over other Churches sought to obtrude his superstitions upon the Bohemians also but especially he commanded that all their sacred service should be in the Latine tongue and that they should not have the cup in the Sacrament the Bohemians sent two Ministers and four others to Rome Anno 977. to the Pope desiring to be eased of these grievances and at last obtained their request Yet afterwards they were againe inhibited the use of their own language in holy services whereupon Urateslaus Duke of Bohemia who shortly after for his valiant service to the Roman Empire was created King sent Embassadors to Rome requesting a confirmation of the Liberties formerly granted to them but the Pope Hildebrand absolutely refused it Anno 1197. Pope Celestine sent a Cardinall into Bohemia to inhibit Ministers marriage and to divorce such as were married but the Bishop and Ministers almost stoned him to death Also when afterwards the cup was taken away in the Sacrament there were many that opposed that sacriledg and amongst the rest John Melicius of a noble family and fervent spirit much honoured for his rare learning and holinesse of life in his ministry he earnestly exhorted his auditors to a frequent communicating in both kindes at last he was much moved in spirit to go to Rome and there to testifie that the great Antichrist was come and did then reign He prayed unto God with fasting and teares desiring that unlesse these thoughts came from Gods Spirit he might be delivered from them but when yet he could finde no inward quiet he went to Rome and wrote upon the Cardinals doors Antichrist is come and sitteth in the Church He also in his conferences with many asserted the same For this the Pope imprisoned him and excommunicated both him and his auditors Mr. Mathias of Prague also was a zealous defender of the Communion in both kindes Anno 1375. He with some other learned men went to King Charles that then raigned requested him to call a Oecumenicall Counsel for the reformation of the Church Charles sending to the Pope about it he was so incensed at the message that he commanded the King to punish those rash and Hereticall men Whereupon Mathias was banished the Kingdom and then was the use of the Sacrament in both kindes prohibited through all Bohemia so that the godly could not administer and receive it but in private houses in woods and caves and yet neither so but with the hazard of their lives for they were set upon in the high-waies plundred beaten and drowned in rivers so that at last they were necessitated to go together in companies and armed and this continued to the daies of John Husse Concerning the persecution of John Husse and Jerome of Prague See in my first part their lives But when these holy men of God were so unjustly burned at Constance the adversaries were not satisfied with their bloud but took further counsell for the destruction of the whole Nation for when fifty eight of the chief Nobles of Bohemia in the name of all the Commons Anno 1416. had sent Letters from Prague to the Council complaining that their Pastor an innocent and holy man and faithful teacher of the truth was unjustly condemned the Council instead of answering them wrote their Letters to some violent Papists who were in authority to assist their Legate in oppressing the Hereticks Thus the Bohemians were incited more and more to mutuall contentions the Priests daily from the Pulpits divulged their excomunications and execrations against the Hussites and to stir up the greater hatred against them they used lying signs for putting dirt about the wicks of their Tapers when the flame had burned the wax to the dirt the Taper went out Then cried they out That God by miracles declared his hatred of those wicked Hereticks who were unworthy to enjoy the light and thereupon they persecuted them all manner of waies and they used such violence as raised a tumult at Prague Anno 1419. wherein the enraged multitude threw twelve Senators of Prague with the Maior out of the windows of the Senate-house who fell upon the points of spears After this the Pope publikely excommunicated the Bohemians at Florence exciting the Emperour Kings Princes Dukes c. to take up Arms against them entreating them by the wounds of Christ and their own salvation unanimously to fall upon them utterly to extirpate that cursed generation promising universal remission of sins to the most wicked person if he did but kill one Bohemian Hereupon great wars were raised against them but it pleased God still to give them the victory under that brave Captain Zisca Whereof see more in my second Part in Zisca's Life Yet still as the Popish party prevailed at any time they exercised all manner of cruelty upon the poor servants of Christ insomuch that at Cuttenburg where were deep mettall-mines Anno 1420. they threw into one of them a thousand and seven hundred persons and into another a thousand thirty eight and into a third a thousand three hundred thirty four persons Also a Merchant of Prague coming to Preslaw in Silesia the Emperour and Popes Legate being their was in his Inne drawn into discourse where pleading for Husse and the Sacrament in both kindes he was cast into prison the next day a Student of Prague was cast into the same prison The Merchant exceedingly encouraged him saying Oh my Brother What an honour is it that we are called thus to bear witness to the Lord Jesus Let us undergo the trouble with cheerfullnesse the fight is but short the reward is eternall Let us remember the Lord what a cruel death he under went for us and with what guiltlesse bloud we are redeemed and what torments the Martyrs have patiently endured c. But when they were brought to execution and the ropes by which the horses were to drag them through the streets were fastened to their feet the Student affrighted with the terrors of death and allured by the fair promises of the Legate recanted But the Merchant like an unshaken rock told them that their hopes of any recantation from him were but vain I am ready to die saith he for the Gospell of the Lord Jesus And so being drawne slowly through the streets he was brought to the place of execution and there burnt Anno 2420. Pichel the chief Magistrate of the City of Litomeritia having taken twenty four of the chief Citizens and amongst them his son in law put them in an high Tower and at last he brought them out half dead with hunger and cold and adjudged them to be drowned When they came to the river Albis their wives children and friends greatly mourning the Majors own daughter came wringing her hands and falling at her fathers feet beseeched him to save her husbands life but he harder then a rock bad her give over saying What can you not have a worthier husband
Grzymaltowsky with many of the Nobility to the same Gate and when the aforesaid Kolechen with another in his company had gone out to them and scarcely perswaded them that the City was forsaken and that there was no treachery they went in and when they were disposed into the next fair houses they were entertained with a noble supper which was prepared to sweeten them a little if it might be and had plenty of Wine out of Dlugosses Cellar who was a rich Senator At last when they were half Drunk they set upon Kolechen with threats and would have made him their Prisoner but that he escaped wonderfully out of their hands and saved himself by flight But they durst not stay all night in the City for fear the Swedes and Citizens should set upon them unawares out of some Ambuscado and so they returned to their own company and in the morning with many hundred Waggons they came back killing all they met and setting themselves to plunder the City Here then you might have seen strange examples of barbarous cruelty on the one side and blockish folly on the other For though no man made resistance yet like Mad Dogs they flew upon all that either came out or were drawn out of the holes wherein they had hid themselves Of some they pulled out their eyes Of some they cut off their Noses and Tongues Of others they cut off their Hands and Feet others they stabbed and slashed and so butchered them with innumerable wounds that it could not be known who they were And which was more they spared not his Highness Prince Frederick Landgrave of Hassia though dead whom they had slain half a year before at Costena and who was decently Embalmed by the Lessians and kept laid up in the Chappel of the New-Church upon a Scaffold till he might be transported to his own Country They first rifled his Coffin which was handsomely adorned taking away his silver and guilt keyes and all the silk that was about it then they set upon the Princes corps and took away his silk robe lined with Ermines and so left him once again naked and lying on the ground But after the burning of the City his body being found in the same place untouched by the fire he was cloathed again by the ancient Lesnians and put up in his Coffin and buried in a certain place where he is still honourably kept But that mad rabble shewed abundance of folly in this that whereas they might have made Lesna their nest the Swedes having Garrisoned themselves in the strongest places of the Province or at least might have gathered together the richest of the plunder for there was such abundance of victuals wares housholdstuff of all sorts and treasure that was brought hither from other places as to a place of safety that a thousand Waggons could scarce have carried it away in many dayes yet such was their over-eager desire of their destroying this hated City that the very same day yea before noon they set fire to the City and Suburbs in every street for the Waggons which they brought with them were not empty but loaded with Torches Pitch Straw and such other combustible matter and so cruelly destroyed that most pleasant City together with all that abundance of all sorts of things that was in it This fire lasted three whole dayes and there were those that took care that nothing should scape it for when the New-buildings of the New-churches did not easily take fire they brought Straw Pitch and dry wood and put under the roofs and the in-side of the steeples and so forced them to take fire And they came again upon the third day 1. May and whatsoever was left they set fire to again They burnt also the very Wind-mills whereof there were seventy about the City and a very pleasant Park of the Countesses which lay close by the Castle that every place might be filled with spectacles of cruelty and at length it might come to be said En cineres ubi Lesna fuit Where fairest Lesna stood of old Now nought but Ashes we behold The Citizens sadly beholding these flames some miles off ran thither next day by Troops whether out of a desire of quenching the fire if it were possible or else to save something out of the flames for most through fear had gone away empty handed but the Enemy came upon them and although they stoutly defended themselves and slew many of their Enemies yet many of themselves were slain and many others also on the dayes following when some Villages that belonged to the County of Lesna and were inhabited by professors of the Gospel were in like manner burnt down There perished in these flames many aged and sick people that could not get away besides such abundance of houses houshold-stuff of all sorts precious wares corn many thousand bushels whereof were brought hither libraries and other things that the loss would amount to many Tuns of gold and many thousands were thereby reduced to meer beggery But that which was saddest of all was that the Church of the faithful that was here gathered together out of divers places and Countryes to enjoy the pure worship of God was so utterly overthrown that it cannot but cry out with Sion of old when it was rased by the Babylonians Lament 1. and 3. O all ye that pass by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger For he hath sent a fire into my bones and it prevaileth against me he hath made me a desolation so that I am not able to rise up my children are desolate because the Enemy prevailed Sion spreadeth forth her hands and there is none to comfort her I called for my lovers but they deceived me Mine Enemies chased me sore like a Bird without cause They have cut off my life in the Dungeon Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee Thou saidst Fear not It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not It must not be concealed what wonder hapned the first day of the burning of the City about evening at Czirna which is the first Town of Silesia next to Lesna about two miles distant Some of the Lesnians went out to look upon the sad smoke of their Country and as they were looking there fell from the clouds which carried the smoke over Silesia together with the soot a leaf of burnt paper which when they took up they found to be a leaf of the Bohemian Bible containing the 6 th and part of the 7 th chapters of Matthew where those words of Christ came first to sight With what measure ye meet it shall be measured to you again with many other of Christs exhortations to trust in the fatherly Providence of God This leaf was presented to the Lord of the place and a Lesnian Physitian who was there by chance that read and
condemned and saith he We glory on the behalf of our sufferings that they had such a dedicator as he but this great Persecution like a blast did spread the Religion that it blew and having continued four years from the first rising is expired in two most shining blazes viz. in the Martyrdom of the two great Apostles Peter and Paul Peter was crucified with his head down-wards which manner of death himself made choice of and whilst he thus hung upon the Cross he saw his wife going to her Martyrdom whereupon he much rejoyced and calling her by her name he bad her remember the Lord Jesus Christ. At the same time also Paul before Nero made a confession of his faith and of the Doctrine which he taught whereupon he was condemned to be beheaded and the Emperor sent two of his Esquires Ferega and Parthemius to bring him word of his death they coming to Paul heard him instruct the people and thereupon desired him to pray for them that they might believe who told them that shortly after they should believe and be baptized then the souldiers led him out of the City to the place of execution where he prayed and then gave his neck to the sword and so was beheaded This was done in the fourteenth which was the last year of Nero. Collected out of the life of Nero Caesar Eusebius and the Book of Martyrs CHAP. VIII The second Primitive Persecution which began Anno 96. AFter the death of Nero there succeeded first Vespasian and then his son Titus in the Empire under both whom the Church had rest but Titus associating to himself his brother Flavius Domitian in the Government of the Empire This wicked Monster first slew his brother and then raised the second persecution against the Church of Christ. His pride was so great that he commanded himself to be worshiped as God and that Imaâ—es of gold and silver should be set up for his honour in the Capitoll His cruelty was unmeasurable The chiefest Nobles of the Roman Senators either upon envy or for their goods he caused to be put to death Having also heard some rumors of Christs Kingdom he was afraid as Herod had been before him and thereupon commanded all of the linage of David to be sought out and slain At last two poor Christians that came of Judas the brother of Christ according to the flesh were brought before Domitian and accused to be of the Tribe of Juda and of the line of David Then did the Emperour demand of them what stock of money and possessions they had To whom they answered that they two had not above thirty nine Acres of land out of which they payed Tribute and relieved themselves by their labour and industry withal shewing him their hard and brawny hands by reason of their labour Then did he ask them of Christ and of his Kingdom to whom they answered that Christs Kingdom was not of this world but spiritual and celestial and that he would come at the last day to judge the quick and the dead Hereupon he despised them as simple and contemptible persons and so dismissed them He punished an infinite company of Christians that were famous in the Church with exile and loss of their substance Under this persecution it was that St. John the beloved Disciple was first put into a vessel of boiling oyl and coming safe without hurt out of the same he was then banished into the Isle of Patmos Anno 97. where he continued till after the death of Domitian but was released under Pertinax At which time he returned to Ephesus where he lived till he was a hundred and twenty years old During his abode there he was requested to repaire to some place not farre off to order their Ecclesiasticall affairs and being in a certain City he beheld in the Congregation a young man mighty of body of a beautifull countenance and fervent minde whereupon calling the chief Bishop unto him he said I commend this man unto thee with great diligence in the witness here of Christ and of the Church The Bishop having received this charge and promised his faithfull diligence therein John spake the like words to him the second time also after which he returned unto Ephesus The Bishop having received this young man thus committed to his charge brought him home kept nourished instructed and Baptized him and the young man so profited under him that at last he was made the Pastor of a Congregation But having by this means more liberty then before some of his old companions began to resort unto him who first drew him forth to sumptuous and riotous banquets then inticed him to go abroad with them in the nights to rob and steal and to much other wickedness And he being of a good wit and stout courage ran like an unbridled horse to all manner of disorders and outrage And associating to himself many loose and dissolute companions he became their Head and Captain in committing all kindes of murther and felonies Not long after upon some urgent occasions St John was again sent for into those parts where having decided those controversies and dispatched those businesses for which he came meeting with the afore-mentioned Bishop he required of him the pledge which before Christ and the Congregation he had committed to his custody The Bishop herewith amazed supposing that he meant it of some money committed to him which yet he had not received not daring to contradict the Apostle he thereupon stood mute Then John perceiving that he was not understood said The young man and the soul of our brother committed to your custody I do require Whereupon the Bishop with many tears said He is dead To whom John replyed How and by what death The Bishop answered He is dead to God for he is become a wicked and vicious man and a thief and now he doth frequent these mountains with a company of thieves and villains like himself c. The Apostle rending his garments with a great lamentation said I left a good keeper of my brothers soul get me an horse and guide presently which being done he went strait to the mountains and was no sooner come thither but he was taken by the thieves that watched for their prey to whom he said I came hither for this cause Lead me to your Captain and so being brought before him the Captain all armed looked fiercely upon him and soon coming to the knowledge of him he was striken with such shame and confusion that he began to flie but the old man followed him as fast as he could crying My son why dost thou flie from thy father an armed man from one naked a young man from an old man Have pity upon me my son and feare not there is yet hope of salvation I will answer for thee to Christ I will die for thee if need be as Christ died for us I will give my life for thee Believe me Christ hath
