Materials Toward a History of Witchcraft

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Materials Toward A

HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

Collected by

Henry Charles Lea, LLD.

Volume II

Arranged and edited by

Arthur G. HowlandHtnry Charles Lea Professor of Europwn History

University of Pcnnylvania

With an Introduction by

George Lincoln Burr

Professor Emeritus of History, Condi University

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PART III

THE DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT.

A. ITS PROMOTERS AND CRITICS.

I. WKITEKS SOUTH OF THE ALPS.

CABDAN, JEKOME. De SuUilitate. Parisiis, 1550.

Jerome Cardan may be regarded as exemplifying the highest intellect

and culture of his age. Possessed of all the science of the day, his inquiringand practical mind sought to find a reason for every fact presented to the

eye or intelligible to the understanding, and not even Bacon could seekmore diligently to discover by experiment the causes of everything in nature,or to circumscribe the supernatural more rigidly. His character is well

illustrated by the fact which he relates of himself (De Subtil., lib. xviii)that from his fourth to his seventh year he had for about two hours everynight spectral visions of men and things appearing at the foot of his bed.

Young as he was, he knew them to be illusions and he delighted in them to

that extent that he concealed them from his mother and aunt, fearing lest

he should be in some way deprived of them. When he was seven, he lost

thorn in consequence of being moved to another house.

In his book De Subtilitato he treats of every branch of natural science,

describing ingenious inventions and illustrative experiments, acutelyreasoning from effect to cause and tracing to natural laws the marvels of

nature. In much he was of course mistaken; but, considering the little thatwas then accurately known in physical science, his arguments and elucida-

tions are singularly correct,

His practical tendencies are shown in the gusto with which he describes

plans for lifting sunken ships, pumps for elevating large amounts of water,machines for sifting flour (the latter the subject of what is probably theearliest patent on record whereby the inventor accumulated a fortune),and in his descriptions he is careful to explain the physical principles whichare called into action, His scientific acquirements and tendencies are

revealed in MB discussions on the refraction and reflection of light, the

rationale of the explosion of gunpowder, the cause of earthquakes, the

elevation and subsidence of mountains and islands, the laws of hydrostaticsand hydraulics, tbe centre of gravity, the cause of hot springs, the deadlymiasmata emitted by well known caverns, the proportion of the circle, the

hyperbola and the parabola, and a thousand other matters which are now the

commonplaces of the schoolboy but which then were the marvels even of

the learned. By deduction from the movements of the moon, he finds the

earth to be a sphere of about 10,000 miles in diameter; and by ingeniousVOL. ii 28 ( 435 )

436 THE DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

reasoning upon the shadows cast by sunlight and moonlight he works out

the sun's diameter to be 65,000 miles, and the moon's 2941. We maysmile at his analysis of the milky way into light reflected back and forth

between the stars, as heat accumulates in valleys by reflection from the

mountain sides, but it is none the less ingenious and shows his determination

to find a natural cause for every phenomenon; while his description of

comets as consisting of matter in a state of extreme tenuity is eminentlycreditable to his penetration. Even the thunder, which was so portentousto the men of his day, he explains by the sudden rupture of clouds by the

passage of lightning, and classes it simply as an unmusical sound. Lightninghe sees to be not ordinary fire, and he discusses its rapidity and subtiltywith a coolness which shows that it had no supernatural terrors for him.

It is therefore interesting to see what such a man thought of the vulgar

superstitions which threw whole nations into terror, and cost the lives of

so many thousands of unfortunates. The existence of the devil and of goodand evil spirits he could not deny, but he reduces their sphere of activityto an exceedingly narrow compass.

