Court He at first refused a Bishoprick that was offered him rather out of Pride or some other End as may be supposed than out of Humility because some while after he accepted two of them to wit that of Worcester and that of London both which he possessed at once without the least scruple of Conscience He was made at last Archbishop of Canterbury and got so far into King Edward's favour that nothing was done either in the Kingdom or in the Church without his consent or rather without his Order He made use at first of the great power he had at Court to advance to Bishopricks some of his own Relations who to please him were become Monks Amongst those were Oswald and Ethelwald the first of whom was promoted to the Bishoprick of Worcester and the other to that of Winchester In which having succeeded he undertook to promote the Affairs of the Monks to the great prejudice of those of the Clergy Thus Dunstan being a very lustful man hated as such usually do Lawful Marriage and seeing that the Clergy-men in that time were permitted to Marry he undertook to force them to forsake their Wives and Children and to turn Monks Oswald and Ethelwald joined with him in the same design and all of them having unanimously forged several false Accusations and Calumnies against those of the Clergy who refused to take the Monastical Habit they turned them out of their Churches Prebendaries and Colleges The offended Party carried immediately their Complaints to the King who appointed Commissioners to examine their Cause in the Chapter of the Church of Winchester of which the Monks had already possessed themselves in the year 963. The Judges being fully convinced by the just Reasons of the Clergy were upon the point to pronounce in favour of their re-establishment when the Monks thinking they had no time to lose made use of this crafty Device They hid one of their Gang upon the Roof of the Hall where the Assembly was kept who cryed out with all his strength through a hole not being seen Non bene sentiunt qui Presbyteris favent Those who speak in favour of the Priests are not in the Right Then the Monks clapping their Hands called out this was the voice of an Angel and that they needed no other Judgment but what Heaven it self had pronounced The Commissioners were so much terrified at it that against all Justice and Reason the Clergy men were cast and lost the right of their Cause After this Dunstan and his Agents observed no longer any moderation towards the Secular Clergy but used them with all sort of violence The King himself at their sollicitation persecuted them utterly and commanded them to be chased out of all Cathedral Churches and Colleges In a Letter which he wrote to Dunstan to Oswald and to Ethelwald he expresseth himself in these words I have the Sword of Constantine in my hand and you that of St. Peter let us join them together and drive the Lepers out of the Camp viz. the Church-men who lived in the state of a Lawful and Honest Marriage So let us cleanse the Sanctuary of the Lord and henceforward receive none to the Ministry of the Altars but the Children of Levi who said to his Father and Mother I know you not and to his Brethren I know not who you are c. Understanding in this last Clause the Monks who had renounced their Relations and Families to live with more ease and less care in the Cloisters The three Bishops had no sooner received this Letter but like Ravenous Wolves they fell upon that Flock which as good Pastors they should have protected and unmercifully oppressed it They builded with their Spoils during the Reign of that King XLVIII Monasteries and richly endowed them The affairs of the Monks having suffered some decay under the Reign of the following King Dunstan took upon himself to restore them under King Edward in the year 975. He assembled for this purpose a National Council in the East of England But having had no success in it he assembled another in Wilceria or Calne where he refused to dispute against Beornelmus a Scotch Bishop and a very learned man and one well versed in Scripture who offered to prove by it the lawfulness of the Marriage of Priests And indeed the Assembly begun already to be persuaded by the strength of his Reasons when a fatal and deplorable accident carried the Cause in favour of Dunstan The House in which this great Assembly was met sunk and there were buried in its ruins almost all the Chiefest both of the Clergy and Nobility of England The Monks alone had the good luck to escape who published immediately that Heaven had espoused their Cause had wrought a Miracle for their preservation and avenged them of their Adversaries But several Authors of great sense do accuse not without Reason this Dunstan and his Monks of a Plot no less Treacherous and Abominable than was that of the Gunpowder Treason to have undermined this Building and made it ready to fall upon this Assembly in case their Affairs did not take that turn which they desired in which case it was an easie thing for the Monks to make their escape For as Bishop Parker wisely observed How is it possible to believe that God would have wrought Miracles to maintain the cause of those who had refused to be tried by the Authority of his Holy Word Nevertheless so sad an accident gave the Victory to the Monks over the Secular Married Clergy whose places they continued to usurp almost during six hundred years until King Henry the VIII exterminated them in a lesser time and with more facility than Dunstan had for establishing of them I come now to give you some instances of the Pride and Sauciness of Monks in oppressing the English Unmarried Clergy Lanfrank a Benedictine Monk and Abbot of St. Stephen of Caen in Normandy having been raised to the Dignity of Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 1070 he immediately introduced his Brethren the Monks into the Cathedral Church who in process of time by the great power they had at Court were admitted to give their Votes in the Election of the Archbishops together with the Suffragan Bishops Chief Prelates and Great Canons of that Diocese But being afterwards grown Insolent by the Possession of the Relicks of Thomas Becket they pretended to have alone the power of Electing the Archbishop with exclusion of the subordinate Bishops and Clergy and not only so but they had the brazen Face to send Commands peremptorily to the Archbishops obliging them to do or undo what they listed We have a famous example of both in the Life Balduinus Archbishop of Canterbury related by Parker in his Britannick Antiquities First concerning his Election 't is said that the Suffragan Bishops and the chiefest of the Clergy of that Province being assembled to join with the Monks in the Election of a Successour to Richard Archbishop
year 1313. Some are of opinion that Peter Damianus established this Religion a long time before Pope Celestin about the year 1078 and that the Habit of those Monks was of a Blue or Celestial Colour whence they were called Celestins They wear now a White Casock with a Patience a Scapulary a Hood and a Cowl all black They possess now in France about twenty Monasteries 'T is an usual expression in that Country for a great Coxcomb to call one a pleasant Celestin. Of the Order of the Olivetans JOhn Ptolomaeus Gentleman of Siena in Italy a Learned Lawyer desirous to give himself wholly to devotion retired to a ground of his own called Accona distant fifteen miles from the Town having drawn along with him two other persons who followed him in his retreat in the year 1313. Their Congregation increased in a little while and because they professed no written Rule and made no Vows guided only by the zeal they had for Jesus Christ they were accused before Pope John the XXII who held his Seat at Avignon as Innovators Enemies to Monastical Vows This Pope referred their Cause to the Bishop of Aresse who commanded them to follow the Rule of St. Benet This hapned in the year 1319. and to go Cloathed all in White viz. to wear a Casock a Scapulary and a long broad Cowl with large Sleeves He ordered besides this that their Congregation should be called by the name of St. Mary of Mount Olivet and that the Church of their Chief Monastery of Accona should bear the same name About that time John Ptolomaeus having proposed to himself St. Bernard Abbot of Clairvaux for a Pattern would be called of his name Bernardus He died of the Plague in the year 1348 and 't is unknown where his Body was laid His Religious are called yet to this day Olivetans They live in a Congregation and have perpetual Regular Abbots though their abode is but triennial in the same Monastery They have divided their Abbies into six Provinces which do elect by turns the General of the Order These Monks are so much disordered that several Popes to remove so great a Scandal had a mind to abolish them intirely as 't was done to the above-mentioned Humilies but their Protectors have been so powerful and so well paid that they have ever till now averted this Storm from their Heads Of some other Orders of St. Benet and Chiefly of the famous Congregation of St. Maur in France TO put an end to the Orders which follow the Rule of St. Benet I say that some are to be seen yet in the East as in the Valley of Josaphat and in the Indies who differ only in Cloaths The first wear a Hood and a Cowl of a readish Colour and after the use of Eastern Countries a long Beard The others to wit the Indians have a black short Casock with a white Scapulary and a white Cloak over it that reacheth to their Heels There are also many Reformations of the Order of St. Benet in Germany in Lorrain and in France but among others that of St. Maurus in France is very remarkable It was erected by Pope Gregory the XV. in the year 1621 upon the motion of Louis the XIII King of France Father Desiderius De la Cour native of Lorrain was the first who went about it very earnestly and the first Monastery where this Reform took place was that of the White Cloaks or Blanc Manteaux at Paris Pope Urban the VIII confirmed this Congregation in the year 1627. It increased so much in so short a time that one may reckon now two hundred Monasteries in France belonging to it They are divided into six Monastical Provinces each of which is governed by a Visitor They have a General besides who keeps two Assistants or Helpers and lives in the Abby of St. Germain des Prez at Paris The Abbots and Superiors of the whole Congregation meet together with their Deputies in a General Chapter every third year and there they make their Regulations which are joined with the Declarations upon their Rule and ought very strictly to be observed This Congregation would have spread its Branches yet farther if King Louis the XIV by a piece of Policy unwilling to see any Private Body to grow so strong had not put a stop to it He would not permit them to reform many other Monasteries which are yet very loose and corrupted and had rather to see them Secularized as 't was done lately to the Abbies of Enee and Savigni near Lions than to have them incorporated with these Reformed Monks They are extreamly Rich being very good Husbands and partly because they want Monks to fill their Monasteries The French Nobility being now a days Enemies to a lazy Life the meanest sort of people only sue for to be received amongst them This Congregation hath however produced some great men in this Age famous by their learned Works to wit D. Hugues Menard Lucas d' Achery John Mabillon Gabriel Gerberon but scarcely could they produce as many others of this kind amongst them The length of their Office at Church taking up the best part of their time is perhaps the cause of their ignorance The Jesuits are very troublesom to them because by the great power they have at Court they get to themselves several of their Abbies and Priories This is the reason why in some points one sees St. Ignatius of Loiola cutting with long Shears St. Benet's Purse I shall say no more of the Monastical Orders that follow the Rule of St. Benet only this That several other Monasteries of Benedictine Monks are to be seen here and there dispersed who are not reformed and do not live in a body of a Congregation but all of them lead so corrupted and wicked lives that they may be considered where-ever they are as the plague of all honesty and good manners CHAP. XIII Of the Orders of St. Hierom. 