to go into a lime-kiln whereupon by mutual consent they all chose the lime-kiln in which with the smoak of the lime they were smothered In another part of Africk three godly Virgins had first vinegar and gall given them to drink then were they scourged then tormented upon the gibbet and rubbed with lime then were they scorched upon the fiery grid-iron then cast to the wild beasts which would not touch them therefore lastly they were beheaded In Italy a godly man was first tormented with the rack then cast to the wild beasts which not hurting him he was burned in the fire Fructuosus a Bishop in Spain with his two Deacons having witnessed a good confession were all of them burned in the fire But this cruel Emperor Valerian who thus persecuted the Saints of God shortly after felt the revenging hand of God for in an expedition that he made against the Persians he was taken prisoner by Sapores the King who made a foot-stool of him every time that he gat upon his horse and at last by the command of the King he was flaied alive powdered with salt and so ended his wretched life Also Claudius a President and Minister of his persecutions was possessed by the Devil and biting off his tongue in small pieces he ended his wretched life Also there were great terrible Earth-quakes and many commotions and Rebellions in sundry parts of the Empire insomuch as Galienus the son of Valerian and his fellow Emperor began to relent towards the Christians and set forth some Edicts in their favour notwithstanding which some there were that suffered in sundry places amongst whom was one Marinus a noble man and valiant Captain in Caesarea who stood for an honourable office which of right fell to him but his Competitor to prevent him accused him to the Judge to be a Christian. Hereupon the Judge examined him of his faith and finding that indeed he was a Christian he gave him three hours to advise and deliberate with himself then the Bishop of the place finding that he stood doubtfull in himself what to do took him by the hand and led him into the Church and laid before him a sword and a New Testament bidding him take his free choice which of them he would have Marinus immediately ran to the New Testament and chose that and so being animated by the Bishop he presented himself boldly before the Judge by whose sentence he was beheaded About the same time there was in Caesarea Asyrius a noble Senator of Rome and a Christian and whereas the Gentiles in that place used to offer sacrifice by a fountain side which sacrifice by the working of the Devil used suddenly to vanish out of their sight to the great admiration of the deluded multitude Asyrius pitying their miserable ignorance came amongst them and lifting up his eyes to heaven prayed to God in the name of Christ that the people might no longer be thus seduced by the Devil whereupon the sacrifice was seen to swin upon the fountain and ever after that false miracle ceased After the death of Galienus there succeeded Claudius a quiet Emperor and after him Quintilianus his brother both which reigning nineteen years the Church enjoyed peace in their time Here place the third Figure CHAP. XV. The ninth Primitive Persecution which began An. Christi 278. AFter the death of Quintillian succeeded Aurelian in the Empire who was by nature severe and rigorous and a strict punisher of dissolute manners so that it grew into a Proverb That he was a good Physitian saving that he gave too bitter Medicines In the beginning of his reign he was a moderate and discreet Prince and no great disturber of the Christians whom he neither molested in their Religion nor in their Councels But afterwards through sinister suggestions of those which were about him his nature being before inclinable to severity he was altered to plain Tyranny which he first shewed in the death of his own sisters son and afterwards he raised the ninth persecution against the Church of Christ but when he was about to sign a Proclamation or Edict for that persecution it pleased God that a thunderbolt fell so near him that all men thought he had been slain and the Emperor was so terrified thereby that he gave over his Tyrannical purpose so that he rather intended then moved persecution Having reigned about six years he was slain After whose death divers other Emperors succeeded in whose time the Church had peace for about the space of forty four years During which time it did mightily increase and flourish Yea the more the Christians had suffered the more they were honoured Insomuch as some of the Emperors did singularly favour them preferred and made them Governors of Provinces Dorotheus with his Wife Children and whole family were accepted and highly advanced in the Emperors Court Yea Gorgonius and divers others for their Doctrine and Learning were with their Princes in great estimation The Bishops were also in great favour with the Rulers and Presidents where they lived so that innumerable multitudes and Congregations assembled together in every City and there were great concourses of such as daily flocked to the publick places of prayer But through this great prosperity the Christians by reason of the corruption of their natures and the temptations of Satan began to degenerate and to grow idle and delicate striving and contending amongst themselves upon every occasion with railing words bespattering one another in a despitefull manner Bishops against Bishops and people against people moving hatred and sedition each against other Besides cursed hypocrisie and dissimulation increased more and more by reason whereof Gods Judgements brake forth against them which began first to fall upon those Christians which were souldiers but that touched the other very little neither did they seek to appease Gods wrath nor to call for Mercy but thinking that they should escape well enough they heaped iniquities daily more and more one upon another The Pastors being inflamed with mutual contention each against other Then did the Lord raise up adversaries against his people that rased their Churches to the ground burnt the sacred Scriptures in the open Market places made the Pastors of the Church to hide themselves and some with great shame were taken Prisoners and were mocked of their enemies and put to open reproach CHAP. XVI The tenth Primitive Persecution which began Anno Christi 308. DIoclesian and Maximian having many wars associated to themselves two Caesars Galerius who was sent into the East against the Persians and Constantius who was sent into Britain where he married Helena the daughter of King Coel a Maiden excelling in beauty and no less famous for her Studies and Learning by whom he had Constantine the Great These two Emperors having obtained many victories were so puffed up with pride that they ordained a solemn Triumph at Rome After
to the sword hereupon they strove who should submit their necks to the stroke Mauritius encouraged them greatly hereunto and being called before the Emperour he said Wee O Emperour your souldiers and yet the servants of God owe thee service of war but to him innocency of thee we receive wages but of him life therefore we cannot obey thee to deny God our Lord and yours also will ye nil ye We are ready to obey you if you enforce us not to disobey him Otherwise we will rather obey him then you We offer here our hands against any other enemies but to defile our hands with the bloud of innocents we may not These hands of ours have â—kil to fight against wicked enemies but not to murther godly friends c. We have engaged our faith to God we cannot be true to you if we break covenant with him c. We see our brethren and fellows in arms cruelly put to the sword which we rejoyce in that they have been counted worthy to suffer for Christs sake c. Behold here we cast down our weapons and had rather to be killed then to kill and to die guiltlesse then to live guilty We are ready to suffer what more you shall appoint yea bâ—th fire sword or any other torments We confesse our selves to be Christians wee cannot persecute Christians nor sacrifice to your devillish Idols The Emperour being highly incensed with this answer commanded the second time the tenth man to be slain which being accomplished when the Christian souldiers would not yet condescend to his minde he set upon them with his whole host both of foot and horse charging them to kill them all the Christians made no resistance but throwing down their arms offered their naked necks to the persecutors and so were all slain At that time one Victor an old souldier that for his age was dismissed coming to the Army as they were banquetting and making merry with the spoils of the Martyrs was bidden to sit down with them but he asked them what was the cause of there mirth and understanding the trutâ— he detested them and refused to eat with them and being thereupon demanded whether he were a Christian he answered that he was and ever would be Then they rushed upon him and made him partaker of the lik Martyrdom and honour When Dioclesian and Maximian notwithstanding all the slaughter which they made saw the number of Christians rather increased then diminished so that they were out of all hope of utter rooting them out and having now even their fill of blood they ceased at last of their own accord from putting any more Christians to death Yet of a great multitude they thrust out their right eies and maimed their right legs at the ham with a searing iron condemning them to the Metal-mynes not so much for their labour as desirous to afflict them thereby and so having raigned together about one and twenty years Dioclesian divested himself of the imperial Dignity and lived a private life and the like did Maximian also resigning the Empire to Galerius Maximinus and Constantius Maximinus was of a cruel Nature a great Enchanter vicious in his life and a great enemy to the Christians and therefore continued the Persecution of them yet at length was revoked from his cruelty by the just Judgement of God upon him For he was suddenly taken with an horrible and filthy disease which first began outwardly in his flesh and then proceeded more inwardly his privy members putrified with a botchy corrupt boil and a fistula consuming and eating up his Entrails whence swarmed forth an innumerable company of lice with such a pestiferous stink that no man could abide him he being also very gross his fat putrified and stank intollerably and because his Physitians could not abide the stink he commanded them to be slain others of them because they could not cure his incurable disease he put them to cruel deaths At last being told that his disease came from God he began to bethink himself of all the cruelty which he had shewed to the Saints confessed his offences to God and gave command that the Persecution against the Christians should cease requiring his Officers likewise to re-edifie their Temples and requesting them to pray to their God for him This Edict much comforted and refreshed the Christians who thereupon gathered together in every City called their Synods and Councels yea the Infidels themselves extolled and magnified the true God of the Christians But this Tyrant Maximinus scarce suffered this peace to continue six moneths together but again he forbad the Christians to meet and privately stirred up the Athenians to petition him that none of them might be suffered to live in their City Also a Conjurer in Athens made an Image of Jupiter which uttered these words Jupiter commandeth the Christians to be banished out of this City and Suburbs because they are enemies to him Also certain harlots were suborned to say that they formerly were Christians and privy to the wicked and lascivious acts which they exercised amongst themselves upon Sabbath daies c. And thereupon the Emperor commanded that they should put them to death by all means possible Then did the Persecution grow as great as ever it was and the Governors of every Province fell upon the Christians banishing some and putting others to death Silvanus Bishop of Emissa a very old man and three others with him were condemned to death So was Lucianus an Elder at Antioch At Alexandria Peter the Bishop was beheaded Quirinus Bishop of Scescanus had an hand-mill tied about his neck and was thrown head-long into a river where yet he floted a great while exhorting the lookers on not to be dismaid with his punishment and so with much ado was at last drowned At Rome many Bishops Ministers and Elders were put to death In sundry other places very many others suffered martyrdom with fire wild beasts drowning in the sea c. Some were crucified some were slain with the sword some endured the cutting and burning of their members some had their eyes thrust out some were starved in prisons and whatsoever other cruelty the Magistrates could devise All which the people of God endured rather then they would offer sacrifice to the Idols The like miseries did the women also endure for being inticed to the filthy use of their bodies some rather chose banishment and others to prevent it killed themselves Neither could Christians live safely in the wilderness but even from thence they were drawn to torments and death And whereas the Tyrant in his Edict had boasted of the plenty and prosperity of all things in the time of his persecuting of the Saints God to confute him presently sent great drought famine and pestilence besides the wars with the Armenians by which calamities the people were miserably wasted corn was sold at an unreasonable rate so that exceeding great multitudes died of hunger
