Ursula and Eleven Thousand Companions

ON ST. URSULA AND ELEVEN THOUSAND COMPANIONS, VIRGINS AND MARTYRS, AT COLOGNE,

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Ursula, virgin and martyr, at Cologne. (S.)

Eleven thousand virgins and martyrs, at Cologne.

BY V. D. B.

§ I. The necessity of freedom in writing this commentary; synopsis of what is to be said.

[In illustrating the deeds of St. Ursula and her companions great freedom is rightly required:] When I approach the illustration of the Acts of SS. Ursula and her Companions, I cannot but turn over in my mind how difficult a business awaits me. On this side stands the certain persuasion of some that everything which is reported of those Virgins must be defended, and that piety does not permit one to depart from them a finger's breadth; on that side the sharp censure of very many, not of the impious only, but also of the best Catholics. By way of specimen it is pleasing to recite the words of Cardinal Baronius, writing these things in the Roman Martyrology among the annotations at the 21st of October: "It has happened in these matters indeed that, the true and genuine history of those virgins having been lost, whoever (as it pleased him) committed to the monuments of writing either what he had devised by his own wit or what he received from others by some light rumour of the common people, not without great detriment to the truth, SINCE THEY HAVE RENDERED A MOST WEIGHTY HISTORY ALMOST FICTITIOUS." And indeed formerly some, but very few, went off into the opinion that it seemed to them they must decide that the Ursuline bands never existed in the nature of things; but so many and such certain documents are circulated about them, that he must be held an iron man who is not moved by them: and indeed those who more recently have written of their history most badly and without any shame have not dared to go so far as to say that the Cologne virgins are fictitious. But among those who affirm that the Ursuline contest in fact took place, how great a dissension in setting forth the chief circumstances! How great a variety in indicating the numbers! How great a discord in determining the time! Nor have these different judgments been observed among foreigners only, but among the people of Cologne themselves: for the narrations of Rolewinck and Fleien, both of Cologne, on the Ursuline martyrdom differ immensely from those which Bebius and Crombach, also of Cologne by nation, championed with the contention with which one must fight for altars and hearths. In the very public pulpits this diversity was once manifested at Cologne on the feast day of St. Ursula. Crombach S. Ursula Vindicata, page 146. narrates the matter thus: "A certain ecclesiastic relates that, he being alive and present, on the same day three spoke to the people from the same pulpit in sermon about St. Ursula; the first explained the old history joined with the tradition of the people of Cologne and the traces of the places: the second, repudiating the old history, praised the narration of Geoffrey: the third condemned both of those mentioned, and pronounced that Hector Boece was to be heard and approved; by which matter the minds of the orthodox were vehemently disturbed: and that this matter might not spread further, and the tradition of our forebears suffer detriment, it is established that the two latter preachers were admonished either to explain the ancestral narration after the manner of the fathers, or, the history of St. Ursula being entirely omitted, to bring forward something for the forming of morals, lest they should hold out to the heretics a handle for just offence." To which add that by the Rev. Dr. Vill, the present parish priest of St. Ursula, in a double little book, French and German, on the church of St. Ursula [Guide dans l'Église de sainte Ursule à Cologne. — Wegweiser zur Kirche der H. Ursula in Köln, 1853.], several opinions on the Ursuline martyrdom are set forth, without his seeming to adhere to any more than to the others. If anyone will keep these and other things of the kind before his eyes, he will at least show us this indulgence, that he allows us to set forth our sentiments freely, much less compels us to vindicate and defend what he himself perhaps has conceived in his mind without any examination.

[2] are briefly set forth And that the reader may know from the beginning what opinion concerning that contest sits in our mind, we judge nothing more opportune than to conceive in a few words the deeds and passion of St. Ursula and the other virgins sharers of her palm, and to narrate them in this place. Further, that St. Ursula and her companions were Britons by home is an old and constant tradition; which we think should be admitted to this extent, that it is not decided that the whole band was British by nation, but only some part; while the rest were of Cologne by birth or domicile. Because perhaps their homeland was continually attacked by Angle and Saxon pirates, who spared neither the goods of the citizens, nor the life of men, nor the chastity of virgins, the blessed band came into Germania II. Most certainly it settled at Cologne, where for some time it cultivated piety and the other virtues which become the spouses of Christ. And while they were exercising themselves in this arena,

a rumour was spread at the end of the year 450 that the Huns, under the leadership of Attila, wished to break into the Gauls; whence it came about that some dwellers by the Rhine went on to Rome, to seek help and strength at the threshold of the Apostles. That this journey too was undertaken by St. Ursula and several companions has long since been reported, and is to be held true or next to true. But when they had returned, Attila was already approaching with his forces, at first feigning friendship and benevolence. But when he reached the Rhine near Coblenz, he unfolded all the ferocity of his spirit, and, hoping to subdue all the Gauls by terror, gave his army orders to turn several cities upside down; how impiously these commands were carried out the ruins heaped up everywhere long testified. The soldiers of Attila, namely, ravaged the fields, slaughtered the peoples with the edge of the sword, slew the very priests of the Lord before the altars, and destroyed the cities by fire.

[3] which the present commentary will comprise. Nevertheless God, using the arms of Aetius and others, averted the destruction of all the Gauls and compelled the Huns to go back beyond the Rhine. They would have it that St. Pantalus, bishop of Augusta Rauracorum, and other prelates took refuge at Cologne, because this city was held a very strong fortress by the fortification of its ramparts and by the river Rhine; but these things have nothing that seems probable or rests on any historical foundation. Much nearer to the truth comes the view that many virgins hoped their chastity would be safer within the same walls; and that many others expected protection there for their life and goods: for this was then the common foresight, as is easily gathered from the Life of St. Genevieve, virgin of Paris. But in vain. The Ubii experienced the insolence, barbarity and ferocity of the Huns returning through the Atrebates and Tungri beyond the Rhine; nor could anyone ever say how great evils they endured. Then several priests were slain, and many of the people; but as the passion of none was more bitter, so also the passion of none was more glorious than that of St. Ursula (whoever she may have been) and of countless virgins: who, since they were ready to undergo all torments rather than suffer detriment to their virginity, were at last transfixed with arrows, which kind of arms was proper to the Huns, as is most manifestly established not only from the histories of the passions but also from the many arrows which were found fixed in the heads, breasts and other members of the body. When the Huns departed, and the inhabitants could at last breathe freely, they gathered the bodies of the blessed martyrs, and buried them in such a manner as is an evident indication that countless inhabitants of Cologne succumbed to death at one time, and that they seemed to be held otherwise than those who perish in an ordinary war or plague: so that the very manner of burial is testimony that many thousands of martyrs were laid there. Not long after, in the neighbouring field in which rest was given them, a basilica was erected, which at the end of the fifth century or not long after was restored by Clematius and was called the church of the Holy Virgins, and which, like many suburban basilicas, was already at this time a monastery inhabited by nuns or virgins: which thing surely availed to preserve the memory of this martyrdom. That the champions were in very great number is established from the most ancient Sermon on the Feast and from Wandelbert, abbot of the neighbouring monastery of Prüm, who testifies that numerous trophies, erected by virgin bands, shine on the shores of the Rhine in the city of Agrippina, and that illustrious thousands, with holy women as leaders, were once slaughtered by impious fury; likewise from Wicfrid, bishop of Cologne, who at the beginning of the tenth century conferred many goods on that ascetic house "for reverence of the eleven thousand holy virgins resting therein": who indeed, it is clear, were not all virgins, since priests and other men are reckoned among them; but because the virgins, obscuring by the splendour of their triumph the brightness of the others, who had met an unjust death either for asserting the divinity of Christ, or for defending justice and the other Christian virtues, or at least with piety, gave their virginal name to the whole band. And I hold it persuaded that this narration, consonant with the chief monuments and with the history of that age, is altogether certain. In very truth, all its elements are nowhere found joined together in the old documents; but since they had been preserved for some time by oral tradition, they were afterwards received into writings; and so they are found scattered, so that they seem able to be put together no more difficultly than the fragments of a broken mosaic.

§ II. The occasion of Crombach's book on St. Ursula; its wretched fortunes.

Crombach's book on St. Ursula vindicated Before, however, we explain these things and confirm them with their testimonies, it seems we must speak of the most famous work of Crombach, whose shorter title is: S. Ursula vindicata; the longer: "The Life and martyrdom of St. Ursula and her companions the eleven thousand Virgins, etc., described in good faith from ancient monuments, confirmed by notable arguments by which the credibility of the history may seem able to be founded solidly enough, and divided into two volumes, by Hermann Crombach, priest of the Society of Jesus, with permission of superiors. Cologne, at the expense of Hermann Mylius Birckmann, 1647." The first volume is entitled: "Vindiciae Ursulanae, or the first volume, in which the original history of SS. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins together with the tradition of Cologne is asserted against adversaries, by the work of the Reverend Fathers Philipp Bebius and Hermann Crombach, priests of the Society of Jesus"; and the other: "The later volume of the Life and martyrdom of SS. Ursula and her Companions, etc.," as on the front of the whole work. It will help also to have indicated the arguments of each of the eleven books into which the whole work is divided: "First book of the vindications, in which the most ancient narration of the martyrdom according to the tradition of the people of Cologne is illustrated and increased from twenty sources. Second book of the vindications, in which the adversaries are refuted with their reasons. Third book. The nativity of St. Ursula, her education, betrothal, the gathering and voyage of her sodality from Britain to Cologne. Fourth book. The Roman pilgrimage of the Ursuline sodality. Fifth book. The martyrdom of St. Ursula and her companions. Sixth book. The gifts and virtues of the Ursuline sodality, or parthenopaedia. Seventh book. The burial, finding and elevation of the Ursuline sodality, with two books of revelations of an anonymous writer, illustrated with notes. Eighth book. The translations of the Ursuline relics made from Cologne into the whole world: with the book of Ursuline Revelations of St. Elizabeth, illustrated with notes. Ninth book. The cult of St. Ursula and her companions in the place of martyrdom and in the whole world. Tenth book. On the miracles. Eleventh book. Testimonies of the life and martyrdom of the Ursuline sodality."

[5] [was written lest, through the cavils of some heterodox writers, the relics of the holy virgins] Further, Crombach discloses the origin and cause of his writing in the Preface to the reader; in which, after he has disputed on the venerable relics of the saints, he proceeds thus: "I have wished to dispute more fully at the beginning of the whole work on the excellence and usefulness of holy relics, that pious readers may understand that, struck by a just fear, I set my hand to writing the Ursuline martyrdom, lest the cause not of one martyr only but of so many thousands at once should be endangered: since in our age first, under the leadership of Du Moulin, the Calvinists set about snatching away life from the whole sodality, which they deny ever existed: while very weighty writers of the Catholics within the memory of our fathers have so entangled the occasion of this slaughter with the crime of lèse-majesté that the cause of martyrdom seems, if not overthrown, at least to totter. And among the rest of the faithful of Christ the people of Cologne rightly complain that they are wrongly and without cause driven from the quiet possession of fourteen hundred years of the Ursuline field (which overflowed with the blood of the slain in the manner of abounding streams), that the empty fable of a most lying writer (as the Britons call their citizen) is preferred to a most ancient and genuine history, established by certain traditions of many peoples and confirmed by the most clear traces of various places; and that gradually, by the efforts of the adversaries, the best-attested monuments of open truth which remain are being obliterated, so that the relics of the chief persons of the Ursuline sodality, which have been honoured with the highest religion of our forebears for five hundred years now, are called into doubt, and are all but thrown away as supposititious, fabricated by idle men: so that the people of Cologne rightly fear lest they be despoiled of the holy and religious inheritance of so many bodies of saints received from their forebears: to which, as to their tutelary saints, they owe the deliverance of more than one siege.

[6] [scattered through the whole world, should be held in contempt, and above all that the opinions of Baronius,] "If the affair of the people of Cologne alone were in question, that loss would indeed be lamentable, yet would be reckoned particular: but now, the remains of the Holy Virgins having been scattered through the whole world, the cause of Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Poland and both the Indies is at stake, into which regions of the world we know that treasure has not only penetrated; but also that the cult of the Holy Virgins as tutelary saints and protectresses of places has hitherto flourished most religiously, so that the nations of almost the whole world seem to yield nothing to the people of Cologne in the veneration of the Ursuline sodality. Wherefore if the cause of the martyrdom begins to waver, that cult of the whole world will gradually grow old, and a most noble part of the named relics will be snatched from the Catholic Church. Which I dread the more, the more widely there is being disseminated by the zeal of some a most fabulous and most lying narration about St. Ursula, which the followers of Calvin and Luther have always eagerly received (that they might attack the Catholics with reproaches): while certain Catholics, the infection of the source being unexplored, have drunk it in incautiously and passed it on to the world, so that now the certain indications of sincere truth are everywhere so trodden underfoot that, while they are not yet entirely erased, unless the efforts of the adversaries are met in time, and from those which remain the clear documents of manifest truth, even in the places of non-Catholics, and the traditions of various peoples, are established together with the most ancient history of St. Ursula, now a thousand years old, it is to be feared lest posterity, these foundations having been now entirely erased, should call the martyrdom into doubt.

[7] "I was moved also by the unworthiness of the thing itself, that, whereas formerly in the proper lessons of the Roman Breviary (when the universal Church venerated St. Ursula with double rite) the martyrdom was so sung, no less ruinous, should be refuted. as the people of Basel, Strasbourg, Cologne and the Rhineland (in which places some Ursuline virgins died), having received it by long tradition from their forebears, relate with wonderful agreement, and as very weighty writers for a thousand and more years have recorded the same martyrdom: that narration is now rejected as spurious: while the fable from an author whom Catholics as well as heretics, more recent writers and his contemporaries, name the architect of lies: all the sepulchral titles, inscriptions and monuments being despised, and seventy sworn witnesses repudiated, is approved even by most learned men as the single and solid foundation of the Ursuline martyrdom; hence the heterodox rightly cavil at us: and seize the handle of calling the Lives of the Saints 'lie-gends,' by a name coined from lies, since the narration of the Ursuline martyrdom is believed to rest on a single witness, who, by the judgment of his own fellow citizens, both heretics and Catholics, like a poetess forged only Milesian tales: whereas there survives a true history of St. Ursula composed a thousand years ago by St. Cunibert, as is thought: conformable to the traces and traditions of the places and to the titles of the monuments, strengthened by two hundred and more divine and human testimonies, which is rejected without cause. In order that these evils might be met as quickly as possible, I did not hesitate, God being propitious, to undertake a work full of perilous hazard."

[8] Minuccio de' Minucci and above all Philipp Bebius, But truly, Crombach was not the first to conceive these things in his mind. As Winheim is witness, Minuccio de' Minucci had already thought of the same before the year 1605: "One thing I grieve," he says Sacrarium Agrippinae, pages 105 and 106., "that the fates snatched from the people of Cologne the most reverend and illustrious Dom Minuccio de' Minucci, archbishop of Zara, secretary of the supreme pontiff, a noble historian, since he had promised such an account of the truth of the Ursuline society that suffered at Cologne as the learned had never seen and all would most greatly admire: but while in the year 1605 this most excellent man was returning from Cologne into Italy, dying at Munich at the court of the most serene and most religious prince of Bavaria, and being buried there, he disappointed our hope." That plan therefore lay idle, cut off by death; but a few years after Philipp Bebius renewed it, whose praises Hartzheim will give Bibliotheca Coloniensis, under Philippus Bebius.. He in the year 1616 wrote a neat and clear Specimen or Idea of a work by which he would vindicate the Ursuline history of Cologne defensively, as he puts it, rather than offensively: which Specimen he sent to Rome to Father Jean Lorin, to Antwerp to Father Heribert Rosweyde, to Chifflet in Burgundy and (as it is right to conjecture) to other skilled men of the Society of Jesus living in other provinces. Bebius indeed proposed to himself to refute all the adversaries of the traditions of Cologne (as Crombach also did); but before all Baronius had to be vanquished, whose narration, inserted in the notes to the Roman Martyrology, pleased day by day more and more all the most learned men, not only foreigners but also those of Cologne: which things are established from the Specimen or Idea of the Ursuline work; but much more from the following letter of Bebius to our Rosweyde, by which at the same time the literary manners of the beginning of the seventeenth century become somewhat known:

[9] whose letter on this matter is recited, wished to refute Baronius. "Reverend Father in Christ. The peace of Christ. I received yesterday through Mr Hermann Mylius a greeting from Your Reverence (for which I give thanks) together with a tacit accusation 'on account of my delayed reply,' or even a stinging rebuke by that addition: 'Unless perhaps I were occupied in publishing the history of St. Ursula.' But I, Reverend Father, am so far from having brought the matter to that point that for some months now I have entirely thrown aside all thought whatever of that history, distracted in various ways by various other business, both private and public, both ordinary and extraordinary, and all but overwhelmed, especially in this doubtful and almost despaired-of health, of which I have felt not a few changes this year: so that it was necessary to desist from the professorship of mathematics, although I was not permitted to rest long; since, the father prefect of studies having been called to the government of the college of Coblenz, I had to put my shoulders under an old and troublesome burden. For that reason I shall the more easily, as I hope, obtain pardon from Your Reverence for the rarity of my letters; although (to confess the truth) there was also another cause of not writing; as I also indicated to Father Robaeus when he passed through Cologne and begged him to indicate it to Your Reverence: namely, that I saw the college was not a little burdened by such letters sent back and forth; in which there is often little matter, so that I have sometimes been ashamed of so much expense in so small a thing. And so I had asked the Reverend Father Robaeus to admonish Your Reverence not to commit letters, especially such ones, to the post, but to take care that they be carried by booksellers or other friends, as occasion offered. For I still have all Your Reverence's letters, which I preserve with singular care; yet so that I do not wish the college to be burdened with extraordinary expense on my account.

"As regards my opinion, I have communicated it with many men very skilled in our affairs (as far as they can be had here); whom it pleases vehemently, if only the scruples and doubts which are brought forward to the contrary can be resolved. But I see a great cloud of odium hanging over him who shall attempt to treat with some freedom, from its very foundations, according to the truth of the matter, this history, now so controverted by the almost contrary opinions of most learned men. Wherefore, by the judgment and counsel of a certain great man and counsellor of various princes, I am bringing it about that (in imitation of the Spaniards who wrote tutelary vindications for St. James against Baronius) our academy should designate certain chosen persons from its body, to whom the faculty of correcting this history and defending it against adversaries should be granted in the name of the whole university; and that the history should be published thus. And indeed to that end last year about the 14th day of October, when as dean of the faculty of arts I had to deliver some oration at the time of the Quodlibetic Questions, I chose this very matter for myself, to show that the history was most worthy, in asserting which all our academics should agree with all effort and unanimous opinion. But on account of a certain preparation for the doctoral acts which were to take place in the following three days, it happened, contrary to expectation and received custom, that fewer came together to that festival of the Quodlibetic Questions, which had been interrupted for some years. Meanwhile those who were present, the Lord Rector Magnificus, the deans of the four faculties and several others whom it concerned, showed that the opinion and counsel did not displease them. Nevertheless, because neither do they move anything further, and I am held at this time by occupations many enough for the condition of my health, I do not much urge the promotion of this business, but, after the counsel has been proposed by me, I leave the execution to them. I received in the same month of October the answer of Father Stephen the Irishman, theologian of Dillingen, of which I shall write more fully another time. But lastly I ask Your Reverence that, if you wish to publish anything about St. Ursula (in the Saints of Belgium), you either be willing to follow the ancient history, which, with a few things removed or taken away, is contained in Surius, or at least confer the whole matter with us (who live at Cologne) or with others more skilled, lest the last things become worse than the first; and lest, while Your Reverence desires to honour the saints and promote piety, you incur detriment to both, with great offence to many. Hereupon farewell, and be mindful of us. Cologne, the 8th of March of the year 1618. Your Reverence's unworthy servant in Christ, Philipp Bebius."

[10] The labours of Bebius are declared. However weighty Bebius's occupations and infirm his health, he nevertheless continued to search out all the things that pertain to SS. Ursula and her companions, to gather books and to copy out what had been written or disputed on either side. But in the year 1622 (Crombach has the year 1621 in the Dedicatory Epistle), in which the college of Cologne burned down, all these things were consumed by the flames. Bebius grieved most for the destruction of a most ancient manuscript text, differing in some few things (above all about Cyriacus and the Huns) from the text which was reported by Surius. And these things became known from the letter which the same Bebius gave on the 14th day of January of the year 1625 to Father Rosweyde: in which he moreover signifies that the Revelations of St. Elizabeth seem to him true; and that the Holy Virgins suffered under Maximinus at the hands of the Huns or Goths, or rather of the Sunici, dwellers on the Rhine; although on the 27th day of May of the year 1616 he had written to the same Rosweyde: "As to the time, it seems more probable if we refer it to Attila." He then describes the argument of the whole work which he had conceived in his mind: which comes very near to what is read in the first volume of S. Ursula vindicata. Finally he promises that some time after he will send a writing by which he would refute the adversaries and establish his own opinion; and this writing too we have before our eyes, and we gladly confess that it is learned, concise and neat; but it is infected with this fault, that the author gave credence to the Revelations of Schönau. The work has two parts: one historical, in which the matters are not indeed narrated barely, but are clothed with many testimonies from sacred and profane history; the other polemical, which is almost entirely against Baronius, or, if you prefer, against Geoffrey of St. Asaph, whom the Roman martyrologist had used as guide. Bebius so far prevailed with Rosweyde that he saw his narration received into the latter's ecclesiastical history Kerckelyke historie van Nederlandt, page 12 and following.; but with a notice prefixed by which the reader might understand that it was by no means preferred to the rest by that historiographer; and indeed in the Lives of the saints Rosweyde continued to follow Baronius. Bebius was happier among his own; and indeed the historical part of his writing was published with notable praise (namely so that truth might take the place of the fables of Geoffrey) among the Flowers of the Saints of Father Ribadeneira, translated into Latin by Father Jacob Canisius and first printed at Cologne in the year 1650, and quite often reprinted afterwards. I have at hand the Cologne edition of the year 1741.

[11] Crombach succeeded Bebius; who, helped by many men of the Society of Jesus, Bebius, however, never fulfilled the Specimen or Idea of the Ursuline work which he had conceived in his mind; but he laboured at it to the end of his life, as may chiefly be seen in the supplement of Crombach Hartzheim, Bibliotheca Coloniensis, under Jacobus Canisius.. This task, then, to be completed, when he departed this life on the 16th day of February (Crombach has the 17th of February) of the year 1637, he left to his friend and spiritual son, the same Crombach; who, I have understood from a certain letter of his to our Bolland, was in the following year already entirely occupied in unravelling the difficulties which the Ursuline history has: in which arena he spent nine more years afterwards; and so, if you count the labours of Bebius (which certainly must be counted), the two men succeeding each other toiled more than thirty years in vindicating the traditions of the people of Cologne concerning St. Ursula and her companions. Nor did helps fail them; hear, namely, Crombach in the Preface to the reader: "The place also admonishes me not to pass over those who have deserved well of this history. After Philipp Bebius (to whom I rightly yield the first place, on account of the way opened to me and certain of the chief and purer sources indicated, and many adversaries brilliantly refuted: for without such a leader I should not have been the first to enter so rough a forest), my colleague Johann Grothaus, by geographical tables accurately arranged according to the old appellation of places and peoples of that time, illustrated the homelands of the Holy Virgins, their voyage and Roman pilgrimage. Jean Bolland liberally submitted very many things which he himself had long since collected and arranged for defending the martyrdom of St. Ursula, the history of four virgins who died about Basel, a begun Ursuline calendar, and other things of that kind, together with the Belgian cult of the Holy Virgins. With similar labour and praise our Jacob Gretser collected very many things from the monasteries, libraries and sacristies of Bavaria, Swabia and the neighbouring places, especially from the monastery of Zwiefalten of the Benedictine family, by the labour of Johann Rieber, professed of that place, and sent them to Philipp Bebius for establishing the vindications.

[12] and also by foreigners, "I owe much also to Peter Liphausen, librarian of the Charterhouse of Cologne: he selected various things from the published and unpublished works of the most well-furnished library

books: especially what I report about the propagation of the Ursuline cult by the ascetics of St. Bruno: this most religious father, and most loving towards me, died in the year 1644 on the feast of St. Stephen, cheerful in death as in life on account of the integrity of his life. Franz von Wartenberg, prince of the Holy Roman Empire and bishop of Osnabrück, Minden, Verden, etc., in view of his singular cult towards these holy virgins, which, like St. Cunibert, he was accustomed to attest by anniversary rites performed at the principal altar when he lived at Cologne, most graciously transmitted to me an index of the Ursuline relics of Osnabrück and the elevation of St. Permerius, and what had been received from Italy about this same bishop of Cremona: often exhorting me to an earlier publication of the work. Philip Rovenius, archbishop of Philippi, vicar apostolic, procured with great show of kindness the life of St. Cunera, as he found it written in her coffin, and some more recent miracles. The illustrious Ursuline college, besides very many other things which could be of service, readily offered, and Aegidius Gelenius, most skilful investigator of the sacred affairs of Agrippina, supplied diplomas and subscriptions of certain pontiffs of Cologne, and similar others. And the college of St. Cecilia, and above all the abbess herself, adorned this whole work with a noble gem, I mean the second book of the anonymous writer.

[13] of every rank and country, "Moreover two prelates of the Benedictine family, of Deutz and of Schönau, likewise Johann von Blanckenberg of the Cistercian order of Altenberg, the commanders of St. John of Cologne and of Strasbourg, the fathers too of St. Francis of the Stricter Observance, the Carmelites, the Discalced, and others suggested some things. Besides these, Johann von Crane, peace legate of his Holy Imperial Majesty, dug out at Osnabrück many monuments of antiquity from the manuscript codices, sacristies and libraries of monasteries and churches; he also collected from Livy, Cicero's Verrines and other profane authors learned things for establishing the kings of Sicily and the Alpine crossing; some of these will be inserted in their places. Finally our Walter Muntbrot supplied Portuguese things; Valentin Mangioni Italian ones; Peter Catzraeus things of Reims and Burgundy. François Lahier did excellent work in collecting, conformably to the tradition of Cologne, lessons, hymns and antiphons of ancient Breviaries, British, French, Belgian and German; to all of whom, as I freely confess that I am very much indebted, so for the payment of the debt I put forward as sureties so many thousands of virgins, who are wont to follow their clients in life and death with singular favours."

[14] built up a work in which judgment is everywhere lacking, But truly, of the aid of so many helpers, of the immense labour of so many years, of an almost incredible erudition, historical, juridical, theological, sacred, profane, what fruit at last? I do not doubt that the book pleased most of the people of Cologne; it is certain that the author seemed to himself to have won the cause; Crombach himself narrates that the volume was read for twenty-one years without its being publicly attacked by any weapons of adversaries Auctarium or twelfth book of S. Ursula Vindicata, in the dedication, page I.. In which matter, however, I judge that he is deceived. For while in the year 1647 his book was coming out, there was living at Münster in Westphalia the helper of the work, Johann von Crane, once a Protestant man, but then and thereafter a sound Catholic, and excellently disposed towards St. Ursula and her companions; there was living in the same place Johann Rudolf Wettstein, burgomaster of Basel: the former treating in the name of the emperor with the legates of the other princes about the conditions of the peace of Westphalia [Compare Bougeant, Histoire des guerres et du traité de Westphalie, vol. III, page 643.], the latter procuring that the Helvetic confederation should thenceforth be acknowledged as entirely free from the German empire Biographie universelle, under Wetstein, Jean Rodolphe I.. There was discussion between the two of Crombach's work; whence it happened that Wettstein's son, of the same surname altogether as his father and by no means a stranger in matters of antiquity, wrote a Dissertation on Ursula and the 9 thousand virgins (so Schöpflin calls it Alsatia illustrata, vol. I, page 50 and elsewhere.). Niceron praises this work sufficiently [Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire des hommes illustres, vol. II, pages 143 and 144.]; but Schöpflin, who used it, brought forward from it nothing singular or that had not been read before in many books. Certainly Wettstein did not cause Crane's ardour in promoting the cult of St. Ursula to cool, as will be established below from excellent testimonies; and indeed the Dissertation scarcely excited any rumour, since Crombach himself was ignorant of it. For the rest, as far as I can judge from the passages that occurred to me in Schöpflin (for I sought the little work itself in vain), Wettstein's aim seems to have consisted in this, that the virgins of Cologne should be held slain in the war of Attila. This path too our Bucherius trod, a man of admirable sagacity, in his work which came out at Liège in the year 1655, destroying the foundations of Crombach and narrating that the Ursuline band was slain by Attila Compare Belgium Romanum, page 512.. But since these things were sprinkled in a larger book, nor were indicated to be in it by the mere title of the work, they could easily escape Crombach. But it happened otherwise when another presbyter of our Society, a man also singularly learned and most versed in historical matters, namely Michael Alford, who was also Griffith, wrote compendiously and brought to light things by which the whole Crombachian machine was overthrown. Further, of the Annals of the British church (which is Alford's work, the first volume was approved by the censors in the year 1655, printed in the year 1663, made public with the other volumes in the year 1668 or the following. At once Crombach opposed what he calls the shield of truth to this unexpected weapon, and, having completed the auctarium or twelfth book of S. Ursula vindicata, sang a new victory. But all these things were vain and at once carried off by the wind; indeed they struck fear into Papebroch Propylaeum of May, page * 31. lest Crombach should have made the cause which he undertook to defend far more difficult. Which judgment of Papebroch pleased the more learned men of Cologne themselves, as Heinrich Cuper is witness to me, a presbyter of our Society, eminent in singular prudence and piety Compare Hartzheim, Bibliotheca Coloniensis, under Henricus Cuperus.. For on the 31st day of August of the year 1696 he gave a letter from Cologne to our Papebroch in this manner: "Of the things which Your Reverence wrote about the history of St. Ursula in the Propylaeum and the Paralipomena, the more learned at Cologne think this, that they have nothing with foundation that can be opposed to them. For nothing else is known here of this history than what Father Crombach of pious memory collected in his work without historical criticism, more a credulous than an accurate explorer of the truth, and without discrimination carried promiscuously into that volume of his whatever he either read or heard." And on the 14th day of September he added this other: "The names of those who have nothing which they can and will carp at in the history of St. Ursula as examined and discussed by Your Reverences it is not to the purpose to write, since there is scarcely anyone of the learned in this city to whom that history seems probable as it was thrown on paper by Father Crombach."

[15] because he knew no rules of criticism. Nor could it be that S. Ursula vindicata should not have this lot. For since Bebius and Crombach lacked that judgment by which a right estimate is made of the age, character and sincerity of writers; since they believed that history could be drawn from Revelations (how incautiously this is done our predecessors have often shown, whose statements on this matter Eusebius Amort has accurately collected On revelations, visions, etc., page 253 and following.); and since moreover they were not placed in such a position as to have that freedom of mind without which historical truth is sought in vain; they could not but be led into errors which became at once plain when the critical art came forth from its cradle. Yet let us not blame, as Papebroch rightly advises Propylaeum of May, page * 31, number 15., the zeal of Hermann Crombach, an altogether excellent man and, as long as he lived, most friendly to that hagiographer; let us praise too, with Hartzheim Bibliotheca Coloniensis, page 133., Crombach's zeal for labour and his singular piety, by which sometimes, flooded with heavenly consolation, he would shed tears when he was all aglow in conversations about St. Ursula and her companions: these things have their praises before God and men, without preventing us from passing on the mass of S. Ursula vindicata the sentence which Baronius Roman Martyrology, 21st of October, note b. pronounced on others who used the Revelations of Schönau and others in illustrating the deeds of the virgins of Cologne, namely that by that kind of writers a most weighty history was rendered almost fictitious.

§ III. On the most ancient Sermon on the Feast of the holy eleven thousand virgins.

[The Sermon on the Feast of the eleven thousand virgins, a most ancient document, is later than the Venerable Bede,] Nevertheless the labours of Crombach and Bebius have much usefulness. For by them we have collected almost all the monuments that pertain to the Ursuline bands and of which we must now speak. Among these the first place is occupied (although they assigned it almost the last) by the Sermon on the Feast of the holy eleven thousand virgins. Surius published part of it at the 21st of October; Crombach the whole S. Ursula Vindicata, page 983 and following.. About what time it was written must first of all be inquired. Certainly it saw the light before any history of St. Ursula was circulated. Since, then, Crombach affirmed with no argument at all that the most ancient Cologne Passion, of which we shall speak presently and whose beginning is "Regnante Domino," was written by St. Cunibert, who occupied the see of Agrippina in the earlier part of the seventh century, or at least in his age, he believed that the Sermon on the Feast was delivered before the same century, and indeed about the year 500. But since, as we shall afterwards make manifest, the Passion "Regnante Domino" was written not in the seventh century but most certainly after the year 900, that argumentation altogether collapses. And in that Sermon itself there are no marks by which it may be firmly determined about what time it was delivered. All its words indeed say that it was made long after the happy contest of the virgins of Cologne; but this is a vague and indefinite designation. Nevertheless it is not to be doubted that that Sermon is later than the year 731, in which the Venerable Bede completed his Ecclesiastical History of the English; since its author certainly had that before his eyes, as may be seen from the following specimen:

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH, CHAPTER 4.

In the year from the incarnation of the Lord 156 Marcus Antoninus Verus, the fourteenth from Augustus, received the kingdom with Aurelius Commodus his brother: in whose times, when Eleutherius, a holy man, presided over the pontificate of the Roman church, Lucius, king of the Britons, sent him a letter, beseeching that by his mandate he might be made a Christian: and soon he obtained the effect of his pious request, and the Britons kept the faith they had received inviolate and entire in quiet peace until the times of the emperor Diocletian.

SERMON ON THE FEAST OF THE HOLY VIRGINS.

Since in the times of the emperors Antoninus and Commodus Lucius, king of the Britons, obtained from Eleutherius, the fourteenth pontiff of the apostolic see after blessed Peter, preachers of the Christian and catholic faith: which faith, received, Britain

people kept in all religion and in the tranquillity of peace, and ignorant of all persecution, until the times of Diocletian.

Who does not see that this passage of the Sermon was excerpted from Bede, the words not everywhere changed? For that the Sermon itself did not guide Bede is clear even from this, that Bede nowhere indicated it (as he is elsewhere wont).

[17] but earlier than the middle of the ninth century: The argument which we have proposed about the age of this sermon can be confirmed from another source. For in the Sermon these things are read: "At the urging of whose savagery" (namely of Diocletian), "Marcellinus also, the Roman pontiff, the twenty-eighth in order from the first, RESUMING CONSTANCY AFTERWARDS, was deemed worthy of the crown of martyrdom by fighting bravely. After whom … the same see … for seven years and a half, and ten days besides, was deprived of the government of a prelate, AS THE CHRONOGRAPHERS ASSERT." In which words two things are to be considered; first the phrase "resuming constancy afterwards," by which allusion is made to the fictitious lapse and penance of St. Marcellinus; the other, that the chronographers assert that the see was vacant for seven years and a half, and ten (nay, 25) days besides. In very truth Marcellinus is praised for having resumed constancy, and a long vacancy of the Roman chair after his death is related in that part of the Liber Pontificalis which seems to have been written in the year 530, when Felix IV had died Origines de l'Église romaine, page 192 and following.; but no one would say that this had been made public before the times of Bede and been known especially in the parts of Germany Ibid., page 321 and following.. Nevertheless it seems it is not to be denied that the Sermon was written before the irruptions of the Northmen, and so some time before the middle of the ninth century, since in it, at number 9, these things are read of the Batavians: "Among whom very many places are seen honoured and at the same time made illustrious by the relics of these saints"; which ceased from the year 834, and certainly before the middle of the ninth century, through the coming of the Northmen, the memory of St. Cunera alone surviving thereafter. For the whole Batavian island was then turned upside down by the barbarians [Compare the Annales Xantenses, in Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae, vol. II, page 226 and following.]. To which is added that the Sermon was written when the Rhine still had its two horns and girded the Batavian island; which ceased through the flood Ibid., page 226. which in the year 839 (others have another year of the ninth century) brought immense damage to the whole of Holland, one horn or channel being blocked. Nor is a third argument to be neglected. The sermon, namely, was written when St. Pinnosa was still held the chief of the virgins of Cologne and St. Ursula did not yet occupy the first place; further, in the Calendar of Essen, written between the year 889 and 891, St. Ursula is already seen at the head of the pious band and St. Pinnosa only in the fourth place: the Sermon on the Feast is therefore more ancient. These things are confirmed by the following words excerpted from the Sermon: "For why the deeds and battles of this heavenly army were not written from the beginning, so that they might at last be transmitted here more purely and clearly to the ears of posterity, how few in every nation ought to wonder, since the almost common affliction of all peoples, inflicted by the barbarians raging above all in these regions, thoroughly teaches the cause of this negligence?" Since these things, on account of what has been premised, cannot be referred to the end of the ninth century, in which Cologne was first attacked by the Northmen, and since moreover a similar manner of speaking looks back to old times, from this too it is clear how great is the antiquity of this Sermon. If we gather these things together, this sermon must have been written between the year 731, in which Bede published his History, and 834, in which the Batavian island began to experience the rage of the Northmen.

[18] many things in it worthy of observation. Many things can be learned from this Sermon: first, that no Passion of SS. Ursula and her Companions had been written before, as the words related a little above indicate; second, that besides their martyrdom nothing had been certainly known; hence at number 2 these things are read: "Their way of life is not even half known to us"; at number 4: "But the steps and orders of progress by which, ascending from virtue to virtue, they had come to this citadel" (heaven), "he" (God) "has hidden from us up to now by the secret by which he willed"; third, that the people of Cologne did not agree among themselves about the origin of those Virgins, since at number 7 it is said that some would have it that they came from the East, either because they were destined as companions to the Theban martyrs, or because, piously wandering for the sake of prayer according to custom, they had come to Cologne; others contended that they came to these shores from Britain, intending to set out from here into the East to attain there the palm of martyrdom; fourth, that it was believed that they suffered under Maximian and Diocletian; fifth, that the writer was of Cologne, since at number 5 he calls the people of Cologne "our people"; and sixth, finally, that he, although he is much more ancient than the Ursuline Passion "Regnante Domino," was permitted to write only by conjecture of opinion, as he again notes at number 5. And from this gather that we meet here a writer of good faith; and then that the things which were afterwards narrated so affirmatively in the Passion "Regnante Domino" are of slight authority. This sermon is closed by the most ancient inscription concerning the restored church of the Holy Virgins; which we shall say elsewhere was more probably set up about the end of the fifth century, and from which it seems to be established that a maidens' monastery already then existed there.

§ IV. On the age and authority of the Passion whose beginning is: Regnante Domino.

From the Sermon on the Feast it is understood that the Passion Regnante Domino But some things concerning the Sermon on the Feast are to be considered more closely. Since it is clear from it that the martyrdom of St. Ursula and her Companions was not committed to writing in a short time after it happened, it follows that Baronius Roman Martyrology at the 21st of October, note b. did not rightly judge that the true and genuine history of those virgins had been lost; since indeed it never existed. It is clear too from this Sermon what opinions, which would now be held most singular, were circulated at that time about the same martyrs; moreover that St. Vinnosa or Pinnosa was then most praised, and not St. Ursula. There is read besides in that Sermon the following historical canon: "Very many things" (he speaks generally of historical matter) "are proved to have been written by conjecture of opinion: to which, however, no authority has ever been opposed. For he by no means rightly incurs the mark of a lie who, in the search for truth, persists sedulously and cautiously, as far as in him lies, as a weigher, from the tradition of the forebears, and these very religious ones, and from the most fitting judgment of reason": and that this law, which indeed avails to avert the charge of lying, but profits little for rightly instructing the reader (if the foundations of the conjectures are kept silent), was observed in all the Passions of St. Ursula which afterwards arose is plain and certain.

[20] cannot have the authority which Crombach attributes to it. And that this is especially true of the Passion "Regnante Domino," the most ancient of all, which Surius and Crombach published, no one to whom the love of truth alone is dear will deny. Certainly when in the middle of the seventeenth century Crombach had it printed again with new type, he extolled it with wonderful praises. He called it S. Ursula Vindicata, page 19. original, genuine, true, authentic, "stained by no errors, painted in its living and native colours without paint and deceits," and other things of that kind. But in what manner does he prove all these things? In none at all, except that he holds true everything that is contained in this Passion, although here and there they by no means agree with the Sermon on the Feast, which is most certainly more ancient.

[21] [There exists absolutely no argument on account of which St. Cunibert should be held its author.] Yet to add some authority to his statements he asserts that this Passion is commended by antiquity. "For already," he says Ibid., loc. cit., "five hundred years ago it was celebrated in the whole world: it is praised four or five times by St. Elizabeth" (of Schönau, in the diocese of Trier, who died in the year 1165) "under the name of the Passion of St. Ursula: in the same century the anonymous writer" (blessed Hermann of Steinfeld) "calls it the old passion; both direct their writing by it as by a lighthouse: they explain and confirm the same. The same, long before five hundred years ago, used to be read in the churches on her feast day, as the most ancient lectionaries and breviaries of the metropolitan church of Cologne, older by six hundred, some even, as I judge, by eight hundred years, demonstrate: which therefore Molanus names the primary history of St. Ursula and Sigebert wove into a brief compendium. Vincent of Beauvais, St. Antoninus, Peter Equilinus, Philip of Bergamo and Bonfini augmented the same with more illustrious circumstances: from whom afterwards the Holy Roman Church, in the year 1550, inserted proper Ursuline lessons culled from them into the Roman Breviary, at that time when the feast of the eleven thousand virgins was still celebrated with double feast throughout the whole world… Nay, about the year 700, when St. Cunera in Batavia and Aurelia at Strasbourg, two companions of St. Ursula, were becoming illustrious by miracles and the Deeds of St. Cunera were published by St. Willibrord, the Ursuline Martyrdom seems to have come out earlier, with St. Cunibert as herald, namely about the year 644." In order, then, to ascribe this Passion to St. Cunibert, Crombach invokes the Deeds of St. Cunera, in which some circumstances may be found which occur likewise in the Passion of St. Ursula; but far from the Deeds of St. Cunera being able to be attributed to St. Willibrord as author, the writing is rather recent and plainly fabulous. The Cologne Breviaries, which Crombach judges older by eight hundred years, need be little regarded; since otherwise it would follow that this was written in the ninth century, in which that kind of book did not yet exist: for the rest, that man was plainly ignorant of palaeographical matters, nor did that science in his age have any certain laws. The remaining testimonies only bring it about that this Passion was written before the end of the eleventh century; which alone is to be held.

[22] [It was written before the year 1100, as is established from Sigebert, who gave a synopsis of it;] For Sigebert of Gembloux, before he revised his Chronicle with second cares between the year 1100 and 1111 Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae, vol. VI, page 273., had sewn a slip onto his codex at the year 435, where he narrates the Gallic expedition of Attila, and had placed a sign in the text, to which the things written on the slip about St. Ursula should be referred. That autograph codex still exists in the royal library of Brussels, but the slip is lost, only the sign, the holes of the needle and remains of the thread surviving. Miraeus still saw the slip; all the copyists who copied Sigebert's chronicle also saw it Ibid., page 310, note a.; and since among them is he who copied codex 5 of St. Paul of Verdun, number 36, not according to the second, later edition of Sigebert but according to the earlier, it hence becomes certain that this addition belongs to the earlier edition. From the Sigebertine compendium, further, it is pleasing to transfer here a brief synopsis of the Ursuline history, so that the reader may have in few words what is read in that ancient

Passion. Sigebert, then, says: "More famous than all wars was the war which the white-robed army of eleven thousand virgins waged under the leadership of St. Ursula, who was the only daughter of Nothus, a most noble prince of the Britons. When, not yet marriageable, she was sought in marriage by the son of a certain most savage tyrant, and saw her father anxious over this, who feared God if he should compel his daughter, already devoted to God, to marry, and feared the tyrant if he should deny him his daughter, divinely inspired she persuaded her wavering father to assent to the tyrant, yet with this condition laid upon him, that he and the tyrant should hand over to her ten virgins chosen for beauty, birth and age, and should enrol a thousand virgins both for herself and for each of them, and, having procured eleven triremes according to their number, should give her a truce of three years for the exercise of her virginity: using a new counsel, so that either by the difficulty of the proposed condition she might turn his mind away from her, or by this opportunity might dedicate her contemporaries with herself to God; and by this agreement, virgins, triremes and expenses having been procured, for three years they performed the preludes of war, all wondering. At length on one day, the wind driving, they were brought to a harbour of Gaul which is called Tiel, and thence to Cologne, and there, by the admonition of an Angel, making for Rome, having set out to the city of Basel by ships, from Basel as far as Rome on foot, by the same course of going they returned to Cologne, besieged on every side by the Huns: by whom all being martyred, they triumphed in a new and wonderful manner, and rendered Cologne more illustrious by their blood."

[23] [but after the year 900, as is gathered from the age of blessed Hildetrude, who seemed to herself to have a vision of St. Cordula,] As, then, the Ursuline Cologne Passion was certainly written before the end of the eleventh century, so also it is manifest that it was committed to writing after the year 900. For it is narrated in it that St. Cordula appeared to Helentrude and enjoined on her the celebration of her feast. Lest the reader deny credence to this revelation these things are subjoined: "But what need is there of these assertions, when the handmaid of God to whom this revelation was shown was of so celebrated a life and so holy a conversation that she herself is to be held for a most certain testimony of the truth. For there is a place in Saxony, Herise, and there to this day a glorious congregation of nuns, where that holy woman was born and brought up, and, having completed the course of a most holy life, now rests bodily in peace; although she spent some part of her last time on the mountain on which the city of Iburg is situated, in the same holiness. Of this life and holiness there are as many witnesses as there either are today nuns at Herse or have been from that time: and most true ones, since God supports the words of men. For to this day at her tomb sight is frequently restored to the blind, walking to the lame, the sick are restored to the use of life and those possessed by unclean spirits are cleansed. And therefore her testimony was competent; and it is impious to doubt what the Lord has deigned to reveal of a holy woman to a holy woman, of a spouse to a spouse, of his beloved to his beloved."

[24] [and who was a nun of the monastery of Herisia, whose history is here briefly exhibited.] From this place, then, we could well know about what time the Ursuline Passion was written, if it were accurately known in what age St. Helentrude lived; whom I find called Helentrude, Hiltrude and by other names. Papebroch gave a brief historical collection on this nun at the 31st of May Acta SS., vol. VII of May, page 441., and gathered that she lived in the tenth or eleventh century from the fact that blessed Imad, bishop of Paderborn from the year 1052 Schaten, Annales Paderbornenses, vol. I, page 539. to the year 1076 Ibid., page 587., left to his church a Martyrology, augmented by his own cares, in which at the last day of May commemoration is prescribed to be made "of Hildruda, handmaid of God and recluse in Herisia, to whom St. Cordula was revealed" Acta SS., vol. VII of May, page 441.. And from this indeed it is established that that virgin lived before the middle of the eleventh century. But how long before? There is no other limit than the foundation of the ascetic house of Herisia, which Papebroch places between the year 875 and 891 Ibid., vol. V of May, page 176., but which must be referred to at least before the year 868. This we learn from the synodical letter of the council celebrated in this year at Worms by Liutbert, archbishop of Mainz, seventeen bishops and six abbots. For in that letter, which Schaten published Annales Paderbornenses, vol. I, page 165 and following., while Eckhart Commentarii de rebus Franciae Orientalis, vol. II, page 541. and Mabillon Annals of the Order of St. Benedict, book XXXVI, number 93, vol. III, page 141. abridged it, Liutbert with his fellow bishops, chorbishops and abbots and other priests, gathered at Worms, says that Liuthard, bishop of Paderborn, suggested to the synodal assembly that his sister named Walburg and some other young ladies had resolved to devote themselves to the divine service under the habit and profession of nuns in the territories of the villa which is called Heresi, which the above-mentioned Waldburg had borrowed by right of loan as her own inheritance from the church of Paderborn; which foundation the fathers confirmed by their consent and authority. "Given at Worms in the year of the Lord's incarnation 868, but in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of the most glorious king Louis, in the first indiction"; where, says Mabillon, the beginning of the reign of Louis is to be traced from the death of the emperor Louis his father. Herisia, which is now divided into New, Nienheerse (where remains of the ascetic house survive), and Old, Oldenheerse, is distant two German miles from Paderborn Acta SS., vol. V of May, page 175.. At the beginning the house of virgins was Benedictine Mabillon, Annales Benedictini, book XXXVI, number 93, vol. III, page 142., but from at least the thirteenth century (as they would have it Compare Acta SS., vol. V of May, page 175*.) it became a free college of most noble virgins. Papebroch recalled the memory of Walburg the foundress Ibid., page 177. with the memory of the patronesses SS. Saturnina, Valeria and Fortunata at the 20th of May, and Mabillon illustrated her at greater length in the third volume of the Annals. These things in passing: since this alone is to be established by us in this place, that St. Helendrude, of whom mention is made in the Ursuline Passion, could not have lived before the middle of the ninth century, and consequently that that Passion could not have been written before the beginning of the tenth century. And since, as is established from Sigebert, it was in use before the end of the eleventh century, it remains for us to say that it was committed to writing between the years 900 and 1100.

[25] The part which is about St. Cordula was not sewn on afterwards. But plainly these things do not please Crombach; who prefixed this preface to that part which is about St. Cordula: "The martyrdom of St. Cordula was written long after the preceding and by a different author: for the former was elaborated with greater judgment, maturity, brevity, without digressions, with weighty sentences sprinkled here and there, with apt and rhythmical periods, with sap and blood: the latter despatches the martyrdom of St. Cordula itself very briefly; but draws out a double apology for her too copiously in the first and third chapter; and although it tries to affect a similar style, yet it creeps along the ground, runs out youthfully, nor can it in any way be compared with the majesty of the former, if the invention, disposition and elocution of both be diligently considered; especially since the former has aptly concluded with a brief and sententious apostrophe addressing Cologne, whence, although they are joined on account of the fellowship of pilgrimage and the nearness of martyrdom, yet in some copies the martyrdom of St. Cordula is absent." Thus he. But truly, let the reader consider what Crombach calls the majesty of the former part and the lowliness of the latter, and he will easily see that one egg is not more like another than the style of the two is to each other; so that from the mere agreement of diction anyone who uses free judgment must decide that the martyrdom of St. Ursula and the martyrdom of St. Cordula were written by one and the same author. And they are connected with each other by that most simple bond which is often employed in old monuments of that kind, namely: "Now there was of the same most holy company of virgins a certain one named Cordula, etc." And that the part which is about St. Cordula is absent from some copies, what wonder, since her memory was kept on the following day? But it is not absent from the more ancient copies. For I have at hand a parchment codex which our Bolland obtained from our College of Molsheim and which is now kept in the royal library of Brussels under number 7984; and this is easily to be referred to the eleventh century; and indeed by other palaeographers who handled it before me it was ascribed to the tenth century. Further, in it both parts are so joined together that no distinction appears there; but a more recent hand placed in the margin this notation: "Here begins the Passion of St. Cordula: After the glorious passion of the blessed Virgins of Cologne there was of, etc.": so that it is most manifest that the division which Crombach invokes is more recent than the very writing of the work, and accordingly, far from his opinion being helped by it, it is altogether routed.

[26] Many incredible things are related in the Passion Regnante Domino. Nor does the more recent age alone of the Ursuline Passion (I say more recent in comparison with the time of the events) make its authority less; but the almost continual discord with the Sermon on the Feast which is observed in it diminishes it much more: so that an altogether different tradition was received into it than into the Sermon. Add that many things are found in it which so shrink from all human usage that they altogether surpass all credence. Let marriage-contracts have been commanded from heaven to St. Ursula; let God have ordered her not to enter into marriage with an unbeliever: it is beyond controversy that God has quite often, even under the new law, made his will manifest in wonderful ways and portentous visions, specimens of which are read in the letters of St. Cyprian and in the Vandal History of St. Victor of Vita; and likewise that marriages of Christians with unbelievers were not approved by the Church. But who would believe that God ordered her to mock a youth with the hope of marriage? What of the fact that St. Ursula, taught from heaven, said to her parents: "The condition of the marriage" (which God had warned was never to be celebrated) "and the nuptial contract shall be this, that you, father, and the youth who entices me to his love, shall seek out ten virgins of earliest age, most choice both in form and birth, and shall enrol a thousand most honourable virgins both for me and for each of these, and, eleven triremes having been procured according to our number, a truce of three years be given us for the dedication of our virginity; which being completed, what shall please the Lord shall be done." Alas! These conditions are accepted and fulfilled by the bridegroom: he is reborn by baptism; eleven thousand virgins are sought out in the kingdom of Ursula's father and in the kingdom of the bridegroom's father; eleven ships are built, each capable of a thousand virgins (which in the present century

one can scarcely find); the girls are exercised in nautical labours in the manner of games; shortly the time of marriage is at hand; but lest they suffer detriment of chastity, above all Ursula, the queen of all, a wind divinely obtained drives the ships into Germany; an Angel commands them, having landed at Cologne, all to undertake a Roman pilgrimage; they happily fulfil this command and return to Cologne, where they are slain by the Huns like lambs by wolves. And these things, if they were narrated by eyewitnesses, would not find credence! what then is to be decided of them when they are declared by a much later writer? especially since from the Sermon on the Feast (for we must quite often return to this touchstone) it is certain that these things were not drawn from more ancient monuments; and indeed that when that Sermon was delivered, various things were narrated by various people, and that things different from these pleased the author of the Sermon more.

§ V. Criticisms of the Revelations of St. Elizabeth of Schönau concerning the martyrdom of St. Ursula.

[St. Elizabeth of Schönau in the year 1156, on the occasion of the uncovering of the relics,] For those following the order of time, one ought now to speak of the Passion of St. Ursula which is woven into the History of the Britons of Geoffrey of Monmouth; but since this altogether dissents from the traditions of Cologne, it is pleasing to transfer the disputation of it to another place. It remains, then, that we speak of the Revelations of St. Elizabeth of Schönau. first with the objections of some, This blessed virgin, born in the year 1125, and consecrated to God in the twelfth year of her age in the Benedictine house of virgins of Schönau in the diocese of Trier, began in the eleventh year of her religious life, of Christ 1152, to be endowed with divine visitations (as they were held); which, ordered (as she judged) by an Angel to make known, she disclosed to her brother Egbert, to be taken down in writing. And it was the year of the Lord's incarnation eleven hundred and fifty-six, and the emperor Frederick held the principate of the empire, and Arnold the second presided over the pontifical chair in Cologne, when she seemed to herself to perceive from heaven secrets chiefly concerning the Ursuline virgins Revelations of St. Elizabeth, book IV, chapter 2, page 205, edition of 1628.. The occasion of which was that, "the Lord having pity on his precious martyrs, who for many times had lain without honour under the feet of men and beasts beside the walls of the city of Cologne, certain men dwelling there approached the place of their martyrdom and opened many monuments of the holy bodies, and, having taken them up thence, translated them to the religious places that were round about, as had been ordained by the Lord." For since these bodies sometimes lacked their names, blessed Elizabeth opportunely learned these from heaven; and not only the names, but also the history of the individual martyrs: which she was likewise taught when names (as often happened), inscribed on titles, were brought to her. Nor did certain men of good works permit her to keep silent about these things, who had compelled her, much resisting, by long entreaty to investigate them; although she knew, as she herself says, that "those who were opposed to the grace of God in her would take occasion from this too of scourging her with their tongues."

[28] [then with wonderful success she seemed to herself to have revelations about St. Ursula and her companions;] In which matter she was so fortunate that at once, and especially after her death, whatever she seemed to herself to have seen and heard was received as oracles, inserted in the works of chroniclers and for several centuries thereafter held as undoubted; nor, as far as I know, did anyone call them into doubt before Bernard Gui, or de Castro, bishop of Lodève [In Mai, Spicilegium Romanum, vol. VI, pages VIII and 29; and cited in the Chronicon Magnum Belgicum, in Pistorius, Rerum Germanicarum scriptores, vol. III, page 16.], who collected a Catalogue of the Roman Pontiffs before the year 1320, and who died in the year 1331 Fabricius, Bibliotheca mediae et infimae latinitatis, under Bernardus de Castro., and also Gobelinus Person, who wrote his Cosmodromium from the year 1378 to the year 1418 In Heinrich Meibom, Rerum Germanicarum, vol. I, page 55 and following., and inserted in the same work a sharp, but at the same time learned, criticism of the Schönau revelations Ibid., pages 199 and 200.. Nor was the good fortune of St. Elizabeth much diminished by the attack of Bernard and Gobelinus. For they profited so little that afterwards too the Schönau Revelations and the historical notices taken from them continued to be in honour: on which matter there must be seen the dissertation of our Papebroch Propylaeum of May, page 28* and following.: "Whether between SS. Pontian and Anterus there can be a place for the Ursuline Cyriacus," and the other of Launoy in letter VIII to Charles Maurice Le Tellier, on Joan the she-pope and Pope Cyriacus Complete works, vol. V, part I, page 570 and following..

[29] [we shall publish them with criticisms added: long since some people of Cologne treated them harshly;] And since it was Papebroch's intention Acta SS., vol. III of June, page 635. that at this day that part of the revelations of St. Elizabeth which is about St. Ursula and her companions should be published in our work, and for that reason he passed it over at the 18th of June, on which he gave the Acts of St. Elizabeth, the rest of the revelations being published; and since moreover the institute of our work requires that even fabulous histories which have anything singular be inserted in it; hence in the annotations which we shall subjoin to the same Revelations there will be a fitting place for disclosing our opinion of them, or rather for uncovering the chief errors which are sprinkled in them. But meanwhile, lest the still rare vindicators of them who survive should think that the Bollandists alone think so unfavourably of them, let them recall that Werner Rolewinck, a son of the Charterhouse of Cologne, who departed this life in the year 1520, in the Fasciculus temporum Pistorius, Germanicarum scriptores, vol. II, page 484., after he had spoken of St. Pontian, added: "Note that in certain histories it is held that Cyriacus immediately succeeded Pontian and gave up the papacy in order to be crowned with martyrdom with the virgins; BUT THE REASON OF TIME DOES NOT PERMIT THIS": by which notation the Schönau Revelations are attacked; let them remember that Hermann Fleien [History of SS. Ursula and her companions, inserted in the Lives of the Saints of Zacharias Lippeloo, vol. IV, page 762 and following.], dean of St. Cunibert and of the college of canons of the Holy Virgins at Cologne, at the beginning of the eighteenth century called those Revelations dreams, and said that many things are brought forward in them absurd, contradictory among themselves and altogether foreign to the truth; but above all let them weigh the criticisms of Eusebius Amort.

[30] Amort shows that they can by no means be held divine. For he, after briefly reviewing the chief historical and also theological errors with which the revelations of St. Elizabeth are stained and of which (as we were just now noting) we shall speak in the annotations on them, then comes to the Crisis (as he calls it), or to the exploration of the causes to which these portents are owed. Which Crisis I subjoin here, because that writer is not impious, not a mocker of sacred things, nor unskilled in supernatural ways, but everywhere in his writings religious, learned and prudent; and because his work, in which that Crisis is read and whose title is: "On private revelations, visions and apparitions, safe rules collected from Scripture, the Councils, the Holy Fathers and other excellent authors, explained and illustrated by examples," has merited singular praises among most theologians. There follows now that Crisis, which is carried out by propositions.

[31] They do not exceed the imaginative faculty; "Proposition I. All the revelations of Elizabeth do not exceed the imaginative faculty and fancy. It is proved 1°. Similar fancies can befall a man in sleep, as is manifest to anyone from his own or another's experience; it is established also that many images are excited in sleep either by the demon, or by Angels, or by a freer recourse of the spirits about familiar objects, while meanwhile the external senses and action about the neglected objects are lulled to sleep. Therefore the same can happen in the waking state of those men whose fancy has been divided by whatever chance into two parts as it were, one waking by day, the other perpetually asleep and dreaming. Such a division of a sleeping and waking part is found in many animals, for example lions, cocks, etc. The same is found in half-sleeping men; and is most of all seen in the feverish, enthusiasts and fanciful persons. Thus I knew a foolish man who seemed to himself to see in his bedroom now the king of France, now the pope, now a prince, now others, men and women, whom he named; I often heard him conversing with these persons. Sometimes he was angry with them, and drove them off so violently with a blow of his staff that, the staff being caught by the table or chair, the sound filled the whole house. Frequently he complained most grievously of most intense flames, which he said were applied to his head by certain men (he named them). We told him that all these things were a mere illusion of fancy; but he replied: I cannot be deceived in what the senses testify; I see them present, I hear them speaking, I feel the fires devouring, what greater security can be had of the truth of objects? Countless similar examples are adduced in the histories.

[32] [They have all the properties of the operation of fancy: because the pious virgin is in general melancholy;] "Proposition II. The revelations of St. Elizabeth have all the properties and causes of fanciful operation. First. Elizabeth often suffers grave disturbances of melancholy and excessive sadness: and in such men the temperament of the humours is easily disturbed, the acid humour dominates in the body; thence the fancy is disturbed, the images become more fixed, so that they are not so easily expelled from the mind, which dispositions are generally found in visionary persons. Number 10, Elizabeth says: 'Attend to the manifold straits of my heart, which constrain me beyond what can be believed.' Number 11: 'On account of this tears do not cease from my eyes, and my spirit is continually anxious within me.' Number 12: 'From the day on which I began to live under regular discipline, up to this hour, the hand of the Lord has been so confirmed upon me that I have never ceased to carry his arrows in my body. My various and long-lasting sicknesses have harassed not only me but also all the sisters who are round about me. When I was often overwhelmed with so great a labour of languor that I was in control of no member except the tongue, I remained diligent in ruminating the psalms; but when paralysis took away my tongue too, I supplied the office of the tongue with the mind. But how great wants of things I have endured together with infirmities it is long to narrate.' Number 13: 'On the holy day of Pentecost the solemnity of that day did not gladden me as it used to, but I remained the whole day in a certain darkness of mind. On the following day also, and the whole of that week, I went about sad in the same darkness of mind, nor could I shake the sadness from my mind. All my sins rose up into my heart more than usual, and I magnified each one within myself, and so

I heaped up griefs for myself. And so, this not good sadness gradually growing within me, I was so darkened in mind that, wherever I turned, I thought I was walking in darkness. Amid these things also I was affected with such weariness that there was nothing which my soul did not loathe. The very prayers were troublesome to me. The Psalter, which had always been pleasant to me, I threw far from me. Again reflecting on what had happened to me, I took it up again and read, but again I sank in mind. For my adversary poured out all his forces upon me; for he made me hesitate even in the faith; almost every sense was turned against me; my adversary pressed on, so disturbing me that I was even weary of living. I could not take food and drink except very slightly, and I went about failing and wasting in my whole body.' From all these things there is evident a great disposition to melancholy in this holy Virgin.

[33] because at the time of the apparitions she is disturbed in body and mind, "Second. St. Elizabeth almost always before the apparitions suffers a vehement alteration of the humours, and the torments proceeding from it, and prostration of strength; from which without doubt a disturbance of the fancy easily follows. At number 7 she says: 'While the abbot was celebrating the mysteries, suddenly the joints of my limbs were loosed, and I grew faint, and came into ecstasy of mind; and behold! the Angel of the Lord stood in my sight.' Number 15: 'On that day a most grievous infirmity fell upon me, and when I wished to prostrate myself before the crucifix, my bones so stiffened that I could in no way bend my knees; and they made me read the passion of the Lord; and while we were reading, there appeared to me the phantom of a monk clothed in a cowl.' Number 73: 'A ray of abundant light was suddenly poured out from heaven upon me, making a heat for me as the sun shines at midday; and I fell on the ground and came into ecstasy of mind; and so the sisters, wishing to lift my head from the ground, could not do it by any effort, and the Angel came, etc.' And in the revelation of St. Ursula she has: 'There came upon me a certain passion of the heart, which I was wont to suffer when the mysteries first began to be revealed to me.'

[34] because she desires to have visions, not inwardly roused to it; "Third. St. Elizabeth, when she has visions, for the most part desires them, and asks and expects them from God on account of the solicitation of others; without a clear indication of inward instinct, and without necessity. Which solicitous anxiety of desire is an apt disposition for stirring up the fancy and applying it to the objects wished for, or to illusions. At number 5 she says: 'The lord abbot commanded me to give myself to prayer, and to ask of the Lord that he would give me to understand whether he wished the things I had said to be covered with silence or not. And when for some time I had afflicted myself by persisting in prayer on this matter, I fell into ecstasy, and the Angel stood by me.' Number 7: 'After these things the lord abbot undertook to beseech the Lord together with all of us, that he would deign to reveal to us, his handmaid, whether it was fitting that the discourse should be divulged, and I came into ecstasy of mind.' Number 19: 'The sisters and the brethren of the lord came together, seeing the straits of my soul, and decreed that for seven continuous days they would pour out common prayers for me, and when I was waiting with great desire, hoping that I should then receive some consolation; the desired day came, and my heart was enlarged, and I saw a great light in heaven, etc.' And in the revelation on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin: 'The Lady of heaven appeared to me; then, as I had been forewarned by one of our elders, I asked her, saying: Lady, may it please thee to deign to assure us, etc.'

[35] she frequently has them in time of fasting; "Fourth. Elizabeth has the same manner of proceeding in her other revelations as she has in the revelation on the Society of St. Ursula; and so, as this is the work of fancy alone, so are those; nor is there any reason for denying this one to Elizabeth without all being denied. It is clear from the manuscript used by me that the author of this and of those revelations is the same, namely Egbert, the brother of Elizabeth; if he could thrust upon the world revelations of his sister fabricated in one kind, he could do the same in another, and so the credibility of these revelations falls universally." (Egbert only translated into Latin; it is most certainly established that the Revelations themselves are St. Elizabeth's.) "Fifth. Elizabeth frequently suffers visions in time of fasting. Number 48: after she had enumerated various visions, she adds: 'All these things frequently appeared to me in the time of fasting.' And it is established that, the stomach being empty, unwonted vapours ascend into the head, and, the fancy being disturbed, extraordinary dreams are produced.

[36] she has the same visions uselessly; "Sixth. St. Elizabeth every year, and frequently at other times, has the same visions, which does not seem to proceed from God. God speaks once, and for the most part does not repeat the very same thing in exactly the same manner, except where it is a question of exhortation to morals. Therefore repeated visions about the same objects proceed only from the fancy, in which the spirits go over again familiar traces. At number 48 she says: 'After these things, on the Monday, I came again into ecstasy, and saw the aforesaid vision as before.' And number 61: 'These, brother, are the mercies of the Lord which he worked in me in the first year of my visitation; and in this course of the second year almost the same things happen which were wont to happen about me in the previous year on the festivities of the saints. But sometimes words of another kind than usual are put into my mouth as I return from ecstasy.'

[37] she sees mysteries word for word as they are in the Gospel, and symbolic things "Seventh. St. Elizabeth sees most mysteries in the manner in which they are described word for word in Scripture. But what need is there of a miracle or of a special divine operation for revealing such things? The visions of such objects already revealed in Scripture seem therefore to be operations of the fancy. For example, at number 45 she says: 'On the Supper of the Lord I was rapt into ecstasy. Then I saw the Lord sitting in the same city with his disciples in a house, as historically true; as if for supper; and while I was looking, he rose from the Supper, and, laying aside his garments, girded himself with a towel, and, taking a basin, bent his knees before Peter, and the Lord washed the feet of each, and, having taken his garment again, reclined. After these things he went out with them from the city, etc. etc.' Here she describes all the things done on the Mount of Olives as they are described in the Gospel. Eighth. St. Elizabeth sees some symbols and figures of Scripture as historical truth; thus at numbers 61 and 62, among the saints and angels, she sees also the four apocalyptic living creatures and the twenty-four elders, as if they were something real. John saw these as symbols, as being ordained to signify something to the Church.

[38] she sees many things which are not true; "Ninth. She sees other things not consonant with historical truth or with other revelations. Number 16: she sees the Blessed Virgin clothed as it were in a chasuble. Number 55: the disciples flee into hiding-places; Christ is raised onto the cross; Calvary is like a ploughed field. Number 56: the darkness first arises after the death of Christ; rocks are dashed together through the fields; the knees of Christ are bent; abundant blood flows from the side. Number 59: on the day of the Ascension Christ first eats. So these and many similar things do not agree with other revelations. The Bollandists add on the raising of Christ onto the Cross: 'This agrees with the vision of St. Birgitta, contrary to which it is now commonly conceived, and in the visions of more recent holy women, that the Lord was stretched upon the cross laid on the ground.' The same say on account of the bending of the knees: 'This bending of the knees befits a body not most tightly stretched, and standing upon some support, not however, as St. Osanna conceived, exaggerating almost above the other pains that which was felt in the breast from that violent distension of the arms.' Whence is confirmed the doctrine taught by me, that the words and deeds of ecstatics are not to be drawn into historical controversies. And when at number 65 St. Elizabeth says: 'On the Nativity of the Lord I saw the Blessed Virgin in a certain house, as it were lying on a little bed and handling with her hands a beautiful and exceedingly lovable little Infant; whom, when she had wrapped him round with most white swaddling-bands, she laid in a manger which seemed to be beside her'; they observe that the Blessed Virgin could not have given birth in a house, since she was still found by the shepherds in a stable. Add that the house, the bed and the manger beside the bed do not seem to agree with the cave of Bethlehem, where it is established that the Lord was born.

[39] Amort finds modesty wanting in her, "Tenth. St. Elizabeth does not show that modesty which other holy virgins accustomed to visions have. For with such confidence of mind she testifies universally that her visions, without any distinction among them, are divine, that she is even vehemently indignant with those who do not believe it; nay, in her last agony she is solicitous with altogether wonderful cares about winning credence for them. Whence such confidence about visions not only probably but even manifestly illusory, such as are those about the society of St. Ursula, unless from fancy? and if this confidence in the agony is fanciful, what hope about the visions? In the letter to Hildegard Elizabeth has this: 'I confess truly that I recently conceived a certain cloud of disturbance in my mind on account of the foolish speeches of the people saying many things about me which are not true. But I should easily bear the speeches of the common people, if those too who walk in the habit of religion did not sadden my spirit more bitterly. For these too, stirred by I know not what goads, mock the grace of God in me.' The same, dying, at number 120 thus addresses her sisters: 'Do not wonder at my infirmities, like unskilled men, nor distrust the grace of God on account of the chastisements which I sustain and have often sustained. My conscience is good before the Lord, and I most certainly acknowledge that through the things which I suffer he prepares and adorns my crown. He has worked great things in me, and unheard of in our times. I say to you, and confidently affirm by that road by which I hope to go on to the kingdom of God, that these things which you have seen in me and heard from me are true, and I have never added anything of deceit or pretence. The Lord is my witness. Praise God, because in these things he has shown you a singular honour above other cloistered religious.' And at number 125, now very near to death: 'Most beloved, have the certainty of my end, and the true testimony of all those things which the Lord has worked with me. I ask and admonish you to put steadfast faith in the things which the Lord has done in me before you, and never to distrust; and I believe his works, and bear testimony to them by my death. After the Lord began to place his singular grace in me, I have suffered more grievous things than

before, not specially on account of any iniquities of mine, but that through my labours, which you have seen outwardly in me, those things might be approved which the Lord showed me secretly.' So St. Elizabeth in her agony. It is surely wonderful, if the saint spoke thus of all her visions, among which false ones are also found.

[40] [what the powers of the imagination are is established from the effect of narrations about sorcery;] "Eleventh. St. Elizabeth proves the truth of her visions by no miracles or other characteristic indications; but on the contrary those causes and circumstances rather concur in her which are wont to cause illusions of the fancy. Why then does she demand undoubted credence, even with threats? Father Malebranche in his Treatise on the search after truth, book II, chapter 6, explains how the imagination of certain little women is deluded who think that they are witches and that they are carried to the nocturnal assemblies of witches. He has this: 'A shepherd in the fold narrates after supper before his wife and children the things that were done in the assembly of the sorcerers; and since his imagination is already sufficiently heated with the vapours of wine, and he supposes that he has many times been present at this imaginary assembly, he speaks of it energetically and vividly. The shepherd's native eloquence, joined with the apt disposition of the whole family to receive a thing so new and terrible, must without doubt make huge traces in weak imaginations, nor can it be that the wife and the tender children, hearing these things, should not be astounded, wholly occupied and convinced. It is the husband and parent who narrates the things which he himself saw and did. He is loved and honoured by his own; why should they not give him credence? The shepherd repeats the same for many days. The traces in the imagination of the mother and children grow more and more. Accustomed to them, and fear being shaken off, conviction remains; and at last a desire comes upon them to go to the assembly and see the thing with their own eyes; they anoint themselves; then, their limbs being composed in bed with this disposition of heart, their imagination boils up; the traces impressed on their brain by the shepherd are opened sufficiently that during sleep they judge all the movements of the magical ceremonies described to them as present and excited from without. After they have woken and risen, they question each other and narrate to each other what they have seen. In this way they confirm the traces of the vision, and he among them who is strong in a more powerful imagination within a few nights forges the imaginary history of the assembly. In this way the shepherd has made skilled sorcerers, who will some time instruct far more, if, endowed with a strong and lively imagination, they are not deterred by fear from narrating fables of this kind.

[41] likewise from the dreams of sorcerers; "'There is no one who does not know that infants are so terrified by fables of ghosts and spectres that they cannot remain alone and in the dark. For then, since the brain is affected by no traces on the part of present objects, the trace impressed on their brain by the help of the fable is opened anew, and not rarely so vehemently that they judge the spectre described to be present to them. But histories of this kind are not presented to them except as fables. Those who narrate them do not display that external bearing which is wont to be worn in narrating true histories; nay, the narration is often languid and cold. It is no wonder, therefore, that he who believes himself present at the assembly, and who therefore narrates the thing confidently and vividly, so easily persuades some most attached to him about all the circumstances which he describes, and transmits to them traces similar to his own. It not rarely happens that during rest some have dreams so vivid that on waking they remember them exactly, although that dream is not about terrible things. With no difficulty, therefore, some can persuade themselves that they were present at the assembly; for this it is enough if the brain preserves the traces made during sleep. Nor does it stand in the way that we do not hold our dreams for things actually existing; for this happens because we cannot connect those dreams with the things done during waking; for from this we find that they are mere dreams. But imaginary sorcerers cannot judge by this criterion whether their assembly is a mere dream. For the assembly of sorcerers is never held except by night, and the things done in the assembly can be connected by no bond with the other actions of the day. It is morally impossible, therefore, that in this way they be freed from error. Nor is it necessary either that the things which imaginary sorcerers think they have seen at the assembly be connected among themselves in some natural order; for they are believed to have the greater reality the more they have of absurdity and confusion. It suffices, therefore, for deceiving them that the ideas of the things done in the assembly be vivid and terrifying, which necessarily happens, because altogether new, unwonted and unusual things are believed to be done there.' So Father Malebranche, adding that there are indeed true sorcerers, but rare.

[42] from the history of a singular sorceress. "A not very dissimilar example is related by Father Johann Nider in his book on Visions, book II, chapter 4, where he has: 'I will recite an example for understanding how very many are so deluded by dreams that, already awake, they altogether think they have seen in truth what they apprehended by the interior sense alone. For I heard my preceptor relate that a certain father of our order' (of St. Dominic) 'entered a certain village, where he found a certain woman so demented that she believed she was carried through the air at night-time with Diana and other women. When the father tried to drive out this faithlessness with wholesome words, she obstinately affirmed that she believed experience more. To whom the father said: Will you then allow me to be present when you next depart? She answered: So be it; and you will see me depart, with suitable witnesses present, if you please. So, that the zealot of souls might convince the crazy woman, on the coming of the day of departure which the old woman had fixed, the father was present with men worthy of credence. And she entered a trough in which dough is wont to be formed, placed on a bench, and began to sit there, and, having applied wicked words and ointment, with her head bent back she fell asleep. And at once, by the work of the demon, she had such strong dreams of the lady Venus and of other superstitions that she cried out in a certain jubilation with subdued voice. And in these applauses, moving her hands, she moved too much the trough on which she sat, which, falling from the high bench, bruised not a little the head of the old woman lying under it. And so the father addressed her, lying on the ground and not moved from the place, now awake: Where, I pray, are you? Were you with Diana, you who, by the testimony of those present, never departed from the trough? By these deeds, then, and by means of wholesome words, he leads her mind to the detestation of her error.'

[43] "Now, although the difference is very great between the imaginary visions of such sorceresses What cause there could have been why St. Elizabeth fell into illusion. and the imaginary visions of pious women, yet they agree in this, that both arise from the vivid impression of some narration, and that both have objects in no way connected with ordinary actions, from whose incoherence the falsity of the visions could be demonstrated. And so too it could have happened in St. Elizabeth, since she was familiar with those having visions, for example St. Hildegard. Let us say, therefore, that all the revelations of Elizabeth are either fabricated by Egbert, the brother of St. Elizabeth, which seems to me incredible, because those revelations were already celebrated in that century in which St. Elizabeth lived, as is clear from the encomium of Emicho, who succeeded the aforesaid Egbert in the abbacy, and from the epitaph of St. Elizabeth in the Bollandists; or that the same are an operation of the fancy; which if anyone wishes to have been sometimes stirred up by an Angel in order to useful ends, I do not oppose. Nor by this would I wish anything to be taken away from the virtue of the holy Virgin; because blessed Margaret of Italy too took nothing away from her sanctity when she testified that she believed that the visions which she herself had were only either an illusion of the fancy or of the demon." Thus far Amort.

§ VI. On the titles which are said to have been found at Cologne together with the bodies of the holy Martyrs.

In the year 1155 many titles were uncovered, or rather forged, with the bodies; We said above that the uncovering of the tombs of the holy martyrs gave occasion to the Revelations of St. Elizabeth, and that titles had for the most part been placed with those tombs. These titles the monks of Deutz collected and brought into a catalogue, to which they made this beginning: "In the year from the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ 1155, in the fourth indiction, and in the continuous course of the nine following years, … Gerlach being abbot in the church of Deutz, there were raised the bodies of holy Martyrs and holy Virgins in the suburb of the city of Cologne: whose names or titles, found on their tombs and stored in the archives of the same church, we have therefore thought worthy to be noted in schedules and letters for the knowledge of posterity." Thus Theodoric, monk and sacristan of Deutz. Although, under abbot Gerlach, those bodies and titles began to be found, yet, he having departed this life in the year 1161 and Hartpert (who is also Hartobern and Hartbern and Harbern) succeeding him in the abbatial see of Deutz Gallia Christiana, vol. III, col. 755., they were copied out; nay, another catalogue too was drawn up, in which they would have the names of the holy Moors, Thebans and companions of St. Gereon mixed with the Ursuline Virgins: of which we shall give below those which pertain to our blessed martyrs. Here, however, the authority of these titles must be investigated.

[45] which seemed to Papebroch partly true, partly false. Papebroch in the Paralipomena to the Conatus on the catalogue of the pontiffs Propylaeum of May, page 41, number 28. writes thus of the same: "Further, the sepulchral titles which consist only of names could be esteemed genuine; but the rest augmented with certain words added to win credence for the fabulous Legend, which I know not who had devised. But so far are these additions, or the book of the pretended Revelations, from winning any credibility for the Legend, that on account of the evident indications of fiction with which they teem, they rather detract from it and make it more established for us that there were at Cologne, after the bodies had been found, those who (as St. Peter Damian complains before the Life of St. Maurus of Cesena at the 20th of January) 'thought they were rendering service to God if, to carry the insignia of his praise, they composed arguments of falsehood.'" That most excellent man judges, then, that those titles are to be distributed into two classes: of which one would contain titles having bare names and could be esteemed genuine; the other would comprise titles whose inscriptions are augmented, so that the name could be held true, but the rest rejected as fictitious. Into which opinion Dom Anselm Berthod also went Acta SS., vol. VI of October, page 71., a monk of St. Benedict, who, after the suppression of our Society, having for some time been employed in illustrating the Acts of the Saints, inserted in them at the 12th of October the commentary on St. Pantulus, bishop of Rauraci and sharer in the martyrdom of St. Ursula.

[46] Some specimens But I altogether fear that this kinder opinion

can be sustained. That the reader may be able to bring a safe judgment on this matter, it will help him to have some specimens before his eyes.

Title of St. Cyriacus the pope:

S. CYRIACUS PAPA ROMANUS QUI CUM GAUDIO SUSCEPIT SACRAS VIRGINES

ET CUM IISDEM REVERSUS MARTYRIUM SUSCEPIT ET S. ALINA V.

[St. Cyriacus, Roman pope, who received the sacred virgins with joy and, returning with them, underwent martyrdom; and St. Alina, virgin.]

Title of St. Marinus:

HIC JACET S. MARINUS MEDIOLANENSIS SEXTUS QUI VENIEBAT DE ROMA

CUM SACRIS VIRGINIBUS ET S. VERASIA V.

Of St. Marculus:

S. MARCULUS EPISCOPUS IN GRÆCIA QUI CUM SACRIS VIRGINIBUS MARTYRIUM

SUSCEPIT.

Of St. Foillan, bishop and martyr:

S. FOILANUS LUCENSIS EPISCOPUS VENIENS AB APOSTOLICA SEDE MISSUS

HOC IN LOCO FUIT OCCISUS ET CUM ISTIS SACRIS VIRGINIBUS EST SEPULTUS

ET FERRO PEREMTUS.

[St. Foillan, bishop of Lucca, coming sent from the apostolic see, was slain in this place and is buried with these sacred virgins, and was killed by the sword.]

[47] are exhibited here, Of St. Pantulus the bishop:

PANTULUS BASILEENSIS EPISCOPUS VIRGINES SACRAS CUM GAUDIO SUSCEPTAS

ROMAM PERDUXIT, UNDE REVERSUS, COLONIAM PERVENIT, IBIQUE

CUM EIS MARTYRIUM SUSCEPIT ET S. GRATA JUNIOR.

[Pantulus, bishop of Basel, led to Rome the sacred virgins received with joy; returning thence, he came to Cologne, and there underwent martyrdom with them; and St. Grata the younger.]

Of St. Jovinius:

S. JOVINIUS EBORENSIS EPISCOPUS, FRATER S. PANTULI.

Of St. Maronius:

S. MARONIUS EPISCOPUS NOVARIENSIS ET CARDINALIS.

Of St. Quirillus:

HIC JACET IN ANTRO S. MARTYR QUIRILLUS PRESBYTER SEPULTUS QUI

VIXIT DIES SEX POST MARTYRIUM SUUM.

Of Clematius:

HIC JACET SEPULTUS S. CLEMATIUS QUI MANIBUS SUIS SEPELIVIT SACRAS

VIRGINES.

The greatest title, of St. Florina the virgin:

DIVINIS FLAMMEIS VISIONIBUS FREQUENTER ADMONITI ET VIRTUTIS MAGNÆ

MAJESTATIS, EGO QUIRILLUS PRESBYTER ET CLEMATIUS SEPELIVIMUS

CORPUS S. FLORINæ VIRGINIS.

[Frequently admonished by divine flaming visions and of the virtue of great majesty, I, Quirillus, presbyter, and Clematius buried the body of St. Florina, virgin.]

[48] and they are shown to be false from history That these titles contain almost as many absurd things as words no one, unless altogether unskilled, will deny. To whom, namely, can a Cyriacus, Roman pope, still be pleasing, routed by the silence of all the catalogues of the Roman pontiffs and by the certain age of St. Anterus, who immediately succeeded St. Pontian Compare Propylaeum of May, page * 28 and following.? To whom a St. Marinus, sixth of Milan, unknown in all the ancient monuments of that church Compare Sassi, Archiepiscoporum Mediolanensium series, vol. I, page 36.? To whom a Marculus, bishop in Greece, no less wonderful than pope Cyriacus, as companion of the journey and passion of St. Ursula? To whom a St. Foillan, whom Ughelli calls fictitious Italia sacra, vol. I, col. 793 and 794.; deciding that from this it can be gathered to what lengths mortal audacity has sometimes gone, which has wrapped the most illustrious deeds of the saints in old wives' fables, as though God or the saints needed our lie in order to sweep mortals into admiration of themselves by a fuller fame of holiness or of fortitude? To whom a St. Pantulus, leading eleven thousand virgins all the way to Rome? Why is St. Jovinius present from Evora in Lusitania or Spain, and he indeed the brother of the bishop of Basel in Germany? Why does St. Maronius join the bishopric of Novara with the cardinalate in the third century? What of the fact that the narration of Quirillus the presbyter, living six days after his martyrdom in order to bury the sacred virgins with Clematius, frequently admonished by divine flaming visions, conflicts with the Ursuline Passion itself and above all with the Sermon on the Feast? For in the Passion the citizens of Cologne are said to have buried the holy martyrs; in the Sermon on the Feast Clematius is said to have come to Cologne when, after the burning of the church which guarded the holy bodies, the memory of the holy virgins was already gradually slipping first from the mouth, then from the very breast of the long religious people; and not before, frequently admonished by divine flaming visions, to have travelled from the parts of the east to the western ones in accordance with a vow. But these absurdities will be more evident when we publish the titles.

[49] and from comparison with some That these titles are fabulous, then, is manifest on this head; and no less because they altogether lack the form of the third, fourth or fifth century. Let the reader compare the titles of Cologne with some ancient Christian monuments which our Alexander Wiltheim once found in the territory of Trier or Luxembourg, not so far distant from Cologne [Luciliburgensia, sive Luxemburgum romanum, edited by Aug. Neyen, plate 18 and following.]:

HIC JACET. EVSEBIVS

QVI. VIXIT. ANNVM

VNVM. ET. MENSES. SEX

MENUS. DIES. V. TITVLVM

POSVIT DVLCISSIMO

FILIO. SVO. VITA *

MATER

[Here lies Eusebius, who lived one year and six months less five days. Vita, his mother, set up this title to her sweetest son.]

SEDATVS. ET. PAVLINA

PATRES. DVLCISSIMAE. FILIAE

DVNAMIOLAE. TITVLVM. POSV

ERVNT. QVAE. VIXIT

ANNOS. TRES. ET. MENSES. QVINQVE

ET. DIES. VIGINTI

[Sedatus and Paulina, parents, set up this title to their sweetest daughter Dunamiola, who lived three years and five months and twenty days.]

[50] with true titles of Trier From the same source take also the following:

HIC. PAVSAT. IN. PACE. EVGENIA

CHRISTIANA. FIDELIS. VRSATIVS

CVRSOR. DOMINICVS. PIENTISSE

T. OCTAVM. DECEM KALENDAS. FE

BARPIAS. QVI. VIXIT. ANNOS. XXVIII

TITVLVM. POSVIT. DVLCESI

ME. SVAE MATRVNE

[Here rests in peace Eugenia, a faithful Christian. Ursatius, courier of the Lord's house, most dutifully ... on the tenth day before the Kalends of February; who lived 28 years; he set up this title to his sweetest wife.]

(Columba) IN CHRISTO (Columba)

HIC. JACET. PERPETVVS

IN. CRISTO. DEO. SVO

BENE MERITVS

QVI VIXIT. ANNOS

XXV. LECONTIA

MATER. TITVLVM

POSVIT IN PACE

[Here lies Perpetuus, well-deserving in Christ his God, who lived 25 years. Lecontia his mother set up this title in peace.]

Behold another, found at Aquae Mattiacae, now Wiesbaden, which is to be judged the more ancient the simpler it is Steiner, Codex inscriptionum Romanarum Rheni, number 240.:

HIC CVIE

SCIT. IN. PA

CE EPPOCV

and another discovered at Trier Ibid., number 842.:

LICINIVS. QUI VIXIT. ANNIS

XXVIII. HIC. IN PACE. QVIESCIT

I pass over many others which may be seen in Wiltheim, Hontheim and Steiner. Those which we have related are certainly enough that no one can doubt that in these parts the same form was observed in writing funeral memorials as in the other provinces of the Roman empire. But it will help also to bring forward some ancient titles of bishops. In the first place let there come forth a monument discovered in the former Castellum Tingitanum, now Orléansville in Algeria Migne, Dictionnaire d'Épigraphie, under Orléansville.:

HIC REQVIESCIT SANCTAE

MEMORIAE PATER NOSTER

REPARATVS EPISCOPVS

QVI FECIT IN SACERDOTIVM

ANNOS VIII. MENSES XI. ET.

NOS PRECESSIT IN PACE

DIE VNDECIMA KAL. AVG. PR

OV[I]NC[IAE]. CCCCXXX ET SEXTA

[Here rests our father of holy memory, Reparatus, bishop, who spent in the priesthood 8 years, 11 months, and went before us in peace on the eleventh day before the Kalends of August, in the 436th year of the province.]

which title belongs to the year of Christ 475, since the era of the province of Mauretania, as I first showed Précis historiques, year 1854, page 469 and following. and the celebrated A. Berbrugger confirmed after me Revue Africaine, October 1856, page 20., is to be counted from the beginning of the year of Christ 40.

[51] and some of contemporary bishops. The following title, also found in Africa, is perhaps more ancient Migne, Dictionnaire d'Épigraphie, under Tunis.:

ROMANVS EPISCOPVS

EXITIOSVS EPCP

IN PC 〈 DP 〈

VIII KL 〈 DC

IN PACE VDV XI K

RVSTICVS EPISCOPVS IN PACE DV KV I…

[Romanus, bishop. Exitiosus, bishop, in peace, laid to rest on the 8th before the Kalends of December. In peace ... the 11th before the Kalends ... Rusticus, bishop, in peace ...]

I will add a third, written in the year of Christ 495, and discovered in the former Castra Tanaramusa (?), now El-Hadjeb near Mouzaiaville in Algeria. The name has fallen out; but it is probable that it was Donatus.

MVLTIS EXILIIS

PROBATVS ET FIDEI

CATHOLICAE ADSER

TOR DIGNVS INVENTVS

INPLEVIT IN EPISCOPATV

AN XVIII. M. II. D. ET OCCI

SVS EST IN BELLO MAVRO

RVM ET SEPVLTVS EST DIE

VI ID. MAIAS P. CCCCLVI.

[Proved by many exiles and found a worthy asserter of the Catholic faith, he completed in the episcopate 18 years, 2 months, ... days, and was slain in the war of the Moors and was buried on the 6th day before the Ides of May, in the 456th year of the province.]

I will add finally a fourth, set up in the year 327 to St. Priscus, bishop of Nola Remondini, Della Nolana ecclesiastica storia, vol. I, page 513.:

✠ HIC. REQVIESCIT. SCE MR'. ✠

PRISCVS. EPISC. IN. PACE

DPS. V. KL MART'. FL. MAXIMO. V. C. CON

[Here rests the holy martyr Priscus, bishop, in peace; laid to rest on the 5th before the Kalends of March, Flavius Maximus, of senatorial rank, being consul.]

[52] [The abbots of Deutz are not guilty of this fiction, but the diggers or Theodoric the sacristan.] It is not at all permitted to doubt, therefore, that all the Ursuline titles were forged; which fault, however, I should by no means cast upon abbot Gerlach and the monks of Deutz (unless perhaps upon Theodoric the sacristan), but upon the finders of the stones and the diggers. Which matter needs no other proof than these words of St. Elizabeth of Schönau: "At the same time at which the aforesaid two martyrs" (Verena and Caesarius) "were found, there were found among the tombs of the virgins many bodies of holy bishops and of other great men. And there were stones placed in the monuments of each, having titles inscribed on them; by which it was discerned who they were or whence. The chief and most notable of these the aforesaid abbot" (Gerlach) "sent to me from the aforesaid city" (of Cologne); "hoping that something could be revealed to me about them through the grace of the Lord, and desiring to be assured through me whether they were to be believed or not. FOR HE HAD A SUSPICION OF THE FINDERS OF THE HOLY BODIES: LEST PERHAPS FOR THE SAKE OF GAIN THEY HAD CAUSED THOSE TITLES TO BE WRITTEN DECEITFULLY. But what those titles were, and what was revealed to me about them, I have taken care to set before the eyes of readers in the present discourse in various places, so that it may be observed hence how worthily that holy sodality is to be followed with all honour by the faithful of Christ, which the divine fatherhood has deigned to honour with the retinue of such sublime persons." From which we know that these stones were brought to light without any upright and prudent man watching over the diggers; that there were causes why abbot Gerlach doubted them and suspected that the titles were deceitfully forged; that Gerlach wished to uncover from heaven what was to be inquired into by ordinary ways; and that he did not lay aside his doubts until the Revelations of Schönau had been brought to him.

[53] [Similar fictions were made elsewhere too, as is shown by the history of the finding of St. Caius the pope,] I should think, then, that the source of the errors is altogether unlocked; and he is plainly a stranger in archaeological matters who would judge this to be a singular fiction. As false diplomas have been brought to light; so also funeral titles have been forged by a deceitful hand and placed with true or pretended martyrs. It will help to have set before the eyes some specimens in which there is something singular. Let us make a beginning from the tomb of St. Caius the pope which was found. Gregory XV had given orders to Cardinal Pietro Paolo Crescenzi, and he to his own brother Giacomo, abbot of Norcia, to extract sacred relics from the cemeteries. Giacomo is read to have devoted his labour to this matter diligently, carefully searching the Callistian burial-place. And once, when, after the labour of almost a whole day, having come out of those lowest caves for the sake of catching the air, he had stopped in the field between the basilica of St. Sebastian and that of St. Paul, which overlies the sacred tombs, to discharge his task of priestly prayers, and had noticed that the evening hours of the vigil of the day dedicated to St. Caius were to be said, raising his eyes to heaven he said: "Would, most holy pontiff, for the finding of whose relics I have long burned with desire, that on this day, on which with the whole Christian world I recall your triumphal memory, you would kindly be present to my wishes; how gloriously should I think my labours of whatever kind, most gladly undertaken by me on the authority of your successor, had been accomplished." These things being thus conceived no less in mind than in voice, darkness coming on, he betook himself home, and passed the whole night in the pious desire of seeing Caius. Scarcely had day dawned when a man arrives, sent by Stefano Figino, of the illustrious family of Benedict and primate of the basilica of St. Paul, whom Crescenzi, making for the city the day before, had left in charge of the workmen; and he announces to the abbot, still lying in bed, that on the previous evening, immediately after his departure, the tomb of the pontiff Caius had been discovered. He, having quickly put on his clothes, of eagerness

winged, he runs to the desired place; he sees in the side of the crypt, the sands with which it was overwhelmed having been cleared away, a tomb built in the sandy earth after the fashion of that time, fortified with brickwork, and joined with a binding of molten lead, with which kind of joint he had never before seen any sepulchral urn made solid. In the middle of the brick tablet a mark of this kind was seen cut in letters a palm high, with the sign of the branch of a palm and of the name of Christ following

Venerating, therefore, with knees placed on the ground together with those standing by, prayers which the time and the piety of the place suggested having been piously poured out in thanksgiving, Crescenzi opens those brick fortifications with the greatest diligence; he finds a frame of a human body with the bones entire, lying on its back, keeping on the index finger of the right hand a ring of brass, the pontifical insignia, in accordance with the pious modesty of those times; some bronze coins with the effigy of Diocletian, without doubt indicators of the time, present within the body: all which things having been collected with fitting care, together with some sacred bodies, and brought to the city, the matter, being made public, affected Gregory with great joy, etc." Thus far Marnavich In Farlati, Illyricum sacrum, vol. II, page 550..

[54] [whose body was buried in the cemetery of St. Sixtus, which in the sixteenth century did not lie open;] This whole comedy (for by what other name shall it be designated?) seemed fit to be set out, so that the reader may bring a judgment on the character and manner of acting of certain persons: for who would doubt that someone composed all these things before the workmen came upon them? I pass over the kind of joint never seen before; the ring of brass, the pontifical insignia; that the body of St. Richard (which Frankish name no one would have expected among Roman martyrs) was then also found together with the body of St. Caius; these and other equally wonderful things I gladly omit, since the finding of the body of St. Caius alone is enough for us to understand that we are moving here amid fables, or rather frauds. For, to say nothing of the body of St. Caius the pope which in the year 1588 was said to have been dug out also from the Callistian cemetery, and, sent into Bavaria, is especially venerated at Bamberg (for that too is not genuine); in the city of Rome itself, in the church of St. Caius himself, there was uncovered in the year 1651 the body of that pontiff together with the body of St. Gabinus, his brother [Compare Acta SS., vol. III of April, page 982 and following; Farlati, Illyricum sacrum, vol. II, page 548 and following; Novaes, Storia de' sommi pontefici, vol. I, page 96.]; which, although many other places think they possess it, is probably the genuine body of St. Caius the pope.

[55] which had long before been extracted from here by St. Paul I. But if you should deny this, it matters little to us, who contend only that the true body of St. Caius the pontiff was not discovered by Crescenzi, but substituted by a man whose labour he was using. For the genuine body of St. Caius was never buried in that part of the Callistian cemetery which lay open at the beginning of the seventeenth century, but in that which was called the cemetery of St. Sixtus and was revealed a few years ago by the celebrated De Rossi. And that St. Caius had obtained sepulchral rest there we learn from these verses of St. Damasus the pope, which it has now been possible almost to restore Mai, Scriptores veteres, vol. V, page 37; Civiltà cattolica, vol. VII, page 127.:

HIC CONGESTA IACET QVÆRIS SI TVRBA PIORVM

CORPORA SANCTORUM RETINENT VENERANDA SEPVLCRA

SVBLIMES ANIMAS RAPVIT SIBI REGIA CÆLI

HIC COMITES XYSTI PORTANT QVI EX HOSTE TROPÆA

HIC NVMERVS PROCERVM SERVANT QVI ALTARIA CHRISTI

HIC POSITVS LONGA VIXIT QVI IN PACE SACERDOS

HIC CONFESSORES SANCTI QVOS GRÆCIA MISIT

HIC IVVENES PVERIQVE SENES CASTIQVE NEPOTES

QVEIS MAGE VIRGINEVM PLACVIT RETINERE PVDOREM

HIC FATEOR DAMASVS VOLVI MEA CONDERE MEMBRA

SED CINERES TIMVI SANCTOS VEXARE PIORVM

XYSTI DIONISII CORNELII FELICIS PONTIANI FABIANI GAI

EVSEBII MELTIADIS STEFANI VRBANI LVCI MANNVS ANTEROS

NVMIDIANI LADICEI IVLIANI POLICARPI OPTATI

[Here, if you ask, lies heaped together a crowd of the godly; the venerable tombs hold the bodies of the saints; the palace of heaven has snatched their lofty souls to itself. Here are the companions of Xystus, who bear trophies from the enemy; here the number of the chief men who keep the altars of Christ; here is laid the priest who lived in long peace; here the holy confessors whom Greece sent; here youths and boys, old men and chaste descendants, to whom it pleased rather to keep virginal modesty. Here, I confess, I Damasus wished to lay my limbs, but I feared to disturb the holy ashes of the godly. (Names:) Xystus, Dionysius, Cornelius, Felix, Pontian, Fabian, Gaius, Eusebius, Miltiades, Stephen, Urban, Lucius, Mannus, Anteros, Numidianus, Laodiceus, Julian, Polycarp, Optatus.]

[56] Further, the body of St. Caius or Gaius was translated from here by Pope Paul I and laid in the monastery of St. Silvester, Similarly forged are the celebrated titles of Alexander and Marius, as is established from a contemporary marble tablet, quite often published, and more recently by Cardinal Mai Ibid., vol. V, page 56 and following.. Nor can it be said to be that of another St. Caius; for in plain words there is read on that most ancient marble: "In the month of April, day 22, the heavenly birthday of St. Gaius the Pope." Crescenzi therefore could not in the year 1652 find in the cemetery of Callistus the body of St. Caius, which eight centuries before had been taken out of its loculus. What, then, shall we think of this whole business? what of the good faith of that man, deluded in a wonderful manner? what authority can remain to his other finds, this fiction having been read over? Nor must we depart from that lying monument without recalling to the reader's memory that it is one of the tombs on which they would have it that the monogram of Christ was inscribed before the age of Constantine; which same is declared of the tombs of Marius and Alexander: but as these too were found by Crescenzi Bosio, Roma sotterranea, book III, chapter 23, page 216., so also they demonstrate his excessive credulity.

[57] which were written by the same man Concerning these epitaphs the opinion of the learned was as various as possible: for some would have it that they are genuine; others forged; and others, finally, not indeed forged, nor altogether genuine or contemporary, but set up at one time, either under Antoninus, or even in the fourth or fifth century. That the reader himself may bring a judgment, the epigrams must be exhibited.

✠

ALEXANDER MORTVS NON EST SED VIVIT SVPER AS

TRA ET CORPVS IN HOC TVMVLO QVIESCIT VITAM

EXPLEVIT CVM ANTONINO IMP. QVI VBI MVLTVM BENE

FITII ANTEVENIRE PREVIDERET PRO GRATIA ODIVM

REDDIT GENVA ENIM FLETENS VERO DEO SACRIFICA

TVRVS AD SVPPLICIA DVCITVR O TEMPORA INFAVSTA

QVIBUS INTER SACRA ET VOTA NE IN CAVERNIS QUIDEM

SALVARI POSSIMVS QVID MISERIUS VITA SED QUID MISERIUS IN

MORTE CUM AB AMICIS ET PARENTIBVS SEPELIRI

NEQVEANT TANDEM IN CÆLO CORVSCAT PARVM

VIXIT QVI VIXIT IV. X. TEM.

[Alexander is not dead but lives above the stars, and his body rests in this tomb. He ended his life under the emperor Antoninus, who, when he foresaw that much benefit would come to him, returned hatred for favour; for, bending his knees about to sacrifice to the true God, he is led to punishment. O unhappy times, in which amid sacred rites and prayers we cannot be safe even in caverns! What is more wretched than life? but what more wretched in death, when they cannot be buried by friends and parents? At length he shines in heaven. He lived little who lived 4 x (?) times.]

The other is this:

TEMPORE ADRIANI

IMPERATORIS

MARIVS ADOLESCENS DVX

MILITVM QVI SATIS VIXIT

DVM VITAM PRO CHO CVM SAN

GVINE CONSVNSIT IN PACE

TANDEM QVIEVIT BENEMERENTES

CUM LACRIMIS ET METV POSVERVNT

ID. VI.

[In the time of the emperor Adrian, Marius, a young commander of soldiers, who lived long enough while he spent his life with his blood for Christ. At length he rested in peace. The well-deserving set this up with tears and fear. On the 6th day before the Ides.]

[58] as Zaccaria shows. But truly, that the author of both epigraphs was the same Zaccaria demonstrates by these words Ibid., page 107.: "Let us compare, I pray, the two: 'He ended his life': so we read in the title of Alexander; 'he spent his life' is inscribed on the tomb of Marius. 'He lived little who lived': so the inscription of Alexander; but that of Marius by a contrary play: 'Who lived long enough.' But what is that on the stone of Marius: 'They set this up with tears and fear'? do you want the interpretation of these words? Recall the epitaph of Alexander: 'O unhappy times, in which amid sacred rites and prayers we cannot be safe even in caverns! what is more wretched than life? but what more wretched in death, when they cannot be buried by parents and friends?' Behold the same course of speech in both, the same character of diction. And shall I not say that these twin inscriptions proceeded from the same parent? Those who not without reason urge similarity of style when doubt is cast about the author of some work, can they be confident that they can find any greater than this? But if one and the same was the author of both epigrams, who at last was he, or in what time did he live? Reinesius Syntagma, page 953. felt that these savour rather of some rhetorician of the fourth and fifth century than of the times of Antoninus and the primitive simplicity of the Christians; which opinion and argumentation others thereafter set out more precisely." Zaccaria often changed his opinion: at first he accused both epitaphs of falsity; afterwards, recalling in his mind the very great diligence which was always employed at Rome both in guarding and excavating the cemeteries and in recognizing and handling ancient monuments, he understood that, as he puts it, there could be no place for fraud in these matters, and he thought that each title was set up in the fourth or fifth century, when the cemeteries were being restored; nor did he stop here: but he came at last to the opinion of saying that the epigraph of Marius was not contemporary with Hadrian, since these words of the title, "In the time of Adrian," were manifestly written after his death: that it was not customarily used of the living: and that both inscriptions were accordingly carved in the reign of Antoninus.

[59] They conflict with the history and orthography of that age, But Zaccaria did not tear all away from his first opinion when he himself departed from it. For several continue to hold it persuaded that, far from the greatest diligence having always been employed in guarding the cemeteries, they were for the most part watched with the greatest negligence: that the countless thefts committed in the Middle Ages, and even while Zaccaria himself was living, are a testimony Compare Marangoni, in Mai, Scriptores veteres, vol. V, pages 471 and 472.. Meanwhile let it be enough for us to have observed that it matters little whether the cemeteries were kept diligently or negligently, since the crime of falsity redounds upon the very man whom Crescenzi employed as a collaborator, namely a certain painter, who was juridically condemned for having brought forged monuments before the public. The sentence still exists in the Vatican archives. And indeed who would free him from this crime? First of all those most illustrious stones nowhere appear any more, and it is doubtful whether they themselves were shown to Severano, or only copies of the inscriptions; moreover no one has ever reported whither the bodies of the martyrs which were once enclosed by those stones were carried. On which head this finding would be even more incredible than that of St. Caius; which nevertheless no one can fail to hold most false.

[60] and it has words and other things Moreover, both the epigrams of Marius and of Alexander are read as set up by men trembling with fear, because they could not be safe even in caverns nor bury friends and sons; but who would have said these things of the times of Hadrian? who it is established favoured rather than opposed the Christians; so that the few martyrdoms which then took place are commonly ascribed by the learned not so much to the savagery and bitterness of the times as to singular circumstances of things. And for this cause too the stone of Marius causes no little wonder, that he poured out his life with his blood in the reign of Hadrian. Finally, to say nothing of the unwonted manner of both inscriptions, which we have said has already been observed by others, the very way in which the name of Adrian is written perhaps makes it manifest that it is a recent figment. For on all the coins of Hadrian is inscribed Hadrianus, by no means Adrianus Compare Eckhel, Doctrina numorum, vol. VI, page 473.; and since Christians and pagans handled these daily, on monuments likewise

they inscribed Hadrianus [Compare Reinesius, Syntagma, index, chapter XXI; Muratori, Inscriptions, page MMCL.]. But on the stone of Marius the aspiration is omitted according to the common and recent custom.

[61] not then in use. No less difficult are the words "Commander of soldiers": for before the principal seat of the empire had been transferred to Byzantium, no one was called dux except the supreme legates after the emperor Facciolati, Lexicon, under Dux; Gessner, Linguae romanae thesaurus, under Dux.; but then, from the translation of Greek words, some dignities began to be called duchies and those who were adorned with them dukes Pitiscus, Lexicon antiquitatis, under Dux.: but before, the use of that word was so rare that when Muratori Inscriptions, page DCCXVI, number 5. had found on a Spanish stone a dux of the seventh legion, he at once added: "A dux of a legion has never occurred to me before." But, you will say, why are not "Commander of soldiers," "in the time of Adrian," etc., likewise singular examples? But, I ask, why do all singular things concur in the finds of Crescenzi? Monograms before the age of Constantine; epitaphs full of antitheses and plays on words; young men who in the time of Adrian were commanders of soldiers; fear and despair of life, when the times flowed gently enough; martyrdoms which no one would ever have suspected, etc. What? even if we did not have the ignoble figment of the tomb of St. Caius the pope, these things alone would suffice for us to call Crescenzi's helper the fraudulent forger of the epigrams of Marius and Alexander. When, therefore, we say that the titles of Cologne are forged, we certainly affirm nothing that has not been seen elsewhere too.

[62] The very names inscribed on the titles of Cologne are forged, Far be it, however, that Papebroch and Berthod should have thought that there was no fraud in the titles of Cologne. What then? They suspected, as we said above, that truly ancient stones had been found; but that on these were inscribed not those encomia which we have related, but bare names; and so that nothing prevented both the names which were carved on the augmented titles and those which were placed barely without any praise on the same from being held genuine. But truly, that suspicion has no foundation. Those who saw those titles testify, in the passage from the Revelations of St. Elizabeth cited above at number 52, that they were such that by them it was discerned who or whence the martyrs were; nor did Gerlach fear that augmented titles were being shown him, but lest the finders of the holy bodies, perhaps from eagerness for gain, had caused those titles to be written deceitfully: which words plainly indicate that the suspicion was not of interpolation or deceitful augmentation, but of fraudulent writing of entire titles. Add that so great was the difference between the letters of the third, fourth or fifth century and the form of letters used in the twelfth century, that the difference of ancient and new writing would easily have been detected. But why do I dispute these things? Suppose it had been written: S. CYRIACVS, JACOBVS, S. SIMPLICIVS, HIC JACET S. MARINVS, S. MARCVLVS, S. FOILANVS, MAVRISIVS, S. CLEMENS, PANTVLVS, S. JOVINIVS etc., etc. [St. Cyriacus, James, St. Simplicius, here lies St. Marinus, St. Marculus, St. Foillan, Maurisius, St. Clement, Pantulus, St. Jovinius, etc.] Who ever saw that on the primitive monuments of martyrs the word "sanctus" was inscribed, and (what is more grievous) the siglum S?

[63] nor can they be defended by the help of the title of St. Eugenius: Crombach objects S. Ursula Vindicata, page 979. that this very ancient title was seen in the twelfth century in the monastery of St. Denis near Paris:

HIC SITVS EST S. EVGENIVS MARTYR

PRIMUS TOLETANVS EPISCOPUS

But Crombach added the siglum S before the name of Eugenius from his own store; for this siglum is altogether lacking in Mariana De rebus Hispaniae, book X, chapter 20, vol. I, page 428, edition of 1733., from whom the Ursuline vindicator says he borrowed the title; it is lacking also in Flórez España sagrada, vol. III, page 166., who disputed at length about this St. Eugenius, formerly unknown to the people of Toledo. Who besides would call this title ancient, in which Eugenius is called the FIRST bishop of Toledo? To finish the matter in a few words, titles of that kind were placed when tombs were adorned, when relics were translated. And certainly, if that body of St. Eugenius which was kept at St. Denis was genuine, it had been carried from Spain into the Gauls. For in what other way would it have come there? Nevertheless we gladly grant that very many old inscriptions exist which have the form of the title of St. Eugenius (if, however, you take away the word "first"); but this too must be granted us, that no archaeologist ever dreamed that such titles were made immediately after the death of holy men.

[64] Titles of some holy bishops are related. What, then, we have said we cannot sufficiently establish: that the appellation blessed or saint was never inscribed on tombs except when the bodies were raised from the earth, or the tombs afterwards adorned. Wherefore, if there were any genuineness in the monuments of Cologne; or if the names were true, and only the praises were added by forgers in the twelfth century, there would not be read St. Cyriacus, but barely Cyriacus or Cyriaco; not St. Simplicius, but Simplicius or Simplicio, and so on. Do you want examples? Not long ago the original tomb of St. Eutropius of Saintes was discovered; and on it nothing else was read [Recueil des procédures faites pour la reconnaissance des reliques trouvées dans l'église souterraine de S. Eutrope de Saintes, plate I, number 4.] than

EVTROPIVS

and on the tomb of St. Augustine, prelate of Hippo Fontanini, Disquisition on the body of St. Augustine, page 40.:

AVGVSTINO

Nay more, some tombs of Roman pontiffs of the same age in which they would have it that the Cologne martyrs were slain were recently uncovered Compare La Civiltà cattolica, 1854, series II, vol. VII, page 127.:

ΑΝΤΕΡΩΣ ΕΠΙΣ(κοπος)

ΦΑΒΙΑΝΟΣ ΕΠΙΣ(κοπος) ΜΡΤ (μαρτυρ)

ΕΥΤΥΧΙΑΝΟΣ ΕΠΙΣ(κοπος)

ΛΟΥΚΙ(ο)Σ

How absurd, moreover, are the names that occur in the titles of Cologne! and in the Greek names how great ignorance everywhere! Clematius the Greek, who is said to be their author, would have taken much better care of Latin names than of Greek! It remains, therefore, that this one thing be established, that no greater account is to be taken of the names than of the encomia with which they are loaded.

* Vitatis

§ VII. Criticisms of the Revelations of blessed Hermann Joseph concerning the Ursuline sodality.

[It is demonstrated that the two books of Revelations which are attributed to blessed Hermann Joseph are the work of one writer;] We come now to the fourth source of the traditions of Cologne, or to the Revelations which are attributed by Crombach to blessed Hermann of Steinfeld, commonly called blessed Hermann Joseph. Further, they consist of two books; whether these have the same author must be inquired. And on this matter there can be no other cause of doubting than that those two books have nowhere been found together. But that this reason is of little validity is shown both by the diversity of the argument of each book, and above all by experience, by which we know well enough and more than enough that this was the fortune of many writers. Add that those books were from the beginning copied in different volumes. On that head, then, there is no reason for us to be doubtful. But that we may altogether affirm that both books were composed by the same writer, the following things persuade: In the first book, the seventh chapter: "Of the kings," says the author, "and bishops who set out with the same sacred virgins from Britain and came from their homeland, the genealogy and series is here briefly touched. But at the end of this history IN ANOTHER VOLUME their conversion and state will be set forth more broadly." Further, there immediately, namely in chapters 6, 7 and 8 of the first book, is read a brief compendium of the things which are related at length in the later book. Then in the eighth chapter of the first book: "This same Axpara," he says, "was both duchess and queen, very wise and industrious and provident. Further, elsewhere there will be treatment of her and her daughters and her cousins, Anchira the duchess and her four daughters, and Eleutheria the countess and her most illustrious daughter Lucentia." He performed both in the two last chapters of the second book: we follow the ancient division: in the former he discoursed of the race, offspring and retinue of Axpara; in the latter of the progeny of Anchira, of the escort and household of Eleutheria and Lucentia. At the end of the same eighth chapter of the first book he advises the reader that many other things had been written by him in the other volume, whom he exhorts to turn it over in these words: "Behold, the series of the aforesaid kings and queens, dukes, counts and princes, most illustrious virgins and matrons, and of very many expeditions we have described one by one IN ANOTHER VOLUME, and a fuller one: in which the reader, if he reads it through to the end, will wonder at the praiseworthy life of very many noble virgins and damsels, and their religious and chaste conversation." Finally, in the last chapter of the same first book, which is as it were the proem of the second book, and with which it was found joined together, he says this: "It happened quite often that, even while I had put the stylus to the page, being ordered to lay down the pen, I was altogether ignorant of the matter of writing: and syllables, words, phrases, half a verse, a whole verse was named beforehand: and this happened to us especially IN THE SUBSEQUENT VOLUME of their expeditions, so that we almost fainted with excessive weariness."

[66] [and indeed of blessed Hermann himself, as is gathered from the nature of the books] Concerning the time of writing it is likewise established. For the former book was written in the year eleven hundred and eighty-three, the Lord inspiring and his pious mother, the queen of all, co-operating, as the author himself notes in the prefatory letter; but the later, as the title itself displays, was revealed in the year eleven hundred and eighty-seven: both, however, were published together, since in the former there are many places (certainly inserted after the whole work was finished) in which it is supposed that the later book is already written. But is blessed Hermann of Steinfeld the author of both books? For my part I judge that it must be affirmed, although most weighty men have stood on the other side. Namely, everything seems to aim at this, that that most holy man be held to have written them. For he who is the author of these was a religious, had some care of sacred virgins and was attached to the Premonstratensian order. For everywhere he names himself brother; he is ordered in the prefatory letter to dedicate the work to virgins; further, "blessed Mary ordered the same history to be dedicated also to the brethren of the Premonstratensian order, saying that they are the chief lovers and venerators of the eleven thousand Virgins": all which things fit blessed Hermann Joseph, canon of Steinfeld of the Premonstratensian order, of whom in the Treatise on his death, translation and miracles, number 4, is read Acta SS., vol. I of April, page 711.: "But on the Sunday on which is sung 'My eyes are ever,' … there came to our lord abbot" (of Steinfeld) "a messenger of the monastery of certain Cistercian Sisters" (of Hoven), "asking that he" (with whom he had also sometimes associated) "should be granted to them for a time: that through Lent he might celebrate the divine offices for the same sisters"; and everywhere in his Life it appears how well he wished the virgins dedicated to Christ. Second, the author of those books enjoyed an incredible familiarity with blessed Mary and the holy Virgins of Cologne; that blessed Hermann Joseph enjoyed the same all the Lives of him proclaim

page. Third, at Steinfeld at the end of the sixteenth century there was still preserved the second book Crombach, S. Ursula vindicata, pages 61 and 566., which we have said was very rare; nay, they would have it that the Steinfeld codex was the autograph Ibid., loc. cit.; nor was it found in any other monastery than in the house of virgins "ad Piscinam," afterwards transferred to Cologne to St. Cecilia, in which the statutes and laws of the Premonstratensians prevailed Ibid., page 798. Compare Gelenius, Coloniae Magnitudo, page 358.. These are only indications and traces: the following have the force of testimonies.

[67] from the testimony of Raso Bonvicinus, Raso Bonusvicinus, sprung from the noble house of Ghent commonly called Goetgebuer, licentiate of sacred theology of Paris and master of novices among the canons of Steinfeld, and dying there in the year 1509, in the Life of blessed Hermann Joseph, which he wrote in the manner of a dialogue (a master and a novice conversing), after he had narrated that the Ursuline hymn was wonderfully composed by blessed Hermann, places this title before chapter 13: "Many secrets concerning the deeds of the holy Virgins are revealed to him." The context of chapter 12 also, ending in these words: "Moreover the holy virgin who had appeared to him from among the Ursulines fitted the measures" (namely of the aforesaid hymn), "so that now our brother played the part rather of a notary than of one dictating"; this context, I say, he continues thus in the following chapter: "The things concerning the race of her companions (and indeed by name one by one), concerning moreover their setting out and consummation, which had before been known to no one, he learned most truly from this virgin AND THEY ARE MOST FAITHFULLY KEPT IN HIS HOUSE" Acta SS., vol. I of April, page 683.: by which both books of the Revelations are plainly described.

[68] of the anonymous contemporary biographer And our Henschen thought altogether so Ibid., loc. cit.; but Papebroch, who acted as censor of Henschen's writings before they were published, added this (as he confesses in the Propylaeum of May Propylaeum of May, page *31, number 12.) to his colleague's statements Acta SS., vol. I of April, page 683, number 5.: "But how could the author of the (contemporary) Life either be ignorant of so illustrious a thing, nay more illustrious than all things related in the Life, or, knowing it, either pass it over altogether or touch on it so obscurely that it cannot prudently be believed that he wished to touch on it at all?" But does not Papebroch in these words attribute far too much authority to a negative argument? Raso saw the books of the Revelations at Steinfeld; he said they were most faithfully kept there; Papebroch confesses that they seem to be obscurely indicated by these words of the contemporary biographer Ibid., page 697, number 29.: "Now let us turn our hand together with our mind to those wonderful and pleasant revelations which we have learned that he had concerning blessed Ursula and her companions… So great an affection had the happy Joseph conceived toward these beautiful virgins and precious martyrs of the Lord that he could not sufficiently disclose it by evident signs: he was connected with them by such familiarity and purity of mind that he knew many secrets through them, and some revealed their names to him and consoled him in his tribulations." Now, I ask, what are the secrets which he knew through them, if not those very things which, as Raso says, had before been known to no one about the race of the companions of St. Ursula, about their setting out moreover and consummation? And what are the virgins that revealed their names to him, if not those very ones who continually disclose their names in both books? And by these words the books of the Revelations are by no means obscurely touched on, but pointed out with the finger.

[69] and of the writer on his death and translation. Moreover, in the likewise contemporary Treatise on his death, translation and miracles is read Ibid., page 711, number 2.: "I pass over also how for many years almost every night he deserved to be relieved by the consolation of the blessed Mother of the Lord; … but neither do I propose to explain here at present how much he loved, how much he honoured the sacred virgins Ursula and her companions; with how great revelations of theirs he was consoled; how, when he had composed the words of a history in their praise, he learned the melody of almost the whole history, they themselves teaching and singing before him, and certain virgins also deigned to reveal their names to him." In which two very distinct things are proposed: the first, that blessed Hermann was consoled by revelations of St. Ursula and her companions, and that certain of them deigned to reveal their names to him; the other, that the melody which is called a history was composed by the blessed man, they themselves teaching and singing before him. And all these things Papebroch reduces to this Ibid., page 683, number 5., that he affirms they can scarcely be extended beyond the aforecited hymn and proper lessons for the divine office. But blessed Hermann is nowhere read to have written any lessons for the divine office; and the melody, which the biographer calls a history, has nothing that savours of narration, but they are mere metrical praises, intermixed with no names, distributed in the manner of an ecclesiastical office, such almost as is the common office of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And although the original biographer reports that blessed Hermann was taught that melody by an Ursuline virgin, yet he does not relate it among the revelations, but among the signs of the love with which he followed the martyrs of Cologne Ibid., page 697, number 29.. Far, then, from either the contemporary biographer or the writer of the Treatise on his death standing in the way of blessed Hermann's being held the author of the Revelations comprised in two books, they altogether persuade that it is he himself.

[70] [The arguments drawn from the age of blessed Hermann, from the absence of some relics at Steinfeld and of the singular formulas of blessed Hermann are refuted,] Against these things they fight with four arguments; of which the first is that blessed Hermann is more recent than that he could have written these revelations in the years 1185 and 1187. But, as Henschen shows Ibid., page 684., the blessed man most probably died on the seventh day of April of the year 1233. Suppose, then, that he departed to those above as an octogenarian: he would have been born in the year 1150; he would have been in the twenty-fourth year of his age in the year of Christ 1185 and in the twenty-eighth in the year 1187; and since from boyhood he lived amid visions, apparitions and revelations (as is established from his Life), what prevents his having written the two books of Revelations when twenty years old and more? Another difficulty is drawn from the fact that the author is said in them to have, or to be about to have, the bodies or heads of St. Caesarius, bishop of Meaux, St. Oliva, St. Thecla, St. Sincera and St. Juliana, whereas in the seventeenth century these pledges were not found at Steinfeld at all. But neither was the head of St. Gertrude found at Steinfeld, which we know was carried there from the very contemporary Life of St. Hermann Ibid., page 689, number 30., nor the relics of St. Honorata, which the German Martyrology of Wallasser, commonly called that of Canisius, has at the 11th of January as formerly venerated there: for so many and so various were the fortunes of Steinfeld that no one should wonder that those pledges were lost, as Crombach judges S. Ursula Vindicata, page 63., or confused with others, as Henschen prefers Acta SS., vol. I of April, page 699.. The third argument is drawn from the fact that blessed Hermann is read in his contemporary Life to have been accustomed to call the blessed Virgin Mary Rose Ibid., page 696, number 24. and the Ursuline virgins and all others dedicated to God little doves Ibid., page 697, number 29.; but in neither book are these names given them. But it is by no means said that he used these in writing, at least in historical manner; much less that he had entered on this custom when he was still young and wrote these books.

[71] It is objected in the fourth place that in the manuscripts the author is designated by the name of Brother N.; whom Papebroch interprets as Nicholas Propylaeum of May, page *31. or another like name. But this argumentation is less firm. [and from the sigla N and T inscribed in the manuscript codices in place of the name.] For my part I dare neither approve nor disapprove Crombach S. Ursula Vindicata, page 61., who judges that by the letter N is designated Notary, by which name the author quite often designates himself, inasmuch as he professes to write not from his own store but from things heard from heaven: I will confess, however, that this pleases me less, since it is one thing to call oneself a notary, another to call oneself Brother Notary. But it must be noted first of all that in most or all the copies printed before Crombach there was written Brother T.; and that in the manuscript copy of the Charterhouse of Utrecht, a transcript of which is at hand to me, Brother C. is read; likewise in the German version, a copy of which also exists in our museum, written in the year 1456, and in the margin is read that by the letter C is designated Conrad: but since Crombach Ibid., loc. cit. notes that in various manuscripts sent to him from both Bavaria and Sweden by the care of Father Gretser Brother N. is indicated, we shall agree that the letter N was put by the writer. What then? Is this the initial of the name? by no means; but the sign of a man who wished his name to be concealed: and so great praises are given the author in these writings that certainly there was reason why he did not wish his name to be disclosed. Further, that already in the ninth century it was in use that a name which was to be kept silent was indicated by the letter N Mabillon showed from the letters of Frotharius, bishop of Toul Acta SS. Ordinis S. Benedicti, vol. V, page 291.; that the same obtained about the year 900 the Maurist writers of the Treatise on diplomatics demonstrated from the Missal of St. Denis Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique, vol. II, page 234.; that this custom likewise persevered in the following century Ménard proved Sacramentarium S. Gregorii, page 383.; and that in the fourteenth century this was the old custom of notaries Échard and Quétif made public from the letter of blessed Venturino of Bergamo to Margaret the nun Bibliotheca Scriptorum ordinis Praedicatorum, vol. I, page 622, number 7.; and more fully from the inscription of the supplement to the Life of blessed Mary of Oignies, which Thomas of Cantimpré, a contemporary of blessed Hermann, dedicated under the name of Brother N. to Giles, prior of Oignies Ibid., vol. I, page 254, number 7.. And indeed by the latter passage Papebroch was altogether vanquished Acta SS., vol. IV of June, page 634, number 19, who had likewise determined that the writer was not Thomas, but some Nicholas, or another whose name began with the letter N.

[72] [Those are refuted who would make the monks of Deutz the authors of these Revelations,] After we have confirmed with many enough arguments that blessed Hermann is truly to be held the author of the Revelations which are contained in two whole books, it will help to have heard those who have ascribed them to others. Papebroch, discoursing both of these and of the visions of blessed Elizabeth, says Propylaeum of May, page *31.: "Certainly, when I recall the Acts of St. Suitbert, patched together at Kaiserswerth not far from Cologne with such licence of feigning that it is a horror even to see it lightly sketched by Bolland

our refuting it at the 1st of March; I am forced to fear lest there was a contest between the monks of Suitbert's house and those of Deutz as to which should feign more, the latter under the name of blessed Elizabeth, the former under the title of St. Marcellinus, contemporary and disciple": by which words, although he attributes only the Revelations of blessed Elizabeth to forgers of Deutz, he nevertheless hints (if you consider the foregoing) that the Hermannian ones came out of the same workshop. But this conjecture is altogether rash: for nothing is more certain than that the writings of blessed Elizabeth are not pseudonymous, which Eusebius Amort showed briefly above at number 43; of the Hermannian ones we ourselves have said enough. And that the monks of Deutz were not deceivers but deceived, this too we demonstrated above at number 52.

[73] Hermann Fleien entered upon another opinion In Lippeloo, Lives of the Saints, vol. IV, page 758.: "I suspect," or Tundal the Irishman, he says, "that he (namely Brother T., as was read in the printed editions) is Tundal the Irishman of Cashel, a Carthusian, who is read in these times not only to have written but also to have published a book of his Revelations." But formerly those who wished to lie hidden used not only the letter N, but others too: in which manner Brother Stephen of Bourbon, who is also of Belleville, theologian of the order of Preachers and a contemporary of blessed Hermann, inscribed on his Treatise on the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit Échard and Quétif, Scriptores ordinis Praedicatorum, vol. I, page 185.: "I, Brother R., least in the order of Friars Preachers"; which siglum R. some changed into Raymond, others into Robert, although it is now established that his name was Stephen. Moreover Tundal or Tungal, of Cashel or of Cork by nation, never seems to have been a Carthusian, much less to have come into the parts of Cologne, as the author of the Revelations was certainly living in them; and, what is most important, his Revelations, which are read in the Speculum Historiale of Vincent of Beauvais, XXVII, 88, have nothing in common with the virgins of Cologne and were published in the year 1158 or the following Compare Fabricius, Bibliotheca latina, under Tundalus., twenty-four years before the Revelations of which we are treating.

[74] or Richard the Englishman, Others thrust in a certain Richard the Englishman, Premonstratensian by religion, whom some would have a monk of Wedinghausen or Arnsberg; others of Whitchurch (Alba Ecclesia) in England; third ones of another unknown place. But let us go to the source. Bale Scriptores Britanniae, Century III, number 34, vol. I, page 232. first wrote: "Richard was abbot of the Premonstratensian canons; but of which monastery in England is not read in our writers"; and then, after many insults against the Catholic religion and the sacred Premonstratensian order, he reckoned among his works: "The Life of St. Ursula, Book I. To all the virgins of Christ"; by which beginning the first book of the Revelations of blessed Hermann is in fact signified. And since in Caesarius of Heisterbach Book XII of the Examples, chapter 47, page 413. there was read a miracle of the prodigious preservation of the fingers of a certain Richard, an Englishman by nation, who had spent his life in copying pious books in the monastery of Arnsberg or Wedinghausen in Westphalia, Pits Scriptores Angliae, age XIII, page 255. judged that both Richards were one and the same man, and had many followers, for instance Miraeus Chronicon of the Premonstratensian order, pages 122 and 158., Hartzheim Bibliotheca Coloniensis, page 290., Georg Spiritus literarius Norbertinus, page 505 and following. and others whom Crombach cites S. Ursula vindicata, page 61 and following.. And because Caesarius lived at the beginning of the thirteenth century, the age assigned to Richard was about the year 1190 or 1200; without Tanner Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica, page 627. being prevented thereby from attributing to the same a Chronicle which runs from 1064 to 1284. This one thing I would say, that no one has written about this Richard except supinely: which censure, lest it seem rash, observe that Hartzheim and Georg themselves, who plainly attribute both books of the Revelations to blessed Hermann of Steinfeld, ascribe the same to Richard the Englishman; moreover that all have copied the words of Bale or Pits without any examination, unless they have added new portents to the old.

[75] whom it is not even established ever existed But what at last is to be thought of these things, the reader will ask. I should not think that a Richard, English by nation, Premonstratensian by profession, abbot of Whitchurch (of which name there existed no Premonstratensian monastery in England) or of another abbey in England, who was illustrious for his writings at the end of the twelfth century, existed: for Bale, Pits and Tanner speak of him so vaguely that they themselves confess that they do not know where to set their foot. This one thing is certain, that on a certain Bodleian codex is inscribed [Oudin, Commentarius de Scriptoribus et scriptis ecclesiasticis, vol. II, col. 1521.]: "Of Richard of Whitchurch" (namely of his birthplace), "Premonstratensian, Treatise on the Offices of the Mass." We know moreover that in the Cambridge Tanner, Bibliotheca Britannica, page 627. and Oxford Oudin, Commentarius, vol. II, col. 1521. libraries codices are found in which Verses on the Mass and the Lord's Prayer are ascribed to Richard the Premonstratensian; but since the beginning of these is "I have proposed to write what the mystic rites of the godly" Tanner, Bibliotheca, page 627., it has long since been recognized Compare Zaccaria, Bibliotheca ritualis, vol. II, page 85. that these Verses are not of Richard the Premonstratensian but of Hildebert of Le Mans [See them among the Works of Hildebert, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. CLXXI, col. 1177 and following.]; and so that this Richard was merely a scribe or copyist. When we consider all these things, and above all that no Premonstratensian Richard is praised for having enjoyed revelations and visions, nothing surely occurs to us more prudent than to persuade ourselves with Crombach S. Ursula vindicata, page 62. that Richard the Englishman, an excellent scribe of Arnsberg, copied with his own hand the books of blessed Hermann and destined them for his homeland, where at some time he was held to be not only their copyist but also their author. Certainly in the things that are reported of Richard the English Premonstratensian there is nothing why we should make those books his, and adjudge them away from blessed Hermann, whose titles of possession are manifest.

[76] Those books are full of errors, whose cause But when I say that both those books were written by blessed Hermann Joseph, do I dissent from Papebroch Propylaeum of May, page 31, number 12., bursting out into these words: "What would I not tolerate rather than accept such things for heavenly revelations?" By no means; yet I should wish a few things observed. First of all it is not permitted to deny that blessed Hermann spent almost his whole life in an ecstatic state; of which matter we have as witness his contemporary biographer, his companion and aware of very many of the blessed man's secrets; nor has any sensible man (as far as I know) not made much of this Life. Second, that that ecstatic state is such that the mind is altogether snatched from these earthly things to heavenly ones and moves among them almost in the way in which other mortals move among earthly things, is commonly known: which no one would deny to be a great gift of God. Third, while the minds of ecstatics move in that way among heavenly things, they are not deprived of the freedom of the fancy, so that they can imagine many things to themselves and seem to themselves to see and hear things which outwardly they neither hear nor see. And since this action is human and not a divine passion, it is easily understood that there is room in it for many errors. And so, with Papebroch himself Acta SS., vol. VI of May, page 246 and following. and Benedict XIV On the canonization of the Saints, book III, last chapter, vol. III, page 278., in revelations, visions and other things of that kind the substance is to be distinguished from the circumstances. For it can happen that through divine grace the human mind is singularly raised and clings vehemently to things supernaturally, without however being prevented from putting forth its natural powers and thinking, according to preconceived opinions, desires and other affections, many things which are by no means divinely communicated to it.

[77] is explained. That this may be more clearly understood, let us employ the experience of daily meditation itself. Absolutely everyone feels that it is by the grace of God that we apply our mind to piously contemplating the mysteries; and now in this contemplation how various is the manner of each in representing to himself the same things! yet the fancy of all is helped and somewhat raised by divine aid. Whence, then, that diversity of representations and images? Surely not from the divine aid, but only from the powers of our mind, which, even when raised by grace, think freely of supernatural things. Nor is one to think otherwise of most revelations of ecstatics; except that, since they no more feel the impression of external things than men commonly do in sleep, they (no otherwise than dreamers) seem to themselves really to see and hear all those things which they represent to themselves by the powers of the imagination. Far be it, then, that we should deny that a singular grace of God was present to blessed Hermann and other ecstatics; it was certainly present to raise their mind wonderfully and to withdraw it from all earthly things; but it did not take away the free powers of the fancy: and since we owe the two books of Revelations to these, it is scarcely necessary to note that accordingly no historical authority lies in them. Whoever wishes more, let him read the most learned work of Eusebius Amort on private Revelations, visions and apparitions. And the errors with which the books of blessed Hermann teem are not to be indicated in this place, since there will be a fitter occasion for this in the Annotations to be placed with the books themselves. This one thing remains to be noted again, that these errors in no way harm the holiness of blessed Hermann Joseph: and understand the same of St. Elizabeth of Schönau. For St. Antoninus, not giving credence to a vision or revelation made to the same St. Elizabeth (whom he wrongly confuses with the daughter of the king of Hungary and wife of the Landgrave of Hesse) about the time at which the Blessed Virgin Mary was assumed into heaven, writes thus Chronicles, third part, title XIX, chapter 11, page 175.: "Nor is anything detracted from the holiness of Elizabeth by this, if she is not believed; because holy men, prophets too, sometimes believe that some things are revealed to them by God by the spirit of prophecy which they draw from their own fancy in their visions": which Baronius approved by his vote Roman Martyrology, 15th of August, note a.. But what I have so far explained by no means aims at persuading that historical secrets, whether past or future, are never opened in ecstasies, but only that visions and ecstasies can be supernatural according to their substance and at the same time joined with a free and fallible exercise of the fancy. If this be so, they have no force.

§ VIII. Streams drawn from the preceding sources.

Some Passions free of the Revelations; From the Passion "Regnante Domino" and from the Revelations of SS. Elizabeth and Hermann, other histories of the martyrdom of St. Ursula have long since been composed: of which it will be enough to indicate a few. The first has the title: "Account of the history of the holy virgins of Agrippina," and is met by me in the manuscript codex of St. Vitus

in Gladbach. It begins with these words: "There was in very ancient time in the parts of Britain, which a people chosen beforehand by God now inhabits, a certain king the mark of whose name worldly antiquity has hidden." It ends in these: "Wherefore let us venerate her" (St. Cordula) "with fitting melodies of hymns and greatness of honour, that with all the saints she may be continually mindful of our order, with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom praise, virtue and power flourish with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ages of ages. Amen." It agrees, apart from the style, in all things with the Passion "Regnante Domino," on which it seems to have been a scholastic exercise. You would say the same of another Passion, of which we have a copy excerpted from a manuscript codex of Vallis Lucens and formerly sent by our Chifflet to our predecessors. Its beginning is: "There was in the borders of Britain a certain king Dinotus, that is, known to God both by life and name; who, religious in all the ceremonies of the catholic profession, etc."; its end is: "The handmaid of God, therefore" (Hildetrude), "reported the divine oracle to the nuns; and it was believed; and thereafter it was established that, since the celebration of the blessed virgins is kept on the day before, the following day should be devoted to the praises of St. Cordula, to the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns through all ages of ages. Amen. The venerable Passion of the virgin choir ends." It has nothing singular except that in it, after the burial of the holy Virgins has been narrated, the following are read: "But from that time, divine religion now growing, not only a custom but in place of a custom an oath grew up among the citizens, that within the precinct of the virginal burial no one to this day dares to bury the body of any dead person whatever." Of which matter there will be a place for disputing elsewhere. In the Indiculus of the Lives of the saints which Smith, a minister of the Anglican church, sent to our predecessors in the year 1694, it is noted that this Passion exists in the London library, codex Otho A. 12, written by Roger, monk of Ford, in the year 1181. I doubt, however, whether he was its author. Since the Revelations of St. Elizabeth are ascribed to the same man, it can easily be that he was only a scribe, accustomed to add his name to the copies he had made.

[79] others impure. Each of those Passions is free of the Revelations of SS. Elizabeth and Hermann. But the following one of Jacobus de Voragine Golden Legend, at the 21st of October. was collected partly from the Passion "Regnante Domino," partly from the writings of St. Elizabeth. It begins thus: "The passion of the eleven thousand virgins was celebrated in this order. In Britain there was a certain most Christian king named Notus; others say Maurus"; and it ends: "When the abbot asked him what this was: and he had narrated to him in order the promise of the virgin, all believing and returning a little after, they found that he had departed to the Lord." Nothing else is to be noted in it besides the following, which are read there: "They suffered in the year of the Lord two hundred and thirty-eight. But the reason of time, as it pleases some, does not sustain that these things were done at such a time. For Sicily was not then a kingdom, nor Constantinople, whereas these queens are said to have been here with the virgins. It is more truly believed that such a martyrdom was celebrated long after the emperor Constantine, when the Goths were raging, namely in the time of the emperor Marcian, as some would have it, who reigned in the year of the Lord three hundred * and fifty-two." It was written before the year 1273 Compare Fabricius, Bibliotheca latina, under Jacobus de Voragine., and the author was chiefly guided by Vincent of Beauvais, who completed his Speculum historiale in the year 1244 Compare Échard and Quétif, Bibliotheca Fratrum Praedicatorum, vol. I, page 233. and brought into it the narration (which is also read in Jacobus de Voragine) of the miracle of the body which had returned of its own accord from some abbey to the basilica of St. Ursula, because it was kept rather negligently there. From this source too Peter de Natalibus, Capgrave and others seem to have drunk. Of the Acts of St. Cunera, which Papebroch showed were written in the fourteenth or fifteenth century and are full of fables Acta SS., vol. II of June, page 559 and following., it does not seem necessary to speak, although the people of Cologne relied on them very much.

* four hundred

§ IX. On Geoffrey of Monmouth and his followers.

[In the eighth or ninth century some traditions about St. Ursula and her companions persisted in Great Britain,] After, then, we have discoursed of the Cologne sources of the Ursuline Passion, we must now go on into Britain; where, long before the old Cologne Passion was written, the most ancient author of all, that of the Sermon on the Feast, reports that traditions about the blessed band existed. For he, discoursing of the origin of the blessed virgins, says: "Many … looking more watchfully at the order of things, report that the island of Britain was alike the mother and the nurse of this multitude known to God. In which opinion without doubt both those who are said to have sent the holy band" (the Britons, namely) "agree, and those who greatly boast that they received it" (the people of Cologne, for instance); "and those midway between them" (the inhabitants of the Batavian island) "build up this very thing by most fitting indications, among whom very many places are seen at the same time made illustrious by the relics of these saints: for they are related to have founded an abode in Batavia also, which the two-horned Rhine makes an island by flowing round it, and to have stayed there for some time." He would have it, then, that the Britons had their own traditions about the virgins of Cologne, the Batavians their own and the people of Cologne theirs; and indeed it was long since the mind of Papebroch that, if anywhere a genuine Passion of St. Ursula and her companions is to be sought, investigations must be made in Britain. These have already been made by many, but in vain; nor do I know that any hope remains to anyone of finding this treasure. Meanwhile Geoffrey of Monmouth must be employed.

[81] Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose life is little known, Of this writer very few things are known. He was called of Monmouth either because he saw the day at Monmouth, which is a celebrated and ancient city of Wales, placed between the rivers Monnow and Wye Compare Tanner, Bibliotheca Britannica, under Gallofredus Monumetensis., or because he was a monk and perhaps prior Compare Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. IV, pages 595 and 597. in the Benedictine priory of Monmouth Godwin, De Praesulibus Angliae, page 654. He was also surnamed Arthur, whether because he was born of a father Arthur, or because he wonderfully celebrated the praises of King Arthur, is uncertain [Tanner, Bibliotheca Britannica, under Gallofredus Monumetensis. Godwin, page 654, from the Preface of William of Newburgh.]. That he was archdeacon of the church of Monmouth, as Bale Scriptores Britanniae, Century II, number 86, vol. I, page 194. and Cave Scriptorum ecclesiasticorum historia, Waldensian age, page 586. would have it, is difficult; since the church of Monmouth was not a cathedral, nor is it established that an archdeacon had yet been established at Monmouth in this age. Whether in the year 1151, as the same Cave Ibid., loc. cit. and Godwin De Praesulibus Angliae, page 654. report, or in the year 1152, as Wharton has it On the church of St. Asaph, page 506., and indeed on the 24th day of February Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. VIII, page 1303., that same man was consecrated bishop of St. Asaph or Elwy in Wales or Cambria is doubtful to me too; although it is certain that a man named Geoffrey, Gallofred or Goffred was then promoted to this see. Ponticus Virunnius first wrote that he was a cardinal History of Britain, book VI, page 53, Giles's edition.; which no prudent man would believe [Compare, however, Tanner, citing Annals written in the middle of the thirteenth century by John of Peterborough, Bibliotheca Britannica, under Gallofredus.]. Since all these things are either false or ambiguous, we shall call him barely Geoffrey of Monmouth; which moreover is his common name among the historians of literary matters.

[82] he himself disclosed the sources of his history. The plan of the History of the kings of Britain, which he wrote, he himself discloses at the threshold. "When," he says [History of the Britons of Geoffrey of Monmouth, book I, section I, page 1, Giles's edition.], "turning over many things and about many things often in my mind, I fell upon the history of the kings of Britain: I wondered that, besides the mention which Gildas and Bede had made of them in a lucid treatise, I had found nothing of the kings who had inhabited Britain before the incarnation of Christ: nothing also of Arthur and the many others who succeeded after the incarnation: although their deeds were established as worthy of eternal praise and are proclaimed pleasantly and by memory by many peoples as if they were written. To me, thinking often such things and of such men, Walter, archdeacon of Oxford, a man learned in the oratorical art and in foreign histories, offered a certain very ancient book of the British speech, which set forth continuously and in order, in most beautiful speeches, the acts of all from Brutus, the first king of the Britons, to Cadwallader, son of Cadwallon. Led, therefore, by his request, although I have not gathered decked-out words within the little gardens of others, yet, content with a rustic style and my own pens, I took care to translate that codex into the Latin speech. For if I had smeared the page with bombastic expressions, I should bring weariness upon the readers, since they would have to linger more in expounding the words than in understanding the history. Favour, then, my little work, Robert, duke of Gloucester, that it may be so corrected under your guidance and admonition that it be thought to have arisen not from the little fountain of Geoffrey of Monmouth, but seasoned with the salt of your Minerva: let it be held the edition of him whom Henry, the illustrious king of the English, begot; whom philosophy instructed in the liberal arts; whom innate uprightness set over soldiers in war; whence Britain now in our times, as if having obtained another Henry, congratulates you with inward affection."

[83] [He was a contemporary of Robert, earl of Gloucester, of Caradoc of Llancarfan, of William of Malmesbury] Further, since Robert, whom Henry I, king of England, had begotten at Caen from an unlawful union, about the year 1107, by marriage with Sibylla or Matilda (for the chroniclers vary about the name), heiress of the county of Gloucester [Compare Dom Bouquet, Recueil des historiens de France, vol. XII, page 764, note a, and pages 801 and 802.], was himself made earl of Gloucester and kept that title until his last day, on which he died on the day before the Kalends of November of the year 1147 at Bristol From the Annals of Margam, in Dom Bouquet, vol. XIII, page 736.; on this head it follows that his book was written by Geoffrey between the year 1107 and 1147; since it is dedicated to Robert himself, duke or earl of Gloucester. But we can indicate the time more accurately. Geoffrey, namely, wrote while Caradoc of Llancarfan, William of Malmesbury and Henry of Huntingdon were living: which is established from Geoffrey's own epilogue [History of the kings of Britain, book XII, §20, page 228.]: "But their kings," he says, "who succeeded in Wales from that time" (namely from the death of Cadwallader, who departed this life in the year 689) "I leave in the matter of writing to Caradoc of Llancarfan, my contemporary. But the kings of the Saxons to William of Malmesbury and Henry of Huntingdon:

whom I bid keep silent about the kings of the Britons, since they do not have that book of the British speech which Walter, archdeacon of Oxford, brought from Britain" (the Lesser, or Armorica): "which, truly published concerning their history in honour of the aforesaid princes, I have taken care to translate in this manner into the Latin speech." Of Caradoc of Llancarfan I have found nothing certain enough Compare Tanner, Bibliotheca, under Caradocus.. William of Malmesbury is held to have written the Deeds of the kings of the English between the year 1114 and 1123, and, while he was applying himself to writing the Historia novella, to have died in the year 1142 [Duffus Hardy, Works of William of Malmesbury, preface, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. CLXXIX, col. 947.].

[84] As now regards Henry of Huntingdon, before book VIII of his Histories I find this noted by Savile Rerum Anglicarum scriptores, page 221.: "Between the seventh book and that which is here the eighth, some, from manuscript codices, interpose two other books. [and to Henry of Huntingdon, from whom it is established that Geoffrey's books were written before the year 1135 or certainly 1139.] The beginning of the former: This is the year which comprehends the writer; of the latter: On the illustrious men of the English and the things through them. In the former book are contained three letters: the first to King Henry, the first of that name, on the series of the most powerful kings who have been throughout the world up to his times; the second to Warin the Breton on the series of the British kings from Geoffrey Arthur. The third to Walter, archdeacon of Oxford, his companion, on contempt of the world. The latter book is on the Miracles, written almost entirely from Bede." These books, although, as Savile says, written without doubt by Henry of Huntingdon, the editor himself omits; because they would teach nothing new about the affairs of the English. But we must consider the beginning of the former book Compare Tanner, Bibliotheca, page 394, note a.: "This is the year which comprehends the writer, namely the thirty-fifth year of the reign of the glorious and most invincible Henry, king of the English, the sixty-ninth year from the coming of the Normans, a most excellent people, in our times, into England." From this, namely, it manifestly follows that in the year 1135 the history of Geoffrey of Monmouth already existed, since Henry of Huntingdon was abridging it in this very year, which agrees with the thirty-fifth year of Henry's reign, begun in the year 1100, and with the sixty-ninth year of the coming of the Normans, who occupied England in the year 1066. Those things, however, seem to have been noted four or five years in advance. For in the Letter to Warin, part of which is prefixed to the Chronicles of Robert of Torigni In Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae, vol. VI, page 481., Henry himself wrote that he had inquired in vain into the deeds of the kings of the Britons before Gaius Julius Caesar, until at last in the year which is 1139 from the incarnation of the Lord (this year is accurate [Compare the Chronicle of Robert of Torigni at the years 1138 and 1139, ibid., pages 493 and 494.]), when he was setting out for Rome with Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, at Bec, where the same archbishop had been abbot, he found, astonished, writings of the aforesaid matters. For he met there Robert of Torigni, a monk of the same place, a man most zealous as an inquirer into and collector of books both divine and secular. When he questioned him about the order of the history of the kings of the English published by Henry of Huntingdon, and had gladly heard what he was asking from him, he offered him to read a book about the kings of the Britons who held the island before the English; excerpts of which, as is fitting in a letter, namely very briefly, he sent to Warin. "Aeneas … you will find." From all which it follows that Geoffrey did not publish his history in the year 1147, as some would have it, much less in the year 1150 or 1152, as others have said, but between the year 1114, in which William of Malmesbury began to give his labour to explaining the affairs of the English, and the year 1135, in which Henry of Huntingdon would have wished it to seem used by him, or at least 1139, in which he actually found Geoffrey's book with the monks of Bec.

[85] [Walter of Oxford, from whom Geoffrey received the British Chronicle, is different from Walter Map,] From this too it is permitted to correct some errors about Walter, archdeacon of Oxford, from whom Geoffrey received the British book and to whom Henry of Huntingdon inscribed his volume on Contempt of the world. At least three Walters, namely, are confused by some [Thompson, in Giles, History of Britain of Geoffrey of Monmouth, preface, page XIV.], namely our Walter, archdeacon of Oxford before the year 1135 or at least 1139, Walter of Coutances, likewise archdeacon of Oxford, and Walter Map; and so the deeds of each are attributed to one. But Walter Map, who is also Mapp, Maps, Mes, never seems to have been a cleric, since he is called by Rusticiano of Pisa, his contemporary and companion, Messire Gautier Map et chevalier le roy Sir Walter Map, and knight of the king Compare Histoire littéraire de France, vol. XV, page 496.. He was still living in the year 1210. He translated from Latin into French some fictitious histories (Saint-Graal and Lancelot du Lac); and since that kind of vernacular poets was given to sharp sayings against clerics and insulting, nothing prevents some Latin poems most hostile to the whole ecclesiastical state from being ascribed to him [Bale, Scriptores Britanniae, Century III, number 61, vol. I, page 373 and following; Oudin, Commentarii de Scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, vol. II, col. 1645 and following; Cave, Scriptorum ecclesiasticorum historia, page 622.].

[86] likewise from Walter of Coutances; Walter of Coutances in Normandy was archdeacon of Oxford before the year of Christ 1185; in which, raised to the see of Lincoln [Compare Gallia Christiana, vol. XI, col. 51; Godwin, De Praesulibus Angliae, page 344.], he left that office to Hugh de Nonant, who held it three years, being promoted in the year 1186 to the see of Coventry or Lichfield [Compare the Quadripartite History of St. Thomas of Canterbury, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. CCVII, col. 278. Godwin, De Praesulibus Angliae, page 368.]. When, however, Walter of Coutances took up the archdeaconry of Oxford is a rather obscure matter. Ralph de Diceto, narrating at the year 1173 how Adulf de Warneville, hating the courtly life, entrusted to Walter his functions as chancellor of the king of England, calls him barely "Walter of Coutances, canon of Rouen" Dom Bouquet, Recueil des historiens de France, vol. XIII, page 191.; on the other hand Benedict of Peterborough, biographer of Henry II, relating at the year 1177 a double embassy of the king of England, one into Flanders, the other into Normandy, in the former place calls the same "Walter of Coutances, archdeacon of Oxford, the king's seal-bearer" Ibid., page 168,, then "Walter of Coutances, archdeacon of Oxford, vice-chancellor of the king" Ibid., page 169.: so that he seems to have been endowed with this benefice between the year 1173 and 1177. Add that he departed this life in the year 1207, in the middle of the month of November, after he had occupied, from the year 1185, having left the see of Lincoln, the chair of Rouen for twenty-two years; and that he was not then much broken in strength, since in the same year he dedicated the church of the abbey of L'Isle-Dieu Gallia Christiana, vol. XI, col. 51 and following.. From which it is clear that he cannot be the same as the Walter, archdeacon of Oxford, from whom Geoffrey of Monmouth received the British codex. His Life will be given by the historians of literary matters in France Histoire littéraire de la France, vol. XVI, page 535 and following. and the writers of the new Gallia Christiana Gallia Christiana, vol. XI, col. 51 and following.. In the former is read also the Life of another archdeacon of Oxford, of whom we have made mention, namely Hugh de Nonant Histoire littéraire de la France, vol. XV, page 310 and following..

[87] but he is the same as the Walter who is called Calenius, a learned man. From the things which we have discussed above about the age of Geoffrey of Monmouth, it is clear about what time that Walter lived who brought the British book into England and who is commonly surnamed Walter Calenius. Tanner would have it that he was already archdeacon of Oxford in the second year of Henry I (so at least I understand the sigla, and this is the year of Christ 1101) Bibliotheca Britannica, under Calenius Gualterus., alleging the manuscript Cartulary of Abingdon; certainly he discharged this office before the death of Robert, bishop of Lincoln, who went to those above in the year 1122 Ibid., loc.. That he held that benefice in the year 1135 the same Tanner declares from the earlier edition of the Monasticon Anglicanum Vol. I, page 525., and in the year 1157 from the manuscript Chronicle of Osney. Some would have it that he was promoted to the episcopal chair of Oxford: but this see is not older than Henry VIII; others to that of Exeter; but this too cannot stand, since on the fourth day before the Ides of April of the year 1138, in the council of Northampton, an archdeacon named Robert was set over the pastoral care of the church of Exeter, which had been deprived of pastoral care by William Warelwast having been taken from the midst; and, when Robert, bishop of Exeter, died in the year 1155, Robert, dean of Sarum, succeeded Compare Monasticon Anglicanum novum, vol. II, page 515.. Although, then, Walter Calenius did not shine with the episcopal mitre, yet it cannot be denied that he was a man of good name. Which not only the archidiaconal office of Oxford, customarily conferred on most weighty men, discloses, but above all the fact that Geoffrey of Monmouth, to win authority and credence for his book with Robert, earl of Gloucester, has nothing more potent than to relate that it was brought to him by Walter, archdeacon of Oxford, a man learned in the oratorical art and in foreign histories. Recall moreover the praise given to this Walter by Henry of Huntingdon.

[88] [Geoffrey of Monmouth was guided by a British Chronicle, which has been sought in vain by us;] That the book was found by Walter in Armorican Britain we have already observed from Geoffrey: but whence some, for instance Wood Historia et antiquitates universitatis Oxoniensis, vol. I, page 47., learned that it was found at Dol, or at least carried from there into England, is hidden from me. If we add to these things that Geoffrey's version was at once spread through England, and that there was no one who denied that the British book had been brought into England or who accused Walter or Geoffrey of fiction; for my part I do not see how there can be any room for suspicion that Walter hammered out this codex from his own brain, or that Geoffrey feigned (as writers of fables now sometimes do) that a volume previously unknown had come into his hands and been translated by him into Latin, while he himself had devised the whole. There were in that age those who sharply censured Geoffrey; and these surely would not have kept silent about the crime of substitution, if there had been room for it: much less did anyone think of making Walter guilty. Whether copies of that ancient British work survive in England is very doubtful to me. Several [Ussher, De Britannicarum ecclesiarum primordiis,

page 57, edition of 1639; Oudin, Commentarius de Scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, vol. II, col. 1413; Tanner, Bibliotheca Britannica, under Gallofredus; Giles, History of the Britons of Geoffrey of Monmouth, preface, page XVI and following.] indeed affirm it; and to teach me what the truth of the matter was, the celebrated Richard Simpson gladly spent his labour, an industrious searcher of libraries and well deserving for his historical writings, especially on the persecutions of the Catholics in England. Hear what he wrote to me: "I inspected the catalogue of the Cottonian manuscript codices, which are now kept in the British Museum at London; but there is no codex there similar to that which Geoffrey of Monmouth used, or at least in which anything about St. Ursula and her companions is contained. It will help to declare these things a little more broadly. There exists a codex marked Cotton Ms. Caligula A. VI; in whose article I is a Chronicle of Wales, beginning from the year 720 and ending in the year 1293, written in English by Humphrey Lloyd and finished on the 17th of July of the year 1559. Article II of the same codex is a fragment of the same Chronicle, written in Welsh by the same Lloyd and also beginning from the year 720, or from the deeds of Cadwallader: in the preliminaries there is no mention of St. Ursula. I come now to the second codex, marked Claudius chapter 4, page 247. In it are read 'Annals of Wales of an uncertain author up to the year 1296'; by which they seem more recent than Geoffrey, nor do they contain anything about St. Ursula. Article V of the third codex, marked Claudius D. VII, exhibits a 'Fragment on the flamens and archflamens with the names of the sons of Brutus,' nor is it anything else, as is noted there, than 'the figment of the flamens and archflamens, which nowhere appears in the old British book which Geoffrey translated.' However that may be, the Ursuline matter is helped nothing by this. Besides, I found nothing else that can be referred in any manner to Geoffrey's history; but it must be observed that several presses in which the historical books were formerly kept were consumed by fire, and so many chronicles are no longer found. Add to these that it was told me by the keeper of the chronicles, who spends his labour in arranging them and has already noted many things on this matter, that a British Chronicle which preceded Geoffrey had never been found by him, and that he now held it certain that the foundations on which Geoffrey built his History of the Britons no longer exist. It is to be lamented that the keeper, who had studied the British Chronicles, died in the month of December of the year 1856, nor is there now anyone to whom the British tongue and history are sufficiently known." To these things I shall observe nothing else, except that Ussher would have it that the codex reviewed in the first place is one of the copies in which was contained the British Chronicle which Geoffrey used. At most it could be admitted that the three writings enumerated were collected partly from that Chronicle, no otherwise than Geoffrey's History itself.

[89] which he probably, after the old manner of translators, Nevertheless we by no means doubt that Geoffrey received from Walter a book on the deeds of the ancient kings of Britain and translated it from the vernacular speech into Latin. But how faithfully must be inquired. Certainly it would have been worth the trouble if anyone had at some time compared the British copies with the Latin; but since this has never been done by anyone, what is to be thought of Geoffrey's fidelity must be learned from elsewhere. Further, he would surely stray far from the truth who should judge that the ancient translators prescribed for themselves the same laws which the more recent are accustomed to observe. For now it is permitted to add nothing to the original, to take away nothing; but, as far as can be done, the version is to be a mirror by which the original book itself is represented. Not the same was the reason and norm formerly. Rufinus in his little Book on the adulteration of the books of Origen says Migne, Patrologia, vol. XXI, col. 122.: "Wherever, then, we found anything in his books contrary to what had been piously defined by him in the other places about the Trinity, we either passed it over as adulterated and alien, or set it forth according to that rule which we have frequently found affirmed by him"; and elsewhere he says that he translates "saving the reason of his faith" Ibid., col. 549 and 550, Apology, book I, numbers 12 and 13.; which he repeats in many places. The same was done by Jerome when he translated some books of Origen into the Latin idiom: "in which, although some stumbling-blocks are found in the Greek, he so filed and purged everything in translating that the Latin reader finds nothing in them which disagrees with our faith" Ibid., col. 122. Nor only where it was a question of faith did translators assume this liberty to themselves: they used the same in historical matters also: for who does not know that the Rufinian version of the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius is neither everywhere faithful nor entire Ibid., col. 21.? For many things were added at will, many taken away, many changed Compare the Preface of Henri Valois to the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius.. And Jerome in the Preface to the version of the Eusebian Chronicle advises readers to assign the credibility of the Greek parts to their author (Eusebius), "and let them know," so he goes on, "that what we have inserted anew has been culled from other most approved men. For it must be known that I have used in part the office both of translator and of writer, because I have both rendered the Greek most faithfully and added some things which seemed to me to have been omitted, especially in the Roman history" Chronicle of Eusebius, translated by Jerome, Scaliger's edition, page 4.. Nor did the ancients always advise that they joined the office of writer with that of translator: certainly Rufinus advises nothing of the kind in his version of Eusebius: nor did they think that they sinned on that account, since they thought not so much of the fidelity of the version as of the usefulness of the book (whatever its origin might be).

[90] augmented and adorned somewhat when he translated it into the Latin speech. According to this norm, then, and not according to the laws which we now follow in translating books, judgment is to be made of the version of Geoffrey of Monmouth; and so, that he, after the example of the ancients, added some things from his own store, far from being to be wondered at, was on the contrary altogether to be expected. Wherefore the censure of William of Newburgh, a contemporary of Geoffrey, does not seem unjust (although it is harsh and little modest); who in the preface of his English history marked the History of the Britons with this verdict: "A certain writer," he says, "has emerged in our times to expiate the stains of the Britons, forging ridiculous figments about them; and raising them with impudent vanity far above the virtue of the Macedonians and Romans. He is called Geoffrey, having the surname of Arthur: because he has cloaked under the honourable name of History, by the above-mentioned colouring of Latin speech, fables about Arthur taken from the ancient figments of the Britons AND AUGMENTED FROM HIS OWN. Who also with greater daring published as authentic prophecies, supported by immovable truth, the most fallacious divinations of a certain Merlin, to which certainly he added very much of his own while he poured them over into Latin." Ussher tried to indicate a specimen of an addition. For he compared the Chronicle written in the Cambro-British tongue, which passed from the library of Humphrey Lhuyd into the Cottonian and was held by him to be a copy of the British book which Geoffrey used (it is the same of which above at number 88), with chapter or section XIX of book IV of Geoffrey, where it is related that before the conversion of king Lucius there were in Britain twenty-eight flamens and three archflamens; in whose place as many bishops and archbishops were then substituted; and he found these things by no means in that Cambro-British Chronicle De Britannicarum ecclesiarum primordiis, page 57.. But it does not seem that one should agree with Ussher, holding that Chronicle to be the same as the book brought from Armorican Britain into England. But there remains the testimony of William of Newburgh, plainly declaring that the fabulous deeds of Arthur and the divinations of Merlin were very much augmented by Geoffrey. Wherefore there is legitimate suspicion that elsewhere too some things were added; but it is not credible that entire histories were newly feigned; and so, as regards the Ursuline deeds, I am altogether persuaded that some things were narrated about them in the British book which agree with Geoffrey's narration: at most Geoffrey added some ornaments.

[91] [That the authority of this Chronicle cannot be great is gathered from St. Gildas and from the age of that chronicle;] It remains, then, to inquire what authority can be in that British book. There must be considered first of all the words of St. Gildas the Wise, writing a few years after the middle of the sixth century [Liber querulus, part I, history, chapter 2 on Contumacy, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. LXIX, col. 335.]: "Keeping silent the old years of savage tyrants, … I will try nevertheless to bring forward those things which in the times of the Roman emperors it" (Britain) "both suffered and inflicted on other citizens placed far away; as far as I can, however, not so much from the writings of the homeland or the monuments of writers (since these, if there were any, either burned by the fires of enemies or carried further away by the fleet of the exile perhaps exiles of the citizens, do not appear) as from overseas report; which, interrupted by frequent gaps, is not clear enough." From these it is established that in the middle of the sixth century neither in Great Britain nor in Armorica, in which St. Gildas was writing his Liber Querulus, did any writings or monuments of writers appear which looked to the age in which the Romans possessed the island (and they possessed it until the beginning of the fifth century); then that the overseas reports, or those of Great Britain, seemed better to St. Gildas than the Armorican; third, that these very overseas reports were not clear enough, since they were interrupted by gaps; fourth and finally, that St. Gildas nevertheless doubted whether monuments of writers, if there were any, had been carried further away by the fleet of the exiled citizens; but since these exiles did not live in Lesser Britain, whence came the British book of Walter, archdeacon of Oxford, surely that doubt by no means pertains to the present question. Wherefore, since that British book was most certainly written after the twelfth day before the Kalends of May of the year of the Lord's incarnation 689, on which Cadwallader is narrated in it, "loosed from the contagion of the flesh, to have entered the hall of the heavenly kingdom" [Geoffrey, History of the kings of Britain, book XII, §18, page 229.], the reader easily understands that the traditions which are contained in it are not to be made very much of; for they are at least a whole century more recent than the writing of St. Gildas the Wise, in whose age they were already interrupted by gaps: and indeed their authority is the less the more prone to fables the British nation was; of which assertion countless proofs exist in our work. For as the British church (I mean the Armorican and the overseas one) was most fertile in Saints, while it has very few genuine Acts of Saints, it exhibits countless filled with portentous fables.

[92] Nor is the authority of Geoffrey great. Moreover, that writer of the British book, and Geoffrey from him, had a singular cause for fabling, namely the vindicating of the fortitude of the Britons, whose cowardice was commonly accused by the historians.

It is no wonder, then, if, as William of Newburgh says, "in the book which he calls the history of the Britons, no one except one ignorant of the old histories is allowed to doubt how wantonly and impudently he lies in everything." "I pass over," Newburgh goes on, "whatever he raved in praise of the Britons against the faith of historical truth, from the time of Julius Caesar, under whom the Britons began to be of the Roman dominion, to the time of Honorius, under whom the Romans withdrew voluntarily from Britain on account of the more urgent affairs of the commonwealth; he makes Arthur himself illustrious and remarkable above all men; so that he triumphs at will over the Angles, Picts and Scots; nay, also over the Irish, Goths, Gauls, Danes: then, with a more lavish licence of lying, he makes great kings of the world come together with the Romans against Arthur, namely of Greece, Africa, Spain, of the Parthians, Medes, Ituraeans, of Libya, Egypt, Babylon, Bithynia, Phrygia, Syria, Boeotia, Crete, and relates that all were conquered by him in one battle, and in a speech made to his men he boasts that thirty other kings had been subdued by him alone: but the fabler will not find so many kingdoms in our world, besides the kingdoms mentioned, which he had not yet subdued anywhere." Since, however, the history of St. Ursula does not look immediately to extolling the glory of the Britons, we should be excessive if we held it in the same place as the deeds of King Arthur; and on the other hand we should sin no less if we attributed great authority to it. A middle way, therefore, is to be followed, namely that from the things which Geoffrey relates of St. Ursula and her companions we understand the popular tradition which was circulated about them in the eighth or following centuries; nor indeed on any head is Geoffrey's narration of greater weight than that which is related in the more ancient Cologne Passion.

[93] Some writers are related who used Geoffrey as guide. Although these things are so, Geoffrey nevertheless had several followers, yet scarcely any who trod closely in his footsteps. Ponticus Virunnius, who lived in the fifteenth and at the beginning of the sixteenth century, only abridged Geoffrey's History [Ponticus Virunnius, History of Britain, book V, page 48 and following, Giles's edition.]; John Major, historian of Scotland On the deeds of the Scots, book I, chapter 14., approved a great part of Geoffrey's narration, yet adding some things from his own store or from the narratives of others, for example that the Ursuline virgins suffered in the year 225 Compare Crombach, pages 181 and 182.. At about the same time lived Hector Boece, himself also a Scottish historian, who, since he judged that the Ursuline martyrdom was to be put together with the irruption of Attila into the Gauls, joined the history of this time, known from the Latin writers, with Geoffrey's views [Rerum Scoticarum book V, chapter 42, page 75 and following, Edinburgh edition, 1715.]. Crombach complains very much of him S. Ursula vindicata, pages 182 and 183.; and indeed he relates some things resting on no authority and little to be approved. Leslie, bishop of Ross, follows Boece closely, except that he is more sparing of rhetorical pigments De rebus Scotorum, book IV, chapter 41, page 129 and following, Rome, 1578.. When Baronius had fallen upon a Roman manuscript codex in which the books of Geoffrey of Monmouth were contained, he seemed to himself to have uncovered a treasure: which however he so used in the Annals and the Notes to the Roman Martyrology that he cut away with prudent shears the things that seemed too incredible. But Baronius will have to be met further below. But as soon as the most excellent man entered upon this way, he had several who followed him. Among these comes first of all Hermann Fleien, canon of St. Ursula at Cologne, who however corrected Baronius in this, that whereas the latter had placed the arena of the holy martyrs on the Batavian island and in the time of Gratian, he brilliantly showed that this praise must be given to Cologne and that the slaughter was perpetrated by the soldiers of Attila. Partly to Fleien, namely as to the place, partly to Baronius, as regards the time, Miraeus came over in the year 1608 in his Disquisition on the Holy Virgins of Cologne; but two years later a certain anonymous writer, or rather Richard White of Basingstoke, who wished to lie hidden under the sigla R. V. B., preferred to follow Geoffrey barely in a little book whose title is: "Brief explanation of the martyrdom of St. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins, by R. V. B., printed at Douai in the year 1610 with the types of Pierre Auroi." But the whole little work is almost a paraphrase of Geoffrey's statements with a rather copious little commentary, as he calls it. Countless others have written of the Ursuline martyrdom; so that, if anyone wished to write an Ursuline bibliography, he would easily find many thousands of names. But that business is not ours.

