seemed besieged. Then there was the crowd of merchants, who could scarcely find horses and chariots, carts and animals, to carry such a multitude of strangers. Then how shall I describe the oblations at the altar? I say nothing of the animals, horses, oxen, heifers, rams, sheep, which used to be offered in an incredible multitude; but also they used to present beyond all weight and number linen and wax, bread and cheese; and by the time of vespers the guards in the cloister used to be fatigued in receiving and heaping up the piles of money, though they had nothing else to do."* In the annals of the abbey of Corby, in Saxony, we have this significant notice. "In 950 a domus mercatoria was built for the accommodation and security of merchants coming to the festival of St. Vitus." Throughout the whole year crowds of pilgrims used to visit the abbey of Einsiedelin. A writer in 1373 says, that there strangers were continually arriving and departing. In 1350, on the 14th of September, that abbey received one hundred deputies from the citizens of Basle, and seventy from those of Strasbourg. Two years before, on the vigil of St. Simon and St. Jude, the affluence from all parts of Europe was so great that the cantons of Zurich and Schwitz took alarm. In 1636, the town of Uberlingen, grateful for its deliverance from the Swedes, sent to it a deputation cf 550 persons; and many other towns used to make votive proces-ions to it annually. In one year the number of pilgrims amounted to 180,000;† and among these kneeling youths, these boy-travellers, whose stained shoulders bore impress of the load they had carried over the mountains through the sultry day, might be distinguished often the fervent disciples of far-distant schools, sons of the noblest houses in Europe, thus prepared by labors like those of the poor to taste the sweets with which innocence was in such places filled. There being great indulgences on the anniversary of the dedication of the church of the abbey of Riddershusen, in the duchy of Brunswick, which fell on the 15th of June, that festivity was changed after eighty years; for the crowd from the neighboring town and villages, says the Abbot Jongelinus, was so great, that the corn used to be trodden down, and the crops injured by the multitude, who used even to cut down the slighter trees to erect booths. Therefore to remove all cause of offending man and God, the Abbot Eggelingus, with consent of the superiors of the Cistercian order and of Pope Innocent VI., transferred it to the Sunday after St. Martin, as a le-s genial season.‡ When the new church of Mount-Cassino was to be consecrated, Hildebrand, at that time archdeacon, cardinals, and priests, and magnat, came there, with bishops, abbots, monks, clerks, princes, nobies, and citizens of all condition, with women also from all parts of Italy, in such crowds that it would be easier to count the stars of heaven than to enumerate them all. Not only all the courts of the *Chronic. Abbatiæ,S. Trudonis, Lib. i. apud Dacher. Spicileg. tom. vii. p. 356. + Chronique d'Einsiedelin. Notit. Abb. Ord. Cister per Univ. Orb. Lib. iii. monastery, but the whole mountain, from the foot to the summit, and even the fields around it, were covered with the multitude; and during the three preceding days, wine, bread, flesh, and fish were given in such abundance, that not one person of that prodigious multitude could complain of not having received sufficient. There were present ten archbishops, forty-three bishops, Richard, prince of Capua, with his son, and brother Gisulfus, prince of Salerno, and his brother Landulfus, prince of Beneventum, Sergius duke of Naples, with Sergius duke of Sorentum and as for the other princes and nobles, both Italian and Norman, it would be impossible to name them. So the church was dedicated, in the year 1071, with the utmost devotion and joy, and honor, and glory. The crowd continued during eight days, confessing their sins to gain the indulgence, and then all returned to their homes in great joy. Nec modus est populis coëuntibus agmina denso, "Milia profundens aa mænia celsa Casini, Creditur, et summi Benedictus gloria Christi." In fine, each one would have deemed himself an infidel, or most wretched, if at least he could not have come in for the end of such a solemnity.