Chapter IX: Part 9

The celebrated Earl of Essex, in one of the misunderstandings between him, and Queen Elizabeth, having given her a more than common cause of offence, and wishing in a particular manner to soothe her resentment, wrote to her in much the same terms as those abovementioned. He gave the Queen, as we find in Camden, explicit thanks for the corrections she had inflicted upon him, and kissed (to use his words, as recited by the above Author) and ‘kissed her Majesty’s Royal Hand, and the rod which had chastised him.’ Not that I propose, however, by quoting the above expressions of the Earl, positively to affirm that they were meant to allude to any express corrections of the kind mentioned in this Book, which his Royal Mistress had at any time used to inflict upon him, or the other persons in her service; but yet, when we, on the one hand, attend to the invariable corruption, profligacy, shamelessness, wickedness, and perverseness of Ministers, ever since the beginning of the world, and on the other, consider to what degree those employed by the Princess we speak of, proved just, and zealous for the public good, we cannot help thinking that that great and magnanimous Queen had found out some very peculiar method of rendering them such[113].

[112] The abovementioned Lord Munson had sat as one of the Judges at the King’s Trial: he lived at St. Edmundsbury, when his Wife, with the assistance of her Maids, served him with a flagellation. An allusion to the same fact is also made in a song which is to be found in the Collection of _Loyal Songs_. The thanks her Ladyship received from the Sessions Court, were owing to its being generally suspected the Noble Lord had altered his political principles; for which his Wife had chastised him.

It really seems that a kind of flagellating fanaticism had taken place, in those days, in this Country, similar in many respects to that which arose in the times of Cardinal Damian and Dominic _the Cuirassed_: there was this difference however, that it had for its object to flagellate, not one’s-self, but others; which was the wiser folly of the two. The thanks publicly decreed to Lady Munson (not to mention several puritanical publications of those days) are proofs of that flagellating spirit we mention; as well as the correction inflicted by Zachary Crofton upon his servant maid (see p. 238), and the pamphlet he wrote in defence of it; which was very likely grounded on certain religious tenets concerning the mortification of the flesh, &c. that were current in those times.

[113] It came out, in a certain late debate in the House of Commons (June 1783) that, among the expences in the office of a prime Minister, about a year before out of place, there was an article (introduced among the Stationary ware) of three hundred and forty pounds for _whip-cord_, for one year. It is very probably since the days of Queen Elizabeth, that this kind of commodity has been made part of the national expenditure.

CHAP. XXIII.

_Formation of the public Processions of Flagellants. Different
success they meet with, in different Countries._

The example which so many illustrious personages had given of voluntarily submitting to flagellation, and the pains which Monks had been at, to promote that method of mortification by their example likewise, as well as by the stories they related on that subject, had, as we have seen, induced the generality of people to adopt the fondest notions of its efficacy. But about the year 1260, the intoxication became as it were complete. People, no longer satisfied to practise mortifications of this kind in private, began to perform them in sight of the Public, under pretence of greater humiliation: regular associations and fraternities were formed for that purpose; and numerous bodies of half-naked Men began to make their appearance in the public streets, who after performing a few religious ceremonies contrived for the occasion, flagellated themselves with astonishing fanaticism and cruelty.

The first institution of public Associations and Solemnities of this kind, must needs have filled with surprise all moderate persons in those days, and in fact we see that Historians of different Countries, who lived in the times when their ceremonies were first introduced, have taken much notice of them, and recorded them at length in their Histories or Chronicles. I will lay extracts from a few of these different Books, before the Reader; it being the best manner, I think, of acquainting him with the origin of these singular flagellating solemnities and processions, which continue in use in several Countries.

The first Author from whom we have a circumstantial account on that subject, is that Monk of St. Justina, in Padua, whose Chronicle Wechelius printed afterwards at Basil. He relates how the public superstitious ceremonies we mention, made their first appearance in the Country in the neighbourhood of Bologna, which is the spot where, it seems, they took their first origin, and whence they were afterwards communicated to other Countries. The following is the above Author’s own account.

“When all Italy was sullied with crimes of every kind, a certain sudden superstition, hitherto unknown to the world, first seized the inhabitants of Perusa, afterwards the Romans, and then almost all the Nations of Italy. To such a degree were they affected with the fear of God, that noble as well as ignoble persons, young and old, even children five years of age, would go naked about the streets, with only their private parts covered, and, without any sense of shame, thus walked in public, two and two, in the manner of a solemn procession. Every one of them held in his hand a scourge made of leather-thongs, and with tears and groans they lashed themselves on their backs, till the blood ran; all the while weeping and giving tokens of the same bitter affliction as if they had really been spectators of the passion of our Saviour, imploring the forgiveness of God and his Mother, and praying that He who had been appeased by the repentance of so many Sinners, would not disdain theirs.

“And not only in the day time, but likewise during the nights, hundreds, thousands, and ten thousands of these Penitents, ran, notwithstanding the rigour of winter, about the streets, and in churches, with lighted wax-candles in their hands, and preceded by Priests who carried crosses and banners along with them, and with humility prostrated themselves before the altars: the same scenes were to be seen in small Towns and Villages; so that the mountains and the fields seemed to resound alike the voice of Men who were crying to God.

