Wikipedia: Marie Antoinette; baptised Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna (or Maria Antonia Josephina Johanna);2 November 1755 - 16 October 1793), born an archduchess of Austria, was Dauphine of France from 1770 to 1774 and Queen of France and Navarre from 1774 to 1792. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Empress Maria Theresa.
In April 1770, on the day of her marriage to Louis-Auguste, Dauphin of France, she became Dauphine of France. Marie Antoinette assumed the title of Queen of France and of Navarre when her husband, Louis XVI of France, ascended the throne upon the death of Louis XV in May 1774. After seven years of marriage, she gave birth to a daughter, Marie-Thérse Charlotte, the first of four children.
Initially charmed by her personality and beauty, the French people generally came to dislike her, accusing "L'Autrichienne" (meaning the Austrian (woman) in French) of being profligate, promiscuous, and of harboring sympathies for France's enemies, particularly Austria, her country of origin. The Diamond Necklace incident further ruined her reputation. Although she was completely innocent in this affair, she became known as Madame Déficit.
The royal family's flight to Varennes had disastrous effects on French popular opinion, Louis XVI was deposed and the monarchy abolished on 21 September 1792; the royal family was subsequently imprisoned at the Temple Prison. Eight months after her husband's execution, Marie Antoinette was herself tried, convicted by the Convention for treason to the principles of the revolution, and executed by guillotine on 16 October 1793.
Louis was executed on 21 January 1793, at the age of thirty-eight. The result was that the "Widow Capet", as the former queen was called after the death of her husband, plunged into deep mourning; she refused to eat or do any exercise. There is no knowledge of her proclaiming her son as Louis XVII; however, the comte de Provence, in exile, recognised his nephew as the new king of France and took the title of Regent. Marie-Antoinette's health rapidly deteriorated in the following months. By this time she suffered from tuberculosis and possibly uterine cancer, which caused her to hemorrhage frequently.
Despite her condition, the debate as to her fate was the central question of the National Convention after Louis's death. There were those who had been advocating her death for some time, while some had the idea of exchanging her for French prisoners of war or for a ransom from the Holy Roman Emperor. Thomas Paine advocated exile to America. Starting in April, however, a Committee of Public Safety was formed, and men such as Jacques Hébert were beginning to call for Antoinette's trial; by the end of May, the Girondins had been chased out of power and arrested. Other calls were made to "retrain" the Dauphin, to make him more pliant to revolutionary ideas. This was carried out when the eight-year-old boy Louis Charles was separated from Antoinette on 3 July, and given to the care of a cobbler. On 1 August, she herself was taken out of the Tower and entered into the Conciergerie as Prisoner No. 280. Despite various attempts to get her out, such as the Carnation Plot in September, Marie Antoinette refused when the plots for her escape were brought to her attention. While in the Conciergerie, she was attended by her last servant, Rosalie Lamorlire.
She was finally tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal on 14 October. Unlike the king, who had been given time to prepare a defence, the queen's trial was far more of a sham, considering the time she was given (less than one day). Among the things she was accused of (most, if not all, of the accusations were untrue and probably lifted from rumours begun by libelles) were orchestrating orgies in Versailles, sending millions of livres of treasury money to Austria, plotting to kill the Duke of Orléans, incest with her son, declaring her son to be the new king of France, and orchestrating the massacre of the Swiss Guards in 1792.
The most infamous charge was that she sexually abused her son. This was according to Louis Charles, who, through his coaching by Hébert and his guardian, accused his mother. After being reminded that she had not answered the charge of incest, Marie Antoinette protested emotionally to the accusation, and the women present in the courtroom and the market women who had stormed the palace for her entrails in 1789, even began to support her. She had been composed throughout the trial until this accusation was made, to which she finally answered, "If I have not replied it is because Nature itself refuses to respond to such a charge laid against a mother."
In reality the outcome of the trial had already been decided by the Committee of Public Safety around the time the Carnation Plot was uncovered, and she was declared guilty of treason in the early morning of 16 October, after two days of proceedings. Back in her cell, she composed a letter to her sister-in-law Madame élisabeth, affirming her clear conscience, her Catholic faith and her feelings for her children. The letter did not reach élisabeth.
