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| Flagellant drawing. Google Images. |
During the time of the Black Death, people called flagellants stripped to the waist and whipped themselves until they bled. They used leather whips tipped with iron spikes. They thought this could make up for human wickedness. It might make God take the Black Death away. They cried out to Christ and the
Virgin for pity. They asked God to spare them from the disease.
Usually, there were about two to three hundred people in a group of flagellants. They were not all poor peasants. Some knights and ladies and clergy and nuns and children joined too. They walked from place to place and performed in church squares. People in the towns and villages greeted them by ringing church bells. They invited the flagellants to stay in their houses. Sometimes they brought children to the flagellants to be healed. They dipped cloths in the blood from the flagellants and pressed the cloths to their own eyes. They kept the cloths as relics.
A Master organised each group. To become a flagellant, you would agree to. work for 33 and a half days. Can you work out why that time limit was chosen?
You were not allowed to do things like change your clothes, wash yourself or sleep in a bed without the Master's permission. The women had to stay at the back of the procession. If a woman or a priest entered the circle of the performance, it had to start again.
The Masters claimed they could hear confession. Priests who tried to stop them were stoned. The flagellants took over churches and interrupted services. They claimed they could cast out evil spirits and bring the dead to life again.
The church and leaders finally tried to stop the flagellants. They locked them out of towns. They passed laws that threatened death for public flagellation. Most of the flagellants had disappeared by the time the Black Death had passed.
