him goe to execution with his accustomed countenance Hee was tyed to a great stake with a long chaine and they did fire many fagots round about him a pretty distance off supposing that hee would runne about this stake euen vnto the last gaspe But contrarywise falling vpon his knees and lifting vp his eyes to Heauen hee made a feruent prayer vnto GOD then rising vp he went couragiously o the fire enters into the flames and sits downe so quietly as no man could see him moue hand or legge or any other part of his body but with-out any stirre or tormenting of himselfe hee ended his life in the fire They could not finde any peece of his bones and many since passing by the place where hee had beene burnt held it for a place of deuotion This happened about the yeare 1545. the which I haue learned from the mouth of many men worthy of credit good friends to this man with whome they had conuersed familiarly IOHN WIER in his Treatise of extraordinary abstinence It is not long since that a Chanoine of Leege desirous to trie his force in fasting hauing continued vnto the seuenteenth day hee found himselfe so faint and weake as if hee had not beene sodenly helpt with good restoratiues he had dyed The same Author A young Maide of Buchold in the territorie of Munster in Westphalia being oppress with melancholie and keeping the house was for that cause beaten by her Mother The which did so increase her greefe as taking no rest she was foure moneths without eating or drinking vnlesse that some times shee did chewe a peece of a roasted apple and washt her mouth with a little Tisane She grew exceeding leane but in the end GOD restored her lyuing long after very modestly and indued with singular piety The same In October in the yeare 1600. Monsieur RAPIN whome I name with respect beeing a man worthie of credit did assure mee that hee had seene as manie others had done at Conflent in Poitou about the ende of August before the Daughter of IOHN BALAN a Smith called IOANE of foureteene yeares of age who had then liued eighteene monethes without eating or drinking any thing what-so-euer Her tongue was much shronke and her teeth white and cleane her bellie was shronke and shee was a little fleshie behinde When she riseth in the morning shee opens the windowe and stands looking into the a◅er spending the rest of her time in doing some little worke about the house Drawne out of our Memorialls Iustice. IHON de MARESTS hauing beene murthered by the Scignior of TALLART of a great and ancient house and a Gentleman well suported by many great allyances namely by Cardinall IHON of BELLAY who made it his owne fact it seemed that the execution of Iustice was not so speedie as the cause required The Grand-mother of the deceased hauing her onely refuge vnto King FRANCIS the first cast her selfe vpon her knees weeping before him at Fontainbleau whereat the King being amazed asked what she would haue of him Iustice answered she if it shall please your Maiestic At which word he commands her to rise speedily and turning to all that did attend him hee said By the faith of a Gentle-man it is no reason that this Gentle-woman should prostrate her-selfe before me demanding a thing which for the due of my estate I owe her but it is their duties that importune mee for remissions and pardons the which I owe them not but of my especiall grace and royall prerogatiue And after that hee had giuen her a long audience vpon the discourse of her request which which was onely to haue speedy Iustice and hauing promised it vnto her he shewed that the word of such a King was fully accomplished by the euent which followed So as not able to be moued by any sute of his fauorites nor of forraine Ambassadors he would haue punishment inflicted as the greatnesse of the offence required And so TALLART was beheaded at the Hales at Paris in the yeare 1546. Maister E. PASQVIER in the 5. booke of his Collections of France Chap. 7. A notable Theefe ABout the yeare 1503. there liued at Geneua a notable theefe called MORTAC and in French MORTEL He did inchant men in such sort as no man could preuent his theeuing nor punish him after the deed Euery one knew he was a theefe and were as warie of him as they could It was a common watch-word in all the houses of the Towne when as night came for Maisters and Mistresses to warne their seruants to shutte the doores for feare of MORTAC which grew to be an ordinary Prouerbe when as they doubted any one that had filching fingers But there was neither doore lock nor barre that could keepe him out where hee had a will to enter yet hee went not to all places but only to those that lookt sowerly on him and seemed to distrust him for he tooke a delight to steale to be admired for his abilitie and cunning neither did hee care to gather much together but contented himselfe with a little taking no more then would serue him for some 40. or 50. meales with some companions which he carried vp and downe feasting them at his charge And there was no meanes to preuent his wil for he did so inchant them of the house as they lost their speech all meanes to resist him making them like immoueable stocks when he entred into their houses Before he would seize vpon that which he pretended hee would first feed himself at his ◅ase The first thing he euer did was to light a candle thē to take the keys of the house yea from vnder the maister mistresses pillow although they were awake not that he wanted keies for his fingers serued him for his Pick-locks but in thus proceeding he would shew his theeuish authority Then would he open the Larder the Seller from whence hee fetcht meate and wine couered the Table and eate and drunke at his leasure and pleasure and yet not any one of the house did stirre eyther to hinder him or to accompany him neither to crye out nor yet to speake vnto him eyther good or bad This done he went and opened the goodmans cofers and tooke what money hee thought good to make good cheere with his Mignions for 3. weekes or a moneths space in some Tauerne The next day hee and his band would campe where was best wine and the Tauerne keepers entertained this rable very gratiously For this MORTAC did no harme in those places where he vsually frequented and where the maisters did make much of him After they had made many good meales when they came to reckon he neuer brought any money but sayd vnto the Hoste Goe and fetch thy due in the corner of such a Chamber of thy house the which perchance had not beene frequented a moneth before The which the Host doing hee found the iust summe and not a farthing more or lesse It was very strange that
