Monke a Suisse called BVRCARD who had made a voyage into France with the Emperours consent to bring in this armie going forth on Horse-backe as it were to triumph for this defeate of his Countriemen and marching with his Caske on but his beuer was vp and his face was vncouered that hee might with more ease behold the dead bodies among the which he marched he began to cry out O pleasant spectacle what a goodly thing it is to marche in this medow bedeckt with Roses at those words a Suisse lying vpon the place and breathing more for the libertie of his country then for his owne life being so neere his death hee awakes and rising as well as hee could vpon his knees with an extraordinary vigour and taking vp a stone hee threwe it with such dexterity and force at BVRCARD as hee hit him in the midest of the fore-head and ouerthrewe him from his horse where hee died receiuing the reward of his cruell ingratitude and treason STVMPHIVS in the History of Suisserland In the yeare 1514. the Suisses going to succor MAXIMILIAN SFORZA Duke of Milan had the gard of Nouare the which they defended with such resolution as notwithstanding that the French made a furious battery against the walles yet the Suisses shewed to haue so little feare of them as they would neuer suffer the Towne gate which lookt into the campe to be shut A breach being made they endured an assault courragiously and repulst the Assaylants And which is more the night following beeing led by Captaine MOTIN they went without attending the succors that came vnto them to charge the French armie marching directly to the Artillery the which they wonne valiantly beeing two and twentie peeces and carryed them the next daie in tryumph to Nouare hauing slaine a great part of the French armie and put the rest in rout the which we will describe more amply in the following discourse where wee will write of great battailes giuen in diuers partes of the worlde since a hundred and fiftie yeares FR. GVICHARDIN Booke 2. Chap. 14. of his Historie of the warres of Italie The valour of the same Suisses appeered in the yeare 1515. at Saint Dona in the Duchie of Milan of whome GVICHARDIN yeeldes this testymonie Although the Suisses did fight still with great courrage and resolution yet seeing them-selues charged in front and in flanke and that the Venetian armie approched to assault them behinde they despayred of victory which they held for certaine the daie before so as it growing late they did sound a retreate and taking their Artillery vpon their shoulders they turned their squadrons and holding still their accustomed discipline they marched softly towards Milan with such amazement to the French as not any one of foote or horse-backe durst followe them There were onelie two Companies of theirs which being fled into a farme house were burnt by the Venetian light horse men The rest of the armie returned to Milan without disorder shewing the same countenance and resolution and some say they buried in the ground fiueteene peeces of great ordinance which they had gotten at the first Incounter for that they had no meanes to carrie them away All men say that for a long time there had not beene seene a more furious and fearefull battaile in Italie TRIVVLCE an ancient Captaine which had seene much sayd that this battaile had beene performed by Giants not by men and that eighteene battailes in which hee had beene were but combats of little children in respect of that and some hold that without the Canon the Suisses had gotten the victory who being entred at the first charge into the fortifications of the French and hauing taken from them the most of their peeces had alwaies wonne ground GVICHARDIN Booke 12. Chap. 13. About the yeare 1514. the French being beseeged in a fort called the lanterne of Genoa beseeched King LEVVIS the twelfth to succor them with vittells A Sclauonian Captaine entertained by the King carried him-selfe so well as in despight of all the Galleis which stopt the passage hee entred with his galleis laden with victuells and releeued the place in sight of all the Geneuois Therevpon EMANVEL CAVAL a Captaine at seâ—… very expert among those of his time hauing commande of a galley with 300 yong men vnder ANDREVV DORIA and going from the place where hee was set in gard hee beganne to go into the open sea to haue the more winde that he might vse both his owers and sayles and then he sayles directly against the Sclauonians galley not fearing the Cannon which did shoote at him continually from the Lanterne he graples with the sayd galley and leapes first into it him-selfe then hauing cut the cables wherewith the galley was tied vnto the fort commanding the Citty of Genoa in an instant hee drawes this galley after him turning the prowe of his owne and conducting it with such dexterity betwixt the shelfes and the conquered galley as mauger all letts hee arriued safe and was receiued with applause of all the people and honored with fiue hundred Crownes for a testymonie of his valour the spoyle of the conquered galley was diuided amongst the soldiars As for the Selauonian Captaine he cast himselfe into the sea meaning to swimme vnto the shelfes neere vnto the fort where hee pretended to saue himselfe But a young gentleman called IVSTINIAN casting himselfe into the sea followed him so swiftly as he ouertooke him and laying hold of his haire drewe him to the shore The Geneuois beeing Masters of the Lanterne which kept them in great awe and subiection did ruine it P. IOVIVS Booke 12. of his History Vanity I Did see a man some yeares since whose name I haue in singular recommendation in the midest of our greatest miseries when as neither Lawe Iustice nor Magistrate did Office no more then at this instant went and published certaine idle reformations vpon Apparell Diet and Lawe practise These are baits to deceiue an ill gouerned people with to saie that they are not wholie forgotten They are of the same sort which busie themselues to for-bidde with all vehemency talke dancing and plaâ—…es to a people abandoned to all kindes of execrable vices MONTAIGNE Booke 3. Chap 9. of his Essaies Vanity of the World represented in state PHILIP called the good Duke of Bourgondy in the memory of our ancestors being at Bruxâ—…lls with his Court and walking one night after supper throgh the streets accompanied with some of his fauorits he found lying vpon the stones a certaine Artisan that was very dronke and that slept soundly It pleased the Prince in this Artisan to make triall of the vanity of our life wherof he had before discoursed with his familiar friends Hee therfore caused this sleeper to be taken vp and carried into his Pallace hee commands him to bee layed in one of the richest beds a riche Night-cap to bee giuen him his foule shirt to bee taken off and to haue an other put
