from the Venetians and destroy abundance of them together with divers French and Spaniards In 1506 there appeared two Comets the first on April 11. which lasted but five days the second in August following Alexander King of Poland dyes together with the King of Spain and Philip the son of Maximilian the Emperor In 1509 there was a great and terrible Earthquake in Constantinople and the Countreys thereabout by the violence whereof a great part of the Walls of that City with many stately buildings both publick and private were quite overthrown and thirteen thousand People overwhelmed and destroyed therewith The terror thereof was so great that Bajazet the Emperor himself and the People generally forsook their houses and lay abroad in the Fields It continued for a Month together with very little intermission after which ensued a great Plague whereby that City was almost made desolate there dying above an hundred and threescore thousand people Turkish Hist Pag. 476. XXX The next year 1510 there happened a Prodigy which is very strange to relate for in this year saith my Author there fell Twelve Hundred Stones from Heaven some weighing threescore pound others more Nay it is affirmed some of them weighed an Hundred and Twenty Pound which if true serves for a good Argument to prove that some other Stars or Planets may be habitable besides the Earth At this time the Lubeckers wast Denmark King Henry 8. goeth into France and besiegeth Turwiu Bajazet the Great Turk is poysoned The Spaniards take Tripoly and make war in Navar The Lubeckers worst the Danes at Sea the Switzers invade France and do much mischief there In 1512 there appeared a great Comet in Leo Pope Julius 2. and John King of Sweedland dye James 4. King of Scotland is slain at Flodden Field The King of Poland being at war with the Emperor of Muscovia kills forty thousand of his men in a pitcht battle In 1521 three Suns with a Rainbow were seen at Vienna in Germany and suddenly after a great burning Torch was visible in the Heavens which continued a Month A Circle and Cross appears with the Moon and a burning Pillar is seen in Germany Soon after the Venetians aid the Hungarians against the Turks The French lose Millain The English and French quarrel The Emperor invades Picardy in France King Henry 8. writes against the Pope Christian King of Denmark is expelled his Kingdom In 1530 a Blazing Star of wonderful greatness appeared and was visible through all Europe This year four hundred and four Parishes were drowned by a great Inundation of the Sea in Holland with all their People and Cattel the Turks take Buda in Hungary the Great Cardinal Woolsey dyes the English Clergy are fined and pay to the King an Hundred Thousand pound for divers misdemeanours the next year about Fourteen Hundred Houses were overthrown by an Earthquake at Lisbon in Portugal and about six Hundred more so extreamly shattered that they were ready to fall and many of the Churches were thrown to the ground In 1533 a very great Comet was visible in the Heavens this year Pope Clement 7 dyes Alphonsus Duke of Ferrara and the Duke of Millain dye strange factions and seditions are raised about Religion in Hungary A great Plague at Noremburg in Germany In 1538 a fiery Comet appeared in the Sign Pisces with a long tail Charles Duke of Gelderland dyeth This year was made famous for divers things For then the Kingdom of Denmark imbraced the Gospel The Emperor and King of France met together to treat of Peace the Bible was Printed in English at Paris the Overseer of which work was Bishop Bonner The University of Strasburg was erected The Sect of the Antinomians was detected The Duke of Brandenburg imbraced the Augustan Confession The Sea upon the Coasts of the Kingdom of Naples was wholly dry for eight Miles together out of which Fire and Ashes broke forth so abundantly that many places were miserably destroyed thereby This year Alexander Medices who was made by the Pope Duke of Florence was Marryed to Margaret Daughter of the Emperor Charles 5. the Nuptials were celebrated with great Pomp and Military Revels at which time a great part of the body of the Sun was darkened whilst they were at the Feast which much astonished the Guests and the very next year after this Alexander was murthered by his Kinsman Lorenzo Medices who was always very great with him and privy to all his debaucheries Strada Wars Low-Countries XXXI In 1539 a bloody Star and Cross were seen flying in the Air Armed men swords and funerals were visible in the Heavens in Germany there likewise appeared a Blazing Star This year John Duke of Cleve dyeth a great fire happened in Constantinople which burnt the Jayl and consumed seven hundred Prisoners therein John King of Hungary dyes the Irish invade the English and are beaten George Duke of Saxony dyes The People of Gaunt in Flanders