[282] Illustrium Miraculorum, xii. 12. The next tale, in chap. xiii., relates how some men, wandering by chance on Etna, heard a voice cry from under the hill ‘Prepare the fires.’ This was heard by them a second time, and then the cry was ‘Prepare a great fire,’ upon which other voices asked for whom this should be done, and the answer came back that it was for the Duke of Thuringia, a friend and trusty servant of these lower powers. This the hearers made faith of in a writing given to the Emperor Frederick, and it presently appeared that Bertolph of Thuringia, a noted tyrant, heretic and persecutor of the Church, had died at the very day and hour when these voices were heard on Etna.
[283] See Anecdotes Historiques, by Lecoy de la Marche, Paris, 1877, p. 32.
[284] This romance was published by the Roxburghe Club, London, 1873.
[285] See Grimm’s Deutsche Mythologie.
[286] The sarcophagus was opened in 1781 and all was found as described above. The body of the great Emperor was in good preservation and with it were remains of Peter II. of Aragon, and Duke William, son of Frederick II. of Aragon.
[287] German prophecies of the same kind are given by Grimm, op. cit.
[288] See Pertz Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum, xviii. 796.
[289] For example, he is called: Dei ‘coöperator, et Vicarius constitutus in terris’; ‘the cornerstone of the Church,’ etc. See Huillard-Bréholles Vie et correspondance de Pierre de la Vigne, Paris, Plon, 1864.
[290] See also another romance called L’Histoire de Maugis d’Aygremont.
[291] See also Leyden’s Scenes of Infancy, pt. ii.