MORAL EFFECTS.
The mental shock sustained by all nations during the prevalence of the
Black Plague, is without parallel and beyond description. In the eyes
of the timorous, danger was the certain harbinger of death; many fell
victims to fear, on the first appearance of the distemper,[109] and
the most stout hearted lost their confidence. Thus, after reliance on
the future had died away, the spiritual union which binds man to his
family and his fellow creatures, was gradually dissolved. The pious
closed their accounts with the world,--eternity presented itself to
their view,--their only remaining desire, was for a participation in
the consolations of religion, because to them death was disarmed of its
sting.
[109] _Chalin_, Loc. cit. p. 92. _Detmar’s_ Lübeck Chronicle, T. I.
p. 401.
Repentance seized the transgressor, admonishing him to consecrate his
remaining hours to the exercise of Christian virtues. All minds were
directed to the contemplation of futurity; and children, who manifest
the more elevated feelings of the soul without alloy, were frequently
seen, while labouring under the plague, breathing out their spirit with
prayer and songs of thanksgiving.[110]
[110] Chronic. _Ditmari_, Episcop. Mersepurg, Francof. 1580, fol.
p. 358.----“_Spangenberg_, p. 338. The lamentation was pitiful;
and the only remaining solace, was the prevalent anxiety, inspired
by the danger, to prepare for a glorious departure; no other hope
remained--death appeared inevitable. Many were hence induced to
search into their own hearts, to turn to God, and to abandon their
wicked courses: parents warned their children, and instructed them
how to pray, and to submit to the ways of Providence: neighbours
mutually admonished each other; none could reckon on a single hour’s
respite. Many persons, and even young children, were seen bidding
farewell to the world; some with prayer, others with praises on their
lips.”
An awful sense of contrition seized Christians of every communion; they
resolved to forsake their vices--to make restitution for past offences,
before they were summoned hence--to seek reconciliation with their
Maker, and to avert, by self-chastisement, the punishment due to their
former sins. Human nature would be exalted, could the countless noble
actions, which, in times of most imminent danger, were performed in
secret, be recorded for the instruction of future generations. They,
however, have no influence on the course of worldly events. They are
known only to silent eye-witnesses, and soon fall into oblivion. But
hypocrisy, illusion and bigotry, stalk abroad undaunted; they desecrate
what is noble--they pervert what is divine, to the unholy purposes
of selfishness; which hurries along every good feeling in the false
excitement of the age. Thus it was in the years of this plague. In the
14th century, the monastic system was still in its full vigour,--the
power of the ecclesiastical orders and brotherhoods, was revered by the
people, and the hierarchy was still formidable to the temporal power.
It was, therefore, in the natural constitution of society that bigotted
zeal, which in such times makes a shew of public acts of penance,
should avail itself of the semblance of religion. But this took place
in such a manner, that unbridled, self-willed penitence, degenerated
into luke-warmness, renounced obedience to the hierarchy, and prepared
a fearful opposition to the church, paralysed by antiquated forms.
While all countries were filled with lamentations and woe, there
first arose in Hungary,[111] and afterwards in Germany, the
Brotherhood of the Flagellants, called also the Brethren of the
Cross, or Cross-bearers, who took upon themselves the repentance of
the people, for the sins they had committed, and offered prayers and
supplications for the averting of this plague. This Order consisted
chiefly of persons of the lower class, who were either actuated by
sincere contrition, or, who joyfully availed themselves of this pretext
for idleness, and were hurried along with the tide of distracting
frenzy. But, as these brotherhoods gained in repute, and were
welcomed by the people with veneration and enthusiasm, many nobles
and ecclesiastics ranged themselves under their standard; and their
bands were not unfrequently augmented by children, honourable women
and nuns; so powerfully were minds of the most opposite temperaments
enslaved by this infatuation.[112] They marched through the cities,
in well-organized processions, with leaders and singers; their heads
covered as far as the eyes; their look fixed on the ground, accompanied
by every token of the deepest contrition and mourning. They were
robed in sombre garments, with red crosses on the breast, back, and
cap, and bore triple scourges, tied in three or four knots, in which
points of iron were fixed. Tapers and magnificent banners of velvet
and cloth of gold, were carried before them; wherever they made
their appearance, they were welcomed by the ringing of the bells; and
the people flocked from all quarters, to listen to their hymns and
to witness their penance, with devotion and tears. In the year 1349,
two hundred Flagellants first entered Strasburg, where they were
received with great joy, and hospitably lodged by the citizens. Above
a thousand joined the brotherhood, which now assumed the appearance of
a wandering tribe, and separated into two bodies, for the purpose of
journeying to the north and to the south. For more than half a year,