“All musical instruments and love songs then ceased to be heard. The only Music that prevailed, both in Town and Country, was that of the lugubrious voice of the Penitent, whose mournful accents might have moved hearts of flint; and even the eyes of the obdurate Sinner could not refrain from tears[114].

“Nor were Women exempt from the general spirit of devotion we mention: for not only those among the common people, but also Matrons and young Maidens of noble families, would perform the same mortifications with modesty, in their own rooms. Then those who were at enmity with one another, became again friends. Usurers and Robbers hastened to restore their ill-gotten riches to their right owners. Others, who were contaminated with different crimes, confessed them with humility, and renounced their vanities. Gaols were opened; prisoners were delivered; and banished persons permitted to return to their native habitations. So many and so great works of sanctity and christian charity, in short, were then performed by both Men and Women, that it seemed as if an universal apprehension had seized Mankind, that the divine Power was preparing either to consume them by fire, or destroy them by shaking the earth, or some other of those means which divine Justice knows how to employ for avenging crimes.

“Such a sudden repentance, which had thus diffused itself all over Italy, and had even reached other Countries, not only the unlearned, but wise persons also admired. They wondered whence such a vehement fervour of piety could have proceeded; especially since such public penances and ceremonies had been unheard of in former times, had not been approved by the sovereign Pontiff, who was then residing at Anagni, nor recommended by any Preacher or person of eminence, but had taken their origin among simple persons, whose example both learned and unlearned had alike followed.”

The Ceremonies we mention were soon imitated, as the same Author remarks, by the other Nations of Italy: though they, at first, met with opposition in several places, from divers Princes, or Governments, in that Country. Pope Alexander the Fourth, for instance, who had fixed his See at Anagni, refused at first, as hath been above said, to give his sanction to them; and Clement VI. who had been Archbishop of Sens, in France, in subsequent times condemned those public flagellations by a Bull for that purpose (A. 1349). Manfredus, likewise, who was Master of Sicily and Apulia, and Palavicinus, Marquis of Cremona, Brescia, and Milan, prohibited the same processions in the Countries under their dominion; though, on the other hand, many Princes as well as Popes countenanced them, either in the same times, or afterwards.

This spirit of public penance and devotion was in time communicated to other Countries; it even reached so far as Greece, as we are informed by Nicephorus Gregoras, who wrote in the year 1361. Attempts were likewise made to introduce ceremonies of the same kind into Poland, as Baronius says in his Annals; but they were at first prohibited: nor did they meet, at the same period, with more encouragement in Bohemia, as Dubravius relates in his History of that Country.

In Germany, however, the Sect, or Fraternity, of the Flagellants proved more successful. We find a very full account of the first flagellating processions that were made in that Country, in the year 1349 (a time during which the plague was raging there) in the Chronicle of Albert of Strasbourg, who lived during that period.

“As the plague (says the above Author) was beginning to make its appearance, People then began in Germany to flagellate themselves in public processions. Two hundred came, at one time, from the Country of Schwaben to Spira, having a principal Leader at their head, besides two subordinate ones, to whose commands they paid implicit obedience. When they had passed the Rhine, at one o’clock in the afternoon, crouds of people ran to see them. They then drew a circular line on the ground, within which they placed themselves. There they stripped off their clothes, and only kept upon themselves a kind of short shirt, which served them instead of breeches, and reached from the waist down to their heels: this done, they placed themselves on the above circular line, and began to walk one after another around it, with their arms stretched in the shape of a Cross, thus forming among themselves a kind of procession. Having continued this procession a little while, they prostrated themselves on the ground, and afterwards rose one after another, in a regular manner, every one of them, as he got up, giving a stroke with his scourge to the next, who in his turn likewise rose, and served the following one in the same manner. They then began disciplining themselves with their scourges, which were armed with knots and four iron points, all the while singing the usual Psalm of the invocation of our Lord, and other Psalms: three of them were placed in the middle of the ring, who, with a sonorous voice, regulated the chaunt of the others, and disciplined themselves in the same manner. This having continued for some time, they ceased their discipline; and then, at a certain signal that was given them, prostrated themselves on their knees, with their arms stretched, and threw themselves flat on the ground, groaning and sobbing. They then rose, and heard an admonition from their Leader, who exhorted them to implore the mercy of God on the people, on both their benefactors and enemies, and on the souls in Purgatory: then they placed themselves again upon their knees, with their hands lifted towards heaven, performed the same ceremonies as before, and disciplined themselves anew, as they walked round. This done, they, put on their clothes again; and those who had been left to take care of the clothes and the luggage, came forwards, and went through the same ceremonies as the former had done. They had among them Priests, and noble as well as ignoble persons, and men conversant with letters.

“When the disciplines were concluded, one of the brotherhood rose, and with a loud voice, read a letter, which he pretended had been brought by an Angel to St. Peter’s Church, in Jerusalem: the Angel declared in it, that Jesus Christ was offended at the wickedness of the age, several instances of which were mentioned, such as the violation of the Lord’s day, blasphemy, usury, adultery, and neglect with respect to fasting on Fridays. To this the Man who read the letter added, that Jesus Christ’s forgiveness having been implored by the Holy Virgin and the Angels, he had made answer, that in order to obtain mercy, sinners ought to live exiled from their Country for thirty-four days, disciplining themselves during that time.