* Popes, emperors, kings, princes, and great noblemen, were often in the list of Visitors to abbeys in the middle ages, when the solemnities of religion attracted them. Cluny and Mount-Cassino could boast of having often received to hospitality the vicars of Christ. That was a memorable scene which ensued in the church of the latter abbey, when Pope Adrian II. gave absolution to the emperor Lothaire, who, with all his courtiers, committed perjury to obtain it, and so partook of death, receiving the communion to judgment. which fell almost suddenly upon them! In the Benedictine abbey at Ferrara I read an inscription, stating how Pope Pius VI., on his return from Germany, had stopped in that abbey, and delighted the monks with his cheerful, angelic countenance, and human conversation. In the Carthusian monastery, on the Roman way, three miles from Florence, I was shown the cell in which the same holy pontiff lodged in darker times. That evening all was silent in its solemn corridores, save that the voices of the monks chanting vespers in the church, were faintly heard in the distance. The solemn convent of the Dominicans at Sienna is still standing, which once received within it St. Thomas of Aquin, St. Antoninus, blessed Ambrogio, and Guido Lusignan, king of Cyprus. Here, in 1462, was held a general chapter of fifteen hundred friars and here, in 1464, Pius II. blessed the standard of the Crusaders. : * Chronic. Cassinensis, Lib. iii. c. 22. In the ancient monastery of Grotta Ferrata there is a solemn painting, to represent the emperor, Otho III., arriving there, and St. Nilus, with his monks, proceeding forth to meet him. That emperor, through remorse for having caused the rebel Crescentius to be beheaded after he had capitulated, having walked barefoot to the sanctuary of St Michael, on Monnt Gargano, passed a whole Lent as a penitent in the monastery of Classe. In that season it was common to find crowned heads under the cloisters of St. Benedict. Thus we find king Charles the Bald passing the Lent and Easter festival of the year 869 in the abbe, of St. Denis.* In the great abbey of St. Maur des Fossés king Henry I. testified, by a charter of the year 1058, that he used often to come there to pray. Louis VII, came there in 1168. Philippe Auguste lodged there in Mid-Lent in 1223. St. Louis was there in 1229 and 1254. The emperor Charles IV. came there twice in 1377 to perform his devotions.† Orderic Vitalis says, that when Boemond, after his deliverance, had left St. Leonard-le-Noblet having made his prayers at the tomb of the holy confessor, he spent the Lent in travelling through France, making his offers at many altars. He had great reason to rejoice in the monasteries, where he was received with open arms, and he returned thanks to God for the benignity of the western Christians. He was accompanied by the son of the emperor Diogenes, as well as by many other illustrious Greeks. The emperor Lewis II., celebrating Easter, in the abbey of Fulda, was heard to say, "I wish that I might always remain in this court of heaven, and die in it! What can be desired more delightful and profitable ?"§ Orderic Vitalis mentions that Count Richard, son of Richard 1. of Normandy, used to hold his court at Easter in the monastery of Fécamp, founded by his father, and make offerings at the solemnity before the altar of the Holy Trinity. The same day, after mass, before going to his court and dining with his barons, he used, with his two sons, Richard and Robert, to repair to the refectory of the monks, and the two youths, taking the dishes from the kitchen window, used to present them to their father, as the monks used to do; and then he used to place them, first before the abbot, and then before the monks. When he had so done, with great humility he used to present himself to the abbot, and obtain permission to depart, and then he went to the court gaily with a contented heart. One day Richard came to Jumiège, and passed the night there. The next morning, after saying his prayers, he placed on the altar a little piece of wood. When he was withdrawn, the Sacristans approached the altar, expecting to find a mark, or an ounce of gold, or something similar. Finding only this little piece of wood, they were astonished. At length they asked him why he placed such a thing on the altar. Then he told them that it was Vimoutier, a certain manor, which he wished to give them for the salvation of his soul. * Leboeuf, Hist. du Diocèse de Paris, iii. Schannat. Hist. Fuldens. i. + Id. ง. 135. + Lib. xi. Independent of such visits, many religious houses were visited on certain occasions by a kind of domestic court. The hundred knights attached to the estates of the abbey of St. Riquier composed a retinue almost royal at Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. The chapter or general assembly of the knights of St. Michael was held every year in the hall of the knights, in the abbey of Mount St. Michael, on the 29th of September. In 1113, Henry, king of England, accompanied by many princes and prelates, came to the abbey of Ouches and celebrated the Purification of St. Mary. He remained a long time in the cloister of the monks, examined them carefully during the repast, and having considered the conventual customs, praised them highly. The next day he entered the chapter-room and humbly besought the monks to grant him the favor of their association.