Bataille, Dr.: Author of Le Diable au XIXsime. Under the pseudonym of Dr. Hecks he purports to have witnessed the secret rites and orgies of many diabolic societies, but a merely perfunctory examination of his work is sufficient to brand it as wholly an effort of the imagination.
The Battle of Loquifer,: A tale incorporated in the Charlemagne saga, supposed to have been written about the twelfth century. Its hero is Renouart, the giant brother-in-law of William of Orange, and the events take place on the sea. Renouart and his barons are on the shore at Port Paillart, when a Saracen fleet is seen. He is persuaded to enter one of the ships, which immediately set sail; and he is told by Isembert, a hideous monster, that the Saracens mean to flay him alive. Isembert may preserve an element of an earlier legend by which the Royal house of the Franks was descended from a Sea-Monster.
Renouart, armed only with a huge bar of wood, kills this creature, and makes the Saracens let him go, while they return to their own country. It is arranged that Renouart will fight one Loquifer, a fairy giant and leader of the Saracens; and on the issue of this combat the war will depend. They meet on an island near Port Paillart. Loquifer is -in possession of a magical balinj which heals all his wounds immediately, and is concealed in his club; but Renouardt,who is assisted by angels, at length succeeds in depriving Loquifer of his club, so that his strength departs. Renouart slays him, and the devil carries off his soul.
The romance goes on to tell of a duel between William of Orange and Desrame, Renouart's father, in which the latter is slain. Renouart is comforted by fairies, who bear him to Avalon
Beaumont, John: Author of a Treatise on Spirits, Apparitions, etc., published in 1705. He is described as " a man of hypochondriacal disposition, with a considerable degree of reading, but with a strong bias to credulity." Labouring under this affection,
Belocolus : A - white stone with a black pupil, said to render its bearer invisible in a field of battle.
Benjees, The: A people of the East Indies, given over to the worship of the Devil; and whose temples and pagodas are filled with horrible statues of him. The king of Calicut had a temple wholly filled with awful figures of the devil, and which was lighted only with the gleam of many lamps. In the centre was a copper throne, on which was seated a devil, made of the same metal, with a large tiara on his head, three huge horns and four others which come out of his forehead. On his tongue and in his hand were two figures-souls, which the Indians say, he's preparing to devour.
Bermechobus: The supposed writings of St. Methodius of Olympus (martyred 311 A.D.) or the saint of the same name who was Patriarch of Constantinople and who died in 846. The real name of the work is Bea-Methodius, a contraction for Beatus Methodivo, which was misprinted " Bermechobus." The work is of the nature of a prophetic Apocalypse, and foretells the history of the world, It was handed down by the Gnostics and was printed in the Liber Mirabilis (q.v.). There are no grounds, however, for the supposition that the work should be referred to either of the saints above mentioned. It recounts how Seth sought a new country in the east and came to the country of the initiates, and how the children of Cain instituted a system of black magic in India. The author identifies the Ishmaelites with those tribes who overthrew the Roman power, and tells of a powerful northern people whose reign will be overturned by Anti-Christ. A universal kingdom will thereafter be founded, governed by a prince of French blood, after which a prolonged period of justice will supervene.
Bearded Demon: The demon who teaches the secret of the Philosophers' Stone. He is but little known. The demon barba is not to be confused with Barbatos, a great and powerful demon who is a duke in Hades, though not a philosopher; nor with Barbas, who is interested in mechanics. It is said that the bearded demon is so called on account of his remarkable beard.
Beehard: is supposedly one the of the demons linked to the Key of Solomon he makes wind, rain and thunder.
Belphegor: The demon of discoveries and ingenious inventions. He appears always in the shape of a young woman. The Moabites, who called him Baalphegor adored him on Mount Phegor. He it is who bestows riches.
Berande: A sorceress burnt at Maubec, in France, in 1577. She was confronted by a damsel whom she accused of sorcery, which the girl denied, whereat the beldame exclaimed, " Dost thou not remember how at the last dance at the Croix du Pat, thou didst carry a pot of poison ? " The damsel at this confessed, and was burnt along with her accuser.
Bible of the Devil: This was without doubt a grimoire or some such work. But Delancre says that the Devil informed sorcerers that he possessed a bible consisting of sacred books, having a theology of its own, which was dilated upon by various professors. One great magician, continues Delancre, who was brought before the Parliament of Paris, avowed that there dwelt at Toledo sixty three masters in the faculty of Magic who took for their text-book the Devil's Bible.
Biscar, Jeanette: A sorceress of the district of Labour in France, who was transported to the witches' Sabbath by the Devil in the form of a goat. As a reward she was suspended in mid-air head downwards.
Bisclavret: The name of the were-wolf (q.v.) in Brittany. It is believed to be a human being, transformed by magic into a fearsome man-devouring beast, which roams about the woods, seeking whom it may slay. Bisclavret or Bisclavrat was supposed to have been a sorcerer who discovered the secret of transformation into a wolf. See: Lycanthropy
Black Lodges: The term “Black Lodge” is one applied by a member of one order to the member of another. Very few lodges would style themselves as “Black Lodges” and with those that do it would be more a sort of “in your face” reaction than any really meaningful designation.
Black Lodges are not mindless cults that serve evil. Black Lodges follow what esotericists of the 1930's would term “the left hand path.” It is likely that cults that went around recruiting mindless servants of darkness would not swell in numbers – a few psychotics and malcontents might rally to their banner, but it is unlikely that they would attract the sort of customers that make for much of a challenge.
Black Lodges can be divided into two practices – those who actively pursue the Left Hand Path, and those who believe that the concept of Right and Left Hand paths is a historical anachronism. Those which pursue the Left Hand Path can be divided into (using arbitrary terms) dualists and supremacists.
Those who reject the Left and Right Hand Path concepts believe that the concepts of strict good and evil are outmoded and obsolete. The may treat magic as a science which needs to be explored, and see no more reason not to exploit it for personal gain that they see why GE should not sell light bulbs. The Ordo Templi Orientis is probably representative of this type of Black Lodge. These lodges may cooperate with White Lodges and are not “evil” in the traditional sense of the word. Many of these groups might be more appropriately termed “grey lodges”
Dualists follow a Manichaean or Zoroastrian universe concept which suggests that man must be balanced. They believe that there must be good and evil in the universe and that to be truly ascended a man must know good as well as evil. This is often a self justification for immoral acts, but there are those who have pursued the path with conviction and even many White practitioners acknowledge some legitimacy to this approach. Many groups which have sex-magic practices, but are otherwise fairly heterodox might be placed in this category by their more obviously “White” co-practitioners.
Supremacists express devotion to a power which most white practitioners would see as evil or negative. They may rationalize this power as being “beyond good and evil” in a Nietzschean sense, or may believe in a dualistic universe but have committed to a path which they acknowledge will bring them more personal power, following a “some will be predators some must be prey” mentality. Lodges like the Vril Society fall into this category.
Black Lodges and “Black Magic”
“Black Lodge” does not particularly pertain to “Black Magic.” Black magic (Goiety - magic which requires dealing with beings or forces which the practitioner believes to be evil or maleficent) is studied and practiced by even the most exemplary of Lodges, though rather carefully.
What makes a Lodge “Black”
Dion Fortune, writing in the says:
“…with regard to Black Occultism, it is impossible to label any operation at all times and circumstances definitely Black or definitely White; all we can say is, that under certain circumstances it is black or white. Dirt has been defined as misplaced matter, and evil can be defined as misplaced force. Force can be misplaced in time or space. A thing may be right at one time which is wrong at another. Black Occultism, then, may be defined as misplaced force or out of date methods.”
In saying out of date, Fortune’s point seems to be the use of methods such as sacrifice, which might be considered pure and admirable when reading of the ancient Hellenes, but are not acceptable to our basic western culture today – though we might not condemn tribesmen for the same practices.