“The inhabitants of the Town of Spira were moved with so much compassion for these Penitents, that they invited every one of them to their houses: they however refused to receive alms severally, and only accepted what was given to their Society in general, in order to buy twisted wax-candles, and banners. These banners were of silk, painted of a purple colour: they carried them in their processions, which they performed twice every day. They never spoke to Women, and refused to sleep upon feather-beds. They wore crosses upon their coats and hats, behind and before, and had their scourges hanging at their waist.

“About an hundred Men, in the Town of Spira, inlisted in their Society, and about a thousand at Strasburgh, who promised obedience to the Superiors, for the time abovementioned. They admitted nobody but who engaged to observe all the above rules during that time, who could spend at least four-pence a day, lest he should be obliged to beg, and who declared that he had confessed his sins, forgiven his enemies, and obtained the consent of his Wife. They divided at Strasburgh: one part went up, and another part down, the Country; their Superiors having likewise divided. The latter directed the new brothers from Strasburgh, not to discipline themselves too harshly in the beginning; and multitudes of people flocked from the Country up and down the Rhine, as well as the inland Country, in order to see them. After they had left Spira, about two hundred Boys twelve years old, entered into an Association together, and disciplined themselves in public.”

Flagellating processions and Solemnities of the same kind, were likewise introduced into France, where they met, at first, with but indifferent success; and even several Divines opposed them. The most remarkable among them was John Gerson, a celebrated Theologian, and Chancellor of the University of Paris, who purposely wrote a Treatise against the ceremonies in question, in which he particularly condemned the cruelty and great effusion of blood with which these disciplines were performed. ‘It is equally unlawful (Gerson asserted) for a Man to draw so much blood from his own body, unless it be for medical reasons, as it would be for him to castrate or otherwise mutilate himself. Else it might upon the same principle be advanced, that a Man may brand himself with red-hot irons; a thing which nobody hath, as yet, either pretended to say, or granted, unless it be false Christians and Idolaters, such as are to be found in India, who think it a matter of duty for one to be baptized through fire.’

Under King Henry the Third, however, the processions of Disciplinants found much favour in France; and the King we mention, a weak and bigoted Prince, not only encouraged these ceremonies by his words, but even went so far as to inlist himself in a Fraternity of Flagellants. The example thus given by the King, procured a great number of Associates to the Brotherhood, and several Fraternities were formed at Court, which were distinguished by different colours, and composed of a number of Men of the first families in the Kingdom. These processions, thus formed of the King and his noble train of Disciplinants, all equipped like Flagellants, frequently made their appearance in the public Streets of Paris, going from one Church to another; and in one of those naked processions, the Cardinal of Lorrain, who had joined in it, caught such a cold, it being about Christmas time, that he died a few days afterwards. The following is the account to be found on that subject, in the _President J. A. de Thou’s_ History of his own times.

“While the civil war was thus carrying on, on both sides, scenes of quite a different kind were to be seen at Court; where the King, who was naturally of a religious temper, and fond of ceremonies unknown to Antiquity, and who had formerly had an opportunity to indulge this fancy in a Country subjected to the Pope’s dominion, would frequently join in the processions which masked Men used to perform, on the days before Christmas.

“For more than an hundred years past, a fondness for introducing new modes of worship into the established Religion, had prevailed; and a sect of Men had risen, who, thinking it meritorious to manifest the compunction they felt for their offences, by outward signs, would put on a sack-cloth, in the same manner it was ordered by the antient Law; and from a strained interpretation they gave of the passage in the Psalmist, _ad flagella paratus sum_, flagellated themselves in public; whence they were called by the name of _Flagellants_. John Gerson, the Chancellor of the University of Paris, and the purest Theologian of that age, wrote a Book against them. Yet the holy Pontiffs, considering then that Sect with more indulgence than former ones had done, shewed much countenance to it; so that multitudes of Men, all over Italy, in these days inlist in it, as in a kind of a religious militia, thinking to obtain by that means forgiveness of their sins. Distinguished by different colours, blue, white, and black, in the same manner as the Green and Blue factions, though proposing to themselves different objects, were formerly in Rome, they likewise engrossed the attention of the public, and in several places gave rise to the warmest contentions.

“The introduction which was made of these ceremonies into France, where they had till then been almost unknown, forwarded the designs of certain ambitious persons, the contempt they brought on the person of the King, having weakened much the regal authority. While the King mixed thus with processions of Flagellants, and the most distinguished among his Courtiers followed his example, Charles, Cardinal of Lorrain, who was one of the party, was, by the coldness of the evening, thrown into a violent fever, attended with a most intense pain in his head; and a delirium as well as continual watchfulness having followed, he expired two days before Christmas.”

