ—câ— asua lasiâ—ia c. Un giâ—rno acâ—â—dde e fu vicina alparto Una solemnita est â—matae digna Onde conâ—iâ—â— chel suo termin coartâ— Sâ—e discoperto in procession venâ—re Dâ—â—e a quel tempo il figlio in â—â—rrâ— hasparto E con dolor fâ— vista partorire In presentia del pâ—pâ—l con tormento E l vne l'altro lor vita fiâ—ire Interpretation word for word The seauenth Iohn amongst these wâ—ly snares The summe and glory of the richest Seate A Ione for Iohn did minister with cares And wanting temper did her selfe defeate Withouten cesse by her lasciuiousnes It fell vpon the feast neere lying downe Solempnity high holy and of fame As ought her terme restraine her triple crowne Detect To Letany all as they came Layd instantly her birth vpon the earth With dolors doome how soone she was vnbent With peoples eyes how sore she was torment So he and she did dye forlorne in lent Anthony Archbishop of Florence in the second part of his history to the narration of Ione out of Martine the peniâ—entiary repeated he weueth this same Webbe saith there is a certaine signe of a marble Sculpture in the way where this happened placed there for a memoriall of the matter And to the matter hee proclaimeth as a thing so wicked so prophane yet not far from the Temple this saying of S. Paule O altitudâ—â—â—pientia sâ—ientia Des c. As if our good God had procured and perfected this punishment not as if that wicked fiend the Deuill foule and abhominable had been the sole author of it yet the end hee saith if it were true as graunting yet to none is there any preiudice by this of Saluation because neither the Church then was without a head which is Christ c. yet he speaketh doubtfully in a plaine case least a blot so filthy to the Church otherwise pure should not appeare to be abhorred The standing Image of which he maketh mention the Esauites doe suppose that it hath not the shape of the woman and her infant but of some Priest with his boy going afore him to Sacrifice least otherwise they should â—aâ— nothing to contradict it The way that declyneth from the right way as in all other matters so in this they doe take it to be the most commodious way for them to goe in presession whereas we doe heare by others that haue with contemplation curiously behelde both say this way is more commodious and shorter then the other But some thinke this monument of such dishonor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the most memorable place of all others is distroyed abandoned and vnbound now and a good while agoe to abolish or to deminish her fame with vs the Heritiques and aduersaries to the Church of Roome that doe so play on stages and stirre it vp in this our time As with all the visage of this popit or little Pope momit or little mome in the Citty of Seene in the primary Church there made with a womans face with this inscription Femina de Anglia But all English men defie her and together with many other Popes which are now a fewe yeeres past eyther cald in or remooued away as we heare William Iames Monke of Ecmondence neere to Alcmaria in a parchment booke now two hundred yeares past as far as I can coniecture written doth containe the liues of the Popes in meeter such as were vsed in that time to be composed too too curiously euen vnto obscurity therin being obserued the number of Sillables and the rithme which such as they are as touching this Ione accept I pray you Priusquam reconditur Sergius vocatur Ad summa qui dicitur Iohannes huic addatur Anglicus Moguntia iste procreatur c. The Lyons gone the Seriant is vntoomb'd one calde To climbe whom trauel had with child benuÌ„b'd Ione stald Would flying fame of her had neuer humb'd she faid Whom England nam'd but Mens did bring her foorth Whom
Numidia and so splendent with all to signifie so filthy a matter to wit the deiectment of the belly Therfore the Esouites haue coÌ„mented for what may not commentaries do vpon a more honest allegory of this Throne and lesse vncleane that is they terme it an Aiax or Sâ—ercorarie because it doth admonish the new Pope sitting vpon it that he is made of humane dung out of low estate being but poore Cardinals and Princes fellowes out of humilitie vnto sublimity out of minoritie to superioritie as they speak to be raised And there vpon of the Cleargie compassed about to him to him all tongues and Organes resound out of the Psalme He raiseth the poore out of the dust and out of the dung he doth erect the begger that he may place him with the Princes naye then aboue the Princes of his people VVe could admit the Commentarie fiction but that Stercus Aiax of whom forkes and scowpes and tumbrelâ— named dunke-finders dung-fillers and dung-carters or carriers are fitly deriued and called Sâ—ercorarie Sâ—erquilinie if of the earth it were called earthly there were more tolleration and a