Rather Black Lodges present themselves as any other lodge. Determining if a given Lodge is a “Black Lodge” is generally a matter of opinion. A lodge might be (meaningfully) said to be black or following the Left Hand path if it:
1)Teaches or condones the use of the esoteric for selfish or personal gain
2)Teaches or condones the formation of pacts with malevolent beings or forces
3)Espouses personal esoteric development without an ultimate goal which is essentially benign (peace, union with God, harmony, etc.)
4)Condones non-consensual actions towards others (rape, sacrifice, etc.)
5)Pretends to present esoteric teachings, but primarily exists to serve the corporeal needs of the group organizer (through support, sex cults providing pleasure to a master, etc.)
6)Promotes “recidivist” philosophies which may have been legitimate in a historical context, but are anti-progressive and out of place in the modern world.
It can be seen immediately that distinguishing a “Black Lodge” from a “Poorly Run Lodge” is a bit difficult. It is important however, because “Right Hand path” lodges teach that the influence of the teacher will pervade the student.
“If a teacher has evil or unsublimated aspects in his own nature these aspects will put him in touch with the corresponding potencies in the unseen world, and when he seeks to bring the force of his master, he will be working on a mixed contact, and the results for the pupil will be good and evil inextricably blended….if the teacher is a man of impure life you cannot fail to be involved in impurity; if he be unscrupulous, you will be sacrificed to his love of power or gain.”
Black Lodges it is also admitted teach very nearly the same thing as White Lodges. It is their “vitality and temperament” that is different.
Black Lodges are very like the White, and in fact a lodge that was once White may be, under another leader who is less fit, a Black lodge, without ever changing its basic teachings.
Some Black Lodges have symbols and trappings which distinguish them. A French Lodge which we’ll explore below was effectively Satanist, and conducted “Black Mass” with all the trappings. Other Black Lodges teach peace, and inner wisdom, while only at their highest levels do they practice corruption – yet that pervades every level of their initiatory process.
And there are many lodges which cannot be definitely categorized. They may have strong leanings toward the Left-Hand path, yet their teachings may not be entirely corrupt. Even white magicians pursue left hand knowledge and learning, and since the Manichaeans, there has been a legitimate (though in the opinion of orthodox practitioners terribly dangerous) dogma which suggested that in order to truly understand the universe a mystic must be “dualist” and acquire the knowledge of both paths.
Not every Black Lodge is about personal gain. There are lodges which with genuine energy and devotion serve the cause of power and glory, but of things or causes which are not considered to be gainful to the overall advancement of the evolution of the human mind and psyche.
“Black Lodges” versus “Enemy Lodges”
The concept of the "Black Lodge" or something very like it seems to go back to Bulwer Lytton, and the Masonic thriller "Zanoni." Since then occult fiction has tended to present a well ordered network of “Black Lodges” which fight ruthlessly against “White Lodges.” Often they are presented as powerless to act against White fraters and sorors, which leaves one to wonder why they are feared and effective. However, Dion Fortune admits “By either route he can rise upon the planes.”
The concept of a vast array of well ordered and ranked Black Lodges waiting to do combat with the forces of light is as erroneous as the assumption that the vast array of White Lodges – some more informed than others, could be arrayed into any meaningful order of battle. The Esoteric is not a field battle, and its practitioners are not soldiers.
“Black Lodges” do not present an immediate threat to “White Lodges.” They are at worst like many things in the world – drugs, gambling, and heavy drink – stumbling blocks over which the soul must trip again and again on its trip to a more elevated state. Some more centrist groups may not be seen as “Black Lodges” by all White fraters and sorors, and some may be willing to work with more moderate groups or teachers who they see as talented, in hopes (sometimes realized) of influencing them into a more mainstream and acceptable practice.
Overlying the loose networks and affiliations (and quarrels and disagreements) of the White Lodges, there is generally assumed to be some higher brotherhood of Initiates, the mythical “Third Order” which oversees and ensures that no group of Black Brothers grows powerful enough to upset the balance of the world.
Likewise at various times leadership may emerge among Black Lodges, and like all Esoteric orders there is a “feeder” system, with more knowledgeable and capable groups drawing members from a select group of more public and popular groups – much like a major league baseball team draws on its network of “farm clubs” for players. To the typical low-level initiate the shadowy goings on of those “higher level” initiates with outside connections is a source of mystery and fascination that encourages growth.
Occasionally, White and Black Lodge Brothers may struggle over some element, or even attempt to destroy each other. Generally killing high adepts is not very useful. To borrow from a more recent work, the rationale behind this might well be explained by Obi-Wan Kenobi “if you strike me down, I will only become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.” Ultimately striking down members of either path does little to advance ones own. However, followers of the Left-Hand Path are more likely to trade long term misery for short term gains, and therefore are more likely to be the instigators of fatal violence.
An Example from History
The duel of Marquis Stanislas de Guaita and Joseph Antoine Boullan may be a classic example of black lodges. Guita was a practitioner of ritual magic based on his readings of Eliphas Levi, and his disciple Oswald Wirth was a mason and Theosophist. In France in 1887 they infiltrated the Church of the Carmel, a sect led by Joseph Antoine Boullan, a defrocked priest. Boullan's sect was deeply involved in sexual magic, including union with archangels and other supernatural beings "either conjured up in the operator's imagination or represented by another member of the sect.." They are said to have practiced the “Black Mass” and this appears to have been the case – at least they practiced a very perverted version of the Catholic faith. Guita and Wirth told Boullan in 1887 that they had judged him and condemned him. Boullan defended himself with various rituals, many involving his housekeeper Julie Thibaut, Priestess of the Carmel and Apostolic Woman.
While his Carmel cult met many of the criteria for a "black lodge," Boullan accused de Guaita and Wirth of using black magic to try to kill him. The French decadent novelist J.K. Huysmans was a friend of Boullan, and left a record of his side of the struggle. Boullan died in 1893, and Huysmans was convinced that de Guaita had slain him.
Black Magic: Black Magic as practised in mediaeval times may be defined as the use of supernatural knowledge for the purposes of evil, the invocation of diabolic and infernal powers that they may become the slaves and emissaries of man's will; in short, a perversion of legitimate mystic science. This art and its attendant practices can be traced from the time of-the ancient Egyptians and Persians, from the Greeks and Hebrews to the period when it reached its apogee in the Middle Ages, thus forming an unbroken chain; for in mediaeval magic may be found the perpetuation of the popular rites of paganism-the ancient gods had become devils, their mysteries orgies, their worship sorcery. Some historians have tried to trace the areas in Europe most affected by these devilish practices. Spain is said to have excelled all in infamy, to have plumbed the depths of the abyss. The south of France next became a hotbed of sorcery, whence it branched northwards to Paris.
Black Mass: It is known from the confessions of -witches sorcerers that the devil also has mass said at his Sabbath. Pierre Aupetit, an apostate priest of the village of Fossas, in Limousine, was burned for having celebrated the mysteries of the Devil's mass. Instead of speaking the holy words of consecration the frequenters of the Sabbath said: " Beelzebub, Beelzebub, Beelzebub." The devil in the shape of a butterfly, flew round those who were celebrating the mass, and who ate a black host, which they were obliged to chew before swallowing.
Black Pullet, The: A French magical publication supposedly printed in 1740, purporting to be a narrative of an officer who was employed in Egypt. While in Egypt the narrator fell in with a magician to whom he rendered considerable service, and who when he expired left him the secret of manufacturing a black Pullet which had much skill in goldfinding. In it we find much plagiarism from the Coite de Gabalis and the whole work if interesting, is distinctly derivative. It contains many illustrations of talismans and magical rings. The receipt for bringing the black Pullet into existences describes that a black hen should be set to hatch one of its own eggs, and that during the process a hood should be drawn over its eyes so that it cannot see. It is also to be placed in a box lined with black material. The chick thus hatched will have a particular instinct for detecting the places wherein gold is hidden.
