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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67363	The tragical history of Jetzer, or A faithful narrative of the feigned visions, counterfeit revelations, and false miracles of the Dominican fathers of the covent of Berne in Switzerland, to propagate their superstitions for which horrid impieties, the prior, sub-prior, lecturer, and receiver of the said covent were burnt at a stake, Anno Dom. 1509 / collected from the records of the said city by the care of Sir William Waller, Knight ; translated from his French copy by an impartial pen ...	Waller, William, Sir, d. 1699.; Impartial pen.	1679 (1679)	Wing W548; ESTC R18749	85,978	50

THE Tragical History OF JETZER OR A Faithful Narrative of the Feigned Visions Counterfeit Revelations and False Miracles of the Dominican Fathers of the Covent of Berne in Switzerland to Propagate their SVPERSTITIONS For which Horrid Impieties the Prior Sub-Prior Lecturer and Receiver of the said Covent were Burnt at a Stake Anno Dom. 1509. COLLECTED From the RECORDS of the said City by the Care of Sir WILLIAM WALLER Knight Translated from his French Copy by an Impartial Pen and now made Publick for the Information of English Protestants who may hence Learn that Catholicks will stick at no Villames which may Advance their Designs nor at any Perjuries that may Conceal them WITH AN EPISTLE Wherein are some soft and gentle Reflections upon the Lying Dying-Speeches of the JESVITES lately Executed at TYBVRN LONDON Printed for Nathanael Ponder at the Peacock in the Poultrey M.DC.LXXIX The PREFACE Reader IF thou hast taken a Surfeit with too liberal feeding upon the late nauseous Pamphlets perhaps this Novel season'd with Delight and Profit may awaken and revive thy Languishing Appetite A Narrative whose Truth as far transcends the modest Faith of Protestants to believe as the now-despaired Ingenuity of Papists to acknowledge For the former cannot easily suspect those Horrid Impieties should harbour in the Breasts of others to which they were never conscious in their own And the latter can never want Confidence to deny those Villanies which they had the Malice to contrive and project I do not obtrude this story upon the belief of the World on my single Credit but can produce the whole State of Berne to attest it The Authentick Certificate of Salvator de Meligotis Publick Notary to his Holiness the Pope and his Highness the Emperour to avouch it with the Records of the Executions of the Principal Actors in this Tragedy to confirm it Nor can I fore-see what may Reasonably be Objected against its Credit which being admitted would not equally shake the Repute of all History Our Modern Catholicks 't is true have a Catholick Answer ready cut and dried to all Indictments drawn up against them grounded upon Matters of Fact a short flat and peremptory Denial And as when they slander stoutly they hope some dirt will stick upon the most Innocent So when they deny valiantly do hope some dirt will rub off when it 's dry from the most peccant 'T is no longer than since the first Discovery of the late present Plot that a Catholick Gentleman avow'd it to a Person of Honour here in Town that the Massacre in Ireland was not made by the Papists upon Protestants but that whatever our Records say or our Eyes saw to the contrary the Cruel Hereticks Butcher'd the Innocent Catholicks And all this he Asserted with such earnestness as almost storm'd the Belief of that Honourable Personage so great is the Advantage the Impudent have over the Modest in contests of this Nature managed before the Vulgar that loud Vociferation supplies the place of Evident Demonstration Casaubon assures us that in his Time when the Powder Plot was fresh in every Mans memory when the Witnesses were alive the Jesuites bore him down that the whole was a meer trick of State to render their Cause odious to the People and their Persons obnoxious to the Laws And therefore desired him at his coming for England to assure King James That their Sacred Order had a marvellous Veneration for His Majesties Person and Government Wonder not then if Father Gavan in his Dying or rather Lying speech thus boasted That that Wise and Victorious King Henry the fourth of France the Royal Grand-father of our present Gracious King in a Publick Oration which he pronounced in Defence of the Jesuites Declared that he was very well satisfied with the Jesuites Doctrine concerning Kings c. Yes no doubt he was very well satisfied when their Treasonable Practises had so clearly Commented upon the Text of their Equivocating Principles and he felt the Consecrated Dagger stick in his Royal Heart But however all true Protestants pray that His Majesty may be satisfied in their Doctrine at cheaper Rates I Question not but the Politick Prince knew how to sprinkle them with a little of their own Cheap Complemental Holy-water and could discern the ungracious knife