Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/292

280 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE high officials with ropes and dragging them into the abyss of hell. The sins and foibles of the clergy we find satirised and made public in writings and in the decoration of church edifices, but the Church itself and the Christian belief was not attacked in the fifteenth century. For instance, in the well-known play ' Dame Jutta,' written by the ecclesiastic Theo- dore Scherenberg in 1480, and founded on the then accepted historical fable of Pope Joan, not a single word hostile to the Church is to be found. The Devil tempts Jutta to undertake the scandalous character. Jesus Christ deplores to His mother the audacious conduct of the woman in disturbing the established order of the Church and of Nature, and He threatens to let her die in her sin ; but Mary intercedes : ' Oh, Thou Who hast chosen me to be Thy mother, do not let this poor soul perish ! ' This intercession appeases the Divine wrath ; Jesus grants pardon on condition that, in expiation of the public scandal which she has given, the sinner will submit to temporal punishment. Joan accepts, and, turning to the Saviour, begs Him to forgive her as He has forgiven so many sinners : ' Forgive me my sin, merciful God, through the merits of Thy bitter passion. Lord, do not let me be lost for eternity.' She also begs the help of the Blessed Virgin : ' Mary ! most pure mother, thou consoler of sinners, I fly to thee, for I am a sinner. My eyes are shedding tears of blood, let them plead for me ; pray for thy poor child.' She is slain in the streets of Eome ; St. Michael