new parties arrived weekly; and, on each arrival, adults and children
left their families to accompany them; till, at length, their sanctity
was questioned, and the doors of houses and churches were closed
against them.[113] At Spires, two hundred boys, of twelve years of age
and under, constituted themselves into a Brotherhood of the Cross,
in imitation of the children, who, about a hundred years before, had
united, at the instigation of some fanatic monks, for the purpose of
recovering the Holy Sepulchre. All the inhabitants of this town, were
carried away by the illusion; they conducted the strangers to their
houses with songs of thanksgiving, to regale them for the night. The
women embroidered banners for them, and all were anxious to augment
their pomp; and at every succeeding pilgrimage, their influence and
reputation increased.[114] It was not merely some individual parts of
the country that fostered them: all Germany, Hungary, Poland, Bohemia,
Silesia, and Flanders, did homage to the mania; and they at length
became as formidable to the secular, as they were to the ecclesiastical
power. The influence of this fanaticism, was great and threatening;
resembling the excitement which called all the inhabitants of Europe
into the deserts of Syria and Palestine, about two hundred and fifty
years before. The appearance, in itself, was not novel. As far back
as the 11th century, many believers, in Asia and Southern Europe,
afflicted themselves with the punishment of flagellation. Dominicus
Loricatus, a monk of St. Croce d’Avellano, is mentioned as the master
and model of this species of mortification of the flesh; which,
according to the primitive notions of the Asiatic Anchorites, was
deemed eminently Christian. The author of the solemn processions of the
Flagellants, is said to have been St. Anthony; for even in his time
(1231), this kind of penance was so much in vogue, that it is recorded
as an eventful circumstance in the history of the world. In 1260, the
Flagellants appeared in Italy as _Devoti_. “When the land was polluted
by vices and crimes,[115] an unexampled spirit of remorse suddenly
seized the minds of the Italians. The fear of Christ fell upon all:
noble and ignoble, old and young, and even children of five years of
age, marched through the streets with no covering but a scarf round
the waist. They each carried a scourge of leathern thongs, which they
applied to their limbs, amid sighs and tears, with such violence,
that the blood flowed from the wounds. Not only during the day, but
even by night, and in the severest winter, they traversed the cities
with burning torches and banners, in thousands and tens of thousands,
headed by their priests, and prostrated themselves before the altars.
They proceeded in the same manner in the villages; and the woods and
mountains resounded with the voices of those whose cries were raised to
God. The melancholy chaunt of the penitent alone, was heard. Enemies
were reconciled; men and women vied with each other in splendid
works of charity, as if they dreaded, that Divine Omnipotence would
pronounce on them the doom of annihilation.”
[111] _Torfaei_ Hist. rer. Norvegic, L. IX. c. viii, p. 478. (Havn.
1711, fol.) _Die Cronica van der hilliger stat van Coellen, off dat
tzytboich_, Coellen, 1499, fol. p. 263. “_In dem vurss jair erhoiff
sich eyn alzo wunderlich nuwe Geselschaft in Ungarien._” &c. The
Chronicle of the holy city of Cologne, 1499. In this same year, a
very remarkable Society was formed in Hungary.
[112] _Albert. Argentinens._ Chronic, p. 149, in _Chr. Urstisius._
Germaniae historicorum illustrium Tomus unus. Francof. 1585,
fol.--_Guillelm de Nang._ Loc. cit.--See also the Saxon Chronicle, by
_Mattheus Dresseren_, Physician and Professor at Leipsig, Wittenberg,
1596, fol. p. 340; the above-named Limburg Chronicle, and the
Germaniae Chronicon, on the origin, name, commerce, &c., of all the
Teutonic Nations of Germany: by _Seb. Francken_, of Wörd. Tubingen,
1534, fol. p. 201.
[113] _Königshoven_, Elsassische und Strassburgische Chronicke. Loc
cit. p. 297.
[114] _Albert Argentin._ Loc. cit. They never remained longer than
one night at any place.
[115] Words of _Monachus Paduanus_, quoted in Förstemann’s Treatise,
which is the best upon this subject.--See p. 60.
The pilgrimages of the Flagellants extended throughout all the
provinces of Southern Germany, as far as Saxony, Bohemia and
Poland, and even further; but at length, the priests resisted this
dangerous fanaticism, without being able to extirpate the illusion,
which was advantageous to the hierarchy, as long as it submitted to
its sway. Regnier, a hermit of Perugia, is recorded as a fanatic
preacher of penitence, with whom the extravagance originated.[116]
In the year 1296, there was a great procession of the Flagellants in
Strasburg;[117] and in 1334, fourteen years before the great mortality,
the sermon of Venturinus, a Dominican friar, of Bergamo, induced above
10,000 persons to undertake a new pilgrimage. They scourged themselves
in the churches, and were entertained in the market-places, at the
public expense. At Rome, Venturinus was derided, and banished by the
Pope to the mountains of Ricondona. He patiently endured all--went to
the Holy Land, and died at Smyrna, 1346.[118] Hence we see that this
fanaticism was a mania of the middle ages, which, in the year 1349,
on so fearful an occasion, and while still so fresh in remembrance,
needed no new founder; of whom, indeed, all the records are silent.