Lib. xviii, De mirdbilibus et modo representandi res varias

praeter fidem.Charles V brought in his train to Milan a juggler so expert

that the ignorant took him to be a magician. He did incredi-

ble things, and I understand this art to be imported from theNew World. Certainly antiquity either knew nothing of

this kind, or adored it, as happened under Pharaoh and to

Simon Magus. (Thus the Egyptian magicians and Simonare at once classed as jugglers. H. C. L.) Yet this art is

held in no esteem, partly I think because it is useless and partlybecause it is practised by despicable men, and thirdly becauseit formerly was regarded as divine and is so no longer. Be-

sides, it is forbidden by law because formerly princes trusted

to it and were deceived. Description of tricks, among whichare swallowing and breathing out fire, vomiting thread, nails,

glass, etc. All these are accomplished by sleight of hand or

by instruments devised for the purpose. These people"jure

circulatores, sycophantaeque ac imposlorcs dicuntur el

infames habentur" and in some places are punished.Description of rope-dancers. Quotes from Suetonius

description of rope-dancing elephants exhibited by ( HaudiuH.Various absurd statements as to the effect of parts of ani-

mals when swallowed or otherwise used. Some of these hodoubts, others he affirms. (He is by no means incredulouswith regard to natural properties ascribed to substances,H. C. L.)

Recites a number of quaint remedies in vogue, in some ofwhich he seems to place faith. While writing this, ho cut his

ITS PROMOTERS AND CRITICS 437

lip when eating and could not stanch the blood by salt or

pressure, or in any other manner, until he succeeded suddenly

by chanting this charm "Sanguis mane in te, sicut fecit

Christus in se. Sanguis mane in tua vena}sicut Christus in sua

poena. Sanguis mane fixus, sicut Christus quando fuit cruci-

fixus." "Nescio ego/7 he adds, "an fides an verba pro-

fuerint."

Disgusting love philtres veneficia amatoria which he

qualifies as absurd."Veneficia vero a venenis parum differunt." Those which

are swallowed or act by contact are really poisons. Thosewhich are buried under door sills or in crossroads in the nameof the person to be injured, and are made of portions of his

hair, nails, etc., worked up by spells and inserted in a dead

man's bone are powerless, except through the influence whicha strong mind may exert upon a weak one. They cannot hurt

brave or wise men, but only women and children of the baser

sort.

Agrippa, Cardan says, has filled a huge book with such stuff

"vir ad omnia mala natus, humanoque generi perniciosus.. Docere vero talia sicarii est."

Planetary influences and various charmsmay be partially

true.

Natural magic numberless marvels described and ascribed

to natural causes, some of them ludicrous enough.

Significance of dreams. He appears to attach some im-

portance to them. He recurs to this subsequently, attributes

much importance to them, and relates one, which was repeated

many times, concerning his writing of this book.

There is greater doubt about veneficia which are not swal-

lowed. They have influence both from the fear of the victim

and the faith of the sorcerer, especially if we add the words

"casus ac fortuna." Besides, there is an occult power in all

of us.

Tricks to produce magical effects.

Waking visions and illusions ecstasy. To these he

attributes for the most part the visions experienced byhermits. While it in true that holy men may sometimes be

visited by God or demons, they are principally the delusions

of minds affected by solitude, low diet, and intense con-

templation.The reason why it is a fatal sign for the sick when delirious

to see spectres of the dead is because it shows a condition of


the nervous system which predicates exhaustion of the vital

forces. Strong and brave men do not see spectres. If the

anthropophagi do, it is a peculiarity of their region and exces-

sive credulity. Robbers never see them, nor the Scythians,with whom homicide is a religion.

Echoes often produce apparently supernatural effects.

It is no wonder that those who walk by night fancy that

they see marvels, ghosts, corpses, spectres, spirits, etc., or

hear unearthly sounds all of which are by no means to beattributed to demons.

It is evident from all this that Cardan had accurately studied the relations

of mind and body, and that in his system the imagination accounted for

nearly all the facts of superstition.

Lib. xix, De Daemonibus.

He gives the opinion of those who believe that demons canvisit us, and describes their views as to the difference betweenthe visitations of good and evil spirits. They likewise saythat morbus comitialis can be relieved by a silver ring inscribed

+Dabi+ Habi+Haber+Hebr+. Cardan has seen a head-ache cured by wearing a paper inscribed

"Milant Vap Vitalot

"

while repeating the Lord's prayer thrice.