* King Canute, with Queen Emma, and the grandees of his kingdom, proposing to celebrate the festival of the Purification of St. Mary in the abbey of Ely, proceeded thither in boats. As they approached near, the king ordered the rowers to rest upon their oars, that he might gaze upon the church which rose above the bank. Then it was that he heard the chant of the monks, which filled him with such joy, that he broke forth in the song, "Merry sungen the Monches of Ely," which was ever afterwards a common song, and proverbial in the country. Then landing, he was received at the church processionally by the abbot and monks, according to the custom of receiving great men. This king used sometimes to be drawn in a sledge over the ice to Ely, when it was not possible to approach it in any other manner.† In the annals of Corby, in Saxony, we read at the date of 867 as follows: "Lewis the younger made his devotions in our monastery, praising the discipline of our brethren, and saying that there was no happier life than that of monks always conversing with God. From Corby he went to Herivortium." Again in 940 "the Seigneur de Woldenberg came wounded to the monastery, desiring to pass the night in prayer and fasting near the relics of St. Vitus. He was better next day, and soon quite cured. He was grateful. In 1136, Lotharius Augustus stayed in the monastery some time. In 1378, many nobles were with us this summer, and each was gracious." In the abbey of Einsiedelin, are records attesting the arrival of distinguished pilgrims. There we read that the Emperor Otho the Great, and St. Adelaide his wife, came there in 965; St. Gerold, duke of Saxony, in 972; King Charles IV. attended by a crowd of signeurs and prelates in 1353; the Emperor Sigismond in 1417; Ferdinand III. emperor of the Romans, in 1442, besides a multitude of princes and nobles of the first houses of Germany, and many ambassadors, representing their respective sovereigns. King Conrad being at Con-tance on Christmas-day, after dinner the bishop * Orderio. Vit. Lib. xi. + Hist. Eliensis Lib. ii. c. 27. ap. Gale Hist. Brit. tom. i. Ap. Leibnitz, ii. praised the processions at vespers, which took place during those three days in our abbey, says a monk of St. Gall. "OI wish that I were there!" exclaimed the king, "why should not we go my friends to that abbey to-morrow morning?" Boats were accordingly prepared, and early at daybreak, the king embarked with the bishop and all his court, and at mid-day reached our shores, and was received with great joy into our monastery, where he remained three nights. It would be long to say with what delight the days and nights were spent, admiring the old men and youths in the choir like so many angels. At the procession of children, the king ordered an apple to be thrown on the pavement; and when he saw that not one of the least children was moved so much as to look at it, he wondered at the discipline. On the king saying that he would dine in the refectory and partake of the common fare, the prefect said, "Alas, it is unfortunate that you will not wait till to-morrow, for then perhaps we shall have beans and bread, which we have not to-day." Then the children reading in order, on descending from the desk, the king sent gold to be put into their mouths, and when one boy spat it out, "This one," said he, "if he lives, will be a good monk." Then rising from table, he turned to his men and said, "that he had never before dined with such pleasure." On the morrow he caused himself to be enrolled as a conscript brother, when he gave the price of a vestment to each of the monks, and to the boys he granted three days' play. Then entering the oratory of blessed Othmar, lately canonized by Roman authority, who had been persecuted by his own family, he offered gold and silver on the altar. That day also, he said, "he wished to dine with the brethren as a conscript brother," adding, " that he would furnish pepper to season their beans." Never before was there seen or heard such a feast in that refectory. There was the smell of meat, the dance, and the symphony. The king marked the graver brethren, and smiled to see their darkened countenances, as not liking the unaccustomed thing, but through respect for the king they said nothing. On the fourth evening he departed, the brethren thanking him with tears, to whom he promised that he would be a benefactor as long as he lived.* Eckehard the fourth, in his benedictional says, that when the Empress Gisela, and her husband Conrad II. with their son Henry III. came to St. Gall, and had themselves received as conscript members of the abbey, they begged from the Abbot Dietbald, the book of Job and the Psalter, which Notker Labeo had first translated into German. The occasion of some royal visits to monasteries, as we have already observed, was the pacification of differences. Thus the monastery of Ranshoven beheld the solemn interview of Frederic, duke of Austria, and the emperor Lewis IV. when by the intervention of the archbishop of Salzbourg they were reconciled to each other. The custom of courts gave rise to others; as when the kings of Bur * Eckehard de Casibus S. Galli, c. 1. + Anon. Chronic. Lud. iv. Imp. ap. Pez. Script, Rer. Aust. tom. ii. |