he had the Artere in the wind pipe and the mouth of the stomake which is the passage for meate drinke quite cut I did sodenly stitch vp the wound taking the Artere and drawing the two extremites as nere as I could possibly one vnto an other but not of the mouth of the stomacke for that it was retired towardes the stomacke then I applyed remedies vnto his wounde with astringents and fit Ligatures As soone as euer he was thus drest he began to speake and to name him that had committed this excesse The murtherer was taken soone after in the Suburbes of Saint Marceau and was found seized of the patients goods wherevpon hee was put in prison the fact verified after the patients death the which was the fourth day after his wounding The murtherer was broken soone after and laied vpon a wheele neere vnto Saint Catherine du Valdes Escholiers M. AMB. PARE lib. 9. Chap. 31. In the first troubles a gentleman hauing ioyned with the troupes that did beseege Moulins in Bourbonois was so surprized with sicknesse as hee could hardly followe the Companie which dislodged and being lodged at a Bakers called IOHN MON who seemed to be his friend and seruant hee had such a confidence in him as hee had rather staie behinde then goe anie farther hauing made his host acquainted with his monie who promised to keepe it safe for him contrarie to the common course of such men with an other younger Brother of his of thirteene or foureteene yeares of age But they wretch kept no promise with them but contrariwise as soone as night was come hee led them out of the house vnto the ditch where hee did but halfe kill them so as they remayned there Languishing a wholedaie and could neither liue nor die Yet no man had compassion of them But GOD tooke reuenge a while after for it happened that this murtherer beeing in gard a Companion of his shot him by chance through the arme whereof hee languished for three monethes and then died madde Historie of France vnder CHARLES the ninth The Citty of Bourges hauing beene yeelded by the Seignieur of Iuoy during the first troubles those which had held it before were forbidden to talke within the Cittie nor without norto meete aboue two togither Among those which made a pastime vnder collour of this decree to murther such as they mette talking together there was one called GARGET Captaine of the Quarter of Bourbonne who made a practise of it Who falling soone after into a burning feuer did runne vp and downe the streete blaspheming the name of GOD calling vpon the Diuill and saying vnto all that if any one would go with him into hell hee would pay his charges and so he died madde whereat his Companions did but laugh In the same History PETER MARTIN a rider in the Kings stable holding the post in a place called Liege towards Poitou a man without reproch vpon a simple accusation without any other forme of processe was condemned by a great Nobleman during the furie of the first troubles to be drowned This Nobleman commanded a faulconer of his presently to execute the sentence vpon paine to bee drowned himselfe if he did it not The which was done But GOD stayed not long to take reuenge for three dayes after this Faulconer and a Laquay being fallen out for the spoiles of this man they slew one another The which being reported vnto the Lord a most vniust Iudge it forced him to haue some remorse and to say openly that he would it had cost him fiue hundred Crownes so as this poore Rider had not beene drowned But it was a small esteeme he made of an innocent mans life In the same Historie lib. 7. Some troupes of Peasants of Couleurs Cerisiers and other places in Champagne hauing committed many murthers and spoiles in diuers places were defeated here and there and did in a manner all perish of violent deaths during the first troubles I will note here two notable particularities concerning two of those troupes The one seeking to set fire to a house fell downe starke dead being casually shotte with a Harguebuse by one of his companions The other dragging a poore man and his wife to a post to haue them shotte receiued a shotte with a Harguebuze which depriued him of his life and his prisoners escaped by that meanes In the same Booke It hath beene obserued in the last peace that of a thousand murtherers which haue remained vnpunished in regarde of man there are not ten which haue not felt the reuenging hand of GOD and haue not made most wretched ends Strange horrible and very pittifull Accidents IN our time a Countryman of Beause who was reasonably well to liue binding vp sheaues in the field sent his Sonne home to fetch him some-what with whom being returned hee was so angry because hee had stayed longer then he would haue had him that he flung a great clod of earth at his head wherewith the boy fell downe dead to the ground The Father seeing it couered him with sheaues and in great dispaire gotte him home to his house where his wife was bathing her selfe and giuing suck to a little childe whereof she was newly deliuered and went into his barne and hangd himselfe Which being reported to the poore woman by one that by chance had beene in the Barne and seene him with the feare she was in and hast that she made to runne thither she let her childe fall into the bath where it was drowned Presently therevpon the poore woman almost beside her selfe with the wofull spectacle which she had seene finding at her returne the infant drowned entred likewise into such dispaire that she went back to the Barne and there shutting the doore to her hung her selfe by her husband What strange and horrible effects of the choller of an ill aduised Father and how great cause haue Fathers Mothers and Children to recommend themselues humbly and incessantly to GOD. Conformitie of ancient meruailes with moderne In the yeare 1578. a woman in the towne of Bochne bathing her little child heard a pretty bigge boy of hers crye very pittifully without doores Wherevpon she ranne out in all hast and found him wounded to the death with a knife that he had in his hand whereon by mischance he was fallen The Mother exceeding heauâ—…e returned to the little one in the Bathe and found it drowned Therewith the husband came in and being in a mighty rage at such a spectacle fell on his wife and killed her with beating Seeing those three so strangely dead vrged by his conscience and with compassion of such a sight hee sought about for a corde wherewith hee strangled himselfe ANDREVV DVDITIVS in the Treatise of Comets In the Marquisate of Brandebourg a certaine Mother transported with a wonderfull fury killed her husband and two of her Children and then hauing tyed great stones about their neckes tooke them and cast them all three into the bottome
she was sick she made no account neither of children kinsfolkes friends nor of any other thing in the world And when her husband many times brought their children vnto her she sayd nothing but God blesse you God be your Father and Mother and to the yongest of them Hah little Souldiar She neuer commended them but once vnto her husband And after that shee beheld them with a regardlesse eye A quarter of an houre before her departure she called for her Petti-coate to rise and as she was about to go out of her bed she desired to be made vnready and being laid downe againe she sent for her husband and vsed these words vnto him Behold the end of my desire and the beginning of my felicitie IESVS CHRIST is my hope Good husband I desire but one thing of you Pray vnto GOD for me Her husband and children being prostrated on their knees after an earnest praier vnto GOD she closed her eyes as if she had been going to sleepe died with a sweeter countenance then euer she had had in al her life before Extracted out of my Memorials Demoniacks Examples of diuers illusions of Sathan ALthough there be many times some naturall causes of phrensie or madnesse yet is it without question that the Diuill entreth into certaine persons and in them causeth furies torments either with naturall causes or without them seeing such as are so diseased be often cured by remedies which are not naturall Many times also such spectacles are so many prodigies and predictions of things to come Some do◅en yeares since a woman in the country of Saxony which could neither write nor read being tormented of the Diuill and her fit being past she talked both in Greeke and Latin of the warre of Saxony that happened afterward and