by his successors and imprinted at Nuremberg in the yeare 1594. For in the 18. Chapter of the first Booke he saith that these apparitions are made in a Mosquee of the Turkes hard by Cairo There is a fault in the coppy and it should say Hillock or little Mountaine not on the banke of Nilus as BAVMGARTEN writes but halfe a mile of as we haue declared Satanicall Apparitions WHen I studied the lawe in the Vniuersitie of Wittenberge I heard my Tutors often tell that on a time one being attyred after a strange manner came and knocked at the dore of a great Diuine which then read in the same Vniuersitie and dyed in the yeare 1546. the seruant opened the doore and asked him what he would haue Speake with thy Maister quoth hee The Diuine willed him to come in and then this stranger propounded certaine questions touching the controuersies which were at that instant about matters of Religion wherevnto the Diuine hauing giuen a ready solution the stranger put forth harder thou dost somewhat trouble me said the Diuine for I had other things in hand and there-with rising out off his chaire shewed him in a booke the exposition of a certaine place where-about they contended In this strife he perceiued that the stranger in steede of fingers had clawes and tallents like a bird of prey Wherevpon hee began to say vnto him Is it thou then Hearken to the sentence pronounced against thee shewing him that place of the third of Genesis The Seede of the woman shall breake the Serpents head He added moreouer Thou shalt not swallow vs all vp The euill spirit mightely confounded enraged vanished away with an exceeding great noyse leauing such a stinke behind him in the Stoue that it stunke of it a long time after IOHN GEORGE GODELMAN Doctor of Lawe at Rostoch in the treatise De Magis Veneficis Lamijs c. booke 1. chap. 3. In the towne of Friburg in Misnia the Diuel presented himselfe in a humane forme to a certain sick-man shewing him a booke exhorting him to recon vp all his sins he could remember because he would note them down in that booke At the first the sick-man was some-what amazed but recouering his spirits he answered Thou saist well I will set thee downe all my sins in order but first write these words on the top in great Letters The Seede of the Woman shall breake the Serpents head The Diuell hearing this condemnation of his fled away leauing ths house full of an extreame stinke The same Author In the yeare 1534. Maist. LAVRENCE TONER Minister of a certaine Towne in Saxony imploying some time about Easter to conferre with some of his parishioners according to the custome touching scrupels of cōscience the Diuell appeared vnto him in the shape of a Man and intreated him to giue him leaue to confer with him whervpon he began to poure out horrible blasphemies against the Sauiour of the World TONER resists and confutes him so coragiously by authorities out of the holy Scripture as this wicked Spirit confounded leauing an intollerable stinke in the place vanished away IOB FINCEL in his first booke of miracles Diuers Apparitions in the Ayre IN the yeare a thousand fiue hundred there was seene in Alsatia neare to Sauerne a Bulls head and betwixt the hornes shined a very great star In the same yeare on the 21 of May there was seene ouer the Towne of Lucerne in Suisserland a fierie Dragon horrible to behold as big as a Calfe and twelue foote long the which did fly towards the bridge of the riuer of Russe which passeth there In the yeare 1503. in the Duchy of Bauiere ouer a little towne called Visoc was seene a Dragon crowned casting f◅rth flames of fire at his mouth Ouer the Citty of M◅lan in the day time the Heauens beeing cleare were seene many stars shining very brightly In the beginning of Ianuary in the yeare 1514. about eight of the clocke in the morning in the Duchy of Witemberg were seene 3. Suns in the firmament that in the middest was much bigger then the rest All three caried the forme of a long sword of a shining colour markt with bloud the points whereof d◅d stretch out far This happened the 12 day of the month The next day ouer the towne of Rotuil there was seene a Sunne shewing a terrible face enuironed with circles of diuers coulours Two dayes before and the 17. of March following were seene three Sunnes and three Moones also the 11. of Ianuary and the 17. of March IAMES STOSEL a Phisition of Memming made an ample discourse prognosticating vppon these apparitions which were followed by great troubles namely in Swaube In the yeare 1517. on Christmas day about the Abbey of Vinaire in Saxony at midnight the Heauens beeing cleere and bright there was seene a Crosse of a reddish coulour In September in the yeare 1520. at Vienna in Austria there were seene many prodigious signes in the heauen The first day from three of the clock afternoone vntill fiue the Sunne was seene enuironed with two great circles Three dayes after about noone there was seene a burning Forke The fift day in the morning there appeared three Sunnes with many Rayn-bowes of diuers fashions The sixt daye about nine of the clocke at night the Moone appeared full trauersed with a Crosse compassed in with a Circle and aboue it a halfe Circle On the seauenth at the breake of day were seene three Sunnes againe and from sixe of the clock vntill seauen a Rain-bowe with three Moones PAMPHILVS GENGENBACH caused these prodigious Meteors to bee cu◅te and published a discourse the which hee sent to the Emperour CHARLES the fift The same yeare the inhabitants of Wissenbourge a Towne seated vpon the Riuer of Rhine heard at noone day such a strange and horrible rushing of armes in the ayre and such a noyse of men fighting and crying as in a set battell that it strooke snch a terror and amazement in them as all runne to Armes thinking the Towne had beene beseeged and that the enemies were at theyr Gates When as the Emperor CHARLES the 5. was crowned in the Citty of Aix la Chapelle the Sunne was seene enuironed with a great Circle and a Raine bowe in the Heauens In the Town of Erfor'd there were three Suns seene Moreouer a burning Cheuron the which was terrible by reason of the greatnesse and length This Cheuron declining to the earth made a great spoile then mounting into the ayre it was conuerted into a cercular forme IOB FINCET in his Collection of the maruells of our Time notes that in the yeare 1523. a Peasant of Hungary going a iourney with his Wagon was be-nighted and forced to lie in the fields attending the breake of day Hauing slept a while he awaked and goes out off his Wagon to walke looking vp into the ayre he did see the resemblance of two Princes fighting with their swords drawn one against an other One was of a