'T IS very certain that St. Hierom governed a long while the famous Monastery built at Bethlem by the devout Paula but it was by the good example of his life only not leaving any thing in Writing that might be serviceable after his death to the Monastical Government So that the Orders which bear in our days St. Hierom's Name are not to be called so for their following his Rule but because they have chosen this great Doctor for their Patron and Protector 'T is very true also that some time before he entred the Monastery of Paula he had retired himself to the most desert places of Syria to get more freedom from Worldly Affairs and to apply himself the better to Study and the Contemplation of Holy Things But then and afterwards he did it with a perfect liberty of Spirit without determination to any Place Exercise or Practâ—ce of Vertue by any Vow nor distinguished himself from others by the singularity of his Habit. Prosper Stellarius an Augustinian Monk who hath collected the Rules of the Founders
to conceal from the World their Infamous Practices made away secretly their Children and this was the Reason why at the time of the Reformation so many Bones of Young Children were found buried in their Cloisters and thrown into places where they ease Nature Of the Order of the Mathurines or Trinitaries THIS Order carries the name of its Institutor or Founder who was John of Matha born in Provence in France in the year 1154. He followed his Studies at Aix and at Paris where he took his Degrees and being afterwards made Priest he retired himself near Meaux in a place called Cerfroid with an Hermit whose name was Felix with whom he led a solitary Life Having been both admonished as the Papists say in a Dream to go to Pope Innocent the III. accordingly they went This Pope having had the same Vision waited for their coming A hideous Phantom they say while he was saying Mass appeared to him the day before all in white with a Cross half Red and half Blew on his Breast holding with his Hands two Slaves bound in Chains and this Vision made him resolve to establish an Order whose care should be to go and redeem the Christian Captives detained in Slavery by the Infidels Having then conferred with the two Hermits he made them take an Habit like to that which the Phantom appeared in while he was at the Altar and having gathered great Alms he sent them to redeem with that mony several Captives which undertaking having had a good success many others followed their example and Monasteries were founded for them where they professed the Rule of St. Austin Their Order was confirmed in the year 1207 under the name of the Redemption of Captives John Matha founded at Rome the Convent of St. Thomas of Formis where he died in the year 1214. This Order was received in England in the year 1357 and was called the Order of Ingham Besides the Rule of St. Austin which they profess they have particular Constitutions approved by Pope Innocent the III. whereof the following are the chiefest Principal Statutes of the Order of the Holy Trinity for Redemption of Captives 1. All the Estates or Goods that fall legally to them are to be divided into three parts the two first whereof shall be employed in works of Charity both towards themselves and those that are in their service and the third shall be applied for the Redemption of Captives 2 All their Churches ought to be dedicated to the most Holy Trinity 3. They ought to acknowledge the Solicitor or Proctor of the Monastery for their Superior who shall be called Father Minister of the House of the Holy Trinity 4. They must not ride on Horse-back but on Asses only 5. Fasts are ordered four times a Week unless they be Holy-days 6. They ought to eat Flesh only on Sundays and some Holy-days 7. All the Alms given to them for the redeeming of Captives ought to be faithfully employed for that purpose except only as much as is necessary for the charges of their Journey The rest of their Constitutions are only about the Oeconomy of their Convents the manner of keeping their General Chapters and the election of their Superiors As for the Church Office 't is declared that they ought to conform themselves to the Regular Canons of the Abby of St. Victor at Paris The Monks of this Order have plaid so many tricks under the Cloak of their holy Institution that they have lost their credit and do scarcely meet now a days with people that will intrust them with their Monies for the Redemption of Christian Slaves from the hands of the Infidels They have nevertheless some Monasteries here and there particularly in France Of the Order of Mercy THIS Order was instituted about the year 1218 for the same end as the preceding viz. for the Redemption of Captives James King of Arragon was moved to its establishment by Raimond of Pennafort and Peter Notaseus who first received in the King's presence by the hands of the Bishop of Barcelona the Religious Habit of this Order was made General of it in the year 1230. Gregory the IX confirmed it under the Rule of St. Austin Their Habit is a Casock a Scapulary and a white plaited Cloak and they wear on their Breast a Scutcheon with a White Cross in a Red Field Of the Order of the Armenians THESE Monks were founded in Armenia by Eustatius Bishop of that place an Heretick about the year 320. They professed since the Rule attributed to St. Basil But being driven from the Mountains of Armenia they retired into Italy where they built some Monasteries of which the Chief is that of St. Bartholomew of Genoua Changing their Country they changed also both their Habit and Rule and putting themselves under the Order of St. Austin took the Constitutions of St. Dominick to be ruled by They are Cloathed almost like the Dominicans except their Patience or Scapulary which is black They passed into England in the year 1258. Of the Order of the Servants of the Virgin Mary THE Institutor of this Order was one called Fudert a Florentine Physitian who having applied himself with some Merchants to an Eremetical Life he gave them the Rule of St. Austin with some amendments to it That which contributed very much towards the establishment of this New Order was that famous imposture of the Picture of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary whose Face these notorious Cheats published to have been drawn by an Angel There is yet to be seen the Chief Monastery of this Order Innocent the IV. refused his approbation to it but several Popes after him gave them as many priviledges as they could Wish They have yet in Italy about fifty Convents Formerly at Paris our Lady of Billetes was a Convent of this Order These Religious wear a black Habit with a Cosock a Scapulary and a Cloak of the same Colour This Order begun in the year 1233 and according to some other Authors in 1304 and again others say in 1285. 'T is now fallen into a great corruption of Life and Manners Of the Order of the Hermits of St. Paul THE Body of Paul of Thebes surnamed the first Hermit having been transported into a place near Buda in Hungary about the year 1215. One Eusebius instituted out of Reverence towards him a Congregation of Hermits who took his Name Urbanus the IV. denied them the Rule of St. Austin which they did ask but it was granted them since by Clement the V. in the year 1308. Many Convents of this Order were to be seen in Hungary which have been wholly ruined by the Turks This Religion did belong particularly to the Hungarian Nation These Monks wear white Cloaths a long round Scapulary and over it a short Cloak of the same Stuff They go barefooted with Sandals Of the Order of Jesuati THIS Congregation was instituted by John Colombinus Gentleman of Siena He was a Married Man and
at establishing the Authority of and Subordination to other Superiors Some are for the direction of their Studies and Colleges others for the Government of their Novitiates and Profest-houses Others again are for their Diet and their Habits T is not possible to express the great care they ought to take of their Health The Means they use to that purpose are admirable They have in every Convent a Prefect or Overseer of Health whose care and Application is continually to Study the way of promoting the same A part of his Office is to examin if the Meat which is prepared for the Fathers Jesuits is good and well drest He is to look that they be not prejudiced in their Health by bad Air by too much Heat Cold immoderate Labour or by too great Application of Mind and ought to give notice of it to the Superior that he may remedy it One cannot but see in all these Rules the extrordinary great love which the Jesuits have for their own Bodies and one would think they do not believe another Life hereafter There is moreover amongst these Rules a great Catalogue to be seen of the Masses which their Priests ought say and of the Rosaries or Beads which those who are not Priests ought to recite every Month and every Week for their Benefactors as well living as deceased to get more of them if possible may be Every Jesuit Priest is also obliged to say one Mass every Month and those who are not Priests one Row of Beads or the third part of a Rosary for the Reduction of Hereticks especially those of the Northen Countries They do not say for their Conversion but for their Reduction being all one to them whether this be effected by way of Persuasion or by Fire and Sword They do declare in many places of their Rule that to teach Youth to preach the Doctrins of the Romish Church to execute Missions to assist sick Persons on their Death-Beds to hear Confessions and to extend as much as lies in them the Popes Spiritual Domination ought to be the chiefest employments of the Society They give directions for that purpose and make an express Vow of the last which they call a Vow of Obedience to the Pope or of Mission The Subjects who do compose this Company are considered five different ways either as Professed of four Vows