FLAKE
lini, II, iii, 230.) The Persians under Cyrus bore the same symbol (Xenoph. Cjrop. vii, i, 4 ; but Ezek. xvii, 3 is not in point, being a reference to Chaldajan usages). See generally Lj'dii Sijnt. sacr. de re milit. iii, 7. — Wi- ner, i, 362. Compare Banner.
Flagellants (Lat.fiaffellare, to scourge), a name given to certain fanatical sects from the 12th to the 15th century, who used the scourge as a means of pu- ritication. See Discipline of the Lash. They were also called cruciferi, crucifratres, because they held it their duty, as they said, to copy the sufferings of Christ ; and acephidi, because of their separation from the Roman Church authorit}% Their excesses were only the natural development of certain features of the Roman discipline [see Pexance; Penitential Discipline]; especially of the belief, springing from the system of indulgences, that the mercy of God could be propitiated bj- self-inflicted punishments. It is said tliat the first society of Flagellants appeared in Padua in the beginning of the 12th century. Amid the con- tests between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, cruelty and rapine were followed by remorse ; and about 1260 public associations sprang up for the purpose of disci- pline, under the name of Flagellantes. In an edict of the marquis of Este and the people of Ferrara for their suppression, thej' are termed Le Compagnie de' EattiiH, and Sodalitas ScopcB sive Fustigationis. Mura- tori has given a plate of the thongs which they em- ployed against themselves {Antiq. Ital. med. avi, vi, 460). Self-scourging was practised in the open streets, and little regard was paid to decencj'. A hermit named Rainier, of Perugia, is named as the founder of the sect, and his success was wonderful. Vast bodies of men, girded with ropes, marched in procession, with songs and prayer, through the cities, and from one city to another, calling on the people to repent. All hos- tilities ceased. The momentary impression produced bj' these movements was profound, but it did not last long. From Italy the contagion passed over the Alps ; large bodies wandered over Carniola, Austria, and even as far as Poland. In a few years they dis- a})pcarcd. Under the alarm of the great plague of the following century the Flagellants revived again. The plague reached Italy in 1347, and carried off through- out Europe millions of persons : 1,200,000 in Germany, where, in 1341>, the Flagellants "arose afresh, with in- creased enthusiasm. They wandered through several provinces, whipping themselves, and propagating the most extravagant doctrines, namely, that flagellation was of equal virtue with the sacraments ; that the for- giveness of all sins was to be obtained by it, exclusive of the merits of Christ ; that the old law of Christ was soon to be abolished, and that a new- law, enjoining the baptism of blood, to be administered bj' whipping, was to be substituted in its place. Clement VI issued a bull against them (Oct. 20, 1349), and in many places tlieir leaders were burned. They are again mentioned in the beginning of the 15tli century as venting yet stranger and more mystical tenets in Thuringia and Lower Saxonj% They rejected every branch of exter- nal worship, entertained some wild notions respecting the evil spirit, and held that the person who believes what is contained in the Apostles' Creed, repeats fre- quently the Lord's Prayer and the Ave Maria, and at certain times lashes his body severely as a voluntary punishment for tlie transgressions he has committed, shall obtain eternal salvation. The infection spread rapidly, and occasioned much disorder ; for, by trav- elling in such numbers, they gave rise to seditious disturbances and to verj^ many excesses. The shame- ful exposure of their persons, and their extortion of alms, rendered them so obnoxious to the higlier clergy and to the more respectable classes, that several princes in Germany and Italy endeavored to suppress their irregularities, and the kings of Poland and Bohemia expelled them from their territories. A numerous list of these fanatics who were condemned to the
flames is preserved by the German ecclesiastical histo- rians. At Sangerhausen, in the year 1414, no fewer than ninety-one were burned" {Enci/c. Metrop. s. v.). In the year 1399 a society of this character, the White Brethren (Bianchi), descended from the Alps into Ita- ly, and were everywhere enthusiastically welcomed both by the clergy and the populace ; but no sooner had they reached the papal territory than their leader was put to death, and the whole arraj' dispersed. Af- ter this processions of Flagellants were led through Italy, Spain, and the south of France by the Domini- can Vincentius Ferrentius, who may perliaps have been the secret instigator of the White Brethren. But such processions having been condemned at the Coun- cil of Constance, he also discontinued them (Gieseler, § 120). Gieseler gives extracts from the trial at San- gerhausen, 1414, with many of their articles of doc- trine {Church Ilistoi-y, § 120). See Boileau, Histoire des Flagellans (Paris, 1700, 12mo) ; Mosheim, Ch. Hist. cent, xiii, pt. ii, ch. iii ; cent, xiv, pt. ii, ch. v ; cent. XV, pt. ii, ch. V ; Forstemann, Die christ. Geisslerge- sellschnften (Halle, 1828) ; Herzog, Real-EncyUop. iv, 72G sq. ; Neander, Ch. Hist. (Torrey's), v, 512.
Flagellation. See Scourge.
Flagon, a word employed in the A. V. to render two distinct Hebrew terms.