killed her selfe with a Knife A day after a Butcher was slaine in a quarrell and two villages were quite burnt The 15. day of the same moneth the Keeper of S. Katherins forrest was found dead being shotte through with an Harguebuse The 17. a Gold-smiths man falling into dispaire drowned himselfe The night following many were wounded to the death in the streete I had forgot to note that the same eleuenth day of Ianuary when the Heauens did open about Ausbourg there happened such a change in the aire about Mickhuse in Bauicre and so great a light appeared in the night as it did obscure the light of Candles in their shops and houses so as for three houres space those which would worke had no need of any other light then that of Heauen Some moneths after the Heauens began to open in another part of Swau◅e out of the which there proceeded such aboundance of fire as many were striken dombe with feare there were some villages and small Townes burnt and quite ruined They did also see in the ayre certaine resemblances of Camels the which deuoured armed men In diuers dayes and moneths of the same yeare 1556. were obserued other apparitions as in February in the County of Bats there were seene in the ayre armies of foote and horse the which did incounter together furiously In September ouer a little Towne in the Marquisate of Branaebourg called Custerin about nine of the clocke at night they did see infinite flames of fire comming out of the ayre and in the middest two great burning Cheurons In the ende there was a voice heard crying Miserie Miserie vnto the Church Wee haue sayd before that in the yeare 1536. there had beene seene in the ayre in Spaine a Combate of two young men VVLFGANG STRANCH of Nuremberg writes that in the yeare 1556. ouer a Towne in Hungarie the which he calles Babatcha there was seene the 6. of October a little before Sunne rising the resemblance of two naked boyes fighting in the ayre with Cymiters in their hands and Targets vpon their armes Hee which carryed a spred Eagle vpon his shield did charge the other which carryed a Cressant so furiously as it seemed the body being wounded in many places did fall from the Heauen to the Earth At the same time and in the same place was seene a Raine-bow with his accustomed colours and at the end thereof two Sunnes Not farre from Ausbourg there was seene in the ayre a Combate betwixt a Beare and a Lion in December the same yeare And at Wittenberg in Saxony the 6. of the same moneth three Sunnes and a crooked clowd marked with blew and red stretcht forth like vnto a bowe the Sunne shewing pale and sad betwixt the Paralies or seeming Sunnes foure moneths before three Sunnes had beene seene betwixt Euschoin and Basill Touching the significations of all these apparitions I will not meddle with them Since that yeare many are obserued in diuerse climates of the world especially in Europe other wonders in the ayre euen vnto this present age whereof wee may make mention in other Bookes At this time we doe onely represent that which CONRADVS LICOSTHENE hath collected IOB FINCET MARC FRYTSCH and many others in his great volume De Prodigijs et Ostentis As for Comets showers of bloud prodigious hayle and other wonders of Heauen we will speake of them in their proper places Of some that haue lost all appetite of drinking and eating WE haue seene in some diseases the patients haue lost all appetite of eating and drinking in such sort as they tooke in a manner no sustenance Of this number was a Nunne in the couent of Saint Barbe at Delft who being falne sick of the Iaundise in the yeare 1562 continued in her bed six weekes together without eating or drinking All this time shee receiued no nourishment but some Kernells of Lymons the which she held in her mouth and did some-times suck The Father of this Couent led me thether not to minister Phisicke vnto her but to see her as a miracle by reason of her long abstinence but the next day after I had visited her she dyed That which I will adde is more worthy of admiration In the same Towne of Delft being accompanied by a Surgian I did visit a certaine sicke maide of seauen twenty yeares old a halfe it was in May 1556. after the age of sixteene yeares she had neuer come out of her bed hauing eaten euery day since that time but a little morcell of dried Cheese as her keeper had protested neither was it possible to make her swallow any liquor and yet she pist sufficiently she went not to the stoole but once in eight dayes More-ouer she was borne blind she fell to be full of the dropsie at the age of twenty yeares but this water vanished away and then shee had a sound in her belly like the noise of liue Frogges in great abondance accompanied with a strange rising and falling of her bellie so as do I what I could laying my hand vpon her belly it was heaued vp This motion did increase at the full Moone with great paines as also at the flowing of the Sea but at the wane of the Moone and the ebbing of the Sea shee found some ease This motion continued with her seauen yeares and euery tenth weeke shee had her Termes as her keeper did confesse vnto me Strange Appetites THere is no man almost liuing which knoweth not some particular Histories of the extraordinary appetites of certaine women with child for the which the learned Phisitions giue a reason We will report some Examples to incite the reader entring into the cōsideration of them and others that he shall call to minde to honor GOD in so many wonders without naming in particular the diuers sorts of these Appetites which are as variable as the countenances conditions of women that be with child I haue seene one who longing to bite a yong man by the nape of the necke and for that she had forborne a little to satisfie her furious desire she begā to feele gripings and exteame paine in her belly She therfore like a desperate woman leapes vpon this yong man gets hold of the nape of his necke and bites him so sore as he thought to haue died of it L. Viues in his Comment vpon the 7. Chap. de Cituit dei Chap. 25. My Mother bearing mee in her wombe an Appetit tooke her to eate Creueses She sent sodenly to seeke some and being impatient to haue them washt and made cleane she began to eate them rawe and aliue vntil that she had satisfied her desire Trincauelle lib. 7. Chap. 5. Of the meanes to cure diseases in mans body A Woman of Nisues beeing with Child and seeing a young man a Fuller of cloth bare legged shee came so neere him as with her teeth she laies hold of one of his Legges and carries away a peece of it He was content shee should vse
