B O C 



with the authority of a prophet. Matthias, having pil- 

 laged the city, amaffed large hoards of wealth, and reduced 

 all ranks to an equality, provided for its defence, by repair- 

 ing and extending its fortifications, by forming all his fol- 

 lowers, who were capable of bearing arms, into regular 

 bodies, and by endeavouring to add the vigour of difcipline 

 to the impetunfity of enthufiafm. After tiiefe preparations, 

 he fent out emiiTaries to the anabaptifts in the Low Countries, 

 inviting tlicm to aflemble at Muniter, which he dignified 

 with the title of Mount Sion, and from thence he propofed 

 that they (liould fct out to reduce all the nations of the 

 earth under their dominion. The bifhop of Munfter, juftly 

 alarmed by thefe hollile appearances, affcmbled an army, laid 

 fiege to the town, and flew Matthias, with 30 of his attend- 

 ants, in their firll frantic fally. Matthias, in the fame year 

 1554, was fuccecded by Boccold, who, more cautious than 

 his predecefTor, fatisfied himfelf with carrying on a defenfive 

 war, whilil he waited for the fuccours from the Low Coun- 

 tries, which he encouraged his deluded followers to expcft. 

 But though lets daring in aftion than Matthias, he was a 

 wilder euthufiaft, and of more unbounded ambition. Ac- 

 cordingly he marched naked through the ftreets, and pro- 

 claimed with a loud voice, " That the kingdom of Sion was at 

 hand ; that whatever was highell on earth (hould be brought 

 low, and whatever was lowell fhould be exalted." In order to 

 verify his declaration, he commanded the churches, and the 

 moft. lofty buildings in the city, to be levelled with the 

 ground ; and depriving Cnipperdorling, one of the moft con- 

 iiderable of their profelytes of the confullhip, the higheft 

 rank in the commonwealth, he degraded him to the humilia- 

 ting office of common executioner. In place of the depofcd 

 fenators, he named 12 judges, according to the number of 

 tribes in Ifrael, and referved to himfelf the authority pof- 

 fefled by Mofes as legiflator of the people. He further 

 declared to the afTembled multitude, that it was th- will of 

 God, that John Boccold (hould be king of Sion, and fit on 

 the throne of David. Accepting this heavenly calling, 

 which he pretended to have received by a fpecial revelation, 

 he was immediately acknowledged as monarch by the deluded 

 multitude, and aflumed all the ftate and pomp of royalty. 

 He wore a crown of gold, and was clad in the moft lump- 

 tuous garments. A Bible was carried by him in one hand, 

 and a fword in the other ; he appeared in public attended 

 by a body of guards, coined money with his own image, and 

 appointed the great officers of his houftiold and kingdom, 

 among whom Cnipperdorling was nominated governor of the 

 city, as a recompence for his former fubmiifion. As the 

 exccftes of enthufiafm have ufualiy led to ienfual gratifica- 

 tions, BoccoM inllrufted his pr phets and teachers to incul- 

 cate the lawfuhiefs of a plurality of wives, as one of the pri- 

 vileges granted by God to his faints ; and he himlelf fct 

 the example of this Chriftian liberty, a* he called it, bv mar- 

 rying at once three wives, one of whom was the beautiful 

 widow of Matthias. He proceeded with augmenting the 

 number of his wives to fourteen, reftrifting, however, the 

 title of queen to Matthias's widow, and allowing no other 

 to (hare with him the fplendour and ornamerts of royalty. 

 The multitude availing themfelves of his example, indulged 

 their defires to the molt licentious and extravagant cxcefs ; 

 and polygamy and freedom of divorce univcrfally prevailed. 

