not only reviled her bitterly, but beat her with a scourge, and asked her, “darest thou resist the will of my lord? and delayest thou to obey his commands?” When Salomea in return asked him by what authority he beat her, he replied, “by the will of his lord”; upon which she, broken-hearted, protested in the presence of all, that she took the hood unwillingly and under compulsion, and invoked the vengeance of God on her behalf for so great an injury. After Salomea was thus cast into the convent, the prince married Helen, daughter of the blind Duke Vasiley Lintzki (mow dead)—I mean the brother of the Duke Michael Lintzki, who was then in prison; but this had no sooner taken place than a report became current that Salomea was pregnant and near the time of her delivery. This report was confirmed by two matrons, the wives of the chief councillors, George the Little, the treasurer, and Jacob Mazur, chamberlain,—which ladies said that they had heard from the mouth of Salomea herself that she was pregnant, and near the time of her delivery. The prince when he heard this was much disturbed, and drove both of them from his presence; he even punished one of them, the wife of George, with stripes, for not having earlier informed him of the fact; he then sent the councillor Theoderic Rack, and one Potal, a secretary, to the convent in which Salomea was confined, and desired them to inquire diligently into the truth of the case. While I was at Moscow, some persons declared solemnly that Salomea had brought forth a son, named George, but that she would not show the infant to any one; she is said, however, to have replied to some persons who were sent to her for the purpose of ascertaining the truth of the matter, that they were unworthy to set eyes upon the infant, who, when he came of age to be king, would revenge the injury done to his mother. Some, however, constantly denied that she had had a child. Thus the reports about this business are doubtful.
I have heard that there were two reasons why the