in their Hands when nothing but Gracious Prince was in their Mouths for so do the Americans sometimes speak the Devil fair not out of love to him but for fear of a Mischief from him I should not therefore be at all surprized if in confutation of this Narrative they should bring over a score of well Instructed Young Boys yet Old Knaves to affirm and if need be to swear that Jetzer whom our Story places at Berne was all that while Resident at St. Omers and that they saw him every day for two or three Years together excepting those few he was in the Infirmary Dine at a Side-board Table by himself And if you Object that this was a hundred Years agoe they can be a hundred Years old in a moment when their Superiours please and the Cause requires it Nor would it stagger me should they swear by all that they have made or left Sacred that there never was such a Man in the World as John Jetzer but that he was as pure a Romantick Person as Sir Edmund-Bury Godfrey Only I would Humbly Advise these Gentlemen to lay the ends of their Lies a little closer together lest they ravel out and that they would walk by their own Old Celebrated Maxim Si non caste tamen caute To be a little more cautelous if not Consciencious for they that frisk and caper so nimbly in their Evidence will find Truth one time or other too nimble for them and perhaps trip up their heels That the Speeches of the lately Executed Jesuites made such deep Impressions on the Minds of some has created me no trouble yet I shall tell the Reader a great secret in his Ear provided he will keep it to himself That they that would seem to believe the Plot least do really believe it most And they that pretend to believe the Jesuites Speeches most do indeed believe them least They know better than we the Plot to be true the Speeches to be a Lye but it 's an ordinary Policy to let the Hue and Cry fall when the Officer that should spread it is the Person described by it They that plead so Zealously for the Merit of their Good Works are unwilling to receive according to the demerit of their bad ones and many that will claim an undeserved Heaven are more modest than to be Ambitious of a deserved Halter But there are a sort of well-meaning though less discerning Protestants who are unwilling to believe that any can be so far Debauch'd in Conscience as to assert an apparent falshood or deny a plain Truth in that great moment which is their last on this side Eternity and these are cumbred with such a large measure of mistaken

ibid. The Fathers obstinately deny all the objected crimes are commanded to the Rack The Lecturer first who undergoes the torture with incredible resolution as also the Prior and the Receiver to the wonder of all men ibid. The Lecturer is brought to the Rack a second time when he relents confesses the consults for managing the affair at Wimpten Basil and Berne and gives in all in writing onely in general terms ibid. He is Rackt again five times and put to extream torture with the Card and weight yet can they get no more of him p. 32 The Receiver being Rackt confesses his crimes and his Process drawn up ibid. The Provincial being partial withdraws The Prior was thrice Rackt yet obstinately denies all Jetzer and the Lecturer exhort him to free confession which he slights yet at the 3d. Racking he confesses somewhat ibid. The Bishop of Sions grave and pathetical Exhortation to the Prior and the rest of the Criminal Fathers to confess their faults works so effectuall upon the Prior as to make him confess the whole his process is finisht in seven sheets of paper p. 32 33 The Sub-prior holds out stoutly but when he was brought to the extreme torture he confesses all p. 33 The Procurator of the faith appears before the Judges and demands final sentence The Advocate of the Delinquents pleads the Nullity of the whole proceding and Appeals to his Holiness The Prior stands to the Appeal The rest submit The Judges accept the Appeal ibid. The Case is drawn up in order to the transmitting it to his Holiness ibid. The Original is sent to Rome a true Copy signed by the Publick Notaries is preserved at Berne ibid. The Revenews and Moveables of the Covent are put under Sequestration and the Magistrates of Berne refuse to give any more maintenance to the Covent ibid. The States dispatch Conrade Vimman to Rome fully instructed to prosecute the Cause and is recommended to several Cardinals for Expedition ibid. Great opposition is made against his Negotiation by the Protector of the Dominicans and the General of their Order p. 34 De Grassis is delegated by the Pope to hear and determine the depending Cause he arrives at Berne and all things being prepared Jetzer is summon'd who upon Oath confesses the particulars of the whole design ibid. The Fathers appear in open Court and have three Advocates assigned them ibid. The Lecturer is set to the bar who owns and enlarges his former confession ibid. The other three Fathers doe