On the same day, her hair was cut off and she was driven through Paris in an open cart, wearing a simple white dress. At 12:15 p.m., two and a half weeks before her thirty-eighth birthday, she was beheaded at the Place de la Révolution (present-day Place de la Concorde). Her last words were "Pardon me sir, I meant not to do it", to Henri Sanson the executioner, whose foot she had accidentally stepped on after climbing the scaffold. Her body was thrown into an unmarked grave in the Madeleine cemetery, rue d'Anjou, (which was closed the following year).
Her sister-in-law élisabeth was executed in 1794 and her son died in prison in 1795. Her daughter returned to Austria in a prisoner exchange, married and died childless in 1851.
Both Marie Antoinette's body and that of Louis XVI were exhumed on 18 January 1815, during the Bourbon Restoration, when the comte de Provence had become King Louis XVIII. Christian burial of the royal remains took place three days later, on 21 January, in the necropolis of French Kings at the Basilica of St Denis.
image is from another pamphlet, Musee Carnavalet, estampe HIST PC 001 TerG (in Bastien, execution publique a Paris)
Wikipedia: Marie-Madeleine-Marguerite d'Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers (22 July 1630 - 17 July 1676) conspired with her lover, army captain Godin de Sainte-Croix to poison her father Antonine Dreux d'Aubray in 1666 and two of her brothers, Antoine d'Aubray and Franois d'Aubray, in 1670, in order to inherit their estates. There were also rumors that she had poisoned poor people during her visits to hospitals.
She appears to have used Tofana poison, whose recipe she seems to have learned from her lover, the Chevalier de Sainte Croix, who had learned it from Exili, an Italian poisoner, who had been his cellmate in the Bastille. Her accomplice Sainte-Croix had died of natural causes in 1672.
In 1675, she fled to England, Germany, and a convent, but was arrested in Lige. She was forced to confess and sentenced to death. On 17 July 1676, she was tortured with the water cure, that is, forced to drink sixteen pints of water. She was then beheaded and her body was burned at the stake.
Her trial and the attendant scandal launched the Affair of the Poisons, which saw several French aristocrats charged with poison and witchcraft.
Madame de Sevigné: Encore un petit mot de la Brinvilliers : elle est morte comme elle a vécu, c'est-à-dire résolument. Elle entra dans le lieu où l'on devoit lui donner la question ; et voyant trois seaux d'eau : Œ‚ C'est assurément pour me noyer, dit-elle ; car de la taille dont je suis, on ne prétend pas que je boive tout cela. Œé Elle écouta son arrt, ds le matin, sans frayeur ni sans foiblesse ; et sur la fin, elle le fit recommencer, disant que ce tombereau l'avoit frappée d'abord, et qu'elle en avoit perdu l'attention pour le reste. Elle dit à son confesseur, par le chemin, de faire mettre le bourreau devant elle, Œ‚ afin de ne point voir, dit-elle, ce coquin de Desgrais qui m'a prise : Œé il étoit à cheval devant le tombereau. Son confesseur la reprit de ce sentiment ; elle dit : Œ‚ Ah mon Dieu ! je vous en demande pardon ; qu'on me laisse donc cette étrange vue ; Œé et monta seule et nu-pieds sur l'échelle et sur l'échafaud, et fut un quart d'heure mirodée, rasée, dressée et redressée, par le bourreau : ce fut un grand murmure et une grande cruauté. Le lendemain on cherchoit ses os, parce que le peuple disoit qu'elle étoit sainte. Elle avoit, dit-elle, deux confesseurs : l'un disoit qu'il falloit tout dire, et l'autre non ; elle rioit de cette 1676 diversité, disant : Œ‚ Je peux faire en conscience tout ce qu'il me plaira : Œé il lui a plu de ne rien dire du tout. Penautier sortira un peu plus blanc que de la neige : le public n'est point content, on dit que tout cela est trouble. Admirez le malheur : cette créature a refusé d'apprendre ce qu'on vouloit, et a dit ce qu'on ne demandoit pas ; par exemple, elle dit que M. Foucquet avoit envoyé Glaser, leur apothicaire empoisonneur, en Italie, pour avoir d'une herbe qui fait du poison : elle a entendu dire cette belle chose à Sainte-Croix. Voyez quel excs d'accablement, et quel prétexte pour achever ce misérable. Tout cela est encore bien suspect. On ajoute encore bien des choses ; mais en voilà assez pour aujourd'hui.