cleanlie similitude in the interpreter VVherefore we do assent vnto their sent as the truer relators who do affirme that it is a relatiue vsed not vsurped but made to trie the genitall partes Yea and we are drawne vnto it as we esteeme by this argument because oftentimes we haue heard in the Popedome that the sacrificing sorte haue iested and termed those manly parts by the figure Antonomasia pontificals for they make a high priest truelie of none other cause but that by these rightes well knowne to them in which the most infamous Deacon of the Cardinall doth handle that part of the new Pope hanging thorowe the hole and dooth handle them exclaiming Habet it were out of vse in times past this experiment to haue beene by which they now approoue themselues the roote of euill not to want when as before their Priesthood they begat bastards which done those they had about them some Cardinals some Bishops and called them the Sonnes of brothers and of sisters This approbation of veritie Iohannes Pannonius Bishop of fiue Churches dooth finely note in these verses Vnlocke the heauen gates no woman can assume That hath not made her triall in the ayre Where emptie nothing is none dare that seat presume Except some new Hermophroditus heyre Anthony Sabelicus dooth affirme almost as much as Platina saith of loue in his ninth Enead placing her as Frisingensis did number the seuenth of her name Iacobus Philippus Bergonie of the familie of the Hermites in his supplie of supplies of Chronicles hath as touching Ione some things not differing from these that Martine Platina and the rest do write he saith she trauailed with child publiquely without a Midwife and in the same place she dyed miserably with her child and buryed there without any honor at all in whose place saith he Benedict the third was chosen This Booke is imprinted in Latine at Venice Anno 1503. and there also in Italian in the yeare of our Lord God 1540. The like things are red in Mathew Palmers continuation of Eusebius and Prosperus which beginneth at the yeare 449. and endeth in the yeare 1471. The exemplarie was Printed at Basill 1549. neyther doe they differ from this which of this Pope the Duke of Genua calde Baptista Fulgosus of the same age that Palmer was of noted in his Booke of Memorable sayings and deeds set foorth at Basil in the yeare 1541. Trithemius in his Chronicles of the Monasterie of Hirsaugia in the life of Luitprando the first Abbot after other things he speaketh of Ione the high Priest They say that she being of a certain familiar of hers mpressed brought foorth child in the open street And for that many would not place her amongst the Popes as it were abhorting the vnworthy fact Iohn Stella Priest of Venice in his booke the title wherof is The liues of two hundred and thirtie of the highest Priestes from blessed Peter the Apostle euen vnto Iulius the fift of that name and the Preface is to Dominic Grimane Cardinall there and the same matters deliuered which Philip of Bergonie handled touching Ione the Pope I haue beheld a Historie booke ample and faire and precious too set foorth at Norimberge in the yeare 1493. with Picture of Emperours and Popes in which at the Narration of Ione the Woman Pope was expressed the shape of the woman pontifically crowned but for her Rochet pontificall she had a garment woman-like vpon her shoulders and for her triple Crosier and thrise crossed scepter she had an Infant in her armes Naucleare Prepositer and Chauncelor of Fabinge in his great Historicall worke dooth report no otherwise of Ione the eyght then is of these asore then that which Martine and which Platina do intimate Valerius Anscimus in his Chronicle dedicated to them of Bernia Ione the woman of Mens climing the pontificall seate by her excellencie of manners and learning left it by the infamie of her childbirth and dyed Albertus Cranzius by his iudgement betwixt true false being a graue Historiographer and Deane of Hanburgh betwixt consenting dissenting a Iudge of all readers his monuments worthilie are much attributed vnto He in a Catalogue of the Priests strictlie dooth note Ione in these words Iohn English of Mens was a woman belying her owne sex with an acute wit with a prompt tongue learnedly she could speake in so much that she conuerted all mens mindes towards her to the intent that she should obtaine the pontificall seate onely one seruant had secret intelligence of her sexe by himself made pregnant compressed it is said she brought forth at the Colossis in the 2. yeare not expired of her raigne in childe-birth she dyed Carthusiane the Author of the Fardell of times as the wiser sorte doe iudge not to bee contempned placed Ione without the number of the Popes with this description That Iohn English by Syr-name but by birthe of Mens is sayde to bee about those times and she