Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/403

. The Medieval Church at its Height 367 under their armpits, sewed between the skin and the flesh, my compacts, in which the homage done by them to me is written ; and it is by virtue of these that they work such miracles and cannot be injured by any one." Then the clerk said, " What if those should be taken away from them ? " The devil replied, " Then they would be weak, just like other men." The clerk, having heard this, thanked the demon, saying, " Now go, and when you are summoned by me, return." He then went to the bishop and related these things to him in due order. The latter, filled with great joy, sum- moned all the people of the city to a suitable place and said : " I am your shepherd, ye are my sheep. If those men, as you say, confirm their teaching by signs, I will follow them with you. If not, it is fitting that they should be pun- ished and that you should penitently return to the faith of your fathers with me." The people replied, " We have seen many signs from them." The bishop said, " But I have not oeen them." Why prolong my tale ? The plan pleased the people. The heretics were summoned. The bishop was present. A fire was kindled in the midst of the city. However, be- fore the heretics entered it, they were secretly summoned to the bishop. He said to them, " I want to see if you have anything evil about you." Hearing this, they stripped quickly and said with great confidence, " Search our bodies and our garments carefully." The soldiers, however, following the instructions of the bishop, raised the men's arms, and no- ticing under the armpits some scars that were healed up, cut them open with their knives and extracted from them little scrolls which had been sewed in. Having received these, the bishop went forth with the heretics to the people and, having commanded silence, cried out in a loud voice, " Now shall your prophets enter the fire,, and if they are not injured I will believe in them." The wretched men trembled and said, " We are not able to enter now." Then the bishop told the people of the evil which had been detected, and showed the compacts. Then all