pronounced words in Greeke and Latin the sence whereof was that there would be great trouble vpon earth and sedition among the people PH. MELANCHTHON in one of his Epistles Foure yeares before that there was a Maide in the Marquisate of Brandebourg who pulling away the haires from the Furre of any ones garment that came before her those hayres were presently turned into peeces of the country money which this maid gnawed on with an horrible grating of her teeth There were diuerse that hauing snatched some of those peeces out of her hand found them to be very money indeed and do keepe them still This maide was very much tormented at times but within a while after she was thoroughly cured and euer since liued in good health She was often-times prayed for and neuer any other ceremonie was vsed The same I haue heard that in Italy there was a woman a very idiot possessed of the Diuell who being demanded of LAZARVS BONAMI a very learned personage accompanied with his Schollers which was the best verse in VIRGIL suddenly answered Discite institiam moniti non temnere Diuos This sayd shee is the best and worthiest verse that euer VIRGIL made get thee gone and come no more to tempt me PH. MELANCHTHON in his epistles G. PRVCER in the 1. booke of his Comentary of Diuinations Chap. 9. P. BOVISTAV in 26. Chap. of his Prodigious Histories ANTHONY BENIVENIVS in the 8. Chap. of his booke of the hidden causes of diseases writeth that hee sawe a young woman of the age of 1◅ yeares whose hands bowed very strangely backwards assoone as a certaine paine tooke her in the bottom of her belly At her fearefull cryes her belly swelled so big that one would haue thought shee had beene gone 8. moneths with child finally she lost her breath and not able to continue in a place shetumbled from one side of the bed to the other putting her head many times betweene her legges as if she would haue plaid some tumbling trick Then being questioned concerning that which had be falne her she neuer remembred any such matter But searching saith he the causes of this disease we were of opinion that it proceeded from a suffocation of the Matrix and from malignant vapours fuming vpward to the detriment of the heart and braine Whervpon we endeuoured to ease her with medicines but that seruing to no purpose she became more outragious then before and at last began to vomit long crooked Yron nailes tagges of points filled within with waxe and wound all about with hayres and so great a portion of her breakfast that it was not possible for any man whatsoeuer to swallowe it whole Hauing sundry times began such manner of vomitings in my presence I mistrusted that shee was possessed of an euill spirit which charmed the eyes of the assistants whilst he cast those things abroad As presently therevpon it was verified by more apparent signes proofes for afterward we heard her making predictions doing other things which surpassed all vehemencie of sicknesse yea all humaine vnderstanding I WIER in the 4. Booke of diabolical impostures Chap. 6. MEINOR CLATH a Gentleman dwelling at Boutenbrouck a Castle in the Duchie of Iuilliers had a seruant named WILLIAM who 14. yeares together was tormented of the Diuill One day swelling mightily about the throate and looking very pale so that they were affraid he would haue falne downe IVDITH his Mistresse a very honest Gentlewoman gathering her folkes together began to call vpon GOD where-vpon there suddainly issued out of this WILLIAMS mouth amongst other trash all the fore-part of a Shepheards breeches Flint-stones some whole some broken little bottoms of thred a false head of haire needles a peece of a boyes silke doublet and a Peacocks feather Being demanded concerning the cause of his sicknesse hee answered that he met with a woman hard by Camphuse which blowed in his face from whence he thought it proceeded But afterward when he was well he confessed that this accusation was not true and that he was induced by the diuill to say so Furthermore he added that all those prodigious things came not out of his body but were throwne against his mouth by the Diuell whilst they saw him vomit One day being more carefully looked vnto by reasō they were afraid he would haue done himselfe some mischiefe his eyes remained so fast closed together that it was impossible to open thē At length GERTRVDE CLATHS eldest daughter of some 12. yeares of age comming vnto him exhorted him to pray to GOD that it would please him to restore his sight againe wherevpon WILLIAM desired her to pray which she did and her eies were immediatly opened to the great amazement of all that were present The Diuil often perswaded him not to giue eare eyther to his Mistresse or any other that troubled his head with talking to him of GOD who could not helpe him seeing hee was once dead as hee had heard it publickly preached Another time striuing to put his hand vnder the Kitchin-maides clothes and shee rating him for it by his name hee answered in a big voice My name is not WILLIAM but BEELZEEVB wherevnto his Mistresse
how black thou art but it is with thy sinnes That is true answered the Clarke but I hope in the bounty and mercies of GOD then expounding his saying at large PONSENAS began to cry out like a desperate man detesting his seruant as one of the wickedest and most miserable men in the world At this crie some of his friends came running whom hee commanded that STEPHEN should be had to prison and his processe made Herevpon despaire did so increase in him as with sigthes and howling he gaue vp the ghost after a fearefull manner His Creditors did scarce giue them leasure to draw the body out of the bed for euery man sent to seize vpon the moueables which PONSENAS had left and of all his goods the which was farre short of their due The which all men did finde very strange for that before he entred into that office he was held to be as riche as any one of his profession Yet there was neuer so great misery seene for there was nothing but the strawe left for his Wife and Children who were taken away in pittie to bee broughtvp else they must haue beene glad to haue begd their bread or dyed for hunger so bare this house was made The Historie of France vnder FRANCIS the second Merueylous Sleepers I Knew a young man who dreaming in the night that he was to ride forth about some businesse rose vp being fast a sleep out of his bed made himselfe ready put on his Bootes and Spurres and getting vpon a Pole that serued to hang clothes at a Garret window hee set a-stride on it and began to Spurre with his heeles as if he had beene on horseback But awaking presently he was so terrified with this accident as he came vnto me for remedy P. SALIVS DIVERSVS Physition Chap. 18. in his Treatie of the affected parts I did helpe another who being of a chollerick and quarrelling disposition vsed commonly to dreame that he was fighting with one or other and therevpon rising out of his bed ran to his weapons drew out his sword and fencing it after a strange manner struck and foyned at the Chamber walles insomuch that they were faine to take away euery thing out of this Chamber that might either hurt himselfe or others In the same Besides these two I knew an Artificer that in his sleepe rose out of his bed and going out of the Chamber went vp and downe the staires and all about the house without any harme Vpon a time he went starke naked in his sleepe to his shop and with his Keyes vnlocked the dores of it where-vpon beeing awaked by some of his friends that mette