It probably arose in many places at the same time; for the terror of
death, which pervaded all nations and suddenly set such powerful
impulses in motion, might easily conjure up the fanaticism of
exaggerated and overpowering repentance.
[116] _Schnurrer_, Chronicle of the Plagues, T. I. p. 291.
[117] Königshoven. Loc. cit.
[118] _Förstemann_, Loc. cit. The pilgrimages of the Flagellants of
the year 1349, were not the last. Later in the 14th century, this
fanaticism still manifested itself several times, though never to so
great an extent: in the 15th century, it was deemed necessary, in
several parts of Germany, to extirpate them by fire and sword;--and
in the year 1710, processions of the Cross-bearers were still seen
in Italy. How deep this mania had taken root, is proved by the
deposition of a citizen of Nordhäusen (1446): that his wife, in the
belief of performing a Christian act, wanted to scourge her children,
as soon as they were baptized.
The manner and proceedings of the Flagellants of the 13th and 14th
centuries, exactly resemble each other. But, if during the Black
Plague, simple credulity came to their aid, which seized, as a
consolation, the grossest delusion of religious enthusiasm, yet it is
evident that the leaders must have been intimately united, and have
exercised the power of a secret association. Besides, the rude band
was generally under the controul of men of learning, some of whom at
least, certainly had other objects in view, independent of those which
ostensibly appeared. Whoever was desirous of joining the brotherhood,
was bound to remain in it thirty-four days, and to have four-pence per
day at his own disposal, so that he might not be burthensome to any
one; if married, he was obliged to have the sanction of his wife, and
give the assurance that he was reconciled to all men. The Brothers
of the Cross, were not permitted to seek for free quarters, or even
to enter a house without having been invited; they were forbidden to
converse with females; and if they transgressed these rules, or acted
without precaution, they were obliged to confess to the Superior, who
sentenced them to several lashes of the scourge, by way of penance.
Ecclesiastics had not, as such, any pre-eminence among them; according
to their original law, which, however, was often transgressed, they
could not become Masters, or take part in the _Secret Councils_.
Penance was performed twice every day: in the morning and evening, they
went abroad in pairs, singing psalms, amid the ringing of the bells;
and when they arrived at the place of flagellation, they stripped the
upper part of their bodies and put off their shoes, keeping on only a
linen dress, reaching from the waist to the ancles. They then lay down
in a large circle, in different positions, according to the nature of
their crime: the adulterer with his face to the ground; the perjurer
on one side, holding up three of his fingers, &c., and were then
castigated, some more and some less, by the Master, who ordered them to
rise in the words of a prescribed form.[119] Upon this, they scourged
themselves, amid the singing of psalms and loud supplications for
the averting of the plague, with genuflexions, and other ceremonies,
of which contemporary writers give various accounts; and at the same
time constantly boasted of their penance, that the blood of their
wounds was mingled with that of the Saviour.[120] One of them, in
conclusion, stood up to read a letter, which it was pretended an angel
had brought from heaven, to St. Peter’s church, at Jerusalem, stating
that Christ, who was sore displeased at the sins of man, had granted at
the intercession of the Holy Virgin and of the angels, that all who
should wander about for thirty-four days and scourge themselves, should
be partakers of the Divine grace.[121] This scene caused as great a
commotion among the believers as the finding of the holy spear once did
at Antioch; and if any among the clergy enquired who had sealed the
letter? he was boldly answered, the same who had sealed the Gospel!
[119] _Königshoven_, p. 298:
“_Stant uf durch der reinen Martel ere;
Und hüte dich vor der Sünden mere._”
[120] _Guill. de Nang._ Loc. cit.
[121] _Albert Argentinens._ Loc. cit.
All this had so powerful an effect, that the church was in considerable
danger; for the Flagellants gained more credit than the priests, from
whom they so entirely withdrew themselves, that they even absolved
each other. Besides, they everywhere took possession of the churches,
and their new songs, which went from mouth to mouth, operated strongly
on the minds of the people. Great enthusiasm and originally pious
feelings, are clearly distinguishable in these hymns, and especially
in the chief psalm of the Cross-bearers, which is still extant, and
which was sung all over Germany, in different dialects, and is probably
of a more ancient date.[122] Degeneracy, however, soon crept in; crimes
were everywhere committed; and there was no energetic man capable
of directing the individual excitement to purer objects, even had an
effectual resistance to the tottering church been at that early period
seasonable, and had it been possible to restrain the fanaticism.
The Flagellants sometimes undertook to make trial of their power of
working miracles; as in Strasburg, where they attempted, in their own
circle, to resuscitate a dead child: they however failed, and their
unskilfulness did them much harm, though they succeeded here and there
in maintaining some confidence in their holy calling, by pretending to
have the power of casting out evil spirits.[123]
[122] We meet with fragments of different lengths in the Chronicles
of the times, but the only entire MS. which we possess, is in the
valuable Library of President von Meusebach. Massmann has had this
printed, accompanied by a translation, entitled _Erläuterungen zum
Wessobrunner Gebet des 8^{ten} Jahrhunderts. Nebst_ ZWEIEN _noch
ungedruckten_, GEDICHTEN DES VIERZEHNTEN JAHRHUNDERTS, Berlin, 1824.