The Historian we have just quoted says, in another place, that the King was principally induced to perform the above superstitious processions, by the solicitations of his Confessor, Father Edmund Auger, who wrote a Book on that subject, and of John Castelli, the Apostolic Nuntio in France; and that the weak complaisance shewn to him on that occasion, by the Chancellor Birague, and the Keeper of the Seals, Chiverny, encouraged him much to pursue his plan in that respect, notwithstanding the strong advices to the contrary, that were given him by Christopher de Thou, President of the Parliament, and Pierre Brulart, President of the _Chambre des Enquêtes_.

As there was, in those times, a powerful party in France, that opposed the Court, and even was frequently at open war with it, there was no want of Men, in Paris, who found fault with the disciplining processions of the King. When they first made their appearance, some, as the above Historian relates, laughed at them, while others exclaimed that they were an insult both to God and Man. Even Preachers joined in the party, and pointed their sarcasms from the pulpit against those ceremonies.

The most petulant among these popular Preachers, was one Maurice Poncet, of the Abbey of Melun, who, using expressions borrowed from a Psalm, compared the King and his brother Disciplinants, to Men who would cover themselves with a wet sack-cloth, to keep off the rain: he was at last banished to his Monastery. The example which the Court, and the Metropolis, had set, was followed in a number of Country Towns, where fraternities of Flagellants were instituted; and among them particular mention is made of the Brotherhood of the _Blue Penitents_, in the City of Bourges, on account of the Sentence passed in the year 1601, by the Parliament of Paris, in consequence of a motion of Nicolas Servin, the King’s Advocate General, which expressly abolished it[115].

FOOTNOTES:

[114] _Siluerunt tunc tempore omnia musica instrumenta & amatoriæ cantilenæ. Sola cantio pœnitentis lugubris audiebatur ubique, tam in civitatibus quam in villis, ad cujus flebilem modulationem corda saxea movebantur, & obstinatorum oculi lacrymis non poterant continere._----This Monk of St. Justina, whose account is here translated at length, was certainly no mean Writer: he was quite another Man than the _Abbé Boileau_.

[115] It has no doubt been perceived, that, in the course of this Work, I have commonly taken care to conclude the different Chapters into which it is divided, with a Note or Commentary of a certain length, upon the same subject with the Chapter itself, though of a less grave and serious turn. This precaution I thought necessary for the relief of the Reader, after the great exertion of his mind, occasioned by the weighty objects that had just been offered to his consideration. Such final Note I considered as a farce, after a serious and moral Drama, and as a kind of _petite piece_, or if you please, of interlude, calculated to revive the exhausted spirits of the Reader, and enable him to begin a fresh Chapter with alacrity.

On this occasion, however, I find great difficulty in pursuing the same plan. The processions of Disciplinants that have just been described, are such a dismal and gloomy subject, that it suggests no ideas but what are of a serious kind; it precludes all thoughts of mirth and jocularity; and I despair, in this Note, of being able to entertain the Reader so well as I flatter myself I have succeeded in doing in the former ones.

The flagellating practices and ceremonies alluded to in this Chapter, are certainly most astonishing facts in the History of Man: and if any thing renders our surprise less than it otherwise would be, it is the consideration that such practices have not been imagined on a sudden, and at once, but have been the result of a long series of slow innovations, introduced by different persons, at different times, and in places remote from one another.

Besides, it really seems that there is a secret propensity in Mankind, for arduous modes of worship of all kinds. The observation has been made, that in the Science of Moral, speculatively considered, Men, whatever may be their private conduct, are most pleased with such maxims as are most rigid; and so, with respect to religious rites, do they seem to be most taken with, and most strongly to adhere to, such as are most laborious, and even painful.

We see, in fact, that bodily austerities of a cruel kind, performed with religious intentions, have obtained among almost all the Nations in the World; and self-scourgings, in particular, were practised with views of this kind among almost all the Nations of antiquity of whom accounts have been left us: on which the Reader is referred to the sixth Chapter of this Book.

The same practice we mention, besides the advantage of its obviousness to recommend it, had in its favour, with Christians, the farther circumstance of its being in a manner sanctified by the History itself of the facts on which their religion is grounded. As a punishment of that kind made express part of the ill treatment which our Saviour underwent, the thoughts of pious persons were naturally directed to a mode of mortification of which so frequent mention was made in books, hymns, sermons, and religious conversations: hence has it happened, that the practices here alluded to, have been much more constantly and universally adopted by Christians, than by the professors of any other Religion.

A difference, however, took place in the above respect, between the Eastern and the Western Christians. As the Christians who were settled in the East, lived almost always in the midst of hostile Nations, and besides, never formed among themselves any very numerous sect, they never went such lengths in their opinions, nor gave into such extravagant practices, as the Christians in the West. They had not, for instance, adopted the fond notions since entertained by the latter, on the efficaciousness of self-flagellations to atone for past sins. Their religious notions had taken a different turn. They generally considered a certain deep sense of past offences, a state of unbounded contrition for the same, as the competent means of atonement. They considered tears as the last stage of such contrition, and in a manner a necessary token of it. Shedding tears was, therefore, the thing they aimed at, in all their devotional acts: self-scourging was thought by them to be an excellent expedient for obtaining so happy an effect; and they hence resorted to it, not (as hath been done in the West) as to a direct and immediate method of compensating past sins, but only as to a subsidiary operation, and a means which, they sagaciously thought, would soon bring them to the requisite state of tears and salutary compunction.