with him hee became so ashamed that hee neuer fell into the like againe In the same Lying in an high chamber in the Colledge of Francfort vpon Odera with maister MARTIN GVTTENBERGER student in Phisick a young man of a liuely spirit small stature and slender body but of a moyst braine and chancing to awake I sawe him walke starke naked vp and downe the Chamber being fast a sleepe and then get vp into a great windowe that was wide open and there stand Suddainly I ranne to him and caught him in mine armes fearing lest hee would haue tipled out of the windowe and hauing carryed him to bedde I asked him what hee did Nothing sayd hee and when hee awaked hee neuer remembred any thing hee had done I. HORST Phisition in his learned treatise of the nature of night-walkers Before I went to study Phisick at Francfort desiryng to see other vniuersities I was sent for to bee Tutor to three young gentlemen of Misnia whose Father named GEORGE de SCHLINITZ Councellor to diuers Princes and a graue and vnreproueable personage told mee that he and two of his Bretheren had walked many times in their sleepe whilst they were students at Lipsic yea and gotten vp into garrets and climbed vp on the toppes of houses so that one of his brothers chanced to fall and breake his thigh At length their Tutor looking narrowly vnto them whipped them wel-fauoredly assoone as they got out of their bed which hauing continued twise or thrise vntill such time as they awaked by that meanes they were helped The same Three young gentlemen bretheren lying to gither in one Chamber one of them rose vp naked and sound a sleepe carrying his shirt in his hand went to the windowe where he caught hold of a corde hanging at a certaine pulley and winding vp himselfe to the toppe of the ouse met with a Pies neast got out the young ones wrapped them vp in his shirt let himselfe downe againe re-entred into the Chamber window layd himself down in his bed and slept as before Awaking in the morning he began to say to his brothers Wot you what I dreamt to night mee thought I rose out of my bed went to the windowe got vp to the house top where I foūd a Pies neast and brought away the young ones His brothers laughed at it and after other talke going to rise hee sought vp and downe for his shirte which at last hee found with the young Pies wrapped vp in it They ranne presently and looked vp to the toppe of the house and sawe where the Pies neast had beene pulled out The same A young Scholler at Blackenbourg did many things sleeping Assoone as hee had suppt he would haue fallen into so dead a sleepe that for any noise could bee made he neuer waked After that with pinching pulling of him they had made him looke vp if they carried him to bed he slept as before but the next morning hee neuer remembred any thing had bin done ouer night Moreouer whatsoeuer he held being so a sleepe were it the end of a table a naile in the wall a napkin or any garment they were faine to haue two or three men to open his fingers and make him let goe his hold insomuch that many times holding his clothes in his hand they were forced to carrie him to bedde and let him lie so with them till hee awaked of himselfe the next morning The same It is not long since that the Duke of Holst Cooke rysing in his sleepe went downe out of his Chamber and hauing past through a great wide-court entred into the kitchen and got into the Well stradling with his feete and with his fingers clinging so hard to the sides of it that in this sort he descended with nothing but his shirte on till he came to the water which wetting the skirte of his shirte it struck so cold on his heeles that hee awaked and began to cry out in his language O mein bein helffe mir that is to say O my legs helpe me The folkes of the house wakened with the cry somewhat vnderstanding the voice sought for him finding him hanging by the hands feete against the sides of the Well they reached him downe a ladder with a candle and a lanthorne But not able to get him vp
afterwards discouered and proued against him hee was first of all laied starke naked on a bare planke so drawne through the chiefest streetes of the towne then hee had his flesh plucked away in foure principall places of his body with hot burning pincers lastly hee had his bones broken and was left so a liue on a cart wheele where hauing languished in grieuous torments the space of nine houres with great acknowledgement and detestation of his damnable fact he gaue vp the ghost GASPAR HEDIO in the 4. part of his Chronicles On Sattarday the last sauing one of September 1565. it happened that IOHN GVY the Sonne of EME GVY an Haberdasher of hattes and cappes in the Towne of Chastillon vpon Loire being a very lewd vnruly youth stayed forth according to his custome and came not home till it was very late in the night Whereat his Father being much offended told him that if he continued in those fashions he should be constrained to turne him out of dores Wherevnto the Sonne answered very sawcily that it should not neede for hee would goe of himselfe and that forth-with if hee might haue his clothes Therevpon the Father went to his Chamber and being a bedde was faine to threaten his Sonne for to make him hold his peace he was so lusty with his tongue At length seeing hee but lost his labour and not able any longer to endure his proud and sawcy answeres hee rose in an anger out of his bedde for to go and Chastice the arrogancie and disobedience of this vnruly youth who seeing his Father comming to beate him caught a sworde which hunge in his Chamber and rebelling against his Father ranne him quite through the bodie Wherewithall he fell presently downe crying out he was slaine The neighbors flighted with his crie came running in and found the poore Father lying all along on the floore ready to giue vp the Ghost as within a little while after he did and his Sonne standing by him with the sword all bloudie in his hands who notwithstanding that his Father mooued with compassion and forgetting his vnnaturall cruelty towards him had willed him to saue himselfe and that his Mother had also perswaded him therevnto yet had not the power to stirre a foote So that apprehended and examined at first he excused himselfe saying that his Father ranne vpon the sword himselfe But his excuses found friuolous hee was condemned to haue his right hand cut of then to haue his flesh plucked away in foure places of his body with burning pincers and finally to bee hanged by the feete on a gibbet and there strangled with a stone of a hundreth and twentie pounds weight which should be tyed about his neck All which hauing confessed his fault hee patiently endured calling vpon GOD for mercy euen to the verie last gasp In the Historie of our time A friend of mine a man of a great spirit and worthie of credit beeing one night at Naples with a kins-man of his heard the voice of a man crying out for helpe in the streete Whereat he arose lighted a candle and ranne out to see what it was and comming into the streete hee sawe an horrible fantosme of a dreadfull and furious aspect which would haue carried away a young youth that cried out and struggled with him aswell as he could but seeing him comming hee ranne suddainely vnto him and caught him fast about the middle and after his feare was some-what past hee beganne to call vpon GOD whereat the fantosme vanished presently away My friend carried this young man to his lodging and after hee had comforted him hee would haue sent him home but hee could not get