“Elucidation of the Wessobrunn Prayer of the 8th century, together
with two unpublished Hymns of the 14th century.” We shall subjoin
it at the end of this Treatise, as a striking document of the age.
The Limburg Chronicle asserts, indeed, that it was not composed till
that time, although a part, if not the whole, of it, was sung in
the procession of the Flagellants, in 1260.--See, Incerti auctoris
Chronicon rerum per Austriam Vicinasque regiones gestarum inde ab
anno 1025, usque ad annum 1282, Munich, 1827–8, p. 9.
[123] _Trithem._ Annal. Hirsaugiens, T. II. p. 206.
The Brotherhood of the Cross announced that the pilgrimage of the
Flagellants was to continue for a space of thirty-four years; and
many of the Masters had, doubtless, determined to form a lasting
league against the church; but they had gone too far. Already, in the
same year, the general indignation set bounds to their intrigues;
so that the strict measures adopted by the Emperor Charles IV. and
Pope Clement,[124] who, throughout the whole of this fearful period,
manifested prudence and noble-mindedness, and conducted himself in
a manner every way worthy of his high station, were easily put into
execution.[125]
[124] He issued a bull against them, Oct. 20, 1349. _Raynald._
_Trithem._ Loc. cit.
[125] But as they at last ceased to excite astonishment, were no
longer welcomed by the ringing of bells, and were not received with
veneration, as before, they vanished as human imaginations are wont
to do. Saxon Chronicle, by _Matt. Dresseren_. Wittenberg, 1596, fol.
p. 340–341.
The Sorbonne, at Paris, and the Emperor Charles, had already applied
to the Holy See, for assistance against these formidable and heretical
excesses, which had well nigh destroyed the influence of the clergy in
every place; when a hundred of the Brotherhood of the Cross arrived
at Avignon from Basle, and desired admission. The Pope, regardless
of the intercession of several cardinals, interdicted their public
penance, which he had not authorized; and, on pain of excommunication,
prohibited throughout Christendom the continuance of these
pilgrimages.[126] Philip VI., supported by the condemnatory judgment
of the Sorbonne, forbid their reception in France.[127] Manfred, King
of Sicily, at the same time threatened them with punishment by death:
and in the East, they were withstood by several bishops, among whom was
Janussius, of Gnesen,[128] and Preczlaw, of Breslaw, who condemned to
death one of their Masters, formerly a deacon; and, in conformity with
the barbarity of the times, had him publicly burnt.[129] In Westphalia,
where so shortly before, they had venerated the Brothers of the Cross,
they now persecuted them with relentless severity;[130] and in the
Mark, as well as in all the other countries of Germany, they pursued
them, as if they had been the authors of every misfortune.[131]
[126] _Albert Argentinens._ Loc. cit.
[127] _Guillelm de Nangis._
[128] _Ditmar._ Loc. cit.
[129] _Klose_ of _Breslaw’s_ Documental History and Description, 8vo.
Vol. II. p. 190. Breslaw, 1781.
[130] Limburg Chronicle, p. 17.
[131] _Kehrberg’s_ Description of Königsberg, _i. e._ Neumark, 1724,
4to. p. 240.
The processions of the Brotherhood of the Cross, undoubtedly promoted
the spreading of the plague; and it is evident, that the gloomy
fanaticism which gave rise to them, would infuse a new poison into the
already desponding minds of the people.
Still, however, all this was within the bounds of barbarous enthusiasm;
but horrible were the persecutions of the Jews, which were committed
in most countries, with even greater exasperation than in the 12th
century, during the first Crusades. In every destructive pestilence,
the common people at first attribute the mortality to poison. No
instruction avails; the supposed testimony of their eyesight, is to
them a proof, and they authoritatively demand the victims of their
rage. On whom then was it so likely to fall, as on the Jews, the
usurers and the strangers who lived at enmity with the Christians? They
were everywhere suspected of having poisoned the wells or infected the
air.[132] They alone were considered as having brought this fearful
mortality among the Christians.[133] They were, in consequence,
pursued with merciless cruelty; and either indiscriminately given up
to the fury of the populace, or sentenced by sanguinary tribunals,
which, with all the forms of law, ordered them to be burnt alive. In
times like these, much is indeed said of guilt and innocence; but
hatred and revenge bear down all discrimination, and the smallest
probability, magnifies suspicion into certainty. These bloody scenes,
which disgraced Europe in the 14th century, are a counterpart to a
similar mania of the age, which was manifested in the persecutions of
witches and sorcerers; and, like these, they prove, that enthusiasm,
associated with hatred, and leagued with the baser passions, may work
more powerfully upon whole nations, than religion and legal order; nay,
that it even knows how to profit by the authority of both, in order the
more surely to satiate with blood, the sword of long suppressed revenge.