or as Spiritual Coadjutors who are Priests or as Temporal Coadjutors who are Brothers or as Masters and Students or lastly as Novices They have particular Rules for all these Degrees and Conditions The General is above all these Orders and they give to him the Glorious Titles of God's Legate Vicar of God's Republick which is the Order of the Jesuits His Generalship is perpetual and he is only subject to the Pope His chiefest business besides the Government of his Order is to find out all sorts of means of rooting out the Hereticks Enemies of the See of Rome and to take away the Lives or Dominions of those Princes or Kings who are not under its obedience Of the Encrease and Power of the Jesuits THIS Society favoured by the Popes as wholly devoted to them did so much multiply and so fast that Father Ribadeneira a Jesuit having made a Catalogue of their Provinces Colleges and Religious Houses in the year 1608. to wit seventy years after the Foundation of their Order reckons 31 Provinces 21 Profest Houses 293 Colleges 33 Novitiates other Residential Houses 96. But since that time they are so much increased that there is no Religious Order so much dilated so abundantly favoured with Priviledges so Rich and so Powerful as theirs A Book in Folio would not be enough to give to the Publick the History of it I shall only say in general that they are spread all over the World and in those Countries where they have not the liberty to appear in their Jesuitical Habit they keep themselves there Incognito in great numbers and leave no stone unturned to compass their intreagues and ill designs All their Houses and Colleges are very stately and curiously built Pope Gregory the XIII gave them in Rome against the Orders of the Senate a whole Island or quarter of the Town where they pulled down all the Houses turned out all the Owners the Widows and the Orphans to build there a College The same Pope gave them 25 Tuns of Gold towards the raising of it They maintain there 500 Jesuits of all the parts of the World who are the chief Emissaries of the General and as so many Mastiff-dogs ready to be let loose at his pleasure upon those whom they call Hereticks King Louis the XIV was no less liberal towards this Order in his Kingdom where he caused to be built every where stately Palaces for them while Spain Germany Poland Italy and the other Popish Countries have suffered these Vulturs to gnaw their Entrails and become fat upon them Rodolphus Hospinianus a very grave and faithful Author hath left us four Books of the Jesuitical History He treats in the First of the Origin Name Habit and Rules of the Jesuits he handleth in the Second the Increase and Power of this Order in the Third he exposes to publick view the wicked Acts Frauds Impostures and Bloody Counsels of the Jesuits both in Portugal and in France the Conspiracies Troubles Seditions Parricides horrid and enormous Crimes which they have committed in England Scotland Bohemia Hungary Moscovy Poland c. Lastly His Fourth Book does very plainly represent their Doctrin of Killing and Deposing Kings and Princes their Equivocations and Contradictions I shall not spend time to relate them to my Reader here in a Country where their Artifices and Devilish Enterprises are so well known I will only set down a curious Piece related by the same Author in his Fourth Book which is their form of Consecrating and Blessing those Murtherers whom they have persuaded to lay Violent and Sacrilegious Hands on Kings Here is word for word the order of it Ceremonies of the Consecration Blessing and Sanctification of Regicides by the Jesuits extracted out of a Process Printed at Delphes by John Andrew HE who is so unhappy as to be persuaded by the Jesuits to assassinate either a King or a Prince is brought by them into a secret Chappel where they have prepared upon an Altar a great Dagger wrapped up in linnen Cloath together with an Agnus Dei. Drawing it out of the Sheath they besprinkle it with Holy Water and fasten to the Hilt several Consecrated Beads of Coral pronouncing this Indulgence That as many Blows as the Murtherer shall give with it to the Prince he shall deliver so many Souls from Purgatory After this Ceremony they put the Dagger into the Parricides Hand and recommend it to him in this sort Thou chosen Son of God take the Sword of Jephte the Sword of Sampson the Sword of David wherewith he did cut off the Head of Goliath the Sword of Gideon
Cloaths likewise on their Backs They lay in the night time in the Fields like Sheep and did Eat together what ever place they came at of the Provisions they carried along with them Several Italian Princes even Bishops joyned with this Priest who carried a great Wooden Crucifix in his Arms which they say wept for the Sins of the People and when by human Artifice or Diabolical Illusion it shed Tears all that went along made great Cries and asked pardon for their Sins This Crucifix is kept yet to this day at Lucca in a very Rich Chapel with great Honour and Worship This numerous Troop having rested themselves some days about Viterbo Pope Boniface the IX who feared lest this Priest had a design to come and pull him out of his Pontifical Throne sent Companies of Soldiers who brought him before him bound in Chains The Pope made him immediately to suffer a cruel Death and so having smitten the Shepherd the Flock was dispersed every one of the White Men returning with speed to their own Homes a-again Of the Amedyes or Friends of God A Certain Man who took the name of Friend of God Born in Portugal came in an Heremitical Habit into Lombardia where he fixed for a while his Habitation at a place called St. Mary of Brâ—scia towards Cremona From thence he passed to Rome and made his abode in Monte Aureâ— called now St. Peter in Montorio He went for a great Contemplative Man and for a Prophet who had many Visions From him this Congregation took the name of Friends of God or Amedees They wore gray Cloaths and Wooden Shooes had no Breeches girding themselves with a Cord. They did possess 28 Convents in Italy and their Congregation begun in 1400. But Pope Pius the V. united it partly with that of Clervaux or Cisteaux and part of it with the Wooden Shoe bearers or Soccolanti Of the Order of Fontavellane ONE Rodolphus persecuted by a temporal Lord withdrew himself between two of the highest Mountains of the Appennine Mount Latria and Mount Corvo He got there in a short time as it is usual to Hermits the name of a great Saint and Followers and had there a Monastery built under the name of the Holy Cross But his Order after his Death being fallen from its Observance a Father of Camaldoli reformed it and being deformed again Pope Pius the V. took occasion from thence to put their Abby in Commendam and gave it to the Cardinal of Rovere Brother to the Duke of Urbain who put in it the Fathers of Camaldoli who are still there Of the Beghards Beghins and Beghine THEY had their beginning in Germany and in the Low Countries towards the end of the 13 Age. They made profession of Monastical life under the name of the third Order of St. Francis An Italian called Hermanus and according to some others one Dulcinus with his Wife were the Authors of it They preached publickly against the Pope and the Pride of the Church of Rome which they said was not the true Catholick Church By reason of these Opinions contrary to the See of Rome they were called also Opinionists and the Papists charged them immediately as they are wont to do those who not side with them with Thousand abominable Crimes which therefore ought to be very suspicious Bonifacius VIII and Clement the V. whom they chiefly attacked did condemn them Annihilate their Order and Excommunicate all those who after the Dissolution should endeavour to reestablish it again They were also called Fraticelli and Brothers of Poverty for the strict Profession they made of it Besides these Orders there is mention made in some Authors of several others viz. Of the Lazy-ones of the Ignorants of St. Joseph of St. Peter of the Looking-glasses of the Ladder of God of the Valley of Josaphat of the Penitents of Purgatory and of some others of which I find nothing almost but the Names and give me no sufficient matter wherewith to entertain my Reader I am apt to believe however that the Order of Purgatory which I have named is none other but some Congregations of Seculars in Italy who meet at certain days in the Week to pray for the Souls in Purgatory As for the Penitents you may be better informed of it by what follows Of the Penitents THESE are certain Devouts divided into several Confraternities particularly in Italy who make profession of a publick Penance at some prescribed times in the year The custom was established in the year 1260 by an Hermit who went to Preach in the City of Perugia in Italy that the Inhabitants were on the point to be buried under the Ruins of their own Houses which were ready to fall upon them unless by a speedy Penitence they did appease Gods Anger All his Hearers very much frighted having put on Sack-cloth armed with Whips and Disciplins went Processionally along the Streets beating severely their Shoulders for the expiation of their Sins This Sort of Penance was afterwards practised in some other Countries and particularly in Hungary during a raging Plague wherewith the whole Kingdom was miserably afflicted and wasted But some while after it occasioned a very dangerous sect of Flagellants or Whippers who running by Troops naked to the Wast put their Backs all in a gore Blood publishing that this new Baptism of Blood so they called it blotted out all Sins even those that they might commit hereafter These were abolished but the Confraternities of different colours were confirmed and are to be seen to this day in Italy and in those Territories of France which belong to the Pope where they make their Processions especially during the holy Week disciplining themselves publickly in the Streets Henry the III. King of France having seen in the year 1586 the Procession of the White Penitents at Avignon desired to be admitted into it and seven or eight years after he established one like to it at Paris in the Church of the Austin-Fryars under the Title of the Annunciation of our Lady The most part of his Courtiers listed themselves in it and failed not to be present with him at the Processions of the Confraternity where he did assist himself without Guards Cloathed all in White Linnen Holland-cloth in the form of a Sack having two holes answering to the Eyes and a long Capuchon or Hood hanging behind To this Habit was fastened a Disciplin of Line as a Mark of his Penitent State and upon his Shoulder he had a Cross of White Satin upon a Tawny Velvet Ground T is observed in the History of the League that the King practised these publick Devotions to destroy the Opinion which the People had that he favoured the King of Navarre and the Protestants Nevertheless this did not hinder the Papists from persuading St. James Clement a Dominican Fryar to Murther him giving him a desperate Wound with a Poisoned Knife in the Belly whereof he dyed the 2 of August in the year 1589. CHAP.
