es under their standard; and
their bands were not unfrequently augmented by children, honorable
women, and nuns.

They marched through the cities with leaders and singers, their heads
covered as far as the eyes, their look fixed on the ground, with every
token of contrition and mourning. They were robed in sombre garments,
with red crosses on the breast, back, and cap, and bore triple scourges,
tied in three or four knots, in which points of iron were fixed. Tapers
and magnificent banners of velvet and cloth of gold were carried before
them; wherever they made their appearance they were welcomed by the
ringing of bells, and the people flocked from all quarters to listen to
their hymns and witness their penance.

In 1349 two hundred Flagellants first entered Strasburg, where they were
hospitably lodged by the citizens. Above a thousand joined the
brotherhood, which now separated into two bodies, for the purpose of
journeying to the north and to the south. Adults and children left their
families to accompany them; till, at length, their sanctity was
questioned and the doors of houses and churches were closed against
them. At Spires two hundred boys, of twelve years of age and under,
constituted themselves into a brotherhood of the Cross, in imitation of
the children who, about a hundred years before, had united, at the
instigation of some fanatic monks, for the purpose of recovering the
Holy Sepulchre. All the inhabitants of this town were carried away by
the delusion; they conducted the strangers to their houses with songs of
thanksgiving, to regale them for the night. The women embroidered
banners for them, and all were anxious to augment their pomp; and at
every succeeding pilgrimage their influence and reputation increased.

All Germany, Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, Silesia, and Flanders did homage
to them; and they at length became as formidable to the secular as to
the ecclesiastical power. The influence of this fanaticism was great and
threatening. The appearance, in itself, was not novel. As far back as
the eleventh century many believers in Asia and Southern Europe
afflicted themselves with the punishment of flagellation.

The author of the solemn processions of the Flagellants is said to have
been St. Anthony of Padua (1231). In 1260 the Flagellants appeared in
Italy as _Devoti_. "When the land was polluted by vices and crimes, an
unexampled spirit of remorse suddenly seized the minds of the Italians.
The fear