Blake, William: (1757-1827) Poet, 'Mystic, Painter and Engraver, is one of the most curious and significant figures in the whole history of English literature, and a man who has likewise exerted a wide influence on the graphic arts. He was born in London on the 28th of November, 1757. It would seem that his parents and other relatives were humble folk, but little is known definitely about the family while their ancestry is a matter of discussion. Mr. W, B. Yeats, who is an ardent devotee of Blake, and has edited his writings, -would have it that the poet was of Irish descent but though it is true that the name Blake is common in Ireland to this day, especially in Galway, Air. Yeats’ contention is not supported by much trustworthy evidence, and it is contradicted by Mr. Martin J. Blake in his genealogical work, Blake Family Records.
Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna: Was born at Ekaterinoslav Russia, on the 31st Of July, 1831. She was the daughter of Colonel Peter Hahn, a, member of a Mecklenburg family settled in Russia. She married, at the age of seventeen Nicephore Blavatsky, a Russian official in Caucasia, a man very much Older than herself.
Her married life was of short duration as she separated from her husband in a few months. The next year or so she occupied chiefly in traveling, Texas Mexico, Canada and India, were each in turn the scene of her wanderings, and she twice attempted to enter Tibet on one occasion she managed to cross its frontier in disguise but lost her way, and after various adventures was found by a body of horsemen and escorted homewards. The period between 1848 and 1858, she described as the " veiled" time of her life, refusing to divulge anything that happened to her in these tell years, save stray allusions to a seven years' stay in Little and Great Tibet, or in a " Himalayan Retreat."
In 1858 she returned to Russia, where she soon 'achieved distinction as a spiritualistic medium. Later on she went to the United States where she remained for six years, and became a naturalised citizen. She became prominent in spiritualistic circles in America about 1870. It was there that she founded her school of Theosophy. The idea occurred to her of combining her spiritualistic control " with Buddhistic legends about Tibetan sages, and she professed to have direct " astral - communication with two Tibetan mahatmas.
With the air of Col. Henry Olcott, she founded in New York, in 1875, the Theosophical Society with a threefold aim: (1) to form a universal brotherhood of man; (2) to study and make known the ancient religions, philosophies and sciences; (3) to investigate the laws of nature and develop the divine powers latent in man. In order to gain converts to Theosophy she was obliged to appear to perform miracles. This she did with a large measure of success, but her " methods " were on several occasions detected as fraudulent.
Nevertheless her commanding personality secured for her a large following, and when she died, in the late 19th century she was at the head of a large body of believers in her teaching, numbering about 100, 000 persons.
Bodin, Jean: a juris consult and student of demonology, who died of the plague in 1596. An Angevin by birth, he studied law in youth and published his Republique, which La Harpe calls " the term of the spirit of law, " but it is his Den~onomanie des Sorciers by which he is known to occultists. In this work he defended sorcery, but propagated numerous errors. By his Colloquium heptaplomeron de abdites rerum sublimium varcanus he aroused very unfavourable opinions regarding his religious views. In it. he discusses in the form of dialogue the theological opinions of Jews, Mussulmans, and deists to the disadvantage of the Christian faith, and although he died a Catholic he professed in his time the tenets of Protestantism, Judaism, sorcery, atheism and deism.
The Demonomanie was published in Paris, in 1581, and again under the title of Fimu des demons el des sarciers at Wirt, in 1616. In its first and second books Bodin demonstrates that spirits have communication with mankind, and traces the various characteristics and forms which distinguish good spirits from evil. He unfolds the methods of diabolic prophecy and communication, and those of evocation of evil existences of pacts with the Devil, of journeys through the air to the sorcerers' Sabbath, of infernal ecstasies, of spells by which one may change himself into a werewolf, and of carnal communion with incubi and succubi. The third book speaks of the manner of preventing the work of sorcerers and obviating their charms and enchantments, and the fourth of the manner in which sorcerers may be known. He concludes his study by refuting the work of John Wier or Wierius (q.v.) who, he asserts, was in error in believing sorcerers to be fools and people of unsound mind, and states that the books of that author should be burned "for the honor of God, "
Sir Walter Scott says: " Bodin, a lively Frenchman, explained the zeal of Wierius to protect the tribe of sorcerers from punishment, by stating that he himself was a conjurer and the scholar of Cornelius Agrippa, and might therefore well desire to save the lives of those accused of the same league with Satan. Hence they threw on their antagonists' the offensive names of witch-patrons and witch-advocates, as if it were impossible for any to hold the opinion of Naudeeus, Wierius, Scot, etc., without patronizing the devil and the witches against their brethren of mortality. Assailed by such heavy charges, the philosophers themselves lost patience, and retorted abuse in their turn, calling Bodin, Delrio, and others who used their arguments, witch-advocates, and the like, as the affirming and defending the existence of the crime seemed to increase the number of witches, and assuredly augmented the list of executions. But for a certain time the preponderance of the argument lay on the side of the Demonologists.
Bohemian Brethren: "Bohemian Brethren" and "Moravian Brethren" are the current popular designation of the Unitas Fratrum founded in Bohemia in 1457, renewed by Count Zinzendorf in 1722, and still active in our own day. Placing life before creeds, the Moravian Church seeks "to exemplify the living Church of Christ constituted or regenerated men and women, while it affords a common meeting-point for Christians who apprehend dogmas variously". Personal faith in the crucified Saviour constitutes the chief foundation for the fellowship thus established. Scripture is the only rule of faith, but "nothing is posited as to the mode of inspiration, for this partakes of the mysteries which it has not pleased God to reveal". The Trinity, the Fall, Original Sin, and "Total Depravity" are admitted, but "discussion about them is shunned". The Love of God manifested in Christ — without theories about the mode — is the centre of Moravian belief and practice. Justification by faith alone and the necessity of regeneration "are posited as facts of personal experience". Sanctifying grace, the need of prayer, and other public means of grace, a complete ritual, a strict discipline, "the orders of the ministry with no conception of the functions of the episcopate", i. e. bishops ordain, but the episcopal office implies no further ruling or administrative power Baptism and the Lord's Supper as the only sacraments, and the common Christian eschatology: Resurrection, Judgment, Heaven, Hell; such are the tenets from which Moravians are expected not to depart, whilst they are allowed to speculate about them on Scriptural lines with entire liberty. History Of The Ancient Unitas Fratrum (1457-1722) The Bohemian Brethren are a link in a chain of sects beginning with Wyclif (1324-84) and coming down to the present day. The ideas of the Englishman found favour with Hus, and Bohemia proved a better soil for their growth than England. Both Wyclif and Hus were moved by a sincere desire to reform the Church of their times; both failed and, without intending it, became the fathers of new heretical bodies — the Lollards and the Hussites. The former were persecuted out of existence in England by Catholic rulers; the latter prospered in Bohemia, thanks to royal and national support. The burning of John Hus at the stake for his stubborn adherence to the condemned doctrines of Wyclif (at Constance, 6 July, 1415) was considered an insult to the faith of the Bohemian nation, which, since its first conversion to Christianity, had never swerved from the truth. The University of Prague came boldly forward to vindicate the man and his doctrines; the party which hitherto had worked at reforming the Church from within now rejected the Church's authority and became the Hussite sect. Divisions at once arose amongst its members. Some completely set aside the authority of the Church and admitted no other rule than the Bible; others only demanded Communion under both kinds for the laity and free preaching of the Gospel, with some minor reforms. The former, who met for worship at "Mount Tabor", were called Taborites; the latter received the name of Calixtinus, i.e., the party of the Chalice. As long as they had a common enemy to fight they fought together under the leadership of that extraordinary man, John Trojanowski, known as Zizka (the one-eyed), and for fully fifteen years proved more than a match for the imperial armies and papal crusaders sent to crush them. Peace was at length obtained, not by force of arms, but by skilful negotiations which resulted in the "Compactata of Basle" (30 November, 1433). The compact was chiefly due to the concessions made by the Calixtine party; it found little or no favour with the Taborites. The discontent led to a feud which terminated at the Battle of Lippau (30 May, 1434) with the death of Procopius, the Taborite leader, and the almost total extinction of this party. The small remnant, too insignificant to play a role in politics, withdrew into private life, devoting all their energies to religion. In 1457 one section formed itself into a separate body under the name of the "Brethren's Union" (Unitas Fratrum), which is now generally spoken of as the Bohemian Brethren. Their contemporaries coined for them several opprobrious designations, such as Jamnici (cave-dwellers) and Pivnicnici (beerhouse men), Bunzlau Brethren, Picards (corrupted to Pickarts), etc.