the Foundations of Nuns MArcella a Roman Lady is lookt upon as the first Founder of a Claustral Life and the Mother of Nuns both in the East and in the West She lived at the end of the third Age and died in the year 410. The Regular Canonesses of St. John of Lateran were Founded about the same time as the Fathers of the same Order by Pope Gelase in the year 440 under the Rule of St. Austin The Regular Canonesses of the Holy Sepulcher at Jerusalem are of a very ancient Foundation and were renewed in France in the year 1620 by Mother Mary of St. Francis formerly Claudy du Moy Countess of Chaligny The Regular Canonesses of St. Austin were Founded by a Scotch Gentlewoman called Bridget in the year 615. Being extraordinary beautiful she begged they say of God that he would be pleased to take away her Beauty upon which she lost one of her Eyes The Regular Canonesses of the Low Countries Germany and Lorrain were Founded by the Princess Waltrude she lived in the year 650. The Regular Canonesses of Mons in Hainauâ—t are Nuns only in the Morning and go a visiting in the Afternoon in a Secular Dress and Marry when they please They do acknowledge the Lady Gertrude for their Founder The Regular Canonesses at Colen are much like the former and were Founded in the year 716 by Plectrude Dutchess of Austrasia The Regular Nuns of St. Agnes at Dort were established in the year 1326. The Beguines of Amsterdam derived their Name from Begge a French Princess who Founded there a Monastery for them having taken her self the Religious Habit she died in the year 698. They have several other Monasteries in the Low Countries under the Rule of St. Austin and can Marry when they please The Nuns of the Good Jesus at Ravenna were instituted in the year 1506 by Marguarita Rusci an Italian Gentlewoman to match the Priests of the Good Jesus for whom she had Founded a College They wear great Beads on their Necks The Nuns of St. Cesarius were founded by him when he was Archbishop of Arles towards the year 478. They are Cloathed in White with a Black Vail on their Heads and observe the Rules which their Founder wrote for them which are almost the same with those of St. Austin The Congregation of the Women of the Christian Doctrin were instituted at Milan by Cardinal Charles Borromeo in the year 1568 whose duty is to instruct those of their own Sex both in the Christian and Popish Doctrin They are submitted to the Rule of St. Austin and are of two sorts some of them being under a Claustral Confinement The Nuns of the Congregation of our Lady were Founded in the year 1616 by Mother Alix of the Presentation born in Lorrain The Hospitaler-Nuns of St. John of Jerusalem were introduced at Rome in the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalen in the year 1080. There the Women who will go a Pilgrimaging to Jerusalem do receive their Blessing and Passports Pope Gelasius was the first that approved this Institution These Nuns were reformed in France in the beginning of this Age by Mother Gaillote de Vaillac and are called Reformed Hospitalers The Hospital-Nuns of the Holy Ghost were founded in the year 1198 by Pope Innocent the III. who built the Hospital of the Holy Ghost in Saxia at Rome He committed it to Men and Women to take care of the Sick of both Sexes and prescribed them Rules They have on their Cloaths a White Pidgeon surrounded with Beams to represent the Holy Ghost Some Nuns like these are to be found in the Low Countries who are under the Rule of St. Austin The Black Nuns are also Hospitalers going to Nurse the Sick at their own Houses they are paid for it and bring that Mony to their Convents The Order of Women Servants was instituted long before by a holy Woman call'd Fabiola in the year 390. They did oblige themselves to serve the Sick and procure them every thing necessary that they wanted The Order of the Nuns Knightesses Sword-bearers of St. James in Spain was established there by King Ferdinand about the year 1170. There Office is to lodge and provide with necessary things the Pilgrims who go to St. James in Galicia They are under the Rule of St. Austin Their Cloaths are Black and on the Right Side of their Robe they have a red Sword hilted with a Sea-shell The Nuns of Tabennesia in Egypt had for their Institutor the Abbot Pacomius His Sister having been one day to visit him he denied to speak with her until she had promised to lead the same Life as he did Which having consented to he had a Monastery built for her where she was Abbess over a great many Women in the year 340 and observed the Rule which her Brother gave her They were Cloathed all in Black with Crosses upon their Vails and at the bottom of their Robes The Nuns of St. Basil were instituted about the year 340 by Macrina his Sister under her Brothers Rule Some of them are called Canonesses of St. Basil The Acaemetes or Studites begun at Constantinople in the year 459 but were wholly destroyed when the Turks made themselves Masters of those Countries Some Women Hermits in imitation of St. Anthony were seen in Egypt in the year 318 under the direction of a holy Woman called Syncletica and likewise at Jerusalem under the Abbess Mary in the year 325. Some others who follow the Rules of St. Anthony are to be seen yet in Ethiopia They were instituted in the year 1325 by Mother Imata They have on their Heads a kind of a Turbant made with a striped Calico and on their Shoulders a little Cloak of yellow Skins of Goats The rest of their Habits are either Yellow or White not minding much the Colours They get their livelihood by their Prayers which they sell for Mony or by their Works and are very charitable to the Poor They never enter the Church no more than the other Women of that Country They are for the most part very chast but it being not accounted any great shame in those Countries to get Children they likewise oftentimes get great Bellies The Benedictine Nuns were Founded by Scholastica St. Benet's Sister who gave them her Brothers Rule in the year 530. The Benedictine Nuns of the Order of Cluny were instituted by Odo Abbot of Cluny about the year 940. The Benedictines of the Congregation of Chesal Benoist were reformed about the year 1520 by Mother Tovars Abbess of St. Mary of Charentan The Reformed Benedictines of the Congregation of Mount Calvary were founded by Mother Anthony of Orleans Princess of France who died in the year 1618. The Benedictine Nuns of the Order of Camaldoli were instituted by one Romauld who was also the Founder of the Monks of the same Order and died in the year 1027. The Carthusian Nuns do follow the Institutions of St. Bruno but acknowledge Mother Beatrix a French Woman for
their Founder in the year 1309. The Benedictine Nuns of the Order of Citeaux were Founded by Humberlina Sister of Bernard Abbot of that place She run from her Husband and became Nun her self in the year 1118. The Military and Knight Nuns of the Order of Calatrava and Alcantara were rather for Vanity than for Piety instituted by Eleonora Gonzales in the year 1219 under the Rules of the Order of Cisteaux They wear a white Gown and a Scapulary with the marks of Knighthood of Calatrava on the Breast viz. a green Cross under a green Pear-tree How wisely that Order of Knights of Calatrava was instituted by the Kings of Cassiglia to fight against the Moors is sufficiently known But how sillily it was also purchased by Women every one may judge The Gregorian Benedictines were Founded by Pope Gregory the Great under the Rule of St. Benet in the year 594. They wear white Cloaths The Ambrosian Benedictines say that they owe their Institution to St. Ambrose but in process of time embraced the Rule of St. Benet They have white Garments with a black Vail The Nuns of St. Columban under the Rule of St. Benet were Founded by Burgundo Fare Sister to the Bishop of Fare in the year 615. They are all in White The Nuns under the Bishop's Rules were Founded by Eloy Bishop of Noyon who made a Convent of his own House at Paris and maintained in it 300 Women Their Habit is Black with a White Cloak upon it The Benedictine Nuns of the Order of Feuillans were Founded by Mother Margaret of Polastron in the year 1588 in imitation of the Masculin Order Instituted by John de la Barriere They have white Cloaths and a black Vail The Benedictine Nuns of Mount Olivet were Founded by a Woman called Frances de Pontianis After forty years of a Married Life St. Peter the Apostle they say appeared to her and made her a Nun giving her the Vail with all the usual Ceremonies and St. Benet coming in the very nick of time gave her his Rule She died in her Monastery of Torre di Speculo at Rome in the year 1440. They are Cloathed all in Black The Nuns of Premontre were Instituted in the year 1121 in imitation of the Monks of the same Order under the Rule of St. Austin The Dominican Nuns were by one Dominicus Instituted about the year 1206 who Founded four different Orders of them as he had done of his Monks under the Rule of St. Austin The Nuns of the Redemption of Captives had their beginning from Mother Mary du Secours who died in the year 1288. The Nuns Servites or Servants of the Virgin Mary in imitation of the Fryars of the same Order were Instituted by Mother Juliana Falconieri who died in the year 1341. The Nuns Hermits of St. Austin were Instituted a little after the Fryars of the same Order The Nuns Hermits of St. Hierom do falsly boast their Origin from this holy Doctor Their Order was Confirmed and perhaps Founded by Pope Gregory the XI in the year 1374. The Nuns of St. Cassian are said to have been Instituted by him at Marseilles or at Autun a Town in the Dutchy of Burgundy about the year 440. They were since put under the Rule of St. Austin The Nuns of St. Isidor had for their Founder Florentina his Sister in the year 598. She put them as some say under the Rule which Isidor her Brother gave her tho such a Rule is no where to be found The Carmelite Nuns begun in Syria a little while after the Foundation of the Fathers Carmelites which was in the year 1122. The Reformed Bare-footed Carmelite Nuns do acknowledge one Theresia a very superstitious Woman for their Mother She begun this Reformation in Spain and died in the year 1582. The Nuns of the Immaculate or Unspotted Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary were instituted in Portugal in the year 1484 by Mother Beatrix of Sylva They wear blew Cloathes having upon their Scapulary the Image of the Virgin Mary bearing the little Jesus in her Arms who kills with a long Spear a Dragon under the Feet of the Virgin Pope Innocent the VIII approved it in year 1439 and gave them the Rule of Cisteaux After the death