Relates a case, which occurred the preceding year, of anoble lady of Milan who for seven months suffered frightfullyfrom a disease of the bladder, which all the leading physiciansand surgeons of Milan, including Cardan himself, failed to

relieve by the most active treatment with drugs, cautery andthe knife. Worn out by the disease and its treatment, shewas abandoned to death, which seemed inevitably near, whenJoseph Niger, a professor of Greek, who was reputed to belearned in sorcery, was called in. In her presence he placed athree-cornered crystal in the hands of her son, a boy ton yearsof age, and the child said he saw in it three small devils

bound by a larger demon on horseback. The patient immedi-ately began to mend and soon recovered entirely. Cardanargues that the cure was wrought either by faith and imagina-tion or by demons, and concludes in favor of the latter because

Niger refused all payment and could have no motive for afraud which brought no reward and exposed him to infamywhether it was successful or not. To support this view bequotes Plutarch "in vitis Cimonis et Pausaniae"; PUn, Bplst,1. vii; Sueton. in Calig., etc.

His father, Facius Cardanus, confessed that he had a


familiar demon for nearly thirty years. When searching

among his papers for an account of what he had often heard

him say, Cardan found a memorandum stating that on the

Ides of August, 1491, at the twentieth hour (8 P.M.?) after

performing his religious duties there appeared to him as

usual (de more) seven men handsomely dressed in silk, of

nobler presence than ordinary mortals. One of them, more

imposing than the rest, had two followers; another, rather

smaller, had three. They seemed to be from thirty-five to

forty years old. When asked who they were, they replied

that they were aerial men, who were born and died, but theylived about three hundred years. They were much nearer to

the gods than men are, yet infinitely distant from them. To

us their relation is very much as ours to animals, and their

lowest classes are the genii of the noblest men, just as the vilest

men are the caretakers and trainers of the finest dogs and

horses. Nothing is hidden from them, either of books or

treasures. Asked about the immortality of human souls,

they said there was no individual or distinct existence here-

after. As their substance is exceedingly tenuous they candp

neither good nor evil to men, except by teaching or terri-

fying. The smaller of the two had 300 students (discipuli)

and the larger 200, in the public academy, for each of them

taught publicly. My father asked why, when they knew of

treasures, they did not reveal them, and they said this was

forbidden under the heaviest penalties. They remained with

him more than three hours. They disputed as to the creation

of the world and told him that God had not made it in per-

petuity, but was continually creating it, and if he desisted for

a moment it would perish. They quoted from the disputa-

tions of Averroes, a book which had not at that time been as

yet discovered also other books, some of which had been

and others have not yet been found. They all professed

themselves Averroists.

Whether true or a fable, such is the story. That it is a fable

aeems likely enough, as these assertions do not tally with

religion, and my father with all his demons was not more

fortunate or richer or better known than I who never saw a

demon. But to this he would answer that he predicted many

things which without the aid of demons he could not do

as for instance that the Emperor would eventually be master

of Italy, which happened thirty years afterwards. He was

careless of wealth and honors, which I am. not; perhaps I


have a genius and others also, though they do not show them-selves to us, though really helping us. They may have re-

vealed themselves to him because he was better and purer,for he was most religious and excellent, or because he waswont to use, as he did, a conjuration which he had obtainedfrom a dying Spaniard.

There also seem to be subterranean demons, namedTelchinnes, who destroy miners though Cardan suggests a

natural explanation of them.Ancient oracles may have been priestly frauds, or exhala-

tions causing ecstasies, natural to those places.It would seem that, when the earth is peopled with men

and animals and plants and metals and minerals, and the

waters with fish, the wide expanse of air ought also to have its

inhabitants, as much nobler than ours as the air is nobler thanthe earth. But I will not argue about what I have not seen,like Porphyry, Psellus, Plotinus, Proclus, lamblichus. I

belong to the Peripatetic philosophers, who do not admit of

demons, nor is the opinion probable that they exist in suchvast masses, for if so they would be here like birds, and muchmore common, while they are scarce seen more than once in

many years in a whole province. Besides, princes, whosecareer shows them to be the wisest of men, do not believe in

them, etc., etc. Philosophizes on death.