[132] So says the Polish historian _Dlugoss_, Loc. cit., while most
of his contemporaries, mention only the poisoning of the wells. It is
evident, that in the state of their feelings, it mattered little to
them to add another still more formidable accusation.
[133] In those places where no Jews resided, as in Leipsig,
Magdeburg, Brieg, Frankenstein, &c. the grave-diggers were accused
of the crime.--V. _Möhsen’s_ History of the Sciences in the March of
Brandenburg, T. II. p. 265.
The persecution of the Jews, commenced in September and October,
1348,[134] at Chillon, on the Lake of Geneva, where the first criminal
proceedings were instituted against them, after they had long before
been accused by the people of poisoning the wells; similar scenes
followed in Bern and Freyburg, in January, 1349. Under the influence of
excruciating suffering, the tortured Jews confessed themselves guilty
of the crime imputed to them; and it being affirmed that poison had in
fact been found in a well at Zoffingen, this was deemed a sufficient
proof to convince the world; and the persecution of the abhorred
culprits, thus appeared justifiable. Now, though we can take as little
exception at these proceedings, as at the multifarious confessions of
witches, because the interrogatories of the fanatic and sanguinary
tribunals, were so complicated, that by means of the rack, the required
answer must inevitably be obtained; and it is besides conformable
to human nature, that crimes which are in every body’s mouth, may,
in the end, be actually committed by some, either from wantonness,
revenge, or desperate exasperation: yet crimes and accusations, are,
under circumstances like these, merely the offspring of a revengeful,
frenzied, spirit in the people; and the accusers, according to the
fundamental principles of morality, which are the same in every age,
are the more guilty transgressors.
[134] See the original proceedings, in the Appendix.
Already in the autumn of 1348, a dreadful panic, caused by the
supposed poisoning, seized all nations; and in Germany especially,
the springs and wells were built over, that nobody might drink of
them, or employ the water for culinary purposes; and for a long time,
the inhabitants of numerous towns and villages, used only river and
rain water.[135] The city gates were also guarded with the greatest
caution,--only confidential persons were admitted; and if medicine,
or any other article, which might be supposed to be poisonous, was
found in the possession of a stranger,--and it was natural that some
should have these things by them for their private use,--they were
forced to swallow a portion of it.[136] By this trying state of
privation, distrust and suspicion, the hatred against the supposed
poisoners, became greatly increased, and often broke out in popular
commotions, which only served still further to infuriate the wildest
passions. The noble and the mean, fearlessly bound themselves by an
oath, to extirpate the Jews by fire and sword, and to snatch them from
their protectors, of whom the number was so small, that throughout
all Germany, but few places can be mentioned where these unfortunate
people were not regarded as outlaws--martyred and burnt.[137] Solemn
summonses were issued from Bern to the towns of Basle, Freyburg in
the Breisgau, and Strasburg, to pursue the Jews as poisoners. The
Burgomasters and Senators, indeed, opposed this requisition; but in
Basle the populace obliged them to bind themselves by an oath, to
burn the Jews, and to forbid persons of that community from entering
their city, for the space of two hundred years. Upon this, all the
Jews in Basle, whose number could not have been inconsiderable, were
enclosed in a wooden building, constructed for the purpose, and burnt
together with it, upon the mere outcry of the people, without sentence
or trial, which indeed would have availed them nothing. Soon after,
the same thing took place at Freyburg. A regular Diet was held at
Bennefeld, in Alsace, where the bishops, lords and barons, as also
deputies of the counts (_query_ counties?) and towns, consulted how
they should proceed with regard to the Jews; and when the deputies of
Strasburg--not indeed the bishop of this town, who proved himself a
violent fanatic--spoke in favor of the persecuted, as nothing criminal
was substantiated against them; a great outcry was raised, and it was
vehemently asked, why, if so, they had covered their wells and removed
their buckets? A sanguinary decree was resolved upon, of which the
populace, who obeyed the call of the nobles and superior clergy, became
but the too willing executioners.[138] Wherever the Jews were not
burnt, they were at least banished; and so being compelled to wander
about, they fell into the hands of the country people, who without
humanity, and regardless of all laws, persecuted them with fire and
sword. At Spires, the Jews, driven to despair, assembled in their own
habitations, which they set on fire, and thus consumed themselves
with their families. The few that remained, were forced to submit to
baptism; while the dead bodies of the murdered, which lay about the
streets, were put into empty wine casks, and rolled into the Rhine,
lest they should infect the air. The mob was forbidden to enter the
ruins of the habitations that were burnt in the Jewish quarter; for the
senate itself caused search to be made for the treasure, which is said
to have been very considerable. At Strasburg, two thousand Jews were
burnt alive in their own burial ground, where a large scaffold had been
erected: a few who promised to embrace Christianity, were spared, and
their children taken from the pile. The youth and beauty of several
females also excited some commiseration; and they were snatched from
death against their will: many, however, who forcibly made their escape
from the flames, were murdered in the streets.