was a woman cloathed in habite of a man She did so proceed in diuine scriptureâ— and profit withall that none was found like vnto her she was chosen to be Pope But after being made pregnant with childe when publiquely she should proceed in procession she was deliuered and dyed And this seemeth to be the sixt Pope that had the name of sanctitie without any desert to this daye And like others of them obserue the veritie of this man she was plagued not placed in the Catalogue of Popes Some trifle in this cause that no Almaine should be chosen Pope which appeareth to be false for Carthusiane the Monke dare say yea that before Ione and before our age 800. yeares there were wicked Popes and well worthye the infamie of Ione The same thing in this Esauiticall age a man may say of Popes much more wicked then these were both Horrible blaspheming and
who know the stimulation will say tis simulation who know the force of inhumane nature vnto generation to bee diuinely inuested in them as all things else will they thinke will they vnderstand it For note what flagitious and prodigious and wretched lust was reâ—ealed in the Colledges of Priestes in the denâ—es of Munkes vnder a pretext of continencie vttered shall wee not now thinke they wrestle as weakely with their insuperable nature In our owne Country of Germany in England in Denmarkâ— and other places where they were looked into espied and meritoriously abolished it is a thing so â—ryed to be true in them so notified that there neede no more words to proue it Neyther is it enough for these new Hypocrites to cloke themselues with this simuled and false chastety and by it to sell themselues away in vaine ostentation vnto the foolish credulous vulgar people But not content with this they defraude the Ministers of the reformed Churches proudely and disdainefully of their good names as if they were incontinent and effeminate with their owne wiues terming their children bastardes because they fearing God doe yeelde to nature the handy-worke of our good God obeying it in chaste matrimony liuing married a remedy for that onely sinne and an onely remedy for that sin of lust and doe beget issue and doe well bring them vp and take care for their familyes and for the most part do with great difficulty care for them and doe tolerate the matter with godly sorrow while they without all oecononicall and housholde griefe of minde or molestation of life in the commodities thereof without all discommodity liue in abundance of pleasures delicacy rioteousnes Whence it is that necessarily must ensue a consequent of time that they acte these things warily and couertly vntill time reuealing all thinges doth also bring to open light and open shame their misdeedes euen as already with vs the filthy and vnciuil lustes of the Monkes are at such a height gone vp that they appeare to all men wherevpon late fame of two in Polonia being Esauites it is deliuered to vs that one of them hath brought forth a childe in their walkes many neuer suspecting it yea many maleuolent and back-biting our religion haue thought it very agreeable and recounting the condition of such a society of two and no more and remembring the like euentes in the Monkes especially in wandring runagates land-leapers with their beggery haue graunted it might be true Neyther yet is this rumour supplanted out of all mens mindes there from suspition albeit by the Kinges owne edict it was forbidden any such wicked euent to be misdeemed of two so holy Fathers But thought they say is free As perhaps neyther doth this seeme a fable altogether vaine nor can many bee so easily disswaded from that was said lately to be seene in the towne of N. in a certaine Canonicall house of a Canon there A Iesuite was gining her child suckâ— These men do imitatethe Esauites these former Munks in this thing also that with no lesse happinesse then dilligence they allure younglings young men ingenious swift and full of speeche and many in good time not deformed but want on Gammedes and prophane Iones cup-bearer procul a phano they know what secrets I meane and also some more fortunate by whom to the society of poore Iesus much profit may rise by their institution and nurtering of such borne as it were desastrouse they intise them into the cod of their net by the which a perpetuall Seminarie is supplyed increasing with old men their merits and the merits of them dead succeeding others For the institution of their Seminarie and discipline they are to be praised for that diligentlye they instruct them in the tongues and in Artes but that onely in the seauen liberall Sciences More were they to be praised if they did it to instruction and sinceritie and pietie to the defence and conseruation of the kingdome of Christ and his glory not vnto Antichrists Idols and tyrannie to be strengthned and