the repentance of the people for the sins they had committed, and offered prayers
and supplications for the averting of this plague. The order consisted chiefly of
the lowest class, who were either actuated by sincere contrition, or 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. They marched through the cities in well-organised processions, with
leaders and singers; their heads covered as far as their eyes, their looks 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 bells, and crowds of people came from great distances 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 hospitality, and 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.”
The Flagellants, however, did not secure the favour of the ecclesiastical
authorities; who discerned only too clearly the demoralising effect of their
practices and pretensions. Pope Clement VI. issued a bull against them, and their
influence gradually waned and seemed on the point of dying out, when, in 1414,
it was revived by one Conrad, who, of course, professed to have received a
Divine commission. The terrors of the Inquisition were now hurled against the
sect, and ninety-one deluded wretches were burned alive at Sangerhausen,
besides numbers at other places. It continued, however, to exhibit occasional
signs of vitality; and in the sixteenth century broke, in France, into three great
branches, the White, Black, and Grey Penitents, companions of whom were
scattered over the whole kingdom, but chiefly in the southern provinces.
Catherine de Medicis, at Avignon, in 1574, assumed the lead of the Black
Penitents, and took part in their disgusting ceremonies. Henry III., in 1585,
established a White Penance brotherhood, which paraded in public procession
through the streets of Paris. The better members of the clergy preached against