him to go by any meanes for the youth was so frighted that hee shaked euery ioynt of him through the apprehension of so hideous an encounter At last being some-what come to himselfe hee confessed that till then hee had lead a very wicked life that hee had beene a contemner of GOD and disobedient to his Father and Mother whom he had so intollerably misused that they had cursed him Wherevpon hee went forth of dores and was presently encountred by that fiend ALEXANDER of Alexandria in the 4. booke of his geniall daies Chap. 19. A young man borne at Gabies not farre from Rome being of a wilde and vnruely nature and verie lewdly giuen hauing abused his Father diuers and sundry waies got him in a rage out of dores and went towardes Rome entending to plot some newe villany there against his sayd Father Vpon the way hee met the Diuell in the likenesse of a desperate ruffian with long haire and ragged apparel who comming to him demanded the cause of his discontent The young man answered that hee had beene at some wordes with his Father and determined to be meete with him some way or other Whervnto the Diuell replyed that such an inconuenient had befallen him and therefore desired him they might keepe company togither for to deuise some meanes to bee reuenged of the wrongs they had sustained Night approching they went into an Inne and lay togither in one bedde But the wicked fiend when the young man was a sleepe caught him by the throate and had strangled him if hee had not awaked and called to GOD for helpe Wherevpon the Diuell vanished away and in his departure so shaked the Chamber that both the roofe and walles crackt in sunder Whereat this young man was greeuiously terrified with such a soddaine spectacle and almost dead with feare repented him of his wicked life and guided from thence forward by a better spirit became an enemy to vice past the rest of his life farre from the rumors of people and serued for a good example to his neighbors In the same booke and Chapter Children brought vp among Wolues GOD repented that he had made man saith MOYSES Gen. 6. And Philosophers Bookes are full of complaints touching the malice of mans heart PLATO in the 7. Booke of his lawes saith That a child is the wildest beast the vnruliest and hardest to bee tamed of all other and that it cannot be too neerely looked vnto ARISTOTLE also in the first Bookes of his Politickes confirmes the same Lyons Beares and other sauage beasts are vntractable but yet not so much as children left to themselues and destitute of good direction It is reported that a childe of a village in the Landgrauiat of Hesse was lost through the rechlesnesse of his Father and Mother who sought him a long time after but could not finde him This Village was full of Trees and Gardens hard by a Forrests side wherein were a great number of Wolues Certaine yeares after there was perceiued among the Wolues which came into the Gardens to seeke their prey a creature not altogether like a Wolfe nor nothing so nimble as they which seene many and sundry times with great meruaile by the Country-folkes and thinking it was a beast of some other kinde they went and reported it to the
from Coymbra in Portugall dwelt a Knight the Father of a Damsell called MARY PACHECO who being come to the age that Maidens are accustomed to haue their Flowers insteed of them issued a virill member which had laine hidden within vntill then so as of a woman she became a man went apparreld like a man changing name aswell as Sex and was called EMANVEL PACHECO This new man went into the East Indies and returned very rich with the reputation of a braue Caualiero marrying afterwards a Noble Dame That which I haue read in HYPOCRATES in his sixt Booke of the popular diseases of PITHVLIA the wife of PYTHEVS and in PLYNIE 7. Booke 4. Chap. hath imbouldned mee to set before you a History that I would neuer tell any body of thinking it had beene a tale made for pleasure A friend of mine of good authority and worthy of beleefe hath told me that in a certaine place of Spaine a young woman being married to a poore labourer entred into some difference with him eyther through iealousie or some other cause This diuision grew so hotte that the wife finding one night the clothes of a young man that lay there apparrelled her selfe in them and away shee went to gette her liuing as a man In this case whether it were the powerfull working of Nature in her or the burning and excessiue imagination shee had to see her selfe so well and orderly fitted like a man was the cause of this effect but she became a man and married another wife keeping it secret vntill it chanced that a certaine man that before had knowne her comming to the place where shee was and comparing the resemblance of this man with the woman he had knowne before Hee said vnto her Am not I your brother Then this woman made man putting her trust in him discouered vnto him what had happened praying him to keepe it secret IOVIANVS PONTANVS writes of a woman of Gaiette in the kingdome of Naples who after that shee had liued forty yeares married to a poore Fisher-man was changed into a man who because he was mockt with it entred into a Monastery of Monkes where he reports to haue knowne him and dying he was buried at Rome in the Church of our Lady called Minerua Hee addes moreouer that another called AEMELY hauing beene married to one called ANTHONY SPENSE for the space of 12 yeares was in the end changed into a man married a wife hauing first by the commandement of FERDINAND King of Scicilia restored her dowry In our time there hath beene one seene at Bruxels in Brabant called PETER that before was called ELIZABETH for that before she had beene a woman The French forces passing at Vitry I saw a mā whom the Bishop of Soysons at confirmation called GERMAINE whom all the Inhabitants had knowne to haue bin a woman for 22. yeares space was called MARY making saith he some extraordinary leape the virill members came forth there is yet a Song in vse among the Maidens of that place that warneth them that they make no extraordinarie leapes least they become boyes as MARY GERMAINE did MONTAIGNE in the first booke of his Essayes Bodily strength THere hath beene in our time in the kingdome of Galitia one called the Marshall PETER PARDO of Ribabadineira who was at deadly enmity with a certaine Bishop the reason could not be knowne yet at the mediation of certaine friends who sought to take vp the matter and make them friends hee consented to an enter-view As they drew neere together this Marshall feigning that he had forgot all that was past and that he would be friends with the Bishop hereafter ranne to imbrace him But it was a deadly imbrace to the Bishop for it was so rude locking him so fast in his armes as hee brused his sides crusht his Heart and Intrailes so as hee left him dead in the place I haue seene a man in the Towne of Ast who in the presence of the Marquis of P◅scara handed a Piller of Marble three foote long and one foote in Diameter the which he cast high into the ayre then receiued it againe in his armes then lasht it vp againe sometime after one fashion some time after another as easilye as if he had beene playing with a Ball or some such little thing Hee brought from the Shambles certaine Oxe feete newly cut off set a Knife vpon one of them and with a blow of his fist cut it a crosse in two pecces he tooke another Oxe-foote and brake it against his fore-head as if it had beene against a peece of Marble without hurting