Anne Somerset - The Affair of the Poisons: Murder, Infanticide, and Satanism at the Court of Louis XIV (St. Martin's Press (October 12, 2003)
The affair of the poisons
Strange revelations : magic, poison, and sacrilege in Louis XIV's France / Lynn Wood Mollenauer. Pennsylvania State University Press ; [London : Eurospan, distributor], c2007
Wikipedia: Marie-Madeleine-Marguerite d'Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers (22 July 1630 - 17 July 1676) conspired with her lover, army captain Godin de Sainte-Croix to poison her father Antonine Dreux d'Aubray in 1666 and two of her brothers, Antoine d'Aubray and Franois d'Aubray, in 1670, in order to inherit their estates. There were also rumors that she had poisoned poor people during her visits to hospitals.
She appears to have used Tofana poison, whose recipe she seems to have learned from her lover, the Chevalier de Sainte Croix, who had learned it from Exili, an Italian poisoner, who had been his cellmate in the Bastille. Her accomplice Sainte-Croix had died of natural causes in 1672.
In 1675, she fled to England, Germany, and a convent, but was arrested in Lige. She was forced to confess and sentenced to death. On 17 July 1676, she was tortured with the water cure, that is, forced to drink sixteen pints of water. She was then beheaded and her body was burned at the stake.
Her trial and the attendant scandal launched the Affair of the Poisons, which saw several French aristocrats charged with poison and witchcraft.
Madame de Sevigné: Encore un petit mot de la Brinvilliers : elle est morte comme elle a vécu, c'est-à-dire résolument. Elle entra dans le lieu où l'on devoit lui donner la question ; et voyant trois seaux d'eau : Œ‚ C'est assurément pour me noyer, dit-elle ; car de la taille dont je suis, on ne prétend pas que je boive tout cela. Œé Elle écouta son arrt, ds le matin, sans frayeur ni sans foiblesse ; et sur la fin, elle le fit recommencer, disant que ce tombereau l'avoit frappée d'abord, et qu'elle en avoit perdu l'attention pour le reste. Elle dit à son confesseur, par le chemin, de faire mettre le bourreau devant elle, Œ‚ afin de ne point voir, dit-elle, ce coquin de Desgrais qui m'a prise : Œé il étoit à cheval devant le tombereau. Son confesseur la reprit de ce sentiment ; elle dit : Œ‚ Ah mon Dieu ! je vous en demande pardon ; qu'on me laisse donc cette étrange vue ; Œé et monta seule et nu-pieds sur l'échelle et sur l'échafaud, et fut un quart d'heure mirodée, rasée, dressée et redressée, par le bourreau : ce fut un grand murmure et une grande cruauté. Le lendemain on cherchoit ses os, parce que le peuple disoit qu'elle étoit sainte. Elle avoit, dit-elle, deux confesseurs : l'un disoit qu'il falloit tout dire, et l'autre non ; elle rioit de cette 1676 diversité, disant : Œ‚ Je peux faire en conscience tout ce qu'il me plaira : Œé il lui a plu de ne rien dire du tout. Penautier sortira un peu plus blanc que de la neige : le public n'est point content, on dit que tout cela est trouble. Admirez le malheur : cette créature a refusé d'apprendre ce qu'on vouloit, et a dit ce qu'on ne demandoit pas ; par exemple, elle dit que M. Foucquet avoit envoyé Glaser, leur apothicaire empoisonneur, en Italie, pour avoir d'une herbe qui fait du poison : elle a entendu dire cette belle chose à Sainte-Croix. Voyez quel excs d'accablement, et quel prétexte pour achever ce misérable. Tout cela est encore bien suspect. On ajoute encore bien des choses ; mais en voilà assez pour aujourd'hui.
