and favorite book, as is proved by the great number of editions down to 1528. They are a mixed collection, dating from the end of the fifteenth century, relating to Germany and particularly to the Netherlands, and are not the work of any single man.

A Lollard praying-brother, named Reinhardt, published a book on "The Great Tribulations," introducing the Sibyls and Brigitta, and predicting great bloodshed among the clergy in the time of the Emperor Maximilian. Luther, who re-published the Lichtenberger book in 1527, remarked in the preface that since the war of the Peasants in 1525 the minds of the clergy had been at rest, as they believed that the Lichtenberger prophecies had been fulfilled, and that the danger was over.

There had been for some time a general feeling of anxiety among the German clergy in regard to the impending catastrophe; it was felt that among all classes of the nation there was great hatred and contempt of the class whose morals were so debased and whose system was so thoroughly corrupt. Two South-German priests, Wolfgang Aytinger in Augsburg, and Joseph Grünpeckh in Ratisbon, gave utterance to this anxious foreboding, the former in the year 1496, in a commentary on Metho

dius; the latter in the year 1508, in a "Mirror of Vision," whose title-page exhibited a church falling in the midst of flames. While Aytinger attributed the chief guilt to the profligate condition of the Roman Curia, which he says had become an alldestroying hellish abyss, Grünpeckh declared that for years there had been an expectation of an approaching tempest, which was to burst over Church and clergy, throughout all Germany. Wherever men, women and children assembled, there it was said, "The clergy is shortly to be attacked." Such prophecies were spread among the people, partly by pious and well-meaning persons, who, in spite of some divine illumination, were yet narrow-minded, and partly by the malicious, who longed for the spoils of the ecclesiastical property. Grünpeckh thought that a more fatal corruption than that prevalent in the Church could hardly be imagined; still he warned the laity not to rejoice too much over the threatened visitation upon the priests, since they too must at last drink the dregs and poison of the cup given to the clergy. Another priest, John Hagen, & dean of St.

1 Tractatus super Methodium, (Augsburg, 1496).

3

2 Speculum naturalis, celestis et prophetic visionis. Nuremberg,

1508.

3 Johannis ab Indagine Zuschrift, etc., in the Neue Beiträge von theologischen Sachen. 1752, p. 456-477.

Leonard's in Frankfort, spoke still more plainly. He predicted, as the result of his astrological studies, a great revolution in the Church, and the exposure and humiliation of the arrogant clergy. "There is good reason why we clergy should be the object of universal hatred; we deserve it."

Fear, grief and bitterness gave origin to many a prophecy in Germany, after the middle of the fifteenth century. The disaffection of the clergy itself was as great as that of the laity, since the Papal Chair had disappointed all the hopes of Church renovation, founded on the Council of Basle. One such prophetic voice from the clergy was ascribed to the most renowned German theologian of his time, Henry of Langenstein (commonly called Henry of Hesse), although it was of later origin. It charged with simony every pope and every bishop since Nicolas III. (1277), and promised a reformation of the Romish Church by means of the Germans, the French and their Emperor. 1

The feeling constantly grew stronger, that though help for the Church must in general come from the laity, it must above all come from a pious emperor. It was even reported that Christ said to St. Brigitta : "The king (for whom she had just been praying)

1 Denis, Codices MS. theologici Biblioth. Vindob., p. 1572.

shall assemble wise and religiously-enlightened men, and consult with them how the fallen walls of the Church can be rebuilt, the clergy be delivered from its pride, and become again humble and modest. verily, my Church has wandered far from me." (Revelationes, 6, 26, p. 436.)

So it came to pass that German prophecies dwelt much upon a pope who was to arise in Germany. According to one prophecy, he was first to be appointed by the princes and patriarch of Mayence, and afterwards crowned as pope upon German soil. As Patriarch of the German Church, he would place the crown upon an emperor chosen from the Rhine provinces, then take arms against the emperor with the lilies (the French usurper of the imperial dignity, as Telesphorus had called him), kill him and take possession of Rome. This was proclaimed from the pulpit, in 1409, by John Wünschelburg, a priest of Amberg, that is at the time of the schism, when the thought had sprung up in many a mind whether this schism, brought about by the conflicting claims. of France and Italy for the possession of the Papacy, could not be best adjusted by the election of a German pope.

A work of Bishop Berthold, "The Burden of the 1 Jo. Wolfii, Lectiones Memorab, i., 728.

Church," may be considered as the close and limit of mediæval prophecy. The author's views are those of the Joachimites; he holds to the theory of the seven periods of the Church. His authorities and sources, besides Methodius, are Cyril and the Abbot of Calabria, the canonized prophets Vincens Ferrer, Catharine of Siena, Brigitta, and Hildegarde. As in an impressive way he gives a dark view of the greatness and universality of the degradation of the Church, and holds up a mirror to the Roman Curia as the chief transgressor, so, also, his views and expectations of the immediate future are the darkest that can be imagined. He had no conception of the historical import of Luther's doctrines, and mentions the Lutherans only as a new and mischievous sect. He had no doubt as to the uprooting of the Papal Chair (exterminium), which, however, was to be succeeded by a re-establishment and glorification. He shows plainly how strong at that time, in Germany, was the conviction that the Italian nation, incorporated on its worst side by the Papal Curia, had committed a great political as well as social and religious crime against Germany; and that now both nations, the Italian first, since the year 1510, and the German soon after, must do penance for it in bloody wars and revolutions.

1 "Burden," after Is. xiii., meaning a prophetic utterance.