mutiny and behead their Magistrates Isabella Empress of Germany dyeth and shortly after Katherine Queen of England is beheaded by King Henry 8. In 1545 a Comet appeared in the West in colour like blood Lodowick Prince Elector dyes Martin Luther dyes and the next year a war in Germany breaks out A bloody French Massacre was now perpetrated King Henry 8. of England and Francis 1. King of France both dye The Earl of Surrey is this year beheaded in England In 1548 November 6 there was a great chasme or opening in the Heavens and in some places fire fell to the Earth and flew up into the Air again This Jasper Crucifiger saw and thereupon much bewailed the great Commotions and Divisions in the Church which he foresaw by this Prodigy and accordingly it came to pass In 1550 it rained Corn from Heaven in Carinthia Three Suns were seen in England an Earthquake and Globes of fire were visible in the Elements Armies of men appeared in the Air in Saxony The Sun seemed to cleave asunder after this followed great troubles in Antwerp and the sweating sickness in England The French make war with the Emperor the Duke of Somerset in England is beheaded the Queen of Sweden dyes the Turkish Pyrates carry six thousand Christians into Captivity out of the Isle of Gaul near Malta The next year a very great multitude of Men and Cattle were drowned by a terrible Tempest the Clouds suddenly dissolving and the waters pouring down with such a stupendious violence that the strong and massy Walls of many Cities with divers Vineyards and fair Houses were destroyed thereby XXXII That may be looked upon as a Prodigy in the highest degree saith Mr. John Gadbury which my worthy friend Captain George Wharton in his Ephemeris for the year 1655 hath transcribed from one Tackius a German Doctor of Physick who likewise takes it out of one Casper That in the year 1554 not far from the City of Harmsted in Transilvania there were observed in fair and legible Characters to be read in
King Aswald is Murthered by Siga The Emperor slayes Six Thousand Saracens In 794 the River of Tiber overflows its Banks and doth much prejudice a very great Earthquake happened in Creet and Constantinople the event was that Alphonsus King of Spain killed Seventy Thousand of the Moors and took Lisbon in Portugal from them The Danes invade England but almost all of them perish The Armenian Legions rebel In 798 the Sun was darkened for seventeen dayes together This year Irene the Empress of Constantinople first governed the Empire with her son Constantius but she afterward deposed him put out his eyes and lastly murthered him In 808 the Sun and Moon were Eclipsed contrary to nature Armies of Men appear in the Heavens The Star Mercury is seen in the Sun like a black spot Blood rained in Holland At this time the Picts wast Scotland The Bulgarians kill six thousand Greeks and take Sardis The Danes subdue Friezland the Saracens disperse themselves into divers Countreys under six Princes In 820 a great and wonderful storm of Rain fell which rotted all the Corn in the Fields and such mighty floods and inundations followed that hindred the Countrey-men from sowing their seed Fiery apparitions were often seen in the Elements The effects that followed were a great Famine and Pestilence in France The King of England is slain by the East-Angles Asia is wasted Constantinople besieged and Reyner King of Denmark is expelled his Kingdom XVII In the year 840 sparks of fire like Stars were seen to run up and down the Heavens A great Comet appeared and the Sun was much Eclipsed swarms of Bees were seen at Westchester in England This year was prodigious for many wonderful Earthquakes Hails Whirl-winds Thunders and Lightnings which happened in most parts of the world Soon after the people of Spain rebel the Scots overcome the English who aided the Picts The Saracens are overcome by the Emperor and soon after Lothair their King with his Brethren and one hundred thousand men were slain The Danes enter the Thames with two hundred and fifty ships and take Canterbury and London and expel the King of England In 870 were great Hail Thunders and Lightning at Rome a Church at Worms burnt by it an Earthquake in England In Brixia near Italy it rained blood for three dayes and three nights together At this time the Danes were beaten out of Holland and the Saracens out of Italy The Danes land in Scotland and challenge Pictland for their King In 882 the Sun was so much obscured that the Stars appeared in the Sky in the day time There was an Earthquake in Normandy and a Blazing Star hung just over Spain Now the Brittains invaded Scotland Constantine their King was killed The Saracens break into Italy and are expelled by the Emperor In 912 four Rainbowes were seen at once in Scotland Fiery Torches are seen in the Air Many great floods happened in Saxony