The dejection was increased by the universally active spirit of persecution with which it was still hoped to eradicate the new doctrine. Even whilst the English pestilence was raging, two Protestants were burnt at Cologne[619]. In the same year faggots blazed at Mecklin, Verden, and Paris, by the flames of which the ancient faith was to be protected against the pestilence of freedom of thought. Sentences of death were also quite commonly pronounced against the Anabaptists in Protestant countries. The University of Leipzig pronounced a condemnation of this sort in the year 1529, and in Freistadt eleven women were drowned after a nominal trial and sentence, because they acknowledged that they were of this sect[620]. Amidst these dissensions, and when the empire was in this helpless condition, came the fear of the barbarians of the south, who had already conquered Hungary under their Sultan Soliman, and, whilst the English Sweat was raging in the countries of the Danube, threatened to overwhelm Germany. It was a time of distress and lamentations, in which even the most undaunted could scarcely sustain their courage[621]; but to the everlasting honour of the Germans it must be acknowledged that they withstood this purifying fire with unsullied honour, and in a manner worthy of themselves. For their noble spirits were aroused to unheard-of exertions of energy, and whilst the pusillanimous gave themselves up to despair, they impressed on the gigantic work of their age the stamp of imperishable truth. The siege of Vienna began on the 22d of September, after the English pestilence had broken out in this capital of Austria, yet nobody regarded this internal danger. The repeated attempts made by the Turks to storm the town were repulsed with great courage, and, on the 15th of October, Soliman raised the siege, after the Sweating Sickness had raged with as much violence among his troops as among the besieged[622]. There is no accurate intelligence extant upon this subject, because the pestilence was less regarded here than elsewhere, in consequence of the great distress of the country from other causes, yet the mortality in Austria under such unfavourable circumstances, was doubtless more considerable than in the neighbouring states[623].