The History of Persecution, from the Patriarchal Age, to the Reign of George IIChandler, Samuel
History
The History of Persecution, from the Patriarchal Age, to the Reign of George II
Chandler, Samuel
Persecution -- Great Britain; Persecution -- History
Besides these, they now use the punishment of banishment, of beating,
and whipping with scourges or rods. Sometimes they are condemned to
fines, excluded as infamous from all public offices, prohibited from
wearing silver or gold, precious garments and ornaments, and from riding
on horses or mules with trappings, as nobles do.
But the most usual punishment of all, is their wearing crosses upon
their penitential garments, which is now frequently enjoined penitents
in Spain and Portugal. And this is far from being a small punishment;
because such persons are exposed to the scoffs and insults of all, which
they are obliged to swallow, though the most cruel in themselves, and
offered by the vilest of mankind; for by these crosses they are marked
to all persons for heresy, or, as it is now in Spain and Portugal, for
Judaism: and being thus marked, the they are avoided by all, and are
almost excluded from all human society.
This garment was formerly of a black and bluish colour, like a monk’s
cloak, made without a cowl; and the crosses put on them were strait,
having one arm long, and the other across, after this manner †.
Sometimes, according to the heinousness of the offence, there were two
arms across, after this manner ‡. But now in Spain this garment is of a
yellow colour, and the crosses put on it are oblique, after the manner
of St. Andrew’s cross, in this form X, and are of a red colour. This
cloak the Italians call “Abitello,” the Spaniards “Sant Benito,” as
though it was “Sacco Benito,” i. e. the blessed sackcloth, because it is
fit for penance, by which we are blessed and saved. But Simancas says it
is the habit of St. Benedict.
Finally, the most grievous punishment is the being condemned to
perpetual imprisonment, there to do wholesome penance with the bread of
grief and the water of affliction. This is usually enjoined on the
believers of heretics, and such as are difficultly brought to
repentance; or who have a long while denied the truth during the trial,
or have perjured themselves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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