by CORNAX confirmes them by another very admirable of ALBVCASIS a Physition and Chirurgion the which I will discribe here although it bee ancient hoping that this digression shall not be vnpleasing I haue seene sayd hee in the second booke of his Surgerie a woman in whose wombe a Childe being dead conceiued of another the which also dyed there long after there did rise a swelling at her Nauell the which was opened and yeelded corrupt matter I was called and did looke to her long yet could I not strengthen it although I did apply strong attractiues and manie bones came forth one after another the which did amaze me knowing that there are no bones in the bellie Making therefore a search of all I found they were the little bones of a dead Child so as after I had drawne forth many I cured her yet the Vlcer did alwayes sweat forth some-thing ALEXANDER BENOIST a Physition of our time in his practise in the Treatie of the difficultie of Child-bearing reportes the like History to that of ALEVCASIS In the Suburbes of Sully vpon Loire MARGVERITE PREVOST wife to PETER DORET a Milner being apparantly with Childe and come to her time not able to be deliuered not-with-standing any helpe of her women she grew by little and little so extreamely sicke and so great by reason of the Childe and other things that were putrefied that besides the generall swelling of all the bellie about the eight or ninth moneth shee had a particular swelling about her Nauell seeming to be a soft Impostume red and readie to breake the which Maister ITIER GALLEMENT a Surgion did open with an actuall Corosiue on New-yeares daie in the yeare 1550. The next day at her second dressing beeing desirous to knowe the reason of certaine haires which shewed them selues at the Orifice I found that it was the head of a Childe rotting which hee drew out at the opening with the rest of the bodie which was knowne to bee a female Shee was soone cured and after the death of the sayd DORET shee married againe and liued helth-fully 27. yeares after and then died of a flux in the yeare 1577. Shee had no Children neither before nor after FR ROVSSET in his Treatie of the Caesarien section M. I. HOVLIER in the ende of the first Tome of his Booke intitled Of inward diseases sayeth that a woman at Paris had a Child who for fifteene daies before that it was borne had an arme sticking out at her Nauell and yet she remained aliue and so did the Child she did not set downe howe shee was deliuered nor by what part neither whether shee had any Childe afterwards the which would haue deserued a relation as well for the theorike as the practise Without doubt it could not be without some great vlcer in the matrix although the Childe were not afterwards drawne forth belowe On the otherside it is a verie strange thing that a Childe could be so liuely in that estate hauing made such worke in the matrix and in that which wrapt him in the which hee had past through aboue with his arme for otherwise it could not be In the same treatie I haue learned of Mounsieur BVNOT a learned Physition to the most famous Princes ANTOINETTE of Bourbon Douager of Guise that shee had often told him that some time before her marriage beeing twentie yeares of age and yet bred vp vnder her Mother she did see beeing in a Church at la Fere in Picardie that they presented vnto her Mother a young sick creature pale weake swelled and so strangely tormented with paine as they knew not what to say to it nor what to hope of it The Princesse hauing caused her to bee visited by certaine Midwiues descouered what it was that this greeuious sicke creature whome they held to bee a very pure Virgin had a Childe conceiued in her and shee beeing great it had beene long dead and rotten in her bodie whereof not withstanding shee was soone cured and liued very long after in good and perfect helth In the same Treatie BARBARA FHIRER remayning at Zupfring in the Bayle-wike of Bremgarten in Suisserland beeing conceiued of her third Childe and readie to bee deliuered was in labour eight daies together with great greefe and paine and not deliuered In the ende not able to endure anie more shee remayned altogither in her bedde then there appeered vnto her vpon her bellie aboue the Nauell a bladder of the bignesse of a hazell nut the which had put her to exceeding great paine for three daies together and in the ende at her instant request it was peerced and opened by a certaine neighbour of hers vsing an aule to that ende The bladder being opened and growne large by reason of the swelling of the bellie presently that which inclosed the Childe appeered They called IOHN BOVRGOIS a Surgion who hauing consulted with the Midwiues with their common consents made such an incision with his rasor as one of the Childes elboes came forth and shewed it selfe the Surgion takes hold of it with pincers for the nonce and drawes the Childe out whole by this breach but dead and halfe rotten The Mother hauing suffred no greater harme then some light fayntings during the operation The wound beeing cured according to the precepts of Surgerie so that within three-weekes shee was set on foote not without great discommodity for that shee was forced to vse a great rowle continually and not able to stand vp but with meruelious great paine so as after two yeares shee died GASPAR BAVHIN in the addition to the History of the Caesarien deliuery A Country woman being with Childe and come to the 8. moneth beeing vpon the waie to goe to the market at Sancerre was cast by her horse and fell against a stone of this fall she continued 24. houres without speaking or moouing The next day she had a sharpe feuer accōpanied with very violent accidents as ordynary faynting vomyting and idlenesse of the braine They did purge her let her bloud and applyed what they could to temper the heate of this great feauer After a moneth shee had a swelling neeere vnto the Nauell as bigge as ones fist That beeing opened there came forth a great quantitie of corruption and then prittie bigge peeces of rotten flesh and in the ende the bones of the Infant which shee bare Hauing had this wound ten monethes in the end shee was cured but yet shee continued barren Some thinke that if shee had beene helpt by a dissection in the bellie the Child might haue beene saued N. NAVRICE in the comment vpon the 1. booke of Hippocrates of womens diseases Text. 3. A fleming hauing her Childe dead in her bodie could not be deliuered so as it did rotte within her notwithstanding any remedies that were applied to make her voide the peeces In the ende she her selfe borrowed a Surgions instrument called a Cranes Bill with the which shee her selfe pulled out the bones of this Child being rotten