the same the Novice Megerlin escapes the process issued out against him by flight p. 35 The Sub-prior renounces his former confession but upon serious Exhortation ownes it and his process finisht p. 35 The names of the witnesses who gave in evidence against the persons accused ibid. The procurator of the faith demands final judgement against the prisoners who without further appeal beg mercy of God ib. Sentence of Deprivation is pronounced against the four Fathers and executed with all formalities and they are Deliver'd up to the Secular powers to receive such punishments as by the municipal Laws were due to their offences p. 36 Jetzer by the sentence of the Commissioners is condemned to perpetual banishment after he had been set in the pillory p. 37 The four Fathers are condemned by the Secular Magistrate to be burnt in pursuance whereof they are led to Execution ibid. The manner of their execution with all the formality thereof ib. The Accomplishment of an old prophecy which the Fathers had amongst themselves though not in a way agreeable to their expectations ibid. The civil Magistrate debate whether they should add any thing to the sentence of the Popes Commissioners touching Jetzer ibid. Jetzers mother finds means to visit him in prison she contrives his escape and accomplishes it by putting him into a womans apparrel p. 38 Jetzer marries and appears openly he is imprisoned at Baden the Magistrates send to Berne to know their pleasure they desire he may be banish't the Territories of the Cantons but Jetzer's death puts an end to all their Debates about him and was the Epilogue to the Tragedy of his life ibid. The Dominicans labour to deny the whole story as a devise of the Franciscans to render them odious ibid. The Conclusion of the work THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF JETZER POpe Sixtus the 4th who before his Election to the Papacy was of the Order of St. Francis having in favour of that Order confirmed the Opinion of their famous Scotus That the Virgin Mary was conceived without Original Sin and published great Pardons and Indulgences to all that should devoutly observe the Feast of the Immaculate Conception Decemb. 8th had so raised the Courage and pufft up the pride of these Monks that they let fly at the Dominican Fryers in their Writings and Preachings and in their common Discourses trampled them in the Mire upbraiding them that though they boasted themselves to be the Senior Fraternity of the Holy Rosary yet they ware in their Garland a stinking weed meaning their avowed Doctrine That the Virgin was conceived in Original Sin and so imperiously did they behave themselves that the poor despised Dominicans were forced to call and hold many Assemblies to consult how they might best obviate their encroachments shelter themselves from the affronts offered to them and wipe off those Aspersions which had been thrown upon them and their Doctrine And the rather because some of their Order had been accused for poysoning the Emperour Henry the 7th at Pisa He that was most netled amongst the Dominicans and therefore thought himself more especially concerned to Apologize on their behalf was Dr. Wigandus Divinity Reader of their Order at Frankfort A Person very learned as learning went in those dayes but withall of a haughty spirit and insupportably proud this Doctor therefore writes a Treatise wherein he Attacks the Franciscan Principles and dips his Pen so deep in Gall and Vinegar that he forbare not any that came in his way but le ts fly against them with biting invectives He was forthwith cited to Rome to answer his rude treating of an Order so Sacred in its self and so dear to his Holiness The Doctor that he might extricate himself with Honour from that Labyrinth into which his precipitancy had brought him and for the more plausible justification of what he had written prevails with Dr. Peter Siber Provincial of their Order at Vlm to call a Chapter at Wimpten which in the year 1506. was there held where appeared a considerable number of those fathers who agreed unanimously to take Wigandus into their protection and in pursuance of their Agreement printed an Apology in favour of his Treatise a Copy of which each of the Fathers at his return took along with him to gratifie and satisfie their private friends the rest of the Impression being sold up and down Germany and past amongst them for a precious piece being the Result of the Wit and Learning of that Assembly During