[135] _Hermanni Gygantis_ Flores temporum, sive Chronicon
Universale--_Ed. Meuschen._ Lugdun, Bat. 1743. 4to. p. 139. Hermann,
a Franciscan monk of Franconia, who wrote in the year 1349, was an
eye-witness of the most revolting scenes of vengeance, throughout all
Germany.
[136] _Guid. Cauliac._ Loc. cit.
[137] _Hermann._ Loc. cit.
[138] _Albert Argentin._--_Königshoven_, Loc. cit.
The senate ordered all pledges and bonds to be returned to the
debtors, and divided the money among the work-people.[139] Many,
however, refused to accept the base price of blood, and, indignant
at the scenes of blood-thirsty avarice, which made the infuriated
multitude forget[140] that the plague was raging around them, presented
it to monastaries, in conformity with the advice of their confessors.
In all the countries on the Rhine, these cruelties continued to be
perpetrated during the succeeding months; and after quiet was in some
degree restored, the people thought to render an acceptable service
to God, by taking the bricks of the destroyed dwellings, and the
tombstones of the Jews, to repair churches and to erect belfreys.[141]
[139] _Dies was ouch die Vergift, die die Juden döttete._ “This is
also the poison that killed the Jews,” observes _Königshoven_, which
he illustrates by saying, that their increase in Germany was very
great, and their mode of gaining a livelihood, which, however, was
the only resource left them, had engendered ill-will against them in
all quarters.
[140] Many wealthy Jews, for example, were, on their way to the
stake, stripped of their garments, for the sake of the gold coin that
was sewed in them.--_Albert Argentinens._
[141] Vide preceding note.
In Mayence alone, 12,000 Jews are said to have been put to a cruel
death. The Flagellants entered that place in August; the Jews, on
this occasion, fell out with the Christians, and killed several; but
when they saw their inability to withstand the increasing superiority
of their enemies, and that nothing could save them from destruction,
they consumed themselves and their families, by setting fire to their
dwellings. Thus also, in other places, the entry of the Flagellants
gave rise to scenes of slaughter; and as thirst for blood was
everywhere combined with an unbridled spirit of proselytism, a fanatic
zeal arose among the Jews, to perish as martyrs to their ancient
religion. And how was it possible, that they could from the heart
embrace Christianity, when its precepts were never more outrageously
violated? At Eslingen, the whole Jewish community burned themselves
in their synagogue;[142] and mothers were often seen throwing their
children on the pile, to prevent their being baptised, and then
precipitating themselves into the flames.[143] In short, whatever
deeds, fanaticism, revenge, avarice and desperation, in fearful
combination, could instigate mankind to perform,--and where in such a
case is the limit?--were executed in the year 1349, throughout Germany,
Italy and France, with impunity, and in the eyes of all the world.
It seemed as if the plague gave rise to scandalous acts and frantic
tumults, not to mourning and grief: and the greater part of those who,
by their education and rank, were called upon to raise the voice of
reason, themselves led on the savage mob to murder and to plunder.
Almost all the Jews who saved their lives by baptism, were afterwards
burnt at different times; for they continued to be accused of poisoning
the water and the air. Christians also, whom philanthropy or gain had
induced to offer them protection, were put on the rack and executed
with them.[144] Many Jews who had embraced Christianity, repented of
their apostacy,--and, returning to their former faith, sealed it with
their death.[145]
[142] _Spangenberg._ Loc. cit.
[143] _Guillelm. de Nangis._--_Dlugoss._ Loc. cit.
[144] _Albert. Argentinens._
[145] _Spangenberg_ describes a similar scene which took place at
Kostnitz.
The humanity and prudence of Clement VI., must, on this occasion, also
be mentioned to his honor; but even the highest ecclesiastical power
was insufficient to restrain the unbridled fury of the people. He
not only protected the Jews at Avignon, as far as lay in his power,
but also issued two bulls, in which he declared them innocent; and
admonished all Christians, though without success, to cease from
such groundless persecutions.[146] The Emperor Charles IV. was also
favourable to them, and sought to avert their destruction, wherever
he could; but he dared not draw the sword of justice, and even found
himself obliged to yield to the selfishness of the Bohemian nobles,
who were unwilling to forego so favorable an opportunity of releasing
themselves from their Jewish creditors, under favor of an imperial
mandate.[147] Duke Albert of Austria burned and pillaged those of his
cities, which had persecuted the Jews,--a vain and inhuman proceeding,
which, moreover, is not exempt from the suspicion of covetousness; yet
he was unable, in his own fortress of Kyberg, to protect some hundreds
of Jews, who had been received there, from being barbarously burnt by
the inhabitants.[148] Several other princes and counts, among whom
was Ruprecht von der Pfalz, took the Jews under their protection, on
the payment of large sums: in consequence of which they were called
“Jew-masters,” and were in danger of being attacked by the populace
and by their powerful neighbours.[149] These persecuted and ill-used
people, except indeed where humane individuals took compassion on them
at their own peril, or when they could command riches to purchase
protection, had no place of refuge left but the distant country of
Lithuania, where Boleslav V., Duke of Poland (1227–1279), had before
granted them liberty of conscience; and King Casimir the Great
(1333–1370), yielding to the entreaties of Esther, a favourite Jewess,
received them, and granted them further protection:[150] on which
account, that country is still inhabited by a great number of Jews,
who by their secluded habits, have, more than any people in Europe,
retained the manners of the middle ages.