§ X. Whether SS. Ursula and her companions suffered about the year 238. On the origin of Pope Cyriacus.

Various systems about the time of the martyrdom of St. Ursula. Three chief controversies are agitated about St. Ursula and her Companions, of which the first looks to the time, the second to the place, the third to the number of the martyrs. The rest are of less moment. Concerning the time there are chiefly three systems, since some would have it that they suffered in the year 237 or 238: which opinion before the rest is connected with the fable of pope Cyriacus; others about the year 383, others finally in the year 451. The first opinion agrees with the traditions of Cologne, received almost from the end of the twelfth century; the second comes nearer to the British ones; the third finally draws the arguments by which it is supported from history. Let us now discourse of these in order, a word however being first said about a certain fourth opinion, which is more ancient than all the rest and by which the slaughter of St. Ursula and her companions is tied to the reign of the emperor Maximian. The author, namely, of the Sermon on the Feast, number 7, relates that in his time some argued that the holy virgins had been brought from the East (that error, arisen from the ill-understood title of Clematius, was formerly read at Cologne in the third antiphon at Lauds), "as if they had been directed even to Cologne either by the obedience of an expedition for the guarding of the Roman peace with the martyrs of the Theban company, or for the sake of praying had been destined, according to a purpose, to these places of the pagans at that time"; by which words their Passion is connected with the martyrdom of SS. Gereon and his companions, who already in the sixth century were held (and perhaps not undeservedly) to be part of the Theban Legion Compare Acta SS., vol. V of October, page 22.; by which opinion they would have to be thought to have perished under Maximian Herculius between the year 285 and 305; in which space of time the Theban Legion fought so gloriously for God near Agaunum, Bonn, Cologne and Xanten. But the same writer preferred another narration to this, judging namely that the blessed band came from Britain "when this island was shaken by a most atrocious persecution of the Christians by order of Maximian; at which time these blessed women, known in all things and merits to God alone, made their way towards the East and, the savagery of the lictors meeting them, adorned this land of Cologne by the shedding of their holy blood"; by which words again their martyrdom is referred to the age of Maximian Herculius, or rather to the years 304 and 305, in which the persecution proclaimed by Diocletian and Maximian raged against the Christians in Britain.

[95] She did not suffer in the time of Maximian Herculius; But that the people of Cologne then believed that St. Ursula and her companions were slain in the reign of Maximian, there seems to have been no other cause than that SS. Gereon and his companions, and other surviving bands of the Theban Legion, had met a cruel death under this emperor: for peoples are prone to connecting similar things; prone also to attributing all cruel deeds to one tyrant whose name is better known than the rest; so that in certain parts of Gaul, in which the fame of Julian the apostate spread most, almost all the martyrs are said to have been examined by this very Caesar and punished with the penalty of death; although it is certain and evident from history that he wished to seem a Christian as long as he lived in the Gauls, and did not pass openly over to the camp of the pagans before he had left those provinces Ibid., vol. VII of October, page 802. Next, it must be considered that the writer of the Sermon on the Feast knew nothing certain of the time, but that these things were said by him from conjecture. For when he had related the tradition by which the holy virgins were declared to have come to Cologne from Britain, he asked himself on what occasion this happened; and since he had met in the Venerable Bede, as we showed at number 16, a brief narrative of the persecution of Diocletian, or rather of Maximian Herculius, in Britain, he decided that the venerable bands migrated from that island into Germany when the British Christians were so ill-treated in their homeland. But since, as we shall afterwards make manifest, there is no doubt that blessed Ursula with her companions was slaughtered by the Huns; and the Huns had not yet come into Germany at that time; this opinion is to be made of no account.

[96] Nor do we need any other argument to overthrow the opinion of those who determine that the most holy band, with St. Cyriacus the pope as companion, was slain in the year 237 or 238. [nor in the year 238; which note of time was added in the twelfth century to some copies of the Passion Regnante Domino:] This rests on no other foundations than the clause of the Cologne Passion whose beginning is "Regnante Domino" and on the Elisabethan and Hermannian Revelations; let us inquire what of truth can be in these. At the end of the aforesaid Passion, as it has been published, these words are read: "They suffered in the year 238"; and that these were likewise already read in the time of St. Elizabeth is beyond doubt; since her chief Revelations depend on this. But it is very probable, not to say certain, that this addition was added to the Passion in the twelfth century. For that it has the form of an addition is plain. Then, since in chapter XIV St. Ursula with her companions is said to have been slain by the Huns, who laid waste the lands of the Gauls, of Germany and of Italy, Attila and his savage army are plainly indicated. And who does not know that these things by no means agree with the year 238? Moreover Sigebert of Gembloux, who certainly read the Passion "Regnante Domino," does not seem to have found in it that the most holy band fell in the year 238; nay, he referred the Ursuline martyrdom to the middle of the fifth century, in which Attila made so many slaughters in these parts: judge the same of Otto of Freising; nay, also of Theodoric, the sacristan of Deutz, who, as Crombach himself is witness Page 1004., wrote a Chronicle from the creation of the world to the year 1163, while the digging up of the relics was at its height; and in it one may read this From the manuscript.: "Whose king Attila shook Gaul and Germany with equal horror of dread, and, almost whole cities of Europe being overthrown, whatever he could reach, like a burning fire, like a scattering whirlwind, he consumed; who, among his other crimes, while he was besieging Cologne, destroyed the army of eleven thousand virgins with all who were with them"; which the more

are to be considered because they were written, or at least were not changed, when St. Elizabeth had her Revelations. Finally we have transcripts of the Passion "Regnante Domino" taken from the manuscript codices of St. Ghislain, of the Charterhouse near Trajectum Inferius (Utrecht), of St. Paul in the Sonian forest near Brussels, of the abbey of Vallicella and of the monastery of Mores of the Cistercian order, formerly in the diocese of Langres; and in none of these is that clause read.

[97] [St. Elizabeth connected the history of the fabulous pope Cyriacus with this time:] Who added the year 238 to some copies is hidden; but I have said that it is ascertained from the books of St. Elizabeth that in the middle of the twelfth century it had already been placed in some codices. For in chapter VII of her Revelations, where St. Verena discourses of the fictitious Cyriacus and explains with what joy that pope received the Ursuline virgins, these things occur: "At the time at which we entered the city of Rome, a holy man named Cyriacus presided over the apostolic see: … and he had already ruled the Roman church for a whole year and eleven weeks, and was the nineteenth in the number of the Roman pontiffs… But on the night which was next after our coming it was revealed to him by the Lord that, leaving the apostolic see, he would set out with us… And the venerable father Cyriacus himself did not depart from the city until by his own counsel another, named Antherus, had been substituted for him." And below, chapter 14: "At a certain time," says St. Elizabeth, "I inquired of St. Verena, when she had presented herself to be seen by me, as was suggested to me by a certain brother, who was the author of the martyrdom of that blessed army: for according to the consideration of the narration which was made in the preceding things about the aforesaid pope, by no means, as some think, was Attila, king of the Huns, the author of that persecution, but his persecution followed after the space of many years. To which question she answered thus: When we were at Rome, there were there at that time two wicked princes, whose names were Maximus and Africanus, who, seeing that our multitude was great and that many flocked to us and associated themselves with us, were vehemently indignant against us, and feared lest perhaps through us the Christian religion should much increase and be strengthened. Whence, when they had explored our route by which we were to go, they sent with haste envoys to a certain kinsman of theirs named Julius, who was prince of the nation of the Huns, urging him to lead out his army, bring persecution upon us and destroy us. Who, quickly acquiescing in their will, going out with an armed multitude, rushed upon us when we had come to Cologne, and there shed our blood." In the Hermannian Revelations too there is much talk of pope Cyriacus.

[98] That note of time has no authority. Let us stop here a little. First of all, as regards the year 238 added at the end of the Passion "Regnante Domino," no one would now deny that it is of no authority. I pass over, then, that the addition "They suffered in the year 238" was probably added in the twelfth century, so that I may come to other things. Where above we were speaking of the Sermon on the Feast, we indicated another, older Cologne tradition, or, if you prefer, conjecture; from which it is clear that there was nothing certain about the time among the Ubii. Next, the Passion "Regnante Domino" was not written before the tenth century, as we made manifest above at number 24: and what credence (even if anyone should contend that the note of time was added from the beginning) will be given to so recent a monument, if it be compared with the thing itself? Third and finally, the Ursuline virgins are there said to have been slain by the Huns; whereas certainly in the year 238 the Huns had not yet been seen in these parts. By which last argument the Revelations of Schönau and Steinfeld also are shaken, in which the blessed martyrs are likewise reported to have been slain by the Huns before the middle of the third century. But these Revelations have other notes of time, which it will help to have examined.

[99] [To make these things probable to himself Crombach was forced to throw everything into confusion;] St. Verena, with whom St. Elizabeth seemed to herself to have held conversation, declared that at the same time at which they were at Rome there were there two wicked princes whose names were Maximus and Africanus. Crombach judged that under these princes consuls lie hidden, not indeed of that year itself, but designated for the following year S. Ursula vindicata, pages 90 and 91.. For since he thought with Baronius Ecclesiastical Annals, at the year 238, number 1. that the year of Christ 238 ran in the consulship of C. Julius Verus Maximinus Augustus and Africanus, and knew also from this source that the consulship of Maximinus and Africanus coincided with the second year of the empire usurped by him, and moreover that Maximinus seemed to have raged against the Christians from the beginning of his domination Compare Pagi, Critique of Baronius, at the year 235, numbers 3 and 4.; he saw that it could not be that the Roman pilgrimage of ten thousand virgins, which he was defending, was undertaken in the year 238. Hear him S. Ursula vindicata, page 89.: "A much firmer reason, often repeated, from the consensus of sacred and profane history, calls us back to the earlier year of Severus and Quintianus (for this according to Baronius coincides with the year of Christ 237): for the favour, indulgence and benevolent will of the Caesar Alexander toward the Christians makes the Roman pilgrimage very easy; whose authority held back the consuls, the senate and the Roman people from inflicting slaughter on the virgins: but who would think it credible that in the following year, when Maximinus had already declared by public edicts a most monstrous war on the prelates and teachers of the Church, so many virgins with bishops dared to accomplish with impunity so great a journey through Italy, despising the imperial laws: and were not slaughtered at Rome by Maximus, prefect of the city, the slayer of the pontiff Antherus: nor by the consuls Maximus and Africanus, present and most greedy of Christian blood?" And for this cause Crombach departs from the clause of the Passion "Regnante Domino," which otherwise he contends can be violated by no one, as a sacred thing. But all these things cannot stand. For from the time when the consular fasti were published and a certain reckoning of times could be entered upon, it has been perfectly understood that by the consulship of Severus and Quintianus the year of Christ 235 is designated, in which Alexander Severus was slain on the 10th of February or the 19th of March by order of Maximinus, his successor; by the consulship of Maximinus and Africanus the following year; but the year 237 by the consulship of Perpetuus and Cornelianus, and the year 238 by the consulship of Pius or Ulpius and Pontianus. Wherefore, for Crombach to agree with these, he would have had at least to ascribe the martyrdom of St. Ursula and her companions to the year 235.

[100] nor can they in any way be harmonized with the fasti of the consuls. But as he drew the consulship of Maximinus and Africanus forward, others drew it backward; of whom Papebroch says Propylaeum of May, page * 31.: "It seems ridiculous enough that Maximinus (Maximus to others) and Africanus, consuls of the aforesaid year (236), should be drawn to some later year, if not as ordinary (for others are named in the Fasti) at least as suffect: and that not only the first (who indeed was also emperor) but also the second should be endowed with the title of prince, as a colleague in the empire." And indeed this change makes the way far more difficult; since thus we are brought into the middle of the empire of Maximinus and into the time in which the sword of persecution raged most, and certainly the Ursuline band could not have come to Rome with impunity. Nothing, then, is accomplished by all these things; and if anyone wishes henceforth to stand by the Elisabethan traditions, let him choose between the year 238, in which somewhere at the end of the old Passion the holy martyrs are said to have been slain, and the year 236, in which the emperor Maximianus and Africanus, indicated in the Schönau Revelations, came forth as consuls; but let him by no means strive to harmonize these with each other; and so, if he continues to defend the Roman pilgrimage of the eleven thousand virgins, let him refer it to one or the other year. But if he sees that in the reign of Maximinus (the most savage tyrant of the Christians, this pilgrimage could not have taken place, as Crombach himself confessed,) it would not be enough to desert the clause of the Passion "Regnante Domino" and the Revelations so far as to affirm that that pilgrimage was undertaken by the pious virgins in the year 235, or rather 234 (for in winter-time the Alps were not easily crossed): but it would be necessary for him to demonstrate that Maximinus was then at Rome, and not in Persia Compare Döllinger, Hippolytus and Kallistus, page 70. or in Germany [Compare Tillemont, Histoire des Empereurs, Sévère Alexandre, article 35, and Notes on Maximin I, note 1.]; that Africanus was already known; and, what affects the Schönau Revelations much more, that in the year 234, or before the autumn of the year 235, St. Anterus was promoted to the Roman chair of Peter. No thread, then, offers itself by which the Daedalian path among the later traditions of Cologne may be directed.

[101] [The revelations of St. Elizabeth on this matter and also on the authors of the Ursuline slaughter arose partly from false titles, partly from catalogues of the pontiffs] But whence at last did these things emerge? When, as is narrated in chapter VII of the Schönau Revelations, a stone had been found, or at least offered by the diggers, on which these words were inscribed:

CYRIACUS PAPA ROMANUS

QUI CUM GAUDIO SUSCEPIT

SANCTAS VIRGINES ET CUM EIS

COLONIAM REVERSUS MARTYRIUM

SUSCEPIT ET S. ALINA V.

[Cyriacus, Roman pope, who received the holy virgins with joy and, returning with them to Cologne, underwent martyrdom; and St. Alina, virgin.]

this was given according to custom to blessed Elizabeth to be confirmed, or rather that she might receive confirmation from heaven, and indeed from St. Verena. Not only was the stone confirmed, but the history of St. Cyriacus was also heard, "who did not depart from the city until by his own counsel another, named Antherus, had been substituted for him": for that Anterus ascended the chair of Peter about the year 238, in which we have seen that according to some copies of the Passion "Regnante Domino" blessed Ursula and her companions suffered, could be gathered from Otto of Freising [Res ab origine mundi gestae, book III, chapters 31 and 33, in Tissier, Bibliotheca Patrum Cisterciensium, vol. VIII, page 41.]. For St. Elizabeth was taught not only by visions, but also used books. Nevertheless she had not yet at that time inspected the Catalogue of the Roman pontiffs. And so, after this, when she had looked through the Catalogue of the Roman pontiffs and had nowhere found the name of St. Cyriacus there, she read nevertheless at the name of St. Anterus that he was crowned with martyrdom in the times of Maximinus and Africanus the consuls [Bianchini, Lives of the Roman Pontiffs of Anastasius the Librarian, vol. II, page 183.]; and at the title of St. Fabian, who succeeded St. Anterus, that he was in the times of Maximus and Africanus Ibid., page 186.; or if she fell upon an abbreviated codex, such as is the Farfa one published by Bianchini See it in Dom Guéranger, Origines de l'Église romaine, page XLVI., she read that Anterus sat in the times of "Maxim. and Afric." and likewise Fabian in the times of "Maxim. and Africanus," the consular dignity being passed over.

[102] and from Otto of Freising, which she tried in vain to reconcile with each other. Opportunely, then, she knew these names, so that the answer might be easier when it was afterwards objected that it is read in Otto of Freising [Res ab origine mundi gestae, book IV, chapter 28, in Tissier, Bibliotheca Patrum Cisterciensium, vol. VIII, page 57.] that Attila, while he was running about everywhere on earth, crowned the eleven thousand Virgins at Cologne. For when this passage of Otto was objected, there recurred also to her mind what was narrated by Otto at the year 238 (which, as we have said, she remembered had been noted at the end of her copy of the Passion "Regnante Domino"); and so, when she had read there the following: "In the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 238, Julius Maximus or Maximinus, by nation a Thracian, the twenty-second from Augustus, without the will of the senate, is created king by the army, because he had waged war successfully in Germany. He, on account of hatred of his predecessor Alexander, born of a Christian mother, persecutes the city of God, the sixth from Nero"; when, I say, St. Elizabeth had read these things, she persuaded herself that this Julius Maximus, an enemy of the Christians and living in Germany, was the author of the Ursuline slaughter; and, since she could not know that this same man was the same as Maximus or Maximinus the consul, moved by the surname, she judged that he was his kinsman. Further, if anyone is willing to remember what we discussed above at numbers 76 and 77 about the nature of these revelations, he will surely not wonder that St. Elizabeth, when she had these notices, such as they were, previously stored in her mind, afterwards seemed to herself to hear from the mouth of St. Verena the narration which we related above at number 97 from chapter XVI and by which all those things, however conflicting, are connected in some order. This whole fable, then, arose from this, that St. Elizabeth at first unexpectedly, not having inspected the lists of the Roman pontiffs, but having read only the Cologne Passion "Regnante Domino" and Otto of Freising (who nevertheless leaves no space empty for Cyriacus between SS. Pontian and Anterus), imagined to herself that Anterus succeeded this Cyriacus whose title had been pointed out to her; and all the rest are consequences of this figment, and indeed drawn from notices connected with one another in some manner or other which are contained in the Liber Pontificalis (where it treats of Anterus) and in the Annals of Otto of Freising at the year 238.

§ XI. That Pope Cyriacus is plainly fabulous.

Formerly most celebrated was Although from what has been said no prudent man would give credence to the titles dug out of the Ursuline cemetery or to the Revelations of Schönau, and so admit into the catalogue of the Roman pontiffs Cyriacus, known from no other monuments, we are nevertheless forced by the plan of our work to discourse of this fictitious Roman prelate. From the time when those titles and Revelations came forth, scarcely any history was more celebrated. Hear Crombach S. Ursula vindicata, page 81.: "Scarcely had that title been dug out of the earth when at once his feast was solemnly celebrated at Cologne, at Deutz, and in various places to which the sacred relics of St. Cyriacus were carried: and in the same century Gerlach" (of Deutz) "and Egbert" (of Schönau, brother of St. Elizabeth), "Benedictine abbots; St. Elizabeth of Schönau, virgin; blessed Hermann" (of Steinfeld) "and Richard the Premonstratensian" (whom they make the author of the abridged Passion of St. Ursula) "and Roger the Cistercian" (author of another Compare Crombach, page 1005., but a copy is at hand to me which is also attributed to him, in which nothing is read of Cyriacus) "approved that title, and it was judged certain by most weighty men in all centuries up to our times."

[104] among writers of every kind Pope Cyriacus, He then distributes these into four classes; of which the first contains Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Robert of Auxerre, Martin the Pole, the anonymous writer of the Chronological Compilation, Werner Rolewinck (who, however, relates that figment in order to refute it), Jacopo Filippo of Bergamo, the author of the Cologne Chronicle, Génébrard and several others: the second class, that of archbishops and bishops, comprises Thomas of Cantimpré (who, however, it is established was never distinguished with the episcopal character Compare Quétif and Échard, Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum, vol. I, page 250.); Jacobus de Voragine, archbishop of Genoa; St. Antoninus, archbishop of Florence; Peter de Natalibus, bishop of Jesolo, and Raymond, cardinal priest of Gurk of the title of St. Mary the New: the fourth class consists of jurisconsults; and in fact, since that fictitious Cyriacus had been received into the ordinary Gloss, his name resounded in schools and books, no one contradicting: the fourth class finally comprises the names of theologians and historians, for instance of Vincent of Beauvais, Leonardo of Udine, Henry Arnoldi, Denis Ryckel, Bonfini, Maldonatus and others. Crombach reports that Cyriacus appears also in the Roman Breviary published in the year 1550; which Papebroch also found Propylaeum of May, page * 29. in a Breviary, likewise Roman, printed at Venice in the year 1522. But of the breviaries, especially the Roman, more elsewhere, where we treat of the cult of St. Cyriacus.

[105] until at last he was cast down by Baronius. We noted already above at number 28 that from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries there were men who denied credence to the Schönau Revelations or to the titles dug out (as was affirmed) of the Ursuline cemetery, especially in what pertained to St. Cyriacus the pope; but their voice seems to have been a cry in the desert, until at last Baronius won the cause: not that he brought forward arguments unheard before, but he added such authority to his statements by his great and venerable name that it was now free to anyone to call pope Cyriacus a figment. First, in the annotations to the Roman Martyrology At the 21st of October, note b. he proposed for divining rather than said plainly what he thought of pope Cyriacus; but afterwards in the Ecclesiastical Annals he openly exploded that portent. For where he speaks of Anterus, Pontian's successor: "Certain more recent writers," he says Ecclesiastical Annals, at the year 237, number 11, "are not to be listened to at all, who after Pontian introduce a certain Cyriacus, Roman pontiff, of whom there exists absolutely no mention in the series of the Roman pontiffs described by the Latins, as in the book on the Roman pontiffs, or in Optatus of Milevis, or Augustine or Cresconius or other Vatican indices; nor among the Greeks, as Eusebius, Nicephorus the chronographer, or others; so that the opinion is not even worthy of being refuted at greater length, since it rests on absolutely no reason or testimony of the ancients, being sought only from those fictitious titles and Acts of the martyrdom of SS. Ursula and her companions, which we refuted in our notes" (to the Roman Martyrology). "For from that history (to which false titles gave occasion) this false opinion about pope Cyriacus, who is named there, seems to have flowed. But neither do those Acts, although adulterine, support it, in which that Cyriacus is introduced under Attila"; by which last words the most excellent writer of annals seems to have wished to signify the Acts written by Peter de Natalibus.

[106] He is absurdly vindicated by St. Elizabeth. What does blessed Elizabeth say to this argument, or, if you prefer, St. Verena addressing blessed Elizabeth? "That this," namely that the name of St. Cyriacus is not read in the Catalogue of the Roman pontiffs, "happened from the indignation of the clergy, because he had not wished to remain in the order of his dignity to the end." Surely the indignation of the clergy could reach widely, which prevented not only the writers of the Roman catalogues who lived in the third century (if any lived) from inserting the name of Cyriacus in the lists, but also all the later ones up to the uncovering of the Ursuline titles; and not only these, but the Easterners also and the Africans! Would any sober man admit these things, so as not to deny credence to a title which (as was shown above, § VI) has nothing that savours of antiquity, or to revelations which it is manifest are mere mockeries of a pious fancy?

[107] No place can be found for him among the Roman pontiffs, But Papebroch urged another argument against these things, namely that between Pontian and Anterus, whose times are well known, there is no space for the pontificate of Cyriacus, who according to chapter VII of the Schönau Revelations had ruled the Roman church for a whole year and eleven weeks when St. Ursula came to the City with her retinue. For from the Catalogue of Liberius, three editions of which, of Bucherius, Henschen and Schelstrate, placed beside one another in the manner of triple columns, the Reverend Dom abbot of Solesmes Origines de l'Église romaine, page 109 and following. brought to light again some years ago, passing over however (I know not for what causes) the edition of Georg Eckhart Corpus historicorum medii aevi, vol. I, col. 25., most accurately rendered from the imperial codex of Vienna and excelling the other editions as well, from this Catalogue, I say, we know that about the time of which we are treating this was the succession of the Roman pontiffs in the see of St. Peter: "Pontian, five years, two months, seven days. He was in the times of Alexander, from the consulship of Pompeianus and Pelignianus. At that time Pontian the bishop and Hippolytus the presbyter were deported as exiles to the noxious island of Sardinia" (Eckhart: "deported in Sardinia, the island Iconia"), "Severus and Quintianus being consuls. In the same island he was ungirt on the fourth day before the Kalends of October, and in his place Anteros was ordained on the eleventh day before the Kalends of December, the above-written being consuls." (So Henschen, Schelstrate and Eckhart; but Bucherius: "In the same island he was ungirt on the fourth day before the Kalends of December, the above-written being consuls.") "Anteros, one month, ten days. He sleeps on the third day before the Nones of January, Maximus and Africanus being consuls."

[108] [as is shown by the help of the Liberian Catalogue, the times of St. Pontian accurately] For my part I gladly confess that formerly and even now that monument has been made of more account by some than is right. Moral reasons, namely, by which some try to persuade readers that it could not have been that the Roman church did not have the best catalogues of its pontiffs from the beginning, help nothing; since it is established that that very Liberian one, the most ancient of all, teems with very great errors. But several parts in it are to be distinguished: for it was not written at one and the same time. The first part, which extends from St. Peter to Urban, the predecessor of St. Pontian, is stained with those blemishes; the rest, which were added afterwards, are good and approved even by the most recent critics [Compare Tillemont, Mémoires ecclésiastiques, note IV on St. Callistus, and note I on St. Pontian; Mommsen, Über den Chronographen vom Jahre 354; Döllinger, Hippolytus und Kallistus, etc.]. Further, St. Pontian is said there to have died, Severus and Quintianus being consuls, who came forth in the year 235; and to have occupied the see of Peter five years, and accordingly to have ascended it in the year 230, in which L. Virius Agricola and Sextus Cotius Clementinus held the consulship. In their consulship his predecessor St. Urban had died, as is reported there, and St. Pontian had succeeded; but the consuls of the following year, Pompeianus and Pelignianus, are noted, since it is the custom in this catalogue that, where the day on which the pontificate

the new bishop entered upon is not expressed, the consuls of the following year are written; whether this was done (as Henschen would have it) lest the same consuls should have to be written twice (once for fixing the death of the deceased, once for establishing the new pontificate); or because those consuls signify when the new pontiff first began the ecclesiastical year with the paschal feasts, as Bianchini contends Anastasius, Liber pontificalis, vol. II, pages 7, 9 and 202.; although it seems more probable to me that in the first centuries the new ecclesiastical year began on the day of the Parasceve after the divine offices had been completed; but let it suffice to have indicated these things.

[109] and defining the time of the see of St. Anterus. It is added in the Catalogue that St. Pontian was ungirt on the fourth day before the Kalends of October; by which words the interpreters dispute among themselves whether the author meant that the holy pontiff then died, as some have determined; or rather (which is much more probable Compare Döllinger, Hippolytus und Kallistus, page 72) that he resigned his charge, or something else; agreeing however in this, that by those words it is signified that from this time St. Pontian was no longer Roman pontiff: I should not say that the see was vacant, because sometimes in this and in other Catalogues the see is held to be vacant only from the day of the deposition or solemn burial. Since, then, St. Pontian died, or rather ended his pontifical office, in the year 235, on the fourth day before the Kalends of October, or the 28th of September, which was a Monday, and sat five years, two months, seven days; he must have been ordained in the year 230, on the 21st of July, which was a Wednesday. Before the eleventh day before the Kalends of December, or the 21st of November, which was a Saturday, he had no successor; but on this day St. Anterus was ordained, who thereafter sat only a month and ten, or rather thirteen, days, having departed this life on the third day before the Nones, or the 3rd day of January. Unless, therefore, you wish to make no account of all these things, you can by no means grant a place before St. Anterus to the Ursuline Cyriacus; who, as St. Elizabeth almost says, raised to the apostolic dignity, had already ruled the Roman church for a whole year and eleven weeks and was the nineteenth in the number of the Roman pontiffs.

[110] What do the vindicators of the traditions of Cologne, or rather of the titles and of the Schönau Revelations, say to these things? Empty exceptions against this passage of the catalogue. That it is not safe to trust the Liberian Catalogue or other catalogues; that historians do not agree about the duration of the individual pontificates, or about the credence to be given to the consuls inscribed in the Liberian Catalogue, the Liber pontificalis and other monuments of that kind; that it could have happened that Cyriacus was omitted in the Liberian Catalogue, as Anicetus, Eleutherus and Zephyrinus were omitted there, of whom the first sat in the middle of the second century, the second about the year 180, the third at the beginning of the third century; and that, since the other Catalogues were taken from it, these three were indeed brought into them, but Cyriacus was passed over. But truly, for this whole argumentation to be able to stand, it would be necessary to establish that more recent things are no better known than more ancient ones, and that in relating and reckoning the former one sins as easily as in the latter; moreover that the Liberian Catalogue from the age of St. Pontian does not have all the marks by which it may be discerned that the historian proceeds with a sure step and holds things well examined by him; and finally that the gaps which are in this Catalogue are also found in the Catalogues which we owe to the diligence of the holy Fathers.

[111] Cyriacus was not a vicar; Bebius and Crombach understood these things, nor do they dare to rely much on those conjectures; wherefore they take refuge in another invention, namely in a vicarial pontifical dignity, which Cyriacus would have held for one year and three months while St. Pontian was alive but banished to the island of Sardinia; that similar examples are not wanting: that Linus and Cletus were vicars of the absent St. Peter; Felix of Liberius; Vigilius of Silverius; and Eugene of Martin; yet that all these, although they were only vicars, were called Roman pontiffs; why should not Cyriacus too have been the vicar of the exiled St. Pontian? But if these examples are to the purpose, I for my part shall ask why the memory of all these survives, but none of Cyriacus. Nor must it be answered that it was deleted from the Roman catalogues out of envy; for no wise man would say that Eusebius, Augustine, Optatus and others laboured under the same envy. But, they will say, does not Papebroch himself, who so harassed the Ursuline Cyriacus, admit that in the first centuries the Roman pontiffs almost continually had their vicars? And when Pagi had commonly derided these, did not Bianchini vindicate the same? So it is. But that kind of vicars is not altogether the same as what Bebius and Crombach would have. For the vicars whom Papebroch and Bianchini introduce were helpers of the Roman pontiffs destitute of the right of succeeding, and not to be referred into the catalogues unless, after the death of those whose vicars they were, they themselves were elected pontiffs; and if they were elected, the years of the vicariate were added to the years of the pontificate, and they were said to have sat as many years as they had presided over sacred affairs in the vicarial and their own name; but he whom Bebius and Crombach make the vicar of St. Pontian, although he had never truly been Roman pontiff, would have had to be inserted in the catalogues according to the Schönau Revelations, and, although he had died before St. Pontian, St. Anterus would have been ordained in his place (and not in that of St. Pontian).

[112] [The system of vicars totters more and more since the Philosophumena were discovered, by which it is established that St. Callistus, whom they made a vicar,] Add that the system of vicars, which was devised by Papebroch and admitted by Bianchini because the years, days and months assigned to the first Roman pontiffs in the first part of the old catalogues are commonly too many to be able to be harmonized with one another, tottered greatly from the beginning: for what prudent man would believe that such authority lies in numbers where so many errors occur in the very consulships? But that system totters and limps much more since the time when the Philosophumena, which some have ascribed to Origen, others to Tertullian, others to Caius, others to St. Hippolytus and others finally to an anonymous heretic, were brought to light. For although the things which are related there in book IX about St. Callistus are full of venom and the will to calumniate appears manifest everywhere; yet the things which are declared there about the course of his life are neither to be denied nor seem to be called into doubt. You have, then, there that St. Callistus, returned from the island of Sardinia, was employed by St. Zephyrinus to help him in administering ecclesiastical affairs; that he was set over the cemetery and that so great authority over himself was given him that the imprudent old man saw with no other eyes and heard with no other ears than those of Callistus: which things, however, seem to signify nothing else than that St. Callistus was a presbyter, by no means a bishop.

[113] was a presbyter in the time of St. Zephyrinus, Certainly we grant that St. Callistus was not a deacon longer than was necessary that he should not seem to have been made presbyter by a leap; which is clear even from this, that when the anonymous, or (if you prefer) doubtful, writer accuses St. Zephyrinus of avarice, he yet does not charge Callistus with having given his labour to satisfying St. Zephyrinus's thirst for money: to which charge the office of deacon would most easily have made room. Similarly, since Callistus is not accused of extortion, embezzlement or fraud in administering temporal affairs by a man who is wholly occupied in feigning crimes out of any of his deeds whatever (a handle for which reproof the office of deacon, consisting in great part in receiving and expending money, would certainly have given in the highest degree); plainly on this head too it is probable that the holy pontiff did not stand long in the diaconal grade, but was shortly promoted to the presbyteral dignity. And that he was adorned with this seems able to be gathered from the care of the cemetery imposed on him; for no one could be set over this without being ordained presbyter, since the sacred mysteries had to be celebrated there not only on the festivity of the martyrs whose names were inscribed in the calendar (for the pontiffs themselves seem to have presided at these more solemn gatherings), but almost daily at the deposition of the dead; to say nothing of masses for the sick living nearby, to whom the sacred Viaticum had to be carried. It must be admitted, therefore, that St. Callistus, while St. Zephyrinus was alive, was a presbyter.

[114] but by no means a vicar bishop. But it does not at all appear that he was decorated with the episcopal honour before the death of his predecessor. For the author of the Philosophumena makes St. Callistus guilty of having thought, while St. Zephyrinus was still alive, of some time ascending the Roman episcopal throne; that this was the aim of all his deeds and the end of his efforts. But when does the same declare that St. Callistus at length arrived there? Altogether after the death of St. Zephyrinus; nor does he suggest anything by which you may conjecture that Callistus was before the vicar of Zephyrinus. In very truth, he accuses him of continually deceiving St. Zephyrinus and accomplishing all his plans through the unskilled old man blinded by blandishments; but he does not utter even a word by which it may appear that St. Callistus was of higher than presbyteral dignity before the death of St. Zephyrinus, or that he surpassed the author of the Philosophumena, with whom he is said to have had controversies already then and who some time after the election of St. Callistus seems to have been an antipope. Further, to come to our matter, Callistus is one of those Roman pontiffs whom Papebroch had made vicars of their predecessors for some time Propylaeum of May, page * 27., so that the space of time for which he was read in the Catalogues to have sat should not have to be cut short. Since, then, his vicariate seems altogether to be struck out since the Philosophumena were discovered, it is very much to be feared that the lot of almost all the rest will be the same when at some time ancient monuments emerge.

[115] But suppose that vicars were in use, yet the people of Cologne would win nothing. [Even if it be supposed that Cyriacus was a vicar bishop, the cause of the titles and revelations is not helped by this.] For since it became known from the Schönau Revelations that Cyriacus preceded St. Anterus, it is necessary (if such authority be attributed to these as prevails over the arguments which we have just proposed) that the rest of what you have narrated there be admitted at the same time (for the narration cannot be split), namely that St. Ursula came to Rome with her immense retinue a little before St. Anterus ascended the chair of Peter, that is, when the persecution of Maximinus was already raging; yet that nothing was done against them at Rome, but free access to them was given to everyone; that only counsels were taken by which they should be crushed at Cologne, and other things of that kind: which Crombach himself judged could not be admitted, for that reason utterly disturbing the chronological order and referring to the age of the emperor Alexander, friendly enough to the Christians, the ordination of St. Anterus, which we showed above at number 109 was most certainly made at the end of the autumn of the year 235, whereas Alexander was slain near Mainz on the 10th day of February Compare Clinton, in Döllinger, Hippolytus und Kallistus, page 70. or the 19th of March of the same year Tillemont, Mémoires des Empereurs, Maximin I, article 2. But we have now clung too long to these fables.

[116] [Recent traditions which are invoked in support of that figment arose from the titles and revelations.] We shall speak briefly of the remaining things by which Crombach wished to make it certain that St. Ursula merited the heavenly crown about the year 238. He invokes first of all the traditions of Basel: namely that Johann Stumpf De Rauracis, book XII, chapter 23., Sebastian Münster Cosmography, book III, chapter 94., Heinrich Pantaleon At the year 237. and Wurstisen Epitome historiae Basiliensis, chapter 7., heterodox men but most skilled in the affairs of Basel, agree that St. Pantulus, who is said to have accompanied St. Ursula and her companions to Rome and from there to Cologne, lived about the above-written year. But, besides that all these do not speak affirmatively, the same witnesses are very recent, having followed the tradition of the people, the Breviaries and the Lives of SS. Ursula and her companions, which owed their origin to the Ursuline titles and above all to the Schönau Revelations. Crombach then meets the people of Lucca, of Byzantium, of Antioch and of Milan, to whom the diggers of the Ursuline cemetery, by the titles they brought forward, falsely attached Foillan, Marculus, James and Marinus; but by no means are those titles more easily routed than by the fact that the old diptychs of all those churches lack these names, much less have (if you except the more recent people of Lucca) any traditions about them. Nor does Crombach pass more happily to the people of Strasbourg; who indeed venerate St. Aurelia, and some judge her to have been a companion of St. Ursula; but no suitable documents exist by which this may be persuaded Compare Acta SS., vol. VII of October, page 27 and following., much less that she died about the year 238. Crombach then appeals to the Acts of St. Cunera; but altogether in vain. See what was said above at number 79. Of no greater weight are the documents on the translation of St. Odilia, being more recent and drawn from the Passion "Regnante Domino"; and judge the same of Vincent of Beauvais, St. Antoninus, Robert of Auxerre, Johannes a Leydis, Johannes Magnus, archbishop of Uppsala, and others whom Crombach produces as witnesses of so ancient a matter. For all these followed partly the Passion "Regnante Domino," partly the Schönau Revelations or their epitomes. Nothing, then, is accomplished by this collection of writers, as Baronius rightly advises Ecclesiastical Annals, at the year 1123, number 12: "Certainly indeed we have been accustomed to estimate the truth of history not by the number of historians, but by how great credibility the first author of any assertion whatever possesses; for we find it established in custom by very frequent usage that the rest follow the first author and cling to his footsteps."

§ XII. Geoffrey of Monmouth, narrating that SS. Ursula and her companions suffered in the year 383, in the time of Maximus the Usurper, is refuted. — The true history of the coming of Maximus into the Gauls is opposed to his fables.

A brief narration of the empire usurped by Maximus. Not one but manifold is the opinion of those who determine that St. Ursula with her companions suffered about the year 383. Let us take the matter up a little more deeply. Count Theodosius had in the year 367 restored the imperilled dominion of the Romans in England, the barbarians being routed and conquered. He had in war or at home a certain Maximus, of unknown origin, of no great esteem, but full of ambition. This man, when he had understood that the emperor Gratian had in the year 379 taken into partnership of the empire Theodosius, the son of Count Theodosius, but that no one was thinking of promoting him, of his own accord in the year 383 put on the purple in England, after he had persuaded the soldiers, ill-disposed toward Gratian but most well-disposed toward Count Theodosius, that he was of his family. Having collected some forces, he crossed from the island of Britain into the parts on this side of the sea, and shortly destroyed the army of Gratian partly by arms, partly won it over to himself by favour: whence Gratian, deserted by his own men, fled to Lyon and there in the same year 383, on the 25th day of August, was slaughtered by a traitor.

[118] The narration of Baronius according to Geoffrey of Monmouth. But what followed thereafter according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, take from the summary of Baronius Roman Martyrology, at the 21st of October, note b.: "When Maximus had invaded the nearest Gauls and had expelled the neighbouring Armoricans from their abodes, he granted and divided the emptied province, the fertile glebes, to the British soldiers of the new colony; whence also the name was procured for the same province that it should be called Lesser Britain. And in order to provide also for their posterity, he ordered wives to be sought for each from the island of Great Britain: for each soldier a virgin from among their own people was asked in marriage. Now the chief of the aforesaid soldiers after Maximus was duke Conan, one of the petty kings of Britain, for whom as wife of equal nobility was designated the daughter of Dionotus, king of Cornwall, named Ursula. At London, then, all being gathered, namely eleven thousand of the nobility and sixty thousand plebeians, leaving, though unwilling, their native soil and their dear ones, they are put on board ships: and while the sailors are thinking of the region of the Armoricans, soon a savage storm drove the ships onto the German shore; where, while they were, Melga, pirate of the Picts, and Gaunus, of the Huns, who, having procured a fleet and struck a treaty with the emperor Gratian against Maximus, that by this artifice at least they might drive him from his undertakings, when they were making for Britain to harass it, raged against these virgins cast up on the shore as against enemies, so that they took counsel to do violence to their chastity. All of whom, at the exhortation of Ursula, resolved with Christian constancy rather to meet a most dire death and be cut down by swords than to suffer anything ignominious. And when they persisted in that firmness of mind, soon, their lust being changed into barbarous fury; since they were hastening elsewhere, lest they should be held back by longer delay, they most cruelly slaughtered them one by one, and from there sailed to Britain, and attacked it, finding it empty of soldiers; but at once, two legions of soldiers having been sent there by Maximus, being driven out from there, they set sail for Ireland." Baronius altogether omitted the number of the virgins in the Martyrology; in the Annals at the year 383, number 3, he cut off from Geoffrey's narration the appendix of sixty thousand, holding it enough if for the two British legions (Baronius judged, namely, that the single legions, when they were full, consisted of six thousand one hundred heads; but from the age of Constantine the Great they had been reduced to twelve hundred soldiers Compare Lingard, Histoire d'Angleterre, vol. I, pages 40 and 41, Louvain, 1827.;) if, I say, for the number of the soldiers who were then found in them as many virgins were chosen, all eleven thousand in number.

[119] Papebroch's censure is to be approved against Geoffrey but not against Baronius. Papebroch marked these things with the following censure Propylaeum of May, Paralipomena, page 39.: "Let him believe who can, either that there was such a dearth of women in Armorica that, by an example to be read in no histories, they had to be fetched from across the sea, or that some one of the British princes would be so compliant as to send almost the whole flower of the female sex from his dominion into a foreign region, to find husbands there." For my part I should not dare to approve this censure against Baronius. Certainly, if eleven thousand noble and sixty thousand plebeian virgins be supposed, as Geoffrey of Monmouth has it History of the kings of Britain, book V, chapter 16, page 92., the thing is not credible; although this number is even smaller than the number of soldiers who the same Geoffrey writes were taken over from Britain into Armorica Ibid., chapter 14, page 91., relating that by order of Maximus a hundred thousand of the common people were collected in the island of Britain to come to him, and thirty thousand to guard the island. For this multitude of soldiers surpasses credence equally with that band of girls. For Britain gave the Empire not many more than twenty-six cohorts, or thirteen thousand soldiers Compare Lingard, Histoire d'Angleterre, page 41.; and behold, as if in the twinkling of an eye, it would have given, at the command of Maximus, a hundred and thirty thousand. How absurd these things are, gather also from this: the Caledonians, when they had called forth the forces of all the states by embassies and treaties, and all the youth and those of raw and green old age had been gathered into one, were seen to be not much more than THIRTY THOUSAND armed men, awaiting the army of Agricola on the Grampian mountain Tacitus, Life of Agricola, number XXIX.: and Britain alone would have had 70,000, or if you prefer 130,000, unmarried young men, fit for waging war. Those marriages are no less to be wondered at. In the whole of France, namely, which now has about 36,000,000 inhabitants, 256,000 marriages are celebrated every year. In Britain and Scotland about 18,000,000 inhabitants are reckoned; suppose that 128,000 marriages are now celebrated there; but fifteen hundred years ago, in Britain alone, when, as St. Gildas Liber Querulus, part I, chapter 1, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. LXIX, col. 333. and the Venerable Bede [Ecclesiastical History, book I, chapter 1, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. XCV, col. 25.] are witnesses, this region had only twenty-eight greater cities besides some forts, when the fields there were scarcely cultivated, 70,000 marriages would have had to be celebrated within one year, two thirds of the annual number of the marriages which are now entered into in England and Scotland together! These are plainly British dreams, but by no means Baronius's; and so, if with the most excellent writer of the Annals only eleven thousand are numbered, which number the traditions of Cologne give, it does not seem that we should agree with Papebroch exploding the writer of the Ecclesiastical Annals on this matter. Certainly by the sending out of such a colony Britain would not have been exhausted, nor have suffered much; especially if it be supposed that so many young men had previously been carried from there into Armorica; nor do I see why the princes of Britain would so greatly have opposed it, since the marriages were to be entered into with their own countrymen.

[120] Geoffrey is refuted by the writings of Zosimus Wherefore I judge that our Brouwer attacked much better the narration of Geoffrey and of those who followed him, when, writing a commentary on Venantius Fortunatus and the Annals of Trier, he demonstrated that colonies were brought over from Britain long after the year 383. For by this demonstration the foundation of the whole history of Maximus the usurper, as it is read in Geoffrey, is overthrown; since this consists in teaching that Armorica, Maximus managing it, was occupied by the Britons, and, a new kingdom having been established there, became Lesser Britain about seventeen years before the end of the fourth century. And indeed, which may be the first argument against this fable, no one of the ancients taught these great deeds; and whoever have reported them do not abstain from manifest figments; wherefore no prudent man will easily give credence to them. History will give the second argument. Zosimus in book IV accurately explains whither Maximus, when he usurped the sceptre in the year 383, first led the forces which he had collected in Britain, intending to make war against Gratian: "The soldiers," he says In Dom Bouquet, Recueil des historiens de France, vol. I, page 583., "easily driven to sedition, proclaim Maximus emperor; and, having handed over to him the purple with the diadem, and at once, παραχρημα, having crossed the Ocean in ships, they landed at the mouths of the Rhine. And the armies which were in Germany and near this region approving this designation with the greatest goodwill, Gratian opposed himself to him, intending to engage in battle, because

no small part of the army still stood on his side.

[121] and of other ancient historians; For in the spring of that same year 383 Gratian had come from Milan to Padua; from there he had gone on to Verona, where he was staying in the middle of June Cf. Tillemont, Empereurs, Gratien, art. XV.; afterwards he had marched with the army against the Alemanni, and indeed, as Tillemont reckons Ibid. art. XVIII., against the Juthungi settled above the Danube.

Further, he was waging war with these [Socrates, Hist. eccles. book V, chap. 11, page 270, and Sozomen, book VII, chap. 13, page 720.] when the news of Maximus's daring reached him. Gratian, therefore, from the Danube, and Maximus from the mouths of the Rhine, made for Gaul, and after skirmishing for five days they joined battle not far from Paris [Zosimus on the Gauls, book IV, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 583; St. Prosper of Aquitaine, Chron. at the year 384, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 625.]. But Gratian, overcome by the treachery of Merobaudes, the master of the soldiers, and fleeing, was captured and slain at Lyon St. Prosper, loc. cit.. And in this way Maximus received the empire more firmly, and had his principal seat at Trier [St. Sulpicius Severus, Sacred History, book II, at the year 384, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 573.]. Maximus did not go to Spain, as Pacatus testifies Panegyric on Theodosius, chap. 24, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 722. that Spain had not seen the tyranny of Maximus; yet he held it peacefully Cf. Eckhel, Doctrina numorum veterum, vol. VIII, page 164., which is clear even from the single controversy of Priscillian, which was argued before him at Trier [Cf. Ferreras, Hist. générale d'Espagne, book II, at the year 383, vol. I, page 391 and following]; for which reason it was natural that he should send soldiers thither also. But, as Zosimus says Book IV, chap. 42, page 224 and following, Bonn edition., Maximus, who thought that his affairs were not succeeding in accordance with his dignity if he ruled only those nations which had previously obeyed Gratian, was planning to cast Valentinian out of his kingdom, out of the whole of it indeed, if he could; but if he were disappointed in that hope, at least to acquire some part of it, as much as he could actually seize. Won over by this notion, he prepares to cross the Alps and to enter Italy; and he did in fact cross the Alps with his army at the end of the month of August in the year 387 Tillemont, Empereurs, Théodose, art. XXXIX..

At the beginning everything turned out favourably for him; but shortly he met with another fortune. For the emperor Theodosius hastened up, besieged Aquileia, and, having taken it at once, ordered Maximus to atone for his ambition by capital punishment at the end of July in the year 388 Ibid. art. XLIV..

[122] with which St. Gildas agrees. And if we keep before our eyes these things, gathered from various historians, we shall easily understand what St. Gildas the Wise means in the following chapter on the tyrants of Britain. "Likewise at length," he says [On the Ruin of Britain, book I, chap. 10, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. LXIX, col. 339.], "as the shoots of tyrants grew up and were now on the point of bursting forth into a monstrous forest, the island, keeping the Roman name but not its manners and law, rather casting them away, sends to Gaul a scion of its own most bitter planting, Maximus, with a great troop of attendants accompanying him, and moreover even with the insignia of an emperor, which he never bore either becomingly or lawfully, but having been initiated in tyrannical fashion and by a mutinous soldiery. He, first by cunning art rather than by valour, attaching to his criminal kingdom all the neighbouring districts or provinces against the Roman state, through the nets of his perjury and falsehood, and stretching one of his wings to Spain, the other to Italy, and setting up the throne of his most iniquitous empire at Trier, raged with such madness against his lords that he drove two lawful emperors, the one (Valentinian) from Rome, the other (Gratian), a most religious man, from life. Nor was there delay: hedged about with such fertile audacities, he is beheaded at Aquileia, he who had in a manner cast down from the necks of the realm the crowned heads of the whole world. Thereafter Britain, every armed soldier and the military forces (having been led out), is left to savage rulers; despoiled of her vast youth (which, having followed in the footsteps of the aforesaid tyrant, never returned home again), and wholly ignorant of every practice of war, she was first trampled underfoot by two exceedingly cruel transmarine nations, the Scots from the north-west *, the Picts from the north, and was dazed and groaned for many years." It is manifest, therefore, that the youth which Maximus had led out of Britain followed in the tyrant's footsteps, and by no means settled in Armorica, which it never saw; for Maximus disposed his forces not in a square but in a triangle: so that he had his court at Trier, and one wing of his army was extended to Spain, the other to Italy; if a third had been extended to Armorica, Gildas would certainly not have omitted it, since he was writing in that region.

[123] [From Britain Maximus took with him only 12,000 soldiers, who never came into Armorica.] But as to his saying that a vast youth was carried out of Britain, no more than twelve thousand are to be understood; for so large a body, namely two legions of the old type or ten Constantinian legions, was accustomed to occupy Britain: and indeed for St. Gildas himself this vast youth is the same as all the armed soldiery and military forces which Britain had. He called it vast, therefore, because the Britons had for a long time not seen a greater; but in reality it was small. For which reason Pacatus, in the Panegyric which he delivered to Theodosius, treating of the beginnings of Maximus, discourses thus: "Who did not laugh at the man at the first news of the new crime? For the matter seemed beneath the dignity of anger, when FEW men and islanders were kindling the conflagration of the whole continent, and those exiles of the world were clothing their own exile in royal garb. But what great commotions was fortune bringing forth, what great evil for the commonwealth was the plague going to cause by its increase, what great glory was it reserving for you by being extinguished? especially since, through the perfidy of the generals and the defection of the legions, whatever had been armed for the commonwealth had been turned against the commonwealth" Chap. 23, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. XXIII, col. 499..

All of which conflicts with Geoffrey's narrative as much as anything could. For he relates that seven hundred thousand soldiers were led out of Britain, whereas Maximus led out at most twelve thousand: and these indeed were not Britons by nation, but collected from other provinces; since the Romans did not allow their subjects to serve as soldiers in their own homeland, but assigned them to foreign regions in which the legions had their seat.

[124] [Geoffrey's cause is not helped by the fact that before him Nennius and others said similar things.] Geoffrey receives help from Galet, at the beginning of the eighteenth century parish priest in Cempans, a native of Lesser Britain [Véritable époque du principal établissement des Bretons dans l'Armorique avec l'histoire de leur premier roi, prouvée par l'histoire romaine, in the Journal de Trévoux, 1720, page 739 and following]; more recently from Diefenbach Celtica II, part II, page 165 and following and others, who affirm that these things were not asserted rashly by Geoffrey, but that a good many had gone before him long before. Nor do we contend that these things were invented by him, since we only maintain that they are false, wherever he may have got them. Granted, then, that before him Nennius said [In Ussher, Brit. eccl. antiq. page 107; D. Morice, Mémoires pour l'hist. de Bretagne, vol. I, col. 164; Diefenbach, Celtica II, part II, page 165.]: "The emperor Septimius reigned in Britain, called Maximianus. He went forth with all the soldiers of the Britons from Britain, and slew Gratian, king of the Romans, and held the empire of all Europe; and he would not dismiss the soldiers who had gone with him from Britain, neither to their wives, nor to their sons, nor to their possessions: but he gave them many regions, from the lake which is above the summit of Mount Jove as far as the city which is called Contguic, and as far as the western mound, that is, Crucochidieint. These are the Armorican Britons; and they never returned to their own soil, even to the present day. On account of this Britain was occupied by foreign nations and its citizens were driven out, until God should give them help"; granted that Silvester Giraldus Cambrensis Ibid. in the places cited and William of Malmesbury Ibid. in the places cited, who seem to have written before Geoffrey of Monmouth, have similar things; and that afterwards Henry of Huntingdon Ibid. in the places cited, Matthew of Westminster Ibid. in the places cited and a great many others followed the same tracks: all these help but little the opinion of those who will have it that already in the fourth century a colony of Britons settled in Armorica; for those recent testimonies cannot be reconciled with the contemporary ones. Nay more, they do not even agree with the British Triads, to which some think much authority belongs, others none. However that may be, here is the third part of the fourteenth Triad In Diefenbach, Celtica, II, part II, page 79.: "The third invading host was led out of the island by Helena Luyddawg and Cynan her brother, lord of Meirion, into Llydaw (Letavia, the maritime part of Armorican Britain); in which they obtained land and lordship and kingdom from the emperor Macsen Wledig (Maximus the tyrant), because they brought him help against the Romans, and none of them returned, and they settled in Llydaw (Letavia) and in Ystre Gyfaelwg, forming a community there." But these things are different from those which Geoffrey, Nennius and the rest handed down, who made Maximus himself a leader of the Britons; and moreover they are incredible, both because it is established from St. Gildas that, when Maximus had gone out with the Roman soldiers, the island was empty of armed force, and because it is manifest that Maximus would not have scattered his soldiers into various parts (for he had a very small army); nor would it have profited his designs at all if some Britons had gone down into Armorica in the year 383. For it was not there that the soldiers of Gratian were to be defeated, but they had to be met in eastern Gaul. But let us return to Geoffrey.

* Ireland. Circius is the west

§ XIII. Continuation of the same argument: the history of the Armorican commonwealth to the end of the fifth century.

[Geoffrey, alleging that in the year 383 the Britons founded a new kingdom in Armorica,] The third argument, by which it will be clear that he relates fables, we shall again draw from history. If, namely, you listen to Geoffrey, Maximus with the Britons, when he crossed over into Armorica, at once conquered the Gauls under their leader Inbaltus, fifteen thousand armed men being slain; soon he took Rennes and other towns, the men everywhere having escaped by flight or been slain; finally, when they had utterly cleared all the provinces of every inhabitant, they fortified the cities and towns with soldiers of Britain, and promontories established in various places. Thereafter he gathered so great a multitude as he thought might suffice him for subjugating all Gaul. He postponed, however, for a little while carrying his cruelty further, until, the kingdom he had taken being settled, he

should have filled it with British people. He therefore issued his edict that a hundred thousand of the common people should be gathered in the island of Britain to come to him. Besides these, thirty thousand soldiers, who should protect them, within the country where they were to remain, from hostile incursion. And when he had accomplished everything, he distributed them through all the nations of the Armorican kingdom, and made another Britain, and gave it to Conan Meriadoc. Here, then, are the Gauls or Armoricans shut out of Armorica; a new kingdom founded; another Britain established; and that before the middle of the year 383; for Maximus did not go to Germany nor join battle with the forces of Gratian before he had accomplished all these things. Now, for all this to collapse, it is enough that after these times Armorica still stood, and that there was then no talk in these regions of the Britons and their kingdom. Take the records.

[126] [it is refuted from the fact that at the beginning of the fifth century the Armoricans still inhabited it,] The Notitia of the empire was written about the year 401 [Cf. D. Bouquet, vol. I, pref. page XIX and 127; cf. Walckenaer, Géographie ancienne des Gaules, vol. II, pages 375 and 376]; and in it is read: "Under the disposition of the honourable man the duke of the Armorican and Nervican tract. The tribune of the First New Armorican, at Grannona (Garaude or Guérande, on the promontory between the mouths of the Loire and the Vilaine) on the Saxon shore. — The prefect of the Carronensian soldiers, at Blabia (or Blavita, on the river Blavet, a maritime fortress of Armorica). — The prefect of the Venetian Moors, at Veneti (Vannes). — The prefect of the Osismian soldiers, at Osismii (in the present district of Finistère [Walckenaer, Géographie ancienne historique et comparée des Gaules, vol. II, page 255.], at Ocimor near Brest [Cf. de Vertot, Histoire critique de l'établissement des Bretons dans les Gaules, vol. I, prelim. disc. page 40.]). — The prefect of the Superventor soldiers, at Mannatii (rather, at the Namnetes?) — The prefect of the Martensian soldiers, at Aletum (on the stream Rance; from Aletum the episcopal see was transferred about the year 1150 to Saint-Malo D. Morice, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de Bretagne, vol. I, col. 163.)." Then follows the district afterwards called Normandy. Armorica was likewise subject to the Romans when, in the year 408, imitating the Britons, it asserted its freedom. For three tyrants had succeeded one another in Britain, clothed in the purple by the favour of the soldiers. The last, Constantine by name, and his son Constans had led the legions down into Gaul and Spain, Britain being left exposed to the incursions of the barbarians. "The Britons, therefore," says Zosimus Book VI, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, pages 586 and 587., "taking up arms and entering upon every hazard for their own safety, freed their cities from the threatening barbarians. In the same way that whole Armorican tract, and the other provinces of the Gauls, imitating the Britons, freed themselves in like manner, casting out the Roman magistrates and setting up for themselves a sort of commonwealth at their own discretion. This defection of Britain and of the Gallic peoples happened at the time when Constantine was exercising his tyranny."

[127] [likewise from the history of their commonwealth, which was still standing in the years 416 and 436,] The commonwealth of the Armoricans was still standing about the year 416, when Exsuperantius of Poitiers, as we learn from the Itinerary of Claudius Rutilius Numatianus, attempted to bring the Armoricans back to their duty, that is, under Roman rule. For Rutilius wrote these lines about that time to Palladius, the son of Exsuperantius Ibid. page 629, note d.:

An eloquent youth, lately sent from the shores of the Gauls To learn the laws of the Roman forum; Whose father Exsuperantius now teaches the Armorican shores To love the restored return of peace; He restores the laws, and brings back liberty, And does not suffer them to be slaves to their own servants.

But either the efforts of Exsuperantius were fruitless, or afterwards the Armoricans rebelled again. For they had to be conquered once more about the year 436 by Litorius, a general of the Romans. We have as witness Apollinaris Sidonius, in the Panegyric delivered to Avitus Augustus, verses 243 and following, singing these things of Avitus, on his return from the German war D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 805.:

… Scarcely had he brought home his arms, grimy from the camp; New wars again, and battle under the very walls Of his homeland, an enemy doomed to perish stirs up. Litorius, proud of the Armorican then by chance SUBDUED, Was hurrying the Scythian horsemen into the Getic line Through your lands, Arvernian *.

[128] [and from the things which happened a little before the middle of the fifth century.] But when the Armoricans had been subdued by Litorius, they were neither destroyed, nor were their fields and pastures given to the Britons; but a little later, having recovered their strength, they rebelled again. For which reason Aëtius the patrician, offended by the insolence of the proud region, had permitted Eochar, the most ferocious king of the Alans who dwelt on the left bank of the Loire Cf. Jordanes, Hist. chap. 43, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 26., to bring low those places in punishment for the presumption of rebellion, places on which he had gaped with the greed of barbarian covetousness. The greatest evils thence hung over the Armoricans; from which, however, they were saved by St. Germanus, bishop of Auxerre. For he had scarcely returned home from his second expedition across the sea into Greater Britain in the year 447, and already an embassy of the Armorican Tract was soliciting the labour of the blessed bishop. And indeed St. Germanus spent so successful an effort that, through the intercession and merit of the priest, the king was restrained, the army recalled, the provinces released from devastation. Then the most blessed man went on to Ravenna, to obtain pardon for the Armoricans from the emperor Valentinian; and he would certainly have obtained the cause of the Armorican region according to his own wish, pardon and perpetual security having been obtained, had not the perfidy of wavering recalled the fickle and undisciplined people to their former rebellion. When this happened, the intercession of the priest came to nothing. So Constantius in the Life of St. Germanus, committed to writing about the year 488 Ibid. page 643..

[129] To these things it could be objected that they do not belong to Armorica, but to the Armorican Tract, by which the whole middle part of Gaul was comprised, from the sea as far as Orléans and beyond [Dubos, Hist. crit. de l'établissement de la monarchie française dans les Gaules, vol. I, page 104 and following]. Certainly the Armorican and Nervican tract, so far as it pertained to military affairs, embraced the two Aquitaines, [These things cannot be understood of the military division which was called the Armorican Tract and took in all the western provinces.] the Senonian, and the second and third Lyonnese provinces Cf. Notitia imperii, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 127, and both Aquitaines were called Armorican regions by writers, no otherwise than Armorica properly so called [Cf. Life of St. Basolus, in D. Bouquet, vol. III, page 463; Life of St. Eligius, ibid. page 552], because they lay toward the Ocean, or rather because the words of C. Julius Caesar about the Armorican Lemovices had been misunderstood Cf. D. Bouquet, vol. III, page 552, note a. But it does not appear that those names were in common use, and that as proper names; certainly none but the true Armoricans were ever given this appellation in the manner in which it is in the poem of Apollinaris Sidonius quoted above:

… proud of the Armorican Then by chance subdued;

and since the remaining things which pertain to this long rebellion cohere with this victory of Litorius Celsus, it is sufficiently clear that they are to be understood of the true Armoricans. Moreover, if anyone with the most learned abbé Dubos Histoire critique de l'établissement de la monarchie française, vol. I, page 343 admits that five principal provinces of the Gauls were in rebellion against the Romans for the greatest part of the fifth century, that is, more than eighty years, let him see how he is to reconcile this with the rule of the Romans in these very parts Cf. D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 587, note a; the praetorian prefects and other commanders would surely have had nowhere to stand with firm foot. Add to these that the battles which were joined with the rebel Armoricans were always fought at the Loire. Thus Apollinaris Sidonius, in the Panegyric of Majorian, brings in the wife of Aëtius casting up to her husband the glory of Majorian in these words In D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 802:

And the Loire, cut through with the two-edged axe, He drinks piece by piece. When he defended the Turones, Fearing war, you were absent.

The same writer, in his twelfth letter to Ferreolus, calls Aëtius the liberator of the Loire Ibid. page 800; which everyone understands of the Armoricans conquered at the Loire. Recall besides the Alans, placed beyond the Loire and roused by Aëtius to invade the lands of the Armoricans, but hindered by St. Germanus: by all of which it is made persuasive that the commonwealth of the Armoricans stood on the right bank of the Loire, and was by no means extended through all western Gaul. We must therefore agree with D. Bouquet Recueil des hist. de France, vol. I, page 587, Sharon Turner The Hist. of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. II, page 134 and others, who are not pleased with the immense Armorican commonwealth which Dubos devised.

[130] [The remaining history of the Armorican commonwealth up to the year 497, in which the Armoricans mingled with the Franks.] From this time, namely from the middle of the fifth century, the Armoricans became friendlier to the Romans, yet not entirely subject; certainly in the year 451 they brought aid to Aëtius against the cohorts of Attila; nor did they act otherwise about the year 470 in the Visigothic war. "In the course of time," says Procopius On the Gothic War, book I, chap. 12, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 30, "the Visigoths, having made an irruption into the Roman empire, subdued all Spain and the provinces of Gaul situated beyond the Rhône, and held them as tributaries. At that time the Arborychi (rather, the Armoricans [Cf. Valois, Rerum Francic. book VI, page 278; Dubos, Histoire critique, etc., vol. III, page 175 and following]) were rendering military service to the Romans: on whom, as neighbours and as having departed from the old form of the commonwealth, the Germans (understand the Franks), wishing to impose law and yoke, first plundered them, then attacked them in open war, all being driven by the itch of war. The Arborychi (Armoricans), giving proof of their generosity and their goodwill toward the Romans, bore themselves bravely in that war." This was about the year 493 Cf. Dubos, Histoire critique, etc., vol. III, page 94 and following, when the forces of Clovis besieged Nantes. But the fidelity of the Armoricans toward the Romans did not last much longer. For four years later they fell away from them, so as to submit themselves to Clovis, king of the Franks. Hear how Procopius goes on to relate the matter: "Making no progress by force," he says, "the Germans (Franks) invited them to form alliance and connexions by marriage: to which the Arborychi (Armoricans) willingly assented, because they were Christians. Grown together into one nation by this compact, they became most powerful: but the other Roman soldiers, who were stationed in the farthest part of Gaul, since they could neither return to Rome nor were willing to go over to the Arian enemies (the Visigoths), handed over themselves with their standards, and the region which they had formerly guarded for the Romans, to the Arborychi (Armoricans) and the Germans (Franks), and retained all their ancestral customs: which their posterity, having had them handed down to them, still keep." And in this way, at the end of the fifth century, through the intermingling

with the Franks, and by no means through slaughters and disasters inflicted by the Britons at the end of the fourth century, the Armorican commonwealth came to an end.

* The Huns

* Of Theodoric the Goth

* Avitus.

§ XIV. Continuation of the same argument. The true history of the settlement of the Britons in Armorica.

[While the Romans ruled, a number of Britons were transferred to the continent, but under pressure from the barbarians many others came of their own accord.] From what has been said so far it plainly follows that the British kingdom, which the tyrant Maximus is alleged by Geoffrey of Monmouth to have founded before the middle of the year 383 and to have ceded to Conan Meriadec, is altogether fictitious. But this is demonstrated no less clearly from the history of the coming of the Britons into Gaul, which must now be set out. That in the time of Pliny the Elder Natural History, book IV, chap. 17, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 56 there were Britons between the people of Gesoriacum and the Ambiani, and that they held those places on the sea-coast where now are Étaples, Montreuil, Hesdin and the territory of Ponthieu, seems an undoubted fact. That auxiliary forces were drawn out of Greater Britain, just as out of the other provinces, and had their station in various parts of the empire outside the island, is likewise a certain fact. Camden shows from inscriptions Britannia, page 41, Amsterdam edition, 1648 that there were at least twenty-six cohorts of British nationality, and among these Britons with the master of the horse of the Gauls. And who would doubt that from these levies, distributed through various provinces, colonies of Britons grew up in some foreign places and even in Gaul? Likewise it is in the highest degree probable, before the middle of the fifth century, when they were suffering almost continually incredible losses from the Picts and Scots bursting into Britain from Caledonia, namely slaughters, burnings, plunderings, devastations of the fields, so that in the year 446 they wrote with every right to Aëtius the patrician [Gildas, Liber Querulus, part 1, chap. 17, on the letters, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. LXIX, col. 542]: "The barbarians drive us back to the sea, the sea drives us back to the barbarians: between these arise two kinds of death, either we are slaughtered or we are drowned"; and since, moreover, they were at this time most cruelly afflicted once by famine and once by pestilence; it is in the highest degree probable, I say, and to me indeed undoubted, that almost every year a good number came from the island into the nearest parts of Gaul, namely into Armorica and other neighbouring regions: and so, when the Britons were more hard pressed, more of them are to be thought to have emigrated from their homeland; but I would not believe that it often happened that a great part of the nation set sail from Britain at once; much less that it occupied Armorica in the manner of conquerors; but rather that their number grew there little by little through continually new arrivals, until at length they prevailed. Certainly Procopius, writing of the events at the beginning of the sixth century, relates that their migrations were continual: "The island of Brittia," he says On the Gothic War, book IV, chap. 20, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 42, "three most numerous nations inhabit, each under its own king: the Angles, the Frisians (a good many still hold [Molhuysen, de Angelen in Nederland, in Nijhoff's Bijdragen van Vaderlandsche Geschiedenis, part III, fasc. I, page 50; De Angelen aan den Nederrijn, part III, fasc. III, pages 221–222; Kemble, Preface to his Edition of Beowulf, vol. II, page 49] that the foreign raiders who first harassed Britain came from Frisia), and the Brittones, who bear the name of the island. So great is the multitude of men that every year not a few migrate thence with their wives and children to the Franks, who assign them dwellings in that part of the soil of their dominion which seems more deserted."

[132] In the year 461 these had their own bishop and were settled on the Loire. But with the Franks and Armoricans, who were contracting connexions by marriage among themselves, the Britons did not mingle at all; but they founded colonies and a new nation in Armorica. Nay more, they were the first to resolve the difficult question whether, when some nation migrates in great numbers into another's diocese, it has the right to have its own bishop, or whether it is subject to the diocesan prelate. Certainly at the first council of Tours, which was held in the year 461, after the other bishops there signed Mansuetus, bishop of the Britons Maan, Sancta et metropolitana ecclesia Turonensis, part II, page 9. There is therefore no ground (to note this in passing) for the English of today to complain of St. Gregory the Great, as though he violated the rights of the British bishops when he sent St. Augustine and several monks to the Anglo-Saxons to preach to them on his behalf [Letters of St. Gregory the Great, book XI, letter 46, vol. II of the Works, col. 1150; Life of St. Augustine, bishop of Canterbury, num. 4, Acta SS. Ord. S. Bened., cent. I, page 505], and afterwards raised some of them to the episcopal dignity, although a number of British bishops were present. Mansuetus, a British bishop, had gone before St. Gregory the Great. And there were certainly people in the province of Tours on whom he might spend his labour. For from the letter which Arvandus, prefect of the Gauls, wholly unmindful of his office, had sent to Euric a little before the year 469 Cf. Tillemont, Empereurs, Anthème, art. VI, in which he showed this king of the Visigoths, among other things, that the Britons settled on the Loire ought to be attacked, and confirmed that the Gauls ought to be divided with the Burgundians, it is plainly clear that that colony of Britons was already very large.

[133] They came from Kent in the year 457, driven out by the Saxons. They seem to have arrived there in the year 457; at which year in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle [The Venerable Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England, also the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, page 310, Giles's edition] we read that Hengist and Aesc his son fought a second battle with the Britons at the place called Crecganford (Crayford); that in that battle four thousand of these were slain; that the rest deserted Kent and fled to London. For to that flight must be judged to pertain what St. Gildas Part I, chap. 25, in Migne, vol. LXIX, col. 346 and, following him, the Venerable Bede Eccl. Hist. book I, chap. 16, in Migne, vol. XCV, col. 44 relate. Hear St. Gildas: "And so some of the wretched remnants, caught in the mountains, were slaughtered in heaps: others, worn out by famine, came and gave themselves up to the enemy, to be slaves for ever, if indeed they were not at once butchered, which stood in the place of the highest favour: OTHERS SOUGHT REGIONS BEYOND THE SEA with great wailing, or as it were in place of the rowers' chant, singing thus under the bellying sails: 'Thou hast given us like sheep for meat, and hast scattered us among the nations, O God' (Psalm 43:12): others, hemmed in by the mountain hills, by threatening precipices and by the densest forests and sea-cliffs, entrusting their life always with a suspicious mind, though in their homeland, held out in fear." Certainly this migration over the sea took place after the treaty was broken in the year 455 Cf. St. Gildas, part I, chap. 25; The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, page 309; but at the same time before the battles fought in Wales in the years 465 and 473 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, page 310, which are plainly indicated by St. Gildas where he treats of the trepidation of those who, hemmed in by the mountain hills, by threatening precipices and by the densest forests and sea-cliffs, held out in their homeland. It is clear besides from St. Gildas that between that migration and the victory of Ambrosius Aurelianus, won over the Saxons about the year 475 [Cf. the Venerable Bede, On the Reckoning of Time, at A.M. 4426, Works vol. VI, page 320, Giles's edition; Tillemont, Empereurs, vol. VI; Hist. des Bretons], so much time intervened that in the meantime the most cruel raiders went back home, and the remnants of the Britons, strengthened by the Lord, were able to recover their strength St. Gildas, part I, chap. 25, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. LXIX, col. 346. Nor is Vertot to be listened to Hist. de l'établiss. des Bretons, vol. I, page 21, who would have those words of St. Gildas, "Others sought regions beyond the sea," understood of present-day Scotland. For although somewhere Part I, chap. 11, in Migne, vol. LXIX, col. 339 St. Gildas, and following him the Venerable Bede Eccl. Hist. book I, chap. 12, in Migne, vol. XCV, col. 38, call the Picts transmarine nations, yet in another place St. Gildas calls the Roman emperors transmarine kings Part I, chap. 2, col. 335: but that in the passage quoted above not Scotland but Gaul is to be understood is clear even from this one point, that the Picts were no less eager after the Britons than the Saxons were, so much so that the Britons and Saxons are said to have then been on friendly terms with one another by Geoffrey of Monmouth Hist. reg. Brit. book VIII, chap. 3, page 133, who affirms that he had a book written by St. Gildas on the Victory of Aurelius Ambrosius Ibid. book IV, chap. 20, page 75. Nor were the Picts to be reached by ships, in which "Thou hast given us," etc., might be sung. Nevertheless only the inhabitants of Kent and the neighbouring regions seem to have shared in this flight into regions beyond the sea, the other provinces being untouched. For this was the madness of the Britons, not to reckon the perils of their neighbours as their own, and, weak as they were to beat back the weapons of the enemy, to be strong and invincible for civil wars St. Gildas, part I, chap. 19. And indeed, if they had been of one mind, they did not lack the strength with which they could have repulsed not only the Saxons but also the Picts and Scots.

[134] Others came some years later, but stopped in Auvergne. Certainly, shortly after a good number of Britons had fled into Gaul in the year 457 and had taken up a seat on the Loire, there were in certain parts of Greater Britain people strong enough even to bring aid to the Romans dwelling in Gaul. For when the counsel which Arvandus had given, and which we indicated a little above, had pleased all the more as the things suggested seemed able to be done more easily on account of the continual changes of rulers and the instability of the commonwealth, "Euric, king of the Visigoths," these are the words of Jordanes History of the Origin of the Getae, chap. 45, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 27, "perceiving the frequent change of the Roman princes, strove to occupy the Gauls by his own right. Learning this, the emperor Anthemius at once asked for the help of the Britons. Their king Riothimus, coming with twelve thousand, having disembarked from the ships out of the Ocean, was received into the city of the Bituriges. To them came Euric, king of the Visigoths, leading a countless army, and, fighting for a long time, he overcame Riothimus, king of the Britons, before the Romans could join in alliance with him. He, having lost a large part of his army, fleeing with those he could, came to the neighbouring nation of the Burgundians, at that time federated with the Romans." St. Gregory of Tours mentions the same things in a few words History of the Franks, book II, chap. 18, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 170: "The Britons," he says, "were driven out of Bourges, many being slain at the village of Déols (Bourg de Déols)."

Riothimus, or Riothamus, remained with the remnants of his army in Gaul, probably in Auvergne, since St. Sidonius Apollinaris, bishop of Clermont, sent to him with a letter Book III, letter IX, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. LVIII, col. 502 a man of obscure station, who was lamenting that slaves had been carried off from him by Britons secretly enticing them, and who hoped that by Riothimus's command they would be returned to him. For which reason I would not dare to affirm that the Britons settled on the Loire were increased by the coming of Riothimus into Gaul; and indeed I will confess that what became of these afterwards is entirely hidden from me, holding this one thing for certain, that they were not left in the diocese of Nantes and of Rennes, as will be evident from what is to be said. If, however, anyone should hold that they were added to the other Britons who afterwards landed in very great numbers at the Horn of Gaul, I shall not oppose it.

[135] [About the year 500 the Franks, ruling Armorica, began to admit the Britons as suppliants within a fixed compass of territory, as is established from the council of Tours of the year 849.] At the end of the fifth century, when Clovis got possession of Armorica, or rather mingled his Franks with the Armoricans through marriages, it is right to conclude from the very silence of the writers that there were not yet many Britons in these parts. But in what way they afterwards arrived in such numbers that they prevailed over the original inhabitants, and on what conditions they were received, is rather obscure to me. Nevertheless it seems quite beyond doubt that the Frankish kings did not wish them to spread into the dioceses or districts of Rennes and Nantes; and that therefore a march or boundary was drawn, by which the region permitted to them was bounded; and moreover that marquesses, who were also the guardians or counts of the march or British boundary Cf. D. Bouquet, vol. VI, page 38, note b, were placed there, who had it among their commands to restrain them. But whether the Britons came peacefully, to follow the laws of their new homeland, or whether they came to live in a foreign kingdom at their own discretion, under their own laws and their own princes, was once disputed as hotly as possible, since from this was to be settled the controversy whether the kingdom was feudal: nor do the writers agree now. But if I may be permitted to put forward my opinion, I would think the greatest account is to be taken of the words of the fathers of the council of Tours of the year 849. For when Nominoë, who then governed Lesser Britain, had invaded the city of Nantes and that of Rennes, and also the territory of Anjou and of Le Mans Fragment of the history of Britain, in D. Morice, Mémoires, vol. I, col. 283, a region from which the Britons were barred, they themselves, in their synodical letter, in order to recall Nominoë to his duty, addressed him in these words Ibid. col. 292: "Nor are you ignorant that from the beginning of the dominion of the Franks there were fixed boundaries which they claimed for themselves, and fixed ones which they granted to the Britons at their request." The Britons, therefore, had made request, and the matter had been carried out in good peace on both sides.

[136] [whose assertions, although others have thought that the Britons occupied these lands by victorious arms, agree with what we know of the boundaries set,] It can indeed in truth be objected that this testimony is recent; that it was brought forward for the sake of a dispute; that in the ninth century it was not well understood at what time or in what manner the Britons had arrived in Armorica; that some believed that they had betaken themselves hither while the Gauls or Romans were still masters in these places; that Ermoldus Nigellus is a witness to this, where he discourses of the Britons subdued in the year 818 by Lambert, count of Nantes and guardian of the British boundary [On the Deeds of Louis the Pious, book III, verse 9 and following, in D. Bouquet, vol. VI, page 38]; that Einhard Annals, at the year 786, in D. Bouquet, vol. V, page 207 and, following him, the Saxon Poet [Annals, book II, verse 210 and following, in D. Bouquet, vol. V, page 148 and following] seem to have spoken thus also, so that the Britons are to be held to have inhabited Armorica before the coming of the Franks, but to have been conquered and overcome by them and ordered to pay tribute; that the most learned Ado Chronicle at the year 799, in D. Bouquet, vol. V, page 320 and the contemporary anonymous writer of Metz Annales Mettenses at the year 799, in D. Bouquet, vol. V, page 349 were even persuaded that Lesser Britain had never been subjugated by the Franks before the year 799; and other things of that kind. But although these things are so, and no one has ever fitly reconciled with one another what the ancients have handed down about the Armorican Britons, yet it seems that we must stand by the words of the fathers of Tours. For they could have known best the circumstances of Lesser Britain, since this was part of the ecclesiastical province of Tours; next, they call on Nominoë himself as witness, by which formula they openly signify that the thing was most certain to them; thirdly, what they say, that fixed boundaries were from the beginning set for the British newcomers, can be confirmed from the poems of St. Venantius Fortunatus to St. Felix, bishop of Nantes. Namely, in book III, poem V In Migne, Patrologia, vol. LXXXVIII, col. 124, he praises him in these verses:

Apostolic champion, who, overcoming the British claims, Safe in adversities, by the hope of the cross, put their arms to flight:

in which St. Felix is praised because by apostolic authority, relying in adversities on the help of Christ, he overcame the forces of the Britons and put their arms to flight out of his diocese of Nantes. And in poem VIII of the same book Ibid. col. 130 you have these others:

And for the safety of the flock, O shepherd, you run through the crossroads, And, the wolf shut out, the whole sheepfold is held fast. Watchful, by your art you remove the Britons lying in ambush: No one's arms avail for what your tongue achieves:

by which words St. Felix is again praised because by the authority of his speech he shut out of the diocese of Nantes the Britons who could not have been restrained by arms. St. Gregory of Tours wrote of the same things, but much less grandly: "The Britons," he says Hist. of the Franks, book V, chap. 32, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 125, "in that year (579) were very hostile around the city of Nantes and of Rennes: carrying off immense booty, they overran the fields, stripped the vineyards of their fruits, and led away captives. When Bishop Felix had sent an embassy to them, they promised to make amends, but would fulfil nothing of their promises." Already, therefore, in the sixth century the Britons were bound to keep themselves within fixed boundaries, and were shut out of the dioceses of Rennes and Nantes.

[137] [of the friendship which at the beginning existed between the Franks and the Britons, of the authority which the kings of the Franks retained, of their pious donations, etc.] Fourthly, the Britons seem at the beginning to have been on friendly terms with the Franks, and to have done nothing of greater moment without the consent of the king of the Franks. In the Life of St. Magloire, which is of good repute, these things are read In D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 435: "St. Samson, together with Blessed Magloire and a company of certain clerics as well as laymen, withdrew, and crossed the sea to preach to a people of the same language dwelling in the West, hastening to the borders of the territory of Dol: where, having received from the most vigorous king of the Franks, Childebert, the government of the archiepiscopate, his name shone forth renowned not only there, but also in every region of the Britons, or far and wide round about it." In the Life of St. Samson, written by an anonymous author nearly contemporary, the same king Childebert is everywhere represented as ruling Armorica, already occupied by the Britons about the year 530 Ibid. page 433 and following. In the Life of St. Paul of Léon, which was written in the tenth century by a monk of Fleury, Withur, one of the British princes of Armorica, is reported to have spoken these words to St. Paul page 432: "Since, brother Paul, dearer to me than life, the king of the Franks Childebert committed this region to my care to govern, I have had no conversation with him, neither in person nor through any faithful envoy." And finally, in the Life of St. Leonorius, bishop, it is read In D. Bouquet, vol. III, page 432: "At that time (namely, when that saint set sail with his disciples for Armorica) Childebert, king of France, was ruling, and at the same time Britain beyond the sea, or Armorican Britain. Having heard therefore the fame of his holiness, he begged him to come to him," etc. In the same Lives King Childebert everywhere appears distributing districts. We have just heard Withur saying that the region was committed by Childebert to his care to govern. St. Paul received the districts of Agna and Léon, with the revenue due to himself, by a precept of royal authority. Not less fortunate was St. Samson, who, Childebert granting lands and other necessary things, built a magnificent monastery. Recall besides the episcopate over the whole of Lesser Britain conferred on St. Magloire by Childebert. The more ancient British traditions themselves, therefore, agree with the assertions of the fathers of Tours, namely that the Britons came into Armorica as suppliants, and that fixed boundaries were assigned to them by the king of the Franks, who ruled these parts. Recall besides the words of Procopius which we quoted above: "Every year not a few migrate with their wives and children to the Franks, who assign them dwellings in that part of the soil of their dominion which seems more deserted."

[138] [The migrations of the Britons took place almost continually, especially from the year 514, as from the English records] Now if it is asked at what time these things chiefly took place, I would think it should be answered: chiefly from the year 514. For at this year, as is read in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Giles's edition, page 311, the West Saxons came into Britain, carried in three ships, and landed at the place which is now named Cerdic's Ore; and Stuf and Wihtgar fought against the Britons and put them to flight. The years 515, 516, 517 and 518 are blank in the Chronicle; but at the year 519 this occurs: "In this year Cerdic and Cynric obtained the kingdom of the West Saxons; and in the same year they fought against the Britons at the place which is now named Cerdicsford. And from this time the royal stock of the West Saxons has reigned." The Chronicle is then blank from the year 520 to 526; but in the following year a new battle against the Britons is reported at the place called Cerdic's Lea; and in the year 530 the same are read to have seized the island of Vectis (Wight). Further, it has long since been observed [Cf. Sharon Turner, The History of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. II, page 136, Paris, 1840], from the names Devon, Cornwall and others of that kind, imposed on the new homeland, that the colonists of Armorica came for the greatest part from that region of Britain which was afterwards called the kingdom of the West Saxons: and if anyone will put these things together, he will easily see how probable it is that the greatest multitude of Britons came into Armorica while, from the year 514 to 530, Cerdic and his son Cynric were bloodying the regions of Devon and Cornwall. Yet the migration of the Britons into the Horn of Gaul did not then cease: but some years later new colonies were also led out; namely when, in the year 552, as is read in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Cynric fought against the Britons at

Searoburh (Old Sarum), and put them to flight; and in the year 556, when Cynric, and Ceawlin, who succeeded him four years later in the kingdom of the West Saxons, fought against the Britons at Beranburh (Banbury?), the condition of the Britons in the parts of the West Saxons became more difficult day by day: whence what is read in the Genealogy of St. Winnoc D. Morice, Mémoires, vol. I, col. 211 seems not to be despised: "This Riwal (duke of Britain), coming from Britain beyond the sea with a multitude of ships, possessed all Lesser Britain in the time of Clotaire, king of the Franks, who was the son of King Clovis." This more probably took place in the year 560, when Chonober, count of Britain, having followed the party of Chramn against his father King Clotaire, was slain in flight [St. Gregory of Tours, Eccl. Hist. of the Franks, book IV, chap. 20, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 213] and left the government of Britain vacant.

[139] [and from the French records it is gathered. The political state of the Britons in Gaul.] To these are added testimonies from Gaul not to be despised. In the British or (if you prefer) Nantes Chronicle, which was indeed written recently, but collected throughout from the best records, at the year 513 (rather 511) is read D. Morice, vol. I, col. 3: "To Clovis succeeded Lothair and Theodoric his sons, Chlodomir and Childebert. In the time of this Clotaire the Britons from beyond the sea came into Lesser Britain": by which it seems to be signified that numerous colonists came in the time of Childebert and Clotaire: and indeed the writer of the Chronicle of Saint-Michel-in-Peril-of-the-Sea Labbe, Biblioth. Mss. vol. I, page 249 relates that a colony landed in the reign of Childebert. Further, Childebert, dividing his father's kingdom with his brothers, received Armorica in inheritance besides other provinces, as Le Cointe relates Annales ecclesiastici Francorum, at the year 511, num. 56 and as is certainly established from the Lives of the Saints which we sampled above. Childebert held this dominion from the year 511 until the end of the year 558, in which, dying, he left his whole kingdom to his brother Clotaire; within this space of time, therefore, which runs from the year 511 to 558, by far the greatest multitude of Britons arrived in Armorica, one which in the year 560 dared to resist Clotaire himself, monarch of the Franks. But it seems not to be denied that a little later, before the 20th of November of the year 561, the last day of King Clotaire, another multitude landed, under the leadership of Riwal or Riwalon, as is related in the Genealogy of St. Winnoc. Traces remain of a number of colonies which afterwards also sought a seat in these parts. But these things may be passed over, since the one thing we had to investigate was the origin of the county of Lesser Britain. Nor does it please us to inquire at greater length into the character of the government by which it was ruled; in a few words, however, we shall say that it seems certain that from the middle of the sixth century there were for the most part several counts there, yet that the whole region was held by the newcomers to be the kingdom of the Britons, just as the whole of Gaul was called the kingdom of the Franks; that for this reason the title of king, given to one principal man, pleased them, though the Franks refused it and called their governors counts, dukes, and other names of that kind; that at the beginning they acknowledged the authority of the Franks and paid tribute; but that afterwards they so declared themselves free that at the end of the eighth century and in the ninth they were thought by some never to have obeyed the Franks before the age of Charlemagne. But it will be enough to have indicated these things Cf. Valois, Rerum Francicarum book VI, vol. I, page 281 and following.

[140] How much these things conflict with the assertions of Geoffrey. How far the things we have set out so far stand from the assertions of Geoffrey of Monmouth! He lays down that the kingdom of Lesser Britain was founded in the fourth century; we on the contrary have demonstrated from the best documents that up to the year 408 Armorica obeyed the Romans; that thereafter it became a commonwealth, now free, now subdued by the arms of the Romans, yet entire until the end of the fifth century, at which time the Armoricans mingled with the Franks through marriages; that before the middle of the fifth century, indeed, a good many Britons were admitted on the Loire, but that they did not stay there long, and that it is not known to what places they finally went at some point; that before the year 515 the Britons do not seem to have landed in great numbers at the Horn of Gaul, but that then numerous crowds began to come thither; that fixed seats were assigned to them, the districts of Nantes and Rennes being forbidden them; that the more deserted soil, as Procopius says, was granted to suppliants, not acquired by arms, as Geoffrey related; who errs no less when he writes that the Britons began their kingdom in the Horn of Gaul from the capture of Rennes; that before the middle of the sixth century Lesser Britain was not called a kingdom, nor were its inhabitants free, but subject to the Franks and Armoricans; but that then at length, by numbers rather than by right, they claimed for themselves a liberty of some sort, which nevertheless the kings of the Franks never acknowledged. Since by these things, therefore, the whole foundation on which Geoffrey relied in referring the slaughter of St. Ursula to about the year 383 collapses entirely, it remains that we part from him wholly free.

§ XV. Some opinions approaching the narrative of Geoffrey of Monmouth briefly weighed and rejected.

The conjecture of Miraeus, resting partly on Geoffrey, partly on other records, But although these things are so, others nevertheless, and they most eminent men, have not dared to take that liberty for themselves; the leader of this band is Aubert Miraeus. He, namely, in the year 1608 at Antwerp brought out a short writing with the title De Virginibus Coloniensibus disquisitio, which was afterwards published at Paris and elsewhere Cf. Crombach, S. Ursula vindicata, page 154. Paquot picked at it cruelly Histoire littéraire des Pays-Bas, art. Aubert de la Mire, writing that it consists of opposing opinions and serves only to create doubts about the Ursuline martyrdom. But the critic read carelessly, since in this Disquisition the author wishes nothing else than to put forward his opinion about the manner in which Blessed Ursula and her companions earned the heavenly palm, and to propose it to learned men to be weighed; and so far is he from wishing to cast doubt on their precious death and ecclesiastical cult that, immediately after he has proposed his opinion, he adds this (because it seemed somewhat novel): "And I should wish these things to be taken as so said that in all things the judgment of the Church first of all remains safe, and the cult and honour of the holy virgins and martyrs remains unimpaired, from which we do not wish to detract even in the least." But here is the whole Disquisition of Miraeus: "In the year of Christ 383, as Baronius computes in volume III of the Annals, Flavius Clemens Maximus, having seized the empire in Britain by usurpation, crossed into Gaul with an army. And there accompanied him Roman legions, whose soldiers professed the Christian religion. And when the same Maximus had placed the seat of empire at Trier, a vast crowd of women, widows and virgins, of both sexes, hastening, having left Britain, to their husbands, parents and kinsfolk, was carried in ships to the Batavian or Frisian shore. This band, making from there by way of Verona *, an old town of Frisia, straight for Cologne Agrippina, and up the Rhine and the Moselle for Trier, fell in with the Huns, who were fighting for the emperor Gratian against Maximus, near Cologne Agrippina, and was cruelly slain by them. And so it may perhaps be conjectured that that crowd was the company of virgins among whom St. Ursula shone forth as leader and princess of the band. In favour of this conjecture is the fact that many heads of boys too, as I hear, are still seen at Cologne among the other bones of the girls." There follow then a few things about the silence of SS. Ambrose, Gildas and Bede, and about the testimonies of Wandalbert and of the biographer of St. Cunibert, and after them come the judgments of Bartholomaeus Petri and of Welser, with a passage of Fleien added about the Ursuline basilica: and with these the whole Disquisition is finished.

[142] at one time pleased Henschenius and Papebroch, This conjecture was not altogether new, as it had been proposed before by Aventinus Cf. Crombach, pages 153 and 154; but as soon as it was set in a new light by Miraeus, it pleased very much: and our Henschenius Acta SS. at 13 May, Commentary on St. Servatius, num. 13 and Papebroch Propylaeum of May, Paralipomena, page 38, going into the same opinion, approved it with their vote; Pope Cyriacus too, fashioned namely out of St. Siricius, began to find favour with Papebroch. But if we investigate the origin of this opinion, we are again led back to Geoffrey of Monmouth. For Aventinus reports the very words of Geoffrey; and although Miraeus seems to have read the book neither of Aventinus nor of Geoffrey, yet he drew indirectly from Geoffrey, since he had Baronius before his eyes, using toward the ecclesiastical historian that same liberty which the latter had previously used toward the writer of Monmouth, namely by changing his statements as much as was enough for them to become probable. Every man sees, therefore, how very little authority they have on this head.

[143] although they somewhat corrected and propped it up; But others have striven to make this opinion probable on other grounds; among whom Henschenius stands out. For after he had shown against Baronius that it could not have happened that, when in the year 383 the tyrant Maximus went from Britain into Germany and thence into Gaul, Gratian called up the Huns to harass partly the British sea, partly Gaul, with their incursions, contending that they were called up after the death of Gratian by the count Banthon or Bauto against the Juthungi who were ravaging the Raetias, he at length concludes with these words: "Let us say, then, that it was Banthon who, under the pretext of driving the Juthungi from the Raetias, roused the Huns and Alans after the death of Gratian; and that these, while Maximus was occupying Gaul, ran out plundering through all those regions of Upper and Lower Germany which had been the first to join him, perhaps in the very year 384, when on the 21st of October the Ursuline virgins seem to have fallen in with them as they were besieging Cologne Agrippina, they being, namely, already on their return, after Tongres and Reims and many other cities had been destroyed; and when Maximus was following their tracks, in order thereafter to fortify those regions against similar incursions and to establish the seat of empire for himself at Trier." He cuts away, therefore, from the narration of Geoffrey all those things which pertain to the British kingdom set up in Armorica; he cuts away the Huns, the sea-pirates, who under their king and leader Guanius had been sent by the emperor Gratian into Germany to disturb and inflict disasters on those who favoured the tyrant Maximus; he cuts away finally those things by which the Ursuline virgins are said by Geoffrey to have been slain in the maritime parts; and he admits only this from his narration, that they were slain by the Huns who followed the imperial side against Maximus; but he took from other records that those Huns were not maritime raiders, but auxiliary forces dwelling in Germany.

[144] But truly it is quite manifest that no Huns at that time came into Second Germany

, as Brower long ago observed [Annales Trevirenses, book IV, num. 174 and 175, vol. I, pages 262 and 263; and book V, num. 62, page 292]. "The Huns," he says, "who emerged in the sub-Alpine regions during the reign of Gratian and Valentinian, after they had occupied the region beyond the Ister and fallen upon the Alans, were indeed seen in the Raetias, that is, in the inland parts of Illyricum and the Alps, but, as Blessed Ambrose expressly records, Valentinian ordered them to be driven back through Alemannia and kept far off: he adds also that they had been summoned, not for the cause of Maximus, which alone could have supported Geoffrey (of Monmouth), but in order to drive out of those regions the Juthungi, who from the neighbourhood were ravaging the Raetians: and that these, he says, when they were just approaching Gaul, were turned far away through the lands of Alemannia by the zeal of the younger Valentinian." It is hardly to be understood how most grave men, while reading these things, could bring themselves to think that the Huns, summoned into Alemannia in the reign of Valentinian, were the authors of the Ursuline martyrdom. For nothing is more manifest than the words of St. Ambrose about the route of those Huns. D. Berthod saw this clearly while he was illustrating St. Pantulus, bishop of Basel (whom we have already said is referred to the Ursuline band), and so, leaving the conjecture of Henschenius and Papebroch, he went over without any hesitation to the opinion of Brower. Further, the statements of St. Ambrose, by which this controversy is to be settled, ought to be given and explained here; but, lest we be forced to handle the same argument twice, we prefer to insert them in the following paragraphs, where the coming of the Huns into Europe and many other parts of Hunnic history, with which the passion of St. Ursula and her companions is bound up, will come to be set out more fully.

* Bonn

§ XVI. It is shown that the Huns were the authors of the slaughter of St. Ursula and her companions. On the use of arrows in war.

[That the holy virgins were killed by the Huns is established from the traditions of Cologne and of Britain, from the route of the Huns, and from the presence of arrows.] We have indicated above rather often that the time of the slaughter of St. Ursula is to be determined by the history of the Huns: which determination we now at length undertake, having first to show that the holy martyrs were truly slain by the Huns. In truth, in the Sermon on the Feast no mention at all is made of the Huns; nay, it is even asserted that the manner of her martyrdom is unknown, and a twofold guess is proposed, which we have already rejected. Nevertheless it seems not to be doubted that St. Ursula and her companions were slain by the Huns. For on the one side this is openly handed down in the older Cologne Passion Regnante Domino, and on the other by Geoffrey of Monmouth; and since these are two most different sources and agree in almost nothing, they seem to be called trustworthy where they are in harmony with each other. If these things are held by anyone to be in the place of a bare presumption, he will nevertheless, if he weighs the following arguments, easily grant, unless I am mistaken, that no room remains for doubt. The first is that the Huns, returning from Gaul, penetrated so far into Belgium that they necessarily passed by Cologne when they made thence for the right bank of the Rhine. The other, which we shall explain first, is drawn from the arrows by which very many of the holy virgins were slain. Papebroch, namely, giving testimony of the things which he himself had taken in with his own eyes, speaks thus: "We ourselves," he says Propylaeum of May, paralipomena, page 39, "have seen those same bones, brought together into one place, with evident signs of slaughter, AND FRAGMENTS OF WEAPONS MIXED IN HERE AND THERE, AS THEY HAD BEEN FIXED IN THE BODIES THEMSELVES, AND SOME IN THE BONES, IN WHICH THEIR POINTS STILL STUCK." Likewise Crombach: "We examined the bodies," he says S. Ursula vindicata, page 981, "the wounds clearly received in the skulls; WE SAW ARROWS FIXED IN THE FOREHEAD AND THE CROWN OF THE HEAD." Finally, in the Passion Regnante Domino it is read that St. Ursula was transfixed by the stroke OF AN ARROW. Other things will come in the Posthumous Glory. It is manifest, therefore, that St. Ursula and her companions were slaughtered by barbarians who used bows and arrows: which we do not wish to be understood as if no other weapons had been employed: on the contrary, we contend that in the army by which the Cologne virgins were slain there were many who used other weapons, and that those very men who handled arrows were armed with swords; but we only maintain that the use of arrows in slaying the virginal band was not the least.

[146] Very few barbarians used arrows in war Now very few barbarians indeed used this kind of weapon. Herodian, who everyone knows was rather often occupied in describing arms, in several places mentions that the Moors from Africa fought with javelins, the Parthians from the East with arrows; and in the following passage, where he treats of the expedition of the emperor Alexander against the Germans, he adds also the Osrhoenians: "Alexander," he says Herodian's Histories, book VI, chap. 7, page 277, Boecler's edition, "drew up against the Germans many Moors and a vast force of archers, whom he had brought with him from the East, partly from the territory of the Osrhoenians, partly deserters from Parthia or men enticed by money. For soldiers of this sort especially harass the Germans: since both the Moors hurl their javelins from a greater distance, and are quick at charging and withdrawing, being light and unencumbered; and the archers easily hit from afar the bare heads and those huge bodies of the Germans, as though some target." Alexander, therefore, had studiously collected as many troops of archers as he had anywhere among the auxiliaries: and he found only Osrhoenians and Parthians. For although the art of shooting arrows was known to almost all peoples, yet few excelled in it enough to use bows to advantage in battle; whence Jordanes [On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 6, in Muratori, Scriptt. Ital. vol. I, page 195]: "The Parthians … among almost all the nations of Asia are the only archers, and most fierce warriors"; he said "almost," so as not to exclude the Osrhoenians, the Persians and some others. The same Jordanes Ibid. chap. 5, page 195 gathered that the Goths, settled above the Pontic sea, gave attention to bending bows, from this verse of Lucan:

And to bend Armenian bows with Getic strings;

but it seems to follow, unless I am mistaken, that the Goths put more effort into preparing and selling bowstrings than into using them, from what Belisarius in Procopius [On the Gothic War, book I, chap. 27, vol. II of the Works, page 129, Bonn edition; cf. Dubos, Hist. critique de la monarchie française, vol. I, page 278] explains about the superiority of his army, saying that it differed in this especially, that almost all the Romans (from the time, namely, when they had had to fight with the barbarians invading Europe, they had cultivated the archer's skill Cf. Encyclopédie méthodique, Art militaire, under Archer) and the Huns, their allies, were most skilful mounted archers: but that none of the Goths had given attention to this art. "But their horsemen are accustomed to use only spears and swords: while their archers fight on foot, protected by the ranks of the soldiers of heavier armour." The Goths, therefore, were not altogether without archers, but these were fewer and unskilled, because this kind of weapon was not proper to the nation.

[147] and probably none except the Huns, who burst into Gaul by way of Cologne. That it was also scarcely used by the Celts, the Franks and the other Germans is commonly handed down by the ancients [Cf. Strabo, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 30; Agathias, ibid. vol. II, page 65; Tacitus, On the Customs of Germany, chap. 6] as well as by the more recent writers Cf. Encyclopédie militaire, art militaire, under Archer. Among the arms of the Saxons, likewise, the arrow does not occur Cf. Sharon Turner, the Hist. of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. I, pages 122 and 123. Of the Scythian archers many things are read here and there; but, if I see anything, I think we must agree with those who hold that this part of the Scythians who fought with arrows was of the race of the Tatars or Mongols [Cf. d'Omalius d'Halloy, Introduction ethnographique, before the Diction. Ethnograph. of Migne, page 47], not of the Slavs or Germans; under which name I understand also the Goths and others using kindred languages: for it is a certain fact that the name of the Scythians was extended from the most ancient times to the most diverse nations and very often to the Huns. Nay more, it seems that we must come to the opinion that arrows were a kind of weapon proper to the Tatars or Mongols, whether they dwelt in Europe, like the Fenni on the Baltic sea Cf. Tacitus, Descript. German. chap. 46, or in Asia above the Euxine Sea; and certainly among the barbarians who burst into Europe I have found none belonging to the Germanic stock with whom there was much use of arrows in fighting. Of the Germans, of the Franks, of the Goths, of the Saxons I have already spoken. The Alans are reported to have fought in heavy armour, the Heruli in light, the Gepids with javelins [Jordanes, On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 50, in Muratori, Scriptt. rer. italic. vol. I, page 216]; and the Vandals are said On the Vandal War, book I, chap. 8, vol. I of the Works, page 349 to have been skilled neither as javelin-men nor as archers, nor to have learned to fight on foot, but to have been all horsemen and to have used chiefly spears and swords. And most of these things are clearly confirmed by Jordanes, who, describing the battle which the barbarians of Germanic stock fought in Pannonia after the death of Attila against the Huns, indicates the arms of each and sets them against one another: "There," he says On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 50, in Muratori, vol. I, page 216, "I think it was a spectacle to be wondered at, where one could see the Goth fighting raging with the sword, the Gepid breaking all his javelins in the wounds of his foes, the Suevian trusting in his foot, the Hun in his arrow, the Alan drawing up his battle-line in heavy armour, the Herulian in light." Of all these, therefore, the Huns alone shot arrows; they were conspicuous for this way of fighting, as the Goths were for their swords; the Gepids for their javelins; the Suevi on foot with the framea and darts, after the manner of the Germans; the Alans (however like the Huns) in heavy armour, namely breastplate, helmet and shield, and also lance, sword and pike; the Heruli in light armour, covered by hardly more than a shield and a thicker cloak, and intent on hurling darts. Moreover, from what Ammianus Marcellinus and Salvian will give us below about the barbarians who came to Cologne, it will be sufficiently manifest that no nation which used arrows in any manner whatever passed by Cologne before the middle of the fifth century.

[148] [That this kind of weapon was proper to the Huns is established from the Greek writers,] That on the contrary the hope and strength of the Huns was placed in arrows is already sufficiently established from what has gone before; it pleases us, however, to confirm it further, chiefly so that it may appear that the bow and arrow, which they used besides the sword, were a kind of badge and mark of theirs, which struck everyone's eyes and by which they were distinguished from the other barbarians who laid waste the Roman empire. Ammianus Marcellinus, who saw them and described their appearance and customs most accurately: "For this reason," he says Res gestae, book XXXI, chap. 2, "you would easily call them the fiercest warriors of all, that they fight at a distance with missile weapons having sharp bones, instead of the points of spears, joined to them with wonderful skill, but at close quarters with the sword without regard for themselves, and, while their enemies are watching for the harm of their blades, they entangle them with twisted cloths, and

take away from the limbs of those resisting, now caught in the noose, the power of riding or walking." Marcellinus, therefore, himself most skilled in military affairs, admired among the Huns an incredible dexterity in hurling missiles or arrows and also in casting nooses. Zosimus of the same New History, book IV, chap. 20, pages 194 and 195, Bonn edition: "They neither could nor knew how to attack the enemy at all in close standing fight, but partly by riding round, partly by sallying out, partly by retreating at the right moment and shooting arrows from horseback (ἐκ των ἱππων κατατοξευοντες) they wrought an immense slaughter of the Scythians (that is, the Goths)." Not otherwise Agathias, where he records that they were slain by Belisarius Histories, book V, chap. 19, pages 320 and 321, Bonn edition: "Then the barbarians, struck with javelins from every side, crowded together upon themselves and driven and pressed into a narrow space, could not defend themselves by fighting. For neither could they shoot arrows (τοξευειν) conveniently, since there was no room for missiles (βελεσιν), nor could they make sallies on horseback and wheelings of their wings… The barbarians, turning their backs, fled in disorder… For they had both slackened all the reins of their horses, and besides, the whips, urging continually, took away any slackening of speed. And from fear even the very art in which they are accustomed greatly to glory had failed them. For when fleeing these barbarians rather drive back those who pursue them hotly, by shooting arrows backwards." We have given above the words of Procopius praising the skill of the Huns in archery. Elsewhere he extols it again, calling them τοξατους ἀγαθους ὀντας [On the Gothic War, book II, chap. 1, vol. II of the Works, page 146, Bonn edition], and representing them as fighting with arrows as if they had had no other arms, although we know that they bore the sword also. Finally Olympiodorus, who went as ambassador to the Huns, celebrated with singular praises the excellent skill in archery of their kings themselves, εὐφυεστατην τοξειαν [From the Bibliotheca of Photius, cod. 80, in the Corp. Scriptt. Hist. Byzant. vol. I, page 455, Bonn edition].

[149] from the Latin, French and other writers The Latins likewise, when they saw the Huns, were most struck by their use of bows and arrows. We have mentioned Marcellinus. St. Sidonius Apollinaris, in the Panegyric which he delivered to Anthemius Augustus, consul for the second time, makes no mention of other arms [Panegyric delivered to Anthemius, Pesaro Collection of all the Poems, vol. VI, page 42, col. 1]:

Another race of horse-borne men is spoken of. This one holds * the smooth bows and arrows dear; Terrible and sure are their hands, and fixed is their trust In javelins that bear death: and their fury Is taught to strike harm with a stroke that never errs.

Jordanes in prose proclaims the same things of them: "Small indeed," he says [On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 24, in Muratori, Scriptt. Ital. vol. I, page 203], "in form, but quick in their movements, nimble and most ready for riding: broad-shouldered, and prepared for bows and arrows." Let us hear the biographer of St. Anianus, where he treats of the siege of Orléans: "Meanwhile," he says In D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 645, "the hostile army (namely, of the Huns) was hurling its missiles more pressingly." And from the things which we have discussed so far it follows (unless I am mistaken) that the use of arrows in military expeditions was altogether proper to the Huns, and very little adopted by the other barbarians, especially those who were of Germanic origin and who laid waste the banks of the Rhine and other parts of Gaul. And since the Ursuline band certainly perished partly by arrows, if you add this to the Cologne and British traditions, according to which the blessed virgins are reported to have been slain by the Huns, I for my part do not see what further you could doubt, that the soldiers of Attila were truly the chief authors of their martyrdom. Moreover, since no barbarians, as we shall explain elsewhere, were so cruel or so shameless as the Huns, and since it is sufficiently certainly established that the Cologne martyrs were in very great number and most of them of the weaker sex, we have from this other indications by which the hosts of Attila, and they alone, are designated.

[150] [How rashly it has been asserted that the authors of the slaughter were the Suni, or the Dacians, or the Pannonians,] What do those who think otherwise say to these things? A good many Hungarians [Desericius, On the Beginnings and Ancestors of the Hungarians, book IV, vol. III, page 84], who are persuaded that the Magyars are the remnants of the Huns (although it has seemed otherwise to the most learned ethnographer d'Omalius d'Halloy Introduction ethnographique, in Migne, Diction. Ethnogr. page 47), contend that an error has prevailed in the British and Cologne records, and that in place of Hunni or Huni one should read Suni or Sunici, a Belgian people whom most will have to have been settled where Maastricht is now seen, or to the east of this place [Cellarius, Notit. Orbis antiqui, vol. I, pages 274 and 275, Brandt's edition; Walckenaer, Géographie ancienne des Gaules, vol. II, page 287 and following; Schayes, Les Pays-Bas avant et durant la domination romaine, vol. I, page 432, note 1]. But these things were devised only because the Ursuline martyrdom, as it might seem to turn to the honour of Cologne Agrippina, so it might turn to the disgrace of the Hungarian people. To such things, therefore, there is scarcely need to reply, since no manuscripts of the Passion Regnante Domino are brought forward in which Suni or Sunici are written, and since Geoffrey of Monmouth, who by no means used the Cologne books, also has Huns, not Suni or Sunici. Why, then, should the same error be read in the most different writings? But others say otherwise, namely that the name of the Huns was generic in the Middle Ages, and was given to any barbarians whatever who had acted savagely anywhere Cf. Crombach, S. Ursula vindicata, pages 103 and 104; for which reason it can with every right be asserted that the slayers of the Cologne virgins were Dacians, driven out of Pannonia by the Huns and by the error of certain writers sometimes called Huns Inchofer, Annal. eccles. Hungariae, apparatus, page X. But who ever heard that the Dacians came into these parts? But if the Dacians do not please, our adversaries offer us the Pannonian recruits whom Maximinus had led with him into Germany in the year 235; that these could have been called Huns, since the Huns afterwards had their seat for some time in Pannonia Crombach, S. Ursula vindicata, pages 102 and 103; just as the old Gauls are sometimes called Franks, because the Franks occupied their region. But what will they ever gain by this preposterous manner of arguing? Where is it written that the Pannonian recruits, when they were living in Germany, made a slaughter anywhere of Romans or of those who obeyed the Romans? What record, further, remains that they fought with arrows and bows?

[151] or the Goths. Our adversaries have yet another way of escape Ibid. page 102: namely, Maximinus is reported by some to have been born of a Gothic father and an Alan mother; now Jordanes wrote On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 9, in Muratori, vol. I, page 196 that "nations by usage adopt many names, as the Romans borrow those of the Macedonians, the Greeks those of the Romans, the Sarmatians those of the Germans, the Goths for the most part those of the Huns"; hence, they say, it is established that the Goths especially gloried in the name of the Huns; hence that Maximinus, a Goth by origin, could have been called a Hun and leader of the Huns. But a deception is being practised on the readers. For Jordanes is speaking of an altogether different matter. For when he had said that a king of the Goths named Telephus is mentioned by the historian Dio, he added: "But lest anyone should say that this name is altogether foreign to the Gothic tongue, there is no one who does not know that it is observed that nations by usage adopt many names," etc.; so that Jordanes never thought that the Goths liked to be called Huns: but he wrote that they used proper names borrowed from the Hunnic or Mongolian tongue, just as the Huns also took names of Gothic or Germanic origin: an example of which is the name of Attila himself, by which very many think is signified "noble" or "born of an ancestral line"; others, however, think that it was borrowed from Athel, the Tatar name of the river Volga Cf. Am. Thierry, Hist. d'Attila, vol. I, page 51, note 3. But it wearies me to pursue the other ways of Crombach and the Hungarians by which they think that the slayers of St. Ursula and her companions could be called Huns without having truly been Huns. I proceed, therefore, to the description of the Huns, so that it may be the more evident how unlike this nation was to all others and how very easy to distinguish.

* the same as habet

§ XVII. Description of the Huns and their first seats.

The form, customs and character of the Huns according to Marcellinus, The Hunnic nation, as it continued in the fourth and fifth centuries, was pure and unmixed; so that no one who had once seen it would have confused it with any people of Germanic stock. For it had all the marks by which the Mongolian is now distinguished. Hear Ammianus Marcellinus: "The nation of the Huns," he says Res gestae, book XXXI, chap. 2, "slightly known to the ancient records, dwelling beyond the Maeotic marshes by the icy ocean, exceeds every measure of savagery. Since among them the cheeks of the infants are deeply furrowed with iron from the very beginnings of birth, so that the vigour of the hair, sprouting at its due time, may be blunted by the wrinkled scars, they grow old beardless, without any comeliness, like eunuchs: all of them with compact and firm limbs and thick necks: of prodigious shape and bow-legged, so that you would think them two-footed beasts, or like the stumps which are roughly hewn into figures in putting the edges on bridges. But though in the shape of men, however unpleasing, they are so hardy that they need neither fire nor seasoned food, but live on the roots of wild herbs and the half-raw flesh of any sort of animal, which they place between their thighs and the backs of their horses and so warm it a little. They are never sheltered by any buildings: but they avoid these as tombs set apart from common use. For not even a hut thatched with reed can be found among them. But wandering, roaming the mountains and forests, they are accustomed from the cradle to endure frosts, hunger and thirst. Abroad they do not go under roofs unless compelled by the utmost necessity: for they do not think themselves safe under roofs. They are covered with garments of linen, or made of the skins of field-mice sewn together: nor have they one garment for home and another for out of doors. But a tunic of faded colour, once put over their neck, is not laid aside or changed before it has fallen away in rags, torn to pieces by long decay. They cover their heads with curved caps, protecting their hairy legs with goatskins; and their shoes, fashioned on no lasts, prevent them from walking with a free step. For which reason they are little suited to battles on foot: but, almost fastened to their horses, which are hardy indeed but ugly, and sometimes sitting on them in women's fashion, they perform their ordinary tasks. From these any one of this nation, night and day, buys and sells, takes his food and drink, and, bowed over the narrow neck of his beast, sinks into a deep sleep, even to the point of a variety of dreams. And when deliberation on serious matters is proposed, they all consult in common in this posture. They are not governed by any royal severity, but, content with the disorderly leadership of their chief men, they break through whatever comes in their way. And they sometimes fight when provoked, but they enter battle in wedge formation, with various cries sounding fiercely. And as they are light and sudden for swiftness, so, deliberately scattering of a sudden, they gain strength, and with disordered line rush about with vast slaughter: nor, because of their excessive rapidity, are they seen either attacking a rampart or plundering an enemy's camp.

And for this reason you would easily call them the fiercest warriors of all, that they fight at a distance with missile weapons having sharp bones, instead of the points of spears, joined to them with wonderful skill, but at close quarters with the sword without regard for themselves, and, while their enemies are watching for the harm of their blades, they entangle them with twisted cloths, so that they take away from the limbs of those resisting, now caught in the noose, the power of riding or walking. No one among them ploughs, or ever touches a plough-handle. For they all roam about without fixed seats, without hearth or law or settled rite, always like fugitives, with the wagons in which they live: where their wives weave for them their hideous garments, and lie with their husbands, and bear children, and rear the boys up to puberty. And no one among them, when asked, can answer whence he comes, having been conceived in one place, born far away, and brought up still farther off. In truces they are faithless, inconstant, extremely changeable at every breath of a new hope that presents itself, giving themselves wholly to the most violent fury. Like unreasoning animals, they are utterly ignorant of what is honourable or dishonourable: shifty and obscure in speech, never restrained by reverence for any religion or superstition: burning with an immense desire for gold: so changeable and so easily angered that often on the same day they fall away from their allies with nobody provoking them, and likewise are reconciled with nobody soothing them. This is an unencumbered and untamed race of men."

[153] Jordanes and St. Sidonius Apollinaris. The same men were no less known to Jordanes: "Those," he says On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 24, in Muratori, vol. I, page 203, "whom perhaps they did not at all overcome in war, they put to flight by the terror of their faces, inspiring excessive dread by their frightfulness, because they had a dreadful appearance of blackness, and, so to speak (if it is lawful to say so), a sort of shapeless lump, not a face, and having pin-points rather than eyes. Their grim aspect betrays the boldness of their spirit, and they rage even against their own offspring on the first day of birth. For they cut the cheeks of the males with iron, so that before they receive the nourishment of milk they are forced to undergo the endurance of a wound. Hence they grow old beardless, and are youths without comeliness: because the face, furrowed with iron, loses through the scars the seasonable grace of hair. Small indeed in form, but quick in their movements, nimble and most ready for riding: broad-shouldered and prepared for bows and arrows: with firm necks and always held up in pride. These, though under the form of men, live with the savagery of beasts." St. Sidonius Apollinaris agrees Panegyric of Anthemius, Pesaro Collection of Poems, vol. VI, page 42:

A race menacing in spirit and in limb; such a horror Is in the very faces of their infants: the round mass Rises to a narrow head; under the brow, in two hollows, Sight is present though the eyes seem absent; the light, driven Into the vault of the brain, scarcely reaches the retreating orbs, Yet these are not closed. For from no spacious arch They see great spaces, and by the use of a greater light They make up for points clear-sighted though deep in wells. Then, lest the twin passage should grow out over the cheeks, A bandage bound about flattens the tender nostrils, That they may give way to helmets. Thus for battles a mother's love Disfigures her children, because the stretched expanse of the cheeks Becomes broader when the nose does not come between. The rest of the men's body is handsome: vast chests stand out, Notable shoulders, a belly girt up close under the flanks; On foot their stature is middling; but it stands out tall If you see them as horsemen: so they are often thought tall When they are seated. Scarcely has the infant, lacking his mother, stood, When soon the steed offers his back: you would think the limbs Grown together with the men; so ever, as though fixed, the rider Clings to his horse. Another race is borne on the backs of horses. This one holds the smooth bows and arrows dear; Terrible and sure are their hands, and fixed is their trust In javelins that bear death: and their fury Is taught to strike harm with a stroke that never errs.

[154] Now, so that the time and manner of the coming of the Huns into Europe may become known more clearly, [The Huns, formerly settled to the north of the Chinese kingdom, seem to have come to the Caspian Sea in the year 40 before Christ:] it will help to speak briefly of their origin. Now Joseph de Guignes was the first to inquire learnedly into the origin of this nation, so very different from all the others known in Europe before the end of the fourth century, namely in his commentary on the Huns, the Alans, the Igurs and the Sabirs [Mémoires de l'académie des inscriptions, etc., vol. XXVIII, page 85 and following]: by which he paved the way for his History of the Huns. In both works he seemed to have shed an incredible light on many things which before were most obscure; and afterwards Desmoulins retraced his footsteps, and Édouard Biot examined some points anew Journal asiatique, Nov. 1843. According to their opinion, therefore, the Huns are part of that nation which the Chinese historians call the Hiongnou, and which at one time ruled the immense tract of lands which is situated to the north of China and stretches from the Eastern sea as far as the river Irtysh; nay more, which forty years before the birth of Christ extended the boundaries of its empire as far as the river Yaik, which pours its waters into the Caspian Sea; so that only then did the Huns at length come into the neighbourhood of the Caspian Sea. But these things have not pleased everyone, because the Huns seem to have had their seat in these parts two centuries earlier. For Strabo writes Geography, book XI, page 749, Oxford edition: "Eratosthenes relates … that in a circle round the sea, after the Hyrcanians, are the Amardi, the Anariacae, the Cadusii, the Albani, the Caspii, the Uitii, and perhaps some others also, as far as the Scythians." Now they contend that the Uitii are the same as the Huns, because Dionysius Charax, or Periegetes Dionysius Periegetes, verse 730, who flourished under the emperor Augustus, listing four peoples on the western shore of the Caspian Sea in reverse order, namely from north toward south, names the Scythians, the Huns (Οὐννους), the Caspians and the Albanians. Priscian Pesaro Collection, vol. IV, pages 248 and 249 turns the verses of Dionysius into Latin thus:

The nations, then, that ring this sea * on every side, Beginning from the first shores of the north wind, let me number, Which slope toward the west, which the Caspian shores enclose: First are the peoples of Scythia, living beside the Saturnian Waters and the mouths of the Hyrcanian sea… Next follows the Thynian *, then the brave Caspian offspring; Next are the Albanians, warlike with fierce Mars.

Now since Eratosthenes, who mentions the Uitii, was born 276 years before Christ Biographie universelle, under Eratosthenes, and these seem to be the same as the Huns whom Dionysius names, it must be said that the Huns established themselves at the Caspian Sea not forty years before Christ, but two hundred or more. To this argument, which rests on the conjecture that the Uitii are the same as the Huns, they add another, namely that the Hiong-nou laid aside that name long before, so as to be called Yuepo or Yuepan, when at the beginning of the second century they sought refuge in the plains of the Kirghiz. Thirdly, finally, they say that it is almost certain that the Hiong-nou and the people of the Uighurs were the ancestors of the Turks; whence it would follow that the Turks and the Huns belong to the same stock; but that the language and bodily form of the two nations do not favour this consequence.

[155] which opinion of de Guignes seems not to have been attacked with firm arguments. But truly, who would deny that the first argument is very weak? The second, besides the fact that it is not agreed that the name Hiong-nou ceased before the second century, does little to the point. The third, that the language of the Huns does not agree with the Turkish, is laughable, since nothing survives of the language of the Huns besides names from which nothing certain can be deduced. See above, num. 151. But if you nevertheless press this, there stands in your way Parrot [Versuch einer Entwicklung der Sprache, Abstammung, Geschichte, Mythologie und bürgerlichen Verhältnisse der Liwen, Lätten, Eesten, vol. I, pages 39, 164, 428, etc.], most skilled in the languages and affairs of the North and of Asia, who does not hesitate to trace the Huns and the Turkomans back to the same stock, because the languages of the two agree sufficiently with one another. But as for the bodily form of the Huns and the Turks, let the reader himself judge. It is agreed among ethnographers that the nation of the Kirghiz is the purest of the whole Turkish stock; now its likeness and description agree as well with the Huns as with the Kalmucks or Mongols. For brevity's sake I would not wish to lay out the features, nature and customs of these; for no one denies that the countenance and character of the Huns are reproduced in their likeness: for the rest, the traveller Hommaire de Hell will supply them [L'Univers pittoresque, Tartarie, Beloutchistan, Boutan et Népal, by Dubeux and Valmont, page 171]. But we must hear the Englishman Wood, who described the Kirghiz in his Journey to the sources of the river Oxus: "The Kirghiz," he says In Migne, Dictionnaire d'Anthropologie, col. 1019, "are small, and far below middling stature: of seven men who were together, only one was five English feet, five and a half inches tall. Their countenance is wonderfully ugly. The upper part of the nose is extremely depressed; whence the two eyes are separated by a flat space, on the same level with the rest of the face; the eyes oblong and sunken; the lower part of the forehead juts out, the upper seems to recede; their broad and swollen cheeks you would call two lumps of flesh applied to the face; the beard is scanty, and in those whose hair is thick it curls of itself; the colour is dark, less from the heat of the sun than from the harshness and variety of the weather; finally, their limbs are not furnished with strong muscles." Known besides is their curved cap, which we saw above is attributed by Ammianus to the Huns also. Their shoes of hides are shapeless; their art of riding and of shooting arrows, and their custom of plucking out the beard, are also mentioned by many; in a word, if you look at the face of a Sultan of the Kirghiz and the dress of some of the inhabitants, as they are shown in the book L'Univers pittoresque [Tartarie, Beloutchistan, Boutan et Népal, by Dubeux and Valmont, plates XII, XIII and I], you will think you are seeing the men described by Ammianus Marcellinus, Jordanes and St. Sidonius Apollinaris. In truth the Huns are usually compared with the Mongols, especially the Kalmucks or Tatars, and I myself have more than once reckoned them among the Mongols; but these things in no way conflict with one another, since I hold the Kirghiz too as part of the Mongolian stock; not attributing as much to colour as the renowned d'Omalius d'Halloy Recherches sur les langues tartares, page XLVI and page 11, who, drawing the distinction from colour, reckons the Mongols to the yellow stock, the Kirghiz to the white. For different systems find favour with different ethnographers.

[156] There they were divided into Black and White Huns. For which reason, although Abel Rémusat Asia polyglotta; cf. Journal des Savants, 1823, Nov., page 653, Klaproth Die Erdkunde, vol. II, pages 343 and 344 and Ritter Bulletin de l'académie royale de Bruxelles, vol. XXIII, part II, page 815 (such great names in the geography of Asia!) thought the opinion of Joseph de Guignes should be rejected, I for my part would not dare so much; nor can I agree with them that the most illustrious historian of the Huns, in maintaining that the Huns and the Hiong-nou are the same nation, put forward no other arguments than the similarity of the names Hiong-nou and Huns. For de Guignes plainly shows

that the Hiong-nou, whom he also holds to be the same as the Turks, came as far as the west of the river Volga and passed into Yen-tçai, or Asiatic Sarmatia; and since the ancient Chinese historians sometimes call this Alann and report that it was situated on the borders of the Roman empire, who would deny that the region occupied by the Alans is designated, whom we know from the Greek and Latin writers to have been conquered and driven out by the Huns [Mémoires de l'académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, vol. XXVIII, page 92 and following]? The Chinese also mention a twofold nation of the Hiong-nou: the one which is known among them under the name of Ab-Tele or Telites (which common name they had taken), that is, "at the water," or at the Oxus; the other which had its seat near Kashgar and Aksu and stretched as far as the Caspian Sea and Kipchak Ibid. page 96. The Latins and Greeks also knew several peoples belonging to the Hunnic nation, chiefly two, of which the one were called the White Huns, the other the Black Huns. With which agree the words I find quoted from Jordanes [On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 24, cited by the renowned Am. Thierry, Attila, vol. I, page 207. But they are not found in Muratori, vol. I, page 203; nor in the Bibliotheca Patrum Maxima, vol. XI, pages 1060 and 1061; they were certainly taken from another edition]: "From this point the Huns, like a most fruitful turf of the bravest nations, sprouted forth into a twofold frenzy of peoples." And so, as the western ones are said by Jordanes to be of a dreadful blackness and of a hideous colour, so the eastern ones, who are also called Ephthalites and Abtelites Theophylact Simocatta, History, book VIII, chap. 8, page 283, Bonn edition, are represented by Procopius On the Persian War, book I, chap. 3, vol. I of the Works, page 16 as of white skin and of a countenance by no means deformed; whence they were also called white Ibid. page 15. These were the neighbours of the Black Huns; but they were divided by the Caspian Sea: so that the White were placed to the north of the Persians and to the east of the Caspian Sea Ibid. page 16; cf. de Guignes, Hist. des Huns, vol. II, page 325 and following, the Black to the north of Mount Caucasus, between the Caspian Sea and the Maeotic marsh Procopius, On the Persian War, book I, chap. 10, vol. I of the Works, page 48.

* Caspian

* Hun

§ XVIII. The seat of the Black Huns at the Caspian Sea; their coming into Europe; their seats and deeds up to the end of the fourth century: so far, namely, as they pertain to the Ursuline affairs.

[The Black Huns, authors of the slaughter of St. Ursula, scarcely known to the Romans up to the year 374, at length burst out of Asia into Europe.] But whatever opinion is adopted about the origin of the Huns, whether that of de Guignes pleases, who thinks that the Hiong-nou and the Huns are the same and that forty years before Christ they extended their dominion and their seats as far as the river Yaik, flowing into the Caspian Sea on the north; or whether it is laid down that they were a tribe of the eastern Finns Cf. Journal des Savants, 1823, Nov., page 653 or of some other nation of the Mongolian family; this is certain, that a little after the year 40 before Christ one part of them, namely the White Huns, came down between the Caspian Sea and the Oxus as far as Persia, the other, or the Black Huns, between the Maeotic lake and the Caspian Sea as far as Mount Taurus. There they settled quietly for about four centuries, so that they scarcely became known to the Romans and Greeks. We said above that in the age of Augustus Dionysius Periegetes mentioned the Black Huns, of whom alone we shall speak henceforth, and in the second century Ptolemy [Geography, book III, chap. 5; cf. Cellarius, Notitia orbis antiqui, vol. I, page 406] mentioned a tribe of the same placed between the Rhoxolani and the Blasterni on the Tanais. But no other writers, either Latin or Greek, seem to have spoken of them. Hence Ammianus Res gestae, book XXXI, chap. 2 committed to writing that the nation of the Huns was slightly known to the ancient records; and Zosimus New History, book IV, chap. 20, page 194, Bonn edition calls them a nation previously indeed unknown, but which suddenly emerged at that time, namely when in the year 374 it attacked the Goths. Eunapius wrote similar things Excerpts from the History, num. 34, page 75, Bonn edition; and Jerome Against Vigilantius, book II, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. XXIII, col. 295 spoke of the "new savagery of the Huns," because before his age it was unknown. And these things plainly overturn the assertion of Crombach S. Ursula vindicata, page 94 and following that the Huns had already come into Europe before the middle of the third century, nay even before the birth of Christ. To which assertion it is no less opposed that, when the Black Huns moved war against the Goths (this was the beginning of their irruption into the western parts), they were still dwelling entirely within fixed and settled boundaries, namely to the east of the Euxine Sea, the Maeotic lake and the river Tanais; nor do the contemporary writers allow us to suspect that they had a seat anywhere else. Ammianus Marcellinus Res gestae, book XXX, chap. 2 plainly affirms that they dwelt beyond the Maeotic marshes by the icy Ocean; Zosimus New History, book IV, chap. 4, page 194 also relates that he found it handed down to memory in the histories that the Cimmerian Bosporus, reduced to the form of land by the silt which the Tanais carries down, afforded them the means of crossing from Asia into Europe by a land route when they undertook the Gothic war. Procopius, having spoken of that part of Mount Taurus which is called the Caspian mountain, and also of the Caspian Gate, which some will have to be the pass of Derbent, on the shore of the Caspian Sea, others, and much more probably, the pass of the Terek, almost in the middle of the Caspian mountain [Walckenaer, Mémoires sur les dénominations de Portes Caspiennes, etc., Nouv. Mém. de l'académie des inscriptions, etc., vol. VII, page 210 and following], continues thus On the Persian War, book I, chap. 10, vol. I of the Works, page 48: "From here (toward the north) there opens a plain fit for riding and abundantly watered. The greatest part of the region is suited for rearing horses, and stretches out in very level expanses. There dwell almost all the peoples whom the name of the Huns comprehends, and their seats reach as far as the Maeotic marsh." Priscus also, who was sent as ambassador to the Huns and observed their affairs most accurately, so far as can be gathered from the remains of his history, reports that this savage nation occupied the farther bank of the Maeotic marsh, while the Goths occupied the nearer [Cf. Jordanes, On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 24, in Muratori, vol. I, page 203]. Jerome, again, recording their irruption into the East in the year 395, says that they were let loose from the farthest crags of the Caucasus [Letter LX to Heliodorus, or the Epitaph of Nepotian, num. 16, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. XXII, col. 600], or writes that from the farthest Maeotis, between the icy Tanais and the monstrous peoples of the Massagetae, where the barriers of Alexander restrain the wild nations by the crags of the Caucasus, the swarms of the Huns burst forth Letter LXXVII, or On the Death of Fabiola, num. 8, in Migne, vol. XXII, col. 695: so that nothing is more certain than that the Huns, who made so great a slaughter in the Roman empire, kept themselves between Mount Caucasus and the Maeotic marsh up to the end of the fourth century. It must therefore be certain (to note this again in passing) that St. Ursula and her companions could not have been slain by the Huns before the middle of the third century, as the people of Cologne would have it, especially Bebius and Crombach.

[158] Diefenbach is refuted, who from Geoffrey of Monmouth But another adversary must be met here, of much greater authority in these times than Bebius and Crombach, namely Lorenz Diefenbach, most distinguished for his inquiries into the origins of Celtic matters. For he reckons that the Huns came into Britain many centuries before Christ, and at the same time as or very near the landing of the Picts Celtica II, part II, pages 267 and 269. He gives credit to the narratives of Geoffrey of Monmouth about Humber, king of the Huns, who fought with Albanactus, son of Brutus, the great-great-grandson of Aeneas the Trojan. For he refers the reader Ibid. page 267 to these words Hist. reg. Brit. book II, chaps. 1 and 2, page 23: "Then, while they (Locrinus, Albanactus and Camber, the sons of Brutus) reigned long in harmonious peace, Humber, king of the Huns, landed in Albania (Scotland): and having joined battle with Albanactus, he slew him, and forced the people of the country to flee to Locrinus" (who is said in the same place to have held Loegria, or the middle part of the island). "Locrinus, therefore, having heard the report, associated with himself his brother Camber, and gathered all the youth of the country, and went to meet the king of the Huns near the river which is now called the Humber. The encounter having been joined, he drove Humber to flight, who, fleeing as far as the river, was drowned in it and left his name to the river." But this whole fable was invented to explain the words Britain, which is said in the same place to have borrowed its name from Brutus, Loegria from Locrinus, Cambria from Camber, Albania from Albanactus, Humbria from Humber; and as no one of sound mind does not hold the coming of Brutus into Britain to be fictitious, so Humber, king of the Huns, is not to be received with milder judgment. For my part I hardly understand with what intention Diefenbach heaps up the testimonies Celtica II, part II, page 268 of others who took the same things from Geoffrey; for no profit is to be expected from the streams where the spring itself is impure and a fountain-head of fables. Still less do I grasp on what true ground he can reckon Sigebert of Gembloux among those who used the writings of Geoffrey and drew from them. Geoffrey, as has been sufficiently shown above in § IX, could not have written his History before the year 1125; but Sigebert finished his Chronicle about the year 1111, and died on the 3rd day before the Nones of May of the following year [Continuation of Anselm of Gembloux, in Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae, vol. VI, page 375].

[159] [and from a passage wrongly inserted into the Chronicle of Sigebert he wished to show that they came into Britain long before Christ.] "But," you will say, "Sigebert went before Geoffrey; and those plainly stray from the truth who think that what is inserted about the origin of the Britons into the Gembloux Chronicle has been interpolated; there are, namely, the best arguments by which this charge is refuted"; but Diefenbach has not yet wished to bring these forward Celtica II, part II, page 89. But truly the autograph copy of Sigebert still survives; Miraeus once used it, Bethmann more recently employed the same In Pertz, vol. VI, page 284 and following, and in it these things about the Britons and many other things excerpted from Geoffrey are altogether omitted.

Those additions were first received by the Ourscamp manuscript, written between the year 1155 and 1200; from there they flowed into the Dijon copy and that of Sainte-Marie-du-Voeu; and since the latter was used in preparing the first edition and this led the way for later editors, if you except Miraeus and Pertz, or Bethmann, it came about from this that these stuffings occur almost everywhere in the printed texts, although they are absent from almost all the manuscripts. For the rest, readers were warned of the interpolation from the beginning. I have the first edition before my eyes, and this title is inscribed on it: "The Chronicle of Sigebert, monk of Gembloux, from the year 381 to 1115, with insertions from the History of Geoffrey and additions of Robert, abbot of Mont, also comprising the three following years, at the promotion of the eminent father D. G. Parvus, doctor of theology, royal confessor, now first brought to light, with privilege. It is on sale in the shop of Henri Estienne (where it was printed), situated opposite the School of Decrees, and in the rue Saint-Jacques in the shop of Jean Petit under the Golden Lily." Antoine Le Roux had detected these insertions with the help of the Saint-Victor manuscript of Paris, from which they were absent, as is said in the letter prefixed to that edition. Since these things are so, who, I ask, will lend an ear to Geoffrey, the sole witness, that the Huns lived in England several centuries before the birth of Christ? We have besides catalogues of the tribes which inhabited Britain while the Romans ruled Sharon Turner, the History of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. I, page 39; and there is no mention there of the Huns, although this nation would certainly have struck everyone's eyes, since it was by far the most different from all the rest; call to mind what stupor and horror it cast on those who saw it as soon as it became known.

[160] Several have spoken excellently of the coming of the Huns into Europe: We ought now to discourse of the passage of the Huns across the Maeotic lake and their coming into Europe; but these things are to be touched on briefly, namely so far as the Ursuline affairs require it: whoever wishes more will be given it by Tillemont [Mémoires, Empereurs, Attila king of the Huns, after Theodosius II, vol. VI, page 57 and following, Brussels, 1740], Ignaz Aurelius Fessler Hist. des Huns, vol. I, part II, page 217 and following, de Guignes Die Geschichten der Ungern und ihrer Landsassen, vol. 1, page 13 and following, but above the rest and by far the best by the renowned Amédée Thierry. For in the French work to which he gave the title History of Attila and his Successors he joined such sagacity in investigating the circumstances and deeds of the Huns, such prudence in judging their affairs, and such abundance and accuracy in narrating them, with consummate eloquence and historical splendour and gravity, that, if I see anything, that work, in my judgment, will have lasting praise. The author has followed the fortunes of the Hunnic nation from the year 575 to 924; so that nothing is left to be desired by those who long to know fully its prosperous and adverse condition. But let us now take up our own subject.

[161] here it is set out briefly. When the Goths had their seats to the west, the Huns to the east of the Maeotic marsh and the Tanais, some enmities had long since arisen between the two peoples, when at length in the year 574 Balamir, king of the Huns, marched against the Ostrogoths and subjected them to himself. Hence the Visigoths, struck with terror, after some unsuccessful efforts, fled beyond the Danube and left the northern bank of the river empty and free for the irrupting Huns. While they were settled there, there was not yet such complete agreement among all the tribes that all had one will, one aim: Attila afterwards brought about this concord. And indeed, through the freedom which the Huns had previously retained and the diversity of factions, the Roman emperors were able to take auxiliary forces for themselves from the Hunnic nation. It is no wonder, accordingly, that count Bauto, when he was sent by Valentinian II against the Juthungi who were devastating Raetia (the same, namely, whom the lamentable emperor Gratian went to attack in the middle of the year 383), had Huns in his army.

[162] It is shown from St. Ambrose And here we come upon the passage of St. Ambrose of which we made mention above at num. 145. This most illustrious bishop of Milan, when in the year 387 he was sent again by Valentinian II as ambassador to the tyrant Maximus, wrote in a letter to Valentinian Letter XXIV, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. XVI, col. 1035 and following that he had received this reproach from the mouth of Maximus: "Since you have deceived me, you and that Bauto, who wished to claim the kingdom for himself under the pretext of the boy, who also let loose barbarians upon me: as though I had none whom I could bring up; when so many thousands serve me as soldiers and receive their rations from me." To the first head St. Ambrose answered that neither he nor Bauto had deceived him, since he himself had first asked for peace with Valentinian; to the latter head, which contains an accusation against Valentinian or Bauto, as though the latter had sent barbarians into the lands subject to Maximus, and at the same time a threat that he would do the same in turn, the most holy prelate made this reply: "What barbarians did count Bauto let loose? And what wonder if Bauto had done this, being a Transrhenane by birth, when you threaten the Roman empire with the help of barbarians and with troops from beyond the frontier, for whose supplies the tributes of the provincials were paying? But see what a difference there is between your threats and the gentleness of the boy Valentinian Augustus. You were demanding to pour yourself into Italy surrounded by hosts of barbarians: Valentinian turned back the Huns and Alans, who were approaching Gaul, through the lands of Alemannia. What is there invidious in it if Bauto made barbarians fight against barbarians? For while you were occupying the Roman soldiery, while it was stretched out against itself on both sides, in the very bosom of the Roman empire the Juthungi were ravaging the Raetias; and therefore the Hun was summoned against the Juthungian. Yet the same, because from neighbouring ground he was trampling down Alemannia and now from the vicinity of the evil was pressing upon the Gauls, was forced to abandon his triumphs, lest you should fear. Compare the deed of each: you caused the Raetias to be overrun, Valentinian purchased peace for you with his own gold." So far Ambrose.

[163] that the Huns about the year 383, in the time of the tyrant Maximus, From these words we learn, first, that Maximus was the cause of the Juthungi overrunning the Raetias, since (unless I am mistaken) by his rebellion he prevented Gratian from crushing these barbarians settled on the upper Danube; secondly, that no barbarians were brought by Bauto into the provinces obeying Maximus: for this question means nothing else: "What barbarians did count Bauto let loose?" although this would have been permitted him with better right than to Maximus, who was threatening the same; thirdly, that Bauto and Valentinian took careful precaution that the dominions of Maximus should suffer no damage. For when Bauto attacked the Juthungi, he had come to them either from the eastern quarter through Noricum, or from the northern, the Danube namely having been crossed, and had touched no part of Maximus's empire; but when he had subdued them and was approaching Gaul, he was ordered by Valentinian to remove the Huns and Alans from Raetia, taking care again that he should not touch the provinces of Maximus: for which reason he received among his commands to lead the barbarians back to the northern bank of the Danube through Alemannia (which, according to Bucherius Belgium Romanum, page 357, stretched on the eastern side of the Rhine between the Main and the Lohn, or Laugona *, and corresponded roughly to part of the present duchies of Baden, Hesse and Nassau): by which it becomes altogether plain that the Huns by no means came at that time to Cologne, situated on the left of the Rhine; since Alemannia did not stretch so far, and especially because that city lay in Second Germany, of which it was the metropolis, and on that account was held to be part of the Gauls, from which the barbarians were ordered to keep away.

[164] could not have laid waste Cologne. And indeed, if they were kept away from Maxima Sequanorum, which bordered on Raetia, although there were weighty reasons for approaching it, namely so that the triumphs over the Juthungi might be completed, much more certainly must they be thought to have been forbidden to run out into the Germanies. In a word, as Maximus, through the tyranny he had seized, stirred up a civil war, by which Gratian was forced to engage his army with the legions of Maximus, the Juthungi being left unpunished and the way of the Raetias opened to them, so, on the contrary, Valentinian II with his gold made the Huns auxiliaries of the Roman empire, and, far from inflicting any damage on Maximus and his dominion, procured peace for him by driving the Juthungi out of Raetia. This is the meaning of the words of St. Ambrose; whence it may be evident that the Huns at that time were by no means in the parts of Cologne Agrippina.

[165] The objection of our adversaries, drawn from their barbarism, is repelled. But our adversaries have something to oppose: namely, that the Huns were an untamed nation; that they ran plundering through all Germany; that Bauto and the other Roman commanders could by no means restrain them; that it could easily have happened that some cohort ran out to Cologne, and other things of that kind. For my part I will willingly grant that there was not among the Huns the order and discipline which was to be seen in the Roman army; that war was waged by them savagely; so that it would have been an extremely odious thing if they had been led into the Roman provinces: which is established from the complaints of Maximus himself, however rash and empty. But it is one thing to wage war disorderly and cruelly, quite another to run about far and wide for the sake of laying waste and plundering and not to spare even friendly cities. Of barbarian auxiliaries one must judge no otherwise than of the present-day Russian Cossacks and of the legions of Indians serving the British for pay. For this was the praise of the Romans, that in a short time they made forces destitute of all humanity obedient to command and bound them by the laws of military service: of which thing we have excellent testimonies, and ones bearing on these very times.

[166] How well the Romans restrained barbarian auxiliaries by good discipline. For when in the month of August of the year 587, immediately after the second embassy of St. Ambrose which I mentioned above, Maximus had crossed the Alps to crush the young Valentinian II and strip him of all his empire, Theodosius I promised him help and at once gathered an army, a great part of which were barbarians. And what discipline prevailed among them Pacatus has related [Panegyric delivered to Theodosius, chap. 32, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. XIII, col. 507]: "Finally," he says, addressing Theodosius himself, "to the peoples of the barbarians, who vowed to bring you their voluntary service, you grant the office of fellow-soldiers, so that both a suspect band might be withdrawn from the frontier, and an auxiliary might be added to the soldiery. Enticed by this kindness of yours, all the Scythian nations flocked together in such swarms that you seemed to have imposed on the barbarians the levy which you had remitted to your own people. O thing worthy of record! there marched under Roman generals and standards the one-time enemy of Rome, and he followed the standards against which he had stood, and the soldier had filled the cities of Pannonia which he had lately emptied by hostile ravaging. That Goth, and Hun, and Alan answered to his name, and took his turn at the watches, and feared to be marked down as absent. There was no tumult, no confusion, no plundering, as might be expected from a barbarian. Nay, if ever the supply of corn had been more difficult, he bore the want patiently, and

the ration which he had reduced in quantity he made go further by sparing; asking back, as his whole reward and whole pay, this one thing, that he might be called yours. How great is the ambition of virtue! You were receiving a benefit which you might reckon to your credit."

"But these are the empty praises of panegyrics!" I hear it; and I would readily grant that more than a just share is attributed to Theodosius in these passages: but no prudent man would deny that this army, collected almost entirely from barbarians, was in fact well ordered. For Pacatus is not the only witness, but St. Ambrose himself as well; who, in order to dissuade Theodosius from avenging the burning of the Jewish synagogue (which it seemed could not be done without dishonour to Christ), brought in Christ recalling the benefits He had conferred on the emperor, and, in reckoning these up, using these words Letter XL, num. 22, in Migne, vol. XVI, col. 1109: "I commanded your army, gathered together from many untamed nations, to keep the faith and tranquillity and concord as of one nation": in which briefer words the same things are contained as in the more copious ones of Pacatus. There is nothing, therefore, by which the opinion of Henschenius and Papebroch can be propped up, who contend that the Huns, when after the death of Gratian they had been led by Bauto into the Raetias and thence led back through Alemannia, wandered as far as Cologne, plundering after the manner of brigands.

[167] Although the foundation on which they relied was weak and feeble, yet the letter of St. Ambrose, not sufficiently well understood, gave their opinion an appearance of truth. [Diefenbach is refuted, who contends from the British Triads that at the end of the fourth century all Europe was laid waste by the Huns.] But Diefenbach seems able to allege nothing at all when he affirms that in this age the Huns roamed through all Europe Celtica II, part II, page 269. For what the Britons once called ormes ddu, and more recently the black invasion, invasio nigra, has nothing to do with the matter. For here is what is read in the eighth Triad, as they call it, written in British Ibid. pages 74 and 75: "There are three invading tribes which came into the island of Prydain (Britain) and went away from it. The first, the Llychlynnwys… The second, the guests of Ganfal Wyddel… The third were the Romans, who, having used violence, continued more than four hundred years in the island, until they returned to the Roman region to repel the hostile incursion of the black invasion; nor did they ever afterwards return to the island of Prydain; and there remained only women and children under the age of nine years, who became part of the Cymry."

[168] [It is shown that in the Triads the subject is the wars of the Romans with the barbarians in the fifth century, especially the war of Attila.] These words New History, book VI, chap. 3, page 320, Bonn edition need some explanation. As we learn from Zosimus, in the consulship of Arcadius for the sixth time and Probus (in the year of Christ 406), "the Vandals, mingled with the Suevi and Alans, having overcome these places (the Cottian, Pennine and Maritime Alps), laid waste the transalpine nations, and, having made a great slaughter, became formidable even to the armies of the Britains; whom they indeed drove so far that, fearing lest they should advance as far as themselves" (into Britain, which had almost no intercourse with the rest of the empire), "they turned to choosing tyrants, Marcus, I mean, and Gratian, and after these Constantine. He Ibid. chap. 2, page 318, when he had set Justinian and Nebiogastes over the Celtic soldiers, sent them across, having left Britain." Further, Constantine, having got possession of Gaul, conquered the barbarians and fortified the Alps and the Rhine so that they might not invade the same region thereafter Ibid. chap. 3, page 320. He also subjected Spain to himself, and committed the Pyrenees to be guarded by a certain general named Gerontius. But this man, when a little later he saw Constans, the son of Constantine, put in his place, driven by envy, enticed the barbarians from beyond the Rhine into Gaul and Britain. Whence it came about that the citizens of this island, destitute of all help, took counsel for their own safety, and were seen to have revolted from the Roman empire Ibid. chap. 5, pages 321 and 322. This was in the year 409 Cf. Sharon Turner, the History of the Anglo-Saxons, pages 106 and 107 or thereabouts. Two years later Constantine met a bloody death Ibid. page 105, nor yet could the Romans ever recover Britain On the Vandal War, book I, chap. 2, vol. II of the Works, page 318, Bonn edition; not because the Britons resisted, but because, with the barbarians pressing on from every side, they could scarcely now and again send some forces to protect them. Between the year 425 and 451, therefore, the Romans gave up entirely the protection of Britain and abandoned it, being occupied in restraining barbarians of every kind at almost all the frontiers of the empire [Cf. Tillemont, Mémoires, Empereurs, Hist. des Bretons, vol. VI, pages 188 and 189, Brussels, 1740]. Above, at num. 151, we mentioned the letter which the Britons sent in the year 446 to Aëtius, consul for the third time, demanding some help as vehemently as possible. "Nor yet, in doing this," says the Venerable Bede Eccl. Hist., chap. 14, in Migne, vol. XCIV, col. 41, following St. Gildas the Wise, "could they obtain any help from him, inasmuch as he was at that time occupied in most grievous wars with Bleda and Attila, kings of the Huns." The history of the departure of the Romans from Britain is therefore contracted far too much in the Triads. In reality it was on account of the black invasion, or the irruption of the Huns, that the Romans did not return into the island See however Tillemont, Mémoires, Empereurs, Hist. des Bretons, vol. VI, page 190; but it is plain that their legions were first led out of it for an altogether different reason. Meanwhile this one thing concerns us, that the black invasion of which the Triads speak is to be marked not at the year 383 or a very few years after, but at the middle of the fifth century: by which the assertions of Diefenbach plainly collapse.

[169] [Fables are the things which are narrated of Guanius, king of the Huns, and of Melga, king of the Picts] Since these things are so, no probability is added from this passage of the Triads to what Geoffrey of Monmouth, and from him a good many others whom Diefenbach cites Celtica II, part II, pages 267, 268 and elsewhere, relate of Guanius, king of the Huns, and of Melga, king of the Picts, who by order of Gratian had crushed with a dreadful slaughter the maritime and Germanic nations because they favoured the tyrant Maximus, and who, raging along the shores of the sea, met St. Ursula and her companions when they had landed in those parts, and, because they would not wanton with them, slaughtered the greatest part of them without pity. For while Gratian was alive the Huns were still settled on the lower Danube; nor certainly did he have time (as is clear from what we narrated above at num. 117) to call them to his help against Maximus, much less for them to fit out a pirate fleet. "Moreover the nation of the Huns," says Papebroch Propylaeum of May, Paralipomena, page 39, "brought down to the Maeotic marsh from that region which is now called the Crimean and Perekop Tartary, seems to have been as little experienced in maritime expeditions as it was accustomed to running through provinces with the utmost speed." The Huns had no practice in steering ships, nor even larger boats; for they crossed rivers and marshes lifted up on the tails of their swimming horses, or with their belongings packed together and covered with hide and joined with their wagons in the fashion of rafts, or even in smaller skiffs made of a hollowed tree. These are still the present-day customs of the kindred peoples.

[170] are narrated. But Diefenbach, like Baronius, propped up the narration of Geoffrey with the authority of Sigebert of Gembloux. But the words which are read at the year 389 in the first edition Chronicle of Sigebert, monk of Gembloux, fol. 3 and in almost all the others: "While Guanius and Melga, leaders of the Picts and Huns, were overrunning and devastating the kingdom of Britain, because it lacked a ruler and defender, since Maximus had led away with him all the warlike men, so great a calamity of his kingdom was announced to Maximus. And he sent Gratian the townsman with two legions to bring help to the Britons: who, having fought with the enemy, put them to flight into Ireland," these are absent from the autograph copy and from almost all the others Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae, vol. VI, page 303, and it is one of the passages which were transferred into Sigebert's work from the History of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Read above, num. 159. For the rest, that Guanius, whose name is written differently by different writers, was probably fashioned out of Gainas, a Goth by race, who, having been set by Theodosius I over some barbarian forces, afterwards became a plotter of revolution, and was finally slain by Uldes, king of the Huns, who was eager to please Arcadius. Zosimus, Tillemont and others set out his deeds at greater length; but it will be enough to have indicated these things.

* Lahn or Lohn

§ XIX. Attila, increased in strength, resolves to invade Gaul; what route he took.

In the fifth century the Huns extend their dominion to both We said above that the Huns step by step extended their seats to the northern bank of the Danube; on the other bank, in the year 427, they seem to have got possession of that part of Pannonia which takes in Sirmium and lies along the river Save, with the exception, however, of the fortified cities; and a little later they probably occupied some parts of Thrace and Dacia as well [Cf. Tillemont, Mémoires, Empereurs, Attila, art. II and III, vol. VI, pages 58 and 59]. [banks of the Danube; they keep themselves not far from the Saale; about the year 450 Attila aspires to empire.] But Germany lay almost open to their incursions. For which reason already at the beginning of the fifth century they seem to have attacked the lands of the Burgundians, which Bucherius shows by a firm argument to have been enclosed by the county of Henneberg and its neighbours Belgium Romanum, page 357. Hence part of the Burgundians sought for themselves safer seats on the left of the Rhine; the other part stayed; and, having received the faith of Christ, in the year 436 routed the Huns, about ten thousand being slain [Socrates, Eccl. Hist. book VII, chap. 30, pages 371 and 372; cf. Tillemont, Mémoires, Empereurs, Valentinian II, art. XII, vol. VI, page 89]. Whence it is established that in that age the dominion of the Huns did not come even to the river Saale, which was the boundary dividing the Burgundians from the Alemanni; and so they seem not to have run out farther to the west. Likewise, in the very year 450, when they were already threatening Gaul, they do not yet seem to have ruled in Franconia, or at least beyond the river Neckar, on which the Transrhenane Franks dwelt; otherwise, how would one son of the king of that nation, lately deceased, have sought the protection of the Huns, the other that of Aëtius, commander of the Romans [Priscus, Excerpts from the Embassies, page 40, Paris edition, 1648; cf. D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 607, note a]? For the rest, the Huns were then looking much more toward the Euxine Sea than toward the west, having been made extremely bold by the imprudence and weakness of the court of Constantinople, and in these parts also dwelt the instigator of all evils, Attila, who from the year 434 together with his brother Bleda, and ten years later alone, had got possession of the kingdom of the Huns. He nevertheless at some point thought not only of the eastern

but of seizing the whole empire. By his inborn ferocity far superior to the Romans, he had learned deceits from them, and, relying on force and frauds, he dared everything. He had come to such a pitch of pride and arrogance that in the year 450 he signified these words through his envoys to the trembling emperors Theodosius II and Valentinian III [Paschal or Alexandrian Chronicle, vol. I, page 587, Bonn edition; John Malalas, Chronographia, page 358, Bonn edition]: "My lord and your lord Attila commands through me that you build him a palace"; for he held himself to be emperor, and them to be his slaves. Aspiring, therefore, to empire, he continually sought pretexts on which to declare war on the Romans; and while at the same time he won over to himself friends and partisans in Barbary and in Gaul, he was making preparations for war. Meanwhile Theodosius the younger died at Constantinople in the middle of the year 450, and in the month of August had Marcian as his successor. A little later the empress Placidia also closed her eyes at Ravenna, leaving the reins of the Western empire free to Valentinian III, a man of no courage. By this change of affairs the East seemed to revive, the West to slide into a worse state. Attila understood, therefore, that nothing could prudently be attempted by him against Marcian, and he turned all his efforts in one direction and resolved with himself to get possession of the Western empire.

[172] [He, seeing that all circumstances favoured him, resolved with himself to invade Gaul;] Having, therefore, previously wearied Valentinian with many complaints and remonstrances and terrified him with threats of war, he now began to enter into a new treaty with him and to feign friendship, so as the more easily to deceive the Romans [Cf. Tillemont, Mémoires, Empereurs, Attila, art. VI, vol. VI, pages 62 and 63; Bucherius, Belgium Romanum, pages 510 and 511; Valois, Rerum Francicarum book IV, page 153 and following]. For the rest, everything favoured the daring of Attila. The Bagaudae, or the rustic or servile faction, which had arisen in the reign of Diocletian, this same, though often triumphed over, always persisted, since the injuries of the judges, the oppression of the governors and the plunderings of the tax-collectors, which had given occasion to this rebellion, did not cease. Some young nobles added strength to it, although it was "Armed for the special slaughter of the nobility" Eucharisticon of Paulinus, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 773. Of this faction, which we would now call social, see the renowned Amédée Thierry Hist. de la Gaule sous l'administration romaine, vol. III, page 19 and following and the abbé Dubos Hist. de l'établiss. de la monarchie française, vol. I, pages 312, 313 and 452, who however undeservedly confuses it with the Armorican one. For this was a different one, more recent in origin, but strong as well, and not conquered by any disasters, but only suppressed: of it we spoke above in § XIII. Moreover, from the beginning of the fifth century a good many barbarian nations, which formerly inhabited Germany, hating the neighbourhood of the Huns, had invaded Gaul: the Alans, Vandals and Suevi in the year 406; but after a four-year devastation they had made for Spain and Africa, only some of their own being left near Valentia * and on the left of the Loire. Part of the Burgundians had settled in Helvetia and Savoy. A good many Franks also had occupied Belgium, and the Visigoths were ruling Aquitaine. To so many losses and hindrances were added the loss of Africa and Britain, and Spain partly seized by the barbarians Cf. Amédée Thierry, Hist. d'Attila, vol. I, page 128.

[173] [he deceives the Romans and the Visigoths, persuading each that he is coming to crush the other.] Attila was impelled to seize the favourable occasion which arose from these circumstances not only by the ambition and arrogance implanted in his spirit, but by external incitements also. "Gaiseric, king of the Vandals," says Jordanes On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 31, in Muratori, vol. I, page 209, "finding his mind prepared for the devastation of the world, drives him headlong with many gifts to make war on the Visigoths, fearing lest Theodoric, king of the Visigoths, should avenge the injury to his daughter." For she, joined in marriage to Huneric, son of Gaiseric, had been savagely treated in Africa and sent back to Gaul with her nose and ears cut off. What then did Attila do? As he had seen the Romans continually engaged in dividing the barbarians, so as the more easily to tame them when set against one another, so he himself also determined to follow this rule. "He therefore sent envoys," as Jordanes witnesses Ibid. loc. cit., "into Italy to the emperor Valentinian, asserting that he was in no respect violating his friendship with the commonwealth, but that his contest was with Theodoric, king of the Visigoths; for which reason he would gladly wish that he be excepted. The rest of the letter he had filled with the customary flatteries of greetings, studying to win credit for his lie. In like manner also he directs a writing to the king of the Visigoths, Theodoric, exhorting him to withdraw from alliance with the Romans and to recall the battles which a little before had been stirred up against him with excessive ferocity." Valentinian and Theodoric seem to have let themselves be mocked by these deceits, and to have done nothing before the danger was at hand.

[174] The labours and coming of Attila described by St. Sidonius Apollinaris. Attila, on the contrary, was not resting. Hear Sidonius Apollinaris singing these things in praise of Aëtius Panegyric delivered to Avitus, Pesaro Collection, vol. VI, page 52:

Having now discharged the height of the prefecture, at length He had given himself to the country: yet never leisure, never Unwarlike sloth; in his rest the zeal and care Of arms were ever with him: when suddenly, burst forth in tumult, Barbary had poured all the North upon you, O Gaul; the fierce Gepid follows the warlike Rugian, With the Gelonian at his side; the Burgundian drives on the Scirian; The Hun, the Bellonotian, the Neurian, the Bastarnian, the Thuringian, The Bructerian, and the Frank, whom the Neckar nursed with its sedgy wave, Burst forth. The Hercynian forest fell, swiftly cut by the two-edged axe Into boats, and covered the Rhine with alder. And already Attila with his terrifying squadrons had poured himself Into your plains, O Belgian; scarcely had Aëtius left the Alps, Leading a slender and thin force without soldiers, Ill-trusting in the Getic host as his auxiliaries, Vainly presuming they would be present in his own camp. And after the message struck the general that the Getae Were awaiting the Huns, an enemy now almost despised, in their own seats, Wavering, he turns over all counsels within himself And drives his mind on with the waves of cares.

Attila, therefore, was dragging with him almost all the barbarian nations situated above the Danube, and as the Vandals and Alans, having crossed the Rhine, had entered Gaul on the day before the Kalends of January in the consulship of Arcadius and Probus, the sixth of Arcadius, that is, on the last night of the year 406 Prosper of Aquitaine, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 627, so he too, after the custom of nomads, led his hosts into Gaul through the midst of the snows and ice of winter.

[175] [Neither through the destruction of the Raurici, since this was brought about not by the Huns but by earthquake and fire about the year 395,] But what route he held must be carefully inquired into, since a great part of the Ursuline martyrdom hangs on it. That he followed both banks of the Danube is established from Procopius, who testifies that Attila overthrew the fortifications placed on the left of the Danube, and many more on the right On Buildings, book IV, chap. 5, vol. III of the Works, page 286, Bonn edition. Sidonius Apollinaris agrees, indicating that he used the trees of the Hercynian forest; which forest occupied the sources of the Danube as well as of the Rhine, as Claudian sings On the Getic War, verse 330:

Raetia juts forth, bordering the Hercynian forest, Which boasts itself the parent of the Danube and the Rhine.

Schoepflin Alsatia illustrata, vol. I, page 168, note n, and page 223 lays down that Attila crossed that river below Brigantia , which city lies at about the east of Lake Constance, at the place which is called Ad Rhenum , for a twofold reason, namely so that the Huns might have been able to come to Augusta Rauracorum *, and then so that at the very crossing of the Rhine they might have had the Burgundians before them. The first reason is less firm than Schoepflin believed. For it rests only on this, that Augusta Rauracorum, which at the end of the fourth century had been ruined and changed into a fort or village, and seemed to have experienced the fury of the Vandals at the beginning of the fifth century, was held by him to have been afterwards restored and again destroyed by the Huns Ibid. page 178. But when in the year 1761, ten years after the publication of the Alsatia illustrata, the mint of Augst was discovered, no coins were found there or elsewhere which are more recent than Valentinian II and Theodosius the Great; and so already before, as Schoepflin himself had observed from Rudolf Wetstein Dissertation on Ursula, Alsatia illustrata, vol. I, page 178 it had been noticed that no coins later than Theodosius are found in these regions: for which reason some reckoned that that city was not destroyed even by the Vandals in the year 407; but by earthquake and fire, traces of which still survive, and that before, or at least not long after, the year 395, in which Theodosius died [Harscher, in Jacob-Kolb, Recherches historiques sur les antiquités d'Augst, page 49; Aubert-Parent, ibid. page 63].

[176] [nor through the history of Gundicarius, king of the Burgundians, who was slain not by Attila but in the year 435 by other Huns, can it be demonstrated that Attila came into Gaul through the territory of the Raurici.] The other argument is no firmer, although it rests on this passage of Paul the Deacon On the Bishops of Metz, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 649: "Attila, king of the Huns, more cruel than all beasts, having many barbarian nations subject to his dominion, after he had crushed Gundicarius, king of the Burgundians, who met him, slackened the reins of his savagery to bring down all the Gauls." But Paul deduced these things from the Chronicles of Prosper of Aquitaine and Cassiodorus, badly understood. They, namely, had written at the consulship of Theodosius for the fifteenth time and Valentinian for the fourth, that is, the year 435 In D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 631, B, and note a: "At the same time he subdued in war obtained Gundicarius, king of the Burgundians dwelling within the Gauls, and restored peace to him at his supplication [which he did not long enjoy, since the Huns destroyed him with his people and his stock]; whom not long after the Huns slew." But this slaughter, in which twenty thousand Burgundians fell, was not made by Attila in the year 451, but in the year 437, as Idatius Ibid. page 617 and Prosper of Aquitaine In D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 631 relate; by whose testimony we know that the war was then waged by Aëtius with Hunnish auxiliaries, who were the slayers of Gundicarius and the Burgundians Cf. Dubos, Hist. de l'établissement, etc., vol. I, page 455 and following. Moreover, if you compare the statements of Jordanes On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 36, in Muratori, vol. I, page 209 with those of Sidonius Apollinaris Panegyric delivered to Avitus, Pesaro Collection, vol. VI, page 52, it will be manifest that the Burgundians did not bring help to the Romans before the Huns had come near the Loire Dubos, Hist. de l'Établissem., etc., vol. II, pages 120 and 122. For which reason I would not dare to affirm that Attila came from the station on the Rhine (Rheineck)

to Vindonissa (Windisch Amédée Thierry, Histoire d'Attila, vol. I, page 146, or, as others less rightly hold, Brugg Schoepflin, Alsatia illustr., vol. I, page 179), thence to Augusta Rauracorum (Augst), thence to Argentovaria (Colmar), and thence along the left bank of the Rhine to Argentoratum.

[177] [Likewise he does not seem to have crossed the Rhine near the mouths of the Neckar;] Dubos Hist. de l'Établissem., etc., vol. II, page 105, adopting another opinion, laid down that Attila crossed the Rhine not far from the mouths of the Neckar *, which river pours its waters into the Rhine at the walls of Mannheim. This opinion rests on the testimony of Sidonius Apollinaris, a most upright author and most expert in these matters; since he even began a history of the war of Attila, as he himself informs us in book VIII, letter 15. For he joins these two things: that the Huns were carried across the Rhine on rafts and boats cut from the Hercynian forest, and that the Franks, whose seats were on the Neckar, came with them into Gaul in the number of the auxiliaries. Sidonius did in fact relate these things: but does it follow from this that the Rhine was crossed by the Huns at the mouths of the Neckar? Schoepflin denies it and strays the more Alsatia illustrata, vol. I, page 223: who, confusing the Hercynian with the Marcian or Black Forest, contends that it did not even extend so far that the Huns, using the trees of this forest, could have crossed the Rhine near Argentoratum. But Gerbert Hist. Silvae Nigrae, vol. I, page 6, who treated expressly of the affairs of these places, does not agree with Schoepflin, and taught that the Black or Marcian Forest itself extended farther. And on other grounds Schoepflin's argumentation is weak; since nothing would have prevented the Huns from bringing boats and skiffs, and indeed trees, thrown into the waters of the Neckar, down as far as the Rhine. But truly this is the almost common fault of the recent French and of those who live near the Black Forest, to shut up the Hercynian Forest or Wood within the limits of the Marcian or Black Forest; although that was only a very small part of it. Hear C. Julius Caesar On the Gallic War, book VI, chap. 25: "The breadth of the Hercynian Forest … extends a nine days' journey for an unencumbered traveller; for it cannot be defined otherwise, nor do they know measures of distances. It begins from the borders of the Helvetii, the Nemetes and the Raurici; and, following the direct line of the river Danube, reaches to the borders of the Dacians and the Anartes: thence it bends to the left, in regions away from the river, and on account of its size touches the borders of many nations. Nor is there anyone of this Germany who says that he has gone to the beginning of this forest, though he has advanced a journey of sixty days, or has learned from what place it begins": whence Schoepflin himself, having these things before his eyes, wrote elsewhere Alsatia illustrata, vol. I, page 174, note x that the Hercynian forest stretched in breadth, almost parallel to the Rhine, through the Thuringian Buchonia and the forests of Brunswick and Lüneburg, which are usually designated by the words auf dem Harz. The Göttweig Chronicle agrees Prodromus, page 620, as do Baudrand Lexicon geographicum, under Hercynia and others; nay more, Gudenus not undeservedly contends Notitia Germaniae antiquae, vol. I, page 82 and following that Hercynia was a common name which was given to all the forests of Germany.