of Beatrix the Nuns left their Rule and took that of St. Francis Some while after they took again that of Cisteaux and in the year 1511. Julius the II. made them to make another jump to that of the Franciscans The Franciscan Nuns were instituted in the year 1212 by Francis Assisi and had one Clara a very superstitious and deluded creature for their Mother Some are very dissolute in their Manners and go under the name of Franciscan Nuns others are very strict in their Observances and from that Clara are called Clarisses They have some Sisters Servants who go a begging for them and are reputed of the third Order of their St. Francis The Nuns of the Third Order of S. Francis in the year 1221 were by him instituted and did consist indifferently of Unmarried and Married Women who had left their Husbands He gave them a milder Rule than the former being allowed to live single or two or three together in their own Houses They wear gray Cloathes with a black Vail are girded with a Cord and go bare-footed There is yet another Congregation of the Third Order confined in Cloisters and Founded in the year 1405. By Mother Angelina of Termes Countess of Civitella in Italy who lead a very rigid Life The Third Order of Penitent Nuns of St. Francis in which all sorts of Women Married or Unmarried Widows Honest or Dishonest who desire to lead a penitent Life are received was reformed by Mother Clara Frances of Besanoçn who died at Paris in the year 1627. They are a kind of Capucines and wear long gray Cloathes The Reformed Nuns of the Three Orders of St. Francis had their beginning from Sister Colette in the year 1410 she pretended to several Apparitions of God to her on that account and brought her Nuns to a very austere manner of Life as lying on the Straw going bare-footed wearing very course Cloth She died full of Superstition at Ghent in the year 1447. The Capucines are also a Reformation of Nuns of St. Francis made by Mother Mary Longe in the year 1538. They live of the Alms which are brought to their Convents are independent upon the Bishops and subject only to the Fathers Capucine They have nothing of their own but a Breviary a Wooden Cross and a Whip or Discipline Upon a new Habit they patch always a piece of an old one They touch no Mony but have a Temporal Father that receives keeps and spends it for them Except their Vail which is black their Habit is the same as that of the Fathers Capucine The Recolettes were founded in the year 648 by a Spanish Gentle-woman called Benedicta under the direction of the Bishop Fructuosus But they were afterwards by the Popes put
under the Rule of St. Francis and Cloathed as the Capucines except that their Clothes are longer and they have a Scapulary The Penitent Nuns of the Order of St. Francis in High Germany After having lived some while in their Monasteries they go into the Woods and live single or two together in a little House with a little Chapel after the manner of the ancient Hermits eating almost nothing else but Herbs and Roots They have a short gray coloured Gown girded with a Cord go Bare-footed or with Wooden-shoes The Nuns Sack-bearers were established in France by St. Louis King of France in the year 1261 at the instance of his Mother Blanca But both the Nuns and the Fryars of the same Order were suppressed before his Death They were Cloathed with Sacks and obliged to a strange odd sort of Life The Nuns Urbanistes under the Rule of St. Francis were instituted by Isabella Sister to St. Louis King of France with the Title of the Humility of our Lady She took her self the Religious Habit amongst them and was made a Saintess by Pope Leo the X. in the year 1521. The Nuns of St. Francis of Paula Two Spanish Women Mary and Francis of Lucena founded this Order in the year 1495 following the Rules of this Francis and except the black Vail on their Heads they wear an Habit like to that of the Fryars of the same Order The Nuns of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary were instituted by Francis Sales Bishop of Geneva in the year 1610 who writ Rules for them which were approved by the Popes and in his Life he could reckon above 30 Cloisters which followed his Institutions They did afterwards very much increase particulary in France They have black Cloathes and a little Silver Cross on their Breasts Of the Order of the Vrselines or Jesuitesses THIS is the Female Order of the Jesuits A young Italian Woman called Angela of Bressia of a mean Family published that hor deceased Sister appeared to her in a glorious State with several other holy Virgins who came down from Heaven to Visit her and a Voice was heard saying Angela thou shalt not dye before thou hast instituted a Nunnery of Virgins like these It was in all likelihood the Voice of the Jesuit because this Angela having declared her Vision to her Confessors who were Fathers of that Society they forgot nothing to perswade her to put in Execution what she was commanded from God And as Ignatius Loyola made a Vow before the Institution of his Order to go rambling to Jerusalem so did likewise this young Woman upon which she was struck stone Blind But this did not hinder her from going thither alone Bare-footed and living on Alms. And it was a Miracle indeed that she could find the way so well Being returned from Jerusalem to Venice by another Miracle she recovered her Sight and other new Visions coming one upon another to forward her design of founding an Order She went at last about it and found immediately 76 young Women ready to embrace her Institution This unanimous resolution of so many at once seemed to a Popish Author a very great Miracle though it was indeed the wise disposition of the Jesuits who had prepared them long before for it A College was then founded and richly endowed for them where they began to teach the Women according to their capacities as the Jesuits do the Men. Their Congregation was first approved in the year 1572 by Pope Gregory the XIII at the instance of the Cardinal Charles Borromeo Archbishop of Milan and of Paul Leon Bishop of Ferrara Upon this pattern Magdalen Lullier Lady of St. Beuve inspired by the Jesuits founded in the year 1611 the Urselines in France and Pope Paul the V. approved their Establishment and Constitutions Their first Monastery there is that of Paris from whence they have spread themselves through the whole Kingdom where they instruct the young Girls and take Boarders They are called Urselines from a holy Virgin called Ursula and Daughter they say to a King of great Britain who suffered Martyrdom according to some Authors near Colen on the Rhine with Eleven thousand young Ladies who went to wait on her I shall not stand to reharse the History of it which seems very fabulous and is variouly related The Urselines have also several Convents in Suitsserland Germany and elsewhere In some places they are confined to their Cloisters and in others they have liberty to go abroad and keep every where an intimate familiarity with the Jesuits Of the Order of the ten Virtues or Delights of the Virgin Mary called also of the Annunciade JEAN Queen of France of Valois Daughter of Louis the XI and Spouse of Louis the XII King of France having been repudiated left the Court full of discontent and retired herself in the Dutchy of Berry withdrawing all her thoughts from the World which had proved so unfaithful to her The direction of her Conscience being in the hands of two Fathers Cordeliers who were her Confessors they were not wanting to make use of her good Dispositions endeavouring to persuade her that the greatest honour which she might render to God was to build some Convents of Nuns of their Order like that of the Ave Maria at Paris Founded by Queen Charllotte of Savoy her Mother But this Princess either by a greatness of Soul which she had from her Birth or to get more reputation in the World would not hearken to their proposal for the propagation of an Order already established but undertook to found a new one of her own invention pretending for it a Revelation manifested to her by a Special Voice of the Virgin Mary The Fathers Gilbert and Nicolas her Confessors seeing no hopes for their Order took at last upon themselves to help the Princess in her new design and after to go and look out four Women for her upon Condition that they should â—e likewise their Confessors and Directors They had the good luck to bring a great number of young Ladies of the best Families of Bourges and by order of the Queen they composed a Rule for them the chiefest business whereof was to honour with a great many Beads and Rosaries the ten principal Virtues or Delights of the Virgin Mary The first of these Delights and Comforts was when the Angel Gabriel annunciated to her the Mystery of the Incarnation for which these Nuns took also the name of the Annunciation The second of these Delights was when she saw her Son Jesus brought into the World The third when the Wise Men came with Presents to worship him The fourth when she found the Child Jesus Qestioning the Doctors in the Temple I shall not stand to relate the rest which any one may easily imagin Now for what belongs to our Order of Nuns the business was to get the Confirmation of it in the Court of Rome They met there with much coldness on the side of Pope Alexander