The originator of the new sect was a certain Gregory, a nephew of the leading Calixtine preacher, Roksana, whose mind was imbued with the conviction that the Roman Church was helplessly and hopelessly corrupt. Gregory therefore decided to found a new Church in accordance with his uncle's and his own ideas of what a perfect Church should be. Through Roksana's influence he obtained leave from the governor George von Podiebrad to organize a community in the village of Kunwald near Senftenberg. Michel, the parish priest of Senftenberg, and Matthias, a farmer of Kunwald, joined Gregory, and soon the community counted several thousand members. Their distinguishing tenets at this early period were rather vague: abolition of all distinctions of rank and fortune, the name of Christian being the one all-sufficient dignity; abolition of oaths, of military service, etc. Governor von Podiebrad kept a vigilant eye on the growing community. In 1461 he had Gregory and several other persons arrested on suspicion of reviving the heresies of the Taborites. The accused admitted that they did not believe in the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, but had partaken of the bread and wine at their nocturnal meetings as common food. They were set free, but, to avoid further interference, Gregory and his companions fled into the Lordship of Reichenau, where they lived hidden in the mountains. There, in 1464, was held a secret assembly consisting of Brethren from Bohemia and Moravia, who accepted as basis of their creed the doctrine that justification is obtained through faith and charity and confers the hope of eternal salvation. The rich were requested to abandon their wealth and worldly pomp and to live in voluntary poverty. The Brethren were to give up private property for the benefit of the Brotherhood. Anyone not observing the brotherhood of faith and practice was to be separated from the community. Meanwhile the persecution continued. The Utraquist (Calixtine) priests refused the Sacrament to the Brethren. These, therefore, were forced to constitute a priesthood of their own belief. A bishop and a number of priests were chosen by lot, and the separation from the Utraquists became an accomplished fact. The head of the Austrian Waldenses, who was believed to have received consecration from a real bishop, gave episcopal orders to the ex-parish priest, Michael, and Michael consecrated his friend, Matthias, bishop and ordained several priests. The new Bishop Matthias of Kunwald then re-ordained his consecrator, to make him a true priest of the Brotherhood. This happened in 1467 at the synod of Lhotka, near Reichenau, where also all those present were re-baptized. The breach with both Catholics and Utraquists was now completed, and the Brethren began to order their community on the model of "the primitive Church". The governing power centred in a council presided over by a judge. Four seniors, or elders, held the episcopal power. The priests had no property and were encouraged to celibacy. The strictest morality and modesty were exacted from the faithful. All acts subservient to luxury were forbidden; oaths and military service were only permitted in very exceptional cases. Public sins had to be publicly confessed, and were punished with ecclesiastical penalties or expulsion. A committee of women watched with relentless severity over the behaviour of their sisters.
A new persecution quickly followed on the synod of Lhotka. The Brethren defended their cause in copious writings, but in 1468 many of them were imprisoned and tortured, one was burnt at the stake. The death of the governor George von Podiebrad in 1471 brought some relief. Brother Gregory died in 1473. From 1480 Lucas of Prague was the leading man. Thanks to him, and to toleration granted the Brethren by King Ladislaus II, the Brotherhood rapidly increased in numbers. By the end of the fifteenth century there were 400 communities. Pope Alexander VI's endeavour to reconvert the Brethren (in 1499) proved futile. About this time an internal feud in the "Unity of Brethren" led to a renewal of persecution. The Amosites, so called from their leader, Brother Amos, accused their more moderate Brethren of fomenting violent opposition to the Government in imitation of their spiritual ancestors, the Taborites. King Ladislaus II thereupon issued a decree prohibiting the meetings of the Brethren under heavy penalties. In many places, however, the decree was left unheeded, and powerful landowners continued to protect the Brotherhood. Once more the king resorted to milder measures. In 1507 he invited the chiefs of the Brethren to meet the Utraquists in conference at Prague. The Brethren sent a few rude, unlettered fellows unable to give answer to the questions of the professors. The king regarded this as an insult and ordered all the meetings of the "Pickarts" to be suppressed, all their books to be burnt, and the recalcitrants to be imprisoned (1508).
The Brethren now began to look for foreign sympathy. Erasmus complimented them on their knowledge of truth, but refused to commit himself further. Luther objected to their doctrine on the Eucharist, to the celibacy of their clergy, to the practice of rebaptizing, and to the belief in seven sacraments. Brother Lucas answered in a sharp pamphlet and, having ascertained the low standard of church discipline among the Lutherans of Wittenberg, ceased all attempts at union. At the same time (1525) Lucas rejected the Zwinglian doctrines which some Brethren were trying to introduce. After the death of Lucas (1528) the government of the Brotherhood passed into the hands of men fond of innovations, among whom John Augusta is the most remarkable. Augusta reopened negotiations with Luther and so modified his creed that it gained the Reformer's approbation, but the union of the two sects was again prevented by the less rigid morals of the Lutherans in Bohemia and Moravia. Augusta pleaded for stricter church discipline, but Luther dismissed him, saying: "Be you the apostle of the Bohemians, I will be the apostle of the Germans. Do as circumstances direct, we will do the same here" (1542). Soon afterwards the Bohemian Estates were requested to join Charles V in his war against the Smalkaldic league. Catholics and old Utraquists obeyed, but the Bohemian Protestants, having met in the house of Brother Kostka, established a kind of provisional government composed of eight members, four of whom belonged to the Brotherhood, and appointed a general to lead the armed rebels into Saxony against the emperor. Charles's victory over the Smalkaldians at Muhlberg (1547) left the rebels no choice but to submit to their king, Ferdinand I. The Brethren, who had been the chief instigators of the rebellion, were now doomed to extinction. John Augusta and his associate, Jacob Bilek, were cast into prison; the Brethren's meetings were interdicted throughout the whole kingdom; those who refused to submit were exiled. Many took refuge in Poland and Prussia (1578); those who remained in the country joined, at least pro forma, the Utraquist party. Owing to Maximilian II's leniency and Protestant propensities, the Bohemian diet of 1575 could draw up the "Bohemian Confession of Faith" in which the principles of the Brethren find expression along with those of the Lutherans. Under Rudolph II (1584) persecution was again resorted to, and lasted with more or less intensity down to 1609, when Rudolph's Charter granted the free exercise of their religion to all Protestants. No sooner, however, did external oppression relent than internal dissension broke out in the Protestant ranks. The Consistory, composed of Lutherans and Brethren, was unable to maintain peace and union between the two parties. Ferdinand II, after his victory over the rebellious Bohemians at the white Mountain near Prague (1620), offered them the choice between Catholicism and exile. Many Brethren emigrated to Hungary, but a greater number to northern Poland, where they settled in Lissa (now in Prussian Posen). Even to this day there are in that district seven communities calling themselves Brethren, although their confession of faith is the Helvetic. In Prussian Silesia there are also three communities of Brethren claiming descent from the Bohemian Brotherhood.
