Note 553 — Chapter III · PILGRIMS AND PILGRIMAGES

“In which year (1350) there came into England certain penitents, noblemen and foreigners, who beat their bare bodies very sharply, to the effusion of blood, now weeping, now singing; yet, as was said, they did this too unadvisedly, being without licence from the apostolic see.” Walsingham, “Historia Anglicana,” Rolls Series, vol. 1. p. 275. See also Robert de Avesbury, “Hist. Edwardi Tertii,” ed. Hearne, Oxford, 1720, p. 179. The flagellants whipped themselves with knotted cords furnished with nails, they prostrated themselves to the ground singing, with their arms extended cross-wise.