Of this turn of the devotion of the Eastern Christians, as well as of the ends they proposed to themselves in their acts of self-flagellation, we find proofs in the few instances that have been left us in Books, of their having performed acts of that sort: I shall relate the following one, which is to be found in the work of Gabriel, Archbishop of Philadelphia, intitled Πατερικὸν, or Collection of actions of Fathers, or Saints.

A certain Saint had come to a resolution of renouncing the World, and had fixed his habitation on the celebrated Mountain of Nitria, in Thebaid; and next to the cell to which he had retired, was that of another Saint, whom he heard every day bitterly weep for his sins. Finding himself unable to weep in the same manner, and heartily envying the happiness of the other Saint, he one day spoke to himself in the following terms: ‘You do not cry, you wretch; you do not weep for your sins. I will make you cry; I will make you weep by force, since you will not do it of your own accord; I will make you grieve for your sins, as you ought:’ saying which, he took up in a passion a large scourge that lay by him, and laid lashes upon himself so thick and in so effectual a manner, that he soon brought himself to that happy state which was the object of his ambition.

Another instance of the manner of the devotion of the Eastern Christians, is supplied by the passage in St. John Climax, that has been recited at pag. 121. Both the Opposers, and the Promoters, of the practice of self-flagellation, have gone too far in their interpretations of that passage. The latter have asserted that it expressly alluded to religious disciplines, performed in the same manner, and with the same views, as they now are in modern Monasteries; while the former have been as positive that it meant no such thing as _beating_ or _scourging_, and is only to be understood of the lamentations of the Monks in the Monastery in question, that is, in a bare figurative manner. The passage in St. John Climax is this: ‘Some among the Monks watered the pavement with their tears, while others, who could not shed any, beat themselves.’ The expression used in this passage, to say that some among the Monks beat themselves, is certainly as precise as any the Greek language can supply; yet neither does it supply a sufficient proof that they performed, in the above Monastery, regular and periodical flagellations of the same kind with those that have been since used in the Western Monasteries, in the times of Cardinal Damian, and the Widow Cechald: the self-flagellations alluded to, in the passage we speak of, appear to have been of the same kind with those performed by the Saint of the Mountain of Nitria who has been abovementioned, and were calculated to enable those who could not weep, to weep plentifully.

But among the Western Christians, as the extensive Country over which they became in time to be spread, without any intervening opponents, afforded a vast field for innovations of every kind, they, as hath been above said, went the greatest lengths in their opinions concerning the usefulness of the practices we mention, to which the History of their Religion had at first given rise.

In the first place, mortifications of the kind here alluded to, were used among them from notions of much the same sort with those entertained by the Eastern Christians, that is, with a view of sanctifying themselves by their repentance, and assisting their compunction.

In the second place, they were actuated by a sense of love for Jesus Christ, and a desire of uniting themselves to him in his sufferings. The intention we speak of, is particularly recommended in the Statutes of different religious Orders; and the Brothers are exhorted in them, ‘when they inflict discipline upon themselves, to call to their mind Jesus Christ, their most amiable Lord, fastened to the column, and to endeavour to experience a few of those excessive pains he was made to endure.’ This notion of religious persons, which proceeds from an unbounded sense of gratitude towards their Divine Saviour, from a wish of repaying in any manner the immense service he had conferred upon them in saving them from destruction, and of at least sharing his sufferings, since they cannot alleviate them, has certainly something interesting in its principle.

But the most universal use, by far, that has been made of flagellatory disciplines among Christians, in these parts of the world, has been to atone for past sins. And indeed it is no wonder that a practice of so convenient a kind, which enabled every one, by means of an operation of the duration and severity of which he was the sole judge, to pay, as he thought, an adequate price for every offence he might have committed, and silence a troublesome conscience whenever he pleased, should so easily gain ground, and meet with so much favour, not only from the vulgar, but also from great Men, and even Kings; to whom we may no doubt add their Ministers.

Among the superstitious notions that may be hurtful to Society, it is difficult to imagine one of a worse tendency than that here mentioned, the immediate consequence of which is to render useless all the distinctions implanted in the human mind between evil and good, and, by making offenders easy with themselves, to take off the only punishment that is left for the greater number of crimes. When notions like these were adopted by Kings, with respect to whom human laws are silent, the consequences were pernicious in the extreme; practices of this sort became as dangerous to the peace and happiness of their subjects, as they would have been conducive to them, if the disciplines we speak of, instead of being inflicted upon such high Offenders, every time they were conscious they deserved them, by the hands of Confessors aiming at Bishopricks, or under fear of dungeons, had been dealt them to the full satisfaction of a Jury composed of impartial persons, and nowise afraid to speak their minds.

These notions of the usefulness of self-flagellations, were carried to a most extravagant pitch by a Sect formed of those itinerant Disciplinants, accounts of whom have been above given. Proud of the cruel disciplines they inflicted upon themselves, they looked upon them as being of far greater merit than the practice of any Christian virtue; and they at last formed among themselves a particular Sect of Heretics, who were called _Flagellants_. The title of _History of the Flagellants_, which the Abbé Boileau has given to his Work, might seem to indicate that he intended to write an History of that Sect, and of those public processions of Disciplinants which have succeeded it: yet, he only mentions that Sect and those Processions in his usual loose manner, in his ninth Chapter, without even distinguishing the one from the other. The proper title of his book (and of this, which is imitated from it) should be, _The History of religious Flagellations among different Nations, and especially among Christians_.