Lib. xx, De Angelis, sen Intelligences.Here he wanders off into the received hierarchy of Denis the

Areopagite, recited in the canon of the Mass, of Angels,Archangels, Thrones, Dominations, Virtues, Principalities,

Powers, Cherubim and Seraphim, and he proceeds to assignto each class its functions in respect to the several bodies ofthe planetary system and their respective influences over man

a wild mixture of theology and astrology, but he winds upby saying wisely "Porro de his potius credendum cat his solin

quibus Deus revelaverit quam falsis rationibus."Lib. xxi, De Deo et universe.

In his speculations on God and the Universe he alludes to

sortes and pronounces Geomancy the noblest [clans of divina-

tion], whereof there are celebrated books passing under thoname of Petrus Apponensis. "This may have help fromdemons, but in L iv [of] De Sapientia, we have shown its

inconstancy.7 '

It is very evident that Cardan believed as little as he could in what hedid not see, and feel, and understand. When a fact could not be explained


in any other way, he reluctantly attributed it to demons, whose existence

and power were taught by the church and could not be rejected but if

any other solution was attainable Cardan adopted it. Even where forced,

and weighing the evidence on all sides, to admit the supernatural, it is almost

always done with a resultant expression of doubt. Astrology is grudgingly

admitted, but not asserted. I do not know what rank is usually assignedto Cardan; but to me he seems to be one of the clearest thinkers of his age,

an acute, self-relying intellect which asks for no external support, singularly

independent, questioning everything and working out the answers for

himself; inclined to scepticism, and going as near the boundaries of dis-

belief in the multiplex theology of the church as was safe in a period when the

outbreak of Protestantism rendered the free expression of thought dangerousin the extreme. Investigate his life!

Townley (in his translation of Maimonides' More Nevo-

chim, pp. 134-5) says Cardan was an enthusiastic astrologerwho is said to have starved himself to death in order to verifythe horoscope he had cast predicting his death in that year.He calculated the nativity of Christ and showed that the

career of the Christian church was predicted by it. In his

Comment, in Ptolem. et in Lib. Genitur. he says he spentone hundred hours in calculating the geniture of Edward VIof England and foretold dangerous sicknesses to attack himin his thirty-fourth and fifty-fifth years. When Edward died

in his sixteenth year Cardan said that he had omitted some-

thing in his calculation, which, if he had revised it as he mighthave done in half an hour more, would have shown him that

the life of the king was threatened in his sixteenth year.

CARDAN. De Rerum Varietate. Basileae, 1557.

Lib. xvi, De rebus praeter naturam admirandis.

Cap. 93, Daemones et Mortui: His visit to Scotland fur-

nished him with sundry stories. (He does not believe in these

stories see below in his discussion of witches. H. C. L.)

A noble and beautiful young woman was found pregnant.Her parents investigated and she told them that a handsome

youth was with her day and night, but whence he came or

whither he went she did not know. On the third night the

maid summoned them, and on breaking in the door they found

a horrible monster in their daughter's arms. A priest read the

Goapel of St. John to him and at the words "Verbum earo

factum est" the demon flew away, with a terrible noise,

carrying with him the ceiling, and leaving the furniture in

flames. Three days later the girl brought forth a hideous

monster, who was promptly burnt.


Another case occurred in a vessel bound for the Low Coun-

tries and leaving the Firth of Forth in 1486 at the summer

solstice, when fair weather was the rule. A sudden tempest

carried away masts and sails and the situation was desperate,

when a woman on board begged to be thrown into the sea to

save the vessel, saying that she had for years had relations

with an incubus, who was with her at the time. A priest,

who was a passenger, exhorted her successfully to repentance,

when a cloud of smoke left the vessel, with noise, flame and

stench; the tempest ceased and the ship was saved.