The Bohemian Brethren And England
During the reign of Maximillian II and Rudolph II the Bohemian Brethren enjoyed a period of prosperity which allowed them to establish relations with younger Protestant churches. They sent students to Heidelberg and one at least to Oxford. In 1583 "Bernardus, John, a Moravian", was allowed to supply B.D. He had studied theology for ten years in German universities and was now going to the universities of Scotland. This Bernardus, however, has left no trace but the entry in the Register of Oxford just quoted. The man who brought the Brotherhood prominently before the Anglican Church was Johann Amos, of Comna, generally known as Comenius. As a scholar and educationist he was invited by his English friends to assist in improving the state and administration of the universities, then under consideration in Parliament. The outbreak of the Civil War brought all these plans to naught, and Comenius returned to Germany in 1642. His influence in England allowed him to set on foot several collections for his severely persecuted church in Poland: the first three were failures, but the fourth, authorized by Cromwell, produced £5,900, of which sum Cambridge University contributed £56. This was in 1658-59. Intercourse with the Anglican Church was kept up uninterruptedly until the remnants of the ancient Brotherhood had dwindled away and been swallowed up by other Evangelical confessions. When the renewed Brotherhood was established in England it benefited by the memory of former friendly relations.
HISTORY OF THE RENEWED BROTHERHOOD
Persecution from without and dissension within wellnigh brought about the total extinction of the Bohemian Brethren. The small but faithful remnant was, however, destined to blossom into a new and vigorous religious body under the name of Moravian Brethren. The founder and moulder of this second Unitas Fratrum was the pious and practical Count Zinzendorf (b. 1700, d. 1760). In 1722 the Lutheran Pastor Rothe, of Berthelsdorf in Upper Lusatia, introduced to the Count, from whom he held his living, a Moravian carpenter named Christian David. This man had been deputed by his co-religionists to look out for a concession of land where they could freely practise their religion. Zinzendorf was so far unacquainted with the history and the tenets of the Bohemian Brethren, but in his charity, he granted them the desired land, on the slopes of the Hutberg in the parish of Bertlesdorf. In a short time emigrants from Moravia founded there a colony, call Herrnhut. The colonists worshipped at the Lutheran parish church. Two years later, there arrived from Zauchenthal in Moravia five young men fully conscious of being true members of the old "Bohemian Brotherhood". At once religious quarrels arose, to the annoyance of Count Zinzendorf and his friends. The count was not slow in perceiving that the colonists, all simple labourers and craftsmen, were more concerned with church discipline and Christian rules of life than with dogma. Accordingly he set about elaborating a constitution for a community of which religion should be the chief concern and bond of union. He left Dresden and, with the pastor's leave, began to work as a lay catechist among the Brethren at Herrnhut. The community met for their religious services in their own hall where one of the Brethren, either chosen by lot or elected by the assembly, acted as minister. In 1731 they seceded from the parish church and added to their usual services the celebration of the Lord's Supper. They were divided in "choirs" according to age, sex, and calling; each choir was ruled by elders (male and female), pastors, and administrators chosen among its members. The female choirs were distinguished by their dresses. Widows, unmarried young men, and young women formed separate choirs under the supervision of elders. Everything at Herrnhut was controlled by the College of Elders, even matrimony, subject to the sanction of the lot. Provision was made for the poor and the sick, for prayer meetings and so forth. Deacons, acting for the Elders, administered the property accruing to the community from donations. Great care was given to the education of the young, Zinzendorf being anxious to raise a generation that would perpetuate his work. The organization of the renewed Brotherhood was complete in 1731. It bore the stamp of the personality of its founder, a man deeply religious, nurtured in Spencer's Pietism by the two noble ladies who brought him up, and well acquainted with Catholic life from his sojourn in Paris. As soon as the foundations were solidly laid at Herrnhut, Zinzendorf began to think of missionary work. His personal connection with the Danish Court led him to choose the Danish possessions in the West Indies and in Greenland for the field of his labours. His first missionaries were sent out in 1732 and 1733. Feeling, however that as a simple layman he could not well confer missionary powers, he took orders at Tubingen in 1734 and, moreover, received episcopal consecration from the Reformed court-preacher Jablonsky of Berlin, in whose family the Moravian episcopacy, originated in 1467 by a validly ordained Waldensian bishop, had been — or was said to have been — preserved. Persecution was not long in coming. The orthodox Lutherans became the Brethren's bitterest enemies. The Imperial Government in Vienna strongly objected to their propaganda in Bohemia, which caused Austrian subjects to emigrate and sowed discontent in the country. Under imperial pressure the King of Saxony banished Zinzendorf "for ever". The zealous count put his exile to good use.
During the ten years (1737-47) of his absence from Saxony he founded congregations in Holland, England, Ireland, America; new ones also arose in Germany at Herrenhag, Neuwied, Gnadenfrei, Gnadenberg, and Neusatz. Zinzendorf showed a special predilection for the London establishment. In 1750 he fixed his residence in the English capital and from there ruled the whole "Unity of Brethren". But in 1755 he returned to Herrnhut, which now became and remained the centre of the whole administration. To the present day the "Provincial Board of Elders for Germany" occupies Zinzendorf's own house at Berthelsdorf. The finishing touch of the new church system is the liberty enjoyed by those who join it to retain the Lutheran, the Reformed, or the Moravian Confession to which they belonged, and to be placed under the rule of Elders of the same belief. This peculiar feature shows the founder's disregard for dogma and the great value he attached to Christian practice and ecclesiastical discipline. He held that faith and justification could only be found by individuals who were, or became, members of a religious community. However much, in this and in other points, he copied the Catholic Church, yet he was to the end a faithful adherent of the Augsburg Confession and obtained from the Consistory in Dresden an official acknowledgment that the Moravian Brethren were followers of the same faith. He also succeeded after a long struggle in securing for the Brotherhood recognition by the Saxon government. When, regretted by all, he died in 1760, his work and his spirit lived on in the strongly organized body of the "Unity of Brethren". No material changes have taken place since. In 1775 the Brethren, assembled in a synod at Barby, adopted the following statement of principles: "The chief doctrine to which the Church of the Brethren adheres, and which we must preserve as an invaluable treasure committed unto us, is this: That by the sacrifice for sin made by Jesus Christ, and by that alone, grace and deliverance from sin are to be obtained for all mankind. We will, therefore, without lessening the importance of any other article of the Christian faith, steadfastly maintain the following five points: (1) The doctrine of the universal depravity of man: that there is no health in man, and that, since the Fall he has no power whatever left to help himself. (2) The doctrine of the Divinity of Christ: that God, the Creator of all things, was manifest in the flesh, and reconciled us to Himself; that He is before all things and that in Him all things exist. (3) The doctrine of the atonement and satisfaction made for us by Jesus Christ: that He was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification and that by His merits alone we receive freely the forgiveness of sin, faith in Jesus and sanctification in soul and body. (4) The doctrine of the Holy Spirit and the operation of His grace: that it is He who worketh in us conviction of sin, faith in Jesus, and pureness in heart. (5) The doctrine of the fruits of faith: that faith must evidence itself by willing obedience to the commandment of God, from love and gratitude."
Faith in the Redemption and entire surrender of self to Christ (with Whom in 1741 a spiritual covenant was made) are held to be the very essence of religion. The will of Christ was ascertained by casting of lots as the final sanction in case of marriage (until 1820), in the election of superiors (until 1889), etc. Zinzendorf ruled as bishop over all the communities, both in Europe and America, but since his death the episcopal office has remained a mere title. In 1857 the British and American Unity became independent; the only bond of union being now the General Synod held once every ten years.