Pamphlet: Leiden UB: 1497 H 16, Nederlandse Liederenbank
Komt hier omstanders vroom,
Wilt met aendagt horen,
Dat ik u stel te voren;
Neemt dit stuk in agt,
hoe dat een Graef zijn Suster is bedrogen,
door een Jonkman schoon seer groot van magt,
Een heer van groote staet;
die dees dame minde;
door liefde gaet hy hem aen haer verbinden,
En brengt de Gravin,
Met haer wil en zin,
onder de Linde.
Voogdesse van mijn ziel,
ik kom u begroete;
ik bid u wilt versoeten;
mijn droevige smert,
ik blijf u slaef, ik buyg mijn voor u voeten,
door liefde die ik draeg in mijn Jonk hert,
ik bid u schoon Godin
wilt mijn smeken agten,
dat mijn druk in blijdschap mag versagten,
het stilt mijn groote rouw,
Jk bid u schoon Jonkvrouw,
verhoort mijn klagten.
Wel Jonker hoog van staet,
Wilt mijn refaseeren,
ik bid u wilt dog keere,
En u zinnen slaet,
op een schoon Daem en wilt daer mee spanceeren;
en verhaelt aen haer u soete praet,
Gy zijt wel be- quaem,
Met smeken en vleyen,
om een schoone maegt soo te verleyen,
daerom gaet van mijn,
Gy komt in valsche schijn,
Mijn hier bestreyen.
Og zuyvere Gravin,
edel van geslagte,
Jk bid u wilt versagte,
soo mijn wedermin,
En laet mijn niet in liefde zoo versmagten;
Wilt mijn klagten agten
hout u wreedheyd in;
Jk zweer by 's hemels Throon,
en by den God vol waerden,
Wilt dees brief en trouw van mijn aenvaerden;
Jk ben u minnaer trou;
ik kies u voor mijn vrouw,
hier op der aerden.
Neemt gy mijn voor u vrou,
Gy zijt dan mijn beminde,
Zoo wil ik mijn verbinden,
Jn den egten trou,
Komt dan mijn lief onder de groene linde,
Dat ik mag genieten een kus van jou,
Op u lipjes soet,
Die mijn ziel genaken,
Laet ons samen minne-lusjes smaken,
Gy zijt mijn goddin,
Mijn hert mijn ziel en zin,
Jk zal u nooyt verlaten.
Siet in dese schijn,
heeft haer bedrogen;
Gink datelijk uyt haer oogen;
Zy bleef van hem bevrugt,
Doen was de trou en liefde weggevlogen;
De Gravin die bleef in ongenugt,
zy was quijt haer lief
en daer toe in schande,
Gink treuriglijk alleen in haer Waranden;
Og! Hemel wat een spijt;
Mijn eer die ben ik quijt,
Den Satan haer aenranden.
O God komt staet mijn by,
Hoord mijn droeve klagten,
Ey wilt mijn rou versagte,
Want ik ben in ly,
Jk weet geen raed ik mag mijn kind versmagten,
Dan ben ik van dese schande vry,
Mijn Broeder weet het niet,
en komt het niet te hooren,
Daerom zal ik mijn kindtje gaen versmoore,
Zy baert een schoone Zoon,
onder een roosen Boom,
Zy die v ermoorden.
Toen zy haer kindtje schoon;
had gebragt om 't leven,
Zy heeft haer gaen begeven,
Van den roosen boom,
Haer Kamenier die 't had verspiet by desen,
Maekten 't kenbaer aen de Graef seer vroom,
die van stonden aen,
zijn Zuster aenrande;
Wat hebt gy gedaen in de Warande,
Hebt gy omgebragt,
U lieve kind versmagt,
O gruwel schande.
Sy bad om lijfs gena,
Aen de Graef verheven,
De Gravin daer en tegen,
Sprak dat is geen Regt,
Zie wel wat gy doet, wilt de saek overwegen,
Wel was dit niet een groot wonder slegt,
Zy heeft de dood verdient,
Straft haer aen het leven,
Gy kunt geen moord aen u Zuster vergeven,
ontziet u lant en eer,
Eer dat u straft den Heer,
Zy heeft de Moord bedreven.