thanks to all the Religious in this Covent for what they have contributed to my Deliverance assuring thy self and them that I shall be always ready prest to do them any service at the Throne of Divine grace Thus far matters succeeded well to and beyond expectation but Success is a great flatterer and teaches men to transgress all bounds of Modesty For the Fathers not content either with what they had atchieved or this poor wretch endured were resolv'd to push hard for a more Authentick proof of their Opinion and to make Jetzer a second St. Francis which they hoped to accomplish by the Appearances of St. Barbe and the V. Mary for which they had sufficiently prepared him by the former Revelation Having therefore taken a particular account from his own Mouth of what passed between him and the former Ghost they gave him ample Instructions how he should demean himself in the following Visions They enjoyned him to be Earnest in humble Prayer and all acts of Piety they exhort him to be of a good Courage and told him withall that for their better inspection over him and whatever accident might happen to him they had made a Hole in the Wall that divided his Chamber from the Receiver's which was very true but upon another design namely that the Novices in the Neighbouring Cells who understood not the Intrigue might not chance to smell some knavery nor discover this mystery of Iniquity That very evening before this designed apparition his Father Confessor brought to his dear Son Jetzer a Ticket which he laid upon his Table with this Instruction that when the Virgin should appear he should humbly tender it to her hands saying If thou beest really and indeed the Virgin Mary take this Ticket and carry it before the Hoste which is upon the great Altar of the Church Now this Ticket you must know contained divers sophistical Questions as whether St. Bernard Anselme Alexander of Hales Bonaventure and St. Thomas had taught the truth in this point or no Whether St. Katherine of Sienne St. Lucie of Ferrara both of the Order of the Dominicans had really and indeed received the Five wounds of our Lord and whether they had publisht the true Doctrine of her Conception And lastly what we ought to judge concerning the Council of Basil All things being now ready between Ten and Eleven at Night enters the Lecturer in the shape of a very fair young Lady cloathed as white as Innocence it self her flaxen hair dishevelled and playing upon her shoulders in this Equipage she finds Jetzer and thus with courteous words salutes him Frier John the Friend of God! I am St. Barbe for whom thou hast always had a singular Devotion since the day I drew thee out of the Rhine when thou thoughtest thou shouldest have been drowned I am a Martyr of Jesus Christ and servant of the V. Mary who will condescend to visit thee to illuminate thee in many secrets whereof that blessed Spirit which late appeared to thee and who now enjoys eternal happiness gave thee some hints See here is a Ticket I know well what thou art enjoyn'd to do with it I will goe and carry it to the blessed Virgin and they shall find it in that very place which thy Father Confessor desir'd And with that word she withdrew and entring the Quire of the Church laid it before the Hoste upon the great Altar having first put to it a Seal of five drops of Blood which was his own and the Sub-prior's contrivance Hereupon the Candles and Lamps in the Walk of the Covent and those in the Church were all lighted and the Bells in Jetzers and the Receivers Cell rung in a miraculous manner of their own accord which was the common trick in all the former Apparitions since the deliverance of the poor Prior's Soul out of Purgatory This feat being so neatly carried the Lecturer retreats to his Cell where he strips himself of his borrowed properties The Sub-prior runs in all haste to Jetzer whom he found wholly transported between fear and joy and Asks him what discourse he had with St. Barbe who gave him no other Answere but desir'd him he might speak with his Father Confessor To whom he rehearsed all the particular occurrences of their enterview A needless labour to acquaint him with what he knew as well as himself His Confessor gave him no other Return but some serious exhortations but presently he taking the Sub-prior Frier Osweld the Cook and Jetzer along with him went into the Church to find out the foremention'd Ticket which they found in the assigned place with the precious Seal of five drops upon it whereupon they return magnifying and exalting all that had happen'd to Jetzer as a thing wholly miraculous charging him at their departure to wait for the Apparition of the blessed Virgin with Devotion About one a Clock at night the Lecturer personating the Virgin Mary with one St. Barbe to wait on her made another Visit to Jetzer and for the greater credit of the Cause she was introduced by two Angels who supported her by both her feet aloft in the Aire all in Mourning habit as to the form but yet pure white to keep Decorum for so we must suppose the Saints above do mourn Her Vail trail'd decently on the ground and the upper part did so Muffle the best part of her face and half her Arms that they hoped the whole of the Knavery would be hidden also And thus accoutred she addresses her self to poor Jetzer Frier John be not afraid I am Mary sent to thee by my Son Jesus to assure thee of the Truth of whatsoever that good