A great Comet and Stars were seen to run glittering to and fro in the Heavens Divers Mock-suns were visible in Italy and Spain This Winter was very wonderful for excessive cold The Sun appears for certain days as if it bled three Comets for a fortnight together were seen just over Germany About this time the Vandals invade Greece and the Saracens Calabria and take many Cities in Italy the Emperor dyeth his death being judged to be occasioned by his losses to the Hungarians The Pope is imprisoned and strangled The Scots assist the Danes but are overcome Gonsalvo poysoneth Sancho King of Spain The Russians in a malicious manner persecute the Christians The French King and the Emperor are reconciled and divers Conspirators against the Emperor are executed XVIII The year 956 produced many strange prodigies as a wonderful hail at Oxford in England strange Lightning killing many Priests in France Mighty Thunders Tempests c. Soon after the Hungarians invade the Emperor but are reconciled to him The Bishop of Strasburg calls one hundred thousand Hungarians into Batavia they are all slain there and the Emperors eyes pluckt out The Italians make war with the Pope In 968 Fire falls from Heaven there was a great Earthquake in France a Comet appeared there was wonderful increase of Vermine as Rats Mice c. This year the Empress murders the Emperor Nicephorus Donald murthered the King of Scotland for refusing to pardon a thief of his acquaintance In 979 was an Earthquake in Scotland Armies of Fire were seen a whole night together in the Air A Child was born in Rome with two heads not long after Harold King of Denmark is slain by an arrow The Danes land in Scotland and wast divers places the Scots put them to flight they land in Kent and spoyl the Isle of Thanet In 992 Fire rises out of the River Rhine saith my Author and burns many places in Germany In Spain three swords appeared in the Heavens like fire Now the Duke of Bavaria dyeth The Danes invade England with a very great Fleet the King of Denmark is slain by one of his own servants In 1002 a Fountain of water in Lorrain is turned into blood A Comet very horrible to behold was seen casting out flames of fire on every side The Danes being routed at Oxford fly to the Church and are there all burnt The Emperor Otho is poysoned with a pair of Gloves In 1022 swarms of Locusts came into France It rained milk at Rome there was a very great Eclipse of the Sun and this year the weather was so unseasonable that many dyed through too much heat Divers Polonians rebel against the Christians The Emperor overcomes the Greeks in Italy the Polanders subdue Ruisia and make it tributary The Vandals wast Saxony and take Brandenburg In 1043 five Suns at once appeared in England and a hairy Comet very large was visible the Emperor overcame the Russians who invaded his territories A great Famine happened in Germany and France The Prussians invade Poland and fifteen thousand of them are slain and twenty thousand taken Prisoners The Irish and Welch enter the River Severn and do a great deal of harm In 1033 when the Pope the great Antichrist was come to his height and the darkness of superstition and Idolatry had overspread the Christian world upon June 29 at six a Clock in the Morning the Sun began to be Eclipsed continuing till 8 a Clock in a very strange manner the body of the Sun was of the Colour of a Saphire so that the Countenances of men looked pale and wan as if they were dead and whatsoever was in the Air seemed of a yellow Saffron Colour to the great terror of all men Imper. Hist XIX There was a great increase of Rats and Mice in the year 1058 And stones of a mighty bigness mixt with Hail fell from Heaven and killed many two Blazing Stars this year hung over Poland The Saxons rebel against the Emperor twenty six thousand are drowned in a Pitfall by the stratagem of two Bishops in Holland
Cross and an half Moon was visible in Italy Not long after the Spaniards kill Two Hundred Thousand Moors The Pope giveth away England from King John to Prince Philip of France who lands there and striveth for it The Flemish with the English take three hundred sail of Ships from him and burn an hundred more The King of Aragon is slain William King of Scots and soon after King John both dye In 1234 a great Eclipse of the Sun happened and strange sights appeared in the Moon for whereas she usually seems round she now visibly appeared with six squares The Sun was darkned so much that the Stars were seen This year the King of Bulgaria puts out the Emperors eyes Vienna is subjected to the Empire Constantinople is besieged by the Turks but released by the Venetians King Henry III. of England and his Nobles quarrel but are reconciled The King of Poland dyeth In 1243 was a great Comet fearful to behold A Hill of a vast greatness removes it self out of its