Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches

Freaks of Fanaticism, and Other Strange Events

This Volume, that originally appeared as a Second Series to "Historic Oddities and Strange Events," is now issued under a new title which describes the peculiar nature of the majority of its contents. Several of the articles are concerned with the history of mysticism, a phase...

Chapters

2. Part 2

She had disappeared for many months from her father's house, along with her sister Elizabeth. The police had inquired as to their whereabouts of old John Peter, but he had given...

6. Part 6

Louis XVIII., obliged to fly from one land to another before the forces of Napoleon, was staying for a while at Warsaw, in the year 1804, under the incognito of the Count de l'I...

3. Part 3

Margaret and Elizabeth sat side by side on the bed, the latter half stupified, looking fixedly before her, Margaret, however, in a condition of violent nervous surrexitation. Ma...

5. Part 5

The sentence of the court produced the liveliest commotion in Dresden. The feeling against Fischer was strong and general; the gaoler had but represented the universal opinion....

8. Part 8

Authorities: "Morgenland and Abendland," by Herr Von Hailbronner,--who, as already mentioned, was present in Damascus through part of the time. "Damascia," by C. H. Löwenstein,...

12. Part 12

But the refusal of the Pope to gratify their resentment did not quell the vehemence of the monks and the faction adverse to the bishop. The city was in a condition of chronic in...

9. Part 9

Among those who were present at the funeral of the Duchess Augusta was a Bavarian, named Andreas Stubenrauch, an artisan then at Coburg. He was the son of an armourer, followed...

21. Part 21

But John Bockelson not only desired to be surrounded by a court; he determined also to display all the personal splendour of royalty. Accordingly, at his order, two crowns of pu...

23. Part 23

Philip of Hesse wavered. He wrote once more; and after having attempted to excuse himself for those things wherewith he had been reproached, he said, "If the thing depended on m...

7. Part 7

5th. They were forced to stand upright for three whole days, and not suffered even to lean against a wall. Those who fell with exhaustion were goaded to rise again by the bayone...

19. Part 19

The enthusiasm of Matthisson communicated itself to the assembly. The Anabaptists separated to sweep the streets, sword and pike in hand, and drove the ungodly beyond their wall...

17. Part 17

[124] This is corroborated by the Acta, Handlungen, &c., fol. 385. "_The Preachers_: Do you believe that Christ received His flesh off the flesh of Mary, by the operation of the...

11. Part 11

The sermon was followed by a tumult. The whole city was in an uproar, and the married clergy were threatened or maltreated by the mob. Guido Vavasour de Velati, the Archbishop,...

15. Part 15

On the 17th September, 1532, he convoked the nobles of the principality at Wollbeck, gave them an account of the condition of Münster, and conjured them to assist him in suppres...

24. Part 24

The safe-conduct was readily granted, and the deserter was brought to Willinghegen concealed amidst game in a cart covered with boughs of trees. Willinghegen is a small place on...

1. Part 1

This Volume, that originally appeared as a Second Series to "Historic Oddities and Strange Events," is now issued under a new title which describes the peculiar nature of the ma...

13. Part 13

[41] "Audivimus quod quidam Episcoporum apud vos commorantium, aut sacerdotes, et diaconi, et subdiaconi, mulieribus commisceantur aut consentiant aut negligant. His præcipimus...

22. Part 22

When all was ready, they returned to Mount Zion; Bockelson ascended the pulpit, and gave them their mission in the following terms:--"Go, prepare the way; we will follow. Cast y...

18. Part 18

These fantastic scenes had made a profound impression on many of the citizens of Münster. A nervous affection accompanying mystic excitement is always infectious. The agitation...

16. Part 16

The reformer and his adherents had been given their own way, and the senate hoped they would rest satisfied, and that tranquillity would be re-established in the city. But their...

4. Part 4

Suspicion against him was deepened by his declaring that he had heard nothing of the murder--a matter of general talk in Dresden--and that he had not seen the notices with the o...

10. Part 10

He accordingly published a defence, bearing the following title:--"Letter of the Sieur Aymon, Minister of the Holy Gospel, to M. N., Professor of Theology, to inform people of h...

14. Part 14

By means of the mediation of the Archbishop of Cologne, a reconciliation was effected. The articles were abolished and the signatures annulled, and the members of the chapter re...

20. Part 20

Immediately after the installation of the government, an edict in ten parts was published.[179] The first part, divided into thirteen articles, contained the moral law; the seco...

25. Part 25

The captivity of the king and his two accomplices lasted six months. The Lutheran preachers had swarmed about him and buzzed in his ears, and the poor wretch believed that by yi...