in the Cities but far more in the villages most part of the husband-men dying of famine and the pestilence Divers brought out their best treasure and gave it for any kind of sustenance though never so little Others having sold their possessions for food fell into extream misery Some did eat grass others fed upon unwholsom herbs whereby they hurt and poisoned their bodies Many women were driven to leave the Cities and beg up and down through the countrey some through faintness fell down in the streets and holding up their hands cryed miserably for some scraps or fragments of bread being ready to give up the Ghost and being able to say no more they cryed Hungry hungry Some of the richer sort being tired with serving such multitudes of beggers began to grow hard-hearted fearing lest themselves should fall into the like misery By reason whereof the Market-places streets and lanes lay full of dead corpses and naked bodies were cast out unburied many of which were devoured by dogs whereupon they which lived fell to killing of the dogs lest running mad they should fall upon them and kill them The pestilence also scattering through all houses killed very many especially those of the richer sort which escaped the famine whereby innumerable Magistrates Princes and Presidents were quickly dispatched so that all places were filled with mourning and nothing was seen or heard but weeping and wailing every where Death so reigned in every family that two or three dead bodies were carried out of one house together But notwithstanding that these miscreants had been so cruel to them yet the Christians were very diligent and charitable to them in all their extremities travelling every day some in curing the sick some in burying of their dead others called the multitude together which were ready to famish and distributed bread unto them whereby they occasioned them to glorifie the God of the Christians and conâ—essed them to be the true worshippers of God as appeared by their works and hereby the Lord wrought wonderfully for the peace of his Church for after he had corrected them he again shewed thâ—m mercy Constantine succeeding his father overcame Maxentius the Tyrant in Rome and he together with Licinius set forth Edicts in favour of the Christians See Constantines life in my second part of lives Yet Maximinus continued his persecution in the East whereupon Constantine and Licinius wrote to him to favour the Christians and he finding that he was too weak to encounter with them sent forth his Edicts to stop the persecution yet afterwards he picked new quarrels with them and began to persecute them again whereupon Licinius went against him and overthrew him in a battell Then did Maximinus kill many of his enchanters and conjurers that had encouraged him and promised him victory Shortly after the Lord striking him with a grievous disease he glorified the God of the Christians and made a Law for the safety and preservation of them yet not long after by the vehemency of his disease he ended his life Licinius that for a long time had pretended to the Christian religion and lived in great familiarity with Constantine who had given him his sister Constantia to be his wife began afterwards to discover his hypocrisie and the wickednesse of his nature secretly conspiring the death of Constantine but the Lord discovering and preventing his conspiracies he then fell out with him and manifested his hatred of the Christian religion being puffed up with the victory that he had got against Maximinus He quarrelled with the Christians because as he said they praied not for him but for Constantine and thereupon he first banished them all from his Court then he deprived all the Knights of their honourable order except they would sacrifice to devils then he commanded that the Bishops should have no meetings to consult about their Ecclesiastical affairs nor that any Christians should come to the Churches or hold any assemblies then that men and women should not meet together to pray that women should not hear the Bishops but chuse out women to instruct them then that none should help or succour those that were in prison nor should bestow any alms upon them though they should die for hunger and that they which shewed any compassion to those which were condemned to death should suffer the like punishment themselves then he persecuted the Bishops and slew those which were the most eminent of them the flattering officers also which were about him thinking to please him thereby slew many Bishops without any cause yea many of their bodies they cut into gobbets and threw them in to the sea to feed fishes Some were banished others had their goods confiscated many noblemen and gentlemen were privily made away and Licinius gave their unmarried daughters to wicked varlets to be defloured himself also violated many women both wives and maidens This cruelty made many godly persons voluntarily to forsake their houses and to live in woods mountains and desarts He caused Theodorus to be hanged upon a crosse to have nails thrust into his arm-pits and afterwards to be beheaded Divers other Bishops had their hands cut off with a fearing iron In Sebastia fourty Christian souldiers in the vehement cold winter were cast into an Horse-pond where they ended their lives the wives of these fourty men were carried to Heraclea where together with a Deacon of that place after they had suffered innumerable torments they were slain with the sword Constantine being informed of all this wickednesse raised an Army went against him overcame him twice and at last caused him to be put to death as you may see in Constantines life in my second part whereby the Church obtained a generall peace Yet in this tenth Persecution many other eminent Christians suffered Martryrdom besides those before-named Galerius in his time invaded Antioch intending to force all Christians to renounce Christ at what time they were assembled together whereupon one Romanus ran to them declaring that the wolves were at hand which would devour them yet he exhorted them not to fear by reason of the perill and through Gods grace the Christians were greatly encouraged by him so that old men and matrons fathers mothers young men and maidens were all of one minde being willing to shed their bloud in defence of their profession A band of armed men were sent against them which were not able to wrest the staff of faith out of their hands hereupon they sent word to their Captain that they could not inforce the Christians to deny their faith by reason of Romanus who did so mightily encourage them then did the Captain command that he should be brought before him which was done accordingly What saith the Captain art thou the author of this sedition art thou the cause that so many lose there lives By the Gods I swear thou shalt answer for them all and shalt suffer those torments that thou encouragest
gat behinde them over a mountaine so that the poor people seeing themselves environed saved themselves by running through the midst of their enemies and others of them gat into the rocks The enemies being entred Rosa destroyed all with fire and sword The people fled by secret waies toward Luserne wandring all night upon the mountains full of snow laden with their stuff carrying their infants in their arms and leading others by the hand with great pain and travell They of Luserne seeing them ran to them praising God for their deliverance and they all were very chearfull notwithstanding their extremities Shortly after the Lord of Trinity went to Luserne by three waies they which kept the passages resisted their enemies valiantly but when they saw themselves assaulted on every side they fled into the mountains Then did the souldiers sack and burn the houses staying all they could finde When they which were fled to the mountains saw their houses on fire they praised God and gave him thanks that thus accounted them worthy to suffer for his Name Then did the souldiers pursue them to the mountains but after they had called upon God a few of them beat back their enemies whereupon the Army retired They in the meddow of Tour perceiving a company of souldiers burning the rest of the houses in Angrogne they sent six harque-bushiers against them who from the higher ground discharging all their guns together the souldiers ran all away when none pursued them Shortly after as the Watch was hearing a Sermon they spied a company of souldeirs marching up the hill whereupon they ran to encounter them and easily discomfited them But whilest they pursued the chase some cried to them that another company was entred into the meddow whereupon they left the chase or else not one of their enemies had escaped Presently other companies came other waies which the Ministers and people seeing were much discouraged and therefore they fell to prayer and ardently called upon God with sighs and teares untill night And whereas seven spies were sent before the souldiers there went out five of the Waldenses against them and took some and chased the rest Then went out eight more against the whole company and pursued them with an undaunted courage from rock to rock and from hill to hill and then went out twelve more who joining with the other made a great slaughter of their enemies Another company from Luserne having a Minister with them as they used alwaies to have after they had made their prayers to God set upon another company of souldiers whose hearts were so taken from them that they presently fled One of the Waldenses a very young man carried a greate staff in his hand with which he laid so lustily at his enemies that he brake his staff and slew many of them he also brake four of their own swords in pursuing of them Also a boy of eighteen years old slew the Lord of Monteil Master of the Camp which much dismaid the enemies Another threw down Charles Truchet and then leaped upon him and slew him with his own sword upon which all the rest fled and were pursued till night hindred The Minister seeing the great effusion of bloud and the enemies flying cried to the people that it was enough and so exhorted them to praise God They that heard him obeyed and fell to prayer In this battell they gat much armour which was a great advantage to them afterwards Thanks were returned unto God in every place every one saying Who sees not evidently that God fighteth for us Presently after the Lord of Trinity returned to burn the Villages but especially to pursue the poor people in the mountains And one company with many horsemen ascended the mountain of Comb by an unsuspected way where were no Warders but they which were next seeing them called upon God for aid and though they were but thirty in number yet they valiantly beat them back twice many of the enemies were slain and not one of the Waldenses Trinity seeing his men thus beaten back sent out most of his Army to assist them which were about one thousand five hundred men And there came about a hundred to help the Warders The combat was very cruel at last the poor men were fain to retreat with the losse of two of their men at this the enemies exceedingly rejoyced blowing their trumpets and triumphing but the people crying all together to the Lord returned again with greater violence assaulting them with their slings So that the enemies being weary rested themselves and the while the Waldenses betook themselves to prayer which more affrighted their enemies then any thing else Then did the souldiers charge again furiously but by the hands of a few they were driven back yea little children fervently calling upon God threw stones at their enemies as also did the women Such as were unfit for war kneeled on the ground with their faces towards heaven crying Lord help us Then came one running that brought word that the Angrognians were coming to help them which the enemies hearing presently retreated Another party of the Army of an hundred and fourty went another way but by seven men they were strongly resisted and driven back A third party was met by the Angrognians and driven back The Lord of Trinity intending to be revenged upon them in the meddow of Tour assembled all the Gentlemen of the country and an Army of about seven thousand and when the poor people saw them coming glittering in their harnesse and so many in number they were at first astonished but pouring out their prayers unto God to succour them and to have regard to the glory of his Name c. They marched to encounter with their enemies and seasonably by the way they met with some aid that was coming to them from Luserne so that uniting themselves they soon discomfited their enemies The Captain of the enemies had in the morning promised to do great matters that day but in the evening he was carried back weak and wounded and not like to live Whereupon a Papist said to him Monsieur there religion is beter then ours Another part of the Army set upon an house in a passe wherein were but five men yet they lustily defended it drave out their enemies that had entred and kept the place till some of their friends came to relieve them Another half of the Army assaulted another Bulwork on the side of the mountaine And they within suffered them to come very near but then with slings and guns they slew many of them others rouled down great stones which killed divers so that when they had attempted all waies to take it they were forced to retire the Lord of Trinity weeping to see his men slain so fast and at last having lost very many of his men he was forced to retreate many of the Army crying out God fighteth for them and we do them wrong
a gentleman telling him that he might do a piece of service whereby he might not only merit heaven but gain a great reward here which was by going to the Earl of Bezires endeavouring to put him into great fears and then to perswade him to have recourse to the Legates mercy and withall that he should perswade him with great Oaths and Execrations whereof he could absolve him at his pleasure to come with him to the Legate with assurance that he should be dismissed safe and sound This Gentleman plaied his part so well that he brought the young Earl with him The Legate presently told him that he was now his prisoner till Carcasson was taken and till his Subjects had better learned their duty the Earl astonished hereat cried out that he was betraied and that faith was violated with him c. but this nothing prevailed for he was presently committed to the guard and custody of the Duke of Burgonne The inhabitants of Carcasson understanding this brake forth into tears and were so astonished that they now thought of nothing but how by flight to escape the danger but that seemed impossible being environed with such an Army at last one told them that he heard some old men say that there was a certain vault under ground great and large which went to the Castle of Cameret three leagues off Then were all the Citizens imploied to search for this vault and having at last found it they began their flight in the evening with their wives and children carrying with them only some victuals for a few daies This departure was accompanied with much sorrow thus to leave all their worldly enjoyments The next morning they came to the Castle and from thence dispersed themselves some to Arragon others to Catalonia others to Tholouse whether it pleased God to conduct them In the morning the Pilgrims were strangely astonished hearing no noise nor seeing any man stirring in the City yet they approached the wals with much fear lest it should be but a stratagem to endanger them but finding no opposition they mounted the wals crying out that the Albingenses were fled and thus was the City with all the spoils taken and the Earl of Beziers committed to prison in one of the strongest Towers of Carcasson Then did the Legate call all the Prelates and great Lords of his Army together telling them that though it was requisite that there should be alwaies a Legate in the Army yet it was likewise necessary that there should be a secular General wise and valiant to command in all their affairs c. This charge was first proffered to the Duke of Burgonne then to the Earl of Ennevers and to the Earl of S. Paul but they all refused it Lastly it was proffered to Earl Simon of Montfort who after some excuses accepted of it The Earl being made general settled himself at Carcasson with four thousand Pilgrims all the remainders of that huge Army After this Earl Remund of Tholouse went to the French King for his Letters of commendation to the Pope to be by him fully cleared from the death of Frier Peter and the Pope thereupon received him courteously gave him full remission and absolution and thereby declared him sufficiently justified Shortly after the Earl of Beziers died in prison and Earl Simon was put into possession of his lands whereupon all that bordered upon him began to fear him for that he gave it out that the Spring following he would have a great Army of Pilgrims wherewith he would chastise those that had not acknowledged his authority given him by the Church Upon this occasion Castris sent unto him the keys of their City the Castle of Pinies yielded to him and so did all round about Carcasson But the King of Arragon secretly encouraged the Gentlemen of the Vicounty of Beziers telling them that his Pilgrims would be uncertain and would not stay long with him and that if in the mean time they would but keep themselves in their Garisons when he was weak by the departure of his Pilgrims they might then set upon him and reduce him to reason These messages gave such encouragement to the Gentry that the Earl Simon being gone to Montpelliar they took arms to shake off his yoak besieging some of his souldiers in a Tower near to Carcasson the Earl hearing of it presently returned to succor them but the Tower was taken before he came which affront brought him into some contempt Then Captain Boucard belonging to Earl Simon attempted to surprise the strong Castle of Cabeâ—et making his approach thereto as secretly as he could Captain Roger commanding therein for Earl Remund was come forth with eighty horse to forrage Boucard on the sudden charged him but Roger doubled the charge in so furious a manner that he overcame Boucards party and brought him prisoner into that Castle that he came to surprise Gerad of Pepios took part with the Albingenses so that the warre grew hot but all the men that Earl Simon took he caused a great fire to be made and cast them into it neither did his men escape scot-free when they fell into their enemies hands The City of Carcasson was hereupon stricken with great fear having little hope to defend themselves but by flight being environed on all sides by their enemies About this time Earl Simon wrote to all the Prelates through Europe that if in the Spring following they did not send him good store of Pilgrims he could hold out no longer against his enemies having since the last departure of his Pilgrims lost above fourty Towns and Castles And whilest that he waited for these new succours he surprised the Castle of Beron where he pulled out the eyes of above a hundred Albingenses and cut off their noses leaving only one with one eye to guide the rest to Cabaret Anno 1210. Earl Simon being shut up in Carcasson for want of souldiers heard that his wife was comming from France with many Pilgrims whereupon he went out to meet her These Pilgrims he imployed against the Castle of Menerbe which at last was yielded up to him for want of water This Castle was defended by Remund Lord of Termes and was scituated in Narbonne one argument which Earl Simon used to stirre up his crossed souldiers to fight manfully against it was For that saith he there hath been no Masse sung in it since the yeare 1180. which is now thirty years Upon the surrender of the Castle they laboured to draw this noble Lord to recant his religion and turne Papist but finding him immovable they shut him up in a straight prison where shortly after he died they also took his wife sister and daughter who was a maid and other Noble women with whom they laboured to withdraw them from the truth both by flattery and frowns by faire speeches and cruell threats but when they saw that nothing would prevaile they made an huge