 The biihop of Munfttr, in the mean while, aided by the 

 German princes, prcffcd clofer the blockade of the town into 

 which the fiege had been converted ; but its fortifications 

 were fo ilrong, and fo diligently guarded, that they durft 

 rot attempt an aifault. But no fuccours arrived to the be- 

 fieged; and after a clofe blockade of about fifteen months,they 

 began to feel and lament the efTefts of fcarcity. However, 



B O C 



fuch was the fafcioating influence of Boccold's promife* 

 ai:d predirtlons, that no one feemed inclined, or at leaft pof- 

 fetfed refolution eooui^h, to propofe a furrender. One of his 

 wives, intimating a fmall doubt of liis divine rr.ilTion, was 

 fummoned before him asa blafphenner, and co.Timandipg her 

 to kneel, he cut off her head with his own hands ; his 

 frantic followers at the fame time dancing with joy round 

 the bleeding body of their companion. Notwithftanding all 

 the horrors of famine, the people of Muiifter (till rcfufed to 

 capitulate. At length, however, a deferter made his efcape 

 to the enemy ; and offered to head a party of the bcfi'^gers, 

 under cover of the night, to a weak part of the fortifications, 

 and Icfs vigilantly guarded than any other. The propofal 

 was accepted ; and the party fcaled the walls, feiztd one of 

 the gates, and admitted the relt of the army. A dreadful 

 carnage enfued ; the king and Cnipperdorling were taken 

 prifoners. The former, loaded with chains, was carried 

 about from city to city, as a fpcftaele to the people ; but 

 notwithftanding all their infults, he maintained a firm and 

 unbroken fpirit ; and adhered inflexibly to the tenets of his 

 feet. He Wis afterwards broUj^ht back, to Munfter, and fuf- 

 fered the moft exquifite as well as lingering tortures of death 

 with aftonifhmg fortitude ; thus finilhing an extraordinary 

 courfe of delution, at the age of 26 years. Baylc, Art. 

 Anahapt'ijls. Robertfon's Hift.of Ch. V. vol. iii. p. 99, &c. 

 Modieim's Eccl. Hift. vol. iv. p. 452, &c. 



BOCCONE, Paolo, or P.^jl, an ingenious naturalift, 

 was born at Palermo, in Sicily, April 24th i6;3. He was of 

 a wealthy and refpedtable family, originally from Savona in 

 Genoa. To improve himfelf in natural hiftory, particularly in 

 botany, to which he was early attached, he travelled over 

 Sicily, Corfica, Malta, many parts of Germany, Holland, 

 and England, converCng with the moft eminent literary cha- 

 radters in the places he vifited, with whom he afterwards 

 kept up a correfpondence. In the courfe of his travels, he 

 was admitted doftor in medicine at Padua, was elected mem- 

 ber of the Academ. Naturas Curiof. and made botanill to 

 the grand duke of Tufcany. In 16S2, he entered among 

 the Ciftertian monks at Florence, and with the habit of the 

 order, took the name of Sylvio, which he affixed to his latter 

 works, but he was ftil' permitted to continue his refcarches 

 in natural hiftory. Returning at length to Sicily, he retired 

 to one of the houfes of the Cifttrtians near Palermo, where he 

 died, Dec. 22,1704. As he had been indefatigable in his re- 

 fearches, his collection of plants and other natural produc- 

 tions was very confiderable. Sherrard, who faw his hortus 

 fjccus, or fpecimens of dried plants, in 1697, was fo ftruck 

 with their mimber a.id beauty, that he engaged him to give 

 a catalogue of them to the public, which he did in his 

 " Mufao piante rare," publiihed at Venice in 4to. the fame 

 year. The catalogue was alfo publiihed by itfclf. Several 

 of his works appear to have been printed while he was on 

 his travels. The firft of them, " De abrotano mare mo- 

 nitum,"in 1668 ; and in the fame yjar, " Manifeftum bota- 

 nicum, de plantis SicuHs," Catanex, 4to. By an advcrtife- 

 ment at the beginning of the work, he offers to botanifts 

 the feeds of many of tlie curious and rare plants he had col- 

 ledted, at moderate prices. Morrifon publiihed an edition 

 of this work at Oxford in 1674, 410. under the title of 

 " Icones et defcriptiones rariorum plantarum Siciiias, Melitoe, 

 Gallix, et Italic." Many of the plants, Haller fays, were 

 new. The figures are fmall, and in general not well deli- 

 neated or engraved. His next production was " Re- 

 cherches et obfervations naturelles," publiihed at Paris in 

 167 1, i2mo. again at Amfterdam in 1674, and again in 

 1744, in 8vo. It confi'ls of letters to his corre(pondents in 

 France, Italy, England, &c. In 1684, in i6mo. " Oper- 



vazioni 