confirmed on their side for profit and honors sake Such are these and all other their deeds full of guile and fraude full of their trecheries onely right and well tending that with the shape of this good which is altogether great in approoued gouernment and right discipline they may by little and little accustome the worlde harlot like inticed vnto them and once againe vnto the pontificall Maiestie and to his worship Meane while what do they they indue the tender mindes of the youth of the pontificalitie it is of corrupt religious doctrine and corrupt loue with hate and apostacie of vtter forsaking of plaine and sincere truthe which neuer after they vnlearne nor leaue for what then thinke you of such men not feined nor coloured can be performed who in so great and daylye a light of Christianitie already restored vnto vs notwithstanding employ their diligence to darkenesse all their wits yea and all their erudicion indeuouring to defend the same who in so manifest deprehending yea and open detecting of the high Priests of Rome of their houshould and all their clients of their sliding backe apostacie and fraudulent religion shrouded vnder foyson of truthe a tinfoile of deceit practised against the people of so many ages notwithstanding they would defend themselues to be men and men for all this good and holy the standard bearers of pietie and most worthy too vnto whose trayning whose prescript order men that are men indeed must obey thus they perswade the vnskilfull and fatuate commons to beleeue This verily is the indeuour of the sodalitie the felowship of Esau and of others his fellow seruants more then diuelish by which no more worthy nor efficient waye to depraue or ouerthrowe the doctrine of the church could be premeditate and vsurped because they not onely call in question degrading certaine of the latter writers such as Stapulensis Erasmus Polydorus Capino Caspiniarus and others these sometimes not reuerently reporting like men of better note against their pontificall and the wildes tyrannie pride disdaine and riot of their Prriests And not resting there but in all vnrest and disquiet they would musle vp the mouthes of the auncient Fathers being the better sorte of the interpreters of the holy Scriptures And because they are wholie against their pontificall opinions and Monarchie of which these knaues the Esauites publish themselues in profession to be the very Atlas and Axell-tree to vpholde all in our age in a manner their Bookes haue beene Printed after the ouldest examplar in written hand sought foorth perused and with the most noble diligence and incredible labour of Erasmus and others most learned men renewed from their defects repurged of the written faultes by their side committed and thereupon Imprinted at Basile and else where faithfully and truly both Augustine Ierome Cyprian Hillarie Irenaeus Chrysostome and others whose names they haue not signed in the booke of life but in their expurgatoâ—ie Index
heresie worthye of fire and fagot Baptista Mantuanus in his third booke of Alphonsus and discription of a place of Tartarus or hell maketh there Iohn the Pope hanging an abhominable matter expressed in verie sweete verses Hinc pendebat adhuc sexum mentita virilem Famina cui triplici phrygiam diademate mitram Extâ—llebat apex pontificalis adulter And seineth her in the entrance of Tartarus in the first place of hell as is fit for a Pope before all other which are there varioushe vexed to hang with her adulterer and concubine it is a maruell verilie that these falsaries do not relate and bring into their damnation booke cald Thexpurgatorie index Mantuans workes also which are so many stomaching the defiled Popedome of zeale and godlie indignation Her Caâ—â—eâ—â—â—es may see her performe her purgatorie without all deliueriâ— as well she deserues to do Neither may I omit here a riche testimonie of Coelius Rodeginus a man of infinite reading whome it appeareth nothing laye hid from that was conteyned in bookes of whose integritie and grauitie in iudging so much the lesse men may doubt because euery where in his worke he be areth a godlye minde speaking reuerently of our Sauiour Christ which vertue to him and but a fewe more Italians especially in this age is common He in his foorth volume of Antiquarie lections numbering learned women nameth Ione what saith he doe not we know that in Chronicles it is resolued that Ione English onely from the beginning of the world alone in the forme of a man durst inuade the seat Pontificall of Rome in the shape of a man Yea verilie and admit one of her familiars who onely inwardest hit nayle on the head knew the matter and the manner was admitted vnto the bed and chamber therfore vnto the bed chamber and then shee with childe in the summe of dignitie and disdainfulnes trauailed with child This