“When women know not, from pride and luxuriousness, what clothes they shall wear—sometimes short, sometimes long, sometimes narrow, sometimes wide; when men also change their dress, and wear everywhere the beards of the Capuchins,[3] then will God chastise the world. A dreadful war shall break out in the south (Hungary?) and spread eastward and northward. The kings shall be killed. Savage hordes shall overflow Germany, and come to the Rhine. They shall take delight in murdering and burning, so that mothers, in despair, seeing death everywhere before their eyes, shall cast themselves and their sucklings into the water. When the need is greatest, a preserver shall come from the south. He shall defeat the hordes of the enemy, and make Germany prosperous. But, in those days, many parts shall be so depopulated, that it will be necessary to climb a tree to look for people afar off.” An old prophecy concerning the battle of the _Birch-Tree_:— “A time shall come when the world shall be godless. The people will strive to be independent of king or magistrate, subjects will be unfaithful to their princes. Neither truth nor faith prevails more. It will then come to a general insurrection, in which father shall fight against son, and son against father. In that time, men shall try to pervert the articles of faith, and shall introduce new books. The Catholic religion shall be hard pressed, and men will try with cunning to abolish it. Men shall love play and jest, and pleasure of all kinds, at that time. But then it shall not be long before a change occurs. A frightful war shall break out. On one side shall stand Russia, Sweden, and the whole north; on the other, France, Spain, Italy, and the whole south, under a powerful prince. This prince shall come from the south. He wears a white coat, with buttons all the way down. He has a cross on his breast, rides a gray horse, which he mounts from his left side, because he is lame of one foot. He will bring peace. Great is his severity, for he will put down all dance-music and rich attire. He will hear morning mass in the church at Bremen. (According to some traditions, he will read mass.) From Bremen he rides to the Haar, (a height near Werl;) from thence he looks with his spyglass towards the country of the Birch-Tree, and observes the enemy. Next, he rides past Holtum, (a village near Werl.) At Holtum stands a crucifix between two lime-trees; before this, he kneels and prays with outstretched arms, for some time. Then he leads his soldiers, clad in white, into the battle, and, after a bloody contest, he remains victorious. “The chief slaughter will take place at a brook which runs from west to east. Woe! woe! to Budberg and Söndern in those days! The victorious leader shall assemble the people after the battle, and address to them a speech in the church.”