aduertised the Bishop of Guattimall how they had heard a meruailous strange noyse at the foote of the Mountaine adioyning to the Cittie The Bishop sent them away and told them it was nothing but illusions But an houre after midnight an inundation of waters began to rush out at the bottom of the mountaine and to disgorge it selfe on the plaine with such fury that it caried away whole rocks of an incredible thicknesse These waters rouling along cast downe all that they encountred Amidst the which nothing was heard but fearfull cries in the ayre there were some that marked a black Cow amōg the waues which went in out doing much mischiefe The first house ouer-whelmed by this deluge was ALVARADOES where perished BEATRICE his widdow with all such as accompanied her in an Oratory where she was at her deuotions Instantly after the Towne was buried in the waters Some sixe score persons men and women were drowned They which gott away at the beginning of the noyse escaped When the waters were fallen the Spaniards were found hauing their armes and legges all cut and mangled I will adde this one worde How a little girle which ALVARADO had begotten on an Indian carryed away with the rest by the floud was found a good way from the Towne safe and vn-hurt in any part of her body I. BENZO in his History of the new world Booke 2. Chap. 17. For to returne againe into Europe it is not long agoe saith Doct. PHILIP CAMERARIVS that my brother called IOACHIM comming out of Hesse tolde me this which ensueth I sawe a Boy said he in the Landgraue WILLIAMS Court that was both dumbe and deafe but so witty that I could not meruaile sufficiently at his dexteri◅ie to performe all that hee was willed to doe for by the onely twinckling of an eye hee vnderstood what-so-euer the Prince and others meant the Landgraue seeing mee to wonder so at it sayd vnto mee See you this dumbe boy all that euer happens eyther here in my Court or in the Towne if hee can come to haue neuer so little inckling of it he presently acquaints mee very cunningly with it by his signes But I will tell you further for a notable History of GODS iustice His Mother accused of theft seeing no other meane to escape had recourse to imprecations and because she was then big with this child for to adde more credit to her words shee made this imprecation That if the matter were true which shee was charged with shee prayed GOD that the Childe where-with-all shee went might neuer speake but continue dumbe as long as it liued Her imprecations discouered her hauing ioyned periurie to theft PH. CAMERARIVS in the 86. Chap. of his Historicall meditations Not long since it happened that a certaine Gentleman our neighbour vexing his poore tenants with imprecations and curses constrained them to build his Castle In driuing them to worke he ordinarily called them his Dogges Before the building was finished hee fell sick and continuing his imprecations and curses GOD so repressed him that he became speechlesse and when I wrote this History hee could not pronounce any one word distinctly but barked like a Dog The same Another example no lesse memorable happened not long agoe in a Princes Court here-by where a certaine Gentleman being charged with many iniurious wordes spoken at randon for to couer the matter and to perswade that the accusation was false hee began to protest and sweare adding that he desired of GOD if hee had vsed any such speeches to shew some token on him euen at that very instant or if GOD would not that then the Diuill would Presently vpon these words and other such like imprecations hee fell downe flatte on his face being so grieuously taken with the falling siknesse which hee had neuer felt before that after hee had tormented and beaten himselfe against the ground where hee laye foming at the mouth like one halfe dead he was carried to a Chamber there continued very sick in the yeare 1591. when I collected this Historie being iustly punished for his rashnesse impious imprecation The same IOHN WIER in his workes of the Diuels impostures recites a memorable History which happened at Guclders about the yeare 1575. A Captaine bearing Armes for the King of Spaine being marryed to an honest Gentlewoman whom he entreated most vnworthily vnderstanding that she was with child began to make imprecations against her and to say I will stab this little Diuell which thou hast in thy belly Not long after shee was deliuered of a Sonne which from the hipps downeward was very well shaped but the vpper part was all couered ouer with redde and blacke spottes the eyes stood in the fore-head it had a round and black hideous mouth and long eares like a bloud-hound with two little crooked hornes on the crowne of the head which became as redde as bloud assoone as they were touched PLATO writes in his 7. Booke of Lawes that there is nothing more to be feared then the Fathers cursses against the Childe The contrary is to be wished of all good children It is a singular testimony of GODS fauour to such as lawfully desire and purchase their Father and Mothers ◅sing The same Maister ANDREVV HONSDORF in his Theater of examples on the 4. commandement propoundeth certaine Histories to the purpose wherof we entreat which I will briefly touch Another dwelling in the Duchie of Saxony carried a Daughter of hers that was possessed of the Diuell to Wittenberg for to receiue some reliefe and to commend her to the prayers of the Church She confessed that this affliction came vpon her Daughter one day when being in an anger she had made an imprecation wishing the Diuel would possesse her as incontinently he did Being caried on a time into the Church as the congregatiō were in praier for her a learned personage hearing certaine fu◅ies of the euill spirit sayd vnto him O Satan the Lord rebuke thee The spirit imediatly answered let him rebuke me let him rebuke me and then held his peace At Friburg in Misnia it fortuned that a Father being in a mighty rage with a Sonne he had that dispatched not some-thing so soone as he would haue had him began to say would to GOD thou mightst neuer stirre frō the place where thou art It was no sooner sayd then done for suddainly the Sonne remained as it were fastned and nailed to the place where as he stood and could not bee remooued by any strength or deuise whatsoeuer And because he could neither bowe nor bend his body for to sit they set a stay behinde his back to ease him Hauing continued in this estate three whole yeares togither GOD hearing the prayers which were made for this poore Child permitted that he could sit and stoupe and th◅n rise againe In this manner he continued foure other yeares more leane of face eating very little and speaking but seldome Being asked at any time how he felt himselfe his