Among the different tenets of the Hereticks we speak of, were the following. They pretended that the blood they shed, during their flagellations, was mixed with that of Jesus Christ;--that self-flagellations made confession useless;--that they were more meritorious than martyrdom, for they were voluntary, which martyrdom was not;--that baptism by water was of no use, as every true Christian must be baptized in his own blood;--that flagellation could atone for all past and future offences, and supplied the want of all other good works. To these tenets, and to several others of the same sort, they added Stories of different kinds; such as that of the abovementioned letter brought from Heaven by an Angel, to order self-flagellations; they gave out that a certain Brother of their Sect, who lived at Erford in Thuringe, was Elias; and that another, whose name was Conrad Smith, was Enoch, &c. &c.

As the principles maintained by these Hereticks, were destructive of most of the essential tenets received by the Church, this reason, together with the cruelties they practised upon themselves, and in general their fanaticism, which really was of a despicable kind, caused Pope Clement IV. to issue a Bull against them, in the year 1350; and several Princes expressly prohibited that Sect, in the places under their dominion.

From those Hereticks, must therefore be distinguished the common Fraternities of Disciplinants, which continue in these days to be established in several Countries. These Fraternities are composed of good orthodox Christians, who do not in any degree pretend that their disciplines supersede the necessity of Baptism or Confession, or of any other Sacrament; who tell no stories about Elias, or Enoch; who dutifully subscribe to all the tenets, without exception, recommended by the Church, and above all pay implicit obedience to the authority of the Heads of it. They are Associations of much the same kind with common Clubs, or if you please, like Lodges of Freemasons: they have a stock of effects and furniture belonging to the Fraternity, such as banners, crucifixes, ornaments for altars, and so on; and each contributes a certain small sum annually, for keeping the above effects in repair, and defraying the expences of paying the music, feeing Priests, and others of a like kind: they have, besides, peculiar Statutes, not unlike the Articles of a common Club.

The principal engagement of these Fraternities is to discipline themselves in times of great Solemnities; such as the Sundays in the Advent, the Sundays before Palm-Sunday, on Maunday Thursday, and certain days during the Carnival. On these days they walk about Towns in regular processions. They carry along with them banners, painted with the appropriated colour of the Brotherhood: the Brothers are equipped in a peculiar kind of dress for the occasion, all wearing, besides, masks over their faces. With this apparatus they visit different Churches, exhibiting an appearance which, when seen from some distance, is not unlike that of the trading Companies, in London, on a Lord Mayor’s Day; and their banners, together with the other ornaments they display, cut a figure not very short of the _paraphernalia_ of the City.

In the principal Church whence they set off, and perhaps also in those which they visit, they hear a short sermon from a Priest, on the Passion of our Saviour; and as soon as the Priest has said the words, “let us mend and grow better” (_emendemus in melius_) the disciplines begin with the singing of the _Miserere_, and are continued in the streets, as they walk in procession. By one Article of their Statutes, it is ordered that no Brother shall put a Man to discipline himself in his stead. Plenty of Indulgences are granted to those who discharge their duty on those occasions. And moreover, Bishops are ordered to inspect, in their respective Dioceses, the Fraternities there established, and examine their Statutes, in order to strike out such articles as may contain seeds of Heresy.

Fraternities of this kind obtain in most of the Catholic Countries in Europe; though with different encouragement from their different Governments.

In France they were, as hath been above said, in the greatest favour at Court, under Henry the Third: this Prince, who, before he was called to the Throne on the death of his Brother, had given every hope of an able warrior, and a great King, having inlisted in one of these Fraternities. As a powerful party was at that time set up, in France, against the authority of the Crown, and most of the people in Paris favoured that party, the King had attempted to overaw them by a display of Majesty, and being constantly accompanied when he made his appearance in public, by a numerous body of Halberdiers; but this not having succeeded, he tried to amuse the People by public shews; and in that view, as a Writer of those times says, instituted in Paris Fraternities of Penitents, in which he made himself a Brother. This expedient, however, did not succeed: these disciplining processions only served to bring sarcasms upon the Court, and the King himself; and among them that of Maurice Poncet has been recorded, who, besides other invectives he delivered from the pulpit, compared the disciplining Penitents, as hath been abovementioned, to men who should cover themselves with a wet cloth to keep off the rain. This reflection of Poncet was thought to be the more pointed, as, the very day before, the King had Walked in a procession of Penitents, during which a most heavy shower of rain had fallen, and the King with his Chancellor, and the whole train of Disciplinants, had been thoroughly soaked. The King was informed, the next day, of the jest of Poncet; and this, together no doubt with the remembrance of the rain of the day before, caused him to be much incensed against the Preacher: however, as notwithstanding his vices and weakness, he was a Man of the mildest temper, as well as of unbounded liberality, he contented himself with having the Monk sent back to his Convent.

