Mansfeld, called Hans Fabel, once took a tumbler
of beer up to the city trenches and drank it to the besieged. They
saluted him with powder and shot; but he drank up his tumbler of beer,
thanked them, entered the trenches and took five balls from his bosom.
This '_Pilmiskind_,'[14] although he was so invulnerable, was taken
very sick, and died before the capture of the town. This magical art,
'Passau art,' has become quite common; one would sooner have shot at a
rock than at such a charmed fellow. I believe that the devil hides in
their skin. One good fellow indeed often charms another, even when the
person so charmed does not know it, and still less desires it. A small
boy from fourteen to fifteen years of age was shot in the arm when he
was beating the drum, but the ball rebounded from the arm to the left
breast, and did not penetrate; this was seen by many. But those who use
this magic come to a bad end; I have known many such lose their lives
in a terrible way, for one delusion struggles against another. Their
devilish sorcery is expressly against the first and other commandments
of God. Assiduous prayer and faith in God gives other means of support.
If any one in presence of the enemy perishes not, it is God's will. If
he is struck, the angels take him to heaven, but those who are charmed
are taken by Black Kaspar."[15]

Numerous were the means employed by men to make themselves and others
invulnerable. Even this superstition was governed tyrannically by
fashion. Of very ancient date are the charmed shirts, and the Victory
and St. George's shirts; they were prepared in different ways for the
Landsknechte. On Christmas night, according to ancient tradition,
certain virgins used to spin linen thread in the name of the devil,
weave and stitch it; on the breast two heads were embroidered, the one
on the right side with a beard, and the left like that of king
Beelzebub, with a crown, dark reminiscences of the holy heads of Donar
and Wuotan. According to later custom the charmed shirt must be spun by
maidens under the age of seven; it was to be sewed with particular
cross stitches, laid secretly on the altar till three masses had been
read over it. On the day of battle such a charmed shirt was worn under
the dress, and if the wearer received a wound, it was owing to other
thread having been mixed with that which was charmed.

Superstition gladly availed itself of the miraculous power of the
Christian Church, even when