De Regters van het Lant
Dese zaek ook prijsen,
de Graef die liet verwijsen,
Zijn Zuster een lief pand,
zy kreeg daer vonnis klaer om door het zwaerd te sterven,
Zy bad genade aen de Broeder maer,
Genade was 'er niet,
De dood moest zy besueren,
Haer Lief die quam daer aen in groot getreuren,
En zag zijn lief in rou,
hy riep dat is mijn vrou,
Wilt het zwaerd weer keeren.
Genade en geen Regt;
Kom ik u versoeken,
Aen den Graef seer kloeken,
Guntse mijn in Echt;
het is mijn lief en u zuster vol waerden,
Daerom dog het bloedig zwaerd neerlegt,
het smeeken was om niet
De dood moest zy besueren
Zy wierd onthalst haer Lief ging droevig treure,
het was te laet bedagt,
Het Regt dat wiert volbragt,
Zijn hart moest scheuren.
Gy Jonkmans allegaer,
Wilt hier uyt nu leeren,
zoekt een maegt in eeren
en in deugde klaer,
En ook gy Dogters mee, Doet geen Jonkmans begeeren,
Zo komt gy met haer in geen gevaer,
Steekt hier niet mee de spot,
het kan u ook gebeuren,
Gelooft geen Jonkmans klagen of haer treuren,
Verzint eer gy begint,
Haer zinnen als de wind,
Zeer ligt verkeeren. EYNDE.
Come here pious bystanders,
Will you hear with attention,
What I will propose before you;
Take this piece to heart,
How that the sister of a count is betrayed,
By a young man of great power,
A lord of high state;
Who loved this lady;
By love he will attach her to him,
And take the countess,
With her will and sense,
Underneath the linden.
Guardian of my soul,
I come to greet you,
I bid you will sweeten
My sad pain,
I remain your slave, I bend before your feet,
By the love I carry in my young heart,
I pray you, beautiful goddess
Will observe my pleas,
So that it may soften the quelled happiness,
It quiets my great mourning,
I pray you, young lady,
Hear my complaints.
Well young lord high of state,
[You] want to destroy me,
I bid you to turn around,
And set your mind
To a beautiful dame and to walk with her
And tell her your sweet talk,
You are well-equipped,
With begging and flattering,
To seduce a beautiful virgin so,
Therefore leave me,
You come under false pretences,
To fight [for] me.
O pure countess,
Noble by birth,
I pray you will soften,
My answered love,
And do not let me suffocate in love;
Will you hear my complaints
Keep your cruelty contained;
I swear by heaven’s throne,
And by the precious God,
Will you accept this letter and loyalty from me;
I am your loyal lover;
I choose you to be my wife,
Here on this earth.
If you take me for your wife,
You will be my lover,
So I want to be joined
In marriage.
Come then my love under the green linden,
That I may enjoy a kiss from you,
Upon your sweet lips,
Which come close to my soul,
Let us together taste lovers-lust,
You are my goddess,
My heart, my soul and sense,
I will never leave you.
See here this sham,
He betrayed her;
As soon as he was out of her eyes;
She remained, impregnated by him,
Then the loyalty and love had flown away;
The countess remained in displeasure,
She had lost her love
And then in shame,
Went sadly to her veranda,
Oh! Heaven such regret;
My honour I have lost,
The Satan assaulted her.
O God come, support me,
Hear my sad complaints,
Yes will [you] soften my remorse,
Because I am suffering,
I do not know what to do, I may suffocate my child,
Then I am free from this shame,
My brother does not know,
And will not hear of it,
That is why I will smother my child,
She delivered a beautiful son,
Beneath a rose tree,
She killed him.
When she had killed her beautiful child,
She went away
From the rose tree,
Her chamberlain had seen her there,
And revealed it to the very pious count,
Who then
Assailed his sister;
What have you done in the veranda
Have you killed
Suffocated your sweet child
A horrible shame.