place A noise like Trumpets is heard in the air in Italy These were followed by a great Plague in Greece and a miserable Famine in Constantinople the King of the Cumans is slain and the Turks take Jerusalem and kill many Prisoners In 1255 a great Comet appeared Strange Lightning fell from Heaven The Sea overflowed in many places in England Dismal and strange noises are heard in the air At this time the Geneveses take Venice and are expelled again The Duke of Lithuania invadeth Prussia five petty Kings are expelled Spain the Venetians take Padua Eâ—â—â—line comes thither and kills twelve thousand Citizens Not long after Henry III. King of England dyes In 1277 there was a very great Rain about the Rhine in Germany the Sky was as bright in Poland at midnight as if it had been noon day Four Suns were seen in Russia and there was an Earthquake in England Now the Turks won all the lesser Asia from the Greeks The Pope is killed by a fall the Emperor slayes fourteen thousand Bohemians King Edward I. of England forceth the Welch to a Peace In 1285 a great Earthquake happened in Italy A Comet of notable greatness was seen this year A great swarm of divers coloured Flyes and mighty floods of waters were in England There was likewise about this time a battel or fight of Dogs in France saith Mr. Camden at a place called Genelon Castle wherein every one killed another being in number about Three Thousand no Dog escaping alive but only one Upon this followed the Invasion of Denmark by the Norwegians Hungaria is ruined by the Cumans the Helvetians war against the Emperor but are subdued The King of Sicily dyes and there was a great battel fought between the English and Scots wherein many of the Scots were slain the Sun the same day appeared as red as blood as long as the fight continued XXIII Launces and Darts of fire were seen in the Heavens in the year 1300 a great Snow fell and a Comet of a wonderful magnitude appeared In Germany Men and Horses were visible in the Air At this time the English beat the Scots The Turks invade the German Empire and commit great mischiess the Pope writes himself Vniversal Lord in Spirituals and Temporals Flanders is invaded and many Nobles are taken Prisoners Andrew King of Hungary dyes In 1310 was an Earthquake in England The Elements seem to burn many days together A Boy was born with four Arms and two Bodies Soon after the Polonians subdue Pomerania The Isle of Rhodes is taken from the Turks Robert Bruce King of Scotland wasteth that Countrey and drives out the English the Earl of Cornwal is banished and the Emperor burneth Brixia In 1322 the Sun in England for six hours together appeared like blood There was a great Earthquake in Germany and two Crosses appeared in the Heavens and a fiery Circle was seen about the Sun At this time the Scots oppose King Edward II. of England and put him to flight The King of Bohemia conquers Silesia and divers places in Lusatia The Emperor is taken in battel and imprisoned 3 years The King of England dyes In 1337 were two Comets seen together one of which continued four Months the other but three Blood rained in Rome wonderful flocks of Crows and Daws were seen in Germany The Lithuanians burn themselves their Wives Children and Goods to avoid taking The French burn Southampton The Scythians wast Thrace and take many Captives the King of Sicily dyeth About this time there happened a fearful Earthquake in the City of Venice which overturned divers Steeples and Palaces and among other dreadful Effects it caused many hundred women to miscarry in Child-birth and a terrible Plague sollowed it which reduced the City to such an height of misery that it was almost depopulated whereupon the Senate made a Decree that as many as would come to dwell at Vâ—â—ice should after they had continued there two years be free Ciâ—â—â—ens In 1341 a terrible Comet with many other apparitions were seen in the Heavens The Emperor Aâ—â—ronious about this time suffered death in an unheard of Tragical manner And the next year saith Mr. Camdâ—n October 11 when the Moon was eleven dayes old there were seen two Moons at Dablin in Ireland the one according to the â—ourse of nature in 〈◊〉 West the other in the East casting but a mean and slender Light In 1348 Divers Mocksuns appeared in the Sky and the Heavens seemed to burn There were several small Beasts rained from the Elements in the Eastern parts of the World There followed a grâ—at Piague in England the English beat the Scots and recover much from them The Poâ—anders â—â—solutely conqâ—er Russia In 1365 armed men were seen in the Heavens in England and fiery â—anceâ— in Italy Grashoppers cover Switzerland like Snow Soon after the Russians who rebelled in Pâ—land were sâ—bdued The King of France is exâ—â—lled his Kingdom The King of Sweden is taken Prssoner in Dattel the Tâ—rks