[146] _Guillelm de Nang._--_Raynald._
[147] Histor. Landgrav. _Thuring._ in _Pistor._ Loc. cit. Vol. I.
p. 948.
[148] Anonym. _Leobiens_, in _Pez_. Loc. cit.
[149] _Spangenberg._ In the county of Mark, the Jews were no better
off than in the rest of Germany. Margrave _Ludwig_, the Roman, even
countenanced their persecutions, of which _Kehrberg_, Loc. cit.
241, gives the following official account: Coram cunctis Christi
fidelibus praesentia percepturis, ego _Johannes_ dictus _de Wedel_
Advocatus, inclyti Principis Domini, _Ludovici_, Marchionis, publice
profiteor et recognosco, quod nomine Domini mei civitaten Königsberg
visitavi et intravi, et ex parte Domini Marchionis Consulibus ejusdem
civitatis in adjutorium mihi assumtis, _Judaeos inibi morantes igne
cremavi_, bonaque omnia eorundem Judaeorum ex parte Domini mei
totaliter usurpavi et assumsi. In cujus testimonum praesentibus meum
sigillum appendi. Datum A. D. 1351. in Vigilia S. Matthaei Apostoli.
[150] _Basnage_ Histoire des Juifs. A la Haye, 1716. 8vo. T. IX. Pt.
II. Liv. IX. ch. 23. §. 12–24. p. 664–679. This valuable work gives
an interesting account of the state of the Jews of the middle ages.
Compare _J. M. Jost’s_ History of the Israelites from the time of the
Maccabees to the present day. T. VII. Berlin, 1827. 8vo. p. 8–262.
But to return to the fearful accusations against the Jews: it was
reported in all Europe, that they were in connection with secret
superiors in Toledo, to whose decrees they were subject, and from
whom they had received commands respecting the coining of base money,
poisoning, the murder of Christian children, &c.;[151] that they
received the poison by sea from remote parts, and also prepared it
themselves from spiders, owls and other venomous animals; but, in order
that their secret might not be discovered, that it was known only to
their Rabbis and rich men.[152] Apparently there were but few who did
not consider this extravagant accusation well founded; indeed, in many
writings of the 14th century, we find great acrimony with regard to
the suspected poison-mixers, which plainly demonstrates the prejudice
existing against them. Unhappily, after the confessions of the first
victims in Switzerland, the rack extorted similar ones in various
places. Some even acknowledged having received poisonous powder in
bags, and injunctions from Toledo, by secret messengers. Bags of
this description, were also often found in wells, though it was not
unfrequently discovered that the Christians themselves had thrown them
in; probably to give occasion to murder and pillage; similar instances
of which may be found in the persecutions of the witches.[153]
[151] _Albert Argentinens._
[152] _Hermann. Gygas._ Loc. cit.
[153] On this subject see _Königshoven_, who has preserved very
valuable original proceedings. The most important are, the criminal
examinations of ten Jews, at Chillon, on the Lake of Geneva, held in
September and October, 1348.--V. Appendix. They produced the most
strange confessions, and sanctioned, by the false name of justice,
the blood-thirsty fanaticism which lighted the funeral piles. Copies
of these proceedings were sent to Bern and Strasburg, where they
gave rise to the first persecutions against the Jews.--V. also the
original Document of the offensive and defensive Alliance between
_Berthold von Götz_, Bishop of Strasburg, and many powerful lords and
nobles, in favor of the city of Strasburg, against Charles IV. The
latter saw himself compelled, in consequence, to grant to that city
an amnesty for the Jewish persecutions, which in our days would be
deemed disgraceful to an imperial crown. Not to mention many other
documents, which no less clearly shew the spirit of the 14th century,
p. 1021. f.
This picture needs no additions. A lively image of the Black Plague,
and of the moral evil which followed in its train, will vividly
represent itself to him who is acquainted with nature and the
constitution of society. Almost the only credible accounts of the
manner of living, and of the ruin which occurred in private life,
during this pestilence, are from Italy; and these may enable us to form
a just estimate of the general state of families in Europe, taking into
consideration what is peculiar in the manners of each country.
