DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55699#0179
ROME.
143
burn and glow, his throat turn dry for anger. " After
sundry examinations/’ continues he, “ the Cardinal of
Sanger was first brought unto us, with a pair of iron
shackles on his feet, and a short mantle about him, be-
cause it was a cold and windy prison who, when he came
to the end of the cellar, and saw above him ropes hang-
ing, where he should be racked, and was by waiters
stripped out of his apparel, leaving him scarcely his shirt
on, and bound very hard to the rack, Francis, the pope’s
nephew, stood by and laughed at this miserable spectacle
without all measure 5 but I, that loved this cardinal of
old, was sore grieved thereat, but I could not depart the
place. But, to be short, the said cardinal was an aged
man, of a corpulent body, comely and tall of stature, and
being bound, he was thence lifted up from the ground
by the strong pulling of those that racked him ■, so that
he waxed very feeble, which, when I beheld, when he
was let go to the ground again, I said to him softly, ‘ O
dear father, do you not see how your blood is sought
for ? I beseech you, foi' God’s sake, confess some-
thing to deliver yourself from these tormentors.’ He an-
swered, ‘ I cannot tell what I shall say 5 ’ and when they
would have racked him again I bad them cease, ‘ for he
hath satisfied me,’ said I, ‘ as I will certify the pope in
writing 5 ’ and so they loosed him, and carried him out to
take air.” The persecution of these churchmen by the
father of Christendom did not end till they fell martyrs
to his vengeance 5 and the anecdote is valuable, as show-
ing in how fearless a manner- the heads of the Romish
church indulged their private feelings, even on those who
formed the prime support of their state.
143
burn and glow, his throat turn dry for anger. " After
sundry examinations/’ continues he, “ the Cardinal of
Sanger was first brought unto us, with a pair of iron
shackles on his feet, and a short mantle about him, be-
cause it was a cold and windy prison who, when he came
to the end of the cellar, and saw above him ropes hang-
ing, where he should be racked, and was by waiters
stripped out of his apparel, leaving him scarcely his shirt
on, and bound very hard to the rack, Francis, the pope’s
nephew, stood by and laughed at this miserable spectacle
without all measure 5 but I, that loved this cardinal of
old, was sore grieved thereat, but I could not depart the
place. But, to be short, the said cardinal was an aged
man, of a corpulent body, comely and tall of stature, and
being bound, he was thence lifted up from the ground
by the strong pulling of those that racked him ■, so that
he waxed very feeble, which, when I beheld, when he
was let go to the ground again, I said to him softly, ‘ O
dear father, do you not see how your blood is sought
for ? I beseech you, foi' God’s sake, confess some-
thing to deliver yourself from these tormentors.’ He an-
swered, ‘ I cannot tell what I shall say 5 ’ and when they
would have racked him again I bad them cease, ‘ for he
hath satisfied me,’ said I, ‘ as I will certify the pope in
writing 5 ’ and so they loosed him, and carried him out to
take air.” The persecution of these churchmen by the
father of Christendom did not end till they fell martyrs
to his vengeance 5 and the anecdote is valuable, as show-
ing in how fearless a manner- the heads of the Romish
church indulged their private feelings, even on those who
formed the prime support of their state.