expel the Christians from Adrianople In 1375 a Comet with a beard was seen many nights together in the Heavens Grashoppers eat up all the green things in France Mighty inundations in Germany and a very great Earthquake there After this five thousand Houses were burnt at Gaunt and seventeen other Towns in Flanders drowned the Christians kill twenty thousand Turks in Bosnia by a stratagem The Scots burn Roxborough there were great Calamities in Italy Prince Edward commonly called the Black Prince dyeth and not long after Edward III. King of England The French take the Isle of Wight and burn Rye and Hastings In 1378 a general Plague in a most miserable manner invaded the greatest part of the world It raged most among young Persons and Children In the City of Lubeck only in Germany it swept away ninety thousand persons there dyed of it in several places of bare-footed Fryers one Million two hundred forty four thousand four hundred thirty four The Jews were
the Heavens the following Letters I. N. R. I. M. D. L. V. I. I. A. R. E. I. N. E. N. D. E. D. I. S. E. S. R. E. I. C. H. S. Nay that Author further affirmeth that at Friburg in Germany the same year on a very fair day Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Iridi insidentem conspectum fuisse Our Lord Jesus Christ was beheld sitting upon a Rainbow as if upon his Tribunal to denounce the Vniversal Judgment In 1558 there was seen a Blazing Star in Spain at first somewhat dim at which time Charles the 5th Emperor and King of Spain sickned but as his disease increased so it grew in bigness at last shooting its fiery streams point blank against the Monastery where he lay in the very hour the Emperor dyed the Comet vanished The same year in the Month of August a Comet in the form of a spit appeared of a pale envious colour denoting a more then ordinary mortality of great Potentates Queen Mary of Hungary and Bohemia and Queen Mary of England both dye Christian the 2. King of Denmark dyes in Prison after 26 years imprisonment Henry 2. King of France is slain by running at Tilt Pope Paul 4. dyes and likewise the Dukes of Venice and Ferrara with fifteen Cardinals besides many other Princes In 1562 an Earthquake happened in Constantinople Clashing of Weapons in the Elements and armed men seen there Much Thunder was heard in England and five Suns seen in Holland After this the English take many Towns in France There was a great Plague in England the Muscovites invade Leiseland and the Danes and Lubeckers Sweden the Polanders beat the Livonians Nine Thousand men were slain at Dreux in Normandy and among them the King of Navar The same year December 19. Mr. John Calvin lying in his bed sick of the Gout it being Sunday and the North Wind having blown strongly for two days together some Friends coming to visit him he said unto them Truly I know not what is the matter but I thought that the last night I heard warlike Drums beating very loud and I could not perswade my self but it was so Let us go to Prayers for surely some great business is at hand And indeed this very day there was a great Battle fought between the Papists and Protestants not far from Paris in France news whereof came to Geneva a few dayes after Clarks Examp. 2 Part Pag. 564. XXXIII In 1568 were many Locusts in France The Heavens seem all on fire in Hungary In England when the true Moon was under the Earth there appears a Moon and a Cross with a refulgent Star at the top thereof Soon after the Third Civil War in France began the King of Sweden is deposed and imprisoned The Prince of Conde is taken and shot to death with a Pistol The Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland rebel against Queen Elizabeth Selymus Emperor of the Turks invadeth Cyprus The Polanders and Danes fight at Sea About this time the Duke of Alva came first into the Low-Countreys and the future calamities of his Government were presaged by a boy born at Leige with two heads four legs and as many hands the terror whereof was increased by a fire happening immediately after in the City of Mechlin by a spark falling amongst Gunpowder which took hold of threescore Barrels and caused such an horrid Thunder and Earthquake that in most of the Cities of Flanders the Men and Houses trembled at the dreadful noise Not long after when the Prince of Orange brought an Army against the Duke in the behalf of the Protestants there were seen in divers places on a clear night two Armies in Battalia brandishing their glittering Pikes as if they were ready for a charge The next year a Comet appears at the setting of the Sun near the Planet Jupiter Then followed a Famine in Austria Sweden Bohemia Bavaria Rustia Lithuania Joachimus 2. Elector of Brandenburg dyes and a little after Four Hundred Thousand People are drowned in Flanders and Holland besides Cattel In 1572 there appeared a