She prayed for forgiveness,
Of the elevated count,
The countess on the other hand,
Said that it was not justice,
See what you do, will [you] consider the case,
Well was this not a great wondrous crime,
She deserves death,
Punish her with life,
You cannot forgive a murder by your sister,
Respect your land and honour,
Before you punish the Lord,
She has committed the murder.
The justices of the land,
Praised this case too,
The count had [them] refer
His sister [to] a good premise,
She received there the verdict, ready to die by the sword,
She prayed for mercy to her brother but,
Mercy there was not,
She had to suffer death,
Her love arrived in great sadness,
And saw his love in mourning,
He shouted that is my wife
Will you turn away the sword.
Mercy and no justice;
I come to request from you,
To the very valiant count,
Give her to me in matrimony;
She is my love and your sister full of worth,
Therefore lay down the bloody sword,
The begging was to no effect
Death she had to suffer
She was decapitated, her love went mourning sadly,
It was too late,
The verdict was fulfilled,
His heart had to tear.
All you young men,
Will you learn from this,
Find an honourable virgin
In virtue ready,
And you daughters too, do not desire a young man,
So you will not be in danger with her,
Do not mock this,
It can happen to you too
Do not believe a young man’s words or her regret,
Think before you begin,
Her senses are, like the wind,
Very easily turned. END.
O Heere goet van grooter machten,
Waer in heb ick mijn tijdt verspilt:
Ick roep u aen met al mijn krachten;
Ick hoop dat ghy mijn helpen wilt:
En mijn o Heer genadigh wesen,
Al ghy den Moordenaer deed' voordesen.
Ick heb berouw van mijn misdaden,
Ick hoop 't niet wesen sal te laet,
Ick ben met veel sonden beladen,
O Heer, by u is altijdt readt.
O Godt wilt mijn sonden vergeten,
En schenckt mijn doch 't eeuwige leven.
Ick gingh van 't waelt Iaren dolen,
In 't soetste van mijn jonge tijdt,
De Hoer-huysen waren mijn Schoolen,
Daer in ick liep met groote:
En leerde daer veel boose streken,
Die mijn och lacy nu opbreken.
Daer na gingh ick met snoode Dieven,
Begaf mijn meed op avontuer,
Ick voeghde mijn na haer believen,
't Was somtijdts soet en somtijts suer,
Alwaer wy quamen ofte sochten,
Namen wy meerder dan wy brochten.
Soo dat geen Huys hoe seer gesloten,
Of ick wist daer te breken in!
't Heeft mij oock nimmermeer verdroten,
Ick lagh somwijlen in een Swingh,
En wist de Schilt wacht soo te houwen,
Dat mijn maets daer mochten op bouwen.
Ick heb soo menigh Huys gebroken,
Daer niemandt aen en wist,
En in gebroken fel gesproken,
't Sa smijt nu open kas en kist,
De Boer sal nu het Lagh betalen,
Daer wy de Wijn en 't bier voor halen.
Daerom ben ick al van de Heeren,
Geset met een Touw om mijn Bast,
Om mijn van Stelen af te keeren,
Smeten mijn in een Tucht-huys vast,
Ick socht daer raet om uyt te komen,
Als ick oock vonde sonder Schroomen
Ick sneed mijn haer oock van Vlechten,
En maeckte daer doen Baltjes van,
En nam een Tontel-doos met rechten,
En maeckte dat daer vuer quam an:
Om 't Tucht-huys in de Brand te steken,
Als 't Alckmaer wel is gebleken.
Noch heb ick op verscheyden Plecken
Veel Huysen in de lichte Brandt
Gestoken, en ging dan vertrecken,
Als ick dit met een boose handt,
Had uytgerecht al sonder schromen,
Dat nu soo qualijck werdt genomen.
Soo dat de wijse goede Heeren,
Mijn hebben aengeseydt de Doodt,
Om met een koordt 't mijnder oneeren,
Te sterven door benautheyt groot,
Daerom waerschouw ick man of Wijven,
Niet meer by Dievery te blyven.