Spirit told thee concerning this my Appearance Know therefore that my Son can no longer endure that the Honour to be Conceived without Original Sin which is his sole Prerogative should upon my account be sacrilegiously ravisht from him Nor can I own this gross error of the Cordeliers as an honour to my self which tends so visibly to the reproach of my Son Nay I am thereby highly provoked and that thy holy Fathers may be assured that they are in the right in this weighty point and that they may have undoubted proofs that I was conceived in Original Sin by my Mother St. Ann in common with the rest of Mankind Behold here I have placed with the Ticket which St. Barbe delivered lately to me two Seals made of the shreds of Cotton which I scrap'd from that pure fine linnen with which my Son was wrapt when he lay in the Manger upon each of which is form'd a little Cross of that very blood which he shed when he hung upon the Tree which Blood I gather'd up my self and have carefully kept it to this hour in memory of his Passion Vpon the greater of these two Seals thou seest here are three drops of this precious blood upon the lesser there are five drops of the same blood although mingled as thou wilt easily believe with my own

all in Arms to confute the Opponent which they managed with that bitterness and rage as gave occasion to some not otherwise suspitious to look more narrowly and impartially into the business The whole City was divided in their Judgements and great heats and animosities there were amongst them A certain Canon Henry Volfli an honest and well-meaning man in the Integrity of his heart maintained that if the testimony of our eyes could not be believed in this Cause it would call in Question the truth of the bodily Presence of Christ in the Mass but one Lewis Oubly on the other side asserted with no less vehemence That it was all but a pious fraud a grand cheat and that they ought to extort the truth of all from Jetzer by the Rack and extreme torture The prudent Senate of Bearne awaken'd with the clamours of these quarrelling parties and not knowing to what height it might grow judged it Adviseable to issue out a Commission to their Advocate Derlach to examine Jetzer whether the Virgin had really wept Blood and what was that severe Judgement she had threatned their City Derlach armed with Authority in pursuance of his powers comes to the Covent but the wary Fathers fearing least Jetzer might bolt out more of the Secret upon his Examination than was for their Interest to be known humbly entreated the Advocate to adjourn the Execution of his Commission for a few days pretending that in truth the poor Fryer was so spent with his late Extasies that he was not capable to give him a satisfactory aecount The Advocate being their real Friend condescended the Fathers now having gained some respite cast about how to prepare Jetzer to subserve their designs whereupon the Sunday following very early the Lecturer hides himself behind a large picture which hung near the Image of our Lady in her Chappel and the other three Fathers introduce Jetzer to learn whether it might not please the Virgin to declare her self more absolutely and fully upon this point whilest therefore they were all in Prayers with great Devotion before the Image the Lecturer in the Name of our Lady thus spoke to Jetzer Brother John my dear Friend The Lords of the Council of this City will certainly send their Commissioner to ask thee why I wept and lamented so heavily of late and what are those calamities which I threatned to them and their City and for what cause I thus menaced them Thus therefore shalt thou answer them That my main design is to confirm the truth of all my Apparitions and Revelations to thy self That what I have said touching my Conception ought first to be reported to his Holiness that he may make such Decree thereupon as is agreeable to the Truth That the Laity ought not to make a judgement of those things which were above their Capacity That my Image did weep for as for my Person that is above the reach of sorrow because of the unbelief both of this City and of some of the Fathers of this Covent of such gracious and evident Apparitions and Miracles That the Senate had formerly by a sacrilegious Decree banished the Teutonick Order and plac'd Secular Canons in their room that they had also rased and destroyed many Cloysters and Churches that they had taken an Oath to entertain no more foreign Pensions wherein nevertheless they had incurred the guilt and pains of Perjury and therefore the full Vials of Divine Wrath were ready to be poured out upon their City and Territories had not my Intercession with my Son diverted or suspended the execution of that dreadful Sentence which said she I have hitherto done in hopes of their Repentance and Reformation out of my true Love to thee my dear Friend and this Holy House The Lecturer all this while was in little ease behind the Picture