him-selfe at all In my presence he tooke another and with his fist broke it into diuerse small peeces There was at Mantoa one named RODAMAS a man of a little stature but so strong as hee wreathed and broke with his hands a Horse-shooe and a Cable as big as a mans arme as easily as if they had beene small twine threds mounted vpon a great horse and leading another by the bridle hee would runne a full Carire and stop in middest of his course or when it liked him best SIMON MAIOLVS an Italian Bishop in his Canicular dayes Col. 4. In the yeare 1582. in the months of May and Iune at a solemne feast of the circumcision of MAHVMETT the sonne of AMVRATH Emperor of the Turkes was seene amongst many other actiue men one among the rest most memorable a lusty man and wonderfull strong worthy to bee compared with that most famous MILO of Crotonne who for proofe of his prodigious strength lifted vp a peece of wood that twelue men had much a doe to raise from the earth which he tooke and put vpon his shoulders where hee caried it without any helpe of his hands and afterwards lying downe flat his shoulder and his thigh tyed together he bore vpon his brest a great waighty stone that ten men had rowled thether making but a iest of it And which is a thing yet more wonderfull foure men stood leaping with long peeces of wood vpon his belly Besides this hee brake with his teeth and hands a Horse-shoe with such force that one part remained betweene his teeth and the rest in two peeces in either hand one At the third blow with his fist he brake a Plow-share hee lickt the Plow-share with his tongue being taken red hotte out of the fire he was couered with a great pile of stones but he neuer sturd one iot but remained firme and inuiolable as if he had beene planted there The same man with his teeth onely sadled bridled and harnest a Horse with many other wonders which got him much money and praise of all by reason of his extraordinary force GEORGE LEBELSKI a Polander in his Description of things done at Constantinople at the Circumsition of the Sonne of AMVRATH 1582. Amongst the Germaines of our time there are two recorded for strength GEORGE Baron of Fronsberg and IOHN Baron of Schuartzbourg they easily broke
honie sugar or any thing that was compounded there-with all which was poyson vnto him and would soone kill him if he did but tast of it He could eate no grapes figges peares plummes quinces poungranets or apples saying that they were sweete but hee could well disgest nuts almonds and pignors Vineger was his sauce and hee tasted salt things well He could drinke no white wine nor malmsey His drinke was water This disposition considered I prescribed remedies fit for his disease where-with he was eased AMATVS a Portugal in the 6. Centur. cure 6. There are some bodies whome milde and gentle Phisicke doth as much offend as that which is violent the which the Physitions haue often obserued in a great Ladie in our time giuing her a little Manna to purge her gently for after that shee had taken it shee complayned of her bellie she had a desire to cast cried out and grewe weake shee sweat after an extraordynarie manner and was tormented with sundrie other Accidents and yet shee hath beene often purged with other stronger potions without any offences A Nephewe of hers a Nobleman that was war-like and learned in all sciences of a cholerick constitution could neuer bee purged by Manna so as this family seemed to haue that peculiar that Manna was contrary to their dispositions MARANTA Booke 3. of the methode to knowe simples Chap. 4. A dolefull Marriage ANTHONIE PERILLE a Neapolitaine a riche yong man but wanting councell hauing spent almost all his estate at Cardes and Dyce sodenly he fell in loue with the Daughter of a notable Marchant and hauing sounded her minde he demanded her in Marriage The Father called PETER MINIO refused him by reason of his ill husbandry so generally knowne PERILLVS stong with shame and loue began to reuiue himselfe and gathering together the remainder hee resolued to make a voyage to Alexandria in Egypt to begin some trafficke To this end he imbarkes with certaine Marchants but hauing past a good part of the way they are surprised with a great storme and after three dayes the ship which carried him was taken by a Pirate Being a Captiue and in great miserie MINIO a rich Marchant and charitable a custome which he had long vsed sent certaine factors of his vpon the Coast of Barbarie to redeeme tenne Neapolitain prisoners out of the hands of the Turkish Pirats of whome if they had any goods in their Countrie hee would seeke satisfaction in time And as for the poore he did gratefie them with their ransome PERILLVS was of the number of these ten and at his returne to Naples hauing conferred secretly with MINIOS Daughter who promised him marriage hee found meanes to paie his ransome and to make a newe voiage into the East where he made a happie trafficke so as in short time he found him-selfe in better estate thâ—…n his Father had left him carrying himselfe moreouer so vertuously as he purchased the loue of al men especially of MINIO of whome hauing the second time demanded his Daughter in marriage shee was graunted him to the great content of all his kins-folkes and friends The marriage was celebrated in Iune with great ioye as these two young copple were in bedde deuising of strange things that were past behold a violent storme ariseth with strange thunder and terrible lightning and in the ende there came a clappe which slue them both imbracing one an other ending the pleasure of their marriage sollemnized that day with the greefe and sigthes of their life They were very honorably interred both together being followed by all the Cittie with great pompe History of Italie Adulterers punnished WHen as LEVVIS the 12. made warre against the Venetians and that all Italie was sore shaken by the fury of this long warre a certaine gentleman of Milan being tired with so many miseries retired himselfe to a 〈◊〉 of his to liue there more priuately He was a Widower about threescore yeares olde hauing one Sonne of twentie yeares of age and an other much yonger His age the misery of the time and his qualitie should haue retayned him in the way of honour but forgetting the dutie of a gentleman hee fell in loue with a poore farmers Daughter of his whom hee bought for readie money of the execrable Father who sold her and deliuered her This strumpet being full of lust and desperatly impudent hauing serued for a time the Fathers villenie fell strangely in loue with the eldest Sonne whome hauing sought with diuers trickes and deuises in the ende on a certaine day taking a Cousin ofâ—…ers that was her Baâ—…de to helpe her shee comes vnto him and after the accustomed prefaces of such impudent Creatures shee discouers her brest and her heart vnto him seeking with teares and sigâ—…hes to drawe him to commit Incest The honest young man amazed at this speech is so fortefied by GOD as not content with a modest and simple repulse he did sharpely apprehend both her that tempted him and the other that did second her threatning them with big words The furious lust of this bitch was presently turned into horrible hatred which makes her to take the way of confusion As soone as the Father was returned this strumpet complaines vnto him saying that his Sonne had sought three or foure times to corrupt her and in the ende would haue forced her if her seruant had not come to helpe her He giuing credit to this wicked report confirmed