applied to the Holy See for assistance against these formidable
and heretical excesses, which had well-nigh destroyed the
influence of the clergy in every place; when a hundred of the
Brotherhood of the Cross arrived at Avignon from Basle, and
desired admission. The Pope, regardless of the intercession of
several cardinals, interdicted their public penance, which he had
not authorised; and, on pain of excommunication, prohibited
throughout Christendom the continuance of these pilgrimages.
Philip VI., supported by the condemnatory judgment of the
Sorbonne, forbade their reception in France. Manfred, King of
Sicily, at the same time threatened them with punishment by death;
and in the East they were withstood by several bishops, among whom
was Janussius, of Gnesen, and Preczlaw, of Breslau, who condemned
to death one of their Masters, formerly a deacon; and, in
conformity with the barbarity of the times, had him publicly
burnt. In Westphalia, where so shortly before they had venerated
the Brothers of the Cross, they now persecuted them with
relentless severity; and in the Mark, as well as in all the other
countries of Germany, they pursued them as if they had been the
authors of every misfortune.

The processions of the Brotherhood of the Cross undoubtedly
promoted the spreading of the plague; and it is evident that the
gloomy fanaticism which gave rise to them would infuse a new
poison into the already desponding minds of the people.

Still, however, all this was within the bounds of barbarous
enthusiasm; but horrible were the persecutions of the Jews, which
were committed in most countries, with even greater exasperation
than in the twelfth century, during the first Crusades. In every