THE MORAVIANS IN ENGLAND
The beginnings of the Brethren's Church in England are an interesting chapter in the commerce of thought between Germany and that country. The German dynasty on the English throne had attracted a strong colony of their countrymen; towards the middle of the eighteenth century London alone numbered from 4000 to 5000 Germans among its inhabitants. These would naturally be in sympathy with the Brethren. But the "Religious Societies" founded by Doctor Smithies, curate of St. Giles, and Dr. Horneck, of the Lower Palatinate, together with the writings of William Law-the father of the religious revival of the eighteenth century-had prepared the minds of many Englishmen for stronger spiritual food than that offered by the established religion. Horneck was a German Pietist, and William Law, in his "Serious Call", sets up a standard of perfection little short of Catholic monasticism. John Wesley, who confesses that he was stimulated into activity by William Law, at first sought satisfaction of his spiritual cravings in the Moravian Brotherhod. He, with three other Oxford Methodists, met the Moravian Bishop Nitschmann and twenty Brethren at Gravesend, where they were waiting for the vessel that was to carry them all to Georgia (1736). The Englishmen were favourably impressed with the religious fervour of the Germans, and a fruitful friendship sprang up between them. As early as 1728 Zinzendorf had sent to England a deputation headed by the Moravian Johann Toltschig "to tell such as were not blinded by their lusts, but whose eyes God had opened, what God had wrought". Countess Sophia von Schaumburg-Lippe, Lady-in-Waiting at the English Court, used her influence in their behalf, but was unable to counteract the opposition of the Lutheran court-chaplain Ziegenhagen. The embassy had little or no result. Other visits followed at intervals, most of them by missionaries and emigrants on their way to America. On the occasion of such a visit Zinzendorf himself induced some young people to form a society for the reading of the Bible, mutual edification, abstention from theological controversy, brotherly love, etc. It was the first step towards realizing his ideals in England. The next step was Peter Boehler's zealous preaching to the "religious societies" and the working classes.
It was Boehler who founded the religious society in Fetter Lane of which John Wesley became a member, and for which he framed most of the rules; it seems also due to the influence of Boehler that John and Charles Wesley "found conversion" (June, 1738), yet not a conversion exactly of the Moravian type. A visit of John Wesley to the German centres made it clear that the Brotherhood had no room for two men like Zinzendorf and Wesley, both being born leaders of men, but having little else in common. Little by little Wesley became estranged from the Brethren, and his former friendship turned to open hostility (12 November, 1741), according to Wesley's journal). At a meeting in Fetter Lane Wesley accused the Brethren of holding false doctrines and left the hall exclaiming: "Let those who agree with me follow me." Some eighteen or nineteen of the members went out after him, the rest called upon the Brethren to be their leaders. Thus a religious society of the Church of England became a society of the Brethren. After their rupture with Wesley the Brethren began to work on their own account in England. Professor Spangenberg organized the young church with rare talent, and its activity spread far and wide in the provinces, even to Scotland and Ireland, but their success was greatest in Yorkshire. They also came in for some persecution from people who still confused them with the Methodists. The legal status of the Brotherhood was now to be determined. They did not wish to be classed as Dissenters, which would at once have severed them from the Anglican Church, and, on the other hand, the Anglican Church, disowned them because they neither had Anglican orders nor did they use the Book of Common Prayer. Archbishop Potter would grant them no more than the toleration accorded to foreign Protestants. To obtain a license from a Justice of the Peace they had to adopt a name, and Spangenberg decided on "Moravian Brethren, formerly of the Anglican Communion".
This name implied a new denomination and led to the immediate formation of the first congregation of Brethren of English nationality (1742). Zinzendorf greatly objected to the name of Moravians being given to his Brethren whom he considered as an ecclesiola in ecclesiâ, a select small church within a greater one, which might exist in almost any denomination. The proposed designation, "Old Lutheran Protestants", was distasteful to English members. They resolutely clung to the names "United Brethren" and "Moravians" as their official and popular designations, and the "Bill for encouraging the people known by the name of Unitas Fratrum or United Brethren to settle in His Majesty's colonies", passed in 1749, gives official sanction to the old name, recognizes that the Brethren belonged to an "ancient protestant and episcopal Church", and maintains their connection with Germany.
BEGINNINGS OF THE MORAVIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA
In 1734 Zinzendorf obtained for thirty families of banished Schwenkfelders (adherents of Kaspar von Schwenkfeld) a home in Georgia which had just been carved out of the Carolina grant "to serve as an asylum for insolvent debtors and for persons fleeing from religious persecution". These exiles, however, found it preferable to join an older colony in Pennsylvania. The Brethren now conceived the plan of securing for themselves in Georgia a home of refuge in time of persecution. The governor general, Oglethorpe, granted them 500 acres, and Spangenberg, the negotiator, received a present of 50 acres for himself, a part of the site on which the city of Savannah now stands. The first eleven immigrants reached Savannah 17 April, 1734, led by Spangenberg. Bishop Nitschmann brought over another twenty, 7 February, 1736. The work of evangelizing and colonizing was at once vigorously taken in hand and carried on with more courage than success. The climate, wars, enmities from within and without, checked the growth and cramped the organization of the Brotherhood.
Boehme, Jakob: (1575-1624): A highly respected German Mystic and philosopher. The name of this illustrious mystic and philosopher, who has excited so wide and lasting an influence, is sometimes spelt Beem or Behm, Behinon or Behinont, while commoner still is the form used at the head of this article; but it is probable that Jakob's name was really Bohme, for that spelling savours far more of bygone Germany than any of the multifarious others do. Born in 1575, at Altsteidenberg, in Upper Lusatia, the philosopher came of humble peasant stock, and accordingly his education consisted in but a brief sojourn at the village school of Seidenberg, about a mile from his own home, while the greater part of his childhood was spent in tending his father's flocks on the grassy sides of a mountain, known as the Landskrone. This profession doubtless appealed to a boy of speculative and introspective temperament, but betimes it transpired that Jakob was not strong enough physically to make a good shepherd, and consequently he left home at the age of thirteen, going to seek his fortune at Gorlitz, the nearest town of any size.
To this day Gorlitz is famous for its shoemakers, while in Boehme's time it was a very centre and stronghold of the cobbling industry; so it was to a cobbler that the boy -went first in search of employment, and very soon he had found what he wanted. Unfortunately, the few authentic records of his career offer little information concerning his early years, but apparently he prospered tolerably well, it being recorded that in 1608 he became a master-shoemaker, and that soon afterwards he was married to Katharina, daughter of Hans Kantzschmann, a butcher. The young couple took a house near the bridge in Neiss Voistadt -their dwelling is still pointed out to the tourist-and some years later Boehme sought to improve his business by adding gloves to his stock in trade, a departure which sent him periodically to Prague to acquire consignments of the goods in question. It is likely that Boehme began to write soon after becoming a master-cobbler, if not even at an earlier period, but it was not till he was approaching forty that his gifts became known and appreciated.
About the year 1612, he composed a philosophical treatise, Aurora, Odey die Alloy-un Aufgang, and, though this was not printed till much later, manuscript copies were passed from hand to hand, the result being that the writer soon found himself the center of a local circle of thinkers and scholars, many of them people far above him in the social scale. These did not say that the cobbler should stick to his last, but realised that his intellect was an exceptionally keen one; and Boehme would no doubt have proceeded to print and publish his work but for an unfortunate occurrence, just that occurrence which has always been liable to harass the man of bold and original mind. In short, a charge of heresy was brought against him by the Lutheran Church; he was loudly denounced from the pulpit by Gregorius Richter, pastor primarius of Gorlitz, and anon, the town council, fearing to contend with the omnipotent ecclesiastical authorities, took possession of the original manuscript of Boehme's work, and bade the unfortunate author desist from writing in the meantime. So far as can be ascertained, he obeyed instructions for a little while, perhaps fearing the persecution which would await him if he did otherwise, but by 1618 he was busy again, compiling polemical and expository treatises; while in 1622, he wrote certain short pieces on repentance, resignation, and the like.