Comet or New Star in Cassiopeia which continued Six teen Months Soon after which Charles 9. King of France who was the Author of the bloody Massacre in France dyed of extraordinary bleeding which issued from divers parts of his body cursing and swearing in a most dreadful manner saith Mr. Camden in his History of Queen Elizabeth Sigismund King of Poland likewise dyeth The Duke of Norfolk in England is beheaded A great Rebellion in Ireland XXXIV In 1577 Another Blazing Star of great magnitude appeared Sebastian King of Portugal dyed the next year of two wounds which he received in his head in his expedition for Africa In 1579 a fiery Dragon and great Troops of Ravens flew through the Air in Germany A mighty Tempest happened in Bohemia and an Earthquake in Holland Armies are seen in the Heavens at Antwerp Two armed men are visible in the Air in Gelderland That which followed was the Polanders take Livonia and Polotia from the Moscovite The Popish Clergy are expelled out of the City of Antwerp by the People The Emperor forbids the Protestant Religion at Aken In 1585 a Comet appeared for many weeks together and the next year it rained Locusts in Thracia and Ducks and Geese in Croatia as Leonclavius testifies who was an eye-witness thereof The Locusts fell in such multitudes that they devoured all the Countrey and on the contrary the Geese and Ducks fed and nourished many Cluverius Hist World Soon after Osman Emperor of the Turks and Stephen King of Poland both dye In 1593 there was another terrible Earthquake at Lar in Persia which overthrew Three Thousand Houses crushing to death above Three Thousand Persons in their Ruins yea the Castle though built upon the top of a solid Rock groaned in the like affrighting downfall Herberts Travels In 1598 Feb. 25 which was a little before the Earl of Essex went into Ireland the Sun being almost totally Eclipsed it was so dark for the time that the like had never been seen in the Memory of Man XXXV In the year 1602 there was an Earthquake in England a very great Blazing Star appeared Armies of men were seen in the Air in France and warms of Grashoppers are visible in Germany asster this the Spaniards invade Ireland but are beaten thence The Swedes in vain attempt Livonia The Turks loose Alba Regalis and therein Threescore Thousand men Queen Elizabeth of England dyeth In 1607 another Comet appeared There were great Wars between the Swedes and Danes and Charles Duke of Lorrain dyeth In 1610 fiery Darts and Lances were visible in the Heavens Four Crosses appeared in the Air at once in Spain where likewise happened Thunder and a very great Earthquake Now the Danes war against the Swedes The Persians invade Babylon and kill Twenty Thousand Turks Henry 4. â—â—ing of France is murdered the Polanders overcome the Moscovites and Nine Hundred Thousand Meors are banished out of Spain J. G. This
have heard the Villanies of the German Troops recited with Tears Among others a beautiful Maid was hid by her Parents in a Dunghil but they discovering her ravished her and then barbarously cutting her in pieces hung her quarters up in the Church and bid her Friends pray to the Saints for her relief In the Land of Brunswick two Souldiers took a Girl of ten years old and carryed her into the Wood to ravish her The Mother with hands held up came running after our Coach saith my Author crying out to my Colonel but he being a stranger had no command there and could not relieve her soon after wesaw the 2 Horsemen come out of the Wood whether they left the poor Child dead or alive I know not Some virtuous and chast women they have offered to kill or thrown their Children into the Fire to make them yield They spared not the very Nuns but after they had broke into their Cloysters and pillaged them of all their goods they have likewise ravished and killed some of them Some Women have leaped into Rivers and Wells others have killed themselves because they would not be subject to the lusts of these Hellish Furies nay not only sick and weak Virgins and Women have been violated till they dyed but these wretches have committed filthiness with the dead Bodies LIX But fourthly as to Robberies and Pillaging they were so numerous that no man could pass any where in Germany but he was robbed stript and perhaps killed The Merchants of Frankford Noremburg Leipswick Hamburg c. have had too woful experience thereof The Merchants of Basil returning from the Mart of Strasburg and other Fairs were set upon by the Imperialists in their Lodgings and though they offered to prove themselves Merchants and so ought to pass freely yea though they begged their Lives upon their knees yet they villanously murdered Ten of them saying They must dye because they were Hereticks The rest leaving their Goods and Cloaths behind escaped stark naked in the night by flight Yea the very