“When the evil had become universal,” (speaking of Florence) “the
hearts of all the inhabitants were closed to feelings of humanity.
They fled from the sick and all that belonged to them, hoping by these
means to save themselves. Others shut themselves up in their houses,
with their wives, their children and households, living on the most
costly food, but carefully avoiding all excess. None were allowed
access to them; no intelligence of death or sickness was permitted
to reach their ear; and they spent their time in singing and music,
and other pastimes. Others, on the contrary, considered eating and
drinking to excess, amusements of all descriptions, the indulgence of
every gratification, and an indifference to what was passing around
them, as the best medicine, and acted accordingly. They wandered day
and night, from one tavern to another, and feasted without moderation
or bounds. In this way they endeavoured to avoid all contact with the
sick, and abandoned their houses and property to chance, like men whose
death-knell had already tolled.
Amid this general lamentation and woe, the influence and authority
of every law, human and divine, vanished. Most of those who were in
office, had been carried off by the plague, or lay sick, or had lost
so many members of their families, that they were unable to attend
to their duties; so that thenceforth every one acted as he thought
proper. Others, in their mode of living, chose a middle course.
They ate and drank what they pleased, and walked abroad, carrying
odoriferous flowers, herbs or spices, which they smelt to from time
to time, in order to invigorate the brain, and to avert the baneful
influence of the air, infected by the sick, and by the innumerable
corpses of those who had died of the plague. Others carried their
precaution still further, and thought the surest way to escape death
was by flight. They therefore left the city; women as well men
abandoning their dwellings and their relations, and retiring into the
country. But of these also, many were carried off, most of them alone
and deserted by all the world, themselves having previously set the
example. Thus it was, that one citizen fled from another--a neighbour
from his neighbours--a relation from his relations;--and in the end,
so completely had terror extinguished every kindlier feeling, that
the brother forsook the brother--the sister the sister--the wife her
husband; and at last, even the parent his own offspring, and abandoned
them, unvisited and unsoothed, to their fate. Those, therefore, that
stood in need of assistance fell a prey to greedy attendants; who
for an exorbitant recompence, merely handed the sick their food and
medicine, remained with them in their last moments, and then, not
unfrequently, became themselves victims to their avarice and lived not
to enjoy their extorted gain. Propriety and decorum were extinguished
among the helpless sick. Females of rank seemed to forget their natural
bashfulness, and committed the care of their persons, indiscriminately,
to men and women of the lowest order. No longer were women, relatives
or friends, found in the house of mourning, to share the grief of
the survivors--no longer was the corpse accompanied to the grave by
neighbours and a numerous train of priests, carrying wax tapers and
singing psalms, nor was it borne along by other citizens of equal rank.
Many breathed their last without a friend to sooth their dying pillow;
and few indeed were they who departed amid the lamentations and tears
of their friends and kindred. Instead of sorrow and mourning, appeared
indifference, frivolity and mirth; this being considered, especially
by the females, as conducive to health. Seldom was the body followed
by even ten or twelve attendants; and instead of the usual bearers and
sextons, mercenaries of the lowest of the populace undertook the office
for the sake of gain; and accompanied by only a few priests, and often
without a single taper, it was borne to the very nearest church, and
lowered into the first grave that was not already too full to receive
it. Among the middling classes, and especially among the poor, the
misery was still greater. Poverty or negligence induced most of these
to remain in their dwellings, or in the immediate neighbourhood; and
thus they fell by thousands; and many ended their lives in the streets,
by day and by night. The stench of putrefying corpses was often the
first indication to their neighbours that more deaths had occurred. The
survivors, to preserve themselves from infection, generally had the
bodies taken out of the houses, and laid before the doors; where the
early morn found them in heaps, exposed to the affrighted gaze of the
passing stranger. It was no longer possible to have a bier for every
corpse,--three or four were generally laid together--husband and wife,
father and mother, with two or three children, were frequently borne
to the grave on the same bier; and it often happened that two priests
would accompany a coffin, bearing the cross before it, and be joined on
the way by several other funerals; so that instead of one, there were
five or six bodies for interment.”
Thus far Boccacio. On the conduct of the priests, another contemporary
observes:[154] “In large and small towns, they had withdrawn themselves
through fear, leaving the performance of ecclesiastical duties to the
few who were found courageous and faithful enough to undertake them.”
But we ought not on that account to throw more blame on them than on
others; for we find proofs of the same timidity and heartlessness in
every class. During the prevalence of the Black Plague, the charitable
orders conducted themselves admirably, and did as much good as can be
done by individual bodies, in times of great misery and destruction;
when compassion, courage, and the nobler feelings, are found but in
the few,--while cowardice, selfishness and ill-will, with the baser
passions in their train--assert the supremacy. In place of virtue which
had been driven from the earth, wickedness everywhere reared her
rebellious standard, and succeeding generations were consigned to the
dominion of her baleful tyranny.
[154] _Guillelm de Nangis._ p. 110.