Since that time Katherin did not feel any cold in her Body even in the midst of the bitterest Winters All these and other such like Miracles which were daily performed in favour of this Saintess did not serve a little towards the increase of her Order Several young Women joyned themselves to her followed her practices and would afterwards be called from her name Nuns of St. Katherin of Siena They have yet abundance of very stately and rich Monasteries in Italy but are not so unmerciful to their Bodies as their holy Foundress was to her's This is the Female Order of the Dominican Fryars Of the Order of Repenties or Penitent Sisters JOHN Tisseran a Franciscan Fryar of Paris Founded in the year 1494 the Order of Penitent Sisters in honour of St. Mary Magdalen He was a great Preacher and honest Man After he had pierced by his Sermons to the quick the most hardned Hearts and converted several debauched Women he formed this Institution that they might retire thither who by Gods Grace had forsaken their Sins He caused a Monastery to be built and above Two hundred of these Women offered themselves to come in willingly and some of them were permitted to go a begging about for the rest Such was their condition in the year 1500 when Louis Duke of Orleans who was since the XII King of that name gave them his Palace of Orleans where they had their Habitation till in the year 1572 when Queen Katherin of Medicis transferred them elsewhere Pope Nicolas the IV. approved this Order and granted so many Indulgences and Blessings to it that the number of leud Women increased very much at Paris seeing the way so easy to go to Heaven by entring those Monasteries after having led an abominable Life This Order passed from France into Italy where a great many of these Convents are to be seen they do not stay now till these debauched Creatures come and surrender themselves willingly but they force them to go in and being Whipt for several days till they promise amendment they are admitted at last to the Holy Habit of that Religion If Popery does ever return to London these Nuns may find a fine Monastery ready for them in Bridewel Of the Order of the Nuns and Monks of Fontevrault THIS is an Hermaphrodite Order of both Sexes and the weaker Sex does command the other It was Founded in the year 1100 some while after the Celebration of the Council of Poitiers by Robert d' Arbrissel He was first Archdeacon of Rennes and received a particular Mission from Pope Urbanus the II. to go and instruct the People by his Preaching He did it accordingly and with such success that seeing himself followed by Crouds both of Men and Women he built for them Cells in the Woods of Fontevrault three Leagues from Saumeur on the Confines of Poitou in France Afterwards having set the Women apart he formed that famous Monastery chief of the whole Order the Abbels whereof is General and commands the Men. Pope Paschal approved of it and his Successors granted to it fine Priviledges There are reckoned amongst the Abbesses of that place fourteen Princesses five whereof have been of the Royal Branch of Bourbon Robert d' Arbrissel by subjecting in such manner Men to Women pretended to honour the holy History releated in St. John Chapt. XIX where it is written that Christ being on the Cross recommended his beloved Disciple St. John to the Virgin Mary and commanded him to acknowledge her for his Mother This Order is under the Rule of St. Benet Robert having only added some Constitutions to it They have about 60 Monasteries in France The Nuns wear a black Habit with a white Vail and being at Church a long black Gown with large Sleeves The Monks are all in black as secular Priests but upon their Casock they have a Camail as the French Bishops at the bottom of which hang two little square pieces of the same Stuff one before and the other behind Of the Order of St. Briget for both Sexes BRIGET Queen of Sweedland and Widow in the year 1360 went to Rome to Pope Urban the V. to obtain from him the confirmation of a new Order of both Sexs which she had instituted she said by express command of Christ himself The Pope received her very kindly because she was esteemed as a Saint and endowed with the Gift of Prophesy He confirmed her Order at the first request she made for it Her Institution was in this manner The Monasteries were built double In one half which was separated from the other by a Wall were enclosed the Maids and the Widows under the dirâ—ction of an Abbess and the other half was Habited by the Men. The Church was so contrived that it served both for the Men and the Women the Monks having the inferiour part of it and the Nuns the Superiour The Men were to take care of the Spiritual matters and the Women of the Temporal Their Monasteries had generally great Revenues but for want of them the Nuns were to work for their living and that of the Monks both Mâ—n and Women were to obey the Abbess Now since the Rule which St. Briget brought to Urban the V to be confirmed was written and given to her by Châ—ist himself as it was acknowledged by this Pope and all his Successors who pretended to be the infallible Oracles of Truth methinks I cannot well forbear to relate something of it to the end that Protestants may not be altogether deprived of the Knowledge of this new Gospel The Rule dictated by Jesus Christ himself in Honour of his Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary Chap. i. CHRIST saith in this Chapter that Humility Chastity and willful Poverty ought to be the first beginning of this Order That both the Monks and the Nuns ought to possess nothing of their own not so much as a Farthing neither touch with their Fingers Gold or Silver unless it be in their works of Embroidery with the Permission of their Abbess Chap. ii Christ prescribes the Form of their Beds Blankets Bolsters and Pillows Chap. iii. Christ sets down all the Habits and Vails of the Nuns both for Summer and Winter Orders that their Vails be pinned with three Pins and that there be on the top of them a little Crown of white Linnen spotted with little pieces of read Cloth cut after the form of drops Blood Chap. iv Christ will have these good Sisters to recite every day in honour of the Virgin Mary his Mother an Office of three Lessons with many Ave Maria's and Salve Regina's every Saturday to have a Mass sung of the Virgin Mary and lo here is the Prayer which Christ hath himself composed and will have them to recite in honour of his Mother We beseech the O most gracious and bountiful Virgin Mary Queen of the World and of Angels to refresh the Souls in Purgatory to obtain Remission for Sinners and Perseverance to Just Men and to
to the Pope and be Confirmed by him but it is Just that for greater Spiritual Labours the Soul should receive a more ample Reward Thus does this Rule end dedicated to Saint Bridget by Christ himself I have extracted it from Hospinian and even for fear of being too long I have left out several things which would seem very ridiculous One may sufficiently see by what I have here related how blind the â—gnorance of those Times was This Order notwithstanding the fair Promises which Christ if we will believe Popish Lies made of heaping Blessings upon the Kingdoms Provinces Cities and Persons who should Found such Monasteries did not increase in that measure which this Bridget did hope for some few only were seen to start up here and there in Sweedland and some few others were built in England the first whereof was at Richmond in the year 1414. Of the Order of Guastalla THAT my Reader may understand better in what excess of misery these Monkish Orders composed both of Men and Women do end at last I have reserved for this place the Order of Guastalla It was Instituted in the year 1537 at Mantoua in Italy by a Countess called Guastalla at the instigation of Brother Baptista of Cremona a Dominican Fryar and was made up of Monks and Nuns who to overcome Fleshly Lusts did lay together a Monk with a Nun in one and the same Bed putting a big Wooden Cross between both which as they gave out had the Virtue to quench Rebellious Concupiscence But this Cross being but a very low Wall of Partition and several scandalous disorders and works of Darkness arising from this foolish Institution this infamous Order came to an end at last being destroyed all over Italy A TREATISE OF Military Orders Regular HAVING treated of Monastical Orders I thought I could not well forbear from saying something of those Military Orders who are under Religious Rules and Vows setting aside the others which for distinction from these are called Secular as is the Noble Order of the Garter in England that of St. Michael in France of the Annunciade in Savoy of the Golden Fleece in Spain and others who do not properly belong to Monastical History The most Ancient and also the most Famous of the Military Orders Regular is that of St. John of Jerusalem which went likewise formerly under the name of Rhodes and now under that of Malta Of the Order of Knights of St. John of Jerusalem alias of Rhodes now of Malta THIS Order was a very small thing in its beginning Some Merchants of the City of Melphi in the Kingdom of Naples in Italy who Traded into the East got permission from the Calif of Egypt to build for them and for those of their Nation who came in Pilgrimage into Palestina a House at Jerusalem paying for it a yearly Tribute Some while after they built also two Churches that of the Virgin Mary and that of St. Mary Magdalen the first for the Men and the other for the Women who went thither a Pilgrimaging This design encouraged some others to do the like who Founded likewise a Church and an Hospital in which care was taken of the Sick and of those who went to visit the Holy Places In the year of our Lord 1099 the Christians under the conduct of brave Godfrey of Bullen made themselves Masters of Jerusalem and the Hospitalers Brothers of St. John did not a little help towards it For observing that the Turks began to lose ground and to yield to the vigorous attack of the Besiegers they fell unawares on their Reer and with the help of all the other Christians of the Town they forced the Guards and opened the Gates of the City to the Besiegers One Gerard Tune was then their Director or Grand Master who having also signalized himself in the great fight at Ascalon King Godfrey gave for a Reward to the Hospitalers great Estates and Possessions to put them thereby in a condition to exercise Hospitality and resist the Barbarians that should osfer any injury to Pilgrims on the Highways King Baldwin Successor to Godfrey loved and favoured them mightily and it was under his Reign in the year 1104 that they took the Religious Habit to wit a black Casock and over it on the left Side a white Cross with eight Spikes obliging themselves by Vow to receive treat and defend Pilgrims and also to maintain with force of Arms the Christian Religion in their Country They followed St. Austin's Rule except in the Cononical Office being obliged instead of it to recite every day a certain number of Pater Nosters Gerard Tune added to it likewise some particular Constitutions About the year 1118 the Ruin of the Christian Affairs in the East forced the Hospitalers to leave Jerusalem and after the surrender of this City they retired themselves to Margat and thence to Aeri which they defended with great valour and followed John of Lusignan who gave them in his Kingdom of Cyprus Limisson where they staid till the year 1310. And in that very year they â—ook Rhodes under the Command of their Great Master Fâ—ulques of Villaret and the following year they defended it against an Army of Saracins with the assistance of Ame the IV. Earl of Savoy The Hospitalers took from hence the name of Knights of Rhodes but were chased since from thence by Solyman who took it from them in the year 1522 aâ—ter a brave Defence Rome offered iâ—s Bosom for their retreat and Pope Adrian the VI. gave to that Order the City of Viterbo and six years after the Emperor invited them to take possession of the Island of Malta in the Adriatick Sea to cover his Kingdom of Sicily from an Invasion They defended valiantly this lâ—ttle Island against the Turks under the Command of their Grand Master John de la Valette Parison These Infidels after the loss of four Months time of 78000 Cannon Shots of 15000 Soldiers and 8000 Seamen retired with great Confusion Both the Town and the Island have been since very strongly fortified The Order was composed of eight different Nations but since the separation of the English from the Church of home there are only seven The first is that of Provence the Head of which is Great Commander of that Religion The second is that of Auvergne and its Chief is Mareschal of the Order France is the third whose Chief is the Grand Hospitaler The fourth is Italy the Head of which is Admiral The fifth of Arragon hath the Charge of Great Conservator Germany is the sixth and hath that of Great Bayliff of the Order The seventh is Castiglia the Head whereof iâ— Great Chancellor England was formerlv the sixth and the Chief of it was Great Turcopolier of the Religion that is Colonel of the Horse Whosoever desires to be received into that Order ought to prove his Nobility for four Generations as well by his Mothers side as his Fathers to be twenty years old