Convoys who pretended to guard Travellers were oft times as bad as the Enemies watching all occasions to cheat them of their money goods and Horses spoyling their Waggons when they made a stand and rifling and stripping the meanest person if he stragled in the least from the Company Two Countesses of great Nobility with their fair Daughters were entertained by us saith my Author in the Castle of Heidelburg and when provision grew scarce they went away with the Enemies pasport notwithstanding which they were robbed and riâ—â—ed in their Coaches of all they had not leaving them the very Garments that covered them yea they shamefully plundred the Danish Ambassador though priviledged by his Office in all Nations so that the case was strangely altered in Germany where not long before a man might have rid with an hundred pound in his pocket and only a whip in his hand through all those Countreys without the least fear of being injured But now the very Souldiers even robbed one another if they found them in the least out of their quarters neither did they acknowledge God nor Devil but in their cursed Oaths and Blasphemies nor was there any action so vile but they were ready to commit it and this introduces the next particular LX. Which is Fifthly to relate the Bloudshed and Murders committed by them to report the whole of which will be equally impossible and incredible Alstedius saith that before the K. of Sweden came into Germany the Wars had consumed an Hundred Thousand and if so how many Millions have miserably perished The cruelty of the Souldiers toward the Inhabitants of those Countreys is inexpressible all persons having the same measure without distinction At Lanshood in Bavaria the Souldiers entred by force killing not only all they found in Arms but the very Priests kneeling at the Altars and the poor Peasants and Countrey People were killed upon every slight occasion There were among the Imperialists a base rascally sort of Horsemen called Croats or Crabbats aforementioned the tenth part whereof were not of that Countrey but a miscellany or mixture of all Nations without God or Religion having only the outsides of men and scarce that neither but were bloody Monsters within These Rakehels made no Conscience of murthering men and women both old and young yea of very innocent Babes whom like the Wild Beasts among which they were bred these Villains inhumanely eat when they might have had other food By these the poor people were barbarously knocked down in the Fields and Highwayes and likewise slaughtered stab'd and tortur'd I have seen them saith my Author beat out the brains of poor old decrepit Women only in sport and commit many other outrages too long to relate yea it was so common for the poor people to see others killed that as if there had been no Relation Affection Neighbourhood or Kindred none pitied them or had any compassion upon them hardly any cryed out Oh my Father Oh my Brother c. The Croats very seldom gave Quarter but killed all that were at their mercy and others received Pay for bringing the Noses and Ears of their Enemies to their Masters Tilly after the defeat of the D. of Brunswick at Hâ—uxt on the River Main drew out of that Town Threescore Souldiers and caused them all to be killed in cold blood before the Gate saying That he sacrificed them to Count Mansfield their Master LXI Lastly For Burnings pulling down and ruining of Churches Cities Villages the like hath never been heard The Swedish Army burned above Two Thousand Villages in revenge of the Cruelties acted in the Palatinate But their Enemies spared neither Friends nor Foes what goodly Houses of the Nobility and Gentry were on every side defaced or burnt to Ashes So that all men betook themselves to Arms No tilling of the Land no breeding of Cattel no place secure but the Camp no Plow to follow but the War for he that was not an Actor with the rest must of necessity be a miserable suffererâ— If they should have sowed any thing one year the next year the Souldiers would have devoured it so that they judged it better to sit still than to labour and let others reap the benefit thereof from whence proceeded an Universal Desolation most of the People and Inhabitants swarmed as banished men in other Countreys as in Switzerland France Italy and the Venetian Territorys From Basil to Strasburg and from thence to Heidelburg and Marpurg which was some Hundreds of miles I scarce saw a man saith my Author in the Fields and Villages Little better was it in travelling from France to the middle of Bohemia and from the Alpes about Auspurg to the Baltick Sea though a compass of ground of above Two Thousand miles and not much less than three times all Brittain the greatest part of the People being destroyed and extinguished by Wars length of time and all manner of miseries LXII Famine cometh in