Och had ick over veel Iaren,
Bedacht dat mijn nu weder vaerdt,
'k Had uyt mijn hooft gehaelt de Haren,
En had mijn liever toebedaert,
't Is nu te laet ick moet nu scheyden,
O Godt? wilt mijn Ziel nu geleyden.
'k Waerschouw nu yder niet te Stelen,
Of anders gaet ghy mee de gangh,
Dit moet nu niemandt niet vervelen,
Op dat ghy singht een ander Sangh,
En Rasphuys Boeven algelijcke,
Siet ghy daer noch vry wat te kijcke.
Vergeeft het mijn vrome Huys-luyden,
Al 't gene dat ick heb misdaen,
ick moet nu van de Aerde Vlieden,
Als een Schim die men heeft sien staen,
Vergeeft soo wordt u weer geven,
Ghy meed het Eeuwigh leven.
Adieuw voor 't laetste vriend en magen,
Adieu tot in der eeuwigheyt,
Adieuw alle die na mijn vragen,
Ick ben tot Sterven wel bereydt,
Godt wil mijn Ziel genadigh wesen,
Daer op soo Sterf ick sonder vreesen.
Roemwaerde Engelin,
Gy die door u soete loncken
Menigh Hartje hebt ontstoncken,
En gelockt tot uwe min.
Uwe nette bruyne,
En u sarp soete mont,
Hebben menigh gast bewoogen,
En sijn jeughdigh hart gewont.
Oh good Lord of higher power,
Wherein I have wasted my time:
I call to you with all my strength;
I hope that you will help me:
And be merciful to me, oh lord,
Like you were to the murderer before me.
I have remorse for my misdeeds,
I hope that it will not be too late,
I am loaded with many sins,
O lord, with you there is always wisdom/council,
O God will you forget my sins,
And grant me still the eternal life.
I wandered by the water [for] years,
In the sweetest of my young time,
The whore-houses were my schools,
Therein I walked with the great:
And learned there many evil tricks,
Which, alas, break me up now.
After that I went with nefarious thieves,
Went myself along on adventure,
I accommodated myself after her believes,
It was sometimes sweet and sometimes sour,
Wherever we came or sought,
We took more than we brought.
So that no house, no matter how closed,
Or I knew how to break into it!
It has nevermore saddened me,
I sometimes danced a swing,
And knew to keep the sentry such
That my rhythm could build on it.
I so broke into many a house,
That no one knew about,
And broken in heartlessly spoken,
Go on, now fling open till and chest,
The farmer shall now pay for all,
For which we get the wine and the beer.
That is why I am of all the Lords,
Set with a rope around my chest,
To steer me away from stealing,
Flung me into a discipline-house,
I sought council there to escape,
Which I found without scruples.
I cut my hair too from braids,
And made that into little balls,
And took a flammable-box with justice,
And took care to start a fire there,
To set the discipline-house on fire,
Like it happened in Alkmaar.
So too have I, in different places, set many houses on fire and then I went away
As I did with bad intent
Had done without scruples,
That which is now being resented.
So that the wise good Lords,
Have assigned Death to me,
To die with a cord, because of my dishonour,
By great suffocation,
That is why I warn man or wives,
Not to stay with thievery.
Oh had I over many years,
Figured out what has now come back to me,
I would have pulled the hair from my head,
And had rather tucked myself in,
It is now too late, I must divorce [from life],
O God? Will you now guide my soul.
I now warn all not to steal,
Or else you will go the same way,
This must now not bore anyone,
When you sing a different song,
And thieves of a discipline-house alike,
See you there still free to watch.
Forgive my pious house-people,
All that I have misdone,
I must now flee from the earth,
Like a shade which people have seen standing,
Forgive so you shall be given,
You with the eternal life.
Adieu for the last time, friend and virgins,
Adieu until eternity,
Adieu all who ask after me,
I am prepared to die,
God be merciful to my soul,
Thereby so I die without fear.
Glorious Angel,
You who by her sweet looks,
Ignited many a heart,
And lured to your pleasure,
Your burning net,
And your sharp sweet mouth,
Have moved many a man,
And hurt his youthful heart.