is newe or strange vnto them I knowe one whom I doe not name for great considerations who besides the admirable knowledge hee hath of diuers Languages and sciences remembers the meanest things that hee hath seene in diuers Countries euen the names of Men Citties Townes Villages and Hamlets marking the circumstances of infinit things so as if anie one did put him into discourse of any Towne where hee had not beene these fiue and twentie or thirtie yeares hee will speake of all the particularities thereof more exactlie then hee that had continued there for the space of fiftie yeares togither and neuer come forth I will not speake of many great and excellent memories in France Italie and else where contenting my selfe with this for the present whereof some other time will shew other admirable obseruations Memorie lost and recouered againe A Siennois named ANTHONY being recouered of a great sicknesse found his memorie to faile him in such sort as he could not remēber any thing Being at Florence hee thought himselfe to be at Sienna neither could he discerne his friendes from his enemies Beeing abandoned of the Physitions as a madde-man after three weekes he had a great fl◅x whereby hee purged himselfe of strange humors the infectious vapors whereof had toucht the faculties of the spirit By meanes of which euacuation he recouered his vnderstanding and memorie so as hee remembred not what had chanced vnto him nor what hee had done during those three weekes A. BENIVENIVS Chapter 47. I haue seene a Friar who cured of a violent ague which had tormented him lost his memorie so as hee who before was a great Diuine did not now knowe A nor B. Hauing continued foure monthes in this estate he went to the Childrens Schole learning to knowe his letters This began to applie diuers remedies vnto him by the helpe whereof hee sodenly recouered his memorie so as hee shewed himselfe as learned as before his sicknesse CHRISTOPHER de VEGA Booke 3. of the arte of Physick Chap. 10. FRANCISQVO BARBARO a learned Venetian did in his old age forget the Greeke tongue in the which hee was very learned yet notwithstanding his Iudgement was good and his spirit perfect to write or dictate BASSIAN LANDVS lib. 1. of the History of man The same man beeing to make an oration before the Duke of Milan was at a non-plus hauing for-gotten what he intended to say RAPHAEL VOLATERRANVS Book 21. of his Anthropologia GEORGE TRAPEZONCE a very learned Greeke beeing growne olde hee forgot all that hee had knowne before The same Author Monsieur RONDELET a learned Physition in our time did report that a young man studying at Montpellier going throught the streetes in the night met with disordred fellowes which liued by spoile who thrust with a rapier at his bodie and hurt him very sore in the eye By the care of the Physitions and Surgions he was cured but hee fell into so great a forgetfullnesse of artes and sciences and especially of the facultie of Physicke in the which hee was well aduanced as hee remembred not any thing whatsoeuer so as they were faine to vse him like a Child of seauen yeares old setting him againe to his A B C. THOMAS IOVRDAN Chap. 2. of the 2. treatise of Signes of the plague I haue knowne an ancient man in France which spake good French and Latin plaied excellently well of the Lute and that was verie actiue at all exercises of the bodie and handled his weapon well through a sicknesse he was so depriued of all these things as hee did not remember the names of them neither yet had any habilitie in him no more then a yong Child and so were they faine to vse him and to set him to Schole againe as one that knewe nothing T. DAMIAN Chap. 13. of his Theorie of Physick GONSALVE GILLES of Bourgos a learned Diuine a Spaniard had in his time one of the happiest memories in the world the which notwithstanding hee lost wholie by a greeuious sicknesse into the which hee fell at his returne from Paris into Spaine ALVAR GOMECIO Booke 4. of the Historie of Cardinall XIMINES A certaine man beeing sore hurt in the head and with some difficultie cured at the ende of three monethes lost the remembrance of all that had happened vnto him FERNELIVS Booke 2. of his Panthologia Chap. 5. Father fertill in his ofspring IN the memory of our Fathers there was seene a village in Spaine of about a hundred houses whereof all the Inhabitants were issued from one certaine olde man which then did liue when as that village was so peopled so as the name of consanguinitie ascending and descending as well in the direct as the collaterall line fayled to shewe and distinguish howe the little Children should call him L. VIVES in his comentarie vpon the 8. Chap. of the 15. Booke of the Citty of GOD. Mothers fertill in Lignage issued from them IN Saint Innocents Church-yard in the Cittie of Paris is to bee seene the Epitaph of YOLAND BALLY widdowe to M. DENIS CAPEL a Proctor at the Chastelet which doth shewe that shee had liued foure score and eight yeares and might haue seene 288. of her Children and Childrens Children shee dyed the 17. of Aprill 1514. Imagine howe much she had beene troubled to call them by a proper denomynation that were distant from her in the fourth and fift degree E. PASQVIER Booke 6. of his Recerches of France Chap. 46. In our time there was a Lady of the noble family of the DALBOVRGS who saw of her race euen to the 6. degree The Germains haue made a Latin Distichon of it thus 1. Mater ait 2. Natae Dic. 3. Nata filia 4. Natam Vt moneat 5. Natae plangere 6. ◅iliolam That is to say The Mother said to her Daughter Daughter bid thy Daughter tell her Daughter that her Daughters Daughter cryes This is recited and written by Maister THEODORE ZVINGGER a Physition at Basil in the 3. volume of his Theater of Mans life lib. 11. Vigorous Mothers A Woman hauing had a continuall vomiting of bloud for the space of seauen whole moneths conceiued not-with-standing and was deliuered of a goodly Boye and a lustie A certaine other woman beeing with Childe had her Termes orderly and in greater aboundance then before her conception they continued vntill her lying in and yet they were no hinderance to her happye deliuerie More-ouer I haue seene one neere vnto GREVENBROVCH who beeing neere to her deliuerie had her Termes extraordinarilye voyding congealed bloud in great cloddes yet shee escaped well with her fruite R. SOLENANDER lib. 5. of his Councells Chap. 15. art 36. 38. 39. Mother and Children preserued from death IN the yeare 1564. about tenne or twelue daies after Easter diuers persons of the Towne of Ast did crosse the Riuer which passeth along the Towne in a boate the Water beeing very deepe and broade the boate being in the middest of the Riuer it beganne to leane on the