[178] but near Koblenz; Eckhart had these things well known when he related that Attila advanced at least as far as the Main. Recalling, namely, the words of Sidonius Apollinaris about the Franks dwelling on the Neckar who then followed the Huns, and about the trees of the Hercynian forest that were cut down: "Under the name of the Franks on the Neckar," he says Rerum Francicarum orientalium, vol. I, page 30, "Sidonius seems to have included also the Franks residing in the districts of Mirogeve and Salogeve, or on the right bank of the Main. For when he relates that the Hercynian forest was cut down into boats and covered the Rhine with alder, or with boats, by this very fact he indicates that the Huns, coming from Pannonia, went by a direct route to the Main." And these things agree well enough with the opinion of the renowned Amédée Thierry Hist. d'Attila, vol. I, page 143, at least so far as regards the host which had followed the left or northern bank of the Danube (for the other host, in order to agree partly with Schoepflin, he reckoned came into Gaul by way of Augusta Rauracorum): he holds, namely, that the former throng penetrated into Gaul by the military road which had been carried across the Rhine near Confluentes ; whence, having then advanced to Trier, it destroyed this city. That crossing is certainly probable: for the nature and condition of the places were as favourable as possible. Between Confluentes and Antunnacum , namely, neither bank of the Rhine is steep or difficult, nor is the bed enclosed, as elsewhere, in a deep valley; but there is easy access from either side. Hence at that place, near Kunostein-Engers, in the reign of Augustus a bridge had been built of cut stones, traces of which still appear Hontheim, Prodromus historiae Trevirensis, vol. I, page 209, note a; and on the right bank of the Rhine, half a league from present-day Neuwied, a fort was placed by which the barbarians were kept from the Rhine, and whose ruins (it was destroyed before the year 260) were discovered not so long ago [Hoffmann, Ueber die Zerstoerung der Roemerstaedte an dem Rheine, page 12 and following]. This way, therefore, lay entirely open to the Huns; and it must now be shown that they in fact came by it.

[179] [as is gathered from the testimony of St. Sidonius Apollinaris, by which it is established that the Huns, after crossing the Rhine, were in Belgium.] Sidonius Apollinaris, who we have already said was well informed of the affairs of Attila's war, and who must accordingly be thought to have written most accurately of all, relates that in the army of the Huns there were Franks from the Neckar, Thuringians, Burgundians and Bructeri; whom no one doubts that Attila joined to his army in passing. Now the Burgundians, that part which still had its seat beyond the Rhine, remnants of a once most powerful nation, must have been found in their old seat which they held about the year 360, namely between the Neckar, the Main and the Danube; the Franks on the Neckar from this river as far as the other bank of the Main; the Thuringians in the districts of Bodegeve and Windogeve, extending from the river Boda as far as the Werra, a little above the Main Eckhart, Rerum Francicarum Orient., vol. I, page 30; finally the Bructeri were settled on the right bank of the Rhine not far from Cologne Agrippina, southward as far as the Lohn, the river of Nassau Bucherius, Belgium Romanum, page 189. That the Huns, therefore, went beyond the Lohn is not to be doubted; but not much farther. For Sidonius, with his usual accuracy, where he wrote:

The Hercynian forest fell, swiftly cut by the two-edged axe, Into boats, and covered the Rhine with alder;

by which verses is signified in what manner the Huns crossed the Rhine, at once adds to what province the other bank of the Rhine belonged. For he says:

And already Attila with his terrifying squadrons had poured himself Into your plains, O Belgian.

[180] It is shown that First Belgica near Koblenz extended as far as the Rhine. Where it must be considered that, although both Germanies were part of Belgium, yet in the fifth century both those provinces were held to be distinct from Belgium. Recall the words of Salvian, to be quoted at num. 182. So too Ausonius, so long as he was staying at Tabernae, which lay on the Rhine in First or Upper Germany, reckoned that he was not in Belgium; otherwise when he was at Nivomagus or Noviomagus * on the Moselle Mosella, Idyll X, Pesaro Collection, vol. V, page 130:

I pass by Dumnissus *, parched, its lands thirsting on every side, And Tabernae *, watered by an everlasting spring, And the fields lately measured out to Sarmatian settlers: And at length on the first borders of the Belgae I behold Nivomagus, the renowned camp of the divine Constantine… Hail, river praised for your fields, praised for your settlers, To whom the Belgae owe their walls, deemed worthy of empire *.

It must next be observed that, although in the fifth century military affairs at Confluentes belonged to the duke of Mainz Notitia dignitatum, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 128, yet the province of Trier, or First Belgica, touched the bed of the Rhine. Hontheim shows from several passages of C. Julius Caesar that the Treveri came as far as there, and from one of Strabo, who is more recent than Julius Hist. Trevirensis diplomatica, vol. I, page 2. In another work Prodromus historiae Trevirensis, vol. I, page 40 he brought forward another from Suetonius in the Caligula, chap. 8. Discoursing, namely, of the birthplace of this emperor, he alleges Pliny as witness in these words: "Pliny the Elder writes that he was born among the Treveri, in the village of Ambiatinus above Confluentes" Cf. Walckenaer, Géographie ancienne des Gaules, vol. I, page 510 and following. The village of Ambiatinus, therefore, which lay on the bank of the Rhine to the right of Confluentes, was among the Treveri. Add that the village of Ambiatinus, Baudobrica *, Confluentes and Antunnacum, situated on the left of the Rhine, were parts of the former diocese of Trier. And since the ecclesiastical division, made on the pattern of the civil, is more recent than perhaps the third century and most certainly than the first, and since Strabo did not publish his books before the death of Augustus, and Pliny the Elder not before the year of Christ 78, I would not dare to agree with the most noble M. de Walckenaer, who lays down that the province of First or Upper Germany, which was instituted before the year of Christ 14 Ibid. vol. II, page 312, was cut off partly from the Treveri and partly from the Mediomatrici, in the part where they lay along the Rhine Ibid. page 315, and vol. I, page 512, and that from this time the village of Ambiatinus, Baudobrica, Confluentes and Antunnacum were made part not of First Belgica but of First Germany. In truth Ammianus Marcellinus Res gestae, book XV, chap. 11 seems to make First and Second Germany border on each other; but he could easily have neglected a short corner belonging to First Belgica and lying between the two Germanies; and certainly the ecclesiastical division, joined with the testimonies of Pliny and Strabo, outweighs his authority.

[181] It is indicated briefly what route Attila followed. Some would have it that the Huns penetrated into Gaul by way of Mainz; but this opinion is not to be approved. In the first place, none of the ancients (so far as I know) has related that Mainz suffered any damage from the Huns. Next, St. Sidonius would not have written that the Huns, having crossed the Rhine, at once poured themselves into the plains of the Belgae; but, no otherwise than Salvian, he would have used altogether different words. For he, where he narrates that the Vandals burst into Gaul around this city on the night before the beginning of the year 407: "First," he says On the Government of God, book VII, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 782, "it (the Vandal nation) poured out of its native soil into First Germany, barbarian in name, Roman in dominion; after whose destruction first the region of the Belgae burned, then the wealth of the luxurious Aquitanians; and after these the whole body of the Gauls." Since these things are so, and to sum up in a few words what has been said so far, the Huns seem to have followed both banks of the Danube as far as Reginum , and thence to have gone toward the north-west through Franconia, the Taunus mountain and the Hercynian forest;

to have come at length into that part of the Hercynian forest which is now called the Westerwald and in which the river Lohn has its sources; to have cut there the boats and rafts which were brought down by the Lohn into the Rhine near the place which is now named Lahnstein; that these floated downstream as far as the bridge of Kunostein-Engers, a little below Confluentes; and that here at length the barbarians penetrated into First Belgica.

[182] [The army of Attila does not seem to have occupied the banks of the Rhine from Argentoratum as far as Cologne,] But did they cross the Rhine at one place only? We have already said that it seemed to the renowned Amédée Thierry that one host crossed the river by way of Augusta Rauracorum, the other near Confluentes; but that no arguments remain by which the former route is established. Bucherius does not mention Augusta Rauracorum; but he will have it that the Huns beset the banks of the Rhine from Cologne as far as Argentoratum and made their crossing there. Relying, namely, on the testimony of the Historia Miscella Book XV, in Muratori, Scriptores rer. Italic. vol. I, page 97, he alleges that the army of Attila numbered seven hundred thousand; but this passage was taken from Jordanes On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 35, in Muratori, vol. I, pages 208 and 209, as the similarity of the remaining words makes manifest, and five hundred thousand should be written. But whichever number is admitted, there is almost the same force and authority in Bucherius's argumentation. "As so great a flood of men," he says Belgium Romanum, book XVII, chap. 3, page 512, "could not advance together, so neither could it hold one crossing of the Rhine. Seven hundred thousand (rather, five hundred thousand) men would easily have filled that part of the Rhine which flows past at least First Germany (the corner of First Belgica) and the upper parts of Second or Lower (Germany). Nor do I fear to suspect that the Rhine was then beset by the Huns from Argentoratum almost as far as Cologne, although I would not deny that the middle line, with Attila, crossed around Mainz."

[183] but crossed the Rhine on rafts in the neighbourhood of Koblenz. In truth, if the crossing had had to be made by all in one hour, the army would have had to be extended over an immense breadth: but things do not seem to have been carried out in this way. But what if each man, as some imagine Valois, Rerum Francicarum book IV, vol. I, page 158, crossed the bed of the river in dug-out boats, made of hollowed alder, which had been carried to the Rhine on wagons? or even if whole forests were carried to the Rhine Tillemont, Empereurs, Attila, art. VII, vol. VI, page 63? Certainly a very wide space would have been necessary as well. But who would approve that manner of interpreting, or rather of devising absurdities? It is a known fact that boats or small craft made of a single piece of wood and placed on wagons were commonly in use among the Huns, as they still are among the Tatars Excerpts from the History of Priscus, page 183, Bonn edition; and it is evident that some were necessary here too, so that rafts might be made and bridges woven from the trunks of trees; but since Attila had horsemen and wagon-drivers in very great number, no one would deny that they were carried across with their horses and wagons, not in skiffs, but over pile-bridges, or rather on rafts. Nor had the Huns a vast apparatus of war, since it consisted chiefly in arrows; nor a great store of provisions, since they lived almost on the flesh and milk of horses: for which reason the number of horses among these nations is usually far greater than that of the riders; nor did the food of the horses need much care, since they graze in the open even in winter. And if anywhere meadows were lacking, the barns, full in winter time, would easily have provided sustenance. And indeed the Huns seem to have left hardly any food remaining where they passed; by which they compelled almost entire nations to ally themselves with them. For the rest, read the history of the irruptions of the Tatars into Poland, of Tamerlane and others. For which reason, although it seems wonderful that the Huns came into Gaul by one place in such numbers, I would nevertheless not dare to lay down otherwise. And indeed I will confess that some scruple remained to me after I had committed these things to writing, and that I approached in writing a man no less distinguished for his knowledge of ancient history than for his military honours, to ask him whether it could have happened that the immense army of Attila entered Gaul at one place, or whether it would have had to be divided into several hosts. To which he, discoursing at length on the condition of similar forces, answered with his usual kindness that the thing doubtless seems prodigious; but that it is certainly established that in ancient times similar prodigies were rather often accomplished. Moved by this authority, I at once laid aside all doubt. Certainly the martyrdom of St. Ursula is easily explained by Bucherius and by those who follow him, since they relate that part of the barbarian army passed by Cologne, as by the other cities of both Germanies. But before all things the truth is to be cherished, besides the fact that the objection drawn from the feast day, which is celebrated not at the beginning of the year but in autumn, is to be avoided. Let us follow the rest of Attila's route.

* Orléans?

* Bregenz.

* Rheineck.

* Augst.

* Neckar

* Koblenz

* Andernach

* Neumagen.

* Denzen.

* Rheinzabern.

* The people of Trier.

* Boppard.

* Regensburg.

* North-west.

§ XX. The route of the Huns from Koblenz as far as Orléans; and thence as far as the Catalaunian Plains.

In the spring of the year 451 As we saw above, and as Prosper of Aquitaine Chronicle at the year 451, D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 634 narrates with the rest, Attila had announced that he was making war only on the Goths, as the guardian of Roman friendship. But once the Rhine was crossed, many Gallic cities experienced his most savage assaults. And so all the writers cry out that the Huns poured themselves through almost all Gaul. But since already some time before the approach of Attila to the Loire it had been noised among the people "that in the onrush of his ferocity, hastening to meet the Goths, he was stretching out to the river Loire, so that, the walls of Orléans being overthrown, he might satisfy the increase of his soldiery" Life of St. Anianus, bishop of Orléans, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 645, it is not credible that part of his army went toward the north-west or the north and then destroyed several cities of present-day Belgium, say Tongres, Arras, Cambrai and others; but it must altogether be thought that they went toward the south and the winter setting of the sun *; and from this also it is understood how little probable it is that another host entered Gaul by way of Augusta Rauracorum and advanced thence toward the north.

[185] by way of Trier, From Confluentes the Huns went toward Trier, pouring themselves through the plains of First Belgica, as St. Sidonius Apollinaris almost says. For the anonymous writer of Freher, speaking of the Franks: "They came," he says Gesta Francorum, chap. 8, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 546, "to the city of Trier on the river Moselle, laying waste those lands, and they took the city itself and set it on fire. For before it had been broken and afflicted by the Huns." And if you object that this writer is of such slight authority that the surname of fabler has stuck to him, and that the words "For before by the Huns," etc., are not read in all the manuscripts Tillemont, Empereurs, Attila, art. VII, vol. VI, page 64; in truth he rather often mixes false things with true, and in the Cambrai manuscript the words indicated are missing Cf. D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 546: but he is not the only one to have these things, since Aimoin of Fleury wrote [Hist. of the Franks, book I, chap. 6, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. CXXXIX, col. 640]: "At which time also the Huns, crossing the Rhine, burn the city of Metz, plunder Trier, plunder the territory of Tongres." In which words the order has not been kept, since by way of Metz, Trier and Tongres one does not enter Gaul but leaves it; which, however, Aimoin by no means intended, since he afterwards narrates the siege of Orléans; and so this one thing is to be gathered from here, that Trier was plundered by the Huns: which may have been done perhaps at the end of February of the year 451. But lest the Huns should seem to have come from Confluentes to Trier, they object that no military road was laid between the two cities. In truth this road is indicated neither in the Peutinger Tables nor in the Itinerary of Antoninus. But are all roads of this kind indicated in these books? Have not (to speak of the neighbouring region) many more been found in the territory of Luxembourg than are noted there Alexander Wiltheim, Luciliburgensia, page 108 and following? Have not likewise in Africa, or, if you prefer, in Mauretania, since the French got possession of that land, many more been discovered than are described in the same volumes [De Caussade, Notice sur les traces de l'occupation romaine dans la province d'Alger, in the book Mémoires de la société archéologique de l'Orléanais, page 234 and following]? Is it credible that Confluentes and Trier, stations so near and of the very greatest importance, were not joined to each other by a paved public road? But, what is the chief point, the anonymous writer of Ravenna, who about the year 667 conformed his writings to more ancient documents Acta SS. vol. V of October, auctarium, page 19, by no means omitted this road. Certainly, where he wrote [Book IV, chap. 26, page 188, Porcheron's edition, and in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 120]: "Likewise beside the aforenamed river Moselle, which we have called Rhenish Francia, there are the cities, that is, Tulla, Scarbona, Mecusa, Gannia, Treoris, Nobia, Princastellum, Cardena, Conbulentia," the renowned Walckenaer Géographie ancienne des Gaules, vol. III, page 90 did not doubt that by these was indicated the public road by which one went from Toul to Confluentes: namely from Tulla (Tullum, Toul) to Scarbona (Scarponna, Scarponne) 10 Roman miles; thence to Mecusa (Mettae, Metz) 14; thence to Gannia (Caranusca, Canach) 42; thence to Treoris (Treviri, Trèves) 20; thence to Nobia (Noviomagus, Neumagen); thence to Princastellum (Berncastel) 17; thence to Cardena (Carden) 27; and thence finally to Conbulentia (Confluentes, Coblence) 17.

[186] [The Huns make for Metz, Reims and Troyes, one host meanwhile threatening Soissons and Paris toward the west, and then for Orléans.] From Trier an easy road led to Metz, partly on the right, partly on the left of the Meuse. St. Gregory of Tours Hist. of the Franks, book II, chap. 6, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 161 writes that the Huns arrived at Metz on the very vigil of Easter, which then fell on the 7th day before the Kalends of April, or the 26th of March, and he relates that the same city was miserably laid waste, with the agreement of Idatius In D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 619, a contemporary author, who wrote that Metz was broken into by the Huns. Having broken into Metz, Attila turned toward the west, as is established from the Life of St. Edibius, bishop of Soissons, which I have in manuscript, and which the Maurists Gallia Christiana, vol. IX, col. 335 and Le Moyne Histoire des antiquités de la ville de Soissons, vol. I, pages 188 and 189 knew, but which no one has published up to now. The following

are read there: "When therefore this Attila, having sent his army ahead to the cities of Reims and Troyes, in the reign of Marcian, and while Merovech was reigning over the Franks, was passing through the towns of Ulcheium and Cungiacum, he sent part of his army to overthrow Soissons, kept another with himself, and assigned a third to overthrowing the castle of Theodoric." Ulcheium (Oulchy-la-Ville and Oulchy-le-Château) is about four leagues distant from Soissons toward the south. Cungiacum (Cugny-lès-Oulchy) lies adjacent to the east. The Castle of Theodoric (Château-Thierry) lies farther off to the south and is a well-enough-known town: this name too is an indication that the Life of St. Edibius was renewed in style, although on this account the record is not to be despised. Attila, therefore, was staying between Soissons and the Castle of Theodoric, threatening both places equally. But by his prayers and the patronage of SS. Crispin and Crispinian St. Edibius obtained from God that Attila should recall the forces sent to Soissons. Nor is it to be doubted that this same wing of the Hunnic army threatened Lutetia of the Parisii, which was saved by the prayers of St. Genevieve. With the host which he had with him Attila then went to Troyes, whither without doubt he likewise summoned the forces left at Reims, and where he dealt with St. Lupus the bishop, through the interpreter Hunegaisus (of whom Priscus the Rhetor narrates many things), and ordered him to go forward with his army until he should return again beyond the Rhine, expecting divine help through the presence of the most holy man In D. Bouquet, vol. I, pages 644 and 645. All these things St. Gregory of Tours omitted, who after narrating the destruction of Metz continues thus Hist. of the Franks, book II, chap. 7, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 161: "But Attila, going forth from the city of Metz, when he had crushed many cities of the Gauls, attacks Orléans"; and so we know from the Life of St. Anianus Ibid. vol. I, page 645; and Surius, Lives of the Saints, at 17 Nov., page 375 that after a siege of some days the cruel beast was on the 18th [Cf. Surius, Lives of the Saints, at 17 Nov., page 375, and Valois, Notitia Galliarum, page 229] day before the Kalends of July on the point of tearing apart the flock entrusted to St. Anianus; so that two months easily elapsed between the sieges of Metz and of Orléans.

[187] [which city, when it was already surrendering, is delivered by the help of St. Anianus and Aëtius.] While, therefore, Attila was breaking into and crushing Metz and many other cities, what were the Romans doing, what the Visigoths? At first, ill-disposed to one another and reckoning the losses of the other as so many gains for themselves, they let the Huns advance freely: but when the Romans learned of the cities burned, the countless multitude of men slaughtered and the fields laid waste; and likewise when the Visigoths heard that they were approaching the Loire and threatening them with destruction, "it quickly pleased both our people," says Prosper of Aquitaine Chronicle at the year 451, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 634, "and the Goths, that the fury of the proud enemy should be resisted with combined armies"; which treaty, whose history Jordanes On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 36, in Muratori, vol. I, page 209 sets out to some extent, Sidonius Apollinaris clearly indicates was struck when the Huns were already near the seats of the Visigoths, or near the Loire See above, num. 174: the agreement must therefore have been made about the beginning of the month of June of the year 451. Further, so great was the foresight of Aëtius the patrician "that, having hastily gathered warriors from every side, he met the opposing multitude on not unequal terms" Prosper of Aquitaine, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 634. Yet he was not present early enough to raise the siege of Orléans, which Attila had begun perhaps at the beginning of June. Nay more, "the bars of the gates having been opened, the chief men of Attila had already entered Orléans; countless wagons were being loaded with the substance seized from the people, and harsh captivity hung over the subjects"; when Aëtius, warned by St. Anianus not without a miracle, "hastened with his own army and that of the Goths, arrived at Orléans, found the enemy unprepared and wrought upon them the havoc of a very great slaughter. The remaining part of the Huns, which did not fall laid low there, sought the protection of flight: until, the Lord judging, in the place which is called Mauriacus, it awaited the sentence of death, to be butchered by the sword" Life of St. Anianus, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 646.

[188] [Withdrawing, they fight the battle of the Catalaunian Plains about the beginning of July,] This happened very shortly after the siege of Orléans, since the Mauriacan or Catalaunian battle, in which this slaughter was accomplished, was fought at the very end of the month of June or the beginning of July. For Idatius, at the 4th year of the 307th olympiad, or the 27th year of Valentinian, the first of Marcian, narrates the war of Attila in a few words: "The nation of the Huns," he says Chronicle, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. LXXV, col. 727 and following, "having broken the peace, plunders the provinces of the Gauls. A great many cities were broken into. In the Catalaunian Plains, not far from the city of Metz which they had broken into, fighting in open battle against the general Aëtius and king Theodoric, who were in a peaceful alliance, it is overcome, slaughtered by divine help. Dead of night ended the battle. That king Theodoric fell, laid low; nearly three hundred thousand men are counted slain in that contest." And all these things were done before July was far advanced, since, as Garzonius has pointed out Ibid. cols. 691 and 692, Idatius began his olympiadic years about its beginning, not in the month of October or January, as others would have it. And that he began the year in summer is clear from this very passage; since immediately after the words quoted, narrating the prodigies of this year, he adds: "Many signs come forth in the year. On the fifth day before the Kalends of October (namely of the year 450 according to the common reckoning) the moon is darkened on the side of the East. In the days of the following Easter certain things were seen in the sky in the regions of the Gauls," etc. And although he sometimes joins things that cohere, after enumerating the prodigies of the olympiadic year he here adds: "Theodoric having been slain (in the Catalaunian battle), Thorismund his son succeeds him in the kingdom (of the Visigoths). The Huns with their king Attila, having left the Gauls after the contest, make for Italy." So much for the time. But as regards the battle itself, when Attila had understood that he would no longer have protection in the frauds by which he had deluded the Romans as well as the Visigoths, and that they, each of them, were now seeking their own safety in common arms, he left the banks of the Loire and led his hosts back toward the north, intending to return to the Rhine. For which reason he turned aside into the Mauriacan or Catalaunian plains, which are not to be doubted to have been situated in Gallic Champagne [Cf. Dubos, Hist. de l'Établissement, etc., vol. II, page 125 and following, and Pagi, Critica in Baronium, at the year 451, num. 25]. There Aëtius met him with the auxiliaries, and joined a most savage battle with him. Whoever wishes to read it described, let him go to the historians [Jordanes, On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 36 and following; Valois, Rerum Francic. book IV, page 162 and following; Dubos, vol. II, page 127 and following; Am. Thierry, Hist. d'Attila, vol. I, page 182 and following]. We must note this from Jordanes On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 41, in Muratori, vol. I, page 212, that in this most famous war of the bravest nations 162,000 were slain on both sides, besides 15,000 Gepids and Franks, who before the general engagement, meeting one another by night, fell by mutual wounds, the Franks fighting on the side of the Romans, the Gepids on that of the Huns Cf. Pagi, Critica, at the year 451, num. 25. Idatius records nearly 300,000 men slain in that contest; in which number Dubos Histoire de l'Établissement, etc., vol. II, page 137 and following will have all included who fell in that war in any manner whatever; Pagi Critica, at the year 451, num. 26 reckons that it is an error, CCC being put for CC: which to me is more probable.

[189] in which the army of Attila was by no means routed; That the army of the Huns was laid waste to the point of extermination, that Attila slipped away in flight, that victory was won by Aëtius the patrician with Thorismund, son of Theodoric king of the Visigoths, that Attila's camp was despoiled, that he returned with a few, and other things of this kind, are narrated by St. Gregory of Tours Hist. of the Franks, book II, chap. 7, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 163 and, from him, by St. Isidore of Seville and others. But Idatius In D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 619, a much better witness, states that the battle was ended by the dead of night (not by a signal victory of the Romans or Visigoths); Prosper of Aquitaine Ibid. page 634, also very well informed of affairs (since he was living at Rome with St. Leo), affirms that neither side gave way; and Prosper Tiro, that Attila inflicted and received a heavy defeat. Nor does it appear from Jordanes On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 40, in Muratori, vol. I, page 211 that the battle turned out otherwise, since he narrates that in the night following the battle Attila shut himself and his men within the enclosure of the camp which he had fortified with wagons; that Aëtius passed the rest of the night under the defence of shields. Since Sigebert of Gembloux had these things well understood, he did not hesitate to correct the historian of Tours and the chronographer of Seville, and reported the battle in these words In Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae, vol. VI, page 309: "Battle having been joined in the Catalaunian Plains, they fought until night separated them. Aëtius indeed withdrew superior, yet he did NOT destroy Attila to the point of extermination. One hundred and eighty thousand fighters were slain there; among whom also fell Theodoric, king of the Visigoths. Attila, having recovered hope from the departure of Aëtius, returned home, intending to return soon with his army replenished." Nor for any other reason was Aëtius held to be superior and Attila conquered than that the latter followed the route to the Rhine which he had previously been undertaking; and so thought Prosper of Aquitaine, writing In D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 634: "In which conflict (the Catalaunian), although, with neither side yielding, inestimable slaughters of those dying together were made, yet it is established that the Huns were conquered in this, that, having lost confidence in fighting, those who had survived returned to their own lands."

[190] but both sides suffered very greatly and feared for themselves. Jordanes indicates that the Visigoths did not lose confidence in fighting; nay, that Thorismund strove to avenge the death of his father Theodoric among the remnants of the Huns: "But Aëtius, fearing," the same writer continues On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 41, in Muratori, vol. I, pages 211 and 212, "lest, if the Huns were utterly destroyed, the empire of the Romans should be oppressed by the Goths, gives him counsel by this persuasion, that he should return to his own seats and seize the kingdom which his father had left: lest his brothers, having taken their father's wealth, should invade the kingdom of the Visigoths. Having received this answer, he left the Huns and returned to Gaul, beyond the Loire." By a similar trick Aëtius also put to flight the king of the Franks [Gregory of Tours, Hist. of the Franks, book II, chap. 7, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 163]. "Attila, therefore, having learned of the departure of the Goths, as is usually gathered of things not in order, and reckoning it rather a trick of his enemies, kept himself within his camp for a longer time. But when

long silences followed the absence of the enemy, his mind is roused to victory, joys are anticipated, and the spirit of the powerful king returns to its old fortunes… Attila, having found an occasion in the withdrawal of the Visigoths, and seeing, what he had often wished, the dissolution of his enemies into parts, now soon, in security, moved his array to crush the Romans" Jordanes, On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 41, in Muratori, vol. I, page 212. For Aëtius was striving at this one thing, to set the forces of all the barbarians, Goths and Franks as well as Huns, against one another and wear them down, taking care, however, that no nation should, by winning a more splendid victory, become prouder and more powerful. For the rest, since the Romans still held the four Lyonnese provinces, Maxima Sequanorum and the more important parts of the Belgicas and of First Germany, he saw that the way still lay open to the Roman legions; so that, when occasion offered, they could easily go either through the Alps or by the Loire against the Visigoths and crush them. But by dismissing the Franks he was abandoning them to the fury of the returning Huns. A cunning truly execrable in the administration of affairs and a deceit in betraying allies: but it is scarcely possible to find a single Roman commander in this age who did not mock or wickedly betray friends as well as enemies. And from what we have related so far it is easy to understand that the forces of the Huns were by no means crushed in the Catalaunian battle; that they withdrew toward the Rhine with an immense multitude of men; and that they were strong enough to break into fortified cities, such as Cologne was. For the rest, before they came to Cologne, we shall see them demolishing many fortified cities.

* North-west.

* South.

* South-west.

* Châlons-sur-Marne.

* Champagne

§ XXI. Of the passage of the Huns through Belgium as far as Cologne Agrippina.

The first seat of the Franks in Belgium was on the Waal and in Toxandria; Since a great part of the Ursuline martyrdom hangs on the route of the Huns through present-day Belgium, it must be investigated more closely; and before all things the seats of the Franks must be traced. This latter subject was handled with singular care by the renowned Barthélemy Dumortier [Discours sur l'Établissement des Francs dans les Gaules, delivered at the scientific congress of Arras, 29 August 1853], distinguished no less for the praise of his learning than for the love of his country; in whose little work on this matter perhaps this one thing is to be desired, that other less firm proofs should not have been mixed in from time to time with the best ones. But these may easily be set aside, and they certainly do not hinder us from following this excellent guide. Now that the Salian Franks and the Sicambri were the same nation is established even from these words alone of St. Remigius to Clovis [Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc. book II, chap. 31, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 177]: "Bow your neck gently, Sicamber." And about eight years before Christ Augustus, as Suetonius witnesses Life of Octavius Caesar Augustus, chap. 21, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 371, "transferred the Sicambri, who surrendered, into Gaul, and settled them in the lands nearest the Rhine." This is to be credited to Tiberius, who, by the same witness Life of Tiberius Nero Caesar, chap. 9, ibid. page 371, "in the German war carried over forty thousand of those who had surrendered into Gaul, and settled them beside the bank of the Rhine, seats being assigned to them." Eutropius has only four thousand Book VII, ibid. page 571. Their seats seem to have been between the Waal, the Meuse and the islands of Zeeland Discours sur l'Établissement, etc., page 9. Afterwards the Saxons attacked them, and drove those who dwelt to the north into the Batavian island [Zosimus, book III, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 579; cf. the Panegyric of an uncertain author on Maximian and Constantius, chap. 4, ibid. page 714]; while another part turned to the south, Ammianus Marcellinus writing Book XVII, chap. 8, ibid. page 553 of "those Franks, namely, whom custom has called Salians, who once dared to fix their dwellings for themselves without leave at Toxandria-locus." And Toxandria-locus seems to be represented by the present-day village of Tessenderlo in the Campine. The part which dwelt in the Batavian island and in the year 293 had suffered many losses was in the year 358 disturbed and partly expelled by the Quadi (who were part of the Saxon nation) Zosimus, book III, ibid. page 579: so that in the fifth century St. Sidonius Apollinaris could sing of them Poem XIII, ibid. page 812:

So, the swelling of the double bank being broken, Let the shorn Sicamber drink the Waal.

[192] [the second seat in the fields of the Nervii, which do not seem to have extended beyond the Scheldt:] The second seat in Belgium was assigned to the Franks about the year 291, and that in the fields of the Nervii. Hear Eumenius in the Panegyric to Constantius and Maximian Chap. 21, ibid. page 714: "By your nod, Maximian Augustus, the Laetus Frank, restored by the right of return and received under the laws, has tilled the fallow fields of the Nervii and the Treveri." The Laeti Franks are to me the same as those liable to census or tribute: but what the fields of the Nervii are is a question that has often been agitated. In the time of C. Julius Caesar On the Gallic War, book II, chaps. 15 and 16, "the Nervii touched the borders … of the Ambiani," and had the Atrebates and the Veromandui as neighbours. Some think that it is indicated that they extended beyond the Scheldt, and so as far as the sea, by the fact that they had sent their women, and those who seemed useless for battle by reason of age, into a place to which on account of marshes there was no access for an army Book cited, chap. 16: which places Caesar elsewhere Book cited, chap. 28 calls estuaries and marshes, and which are held by some to be the same as those which are now met with in the northern parts of Flanders, known by the common name of Polders. But this argumentation is not firm enough, since it could easily have happened that the Nervii sent away their wives and children outside their territory. For from Bononia or Gesoriacum there were then many estuaries along the shore.

[193] what was the tract of the Nervican frontier. To the same are also referred the words of St. Paulinus writing to St. Victricius of Rouen Letter XIX, chap. 4, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. LX, col. 239, in which he places the land of the Morini "in the most remote tract of the Nervican shore." But is it a rash suspicion that the words "of the Nervican shore" were written in place of "of the Nervican frontier"? For nowhere else is a Nervican shore found. But Rictius, or rather Rictus Varus, as our Brower long ago observed Cf. ibid. col. 853, is read in the Acts of SS. Quintinus, Crispinian and Macrus as prefect of the Nervican FRONTIER, and in the Notitia dignitatum, written about the beginning of the fifth century, there appears "the honourable man the duke of the Armorican and Nervican tract," or of the TRACT of the Armorican and NERVICAN FRONTIER In D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 127, col. 2. But if "frontier" is to be substituted for "shore" in the letter of St. Paulinus, it is easily seen that nothing more can be concluded from it. For as the five provinces which were enclosed by the military division called the tract of the Armorican frontier were not inhabited by the Armoricans alone, so too the tract of the Nervican frontier was not occupied by the Nervii alone, since the whole of Second Belgica lay within its boundaries. About the third century the military prefecture of the tract of the Nervican frontier seems to have been joined with the prefecture of the Armorican, but afterwards separated again; so that at the beginning of the fifth century it was under the disposition of "the honourable man the duke of Second Belgica" Ibid. page 128, col. 1. Nevertheless the old name remained, and St. Paulinus used it, just as we still name Picardy, Artois, etc., and the bare title was left to the duke of the Armorican tract. For which reason I would not dare to assign the left bank of the Scheldt to the Franks led by Maximian Augustus into the fields of the Nervii; but we must agree with the renowned Dumortier Discours sur l'Établissement, etc., page 19 that they were settled in the old diocese of Cambrai, in which the extensive district of Brabant was comprised.

[194] The third seat of the Franks in the territories of Tournai, Cambrai The Franks obtained a third seat under King Chlodio. But about the time and manner there is frequent controversy. We shall give the words of St. Gregory of Tours, with a very few little notes intermixed: "They say also," he says Hist. of the Franks, book II, chap. 9, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, pages 166 and 167, "that Chlogio was then king of the Franks, a capable man and most noble in his nation, who dwelt at the fortress of Dispargum (Duysbourg, the old castle of Diest), which is on the border of the Thuringians," who namely, as the same historian had written a little before, having crossed the Rhine, had passed over into Thuringia, and there had created long-haired kings over themselves by districts or cities. "And in these parts, that is, toward the southern quarter, the Romans dwelt as far as the river Loire … But Chlogio, having sent scouts to the city of Cambrai and everything having been surveyed, himself following, crushed the Romans and took the city: in which, residing a short time, he occupied the country as far as the river Somme "; and indeed, before he took Cambrai, "he obtained the city of Tournai," as the anonymous writer of Freher says Gesta regum Francorum, chap. 5, ibid. page 544. These things were before the year 428, in which "the part of the Gauls near the Rhine," as Prosper of Aquitaine relates Chronicle, consulship of Felix and Taurus, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 630 (so designating the region which lies between the Somme and Tournai, and which the Franks had occupied to possess it), "was recovered by the arms of count Aëtius." "The Franks, therefore, having been overcome by Aëtius" (I use the words of Idatius Chronicle, vol. cited, page 617), "were received into peace" in the year 432 and were shut out of the borders of the Atrebates. Whence St. Sidonius Apollinaris Panegyric delivered to Majorian, verses 212 and 213, vol. cited, page 802 wrote of the occasion of the battle which was most probably fought about the year 446 at the village of Helena (the renowned Dumortier rightly lays down that this is the same place as Halènes-sur-Marais, situated on the Roman military road between Tournai and the Atrebates, on the river Deûle, very near the borders of the Atrebates):

… where the Frank Cloio had overrun The open lands of the Atrebates.

[195] and in that of Thérouanne or of the Morini. And Chlodio seems to have got possession not only of the territories of Cambrai and Tournai as far as the Atrebates, but also of that of the Morini. Certainly, when his kingdom was afterwards divided into three parts, it is probable that King Chararic, whom Clovis first ordered to be made a priest Gregory of Tours, Hist. book II, chap. 41, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 184 and afterwards slew Fredegar, chap. 27, vol. cited, page 401, ruled over the kingdom of the Morini Malbrancq, book II, chap. 38; cf. D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 184, note d. But what is of greater moment, when the Salic law was written, the kingdom of the Franks of Tournai extended as far as the sea; and it seems to have been written a little before Childeric, cast out of the kingdom in the year 457 on account of his dissoluteness, in the year 464 of Aegidius

was restored to the kingdom through the efforts Dumortier, Discours sur l'Établissement, etc., page 27 and following. Now in that law, in title L, "Of Filtorti who live by the Salic law," a twofold space of time is laid down within which defendants and witnesses must present themselves at the mallus In D. Bouquet, vol. IV, page 151: "If both dwell within the Liger or the Carbonaria, or on this side of the sea, both he who is recognized and he with whom it is recognized, let them make their plea within forty nights… But if both dwell beyond the Liger or the Carbonaria, let this law be kept for him with whom the thing is recognized within eighty nights." Now why is double time granted to these, unless because they dwelt outside the boundaries of the kingdom? Whence it follows that the kingdom of the Franks of Tournai was bounded by the Charcoal Forest, which ran from the territory of the Atrebates toward the Sambre along the stream Haine *, to the north of the kingdom of Cambrai, and thence stretched to the right of the Senne above Brussels. The Liger seems to have been the river which is now called the Legia, la Lys; so that the sea seems altogether to be sought among the Morini. And the rest of Flanders, on the left of the Lys, was occupied by the Menapii, the Saxons and other nations. The fourth extension of the Franks through Belgium belongs to later times.

[196] The disposition of the Franks in Belgium at the time of the war of Attila. When, therefore, Attila invaded Gaul in the year 451, part of the Franks occupied both banks of the Waal, separated from almost the rest of the nation by the Saxons placed between; another part inhabited Toxandria, of which not the least part is enclosed in the present province of Antwerp; the remainder in that of Limburg; and here indeed are to be found three places in which malli were held on the proving of the Salic law, namely Salagheve (Zeelhem, near Diest * to the east), Bodogheve (Badehoven) and Windogheve (Wintershoven?); which were comprised in Cisrhenane Thuringia, of which below, or were certainly bordering on it. The third part of the Franks dwelt between the Charcoal Forest and the Lys; and the fourth, bordering on this, the diocese of the Morini and that part of the diocese of Cambrai which lay to the south of the Charcoal Forest. Each tribe seems to have had its own king Cf. Gregory of Tours, Hist. book II, chap. 9, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 166; among whom, however, Chlodio, king of Tournai, seems to have held the primacy, who must be thought to have exercised authority even over the Transrhenane Franks themselves through his son, whom he had set over them when he set out for the western parts. And at this point it seems that the words of Priscus the Rhetor, to which we have already alluded elsewhere, at num. 171, should be quoted in full.

[197] [On the pretext of discord between the Franks on the Neckar and the Cisrhenane Franks, Attila bursts into Gaul.] Treating, namely, of the causes by which Attila had been moved to make war on Gaul: "Attila," he says Excerpts from the Embassies, page 40, Paris edition, 1648, "was drawn into various opinions and hung in doubt whom he should attack first. At length he thought he would do something worth while if he turned to the greater war. For there he would have to do not only with the Italians, but also with the Goths and the Franks: with the Italians, so that he might receive Honoria in marriage with vast riches: with the Goths, so that he might earn the favour of Gaiseric. Attila's cause for provoking the Franks to war was the death of their king" (who can be no other than Chlodio, who died in the year 448) "and the controversy among his children about the kingdom. The elder" (namely, the one who ruled the Franks on the Neckar) "had resolved to call Attila to his help, the younger" (who had followed his father to Tournai) "Aëtius. Him we saw at Rome discharging an embassy, the down not yet beginning to blossom on his cheeks, his yellow hair, on account of its thickness and length, poured over his shoulders." This journey to Rome must have been undertaken while his father was still living; most probably between the year 428, in which the battle was fought at the river Somme, and the year 432, in which we saw that the Franks were received into peace; not (as some would have it) after the death of Chlodio, since then he would not have discharged an embassy (which is necessarily done in another's name), but would have managed his own affairs. "Him Aëtius, having adopted him as his son, and adorned him with many gifts both from himself and from the emperor, dismissed, friendship and alliance in war having been promised," and afterwards, when his father had departed from life, he took his side against his elder brother: and hence it is understood why the Franks on the Neckar attached themselves to the army of Attila, the Cisrhenane Franks to that of Aëtius.

[198] [After the Catalaunian battle Attila goes on to the Veromandui, Cambrai and the Atrebates] Weighty causes, therefore, impelled Attila after the Catalaunian battle to attack the Franks living in Belgium; nay, this was one of the three designs which he wished accomplished through the Gallic war. From the Catalaunian Plains, therefore, the Huns went toward the north and came to Augusta Veromanduorum, as may be gathered from Ratbod, who, in the Life of St. Medard, explaining why the see of the Veromandui was transferred from the Veromandui to Noyon, mentions "the intolerable irruption of the Huns" [Acta SS. at 8 June, and in Acta SS. Belgii, vol. II, page 150; cf. Hémeré, Augusta Veromanduorum vindicata et illustrata, book I, chap. 7 and following, page 15; and Colliette, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire du Vermandois, book II, chap. 58, vol. I, page 119]. That from there the barbarians went to Cambrai is not to be doubted, although no ancient testimony survives (so far as I know) except the obscure one of Balderic [Chronique d'Arras et de Cambray, by Balderic, book I, chap. 7, page 20, Le Glay's edition]: for no road led from Soissons to the Atrebates, where it is most certainly established that they arrived, other than by way of Cambrai.

[199] which they utterly overthrew; I pass over the anonymous annals which Bucherius praises Belgium Romanum, page 119, in order to invoke the testimony of the shorter or most ancient Life of St. Vedast, since it seemed to Henschenius to have been written before the year 667 Acta SS. Belgii, vol. II, page 28, and certainly by an author who was well mindful of the dissensions which had once boiled up between the Cisrhenane Franks and those of the Neckar, so that he calls Attila king of the Necarones (because these served under him) Ibid. page 40; likewise I bring forward the Life corrected by Alcuin about the year 800 Ibid. page 55, and the Chronicle of Cambrai and Arras of Balderic Book I, chap. 7, page 20, compiled in the eleventh century. Hear what the earlier biographer narrates, treating of the first entry of St. Vedast into the city of the Atrebates: "It happened, then," he says, "that he entered a church, which, seeing it neglected and passed over by the negligence of the pagan citizens, filled with a thicket of brambles and defiled with dung and the lairs of beasts, he laid it to heart in memory and bowed his neck to every sorrow. This dwelling, utterly fit for a man's habitation, frequented the city, which, having once been demolished by Attila, king of the Necarones, had been left to foul squalor." These things are set out more fully in the Life corrected by the care of Alcuin: "The man of God," it says, "supported by the favour of the people, going through each place of the city, sought among the ruins of the buildings whether any sign of a church could be found. For he knew that in nearly ancient times the religion of the holy faith had flourished in those places; but on account of the sins of the inhabitants of that land, by the hidden but most just judgment of God, that city too, with the other cities of Gaul or Germany, was handed over to be plundered to the pagan and perfidious king of the Huns, Attila, who, through the excessive savagery of his spirit, knew how to pay neither honour to the priests of God nor reverence to the churches of Christ: but laid waste everything with sword and fire, like a most monstrous tempest. Then, in the likeness of the devastation of Jerusalem, which was wrought by the impious king of Babylon, the nations came into the inheritance of God, and with polluted hands profaned the sanctuaries of Christ, pouring out the blood of the servants of God around the altars of the most high King. Not the strength of the pagans did this, but the sins of the Christian people deserved it. And the servant of Christ found the ruins of the ancient church, and thickets of brambles growing among the fragments of the walls: where once had been the choirs of those singing psalms, there were seen the dens and lurking-places of wild beasts, everything full of dung and filth, so that scarcely any trace of the walls had remained." Balderic has similar things, though not altogether the same.

[200] [Thence they penetrated into the territory of Tournai, whence on the right or on the left of the Charcoal Forest,] Attila also penetrated into the kingdom of Tournai, as Fredegar the Scholastic witnesses, who committed these things to writing [Epitome of the Hist. Franc. of St. Gregory of Tours, chap. 11, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 396]: "Wiomadus, a Frank, more faithful to Childeric than the rest, who had freed him by flight when he was being led captive by the Huns with his mother." It seems to some that the other wing of Attila's army turned aside to Thérouanne, and thence visited part of the Saxon shore: which argument was pursued with singular zeal by the Most Reverend Lord Malou, bishop of Bruges, in a separate dissertation on the devastation of Flanders made by Attila [Dissertation sur les ravages d'Attila en Flandre, in the work entitled Chronicon monasterii Aldenburgensis, ed. J.-B. Malou, page 97 and following], which he added to the Chronicle of the monastery of Oudenburg, a record of the eleventh century; illustrating the following passage which is read in it Work cited, page 34: "In this Flanders the industry of the ancients set up a city, fortified and strong, as the matter required, since, situated beside the shore of the sea, it was frequently attacked by the barbarians of the islands. This city, once long besieged by King Athalus and at length overcome, lost its beauty and strength and its urban populousness, cut off by the hostile sword, and out of what was left to it restored a small town, whose name is Aldenburg." But whether these things are true or false, they concern us little (as is evident) and may easily be passed over. Whether from the territory of Tournai the Huns set out to Bavay in the east and destroyed the fort of Ambra *, as was handed down in the twelfth century Cantatorium of St. Hubert, in Pertz, Mon. Germ., vol. VIII, page 568, or toward the north between the Scheldt and the Charcoal Forest, I for my part would not dare to determine; although it is more probable to me that this latter route was preferred, by which Chlodio with his Franks had come to Tournai about twenty-three years before: for Attila was not entirely free to move where he wished, since Aëtius was pressing at his back, preventing him from bursting again into Gaul with a new onset. However that may be, whether the Huns went between the Charcoal Forest and the rivers Sambre and Meuse by the military road from Tournai to Pons Scaldis (Escaupont), Bagacum (Bavay), Vodgoriacum (Waudre), Geminiacum (Vieuville? Gembloux?), Perniciacum (Acosse or Épine d'Acosse, according to others Perwez or Branchon), and thence finally to Atuatuca (Tongres) [Cf. Walckenaer, Géographie ancienne des Gaules, vol. III, page 90, and Schayes, les Pays-Bas avant et durant la domination romaine, vol. II, pages 250 and 251], or straight from Tournai toward Louvain, by a route between the Charcoal Forest on the right,

and the Scheldt, the Rupel and the Dyle on the left; it is altogether certain that they came as far as Atuatuca or Tongres, or at least into the neighbouring region. Take the testimonies.

[201] [with Aëtius following at a distance, they came into Belgian Thuringia, which on the left of the Rhine] Fredegar, in the Fragments on the history of the Franks which he collected from various writers, partly known, partly unknown, and in which he relates many things about the war of Attila (using the history of Idatius, which he also praises in the Epitome of the History of the Franks In D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 394) which, although at first sight out of harmony with the other narratives, can fairly easily be brought into agreement; after he has narrated by what frauds Aëtius persuaded the Visigoths to go away beyond the Loire, continues thus Ibid. vol. II, pages 462 and 463: "But Agecius with his own men, having the Franks also with him, directed his course behind the back of the Huns; whom he followed at a distance as far as Thoringia; and he ordered his men that each, at night where they stayed, should make ten fires scattered about, so that they might simulate an immense multitude. This battle ceased. By the counsel of Agecius Gaul is freed from its adversaries." But this pursuit was made at such a distance that Attila should not, so far as possible, burst into the provinces still obeying the Romans, but at the same time that he should be free to wear down with many disasters and losses the Franks and the cities soon to be subjected to the Franks. And these things are sufficiently manifest from what we saw a little before about the Atrebates and other cities. Rather these words must be considered: "But Agecius with his own men, having the Franks also with him, directed his course behind the back of the Huns; whom he followed at a distance as far as Thoringia," and it must be asked what is the Thoringia as far as which Aëtius followed the Huns. It is by no means to be doubted that it was situated on this side of the Rhine. For who would admit that Aëtius crossed the Rhine with much smaller forces than the Huns had, and penetrated into Thuringia, which is situated in the middle of Germany? And indeed, as in the fifth century there was a twofold Burgundy and a twofold Francia, so too there was a twofold Thoringia; the one the ancient seat of the nation, the other that of the colonists who had left their homeland. Of the former there is no controversy; but I truly do not see how the Rev. Mr. Ernst Histoire du Limbourg, vol. I, page 259 and following, with some Germans, could affirm that the latter never existed.

[202] is shown to have existed, from St. Gregory of Tours, I pass over the passage of Procopius On the Gothic War, book I, chap. 12, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 30, most fiercely attacked, although D. Bouquet long ago solved well the difficulties which, after others, Ernst raised. But hear Gregory of Tours Hist. of the Franks, book II, chap. 9, vol. cited, pages 166 and 167, whose words we gave in part above, but which must be repeated at this point. "Many relate," he says, discoursing of the origin of the Franks, "that they came out of Pannonia; and first inhabited the shores of the Rhine: then, having crossed the Rhine, passed over into Thoringia; and there created over themselves long-haired kings by districts or cities, from the first and (so to speak) more noble family of their own. Which afterwards the victories of Clovis showed proved, and this we set out in what follows. For in the Consular lists also we read that Theodemer, king of the Franks, son of Richimer once, and Ascyla his mother, were slain by the sword. They say also that Chlogio was then king of the Franks, a capable man and most noble in his nation, who dwelt at the fortress of Dispargum, which is on the border of the Thuringians. And in these parts, that is, toward the southern quarter, the Romans dwelt as far as the river Loire. But beyond the Loire the Goths rule." I for my part do not see what could be desired clearer than these words. The Franks are said, having come out of Pannonia, first to have inhabited the shores of the Rhine; then to have crossed the Rhine, and in this way to have come into Thoringia. To extricate himself from this, Ernst Hist. du Limbourg, vol. I, page 265 contends that one should read not Rhenus, but Reganus, commonly the Regen, which little river gave its name to Ratisbon (Regensburg). But this opinion conflicts with all the manuscripts; and with the following words of St. Gregory of Tours: "And in these parts, that is, toward the southern quarter, the Romans dwelt as far as the river Loire"; which are true if they are referred to Belgian Thoringia, false if to the German. Later writers indeed, placed far from Belgium, did not know that there was in it a little region called Thoringia, and so would have it that the castle of Chlodio, named Dispargum, was situated beyond the Rhine; but those who wrote in the neighbourhood of Belgian Thoringia named it more than once.

[203] [from the biographers of St. Arnulf of Metz, from the surviving village of Thoringia, and from Gilles of Orval.] The contemporary writer of the Life of St. Arnulf, bishop of Metz, committed this to memory Acta SS. vol. IV of July, page 436: "In the times also of King Dagobert … when he had entered the homelands of the Thoringi with the same king to visit them"; and who would doubt that these homelands of the Thoringi were on this side of the Rhine? For the subject in this passage is Dagobert, whom Clotaire in the 39th year of his reign, of Christ 622, set up as king over the Austrasians Chronicle of Fredegar the Scholastic, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 432, and within whose lands, accordingly, Thoringia lay. Add the testimony of Umno in the longer Life of St. Arnulf Acta SS. vol. IV of July, page 443: "At another time thereafter," he says, "the same prelate had entered with the aforesaid King Dagobert the region of the Thuringians, which is no small part of the province of Second Germany, in which Cologne is the metropolis, where, while he was staying in arranging royal affairs," etc. Down to the latest times there existed in the parts of Louvain, Tienen or Diest a village of the name of Thoringi; certainly in the year 1786 the following inscription was read in the chapter-house of Hougaerde [Tableau de la ville et du diocèse de Liége pour l'an 1786, page 92; cf. Moulaert, Essai sur le comté de Brunengeruz, in volume X of series II of the Bulletins de la commission d'histoire, page 192]: "Here lies Alpaïs, countess of Hougaerde, who out of her own castle built a church, and in the same instituted canons, honourably endowed with prebends, and who gave us Geldonia and Thoringi." (This last, namely, belonged to the cap. * of St. Paul.) This inscription is in any case recent; but it is a certain argument that there was then a village belonging to the canons of Hougaerde called Thoringi, the same (unless I am mistaken) as Tourinnes, the head of the county of Tourinnes, which is reported to have been the domain of Alpaïs. Gilles of Orval also mentions the Belgian Thoringi: "This metropolis of the Thuringian Franks, Tongres," he says In Chapeaville, Gesta episcoporum Leodiensium, vol. I, page 17, "which, according to the prophecy of Blessed Servatius, fell before the Huns by the command of God, was most flourishing and most famous." Nor can it be said that he deduced these things from the etymology or nearness of the names; for a little later he writes: "It is reported, further, to have been called Tungris, as if tunderis, or tu ungeris"; and lower down: "And as the city was Tungris, so the whole region was Tungria, and the inhabitants were called Tungri." Gilles, therefore, did not think that the Tungri and the Thoringi, although they inhabited almost the same region, were the same nation; nor shall I think so. The Tungri were the primeval inhabitants; but the Thoringi newcomers, who probably crossed the Rhine at the beginning of the fifth century. But this is not the place to indulge in conjectures; this one thing is to be laid down here, that to the north of the Charcoal Forest, in the fifth century and thereafter, there was a tract called Thoringia, and that Aëtius followed the Huns at a distance as far as there.

[204] [The Huns lay waste the territory of Tongres and are at Cologne about the 21st of October.] And when Attila had come into these parts, it was natural that here, no otherwise than elsewhere, he should plunder and ruin everything: nor are testimonies of this thing lacking. That the territory of Tongres was laid waste by the Huns is related by the Annals read by Bucherius Belgium Romanum, page 512 and by Aimoin of Fleury [Hist. of the Franks, book I, chap. 6, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. CXXXIX, col. 640]. But truly, when the Huns had penetrated so deeply into Belgium, one way lay open to them from here across the Rhine, namely by way of Cologne; which no one would call into doubt who has cast his eyes either on topographical maps on which the old public or military roads are inscribed, or on the ancient itineraries. And since the Huns, between the 14th of June, on which they raised the siege of Orléans, and the beginning of the month of July, in which they fought in the Catalaunian Plains, went into Champagne, and then laid waste many cities and towns, they must surely have come to Cologne Agrippina after the middle of the month of October, so that they brought death to the Ursuline virgins about the 21st day of this month; on which the anniversary memory of their passion is still celebrated, as there is no need for us to remind the reader again.

* The Loire.

* The Somme.

* The Haine.

* Diest.

* Saint-Hubert

* chapel

§ XXII. Whether Cologne was the arena of the holy virgins.

Everything cries out that St. Ursula and her companions suffered at Cologne. Above, in § XVI, we showed that the blessed virgins were slain by the Huns; then in § XIX we tried to demonstrate that they were put to death by the Huns, not when at the beginning of the year 451 they burst into Gaul, but when, after the Catalaunian battle, fought in the summer of the same year with the utmost effort and incredible slaughter, they were making for the Rhine again. But already I hear those who object that it is not agreed among the learned that they were slain at Cologne Agrippina; that Baronius, Lindanus, Welser and others placed their martyrdom at the mouths of the Rhine, where, between Lugdunum and Matilo , Praetorium Agrippinae * was situated, two Roman miles from Lugdunum Cf. Walckenaer, Géographie ancienne des Gaules, vol. III, page 72; which was confused with Cologne Agrippina. But these things were feigned only with the intention of winning credit for the history of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and they openly conflict with all the records of any authority. For these all cry out that the arena of St. Ursula was Cologne Agrippina. In this number are the things which we shall discuss below about the burial of St. Ursula and her companions; likewise the most ancient Sermon on the Feast, the poems of Wandalbert of Prüm, and the Passion Regnante Domino; next, what we know of the many churches erected at Cologne; besides, a number of diplomas given in the tenth century by the bishops of Cologne; in a word, the whole Ursuline history (for who anywhere except Geoffrey ever dreamed that the Huns visited the mouths of the Rhine in ships?); and also all those things which pertain to the Ursuline cult; nor do these, being most evident, need to be explained more fully. But although the other opinion collapses by this very fact, it will nevertheless help to see it attacked directly by Hermann Fleien, whom we have already praised above at num. 93. Take his dissertation In Lippeloo, Vitae SS. vol. IV, page 789 and following.

[206] [Fleien rightly shows that Baronius and Welser err in thinking that the holy virgins were slain at Praetorium Agrippinae,] "The other opinion about the place of the passion," he says, "we have said belongs to those who relate that the virgins did not suffer at Cologne Agrippina, but rather elsewhere, and that most of their bodies were carried to Cologne and buried there. For so the Roman Martyrology printed at Lyon: 'At Cologne Agrippina, the feast of SS. Ursula and her companions, who, slain by the Huns for their constancy in virginity, completed their life by martyrdom, and very many of their bodies were carried to Cologne.' The edition published at Venice with the Notes of Baronius has it in this way: 'At Cologne Agrippina, the feast of SS. Ursula and her companions, who, slain by the Huns for the Christian religion and their constancy in virginity, completed their life by martyrdom, and very many of their bodies were buried at Cologne.' The Martyrology, therefore, lays down that the virgins were put to martyrdom not at Cologne, but somewhere, and yet it names no definite place. Baronius, however, supplies what was passed over in the Martyrology, and designates a definite place, namely the shore of the German sea, in the Notes. Nay, in volume IV of the Annals, at the year 383, with Marcus Welser of Augsburg, he indicates the same place still more expressly in these words: 'We have discoursed of these things in our Notes on the Roman Martyrology, and have added the agreement of Lindanus, bishop of Ghent, a man most distinguished for learning; to which let there be added what the noble and especially eloquent man Marcus Welser published not long ago in the fragments of the ancient itinerary table, illustrated with the utmost skill, where he treats of Praetorium Agrippinae situated by the sea: to which opinion, attested by the certain faith of ancient records, we not unwillingly subscribe. I would have you consult him yourself.' Further, the words of Welser are these: 'To this Praetorium Agrippinae, which is found on the sheet where the Rhine flows into the sea, must be brought back the slaughter of the British virgins, which report, arising from an error about the name, has handed down as perpetrated by the Huns at Cologne Agrippina.' So far they.

[207] that Suffridus Petri, who narrates that they landed at Frongeist, "The most learned man Suffridus Petri, in book I on the origin of the Frisians, chap. 9, is found to be of another opinion, as we understand from these words of his: 'This city of Frongeist in the course of time grew into a most celebrated emporium. The Romans, after they had invaded Batavia and that Frisia, on account of the nearness of the name which it had with the Italian city of Verona, also called it Verona. This similarity of name deceived those who wrote the history of the eleven thousand virgins: who, when they had heard that these, setting sail from Britain, were driven by the force of storms to Verona, and knew no other Verona than that Italian one, thinking what was reported absurd, substituted Bonn for Verona; that is, by their ignorance they made a true history suspect. For that they landed at this Verona of Frisia was neither absurd nor incredible, since from Britain there was an easy crossing into this port.' So far he. If these things are as they are reported, or at least if either of the two is true, then surely whatever we laid down a little before about the place of the martyrdom collapses. Wherefore, in order to prove our opinion true, these very things must be refuted. For my part I am not greatly concerned about the Martyrology, which, if it is understood in a sound sense, asserts nothing foreign to the truth. For that whole field from the church of St. Gereon as far as the Rhine, in which plain bodies are everywhere had dug out of the ground, together with the churches built in it, lay outside the city of Cologne until the year 1180, and whatever relics of the company were found in the city itself were brought in from outside. For although Solinus, as we said above, is reported to have fortified the Ursuline field with rampart and ditch out of reverence for the virgins, yet Archbishop Philip, in the said year making the city much larger than it had been until then, began to surround with new walls enclosing not only the Ursuline field but many other holy places and churches as well, as the Chronicles of Cologne relate, fol. 176.

[208] [whom he wrongly allowed himself to be persuaded by Hadrianus Junius that 'Verona' had been written in its place;] "Further, the opinion of Suffridus Petri does us no harm either, since he narrates nothing about the place of the martyrdom, and contains a most manifest error: for nowhere in the history of the virgins is mention made of any Verona, nor was Bonn ever substituted by anyone; but this is done in the history of the holy Thebans and Moors, especially Cassius, Florentius, Mallosus and their companions, in which no other town besides Bonn could be substituted for Verona. Its author himself, admonished by me, named the author he had followed, and did not defend the error. Now he took this narration from the Batavia of Hadrianus Junius, where these things are read: 'Nicolaus Vorstius, a man of no mean learning, director of the school of Leiden, indicated to me by letter among many other things that he had received from a lawyer of Cologne of weighty authority that in the history in which the setting out of the eleven thousand virgins from the island of Britain is woven, it is narrated that they, put on board ships and tossed by a foul storm, landed at Verona: which is probably said of this Verona of ours, because this emporium was near the bed of that flowing stream which closed the back of the Caninefates, drawn off from the Rhine, and, gliding past Crabbedam, ran down into the sea; and there is still shown in the Verona fields a channel in lower-lying ground, where was the mouth and entrance of the harbour for ships putting in from the sea. Since that trivial kind of preachers had not even in a dream heard anything of this, and the credibility of the history rejected that transalpine one, it interprets Bonn for Verona triflingly (not to say falsely), against all reason.' So he, petulantly enough. For what reason is there for lashing our preachers with such impudent and insulting words in a history of which he himself was ignorant, and in which whatever lawyer it was whom he follows ought to acknowledge his error? But to the statements of Baronius and Welser also the answer is easy. For who would ever approve what is brought forward by the judgment of no weighty author, against all antiquity, against the public records?

[209] that the narration of Geoffrey of Monmouth helps nothing; "But Baronius follows the authority of an old historian who affirms this. I know that Baronius in his Notes weaves together the history of the virgins from the bishop of St. Asaph, in which the words which I recited a little before are found. But whether he truly expressed the words of the ancient author, or even of his interpreter of St. Asaph, we shall rightly learn if we examine the words themselves a little more carefully. The words of the bishop of St. Asaph are thus, in the fifth book of that history, chap. 16: 'The fleet having been prepared, the women board the ships, and by the river Thames make for the seas; at last, when they had turned their sails toward the Armoricans, contrary winds rose against the fleet, and in a short time scatter the whole company. The ships, therefore, were imperilled within the seas, in the greater part sunk; but those which escaped the whole peril were driven to barbarous islands, and by an unknown nation were either slaughtered or enslaved. For they had fallen in with the abominable army of Guanius and Melga, who by order of Gratian were crushing with a dreadful slaughter the nations of the maritime regions and of Germany. Now Guanius was king of the Huns, and Melga of the Picts, whom Gratian had taken to himself and had sent into Germany to harass those who favoured Maximianus. Raging, then, along the coasts, they met the aforesaid maidens, who had landed in those parts. Beholding therefore their beauty, they wished to wanton with them, but when the maidens refused, the brutes rushed upon them and slaughtered the greatest part without pity.' So this author, from whom I think no definite place can be had in which our virgins are said to have been slain. For he says openly that they were driven to barbarous islands and slaughtered by an unknown nation; and although he presently names this unknown nation, namely the army of Guanius, leader of the Huns, and of Melga, of the Picts, yet nowhere does he name either the islands or the place in Germany where the virgins fell into their hands; about whom, too, he does not dare to affirm for certain whether they were slain or enslaved. Nor does it stand in the way that he says that the Huns and Picts were sent by Gratian into Germany, since he adds in plain words that this was done so that they might keep the maritime nations and Germany together harassed in those places, to break the forces of Maximus. As, therefore, that author leaves it in doubt whether that company was killed, so too he nowhere determines in what place it perished, whether elsewhere in some barbarous island, or in some maritime nation, or in Germany. Wherefore it cannot, in my judgment at least, be proved from that author that the virgins perished by slaughter on the German shore: and Baronius errs in affirming it, Welser errs in pointing out a still more definite place. Besides, I think this too is to be repeated from what was said above, that this very history of Guanius and Melga is uncertain and altogether foreign to our history.

[210] [that by all the monuments of Cologne it is signified that St. Ursula and her companions were slain there.] "I add this also: within the circuit of the city of Cologne, besides the metropolitan church, are counted ten collegiate churches, sixteen monasteries of men, thirty of nuns, nineteen parish churches, and very many other chapels, likewise oratories of men and women. And though there are so many temples and shrines in this city, yet all are so filled with relics and bones of the holy virgins, dug out of the earth here and not elsewhere, that it is a wonder that people are found who think that so many bodies were once carried from the place of the passion to Cologne, twenty-six or more of our German miles, to be given burial. What of the fact that no trace of so great a slaughter exists anywhere else except at Cologne Agrippina, and none of the ancients makes mention of any other place, as we have also said before? Finally, I judge this too worthy to be observed, that the bodies of the dead were never accustomed to be transferred from one region to another except to be laid in a more honourable place for their greater honour: which cannot be said to have been done here, since they were committed to the earth not in the city itself, but in a field situated outside. Therefore we at length conclude that our virgins were put to martyrdom in the field of Cologne."

[211] The fable of the martyrdom of St. Ursula in Slavonia. I would not wish at this point to pass over altogether untouched a certain Passion of St. Ursula, which in the year 1855 Francesco Zambrini Collezione di Leggende inedite, vol. I, pages 177–205 brought to light in the old vernacular tongue from a Magliabechi manuscript, class XXXVIII, num. 104, sheet 56, and part IV, num. 104, and which, so far as places are concerned, entirely disagrees with all the others. In it the parents of St. Ursula are represented as having been the king and queen of Hungary; the son of an overseas king is said to have sought her in marriage; almost the same conditions which occur in the Passion Regnante Domino are read here also; it is said there too that St. Ursula with eleven thousand virgins set out for the Threshold of the Apostles and thence to the Sepulchre of the Lord, which is

in Jerusalem; but that when they entered Rome the pope rejoiced so vehemently at their company that he followed her with many cardinals; that they all went together to the Holy Land, passing through Tuscany, Lombardy and Germany; that they then came into the desert and the dominion of the king of Slavonia, who had entered into kinship and friendship with the Sultan of Babylon; and that he, fearing lest this throng should advance to snatch away from him the lands of the Saracens, sent against it an army of a hundred and fifty thousand men and asked St. Ursula what this people of hers was; and when he learned that they were Christians, said that they must choose death or apostasy; and when they answered that they preferred to die for Christ, all were slain. Further, the narration of Vincent of Beauvais, or another like it, without doubt lighted the way for the writer of this Passion; but in order to present it more agreeably to his readers (since they dreaded the Saracens more than the Huns), he changed according to his own fancy the time, the places and the other circumstances, refashioning everything according to the new pattern which he had conceived in his mind. But these things are scarcely worth mentioning, and not worth any refutation. Let us return, therefore, from this digression to Cologne, and investigate before all things what its appearance was in the middle of the fifth century.

* Leiden.

* Rijnenburg

* Roomburg

§ XXIII. The political and moral state of Cologne before the coming of the Huns. The age of the writings of Salvian.

The origin and ancient fortunes of Cologne Agrippina. When in the year of the City 698 C. Julius Caesar had come into these parts, he found on the right of the Rhine "the Ubii, once a large and flourishing state, and more civilized than the other Germans, because they bordered on the Rhine, and many merchants frequently came to them, and they themselves, on account of their nearness, had become accustomed to Gallic manners. Though the Suevi, a fierce nation and most eager for taking booty, having made trial of them often in many wars, had not been able to expel them from their borders on account of the size and weight of the state, yet they had made them tributary to themselves and had rendered them much humbler and weaker" C. Julius Caesar, Commentaries on the Gallic War, book IV, chap. 3. Hence the Ubii easily let themselves be brought to pledge their faith to the Romans, from whom they expected help against their oppressors, and to make it sacred by giving hostages. Eighteen years later Agrippa transferred the Ubii, not unwilling, to this side of the Rhine, that is, to the left bank Strabo, book IV, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 26, and received them into a much firmer allegiance. But in the year of Christ 50 his granddaughter Agrippina, in order to display her authority to the allied nations as well, obtained that veterans and a colony should be settled in the town of the Ubii in which she had been born; to which was given a name from her own name Tacitus, Annals, book XII, chap. 27 and that of her husband Claudius: Colonia Claudia Agrippina Augusta Cf. Steiner, Codex inscript. roman. Rheni, vol. II, page 106; more briefly Colonia Agrippina or Agrippinensis, or simply Colonia, or Agrippina [Cf. Aug. Aldenbrück's Geschichte des Ursprungs und der Religion der alten Ubier, vol. I, page 101 and following, ed. J. W. Brewer]. In the year of Christ 69, when Civilis had stirred up the German nations to war, the Ubii suffered more than the rest from the raiders, because, a nation of German origin, having abjured their fatherland, they were called by the Roman name of Agrippinenses Tacitus, Histories, book IV, chap. 29: so that in a very short time they had grown together into one body with the veteran colonists. The rebels, however, kept away from Colonia itself, but a little later brought it into their alliance Ibid. chaps. 63, 64, 65, 66. Paulus Cf. Justus Lipsius on the Annals, book XII, note 63, Works of Tacitus, page 194, a most celebrated jurist of the second century, said that they were of the Italian right; by which, besides other immunities, they were free from the poll-tax and the land-tax Cf. Pitiscus, Lexicon Antiq., under Jus italicum. The new town was a quadrangle and fairly large, extending in length 200 perches of the Rhenish measure (Ruthen), in breadth 190 [Minola, Kurze Uebersicht dessen was … am Rheinstrome Merkwürdiges ereignete, page 270, Cologne, 1833]; it was surrounded by very strong walls and ramparts [Cf. Tacitus, Histories, book IV, chap. 64; Zosimus, book I, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 576], so that it could not be taken without the labour of a siege.

[213] The political and civil state of Cologne before the coming of the barbarians. Further, when the emperor Augustus divided Gaul into four greater provinces, he wished Belgica, as bordering on the barbarians, to be separated into three parts or smaller provinces, namely Upper Germany, Lower Germany and Belgica: as De la Barre has made manifest from Tacitus, Ptolemy and Dio Mém. de l'académie des inscriptions, vol. VIII, page 403 and following. Over each was set a legate propraetor Ibid. page 404, who was also called "of Augustus" [Cf. Steiner, Codex inscriptionum romanarum Rheni, num. 651, 768, 788, 852, 854, 446, etc.]; because these provinces were committed to the care of the Caesars, not of the senate. The title was also given them of governor of the province Ibid. num. 446, consular [Notitia dignitatum, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 125; cf. Eckhel, Doctrina numorum, vol. IV, page 239 and following] and others of this sort. Since no commander was set over several provinces (which happened only rarely De la Barre, Mém. de l'académie des inscriptions, vol. VIII, page 404), each of them individually had the supreme power in his own provinces. Where the legate of Second or Lower Germany had his seat before Cologne Agrippina was founded is hidden from me; but that afterwards it was the metropolis, and that the legate of Caesar dwelt there, is established from the inscription of Q. Tarquitius Catulus, legate of Augustus, by whose care "the praetorium, fallen into ruin, was restored to a new appearance" Steiner, Codex inscript. num. 852. Decurions were placed in charge of governing Cologne Agrippina, who were the image of the Roman senate and constituted the order or curia Cf. Bimard, diss. II, in Muratori, Inscriptt. vol. I, col. 82. In the year 321 the emperor Constantine gave them a rescript Cf. D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 746 by which he permitted some Jews to be called to the curia: whence it may be established that these were there in great number. As there was a praetorium at Cologne, so too there were theatres, as is established from Salvian [On the Government of God, book VI, chap. 8, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. LIII, cols. 116 and 117]. Antoninus and Hadrian built a temple of the waters, or baths Cf. D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 143 B and note b. Also a bridge, "the glory of the Roman empire and the ornament of the frontier, which would give the means of crossing into enemy territory as often as one wished," was begun over the Rhine by the emperor Constantine in his third or fourth year [Eumenius the Rhetor in the Panegyric of Constantine, in Aldenbrück, de Ponte Constantiniano, page 7], and he seems afterwards to have carried it as far as the opposite fort of Divitia Cf. work cited. Letters too flourished at Cologne, so far as may be gathered from inscriptions still surviving [Cf. Aldenbrück, de religione antiquorum Ubiorum dissertatio, page XXXII and passim] and from Salvian, who seems to have been born there; nor were the other arts, sculpture, music, etc., held in less honour: so that it is not surprising that that city is reckoned by Salvian [On the Government of God, book VI, chaps. 13 and 14, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. III, cols. 123 and 124] among the most illustrious of the Gauls, and called by Zosimus In D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 576 "the greatest," and by Ammianus "a city of ample name" Res gestae, book XV, chap. 8. That it may the more appear how splendid was the condition of this city, recall that it was assigned by the emperor Gallienus as the seat of his son Saloninus, whom he had proclaimed Caesar and in whose name, though a boy, he wished all Gaul to be administered Cf. Tillemont, Mémoires, Empereurs, Gallien, art. IV, vol. III, page 184. When on that occasion Postumus took the city (which happened about the year 260), the tyrant honoured it by inscribing on his coins the name COL. CL. AGRIP. Eckhel Doctrina numorum, vol. I, page 74 brought forward one or two, marked with his fourth consulship, which probably coincides with the year of Christ 264, warning that several others, produced by Goltzius and even by Brewer, the more recent editor of Aldenbrück, are fabrications. A good many other tyrants and emperors stayed at Agrippina; but passing through rather than residing.

[214] [It was invaded by the Franks about the middle of the fourth century; but restored; about the year 400 it again lay open to the barbarians.] But shortly less splendid fortunes awaited it. In the month of July of the year 355 Silvanus the Frank, master of the infantry throughout the Gauls, residing at Cologne Agrippina, had been brought by the perfidy of his enemies to put on the purple in order to provide for his life and honour; but twenty-eight days later he paid the penalty of his daring: whereby everything around the Rhine was thrown into confusion and laid open to the irruptions of the Franks. Julian, to whom afterwards the mark of apostate clung, was created Caesar and set over Gaul. When he arrived at Turin in the month of December, the news was brought to him "that Cologne Agrippina had been opened by a persistent siege of the barbarians with great forces, and destroyed" Ammianus Marcellinus, Res gestae, book XV, chap. 8. The Caesar went without delay to the Rhine and conquered the Germans near Brocomagus . "No one therefore resisting after this, it was decided to go and recover Agrippina, destroyed before the coming of the Caesar into Gaul. Having entered Agrippina, therefore," about the tenth month after the city had come into the hands of the enemy [The emperor Julian in his letter to the Athenians, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 725], "he did not move from there before, the kings of the Franks being thoroughly frightened and their fury abating, he had established a peace that would meanwhile be of profit to the commonwealth, and had recovered the city, most strongly fortified" Ammianus Marcellinus, book XVI, chap. 3, or had strengthened it again with walls; for these fortifications, as the letter of Julian to the Athenians suggests, seem to have been demolished; although the city itself also suffered very greatly, which Ammianus said was destroyed and razed. The Romans then held it, until about the year of Christ 400 Stilicho stripped the Rhine of soldiers, in order to pave the way for the barbarians about to invade Gaul. Hence between the year 406 and 409 innumerable and most ferocious nations occupied all Gaul. "Whatever lies between the Alps and the Pyrenees, what is enclosed by the Ocean and the Rhine, the Quadian, the Vandal, the Sarmatian, the Alans, the Gepids, the Heruli, the Saxons, the Burgundians, the Alemanni and (O commonwealth to be lamented!) the Pannonian enemies have laid waste. For Assur too has come with them. Mainz, once a noble city, has been taken and overthrown, and in the church many thousands of men have been slaughtered. The Vangiones have been destroyed by a long siege. The mighty city of the Remi, the Ambiani, the Atrebates, and the Morini, farthest of men, Tournai, the Nemetes *, Argentoratus, have been carried off into Germany." These things Jerome wrote in the year 409 to Agurechia

St. Jerome Letter XCI, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 744; by the expression "carried off into Germany," which the classical writers also knew, signifying that so many Franks or Germans had penetrated into both Belgicas and Upper Germany, and, the fields having been occupied (for most of them fled the seat of cities as though nets), had settled there in such multitude, that the Roman cities which had been founded in these provinces seemed to be placed in the middle of Germany. Jerome does not expressly mention Second Germany or Cologne Agrippina: but since the way into Second Belgica lay open through it, its condition must be thought to have been no better than that of the other cities founded on the banks of the Rhine.

[215] [Before the middle of the fifth century the Franks beset Cologne and make it tributary to themselves] In the consulship of Felix and Taurus, that is, in the year 428, Aëtius, having slain many Franks, recovered the part of Gaul near the Rhine which they had occupied, as Cassiodorus is the authority In D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 630, note a, and before him Prosper of Aquitaine Ibid. page cited. He did not, however, compel them to go back to the eastern bank of the Rhine, but only to acknowledge themselves subject to the Roman empire and to pay tribute; of which matter something was said at num. 194. Certainly before the time at which Salvian wrote his books On the Government of God (which we shall soon demonstrate was done by him shortly after the year 440), the Franks beset both banks of the Rhine and were most powerful at Cologne Agrippina; which is plain from Salvian himself. For he, after teaching that the circus games, the theatres and other things which he calls "the ruin of our hope and salvation" were frequented in the midst of public calamities no less than if God had not signified by these that His indignation and wrath were kindled, continues thus [On the Government of God, book VI, chap. 8, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. LIII, cols. 116 and 117]: "But, it may be answered, these things are not done in all the cities of the Romans. That is true. I even add more: that they are not done even there where they were always done before. For this is no longer done in the city of the people of Mainz; but because it has been razed and destroyed. It is not done at Agrippina; but because it is full of enemies. It is not done in the most excellent city of the Treveri; but because it has been laid low by a fourfold overthrow. It is not done, finally, in many cities of the Gauls and the Spains. And therefore woe to us and to our impurities! What hope have the Christian peoples before God, since these evils have ceased to exist in the Roman cities only from the time when they began to be under the law of the barbarians?" At that time, however, the Romans were still ruling at Cologne Agrippina; but mingled with the Franks or Germans, with whom it was customary, as is sufficiently well known, to sell peace and tranquillity for money. Hence "the calamity of the treasury," as Salvian says, "and the now beggary of the Roman exchequer" did not allow lost expenses to be poured out at Cologne and in other places on trifling things.

[216] and they treat the citizens badly and drain them. Nor had the Franks drained only the treasury of Agrippina, but they had also dared many impious things against the individual citizens. Take a specimen, again from Salvian, writing (as it seems) to his friends at Lérins: "The young man," he says Letter I, in Migne, vol. LIII, cols. 158 and 159, "whom I have sent to you was taken captive at Agrippina with his family, once of no small name among his own people, of a family not obscure, of a house not to be despised, and of whom I would perhaps say something more were he not my kinsman. For this is why I say less, lest in saying more of him I should seem to be speaking of myself. He of whom I speak, then, left at Agrippina his mother, a widow, upright, honourable, and of whom perhaps I may boldly say that she is truly a widow. For besides the other virtues of chastity and wisdom, she is also noble in faith, which is always an ornament to all adornments: because without it nothing is so adorned as to be able to adorn. She, then, as I hear, is in such want and need there that she has the means neither of staying nor of going away, because there is nothing to help her either for sustenance or for flight. The only thing is that, seeking her sustenance by hired labour, she puts her hands out for hire to the wives of the barbarians. So, although by the mercy of God she has been freed from the chains of captivity, though she no longer serves by her condition, she serves by her poverty."

[217] [How great the corruption of Cologne was before Salvian wrote the books On the Government of God.] While the people of Cologne were in so unhappy a condition, they were by no means moved by it to win for themselves the mercy of God by chastened morals. Salvian is again the witness; who, although he does not express the name of the city, perhaps because it was his native place, yet has seemed to Bucherius Belgium Romanum, page 428, Valois Rerum Francicarum book II, vol. I, page 113, Tillemont Mémoires, Empereurs, Valentinian III, art. 8, vol. VI, page 84, D. Bouquet Recueil des historiens, vol. I, page 781, Baluze In Migne, vol. LIII, col. 124 and others to indicate Agrippina. After describing, namely, the corrupt morals of the people of Mainz: "What," he says On the Government of God, book VI, chap. 13, in Migne, vol. LIII, col. 124, "in another city, not far off but near, of the same magnificence? Was there not the same ruin both of affairs and of morals alike? For besides other things, when everything there had collapsed through two chief and general evils, avarice and drunkenness; at last things came to such a pass through raging greed for wine that the leading men of the city itself did not rise from their banquets even then, when the enemy was already entering the city. So evidently, as I believe, God wished to show them why they were perishing; since the very thing through which they had come to final perdition they were doing when they perished. I saw there lamentable things, namely no difference between boys and old men. There was one buffoonery, one levity: all things together, luxury, drinking-bouts, ruin: all did all things alike, played, got drunk, were done to death; they wantoned at banquets, old men and men of rank, almost too feeble now for living, most powerful for wine; weak for walking, robust for drinking; tottering in their gait, nimble for dancing. And what more? Through all those things which we have mentioned they slid down to this, that there was fulfilled in them that saying of the sacred word: 'Wine and women make men fall away from God' (Ecclus. 19:2). For while they drink, play, commit adultery, rave, they have begun to deny Christ. And do we wonder after all these things if they suffered the ruin of their fortunes, who so long before had fallen in their minds? Let no one, therefore, believe that that city perished only by its destruction. For where such things were done, they had already perished before they perished." This was the constitution and the morals of Cologne a few years before the coming of the Huns.

[218] [These books were not written after the coming of the Huns, as several would have it,] I said advisedly, "before the coming of the Huns." For although it would greatly serve our purpose if Salvian had written his books On the Government of God after the invasion of the Huns, and so after the year 455 (for it would be natural to refer to the irruption of the Huns these words: "At last things came to such a pass through raging greed for wine that the leading men of the city itself did not rise from their banquets even then, when the enemy was already entering the city"); although, I say, we should be greatly helped by these words if they had been written in the year 455 or a little after, inasmuch as we should establish more certainly by contemporary testimony that Cologne was occupied by the Huns; yet we owe it to the truth to confess that Salvian's books were written before that time. Various writers, namely, think very variously about the year of publication of this work. Schoenemann Bibliotheca Hist. litt. Patrum lat. vol. II, page 824 wrote: "The principal work, namely, at the time of the incursion of the barbarians into the Roman empire, in the year 451, or 452, or, as the Benedictines will have it, 455." And those Benedictines are the writers of the Literary History of France Hist. littér. de France, vol. II, page 525, who are persuaded that in book VI, chap. 12, Salvian mentions the siege of Rome which, as Prosper of Aquitaine witnesses Chronicle, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 635, the Vandals made in the year 455; and they drew Gallandi too over to their side: so that those critics who now have the greatest name affirm that the books On the Government of God were written in the year 455 or a little after. Nevertheless other men of no low bench think otherwise: it will be enough to have named Tillemont Mémoires ecclésiastiques, vol. XVI, page 191, Baluze In Migne, Patrologia, vol. LIII, col. 27 and Papencordt Geschichte der Vandalischen Herrschaft in Africa, page 381. For these, relying on the fact that no mention of the irruption of Attila is made in the books On Government, taught that they were written before the year 451; but because the disaster of Litorius, the fraudulent capture of Carthage and the overthrow of Sicily are mentioned, after the year 439, nay 440. So far they.

[219] [but it is shown from Salvian himself that they were written immediately after the siege of Toulouse,] But truly I have no doubt that we must agree with these. In truth, since this writing of Salvian is not historical but moral, the author generally abstains from proper names; so that no one would rightly wonder that Attila is not named by him, even if he had published the books On the Government of God after the monstrous devastation with which the Huns afflicted Gaul. It must also be admitted that mention is rather often made of the Huns in this work, and that they are reckoned among the barbarians from whom Gaul had suffered not a little. But although these things are so, no one who has attentively weighed the manner of the whole composition will deny that what Salvian relates about the Huns pertains not to the bloody expedition of Attila, but to the losses which the Huns, summoned by Aëtius as auxiliaries in the year 439, had inflicted on Gaul, and to other things of that kind. For the evils which had been perpetrated more recently he does not indicate in general words, but points out as it were with his finger. It must be held, therefore, that the books On the Government of God are earlier than the daring deeds of Attila: which, however, we can establish by a much stronger argument. For where he reproaches the Romans because in battles they omit to implore the help of God, he sets against them the Goths and the Vandals, who even when placed in danger ask aid from God and call their prosperity a gift of the Godhead. "Finally," he says Book VII, chaps. 9 and 10, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. LIII, col. 137, "our misfortune proved this in that MOST RECENT war. For while the Goths were in fear, we presumed to place our hope in the Huns, they in God." And having at once recalled the unexpected victory which the Goths had won and the defeat inflicted on the Romans: "And so," he continues, "that general of our side recognized this, who entered as a captive that same city of the enemy

which on the same day he had presumed he would enter as victor… And would that this very evil had passed as a brief remedy, not as a long endurance! But he, as regards the greatness of his punishments, consumed for a long time by lingering decay in the prison of the barbarians, was reduced to this misery, that he came to be pitied by his enemies, which men generally think heavier and more bitter even than punishments themselves." He then narrates that Theodoric, king of the Goths, poured out prayers before the battle and won the victory in prayer; then: "Not dissimilarly," he says, "this happened also among the Vandals: when our side went against them, situated in Spain, and brought so great a confidence of presumption for subduing them as it did MOST RECENTLY against the Goths, they collapsed with equal haughtiness of pride and an equal outcome."

[220] in which Litorius was captured in the year 439. Twice, therefore, Salvian affirms that this battle was fought very recently; so that his writing was published very shortly, or soon, after this very battle: and so between the two there did not intervene a longer space of time than that in which that Roman general, set over the Hunnish auxiliaries, was afflicted by the grief of captivity. Now that unhappy battle is the battle of Toulouse, fought in the year 439, in which the general Litorius, when he was on the point of storming the city, was himself conquered and captured and some time afterwards slain. Hear Idatius at the 4th year of the 304th olympiad, that is, of the year 439 before autumn In Migne, Patrologia, vol. LXXIV, col. 721: "In the Gothic war under king Theodoric, at Toulouse, Litorius, the Roman general, rushing in too inconsiderately with an auxiliary band, these having been slain" (namely the Huns, as Prosper of Aquitaine, Cassiodorus and others express it at this year In D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 632), "is himself wounded and captured, and after a few days is put to death." Other circumstances may be read in the Life of St. Orientius, archbishop of Auch Ibid. 643 and 644. Salvian affirms that Litorius was consumed for a long time by lingering decay in the prison of the barbarians, Idatius that he was put to death after a few days; which are to be reconciled thus, that the captivity of Litorius, on account of its severity and sadness, which excited the pity even of his enemies and compelled them to end it by death, seemed long and lingering to those who were not far off and grieved with the captive's grief; but brief and of a few days to those who (like Idatius), far distant, were committing the matter to writing many years afterwards. For the longer the spaces, whether of time or of place, by which we are removed from events, and the less they concern us or we have shared in them, the shorter the time within which they seem to us to have taken place: on the contrary, present things, especially if they touch us in some way, are held to be long on account of continual thought about them and the weariness of grief. So that from this very psychological consideration it appears that the books On the Government of God were written very recently, as Salvian himself says, after the captivity and death of Litorius.

[221] [The arguments which those who will have it that these books were written about the year 455 draw from the capture of Rome and the devastation of Sicily and Sardinia,] But what do the others say, who will have it that these books were published after the year of Christ 455? They allege, namely, chapter 12 of book VI, in which Salvian, rebuking the Romans because those who had been corrupted by prosperity were not corrected by adversity: "Italy," he says In Migne, Patrologia, vol. LIII, col. 122, "has been laid waste by so many disasters already: have the vices of the Italians therefore ceased? The city of Rome has been besieged and stormed: have the Romans therefore ceased to be blasphemous and mad? Barbarian nations have flooded the Gauls: as far as abandoned morals are concerned, are not the crimes of the Gauls the same as they were? The peoples of the Vandals have crossed over into the lands of the Spains: the lot of the Spaniards has indeed been changed, but not their viciousness. Finally, lest any part of the world should be immune from deadly evils, they began to sail through the waves: and having laid waste the cities enclosed by the sea, and overthrown Sardinia and Sicily, that is, the granaries of the treasury, and cut as it were the vital veins, they took captive Africa itself, that is, as it were the soul of the commonwealth. What then? When the barbarian nations had entered that land, did vices perhaps cease even from fear?… The peoples of the barbarians were resounding with arms around the walls of Cirta and of Carthage; and the church of Carthage was raving in the circuses. Some were being slaughtered outside, others were committing fornication inside," etc. But from this passage nothing can be deduced except that Salvian did not write these things before the year 440. For as Marcellinus Comes Ibid. vol. LI, col. 926 and Idatius Ibid. vol. LXXIV, col. 722 teach, each in his Chronicle, Gaiseric occupied Carthage about the middle of the month of October of the year 439. "But," they say, "do not these words, 'The city of Rome has been besieged and stormed,' look to the siege with which Gaiseric besieged Rome in the year 455 and occupied it in the month of June Cf. Tillemont, Mémoires, Empereurs, Valentinian III, art. 31, vol. VI, page 110?"

[222] are refuted. For my part I would not believe so. For in this whole chapter Salvian seems to follow the chronological order, and so, before mentioning the devastation of the islands and the occupation of Carthage, he uses the particle "finally," signifying that the things related before were done earlier. The disasters of the Italians, therefore, which Salvian indicates, would chiefly be those which Alaric, king of the Goths, rather often inflicted on Italy; the siege of Rome, the third, with which the same Alaric surrounded the City in the year 410 and savagely stormed it on the 24th of August Ibid. Honorius, art. 41, vol. V, page 257, whereas Gaiseric, on the contrary, cannot properly be said to have stormed the City, since the citizens themselves opened it to him; the barbarians flooded the Gauls continually from the year 406 until the middle of the fifth century, and no less afterwards; the Vandals entered Spain in the year 409, and, continually extending their dominion, in the year 420 occupied Baetica, and established it more firmly two years later, when in the year 427 they got possession of Seville Ibid. pages 254, 283, vol. VI, page 82, etc.. At which time they already began to attack the islands of the Mediterranean sea, as is established from Idatius, writing at the year 425 after the beginning of summer In Migne, Patrologia, vol. LXXIV, col. 717: "The Vandals plunder the Balearic islands." And it seems that we must agree with Tillemont that from this time other islands too were ill-treated by them, who lays down that the first invasion of Sicily by Gaiseric, of which Cassiodorus makes mention Ibid. vol. LXIX, col. 510, Variae of Cassiodorus, book I, letter 4, is to be placed at the year 431 or 432, or even before Empereurs, Notes on Valentinian III, note 6, vol. VI, page 14. But if that pleases less, you have Idatius at the year 440, summer having begun, saying In Migne, Patrologia, vol. LXXIV, col. 721: "Gaiseric plunders Sicily: he besieged Panormus a long time"; and the old Chronicle which Ruinart published, where it may be read Hist. persecutionis Vandalicae, page 113: "At which time the Vandals, Carthage having been taken, destroyed Sicily also." Whence it is clear that when St. Victor of Vita writes of Gaiseric Ibid. page 7: "After whose death" (namely that of Valentinian III, who was slain in the year 455) "he (Gaiseric) obtained the compass of all Africa, and also defended with his accustomed pride the very great islands, Sardinia, Sicily, Corsica, Ebusus, Majorca, Minorca and many others," he does not look to the same thing as Salvian; who speaks of the overthrow of Sicily and Sardinia, while St. Victor speaks of their defence, or rather their dominion: which is manifest from what follows: "Of which, one of them, namely Sicily, he granted to Odoacer, king of Italy, by right of tribute."

[223] [How the things which Salvian related of the moral and political condition of Cologne before the coming of the Huns are to be taken.] Let it be certain, therefore, that it is proved by no reasons that the books on the government of God were written in the year 455; but on the contrary it has been shown by a sound and firm argument that they were brought to light shortly after the year 440, and so before the irruption of Attila: so that from the passages of Salvian quoted one may gather what was the fortune of Cologne ten years before the coming of the Huns. It was in any case miserable and lamentable; although Salvian does not seem to have spared the most hideous colours, and was perhaps more bitter in accusing than was just. Nor is it in this place only that his writings are stained with the blemish of exaggeration: compare the accusations with which he pursues all the Africans (if you except the monks alone) with the praises with which St. Victor of Vita heaps most of them, especially the bishops and clerics: and you will easily find an enormous difference. Certainly it is undoubted that great crimes were customary in Gaul, in Italy, in Spain and in Africa; but no prudent man will believe that they were as common as Salvian everywhere throws up, playing the part of a preacher rather than of a historian. For everywhere there were most holy bishops enjoying the highest authority; peoples most devoted to the faith: and where these two are joined, certainly there can be much and grievous sinning; but so much as Salvian proclaims is plainly not probable. Let us hold this, therefore, that the morals of the people of Cologne in the middle of the fifth century were by no means chastened; and that drunkenness and avarice especially prevailed. But as regards the political condition, let us not doubt that the barbarians were mingled with the Romans, and that they did not pay tribute, but received it. But whether the Roman dominion was then entirely overthrown is doubtful to me; although others Cf. Tillemont, Mémoires, Empereurs, Valentinian III, art. 8, vol. VI, page 84 lay down that the city was not only hastily occupied by the Franks passing through, but remained under their dominion. The reason why I truly doubt it is this, namely that in the Gesta Francorum In D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 546, in the old Chronicle of Moissac Ibid. page 649 and in the chronicle of Ado of Vienne Ibid. page 666, at about the year 463, it is read that the Franks took Agrippina on the Rhine, a great many of the Roman people being slain, and that Aegidius the patrician escaped, slipping away in flight: by which it would seem that up to this time the Romans held possession of Cologne Agrippina. And so much about the condition of this most celebrated city before Attila invaded it.

* Brumath

* Worms.

* Speyer.

§ XXIV. The deceit, unchastity and savage manner of warfare of the Huns. The slaughter wrought by them at Cologne.

[The vices of the Huns were not exaggerated by the ancient historians, as some would have it;] After declaring in what state affairs were at Cologne when the cohorts of the Huns were led there, it is time that we set out their morals and manner of acting too. If you listen to most of those whose opinions about Attila Fessler gathered together in the little work to which he gave the name Attila, King of the Huns Attila, König der Hunnen. By D. Fessler. Breslau, 1794, of the calumnies of the Romans, especially of the bishops and monks,

the king of the Huns has up to now been the victim: wise, namely, was his government; his savagery exaggerated by his enemies; nay, his face handsome: for otherwise he would not have been so loved by Honoria; which last argument may be a specimen of the judgment of certain reformers of history. But neither bishops nor Roman monks are the historians of Russia and Poland who described the customs, character and manner of acting of the Tatars who so often burst into these regions; nor any more Romans are the countless travellers who in the middle and more recent ages penetrated to the Kalmucks, the Kirghiz and other nomads of Asia; no less immune from Roman enmities are the many ethnographers who have set forth the ways and customs of those nations most accurately; and all these speak of those raiders in exactly the same manner as the ancients of the Huns. Moreover, neither bishops nor monks were Ammianus Marcellinus, Priscus, Procopius; and so far from its being established that these were all Christians, it certainly seems otherwise. "But they were Romans": if this objection holds, it is all over with almost the whole of history. For my part, while I run through the ancient historians who have handed down the affairs of the Huns, I see good and bad things related by them, as they were known. It must certainly be granted that, since the Romans for the most part experienced the Huns as enemies and received many losses from them, their vices and depravities became better known to them; but it does not follow from this that this corruption of spirit was feigned, nor that it was not known by experience.

[224] For the rest, that their virtues were few in number is established even from this, that, though Salvian was wholly given to exaggerating the vices of the Romans, and to extenuating (so far as truth allowed) the wickedness of the barbarians, and to praising their good endowments, [Salvian himself, though he is copious in excusing the barbarians, accuses the Huns most gravely.] he praises the Huns only in this matter, that, differing in this from the Romans, they did not burden their poor with unjust tributes and exactions: "The Huns," he says [On the Government of God, book V, chap. 8, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. LIII, col. 102], "are free from these crimes." But elsewhere, where he acknowledges the sins of the barbarians who were still pagans, excusing them however because they were less grave than those of the Christians: "The nation of the Saxons," he says Ibid. book IV, chap. 14, col. 86, "is savage, that of the Franks faithless, that of the Gepids inhuman, that of the Huns unchaste." And a little later: "If the Hun or the Gepid deceives, what wonder is it, since he is wholly ignorant of the guilt of falsehood?" And lower down, where he lays down that the vices of the Romans, as Christians, are a reproach to Christ Ibid. book IV, chap. 14, col. 90: "But on the other hand, among the pagans what is there like these things we speak of? Can it be said of the Huns: 'See what sort of men are those who are called Christians'? Or of the Saxons or the Franks: 'See what those do who assert that they are worshippers of Christ'? Is the sacrosanct law blamed on account of the savage customs of the Moors? Do the most inhuman rites of the Scythians" (the Huns and Alans are understood) "or of the Gepids bring the name of the Lord the Saviour into cursing and blasphemy? Can it be said of any of these: 'Where is the catholic law which they believe?'" Finally, when he teaches that the Africans, or the Romans of Africa, have no virtues but only vices, whereas the barbarians, if they have vices, also have virtues by which they redeem their vices to some extent: "The nation of the Goths," he says Ibid. book VII, chap. 15, col. 142, "is perfidious, but chaste; that of the Alans unchaste, but less perfidious; the Franks are liars, but hospitable; the Saxons savage in cruelty, but admirable in chastity": where no place is granted to the Huns. And Salvian wrote these things before the coming of Attila's cohorts, when the Huns had come into Gaul only as auxiliaries. What if he had written some years later, namely when they had broken into so many towns, had driven off so much booty everywhere, had afflicted the Romans in Gaul with so many slaughters and losses, and had freely displayed their unchaste customs?

[225] Some vices of the Huns are reviewed. The testimony of Salvian, since in accordance with the plan and aim of his books he rather favoured the barbarians than opposed them, cannot be weakened by any objections; and as it receives light from other writers, so it sheds light upon them. That unbridled polygamy was in use among them Priscus is witness in Jordanes On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 49, in Muratori, vol. I, page 215, who, treating of Attila's last marriage, writes that he had already before had "countless wives, as was the custom of that nation; from whom through the licence of lust he had begotten almost a people of sons" Ibid. chap. 50, page 216. They also supplied harlots to guests; which charge was given to their wives Excerpts from the History of Priscus, page 184. Nor were they free from unspeakable intercourse, of which Ammianus Marcellinus Res gestae, book XXXI, num. 9 expressly accuses the Taifali, a nation of the same Tatar stock, and with which almost all the nomads of Asia are still stained: nay, by their unchastity Salvian understands not only polygamy, fornication and the violation of women, but especially these monstrosities. And as the Huns were most enduring of hunger, so too (when occasion offered) they were most given to the belly and true gluttons: thus Uptar, or Oktar, their king and the uncle of Attila, was suffocated one night from excessive gorging on food Socrates, Eccl. Hist. book VII, chap. 50, page 374; and Attila himself is more probably reported to have fallen a victim of drunkenness Cf. Am. Thierry, Hist. d'Attila, vol. I, page 227 and following. That the Huns were deceitful, and Attila above all, all history cries out; and certainly the murder of his brother Bleda, the dispute about Silvanus and the sacred vessels, friendship feigned so many times, and treaties broken for nothing, would have to be blotted out before their king could be cleared of that crime. Of his savagery there are no less certain testimonies: but Attila was savage in such a way that, while he was clement and fair toward his subjects and toward all who favoured his designs, he was truly monstrous toward his enemies, and even toward friends and kinsmen whom he feared, and toward all those on whom vengeance seemed to need to be taken Excerpts from the History of Priscus, page 168. For these things to be set forth as they deserve, almost all his deeds would have to be called to mind. Finally, from the most celebrated conversation which Priscus had with a Greek who reckoned it far better to lead his life among the Huns than among the Romans Ibid. page 191, nothing else follows than what follows from Salvian himself, namely that among the Huns each man safely enjoyed the goods which fortune had granted him, and that no one was troublesome to another through exactions, by which the Roman magistrates drained the fortunes of the powerless.

[226] How cruelly Attila waged war, But it pleases us to look more closely at the manner in which Attila conducted himself in military expeditions. That cities on the Ister, or Danube, were demolished by him we know from Priscus Ibid. pages 147, 171, 172, 179, to omit others. Concerning the devastation of Italy no one would reject the assertions of Jordanes, an eyewitness of the ruins. Further, of the storming of Aquileia he relates these things in a few words On the Affairs of the Getae, chap. 42, in Muratori, vol. I, page 212: "The Huns, under the leadership of Attila, having constructed engines and employed every kind of artillery, without delay invade the city, despoil it, divide it, and lay it waste cruelly, so that they left scarcely any traces of it to appear… Milan also, the metropolis of Liguria and once a royal city, they devastate in like manner, and Ticinum too they cast down with equal fate, and raging they dash against and demolish the neighbouring places, almost the whole of Italy." This was Attila's manner, this his method of waging war; especially if he was resisted, or vengeance was to be taken, or even terror seemed to need to be struck. Nor did he fight the Gallic war otherwise in the year 451. Prosper of Aquitaine, a contemporary witness, is the authority, as we have already seen above, that on his approach he feigned friendship with the Romans; but that, once the Rhine was crossed, many Gallic cities experienced his most savage assaults; likewise Idatius, another witness above every exception, that the nation of the Huns, having broken the peace, plundered the provinces of the Gauls; that very many cities were broken into; and among these Metz. But what the "breaking into" which Idatius speaks of amounts to, learn from St. Gregory of Tours: "The Huns," he says Eccl. Hist. of the Franks, book II, chap. 6, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 161, "having come out of Pannonia (as some report), on the very vigil of holy Easter arrive at the city of Metz, laying waste everything else, giving the city over to fire and slaughtering the people with the edge of the sword, and killing the very priests of the Lord before the sacrosanct altars. Nor did any place remain in it unburned, except the oratory of blessed Stephen, the first martyr and deacon."

[227] unless the cities surrendered of their own accord. Nevertheless, on their entry into Gaul the Huns did not treat all the cities so badly, as is clear from the counsels of St. Genevieve, patroness of Paris Cf. her Life, in D. Bouquet, vol. III, page 369. For when, "the rumour going forth that Attila, king of the Huns, was about to lay waste Gaul most savagely, the citizens of Paris, struck with terror, were striving to carry their goods and the means of their resources into other safer cities, she herself urged the men not to carry their goods away from Paris: for those cities which they believed to be safer the angry nation would lay waste"; whence it may be evident that the cities which, trusting in their fortifications, resisted his cohorts were treated far worse by him. Therefore it was held almost in the place of a miracle that, when the people of Orléans had for a long enough time beaten back all his efforts, he did not at once destroy the city. "The bars of the gates having been opened," namely, not the whole army, which would have destroyed the city by slaughter and fire, "but the chief men of Attila entered Orléans," who were to make a census of the citizens and of their goods, and to prepare everything for distributing the captives and the booty not tumultuously but in order: by which we know, what is also established from elsewhere, that Attila's authority over his own men was incredible. "And the lot having been cast for dividing the people, he loaded countless wagons with the substance seized from the people" Life of St. Anianus, bishop of Orléans, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 646. But since the forces of the Goths and Romans arrived while these things were being done, and made, as we have already indicated elsewhere, a monstrous slaughter of the Huns, it is not sufficiently clear what Attila would have done with the drained city, whether he would have preserved it or destroyed it with flames: the latter is much more probable to me.

[228] At Cologne they acted most savagely. But after the Catalaunian battle the fury of the most cruel enemy could not but be kindled more and more; nor would anyone truly wonder at the things we mentioned above about the destruction of the Atrebates and the devastation of the territory of Tongres. And when Attila came to Cologne and saw himself entirely free for the licence of plundering and slaughtering, Aëtius with the Franks no longer following at a distance; and when he understood that this last prey lay open to his vengeance and rage; what from the Scourge of God, who surpassed all the other barbarians in monstrous savagery, what from his cohorts, with blood

-shedding and the demolition of cities accustomed, what from a flood of men to whom another's grief was the highest joy, are we to expect? The city, already afflicted with so many disasters and partly occupied by the Franks, could not close the way to the advancing enemy. And if it made any attempt at resistance, the Hunnish fury fell upon it all the more vehemently: sufficiently roused by the presence of many Franks, whom the barbarian king hated worst of all. Here, therefore, no otherwise than at Metz and among the Atrebates, incredible slaughters were made; age was not spared, nor sex, nor priestly majesty; no sacred place was held in reverence, or rather, the more sacred it was, the greater the dangers to which it was exposed; what could be carried off was carried off; what could not was broken and burst; chastity was no safer than life, furniture, riches; nay, virginal chastity was imperilled most of all. This, therefore, was the unhappy lot of Cologne when, in the year 451, in the month of October, it was occupied by the Huns returning from the Catalaunian Plains through Belgium and the lands of the Cisrhenane Franks to beyond the Rhine. These things we gather from what was done elsewhere; these things the tombs, of which presently, make certain; in harmony with these is the Cologne Passion Regnante Domino itself. "There was then present there" (namely at Cologne), these are the words of the Passion, chap. 14, "the barbarous nation of the Huns; which, as the sins of men demanded, had already laid waste with slaughter and burnings the lands both of the Gauls and of Germany" (namely of both, the Lower and the Upper) "and of Italy" (this, however, was invaded by the Huns only in the year 452), "so that, cities overthrown, churches burned, scarcely any remains of divine religion were left. The same barbarism, therefore, since at the same time with inborn savagery it was hemming in the city of Cologne also with a close siege, rumour not yet betraying this to those arriving, the virgins, knowing long since the humanity of the inhabitants, went ashore without any suspicion of this kind" (they are here supposed to have arrived from Basel); "and behold the barbarians, after their manner, having explored the matter through very swift scouts, suddenly rushed upon them with a shout, and, having made an irruption like wolves into the folds of the lambs, slew that infinite multitude with inhuman cruelty."

§ XXV. The burial of St. Ursula and her companions. A notable testimony of their martyrdom.

[How the holy virgins were buried was narrated already before the twelfth century, from the opened tombs he had inspected, by the author of the Passion Regnante Domino.] The Huns did not stay long at Cologne, their intention being to cross to the other bank of the Rhine; nor perhaps would Aëtius, following them at a distance, have allowed it. "The enemy therefore having been put to flight" (we again use the words of the Passion Regnante Domino), "an unhoped-for peace was restored to the shut-in citizens; and the people of Cologne, released from long mourning, burst out of the gates, and behold they found everywhere upon the bare ground the unburied corpses of the virgins… Because they had easily perceived that the virgins devoted to God had fallen in the contest of martyrdom for the sake of keeping the seal of chastity, and that by the patronage of their merits they themselves had escaped not only death but also the tortures of the barbarians, heavier than any death: with unanimous consent, venerating them not as men but as God in human bodies, they spared neither private nor public expense, while, each for himself busying himself not only with the office of humanity but also with the zeal of most humble veneration, some gathered the torn and scattered limbs of the martyrs, others covered them with garments, others dug the earth, others placed them in sarcophagi; and in a short time, as may be seen there today, the most holy relics of the virgins came to rest in peace, to the eternal glory of the people of Cologne."

[250] They were buried as martyrs were elsewhere; These things are manifestly so narrated by an eyewitness who had seen the tombs uncovered. The torn and scattered limbs, therefore, were gathered together; just as in the underground Roman cemeteries too tombs are found in which lie bones, the remains not of one but of several bodies: and these too they will have to be the remains of martyrs [Cf. Marchi, Monumenti delle arti cristiane primitive, pages 118 and 119; Marangoni, Acta S. Victorini, page 114]; although it could be that these are nothing else than ossuaries. Of the Cologne tombs a more recent inspection of them, as will be said below, suggests something altogether different. That the corpses were covered with garments is a fact certain from elsewhere also: for formerly garments were extracted together with the bodies and held in the place of relics. Let the following passage of the Catalogue of the relics of Saint-Trond in Belgium serve, then, as a specimen: "Moreover there are to be seen," says the author In Crombach, page 683, "many relics of other saints, many fillets, many remains of the eleven thousand: little linen cloths, bridal veils, hair-nets and other things of that kind." Nor is it surprising that they were adorned with garments; this was done in accordance with the old reverence toward martyrs. For Pope Eutychianus, as we know from the Liber Pontificalis Bianchini, Anastasius Bibliothecarius, vol. II, pages 244 and 245, had established that whoever of the faithful buried a martyr should by no means bury him without a dalmatic, which was a garment with shorter sleeves, and white, with purple stripes, or a purple colobium, which was a tunic without sleeves. Other tombs were dug up in which lay single bodies; others in which there were whole companies, so that eight or ten bodies, according to the breadth of the trench, joined side by side in one line, then, with a little earth placed between, as many others, and so several rows obtained rest in one trench. In the year 1640, in which some trenches were opened, these things were seen by the eyes of all the citizens. But these things a little more explicitly.

[231] The place of burial is described. We said above that the city of Cologne, at the time of the martyrdom, lay in the shape of a quadrangle along the western bank of the Rhine. It embraced two hills, the Capitoline to the south, to the north that on which the metropolitan see of St. Peter rests. Behind this, outside the city, likewise to the north, rose a third hill, formerly called the Greesberg, afterwards in great part levelled to the ground and called the Ursuline. And since in that age neither civil nor ecclesiastical laws permitted the bodies of the dead, even of saints, to be buried within the walls of cities, cemeteries were built everywhere in the suburbs, with a small building of lesser form which was called a basilica, or at least with an open-air altar; of which things countless traces, or even specimens, still survive in Gaul. Most of these were afterwards changed into monasteries, for which there was scarcely room within the cities. So too it was done with the northern or Ursuline cemetery of Cologne; which was also surrounded with a ditch and wall, to make it the more inviolable; "until," says Crombach S. Ursula vindicata, page 470, "the city's boundary having been extended, it was enclosed by its walls, very many houses and churches having been built in it little by little, which indicate the boundaries of that field well enough. For where it faces the city to the south it contains the church of St. Maximinus, that of the Society of Jesus, of St. Paul, of St. Andrew, of the Fathers Preachers, and of Mary of the Indulgences; thence the name still clings to the old ditches, which once stretched from the Dice-players' Gate toward the Ursuline basilica, and thence to the orchard of Gran, behind the Maccabees' monastery, as far as the collegiate church of St. Cunibert, so that that field embraces the spaces of a fairly large town and five parishes, all consecrated by the clergy and people of Cologne with virginal tombs.

[232] likewise the form and arrangement of the trenches; "In these very wide fields," Crombach continues, "the citizens laboriously, and also at great expense, buried so many thousands of bodies of martyrs: for, as could be gathered from the discoveries of various times and bodies, they dug everywhere throughout the spaces of the vast field oblong rectangular trenches, straight to the line, almost exactly equal, and stretching from the setting of the sun toward its rising, in which they buried a hundred, two hundred or fifty bodies. It is established that in the time of St. Elizabeth one such trench full of sacred bones was found: 'For I have heard,' she says, 'that a great heap of them is reserved in a certain sacred place.' In the time of Conrad, archbishop of Cologne, five hundred bodies were uncovered at one time and distributed through Belgium; and Raymond, Cardinal of Gurk, says: 'About the times of Pope Nicholas the Fifth of happy memory a certain receptacle was found full of the bones of saints, which also was raised and placed beside other saints.' So with St. Constantia a hundred other bodies were dug out: with Bishop Gorgonius more than a hundred and thirty were dug out of the nearest places.

[233] [an order, not seen elsewhere, observed in laying down the bodies, becomes known from old paintings and from the inspection of the tombs in the year 1640;] "Nor did they place the limbs mixed at random or confused with one another: nor did they lay them immediately upon the bodies; but decently, in order and honourably, almost each was placed with great diligence and care, so far as the shortness of time, the multitude of the martyrs, and the harassment of the enemy returning from time to time allowed. How this came about, although those who presided over the various discoveries in various centuries, or wrote of them, suggest it rather obscurely, and some paintings of stone sarcophagi show sufficiently both the arrangement of the bodies and the composition of the hands and arms, yet it was possible to see it much more plainly while I was toiling at polishing this history. For by an admirable divine providence it happened entirely that in the heart, or rather almost the centre, of the whole Ursuline field a trench very like those I have described was uncovered, in which, with six hundred notable indications of violent death and, as many think, of martyrdom endured, more than a hundred bodies were found in the secular year 1640 of the Society of Jesus, from the 3rd of July and the following days and months, especially those in which our Society was jubilating in giving thanks to God *: which, buried decently and with the greatest care, reproduced entirely the same position which old paintings of four hundred and more years show us in the placing of the head and arms, so that those paintings could be believed to have been sketched as copies from these very bodies found by us as from archetypes: but since many doubtful points still stuck, two years later, when the illustrious imperial envoy Lord Johann von Crane was building a new chapel, elegant and costly, near the tomb of St. Ursula, and sand was being dug near the church in a vineyard to be mixed with lime, a very similar body buried in the sand at once appeared in the same position of the limbs; which all therefore confess to be undoubted remains of the Ursuline sisterhood, because it is established that in that place no one up to now has been buried except martyrs, on account of the holiness of the ground. Then old coins, deposited among the bodies recently found, which bear the images of Domitian, Augustus and M. Aurelius Antoninus, sufficiently show the antiquity of the burial. The manner of the Ursuline funeral may be gathered from this and from other discoveries to have been such as follows.

[234] [most of the bodies are in the earth without tombs; blood placed beside them; the position of the bodies;] "Although the bodies of the principal ones are laid in stone monuments, very many of which may be seen daily in the Ursuline basilica, with names and paintings added showing with what arrangement of the limbs and with what indications they were buried: yet most of the martyrs were laid in the earth without coffins in a beautiful order, in almost the same manner. In a quadrangular trench eight feet deep, about sixteen wide, thirty, forty, fifty or sixty feet long, in certain places they hollowed out certain receptacles, into which the congealed blood and the clods

stained with blood were poured out: or they set apart a place with clay and bricks, and covered it with stones, phials, cups and other vessels of earthenware or glass, full of blood or of bloodstained sand, being enclosed and secured within the hollow, so that they might not be broken by the weight of the earth heaped on. Then the whole floor was strewn with bodies, one being separated from the next or nearest sometimes by a palm or half a foot. And the position of the bodies was generally this. Not only the head, but also the shoulders with the breast were placed straight toward the rising sun, the arms and hands being composed crosswise over the breast, which was the custom of the faithful at the beginning of the newborn Church, as though they were looking toward Christ hanging from the cross (whose face was directed toward the west), because they hoped that by His power their bodies would rise again immortal. After the first line, immediately at the feet, another row of bodies was disposed toward the east, then a third, a fourth, a fifth, right to the end of the length of the trench.

[235] [bodies laid one upon another in several layers; mutilated limbs in the topmost layer; such an order is kept neither in time of war nor of pestilence; more recent discoveries.] "But when the whole floor had once been strewn, sand or earth was thrown on top over the bodies to the height of one or two palms: then again the whole place was filled with almost as many corpses in the same order; and when these again had been covered with sand, a third layer was placed upon the former ones: and in certain places even a fourth. When these again had been covered with sand, mutilated and severed arms, feet, hands, hips, skulls, jaws, vertebrae, or whatever mutilated limbs had been found anywhere, were scattered in the topmost place, or decently placed in one spot: and whatever blood or instruments of death of these bodies too could be found, the same were carefully gathered and piously preserved, small jugs, phials or other vessels being placed beside the individual bodies. And this rite indeed seems to have been carefully observed everywhere throughout the whole field; except that the blood and the mutilated limbs found near the chapel of the Magdalen were poured into the very deep well of the church, of which more fully below. Thus many corpses were not heaped at random in no order into a deep trench, with earth carefully heaped over them lest the pestilence should breathe out and infect the air (which manner is observed today when contagion creeps on and destroys many thousands of mortals, or when a vast multitude of soldiers has been slain); but the bodies were set and placed in order through the very vast spaces of the plains, piously, decently and honourably, according to the rite of the faithful, the trenches being skilfully covered and dug out equal; the bodies then being disposed apart from the others piously and with the utmost accuracy, toward the east, in line, with signs of martyrdom, or instruments of death, and bloodstained sands added, so that no one could doubt that death had been inflicted on such persons on account of the faith." More recently also similar tombs have been uncovered; and, as the renowned Didron related in the public journals L'Univers, Saturday 27 December, 1840 in the year 1840, few months went by without there being uncovered, when excavations were being made for building cellars or laying the foundations of buildings, many-bodied structures of this kind of the greatest antiquity, in which lay eight and sometimes ten bodies placed side by side and one above another.

[236] [The names of the Ursuline Field and the Street of Blood keep alive the memory of the martyrdom there;] In this very field, in which the bodies of St. Ursula and her companions were laid away, it is written in the inscription of Clematius, a monument of about the year 500, that they underwent martyrdom. The ancient Cologne Passion Regnante Domino agrees; in which, indeed, the virgins are represented as having been slain by the Huns as they were disembarking from the ships in which they had been carried from Basel to Cologne. Nevertheless I would not contend that absolutely all, but only most of the virgins were put to death in the very place where they obtained burial. Further, what Crombach relates about these things must be read S. Ursula vindicata, page 473; which, if not to the place of the martyrdom of the blessed virgins, certainly bears on illustrating their burial and cult. "There was," he says, "a rather elevated suburban hill, at that time called from the nature of the place the Greesberg on account of the natural hill, and it still keeps the same name toward the north; this, from the slain virgins, was called, with a change of name, the Ursuline field; that it was so called nearly five hundred years ago Philip of Heinsberg, archbishop of Cologne, testifies in his diploma in these words: 'We make known to all the faithful of Christ that we have granted to be possessed the chapel built at Cologne in memory of the holy virgins in the place which is called St. Ursula's field, in the year 1178.' Further, the slope of the hill, stretching toward the Rhine, down which the blood of the martyrs is reported to have flowed right into the Rhine, was called the Street of Blood: and a gate of the city goes by the same name, through which the gore discharged itself straight into the river flowing past. A manuscript codex collected from the archive of the Maccabees a hundred years ago testifies these things of this place: 'For the perpetual memory of which thing this very street, which passes the gate of the convent (of the Maccabees) and slopes down toward the Rhine, is called to this day the Lane of Blood, commonly die Blut-straß; likewise a gate of the city on the Rhine, though low and narrow, rejoices to be distinguished by the same name.' P. Canisius agrees, in the Martyrology at the 21st of October, in these words: 'The place of the (Ursuline) martyrdom, where they were slain at the Rhine, is named to this day the Street of Blood.' D. Fleien acknowledges the same in his history.

[237] likewise the Well of Blood, so called. "There is in the same church of the holy Maccabees a well, which the citizens seem to have raised with hasty work within the chapel of the place, which was then dedicated to St. Magdalen and, now enlarged, has been consecrated in honour of the holy Maccabees: into this was heaped all the congealed gore that could be collected, together with clods also reddened with it: and this seems to have been what was collected on the slope of the hill from the flowing together of the blood of different bodies. For the gore of those martyrs which, from the position of the body, could be distinguished separately from the others as to whose it was, was received in earthenware ampullae and put into the very sarcophagi of the individuals, or placed beside them with the other things which were found with each, as will appear below also concerning combs: whence the gore of St. Ursula, boiling up every year, could be carried into Italy itself." (He alludes to the blood which Tommaso Bozio Bozio, De Signis ecclesiae, book XV, chap. 10, sign 60, in Crombach, page 696 relates is preserved at Amalfi and every year on the 21st of October, though at other times congealed and hardened, liquefies and is agitated like boiling water, and afterwards little by little subsides and hardens again.) "Over this well, enriched with the blood of the holy martyrs, lies a stone mass in the form of a cylinder, topped with a pyramidal covering, near the farthest corner of the church, which faces the first door: there is seen there the pouring of the sacred blood into a very deep pit, skilfully painted; which the continuous tradition of the nuns of that place confirms; which preserves piously and religiously most excellent pledges of St. Ursula's sisterhood, with the holy Maccabees and the skull of St. Joachim. To which this inscription is affixed: 'Let them reverently honour the sacred blood of the same, once poured into this chapel of St. Magdalen.'

[238] From the burial it is established that the holy martyrs were slain at Cologne. "Cologne, therefore, as the seat of this martyrdom is testified by the field, with a change of name called the Ursuline: and lest you object that it was so called only on account of the burial, that lane cries out, which overflowed with virginal blood; the well cries out, the receptacle of the sacred blood, still full of bloodstained clods: the very sarcophagi too have been enriched with the proper blood of many, with their names added: how these things could have been done with bodies brought from elsewhere I do not see. The whole funeral of so many thousands was carried out in most widely separated places, in every direction toward the western and eastern quarter of the bloody field, as far as those spaces which almost take in the churches of St. Cordula and St. Gereon: whence in the orchard of the church of St. Cordula and in the precinct of St. Maximinus more than a hundred bodies were once found, and St. Odilia was exhumed near St. Gereon: although he who fortified the field contracted its spaces toward the west."

* beside the cemetery of the hospital of SS. OO.

§ XXVI. In what sense the people of Cologne, victims of the Hunnish fury, are called martyrs and virgins.

[In ancient times the laws in claiming martyrs were not observed as strictly as now.] In the incursion of the Huns, therefore, the blessed band was slain. But from this there first arises the question by what title a death inflicted by barbarians can be held to be martyrdom. In truth, if the matter were to be measured by those principles by which martyrdom is now defined, I would certainly not say that all were martyrs. For those to whom the praise of martyrdom is given in this age must have endured death voluntarily for the faith of Christ or for some other act of virtue referred to God. Hence it is required that the tyrant or persecutor should have inflicted natural death, or placed a necessary cause of death, out of hatred for the faith or for something else pertaining to the faith. Nor is it enough that the martyrs be killed by an impious tyrant, an enemy of virtue, but it is further required that they accept martyrdom by an act of the will; so that those who are put to death in flight or unwilling are not held among the martyrs: all of which Benedict XIV explains at length On the Canonization of Saints, book III, chap. 11 and following. Nevertheless, since nothing is more certain and clear than that the ancients were not so strict in assigning the palm of martyrdom, and held in the place of martyrs whomever they knew to have met an undeserved death piously, whether it was inflicted on them out of hatred for Christian virtue, or simply out of hatred for the person, or even merely by mistake; whether it was met willingly or unwillingly (provided piously); hence it comes about that more recent canonists and theologians are forced to admit another kind of martyrs also, whom they call martyrs in a broad sense, improperly so called, etc. Nor are the ancients themselves to be thought to have held all in one rank, since the distinction is clearer than the sun. Nevertheless, since they did not define martyrdom so narrowly, and, as we have hinted, called martyrs those who had piously met a bloody death inflicted on them through crime or error, for this reason they called martyrs, not only broadly and improperly but absolutely, good men who had been slain by enemies; upright superiors whom angry subordinates had killed; hermits and other pious men whom thieves had struck down in death in order the more easily to carry off the belongings of the dead; princes too slain by poison or the sword by those who were grasping after their sceptre and crown; virgins also and matrons who, because they had not allowed themselves to be violated, had been slain by unchaste men driven to fury by their thwarted lust; and others of that kind.

[240] [Formerly whoever had undeservedly and piously met a bloody death was held a martyr.] But lest these things should seem to be asserted by me too confidently, let Papebroch be heard; who, having already given nearly forty years of labour to writing the Acta Sanctorum, knew well what the ancient discipline was in naming martyrs. Beginning

then the commentary on St. Bonmercatus, who in the year 1378, innocent, received death at Ferrara from men driven by a headlong zeal for justice: "Before," he says Acta SS. vol. III of June, page 938, "the pious simplicity of the Christian faithful had begun, following the opinions of the scholastic theologians, to distinguish more scrupulously the titles and aureoles of the saints, a custom formed by the usage of several centuries was to name as martyrs, and to honour as such, all those who had ended their life holily by a bloody death; not discussing the cause of the death or the intention of him who inflicted it, namely whether he was driven to the crime by hatred of religion or of some Christian virtue. For, just as the title of confessor was at first wont to be given only to those who had confessed the faith before a judge, and after prisons and tortures were allowed to live or were divinely freed from the hands of the persecutors, but afterwards usage, which continues to this day, communicated such a title to all whose life was a continual confession of the Christian religion and perfection; so the same usage, the name of martyrs having been drawn away from its first signification, had made it common to all those whose death, inflicted by violence, from whatever quarter and for whatever cause, God willed to be a witness of His providence toward the saints, showing that that death had been precious to Him by miracles following it (and these not always awaited). Nor did the later pontiffs wish this usage, since it rests on the possession of ancient times, to be abrogated at this time, in which otherwise care is taken not to attribute the title of martyrdom to anyone whom the apostolic see has not defined to have been killed out of hatred of the faith and of virtue." So far he. Not otherwise Mabillon, though more briefly: "They called martyrs," he says Annales Benedict. book XVIII, num. 43, vol. I, page 530, Lucca edition, "pious men who had been killed unjustly or for no cause." And indeed this kind of martyrs, honoured with public cult, in which no other ground of martyrdom is observed besides a bloody death, is of such a multitude that in almost every volume of our work several of them are to be celebrated. For which reason those who were formerly put to death in an invasion of barbarians could be held among the martyrs, provided they had succumbed to death piously, especially if they had previously been upright and had led a life worthy of the Christian name. Whence it is easily seen that nothing on this head stands in the way of the people of Cologne slain by the Huns being reckoned in the catalogue of the martyrs.

[241] [It would be vain to inquire whether there were not some among the Cologne martyrs less worthy of this name;] In truth, as we have shown at length from Salvian, the condition of the people of Cologne before this was lamentable and their morals abandoned. Did all those, then, who were slaughtered by the barbarians in the tumult die with that piety by which death is precious in the sight of the Lord? This question indeed arises of itself: but He alone knows how to resolve it who is able from stones to raise up children to Abraham. This one thing I would say, that the surviving people of Cologne, when they had well seen that many, especially virgins, had embraced death religiously, and yet could not distinguish in what way each had endured the death inflicted on them with such cruelty, preferred to bury them all with singular honour, and by this very solemnity of burial to apply to them some beginning of ecclesiastical cult, rather than to treat them all in a common and ordinary way; so that they encompassed with religious veneration the whole band as such, in so far as it was holy, rather than declaring each individual a sharer of the heavenly joys.

[242] [those who urged this would have to condemn the beatification of martyrs who were slain many together:] Nor would I think there is any learned man who, when he sees ten or twelve thousand martyrs of Nicomedia inscribed in the martyrologies on one day (in which number all those seem to be contained who were slain at Nicomedia in the reign of Diocletian), would reckon it certain and undoubted that they were all, to a man, of such preparation of soul as is wont to be required, when it is a question of a single martyr, for him to be inscribed on the roll of the blessed. This is so true that, although now no one's martyrdom is vindicated unless the miracles following his death have been examined and proved, yet when it is a question of canonizing a whole band of martyrs, it is not necessary that prodigies should have been worked at the invocation of each, but it is enough that some should have happened, which are thought to redound to the glory of the whole company much more on account of their fellowship in death than on account of a common invocation. Which manner of proceeding is held to be dangerous in the causes of confessors, since it could happen that among several who are invoked together someone is not acceptable to God, and yet God works a miracle to show the holiness of the others who were acceptable to Him, so that from the granting of the miracle it is not inferred that all were acceptable to God Benedict XIV, On the Canonization of Saints, book IV, part I, chap. 5, num. 16. Alberto Cavalchini, promoter of the faith and afterwards cardinal of the H. R. C., indeed suggested that in this form of judgment there is less danger where the cause of martyrs is being treated than where it is decided about beatifying a confessor, since in the former only the death and its cause are looked to, which, as it was the same in all, so the miracles following the invocation of all together can be ascribed to all and can profit the beatification and canonization of all Ibid. loc. cit.; which distinction I leave to the reader to be weighed against what Benedict XIV explained about the cause of martyrdom on the part of the martyr Ibid. book III, chap. 19.

[243] how unjust this more scrupulous manner of acting would be. For my part, where a multitude of martyrs is to be vindicated, I would not be as fastidious as when the cause of one only is to be examined; especially if the question is raised of granting lesser or particular ecclesiastical honours, which is commonly called beatification and which by no means rests on a knowledge of sanctity explored in every respect and complete Ibid. book I, chap. 42. It would be plainly hard and too severe that true and genuine martyrs should be deprived by the Church of the glory and veneration of the heavenly ones on earth, for this cause and pretext only, that, since they were associated with many others and the circumstances of the death of each are not known, in a great number some perhaps shed their blood less piously. Certainly in earthly warfare, when some legion has fought vigorously and fiercely, scarcely any account is taken of individuals, but the whole band is heaped with praises and rewards, although it could have happened that among many brave and strong fighters there were some cowardly and timid. Nor does it seem to have been done otherwise where there is a great crown of martyrs, especially if they suffered in that age in which miracles were not required for their vindication Ibid. book I, chap. 28 and following, and the forms of judgment which are now observed in inscribing the champions of Christ on the sacred roll were almost unknown: for everyone sees that then far less thought could have been given to individuals than to the glory of the whole cohort.

[244] [A great part of the Cologne martyrs suffered for chastity: how unchaste the Huns were, as the Tatars now are.] For the rest, it is not to be doubted that a great part of the Ursuline band endured martyrdom for chastity. We showed above in §24 that this was a singular vice of the Huns by which they were distinguished from the other barbarians, a monstrous and unspeakable unchastity. Papebroch certainly errs, and indeed very greatly, when, comparing the Huns with the Tatars and rightly laying down that they are altogether like each other, he relates that neither was oppressive to the women of captured cities. "The Tatars," he says Propylaeum of May, paralipomena, page 39, "now lead away captives of almost either sex from the lands which they have overrun, with great barbarity and harshness; yet to the women so led away, so far as we have heard up to now, they are not greatly oppressive; since they themselves, accustomed during an expedition to little and sparing food, and made to endure almost incredible hardships and daily riding, are at that time less inclined to lust; and they desire to bring the bodies of the captives safe and whole to the slave-market, and for that reason above all they spare virgins." Certainly the Tatars lead a life as full of hardship as possible, and not only on journeys but at home too, if they have one. But wherever they are, they are prone to every monstrosity of lust, and perhaps in war more than at any other time. Read the books of the Baron de Tott, the History of Sobieski which Salvandy wrote, and the descriptions of Tatary met with everywhere. As regards the Huns, the Romans knew them only in war; and learned by experience that they were given to unchastity before all the other barbarians, as we related above; and so, when cities were taken, women seem to have been certain that violence would be done to them by the Huns, as is gathered from the story of Digna, a woman of Aquileia. For when Attila had stormed this most strongly fortified city: "The wealth is plundered," says one of the authors of the Historia Miscella Book XV, in Muratori, vol. I, page 97, note 10, "the citizens are taken captive or slaughtered, fire being set to what remained of the plunder, the flame consumes it. Now there had been in that city a most noble woman named Digna, of exceptional beauty indeed, but adorned more by the whiteness of her chastity; she, since she had her dwelling upon the very walls of the city, and a lofty tower overhanging her house, beneath which the river Natisone glided with glassy streams, lest she should become the sport of the most filthy enemies, and they should defile the beauty of her soul or violate it by lust inflicted by force, as soon [as] she perceived the entrance of the enemy and the city taken, threw herself headlong from the top of the same tower, with her head covered, into the eddy, and ended her fear of losing her chastity by a memorable death." A thing certainly to be disapproved, although St. Jerome [Commentary on Jonah, chap. 1, verse 12, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. XXIV, col. 1129] reckoned it lawful and countless virgins have done it; but which is a clear testimony that the Huns were not hindered by the labours of war, greed for booty, eagerness to collect captives, daily riding, the hardships of a long siege and the usual sparingness of food, from defiling captured cities with rapes and unchastities.

[245] How absurd are the questions raised about the virginity of the Cologne martyrs: And here there falls a question which commonly tends to involve very great difficulty, namely whether the Ursuline company consisted of virgins alone. When they see eleven thousand virgins inserted in calendars, passionals and other writings, most think that by that very fact it is asserted that they were all virgins; and since this seems less probable, some are led from this to hold the whole martyrdom fabulous and to hiss it off with guffaws; others (among whom everyone will wonder that Natalis Alexander Eccl. Hist., fourth century, page 336, Mansi's edition, a learned man in any case and versed in history, is found) to persuade themselves that they were very few in number. As regards the former, since, as the Holy Spirit counsels, a fool is to be answered according to his folly, it pleases me to repel that weapon by the very sharp reply of a certain consul of Cologne; which he gave, in the memory of our fathers, as Crombach says S. Ursula vindicata, page 112, to a prince of the electoral family of Saxony. The senate had entertained him magnificently at a banquet: but when he, over the cups, heaped up various gibes against the Catholics, and jestingly taunted the people of Cologne because they believed in eleven thousand virgins, and not one corrupted among the rest,

the consul wittily retorted: that the people of Cologne, relying on the firm and constant tradition of their ancestors, rightly held and venerated so many thousands of virgins up to now; but if his Highness would point out one corrupted among them, she would at once be separated by the people of Cologne from the number of the virgins. "A similar answer," he continues, "was given within our memory in the very basilica of St. Ursula by Count Maurice, the commander-in-chief of the Dutch, when he had escorted to Cologne the queen of England betrothed to the count palatine, being himself bidden to show which one of them all he thought had been violated, as a heretic woman, a witness who saw and heard it, related to me. It is certainly in conformity with the laws that the possessors of virginity for so long as fourteen hundred years should be defended in their right until the plaintiff proves the contrary." But these things for amusement. Let us come to serious matters.

[246] [according to the old Cologne traditions there were among them men, married women, widows;] In truth he who wrote the Passion Regnante Domino, and likewise Geoffrey of Monmouth, and others who formerly followed one or the other as guide, thought that all were virgins: but this is not the original Cologne tradition. For the ancient author of the Sermon on the Feast of the holy eleven thousand virgins, far older than all the others, sets out this argument thus: "For it could have happened," he says, num. 2, "that in so great a number of them any one was married or a widow, to whom, although the hundredfold fruit, as being specially devoted to virginity, was denied before martyrdom, yet the sixtyfold and the thirtyfold, through a most upright manner of life and one most acceptable to God in its own place, and even the very greatest, through the degree of martyrdom, would be rendered most pure by most worthy merits. For who would ever believe that so great a multitude of all women, we do not say only of virgins, had come together without the intermixture of the other sex? Nor do we think that what is read of the Amazons is to be compared with the virtue of this holy spiritual wedge: for they sought victory by slaying, like their leader, these by dying, like their Bridegroom: but it was possible and altogether easy for Him, who both promised and gave that all things would be possible to those who believe, to become known as wonderful to all nations and peoples in this way too, in virgins alone, if He so willed; for, surrounded with the frailty of humanity, He could have obtained from the Father more than twelve legions of angels to be furnished to Him: reigning in the eternal majesty of the same flesh with the Father, could He not furnish fewer than twelve thousand virgins to follow Him, the Lamb without spot?"

[247] [in ecclesiastical style even girls who had been violated, and wives, are rather often called virgins:] He rightly said that God could have gathered as many virgins; which no one would call into doubt; but no less rightly did he lay down that nothing prevents a good many married women and widows having been in that band. For the word "virgins" in the ancient ecclesiastical style by no means pertains to designating only undefiled girls: for it is used of married women and widows and of corrupted virgins just as of true virgins. For although it was the sacred custom of the Romans to punish no virgins with death, or, if they seemed to need punishing, first to violate them; although it is established from most certain records specifically that the emperors ordered that Christian girls should be corrupted before they were killed; although besides we have received from St. Basil Book on True Virginity, chap. 52, vol. III of the Works, page 636 and others that many were in fact violated before they completed their martyrdom: yet of none at all is it read that she was violated Cf. Guyet, Heortologia, page 133, not because none suffered violence (most certainly violence was done to countless numbers), but because these disgraces were studiously passed over in silence. And that married women themselves were called virgins is established by the example of St. Monegund, who, although she had a husband and two daughters, is yet honoured with the praise of a virgin by Ado and Rabanus at the 1st or 2nd of July Cf. Sollerius, Martyrologium Usuardi, page 377; and likewise St. Sabina, the wife of Valentinus, a most distinguished man, as she is called in the Roman Breviary in lesson IX at the 29th of August, is in some editions, even recent ones, called virgin and martyr in the prayer; which title is also attributed to her by the Venerable Bede in the Martyrology Cf. Acta SS. vol. II of March, page XXX and by Wandalbert in the metrical Martyrology at the said day Cf. Acta SS. vol. VI of Aug., page 837. By which I intend this one thing, not that no holy wives have been inscribed in the sacred calendars (for the names of St. Felicity, martyr, and of SS. Perpetua and Felicity, martyrs, are at hand), but that married women too have sometimes been called virgins in liturgical books.

[248] whole bands are often named from the greater part. Add the common usage of men, by which a whole multitude is wont to borrow its name from the greater, or at least the more distinguished, part: which does not seem to need explanation. If you consider this usage, you will not reckon, with most of the Cologne writers, that the men whose relics and (as is reported) names were found with the remains of the Ursuline virgins are to be added over and above the eleven thousand virgins, but rather that the whole band, namely men and women, is contained in this number. For although now some women are present in armies, yet no one, when he reckons them up generally, counts the women separately from the men, but embraces both sexes under one number of soldiers. Many things suggested that this reckoning should be applied at Cologne too. For they never seem to have had a catalogue of those slain in which men were noted on one side and women on the other; and since there were far more women than men, as is manifest from the opened tombs and the relics dug up Cf. Papebroch, Propylaeum of May, Paralipomena, page 29, what more natural than that a name should be given to the whole multitude from the greater number? Moreover, the death of the virgins was much more distinguished and had the character of martyrdom much more certainly than that of the men, since they before all were assailed by the unchaste Huns and of their own accord preferred death to lost chastity. And I indeed would think that it would have come about that no thought would ever have been given to venerating those killed by the Hunnish fury, had not the virginal blood communicated its glory to the whole throng of the slain. Let it be plain, therefore, that the expression "eleven thousand VIRGINS" is to be taken in an accommodated manner; so that in vain are passages heaped up by some from the classical writers by which it is to be demonstrated that the word "virgins" extended very widely and was applied to men of every kind. See these passages in the lexicons. I at least think that the matter is not much illustrated by them, since it seems to be determined from ecclesiastical style.

§ XXVII. Of the number of eleven thousand martyrs.

[Binterim reviewed and examined in a special little work the opinions about the number of the holy virgins. The opinion of Valois] When we were just now treating of the praise of virginity attributed to St. Ursula and her companions, we twice said "eleven thousand virgins"; and so at the head of this commentary we wrote: "On SS. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins and martyrs"; which will certainly have caused astonishment to many, and perhaps to some a suspicion that we had resolved to indulge in fables: whom we ask this one thing, that they be willing to set aside their preconceived opinions for a little while and to pass judgment when the cause has been learned and weighed. Further, many opinions are going about concerning the number of the companions of St. Ursula. The Rev. Mr. Binterim reported the principal ones in his edition of the Calendar of the German church of Cologne of the end of the ninth century, which he drew out of a manuscript codex of the former monastery of Essen and furnished, to illustrate the history of SS. Ursula and her companion virgins, with a special commentary and also a historical preface, and published at Cologne on the Rhine in the year 1824. Nor does he only review in this commentary the various opinions of the learned, but he examines them briefly, so as to put forward his own at last: whether it is to be approved will appear below. Meanwhile, here are his words: we shall add only some names of authors in the lower margin, and insert a few observations in the text. "Sirmond Cited by Valois, Valesiana, page 48," he says Kalendarium ecclesiae Germanicae Coloniensis, page 29 and following, "Valois Valesiana, page 48 and after these some others [Leuckfeld, Antiquitates Michaelsteinenses et Amelunxbornenses, pages 11 and 12; Acta eruditorum Lipsiensia, Supplem. vol. IV, page 420, etc.] thought that besides Ursula there was only one; by name Undecimilla. In ancient manuscripts, according to them, it had been set down thus: S. Ursula et Undecimilla V. M., that is: 'Virgins Martyrs.' Unskilled writers, to whom not even the least thought occurred that Undecimilla was a name, made two words out of one and divided Undecimilla, whence arose the number 11,000. 'The copyists of the Martyrologies,' says Sirmond, 'separating the parts of this word, affirmed eleven times a thousand.' But by the same foundation on which this is asserted it is also destroyed, as the French author of the Diss. Meditation. for the Feast of St. Ursula rightly observed. If it is permitted to conjecture thus in historical matters, without a witness, without the help of a manuscript, without a proven document, it will be all over with sincerity. Or what will be certain in all history? How easily do very many other compound words also let themselves be thus disjoined, whence a far different denomination would arise? Nowhere, moreover, does that companion Undecimilla appear. And who will demonstrate that it was so written in letters, as is supposed?" So far Binterim.

[250] cannot stand regarding Undecimilla, And indeed Sirmond had put this forward out of mere conjecture, unless rather Valois fastened it on him Cf. Journal de Trévoux, 1719, page 702: namely, that since no other names were more often given to Roman women than those which referred to the order of their birth, and these frequently diminutives, such as Secundilla, Quartilla, Quintilla, Sextilla, Septimilla, Decimilla, etc., of which carved inscriptions show examples, so it came about that a certain virgin, because she was eleventh by birth, was called Undecimilla Cf. Baillet, Les Vies des Saints, 21 October. As to these things, Binterim is right; but he errs in this, that he thought Undecimilla was nowhere written; whereas in the Missal of the Sorbonne, whose patronesses were the Cologne virgins, is read: "Of Ursula and Undecimilla and their companions, virgins and martyrs" Grandidier, Hist. de l'Église de Strasbourg, vol. I, page 147. But who does not see that this singular and more recent reading is of no value, and that it was put in place of: "Of Ursula and the eleven thousand companions, virgins and martyrs"? Oskar Schade himself Die Sage von der heiligen Ursula, page 25 plainly agrees with this. Moreover, although a stone was found at Speyer on which Decumilla is inscribed Steiner, Codex Inscriptionum Rheni, num. 178, it is doubtful whether any has anywhere come to light with the name Undecimilla. Mannius indeed reported, in the Dissertation on the paintings falsely ascribed to St. Luke Page 13, an inscription in which Undecimila is read: but the most learned Raoul-Rochette professes that he strongly doubts whether it is genuine [Deuxième mémoire sur les antiquités Chrétiennes des Catacombes,

Nouveaux mémoires de l'Académie des inscriptions, etc., vol. XIII, page 182]. There occurs to me indeed an inscription in which twelve sons are reported to have cared for the memory of their mother Quartana; and anyone at all can see that such things cannot but be rare; but it must have been rarer still for a girl to have been called Undecimilla, since these two things would have had to concur: that there were eleven daughters in one house, and that it was the established custom there that a name should be given them from the order of birth: now who would approve conjectures resting not on daily usage but on a most extraordinary foundation? But let us return to Binterim.

[251] [nor the opinions of those who said that millium was fashioned out of illustrium, out of mirabilium, out of the siglum m., out of Ximilla or out of Ximartor;] "Others expound the matter otherwise, but in a not very dissimilar way. It was written, they say, at the 21st of October, in the ancient manuscripts thus: Natalis SS. Undecim illtrium Virg. Ursulae et sociarum, etc. It should have been read: 'of the eleven illustrious Virgins,' but the readers, not knowing that abbreviation, joining to the word illtrium (illustrium) that last m of the word undecim, conceived millium, and so arose those two words: 'undecim millium.' But although this error of reading is possible, it lacks all testimony; and the more artificially the conjecture is devised, the more improbable it is. Others said that millium was fashioned out of an abbreviated Mirabilium; but none of these is serious. Some [Zaccaria, Series episcoporum Cremonensium, in Cancellieri, Dissertaz. sopra due iscrizioni, etc., page 11; and Storia letteraria d'Italia, vol. I, page 163; Raoul-Rochette, Deuxième mémoire, etc., page 182, note 2; Tartarotti, Memorie antiche di Rovereto, page 346; Leuckfeld, Antiquitates Michaelsteinenses, page 12; Rettberg, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, vol. I, page 111 and following, in Schade, page 26; Ayala, Christianus eruditus, book VIII, chap. 3, page 376] therefore bring forward another. It had been set down: Natalis SS. Undecim M. V. Ursulae et Sociarum. The letter M. signified Martyrum; but, changing it into a number, they then wrote millium. The thing is easy to say, but it does not agree with the ancient writings. For in the ancient Calendars and Martyrologies, if all the names of the martyrs are not listed separately, the letter M, signifying martyrs, is always placed at the end, not before the placing of the more principal name. Then, for the most part, other letters are joined to it, so that Mar. is more commonly written, and not the single letter M. Others have conjectured that the names Ursula and Ximilla were originally written Leibniz, in Schade, page 25; Leuckfeld, Antiquitates Michaelsteinenses, page 12; and that from this, by the error of copyists, Ursula and XI thousand Virgins were born: but it is mere guessing, resting on no probability at all. Spreng Des Christlichen Raurachs und Basels Ursprung und Alterthum, page VII, 1756 found another thing much more wonderful, namely that it was originally written in German S. Ursula Ximartor; whence arose S. Ursula XI M., while it signified St. Ursula put to martyrdom. But this again is guessing, resting on no foundation, and conflicting with the German tongue, since at least chimartort, gemartorot, gimartirot, kimartrot, etc., would have had to be written. On these see Schade Die Sage von der h. Ursula, page 26.

[252] [nor the opinion of Natalis Alexander, who confuses Saula with Ursula and diminishes the number of the companions.] "Natalis Alexander, by inquiring, proposes another opinion. 'On the 20th of October,' he says, 'Usuard ascribes the passion of the holy virgins Martha and Saula with many others; and that at Cologne, where the Roman Martyrology and other more recent ones assign the passion of SS. Ursula and her companions to the 21st: was perhaps the name Ursaula, and then Ursula, interpolated from these words of Usuard, et Saulae? But if this is so, why is Martha, the other leader of the holy band, omitted? If both are celebrated, Wandalbert will agree with Usuard, since he proclaims several leaders of the virginal band: "Renowned for their holy leaders."' But because Natalis inquires by conjecturing, and modestly proposes by inquiring, we shall only answer: Not so does the matter stand, not so. If he wishes his inventions to rest on Wandalbert, he will be forced to admit other things too. For he himself sings at the twenty-first of October D'Achery, Spicilegium, vol. V, page 336, first edition:

Then numerous along the shores of the Rhine there shine together Trophies raised to Christ by virginal bands For the city of Agrippina, whose thousands an impious fury Once slaughtered, renowned for their holy leaders.

I know indeed: they say that nothing certain can be drawn from Wandalbert, since the poet used his licence and put a fixed number for plurality. Of the eleven thousand he otherwise observes a deep silence. But Wandalbert does not use this licence in other historical matters of the same kind, but expresses the number accurately; why then here? Why does he distinguish the leaders from the other thousands? Why does he name numerous trophies? He could easily have used another construction if he had not wished to give a fixed and certain number. Wandalbert, further, is an accurate writer, and the most ancient who reports our history.

[253] [Binterim holds that there were eleven virgins, whose memory is inscribed in the Calendars,] "Our Calendar has it otherwise, and reports not only a definite number but also the names of the companions, hitherto unknown. Our Calendar is also to be preferred to all other testimonies, because it is ecclesiastical, public, and of the same country and province where the event took place. What, then, does it report? At the 12th day before the Kalends of November there is: Of the holy XI virgins Ursula, Sencia, Gregoria, Pinosa, Martha, Saula, Britula, Satnina, Rabacia, Saturia, Palladia. Among these names appear also those reported by Usuard: Martha and Saula. There is likewise Pinnosa, whom the martyrology published at Cologne about the year 1490 mentions, which Launoy cites Works, vol. II, part I, page 185. The feast of the translation of this virgin is still specially assigned in the Calendar on the day before the Kalends of March. In the Greater Litanies of a manuscript codex of the Düsseldorf Library I also found these: St. Sentia: pray for us. St. Palladia: p. f. u.

[254] and that thousands were afterwards wrongly thrust in with these; "Whence, then, you will say, was the word 'thousands' inserted into the later books? From the inadvertence or ignorance of the copyists, I answer. I shall demonstrate it by a most plain example, and that from the very month of October. In the Roman Martyrology at the 25th of October it is read: 'At Rome, the feast of the holy forty-six soldiers, who, baptized together by Pope Dionysius, were soon beheaded at the command of the emperor Claudius and buried on the Via Salaria: and a hundred and twenty-one other martyrs were laid there, among whom were four soldiers of Christ, Theodosius, Lucius, Marcus and Peter.' So too have Ado, Usuard, Rabanus, Notker and others. These words are so clear, so definite, that scarcely any room for error seems to remain, especially since all these things occur also in the acts of St. Laurence, though of doubtful credibility. And yet an error crept into the text of some martyrologies, so that in place of a hundred and twenty, in the ancient martyrology of Gellone In D'Achery, Spicilegium, vol. XIII, page 415 it is read: 'At Rome, the feast of the holy forty-six, or a hundred and twenty-four thousand, Saturninus, Maximus,' etc. As, therefore, the word 'thousands' could creep in here, so it could also at the 21st of October, where Ursula and her companions are treated. From others which refer the same history of the passion to the 25th of October the fault or addition of Gellone could easily be corrected; but in our case older and approved manuscripts are lacking. For in the manuscript and printed martyrologies of the ninth century our history almost never occurs, in those of the tenth and eleventh centuries very rarely: from what source, then, is the error to be emended?

[255] although besides those eleven there seem to have been present another thousand: "You will perhaps say: those eleven who are reported by name in our Calendar were the leaders of the virginal troop, the rest were followers. I will not oppose it. For thus our Calendar agrees excellently with Wandalbert: 'Renowned for their holy leaders.' But then it must be granted that there were a thousand followers or companions, as Wandalbert likewise has. Thence, too, the error is easy to imagine, whence the opinion of the eleven thousand arose. For the illustrious and noble leaders were only eleven. That noble leaders were present first of all the Acts report in Geoffrey. And the followers, of the common but respectable people, a thousand. The Acts again agree. In the ancient parchments, then, the reading had perhaps been arranged thus: 'At Cologne, the passion of the holy eleven and thousand virgins, Ursula and her companions.' A very easy error, the conjunction 'and' being omitted, gave rise to the opinion of the eleven thousand.

[256] even in the twelfth century there was talk of only eleven; "It is not to be concealed that in the ancient records the history of Ursula occurs several times; and that now only eleven are assigned, and at another time more. In the chronicle of the abbey of Saint-Trond, which Rodulf, abbot of this monastery, wrote at the beginning of the twelfth century, only eleven virgins are listed. 'The altar at the tomb of the blessed Trudo and Eucherius,' he writes at the end of book X Ibid. vol. VII, page 475, 'was consecrated in their honour; in it are contained these relics: of the hair of St. Mary, of the garments of St. James the apostle of the Lord, of the relics of the holy eleven virgins.' Under Horneus, the 83rd bishop of Liège, the tomb of St. Lambert was opened, in which also relics of the companions of St. Ursula had been placed. There is no mention there of eleven thousand, but it is said simply: 'One head of the companions of St. Ursula' In Chapeaville, Gesta Pontificum Leodiensium, vol. III, page 216. On the other hand, in the foundation document of the monastery of Windberg, which Canisius and Basnage fixed at the year 1167, eleven thousand virgins already occur In Canisius, Vett. lectt. vol. III, part III, page 212 and following.

[257] then at length the Ursuline fables arose. "It is therefore most probable that at the end of the eleventh century and the beginning of the twelfth the false opinion of the eleven thousand virgins arose, which received increase from the spurious Acts published by John Capgrave in the Legenda Angliae, where, as a new revelation is asserted, so all the things narrated are known to be plainly new and fictions. New and hitherto unknown is the pope Cyriacus, or Cyricius, named in the Acts; new the Caesarius, bishop of Meaux; new the king Olofernes, the bridegroom of Ursula; all the rest new, and most new, whence they are deservedly hissed off. All these things, although said fittingly enough to illustrate a vexed and intricate history, may yet seem to some less than sufficient for the decision of a much-agitated controversy. Truer than true is found in all things that saying of Pliny the Elder in the preface of the Natural History: 'It is an arduous thing to give novelty to old things, authority to new, lustre to the obsolete, light to the obscure, favour to the disdained, credit to the doubtful.' I also willingly leave to fair critics the faculty of judging my views, and if anything

they can bring of better note, also of correcting them."

[258] [Binterim errs in reckoning that the number of eleven thousand first prevailed about the beginning of the twelfth century;] The most learned man, therefore, who I will willingly grant was very successful in refuting the opinions of others, holds, 1°, that at the end of the eleventh century or the beginning of the twelfth there arose the opinion, which he calls false, of the eleven thousand virgins; 2°, that they were in fact eleven only in number, so that the word "thousands" crept into the martyrologies and other books by an unlucky slip of a copyist; or, if this does not please, 3°, that they were eleven and a thousand, namely eleven principal ones and leaders of the rest, a thousand of lower rank; and so that "eleven thousand" arose from the omission of the particle "and." This last opinion was also championed by the most learned priest Floss in his dissertation on St. Ursula [Aschbach's Allgemeines Kirchenlexicon, under Ursula, vol. IV, page 1102 and following]. But, with the leave of the excellent man, now resting in Christ, let it be permitted to say to him that the tradition of the eleven thousand virgins is held much earlier. For it was not at the end of the eleventh century, and much less in the following one, that it began to be asserted that the Cologne virgins were eleven times a thousand in number. For the title of the Sermon on the Feast in the Cologne manuscript is this: "Sermon on the feast of the holy eleven thousand virgins," and in the Liège copy: "On the festival of the most blessed company of the XI thousand virgins" Crombach, S. Ursula vindicata, page 989. Nor can it be said that these were afterwards added by scribes in place of a title: for besides the fact that this is an empty conjecture, in the sermon itself a very great multitude is indicated throughout. For the bands of the Cologne virgins are named; so great a number of them is praised, and so great a multitude of virgins; they are compared with the twelve legions of angels; yet they are said to be fewer than twelve thousand virgins; they are called a choir of virgins comparable to none in number; the patronage of so many thousands is extolled, etc.; by which there is an open allusion to eleven thousand.

[259] already in the ninth century this number had become known. In several diplomas also concerning the Ursuline monastery of Cologne the same number occurs. Hermann, bishop of Cologne, in a public charter on the endowment of the church, had these things written in the year 922 Ibid. page 778: "The monastery of the holy virgins erected outside the walls of Cologne for the praise of God and of St. Mary and of the ELEVEN THOUSAND VIRGINS themselves, … where the bodies of so many precious ones rest"; and lower down: "Let him incur the wrath of almighty God, and of St. Mary, and of the same holy ELEVEN THOUSAND VIRGINS"; and of the gift of Vassus, a most noble man: "Which he assigned to the service of the holy ELEVEN THOUSAND VIRGINS"; and Wichfrid, likewise bishop of Cologne, in the union of the church of St. Mary: "To the sisters," he says Ibid. page 779, "who faithfully serve God in the church of the holy virgins, we have taken care to add something of our own for their refreshment, … on account of reverence for the XI thousand virgins resting there." This in the year 927. The same in the year 941 Ibid. page 781: "The venerable sisters in the church of the holy virgins built publicly and honourably outside the walls of the city of Cologne… Done publicly in the aforesaid church of the holy eleven thousand virgins." Finally Warin in the year 980 Ibid. pages 781 and 782: "To the church of the holy eleven thousand virgins and martyrs, honourably built outside the walls of the city of Cologne in the honour of God, and for continuing the lights of the same church, for restoring the roofs, and also for sustaining the strength of the guardians who spend the night there circumspectly and diligently." Bezecha, a nun at St. Ursula's, in the donation of the estate of Walford: "I," she says Ibid. page 784, "in the name of God, Bezecha, the last of the handmaids of Christ in the congregation of the holy eleven thousand virgins of God… This was done publicly at Cologne in the monastery of the holy eleven thousand Virgins. In the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1047, in the 16th indiction (rather 15th), in the 6th year of Henry reigning and ruling as emperor." Likewise Archbishop Sigewin about the year 1080 in a donation of newly tilled lands Ibid. page 786: "For the obtaining, then, of such a happy remedy for us with God, invoking to our help the holy eleven thousand virgins of God, we desire it to be known," etc. Whence it would appear that the tradition of the eleven thousand virgins is much older than the end of the eleventh century. But this argument seems to need weighing a little more fully.

[260] [The records in which the holy virgins are treated are divided into three classes; the first of which contains some names,] The records, namely, in which there are indications of any kind about the number of the holy virgins can be distributed into three classes. The first class is of those which have individual names; the second, of those which signify an indefinite number; the third, of those which put forward eleven times a thousand. When the Sermon on the Feast was written, very few were known by name; among whom it was asserted that a renowned and distinguished one was the daughter of the king of the Britons, called Vinnosa by them (namely the Britons), Pinnosa by ours (the people of Cologne). Beware, however, of concluding from this that St. Pinnosa or Vinnosa alone was known; the name of others too had become known, but of very few; Pinnosa, however, was held to be the chief. But which the others were is difficult to say. Usuard, who in the year 859 or 860 brought out the first edition of his Martyrology Cf. Acta SS. vol. VIII of Oct., pages 85 and 86, mentions at the 20th of October Usuard's Martyrology, Sollerius's edition, page 613: "In the city of Cologne, of the passion of the holy virgins Martha and Saula with many others"; and the learned theologian Floss found the same names at the following day in the Calendar (of the tenth century, as it seems) formerly of Essen, now of Düsseldorf, marked D, 3 in the public library. In litanies written in the eleventh century, and formerly kept in the library of the chapter of Cologne, now in that of Darmstadt under the sigla cod. Darmst. 2089, formerly Col. 88, the same writer read the names of the holy Martha, Saula, Paula, Brittola and Ursula; and in others a century older, marked cod. Darmst. 2106, formerly Col. 106, Brittola, Martha, Saula, Sambatia, Saturnina, Gregoria, Pinnosa, Palladia Allgemeines Kirchenlexicon of Aschbach, under Ursula, vol. IV, page 1104. We have already seen that in the Essen Calendar of the end of the tenth century, which Binterim published, are read the holy XI virgins Ursula, Sencia, Gregoria, Pinnosa, Martha, Saula, Britula, Saturnina, Rabacia, Saturia and Palladia; which names Floss found again, in another order, in the litanies inserted in the Darmstadt codex 2040, formerly Cologne 45, and written between the year 950 and 1000, namely: Martha, Saula, Brictola, Gregoria, Saturnina, Sabatia, Pinnosa, Ursula, Sentia, Palladia and Saturia. In the former manuscript breviary of the collegiate church of the Holy Apostles of Cologne, at the end of the fifth lesson, Crombach read S. Ursula vindicata, page 998: "Whose names are these: Pinnosa, daughter of duke Maximus, Sentia, Georgia, Martha, Saula, Brittula, Rabastia, Saturnina, Satura, Palladia, Clementia, Grata": St. Ursula being omitted, since her praises had been celebrated before. Finally in the auctarium of Ado Georgi, Martyrologium Adonis, page 644: "In the Gauls, at Cologne Agrippina, of the holy eleven thousand virgins. One is called Ursula, Sentia, Gregoria, Pinnosa, Mardia, Saula, Brictula, Saturnina, Saturnia, Rabatia, Palladia, Clementia, Grata: and the names of the others are written in the book of life."

[261] more or less celebrated at different times: If we gather these things together, four times seem to be distinguished: the first, in which St. Pinnosa was the most celebrated of all; the second, in which SS. Martha and Saula were; the third, in which St. Ursula shone forth above the rest; the fourth, in which St. Clementia was added and St. Grata. But whence this variation arose is very obscure. Certainly in the older Essen calendar, which we said was written at the end of the ninth century, at the last day of February is read the translation of St. Pinnosa; whence it is natural to conjecture that she had a most celebrated translation and that she was honoured with singular veneration as long as the memory of this translation flourished. Nevertheless, in the Sermon on the Feast, in which no mention of this translation is made, St. Pinnosa is called the princess of the whole throng on another ground, namely because she was reported to be the daughter of the king of the Britons, and was no less known to those islanders than to the people of Cologne: which praises were afterwards transferred to St. Ursula. Nor did St. Pinnosa at once give place to St. Ursula; but first SS. Martha and Saula seem for some time to have held the chief place. Who could disentangle these things? That the three earlier changes were before the end of the ninth century is established from the Essen calendar; that the fourth, or the addition of SS. Clementia and Grata, seems later is gathered even from this, that eleven virgins are expressly mentioned in the same calendar; and in the Chronicle of Saint-Trond Book X at the end, in D'Achery, Spicilegium, vol. II, page 697, edition of 1723, concerning the consecration of an altar made in the year 1117, it is read that there was put into the tomb "of the relics of the holy eleven virgins"; nor do the sigla SS. M. XI. virginum, which are written in the Freising calendar (of the tenth century, as it seems) In Eckhart, Francia Orientalis, vol. I, page 836, signify anything else. On the contrary, the words of the diploma concerning the Ursuline monastery of Cologne, issued in the year 1047, in which it is called "that of the holy eleven virgins" In Lacomblet, page 182, probably have a gap, the word "thousand" namely having slipped out, since the common name of that religious house was "of the Holy Virgins" or "of the holy eleven thousand virgins." After the ninth century, then, nay after the year 1117, Clementia and Grata would have been added; yet before the middle of the twelfth century, in which the Revelations of Elizabeth emerged; since the records which have those names are free of the visions of Schönau. Further, when St. Pinnosa shone forth above the rest, we have seen that very few were known: but how many and which, who could say? Martha and Saula, who is also Paula? Brittola besides, and Ursula? Sambatia further, Saturnina, Gregoria and Palladia? Sentia too and Saturnia? All these things seem to be left to the sagacity of others.

[262] nothing follows from this as concerns the number of the Cologne martyrs. Let it suffice for us to have noted this one thing, that nothing at all can be concluded from this about the number of the holy virgins who met a savage death at Cologne. For none of these records is older than the Sermon on the Feast; and most are more recent than the diplomas quoted, in which eleven thousand virgins are clearly read. Moreover, as to the fact that few names occur in the litanies, this is their nature and law, that only individual saints are expressly invoked. And it is almost common to calendars that, where the feast of very many saints is indicated, generally only the principal names are listed, the rest being rather often omitted, and the very number of the companions passed over in silence: thus in the Milanese calendar, which Georgi found prefixed to the Ambrosian Breviary written in the year 1465, at the 13th day before the Kalends of October is read simply: "St. Ursula, virgin." And for almost all days similar examples in the work

of ours, where troops of martyrs are spoken of, especially the Hieronymian ones, are met with. Finally, the fact that the Chronicle of Saint-Trond mentions eleven virgins seems to have arisen from this, that only so many had been raised from the earth: for the matter in hand was the insertion of relics into an altar.

[263] The second class contains the records, The second class of records embraces those in which the Ursuline bands are called holy virgins, no names or numbers being expressed. But these are by no means to be separated from the third class, with which we close the records in which eleven thousand are designated. For, as already in the years 922 and 927 the Ursuline church was called the church of the holy eleven thousand virgins, so at the same time it was called simply the church of the holy virgins: the double name always persisted; and as now it is sometimes called die Kirche der elf tausend Jungfrauen, sometimes Sancter Vilgen (which is corrupted from the Latin Sanctarum Virginum), so formerly too it was designated indiscriminately, and rather often in the same diplomas, by both names; so that it may be doubted which is the older, although in the older diploma the church or monastery of the blessed virgins occurs; nay, so that it is probable that this appellation was shortened from the other, of the eleven thousand holy virgins. However that may be, the monastery of the blessed virgins is read in the ordinance of Gunthar [Crombach, S. Ursula vindicata, pages 776 and 777; Würdtwein, Nova subsidia diplomatica, vol. IV, page 23 and following], bishop of Cologne; which Lothair happily confirmed "on the 18th day before the Kalends of February, in the year, Christ being gracious, the 11th of his reign, in the 15th indiction, at Aachen in the royal palace, in the name of God." The beginning of the reign is reckoned from the 25th of June of the year 841, and the 15th indiction designates the year 852, not 853 (as most have it). And in the diploma which Bishop Hermann issued "publicly in the city of Cologne, in the reign of the most Christian kings Charles (?) and Henry, in the 10th indiction, on the 3rd day before the Ides of August," that is, in the year 922, and in which he confirmed several donations which King Conrad, his wife and the illustrious man Vassus had made to the Ursuline monastery In Crombach, page 778, he himself calls the nuns "duly serving God and the holy virgins"; but twice also in the same place he mentions "the holy eleven thousand virgins"; which Vassus too, as we have already observed, had done.

[264] Bishop Wichfrid, in the diploma of the year 927 In Crombach, page 779, which we also indicated above, calls it the church of the holy virgins, namely the diplomas of the ninth and tenth centuries, while at the same time recalling "reverence for the eleven thousand virgins resting there." The same, five years later, in a diploma issued "publicly in the church of the holy virgins, on the 16th day before the Kalends of August, in the 4th year of the most glorious King Henry," again provided "for the nuns devoutly and zealously serving the Lord at the Holy Virgins." At about the same time Alfuin and his beloved wife Ada bestowed their property "on the church of the Holy Virgins"; which expression they use twice. On the other hand, Wichfrid, in a charter subscribed "in the 6th year of the most glorious King Otto, in the 14th indiction, in the year of the incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ 941," once names "the church of the Holy Virgins," but once "the aforesaid church of the Holy eleven thousand Virgins" Ibid. page 781. St. Bruno, who succeeded him, gave by his testamentary tablets "to the holy virgins two vessels" and some other things Ibid. page cited. Warin, who sat at Cologne at the end of the tenth century, also mentions in a diploma "the aforesaid monastery of the Holy Virgins," having first spoken "of the church of the Holy eleven thousand Virgins" Ibid. page 783. I omit other things [Ibid. page 783 and following; cf. Allgem. Kirchenlexicon of Aschbach, vol. IV, page 1104]. For what we have reported demonstrates more than enough that nothing can be drawn from the fact that in writings the Ursuline basilica is often called "of the Holy Virgins," with no number added. Nay, that it is synonymous with "of the Holy eleven thousand Virgins" is clear even from this, that both expressions occur by turns in the same diplomas.