by the Baude beganne to murmure to him-selfe wher-vpon his Son comes in against whome without speaking any other words but ha wicked Traitor it is against mee that thou darest presume to plaie these partes hee goes with his sword drawne The young Gentleman turning away to auoide the blowe and not remembring that hee was vpon a straite not supported which answered vnto two lodgings hee fell backward downe to the grounde and was all bruzed so as hauing fallen vpon a stone in the botome of the ditch hee died presently The Parricide thinking that hee had leapt downe of his owne accord did runne after him vsing newe threates But beeing come downe and seeing his Sonne in that estate after cries of â—…urie and despaire with a detestation of his former life and of the wickednesse of his strumpet hee thrust himselfe through with his sword falling vpon the bodie of his Sonne which was yet hot and trembling and wallowing in their common bloud went the same way As for the strumpet hearing by the fearefull cries of the seruantes what had happened thrust on by the reuenging furies or rather pursued by the fearefull iudgement of almighty GOD the reuenger of innocent bloud shee flies towards a well in the house and leapes into it where shee was drowned The Iustice of Milan beeing called to see this accident apprehends the seruant and makes her confesse al vpon the racke where-vpon she was hanged Her bodie with the strumpets and the olde mans were cast vpon the dunghill as a preie for Birds and Wolues But
the manner of the Country is to honour strangers which happen to bee at such feast was desired to lead the Bride a dance He tooke her by the hand and walked her a turne or two then in the presence of all her kinsfolkes and friends he caught her vp crying out for helpe and went out at the gate where hee hoysed her vp in the ayre and vanished away with his companion and their Horses Her sorrowfull friends hauing sought her all that day and continuing so the next morning hoping to finde her where she was fallen some where or other to the end they might haue buryed her body met the two Cheualliers which restored them the maidens wedding apparell and al her Iewells saying that GOD had giuen them poure ouer her but not ouer her apparell and so vanished away The same Rash Iudgements THE yeare 1550. it happened that a certaine merchant in the Duchie of Saxony ryding forth of Towne left his Wife with one Daughter and a maide at home Hard by him dwelt the hang-man of the place who hauing espied this opportunitie found meanes to get into the house and hid himselfe in the Cellar where when the maide came at night to drawe wine hee cut her throate The Daughter being sent to call the mayde was also killed Finally the Mother going to see why they both stayed so long receiued the like entertainement which done he threwe their bodies into a Chest ryfled the house and went his way Not long after the merchant returning home and the author of such an execrable fact vnknowne the hang-man accused the poore merchant to the Iudges and deposed that the day before his departure hee had beene at great debate with his wife The merchant was apprehended and tortured in such sorte that he confessed although hee were innocent that hee had committed those three murthers and therefore was condemned and put to death But shortly after the murtherer discouered himselfe by a siluer bole which he offered to a gold-smith to sell who knowing the merchants marke gaue him money for it and after hee was gone carried it to the Magistrate vnto whom hee declared whose marke it had and of whom he had bought it Presently the hang-man was apprehended and being examined denied it at the first but at length confessed the whole matter Thus was the merchants innocency approued though too late before men and the damnable murtherer executed with such punnishments as his horrible wickednesse deserued PAVL EITZEN in the 3. booke of his Morales Chap. 15. M. ANDREVVE HONSDORFF in his theater of examples In another towne of Saxony it fortuned that at a certaine wedding a theefe stole a siluer goblet being narrowly pursewed by some of the watch he went and hid it in a fellowes bosome that had ouer-drunke himselfe and was layd a sleepe in the way as hee ran along The watch hauing wakened this sleeper found the goblet about him carryed him to prison where by tortures he confessed the theft whervpon ensued sentence of death and execution Within a while after the theefe apprehended for another robbery confessed this former and was hanged PAVL EITZEN in the same booke and Chapter Two theeues in the towne of Erford went and hidde themselues in a widdowes house with entent to cut her throate and carry away that shee had For to drawe her out of her Chamber where shee lay they got into the stable and beganne to pinch a kidde which they found there to the ende they might make the maide come downe as indeede she did For going to see what the kidde ailed they caught her by the throate and killed her The widdowe which had no other maide but that one hearing the kidde cry and the wench not returning went downe out of her Chamber and had her throate cut by these murtherers who rifled the house and went their waies before day The next morning the neighbours hearing a little Dogge barke in the house and seeing neither mistres nor made styrring abroade at the length brake open the dores and found those two persons murthered Immediatly they began to charge and accuse a certaine man that had the keeping of a Church thereby because hee had vsed much to the sayd widdowes house The Magistrates buylding on reports and coniectures commanded the man to be apprehended so extreamely tortured that hee confessed he had cōmitted that which neuer came in his thought Wher-vpon followed his condemnation and execution The theeues not long after being taken imprisoned for other offences confessed this murther of the mistres and maide and were executed according to their merits M. ANDREVVE HONSDORFF in his theater of examples A certaine man in the towne of Basil fell out vpon some occasion with his Wife who vnable any longer to endure his hard vsage left her house and went to some of her friendes in the Countrie and desired them to bee a meane of reconciliation betweene her husband and her It chanced that about the time of her departure another woman hauing drowned her selfe in the Rhine was cast vp on the shoare All the towne ranne to see her and because she was apparelled like the absent Wife that her face was so disfigured as no man could not discerne her in continently the people there gathered togither began to cry out and say that this cruell husband had killed his Wife and then cast her so into the water The Magistrates giuing more credit to this report then they should cōmitted the husband to prison where hee was put to such torture as he confessed that which was not namely that he had killed his Wife and then throwne her body into the Rhine vpon which confession hee was condemned and put to death like a parracide Three da◅es after his fugitiue Wife returned for to reconcile herselfe to her husband but hearing the piteous newes of his death melting into teares and running like a madde woman to the Towne-house she presented her selfe before the Lords proued her husbands innocency and accused them of iniustice They hanging downe their heads and condemning their rash iudgement tooke as good order as possibly they could for the poore Widdowe The same A woman dwelling in a certaine Castle of the Archbishoprick of Breme with her Sonne that was married suffered herselfe to be abused by one of her men Which discouered by the Sonne and not able to beare it hee besought his Mother to abstaine from such wickednesse One day hauing beene abroad and comming home the fellowe that was with the Mother in her Chamber espying him a farre off ranne away The Sonne followed after him and with a wand that hee had in his hand strooke of his hat This seruant got away and went into the seruice of a new maister some two dayes iourney from thence His friends sought for him and demanded him of the Sonne who told them how matters had past adding that he had his hat but knewe not what was become of him they taking this