vnto Forly where as hee past all that day in terrible discourses and agitations of the minde as euery one may coniecture Returning late and finding the doores shut he lay vpon a dunghill vntill daie-light In the morning hee enters goes and hides him-selfe in a Carpenters house where he continued sixe whole monethes Without any bookes or conference with any man He liued a good while after quite changed from what he was carelesse of the true or false religion and died miserably BARTHELM◅VVE of Bolognia in his life In the yeare 1552. ALDANA a Spaniard Lieutenant to King FERDINAND in the warre of Hongarie going to the seege of Segedin he committed FIGVEROA a Spanish Captaine to the gards of boates at the passage of a Riuer named Tisse who hauing newes of ALDANAS shamefull flight vpon a vaine feare did as his Commander and hauing left the passage he studied howe to make his retreat Soone afterwardes beeing in rage against himselfe for his error hee resolued to kill him-selfe the which his rider did hinder all hee could but FIGVEROA beeing determined to doe the deede hee intreated his ryder to staie for him vnder a tree whilest that hee went to vntrusse a pointe His man who had taken his armes from him obeyed him in the rest But beeing at his ease vnder the tree hee fell a sleepe attending his Maister FIGVEROA approching softly vnto him stoole awaie a pistoll where-with hee slue him-selfe vpon the place ASCANIVS CENTVRIVS Booke 4. of his Hi◅torie of the warre of Transiluania The Venetians hauing beene defeated at Guiaraddade by King LEVVIS the twelfth the foureteene daie of May 1509 and then spoyled of most of that which they held vpon the maine land being amazed at their Losses and fearing least the King should proceede with his victories their affaires in their owne opinions beeing reduced to the extremity the feare which they had conceiued was so violent as without any good consideration of them-selues or aduice their companies being retired to a place called Mestre lyuing at discretion without anie military discipline they resolued to quit the Seigneurie of the firme Lande that they might haue no more the Emperor King nor Pope for their enemies as before they had as also to take all occasion from the King of approching to Venise They feared some tumult also in the Cittie by the people or by the great multitude of Strangers that did inhabit there these for the desire of spoile and those because they would not endure seeing they were borne in the same C◅ttie and many of the same bloud and famely to see themselues depriued of honors and publicke charges and to be in a manner subiect to the Gentlemen in all things To increase their despaier and want of courrage this reason was yet alledged in the Senat that if they did willingly abandon and quit the Seigneury to flie the present dangers good fortune returning they should recouer it the more easily for that the people which had bin voluntarily seperated from them would make no so great resistance not to returne vnder the obedience of their ancient Lords as if they had beene deuided by a manifest rebellion By these reasons the Venetian generositie was layed vnder foote with the greatnesse of that glorious Common-weale beeing content to retaine onelie the salt Waters they sent Commissions to their Magistrates and officers that were in Padoua Verona and other Townes appointed by the atticles of the League to the Emperour MAXIMILIAN commanding them to depart presently and to leaue them in the peoples power Moreouer to the ende they might obtaine a peace of MAXIMILIAN at what price and with what conditions soeuer they sent vnto him with great speede ANTHONY IVSTINIAN for Ambassador who hauing a publicke audience hee made a pittifull oration and with great submission but it was in vaine for the Emperor refused to make any accord without the King with whome the Venetians would not by anie meanes treate This Oration you may reade at large in GVICIHARDIN the which doth shewe as appeeres by the Annotations in the margent the basenesse of man-kinde which aduersitie doth laie open and shewe what it is that is to say wretched in euery sort and that when as mans eloquence is amazed his discouses are Childish and full of importunate and insupportable fllaterie To conclude in all the Venetians submissions who yeelded themselues as it were with halters about their neckes to one that could not greatly releeue them wee see daiely the fruites of feare which subiects all polliticke States as well as priuate persons to base actions and the soueraig◅e Iudge abating the power of their seates and confounding the greatest and wisest wittes of this worlde FR. GVICHIARDIN Booke 8. Sect. 7. 8. 9. In that famous Battaile of Pauia in the yeare 1524. IOHN DIESPACH Colonell of the Suisses seeing his Battay lion charged and put to route by the Marquis of Guast generall of the Imperiall foote hauing made no fight and that neither with words nor with his sword he could make their enseignes turne againe hee was so opprest with greefe as hee resolued to haue no share in this infamous retreate Where-vpon hee runnes desperatlie among the enemies and their fighting valiantly dyed like a worthie Commaunder in the Warre P. IOVIVS in the life of the Marquis of Pescara liber 16. POMPERANT a French Gentleman seeing Auerse taken by the troupes of the Emperor CHARLES the 5. being amazed at this inconuenience lifting vp his eyes to Heauen and oppressed with extreame sorrowe he fell downe to the Earth and so died with his eyes open notwithstanding any remedies that could bee applied vnto him P. IOVIVS lib 26. of his Histories ZEANGER Sonne to SVLTAN SOLYMAN seeing vpon the ground the body of his Brother MVSTAPHA who had beene strangled with a bowe-string by the Fathers commandement in the presence of this Parricide ◅ee pulled out his poynard and after some reproches slue himselfe ASCANIVS CENTORIVS Booke 6. of the warres of Transiluania ALPHONSO ALBVGVERGVE Lieutenant for the King of Portugal at the East-Indies hauing about the yeare 1514. setled Gouernors in Malaca to administer Iustice to merchants being two noblemen of the Country the one called NINACHETVEN the other VTERIMVTA◅AIA a while after he changed his opinion and intreated NINACHETVEN to resigne his dignity to giue it to an other Noble-man that was King of Campar which is a little kingdom in those Coūtries towards the South NINACHETVEN vnderstanding that they were gone tofetch this petty King to install him in his place resolued with himselfe not to endure to bee so degraded Hee therefore caused a high Scaffold to be built supported by certaine Pillers hung with Tapistry and beautified with Flowers and store of Persumes This done hee put on a roabe of cloth of gold all couered with precious Stones being thus appointed he came into the streete and went vp the staires vnto the Scaffold There was belowe a pile of sweete Wood orderly laide and kindled