of Tholouse sent some Deputies to Earl Simon to profer him the keyes of their City whom he received honourably and presently wrote to Lewis son of King Philip that the City of Tholouse was offered to him but his desire was that he should come and have the honour of taking it The Prince went thither immediately and had Tholouse delivered to him Yet the Legate resolved that the pillage of it should be given to his Pilgrims and the City dismantled which was presently executed though contrary to the promise made to the Citizens that no wrong should be done to the City Then came there a new Legate of the Popes called Bonaventure with those that had taken on them the Crosse. Viz. the Earle of Saint Paul the Earle of Savoy the Earle of Alenzon the vicount of Melun Mathew de Montmorency and other great Lords The Legate seeing so many Pilgrims feared least Prince Lewis should take upon him to dispose of divers places held by the Albingenses to the prejudice of the Church Whereupon he presently sent to all those places Absolution and protection so that when the Prince came against them they shewed that they were under the protection of the Church Yea the Legate told the Prince that since he had taken upon him the Crosse he was to be subject to his commands because he presented the person of the Pope whose Pardons saith he you come to obtaine by obeying the Church and not by commanding as the son of a King The Prince dissembled his displeasure at this audaciousnesse and the poore Albingenses were so oppressed by new Armies of Pilgrims that they sunk under the burthen of it The Prince when his fourty daies service were expired retired himself being much discontented to see so much tyranny exercised against the Albingenses Then did Earl Simon besieg the Castle of Foix but having lain ten dayes before it he found to his cost that the place was not to be won by him For where as Earl Simons brother quartered at varilles the Earl of Foix dislodged him and slew him with his launce putting to flight all his men News hereof being brought to Earl Simon he swore that he would drive the Earl of Foix behinde the Pyrenaean Mountaines but presently he had intelligence that a great Army of the Arrogonois and Catalunians were come into the Earldom of Beziers threatning to be revenged on him for the death of their good King where upon he levied his siege in hast and marched thitherwards But the Earle of Foix who knew the passages better then he lay in ambush for him in a place fit for his turne and suddenly setting upon his Pilgrims slew a great number of them only Earl Simon with a few others escaped and went to Carcasson but before he came thither the Arrogonois were gone else might they easily have discomfited him yet shortly after they returned again and Earle Simon was foundly beaten by them so that he was forced to shut himself up in Carcasson till he had a new supply of Pilgrims Shortly after came Remund the son of Earl Remund out of England where he had been bred under his uncle King John with an Army and quickly made himself Master of the City of Beaucaire and almost famished them that held the Castle so that they yeelded it up to depart with their baggage There Earl Simon lost a hundred Gentlemen that he had laid in ambush neer unto the City whom young Remund in a sally cut in pieces Anno 1214. The Legate called a Councel at Montpelier for renuing of the Army of the Church and to confirm the authority of Earle Simon where they declared him to be Prince of all the Countries conquered from the Albingenses which title was confirmed to him by the Pope also Who stiled him the active and dexterous soldier of Jesus Christ and the invincible defender of the Catholick Faith But whilest Earl Simon was in the Council receiving this his new honour a great rumour was heard in the City and a messenger brought word that the people hearing that Earl Simon was there betook themselves to their Arms purposing to kill him whereupon he stole away by the walls of the City on foot without any company and so escaped so that in one houre he saw himself honoured as a God and flying disguised hiding himself like a base scoundrell for feare of the rascall multitude Anno Christi 1215. Their was a Councill held by the Pope at Lateran where they gave the Inquisitors such power against the Gospellers that poor people were every where horribly tortured that were but suspected for Heresie and as Tritemius saith Frier Conradus of Marpurg the Popes Inquisitor if he but suspected any as guilty of Heresie vsed to trie them by the judgment of red hot irons and such as were burned by the irons he delivered as Hereticks to the secular power to be burned in the flames whereupon most of those that were accused were by him condemned to be burnt few escaping the hot irons In so much as Noble Ignoble Clerks Monks Nuns Burgesses Citizens and countrymen were under the name of Heresie by too headlong a sentence of the Inquisitor on the same day where on they were accused cast into the cruell flames no refuge of appeale or defence doing them any good By the same Lateran Councill Earle Simon had the forementioned lands of the Albingenses confirmed to him and thereupon he hastened to the King of France to receive investiture and as he went saith the Monk of Sernay in every City and towne the Popish Clergy and people met him crying Blessed is he that commeth to us in the name of the Lord and every man thought himself happy that could but touch the hem of his garment When he had recived his Investiture from the King of France being attended with an hundred Bishops that had preached the Crosse in their Diocess and with an exceding great Army of Pilgrims he hasted to make himself Lord of all those countries which the Pope had given him So that all men trembled at his reproach and with this great Army of Pilgrims he took in divers places using great cruelty putting men women and children to the sword Then was he marching to Tholouse purposing to pillage and raze it to the ground But by the way his wife sent him word that he must speedily come to her relief being besieged in the Castle of Narbonnes by the Earl of Tholouse but by this time many of his Pilgrims were returned into France Yet Earl Simon hasted to the relief of his wife and being come before Tholouse the people by their frequent sallies made that place too hot for his abode The Legate perceiving that he was much astonished at it said unto him Fear nothing we shall quickly recover the City and then we will destroy all the inhabitants and if any of our Pilgrims are in the fight they
the space of two or three moneths he caused fifty of them saith Mathew Paris either to be burnt or burned alive Anno Christi 1239. the King of France having garisoned divers Castles within the country of Albingenses who greatly oppressed them they betook themselves to Armes besieging those Garisons whereupon they sent to the King of France craving that present aid might be sent to them Then did the King of France send the Lord Iohn of Bellemont with a great Army to aid them who comming into that Country besieged the strong Castle of Mont-reall and at last took it together with divers others belonging to the Albingenses whereby the were suppressed for that â—ime But the year after the Earl of Tholouse took Armes againe and assaulted the Earl of Provence who presently sent to the French King for aid and the French that were about Avignion hasted to the reliefe of the Earl of Provence which the Earl of Tholouse hearing of he lay in Ambush in their way and suddenly setting upon them slew many and dispersed the rest and the war so prospered in his hand that in a short space he recovered to his former dominion above 20. Castles from the French and Earl of Provence and sharply punished his Rebels About the same time the Citizens of Millan being provoked thereunto by the Pope and Emperor burnt many of the Albingenses who were their fellow-Citizens Anno Christi 1241. The Earl of Tholouse continuing his warrs against the Earl of Provence almost beat him out of his country so that the Earl of Provence was feigne to send to the Kings of England and France who had married his second daughters to mediate for him and they writing to the Earl of Tholouse obtained peace for their Father in law Anno Christi 1242. the Bishops of Narbonne and Albium and the Seneschall of Carcasson apprehended two hundred of the Albingenses in a certaine Castle of Tholouse who had Bernard Martine of Cathavell and Raimund Agulbuerus for their Pastors and Ministers All these upon examination adhering constantly to the true faith without wavering were cruelly burnt in the flames Vignier Hist. Eccles. And the year following there were 224. more of them burnt likewise Shortly after it pleased God that great contentions arose between the Pope and Emperor whereby the Gospellers enjoyed some breathing time from their former miseries yet Anno Christi 1262. Pope Vrban hearing that through that peace their Doctrine was spread exceedingly he made a Decree in this tenour Albeit we be bound by our office alwaies to endeavour the rooting out the deadly poison of Hereticall pravity from all parts in the Christian world yet now in a speciall manner this duty is incumbent upon us when we perceive this plague to be growne up in our neighborhood through the iniquity of the times to the detriment of the Catho-Faith That therefore the office of the Inquisition may be the more effectually executed against the Hereticks in the province of Lombardy and parts adjacent we enjoyne you upon remission of your sins that you doe your uttermost endeavours for the extirpation of it and that you see that all Papall and Imperiall Lawes be executed against them and for my owne part I will implore the aid of Christian Kings and Princes that Heaven and Earth may be moved against them Anno Christi 1270 Petrus Cadarita and Gulielmus Calonicus were sent as Inquisitors from the Pope into the Kingdom of Arragon severely to punish those that had imbraced the Faith of the Albingenses and amongst others they condemned Arnaldus Castlebonius the viscount and his daughter Ermesenda Countess of Foix They also decreed their memory to be detestable commanding their bones to be digged out of their graves and to be burned They also called Roger the nephew of Ermesenda into judgement for the same crime Anno Christi 1281. There was a great persecution raised against the Gospellers in the Country of Albi by one William de gurdon Captain and president of Carcasson under Phillip the French King who by a proclamation commanded all the Albingenses to be extirpated and searched out of their dens and lurking holes and all such as favoured them to be utterly rooted out as also that the innumerable company of their children which would not be reduced to the Catholike faith and unity of the Church of Rome should not be admitted unto the City of Realmont or the territory thereof nor to the place of any honour or office That such likewise as favoured or concealed any of them should be banished forever from the City of Realmont and their goods wholly confiscated and their children be excluded from all honours and dignities Yet notwithstanding the severity of this Edict God hid and preserved many of them even in Realmont it selfe as Diamonds in dunghils though many of them fled into Arragon and Sicily where they might enjoy more freedom of Conscience Anno Christi 1285. Gareldus and Segarellus of Parma and Dulcinus of Noudria preached and spread the Doctrine of the Albingenses in Parma and in many cities of Lumbardy whereupon Pope Honorius by a publick Edict condemned their Doctrine and commanded them to be rooted out Bzorius Anno Christi 1300. Pope Boniface commanded Guido the Inquisitor to dig up the bodie of Hermanus one of the Albingenses and to condemne and burn it in Ferrara twenty yeares after his death Anno Christi 1315 The Friers Inquisitors raised a great persecution against the Gospellers in Passaw in Austria and burned many of them who continued very constant in the faith took their death very cherefully Amongst the rest one of them that was burnt at Vienna confessed that their were eighty thousand of them in Bohemia and Austria at that time their cheifest Ministers were Bartholomew Faustus Iames Iustus Bononatus William and Gilbert of whom James was murthered between two walls by the Mercilesse Inquisitors Bononatus was burned alive and William Gilbert and Bartholomew were condemned after their death the house where they used to preach was pulled to the ground and all that adhered to them were Anathematized Anno Christi 1322. Lollard Walterus from whom our English professors were called Lollards was taken at Collen where he had privately preached and through Gods blessings drawne many from ignorance and errors to imbrace the truth persisting constantly in his opinions he was condemned and burned alive Yet notwithstanding all cruelties used against them their enemies could never prevail to a totall extirpation of them but they still lay hid like sparkles under the ashes desiring and longing to see that wich now through Gods grace their posterity do injoy viz. The liberty to call upon God in purity of conscience without being inforced to any superstition and idolatry and so instructing their children in the service of God the Lord was pleased to preserve a Church amongst them in the middest of the Romish corruptions as a Diamond
commending his soul to Christ his head was cut off and set on the Tower The next was the Lord Harant a man that had gained much experience by his travels in Asia Africa and Europe his crime was that he had taken an oath to be true to Frederick and durst not violate it As he was going to suffer he called the Minister to him and told him that he much feared his wives inconstancy in Religion and therefore desired him to exhort her to constancy and not to suffer her self to be drawn from her Religion by any allurements assuring her that it is the infallible way to salvation Then to exhort her to use more clemency to his subjects rather easing then over-charging them with burthens Lastly to require her to have a care of his children and to bring them up in the pure Religion c. Being called to execution he said I have travelled through many Countries through many barbarous Nations escaped many perils by sea and land and now suffer innocently in my own Countrey and by them for whose sake I and my forefathers have spent our Estates and Lives Father forgive them Then he said In thee O Lord have I hoped let me not be confounded On the Scaffold he said Into thy hands O Lord I commend my spirit In the O Lord have I trusted from my youth I am confident that I shall be accepted by that ignominious death of my Saviour and falling upon his knees he said To thee O Lord I commend my spirit for thou O God just and true hast redeemed me and so he received the fatall stroke with the sword The next was Casper Kaplitz a Knight of eighty six years old When the Minister came to him after his condemnation he said See me a miserable old man who have often intreated my God that he would have mercy upon me and take me out of this miserable life but have not obtained it for God hath reserved me to be a spectacle to the world and a sacrifice to himselfe Gods will be done My death indeed is disgracefull in the eyes of men but glorious in the sight of God for God will account that death precious in his sight which I suffer for his glory and truth And when it was told him that he might have his life if he would ask pardon he answered That he would ask pardon of him against whom he had committed many sins all his life but he never offended the Prince and therefore would not give occasion to suspect that he had committed some crime for which he had deserved death c. God forbid therefore said he that I should be separated from this holy company of Martyrs As he was going to the Scaffold being feeble with age he said Oh my God strengthen me lest I fall down and become matter of scorn to the enemies Being crooked with age