Near Aberdeen a youth complained to the Bishop of A.

that for months a beautiful succubus had infested him, enter-

ing through closed doors and compelling his embraces. Hehad vainly sought to liberate himself, with the assistance of

others. The bishop advised him to go elsewhere and try the

effect of fasting and prayer, which was soon successful.

Cardan quotes from Hector Boece the story of Macbeth

and Banquho Stuart, whose posterity is still represented bya girl (Mary, Queen of Scots). Also the story of Macduff

and Burnam Wood carried to Dunsinane.

Tells cases of seeing things in crystals and vials but says

they are deceits. Young girls used for the purpose protend to

see in order to prove that they are virgins.

Discusses at length the existence of demons, in which he

firmly believes, "Quamobrem creates daemones case haud

dubium est." Argues that, as the earth produces animals

and water fishes, so air must produce demons. The air must

be full of spirits, otherwise a great space would be empty and

useless. If God could not create in the air things which feel

and understand, he would not have interposed HO great a

space between heaven and earth. Invisible and not subject/

to our senses, they take care of us. Demons rarely conic to UN;

they delight in the place where they are generated, which is

the air. "Unde fit ut raro et nonnisi magnis ex OUUHIH

daemones ad nos veniant." Argues that demon** have no

power to help or harm "At a daemonibus nervatUB an I

vexatus nonnisi fabulose legimus. Oxnitto nunc quao Dei

permissione facta dicuntur."~~His father boasted of having a

demon, but he saw him practising geomancy to ascertain

uncertain things and on asking why he did so when he had a

demon he said he came when summoned but did not answer

truly as before. These things are to be assumed. First,

that they cannot move weights or things of much moment.


Second, it follows that they only frame images of things

sounds, forms, larvae, odors, succubi, which are perceived bytouch, though the senses are deceived in this, as there is

nothing to be felt. Third, that nothing of worth has ever

been done with their help. Fourth, that no one has yetwritten anything about them worthy to be said. Fifth, howdo they hear the murmured words of boys (in crystallomancy)wherever they may be, or understand the voice when theyhave no voice? To be everywhere at once is to be like Godand if they hear from afar where there is no voice they mustunderstand the thoughts of the mind. Sixth, why are spectres

mostly seen about those about to die? It is certain that

scarce any one at the article of death does not imagine demonsto be present. Seventh, why is it that in deserts, depopulatedcities, houses long vacant, among ruins and tombs and placeswhere multitudes have perished, such spectres and demons or

shades of the dead are commonly seen. Eighth, that those

invoked come much more easily than those not invoked,and some are invoked with blandishments, others with threats

and execrations, with which also they are driven away. Then,after a disquisition on the metaphysics of demons, he proceeds :

"Cum vero sint ab aere et aethere, sunt mollia, frigida,

patibilia valde et imbecillia" they suffer and are sorrowful.

As they can be easily injured, they are necessarily timid. It is

evident that demons having bodies are mortal, but there is noreason why some should not be without bodies* "Sunt

igitur daemoncs animalia irivisibilia, mortalia, corpore per-fecta." There must be various ranks among them and somemust know more and others less. They know much of whichmen are ignorant and men know much of which they are

ignorant, for they do not use reason and have none. Theyknow something of the future, but much less than the celestial

powers, and what knowledge they have varies with the indi-

vidual Their knowledge of the present is partial, and differs

with the individual. . . , They delude by perverting the

senses, so that they who use them are unwise. Socrates wasthe only philosopher who had a demon, and Socrates wascondemned and there is no doubt that the demon was the

cause of it.

It is to be observed that they are generated in the highest

air, which is purer and dryer and less cold, nor are they moreaccustomed to descend to us than men are to seek the bottom

of the sea, not only because they cannot bear our denser air,


where they cannot breathe or act, but also because they have

to pass through the exceeding cold region which immediately

surrounds us and is as a barrier between us and them. (Evi-

dently they have material bodies. H. C. L.) Very rarely

they come to us and when they come they cannot stay, but

they make a short time seem long by the variety of images and

the succession of forms and actions. They kill children, not

by themselves but by art in using instruments. If they really

enter human bodies and do not send the imagination of it

from above, this may happen on account of warmth and

comfort. It is best to have no dealings with them, neither

with the more powerful nor the savage ones, whose enmity is

as pernicious as their familiarity is dangerous- "Ego certe

nullum daernonem aut genium mihi adesse cognosce."