and born in Lawful Marriage except the Natural Sons of Kings and Princes Amongst the Knights some have Grand Crosses who alone can pretend to the Dignity of Grand Master who is the Superior and Sovereign of Malta There are also Knights Servants taken from very good Families The Courage both of the one and the other does increase every day amongst the continual dangers of a Bloody War against the most formidable Empire of the Universe and they are the Bulwark of Christendom on that side against the Turks From the year 1099 to 1663 they have had sixty Grand Masters Of the Order of Templars THEY began in the year 1118 at Jerusalem Hugo of Paganis Geofrey of St. Omer and seven others whose Names are unknown to us Consecrated themselves to the Sevice of God after the manner of the Regular Canons and made their Profession in the Hands of the Patriarch of Jerusalem Balduinus II. King of Jerusalem lent them a House near the Temple of Solomon from which they had the name of Templars or Knights of the Temple In the mean while as they lived only by Alms the King the Prelates and Lords of that Kingdom gave them Estates some for a while and some for ever The Aim of this Institution was to defend the Pilgrims against the ill usages of the Infidels and to keep the ways free for those who would make a Journey to Jerusalem These Nine First Knights did admit none into their Society till in the year 1128 after a Celebration of a Council held at Troyes in Champagne Hugo of Paganis came to it with five of his Brethren and asked for a Rule Bernard Abbot of Clairvaux who was there present was appointed to draw them one and it was ordered that they should wear a white Habit and since viz. in the year 1146 Eugenius the III. added to it a red Cross on their Cloaks After that this Order grew for some while to a great Honour and Reputation and got so great Fortunes and Estates by their Valour that Mathew Paris assures their Riches were immense and that they had nine thousand regular Houses Such a flourishing Condition raised a mortal Envy in the Hearts of all the other Knights and Monks who could not bear to see them in that Greatness and Power Nay several Princes and Kings conceived Jealousie against them and above all others Pope Clement the V. This Pope fearing lest they might take from him his Papal Crown made use dexterously of the Covetous Humour of Philip le Bel King of France to persuade him to extirpate them out of his Kingdom This Prince having given his Word for the doing of it upon Condition of being invested with all their Estates in his own Dominions the Pope went about to persuade other Christian Princes to do the same Which succeeded so well that at one and the same time upon a signal given all these poor Knights not thinking of so Deplorable and Tragical an End were unmercifully murdered This Pope or rather this Monster of Cruelty to give some Colour to so Barbarous an Execution had them charged with several horrid Crimes and took care they should be published but never was able to prove any of them James of Morlai Gentleman of Burgundy Grand Master of the Templars was burnt alive at Paris with two of his Knights in the year 1313 and several others were publickly executed in other Provinces nor was it possible to make them confess the Crimes wherewith their Order was accused though they were offered their Lives if they would do it They persisted always saying they would not defile with so execrable Lies the Nobility and Glory of their Order Pope Clement the V. desirous to have the satisfaction to see burnt alive one of the Knights of that Order being then at Bourdeaux with Philip le Bel they were looking both of them out of a Window and the poor wretched Knight who was carried to Execution having spied them spake thus to them Being not permitted to appeal to another Tribunal for my defence you Clement the unmerciful Tyrant and you King Philip I cite you both within a year and a day before the just Tribunal of God there I shall expose the innocency of my Cause Accordingly the Pope and the King died both in the same year After the extirpation of the Templars they enriched themselves with their Spoils and the Estates which they possessed in the other Kingdoms were divided between the Knights of Rhodes who are now those of Malta and the Teutonicks Of the Knight-Order of Montjoye POPE Alexander the III. established this Order at Jerusalem and Confirmed it in the year 1180. under the Rule of St. Basil They wore a Red Cross and were Instituted for to go and fight the Infidels King Alphonsus the Wise called for them into Spain for to fight the Moors and having allowed them Revenues gave them the name of Knights of Mofrack but under the Reign of King Ferdinandus they were united to the Order of Knights of Calatrava Of the Order of Avis of Portugal ALphonsus the I. King of Portugal having Conquered in the year 1147 the Town of Evora from the Moors and ascribing this to a singular Favour of the Virgin Mary he established for the defence of that City Knights who signalized themselves under the Name of Brethren of St. Mary of Evora Some while after they had a Great Master who was Ferdinandus of Montereiro They received the Rules of Cisteaux and John Civita Abbot of that Order framed them some particular Constitutions in the year 1162. Pope Innocent the IV. approved in the year 1204. this Establishment which proved very advantagious to Christianity by the continual Victories which these Knights obtained over the Moors This Order had already the name of Avis from a Castle of that Name which Sanches the I. had given them in acknowledgment of the great Services they had done him upon all occasions They worâ— the white Habit of Cisteaux and their Arms were Gold with a Sinople Floree-Cross and two Sable Birds on the top in allusion to the word Avis which signifies Bird. In the year 1213 Rodrigues Garcia de Asa Grand Master of the Order of Calatrava with the consent of his Knights gave to the Order of Avis several Places which they did possess in Portugal Which Generosity did ingage them so far that for an eternal acknowledgment they desired a greater union with them and submitted willingly to the Order of Calatrava but some differences arising afterwards in the Wars of the Portuguese with the Castillans they refused obedience to it This hapned under John the Great of Portugal He was Natural Son to Juesticier Peter and Ascended the Throne in the year 1385. Of the Order of St. Lazarus THE Western Christians being Masters of the Holy Land established it and it was a distinct Order from the Templars Teutonicks and those of St. John of
Jerusalem Pilgrims were received there in Houses founded purposely for them and were to be conducted on the Highways and defended by them against the Mahometans The Popes granted great Priviledges to it and Princes great Possessions Louis the VII King of France gave them in the year 1154 the Territory of Boigny near Orleans where these Knights fixed the Seat of their Order when the Christians were driven from Palestine Nevertheless as they were become unprofitable they were also slighted insomuch that the Knights of Malta obtained very easily from Pope Innocent the VIII the suppression of this Order and its union with theirs But those of France having carryed their Complaints to the Parliament iâ— was ordered there that this Order should subsist independent and by it self throughout all the French Dominions Pope Pius the IV. willing that his Family should make an advantage of the Wrack of these Knights conferred the Mastership of it in Italy to Janot of Castillon his Relation and after his Death Pope Gregory the XIII gave it entirely to Duke Emmanuel Philebert of Savoy and to all his Successors uniting it with the Order of St. Mauricius But this having no place in France Aimar of Chartres Knight of Malta undertook to bring iâ— again to a flourishing Condition Philibert of Nerestan Captain of the Life-Guards succeeded him in the same design and employed so successfully his Power at the French Court that King Henry the IV. made him Grand Master of it in the year 1608 and obtained from the Pope a very advantagious Bull for this Order by which they have power to Marry and to hold Pensions arising from Consistorial Benefices So that this Order is not now what it was in its first Institution and serves only for to have a Wife and a golden Cross hanging on their Necks Of the Order of Calatrava in Spain IT was Instituted under Sanches the III. King of Castilla This Prince having Conquered the strong Castle of Calatrava from the Moors of Andalousia gave it to the Knights Templars who wanting Courage to defend it returned it to him again Dom Raimond born of Bureva in Navarra Abbot of the Monastery of Hytero of the Order of Cisteaux accompanied with several Gentlemen offered themselves to defend this place which was granted to them and the Order was established in the year 1158. It increased so much under the Reign of Alphonsus the Noble King of Castilla that the Knights demanded to have Grand Masters They went on very successfully till the year 1489 in which time Ferdinandus and Isabella annexed the Great Mastership of Calatrava to the Crown of Castilla Pope Alexander the III. approved this Order in the year 1164 and Innocent the III. confirmed it in 1198. They have yet in Spain eighty Commanderships At the beginning the Knights