and hanging down his head the executioner could not well come at his neck whereupon the Minister said to him My noble Lord as you haâ—e commended your soul to Christ so now offer up your heavy head chearfully to God and lift up your selâ—e towards heaven Then lifting up his head as well as he could he said Lord Jesus into thy hand I commend my spirit and so is head was cut off The next was Procopius Dorzecki who after his condemnation said to the Minister I haâ—e had a great contention all night with old Adam so that it made me sweat againe but thanks be to my God by whom my soul hath overcome all tentations saying further O Almighty God strengthen thy servant that I may not be made a derision to mine enemies by any fear of death and as thou waâ—â— wont to encourage thy holy Martyrs so I â—trongly beleeâ—e thou wilt comfort me When he was called forth to execution he said Thanks be to my God who doth now call me to himselfe to him I have lived and for him I will die for my Saviour hath therefore died and risen again that he might be Lord both of the living and the dead I know that my soul shall liâ—e and my body shall be raised like to his glorious body Upon the Scaffold he said to the Imperiâ—ll judges Tell Caesar that we are now under his â—udgement buâ— he shall undergoe a more grievous yet just judgement of God And seeing a gold Medal hanging about his neck wherein was ingraven the Coronation of Frederick he delivered it to one that stood by saying I require â—hee that when my dear King Frederick shall recover the Throne of this Kingdom thou deliver him this and tell him that for his sake I wore it till my death and that now I lay down my life willingly for God and my King and so presently after he lost his head The next was the L. Frederick de Bile who suffered death likewise patiently and piously The next was the L. Hen. Otto a man of great judgment who having received the sentence of condemnâ—tion said O Caesar do you indeed establish your Throne by our bloud but what account will you make to God of it in the day of judgement c. kill my body dispâ—â—se my members whither you please yet dâ— I beleeâ—e â—hat my Saviour will gather them together againe and clothe 〈…〉 so that with thâ—sâ— eyes I shall see hâ—m with these ears I shall hear him with â—his toâ—gue I shall praise him and rejoyce with this heart fâ—reâ—er Afterwards when the Minister came to him amongst other 〈◊〉 he saiâ— I was â—roubled but now I feel a wonderfull refreshing in mâ— heart adding with his hands lift up to heaven I give thee thanks O most mercifull Saviour who hast beâ—n pleased to fill me with so much 〈◊〉 now I fear death no longer I will die with joy As he was going to the â—caâ—fold he said to the Ministâ—r I am sure that Christ Jesus will meet my soul with his Angels that he may bring it to an everlasting marriage where I shall drink of a new cup a cup of joy for ever This death I know shall not separate me from him Upon the Scaffold lifting up his eyes to heaven he said Behold I see the Heavens open pointing with his hand to the place where others also observed a certain brightnesse which dazled their eyes after he had prayed silently he said Into thy hands O Lord God I commend my spirit have pitty on me through Jesus Christ and receive me that I may see thy glory and so he received the stroak of the sword The next was Dionysius Zervius formerly a Papist but being told of the promises made to the people of God concerning the pardon of sins and assurance of salvation to those that believe in Christ he struck his breast and with tears in his eyes cried out This is my faith and in this I die I rest in the grace of Christ and I
trust in my God that he will graciously accept my contrite spirit When upon the Scaffold the Jesuites exhorted him he listned not to them but turned from the Crucifix and falling down on his knees he prayed softly Then looking up towards heaven he cried They can take away the body but they cannot take away the soul O Lord Jesus I commend that unto thee and so he ended his life being fifty six years old The next was an aged man about seventy years old that had been long lame his crime was that he had assisted Frederick with his counsel and wealth at the time of his death he said O Lord Jesus who being innocent didst undergo death grant that I may die the death of the righteous and receive my soul into thy hands The next was the Lord of Rugenia a man of excellent parts and full of zeal for God when he was iudged to die he said that it was more welcome to him then if the Emperour had given him life and restored him to his estate with addition of more afterwards he said to the Minister God is our witnesse that we fought for nothing but the Liberty of Religion and in that we are overcome and condemned to die we acknowledge and finde that God will not have his truth defended by our swords but by our bloud c. When he saw divers called out before him he said What is the matter my God thou knowest that I resign my self wholly unto thee Ah do not despise thy servant but make haste to take me away and when the Sheriff came for him he rejoyced and said Praised be my God that I shall now be taken out of the world that I may be with Christ and so he went to meet him On the Scaffold he comforted himself with that promise Father I will that where I am my servants may also be to behold that glory which thou gavest me Therefore said he I make haste to die that I may be with Christ and see his glory and so he suffered Martyrdom couragiously The next was Valentine Cockan of about sixty years old During his imprisonment he was full of heavenly discourse and at the Scaffold he said Grant me O God to passe through this valley of death that I may presently see thee for thou knowest my God that I have loved thy word bring me O God through the paths of life that I may see fulnesse of joy in thy presence and kneeling down he said into thy hands O Lord I commend my spirit and so holily ended his life The next was Toby Steffick a man of a composed temper and sincere in Religion he spent most of the time of his imprisonment in silent sighs and tears Before his Execution he said I have received many good things of the Lord all my life long shall I not therefore receive this cup of affliction I imbrace the will of God who by this ignominious death makes me conformable to his son and by a narrow way brings me to his heavenly Kingdom I praise God who hath joyned me undeservedly to these excellent men that I might receive with them the crown of martyrdom When he was called to die he said My Saviour being about to die said Father not as I will but as thou wilt thy will be done Shall I therefore who am but a worm yea dust and a shadow contradict his will far be it from me yea I come willingly my God only have mercy on me and cleanse me from my sins that no spot or rinckle may appear in me but that I may appear pure in thy sight and so he lifted up himself full of sighs yet full of hope and as he was praying he rendered up his spirit unto God Then was Jessenius a Doctor of Phisick called forth a man famous for piety and learning all over Europe Having hard his sentence he said You use us too cruelly and disgracefully but know that our heads shall be buried which you ignominiously expose for a spectacle which afterwards came to passe Anno 1631. when the King of Sweden with his Army took prague and caused the Martyrs heads to be taken from the Tower and solemnly and honourably buried When the Hangman required his tongue to cut it off he willingly put it out and falling upon his knees as he was praying his head was cut off his body quartered and set upon four stakes The next was Christopher Chober who much encouraged his fellow-Martyrs and then cited the words of Ignatius I am Gods corn and shall be ground with the teeth of wilde beasts So we saith he are Gods corn sown in the field of the Church and that we may be for our Masters use we are now to be torn by beasts but be of good chear the Church is founded in bloud and hath ever encreased by bloud God is able to raise up a thousand worshippers of himself out of every drop of our bloud for though truth now suffers violence yet Christ reigns and no man shall throw him from his Throne Being called to execution he said I come in the name of my God neither am I ashamed to suffer these things for his glory for I know whom I have beleeved I have fought the good fight of faith and finished my course c. then praying into thy hands Lord I commend my spirit he received the Crown of Martyrdom John Shultis was next who on the Scaffold said Why art thou so sad O my soul Hope thou in God for thou shalt yet praise him c. The righteous seem to die in the eyes of fools but indeed they go to their rest Lord Jesus thou hast promised that whoso comes to thee thou willt not cast off Behold I now come look on me pity me pardon my sins and receive my soul to thy self then kneeling down he said Come come Lord Jesus and doe not tarry and so he was he headed The next was Maximillian Hostialick a learned and pious man after his condemnation he was sadder then the rest and being asked by the Minister the reason of it he said The sins of my youth doe now come into my minde for though I know that nothing remains to condemn them which are in Christ Jesus yet I know that God exerciseth justice as well as mercy towards his own Being called to death he said Look upon me O Lord my God and lighten mine eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death and lest mine enemies say We have prevailed Afterward repeating the words of Simeon Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation he was beheaded The next was John Kutnaur who when the Jesuites began to speak to them said Pray you trouble not our consciences we are sufficiently furnished against the fear of death we need none of your help and when they would have proceeded
to make thereof and yet afterwards not paying that neither Then did the Emperour call for the ancient Charters of the Kingdom which he immediately rent and threw into the fire The Ministers being all banished the noble Lord Charles de Zerotine did yet not onely retain his houshold-Chaplaine but he sustained also many others privately in their Caves with bread and water and not fearing man he did not only give liberty to his own subjects but to divers others in neighbouring places to resort to the holy exercises which were performed in his Castle Then did the enemies by a new Edict publish that all such Barons Noblemen and Citizens as kept any Protestant Tutor for their children should presently dismisse him otherwise he should be taken and punished Then by another Edict all the Protestants were cast out of protection of the Laws and were to have no benefit by them The enemies being every day puffed up with their successes and victories made a Decree that all the Protestant Noblemen should presently depart out of the Kingdom and the Emperour published a Proclamation that to prevent all divisions which were dangerous to the Kingdom and Magistrates therefore he was resolved no longer to tollerate any of the inferiour much lesse of the superiour estates of either sex who was infected with hereticall errours And withall he granted to the superiour States the term of six moneths to learn the holy Roman Catholick faith and for that end he appointed Commissioners of Reformation to instruct them requiring them to be obedient to his will and to be diligently instructed by them otherwise they should not be suffered to stay in the Kingdom much less to possesse their goods and therefore he required all those which at the end of that term of six moneths did not turn Catholicks immediately to depart the Kingdom and never to returne again Hereupon they which loved Religion at their hearts did presently separate themselves by banishment Others sollicited Caesar by petitions either to change the decree or to grant them a longer time Others there were that thinking to deceive the Emperour and Pope did buy false testimonies of the Priests that they had been at Confession and communicated in one kind and so made shew of a dissembled Apostacy thereby to avoid banishment Then was the fore-named Act extended unto widows and the Protestants children were commanded to be delivered to the care and instruction of Chatholicks or else to be shut up in Monasteries and this caused extream grief and groanes when Noble-mens sons and daughters even maids that were marriageable were pulled from their parents and friends and thrust into Jesuites Colleges or Monks Cels their Goods being taken also from them and committed to Papists The cunning craftinesse of those seducing Reformers deceived many unwary persons whilest they told them that they might hold their former opinions only for order sake they must acknowledge the Roman Bishop to be the visible head of the Church Hereby the simpler sort thinking that they were not constrained to any other faith but what they had formerly learned thought that they might with a safe conscience promise that outward obedience And if these seducers saw any one of more Nobility then ordinary they presently suggested to them how much it grieved Caesar that those ancient families which had formerly been the ornaments and props of the Kingdom should cast themselves out into banishment through there unadvisedness when they might remaine and flourish under the favour both of God and Caesar and this ruined many of the Protestants Nobility who preferred their earthly before the heavenly country Yet above a hundred Families leaving their inheritances and all their possessions went away Amongst these was the Lord de Zerotine who might have lived in his countrey if he would have deprived himself of the worship of God by the losse of his Minister or if he would have used it covertly yet he rather chose to suffer affliction with the people of God then to continue the enjoyments of his earthly possessions And whereas many of these Protestants were gone into Silesia and Lusatia the Emperour set forth a Proclamation wherein he protested that it was not his intention to remove them out of Bohemia and Moravia and to suffer them in the incorporated Provinces and therefore he commanded them to depart from thence also or else they should be brought to punishment requiring them also to send back their children which they had carried with them upon penalty of losing all the goods which any of them could demand in his countrey Presently after he published another Edict wherein he required all the Protestant wives of the Catholicks either to reform or to go into banishment But when many of the chief Officers of the Kingdom had Protestant wives and they would not indure that they should be thus divorced from them he set forth another Edict whereby they were tolerated till the death of their husbands and then they should be excluded from their inheritances and sent into banishment And required that in the mean time they should absent themselves from all festivall and nuptiall solemnities or else should take the lowest places after the Catholicks And whereas some of the Protestants did privately teturn or stay to make the best of that little that did remain unto them Proclamation was sent out that all such should be apprehended and imprisoned and to warn all such as had harboured any of them upon their allegiance to appear before the chief Officers in the Castle of Prague requiring that if any knew where any of them lay hid they should secretly and suddenly attach them and bring them to prison Then did the Emperour repeal and disannull diverse of the ancient Statutes of the Kingdom that made most for the peoples Liberties as concerning their free Election of a King c. that he might the better every where oppresse them Then in all the free Cities men of base and mean quality were appointed to determine aâ—l businesse and to be the chief Officers and to these were added some of the chief of the souldiery the better to procure subjection These Cities also they impoverished by taxes and contributions which continued divers years and were extorted by the Souldiers power Then Masse-Priests were put into the places of godly Ministers and people were compelled to frequent the Masse Marriages were forbidden except amongst the Catholicks Such as turned Apostates were promoted to all places of Magistracy in the Cities though men of no judgement nor experience Then were these Articles given to the Captains of Distresses 1. That whosoever is not of the Kings Religion all traffick and commerce shall be debarred him 2. Whosoever shall suffer private Preaching Baptism or Matrimony in his house shall pay a great Fine or suffer six moneths imprisonment but if he harbour a Preacher he shall lose goods and Life 3. If