was done in the yeare of health eight hundred fiftie three There is more fidelitie to be attributed to this man yea and an Italian too his testimonie his affirmation more this matter then to all the inficiation all the deniall of the Esauites which Parasites and hierlings will doe any thing to demerite the altar and say any thing for their Lorde and maister The Chronicle of Iohn Lucidus begun from the beginning of the worlde vnto the yeare of our Lorde 1536. produced And from thence he being dead it was increased by a certaine Monke vnto the yeare 1575. And dedicated vnto a certaine generall as they call it an Abbot dooth present verilye Iohn English in the forme of the Popes but not in the number of them saying Iohn English a woman raigned two yeares fiue moneths and foure dayes shee is not put in the Cathalogue of the Popes and therefore the seate was then voide vntill the yeare of our Lorde 855. This Booke is Imprinted at Venice in the yeare 1575. Iohn Henald a Frenchman of the state of the Church from the time of the Apostles vnder Nero vnto Charles the fift Emperour saith so of this Pope as the rest of the Histories and addeth that this is a true figure of that great spirituall fornication of the Romaine Popes And after this the harlot daily more and more did manifest her selfe and greater was the iniquitie of this commaunding seate laide open In a Germaine Chronicle in written hand out of many Authors gathered by Iames of the Kings court Uon Konigs Holen a Priest of Argentine which beginneth God Almightie and euerlásting c. ending in the yeare 1456. in Eugenius the fourth it is read folio 110. Ioannes von Mens was Pabst c. Iohn of Mens was a Pope two yeares and fiue moneths she was a woman Pope c. The Chronicle of Martin in Germany restored reteineth the very same altogether which is in the Latine The exemplarie hand writing that I haue seene is absolute in the yeare 1429. distinguished and lined with titles euerie where An other Germaine with greater letters set foorth at Augusta in the yeare 1487. saies Iohn von Mens aâ— Rhein c. der wasein Weib c. Iohn of Mens vpon Reigne was a woman and it hath the verses papa pater patrum c. repeated before It is ended in Sixtus the fourth An other written at Constance with the proper language of the Heluetians pertaining vnto the yeare 1400. saith Ein Weib hiesse Ioannes von Mens was Bapst c. A woman called Iohn of Mens was Pope who dyed with child-birthe which a Cardinall got in the yeare of our Lord 855. Iahre And in another with somewhat greater Characters Printed at Ulmes in the yeare 1486 there you may read Der Keyser Arnolphus it seemeth it should be red Lotharius when Casar or Emperour Arnolphus there was in that time a Pope that was a woman in the open streets of Rome there shee laide her yong one This was such a shame to the Popes that they shunne to come any more that waye This Chronicle dooth ende in the ouerrunning of Mens in the yeare 1462. There are many Annales of this same stuffing which I omit to prefer vnto you I would alledge more fresh writers some as Melanctbon which is the author of Charions Chronicle Robert Barnus Peter Virete Iohn Functius Casper Hedion of whom is cited Mallâ—â—lus Tigurinus of equall age with the counsell of Basil Peter Paulus Vergerius sometimes Bishop of Iustinople who in a peculiar libell to himselfe painted foorth and described this childe birth with Iohn Balâ— and a whole Iurie of others but that they are censured for Heretiques of the Esauites and of aduerse partie to the pontificall dignitie and therefore their testimonie in this busines is both suspect and reiect Yet one of these new writers they cannot reiect Pistorius Nidâ—nus late an Euangelist now a pontifist whom verilie I doe not thinke though in religion he is a Buskin or rather a shipmans hose with like inconstancie he will denie a Historie and that written by him long agoe and set foorth and me thinkes the Esauites should assent vnto him being one of their owne flocke Amongst the writers of the Actes and Iestes one hath escaped mee The Compiler of the Anonymies that is without names in whome this is read There was likewise an other false Pope whose name and yeares are not knowne for shee was a woman as the Romaines doe confesse and of elegant fame and of great science and in hypocrisie of wonderfull life she vnder pretext of a mans habit lurked vntill she was chosen to be Pope and in her Popehood conceiued with childe and when she was great the diuell in Consistorie court publiquely before them all bewrayed the deede exclaming Papa pater patrum papissa pandite partum To these aboue mencioned and the like or to the very same their owne Isengrine dooth mention of this Pope in his Chronicle of two Languages euen in the kingdome of the Esauites set foorth with Grace and priuiledge of the