answere in euill parte accused the young man for killing their kins-man Pre sently the Iudge committed the innocent Sonne to prison where the intollerable torment of the torture made him confesse that hee had killed the seruant and throwne his body into a riuer thereby Where-vpon he was condemned to loose his head Being lead to the place of execution he was admonished to tell the truth he answered I am innocent but will it auaile me to tell the truth I haue killed him To conclude he was executed yeelded vp the ghost in the inuocation of the name of GOD. Shortly after the seruant and the widow were found out where they were and being apprehended suffered such punishment as they rightly merited I GEORGE GODELMAN in the Treatise of Witches witchcrafts Book 3. Ch. 10. Two young Artificers dwelling in a towne of Germanie went out together for to trauell the Country shortly after one of them returned againe in his companions apparell with whom he had changed clothes The others friends coniecturing by this change of apparell that hee had made away their kinsman accused him of murther to the Iudge of the place who immediatly committed him to prison where denying the fact and put to torture by force of torment he confessed that he had murthered his companion and got on his apparell hauing eaten out his owne in an Ale-house Where-vpon hee was condemned to death executed dying like a good Christian. Not long after his companion returned safe and well In perpetuall remembrance of this proceeding and vniust sentence pronounced against this innocent in the Church of the place is the figure of a man laid vpon a wheele cut out in stone For indeed one ought not proceede vnto torture if the party accused bee not charged with many likely signes and as Vâ—…PIAN saith li. 1. § 2. l. 18. sect 1. l. 20. l. fin D. de quaestio almost conuinced by euident testimonies for in criminall processes it is requisite that proofes should bee apparant and cleerer then the day L. Sciant cuncti 25. C. de proba The same LADISLAVS King of Hungary hauing established IOHN CAPISTRAN Lord Marshall of his house it happened that a certaine Count was accused of treason and being laid on the Rack confessed that where-withall he was charged insomuch that CAPISTRAN condemned the Count to be beheaded together with his sonne but vnder a secret reseruatioÌ„ that the father only should be executed first and the sonne spared if it were neuer so so little perceiued that hee were innocent but yet commanded that he should be lead to the place of â—…xecution The sonne seeing his father loose his head being fully perswaded that his should be chopped off too strucken with a vehement feare hee fell downe starke dead where he stood CAPISTRAN very much troubled with such an accident gaue ouer his estate and became a Friar ANDREVV HONSDORFF in his Theater of examples BAPTIST FVLGOSA reports that HERMOLAVS DONAT one of the ten Lords at Venice a personage of great authority hauing in charge to examine a certaine young man accused of an infamous crime caused him diuers times to be tortured for to draw out the truth of him which not able to do a coÌ„federate of the prisoners desiring to bee reuenged on him for it and to procure some ease to the other watched him one night as he was returning homeward very late from the Pallace accompanied but with one man carrying a Torche which suddainly put out HERMOLAVS receiued a stab with a Poinard and fell downe dead in the place The Lords of Venice meruailouslie incensed and offended with the haynousnesse of the fact and not able to discouer the murtherer purposed to search out diligently all circumstances that might serue there-vnto They called to minde how before-times there had beene great variance betweene HERMOLAVS and IACQVES sonne to FRANCISCO FOSCATI Duke of Venice Imagining there-vpon that IACQVES relying on the dignitie of his father might well haue enterprised this murther they committed him to prison and tortured him extreamly But he would neuer confesse that where-of hee was guiltlesse not-with-standing they confined him into Candy where hee dyed The murtherer vrged by his conscience became a Monke and certaine yeares after in his death-bed opened this murther to his Confessor which after his decease was signified to the Seignorie In the 8. Booke of his Examples Chap. 4. Famous and remarkable Iudgements AN Italian Gentleman very rich well fauored of ALEXANDER de MEDICIS the first Duke of Florence falling in loue with a very honest faire yong maide but very poore and of base parentage being a Milners daughter who liued in the Country not farre from Florence tryed many meanes to corrupt her but all in vaine the Virgin hauing her honor in great recommendation In the end transported with this violent passion and followed by men which did second him in his humour hee goes in the night towards this Mill takes the Maide violently from her father and carries her to a house of his in the Country where shee was rauished This poore father goes to Florence and attends the Duke at his returne from Masse makes his complaint vnto him and demands Iustice. The Duke concealing his thoughts sends him backe to his house promising to take order for it Presently after dinner hee goes to horse making a shew hee would goe Hunte and goes towards this Gentlemans house staying thereby in a place of pleasure The Gentleman aduertised that the Duke was so neere and drunke with his passion thinking the Milner would not haue presumed to complaine of him and trusting in his owne credit he shuts the Maide vp in a secret place of his house out of the way and then goes to doe his dutie vnto the Duke offering him his Pallace for his lodging the which the Duke doth accept and seemes to take great delight in the building of this house of pleasure hee doth visit and view euery part member and corner thereof very curiously with their ornaments and causeth all the chambers and Cabynes to be opened finally he enters into a faire and long gallerie at the end where-of was a close doore but painted and inriched with rare deuises The Duke seemes to haue more delight in that then in all the rest and smiling hee sayde That hee thought that it was the Store-house of all his Euidences Treasure and most precious Iewels It was the prison of this honest Mayden that had beene rauished And for that the Gentleman made some delaye to open it the Duke did presently doubt that what he sought was there and therefore hee commands them to open it but the Gentleman pretended that a seruant of his was gone to Florence and had carryed the Keye with him But finding the Duke at these wordes to bee the more earnest to enter hee came to him and after a great reuerence he tolde him softly in his eare that there was a wench within the which he was loath to