and turning himself to shift his side for some ease he unhappily moved the Frame of the Picture as if it were just a falling Jetzer suddenly cryed out Shall I stop it The Fathers as readily Answered By no means It would doubtless take care of it self But when it totter'd the second time Jetzer verily thinking it would have fallen upon his Head could not contain himself but puts a hand to support it and thrusting it a little to set it even and fixt he unluckily spyed the Lecturer lying behind it Vexation Madness and whatever Passion might transport a Man entred him at the same time he catches fast hold on him and by his Cowl drags him backwards upon the Altar calling them all the Names he could invent Dissemblers Rogues Villains Rascals that could find themselves nothing to do but abuse a poor Innocent Fellow The Fathers being again thus entrapped yet lost not their Confidence but flying to their former Excuse added that fearing lest he should not Obey the Instructions formerly given him they had used the Name of the Virgin for his own Advantage to engage him to do his Duty which he had otherwise been sufficiently bound to and that therefore he ought to give such Answers to the Interrogatories of the Council as his former Revelations from the Virgin should enjoyn him Jetzer seem'd at present contented and in this dubious state of Affairs they waited the second coming of Derlach the States Commissioner Not long after this came Dr. Fricker a Member of the Council with Chancellour Schaller empowred with the same Commission which was formerly directed to the Advocate Derlach and when they Examined Jetzer upon the Questions he pleaded his great inability and desired the Lecturer might relate the whole Story as in his Name but the Commissioners not satisfied therewith would have him Personally to make Answer to whatever they should propose to him The Fathers did not at all like these proceedings that their Covent should be Visited by the Secular Magistrate and therefore began to Huff and Hector at a strange rate so that the Commissioners went away excusing the Matter to the Council as well as they could imputing all to the Ignorance of Jetzer rather than to any Practise and Imposture of the Reverend Fathers Dr. Fricker himself being one hugely affectionate to them and one whose Interest served them mightily in the Progress of this Affair From this time Jetzer discovered great dissatisfaction of Mind no Arguments could ever after induce him to believe the truth of these Visions and Revelations nor would he ever be perswaded to undergo the Passion any more though he was Ambitious enough of the Honour of an Enthusiast But the Fathers who had now gone too far to make an Honourable and safe Retreat set a good face on the Matter and resolving to become the Aggressors presented themselves to the Council humbly entreating to Honour them either in their Persons or by their Delegates to see those Miracles which the Divine Grace had favoured their Cloyster withall and to give them their Advice thereupon as the case should require The Council immediately Deputed some of their Number to

or however to delay it that time might cool the zeal of the Prosecutors or the excessive charge weary out their Purse or their Patience All this Practise could not so far obstruct the Affair but that the Process was read in the Consistory and referred to the Cardinal of Sengall one of the Order of the Discalceated Friers a Worthy Person and Doctor in Divinity to make a Report thereof in a full Assembly of the Cardinals when and where it was Decreed to dispatch a Commissary to Berne who with the Assistance of the Bishops of Lausanne and Sion might by final Judgment and Sentence put an end to this Affair The Negotiation meeting with so happy Success Conrade Vimmau the Envoy return'd to Berne in the Moneth of March 1509. and in April following Achilles de Grassis of Bologn Bishop of Castel Commissary for his Holiness a Person of great Age and as great Learning arrived there also By the way the Reader may know that this Person was afterwards created Cardinal and some are of Opinion that he had been Elected Pope at the next vacancy but that the Cardinals in the Conclave judged the multitude of Bastards that he had then alive would eat up the Revenues of the Papacy and establish a most ruining Nipotismo However he was a back-friend to the Dominicans and was over-heard once to say to the Bishop of Lausanne Hi fratres toti quanti quanti sunt Poltroni Ecclesiae Sanetae devoratores These Friers are every Mothers Son of them great Rogues and the Devourets of the Holy Church This Commissary being now at Berne Lodged at the Crown where Attended him the Bishops of Lausanne and Sion to whom he shewed the Papal Commission whereby he was empowred to hear and determine the depending cause non obstante whatever Exemption Priviledge or pretence of Right given to the Order in general or to that Covent in particular