down before and behind powdred with red crosses and having burning tapers in their hands and Miters upon their heads painted with Devils were placed in their rankes Then was a Sermon preached after which an Oath was administred to the Princes and Nobles by the Inquisitors that they should favour the holy Inquisition and consent to the same and that they should employ their uttermost endeavour to see all them executed which should swerve from the Church of Rome and adhere to the Lutherans without respect of persons of what degree quality or condition soever and that they should compel their subjects to submit to the Church of Rome and to obey all its lawes c. Then was Doctor Cacalla called forth a man of excellent learning who had often preached before the Emperour whilst he was a Friar but being now accounted to be the Standard-bearer to the Lutherans he was called forth to hear his sentence which was that he should be degraded and presently burnt and his goods confiscated The like sentence of condemnation was pronounced upon his brother Francis a Preacher also who having spoken boldly against the Inquisition they so stopt his mouth that he could not speak a word Then Blanch their sister received the like sentence and so did most of the other only some few of them were condemned to some years imprisonment and to wear their Sambito's all their life time c. Then was the Coffin of the dead Lady with her picture it upon condemned likewise to be burnt This good woman whilst she lived was a worthy maintainer of the Gospel of great integrity of life and one that had divers assemblies in her house for the true preaching of the Word of God wherefore her house was also sentenced to be razed down and a Pillar to be set up in the place thereof with an inscription shewing the cause Then were all these that were sentenced to death together with the Coffin delivered to the secular Magistrate and so every one of them being set upon an Asse with their faces towards his taile they were guarded by many souldiers to the place of execution at which place there was for each of them a stake set up to which every of them were bound and so they were first strangled and then burnt to ashes only one of them who had been most vehement against them was burnt alive and his mouth stopped that he should not speak to the people All men marvelled at their constancy and quiet end At the same time also there were in prison at Validolid thirty seven others which were reserved for another Tragedy and Spectacle of the bloody Inquisition But seeing much mention is made of the Spanish Inquisition and of the cruelty exercised thereby against the poor servants of Jesus Christ I shall here set down the first Original and Progresse thereof as hereafter followeth CHAP. XXVII The Original Progresse and Practice of the Spanish Inquisition WHen King Ferdinand and Isabel had expelled the Turks out of the City and Territories of Granata and other places of Spaine who had lived there seven hundred seventy and eight years they set upon the Reformation of Religion and granted the conquered Moors liberty to stay to enjoy all their goods provided that they would turn Christians and whereas also there were very many Jews who had continued there since Titus conquered Jerusalem they gave them leave to stay upon the same condition but all such as refused were commanded presently to depart out of Spaine Yet afterwards finding that those Persons were only Christians in name and had submitted only to save their estates instead of providing godly Ministers with meeknesse to instruct them and to draw them from their errours by the advice of the Dominican Friers they erected the Inquisition wherein the poor wretches in stead of instructions were robbed of all their estates and either put to most cruel deaths or else suffered most intolerable torments by whipping c. and leading the rest of their lives in ignominy and poverty Neither was this only inflicted upon such as blasphemed Christ but for the observation of the least Jewish or Moorish ceremony or the smallest errour in the Christian Religion But this Inquisition at first erected against Jews and Moors was afterwards turned against the faithful servants of Jesus Christ and for the suppressing of the Gospel and the Profession of it and thus briefly you have the Original of it let us now see what their practice and exercise is As soone as information is given in against any one though but for a very small matter they do not presently cite the person to appear before them but they suborn one of their Officers called a Familiar to insinuate himself into his company who taking occasion to meet the paâ—ty accused uses thus to greet him Sir I was yesterday by accident at my Lords Inquisitors who said that they had occasion to speak with you about certain of their affairs and therefore they commanded me to summon you to appear before them to morrow at such an hour The party not daring to refuse goes to the place sends in word that he is come to attend them and so when he is called in they ask him what suit he hath to them and when he answers that he comes upon summons they enquire his name For say they we know not whether you be the same man or not but since you are come if you have any thing to inform this Court of either concerning your self or any other you may let us hear it for the discharge of your own conscience The Parties safest way is constantly to deny that he hath any thing to declare to them But if through simplicity he doth accuse himself or any other they rejoyce as having attained their desires and so presently commit him to prison If nothing be confessed they dismisse him pretending that for the present they know not whether he be the Party or no after his departure they let him alone for some space and then send for him again exhorting him that if he know or hath heard any thing that concerns their holy Court to disclose it to them For say they we know that you have had dealing with some persons suspected in Religion and therefore remember your self well if you confesse you shall fare the better and you shall but do therein as a good Christian ought to do If still he refuse they threaten and so dismisse him Yet they have alwayes one or other to keep him company to creep into his bosome and grope his conscience who under the colour of friendship shall visit him daily and have an eye to all his dealings observe what company he keepeth with whom he conferres c. So that without Gods special assistance it is not possible to escape their snares The Inquisitors also if they meet him speak courteously to him promise to befriend him c. and all to
were taken at Sivil at one time eight hundred Christians whereof twenty of them were afterwards roasted at one fire Amongst these this Juliano was one of the first that was apprehended and sent to prison where he lay without any company laden with irons above three years yet was his constancy so great and wonderful that the tormentors themselves were sooner wearied in inflicting than he in suffering torments and notwithstanding his weak and wearyish body yet he remained undaunted in mind in undergoing all their tyrannies so that he never departed from the rack more dejected than he came to it neither threatnings nor pains nor torments made him shrink or yield one jot to them but when he was drawn back to his prison he would tell his fellows how he had conquered and confounded his enemies saying They depart vanquished they depart vanquished The wolves flie with shame they flie with shame In the day of their triumph when he was brought out to be apparelled with his other fellow Prisoners in all their shameful habits he exhorted them with a cheerful countenance saying My Brethren be of good cheere this is the houre wherein we must be faithful witnesses unto God and his truth before men as becomes the true servants and souldiers of Christ and ere long we shall have him to witnesse with us again and within a few houres we shall triumph with him in heaven for ever But hereupon they presently clap't a Barnacle upon his tongue that he should speak no more and so he was led to his execution but though he could not speak yet by his countenance and gestures he shewed his cheerful and quiet minde Then kneeling down he kissed the step whereon he stood and being tyed to the stake he endeavoured by his looks and gestures to encourage his fellow Martyrs in their sufferings and so they quietly and patiently resigned up their spirits unto God There was also John Leon a Tailor by Trade who out of a blinde devotion to serve God resolved to enter into a Monastery but by Gods Providence it so fell out that he entred into a Cloister at Sivil wherein most of the Monks were well affected to the true Religion amongst whom in two or three years space he was so grounded in the principles of Religion that he resolved to leave that kinde of life which accordingly he did and went into the Countrey yet after a time he had a great mind to conferre with his former Schoolmasters but when he came back to the Cloister he found that they were all fled inâ—o Germany hereupon he resolved to follow them and through many dangers and perils it pleased God at last after a long and tedious journey to bring him safe to Franckfurt where he met with some of his old acquaintance and with them he travelled to Geneva About which time Queen Mary suddenly dying and Queen Elizabeth of blessed Memory succeeding her the English Exiles that lived in those parts were called home whereupon divers Spaniards that sojourned at Geneva thinking England a fitter place for their Congregation resolved to accompany the English men and for this end they dispersed themselves into several companies that they might travel with the more safety The Inquisitors took the departure of these Monks so ill that not sparing any cost they sent their Flies abroad to apprehend them who way-laid them especially at Collen Franckfurt Antwerp and in all the ways that led from Geneva This John Leon had got him a companion with whom he travelled towards England who being discovered at Argentine were dogged into Zealand and as they were ready to take ship they were apprehended John Leon took his arrest very composedly never changing countenance at it They were presently carried back into the Town where they were miserably â—acked to discover their fellows and not long after were shipped for Spain having great irons wrought like a net that covered both head and face within which also was another piece of iron made like a tongue which being thrust into their mouths took away their speech they were also loaden with other engins and fetters of iron wherewith they were bound hand and foot and in these continual pains and torments they lay a shipboard till they came into Spain and then John Leon was sent to Sivil and his companion to Validolid where afterwards in defence of the truth he suffered Martyrdome But John remained long in prison where he tasted of the Inquisitors tyranny suffering both hunger and cold and enduring all their torments one after another and at last was brought out in their solemn shew arrayed after their usual manner It was a sad sight to see such a ghost as he was his hair so grown his body so lean that he had nothing but skin and bones left on him and his pain much encreased by having a Barnacle upon his tongue After sentence of death pronounced upon him they set his tongue at liberty hoping that he would have recanted but he made a stout and godly Confession of his faith and so quietly ended his life in the flames There was also burned at the same time a godly Virgin that had formerly been a Nun but being through Gods grace converted she left her Cloister and joyned her self to the Church of Christ Being apprehended by the Inquisitors she was intreated as others had been before her and at last was brought out to the Scaffold where with a manly courage she put the Inquisitors to a foul foil not only constantly affirming the truth but sharply rebuking those fathers calling them dumb dogs a generation of vipers c. being brought to the stake with a cheerful countenance she underwent the pains of death and so quietly slept in the Lord. There was also one Christopher Losada a Physician a learned man and very well studied in the Scriptures as also of a very holy conversation insomuch as he was chosen Super-intendent of the Church of Christ in Sivil which at this time was very great though dispersed into corners At last he was apprehended by the Inquisitors before whom he made a good Confession of his faith for which he endured haâ—d and sharp imprisonment with most cruel torments and the open infamy of their solemn shew and lastly was adjudged to the fire As he stood at the stake the Barnacle being taken from his tongue he disputed notably with some Monks that came to seduce him and when they spake Latin that the common People might not understand them Losada also began to speak in Latin so copiously and eloquently as was strange to hear that he should have his wits so fresh when he was ready to be burned after which he patiently resigned up his spirit unto God in the fire There was also in Sivil one Arias a man of a sharp wit and well-studied in Divinity but withal of a crafty wit and inconstant nature which vices he yet
after another by the hand and so dispatching them all no otherwise than as a Butcher doth kill his Calves and Sheep This was in Calabâ—ia Anno Christi 1560. Persecution raised by the Pope in Venice THe City of Venice was a long while from the cruel Inquisition whereby the face of a Church was discerned there from the year 1530. to the year 1542. yea and multitudes of good Christians flocked thither from other parts which so provoked the Divel to envy that he stirred up the Pope to send Inquisitors which erected an Inquisition in that City and for divers years the Pope sent them money to distribute amongst their Flies and such persons as would betray the faithful to them By this means many of the worthy servants of Jesus Christ were apprehended imprisoned and after a while sent to Rome to be there butchered Then was a new-found manner of death inflicted upon divers others never till then heard of whereby they were drowned in the bottome of the Sea The manner of it was thus After any of them had received the sentence of death by the Inquisitors an iron chain was fastned about their middle with a very heavy stone tyed thereto then were they laid upon a plank between two boats and so rowed to an appointed place in the Sea where the boats parting asudder the Martyrs presently sunk into the bottome of the Sea and were drowned Yet notwithstanding this cruelty many godly persons ceased not to assemble together in a place appointed for that purpose where they talked and discoursed of heavenly matters for their spiritual edification and made collections for the relief of the poor amongst them And Anno 1566. they called to them a Minister of the Gospel and constituted a Church where they enjoyed all the Ordinances with much comfort but some false brethren creeping in amongst them after a while betrayed them then were many apprehended cast into the Sea and drowned Others were sent to Rome where they were cast into prison till they rotted and dyed there Amongst others that were condemned to be drowned at Venice was one Mr. Anthony Ricetto to whom after his condemnation his sonne a youth about twelve years old came beseeching him with tears to yield that his life might be saved and himself not left fatherlesse To whom he answered A good Christian is bound to forgoe children goods yea and life it self for the maintenance of Gods honour and glory For which cause said he I am now resolved to lay down my life the Lord assisting me The Lords of Venice offered to restore to him his Patrimony which was partly morgaged and partly sold if he would submit to the Church of Rome but he resolutely refused that condition Not long after came a Captain to him and told him of one Francis Sega his prison-fellow that waâ— resolved to recant To whom he answered What tell you me of Sega I am resolved to performe my vows to the Lord my God Then was he carried forth bound to the boats and by the way a Priest presented him with a wooden Crosse exhorting him to recant c. But he on the contrary perswaded him and others to come out of the snares of the Divel and to cleave to Jesus Christ and to live not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit For said he otherwise your unbelief will bring you into the lake of fire that never shall be quenched When he came to the place where he was to suffer the Captain lastned the chain and stone to him whereupon lifting his eyes to heaven he said Father forgive them they know not what they do Lord Jesus into thy hands do I commend my spirit and so in the sea he ended his life A few dayes after one Mr. Francis Spinola was apprehended and committed to prison and when he was brought forth before the Inquisitors they shewed him a Treatise about the Lords Supper demanding whether he was the Author of it which he acknowledged avouching that the doctrine that was contained therein was agreeable to the holy Scriptures Then was he return'd to his prison where the aforementioned Sega was who waiting for his coming as he passed by saluted him by his name after which they conferred together about the doctrine of the Gospel and Sega having heard that Spinola had stood stoutly in the Confession of the truth he was much comforted saying that God had reserved him for such a time as this to make him Partaker of so great consolation Shortly after the Jailor told Sega that he was to die one hour within night at the hearing whereof he entreated Spinola to pray with him and after prayer he said that his soul was heavy unto death Spinola answered Fear not for it will not be long before your soul shall partake of those joyes which shall endure for ever At the appointed time he was fetched out of the dungeon where he took his leave of Spinola and the other Prisoners As he went into the boat a Friar perswaded him to return to the Church of Rome Sega answered that he was already in the way to our Lord Jesus Christ and so passing on he called upon the name of God He seemed to be a little amazed at the fastning of the chaine and stone to his body yet presently recollecting his spirits he took it patiently and so commending his soul into the hands of God he quietly slept in the Lord. Spinola being again called before the Inquisitors he boldly reproved the Popes Legate and the other Judges for that contrary to their consciences they persecuted the truth of God calling them the off-spring of the Pharisees c. The third time that he was called before them they asked him if he would not recant his errours he answered that the doctrine which he maintained was not erroneous but the same truth which Christ and his holy Apostles taught and for which all the Martyrs both in former and later times did willingly lay down their lives and endured the pains of death Yet after all this Spinola by the crafty perswasions of some seeming friends began to strike saile and to faint but through Gods goodnesse he soon recovered again and being called before the Judges he openly confirmed the truth and so had sentence passed upon him that he should be drowned as an Heretick To which he answered I am no Heretick but the servant of Jesus Christ at which words the Popes Legate commanded him silence and told him that he lyed the night after he was conveyed into the sea and there drowned praising and blessing God with invincible constancy Anno 1595. There was at Rome a young Englishman who going into a Church and seeing their grosse idolatry was so inflamed with zeal that he could not endure the sight of those horrible impieties and therefore he went out into the Church porch and as the Procession passed by him he waited till the Bishop came