the Spaniards who afterwards slue one another spoiled the Land to enrich the Sea as their owne Histories do confesse When as the Emperor made warre against the Princes of Germaine a rich Gentleman turned the chanell of a Riuer which past by his Castle and in a deepe ditch in the sayd chanell hid all that he had of any value and then brought the Riuer to his accustomed course yet the Spaniards discouered this Treasure of them-selues they turned the water and found out all then digging farther they found other goods but almost all was consumed in processe of time PHILIP CAMERARIVS Chap. 63. of his Meditations King PHILIP the last deceased being after a peace made with HENRY the 2. King of France imbarked in the lowe Countries with a great number of ships to be the sooner in Spaine and with him all the riche Iewels that the Emperor CHARLES the 5. his Father had gathered together in Italy and Germany during his prosperous victories with the rich hangings and other stately things made with great charge in Flanders euen as hee arriued in the Port of Saint Iames in Galicia there did â—…ise so great a storme that of all that stately furniture gathered together with so great toyle and time nothing came to a safe port but the Sea was heire to all this riche Treasure in sight of the Spaniards who were in great heauinesse And as for King Philip this torment spared him as little for he had scarse put his foote into an other barke when as the ship in which he went sunke into the Sea so great was the furie of the windes Historie of FRANCIS the 2. The Treasures brought from the Indies in golde siluer Pearles Precious stones and riche Marchandise with-in these hundred yeares are almost innumerable What the fruites haue beene I referre my selfe vnto the Reader It is a subiect for a whole Booke where-of the conclusion shall be All is made vanitie and pernicious in many kindes Traitors punished AMong other strong places which the Turkes haue taken in Hungary from the Christians we may name Alba Iulia the which was yeelded vp by that Traitor LADISLAVS LEREZIN who commanded there in the name of MAXIMILIAN the Emperour in the beginning of Iune in the yeare 1566. although he had beene aduertised that within two dayes he should bee releeued The place beeing yeelded by composition first the Turkes cut all the Soldiers throates except some few which saued them-selues pollitikely As for LADISLAVS he was carryed bound hand and foote to SELIM and accused that hee had cruelly slaine some Turkish prisoners for the which hee was condemned by SELIM and deliuered to his accusers to vse as they pleased They therefore put him into a great Pipe stickt full of long Nailes and then rowled him downe from a high Mountaine so as the Nailes ranne through him and hee dyed in horrible Torments His Sonne partaker of his Treason dyed miserably without meanes and abandoned of all men hauing sold all his lands and his goods and wickedly consumed what he had I. LEONCLAIVS in the supply of the Annales of Turky SOLYMAN father to SELIM did cruelly put to death the soldiers of the garrison of Buda who had forced their Captaine to yeeld that impregnable Fort vnto the Turkes As for the Captaine he was preserued honored A traytor in the Towne of Rhodes did many seruices vnto SOLIMAN vpon a promise to haue one of SOLIMANS daughters in mariage The Iland Towne being wone he presented him selfe to SOLIMAN who caused him to be fleid aliue saying that he was a Christian and that he pretended to marry a Turkish wife they must therefore take off his old skinne Being thus flayed they laide him vpon a bed all couered with Salt where he dyed in vnspeakable torments CAMERARIVS in his Historicall Meditations Chap. 7. Earthquakes THE yeare one thousand fiue hundreth and eight at two of the clock on a wednesday morning the earth began to quake in such manner at Constantinople that diuers Steeples fell downe the Chimneys tumbled to the ground the walles crackt in sunder and many stately buildings were ouer-throwne with the ruines whereof a great number of persons were slaine No Man knew where to saue him-selfe The people running out of their houses gotte into large voide places and Gardens so to escape all danger For the Earth-quake lasted all that morning without intermission and continued forty dayes after in such sort that one might easily feele and discerne it euery houre Annales of Turkie published by I. LEONCLAIVS Doctor GARCEVS in his Meteorologie briefly describes 163. Earth-quakes mentioned in Histories before after the comming of our Sauiour vnto the yeare 1564. We will present that which he speaketh of those of our time following the scope of this our collection of Histories Vpon the 14. day of September 1509. an horrible Earth-quake so shooke the Cittie of Constantinople for the space of eighteene dayes that all the walles towards the Sea and all the houses adioyning were quite ouerthrowne Ditches filled vp with the ruines The Castle was throwne downe where the Turke layes his treasure together with his fiue Towers and the Palace where-as the Lyons are kept In like manner all the conduits that conuey water from Danubius to Constantinople were shaken and spoiled The straight of the Sea betweene the Cittie and the Towne of Pera moued in such manner that the water flashed ouer the walles on eyther side The Custome-house was cleane ouer-turned into the Water Thirteene thousand persons were slaine with ruines in Earthquake The yeare following almost all Italy was shaken with diuerse reiterated Earth-quakes The yeare 1517. an Earth-quake in Germanie ouer-threwe two thousand houses and Granges at Nordlingen and there-about All Portugall was shaken the yeare 1531. Fifteene hundreth fayre great Houses were ouer-throwne in the Cittie of Lisbon and almost all the Churches fell downe This Earth-quake endured eight dayes and seauen or eyght times a day shooke the Cittie exceedingly Also the ground opened in many places whence issued a contagious ayre that engendred a Plague which carryed awaye an exceeding multitude of people Two yeares after there was an Earth-quake at Tergow in Zwitzerland which turned a pritty bigge Riuer from his course where-into it entred not againe till it had vnder-mined and ouer throwne a little Hill that hemmed it in Presently there-vpon the Towne of Basill was shaken very sore with three seuerall Earth quakes in lesse then a moneth In the yeare 1537. the Country of Pouzol was so forely shaken with Earth-quakes for the space of twenty moneths and aboue that not an edifice remained whole and entire But toward the end of September in the yeare following this Earth-quake began againe with such vehemencie and with-out discontinuing eyther night or day that the Sea reculed two hundreth paces backe where-vpon ensued the taking of a huge quantity of Fish The 30. day of the same moneth a great continent of land betweene the foote of