In subsequent times, that is in the year 1601, under the reign of Henry IV. a Sentence was passed, as hath been abovementioned, by the Parliament of Paris, to abolish the Fraternity of the _Blue Penitents_, in the City of Bourges. The motive of the Parliament was not, however, their tender care for the skin of these Blue Penitents: but that Fraternity had been rendered a kind of political Association against the reigning King, who was during his whole life persecuted by bigotry, till he fell a victim to it at last; and they had joined several treasonable declarations and engagements, to their Statutes: for this reason the Fraternity was forbidden to meet again, under pain of being prosecuted as guilty of High Treason. From that time Brotherhoods of Penitents have been constantly discountenanced in France; and they are continued only in some Towns in the Southern Provinces, distant from the Metropolis.

But the Countries in which the processions we mention (which certainly are as extraordinary as any ceremony of which any Religion affords an instance) are most prevalent, and where they are in a manner naturalized, are, Italy, and Spain.

In the latter Country, in Spain, the flagellating Solemnities we speak of, have received a peculiar turn from the peculiar manners of the Inhabitants; and they are (which is certainly extraordinary) as well operations or scenes of gallantry, as acts of devotion. Lovers will frequently go, at the head of a procession of friends, and discipline themselves under the windows of their Mistresses: or, when they pass by chance under these windows, with a procession to which they belong, they redouble the smartness of their flagellations. All Disciplinants in general, shew attentions of the same kind to such Ladies as they meet in their way, when these Ladies appear to them possessed of some charms; and when the latter engage their attention in a peculiar manner, they never fail, especially if the procession happens to move slowly or to stop, by means of the increased briskness of their flagellations and skilful motions of their disciplines, plentifully to sprinkle them with their blood. These facts are attested by all Travellers; and _Madame_ d’Aunoy among others, a French Lady of quality who in the last Century published a relation of her journey into Spain, a Book written with judgment, after giving an account of the same facts with those above to the friend to whom she wrote, adds that what she relates is literally true, and without any exaggeration. The Ladies who are the cause of this increased zeal of the Disciplinants, and to whom such an agreeable piece of courtship is addressed, reward the latter by raising the veil which covers their face, or even are obliged by the Bystanders to do so (_destapar_, as they call it) in much the same manner as the croud which stands at the door of a House where there is a masquerade, will, in this Country, oblige the masks, as they get into, or out of the House, to uncover their faces.

How the Spanish Ladies can be pleased with feats of that kind, is certainly difficult to understand; unless it be that, with Ladies, the bare intention of shewing them courtesy, is enough to procure their good-will; or perhaps also it may be, that the extreme gracefulness with which the disciplines we mention, are performed, has the power of rendering them pleasing to the Ladies. An opinion of this kind has been delivered by the Author of Hudibras:

“Why may not whipping have as good
A grace, perform’d in time and mood,
With comely movement, and by art,
Raise a passion in a Lady’s heart?”

This power of the graces to render whipping agreeable, is certainly a strong argument in their favour, and well worth adding to those urged in their behalf, in a certain celebrated publication of late times.

That Disciplinants in Spain, flagellate themselves with the extreme gracefulness we mention, is a fact about which no doubt is to be entertained: nay, there are Masters in most Towns, whose express business is to teach the time, mood, comely movements and arts, above described, and in short to shew how to perform disciplines with elegance.----Fielding, in one of his Works, has inserted an advertisement of the celebrated Broughton which had just made its appearance, by which the latter offered his services to the public, to instruct them in the art of boxing, and all the mysteries of it: that Author thought posterity would be extremely glad to meet with that interesting and incontrovertible monument of the manners of the times in which he wrote: an advertisement from one of the Spanish flagellating Masters we speak of, would, in like manner, be extremely proper to be produced in this place; and if I do not insert here the copy of any such advertisement, the reader may be persuaded that it is solely because I have none in my possession.

When the Gentlemen who propose to discipline themselves in honour of their Mistresses, are of considerable rank, the ceremony is then performed with great state and magnificence. Madame D’Aunoy relates that the day the Duke of Vejar disciplined himself, an hundred white wax-candles were carried before the procession: the Duke was preceded by sixty of his friends (vassals perhaps, or dependents) and followed by an hundred, all attended by their own pages and footmen; and besides them there were no doubt abundance of Priests and crucifixes.

As these Spanish Gallants have no less honour than devotion, battles frequently take place between them, for the assertion of their just prerogatives; and this, for instance, seldom fails to be the case when two processions happen to meet in the same street: each party think they are intitled to the most honourable side of the way; and a scuffle is the consequence. This happened at the time of the procession of the abovementioned Duke of Vejar: another procession, conducted by the Marquis of Villahermosa, entered the same street, at the other end of it: the light-armed troops, otherwise the servants with their lighted long wax-candles, began the engagement, bedaubing the clothes, and singeing the whiskers and hair of each other; then the body of Infantry, that is to say the Gentlemen with their swords, made their appearance, and continued the battle; and at last the two noble Champions themselves met, and began a fight with their disciplines (another instance of Penitents using their disciplines as weapons, is, if I mistake not, to be found in Don Quixote) the two noble Champions, I say, began a smart engagement with each other; their self-flagellations were for a while changed, with great rapidity, into mutual ones; and their weapons being demolished, they were about to begin a closer kind of fight, when their friends interfered, and parted them: the high sharp and stiff cap of one of the two Combatants, which had fallen in the dirt, was taken up, properly cleansed, and again placed upon his head; and the two processions went each their own course, dividing as chance determined it. The whole ceremony was afterwards concluded with splendid entertainments which each of the Noble Disciplinants gave in their Houses, to the persons who had formed their respective processions; during which abundance of fine compliments were paid them on their piety, their gallantry, and their elegance in giving themselves discipline.

