Note 452 — Chapter VI · GERMANY. (continued 2)

Chron. Cornel. Zantfliet ann. 1400 (Martene Amplis. Coll. V. 358.)--Haupt. Zeitschrift für K. G. 1885, pp. 513-15.--Chron. Glassberger ann. 1410 (Analecta Franciscana II. 233-5).--Martini Append. ad Mosheim p. 559.--Mosheim p. 455.--Serrarii Lib. V. (Scriptt. Rer. Mogunt. I. 724). In 1399 an outbreak very similar to that of the Flagellants took place in Italy, stimulated by a pestilence which was ravaging the land. The pilgrims were known as Bianchi, from the white linen vestments which they wore, and they first brought to popular notice the “Stabat Mater,” which was their favorite hymn. The only reference to flagellation, however, is that in Genoa they were joined by the old fraternities of the Verberati or guilds, founded in 1306, which publicly used the scourge. The Archbishop of Genoa and many of the Lombard bishops lent the movement their countenance; universal peace was proclaimed, enemies forgave each other, and even the strife of Guelf and Ghibelline for a moment was forgotten. When we are told that twenty-five thousand Modenese made the pilgrimage to Bologna, we can readily understand why suspicious rulers, such as Galeazzo Visconti and the Signory of Venice, forbade the entry of their states to such armies. Boniface IX. probably felt the same alarm when the movement reached Rome, and the whole population, including some of the cardinals, put on white garments and marched in procession through the neighboring towns. He caused one of the leaders to be seized at Aquapendente; the free use of torture brought a confession that the whole affair was a fraud, and the poor wretch was burned, when the movement collapsed.--Georgii Stella Annal. Genuens. ann. 1399 (Muratori, S. R. I. XVII. 1170).--Mattæi de Griffonibus Memor. Historial. ann. 1399 (Ib. XVIII. 207).--Cronica di Bologna ann. 1399 (Ib. XVIII. 565).--Annal. Estens. ann. 1398 (Ib. XVIII. 956-8).--Conrad Urspurgens. Chron. Contin. ann. 1399.--Theod. a Niem de Schismate, Lib. II. c. 26.