[265] [and the calendars in which the holy eleven thousand virgins and the holy virgins are named indiscriminately.] Nor must one think otherwise of the few calendars in which at the 13th day before the Kalends of November is read the feast "of the Holy Virgins at Cologne," as Crombach read it S. Ursula vindicata, page 998 in a very ancient English Missal, and as it is found in the Martyrology of Corbie, written before the year 986 at Saint-Vaast of Arras Martène, Thesaurus Anecdotorum, vol. III, col. 1547, and that in these words Ibid. col. 1602: "On the 12th day before the Kalends, of our holy father ex Hilarion. At Cologne, the Passion of the Holy Virgins"; or also in the Würzburg additions to the Martyrology of Bede, written in the ninth century and somewhat enlarged in the eleventh, where at the 12th day before the Kalends of November … "On the same day, of the Holy Virgins" occurs Eckhart, Francia Orientalis, vol. I, page 829. For these are worth just as much as if it had been written "of the Holy eleven thousand Virgins": which we conclude by the same argument by which we demonstrated the force of the diplomas, namely that at the same time it was in use to inscribe the number of eleven thousand in calendars. Let the calendar of Hornbach in the diocese of Metz serve as testimony, afterwards made that of Solothurn, and written in the ninth century [Gerbert, Monumenta veteris liturgiae Alemannicae, part I, preface, about the middle]; in which at the 21st of October is read Ibid. page 479: "Feast of the Holy Virgins, IX thousand, in the city of Cologne." It is found also in the calendar of Trier written between the year 979 and 995 and commonly called the Gertrudian. Philip della Torre, bishop of Adria, described it in these words In Altham, de Calendariis, pages 86 and 87: "A codex containing a Calendar, a Psalter and Litanies, the gift of St. Elizabeth, daughter of the king of Hungary, wife of the Landgrave duke of Thuringia; which at the urging of Berthold, patriarch of Aquileia, … she gave to the most honourable college of canons of Cividale… But the codex had been written two hundred years before for the use of another Gertrude (than the one who was the sister of the patriarch Berthold and the mother of St. Elizabeth). Whose family lies in obscurity; although that she was of the progeny of princes is clear from the fact that more than once she herself prays for Peter (as she says) 'my only son and his army.' This age of the codex is deduced from the twelfth page, on which is seen the painted image of him who wrote the book, offering the book itself to the bishop Egbert, as from the verse expressed on either side: 'Ruodpreht brings the gift, which the bishop Egbreht receives.' This is no other than Egbert, archbishop of the Treveri, who ruled that church from the year 979 to 993. For the saints who are represented in painted images in the Psalter and in larger and golden letters are likewise bishops of Trier. Therefore between the said years 979 and 993 our codex was written, and that in the city of Trier or another place of its diocese, in which also it may be suspected that Gertrude had her principality"; nay, Lorenzo della Torre contends that the codex was written in the year 961, because in it the Resurrection of the Lord is noted on the 6th day before the Kalends of April: but this is common to almost all calendars Cf. Acta SS. vol. VIII of October, page 926 and following, nor is this notation the same as that of Easter, as the younger della Torre wrongly believed. Further, in this most ancient Trier Calendar at the 12th day before the Kalends of November is read: "At Cologne, of the sacred virgins, XI thousand."

[266] Hence the errors of Hontheim and Sollerius are refuted; From this form a judgment of these animadversions of Hontheim De Hontheim, Prodromus Hist. Trevirensis, vol. I, page 371: "The eleven thousand Virgin Martyrs who are honoured at Cologne on the 21st of October do not indeed belong to Trier; yet it is fitting to observe in passing from the domestic calendars which we publish that in the first of these (namely that of St. Maximin, written about the year 934) they are not mentioned at all; in the second (of St. Simeon, written in the eleventh century) is set: 'Of the holy virgins … thousand,' a space being left in which the number of the thousands was to be defined; no obscure indication that at that time agreement about the number had not yet been reached among all." How far this conjecture strays from the truth the Gertrudian Calendar makes manifest; by which it is established that almost a whole century before, the number of XI thousand virgins had been received among the people of Trier. But this has long been the design of almost all the learned, to attack the multitude of the Cologne virgins with the emptiest weapons. I said "the emptiest," for in much more recent calendars, written at a time when no one doubted about the XI thousand, similar gaps occur. Thus in the calendar called that of Aquileia, but which is part of the Psalter formerly of the church of St. Michael in the town of San Daniele, and written about the middle of the thirteenth century, at the 12th day before the Kalends of November is read In Altham, de Calendariis, page 206: "Of the holy … thousand virgins (in another hand and time)." From the Hornbach and Gertrudian calendars it is also evident what must be thought of the censure of our Sollerius; who, because the Augsburg codex of St. Ulrich of the Hieronymian Martyrology, in which no saints later than the eighth century are inscribed, has at the 11th day before the Kalends of November Martyrologia Hieronymiana contracta, Acta SS. after June, page 22: "At Col., of the holy eleven thousand virgins," for that reason wrote Ibid. pref. page V: "But the most patent addition is furnished by the 21st of October, of the eleven thousand virgins; whence you may conjecture about the age of the codex, since in no Martyrology, so far as I know, even Usuardine, older than the twelfth century, is the memory of these virgins found expressed by the round number of eleven thousand." And already before, in his edition of the Martyrology of Usuard, at the 21st of October, in the Observations, he had written of the eleven thousand virgins Martyrologium Usuardi, page 615: "This is certain, that these present-day ones are not at all Usuard's, nor known under that number to any ancient martyrologist." Certainly Usuard did not give them under that number; but that they were known to no ancient martyrologist is plainly false, unless you say that the records of the ninth and tenth centuries, and the Sermon on the Feast, older than all the rest, are not ancient.

[267] and the verses of Wandalbert are explained. Further, since from what has been said it is certain that the number of eleven thousand was received in the ninth century, from this too is understood what is the meaning of the verses of Wandalbert, who in the middle of the ninth century wrote a metrical Martyrology at Prüm in the diocese of Trier, and praised the Cologne virgins in these words at the 12th day before the Kalends of November:

By which words it is by no means hinted, as some would have it, that the Cologne martyrs were in all a thousand in number besides the leaders, whom they say to be St. Ursula and ten others noted in the Essen calendar; but "renowned thousands," an indefinite number, indicates the same as the French plusieurs milliers. Nor can I but wonder that most grave and learned men, when they examined this passage of Wandalbert, struck upon a rock. There is, namely, a vast difference between a thousand

and thousands; for mille is used both adjectivally and substantively, so that it is the same as the Greek χιλιοι and χιλιας, and one says "a thousand of years" and "a thousand years." Millia, therefore, is the plural, as mille, used substantively, is the singular: nor is millia ever said except of several thousands; which things are demonstrated by lexicographers with six hundred examples. I hardly know whether Sollerius himself does not confess that several thousands were understood by Wandalbert, where he writes Usuard's Martyrology, page 615: "It seems perspicuous that the number is here determined at the poet's discretion. For the rest, we think it so undoubted that there were both a thousand and thousands of most illustrious virgins that he must be made of iron (I speak according to the opinion of my master Papebroch) who would venture to deny credit to the tradition of the people of Cologne resting on these ancient foundations." But truly, if the number is indefinite (yet comprehending several thousands), as perhaps the requirement of the verses demanded, whence is it to be determined what was the writer's mind and intention, except from other documents of almost the same age? by which, we have said more than enough, eleven thousand are handed down.

[268] [Eleven times a thousand Cologne martyrs are to be admitted; which number is much more probable] The number of eleven thousand virgins, therefore, remains unshaken, confirmed by the most ancient Sermon on the Feast, by the calendars of Hornbach and of Gertrude, and by very many Cologne diplomas concerning the Ursuline basilica or monastery: and since that basilica or monastery was far older than the Sermon on the Feast itself, and the memory of old things is plainly best preserved in buildings of that kind, I for my part do not see what could be opposed to the most ancient Cologne tradition. Certainly no one would resist it if it reported, not eleven times a thousand, but only eleven martyrs: but what, I ask, makes a tradition of eleven safer than one of eleven times a thousand? "But the mind shudders at so great a number of virgins!" Rightly, if it were a question of so many undefiled girls; but above, in § XXVI, we have sufficiently shown that in this number boys, men, women and widows are contained as well as virgins. "But Attila's army slaughtered only a few at Cologne." Oskar Schade was the first, unless I am mistaken, to object this, who, although you would say that in his little lucubration he everywhere wishes nothing else than that the whole Ursuline martyrdom should be a mere fable, yet, overcome by the antiquity and multitude of the testimonies, confesses more than once that something true underlies it, and indeed that a slaughter was wrought at Cologne by Attila; but he contends that it was not great.

[269] Since he has quite recently, and indeed most sharply, drawn his pen against the history of St. Ursula, it pleases me to put his words into Latin: "This fable," he says Die Sage von der Heiligen Ursula, page 127, speaking of the deeds of St. Ursula, [how sparing the slaughter is which Oskar Schade admits was made by the Huns; even if no account were taken of so many records by which XI thousand are handed down.] "as it is narrated in the Passion Regnante Domino and in other books of a later age, this fable, which is common to this class of things, contains something true, although its features are vague and ambiguous. For none other than Attila and his Huns can lie hidden under the person of the conqueror of all Europe and of the barbarians who are said to have slaughtered the holy virgins. But Attila and his men made no great slaughter at Cologne. (Nun haben diese aber nachweislich bei Coln kein grösseres Massaker verübt.) Why should not a small one have been made by them there, no otherwise than elsewhere? (Dass kleinere statt gefunden haben, warum sollte das nicht geschehen sein hier sowol wie auch anderwärts?) It may be that in this slaughter virgins too perished as well as men, women, boys; but these were individual killings": for which reason he reckons that the opinion of the very great multitude of eleven thousand arose little by little from the memory of the immense slaughter in the Catalaunian Plains. But I would not wish to examine what eleven thousand virgins slain at Cologne have in common with nearly two hundred thousand falling in those plains; these things I willingly pass over: but this one thing I ask, where it is read that in the cities broken into only a few were killed by the Hunnish army of Attila. Certainly not one of the ancient historians who have followed the deeds of Attila speaks without indicating that monstrous losses and slaughters were everywhere wrought by him. But we have pursued this argument in § XXIV; and so we are firmly persuaded that, if anyone will recall to mind the testimonies brought forward, especially about the storming and devastation of Metz, of Arras and of Aquileia, he (even taking no account of so many testimonies by which the eleven thousand are established) will hold it much more probable that eleven times a thousand were slain at Cologne than only a few, for example eleven (which is the mind, unless I am mistaken, of Oskar Schade), or a thousand and eleven (which number seems to have pleased the Reverend men both Binterim and Floss.

[270] [Monstrous were the slaughters perpetrated by the barbarians, for instance the Vandals,] For the deeds of barbarians are not to be measured by our humanity and morals. We plainly shudder when we turn the eye of the mind upon eleven thousand corpses; but what is a horror to us was a joy and delight to the Huns and other barbarians. That these things may appear more clearly, although we have already related a great many things about the savagery of the Huns, it will help to have indicated some slaughters which were perpetrated by barbarians and of whose extent there is more certain knowledge. St. Jerome, a contemporary witness and most knowledgeable of the affairs of his time, Gallic ones too, narrates at the year 409 that in the church of Mainz, when this city was taken by the Vandals and other barbarians, many thousands of men were slain Letter XCI to Ageruchia, in D. Bouquet, vol. I, page 744. We gave the words above. In the prologue of the Poem on Divine Providence, in which are described the evils which the Gauls suffered from the Vandals and Goths from the year 406 to 416, these lines are read Ibid. pages 777 and 778:

Alas! for ten years of slaughter We are laid low by Vandal swords and Getic. Neither forts on rocks, nor towns set upon high mountains, Nor cities on the sea-like rivers, Availed to overcome the wiles and arms Of barbaric fury: we have all borne the worst. Nor would I complain of the common people destroyed without distinction; Let the death of the chief men too be spared reproach, Lest perhaps the older years * and a more mature age Have borne what they deserved from an offended God. What have the innocent boys done? what the girls, To whom their short life had given no crimes?… The honour of devoted virginity did not shield the unmarried, Nor did the love of religion shield the widows. Those very men who had been wont to lead their life in deserted caves, Praising God by night and day, Underwent no other death than any profane man: The same whirlwind carried off the good and the wicked. No reverence for their kindly name Distinguished the priests from the punishments of the wretched people.

Such was the cruelty of the Vandals and the Goths: who would say that the Huns were more merciful, by whom, under Attila's leadership, we know that seventy cities near the Danube were destroyed?

[271] the Tatars, the Turks and others, whom the Huns surpassed in cruelty. We have rather often pointed out that the Tatars are of the same stock as the Huns: read, therefore, in Raynaldus in the Continuation of the Annals of Baronius at the year 1241 and following, how many and how great slaughters of boys, virgins, women, old men and men they were accustomed to perpetrate when they burst into Russia, Poland, Silesia and other neighbouring regions. What shall I say of Tamerlane, also of Mongol nation, whom you would say wished to tread in Attila's footsteps? No one is ignorant that at Isfahan seventy thousand heads were collected, which that monster had ordered to be cut off: and everywhere he displayed the same insolence and cruelty. The Turks are sprung partly from the same blood; and it is known to all that nine thousand of the people of Chios were slaughtered by them as soon as they occupied the city in the year 1822, and afterwards through a whole month so many other thousands that the island, which before had a hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants, was reduced by this slaughter and the sale of forty thousand slaves to eight thousand. That unspeakable slaughters were sometimes made by Christians themselves is unknown to no one: to confirm the matter by one example, in the circus of Thessalonica, at the command of Theodosius, seven or, as others relate, fifteen thousand citizens were slain by the soldiers: more recent instances I willingly omit. By no means, therefore, should the number of eleven thousand virgins, or rather inhabitants (for we cannot sufficiently inculcate that in that number are contained all who were laid low at Cologne Agrippina by the Huns), cause wonder or stupefaction. Nor should you say that it is by no means established that the martyrs were counted. This is a mere suspicion, such as can be raised about every historical matter; but it has no foundation. Those who handed down the number of eleven thousand will have known why they said eleven rather than ten or twelve. Nor was the reckoning so difficult, since the bodies were laid in common trenches with the greatest order and reverence.

[272] A singular specimen of a city demolished by the barbarians. But truly, although these things are so, yet since we rather often see demolished cities inhabited again by their citizens after the departure of the barbarians and laid waste again a few years later; through the innate benevolence by which in thought we diminish rather than increase the faults of men that concern us less, we are easily led to reckon that the ancient writers, struck with excessive terror, exaggerated the losses which in that age were inflicted on cities: for which reason it pleases me here, by way of a finishing touch, to set before the eyes a specimen which indeed does not directly concern the Huns, but by which it may be known in general what was the condition of a city broken into or demolished; and that no less notable than that of Herculaneum and Pompeii, covered by the ashes of Vesuvius. And this will be furnished by Victoria, a notable city, single or double, on the right bank of the Rhine near Neuwied, whose ruins Hoffmann described [Ueber die Zerstörung der Römerstädte an dem Rheine zwischen Lahn und Wied, durch die Deutschen in der Mitte des dritten Jahrhunderts, wie sie die Nachgrabungen bey Niewied gezeigt haben. Neuwied, 1833], and whose inscriptions Steiner collected Codex inscriptionum Romanarum Rheni, vol. II, page 61 and following. Further, Hoffmann, after showing how widely Victoria once extended, with what strong walls it was fortified and with what great wealth it was rich; and having indicated from the coins and inscriptions found that it did not survive in the middle of the third century, but was destroyed a little before, at length proceeds thus: "In savage fashion the Germans took vengeance on the Romans; and we should all utterly shudder at this disaster, did we not remember that the Romans, whose crimes it was wrong should go unpunished, had deserved this lot from our ancestors by a three-hundred-year tyranny. Now hear what I have read of this vengeance from the ruins of Victoria as from an open book.

[273] They fought in the very houses; animals as well as men were slain; "Having made an assault with the utmost force and impetus, the Germans stormed the city and the fort; then the struggle went on in the very houses, in which men and animals were killed. Where the ground was dug, there appeared human bones as well as those of beasts,

for instance of oxen, swine and dogs; and not single ones only, but in very great multitude; and indeed entire human skeletons. Thus in the hall of the praetorium an entire frame of bones was uncovered, at whose feet lay the nails once fixed in the shoes and the remains of the soles, in which rusty holes remained; thus too in the principal chamber of the same praetorium another bony form sat against the wall; beside which lay the little silver shield of a standard, pierced through by a German spear-point; and at the same time a helmet furnished with a silver plate, with the letters COH. V inscribed and a genius of the veterans, etc.: which undoubtedly belonged to a standard-bearer. In both places near the skeleton there was a javelin, surely the weapon of the dead. In the same way Roman as well as German arms were found everywhere, which were collected in great number. But how would these bones and arms in such number be scattered everywhere, unless there had been fighting in the streets and finally in the very houses? unless the victors, masters of the city and the fort, had also killed part of the cattle and, having fed on it, had strewn the ground with the bones?

[274] part of the booty driven off, the rest destroyed piecemeal; "Only part of the booty which was taken in so rich and flourishing a city could be carried away; the rest was destroyed with incredible fury. Out of almost a hundred things of every kind scarcely one is whole, whether because it seemed to the Germans of lower value or of meaner form, or because it was despised or passed over. Many thousands, namely, which I collected in many places in full baskets, fragments of bowls, dishes, platters, jugs and similar utensils were uncovered; but in this immense earthenware furniture, for the greatest part of kitchen use, no vessels except a few small ones were whole. An incredible quantity of glassware was also found, but nothing that was not broken. Nay, even the things most difficult to break, such as turning millstones, columns of the best stone of this region, marble altars, white and red tufa, and the hardest instruments made of bronze and iron, all these were broken by the application of the utmost force, the traces of which are easy to recognize. The praetorium above all, where there were long rows of altars, statues and idols, experienced the fury of the enemy. All these were reduced to rubble. Nor will anyone ever rightly imagine this destruction for himself unless he stands by the excavations that are continually being made, or at least enters the room in which I have heaped up a thousand fragments of marble and tufa. That fury is understood above all from a larger fragment of a marble altar, whose surface was struck so much and so often with a sharp and heavy stonecutter's instrument, which was found beside it, that it looks like an unpolished stone.

[275] the fragments scattered in every direction; "Nor was it enough for the Germans to ruin everything, but they scattered the fragments in every direction. For if they had been content with breaking things, the pieces would in any case have been lying side by side and could be put together again. But nowhere is this so. The fragments of altars, namely, which I perceived from the marble, the form and the inscriptions to have once been of one mass, were scattered over a vast space, the smaller pieces farther from the base, the larger nearer; likewise the limbs of the same statues and the fragments of the most precious bowls, purposely flung to the four winds, were sometimes uncovered by the diggers a full eight days later.

[276] then the houses and the city destroyed by flames; "And after the Germans had destroyed the movables in this way, then at length they set fire to the buildings and destroyed the city by burning. Coals and remains of the conflagration appear everywhere, now on the floor of the rooms, now in the lowest rubble. It was plain too that the larger the buildings, the more fiercely the fire burned and the greater the damage it inflicted: and indeed from these an estimate of the size of the buildings can still be made. In the praetorium, in which whole beams were found reduced to charcoal, so great was the heat of the conflagration that not only the thickest glass, but even the bronze fragments of the broken idols and other similar things were melted; and in the stream running past I found tiles turned to glass, and roof-tiles in which the beginnings of melting may be seen.

[277] what the fire had left, turned upside down. "And when the whole city had been consumed by fire, then at length effort was made that the stone buildings, palaces, walls, towers and the rest should be turned upside down and, as far as possible, levelled to the ground. For it is manifest, since these were demolished by force, that they were overturned either by the barbarians themselves or much later by the neighbouring inhabitants; but that the neighbouring inhabitants were not the authors of these ruins is gathered from the presence of iron, tiles and many other useful things (which they would certainly have turned to their own use if they had demolished walls still standing); but nothing of the kind was done." And if anyone considers these things, he will well understand with what an abundance of blood, and with what devastation of buildings, the footsteps of the barbarians were marked wherever they went against cities with ill intent. Far be it from us, therefore, to think that the slaughters were neither great nor cruel, and especially that the Huns, when they were at Cologne, were not very oppressive to the citizens, especially to the girls. And if these things do not seem manifest, I for my part do not know what men mean when they speak of the light and torches of history.

* years?

§ XXVIII. Whether the Cologne martyrs were of British nationality, and whether before their martyrdom they undertook a pilgrimage to Rome.

[Within what limits it is to be asked whether the Cologne martyrs were British by origin.] The things we have explained so far seem to us certain and resting on historical foundations. The rest are only probable and much less firm: for which reason we shall dispatch them more briefly. The first question which is usually proposed concerns the origin and homeland of those virgins. The common opinion is that they were British by origin. But truly, if anyone understands this in such a way as to think that all the Cologne martyrs were brought from Britain to Cologne, he must certainly explain why the Huns were more inhuman to the British women than to those of Cologne, and by what sign the one were distinguished from the others. But on the other hand, if anyone holds the same tradition of no account, he perhaps runs no less upon rocks, since it is not credible that nothing true underlies what from the most ancient times the Britons as well as the people of Cologne have been persuaded of: for whence would this concord have arisen? It seems, therefore, that we must go by the middle way, and accordingly admit that some of them, and perhaps the most celebrated, were British by nationality; and indeed it is the more probable that the chief praise fell to the women of this nation, the more certain it is that their chastity was a singular virtue, as Procopius testifies in these words On the Gothic War, book IX, chap. 20, vol. II of the Works, pages 562 and 563: "For those barbarians (the Britons) make so much of chastity that a woman seems to have prostituted it to whom only the name of a contracted marriage, not the thing itself, has come."

[279] [The Sermon on the Feast suggests that there were several British women among them;] That the tradition of the presence and slaughter of British women is ancient and venerable becomes manifest from the Sermon on the Feast. For from the beginning the author hints at it: "The holy bands of the Cologne virgins," he says, "(for thence," namely from Cologne, "we more rightly name them, where they had the birthday of the life that stands, or heavenly life, than where," namely in Britain, "they had the birthday of the death that was to be) are today no less to be admired by us than venerated." At once he praises them because, in coming to Cologne, they did not know carnally the very homeland in which they were born. In num. 7 he refutes the opinion of those who would have it that they came to Cologne from the East, and in num. 9 approves the opinion of those who, more numerous and regarding the order of things more watchfully, related that the island of Britain was both the mother and the nurse of this multitude known to God. This he confirms by a threefold testimony, of the Britons, of the Batavians and of the people of Cologne. "In which opinion," he says, "without doubt both these agree who are said to have sent the holy band, namely the Britons, and those who greatly rejoice to have received it"; understand the people of Cologne; "those too who are between them," or the Batavians, "establish this very thing by the most fitting indications of signs; among whom very many places are seen honoured and at the same time made illustrious by the relics of these saints: for in Batavia too, which the two-horned Rhine makes an island by flowing round it, they are reported to have founded a seat and to have stayed there for some time." That Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Passion Regnante Domino are sureties of the British and the Cologne tradition there is no need for me to point out. Among both nations there was a singular knowledge of St. Pinnosa or Vinnosa; for in num. 11 of the Sermon on the Feast these words occur: "Among whom it is asserted that a renowned and distinguished one was the daughter of the king of the Britons, called by them Vinnosa, by ours Pinnosa."

[280] [the political state of Britain and the memory of the presence of Britons at the mouths of the Rhine make their migration probable;] On other grounds a migration of some Britons of both sexes into these parts is probable. Above, in § XIV, we showed how hard pressed the Britons were in their island by the Picts and Scots already before the middle of the fifth century; so that in the year 446 they wrote to Aëtius [In St. Gildas, Liber querulus, part I, chap. 17, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. LXIX, col. 542]: "The barbarians drive us back to the sea, the sea drives us back to the barbarians: between these arise two kinds of death, either we are slaughtered or we are drowned." Their dangers increased too when in the year 449, under the leadership of Hengist and Horsa, the Angles and Saxons, under pretext of bringing help against the Picts, landed in Britain and at once showed the way to other newcomers from the German shore. We said at num. 131 that the Britons fled chiefly into the Armorican regions; but it is very probable that they fled into other parts too lying opposite Britain, and so into Batavia. And indeed, although it can by no means be admitted that Britons came into Batavia in such numbers that it was called Brittia by Procopius, nay, it is enough to have read the passage of Procopius for it to be clearly established that in book IV of the Gothic War Chap. 20, Works vol. II, page 559 and following, Bonn edition he spoke not of Batavia (as it has pleased some [Cannegieter, Dissertatio de Brittenburgio, matribus Brittis, Britannica Herba, Brittia Procopio memorata, The Hague, 1737; Pars and Van der Schelling, Catti, aborigines Batavorum, that is: De Katten de voorouders der Batavieren oste de twee Katwyken, page 79 and elsewhere passim]), but of Greater Britain; although besides the altars set up at Castra Vetera, in the village of Birten, by the soldiers of the 30th legion Ulpia Victrix TO THE BRITISH MOTHERS [On the altars and votive stones dug up at Nijmegen and Xanten, letters of G. Cuper, page 15; cf. Steiner, n. 648] perhaps hint nothing else than that there were British soldiers in these parts, such as we know from inscriptions were stationed also at Cologne Cf. Steiner, num. 887 and at Aschaffenburg Cf. the same, num. 160; nor do these, being idolatrous, belong to the fifth century of which we treat; although these things, I say, are so, yet since near Nijmegen a village survives whose name is Briten, and in the Batavian island itself of the Britons

the memory still flourishes so that the inhabitants have commonly given the name Brittenburg, or Huis ten Britten, to a building which the emperor Septimius Severus restored when it had collapsed from age [Pars, Catti, aborigines Batavorum, page 81; cf. Schayes, Pays-Bas avant et pendant la domination romaine, vol. II, pages 395, 408 and following] (with what right, let others see [Cf. Pars, page 73 and following, and Saxius, Monogrammata historiae Batavae, page 4]); and since certainly from the twelfth century, as is established from the German poet Nicolaas Colijn Cf. Walckenaer, Géographie des Gaules, vol. I, page 499, note 2, Brittenburg was celebrated in these parts: these things seem to be derived from no other source than that in reality in the fifth century some colony from Greater Britain took refuge here.

[281] where also they seem to have propagated the faith to some extent. Whereby too it would have come about that the Christian religion was propagated to some extent in this island, although even before it seems not to have been altogether without the divine seed: as was long ago discovered from an onyx and a sard, or carnelian, found on the Waal below Nijmegen, carved with a cross on the carnelian and an anchor on the onyx, with little fishes placed on either side both of the cross and of the anchor (which is most certainly a Christian sign) [Smetius, On a Sard or Carnelian showing a cross and little fishes found at the fourth stone's throw below Nijmegen not far from the bank of the Waal. — Likewise Smetius, Antiquit. Neomag. page 33 and following]. At Forum Hadriani too (Voorburg) some treasures of Christian antiquity were found [Cf. Schayes, les Pays-Bas avant et pendant la domination romaine, vol. II, page 384]. And although not very much later, when the Franks and then the Frisians occupied these places, these new-tilled fields could not but receive great damage from this; yet not all the sacred buildings seem to have been destroyed; which was not done in Greater Britain either by the Angles and Saxons; so that, writing of the Batavians, the author of the Sermon on the Feast could commit these things to writing: "Among whom very many places are seen honoured and at the same time made illustrious by the relics of these saints." Afterwards, however, these perished; so that only the memory of St. Cunera, who is honoured at Rhenen, or the old (as they now would have it Cf. Walckenaer, Géographie des Gaules, vol. II, page 307) Carvo, survives in that tract. Which loss would have been caused when the Northmen, rather often before the year 850 and rather often thereafter, destroyed the holy places of Batavia (of Tiel we have sufficiently certain notices Cf. Bosschaerts, de Primis Frisiae apostolis, page 521) [Cf. Annales Xantenses, in Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae, vol. II, page 225 and following].

[282] [The migration from Britain and the pilgrimage toward Rome, such as is described in the Passion Regnante Domino and in the revelations of Schönau, is absurd.] That the things which are read about the Roman journey in the Passion Regnante Domino and in the Revelations of Schönau and Steinfeld are plainly absurd no one who has not a pumpkin in place of a heart (I use Tertullian's phrase) will deny. For what will ever be answered to the animadversions of Papebroch on this matter? "That narration," he says Propylaeum of May, Paralipomena, pages 38 and 39, "cannot appear easy of belief which makes a fleet of more than two hundred vessels set sail together from Britain (for no fewer were needed to carry across XI thousand virgins with a corresponding number of clerical, domestic and nautical attendants), and, driven by contrary winds, drives it all into some mouth of the Rhine, by which an incredible multitude of women pilgrims at such a time, carried up as far as Basel, completed the rest of the journey by land through the Vindelici and the Raeti, known to or mentioned by no one in so great an abundance of writers at that time; yet notable above all in this, that it consisted for the greater part of virgins, so filling all things with the odour of their holiness and the fame of their future martyrdom that a good many bishops of Italian cities, kings likewise and princes, accompanied them all the way to Cologne. Add that the common mouth of the Rhine and the Meuse (for of the middle bed of the old Rhine, although it was then still open, yet slender on account of the waters drawn off into the Lek and the Waal, it is not permissible to think), that mouth, I say, capable of pouring two such great rivers into the Ocean, and then much wider even than now, lets no ships from the sea pass far beyond Rotterdam; and the vessels which go up from Holland as far as Cologne are necessarily of flatter keel than those used at sea: and these can scarcely penetrate beyond the confluence of the Rhine and the Moselle, or at least of the Main, without smaller ones being needed to get as far as Strasbourg: and from there to Basel, on account of the extreme rapidity of the river, there is no ascent, except perhaps in small boats driven by the multiplied effort of oarsmen, as Father Charles Darsonval, now rector of our college there, writes to me from Strasbourg. The voyage from Britain, therefore, collapses on this side too, even in the case in which you would wish to say that the Rhine was ploughed with the quality and quantity of the vessels changed again and again; for the smaller you make these to reach Basel, the more will you have to increase their number, and to make it so enormous that it is altogether incredible that so many boats could have been found ready at once as would have been needed to carry fifteen or sixteen thousand souls." So he, and these things are plainly unshaken.

[283] Yet the memory of some pilgrimage survives in the Sermon on the Feast But was no pilgrimage made from the Cologne region to Rome a little before the coming of Attila? For my part, as much as I shrink from admitting that eleven thousand virgins with a corresponding retinue went to Rome, so much do I hold it probable that some inhabitants of Cologne of both sexes, among whom Britons too, undertook the journey to Rome about that time. Certainly when the author of the Sermon on the Feast published his work, the memory survived of some pilgrimage undertaken by the Cologne martyrs, so much so that he contends that the British virgins came to Cologne for this reason, that they wished to go on from here into the eastern parts: "Then," he says, num. 10, "these blessed troops of virgins too, known in all things and in merits to God alone, to be venerated by us for ever, all following as their head the Bridegroom of all, Christ our Lord, with one mind strove toward the east, whence they had both earlier received the faith and had then learned that persecution had arisen, desiring to receive the glory prepared for them." Whether the writer designates Rome by these words or the eastern empire is obscure to me: for a little before he had said that preachers were sent into Britain by Pope St. Eleutherius; but on the other hand, since in ecclesiastical style the East generally designates those regions which were subject to the eastern empire; and since besides these things seem to be bound up with what he had narrated in num. 6 about Clematius, a man of consular rank, who had passed over from the parts of the East to Cologne; and finally since what he states about the persecution raised in the East can easily refer to the Nicomedian martyrdoms, there is certainly reason for us to remain in doubt. But in whichever way these things are to be understood, that matters little to us; since we wish this one thing to be established from this passage, that when the Sermon on the Feast was written there survived the memory of some pilgrimage which was not foreign to the Ursuline virgins.

[284] To the same point belong the statements of St. Gregory of Tours about St. Servatius, bishop of Tongres: "There was a rumour," he says Hist. of the Franks, book II, chap. 5, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, page 160, and in St. Gregory of Tours, "that the Huns wished to burst into Gaul. Now there was at that time at the town of Tongres Servatius, a bishop of exceptional holiness, who, giving himself to vigils and fasts, often drenched with a shower of tears, besought the mercy of the Lord that He would never permit this unbelieving nation, always unworthy of Him, to come into Gaul. But perceiving through the Spirit that, on account of the sins of the people, this had not been granted to him, he formed the plan of making for the city of Rome; namely so that, having joined to himself the patronage of apostolic power, he might deserve to obtain more easily what he was humbly begging of the Lord. Coming, therefore, to the tomb of the blessed apostle, he implored the help of his goodness, consuming himself in much abstinence and the greatest fasting; so that he remained two and three days without any food or drink, nor was there any interval in which he ceased from prayer. And when he had stayed there for the space of many days in such affliction, he is reported to have received this answer from the blessed apostle: 'Why do you disquiet me, most holy man? For behold, in the deliberation of the Lord it has been altogether decreed that the Huns shall come into Gaul and must lay it waste with the greatest tempest. Now therefore take counsel, hasten swiftly, set your house in order, arrange your burial: seek clean linen cloths. For behold, you will depart from the body, and your eyes will not see the evils which the Huns are to do in Gaul, as the Lord our God has spoken.' The bishop, having received this answer from the holy apostle, hastens his journey and swiftly returns to Gaul: and coming to the city of the Tungri, he quickly takes with him the things that were necessary for burial: and bidding farewell to the clergy and the other citizens of the city, he announces with weeping and lamentation that they would not see his face any more. But they, following him with great wailing and tears, besought him with humble prayer, saying: 'Do not forsake us, holy father; do not forget us, good shepherd.' But when they could not call him back with their weeping, having received his blessing, they returned with kisses. But he, coming to the city of Maastricht *, struck by a slight fever, departed from the body: and, washed by the faithful, he was buried beside the public highway itself. How his blessed body was translated after the space of a long time we have written in the book of Miracles." So St. Gregory of Tours Hist. of the Franks, book II, chap. 5, in D. Bouquet, vol. II, pages 160 and 161; about which there are many disputes.

[285] whose statements about Servatius or Aravatius of Tongres are weighed; Not only almost all the printed editions, but also most of the manuscript codices have Aravatius or Asavatius in place of Servatius; and the same is observed in the book on the Glory of the Confessors Chap. 72, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. LXXI, col. 880 and in the History of St. Gregory epitomized by Fredegar Chap. 1, ibid. col. 575. Nor does it seem that the matter can be settled from the antiquity of the codices. In truth, in the most ancient Corbie codex, written in the eighth century partly in Merovingian, partly in Roman character, this whole passage is read, and indeed at greater length, under the title of the Life of St. Servatius; which form of the name is retained also in the hymn appended; nay, Paul the Deacon, in the book on the Order of the bishops of Metz, which he wrote about the year 784, most certainly put forth Servatius In Migne, Patrologia, vol. XCV, cols. 701 and 702: but of the same age is the Saint-Denis codex of the book on the Glory of the Confessors, in which Aravatius

is read. Hence some accuse St. Gregory of error, because he drew St. Servatius of Maastricht, who certainly flourished in the fourth century, and St. Auctor of Metz into the times of Attila; hence others lay down two Servatiuses of Maastricht, or one Servatius in the fourth century and an Aravatius in the middle of the fifth. For my part I will candidly confess that, after I had carefully read what Henschenius, Valois, Pagi, Ruinart, Tillemont, Calmet, Chaussier and others have written, I plainly do not know to which side one should incline. For since that Aravatius or Servatius who is said to have been contemporary with Attila had at Maastricht a church built in his honour by St. Monulf, as St. Gregory himself is witness On the Glory of the Confessors, chap. 72, in Migne, vol. LXXI, col. 881, and since now, beyond all memory of men, the people of Maastricht and of Liège have known no other than St. Servatius who in the middle of the fourth century contended with the Arians, it is very hard to thrust upon them another Servatius, or an Aravatius of unknown name: but it is no less hard to charge with a double error (for the passages on Servatius of Tongres and on Auctor of Metz cohere) St. Gregory of Tours and Paul the Deacon, who for the most part followed him; although it is certain that St. Gregory sometimes fell into similar errors; but it is no less certain, too, that saints have rather often been confused with one another, so that the name of one was obliterated by the celebrity of the other. For which reason this knot seems able indeed to be cut, but not untied.

[286] [in whatever way these things are taken, the argument drawn from them for confirming that pilgrimage has the same strength.] Leaving this question, therefore, undecided, we gather this one thing from the narration of St. Gregory and his followers, that a short time before the coming of the Huns the bishop of Tongres, whoever he finally was, went to Rome to the threshold of the apostles and on his return passed through Metz. That he should take his route by way of Cologne was suggested by the dangers which would otherwise have awaited him in Belgium, which was almost occupied by the Franks. Moreover, since it was then in use that bishops travelled by the public horses, and this could not be done without warrants granted by the emperor, the praetorian prefect or the master of the offices (which warrants they called evectiones, combinae and diplomata, and of which we have already spoken above, page 51, at the Life of St. Hilarion), and since besides the bishops of Tongres could not travel abroad without formal letters of the bishops of Cologne (as these were the metropolitans of Second Germany), other reasons arose from this on account of which the Cologne route would seem to be preferred. Why, then, should not some people of Cologne and also British newcomers have been stirred up to accompany the bishop of Tongres and to go with him to Rome to implore divine help against the impending dangers? For the moderns of other persuasions themselves, whose fathers so vehemently attacked this discipline, confess that the custom of pious pilgrimages was then already very common [Cf. Augusti, Handbuch der christlichen Archäologie, vol. III, page 364 and following]. And we have collected these things not with the intention of stubbornly defending this pilgrimage, much less because we think that credit can prudently be added to the wonderful circumstances which occur in the Passion Regnante Domino, and the more wonderful ones in the Revelations of Schönau; but only so that it may seem probable that the Roman pilgrimage is not altogether fictitious, but was in fact undertaken by some of the Cologne martyrs, and that it is the foundation on which the incredible prodigies afterwards added rest. Many other things could be asked about the Cologne virgins; but since all these recur here and there in the Annotations for illustrating the Sermon on the Feast, the Passion Regnante Domino, the Revelations of Schönau and Steinfeld and other records, it is better to omit them here, lest we be forced to do the same thing twice. It remains, therefore, that we publish the principal historical documents concerning the eleven thousand virgins, and then discourse on their posthumous glory.

* Maastricht

SERMON ON THE FEAST

OF THE HOLY XI THOUSAND VIRGINS.

Ursula, virgin and martyr, at Cologne Agrippina. (S.)

XI thousand virgins and martyrs, at Cologne Agrippina. BHL Number: 8426

BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR.

The reason why the author calls the holy virgins Colognian, and not British. The holy bands of the Cologne virgins (for thence we more rightly name them, where they had the birthday of the life that stands, than where they had that of the death that was to be) are today no less to be admired by us than venerated: for whom it had not sufficed to be bound over in their own world to the proclamation of the Lord their Bridegroom, unless, together with the affections of the flesh which they had once spurned for love of Him, they renounced at the same time all that they had possessed; knowing carnally neither fathers, nor mothers, nor other kinsfolk, nor the very homeland in which they were born, running in the cause of God, to whom they had begun to cleave spiritually, with the devotion of a most faithful purpose, and so continually crying out to their Beloved, white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands: "Draw me after thee, we will run in the odour of thy ointments." In the festival of these, then, most celebrated by us at every season, we do not know what merit of theirs we should call the first, what the last: for we know none in them but the greatest.

[2] [Only their principal deeds are known; it is not established that all were virgins, nor even women.] Nor is it to be thought beside the point that their manner of life, either first or middle, is not known to us: namely, so that only those things may be recalled of them by the faithful than which it is not doubted that there are no other greater. For it could have happened that in so great a number of them any one was married or a widow, to whom, although the hundredfold fruit, as being specially devoted to virginity, was denied before martyrdom, yet the sixtyfold and the thirtyfold, through a most upright manner of life and one most acceptable to God in its own place, and even the very greatest, through the degree of martyrdom, would be rendered most pure by human merits. For who would ever believe that so great a multitude of all women, we do not say only of virgins, had come together without the intermixture of the other sex? Nor do we think that what is read of the Amazons is to be compared with the virtue of this holy spiritual wedge: for they sought victory by slaying, like their leader, these by dying, like their Bridegroom: but it was possible and altogether easy for Him, who both promised and gave that all things would be possible to those who believe, to become known as wonderful to all nations and peoples in this way too, in virgins alone, if He so willed; for, surrounded with the frailty of humanity, He could have obtained from the Father more than twelve legions of angels to be furnished to Him: reigning in the eternal majesty of the same flesh with the Father, could He not furnish fewer than twelve thousand virgins ^b to follow Him, the Lamb without spot?

[3] [Only the greatest things about them have remained handed down; namely the virginity of the greater number; contempt of earthly things, in pilgrimage; and martyrdom.] To you, therefore, through the zeal of our forefathers, only those things have been brought down about these holy virgins which are the greatest: and they were not single but manifold. For to virginity alone, excellent in itself in the keeping of humility to the end, no one would easily judge any other summit to be equal. But of their contempt and loss of parents and of all possessions, and of their denial of self, and of the very pilgrimage undertaken for the truth of the Lord's testament, what shall we say? since the Truth itself promised perfection to the young man of the Gospel for the mere sale of his possessions and the bestowal of alms, if he would then follow Him, and for this merit granted to the apostles even the power of judging others on the day of judgment. To the one, protesting his good works, showing the more excellent way: "If thou wilt be perfect, sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me." To the others, promising the reward of the same perfection: "Amen I say to you," He says, "that you, who have left all things and have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." And of how great dignity martyrdom is, there is hardly anyone * who does not know, in whose daily memory such great rejoicings are everywhere celebrated throughout the whole world.

[4] Many things about these virgins are unknown to us. By these degrees of merits beyond doubt, or rather equalities, the Virgin Son of the Virgin led His virgins to Himself by exhorting, received them by rewarding, exalted them with eternal glory by beatifying. But the degrees and orders of progress by which, ascending from virtue to virtue, they had arrived * at this citadel, He has until now hidden from us by the secret He willed: which He knows to be unequal to the praises not only of their threefold perfection mentioned above, but even of any single one of them. O that blessed and sacred most perfect choir of virgins, deservedly comparable to none in number: which, joined to the suckling band of the innocent martyrs, celebrates for itself not only that wonderful new song with all the earth, but also that special song which the multitude of virgins alone sings, following the Lamb whithersoever He goes!

[5] [The tradition of the people of Cologne is not to be despised, although the history of the virgins has not been written up to now because of the devastations of the barbarians and the burning of the Ursuline church.] But it seems that we should not pass over or suppress in silence what, always kept altogether most diligently in the tenacious memory of the mouth of our people ^c, is frequently turned over in religious conversations, and is not denied to be credible too, and either true or most probable. Finally, very many things are proved to have been written through the conjecture of opinion: to which, however, no authority has ever been opposed: for he by no means rightly incurs the mark of falsehood who, as a careful and cautious weigher so far as in him lies, presses on the tracking of the truth from the tradition of his forefathers, and those very religious men, and from the most fitting judgment of reason. For why the deeds and battles of this heavenly army were not written from the beginning, so that thus at last they might be transmitted more purely and clearly to the ears of posterity, who in any nation should wonder, since the common affliction of almost all peoples, inflicted by the barbarians raging especially in these regions, plainly teaches the cause of this negligence? Through which also it came about that the memory of the same holy virgins, after the church that guarded the holy bodies had been burned ^d, slipped little by little first from the mouth, then from the very heart of a people long religious.

[6] [Clematius is called from the East to restore it at Cologne; he spreads the Ursuline martyrdom through Europe.] This negligence in honouring the caskets of a most precious treasure nevertheless hardened so vehemently among our people that from very remote parts of the eastern regions a certain Clematius ^e, a man, as the outcome of things showed, at once distinguished and religious, and fit by his fame and likewise by his office to honour and make illustrious the tombs of the holy virgins ^f, invited by frequent prodigies of visions, terrors and warnings, came to Cologne, and whatever he had first promised under compulsion through fear in his own place, he here accomplished with the devotion of religion in restoring the basilica of the blessed virgins: of which work records cut in stones are preserved there, which I have thought should be inserted in this work also in the same words: DIVINIS FLAMMEIS VISIONIBVS FREQVENTER ADMONITVS (VT VIRTVTIS MAGNÆ MAJESTATIS MARTYRII CÆLESTIVM VIRGINVM IMMINENTIVM) EX PARTIBVS [Frequently admonished by divine flaming visions (as of the virtue of the great majesty of the martyrdom of the heavenly virgins appearing) from the parts]

ORIENTIS EXHIBITVS PRO VOTO CLEMATIVS VIR CONSVLARIS DE PROPRIO

IN LOCO SVO HANC BASILICAM VOTO, QVO DEBEBAT, A FVNDAMENTIS RESTITVIT. [of the East, brought here, in fulfilment of a vow, Clematius, a man of consular rank, at his own expense, on its own site, restored this basilica from its foundations, by the vow by which he was bound.]

Because the truth itself required that this be indicated briefly, its true sense, and one altogether apt for the solution of the whole statement, has up to now lain hidden from some who attended less carefully. Whence, because Clematius is written to have raised the church of the holy virgins from its foundations "at his own expense," they think that he had his own estate here, on which he rebuilt it; that it had been built before, although destroyed now for a long time, there was no one who has ever doubted even up to now: but the same religious Clematius, coming from elsewhere, is better believed to have recovered it at the cost of his own money; who not only restored and increased the due veneration of the precious bodies in their own place, but also, in going and returning, carried so great a fame into the foreign provinces from which he had come and through which he had made his journey.

[7] The virgins did not come from the East. But because he is said to have been brought from the parts of the East through frequent terrors of visions, they argue that the holy virgins were likewise brought from the East, as though either they had been directed hither in obedience to an expedition, for the keeping of the Roman peace, together with the martyrs of the Theban company ^h; or had been sent by intention, for the sake of prayer, to these places, which were at that time pagan. In no way, therefore, does it seem credible that the East sent them over to the West: since, even if they were seeking a more excellent religion or a quieter life, they would rather have made for that place where were the marks of the footsteps of the Lord, of His passion and burial, or the summit of the whole Church ⁱ. Which thing we see happening still, made common here no less than there: when we speak with the faithful going thither from all parts of this region with untiring zeal, and returning thence ^k.

[8] They suffered at Cologne. The glory of martyrdom too, if, preferring with ardent soul to die for the faith and testimony of Christ which they held, and impatient of delay, they desired it: which indeed we do not doubt that they so sought in whatever place, as we have learned that they found it here, have believed, have embraced, and shall never cease to venerate while life accompanies us: they could certainly have earned it more easily there where they would have offended the prince of the Roman Empire, the sole or chief persecutor of the Christian name ^l. For in these regions ^m scarcely any persecution of Christians was stirred up without his decree and edict alike.

[9] Born in Britain. But a greater number, regarding the order of things more watchfully, as though with a chalk-line ⁿ directed along one eye, that is, looked into by the fairness of reason under the most sagacious guidance of histories and times, hand down that the island of Britain ^o was both the mother and likewise the nurse of this multitude known to God [p]. In which opinion without doubt both those agree who are said to have sent the holy band, and those who greatly congratulate themselves on having received it; those too who are between them establish this very thing by the most fitting indications of signs, among whom very many places are seen honoured and at the same time made illustrious by the relics of these saints [r]. For in Batavia too, which the two-horned Rhine makes an island by flowing round it [s], they are reported to have founded a seat and to have stayed there for some time.

[10] Britain Catholic before the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian. For in the times of the emperors Antoninus and Commodus, Lucius, king of the Britons, obtained from Eleutherius, the fourteenth pontiff of the apostolic see after blessed Peter, preachers of the Christian and catholic faith: which, once received, the same people of Britain kept inviolate in all religion and in the tranquillity of peace, and ignorant of all persecution, until the times of Diocletian [t]. Under the impulse of whose savagery Marcellinus too, the Roman pontiff, twenty-eighth in order from the first, afterwards recovering his constancy, was deemed worthy of the crown of martyrdom by bravely contending [u]. After whom, while the tempests of persecutions surged beyond measure * through all lands, the same see, the principal one of all principal sees, was deprived of the government of a bishop for seven years and a half and ten days besides [x], as the chronographers assert. At which time Britain, an island of the parts beyond the sea, very greatly extended in length and in breadth, long keeping holiday in the leisure of so lasting a peace, was shaken by a most atrocious persecution of the Christians at the command of Maximian: and many in it were crowned with martyrdom, many driven from it into exile, many set out of their own accord, and so in a manner more happily escaped the manifold calamity of their homeland in the plundering, devastation, destruction and burning of churches and monasteries, and the slaughter of citizens [y]. Then these blessed troops of virgins too, known in all things and in merits to God alone, to be venerated by us for ever, following as their head the one Bridegroom of all, Christ our Lord, with one mind strove toward the East, whence they had both earlier received the faith and had then learned that persecution had arisen, desiring to receive the glory prepared for them [z].

[11] St. Pinnosa the chief of all; the virtues of the rest. All are slain at Cologne. Among whom it is asserted that a renowned and distinguished one was the daughter of the king of the Britons, called by them Vinnosa, by ours Pinnosa [aa]: her all the other sisters, linked together in the charity of Christ, followed with equal vow and zeal: of whom we know very few by name, but all by their virtue and piety, being taught by constant experiences. In this array of the Lord, directed in heart and body too toward the most piercing gaze of true wisdom, how great a sagacity of prudence had flourished, what fairness of justice, what truth of temperance, what spirit of fortitude, only those can happily and soberly prove who are happily prepared to imitate them after their manner. For the rest, we glory magnificently in this not only with today's joy but at every season. When the savagery of the lictors met them, they did not merely greet this land of Agrippina Colonia as guests in passing; but, crowned here with the victory of martyrdom, they adorned it as their own by remaining, through the shedding of their holy blood [bb]: and in their precious bodies they have bestowed on us as much patronage as so many thousands, worthily supplicating, can obtain of remedy from the mercy of our Redeemer, the only-begotten of God the Father, who, as the bands of holy virgins follow Him whithersoever He goes, both kindly inspires the affection of praying for us and mercifully grants the affection. Who with God His Father Himself and the Holy Spirit, the charity of both, one almighty God, lives and reigns for ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

resisted the will of the emperor: "For he" (namely the emperor), Marcellinus adds Res gestae, book XV, chap. 7, "always hostile to Athanasius, although he knew that it had been accomplished" (by the synod), "yet strove with ardent desire that it should be confirmed also by the authority by which THE BISHOPS OF THE ETERNAL CITY ARE THE MORE POWERFUL." That at the end of the second century or the beginning of the fourth the pilgrimage to Jerusalem had long been in use is certain; that to Rome, most probable.

p. On the expression "known to God," cf. below annotation b to chapter 1 of the Passion Regnante Domino.

r. Cf. on this passage the Preliminary Commentary, num. 17 and 279.

s. The "two-horned Rhine" is taken from Virgil Aeneid, book VIII, verse 727; on which passage Servius: "Either because it is common to all rivers (for the poets attribute horns to streams), or because it flows in a double bed: one, where the empire of the Romans is; the other, where it flows among the barbarians and makes the island of the Batavians." One horn was the Waal, receiving also the waters of the Meuse; the other the Rhine properly so called, and formerly the more important bed. But in the year 839, through the flooding of almost the whole of Holland, it came about that this bed was blocked and the Batavian island ceased, until in the year 1804 a new canal was opened [Cf. Schayes, les Pays-Bas avant et durant la domination romaine, vol. II, page 348]. From this passage and from many others gather that this Sermon is older than the year 839.

t. This passage is excerpted from the Venerable Bede, who finished his Ecclesiastical History in the year 731 and four years later his most holy manner of life here on earth. Cf. the Preliminary Commentary, num. 16.

u. These things are taken from the Catalogue of the Supreme Pontiffs written under Felix IV. Cf. the Preliminary Commentary, num. 17.

x. No Catalogues now surviving, so far as I know, have ten days; but twenty-four or five. For the rest, very many lack the very name of Marcellinus and differ greatly among themselves about the time of his sitting. Now most lay down that he sat from the 30th of June of the year 296 to the 24th of October 304, namely eight years, three months, twenty-four days.

y. These things are taken from the Venerable Bede, for whom St. Gildas had lighted the way, and somewhat amplified. The Venerable Bede had written Eccl. Hist. book I, chap. 6, in Migne, Patrologia, vol. XCV, col. 52: "Diocletian in the East, Maximian Herculius in the West, in the tenth place after Nero, ordered the churches to be laid waste and the Christians to be afflicted and killed (A. 304): which persecution was more lasting and more monstrous than almost all those before; for it was carried on unceasingly for ten years by the burning of churches, the proscription of the innocent, the slaughter of martyrs. Finally it then exalted Britain too with very much glory of confession devoted to God." This he then demonstrates by the martyrdoms of SS. Alban, Aaron and Julius and very many others of both sexes; "who, tortured with various torments and torn with unheard-of rending of their limbs, sent their souls, the contest completed, to the joys of the city above." Whether there were then monasteries in Britain, as the author of the Sermon hints, may be doubted; certainly that there were then in other parts has been shown in many places in volume VIII of October and also in the present one, namely in the Commentaries on St. Hilarion and on St. Malchus.

z. In the Preliminary Commentary we thought that we should depart at this point from the author of the Sermon, who for the rest discourses from conjecture rather than from firm tradition; and we referred the martyrdom of the holy virgins to the times of the war of Attila, namely to the year 451.

aa. Of St. Vinnosa, as the Britons called her, and St. Pinnosa, as the people of Cologne pronounced the name, a few things have been said in the Preliminary Commentary, num. 261. In the Passion Regnante Domino, num. 8, she is called the daughter of a certain very great duke and second after Ursula, as it were mistress of the virginal army. In the manuscript breviary of the collegiate church of the Holy Apostles of Cologne, the daughter of duke Maximus; which Maximus everyone sees was fashioned from the adjective maximus. But more in the Posthumous Glory, where we shall speak of the elevations of the relics and give the Ursuline calendar.

bb. A notable passage by which it is established that the holy virgins were slain at Cologne. Cf. the Preliminary Commentary, §22.

* add est

* pervenerunt?

* virtutibus

* mora

PASSION

Of the holy eleven thousand virgins.

Ursula, virgin and martyr, at Cologne Agrippina. (S.)

XI thousand virgins and martyrs, at Cologne Agrippina. BHL Number: 8428, 8429, 8430

BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR.

CHAPTER ONE.

The birth of St. Ursula and the marriage proposed.

The praise of St. Ursula's father. While our Lord Christ Jesus reigned, when, after His passion, ascension and resurrection, all the ends of the earth had been converted to God, and no corner of the Ocean hid itself from the heat of His faith, in the gathering of the peoples together, and of kings, to serve the Lord: ^b there was in the parts of Britain a certain man, Deonotus as much in life as in name , who, religious in all the ceremonies of the catholic profession, so knew how to rule over men as not to forget what subjection he owed to his Creator; so to exact tribute from his subjects as always to remember that he owed to his heavenly King that which he had been made by Him. When, then, under the yoke of Christ, under which he had served blamelessly, he was ruling others blamelessly and most justly, in the blessing of the seed of Abraham he took a wife suitable to himself as much in nobility of birth as in the beauty of virtues: but as the justice of God begins here in the vessels of wrath that are to be struck with a double destruction, so as to destroy them irreparably in the judgment; so His mercy, for the most part, grants to those who love Him even in this world to have a foretaste of the riches of His goodness, so that they may learn to await with patience that unspeakable glory which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man.

[2] The birth of St. Ursula, the meaning of her name, her upbringing. And so, when with the highest hope of both parents a child of the male sex was awaited, to be the successor of their earthly kingdom, the provident mercy of God, which knows how even to exceed vows, gave them then a female offspring: who with more than manly spirit should go before them to the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom, and, when they followed, should prepare for them good things that would remain without end. To her, therefore, because after the example of David she was one day to strangle a monstrous bear, namely the devil, by God's disposing (who calls those whom He predestines), the prophetic name of Ursula ^c was given her by her parents in baptism. And when, brought up with royal state, as befitted a royal child, she was advancing in natural growth, she began to outstrip the tender years of her age by maturity of conduct, and, the world being already then worthless to her, imbued with the precepts of the Gospel, she meditated day and night on the law of the Lord; and because she sighed with heart and soul for the spiritual bridal chamber of her Bridegroom, all her adornment and glory was not from without, but from within, so that it was then already clearly given to all to perceive that that supreme Artist wished to polish this pearl for some great adornment of the Church, as if He had already then said to her openly: "Hearken, O daughter, and incline thy ear, for the king hath desired thy beauty."

[3] The marriage of St. Ursula is sought; Besides these and other gifts of spiritual grace, she was also of incomparable form and wonderful beauty, and glorious in the eyes of all; but the virgin, thinking only on the things that were the Lord's, loved this in herself the less because she knew it did not much please the eyes of her Bridegroom. When the fame of so great a disposition of the most noble virgin had spread far and wide, it reached the ears of a certain heathen tyrant, who, exceedingly powerful in strength, gloried in his military might and reigned the more widely with barbarous ferocity; who, since he wished greatly to provide for royal magnificence, began to reckon with himself that his kingdom would be extended, his name and the glory of his prosperity ennobled, if it should befall his son * ^d to be joined in marriage to so celebrated a maiden. And so the son, no less headstrong (as one who had already entered the years of puberty), with his father assenting and those who were the heads of the people seconding, appointed envoys to the father of the virgin, sending many precious things; but promising more, he dictated, in the reckoning of the dowry, distinguished cities, tracts of land and stretches of sea, finally the whole kingdom of his father, and whatever delights the world can have or could have. He also put threats, in keeping with the greatness of his name, as it were the finishing hand, so that he might at least extort by terrors what he wanted, if he had made less progress with blandishments and gifts.

[4] she is sought from her wavering father: And they, having received the king's commands, set out, and, having traversed a great journey, came to the father of the virgin, and, leave to speak having been given, carried out most diligently what they had been commanded by their lord, and after blandishments, what they thought most effective, like scorpions, they brought in threats and the terrors of war. But the provident old man, and wholly overflowing with the bowels of charity, began to waver within himself, reckoning it most unworthy to tear away his daughter, cleaving the more closely to the heavenly Bridegroom, resisting, from the embraces of the eternal King, and to subject her to be defiled by barbarous lust. But on the other hand, although he would have been prodigal of his own blood for the catholic religion and zeal for justice (as one to whom to live was Christ, and to die gain), yet because the care of the kingdom was under him, and he despaired of being able to withstand with his own forces so savage a violence of that barbarian, he already seemed to himself to see before his eyes the slaughter of men of every age, cities demolished, matrons and virgins violated, churches burned, holy things profaned, and whatever miseries have at any time befallen the conquered, especially when pagans conquer Christians.

[5] [The father prays to God with St. Ursula, to whom her own martyrdom and that of her congregation is revealed.] Caught, then, at this turning-point of affairs, the pious king ran to the one refuge which then lay open, the divine mercy, as to a tower of strength from the face of the enemy, and, wholly in tears,

poured out, besought help from heaven with unwearied prayers. Meanwhile, when the virgin of the Lord had perceived her father's face troubled, though he dissembled, it could not escape her that she herself was the cause of this disturbance. And so, too anxious for herself, she grieved with her father's anxiety, and soon, flying to her own arms, like holy Judith and Esther for the deliverance of their country, she applied herself all night to fasts and prayers, to obtain the more swiftly what she sought in the ears of her Bridegroom, with whom she was already truly one spirit. And when she had joined night to day, nay nights to days, in vigils and fasts, her limbs failing through the weakness of the human body, while her heart watched in God, she fell asleep for a little, and through a vision she deserved to be fully taught by divine revelation about the whole order of her life, about the number of her fellow-combatants, about the glorious palm of martyrdom, which the outcome of things afterwards proved.

[6] [St. Ursula learns divinely what is to be done; she asks for eleven thousand virgins.] Therefore at the first dawn of the rising day, to relieve her father's sadness (for on that day he was to answer the envoys of the tyrant), she came to him cheerful and, smiling sweetly: "Do not, my father," she said, "waste away any longer in any grief over this matter, but cast thy care upon the Lord, who will not suffer the just to waver for ever. But lest you reckon what I say by my girlish years, know that last night, through a vision, the voice of divine consolation came to me, though His unworthy handmaid, commanding that I should not repel from the hope of marriage the young man who seeks me in marriage, but that I myself, keeping the seal of virginity, should pass over among the unwedded. And the condition of the marriage and the nuptial contract shall be this: that you, father, and the young man who allures me to his love, should seek out ten virgins of early age, most choice both in form and in birth, and assign both to me and to each of these a thousand most honourable virgins, and, triremes having been prepared to the number of us, eleven, a truce of three years be given us for the dedication of our virginity, which being completed, what shall please the Lord shall be done. Nevertheless there is no one who can weaken the unchangeable counsel of divine goodness which He has disposed concerning me."

[7] The bridegroom is ordered to become a Christian; the fleet is prepared. Cheered by these words of his daughter, the father, having summoned the envoys before him, granted what they sought, and set forth the condition, as it were, of the marriage prescribed, which the virgin had demanded; laying down this most carefully, as though for the chief article of the dowry contract, that the young man, reborn in the saving laver, should be instructed in the Lord through the catholic faith in these three years ^e. Having heard these things, the envoys, as though already possessed of their wish, returned eager by a swift journey by the way they had come to their lord, as men about to receive honour, glory and reward for a good embassy: and when they had set forth their commands in order, the father being now most joyful, the young man, for the greatness of his love, exceeded measure in his joy. And so, as happens, when such exultation of the princes was heard, there arose a general rejoicing of the whole kingdom. The condition of the marriage, therefore, having been willingly accepted, the young man began to press his father more ardently that, to satisfy the maiden's desires, he should be initiated at once into the Christian laws through the consecration of baptism. A new levy having been proclaimed also for the new army, freeborn and comely virgins were sought everywhere throughout the kingdom, and, brought to the palace, they received womanly adornment in accordance with royal magnificence. Nor was the building of the ships carried out at less expense, and with equal diligence on the part of both kings: for some cut timber in the forests; others carry it to the shore; others make keels; others thwarts; others fit planks together with fine joining; others prepare this adornment, others that, of gold, silver, bronze, colours and carvings: and each busying himself according to his art and office, the work everywhere was in a ferment of rivalry.

ANNOTATIONS.

The question is most difficult whether that name is common or proper. That it should be held as common these things suggest: first, in a certain Passion of St. Ursula, found in an ancient codex of Gladbach and composed according to the Passion Regnante Domino and the Revelations of St. Elizabeth, with the beginning "There was in very ancient time," the name Deonotus is explained by this periphrasis: "A certain king, the knowledge of whose name worldly antiquity has hidden." And indeed it is certain that anonymous persons were formerly called Deonoti; let the following passage of Goscelin on the translation of St. Augustine of Canterbury at the end of the eleventh century be witness Acta SS. vol. VI of May, page 417: "Instead of the known patron Laurence whom we were seeking (for not only the body of St. Augustine was sought, but those also of the other holy bishops and men of Canterbury), we found an unknown companion: and our joy grows doubled, since we have both; who he is we do not know: except that we suppose that he was among the intimate pledges of father Augustine, who deserved to be buried with him in such a place. But since we have lost his ancient name, we have faithfully imposed on him a new one familiar to us, so that until the day of revelation he may be called by us St. Deonotus." In the Sermon on the Feast the same expression occurs rather often: in num. 9 is read "Britain, the mother of this multitude known to God"; in num. 10 "the blessed troops, known in all things and in merits to God alone, to be venerated by us for ever," etc.; so that this manner of speaking was used equally in England and in Germany. Moreover, in Italy too similar formulas were in use. Prudentius sang these things of what he had seen in the catacombs at Rome Peristephanon, Hymn XI, on St. Hippolytus:

That there sixty remains of men buried under one mass I have learned, of men, Whose names Christ alone has known.

And on the marble tablets on which Pope Paul I had inscribed the saints whom a little before the year 761 he transferred from the catacombs, the expression rather often occurs: "Whose names God knows." Secondly, in the most ancient copy of the Passion Regnante Domino, marked in the Burgundian or Royal Library of Brussels num. 7984, is written not Deonotus but Dno notus, that is, Domino notus. Thirdly, in the copy which Sigebert used at the beginning of the twelfth century or the end of the eleventh, the word Deo was omitted; whence Miraeus, who published the autograph of Sigebert, has in his edition of that Chronicle concerning St. Ursula In Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae, vol. VI, page 310: "Who was the only daughter of Nothus, the most noble and wealthy prince of the Britons." Fourthly, St. Elizabeth of Schönau and Blessed Hermann of Steinfeld seem to have held Deonotus in the place of a common noun; he, namely, at num. 2 is content in place of Deonotus to write: "Moreover a certain king was born of Lesser Britain, noble and religious"; but she, as she seemed to herself to have the gift of divining names, omitted Deonotus entirely, but, St. Verena revealing it, wrote at num. 7: "The father of Blessed Ursula, king of Scottish Britain, Maurus by name, a faithful man." The arguments are probable, yet not certain; but it is not worth while to call them into examination. But on the other side it is suggested that the father of St. Ursula was in fact called Deonotus, or rather Dionotus, by the fact that I will not say the authority, but the agreement of Geoffrey of Monmouth with the Passion Regnante Domino points that way. For, as I have said more fully elsewhere, although the credit of Geoffrey alone totters, yet where he agrees with the Cologne tradition that writer is by no means to be neglected. For whence would the same opinion about circumstances of this kind have arisen among the writers of both nations, unless the truth had persisted on both sides from the beginning? For truth alone is one, error infinitely various. Moreover, Dinoot or Dinooth was formerly a name in use among the Britons; which is perspicuous even from the name alone of the abbot of Bangor, who disputed with St. Augustine at Augustine's Oak about Easter Ven. Bede, Eccl. Hist. book II, chap. 2, in Migne, Patrol. vol. XCV, col. 83; and it was natural that Dinotus, whose meaning was unknown to the people of Cologne, should be bent into Deonotus. Let the reader choose whichever opinion pleases him. Sigebert In Pertz, Monum. Germaniae, vol. VI, page 310, as I was pointing out above, had a copy in which was read not Deo notus but simply Nothus or Notus; whence it is no wonder if this curtailed form is found in the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine and elsewhere too. Among the inscriptions found, or rather fabricated, in the time of the abbot Harbern, the following is read: "St. Notus, martyr and king of the Scots, and his wife Sara were slain in the same place": which seem to have been devised according to a copy similar to Sigebert's. Of the name of Maurus it will be spoken at the Revelations of St. Elizabeth.

Of the names of animals taken by the first Christians Cancellieri disputes at length [Dissertazione epistolare sopra due iscrizioni delle martiri Simplicia, madre di Orsa, e di un'altra Orsa, page 8 and following]; they will have it that this was done for the sake of humility. For my part I would not wish anything taken away from the praise of those who were called Agnella, Agnus, Aper, Aquila, Basiliscus, Bos, Buteo, Capella, Caper, Castoreus, Catulus, Columba, Columbanus, Corvus, Corvinus, Delphinus, Draconius, Felicula, Galba, Gallus, Hippasus, Leo, Leporinus, Lupercus, Luperculus, Lupus, Merula, Muraena, Musca, Ovidius, Porcus, Suillus, Taurus, Taurinus, Tigris, Ursus, Ursicinus and Ursa; provided, however, that it be granted to the truth that the heathen were not deterred by this humility. Here is a specimen which Cancellieri brought forward from the Barberini papers Ibid. page 12:

D. M.

VOCONIÆ

VRSVLÆ

Q. CÆCILIVS

SECVNDINVS

VXOR

To these add from Gerbert Hist. Silvae Nigrae, vol. I, page 8, note a: "Not infrequent among the Romans, and also in our Germany, was the name Ursulus. Ausonius inscribes his eighteenth letter to Ursolus, grammarian of the Treveri under Valentinian I. Schoepflin in the Alsatia illustrata Vol. I, plate VII, num. 8 exhibits a fragment of a stone column which I. O. M. AVGVST. VRSVLVS TAVG. set up, and notes from Gruter and Muratori, num. 473, M. Aurelius VRSVLMM, beneficiarius of the consul, who set up a votive altar to the same Jupiter Best and Greatest and to the genius of the place near Cologne Agrippina in the consulship of Tuscus for the second time and Dexter, in the year of Christ 225: on a stone of Narbonne likewise Valerius Ursus, elsewhere URSULUS Junianus; in Dacia, again, that Lupula set up a monument to her brother VRSVLVS, which is believed by some (little learned) to be Christian, because the stone is dedicated D. O. M." No less known at Rome was the name Ursula: for from the cemetery of Callistus this stone was dug out Muratori, Inscriptiones, page MCMLXI, num. 7

VRSVLA ACCEPTA SIS

IN CHRISTO

On the same matter see Gruter Inscriptiones, page 9, Schoepflin Alsatia illustrata, vol. I, page 473 and Hontheim Prodromus Historiae Trevirensis, vol. I, page 13. And from the fact that Ursula is a Latin

name, and Dinoot a British one, it can by no means be concluded from this that she was not his daughter. In truth the Britons, after the Romans had left their island, gave up taking Latin names; but this was done little by little: besides, St. Ursula was perhaps born before the Romans had altogether given up the occupation of Britain. As to his saying that the name was given in baptism, it is a most ancient custom that names are given, and so changed, when a new life is taken up [Cf. Binterim, Denkwürdigkeiten, vol. I, part I, page 40 and following; Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione, under Battesimo, Comparatico, Confermazione, Nome, Padrino, Vescovo (Ordinazione), etc.]. Who gave the name Blessed Hermann of Steinfeld seemed to himself to have discovered, chap. 8 of book 1.

* in the times of Gratian and Valentinian, in Cornwall C. U.

* who had succeeded his brother Caradoc in the kingdom C. U.

* Conan C. U.

CHAPTER II.

The nautical training of St. Ursula and her companions, and their journeys to Cologne and to Rome.

St. Pinnosa the chief leader after St. Ursula; St. Ursula instructs the virgins. By the harmonious zeal, then, of the two kings, the fleet having been wonderfully completed in accordance with royal magnificence, and the number of most choice virgins divinely disposed having been filled up, among the countless maidens of most noble lineage there shone forth, as much by birth as by virtue, Pinnosa ^a, the daughter of a certain very great duke; who was second after Ursula, as it were mistress of the virginal army; whom her father, as a noble pair, joined to his daughter in a bond of special love. All things, then, having been magnificently completed, on the appointed day the virginal cohorts came together to the queen, and, girded as for a naval contest, awaited the command of her who was to give orders. Then the blessed virgin Ursula, hemmed about by a virginal army, as she had long desired, with cheerful face and spirit first paid the thanksgivings due to God; then she made known ^b the secret of her counsel as to her most faithful fellow-soldiers, and instructed and strengthened them in the observance of divine love with pious exhortations; and the maidenly wedges, hearing most eagerly with pricked-up ears the most salutary admonitions of their queen, and lifting up their hearts with their hands to heaven, as though already sworn by the military oath to Christ, pledged their devotion to all the duties of divine religion, and exhorted one another to this zeal with mutual eagerness, as those who already then had one heart and one soul, and in whose minds, the heavenly sweetness having been tasted beforehand, the world and its glory had become worthless.

[9] The virgins are trained in nautical labours and contests; After this, the signal having been given, since the sea was near, they fly hastily to the ships, and spread out the tackle, and, making for the deep, now with charges, now with dispersals, sometimes they feign flight, sometimes war, and, exercised in every kind of sport, they leave nothing untried that came into their minds; and so, contending in maidenly fashion day by day, sometimes about midday, sometimes at the ninth hour ^c, sometimes the whole day being taken up in sport, they returned toward evening. To a spectacle of this sort, then, the pious king frequently came with the aged fathers and all the chief men of the kingdom: the mixed common people too (as it is always eager for new things), putting aside their serious affairs, applauded the virginal sports. But after daily exercises had fed boldness by assiduity, rowing farther from the shore, when they withdrew the pleasure of the spectacle from the people, and some ships too, scattered by the blasts of the winds, did not return before night, long waiting and satiety with the sports bred disgust in the spectators, and, each going off to his own work, the crowd little by little melted away.

[10] [As the time of the marriage draws near they commend themselves to God more ardently;] When, then, this prelude to martyrdom had been celebrated thus with much delight for three years, and, the betrothal having been arranged, the young man on the appointed wedding day was urging his mind in love of the virgin, Blessed Ursula, although not unbelieving of the divine oracle of the promise, yet anxious through human weakness, admonished her fellow-virgins, whom she had already instructed in the Lord as much by words as by examples, to knock more urgently at the door of divine mercy at such a moment of affairs, lest they should lose the array of chastity under which they had served their heavenly King blamelessly. When, by saying these things, she had as it were added a spur to those already running, the virgins devoted to God, pouring forth in tears with their whole heart, as much for the preserving of each one's own virginity as for that of the queen, began to invoke the help from on high with the most ardent contrition of spirit.

[11] [The wind carries the fleet away into the port of Tile; then they land at Cologne.] But the pious Lord, who is always nigh to all who call upon Him in truth, did not defer such pious vows: but He brought forth a wind out of His treasures, and the fleet, driven on within the space of one day and night, He carried with a favourable course into the port which is called Tile * ^d, the number both of ships and of maidens being entire. And so, having gained the shore which they had longed for, the woman leader of so great a deed, as though she were Mary the prophetess who had escaped Pharaoh's army through the Red Sea, led the singing of a nuptial song of due praise to the heavenly Bridegroom. And since the maidenly army resounded with it not with clamorous noise but with equal harmony of heart, this song of joy reached even to the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth with an odour of sweetness. When, then, they had rested there that night, on the following day, having procured provisions (for there was a market there) ^e, they returned to the ships, and, the anchors having been drawn up, rowing upstream against the current, they at length arrived at that distinguished metropolis of Germany, Cologne, where now their bodies rest in peace.

[12] [An angel commands St. Ursula to make the pilgrimage to Rome and foretells her martyrdom.] When, then, they had disembarked, and after the evening refreshment sleep was creeping over them, wearied by the day's labour, the blessed virgin Ursula, who already pleased God in the profession of angelic chastity, saw in her sleep a man of angelic brightness and authority, who, standing by, first asked whether she was awake. And when the virgin shuddered at him in maidenly fashion at the sudden sight, he, gently restraining her fear, said: "Know, daughter, that what you had greatly desired, under the protection of the God of heaven, with this sweetest fellowship of your sisters, you will reach Rome ^f, and, your vows completed, with the number of your companions entire, you will return here again in peace. Here, then, rest has been predestined for you by God for ever and ever: here you will rest in peace; and because you have fought a good fight, you have finished the course, you have kept the faith, for the rest there remains for you a crown of justice, which, that you may receive it in full from the just Judge, you will give your necks to the persecutor for the good confession of His name, and, having laid down here the corruptible burdens of your bodies, you will arrive at the heavenly bridal chamber with the glory of martyrdom." Having said these things, the man who was speaking vanished.

[13] [Having visited at Rome the thresholds of the holy apostles, St. Ursula returns with the virgins to Cologne.] And she, doubting nothing of an oracle of such authority, as soon as day was restored to the earth, having called together an assembly of the virgins, set forth in the ears of all what she had heard and seen. When these things were heard, there was common exultation, because they had been counted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus; and, having offered sacrifices of praise, they resolved with unanimous deliberation to accomplish this journey with greater haste; desiring, namely, already to be dissolved and to be with Christ, and so as to cause no delay to the divine predestination, sailing with a favourable wind they put in at Basel ^g, and, having made fast their triremes there, they came to Rome by a journey on foot. And there, when for some days, having visited everywhere the various thresholds of the saints, they commended their souls to God, watchful in prayer, and with tears composed their inner attire more zealously, as though now about to proceed to the banqueting-hall of the eternal King, their vows at length completed, they returned to Basel by the way they had come, and, having gone on board the ships, floating down the course of the Rhine with the current, and fortifying themselves with spiritual arms both against the spiritual wickednesses and against all the pressures of persecutions, they at length landed at Cologne.

ANNOTATIONS.

* otherwise Diele, Tiele, Tyle.

CHAPTER III.

The martyrdom of the holy eleven thousand Virgins.

The virgins are slain by the Huns besieging Cologne. There was then ^a present there the barbarous nation of the Huns, which, as the sins of men demanded, had already laid waste with slaughter and burnings the lands both of the Gauls and of Germany and of Italy, so that, cities overthrown, churches burned, scarcely any remains of divine religion were left ^b. The same barbarism, therefore, since at the same time with inborn savagery it was hemming in the city of Cologne also with a close siege, rumour not yet betraying this to those arriving, the virgins, knowing long since the humanity of the inhabitants, went ashore without any suspicion of this kind; and behold the barbarians, after their manner, having explored the matter through very swift scouts, suddenly rushed upon them with a shout, and, having made an irruption like wolves into the folds of the lambs, slew that infinite multitude with inhuman cruelty ^c.

[15] St. Ursula, tempted in vain with blandishments by Attila, is slain with arrows. And when that bestial rage, in its slaughtering, had come to Blessed Ursula, the attendants, moved at the sight of her wonderful beauty, held back hand and mind, and the prince of crimes himself, struck as by a thunderbolt with the heat of lust ^d, laying aside his rigour a little, began to descend to blandishments and words of love. "Truly," he said, "your beauty gives great proof that you are a maiden sprung of freeborn and great parentage," and he swore by his gods ^e, saying that if she had come up earlier to intercede she would have suffered no loss in her company. "But be comforted, beloved, and rejoice in your lot, and do not grieve over the death of your virgins, because

you have been deemed worthy to deserve to have as your husband me, the conqueror of all Europe ^f, before whom even the Roman empire trembles." But the virgin, thinking on the things that are the Lord's, when with the most free indignation of voice and bearing she had blown away such a bridegroom as though the prince of darkness, the barbarous mind, swelling with savage bile, roared like a beast, and, not bearing his repulse, pronounced the sentence of death upon the blessed Virgin, who already desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ; and so the queen of the most white army, transfixed by the stroke of an arrow ^g, fell upon the noble heap of her companions like a heavenly pearl, and, made white with her purple blood as by a second baptism, she passed, crowned with laurel, with so many victorious troops to the heavenly palace, having faithfully filled up those things that were wanting of the sufferings of Christ in her body. Completed, therefore, was that wonderful basket of the Lord, which, lest it should be white only with the lilies of virginity, was set off with as many roses of martyrdom, by which it might glow red more becomingly before the eyes of the Watcher on high.

[16] This triumph of the virgins surpasses the triumphs of the Romans. Let them now deceive and be deceived who, dazed by worldly glory, extol the triumphs of their kings as it were to heaven with infinite praises, writing of this and that insignia of wars, how conquered kings go before the chariot, how infinite herds of captives are driven along, how the victorious soldiers, gleaming in arms of many colours, display each his own military standards, how the generals themselves, seated in golden four-horse chariots, shine in gilded garments. Let them add besides, if they please, a feast day for the city, the gladness of the fathers, the shouting of the common people and the common rejoicing. But if these things are wisely compared with this triumph, they are to be called misery rather than glory; since those men in purple and gold went down to darkness and eternal punishments: but these women, clothed with the robe of immortality, enjoy the vision of the Lord and the fellowship of the angels. Behold, according to the voice of the Lord, the good ground has brought forth fruit, the sixtyfold and likewise the hundredfold, in patience; and they who for an hour went forth and wept, sending their seeds, now coming, have come with exultation carrying their sheaves, nay, having laid down the chaff of their bodies, they have brought into the barns of the Lord the cleansed and well-sifted wheat.

[17] [Cologne, the enemy having been put to flight by a great prodigy, freed from the siege, buries the bodies of the holy virgins.] O what rejoicing was made in heaven on this day, what a meeting of the citizens on high! What exultation of the apostles? What common glory of the martyrs and of the holy virgins glorying in the increase of their order? So that even that blessed Cologne, more blessed by this incomparable treasure, might know how much honour and reverence it would always owe to the most sacred ashes of the virgins, it learned by experience in its own deliverance how precious in the sight of the Lord their death had been, and how magnificently they lived in the council of the saints, whose bodies, perhaps naked, could achieve so much. For when that so bestial rage had been accomplished, as though God had manifestly mixed for those torturers the cup of wrath, of giddiness and of madness, they were given up to a reprobate sense, and they saw as many battle-lines of armed men pursuing them as the bodies of virgins they had slaughtered, before whose onset that savage barbarism, which after its triumphs no longer knew how to flee, did not dare to stand. The enemies of peace, therefore, having been put to flight, an unhoped-for peace was restored to the shut-in citizens; and the people of Cologne, released from long mourning, burst out of the gates, and behold they found everywhere upon the bare ground the unburied corpses of the virgins: nor did the matter much deceive them; since they had long since known there the garments, the dress and the ships of the holy maidens passing through. But because they had easily perceived that the virgins devoted to God had fallen in the contest of martyrdom for the sake of keeping the seal of chastity, and that by the patronage of their merits they themselves had escaped not only death but also the tortures of the barbarians, heavier than any death: with unanimous consent, venerating them not as men but as God in human bodies, they spared neither private nor public expense, while, each for himself busying himself not only with the office of humanity but also with the zeal of most humble veneration, some gathered the torn and scattered limbs of the martyrs, others covered them with garments, others dug the earth, others placed them in sarcophagi; and in a short time, as may be seen there today, the most holy relics of the virgins came to rest in peace, to the eternal glory of the people of Cologne.

[18] A church is erected; which Clematius restores and completes. And from that time, divine religion now growing, not merely a custom but, instead of a custom, a sacred obligation grew up among the citizens, that within the precinct of the virginal burial-place no one up to this day dares to bury the body of any dead person. But after some time had passed, a religious man, Clematius by name, frequently admonished from on high through a vision, and summoned as it were by an embassy of the holy virgins, came from the parts of the East, who, in fulfilment of his vow, completed the church built from its foundations over the most holy ashes in honour of the holy virgins. Praise therefore the Lord, O Cologne, for He hath strengthened the bolts of thy gates, and hath set thy borders in peace, and with so great a pledge promised, hath blessed thy children within thee.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER IV.

The martyrdom of St. Cordula and the revelation made to Blessed Helentrude. ^a

BY EGBERT.

[St. Cordula, hidden through fear of death, on the following day offers herself to death.] Now there was of the same most holy fellowship of virgins a certain one named Cordula, who, while the other virgins were falling in the contest of Christ, alone hid in the hull of a single ship during that same night, and on the morrow, offering herself of her own accord with manly spirit to the death she had fled, followed the triumphal companies with equal glory of martyrdom. But let no one be scandalized at this, as though that blessed virgin had taken anything from her crown by this small fear, since neither Peter denying nor Thomas doubting was cast down from the honour of the apostolate. For by the divine will, for the great profit of the Church, Peter, presuming of himself as a man, and asserting that he would die with his Master, profitably feared the voice of the portress maidservant, who nevertheless afterwards, going even to the cross, did not fear the prince of the city of Rome. Perhaps that blessed virgin too, presuming on the purity of her past life and the constancy of her faith, had some confidence in herself for enduring the passion: and therefore she had to be humbled, so that she might learn to glory not in herself but in God, and, so humbled, she passed more gloriously to the heavenly bridal chamber. So too faithful David, when he said to the Lord, "I have sworn and am determined to keep the judgments of thy justice," soon, as though turned back upon himself, added, saying: "I have been humbled exceedingly": and lest the weak members should despair of salvation if ever at the moment of passion they should grow a little dull through human weakness, the Mediator of God and men Himself, taking on the person of the weak, said: "My soul is sorrowful even unto death. Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me." Behold, He who had power to lay down His life and to take it up asked that the chalice of the passion should pass from Him, nor could the Son ever fail to be heard by the Father: but the Head was speaking for the weak members, whose person He then took upon Himself. Perhaps too that Husbandman on high wished to purge still further the fruit-bearing branch, that it might bear more fruit: just as when the whole people already sees and praises some seal most finely wrought by the zeal of the engraver, the craftsman nevertheless still sees it as imperfect and files it; so that what has already pleased the eyes of others may not displease his own in anything. But who has known the mind of the Lord? and therefore it is superfluous to discuss the hidden judgments of God; the faith being safe, it is permitted without danger not to know, since this is clearly established, and always has been, that the athlete of God was put off for proving, not for rejection.

[20] St. Cordula appears to Helentrude and enjoins the celebration of her feast. When, then, a long series of times had rolled by, the holy Cordula of whom we spoke before appeared in a vision to a certain recluse, then of incomparable life and special merit, Helendrude ^b, and asked her, as though her companion, whether she recognized her. But she, though holy and in mind already near to God, yet still corruptible, and as corruption not bearing incorruption, shuddered at the person of divine beauty and dignity. For the virgin of God was wonderfully clothed beyond all the art of man, and wore on her head a crown interwoven with lilies and roses alternating. The handmaid of God, therefore, recovering her breath from fear, answered that she was unworthy of the recognition of such majesty. "Since I," she said, "am liable to the laws of carnal sin; but you, already taken up into the order of the heavenly ones, are a stranger to all corruption." Then she said: "Know that I was one of the sacred number of the Cologne virgins, who, while they triumphed in the contest of Christ, survived them by one night, and on the following day, desirous of death, offered myself of my own accord to the executioners, and so, dying in Christ, I neither deserted my sisters nor lost the crown of fellowship in martyrdom. And so, while all Cologne now venerates with due devotion the day of their most glorious passing, no remembrance, not even a brief one, is yet made of my name. Coming now, therefore, I lay this on you in obedience, that you announce from me to the nuns who keep devout watch at our bodies that, when they celebrate the triumphal glory of my sisters, on the next following day they should pay some veneration to me also, because it by no means profits them that among all who rest there no reverence should be paid to my name alone." And when she asked about her name, she was bidden by the virgin to look at her forehead, so that she might know without doubt that this had been her name which she should find inscribed there: she obeyed, saw and read, and found written distinctly, with the syllables separated, Cordula.

[21] [The feast of St. Cordula is instituted. Blessed Helentrude makes the monastery of Heerse illustrious by the holiness of her life.] The handmaid of God, therefore, reported the divine oracle to the nuns, and it was believed, and then established, that when the celebration of the holy virgins is held, the following day should be devoted to the praises of St. Cordula ^c. But lest this vision should seem to anyone doubtful, as of less authority, through a mocking dream, let him call to mind that Peter too, sleeping, saw the calling of the Gentiles in a dish, and Paul without doubt heard a man of Macedonia calling him into Illyria, and our patriarchs, namely Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Joseph also, Gideon and Daniel, many

great sacraments of heavenly mysteries; the Magi too were taught while sleeping about changing their return. The very foster-father of the Lord too, Joseph, was admonished by an angel in sleep to flee into Egypt, and, the persecutors of Christ being dead, for fear of Archelaus to withdraw to Nazareth and dwell there. But what need is there of these assertions, since the handmaid of God, to whom this revelation was shown, was of so celebrated a life and so holy a manner of living that she herself is to be held as a most certain testimony of the truth? For there is a place in Saxony, Heerse ^d, and there to this day a glorious congregation of nuns, where that holy woman was born and brought up, and, the course of a most holy life completed, now rests in body in peace, although she spent some part of her last days in the same holiness on the hill on which the city of Iburg is situated. Of her life and holiness there are as many witnesses as there are nuns of Heerse today or have been from that time: and most true ones, as God confirms the words of men. For to this day at her tomb sight is frequently restored to the blind, walking to the lame, the sick are restored to the use of life, and those possessed by unclean spirits are cleansed: and therefore her testimony was fitting, and it is wrong to doubt what the Lord deigned to reveal of a holy woman to a holy woman, of a bride to a bride, of His beloved to His beloved.

[22] Exhortation to inflame the memory and cult of the holy virgins. Let the Jerusalem on high glory, therefore, and that heavenly court, enlarged by so many freeborn citizens, where there is neither bond nor free, male nor female. Let Britain glory, which, though begetting in Adam, is yet fruitful of virginal offspring. Let Germany glory, receiving so many choicest flowers of the Ocean. Let Rome glory, returning the number of virgins which it had received. Let Cologne glory, keeping such a treasure with her. Let that blessed congregation of nuns glory, trusting for perpetual salvation in the patronage of so many holy virgins whom it devoutly serves. Blessed then be the glory of the Lord from the holy place. But you, nuns, keepers of so many heavenly gems, busy yourselves specially with special service, so that if you do not attain to the hundredfold or the sixtyfold fruit, you may at least glean the ears of divine mercy behind their footsteps. Let all of us also in common most humbly implore their most holy patronage, so that, since we neither dare nor are able to aspire to fellowship with them in glory, yet, because in the house of the Father there are many mansions, by the patronage of their merits we may obtain in the heavenly Jerusalem citizenship even of the last lot, through the gift of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and is glorified, God, for ages of ages. Amen. They suffered in the year 238 ^e.

ANNOTATIONS.

Book of the revelations or imaginings of St. Elizabeth of Schönau concerning SS. Ursula and her companions.

Ursula, virgin and martyr, at Cologne Agrippina. (S.)

XI thousand virgins and martyrs, at Cologne Agrippina. BHL Number: 8431

BY ST. ELIZABETH.

Preface of Abbot Egbert to the revelations or imaginings of St. Elizabeth.

Let all who are to read the words of this book know this without doubt, that the discourses of the angel of God ^e, which he is here stated to have had with the handmaid of God Elizabeth, he delivered some entirely in the Latin tongue, others altogether in the German speech, and some he pronounced partly in Latin and partly in words of the German tongue. And I, Egbert, brother of the handmaid of God, drawn by the munificence of God to the monastery of Schönau ^f from Bonn ^g: and first indeed a monk, then by the grace of God called to the abbacy ^h, have written down all these things and the others which are read of her revelations: in such a way that, where they were Latin, I left the words of the angel unchanged: but where they were German, I translated them into Latin as expressly as I could, adding nothing by my own presumption, seeking nothing of human favour, nothing of earthly advantage: God is my witness, to whom all things are naked and open ⁱ.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER ONE.

Revelations concerning St. Verena, Caesarius, Pope Cyriacus and very many bishops.

CHAP. I.

To you ^b who bear pious affections toward the things that are holy, St. Elizabeth, disregarding the tongues of detractors, I, Elizabeth, servant ^c of the handmaids of the Lord who are at Schönau, open the things which have been revealed to me by the grace of God concerning that virginal army of St. Ursula, queen of the Britons ^d, which in the suburb of the city of Cologne suffered martyrdom for the name of Christ in ancient days ^e: for certain men of good repute do not permit me to keep silent about these things, who by long entreaty compelled me, though greatly resisting, to investigate them ^f. I know indeed that those too will take occasion to scourge me with their tongues ^g who oppose the grace of God in me: but I will bear it willingly, because I hope to receive some reward if the honour of so many martyrs receives any increase from the things which the Lord deigns to reveal about them through my labours.

CHAP. II.

[2] When it pleased the Lord to have mercy on His precious martyrs, [she opens what she heard in the year 1156 and afterwards from the mouth of St. Verena, whose body had been brought to Schönau, and first of all concerning her name.] who for a long time had lain without honour under the feet of men and beasts beside the walls of the city of Cologne ^h: it happened that certain men dwelling there came to the place of their martyrdom, and opened many tombs of the holy bodies, and, having taken them thence, transferred them to the religious places that were round about, as had been ordained by the Lord. Now it was the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand one hundred and fifty-six ⁱ when these things began to be done, and the emperor Frederick held the sovereignty of the Roman Empire, while Arnold the Second presided over the pontifical see at Cologne. Then among the rest one precious martyr was found there, in whose burial-place such an inscription was read: "St. Verena,

Virgin and Martyr" ^j. She was translated thence to our place by the hand of our venerable abbot Hildelin ^{k l}, having been given to him by the abbot of Deutz, lord Gerlach ^m, who burned with much pious devotion to collect and honour the bodies of that holy company. While she was being awaited at the entrance of the church by the convent of our brethren, who were to receive her, I, sitting in our cell, before I had heard anything of her coming, received such a testimony of her holiness from the Lord. I came into ecstasy of mind, and I saw on the way by which the sacred bones were being carried something like a most white flame, having the form of a globe, which an exceedingly beautiful Angel went before, having in his hand a smoking censer, and in the other a burning candle. And so together they moved through the air with joyful course right into the church ⁿ. And when on the next day the solemnities of Mass were being celebrated in her veneration, I was in the spirit; and the same virgin appeared to me standing in heavenly brightness, wonderfully crowned and gloriously adorned with the palm of victory. I therefore, addressing her, asked whether her name truly was as had been reported to us ^o, and at the same time I inquired about the name of a certain martyr, whose body had been brought with her without a definite name. And she answered, saying: "My name is as you have heard: yet through error it was almost to have been written otherwise: but I myself prevented the writer: and there came with me Caesarius the martyr: when we entered this place, peace entered with us."

CHAP. III.

[3] Again on the next day, when the divine office was being celebrated of the same martyr, St. Caesarius appears and relates his passion. he himself also appeared to me in great glory, and when I had asked him of what office he had been in the world, and on what occasion he had undergone martyrdom with those virgins, he said: "I was a soldier in the world, the son of the maternal aunt of this sacred virgin, to whom I am now joined. She was very dear to me, and therefore, when she went forth from her land, I accompanied her. And she strengthened me to undergo martyrdom, and I, seeing her constancy in the passion, suffered together with her. Our bones were for a long time separated from each other, and now we have obtained from the Lord that they should be thus joined." By this discourse, therefore, I was led into great doubt. For I supposed, as all think who read the history of the British virgins [p], that that blessed company had travelled abroad without the accompaniment of men [q]. Besides, I learned something else too which nonetheless vehemently weakened this opinion.

CHAP. IV.

[4] At the same time in which the aforesaid two martyrs were found: [At the same time many other bodies were found with inscriptions, about which there was doubt.] there were found among the tombs of the virgins many bodies of holy bishops and of other great men. And in the tombs of each were placed stones having inscriptions written upon them: by which it was discerned who they had been or whence. The principal and most notable of these the aforesaid abbot sent to me from the above-mentioned city; hoping that something could be revealed to me about them through the grace of the Lord, and desiring to be made certain through me whether they were to be believed or not. For he had a suspicion of the finders of the holy bodies: lest perhaps for the sake of gain they had caused those inscriptions to be written fraudulently [r]. And of what sort those inscriptions were, and what was revealed to me about them, I have taken care to set before the eyes of the readers in various places in the present discourse, so that from this it may be perceived how worthily that holy company is to be attended with all honour by the faithful of Christ, which the divine fatherhood has deigned to honour with the accompaniment of such exalted persons.

CHAP. V.

[5] I was for some time thinking over the things that have been said, St. Elizabeth and desiring to receive from the Lord the revelations that were expected of me. And it came about questions St. Verena and is commanded to fast every year; that the festival of the blessed apostles Simon and Jude came round: and while the office of the Mass of these was being celebrated, there came over me a certain affliction of the heart which I was accustomed to suffer when the mysteries of God first began to be revealed to me. And when I had been long wearied [s], I came into ecstasy, and so rested. When, therefore, in my spirit, as is my custom, I was gazing into heaven [t], I saw the aforesaid martyrs proceeding from the place of brightness, in which I am accustomed to see the visions of the saints, far into the lower air: and my faithful guardian, the Angel of the Lord, went before them. Whom I, as I was in the spirit, addressed, saying: "This is of your great kindness, my lords, that you now deign thus to visit me, when I have shown you no service." To this Blessed Verena answered thus: "We have perceived that the desire of your heart has much invited us, and therefore we have come to visit you." Then, asking, I said: "My lady, what does this mean, that in the place of your martyrdom the bodies of bishops too are found buried? and are the superscriptions of the inscriptions to be believed which are found there on certain stones? and who was their writer?" And she said to me: "Long times ago God chose you beforehand for this very thing, that through you He might make manifest the things about us which have been unknown up to now. Therefore do not take it ill that you are pressed by the prayers of certain people to inquire into these things. And let it be enjoined on you that at every time of your life, every year, on the vigil of our passion, you fast on bread and water: or if you cannot fulfil this, cause yourself to be redeemed by the celebration of one Mass, so that the Lord may deign to reveal to you the things which He has disposed to make manifest about us, and that you may deserve to be joined at some time to our fellowship." After this she began to speak these discourses to me with great cheerfulness of countenance, saying.

CHAP. VI.

[6] "When we first began to be gathered together in our homeland, [St. Verena narrates of the bishops who joined them, especially of St. Pantulus of Basel and of the father of St. Ursula.] our sacred fame was spread far and wide, and many flocked together from every side to see us. And it happened, God ordaining it, that some of the bishops of Britain also joined us, and, crossing the sea in our company, came with us as far as Rome [u]. On which journey Blessed Pantulus, bishop of Basel [x], also associated himself with us, and led us as far as Rome. And he became a companion of our passion." His inscription was this: "St. Pantulus, bishop of Basel, who, having received the sacred virgins with joy, led them to Rome: whence, having returned, he came to Cologne; and there he underwent martyrdom with them." After this I objected to her statements what is read in their history, namely that when Blessed Ursula was, as though sporting on the sea according to her custom, with the virgins associated with her, the ships, which the virgins themselves steered, having been taken out to the deep farther than usual, a sudden wind blowing, all the ships were carried away from those borders, and never returned there again. For according to this it is probable that they went on without the accompaniment of men. To this she answered thus: "The father of Blessed Ursula, king of Scottish Britain [z], Maurus by name, a faithful man, was aware of his daughter's will; and he knew what God had ordained concerning her, just as she herself did: and this he disclosed to some whom he held as intimates. And, having taken counsel, he cautiously preordained that his daughter, whom he loved most tenderly, should have with her in her company, on departing, men, whose comfort both she herself and her army needed."

CHAP. VII.

[7] Of the excellent inscriptions, the one which was most notable Likewise she narrates the history of St. Cyriacus, Pope had this form: "Cyriacus, Roman Pope, who received the holy virgins with joy, and, having returned with them to Cologne, underwent martyrdom" [aa]. And another was found beside it, as follows: "St. Vincent, cardinal priest" [bb]. When I had asked Blessed Verena about these, she said: "At the time when we entered the city of Rome, a holy man named Cyriacus presided over the apostolic see: he had entered Rome from our borders, and since he was a prudent and noble man, acceptable to all, he had been raised to the apostolic dignity, and had already ruled the Roman church for a whole year and eleven weeks, and was the nineteenth in the number of the Roman pontiffs; who, when he had heard that we had arrived, rejoiced with all his clergy, and received us with great honour. For he had very many kinswomen among us [cc]. And on the night which was next after our arrival, it was revealed to him by the Lord that, leaving the apostolic see, he would set out with us, and at the same time receive the palm of martyrdom with us. But he kept this revelation hidden with himself: and gave the blessing of sacred baptism to many of our companions who had not yet been reborn in Christ [dd]. And when he had found an opportune time, he made his will manifest, and in the sight of the whole church resigned the office of his dignity [ee], all protesting, especially the cardinals, who reckoned it as madness that he should turn aside as it were after the folly of silly women, not knowing the divine admonition that was urging him. But he remained constantly in his purpose, for love of our virginity. For from his infancy he too had kept unblemished virginity in himself. From that time, therefore, we lost all the favour which we previously had in the sight of the Roman church; and those became cold to us who had previously applauded us. But our venerable father himself, Blessed Cyriacus, did not depart from the city before another, named Anterus, had been substituted for him by his own counsel" [ff].

CHAP. VIII.

[8] After this, when I had examined the Catalogue of the Roman Pontiffs, and she answers the objection drawn from the catalogues of the Roman pontiffs. and had nowhere found the name of St. Cyriacus there, I again asked Blessed Verena, when she presented herself to me one day, why he had not been inscribed among the other Roman prelates: and she said that this had happened from the indignation of the clergy, because he had not been willing to remain to the end in the order of his dignity [gg].

ANNOTATIONS.

the whole convent of maidens was subject to the abbot of the neighbouring men's Schönau.

p. She means the Passion Regnante Domino.

q. When the Sermon on the Feast was written, a good many thought that men too had been mixed in with the band of Virgins. See the Preliminary Commentary, § XXVI.

r. See what has been said of this passage in the Preliminary Commentary, § VI. In that age, not only at Cologne but elsewhere too, there were fraudulent men who made gain out of fabricated relics and inscriptions. Examples are met with everywhere. It must be observed, however, that bishops, abbots and other prelates of the Church rather often appear as the victims of such frauds, never (so far as I know) as their authors.

s. On this Crombach: "The manner of the revelation is described: there went before a palpitation of the heart, and fatigue of the body on account of the commotion of the humours and spirits existing chiefly in the brain: by this the mind was called away from the use of the external senses, so that it might be free for God and for the converse of the saints, who seemed to her present by imaginary vision: there followed rest, the external senses being now lulled, and a light in the intellect different from the species: and the imaginary vision itself." But from this very constitution of the body Amort shows (see above, Preliminary Commentary, num. 33) that visions had in such a state are to be attributed to the powers of imagination, and not to divine illuminations (at least so far as regards the things or species).

t. Writers on mystical matters everywhere observe that this custom of fixing the eyes on heaven or on any other place is a most apt means not so much for perceiving divine illuminations as for straining the powers of the fancy.

u. In the Passion Regnante Domino, much less in the Sermon on the Feast, there is no trace of British bishops as companions. But Blessed Hermann of Steinfeld, who supplied many things which were not full in the Revelations of St. Elizabeth, in book I, chap. 7, designates SS. Wilhelm, Columbanus, Iwanus, Eleutherius and Lothair; most of them names unusual among the Britons.

x. Of St. Pantulus no one had ever heard before the inscription was discovered. D. Berthod wrote of him in our Acts at the 12th day of October, referring here so that his commentary might be reviewed. Further, since all the things that are reported of St. Pantulus rest on a fabricated inscription and on the Revelations of St. Elizabeth, from what I have said plainly enough about the inscriptions and the Revelations it is easy to understand what I think of the deeds of this saint. Here I will only observe that what Berthod related of the destruction of the Raurici cannot stand, laying down that this city, of which St. Pantulus was bishop, was destroyed in the war of Attila. It has been shown in the Preliminary Commentary, § XIX, that the Raurici fell into ruin in the fourth century.

z. From this passage, where the father of Blessed Ursula is called king of Scottish Britain, and from chapter 2 of book I of the Revelations of Blessed Hermann of Steinfeld, where the king is stated to have been born of Lesser Britain, put together with the statements of several ancient geographers, Crombach gathered S. Ursula vindicata, page 233 and following that Ireland was the homeland of St. Ursula. But this tradition does not agree with the Sermon on the Feast, at least two centuries older, where in num. 9 Britain properly so called is plainly designated, nor with Geoffrey of Monmouth, of whom account must also be taken. If one may guess, I would say that the fable of Ireland as the homeland of St. Ursula was born in the Cologne monastery of the Scots, or Irish, of St. Martin, about which I explained some things in the Commentary on St. Eliphius Acta SS. vol. VII of October, page 819 and following. For it is everywhere known that the Scots, Irish and Britons had this in common, that on account of the confusion of the names of their nation they snatched saints from one another. From the same workshop I think arose what now first appears, the name of St. Ursula's father, Maurus. For this is the same as the British or Irish Mor S. Ursula vindicata, page 238 or Mawr [Miorcec de Kerdanet, la Vie des Saints de la Bretagne Armorique, by Albert le Grand, page 633, note 6]; which sounds the same as the Latin Magnus or Maximus; a eulogy granted to some kings of Ireland. And certainly there was reason why this praise should be given to the father of St. Ursula, lest he should seem in any respect inferior to the father of St. Pinnosa, who we see elsewhere was surnamed Maximus. Cf. annotation aa to the Sermon on the Feast. I would not dare, therefore, to give any credit to the renowned Miorcec de Kerdanet Ibid. loc. cit., who relates that the father of St. Ursula was called in British Dinot Mawr, if Mawr is to be held in the place of a proper name.

aa. Of St. Cyriacus, Roman pope, we have said quite enough in the Preliminary Commentary, § XI.

bb. Almost countless writers have written on the origin and dignity of the cardinals; but no one up to now has shown by genuine documents that the appellation of cardinal priest was in use in the middle of the fifth century. From this form a judgment of how much that inscription is worth, and the revelation or explanation of St. Elizabeth concerning it.

cc. Blessed Hermann seemed to himself to have discovered their names, book I, chap. 17.

dd. Blessed Hermann will again give some names, book I, chap. 16.

ee. For several centuries this example (resting on no other foundation than an inscription and untrustworthy revelations) resounded in the schools of jurisprudence, to demonstrate that the Roman pontiffs could abdicate their dignity!

ff. On the ordination of St. Anterus see the Preliminary Commentary, § X. Further, since St. Anterus was ordained at the end of the year 235, at which age baptism was not given to the healthy except on the vigils of Easter and Pentecost, it would follow from this that the eleven thousand Virgins with their retinue stayed at Rome beyond half a year.

gg. How absurd this solution of the difficulty objected is, see in the Preliminary Commentary, num. 111. For it is not a question of the Roman catalogues alone, but of the succession of the Roman pontiffs as it is exhibited in the Eastern as well as the Western Fathers.

CHAPTER II.

St. Elizabeth learns from heaven the praises of SS. James, Maurisius, Foilanus, Aetherius, Marculus, Constantia, Gerasina and Dorotheus.

CHAP. IX.

Again, on another day, when I had asked her about a certain James, [She narrates the Roman journey of St. James of Antioch, his care in writing the inscriptions, and his passion three days after the others.] whose name was found written on his tomb without any addition: she seemed to me in a manner to rejoice over my question, and answered me cheerfully, saying: "There was at that time a certain noble father of venerable life, James, an archbishop, who had set out from our homeland ^a to Antioch, had risen there to the honour of the prelacy, and had ruled that church for seven years. He, when he had heard that Blessed Cyriacus, a man of his own nation, had been raised at Rome to the apostolic dignity, had come to visit him: and, as we were arriving, he had lately gone out of the city: and when this had been indicated to us, a messenger was swiftly sent to call him back, and he was found in a certain castle which was two days' journey distant from Rome. And when he had heard of our arrival, he at once returned to us, and became a companion of our journey and a sharer of our passion at Cologne. He too had some nieces in our Company. He, at the exhortation of Blessed Pope Cyriacus, being a prudent man, had applied great diligence to know the names of our sisters, and for a great part, when they had been slain, he placed them, inscribed on stones, with our bodies. But before he could complete this, he was caught in this work by the impious, and slaughtered in our midst. Hence it is that some of us are found with inscriptions, and some not ^b. And at the very hour of his passion, when he was already about to be struck, he asked of the executioners only this, that his passion should be put off just until he could inscribe his own name on a stone, and it was granted him" ^c. I asked also about the day of his passion, because it was not credible according to this narration that he too had been killed on the same day on which the virgins suffered. To this too she answered thus: "On the third day after the day of our passion he suffered at the hands of the same tyrant who killed Blessed Cordula" ^d.

CHAP. X.

[10] She added also about a certain martyr, whose inscription was "St. Maurisus, bishop," She explains the deeds of St. Maurisius of Lavicum and of St. Foilanus of Lucca; and said: "Blessed Maurisus the bishop also joined us while we were still at Rome. He had been bishop at Lavicana ^e for two years, having his origin too from our homeland, the son of a certain count of the race of great princes, and he was the maternal uncle of two virgins, Babila and Juliana, with whom he was found buried. He was a man of most holy life, and his preaching had great power, and his greatest zeal was that whatever unbeliever, whether Jew or Gentile, came to him should not depart from him until he had washed him with the water of sacred baptism: and so the name Lavicana rightly fitted his office ^f. He brought with him to us Blessed Claudius of Spoleto, whom he himself had ordained deacon, and Focatus, a young layman, his brother, who had not yet been promoted to military service. These two attached themselves to our bishops, and

served them diligently, and underwent martyrdom with them." She said these things because I had inquired about these too, on account of their inscriptions, which I had seen ^g. She also added of her own accord, saying: "All the bishops who were with us on the journey had lodgings separate from us, but on Sundays they were accustomed to come into our midst, strengthening us with the divine word and with the communion of the Lord's sacrament." I had at one time a desire to ask about two bishops, whose inscriptions I had received, having this form: "St. Foilanus, bishop of Lucca, sent by the apostolic see, was slain in this place and killed by the sword, and is buried with these virgins" ^h. Likewise: "St. Simplicius, bishop of Ravenna" ⁱ. And it came about that one day we were keeping the memory of the Blessed Virgin our Lady St. Mary, and she showed me her face according to her accustomed kindness, and when she had exchanged very many words with me, I asked her about the same bishops, and she said: "These two had set out at that time for Cologne, and returning thence they met the sacred army, and so they were associated with the pope and the clergy who were there, and, returning again with them, obtained the palm of martyrdom with them."

CHAP. XI.

[11] I had been asked to investigate the inscription of a certain venerable tomb, [in a most wonderful manner she declares the genuine inscription of St. Aetherius.] which was inscribed in this way: Hic jacet in terris Ætherius, qui vixit annos viginti quinque fideles, in pace recessit [Here lies in earth Aetherius, who lived twenty-five faithful years; he departed in peace] ^k. And there was written beneath in capital letters rex king, and there was a large figure R, and so disposed that two letters could be noted in it, namely P and R: and there were two letters E and X on the left side of the same figure; but on the right side a capital A was written. Likewise on a certain stone found beside it was read written: Demetria regina Demetria, queen. I therefore asked Blessed Verena about these, and at the same time about a certain little girl who was found beside them, having the inscription: Florentina puella Florentina, a girl. And she answered me about all, saying: "Aetherius the king was the bridegroom of St. Ursula the queen, and Demetria was the mother of Aetherius, and Florentina his sister": and she added of her own accord, saying: "I will also tell you what the letter A signifies, which is written beside the king's inscription. Take the same letter A three times, and join to it the three letters X. P. R., and you will have AXPARA: which is the name of a certain duchess who was found near by: she was the daughter of the maternal aunt of Aetherius, and bound to him by a great bond of love: which the writer of the inscription wished to signify when he thus mingled her name with the royal name: it was not fitting that this should be expressed more plainly, because it was to come about that through you all these things should be made manifest" ^l.

CHAP. XII.

[12] While, then, I was wondering within myself over these things, and thinking it altogether incredible, [The Angel narrates to her the history of this Aetherius, bridegroom of St. Ursula.] according to the tenor of the history ^m, that the bridegroom of St. Ursula too had been present at this martyrdom: the Angel of the Lord, who was accustomed to visit me, presented himself to me in his own form one day, and I asked him, saying: "Lord, how did it come about that that young man too, who is read to have betrothed Blessed Ursula, was joined to her in the passion, when it is written that she withdrew herself by flight from marriage with him?" And he said: "When the army of the blessed Virgins was returning from Rome, in the very night in which the journey of the sixth day had been completed ⁿ, King Aetherius, who was dwelling in English Britain, was admonished by the Lord through a vision to exhort his mother Demetria ^o to become a Christian: for his father Agrippinus had departed from life in the first year in which he himself had received the grace of baptism. And at the same time it was announced to him that he was to go forth from his land and come to meet his bride, who was already returning from Rome, and that in the city of Cologne he was to suffer with her and receive from God an unfading crown. He at once, acquiescing in the divine admonition, caused his mother, consenting to his exhortation, to be regenerated in Christ. And taking her with him, and his little sister Florentina, also a Christian [p], he hastened to meet his most blessed bride, and became her companion in the passion and in the heavenly glory." And further I asked, saying: "What is it, Lord, that his inscription says, that he lived twenty-five faithful years, when we have it from the history that he had not yet received the Christian faith when the marriage of him and Blessed Ursula began to be treated, and that he had to be imbued with the catholic faith for three years before the marriage?" And he answered: "Although this was so, yet before he received the Christian faith he had lived so modestly and so innocently according to the state of life which he then led that it seemed to the writer of his inscription that all his years could rightly be called faithful" [q].

CHAP. XIII.

[13] After this, about a certain holy man whose inscription was "St. Clemens, bishop and martyr" [r], I was instructed by Blessed The B. V. M. tells her a few things about St. Clemens the bishop. our Lady one day, when she was speaking to me: that the aforesaid king, going forth from his homeland, had brought him with him.

CHAP. XIV.

[14] When I had inquired about a certain one whose inscription was "St. Marculus, bishop in Greece," [s] [The Angel signifies the affairs of St. Marculus, bishop of Constantinople, and of St. Constantia;] I received such an answer from the Angel: "There was in the city which is called Constantinople a certain king, Dorotheus by name, sprung from Sicily, and the name of his wife was Firmindina, and they had an only daughter called Constantia: and it came about that both parents died while the daughter was still without the comfort of a husband, and not known by a man. Her kinsmen therefore betrothed her as wife to a certain young man, the son of another king; but he too was overtaken by death before the time of the marriage, and she rejoiced at her release, and vowed to God the integrity of her virginity, praying and asking that He would never permit her to be bound to another man. And going to the man of God, the bishop of the aforesaid city, the very one about whom you have asked, who according to the flesh was her maternal uncle, she asked of him counsel about the keeping of her virginity, and most urgently begged that he would be her helper in this: and while he was anxious within himself about these things, it was revealed to him one night through a vision by the Lord concerning St. Ursula and her army of virgins, that they would shortly come to Rome: and it was said to him that, taking his niece Queen Constantia, he should hasten thither and be joined, together with her, to their company. And he believed the revelation of the Lord, and, taking her, who spurned the kingdom and all things that belong to this world for the Lord's sake, he came to Rome, when those of whom he had received the revelation had not yet come there. And when they had arrived not long after, they joined themselves to their fellowship, and, coming with them to Cologne, underwent martyrdom for Christ. And this Constantia is she whom your brother [t] lately brought to this place." To which I answered thus: "Lord, she who was brought here by him, as they say, had this name Firmindina in her inscription: and how do you say that she was called Constantia?" And he said: "Many in ancient times were wont to be surnamed by the names of their parents: so that they were called by two or three names. Whence she too had been surnamed by the name of her mother Firmindina: and from this perhaps it happened that when her inscription had to be written it was written with this name, and her proper name, which was Constantia, was neglected, because the thing was done in haste. The very same thing happened to many others too, that on the same occasion their names were neglected, and others were ascribed to them which were not their own."

CHAP. XV.

[15] An inscription of this kind was sent to me: "St. Gerasina, who led the sacred virgins," [The names of three bodies translated to Schönau are revealed to her, and the affairs of SS. Gerasina and Dorotheus.] about whom I was often and much asked to inquire, because she seemed to have been great and notable, she who was to have been the leader of so great an army. But though I often had the opportunity and the will to inquire, it was not granted me, because the question slipped from my memory; so that I wondered with myself why it so happened. At length, however, it came about that the very man who had asked me to inquire about her sent to us three small holy bodies [u], which had been of the company of the aforesaid virgins; and three days later was the festival of Blessed Andrew the Apostle, and he himself appeared to me during the silences of the Mass, and with him one very glorious martyr and two virgins: and I understood that they were those whose bodies had come to us. I asked Blessed Andrew, therefore, about their names, because they were altogether unknown: and he said to me: "Inquire of them, and they will tell you." When I had done this, one virgin answered and said: "I am called Albina, and this with me is Emerentiana: sisters according to the flesh, we were the daughters of a certain count whose name was Aurelianus: and this martyr who came with us was called Adrian, and he was the son of a king; and when he was ten years old he suffered martyrdom for Christ." And I said: "Lady, how shall we distinguish your bodies, which is of which name?" And she said: "The largest is mine, the smallest my sister's; but the middle one St. Adrian's": I did not add further questions to her. But God put this word in the mouth of two witnesses. Concerning the name of the aforesaid martyr, how and that this was his name, and that he had been the son of a king, it had been revealed through a vision in the preceding night to the same brother through whom the bodies had been brought. After this, when I was thinking about the same martyr and desiring to learn something more certain about him, one night it seemed to me in a vision of a dream as if a book written in golden letters were given me; and I read in it a long discourse about him and his kindred, and how with his sisters he had gone forth from his land, and how with them he underwent martyrdom. And the names of these sisters, which I read there, were these: Babila, Juliana, Aurea and Victoria: but although I seemed to myself to have read everything often and carefully in the same vision, yet I could not retain in memory the order of the matter as it was. But a few days later came the festival of Blessed Nicholas: and when the office of the Mass was being celebrated of him, he appeared to me according to his accustomed kindness, and again with him the three aforesaid martyrs. I asked him, therefore, that something more certain might be indicated to me about St. Adrian: and likewise

it then came into my mind to inquire about St. Gerasina, of whom mention was made before: and he answered me with great benevolence, and said: "St. Gerasina, about whom you ask, was queen of Sicily [x], and was truly of the faithful root of Aaron, and had the spirit of God abundantly: her husband, King Quintianus, when he was at first a most cruel tyrant, she converted, and as it were out of a wolf made a most gentle lamb. He had taken her from Britain, and she was the sister of St. Maurisius the bishop, and of Daria, the mother of St. Ursula the queen. She had three sons and six daughters: and the youngest among them was St. Adrian the martyr, this one about whom you have asked; his elder brother Dorotheus was king of Greece, who was the father of St. Constantia, who has been brought to you. And at the time when Blessed Ursula was secretly treating of her holy purpose, her father, having great anxiety about that business, directed a letter to Blessed Gerasina, and opened to her the will of his daughter, and disclosed to her the revelations which they had received from God, and sought to hear her counsel: because he knew her to be a woman of great knowledge. And she, inspired by divine power, and understanding that the word had gone forth from the Lord, set out on the journey with her four daughters Babila, Juliana, Victoria and Aurea, and her little son Adrian, who out of love for his sisters thrust himself of his own accord into the pilgrimage, and, having left her kingdom in the hands of one son and two daughters, she sailed as far as Britain. By her counsels, therefore, that whole sacred army of virgins was gathered and ordered: and she was the leader of all, in all the ways of their pilgrimage, through the guidance of her counsels, and at the last suffered martyrdom with them." When he had said these things, he perceived that I was greatly wondering within myself at this arrangement; and he said to me: "Rightly do you wonder, because this whole business was wonderfully ordered by divine disposition"; and he added further, saying: "Very precious are the martyrs whom the Lord has sent to you; therefore be devout in showing them honour and service: because their coming is the beginning of great grace."

ANNOTATIONS.

It is not to be doubted that this inscription is genuine (for the same men who brought forth so many other most absurd ones could never in the twelfth century have fashioned it to the ancient form); but it should be written a little otherwise, namely:

HIC. IACET [IN. TERRIS]

AETHERIVS QVI. VIXIT

ANNOS. XXV FIDELES Note: fidelis

IN. PACE RECESSIT

For although at Rome and in other parts of Italy the formula Hic jacet is rare, and in its place is generally said Hic depositus, Hic quiescit, Hic dormit, etc.; yet in some places it was most usual, derived from the Greek Ἐνθαδε κειται. So in the island of Sardinia, as is established from the work of Bonfant on the putative Saints of Sardinia (for they held in the place of bodies of saints all those which they had found in a certain cemetery with the letters B. M. inscribed on the inscription); and not only in the island of Sardinia, but at Trier also, as is established from the inscriptions scattered in Brower's Annals of Trier and repeated by Wiltheim in the Luciliburgensia and by Steiner in the Codex inscriptionum Rheni. Here is one for the sake of a specimen:

HIC. IACET. PERPETVVS

IN. CRISTO. DEO. SUO

BENE. ME RITVS

QVI VI XIT. ANNOS

XXV. LECONTIA

MATER. TITVLVM

POSVIT. IN. PACE

[Here lies Perpetuus, well deserving in Christ his God, who lived 25 years. Lecontia his mother set up the inscription. In peace.]

The addition In terris is rarer; but it is taken from the beginning of a hexameter; for the rest, it may be doubted whether it was written there, since it is not read in Crombach's codex of the inscriptions; in ours it is otherwise. Aetherius, a name, scarcely appears in inscriptions; but it is not on that account unusual; since in the universal index of our work I would find at least six Gallic bishops so called. Qui vixit annos XXV is a most common formula. The word fideles is absent from Crombach's codex of the inscriptions; but it is to be kept, since St. Elizabeth treats of it below. It occurs in other German inscriptions too. Wiltheim in the Luciliburgensia, fig. 68, exhibits this specimen from Trier:

.. IC. REQVIESCET

IN. PACE. FIDELIS. VIGVR

(Columba) (Columba)

LIVS. PSIVS. PATRI PI

entissimo. TITVLVM PRO

SVIT.

And fidelis seems to be the same as a neophyte, who has not yet laid aside the baptismal sheet or robe. Certainly in an anonymous inscription published by Muratori Inscriptiones, page MDCCCLXXXVIII, num. 5, where the word fidelis occurs, a man is represented receiving baptism. Cast your eyes on the following epigraph.

INNOCENTI SPO Note: Spiritui QVEM

ELEGIT. DOMS Note: Dominus PAVSAT

IN PACE

FIDELIS

X KAL SEPT

SEPTEMBER

[To an innocent spirit whom the Lord chose. He rests in peace, faithful. On the 10th day before the Kalends of September. September.]

In the empty space here may be seen on the stone a neophyte standing with his feet in a low bath, and drenched with water which is poured out by the Holy Spirit, appearing in the form of a dove above his head; on the right stands a bishop, on the left a godfather. But elsewhere I have tried to discourse somewhat on the meaning of the word fidelis [Explication de deux épigraphes chrétiennes trouvées, l'une à Sétif et l'autre à Tiharet, en Algérie, ou détermination de l'ère de la province en Mauritanie, in the collection Précis historiques, 1854, page 478 and following], and indeed by its help I established the era of the province of Mauretania. But truly, if Aetherius was slain by the Huns with St. Ursula in the month of October of the year 451, how could he have received baptism a very few days before, which was usually conferred only on the vigils of Easter and Pentecost? To this there is no other answer than that baptism was conferred when the Huns were approaching: and indeed it can be shown by many examples that departure was made from the ordinary discipline when sudden calamities were rushing upon them Cf. St. Augustine, Sermon XX, class I, vol. V of the Works, col. 105. Of the form fideles in place of fidelis it will be spoken below. Moreover, what is added, In pace recessit, is by no means rare. I bring out an obvious example from Boldetti Osservazioni sopra i cimiteri de' SS. Martiri, vol. II, page 397:

RECESSIT SABBATIA IN SOMNO

PACIS. P. M. XXVIIII

that is: "She lived more or less twenty-nine years"; and this other from Flórez España sagrada, vol. XIV, page 114:

IVLIANVS FAMVLVS XPI. EPISCOPVS

ECCLESIAE EBORENSIS H. [Note: ] [hic] SITVS EST

VIXIT ANN. PLVS. MIN. LXX. REC. IN

PACE KAL. DECE. ERA DCIIII

[Julian, servant of Christ, bishop of the church of Évora, is laid here; he lived seventy years more or less; he departed in peace on the Kalends of December, in the era 604]

that is, in the year of Christ 566. I come now to the monogram of Christ. As Crombach testifies S. Ursula vindicata, page 734, in the autograph Deutz codex of the inscriptions the figure carved on the stone was not painted; but it was written: "On the inscription of St. Aetherius the king there seem to be described a crown, a cross and certain other royal signs, which we, passing over, have set down the writing alone." In the autograph codex of Egbert, brother of St. Elizabeth, in which he had written down his sister's revelations in Latin, the figure set beside the inscription was likewise not represented, as Crombach again testifies Ibid. loc. cit.. Whence it is manifest that the figures which Crombach found in the Würzburg codex of Hermann Mylius and in the Liège codex of P. Robert, and copied thence, are by no means to be held trustworthy, but were devised by the fancy of copyists interpreting the words of St. Elizabeth and set in the margin. For the rest, the vast difference which appears between the two is an argument that they are a fabrication of copyists. Here, in the first place, is the Würzburg one, and beside it the Liège one:

But neither can be admitted. In the first place, the crown is omitted, which is often drawn round the monogram of Christ and is expressly mentioned in the Deutz Catalogue of the inscriptions. But it is better to cast our eyes again upon the monogram placed above, which we have thought should be represented here anew:

Its elements we have taken partly from an inscription of Salona, partly from Roman ones. The monogram inscribed on the sixth of the Christian inscriptions of Salona [Marmora Salonitana, illustrated by Zaccaria, in Farlati, after vol. II of the Illyricum Sacrum, page XL] gave the figure of the Greek letter rho P in the form of a Latin R; two inscriptions found in the cemetery of St. Agnes at Rome Boldetti, Osservazioni, pages 344 and 352 exhibited the monogram set upon a cross: it is easy to detect there "a large figure R, and so disposed that two letters could be noted in it, namely P and R"; the capital A on the right side, and on the left a German E lying down, fashioned from ω (for so Wiltheim found omega everywhere depicted on the monuments of Trier Cf. Luciliburgensia, figs. 49, 53, 67, 68, 71, 72, 74), present no difficulty; that X too is said to have been placed on the left side is not plain: but who would wonder that there was some error in indicating the position of one letter? It stands

firm, therefore, the censure of Brower Annales Trevirenses, vol. I, pages 289 and 593, hissing off the revelations of St. Elizabeth in these words: "Written beneath, REX; and there was a large figure R …; at the left side E and X, at the right a capital A. Soon in a vision she learns that this Aetherius was the bridegroom of Blessed Ursula, and other things not fit to be repeated here. From which it is certainly understood that the image of an inscription very common among the ancient Christians, the rite of resting or departing in peace, the symbol of the name of Christ, a thing so clear and certain, escaped the virgin's knowledge and had some hiding-place of obscurity." Finally it is to be noted that from this stone it is confirmed that the most holy band, if indeed St. Aetherius was part of it, did not endure death in the year 237 or 238. For in this age the monogram of Christ was not yet in use, having at length been introduced after Licinius was overcome in the year 312. Of this matter I have disputed at length elsewhere, trying to demonstrate that it is not established by any genuine monuments that the chrismon, or monogram of Christ, was in use before the age of Constantine, but that all the historical and archaeological elements tend to this, that it must be said that only then did it begin to be used somewhat frequently. Afterwards there was published the excellent commentary of the renowned Giovanni Battista de Rossi on Christian monuments exhibiting the ΙΧΘΥΝ In D. Pitra, Spicilegium Solesmense, vol. III, page 545 and following, in which this is to be read about the monogram of Christ, which he had said was not of ancient time Ibid. page 552: "For whatever very many men, and those most learned, have written on this matter, I certainly have not yet been able to find any Christian monument which has proved itself to me with even moderate credibility, and which has undoubtedly demonstrated that the monogram [ ] was carved or painted by Christians before Constantine. Nevertheless I am not one who would think that a monogram of this kind either had not yet been devised by Christians before that time, or that it had been forbidden by law or custom that it should be carved even once on their monuments: wherefore I certainly cannot deny that some monuments ennobled with this sign of Christ were made before the year 312, in which Constantine won the victory under the guidance and auspices of this sign; and if somewhat more certain arguments were available I would affirm it of my own accord. Meanwhile, while I lack these arguments, and the question must be settled by conjectures, I lay down this alone, which the monuments themselves have openly taught me, that the use of this monogram in the second and the beginning of the third century of the Church was either none at all or certainly very rare, at the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth easily some, perhaps even not infrequent, and at length most common and altogether customary from the year of the Constantinian victory, 312." Which he prudently concludes by urging that no one should presume to raise the age of inscriptions marked with the monogram [ ] above the year 312.

p. In the number immediately preceding St. Elizabeth spoke of the inscription of St. Florentina. Her arm, enclosed in silver, is preserved in the Cologne church of St. Cordula.

Here again we have wonders. Who does not know that everywhere in the Roman empire, especially in Gaul, it was a most common barbarism by which short i was changed into e? Thus on the funerary monuments of Trier Steiner, Codex inscriptionum Rheni, vol. II, page 87 and following, even of pagans, which are generally of better note, tetulus is more often read than titulus, menus occurs for minus, dulcesime for dulcissimae, and other things of that kind: but why do I report these things, when a Christian inscription is found among them on which the word fideles is inscribed in place of fidelis? Here it is Ibid. page 103, num. 841:

HIC. IN. PACE. QVIESCIT

DIGNISSIMA. FIDELES

QVA [Note: ] [quæ] . VIXIT. AN. I. M. VIII. D. V

DIGNANTIVS. ET. MEROPIA

PATRIS Note: parentes TITVLVM

POSVERVNT

(Columba) IN. PACE

[Here rests in peace Dignissima, faithful, who lived 1 year, 8 months, 5 days. Dignantius and Meropia, her parents, set up the inscription. (Dove) In peace.]

Above, in annotation k, we said that by the word fidelis a neophyte is more probably signified: but what is said here about the faithful years which St. Aetherius the king lived is worthy of a black pebble, and of no other animadversion.

r. The body of this St. Clemens rests at Cologne at the Maccabees; part of the head formerly with the Crosier Friars of Cologne; some relics were carried to Lisbon.

s. This whole number excites astonishment. When the fabricated inscription "St. Marculus, bishop in Greece" had been offered to St. Elizabeth, and she perhaps knew no other city in Greece (from which in the Middle Ages the common people did not distinguish Thrace) except Constantinople, she seemed to herself to understand that he had been bishop of Constantinople, although in the year 238, in which the mistress of Schönau believed St. Ursula suffered, Constantinople had not yet been founded, but old Byzantium still continued. Dorotheus, king of Constantinople, and that sprung from Sicily, is an unheard-of monster; for in the year after the birth of Christ 46 the emperor Claudius Cf. Tillemont, Mémoires, Empereurs, Claude, art. XIV, vol. I, page 92, or certainly in 73 Vespasian Ibid. Vespasien, art. XIV, and note XI, vol. II, pages 14 and 200, reduced Thrace to a province, its kings having been removed. And as if this fictitious king of Thrace were not enough, a little later is added the son of another neighbouring king, although all the neighbouring kingdoms had long since ceased.

t. Namely Egbert: of whom in the Annotations to the Preface of this book.

u. These three bodies were still preserved at Schönau in the seventeenth century.

x. Sicily, reduced to a province for several centuries already, had neither kings nor queens.

CHAPTER III.

Very many things are made manifest concerning the martyrdom and glory of the holy virgins.

CHAP. XVI.

On a certain occasion, when St. Verena had presented herself to be seen by me, St. Verena indicates the authors of the Ursuline slaughter, I inquired of her, as had been suggested to me by a certain Brother, who had been the author of the martyrdom of that blessed army ^a: for according to the consideration of the narration which was made in what precedes about the aforesaid pope, by no means, as some reckon, was Attila, king of the Huns, the author of that persecution, but his persecution followed after a space of many years. To which question she answered thus: "When we were at Rome, there were there at that time two wicked princes, whose names were Maximus and Africanus; who, seeing that our multitude was great, and that many flocked to us and associated themselves with us, were vehemently indignant against us, and feared lest perhaps through us the Christian religion should grow and be greatly strengthened. Whence, when they had explored our route by which we were to go, they sent envoys in haste to a certain kinsman of theirs named Julius, who was prince of the nation of the Huns, exhorting him to lead out his army and bring persecution upon us and destroy us. He, quickly acquiescing in their will, going forth with an armed multitude, rushed upon us when we had come to Cologne: and there he shed our blood."

CHAP. XVII.

[17] But neither must this be passed over, that when I had asked her about the body of Blessed Ursula herself, and that the body of St. Ursula had not yet been raised she said: "Her body has never been raised above the earth except in these days: and truly it is there where her superscription is kept" ^b. [I made inquiry also about the head of St. Verena herself, and said to her: "Behold, Lady, your body is laid up with us, but what shall we do about your venerable head, which is altogether lacking to us? Show us, I beseech you, where it is, so that we may try to seek it and join it to your body." And she answered me: "It is in the place which is called Cluinstat, and it is little esteemed; but I would rather it were where the veneration of my body is."]

CHAP. XVIII.

[18] And to this she added, saying: "That our bodies have thus been made manifest in these days, our prayers have obtained from the Lord, and that at some time the whole company of St. Ursula would be made manifest. who no longer wishes to bear our groans, which we had because we were so negligently hidden: and nothing worthy of praise was shown to the Lord on our behalf. But it is yet to come about before the last day that our whole army shall be made manifest." But since [c I had learned by the revelation of Blessed Verena that St. James, bishop of Antioch, had put inscriptions on the tombs of the holy Virgins, a doubt arose with me, and with certain people who conferred with me about this, how it could be that, since he suffered on the third day after them, as the aforesaid narration has it, he could have written the inscriptions of so many virgins and other martyrs in so short a space: for I have heard that a great heap of them is reserved in a certain sacred place. And it came about one day, when we were holding the solemn office of the holy Virgins themselves, that some of them appeared to me, about twelve, and one went before them, who excelled all the rest by a certain wonderful and notable beauty. For she indeed was Verena herself: when, therefore, I had asked her to free me from the aforesaid doubt, she gave me such an answer: "Not only did Bishop James write our inscriptions; but very many clerics with him. For he had chosen eleven clerics for this work, and had set one over each thousand of virgins, and had committed to them the care of writing down their names. They, therefore, with the helpers whom each had taken to himself, wrote the names which are found there, and placed them with our tombs. And some names which were unknown to them they learned through Blessed James, who had carefully noted them, and some were made manifest to them by divine revelation: very many also were altogether neglected."]

CHAP. XIX.

[19] These words of the revelations of the Lord I received, not indeed by my own justifications, On the feast of St. Ursula St. Elizabeth sees the whole sisterhood. but by the obtaining merits of the holy Virgin Martyrs of Christ, through various festivals of the Saints, as it pleased the Lord; and within the space of one year and a little more it was completed ^d. And it came about, when almost all these discourses had been completed, that the feast day of the passion of the same holy eleven thousand Virgins arrived; and while I was present at the divine office, the Gospel lesson having been read through, I came into my ecstasy in the accustomed manner, and I saw in the region of light, whose aspect is continually before the eyes of my mind, a copious multitude of noble-looking virgins crowned as it were with purest gold, and in their hands the likeness of palms very brightly gleaming. Their garments appeared white and glittering, in the likeness of

snow when it is lit by the splendours of the sun, and on their foreheads a blood-red flush, in testimony of the gore which they shed in their holy confession. There appeared with them also very many glorious men, with the same signs: among whom many too shone forth, distinguished with pontifical adornment. And I had a desire still to ask about them; but on account of their multitude I did not know which of them I could address: and at once two of them, very distinguished, coming forward out of the company of the others, stood gradually before the others, looking toward me. And I understood that this had been done on my account; and I addressed them, saying: "I pray, my ladies, that you deign to indicate to me who you are, and what are your names": and one of them said: "I am Ursula, and this sister who stands with me is Verena, the daughter of my paternal uncle, a certain great prince": and I say to her who was speaking with me: "I beseech you, most holy Lady, that, since so many things about you have been revealed by the grace of God to me, an unworthy sinner, you would now deign to complete the matter, and be willing to free me concerning the manner of your burial: who were those who, at the time of so great a persecution, so diligently arranged the sacred bones and showed you such honourable burials?" To this she answered me thus:

CHAP. XX.

[20] "There was at Cologne at that time a certain holy bishop, She learns that St. Aquilinus took care of their burial. full of the Holy Spirit, who was ruling the church there fourth after Blessed Maternus, named Aquilinus ^e. He, when we were about to return from Rome and were already preparing ourselves for the return, saw, God showing it to him, our whole multitude, and perceived the whole order of our passion which we were to undergo. He heard also a voice telling him to be prepared to bury our bodies, and to procure in haste all things that would be necessary for our burial. And while he was anxious about these things, there came to him those two bishops about whom you have already heard something, namely the one of Lucca ^f and the one of Ravenna, and they related to him how it had been revealed to them by God through a vision that they would undergo martyrdom in that place; but they confessed that they were still uncertain how, or on what occasion, it was to come about. And he who in his inscription was said to have been sent by the apostolic see had received counsel about his journey from the bishop of the apostolic see before we had arrived. And when they too had heard from the aforesaid bishop of Cologne his vision which he had seen about us, returning again by the way by which they had come, they met us, and so clove to our company to the end."

CHAP. XXI.

[21] When she had said these things, I added words of this kind, saying: [She learns the manner of St. Ursula's martyrdom, and that two Clematiuses are to be distinguished.] "I should like to know, my Lady, what notable cause your adversaries had against you, that they slaughtered you, and especially I desire to be made certain about yourself, by what death you ended your life": and she answered, saying: "That impious tyrant who was the author of our killing demanded this of us both with terrors and with blandishments, that we should deny our Bridegroom who is in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, and be joined to his embraces and those of his men; but not for such a cause had we come there; and we constantly refused to consent to his wicked will, and chose rather to die than to be separated from our Bridegroom. On account of which they raged against us with various torments: and I was struck in my heart by the stroke of an arrow. While, then, we were all lying in our blood, that venerable bishop, as had been commanded him, wrought a work of great piety upon us, and with great diligence and honour bestowed on us the office of burying. And the majesty of God was present with him and with those who laboured with him upon us, and the Angels of God ministered to them, and the work of our burial was swiftly completed. And we did not delay to ask the Lord for him, that He would render him the reward of his labour: and it came about that soon after this he was withdrawn from this life, and God gave him singular honour for the honour which he had shown to us. And not many days after our burial was completed, Clematius, a venerable man, came, and took certain bodies which still remained in a certain place, and buried them with great honour, as he too had been forewarned by the majesty of the Lord" ^g. And at once I added a question, saying: "Was this, Lady, that Clematius who is said to have built your church?" And she said: "By no means; but he came after a long time"; and when she had completed these discourses, at the end she added, saying: "And whoever shall have renewed our passion, may God render him the reward of his work." And now to Him ^h who is the knower of hidden things, and reveals them to whom He will, neither accepting the person of the great nor despising the humility of the little ones, to the kind and merciful Lord be honour and glory and thanksgiving for ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

These things do not agree with the Sermon on the Feast, by which it is established that Clematius came long after, perhaps in the middle of the century, but they were drawn from a fictitious inscription:

HIC JACET SEPVLTVS S. CLEMATIVS

QVI MANIBVS SEPELIVIT SACRAS VIRGINES.

Opportunely, therefore, did St. Elizabeth have this vision, by which the difficulty arising from the error of those who fabricated this stone might be solved.

testify that at the finding of your sacred body an arrow was found fixed in your arm, which, as is reported, still remains so, clinging to it. Were you then killed by the wound of that arrow, or of another?' To this she answered thus, saying: 'That tyrant by whom I was killed first shot an arrow into my arm: and when he had seen that I was not yet overcome to death, he directed a second into my heart. But it, at once, by the judgment of the Lord, returning from my heart, struck the heart of him who had sent it: and presently he became mad, and, hastening at a rapid run to the river Rhine, plunged himself into the waters, and so died.'"

Revelations or imaginings of Blessed Hermann Joseph, canon regular of Steinfeld, concerning the eleven thousand Virgins.

Ursula, virgin and martyr, at Cologne Agrippina. (S.)

XI thousand virgins and martyrs, at Cologne Agrippina. BHL Number: 8433, 8434

BY BLESSED HERMANN OF STEINFELD.

FIRST BOOK.

Here begins the letter to all the Virgins of Christ, concerning the new history of the eleven thousand Virgins lately revealed from heaven.

To all the pious virgins of Christ, daughters of holy Church, Brother N * wishes salvation and the endless delight of everlasting life. In the year one thousand one hundred and eighty-three, by the inspiration of the Lord, and with the cooperation of His pious Mother, the queen of all, writing down the new history of the eleven thousand virgins, we were persuaded by divine admonition to dedicate it to your charity and holiness. For these are the words of the queen of heaven, saying: "Arrange to provide for the common benefit of all by dedicating this work to virgins. Therefore write to them on my behalf, and tell them to imitate them both in chastity and in holiness." You therefore, venerable virgins, and to be loved in Christ, receive with joyful mind and devout heart the gift sent to you from heaven, knowing that if you show due reverence to the same sacred virgins, and love them with devout honour and zeal, you will be endowed with an everlasting reward, their merits interceding with the Lord. Further, she also commanded that the same history should be dedicated to the brethren of the Premonstratensian Order, saying that they are especial lovers and venerators of the eleven thousand virgins. Blessed Ursula too, the princess and mistress of the same most holy ladies, when this work was almost finished, appeared to someone in visible form, saying: "While this same Notary was writing this work, we eleven thousand virgins, standing before the Lord, prayed that the Lord Himself would render him the reward of recompense for the labour of this little work." We therefore admonish and beseech the readers that they be not scandalized and wounded by a sudden wound of the mind, saying: "Who in these present and modern days will be able to know the deeds, persons, names, conditions and genealogies of the ancients, or to set them forth with a truthful pen?" Friend of Christ, why do you doubt in hesitating over these things? Cannot the same Spirit, who once manifested to our fathers by heavenly inspiration the things which happened from the very beginning of the world, now also reveal, by disclosing it, the holy and wonderful expedition of His sacred virgins to those who love them, to His praise and glory, and to the edification of very many?

ANNOTATIONS.

* otherwise T or C

CHAPTER ONE.

The deeds of St. Ursula and her companions up to the undertaking of the Roman pilgrimage.

Here begins the new revelation of the journey and passion of the eleven thousand virgins.

CHAP. I.

God, from eternity wisely disposing all things, on the occasion of the marriage of the most noble virgin Ursula [Blessed Hermann in the year 1183 receives from St. Ursula the things concerning her deeds and those of her companions which were still hidden.] and of her bridegroom, a most illustrious royal youth, deigned by His wise counsel and providence to invite the more noble damsels of the whole world, virgins and young maidens, to the heavenly nuptials, to be betrothed to His Son, the eternal King, and to remain with Him for ever; for which reason the sacred relics of the blessed eleven thousand virgins are not to be held of small account among the faithful of Christ. For in one place, the city of Cologne, all obtained the glorious palm of martyrdom for their heavenly Bridegroom and Lover. Now, therefore, scattered through the world by the providence of the mercy of God, they succour their venerators with assiduous prayers before the Lord, and by their suffrages and merits the pious queen of heaven, their leader and patroness, does not cease to help their lovers piously. Finally, in their passion their illustrious glory and the triumph of their martyrdom is sufficiently shown, yet more evidently their noble setting out and magnificence is found written in the vision of a certain virgin of happy memory, Elizabeth. Moreover the Lord, their Bridegroom and Lover, wishing to glorify them with still greater glory, lately, in the year one thousand one hundred and eighty-three, deigns to reveal what was hidden up to now concerning the route of their pilgrimage and their deeds. In the beginning of this narration, therefore, according to the admonition of the same Blessed Ursula, who was the leader and mistress of the other virgins, we shall touch on the course of their passion, and shall show who they were, and whence: and their race and homeland. We have certainly seen many religious who were entirely ignorant of what condition or nation they were. For they were from various parts, sprung from the English ^a, the Britons, the Welsh, the Scots, and from still many other kingdoms and regions. Further, certain kings, dukes, counts and princes, and very many of the bishops, set out with them, and many matrons, undergoing with them the glorious trophy of martyrdom.

CHAP. II.

[3] Now a certain king was born of Lesser Britain ^b, A pagan king asks St. Ursula as bride for his son; noble and religious, and his wife likewise was of good birth, illustrious and religious. Who, since they were without children, by daily services of good works and constant urgency of prayers obtained from the Lord a daughter, they who had hoped to obtain a son. Bringing her up according to the law of the Lord, they taught her to walk, and called her by the proper name Ursula. When she had reached marriageable years, she was very elegant and comely, and most pleasing to the eyes of all. Finally the uprightness and modesty of her conduct too was proclaimed everywhere, praised everywhere. At length her happy and sweet fame, and the odour of her good reputation, reached a certain pagan king, but stronger in riches and power than the father of this maiden. This same king indeed was of a harsh disposition, but his wife from infancy was strong in good conduct. They had a son, young and honourable in all things. Further, the youth was of a good disposition, handsome in form and comely. To him his father and mother sought to join in marriage the daughter of the aforesaid good king. Counsel having been taken, they send envoys, they try with blandishments and promises to allure the mind of the parents to consent, while they also are eager to compel them by threats if they are unwilling. What more? While the religious king wavered about his likewise religious and chaste daughter, and fluctuated exceedingly as to what he should do, an angel is sent from heaven as the paranymph of this union; he urges that the daughter give her consent to the envoys, be called a bride, receive the dowries, and rescue her own father from the impending dangers, and gladden the other king together with his son with the promised marriage. Moreover he urges the virgin Ursula to ask for eleven thousand virgins, by whose company she might be instructed for three years, being prepared for the future nuptials.

[4] and he consents to the conditions laid down. Having received the good message, therefore, the envoys return to their own region, cheerful; they announce good things, they gladden the king and his son. At once the daughters of all the provinces are called together, of kings, dukes, princes, counts and nobles, and maidens of military family. For at that time those kingdoms were divided among several kings and regions ^c. The same king, however, the father of the youth, gathering with the greatest labour several battle-lines of chosen virgins, directs them with immense pomp and glory to the aforesaid virgin Ursula. The father of the same virgin, too, collecting and assembling everywhere chosen, elegant, noble virgins, gave them to her. Receiving these as sent to her from heaven, the virgin, both noble and glorious, nobly instructed them in the faith of Christ and in religion. Angels sent from heaven came rather often among them, to visit them and strengthen them in their good purpose. Finally the angels of darkness too came rather frequently to urge lawful marriages on them, and to incite them to accomplish wicked works and the desires of the flesh. But they, helped by the grace of God and protected by the guard of the holy angels, were daily making progress in religious zeal: the angels indeed from heaven, teaching Blessed Ursula the whole course of the future triumph, foretell that they would go together to Cologne and that all would be crowned with the glorious trophy of martyrdom.

CHAP. III.

[5] Meanwhile, while so many thousands of virgins are being instructed in the faith and love of Christ for the arranged journey, [As St. Ursula with her companions plans her journey, there give themselves as companions bishops, princes, and little girls and married women.] ships are being prepared by the king, the virgin's father. There were among them also many little girls, sucklings and infants, who, since they are still found ^d, cause no small scruple of doubt to some. Of whom some were seven years old, or five and under, some even of one year, some of half a year, and scarcely of two months; and this was the reason (as some of these same virgins, appearing lately, have testified): "Many of us," they say, "had brothers and sisters, kinswomen too and relatives, and dear matrons, who, when, the Angels announcing it to them, they foreknew that the pilgrimage was impending, and also the crown of martyrdom, the reward of virginity promised them from heaven, associating with themselves their sisters and kinswomen with their little daughters, wished that these too should obtain together with them the rewards of eternal recompense." Moreover their rumour and happy fame reached the bishops of that land, the nobles too and men of military rank, who, knowing truly that God was with them, through whom such things were being done, a great many of them, leaving their riches, dignities and lands, homeland and kindred, were associated with them, desiring themselves too to go on pilgrimage and to die for Christ. There were nonetheless among them daughters of kings, dukes, counts and princes, whose brothers and friends went before, some also bridegrooms, who would shortly have taken them (if they had remained in their homeland) by the lawful right of marriage. Meanwhile, while the expenses for the journey of the pilgrimage and the ships are being prepared, Angels come from heaven, and other saints and sacred virgins, visiting their fellows and strengthening them in their salutary and holy purpose.

CHAP. IV.

[6] The aforesaid king, therefore, the father of the holy virgin Ursula, had three sisters The genealogy of St. Ursula and of some others. and three brothers; one of the sisters was called Josippa, and another Thelindris, and the third Eulalia. Further, one of the brothers was called Helvidius, the second Ludvicus, and the third Herwicus. The wife of Ludvicus was named Hermegardis, and their daughter was Blessed Pinnosa, who after St. Ursula held the leadership of the whole college of the blessed virgins. Her sister St. Evodia set out with her, following her. Herwicus indeed had a wife who was called Hadewigis, and they had three daughters in this sacred army. Of whom one was called Sapientia, another Serena, the third Eulalia. Blessed Sapientia indeed had the mastership over a thousand virgins ^e. Finally Duke Helvidius * also had a son, an upright youth, Helvidius

by name, by his wife, who was called Malcha, and was the daughter of a certain most noble prince. And the wife of the younger Helvidius, their son, was called Anna, and they had two daughters in the same company, of whom one was called Spes, and the other Euphrosyna. Josippa indeed, the first sister of those brothers, had a husband Eusebius. And he was a noble duke, and had three daughters in this holy company, of whom one was called Eleutheria and another Josippa. But the third was Nestoria, who was begotten of another wife. Eleutheria indeed, after St. Ursula, Pinnosa and Cordula, was set as mistress over all the virgins, and afterwards Blessed Florentia was over all, who was the daughter of a certain renowned king who was called Aegidius, and his wife was called Helena. This same king indeed was the cousin of the king, the father of Blessed Ursula. St. Florentia indeed, the daughter of King Aegidius, had with her a sister named Placentia, of great virtue, a very illustrious and renowned virgin, who, by the virtue of her conduct and the constancy and sweetness of her soul, was as dear and lovable to God as she was commendable to men. Both of whom had been betrothed to most illustrious youths, very noble. Further, the bridegroom of the virgin Placentia, the son of a certain most noble duke, Florinus by name, allured by love of her, joined to the others with her, sets out. Further, the second of the aforesaid sisters, Thelindris, also had a daughter Placida among the rest. And the third, Eulalia, followed the holy virgins, herself too an exile for Christ. Among them nonetheless there was a certain illustrious virgin named Celindris, the daughter of the maternal aunt of the king, the father of the virgin Ursula, and she was set over a thousand virgins ^f. Whose sister was called Virgilia, being in the same company with her. Cordula indeed, a most illustrious virgin, of whom we have already made mention above, was the daughter of a most illustrious count, who was called Quirinus, and his wife was called Hadwigis, who was the daughter of Hardericus, a most illustrious count. When Quirinus, therefore, had died, Helvidius, his brother, the paternal uncle of Blessed Ursula, took her to wife. And Count Hardericus, a man of much uprightness, was the maternal uncle of the pious queen, the mother of the virgin Ursula, and his wife was called Ursula, and she was from Denmark, the daughter of a certain most noble prince of royal lineage, who was called by the proper name Ebbo. They had, therefore, two most illustrious virgin daughters in this sacred company, Julia and Ebbina, damsels of great virtue and uprightness.

CHAP. V.

[7] Blessed Lucia, a most prudent virgin, and illustrious in birth [The setting out of SS. Lucia and Sapientia, kinswomen of St. Cyriacus the pope, and of St. Eustachius with his family.] and in conduct, was a kinswoman of St. Cordula, and she had with her a sister named Sapientia, whose father was a king, but a pagan. And his cousin was St. Donatus, who afterwards was made pope at Rome, and with his name changed was called Cyriacus ^g, who also, having left the papacy, followed the same virgins, and fell slain with them. The aforesaid Lucia, therefore, was prudent and of good birth, one of the principal eleven virgins, who were the heads and princesses of the whole sacred college, and she was set over a thousand virgins, being their mistress. St. Osanna too was the daughter of Duke Roger, a kinsman of Blessed Pinnosa. Further, St. Sapientia, a wise and noble virgin, of whom we made mention a little before, the cousin of Blessed Ursula, one also of the principal eleven, had in the same sacred company a maternal uncle, Eustachius by name. He was an illustrious and powerful count, whose wife was called Sibilia. This same count indeed had seven daughters, of whom one had already died in her native land, but the six remaining followed the hosts of the blessed virgins, whose names are these: Margarita, Florentia, Eusebia, Margarita, Walburgis, Eleutheria: of these sisters indeed three were joined to husbands, and the three remaining were virgins. The father, therefore, of these same six daughters, and the mother, roused both by affection for them and by hope of martyrdom, leaving their dignities and lands, followed their daughters, desiring to die for Christ. Finally the same Count Eustachius had a brother a bishop, who was called Eleutherius. He likewise, casting away the dignity of the episcopate, followed his brother and his nieces, himself too an exile for Christ. Further, the countess, the wife of Eustachius, the count already mentioned, had a brother, a noble and upright prince, who was called Macharius, and he with four daughters was joined to them, of whom one was called Margarita, Serena, Aleidis, Micronia: Helvidius the younger too, a noble duke, the above-mentioned son of the paternal uncle of Blessed Ursula, with his wife Anna, followed his two daughters, St. Spes and Blessed Euphrosyna. There clove to them nonetheless Blessed Blandula, the daughter of a certain most illustrious count, whose mother was the maternal aunt of Blessed Sapientia, and a kinswoman of St. Ursula.

CHAP. VI.

[8] Blessed Ursula, the leader and queen of the others, by the will of God, [The instruction and preparation of the Ursuline army for the journey: eleven virgins are set over it:] and by the counsel of the bishops who were with her, the ships having been prepared, having summoned to herself the more prudent both of the virgins and of the men, they number the battle-lines of the companions, appoint princesses, choose the eleven virgins who were holier and more constant in spirit. The thousands of virgins being divided, therefore, they choose for each thousand one of these eleven as mistress and princess. Over all the hosts of the companion virgins, indeed, these were the first and the greater: Blessed Ursula, the daughter of a most pious king, was the head of all, the princess, very prudent and sagacious in mind. After her Blessed Pinnosa, the daughter of a certain illustrious duke, the paternal uncle of Blessed Ursula, and she herself was a most prudent virgin, always from infancy of a lively spirit. After her St. Cordula, the daughter of a certain most noble count. After her Blessed Eleutheria, the daughter of St. Ursula's paternal aunt, and of a certain duke. After her Blessed Florentia, who was the daughter of King Aegidius, who was the cousin of Blessed Ursula's father. These five virgins were as it were the heads and chiefs over the whole army of virgins ^h. After these they chose eleven virgins, daughters of kings, dukes, princes and counts, prudent in spirit, intelligent and sagacious in mind, each of whom is set over a thousand virgins, instructing them, whose names are these: the first was Blessed Jotha, the daughter of a certain king, a most wise virgin, distinguished in conduct and adorned with virtues. And she had with her two sisters, Geminiana and Blessed Justitia, who were kinswomen of Blessed Ursula. The second was St. Benigna, the daughter of a certain most illustrious duke, whom four sisters followed, St. Sibilia, Mobilia, Euphrosyna and Eustachia. The third Blessed Clementia, the daughter of a most powerful count, who had with her two sisters, St. Juliana and Blessed Inducta. The fourth St. Sapientia, the daughter of a certain most noble prince, the paternal uncle of St. Ursula, and she herself a most illustrious virgin, wise and comely, who led with her two sisters, St. Eulalia and Blessed Serena. The fifth Blessed Carpophora, the daughter of a certain king, a good and religious man: who had with her two sisters, Eutropia and Pallodora. The sixth St. Columba, and she likewise was the daughter of a certain king, and one sister followed her, Blessed Cordula. The seventh St. Benedicta, the daughter of a certain renowned and devout prince, and these four were sisters accompanying her, comely and prudent, SS. Cornula, Prudentia, Sapientia, Illustris. The eighth St. Odilia, the daughter of a certain powerful man, and she had with her two sisters, one grown up and the other a suckling, Blessed Julia and St. Urstitia. The ninth Blessed Celindris, who was the daughter of a count, a powerful, most noble and rich man, and she herself most illustrious in conduct and birth, and was very prudent and elegant. Who had with her only one sister, St. Virgilia. The tenth St. Sibilia, who was the daughter of a king, a prudent and vigorous man; and three sisters followed her, Blessed Juliana, Lucia and Eugenia. The eleventh Blessed Lucia, a most prudent virgin, and illustrious in spirit and in birth, the daughter of a certain king, and she was a kinswoman of the bridegroom of St. Ursula, who led with her only her little sister named Placida. Further, these eleven virgins held the mastership over the whole company of holy virgins, and each of them was set over a thousand virgins, ruling and governing them.

[9] but many others are present. There were besides among them, as has been said above, bishops, princes, and a great many nobles, the parents of very many of the same virgins. Some too were the bridegrooms of many of them, but had not yet come to their nuptials, the heavenly Bridegroom forestalling them. Likewise certain countesses were present, and duchesses and queens, besides very many more noble matrons. There were also among them a great many nurses, who panted with like ardour for martyrdom and desire of the passion. Finally the young king, the son, Blessed Ursula's bridegroom, had two sisters there, one below girlish years, and the other marriageable, who had been betrothed to a certain noble young count. She, refusing with St. Ursula and the other virgins to have Christ as bridegroom, preferring the count to Him, returned to her mother to be married to a husband. Of whom her brother, the bridegroom of Blessed Ursula, says: "My sister loved earthly glory and dignity more than heavenly, returning to take the count as husband, who afterwards in a short time died badly, slain. Then she repented too late of having deserted the company of the sacred virgins, and she herself died shortly after."

CHAP. VII.

[10] Of the kings and bishops who set out from Britain with the same sacred virgins of Christ Enumeration of the bishops who followed the Ursuline army; and came from their homeland, the genealogy and series are here briefly touched upon; but at the end of this history, in another volume, their conversion and state will be set out more fully ⁱ. Five bishops indeed followed them from England, but more were afterwards added to them in various kingdoms and regions. And of the first bishops this is the series and genealogy: one of whom was a saint, he was called Wilhelmus, who was properly called Michael; but his father was called Wilhelmus: from him this one drew his surname: a man truly prudent and wise, and sprung of noble lineage, and begotten of royal stock. For he was the cousin of the king, St. Ursula's father, and had many kinswomen in this sacred company of virgins. Further, St. James, a vigorous man, his brother, and Blessed Gerasina, his sister, an illustrious matron, set out with him with three daughters. Another of the bishops was called St. Columbanus, a noble man, sprung of royal lineage, he was the son of St. Alexandria, an illustrious duchess, the sister of Ursula's mother. For he was a prudent man, chaste, and of great counsel, and of holy manner of life. And the third of the bishops was Blessed Iwanus, a man advanced in years, and of good life, sagacious and prudent, and he was always chaste from his mother's womb; for he was begotten of a most noble stock, the maternal uncle of the mother of the virgin Ursula, and of Blessed Alexandria, and of St. Eulalia. The fourth of the bishops was St. Eleutherius, a noble and wise man, and of great counsel, and industrious. He was the brother of Blessed Eustachius the count,

whose wife Sibilia was with him on the same expedition with six daughters. The fifth bishop, then, was St. Lothair, he too a man of good birth, and begotten of royal stock. He was the cousin of the most noble youth, the bridegroom of Blessed Ursula, a prudent man and of good repute, chaste, and vigorous in spirit, and well discerning. Further, of the bishops who were afterwards associated with them on the journey we know nothing, except Caesarius, bishop of Meaux, a noble man, whose head we have, and part of his body ^k. Finally the virgin Elizabeth of happy memory, writing of these things, sets out their series sufficiently, who narrates that among the other holy bishops St. Maurisius was the brother of the mother of the virgin Ursula.

[11] likewise of the kings and princes. Now let us narrate the series of certain kings, which has lately been revealed from heaven; some of whom were fathers and brothers, maternal uncles and bridegrooms of certain of those virgins, whom the heavenly King Himself, by His wonderful and sweet grace, wonderfully converted through the same virgins. The first of them was St. Holofernes, a most illustrious youth, king and son of a king, the bridegroom of Blessed Ursula. He did not set out with them; but afterwards, when they were returning from Rome, being magnificently associated with them, he goes with them to Cologne, and together with them obtained the happy palm of martyrdom. This name Holofernes, however, is not his own; but on account of his great virtue of spirit and beauty of body he was so surnamed, whom the lady Elizabeth calls Aetherius. The second was the renowned young King Oliverius, the son of the most noble King Oliverius the elder, who was converted through his bride, the most illustrious virgin Oliva, who was the daughter of the great King Cleopatrus, who was the paternal uncle of Ursula's father. The third was Crophorus, a most illustrious young king, and the son of the most illustrious King Pinnosus, who with his wife Cleopatra was associated with the college of virgins; this same Crophorus was also a kinsman of the virgin Ursula. The fourth king was Lucius, the father of the virgin Jotha, who was the first of the eleven principal virgins. He was also a most noble and powerful man, and of good life. He, his most pious wife the queen having died, converted through his daughter Jotha and her two sisters, sets out with them. He too was a kinsman of the virgin Ursula. The fifth king indeed was Clodoveus, a vigorous and brave man, and religious, who, with his wife the queen named Blandina, pious and religious, is converted through his daughter Eugenia, a noble duchess, and through her husband, the most pious Duke Alexander, and, taking two daughters with them, they are associated with the sacred virgins. The sixth king indeed was Canutus, a noble man and advanced in years, of great uprightness, honour and virtue, who was converted together with his wife Balbina, an illustrious and most prudent queen: who, drawn by the example of two sons and four daughters and persuaded by their exhortation, leaving the kingdom to one of their sons, Charles, set out abroad for Christ, the King and Lord of all. The seventh of the kings, Pipinus, from the Eastern quarter of that land, sets out with his illustrious wife Margarita. And this king was a blood-relative of the virgin Ursula. Their four sons indeed, and three daughters, follow the religious king and the devout and pious queen their mother, with eleven children, sons and daughters, despising all things for Christ the true King. The eighth king too, Adulphus, the son of the already mentioned King Pipinus, a most religious man, with his wife Dionysia, a very honourable and virtuous queen, joined to his father and mother, goes with them. And taking their sons and daughters with them, renouncing all the pomps of the world, they joyfully follow the Lord. The ninth of the kings too, Avitus by name, a rich and upright man, followed his two most illustrious virgin daughters, Blessed Columba and Cordula her sister. St. Columba, finally, was of the number of the eleven principal virgins. Moreover he was the maternal uncle of the virgin Odilia, who was one of the principal virgins. The tenth of the kings indeed was Siranus, who was strong in much uprightness of conduct, and he with his wife Sibilia followed their most illustrious daughter Sibilia and her three sisters. Finally Blessed Sibilia, a prudent and very honourable virgin, was of the eleven principal virgins, governing a thousand virgins. The eleventh of the kings indeed was the renowned king of the Danes, Refridus, who, converted through his wife Oliva, still very young, follows her, joining himself to the company of the holy virgins. This same Oliva, the daughter of a duke of Saxony, a most noble man, like a most zealous bee goes about, seeking whom she may convert to the Lord. We indeed do not dare to affirm that all these following kings and queens, dukes and counts were lawful ones, but that nevertheless in virtue, power, riches and birth they were comparable to kings and were called by the names of kings. We therefore, loving the truth, walking in the path of pure truth, write what has been revealed, utterly detesting the ambiguity of falsehood. For at that time the kingdoms of kings were small, as is read in the book of Kings, that thirty-two kings had come prepared for war against three; and also the sons of kings are wont to be called kings, and the sons of dukes dukes, and of counts counts.

CHAP. VIII.

[12] And we protect our littleness both by the authority and the testimony of others; [Blessed Hermann confirms the Revelations of St. Elizabeth and the inscriptions, and explains the affairs of several queens;] we shall bring forward into the midst the testimony of Elizabeth, a devout virgin of Christ, and we shall show what she thinks of the setting out of such exalted persons. For she says that she saw inscriptions sent to her from Cologne of the bishops, virgins, queens and most noble duchesses, the companions, male and female, of the eleven thousand. Among which she found the inscription of Blessed Gerasina, queen of Sicily, and of her four virgin daughters, and of one son of hers still a boy. And she says that she was the princess and leader of the whole army of virgins and the sister of the queen, the mother of the virgin Ursula. Besides, she asserts that Queen Constantia too, empress of the kingdom of Constantinople, and a virgin, was present with St. Marculus the bishop, her maternal uncle. She described also that St. Axpara was present, a most illustrious duchess, and the daughter of the maternal aunt of the most illustrious youth, Ursula's bridegroom. We therefore bear testimony in this part to the handmaid of Christ, whom we never saw, that what she put forward in writing about the persons already mentioned is true. And she wrote much less than the truth of the same matter demands: which, however, with the Lord's help will be supplied more fully by us. This same Axpara indeed was both a duchess and a queen, very wise and industrious and provident. Further, elsewhere it will be treated of her and of her daughters, and of her cousins, the Duchess Anchira and her four daughters, and the Countess Eleutheria and her most illustrious virgin daughter Lucentia. There was present also Sibilia, a young queen of great virtue, the daughter of St. Eulalia, the maternal aunt of the virgin Ursula. And Hodierna, queen of the Norwendi, was present with her virgin daughter Hodierna. Moreover Benedicta, queen of the Suavi, was likewise present with two virgin daughters, Hiacyntha and Sophia. Queen Lucretia too, formerly a pagan, admonished by an angel of Christ, sets out with them with two queens and her daughter, a most holy virgin ten years old. The queen named Clara, indeed, very religious and a very great almsgiver, follows them with two virgin daughters, Sapientia and Caritas.

[13] likewise some kings and their daughters King Boniface indeed, formerly a pagan, was present with his daughter Bonifacia, a most religious virgin. King Laurence too, formerly a pagan, and an enemy of the Christians and a savage tyrant, afterwards seized by the will of God, and wonderfully converted, from a wolf is made a lamb. He follows his bride Resindis, a most blessed virgin, the daughter of the king of Corchania in Ireland. Finally he led with him the queen Resindis herself too, the mother of his bride, with two queens, Eustora and Maginorach, one of whom was his own sister. There were present still more daughters of princes, both from Ireland and from the other kingdoms, and of kings, of duchesses and of countesses; the daughter too of King Arthur of Britain, Blessed Natalia, and St. Polodoxia, with her sister Julia, her kinswoman, the daughter of King Polycarp, most illustrious virgins, were present with a noble company of virgins. There was present nonetheless the daughter of the great king and renowned duke Nicomedes, Eustemia, a most prudent and very devout virgin, with her sisters Eudonia and Eugenia, virgins, kinswomen of the aforesaid virgins. And the daughters of a former king of the Normans, who is now called count of Normandy, Blessed Dorothea and her sister Lucia, were present with their most noble company. Moreover the daughters of a former king of the Flemings, who is now called count, Lucia and Germana, were present with their mother Theodora, a most illustrious matron, going on pilgrimage for Christ. The daughter indeed of the duke of Brabant of Louvain, Gyana, and her kinswoman Hywana, the daughter of her maternal uncle, and the two daughters of the count of Hywan, Isanna and Herdara, set out with them. The daughter too of the duke of the Frisians, Elizabeth, a kinswoman of the queen of the Danes, and her sister likewise go with them; and Duke Alexander with his wife and three sisters, Duke Sincerus too, the son of King Iwanus, with his wife and daughter Thaisis and two sisters, clove to them.

[14] and of others. Moreover, with the other princes and counts, there was present Hardericus, a most illustrious count, the maternal uncle of the queen, the mother of the virgin Ursula, with his wife Ursula, a devout and vigorous woman, and much to be praised. From this Countess Ursula the queen, the virgin Ursula, received her name. They had indeed with them three daughters, Juliana and Ebina, illustrious virgins, and Hadwigis, a duchess, the mother of the virgin Cordula. Elizabeth, a most holy virgin, the daughter of John, a great prince, whose mother was called Elizabeth, and she was the sister of St. Caesarius, bishop of Meaux. Among the other good works which they did, this mother and daughter loved our Lady with intimate affection. Whence the queen of heaven herself, giving material to the brother who was writing their expedition, enjoined him to write it; for the course of her expedition is beautiful. There was present also St. Nestoria, a most illustrious virgin, whose mother Aegidia was the daughter of Hunericus, the great king of the Welsh. The father of the virgin Nestoria indeed was Duke Eusebius, and the same virgin was the sister of the virgins Eleutheria and Josippa on the father's side. Behold, we have described singly in another volume, and more fully, the most beautiful series of the expeditions of the aforesaid kings and queens, dukes, counts and princes, most illustrious virgins and matrons, in which the reader, if he reads it through to the end, will wonder at the praiseworthy life of very many noble virgins and damsels, and their religious and chaste manner of living ^l.

ANNOTATIONS.

* Edit. II. S. here throughout Helindius.