execution he said to the people See here how this wicked world rewards the poor servants of Jesus Christ whilst I was a drunkard a player at Cards and Dice living in all dissolutenesse and ungodly behaviour I was never in danger of these bonds yea I was then counted a good fellow and at that time Who but I But no sooner began I through Gods grace to seek after a godly life but presently the world made war upon me and became mine enemy c. yet this discourageth me not for the servant is not better than his Lord seeing they persecuted him no question but they will persecute us At the place of execution one gave him his hand and comforted him then began he to sing the 30. Psalm whereupon a Friar interrupted him saying Oh John turn there is yet time and space the Martyr disregarding his words turned his back upon him and some of the company said to the Friar Turn thou thou hypocrite and so Herwin quietly finished his Psalm many joyning with him in singing of it then said the Friar Be not offended good people to hear this Heretick to sing of God The people answered Hold thy peace thou Balaamite here is no body offended There were present at least four hundred that encouraged the Martyr to continue to the end as he had well begun To whom he answered Brethren I fight under the Standard and in the quarrel of my great Lord and Captain Jesus Christ. Then he prayed and so went into his Cabin made with fagots saying to the people I am now going to be sacrificed Follow you me when God of his goodnesse shall call you to it and so he was first strangled and then burnt to ashes Anno 1561. There was apprehended in Antwerp one John de Boscane who for his constancy in Religion was condemned to death But the Magistrate fearing an uproare if he should put him to death publickly knowing that he was a man free of speech and beloved of the people he resolved for this cause secretly to drown him in the prison and for this end a tub with water was provided and an Executioner sent to drown him but the water was so shallow and the Martyr so tall that he could not possibly be drowned therein whereupon the Executioner gave him many wounds and stabs with a dagger and so this holy Martyr ended his life About the same time another servant of Jesus Christ having made a bold Profession of his faith was in the same City sentenced to death and because they duâ—st not execute him publickly they privately sent and beheaded him in prison his name was John de Buisons The godly in this City of Antwerp being desirous to take all opportunities to meet together in the fear of God on a day when the Popish party was met to behold great triumphs they withdrew themselves out of the City and went into a Wood where their Minister preached the Word of God to them The Drosart of Marksem being advertised hereof took his officers and went thitherward by the way he met with some poor boyes that were cowherds to whom he promised new cloaths if if they would bring him to the place in the Wood where their assembly was which they undertaking he sent some of his officers along with them into the Wood who coming to the place like wolves the sheep of Christ began to flie the Minister seeing their fear admonished them not to stir The Persecutors were not above five or six and the persecuted four or five hundred so that they might easily have resisted them but they would not The officers chiefly aimed to apprehend the Minister and having caught one of the Assembly they thought him to be the man crying one to another Hold the Priest fast striking him with their Pistols and staves and so carried him to the Drosart they caught also two or three more which afterwards made an escape the man only that remained with the Drosart whose name was Bartholomew was often set upon to be turned aside from his holy Profession Why say they cannot such a young man as thou art content thy self with our Religion and glorious Church adorned with gold silver precious stones in which there is such melodious musick both of voices and instruments but thou must needs joyn thy self to that Church that is hated despised and exposed to all manner of contempt Bartholomew overcame all these tentations by the power of the Almighty saying That which is greatly esteemed amongst men is altogether abominable in the sight of God Then was he condemned and beheaded by which death he glorified God Anno 1568. There were apprehended in Antwerp one Scoblant John de Hues and Joris Coomans who being cast into prison were very oyful confessing that nothing befell them but by Gods divine Providence as they acknowledge in a letter which they wrote to the brethren wherein they thus write Seeing it is the will of God that we should suffer for his name and in the quarrel of his Gospel we certifie you dear brethren that we are joyful and however the flesh continually rebels against the spirit counselling ever and anon according to the advice of the old Serpent yet we are well assured that Christ who hath bruised will still bruise the Serpents head and not leave us comfortlesse we are indeed sometimes pricked in the heele yet we are not discouraged but keep our faith close to the promises of God c. Be not therefore dismayed for our bands and imprisonment for it is the good Will of God towards us and therefore we pray that he will give us grace to persevere constantly unto the end Shortly after Scoblant was brought to his trial where he made a good confession of his faith and so was condemned Returning to prison he earnestly requested the Jailor that he would not suffer the Friars to come and trouble him for said he they can do me no good seeing the Lord hath already sealed up the assurance of my salvation in my heart by his holy Spirit I am now going to my Spouse and putting off this earthly mantle to enter into his celestial glory where I shall be freed from all superstitions Would to God that I might be the last that these tyrants should put to death and that their thirst might be so quenched with my blood that the poor Church of Christ might henceforth enjoy rest and quiet When he was to go forth to execution he sung the fourtieth Psalme with his fellow prisoners then said the Lords Prayer and so kissing each other they commended one another unto God with many teares Being tied to the stake he was burned alive calling upon the name of the Lord. John Hues died in prison whereupon Joris wrote thus to his friends Brethren I am now left alone whereas we were three in number John Hues is now dead in the Lord and yet I am
not altogether alone seeing the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob is with me he is my exceeding great reward and will not fail to reward me so soon as I shall have laid down this earthly tabernacle Pray unto God that he will strengthen me to the end for every hour I expect the dissolution of this house of clay When he was brought forth before the Judges and examined of his faith he answered freely and proved what he said by the holy Scriptures and being asked whether he was resolved to die for the faith which he professed he answered I will not only venture to give my body but my soul also for the confirmation of it and so being condemned he was shortly after burned dying with much comfort The persecution growing hot in Flanders one Giles Annik and John his sonne removed to Emden but by reason of their sudden departure they could not take their wives with them whereupon in the year 1568. they returned back to fetch their wives who were at Renay yet in regard of the danger they durst not go into the town openly but took up their lodging in the evening at an honest mans house called Lewis Meulin Now it so fell out that that very night the enemies had appointed to make a secret search after such as professed the Gospel and so passing by this house and seeing the light of a candle in it expecting their prey they forced open the door and took these two together with their Host prisoners God having appointed them to bear witnesse to his truth After they had been in prison awhile they were all three condemned for Hereticks and presently after Giles the father was burned John the son being fetched to execution when he saw the man that first apprehended him he called him to him saying I forgive thee my death and so he with Lewis Meulin were both beheaded About the same time there was also a godly widow apprehended and cast into prison her crime was for that about two years before she had suffered a Minister to preach in an out-house on the backside of her dwelling She was very charitable in relieving the poor and every way shewed forth the fruits of a true saving faith After seven moneths imprisonment she was condemned to die and a Priest coming to her to hear Confession she spake to him with such a divine grace and with a spirit so replenished with zeal that he went from her with teares trickling down his cheeks saying I came to comfort you but I have more need to be comforted of you when she was carried forth to execution she went with much boldnesse and joy of heart and having her head cut off she sweetly slept in the Lord. There was also one Christopher Gauderin that at first was brought up under the Abbat of Hename but the Abbat dying he betook himself to the weaving of linnen and quickly grew expert in his trade But having been trained up in a bad schoole when the Sabbath came he spent riotously what he had gotten all the week by his labour Now through Gods mercy it so fell out that a godly man working with him would often tell him of the danger of his present condition exhorting him rather to distribute his gettings to the poor assuring him that if he spent his money so wastfully God would call him to an account for it These with the like exhortations so wrought upon him through the grace of God that he began to change his course and in stead of frequenting Taverns he became a diligent hearer of Sermons and gave himself much to reading of the holy Scriptures so that not long after he was called by the Church to the office of a Deacon which he discharged carefully and faithfully Shortly after having occasion to go to a place called Audenard to distribute some almes to the poor there he was apprehended and the Bailiffe that had formerly seene him in the Abbats house asked him how he came to turn Heretick Nay said he I am no Heretick but a right believing Christian and what I learned of him I am now ashamed to remember In prison he had many disputes about his faith which he so maintained and defended by the Word of God that he silenced all his adversaries Some told him that he would cast away himsef in his youth being but thirty years old to whom he answered That mans life consisted but of two dayes viz. The day of his birth and the day of his death and therefore he must needs die once And for my part said he I am now willing by death to passe into eternal life When news was brought him in the evening that he must die the next day he retired himself and poured out his soul in prayer unto God till ten a clock and after his rest the like he did the next morning Having ended his Prayer he put on a clean shirt and washed himself saying to his fellow-prisoners Brethren I am now going to be married I hope ere noon to drink of the wine of the Kingdome of heaven When he came down he found three other prisoners that were to suffer with him These four exhorted and encouraged one another to suffer patiently and constantly Then came a Friar saying that he came to convert them To whom Christopher said Away from us thou seducer of souls for we have nothing to do with thee The Hangman coming to put gagges into their mouths one of them said What shall we not have liberty at this our last hour to praise God with our tongues Christopher answered Let not this discourage us the more wrong our enemies do to us the more assistance we shall finde from God and so ceased not to comfort them till himself was gagged also Their sentence was that they should be hanged for hearing Sermons and so with admirable constancy they yielded up their souls to God One of them being a woman was condemned to be beheaded because she had sung Psalms and exhorted her neighbours out of the Word of God at a womans upsitting Her body was grown very feeble so that she was caused to sit on a stool where she received three blows with a sword overthwart her teeth yet did she constantly sit still till she received the Crown of Martyrdom Anno 1568. About the same time there was in a town a mile distant from Gand a Minister whom it pleased the Lord to illuminate with the saving knowledge of his Gospel whereupon he became a diligent and faithful Preacher of it both in his life and doctrine yea he went from house to house exhorting and comforting every one as he had occasion out of the Word of God and above all labouring with them to beware of the abominable superstitions of the Papacy The Popish Clergy of Gand having intelligence hereof fearing lest by this means their doctrine and authority
