In a note, the testimony of Franciscus Petrarcha against the Pope is brought to recollection; on account of which opposition he had to suffer expulsion and persecution from the Roman dominions. Conclusion of the tragedy of the fourteenth century.]
With few steps we shall make a long journey, and our course will be not less wonderful than sad. The places through which we will first travel are the mountains of Lombardy, near Novaria. In the midst of our journey, we will come to the cities Crema and Steyer, in Austria, Zuidenitz, in Poland, and Marseilles, in France. Thence we propose to proceed into Bohemia; and at last to finish our journey in the countries on the Baltic Sea.
What will we meet on our way, dear friends? Certainly nothing that is pleasing to the flesh; for fire and flames shall threaten us on our right hand, and deep waters on our left. Between them there is nothing but bloody scaffolds, gallows, wheels, stakes and countless horrible instruments of death and torture, which cause men to die slowly, as by a thousand deaths. The company is composed altogether of bodies burned, drowned, beheaded or otherwise murdered; so that our footsteps must tread through the midst of skulls and dead men’s bones; to say nothing of the crimson blood, which seems to flow in rivulets, yea, sometimes in large streams, along the ways which we must travel.
Nevertheless, our heart is full of joy, and we are delighted with this journey, and draw life in the valleys of death; for here is the portal of heaven, the door of the blissful palace, which is indeed strait, yea, on the posts of which flesh and blood remain; but through which is the entrance into the spaciousness of the heavenly halls, and into the infinite and ever-blooming garden of the blessed paradise. Here are heard, with the ears of faith, as near by the glad voices of the holy angels,[187] to which no singing of nightingales in earthly groves can be compared; nay, the most lovely instruments of music, when compared with these sound harshly and unpleasantly to the ear. There are also beheld, as with unclouded eyes, the majesty of God, Jesus, the Savior of the world, and the heavenly societies. We dare not further speak of it,[188] for human ear hath not heard nor eye seen; neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 1 Cor. 2:9.
All this is there perceived in the soul, though the bodies suffer great distress; but this is soon over. Have we no reason, then, to long for this journey? Certainly. Hence, let us go on. The Lord guide us and show us the right way, that we may not only begin well, but also finish well.
O ye slain and martyred multitudes, who have testified with your blood to the name of your and our God, we have come to behold your martyrdom, and to make it known, by writings, to our fellow brethren; not that we intend to make a pilgrimage to the places of your death, to salute you in the manner of worship, or to bring you an oblation, after the manner of the priests, by no means; for this would profit neither you nor us; but we seek to bring to remembrance your good examples. With this we will begin.
Note.—Before we approach the sad mountains and fields of the miserable, but nevertheless well comforted martyrs, it will be necessary to give an account respecting the mode of the inquisition which, having commenced in the preceding century already, had continued even to this time, and was the cause of all the harm and distress which now came upon the believers, and through which they had to suffer, first in their consciences, and then in their bodies, yea, were subjected to the most bitter and cruel death.
In the preceding century, for the years 1214 and 1215, we showed the beginnings of the inquisition; we now come to its progress and extension.