These last were the only things from his pen which were published in book form during his lifetime, and with his consent, nor were they of a nature likely to excite clerical hostility; but a little later Boehme circulated a less cautious theological work, Der Weg zu Chrisla, and this was the signal for a fresh outburst of hatred on the part of the church, Richter storming from his pulpit once again. The philosopher, however, contrived to go unscathed, and, during a brief sojourn at Dresden, he had the pleasure of listening to sundry orations made in his praise by some of his admirers, whose number was now greatly increased. But Boehme was not destined to survive this triumph long, for, struck down by fever at Dresden, he was carried with great difficulty to his home at Gorlitz, and there he died in 1624, his wife being absent at the time Boehme, 's literary output divides itself easily and naturally into three distinct sections, and indeed he himself observed this, and drew up a sort of specification wherein he virtually indicated his successive aims.
Alchemist or not himself, Boehme's writings demonstrate that he studied Paracelsus closely, while they also reflect the influence of Valentine Weigel, and of the earliest protestant mystic, Kaspar Schwenhfeld. Nor was it other than natural that the latter should appeal keenly to the philosopher of Gorlitz, he too being essentially a stout Protestant, and having little or nothing in common with the mystics of other forms of Christianity. That is to say, he is seldom or never dogmatic, but always speculative, true Teuton that he was; while his writings disclose none - of those religious ecstasies which fill the pages of Santa Theresa, and he never talks of holding converse with spirits or angels, or with bygone saints; he never refers to miracles worked on his behalf, practically the one exception being a passage where he tells how, when a shepherd boy on the Landskrone, he was vouchsafed an apparition of a pail of gold.
At the same time, he seems to have felt a curious and constant intimacy with the invisible world, he appears to have had a strangely perspicacious vision of the Urgyund, as he calls it, which is, being literally translated, primitive cause; and it was probably his gift in these particular ways, and the typically German clearness with which he sets down his ideas and convictions, which chiefly begot his vast and wide influence over subsequent people inclined to mysticism. Throughout the latter half of the seventeenth century, his works were translated into a number of different languages, and found a place in the library of nearly every broadminded English theologian; while they proved a great and acknowledged source of inspiration to William Law, the author of Christian Perfection and A Serious Call to a Devout Life. Since then, various religious bodies, regarding Boehme as their high priest, have been founded in Great Britain and in Holland; while in America, too, the sect known as Philadelphians owe their dominant tenets to the mystic of Gorlitz.
Boniface VIII: Pope, who gained an unenviable notoriety in Dante's Inferno has been regarded by many as an exponent of the black art, and so romantic are the alleged magical circumstances connected with him that they are worthy of repetition. Boniface, a noted juris consult, was born at Anagni, about 1228, and was elected Pope in 1294. He was a sturdy protagonist of papal supremacy, and before he had been seated two years on the throne of St. Peter he quarreled seriously with Phillippe le Bel, King of France, whom he excommunicated. This quarrel originated in the determination ot the king to check in his own dominions the power and insolence of the church and the ambitious pretensions of the see of Rome. In 1303, Phillippe's ministers and a 'gents, having collected, pretended evidence in Italy, boldly accused Boniface of heresy and sorcery, and the king called a council at Paris to hear witnesses and pronounce judgment. The pope resisted, and refused to acknowledge a council not called by himself; but the insults and outrages to which he was exposed proved too much for him, and he died the same year, in the midst of these vindictive proceedings. His enemies spread abroad a report, that in his last moments he had confessed his league with the demon, and that his death was attended with " so much thunder and tempest, with dragons flying in the air and vomiting flames, and such lightning and other prodigies, that the people of Rome believed that the whole city was going to be swallowed up in the abyss." His successor, Benedict X1. undertook to defend his memory but he died in the first year of his pontificate (in 1304), it was said by poison, and the holy see remained vacant during eleven months. In the middle of June, 1305, a Frenchman, the archbishop of Bordeaux, was elected to the papal chair under the title of Clement V.
It was understood that Clement was raised to the papacy in a great measure by the king's influence, who is said to have stipulated as one of the conditions, that he should allow of the proceedings against Boniface, which were to make his memory infamous. Preparations were again made to carry on the trial of Boniface, but the king's necessities compelled him to seek other boons of the supreme pontiff, in consideration of which he agreed to drop the prosecution, and at last, in 1312, Boniface was declared in the council of Vienne, innocent of all the offences with which he had been charged.
If we may place any faith at all in the witnesses who were adduced against him, Boniface was at bottom a freethinker, - who concealed under the mitre the spirit of mockery which afterwards shone forth in his countryman Rabelais, and that in moments of relaxation, especially among those with whom he was familiar, he was in the habit of speaking in bold - even in cynical - language, of things which the church regarded as sacred. Persons were brought forward who deposed to having heard expressions from the lips of the pope, which, if not invented or exaggerated, savour of infidelity, and even of atheism. Other persons deposed that it was commonly reported in Italy, that Boniface had communication with demons, to whom he offered his worship, whom he bound to his service by necromancy, and by whose agency be acted. They said further, that he had been heard to hold conversation with spirits in the night; that he had a certain " idol, " in which a " diabolical spirit " was enclosed, whom he was in the habit of consulting; while others said he had a demon enclosed in a ring which he wore on his finger. The witnesses in general spoke of these reports only as things which they had heard; but one a friar, brother Bernard de Sorano, deposed, that when Boniface was a cardinal, and held the oftice of notary to Nicholas III., he lay with the papal army before the castle of Puriano, and he (brother Bernard) was sent to receive the surrender of the castle. He returned with the cardinal to Viterbo, where he was lodged in the palace Late one night, as he and the cardinal's chamberlain were looking out of the window of the room he occupied they saw Benedict of Gaeta (which was Boniface’s name before he was made pope) enter a garden adjoining the palace, alone, and in a mysterious manner. He made a circle on the ground with a sword, and placed himself in the middle, having with him a cock, and a fire in an earthen pot (in quadans olla terrea). Having seated himself in the middle of the circle, he killed the cock and threw ' its blood in the fire, from which smoke immediately issued, while Benedict read in a certain book to conjure demons, Presently brother Bernard heard a great noise (rumorem magnum) and was much terrified. Then he could distinguish the voice of some one saying, " Give us the share, " upon which Benedict took the cock throw it out of the garden, and walked away without uttering a word. Though he met several persons on his way, he spoke to nobody, but proceeded immediately to a chamber near that of brother Bernard, and shut himself up. Bernard declared that, though he knew there was nobody in the room with the cardinal, he not only heard him talking all night, but he could distinctly perceive a strange voice answering him.
Bors, Bohors or Boort: One of King Arthur's knights. He was associated with Sir Galahad and Lancelot in their search for the Holy Grail. He is the hero of many magical adventures, one of which we relate. During the quest for the Holy Grail, a damsel offers him her love, which he refuses; and she, with twelve other damsels, thereupon threatens to throw herself from a tower. Bors, though of a kindly disposition, thinks they had better lose their souls than his. They fall from the tower, Bors crosses himself, and the whole vanishes, being a deceit of the devil. After the quest is ended Boys comes to Camelot; he relates his adventures, which it is said were written down and kept in the Abbey of Salisbury.
Botanomancy: A method of divination by means of burning the branches of vervain and brier, upon which were carved the questions of the practitioner.