might be pleaded to the contrary The Guild-Hall of the City was appointed for the place of the Session and they first swore their Clerks or Notaries For the chief Commissary Salvator de Meligotis for the Bishop of Lausanne Francis de Vermettis for the Bishop of Sion George Collet Priest of Geneva all three Publick and sworn Notaries by Papal and Imperial priviledge The Court being set The new Prior Elect for the Dominican Covent of Berne John Ornant and the new Sub-prior George Sadler Humbly prayed that Letters of safe conduct might be granted to some of the Fathers of their Order and others to appear on the behalf of the prisoners and they shewed a Missive from Frier Paul of Vlm in favour of this petition to the Bishop of Castel The Judges easily granted their petition and yet Resolved to make them exemplary in punishment whoever should be found to have had a finger in this accursed design Then was Conrade Vimmau aforesaid sworn Procurator of the Faith John Murer a Prior was also sworn Interpreter to whom as Deputies were added John Dubi Sacristane and Martin Lairer both Chanons and also Petrus Magni of Sion so that two of them at least were always to be present in the Court. The same day was Jetzer Examined upon Oath touching each Article of his confession which he Explained and added some Remarkable matters to them without retracting a word and appear'd before the Judges upon this point the second fourth and fifth of May on which last day the four Accused Fathers now in hold appear'd before them and after the Reading of the Commission and their charge they were ask'd what they had to say for themselves They prayed that they might be allowed their Procurators and Advocates and the Court assigned them Docter Paul Hug Doctor Jacob and Doctor Heintzman The Lecturer was first set to the Bar who freely acknowledged that he had nothing to oppose to his former Confession and when he had Explained several of the Articles and opened the whole Intrigue to the Satisfaction of the Court he was set aside and his process finish'd on the seventh of that Moneth Upon which seventh day the other three Fathers appeared who all continued to own their particular Confessions and the Process of the Receiver was concluded on the eighth and ninth of the said Moneth The Judges then issued out a Warrant to Balthazar de Catancis of Bologne Humbert Praroman of Fribourgh and to Marshall Schaller to seize the person of the Novice Megerlin but this crafty Knave aware of the danger had a year before made use of his heels and was reported to lye lurking about Noremberg Upon the 10th and 11th of May the Process of the Prior was finisht but he the last day of his Examination began to boggle and would fain have eaten his words and particularly being examin'd about the red-colour'd Hoste he was so off and on so inconstant and uncertain in his Answers that the Judges knowing they had already enough against him promised that whatever he should now further discover should not come in Judgement against him Hereupon he falls down on his knees begging their Grace and Mercy saying that indeed he had but two of those red-colour'd Hostes in all which he had consecrated one of which was for ought he knew in the Cabinet where he put it in the room of that which the Sub-prior threw in the fire that for those Druggs wherewith they attempted to destroy Jetzer by Poyson they had them of one Nicholas Alber an Apothecary That the Sub-prior had such a rare Art in Poysoning that he could leave one part of a Wafer free from poyson that he could both touch and if need were eat the innocent part without the danger to himself when all the rest should be mortal Poyson On the 14th day the Sub-prior was examin'd upon the former Confessions who answer'd That his first Confession which he made without torture was the truth that the second which he had made was false and only extorted from him by the Rack That the Fathers and Jetzer perhaps were conscious to themselves of wickedness but for his part he was perfectly Innocent of their contrived Villanies and hoped his Judges would not look upon him as an Accomplice or Accessary in such a foul and odious matter Upon this the Officials of Lausanne and Sion were order'd to deal seriously with him and this good effect it had that it brought him to himself again and falling down on his knees he humbly begg'd mercy and so his Process was concluded the 15 and 16 of the same Month. Before and after the conclusion of their Processes divers Witnesses were sworn and their Testimonies received upon several particulars relating to the Cause depending before the Court. As Anthony Noll Martyn Franck Goldsmith William of Dirsbach Knight and Advocate Peter Miller a Carthusian John Miller Procurator of the discalceated Friers John Frisching one of the Council Thomas Peters Chanter of the Cathedral Bennet Vingarten Captain and one of the Council Nicholas Armbroster Nicholas d' Arm Lewis