CHAPTER II.

The Roman pilgrimage; the return to Cologne; the martyrdom.

CHAP. IX.

And when the time of the pilgrimage of the same virgins disposed by God was at hand, While the parents mourn, the sisterhood departs joyfully. and the day of the sacred expedition had come, they are admonished from heaven to take to the road and to betake themselves to the ships. Then all those virgins rose up, hastening at a run to the vessels, and there is no doubt to anyone that many saints, both of the angels and of the others, were present, leading them and congratulating them. There was present besides Satan too with an innumerable multitude of his satellites, wishing to hinder some of them. But they were protected by divine protection, and the evil spirits return empty and void! How great the mourning there! and how great the sorrow and lamentation! when daughters so noble, and so comely and elegant, were being separated from their parents and friends, from one another, and there was no hope for the rest of returning? The sword of thy love did this, good Jesus, twice sharp, which separated sons and daughters from their parents, from those dear and known. At once, therefore, setting sail, they are withdrawn from the eyes of their parents and the sight of their friends; rejoicing, they are comforted by the visitation of Angels, and delighted by their presence, forgetting the things that are behind, they hasten to the joys promised them. Further, the suckling infants, who had been accustomed to be nourished with the milk of the breast, were no longer fed at all with the nourishment of the breasts; but they put their fingers into their mouths, and at once from the fingers themselves sucked a dew ministered to them from heaven, by whose vigour they were sustained. Never on the same journey, as is the custom and nature of little ones, did they soil themselves by wetting; nor did they cry, wailing, causing trouble to others; and these were not in the number of the eleven thousand, but were counted over and above, and the number of these little ones was reckoned at nearly five hundred.

[16] But lest the things we have said about these infants should seem incredible and frivolous to anyone, What is related of the infants is confirmed by examples. behold, we shall bring forward, for the confirmation of these things, what we have learned happened lately in our parish. A certain matron bore three little girls at one birth; of these one survived fifteen days, another three weeks, and the third four. None of them indeed was fed with the nourishment either of the breasts or of any food while they lived. Behold, we shall bring forward into the midst still more, what we have learned for certain from certain honourable abbots, and men, and women. A certain virgin of rather advanced age, and of holy manner of life, lying many years in bed, almost dead in the lower part of her body, tastes no nourishment of food or drink; sometimes, however, she puts a little food into her mouth, which, having chewed it, she spits out, discharging the substance itself, and so is nourished by its juice alone. Besides, she takes, drinking it, scarcely the shell of one egg full of wine, and this is her diet. This same tiny bit of wine, drunk in this way, is consumed inwardly by natural heat, and she has no need to be moved from her bed even rarely. Nor is she moved from her couch for the requirements of nature. Likewise of the many miracles of God, which He in His pious condescension works in some well-known persons, we shall narrate for the testimony of those things which we are yet to say about the sacred virgins themselves. We knew a certain handmaid of God and virgin who frequently in prayer, while she was kindled with the heat of the Holy Spirit, raised up into the air, stood completing her prayers. Which we have learned happened likewise to a certain religious abbot whom we knew well enough. Finally, we once put certain of her things into our little chest, fastening it with careful attention with an iron key, which things afterwards, the chest being locked, she held in her hand, showing them to us. What wonder then, if the Lord, the Bridegroom of the sacred virgins, works some wonderful things with them, leading them to Rome and leading them back to Cologne? Behold, when lately this same Notary was hesitating in doubt over certain miracles which are contained in this volume, it was said to him from heaven: "What you have written is altogether true, and the Lord has wrought among the same virgins still such great and such wonderful miracles that, if they were written, scarcely any man would give credit by believing them."

CHAP. X.

[17] But the evil spirits who had come at their departure, [Britain mourns the departure of the holy virgins and of King Aetherius. St. John the apostle accompanies them; the demons resist.] trying whether they could find anything of their own right in them, grieving that they were disappointed, attack the princes whose daughters, sisters and kinswomen had gone away, and wound their hearts with excessive grief. And so heavy was the sorrow of very many over their absence that for a long time they scarcely received the remedy of consolation. For as the Egyptians were once despoiled of their princes and dear ones drowned in the Red Sea, so now many kingdoms of the earth are despoiled of most illustrious virgins, matrons and princes. Wherefore they groan with heavy mourning, weeping for those who would never return. And further, grief is added to grief, almost lethal and deadly, when shortly after the king's son, the young king Holofernes, renowned and pious, and dear and acceptable to the whole people, the bridegroom of the blessed virgin Ursula, inspired by divine grace, resolved to desert his homeland and kingdom, he who was the hope of the whole kingdom of that land. He indeed, relying on divine help and aided by heavenly support, follows with manly spirit his bride and her army, the hosts of pious virgins, led by angelic protection. For Blessed John the apostle and certain angelic spirits were often present with him, and, piously leading him, defended him from the assaults of the evil spirits. And this same most sweet evangelist was always present with the same virgins from the very beginning of their pilgrimage, strengthening them in their good purpose, and to the end governed them with pious care. And when the same young man with his companions was following the sacred virgins in the greatest haste, the demons, frequently attacking him, strove to draw him back, suggesting evil things. He, protected by the guard of God and fortified by angelic protection, devoutly pursues the journey he had begun. For now his spirit, burning with much ardour of love, he visited the same bride, as a renowned, pious and gentle king, with his presence, with great glory, noble apparatus and royal honour. Whence, aware of the secrets of the same virgin which had been revealed to her from heaven, he pressed on with constant and faithful spirit, so that everything might be honourably carried out to completion according to the disposition of God.

CHAP. XI.

[18] As once, when Moses was leading the people of Israel out of Egypt into the land of promise, the divine guard was present, They sail wonderfully to Cologne, so as to make for Rome from there: protecting them night and day; so now a multitude of angels was present with the holy hosts of these virgins, and so great a multitude of saints, dwelling above and around them, as to take away from them all fear and sadness by their sweet vision and presence. Finally the little infants too, who were carried in the arms and bosoms of the others, admiring the angelic visions and their unwonted persons and glowing forms, and stretching their fingers up into the air, uttered sounds for wonder, saying: "Ha, ha." With a very swift course, indeed, the ships, cutting the sea, arrived prosperously by a calm voyage at the great river Rhine, God leading and angelic guidance ruling them. Where, sailing against the course and impetus of the same Rhine, on the third day about the sixth hour they landed at the city of Cologne, and accomplished a journey of more than eight days in two and a half. Further, the writer of the passion of the same virgins ^a says that between day and night they arrived from the port at which they entered with the ships, at a day's journey near Cologne, at a certain village which is called Tile-market. For it could have happened that they were detained by the charity of some princes, and so on the third day they arrived at Cologne. There, honourably received by the archbishop and the citizens of the same city, they rested. The time of their happy triumph and contest had not yet come indeed, in which they were to be crowned in the same place with precious martyrdom. For the barbarous and cruel nation of the Huns, by whom they were to be killed for Christ, was still far away. Whence they are again admonished by an angelic answer to set out for Rome, and there commend themselves to God and His Mother, and to the apostles and saints whose relics and bodies were held there. Asserting, they also promise that, returning from Rome, they would obtain in the same city the triumph of the blessed contest. Acquiescing in their admonitions, they make for the ships again; and they are escorted with the highest honour by the archbishop and the other citizens and nobles ^b, by whom also the necessary things which they needed are copiously supplied.

CHAP. XII.

[19] The Lord, therefore, and His glorious Mother, the queen of the sacred virgins, and also the holy angels, leading them prosperously, Their wonderful and modest procession to Basel. making their way again against the force and course of the river, in three and a half days they completed a journey of more than eight days, coming to the city of Basel. When they had arrived there, they are honourably received by the bishop himself, named Pantulus, and by the citizens and magnates. Leaving the ships there, commending themselves to the Lord and to His blessed Mother, they prepare themselves for the desired journey, they draw up most beautiful battle-lines, they arrange most becoming processions. For the aforesaid Elizabeth, a devout virgin of Christ, writes that the bishop of Basel set out with them for Rome and obtained the palm of martyrdom together with them at Cologne. They were not indeed carried in two-horse carriages, nor in four-horse ones; nor were they relieved by the service of mules and horses. The bishops and princes, however, and also certain of the matrons and virgins themselves who were the more distinguished among them, had nearly a hundred strong horses and pack-mules, which carried their apparatus and baggage. Further, they draw up their battle-lines and processions in becoming order. There was one procession of all the eleven thousand virgins; Blessed Ursula indeed sometimes in the middle, sometimes also at the head of all, went before with certain bishops and priests, with matrons and virgins taken up to herself for this purpose; and she had with her her father's sister, Blessed Eulalia,

and two sisters of her mother, honourable and most prudent matrons, St. Eulalia and Blessed Eugenia, who was called Alexandria. For as they advanced in harmonious procession, none of the young girls and virgins, as is the custom, broke away this way or that and separated herself. So great a multitude of angels and sacred virgins, finally, was sent from heaven for their guard that they saw their persons everywhere shining with wonderful splendour. Not only did the grown-up and older ones wonder at their aspect and presence, but the little ones too, as has been said above, were delighted at the sight of them, and, playing over their splendour, rejoiced vehemently. For they went their way walking with the highest discipline, they bore themselves most modestly in words and gestures.

[20] The Passion Regnante Domino is explained. Further, most of the readers who read the history of the passion of the same virgins thought that they lacked the comfort and company of men, because no mention of men is made there; but if the same history is considered more carefully, they will very easily notice that they were governed by the counsel, help and ministry of men. It is read in their passion that within the space of one day and night, sailing, they came near Cologne to the market town, where the sails of the ships were let down, the anchors put out, lodgings prepared for them, sails hung on the masts, and the fleets ruled with rudders. By whom were these things done, except by men skilled in this art? We dare indeed to confirm, as was lately revealed from heaven, that there were more than three hundred men in the same company, of whom two hundred and a few more voluntarily underwent the palm of martyrdom with them. But on account of the great number of the many virgins, no mention was made in their passion of matrons or of men. The lady Elizabeth indeed writes that men and matrons, queens and countesses, were in their company, which we too approve.

CHAP. XIII.

[21] Further, their garments and shoes were worn out by no labour; Their pilgrimage was made illustrious by continual miracles. nor did any of them toil with great weariness or grave difficulty. Nor did they feel the loss of any sickness, nor were they burdened by the least disgust of weariness. All things were pleasant to them, all things succeeded prosperously for them. Finally, girls too of eight and of five years went with immense eagerness, and scarcely ever felt any weariness. What we shall now relate is wonderful enough, but to hard hearts and stopped ears it will seem almost incredible, that no road, however narrow and strait it was, could be a hindrance to them. So nimbly indeed did they walk on laborious roads as if they were going on level and spacious ones. For as some of these same sacred virgins lately answered, when they were asked about their roads and journey, whether they suffered any difficulty on narrow ways, they confessed that they were burdened or straitened by no inconvenience of the roads, and, adding, they said: "As if many souls were held in a small kingdom of some paradise, or in a modest place: so we too on the journey itself were straitened by the burden of no road: and no road was narrow to us." When they had often come to streams, to the fords of rivers, to the narrowest crossings of rivers, they passed over without difficulty and without hurt to themselves, without the service of any boat or bridge. How these things were done, and in what way they went along steep roads, and climbed the heights of mountains and crossed the fords of rivers, we are entirely ignorant, nor do we dare to investigate by praying that they may be revealed. We certainly wonder together with those who wonder, and in these, as in other things, we proclaim God wonderful. For the divine works and judgments we cannot comprehend with our sense, nor do we dare to estimate them; we write what has been revealed: and as to those things which are not to be revealed, we by no means compel God and His saints to reveal them. It is read that the Lord satisfied five thousand men from five loaves and two fishes, and that twelve baskets full of fragments remained over to those who ate. The Lord worked there in men, He works here too as He will in virgins: but when the sacred virgins themselves were asked with the greatest urgency how these things were done, many were at once present, answering: "Why do you press us so much by asking? We passed over without difficulty and without hurt to ourselves. But know for certain that you have not written many things about us which are to be wondered at." When at evening or in the morning, deliberating, they proposed for themselves a day's journey, "We shall spend the night here, or there," without doubt and without hindrance they arrived there at evening with the very greatest joy of their hearts.

CHAP. XIV.

[22] From the time, indeed, when they departed from the court of the king, Blessed Ursula's father, They are not drenched by rain, and the B. V. M. and the holy Angels they were drenched by no shower of rain, going to Rome or returning; because the divine mercy protected them from all trouble. But lest this should seem incredible to anyone, we shall narrate something similar which is well known to many. Blessed Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, while he was once sitting in the open, namely under the sky, with a certain brother, dictating letters, and the other was noting them down in writing, behold it was raining everywhere round about, and they, writing, remained unhurt and untouched by the rain. The guard and grace of the most pious queen of heaven was certainly present with the sacred virgins in all things: their faithful leader, piously and faithfully leading them, whom they imitated, offering the flower of their virginity to her Son, the Bridegroom of pious virgins. Further, the little infants who were carried in the bosoms of some were fed, as has been said, with no food or milk: but when perhaps they put a finger to their mouths, they sucked nourishment given them from heaven. And very many of the other virgins by no means needed much food, since the grace of God, who, preserving them outwardly, governed them, was present inwardly strengthening and sustaining them. And whoever shall be incredulous of these things which we have written, let him read the Lives of the Fathers, and he will find many sustained by tasting a little food once in a week. Let him read also the life of Blessed Mary of Egypt, and he will find her sustained by two and a half loaves for seventeen years, and afterwards to have lived on a few roots of herbs. Finally, more than these virgins were able to consume in eating, an abundance of all things was supplied to them.

[23] provide for their sustenance. The Alps For certain of the Angels, their leaders, as our Lady lately said, always going before them, took on the appearance of honourable men, and, going to the greater and chief men of the city where they were to come at night, foretold to them their arrival. And nobles and matrons, commoners and villagers, came out to meet them with joy from several leagues away, offering the necessaries with fervent devotion. It was indeed a fruitful year, and the season, abounding in good things, furnished an abundance of all things. At night they very often slept resting in the meadows, feeling the burden of no trouble: for throughout the whole night the brightness of an immense light shone gleaming over them and round about them. Coming at length to the steep mountains of the Alps, and approaching that mountain too which excels the others both in height and in horror, which is wont to terrify even the hearts of the most robust men by the mere sight, they passed over with the greatest ease. For with such agility, as one of these same virgins says, did those who carried little infants in their arms climb, as those who, without burden, carrying nothing, ascended: so truly easily, as she said, did the ascent of the same steep and high mountain lie open to them, as it would be granted to any of us dwelling in some house to reach the door of the same house. Finally our Lady too, when she was asked about this mountain and about the other difficulties of the same journey, said that it seemed to them, as they climbed the mountain itself, as though they were going along a most level road and walking quite spaciously. But how these things were done, I confess I am entirely ignorant.

CHAP. XV

[24] Blessed Ursula indeed, as she testified, and also certain others, they pass over with wonderful happiness. when they were asked about the difficulties of these roads, said that they themselves at that time wondered vehemently also how they passed over these same mountains and the other most difficult ways. Further, our Lady, comforting them rather frequently with her sweet grace, gladdened them, so that by her most kind consolation all labour became light and delightful to them; moreover, every delight of bodily food was a disgust to many. The sweet queen of virgins was plainly present with them, governing them, and ruling them, guarding them with her angels and saints. Whence no robber, thief or brigand, or corrupter, could harm them. Many virgins indeed and noble matrons who met them, visiting them, drawn by their good example, and the grace of Christ working from heaven, they too left their homeland and parents and followed Christ, the true King of all. Some reader may doubt, wavering, about these and the other things which we have said above, or disapprove them with derision, neglecting to consider the omnipotence of God and His mercy: who, when He will and as He will, works in His servants and handmaids, Himself the wonderful God acting wonderfully.

[25] How wonderful these things were. Let him consider, first, how great is the multitude of these same virgins; how great their nobility and tenderness; that by a heavenly answer, by an angelic message, while they were still in their native land, it is foretold that they would set out for Rome. Coming by ship as far as Basel, two-horse and four-horse carriages, horses and mules were lacking for so great a multitude; they were not able to go on foot unless the Lord had directed their steps, working piously in them. He who once led the people of Israel, fleeing from Egypt under the leadership of Moses, through the Red Sea with dry foot, and through the desert in the pillar of cloud and of fire into the land of promise: and made them certain with many signs and prodigies. This same God, powerful and merciful, could also lead across and conduct His tender and noble virgins and maidens, with signs, virtues, prodigies and mighty works, by which He, great and wonderful, willed, through narrow ways, paths and forests, steep mountains and Alps, streams and rivers. And if these things seem impossible to anyone, and that God, to whom all things are possible, would not work them in His virgins, if he reads the Passions and Lives of the saints, and the martyrdoms and deeds of holy virgins and matrons, and also has in memory the Lives of the Fathers, and has recognized the Lord working wonderfully in them, he will believe and recognize that He acted magnificently in these His virgins too. It is read also of the most blessed Mary of Egypt that on the night of the Lord's Supper, having made the sign of the cross, she came with dry foot across the river Jordan to Zosimus ^c, and, having received the body and blood of the Lord, returning again, completing in the space of one hour a journey of twenty days with a body still corruptible ^d, she came with divine help into the interior of the desert: where too she was afterwards found dead. We wrote above that angels appeared dwelling visibly above and around them; which, however, we do not dare to assert, that on every day and at every hour they were seen by them in visible form, as though appearing.

CHAP. XVI.

[26] When they had come to within one day's journey of Rome, Caesarius of Meaux joins them, Blessed Caesarius, bishop of Meaux, a prudent and honourable man, came upon them with his company: for he too likewise was about to set out for Rome. He, having met them, learning the cause of their journey, was joined to them, setting out together with them. In the same college of virgins indeed this same bishop found his sister, St. Elizabeth, a religious and very honourable matron, with her daughter Elizabeth, a most illustrious and most devout virgin. He found there also the son of another sister of his, the younger Helvidius, a most illustrious duke, and his wife, the son of the paternal uncle of Blessed Ursula's father. He found there also two daughters of the same duke, St. Spes and Blessed Euphrosyna. And he found many kinswomen among them besides. He, kindled by the Spirit of God, follows the sacred virgins too, to give up body and soul for the Lord. Two of his chaplains also follow him, and four laymen of his company.

[27] and Pope Cyriacus meets them, who also baptizes the catechumens. And when they had come near Rome with all eagerness of mind, sound and unharmed, the apostolic lord himself, with the clergy and cardinals, princes, matrons, virgins, commoners and citizens, received them with great exultation and a noble procession, as was fitting. Moreover, from the neighbouring cities, villages and castles nobles as well as commoners hastened, vying with one another to see their glory. Finally the whole city came to meet them, seized with wonder and at the same time with the novelty. And the virgins of Christ, shining with virginal grace, spread among all a wonderful opinion of their virtue and the notable beauty of heavenly grace, and furnished to all the fragrance of a good odour. And when they made a stay there of four days, going round the places of the Saints and the churches for the sake of prayer, they devoutly commended the triumph of their contest, and the chalice of sacred martyrdom which they were shortly to drink, to the Lord and to His glorious Mother, and to the apostles and the other saints. There were among them a great many virgins who were catechumens, who, while they were still in the palace of the king, St. Ursula's father, received an answer from heaven that they were to be baptized at Rome. And these at that time, the clergy, cardinals and magnates standing by, are baptized by the apostolic lord himself with immense glory and honour. Of whom the first and more noble were Blessed Lucia and St. Anastasia, daughters of two kings, who both were kinswomen of the most illustrious youth, Blessed Ursula's bridegroom.

CHAP. XVII.

[28] [Cyriacus is admonished from heaven to abdicate the pontificate and to follow them.] Having made a stay there, then, for a few days, the sacred virgins, proposing to return, ask leave. Kindled by their example, Pope Cyriacus, then presiding over the Roman see, having resigned the dignity of his apostolate, though many Romans wished to draw him back, becomes the companion of these same virgins, and for the rest their head and master. Finally to Pope Cyriacus himself three saints in white appeared in a vision, exhorting him that, leaving the dignity of his papacy, he should accompany the sacred virgins, and should give a good example to others by his contempt of so great a sublimity; promising, they also pledge to him that he too would obtain an eternal crown through the palm of martyrdom. Moreover, asserting, they say that if he remained at Rome he would shortly die. Because, departing thence, he sets out against the will of the cardinals and the counsel of the Roman senate, his name is deleted from the catalogue of the Roman pontiffs. Whose name in truth is contained before the Lord among the precious martyrs of Christ, written for ever in the book of life. He too had certain kinswomen in this sacred college of virgins, joined to him by near blood-relationship. Finally St. Sibilia, the wife of Blessed Eustachius, martyr and count, with her six daughters, were his kinswomen; and besides, very many others of their company. Further, with Jesus Christ, the heavenly pious leader, leading them, and Mary ever virgin, the queen of the world, governing them, they return again. For they could not return empty and void, since they accomplished this journey by the will of God and divine command. Certainly, in going to Rome and returning, according to the vision of the virgin Elizabeth of good memory, many bishops were joined to them, made sharers of their journey and crown.

CHAP. XVIII.

[29] In place of Blessed Pope Cyriacus, indeed, Hilary ^e is substituted as supreme pontiff, a prudent and good man, Cardinals and others accompany them; conspicuous for much uprightness of conduct, and he was of wonderful abstinence, a chaste lover of God and of the poor. Further, two cardinals follow Blessed Pope Cyriacus, Pontius and Peter, one of whom was called Peter Vincent, because he had two names. Two deacons follow them too, Calistus and Kilian: the former of these was the son of Pope Cyriacus's sister, and the other a kinsman. Three subdeacons set out with them, Ambrose, Justin and Christian. Likewise Blessed Florentius, archdeacon of the Roman church, followed him, who too was a kinsman of the same apostolic lord. Two princes also accompanied them, St. Eugenius and Blessed Nicostratus, prepared themselves too to give their souls together with the virgins for Christ. Finally seven of the household of the pope himself followed him. Further, a certain noble matron, his niece, who was called Herrengardis, followed him with her daughter and three maidens. So great an army of Christ, therefore, of virgins and of persons so exalted, setting out from Rome with immense joy, made for the city of Cologne with rejoicing of exultation, having before their eyes the crown of happy triumph promised them from heaven, and desiring it with all their affection, they hasten to the prize. In a few days indeed they had come to the city of Basel, where they had left their ships. Entering these again, they landed at the distinguished city of Mainz, which is situated on the Rhine.

[30] [and at Mainz is found Holofernes, St. Ursula's bridegroom, who is baptized there:] When they had arrived there, they found there the most illustrious youth, the bridegroom of the blessed virgin Ursula, most noble in conduct and birth. He, the day before, under angelic guidance, with many companions, of whom some were Christians and some catechumens, had come, himself and his companions alike prepared, together with his bride, to shed their own blood for the love of Christ. Finally the virgin of Christ Elizabeth says that he brought his mother with his little daughter and a certain bishop named Clement. Blessed Ursula foreknew his arrival three days before he came there, an Angel announcing it to her. At once, therefore, there arises for all an immense exultation of gladness and joy, since all were congratulating themselves with immense delight over his arrival. As they came out of the ships the archbishop met them with the clergy and citizens, receiving all the virgins and their companions with a noble procession in great gladness and exultation. They made a stay there indeed, resting for two days. Meanwhile the royal youth, the bridegroom of the blessed virgin, who had already been a catechumen for three years, is baptized by Blessed Pope Cyriacus with immense glory of nobles and princes. He, receiving the grace of baptism with devout heart, beloved of God and men, was lovable and gracious to all who knew him and saw him: Blessed Ursula, his bride, standing by him, with all the bishops, cardinals, kings and princes, and the whole clergy of that city. Some of his companions too, who had come with him, were baptized with him, since they had already been catechumens before.

CHAP. XIX.

[31] Heaven being opened, indeed, angels of light sent by God come there present, his praise and kinswomen: and also the conversion of his father. with many other persons of the saints, rejoicing together at this so festive solemnity. Finally, this royal youth himself, the bridegroom of so great a virgin, being still a virgin, never knew a woman or a wife, his mother guarding him and teaching him, an excellent woman and a most pious queen. Who, instructing him, trained him in all chastity, cleanness and uprightness of conduct. Let mothers, therefore, learn, taking example from her, and teach their sons and daughters and household to live chastely, to walk justly and piously. Further, he too had many kinswomen of the company of these same sacred virgins, of whose number these were: Blessed Benedicta and Lucia, who were of the eleven principal virgins, and Anastasia, most illustrious virgins, and very prudent, and also many others. There was also with him Blessed Lucentia, a most prudent virgin, and noble both in spirit and in birth, the daughter of the paternal uncle of the father of Ursula's bridegroom himself, with her most honourable mother, a countess. The father, therefore, of the same youth, the elder king, changed from a wolf and a cruel bear into a sheep, baptized in his own kingdom, died a good death and in true confession of Christ. With what delight of joy did it then gladden all, when they saw a youth so well-born and noble equalled to a noble bride in all uprightness and honour. She was of most elegant beauty, and he too was exceedingly elegant and comely. He, this same youth, was at that time about twenty-five years and seven months old, and she was seventeen years and three months. What more? That son of a king, and young king, renowned and illustrious, and she nonetheless the daughter of a renowned king and a noble and well-born queen, suddenly turned into tears the immense joy of all who had come to the spectacle of so admirable a joy: and wounded all with excessive sorrow. They hasten, therefore, as speedily as possible to the prize; they hurry to the martyrdom long desired by them. Daughters of kings, princes and dukes, nay kings themselves with queens and duchesses, go with hastening course to Cologne.

[32] [Having distributed their goods to the poor, they fall into the hands of the Huns besieging Cologne.] When they had arrived there, they found that the barbarous nation of the Huns had besieged the city itself. The prince of these barbarians, therefore, residing outside the wall, wondering at so great a multitude of girls and army of damsels, had them presented to himself. Of whom he at once inquires with diligent investigation their race, homeland and the cause of their coming. Blessed Ursula indeed, presented to the tyrant together with her bridegroom, at once pleased his eyes, and he cast his whole mind upon her, wondering at the elegance of the virgin; he was struck with awe at the beauty of her comeliness, and desired that she be joined to him. Whom the virgin, already before betrothed to the heavenly Bridegroom, the Son of the eternal King, with heavenly dowries, despising him, refused to acquiesce in his abominable desires. Further, before they fell into the hands of the tyrants, they used good and salutary counsel: and, acting after the example of Blessed Laurence, who gave the treasures of the Church to the poor, whatever remained to them of expenses, precious garments, treasures and ornaments, expending it in the city of Cologne, they left it to the churches, to be bestowed on the poor of Christ. Let the rich, prelates and nobles, bishops and counts, consider these things, who despoil the churches of Christ and the poor, who enrich themselves by the labours of others, and after death leave the goods of the poor to emperors and the rich to be consumed in vain uses, and acquire for themselves, purchasing them, infernal punishments. Behold, these virgins and their companions, kings, dukes and princes, queens, countesses and duchesses, despise lands, riches, homeland, honours, dignities and parents; exulting, they gave up their bodies for Christ, for God, to torments, for which they obtained of eternal life

the rewards, reigning with Christ, enjoy them in the delight of everlasting joy.

CHAP. XX.

[33] Likewise that prince of the Huns, exceedingly dreadful and savage, St. Ursula herself narrates her martyrdom and that of her companions. when he saw the unconquered mind of the virgin Ursula herself and of her companions, and that they could not be turned aside to the things he wished, circumvented by the cunning of the devil, brings it about that the companion virgins, and the companions and fellow men, should first be killed in the presence of Blessed Ursula: for he reckons that she, terrified by the death of the others, would consent to him all the more quickly, giving effect to his will. Further, the renowned bridegroom of the happy virgin is killed at the side of his bride, struck with a sword; slaughtered for Christ, he received the desired palm of happy martyrdom. Then the executioners rage; shedding innocent blood, they stained themselves with guilty crime. Finally, the blessed virgin herself, seeing the wicked raging in the slaughter of her companions, stands undaunted, neither is she conquered by the threats of the tyrant, nor, softened by promises, is she circumvented. Further, this same virgin Ursula, lately standing by a certain person who was inquiring about the course of her passion, spoke thus: "That prince thought to incline my mind to his love; whence he first caused all the virgins to be killed before me, so that, terrified, I might the more easily consent to him; but when I would not acquiesce in his wicked counsels and depraved will, he caused me to be killed almost the last of all, and, struck by an arrow in the heart, I died. All my female and male companions having thus been killed, he ordered me to be brought into his presence and there to be put to death: whence it happened that I was killed separated by a stone's throw from my bridegroom." Behold, these are the words of the same virgin: so indeed she spoke, and, adding further in Latin, she said: "And when we were already about to be killed, behold an infinite multitude of demons was present, having various appearances and forms: who, armed with various arms, running about hither and thither through the whole field where we were to be slaughtered, stirred up the slayers to our destruction. Finally the whole air too, even to heaven, appeared full of angels and saints and sacred virgins and blessed matrons, who had come to the triumph of our contest."

CHAP. XXI.

[34] "All the choirs of the heavenly orders, both of the angels and of the other saints," says the same virgin, "sent many thousands of their fellows to meet us; The heavenly ones come to meet the holy virgins, except the thrones, which directed few from their host to meet us. For the thrones are so confirmed in the presence of God that they cannot easily be separated from Him. But when we were being carried by the angels into heaven, the saints themselves met us everywhere rejoicing; yet nearer to us were, and closer to us came, the multitudes of sacred virgins and the battle-lines of blessed matrons, who, hastening to us as if in rivalry, clung to us more familiarly. And when, the heavens now being opened, we were being brought in with immense rejoicing by the angels and the other saints who had come rejoicing to meet us: almost all the saints who had remained in heaven came to meet us with the highest joy; they fill all things with sweet-sounding songs and most sweet jubilation; they lead us gloriously into the presence of the Lord and into the sight of His Mother. Who, at once congratulating us on our victory, command the angels that we be clothed in virginal robes and adorned with most shining crowns. We are brought in, indeed, into a certain mansion separated from the other virgins, already before prepared for us by the Lord: where we eleven thousand virgins together are rejoicing with everlasting delight.

[35] and to each her own place is assigned. "And beside us on one side is my bridegroom, and Blessed Pope Cyriacus, with the rest of our male companions, in a certain very bright mansion, rejoicing with eternal gladness. On one side indeed the sacred matrons, our fellows, have a mansion assigned to them, gleaming with ineffable brightness, in which they too are exulting for ever with happy joy. Further, Blessed Michael and St. John the Evangelist, who were our inseparable companions and guardians throughout our whole journey, with many services of angels and saints, when I was killed almost the last of all, receiving my soul with the highest gladness, offer it, presenting it, to the Lord and to His Mother." This in truth is the blessed end of the most blessed eleven thousand virgins, and the praiseworthy and holy end of their companions: who all obtained the palm of a triumphal death and the glory of the crown of everlasting life by the shedding of their rosy gore, and, associated for ever with the blessed embraces of the heavenly Bridegroom, for whose sweet love, leaving homeland, parents, riches and delights, they preserved the flower of virginal modesty and the cleanness of unblemished whiteness, being brought in by Him into the bridal chamber of eternal beatitude, they enjoy it, delighting with Him in everlasting joy.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER III.

The difficulties arising from the presence of infants, grown women and men are explained.

CHAP. XXII.

Sometimes among the relics and bodies of these same sacred virgins bones and little bodies are found so tiny Whence it comes about that many infants are found among the holy virgins; that they scarcely seem to have the time and space of three months from the day of their conception. Whence indeed very many, wavering not a little, wonder what they portend. On which Blessed Ursula, being asked, answered, saying: "There were some matrons among us, of whom some, when we went forth from our land, were pregnant, and newly conceiving in the womb, and they nonetheless, for the love of Christ and in the hope of the heavenly kingdom, followed us and fell slain together with us. Their infants, whichever had the spirit of life in their mothers' womb, and a living soul, when the mothers were killed, although the sword did not touch them, yet baptized in the death and martyrdom of their mothers and in their blood, were without doubt led by the angels together with their mothers to the heavenly kingdoms. And this is the most true explanation of the little ones who are found with the others, more robust." Some of the readers are found to oppose this chapter, alleging that sentence of the Lord, who says: "Unless one be born again of water and the spirit, he cannot be saved." But many abbots and lettered men commend the goodness of the Lord, and the faith of the mothers, and their love in God, and the pure confession of those hastening of their own accord to martyrdom for Christ, saying that these infants were baptized in the confession of their mothers and in their blood. With the leave of the readers I would say that the goodness of Christ would be much asleep and languid if it allowed those slain for His name to be damned. But when on one occasion the Notary of this same history and chapter was silently turning over within himself the opinions of the readers, it is said to him from heaven: "Know for certain that if infants die in their mothers' wombs they are damned, but their damnation will be a gentle one. But know this, that if the mother is killed for Christ, the child in the mother's womb, by the mother's confession and by her blood, is fully saved with the mother. Do not attend," it says, "to what the masters say about this: for nowhere does the divine severity hold in these cases that they should be damned: because as the divine justice extends itself everywhere, so as to correct by striking, so the divine goodness spreads itself everywhere, so as to come to aid by saving." Likewise on another occasion: "For as the divine truth, and the justice and severity of God Himself, extends itself everywhere, so as to leave nothing unpunished, so His ineffable mercy and charity spreads itself everywhere, so as mercifully to spare the innocent" ^a.

CHAP. XXIII.

[36] The little girls indeed who were among them, and the sucklings, [what reward befits these infants. It is declared that there was no place among the martyrs for corrupted virgins] who were slaughtered together with the virgins, are reckoned over and above the number of the eleven thousand: and these, although they do not remain among the holy Innocents who were killed under the Herodian persecution, yet obtain with them the reward of innocence and eternal beatitude. To this, indeed, it causes no small doubt to some that so great a multitude of eleven thousand virgins is spoken of, and not one of them at least was corrupted in her father's house under the habit of a virgin. While, then, one day the Notary of these, standing, was turning these things over in his mind, behold, answer is made to his thought from heaven: "That it is not so as you think, for the entire number of eleven thousand virgins was there" ^b. To whom also another illustrious virgin of their number, being asked, said: "There were in their land, as you reckon, in

the paternal house of some, three or four young girls, of whom one of these had been corrupted, and, going about with uncovered head and in virginal habit, concealed that she had been corrupted ^c; but when it had come to this, that the virgins were to be chosen, it was brought about by the divine will and done by heavenly providence that true virgins were chosen to be sent to Blessed Ursula, and the corrupted were left in the paternal house. Whence it came about that the number of the eleven thousand sacred virgins was full, and entire, and complete." Behold how great and what a miracle, and how much to be wondered at concerning their choice, that so great a number of virgins could thus be chosen and distinguished without any intermixture of corrupted ones.

CHAP. XXIV.

[37] It happens often that large and robust bodies are found among the same virgins. How grown virgins were found among them. Of these some are of the aforesaid men who were killed together with them, some also of matrons, many of whom were martyred with them ^d: but some indeed of certain of those sacred virgins. Further, as a certain sacred virgin of their number lately asserting testified, there were among the virgins some grown up and of advanced age, who had vowed their virginity to the Lord and to His glorious Mother, to keep it unblemished until death. There were besides among them some of quite mature age, who had been betrothed to men, whose bridegrooms, intent on the business of war and overtaken by death, or even some slain, left their brides untouched: for thus, by the providence of God, who alone knew what He was to do with them, the marriages of very many of them were put off: and this is the most certain cause of the robust bodies which are found here and there among the other tender virgins.

[38] There were men among them. The number of the exalted persons and men who were killed in the Company of these same most blessed virgins was somewhat more than two hundred: for so it is established that it was revealed from heaven to two. There were also among them matrons, who were not of the number of those virgins, more than two hundred. For although in their Passion no mention is made of the men who were with them, on account of the great number and multitude of the virgins; yet any man who is of sound mind will very easily understand and notice that they, as we said above, could not lack the service and ministry of men, both by ship and on the journey on foot, making for Rome. A threefold cord, as someone says, is hard to break. To three indeed it was revealed from heaven that some men were in their company, and matrons; to a certain brother, and to two virgins ^e. The virgin Elizabeth of happy memory writes that Pope Cyriacus with the cardinal Vincent was present in their company and fellowship. And we write that the same pope was present with two cardinals, Pontius and Peter, and with still more persons who followed him. One of those cardinals indeed had two names: for he was called Peter Vincent.

[39] The manner of reconciling apparent contradictions. Nor does this take anything from the truth, that she did not write that more accompanied him, and we have written that more followed him: for so the evangelists seem unequal among themselves, disagreeing in many places. One of them writes that the Lord cured a certain demoniac in whom was a legion of demons: another writes that two came forth from the tomb and were cured of a legion of demons by Christ. One writes of robbers reviling the Lord: another writes of one only. Further, the aforesaid virgin Elizabeth teaches that many of the bishops were associated with the sacred virgins on the same journey, which we approve sufficiently. This in truth is the blessed end of the most sacred eleven thousand virgins, and the holy and praiseworthy end of their companions; who all obtained the palm of triumph and the crown of everlasting life by the shedding of their rosy gore, and were associated for ever with the blessed embraces of the heavenly Bridegroom. For all the holy virgins, imitating the pious queen, the Mother of their heavenly Bridegroom, remained unblemished virgins to the end, shedding their blood for Him, and are carried by the Angels into heaven, to be associated with their holy fellows, namely the virgins: where the happy brides, joined to the most sweet Bridegroom, the Only-begotten of the most high Father, the beloved Son of the blessed Virgin Mary, rejoicing with unspeakable gladness and eternal exultation, will reign without end: who, together with His Mother, the pious and everlasting queen of holy virgins, is blessed for ever. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

SECOND BOOK.

EPILOGUE OF THE FIRST BOOK AND PROEM OF THE SECOND.

That the Notary of this Passion was admonished from heaven to describe the expedition of the holy Virgins.

Behold, the matter of the new history of Thy virgins, Jesus Christ, has been extended at length, and has become much more prolix than we thought, at the very beginning of writing, that it would extend. For Thou art my witness, Lord, that at the very beginning of writing I thought I would complete the account in scarcely two or three leaves. Thou knowest also that I was frequently stirred to write against my will, affected with much weariness. It happened also rather often, when I had set the pen to the page, being ordered to put down the pen, that I was entirely ignorant of the matter of writing: but as is done with little boys when they are first to be taught their letters, so it was rather often done with us; syllables, words, phrases, half a verse, a whole verse was named beforehand: and this befell us especially, however, in the following volume of their expeditions, so that we almost failed through excessive weariness. But when suddenly the admirable religion of most religious young girls, most noble daughters of kings and of princes, pagan as well as Christian, and the praiseworthy manner of their chaste and strict life, the virtue of charity and abstinence, of sobriety and modesty, and the beauty of all uprightness and fervour, had come before us from heaven, at once all weariness was entirely driven from the mind. So indeed it came about that between hope and despair, between disgust of mind and delight of spirit, we completed the course of their expedition. Moreover it happened to us sometimes that, with impatient spirit and ready mind, we were fitting the pen for writing, when behold, suddenly it was said from heaven: "Leave off: for whatever you write will be all a lie." Receiving indeed the heavenly admonition with grateful heart, I at once drew back my hand, being idle sometimes through the middle of the day, until, the disturbance of mind being calmed, the hoped-for tranquillity returned. Behold, whoever of the readers will believe these things which we have said, let him believe; we entice no one: nor do we seek our own praise from men, Jesus, Thou being witness; namely, in these and in all our works and studies we desire that Thy glory, and the praise of Thy blessed Mother, the queen of all, should be amplified, and the magnificence of Thy most holy eleven thousand virgins, whom Thou hast made to shine with wonderful and ineffable honour and sublime glory before Thee in the heavenly places: we, as Thou shalt give and grant, magnify and glorify them on earth. For we trust and hope that whoever now pay due honour and reverence will after this life be endowed with everlasting glory and honour, and will enjoy perpetual beatitude and joy with Christ, the Bridegroom of these same virgins: and also with the Mother of the eternal King Himself, the queen of all holy virgins, who together with her same Son be blessed for ever. Amen. Here ends, God helping, the new passion of the eleven thousand, lately revealed through the intervention of these same virgins of Christ.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER ONE.

What companions of their own family the bishops brought.

Here begins the second book of the expedition of the eleven thousand virgins and of their pilgrimage: in which is narrated their course and that of their female companions, matrons, and male companions, who were the more principal among them, revealed in the year 1187.

CHAP. I.

The heavenly King Jesus Christ, the pious Bridegroom of the holy Virgins, [With the help of the Mother of God, Blessed Hermann pursues genealogies chiefly in this book.] the Only-begotten of the most pious Virgin Mary, consoles His virgins, the hosts of eleven thousand, with the fellowship and company of bishops and kings and queens. Moreover a great many dukes, counts and princes, too, adhering to them, set out with them. Finally a great many sons of kings too, most illustrious youths, brothers and bridegrooms of the same virgins, going with them, obtained the palm of martyrdom for Christ the King of all. For in the times of these virgins the kingdoms of kings were not so extended as they are now, nor so immense: since at that time they were divided among several kings, who ruled them here and there. We, therefore, at the instigation, admonition and likewise exhortation of the most pious queen of heaven, who was the trusty and faithful leader and governess of these same virgins, have here described the conversion, course and genealogy of the five bishops who set out together with them from England, and of very many kings and queens. There were afterwards joined to them, going to Rome and returning thence, many bishops, noble matrons and princes. The venerable Elizabeth, a devout virgin of Christ, describes them. But of these we know little: for so divine grace has provided, that the things which have been omitted by the already mentioned Elizabeth, virgin of Christ, should be disclosed through us, to be of profit for the edification of others. Further, the generations and names of many sacred virgins are here described: and this is done by the providence of the heavenly queen, because their relics and bodies have been dispersed through the whole Church of Christ, if at any time through some one of the servants of God or

handmaids, by the will and spirit of Christ, their names should be revealed, people might believe more easily, and give greater credit, embracing them with greater love. But when, this same work being almost fully completed, we were investigating by prayer whether all the kings, dukes and counts here described had been lawful ones: it is said to us from heaven that even if by no means all had been elected lawfully, yet in virtue, power and nobility they deserved to be compared to them. We therefore call God to witness, who is aware of all consciences, that we have described many chapters of this history, and indeed they were enjoined on us against our will, and their course and matter were revealed one by one, and, when one had been written out, meanwhile another was commanded from heaven, as it were by compulsion, to be described.

CHAP. II.

[42] Of the five bishops setting out from Britain with the virgins to Cologne, St. Wilhelm the bishop with James his brother, his sister and niece, we shall first narrate the genealogy, and then disclose the conversion of the kings and queens. Blessed Wilhelm, therefore, the bishop, one of their fellows and companions, was begotten of a most noble lineage, both on his father's side and on his mother's he was sprung of royal stock, a vigorous man indeed, and tenacious of justice and truth. He was the cousin of the pious king, the father of the virgin Ursula, and a kinsman of the holy Virgins Pinnosa, Sapientia and Margarita. For he had three brothers and two sisters. And his elder brother was called James: and he followed him with two daughters, his wife being already dead. Of the daughters, one was called Florentina, and the other Verena. Further, the first of his sisters was called Gerasina, and she, with her little daughter, who was likewise named Gerasina, followed both brothers. The other of the sisters was called Florentina, who directed two daughters with them, St. Gelasia and Florentina. Another of the brothers sent with them one marriageable daughter, who was called Gerasina. The third of them directed two daughters, St. Genevieve and St. Bilonna. The father of St. Wilhelm and of his brothers was a great prince, the son of a certain king: he had also many kinswomen in the same company of virgins: certain daughters of his cousins, virgins, were sent with him. Finally he himself and his brother James, and their sister Gerasina, led nearly three hundred virgins to St. Ursula.

[43] and their bridegrooms followed the Ursuline army. Two most illustrious youths too followed them, their blood-relations, noble, upright, one of whom, Antonius, was the son of a certain duke, who had as bride in the same host of virgins the most honourable daughter of a count, who was called Sirapionia. The other was called Sigemundus, the son of a most noble count, and he too had there as bride a virgin of great virtue and uprightness, and she was called Pionia; she was of royal stock, having a king as maternal uncle. Many virgins in truth were in their company, very noble and elegant, who were betrothed to most noble bridegrooms: over whose departure they languished with immense sorrow. Moreover, among the others there were certain most illustrious virgins in this same company, kinswomen of the same bishop. Blessed Chelindris with her sister Virgilia, daughters of an exceedingly powerful count, whose mother was the daughter of a certain very rich king. The daughters nonetheless of King Avitus, a good and most honourable man, St. Columba and her sister Blessed Cordula, adhering to them, went in their company. And so St. Chelindris and Blessed Cordula were joined to each other by the affinity of kinship, and were of the eleven principal virgins: each of them nobly presided over a thousand, and these were betrothed to most illustrious men: who mourned with much sorrow over their absence. They had nieces too with them, and very many cousins. Further, St. Agatha and her sister Blessed Agnes, most noble virgins, were daughters of the sister of St. Columba, whose father was their renowned and brave king. Blessed Agatha had a most noble bridegroom, who had two sisters in their college, virgins, St. Frontonia and Blessed Eligenda, comely and honourable.

CHAP. III.

[44] St. Columbanus the bishop was a man of good manner of living and of praiseworthy life: St. Columbanus too, the cousin of St. Ursula, followed he was a kinsman of Blessed Wilhelm, and shone forth illustrious as much by the nobility of his stock as by the virtue of his conduct. Finally, he was the maternal aunt of St. Ursula herself. The queen herself, the mother of the virgin, had indeed eight brothers and six sisters. The first of the brothers, therefore, was called Eustachius, another Willebrordus, and the third Gilo: of the remaining brothers and sisters we have treated more fully elsewhere. Eustachius was an illustrious count, shining as much by the nobility of his birth as by the uprightness of his spirit, who had in the company of virgins two daughters, Blessed Eutropia, almost marriageable, and Bertha, five years old. Willebrordus indeed, another of the brothers, a vigorous man, likewise directed two daughters with them, St. Justina and Blessed Philomena. The third of the brothers, Gilo, a brave and powerful man, sent with them only one daughter, who was called Adhamara: she indeed was very beautiful and comely, and adorned with excellent conduct, and loved more than the rest; for she was noble, and shortly to be betrothed to a certain count. And of the sisters of the queen herself one was called Alexandria, but by her proper name was called Eugenia: for from her grandfather, who was called Alexander, and was a vigorous and powerful king, and of great strength, she drew this surname. Another of the sisters was called Eulalia. Further, St. Alexandria had two sons in this holy company of virgins: of whom one was Columbanus the bishop, and the other Evodius, a renowned and very honourable duke. Finally, Columbanus the bishop was a prudent man, and of great counsel and honourable life; he was whole in body: for he was a virgin, flourishing in much chastity. He had very great influence in that host of sacred virgins: now he exhorted them to lay aside all terror and sadness, now he diligently admonished them to keep the modesty of virginity, now to endure the passion of martyrdom for Christ, the Bridegroom of virgins.

[45] with many of his kindred. Evodius indeed, an illustrious duke, his brother, leaving lands, homeland and riches, wife and sons, with his only daughter, the virgin Eugenia, followed the Lord through his mother and his brother the bishop, setting out with the sacred virgins. For his wife, the duchess, was of a hard and shameless mind, whence she was unwilling to follow him, and afterwards, shortly, learning of his death, she took another husband. Blessed Alexandria, indeed, the mother of these brothers, led with her also her brothers' daughter, an illustrious matron, a noble countess, named Marcella: and she was equalled in all things both to the mother and to the brothers in merits and virtues, having as husband a count, upright and honourable, who was called John, and she set out against his will: for, he greatly resisting, she at length scarcely extorted leave to go away. She led with her two virgin daughters: one twelve years old, named Cleopatra, who was distinguished in conduct and well composed. The other indeed was a little one, and was called Pretiosa. The father of them, therefore, the husband of Blessed Alexandria, was a renowned and illustrious duke, and was called Pipinus, and he was the brother of the great king of Britain, Arthur, magnificent and most powerful: who had already passed away, departing from this world, before the expedition of the holy Virgins. The sister indeed of St. Alexandria herself, St. Eulalia, leading three daughters with her, followed her sister and her sons. The first of her daughters was named Hodierna, and she was marriageable, betrothed to a certain count, who, leaving her earthly bridegroom, chose the heavenly Bridegroom, the Only-begotten of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The second was called Odilia, and the third Sibilia, who was a most illustrious matron and a most noble queen. She pretended to her husband the king that she was going to visit her mother, and the other kinsmen and kinswomen, and the virgin Ursula her cousin, and so, when the time of their pilgrimage was at hand, she sets out with them, despising a temporal kingdom, for love of Christ and for love of His glorious Mother, receiving from them the endless crown of life, and gloriously. She was indeed a young woman of scarcely twenty years: for by her unexpected departure she wounded the hearts of many with vehement grief. The king himself, the husband of the same queen, grieved over her absence, the peoples of his kingdom mourned, nay all who knew her bewailed her departure with tearful voices. For she was young in age, but flourished in understanding of mind, and sagacity of spirit, and much discretion; she was lovable to all, beloved by everyone. Behold, this queen, still a young woman, despising all things, left them, so as to gain Christ. She left lands, kingdom and riches: she left her husband the king, and three little children, one boy and two little girls: moreover, despising body and soul for God, having set out abroad to die, she desired the crown of martyrdom in place of the royal crown.

CHAP. IV.

[46] Blessed Iwanus the bishop was a noble man, and the son of King Simeon, a most illustrious prince: St. Iwanus the bishop brought St. Pinnosa for he was very wise, and a man of good repute, chaste, and still adorned with the flower of virginity. He was the maternal uncle of the queen, the mother of Ursula, and of St. Alexandria and Blessed Eulalia. He, burning with love of God and of martyrdom, set out with the sacred virgins. Further, he brought in his company to Blessed Ursula most noble virgins, elegant and comely, more than five hundred. Blessed Pinnosa indeed, the daughter of the most illustrious duke Ludvicus, the paternal uncle of the virgin Ursula, was in his company. And she brought with her a most noble bridegroom, the son of a certain duke, a comely youth, and illustrious in virtue of spirit, named Canutus. His mother was the daughter of a certain most vigorous king. This same youth Canutus had a brother Simeon, a most upright young man, who was the bridegroom of Blessed Cordula, the kinswoman of the virgin Pinnosa. And he likewise followed his bride Cordula and his brother. Further, Blessed Evodia, an illustrious virgin, the sister of St. Pinnosa, following her, also led with her her bridegroom, a young man, the son of a count, very honourable and elegant, who was called Moanander. There adhered to them also St. Eleutheria, their blood-relation, the daughter of the paternal aunt of the virgin St. Ursula, a most prudent virgin, severe in fairness and a lover of truth, with her bridegroom, an illustrious man, sagacious and much to be commended: who was the son of a certain great prince. He had King Segemundus as maternal uncle, and his mother was the daughter of a king, and the name of that bridegroom was Sicherus.

[47] and others of the principal ones, These three virgins indeed, St. Pinnosa, Cordula and Eleutheria, with her sister Josippa, held the leadership over the whole army of virgins. And St. Florentina, their cousin, was of them, holding a mastership: but she was in another company. The already mentioned had led with them many illustrious and comely virgins of their kindred. And there followed Blessed Pinnosa and her sister Evodia a royal youth, handsome and comely, named Siphredus, very upright in spirit, and honourable and mature: who by the great uprightness of his conduct was an example to many, men as well as virgins. He was the son of their maternal uncle: moreover, magnificent in their company, and the son of the most illustrious King Sigemundus. This same prince was called by his proper name Magnus, a man in honourableness of life and of spirit

flourishing with much virtue: and his wife goes with him, a noble matron, and of great strength, named Matrona. And she was the sister of Iwanus the bishop, a prudent and religious woman. Blessed Benedicta indeed, a most prudent virgin, and very acceptable to all, who was of the eleven principal ones, ruling a thousand virgins, was their daughter. This same prince indeed had, with St. Benedicta, four daughters, two virgins, St. Sapientia and Blessed Illustris, and two matrons, St. Cornula and Blessed Prudentia. Further, St. Cornula led with her three daughters, Blessed Columba, Ursula and Melchia, most honourable virgins. The other of the daughters, Prudentia, led two daughters, Lucia and Euticia. There was present in the same company Blessed Odilia, a very wise virgin, conspicuous and honourable in every virtue of spirit: and she was set over a thousand virgins, being one of the eleven principal ones. She was indeed the daughter of the sister of the prince Magnus already mentioned, an excellent matron, and the daughter of a count, a prudent and vigorous man. This same illustrious virgin led with her two virgin sisters, St. Julia and Ursicia.

[48] together with Magnus and Sibald and many of their family This same prince indeed had with him a most upright brother named Sibaldus, brave, vigorous and comely: whose wife was called Cleopatra, and she was the daughter of a certain king; both led with them a little daughter, who likewise was called Cleopatra. And there followed him two virgins of his sister, Blessed Formosa and St. Eligentia. Moreover, seven most noble virgins too of his cousins followed him. Further, the aforesaid prince Magnus had three sons: of whom one, Sigemundus by name, an illustrious young man, going with him, was very much loved by many on account of the uprightness of his good conduct. The elder of his sons directed with him one virgin daughter, St. Philogena. Finally, both these brothers, Magnus and Sibaldus, led with them twelve virgins, daughters of their male and female cousins. Of whom three among the others were very prudent, and of great virtue and uprightness, St. Agatha, Emerentia, Immeria, who were betrothed to most noble bridegrooms. The first of these, therefore, was called Evodius, and he was the son of a count, and the second the son of a certain duke; the third was called Siranus, and he was the son of a certain most upright king. And these three youths, both allured by love of their brides and taken by the example of the others, youths as well as virgins, and despising all things, they too followed the Lord, setting out with the virgins. Further, the son of the sister of Blessed Iwanus the bishop, Selantius, a royal and very excellent youth, and illustrious in uprightness of conduct, the brother of the aforesaid virgin St. Benedicta, in another company follows his illustrious bride Sapientia, the daughter of Ursula's paternal uncle, who too was set over a thousand virgins, one of the eleven principal virgins, a mistress; allured by love of her, and drawn by love of his maternal uncle Iwanus the bishop and of his sister Benedicta.

CHAP V.

[49] Blessed Eleutherius the bishop, he too likewise was a noble man, St. Eleutherius, converted by his brother Eustachius, accompanies his daughters and of good manner of living and life; he, converted through his brother Count Eustachius, is made a companion of the journey and an associate of the sacred virgins. Which count had six daughters in that sacred company of virgins, of whom three were virgins, and three matrons, nobly joined to noble husbands: the first, Blessed Margarita, was a countess: the second, Florentia, married to a certain most noble count. The third, Eusebia, who likewise was the wife of a most illustrious prince, and very rich and powerful. The remaining three were most honourable and sagacious virgins, and devoted to God. Of these the first, St. Margarita, was a most illustrious virgin, and Blessed Walburgis, and St. Eleutheria. These three virgins indeed were betrothed to three most illustrious men; but the bridegrooms of Blessed Margarita and St. Eleutheria, Felix and Euticius, sons of two counts, joined in love to their brides, followed them and their father, leaving themselves and all their possessions. Further, the count himself, the father of the same virgins, with his wife Sibilia, a most noble matron, and much to be commended, made companions of the sacred virgins, set out with them. Finally, the first of the daughters of the three matrons directed with them three daughters, St. Eunomia, Praxedis and Julitta: the second two, Hermolaa and Gertrude: the third likewise two, St. Genovesa and Ermingardis.

[50] nieces and great-grandnieces But indeed the aforesaid bishop Eleutherius and his brother Count Eustachius had three most honourable brothers, and truly very upright, of whom Hardingerus was an illustrious duke, and another Count Florentius: the third Rogerius, a great prince, and of great power, and a warlike man. Of whom the first sent three virgin daughters, St. Pallodora, Amoena and Florentia: and the fourth of his daughters, the noble countess Hermolaa, follows them. The second of the brothers also directed three daughters with them, Blessed Philomena, Helprodia and Helpridia. The third two, St. Juliana and Blessed Hermolaa. The same count also had three sons, Hionas, Florentius, Galo. Of whom the first, a count, sent two virgin daughters, who were betrothed to most illustrious youths, St. Eunomia and Filadema. The second son directed with them three daughters, Blessed Julitta and Flora, illustrious virgins, and a third, who was a matron married to a noble man, who was called Philadelphia: and she with three daughters follows the others. And the third son sent three daughters, St. Verona, Eutropida and Illustris. The same Eleutherius the bishop and his brother Eustachius indeed had three illustrious and honourable sisters: of whom one, Gertrude, a most noble matron, leading with her three daughters, sets out with them; whose names are these, Margarita, Gelamia, Probantia. And the remaining two sent with them five virgin daughters: the second three daughters, Eustragia, Meldonia, Principalis. The third two, Praepotentia and Amantia.

[51] and the nearest blood-relations and in-laws of Sibilia. Finally, the mother of the six daughters, the countess Sibilia, was the daughter of a certain duke, who had two most illustrious brothers, and four sisters married to noble men. One of the brothers, a renowned and powerful duke, sent with them two virgin daughters, Blessed Genelaa and St. Balbina. The other, Macharius, a noble prince, and of good life, an honourable man and much to be commended, joined to these with four daughters, goes with them, leaving himself and all his possessions for Christ. Of the daughters three were virgins, and one a matron: whose names are these: Margareta, Serena, Aleidis, Micronia. Finally, the aforesaid four sisters sent with them nine daughters: among whom Blessed Justina, Perionia, Regedia and Alstrides, betrothed to most noble bridegrooms. Of whom one, Oriones, a most illustrious youth, had a king as grandfather. Who both, inspired by divine love, follow their brides, and five most honourable sisters whom they had as virgins in the same company of virgins, of whom four were betrothed to noble men: one of them indeed, Tiberia, had as bridegroom the son of a certain king. Eutitius, therefore, the bridegroom of Blessed Philogena, drawn by love of his bride, follows her, associated with the others. The brother of Blessed Euticius, a young man of good disposition, Folquinus by name, and much liked and lovable for his uprightness, leaving a marriageable bride in his father's house, clung to his brother, setting out with him. The mother nonetheless of these same youths, Tiburtia, a noble countess, joined to them with three daughters, follows them, leaving all things. Two of the daughters were virgins, Blessed Margarita and St. Tiburtia; the third, a young matron, Eusebia by name, went with her mother, following her. This same countess Tiburtia had a sister, a duchess, named Praxedis, who with only the virgin Europa is joined to her sister, setting out with her and the other virgins. A certain noble matron indeed, already advanced in age, who was called Eustragisilis, the grandmother of a certain king, a magnificent and rich man, sets out with them: she too leading with her ten virgins of her sons and daughters, a prudent and honourable woman, and of great virtues.

CHAP. VI.

[52] The venerable Lothair the bishop was a genuine and noble man, St. Lothair the bishop gives himself as a companion young indeed in age, but he was chaste, and was strong in the grace of many virtues. He was indeed the cousin of the royal youth who was the bridegroom of Blessed Ursula, having as father a most illustrious duke. The mother of the bishop indeed was the sister of the queen, the mother of the aforesaid youth. She had two brothers and as many sisters. And the queen herself directed her nephew Lothair the bishop to Blessed Ursula, her son's bride, surrounded with a large company of virgins. The elder brother of the queen herself directed with him two virgin daughters, Daula and Genovesa. The other indeed sent only one daughter, Eusebia. And the first of the sisters, a noble duchess, sent two daughters, Symphronia and Magmara. The other likewise two, Euphrosyna and Procha: some of these were marriageable, and had illustrious bridegrooms. The already mentioned bishop had two brothers and three sisters. The first of the sisters indeed directed with them three daughters, Elledera, Zoya, Phylaedria. The second two, Genovesa and Pallodora. The third one, Pallemonia, who was a virgin of great uprightness and liveliness. And she, by the honourableness of her conduct and uprightness of spirit, could be compared to many queens. Whom the son of a certain king, Euphromus by name, had betrothed, a most upright young man, very illustrious, flourishing in much honourableness of spirit. For he was scarcely eighteen years old: and yet he was serious in mind, quite modest and gentle, humble and chaste. He indeed, invited by love of his bride, went together with her to the virgin Ursula, leading with him three virgin sisters, Carpophora, Eutropia and Pallodora: besides he led with him nine most noble virgin cousins, of whom some were betrothed to most illustrious men. He had indeed three brothers: of whom the first sent with him three daughters, Serapia, Nazaria, Eutropia; and the second of the brothers directed two daughters, Eleonora and Eudoxia. Further, his sister Blessed Carpophora was a most prudent virgin, and of a very lively and most merciful spirit, and conspicuous in all virginal uprightness. Who set out together with her brother: for they loved each other with much love, and each of them indeed flourished in great chastity; this same virgin Carpophora was afterwards one of the eleven principal virgins: for she was set over a thousand virgins subject to her. Further, one of her maternal aunts, Evodia, a noble duchess, is associated with the virgin herself, her niece, and with her brother Euphromus, the royal youth: leading with her two daughters, Sophia and Maria. These two sisters truly were very strong, and flourishing in much prudence, sagacity and eloquence, and in virtue of conduct.

[55] with the cardinal Vincent and 1750 virgins. Finally Peter, who was also called Vincent, the cardinal who followed St. Cyriacus the pope, setting out with the sacred virgins, was the brother of Blessed Evodia, the maternal uncle of these two virgins. This same cardinal indeed, when he had learned that this same sister of his and her daughters, and the other virgins whom he had in the same sacred college, were his kinswomen, filled with immense joy, received them with the highest honour. The aforesaid Lothair the bishop, therefore, and the already mentioned matron, and Blessed Carpophora the virgin, and her brother the royal youth, had in their company

one thousand seven hundred and thirty virgins. There set out also with them a certain noble matron, who was called Sapientia, with two most illustrious virgin daughters, Benedicta and Juliana. And the nieces too of the same matron Sapientia, three daughters of her sister, set out with her, Viventia, Justina and Aemiliana. There came also with them another noble matron, Evortia, of royal stock: and she led with her five daughters and nine virgin nieces: and the names of her daughters are these, Evortia, Palladia, Ephemeria, Sincera, Alexandria. They were also kinswomen of the great duke Alexander and of the blessed virgin Jotha. And when they had come to St. Ursula, their mother Evortia, an illustrious matron, died in the Lord, and her soul was honourably commended to God, and her body to the earth. And that the series of the five aforesaid bishops is placed before the kings and queens, this was done at the suggestion of our Lady: for she herself persuaded that it should be done so.

ANNOTATION.

CHAPTER II.

What retinue the kings sent.

CHAP. VII.

Of the kings and queens who were in the company of the eleven thousand sacred virgins, St. Holofernes, the bridegroom of St. Ursula, meets her at Mainz by the revelation of our Lady, who is the glorious queen of all kings and queens, the series and genealogy is here described. The kings indeed, leaving their earthly kingdoms, whose hearts God had touched with His sweet grace, following their daughters, despised homeland, lands, dignities and riches, and deserved to possess the perpetual heavenly kingdoms. The highest of whom was the most illustrious youth, the bridegroom of the Blessed Virgin Ursula, who on account of the uprightness of his conduct and virtue of spirit, and on account of the elegance and beauty of his body, was called Holofernes. But this name was by no means his own. This youth indeed, by the common counsel of his father's kingdom, was elected king by the princes and lawfully crowned, who however did not at that time set out with the aforesaid virgins, but afterwards, admonished by divine revelation, met them at Mainz as they were returning from Rome. For his bride, the virgin Ursula, if she had remained in her own homeland, would have had her father's kingdom, because her parents lacked other children.

[55] and many virgins of his race are sent to her; Further, the father of this youth Holofernes, the bridegroom of the aforesaid virgin, a noble king, powerful in arms and riches, had five brothers and as many sisters, of whom four were joined to most noble wives, the fifth being still a young man. One of them indeed had taken to wife the daughter of a certain king: the sisters too, nobly married, had most illustrious husbands. The first of the brothers, therefore, directed to Blessed Ursula two virgin daughters, Philippia and Eunomia: of whom Philippia, flourishing in much shrewdness, virtue and prudence, had as bridegroom the brother of a certain king: the second of the sisters sent one daughter, Nicolitta. The third two, Europa and Nobiliana. The fourth sent three daughters, Euchodia, Proba and Hiacyntha. Finally this first of the sisters, Blessed Nicolitta, set out with the same virgins, leading with her three daughters, Nicolitta, Euphrasia and Eunomia. And this matron was very wise, and honourable in conduct, whence she was the leader and princess of the whole expedition of the royal young girls who were in her company. And the remaining three brothers directed five virgin daughters. Moreover, many more damsels of royal lineage too were directed, very illustrious and distinguished, more than two hundred virgins, kinswomen of Holofernes.

[56] [and also many others, St. Lucia being set over them; the company was 1640, a bishop being its leader.] Among the other young girls there were sent, indeed, two most illustrious virgins, Blessed Lucia and Anastasia, daughters of two kings, blood-relations of the already mentioned Holofernes; they were in that expedition with immense apparatus and royal pomp. Of whom the virgin Lucia was afterwards made one of the eleven principal virgins, holding the leadership over a thousand virgins, who had with her a little sister named Placida. The virgin Anastasia indeed, the illustrious daughter of another king, was the kinswoman of Lucia herself, her companion and inseparable associate, who led with her two sisters, Eusebia and Chelindris. St. Lucia, finally, had three brothers and one sister: of whom she led with her five daughters, Eumorphia, Splendida, Chorinda, Willena, Porthura. Further, the virgin Anastasia led with her eight daughters of her brothers and sisters, Euchodia, Venusta, Resindis, Ipochridia, Lacedomia, Verena, Apollinea, Flora. She had also with her very many virgin daughters of her male and female cousins, very renowned young girls of counts and dukes. In the company of these virgins indeed there were one thousand six hundred and forty virgins. Their leader altogether was a certain bishop, and the brother of a certain king, and also Blessed Nicolitta, the aforesaid sister of the king. And the bishop and the king's brother, when they had come to the virgin, leaving the virgins there, returned to their own region. All of whom the king and queen, the parents of St. Ursula, received with the highest joy, treating them most honourably.

CHAP. VIII.

[57] Another king too was present in the holy company of sacred virgins, St. Oliverius the younger is converted by his bride St. Oliva and sets out a most vigorous young man, and much to be commended, called Oliverius, the son of a certain most upright king, who likewise was called Oliverius, and his wife was the illustrious queen Luminosa. His son, therefore, the young king Oliverius, had betrothed the daughter of another most noble king, who was called Cleopater, a very honourable virgin, and acceptable to all the people, who was called Oliva: she indeed was beautiful, elegant in face: but she was more excellent in the honourableness of her conduct: for which reason she was loved by all, and furnished to all great favour of good opinion. Whose mother was called Nicostrata, a most honourable matron and queen, the daughter of a certain most vigorous count and an excellent man. And King Cleopater, the father of the same virgin Oliva, was the paternal uncle of the king, the father of Blessed Ursula, a powerful, brave and upright man: and in all things he could be equalled to him in virtue, riches and uprightness, but he was not of such religion. Further, the virgin Oliva herself, his most illustrious daughter, before the whole assembly and council of the princes of her father was solemnly elected queen and nobly crowned, because her parents lacked sons. She had, however, two sisters, of whom the elder, who was called Luminosa, set out with her to the virgin Ursula: for this sister too was an illustrious and comely virgin, and much to be commended. This same virgin and queen Oliva indeed was invited by the father of the virgin Ursula to come to his daughter. Finally, her sister Luminosa was betrothed to a certain young man, the son of a certain king. And when afterwards the young king Oliverius was going to visit his bride Oliva, and took her delay and absence ill, converted by the same bride, renouncing father and mother, lands and kingdom, and setting out abroad, he is made an associate of the sacred virgins.

[58] with many of his own race and of St. Oliva's The queen indeed, the mother of the virgin and queen Oliva, had two brothers and two sisters. Of whom one directed two daughters with the virgin Oliva, and the other of the brothers one, Pinnosa, Vultura and Luminosa, most honourable virgins. They sent with her also certain other illustrious virgins. Finally, one sister of the same brothers sent only one virgin daughter, Simera, a young girl of good repute. Among the other virgins indeed who were in her company, the virgin Tecla, the daughter of the paternal uncle of the same virgin and queen Oliva, shone forth with much honourableness of conduct and immense virtue of spirit. Whose mother was the daughter of a certain most powerful king. There was associated also with this virgin Oliva a certain most illustrious virgin, Natalia, of great name and good repute, the daughter of King Arthur, a great prince, with a most noble company of most illustrious virgins. Further, about these two, the blessed virgin Tecla and Natalia, a noble damsel, more remain to be related in a fitting place. The virgin and queen Oliva, however, had in her own company, excepting the company of the illustrious virgin Natalia, one hundred and forty-two most honourable and comely virgins. The other three directed Silvana, a most illustrious virgin, who by the sweetness of her conduct and honourableness of spirit was pleasing to all: for she was elegant in form and of noble lineage, and she was betrothed to a certain most noble youth, Baldwin, the son of a certain duke, and she led with her two sisters, Eunomia and Geramia. There were besides in their company St. Juliana, the daughter of a count, their kinswoman, and Blessed Sincera, a most noble virgin, being also their blood-relation, illustrious and distinguished.

[59] and with the daughters of her paternal uncles, and St. Fuchelingus. The king indeed, the elder, the father of the virgins Oliva and Luminosa, had five brothers and two sisters, who all together directed eleven virgins with them. The first of the brothers, therefore, sent two daughters, Eustachia and Menandra. The second only Alburgis, a most chaste and well-mannered virgin. The third two, Walburgis and Alquina. The fourth only Perpetua, an illustrious virgin and a young girl of good repute. The fifth indeed lacked children: he sent two sisters of his wife, Polodoxia and Gelidonia. Polodoxia indeed was a damsel of the best disposition, a chaste and prudent virgin, who had as bridegroom a most noble youth, the son of a certain duke. She was lovable to all for the sweetness and honourableness of her conduct. And their mother was the daughter of an excellent prince, very rich and exceedingly powerful. Finally, the king's first sister sent two daughters, Euticia and Sacrosa. The second only one, named Laetitia, a virgin adorned with all virtues, who, according to her name, gladdened many by the example of her good manner of living and of her repute. She was indeed most modest in spirit and in word, speaking rarely; intent on useful conversations. She had as bridegroom a young man, the son of a certain king, Fuchelingus by name, who was in all things to be compared with his bride in conduct and virtue. Further, this same royal youth, drawn by excessive love of the virgin, leaving to all his acquaintances, kinsfolk and parents grief at his departure, clinging to his bride, sets out with her, and is made a glorious martyr. Who, when he was presented with his bride and the other companions of the virgins at Cologne to the prince of the Huns to be slaughtered, with constant spirit rebuked the tyrant for his malice and tyranny. Who, if he had remained in his father's kingdom, would certainly have been king, to be lawfully crowned. Finally, he profited much by his example in the company of his companions and of the virgins. He led with him indeed two virgin sisters, St. Lucretia and Helena, a little girl. Lucretia herself indeed, his sister, flourished in much virtue, and shone forth distinguished as much by the honourableness of her conduct as by the nobility of her birth. She was most constant in spirit and discreet, and to be compared with her brother in all things. She had as bridegroom a king, the son of a certain king; she too wounded many by her departure with a heavy wound of grief.

CHAP. IX.

[60] The third king indeed who was in the college of these same sacred virgins St. Crophorus likewise sets out with a great retinue. was called Crophorus, and he was the son of King Pinnosus, a most noble man

and most sagacious: whose wife, the queen, was named Pallodoxia, a noble and very honourable matron. Their most illustrious son indeed, the youth Crophorus, was of a most prudent spirit, upright and honourable, and adorned with all uprightness of conduct; he had taken to wife the daughter of Duke Hardericus, a most noble prince, Cleopatra by name. He was a kinsman of St. Ursula and of Blessed Pinnosa, and of St. Sapientia. Further, Crophorus himself and his wife Cleopatra, both, two years before this sacred expedition of virgins took place, had been lawfully crowned before the princes of his father's kingdom. Since he was a blood-relation of the king, the father of the virgin Ursula, his wife, Queen Cleopatra, was invited to visit his daughter and the company of the other sacred virgins. They came, therefore, from the Southern part of that land with a noble company of virgins and young girls, having with them nearly two hundred virgins. Finally the king himself and his wife the queen were both blood-relations of the parents of the virgin Ursula: he on the father's side, and she on the mother's: who, while they were staying with the virgin Ursula and her other companions, rejoicing with the highest delight, clearly recognized, and saw by most evident signs wrought there from heaven, that all things had been done by God, and they, admonished by a divine answer, consented to be added to that holy company of virgins. Further, a certain noble countess too, a kinswoman of King Crophorus himself, set out together with her, she too leading in her company sixty virgins: for she was called Berengardis, who led with her also two daughters, of whom one was called Berengardis and the other Lucia, and she after the departure of the virgins returned again to her husband: for she had not come in order to go away setting out with them, but to be the leader of the royal young girls: and this same young king and his consort the queen left the greatest grief and sorrow to their own people after their departure.

CHAP. X.

[61] A certain magnificent king too, shining with virtue of spirit and honourableness of conduct, St. Lucius, converted through his daughter St. Jotha, sets out named Lucius, the father of the most illustrious holy Virgin Jotha, leaving the kingdom to one of his sons, followed Jesus Christ the King of all, converted through his daughter Jotha. For this same illustrious virgin was in the number of the eleven principal virgins, the first; very wise, she shone forth adorned with every virtue of spirit: and she had with her two sisters, Geminiana and Justitia. This same king indeed had seven sons and as many daughters. Four of the daughters, therefore, were joined to most noble husbands. The remaining three already mentioned are virgins shining with immense chastity, prudence and honourableness. Further, the king their father is admonished by St. John the apostle in a vision that, leaving all things and following Christ, he should set out with the sacred virgins. Finally his wife, a most pious queen, had already before passed away, dying from this world. This same king, therefore, was a kinsman of the father of the virgin Ursula, whence Blessed Jotha with her sisters is invited to come to her kinswoman Ursula, and to visit her, and to bring some of the virgins with her. One sister too of these virgins, St. Eugenia, an illustrious duchess, sets out with them with two daughters, Margarita and Verena. Whom Duke Sicherus himself, her noble husband, inspired by the divine spirit, joyfully follows, leaving all things. The remaining three daughters of the king, sisters of these, matrons, directed with them five most illustrious virgin daughters, Eutropia, Evodia, Marcella, Dionysia, Syntheria.

[62] with a retinue from his own race and others, 330. Finally the seven sons of the king, the brothers of Blessed Jotha, directed with them nine virgin daughters. The first of them, therefore, the brother, King Illerus, directed one daughter named Balbina, a very illustrious virgin, and endowed with much virtue of spirit. Her the most illustrious young man Honoratus, the son of a certain king, the brother of St. Nobiliana, had betrothed by giving a pledge: whom she, converting him, made from a soldier of the world a martyr and soldier of Christ. The second of the brothers sent two daughters, Maria and Martha. The third also two, Margarita and Joanna. The remaining four brothers directed daughters, Venusta, Placentia, Sibilia and Euphrasia: some of whom were betrothed to noble men. The queen indeed, Justitia, their mother, the wife of King Lucius, had two brothers and one sister. Of whom one, Alexander, an excellent and illustrious duke, a very honourable man, a lover of religion and of the poor, sent five daughters there. The other of the brothers indeed directed only one, who was called Melliflua, because she was most sweet in conduct and in speech: who however by her proper name was called Balbina. And their sister sent one daughter, who was called Symphoriana, and she was of great disposition and good repute, and much loved by all. She had, therefore, as bridegroom the son of a certain king, a young man of great uprightness, who after the departure of the virgin languished with much grief over her absence. Of the already mentioned Alexander, a most noble duke and an excellent man, and of his conversion and that of his wife, we shall treat elsewhere in its place after the series of the kings. And the same king had with him three hundred virgins and nearly thirty.

CHAP. XI.

[65] King Clodoveus likewise, wholly religious in those parts, St. Clodoveus, likewise converted through the work of his daughter, and being of good life, with his wife Blandina, a well religious and very honourable queen, drawn by the example of their daughter Eugenia, the wife of the pious Duke Alexander above mentioned, and by the exhortation of the duke himself, their son-in-law, leaving the kingdom to their son Hermolaus, a brave and vigorous man, associated themselves with the sacred virgins of Christ, setting out with them. They had, therefore, four sons and five daughters, of whom two were virgins and three nobly married. The king and queen indeed led with them these same virgin daughters, the most holy Walburgis and Sabina, acceptable to God and men. Further, their son the king directed with them two daughters, Sapientia and Illustris, very honourable and comely: who both were betrothed to two dukes. The remaining three sons sent three daughters, Evodia, Deponentia, Salutaria. The first of the daughters, then, directed two daughters, Evodia and Clementia: the second only Maria: the third two, Eunomia and Eraclea. Some of whom were betrothed to noble men. The bridegroom indeed of St. Clementia, the son of a certain most noble prince, Eutropius by name, drawn by love of his bride, and persuaded by the example of other youths, leaving his principality and the honour of his dignity, joining himself to the company of the sacred virgins, sets out with them.

[64] he sets out with 205 virgins. The king himself, finally, had three brothers and two sisters. Of whom the first, a renowned duke, sent two daughters, Europa and Alexandria. The second directed three daughters, Euchonia, Silvana and Historia. The third two, Ichonia and Proba. Further, the first of the sisters sent two daughters, Plenaria and Euchonia. The second three, Praeclara, Fulgena and Eustaja. Of whom the virgin Praeclara, according to her name, had been illustrious in name and good repute. She was indeed composed in every virtue of conduct, and comely in face. She indeed had a most upright bridegroom, prudent and honourable, Isichius by name, the son of a certain king, who, drawn by the love and example of this same bride, followed Christ through her: and, clinging to his bride's maternal uncle, the pious King Clodoveus, and to the illustrious queen, set out abroad with them, to give up body and soul for the heavenly King. This same royal youth led with him a most honourable virgin sister, named Blandula. Finally she too was betrothed to a certain most glorious youth, the son of a certain king, and pledged with noble dowries. Further, many others too of the race and lineage of that most noble virgin accompany him. And in the company of the same most pious king and of his wife, the good queen, there were two hundred and five virgins.

CHAP. XII.

[65] A certain king too, noble and distinguished in virtue, Canutus by name, St. Canutus with his wife together with his wife Balbina, an illustrious and excellent queen, drawn by the example of their sons and daughters, admonished too by their persuasion, take to the road with the sacred virgins, first giving the kingdom to one of their sons, Charles. He had indeed two virgin daughters, Fides and Flora, conspicuous in all uprightness of spirit, prudent and very honourable, setting out with them. Of whom Blessed Fides was betrothed to a certain most noble youth. Further, they had six daughters and five sons, of whom two go with them: Urbanus, a most illustrious and religious duke, together with his wife Cafinea, who was the daughter of a certain king, a most honourable matron. His brother, a certain very upright and commendable young man, named Philip, allured both by affection for his parents and by love of his bride Beatrix, a most noble virgin, is associated with them, going with them: this same virgin was also the daughter of a duke, a most vigorous man, a happy young girl, and according to her name she was called blessed Beatrix.

[66] The king and queen indeed led with them four daughters, two virgins, Fides and Flora, and two matrons, Sperans and Florentia. Of whom Florentia led with her two daughters, [and with many others of his house he gives himself as companion to the Ursuline host.] Pretiosa and Caritas. The other only Blessed Caritas. These matrons had as husbands most noble princes, and very much honoured. The already mentioned virgin daughters were betrothed to most noble and most illustrious men, sons of counts and dukes. Further, King Charles their son directed no daughter with them; but his wife the queen sent with them two sisters, Euphrosyna and Euticia. And their two remaining sons sent four daughters, Justina, Cordula, Lucia and Cypriana. One of the daughters of these two who remained directed three daughters, Sperans, Florens and Flora: the other two, Eugenia and Felicissima. They led with them also thirteen most illustrious virgin cousins, and very many other young girls of their kindred, many of whom had been nobly betrothed to illustrious bridegrooms. They led, therefore, in their company one hundred and seventy-three virgins, and four matrons, of whom St. Sperans and Florentia were daughters of King Canutus, and two were his kinswomen, Eugenia and Felicissima, noble matrons. Each of these had with her two daughters, Praxedema, Genovesa, Alexandria and Polemia. There followed them also a royal youth, Alexander, their kinsman, the son of the sister of a certain king, with three sisters, Eugenia, Felicitas, Perpetua. There followed them besides a certain young man named Anacho, their noble blood-relation, with his bride, who was called Hildegundis. This virgin indeed was of royal stock, sweet in conduct, very honourable and comely, and prudent. Moreover there were among them most illustrious virgins, Blessed Berta, the daughter of their paternal aunt, and Blessed Pinnosa, the daughter of their maternal uncle, and St. Generosa, Felicitas and Perpetua, most prudent virgins, and strong in much grace of virtues, who led with them their bridegrooms, very noble and illustrious, and powerful.

CHAP. XIII.

[67] A certain king too, Pipinus by name, was from the eastern quarter of that land, St. Pipinus with his wife, and his son St. Adulphus and his illustrious wife was called Margarita. Both were illustrious in birth, and shining with nobility of conduct, fervent too with immense love of God, they too desired to go on pilgrimage for Christ, to be associated with the sacred virgins,

to their company. And this king was a kinsman of the virgin Ursula, and of Blessed Jotha and her sisters. He had, namely, four sons and three daughters, of whom one named Adulphus was elected king and confirmed in the kingdom together with his wife Dionysia, an illustrious queen, who was strong in religious conduct. The younger king Adulphus indeed, burning with incredible love of Christ, was religious and devoted to God, humble, pious, gentle, merciful, a lover of truth and justice; he was a defender of the poor and the humble, almost a despiser of himself and of all dignity and kingdom. Sparing in food and drink, moderate in clothing, and conspicuous in every virtue of spirit. Further, two of his brothers were married, but the third, a young man named Sidonius, was very honourable and virtuous, and strong in much uprightness of conduct. He had betrothed the daughter of another king, an excellent girl, shining too with rare virtue, named Praeclara. The younger king Adulphus, therefore, had two sons and three daughters, of whom two had well-born bridegrooms, own brothers, sons of one king. The elder king Pipinus, therefore, was invited by the father and likewise by the mother, the parents of the queen, the virgin Ursula, to direct their daughters to them with a host of virgins. Who, wishing to comply with their petition and will, choose noble and elegant virgins from the dominion and power of their kingdom, sending them to the virgin Ursula. And the same king took the young man Sidonius, his son, with his bride Praeclara, a most illustrious virgin and lovable to all, and his daughter, a virgin named Sincera, very commendable and sagacious: for she was a virgin of most lively sense and wit, and a lover of pure religion; and he directed these with many others. Further, he directed with her the bridegroom of this same daughter of his, Eipredius by name, the son of a certain duke, adorned with good conduct, and very upright.

[68] [with many blood-relations and in-laws, and with a retinue of 260 virgins, he undertakes the journey.] Finally King Adulphus, the king's son, sent with them the three daughters whom he had, Encletica, Sincera and Nobiliana. The two remaining brothers indeed directed three daughters, Pinnosa, Hermolaa and Geminiana, most upright and very honourable virgins, who were nobly betrothed to most illustrious men. Two daughters indeed of the king himself, illustrious matrons, Eunomia and Juditta, going with them, led with them three daughters, the sisters Hermolaa and Nicolitta, and Praeclara, a most chaste and most religious virgin, who always resisted her father, the noble duke Euticius, and her mother Juditta, lest she should be joined to a husband. The same king, therefore, had five brothers and three sisters. These brothers, therefore, sent fourteen daughters, and his three sisters directed seven daughters. Further, some of his brothers were dukes and counts and magnificent princes. There were indeed among these same virgins some of greater name and more excellent birth, and betrothed to illustrious men. The last of these indeed was called Magna, who was a virgin of great uprightness and honourableness: the daughter of the sister of the king himself, and she had as bridegroom a most illustrious and most approved son of a certain king. Finally the illustrious queen Margarita herself too had two brothers and seven sisters. Both the brothers directed seven daughters: and four sisters sent nine daughters. And the remaining three sisters were virgins, Philadelphia, Philomena and Pallodora: very many of these too were nobly betrothed to illustrious men. There were indeed in their company two hundred and sixty chosen virgins, excepting certain matrons who led them. And when afterwards the happy fame of these same eleven thousand virgins was spread abroad with sweet odour, the pious king Pipinus himself came, with his son Adulphus, a most pious king, to visit his daughters and the virgins and Blessed Ursula, his kinswoman. Who, when they had learned for certain that this expedition was being made by God, pricked to the heart themselves too, the king appointed one of his sons king in place of himself and of his son King Adulphus, and, returning with immense apparatus with their wives and still many virgins, joined to the most holy company of sacred virgins, desiring to undergo death for Christ the King of all, they set out abroad with them.

CHAP. XIV.

[69] Moreover a certain king, Avitus by name, a brave and powerful man, St. Avitus sends his daughters SS. Columba and Cordula and sixty of his stock; pious and gentle, had two daughters in the same company of blessed virgins, St. Columba and Blessed Cordula. Of whom Columba was one of these eleven principal ones who held the mastership over all the virgins, each ruling a thousand virgins. Finally this same king, being a good man, tenacious of justice, and a doer of piety, had five sons and three daughters. And the two already mentioned virgins, his daughters, went before their father with a noble company of virgins, setting out to St. Ursula. The third of his daughters indeed, the eldest by birth, married to a certain king, was of good repute and acceptable to all, who was called Agatha. And she directed two daughters with the aforesaid sisters, Agatha, a most illustrious virgin, and her sister Agnes, a pious virgin, sending with these same daughters sixty virgins, many of whom were of royal lineage. Blessed Columba indeed, and her sister Cordula, and their already mentioned nieces Agatha and Agnes, were betrothed to most noble men, who, wounded with much grief, languished over their absence. Further, two of the sons of King Avitus were married, of whom one had taken the daughter of a certain king, and the other the daughter of a most illustrious duke. And the remaining three were young men without wives. Further, the first of the sons sent two daughters, Eudoxia and Philomena. The second likewise two, Ursula and Lucia.

[70] his brothers and brothers-in-law send others with St. Chelindris Finally the king himself had three most approved brothers and vigorous counts and dukes, and two sisters nobly married. His brothers indeed sent seven virgin daughters, some of whom were betrothed to most noble princes. The latter of the sisters directed three daughters, Juvenalis, Vlatimalis and Viventia. The other two, Melchydis and Euphrosyna. The queen herself indeed, the consort of King Avitus, a woman full of piety and mercy, had died two years before, being a humble matron of much virtue and charity, and a lover of the poor. She had namely two brothers and seven sisters. Who all directed fourteen most noble virgin daughters, of whom three were of greater name, and more illustrious in virtue than the others, having most illustrious and comely bridegrooms. Of these one was Eulalia, another Tiburtia, the third was called Macharia; the bridegrooms namely of two of these virgins, Eulalia and Tiburtia, were the sons of two kings, of whom the former was called Nicolaus and the other Nicanor, who both set out going on pilgrimage with them. Further, St. Chelindris, a most illustrious virgin, the daughter of a certain count, with her sister Virgilia, were in the expedition of this virgin Columba. For she too was a kinswoman of the virgin Columba, leading with her forty virgins: for she too was very wise, chaste, and strong in much uprightness of spirit, and was one of the eleven principal ones. Finally she too had as bridegroom a noble duke, a young man approved in every virtue.

[71] and with a retinue of 300 virgins, among whom St. Odilia. In their company indeed there were three hundred illustrious virgins, noble and comely, making for St. Ursula. These virgins were joined to the expedition of Blessed Wilhelm the bishop, going together. King Avitus indeed, when the time of the pilgrimage of the holy virgins was at hand, leaving the earthly kingdom to one of his sons out of desire for the heavenly kingdom, is associated with the choirs of virgins, and sets out with them. This same king indeed was the maternal uncle of the blessed virgin Odilia, who likewise was one of the eleven principal virgins, and she, having with her two sisters, Julia and Ursitia, was the daughter of a most powerful count and a good man. This king indeed, strong in many virtues of good conduct, and flourishing in much uprightness of spirit, loved our Lady with intimate affection, and burned with the whole intention of his mind about her service. He built, indeed, a noble church in her honour, enriched with many honours and estates: whence the most pious queen of heaven herself, the everlasting mother of mercy, by no means unmindful of the benefits conferred on her by him, gave to the Brother writing these things the matter and the whole course which are contained here, placing it in his heart and in his mouth. This king was related by marriage to the king, the father of the virgin Ursula, joined to him by near blood-relationship.

CHAP. XV.

[72] Moreover a king named Siranus, rich and renowned, and strong in much virtue of spirit, St. Siranus sends two sons and others of his house had five sons and as many daughters. Four of whom are directed to St. Ursula with immense apparatus, much pomp and a noble retinue. Two of them indeed were virgins, St. Sibilia and Eugenia; the remaining two matrons, Blessed Juliana, a countess, and St. Lucia, a duchess. Blessed Juliana the countess led with her one virgin daughter, Lucia, and the other, the duchess, two, Euphrosyna and Eudonia. Further, the mother of these, the queen, was called Sibilia, and she was a kinswoman of the mother of the virgin Ursula. Her daughter indeed, St. Sibilia, was one of these eleven virgins who were principal over the others, and she too was set over a thousand virgins. The fifth daughter of the king namely was a girl without a husband. Of the queen's sons, therefore, four were married, and these all directed with them five virgin daughters, Elpis, Gelasia, Fulchira, Gelasia and Euphronia. And the king himself had only one brother and four sisters, who all sent nine virgin daughters, comely and elegant: of whom St. Euphronia and Virgulta, and Carpophora and Julitta, flourishing in much honourableness of conduct, had noble bridegrooms. The bridegroom indeed of Blessed Virgulta, a most illustrious youth, was the son of King Arthur, most vigorous and exceedingly powerful and most rich, the brother of the most noble virgin Natalia. This same youth, the bridegroom of the aforesaid virgin, was called Arthur, who, drawn by love of his bride, follows her, joined to the choirs of sacred virgins. Which bridegroom, if he had remained in his native land, would without doubt have been king. This same youth and his sister Blessed Natalia were in truth an example to many: for they were strong in much virtue of spirit, shining with prudence, discretion, honourableness, elegance and beauty.

[73] with a retinue of 180 virgins and seven matrons. What more? There were one hundred and eighty virgins in their company, and seven illustrious matrons, their guardians. Of whom three, when they had come to Blessed Ursula, leaving the virgins there, returned again. The aforesaid virgin Natalia indeed was not in their college. Finally, of the four matrons who remained with Blessed Ursula, there was Blessed Juliana, and her sister Lucia, the daughters of King Siranus, and St. Lupina, the daughter of a certain most noble prince, and the wife of an illustrious man, and a very rich and excellent person: who led with her three virgin daughters, Eugentia, Elegantia and Praepotentia. The fourth matron namely was a kinswoman of the virgin Sibilia, a good, merciful and devout woman, doing many good things for the poor and needy of Christ.

And she was called Serena, and she was the wife of a most noble count. Finally she too led with her two daughters, Eugenia and Geminiana. Queen Sibilia indeed, the mother of the virgin Sibilia, had three brothers and two sisters, who all directed with them seven daughters, beautiful, elegant and comely. Of these five had illustrious bridegrooms, enriched with riches and wealth. But when afterwards King Siranus himself, admonished by the Spirit of God, having resigned the kingdom to his son, went with his wife Queen Sibilia, setting out to the holy virgins, two bridegrooms of the already mentioned virgins, namely of the blessed Serena and Euticia, the most illustrious youths Falconius and Nitidius, going with them, give their souls and bodies for Christ.

CHAPTER III.

The setting out and genealogy of the dukes.

CHAP. XVI.

Alexander, the brother of the illustrious queen Justitia, was a noble and renowned duke, St. Alexander the duke sets out with his wife, five daughters and 158 virgins. powerful and vigorous, prudent in counsel, excelling in honourableness and uprightness of spirit, acceptable to all the people. He was indeed the maternal uncle of the blessed and most prudent virgin Jotha, the daughter of King Lucius; who was the first of the eleven principal virgins: for she was set over a thousand virgins. Further, the wife of the same duke, Eugenia, was a most Christian woman, and imitated her husband in the grace and honourableness of all virtues. For they had three sons and seven daughters, whom they nourished with the highest diligence, in all chastity and modesty. Two of the daughters indeed were in a cloister of virgins and nuns. Of whom one was abbess, a very religious woman and a magnificent virgin. The other likewise was of holy manner of life, being an example and mirror of religion to all the sisters. And the five remaining sisters were imitating their father and mother in honourableness of virtues and in chastity, whose names are these, Angelina, Mathildis, Symphoriana, Veronia, Hedewigis. Two of them indeed were grown up, and three living in girlish state and age. And their father, the illustrious duke Alexander, and their mother Eugenia, the daughter of the most noble King Clodoveus, a most prudent man, following the virgin Jotha and her sister, their most honourable nieces, with their five daughters, joined themselves to the college of sacred virgins, setting out with them. Moreover they led with them also three daughters of two sons, of whom one sent two daughters, Ivoritta and Phileria, the other one, Martina: he in truth wounded the adjacent regions and his subjects with much grief by his departure. For he was a magnificent and very honourable prince, a defender of the common people subject to him, not allowing soldiers and robbers to do violence to the villagers. He had indeed in his company, setting out to the virgin Ursula, one hundred and fifty-eight chosen virgins.

CHAP. XVII.

[75] Leo, a renowned duke and the son of the most powerful King Ancharamnus, St. Leo the duke with his sisters and nieces whose mother, the illustrious queen, was called Martha, had in this company of sacred virgins three renowned and illustrious sisters, of whom two virgins were called Eutonia and Euphrasia. Further, the former of them was of sharper wit, and a virgin of much uprightness, and flourishing in much uprightness and virtue of spirit. She had as bridegroom a most illustrious youth, strong too in the best conduct and upright, the son of a certain king, named Pipinus; and when his bride was being sent to St. Ursula, he strongly resisted her, that she should not be directed. Finally this same royal youth too had two most honourable sisters, elegant and comely, in their college, Anchirana and Venusta; who were betrothed to most noble youths. And so the daughter of King Ancharamnus, the sister of Duke Leo, called Euticia, had as husband a most illustrious count, and a good and honourable man: who, leading with him two virgin daughters, Eudonia and Amphytea, sets out with them: of whom the former was betrothed to a certain count, a most illustrious virgin; indeed Leo the duke himself, the renowned son of a king, was the cousin of the most pious duke St. Alexander: he was young indeed in age, but he was strong in immense uprightness of mind: he was a young and warlike man, intent on the business of war, who had taken to wife the daughter of a certain king named Honesta, strong in great grace of virtues: she was a young girl indeed in age, but she was strong in religious and most honourable conduct, being pious, chaste and merciful: for by her zeal and industry Leo her husband was converted. She had three virgin sisters in the college of holy virgins, Papia, Maria and Residea: of whom Papia was much composed in spirit, prudent in speech, and strong in great grace of conduct. She had namely as bridegroom a most upright son of a certain king, the cousin of Duke Leo. Whom at length this same bride of his and Honesta, Duke Leo's consort, converting him, so that he too should set out with the virgins.

[76] Further, the illustrious duke Leo was a kinsman of the virgin Ursula and with his wife Honesta of Blessed Jotha, and on that account had many kinswomen and relatives in that sacred company of virgins. Whence his wife Honesta was invited by these same virgins. With royal apparatus and a noble retinue of soldiers and virgins she came to visit them: she found there also her paternal aunt, her father's sister, named Eucharia, a very honourable matron and an illustrious countess, with two daughters, Eucharia and Blanditia. And when she stayed for eight days, rejoicing in great gladness and exultation, and delighting in so stupendous and admirable a company of sacred virgins: no wonder that she too, kindled with the ardour of the Holy Spirit, desires to be made their companion and associate: and when she was delaying, Duke Leo her husband, drawn both by love of his consort and also captivated by the novelty of the good opinion of these same virgins, which was being spread abroad so sweet and happy, follows her. When he had arrived there, and had found all rejoicing with the highest gladness, and saw them desiring with so great affection a pilgrimage too for Christ, at the urging of his consort, sisters, kinsfolk and friends, he is bent in mind: giving his word to set out with them, he returns with his wife Honesta to prepare himself for the arranged journey. But when the time of the setting out of all was already at hand, having gathered a battle-line of many most noble virgins, made their leader, he is joined to the holy hosts, together with his wife Honesta, most honourable and much to be commended: who, although she had not been lawfully crowned, yet in the days of her gladness, as the daughter of a king and the wife of a royal husband, wore a crown on her head. All these things, reckoning them as dung for Christ the King of all, she left behind.

[77] and with 335 virgins he follows St. Ursula. The same duke Leo indeed had in his company three hundred and thirty-five virgins, and five matrons, who were their leaders and guardians: of whom, two returning, three remained, Euticia, the king's daughter, an illustrious countess, and St. Gertrude, the wife of a certain prince, and Blessed Gyafridis with two virgin daughters, Geminiana and Beatrix: and Duke Leo himself and his wife St. Honesta had with them most honourable cousins and nieces, among whom was St. Anacleta, a most illustrious virgin, much lovable, and very commendable for the sweetness of her conduct and the grace of her virtues. She was the daughter of Duke Leo's paternal aunt, whose mother was an illustrious and most rich duchess: for she had with her three virgin sisters, of whom one, almost grown up, was of prudent spirit, named Sophia: the remaining two were called Sapientia and Chelindris. Anacleta herself indeed was betrothed to a most prudent youth, the son of a certain prince, who much opposed her journey, that she should not be sent: she loved the Lord too with her whole heart and soul, and loved His Mother, our Lady, with intimate affection. She loved also Blessed John the Evangelist with sincere mind. Further, her sister Sophia likewise had an illustrious bridegroom, the son of a count. There were besides in this same company very many most illustrious virgins, having most noble and very illustrious bridegrooms.

CHAP. XVIII.

[78] A certain duke too, Sincerus, the son of Iwanus, a most brave and most powerful king, St. Sincerus with his daughter and other blood-relations and in-laws, whose mother the queen was called Gyslah, was with his wife Sibilia in the company of these same sacred virgins. He had with him also only one daughter, named Thasis, a girl of ten years. He had also five brothers and three sisters, of whom two virgins, the most blessed Anna and Amata, devout, prudent, chaste, were adorned with all sweetness of conduct: who against their will were betrothed to most noble bridegrooms: of whom one, the bridegroom of the virgin Anna, was the son of a certain king, and the other, the bridegroom of Amata, was the son of a certain duke, the brother of a certain king. Finally these two youths, the bridegrooms of these same two virgins, had four sisters in this same company, Donata and Pretiosa (who were daughters of the king), and the sisters Eleutheria and Vedastis, who were daughters of the duke, the brother of the king himself, and these likewise were betrothed to illustrious bridegrooms.

[79] with his nieces and with Richarus, at the instigation Three indeed of the brothers of Duke Sincerus, sons of King Iwanus, were married, and two young men without sisters of those three brothers. The first sent three virgin daughters, Aldegundis, Mobilia and Praeclara: the second two, Mobilia and Devota: the third only Odilia. Further, the third sister of these brothers, the daughter of King Iwanus, was called Methildis, and she was the queen, the wife of the excellent and most rich King Oswald: a matron honourable in all things, and of good manner of living and of the best life, being a lover of God and of the poor; the king himself indeed, her husband, most pious, was comparable to his consort the queen in every virtue and goodness. He was indeed humble, religious, gentle, merciful, and a lover of all honourableness: for they directed three virgin daughters to the virgin Ursula, Eunomia, Praeclara and Eudonia. They had besides three sons nobly married, of whom the middle one, Richarus, had as consort the daughter of a duke, named Melchia, who both were of most religious manner of life. For they could be compared to their father Oswald in the honourableness of religion. At length, divinely inspired, leaving dignities, riches and honours, going away with their only daughter Placida, they associated themselves with the sacred choirs of virgins.

[80] of his wife Sibilia, set out with 230 virgins. And Duke Sincerus, the king's son, was converted through his wife Sibilia: his wife Sibilia, therefore, was a woman of most prudent wit, and very sagacious, who had a kinswoman in the company of virgins named Praeclara, a virgin of great virtue; and she was the daughter of King Elpronius, Sibilia's maternal uncle, and they loved one another with much love: she, invited by her, and at the same time summoned on the part of the virgin Ursula, came with the duke her husband to visit Blessed Ursula, her kinswoman, and the already mentioned virgin Praeclara, and very many others in their college, blood-relations, both virgins and matrons. When they were staying there a few days, persuaded both by the instinct of divine love and by the admonition and example of the sacred virgins, and admonished too by the exhortations of most noble youths, they consented to go with them, and, spurning all the riches of the world and all the delights of the age, they set out abroad: leaving themselves and their possessions for the love of Christ. Each of them indeed, Duke Sincerus as well as his wife Sibilia, was a kinsman of the virgin Ursula. Further, this same duke came with his two sisters Anna and Amata, illustrious virgins, and with a most noble company of the aforesaid virgins

and of many others he remained, clinging to them; for more than two hundred and fifty virgins came with him, brought in his company: of whom more than fifty were sprung of royal lineage, honourable, elegant and comely virgins, and they were adorned with much pomp, shining forth.

CHAPTER IV.

The genealogy of the women of the company of St. Ursula.

CHAP. XIX.

The noble and renowned queen, the mother of the virgin Ursula, had eight brothers The brothers and sisters of St. Ursula's mother and six sisters: of whom Maurisus the bishop and Count Nicolaus and Gerasina, queen of Sicily, were her brothers on the father's side, of another mother. The father, therefore, of the same queen, Gelasius by name, his first wife having died, who was the daughter of the king of Sicily, as a brave, great and renowned prince took as wife the daughter of the most vigorous King Alexander, a most upright and very honourable man, named Sibilia; of whom he begot six sons and six daughters. Gelasius and Alexander and Magnus, Eugenia who was called Alexandria, Marcella, Eulalia, Euticia, Gerasina and Victorina. Further, Gelasius was one of these brothers; he was an illustrious and robust prince: whose wife was sprung of royal stock, the daughter of the great count Hildericus, who was called Hildelina. This same Gelasius the younger begot of her three sons and six daughters. Finally, his three sons directed to the nuptials of Ursula five virgin daughters, very comely and honourable. Of whom three were betrothed to excellent and noble youths. Margarita, who was most beautiful, and much comely and lovable; Mobilia was of most honourable manner of living and of praiseworthy life. Meandra was a wise virgin, strong in the best conduct; the remaining two were girls, of the aforesaid six daughters indeed. Of the sisters of these brothers two were virgins, and four matrons, joined to most honourable husbands. And so the two already mentioned were being sent to Ursula, chattering, forward and talkative, who often much burdened their companions, disturbing them with their superfluity of words. O how unbecoming a sign in young men and young women, in youths and virgin damsels, is presumption of mind and hardness of heart! Through forwardness of tongue and shamelessness of spirit the virginity of the soul and integrity of mind are lost. Whence, if the faculty, occasion and opportunity were given, the chastity of the body, the integrity and virginity of the flesh would most easily be violated and lost. "A good sign," says Seneca, "in a young man is modesty."

[82] and other blood-relations and in-laws. For the rest, the sisters of these same two not praiseworthy virgins, all honourable matrons, sent nine virgin daughters: some of whom were girls not yet marriageable. And five of these were grown up, betrothed to most illustrious men. The first of these, Margarita, was of most sagacious mind, and ingeniously prudent, who was very comely; another, Prudentia, was lovable and acceptable to all, on account of the much virtue and sweetness of her spirit; she was modest in words, moderate in conduct, composed in gestures. The third, Amantia, she too nonetheless flourished in much honourableness and grace of conduct. The fourth, Melandria, was beautiful and composed in mind, and of sagacious spirit. The fifth was prudent and devout above all, and praying much, and had the psalms continually in her mouth, and bore the Lord in her heart with frequent meditation: she in dress, words and gestures furnished to all an example of religion and honourableness. She indeed was called Prudentia, and Iwana: these five virgins were much loved by Blessed Ursula. Alexander, the queen's second brother, was strong in might, powerful, renowned and rich. He had taken to wife the daughter of a certain king named Benigna, an excellent matron, peaceable in spirit, always urging her husband and others whom she could to peace. Further, they too begot three sons and seven daughters, of whom four virgins were being sent to Ursula. Verena was a most honourable virgin, and of much understanding and prudence, and had a great place among the more principal and more prudent, on account of the much uprightness of her spirit. The second of the sisters was Verenia, and the third Jeronia, the fourth Illustris. These four virgins indeed, imitating their excellent mother, were constant in spirit, flourishing in all virginal honourableness and uprightness; they were pleasing and acceptable to all. Finally all were betrothed to noble men: for the three sisters, joined to illustrious husbands, sent seven daughters with them, of whom three were girls and four marriageable. Further, the three sons of the aforesaid prince Alexander directed four virgin daughters, and one very prudent and honourable matron named Metildis.

CHAP. XX.

[83] The third, namely, of the brothers of the queen, Ursula's mother, was called Magnus, The maternal aunts of St. Ursula, or the sisters of her mother, and he sent few virgins: because he by no means flourished in much uprightness; for he was cowardly in heart, and quite stolid in mind; degenerating from the other brothers and kinsmen he went astray; he was given to drinking-bouts and the belly, and his foul wife followed in his tracks, a shameless and talkative woman. Some reader may wonder why the vices of some are uncovered by us, when in the series of the holy virgins their virtues and uprightness ought to be made public, which we have both done and are still to do: for we do not speak from ourselves; but these things, which are suggested to us from heaven by the Spirit of God, we write, disclosing and noting them. Now we shall touch on the series of the aforesaid six sisters: of whom the first was Blessed Eugenia, who was surnamed Alexandria on account of the much uprightness of her good conduct and the virtue of her spirit, who imitated King Alexander, her grandfather, a man of great virtue and uprightness. What sort of woman she was we have sufficiently shown when we described her series and the virtue of her sons, Blessed Columbanus the bishop, a wise man, and of his brother Evodius, a renowned duke, and of St. Marcella, their most pious sister, a countess. Further, St. Eulalia too, the sister of the same duchess Alexandria, a matron noble in spirit and virtue, with two daughters, Hodierna and Odilia, most honourable virgins, and a third, Sibilia, a matron and queen of twenty years, clinging to her sister, follows Christ the true King. This same Sibilia indeed was a queen, a matron of great virtue and repute.

[84] [whom Blessed Hermann calls Marcella, St. Elizabeth Daria; they too send many daughters.] Finally Marcella, one of the sisters, the mother of the queen Ursula, was by no means unfruitful, for she sent her daughter Ursula, who was the head, princess and leader of the whole army of holy virgins. This queen indeed the lady Elizabeth calls by another name: she had in fact two names, the same queen Marcella. Euticia, the fourth, was a most religious woman, she feared the Lord, and reverenced man for God's sake. She was indeed wise, very modest, clement and honourable; she had also as husband a noble man, but gluttonous and a drinker of much wine, whom however she corrected, amended in great part by frequent and pious admonition; and they had two sons and nine daughters, and five of these were virgins, and four matrons having honourable husbands: for the virgin daughters were being sent, some of whom, endowed with much honourableness, imitated their mother. Moreover their four sisters too directed five virgin daughters: one of the brothers indeed, married, sent two virgin daughters. The fifth indeed of the queen's sisters, Gerasina, nobly married to the son of a certain king, bearing herself nobly, lived with especial honourableness. She had five sons and as many daughters, who all together sent nine virgin daughters. And the sixth of the sisters, Victorina, was a woman of illustrious and honourable manner of living, and praying much, and assiduous in reading. She had an illustrious husband, the son of Count Sigebaldus, a vigorous, brave and upright young man, who, having three daughters, directed only one virgin, a girl under age, named Placida.

CHAP. XXI.

[85] Blessed Oliva, a most sweet virgin and a most illustrious queen, the daughter of the most noble King Antipater, St. Oliva with St. Fideana, who was the paternal uncle of the virgin Ursula's father, was betrothed to King Oliverius, a very noble young man, as has already been described above in the series of the kings. She came, invited, to the virgin Ursula her kinswoman with a most noble company of virgins. There came besides with her Fideana, the daughter of a certain most noble duke Herdingus, whose most illustrious mother, a matron named Fida, was the daughter of a king. Further, the same virgin Fideana was freeborn by nobility of birth, and was also much freeborn in nobility of mind and spirit, and very commendable and acceptable to all who knew her and had heard the report of her good repute. She was indeed a kinswoman of the same queen Oliva, and by her proper name was called Fideana. She led with her three sisters, two virgins, Placentia and Placata: of whom the former had a most illustrious bridegroom, the son of a certain duke. The third namely of the sisters, who walked with her, was called Methildis, a noble matron and honourable countess, leading with her only one virgin daughter named Endara, a very illustrious young girl, having a most noble bridegroom, the son of a certain great prince, who was called Eucharius: and he, both allured by love of his bride and admonished by divine inspiration, with three sisters, Anna, Cleopatra and Juliana: and also with nine virgins his kinswomen, and very many others, associated with the company of sacred virgins, sets out with them. Finally, some of these virgins were most illustrious, having illustrious bridegrooms. Further, the aforesaid noble virgin Fideana led with her nearly forty virgins, illustrious and well-born and comely.

[86] St. Thecla with many others accompanies St. Ursula. Moreover in the company of the virgin and queen Oliva there came a certain most noble virgin named Tecla, who in uprightness of conduct and virtue of spirit and nobility of birth could be compared to the virgin Oliva: for she was the daughter of her paternal uncle, and also her faithful colleague. The father, therefore, of the virgin Tecla was called Reformius, and he was the brother of King Antipater, Oliva's father, a noble and honoured prince: who had already died before, passing from this world; and her mother Anacleta follows her daughter Tecla, setting out with Oliva. Further, this same Anacleta, the mother of the virgin Tecla, was the daughter of a certain renowned king. There was also with the aforesaid virgins the most illustrious virgin Natalia too, very noble, associated with the college of her virgins, the daughter of King Arthur, powerful and magnificent, of whom it will be treated more fully in its place, as is fitting. Finally the same King Arthur had two brothers, of whom one, a bishop, was called Benedictus, and the other Pipinus, an excellent and noble duke, being the husband of Blessed Alexandria, the maternal aunt of the virgin Ursula, a most illustrious and very powerful matron. This same duke indeed was the father of Blessed Columbanus the bishop, and of his brother Evodius, a most noble duke, and of their sister St. Marcella, an excellent countess. Those three brothers indeed, the king and the two others, had an excellent sister named Zaphirina, who was very honourable, commendable, and of good life, being the wife of Count Rogerius, a prudent and honourable man. They had three virgin daughters of their sacred company, Benigna, Nicolitta, Zoya: of whom the virgin Benigna was honourable in all things, prudent, and distinguished in virtue of spirit, lovable to all, comely in appearance, sweet and affable in conduct. She had as bridegroom the most noble Dagobert,

the son of a certain king; these three sisters indeed, with still more virgins, were directed to the virgin Ursula. For her illustrious bridegroom Dagobert follows Blessed Benigna, inspired by the grace of God, and he too, added together with his noble bride to the company of the sacred virgins, sets out abroad with them.

CHAP. XXII.

[87] And when the Brother, the notary of these visions, on one occasion was applying himself to prayer and supplications, It is revealed to Blessed Hermann that he would receive the relics of St. Oliva he saw a certain body lying on its back in an open tomb, and a golden crown on its head. At which the Brother wondering, inquiring of our Lady, asked what these things portended. To whom the Mother of mercy answering said: "Was not the body of a certain virgin Oliva promised you four years ago? Behold, this is the same virgin whose body you will have; for she was a queen, wearing a crown on her head; she still," she said, "lies hidden, buried under the earth: but you will have her body." At which the Brother, rejoicing, desires to know still more clearly whether the vision was certain; he asks of the sacred virgins who that Oliva was, and of what stock and condition; to whom Blessed Cleopatra, the daughter of St. Marcella the countess, answered, saying: "The father of this same virgin Oliva was called Cleopater, and he was the paternal uncle of the king, Ursula's father, whose mother was called Nicostrata, a distinguished queen. Who, since he had no sons, betrothed her to Oliverius, a certain most upright young man, the son of the elder King Oliverius. And Cleopater, the father of the virgin Oliva, calling together the princes of his kingdom, crowned both: the bridegroom of his daughter as well as the bride herself. And from the day of that most celebrated betrothal a space of more than three months had elapsed, by which she was already shortly to be taken in lawful marriage. Meanwhile virgins are called together, to be directed to the virgin St. Ursula. Then Oliva too, virgin and queen, came to visit her kinswoman, wishing to be present at her nuptials; she, surrounded by a noble company of companions, brought with her nearly three hundred virgins. Her bridegroom King Oliverius followed her afterwards, leading he too from the dominion of his kingdom nearly three hundred young girls and virgins."

[88] [and the head of St. Thecla. The history of both is likewise uncovered, and the holiness of the writer is magnificently extolled.] And this same Brother, when on another occasion, praying, he named St. Oliva, one of the virgins stood by him, saying: "As often as you name Blessed Oliva, at once name Tecla too beside her." "And who," he says, "is that Tecla; and are you the same Tecla?" "I am," she said: "for St. Oliva was my kinswoman and colleague, and there was no woman whom I loved with so great affection. You are to have her body, and likewise my head: but know that by no means do we wish easily to be separated from each other, since scarcely ever in life were we parted from each other, whence neither in death are we separated. For I clung to her side when she was killed by a javelin, and I fell slain by the sword. Know," she said, "for certain, that since your city was founded never has a monk entered it who has made such progress in it as you have made, and will yet make. For a great and precious treasure awaits you, both of holy martyrs and of sacred virgins. You indeed exalt us on earth according to your power, and we will nevertheless exalt you both on earth and in heaven according to our power. But you by no means need our exaltation, since our Lady, whom you love with so great affection, has both already exalted you, and will yet exalt you in a wonderful manner." And when this same Brother was noting these things down in writing, the virgin Tecla herself stood by him with many virgins, putting these words into his mouth. Oliva too was present, asking that she and Blessed Tecla should not be separated from each other.

[89] He learns also that he possesses the head of St. Sincera. Further, the virgin Tecla, adding, said: "And when I and my mother were going to Blessed Ursula, a certain noble matron, a kinswoman of ours, came with us too, who was called Elizabeth, with three daughters, of whom one, with Elizabeth, was joined in marriage, but the remaining two were virgins, Sincera and Nicolitta. And you, know for certain that you have the head of St. Sincera, my kinswoman, a most noble virgin. Moreover I wish you to know that the body which you have is of the virgin Juliana, who too is my blood-relation, and much related to me. Her father, therefore, was the cousin of my father, an illustrious and very powerful count. Finally she too had a sister with us, named Tecla; both were illustrious, and of good manner of living, and underwent the palm of martyrdom with the highest desire. Blessed Juliana indeed and St. Sincera with their sisters were near kinswomen of St. Oliva, virgin and queen."

CHAP. XXIII.

[90] Natalia, a most blessed virgin, elegant and comely, as noble and renowned in honourableness of conduct [St. Natalia, the daughter of another Arthur than the one of whom Geoffrey told fables, with 308 virgins,] as she was illustrious and well-born in the lineage of her birth. She was the daughter of Arthur, a British king and a magnificent man; she came with a most noble company of virgins, invited by the father of the virgin Ursula, that she too might be present at his daughter's nuptials. The king, therefore, Ursula's father, was a blood-relation of King Arthur, the father of Blessed Natalia. She led with her three hundred and eight virgins, and seven noble matrons, under whose discipline and guard the virgins were. Although this same Arthur was a great, powerful and brave king, yet he was not that warlike king of whom so many things are narrated in the history of the Britons ^a: he was, however, joined to him by near blood-relationship. For the wife of Isenbaldus, the brother of the virgin Natalia, St. Porphyria, the daughter of a certain most noble and exceedingly powerful king, accompanied her, leaving all things. Blessed Porphyria indeed led with her two very illustrious virgin daughters, Eusebia and Jotha, having noble bridegrooms. Further, Blessed Natalia too, the wife of Philip, a magnificent duke, who was almost the cousin of the aforesaid virgin Natalia, associated with her alike, accompanied her, following her with three daughters, Egera, Hermolaa, Ermina. Of whom this most prudent and much commendable virgin had as bridegroom the illustrious son of a certain king. Moreover a noble countess too, a blood-relation of the virgin Natalia herself, who was called Helena, came with her, leading two daughters with her, Helena and Elizabeth. Likewise Euphemia too, a noble matron, being of royal lineage, her kinswoman, followed her with her only daughter Hodierna. St. Natalia the virgin, therefore, led with her one sister, Octonia, and two daughters of her sister, Perpetua and Gerburgis, a little one. She led with her also St. Agnes, her brother's daughter, and the daughters of the duke, her maternal uncle, Liburtia and Adelina. Moreover St. Gibonia too, an illustrious virgin and her kinswoman and most beloved colleague, the daughter of a certain great prince and an excellent man, and Blessed Simenia, a virgin very lovable to all, the daughter of a count, a blood-relation of the same virgin Natalia, came with her.

[91] and with many kinsfolk and in-laws she becomes a sharer of the Ursuline company. Finally two sisters, the daughters of her maternal aunt, clinging to her, set out with her, Florentia and Flora. Further, St. Benedicta too and her sister Euphrosyna, most noble kinswomen of Natalia herself: and also Blessed Brigida, Euphemia and Eulalia, followed her: two sisters also, daughters of one of her maternal aunts, Blessed Benigna and Illustris, illustrious virgins, and also St. Euphrosyna, her kinswoman, the daughter of a certain most noble count, set out with her. Very many of these had most noble bridegrooms, sons of counts and dukes, enriched with many riches. Moreover a certain most illustrious boy too, Gyramanus, sixteen years old, the son of the maternal uncle of the same virgin Natalia, touched with immense love of her, followed her: going with her, most elegant and very comely. This same boy, going to Rome and returning, clung to her, and fell slaughtered together with her: he was indeed the son of a most illustrious and most rich prince, for he had a little sister in that company, Placida by name. Further, a certain bishop with three noble men and certain matrons leading the virgins came with excellent apparatus and expense, with immense gifts and largesses, who, when they had come to St. Ursula, were received by her with immense joy; but when they saw that the nuptials were deferred, leaving there the virgins and certain matrons unwilling to return, the bishop returned with a few to his own region. In the company of the same virgin Natalia there were three hundred virgins, sixty-five, excepting certain noble matrons.

CHAP. XXIV.

[92] Among the other virgins of the eleven thousand was Elizabeth, the daughter of John, a most noble prince, St. Elizabeth with her maternal uncle St. Caesarius, bishop of Meaux a most devout virgin, of royal stock, of honourable manner of living and life, fearing God and loving Him greatly. Who, while she flourished in many virtues of spirit, yet especially and above all loved with her whole heart and affection the Lady of all virtues herself, Mary the mother of mercy and queen of holy virgins. Further, her mother too was called Elizabeth, a noble matron, and for the honourableness of her conduct she was lovable and gracious to all. Finally she too, loving our Lady very much, taught her daughter that she should love the same queen of heaven, the mother of all grace, above all, and have her continually in heart and memory. Moreover, out of love of our Lady she devoutly bestowed many alms on the poor and needy. The blessed bishop of Meaux, Caesarius indeed, a man of most honourable life, and a lover of all virtue and uprightness, was the brother of the mother of this matron, who was joined to these virgins at Rome and became a companion of their passion. This same matron also had five sisters nobly married, of whom one was the wife of Duke Helvidius, the paternal uncle of the virgin Ursula: this same man was the father of Duke Helvidius the younger, who set out with the blessed virgins, leading with him his wife and two daughters, St. Spes and Euphrosyna, most illustrious virgins.

[95] she goes away with her bridegroom and many others. Blessed Elizabeth indeed, the illustrious and aforesaid virgin, was most noble both in birth and in virtue of conduct, and had as bridegroom a most illustrious son of the most vigorous King Herdericus, conspicuous for immense uprightness. When virgins were everywhere being chosen to be sent to Blessed Ursula, she too came, already summoned by her kinswomen St. Spes and her sister, virgins, surrounded by a most beautiful company of virgins. For she had five brothers, each of whom directed one daughter with her, Eustorgia, Resindis, Amabilia and Florentia. Finally the principal virgin was more constant than the others and more virtuous, and of greater fame and name; she was prudent and shrewd, and shining with notable uprightness of conduct. She had besides a most noble bridegroom, the son of a certain king, a most upright young man. Some of the others too were betrothed to most noble bridegrooms. The virgin Elizabeth, therefore, had two sisters, matrons, one a countess and the other a duchess, of whom the former sent with her three daughters, Eleutheria, Bonina and Florentia; the other

indeed two, Flora and Elpris. Of her cousins she led with her seven illustrious virgins, Genovesa, Vultura, Amabilia, Cleopatra, Despondea, Electa, Amarantia, some of whom were nobly betrothed to noble men. She had also with her a virgin, her colleague and kinswoman, the daughter of a certain count, chaste, and most modest in word and gesture, who by her proper name was called Modesta. And she led with her many virgins, blood-relations, nieces and cousins, and a little sister named Peregrina. Her mother, a noble matron, who was called Peregrina, followed the blessed virgin Modesta, leading with her her sister, a matron, who was of a vigorous spirit, brave and constant, who was called Elledera, and she led two daughters, Sincera and Elizabeth. These virgins indeed, Elizabeth and Modesta, had a battle-line of virgins of one hundred and ninety, ten less than two hundred. And the above-mentioned bishop Caesarius, and his sister, the mother of the blessed virgin Elizabeth, were sprung from the most noble lineage of the kings of the Franks.

[93] The piety of Blessed Hermann toward the Mother of God. Whoever, therefore, shall have the body of the aforesaid virgin Elizabeth, let him know that he has a great treasure, and one beloved of our Lady the queen of heaven. The queen of holy virgins herself, finally, the pious Mother of Christ, to the Brother writing these things, both the name of the virgin and her genealogy, revealed of her own accord, and put the words in the mouth of the writer. Whom she also testified to be a virgin of wonderful holiness. But where the body of the same virgin is held we are entirely ignorant: and the present chapter is established to have been written at the exhortation of the most pious queen of heaven: who always and everywhere, with most merciful affection, as the mother of mercy, mercifully succours those who serve her purely, exalting them by helping, justifying, confirming and glorifying them. Blessed therefore are they who serve thee with pure mind, Lady of virtues, the only hope and salvation of all; thou art the everlasting life of those who serve thee with fervent heart and affection. Who together with thy Son, the Creator and Lord of all, be blessed for ages of ages. Amen. Let every spirit say Amen, praising and glorifying thee.

CHAP. XXV.

[94] The virgin of Christ Lucia and her sister Germana were of the most noble lineage of the Franks: St. Lucia, the daughter of the count of Flanders, whose father was count of the land of Flanders, and a magnificent prince: for he was called Gundefridus, and on his mother's side he was born of England, and many kings and princes of that land were his kinsmen, while on his father's side the more noble of the princes of the Franks pertained to him by near blood-relationship. He was also a blood-relation of the most illustrious king, the father of the virgin Ursula; and his wife indeed was called Theodora, and she was sprung of the more noble stock of the Saxons, a good woman and a faithful matron, humble, pious and gentle; finally she shone forth distinguished by much honourableness of conduct. They had indeed three sons and five daughters, but none of the sons was married, since they were still young men in age. Of the daughters, therefore, two were joined to most noble husbands, of whom one was joined in marriage to the son of a king, and the other to a most noble duke; the remaining three were virgins, Blessed Lucia and Germana, but the fifth was still a little girl. And when the king, Ursula's father, sent into different parts of the earth and kingdoms that noble virgins should be called together, this count too was invited to direct his daughters.

[95] with her sister St. Germana and their bridegrooms and thirty virgins, Their father, in any case, as a noble prince, brave and rich, with immense apparatus and noble adornment, and an illustrious company of virgins, directed both daughters thither; they were namely betrothed to most well-born bridegrooms: of whom Lucia's bridegroom was called Saphyrus: and that of the other sister, the virgin, was called Adamans. They were indeed own brothers, sons of one most noble prince, who, both joined by love of their brides, were made their leaders, leading them to the virgin Ursula. Further, the two daughters of the aforesaid count, the sisters of these virgins, illustrious matrons, Andolphia and Blasilla, with their three daughters, Germana, Blasilla and Felicitas, accompany them: then they are made the guardians and leaders of the virgins. The bridegrooms indeed of the virgins Lucia and Germana, being of royal lineage, brought thirty virgins, adding them to them: of whom three were their sisters, Nicolitta, Suffragia and Adwigis, most illustrious virgins: two of them indeed had illustrious bridegrooms. Moreover they had among them seven cousins: of these two, Rigildis and Aleidis, illustrious virgins, were betrothed to most noble men, royal youths; for the aforesaid virgins Lucia and Germana led with them many elegant and comely young girls of the kindred of their blood-relationship, of whom four, Aleidis, Residis, Prothera and Nicolitta, were shining with much virtue of spirit, and distinguished by great honourableness of conduct, who were betrothed to most noble men.

[96] [with her mother St. Theodora and many others she becomes a companion of St. Ursula.] Of whom two were sons of kings; and the mother of Lucia and Germana, the illustrious countess Theodora, was a matron of the greatest virtue, very honourable and merciful; she is associated with them with seven noble matrons, leading with her also her maternal aunts and her kinswoman, a most noble virgin, the daughter of the most illustrious duke of Brabant, a prince, named Gyana, adorned with royal apparatus and royal ornaments; who had in her company sixty chosen virgins: this same Gyana, a most illustrious virgin, was very wise, and constant and brave in spirit, modest, and distinguished by the grace of all honourableness: the fame nonetheless of her good repute, already spread abroad, had reached many regions. Whom the illustrious and magnificent duke of the Saxons had betrothed by pledging her with royal dowries, and within the space of four months was to take her as wife in lawful marriage. But, the heavenly Bridegroom of virgins, the Only-begotten of the Virgin Mary, forestalling him, she is pledged with heavenly dowries. Therefore, her bridegroom, the most powerful duke of the Saxons, not knowing it, she departed with her companions, the daughters of the count of Flanders, illustrious virgins, and with their noble maternal aunt. There sets out besides with them a most illustrious virgin, noble and comely, the daughter of her maternal uncle, Iwana by name, with ten virgins, and she had a most upright bridegroom, a freeborn young man, begotten of royal race. Finally two daughters of the most illustrious count of the Hymwan region, most illustrious virgins, Isamia and Herdara, are joined to them: of whom the former was betrothed to the son of a certain most noble duke. A certain most noble virgin indeed, the colleague and kinswoman of this Iwana, named Sibonia, very honourable and of great virtue, clinging to her, sets out with her: who likewise led with them many virgins being of their dominion. More than five hundred chosen virgins in the company of all of them, crossing the English sea, set out happy with a happy voyage to Ursula, the virgin of Christ. These regions were despoiled of their more noble virgins, whom long afterwards they bewailed with tearful mourning: but if their parents had known that they would not return again, they would by no means have allowed them to go away.

CHAP. XXVI

[97] The virgin Dorothea was both noble in virtue of spirit and distinguished in lineage of birth; SS. Dorothea and Lucia, sisters she was the daughter of the most illustrious King Dorotheus and of Lucia, a noble queen, who ruled over the kingdom of the Normans. This queen indeed was the cousin of the count of Flanders, on the father's side of the most illustrious blessed virgins Lucia and Germana. Finally the already mentioned daughter of the king, Dorothea, had a sister named Lucia, a virgin likewise illustrious in every virtue of conduct. Further, the son of a certain king, a most honourable young man, was the bridegroom of the virgin Dorothea: for one year before the sacred expedition of the holy virgins took place, he had betrothed her, pledging her in noble fashion with royal dowries. This same virgin was sprung from the most noble progeny of the princes of the Franks, the English, the Flemings and the Normans: she was indeed of most elegant beauty, so that scarcely any of the virgins or women could be compared to her in appearance and elegance: moreover in virtue of spirit and in honourableness and sweetness of conduct she was so composed that nothing seemed lacking to her in any virginal grace. For which reason her bridegroom, the king's son, was urged by many goads of love, and the vehement fire of his breast inflaming her, he urged her to hasten the nuptials: but who can oppose the heavenly counsel and divine disposition? It was done indeed by the providence of God that, other causes and business intervening, the desired business of the sweet nuptials was hindered. Her sister indeed, the virgin Lucia, noble, elegant, honourable and comely, also had a most elegant and comely young man as bridegroom, endowed with and shining with all honourableness, sprung of royal lineage, named Sicharus, the most illustrious son of a certain duke.

[98] summoned by SS. Ursula, Pinnosa and Sapientia, And when the time was at hand for virgins to be gathered together through all the regions, kingdoms and provinces in England, these too were nonetheless stirred up and summoned by their kinswomen the virgins Ursula, Pinnosa and Sapientia, whose fathers were blood-relations of the king, the father of Dorothea and Lucia. The king, therefore, the father of these same virgins, unwilling to sadden the king and queen, Ursula's parents, chose from the dominion of his kingdom most noble virgins, honourable and comely, associating them with his daughters. Further, this same king had only one son, a boy, and a daughter, a matron, the sister of the aforesaid daughters, joined to a most noble man and excellent duke, who directed with them two virgin daughters, Elmoida and Spretiana. He had indeed three brothers and two sisters, of whom the first sent three daughters, Hermolaa, Erdelaa and Eudonia. The second two, Eustochia and Amoena. The third likewise two, Eviora and Virgilia; some of these were betrothed to most noble men, very illustrious bridegrooms. Further, the first of the sisters directed two daughters, Eustochia and Virginea. And the other of the sisters sent only one daughter, Alquina. The bridegroom namely of the virgin Lucia, the sister of St. Dorothea, brought her three sisters, two virgins, Armingera and Ermonia. The third indeed was an illustrious matron, nobly joined to a most noble man, who was called Adela, who led only one daughter, Eimonia, a most upright and sagacious virgin, betrothed to a most illustrious youth.

[99] with a retinue of 119 virgins they take to the road. One hundred and nineteen virgins indeed were chosen in their company, very noble and comely, and four matrons, the guardians and leaders of these same virgins; they were adorned with royal apparatus and noble pomp, and, setting out with immense joy to the virgin Ursula, they were honourably received by her and by the other virgins living with her. The king's son, therefore, the bridegroom of the virgin Dorothea, languishing very much over the absence of his bride, wounded with excessive grief, almost failed even to death. But Sicharus, the illustrious bridegroom of Blessed Lucia her sister, taking with him many noble virgins, follows his bride, drawn by love of her. He thought, no doubt, to bring her and her sister Dorothea and the other virgins setting out with them back, the nuptials being completed: but it happened otherwise; he too was surely ensnared, captured by the persuasion of other youths whom he found there, and entangled by the example of the virgins and queens, leaving homeland, lands, parents, delights and riches, and clinging to his bride, he sets out abroad with her companions, to give up body and soul for Christ the King of all.

CHAP. XXVII.

[100] The blessed virgin Nestoria, most illustrious both in birth

most noble, St. Nestoria with her sisters, was also distinguished in virtue and sweetness of conduct. The father, therefore, of this virgin was Eusebius, a renowned duke, and strong in might and power. Her mother indeed was called Aegidia, and she was the daughter of the great king of the Welsh, Hunericus, very rich and powerful: the already mentioned virgin Nestoria indeed was the sister, on the father's side, of the blessed virgin Eleutheria and of Josippa, who were daughters of the paternal aunt of the virgin Ursula: and Blessed Nestoria was younger in age than her sisters, but by no means inferior in virtue of spirit. St. Eleutheria, finally, a most illustrious virgin, her sister, held the leadership over the whole army of virgins after Blessed Ursula: being fourth of the first ones. Further, these three sisters were betrothed to most illustrious men. For the bridegroom of Nestoria was illustrious and renowned, the son of a certain king, a most handsome young man, strong in great virtue of conduct, named Simeon. This same virgin Nestoria indeed was not in the company of her sisters: for, surrounded by a great host of noble virgins, she afterwards, making for Ursula, follows them. Blessed Jotha indeed, the first of the eleven principal virgins, and her sister St. Geminiana, were joined to her by near blood-relationship.

[101] [with St. Jotha and an Angel approving these writings, and 145 virgins, they become companions of St. Ursula.] Whence also the same royal virgin Jotha, the daughter of an excellent king, first admonished the Brother, the notary of this history, by exhorting him, that he should describe the series of the aforesaid virgin Nestoria too. There was present with him nonetheless one of the Angels, who had been the leader of these same virgins, admonishing him to note these things, and saying: "That the other things which you have written about these virgins are true." This virgin indeed had in her company one hundred and forty-five renowned and most noble virgins. There followed her besides the young man Simeon, her bridegroom, and his brother, a most upright young man and of good disposition, named Alphaeus. Of the virgins, therefore, following her some were her cousins, daughters of her maternal uncles and of her maternal aunts, many also kinswomen and dearest companions: among whom Blessed Pinnosa, a certain virgin, and Nestoria, and Virginea, and Illustris, Sapora, Sephronia and Balbina were illustrious, and of greater repute. Three most illustrious youths too, the bridegrooms of Blessed Virginea and Illustris and of Blessed Sapora, following them afterwards as they set out to Blessed Ursula, went with them as exiles for Christ; with whom the mother of St. Balbina, going, clung to her daughter.

CHAP. XXVIII.

[102] Axpara, the cousin of King Holofernes, Ursula's bridegroom, St. Axpara with her daughters and sisters was indeed the daughter of his maternal aunt; she was the daughter of the most glorious King Authmarus and of Lucia, a very noble queen. And this Axpara, a commendable queen and duchess, was sprung of a commendable lineage, and for the virtue of her conduct and the exceptional honourableness with which she was strong she was dear and acceptable to all. She had indeed seven brothers and two sisters. Further, she had as husband a king, very noble and illustrious, and of him she begot five daughters and three sons. Of her daughters three were virgins, Rubetha, Lucia and Godelviach. The first, Rubetha, was betrothed to a certain duke. Lucia indeed had as bridegroom a lawful and crowned king, an illustrious young man. The third was a little one under age. And when, by a decree issued, noble virgins were everywhere being collected to be assembled in the kingdom of the father of Ursula's bridegroom and in the neighbouring kingdoms, Axpara, queen and duchess, collecting them, chose and approved those to be sent and those to be rejected. This same matron indeed was queen in her husband's kingdom, and an illustrious duchess there whence she was sprung. Finally the dignity was excellently governed by her: for she was of a manly spirit, and of great understanding and immense wisdom, and of honourableness and the highest moderation: for she was constant in spirit, and in all things most prudent; she directed two daughters, Rubetha and Lucia, their bridegrooms objecting: and her two remaining daughters were most honourable matrons joined to most illustrious husbands and great princes, whose names are these: Juliana and Julitta. Each of them namely directed two virgin daughters: Juliana sent Genovefa and Prudentia: Julitta sent Chelindris and Cleopatra. Of these the former, Chelindris, flourished in much virtue of conduct, having as bridegroom the illustrious son of a certain king.

[103] and sets out with a great retinue, The first of her sons indeed sent three virgin daughters, Euphrodia, Thelindris and Apolla. Euphrodia indeed was a most beautiful virgin, prudent and honourable, and adorned with all uprightness of conduct. She had a most noble bridegroom, and shining in all honourableness, Folquinus by name, the son of Folquinus the great king. Whom she by the zeal of her beauty, and the snare of her appearance, and the sweetness of her conduct, captured, ensnared and converted, and, leading him with her, made a glorious martyr. The two remaining of her sons namely lacked children. Of whom one was a young man and the other a boy. The above-mentioned daughters of hers indeed, the noble matrons Juliana and Julitta, set out with their mother. Finally the brothers of Axpara herself, the queen and duchess, directed eight virgin daughters and two noble matrons for the guarding of the virgins. The first of them, therefore, the king, who was to reign in place of his father, sent two daughters, Lucia and Axpara, most becoming virgins, and very honourable, who both were pledged with a great dowry to most illustrious bridegrooms; among these same eight virgins Blessed Rubetha and St. Anacleta flourished in much honourableness and virtue of spirit. The sisters indeed of the same queen Axpara, Athlea and Liburgis, went away with five daughters following Christ, and His Mother, the queen of heaven, through their sister Axpara, the duchess and queen: of whom the former, Athlea, led two daughters, Euchonia and Prothea: the other, Liburgis, three, Annibalis, Lucia and Chimaera.

CHAP. IX

[104] Queen Axpara had, secondly, in her company a cousin most noble in conduct and birth, St. Anchira, with four daughters, 1232 virgins, and strong in much virtue of spirit, named Anchira, an honourable duchess, and much distinguished, flourishing in especial prudence and direction. She, leading with her four daughters, sets out with the sacred virgins; three of them indeed were virgins, and one a matron: whose names are these: the first was called Prochdea, the second Hiacyntha, the third Sophia: the fourth, a matron, Penechia: and she led with her two daughters, Fenea and Prodieha, honourable virgins. Further, of their stock and lineage these two illustrious matrons, Queen Axpara and her kinswoman Anchira, the honourable duchess, led many noble royal virgins, elegant, honourable as much in birth as in conduct, illustrious and distinguished, and very conspicuous. In their company, therefore, they had virgins setting out to Ursula, one thousand two hundred and thirty-two: all the virgins indeed who were being sent on the part of the king and queen, the parents of Holofernes, Ursula's bridegroom, were chosen and approved by these two matrons, Queen Axpara and Duchess Anchira, as worthy of the royal nuptials.

[105] There was besides in their company Blessed Lucentia, a most illustrious virgin, and with St. Lucentia and others she undertakes the Ursuline journey. the daughter of the most noble Count Placidus, whose mother was called Eleutheria, and she was of royal lineage, a kinswoman of the king, the father of Ursula's bridegroom; she was also a kinswoman of the often-mentioned Queen Axpara and of St. Anchira, the illustrious duchess. Finally St. Lucia too, the daughter of a most illustrious king, and Blessed Natalia, also the daughter of a certain king, were her kinswomen. This same Lucentia converted her own mother, and led her with her, and made of her a precious martyr. She had indeed a very illustrious and noble bridegroom, named Zacharias, who after her departure mourned, languishing with much grief. She had, therefore, four brothers and five sisters, of whom she led one with her, Eupara by name, a beautiful virgin and a young girl of good disposition. Three of her brothers indeed, married, directed seven virgin daughters with her: of whom one, called Lucentia, was an honourable virgin, and in all things most honourable, and adorned with every beauty of virtues, being a young girl of great repute, and she was betrothed to a most illustrious and most noble youth. There was also with her her sister Praxedis, a young virgin. Further, the sisters of the above-mentioned Lucentia, daughters of Count Placidus, were three matrons, joined to illustrious husbands: each of whom directed a daughter with that virgin, Eucharia, Eusthodia and Mellifrodica. Finally Praxedis too, a most illustrious virgin, a certain kinswoman of hers, set out with her, leaving her most noble mother, and, fleeing a most honourable and comely young man as bridegroom, is made the bride of Christ. Her maternal aunt besides, namely of the virgin Lucentia too, a noble and illustrious matron, her mother's sister, sets out with them with two daughters, Pinnosa and Hirmegardis: who, deceiving by guile her most noble husband and his two sons, departs, not to return: whose husband languished, grieving exceedingly over the absence of his consort. For she was a most prudent woman, a matron of great virtue and counsel: she had indeed two names, for she was called Eusebia and Praeclara. This same Eusebia indeed and her sister Eleutheria, the countess, the mother of the virgin Lucentia, were cousins of the aforesaid Axpara, the queen and duchess, daughters of her maternal aunt ^b.

ANNOTATIONS.

NAMES OF THE VIRGINS AND MARTYRS AND OTHERS,

which are contained in the revelations of St. Elizabeth and of Blessed Hermann: especially in his second book: for when they are cited from the first book, two numbers are set beside them, the former designating the book, the other the chapter: when from the second, only the chapters are numbered. The chapters are everywhere noted according to the original division.

Ursula, virgin and martyr, at Cologne Agrippina. (S.)

XI thousand virgins and martyrs, at Cologne Agrippina.

BY CROMBACH.

PASSION OF ST. URSULA,

By Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Excerpts from his History of the Kings of Britain, book V, chaps. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19, according to Giles's edition.

Ursula, virgin and martyr, at Cologne Agrippina. (S.)

XI thousand virgins and martyrs, at Cologne Agrippina. BHL Number: 0000

BY GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH

[As Octavius, king of Britain, grows old, Maximus is summoned from Italy to receive the king's daughter as bride together with the kingdom;] At length, worn out by old age, Octavius, wishing to settle the people, asked of his counsellors whom of his progeny they would wish to raise up as king after his death? Having only one daughter, he lacked a son to whom he might entrust the government of the country. There were therefore some who urged that he should marry his daughter, with the kingdom, to some one of the Roman nobles, so that they might enjoy a firmer peace. But others thought that Conan Meriadoc, his nephew, should be installed on the throne of the kingdom: and that his daughter should be joined to some prince of another kingdom with gold and silver. While these things were being discussed among them, Caradoc, duke of Cornwall, came forward and gave counsel that they should invite the senator Maximianus, and give him the daughter with the kingdom, and so they would enjoy perpetual peace. For his father was a Briton: because Leoninus, the uncle of Constantine, of whom I had made mention above ^b, had begotten him. But by his mother and by nation a Roman, he bore a royal procreation from both bloods. Therefore he promised the stability of peace, because he knew that he had a right in Britain both from the race of the emperors and from the origin of the Britons. When, therefore, the duke of the Cornish had given such counsel, Conan, the king's nephew, who with every effort was panting for the kingdom, was indignant, and threw the whole court into confusion on account of such things. But Caradoc, unwilling to desist from his undertakings, sent his son Mauricius to Rome to indicate these things to Maximianus ^c. This Mauricius was of great and handsome stature, and of great prowess and boldness: and one who, if there were contradiction, proved by arms and by duel the things which he declared. He, when he came into the presence of Maximianus, was received by him as was fitting, and honoured above his fellow-soldiers. There was then the greatest disquiet between Maximianus himself and the two emperors, Gratian and his brother Valentinian, because he had suffered a repulse concerning the third part of the empire which he was seeking. When, therefore, Mauricius saw Maximianus oppressed by the emperors, he spoke to him in these words: "Why do you fear Gratian, Maximianus, when a way lies open to you by which you will be able to snatch the empire from him? Come with me into the island of Britain: and you will possess the diadem of the kingdom. For King Octavius, burdened with both old age and languor, desires nothing else than to find some such man to whom he may give his kingdom with his daughter. For he lacks male offspring, and has sought counsel of his chief men to whom he should join his only daughter with the kingdom; and, that the heroes might obey his address, they decreed that the kingdom and the girl should be granted to you, and they have directed me to you to notify you of it. If, therefore, coming with me, you complete this undertaking, with the abundance of the gold and silver of Britain, and also with the multitude of warlike soldiers remaining there, you will be able to return to Rome, and, the emperors being expelled, to subjugate it. For so did Constantine your kinsman, and many of our kings who ascended to the empire."

[2] Maximus, having landed in Britain, cautiously avoids battle with Conan. Acquiescing, therefore, in his words, Maximianus made for Britain; on the way he subjugated the cities of the Franks: in subjugating them he heaped up gold and silver: he associated soldiers to himself from every side. Afterwards, entering the Ocean sea, he put in with favourable sails at the port of Hamo. And when this had been announced to the king, he was terrified with vehement amazement, thinking that a hostile army had come upon them. Having called, therefore, his nephew Conan, he ordered him to collect every armed soldier of the island and to go out to meet the enemy. Conan, therefore, collected all the youth of the kingdom, and came to the port of Hamo, where Maximianus had pitched his tents. He, when he learned of the coming of so great a multitude, was tormented with the greatest straits, because he did not know what he should do. For, accompanied by fewer troops, he feared both the multitude and the boldness of the men, because he had no hope of peace. Having called together, therefore, the elders and Mauricius, he ordered them to say what was to be done against such an approach. To whom Mauricius: "We must not fight with so many warlike soldiers, nor did we come for this reason, that we should subjugate Britain by battle. Peace must be asked and leave to lodge, until we know the mind of the king. Let us say that we have been sent by the emperors and are bringing their commands to Octavius, and let us soothe this people with warm words." And when this had pleased all, he took with him twelve grey-haired chief men, wiser than the rest, having olive branches in their right hands: and came to meet Conan. The Britons, therefore, seeing men of venerable age, and bearing the olive as a sign of peace, rise up honourably to them and open the way, that they may approach the leader more freely. Presently, standing in the presence of Conan Meriadoc, they greeted him on the part of the emperors and the senate, and said that Maximianus had been sent to King Octavius to bring him the commands of Gratian and Valentinian. To this Conan: "It was not becoming that so great a man should go without glory, without fellow-soldiers: especially since on account of the Roman power, and on account of the deeds of his ancestors, he is held hateful by many kings. For if he went with a sparse retinue, he might perhaps be slain by the enemies of the commonwealth. He comes in peace, and seeks peace, which it is fitting to believe from his conduct. For since we landed we have so conducted ourselves as to have done injury to no one. We have made our expenditure as a people of peace, because, buying the necessaries, we have taken nothing from anyone by force." And when Conan had hesitated whether he should join battle, Caradoc, duke of Cornwall, came forward: the other chief men came forward, and dissuaded Conan from making war after this petition. Who, although he would have preferred to fight, laying down arms, granted them peace. And he led Maximianus to London to the king, and set forth the matter in order.

[3] [Octavius consents to his daughter's marriage; hence war arises between Conan Meriadoc, who also sought it, and Maximus.] Then Caradoc, duke of Cornwall, taking with him his son Mauricius, ordered those standing by to withdraw: and approached the king in these words: "Behold, what those who keep obedience to your fidelity with truer affection have desired for a long time has, God disposing, come to crown your successes. For you had commanded your chief men to give counsel as to what you should do about your daughter, what about your kingdom: since your age in these days is so much opposed to your governing your people longer. Some, therefore, thought that the diadem should be handed over to Conan your nephew, and your daughter married worthily somewhere: fearing the extermination of the citizens if a prince of another tongue should come upon them. Others granted the kingdom to your daughter, and to some noble of our speech, who should succeed you after your death. But the greater part urged that someone of the race of the emperors should be sent for, to whom your daughter with the diadem should be given. For they promised that a firm and stable peace would come of it if the Roman power protected them. Behold, then, God has deigned to bring to you this young man, both of the race of the Romans and created of the royal lineage of the Britons, to whom by my counsel you will not delay to marry your daughter. And even if you were to refuse it, what right would you have against him in the kingdom of Britain? For he is a blood-relation of Constantine, and the grandson of Coel our king, whose daughter Helena ^d we cannot deny to have possessed this kingdom by hereditary right." And when Caradoc had related these things, Octavius acquiesced in him, and by common consent at once gave him the kingdom of Britain with his daughter. Seeing which Conan Meriadoc was indignant beyond what can be expressed: and he withdrew into Albany, and set himself to collect an army, so as to harass Maximianus. Having assembled a multitude, therefore, he crossed the river Humber, laying waste all the provinces beyond and on this side. And when this was announced to Maximianus, having collected all his strength, he hastened to go to meet him: and fought with him, and returned with victory. Nor yet did Conan fail, but, having reassembled his troops, he was intent on the destruction of the provinces. Maximianus, therefore, returned, and, battles having been joined, sometimes came back in triumph, sometimes overcome. Finally, when each had inflicted the greatest damage on the other, they made concord at the urging of friends.

[4] Maximus invades Armorica, to found a new kingdom; Then, five years having passed, Maximianus grew proud on account of the infinite abundance of gold and silver which flowed to him daily: and he prepared a very great fleet, and collected every armed soldier of Britain. The kingdom of Britain was not enough for him, but he aspired to subjugate the Gauls. When, therefore, he had crossed the sea, he went first to the Armorican kingdom, which is now called Brittany, and began to subdue the Gallic people who were in it. But the Gauls, coming to meet him under their leader Inbaltus, fought a battle against him: but, imperilled in the greater part, they took to flight. For the leader Inbaltus had fallen, and fifteen thousand armed men, who had come together from the whole kingdom. When, therefore, Maximianus had inflicted so great a slaughter, he was tossed with the greatest joy, knowing that by the destruction of so many men the country would thereafter be easily subdued. He called, therefore, Conan to him apart from the troops, and, smiling a little, said: "Behold, we have subjugated one of the more powerful kingdoms of Gaul. Behold, we can have hope for the rest. Let us hasten to take the cities and towns, before the rumour of this danger, flying into farther Gaul, provokes all the peoples to arms. For if we shall be able to hold this kingdom, I do not hesitate that we shall subdue all Gaul to our power. Do not regret, therefore, that you have ceded to me the kingdom of the island of Britain, although you had had the hope of possessing it, because whatever you have lost in it I will restore to you in this country; for I will promote you to be king of this kingdom, and this shall be another Britain, and we will fill it with our race, the natives being expelled. For the country is fertile in crops: and the rivers are full of fish, the groves very beautiful, and the pastures everywhere pleasant. Nor is there anywhere, in my judgment, a more pleasing land." At this, with bowed head, Conan gave thanks, and promised that he would remain faithful in his service as long as he lived.

[5] The Britons take the town of the Redones and make a very great slaughter there; After this, having called together their troops, they went to Rennes, and took it the same day. For when they had heard of the savagery of the Britons and the fate of those slain, the citizens had fled in haste, leaving their women and infants. The others did after their example throughout the cities and the other towns, so that easy access lay open to the Britons. Who, wherever they entered, killed whatever was of the male sex, sparing the women alone. Finally, when they had utterly cleared all the provinces of every inhabitant, they fortified the cities and towns with soldiers of Britain, and promontories established in various places. The savagery of Maximianus, therefore, being spread abroad through the other provinces of the Gauls, excessive fear seized all the dukes and all the princes: so that they had no other hope except in paying vows to the gods. They fled, therefore, from every district to the cities and towns and to whatever places afforded a safe refuge. Maximianus, therefore, finding that he was an object of fear, resumes greater boldness: and hastens to increase his army with lavish gifts. For whoever were skilled in seizing what belonged to others he associated with himself, and did not cease to enrich them now with gold, now with silver, and with other gifts.

[6] [Maximus sets Conan Meriadoc over Armorica, filled with British soldiers, and himself, Gaul and Germany having been subdued, places his seat at Trier;] Thereafter he gathered so great a multitude as he thought might suffice him for all Gaul

to be subjugated. He postponed, however, for a little while carrying his savagery further, until, the kingdom he had taken being settled, he should have filled it with British people. He therefore issued his edict that a hundred thousand of the common people should be gathered in the island of Britain to come to him. Besides these, thirty thousand soldiers, who should protect them, within the country where they were to remain, from hostile incursion. And when he had accomplished everything, he distributed them through all the nations of the Armorican kingdom: and he made another Britain, and gave it to Conan Meriadoc. But he himself, with the rest of his fellow-soldiers, went to farther Gaul, and, having waged most grievous battles, subjugated it, and also the whole of Germany, gaining the victory in every battle. And setting up the throne of his empire at Trier, he so raged against the two emperors Gratian and Valentinian that, one being slain, he drove the other out of the city of Rome.

[7] [Conan asks for himself from Dionotus, king of Cornwall, his daughter Ursula, and for his soldiers other women;] Meanwhile the Gauls and Aquitanians were disquieting Conan and the Armorican Britons, and harassing them very often with frequent incursions. He, resisting them, both returned disaster for disaster and manfully defended the country entrusted to him. And when victory had fallen to him, he wished to give wives to his fellow-soldiers, so that from them heirs might be born who should possess that land for ever. And in order that they might make no intermixture with the Gauls, he decreed that women should come from the island of Britain, to be married to them. He directed messengers, therefore, into the island of Britain to Dionotus, king of Cornwall, who had succeeded his brother Caradoc in the kingdom, that he should take up the care of this matter. He was noble and exceedingly powerful: and one to whom Maximianus had committed the principality of the island while he himself attended to the aforesaid business. And he had a daughter of wonderful beauty, whose name was Ursula, whom Conan had desired above all things.

[8] [11,000 noble and 60,000 common women, sailing toward Armorica, are driven by the wind to the mouths of the Rhine and slain by the Picts and Huns. These then lay waste Greater Britain, until they are conquered by Gratian the townsman.] Dionotus, therefore, having seen Conan's message, wishing to obey his commands, collected through various provinces the daughters of nobles, to the number of eleven thousand: of the rest, born of the lowest people, sixty thousand: and ordered all to assemble within the city of London; he ordered ships too to be brought from various shores, in which they should cross over to the aforesaid husbands. Which, although it had pleased many in so great a company, yet displeased more, who loved both parents and country with greater affection. Nor perhaps were there lacking some who, preferring chastity to marriage, would rather have lost their life in any nation whatever than seek riches in this way. Indeed, different things would have pleased different women, if they had been able to bring their wish to effect. And the fleet having been prepared, the women board the ships, and by the river Thames make for the seas. At last, when they had turned their sails toward the Armoricans, contrary winds rose against the fleet, and in a short time scatter the whole company. The ships, therefore, were imperilled within the seas, in the greater part sunk: but those which escaped the whole peril were driven to barbarous islands, and by an unknown nation were either slaughtered or enslaved. For they had fallen in with the abominable army of Guanius and Melga, who by order of Gratian were crushing with a dreadful slaughter the nations of the maritime regions and of Germany. Now Guanius was king of the Huns, and Melga of the Picts, whom Gratian had taken to himself and had sent into Germany to harass those who favoured Maximianus. Raging, then, along the coasts, they met the aforesaid maidens, who had landed in those parts. Beholding therefore their beauty, they wished to wanton with them: but when the maidens refused, the brutes rushed upon them and slaughtered the greatest part without pity. Then the abominable leaders of the Picts and Huns, Guanius and Melga, who favoured the side of Gratian and Valentinian, when they had learned that the island of Britain had been emptied of every armed soldier, directed a hasty course toward it: and, associating with themselves the neighbouring islands, landed in Albany. Having formed a host, therefore, they invaded the kingdom, which lacked a ruler and defender, slaughtering the senseless common people. For Maximianus (as has been said before) had led away with him all the warlike young men who could be found: and had left the cultivators unarmed and without counsel. When the aforesaid Guanius and Melga found that these could by no means resist, making no small slaughter, they did not cease to lay waste cities and provinces like sheepfolds. When, therefore, so great a calamity had been announced to Maximianus, he sent Gratian the townsman with two legions to bring help: who, when they came into the island, fought with the aforesaid enemies, and, having afflicted them with most bitter slaughter, put them to flight into Ireland. Meanwhile Maximianus was killed at Rome by the friends of Gratian, and the Britons whom he had led with him were killed and scattered: those who were able to escape came to their fellow-citizens in Armorica, which was already called the other Britain.

ANNOTATIONS.

POSTHUMOUS GLORY OF SS. URSULA AND THE ELEVEN THOUSAND VIRGINS AND MARTYRS.

Ursula, virgin and martyr, at Cologne Agrippina. (S.)

XI thousand virgins and martyrs, at Cologne Agrippina. BHL Number: 4151, 8441, 8443, 8445, 8596

BY V. D. B.

§ I. Of the antiquity and fortunes of the Ursuline basilica of Cologne.

[The basilica built in the place in which the holy Virgins shed their blood for the name of Christ was restored by Clematius, as we know from the inscription:] Being about to speak of the posthumous glory of the holy eleven thousand virgins, we make our beginning by explaining the cult which they obtained in the very place of their burial. If credit were to be given to Crombach and others, for whom the Revelations of SS. Elizabeth and Hermann and other things of that kind held the place of history, nothing from the origin would be unknown or obscure, but everything clear and set in the light of midday. But truly opinions of that kind are of such slight authority among the more learned people of Cologne themselves that I should seem to spend my labour in vain if I allowed myself to be detained by them even in the least. But the opposite excess is no less to be avoided. For if you listen here and there to men, even not unlearned, discoursing on Ursuline matters, you will learn that the cult of the holy Virgins grew up only in the twelfth century, when a great part of the bones was raised and the fabulous Revelations written; that what was done before lies in darkness; that there are no records, or almost none. How false these things are could already be understood from what we reported in the Preliminary Commentary. But we do not wish to be content with these; and so we shall here bring forward, or at least indicate, as great an abundance of records as exists for very few saints of rather more ancient times; and these not recent; but almost all earlier than the eleventh century. But let us now take up this matter. Above, in the Preliminary Commentary, § XXV, we understood from the uncovering of the tombs which was made in the year 1640 with how great reverence the holy Virgins were first buried. Moreover, in the place where the holy virgins had shed their blood for the name of Christ (these are the words of the inscription of which presently), about that time there was built a church, the guardian of the holy bodies, as the author of the Sermon on the Feast calls it. This was burned, as the same author testifies; but some time afterwards it was restored from its foundations through the care of Clematius, a most distinguished man. These latter things rest on a stone inscription, of which presently, and which still survives and is inserted with lime in the choir of the Ursuline church [Fr. Vill, Guide dans l'Église de Sainte Ursule à Cologne, page 23 and following; cf. Crombach, S. Ursula vindicata, page 982]. Take this inscription: DIVINIS FLAMMEIS VISIONIBVS FREQVENTER ADMONITVS VT VIRTVTIS MAGNÆ MAIESTATIS MARTYRII CÆLESTIVM VIRGINVM IMMINENTIVM EX PARTIBVS ORIENTIS EXHIBITVS PRO VOTO CLEMATIVS V. C. DE PROPRIO IN LOCO SVO HANC BASILICAM VOTO QVO DEBEBAT A FVNDAMENTIS RESTITVIT. SI QVIS AVTEM SVPER TANTAM MAIESTATEM HUIVS BASILICÆ VBI SANCTÆ VIRGINES PRO NOMINE XRI SANGVINEM SVVM FUDERVNT CORPVS ALICVIVS DEPOSVERIT EXCEPTIS VIRGINIBVS SCIAT SE SEMPITERNIS TARTARI IGNIBVS PVNIENDVM. [Frequently admonished by divine flaming visions, as of the virtue of the great majesty of the martyrdom of the heavenly virgins appearing, brought here from the parts of the East, in fulfilment of a vow, Clematius, a man of senatorial rank, at his own expense, on its own site, restored this basilica from its foundations, by the vow by which he was bound. But if anyone, over the so great majesty of this basilica, where the holy virgins shed their blood for the name of Christ, shall lay the body of anyone, the virgins excepted, let him know that he is to be punished with the everlasting fires of Tartarus.]

[2] [nothing prevents it from being genuine, nor do the visions of which mention is made in it:] This inscription I hold both to be genuine and to be the most ancient of all the documents that survive concerning the Cologne virgins. For its first part, which runs from DIVINVIS FLAMMEIS VISIONIBVS to RESTITVIT, is recited in the Sermon on the Feast; and so in the ninth century, or even before, it was already of such antiquity that it was no longer understood by all, or rather that different opinions about its meaning were already going about (as the author of the Sermon openly relates): a manifest indication that so great a space of time had already elapsed since the stone was set up that the memory of the deeds of Clematius could have perished in the meantime. Nor does anything occur in this inscription which is at variance with the customs of that age. In the first place, all agree, and countless monuments testify, that it was most usual for it to be indicated in inscriptions, no otherwise than in diplomas, for what cause something was done. In truth I know no monument, besides the present one of Cologne, which is ancient and genuine and on which at the same time it is inscribed that a church was founded or restored on account of visions had from heaven; but neither have I found any which pertains to any church that is reported to have been built at God's command or at the invitation of visions. "But this memory of visions shows that the inscription is false and fictitious!" That judgment is hardly fair. For if anyone is so disposed in mind as to hold all visions to be so many fabrications, I for my part will not dispute with him, but will refer him to the works in which this subject is treated at length

against unbelievers. "But little at least is to be trusted to narratives of that kind; for it can easily happen that someone thinks he has seen heavenly portents, when he has beheld with the inward eyes of the mind nothing else than the mockeries of the fancy." This animadversion is more modest; but care must nevertheless be taken lest everything be overturned by a general suspicion.

[3] since it cannot be denied that many heavenly visions really took place; For what prudent man would call into doubt the vision which paved the way for the founding of the Chartreuse? Who would make nothing of the visions which are read in the Acts of the passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicity, the things foretold by which could be seen fulfilled a few days later? Who would hold of no account the visions by which, as St. Victor of Vita witnesses, the Vandal persecution was rather often foretold? Among them there is more than one which can be called a flaming vision: "For almost two years," says St. Victor [Hist. persecutionis Vandalicae, book II, chap. 6, page 26 and following, Ruinart's edition], "before it (the persecution) took place, a certain man saw the church of Faustus shining in its accustomed adornment, glowing too with shining tapers and with the covering of hangings and with lamps; and while he was rejoicing at the brilliance of so great a radiance, suddenly, he says, the radiance of that desirable light was extinguished… Another beheld, the sky roaring and troubled, sulphurous clouds hurling huge stones: which stones, when they had fallen to earth, were kindled the more and burned with greater flames, and, entering the inner parts of the houses, set on fire those whom they found; but he who saw it, he says, because he had hidden himself in a certain chamber, by divine mercy the flame could not reach him." And, to say nothing of Tertullian and others, who would hold to be vain images those which St. Cyprian rather often saw, and by which he frequently foreknew the things he was to do or suffer? There were certainly even at that time those who laughed at these things, so that the blessed bishop of Carthage wrote Letter LXIX, at the end; Works page 266, Baluze's edition: "Although I know that dreams seem ridiculous and visions foolish to some, but certainly to those who prefer to believe against the priests rather than the priest"; and indeed the things which at once happened made full credit for the visions of the priests of God, as is sufficiently established from history.

[4] moreover, even if they were imaginary, they would be no obstacle. Certainly the things which have the character of a prodigy are to be confirmed by singular authority, since they do not rest on the ordinary course of things and the customary ordinance of God, nor accordingly is there in them that probability which arises of itself from the natural order itself. But although these things are so, where there is nothing by which we are prevented from giving them credit, he would be over-difficult who should judge that visions are to be altogether neglected on this ground alone, that they are visions not established by the very greatest authority of witnesses. For which reason, since what the Cologne inscription contains about visions is plainly not at variance with what the Lives of the Saints and Ecclesiastical History state to have sometimes taken place Cf. the Index of the Annals of Baronius and Raynaldus, under Visions, there is no reason why we should reject these things; but if, however, it should please anyone to play the sharper critic, at most it will be permitted to him to reckon that Clematius seemed to himself to see these things and held in the place of divine visions images which the fancy itself had created for itself. Whichever be chosen, the inscription suffers nothing from it: which is the one thing we contend for in this place.

[5] [The words of the inscription ex partibus Orientis, pro voto, de proprio, CV are confirmed;] As to what is added, that Clematius came from the parts of the East, it is plainly not surprising, since it was the custom, if anything was done by others than the inhabitants, to inscribe on inscriptions that it was done by strangers, the native region, city, tribe, village or street being sometimes noted; sometimes more general words being used: it will be enough to have called to mind the inscription of Remus and Archontia, brother and sister, QVI NATIONE GALLA … VNA DIE MORTVI PARITER ET TVMVLATI SVNT who, Gallic by nation … died together on one day and were buried. The expression pro voto is inserted in countless inscriptions; nor is de proprio rare, or another like it; the sigla V. C., by which the author of the Sermon on the Feast states that "a man of consular rank" is signified, while others say much better that "a most distinguished man" is signified, are also met with everywhere: all of which may be seen together in the following inscription, which once existed in mosaic work in St. John Lateran:

AVLA DEI HÆC SIMILIS SYNAI SACRA IVRA FERENTI

VT LEX DEMONSTRAT QVÆ FVIT EDITA QVONDAM

LEX HINC EXIVIT MENTES QVÆ DVCIT AB IMIS

ET VVLGATA DEDIT LVMCN PER CLIMATA SECLI

FLAVIVS CONSTANTIVS FELIX V. C. MAGISTER

VTRIVSQVE MILITIÆ PATRICIVS ET CON. ORD.

ET PADVSIA EIVS FŒMINA VOTI COMPOTES

DE PROPRIO FECERVNT.

[This hall of God, like Sinai bearing the sacred laws, as the law shows which was once given: from here the law went forth which leads minds up from the depths, and, spread abroad, gave light through the regions of the age. Flavius Constantius Felix, a most distinguished man, master of both services, patrician and ordinary consul, and Padusia his wife, having obtained their vow, made it at their own expense.]

C. Fab. Flavius Constantius Felix, the father of Valentinian III by his other wife Placidia, was ordinary consul in the years 414, 417 and 420; so that that inscription belongs to one of these three years [Cf. Ciampini, de sacris aedificiis a Constantino M. extructis, page 16; l'Art de vérifier les dates, vol. I, page 556].

[6] likewise in loco suo; Nor is there any reason why you should hesitate at these words, loco suo: for since inscriptions everywhere have the character of diplomas, hence one may read inscribed on them, briefly, all the same things which used to be inscribed more fully in charters: and there is no need for me to point out that in diplomas, no otherwise than in histories, it was rather often not omitted in whose place, house, estate or vineyard a basilica or monastery had been built. And this was done so that nothing of the memory of the benefaction should perish, or so that no injury should be done to the new building on account of the laws against building on another's ground. Clematius, therefore, had either bought for himself the site of the burned church, previously occupied by others, or certainly had obtained licence to renew the basilica: which things were wont to be expressed in inscriptions by the expressions: In loco coempto, concesso, accepto, impetrato, adsignato on ground bought, granted, received, obtained, assigned, or by the more general ones in loco proprio, suo, etc. Nor were these things observed only in private structures, but also in public ones: examples abound.

[7] The prohibition that other corpses should be brought into the basilica and buried there agrees also with the customs of that age. likewise the prohibition that corpses be brought in; Here is an example taken from Fabretti Inscriptiones, page 737:

AVR. SATURNINVS. DIAC. SIBI. ET

AVR. VENERIÆ. DVLCISSIMÆ

CONI *. DE. PROPRIO. SIBI. FECERVNT

ROGO ET PETO OMNEM CLERVM

ET CVNCTAM FRATERNITATEM VT NVLLVS

DE GENERE VEL ALIQVIS IN HAC SEPVLTVRA

PONATVR.

[Aurelius Saturninus, deacon, made this at their own expense for himself and for Aurelia Veneria, his most sweet wife *. I ask and beg all the clergy and the whole brotherhood that no one of the family, or anyone else, be laid in this burial-place.]

Nor did they think it enough to keep men away by prayers from bringing other bodies into tombs; but, after a custom which was common also to the heathen and the Hebrews, they turned them away with curses of every kind. Take from Iacuzzi two formulas of that kind [Christianarum antiquitatum specimina quae in vetere Bonusae et Mennae titulo … illustrantur, page 40]:

MALE. PEREAT. INSEPVLTVS

IACEAT. NON. RESVRGAT

CVM. IVDA. PARTEM. HABEAT

SI. QVIS. SEPVLCRVM. HVNC

VIOLAVERIT.

[May he perish miserably, may he lie unburied, may he not rise again, may he have his part with Judas, if anyone shall violate this tomb.]

