Amulet medals also were early in use: in 1555, at the battle of Marienburg, between the Princes of Orange and Nevers, a little child was struck on the neck by a shot, a silver medal was doubled up, and the child remained unhurt; this great effect was then ascribed to an amulet parchment which the child wore round his neck near the medal. But about the same time the "Sideristen," who were experienced in astronomical science, poured out heavenly influence in invulnerable medals of silver and fine gold, which were worn round the neck. Thurneisser spread also these kinds of amulets in Northern Germany. An accidental circumstance brought the Mansfeld St. George's thaler into repute in the Thirty years' war, especially those of 1611 and 1613, bearing the inscription, "With God is counsel and action." Not only the common soldiers, but many great commanders also had the repute of being invulnerable: not Pappenheim, indeed, who was wounded in almost every action, but Holk, who was supposed at last to have been carried away to hell by the devil in person; Tilly, for whom, after the battle of Breitenfeld, the affrighted surgeon found he had only bruises to dress; Wallenstein and his kinsman Terzka; even the sword of Gustavus Adolphus was considered to be enchanted. Ahaz Willenger also, leader after the death of Fardinger, of the revolted Austrian peasants, was rendered so hard that a cannon-ball at seven paces rebounded from his skin without penetrating it; he was at last killed by an officer of Pappenheim. All the Princes of the house of Savoy were considered invulnerable, even, after the Thirty years' war. Field-Marshal Schauenburg tried it with Prince Thomas when he besieged him in an Italian fortress; the bullets of the best marksmen missed their aim. No one knew whether the members of that noble house had especial grace, because they were of the race of the royal prophet David, or whether the art of rendering themselves invulnerable was hereditary. There were hardly any who did not believe in the mystic art. The renowned French General Messire Jacques de Puysegur, in the French civil war in 1622, was obliged to compass the death of an opponent, _qui avait un caractère_, by blows of a strong pole on his neck, because he had no weapon that could kill him; he recounts this circumstance to his King. At the blockade of Magdeburg in 1629, the complaint against these practices became so general, that the parties engaged in this war entered into negotiations concerning it. Gustavus Adolphus, in his first article of war, earnestly forbade idolatry, witchcraft, or the charming of weapons as sins against God.