head that he received his blood into his own hands and when they had killed him they threw him into the river Two Ministers belonging to the King of Navar were also murthered and thrown into the river God miraculously preserving all the other Ministers in the City A Jeweller being in bed with his wife who at that time had the midwife with her being near the time of her delivery these bloody Villains came knocking at the door and in the Kings name demanded entrance the woman as ill was she was opened the door whereupon rushing in they stabbed her husband in his bed the Midwife seeing that they were bent to murther the woman also earnestly entreated them to tarry at least so long till the infant which would be the twentieth child that God had given her was born but notwithstanding her request they took the woman and thrust a dagger into her fundament up to the hilts the woman finding her self mortally wounded yet desirous to bring forth her fruit fled into a corn-loft whither these tygers persuing her gave her another stob into the belly and so cast her out of the window into the street and upon the fall the childe came forth of her body the head formost gaping and yauning in a pitiful manner One of these murtherers snatching up a little childe in his armes the poor babe began to play with his beard and to smile upon him but instead of being moved to compassion this villain whose heart was harder than the rocks wounded it with his dagger and cast it all gore blood into the river The Kings letters being come to Meaux upon the same Sabbath to Cosset the Kings Atturny there upon the sight of them he presently went about to his cutthroats warning them to come to him armed at seven a clock at night withal causing the gates of the City to be shut up The hour being come he with his Partizans went up and down cruelly murthering the innocent servants of Jesus Christ in which bloody employment they spent all that night The next day they pillaged their houses and took above two hundred Protestants more and shut them up in prison the next day towards evening Cosset with his companions went to the prison where having a Catalogue of the prisoners names Cosset called them out one by one and then they murthered them till they were aweary Then they went to supper that so they might breath and refresh themselves and then filling themselves with wine they went back to glut themselves with blood also They took with them butchers axes that they might dispatch them the more easily with which as they called them forth they knocked them down and murthered them Amongst those that were thus butchered was an Elder of the Reformed Church who praying for his enemies they laughed him to scorn and because he had a Buffe-coat on which they were loth to spoil they opened it before and stabbed him into the breast Another was an ancient man that had been sheriffe of the City him they were not content to kill out-right but first cut off his nose ears and privy members then they gave him several small thrusts into the body tossing him up and down till through losse of blood he fell down calling upon the name of the Lord and so with many wounds he was slain The Kings letters being come to Troys the Protestants were all shut up in prison Then did the Bailiffe send for the common Hangman to murther them but he refused saying That his office was only to execute such as were legally condemned and so went his way Then was the Keeper of the prison sent for who being sick he sent one Martin to know what the businesse was to whom the Bailiffe imparted the matter wishing him to murther all the Prisoners and that their blood might not run out into the street he bade him to make a great trench in the midst of the prison and to cause certain vessels to be set into it to receive the blood This Martin going back with abhorrency of the fact concealed it from the Jailor The next day the Bailiffe came to the prison and smiling asked the Jailor if it was done but he being ignorant of his meaning asked him what should be done Hereupon the Bailiffe was so enraged that he was ready to strike him with his dagger till he promised to perform his Will Then did the Jailor go to the Prisoners who were in the Court recreating themselves and shut them up one by one in their several Cels which made them suspect that they were destinated to slaughter and therefore they betook themselves to prayer The Jailor called his companions about him acquainted them what was given him in charge and caused them to swear to execute it but when they approached to the prisoners they were so surprized with feare that they stood gazing one upon another having not hearts to act so horrid a deed whereupon they returned to the Jailors Lodge and sent for eight quarts of the strongest wine with other things to intoxicate their brains then they took a Catalogue of all their prisoners and gave it to one Martin to call them forth in order The first prisoner being called for presented himself with a cheerful countenance calling upon the name of the Lord then opened his breast to them receiving the mortal stroke whereof he died Another being called forth one of them thrust at him several times with the point of his Halbard wounding but not killing him whereupon the prisoner took the point of the Halbard and set it against his heart saying with a stedfast voice Here souldier here right at the heart right at the heart and so finished his life The rest were all murthered in the like manner after which the murtherers made a great pit in the back-side of the prison into which they cast the bodies one upon another some of them yet breathing yea one of them raised up himself above his fellows whereupon they threw in earth and so smothered him But the Bailiffs order of making a trench being not observed the blood of the slain ran so abundantly out of the prison door that thence through the channel it ran into the river and turned it into the colour of blood which bred an horror in the very Papists themselves which saw it At Orleance the Kings Edict for observing the Treaty of Peace was solemnly published which made those of the Religion very secure whereupon above three hundred of them men women and children met together at a Sermon but the same night came the Kings letters for the massacring of them all Then did the Major and Sheriffs raise the companies in Armes to put it in execution One of these murtherers with some of his companions went to a Noble Counsellors house bidding themselves to supper The Counsellor ignorant of their intents made them good cheere but when supper was ended with
horrible blasphemies they murthered him and then plundred his house About the Ramparts of the wall inhabited many of the Religion amongst whom all night was heard nothing but shooting of guns and pistols breaking open of doors fearful out-cries of the men women and children that were massacred trampling of horses rumbling of Carts that carried the dead bodies away and the cryings out of the murtherers that went up and down howling out Kill kill them all and then take the spoile This Massacre continued all the week long the bloody beasts crying out to those whom they murthered Where is now your God What is become of all your Prayers and Psalms now Let your God whom you call'd upon save you if he can Others sang in scorn to them the 43. Psalm Judge and revenge my cause O Lord. Others Have mercy on me O God c. Yet notwithstanding all these taunts the faithful died couragiously In this Massacre the Papists boasted that they had slain above twelve thousand men besides women and children some of them said eighteen thousand On Tuesday night some of these murtherers came and knocked at the door of a Doctor of the Civil Law and when he opened it to them they told him that he must die whereupon he fell to Prayer with such ardency and affection that they being amazed and over-ruled by a divine power only robbed him and went away The next day came some Scholars to his house desiring to see his Library which he shewed them then they asked some one book some another which he gave them yet they told him they were not satisfied but they must kill him whereupon betaking himself to prayer when he had done he desired them to kill him there which they refused forcing him out into the streets leading him by the schools and there he again desired them to kill him in that place where he had taught so long but they still refused and when they had led him a little farther they knockt him on the head Others meeting with an Apothecary who had brought Physick to a Patient cut off one of his armes and then had him forth into the market-place where they murthered him A Cook that had hid himself three dayes was at last through hunger forced to come forth and so was slain And to fulfil the measure of their cruelty such Protestants as through fear revolted to them they placed them in the fore-front of their companies putting weapons in their hands compelling them to give the first onset crying Smite them smite them are they not your holy brethren and sisters and if any refused they presently slew him In Lyons Mandolet Governour thereof hearing of the Massacre at Paris presently caused the City gates to be shut raised forces commanding them that if any of the Protestants came out of their houses though but with swords they should presently kill them but the Protestants seeing a storme coming which they knew could not arise without the special providence of God set themselves to bear it with invincible patience The day following if any of them did but go abroad about their necessary occasions they were presently clapt up in prison and when night came the murtherers entred their houses which they rifled and plundred and pretending to carry the Protestants to prison some they stabbed in the streets others they threw into the river whereof some were carried down the stream half a mile below the City by which means they escaped The day after Proclamation was made by sound of Trumpet that all of the Religion should appear at such a place to know the Kings pleasure concerning them many went but so soon as they came they were sent to several prisons and the night following every corner and part of the City was full of lamentable cries and shreekings partly of such as were massacred in their houses partly of such as were but half murthered and so haled to be thrown into the river and from that time there were such horrible murthers committed in the City as if the Divels in the likenesse of men ran roaring about to do mischief The Sabbath morning following those that had hitherto escaped massacring were then dispatched In the Arch-bishops house there were three hunded and fifty Prisoners shut up and a bloody crue of cutthroats were appointed to murther them to whom the keyes were delivered and they rushing into the great Court gave notice to the prisoners with a loud voice that they must die then having first taken all the Prisoners purses they fell upon them with barbarous cruelty hacking and hewing them in a furious manner so that within an hour and an half they were every one cut in pieces The prisoners were all slain with their eyes and hands lift up to heaven whilst their hands and fingers were cut off There was a Merchant called Francis de Bossu that had two sonnes the father seeing the horrible Massacres said to his sons Children we are not now to learn that it hath alwayes been the portion of believers to be hated persecuted and devoured by unbelievers as Christs sheep of ravening wolves if we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with him let not therefore these drawn swords terrifie us they will be but as a bridge whereby we shall passe to eternal life we have lived long enough amonst the wicked let us now go and live with our God let us joyfully go after this great company that is gone before us c. When he saw the murtherers come he clasped his armes about his two sons and they theirs about him as if they strove mutually to ward off the blows each from other who were afterwards found dead in these mutual imbraces The murtherers went up and down the City boasting that they had died their white doublets red in the blood of the Huguenots one bragging that he had killed an hundred and some more and some lesse when the people went into the Arch-bishops house and saw the slaughter that had been made there though they were Papists yet they said that surely they were not men but Devils in the habit of men that had done this The dead corpses were carried out and lay spread like dung upon the face of the earth and when they were about to throw them into the river an Apothecary told them that much money might be made of their grease whereupon all the fat bodies were sought out ripped up and their grease sold for three shillings a pound which being done after many jears bestowed upon the dead carcasses some were tumbled into a great pit others thrown into the river The Countries which lay below upon the river were amazed to see such multitudes of dead bodies to come down the streame some with their eyes pulled out others their noses eares and hands cut off stabbed into every part of their bodies so that some had no part of humane shape remaining Shortly after
with moderation he had been hardly to have been paralleld The death of so brave a Commander and the wound of Captaine Gianavel in that juncture of time did not a little startle the Protestants But necessity often puts inconsiderable men upon bold enterprizes for these poor men did not despond nor lose their courage but assembling shortly after in a Mountaine of Angrognia they descended into the plaine where twice they were assaulted with violence the last of which was by a dangeros Ambuscado where the enemies were at least six thousand and they not above one hundred But God of his infinite goodnesse so encouraged their hearts and guided their hands that they slew very many of their enemies and amongst them many principal Officers whereas the Reformed party lost onely one Michael Bertino a Serjeant of Angrognia and had but one common souldier wounded The sonne of the said Bertino seeing his father fall dead at his feet was so farre from being discouraged that he immediately stepped into his fathers place with these words Though my father be dead yet be of good courage my fellow souldiers for God is a father to us all Munday following they had a very sharp dispute at La Torre and about Tagliaretto where they killed and wounded a great number of their enemies without the losse of any of their own men Indeed in this time the enemies reaped their Corne in the plaines of Saint Giovanni but they could not carry it away but with the losse of many of their lives About the same time there came to them one Monsieur Andrion a Major of a Regiment of Horse with two other Gentlemen that were strangers who were followed with some Volunteers whose friendly visit of their poor afflicted Brethren and their good advice in such a juncture of time was taken as it deserved very kindly and God made it a singular means to uphold the fainting spirits of some weak Brethren who seeing others come in to the help of the Lord against the Mighty went on with a great deale more chearfulnesse and alacrity and these staid with them till the peace was concluded at Pignerâ—l July the eleventh 1655. Sieur John Leger Pastor of the Church at Saint Giovanni who deserves to be remembred for the great paines and many services performed by him in the behalf of the Churches of the Valleys having notice that the enemies were of opinion that he was come back from his journey with Armes and Money and Ammunition and thereupon presuming that they would suddenly make some notable attempt to prevent what they so much feared he went to Colonel Andrion and pressed him to put his designe in execution The poor people had as yet no standing Army but the Bands of each Commonalty were quartered at a great distance the one from the other and certainly they had been cut off every man of them within a few dayes had not their Centinels been very watchful and above all if Captaine Charforan had not on the one side timely discovered the enemy an the poor people on the other side been exceedingly heartned to the Battel by the great valour and singular conduct of the Sieurs Andrion Michelin and Leger The Enemy was very numerous having been lately reinforced with many Troops They encamped themselves within half a League of the Reformed party and early in the morning they divided themselves into four Brigades three whereof fell upon the Protestants with a marvelous Resolution in three several places at once the fourth stood still ready to succour their friends if there were need The fight continued at least four hours without intermission and was the sharpest that ever was fought in the open field and that which made the enemies more fierce was their hopes to have beaten back the Protestants from their Post called the Castelas which if they could have effected they had been certainly Masters of the Valleys Perosa Saint Martino and Lucerna But the poor people having lifted up their hearts by earnest supplications to the Lord of Hosts as they used to do upon all such occasions Major Andrion and the two other Captaines which he had brought with him gave forth such orders as were necessary encouraging their men exceedingly so that without budging a foot they kept their ground all save a few who were either quite tired or faint for want of food or that wanted powder or flints in their fire-locks But these the Sieurs Mechelin and Leger imployed in rolling down great stones upon their enemies heads as they came to attacque them which proved very successeful doing much execution upon the enemy and causing them to abate much of their fury and whereas in the beginning of the fight they cryed alwayes Advance Advance ye relicts of Jahier the Protestants now began to cry as fast Advance Advance ye relicts of Saint Secondo and withal they ran upon those murtherers as so many Lions and caused them to turn back and flie towards La Torre and Lucerna as fast as they were able leaving behinde them fifty five upon the place and about fourty that were killed in the flight besides many others who were carried either dead or dangerously wounded to Lucerna Themselves confessed that in this encounter they lost at least three hundred men amongst which were many Officers of a Bavarian Regiment When such multitudes of dead wounded and dying men were brought into Lucerna the Syndick who was indeed a Papist but not so superstitious as many others said to some Hitherto the Wolves devoured the Barbets But now the Barbets devour the Wolves which words being reported to Monsieur Marolles the Commander in chief in Lucerna he threatened to imprison him and to give him the Strappado for them which so terrified the poor man that he presently sickened and within a few dayes died Two dayes after this great fight the enemy being much enraged for their great losse spread themselves all over Angrognia and began to set the Corne on fire which being seene by the Company of La Torre who at that time were upon the Mountaine of Tagliaretto they speedily gave notice to those of Saint Giovanni and Angrognia who hasted thither and charged them so fiercely that they forced them to flie and to leave most of their Ammunition behinde them and in the meane time Captaine Belin assaulted the Towne of La Torre killed the Centinel and souldiers upon the works and gave the Towne such an hot Alarum that most of them fled towards the River of Pellice and probably if he had had a few more men with him he had at that time made himself Master of La Torre July the eighteenth the General of the Protestants gave Order to fall upon the Towne of La Torre which accordingly was put in execution Captaine Belin gave the first onset who being followed with many other Officers and Souldiers they quickly made a considerable breach in the Garden-wall next to the Convent which so encouraged the rest that they