wore the Habit of Cisteaux but Pope Benet the XIII dispensed with it and Paul the III. gave them permission once to Marry So that they are not neither what they were formerly the Popes having been themselves the chief Promoters of their Remissness Their Arms are Gold with a Flowree-Cross of Gules sided with two Azur Hand Fetters The Knights wear also a red Cross on their Breasts Of the Order of Knights of Alcantara ALcantara a Town of Estramadura on the River Tagus was taken from the Moors in the year 1212 by Alphonsus the IX King of Castilla who committed it to the care of the Knights of Calatrava and two years after it was given to the Knights of the Pear-tree whose Order was Instituted in the year 1170 by Gomez Fernandus and approved by Pope Alexander the III. in the year 1177 under the Rule of St. â—enet They took since the name of that Town and the green Cross or Sinople beset with Flowers de-lis Some Scandalous disorders that happened amongst these Knights obliged them to ask Permission to Marry which was granted them in the year 1540. Nevertheless the Mastership of this Order as well as that of Calatrava was united to the Crown of Castilla under the Reign of Ferdinandus and Isabella Of the Order of Knights of St. Jame's THIS is also called the Order of the Sword Some Regular Canons having observed that the Pilgrims who went to visit the Relicks of St. James of Compostella were ill used by the Moors built several Hospitals for their reception and 13 Gentlemen offered their Swords to defend them This was properly the beginning of that Order which was approved by Pope Alexander the III in the year 1175 and by Innocent the III. in 1198 The Knights observed the Rules of S. Austin and Monastical Vows but since they were permitted to Marry The ancient Arms of this Order were Gold with a Sword of Gules and a Shell of the same with this Motto Rubet ensis sanguine Arabum but now they are a Cross made in the form of a Sword with a Heart for the Pommel and the Hilt made in the figure of a Flower-de-lis This was established in Castilla and Portugal The King of Spain is the Grand Master of it since the Reign of Ferdinandus and Sabella who obtained it from Pope Alexander the VI. Of the Order of Teutonick Knights Marrianes or Sword-bearers THIS Order was established after the Conquest of the Holy Land by the Christians of the West It was founded at Jerusalem by some Germans who built there an Hospital for the Pilgrims of their Nation and a Church in honour of the Virgin Mary from whence they were called Marianes They took the Title of Teutonicks the Rule of St. Austin and a white Cloak with a Cross of Sable and in the midst another little Silver Cross Pope Celestin the III. approved this establishment 1195 and several other Popes granted to it great Priviledges Henry of Valpot was the first Master of the Order After the loss of the Holy Land these Knights retired themselves into Germany They Conquered afterwards all Prussia whereof they took the name and for above Two hundred years made themselves formidable to their Neighbours until Albertus of Brandenburg who was their Grand Master embraced the Protestant Religion and became a Secular Prince of Prussia in the year 1525. Then the Knights returned into Germany where they had already great Possessions and elected for their chief or Grand Master Albertus of Volfang Since that time the Eldest Sons of German Princes and Lords do possess the Estates of that Order in Quality of Teutonick Knights but observe the ancient Constitutions of the same Of the Order of Christ's Militia for the extirpation of the Albigenses DOminick Institutor of the Order of Preachers or Dominican Fryars having unâ—ertaken to reduce to the Roman Church the Albigenses who with much reason had sepaparated from it Instituted the Order of these Soldiers who were to extirpate with the Material Sword those of the Albigenses Hereticks as he called them who would not submit to the Spiritual Sword of God which was manifested he
said by his own Sermons He ordered for these Knights or rather for those Bloody Dogs a Spiritual Rule above the common one of Seculars and beneath that of the Religious They were called at that time the Brothers of the Militia of St. Dominick and when these Murtherers had done cutting the Throats of these poor People having nothing more to do they retired with their Women to their Houses living there a wicked and idle Life observing only some silly Rules which the Dominican Fryars gave them and were called afterwards the Brothers of the Penitence of St. Dominicus Of the Knights of the Virgin Mary in Italy IN the year 1233. Bartholomew of Vicence of the Order of Preachers was the Author of these Knights whom he instituted to maintain Peace in all the Cities of Italy and exterminate all sorts of Discord and Divisision Pope Vrbanus the IV. in the year 1262 approved of it Their Habit was a white Robe with another gray one and they wore a Purple Cross in a white Field with some Stars on the top of it They took also under their protection the Widows and the Orphans They were since called merry Brothers because they lived without care and a very pleasant Life in their Houses Of the Order of Knights of Montese or Brothers of our Lady THE Knights of Montese were so called from the Place of their first residence having been instituted at the same time when the Templars were abolished and whose Estates they got in the Kingdom of Valence upon condition they should Defend its Frontier Places against the Moors Their Order was approved by Benet XIII and Martin V. They wore a white Habit and a read Cross over it Of the Order of Christ-Knights in Portugal DIonysius Perioca King of Portugal Nephew to Alfonsus the X. King of Castiglia Instituted this Order commoâ—ly called of Portugal or of Christ He ordered them to wear a black Habit and black Cross Pope John the XXII in the year 1321 commanded them to follow St. Benet's Rule Their Duty is to make War against the Moors who inhabit Besica It is by their means that the Portuguese Empire hath strecht it self very far in the East in Africa in Brasil and other Western Countries Of the Knights of St. Georges of Carinthia THIS Order was founded in the year 1470 by Frederick the IV. Emperour and first Archduke of Austria The Knights were under the Rule of St. Austin and obliged to defend the Frontier Places of Hungary and Bohemia against the Turks Fredericâ— gave to the first Grand Master of that Order and to his Successours the Title of Prince with the Town of Milestad in Carinthia He founded there likewise a College of Regular Canons of St. Austin under the direction of the Bishop who was to be one of these Knights This Order was since brought wery low and the Emperour Maximilian designed to re-establish it had not the Civil Wars hindred him from the performance of it A List of the Order of Knights Instituted by the Popes THE Knights of Christ by Pope John XXII wear a red Cross The Knights of the Holy-Ghost wear a white Cross The Knights of S. Peter by Leo the X. against the Turks The Knights of S. Georges by Alexander the IV. The Knights Pii Instituted in the year 1560 by Pope Pius the IV. who gave them his name And for this very reason he would have them to go before the Knights of all other Crowns even those of Malta The Knights of Lorreto Instituted in the year 1586 by Sixtus the V. The Knights of St. Anthony The Knights of Julius Conclusion of Military Order THERE are as I already have mentioned two sorts of Knights one of Regulars and the other of Seculars The Regulars may be divided again according to the end of their Institution into Knights who do profess to sight against the Turks and other Insidels and into Knights Instituted to destroy all those who do not submit themselves to the Church of Rome As for the first one cannot deny but they have done great Services to Christendom by the brave Expeditions wherewith they have signalized themselves and the great Victories they have got over the Enemies of Christianity and they would deserve indeed more praises yet if Christ had left us any Precept to propagate his Holy Religion with Fire and Sword There is no reward as I know of promised to those who shall destroy the Infidels but for those who shall work their Conversion I dont question but the Knights of Malta are good Soldiers and that the persuasion they have that by spilling Turkish Blood they save their Souls and acquire great Merits before God hath a considerable influence upon their Enterprises upholds them in the midst of the greatest Dangers and makes them to sight like Lions but who is the Warrant of all those fair Promises in the other World but the Pope's Word alone Nevertheless I must say in honour of those of Malta that they are now the only Knights true to their Profession of fighting against the Infidels The others as the Teutonicks in Germany do indeed enjoy great Estates but where is their Standards where are their Military Expeditions What is become of that Noble Acient Valour which made them formerly the Bulwark of Christendom in Hungary against the Turks It seems now turned entirely against Pots and Drinking-glasses saith a very grave Author I pass from these Orders to those that are Instituted to destroy the Enemies of the Popish See whom they call Hereticks and especially the Protestants As we are very reasonably persuaded that the Church of Rome is not only full of Errours but also possest with a Spirit of Persecution and bestial Fury against those who refuse to embrace them we can give no other name but that of Barbarous Cuthroats to those wretched persons who by a Sacrilegious and abominable Vow do promise at the Altars to promote with their Fortunes and Lives her Bloody designs and Vengeances against those who maintain the Purity of the Faith The Dragoons who in our days so cruelly persecuted the Reformed Churches of France wanted nothing but to make Vows for to be Knighted at Rome or rather to become yet more worthy of Hell These Dragoons put me in mind of the Order of the Dragon Instituted in Germany by the Emperour Sigismond This Prince saith a Popish Author shewed so great a Zeal for the advancement of the Christian Religion that not satisfied with having so often fought the Turks and got many Victories over them at his instance two General Councils were called one at Constance and the other at Basil for the extirpation of Heresy and Schism especially in Bohemia and Hungary and for a lasting Monument of his Devotion he Instituted the Military Order of the Dragon so called because these Knights had for their Coat of Arms a Precipitated Dragon as a sign that Heresie and Schism those venemous and