NEMO SVVM VEL ALIENVM CADAVER

SVPER ME MITTAT QUOD SI HOC PRÆ

SVMPSERIT SIT MALEDICTVS ET IN

PERPETVVM ANATHEMATE CONSTRICTVS.

[Let no one put his own or another's corpse upon me; and if he presumes to do this, let him be accursed and bound by anathema for ever.]

The same Iacuzzi will give other formulas. And if you object that these prohibitions concern tombs, here is one which pertains to the basilica of St. Peter at Perugia Mai, Scriptt. Vett. nov. Collectio, vol. V, page 99:

MEMMIVS SALVSTIVS

SALVINVS DIANIVS VS

BASILICAM SANCTORV

ANGELORVM FECIT IN

QVA SEPELLIRI NON LICET.

[Memmius Salustius Salvinus Dianius, a most distinguished man, made the basilica of the holy angels, in which it is not permitted to be buried.]

But of burials in basilicas, below.

[8] and finally the words majestas and imminentium. In the Cologne inscription the word majestas occurs twice, with a wonderful meaning and in an unexpected place. But so far from this being an indication of falsity, it is an upright testimony of genuineness. For from the second or at least the third century that word was used to signify whatever was excellent in any religious matters whatever; so that the less its true meaning was understood, the readier was its use: it corresponded to the Greek word μεγαλειοτης Cf. Du Cange's Glossary, under Majestas. Imminentium, which is read in the Sermon on the Feast, and not minentium, which Vill published, is the same as instantium, urgentium; in which sense it was already used by Tertullian in the book On Penance, chap. 6 Cf. the same work, under Imminet. The sense, further, of the whole inscription seems to be this: Clematius, a most distinguished man, frequently admonished by divine visions of flames, which were as it were virtues and prodigies wrought by God to glorify the martyrdom of the holy virgins, who were asking that their building should be restored, and so having passed over from the parts of the East to Cologne, in fulfilment of the vow by which he had bound himself, at his own expense, in the former cemetery, whose small building had perished by fire and which the Franks or others had occupied, but which he himself acquired anew, restored this basilica from its foundations. But if anyone, in so august a basilica, where the holy virgins shed their blood for the name of Christ, shall lay other bodies than those of the virgins, or of the nuns who dwell here, let him know that he is to be punished with the everlasting fires of Tartarus.

[9] It is not known for certain when Clematius restored the basilica. From this inscription, therefore, it is established that already before the coming of Clematius a basilica stood there, such as were to be found everywhere in the ancient cemeteries; that this basilica had suffered much, namely from a fire, kindled perhaps by the Franks occupying the city; and that at length it was restored from its foundations by Clematius. Of these things indeed it seems that no doubt can be raised; but at what time was this restoration made by Clematius? There is seen there the tomb of a certain St. Viventia, whom they will have to be the daughter of Pippin of Herstal, and of whom Henschenius has already disputed in our work Acta SS. vol. II of March, page 604 and following; and on one side of this mausoleum is read this inscription:

CLEMATIVS HOC TEMPLVM A° 462 RESTAURANS IN EO ALIORVM CORPORVM

SEPVLTVRAM SUB PŒNA VETVIT;

but this inscription is too recent (as is indicated even by the year of Christ alone, whether it was written in Arabic or in Latin letters) to command belief. Much more recent still is another inscription Vill, Wegweiser in der Kirche der H. Ursula, page 25:

TEMPORE S. SEVERINI EPISC. COLON. BASILICA S. VRSVLÆ ET SS. VIRGINVM

RESTAVRATA EST PER CLEMATIVM KLEINGEDANK DE MOMMERSLOCH

VBIO-ALEXANDRINVM VIRVM: HINC EST MONVMENTVM.

[In the time of St. Severinus, bishop of Cologne, the basilica of St. Ursula and the holy Virgins was restored by Clematius Kleingedank of Mommersloch, an Ubio-Alexandrian man: hence is the monument.]

It pleased, namely, the patrician men of Cologne at one time to connect their family with men whose holiness or name was held in singular veneration at Cologne. No other argument is available by which the year may be accurately determined.

[10] probably, however, about the year 500, and certainly before the seventh century, We must therefore indulge in conjectures; and I for my part would think that about the year 500 Clematius came from the East to Cologne and there restored the basilica of the holy virgins. For although the rank of clarissimus was known in every age, as may be seen in Moroni Dizionario di erudizione ecclesiastica, under Chiarissimo, yet the sigla VC were not always understood, as

is clear even from the Sermon on the Feast-day, where they were changed into a man of consular rank; nor would I think that any trace of them survived in Gaul after the fifth century. To this is added that the Clematii whose age is known lived in the fourth or fifth century, as we have already pointed out elsewhere. Moreover the involved and difficult style which is observed in that inscription can easily be referred to that age. But whatever the reader may decide concerning these conjectures or guesses, it is in no way to be doubted that Clematius restored the Ursuline basilica before the seventh century.

[11] [as may be gathered from what befell St. Cunibert while he was celebrating the sacred rites there.] For in the Life of St. Cunibert, who was raised to the see of Cologne around the year 623 [Cf. Mörckens, Conatus chronologicus ad catalogum episcoporum, etc., Cologne, page 42.], these things are read In Surius, Vitae Sanctorum, at 12 November, page 275, edition of 1618.: One day, while, full of God, he was offering upon the Lord's table in the basilica of the holy Virgins the singular mystery of our redemption and the sole remedy of our infirmity, the clergy and people standing by saw a most brilliant dove first wander about, flying round hither and thither through the whole church, then settle upon the head of the pontiff; and soon afterwards, having turned back, it slipped away from the eyes of all beside the tomb of a certain virgin, while all who were present were at once astounded and marvelling. At once it was acclaimed by all that this was truly a priest worthy to minister to the Lord, that he would be a happy shepherd of the church: there follow some other things, from which it may be plain that these events belong to the beginning of St. Cunibert's episcopate. Now it is not our concern to inquire whether this dove was miraculous or natural, whether this is a popular fiction or a sound tradition (although I will openly confess that I hold this story to be entirely true, and only the nature of the dove to be uncertain); but we must take note that in the ninth century, in which, as we shall presently show, this Life of St. Cunibert had already been preserved in writing, it was beyond doubt to a prudent and not unlearned Cologne writer that at the beginning of the seventh century, or two hundred years before, the Ursuline basilica existed, and that there a singular thing had happened which seemed to have been a miraculous omen; and that the people were persuaded of the same things, since the biographer related them from oral tradition. But if these things are considered not singly, but together with the inscription explained above, it is easily seen how much both documents confirm each other; so that it is certain (whatever judgement may finally be formed of the Life of St. Cunibert considered by itself) that at the beginning of the seventh century the basilica of St. Ursula already existed in the suburb of Cologne.

[12] [It is shown that the Life of St. Cunibert, from which these things are taken, was written not only before the year 890,] But the promises we were just making about inquiring into the age of the Life of St. Cunibert must now be fulfilled. Some would have it written in the seventh century Cf. Crombach, S. Ursula vindicata, passim.; but contemporary Lives are usually more exact and contain matters set out more carefully. The learned presbyter Floss Allgemeines Kirchenlexikon of Aschbach, under Ursula. judged better that it was not written before the ninth century; Oscar Schade Die Sage von der heiligen Ursula, page 14. said that it seemed to him to have been written even later than that. For my part I cannot agree with Schade, since at the end of that Life these things are read: And at length, having happily completed forty years of his stewardship, coming on the day before the Ides of November to the last day of this light, he rendered up his spirit to his Creator, to be enriched with all good things. And his body, as he had directed while living, was laid with great glory in the church of Saint Clement, which he himself had built: our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, who lives and is glorified for ever and ever. Amen. From which words it is plain that this Life was written before the body of the most blessed prelate was raised from the earth; which we know was done by Hermann I, who in the year 890 obtained the see of Cologne by the vote of clergy and people, at the beginning of his pontificate. Soest, says Morckens Series episcop. archiep. etc. Coloniens., page 70., after the body of St. Cunibert had been dug up and translated there, he defended and held by a duel against wicked and unjust invaders, and increased it with walls: (now Susatum, commonly Soest, from the year 1821 is no longer part of the diocese of Cologne, but of Paderborn Cf. Binterim and Mooren, Die alte und neue Erzdiözese Köln, volume I, page 306.).

[13] but even before the year 843. We seem to be able to go back even further: when the Life of St. Cunibert was written, the church of St. Clement had not yet laid aside its own name to take that of St. Cunibert; yet in the year 852 it already had that name, as is clear from the diploma of the emperor Lothair already indicated elsewhere, given on the eighteenth day before the Kalends of February, in the eleventh year of the reign of Lothair the glorious king, by the favour of Christ, in the fifteenth indiction. For in it, confirming the ordinance of Gunthar, governor of the church of Agrippina, who had decreed that thenceforth canons should serve in the holy mother church and in the other monasteries which belonged to the same bishopric and to the church of Saint Peter, he lists among them also the monastery of Saint Cunibert In Würdtwein, Nova subsidia diplomat., volume IV, page 24.. Let it therefore be certain that the Life of St. Cunibert had already been committed to writing before the middle of the ninth century; but how long before, who could say? It is enough, however, to have read it for it to appear at once that it is not the work of a fabulist, but of a man who diligently collected what was commonly handed down about St. Cunibert and was approved by the more learned. Yet this does not seem sufficient to win it full authority, but only to keep it from being counted as nothing, and even so that it may readily be admitted that something true underlies even those passages which find less credence. But let us return from this digression to our road.

[14] Whether the church restored by Clematius survives to this day? It is disputed whether the very church which Clematius restored still exists, or rather is part of the present church. Indeed the Rev. Mr. Vill, treating of the most ancient part, says Wegweiser zur Kirche der II. Ursula in Köln, page 25.: There are no inscriptions by which it may be known in what age the church was built. The manner which is commonly called Romanesque (Romanische Bauart, style Roman), and according to which the middle nave and both side-aisles were built, savours of the span of time that elapsed between the end of the eleventh century and the beginning of the thirteenth. Nor is the opinion of almost all the writers who have written more recently on this church any different. The Cologne architect Weyer Sammlung von Ansichten … in Köln, p. 63, ed. 1827. judges that it was built by St. Stephen, who in the year 1002 encircled his head with the imperial diadem; but he seems to rest on no other argument than that his gilded statue is placed beside the altar of St. Anne. But the distinguished Mr. Barthélemy Du Mortier, already praised by me elsewhere, is in no way moved by these things: whose judgement is to be valued the more highly the greater the labour he has spent in investigating the origins of the cathedral church of Tournai; and though not all have approved the fruits of those studies, there is no one who would deny that this most illustrious man has given signs of exceptional sagacity and has carefully examined everything that pertains to the ecclesiastical buildings of the earliest times. He then, taking no account of the testimonies which we have just given above from the Life of St. Cunibert, from the Sermon on the Feast-day and from the inscription of Clematius; indeed, having even asked me in what age Clematius had lived, whose name he had read in the Passion Regnante Domino in Surius; but reflecting only on what he had inspected with his own eyes at Cologne, did not hesitate to judge that the most ancient part of the church was built in the sixth or seventh century. That church, he says in a letter addressed to me, (I mean the nave) has all the characteristics which I can refer only to that time. For there are seen there twin doors, one open to men, the other to women: which are found only in the most ancient churches, for instance in that of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Tournai, in that of Jerusalem and that of Arles. There is also found there a double narthex, one destined for the use of men, the other of women. Finally all the elements of the architecture, namely the columns, capitals, abaci, tori and other things of that kind, savour of the Merovingian age. Nor is there any record anywhere that this church was thrown down, although documents abound from the middle of the ninth century; and indeed it is accurately known when the remaining parts were added. But other men, also most skilled in archaeology, who have examined the church of St. Ursula at Cologne, in no way approve these assertions. For they affirm that between the Rhine and the Moselle there are several churches of the eleventh and twelfth centuries which have twin doors and a double narthex; moreover the elements of the architecture of the Cologne church seem to them to savour altogether of the eleventh or twelfth century: so that the same doubts arise about this church as about that of Tournai. Further, at the end of the ninth century that church seems, no differently from the other churches of Cologne, to have suffered very great damage from the Northmen; so that it may well have had to be renewed in the tenth century. But let us come to other matters.

[15] [Around the year 1135 the choir of St. Cordula is added, afterwards the vault and the tower.] A little before the year 1135 a porch or new apse was added to the Ursuline basilica, and that near the tower and opposite the principal choir. It was built from the ground by Reginbern, canon of St. Peter's at Cologne. And there in the year 1135, in the thirteenth indiction, Bruno the second consecrated an altar. The diploma from which these things are certain we shall give below. In it mention is made of the monastery of St. Lambert: about which, as also about the porch of St. Cordula, Crombach notes the following: Bruno, he says S. Ursula vindicata, page 788., distinguishes from the porch of St. Cordula, which I see has afterwards for nearly four hundred years been named the choir of St. Cordula, the monastery of St. Lambert itself, or the principal choir of the church, dedicated on the feast of St. Lambert; whence it would appear that this choir also was rebuilt at that time. Afterwards a vault was placed upon the church and the tower was built Vill, Wegweiser, etc., page 25..

[16] [Before the middle of the seventeenth century Stravius, Cranius and others the same church] At the beginning of the seventeenth century a very beautiful choir was built in the style which we commonly call Gothic, and the north and south wings were added Ibid., loc. cit.. Many other ornaments too were then added; of which Gelenius, publishing his book in the year 1645, wrote thus De Magnitudine Coloniae, page 335.: I come to our own times. The first occasion for restoring the church was given by a Polish woman, named Ursula, who sent almost a hundred imperials for whitewashing the church. Afterwards the most reverend and illustrious Lord Georg Paul Stravius, bishop of Joppa, suffragan of Cologne and canon of the same collegiate church, built the high altar with magnificent and splendid work, all with gold

embellished, and adorned with a noble painting of the virgin martyr Ursula in the year 1640 Crombach, page 1144.. In the year 1642, following the example of Stravius, Lord Johann von Crane, who had formerly followed the tenets of the Evangelicals Vill, Wegweiser, page 33., legate of the sacred imperial majesty, adorned the tomb of the virgin St. Ursula with a noble chapel extending at some length as far as the vineyard, and variegated the pavement with tesserae of Parian and black marble; and, the old altar of St. Nicholas having been pulled down (in the middle of which was contained a glass vessel with the still liquid blood and the flesh of the holy Virgins), he raised a new, elegant and well-proportioned one, the same blood being likewise enclosed in the new altar. Hence on the top of this altar is read: TO GOD BEST AND GREATEST, TO THE VIRGIN MOTHER, TO ST. NICHOLAS BISHOP AND TO ST. URSULA PATRONESS. And below: JOHANN CRANE, COUNCILLOR OF THE SACRED IMPERIAL MAJESTY, IMPERIAL AULIC COUNCILLOR, AND VERENA HEGEMIHLERIN, HUSBAND AND WIFE, HAD THIS MADE IN THE YEAR 1643 Ibid., page 34.. Stravius consecrated that altar on the 12th of October of the year 1642 Crombach, page 1144.. The same noble lord, Gelenius continues, out of his incredible affection and devotion towards St. Ursula, enlarged the old golden chamber, because of its narrowness and the soot that had spread over its walls and reliquaries, with a more stately sanctuary newly built. The marble altar of the place, adds Crombach S. Ursula vindicata, page 1144., the bishop of Joppa, Georg Paul Stravius, consecrated to St. Alexius and St. Ursula, for this reason, that on the occasion of this building it had been necessary to pull down the altar of St. Alexius, its endowment being transferred.

[17] adorned it in a wonderful manner: Crane also, at his own expense, had carved by J. F. W. Lentz, whose name is inscribed there, a most splendid marble mausoleum, on whose upper surface lies a very beautiful statue of St. Ursula in white marble, in royal attire, with a dove sitting at her feet. These other words are also inscribed Vill, Wegweiser, pages 33 and 34.: THE TOMB OF ST. URSULA, DISCOVERED BY THE INDICATION OF A DOVE, JOHANN CRANE, COUNCILLOR OF THE SACRED IMPERIAL MAJESTY, IMPERIAL AULIC COUNCILLOR, AND MARIA VERENA HEGEMILERIN, HUSBAND AND WIFE, CAUSED TO BE ENCLOSED IN THIS LIVING MARBLE IN THE YEAR 1659; so that the old tomb of St. Ursula now lies hidden within that mausoleum. The Rev. Mr. Vill published a figure of it at the front of the French and German editions of his little book on the church of St. Ursula. Seventeen years before, namely in the year 1642, a new altar was completed at the expense of Doctor Cornelius Silling. Thus Gelenius writes of it De Magnitudine Coloniae, page 336.: Since the middle altar in the nave of the church, near the entrance of the choir, obstructed the view of the high altar, the college of St. Ursula, having removed it and taken away the doors and also the wooden screens, fortified the choir with iron ones and made it splendid: an altar was moved up close to the choir and consecrated to the Holy Cross, to St. Cunibert and to St. Leonard; next to which, within the choir, are seen the remains of the old altar, at which St. Cunibert, while celebrating, found the body of St. Ursula at the indication of a dove; which altar the most illustrious doctor of both laws Cornelius von Silling undertook to adorn. Of the indication of that dove we shall speak below: this one thing we observe here, that the remains of this altar will perhaps be seen as some sort of testimony that the nave itself, within which it was situated, was never completely destroyed.

[18] The burning of the tower; present state; relics. In the year 1680 the tower was set on fire by lightning; and not only was it partly reduced to ashes, but part of the church also suffered damage. The memory of this event is preserved in a painted panel which may be seen in the sacristy to this day. For the rest, the church, venerable on so many titles, is now falling into ruin; so much so that, lest it collapse entirely, provision must be made by a speedy restoration Vill, Wegweiser, page 25.. God grant that the people of Cologne may not suffer so celebrated and so ancient a monument to perish! What treasures that church possesses the Rev. Mr. Vill accurately lists Guide dans l'Église de Sainte Ursule, page 32 and following.. In the golden chamber, whose surface extends six hundred and sixty feet and which is forty high, are preserved seven hundred and seventy-eight skulls of the Ursuline virgins, adorned in various ways; among which is the skull of St. Ursula, adorned with a most precious diadem. There are also other relics of the same saint, for instance her betrothal ring, fragments of her garments, an arrow, the instrument of her martyrdom, her right arm, a foot and a small net. In the church itself, at the high altar, the body of St. Ursula is preserved in a shrine of gilded bronze, whose image is engraved in front of Crombach's second volume and which has the form of a small house, and in another that of St. Aetherius; moreover in reliquary cases, or rather in coverings of fine linen, there are one thousand and eight skulls; besides, in the circuit of the choir, many other relics occupy a space eighty feet long, ten high and two wide; and others finally are enclosed in nineteen tombs, among them that of St. Cyriacus opposite the golden chamber. The Rev. Mr. Vill will give more.

* to his wife

§ II. The fortunes of the monastery of the Holy Eleven Thousand Virgins at Cologne from the sixth century until the year 922, in which canonesses were introduced.

From the word basilica alone, Having set out the history of this church as far as was possible, the first question that meets us is whether it was from the beginning a monastic basilica, or only a cemeterial one. That argument is somewhat obscure and sufficiently intricate: yet we shall try to answer in a few words. First of all, if you except the patriarchal cities (I mean Rome, Alexandria, Antioch and perhaps Jerusalem), there was only one church within the walls of the episcopal cities Cf. Examen historicum et canonicum, p. 139.; but round about were placed other churches, which were commonly called basilicas. Mabillon De antiquit. S. Dionysii, Opp. posthuma, volume II, page 355. judged that all these in Gaul were monastic, writing: It was very well proved by Mr. de Valois in his dissertation on basilicas against Mr. de Launoy that in the sixth and seventh centuries among the Gauls basilica always signified a church of monks: cathedral and parish churches were called churches. So he. Valois did indeed show that many basilicas were in fact monasteries; and that it therefore seems that this name was more rarely given to cathedral churches, yet was given sometimes Discept. de basilicis, chapter 2, page 11, Paris edition, 1657.; and Mabillon himself elsewhere Annales Ord. S. Benedicti, book VII, number 7, volume I, page 161. spoke less affirmatively; and certainly the same sacred buildings are sometimes called indiscriminately churches and basilicas Acta SS. volume VII of October, page 932.. Moreover it must be considered that, besides the monastic and cathedral churches (to which add the parish churches), there were oratories, chapels and small cemeterial shrines; about which Valois indeed said nothing: so that he does not even seem to have considered whether, as at Rome (on which there can be no doubt) the cemeterial shrines were called basilicas, so too in Gaul the same kind of shrines was honoured with the same name. And indeed Flodoard, speaking of the ancient Christian churches of Reims, openly distinguishes the cemeterial basilicas from the monasteries in these words Hist. Remensis, book IV, chapter 38.: In short, there were formerly among us many basilicas of the saints, and also monasteries within or around this city of Reims, which are shown not to exist now; and these suburban basilicas were so many in number that the gate by which one went to them was called basilicaris, or the gate of the basilicas: and that they were cemeterial is clear from the burial of St. Baldericus, laid in the church or basilica of St. Mary outside the walls of the city of Reims Cf. Acta SS. volume VII of October, pages 914, 915 and 918.. From this head therefore, that the church of St. Ursula is called a basilica both in the inscription quoted and in the Life of St. Cunibert, it seems that it can in no way be gathered that it was monastic from the beginning.

[20] [nor from the addition "of the holy virgins", but from the permission to bury virgins there, taken together with the word basilica, is it gathered that the Ursuline church was monastic from the beginning.] Nor does it help that in the same Life it is called the basilica of the holy virgins: true, nuns are quite often called holy virgins, as in this passage of the Life of SS. Bova and Doda Ibid., at 24 April, chapter 1, number 5.: And a flock of holy virgins having been placed therein; but that in the Life of St. Cunibert the basilica of the holy virgins means the same as the basilica of St. Ursula and her Companions is clear from the inscription of Clematius, which contains these words: Of this basilica where the holy virgins shed their blood for the name of Christ; and no less from what we argued in the Preliminary Commentary, number 264, showing that the holy virgins, where those of Cologne are concerned, are the same as the eleven thousand virgins, and that the two expressions are synonymous. And these things we say lest we should seem to wish to deceive. But if these arguments have little strength, another indication lies hidden in the inscription of Clematius, by which it is signified that virgins, or nuns, lived there. For Clematius did not forbid anyone at all to be buried in the basilica; but he said, virgins excepted: who can be no others than the nuns who lived there: as we translated above, at number 8, in the inscription of Clematius. If you join these things with the ordinary signification of the word basilica at this time, the force of the argument so increases that nothing seems lacking to it.

[21] [The nuns seem to have been brought back there before the year 852, in which canons were also established there.] It is therefore manifest from the inscription of Clematius and the Life of St. Cunibert, compared with each other, that already in the sixth century there was a convent of maidens there. But when the Sermon on the Feast-day was composed, you would say that it no longer existed there. For the author, although he seems to wish to write the history of the Ursuline church, does not utter even the least word from which you could conjecture that there was then a monastery there. Nevertheless it existed in the year 852, as appears from the often-cited diploma of Lothair, by which he confirmed the ordinance of Gunthar, bishop of Cologne, concerning the monasteries in and around the city. Gunthar, namely, with the clergy of St. Peter dwelling in the aforesaid city of Agrippina and the rest of the faithful of the holy church, by common consent and equal wish had ordained, and by solemn ratification had decreed, that thenceforth canons in the same holy mother church, and also in the other monasteries, both within the city itself and those outside, which were known to belong to the same bishopric and to the church of St. Peter: that is, the monastery of Gereon the martyr of Christ and his companions, and also the monastery of St. Cunibert, THE MONASTERY OF THE BLESSED VIRGINS, and also the church of St. Pantaleon, which was recognized as belonging to the treasury and the lights of the same mother church, and also the hospital built there for the reception of the poor, might thenceforth for all time be able to subsist without want of any means. When Lothair had approved these things in the middle of January of the year 852, there were substituted for the secular priests who had formerly administered this convent of maidens in spiritual things other priests who the canonical rule,

so greatly commended in that age by the ecclesiastical and royal power, followed.

[22] In the year before, that convent had not been destroyed by the Northmen, Some would have it [Cf. Eckhart, de rebus Franciae orientalis, volume II, page 415; Mörckens, Series Chronolog. episcop. Coloniensium, page 64, etc.] that in the year before these things happened Cologne was occupied by the Northmen and, its citizens slain, utterly laid waste; on which occasion the Ursuline basilica suffered much, no differently from the rest. But I know of no writer, trustworthy and ancient enough, who has recorded that in the year 851 the Northmen came as far as Cologne. True, in the Chronicle of St. Martin of Cologne In Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae, volume II, page 214. it is read that, under Heynianus, who from the year 817 to 849 held the abbatial and at times also the episcopal staff, the monastery of St. Martin was destroyed by the Northmen; to which they refer what is reported in the Annals of Xanten Ibid., page 229. and other monuments at the year 852: The sword of the pagans glowed; excessive heat of the sun; and famine followed, and the fodder of the animals failed; and the mast for the swine was abundant: whence one reads in the chroniclers of Cologne that the Northmen were the authors of this dearth. But these things do not satisfy; for the Chronicle of St. Martin of Cologne, although drawn for the greatest part from good sources, is too recent Cf. ibid., page 214. to command belief by itself alone; then the Annals of Xanten, far from favouring it, altogether prevent us from admitting that Cologne was laid waste in the year 851 or the following year. True, at the year 851 it reports Ibid., page 229. that the Northmen did harm in Frisia and around the river Rhine; but from other chronicles we know that these devastations were made in the Batavian island and other neighbouring places Cf. D. Bouquet, volume VII, pages 68 and 153.; indeed, when the Northmen approached nearer to Xanten and created greater dangers for the monastery, the annalist of Xanten did not omit to note these things: and certainly, since they would have laid waste the monastery of Xanten before they reached as far as Cologne, he would have indicated most clearly this irruption, memorable on so many titles, just as he did at the year 864, in which the monastery was burnt and plundered by the barbarians In Pertz, pages 230 and 231..

[23] but it suffered the most grievous damage in the year 881. Leaving aside this fable, then, we must come down to the year 881, in which Cologne was treated in a most savage manner. In this year, namely, one band of the Northmen had entered the mouths of the Rhine, but was soon forced to depart. The other was more fortunate. For in the same year, in the month of November, two kings of the Northmen, Godfrey and Siegfried, with an inestimable multitude of foot and horse, encamped in the place which is called Haslon * beside the Meuse. And at their first onset, ravaging the neighbouring places, they burned with fire the city of Liège, the fortress of Maastricht, the city of Tongres. In a second incursion, pouring into the territory of the Ripuarians, they laid waste everything with slaughter, plunder and fire. They burned with fire the cities of Cologne Agrippina and Bonn, with the adjacent castles, namely Zülpich, Jülich and Neuss. After this they reduced to ashes the Palace at Aachen and the monasteries of Inden, Malmedy and Stavelot. So the Annals of Metz In D. Bouquet, volume VIII, page 63.. What concerns Cologne the Annals of Fulda relate somewhat more clearly Ibid., page 40.: They burned the cities of Agrippina Cologne and Bonn with their churches and buildings; and those who were able to escape from there, whether canons or nuns, fled to Mainz, carrying with them the treasures of the churches and the bodies of the saints. There can be no doubt, therefore, that in the year 881 the Ursuline convent, no differently from the other pious institutions of Cologne, received very great damage from the Northmen.

[24] [Hermann, archbishop of Cologne, transfers the nuns, whose monastery at Gerresheim had been burned by the Hungarians,] But at the beginning of the following century it was possible to repair these things to some extent, many benefactions having been conferred by certain persons: but whether the same nuns who formerly inhabited it returned is uncertain to me and less probable. Certainly it seems to have been vacant in the year 922, in which the sacred virgins of Gerresheim were introduced into it by Hermann, archbishop of Cologne; their convent, founded in the year 870 to the east of Düsseldorf [Binterim and Mooren, die alte und neue Erzdiözese Köln, volume I, pages 89 and 223.], the Hungarians had burned, having crossed the Rhine itself in the years 917 and 922 [Cf. Dussieux, Essai historique sur les invasions des Hongrois en Europe et spécialement en France, pages 32 and 34.]. Part of Hermann's diploma was given by Hermann Fleien In Lippeloo, Vitae SS., volume IV, page 779 and following., the other part by Crombach S. Ursula vindicata, pages 777 and 778.; yet neither has given the whole at once. Let the reader receive both parts, since more is not possible, and first that which Fleien gave: He who governs holy places reasonably, and resolves to increase the stipends of those who serve in them, prepares a reward for himself in the future: and therefore in the name of the holy and undivided Trinity, I, Hermann, by the help of the divine clemency archbishop of the holy church of Cologne, wish it to be known to all the sons and daughters of holy mother church, present and future, that, the monastery in the place called Gerresheim, built in honour of the holy Saviour and of holy Mary and of the holy martyr Hippolytus, having been burned out by the Hungarian tyranny, and all the dwellings, both those proper to the venerable abbess Lacsuinda * herself and those common to all the honourable sisters divinely subject to her, having been consumed alike by flame-spewing fires, the servants slain and taken captive and led into exile, and all that they had plundered; and the aforesaid abbess, devoted to God, together with the nuns, the sisters who adhered to her with one mind, fearing the peril of death from the unforeseen and sudden onset of the Hungarians, having fled for refuge to the city of Cologne, and having in the aforesaid place no castle at all, nor any other defence whatever, in order that they might deserve to remain in the service of almighty God, as they had begun in the first place by the favour of the divine goodness, they had devoutly requested, through the intervention of approved friends, that the monastery of the holy virgins, erected outside the walls of Cologne to the praise of God and of holy Mary and of the eleven thousand virgins themselves, be granted to them by our lowliness, on this definite condition: that, submitting themselves with all who were subject to them under the patronage and defence first of Christ the Lord and of our gracious patron Peter, and also under the wings of the shepherd of the same holy church of Cologne, with the relics of the aforesaid martyr himself, they would of their own free will hand over, wholly and entirely, without diminution, whatever estate or inheritance, whether from the gift of Gerricus, a man of good memory, or whatever had been given after his death by other religious men or women, to the altar of St. Peter founded honourably in the principal place within Cologne, and would receive in return

[25] [into the Ursuline monastery, on this condition, that Gerresheim be restored as far as possible] likewise by a gift of this kind whatever goods were given by the gift of men or honourable women to the church of the holy virgins, and so, living perpetually, by the Lord's bounty, in the same place under the regular constitution, they might possess both, assigned to their uses, without any contradiction; but by no means with this intention, that the monastery built in the aforesaid place, where they had formerly kept vigil in the divine praises, should be left entirely without care: but that some sisters being left there, as should seem fitting, they should daily fulfil with a priest the solemnities of the Masses and the whole canonical course, with the frequent recitation of other supplications. Hearing these things, and sympathizing from the heart with their calamities, and striving also to provide with the greatest care for the holy place where the bodies of so many precious ones of Christ rest, by the counsel of our faithful, both suitable clerics and also noble laymen, according to their petition and the suggestion of our people we received their vows; and placing the relics of Hippolytus the martyr of Christ upon the altar of gracious Peter, in the sight of all the people standing round, they humbly submitted themselves to his dominion, setting in the midst, by the hand of Ewerwin their advocate, all things assigned in common to their uses, submitting them according to the decision written below, in the following tenor likewise.

[26] and that the nuns might keep free the election of an abbess from their own body: Namely that the same Lanchuind *, who is abbess at the present time, may enjoy the aforesaid privilege all the days of her life without the pressure of any reproach; and that after her decease, when the Lord shall will it, they shall have the entirely free choice of their election, to set over themselves in the honour of abbess, with the consent and counsel of the reverend prelate, whoever in those times shall be seen to preside over the aforesaid sacred see, that one among themselves who shall at that time be found the best and the most devout in the purpose of the life of nuns, well instructed with them from infancy in the much and regular norm of the monastic life, born of noble lineage. Nor shall any of our successors ever presume to claim for himself any power over these same handmaids of God of any service whatsoever, except only, with fatherly affection, the exercise of holy prayers. Nor shall he attempt to set over them, against their will, an abbess of his own kindred or household, but their election and petition, with the help of the first shepherd, the most holy Peter, prince of the apostles, shall remain firm and fortified in all things.

(At this place are inserted the goods and courts assigned to the monastery; and, these having been enumerated, it continues in the foundation in these words.)

[27] all of which are confirmed with the customary threats. All these things and those comprised above, with all the houses, buildings, woods, fields, pastures, waters or watercourses, entrances and exits, and all appurtenances rightfully belonging to them, all things and from all things, wholly and entirely, from our right, we hand over and transfer into the right and dominion of the aforesaid church, and to the nun sisters duly serving God and the holy virgins there, on this definite condition, that they may there perpetually advance, gaining increase, in the divine praises for the remedy of our soul and of all the men and women named above. But if anyone, which we by no means believe will happen, if we ourselves, which God forbid, or any of our successors, or any other opposing or outside person, shall attempt to come against this charter of donation, and shall break it, or wish to change it, first let him incur the wrath of almighty God and of holy Mary and of the same holy eleven thousand virgins, and let him appear excommunicated from the thresholds of that holy place, and moreover let the leprosy of Naaman come upon him, and so may he wither at the root that he may not flower in the branch; and if he seeks to reclaim anything from it, let him never at any time prevail to vindicate it, and further, for the firmness of the whole matter, let him pay, the associated fisc constraining him, according to the decrees of the laws, five pounds of gold and twenty weights of silver, lest he be able to break in upon our deed, but let the present charter of donation remain firm and stable for all time, supported by stipulation. Done publicly in the city of Cologne, the most Christian kings Charles and Henry reigning, in the tenth indiction, on the third day before the Ides of August, in the name of God, happily. That year was 922, in which Charles the Simple of Gaul and Henry

the Fowler held Germany, and Hermann still presided over the church of Cologne, having died only in the year 925, on the third day before the Ides of April.

[28] [The donations which had previously been made to the Ursuline monastery are related.] In the gap which Fleien deliberately made in this diploma, Hermann recited the names of the men and women who had deserved best of the church of the virgins, and said among other things, as Crombach witnesses: The remaining places and serfs, ours and those of other pious men or women whom divine goodness inspired to this, we have acquired by an added donation and have handed over, in the presence of King Conrad of blessed memory, he himself likewise handing over and with his royal majesty likewise confirming with us: in the district of Momacum, in the township of Burgedestat, a church dedicated in honour of St. Mary, 28 manses, etc. Likewise at Vinzerum one church with two manses. At Flaradeshim two manses, etc. Moreover we have added to the same venerable place, in the place called Zummerdesielde in the district of Winckesfeld, a demesne court with two pieces of demesne land, and with 12 manses, with serfs of both sexes, and with all things rightfully belonging there. And below he returns to Conrad: Moreover the aforenamed memorable king Conrad handed over one church at Boppard with the church bells and books and all the priestly furniture, with a barn and a winepress. He adds concerning the queen: The queen also handed over in the district of Zülpich in the township of Nivenheim. Nor must the donation of the illustrious man Vassus be passed over, which mentions the eleven thousand virgins: Moreover the most noble Vassus handed over, after the end of his life, whatever in the district of Jülich, in the mark or township of Pirna, had been handed over to him by the gift of Lintelbigia, a nun, for the uses of his kinsfolk, and for the alms of the said honourable woman herself and of her father or mother, that is, a demesne court with its cottages, and a church, and demesne land, with five manses, excepting that estate which was given to him by the grant of the lord King Charles (which he arranged to be given to St. Gereon); for the investiture of that which he assigned to the service of the Holy Eleven Thousand Virgins, he promised that he would give every year, as an offering for his commemoration, two measures of wheaten flour.

* Hasselt.

* Lantswinda

* Lantswind.

§ III. Donations and other matters pertaining to the temporal state, down to the twelfth century.

Five years later new gifts were conferred on this convent by Alfwin, a noble man, and his wife Ada, as appears from the diploma of Wichfrid, archbishop of Cologne, which Reiffenberg published from the autograph [Compte-rendu des séances de la commission royale d'histoire, volume VIII, page 272.]. Here it is, with the gaps filled from the edition of Lacomblet Urkendenbuch fur die Geshichte des Niederrheins, volume I, pages 47 and 48.: [in the year 927 Alfwin and his wife give many things to the nuns of the holy virgins,]

He uses happily the perishable things of the present world who gains for himself eternal rewards from them. [Knowing that Christ our Lord does not regard the quantity of the gift so much as that of the devotion of the offerer]; therefore I, in the name of God, Alfwin, and my beloved wife Ada, to the church of the holy virgins which is publicly built outside the walls of the city of Cologne, over which the venerable man Wichfrid, by the grace of God archbishop, is seen to preside, for the remedy of our soul, and in view of the eternal reward, and also by way of what is owed to our own remembrance, give our property and hand it over into its ownership [and from our right transfer it from this day into its right and dominion, that this same property may for all time profit the holy sisters who faithfully serve the Lord day and night, in increase, to be possessed perpetually in the name of God], that is, one court situated in Kuningessundere , in the county of Count Everhard, in the township called Birgides-Statt , with various cottages, with demesne land, meadows, fields [woods, pastures, waters or watercourses, ways and byways, exits and returns, things acquired and to be acquired], and all things justly and lawfully belonging to the same court; with XXX manses and as many serfs of both sexes inhabiting them, whose names are these [Ruothgoz and his wife Ruotwich, Hupolt, Rateri and his wife, Frithegart with 3 sons, Sigithrud and her son and her Rantalach, Heribolt, Warburch, Routhrud, Waldrat, Nitzo, Folcolf, Criemilt, Eugila, Imma, Focko, Thiedo, likewise Waldrat, Wanburch, likewise Ruothwich, Unano, Boagrat, Garaman, Werinbrat, Wielant, Hugibrat]; and with two parts of the church built there and of the dues to come from it, and the demesne land, meadows, vineyard, and the serfs belonging to it, by these names, Hezo, Alfgart with her sons. And these XXX manses lie in the places noted below: in the aforesaid township of Birgides-Statt 8, besides the demesne land at Clopheim 4, at Ersinesheim 4, at Wickara 4, besides the demesne land and the church which is built there, from which 15 solidi are to be paid each year as dues; in the district called Achgowe, in the county of Count Kuonrad, in the township of Blitgeres-Wilere 8, besides the demesne land.

[30] the usufruct being reserved to themselves. All these things, then, set out above, I the above-mentioned Alfwin and my beloved wife, handing them over to the aforesaid church of the holy virgins, as has already been said, our subsequent petition was that the nuns established there * should grant them to us in benefice all the days of our life, which they also did, on this condition, namely that we should possess them only for use, and should have no power to sell them anywhere or give them away, or by any device to draw them away from the part of the often-mentioned church, and that we should pay as dues from them each year at the Mass of St. Martin 5 solidi of silver; and after our departure from this light, whenever it may be, they should return there again with all improvement and further increase. And that this precarial grant may remain firmer and more stable, we requested that this charter be written of it, and we confirmed it below with our hand, and caused it to be confirmed by the hands of the good and approved witnesses named below. Sign of Alfwin and of Ada, his beloved wife, who requested that this charter of donation and precarial grant be made. Sign of Wichfrid the archbishop; sign of Count Everhard; sign of Count Adalhard. Written on the fourth day before the Ides of March by Heribert, priest and chancellor, in the year of the Lord's incarnation 927, and in the 9th year of Henry the glorious king. Done publicly in the city of Worms in the name of God, happily. Amen.

[31] [How it came about that, although those nuns seem to have had abundance, they were in fact needy:] But since Alfwin and Ada, no differently from the illustrious man Vassus, had kept in their own hands the usufruct of the things they had given, the Ursuline nuns profited little from them. In truth, besides churches, some courts and other lands, they had received from the emperor Conrad and Archbishop Hermann forty-four manses, each of which is to be reckoned to have comprised at least twelve bunnaria or acres Ducange, Glossarium, under Mansus; Carpentier, Supplementum, under Mansus., in all 673 hectares, or rather (since in the tenth century one may assign to each manse twenty bunnaria, or twenty-five and a half hectares [Cf. Guérard, Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Saint-Père de Chartres, volume I, prolégomènes, number 22.]) 1122 hectares. But since there was then very great difficulty in administering these things, since demesne goods were everywhere burdened with great charges, and the prices of leases or dues were small [Id., Statistique de Palaiseau à la fin du règne de Charlemagne, in the little work: Essai sur le système des divisions territoriales de la Gaule, page 186 and following.], so that a far smaller part of the revenues came into the hands of the possessors: (see on this subject the Rev. Mr. Tosti in his History of the Abbey of Monte Cassino, which once seemed very rich, although it barely sufficed for itself; and at Brussels there still exists a convent of maidens which had been endowed with a notable barony, but to such small advantage that, while it enjoyed it, far from receiving any profit from this foundation, it had every year to add two hundred florins of its own to the revenues with which the échevins and other men of that kind were paid;) since, I say, from so great an abundance of manses the nuns of Cologne had no great emoluments, they were oppressed by such want that because of the lack of a living they wandered about and performed the divine office negligently. And if this seems strange, let us cast our eyes on a diploma one century later. Hermann II, archbishop of Cologne, in the year 1043 gave to the monastery of St. Severinus certain things of his own property: that is, he says Lacomblet, Urkundenbuch für die Geschichte des Niederrheins, volume I, page 111., 4 manses lying in the township called Ohtenethinc, paying one pound; and in Saxony, in the township called Berenberg, 6 manses, which I bought from the knight Frederick, son of Cobbo, for ninety pounds, again paying one pound; moreover, with the common counsel of my faithful, both laymen and clerics, I have taken care to add from the goods of the church one manse lying in the township called Kestenich, paying half a pound or a cartload of wine. From which passage it is clear that the interest on ninety pounds was barely one pound, and that the revenue of eleven manses was two and a half pounds. Now each pound weighed 87 francs, and two and a half 217.50 francs; and if you value 44 manses at the same rate, they would have given annually 10 pounds or 870 francs. But in the tenth century the power of money was about eight times greater than it is now [Cf. on all these matters Leber, Mémoires sur l'application de la fortune privée au moyen-âge, in Mémoires présentés par divers savants à l'académie royale des inscriptions et belles-lettres, first series, volume I, page 230 and following.], so that with the weight for which one sack of wheat is now bought you would then have bought eight, and therefore with the revenues of forty-four manses, or 880 hectares of arable land, the nuns of Cologne could do no more than we can now accomplish with an annual income of 6960 francs: which money must almost all be spent on the repair of a public church and on the solemn performance of the divine offices.

[32] And since this argument lacks neither usefulness nor singularity, other paradoxes concerning the revenues of property in the ninth century. and from it one may understand how monasteries which in those remote times were needy afterwards, when the political order was somewhat changed and the administration of property was made better and easier, became very rich without any accession of new manses; I am pleased to add another example, by which it may be established that it was necessary for them to possess what would now seem an immense fortune, lest they should have to struggle with poverty. The Council of Aachen of the year 816, in canon 122, laying down what measure of drink and food was to be given to canons, the common

life: By common wish, it says Labbe, Concilia, volume VIII, col. 1592., and common consent it pleased the sacred assembly to decree that in all places, namely the greater and the lesser, each canon shall receive every day four pounds of wine. But in places where the church's resources are greater, for example three or four, or indeed eight thousand manses and more, if the same region is wine-bearing, they shall receive every day five pounds of wine, provided however that the barrenness of the season is no hindrance. But if it is not fully wine-bearing, three pounds of wine and three of beer. And if it is not wine-bearing at all, they shall receive a pound of wine and five pounds of beer. In middling places, having a thousand or fifteen hundred, or indeed two thousand manses, if the region (as was said before) is wine-bearing, four pounds of wine: and if it is not fully wine-bearing, two pounds of wine, and three of a drink made from various materials. But if it is hardly wine-bearing at all, they shall receive four pounds of the said drink, and a pound of wine. Further, in lesser places, having two or three hundred manses, they shall receive two pounds of wine. And if the same region (as has already been said) lacks vineyards, three pounds of beer shall be given them, and, if the means suffice, a pound of wine. Suppose the greater places to have been inhabited by thirty brethren and ten boys; the middling by twenty brethren and five boys; the small by ten brethren and two boys: then in the ninth century those monasteries were reckoned wealthy which possessed sixty, eighty, a hundred and sixty thousand hectares; middling, those which had twenty, thirty or forty thousand; needy, those which held only four or six thousand. It will be helpful to have added that the canonical pound of Aachen, from the cited canon 122 and from canon 13 of the same council for nuns, compared with chapter 39 of the Rule of St. Benedict, seems to have been a fourth part of the Benedictine pound; and this a Roman pound and a half Cf. Martène, Commentarius in Regulam S. Benedicti, pages 516 and 517.: so that in the richer chapters nearly a litre of wine was given for dinner and supper together; in other chapters less, according to the means of each. But although these things are not altogether foreign to the affairs of the monastery of St. Ursula (for the Rule of Aachen was observed in it, as will appear below), we must nevertheless return to our road.

[33] [In the year 927 Wichfrid, archbishop of Cologne, out of reverence for the Eleven Thousand Holy Virgins resting there, gives them some things.] Since then the nuns of the convent of the Holy Virgins, though endowed with many manses, were so poor that they had to live by begging, in the same year 927 as Alfwin and Ada, Wichfrid, archbishop of Cologne, also conferred some things on them; his diploma Reiffenberg, whom I praised above, published from the autograph. Here it is too [Compte-rendu des séances de la commission royale d'histoire, volume VIII, page 294.]: In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity. Wichfrid, by the help of the divine clemency archbishop of Cologne. Let the diligence of all the faithful of the holy Church of God, present and future, know how we, admonished by divine inspiration, have taken care to add something of our own for the refreshment of the venerable sisters who serve God faithfully day and night in the church of the holy virgins: for on our inquiring it was found that they had suffered great loss in the daily nourishment of their food. For we are not ignorant that they toiled the less at performing the divine office the greater the want of food they endured, and that one thing will not be demanded of them if the other is withdrawn. Wherefore, according to the consent and common counsel of our faithful, both clerics and laymen, for the love of the Lord Saviour, and for reverence of the eleven thousand holy virgins resting there, and also for our own remembrance, we have granted them to have, for the increase of their prebend, the church of Saint Mary situated nearby, after the death of Ruithbert the priest, namely the master of the school, who now holds it by right of benefice, with all things belonging to it, that is, the church built nearby in honour of St. Desiderius the confessor, with LX acres lying round about it in the suburbs, and half a manse held in the township of Niele. Moreover also with another church founded in the township called Bozilesthorf, and its appurtenances, that is, buildings, demesne land, besides X day-works from which one solidus shall be paid; with two servile manses also, from which V solidi shall be rendered; with three others, of which two lie in Walathorpe, the third in the township of Lunrike, and from these three 14 solidi shall come in each year. The servants dwelling on them shall pay one solidus for their heads in the month of June. And their wives shall give V denarii at the Mass of St. Martin: and moreover also with 6 small parcels of vineyards lying around Riogomagus and 2 and a half arpents situated at Gunderespumere; with a special wood also for XX swine near the above-named township of Walathorpe, and half a manse near the castle of Jülich. All these things we have taken care to add of our own to the often-mentioned nuns, so that they might have no occasion to wander anywhere because of the lack of a living, but rather, having the necessary sustenance, might be able to persevere devoutly in the worship of God without any hindrance. And that the bounty of this our authority may remain firm and stable for ever, we ordered this charter to be written of it, and we confirmed it below with our hand, and caused it to be strengthened by the hands of approved witnesses. Sign of the lord Wichfrid, archbishop, who ordered this charter to be made. Given on the fourth day before the Kalends of August and written by Heribert, priest and chancellor, in the year of the Lord's incarnation 927, and in the 9th year of Henry the glorious and most invincible king, in the 15th indiction, in the name of God, happily. Amen.

[34] and other things in the year 927 or 929; Nor did Wichfrid's liberality stop here. In the 4th year of Henry the Fowler, the beginning of the reign being counted not from the year 919, as above, but from the year 923 or 925 (for a threefold era occurs in the charters), he gave another diploma, part of which Crombach published S. Ursula vindicata, page 780., the whole Lacomblet Urkundenbuch für die Geschichte des Niederrheins, volume I, pages 50 and 51.: In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity. Let the diligence of all the faithful of the Church of God, present and future, know how, when we ordered diligent inquiry to be made concerning the individual congregations of the monasteries round about, divinely committed to our care, how fervent they were in divine things, and how they applied themselves to doctrine, and also whether victuals abounded to them for performing day and night the ecclesiastical service, or not, it was reported to our ears that the nuns who serve the Lord devoutly and zealously at the holy virgins lacked the nourishment of bread every year. Wherefore, our faithful clerics and laymen being assembled together, according to their common counsel we have given them the church which is built in the township called Kelse, [with the demesne land and all the tithe and four manses, three in the same township, one situated in the township which is called Wudesheim [Binterin and Mooren, die alte und neue Erzdiözese Köln, volume I, page 197; Lacomblet, volume I, page 50.]; and] all these things, just as we held them for our own use, we have granted to the aforesaid nuns to be had, that for alms and for our memory they may advance there in increase perpetually, to be possessed in the name of God, and that henceforth they may have no occasion of abandoning the divine office for lack of nourishment, but may rather persevere in it willingly day and night. [Wherefore we ordered this charter to be written, and decreed that it be fortified and strengthened by our own hand, likewise with the hands of many other approved witnesses written below (those names are omitted); so that from this day and thenceforth it may continue firm and unshaken for ever. But if anyone wishes to break or alter it, may divine vengeance soon strike him with a fitting blow, and moreover may he have the wrath of almighty God and of all the saints together.] Done publicly in the church of the holy virgins on the 16th day before the Kalends of August, in the 4th year of the most glorious king Henry. Heribert, priest and chancellor.

[35] likewise in the year 941. Some years later Wichfrid added new gifts to these copious largesses by the following diploma, published by Crombach S. Ursula vindicata, pages 780 and 781.: Wichfrid, by the favour of the divine clemency archbishop of the holy church of Cologne. Let the diligence of all the faithful of the holy Church of God know how we, admonished by heavenly inspiration, with the consent of our faithful, both clerics and laymen, from the goods of our lord, gracious Peter, and of his holy mother church, have enlarged by increase the provision for the sustenance of the venerable sisters who serve God devoutly and religiously day and night in the church of the holy virgins built publicly and honourably outside the walls of the city of Cologne, have given, and from our right have transferred to them into their right and gift, in our township which is called Engelstat, in the district of Worms, in the county of Count Leonard, one court with a cottage and various other buildings, with demesne land, and XXX manses with all the serfs of both sexes dwelling on them, with XX arpents, with all things cultivated and uncultivated, etc., so that from this day and thenceforth, for the remedy of our soul, they may advance there in increase perpetually, to be possessed in the name of God. Done publicly in the aforesaid church of the holy eleven thousand virgins on the ninth day before the Kalends of December, in the 6th year of the most glorious king Otto, in the 14th indiction. I, in the name of God, Heribert, priest and chancellor, wrote this charter in the year of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ 941.

[36] St. Bruno makes a bequest to the Holy Virgins, St. Bruno, brother of Otto the Great, pillar of the German empire, succeeded Wichfrid around July of the year 953: a man born for all the highest things, outstanding in eloquence, most highly cultivated in the philosophical sciences, second to none in martial glory: for he added the kingdom of Lotharingia, not only to the whole empire, but for the greatest part to the mitre of Cologne. Yet the same man, which you may wonder at, was illustrious for the praise of exceptional holiness; his life, clearly written by a contemporary, Surius and our predecessors set out at 11 October, and Aegidius Gelenius also illustrated it in his Hierotheca S. Engelberti, and more recently Pertz edited it with new care in the Monumenta Germaniae. He in his testament mentions the Ursuline church, which in his bequest, according to the received custom, he names "at the holy virgins": for thus he says: To the holy virgins two vessels, two candlesticks, two palls, a curtain, one carpet, two bench-covers, and to the nuns themselves ten pounds of gold for their table.

[37] and Warinus bestows many gifts. In the same century Warinus lived and flourished around the year 980: who, likewise taken with the sanctity of the place and with the notable piety of the virgins serving God there as soldiers, bestowed many gifts: he confirms the number of eleven thousand,

calls them martyrs, and adds as witnesses the provosts of his time and others in this manner Ibid., page 781.: Whoever, divinely inspired, has foreseen that something will be a solace of refreshment to him, must take counsel how it may be made unshaken and durable for the knowledge of posterity. Therefore I, in the name of God, Warinus, by the prevenient divine grace, though by no supporting merits, mitred archbishop of the metropolis of Cologne, hand over and transfer, in memory of our predecessors the archbishops, certain goods of our church, held for our daily use, so that it may concern us too, to the church of the Holy Eleven Thousand Virgins and martyrs, honourably built to the honour of God outside the walls of the city of Cologne, for maintaining the lights of the same church, for restoring the roofs, and also for sustaining the strength of the guardians who keep watch there through the night, circumspectly and diligently: namely the church built in honour of the XII apostles, with 4 and a half manses situated in the township called Gunderstorp: also 17 serfs, and in the suburb next to the said church half a manse with 4 plots, appurtenances held within the city. Moreover, that in process of time the service of God in the aforesaid monastery of the Holy Virgins may be supplied more vigilantly and earnestly, I hand over for the victuals of the nuns who there serve God as soldiers excellently according to their strength a demesne court in the township of Ossendorp. He mentions there also the parish of St. Columba, and concludes: If any of our successors shall attempt, which God forbid, to break this charter of donation or diminish it in anything, let him hear the voice terribly threatening: Vengeance is mine, I will repay. Sign of Warinus the archbishop. Sign of Everger the vicedominus (he was his successor), sign of Ruochbert the provost, of Aichfard the priest, of Virdunus the provost, of Disso the provost, of Gerard, of Godfrey, etc. I, Mullibert, unworthy and a sinner, wrote this charter of donation.

[38] I pass over what ought to be said in this place about St. Adelheid, daughter of the count of Guelders and at one time an inmate of the Ursuline convent; I pass over likewise what St. Heribert, prelate of Cologne, did in honour of the holy virgins; that I may recite the diploma of Richeza, queen of Poland, by which she bound herself and her posterity to the cult of the same virgins, an annual due of twenty pounds being agreed; [Richeza, queen of Poland, also shows her liberality towards the Ursuline convent,] Crombach found it in the archive of the church S. Ursula vindic., p. 859 and following.: In memory and praise of the most holy and undivided Trinity, and of all the saints of God. Very many of the faithful of God have caused themselves to be dedicated to churches with their goods conferred and granted to them by God, and this either for love of the future goods, or for fear of the infernal torments, by which they are to be worthily repaid as they have done, whether evil, when he shall come who is to come, the deeds of each of us : which I, Richeza, often turning over in my mind and discussing in mutual conversation with my friends, and moreover encouraged by the lord archbishop Pilgrim, though I was freeborn, resolved to be a handmaid, and under tribute. But because after a little while we very easily forget, by whatever chance, what had been done today, I asked that a memorial be made in writing, so that it may thus be manifest both to future and to present faithful of Christ how or by what means I was made subject to tribute. For I, Richeza, being desirous of some patronage against those rising up against me, made Archbishop Pilgrim my advocate in all things, nothing excepted or excluded, giving myself in the city of Cologne to the holy virgins with this profession, namely that every year I should pay two pennyworths of wax, and that my posterity should be of the same condition: I also decreed this for after my death, that there be given to the altar of the aforesaid virgins my precious garment, or that of my successors, namely one that shall have been wrought by spinning or weaving, and that thenceforth we are subject to no condition, but are of our own free will. Suitable witnesses were present at this my donation, whose names are held below: Archbishop Pilgrim, Count Cathelo his brother, Idelolph the provost.

[39] [in the year 1035, as is made clear from the established chronology of the archbishops of Cologne.] These things were done before the eighth day before the Kalends of September of the year 1035, in which Pilgrim died Cf. Mörckens, series, epp. Coloniensium, p. 87 and following.. For it is certain that Richeza, to whom the reins of the kingdom had been entrusted after the death of her husband Mieszko II, but who because of bad government had had to flee with her son Casimir to the emperor Conrad, came into Saxony and thence to Cologne when the said year was well advanced. But, you will say, Pilgrim, prelate of Cologne, who received Richeza's donation, died on the eighth day before the Kalends of September of the year 1037 Gallia christiana nova, volume III, cols. 657 and 659.. Plainly this is an error. For at the end of the year 1045 the ninth year of the episcopate of Hermann II, his successor, was running, as is clear from the clause of a certain charter of Theodoric Lacomblet, volume I, p. 112.: In the year of the Lord's incarnation 1045, in the 13th indiction, on the second day before the Kalends of January, in the 6th year of the reign of the most glorious king Henry, and in the 9th of the episcopate of Hermann, venerable archbishop of the holy church of Cologne. And according to this perhaps the other diploma of Hermann Ibid., page 111. must be corrected, in which he relates that at the dedication of the monastery of St. Severinus, in the year 1043, in the 11th indiction, and in the 3rd year of the reign of the younger king Henry and the 8th of his prelacy, he conferred some things on the brethren of this monastery: which things were done publicly before the horn of the altar itself, when he was there before going to Rome, on the sixth day before the Ides of September. For these things are corrupt, since from the month of June of the year 1043 the 4th year of Henry's reign was running Cf. l'Art de vérifier les dates, volume II, page 15.; so that perhaps one should read: in the 4th year of the reign of the younger king Henry and the 7th of my prelacy. For it must be considered that Hermann numbered his years from his ordination, which, as Sigebert witnesses, took place in the year 1037.

[40] The donation of Bezecha, a nun of Cologne, and also the piety of St. Anno and others, ought now to be recorded; but I prefer to treat of them below in their places. [Archbishop Sigewin confers other things in the year 1080, invoking the Saints of God, namely the Eleven Thousand Virgins.] When Sigewin, to whom St. Anno while living had foretold the mitre of Cologne, had been raised to this dignity around the year 1079, in the following year he displayed all his piety towards the eleven thousand virgins, giving the following diploma [Crombach, S. Ursula vindicata, page 786; Lacomblet, Urkundenbuch, volume I, p. 149.]: In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity. Sigewin, by the co-operating grace of the Holy Spirit, though unworthy, archbishop of the church of Cologne. Since we are held in the uncertainty of a fleeting world, and in a brief span, it behoves us to be solicitous and to provide for ourselves some remedy in the future; and because, by occasion of human frailty, we add sin upon sin daily, it is best and wholesome to implore the saints of God and our patrons with prayers and with our means, that by their intercession the mercy of God may deign to free us from so great a contagion of sin, and render us readier for its service. For the obtaining, therefore, of such a happy remedy for us with God, invoking to our aid the saints of God, namely the eleven thousand virgins, we desire it to be known to all the faithful of Christ and ours, how we have given to the same holy virgins, namely as a supplement for the abbess, in the prebend to be given to the sisters, for the intercession and devoted service in that place of the lady Mechthild the abbess, whatever new-broken land shall have been cleared in our times within the boundary of the church of St. Dionysius at Lunrich . Present as witnesses to this donation were Huprecht the provost, the chaplains Gerard, Gero , Hermann, John, Hezel, Reginald, Gerard, Wilhelm, Frederick . And of the laity Huprecht, Giselbert. And this donation was made in the year 1080, in the 6th indiction on the fifth day before the Ides of November, in the second year of our episcopate, in the basilica of the aforesaid virgins.

[41] [In the time of St. Anno the serfs of St. Ursula and their posterity offer annually wax worth two denarii.] In the year 1039 Frederick ascended the see of Cologne and sat in it until the middle of the year 1137; in whose time certain bodies of the Holy Virgins, divinely indicated, were found and solemnly raised and translated into various regions of the world: and St. Norbert, formerly a familiar and member of the household of this archbishop, learned by a heavenly admonition the place of the relics of the same virginal company; and, presented by Frederick with these and many others, he adorned Belgium and France: one deed of this archbishop in defence of the rights of the basilica of St. Ursula must not be passed over. By the example of Queen Richeza, the custom had grown strong at Cologne of binding oneself with all one's posterity to the service of the Holy Virgins: to which end they offered an annual due at their altar during the divine services: when others were striving by sacrilegious kidnapping to free these bondsfolk, they were brought back into holy servitude by the sentence of this Frederick. The matter itself, says Crombach S. Ursula vindicata, p. 787., I am pleased to transcribe from a very old manuscript codex, so that the antiquity of that cult may be the more firmly established: In the times of St. Anno the archbishop, Bertolph the priest and his daughter Enesa handed over Heriburga and her posterity to the church of the holy virgins, which is in Cologne, on this condition, that every year they should pay there two pennyworths of wax as head-tax: and after death a garment, made by the work of their own hands, should be paid. Afterwards, in the time of Archbishop Frederick, a certain man named Berelbinus, wishing, on the side of the pious woman, to steal these bondsfolk from the church, Walburga, Wereso, Terzerard, Richmod, Theodoric, Helvic, Meregard, Hardung, Walburga, Richmod, because they made a vow to the rector of the church and to him: whence it came about that both parties agreed between themselves in this way, that Christian, who had been accustomed to receive the aforesaid due, retained it for the church by oath: and the abbess Guadegilt and Heresuint, guardian of the church, confirmed by the aforesaid oath that this was so; and Count Gerard, their judge, lastly also by oath, as the aforesaid had done, kept their bondsfolk for the holy virgins: all of which Archbishop Frederick established by his sentence in this way, that whatever adversary of God should afterwards attempt to take these things away from the holy virgins, should be damned eternally by God almighty, and by blessed Peter, and by the holy virgins.

[42] [Bruno II consecrates the altar of St. Cordula and confirms the endowment of this altar.] Frederick, archbishop of Cologne, having been taken away by death, Bruno, son of the count of Altena, is substituted by common votes. He was a notable champion of the cult of St. Cordula the virgin. For when a porch, or rather a new apse, had been added to the Ursuline basilica, he consecrated the altar of St. Cordula built in it: which Regnibernus, canon of the metropolitan church, endowed; of which there survives the authentic instrument, in this tenor [S. Ursula vindicata, pages 787 and 788; Lacomblet, Urkundenbuch, volume I, p. 213.]: In the name of the Holy and undivided Trinity. Because, just as the present church is defended by the faithful of Christ, so it is attacked by the unfaithful; therefore we have taken care to transmit the statutes of our time to the knowledge of those to come. Accordingly I, Bruno the second, by the mercy of God archbishop of the holy church of Cologne, dedicated a certain altar in the porch of the church of the Holy Virgins; and that some temporal support may be afforded to the nuns devoutly serving there, so that those who serve the altar may live from the altar,

by the counsel and help of Regnibernus, canon of St. Peter's, I handed over for endowing the same altar 20 solidi of Cologne money, of which there are to be paid in the township of Greverode, which is in the parish of Walda, at the feast of Peter's Chains, 12 solidi from the tithe, which the abbess Gepa, with the consent of the sisters and of Regnibernus, redeemed, to increase the endowment of the said altar, from a certain Rudolph, a ministerial of the Holy Virgins, who held them in benefice, by a certain exchange, namely for one prebend. From three chambers in the parish of St. Columba 5 solidi, yet so that at the Purification of St. Mary 30 denarii, and at St. Peter's Chains the rest, are to be paid. From a certain house next to the cloister of the nuns 21 denarii are to be paid on the day of the Holy Virgins; from Wevelinnekhoven eleven denarii from the tithes are to be rendered on the feast of St. Cordula. And of these 20 solidi, 40 denarii are to be distributed to the congregation on the dedication of the same altar: as many on the festival of St. Cordula. And five solidi are to be paid out for two lights every night, one at the aforesaid altar, the other in the monastery of St. Lambert. And on the anniversary of Reginbern, by whom alone all these things were wrought, in memory of his devotion, 20 denarii are to be distributed with this distinction: that of them five fall to the priests dwelling there; and for arranging the lights, as is customarily done on the anniversaries of abbesses, another five; and ten to the sisters, for whatever comfort may please them. Moreover one priest of the confraternity serving the aforesaid altar is to receive 5 solidi; who also, by the election of the sisters and the gift of the abbess herself, is to manage and receive the established revenues. To this procurator also we have appointed the 20 denarii that remain, as a supplement, that he may diligently see to it, by restoring, that nothing in the aforesaid chambers falls into decay, and at the same time to collecting all the aforesaid revenues, and may dispense them at the appointed times without complaint. And that this donation may remain firm, we ordered this charter to be made of it, in the year of the Lord's incarnation 1135, in the 13th indiction, and the names of those who were present as witnesses to be written below: Arnold, provost of St. Peter's. Hugo the dean. Arnold, provost of St. Andrew's. Theoderic, provost of the Holy Apostles. Gerhard, abbot of St. Pantaleon. Albanus, abbot of St. Martin's. Walter, abbot of Gladbach. Widego the chaplain-in-chief. Thiepold, Gerhard, Rudolf, chaplains. Duke Walraven, Gerhard count of Jülich. Adolf count of Saffenberg. Goswin of Heimesberch. Heinrich of Alpheim, ministerial of St. Peter's. Thidric of Ulft, ministerial. Lambert of Palmeresheim, ministerial. Ministerials of the Holy Virgins: Rudolf, Thiedric, Rudolf. And lest any of those to come attempt to break this our assertion, we have taken care to confirm it by the authority of our ban and the impression of our seal. Concerning the porch and altar of St. Cordula, and the monastery of St. Lambert, some things were observed above at number 15.

[43] In the year 1159 Adrian IV confirms the goods of the Holy Virgins. In the year 1155, when great labour began to be spent on exhuming the bodies of the holy virgins, Gepa, sister of Reinold, who shortly afterwards was created archbishop of Cologne, presided over the Ursuline convent. She was devout towards God and the cult of the saints; she carefully searched out the goods of her church which had been alienated, and skilfully restored them, and wished them to be fortified by the protection of the apostolic see: Reinold, then chancellor of Frederick Barbarossa in Italy, obtained it for her from Adrian IV: which he gladly granted to the same Gepa a few months before his death by this bull, in which the most ancient name of the church, so often repeated, is confirmed Crombach, S. Ursula vindicata, p. 788.: Adrian, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved daughters in Christ Gepa, abbess of the church of the holy virgins, and her sisters, both present and future, to be canonically established, for ever. To virgins dedicated to God, who, having spurned marital unions and left the world and its pomps, have given themselves wholly to the service of the Creator, and, under the habit of religion and the purpose of their will, the flesh mortified, their lamps lit, are eager to enter with Christ the Lord into the heavenly banquet, it befits our protection to be present, and the apostolic defence to be extended against the storms of worldly waves, that, fenced about by apostolic protection, they may be made secure from all molestations, and may rejoice to recover in Christ the wealth which they lost in the world. Wherefore, daughters beloved in Christ, we have graciously assented to your just requests, and we take the aforesaid church, in which you are bound to the divine service, under the protection of blessed Peter and our own, and fortify it by the delivery of the present writing: decreeing that whatever possessions, whatever goods the same church at present justly and canonically possesses, or in the future, the Lord granting, shall be able to acquire by the grant of pontiffs, and the bounty of kings or princes, the offering of the faithful, or other just means, shall remain firm and unimpaired to you and to those who shall succeed after you. Then, the goods having been enumerated, he adds: We decree, therefore, that it be lawful for no man whatever rashly to disturb the aforesaid church, or to take away its possessions, or to retain them when taken away, to diminish them, or to weary it with any vexations whatever; but that all things be preserved unimpaired and entire, profitable in every way to the uses of those for whose governance and sustenance they were granted, saving the authority of the apostolic see and the canonical justice of the diocesan bishop: if therefore in the future any ecclesiastical or secular person, knowing this page of our constitution, shall rashly attempt to come against it, and, admonished a second or a third time, shall not correct his presumption by fitting satisfaction, let him be deprived of the dignity of his power and honour, and let him know himself to stand guilty before the divine judgement for the iniquity perpetrated, and let him be made a stranger to the most holy body and blood of God and our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ: and at the last examination let him be subject to strict vengeance. But to all who preserve its rights to the same place be the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they may both receive here the fruit of good work, and find before the strict judge the rewards of eternal peace. Amen. I, Adrian, bishop of the catholic Church. I, George, bishop of Sabina. I, Hubald, bishop of Ostia. I, Bernard, bishop of Porto and Santa Rufina. I, Walter, bishop of Albano. I, N., cardinal priest of the title of Holy Cross in Jerusalem. I, Hyacinth, cardinal deacon of St. Mary in Cosmedin. I, Guido, cardinal priest of the title of St. Callistus. Given at the Lateran by the hand of Lord Hermann, subdeacon and scribe of the Lord Pope, on the tenth day before the Kalends of June, in the 7th indiction, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1159, in the 5th year of the pontificate of the Lord Pope Adrian IV.

[44] [In the year 1168 Hillin, archbishop of Trier, adjudges to the Holy Virgins two parts of the tithe at Reinse.] At that time Hillin ruled the metropolis of Trier. He had succeeded Albero in the year 1152, and was commended by a certain outstanding moderation of mind, an excellent knowledge of philosophy and the other disciplines: but above all by notable devotion towards God and the saints in heaven. When Frederick Barbarossa in the year 1160 had summoned the bishops from Germany to settle the schism, and Hillin had already girded himself for the journey, seized by illness he withdrew, lest he be polluted by the schism, and stopped at Coblenz; where, approached by Gepa, sister of Reinold, then archbishop of Cologne, about the tithes of the town of Rhens in the diocese of Trier, she obtained Hillin's pious and religious diploma for the defence of the rights of the church of the holy virgins [Crombach, S. Ursula vindicata, pages 789 and 790; Lacomblet, Urkundenbuch, volume I, pages 276 and 277.]: Hillin, by the grace of God the humble minister of the Treveri, and servant, to the church of the holy virgins at Cologne, for ever. We are set in that place, though unworthy, by the Lord's authority, that we must preserve to each his right, and confirm it with what defence we can, since the occasion of doing harm is very often founded in a small matter. Wherefore, sister beloved in Christ, G., abbess of the Holy Virgins at Cologne, at your petition, which we judge it right to receive kindly, we confirm for ever to the church over which you are known to preside and which you are known to benefit, by the authority by which we can and ought, two parts of the tithe in the township of Reinse, and the third part to the pastor, so that for the future every scruple of ambiguity may be removed. And from this whole tithe to be paid we decree that the demesne land, which is commonly called Manelberg , be excepted for the church of the holy virgins itself, decreeing that, if any parishioners of the same place shall strive to usurp for themselves anything of the aforesaid tithe, and they or any other persons, ecclesiastical or secular, knowing this page of our confirmation, shall attempt to oppose it, they shall incur the indignation of almighty God, and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and of the holy virgins, and until they come to their senses shall be made strangers to Christian communion. Present at this confirmation were witnesses whose names are these: Peter, archdeacon of Toul and custodian of the church of Trier; Rupert the vicedominus, provost of St. Mary in Palatiolum; Reginer the chaplain, canon of the church of Trier; Conrad, Theodore , Gerard, Frederick, chaplains; of the laity Walter the chamberlain, Ludwig the steward. This was done and given at Coblenz in the year of the Lord's incarnation 1160, in the 8th indiction, the most glorious Emperor Frederick reigning, in the 9th year of his reign and the 5th of his empire, in the ninth of our pontificate, Gepa, the venerable abbess, having the charge of the aforenamed church of the holy virgins, Rodelbinus *, master of the schools of St. Florinus, being pastor of the church of Reinse and consenting. Thus he whom, having undertaken the journey, illness detained on the way, while he attended to the cult and rights of the holy virgins, was almost alone among the archbishops of Germany freed from the contagion of the schism: for thus the bishop of Bamberg writes of him in Rahewin, a contemporary, to Eberhard of Salzburg, who likewise dissented: The bishops of Arles, Vienne, Lyon and Besançon consented by letters and envoys. Only the archbishop of Trier, of our kingdom, remains in that party out of the number of archbishops who have not consented; yet all his suffragans have consented.

[45] How splendidly the cult of the Holy Virgins shines out from these things. Crombach recites many other diplomas besides: but since only the origins of this convent seem to need illustrating, and especially those parts by which it may be established that the cult of the Holy Virgins of Cologne was not clandestine (as many persuade themselves) before the middle of the twelfth century, in which the general elevation of the relics took place, but splendid, solemn and confirmed by many diplomas, I judge that we must stop here, giving this one warning, that from the following charters it is established that at the end of the twelfth century the nuns of the holy virgins were still struggling with grave want; which was their ordinary and common name, with sometimes the addition "of Cologne" or "at Cologne". But now we must retrace our road, and first inquire what institutions and laws the inmates of this house followed.

* Königssondern

* Birstat?

* Ersheim.

* Witkert.

* established.

* or good

* about to judge

* Longerich

* Bero?

* Thiederich

* V?

* Maneverch, loc. cit.

* Thedericus.

* Rudewinus.

§ IV. The various fortunes of the discipline and constitution of the canonesses of St. Ursula.

What the canons, introduced chiefly at the beginning of the ninth century, Before the year 852, in which Gunthar, archbishop of Cologne, introduced canons into the monastery of the blessed virgins, it seems certain that monastic discipline had already been observed there; since there, as is sufficiently clear from the context, the word monastery not for

any church whatever, but is used to signify a monastic seat. Whether men or women dwelt there cannot be determined from clear testimonies; but it is far more probable that nuns lived there, since otherwise, when the nuns of Gerresheim were brought there in the year 922, the men would have continued to occupy the principal place; which, it will soon be manifest, was by no means in their hands. Moreover we showed at number 21, from the inscription of Clemens, that virgins, or nuns, originally lived at this basilica. But what laws did those primitive nuns keep? The Rule of St. Columban, or of St. Benedict? Or some collection which was called the institutes or rule of the holy Fathers? These things we must leave open, granting readers the licence to guess. The laws of the canons are well known. They followed the statutes of Aachen, drawn up in the year 816, on which we shall remark a few things, following chiefly Largius De ordine canonicorum regularium, page 309 and following.. As John of Sisteron witnesses in a charter of the year 812 In Mabillon, de re diplomatica, book VI., there were in that age in most places regular canonries, in which the canonical order was most fully observed by the canonical clerics and by the bishops, who devoutly and religiously held the canonical institution together with those subject to them [Preface of the Council of Aachen of the year 816, in Labbe, Concilia, volume VII, col. 1308; Monumenta ecclesiae Viennensis, in Baluze, Capitul. reg., volume II, Act. vett. chapters 23, 34, 27, 114, etc.]. Then too the emperor Louis the Pious was persuaded that the canonical religious life, which was thus kept by many, and had formerly been taken up by all congregations of clerics, ought thenceforth also to be kept. And so the pious emperor decreed by his authority to recall the canonical clerics everywhere in the Gallic empire to the cloister and to bind them to the canonical religious life in communities. But since he found the canonical institution, as being not the proper work of any private legislator, set down here and there in the sacred canons and the sayings of the holy fathers, and in the acts of the apostles, or the documents of other holy scriptures, he therefore resolved that one rule of canons should be excerpted, so that it might most profit those by whom, perhaps through slowness of wit or lack of books, the scattered material could not be grasped. Amalarius, deacon of the church of Metz, is said to have done the chief work in compiling this rule In Ademar of Chabannes, in the Chronicle at the year 816.; although the synod of Aachen itself declares that it was gathered by the vigilant zeal of so many churchmen.

[47] had in common with monks This rule is very diffuse, inasmuch as it contains whole passages of the holy fathers and aims above all at making the life of clerics pious and seemly. Many things are prescribed in it which are common to monks and canons, some quite different: only the chief ones are to be touched on. In articles 142, 143, 144 and 145 it is decreed that, although it is lawful for canons to have their own dwellings, these must nevertheless be within the cloister, which is to be altogether forbidden to women; and that a brother of approved life be chosen whose office it shall be to close and open the canons' gate at the proper time, so that entrance or exit through it be open to no one except by permission; then that they come daily to the collation, and take their meals together in the refectory; and while they eat in the refectory and religiously keep silence, a reading is to be read continuously to them; moreover that all sleep in the dormitory, unless infirmity detains anyone; but those who are infirm are to occupy their own dwellings, yet so that a dwelling for the infirm and the aged must be made by the prelate within the cloisters of the canons, so that those who perhaps have none of their own may very suitably bear their weakness in it; besides, that as soon as the signal has been given, all come in haste to the church and celebrate the canonical hours together, not negligently, but with all devotion; it is also prescribed that each be instructed, according to his capacity, in the disciplines of the various arts, so that no one in the canonical college may appear useless, nor eat up the offerings of the faithful in idleness; in article 155 the most earnest custody is commended towards the boys who are brought up or instructed in the canonical congregation; for which reason they are to dwell in one chamber of the court under the custody of a brother who is a most approved senior; in articles 121 and 122 it is declared that in this society, all respect of persons being set aside, there must be one quality of food and drink; finally, that they persevere in their purpose is inculcated in the gravest words in article 85: Those who have once been appointed to the clergy, or have sought the life of monks, we decree shall not come either to military service or to any worldly dignity: or that those attempting this, and not doing penance by returning to that which they first chose for the Lord's sake, shall be anathematized. The canons were also bound by the law of obedience, and had prelates, whom, as is read in article 139, custom had come to call provosts; and it was necessary, as is said in article 138, that these should choose from the congregation committed to them brethren of such good testimony that they could safely share with them the burdens of government. Among these came the cellarer, whose office is explained in article 140, and the hospitaller, what care he must show to the poor being taught in article 144. In articles 43, 44 and 45 stability in the same place is prescribed for canons. About keeping chastity there is nothing for me to point out, since the matter is plain of itself. And all these things the canons subject to the laws of Aachen had in common with monks.

[48] what was different from them. But the following things were proper to them. Although by virtue of their profession monks were reckoned part of the clergy, and monastic profession was therefore sometimes held in place of the subdiaconate [Cf. Examen historicum et canonicum de saecularium et regularium clericorum juribus et officiis, p. 150.], yet the initiation was altogether different; the one namely the ordination of clerics, the other the common one of monks. Then monks were not promoted to sacred orders except when they were sent out to rule parishes and dioceses, or as far as was necessary for the conventual ecclesiastical offices; on the contrary, from article 97, the common condition of canons was to be occupied in the sacred ministries. In article 125 the practice is called reprehensible and worthy of ecclesiastical correction whereby canons, against ecclesiastical custom, put on cowls, which are to be used by monks alone; but in article 124 it is prescribed that they have clothing and shoes or bedding of a moderate and suitable fashion, neither too elegant nor very mean. Hardly any fasts were imposed on canons besides the ecclesiastical ones (on which cf. articles 68 and 69), quite otherwise in what concerns monks; and on these too perpetual abstinence from meat was prescribed, while its use is permitted to canons by articles 63 and 65. But the principle of poverty or property was above all different. Canons, namely, were permitted by article 120 to keep the ownership of things, and besides food and drink, common to all, to receive fixed stipends from the church, which they might turn to their own uses at their will; yet it was resolved in article 89 that bishops, priests, deacons or any clerics whatever who are ordained having nothing, and in the time of their episcopate or clerical state purchase fields or any estates whatever in their own name, are to be held as if guilty of the crime of invading the Lord's property, unless, being admonished, they confer the same upon the church. But if anything comes to them as their own by someone's liberality or by succession of kinship, let them do with it what befits their purpose. And if they swerve backwards from their purpose, let them be judged unworthy of ecclesiastical honour, as reprobates. Nevertheless in article 120 those are praised who wish to have neither their own possessions nor those of the church, namely stipends and perhaps prebends, and prelates are ordered to relieve their necessities from the resources of the church by most provident governance.

[49] It is asked whether they were truly religious. But it is asked whether those who followed this institute of life are to be called religious, or regular canons. Who would deny that those who renounced all property were indeed religious? For they had a purpose, or fixed state, by virtue of which they were bound by the laws of obedience, chastity and complete poverty, and this recognized by the Church: which alone the most eminent canonists and theologians agree to be required for the religious state. But whether the others, who kept their goods and were bound only to this, that they should live moderately from them and in dispensing them should not swerve backwards from their purpose, are also to be called religious and regular canons, is an obscure question. Certainly that name would less easily befit them according to the present discipline of the Church, under which by ordinary law no one is held a religious unless he has renounced all property, or at least the free use of it. But indeed formerly the laws were not the same: for it was enough to put on dark clothing with the intention of leading a life apart from the world for one to be a religious and even a monk Cf. Examen historicum et canonicum, page 16 and following.; and certainly we see the more ancient monks, Antony himself, Hilarion Cf. the Commentary on St. Hilarion, above, page 32. and other early fathers, disposing of their goods without anyone's permission, even by testament; and it seems to have been enough that they were not given to avarice and led a moderate kind of life. Those who embrace this opinion must certainly agree that all the canons instituted by the capitularies of Aachen were truly regulars or religious; but those who deny it must think otherwise of them: and so everything depends on the definition of the religious state, chiefly on what concerns poverty. Further, when the laws of Aachen were drawn up, scholastic theology was not yet born, of which no small part consists in disputing about the definitions of things; whence it came about that in the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries that argument was little or not at all handled: the institution of canons was held to be excellent and founded on the Gospel; of the condition of monks too a very high opinion was held: but nothing further was inquired. But lest I seem to leave these things in suspense, I will open my own opinion in a few words: and indeed, when I consider very many passages from the Lives of the Fathers; when I turn over the books of Salvian on avarice; when I study many testaments of the most holy ancient monks and nuns concerning patrimonial goods; when I read the decrees, still in force, concerning the entering upon inheritances by religious promoted to the episcopate; when I weigh the responses of the Roman congregations and the faculties granted to religious whom the whirlwind of the century just past had cast out of their cloisters; and see all these things done with the substance of the vow of poverty preserved: for my part I cannot bring myself to believe that all property conflicts with the essence of this vow, even the solemn one; or that by that vow a religious becomes incapable of all property. In truth this property is now forbidden by the laws of the Church and by the rules of the religious orders; which by ordinary law are to be kept inviolably. But who would doubt that in these, as in other laws of the Church, there can be room for epikeia, for example where necessity counsels acting so because of a change in the civil laws? Certainly it is handed down in common proverbs: "Necessity has no

law"; and: "First live, and then philosophize." Yet at the same time it must be openly confessed that, since the solemnity of vows seems to most theologians and jurists to be of ecclesiastical law, the rulers of the Church have the right to declare that no vows thenceforth taken shall be solemn unless the religious become incapable of all property: yet we know that no such general decree has been issued hitherto, much less ten centuries ago. And so much for the state of the canons of Aachen; which also concerns the canonesses.

[50] From the capitularies of Aachen the state of life of the canonesses is described I come now to the institutes of the virgins of Cologne. That these too were canonicae, or canonesses, instituted under the laws of Aachen, is quite certain. Nor did they observe this form of life only in more recent times, but from the time when the nuns of Gerresheim were brought into the monastery of St. Ursula. What was done before, we have said lies hidden in darkness. And these things must now be made manifest, beginning from the rules of Aachen themselves. In the prologue, then, these canonesses are called nuns living canonically, and then all those things are prescribed to them which we said above were common to monks and canons, except that no mention is made anywhere of stability in the same place and the same observances; so that with the good leave of the prelates they could pass to another religious house. But it is asked whether they were bound by a vow of perpetual chastity, or whether, having left the canonical house, they were permitted to be joined in marriage. That it was by no means permitted is most manifest. In articles 6, 7 and others they are called brides of Christ; in article 9 they are said to have dedicated themselves to chastity for the love of Christ; in article 8 to have taken up the bond of continence and virginity; in article 10 to have bound themselves to the Lord by the profession of the name of chastity; in article 12 to have purposed for the love of Christ to live in one society in the purpose of nuns, and other things of that kind. They received therefore the veil of virgins, which in article 10 is called the covering of the body, namely a special one; and in the same place they are said to have been clothed in black garments of wool, by which the veil of the head only is to be understood, since the rest were of linen and indeed white, as will appear below. Further, in article 5 they were admonished to accustom themselves to have a habit of garments neither too mean nor notably pompous or dangerously elegant; this they made themselves, unless they were infirm; for which reason the abbesses (for this was the name of the superiors) were ordered in article 13 to give them every year wool and flax, from which they might make for themselves the necessary garments. For the rest, no differently from the canons, by day they had small private dwellings, by night common dormitories; they ate meat and drank wine; indeed by article 21 it was lawful for those dedicated to God and living canonically to have home-born maids with them in the monasteries for the sake of service; and indeed each one had her own, and it was only provided that they should not gather more to serve them than necessity requires. The same drink and food was to be given to all, article 13; the offerings of alms were to be divided equally among all, in the same article; and other things as among the canons.

[51] and above all the form of poverty, As regards poverty, there were also, as is read in article 13, those who wished to have nothing of their own, and to whom the abbesses were to strive mercifully to supply all necessities; but for all, these things were decreed in article 9: Provision is to be made for those who have dedicated themselves to chastity for the love of Christ and have asked to be admitted to the college of nuns, that they so wisely and prudently decide and dispose of their goods before they enter the monastery that, tending towards eternal life, they may suffer no disturbance by occasion of them. Accordingly, if any of the nuns has so conferred her own goods on the church that she wishes to claim nothing of them as her own, but only to be sustained by the goods of the church, let the necessary stipends be bestowed upon her sufficiently in the congregation. But if she has handed them over to the church and wishes to have them as usufructuary, let the quaestor of the church defend them, as belonging to the church. But if she has not wished to confer them on the church, let her, with the abbess and the other nuns consenting, commit them by a publicly ratified writing either to a relative or to any other friend of good faith, who may defend them by the law of the court. According to this form of the constitution, therefore, let the nuns decide and dispose of their own goods, and commend them either to serfs or indeed to others whom they please, to manage them and faithfully administer their fruits for them: since before entering the monastery, as was said before, all things are to be reasonably disposed of by them, so that, all occupation with any worldly business being removed, they may be able to keep their purpose more freely and quietly.

[52] an example of which is given here from the diploma which in 1047 Bezecha, An example of this imperfect poverty will be given by the diploma of Bezecha, the least of the handmaids of Christ in the congregation of the holy eleven thousand virgins, drawn up in the year of Christ 1047 and published both by Crombach S. Ursula vindicata, pages 783 and 784. and by Lacomblet Urkundenbuch, volume I, page 113.: Every man ought always to be ready for every good work, so that in thought and deed he may despise earthly and perishable things of this world, that he may find, God being propitious, indulgence and mercy for his sins, and may deserve to obtain pardon from the rewarder of good works. Therefore I, in the name of God, Bezecha, the least of the handmaids of Christ in the congregation of the holy eleven thousand * Virgins of God, by the hand of my advocate Kristian of Lomundesheim, give from the present day, or hand over from my right into the right and dominion of the church of the holy virgins, situated on the northern side outside the walls of the city of Cologne, over which the venerable man Hermann the second is seen to preside, for the remedy of my soul, or of my kinsfolk, whatever hereditary estate I am seen to possess in the district of Bonn, in the county of Sicko, in the township of Walathorp, namely 1 lidile manse, having LX day-works, with appurtenant vineyards, the manse itself paying X solidi every year, and besides the wine that may come from the appurtenant vineyards; on this condition, however, that I possess the aforesaid estate in usufruct during the days of my life; but after my departure, when God shall will, the aforesaid goods, with all improvement or enlargement, without any diminution, may revert to the above-named monastery of the holy virgins: in such a way that no abbess, or any person set over the congregation in that monastery, shall have any power to give or lend these goods to anyone, but, according to my petition, the choice shall lie with the nuns of the same monastery themselves, to commend the aforesaid goods handed over by me to whichever of their sisters they wish, only under the hand and with the knowledge of their abbess who shall at that time be seen to preside there, in such a way that whatever usufruct may come from them may come to the nuns serving God there as alms for me, or for my kinsfolk, not in the reckoning of their established stipend: but only, as I have said, be bestowed for the remedy of my soul. But because the fathers of old, and their statutes, have sanctioned, what we too must preserve for future times, that whoever wishes to give or confirm anything from their own goods to the places of the saints, or for the necessities of those who serve God, ought in every way to bind it more fully before witnesses by a series of writings, therefore I, Bezecha herself, did not rest, as far as I could, until I had confirmed this very donation of my poverty, or of my will, before the venerable lord Hermann the second, of worthy memory, with suitable witnesses, and therefore I caused it to be marked below with his seal. Done publicly at Cologne in the monastery of the holy eleven thousand Virgins, in the year of the Lord's incarnation 1047, in the 15th indiction, in the 6th year of Henry reigning and ruling as emperor. Sign of Aezelin, provost of the cathedral. Sign of Isaac, dean of the cathedral. Sign of Hezelin the provost. Sign of Theoderic the provost. Sign of Erimfrid the provost. Sign of Wolmar the provost. Sign of Henry the count palatine. Sign of Count Theoderic. Sign of Count Kristian. Sign of Count Gerbard. Sign of Ropert the advocate. Sign of Willerius the chamberlain.

[53] Yet the canonesses were held to be truly religious. From these things, then, it is plain that all ownership of goods was not renounced by those canonesses, but only that care was taken that they should not be hindered by their administration from keeping their purpose more freely and quietly. Here therefore returns the question which I proposed a little above concerning the men, whether the canonesses were religious in the true sense of the word. True, they are everywhere called nuns in the decrees of Aachen; their dwelling is called a monastery; mention is often made of their purpose, or the purpose of holy religion, which in monastic matters is worth as much as religious vows now; the abbesses are ordered in article 7 to give the leadership of holy religion, and everywhere they are spoken of as are nuns in the true sense elsewhere: whence it would seem we must affirm that the Fathers of Aachen were persuaded that nothing was lacking in them that is necessarily required for the religious state. But if anyone so defines this state as to exclude all free use of goods or revenues, he must dissent from the Fathers of Aachen; for certainly to those nuns no less than to the canons it was granted to give and receive, and to have their own goods and those of the church with humility and justice, as is laid down in chapter 115 of the rule for men.

[54] [That these capitularies were observed in the monastery of the Holy Virgins is demonstrated from the Life] Further, that it was not rashly asserted by us that the Ursuline nuns were governed by the laws of Aachen is established from the diploma of foundation recited above, in which we read that the nuns of Gerresheim, while they still lived in their first seat, had dwellings both private and common; which arrangement was proper to canonesses; but the same is far more clearly evident from the Life of St. Adelheid, daughter of Count Megingoz. For she, as is related in her Life, written by Bertha, a contemporary nun Act. SS. volume I of February, page 715., not yet past the years of girlhood, and so before she was a rational animal, and when sweet infancy could scarcely foreshadow with how great an excellence of future probity her age was to be adorned, entered the monastery of the holy virgins at Cologne and took up the sweet yoke of the Lord according to the regular institution of St. Jerome. Further, that this regular institution of St. Jerome is the same as the rule of canonesses of Aachen the reader will readily agree, if he casts his eyes on book II of the Council of Aachen, which is on the institution of nuns. For there the beginning is taken from the writings of St. Jerome; so that the first chapter is excerpted from Jerome's letter to Eustochium, the second excerpted from his letter to Demetrias, the third likewise from his letter to Furia; indeed these are the foundation and base of the following chapters.

[55] St. Adelheid, who was brought up there from about the year 960, Further, St. Adelheid was handed over to be brought up in the Cologne convent and there took up the sweet yoke of the Lord according to the institution of St. Jerome, or of Aachen, around the year of the Lord 960; as is gathered from what follows. When, namely, Godfrey her brother had advanced to manly strength, he accompanied the emperor, who was marching against the Bohemians with an army, with an honourable soldiery of his own and every warlike equipment

lordly attended; where, having proved himself a notable and brave warrior, he deserved to receive the victory of a glorious death Ibid., page 716.. These things happened in the year 976, when the emperor Otto II set out into Bohemia to subdue Henry, duke of the Bavarians, who was staying there with his forces with Boleslav, duke of the Bohemians [Cf. the Chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg in Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae, volume III, page 760.]. But on this occasion the parents of Godfrey and St. Adelheid, resolving thenceforth to serve God alone, raised from the foundations an honourable church to the Lord in the place which is called Vilika and is situated on the right of the Rhine opposite Bonn, fittingly heaping upon it the additions of estates and serfs… Then, a diligent company of virgins having been gathered in the aforesaid place, by whom the divine services might be carried on, redeeming their daughter from the monastery of the holy virgins with estates, they handed over to her the charge of government Act. SS. volume I of February, page 716.. And these things happened before the end of the year 983, in which Otto II died, and more probably before the same emperor went to Italy in the month of September of the year 980. At least it is established from a diploma of Otto III, given on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of February of the year 987, that the monastery in the place which is called Vilike was built by Megingoz and Gerberga his wife with the consent of the authority of the pious parent, Otto the august emperor Lacomblet, Urkundenbuch, volume I, page 74.. But when the charge of government was handed over to St. Adelheid, she is said openly by the biographer to have been still young Act. SS. volume I of February, page 716.; and if you compare this with what we saw above about the childish age at which she was added to the nuns of Cologne, it will be easy to see that the most holy virgin entered the Cologne convent around the year 960, and that then the institution of St. Jerome, or of Aachen, was in use there.

[56] [and who introduced the same institutes into the convent of Vilich, yet afterwards exchanging them for the Benedictine.] St. Adelheid transferred into the monastery of Vilich the usages and customs which she had learned at Cologne. But her parents would have wished her to embrace the Rule of St. Benedict; whence, since some struggle arose, which Bertha the biographer described, we have the means of learning somewhat more clearly what was the condition of the nuns of Cologne. When, then, Megingoz and Gerberga had asked that she change her habit and undertake the life of monastic conversation, St. Adelheid, because, being still young, she much desired the fashion of garments befitting her religious life, opposed their petition with a humble answer, affirming that God does not seek forced services, but what the simple purity of a willing heart offers: which words do not signify that it was open to St. Adelheid to desert the canonical life and return to the world; but that the force which her parents seemed to be applying to her by their more vehement prayers, urging her to embrace the monastic and more perfect life, did not please God. Of this force are to be understood the forced services, to which the pious virgin opposed the purity of a willing heart. For that the virgins were not their own mistresses, but by the laws of the canonical religious life were incorporated into the chapter or monastery once they had professed that institute, and therefore could not desert it at will, is clear from this head alone, that St. Adelheid had to be redeemed from the monastery of the holy virgins with estates in order to be able to pass to the house of the same kind at Vilich. By which it is plain that those canonesses, no differently from nuns, were held to be truly servants of God, who were no more left to their own will than bondsfolk: in which the solemnity of religious profession still consists. Further, when some years later her mother Gerberga had died, St. Adelheid gradually took up other sentiments and began to consider how she might attain to the monastic religious life. She wished therefore to try whether she might perhaps be equal to undertaking the Rule of blessed Benedict. Wherefore at the hour of daily refection, spurning meat and other various and exquisite foods, she was content with the nourishment of monastic fare alone. Outwardly too she shone in linen garments before the eyes of men, but underneath she afflicted herself for God with the roughness of a woollen garment, taming a body of noble and delicate nature to endure the discipline of a hard law. When she had tried these things for a year, she introduced the monastic life into the convent of Vilich: some of her subjects being unwilling at this, and going back into the world, she grieved vehemently. From all of which it is easy to gather that the canonical life was quite easy (for the Rule of St. Benedict itself is by no means severe); yet that nothing seems to have been lacking of what was required in that age for religious profession.

[57] But when it was introduced that canonesses might leave the monastery and contract marriage at will is an obscure matter, with uncertain beginnings. Whether for several centuries the Ursuline canonesses professed chastity. It is indeed handed down that Henry the Fowler, who reigned from the year 918 to 936, first founded chapters open to noble girls; and that this was done by him so that there might be a refuge for the daughters of knights who, fighting against the Hungarians, had fallen in battle; and that these canonesses were free to leave their convents and give themselves in marriage to husbands Art de vérifier les dates, volume II, page 10.. But hear Leibniz's criticism on this matter: If we believe Engelhus, he says Annales imperii, volume II, page 446., whom the Maurists have followed (whom however he evidently exaggerates), Henry among other good deeds founded in Germany more than twenty churches and abundantly endowed them for secular ladies, who are called canonesses, using the habit of the regular canons of the order of St. Augustine, yet professing no religious life (that is, binding themselves by no vow), who marry in the Lord when they wish. And institutions of this kind were devised (as the same adds) for the support of noble girls whose parents had fallen fighting for the faith of Christ against the infidels, among which the king wished that of Quedlinburg, called of the wise virgins, to be pre-eminent. So he. True, in the old Saxon poem of Everhard on the affairs of Gandersheim, which exists in the third volume of our Brunswick writers, a trace of the same appellation appears, where he calls the ladies of Quedlinburg witte en gude vrawen, white from their garment, good from their virtue. But that they abstained from a vow there and retained the freedom of leaving will not easily be found. Thus far Leibniz. And indeed Gottfried Christian Voigt, in his History of the convent of Quedlinburg Geschichte des Stifts Quedlinburg, volume I, page 86., openly professes that it is not established for him that before the Lutheran revolutions any canoness of Quedlinburg ever exchanged the monastery for the world and passed to marriage, and then refutes other things by which some have wished to establish that those girls were not governed by the laws of the religious life. There is, then, a twofold opinion: some hold that the institutes of secular canonesses arose in the tenth century; others in the sixteenth, and from nowhere else than from convents of regular canonesses in which faith and religious discipline had gone to ruin through the negligence of those presiding.

[58] [At the end of the twelfth century, and certainly at the beginning of the fourteenth, the canonesses became secular.] But I would think a middle way between the two opinions must be held; namely that all canonesses were at the beginning regular, but that through the corruption of discipline many of them became secular and the licence to marry was introduced; yet long before the sixteenth century. For my part I would believe that at the end of the twelfth century the nuns of the holy virgins began to decline to the condition of secular canonesses (cf. n. 67); and certainly in the year 1244 their institute was no longer held to be a religious life (cf. n. 71); and so at the beginning of the fourteenth century their church had already become secular, as is clear from this part of a diploma In Crombach, page 1012.: I, Hermann of Lindeberg, squire, desire it to be known that I have received from the lady V., abbess of the secular church of the holy eleven thousand virgins, the tithe of her corn situated in the fields of Jülich for six years. Given in the year 1317: where the word secular refers to the church, and not to the abbess, since she, at least in that age, was obliged to have professed chastity; likewise in a testament drawn up around the year 1334 Ibid., page 1013.: We, Aleidis, by the grace of God, of the secular church of the holy eleven thousand virgins at Cologne, etc.; similarly in diplomas of the following years Ibid., pages 1014, 1015 and following. the expressions occur: abbess, canoness, chapter of the secular church of the holy eleven thousand virgins. At which time the Ursuline canonesses also sold their cloister houses, or let them for an annual rent to persons of good repute: of which a notable specimen exists, to be referred to the year 1338 In Crombach, pages 503 and 504.. Further, canonesses, as the Council of Cologne of the year 1536 says In Hartzheim, Concilia Germaniae, volume VI, page 300., are called secular for this reason, that they do not take the vow of perpetual chastity and the other monastic vows. Nor had this corruption crept in only at Cologne, but it prevailed everywhere in Germany and the neighbouring regions somewhat before the middle of the thirteenth century, as is clear from James of Vitry. For he, after showing how secular canons had arisen from regular ones, continues thus, describing the whole most wretched condition of the canonesses Historia Occidentalis, chapter 31, page 347 and following, edition of 1596.: In imitation and after the example of the aforesaid canons, in the parts of Hainaut and Brabant, and in certain provinces of the Germans and Alemanni, there are certain women whom they call secular canonesses or damsels. For they do not wish to be called nuns, just as secular canons are not called monks. These indeed are such respecters of persons that they will receive into their college only the daughters of knights or nobles, preferring the nobility of the world to religion and nobility of character. And they are clothed in purple and fine linen, and grey furs and other garments of their delight, surrounded with variety, with braided hair and decked about with precious ornament like the similitude of a temple, rejoicing with them that rejoice, very liberal and hospitable. And they use lambskins, however fine and delicate… And girt about with the attendance of clerics and maids and also young servants ministering to them, they feast honourably and splendidly in their own houses; nor are their tables lacking kinsmen, near to them in the first degree, whom they call their cousins. But at night they rest in the dormitory next to their church… It is easily granted them, for the sake of recreation and relief, to remain for some time in their own houses, or to visit their friends and relatives on horseback. And there are likewise in the same churches secular canons, singing on feast days and solemnities on the other side of the choir from the aforesaid damsels… Similarly in processions too, arrayed and adorned, the canons on one side and the ladies on the other proceed singing together. And some of them, after they have lived for very many days on the patrimony of Christ, leaving their prebends and churches, are joined in marriage to persons dearer to them, and, bearing sons and daughters, become mothers of families. But we have seen some of their congregation who, using sounder counsel, … having taken

the habit of the Cistercian order, attained to a great height of perfection. We have also known very many dwelling among them who, zealously procuring the salvation of their souls with all humility and chastity, were the more acceptable to God in that, though set in the fire, they did not burn.

[59] The canons seem mostly to have been five; Having thus inquired into the original laws of the monastery of the holy virgins, we must indicate some particular matters. How many canons there were at the beginning, how many canonesses, is nowhere read, unless I am mistaken. Yet in the year 1080 the following men seem to have been canons and to have performed the sacred rites in the monastery of the holy virgins: Humbrecht, provost, the chaplains Gerhard, Bero, Hereman, Johan, Hezel, Regenold, Gerhard, Wilhelm, Thiederich. For these names occur at the foot of the diploma related above, which Sigewin drew up in the said year, on the fifth day before the Ides of November, in the basilica of the holy virgins; nor at that time does there seem to have been anyone named Humbrecht provost of any other chapter of Cologne [Cf. Gallia Christ., volume III, col. 716 and following, and Lacomblet, Urkundenbuch, volume I, page 415 and following.]. Afterwards this title of provost disappeared, if indeed it certainly existed; and so among the witnesses of the charter which Philip, prelate of Cologne, caused to be drawn up in the year 1171 concerning the purchase of a certain allod, only the following appear In Crombach, S. Ursula vindicata, pages 791 and 792.: Adam, priest, canon of the holy virgins, Egilolph, Gerlin, Theoderic, canons of the same church. The same are called brothers in the diploma which in the year 1174 Philip, archbishop of Cologne, and Gepa, abbess in the church of the holy virgins, caused to be written Ibid., page 794.. This name had indeed been already asserted for them in the Council of Aachen; but afterwards they preferred to be called lords: against which usage Eckhart inveighs somewhat Historia Franciae orientalis, volume II, page 681.. At the beginning of the seventeenth century the canons were five in number Winheim, Sacrarium Agrippinae, page 78.; and the same number continued in the year 1647, when Crombach completed his work In Crombach, page 1144..

[60] The number of canonesses varied, until it was reduced to six. At the same time the canonesses were still called sisters Ibid., page 794., a name formerly given to them also at the synod of Aachen; and so the whole convent was called brothers and sisters Ibid., page cited.; but in the same year, and indeed in the same diploma of the year 1174, the sisters already preferred the appellation of ladies, which, James of Vitry pointed out above, the secular canonesses particularly loved. At that time Clementia held the abbatial staff, whose greatest zeal was indeed set on increasing the secular respectability which had already been introduced before her, as will be shown below. With the nuns lay the administration of all things, if you except the sacramental. Hence never in the older diplomas, and rarely in the more recent, for example in the diploma of the year 1176 Lacomblet, Urkundenbuch, volume I, page 324. and of 1202 In Crombach, page 796., is there talk of the consent of the brothers, but only of the consent of all the ladies or sisters of the whole chapter Ibid., page 794.. The brothers, namely, laboured there in the first centuries and earned stipends, acting in the place of chaplains; but afterwards these became mere benefices, almost without any burden: whence it is understood why the women had the principal parts. While the twelfth century was growing, there were at least forty nuns in the Ursuline monastery; but before the middle of the same century twelve prebends were suppressed, and some others sold and given away, and in the year 1188 several poor sisters were sent away: whence it came about that these names then remained in the convent: Clementia abbess, Irmidrudis deaness, the remaining sisters or ladies another Clementia, Friderundis, Mabilia, Melindis, Gertrude, Sophia, Euphemia, Beatrix, Elizabeth, Christiana, Jutta, Beatrix, Constantia, Benedicta, Ida, Heilewigis, Agnes, Hewigis and Friderunis De Coloniae magnitudine, page 546., twenty-one in all; but three years later only seventeen In Crombach, page 795.. In the diploma of the year 1202 Ibid., page 796. only the abbess and the names of nine sisters are listed, and five men who seem to have been canons; and in the diploma of the year 1207 Ibid., page cited., the abbess, six names of sisters and four of men; but that only the principal nuns are indicated is clear even from this, that it is added that the matter is done not only with their consent, but also with that of the chapter: so that those six are to be held to be the ones who served the choir Cf. ibid., page 795. and who at the beginning of the seventeenth century were called illustrious canonesses and had to be at least countesses Winheim, Sacrarium Agrippinae, page 78.. Yet we shall see a baroness who was even elected abbess. The other nuns of the lower bench gradually ceased. Now a few things on the nature of the prebends.

[61] [The varied system of prebends, and in the twelfth century the beginning of the destruction of the common life.] Since by the decrees of the synod of Aachen there was a threefold kind of nuns within the walls of the same monastery, some renouncing all property, others reserving to themselves the usufruct, others finally the ownership and the usufruct, the administration alone being entrusted to an outside man: these very easy laws of poverty were certainly no obstacle to the prebends having the character of benefices; and this kind of prebend seems in fact to have existed from the beginning, and indeed in such a way that some nuns were excluded from these prebends. Certainly among the canons, according to article 120 of the rule, there were those who had not only their own resources but those of the church as well, while others, though they had not cast off all property, did not have possessions of the church; which possessions or resources of the church can be nothing else than canonical prebends. As regards the nuns, to them no differently from the men the same portion from the alms was assigned to all; the necessary wool and flax were given, from which they might make garments for themselves; a fixed measure of bread and drink was also prescribed; the rest of the food was taken in common. But besides these, other things were assigned to them, since it is commended in article 13 of the rule for women that to those who wished to have nothing of their own all necessities should be granted besides; which it is implied was by no means to be done for the others; but that these had to acquire them for themselves from elsewhere, namely from prebends, unless perhaps they had kept their own goods. Yet at Cologne until the end of the twelfth century, unless the abbess's prebend is to be excepted, revenues from definite goods were not assigned to individual prebends, but they were mere portions of the revenues received from the common goods; but in the year 1202 the deaness's prebend was separated from the common goods: by which example the door was opened to establishing individual prebends on definite goods. Gradually the traces of the common life which remained were wiped out. The dormitory and the common dining hall were still in use in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, then abolished Crombach, page 794.. Yet the law of the common dormitory was renewed quite often in the sixteenth century Cf. Hartzheim, Concilia Germaniae, volume VI, pages 645, 750, etc.. But without lasting effect. The rest was no less badly ordered; and by the end of the sixteenth century things had come to such a pass in the college of noble virgins of St. Ursula that, as Lindanus, bishop of Roermond, wrote to Baronius in the year 1585 Martyrologium Romanum, edition of Rosweyde, page 446, at 21 Oct., in the notes., scarcely one or two nuns remained, Lutheranism casting them away from the most sweet yoke of Christ to wickedly alluring bridal chambers: and no wonder: for scarcely two years before, the apostate Truchsess of Waldburg had been deposed from the see of Cologne: but gradually the convent afterwards put on a better face.

* "thousand" is lacking in Lacomblet.

§ V. Catalogue of the abbesses and their principal deeds.

[The abbesses Lantsuinda, Mehtheldis, Heizzecha and Guadegilt, whose deeds have been explained above.] Concerning the abbesses of St. Ursula, says Denis de Sainte-Marthe Gallia Christiana nova, volume III, col. 772., hardly anything is available to us; and then he recites only three names. Why did he not at least look at the diplomas, conspicuous in number, which Crombach and others published? We shall try to fill this gap as far as possible. When, Gerresheim having been burned by the Hungarians, the nuns or canonesses fled to Cologne and there in the year 922 obtained the monastery of the holy virgins built outside the walls of Cologne, Lantsuinda was the abbess presiding over them. Who succeeded immediately afterwards lies hidden in darkness. But in the year 1080, on the 9th of November, when Sigewin, archbishop of Cologne, gave to the holy virgins, namely as a supplement for the abbess in the prebend to be given to the sisters, whatever new-broken land had been cleared in his times within the boundary of St. Dionysius which is in Lunrek, the abbess was the lady Mehtheldis. We saw above at number 25 that the monastery of Gerresheim was to be restored and not entirely separated from that of the holy virgins; hence in the year 1106, on the 9th of January, Heizzecha, at that time abbess in Gerichesheim and at the holy virgins at Cologne, obtained from Frederick I, archbishop of Cologne, that the advocate in Gerichesheim should have only three pleas each year, and that in each plea only fourteen solidi should be paid to him Lacomblet, Urkundenbuch, volume I, page 173.. While Frederick I occupied the see of Cologne from the year 1099 to the eighth day before the Kalends of November of the year 1131, Guadegilt was abbess and Heresuint guardian of the church of the holy virgins. And he decreed that the ten bondsfolk whom, in the time of St. Anno, Bertolf the priest and his daughter Enesa had given should continue each year to pay there two pennyworths of wax as head-tax; and after death a garment, made by the work of their own hands, should be paid. That document was recited more fully above.

[63] [In the twelfth century two Gepas preside, the latter of whom was of the counts of Dassel.] Then come two abbesses of the same name, Gepa; in what year they succeeded each other is hidden, as also from what family the former sprang; the house of the latter, on the other hand, is well known. Further, the former Gepa in the year 1135, with the consent of the sisters and at the petition of Reginbern, canon of St. Peter's at Cologne, to increase the endowment of the altar which Bruno, prelate of Cologne, had dedicated in the new porch of the church of the holy virgins, redeemed from a certain Rudolf, a ministerial of the holy virgins, who held the tithes in the township of Greverode in benefice, by a certain exchange, namely one prebend. We gave Bruno's diploma on this matter above at number 42; by which many other things are explained. To the former Gepa also seems to belong the diploma by which Robert, abbot of Gladbach, in the year 1170 decreed that the fruits of a certain benefice established in the church at Hude (Oedt) should go to the fathers of Gladbach, for this reason, that the octave of Easter should be celebrated in copes and that they should hold in full remembrance the anniversary of the lady Gepa of pious memory, abbess of the Holy Virgins at Cologne Ibid., page 306.. She seems then to have died already ten years and perhaps more before; and so when in the year 1160 Hillin, bishop of Trier, secured to the church of the Holy Virgins at Cologne two parts of the tithe in the township of Reinse, and G., the venerable abbess, had the charge of the aforenamed church, as in the diploma which

we published at number 44, is read more fully; this Gepa seems to have been the latter one, and indeed the sister of Reinald, who from the end of the year 1159 until the nineteenth day before the Kalends of September of the year 1167 occupied the see of Cologne. She was descended from the most noble family of the counts of Dassel (which is a town of Westphalia): for such birth was in conformity with the laws inserted in the diploma of foundation; in which, namely, the nuns were ordered to set over themselves in the honour of abbess one of their own, well instructed with them from infancy in the much and regular norm of the monastic life, born of noble lineage.

[64] She managed temporal affairs well, While she presided over the basilica of the holy virgins, around the year 1162 there broke out afresh the controversy long since agitated between the convent of the Maccabees and the Ursuline convent [Cf. Gelenius, de admiranda magnitudine Coloniae, page 537 and following; Crombach, S. Ursula vindicata, page 790 and following.]; of which below. This abbess seems to have been of a most active nature; for besides defending, as far as she could, against the Maccabean nuns the singular praise and glory of her house, in the year 1169 she defeated Albero, priest of Kentenich, in court; wherefore Philip, archbishop of Cologne, wished it to be established by public letters that the tithe of the aforesaid church belonged so freely to the prebend of the congregation of the Holy Virgins that whoever should be pastor in the same church should pay, in his time, without any contradiction, the episcopal due [and] the service of the archdeacon from the land and a certain tithe specially assigned to him: and should never at all require it of the abbess or the congregation. And two parts, he continues thus, of the night lights of the church the abbess must administer; the third the priest shall provide. The same Gepa and the whole convent, having entered into an agreement for 112 marks to supply the meagreness of the prebends, through the hands of their advocate William, count of Jülich, acquired for the church three manses with a mill at Emmichove from Rheinold of Olpe and his wife Kunegild In Crombach, page 791.; which Philip, prelate of Cologne, confirmed: and this same man, because he had found great meagreness of prebends in the stipends of the church of the holy virgins of Cologne, granted in the year 1172 to the venerable abbess of the same place, Gepa, that by his authority they might clear the wood which the Cologne convent had in the parish of Mare and make arable land of it; and since the tithe of the same land was recognized as being of archiepiscopal right by reason of new-broken land, he handed this too over to them in perpetual possession for the supplement of the prebends Ibid., page 792.. Further, Crombach accompanies this abbess with these praises Ibid., page cited.: Gepa died, as I think, in the following year: in this respect more fortunate than all the abbesses of the place before her, that she presided also in those nine years in which God, Best and Greatest, declared to the world many thousands of the Holy Virgins with great prodigies: she saw in them innumerable signs of martyrdom, adorned them with fitting ornaments, and distributed them throughout the world, so that the cult of the Holy Virgins might be propagated more widely. The same woman greatly benefited the church, so that the great estates which had been lost or alienated were recovered. She furnished it with buildings: she purchased very many things from her own means and acquired them for the church: she increased the stipends of the canons and canonesses, and wonderfully adorned the sacred furniture with silver vessels and sacred vestments. Finally she endowed very many festivals of the year with handsome stipends, so that they might be performed more solemnly.

[65] but she quite neglected the spiritual. But I for my part strongly doubt whether Gepa of Dassel should be accompanied with singular praises. For under this abbess, unless the face of things had already been changed under the other Gepa, customs by no means religious were introduced into the monastery of the holy virgins. Wherefore in book IV of the Visions of St. Elizabeth, chapter 4, these things are read: In like manner God put these words in my lips at another time: A certain small spark sent forth from the seat of the great majesty, and a thundering voice into the mouth of a certain little worm of a man, cries to the sisters of the holy virgins at Cologne, saying: My daughters are as it were forsaken, and have vanished in their vanities: and like a reed which is moved hither and thither by the wind, so are my daughters in all their ways, says the Lord. The blood of my saints, which was poured out on the earth, your foot treads upon; and under your feet are those who accuse you before me, saying: Why do you not avenge us, Lord of hosts, for this people does not revere us, and among many there are few who honour us, who endured great things for your sake, but the earth with its race tramples us. Behold, daughters, you have defiled my bed, in which I ought to have rested with my saints: return to your heart, and remember how your predecessors went before you, and with all humility and chastity loved their heavenly bridegroom; they imitated him also in their death, therefore they are crowned and receive the palm. Turn from your ways, and follow them, and be ready, that when your bridegroom comes and knocks at your door, you may at once open to him and bring him into your heart: surely if it please him to be there, he will give you a named place in his kingdom; which may he deign to grant you, who now is and always will be, and of whose kingdom there shall be no end. And these things the Virgin of Schönau wrote to the Ursuline nuns: whence they are found in book V, chapter 8, among the letters written (as they say) by divine inspiration. In what year they were seen and committed to writing is not sufficiently established; certainly between the year 1156, in which St. Elizabeth began to be more occupied with St. Ursula, and the year 1164, in which she died.

[66] [Clementia, who succeeded, changes many things in the prebends, in the year of grace, etc.;] To both Gepas succeeded Clementia, who also set all her zeal on caring for and increasing the prebends. First of all she confirmed, or even extended, some acts of Gepa of Dassel bearing on the same matter. She, namely, considering that the stipends of the brothers labouring there were insufficient in wine, had supplied what was insufficient with the consent of all the ladies of the whole chapter; which in the year 1174 Clementia ratified. Gepa had also granted to the ladies absent by licence, out of regard for piety and mercy, that they might keep for themselves their wine, which was all owed to the abbess, for ten weeks of their absence, and if they were absent for a shorter space. Clementia extended this concession, so that the ladies should obtain their wine for themselves for the whole time of their absence, yet with this condition, that what she herself lost thereby should be made up to her by the convent: who does not see that by these concessions the law of dwelling in the cloister was very greatly loosened? Gepa had already introduced the year of grace, so greatly disapproved afterwards by the councils of Cologne and Trier Cf. Du Cange, Glossarium latinum, under Annus gratiae.; namely so that the prebend of a deceased member should be vacant for a whole year and meanwhile the revenues should go to the living: Clementia increased that year by thirty days; all of which Philip I, prelate of Cologne, approved by diploma in the year 1174. Two years later, with the same Philip confirming it, Clementia, abbess of the holy virgins, and the whole convent, to supplement the meagreness of their prebends, by the common counsel of their church acquired for twelve marks a free allod, namely one manse, from Conrad of Asmundeslo and Winric his brother and Alstradis, Conrad's wife Crombach, page 794.. In the same year 1176 an agreement was entered into with Werner of Monticulum, a citizen of Cologne, by which the monastery at some time recovered its goods. He, for the devotion and fidelity which he had shown towards the church of the holy virgins, had deserved from the brothers and sisters of the same chapter to be taken by them as a brother, and, though he was a layman, to receive nevertheless the stipend of one prebend. He was also beneficed by the same church with feudal goods and quit-rent goods, which are commonly called leengut and lazgut. But when in course of time the same Werner was without offspring and was drawn with greater devotion and love to the church, he together with his wife Gertrude made over and assigned all the aforesaid goods, both feudal and quit-rent, under such a form of condition that both he and his wife Gertrude should possess them all the time of their life and take the fruits from them at their own discretion; but after the death of both, all the said goods should return to the church; so that none of the heirs either of the aforesaid Werner or of his wife Gertrude should obtain any right in them. In compensation a new prebend, which was in the hands of the abbess Clementia, was assigned to Werner and his wife for the time of the life of both. These things Archbishop Philip again confirmed Lacomblet, Urkundenbuch, volume I, page 324..

[67] [she sends poor sisters out from there, whence the convent of St. Maximinus at Cologne arose;] Clementia found yet another way by which she excellently promoted the domestic affairs of her monastery, but (in my judgement) ruined the spiritual more and more. Not far from the convent of the holy virgins, into whose right and property it had passed, stood the church of St. Maximinus. Further, in the year 1188, with the licence of Clementia, by the mercy of God abbess, and of the whole convent of the same place, several poor sisters were freely dismissed to the church of St. Maximinus and every place belonging to it, for the honour of the Lord Saviour and of his most holy Mother, and with pious consideration, having received freedom *, were helped by the church Gelenius, de admiranda Coloniae magnitudine, page 546.. Some endowment was assigned to them, but certainly less than the prebends of whatever kind which they had enjoyed before. Yet God favoured them more than their superiors; so that they continued to observe the canonical life, having even taken up the Rule of St. Augustine, while the Ursuline ladies fell away from it altogether. And indeed, since the colony of St. Maximinus was truly regular, a new argument arises from this by which it may be established that the Ursuline convent was at that time still a regular institute. But probably those poor women were transferred from there so that the rest might then follow the institutes of secular canonesses.

[68] she changes other things in the prebends. In the following years, when Archbishop Philip had abjured the Frederician schism and yet, by the favour of the emperor himself, had become most powerful at home and in war and formidable to the imperial party, the displeasure of the lord emperor rose up against the church of Cologne, as is read in a diploma of the abbess Clementia. Hence some dared to claim for themselves the goods of the churches; and not from this cause only, but also from hail and the contributions imposed by the prelates of Cologne and Trier, the Ursuline revenues were somewhat worn down. Wherefore, lest the convent, she says In Crombach, pages 974 and 795., should suffer a grave deficiency worthy of complaint, I let out my prebend to Lord Gottschalk and his wife Richildis and his son William for ten years with the full integrity of the stipends, a certain sum of money having been received. And let not the reader wonder that Clementia gives up two prebends; she had six in her hands at the beginning, as is clear from her following writing Ibid., page 795.: The lady Gepa of happy memory, abbess in our church, on account of manifold deficiency, twelve

prebends she kept for her own uses. When she had died, and another, who was also called Gepa, had been substituted, by the ordinance of the lord archbishop and the priors six were granted to her to supply the deficiency, and the other six were conferred on those who should serve in the choir. But I, Clementia, taken up by the hand of God into the charge of that dignity, though unworthy, retained the same six prebends. Of these, after she had given up two, she had the four remaining, which Archbishop Philip of good memory had granted to her predecessor and to herself to supply the deficiency of the prebends and to restore the courts of the monastery, confirmed on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of May of the year 1192 by the apostolic authority of Celestine III Ibid., page cited..

[69] The rest of her care for temporal affairs. In the year 1202, so that Ungelo, one of the faithful, might labour with greater security and more diligent care in a certain court at Germrode, which he had begun to restore when it had been reduced to a wretched state by barrenness and the calamity of wars, Clementia granted it to the same tenant, his wife and posterity by hereditary right, an annual payment of some malders of wheat being fixed; each of which malders or maltra of the cloister measure held one modius and two thirds Cf. in Du Cange, Glossarium, under Maltra, additions of the year 1733.. But since, so the diploma continues In Crombach, pages 795 and 796., until this time our deaness had no revenues, or none divided off, it pleased us and the whole convent, and it was immutably decreed, that the deaness should receive the aforesaid malders. Two years later new revenues were added to the deanery; but we have already said something above about the erection of individual prebends. Clementia died in the year 1203 Ibid., page 1125.. Crombach praises her Ibid., page 796. because in most turbulent times she willingly remitted much of the revenues owed to her, in order to increase the stipends of the congregation. The same woman spent much money on restoring churches and buildings. Would that she had restored the regular discipline that had gone to ruin under both Gepas, instead of abolishing the common life more and more!

[70] The deeds of Euphemia and Fraterundis. Clementia was succeeded by Euphemia; to whom, when she was still a young girl, two Ursuline virgins are said to have revealed the places of their burial; and Caesarius [Illustrium miracul. et histor., book VIII, chapter 86, pages 637 and 638, edition of 1599.], a contemporary writer, records that these were afterwards found and sent by her to Heisterbach. The same woman in the year 1207 subscribed to the foundation which William, canon at the holy virgins, made for celebrating more solemnly the feast of All Saints Crombach, page 796.. When around the year 1222 Caesarius was writing his dialogues on illustrious miracles Book X, chapter 48, page 765., Euphemia had died a few years before Ibid., book VIII, chapter 86, page 637., and Benedicta had succeeded; between whom and St. Engelbert, created archbishop of Cologne in the year 1216, a controversy arose concerning certain persons, namely Ludwig of Hagane and his sisters and maternal aunts, whom he said belonged to the church of Cologne, and she asserted pertained to the abbess herself, or to the church, by right of quit-rent; but the abbess with her convent, by the will and assent of the aforenamed Engelbert, before the ministerials, the sheriff and the échevins of Kempen, justly and reasonably obtained the aforenamed persons In Crombach, pages 796 and 797.. After Benedicta, Frederundis was created abbess, who in the year 1229, by conferring some goods, helped the new convent of Piscina at Cologne under the Rule of St. Norbert, and in the month of August of the year 1234 rendered the same benefit to the Brigittine convent of maidens at Marienforst near Bonn. Nor did she neglect the affairs of her own monastery; which indeed in the month of June of the year 1238 she increased, having obtained from Conrad, archbishop-elect of Cologne, the tithes of new-broken land at Oisendorp, and in the following year she decreed and conferred many things for the increase of the sustenance of the whole college, that divine worship might flourish the more Ib., pages 798 and 799.. Other things I pass over.

[71] In the time of Elisa the year of grace is doubled; That Elisa, says Crombach Ib., page 799., presided after Friderundis is shown by old subscriptions. I found the first mention of her in the year 1241: in which she conferred on Abelin the apothecary, by right of benefice, certain new-broken lands at Oisendorp. In her time Archbishop Conrad, because of various tumults of wars, was compelled to ask a charitable subsidy from the churches: in return grateful and munificent, as his letters conferred on the church of the Holy Virgins concerning the second year of grace show: what that was we indicated above, at number 66. Conrad, by the grace of God archbishop of the holy church of Cologne, to his beloved in Christ Elisa the abbess, and the convent of the church of the Holy Virgins at Cologne, greeting in the Lord. Since you, sympathizing with our necessities and losses, have of your mere liberality and spontaneous will decided to give for our assistance the tenth of the fruits of your prebends, and the twentieth of the present year, we, desiring to repay a grateful return for your benevolence, grant to you that, besides the year of grace which you have hitherto been accustomed to have, each of you, whether you die in your cloister in the state in which you now are, or enter religion, from the time of this our concession, both you and your successors, may obtain for ever one year of grace of goods: so that, you giving the tenth and the twentieth, whatever shall have been ordained, either by us or by your faithful, concerning the fruits of your prebends of the year of grace granted to you, shall remain ratified and firm. But concerning your successors, since they did not give the tenth and twentieth, we so decree that all the fruits of the following year of grace shall go wholly to the uses of the church, and to your successors we likewise grant a year of grace, under the form prescribed, strictly enjoining that our aforesaid concession or indulgence be observed inviolably for ever under pain of excommunication already passed. Given at Cologne in the year 1244, in the month of July. It is worthy of observation that already then the institute of canonesses was no longer held to be a religious life; yet for all that they were hardly free to return to the world, and the prebends commonly fell vacant only through the death of canonesses or their passage to religion.

[72] a prebend is given to a laywoman; In the same storm of wars, perhaps, unless you prefer a little earlier, Elisa granted to a certain woman, who followed the holy virgins with a particular veneration, whatever was assigned to the canonesses for the sustenance of life by annual stipend; for it was held a religious thing, and suitable for fostering piety towards the heavenly ones, to be counted as it were among their household: Elisa, abbess, and the whole convent of the Holy Virgins at Cologne. Since Sophia, the widow left by Gerard, had affectionately and quite often requested of us that we should sell her the fruits of one prebend for the time of her life: because, during the war between our reverend father Conrad, archbishop of Cologne, on the one side, and the duke of Limburg and other accomplices on the other, the courts of our church had been so devastated by fires, plunderings and exactions that, for lack of stipends, they could no longer subsist in any way in the same, we, weighing the affection which the aforesaid Sophia seemed to bear towards our church, and moreover having conceived hope from this, namely that she promised in good faith that she would in every way attend to the advancement of our church, sold to her by common consent the fruits of one prebend for a certain sum of money, to be received as long as she lives: namely so that in bread, wine, money, grain, and all things that belong to the body and the prebend, she receives each year as much as those personally serving in the church receive annually: after her death she shall nonetheless have a year of grace.

[73] The Friars Preachers make At that time the Dominican Fathers flourished at Cologne: especially since Albert the Great professed philosophy there: they promoted the cult of the holy virgins by their sermons. For which reason they obtained three hundred bodies of this company by gift of the college and the abbess: the Ursuline college a sharer in the goods of their works; that the fathers might show themselves grateful to it in turn, in the year 1246, at the general chapter at Strasbourg, they offered to the whole congregation of the holy virgins, at its request, the communion of the goods of the whole Order by diploma: which Crombach recites S. Ursula vindicata, page 800.. There remains today, adds the same writer, a singular union of the said fathers with the Ursuline college. It was at that time oppressed by great want of necessary things, and, as was hinted before, they were scarcely able to perform the divine offices with the accustomed rite: therefore, having obtained indulgences from the apostolic see and taken up relics of the holy virgins, they travelled not only the province of Cologne and its suffragan sees, but also, outside it, various dioceses of Germany, for the sake of collecting alms: a great throng of peoples pouring forth with religious pomp to receive the relics fittingly and majestically. Crombach recited the mandates of two bishops of Paderborn on this matter, published throughout the whole diocese Ibid., pages 692 and 693.. The first Bernard gave in the year of the Lord 1247, on the Monday after Misericordia Domini, or the 2nd Sunday after Easter; the other Simon in the year of the Lord 1267, on the Monday after Jubilate, or the 3rd Sunday after Easter. But of these below.

[74] the parish of Kelse is united to the same college; To relieve the Ursuline church, pressed by want, Archbishop Conrad in the year 1248, on the fourth day before the Kalends of September, united to it the parish of Kelse, in which the abbess held the right of patronage, by a diploma which Crombach Ibid., page 800. and Lacomblet Urkundenbuch, volume II, pages 174 and 175. published. In the following year he confirmed the same union by the power of the apostolic see, whose legation he held: which it may be worth while to note: Conrad, by the grace of God archbishop of the holy church of Cologne and legate of the apostolic see. Since we, at the prayers of our beloved in Christ Elisa the abbess and the chapter of the church of the holy virgins of Cologne, with the consent of the venerable man, the archdeacon of the place, the greater provost of Cologne, for a pious and reasonable cause, granted the church of Kelse to them, and for the sustenance of those serving God in the said church, we, wishing this same concession of ours to be held ratified and to be observed inviolably by all, confirm it by the authority of the legation granted to us by the apostolic see, and we excommunicate all who contradict and hinder so pious and laudable a deed of ours, and all who strive to oppose the foregoing or to weaken it. Done in the year of the Lord 1249, on the fourth day before the Ides of April. Meanwhile Henry of Vienne, the greater provost, was elected bishop of Utrecht, having obtained a privilege from the apostolic see to receive the revenues of his benefices; the power of administering which in the parish of Kelse he then gave to the abbess Elisa, as letters given in the year 1251 prove. And the same man four years later acknowledges in these letters patent: Henry of Vienne, by the grace of God elect of Utrecht and greater provost and archdeacon at Cologne, since the lord Pope, of the accustomed kindness of the apostolic see, has done us the special favour that we may retain or have for a certain time all our ecclesiastical benefices held before our confirmation, we, wishing also to do a favour to others, our church of Kelse, which from

the venerable father and our lord Archbishop Conrad, with our consent and that of the greater chapter, has been united to the church of the holy virgins of Cologne for the increase of the prebends, and granted for the sustenance of those serving God there, we have freely resigned at the petition of our beloved abbess and of the convent of the same, reserving to ourselves the fruits of the same church, as they have been granted and confirmed to us for a certain time by the lord Pope. Given at Cologne in the year 1253, on the fifth day before the Kalends of August.

[75] [A lawsuit is settled with the counts of Jülich, advocates of the Ursuline college;] The counts of Jülich were for a long time the advocates of the Ursuline college; which seems to have been the occasion for Elisa to sue Count Walram for extortion before Conrad: he gave satisfaction, offering as sureties the noble man Lord Otto of Wilkerode, Godfrey Rufus of Angersdorf, Gerard of Aachen, of the weigh-house. Done at Cologne in the presence of the lord archbishop of Cologne in his palace, in the year of the Lord 1255, on the day of Lambert, bishop and martyr. The same Elisa two years later, when she had suffered no light losses from inhabitants of the diocese of Mainz, happily settled the lawsuit with Gerard, elector of Mainz; who in his diploma records the old custom of seeking the vengeance of the heavenly ones by a suppliant cult of relics: Gerard, by the grace of God archbishop of the holy see of Mainz. We wish it to be known to you that concerning the claim which the lady abbess and convent of the church of the holy virgins at Cologne have against our men, concerning XXIII vessels of wine and other things carried off by our men at Laynstein, it has been so agreed between us and them, etc. With this condition added, that if we fail in payment at any of those terms, the same abbess and convent may perform the humiliation of the relics and imprecations against us, etc. Moreover we promise in good faith that we will promote them in their goods in our district, and elsewhere where we can, and will do them justice against those of our subjects who injure them, when we are requested. Done in the presence of Otto of Everstein, Burchard of Waldenberg, counts, Siffrid, provost of Runckel, and also of Ulrich, cantor of the cathedral, John of Rennenberg, of St. Andrew's, Henry, of the Holy Virgins themselves, canons; done in the house of the lord Udalric, on the vigil of Pentecost, in the year of the Lord 1257. In the same year Elisa happily settled another lawsuit with the parish priest at the Holy Indulgences: in the treatment of which she names herself in this manner: I, Elisa, by the grace of God abbess of the Holy Eleven Thousand Virgins of Cologne. Of the following abbesses we shall indicate only the names that have become known.

[76] The remaining abbesses down to the middle of the seventeenth century. Elisa was succeeded around the year 1269 by Friderinis, who in a certain controversy appealed to the apostolic see. After Friderinis came Elisabeth, for whose memory her sister Aleidis, likewise a secular canoness in the church of the holy eleven thousand virgins, gave two malders around the year 1334. There succeeded Peyronetta or Pernetta, of the counts of Arnsberg, whose diplomas from the year 1337 to 1366 are partly recited by Crombach In Crombach, page 801.. According to the manuscript Catalogue of the abbesses of St. Ursula, which I have at hand, there succeeded in the year 1371 Greta or Margaret of Isenburg, whose first diploma, which Crombach indicates S. Ursula vindicata, pages 504, 1014, 1015 and 1016., was given in the year 1374; the last in the year 1379 Ibid., chapter 1016.. Irmgardis of Isenburg took the place of Margaret, and her name is read in diplomas from the year 1384 to 1391 Ibid., loc. cit.; but that she held that office until the year 1398 is read in the aforecited catalogue. There it is said that on the 23rd of September of the year 1486 Agnes of Wede, abbess at St. Ursula's, died, and on the 1st of July of the year 1499 Margaret von Westerburg, who had succeeded her. Margaret's place was taken by Agnes von Dauhn, countess in Falkenstein, elected in the year 1501 on the feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross; she died on the 14th of October of the year 1534. She who succeeded, Justina von Lugffen Ibid., loc. cit., countess in Bulingen, departed in the year 1572, on the 19th of February. After came Margaret, countess in Hohengeroltzeck and Sultz, who went to her rest on the 10th of November of the year 1602. The abbatial seat was then vacant until the year 1604, in which Margaret, countess of Isenburg-Grenzau, was elected; she died in the year 1607. In her place was elected Johanna Helena, baroness of Stauffen, who died in the year 1638, on the 2nd of October. (Crombach Ibid., page 1143. has: on the 30th of October.) In her place was elected in the same year, on the 9th of November, Erica Christina of the counts of Manderscheidt-Geroldstein and Blanckenheim, who in the year 1647, in which Crombach was completing his book, still presided over the Ursuline college. The manuscript catalogue which I used goes no further, and in vain did I send letters to Cologne inquiring about the remaining abbesses.

* liberality?

§ VI. The lawsuit over the name of the field of St. Ursula, agitated between the Ursuline nuns and the Magdalene or Maccabean nuns.

[The lawsuit over the name of the Ursuline field between the Ursuline and the Magdalene nuns is decided in the year 1162 by Archbishop Reinold in favour of the former;] The Ursuline basilica stood outside the walls of the city until after the middle of the twelfth century; whence in the foregoing diplomas there so often occurs the monastery of the holy virgins built outside the walls of Cologne. This situation of the places was changed by Philip I, or of Heinsberg. For he, having been invested in the year 1180 by the emperor Frederick with the duchy of Westphalia and Engern Gallia Christiana nova, volume III, col. 682., since he surpassed almost all his predecessors in glory, as Crombach rightly says S. Ursula illustrata, page 793., undertook a huge work, and, enclosing the Ursuline field with walls, set it within the pomerium of the city of Agrippina, so that it should not lie open to the assaults of enemies. There was much dispute about that field, about which we related some things in the Preliminary Commentary, number 236; which there is no need to repeat. Now there existed there from beyond the memory of men a chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, and a convent was attached to it. But when in the middle of the twelfth century that field began to become famous because of the uncovered remains of the holy virgins, a lawsuit arose between Gepa of Dassel, the Ursuline abbess and sister of Archbishop Reinold, and the Magdalene nuns, because these wished to be made sharers in the glory of St. Ursula and her companions: claiming, namely, that they had been slain within their precinct; that their pomerium was consecrated by their blood; that there was the well into which the clotted gore was received with the empurpled clods; that their seat should be called the field of blood, the Ursuline field and by other honourable appellations; that their basilica too deserved the title of the holy virgins, and other things of that kind. Who would wonder that the Ursuline canonesses did not bear these things with equanimity? Nevertheless these dissensions had to be calmed. To accomplish this Reinold gave to the nuns of St. Magdalene in the year 1162 the bodies of the three Magi, and in the following year the heads of the seven Maccabees and their mother with many other relics, which, Milan having been taken by storm, he had carried over to Cologne Crombach, Historia SS. Trium regum Magorum, page 615 and following.; on this condition, that they should not thenceforth usurp for themselves the name of the Ursuline field, but should leave it entire to the canonesses of the basilica of the holy virgins. Yet the lawsuit did not cease on that account.

[78] on the contrary, by Philip of Heinsberg in favour of the latter in the year 1178 For when Reinold had been carried off by the plague at Rome in the year 1166 or 1167, Philip of Heinsberg, who succeeded him, took up an altogether different mind; and indeed, when he introduced nuns of the order of St. Benedict into the basilica of St. Magdalene, he called it the chapel built in memory of the holy virgins in the place which is called the field of St. Ursula, at Cologne. The matter itself will be known more clearly from the letters of foundation: Philip, by the grace of God archbishop of the church of Cologne, to the whole body of the faithful, both present and future, we make known to all the faithful of Christ that the chapel built in memory of the holy virgins in the place which is called the field of St. Ursula, at Cologne, with all its appurtenances, we have granted, to be possessed quietly and peacefully for perpetual times, to the nuns of the order of St. Benedict who are to serve God and the holy virgins in it for ever, with the common assent of the brethren of St. Cunibert (within whose boundaries the chapel itself is known to be situated), the priors of the church of Cologne also being present, for reverence of the holy virgins, and also in consideration of the religious life and the respectability of the same nuns: decreeing that it be lawful for no man whatever to take these things away, to diminish them, or on that account rashly to disturb them in any way, by the authority of St. Peter and our own, denouncing the ban and damnation against all who shall attempt to bring any boldness of injustice or violence against the truth of this deed. For the undying memory of this matter, therefore, we have caused the present page to be fortified by the impression of our seal. These things were done in the year of the Lord's incarnation 1178, in the 5th indiction. There was need to ward off violence by severer threats, because many who were zealous for and favourers of Reinold and of Gepa his sister, both dead, bore the matter with resentment, thinking that something of honour was taken from the Ursuline Basilica, where, recently found and solemnly elevated, Queen Ursula was venerated with the greatest concourse of the faithful, while the name of the Ursuline field was attributed to another convent. The archives of the place record the event briefly in these words: In process of time, accordingly, Archbishop Philip of Heinsberg, the most deserving successor of Reinold, magnificently consecrated that church which Solinus had raised, and which because of this aforementioned obstinate contention of the Ursuline virgins and at the same time of your cenobite virgins had not been consecrated up to that day, in honour of God almighty and of the mother of God, and also of the eleven thousand virgins, namely of the earlier * martyrs, of all of them, and filled it with their sacred relics Crombach, S. Ursula illustrata, pages 792 and 793.. It is not credible that that chapel was built by Solinus; nor do any old testimonies of this exist.

[79] [St. Engelbert favours the Ursulines, and lest the Magdalenes resist, binds them to himself by benefits;] But in truth the Ursuline canonesses judged that they had not lost their case for ever; and not without reason did they await better times. For when in the year 1216 St. Engelbert had put on the mitre of Cologne, it displeased the holy prelate, says Crombach Ibid., page 796., that the lawsuit over the name of the Ursuline field was still smouldering with secret factions: which Philip of Heinsberg had bestowed on the convent of the Greensberg slope (namely of the nuns of St. Benedict), many vainly resisting. He approved the wise counsel of Reinold, who, the relics of the Holy Maccabees having been transferred there, had wished to name the place from them, intending by this arrangement to lull every controversy gently to sleep. But now the matter seemed no longer open, the church having already been consecrated to the holy virgins: therefore, having maturely deliberated on the matter, he bound those Benedictine virgins to himself by various benefits. For he raised the choir of the church for them from the foundations, and judged that the high altar should be filled with the sacred pledges of the Maccabees and consecrated to them, so that thus the name of the Holy Maccabees might thenceforth cling to the convent and the neighbouring street. The pious purpose of Engelbert's mind was cut short by his premature martyrdom: for in the year 1225, while preparing to dedicate the church of Schwelm, he fell on the journey by the swords of the impious, whose sacrilegious hands he, prodigal of his life, had turned away from the patrimony of Christ.

[80] [The choir which he had begun is dedicated under his successor, the name of the Holy Virgins being omitted.] Yet his successor Henry of Molenarck completed the laudable decree, who in the year 1228 commissioned John, bishop of Mytilene, legate of the apostolic see, to consecrate with solemn rite the newly added choir in honour of the Holy Maccabees [See the diploma of commission in Crombach, Historia SS. Trium magorum regum, page 672.]. The legate, having translated the ashes of the Holy Maccabees partly into the high altar, partly into a reliquary wrought with magnificent workmanship, dedicated the place, and placed in the high altar letters as witnesses, so that what has been said about the contention of so many centuries might come more surely to posterity. The letters, with their seals intact, were found by chance in the high altar. For when the choir was falling into decay, and the church, ravaged by fire, needed restoration, Helias Mercaeus, director of the consciences of the nuns, took that care upon himself; and, the table of the principal altar having been removed, he found letters on parchment, sealed; which comprised the antiquity of the place and the things hitherto narrated, strengthened by the testimony of the apostolic nuncio. For so Ortwin Gratius, a contemporary of Helias, who by his order committed these very things to record, affirms: This having been done, he says, all those things which were narrated by us before are seen, clearer than light, commended, fortified and laid away in it by our predecessors and forefathers in letters and records Cf. the diploma just cited.. Such an inscription too was then found: IN THE YEAR OF THE INCARNATION OF THE LORD 1228, ON THE SEVENTH DAY BEFORE THE KALENDS OF OCTOBER, THIS MONASTERY AND THIS ALTAR WERE DEDICATED BY THE VENERABLE JOHN, ARCHBISHOP OF MYTILENE, IN HONOUR OF ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, AND OF THE HOLY MACCABEES, AND OF SS. PETER AND PAUL, AND OF THE OTHER APOSTLES, AND OF ST. MICHAEL, AND OF ALL THE SAINTS. This was at length the end of the dissension continued for so many years, whether the principal seat of the slaughter was on the ground of the Clematian church or on that of the Maccabean one, and therefore to which one place the name of the holy eleven thousand virgins was due by pre-eminence. The Clematian virgins, because of the relics of St. Ursula and of the principal virgins laid there; the Maccabean virgins, because of the custody of the sacred blood of the martyrs, claimed for themselves the name of the Ursuline field, no one in so many centuries ever doubting of the Cologne arena of such a martyrdom: although the inhabitants of both places were scarcely two hundred paces apart from each other, they yet claimed for themselves the prerogative of the name with equal zeal, until, the Holy Maccabees having been translated to the other place, their name settled the lawsuit. In the year 1802, when of the hundred and sixteen sacred buildings which Cologne had, seventy-six were suppressed, only forty being left, the Maccabean convent also experienced that wretched fate and was then, like most of the other suppressed churches and monasteries, destroyed [Historische Beschreibung der Dom-Kirche zu Köln, by A. E. d'II *, page 351 and following.].

* of the pious?

§ VII. The fable that no corpses can be buried in the Ursuline field is examined.

We must now at length come to the exhumed bodies of the holy virgins, or to the most difficult controversy about the genuineness of the relics; which I shall strive to handle with the greatest reverence I can (for the cult of the saints is at issue) and with no less freedom of mind (for we are seeking the truth). [The Ursuline cemetery, which is neither of the Franks nor of the pagan Romans, is said never to have borne other bodies than those of the Holy Virgins.] First of all I would not think those are to be listened to who would have it that the corpses of pagans were buried in the Ursuline field. For that the pagan Romans generally burned corpses is a very well-known matter; nor is it less known that the early Christians took the greatest care of the bodies of their dead, and did not suffer them to be mingled with those of pagans: an argument which countless writers have treated, especially those who have written on the Christian cemeteries of Rome, which we commonly call catacombs. Nor can they be the burials of the Franks or other Germans, since their tombs had an altogether different form. Yet the difficulty is not cut short by these things, since it lies in this, whether before and after the martyrdom of St. Ursula the bodies of Christians were not buried there, and therefore whether among those which are said to have been of the company of St. Ursula there are not many of ordinary Christians. Some settle the matter easily, affirming that St. Ursula and her companions were laid in a place in which no corpses had ever been placed before; and that after their burial the place, consecrated by so many sacred pledges, no longer bore other bodies, but by divine power cast them out, if any were brought in. The former is mere conjecture, supported by no testimony, and will not detain us; the latter assertion rests on some documents, but not ancient enough to command belief, and is moreover refuted by inescapable proofs. And these things must now be explained and demonstrated.

[82] [Crombach, limiting this to the Ursuline basilica, defends it, relying on the inscription of Clematius,] Let Crombach be heard first, who, when he had said that it is not the custom for the bodies of the dead to be laid in the basilica of the holy virgins, because Clematius forbade it, continues thus S. Ursula illustrata, page 476 and following.: But whether they can even be buried there is disputed. Some assert that they can, whom Lord Hermann Fleien favours, because at the Maccabees others are buried everywhere, and why should the Holy Virgins shun the fellowship of other bodies, with whom they are to reign eternally in heaven? I however think one must adhere to the opinion of the greater number of most learned men, who have approved by their vote the ancient tradition of the people of Cologne (that the earth has quite often removed other bodies buried there too). I am moved first by the great admiration of Clematius, as he himself says, for the power of the great majesty (of which we spoke at number 8), and by the execration added: If anyone shall have laid the body of anyone upon so great a majesty of this basilica, so that by that majesty nothing else seems to be signified than the often-made casting out of profane bodies, recalled to him by the citizens: so that that threat (which he had carved in the church) is a certain warning that they should not provoke the wrath of God by burying other bodies there with peril to their salvation, who has declared his offence and the majesty of the place by his power and by the frequent casting out of corpses.

[83] by similar examples, "Nor should this, as he continues, seem new and unwonted. St. Gregory Book IV of the Dialogues, chapters 53 and 54, he says, is the authority that holy men did not suffer the dead, especially if defiled by crimes, to be brought into their churches. Yet another cause presses here why even infants newly baptized are divinely kept from this burial, which Lindanus, bishop of Roermond, reports: that the sacred bones may not be mingled with profane ones; nor is this new and unheard of: our Raynaud, in his little index of the Saints of Lyon, fol. 123, records the same of the church of St. Romanus from the tradition of the place: They say that the place of blood was collected in the bottom of the valley at the spot where the church of St. Romanus now is, the gore of the slain standing there in a pool, which flowed down in full streams from the hill on which they suffered. For which reason too there is a report that no one has the right, or even the possibility, of burial within that parish, the ground, sanctified here, not enduring to receive corpses.

[84] by a tablet publicly displayed in the basilica, A tablet in the church of St. Ursula embraces the tradition of the people of Cologne; in these verses it makes manifest the experience of an ancient age in the matter, and proclaims the miracles of the church.

Let every citizen, pilgrim and stranger read these things; Let not nation hide from nation these three things, but often reveal them, Which God, for a memorable honour, granted to the sacred Virgins, whose head is Ursula, and Christ their Bridegroom, so as to declare expressly that they are exceedingly Illustrious by the great gift of great merits.

The first miracle, that strangers cannot be buried here:

The first honour is such, and a special grace withal, That this sacred place shuns, and weds to itself no Bodies, disdaining those of others, marking the ground for itself alone; And the precincts which were once given to the tombs of the virginal Flowers cannot retain any funerals rashly buried, [And] with wondrous power the ground Casts out what is brought to it; these things have been proved twice and thrice. As the royal offspring of Pepin is accustomed to be a witness, And the noble convent of these Ladies.

[85] and by the authority of Petrarch, Martin of Werden, Lindanus and Brower. This tradition Francesco Petrarca confirmed by his vote around the year 1350, when he inspected the sacred relics at Cologne; for he writes thus Book VII of the letters, chapter 4.: I saw at once so many mutilated limbs of the sacred Virgins, and the earth dedicated to noble relics, and, as they say, the expeller of degenerate corpses. At the beginning of the last century the Ursuline history came out from the press of Martin of Werden, in which the matter is recorded thus: Since in that place, or precinct of the virginal burial, no one to this day is able to bury there the body of any dead person. Which is plain from a certain boy, the son of the king of Britain; on whose death his father with great devotion desired him to be buried in the church of the eleven thousand virgins; when he had been buried, every morning the tomb with the boy was found cast out and standing above the ground, because in this holy place deservedly no corpse might rest. And Lindanus, bishop of Roermond, in Baronius in the notes at 21 October, relates these things: That this place, where the college of noble virgins of St. Ursula is now seen, was the arena of the contest, the pious seem not unskilfully to establish from this, that the area of the church receives no one to be buried; indeed it throws back to the surface by night, as if vomiting them forth, newly baptized children, to be seen; of which miracles the inhabitants relate not a few, such as are not found elsewhere at random: the authority of this man is to be valued the more, in that Baronius sought his judgement especially concerning his Ursuline narrative, and recites the same word for word. Christopher Brower at the year 451 favours it, and others old and more recent.

[86] He tries to answer the objections of Fleien. Lord Hermann Fleien objects that others can be buried at the Maccabees. But the case of this place is one thing; that of the Clematian basilica another, the whole area of whose church was kept inviolate by sanction for the memory of the virgins alone, as Brower rightly says: for in this were buried the principal kings, bishops, virgins: and the leaders of the whole company, Cyriacus, Ursula, Aetherius; but a very few bodies and the cut and mostly mutilated limbs of the martyrs were laid, with the sacred blood, in the small chapel of St. Magdalene: and when its narrowness was enlarged by Bishop Solinus in the year 463, a more stately church being built, it was easy to place the sacred relics of the virgins in certain and more honourable places, so that in the rest of the quite ample area of the church other faithful might be buried. But Clematius, when he saw the ground of his whole basilica filled with the relics of so many holy virgins, and it received by custom that no one else should be buried there, perhaps also the miraculous casting out of corpses having already then taken place (which he seems to call the power of the great majesty, and again the majesty of the basilica), rightly added the adjuration, which God afterwards often ratified, and then especially when Viventia, the offspring of Pepin, was buried there, whom the earth cast out. Nor shall we therefore call the sacred virgins envious: they too would wish other

bodies to be laid with them, did not the will of the Godhead stand in the way, who willed that the martyrs above all should be celebrated in that place, ennobled by many prodigies and visions, and that their sacred remains should be set apart from others, so that, since it is clear from the trustworthy revelation of St. Elizabeth that all of them are one day to be manifested to the world, the true relics may the more easily be distinguished from the bodies of others." So Crombach.

[87] [But Crombach's arguments, drawn from experience and tradition, are by no means solid;] But in truth this whole discourse proves nothing at all. For if, as Crombach agrees, the law laid down by Clematius was observed (on which, however, see what we said at numbers 1, 7 and 8), what then could be learned by experience that corpses cannot be buried there? But there is still preserved in the church of St. Ursula a mausoleum, raised above the ground on columns, on one side of which is read Vill, Guide dans l'Église de Sainte Ursule à Cologne, page 25.:

CLEMATIUS HOC TEMPLUM A° 462 RESTAURANS IN EO ALIORUM CORPORUM SEPULTURAM SUB PŒNA VETUIT [Clematius, restoring this church in the year 462, forbade under penalty the burial of other bodies in it]

on the other:

VIVENTIA BIS HIC SEPULTA TOTIES A TERRA EJECTA MODO HOC MAUSOLÆO INCLUSA [Viventia, twice buried here, as often cast out by the earth, now enclosed in this mausoleum]

on the front, finally: A° 644' in the year 644

But that this is of a more recent age we gathered above at number 9 even from the years of the incarnation alone, whether Roman or Arabic numerals were used; which is also suggested by the abbreviation A°, brought into use not so long ago. Nor is it hard to know whence this opinion arose, that Viventia, twice buried there, was as often cast out by the earth. For when the people saw that mausoleum raised above the ground on columns, and did not understand that it pertained to the procedures of beatification, and interpreted the inscription of Clematius as if no one could be buried there, although he wished virgins to be excepted from this common law (by which we said above at number 1 the nuns dwelling there are to be understood); it was a ready step (since the common people persuade themselves that the affairs of the saints, even the most ordinary, can hardly be without prodigies and miracles) to say that that body had been thrust out of the earth once and again. All the other things that are adduced indicate nothing else than that already in the fourteenth century it was related that no corpses could be buried or received by the earth in the Ursuline field; while in the eleventh century the author of the Passion Regnante Domino, and of another not much unlike it which was found in a manuscript codex of Vaux-Luisant, was content to have written that a sacred observance had grown up by custom, that within the precinct of the virginal burial no one to this day dares to bury the body of any dead person whatever. Whence came that popular story that no bodies had been buried there before, or could have been buried afterwards. But this was not even admitted by those who were wholly occupied in digging up the bodies of the holy virgins: for, as will be seen below, the sacred bodies were held to be intermingled with others and to be recognized by certain indications: of which matter more testimonies will occur.

[88] [nor was the tradition about the basilica, but about the Ursuline field, however much it conflicted with daily practice.] Nor did this tradition concern only the basilica of the holy virgins, as Crombach and the Rev. Mr. Vill seem to imply Ibid., page 29.; much less that the bodies of the dead were buried nowhere else than near the parish church of St. Mary at the Indulgences, as the same Rev. Mr. Vill states Ibid., page cited.; but, as is plain from these very passages which we recited above with Crombach, the whole Ursuline field was held so sacred that it was believed to bear no bodies besides those of the holy virgins. And indeed, unless these things had been so conceived in the mind, what authority would the argument drawn from this have had, to demonstrate that the bodies laid not only in the basilica but in the whole Ursuline field were of the companions of St. Ursula? Certainly this was the common opinion. Nor is it a wonder to me that it prevailed; but this is almost incredible (unless daily experience taught how credulous men are and how slow to examine popular little tales), that this opinion persisted although in the monastery of the Maccabees, which was held to be almost the larger part of the Ursuline field, corpses were quite often buried. Crombach himself adduces Hermann Fleien as a witness of this; let Erhard Winheim the Carthusian also be heard Sacrarum Agrippinae, page 106.: It must be known by way of conclusion that the people of Cologne, not long after the basilica was raised, held the burial of the Holy Virgins in such honour that they never buried there the body of any dead person (virgins excepted); and the unskilled, being ignorant of this, on seeing so many mausoleums are persuaded that the area of the church, empurpled with the blood of the Holy Virgins, receives no one to be buried; indeed that it throws back by night, to be seen on the surface of the earth, children newly baptized; whom they think are preserved in the said mausoleums (in which repose the bodies of certain virgins): which I myself also once believed. But that it cannot stand can be gathered from this, that in the church of the Maccabees, in which bodies of the company of the Holy Virgins were also found in great number and have been venerated from the beginning of the passion, faithful of Christ are still daily committed to burial, whom yet the arena of the contest does not vomit forth; so that I would dare to pledge my faith as a hostage that those virgins are not so envious as to exclude from their resting-places those who sleep in the Lord, co-heirs of the kingdom of God, their brethren and consorts, much less those just born. So he. Indeed I am ashamed to have dwelt so long on these things; but since this fable has not yet lost all its authority, no one will justly blame me for having called it once again to examination.

§ VIII. Of the elevation and translation of the body of St. Ursula. Other translations before the twelfth century.

They would have it that the body of St. Ursula was translated by St. Cunibert; Since therefore it is false that no corpses besides those of the holy virgins could ever be buried, or were buried, in the Ursuline field, those which were of the pious company had to be distinguished by certain indications; and indeed we shall see that account was taken of these indications as we survey the history of the elevations that were made. But when the bodies of the holy virgins first began to be raised above the earth is established by no ancient documents; yet it is probable that it was done when Clematius restored the basilica; and certainly some tombs had already been raised above the ground at the beginning of the seventh century, when, as we have already learned from the Life of St. Cunibert, the dove which had settled on the head of this pontiff while he was celebrating the sacred rites slipped away from the eyes of all beside the tomb of a certain virgin. At that time therefore the tomb of a certain virgin already existed and stood out; which expression implies that other similar tombs also existed there at that time. But who the virgin is beside whose tomb the dove slipped away is omitted in the Life of St. Cunibert. They would have it that it is St. Ursula; and for that reason the figure of a dove is sometimes placed beside images and statues of this most blessed virgin; which bird may also be seen on the mausoleum which Johann Crane had placed in the basilica of the holy virgins: of which we spoke above at number 17. For my part I would not dare to oppose this opinion, not that I am moved by a certain inscription of another tomb, by which Crombach S. Ursula vindicatae, p. 483. tries to show that that ancient tomb did in fact still exist in his age, shortly afterwards to be enclosed within the mausoleum, Crane's gift: for this inscription is much too recent to command belief: but I judge that there is force and authority in the verses inscribed on a tablet fixed beside that tomb; since, though not contemporary, they yet seem older than the middle of the twelfth century, in which they fastened the name of St. Ursula on another body, contending that this blessed virgin had not been raised from the earth before.

[90] and indeed so it is handed down on an old tablet Now in the first place in these verses there is related the miracle of the corpses thrust out of the earth, then these things are recorded:

After that sign there follows a memorable and worthy one, That God may be manifested, and thence be magnified: While Ursula was uncertain to all, and newly found, A dove of snowy whiteness thus showed your tomb, In this order, and thus proved it, When, before a countless people, and with the clergy present, The sacred prelate Cunibert stood in the holy shrine Of these relics, and was celebrating the sacred office Of the Mass; with swift flight, a messenger of the truth, Behold a dove settles on the man's head, of wondrous Splendid whiteness, returning and going for three hours; At length, after the middle, all the people see the same Hide itself in the fair tomb in which once holy Ursula, having been allotted a resting-place for her sacred limbs, Lay hidden; all doubt and scruple being removed, By a certain indication, the coffin being opened at the command Of the prelate, the royal body is drawn out; they come To the tomb, the name is read, and found to agree with the fact. To whom the rejoicing people, and the clergy, applauding God for themselves, Give pious praises with glad mind, I know not how to tell. Hence a work is built, polished with gold and gems, A shrine, the good guardian of the blessed relics.

[91] [and it is confirmed by the festival which was formerly kept on 28 January in memory of this translation:] According to these verses, then, since in the basilica of the holy virgins some tombs stood out, of which it was not known whose each was, and since the flight of the dove had been held for a prodigy (which anyone can see could also have been natural; for what is added: At length, after the middle, all the people see the same hide itself in the tomb, is absent from the Life of St. Cunibert); since, I say, all were astonished at these things, St. Cunibert ordered the coffin to be opened, in which he found a body with the name of St. Ursula placed beside it. The holy prelate ordered these sacred remains to be drawn out:

Hence a work is built, polished with gold and gems, A shrine, the good guardian of the blessed relics.

Nor would I dare to deny these things, since a feast of this translation was formerly kept at Cologne on 28 January; which matter is of so much the greater weight in that there seems less to fear that this solemnity arose from the translation of another body attributed to St. Ursula. For this later translation, by the ordinance of Hartbern, abbot of Deutz after Gerlach, was celebrated on the 4th of July, as will be explained below. Further, the festival which was solemn on 28 January is read in the Lübeck-Cologne edition of Usuard, in that of Greven and in some other more recent ones, which may be seen at the said day among those Passed Over in our work Sollerius, Usuardi Martyrologium, page 67.: At Cologne Agrippina, the translation of St. Ursula, queen (Greven: virgin), and of her companions, the eleven thousand virgins and martyrs, which was made by St. Cunibert, archbishop of the city of Cologne; and the same festival is mentioned by Gelenius De Coloniae Magnitudine, p. 665., Crombach S. Ursula illustrata, pages 483 and 884. and others. In truth it had long since perished in their age, and in those martyrologies it was probably only noted because the scribes had found it in older ones. But what wonder that it did not persist much after the middle of the twelfth century? Did it not altogether conflict with the translation made by Abbot Gerlach?

[92] [Which matter is of the greatest weight, especially because, on account of feigned inscriptions, another festival of translation was instituted in the twelfth century.] By the care, namely, of the lord Gerlach, abbot of Deutz, or rather by the work of the diggers, there was found, or rather feigned, in the year 1155 or a little after, an inscription of St. Ursula, queen, most blessed virgin, with this legend: SANCTA URSULA REGINA Saint Ursula, Queen See below the catalogue of inscriptions.; beside which the workmen affirmed a body had been placed, and Theodoric the sacristan, according to custom, raised it. Further, how great astonishment this discovery created in many, since the canonesses of the holy virgins were already keeping the body of St. Ursula in a golden shrine, anyone can easily understand. And indeed it seemed that a choice had to be made between the old and the new body; either the translation made by St. Cunibert and celebrated by an annual commemoration had to be denied, or the inscriptions continually produced by the diggers had to be held among fictions. While therefore Gerlach and his people were in suspense of mind, they went to St. Elizabeth of Schönau, whom they thought divinely appointed to resolve all doubts. She at once questioned St. Verena, who was accustomed to appear to her, on this matter; and what answer she received she herself recorded in number 17 of the Revelations in these words: But neither must this be passed over in silence, that when I had asked her about the body of blessed Ursula herself, she said: Her body has never been raised above the earth except in these days; and truly it is there where her inscription is kept. And since these things gradually found credence among the canonesses of the holy virgins themselves, the earlier translation must indeed have been consigned to oblivion; so much so that it would be wonderful that the inscription composed in verses was not abolished but preserved, were it not that things publicly displayed are removed with more difficulty.

[93] [Crombach's exceptions are refuted. The genuine body and head of St. Ursula are still in her basilica at Cologne.] But what does Crombach say of these things? The head, he says Crombach, page 741; cf. pages 483, 487 and 775., could have been taken out of the tomb by St. Cunibert and adorned with precious ornaments; but the body, the flesh perhaps not yet then reduced to ashes, seems to have been left. The tomb of St. Ursula, though known to St. Cunibert from heaven, could nevertheless, through a long series of six hundred years and because of the frequent devastations of the Lombards, Hungarians and other peoples, have been unknown, like that of St. Gereon. Hence St. Elizabeth learned divinely that that very place of the tomb of St. Ursula was the one in which her sepulchral inscription was found; which, once inspected by St. Cunibert, I suspect had been put back. But none of these conjectures can stand. For on the old tablet it is not read that the head was drawn out of the coffin, but:

… the coffin being opened at the command Of the prelate, the royal BODY is drawn out.

Moreover at the beginning of the seventh century it was not yet the custom in the West (I do not speak of the East) to separate the limbs of the saints; as I have already shown elsewhere Acta SS. volume VII of October, page 824., the Rev. Mr. Pitra contradicting in vain Études sur la collection des actes des saints, page 146.. Moreover, the body which is reported to have been found by St. Cunibert was enclosed in a tomb in the very basilica of the holy virgins; whereas that which they would have to have been uncovered around the year 1156 was found with many others in an open-air cemetery beside the walls of the city of Cologne, in the place where for a long time they had lain without honour under the feet of men and BEASTS OF BURDEN, as St. Elizabeth herself says in number, or chapter, 2 of the Revelations. But what the nuns of the holy virgins then did there is deep silence among the historians: whether they cast away the body of St. Ursula which they had kept before, or admitted the new one; whether they allowed this one to be carried elsewhere, or received it into their church: these seem at first sight so many riddles. For Crombach lists S. Ursula illustrata, page 757. fourteen bodies or heads of St. Ursula religiously kept in various places; and indeed in the church of the holy virgins the body of St. Ursula the queen, set over the whole band, is kept in a tomb formerly of silver, now of gilded bronze, and the head in a silver head-reliquary, encircled with a most rich diadem, and at the same time there is kept there the head of another Ursula, who is also called a queen and the niece of the former Ursula, formerly enclosed in a stone sarcophagus, then in a silver head-reliquary [Ibid., page cited; Vill, Guide dans l'Église de Sainte Ursule, pages 32, 34 and 38.].

[94] [The nuns admitted a head which was not genuine, but did not on that account cast away either the old body or the head: how difficult it is even now for pseudonymous relics to be cast away.] Nevertheless, if we consider that the nuns of the holy virgins had no part in the excavations which Abbot Gerlach was managing, and that no bodies were then translated to their basilica, we cannot but come to this opinion, that those nuns were at first not at all moved by the discovery of St. Ursula that was being proclaimed; indeed that they were of the number of those by whom the uncovered inscriptions were held to be fictions and the revelations of St. Elizabeth mere dreams; that this happened the more easily the more sharply the pious virgin rebuked them, whose letter we gave above at number 65; and that they therefore continued to venerate the old body of St. Ursula and willingly left the new one to the monks of Deutz. Nor are these bare conjectures. On the 4th of July, from the times of Hartbern, Gerlach's successor, there was performed every year at Deutz the translation of St. Ursula, virgin and martyr, as Theodoric of Deutz, a contemporary, says From a manuscript codex., or there was celebrated in the monastery of Deutz upon the bank of the Rhine the translation of certain relics of St. Ursula, virgin and queen, from the city of Cologne, as is read in the Usuard of Greven and the Lübeck-Cologne one Sollerius, Usuardi martyrologium, page 381., and also in Crombach S. Ursula illustrata, page 885.; which solemnity the basilica of the holy virgins, because it had had no part in it, entirely ignored. Moreover, who does not know that old relics are cast away with the greatest difficulty? For when, in the middle of the century just past, it was acknowledged by almost all, and by Pope Benedict XIV himself [De beatificatione et canonizatione SS., book IV, part II, chapter 72, number 26, edition of 1788.], that palms inscribed on tombs neither are nor ever were a genuine sign of martyrdom, in what places were the corpses formerly dug out of the Roman catacombs and everywhere exposed in place of sacred relics committed again to the earth? And when in the month of March of the year 1845 the Rev. Father Marchi uncovered the tomb of St. Hyacinth, a Roman martyr, still entire and well closed, with this legend:

DP. III IDVS SEPTEBR YACINTHVS MARTYR Buried on the third day before the Ides of September, Hyacinth, martyr

and had well shown that the tomb of St. Protus had been opened by Leo IV and the head translated into the basilica of the Four Crowned Saints Monumenti delle arti cristiane primitive, page 238 and following.; what cities, I ask, of Italy, Gaul and Germany, which formerly gloried in the possession of the bodies and heads of SS. Protus and Hyacinth (and there are many), afterwards set them aside and buried them again? None, certainly.

[95] [The monks of Deutz were likewise deceived, and those of St. Martin of Tournai. The altar at which St. Cunibert celebrated survived a long time.] The monks of Deutz, therefore, deluded by false inscriptions, kept their body of St. Ursula; indeed in the year 1170 they shared some parts of it with the monks of St. Martin of Tournai, who celebrated the memory of this translation on the 6th of June, as Crombach shows from the ancient Martyrology of this monastery S. Ursula illustrata, page 885.; and on the other side the nuns of the holy virgins continued to venerate the body of St. Ursula which had been uncovered by St. Cunibert; which is attested by this alone, that they carefully retained the old tablet (of which above); although at some time they ceased to celebrate festively the translation made by St. Cunibert, and also received some bodies known from no other source than untrustworthy inscriptions and revelations: for men are not accustomed to observe the niceties of logic in practical affairs. Wherefore I have no doubt (as far as it is permitted to investigate the truth in this kind of matter) that the body enclosed at Cologne in a gilded bronze tomb, and the head encircled with a precious crown, are the true and genuine relics of St. Ursula, formerly uncovered by St. Cunibert and recognized from the name placed beside them. By way of conclusion I would add these things from Crombach Ibid., page 484.: The altar at which St. Cunibert celebrated the sacred rites stood for a thousand years, down to our own age, at the entrance, in the middle of the choir: but surrounded with carefully arched work, fenced about on all sides with iron screens, yet with the table of the altar removed, while the series of the event was seen depicted on the old wall. But the high altar having recently been built with most costly work by the most reverend Lord Georg Paul Stravius, bishop of Joppa, auxiliary bishop of Cologne, since the old mass obstructed the view into the choir and to the principal altar, it seemed good to the chapter to pull it down: the remaining ruins of Cunibert's altar, however, being left standing, and a new altar set beside the former, consecrated by the same bishop of Joppa to St. Cunibert in memory of the event, lest the memory of the event be buried: and therefore on the same altar is seen placed the effigy of St. Cunibert sacrificing, with the dove.