Bottle Messages: After the liner S.S. Waratah vanished off the South African coast in July, 1909, with 211 persons aboard, five bottle messages were found washed ashore. All proved to be hoaxes.
"Every shipwreck, or any other catastrophe, brings out merrymakers, " wrote Charles Fort. "The tragedy of the Waratah was enjoyed a long time. More than thirteen years later (November 21, 1922) another bottle, said to be a hoax, was found near Cape Town. Still, I am affected just the other way, and am taking on a new pessimism.
"Heretofore, I have thought cheerfully of bottles. But there's a depression from anything, once the humorists get ahold of it. I wonder how comes it that nobody has reported finding an old bottle, and in it a sea captain's account of an impending mutiny, signed 'Christopher Columbus.' "
Columbus actually did place a message in a wooden cask off the West Indies in 1493, according to his ship's log. It simply described the fears of his men as their ship was being violently tossed about in a hurricane. But it's unlikely that a cask would, remain on the surface for centuries.
A Soviet fisherman found a small watertight container while in the Russian Arctic. The message inside, written in both English and Norwegian, 'read: "Five ponies and 150 dogs remaining. Desire hay, fish and 30 sledges. Must return early in August. Baffled." The message had been written by Evelyn Baldwin, the polar explorer, and had drifted in the water for forty - five years. The Baldwin expedition, however, had come through safely, and the explorer died of natural causes in 1933.
Bottle Imps: A class of German spirits, similar in many ways to Familiars. The following is the prescription of an old alchymist, given by the Bishop of Dromore in his Relics of Ancient Poetry, for the purpose of securing one of these fairies. First, take a broad square crystal or Venetian glass, about three inches in breadth and length. Lay it in the blood of a white hen on three Wednesdays or three Fridays. Then take it and wash it with holy water and fumigate it. Then take three hazel sticks a year old; take the bark off them; make them long enough to write on them the name of the fairy or spirit whom you may desire three times on each stick, which must be flat on one side. Bury them under some hill haunted by fairies on the Wednesday before you call her; and on the Friday following dig them out, and call her at eight, or three, or ten o'clock, which are good times for this purpose. In order to do so successfully one must be pure, and face toward the East. When you get her, tip her to the glass.
Bourru: A monkish apparition spoken of in many tales as that of an imaginary phantom which appears to th( Parisians, walking the streets in the darkest hours of the night, and glancing in at the windows of timid folk passing and re - passing a number of times. Nurses are wont to frighten their small charges with the Monk Bourru. The origin of the spectre is unknown.
Brahan Seer, The: Coinneach. Odhar - (Kenneth Ore). Although Coinneach Odhar is still spoken of and believed in as a seer throughout the Highlands, and especially in the county of Ross and Cromarty, his reputation is of comparatively recent growth. The first literary reference to him was made by Hugh Miller in his Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland (1835). About half a century later a collection of the Seer's predictions was published by the late Mr. Alexander Mackenzie, Inverness, the author of several clan histories. Many of these alleged foretellings are of a trivial character. The most important prophecies attributed to Coinneach (Kenneth) are those which refer to the house of Seaforth Mackenzies. One, which is supposed to have been uttered in the middle of the seventeenth century, foretold that the last of the Seaforths would be deaf. It was uttered at Brahan Castle, the chief seat of the Seaforths, near Dingwall, after the seer had been condemned to death by burning, by Lady Seaforth for some offensive remark. He declared to her ladyship that he would go to heaven, but she would never reach it. As a sign of this he declared that when he was burned a raven and a dove would hasten towards his ashes. If the dove was the first to arrive it would be proved his hope was well founded. The same legend is attached to the memory of Michael Scott - a rather suggestive fact. According to tradition, Kenneth was burned on Chanonry Point, near Fortrose. No record survives of this event. The first authentic evidence regarding the alleged seer, was unearthed by Mr. William M. Mackenzie, editor of Barbour's Bruce, who found among the Scottish Parliamentary records of the sixteenth century an order, which was sent to the Ross - shire authorities, to prosecute several wizards, including Coinneach Odhar. This was many years before there was a Seaforth. It is quite probable that Kenneth was burned, but the legendary cause of the tale must have been a " filling in " of late tradition. Kenneth's memory apparently had attached to it many floating policies and sayings including those attributed to Thomas and Michael Scott. The sayings of " True Thomas " were hawked through the Highlands in Gaelic chap books, and so strongly did the bard appeal to the imaginations of the eighteenth century folks of Inverness, that they associate him with the Fairies and Fingallians (Fians) of the local fairy mound, Tom - na - hurich. A Gaelic saying runs, " When the horn is blown, True Thomas will come forth."
Thomas took the place of Fingal (Finn or Fionn) as chief of the " Seven Sleepers " in Tom - na - hurich, Inverness. At Cromarty, which was once destroyed by the sea, Thomas is alleged to have foretold that it would be thrice destroyed.' Of course, the Rhymer was never in Cromarty and probably knew nothing about it. As he supplanted Fingal at Inverness, so at Cromarty he appear~, to have supplanted some other legendary individual. The only authentic historical fact which remains is that Coinneach Odhar was - a notorious wizard, and of mature years, in the middle of the sixteenth century. Wizards were not necessarily seers. It is significant that no reference is made to Kenneth in the lett, ers received by Pepys from Lord Reay, regarding second - sight in the seventeenth century, or in the account of Dr. Johnson's Highland tour, although the learned, doctor investigated the problem sympathetically.
In the Scottish Highlands no higher compliment could be paid to the memory of any popular man than to attribute to him the gift of "second sight." Rev. John Morrison, minister of Petty, near Inverness, who was a bard, was one of the reputed seers of this order. Many of his "wonderful sayings " were collected long after his death. Rev. Dr. Kennedy, a Dingwall Free Church minister, and a man of strong personality and pronounced piety, is reputed to have had not only the " gift of prophecy " but also the gift of healing." Ile was himself a believer in " second sight " and stated that his father was able to foretell events. In his The Days of the Fathers in Ross - shire (1861), he makes reference to several individuals who were similarly gifted " with what he believed to be a God - given power. One of his seers was reputed to have foretold the " Disruption " of the Church of Scotland about sixteen years before the event took place. By this time the seers had acquired the piety of the people who believed in them. Even the notorious Kenneth, the Brahan seer a Pagan and a wizard, became glorified by doubtful tradition, like the notorious Michael Scott, one of his prototypes.
References to second sight in the Highlands are made in the following publications: Kirk's Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies; Martin's Western Isles of Scotland; Dewerosophia (Second Knowledge) or a Brief Discourse concerning Second Sight by Rev. John Frazer (Edinburgh, Ruddiman, Aned and Co, 1763), Miscellanies by John Aubrey, F.R.S (London, 1696). That there is sufficient evidence to justify the serious investigation of " Second sight " phenomena in the Scottish Highlands, no doubt can remain. But that is no reason why the " Brahan Seer " legends should be accepted as genuine, especially when it is found that Kenneth died before the Seaforth branch of the Mackenzies came into existence. Whoever foretold the fall of that house, it was certainly not the " notorious wizard " of the Scottish Parliamentary records. No doubt, Kenneth made himself notorious by tyrannizing over a superstitious people in the sixteenth century, and was remembered on that account. During his lifetime he must have been credited with many happenings supposed to have been caused by his spells. After his death he gathered an undeserved reputation for prophecy and piety by the snowball process - a not unfamiliar happening in the past of the Scottish Highlands, where Sir William Wallace, St. Patrick, St. Bean, and others were reputed to have been giants who flung glaciated boulders from hilltop to hilltop across wide glens and over lochs of respectable dimensions.
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PART 3
https://exploringrealhistory.blogspot.com/2020/12/part-3-encyclopedia-of-ancient-and.html
British National Association of Spiritualists
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