Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1521-1530.djvu/334

 been one, De Libertate Christiana, which speaks of great things. Luther's whole faith, in short, consists in loving God above all things, and one's neighbor as one's self, and he maintains that so many external ceremonies are tmnecessary because Christ, by His passion, made atonement for every- thing. Luther also alleges many other facts and arguments.

Since our stay at Augsburg two friars have married, one with a nun, the other with a woman of the world (una mon- dana), notwithstanding which they remain friars. The prior of the monastery of St. Dominic has been expelled both from the monastery and the town because he was much opposed to Luther.

698. SIR ROBERT WINGFIELD TO WOLSEY.

Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, iv, no. 1549.

BoLOUKE,^ August 5, 1535.

. . . An Austrian friar at Antwerp, who had preached several times to those of Luther's sect, till he was forbidden in the Emperor's name, continued preaching in the fields, and at last in a boat on the river, and had always escaped, until at last a wait was laid for him by the lords of the town. He was taken in a pair of red hose and a Spanish cap, and soon after had a confessor given him. The lords caused a fire to be made in the market-place, as if they meant to burn him openly, but as he confessed that his faction was of great number, the prison being on the waterside, he was carried out at the water gate, which was shut behind him, "and he fair sent to Luther in a sack by water."* Meanwhile, as the people in the market-place lacked pastime, a riot got up between the adherents of Luther and the Church, whether done purposely or not is unknown; but the substantial folks were glad to reach their houses, and the unthrifts began to cry, "Slay! slay!"

1 Bois-le-Duc, a small town, also known as Herzogenbusch, sixty miles nortk of Antwerp.

'A certain Augustinian, Nicholas of Antwerp, who was drowned in the Scheldt^ July 31. This occurred in 1525, though Reitsma prints "1522." At an earlier time he had left the cloister at Ypres and become a barber. In the Account of the Marquis of Antwerp, in 1525, he is called "preacher of the Ludierans." J. Reitsma: Geschiedenis van de HgrvornUng en de Hervormde Kerb der Neder- landen, Derde, Bijgewerkte en vermeerderde Druk, bewerkt door L. A. von Lan- geraad en bezorgd door P. Reitsma. Utrecht, 19^3* PP> 146* i5^* P* Fredericq: Corpus in^isitionis neerlattdicae, ir, 1900, ppi 379ff.