If such acts both of devotion and courtship are performed in Spain, by persons of the first rank, much more may we think that practices of the same kind prevail among the vulgar: and on this occasion I shall produce an extract from the Spanish Book intitled, the Life of Friar _Gerund de Campazas_. As this Novel, which is of a humorous kind, was written in later times by a native of the Country, and a Man of learning (a Father Jesuit, I think) an extract from it may give a surer insight into the above singular customs of the Spaniards, than any relation of Travellers perhaps can.

‘Anthony was then studying at Villagarcia, and already in the fourth class, as hath been said, and in the twenty-fifth year of his age. The fortnight vacation for the Holy and Easter Week arrived, and he went home to his own town, as is the custom for all those students whose home is within a short distance. The Devil, who never sleeps, tempted him to play the penitent on Maunday Thursday; for, as our young Penitent was now well shot up and his beard grown, he looked lovingly upon a Damsel that had been a neighbour of his, ever since they went to School together to the clerk of the Parish, to learn the horn-book; and in order to court her in the most winning manner, he thought it expedient to go forth as a disciplinant: as this, the Reader is to know, is one of the gallantries with which the Women of Campos are most pleased; for it is a very old observation there, that the greatest part of the marriages are concerted on the day of the cross of the May, on the evenings on which there is dancing, and on _Maunday Thursday_: some of the Women being so very devout and compunctious, that they are as much delighted with seeing the instruments of discipline applied, as with the rattling of the castanets.

‘The rogue of an Anthony was not ignorant of this inclination of the girls of his Town, and therefore went out as disciplinant, on Maunday Thursday, as we have above said. At a league’s distance he might, notwithstanding his mask, and his hood which hung down almost to his waist, have been known by Catanla Rebollo, which was the name of his sweetheart, neighbour, and old school-fellow; for, besides that there was no other cap in the whole procession so spruce or so stiff-standing as his, he wore as a mark, a black girdle which she had given him, upon his taking leave of her on Luke’s-day, to go to Villagarcia. She never took her eyes from him, during the time he was passing near her; and he, who knew it well, took that opportunity to redouble the briskness of his discipline, making her, by the way, unobserved by others, two little amorous obeisances by nodding his cap: which is one of the tender passes that never fail to win the hearts of the marriageable girls, who are very attentive to it; and the bumkin who knows how to do it with most grace, may pick and choose among them, though at the same time he may not be the most expert at the rural games and exercises.

‘At length, as Anthony had made too much haste to give himself a plentiful bleeding, one of the Majordomos who superintended the procession, bade him go home and take care of himself, before the procession was over. Catanla took herself after him, and being a neighbour, followed him into the house, where there stood ready the wine, rosemary, salt and tow, which is all the apparatus for these cures. They well washed his shoulders, and applied the pledgets; after which he put on his usual clothes, and wrapped himself up in his grey cloak. They afterwards went to see the procession, except Catanla, who said she would stay with him, and keep him company, &c.’

The disciplining ceremonies above described, are, as hath been observed, also admitted in Italy; and they are performed there with no less regularity and applause, than in Spain. Most Travellers into that Country give some account of them: Doctor Middleton, for instance, describes at some length in his Letter from Rome, two processions of that kind, to and in the Church of St. Peter, of which he had been a witness.

But, as the ceremonies we speak of, have been made in Spain, expeditions of gallantry, in which nicety of honour and amorous prowess are displayed by turns, so in Italy, they have been turned into perfect farces, and scenes of mimickry.

Father Labat, who has published a relation of a Journey to Spain and Italy, in which he gives accounts of disciplining processions in both Countries, recites that in one of these processions he saw at Civita Vecchia, there were in the first place to be seen at the head of that procession several figures or persons who represented Jesus Christ in the different stages or acts of his condemnation: these different figures are commonly expressed by technical or cant Latin words; and among those which Father Labat mentions as having made part of the above procession, was an _Ecce Homo_, which is a figure intended to represent Jesus Christ when he made his appearance before Pilate, clad in purple robe, with a reed in his hand, and a crown on his head.

Another personage afterwards made his appearance, who represented our Lord going to the place of his death: eight Executioners surrounded him, who teased him, and pulled the chains with which he was loaded; and a Simeon of Cyrene walked behind him, who assisted him in carrying his cross. Several Men followed, who were likewise loaded with heavy crosses, and were meant, I suppose, to represent the Robbers who suffered on that day. Among these different figures were abundance of Roman Soldiers, armed with casques and bucklers.