d been hung, or the beard of a goat, the eyes of
a wolf, the head of a bat and the like, worn round the body in a purse
of black cat's skin, rendered a person invulnerable. Hair balls (a mass
of hair from the stomach of the chamois), and the caul in which
children are born, gave invulnerability; he who had never eaten kidneys
was secure from shot or pestilence, and it was believed at Augsburg,
that a famous knight and experienced General, Sebastian Schaertlin, had
thus protected himself before the enemy.

Old magic herbs, as endive, verbena, St. John's wort, chickweed,
vervain, mallow, and garlick were used as charms, and the most powerful
of all, the deadly nightshade. It was necessary to dig them up with the
best new sharpened steel, and never to touch them with the bare hand,
least of all with the left, and they were carried like an _Agnus Dei_.
They were circular, and only found on the battle-fields oL great
battles, and were, as Zimmermann says, sacred for the sake of the dead.
Besides these there was a fire-coloured flower which Cabalists called
"Efdamanila;" it not only protected the wearer from shot, stabs, and
fire, but when it was hung over the wall in a besieged town near the
enemy's cannon, they were spell-bound for a whole month.

Amulet medals also were early in use: in 1555, at the battle of
Marienburg, between the Princes of Orange and Nevers, a little child
was struck on the neck by a shot, a silver medal was doubled up, and
the child remained unhurt; this great effect was then ascribed to an
amulet parchment which the child wore round his neck near the medal.
But about the same time the "Sideristen," who were experienced in
astronomical science, poured out heavenly influence in invulnerable
medals of silver and fine gold, which were worn round the neck.
Thurneisser spread also these kinds of amulets in Northern Germany. An
accidental circumstance brought the Mansfeld St. George's thaler into
repute in the Thirty years' war, especially those of 1611 and 1613,
bearing the inscription, "With God is counsel and action."

Not only the common soldiers, but many great commanders also had the
repute of being invulnerable: not Pappenheim, indeed, who was wounded
in almost every action, but Holk, who was supposed at last to have been
carried away to hell by the devil in person; Tilly, for whom, after the
battle of Breitenfeld, the affrighted surgeon found he had only bruises
to dress; Wallenstein and his kinsm