[96] [Before the middle of the ninth century bodies of the holy virgins are translated into the Batavian island; likewise the body of St. Pinnosa and of others is translated.] That other bodies of the Holy Virgins were also translated before the middle of the ninth century is manifest from the Sermon on the Feast-day, which we have so often already maintained was written before that age; and not only translated and kept within the precinct of the basilica of Cologne, but carried off into the Batavian island. For the writer of that Sermon, speaking of the inhabitants of this island, uses these words: Among whom very many places are seen honoured and at the same time made illustrious by the relics of these saints. Moreover, before the year 889, or at least 891, within which space of time we have already said the calendar of Essen was written, the body of St. Pinnosa was most certainly translated, since in that calendar at the last day of February there is inscribed the translation of St. Pinnosa Binterim, Kalendarium ecclesiae Germanicae Coloniensis saeculi noni, page 13.; which solemnity is also noted without any added explanation in Greven's Usuard, in Wallasser's German Martyrology, commonly called Canisius's, and in Ferrari's general catalogue of saints; and in the sacred and pious fasti of Cologne of Gelenius De Coloniae Agrippinensis Magnitudine, page 673. it is announced in these words: The translation of St. Pinnosa, virgin and martyr, of the company of St. Ursula; but it is nowhere noted whither that body was translated: and I scarcely doubt that this translation is a mere elevation above the earth: for many have shown that this solemnity, in which the remains of the saints are placed in shrines or set in a mausoleum standing above the ground, is often called by the name of translation, and indeed this may easily be gathered from what we saw in the preceding paragraph about the body of St. Ursula. At what time that translation or elevation was made is nowhere recorded.

I would think it was within the space of time that elapsed between the writing of the Sermon on the Feast-day and the Calendar of Essen. For although its author, because perhaps he had found her celebrated among the Britons under the name of Vinnosa, celebrates her splendidly, he yet makes no mention of her translation. He relates only this: Among whom the daughter of the king of the Britons is asserted to have been renowned and distinguished, called by them Vinnosa, by us Pinnosa: her we all know, taught by constant experiences of her virtue and goodness. And indeed, since these singular praises had been given to St. Pinnosa, it was a ready step that her relics should be brought out as soon as possible from the darkness of the tomb into the open light. However that may be, certainly it was done before the year 891. But where her body is now, who could say? The bodies of many Pinnosas are kept in the treasuries of churches; but these should not detain us, as being fastened-on names. A kinder judgement seems to be passed on the head which, with its hair entirely intact and with a not unpleasant odour, was formerly kept in a reliquary which had the form of a herm, in the monastery of Great St. Martin (about which we disputed more in volume VII of October, in the Commentary on St. Eliphius) [Gelenius, de Coloniae magnitudine, page 377; Crombach, S. Ursula vindicata, page 754.].

[97] But when, besides the bodies carried into the Batavian island, and those of SS. Ursula and Pinnosa, the other nine, whose names were known in the ninth century, were taken out of their tombs may be asked. Of this further translation there exists no record anywhere; yet, as it is probable that their tombs stood above the ground in the Clematian basilica, so too it is probable that their bodies were taken out of them at least before the beginning of the twelfth century; since in the year 1115, as will be seen a little below, something of the body of St. Saula, one of the eleven, was translated to Wissembourg, and in the year 1117 an altar was consecrated in the monastery of St. Trond, particles of the relics of the holy eleven virgins being inserted in the sepulchre [Chronicum Trudonense, book X, at the end, in d'Achery, Spicilegium, volume II, page 697, edition of 1723.]; by which words it seems to be signified that something was taken from the bodies of each of them: but I would not dwell on these things, since they have almost the character of conjectures. Until the beginning of the twelfth century all the other tombs (if you except those which contained the bodies long since carried into Batavia) seem to have been left entirely untouched. At least no record exists of their opening.

§ IX. The bodies found in the year 1105 and around the year 1143 translated to Waulsort.

[In the year 1105, while on the occasion of the war between Henry IV and his son Henry V the people of Cologne were fortifying their city, some bodies of the holy virgins were uncovered,] In this same twelfth century, scarcely begun, bodies began to be dug out of the cemetery and translated into other churches; which I shall call the second series of translations. Now the occasion of this matter was the following. Pope Paschal II had renewed on the 2nd of April of the year 1102 the sentence of excommunication already previously passed upon the emperor Henry IV. This occasion his son, afterwards called Henry V, weary of the royal title, had turned to his own profit, in order to encircle his head with the imperial crown. And so, the Christmas feasts of the year 1104 being ended, he had sent envoys from Bavaria to Rome to abjure the schism in his name and to procure his absolution from the oath by which he had bound himself to his father. Immediately afterwards he had gathered forces to attack his father. But the latter, deserted by his own, had fled into Bohemia and thence came into Lower Lotharingia, and in the months of November and December of the year 1105 had stayed for some time at Cologne: where, while he lingered, the citizens gave some labour to digging new ramparts and building walls. Soon, led by the hope of making peace, Henry IV had met his son; but had been cast into prison by him. From there he had happily escaped, had come to Cologne, then to Aachen, Liège, and, having gathered as many soldiers as he could, after the Easter feasts of the year 1106 had returned to Cologne, the people of Cologne, as Sigebert says In Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae, volume VI, page 371., keeping faith with the emperor, but their archbishop (Frederick I) encouraging the emperor's son against his father. At once Henry IV fortified the city with rampart and ditches, as is read in the Royal Chronicles of St. Pantaleon In Eccard, Corpus historicorum aevi, volume II, col. 924.; and after the beginning of the month of July Henry V arrived with an army Cf. the Saxon Annalist, in Eccard, volume II, col. 612.. But though the siege lasted three weeks Chronicle of St. Pantaleon, in Eccard, volume II, page 924., Cologne, besieged, is attacked, yet not taken Sigebert, loc. cit.. That war ceased a little later, Henry the father having died at Liège on the 7th of August of the same year 1106. Whoever wants more may consult the most excellent history of Limburg by the Rev. Mr. Ernst Histoire du Limbourg, volume II, pages 191–222., edited with most learned care by the distinguished Mr. Édouard Lavalleye. Further, while in the autumn of the year 1105 the people of Cologne were fortifying their city with rampart and ditches, three bodies of the holy virgins of Cologne were uncovered, afterwards translated to Waulsort *, formerly a notable abbey of the diocese of Namur.

[99] [which around the year 1129 were translated to Waulsort. This translation was described by Richer the monk.] Who wrote the history of this matter, learn from the contemporary author of the Chronicle of Waulsort. He, treating of Widric, who held the abbatial staff from about the year 1101 to 1129 Gallia Christiana nova, volume III, col. 573., says d'Achery's Spicilegium, volume II, page 725, edition of 1723.: In his days the present church flourished with a strict censure of religious life and an affluence of temporal goods; touched by the fame of which, wise and lettered men came together from all sides to submit their necks to the light yoke of obedience… Having tasted the sweetness of this delight, master Wilbald and master Richer without any delay of deliberation approached the aforesaid abbot, and, confessing their agitations to him, by his counsel changed their garb together with their former hope, and professed religion under him. There exist in our possession the monuments of master Richer's distinguished talent in the little works which he published on the translation of the bodies of the martyrs Candidus and Victor, and of the holy virgins of Cologne. The description of the latter translation was read by that canon of Douai in an ancient manuscript codex which Peter Poilnache, abbot there, showed to Raissius, and which related the origin of the monastery of Waulsort; and he also saw a copy printed at Ath in Hainaut Auctarium ad Natales SS. Belgii, pages 223 and 224.: all of which it pleased me to note, since they are omitted in literary histories. Further, we have a transcript of Richer's writing, completed on the ninth day before the Kalends of January of the year 1612 in the monastery of Hastière, and formerly transmitted to our predecessors by Gamans. We shall copy it out in this place, because the Ath edition seems to have perished and it is a contemporary history of the first translation. The title is as follows, except that at the beginning "here begins" is prefixed, and the author is not named. What is enclosed in square brackets [] was inserted by the scribe; our glosses we have distinguished by italic type.

* Waulsort.

TRANSLATION

Of three bodies of the holy virgins of Cologne, of the number of the eleven thousand,

By master Richer, monk of Waulsort.

BY RICHER OF WAULSORT.

[While in the year 1105 the people of Cologne were fortifying their city, two virgins announce that their bodies and that of a bishop will soon be found.] When in the year of the Lord eleven hundred and five war was being prepared against Cologne Agrippina by a certain noble (he is silent on the name of Henry V, because he was still living), who was persecuting his father the emperor, the inhabitants of that community, dreading and guarding against a siege, fortified the gates for the defence of the city, raised the walls, and added rampart to rampart. And when a rustic band, hired by the citizens, were entrenching the circuit of the wall, digging without reverence, there suddenly appeared to them two women of graceful adornment and incredible beauty in their attire, and with sweet address told them to dig more carefully and to remove those clods more decently. They asked them who these women of such great authority might be. We, they say, are of the company of the eleven thousand virgins who rest round about here, and we announce to you that our leader and bishop, buried in the midst of us, will be found after a little time. Having uttered these things, they disappeared. At once, therefore, the report struck the crowd of diggers, and the news was spread abroad through the masters of the works: namely that the holy virgins lay hidden in places where it was not expected, and by the apparition of their spirit had revealed their tombs, and their limbs by the solemn witness of their address. Everyone, of both sexes, of every order and age, ran together at the novelty of so great a thing. God is acclaimed by the mouth of all as wonderful in his saints, and is extolled with the highest praises; finally their patronage is besought, that they may help against the imminent siege of the city. And it is believed that their prayers were heard, because to this day, not unmindful of the benefit, they recall that the city was then freed from destruction without peril or bloodshed on its part.

[II] [Some relics, taken by a priest, often flash with a wondrous light, and a body is found still red with blood.] Faith, finally, is lent by the showing of miracles: for there was a priest of commendable life of the church of blessed Cunibert, which was adjacent to the work, who at the evening hour joined the workers, and, with humble devotion, carried home whatever came in his way, though a small amount, of the pledges or relics of the holy virgins, to be of profit to himself and his people *. But because, for the brief space of time, he could not place the relics he had gathered from the saints with fitting honour, as was proper, he put them beside the shrine of blessed Cunibert, who rests there, so that on the following day he might lay them away more decently. Having gone away from there, intent on attending to his household affairs, he suddenly wondered to see a light kindled, and extinguished it at once with his own hands; and returning a third time to the aforesaid church, when he saw the light burning again a third time, he was terrified; and believing it to have been kindled divinely, and attributing it to their merits, he afterwards piously disclosed this wonder to all. There was, finally, no small contention over these same relics between the priests of St. Cunibert and the nuns of the holy virgins. For the latter cried out that they should be returned to them, because the bodies of their companions were contained in their church. But the former tried to take them for themselves, because they were found within the boundaries of their church. In the midst, then, of this so devout litigation, while the diggers had gone back to their homes for the sake of refreshment, it was reported to the nuns that something like a well-fitted sarcophagus appeared in the trench, and that relics could be taken out of it without the trouble of difficulty. Then the nuns, roused by the glad news, the aforesaid priest going before with the cross and candles and other things befitting such holy services, came there in haste; and, having carefully broken the sarcophagus, they found what was within, with a sacred body which was still red with fresh blood, and carried it to the church of the holy virgins, the nuns following devoutly with hymns and canticles, and laid it in a worthy place. We have judged it should not be omitted that, when the aforesaid priest washed his hands (since he had handled the relics in the sight of all who were present), there flowed from his hands as it were a stream of blood. Miracle succeeded miracle, joy continued joy. But what

befell those who took away portions of the bones or ashes we shall disclose, the Lord God favouring us.

[III] A woman is restored to health after she gave back relics she had carried off. A certain woman, wearied by the anxiety of a long-lasting weakness, stole some of these same relics while they were by chance being dug up: hoping that even so she would obtain the help of health. But when she had placed them in an unseemly spot, she saw in her sleep a certain girl standing by her, warning and threatening that unless she removed the relics, unseemly placed in her house, she would by no means obtain the joys of the health she desired. She, roused from sleep, strove at once to obey the command, and with joy recovered the health she had long lost.

[IV] A Swabian, who had also taken relics, cannot go further until he restores them. A certain man of the Alemannic people, returning to Swabia, his native soil, when he rejoiced to have passed through many furlongs of forest, the sun already declining to its setting, found himself, wearied by a backward journey, at the part where he had entered, his labour frustrated. And believing himself deluded by the unknown circuit of the paths, with a repeated effort he hastened to return home by another, better-known way, for three continuous days, not knowing that the obstruction of his journey was divinely made because of the relics of the saints wickedly presumed upon. At length coming to himself (because each day, as the day declined towards evening, he grieved to have arrived where he did not wish), overcome by the anguish of his spirit, he entered the church of the sacred virgins, laid open his guilt, disclosed the theft, voluntarily gave back what he had taken away; so he went away free, no difficulty of journey and steps meeting him any further.

[V] [A ship is delivered from shipwreck when an Englishman, likewise a thief of relics, promised that he would carry them back to Cologne.] Another, finally, an Englishman by nation, going down to the shores of the sea, boarded a ship that was ready; but a storm of winds having been stirred up, the ship was in danger of being broken by the motion of the sea, so most savage a tempest having arisen that they could neither sail to dry land nor fix an anchor to stop. The ship being thus shaken on all sides by the frequent collision of the waves, you would have believed them already dead. But that Englishman, like Jonah, weighed down by the guilt of his conscience, said: "I know, I know why this sudden death falls upon us because of me. For this is my doing: I presumed with stubborn boldness to take these pledges of the saints, and the vengeance for this presumption will swallow up me and you, the innocent. But if, he said, God, appeased by their intercessions, deigns either to put off or to temper this imminent death, as soon as I am restored to land, allowing myself no rest of day or night, I will return to the tomb of the sacred virgins and by worthy satisfaction be cleansed of the contagion of this sacrilege." At this promise of a contrite heart, by the suffrages (as is piously believed) of the holy virgins, the unhoped-for clemency of God was present; wherefore with a milder breeze the tumults of the sea were calmed, and the ship was brought to land. The Englishman is put ashore, to free himself by his promise. Let the few things, then, which we have said about their revelation and miracles because the rest have been neglected through the carelessness of writers now suffice. But their coming, or translation, into the present basilica we shall touch on briefly, relying on divine help, so as to avoid the prolixities which breed nausea.

[VI] A monk of Waulsort obtains notable relics and carries them to Waulsort, A certain man of no small holiness, of the community of the monastery of Waulsort, under the government of the prelate (of whom enough was said above, namely Theodoric II, who from the year 1129 to 1148 held the abbatial staff Gallia Christiana, volume III, col. 573., and of whom he had treated in the history of the translation of the holy martyrs Candidus and Victor), for love of the spiritual life and for the sake of a stricter institution and purpose, betook himself to the monastery of blessed Pantaleon in the aforesaid community of Agrippina at the time when these pledges of the sacred virgins were taken up from the earth. He was so pleasing and dear to the father and lord Hermann, prelate of that monastery, that with the consent and permission and liberal blessing of that most pious abbot (for he at that time ruled that congregation of maidens of the holy eleven thousand virgins) he deserved to obtain by begging, and to acquire, by whatever arrangement with the guardians, three entire bodies of the company of the eleven thousand virgins and martyrs, found by the revelation we have set out above. And he thereafter, piously mindful of his brethren living in this monastery, endowed and adorned our basilica with these pearls. As the aforesaid brother drew near, therefore, with the pledges of the holy virgins (like Martha, busied about the ministry of God), he carefully saw to it that the coming of the precious treasure was announced to the cloistered brethren. The brethren, gladdened by the unhoped-for good, having fittingly ordered and prepared what was necessary, went out solemnly to meet them, and, halting on the hill which is commonly called Solotanus, awaited the coming of the sacred relics. A very great multitude of people also from the villages and towns situated round about came to meet them, singing in praise of God; and the brethren of St. Perpetuus, accompanying them together with our brethren, with a great dance of exultation, translated these pledges of the holy virgins into the basilica of the blessed and perpetual virgin Mary at Waulsort.

[VII] where they are honourably received and kept. It must be known, finally, that the reception of their coming did not take place on one and the same day: for on the sixth day before the Kalends of June we deserved to obtain the whole body of one entire, on the eighth day before the Kalends of November that of another, with the half portion of the third body, and not long afterwards the remaining half part. In the times of the lord Theodoric II, namely after the relics of SS. Candidus and Victor were brought there in the year 1143, we deserved to receive these relics, and also those of the holy martyrs Candidus and Victor, MM., as is clear above. (For Richer, as has already been said, had set out first the history of the translation of these martyrs.) Let the happy church of Waulsort therefore rejoice in the perennial glory of patrons so great and so many! Happy, I say, which the honour of the divine condescension has thus adorned with these lights. For in it the mother of mercy and most gracious queen of heaven, ever Mary, a virgin, rejoices in the virginal choirs. Opposite, the virgin brides rejoice in the virgin mother. It must always be confessed, finally, that these, through the free assistance of the holy Mother of God, leaving their companions, chose this place as the perpetual house of their dwelling. All of us, therefore, dearest brethren, gathered together, let us praise the Lord together, and render him immense thanksgivings for such great benefits conferred upon us. Finally let us have recourse to the help of our patronesses, imploring their suffrage, that the Almighty, won over by their intercessions, may free us from the contagion of the old antiquity and the inveterate rust of sins, and remit our crimes; and inflame us to practise the virtues; and may grant us also in this so calamitous time the grace of correcting our life for the better and amending our ways; and may bestow on us in the other world glory and the delight of eternal happiness, he who with God the Father and the life-giving Holy Spirit lives and reigns for ever and ever. To the praise and glory of the most holy and more than most blessed Trinity and of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and to the honour of all the heavenly ones. The monks of Waulsort laid these relics in the altar, not in portable coffers: that this was mostly so done in that age will appear below.

* read "to be of profit".

§ X. The remaining translations down to the middle of the twelfth century.

In the year 1113 many relics of the holy virgins are translated to Wissembourg. After a beginning had been made by chance of digging up the relics of the holy virgins, it was a ready consequence that it should not at once cease. The monks of Deutz, whom we shall see a little later wholly toiling at this work, seem already then to have had that business at heart. Certainly the body of St. Palmatia and the greater part of the other relics seem to have been brought out of their treasury (a tooth of St. Saula, one of the eleven, was probably received from the monastery of the holy virgins), which in the year 1113 were carried to the monastery of Wissembourg, formerly in Lower Alsace and the diocese of Speyer. Concerning these pledges Crombach recited S. Ursula illustrata, page 1002., from the index of relics of that place and a parchment manuscript codex, this very ancient and perhaps contemporary testimony: In the year of the Lord's incarnation 1113, in the 6th indiction, Henry V being emperor, Wolfram, laudably brought up at Deutz near Cologne according to the monastic profession, solemnly translated the body of St. Palmatia, virgin and martyr, with very many other relics, into the monastery of Wissembourg under Abbot Meningaud, who had some time before received him into the fellowship of his brethren. St. Palmatia, of whom we have spoken, was third in the order of precedence of the eleven thousand virgins who suffered at Cologne for the Lord's sake, the most holy Ursula obtaining the name of royal dignity in that expedition; Pinnosa too, of equal holiness, nobly administering the ensign of command. Whence the name of St. Palmatia then became known is hidden. Of the remaining pious treasures Crombach writes these things in another place Ibid., page 657.: There was among other sacred pledges the head of St. Corona, virgin, and of St. Fides, martyr, with the teeth of St. Salna (rather Saula) of the eleven: and the head of St. Fides the archbishop of Cologne had tested by fire: when its skull, applied to the flame, left no mark of burning, a plaintive voice sounded from the midst of the fire: Why do you torture me again? The prelate seemed to have paid the penalty of his rashness, who died within two months. I do not think it necessary to demonstrate that this prodigy is false: who does not see that God cannot permit the saints to say, contrary to the truth, that they are tortured again when their relics are ill treated? Nor did the archbishop of Cologne die within two months to pay the penalty of his rashness, since Frederick I sat at Cologne from the year 1099 until the year 1131 Gallia Christiana nova, volume III, col. 671.. This one thing is to be gathered from it, that some teeth of St. Saula, one of the eleven (compare these words with what was said in the Preliminary Commentary, numbers 262 and 263, and in the Posthumous Glory, number 97), were carried to Wissembourg together with some new relics, which the prelate of Cologne had tested by fire according to the custom then in use. On this usage read Mabillon Ouvrages posthumes, volume I, page 285 and following., Martène De antiquis ecclesiae ritibus, volume III, page 495 and following., Gerbert Vetus liturgia alemannica, volume II, page 556., and others.

[102] [At the end of the year 1121 St. Norbert, having poured forth prayers, obtains a body indicated from heaven; he translates it partly to Floreffe, partly to Prémontré.] Not in the year 1123, as is related in the Premonstratensian continuation of Sigebert In Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae, volume VI, pages 448 and 449., but at the end of the year 1121, as appears from the foundations of Prémontré Act. SS. volume I of June, page 832, number 40, and page 833, note h. and of Floreffe Ibid., page 835, number 49 and note d., within whose interval the matter was carried out, St. Norbert obtained relics of the holy virgins at Cologne. His contemporary biographer narrates that business in the following words Ibid., page 835.: After these things (namely after the many miracles wrought at Prémontré) he came to Cologne, where he is both willingly received and more willingly heard in sermon and confession; because they had known him before as a young man, and now saw him wonderfully changed. And because the custom of peoples is wont to be an imitator of novelties, many

both clerics and laymen, running together at his word and exhortation, became imitators of the poverty of Christ and followed him. He himself also already then had it in his will to build a church in which he might receive those gathered together. For this reason he asked of Archbishop Frederick and the other faithful that he might deserve to receive the patronage of some of the holy relics, with which happy Cologne had from of old been not a little filled and endowed. The bishop assented, the clergy assented, judging the petition to be just, and the people. And he, having proclaimed a fast to his brethren whom he had with him, and whom God had bestowed on him there, commended this precious gift to God, that he would grant them to find a venerable patronage. And on that same night a virgin of the number of the eleven thousand virgins, and the name of that virgin, and the place where she lay, were pointed out to a certain person in a vision: and on the morrow, according to the order of the vision, the body was sought there and found entire. When this had been received with hymns and praises of God and thanksgiving, two small vessels, in the manner of a bier, were also filled for him to carry away with relics of other virgins and of certain other martyrs, namely Gereon, the Moors, and the two Ewalds… Having taken up the relics not long afterwards, and having gathered the college of brethren, both clerics and laymen, whom he had begotten to God by the word of preaching, he set out on the journey back; and he was everywhere received magnificently with procession in the churches and congregations. Now a certain noble matron, named Ermensendis, countess of Namur, wife of Count Godfrey, hearing of his passage, quickly came to meet him, earnestly entreating that he would be willing to take over a certain little church of hers in the township of Floreffe, in order to place brethren and the religious life there… And he, seeing the affectionate devotion of the woman, had regard to her and accepted what she asked. And leaving there one of the vessels of relics, he hastened to Prémontré (for the day of the Nativity was at hand), having about thirty novices, brethren both clerics and laymen.

[103] [In the year 1142 relics are translated to Breitenau, and in the year 1143 to Sponheim,] In the former diocese of Mainz there was formerly situated the monastery of St. Benedict of Breitenau, which in the year 1142 was ruled by St. Henry, most learned in divine and human letters, whose praises and writings Trithemius celebrates at the year 1132 Chronicum Hirsaugiense, volume I, page 594, edition of 1690.. This same chronicler relates these things at the year 1142 Ibid., page 410.: In the 22nd year of Volmar, abbot of Hirsau, St. Henry, from being a monk of this monastery of Hirsau the second abbot of the monastery at Breitenau, of whom we spoke above, obtained from Arnold, archbishop of Cologne, four bodies of the company of the holy eleven thousand virgins and martyrs, which on the solemnity of the Visitation of Blessed Mary ever virgin, that is, on the sixth day before the Nones of July, he brought with reverence into his monastery. Crombach found the same things, but in fewer words S. Ursula vindicata, page 1002., in a Breitenau manuscript codex. By these, beyond doubt, Bernhelm, abbot of Sponheim in the same diocese of Mainz, was stirred up to acquire a similar treasure for himself. And indeed that same Trithemius in the Chronicle of Sponheim relates these things [Jo. Trithemius, secundae partis Chronica insignia duo, page 249, edition of 1601.]: In the year 1143 Abbot Bernhelm, through the intervention of Megenhard, count of Sponheim, founder of that monastery Ibid., page 253., obtained from Arnold, archbishop of Cologne, two bodies of the company of the eleven thousand virgins and martyrs; which, receiving them with great honour, he carried here to the monastery and placed in two gilded wooden shrines; the heads, however, were broken, but the individual parts were arranged with their own body. But how the virgins translated both to Breitenau and to Sponheim were found and recognized as being of the company of St. Ursula is indicated in neither place. Judgement on that matter had been passed by Arnold I, archbishop of Cologne, a judge (alas!) not beyond all exception, being a simoniac Cf. Gallia Christiana nova, volume III, col. 675.; in which matter, however, I would not on that account dare to suspect any bad faith.

[104] to the Mount of St. Disibod In this same year 1143, says Dodechin, a contemporary writer and abbot of the monastery of St. Disibod, in which the events took place [In the continuation of the Chronicle of Marianus Scotus, in Pistorius, Scriptores rerum germanicarum, volume I, page 675.], in the 6th indiction, the new monastery on the mount of St. Disibod was dedicated… In the same year or day, nonetheless, the relics of St. Disibod, our father, were laid away by the above-mentioned prelate Henry of Mainz, on the third day before the Kalends of October, in a stone tomb behind the principal altar, placed in two small leaden coffers: the smaller of them, namely, containing the bones, the larger the ashes. There were placed in the same tomb three bodies of the saints of the company of the eleven thousand virgins in wooden coffers, and certain of the Theban legion. These things were done with the co-operation of the lord Cuno, the fourth abbot of that place. There is no doubt that these pledges too were received from Arnold of Cologne.

[105] and to Zwiefalten. In the same year 1145 two bodies of the holy virgins were also carried into Swabia, namely into the monastery of Zwiefalten. In the Chronicle of this monastery, namely, which was begun to be written in the year 1158 and then continued, and at last in the year 1784 published by Gerard Hess, monk and prior of Weingarten, these things are read at the year 1145 Monumentorum Guelficorum pars historica, page 220.: Two bodies of the eleven thousand virgins were brought by Abbot Berchtold on the third day before the Nones of September. These things are explained a little more fully by Ortlieb, who until the year 1141 lived as a monk at Zwiefalten, then, taken up to the abbatial see of Neresheim, died in the year 1164 [Sulger, Annales imperialis monasterii Zwifaltensis, first part, pages 111 and 139.]. He wrote a book on the origins of Zwiefalten, continued by another contemporary monk of Zwiefalten; some excerpts of which Sulger published in the Annals of the imperial monastery of Zwiefalten, almost all the rest the praised Gerard Hess in the Monumenta Guelfica. Further, when Abbot Bertold had resigned his place in the year 1141 and St. Ernest, afterwards a martyr in the East, had occupied his seat, he, lest by his presence he should cause annoyance to his successor, or otherwise, as Ortlieb has it, sow some tares of scandals, withdrew into Saxony and thence to Cologne, to return in his time not without spoils Sulger, Annales imperialis monasterii Zwifaltensis, first part, page 110.. Hear Ortlieb's continuator Ibid., pages 111 and 112.: Two entire bodies of the holy eleven thousand virgins and martyrs. Likewise relics of the holy martyrs Gordian and Epimachus, of St. Sebastian, martyr, of the chest of St. Agatha and of her hair, were acquired for us by the pious labour of the lord Berthold, the fourth father of this place. For, going into Saxony, while he passed through Cologne Agrippina, with the help of a certain religious priest named Luitolf, of the title of St. Mary which is called de Pascha (or in Pasculo, commonly St. Maria im Pesch), he acquired two bodies of the number of the eleven thousand virgins who suffered there. These, therefore, he kept there in safe custody for some time, and afterwards, returning thence in the one thousand and forty-third year, he had them translated to us before the Nativity of St. Mary the virgin, as great gifts.

[106] where they are recognized by cold water; But we, being men ignorant of the truth of the matter, lest perhaps we should receive uncertain things for certain, having first held fasts and prayers, by the judgement of cold water, truly and in clear light, all who were present praising God, proved that the holy virginal bodies had suffered for Christ at Cologne and were of the number of the eleven thousand virgins; which examination having been carried out, adorned in albs and copes we joyfully received these same relics with fitting praises. Then, at the request of the aforesaid father, we kept one of these bodies with us, the other we placed at St. John the Baptist in the monastery of virgins. That all the judgements of God, which the Indo-Germanic peoples introduced into Europe from the East Indies (where they are still in use), are unlawful theologians generally teach; yet that God has quite often yielded to the simplicity of men and wrought exceptional miracles, so that by them the truth might become known, no one will deny who has not made up his mind beforehand to deny the best-attested and clearest prodigies. But, though these things are so, it by no means follows that anything is proved by the judgement of cold water. For it was done in this way: during prayers a man or relics were let down into cold water, and if they went down to the bottom they were held to be good and genuine; but if they floated on the surface, they seemed to be rejected and disapproved by the water [Cf. Du Cange, under Judicium Dei, per aquam frigidam; Martène, de Antiquis ecclesiae ritibus, volume III, page 461.]. Further, since the weight of bones and of the bodies of most living men is greater than the weight of water for the same quantity or space, they naturally sink in water. And for that reason the judgement of cold water was very rarely used in proving relics; yet it was sometimes used with a most evident miracle.

[107] which form of the judgement of God was rarely used in examining relics. Let an example be what happened in the cloistered house of the ladies of the order of Blessed Augustine which is called Hodunc, of the diocese of Liège, in the land of the duke of Brabant, in the year of the Lord 1244, in the month of August, in the octave of Blessed Augustine. This was related in a public diploma Foppens, Historia episcopatus Silvaeducensis, page 292 and following. by St. Boniface, bishop of Lausanne; who, then living in Belgium, was the chief part of the whole business. He had learned, namely, formerly at Lausanne from the bishop of Geneva, who had learned it from another, that the wood of the Lord's cross put into water goes down to the bottom, whereas other woods put into water are naturally wont to float: and using this experiment, he affirmed that he was certain that he had a certain particle of the holy cross of the Lord. St. Boniface therefore also made this experiment, and the particle of wood at once went down to the bottom like a stone. And when he had then lifted it out of the water, many drops of thick blood came out from the lower part of the same wood, one after another descending to the bottom of the cup; which was repeated three times, other prodigies also accompanying it. But enough of these things; since we have related them only with this intention, that it may be established that relics were examined not by fire only, as very learned men have been persuaded, but also by the judgement of cold water.

§ XI. The general elevation of the bodies begun in the year 1155, and the fabrication of the inscriptions.

[In the year 1155 the general elevation of the relics begins; they are distinguished by a thousand signs of martyrdom,] After these followed the third series of translations, or, as they call it, the general discovery and elevation of the bodies of the holy virgins, which began to take place in the year 1155. The occasion, says Crombach S. Ursula illustrata, pages 486 and 487., of searching for the sacred pledges at that time I found in manuscript codices of the Charterhouse of Cologne, arising from various

visions of the Holy Virgins made to citizens, such as was made to St. Norbert, a tomb being offered and pointed out. Further, St. Elizabeth, in number or chapter 2 of the Revelations, indicates that the place was an open-air cemetery, in these words: When it pleased the Lord to have mercy on his precious martyrs, who for a long time had lain without honour under the feet of men and beasts of burden beside the walls of the city of Cologne, it happened that certain men dwelling there came to the place of their martyrdom, and opened many monuments of the holy bodies, and, having taken them up from there, transferred them to the religious places which were round about, as had been ordained by the Lord. Among these Gerlach, abbot of Deutz, stood out for learning and integrity of life: who, since the incredible zeal of the people of Cologne for searching out the sacred relics lasted not one year only but nine, as long as he lived (for he died at the holy work), spared no labour, shirked no trouble. Yet it was not he himself, as Crombach would have it, but Theoderic, sacristan and chronicler of Deutz, who brought out the inscriptions from the sarcophagi and raised the sacred bodies with his own hands, as he testifies in a manuscript codex in these words: Because we take care to commend more closely to the memory of posterity the devotion of the Holy Martyrs, whom, beyond the expectation of all the living, we saw translated before our eyes, and whose bodies moreover, or inscriptions, we dug out of the tombs with our hands, in which also we beheld and venerated a thousand signs of martyrdoms. Why did he not say more clearly what these thousand signs of martyrdoms were that he beheld?

[109] which seem ordinarily to have been arrows fixed in the heads or bodies. Yet we do not seem to ourselves to be rash if we assert that these were commonly arrows fixed in the heads, and wounds of the heads impressed on the skull by the strokes of arrows. Certainly in the diploma by which, in the year 1256, on the 16th day before the Kalends of August, the nuns of the convent of the Holy Maccabees of Cologne wished the body of a certain virgin, to be carried to the convent of Salzinnes near Namur, to be accompanied, they speak thus of it: Recently, they say, one body of a Virgin of the same holy company was found among us by a revelation divinely made, WITH A CERTAIN AND EVIDENT SIGN OF HER MARTYRDOM, NAMELY A CARELLUS (that is, an arrow or dart. Cf. Du Cange under Carellum) IN HER HEAD, WITH WHICH SHE HAD BEEN SHOT AT THE TIME OF HER PASSION, after the likeness of Blessed Ursula, who was then the queen and leader of these same blessed virgins. We said in the Preliminary Commentary, number 145, that in many heads and relics of bodies which are still kept at Cologne arrows are still fixed. Add that among the innumerable relics which were kept at Altenberg in the seventeenth century there were several in which arrows were shown still fixed in the heads S. Ursula illustrata, page 664.. Moreover in the Catalogue of the relics of St. Trond it is read: In the year of salvation 1271 the bones of SS. Aegidius, brother of St. Imayna, who, one of the flock of the eleven thousand virgins who were slaughtered at Cologne for Christ by the barbarians, perished pierced by a javelin through the middle of the breast Ibid., page 1011.. Finally in the church of St. Clement at Prague, while it belonged to our Society, there was kept the back part of a skull which was said to have been St. Ursula's, and had formerly been given by the people of Cologne to Charles IV, king of Bohemia, and from his treasury had come into the hands of the matron Manriquez and from her hands into that church. Our Theodore Moretus examined it carefully in the year 1648, and wrote of it to Bolland that there appeared in this Prague pledge the stroke of an arrow penetrating through the skull, so that the little finger could be put in through the wound. These things being premised, there now follows the writing of Theoderic, monk and sacristan of Deutz, who was by far the greatest part of all these things.

Here begin the revelations of the inscriptions,

or names of the Holy Martyrs and Holy Virgins, by Theoderic, sacristan of Deutz. ^a

BY THEODERIC OF DEUTZ.

[In the year 1155 bodies began to be found in great number and inscriptions to be fabricated.] In the year from the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ 1155, in the fourth indiction, and in the continuous revolution of the nine following years, the emperor Frederick ruling the Roman empire, and Pope Adrian IV administering the pontificate of the Roman church, there presiding also in succession over the holy church of Cologne the archbishops, namely Arnold II, Frederick II and Reinold the archchancellor, Gerlach being abbot in the church of Deutz, the bodies of the Holy Martyrs and Holy Virgins were raised in the suburb of the city of Cologne. Whose names or inscriptions, found in their tombs and laid away in the archives of the same church for the knowledge of posterity, we have therefore thought worthy to be noted down in sheets and letters: because we take care to commend more closely to the memory of posterity the devotion of the Holy Martyrs, whom, beyond the expectation of all the living, we saw translated before our eyes, and whose bodies moreover, or inscriptions, we brought out of the tombs with our hands, in which also we beheld and venerated a thousand signs of martyrdoms; one by one, therefore, the inscriptions of each, as they are seen to be engraved on the stones found with them, we have set out in this manner, beginning with the greater.

and under Hartbern. [III. Whatever holy martyrs, therefore, have been described thus far, their bodies arrived in the days of the lord Abbot Gerlach, their most devoted translator; but those which now follow are known to have arrived in the time of the lord Hartpern, his successor [q].

[IV] likewise of the women under Gerlach, IV. The names and inscriptions of the Holy Martyrs having been written down on the preceding page, who, with the strength of the male sex, trampling on glory, for the love of Jesus Christ met the atrocity of death, I have thought it worth while to insert on the following page the names and inscriptions also of the holy virgins, who conquered both the world and their sex; and they were found by the care of the lord Abbot Gerlach, most zealous for them, who in gathering, cherishing and honouring them continued days and nights alike with watchful zeal.

[V] and under Hartbern; [V. These bodies too of holy virgins, whose names the subjoined page contains written down, are known to have arrived in the days of the lord Abbot Hartpern; in whose time indeed it is manifest that a greater number of holy men than of the female sex arrived here.

[VI] Many other bodies found, enclosed in the altar, in chests and in shrines. VI. Besides [s these pledges of the saints, then, whose names are seen noted here, there are also others with us, without names indeed on earth, but made luminous in heaven, exceeding the number of a hundred; of which nearly half are held enclosed in the principal altar, some in chests placed beside the same altar; the rest also in small inscribed shrines set in order; which we do not doubt are intermingled of both sexes; and indeed those whose reception we have enjoyed hitherto, whether they were known by names or unknown, I have diligently described; but if, as I wish, any shall come hereafter, whether I describe them or another, for this I wish for the other the same as for myself, namely to merit pardon of sins, the grace of Christ and his Mother and of these saints, and the fellowship of eternal life.

The happiness of Cologne in the possession of so many saints is praised. VII. But] O how great is the multitude of your sweetness, and how very fragrant the odour of your ointments, Lord Jesus Christ! who gathered together these holy martyrs from the farthest shore of the Ocean and from the bounds of a distant land, and not only virgins, as, according to the text of their Passion, the opinion of all the living holds, but also the very prelate of the apostolic see, and certain patriarchs, and archbishops of great cities, bishops, cardinals, priests, deacons, and ministers of every ecclesiastical order, kings also, dukes, counts, knights, and men of every Christian profession, of both sexes, namely, you assembled into one body of this blessed legion; and calling them all to a kind of general council in the fields of Agrippina, you bestowed on them incorruption for corruption, immortality of soul for the death of the flesh, the heavenly kingdom and everlasting riches for the giving up of earthly dignities or patrimonies: and O how wonderful you are still in these saints, who, as in the beginning of the world you made light shine out of darkness, and afterwards, appearing in man, the light of faith and truth out of the darkness of errors and unbelief; so now, revealing hidden things, you have willed that those who were hitherto unknown should become known to the world, with the testimony of their inscriptions and names, for the salvation of all men. Wherefore, since in this matter we cannot search out the height of your wisdom and knowledge, to you, the immortal king of the ages, we render honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. [t].

ANNOTATIONS.

against the fury of Attila, as he judged it. Add that in the contemporary history of the Translation of three bodies of the holy virgins of Cologne, which were uncovered in the year 1105 or 1106 and about forty years later were translated to Waulsort, mention is made of their leader and bishop, so that the inscription was perhaps fabricated according to this tradition, which could not have been hidden from the diggers. But enough of this: let the people of Basel see to it.

p. The diggers seem to have vied with one another in bringing out an inscription of Clematius. Behold, now another appears.

q. Crombach omitted the following inscriptions of men, because at the end some companions of St. Gereon were added; of whom the first is St. Mallusius; yet there is no confusion. I would not waste time in indicating the manifest errors which appear in these; in one word I would say that they are of still worse bran (if that be possible) than the preceding.

r. Crombach omitted the inscription of St. Cordula, since he thought it must be admitted that the true St. Cordula was translated by Blessed Albert the Great.

s. What we have enclosed in square brackets Crombach also omitted.

t. In the same codex there was then read an exact notation of the time of the translation of St. Heribert; after that came the feasts which Hartbern instituted in honour of the Holy Virgins, and of which we speak in another place; and finally there followed a Chronicle from the beginning of the world to the year of Christ 1162. — At the foot of these annotations I will add that those fabricated inscriptions have nothing in common with the stone monuments which are seen in the Ursuline basilica, with names and pictures added, than with the disposition of the limbs and with what indications they were buried: of these we spoke in the Preliminary Commentary, number 234, following Crombach. For these are mostly old tombs found in the Cologne field, which were at some time covered with lime and adorned with those figures and names, the original inscription being effaced. Of this kind is the monument in which the body of one Ursuline virgin was enclosed, and which on the lime spread over it showed the image of a girl, her breast pierced with an arrow; but where the lime was removed it showed the inscription APOLLONIAE VICTORINAE to Apollonia Victorina Weyer, Sammlung von Ansichten in Köln, page 46.. It may be that formerly the ashes of pagans too were laid in this and similar monuments. For very often Christians converted mausoleums and inscriptions of this kind to their own uses [Marangoni, delle Cose Gentilesche trasportate ad uso delle chiese, pages 46, 293 and following, 314 and following.]. Above all, many things of this kind have been found in the Roman cemeteries, which it is now beyond controversy were occupied by Christians alone. Below, in the Commentary on St. Maurontus of Marseille, an example will also occur. To this point too the following are relevant: in the year 1643, when Johann Crane, the imperial legate, whom we have often praised, was having the golden chamber, in which the treasure of the Ursuline church is kept, repaired and adorned, great receptacles of relics appeared in the altars and little chests full of sacred bones; and in the footings and walls certain cippi and sepulchral stones had been walled in, perhaps borrowed from the tombs of pagans, says Gelenius, from whom we draw these things De Coloniae magnitudine, page 336., for the honour and work of the sacred structure: of which he then reports two specimens; but, as that author rightly adds, they had no other use than for building in, the spoils of Egypt being turned to the use of the sons of God. This has been done in every age, often with the greatest damage: of which let an example be the most precious monuments of antiquity collected with so much zeal and labour by our Alexander Wiltheim at Luxembourg, which in the century just past were seen thrown into the foundations of the former houses of our Society Cf. Luciliburgensia sive Luxemburgum Romanum, page XI.. But by these things we have perhaps been led away further than is fitting from the fabricated inscriptions of Cologne.

* Mauricus.

* Pynnera.

§ XII. Some singular narratives of bodies found and translated. The prohibition of Boniface IX that no more bodies should thenceforth be translated from Cologne.

More than a thousand bodies are translated around the year 1182 to Altenberg; From the catalogue of Theoderic, which we have just published entire for the first time, one can by no means judge of the abundance of relics which, under the abbots Gerlach and Hartbern, were dug out of the Ursuline field. But how great it was understand rather from this, that Goswin, in the year 1182 abbot of Altenberg, or Aldenberg, four miles distant from Cologne, was said to have received more than a thousand bodies [Caesarius of Heisterbach, Miraculorum et historiarum book VIII, chapter 88, page 639. Cf. Crombach, page 663.]. Similarly to Himmerod, a monastery of the former diocese of Trier, besides many entire bodies, three hundred and seventy heads were given Ibid., page 666.. Having indicated these things from Brower, Crombach adds: The people of Cologne were lavish at that time, and bestowed on others not hundreds only but thousands of heads and bodies. And it was at this time above all that almost all the monasteries of Belgium, Westphalia and other neighbouring parts, and even in Denmark and England, especially of the Benedictine, Premonstratensian and Cistercian orders, received holy relics of the company of St. Ursula. Nor is it to be doubted that the churches and convents of Cologne too shared in the same treasure: for who does not know that all the buildings which existed at Cologne at that time were filled with them? But I shall indicate only those things which are singular. Caesarius, treating of various visions, introduces Apollonius asking these things [Caesarius of Heisterbach, Miraculorum et historiarum book VIII, chapter 88, page 639.]: Since in the streets and gardens of the city of Cologne the bones of the blessed eleven thousand virgins are found everywhere, it seems to me that it can hardly be that strange bones are not often mixed with them; by which words a common doubt seems to be expressed. To this Caesarius: A certain monk of Altenberg, in which there are said to be more than a thousand bodies, told me that they do not suffer any false relics among them. And receive the account, somewhat shortened: When the monks, enriched with so many bodies, had piously, according to received custom, washed the bones, and had distributed them on clean cloths spread out over the benches of the chapter-house, as they call it, so that they might dry more easily, so foul a stench breathed upon those present that it drove them from the place: Abbot Goswin, scenting a hellish trick, surrounded by a company of priests, vested in linen, adjures the foul demon with a sacred chant: let him begone from there: he also orders every source of the stench to depart. He had scarcely uttered the sacred words when, all being astonished at the new sight, a certain very large horse's bone leaps out, and is cast out of the window as if by a whirlwind. At once the stench being removed, a most pleasant odour refreshes those present, a sign of the heavenly fragrance which the lilies of virginity and the roses of martyrdom had won for the virgins.

[111] [In the year 1157 Gerald, abbot of Vicogne, not sparing money and helped by the count of Hainaut and the duke of Limburg, obtains the body of St. Karissa,] Nor does every appearance of avarice (not to say simony) seem to have been absent from these donations; let the reader judge from the history of the translation to Vicogne, which is narrated in the History of this monastery. Its earlier part, contemporary with this translation, d'Achery published Spicilegium, volume II, page 847; folio edition., and Martène repeated the same with the continuation of Nicholas the prior Vett. Scriptt. amplissima collectio, volume VI, cols. 290 and 291.. Nor was the same translation left untouched in the book on the Foundation of the church of Vicogne according to brother Nicholas of Montigny In Hugo, Sacrae antiquitatis monumenta, volume II, page 202.; nor in Guise's Annals of Hainaut [Histoire de Hainaut, volume XII, page 133 and following, edition of Fortia d'Urbain.]; much less by Crombach S. Ursula vindicata, pages 668 and 669.. Nicholas of Montigny also wrote a book on the translation of the virgins, which Blanpain thumbed through, that same man who added notes to the book on the Foundation of Vicogne of the same Nicholas of Montigny. Now all these writings agree with one another, except that Crombach wrongly substituted Guarinus for Gerard, abbot of Vicogne, and that he did not set down some notes of time. It will be enough to have shown here the first narrative, with a very few notes sprinkled in: I prefer to follow Martène's edition. After, then, Guarinus, who had occupied the place of Wido, first abbot of Vicogne, had been placed in the abbatial see of St. Martin of Laon, another succeeded, named Gerald, a Premonstratensian canon regular of the aforesaid monastery of Vicogne.

In his times, then, when our church, says the chronicler, was flourishing both in spiritual and in temporal things, some of our brethren, out of love and honour for the saints, with his consent and co-operation, built a certain vessel, which is commonly called a shrine, adorned with gold and silver and precious stones. On account of which, namely lest, so great a vessel remaining empty, they should be said to have laboured in vain, searching out the pledges of the saints wherever they could from churches both near and distant, they gathered a great abundance of them… It happened moreover that Baldwin, count of Hainaut, was preparing to set out for Cologne for the sake of prayer: and when the fame of this pilgrimage had reached the ears of our brethren, they persuaded the said abbot to send one of the brethren with him, who by his authority and prayers might deserve to receive from Gerlach, abbot of St. Heribert at Deutz, the entire body of one virgin of the company of the eleven thousand virgins and bring it to us: which was done. For indeed, by the co-operating grace of the Lord, the abbot of St. Heribert, pressed, or rather overcome, by the prayers of our count and also by the authority and command of Henry, duke of Limburg, brought out one of the many virgins who were kept in the sanctuary, whose name is Karissa, and sent her to us. The sacred relics of this sacred virgin, therefore, we received with hymns and praises on the holy day of Easter, and after Pentecost, very many religious men and abbots and a great secular multitude coming together, they were laid with due honour in the aforesaid shrine by the lord Frumald, archdeacon of Arras.

[112] [which is solemnly received on the feast of Easter and on the feast of Pentecost enclosed in a shrine.] That the sacred pledge was laid in a little casket glittering with gold, silver and gems on the holy day of Pentecost of the year 1157, in the presence of Frimald, archdeacon of Arras, afterwards the successor, though not the immediate one, of Bishop Godescalc, then worn out with old age, Blanpain records, relying on the authority of the book on the Translation of the holy virgins: nor is it to be doubted that the relics really came to Vicogne on the feast of Easter, falling in the year 1157 on the 31st of March, and were shut in the shrine on the feast of Pentecost, or the 19th of May, yet in such a way that the solemnity of this celebration was afterwards kept a whole month later. For Crombach, with whom the best records on this matter were shared, has the following: Having received this body of St. Karissa, he says, the monks returned joyfully to Vicogne in the Easter holidays. They were received with solemn pomp, and the sacred treasure was brought into the church with melodious harmony: yet, that this translation might be carried out with a more celebrated pomp, the abbot, having taken counsel with the bishop of Arras, appointed the solemn translation of the sacred body for Pentecost. To it there flocked very many men illustrious in ecclesiastical and secular dignity, abbots, with a countless multitude of people. Thereupon the 19th of June was decreed, to be kept every year with a double office in honour of the holy virgins too. In whose Sequence the people of Vicogne sing thus: O happy prelacy, over which presides all the care of spiritual things, but happy Vicogne, to which Cologne affords gladness and joy.

[113] Gerald himself brings back other relics, and obtains others through an envoy, But let us continue with the first chronicler of Vicogne: Meanwhile, he says, when the acquisition of this one sacred virgin had kindled in the heart of Abbot Gerard a keener thirst for acquiring more, seeing an opportune time, he himself, with some brethren associated with him, set out for Cologne; and, as much as he could, from whomever he could, in season and out of season, by prayers, gifts and promises, from the said often-mentioned abbot Gerlach of St. Heribert himself as well, although the monks were unaware, he received the sacred bones of the holy virgins and of the martyrs who suffered with them, and brought them here to us on the feast of the holy Trinity. But since the fire of desire, once kindled, could not yet persuade his heart, by cooling, to say: it is enough; a third time nonetheless, not indeed himself, but through his prior as his envoy, he visited the holy place of Cologne, and as once and again, so also a third time collected bodies of the holy martyrs and virgins; with which, as the truth of the matter proves, he magnificently enriched our church. The bones of these martyrs, then, consecrated to God, wooden coffers having been prepared, they placed with reverence and fear in a certain wooden structure, beautifully put together with gold and colours, above the altar of the apostles, at the very front of the head of the church, as is easily plain to those who look: where to this day their merits are venerated to the praise and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[114] [and indeed by giving gifts and paying money. Afterwards the monks of Vicogne also obtained other relics.] When Gerald himself went to Cologne, he by no means spared gifts and promises: and when afterwards he sent an envoy, he also loaded him with money. Hear Crombach: He sends his prior to the same place; a man as pious as he was diligent in carrying out business: he instructs him with directions whom to approach, through what patrons to transact the matter according to his wish: he gives him a great sum of silver, he who did not wish all the treasures of the world even to come into competition with the sacred remains of the saints. The prior presses the matter actively, and according to the wish of his prelate carries it through; for he returned bringing many bodies: which, brought into the church of Vicogne with festive solemnity in the year 1159, so enriched it that Vicogne far surpassed all the neighbouring monasteries in its treasure of holy relics. To which Blanpain reports this note from a writer of a later age: For at that time it had not yet been decreed that relics should not be for sale. But before I leave Gerald of Vicogne, it seems it should be noted that Crombach erred when he referred to him what is related by Jean Le Paige Bibliotheca Praemonstratensis, book II, page 507. about Philip, abbot of Park near Louvain. Afterwards Giles of Lewis, the XIth abbot, obtained some other bodies by the favour and authority of John, count of Flanders; and for the same reason sent Nicholas of Valenciennes into Germany, who in the year 1236 brought some bodies from Aachen to Vicogne.

[115] Whether Simon, abbot of Sithiu, or St. Bertin, also paid money when he was presented with four bodies, In the year 1178 Simon, abbot of Sithiu, obtains four bodies. is not sufficiently clear. Only this is related by a contemporary monk of Sithiu, who is commonly known as Simon's continuator Guérard, Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Saint Bertin, pages 341 and 342.: In the third year of his rule, which was the one thousand one hundred and seventy-eighth of the Lord's incarnation, when, according to ancient custom, the messenger of the abbey was going to Cologne Agrippina for our revenues, by order of the venerable abbot Simon, an eager acquirer of holy relics, persons of both states being sent with him, he brought to us from the company of the eleven thousand virgins about four bodies with many relics of various saints, and caused them to be translated to his monastery; and in a shrine of silver, copper and crystal stones, wrought and ornamented with comely workmanship, together with a great part of the body of our holy protector Audomar and the pledges of the saints Columban the abbot and Walbert, he laid two bodies of those virgins; the remaining pledges of them he laid away in an ivory shrine with great joy and eagerness.

[116] [Towards the end of the twelfth century the abbot of Volkenroda, roused by visions, comes to Cologne to the abbess Clementia to ask for bodies:] While Clementia was abbess of the holy virgins from about the year 1173 to 1206, there lived there a nun named Friderundis or Friderindis, about whom there is a narrative in Caesarius of Heisterbach Miraculorum, etc., book VIII, chapter 85, page 634 and following., which Crombach has somewhat shortened S. Ursula illustrata, page 671.. Receive it, that it may hence be established that in the twelfth century the Ursuline nuns too, although at first they seem by no means to have cared about these things, gave their labour to seeking bodies, and even had a digger whom the abbess used very much in searching out and digging up the sacred bodies; and finally that in that age incredible credence was given to visions. In Thuringia, then, says Crombach, there is situated a monastery of the Cistercian order, which they call Volkenroda: over it presided an abbot, a notable venerator of holy relics; whence he deserved to be enlightened by God in his sleep with such a vision. He thought he was standing at Cologne in the place where the Ursuline basilica rises, and that near the wall the definite place of a tomb was shown him, in which three virgins, Theomata, Cleomata and Christantia, were laid. Joyful, he goes to Cologne, approaches the abbess, declares to her the vision offered him from heaven in his sleep, and begs permission to search for the treasure lying hid in the bowels of the earth, and, when found, to translate it to his monastery. There was at Agrippina a certain Ulric, an industrious digger of relics, whom the abbess used very much in searching out and digging up sacred remains from the earth: the abbot hires him. While he is heaving up the earth deep down, he finds two sarcophagi, and, one being opened, behold a most elegant comb, and, fired with desire for it, he hides it in his glove: but it suddenly hinders the digger, his hand being made very heavy: so he takes it out and places it in a higher place upon the earth thrown out. By chance one of the canonesses passed by, she was called Friderindis, who, enticed by the elegance of the comb, picked it up, and quickly took her foot away from there.

[117] These refuse to set out, because the comb has been taken away. Now they had decently enclosed the three bodies dug up in a shrine, so that with them on the morrow the abbot might depart into Thuringia, when at dead of night three virgins stand by him, saying they will not be companions of the journey. The abbot wonders, and: Why so, he entreats, my ladies? To whom one: Because I have lost the comb which my mother had left me when I departed from my homeland. The abbot asks who had taken it away; he learns that it had been picked up by the virgin Friderindis. Awaking in the morning, he meets the abbess, inquires the name of the digger: and when he had been summoned, questions him about the comb: he confesses that it was brought out of the monument by him and taken away by Friderindis: the abbot asks the virgin for the comb, so that he may restore it to the martyr and to the coffer, since, it having been taken away, the virgins refused to be moved from the place: then, having recovered it and hastened his departure, he returned without any trouble into Thuringia with the sacred relics: which both he and all the religious attended with great honour: until, that veneration growing cold, the same virgins returned to Cologne, when that Friderindis had been made abbess; and indeed Caesarius narrates that that return was undertaken spontaneously by the holy virgins. A similar prodigy is narrated in the History of the translation of the arm of St. Simon the apostle into the Premonstratensian monastery at Sayn, concerning three virgins whose bodies were kept in a monastery of Thuringia at Ollersleuben, which they are said to have left because discipline had collapsed Crombach, page 1007.. These things are not very certain.

[118] By the help of visions two bodies are uncovered. That same Caesarius testifies that a few years before he wrote his book, around the year 1222, Euphemia, abbess at St. Ursula's, had died; who, when at a tender age she was being brought up in the convent of St. Ursula, saw at dead of night two virgins: they complained grievously that they lay hidden without any cult or honour in the farthest buildings; the girl disregarded the matter, interpreting it as a dream: but when, at an age already mature, she had seen two or three times in the same place virgins most beautiful in countenance, standing out as far as the navel (for the rest of them was buried in the earth), so that they seemed to be begging help to be brought out of the bowels of the earth, Euphemia, not unmindful

of the first vision offered her in her tender years, asks her who seemed to be the chief among them her name, and she affirmed that she was called Anastasia: then Euphemia urged the abbess to extend the building of that place as far as the end of the dormitory, for it would come to pass that two bodies of holy virgins would be found: she persuaded the abbess and the other nuns, and, Rembod being summoned (who afterwards, having professed the Cistercian rule, set out the whole matter, as it had been done, to Caesarius), entrusted to him all the charge of the whole work: he, the soil being thrown out, under the very foundations of the wall, in the presence of Euphemia, found two bodies, which, before the same virgin was set over the Ursuline virgins, she sent to the monastery of Heisterbach: when they had arrived there, the monks performed sacred rites to God concerning them with solemn ritual. When Caesarius had related these things somewhat more fully, to some remarks of Apollonius, with whom he is feigned to hold a dialogue there, on the admirable power of nocturnal visions, he adds: Often their bodies are shown by burning lights; and yet no one, as they say, can see these same lights unless he be a virgin in body. Similar to which things are narrated at the year 1229 in the Great Belgian Chronicle: At Cologne, says its author, a canon of Neuss In Pistorius, Rerum germanicarum scriptores, volume III, page 256., at the beginning of August, twenty-four bodies of the company of the eleven thousand virgins were found. But wherever the bodies of these virgins are to be found, burning candles seem to appear above the tombs, which candles none but virgins, boys or girls, can see. That nothing is manifested by lights of this kind, which appear here and there in cemeteries, since they are merely natural, no one now is ignorant; but it is worth while to have noted that they too were observed in digging up the bodies.

[119] [Hymana, abbess of Salzinnes, received in the year 1256 a body revealed from heaven, with an arrow fixed in it;] The nuns of the Holy Maccabees at Cologne also gave their labour to bringing out holy bodies, as is established from the translation to Salzinnes. Now the convent of Salzinnes near Namur on the river Sambre maintained Bernardine virgins dedicated to God, built in the age of St. Bernard, whose sacred building Pope Innocent II dedicated in the year 1130. Over it presided Hymana, half-sister on the mother's side of Conrad, archbishop of Cologne. She, having come to Cologne at the time when many remains of the holy virgins were being dug out of the earth, eager for such treasures, begged a body for her monastery from the abbess at the Holy Maccabees. Opportunely at that time a certain virgin, seen in sleep, the place of her tomb having been shown, was exhumed, marked on her body with certain signs of martyrdom, whom the abbess gladly yielded to her, so that the veneration of the Holy Virgins might be spread more widely: and that it might be rendered better attested to posterity, she herself fortified the whole series of the history with her handwriting and seal in this tenor Crombach, page 675.: To all the faithful of Christ who shall see the present writing, sister Elizabeth and the whole convent of the nuns of the Holy Maccabees at Cologne, their prayers in the Lord, etc. We wish it to be established to you all by the present rescript that, since by divine providence many bodies of the holy eleven thousand virgins rest in our place, which are held in great veneration, recently one body of a virgin of the same holy company was found among us by a revelation divinely made, with a certain and evident sign of her martyrdom, namely a carellus in her head, with which she had been shot at the time of her passion, after the likeness of Blessed Ursula, who was then the queen and leader of these same blessed virgins. Since, therefore, the venerable lady Ymana, half-sister on the mother's side of the venerable lord Conrad, archbishop of the church of Cologne, abbess of the Valley of St. George, of the Cistercian order, being at Cologne, had humbly besought us that some relics of the eleven thousand virgins be conferred on her, we, out of reverence for our aforesaid lord Conrad, archbishop of Cologne, her brother, and at her devout prayers, gave her the body of the aforesaid virgin to be carried away with her. To this extent, that wherever it shall be translated, the name of the often-mentioned lord Conrad, archbishop of Cologne, out of reverence for whom this was done, shall be inscribed perpetually, we give it to her community. And that it may not be doubted that the aforesaid body is of the eleven thousand virgins of the company of St. Ursula, we have delivered to her the present letters, confirmed by the protection of our seal. Given at Cologne in the year of the Lord 1256, on the 16th day before the Kalends of August. We said above that a carellus is a dart or arrow, certainly a sound testimony of martyrdom.

[120] [and other relics around the year 1258, according to the prophecy of St. Juliana of Cornillon.] The nuns of Salzinnes shortly afterwards received many other relics too; whose discovery the contemporary writer of the Life of St. Juliana of Cornillon narrates: The venerable abbess herself (Hymana), he says Act. SS. volume I of April, pages 470 and 471., used to relate that her guest Juliana had foretold things that were to happen a long time afterwards, and that she had perceived this in very many matters. Of which I did not think this one out of many should be passed over in silence, that when one day they were conversing with each other about those blessed eleven thousand virgins, sister Juliana said to the abbess that through her (Hymana) and her sister, namely the lady Aleydis, venerable abbess of St. Walburga (formerly a monastery in the diocese of Eichstätt), the said virgins would be honoured. Which saying, after the death of the prophetess (St. Juliana died in the year 1258), was thus fulfilled. For the said abbesses and sisters, having obtained permission to dig in the cemetery of the aforesaid holy virgins at Cologne, had the earth dug deep, and unexpectedly there were found five hundred and more bodies of the same virgins: a treasure, namely, hidden in a field, more desirable than gold and more precious than silver. These, carried into Flanders by the care and solicitude of the said sisters, were received by the illustrious matron Margaret, countess of Flanders, with the exultation of that whole land, and in those places and by those persons to whom they were distributed were held in the highest honour and immense reverence. And thus it came about that she was proved to have spoken truly who had foretold that the holy virgins would be honoured by the said reverend abbesses. By what signs it was recognized that these were bodies of the holy virgins is in no way indicated; but since they were uncovered on one day, there can hardly be doubt that they were found in trenches, such as we described in the Preliminary Commentary, § XXV. And this manner of burial is held by us to be a manifest sign of martyrdom, much more certain than visions and other things of that kind.

[121] Margaret, countess of Flanders, obtains many bodies. No one could easily enumerate all the churches to which Countess Margaret wished these sacred relics to be distributed. Crombach indicates the monastery of Flines S. Ursula illustrata, page 678., that of St. Martin of Tournai Loc. cit., which had already received some on another occasion before, the chapter of Marquette Loc. cit., the collegiate church of St. Peter at Douai Ibid., page 678., and besides many others Ibid., pages 680 and 681. the Cistercian monastery of Besançon called de Battand Ibid., page 678 and following.. Letters of testimony still exist, which it has seemed good to publish: We, Margaret, countess of Flanders and Hainaut, make known to all that, of the most holy relics of the eleven thousand virgins who once suffered martyrdom at Cologne Agrippina, and which we caused to be dug up at Cologne in the place of their martyrdom, we have thought fit to send one holy body, through sister Alaydis, nun of St. Antoine of Paris, to the monastery of Battand of the Cistercian order, near the city of Besançon, so that the aforesaid blessed body may be honourably placed in the aforesaid monastery. We ask all to show due reverence and honour to the aforesaid relics. Given in the year of the Lord 1267, on the Sunday after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

[122] [In the year 1287 Huy is presented with relics, beside which vessels full of sand clotted with blood had been found,] The translation to Huy in Belgium is to be celebrated on many titles, especially because from a diploma of the episcopal court of Cologne it is established that around the relics of the company of the saints there were quite often found vessels and caskets, IN WHICH WERE LAID AWAY SANDS COHERING WITH BLOOD. So that from circumstances of this kind, the official continues thus, and others, a most sweet and wonderful odour breathing forth from these same relics, we firmly believe that they are of the numbered company of the holy virgins. And indeed, since even those who do not consider all the reddened phials found in the Roman catacombs to be signs of martyrdom yet hold the vessels which contain sand cohering with blood to be genuine testimonies of blood shed for Christ See a specimen of this in Boldetti, Osservazioni Cimiteriali, page 183., I do not see how one should not agree with the official of Cologne that those relics are of the company of the holy virgins. The most sweet odour has less strength, since in ancient times it was the custom to load tombs with incense and odoriferous things. Who does not know the words of Tertullian, of Julian the Apostate and of so many other ancients on this matter? But here now is the diploma Crombach, page 685.: To all who shall see the present page, the official of the court of Cologne, the grace of the present life and the everlasting glory of the future. The catholic faith, which the whole holy Church throughout the world confesses, neither deceives nor is deceived; but that at times some, their sins requiring it, grow lukewarm in faith, this the divine goodness, by the merits and intercessions of the saints, by signs and prodigies and the persuasions of heavenly spirits, has been seen very frequently to have reformed. The relics of the saints, therefore, whose souls rest in heaven, and whose patronage we feel with God, are to be honoured by the faithful of Christ with worthy veneration, praises and proclamations.

[123] as the official of Cologne testifies. Since, therefore, brother John, called Nouilan, otherwise Eppa, of the order of the Holy Cross, of Blessed Augustine, of the house of the town of Paris, a religious man of laudable life and conversation, distinguished by an approved rule and habit, has decided in the Lord, with the permission of his superiors, to submit himself to poverty and mendicancy, now as at other times, away from the victuals and comforts of his monastery, for searching out and disinterring the relics of the bodies left behind of the company of the holy eleven thousand virgins, to the praise of God and of the aforesaid virgins: moved by the spirit to this, as we have learned, that, as in the past year, being at Paris, he had received in a threefold vision that he would go, as he did, to Cologne, and would find three bodies, of which one is named Christina, the second Basilia, the third Imma, relics of the company of the said virgins, which, as we know, the experience of the fact truly demonstrated: which relics, carrying them, he placed honourably and solemnly in various collegiate churches. Being again in his monastery, he had received similar visions about Ida and Odilia, virgins of the said company, on account of which, as before, coming to Cologne, he was found worthy by divine grace, for the merits of the said virgins, to find their relics within a trench which he dug with his own hands, in the place where the said holy company is written in ancient codices to have passed by a happy martyrdom to the heavenly realms. Around which relics, as has quite often been seen in others of the same company, there were found vessels and caskets in which were laid away sands cohering with blood, so that from circumstances of this kind, and others, a most sweet and wonderful odour

breathing forth from these same relics, we firmly believe that they are of the numbered company of the holy virgins. And the day of the exaltation and exhumation of the relics of the said Ida and Odilia is in the year of the Lord 1287 (the day has dropped out, but it is the fifteenth before the Kalends of September) Kalends of September. We therefore ask and exhort in the Lord all who are devoted to God that, wherever these relics shall be carried, they be worthily venerated for the praise of God and of the holy virgins, so that by this we may merit pardon of our sins, and after the course of this life to possess with them and by their merits the heavenly fatherland; in testimony of which the seal of the Court of Cologne has been appended to the present letters. Given in the year of the Lord and on the day written above.

[124] [A strange persuasion concerning the absence of teeth in the family of St. Ursula.] Great quantities of relics were conferred on others also. Around the year 1271 the monastery of St. Trond in Belgium received ninety heads with innumerable bones; in the year 1280 the monastery of Les Dunes, likewise in Belgium, two bodies; around the year 1343 Osnabrück many more, most of them found in the year 1327 in the orchard of the Knights of St. John at Cologne. In the contemporary catalogue of Osnabrück these things worthy of note are read Ibid., page 687.: But in the little casket placed on the left of the said altar towards the north rests the body of Blessed Cordula, a virgin of eighteen years: whose head lacked the molar teeth; she is believed to have been one of the royal stock of St. Ursula, born in Britain: for this is the sign of those virgins, that they lack those teeth; similarly in the catalogue of Himmerod Ibid., page 667.: The head of one virgin of the kindred of St. Ursula, therefore it does not have molar teeth. These inscriptions Crombach leaves to be disputed by the judgement of natural philosophers and physicians Crombach, loc. cit.. Since it is a strange persuasion, I for my part merely report it.

[124] In the year 1320 the body of St. Victoria is translated to Burgos in Spain. The Ursuline ashes penetrated into Spain itself in the year 1320. Most solemn was the translation of St. Victoria made from Cologne, whose celebrated cult continues at Burgos, and the feast of the same martyr: its occasion is indicated by the lessons of the hours, which it has seemed good to insert: It has been the praiseworthy custom that wherever the bodies of the saints rest, there they are honoured more devoutly and more festively. But since, by the Lord's disposition, the entire body of the most blessed Victoria, virgin and martyr of Christ, rests in that church of Burgos, and a feast is specially kept by the clergy and people, therefore the cause of so great a solemnity ought not to be unknown to the faithful. Lest therefore, through the change of times, the deeds of noble persons should fall into oblivion in the future, why this kind of festival is celebrated in this church, according to the weakness of my talent, as I saw and knew, and in part laboured bodily, namely concerning the translation of the most sacred Victoria, Virgin, how her body was translated from Cologne to the city of Burgos, I will truthfully make known. For unless such things are set down in writing by those present, they quickly slip away from the memory of those to come. It happened therefore, in the year of the Lord 1320, the illustrious King Philip reigning in France, that the reverend father and lord in Christ Gonsalvo, by the providence of God bishop of Burgos, at the prayers and instance of the most devout woman, the lady Mary, queen of Castile, wife of the most illustrious King Sancho, and likewise at the prayers of Alfonso her grandson, king of Castile, resolved to go as envoy to the said king of France, on the business of the lady Elizabeth, daughter of the said King Sancho, wife of the lord John, duke of Brittany, concerning the dowry which had been taken from her, that due restitution and the fulfilment of justice might be made to her by the said king of France. But because the judgements of God are a great deep, he who had gone for an arduous business laboured, the Lord revealing it, for another more arduous one. When therefore he was at Paris to expedite the cause of the said duchess, he was yet present in mind to his church of Burgos as to his bride. For he was always and constantly thinking how he might distinguish her with precious pearls, that is, with the bodies of saints. Whence he might deservedly sing with the Prophet: The meditation of my heart is always in your sight, O Lord my helper. And moreover, that same church, his bride, wishing to adorn not only the city of Burgos but also the whole of Spain with a shining pearl, inspired him divinely to obtain from the aforesaid king of France letters to the archbishop of Cologne and to the abbess and convent of the same place, that they might deign to grant to him, for the said bishop, one entire body of those eleven thousand virgins which are kept there. These things from the Breviary of Burgos printed in the year 1502.

[125] [In the year 1381 Pope Boniface IX forbids the bodies of the Holy Virgins to be carried away any more.] But since so many relics of the holy virgins were carried away from Cologne, the city at length feared that it might itself at some time become less rich than other foreign places. Wherefore it approached Boniface IX, that he might forbid sacred bodies to be carried out thenceforth; and he granted it in the year 1381 by the following bull Ibid., page 698.: Boniface, bishop, servant of the servants of God, for the perpetual memory of the matter. The affection of sincere devotion which our beloved sons the burgomasters, councillors and commune of the city of Cologne bear towards us and the Roman Church deserves that we should favourably assent, as far as we can with God, to their wishes, especially those which we see proceed from the fervour of devotion. Hence it is that we, inclined to the supplications of the said burgomasters, councillors and commune in this matter, by apostolic authority, by the tenor of the present letters, strictly forbid that anyone, of whatever dignity, state, rank, order or condition he may be, even if he shine with archiepiscopal power, presume to sell or buy, or otherwise under any pretext sought, to alienate from the city itself, the relics of the saints laid away in the churches or other sacred or pious places of the said city, under pain of excommunication, which we will that those acting contrary incur by the very fact, and from which they cannot be absolved by any other than the Roman pontiff, except at the point of death. Decreeing from now that it is null and void if anything otherwise shall happen to be attempted in these matters by anyone, by any authority, knowingly or ignorantly. Let it be lawful, therefore, for no man whatever to infringe this page of our prohibition and constitution, or to oppose it with rash daring: but if anyone shall presume to attempt this, let him know that he will incur the indignation of almighty God and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul. Given at Rome at St. Peter's, on the third day before the Nones of November, in the fourth year of our pontificate.

§ XIII. Translations made in the sixteenth century. The zeal and labour of the Society of Jesus in this matter. The translation to Lisbon.

[With pontifical permission the nuns of St. Maximinus give two heads in the year 1545.] From that time the frequency of exporting sacred relics from Cologne slackened: nor were they bestowed, without the consent of the apostolic see, even on princes or kings: as will appear from the following: We, the lady and mistress and the whole convent of Blessed Maximinus, established in the city of Cologne in Germany, to all and each of the faithful of Christ of both sexes to whom it shall happen that the present venerable relics are shown, everlasting greeting in the Lord. Know that in our church there are kept venerable relics of the company of the most holy virgin and martyr Blessed Ursula, and that they are held, as is fitting, in the highest veneration. At length, to the devotion and petition of certain great men, and especially of the noble man Lord Francisco de Prado Calderor, a Spaniard, secretary of the most reverend archbishop of Rossano, apostolic legate through all Germany, we have thought fit to give two heads, of which one is of Blessed Prudentia, the other of Blessed Beatrix, with bones of the aforesaid company of St. Ursula and of her eleven thousand holy companions, by a special indult of the Holy Apostolic See granted thereupon, for the devotion of the common people wherever it shall happen that they are translated: as we give them by the present letters, certifying also all and each of the above, and any of them, that such heads and bones are true and undoubted relics, as we, together with the people of Cologne, have reputed, honoured and venerated them as such and for such, for a thousand years, all simulation and doubt set aside. In faith and testimony of the foregoing, we have caused and ordered our present letters of testimony to be made thereof and to be sealed with the customary seal of our convent. In the year of the Lord 1545, on the 20th day of the month of June.

[128] At almost the same time, through the men of our Society (let it be permitted to put forward what is true and manifest without envy of anyone), the cult of the holy virgins was renewed and notably increased. The leader was Peter Faber, In the year 1544 Peter Faber obtains six skulls, which he carries into Portugal, the first companion of St. Ignatius in founding the Society, and the first founder of colleges of the Society in Germany. He, being about to leave Cologne in the year 1544, and not to return there, since he had cultivated various convents there with ascetical sermons, they of their own accord, the senate not unwilling, offered him six skulls of virgins of the virginal company from their sacred treasures, out of their regard and liberality towards the man; either because the pontifical diploma forbidding donations of that kind had been consigned (as it seems) to oblivion, or because Faber himself, having an apostolic mission, possessed sufficient authority. Glad of so great a treasure and escort of martyrs, he happily set sail on a dangerous voyage towards Portugal, when, the ship being tossed by a storm, having given himself to prayers, and having no doubt employed as intercessors the saints present, whose sacred pledges he was keeping, the sea being calmed, he soon reached the desired port. Orlandini testifies, and his writings on the affairs of his soul, of which I have a manuscript copy, give proof, that it is not easy to conceive in thought, much less to attain by the pen, how much Faber was given to the cult of the blessed and of their sacred relics, not only for their glory and God's, but also for the protection of those dwelling on earth: for since it is of such importance to public piety to have the minds of the highest princes inclined to that cult, Faber himself perceived by an interior admonition, and that a most illustrious one, that the suffrages of all the heavenly ones are of such value that the protection of even one has more efficacy for correcting men's morals than the edicts and diligent efforts of all kings. Therefore, since Faber desired Portugal to be safe, whose King John had at that season such merits towards the Society of Jesus that scarcely another more lavish in founding it could be found in the world, he resolved also to win these Ursuline protectresses for the king and kingdom, whose prayers he knew had always availed very much with God because of the multitude of so great a company. Therefore on the solemn day of the apostle St. Matthias, of the sacred skulls of virgins which he had brought from Cologne, he gave two to the king and queen, with this preface, that, desiring the honour of those virgins, he had not hitherto been able to devise how he might honour them more fully than by placing them in the hands of such sovereigns. The sovereigns rejoiced at this gift, and wished them to be laid by Faber himself in a comely casket in the queen's oratory; for they feared, namely, to handle such holy pledges with profane hands. These things from Crombach.

[129] [The Venerable Peter Canisius obtains others, which he carries to Rome and thence into Sicily.] Afterwards the Venerable Servant of God Peter Canisius received others from the Carthusian fathers by apostolic authority, which he carried to Rome to St. Ignatius; by whom they were destined for our college of Messina, which Canisius had gone to in order to teach rhetoric. There they were received with solemn pomp; which Canisius described in a letter given from the college of Messina to the Charterhouse of Cologne on the 5th of June of the year 1551. Crombach published it entire Pages 712 and 713.; receive a small part: I will add something about the sacred relics of the eleven thousand virgins and martyrs of Cologne: of these, two heads, given to me long ago at Cologne, were carried to Rome by apostolic authority, as I had requested, and finally sent here. In order, therefore, that they might be carried into our church, a solemn and most honourable procession was held; the orders of the whole city came together; the bishop went before with the canons; the noblest citizens accompanied them, the most distinguished magistrates held their place. The confraternities of the Four Orders, as we say, and of other brethren were present, the musicians sang, the trumpets blared, the candles of the scholars shone. Besides this, a casket of their own had been prepared for the sacred heads, distinguished with beautiful images, adorned with suitable verses, glittering all over with gold. These things, I confess, are not sufficient in themselves, nor altogether necessary to piety, but we saw them done so religiously that they could have stirred even the impious Germans to some piety. As if indeed that Holy One of the holy ones were despised because he is proclaimed in his holy martyrs, because he is recognized in the relics of the saints, or understood in sacred images. I have always thought Cologne happy indeed, since she abounds in those heavenly treasures and most sacred pledges: but I would call her happier if she knew her own goods, namely so as to attend the most rich store of relics with due cult and with greater reverence day by day, and so to praise God, so to venerate him in his saints, that strangers too may by this example increase their piety and confirm it more, or at least not diminish it.

[130] [When in the year 1548 Gaspar Barzaeus and Antonio Gomes were making for the Indies in different ships, both ships] Other relics of the holy virgins were received besides, which, carried into Portugal and thence into India, were wonderfully profitable in increasing the Ursuline cult. Crombach explains the matter in this way from the annals of our Society Pages 713 and 714.: In the year 1541 the Society of Jesus first penetrated into the East Indies under the leadership of St. Francis Xavier; into the same, at the request of St. Xavier, colonies of priests were frequently sent from Europe, who were the first to carry the banners of the cross at once into new towns, kingdoms, and regions never before visited. Notable among the rest was that expedition to India which was set out from Portugal in the year 1548: in it Father Gaspar Barzaeus and Antonio Gomes stood out, distributed in different ships. The former was the greatest propagator of the cult of St. Ursula in the whole East, the latter the occasion of two prodigies wrought on this voyage through the intercession of the holy virgins. He had taken with him a sacred skull of the Ursuline company, which might be a solace and a protection in shipwrecks, and the origin of a virginal sodality and of the propagation of the Ursuline cult. Both ships, separated by a whirlwind, came into enormous danger of shipwreck, and indeed the one in which Gaspar Barzaeus was carried was tossed by such waves that the captain denied that he had ever been thrown about by a similar storm. That violence of the tempests profited for the amendment of morals; for those whom no fears of hell had brought to correction of life and to sacred confession, this harsh tempest drove to return to good conduct, at once cleansed of their crimes.

[131] Gomes in particular came into danger of shipwreck; But the other ship, which carried Antonio Gomes with one head of the Ursuline company (which a manuscript codex of the Carthusians of Cologne expressly affirms had been obtained by the fathers at Cologne a few years before with the permission of the supreme pontiff), came into greater danger of shipwreck… On the day before they reached Mozambique, they almost suffered shipwreck in the very harbour, when they were no more than seven leagues from it and were lying at anchor, because the captain had already feared that they would be left without water; and not in vain: for the ship was already standing on a reef, which, when the sounding-lead was let down, the captain had not noticed because the tide was full: but as it gradually receded, about the fourth hour of the night the ship suddenly struck on the reef: the first shock frightened those ignorant of the cause little: for since one of the guns had fallen from it, they put down the concussion of the ship to that fall of the gun: but when the ship struck a second time, very many, now terrified, began to suspect what it was: meanwhile those in charge of the ship were carefully exploring where the sea was deeper, so that they might depart by that side on the following day: while they were doing this, one of the sailors asserted, not far from the fathers' little cabin, that the ship was standing on dry ground: and when the captain had intemperately accused him of lying, God permitted, for the sake of settling the dispute, that the ship should now strike a third time in such a way that the rudder sprang out entire from all its fastenings. Thereupon, turning from the dispute to the care of safety, they ran to the rudder: but by another shock it was entirely knocked out of its place: the merchantman shuddered, all were stiffened with the image of present death: for it had been dashed with such a shock, and with such a crash, as if some tower had collapsed. Thus far we have heard of the enormous danger, and the despair of all from the image of present death: now there follows an admirable prodigy obtained by the prayers of St. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins, by which the whole East and West afterwards applied themselves to propagating the cult of St. Ursula more than Europe ever did.

[132] [but, the Ursuline head being brought out, they are saved: thence above all the cult of the Holy Virgins grew throughout the Indies.] In that ship, as I said before, was carried Antonio Gomes, designated rector of the college of Goa: who, in such despair of all, with notable devotion brought out one skull of the companions of the lady Ursula, recently brought from Cologne, which he was carrying to Goa: and with grave words he exhorts all to implore the help of God through the patronage of this saint. Here very many, with lighted candles, surrounded the father, each pouring out such prayers, conceiving such vows, as the extreme necessity of life, always a great incitement to piety, suggested to each. At length, when the ship had struck a fifth time, it emerged from the shallows, wonderfully, I say: for between two reefs, plainly by divine guidance on both sides, it took a passage so narrow that it would not even hold the sides of the ship: and so the ship, with no mortal helping, lay over on one side in such a way that it all but took in water, while the opposite side being lifted, it in a manner contracted itself into the narrow space: and so it escaped, so that the ship itself truly seemed animate, as the poets fable of the Argo. But that was not yet the end of the prodigies: there remained the care of the rudder, which, when they had been unable by any art to restore it to its place, and were already despairing of reaching the harbour: Come, cries Father Gomes, and try once more, at the last, in the name of this virgin: if it cannot be done even so, it will be hers to set us, even without a rudder, in a safe harbour. He had spoken, and they, more from zeal for obeying than from hope of accomplishing the matter, strive again, and accomplish it without great trouble, feeling that some more divine force had concurred with their efforts. And so on the following day, the sixth of August, they reached Mozambique.

[133] [The apostolic nuncio grants the Fathers of the Society of Jesus a general faculty of carrying relics of the holy virgins out of Cologne.] When these and similar things were circulated throughout the whole infant Society by letters, the use of which St. Ignatius commended most highly from the beginning, hearts were kindled more and more with zeal for obtaining sacred relics of the holy virgins. But since the diploma of Boniface IX was a continual hindrance (for on each occasion the faculty had to be sought from the apostolic see or from the pontifical nuncio for Germany), Canisius and Kessel, rector of the college of Cologne, thought it good to ask a general power from the apostolic nuncio, legate to the emperor Charles V; which he granted by the following diploma Crombach, pages 700 and 701.: Sebastiano Pighino, by the grace of God and of the apostolic see archbishop of Siponto, and auditor of the Rota of the sacred apostolic palace, nuncio of our most holy lord Julius III, by divine providence Pope, and of the apostolic see, to the most invincible prince Charles, Roman emperor, ever august, and to all Germany, with the power of legate a latere. To our beloved in Christ Peter of Nijmegen, theologian, and Leonard Kessel, clerics of the dioceses of Cologne and Liège respectively, everlasting greeting in the Lord. The affection of sincere devotion which you are proved to bear towards the relics of men and women saints induces us to attend you with special favours and graces. Hence it is that we, furnished with sufficient faculty by letters of the said see (which we are not bound to insert), grant and likewise indulge to you and to each of you licence and faculty that you may and can freely and lawfully, without any scruple of conscience and without incurring any ecclesiastical penalty, and that they may and can, receive any relics whatever of men and women saints given, as you assert, to you and to each of you in these parts of Germany and other lower parts, and to be given in future, and carry them to the parts of the Spains, or other regions, provinces, lands, cities or places to which it shall happen that you or any of you turn aside, and lay them up and deposit them in some church or churches, chapel or chapels, or other sacred place or places, oratory or oratories, where they may be venerated with due reverence, or cause such relics to be received in your name, and to be transported, transferred, laid up and deposited as aforesaid, by any other suitable person or persons, faithful to you, to be chosen by you for this purpose. Notwithstanding apostolic, and provincial, and synodal constitutions and ordinances, and any other things whatever to the contrary. Given at Augsburg in the year from the Nativity of the Lord 1551, on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of May, in the 2nd year of the pontificate of our most holy lord Pope Julius III.

S., Archbishop of Siponto, Apostolic Nuncio.

Place of the seal. Nicolaus Driel, Secretary.

[134] The most celebrated translation to Lisbon, made in the year 1588. Furnished with this diploma, the fathers of our Society spent wonderful labour in acquiring relics of the holy virgins from the people of Cologne; and indeed it turned out so happily for them that in a short time there were few colleges and other houses which had nothing of this treasure. The annals of our whole Society abound, the histories of the provinces abound, in narratives of Ursuline pledges translated and piously venerated; nor are graces lacking which seem to have the nature of miracles. But I would not pursue these things, content to relate from Crombach the royal apparatus and triumph with which in the year 1588 eleven heads of the Ursuline company were brought into the church of St. Roch of the Society of Jesus at Lisbon. Let this be a specimen of the manner in which these solemnities were carried out at that time: While Germany, says Crombach Crombach, pages 700 and 701., raves, maddened by heresy, and the sacred ashes of the saints with impious and sacrilegious foot

tramples on, thence, chiefly by the gift of the emperor Rudolf the second and of the archdukes of Austria, eleven heads of the Ursuline virginal company are translated to Lisbon through Juan de Borja and Francisco de Aragón, and with an admirable concourse of the whole city, with a triumph scarcely heard of before, with the supreme and incredible piety of people of all ranks, ages, sexes and conditions, are carried into the church of St. Roch. And although the remains of other saints too were joined with them, yet those of the Ursuline company far surpassed the rest taken together in number and greatness. The matter, published in a whole book, will be compressed into one chapter, the principal points being selected.

[135] [The procession consisted of boys, confraternities, religious, clergy, and priests carrying the relics.] The imperial and pontifical attestations, and those of the other princely men by whom these sacred pledges had been delivered, having then been examined, so that no scruple of doubt should remain about their genuineness, a solemn procession was proclaimed for the whole city for the 25th day of January. The night which preceded it was wholly spent in adorning the streets, in clothing the doors of the houses and the individual squares through which the procession was to be led with various and precious hangings of tapestry, to which the nocturnal pealing of the bells invited, and the continuous light with which the roof of the church of St. Roch shone like the starry sky. On the very day of the conversion of St. Paul, about the ninth hour, there began to come forth from the principal church the band of little children going before the procession, crowned with garlands and holding out green branches in their right hands. There followed boys in various monastic dress, decorated with the same insignia with which the former were wreathed: among them one might see the child Jesus, whom two little Portuguese boys were inviting with various blandishments to a banquet, while he in turn summoned them to the heavenly kingdom; here and there various emblems of the child Christ from the scriptures, expressed in letters and illustrated with pictures, were carried by these little boys for the people to see: this one proclaimed him the Lamb of God, that one the lily of the valleys, the crown of our head, or by a like title. These were followed by the insignia of the city's trades, with a grave and modest dance interposed. There succeeded fifty confraternities, adorned with their own garments and with standards of various colour, the members themselves, wreathed with flowers, carrying lilies in their hands, crosses being borne in the midst. Afterwards three hundred religious of various orders, among them those of the Society of Jesus in surplices, shone with torches. There followed a most numerous clergy: and the relics, glittering with silver, gold and gems, were carried religiously between both bodies in twelve most rich shrines by priests vested in dalmatics.

[136] The Church triumphant comes to meet the Ursuline band, Among these stood out heads, arms and various bones of the Ursuline company, both of bishops and also of named virgins: various parts of St. Ursula, leader of the virginal company, of St. Cordula, who met death on the following day, of St. Ynes, Odilia, and of others, to the number of fifty-four; the bones of St. Josippa, the arm of the sister of St. Ursula's father; and of St. Clement, a British bishop, whom Aetherius the bridegroom had brought with him, an entire skull, with ten other heads of the same virginal company, as if each chiliarchy had contributed its share to this admirable triumph. This was the body of the whole procession, as of the Church militant: to meet which, on the way, the Church triumphant came forth, as if poured out from the heavens, chosen from those saints whom Portugal venerates with special honour as the presidents and guardians of the kingdom. St. Engratia went before with eighteen companion martyrs, whose sacred gore the soil of Gaul drank: all rode on horses, in rare adornment, comely with palms. The leader of the band greets those coming in these words:

I know the soil of my fatherland: when I was making for the realms of Gaul, The Portuguese sceptres were my father's. Though I hold temples of the saints far distant from here, Hither love, hither the kindly faith of my fatherland draws me. I congratulate the guests, I congratulate the happy city: She alone holds the treasures of the city and of the world. I sought gifts, but the fields have lost their grace, Winter has denied the fragrant riches of the countryside: And yet I lead a band which, plunged in a red stream, Cruel frost turns into whitening snows. These saints, then, I offer in place of other flowers: Let them be, I pray, a glad crown for my guests.

Afterwards with her company she mingled among the crosses of the city, and joined the supplicating throng.

[137] and the threefold heavenly hierarchy. The first, When lo, as they advanced, there met them, in the semblance of a heavenly palace, shining with gold and light, a structure most skilfully carried up and built to the very topmost gables of the houses: it was ascended by forty steps: three hierarchies appeared in their places, each distinguished into three orders: the individual choirs, variegated with very many angels, each with their own insignia, garments and ornaments, furnished with various kinds of musical instruments, with melodious voices and altogether angelic harmony, resounded with the joys of the heavenly fatherland. Then, the curtains being withdrawn, some sixty spirits of the first hierarchy suddenly come forth, poured out of heaven, and with sweet melody sing this Ave to the remains of the saints:

Hail, O ashes and bones of princes Who now hold sway in the starry ramparts: To you we glide on wings through the ether, To carry off to the fatherland the sweet pledges, The sweet remains; were it not impious To take away the rulers from the midst of the waves, To withdraw the leaders from grievous battles. For them we have set up temples worthy of heaven, We wish to fix on the doorposts of the temples The notable shields which the wrath of tyranny's Violence so often beat upon: The darts of greedy desire beat upon them, The thunderbolts of Stygian Tartarus beat upon them; Until we restore you to your fatherland's seat, We give you, shining ones, the Portuguese temples, Which piety has made to rival those seats. Here now the famed religion of the Lusitanian Race honours you; what more will heaven Add, when God brings you into the fatherland?

[138] of the second The curtain being then withdrawn, the middle hierarchy comes forth, shining from a golden heaven, to join itself to the others, thundering thus in like concert:

What do the pledges of the saints, owed to heaven, Not bid the lands to hope? The city will flourish, famed for its counsels, For which so long an array of heads is led; While the Lusitanians wage pious wars, These arms will strengthen their right hands: While they duly honour the sacred gifts of feet, With their foot they will trample the fierce Necks of the hellish dragon: lead the procession, O citizens, lead your hopes. On these bones the world can stand: Nothing propped by piety falls; The gem-bearing Indian knows not these riches, Babylon knows not such wares; At this price God will sell Olympus.

[139] and the congratulations of the third. Now those heavenly spirits had joined themselves to the mortals: finally, the topmost curtains being drawn back, the supreme hierarchy pours itself forth; comes to meet them; greets the bones of the saints, and celebrates their praises melodiously in such verses:

Whoever you are who behold these monuments of the saints, Behold what lessons the saints afford. These, whom the court of heaven, eager for them, applauds, Cultivated a heavenly life; He who wisely kept silent about his own praises Hears his deeds extolled in song. The limbs that lay on hard stones Rest on gold and heavy gems; Those which sacred shoulders raise Lay beneath the profane feet of tyrants. Noble virtue knows not how to be extinguished: When it falls, it rises never to fall again; It flies from earth to heaven, whence, laughing, It fears nothing of the whirlwinds of affairs. Seek, soldier, the holy camp of virtue, Spurn the fierce darts of brandishing death, By which, when you die, you will live to God.

The commander of the heavenly host and defender of the Church, Michael, closes their band: all alike, leaving heaven, join themselves to the mortals and piously accompany the supplicants.

[140] Behold a new heaven shines, skilfully supported on columns, The holy patrons of Braga, from which the native saints and patrons of Portugal come forth, to receive the company of the supplicants, and in it the sacred relics of the saints. It would be long and tedious to go through them one by one, and to list the protectors of the individual cities with their insignia, adornment, retinue, or even their very names. St. Peter, martyr and first prelate of Braga, with the saints of the region between the rivers, received those coming with such applause:

The heavenly ones have left the poles; behold heaven, it is enclosed In our city; lo, Portugal calls forth her saints From heaven, that they may greet you, sacred gifts; Braga, dutiful, is eager to go first in homage. I, the first shepherd, rejoicing in so great an honour, Lead the band, I whom death empurples with bloody crimson. Notable with crosiers and the majesty of the mitre, Here Martin is present: here stands Gerard, and he Whose name overflows with the fruit of virtues: ardent Victor glows with rays, for whom the palm of triumph Has woven a purple cloak; Gonsalvo with friendly Countenance smiles, and Rosendus with rosy face; Behold Pantaleon, whose right hand keeps the monuments Of his victorious death: he is the greatest light of the kingdom. The same ardour drives all together, to guard the sacred Bones, and to follow the triumphal procession in the first rank. I am the primate of Hesperia: now it is better to yield; First to do homage, I shall go before by a better title.

[141] Those of Coimbra Thus St. Damasus, supreme pontiff, having taken to himself as companions the protectors of Coimbra, together with them, with great majesty, receives those coming with this eulogy:

Coimbra, once the head of the Lusitanian kingdom, rival of Athens, Has drawn me hither from the starry Olympus, That, receiving divine riches, the august sanctuaries of the saints, I may be present rejoicing in the honours of my fatherland. Of her own accord there adds herself as companion, a queen of reverend countenance, Elizabeth, greater by her merits than by her sceptre. There come companions of the lofty stock of the Minors, Who thrice trod with their foot the Moroccan crescents, Suffering great wounds fighting for Christ. Following behind, Columba, sharing the eagles in titles and honour, Bears, a saint, the monuments of her triumph. Theotonius, chosen ensign of the cross, closes the band, Who, keeping unshaken the divine powers in the name of God, Fixes the ethereal love more deeply in his breast. So a new care moves all, a new ardour entices To do homage: but the sweet soil of my fatherland Binds me with nearer bonds, bids me pay deserved thanks To the guests, and advance in solemn procession. I shall go on foot, the sweet company of my own thronging round me, Loftier on my throne than when Rome placed me there, And rolled the whole world at my feet for kisses.

[142] and those of Lisbon likewise bid the new arrivals welcome. St. Vincent closed the band of the heavenly ones, with the patrons of Lisbon, Évora and Santarém: they seem to themselves already to dwell in a kind of heaven at Lisbon, which thenceforth so many native saints, like stars, will spangle as a firmament: I cannot pass over their festive greeting:

With what homage, with what processions shall I receive you, Sacred burdens? This city, loving you, marvels that her deeds Have been made less than her zeal, nor will she be able to equal her vows, Though art and the immense labour of honours toil. Hitherto I was the patron of the city: now I seem to myself The patron of heaven, so much of heaven's likeness is in the city! A band of heavenly ones worth seeing, whom the glory Of Ulysses' city touches and urges with nearer goads, Run up: Anthony first, a propitious star, Scattering very many miracles through the whole world; Then three stars, smeared with the red crimson of blood, Shine forth; and Giles, by his virtue dreadful to Erebus, Follows Irene, who makes Scalabis famous by her name; Mancius, first father of the city of Évora, and another Vincent, like me in death and life, stands by, With whom are Christeta his sister and Sabina, strong for war. Your honour and your glory in heaven have drawn us hither: The earth was not equal to the hospitality: it called in Olympus.

The triumphant Church of the heavenly ones had now come together with the militant, to adorn by their presence the festive entrance of the new protecting saints into Portuguese Lisbon: for the new protectors, therefore, triumphal arches were erected, and these proclaimed their palms, glories, victories and trophies to the coming procession.

[143] A triumphal arch with emblems and figures of chastity The first that met them was forty palms wide:

ten high, which equalled the gables of the houses of a most beautiful square. The first face was consecrated to bishops, doctors and confessors, some of whose relics were being carried on high in shrines: there were in it emblems, symbols, mottoes, rare pictures and inscriptions, with very large statues. I pass over the details; for they do little to our purpose. The other face of the same was dedicated to the sacred virgins and widows: larger statues stood out, together with a bridled lion, with the motto added: Continual fight, rare victory of chastity. There were present Virginity and Modesty with symbols and this inscription:

Modesty, the Ornament of Virginity. And:

Modesty, veiling with a purple veil, breathes forth honour. Chaste faces lie hid more beautifully under this crimson.

The other guardian of Virginity, Rigour, bore this inscription on its front: Rigour, the Defender of Chastity; a verse was read below:

Rigour gives darts to virgins, rigour supplies arms: Royal virginity has him for armour-bearer.

[144] and of its reward. One could see too the aureoles of the virgins in heaven: of those following the Lamb on a flowery mount in various choirs, sounding forth a new song with every kind of lyres, psalteries and melodious instruments, and with most delicate voices; heavenly spirits meanwhile scattered flowers from above out of full baskets, roses, lilies: and offered to the eyes to be seen this inscription: These were bought from the earth, firstfruits to God and to the Lamb: and hence they follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes; for they are virgins. They shall sing a new song. Likewise the statues of Love and of Fear, added, displayed this verse:

Here fear, here love, the guardian of virginity.

Whose varied figure these verses placed beneath declare. Of Love indeed:

The cross is to me for quiver and bow: thus I pierce the breast: The other love is conquered: but this love conquers all.

These express the face of Fear:

Between judgement and death it trembles at the arms of heaven: Let this fear make all things safe on earth.

Besides various other statues of the companions of chastity, symbols, mottoes, the continence of Joseph the patriarch was rewarded by the submission of the sun and the stars: but the incontinence of the world was overwhelmed with flames and waves, with these epigrams added:

Here and there Joseph, rising on a twin stage, Has the two stars of modest light. Learn hence what the famed power of a chaste mind can do, And how much modesty brings under its laws. This one saw the sun and moon, and the numerous stars of his brothers, Subject to himself by right: but that one saw God.

On the other hand, Nemesis, joined to it, thundered thus against the brothels of unchastity:

The Thunderer shakes his arms against Venus; here heaven is burst With sulphur, there the earth is swallowed by mighty waters. Enough of punishments has been spent: but that wicked luxury may cease, Neither flame nor wave is enough. Chaste love is enough: for this love, with heavenly arms, Conquers the arms of the quivered Love.

[145] [The triumphal arch of the apostles and martyrs. St. Roch receives the new relics.] The procession, having then advanced further along the way, had before its eyes statues of the virtues, which with their finger pointed out the narrow way of heaven, trodden by the footsteps of the saints. There followed another triumphal arch, famous for the trophies of the apostles and martyrs: the way directed by the virtues as leaders: and a last arch dedicated to the victorious cross of Christ and to Mary the glorious Mother of God, rather to be wrapped in silence than obscured by inadequate words, which cannot attain its art and elegance. At length they came to the basilica of St. Roch, flashing with tapestries, gold and gems. St. Roch came forth to be seen, ready to receive the new guests with festive applause, congratulating them. These verses were set beneath his image:

Sacred bones of the saints, to whom the golden temples of heaven Are owed, enter the roof of our house. This threshold was ours: henceforth it will be yours: after this Give famed names with a nobler title. That you have sought from afar the inner shrines of my temple, This shall be for me the crest of divine honour: This is enough for me; content with the heap of so great an honour, I shall either yield, or, if you keep me, be your guest.

The heavenly ones whose relics were being brought into the church answer:

Glory of the Gauls, and faithful hope of doubtful health, Whom fame sings, devoted to the regions of Europe, Here, where it has felt your help, so often invoked, the Lusitanian race Will honour you in perpetual posterity; Here honour is ever yours: the divinities of this temple Will ever be yours, nor are they enough for your merits. For us, where so great reverence for the kingdom above flourishes, It is enough that you were willing to receive us in hospitality.

[146] How great piety and divine beneficence then shone forth. On the following day the feast of the translation was celebrated, a solemn Mass of All Saints being sung pontifically: processions of the various confraternities to the church of St. Roch were continued for eight days, also of the students and of the poor of the city: there was an enormous concourse of the people to honour the said relics: prayers were prolonged daily far into the night. Many wonderful things happened throughout that whole time: nothing was disturbed anywhere in so great a triumph: nothing was lost of the riches of the whole city that had been borrowed: fifteen hundred pearls had gradually fallen from the garment of St. Elizabeth the queen: all were found on the same day and restored; very many similar things are related: the finding is ascribed to the merits of St. Anthony of Padua and to divine providence. The healings obtained at that time by the suffrages of the saints are passed over in silence, until, more exactly examined, they are approved by pontifical authority. Prizes were then proposed to poets who should compose the most elaborate verses on the Holy relics: and to him who should carry off the palm Ferdinand Mascarenhas offered forty ducats. I have related these things more fully, so that all may form, with the Portuguese, this judgement about relics, that all riches are nowhere spent more gloriously than in adorning these sacred remains: that the powers of genius are nowhere better exercised than in celebrating the praises of the saints. Our most holy lord Sixtus V afterwards conferred a most ample jubilee on all who, having received holy communion, should venerate the virginal company on the feast of St. Ursula.

§ XIV. What judgement seems to be passed on the relics of the holy virgins which are kept everywhere in churches.

It is beyond controversy that many of the bodies uncovered are truly of martyrs; We have related the principal translations of relics, and especially those from whose histories some indications might be understood by which it had been established that they were true relics of the holy virgins. We have seen that many bodies were brought out beside which were placed vessels full of blood mixed with sand; we have met many whose heads, breasts or other limbs were transfixed with arrows and darts; we have had before us many in which the monks of Deutz beheld a thousand signs of martyrdoms: who would doubt that all these are truly bodies of martyrs? And at this place I would wish the writer to read again what we related above in the Preliminary Commentary, numbers 232 and following, about the uncovering of some polysoma, or pits, in which many bodies were contained with countless clear indications of violent death. This discovery, namely, is recent, since it was made in the year 1640; it was described by the eyewitnesses Crombach and Gelenius and by the near-contemporary Papebroch; it was accurately examined, so that not even the least thing is hidden; and so that whoever reads its description seems unable not to exclaim with Papebroch that he is a man of iron who does not confess himself overcome by these things. Now the old Cologne paintings of the thirteenth century, or even older, show the holy martyrs laid in tombs with the same arrangement of the head and arms in which those found in the year 1640 were. Wherefore there is no doubt that, just as no prudent man would deny that the bodies found a little before the middle of the seventeenth century were truly of martyrs, so too those were of martyrs which were taken out four or five centuries before, namely when those panels were painted. Nor does a less favourable judgement seem to be passed on the relics which were at some time examined and proved by the judgement of God by fire.

[148] [but it may be that among them there are some which do not belong to the Ursuline band;] But it may be asked whether no bodies were dug up which were accompanied by no signs of martyrdom, but indicated by bare visions (how easily these can deceive, no one is ignorant) and, what is much worse, by will-o'-the-wisps alone, or flitting lights. For my part I have no doubt that they quite often dug the earth, led by no other indications; but whether, when they came upon bodies which nothing else showed to be of martyrs, they then took them out and held them in place of relics, I am not in a position to say: having nothing to make me affirm it, nothing to make me deny it. It may indeed be said that it must be presumed that everything was done duly and prudently: but whether this presumption rests on strong foundations I strongly doubt, since the bishops of Cologne, wholly immersed in political affairs, seem to have cared little about this whole business, and anyone who pleased to employ industrious diggers could take out relics. These things I must confess for the love of truth. To sum them up in a few words, I am fully persuaded that most of the relics of the company of St. Ursula which were formerly venerated and are still venerated are true and genuine sacred pledges; but that it may be that some are mixed with them which do not deserve the same honour: and that it cannot be distinguished (if you except the body of St. Ursula which is kept in her principal church, with the head adorned with a precious crown) which are of certain, which of doubtful origin.

[149] [but nothing on that account is to be changed in the cult, as is urged by the authority of Lippomano, Leibniz and Gabriel of St. Vincent,] Nor would I by these things wish anything in any way to be taken away from the cult of those ashes: two years ago I myself procured the translation of one such head, although what I have just written was already firmly fixed in my mind. What then? Let me be permitted here to repeat again what I wrote on this matter in another place Act. SS. volume VIII of October, page 333.: I approve the opinion of the most learned bishop of Verona, and at one time president of the Council of Trent, Luigi Lippomano, by whom, before some rare relics of Verona were described, an admonition was made through the archpriest on behalf of the authenticity of those relics … that it is not to be wondered at to be too scrupulous in honouring holy relics, since the honour of God in holy relics is the greater when the faithful people, out of love of God and zeal of devotion, embrace even those which were not truly relics In Biancolini, dei Vescovi di Verona, diss. II, page 163.. I approve on the same matter the words of Leibniz himself; who, after he had approved the cult of holy relics, wisely adds these things Systema theologicum, number 40, page 116, Louvain edition, 1845.: But since it is a matter only of pious affection, it makes no difference even if it should perhaps happen that relics which are held to be true are counterfeit. Meanwhile care must be taken lest by imprudent devotion we expose ourselves to ridicule and the Church to contempt among those who are outside. Finally I approve the principles on which an excellent theologian, the Discalced Carmelite Gabriel of St. Vincent, relied, when, asked by a certain bishop about relics concerning which there was doubt whether they were of the saint to whom they were attributed, he disclosed his opinion on this matter: The saints, he says In Boldetti, Osservazioni sopra i cimiteri de' santi martiri, page 704., have the right that their relics be exposed to public veneration;

of which right they are not to be deprived unless it is clearer than light that such relics are not of any saint… Likewise, if we were in doubt about the genuineness of relics, we ought to conclude in their favour. For in matters pertaining to the soul the niceties of law are not attended to. This very thing must be said for the right and honour of God and of the saints, in whom God is honoured. And if bishops, in other doubtful matters, for example of matrimonial dispensation, when prejudice follows, could declare in favour of the marriage, the same bishop will be able to do this much more in favour of the cult of the saints.

[150] since the cult of relics is relative. For Leibniz said most rightly that the cult of relics is a matter only of pious affection, or a relative cult, by which we do not properly venerate inanimate ashes, garments and other things of this kind, but the saints themselves; nor is this particular homage of a different order from the veneration of images: and so, as all plainly agree that it matters little whether the true face of the saints is expressed in an image or not (the same is true of the honour which is paid to kings and princes and other eminent men through publicly displayed likenesses), so too, as Leibniz rightly concluded, it makes no difference even if it should perhaps happen that relics which are held to be true are counterfeit. Nevertheless, although these things are so and are most certainly valid for averting the calumny of superstition, I am far from denying that, just as it would be desirable that all images were accurate and drawn from the life, so too it is to be wished with every prayer that there were nowhere any false relics, nor even doubtful ones: for open truth is far better in all things. Therefore, that these things might be secured (as far as possible), the Council of Trent in session XXV ordered that new relics should not be received unless the bishop recognizes and approves them; who, as soon as he has ascertained the facts concerning them, having taken theologians and other pious men into counsel, is to do what he judges consonant with truth and piety. But it would be too harsh to remove relics which are not new or recently uncovered, but have long since been held in honour, on that ground or pretext, that it can be doubted whether nothing false underlies them; and, far from such severity favouring piety and religion, it would harm them very greatly without any compensation of spiritual loss. Rightly, therefore, did the sacred congregation of the interpreters of the Council of Trent answer, in the case of Zaragoza on 20 October 1581 and in that of Albano on 3 March 1668 Ibid., page 700., that relics, if they are ancient (even if it cannot be demonstrated by certain documents that they are genuine and authentic), are to be held in the same veneration. Certainly bones and other things of that kind are to be cast away which truly seem counterfeit or are referred to no saint who is properly known; for the antiquity of error can never prejudice the perpetual newness of truth; but one must act more mildly where only vague doubts arise, especially if those whose relics they are said to be are certainly held in the number of the saints.

[151] [Certain names are to be kept, and also those which are rather common than proper,] There is nothing, therefore, for me to blame in the cult and veneration with which the faithful everywhere attend relics of the company of St. Ursula: yet one thing does not please me, which, like what has gone before, I may be permitted to put forward and explain with the greatest candour. That the body of St. Ursula and the head encircled with a precious crown (for there is another head, about which a different judgement must be made), kept in the basilica of Cologne, are most rightly held to be relics of this holy virgin, I think I have made sufficiently manifest. Who too would doubt that the inscription of Aetherius is genuine? Moreover the names of SS. Sencia, Gregoria, Pinnosa, Martha, Saula, Britula, Satuina, Rabacia, Saturia and Palladia were in use before pains seem to have been taken to forge names: but where the relics of these are now, which were once certainly kept in the suburban church of Cologne, no one could say. But all the other names are of uncertain origin, and in my judgement (if you perhaps except some, about which however nothing is established) fastened on them at will. Nor is this practice (if rightly understood and observed) to be disapproved; since, as Ferrand remarks Disquisitio reliquiaria, book I, chapter 5, article 1, page 186., we see by experience and daily use that the faithful are affected and carried with much less affection, zeal and piety towards the remains of those saints whose names are hidden from mortals than towards those which are designated by definite names; for things known and certain are wont to move our minds more powerfully than things obscure, unknown and uncertain, and therefore a greater accession to the divine glory and to the cult and veneration of the heavenly ones generally results.

[152] as the gravest men urge, And certainly, adds Mabillon in a little work whose purpose he had set as the correction of the blemishes which he grieved had crept into the veneration of saints and relics Epistola de cultu sanctorum ignotorum, second edition, page 83., certainly it is no recent invention to impose borrowed names on holy martyrs whose names were unknown, provided that their true and lawful martyrdom was established. Let Adauctus be an example, who is venerated with St. Felix the martyr on the third day before the Kalends of September: to whom, because his name was unknown, the name of Adauctus was given by the Church. So to the holy Four Crowned Ones, so to many other true and undoubted saints whom the Church has venerated from of old, names not their own have been imposed, that they might be distinguished from others. It is therefore no recent invention (although perhaps it was done more rarely formerly) that substituted names are imposed on anonymous saints, such as are most of those whose bodies are dug out of the Roman cemeteries, provided that they are not confused with those received and authentic, which the Romans take care to avoid. And certainly it seems unjust to defraud of due cult innumerable martyrs who suffered together in one place and on one day, such as were the forty-four thousand in Egypt who were crowned with martyrdom by the edict of the nineteenth year of Diocletian, as Ignatius, patriarch of Antioch, witnesses: it seems unjust, I say, to defraud so many martyrs of due cult on this pretext only, that their names are unknown. After Benedict XIV had approved all these things by his vote De canonizatione SS., book IV, part II, chapter 28., he asks what names are to be imposed on unknown saints. To which he answers Ibid., number 15.: And we say that they are appellative names, which are common to all the saints. Then he recites on this matter a decree of the sacred congregation of indulgences and sacred relics, issued on the 23rd of June 1670, in which these things are read: The matter was treated of the names which are commonly imposed on relics of holy martyrs, when it nowhere appears by what name they were called: and the sacred congregation said: In the decrees. For Pope Clement IX of happy memory had decreed that only those names should be used which are common to all the saints and appellative; for all can deservedly be called both Justus and Candidus and Deodatus and Victor.

[153] [but fabricated names, which have the character of proper names, and false dignities cannot be approved.] These are sound precepts, and according to right reason; but the Cologne diggers followed an altogether different rule. They devised princes and kings; bishops of definite sees, priests and deacons of certain cities; and, what is much worse, since before all things the relics of St. Ursula and of others whose names were truly known were sought by the faithful, they said that very many bodies were those of St. Ursula, St. Pinnosa and the like. Benedict XIV, with Baldelli, calls this a lie and a deception Ibid., loc. cit., and, with Mabillon, a thing most apt to bring confusion. Wherefore those would seem to me to be praised who should abolish the names of counterfeit Ursulas, Pinnosas and others of that kind, fastened to relics other than those which are kept in the basilica of St. Ursula at Cologne. As regards the rest, let Cyriacus, Pantulus, Permerius, Foilanus and others keep their names, but let them lay aside the titles of pontiff or Roman vicar, bishop of Basel, of Parma, of Lucca, etc.; and let the fictitious kings and princes do the same: let it be enough to have said that they suffered martyrdom with St. Ursula. For their names, if not common, are yet of such a kind that confusion with other saints does not seem to be feared: whereas the titles are full of lying and deception. But as regards the other names which Blessed Hermann seemed to himself to have learned from heaven in so great a number, and which others also devised, these are for the most part of the same kind as Cyriacus and the others of whom I was just speaking. But so great is the force and weight of custom that I scarcely dare hope there will be anyone to lend an ear to these things and put them into execution; although indeed they rest on the common sense of the Church, and are everywhere taught and inculcated by the theologians and interpreters of canon law who have handled these matters. But enough of this. I subjoin the catalogue of relics which Crombach formerly put together, with this intention, that those who keep anything of these relics with them may know that this writer has made mention of them, in whom they may perhaps find the history of the translation (for many things which Crombach has about the relics, and not fewer which escaped him, I myself have willingly omitted). Damasus of St. Louis translated this catalogue into French S. Ursule triomphante, page 445 and following. and inserted in it some names, most of whose heads or bodies he himself had carried from Cologne into France. But it did not seem worth while to thrust these in here, much less to increase this catalogue with names which Italy would easily supply in the greatest abundance.

§ XV. Names of the Ursuline martyrs collected from sepulchral inscriptions, and from the indices of the churches in which their relics are or were kept, and from certain other authors.

BY CROMBACH.

I do not wish, says Crombach at the beginning of this catalogue S. Ursula vindicata, page 745., to pledge my faith as to the individual names to be listed; for although I approve all those which are established from true sepulchral inscriptions, yet I fear lest certain additions have crept into some indices of churches: whence I wish so much authority to be attributed to these names as is deserved by the sources from which they are drawn. Much less would I myself wish to pledge my faith, especially since after the revolutions of states and so many wars, by which in this century and in the century just past so many churches and monasteries have been destroyed and converted to other uses, innumerable changes too have occurred in the relics of the saints.

Crombach's warning concerning the preceding names.

This thousand of names of Ursuline martyrs I have set down on the faith and at the risk of the catalogues or of the copyists: for because of my occupations it was not possible to inspect the individual places: which however the Rev. Mr. Conrad Luther of Recklinghausen, commissary of our most serene archbishop and elector, attempted to do before me, from whose excerpts and collected names I have taken some: anyone who has more leisure will be able to increase the catalogue, and to write down more accurately how great the portion is in each place, whence and when it was translated, especially where the heads rest, whence the number

of persons of the same name will be gathered with certainty. Nor will I deny that certain additions of more recent kingdoms, and of doubtful credit, have crept into some catalogues: such as of Hungary, Lombardy, the empire of Constantinople, England, France; yet sometimes true sepulchral inscriptions gave occasion for similar words to be added: an inscription had been found of Pastelasius, bishop of Agria; someone attached "of Hungary" to it, because Agria is a city of Hungary: Willibrand was written in his inscription as duke of Italy; later writers named him duke of Lombardy: Constantia was called daughter of the king of Thrace, or of Greece, and in another revelation of the Byzantine or Constantinopolitan king: hence the title of empress of Constantinople is added to the relics of St. Constantia. Certainly, as often as it was possible to read the original narratives of the discoveries written by contemporaries, for instance the Deutz one of Gerlach, another of the Knights of St. John, and one of the convent of St. Maximinus, I never found in them any words of a more recent age which could in the least be at variance with the Ursuline chronology: so in catalogues written by a more recent hand I have sometimes seen the word bishop, or cardinal, added, which was lacking in the original copies. So he, with better faith than judgement.

Selected names, and their number, which, excerpted from the indices of the churches, are either the same as, or akin to, those contained in the Revelations.

§ XVI. How it came about that many Martyrologies, called classical, do not have the commemoration of the Holy Virgins.

[It is explained why in the Hieronymian Martyrologies, whose character is indicated,] Closest to the relics of St. Ursula and her companions pertain the feasts which were celebrated in their honour, since most of them arose from translations. But since these must generally be understood from the martyrologies, there meets us at once the question of very many, how it came about that so celebrated and so great a martyrdom escaped almost all the ancient martyrologists. This question must be answered above all because those who most insist on it seem to wish by that question to shake the whole Ursuline martyrdom. But in truth it has no difficulty. Martyrologies, namely, are to be divided into several classes. In the first place come those which are usually called Hieronymian: the best text Fiorentini published, another d'Achery, others our Sollerius, others too Martène, and so on; and Sollerius described the principal codices with singular accuracy and praised each according to its merit in the preface to his edition of Usuard. Now the nature of that book is such that it relates chiefly the names of the Roman martyrs, yet not all, and others too which had become known to its writer. And this he did with no great discrimination. For since the Calendars of many churches lighted his way, he brought into his martyrology at each day those names which he had found in the Calendars at the same days, taking no account whether he had already marked them on other days according to other Calendars: so that sometimes the same martyrs return three, four, five times and even more often, indeed whole phalanxes of martyrs. But another characteristic is no less notable and bears more nearly on our subject: namely, in no genuine copies of this martyrology are martyrs inscribed who poured out their life with their blood for Christ after what they call the era of the persecutions. In vain, therefore, will you seek in them the illustrious athletes of Christian truth who with such constancy suffered the most atrocious torments under the Vandals in Africa. This being so, who will wonder that the virgins of Cologne, who suffered in the middle of the fifth century and almost at the same time as the African martyrs, are passed over in this martyrology? What of the fact that (if not certain) it is very probable that it was composed long before this time?

[157] But when copies were afterwards made, many names were added! So it is, they were added, but mostly few in number, no mention is made of St. Ursula and her companions; and only those which were celebrated in the very places in which the codices were written. Now we have no Cologne codex which contains the saints who are venerated on the 21st of October: for the codex of St. Mary ad Gradus, which was a Cologne church, ends on the 9th of October with St. Denis of Paris. Moreover almost all the codices are later than the ninth century; yet we have most certain monuments, written in this century or even before, by which it is established that the holy virgins, indeed the eleven thousand, were venerated at Cologne. What then? Shall we deny these most certain things because they are not found in Hieronymian apographs of the same age or even more recent? But if no prudent man would do that, although the reign of Charlemagne had then gone before, within which ecclesiastical information had been spread through almost the whole of Europe; will an argument drawn from codices written while individual churches lived almost to themselves and cared little for the affairs of others have greater force?

[158] [likewise why it is omitted by the Venerable Bede, who passed over almost all the British saints and of the English themselves marked only the most celebrated:] Having bidden farewell to the Hieronymian codices, they appeal to Bede, whom they suppose to have been most knowledgeable in British affairs. But here a most manifest confusion is made. Certainly Bede knew Anglo-Saxon affairs as no one man before or after him. But Anglo-Saxon affairs are one thing, British another. Of the affairs of the Britons he knew almost nothing else than what he read in St. Gildas the Wise and what had become known to the Anglo-Saxons through their controversies with the Britons. For the two nations did not deal so amicably with each other as readily to share their affairs with one another. Wherefore no one up to now has wondered that, although the Britons and Scots venerate thousands of old saints, the venerable man yet brought into his Martyrology only these names of the British and Scottish church: at 1 February St. Brigid, virgin; at the 7th of the same month St. Augustus, bishop and confessor; at 17 March St. Patrick, confessor; and at 22 June St. Alban, martyr. Other saints who properly belong to these churches I have not found. Add that it was clearly shown by Mabillon Annales Benedictini, volume I, page 544, Lucca edition. that the Venerable Bede in his Martyrology omitted the very Anglo-Saxon saints whom in his Ecclesiastical History he shows to have been venerated; and so that he set down the names only of those who were more celebrated in the universal Church.

[159] moreover he could have been entirely ignorant of the virgins of Cologne: But, you will say, the whole of Britain could not but be full of the fame of the martyrdom of the eleven thousand virgins, British by home. This is not a good objection. We by no means contend, and indeed we have demonstrated that it is absurd, that they were all British by nation and virgins. That there were some Britons among them, and those perhaps whose fame was the most celebrated of all, is most probable; that the triumph of the virgins too was more splendid than the glory of the rest: but that that band of martyrs was nothing else than citizens of Cologne of both sexes, with some foreigners mixed in, slain by the hordes of Attila, we have abundantly demonstrated elsewhere. Wherefore, although Cologne reckoned these among the martyrs, while other cities destroyed by the same barbarians omitted to attend their slain inhabitants with the same veneration, it is not necessary that the fame of the Cologne slaughter should have wandered much more through Britain than that of the massacre of so many other cities. True, it became known to the Britons; and its memory, because some British women were among the martyrs, was still preserved in the eighth or ninth century (as has been shown elsewhere); but it does not seem to have been very celebrated, since the author of the Sermon on the Feast-day, who heard the Britons on the matter, could relate nothing certain or accurate. And there is scarcely any need for me to point out that what I have said of the Martyrology of the Venerable Bede holds also of his History.

[160] [which must be thought of St. Gregory of Tours too, since he knew almost nothing of the war of Attila.] Those who have opposed the silence of Bede and of the Hieronymian codices likewise object that St. Gregory of Tours and other Gauls and Franks were similarly silent about the Ursuline slaughter. What wonder? Let our adversaries spend their labour in examining the writings of the ancients on the war of Attila; and they will be astonished at this one thing, that a war so atrocious, so cruel, is scarcely touched on by contemporary writers, and was known most imperfectly to those near in time. So much so that, if anyone wishes to collect the history of this war, he will scarcely be helped by the general histories and chronicles, but must search out the traditions of the individual cities, read the Lives of bishops and other things of that kind: otherwise he will never understand what the words of the contemporary Hydatius mean, who testifies that very many cities were broken into and the provinces of the Gauls plundered. To be content with one example, who, I ask, of the ancient historians mentions that the people of Arras were treated no less cruelly by Attila than the city of Metz? And yet we know their fate from the ancient Life of St. Vedast, whose authority no one would think worthless. Certainly there is no small force in the negative argument; and we have frequently used it in exploding the bishops and other leading men whose names the fabricators of the Cologne inscriptions inscribed on the stones. But that it may be valid, it is necessary that the writers whose silence is called to aid be judged to have been able and willing to commit the omitted things to writing if they had really existed: otherwise nothing is weaker than this form of argument. But we must return to the martyrologies.

[161] [Nor is it any wonder if this commemoration is not written in the Martyrologies of Florus, the Little Roman, Blessed Rabanus,] The Martyrology which grew by the zeal of the venerable Florus of Lyon upon the labour of the lord Bede (I use the words of St. Ado in the preface to his Martyrology) will not detain me; since he only supplied the huge number of days which his Saxon predecessor had left empty, omitting countless and sometimes most celebrated saints. The Little Roman, which lighted the way for St. Ado, will detain me no more; for it has fewer saints from this side of the mountains; indeed the very African martyrs slain by the Vandals were not brought into it. Further, when around the year 845 Cf. Sollerius, Praefatio ad Usuardum, page XIX. Blessed Rabanus, archbishop of Mainz, wrote his Martyrology, he filled from the Hieronymian fasti the days left empty by Bede and Florus, adding saints who pertained more nearly to the people of Fulda. Nor did St. Ado around the year 858 Ibid., page XXXX. follow any other rule in composing his Martyrology. He had before his eyes only Bede as augmented by Florus, the Little Roman and the Hieronymian: whence it is easily seen that it is no wonder at all if neither of them (I mean Rabanus and Ado) inscribed the virgins of Cologne in their lists, since they did not find them in the books which they used.

[162] St. Ado Of St. Ado in particular we know that his purpose was by no means to list all the saints (and indeed he omitted most of the Hieronymian ones), but that the days might be supplied which in the Martyrology (which had grown by the zeal of the venerable Florus upon the labour of the lord Bede) were only noted, without names of martyrs. Then, to provide for the weakness of the brethren, he wrote from codices of Passions collected from all sides short eulogies, in which the principal points were contained; whereby it came about that the brethren less able to read had a compendious reading on the commemorations of the martyrs, and in a small codex, what

others search out with much labour through many codices. So he in the prologue. But since the 21st of October was by no means empty, and since at that time, as the writer of the Sermon on the Feast-day witnesses, the history of the Ursuline martyrdom did not yet exist, certainly no one should have expected on either head that St. Ado would have marked the feast of the holy virgins. But, you will say, the martyrologist of Vienne preserved the names of the saints of Gaul before the rest: so it is, he preserved those, namely, whose Lives or Passions he had, or whose feasts were more celebrated; to which finally, when he was made archbishop of Vienne, he added the saints of this church. But, you will say again, did not St. Ado live for some time in the monastery of Prüm, which was enclosed in the diocese of Trier, before he undertook his Martyrology: how then did it come about that he then heard nothing of St. Ursula? Whether he heard of her I do not know; but this one thing must be noted, that St. Ado, while he was living at Prüm, had not yet applied his mind to composing a Martyrology: which design he testifies he then at length undertook, when he had copied the Little Roman Martyrology at Ravenna. On all these things Sollerius must be consulted in the preface to his edition of Usuard.

[163] and of Blessed Notker. Now come Blessed Notker the Stammerer, monk of the monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland, and Usuard, monk of St. Germain of Paris: of whom the latter published the first edition of his work in the year 859 or the following, the later between the year 869 and 877 Cf. Acta SS. volume VIII of October, pages 85 and 86.; the former in the year in which, as he himself says [In the Martyrology at the eighth day before the Kalends of May, in Migne, Patrologia, volume CXXX, col. 1070.], Hatto, archbishop of Mainz, carried the head of St. George and a certain other limb, with very many things obtained from the apostolic Formosus, to his new monastery, namely to the cell of St. George in the island of Reichenau; by which notation the year 896 is designated [Cf. John Egon's book on the illustrious men of Reichenau, chapter 18, in Pez, Thesaurus anecdotorum, volume I, part III, page 679; Muratori, Annali d'Italia at the year 896; Hermann the Lame, in Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae, volume V, page 110, etc.]. But already from at least the year 843 he had begun to spend care on this work Cf. de Magistris, Acta Martyrum ad Ostia Tiberina, page 8.. Now Blessed Notker did almost nothing else than follow the footsteps of Rabanus and Ado, so that he might seem to have wished to make one out of the two, as Papebroch says [In the Preface to the Martyrology of the Venerable Bede, before volume II of March.]: wherefore it was plain that he would omit the virgins of Cologne.

[164] Usuard, although some have thought otherwise, at 20 October But Usuard, who inserted only a few things into Ado's Martyrology Sollerius, in the Preface to Usuard, page XXXXIV., being generally content to abbreviate the more diffuse eulogies of the archbishop of Vienne, by no means omitted them, but announced them at the 20th of October, both in the first and in the second edition, in these words: In the city of Cologne, the passion of the holy virgins Martha and Saula with many others. But some call into doubt, others altogether deny, that they are of the company of St. Ursula. Let our Sollerius be heard in his observations on this place Usuardi Martyrologium, pages 613 and 614.: There follows, he says, the class of the virgins of Cologne, which I had sought long, but in vain, among the martyrologists or other ancient writers, indeed among the people of Cologne themselves, until I chanced upon the passage of Crombach on Ursula, book II, chapter 12, where he contends that Usuard, in the words of our text, recorded the first virgins slain on the day before the general Ursuline slaughter, adding that the people of Cologne either do not venerate these or only on the following day with the whole Ursuline company. Here I was taught in a few words why I had sought in vain: but whence Usuard either received or formed his virgins is left equally uncertain. Whether what Crombach thought of our Usuardine commemoration is sufficiently ascertained, and likewise whether it is sufficiently consonant with the published Ursuline Acts, is matter for another place and examination. But indeed from Usuard, as bearing witness to an opinion received in his century, namely the ninth, this is drawn out, that many virgins at Cologne, as on the following day Wandelbert too will testify, this, I say, is drawn out, that many, and if you will very many, virgins fell there for the faith of Christ. Martha and Saula may perhaps some day suggest matter for more curious investigation. Meanwhile, if they are thought to have been of the company of the eleven thousand, one may wonder that among so many Ursulines expressed by name by some, these two names are almost everywhere lacking. Do you see, reader, how Sollerius himself, a man of the most moderate mind, after many circumlocutions, inclined to deny that SS. Martha and Saula with their companions were of the company of St. Ursula? Whence it would follow that not even Usuard mentioned the virgins of Cologne.

[165] truly mentioned the holy virgins of Cologne. But in truth Sollerius willingly cast darkness over most clear matters. Let Crombach's guesses that Martha and Saula were slain one day before the rest be set aside first of all. Sollerius himself knew well enough from his own experience that the martyrologists quite often err in the days. Did he not himself see Notker continually around the 20th of October running one day ahead in many saints? Did he not himself note again at 20 October what he had already observed at 27 August, that SS. George, Aurelius and their companions, martyrs of Córdoba, were marked by Usuard, by an error of a whole month, at the said day of 27 August, whereas they should have been announced on the 27th of July? And while we write these things we are by no means indulging in conjectures. For there still exists in the library of Düsseldorf, marked D. 3, the Calendar of Essen of the diocese of Cologne, which Floss determined was written in the tenth century Aschbach's Kirchen Lexicon, volume IV, page 1103., and to which beyond doubt that which lighted Usuard's way was altogether similar; yet there, not at the 20th day but at the 21st, are read exactly the same words as in Usuard. Moreover Sollerius did not rightly observe that Martha and Saula are almost everywhere lacking among so many Ursulines expressed by name by some. For what does it matter if Saula (Martha is another matter) is lacking in the Revelations of Blessed Elizabeth and Hermann and in the list of inscriptions and relics? For almost all the names there are fictitious, as we have sufficiently shown. On the contrary, in sound monuments Martha and Saula are read most plainly. In the Preliminary Commentary, number 261, we cited several codices; but here it is better to have heard Crombach, so that it may be established how over-hastily many things have been falsely asserted about Ursuline matters: Alcuin, he says S. Ursula illustrata, page 998., around the year 800 mentions them twice: first in the Litanies of the patrons of Gaul, which I found hitherto unpublished in his works in manuscripts of the metropolitan library of Cologne, written almost eight hundred years ago. (Floss judges the codex to have been written in the tenth century Aschbach's Kirchen Lexicon, volume IV, page 1104..) In them he lists seven Ursuline virgins in this order: St. Brittola, St. Martha, St. Saula, St. Sambaria, St. Saturnina, St. Gregoria, St. Pinnosa, St. Palladia. I found similar litanies in a very old Cologne missal of the same church, with the names of the same virgins in the same order: except that St. Ursula is placed between Sambaria and Saturnina. (Floss refers the same litanies to the age of the Ottonian emperors Ibid., page cited..) The additions to Ado made four hundred years ago list the same virgins, with several added, as chiliarchs of the Ursuline company, only changing the name of Martha into Mardia, in this order: In Gaul, at Cologne Agrippina, of the Holy Eleven Thousand virgins: one is called Ursula, Sentia, Gregoria, Pinnosa, Mardia, Saula, Brictula, Saturnina, Saturnia, Rabatia, Palladia, Clementia, Grata. These names are taken from certain very old Cologne lessons: I found a copy of them in a parchment folio breviary of the collegiate church of the Holy Apostles, at the end of the fifth lesson. Whose names are these: Pinnosa, daughter of Duke Maximus, Sentia, Georgia, Martha, Saula, Brittula, Rabastia, Saturnina, Satura, Palladia, Clementia, Grata: for he had put the name and martyrdom of Ursula first: so that it cannot be doubted that these names of virgins in Alcuin are of the Ursuline company. But we have already mentioned more about these things in the place of the Preliminary Commentary which I indicated a little above.

[166] [Wandelbert of Prüm, who published his martyrology on 5 April of the year 847, had long before spoken magnificently of the holy virgins.] But why do I pursue these things? For whatever reason it came about that Florus and Rabanus, Ado and Notker omitted the holy virgins, while Usuard made mention of them on an erroneous day and rather meagrely; this is certain, that before the three latter published their Martyrologies they were excellently celebrated by Wandelbert of Prüm; so that from their silence nothing else seems able to be gathered than that they did not use such great diligence in seeking out saints from every side as those commonly persuade themselves who have applied their mind little to considering their purpose and methods. Wandelbert himself accurately designates the year in which he brought his metrical fasti to light. For in the preliminary poem to the Emperor he has these things In Migne, Patrologia, volume CXXI, cols. 583 and 584.:

Five lustra Come round through the world, Since, famous In name and arms, You hold The Caesarean rights.

These things therefore were written when five lustra were coming round, or when the twenty-fifth year was running since Lothair, son of Louis the Pious (for the poem is addressed to him), had obtained the Caesarean rights. But Louis the Pious summoned his son into partnership in the empire on the 31st of July of the year 817; so that the 25th year of Lothair's reign ran from the 31st of July of the year 841, and indeed Mabillon would have Wandelbert's Martyrology to have come to light about this time Annales Benedictini, book XXXII, number 50, volume II, page 588, Lucca edition.. But why did that most learned man not notice that there was another beginning of Lothair's reign, namely the 5th of April of the year 823, on which he celebrated Easter at Rome and at the same time received the crown from Pope Paschal I? For Wandelbert manifestly computes the years of his reign from the day of this coronation. Receive the verses which he set immediately before those recited:

Golden Rome, With lofty head, By adorning you With the name Of Caesar, ordained That you would soon be king to the world. The Italian land First, under your leadership, Stood out; after it Francia; you, Wielding the sceptre, The world adores.

According to Wandelbert, therefore, Rome adorned Lothair with the name of Caesar, and in that way ordained that he would soon be king to the world. Whence it follows that the 25th year, in which the son of Louis the Pious was holding the Caesarean rights and the monk of Prüm brought out his Martyrology, is to be computed from the 5th of April of the year 847. Although we have already recited elsewhere Wandelbert's verses on the holy virgins, let them

be placed once more here before the eyes of readers. After praising SS. Asterius and Hilarion at 21 October, he adds these things:

Then, numerous together along the shores of the Rhine, there shine Trophies raised to Christ by virginal companies At the city of Agrippina, thousands of whom impious fury once Slaughtered, renowned for their holy leaders;

which words we have compared elsewhere with monuments of the ninth and tenth centuries, and have clearly shown that the eleven thousand virgins and martyrs are proclaimed by them. Let the Preliminary Commentary, § XXVII, be compared; where we have collected many other testimonies, earlier than the eleventh century, about the cult of the holy virgins of Cologne in the dioceses of Cologne and Trier.

[167] [Since in the ninth century the feast of the holy virgins was kept not in the cathedral church of Cologne itself, but only in the Ursuline basilica,] Yet I would not wish to conclude this disputation about the foolish astonishment that the memory of SS. Ursula and her companions is not celebrated in the (so-called) classical martyrologies without adding that for some part of the ninth century a festival or divine office in their honour seems not to have been celebrated anywhere else than in the basilica consecrated in their name and under their patronage. Certainly this is suggested by a codex written in the ninth century for the use of the cathedral church of Cologne, which Hartzheim found in its library [Catalogus codicum mss. bibliothecae ecclesiae metropolitanae Coloniensis, pages 140 and 141.] marked number 102, and which, besides twenty-seven nineteen-year cycles of Dionysius from the year of Christ 532 to 1044 and various books of Bede on chronology, but almost all mutilated, contained a most ancient Calendar of the church of Cologne. For in this Calendar, which was at the front of the volume, no commemoration of the holy virgins was made at the 21st day of October. Nor is it any wonder; for, as Hartzheim witnesses, it had three, or two, or ten days a month inscribed with saints, never twenty, besides those of Christ the Lord, the Mother of God and the apostles. On the day before the Ides of November, at Cologne, St. Cunibert the confessor, he says, is the only one of our holy bishops; at 10 October no mention of our own martyrs, namely St. Gereon and his companions, whom yet Bede mentions in his Martyrology. On the fifth day before the Kalends of October, the feast of SS. Cosmas and Damian; at Cologne the dedication of the church of St. Peter the apostle: it is established from the council of Cologne that on this very day the metropolitan basilica was consecrated by our archbishop Willibert.

[168] [it is no wonder if knowledge of it was not much spread, nor is it credible that the Missal of the monks of St. Pantaleon, in which it is contained, is of the eighth century.] Certainly, since the people of Cologne were so sparing in venerating even their popular saints, and since the whole veneration which was paid to the Ursuline band was enclosed within a narrow suburban church, it was plain that the fame of these virgins would not reach foreigners; and so, if I am to wonder at anything, it is this one thing, that Wandelbert knew of them. And for this reason too I would not believe that the Missal of the monks of St. Pantaleon of Cologne is of the eighth century, as some have wished, and which Schulting Bibliotheca ecclesiastica, in Crombach, page 998., Fleien In Lippeloo, volume IV, page 789., Winheim Sacrarium Agrippinae, page 95. and Crombach S. Ursula illustrata, page 998. call English, and in whose calendar there was inscribed at the 21st of October: At Cologne, of the holy eleven thousand virgins. I would readily grant that it is English in origin, so that it was copied from a Missal brought into Germany by the Anglo-Saxon heralds of the Gospel, and then augmented with some saints of Cologne: (for hence calendars under the title of martyrologies of the Venerable Bede are commonly met with in these parts:) but since in the earlier part of the ninth century the feast of St. Ursula was not kept in the cathedral church of Cologne, who would admit that it was celebrated in another church, unless there was a particular reason (as for the basilica of the holy virgins)? It is plainly probable that the cult of St. Ursula and her companions at length grew at Cologne when in the year 852 Gunthar, prelate of Cologne, introduced canons into their basilica, and that this Missal too is more recent than this age.

§ XVII. The cult and celebrity of St. Ursula and her companions is shown from Calendars and Martyrologies.

Very many Calendars of the eleventh and following centuries are indicated, Now when martyrologies began to be written which contained not bare names but a brief eulogy of the saints, and these were read publicly among the divine offices, it is a very well-known fact that the cult of the saints was everywhere increased and more names were inscribed in the calendars. There is no need for me to repeat the commemorations of the virgins of Cologne which, while treating of another matter, I have already brought forward from the older sacred fasti in the Preliminary Commentary, § XXVII; but it will be helpful to have added some others here. In the calendar of Verdun, which seemed to Martène Vett. scriptt. amplissima collectio, volume VI, col. 615. to have been written in the eleventh century, there is read at 21 October Ibid., col. 683.: Of St. Hilarion the monk and of the Holy Eleven Thousand virgins. In that of Brescia of the thirteenth century, which Migne recently published again from Zaccaria's Antiquities of the Middle Age Patrologia, volume CXXXVIII, col. 1275.: Of Ursula, virgin and martyr, with 1000 virgins; IX has dropped out, unless I am mistaken, and "thousand" was written; in the Calendar of the monastery of Lire of the twelfth century In Martène, Thesaurus anecdotorum, volume III, col. 1615.: At Cologne, of the eleven thousand virgins; in that of Vallombrosa of the twelfth century In Migne, Patrologia, volume CXXXVIII, col. 1285.: Of St. Hilarion, abbot and confessor, and of the eleven thousand virgins; but in another a little older it is omitted Cf. ibid., 1290.: so that at the end of the twelfth century that feast seems to have passed into those parts, namely after the Ursuline tombs were uncovered by Gerlach and Hartbern. In the calendar, under the title of the martyrology of Bede, prefixed to a Missal which is kept in the Laurentian library, pluteus XVI, number 6, and which is not of the eleventh century (as they would have it) but of the thirteenth (since the first hand has written in it St. Dominic, confessor, of the order of Friars Preachers, and St. Francis, confessor, of the order of Friars Minor), there is read at 21 October, St. Hilarion being drawn back to the preceding day: Of St. Modestus and of the Holy eleven thousand virgins Cf. ibid., cols. 1298, 1299 and 1300.: a solecism by no means rare, so that in every case they said "undecim millia virginum", no differently from how in the middle age they said "Vitas Patrum", and in the golden age and afterwards "triumviri" instead of "tres viri", etc. In Moggio I, which seems to have been written in the twelfth century for the monastery of St. Vitus in Carinthia, there is read Althan, de Calendariis, page 148.: At Cologne 9 thousand virgins, as of St. Agna. Of Hilarion martyr, rather monk. In the other, which began to be in use at Moggio (that monastery was begun at the end of the eleventh century by Udalric, patriarch of Aquileia) in the thirteenth century, you have these things Ibid., page 170.: Of Hilarion m. 11 thousand virgins and 11.

[170] in which the eleven thousand virgins are inscribed. In the Calendar which St. Elizabeth of Thuringia gave as a gift to the people of Friuli in the year 1220, but which was written before the twelfth century, inasmuch as it lacks the names of SS. Louis, Dominic, Francis, Bernard, and even of St. Thomas of Canterbury, the announcement is lacking Ibid., page 186.; on the other hand in Aquileia I, written in the thirteenth century Ibid., page 206., and in that of Bologna of the following century Ibid., page 231., and in another of Aquileia also of the fourteenth century Ibid., page 230., the eleven thousand virgins and martyrs are praised; but after St. Hilarion: which is also observed in that of Parma of the fourteenth century, except that it is written: Of St. Hilarion, abbot. St. Ursiline with her companions. But this is according to old custom: for it is not to be believed, because those of Cologne come in second place, that they were therefore venerated less than St. Hilarion at that time. For in the little book which the church of Aquileia used in the thirteenth century in announcing every Sunday what feasts were to be observed in choir and in the market-place, and what fasts within the week, these things are read Althan, de Calendariis, page 296.: Tomorrow, on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, on Saturday next, on Sunday next, will be the passion of the holy 11 thousand virgins and martyrs of Christ: let us all, abstaining from work, celebrate it most devoutly: yet lest these things seem something exceptional, it must be noted that in the thirteenth century a third part of the year (if you add the Sundays) was kept so festively by the people of Aquileia, or at least was ordered to be kept: and indeed in the month of October they celebrated in that manner the feasts of SS. Francis, Mark the pope, Gereon, Gall, Luke, the 11 thousand, Simon and Jude, and fasted two days. In Milan I, which was written at the head of the Ambrosian Breviary in the year 1465, St. Ursula is prescribed to be venerated on the 20th of October, because the following day was occupied by St. Hilarion In Georgi, Martyrologium Adonis, page 718.; yet in Milan II Ibid., page 723. on the 20th of October St. Maximus, martyr, and Ursula, virgin, with 11 thousand virgins, and on the 21st St. Hilarion, abbot, and St. Cordula, virgin and martyr, come. From these things I would think it is manifest how great an increase their cult received after the relics of the holy virgins were elevated in the middle of the twelfth century and afterwards; it existed before, even outside the diocese of Cologne; but it was rare and sparing; and indeed their memory was absent from the calendar of Lorsch of the declining ninth century; yet a more recent hand wrote in after the feast of St. Hilarion Ibid., page 693.: And the solemnity of the holy virgins at Agrippina; likewise from the Vatican one, which is certainly German in origin and more probably of Trier, and so written at the beginning of the eleventh century Ibid., page 701.; and finally from the Palatine-Vatican one, written in the twelfth century on the upper Rhine Ibid., page 708.. Cardinal Mai published Patrum nova bibliotheca, volume VI, page XLVI. a most learned commentary of Niccolò Alemanni on a pocket calendar of boxwood, Belgian in origin and beyond doubt most ancient; since it has only fifty-five feasts and lacks the feasts of SS. Dominic, Francis, Louis and Thomas of Canterbury. Now in it at the 21st of October Alemanni found a sign (for it does not have names, but the insignia of each saint, no differently from the one of Amsterdam published by Isaac Lelong Historische beschryvinge van de reformatie der stadt Amsterdam, page 256., the Danish ones by Olaus Wormius Fasti Danici, pages 87, 90, 92, 96, 100, 102, 119. and the Gallo-Belgian one illustrated by Luigi Frati Di un Calendario runico della pontificia Università di Bologna, Bologna, 1841.); by which sign, as Alemanni says, the painter sets before the eyes the cemetery of Cologne in which the bodies of Ursula and her virgin companions were laid. But, which is a loss, the images have been lost. In the runic Calendars published by Olaus Wormius there are noted

everywhere too the eleven thousand virgins, mostly by the sign of an arrow. In a similar calendar of Vannes, which was beyond doubt carved in the seventeenth century and illustrated in the following century by Lancelot Mémoires de l'académie des inscriptions, volume IX, page 233 and following. (men formerly thought the characters were magical), the feast of the Holy Virgins is in no way indicated.

[167] In the additions to the Martyrologies, Since Bede, Florus, Rabanus, Ado and Notker had nothing about the holy virgins, while Usuard had mentioned them at the 20th day of October, it could not be that, when in the twelfth century their cult was spread everywhere, their commemoration should not be added here and there to those martyrologies. In the additions to Bede and Florus of Arras, Tournai and Liessies, then, there is read Act. SS. before volume II of March, page XXXV.: At Cologne Agrippina, the passion of the holy eleven thousand virgins. Ado's martyrology too was augmented; and so in the Cologne and Belgian codices which Rosweyde used in preparing his edition, he found this announcement, which, though long, is yet free of the Elisabethan and Hermannian fictions: In Gaul, at Cologne Agrippina, of the holy eleven thousand virgins: one is called Ursula, Sentia, Gregoria, Pinnosa, Mardia, Saula, Brictula, Saturnina, Saturnia, Rabatia, Palladia, Clementia, Grata: and the names of the others are written in the book of life: of which names we spoke in the Preliminary Commentary.

[168] they are noted here and there in the Usuardine ones too. Since Usuard was much more in use than the other martyrologists, there exist accordingly many more codices of his into which additions at 21 October were thrust. In the codices which Sollerius is accustomed to call the greater Antwerp one and the Rosweyde one, and which, English in origin, were written in the twelfth century, you have these things In Sollerius, page 616.: In the city of Cologne, the passion of the holy eleven thousand virgins. The same, except that "feast" is written in place of "passion", are read in the other Antwerp codex and the Ughelli codex and the Lübeck edition Maxima, which arose in the thirteenth century in a Cistercian cloister. But why do I pursue these things? Out of the great crowd of codices and editions which Sollerius used in preparing his Usuard, only the following omit at 21 October the commendation of the martyrs of Cologne: that of Saint-Germain-des-Prés; that of Tournai of the thirteenth century, originally of Hautvillers in the territory of Reims; that of Pulsano of the twelfth century; that of Centula of the same age; that of Mr. Le Mare marked A, written at Autun in the eleventh century; the Vatican one collected in the twelfth century for the church of St. Sophia of Benevento; and finally that of Héry, or of Reims, of the eleventh century, although a more recent hand did not allow even this one to be without this commemoration; all the rest either praise the Ursuline virgins at length according to the revelations of Blessed Elizabeth and Hermann, or at least adorn them with that shorter announcement which I related above. And hence too is gathered what we have observed a little above and elsewhere, that the public veneration of St. Ursula and her companions was singularly propagated and extended after, in the middle of the twelfth century, their innumerable bodies began to be raised from the earth and translated into every part of the world; whereas before, their cult was confined within narrower bounds.

[169] Hence the name of St. Hilarion was everywhere obscured. And from this gradually growing celebrity it came about that the festival of St. Hilarion was obscured and the first place was given to the holy virgins. This indeed we could easily demonstrate from the huge abundance of Missals and Breviaries, both old and more recent, with which our museum is furnished, especially from the gifts of the most noble man Baron de Viron, not long since deceased, for almost the whole of Belgium and Germany, for England, Scotland, Denmark and Hungary, for Italy in part and France, and also for very many dioceses of the Spanish peninsula; similarly for most religious orders, namely the Preachers, the Friars Minor, the Premonstratensians, Cistercians, Augustinians, the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, many Benedictine congregations; so that the churches in which the feast of the holy virgins was omitted could be listed far more easily than those in which it was celebrated rather solemnly. But from the time when the correction of the Roman Breviary prevailed, in which a bare commemoration of the martyrs of Cologne is made without lessons, the cult of the holy virgins decreased in some places, although many churches and whole kingdoms obtained the privilege of celebrating the feast of SS. Ursula and her companions with double rite with proper lessons, taken from the Ecclesiastical Annals of Baronius or his notes on the Roman martyrology, or, if you prefer, from Geoffrey of Monmouth. The cult of St. Ursula and her companions penetrated even to the Slavs themselves. It is generally known that in Dalmatia and in part of Illyricum the sacred liturgy and the whole divine office are celebrated in the Slavonic language according to the Roman rite. Further, in a Slavonic codex written in the fourteenth century and containing together the Breviary, Missal and Ritual of that rite, the feast of the eleven thousand virgins is prescribed to be kept Martinof, les Manuscrits slaves de la bibliothèque impériale de Paris, page 71.. But let us return to the martyrologies.

[170] The commemoration of the Holy Virgins in the Roman Martyrologies, At the end of the sixteenth century many martyrologies were written for the use of the Roman Church; among these comes in the first place the martyrology according to the custom of the most holy Roman and universal Church of the Rev. Mr. Francesco Maurolico, abbot of Messina, much more purged and enriched than before; a copy of which, printed at Venice by the Giunti in the year 1576, is before my eyes. In it at 21 October is read: At Cologne, of the holy eleven thousand virgins, who for the constancy of their virginity consummated their life by martyrdom, slain by the Huns serving under Attila, whose leader was Ursula, daughter of the king of the Britons. After those sacred fasti there came out in the year 1578, likewise at Venice, but from Antonio de Antoniis, the martyrology of the Holy Roman Church adapted for use on each day of the year, addressed to the most holy father Gregory XIII, supreme pontiff, best and greatest, by Pietro Galesini, apostolic protonotary, as author. In it at the said day you have: At Cologne, of the holy eleven thousand virgins, who, slain by the Huns for the religion of Christ and for guarding their virginity, among whom Ursula held the chief place, departed into heaven to the reward of a double crown.

[171] and the changes in that of Baronius. The martyrologies of the heretics. But when Pope Gregory XIII had given in charge to some learned men the revision of the martyrology of Belinus, which was formerly also called Roman, but was mere augmented Usuard, and Baronius above all had sweated in adorning this task, who had allowed himself to be persuaded by others that the Ursuline virgins suffered at the mouths of the Rhine and were thence translated in great number to Cologne, and gave credence to the fables of Geoffrey of Monmouth, already in the year 1583 (for we have a copy of the reformed Roman martyrology published at Rome in this year from the press of Domenico Basa, which edition was suppressed because of its errors) this eulogy of the holy virgins was inserted: At Cologne Agrippina, the feast of the holy Ursula and her companions, who, slain by the Huns for the faith of Christ and the constancy of their virginity, consummated their life by martyrdom: very many of whose bodies were carried to Cologne; Baronius, namely, thought that they had been brought here from the mouths of the Rhine. But, although he never laid aside this opinion, he changed the words shortly afterwards in the edition which he wished to be held authentic, in this manner: At Cologne Agrippina, the feast of the holy Ursula and her companions, who, slain by the Huns for the Christian religion and the constancy of their virginity, consummated their life by martyrdom: and very many of their bodies were buried at Cologne: this form has been preserved to this day. It will be helpful also to consult the martyrologies of the heretics which came out in the sixteenth century. Kaspar Holtwurm of the Adige published in the year 1559 in the German language an ecclesiastical Calendar, Kirchen Calender, composed in the form of martyrologies: in it at 21 October he briefly followed the passion Regnante Domino, and referred the martyrdom to the year 450. Afterwards Andreas Hondorff, Lutheran parson at Droyssig, and following him Vincentius Sturmius, schoolmaster at Bitterfeld, another Calendar of saints and histories in the year 1579, in which they inveigh heavily against the superstitious credulity of the Catholics, yet comprised the Ursuline history in a compendium, not omitting Pope Cyriacus, according to the Revelations of Blessed Elizabeth, which already did not please many Catholics. But enough of this.

[172] Many feasts were formerly celebrated at Cologne, especially at Deutz. Nor was the 21st of October alone appointed for venerating the holy virgins. We have already spoken of the feasts of the translations of SS. Ursula and Pinnosa, but others remain. Theodoric, monk and sacristan of Deutz, who had the chief parts in digging up and translating the bodies of the holy virgins under the abbots Gerlach and Hartbern, at the last chapter of his writing about these deeds, related these things: Abbot Hartbern instituted that the day which is the twelfth before the Kalends of November should be celebrated in honour of the holy virgins; and the following, which is the eleventh before the Kalends of the same month, in honour of the holy martyrs; so that one day was assigned to the veneration of each sex; moreover the translation of St. Cyriacus on the fourth day before the Kalends of May; the translation of St. Ursula, queen and martyr, on the fourth day before the Nones of July; the translation of St. Evergislus, archbishop of Cologne (he does not belong here), on the fifth day before the Kalends of October. And the festivals of the remaining saints the same abbot decreed to be celebrated in this way, that all should be divided equally through the twelve months, so that in each month, on those * Kalends at which martyrs of the male sex are noted, they should be honoured with XII lessons; similarly also in each month the martyrs of the female sex should obtain equally XII lessons on the Kalends at which they are noted; and so in each month the monks of Deutz had two feasts of some saints of the company of St. Ursula, one of some men, the other of some women, whose relics they kept with them: how long that institution lasted is altogether unknown to me; in the middle of the seventeenth century Gelenius seems to have been ignorant of it, and Crombach himself.

* iis?

§ XVIII. The Ursuline Calendar; or the feasts of the Martyrs of the Ursuline Company distributed through the individual months.

As could be seen in § II of the Preliminary Commentary, Bolland had begun an Ursuline Calendar, containing the feasts of the martyrs of the Ursuline company distributed through the individual months, and had destined it for Crombach. The Ursuline champion made it public property, adding some names. But I myself will also publish it, increased with many more; since there is scarcely any other way in which mention may be made of very many who are ascribed to the Ursuline company and to the singular veneration of honour. Yet it was by no means my intention in collecting these things to list briefly everything that was formerly done, and is still done, on certain days of the year. I did not even wish to attempt it. I only thought of noting certain principal things and others which occurred of their own accord and at the same time had something singular: for those things which were done on the 21st of October in almost all the churches in which the relics of Cologne were kept I thought should be altogether neglected. Most of the things too which I had already written above, where I spoke of the translations of relics, I have passed over. Further, receive this specimen of the Calendar, in which what is enclosed in square brackets I

have inserted; the few remaining things are Bolland's and Crombach's.

JANUARY

[17. Of St. Sulpicius of Ravenna: so the manuscript Florarium which was in the possession of our predecessors. That name arose from the fictitious inscriptions and the Revelations. Yet some historians of Ravenna brought into their books this man as an archbishop, others as an archdeacon, unknown in ancient times.]

19. At Cologne, the translation of St. Antonina and of six other virgins and martyrs, of the company of the eleven thousand virgins, to the parish church of St. John the Baptist. Additions to Usuard in the Lübeck-Cologne edition, Ferrari, Canisius, Gelenius. [John Wilson mentions the same, at 15 January, in the edition of his English Martyrology which he brought to public light in the year 1640. Our predecessors briefly mentioned the same translation at 15 and 19 January and at 11 and 12 May. Baillet also made commemoration of it at 21 October. This feast was celebrated most solemnly on the Monday of Pentecost with a public procession in which the body, enclosed in a gilded coffer, was carried through the parish, and a proper office was said with a commemoration of the feria. It is renowned, adds Gelenius De Coloniae Magnitudine, page 415., for many divine benefits, especially those obtained against fevers. The splendid little band of virgins of Blessed Antonia and her companions is also most worthy of veneration because of the most sweet odour which they breathe forth, and because the bodies are seen with flesh and skin largely unimpaired, showing the wounds of martyrdom. The same things are read in volume II of a manuscript book whose title is Colonia metropolis sacra. That volume II, which I shall often cite under the name of the manuscript Cologne Menology, contains the sacred fasti of Cologne, Osnabrück, Münster, Liège, Minden and Utrecht.]

22. At Cologne, in the church of St. Cunibert, the commemoration of the eleven thousand virgins and martyrs. [Gelenius and the manuscript Cologne Martyrology also have this commemoration; but it was an infrequent feast.]

25. At Lisbon, the bringing into the church of St. Roch of the head of St. Clement, bishop, and of ten other skulls, of the arm of St. Josippa with many other bones of martyrs of the Ursuline company. Of this translation it was treated at length above, § XIII.

28. At Cologne, the translation of St. Ursula, queen, and of her companions, the eleven thousand virgins and martyrs, which was made by St. Cunibert, archbishop of the city of Cologne. Of this translation we spoke in § VIII. [On the same day, at Heisterbach, in the year of the Lord 1227, altars were dedicated by the lord Wetzelin, bishop of Reval, the first in honour of St. Ursula, etc. Heisterbach parchments In Crombach, page 1006..]

29. Of St. Otilia or Odilia, virgin, who was one of the eleven thousand, Ferrari. Du Saussay has it thus: At Huy in Belgium, the reception of the body of St. Odilia, V. and M., of the company of St. Ursula. [This translation was celebrated at Huy among the Crosiers on the 18th of July. It was made in the year 1287: of it Chapeauville [Hist. Leod. Episcopp., volume II, in the Annotations on Jean de Hocsem, chapter 14.], Crombach S. Ursula illustrata, page 684 and following., Baronius In the notes on the Roman Martyrology, at 5 Sept., Raynaldus In the Continuation of the Annals of Baronius at the year 1285, number 85., Arthur du Moustier Gynaeceum sacrum at 18 July. and others have treated at length, not sparing prodigies. Our predecessors mentioned her at 29 Jan., 17 July, 18 July and 10 September, and Baillet at 21 October. We thought it enough above, in § XII, to show the genuine diploma concerning this translation. Gelenius in his Fasti, because of the similarity of name, mentions at the same day another St. Odilia of the Ursuline company, translated to Milan. But her name is not even found in the Milanese Martyrology.]

FEBRUARY

[1. At Cologne, in the church of SS. John and Cordula, of SS. Brigid, Helen and Sapientia, virgins, daughters of St. Kilian the duke and nieces of St. Ursula. So Gelenius in his Fasti and the manuscript Cologne Menology; but elsewhere De Coloniae Magnitudine, page 445. Gelenius does not list this among the Feasts proper to that church. On the same see in our Work those passed over at this day, and Baillet at 21 October.]

5. In the monastery of Marquette, in the year 1261, the reception of the body of one virgin and martyr of the company of St. Ursula. Du Saussay and the manuscript of the place, [Gelenius and the manuscript Cologne Menology. That body was given as a gift to the canons regular of Marquette near Arras by Margaret, countess of Flanders.]

[On the same day, at Calaf in the diocese of Vic in Catalonia, of St. Calamanda; whom Baillet commemorates at 21 October.]

12. At Trier, of St. Gerasina, queen, resting in the monastery of St. Matthias, approved with the honour of sanctity. Du Saussay; Ferrari adds from the Menology of Scotland: This queen of Sicily is said to have been the maternal aunt of the Holy Virgin Ursula, whose body rests in the monastery of St. Matthias at Trier. [These things are taken from the Revelations of Blessed Hermann. Crombach knew five Gerasinas. Of this one too there treat Gelenius, the manuscript Cologne Menology, our predecessors among those Passed Over at this day, Baillet at 21 October and others. Our Gaetani Sancti Siculi, volume I, page 169. mentions at 21 October SS. Gerasina, Adrian, Aurea, Babilla, Juliana and Victoria, where he records that the head of St. Gerasina is kept at Assisi, brought there, as report has it, by St. Bonaventure.]

14. At Cologne, of St. Valerius, martyr, who, the tradition of the church of Agrippina testifies, was slain for the confession of Christian piety by the barbarians who slaughtered St. Ursula and her companions, for the same cause. The Carthusian Additions and Ferrari call him a king; the manuscript of the Knights of St. John adds that he was found with his daughter Theodora and a very large household. [This discovery was written down by a contemporary in the year 1320; Crombach gave a small part of it S. Ursula illustrata, page 1012.; but it has nothing singular.]

Likewise on the same day, the Finding of St. Cordula, V. and M., of the same company, made by Albert the Great, formerly bishop of Regensburg, in the year 1278, Ferrari, the Additions. [Both of the immediately preceding announcements are read in the Usuardine additions of the Lübeck-Cologne edition, of Greven and of some codices. Gelenius, the manuscript Cologne Menology and our predecessors among those Passed Over at this day recorded the same. I would note only that already under Gerlach a body was found to which they fixed an inscription briefly containing the history of St. Cordula: why do we not have sound documents by which it may be established that the name was not fastened on this St. Cordula too at will? For the rest, she will be spoken of more fully at the following day.]

[24. The transfer of SS. Polycarp, Martius and companions, martyrs of the Ursuline company, in the monastery of Bonne-Espérance. So Gelenius in his Fasti. The names of the companions are expressed by Raissius in the Hierogazophylacium Belgicum, namely Valerius, Honoratus, Terentia, Margaret, Baldina, Sambaria and another Margaret. Their bodies, as the same adds, were reduced to ashes by the iconoclasts in the Belgian tumults of the Gueux; which, collected there, they held in veneration until, at the end of the century just past, the abbey was suppressed. The same recur at 29 October, etc.]

[28. The translation of St. Pinnosa. So in the Calendar of Essen, written between the year 889 and 891. We cited other things in the Preliminary Commentary, number 262, and in the Posthumous Glory, number 96.]

MARCH

[2. The translation of SS. Benedicta and Felicitas, martyrs. So the additions to the manuscript Martyrology of Usuard of the church of St. Gudula of Brussels. They seem to be Ursuline martyrs, of whose company the body of St. Benedicta was formerly kept in the abbey of Vicogne near Valenciennes and that of St. Felicitas in the abbey of Marchiennes on the river Scarpe. Yet so many other bodies of SS. Benedictas and Felicitases of the company of St. Ursula were carried about that nothing can be determined. Cf. the Acta Sanctorum at this day among those Passed Over.]

[11. At Cologne, in the church of St. Maximinus, of St. Gorgonius, duke and martyr, of the Ursuline company. So Gelenius in his Fasti and the manuscript Cologne Menology: but where Gelenius lists the relics of this church De Coloniae Magnitudine, page 547., he calls him a bishop. I would think it more prudent for the title to be passed over in silence; for the name to be held as a common one.]

24. In the monastery of Bonne-Espérance, the transfer of the holy martyrs Polycarp, Martius and other companions of the Company of St. Ursula. [They are the same whom we gave above at 24 February, and they will recur at 29 October and 4 November.]

APRIL.

On the Sunday after the feast of Easter, in the monastery of Beaulieu, the feast of St. Honoria or Honorata, V. and M., who suffered at Cologne with St. Ursula and was brought from there around the year 1300; since her name was unknown, prayer having been poured forth to learn it, it was found written on a slip of parchment upon the altar, from heaven. These things from Arnold Raissius [Hierogazophylacium Belgicum, page 90.. Gelenius and the manuscript Menology have the same.]

On the Wednesday after Quasimodo Sunday, at Mons, in the collegiate church of St. Waltrude, the body of St. Nostra, a companion of Ursula, is honoured with an anniversary feast. [Yet nothing is found in her honour in the proper Offices of this church printed at the beginning of the seventeenth century.]

[4. At Cologne, in the church of SS. John and Cordula, rests St. Ambrose, martyr, of the Ursuline company. So Gelenius and the manuscript Cologne Menology. Probably the relics were exposed on this day.]

16: In the monastery of L'Eau of the Cistercian order, in the territory of Chartres, of St. Honorata, virgin and martyr, of the Ursuline company. There, because of her body received from Cologne, she was honoured festively, as Chalemot witnesses. Cf. the Acta Sanctorum at this day among those Passed Over.]

[23. In the convent of St. Anthony of Alcácer do Sal, of St. Responsa and a companion, of the Ursulines, whose relics were honoured there. From the Portuguese Hagiology of Cardoso and the Acta Sanctorum among those passed over on this day.]

28. At Deutz, in the monastery of St. Heribert, the translation of some relics of St. Cyriacus, Roman pope. [This feast was instituted by Hartbern, abbot of Deutz, as we said above, number 172. All the supposed relics of this St. Cyriacus were translated to Deutz; therefore Gelenius and others omit the word "some"; which Crombach added, since in his age, as still now, the relics of this St. Cyriacus were said to be kept in a stone tomb opposite the golden chamber. Yet I would not deny that a part was kept by the monks of Deutz, the rest being given to other churches, namely St. Ursula's, St. Cunibert's and the Charterhouse of Cologne, and part of the head to the church of Milan. The basilica of St. Ursula still has the head of St. Cyriacus, enclosed in silver. Of all these things I would say: Let the relics be kept, let the title be omitted and the name be held as a common one. About this St. Cyriacus we disputed much in the Preliminary Commentary, namely § XI. Few pontiffs were more celebrated than he because of the admirable deeds which were ascribed to him. Yet nowhere outside Deutz was a feast of him celebrated. In many older Cologne Breviaries too, which are in my possession, there is deep silence about him; in which, namely, the lessons are taken from the Passion Regnante Domino. But he had better fortune among the Romans. In truth

they are not read before the end of the fifteenth century to have made any commemoration of St. Cyriacus, nor even of St. Ursula: certainly there is no mention of them in the Missal according to the custom of the Roman Church, purged with good diligence and faithful study by brother Filippo de Rotingo of Mantua, of the order of Minors of the Observance, and printed at Venice by the art and at the expense of Nicholas of Frankfurt in the year of the Lord 1487; nor in the Breviary for the use of the holy Roman Church, with many new offices added and most diligently emended, and printed at Venice in the year of salvation 1503, on the 21st day of the month of August; but in the Missal according to the use and custom of the Roman Church, purged with the greatest diligence and faithful study, in the year of Christian salvation 1492, on the 11th day of the month of December, and in the Roman Missal newly printed with annotations in the margin, by order and at the expense of the noble man Lucantonio Giunta of Florence, in the year from the nativity of the Lord 1515, on the fourth day before the Nones of January, in the fair city of Venice, in the preliminary calendar there is read at 21 October: Of the eleven thousand virgins. It is not transferred. Of Hilarion, abbot; so that it had almost the form of an office which we now call ad libitum. A Breviary corresponding to this Missal we do not have; but in the Roman Breviary, likewise printed at Venice in the year 1522, you have nine lessons on the company and martyrdom of St. Ursula, excerpted from the Revelations of SS. Elizabeth and Hermann, or, if you prefer, from the Chronicle of St. Antoninus, who had condensed the whole fable: much here about Pope St. Cyriacus. Similarly in the Breviary printed in the year 1550 and indicated by Crombach, or rather by Bebius S. Ursula illustrata, pages 82 and 83.. We omit both passages, as having been recited by others Ibid., and the Propylaeum to May, page * 29.. The Roman Breviary which is commonly called "of the Camera", restored in good faith to its integrity in almost innumerable places from the authors from whom it was put together, which came out at Paris from the bookshop of Yolande Bonhomme, widow of the respectable man Thielman Kerver, in the year 1553, has at the same day a semidouble office of six lessons of the eleven thousand virgins, and in the second place another of nine lessons of Blessed Hilarion. There lessons III and IV are in great part about St. Cyriacus: Coming therefore by ship from the city of Cologne to Basel, from there they came on foot to Rome. All of whom Pope Cyriacus and the clergy received with joy and honour; because he too was from Britain and had some kinswomen among them. To him, since he too was a virgin, it was revealed that he would obtain the palm of martyrdom with them. When therefore they had stayed there at Rome for some time, Pope Cyriacus caused some who had not yet obtained the grace of baptism to be washed in the sacred font. At length, manifesting his will before all the clergy, he renounced the papacy, having ruled the Church one year and three months, the nineteenth after Peter the apostle. Which the clergy took very ill, that, leaving the see of Peter, he should go after that multitude of women: not knowing the counsel of the Lord. Yet by his counsel and persuasion they elected another, called Anterus, removing that Cyriacus from the catalogue of pontiffs… Pope Cyriacus, therefore, having gone out of the city with the said multitude of virgins, and with many holy bishops also associated with them, set out for Cologne… And they suffered around the year of the Lord 237, in the time of Pope Anterus and the emperor Maximian. All of which agrees with the visions of Blessed Elizabeth. Of these things Cardinal Quiñones admitted nothing, not even a commemoration, into his Breviary, of which we have two copies, one of the Lyon edition of the year 1546, the other printed in the same city in the year 1559. But now, since the monastery of Deutz no longer exists, no festival of St. Cyriacus is any longer kept anywhere; nor would I think his name is pronounced anywhere in the divine offices. In the Cologne Breviaries of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries he was not even alluded to; afterwards he was alluded to in the proper offices, but his name was suppressed in silence; whether this has been changed more recently I am not in a position to say.]

[29. At Valencia in Spain, in the church of the Friars Preachers, the finding of the body of St. Angelina or Anglina, virgin and martyr, is recorded at this day by Marieta, book IV, chapter 62, by Ferrari in the General Catalogue, by Arthur du Moustier in the Gynaeceum sacrum, and others. This finding was made by chance on the said day, in the year 1588. Then, namely, there was uncovered behind an older chapel in the chapter-house, or the tomb of the family of the Baylos, as it were a Greek cabinet, skilfully made and of ancient art, and within it a chest, on the front of which there appeared, by the same artist (as it seems) who had painted the old panel, depicted in living colours, a certain saint resting on her knees; whose head a lictor, holding out a sword, the sentence of the judge having been passed, cuts off, and three other saints follow her, as if companions and fellows of the same martyr… Further, the chest being opened, a cushioned covering appeared, and within it another covering of the same material, somewhat worse indeed; and finally, innermost, there were found many bones, and a napkin, and a paper wrapping of spices or of some other thing unknown to us, says Antistitius, who wrote the account of this finding, which, in part or entire, Fr. Juan Marieta published in the Histories of the saints of Spain, book IV, chapter 62, Tomás Tamayo in the notes to Pseudo-Liutprand at the year 960, fol. 244, Juan Tamayo de Salazar in the Spanish Martyrology at 21 October, and others. Pseudo-Liutprand and Pseudo-Julian made her a Spaniard by nation and a martyr under Diocletian, but these are mere fictions. Beside the relics a slip was found, written in these words:

CORPs … PARTICVLA BEATE VRSVLE Body … a particle of blessed Ursula CORPs … SCE ANGLINE Body … of St. Anglina

by which it is manifest that the relics are of Cologne in origin. Other fables have been peddled about St. Anglina; on which see the most learned Nicolás Antonio Censura de Historias fabulosas, page 322..]

MAY.

[1. At Cologne, in the monastery of Greater Nazareth, of St. Walburga, virgin and martyr, of the Ursuline company. Her head is kept there honourably. So Gelenius in his Fasti, who had previously De Coloniae Magnitudine, page 560. already related that this head was visited with a hundred and forty-six others in the year 1525. On this day commemoration of St. Walburga was made because on the same day the feast of the other Walburga, sister of SS. Willibald and Winibald, was kept.]

[3. In the monastery of Marchiennes, the dedication of an altar in honour of SS. Joseph, Piatus and the eleven thousand virgins. This dedication, made in the year 1419, was celebrated in these old verses In Crombach, page 1022.:

In the thousandth round, with the four-hundredth accompanying, And in the nineteenth, on the third shining day of May, There are laid in the level ground of the cross, and the bare level altar, The bones of the mitred Joseph, and also of Piatus, And of the eleven thousand virgins thence.]

[On the same day at Paris, of St. Aurea, virgin and Ursuline martyr. So La Hière in the Menology of virgins at this day. She is the same as St. Avia, of whom we shall speak below in a separate commentary.]

9. At Tournai, among the Crosiers, the reception of St. Languida, virgin, of the company of St. Ursula. The manuscript of the place. [Gelenius, the manuscript Cologne Menology, our predecessors among those passed over at this day and Baillet at 21 October mentioned her; but they suggest nothing else.]

[15. At Parma, in the church of St. John the Evangelist of the Cassinese monks, the translation of the body of St. Margaret, virgin and martyr, and of five sacred heads of other companions of St. Ursula, which was solemnly made on the 15th of May of the year 1660. These things from Bordoni, Thesaurus sanctae ecclesiae Parmensis, book VII, numbers 43 and 96.]

[16. In the monastery of Blessed Mary of Joy near Compiègne, of St. Clare, virgin and martyr, of the Ursulines, where the sacred bones shine with miracles: likewise at Parc-aux-Dames she is venerated in the Pentecost holidays, in which her head was translated from the former monastery. So Chalemot in the Series of saints of the Cistercian order. Baillet mentions the same at 21 October, adding that her memory is celebrated in many monasteries of the dioceses of Soissons and Senlis.]

17. In the territory of Tournai, on the river Elnon, in the monastery of St. Amand, the bringing in of three virgins of Cologne. The martyrology of the place, Du Saussay, Raissius. [Our predecessors at this day, Molanus in the additions to Usuard, Gelenius and the manuscript Cologne Menology mentioned the same translation; but they have nothing about the time.]

[18. At Cologne, of St. Felix of Spoleto, whom others better say was bishop of Spalato. So Gelenius and, following him, the manuscript Cologne Menology. He was referred to this day because of the feast of another St. Felix. Of him we spoke somewhere above in the Posthumous Glory.]

[21. At Vienna in Austria, the commemoration of eight virgins of the company of St. Ursula, whose heads are venerated there with relics of other saints of both sexes. On these see Baillet at 21 October.]

30. At Lobbes, three heads of the eleven thousand virgins obtained in the year of the Lord 1174. Manuscript of the place. Raissius.

On the vigil of Pentecost, at Grimbergen, in the year 1247, the translation of four bodies of the Ursuline company by the countess of Wied: which, washed with milk and exposed to the sun to dry, turned themselves of their own accord onto the other side. Crombach had related the same before [S. Ursula illustrata, page 673. from a Grimbergen manuscript codex: but why did he not add whether the writing was contemporary? In the year 1247 the dominical letter was F, and the vigil of Pentecost fell on 18 May. But where Crombach explains these things somewhat more fully, he does not say this was done in the year 1247, but around this year; so that the anniversary day is uncertain.]

JUNE.

6. The translation of the holy virgins and martyrs of Christ Honorata and Florina, and moreover of many relics, from Cologne Agrippina to the city of Tournai; among which relics of the most sacred body of the eminent virgin and M. Ursula were translated and laid away in the church of St. Martin of Tournai in the suburb of the city; which it is established was done by the clemency of the divine mercy in the year of the incarnate Word 1170: each of these is written to have presided over the number of a thousand. From the ancient Martyrology of the same church. [The same relics are now laid away in the cathedral church of Tournai, enclosed in a precious reliquary.]

12 The elevation of St. Cunera, V. and M., in the town of Rhenen. She is read to have survived, of the number of the eleven thousand virgins: but afterwards she was strangled with a towel by the queen of Rhenen and her maidservant: the people of Rhenen venerate her as glorious for many miracles. The same are said to have asked Blessed Willibrord for her translation; and Molanus, Du Saussay and Ferrari relate that, testimonies of trustworthy persons having first been presented, he carried it out with joy on the 12th of June. [Of St. Cunera, Papebroch treated at length in our work at 12 June, and thought that everything related of her should be denied. For my part I think she was of the company of St. Ursula, since from the Sermon on the Feast-day it is established that some bodies of the holy virgins of Cologne were formerly carried into the Batavian island; the rest certainly savours of fable.]

16 At Eichsel in the diocese of Constance, the Elevation of the Holy Virgins Cunegund, Mechtund and Wibrand

companions of St. Ursula. Molanus, Ferrari. [At this day, the 16th of June, Papebroch gave a commentary on them in our work, rightly affirming that they are by no means of the Ursuline company, and he thought the same there of St. Christiana, who follows and of whom he treated at the same time.]

17 In the diocese of Constance, the elevation of St. Christiana, virgin.

18 At Cologne, in the church of St. Cordula, the finding and elevation of St. Constantia, V. and M., of St. Reinald, bishop from Greece, of John, bishop from Armenia, of Willibrand, duke from Italy, and of many other martyrs of the company of St. Ursula. The Breviary of the place. [Crombach gave in part the instrument of this same finding S. Ursula illustrata, pages 1012 and 1013.; Gelenius mentions it briefly in his Fasti; who also says elsewhere De Coloniae Magnitudine, page 444.: The body of St. Constantia, virgin and martyr, of the Ursuline company, was divinely shown to Petronella of Scherve, of the order of St. Francis, abbess at St. Clare's at Cologne, in the year 1327, on the day of SS. Mark and Marcellian. A monument in the orchard encloses the place of the finding and has these words carved:

ANNO M.CCC.XXVII HIC INVENTA EST S. CONSTANTIA REGINA FR. HENRICUS LANGENBERGH M.CCC.LXVI. [In the year 1327 St. Constantia, queen, was found here. Brother Henry Langenbergh, 1366.]

With St. Constantia more than a thousand bodies of saints were divinely shown and revealed; among which, together with St. Cordula (Constantia?), were found heads enclosed in individual herms, namely of the saints Reinald, a Greek bishop, John, bishop from Armenia, Ambrose, bishop, cardinal and martyr, Clement, abbot and martyr, Regius, martyr, Kilian, duke, maternal uncle of St. Cordula, Helen, daughter of St. Kilian, Florentina, kinswoman of St. Ursula; relics of Brigid and Sapientia, daughters of St. Kilian, of Lucy, who as standard-bearer led the holy virgins from Basel to Rome, of Clementia the queen, of Anna, companion of St. Cordula and to whom she wonderfully appeared, of Afra, Formosa, Paulina, Pinnosa, etc.; of the Ursuline company many heads, bones, teeth, etc. These names were fabricated according to the Revelations of Blessed Hermann and other documents of that kind.]

19 At Vicogne in Hainaut, the translation from Cologne in the year 1157 of St. Carissa, V. and M., of the company of St. Ursula. Her feast is celebrated on this day. Of this translation we spoke above, number 111 of the Posthumous Glory.

20 On the same day, at Prague, the translation of St. Christicola, V. and M., of the company of the holy eleven thousand virgins. [Crombach had previously recited the following from a manuscript codex S. Ursula illustrata, page 681.: In the year of the Lord 1410, on the 19th day of the month of June, on the day of the holy martyrs Gervase and Protase, at the consecration of the altars, in the time of brother John of Dobrowicz, then sacristan of the convent of Prague, these two bodies were buried in a raised tomb near the altar of the holy virgins: of Christicola of the eleven thousand virgins and of Berengaria, daughter of the king of Spain, etc.; which bodies were given by the lord Stephen, former protonotary of the kingdom of Bohemia; which bodies had been given to the same lord Stephen by the most serene prince, the lord John, king of Bohemia, father of the lord Charles, emperor IV and king of Bohemia V.]

JULY.

2 In the monastery of Breitenau, the bringing in of four bodies of the company of the eleven thousand virgins, which Abbot Henry obtained in the year 1142 from Arnold, archbishop of Cologne, and brought into the monastery with the greatest honour. The manuscript of the place and Trithemius. Of this translation it was treated in the Posthumous Glory, number 103.

4 In the monastery of Deutz, the translation of certain relics of St. Ursula, V. and queen, from the city of Cologne. [We showed above in the Posthumous Glory, number 172, that this feast was instituted by Abbot Hartbern. Gelenius has: At Deutz, the translation of St. Cyriacus, vicar of the exiled Pope Pontian, and of other Ursuline relics translated from the city (namely Cologne). But wrongly; for it conflicts with the testimony of Theoderic the sacristan.]

Likewise of St. Florentina, V. and M., of the company of the Holy Eleven Thousand Virgins.

[7] [In Denmark, of SS. Euphrosyna and Florentia, of the number of the eleven thousand virgins. They have a place at this day in the Breviary of Schleswig of the year 1512, where their lessons are confused with others. It is said that the archbishop of Lund (Tuvo) translated them and ordered them to be venerated in the year 1445. Whether Tuvo brought these with him from the German journey which he undertook in the year 1444, or received them from the Cistercian monks of Esrom in Denmark, who had thirteen Ursuline heads about which Crombach relates wonderful things Ibid., page 668., is hidden from me. For the rest, see the Acta Sanctorum at this day among those Passed Over.]

[12 In the convent of nuns of the abbey of Le Paraclet in Belgic Gaul, or Picardy, and the diocese of Noyon, of St. Sponsa, virgin and martyr, of the number of the companions of Blessed Ursula. From Chalemot, in the Acta Sanctorum among those Passed Over at this day.

14 In Denmark, the translation of two heads of the Holy Virgins of the company of the eleven thousand. Additions to Usuard in the Lübeck-Cologne edition and that of Greven.

17 At Rolduc, at St. Foillan's, the feast of SS. Secunda and Paubriralia and others of uncertain name of the company of St. Ursula. So too Gelenius and the manuscript Cologne Menology.

Likewise at Salzinnes near Namur, the translation of the entire body of an Ursuline virgin from the city of Cologne in the year 1156. Likewise of 14 entire heads; with these notable relics of SS. Cordula and Cunera, brought by the care of Hymana, the fifth abbess of the place: of this translation it was said above, number 118.

18 At the city of Huy in the territory of Liège, the translation of St. Odilia, V. and M., from the city of Cologne: of that noble company of the eleven thousand virgins. Molanus in the additions to Usuard. [Our predecessors mentioned her among those Passed Over at 29 January and 18 July. We spoke of her a little above at 29 January and in the Posthumous Glory, number 121. Gelenius and others add at this day in the Fasti Odilia's sisters Imma and Ida. Crombach recites some miracles, book X, chapters 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 and 47.]

[19 At Cologne, in the Garden of the B. V. M., the head of Praxedis, an Ursuline companion, is held in honour with the heads of SS. Christina and others of the same company. So Gelenius in his Fasti, because on this day another St. Praxedis is venerated. The other relics which he indicates here he had enumerated in great abundance where he had spoken of this Cistercian convent.]

[22 Of St. Verena, virgin and martyr, companion of St. Ursula. Camerarius commemorates her at this day, and following him Arthur, who calls her Verona. See on her above the Revelations of St. Elizabeth.]

[26 At Cologne, in the church of SS. John and Cordula, of St. Anna, companion of St. Cordula, to whom St. Cordula is said to have revealed her state; so Gelenius at this day, for no other reason than that the feast of St. Anne, mother of the Mother of God, is kept on this day.]

[30 At Cologne Agrippina, in the church of SS. John and Cordula, of the blessed Helen, Brigid and Sapientia, virgins and martyrs, daughters of St. Kilian the duke, of the Ursuline company. So Gelenius at this day, again because the homonymous St. Helen, mother of Constantine the Great, was celebrated on this day at Cologne. These names occurred at 18 June.]

AUGUST.

1 At Cologne, the finding of twenty-four bodies of the company of the eleven thousand virgins by the indication of burning candles appearing on their tombs, in the year 1229. Great Chronicle of Belgium. Of these it was said above, number 116.

[On the same day, at Cologne, the finding of twenty bodies of the Holy Ursulines. So the manuscript Florarium which was in the possession of our predecessors. Cf. those Passed Over at this day.]

[5 There rest at Cologne, in the church of SS. John and Cordula, the bodies of SS. Afra, Formosa, Paulina and Pinnosa, virgins and martyrs, of the Ursuline company: Gelenius has these things at this day, because St. Afra, martyr of Augsburg, is venerated on the same. See on these above at 18 June.]

12 At Cologne Agrippina, the commemoration of St. Ursula, queen, and of her companions, the eleven thousand virgins, in their church. Additions [to Usuard in the editions of Greven and the Lübeck-Cologne one; likewise Gelenius and others. But this commemoration has long since been abolished.]

[15 At Douai, the translation of many heads and bones of the Ursuline company obtained from Cologne by Margaret, countess of Flanders and Hainaut: which on that day were religiously laid away in a gilded shrine in the collegiate church of St. Peter. These things too Gelenius and others. Further, in that gilded case, on the sixth day before the Kalends of March of the year 1607, two parchments were found by the dean and canons of that church, in one of which was read In Crombach, page 678.: In the year of the Lord's incarnation 1261, in the month of August, on the day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, there were placed in the present shrine relics of the eleven thousand virgins, which the illustrious and noble lady Margaret, countess of Flanders and Hainaut, gave and granted to this church: in the other parchment: To the honour of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the sacred relics of the eleven thousand virgins, which the illustrious and noble Lady Margaret, countess of Flanders and Hainaut, formerly gave and granted to this church of St. Peter: namely in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1261, at the instance of the venerable man Lord Walery of Mergnia, resident provost of the said church, this present shrine or bier, which was entirely in ruin, was wholly repaired in the year of the same Lord 1440. Done on the day of Blessed Luke the Evangelist, that is, the 18th of October. At the same time, by the munificence of the same Margaret, the collegiate church of St. Amatus at Douai obtained the head of one virgin and martyr: although thirty and more years before it had been adorned with similar relics. There exists in Arnold Raissius a diploma written in the year 1225, in which, among the other remains of the saints authentically approved, are listed relics of the virgins of Cologne.]

[21 At Cologne, in the church of Greater Nazareth, of a certain saint of the Ursuline company found at the Maccabees on this day in the year 1607; whose head, translated to Nazareth, is renowned for miracles. So Gelenius. Crombach narrates the matter more fully, book VII, chapter 33, and from the declaration of two eyewitnesses explains the wonderful healing of Gertrude, a nun of Nazareth, which happened in the year 1608 on the feast of St. Agnes.]

On the last Sunday of August. In the church of Vicogne, the feast of the saints, men and women, of both sexes, of the eleven thousand: of SS. Carissa, Cordula, Floreta, Deodata, Onobia, Christina, Bapkaria, Corona, Sambaria, Panpheta, Faranina, Benedicta, Margaret and St. Gaugericus, bishop of Ravenna, found in the year 1632: the anniversary memory of whose finding is celebrated there on this Sunday, [because, as Gelenius has it, their bodies were found there around the end of August of that year. When they first came to Vicogne we said above, number 111.]

SEPTEMBER.

1 At Cologne, the miraculous finding and elevation of Odilia and Ida, virgins and martyrs of the company of St. Ursula. [Of these it has already been said at 29 January, 18 July

and in the Posthumous Glory, number 121.]

[2 In the diocese of Osnabrück, of all the patrons and relics of the diocese. Among them come the following, who belong to the company of St. Ursula: Permerius, called bishop of Cremona, Regina, Juliana, Cordula and Cordua. A proper Office of double rite and a Mass of them exist, published in the year 1652 by order of Bishop Franz Wilhelm. Other relics of the Ursuline band too were kept in the church of Osnabrück; and all were given as a gift in the year 1343 by Godfrey of Arnsberg, bishop of Osnabrück; and most of them were exhumed at Cologne in the year 1327. On these see Crombach, book VIII, chapter 28.]

[3 At Cologne, in the church of SS. John and Cordula, of St. Remaclus, a Greek archbishop, martyr, of the company of St. Ursula. So Gelenius. As usual, the name and title are fictitious; the commemoration is because of the feast of the homonymous St. Remaclus, bishop of Tongres.]

[9 At Cologne, in the church of St. Maximinus, of Blessed Gorgonius, martyr, of the Ursuline company, mention of whom is made at 26 September. So Gelenius, again because on this day St. Gorgonius, martyr of Nicomedia, is celebrated.]

[12 At Xabregas, in the territory of Lisbon, the translation of St. Aucta, virgin and martyr, of the company of St. Ursula. Her body, at the request of Eleanor, wife of John II, was brought from Cologne to Lisbon and placed in the convent of the nuns of the Mother of God. See Arthur du Moustier in the Gynaeceum sacrum at this day and Tamayo de Salazar in the Spanish Martyrology at 21 October.]

[20 At Cologne Agrippina, of the eleven thousand virgins, whose leader was St. Ursula, a virgin from Britain, who, when she was to have been given in marriage to the son of a certain king, by divine revelation asked that ten virgins be given her, each of whom should have a thousand companions: as many were assigned to herself. Among whom Pinnosa, daughter of Duke Maximus (rather, of a very great duke), was second after Ursula… Of their number the emperor Charles obtained the body of St. Sapientia, and gave her head and a tomb adorned with gold and silver to the church of Prague. These things concerning relics translated in the year 1360 the manuscript Martyrology of Prague, in Crombach S. Ursula illustrata, page 1015.. There is plainly read there "on the twelfth day before the Kalends of October"; I doubt, however, whether one should not read "on the twelfth day before the Kalends of November", that is, 21 October.]

At Waulsort, in the year 1105, the translation of three bodies from Cologne of the company of St. Ursula. They received the first on the sixth day before the Kalends of July, the second with half of the third on 24 September, and a little later they also obtained the other half of the third body. Raissius in the Auctarium, 21 October. Of these it was said in the Posthumous Glory, § IX.

At Cologne Agrippina, in the church of St. Maximinus, the finding and translation of St. Gorgonius, bishop and martyr, and of his companions: which Gorgonius was confessor of the king and queen of Spain, and of the company of the Holy Eleven Thousand virgins. Additions [to the martyrology of Usuard in the Lübeck-Cologne edition and that of Greven. Of him it was already said at 9 September. This commemoration was long since removed.]

[26 At Aachen, in the monastery of nuns, of St. Justina, virgin and martyr, of the company of St. Ursula. From a letter to Bolland it is established that she was honoured with some cult at this day and was held to be the daughter of the king of Hungary. Of her it was spoken in the Acta Sanctorum among those Passed Over at this day.]

OCTOBER.

[2 In France, in the monastery of Montréal, of St. Berga, one of the companions of St. Ursula. She was venerated on this day, as Chalemot witnesses in the Series of Cistercian saints. Her body had been carried there from Deutz in the time of St. Louis the king, in the year 1260, as was said in our work Act. SS. volume V of August, p. 470.. In a diploma Conrad, archbishop of Cologne, testifies that this body was that of an eminent and holy virgin, who was called by the proper name Berga, British by nation, born of a certain illustrious count. But since it is also said there that it was dug up by divine revelation and laid away in the sanctuary of the monastery of Deutz for many years, I would not dare to believe that she was called by the proper name Berga, except in the sense that the monks of Deutz gave her that name. Conrad's authority is greater where he testifies that the body was that of a martyr, in which certain signs of martyrdom and indications of the passion appear: for these could be seen with the eyes.]

In the monastery of Schönau, the translation of SS. Caesarius and Verena, V., and of others of the company of the eleven thousand virgins. Additions [to the martyrology of Usuard in the Lübeck-Cologne edition and that of Greven. Of this translation Blessed Elizabeth treated very much in her Revelations.]

Of St. Pantulus, bishop of Basel, martyr, who in the time of the emperor Maximinus accompanied the lady Ursula, and so that sacred choir of eleven thousand virgins, to Rome, and on the return as far as Cologne; where, slain with them by the Huns, he obtained the palm of martyrdom. The Martyrology of Basel.

At Strasbourg, the feast of St. Aurelia, virgin, who, being of that noble Company of the eleven thousand virgins, fell ill at the aforesaid city on the return from the city of Rome and died in peace. Galesini, the Roman Martyrology. [Of her it was treated in our work at this day, the 15th of October, as also of the preceding at the 12th.]

On the same day, at Cologne, the commemoration of the eleven thousand virgins, of St. Gereon with the Thebans, of St. Gregory with the Moors: who freed the city from occupation by enemies. [Crombach relates these things of the same matter elsewhere S. Ursula illustrata, page 1015.: Around the year 1266 or 1269, when the enemies had almost surprised the city by night, St. Ursula with the virgins, Gereon with the Thebans, Gregory with his Moors, each shining with torches, were seen to go round the walls, to sign the gates of the city with rosy crosses, and to strike such fear into the besiegers that on the following day they fled, and freed the citizens from fear.]

In the year of the Lord 1166, under Pope Alexander III, Abbot Philip of Park near Louvain, resigning his dignity, translated to the church of Blessed Martin of Laon, of the eleven thousand virgins, the bodies of St. Frigia, V. and M., daughter of a duke; of St. Sambaria, V. and M., daughter of a duke; of St. Baraonia, V. and M.; of St. Bobilia, V. and M.; of St. Macharius, bishop, of St. Eusebius and of Marius his Chaplain, who were crowned with martyrdom in the slaughter of the holy eleven thousand, and on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of November were most honourably placed in St. Martin's. From the authentic instrument of the place. [Gelenius has these same things; and they are taken from the Bibliotheca Praemonstratensis, page 507.]

In the city of Cologne, the passion of the Holy Virgins Martha and Saula with many others. Usuard. [That it came about by error that Usuard referred to 20 October these names which should have been marked at the following day was said in the Posthumous Glory, number 160.]

At Cologne Agrippina, the martyrdom of St. Ursula, of the eleven thousand virgins and of many others of both sexes. [In the year 1305 Henry of Virneburg, archbishop of Cologne, ordered that the feast of the eleven thousand virgins be kept as a holiday throughout the whole archdiocese Act. SS. volume V of August, p. 470.. See more below, number 187.]

On that very day, in Scotland, the passing of St. Daria, mother of St. Ursula, and martyr, who with a numerous band of companion virgins, her precious blood poured out in the assertion of piety and chastity, adorned Cologne by empurpling it. Du Saussay, the Calendar of Scotland, Ferrari.

On the same day, of St. Foilanus, bishop of Lucca. [Lucca still has an ecclesiastical office of him from the common. Of him it has already been said in the Preliminary Commentary, number 48, and in the Posthumous Glory, § XI, letter f.] Some people of Lucca seem still to claim this man as their bishop. Namely, in the Sacred Diary of the churches of Lucca, written by the most celebrated Mansi and in the year 1836 published again and augmented by the Rev. Mr. Barsocchini, one may read at 21 October a vindication of this Foilanus or Follanius. And they rely on the Calendars prefixed to the Missal of Parma of the year 1565, and on a manuscript Breviary of the fourteenth century, in which his name is read at 21 October: but what follows from that, except that the people of Lucca had already in this age received his relics from the people of Cologne? Moreover the inscription found at Cologne in the year 1155 is invoked. But we have said enough that the fabrication of this inscription was the cause of the whole fable. It does not help to add more. This one thing let the people of Lucca know, that their Foilanus cannot be defended by them except by the same arguments by which Pope Cyriacus, already repudiated by all, could be defended.

On the same day in Spain, of St. Columbina, V. and M. [Arthur du Moustier in the Gynaeceum pursues her at greater length at this day: At Poblet, he says, at the roots of the mountain of Prades, of the diocese of Tarragona, in Catalonia, of St. Columbina, V. and M., and of another virgin her companion. In the annotations he adds: "She is commemorated by Du Saussay in the supplement of the Gallican Martyrology, by Ferrari in the General Catalogue of saints on this day; by Manrique, volume II of the Cistercian Annals at the year of Christ 1153, chapter 18, §10; by Juan Vicente Domènec in the Saints of Catalonia (page 191); by Antonio de Yepes in the Benedictine Chronicles, volume VII; (by Jaime Finestres y de Monsalvo, in the History of the royal monastery of Poblet, volume I, page 281.) Further, the bones, surrounded with wrought gold and silver bearing the figure of the same virgins, are carried round on their anniversary solemnity (by the monks and by the inhabitants of Montblanc, Espluga, Francolí and Vimbodí, whose forefathers, as Domènec relates, once bound themselves by that vow); and likewise as often as the peoples assemble to ask for rain or fair weather, or to obtain some other benefit from God." The Office was celebrated there, as we are taught by Domènec, of SS. Ursula and her companions; but a special commemoration was made of St. Columbina. Jaime Finestres, a monk of Poblet, is moreover the authority that sixty-six other bodies, each resting in its own coffer, were held in honour there besides St. Columbina.]

[On the same day, at Langres in France, of SS. Valeria and Florina. In the Breviary of the year 1604 their commemoration is prescribed to be made at all the hours. Baillet mentions the same at 21 October.]

On the same day at Ourense in Galicia, of St. Constantia, virgin and martyr. Ferrari.

At Cologne, of St. Cordula, V. and M., of the company of St. Ursula. She, terrified by the tortures and slaughter of the others, hid herself in a ship: repenting of which, on the following morning she disclosed herself of her own accord, and thus, a single combat being renewed, obtained the crown of martyrdom with the rest. [Of her and of those immediately following it will be spoken in this very volume at the following day.]

On the same day, at Tortosa in Spain, of St. Candida, V. and M. At Freiburg in Breisgau, of SS. Candida and Flora, companions of St. Ursula. Ferrari, Du Saussay.

[On the same day, at Saint-Denis near Paris, of SS. Panefredis, Secunda and Sambaria. Baillet mentions them at 21 October; where he notes that almost the same names were given to some Ursuline saints whose bodies or heads were kept in the abbey of Grandmont in the diocese of Limoges. These latter

relics, with many others, were not long ago distributed among the churches of the diocese of Limoges; of which matter it was spoken in a little work written in French on the Exposition of relics.]

[On the same day, at Osnabrück, of St. Permerius, bishop of Cremona. Of him more will be said at the following day among those passed over. See what occurred about the same above, at 2 Sept. The body of St. Permerius had been carried from Cologne to Osnabrück in the year 1343 by Godfrey of Arnsberg, bishop of Osnabrück. Franz Wilhelm von Wartenberg, bishop of Osnabrück, Minden and Verden, raised it again with many others and recognized it in the year 1645. Crombach gave the instruments, book VIII, chapter 28.]

[On the same day, in the convent of St. Dominic of Caleruega in Spain, the deposition of the sacred pledges of St. Orophrigia, martyr, who together with other virgins, attendants of St. Ursula, completed her martyrdom, and whose body, brought there by the ministry of angels, is kept there with the greatest piety. So Tamayo; who in the notes adds from Juan Marieta's History of the saints of Spain, book IV, chapter 58, fol. 109, col. 4, that her office is performed after the feast of SS. Ursula and her companions, and that it is asserted, or rather fabled, in the lessons of Matins that her body, put into a chest after her contest, came over the waves of the sea, God guiding it, to a harbour of the faithful, and that on the front of the chest these words were engraved: EGO SVM OROPHRIGIA HISPANA QVÆ VNA CVM XI MILLE VIRGINIBVS MARTYRIVM PERTVLI [I am Orophrigia, a Spaniard, who together with the eleven thousand virgins endured martyrdom]. Ferrari rightly marked her on the 22nd of October, on which she is venerated; Tamayo at the 21st of the same month.]

At Cologne, the passion of St. James, bishop of Antioch and M., the writer of the inscriptions of the eleven thousand virgins. [In Crombach, volume I, chapter 43, Bebius treats at length of this supposed James. All rests on fictitious inscriptions and the Revelations of Blessed Elizabeth.]

The translation of many bodies of the holy eleven thousand virgins and of the bishops crowned with them to Vicogne in the year 1236, by Nicholas of Valenciennes, a monk of the place, in the octave of the same virgins. [Gelenius and others have the same. We briefly recorded the same matter in the Posthumous Glory, number 114. Whoever wants more may consult Crombach, volume II, book VIII, chapter 14.]

At Cologne, at the Maccabees, of St. Quirillus, martyr: who died six days after receiving mortal wounds on 21 Oct. with St. Ursula. [Gelenius had gone before, teaching the same. These things are taken from fictitious inscriptions. See above, § XI, page 245.]

At Rhenen in Batavia, the passion of St. Cunera, V. and M., who, strangled three years after St. Ursula, whose kinswoman she was, obtained the laurel of virginity and martyrdom. Molanus, Ferrari. See what we noted above at 12 June.

The translation of the Holy Martyrs Martius, Polycarp, Valerius, Stephen and Honoratus, and of the Blessed Virgins Terentia, Margaret, Baldina, Sambaria and Margaria, who all came to Cologne in the company of the eleven thousand virgins, and there, the malice of the Huns persecuting them, completed their martyrdom together, and a long time afterwards, the lord Reinold, archbishop, presiding over the church of Cologne, were translated, God disposing, from the church of St. Heribert into the church of Bonne-Espérance, and were placed in it with due honour and reverence. The Calendars of the place. See above at 24 February and 24 March.

[At Cologne, in the church of St. Ursula, the apparition of Blessed Maximinus, bishop and martyr, made to a vine-dresser pruning vines, and the finding, around the year of Christ 1320. So Gelenius. An altar was erected to the name of St. Maximinus, on which these things are inscribed In Crombach, pages 504 and 1012.: A. MCCCXXIII QVIDAM VINITOR INHABITANS DOMVM DICTAM ZO ISENBERG APVD PORTAM IMMVNITATIS ECCL. XI. M. VIR AVDIVIT VOCEM DIVINITVS DICENTEM SIBI: FODE PROFVNDIVS ET INVENIES THESAVRVM. DVABVS VICIBUS: ET TERTIA VICE DIXIT: VOCOR MAXIMINVS VNVS DE SOCIET. XI. M. VIRG. FODE ET INVENIES CORPVS MEVM SINE CAPITE: QVO FACTO INVENIT RELIQVIAS DE QVIBVS PARTEM DEDIT ET PARTEM ISTIC ET PARTEM SIBI RESERVAVIT. TANDEM IN AGONE LABORANS MORI NON POTVIT, SED CONSILIO SVI CONFESSORIS PARTEM QVAM RESERVAVIT DEDIT AD ECCLESIAM PRÆFATAM, QVO FACTO CITIVS DE HOC SECULO MIGRAVIT. [In the year 1323 a certain vine-dresser, dwelling in the house called Zo Isenberg, by the gate of the immunity of the church of the 11 thousand virgins, heard a voice divinely saying to him: Dig deeper and you will find a treasure, twice: and the third time it said: I am called Maximinus, one of the company of the 11 thousand virgins. Dig and you will find my body without the head: which being done, he found relics, of which he gave a part, and a part here, and a part he reserved for himself. At length, labouring in his death-agony, he could not die, but by the counsel of his confessor he gave the part which he had reserved to the aforesaid church; which being done, he passed the more quickly from this world.] These things seem by no means to have the pattern of a contemporary narrative, since proper names are lacking.]

NOVEMBER.

[4 The translation of saints of the Ursuline company to the monastery of Bonne-Espérance from Deutz. So Gelenius. Of the same it has already been said at 24 February, 24 March and 29 October.]

At Prémontré, the reception of some Holy Virgins of the company of St. Ursula, whom St. Norbert received at Cologne and brought with great joy to Prémontré for the protection and adornment of his mother church, and placed with great reverence in the sanctuaries. Du Saussay. Of this translation it was treated in the Posthumous Glory, number 102.

At Schönau, the translation of SS. Adrian, ten years old, Albina and Emerentiana, virgins and martyrs, of the company of St. Ursula, who on this very day declared their names by a vision. St. Elizabeth, chapter 15.

[28 In the monastery of Windberg [On the foundation of the monastery of Windberg, in Canisius, Lectiones antiquae, volume III, part II, page 212 and following, Basnage's edition.] in Bavaria, the consecration of the altars of the Holy Cross and of St. Giles; in which, with many other relics, remains of the eleven thousand virgins were enclosed. These had been brought there already before the year 1142. That consecration was carried out in the year 1167 by Stilco, bishop of Olomouc in Moravia. On the following day, relics of the eleven thousand virgins being again used, the altar of SS. Maurice, Gereon, Victor and their companions was consecrated there. There was also there an altar of St. Martin and a cross hanging in the middle of the monastery, containing similar relics.]

DECEMBER

[At Cologne Agrippina, in the church of SS. John and Cordula, of the company of the eleven thousand virgins and martyrs, of SS. Paulina, Formosa, Afra and Pinnosa and others. So Gelenius. Of the same it has already been said at 5 August. I would think that on this day and similar ones indicated by Gelenius an exposition of the relics was made.]

[At Cologne Agrippina, in the church of SS. John and Cordula, rests the little body of St. Lucy, virgin and martyr, who is related to have been the leader and standard-bearer of the holy eleven thousand virgins while they were making their way from Basel to Rome. So Gelenius, because today St. Lucy of Syracuse is celebrated. That St. Lucy has already occurred at 5 August and 2 December.]

Of St. Sophia, V. and M., of the number of the eleven thousand virgins, whose sacred relics Charles, emperor and king of Bohemia, obtained in the monastery of Orbaniense and gave to the church of Prague. The Martyrology of the place. So too Gelenius.

§ XIX. The ancient Mass and Office with the principal changes.

The most ancient Mass is recited, The plan of our work also requires that we show the ecclesiastical offices which are celebrated of the saints, if they have anything special or proper: especially if they are commended by antiquity. But indeed, since by our own industry, and much more by the gift of the most noble man Baron Guillaume de Viron de Dieval, we possess a most abundant store of liturgical books, some selection must certainly be made. Before all, however, those of Cologne must be shown, which were moreover common to many churches of Germany. Let there come, therefore, in the first place the office of the Mass of St. Ursula which for many centuries was celebrated at Cologne on the 21st of October, and which I find also in the Missal of Constance printed at Augsburg in the year 1505; likewise in the Missal according to the institution of the order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem of almost the same age; in the Missal of Cambrai, printed in the year 1507 by Henri Estienne; in that of Liège, printed at Paris in the year 1515; and in that of Passau published at Venice in the year 1522. Many others I omit. But here is that Mass: INTROIT. Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a festal day in honour of the holy virgins, at whose passion the Angels rejoice and together praise the Son of God. The Cambrai one has, in place of "the holy virgins": "the eleven thousand virgins". It is common to all. PSALM. Rejoice in the Lord, O ye just; praise becometh the upright. COLLECT. O God, who didst put into the virgins worthily consecrated to thee the strength of a wondrous contest, whereby through the palm of martyrdom they might attain to the glory of heavenly contemplation: grant, we beseech thee, that we may be helped by the intercessions of those whom on this day, having passed through the course of death, thou hast made to triumph in heaven. Through our Lord. EPISTLE. Concerning virgins I have no commandment. That of Constance: God will render the reward, or Concerning virgins; that of Liège: The tongue of the wise; that of the Hospital: One answering. In that of Cologne there followed this GRADUAL. Fear the Lord, all ye his saints; for there is no want to them that fear him. ℣ But they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good. Alleluia. ℣ After her shall virgins be brought to the king; her companions shall be brought to thee in gladness. Those of Passau, Constance, Liège and the Hospital had another Gradual: God is glorious in his saints, wonderful in majesty, doing wonders. ℣ Thy right hand, O Lord, is glorified in strength; thy right hand hath broken the enemy. Alleluia. The white-robed army of martyrs praises thee, O Lord. That of Cambrai: Avenge. ℣ They have laid. Alleluia. ℣ They shall be brought.

with a more recent prose, It also has another Sequence. Formerly the people of Cologne seem to have had a Sequence whose beginning is: Let praise be pleasing to God on the day consecrated to the saints; which may be read in Crombach S. Ursula vindicata, page 1078.; afterwards they used the following, whose use was much wider:

Virginal band of the sex Which, joined to Jesus Christ, Feelest the gift of grace. The flower of thy whiteness reddens While the torturer of chastity Orders thee to be slaughtered. Of the island of the Britons The ruler, father of Ursula, Dionetus * was renowned. This Virgin Conan, For her beauty, Wished as bride of his bed. He sends suitors, and entreats, Terrifies with threats, if he be spurned, Demanding Ursula for himself. Her father, already washed in the font Of baptism, altogether shuns Union with paganism. Meanwhile Ursula, Disciple of Christ, Taught through a dream, Appointed the nuptials, Asking a respite Of the space of three years. In place of a dowry of marriage, Fit for the queen's vows, The cost of shipping being given, Noble maidens of her age are given. Eleven thousand virgins at last He sends across to the bride. They lead the ships through the seas, Spurning the care of men. With the breeze blowing more gently They depart from the shore, Hither and thither quite often They sport on the level sea. Here a woman's hand, The Lord granting it, Steered the ships, which Basel Saw within a short time. Leaving the ships, They draw up their lines, To the winds and the heats They expose their faces, And go to Rome. Through the monasteries Pouring out tears, They heave sighs, They commend their souls To the saints, and return. The fleet which they left in harbour They found again together. The great and pleasant river, The Rhine, sailing, they enter, Through the clemency of God. Hence to the place of the passion The leader of the contest leads them; The flower of their youth They hold cheap in hope of salvation, Going to Cologne. O happy Cologne, Beside whose walls The rage of the barbarians Bloodied swords, darts, spears, Knives upon the virginal Ranks. The hosts of heaven brought the brides to the king, Who stood before the king of glory, Relying on the palm of victory. These the divine grace Has enriched with an angelic gift. These new brides Compose songs with honeyed voice. Happy are the espousals Of so many thousands of virgins, And they follow the Lamb without spot, With Ursula as leader. By whose prayers, Happy with the happy, May we enjoy unbroken peace For ever and ever.

[176] which was formerly used at Cologne and in many other places. GOSPEL. The kingdom of heaven is like to ten virgins. That of the Hospital: Jesus coming down from the mountain. OFFERTORY. Virgins shall be brought to the king; her companions shall be brought to thee with gladness and rejoicing; they shall be brought into the temple to the King, the Lord. That of the Hospital: The saints shall rejoice in glory; they shall be joyful in their beds: the high praises of God in their mouth. That of Cambrai: God is wonderful in his saints … blessed be God. SECRET. May the votive gifts of the mystic libation, O Lord, offered to thy majesty for the veneration of thy holy virgins, purge away our crimes; and, purified, render us acceptable for performing such great mysteries. Through our Lord. Those of Cambrai and Passau: Look, we beseech thee, O Lord, upon the gifts set forth upon thy altars for the commemoration of thy holy Cambrai: eleven thousand virgins and martyrs, that, as through these blessed mysteries thou hast bestowed glory on them, so thou mayest grant indulgence to us. Through. That of the Hospital: May the gifts of thy people, O Lord, we beseech thee, be made pleasing by the suffrages of thy blessed virgins and martyrs, and, offered to thy name for their triumphs, be made worthy also by their merits. Through. COMMUNION. Five wise virgins took oil in their vessels with the lamps, and at midnight there was a cry made: behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye forth to meet Christ the Lord. That of the Hospital: They have given the mortal … of the punished. That of Cambrai: The souls of the just, .. in peace. POSTCOMMUNION. Refreshed by the sacrament of heavenly nourishment, O Lord, we beseech thee that, thy holy virgins and martyrs interceding, what we celebrate for their glory may profit for the increase of our salvation. Through our Lord. That of Constance: O God, who didst confer on the blessed virgins the desirable gift of inviolable chastity, cleanse our minds from carnal concupiscences, and mercifully grant us the purity of chastity and perseverance in holy conduct. Through. That of the Hospital: Quickened, O Lord, by the gift of the sacrament on the feast-days of thy holy virgins and martyrs, we beseech thee that we may enjoy for ever the good things by which we are now cherished through thy grace. Through. That of Cambrai: Grant us, O Lord, we beseech thee, thy holy eleven thousand virgins and martyrs interceding, that what we have touched with our mouth we may receive with a pure mind. Through. That of Passau: We have received, O Lord, the heavenly sacraments on the solemnity of thy holy martyrs and virgins, by whose suffrages, we beseech thee, grant us that what we do in time we may attain in eternal joys. Through.

[177] Masses formerly used in the dioceses of Esztergom and Sarum. In the Missal of Esztergom, which was printed at Venice in the year 1512, an altogether different Mass is read, namely: INTROIT. The wisdom of the saints. PRAYER: O God, who in so great dangers … give us, through the merits of the holy virgins, chastity, peace, health of mind and body; that the things which we suffer for our sins we may overcome with thy help. Through. EPISTLE: The saints by faith. GRADUAL: Avenge. Alleluia. ℣. They shall be brought. GOSPEL: When you shall hear. OFFERTORY. Be glad in the Lord. SECRET: Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that the gift of this sacrifice offered may always purge and fortify our frailty from all evil, and that by the merits and prayers of the holy virgins we may be stripped of past evils and of future ones. Through. COMMUNION: And if before. POSTCOMMUNION: May thy gifts, O God, by the supplication of the holy virgins free us from earthly delights and instruct our spirits with heavenly nourishment. Through. In the Missal of Sarum, printed in the year 1527, this Mass may be read: INTROIT. Thy countenance. PRAYER: O God, who hast made for us the holy solemnity of this day for the glorious passion of thy blessed virgins and martyrs: be present to the prayers of thy family, and grant that we may be helped by the merits and intercessions of those whose feast we celebrate today. Through. EPISTLE: O how beautiful is the chaste generation. GRADUAL: They shall rejoice. ℣ Sing. Alleluia. ℣. They shall be brought. GOSPEL: The kingdom is like. OFFERTORY. They shall be offered to the king. SECRET: Look, we beseech thee, O Lord, upon the present gifts with such serene goodness that they may be bathed in the blessing of the Holy Spirit, that we may receive more eagerly in our hearts that love through which thy holy virgins and martyrs overcame all the torments of the body. Through. COMMUNION. Five wise. POSTCOMMUNION: We have received, O Lord, the heavenly sacraments on the solemnity of thy saints, by whose suffrages, we beseech thee, grant that what we do in time we may attain in eternal joys. Through.

[178] As I was just pointing out, I subjoin the sequence according to the Missal of Cambrai of the year 1507: The Proses or Sequences of Cambrai and Zwiefalten.

In heavenly wedlock Let the virginal assembly Be the companion of the Messiah. Let us rejoice therefore, Because to God is joined Frail matter. The infirmity of the substance Becomes a temple of chastity Among an unbelieving people; Now truly the father of lights Had been made of the virgins The bridegroom without stain. Among them the principal Is the triumphant matron Who is called Ursula. Spurning the threats and power * of the king, She was made leader of her flock As the handmaid of God. O happy battle-line, This is eleven times Eleven thousand; Which by no crime Can raging madness Entangle. Laying aside womanly fear, They entered the keels as of custom: Their arms serve for oars. Sailing through the sea they hasten, They enter the Rhine, they overcome the waves: Happy is their daring. O what a hard Wall they prepare, The sighs of the virgins! They spurn the suitors, Whose jests And mockeries they drive away. While they flee the profane race They come at length to Basel, Received with grace. Having commended their ships there, They make for Rome with hasty steps, Penitence their leader. What probity, what dignity, Where integrity of the flesh Runs to the joys of life! Divinely brought forth Is this vigour, not humanly, With a mind conscious of good. In mind and flesh so pure, They are to be judged nobles For the abundance of their virtues. They do not change discordantly, Nor exchange unsightly, The lilies of the terebinth. As they return to Cologne The wretched race of the Huns Slaughtered them out of envy. But Cordula, who lay hid, Was present to suffer On the second day. In sex alone or name Are they to be judged women, Nor do they so much differ from man By the rule of truth. O King of kings and Lord, With the virginal band Under the covering of thy wings Protect us through the ages. Amen.

The Cambrai Sequence seems to have been of very rare use, while that of Cologne, on the contrary, was used everywhere. And indeed it is read not only in Missals, but also in school-books [Sequentiae et hymni cum diligenti difficiliorum vocabulorum interpretatione, newest edition of Torrentinus, in the year 1522, fol. 33. Textus sequentiarum cum optimo commento, in the year 1494, fol. 89.]; and Daniel inserted it in the collection of Hymns and Sequences which he published Thesaurus hymnologicus, volume II, page 260.. In a very old manuscript Missal of the abbey of Zwiefalten of the order of St. Benedict in Swabia, Father Gretser found, and sent to Crombach, another Sequence or Prose no less rare. Its beginning is: To the Father of the most high Son, the Angel of counsel, be praise, the giver of the seven gifts. In it the holy virgins are said to have returned from Rome to Cologne, the pope having been consulted, and to have been slain by the Huns. But see these things in Crombach S. Ursula vindicata, pages 1077 and 1078..

[179] The Cologne Mass and Office seem to be older than the ninth century. If you except the Sequence, the Cologne Mass seems to be most ancient; nor is the Office less ancient, such as it was recited before it was changed in a few places in the seventeenth century. For there is in it a trace of the greatest antiquity; which would certainly have been deleted if the people of Cologne had ever changed the Office of the holy virgins. The third antiphon at Lauds, namely, ran thus: Who, brought forward by divine will from the parts of the East, shed their blood for the name of Christ, because in persecution they could never be torn away from confessing him. Alleluia. Which things are beyond doubt older than the Sermon on the Feast-day, most certainly written before the middle of the ninth century; since these things, taken from the misunderstood inscription of Clematius, are disapproved by the author of the Sermon: as may be seen above, page 155, number 7. But when I said the Office, I meant the Invitatory, the Antiphons and Responsories. For it is manifest that the lessons, taken from the Passion Regnante Domino, are more recent; and proper hymns were scarcely in use before the beginning of the sixteenth century. But here is that Office, as it is read in the Matutinal according to the ordinary of the cathedral church of Cologne, diligently corrected, printed by Johann de Bell, master of arts, an inhabitant of the same city, in the year of the Lord 1481, on the seventh day before the Kalends of September; in the second part of the Diurnal according to the cathedral church of Cologne, without name of printer and year, but of the same age as the Matutinal; and finally in the Breviary according to the manner and custom of the most holy cathedral church of Cologne, printed at the expense and cost of Johann de Ravesberg, citizen of Cologne, likewise by the art of Johann Hertzog, a German, in the famous city of Venice, in the year 1498, on the day before the Kalends of October. I shall add the changes at the same time.

[180] This Office is recited at First Vespers, At First Vespers before the sixteenth century the Antiphons Illustrious brides of Christ, which come below at Nocturns I and II, were said, and the ferial psalms were said; afterwards the following Antiphons and psalms were used: AT FIRST VESPERS. ANTIPHON. Let us sing glory to our God, who gave to the holy virgins such victory that they trampled on the desires of the flesh and attained to the heavenly kingdoms. Psalm 112. Praise, O ye children. ANTIPHON. We ask you, blessed virgins, that you deign continually to commend us by your most holy prayers to Christ the Lord. Psalm 111. Praise the Lord, all ye nations. ANTIPHON. May the kind prayer of the holy virgins be with us, to defend us from all adversities and strengthen us in the service of Christ. Psalm 145. Praise the Lord, O my soul. ANTIPHON. O God, who art the crown of virgins, help us through their merits, that, thou granting it and they interceding, we may deserve to be defended from all evils now and for ever. Psalm 146. Praise ye the Lord, for he is good. ANTIPHON. Venerable are you, holy virgins, who resisted the desires of the flesh and remained in the service of Jesus Christ; ask him that he deign to be propitious to us unworthy ones in this world and in the world to come. Psalm 147. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem. CHAPTER: Concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord; but I give counsel, as having obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. Thanks be to God. ℣ These are the saints … their robes. ℣ They gave up their bodies … everlasting. HYMN. Jesu, the crown, as in the common of virgins, with ℣ Be glad in the Lord. ANTIPHON AT THE MAGNIFICAT. These are the wise virgins who, having taken oil in their vessels, went out with lamps to meet the bridegroom and the bride; and when he came, they went in with him, ready for the wedding.

[181] at the three Nocturns, AT MATINS, INVITATORY: Come, let us adore the King of kings, the Lord: For he is the crown of the holy virgins. Psalm. Come, let us rejoice. The people of Cologne do not seem formerly to have recited a hymn before the I Nocturn; but after the year 1618 they used the hymn from the Roman common: Virginis proles, except that they changed the third and fourth verse thus:

Ursulæ partos canimus triumphos Atque sodales We sing the triumphs won by Ursula and her companions

and the fifteenth and following in this manner:

Sanguine undenis sociata vicit Millibus orcum In blood, joined with the eleven thousand, she conquered hell

IN THE FIRST NOCTURN. ANTIPHON. The illustrious brides of Christ faithfully kept from their childish years the chastity lovable to God. Psalm. Blessed is the man. ANTIPHON. And they consecrated the integrity of their childhood to the Lord their God. Psalm. Why have the gentiles raged. ANTIPHON. The indweller of whose minds is Christ, who ever brings to them the solace of consolation against tribulation. Psalm. Lord, why. ℣ Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, ye just. ℞ And glory, all ye right of heart. AT THE LESSONS OF THE FIRST NOCTURN. FIRST ℞. Happily the virgins conquer the world: Who after victory know not how to be conquered. ℣ Blessed they return from the battle, who victorious overcome the enemy by dying. Who after victory know not how to be conquered. SECOND ℞. The integrity of faith and of body commends these virgins: The sincerity of life and the sublimity of merits exalt them. ℣ Therefore God will give them an everlasting name, which shall not perish. The sincerity of life, etc. THIRD ℞. An innumerable choir of virgins, spurning the propagation of children: Preferred to embrace with perpetual mind, act and habit, the Bridegroom who is in heaven. ℣ Behold, treading underfoot the flowering world by contempt of mind. The Bridegroom. Glory be to the Father. The Bridegroom. IN THE SECOND NOCTURN. ANTIPHON. Most sacred virginity, God disposing, remained in its rank even to the shedding of blood. Psalm 14. Lord, who shall dwell. ANTIPHON. Therefore, while it loved this exceedingly, it feared neither the tortures nor the joy of the raging tyrant. Psalm 15. Preserve. ANTIPHON. For one faith exercised the saints of God in their passion, and by a diverse kind of merits restored them victorious to heaven. Psalm 23. The earth is the Lord's. ℣ But the just shall live for ever. ℞ And their reward is with the Lord. AT THE LESSONS OF THE SECOND NOCTURN. FIRST ℞. The kingdom of heaven is like to ten virgins, who, taking their lamps: Went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. ℣ The wise virgins took oil in their vessels with the lamps. Went out. SECOND ℞. Five wise virgins took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And at midnight there was a cry made: behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye forth to meet Christ the Lord. ℣ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And at midnight. THIRD ℞. At midnight there was a cry made: behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye forth to meet him. Then the wise virgins arose: And, their lamps being trimmed, they went in with him to the wedding. ℣ But the foolish took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels, etc. Glory be to the Father, etc. IN THE THIRD NOCTURN, ANTIPHON. These are they who shall neither marry nor be married: but are as the Angels of God in heaven. Psalm. Rejoice, ye just. ANTIPHON. Therefore virginity is praiseworthy, because it is both found in martyrs and itself makes martyrs. Psalm. I will bless the Lord; or Psalm. A hymn becometh thee. ANTIPHON. Deservedly they are wondered at, who are compared to Angels and are joined to the Lord of Angels. Psalm. Our God is our refuge; or Psalm. How lovely. ℣ The souls of the just are in the hand of God. ℞ And the torment of malice shall not touch them. HOMILY ON THE GOSPEL. The kingdom of heaven is like to ten virgins. As in the common of virgins. FIRST ℞. I heard a voice from heaven saying : come, all ye most wise virgins: lay up oil in your vessels, until the bridegroom shall come. ℣ And at midnight there was a cry made: watch, ye virgins, behold the bridegroom cometh. Oil. SECOND ℞. Virgins shall be brought to the king, the Lord, after her; her companions shall be brought to thee; With gladness and rejoicing. ℣ They shall be brought into the temple to the King, the Lord. Glory be to the Father, etc. With gladness. TE DEUM LAUDAMUS. Hymn of SS. Ambrose and Augustine.

[182] at Lauds, AT LAUDS, ANTIPHON. Let us sing glory to our God, who gave to the holy virgins such victory that they trampled on the desires of the flesh and attained to the heavenly kingdoms. Psalm. The Lord hath reigned. This first Antiphon is not read in the books older than the sixteenth century, but in its place the following Antiphon was divided into two, after "in Sion", an alleluia being placed. ANTIPHON. In the choir of the saints the jubilation of divine praise resounds continually, where the God of gods is praised in Sion. Among whom the eleven thousand virgins, following the Lamb without spot, praise him, rejoicing with heavenly praise for ever, alleluia. Psalm 99. Sing joyfully to God. ANTIPHON. Who, brought forward by divine will from the parts of the East, shed their blood here for the name of Christ, because in persecution they could never be torn away from confessing him. In its place there was substituted in the year 1618 the following ANTIPHON. Who, having set out by divine will from Britain to Rome, shed their blood here for the name of Christ: because in persecution they could never be torn away from confessing him. Psalm 62. O God, my God. ANTIPHON. Let us bless, then, the God of heaven with every creature, who adorned this place with so precious a martyrdom. Psalm. All ye works, bless. ANTIPHON. Clematius, therefore, a most illustrious man, by the vow by which he was bound, raised from the foundations a holy temple, in which both the merits of the virgins are venerated and the throng of the peoples praising God runs together. Alleluia. In its place there was brought in in the year 1618 the following. ANTIPHON. These are the wise virgins who, having taken oil in their vessels, went out with lamps to meet the bridegroom and the bride; and when he came, they went in with him, ready for the wedding. Psalm 148. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens. CHAPTER. Concerning virgins I have no commandment. As at Vespers. ℣ Let the just rejoice. After the year 1618 ℣ They shall be brought to the king. ANTIPHON AT THE BENEDICTUS. O blessed bodies of the virgins, which, laid low for the confession of Christ, lie buried here in the ground: whose souls reign with him in eternal victory, whom the region of heaven has received to reign with the Angels.

[183] At Prime and the remaining Hours, nothing singular. At some time the following was brought in: AT SECOND VESPERS, ANTIPHON AT THE MAGNIFICAT. at the Hours and Second Vespers, with Hymns O holy virgins, lovable to God, through the crown of glory and the palm of victory which you have, pray for us to the kind Lord, that he may make us avoid all evils and persevere in his service. In the Great Breviary of the church of Cologne, printed at Paris in the year 1521, the following Hymn is read:

Rejoice, holy Cologne, Devoutly praising the Lord, Who through eleven thousand Virgins has exalted you. Whom Ursula from the bounds Of the Angles and of Britain Led to your walls, That they might be the salvation of the fatherland. At Basel, their ships Being left, they go to Rome; Having poured out prayers to the saints, They afterwards return to Cologne. Where by darts and swords, Under barbarian rage, And by many other punishments, They purchase the heavenly kingdoms. To the Trinity be glory For the consecrated virgins; May they lead us to the joys of heaven By their prayers. Amen.

[184] and with various antiphons. Then the following was substituted:

Jesus Christ, Only-begotten of the Father, Himself born of a Virgin, Lover of chastity. By thy inspiration, Minds devoted to thee Overcome years and sex, And contend manfully. Among the astounding Miracles which thou workest, The triumph of women Gives a great spectacle. They the splendid Lilies of chastity, That they may thus shine the more, Empurple with blood poured out. Among whom holy Ursula with her companions, Like the rose in Jericho, Flowers before the Lord. She, seeking The apostolic thresholds, Brought with her from childhood Eleven thousand. Instructed there By the prelate of the holy see, They return to Agrippina, And there were martyred. Therefore praise God, holy Cologne, Who adorns you With such sublime pledges. Praise, glory, And honour and victim To the Father and to the Son And to the holy Spirit. Amen.

The ℞ and ℣ and Antiphon were also changed in the following manner: ℣ Let the just rejoice in the sight of God. ℣ And let them be delighted with gladness. AT THE MAGNIFICAT, ANTIPHON. Blessed virgins of the number of the wise, intercede with Christ your bridegroom for us, that he may rouse our sleeping heart to the desire of his love, lest, which may your intercession forbid, he know us not, like the foolish, at the door of your reception. In the year 1618 much graver changes were made. At VESPERS the same antiphons were received as at Lauds, with the Psalms Dixit Dominus and the rest of Sunday, and in place of the last, Laudate Dominum omnes gentes. CHAPTER: Concerning virgins. The Hymn taken from the Roman common, except that the first strophe received this form:

Rex Christe, sponse virginum, Regina mater Ursula Undena dote sanguinis Tibi sacravit millia. [Christ the King, bridegroom of virgins, the queen mother Ursula with a dowry of blood has consecrated eleven thousand to thee.]

℣ They shall be brought. AT THE MAGNIFICAT, ANTIPHON. Of the number of the wise, etc.

[185] and at Compline. At COMPLINE the people of Cologne formerly changed the hymn for individual feasts; which was also observed in many other churches. They therefore said before the sixteenth century the hymn Jesu corona, for which the following hymn was afterwards substituted:

Rejoice, heavenly court, Which hast received so many thousands of virgins Laurelled, And joined them to the King of kings. Whose bridal chamber, having entered, By their purple gore And the lilies of chastity They paint and make serene all things. Rejoice, queen of virgins: Thy Son has sent across to thee A sweet army, To whom nothing is sweeter than his mother. Lo, before the throne of glory The daughters of Sion resound, Hymning, rejoicing, Contemplating, adoring. They are inebriated with sweetness, The majesty being contemplated; They burn wholly in love, They praise with the highest sweetness. O daughters of Jerusalem, With the song of gladness, Playing the harp to the beloved, Keep praising. Praise, honour to the bridegroom of virgins Now and through every age, Who by the merits of the saints May join us to the joys of heaven. Amen.

At the NUNC DIMITTIS the fourth antiphon at Lauds was recited: Let us bless, then, God. The lessons of the first Nocturn were taken from the Passion Regnante Domino, the beginning being made from the words: Blessed Ursula, though not incredulous of the oracle of the divine promise; and so they continued also through the lessons of the second Nocturn, an end being put at the words: You will return here again in peace; so that only a particle of the Passion was recited. In many other churches the beginning was made from the words Regnante Domino. The same was observed in the church of St. Ursula; so that the same Passion was read through the whole octave.

[186] Other proper things elsewhere. Not only the church of Cologne had a proper Office (I mean again the Antiphons and Responsories); but some others too, yet few, used the same. In the Breviary for the use of the notable collegiate church of St. Gudula of the town of Brussels, of the diocese of Cambrai, printed in the year 1513, a similar Office may be read, having proper Antiphons at both Vespers and Lauds and Responsories at the three Nocturns; and in the Breviary according to the use and choir of the church of Bamberg, newly revised and emended and corrected with the greatest diligence, and printed at Dillingen in the year 1575, proper Antiphons are also read at the Little Hours: here a few things are drawn from the Cologne Office, none in the Breviary of St. Gudula, if however the lessons from the Passion Regnante Domino are excepted. But I should be endless if I wished to explain all these things. One thing I will remark, that in those three Breviaries the psalms are not taken from the common of virgins, but from the common of many martyrs: whether this was done because men were not lacking in the holy band, let others determine. The Breviary of Aberdeen, or the Scottish,

printed in the year 1509 and recently, in the year 1854, published again in new type according to the original form, also contains an Office altogether proper; and the collegiate church of Arrouaise in France used the same in great part. In it are two proper hymns: Jesu, rex salvator virginum and Resonet ecclesia laudum modulamina; but it is not indicated that the psalms from the Common of Martyrs were prescribed. The old ones of Constance and Strasbourg of the year 1478 also had proper hymns; one of which began with the words: Festum nunc celebre, magnaque gaudia; and the church of Würzburg too sang at Compline a proper hymn: Illustrat clare saeculum. The proper Office inserted in the Roman Breviary of the year 1550 agreed sufficiently in the antiphons with the Cistercian one. On all of which Crombach may be consulted S. Ursula vindicata, page 1072 and following.; although what he has is by no means complete, so that (as I have already pointed out) with the help even of our museum alone they could easily be doubled.

* That of Constance: Theonotus; that of Liège: notus Deo; those of Passau and the Hospital: Deonotus.

* otherwise "shall be offered"

* otherwise "we do"

* virgin

* otherwise "or"

* otherwise "to be applied",

* otherwise "the just" (masculine).

* otherwise "of the just" (masculine)

* otherwise "coming"

* otherwise "shall be offered".

§ XX. Particulars of the cult of the Holy Virgins at Cologne.

[At the beginning of the fourteenth century the feast of the Holy Virgins at Cologne was of precept;] Having spoken, as far as seemed sufficient, of the antiquity and spread of the cult of SS. Ursula and her companions, we must return to Cologne to behold again their celebrity. That there is no church at Cologne which does not have some relics of the holy virgins should already be clear to the reader, nor any in which a singular veneration is not paid to them: on which matters, above all others, the work of Gelenius de Admiranda Coloniae Agrippinae Magnitudine is to be consulted, in which each thing is accurately listed. Omitting these, Crombach reports from the statutes of Cologne, drawn up, as he has it, in the year 1305 by Henry of Virneburg, archbishop of Cologne, these words S. Ursula illustrata, page 1012.: He ordered that the feast of the eleven thousand virgins be kept as a holiday throughout the whole archdiocese; which, if they are correct, must have been done after 18 December in the year 1305, since only then was Henry able to enter his see; and he must have renewed them on the 4th of March in the year 1307, on which he celebrated his second Cologne synod and restored to new vigour many things, even those instituted by his predecessors. Certainly in the first chapter, which is on the celebration of feasts, the faithful of Christ are ordered in the month of October to hold and celebrate and solemnly observe, and so by ceasing from servile works, the feasts of the blessed Gereon and Victor, of the eleven thousand virgins, of Severinus the bishop, of Simon and Jude the apostles In Hartzheim, Concilia Germaniae, volume IV, page 107..

[188] [which almost in the middle of the seventeenth century Ferdinand of Bavaria, most devoted to St. Ursula, renewed.] Afterwards, however, this festive celebration of the holy virgins fell into disuse, and a few years before the middle of the seventeenth century Ferdinand of Bavaria, prelate of Cologne and of many other cities, restored it; whom Crombach, in the dedication of his work, records to have been much given to the veneration of St. Ursula and her companions in these words: Of these, he says, namely of the predecessors who had honoured the church of the eleven thousand virgins by piety or largesses, of these, most serene prince, you tread in the footsteps: and you are wont, when your strength and affairs permit, on the annually recurring solemnity of the martyrdom, to go to Cologne and to the Ursuline basilica; to join many night hours there to those of the day, and, having received holy communion, to pray long to God and to the holy virgins for the peoples subject to you and the dioceses committed to you, and sometimes with notable piety to carry the very head of St. Ursula from the altar into the golden chapel. There burns there, near the high altar and the body of St. Ursula the martyr, that huge mass of wax of three hundred pounds, which you renew by annual nourishment to feed the fire, as if with Queen Richeza you professed yourself a wax-tributary or tax-payer of the holy virgins. Indeed at Huy too you consecrated to St. Odilia, an Ursuline virgin, a silver lamp with a perpetual light. In this same Ursuline field, with your father William, duke of Bavaria, and your brother Maximilian the elector, you founded from the foundations for the Society of Jesus a most magnificent and most ornate Marian church, to the eternal glory of the Most Serene house of Bavaria, so that that field, empurpled with the blood of so many martyrs, might be honoured more religiously and more majestically by the piety and throng of the citizens flocking there for sermons, the sacred tribunals, and to receive the most divine communion. The feast too of the holy virgins you sanctioned by law, free from labours, as a principal and proper one for the city, so that you might satisfy your inborn desire of venerating these holy protectresses.

[189] [Now that precept has ceased again; but the feast is still celebrated. The arms of the city. A jubilee celebrated in the year 1837.] But although, from the time when the number of feasts was everywhere diminished, the obligation of celebrating the feast of the holy virgins in choir and market-place also ceased at Cologne, it nevertheless continued to be a celebrated one, and the whole octave is carried out most solemnly. Nor is it any wonder: for St. Ursula with her company is the patroness of Cologne; wherefore, whereas the city formerly had a shield, or arms, divided in two colours, white and purple (the upper was purple, indented with three points), afterwards it omitted the points and sprinkled on the purple colour three golden crowns in honour of the Three Kings, the Magi, and on the white field eleven black little flames, or drops of blood, in honour of the eleven thousand virgins. At what time this was done is not sufficiently established. In the chapel of the senate and in another, called the gallery and built in the year 1571, a white shield is seen, distinguished with three golden crowns; so that the arms which Cologne now has seem more recent than the end of the sixteenth century. Indeed formerly more than eleven little flames or drops were sprinkled on the white field; whence some think that the field of the arms is nothing else than ermine (hermine) Weyer, Sammlung von Ansichten… in Köln, page 57.. But whatever the origin was, now the number eleven is accurately kept and is the symbol of the eleven thousand virgins. And as formerly elsewhere the feast of St. Remigius or St. Bavo was appointed for opening the schools, so at Cologne the festival of St. Ursula was chosen for this purpose; which custom they keep to this day Vill, Guide dans l'Église de Sainte Ursule, page 42.. In the year 1857, in accordance with the popular persuasion, which Crombach above all impressed on the minds of the people of Cologne, that St. Ursula suffered martyrdom in the year 237, jubilee feasts were celebrated, as if the sixteen-hundredth year after that monstrous slaughter had been completed. L. Reischert described these things in a separate little book, whose edition had to be repeated [Lebensgeschichte und Martertod der II. Ursula. Prinzessin von Britannien und ihrer Gesellschaft, etc.].

[190] Formerly the annual procession was very celebrated, and to honour it a confraternity of sacred men had been instituted. How festive the annual procession formerly was. Of it Crombach relates these things S. Ursula vindicata, page 838.: A congregation of churchmen and of the principal priests was instituted, in which it was the received custom that men of the first rank should carry back the sacred relics with magnificent apparatus on solemn days from the high altar into the golden chapel: which piety had so grown cold that laymen of the lowest condition carried them back without any reverence: to remedy this irreverence, certain leading priests established an assembly brought together under the patronage of St. Ursula with these new laws. The first is that all the members be priests, or at least initiated into sacred orders. The second. Let them be present on the appointed feasts, on which, according to the received custom of the Ursuline basilica, the sacred pledges are exposed, about the fourth hour after Vespers, if time and occupations permit, and let them carry back to the sanctuary, two by two, in the manner of suppliants, with great piety and devotion, the sacred remains which the moderator of the congregation shall offer to each. The third. Let them always be mindful of the members in the sacrifice of the Mass and other prayers. The fourth. Whoever of them desires the prayers of the members for any necessity whatever, let him inform the moderator, whose duty it will be, by sending a slip, to enjoin prayers on the rest. The fifth. Who also shall name five of them, the order being kept, to perform rites for the deceased members on the following day at St. Ursula's. The sixth. And that all may apply themselves the more to the vigorous observance of those laws, let them subscribe their names with their own hand, the power being reserved to them of increasing or correcting the laws proposed. But this has now almost fallen away. And now only the memory remains.

§ XXI. Other places and churches in which the holy virgins have been held as patronesses.

[Oratories or churches erected under the patronage of St. Ursula at Cologne, at Eidenhausen,] Although the cult of SS. Ursula and her companions spread so widely and their relics were scattered through so many places, yet very few churches were honoured with their name and patronage; if, however, you except the churches of the Ursuline nuns, of which I would not think one should speak specially. It seems one should speak only of the others. Besides the church of the Holy Virgins, of which I spoke at length at the beginning of the Posthumous Glory, there was moreover at Cologne the hospital of St. Ursula; which Gelenius briefly illustrated De Coloniae Magnitudine, page 610.. The feast-day of the dedicated oratory was held on 21 October. Then there are in Westphalia, says Crombach S. Ursula vindicata, page 672., sacred buildings dedicated to St. Ursula for many centuries: not without sacred pledges of the same company. One Sigewand, prelate of Minden, raised from the foundations five hundred years ago, and assigned ample revenues for the support of a priest for its service: in which he also wished to be buried under the patronage and protection of the eleven thousand virgins, as the Chronicle of Minden of Hermann of Lerbeck, the Dominican, attests in these words: Sigewand, the third bishop, pleasing to God and men, born of noble parents, offered as a boy by Adolf of Schaumburg, his elder nephew, to the monastery of St. Peter at Minden and bound to the service of God, at length, through various successive dignities and benefices, by the common consent of the beneficiaries and moved by the petition of the brethren, was appointed provisor and pastor of the church of Minden. He founded at his own expense the church at Eidenhausen, covered with lead, with four altars, in honour of the eleven thousand virgins and martyrs: within he adorned it with most beautiful pictures. This church, I say, other things being equal, is more beautiful than any village church which the see of Minden has: whence he decreed that this church should be conferred on no one but a priest who should dwell there permanently and serve God faithfully. This prelate, ordained by the lord Cuno, legate of the apostolic see and cardinal deacon, was consecrated, the Lord and universal Pope Callistus presiding and commanding, the glorious Henry V reigning, august emperor of the Romans, in the year 1124. After he had ruled twenty years, he died in the year 1140, buried in the middle of the church of Idenhusen.

[192] at Wilbasen in the diocese of Paderborn, At the same time Bernard shone in the mitre of Paderborn, who, for his zeal and devotion towards St. Ursula, a chapel erected to her and consecrated to the virgins,

he handed over to virgins dedicated to God and professing the Rule of St. Benedict, around the year 1148, in the 11th indiction, in the 12th year of Conrad the second, in the 22nd year of the prelacy of Bernard the founder: the place is called Wilbasen: to which, since houses of pious men had gradually been added because of the sanctity of the place, it began little by little to be more cultivated and to abound in inhabitants, so that it has now turned out to be a town girt with walls and gates. They long religiously preserved the body of St. Pignosa, a king's daughter, and another, of St. Panafreda. And the virgins, when a hundred years ago they had given their names to the sodality of St. Ursula (which they called the Little Ship), as will be said below, propagated her cult widely through the neighbouring places and convents. I am pleased also to attach in this place, since no other more opportune one occurs, two diplomas which pertain at the same time to the diocese of Paderborn and to the cult of the holy virgins. From both it is established that the Ursuline canonesses obtained, either from the supreme pontiff or from some cardinals and bishops who were living at the curia, as was almost the custom, letters of indulgence by which spiritual benefits were conferred from the treasury of the Church on all who should have stretched out helping hands to the church of the holy virgins: which manner of granting indulgences the Council of Trent rightly and deservedly willed to be suppressed. However that may be, receive the letters of the other Bernard, bishop of Paderborn, by which he orders the messengers sent by the Ursuline college with relics of the holy virgins to collect alms to be received most honourably, and to bring his help to that matter Ibid., pages 692 and 693.: Bernard, by the grace of God bishop of Paderborn, to all the parish priests, chaplains and other rectors established in his city and diocese, greeting in the true salvation. Desiring to spare your labours and the expenses which used to be incurred in your chapters or convocations, we transmit to you by the labour of the bearers of these presents the little charters of indulgences of the church of the holy eleven thousand virgins at Cologne, which we have thought fit to admit for collecting the alms of the faithful of Christ in our city and diocese, the consent of our chapter being added, strictly commanding you in virtue of holy obedience that, as soon as you have seen the present letters, you faithfully set out that business to your people on Sundays and feast-days, dedications only excepted (which we specially reserve for our Church), until the octave of the apostles Peter and Paul, and then in the general chapter faithfully bring back the offerings gathered by the grace of God. But if any of you shall be rebellious against this our mandate, let him know that he is not only suspended from office, but we will also that as much be required from him as could be obtained by one well-disposed and attentive, in any place whatever. Given in the year of the Lord 1247, on the Monday after Misericordia Domini. Receive the relics solemnly. Bernard was succeeded by Simon, count of Schwalenberg: he, in a similar matter, ordered that the day on which the relics of the holy virgins were brought and the business transacted should be a feast-day and free from labours; which he sanctioned by this diploma: Simon, by the grace of God bishop of Paderborn, to all, both parish priests and chaplains, and churches and rectors of churches, established in his city and diocese, greeting in our salvation. By the authority of these presents we command you in virtue of holy obedience, and under pain of suspension, strictly enjoining, that you summon all your parishioners having the years of discretion to the day, place and hour which the bearer of these presents shall assign to you, enjoining on them by our authority, in virtue of holy obedience and under pain of excommunication, that they remain there devoutly until the business of the holy eleven thousand virgins of Cologne shall have been faithfully dispatched, and, all other business or petitions being set aside, that day, to the honour of God and out of reverence for such great relics, be held by all as a celebrated and festive day like a Sunday, until the solemnities of the Masses have been celebrated. But if any of you shall be rebellious against this mandate, let him know that he has incurred suspension from divine things. Given in the year of the Lord 1267, on the Monday after Jubilate.

[193] at Wittenberg and Osnabrück, We have already seen that the cult of St. Ursula was wonderfully promoted by the house of Saxony not long before the wretched times of Luther. Long before, this house had given testimonies of that piety. Rudolf the second, duke of Saxony, had built at Wittenberg in the year 1353 the principal church of the city under the patronage and title of St. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins S. Ursula vindicata, page 687.. Towards the beginning of the fourteenth century Goldewin, the thirty-second bishop of Osnabrück, with the cathedral chapter founded outside the walls of his city a hospital of the eleven thousand virgins, out of notable piety towards these saints, in which retired and infirm priests might live: there exists from the year 1310 a bull of his successor Engelbert which confers indulgences on those who promote the work begun with money, in this copy: Engelbert, by the grace of God bishop of the church of Osnabrück, to all the faithful of Christ to whom knowledge of the present letter shall come, greeting in the author of salvation. Since our beloved in Christ the provost, dean and chapter of our church of Osnabrück have taken up, at their church, for poor priests lying in bed through failure of strength, a hospital in honour of our Lord Jesus Christ and of his glorious Mother the Virgin Mary and of the eleven thousand virgins, and the hospital's own resources do not suffice for their sustenance, we, trusting in the mercy of almighty God and the authority of his blessed apostles Peter and Paul, mercifully relax forty days and one carene of the penances enjoined on them to all the faithful of Christ, truly contrite and confessed, who shall have stretched out a helping hand to relieve the need of the said priests or to the building there, or shall have come to the church of the said place for the sake of devotion. Given at Osnabrück on the morrow of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the year of the Lord 1310 Ibid., pages 838 and 839..

[194] At Rome a chapel was built under the patronage of St. Ursula at the beginning of the seventeenth century. at Rome, at Como, and in the Netherlands, For when in the year 1599 a sodality had been raised in the city by apostolic authority, it at once grew together from various nations of the world because of relics from the shoulder of St. Ursula: which so increased, money also being offered, that at their expense in the year 1607 they erected a chapel to their holy protectress, in which the sacred relics are kept. Further, these members have many solemnities which others have elsewhere; but these were singular: First, in the exercises of the congregation they were clothed in a sack, or red garment, bound with a green girdle. Second, on the very feast of St. Ursula they established a dowry for some poor girls: enjoying also this privilege, that they might free one person guilty of death from his chains Tiraboschi, Vetera Humiliatorum monumenta, volume II, pages 28 and 29.. Long before there existed in the diocese of Como two houses of the Humiliati, of which St. Ursula was the patroness, one in the suburb of the city, the other at Suricum, commonly Sorego, on Lake Larius. The suburban one was formerly called St. Vitalis; but after the church of St. Ursula was built it began to be called by both names. In a charter of the year 1378, 11 April, is read: The chapter of the lady nuns of the order of the Humiliati of St. Ursula of St. Vitalis of Como being assembled, in the house of the same Humiliate ladies, situated in the parish of St. Sixtus of Como in the district of St. Vitalis outside. That convent lasted until almost the beginning of the present century. The house of Sorego seems from the beginning, that is, from about the beginning of the thirteenth century, to have had the title and patronage of St. Ursula. It existed until the extinction of the Humiliati, then the house was given to the Minims, its revenues commended to another Crombach, page 855.. In the Netherlands too I find many churches and monasteries which enjoyed the patronage of St. Ursula or of the eleven thousand virgins. I shall report the names only: those who wish their history and the wretched fates at the end of the sixteenth century, when they were suppressed against right by the Protestants, may consult Heussen's History of the bishoprics of federated Belgium; the Batavia sacra or Antiquitates Bataviae sacrae, especially the Dutch edition, much more augmented than the Latin; Lelong's Description of the ecclesiastical reformation of Amsterdam and other books of that kind. Receive the names of the cities: at Leiden, of nuns of the order of St. Augustine; at Delft, where another secular church had St. Ursula as its second patroness; at Utrecht, of tertiaries of St. Francis; likewise of the same institute at Schiedam, Warmond, Haarlem, Amsterdam and Enkhuizen; and finally of the Sisters of the Common Life at Deventer. In many Beguinages too St. Ursula with her most pious company was the second patroness.

[195] The Sorbonne at Paris. Writers everywhere relate that SS. Ursula and her eleven thousand companions were the patronesses of the Sorbonne of Paris, formerly the most celebrated school of theology. About the origin of this patronage many formerly devised many things. Piganiol Description de la France, volume V, page 507. would have it that this patronage began already from the middle of the thirteenth century, when this school was founded, and that the oratory was named with the title of SS. Ursula and her companions; but this assertion rests on no testimony; indeed the Blessed Virgin Mary alone seems to have been patroness for almost a whole century. From an old Necrology of the Sorbonne, Lebeuf Histoire de la ville et de tout le diocèse de Paris, volume I, part I, page 240. gathered that in the month of May of the year 1326 a new oratory was begun, which in the year 1347, on the 21st day of the month of October, was consecrated by Francesco of Piacenza, of the order of Minors, bishop of Tiberias in partibus, in the name of Cardinal Annibaldi, in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of SS. Ursula and her companions, since their relics had been laid away in the altar of St. Emerentiana. Further, Lebeuf thinks that for a very long time the feast of SS. Ursula and her companions was not kept by the Sorbonne, but that the dedication of the church was celebrated on the 21st of October: which he confirms from this, that, since until the year 1432 only four public sermons, which were called collations, were held there, namely on the feasts of the Nativity of the Lord, Pentecost, Corpus Domini and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on the 10th of March of that year the doctors passed a decree that three other collations should be made; namely on the feast of the dedication of the chapel of the college, which is celebrated on the feast of the eleven thousand virgins, on the feast of the Purification of the B. M., and on the feast of the Ascension: so that the words were about the dedication, and not about St. Ursula; which continued to be observed in the same way in the year 1437, when the number of collations was increased by eleven others. But afterwards a panegyric oration on the eleven thousand virgins was substituted for the sermon on the dedication of the church. Cardinal Richelieu built from the foundations with much splendour a new church; and since in the eighteenth century it seemed not yet to have been consecrated, Lebeuf suggested that for the patronage of SS. Ursula and her companions there should be substituted the title of St. Euphemia, martyr of Chalcedon, whose body had been brought there in the year 1606: but this absurd counsel, given only for this reason, that he did not have a clear view of the martyrdom of the holy virgins itself, no one ever followed.

[196] Her cult in the Universities of Coimbra and Vienna, and in the Indies. The patronage of the university of Coimbra gradually,

and by usage rather than by decree or dedication, was conferred on the holy virgins. On this matter Crombach has the following S. Ursula vindicata, page 860.: Truly, he says, it is little to have compared the Ursuline solemnity with the Paschal feast, where it is held like a Jubilee; so that not undeservedly the apostolic see, having learned of so great a cult of the Holy Virgins, granted a most full jubilee throughout all the churches of the Society of Jesus in Portugal. And as Coimbra is rightly named among the principal cities of the kingdom, so it has taken St. Ursula to be venerated with special devotion. The Academy, which Francisco Suárez made illustrious by many years of teaching, seems to have imitated the Sorbonne of Paris and to have chosen the martyr Ursula as the president of its studies: for the whole of it flocks to the oration which is customarily held on the praises of the same saint: the most celebrated sodality of the city assembles in the cathedral church under the name of St. Ursula: it devotes itself wholly to carrying out that feast most majestically. And it is no slight incitement to her cult that it is held most certain throughout the whole kingdom that St. Ursula with her company succours the dying who every year have venerated her and the individual virgins with one Angelic salutation. Crombach then continues to teach at greater length how greatly the veneration of the martyrs of Cologne flourished among the Portuguese in the middle of the seventeenth century, and finally adds the following: You may see, he says Ibid., page 861., from these letters that there flourishes among their posterity that veneration of St. Ursula which Peter Faber, having drawn it at Cologne, the relics having been translated from there, first planted in the sovereigns, by whose example a constant piety has flourished up to these times, the Society of Jesus fostering it and provoking it by its example: so that St. Ursula can now be held the protecting saint of the kingdom; and I simply do not know whether she is honoured with such ardent minds in any region of the world. The same Portuguese wonderfully propagated the cult of the Holy Virgins in the whole East; of which Francisco Barreto, our procurator for Malabar, wrote to me in the year 1645, on the 24th of December: "I know that there is no church of our society in the province of Goa and of Malabar in which one of the principal altars is not dedicated to them; universally the day of the holy virgins is held among the greater feasts of the whole year: one of the four jubilees of the society is annexed to that feast: there is a great throng on that day in our churches; there are still some confraternities of the holy virgins; and everywhere the more noble vie with one another in carrying out the feast at great expense." And as the people of Coimbra celebrate their patroness of the university with a panegyric, so too does the University of Vienna. It is divided into four classes, the Austrian, the Rhenish, the Saxon and the Hungarian. The Rhenish has St. Ursula as patroness, and carries out her feast most majestically in the principal church of the city, St. Stephen's, the rector magnificus and the university being assembled for a solemn Mass and panegyric oration.

[197] [Likewise at Lüneburg among the Lutherans themselves. Likewise in Hungary and Brazil.] The people of Lüneburg too held the holy virgins as it were in the place of patronesses; from which devotion they did not altogether cease when, having left the Church of the living God, they embraced the Lutheran tenets. The occasion of this institution was that in the year 1371 Lüneburg was divinely saved on the feast of St. Ursula. The citizens therefore continued to renew the memory of this event with annual festive rejoicings and by singing Ursuline hymns: on which Schulting Bibliotheca, volume IV, part I, fol. 26., from the Psalmody, or sacred songs of the old Church, selected for the use of the churches by Lucas Lossius of Lüneburg, which are customarily sung in the churches in a fixed order and with melodies, of God and his saints, printed at Wittenberg in the year 1569, cites this title: On the order of the chants on the day of Ursula, or of the eleven thousand virgins, which is celebrated in the church of Lüneburg because of the victory divinely granted to the forefathers of this renowned city on this day in the year 1371, fol. 257, 258. Krantz and Hermann of Lerbeck narrate the history without a prodigy: but let us hear Lucas Lossius, a Lutheran and citizen of Lüneburg; he relates thus: When for a long time there had been discord between the great duke of Lüneburg and our city, at length, when intolerable injuries were being inflicted on the city by the henchmen who held the Kalkberg, which overhangs the city, the citizens occupied the hill on the day before the Purification of Mary by imperial mandate. Afterwards an army, secretly gathered by the duke, on the night which immediately precedes the day of Ursula, climbed the wall of the city and occupied it unexpectedly. The citizens, roused by the clash of arms and other tumult, suddenly run to meet them. In the first encounter, besides others, three men of consular rank of honourable and patrician families are slain. Then the citizens gradually assemble in the town hall. The prefect of the city, Ulrich of Weissenburg, a great-hearted man and skilled in military matters, warns the citizens to do nothing rashly in so great a danger. He himself meanwhile strives with good words to placate the enemy exulting in the market-place over his victory, asks him to abstain from violence, since the city was now in his hand and power. These things the prefect deliberately did for a rather long time, riding now to the citizens, now to the enemy, with this design, that by the delay of the parley the citizens might assemble in numbers in the town hall. Meanwhile wine in abundance is brought to the enemy from the wine-shop, which many, drinking too eagerly, became drunk: wearied as they were by the long march and the labour of climbing into the city. Then, when the citizens thought themselves sufficiently prepared to attack the enemy, rushing unexpectedly out of the town hall they make an attack on the enemy. The prefect, announcing to the enemy that the senate could not perform the unjust things that were demanded, surrounded by the enemy, falls first. Then a wretched slaughter is wrought on both sides. At length the citizens, gaining the upper hand, drive the enemy out of the market-place: who makes for the red gate, which faces south, through the street which is called the Bakers' street, in order to slip out by that part of the wall by which they had climbed into the city: but the citizens, following from behind, kill a great part of the enemy, who were seven hundred in number. And they say that there came to meet them from the Sand, which is a spacious square, a new line of armed soldiers, terrified at the sight of which the enemy gave himself to flight. The leaders of the enemy were Baron John of Homborg, who perished in the conflict, and Siegfried of Salderen, who was captured. The year is contained in these old rhymes:

Anno milleno Cter uno septuageno Nocte puellarum monos et deca mille sacrarum, Muros conscendunt, Luneburg subvertere tendunt, Sic occiduntur, velut in sacco capiuntur. [In the year one thousand, three hundred and one and seventy, on the night of the sacred one-and-ten thousand maidens, they climb the walls, they strive to overthrow Lüneburg; thus they are slain, as if caught in a sack.]

Thus far Lossius, who recites at length the hymns and sacred songs which the Lutherans themselves also sang together in yearly rite to the praise of the martyr Ursula and her companions: witnesses of a victory obtained from heaven by the patronage of so many thousands. This custom has now probably fallen away. I would add in passing that St. Ursula and her companions are listed by Antonio Macedo among the patronesses of Hungary, as if the Hungarians wished to make amends for the savagery of the Huns, whom they think were their forefathers. They are also patronesses of Brazil.

[198] The island of Helgoland or Heiligland, in the time of St. Willibrord There exists also an island to which the name of St. Ursula seems at one time to have been given, and at which they would have it that the most pious virgin put in when she had set sail from Britain for Germany. I am pleased to discourse a little more fully about it, so that it may appear that its present name Helgoland (for it is this island that is in question, situated opposite the mouths of the Elbe *) by no means arose from the veneration of the holy virgins, and that therefore all those things which have been built by some upon this ruinous foundation cannot stand. Some writers judge that this is the very island on which the Reudigni, Aviones, Angles, Varini, Eudoses, Suardones and Nuithones worshipped in common Hertha, that is, Mother Earth, as Tacitus related Germania, chapter 40.. But this opinion is little to be approved: for, as we shall see presently, Helgoland was in the hands of the Frisians; and not the goddess Hertha, but the god Fosite was worshipped there. Wherefore it is much more probable that another island, either Fehmarn or Rügen, was designated by Tacitus. It seems rather to be held that Helgoland began to become known at the beginning of the eighth century. Certainly Alcuin narrates these things of St. Willibrord [Life of St. Willibrord, chapter 10, in Mabillon, Benedictine century III, part I, page 609]: When therefore the pious preacher of the word of God was making his journey, he came on the border of the Frisians and the Danes to a certain island which, from a certain god of theirs, Fosite, is called Fositesland by the inhabitants of the land; because the shrines of the same god were built on it. Which place was held by the pagans in such veneration that no one dared to touch anything on it, either of the animals pasturing there or of any other things whatever of the gentiles, nor did anyone presume even to draw water from the spring which bubbled up there except in silence. When the man of God was driven there by a storm, he remained there some days, until, the storms being laid aside, a suitable time for sailing should come. But making light of the foolish religion of that place, or of the most ferocious mind of the king (of the Frisians, Radbod), who was accustomed to condemn the violators of his sacred things to a most atrocious death, he baptized three men in that spring with the invocation of the holy Trinity. And he also ordered the animals pasturing in that land to be slaughtered for food for his people. Which the pagans seeing, they thought that they would either be turned to madness or else perish by a swift death. When they saw that they suffered no harm, struck with astonishment, they nevertheless reported to King Radbod what they had seen done. But besides threats and rebukes nothing was inflicted on the servant of God; but one of the neophytes, designated by lot, was subjected to martyrdom.

[199] Altfrid, recounting what St. Liudger, first bishop of Münster, did around the year 785: and of St. Liudger, who visited it, He took care too, he says [Life of St. Liudger, chapter 19, in Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae, volume II, page 410.], to draw off the rivers of doctrine further; and, having received counsel from the emperor, he crossed over, on the border of the Frisians and the Danes, to a certain island which from the name of its false god was called Fositeland, Fosetesland… And arriving at the same island, they destroyed all the shrines of the same Fosete which had been built there, and in their place built churches of Christ. And as he imbued the inhabitants of that land with the faith of Christ, he baptized them with the invocation of the holy Trinity in the spring which bubbled up there; in which St. Willibrord had previously baptized three men, and from which spring no one had previously presumed to draw water except in silence. He also received from the font the son of a certain prince of theirs, named Landric; whom, imbued with sacred letters, he ordained priest. Who for many years presided over the people of the Frisians in the pursuit of doctrine.

[200] [known by the name Fositeland from the idol Fosite, it was called Heiligland by the pirates out of reverence.] But that fallow field, twice cultivated by most holy men, seems to have been abandoned again. Wherefore Adalbert, archbishop of Hamburg, illustrious for his zeal in propagating the Christian religion through the northern regions, around the middle of the eleventh century ordained of his clerics … at Fünen Eilbert, whom they relate to have been converted (or, as they would have it, fleeing) from pirates, the island of Farria, which in the mouth of the river

Elbe lies hidden in the Ocean at a long remove, he first found, and, a monastery having been built there, made it habitable. This island is situated opposite Hadeln. Whose breadth * extends scarcely eight miles, its breadth four. The men use straw and fragments of ships for fire. The story is that pirates, if ever they have carried off even the least plunder from there, have either soon perished by shipwreck or been slain by someone; none has returned home unharmed. Wherefore they are accustomed to offer tithes of their plunder with great devotion to the hermits living there. For this island is most fertile in crops, a most rich nurse of birds and cattle; it has a single hill, no tree; it is enclosed by most rugged cliffs, with no approach except one; where there is also fresh water, a place venerable to all sailors, but especially to pirates. Whence it received its name, so that it is called Heiligland. This we learn in the Life of St. Willibrord to be called Fosetisland; which is situated on the border of the Danes and the Frisians. There are also other islands opposite Frisia and Denmark; but none so memorable [Adam of Bremen, De situ Daniae, chapter 210, in Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae, volume VIII, page 369.]. And hence it is clear that the name of this island, Heiligland, that is, holy land, by no means arose either from the cult or from some false tradition about St. Ursula and her companions, but was already in use a whole century before the veneration of the holy virgins was propagated through all the northern regions by the dispersion of the relics.

[201] Afterwards it received the name of St. Ursula, many fables being added. But afterwards the name of St. Ursula seems to have been in great honour there, so that the island was called the island of St. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins [Lappenberg, Ueber den ehemaligen Umfang und die alte Geschichte Helgolands, page 43 and following; Michelsen, Nordfriesland im Mittelalter, in Schade, Die Sage von der heilige Ursula, page 66.]. Which name seems older than the middle of the thirteenth century, since in a polyptych written in the sixteenth century, but in which are indicated the hearths and churches that existed in northern Frisia in the year 1240, there comes: The island of St. Ursula, commonly Helgerlandt [Falck, Staatsburgerl. Magazijn, volume IV, pages 179–200, in Schade, pages 66 and 114.]. Lappenberg records Op. supra cit., page 34. that St. Ursula, placed in a ship with her companions, was formerly painted on the arms of this island; but Pontanus Rerum Danicarum descriptio, Chorographia, page 739. mentions only a sailing ship; and only a ship, tossed by the waves Col. [ ] is seen in the Order and arms of the islands published by Meibom Monumenta inedita rerum Germanicarum, volume I, plate c.. Whether there was a church there honoured with the patronage of St. Ursula is hidden from me: the one which now exists there was distinguished with the title of St. Nicholas; but formerly there were seven parishes; six of which, because the island was continually worn away by the sea waves, so that now hardly more than a rock remains, were suppressed or wiped out. When the Lutheran rites were brought there too, all memory of the Holy Virgins did not at once cease. Bertram Powisch, a nobleman of Holstein, had put in there a little before the year 1599; the inhabitants showed him certain places in the grass, greener than the rest; which they would have to be the footprints of St. Ursula and her companions, who had passed this way going from Britain to Cologne [Ware Bericht weder den vermeinten Ecclesiasten, ed. Hederbui, in the year 1599, art. 1, pl. E, III, in Meibom, Opp. cit., volume IV, preface number XXX, page 220.]. Pontanus mentions the same little tale Op. supra cit., page 719 and the author of the Short description of the island of the Holy Land In Meibom, loc. cit., which Meibom had in manuscript. Powisch also heard it narrated that Debora had been given in marriage there by her sister St. Ursula to prince Heligo; others added that the place of the wedding dances could still be well recognized. But in truth in these fables there is nothing singular: everywhere, where the cult of the saints flourishes most, little stories of this kind spring up; by which nothing else is signified than that men's minds were much occupied in thinking about the heavenly ones; that the facts were less clearly seen by them; that the vain conjectures of one or another seemed probable and in a short time were held in place of ascertained truth. And similar things may be seen to arise not only in the religious commonwealth, but in the civil and military too. For the rest, whoever wishes a history or description of this island may consult the books which we have indicated in the margin, and besides the new description of the Cimbric Chersonese which Heinrich Rantzau made in the year 1559 Ibid., volume I, col. 68 and following., the most accurate observations of La Martinière Dictionnaire géographique, under Helgoland and more recent geographers. I would add only that it was long before the Lutheran beginnings of the diocese of Bremen; that it was possessed by several princely houses, until in this century the English obtained it: but by these things we are led altogether away from the cult of St. Ursula and her companions, to which we must return.

* The Elbe

* Length

§ XXII. Painted and sculptured monuments in honour of the Holy Virgins.

The most beautiful painted panel of Cologne; It could scarcely be that, when the cult and fame of SS. Ursula and her companions had been spread through the whole world, no works should be made in their honour by the eminent painters and sculptors whom the age produced: and indeed some exist, which it will be helpful to have recorded. Of the mausoleum which was erected in the middle of the seventeenth century I have already said enough above at number 17; and that is the most recent of all. On the other hand the most ancient monument of all, worthy of singular praise, is the painted panel (whether in oil, milk or glue the experts dispute) which is kept in the cathedral church of Cologne. Its origin is this: when around the year 1596 the senate of Cologne had resolved that each of its sessions should begin with some prayers poured out to God, it thought it good to see that a picture should be made showing the principal patrons of the city. It was completed in the year 1410, and according to custom has the form of a triptych. It was formerly the ornament of the senate's chapel, consecrated in the year 1426; whence in the year 1810 it came into the fifth chapel of the cathedral church. When the wings are closed, the annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is seen; when they are open, the middle and principal part presents to the eyes the adoration of the Magi; the left one St. Gereon with his companions, the right one St. Ursula with her company. And she holds in her hand the arrow with which she was pierced, having at her side her bridegroom St. Aetherius, and surrounded by an infinite band of virgins. Behind appear bishops, conspicuous with mitres and pastoral staffs; by whom the majesty and a certain exceptional beauty, which shines out in this whole work, is made more manifest. Just as on the other side St. Gereon seems to lead his fellow soldiers to Christ the Lord, so too St. Ursula her most holy companions; so that all together with the Magi may reverently adore their divine Saviour. It is held to be the most excellent triple panel of all that were painted before the rebirth of the arts in the parts north of the Alps. Whoever wants more may consult Friedrich Schlegel Europa, volume II, part II., Wallraf Taschenbuch für Freunde Altdeutscher Zeit und Kunst, page 349 and following., the historian of the Cologne church [Historische Beschreibung der Domkirche zu Köln, by A. E. d'll *, page 162 and following.], de Keverberg [Ursula, princesse britannique d'après la légende et les peintures d'Hemling, page 186 and following.] and others who in recent times have handled similar subjects in great number.

[203] the painted shrine of Bruges; The second monument, which is beyond doubt much more celebrated and which is said to be worth a million and a half francs (although there seems scarcely to be a price for such things), is the reliquary shrine which is kept in the hospital of St. John at Bruges. As regards the material there is nothing exceptional, being only a wooden chest built in the form of a small house without towers; but it is adorned with most charming pictures by the most celebrated Hans Memling, who flourished in the fifteenth century. On the front part, or first gable, is seen the Blessed Virgin Mary carrying the child Jesus on her arm, nuns standing on either side; on the opposite gable St. Ursula appears surrounded by a countless band of virgins. And both sides are divided into three tympana or panels, each relating a part of the history of St. Ursula. In the first the holy virgins arrive at Cologne; in the second at Basel; in the third at Rome, where the pious band is received by Pope St. Cyriacus and many companions of blessed Ursula receive baptism; in the fourth panel Pope Cyriacus, having crossed the Alps, boards a ship with St. Ursula and now with the eminent company sets sail from Basel towards Cologne; in the fifth the martyrdom of the companions of St. Ursula; and in the sixth finally the passion of St. Ursula herself, about to be pierced by an arrow. On the roof of the little house the glory of St. Ursula is set before the eyes in two round small panels: in the first the whole pious company, male as well as female, is represented together; in the other St. Ursula is crowned in heaven by the divine Trinity. Baron de Keverberg described that shrine in a whole volume Opus modo cit.; Gaillard published the form of the shrine and all the images by lithographic art and with the greatest care. The Bruges lithographer Daveluy printed many images of the same shrine in smaller form; so that whoever wishes to know more about this eminent work will easily have the means of satisfying this pleasure of his.

[204] the little ship of Reims, whose base, Crombach indicated a third monument S. Ursula vindicata, page 703., testifying that hitherto he had found none more majestic that had been set up for the eleven thousand virgins: which saying is to be taken chiefly of the costliness of the material. On the 5th of February of the year 1575, on which he was crowned, Henry III, king of France and Poland, offered this gift to the cathedral church of Reims through the hands of Louis of Lorraine, cardinal of Guise and bishop of Metz, because his nephew, likewise named Louis of Lorraine, had not yet been consecrated archbishop of Reims. That treasure, in which Ursuline relics brought by Henry himself from Poland into France are contained, was described by Father Pierre Casraeus in a letter dated 21 February of the year 1631 S. Ursula vindicata, loc. cit.; similarly by the authors of the Inventory of the treasury of Reims of the year 1669 In the work whose title is: Trésors des églises de Rheims, pages 62 and 63. and by the distinguished Mr. Prosper Tarbé, who fourteen years ago illustrated that Inventory Ibid., in the notes. and published an image of that most beautiful gift, rendered by lithographic art and the work of J. J. Maquart Ibid., loc. cit.. Receive, then, Father Casraeus's description of the gift which Henry III consecrated in honour of St. Ursula: The base, he says, set under the work is six-cornered, a foot long, half a foot wide, almost a palm high, wrought of gilded silver. Above the base the sea surges half a palm

high, of silver, which is variegated with enamel of different colours. Various fishes swim in the sea. On that base which is set under the sea, on the longer sides, on this side and that, two inscriptions are read; the first is this: Henry III, king of the Gauls and of the Poles, crowned according to the custom of his forefathers, set up this little ship to the Virgin Mother of God, that the French state, tossed by the long waves of seditions, might at length be brought by divine help into calm. In the year 1574. And on the opposite side there is this French inscription: De Saincte Ursule et des XI mil Vierges Of St. Ursula and of the 11 thousand Virgins: it indicates, namely, that relics of the Holy Virgins are enclosed in the hull of the ship. On the four smaller sides four coats of arms are emblazoned, each made illustrious with crowns set above. To the right of the stern golden French lilies, rendered in enamel or encaustic, and likewise at the prow the same painted diametrically opposite. But to the left of the stern there is a quartered coat adorned with the twinned arms of Poland and France; quite similar to it answers the same at the left of the prow; above the sea the ship stands, resting on a silver support set between.

[205] the keel Its keel and whole hull consist of a single wonderful agate , whose length nearly equals a foot , its breadth, where the hull is most extended, half a foot, its height exceeds its breadth; the colour is reddish, kindled with veins of different colours running through it. This agate is held by silver bands, overlaid with gold. The hull of the ship is covered in the upper part with a silver plate as with a deck. In the middle of the ship, on both sides, lattices lie sunk towards the hull, through which the enclosed relics of the saints are seen. At the prow and stern lattices rise up like walls, which little towers built on them adorn, seven in all in number; where the prow ends in a beak, the arms of France, carved in solid gold, hang. The stern, since it does not end in a wedge, is furnished with two little towers; on one of these hang the quartered arms of Poland and France; on the other those of France and Florence, impaled. Further, all these coats of arms, together with the inscriptions mentioned and to be mentioned, are wrought of solid gold. At the stern is hung the rudder, marked with this motto:

These arms deservedly cling to the stern that has been saved.

[206] and the upper part is described. At the right side of the rudder an anchor of solid gold is fastened with a golden rope. Upon the deck of the ship stand virgins, eleven in number, six only wrought of gold, five of silver, all worked with enamel work; one, before the rest, stands out in the middle of the deck, St. Ursula, in royal dress, with a crown notable for its little stones, a golden collar, from which an emerald hangs: likewise two sapphires hold up the royal stole like brooches: she carries a palm in her left hand, in her right a banner; each marked with this inscription: Under the auspices of the saint I have reached the harbour. A mast is raised from the middle of the deck to half a foot, not unlike the trunk of a palm prominent with scales, ending with a top two fingers high and a golden circle, around which eight golden blades are fixed, marked with these letters: HH. Above the top stands an angel of silver burnt in with enamel, holding out a golden crown in his outstretched right hand. Moreover all the ship's ropes, of gold, are stretched from the deck to the top, ten in number, besides a double ladder, likewise of gold, by whose steps a silver sailor climbs. Three other sailors are occupied with other duties. On a golden yard the sails are furled with golden bands; and they consist of a solid agate of white colour, marked with blackish little lines, by which the folds of the furled mast are so wonderfully shown that you would believe you were looking at nature. A silver dragon, notable with a golden or enamelled emblem, forms the beak of the prow: for the rest, all things are completed with such fine and such happy work that the workmanship surpasses the material, and makes it not only a singular monument of royal munificence, but also far more eminent than the gifts of crowned kings, very many and most precious, which are kept there.

* cornelian

* others, eight inches.

§ XXIII. Societies, and especially the Little Ship, erected in honour of SS. Ursula and her companions.

[The most ancient society of St. Ursula of Kraków, instituted in the fourteenth century and renewed at the beginning of the seventeenth. The Little Ship] In many places and regions confraternities of laymen were formerly instituted, to which Blessed Ursula and her eleven thousand companions communicated their name and afforded their patronage; some I have already recorded where occasion offered; and indeed I have at hand little books written in German or Flemish and also in Italian, in which the laws and duties of similar sodalities are contained: but it is helpful to pass over all these, that I may come to the most ancient, which was instituted at Kraków, and then to by far the most illustrious, which was called the Little Ship of St. Ursula. Of the former Crombach wrote thus S. Ursula vindicata, page 857.: "Among the Ursuline sodalities I have hitherto scarcely found one older than the Polish one, which is established to have flourished two hundred and fifty years back. It was established at Kraków, as in the metropolis of the kingdom, at the parish church of St. Stephen: which in the year 1387 John, bishop of Kraków, endowed with most ample indulgences; John of Cerestensis increased these in the year 1403, and Wenceslaus, bishop of Sarepta. Afterwards the parish church passed to the novitiate of the Society of Jesus, which around the year 1604 set its mind to restoring it, almost collapsed: the bishop of the place, Bernard Maciejowski, cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, contributed much to the matter in hand, especially when Bishop Claudio Rangoni, legate of the apostolic see, had confirmed it and increased it with new indulgences. Of it the annual letters of the novitiate speak thus: There is also a sodality of Blessed Ursula erected two hundred and more years ago: but neglected through the fault of certain persons, it was again aroused, and restored to its flower by the work of our men in our church, and augmented and strengthened by the liberality of the most illustrious apostolic nuncio and the munificence of the most reverend bishop of Kraków. Finally in the year 1610 there was added the confirmation of the apostolic see, with the greatest indulgences, which Paul V liberally conferred on it on the 18th of September. The piety of the members grows day by day: who, as is written to me from Kraków in the year 1640, are building a most elegant church to their protectress the lady Ursula, where on fixed days they may assemble for the customary duties of piety of the sodality: for they have this peculiar thing, that, assembled every Sunday, they hear a Mass of the eleven thousand virgins, in which likewise they recite the Lord's Prayer eleven times and the Angelic salutation as many times."

[208] [another similar sodality, the Little Ship of St. Ursula, is instituted in the fifteenth century at Cologne and Strasbourg:] But if that of Kraków excels in antiquity, the Little Ship of St. Ursula far surpasses it in numbers and splendour; so that Crombach could truly write of it S. Ursula vindicata, page 848.: This was surely to be reckoned among the most celebrated sodalities of all Europe, if you consider the number of those admitted to it from almost every nation of the whole world and the nobility of the persons; whose principal institute was to enter their name, almost with their own hand, in the register of the sodality, which is celebrated in the golden oratory of St. Ursula at Cologne: and to recite eleven times daily, to the honour of the eleven thousand virgins, the Lord's Prayer with the Angelic Salutation. To those inquiring into its origin, everything is obscure. In the fourteenth century pious songs in the vulgar tongue about the little ship and the mantle of St. Ursula seem already to have been circulated; which can be held as preludes of the sodality afterwards instituted under the same title Cf. Schade, Die Sage von der H. Ursula, page 96.. Further, Gelenius De Coloniae Magnitudine, page 337. relates that it was born at Cologne in the middle of the fifteenth century; Crombach S. Ursula vindicata, page 847 and following. on the other hand seems to doubt whether it first arose at Strasbourg in the year 1480. I judge that Gelenius comes near the truth, since there exists a little book printed at Nuremberg in the year 1500 *, in which are described the plan, customs and laws of the Little Ship of Braunau, which Frederick III, duke of Saxony, surnamed the Wise, caused to be instituted, for the auspicious reign and government of the emperor Maximilian, after the model of the Cologne one. And this is not only called there the mother Ibid., page 855.; but these words are also read of the whole sodality Ibid., page 856.: It had its beginning at Cologne long before these times. Moreover in another little book, which a Carthusian of Strasbourg, thought by some to be the author of that institution, published, there is related the miraculous chastisement of a certain Nicholas, master of theology, who in the year 1477 had publicly from the pulpit mocked this pious sodality at Cologne Ibid., pages 848 and 854.. And indeed it may easily be that the sodality of St. Ursula which loved to be called the Little Ship is a part and daughter of another sodality, about which Crombach relates the following Ibid., page 838.: At Cologne around the year 1456 there came together a sodality of the leading men, men of consular rank, of the senatorial order, patricians or the more honoured, into which principal churchmen too, provosts, deans, etc., were afterwards admitted. These went on the day before St. Ursula's to the church, in which three Masses were said for the living and dead members: then they also offered eleven very large candles, each of 12 pounds, and one of 15 pounds. For so I have read it was received by custom from the beginning: they also have an agape: it flourishes still today. Although even before this congregation one guild of citizens had been accustomed by old custom to light still larger candles for the holy virgins, which illuminate the nave of the church as the former do the choir, and the sacred relics.

[209] its laws, plan But since the Little Ship of Braunau in Saxony was instituted after the model of the Cologne one, both may be known from the epitome of the Braunau little book which Crombach presents in this way: "At the beginning, he says Ibid., page 856., a ship shines out amid the waves of the Ocean, whose mast is the image of Christ hanging from the cross; in the middle of the ship sits the Mother of God, thronged on both sides by the choir of the eleven thousand virgins: the holy apostles hold the prow and stern. A title is set before the image: The sodality of St. Ursula of Braunau: there is added beneath its origin, this: It had its beginning at Cologne long before these times: but in these places it was propagated by the lord Georg Ranshover of Braunau, vicar of Trostberg. This sodality takes away its honour from none of the saints: for it is dedicated to all the saints: yet the holy martyr Ursula is chosen as patroness, that she may be the president and governor of this spiritual vessel. The task to be performed once in life by the members: if they are priests, it is laid down that they say either eleven Masses of St. Ursula, or of the saints in this order: 1, of the Holy Trinity; 2, of the Lord's passion; 3, of Our Lady; 4, of the holy angels; 5, of the holy apostles; 6, of the holy martyrs; 7, of the holy confessors; 8, of the holy virgins; 9, of St. Ursula; 10, of all saints; 11, for the faithful departed. This reason for that order is added: For the sodality is dedicated to all the saints, and among them chiefly to St. Ursula: but on the laity it is incumbent once in life to say the Lord's Prayer with the Angelic Salutation eleven thousand times. This intention is set before the prayers, that sacrifices be offered to God through the Lord's passion, to the honour of St. Ursula, of the thousands of virgins and of all saints, for our most mighty emperor Maximilian, and for his long and victorious government over his enemies, for the Christians'

princes, ecclesiastical and secular, peace and concord; finally for obtaining grace and mercy for the members living and dead. But if anyone, detained by infirmity or illness, cannot recite them, he will have satisfied if he has had the sacred office of the Mass read eleven times for himself, or if every day while he lives he has said the Lord's Prayer and the Angelic Salutation five times in memory of Christ suffering: and whoever wishes may enrol himself in the number of the members; he may also enrol others: nor is anyone obliged to make expenditures or to contribute anything: whence the very poorest is received into it.

[210] [and its splendour according to an old little book written for the filial society of Braunau.] "He appends the things that contribute to the splendour of the Ursuline vessel: that the sodality is confirmed by the apostolic see, adorned with great privileges: strengthened also by two letters of cardinals; of which one is fortified with the seals of seven, the other of twenty purple-clad fathers. He then names the more illustrious members: the archbishops and electors of Mainz and Trier, the archbishop of Salzburg, the bishops of Würzburg, Brandenburg and others. Besides this he calls Frederick, the Elector of Saxony, a member, and the author and founder of the Little Ship of Braunau, who, to propagate the cult of his patroness, gave the sodality a silver statue of St. Ursula most skilfully wrought: to which also almost all the monasteries of Franconia, Swabia, Bavaria, Austria, Styria and Carinthia gave their names: innumerable duties of piety being contributed to that end. Weekly at Braunau, on Monday, a solemn Mass of St. Ursula is sung, in which public prayers are enjoined for the living and dead Ursuline members. This is that Frederick to whom there exists a letter written by Henry the Eighth, king of England, that he should not allow Saxony to be infected with the errors of Luther, whose sister too, Margaret, betrothed to Henry the younger, duke of Brunswick, had her own name, her husband's, and those of many other princes entered in the register of the Cologne sodality: thus the Ursuline cult took very great increase at the beginning of the sixteenth century from the house of Saxony. God grant that the same may return by postliminium to the little ship of Peter, and, after the example of its forefathers, fight manfully for the defence of the apostolic see and the propagation of the cult of the Saints." Thus far Crombach, whose wishes God fulfilled a century later. But we must return to Cologne.

[211] [The letters by which indulgences are granted to those who are enrolled in this Little Ship.] As could just be seen in the little book of Braunau, the apostolic see had confirmed the Little Ship of St. Ursula and had increased it with many privileges: moreover seven cardinals, and afterwards twenty others, had granted indulgences. Yet, says Crombach S. Ursula vindicata, page 847., I did not find the pontifical bull; nor does he seem to have found the earlier letters of the cardinals; but he had the later ones, given in the year 1489 and conceived in these words: Rodrigo of Porto, Oliviero of Sabina, Marco of Palestrina, Giuliano of Ostia, Giovanni of Albano, bishops; Giovanni Michele of the title of St. Marcellus, Giorgio of the title of St. Mary across the Tiber, Paolo of the title of St. Sixtus, Girolamo of the title of St. Chrysogonus, Domenico of the title of St. Clement, Giovanni of the title of St. Vitalis, Giovanni Giacomo of the title of St. Stephen on the Caelian Hill, Lorenzo of the title of SS. John and Paul, Antoniotto of the title of St. Anastasia, priests; Raffaele of St. George in Velabro, Pietro of SS. Cosmas and Damian, Giovanni of St. Mary in Aquiro, Battista of St. Mary in Domnica, and Ascanio Maria of St. Vitus in Macello, deacons, by divine compassion cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: to all and each of the faithful of Christ who shall see the present letters, everlasting greeting in the Lord. While we search out with devout inquiry of consideration the most lofty insignia of merits by which the queen of heaven, the glorious virgin Mother of God, set above the starry seats, shines forth like the morning star, and while we also turn over in the secret places of our breast that she, as the way of mercy, the mother of grace and goodness, the friendly consoler of the human race, intercedes as a diligent pleader and ever-watchful for the salvation of the faithful who are weighed down by the burden of their offences, before the king whom she bore, we think it indeed worthy and fitting that we should attend all places dedicated in honour of her name with ample bestowals of remissions and adorn them with the gifts of indulgences. Desiring therefore that the chapel or altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary situated in the collegiate church of the eleven thousand virgins at Cologne, in which, as we have learned, a certain notable confraternity is known to exist to the praise of the Trinity, of Blessed Mary and of the eleven thousand virgins, and to which brethren of both sexes bear a singular devotion, may be frequented with fitting honours and be continually frequented by the faithful of Christ; and also be duly repaired, preserved and maintained in its structures and buildings, and be fittingly furnished with books, chalices, lights, ecclesiastical ornaments and other things necessary for divine worship; and that the faithful of Christ may flock to it the more willingly for the sake of devotion, and may stretch out helping hands the more promptly to such repair, preservation and furnishing, in that they shall see themselves the more abundantly refreshed there by this gift of heavenly grace: We the aforesaid cardinals, namely each of us, trusting in the mercy of almighty God and the authority of his blessed apostles Peter and Paul, mercifully relax in the Lord a hundred days of enjoined penances to all and each of the faithful of Christ of both sexes, truly penitent and confessed, who shall devoutly visit annually the said chapel or altar on the Sunday of the Holy Trinity, and on the days of the festivals of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the eleven thousand virgins, and also of St. Hippolytus the martyr, and of the dedication of the altar itself, from first Vespers to second inclusive, and shall stretch out helping hands to the foregoing, for each of the days of the said festivals on which they shall have done so, the present letters to last for future times. In faith of all the foregoing we have caused our letters of this kind to be made and to be fortified by the appending of the seals of each of us. Given at Rome in our houses in the year from the Nativity of the Lord's incarnation one thousand four hundred and eighty-nine: on the fifteenth day of the month of July, in the pontificate of our most holy Father in Christ and our Lord, the Lord Innocent the eighth, by divine Providence Pope. It is plain from these letters (which could also be gathered from the little book of Braunau) that this sodality gave its labour to increasing the honours of the Blessed Virgin Mary; that St. Ursula with her eleven thousand companions came only in the second place; and that St. Hippolytus was not excluded, who on the 13th of August had a celebrated feast in the church of St. Ursula at Cologne and whose relics were kept in the treasury Gelenius, de Coloniae Magnitudine, page 337..

[212] [This sodality is promoted by writings, and men joined it chiefly for the sake of obtaining a good death. A prodigy at Brussels.] However that may be, the Little Ship of St. Ursula was then already filled with spiritual sailors and passengers; that whose piety might grow, the history of St. Ursula, the revelations made concerning her, and her miracles were already published in print in German and Latin in the year 1494 and at the beginning of the following century S. Ursula vindicata, page 848.. Several copies, without definite note of time, but most certainly published a little before or a little after the year 1500, are at hand to me; one of which ends with a Miracle, or rather a certain phantasm, about St. Ursula revealed to a certain hermit named John, from England. He lived in a certain manor or estate of Langeley of Robert Lee, esquire, Lord of Rodon and Langeley, and of Petronella his wife, in the county of Shropshire, in the year of the Lord 1411, and his name was John the hermit of Warwick. Now he seemed to himself to see the devil, now St. Ursula; he complains of the inconstancy of many in the faith; he urges that the Jews be destroyed and that markets on Sundays be suppressed; he also asserts that he learned from the mouth of St. Ursula how many Lord's Prayers and Angelic salutations he should say in honour of the Holy Trinity, of Blessed Mary, of SS. Ursula, Juliana, Cordula and the eleven thousand virgins; and all these things are mixed with so many wonders that more wonderful things of this kind are not easily found. Two little books which I have, written in German, contain verses about the Little Ship of St. Ursula, which in one are entitled: Eyn carmen van sant Ursulen Schyff ader Broderschafft A song of St. Ursula's Ship or Brotherhood, in the other: Eyn suverlich Liedt van sent Ursulen Schiff ader Broiderschaff A pretty song of St. Ursula's Ship or Brotherhood. Crombach had at hand a copy printed in the year 1316 Ibid., loc. cit., who rendered both the mind and the sense in a Latin poem. I shall pick a few verses from it:

Hither flock the Italian, the Gaul, the German, the Iberian; The rustic and the prince, Croesus and Irus are present; The mitred hierarch, and the purple senate of the fathers, Boys, woman and man, embark on it… He who shall have counted eleven thousand prayers to Jesus, And as many times shall have counted the Ave of Mary, Let him hope without doubt that, while he lives and when he sets among the shades, The virgin Ursula will bring present protection.

Which agree entirely with what we have received from the little book of Braunau. And, that I may remark it in this place, the special aim which is set before devotion to SS. Ursula and her companions, here and elsewhere, is usually a blessed death in the Lord and swift deliverance from the pains of purgatory. And this has been customary from the most remote times. Mention of this thing is already made in the visions of the hermit John of Warwick, and (unless I am mistaken) its origin was given by the prodigy which Thomas of Cantimpré asserted to have happened in the hospital of Brussels while the thirteenth century was growing: Brussels, he says [Miraculorum et exemplorum memorabilium sui temporis, book II, chapter 53, number 7, page 494, edition of 1605.], is a noble and great city of Brabant. In it there is a hospital of the poor, illustrious for singular charity and religion. In it we saw a certain sister, busy with much labour, who, detained by grave infirmity, was taken from human affairs. And when she had lain dead from the third hour of the day until after Vespers, she suddenly revived and raised herself; and, having called together the sisters and all who were present, she said: I venerated daily while living that virginal army of Cologne, and by their prayers I have now been freed from purgatory, and for this reason I have been compelled to return to life, so that I might announce to all who worthily hold their memory that their suffrages will be at hand at death, provided they depart from life such that prayer can avail them. In this testimony I now render up my spirit again. And without delay, as she said, so she did.

[213] [With what zeal the Carthusians of Strasbourg promoted a similar Little Ship through Germany,] Meanwhile the Little Ship of St. Ursula which they had built at Strasbourg in the year 1480 sailed no less prosperously. The Carthusian fathers promoted it by little books published in print about its increases, or also by encyclical letters sent to other similar societies; a copy of which Crombach found in the convent of Wilbasen; but it is better to have heard him: Wilbasen, he says Ibid., page 853., is a convent of virgins of the diocese of Paderborn, professing the Rule of St. Benedict, founded from the year of salvation won 1148 by Bishop Bernard; it has a chapel consecrated to St. Ursula; and among the sacred bodies of the Ursuline company it rejoices in the relics of St. Pignosa, a king's daughter. Those nuns venerate the martyr Ursula intensely; from

150 years they have been enrolled in the same Little Ship. There exist among them, transcribed in a parchment codex, encyclical letters which 140 years ago a Carthusian priest gave to them and to other monasteries of Germany, in which he sets out the end of the sodality instituted, its utilities and fruits, its spiritual treasures and certain miracles recently wrought at the invocation of St. Ursula, which seem deservedly to be briefly summarized from them: I afterwards saw the same published. He proposes as the end of the Ursuline Ship that the faithful of Christ, on entering it, may obtain the grace and friendship of God, and, by the prayers of the other members and the exercises of good works, as by rowing and by certain favourable winds, may happily reach in death, without shipwreck, through the stormy sea of the world, the harbour and anchorage of the heavenly fatherland: for he shows that the business of salvation is doubtful and fearful unless we are supported in this tempestuous sea by the help and protection both of the members and of the heavenly ones. Therefore the Carthusian fathers at Strasbourg began this sodality, having collected and brought in for that end many spiritual riches of pious works, to appease God and to obtain for the members the suffrages of the Mother of God and of the holy eleven thousand virgins, that for as many as shall commit themselves to their protection and governance they may obtain repentance and pardon for the offences of their past life, and conduct them safe to the heavenly harbour. He then sets out the principal fruits and benefits of this sodality: which, because they are almost common to all confraternities, have seemed fit to be omitted.

[214] and took care to fill it with spiritual treasures and passengers; These advantages having been listed, he describes the treasure and treasury of the Little Ship, which the members put together for the common benefit by their contributions: sacrifices of the Mass 6455, whole Psalters 3550, Rosaries 20000, penitential psalms with litanies 4025, prayers on the Lord's passion 180000, scourgings 76000, eleven thousand Our Fathers and Hail Marys recited to St. Ursula and the Holy Virgins 6530, vigils of nine lessons for deceased members 35000. Then the number of other prayers, alms and pious works, which many thousands of men contributed, is infinite and countless. Moreover many stipulate by their own handwriting eleven Masses each year, some fifteen, or even twenty. Already there have joined the sodality 80 whole convents of men and of virgins, with splendid gifts: the lords Knights of St. John with 330 sacrifices of the Mass, the Williamites of St. William with 350, the religious of Crudenhuhen enrolled themselves with as many; the Franciscans of Wissembourg, besides very many voluntary scourgings, promised two hundred Masses. The Carthusian fathers of Strasbourg pledged 900 Masses besides other prayers. One convent of nuns professing the Rule of St. Benedict brought into the treasures of the vessel 500 penitential psalms with litanies, as many rosaries, scourgings, offices of nine lessons for the dead. Besides these, generals and provincials of orders wished to be enrolled with all their subject convents; in the year 1480 the General of the hermits of the order of St. Augustine in Germany gave his name with thirty of his monasteries, 1500 sacrifices being offered.

[215] what is to be performed by them. The manner of admission into this Little Ship is prescribed thus. Whoever desires to be a member, let him first, before the image of Christ hanging on the cross, with arms outstretched, recite three times the Lord's Prayer with the Angelic Salutation on bended knees; by which let him give thanks to Christ Jesus that for our salvation, naked and alive, fixed to the cross, he endured for three hours in the agony of death with the greatest torment and ignominy: let him likewise pray Christ that, through his sorrows, anguishes and reproaches, he may have mercy on him and on all the members, especially at that hour in which body and soul are to be separated. And let him always repeat on Fridays the same threefold Lord's Prayer, sitting, standing or walking about, as each pleases, and without any obligation. Then let him propose certain services of piety at his own discretion for the increase of the treasure of the Little Ship. Finally let him remember at least once to greet the virgins one by one with one Lord's Prayer, repeating it eleven thousand times, which is called the fare of the Little Ship, or Ursula's Mantle. The miracles, by no means notable, we omit.

[216] [In the sixteenth century an incredible number of commoners and magnates were enrolled in the Little Ship of Cologne,] When Crombach was writing a little before the middle of the seventeenth century, there remained in the church of St. Ursula three volumes in which were contained the names of those enrolled in the Cologne Little Ship of St. Ursula: the oldest began from about the year 1514: the earlier ones had perished. In this one might see the most splendid names of that age: namely cardinals, bishops, abbots with their whole monasteries, emperors and kings, queens, archdukes, electors, dukes, marquesses, counts, royal ambassadors, masters of the soldiery and other principal men from almost every nation, especially from Spain, Germany and Italy: and Crombach divided all these into certain classes, as may be seen in his book Ibid., page 849 and following.. But what does not seem unworthy of notice, the ardour of giving names to the pious sodality never boiled up more than when elsewhere, Luther raging against the cult of the saints, so many religious institutions were falling into ruin, so many aids to virtue were perishing. It will be helpful to excerpt some small parts from the chronological epitome which Crombach added at the foot of his book Ibid., page 1133.: hence indeed it will easily be understood how great was formerly the glory of this sodality.

[217] as from the Register of the years 1517. "The year of Christ 1517, certainly most baleful through Luther's declamations against indulgences, was most auspicious for the cult of St. Ursula, wonderfully propagated at Cologne: for in this year her Life was printed twice in different types, and vernacular rhymes about the Ursuline Little Ship were published. Soon there followed a huge accession of members, continued up to our own age: among whom George, bishop of Speyer, count Palatine, stands out, and Odilia, margravine of Baden, with all her retinue. In that year more than fourteen thousand members were enrolled; almost each one added his household: which very many extended individually to parents, brothers, sons, kinsfolk, relations living and dead, and if you count these in, the multitude will run to nearly forty thousand.

[218] [1518] In the year 1518 and the following year more than five thousand gave their names. Among these George, margrave of Brandenburg, leads the line: another of the same family with his marshal and all his retinue. Eric, duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg, with Catherine, duchess of Saxony, his wife. Albert, duke of Saxony. Zedena, queen of Bohemia, with her parents and her whole family, likewise with her deceased husband Sigismund, archduke of Austria. William, duke of Brunswick, father of the said princes, with his people. Likewise various counts of the Rhine, of Schwarzburg, of Salm and the Wildgraves. Bernard of Saxony, auxiliary of Münster, several abbots with whole monasteries.

[219] of the year 1520 In the year 1520 Charles V, emperor, crowned at Aachen on 23 October, while staying at Cologne, proclaims the diet of the empire and visits St. Ursula: when very many princely men gave their names to the Ursuline sodality: among whom are numbered Cardinal William de Croy with Charles de Croy; Marino Caracciolo, apostolic nuncio to the emperor Charles; John, bishop of Hildesheim, duke of Saxony; Henry, duke of Brunswick, son of Otto; Margaret, daughter of the duke of Saxony, duchess of Lüneburg; Duke John, count Palatine, administrator of Zweibrücken; Duke Otto Henry, count Palatine. A huge number of dukes and princely families of the Spains joined at that time: Fadrique de Toledo, duke of Alba, Fadrique Osorio de Toledo, grandson of the duke of Alba and elder son of the marquis of Villafranca; Pedro de Mendoza; Rodrigo de Montalvo; Alfonso Ramírez; Pedro de Toledo, marquis of Villafranca, son of the duke of Alba; and others of the Guzmán, Velasco, Sánchez and other families. There joined also John, count of Medellín, count of Monteleone, viceroy of Sicily, with a great nobility of Sicilians. Cristoforo Frangipane, count of Veglia, Segna and Modrus, with many Sienese, Italians, Hungarians, and of every nation more than a thousand. Everwin, count of Bentheim and Steinfurt, with his wife, children and whole family; Troiano da Villachiara, count in Martinengo; Ambrose Sarkány of Akosháza, free lord of Onad and count of Zala, ambassador of the king of Hungary to the emperor, with a great escort of Hungarian nobles; Antonio de Mendoza, count of Montagno and Dealmacan; Gerlach, count of Isenburg; Hunter and Ernest, counts of Mansfeld; George, count of Württemberg and Montbéliard: also many nobles of Navarre. And these, with very many others, themselves visited St. Ursula and inscribed their names in the register of the members, either with their own hands or through others.

[220] 1521, In the year 1521 about two thousand members were enrolled. The first place among these is held by Gasparo Contarini, Venetian ambassador to the emperor, afterwards cardinal; Francesco Lito, apostolic nuncio; John, duke of Moldavia; Luigi Gonzaga, Fernando de Toledo, commander of the order of Alcántara, son of the duke of Alba; Alfonso de Fonseca, captain general of the imperial majesty, with a great retinue of Spanish soldiers, the emperor's councillors, secretaries and physicians; William, count of Henneberg; Henry, count of Nassau; Giovanni Carafa, count of Territo, and Diomede Carafa, count of Maddaloni.

[221] 1522 and 1523, In the year 1523 and the preceding more than two thousand names were added: among these, Rhodes having now been taken by the Turks, the Rev. Lord Vestin, Turcopolier of the sacred religion of Rhodes, and ambassador to the most serene king of England on behalf of the Rev. Lord master of Rhodes: and with him his whole retinue and many nobles of the English nation. In the year 1524 the piety of the Germans, Hungarians, Slavonians, Poles and Bohemians, and the throng of pilgrims visiting St. Ursula, so flourished that about seven thousand gave their names to the Ursuline sodality.

[222] 1529 and the preceding, In the year 1529 and in each of the preceding years some hundreds of Members were added, which collected together would have exceeded a thousand. The diet was then held at Speyer because of the capture of Buda and the near subjugation of Hungary. Then there were joined to the members Antonio de Mendoza, the emperor's ambassador to Ferdinand, king of Hungary; Pedro de Córdoba, master of the horse of King Ferdinand and great shield-bearer; Diego de Guzmán; Baron Jakob Truchsess, and Jakob of Waldburg, hereditary steward of the Roman Empire, and some others of the household and domestics of King Ferdinand, who at this time too seems to have visited St. Ursula.

[223] 1530 and 1531, In the years 1530 and 1531 almost five thousand members joined: for although the Turk held Hungary, yet the old devotion of visiting St. Ursula did not cease: of princely men there increased the number Stefano Gabriele, archbishop of Bari; Giovanni Ludovico, marquis of Saluzzo; Francesco di Bellagrada of Savoy; Antonello Sacco of Valencia; Giovanni Vito de Costantini; Acquaviva of the kingdom of Naples; Costantino de Costantini and several others of the same family; Giovanni Battista Guicciardini; Diomede Carafa: from Bohemia the counts Schlick: a great number of Sicilians: yet once more the Spaniards surpassed the remaining nations in multitude and nobility.

[224] 1532 and the following In the year 1532 the diet is celebrated at Regensburg for waging war on the Turks. The emperor, making his journey there from Cologne, himself visits St. Ursula, and about sixteen hundred enrolled themselves in the register of the members: there stand out among others Pedro de Toledo with his brother; Antonio de Toledo; Pedro de Mendoza; Juan de Borja; Pedro

Álvaro de Aguilar; Fernando, and another Fernando Álvarez de Toledo likewise; Diego de Ávila; Garcilaso de la Vega: among the rest the duke of Zúñiga enrolled himself with these words: Francisco de Zúñiga Guzmán y Sotomayor, duke of Béjar, marquis of Ayamonte and of the Balearics, count, came from Spain for himself and his wife and children to visit the lady Ursula at Cologne with the 11 thousand virgins, in the year 1531, on the 12th of November, returning from the Turkish war: done under the emperor Charles and King Ferdinand before Vienna. In the following five years some thousands joined.

[225] and finally 1538. In the year 1538, a truce having been made under the auspices of Paul III between Charles V and Francis I, king of France, a huge multitude of pilgrims came to Cologne: for although (says the Catalogue of the members) the whole world, set in wickedness, was everywhere divided by wars, more than four thousand from every nation gave their names. I shall name only the abbots who wished to be members with their monks. The Rev. Lord Giles with his whole convent of Vaucelles; John, abbot of Jardinet, with the brethren of Jardinet; Jean de Lannoy, abbot of Aulne, with all the religious and friends. John Florbert, abbot of Cambron, with his monks; Peter of Flanders, abbot of Moulins, etc. I have wished, says Crombach, to attach rather fully these increases of the Ursuline sodality thus flourishing for twenty years, so that posterity may know that at that time, when heresy, having wandered over the whole of Germany above all, detested pilgrimages and the cult of the saints and strove everywhere to overthrow them, the cult of St. Ursula flourished most, and perhaps by the prayers of so many thousands Germany was preserved from perishing utterly. Crombach then continues to list the members enrolled in the following years. But I would not tread longer in his footsteps, since for the plan of our work it will have been enough to have given a specimen of such things. That sodality was renewed in the year 1648 by Ferdinand, archbishop of Cologne, and increased by Pope Innocent X with plenary and partial indulgences. And when some years ago it had almost ceased, it was restored in the year 1849, as the Rev. Mr. Vill, parish priest, relates in his little German book." Wegweiser zur Kirche der H. Ursula in Köln, page 45 and following.

* 1503?

§ XXIV. The piety of some saints towards the virgins of Cologne.

[The piety towards the Holy Virgins of SS. Cunibert, Bruno, Norbert, Juliana; of St. Ouen, who made a pilgrimage to them,] Since from what we have set out hitherto it is indeed manifest that in almost the whole Church of God the cult of SS. Ursula and her companions was and still is in honour, it is no wonder if some saints were conspicuous for a singular veneration of the virgins of Cologne. For my part I omit many whom Crombach praises here and there, but whose Acts are not certain enough for me that anything deserves to be drawn from them. Moreover of St. Cunibert and St. Bruno, both prelates of Cologne, we have already spoken, as also of St. Norbert, archbishop of Magdeburg, and of St. Juliana of Liège, or of Cornillon. But besides these many others remain. There comes namely in the first place St. Ouen, bishop of Rouen, who, when a little before his death, which more probably occurred in the year 685 Act. SS. volume IV of August, page 799., he had come to the city of Cologne as a son of peace (for he had undertaken the journey to settle the discord between the Austrasians and the Franks); thereupon enters the city for the sake of exploring the churches, taking with him relics of the multitude of martyrs, which he laid away with the greatest honour in his own city. And so the near-contemporary biographer Ibid., page 808.; by the multitude of martyrs most probably understanding not only the Thebans and the other martyrs of this troop, but our virgins too: for of both together "multitude of martyrs" is said more fittingly than of the former alone.

[227] of St. Anno, who was accustomed daily to go to their basilica Much more distinguished was the piety towards the blessed virgins of St. Anno, who held the see of Cologne from about the spring of the year 1056 to the end of the year 1075. It was his custom for some time, namely, to go daily at night to the basilica of the Holy Virgins. Receive the testimonies of the contemporary biographer: Another night had come on, he says [Life of St. Anno, book I, chapter 10, in Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae, volume XI, page 471.], and the man devoted to God, fleeing the eyes of human esteem, began to go to the venerable ashes of the holy virgins. And since this was done daily, one of the poor women accustomed to it, carefully foreseeing it, constrained at once by necessity and by craft, secretly laid her little son in the middle of the road before the steps of the one coming; of whom the holy prelate then took care. Below, where the biographer narrates St. Anno's mercy towards sinners, he says: For one night, deep darkness surrounding all things, he himself, according to his custom, having entered the threshold of the holy virgins, withdrew into a certain corner, where, standing more secretly, he might devote himself more earnestly to prayers. Then he relates that the holy man understood from the complaints and weeping of one of the fellow-sisters that she was pregnant; that when she had confessed it on the following day, she was secretly commended by him to a certain knight from Saxony; and that after the birth the pious shepherd, the little one being placed elsewhere, soon eagerly sent the sheep that had strayed back to the dwellings of her fellow-sisters, without anyone except himself and the knight learning anything of this matter: where at the same time you may note what we have also shown elsewhere, that canonesses were by no means then free to pass to marriage: certainly, if this had been lawful, St. Anno would have brought this sister, as he used to do with secular girls, to the joining of an honest union: which are also the words of the biographer Ibid., chapter 12, page 472.. But let us return to St. Anno.

[228] and in whose age they were celebrated at Cologne, Certainly it was plain that, since this holy man was much given to venerating the remains of the heavenly ones, he would honour SS. Ursula and her companions with a particular veneration. For at that time the blessed band was most celebrated at Cologne, as is clear even from the song of St. Anno, written (as it seems) at the beginning of the twelfth century. Here is a small part of this ancient monument of the German language Schade, page 20; Schilter, page 6.:

Die troiâniscen Vranken Si soln is iemer Gode danken Daz hern sô manigin heilgin havit gesant, So iz dâr in Kolne is gewant. Da dir restit ein solich menige Van sent Mauricjin herige Unt eilf tûsent megide Dorch Cristis minne irslagine.

Which Crombach translated thus, accurately enough and not inelegantly:

Trojan-born Franks, grateful for the gift, celebrate God With continual praise; who sent you so many thousands Of saints, whom holy Cologne preserves. Here the Theban cohort, here the Moors slain by slaughter; Here too, the love of God persuading, eleven thousand Of the virginal company fell, slain by arrows.

Arrows are not mentioned in the German song, but only eleven thousand virgins are said to have been slain for the love of Christ.

[229] of St. Elizabeth of Schönau, who was wonderfully devoted to them until death, And how great was the piety of St. Elizabeth of Schönau towards the Holy Virgins it is easy to learn from her Revelations, however fabulous. I would add only a few things. In the year 1156, in which she began to seem to herself to have Revelations of this kind, while the Angel was showing her the way of the martyrs, the festival of the Holy Virgins dawned: whence her devotion towards the most holy band was wonderfully aroused. Her mind was very much moved by these words of the divine office: And he will lead them in a wonderful way; and so she seemed to hear the Angel explaining these things to her and teaching how wonderful it is for frail man so to cleave to God that, forgetful of himself, he endures all the gravest things for love of him, and immediately afterwards adding Visions of St. Elizabeth, book III, chapter 11, page 192.: This you can behold in those sacred virgins whose martyrdom you celebrate today: they were frail both in sex and age, and had no defender; and yet they did not fear the tyrants and their swords, but with all constancy offered their tender limbs to death for the Lord: because they were strengthened in spirit by the fire of divine love, so that they did not feel it outwardly. And when in the middle of the month of June of the year of Christ 1164, in the 36th year of her age, she was near death, the congregation of the brethren made a procession in albs as far as her cell; and we carried with us, says the biographer, in shrines all the relics of the company of St. Ursula the queen, namely fourteen bodies which are with us as it were entire, besides many portions of various bodies. And while we were celebrating there (at the convent of Schönau for women) the first Mass festively of the Holy Spirit, she was rapt into ecstasy, and for a long time, as the sisters told us, remained quiet, as was her custom at the time of her transport, when certain things were divinely revealed to her. But after this, when she had returned to herself, we asked her how she had been and whether she had received any consolation from the Lord, and she told us, saying: I saw in the vision of my spirit our most holy Lady, and standing next to her blessed Ursula the queen and St. Verena, whose body is with us, and together all the holy virgins whose relics had been brought here *, a numerous multitude, namely, all wonderfully crowned and clothed with enormous brightness and having in their hands the palms of victory. Then Blessed Elizabeth seemed to herself to hear the Mother of God consoling her sorrows with these words: Look at these who stand around me, how they are crowned and how great is their beauty. They endured many anguishes and very hard martyrdoms for the Lord; and therefore they not only have honour before God, but are also much honoured by men and are widely served in the world. I have no doubt that these visions are to be ascribed to an overexcited imagination; but I am persuaded that piety towards the sacred virgins was the principal cause of this excitement: nor do I care about anything else at present. In the Preliminary Commentary I have sufficiently shown what is to be thought of the visions and revelations of St. Elizabeth.

[230] [and of Blessed Hermann of Steinfeld, who composed not only Revelations but also a rhythmical and musical Office in their honour.] There too we treated of the revelations of Blessed Hermann the Premonstratensian, or of Steinfeld, surnamed Joseph. That they had the same origin as those of Schönau is certain. Yet we are not hindered by this from indicating how reverently the blessed man venerated the Holy Virgins. Almost a whole chapter on this matter is read in his Life Act. SS. volume I of April, pages 697 and 698., which we shall present here in summary. In order, then, to prove his intimate affection towards these sacred virgins, he proposed to compose a history of new chant in their honour and love. And when he had applied his right hand to writing, behold one of the virgins evidently appeared to him; and, standing before him, most kindly and most familiarly informed him what he was to write. Indeed he perceived a most beautiful dove resting on his shoulder

which fixed its beak incessantly in the ear of him dictating. This too he understood to be one of the number of the holy virgins: whence afterwards also he was accustomed to call that whole sacred company, and also all virgins devoted to the Lord, Little Doves, as by a usual name. But when he had to compose the melody of the history already written (which was of greater difficulty), as often as he applied his mind to this he was accustomed to hear above him in the air no small choir of virgins, singing together with heavenly delight such a melody as would fit the written words. Which things the biographer then explains at greater length to have been established to him from conversation held with the blessed man, and continues thus: And he was accustomed quite often to recite to us certain words of the same history with their melody: which, in singing together, he said his teachers were moved with such eagerness, he asserted many times that they had repeated these with such cheerfulness, that he himself too, relating these things to us, was moved with a wonderful delight both of countenance and of mind. This history or jubilus, which has the form of a Little (as we commonly say) Office, we have in Crombach S. Ursula vindicata, page 867 and following. and also in manuscripts.

[231] This office is recited at Matins, Since it is wonderfully pious and was formerly most celebrated, it has seemed it should not be omitted. Here it is:

AT MATINS.

O springtime roses of Christ, Beautiful beyond measure! O laughing pearls, Diligently sought out, Elegantly polished, Come, hear me, Receive me as your servant. I, poor, and such As I am, that I may be your special one, Burning in your love, Let it be done with your favour. While I pray to you, or honour you, Let it be pleasing in your choir, And repay the turn, I ask. O maidens! O little lambs! Dear little Doves of Christ, Without guile, without gall, Stars of heaven, cells of God, Rejoice, empurpled ones, Crowned, reign together With the Lamb of innocence.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was, etc.

ANTIPHON. The holy eleven thousand virgins took oil in their vessels with the lamps; and at midnight there was a cry made: behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye forth to meet Christ the Lord. VERSE. Then all those virgins arose. RESPONSE. And trimmed their lamps. COLLECT. Almighty, everlasting God, who didst adorn on earth with ineffable privileges thy glorious and praiseworthy virgin and martyr Ursula with her company, and didst grace them in heaven with unutterable joys, grant us, through her merits and those of her companions, the abundance of thy propitiation, that we who keep their memory with pious love on earth may by their merits and prayers obtain eternal rewards in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.

AT PRIME.

O how secure you are! Ever to enjoy God, With whom you are to remain, Never to lack him, Whom you see, whom you hold, Who clasps you in glad arms, Smiling with serene face. O maiden queens, Equal in holy passion, Familiar to God, Specially beloved, singular, Now flower, now rejoice, Ever new, ever glad, Lead the festive choir. You delightful nightingales, Whose throngs are elevenfold, Brides of God, full of God, Sing out praise well, Through the virginal dances And through the heavenly streets Say a delightful song. Glory be to the Father, etc.

ANTIPHON. Blessed art thou, King of glory, who gavest the palm of victory to the frail, and madest a sex without strength to overcome the power of the devil; by whose pious prayers grant to us who supplicate health of body and soul. VERSE. Remember us, O Lord, in the favour of thy people. RESPONSE. Visit us with thy salvation. COLLECT. O God, who, that thou mightest call forth the human race to the confession of thy name, didst bestow the victory of martyrdom even on the frail sex, grant, we beseech thee, that thy Church, admonished by the example of the eleven thousand virgins, in whose commemoration it rejoices, may neither fear to suffer for thee, nor succumb to the blandishments of the world; but may desire and attain the glory of the heavenly reward. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.

AT TERCE.

Give voice on high, Choirs of the first Angels; Giving place, let them wonder; Rejoicing, let them be glad together; Your new melody, Unheard harmony, Let the Holy Trinity hear. O beloved fellow-sisters, Whose flowers never wither, He foresaw you for himself, Who cut you from the valley; He chose you, he gathered you, And plucked you into a garland for himself, The most beautiful divinity. Thee, O noble throng, That flowering rose goes before, The sole principal rose; Nor is there any rose there such As to be her equal, The mother wholly courtly, Who bore the Lord of heaven. Glory be to the Father, etc.

ANTIPHON. O flower of the field and lily of the valleys, Jesus Christ, who art the bridegroom and lover of virgins, how delightful it is to be ever in thy sight, whom the virginal bands follow with praise, where sweet melody resounds; the virgin Ursula together with Thamaria often redouble: To thee, O Christ, be praise and glory. VERSE. After her shall virgins be brought to the king. RESPONSE. Her companions shall be brought to thee. COLLECT. O God, who knowest that we, set in such great dangers, cannot stand by reason of human frailty, grant us, through the merits of the holy eleven thousand virgins and martyrs, health of mind and body, that what we deserve for our sins we may overcome with thy help. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.

AT SEXT.

She is my beloved, Going before you in the dance, Whose name and person Shine in her crown, Which God the Father inscribed: This is that mother of Jesus, Mary, virgin of virgins. She goes before you with honour, Drawing you by her fragrance, Bearing the banner-sign. She sings clearly for you; Through flower-beds, through rose-gardens, She herself, glad, brings forth a song; Follow after, singing. The highest voices of the Angels, Every melody of musicians, This supreme nightingale Surpasses with her song; Following whom fittingly, Diligently and ardently, Embrace the beloved. Glory be to the Father, etc.

ANTIPHON. Bride of Christ, Ursula, with thy virginal throng approach the throne of glory, pour out prayers for those who serve thee, that we may be freed from the enemy at the hour of death without delay. VERSE. God is wonderful in his saints. RESPONSE. He will give strength and fortitude. COLLECT. May the merits of the holy virgins and martyrs help us, O Lord Jesus Christ: that at the hour of our death, fortified by the protection of those who for the love of thy name shed their blood, we may be able by thy mercy to escape the snares of the enemy. Who livest and reignest, etc.

AT NONE.

The sweet Bridegroom, who loves you, Thus cries to you from the throne: O beloved companions, My special brides, See me, have me, Possess my very self, Feel me, enjoy me. Through myself I embrace you, And in you I take delight, O victorious ones! O happy ones! My dear lovers, I am yours, and shall be, Whom you have loved with true heart; Kiss me, your bridegroom. To this voice, O athletes, Lend glad ears, Hear what he sings, And go after the gentle Lamb; Adorned with new robes, Walk after the beloved, Singing with dancing. Glory be to the Father, etc.

ANTIPHON. O you caparisoned with chastity, crowned with humility, adorned with patience, propped with the flowers of virtues, polished with temperance! O precious pearls and exquisite virgins, come to our aid at the hour of death. VERSE. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye just. RESPONSE. And glory, all ye right of heart. COLLECT. Almighty, everlasting God, who choosest the weak things of the world to confound the strong, mercifully grant that we who keep the memory of the holy virgins and martyrs may be freed by their intercessions from all impending evils. Through our Lord, etc.

AT VESPERS.

Come now, let us rejoice, Let us sing praise to God, Who protected us from the world, And carried us across from the world, Gathered us together from the earth, And crowned us in heaven, Filling us with every joy. Let us exult and be glad, And make merry with the Lamb, Let us make music with new song; This is the year of jubilee; O how sweet art thou, O God! After thee we run ardently. Burning with love, Sprinkle us with sweet dew, Our Bridegroom, specially beloved; Draw us straight after thee; We thirst for thee, and feel thee, Into thy heart we all go, We drink from the vein of life. In thee we all abide, We embrace thee within us, Loving whom we are inflamed, And we do not wonder enough That we are not sated with thee, For thou surpassest all things. To thee, with Mary, Who led us in this way, We give praise, to our Saviour, For whom it was sweet to die, Who didst love, who didst help, Who didst draw us to thee; To thee be praise and glory. Glory be to the Father, etc.

ANTIPHON. A light has arisen in Britain, while Ursula, the companion of Angels, is born, who drew the son of the king of the English to the faith of the Christians, whom a throng of virgins accompanies. VERSE. Pray for us, blessed Ursula, with thy virginal company. RESPONSE. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. COLLECT. O God, who didst put into the virgins worthily consecrated to thee the strength of a wondrous contest, whereby through the palm of martyrdom they might attain to the glory of heavenly contemplation, grant us, we beseech thee, to be helped by the intercessions of those whom, having passed through the course of death, thou hast made to triumph in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy son, etc.

AT COMPLINE.

O illustrious brides of God, Remember me, I pray; Let not this be unworthy of you, This sign of my poverty, And this song, dear to you, However small, however slight, May you receive with gladness. O you most glorious maidens, Now fulfil my wish, And when the hour of death comes, Come to my aid without delay: In so grievous a tempest Defend me, being present, From the onset of the demons. Let none of you be absent there; Let the Virgin Mother preside first; If any dregs have clung to me Which have hurt me with their stain, By your prayer let them be put far away; Let the enemy know you are present, And grieve that he is confounded. Whatever evil I have ever done, With your virginal flower, O maidens, cloak it, And present me to God; Stand with me before God, Defend my cause, Lest the dragon have a place. Glory be to the Father, etc.

ANTIPHON. With voice of heart and mouth, to the praise of the supreme Redeemer, let every faithful one rise up, by the mediation of whose grace the throng of the holy eleven thousand virgins, a cry having been made at the morning hour, went out to meet Christ the bridegroom, who sits upon the Cherubim, seeing all things in secret; bearing a garland of rose and lily with the triumph of martyrdom, it escaped the threats of the torturers. O blessed throng of virgins, pray for the guilt of thy suppliants. VERSE. Let us sleep in Christ, RESPONSE. that we may deserve to rise again with the sacred virgins. COLLECT. Almighty, everlasting God, who, as the dawn was putting an end to the night, didst bring these most sacred eleven thousand virgins, heavenly spirits accompanying them, into the bridal chamber of thy beloved Son, their bridegroom, and didst also surround them with the robe of immortality and unutterable gladness, grant us by the merits

and intercessions, that at the end of our life our spirit may arrive under their leadership at the heavenly kingdom, where it may deserve to praise and enjoy thee without end. Through the same our Lord, etc.

[238] The joy of Blessed Hermann at receiving Ursuline relics. It happened at some time by God's will (Henschen judges Act. SS. volume I of April, page 699. that this took place around the year 1200) that the blessed man was present where that most noble treasure hidden in a field of the earth, and those most precious pearls (I mean the relics of the blessed virgins), happened to be found. There was found at that time, among the rest, but lovable before the rest, the little body of a very small young girl, whose head Joseph, himself a virgin, was carried with the greatest desire of receiving. The blessed man suffered a refusal from the nuns and the abbess, who offered other relics. He asked therefore that, according to his custom, he might be permitted to celebrate the most holy mysteries in the same church of the holy virgins: during which he prostrated himself before the Lord and the sacred virgins with such devotion that he became certain (whether by revelation or by inspiration, I do not know) that he would receive what he had asked. Nor was there delay. Withdrawing from the altar he approached the abbess … He found her so wonderfully changed that by offering what she had before so harshly refused she seemed even to anticipate the humility of the petitioner. Having received, then, so desired a treasure, he brought the shining pearl to us (at Steinfeld), and revealed to us, congratulating him, that she had the name of Gertrude (as had been revealed to him). The biographer then narrates at length that the servant of the Lord was zealous with zeal, when once, staying in the castle of a certain pious matron, he saw there a certain man sitting on a casket in which two Ursuline heads were enclosed, and asked God in mental prayer that that irreverent man might experience the mild vengeance which was once inflicted on a certain man while he likewise sat on the reliquary shrine of St. Martin: which, a wonderful ardour being aroused, was at once done. With such great love, namely, was this most excellent man carried towards the holy virgins!

[259] The pious affections of Blessed Adelaide of Schaerbeek towards the Holy Virgins. No less did Blessed Adelaide, or Aleydis, of Schaerbeek by nation, a Cistercian nun at La Cambre of Blessed Mary near Brussels before the middle of the thirteenth century, burn with the fire of charity towards the same. She was leprous and, separated from the rest of the congregation, lived apart in a little house. Now on the festival of the eleven thousand virgins it happened that the holy virgin at the hour of Matins crossed the threshold of her house; and, her face turned towards the church, listened a little to the voices of those devoutly praising God and singing the twelfth responsory at that hour. She also began to be not a little troubled in mind, because, the rest singing psalms in choir and keeping the festival of the holy virgins with jubilation, she could not be joined with them; and at once she fled to the Lord, the accustomed solace of her heart, saying: I beg you, holy Father, although I cannot now, as I desire, praise the holy virgins with the rest; and, because of the special gift with which you have enriched me, it is not permitted at present to be joined to my convent: for your great clemency, after the misery of this life, do not suffer me to be separated at least from their company. And the Lord to her: Sweetest daughter, I will not associate you, as you desire, with these virgins; but I will place you in a much more eminent place in my kingdom Act. SS. volume II of June, page 480.. I forbear to speak of St. Angela Merici, foundress of the nuns of St. Ursula, and of many other saints and blessed. It pleased me to choose only some older specimens of piety. Whoever wants more may consult Crombach, especially books VIII, IX and X; where many things also occur which seem to have the character of a prodigy. Others were collected by an anonymous writer, probably Felice Astolfi, canon of St. Saviour's; who in a little Italian work printed at Bassano in the year 1671 brought together (as the title says) the Graces, worthy of memory, with which God has favoured the pious devotees of St. Ursula and her eleven thousand companions and of the ten thousand crucified martyrs.

* "were"?

§ XXV. Epilogue and review of the principal heads.

[A review of the monuments from the fifth or sixth century to the coming of the Northmen:] Now that we have at length at some time come to the end of this commentary, it is pleasing to cast our eyes back and measure in mind the road travelled; so that, as it were at one glance, we may see, if not the whole Ursuline history, at least its principal heads, and bring what lies scattered into one form and image. It is plain and open, first of all, that those stray very far from the truth who think that no old monuments of the holy virgins of Cologne exist and that all are more recent than the eleventh century or at least than the plunderings of the Northmen. For it is not permitted to doubt that the inscription of Clematius, in which nothing is contained that seems out of keeping with ancient customs, is authentic and genuine, by reason of the most ancient Sermon on the Feast-day, into which its former and principal part is inserted. Of this inscription it was spoken chiefly in the Posthumous Glory, §1. If this inscription is put together with the Life of St. Cunibert, which we showed there was written before the middle of the ninth century, it becomes manifest that in the principal place of the martyrdom a monastic basilica was built or restored by Clematius in honour of the holy virgins, and that this was done around the year 500, or certainly before the beginning of the seventh century: so that that inscription and the convent were a perpetual memorial of the Ursuline slaughter; than which I for my part do not see what stronger thing could be desired to make this slaughter certain. There follows the Sermon on the Feast-day, which I was just mentioning and which we declared in §5 of the Preliminary Commentary was composed between the year 751 and 854. From this document it is certain that at that time the memory of the holy virgins flourished not only among the people of Cologne, but also among the Batavians and Britons, and moreover that the inscription of Clematius was then already misunderstood by some. Further, since the error which the author of the Sermon there refutes is read in the ancient Cologne Office of the holy virgins, that Office, which we gave in the Posthumous Glory, § XIX, must certainly be held to be older than this very Sermon. After these come very many diplomas, the oldest of which was written in the year 852, and almost all of which concern the monastery of the holy virgins or of the holy eleven thousand virgins; which two appellations were in use indiscriminately. We related these diplomas in the Posthumous Glory, §§ II and following, although we had already indicated the principal passages before in the Preliminary Commentary, § XXVII. Of the same age we collected in the same § a great harvest of Calendars or Martyrologies, some of which were also written in the middle of the ninth century, almost thirty years before the Northmen came into these parts: for we showed at number 23 of the Posthumous Glory that they fell upon Cologne only in the year 881.

[241] It is therefore indeed false that nothing survives that is earlier than the devastations of those plunderers, from them the slaughter of the Cologne martyrs is made certain. or that everything was fabricated and invented after quiet and peace were born again in these regions, and ample material was supplied to fabricators through the destruction of the old documents. On the contrary, as everyone will confess, a huge series of monuments is at hand, part of which comes very close to the very time of the martyrdom: among these the monastic basilica holds almost the principal place, a thing surely most apt for making the memory of old events equal to all posterity. If anyone gathers these things together, not having it fixed and predetermined in his mind to doubt all the most certain histories, he will agree entirely that at Cologne holy virgins shed their blood for the name of Christ, as is read in the inscription of Clematius. Nor can the matter be established by testimonies alone; but it has been possible to behold nearly the very bodies, marked with wounds and accompanied by the instruments of martyrdom and other indications. Recall what we related in the Preliminary Commentary, § XXV, about the sepulchre opened in the year 1640 on the 5th of July and the following days. It was ancient, as the coins found in it testified; Christian, since the corpses had not been burned; it contained bodies that died at one time, yet not by war or plague, as their reverent arrangement made undoubted; these wrapped in garments, as law and custom required for martyrs; very many transfixed with arrows and other darts; some mutilated, others entire; arms, legs, heads and other limbs scattered in the fourth row (for they were laid one above another in several series); vessels containing sand mixed with blood placed at the corners and elsewhere: which having been seen, it was then at last understood that the old painted panels, which showed sepulchres full of bodies arranged in the same way, signified that the bodies dug out of the tombs some centuries before had been found in similar trenches. And when these things lay open; when there were found not only all the bones entire but also scattered limbs; when there was collected not only very much blood, but also arrows and fragments of swords; who would not say with St. Ambrose Class I, letter XXII, number 2, in Migne, Patrologia, volume XVI, col. 1019.: I have found fitting signs? and with St. Gaudentius Sermon on the dedication of the Holy XL martyrs, in Migne, volume XX, col. 963.: We require nothing more: we have witnesses of the passion?

[242] It is established from manifold arguments Since therefore it would be absurd to doubt the Cologne slaughter, it had to be inquired who were its authors. We have heard from the author of the Sermon on the Feast-day that different things were proposed by different people in the ninth century; whence from the Cologne tradition alone, which afterwards prevailed, nothing certain could be concluded. But since the British narrative, though most discordant in all the rest, agrees with it, who would cast away the authority of both, considered not singly but together? Yet from the people of Cologne as well as from the Britons we have received that the Huns raged against the holy virgins. If these things alone do not extort belief, add that the greater part of the blessed band, according to the Cologne tradition, fell for the preservation of their virginity, and that no barbarians were more given to lust than the Hunnish race, as we showed at length in § XXIV. And, what is a much stronger argument, it is wrong to doubt that the holy virgins were slain in very great number by arrows; and that arrows were a kind of weapon so proper to the Huns that none of the barbarians whom we know to have passed through Cologne used them in their military expeditions. Read § XVI of the Preliminary Commentary; where at the same time we gave some testimonies about the great abundance of arrows which were found scattered in the sepulchres, and also sticking in heads, arms, breasts, reserving others for the Posthumous Glory, § XI. And indeed we could easily increase these Cf. Baillet, Vies des Saints, 21 October.; I am pleased to add here only one document. In the History of the eleven thousand virgins, most beautifully collected in a shorter and easier manner, with some additions which were lacking in the first, and printed at Cologne around the beginning of the sixteenth century by Heinrich of Neuss, these things may be read: Many things there, namely in the church of St. Ursula at Cologne,

there are seen heads still bearing darts in the heads and slain in various ways, all of which it would be most difficult to write down: but though this testimony is clear and manifest, yet those things are superior which were seen in the year 1640 by the best witnesses, when the sepulchre containing more than a hundred skeletons was opened, as was declared in § § XVI: arrows were found scattered in it.

[243] [which, to be considered together, establish that the holy virgins were slain at Cologne in the year 451 by the Huns returning from Gaul.] And to these finally there is added, as it were as a crowning, the passage of the Huns through Cologne after the battle of Châlons. We have accurately investigated their whole route. We saw them in § XIX of the Preliminary Commentary entering Gaul near Coblenz in winter time, so that on 25 March of the year 451 they occupied Metz; going on from there to the city of Orléans, the siege of which they raised in the middle of the month of June; afterwards, at the beginning of July, we see the same fighting in the Mauriac or Catalaunian fields, until the contest was broken off by night; then making again for the Rhine through the territories of the Viromandui, Cambrai, the Atrebates, Tournai and Tongres, Aetius following at a distance as far as Thuringia; which we demonstrated by very many testimonies in § XXI of the Preliminary Commentary was situated on this side of the Rhine in Germania II: to which add a passage taken from the longer testament of St. Remigius; which testament is held by us to be interpolated or supposititious, yet it is an ancient document, as being known and even used by Hincmar and Flodoard Act. SS. volume I of October, page 108.. In it, then, it is read that St. Remigius, among many other gifts, bequeathed to the church of Reims townships in Austria or Thuringia Miraeus, Opp. diplomatica, volume I, page 2, edition of 1723.; which are certainly to be understood of Cisrhenane Austria. And since the Huns were in these parts, one way across the Rhine lay open to them, namely through Cologne. But what we have often pointed out we wish to be pointed out here again and again, namely that it is sufficiently manifest to us that the matter is no more established by those single arguments than that two triangles are equal because one angle or one side in each figure is of the same measure; but that there must be considered together the Cologne slaughter, which is the foundation of the whole inquiry; the agreement of the British traditions with those of Cologne about the authors of this slaughter; the savagery and lewdness of the Huns, most hostile to the chastity of the holy virgins; their skill in shooting arrows and the remains of arrows found in wounds and in sepulchres; the most certain presence of those barbarians among the people of Cologne; and finally, which is also not to be neglected, the agreement of the times, since the Huns could not have failed to be at Cologne around the 21st day of October, on which the feast of the holy virgins is celebrated. And with these things we judged that what was chiefly proposed to us had been accomplished.

[244] [On the number of the martyrs; whether all were virgins; by what title they are called martyrs; on the Roman journey; whether they were British by nation, etc.] We then inquired into the number of the martyrs, and in § XXVII showed, by no contemptible abundance of monuments, one of which was written at the beginning of the ninth century or even before, that the number of eleven thousand was received before all memory of men, and that it is to be admitted with so much the greater confidence the more closely it clung to the Ursuline basilica itself, which indeed was called indiscriminately of the holy virgins and of the holy eleven thousand virgins, and the more easily a genuine tradition about this very great multitude could be preserved among the inmates of the monastery succeeding one another. For the rest, we pointed out that it is not to be thought that all were virgins, but only the principal ones; namely those whose martyrdom had been the most illustrious of all; that the rest were of both sexes, as is stated by the older tradition of the people of Cologne; and that this number does not exceed belief, if one notes the atrocious manner of warfare of the barbarians, and especially of the Huns, which we explained in §§ XXIV and XXVII of the Preliminary Commentary. And if anyone wonders that the inhabitants of a large city slain by barbarians were held in the place of martyrs, we did not omit this either; but in § XXVI we demonstrated from the best authors that formerly the discipline on this matter was not the same as that which now prevails: for then all were called martyrs who, undeserving, had piously undergone a violent death. We said finally in § XXVIII of the same Commentary that the narrative of the Roman journey, which is read in the Passion Regnante Domino and in the Revelations of SS. Elizabeth and Hermann, is indeed absurd; but at the same time we showed that it is probable that that journey was undertaken by some; and much more probable that some in the band of martyrs were British by nation, since in the ninth century this tradition flourished among the Britons, the Batavians and the people of Cologne. And here indeed I am pleased to add (what we omitted in the Commentary, since we had resolved to abstain from conjectures supported by no testimonies) that it seems to us closest to the truth that among the holy virgins there were many whom the Huns had carried off as captives from Gaul, and that these were slain by them together with the people of Cologne; since, the bridge of Constantine having long since been broken or never completed, they were a hindrance to those about to cross the Rhine: for that it was the custom of Attila to carry off the inhabitants of cities and distribute them among his people is plainly certain from the Life of St. Anianus of Orléans. But what we discussed about the names of some virgins, about translations and other matters pertaining to public and private cult, do not seem to need reviewing: for it does not help to have seen these things at one glance.