If

there is one without my knowing it, after I have been so often

warned by dreams, if God wills I will reverence God alone and

give him thanks for whatever good may come, and the demon

may be satisfied if what I owe to him I pay to our commonLord. Demons desire to be worshipped; being without bodies

they have no gluttony, lust, or avarice, but they are very

ambitious, and the theologians say not badly that they wore

driven from heaven by ambition.

Man can learn no more from demons, however he may be

taught, than a dog can learn from man; for the mind of a

demon in its working is farther removed from that of a manthan that of man from that of a dog for as you ascend the

intervals become greater. It is not safe to be in the descried

places which they frequent, especially without fire, for even if

they cannot harm of themselves, still occasions are not to be

sought, and fear alone may do much harm. Fire and fireunnN

are of much service.

This is altogether a very curious illustration of the advanced thought of

the day. He says that he is not writing a theological but a philoHophical

treatise, and he certainly borrows nothing from the .schoolmen. Tho tract

is very long and verbose, occupying 38 large folio pp., and in it ho evidently

thinks that he is arguing from facts in a scientific way, giving hw rwiHoim

for all his assertions and working up to results.

Lib. xv. De divinations artificiosa.

Cap. 80. Striges, sen lamiae, et fascinationes: After re-

lating cases of figurines employed against King Duff of Soot-

land (from Hector Boece) and Pedro Portocarrero, he naynthat those who rely upon the principles of nature laugh at

these things as fables. Thus great doubt has arisen

ITS PKOMOTEBS AND CRITICS 445

witches, some affirming, others denying their existence. Thosewho affirm adduce cases like the above and things so in con-

tempt of religion that I deem them not to be mentioned.

They (witches) adore the ludi Dominam and sacrifice to heras a God. Death often follows their touching infants, others

perish through sorcery alone. All this they confess undertorture when they know it will cause their destruction. Factsconfirm their confessions, for many children, otherwise sound,waste away without manifest cause. They also confess to

dancing, jesting, feasting splendidly, having carnal inter-

course, getting drunk and being fatigued. Therefore theydream, or imagine, or lie, or tell what is true. It is absurdthat they should lie on the rack, with such evident peril of

life. It is the same as to dreams, for dreams are various andthese always the same. To imagine it would be folly and theyare in other things prudent. They also lead their daughtersand teach others. Wherefore these profane observances

must be true. There are often contestes, so that one exposes

another, and they agree as to times and what they see. Theyconfess to different assemblies, their leaders and places and

rites, which all agree so perfectly that it must be true and not

invented, especially as they are simple persons and without

guile. Also the perseverance in it through many years, so

that, when once involved in it, they rarely abandon it, even

after imprisonment and the fear of death. If there was

nothing in it, how could it be so tenaciously adhered to bythose of all conditions, ages, and sexes? The cruel legal

punishment of death by fire would, if they are innocent, con-

convict legists of ignorance and cruelty. These uncultured

women are wise in the virtues of herbs and cure the most

difficult diseases and some even predict the future. They are

taught by experienced leaders and are ordered not to use the

sign of the cross. Some withdraw through fear of punishmentand afterward they do not have these visions. To some it

seems that they cook children and animals, blowing fire from

their chests, and then, under command of their leader, collect

the bones and revive them. Those who labor under sorcery

vomit strange things, or knots, needles, bones, nails, hairs,

coals and innumerable other things are found in their beds.

You will Bay that these are artifices and I agree with you, for

it is certain that the greater part of these things are injected

and brought out (pp. 567-8).

Quotes from Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola the story


(which I have cited in Inquisition of the Middle Ages, III,

p 385. H. C. L.). Pico knew a priest named Benedetto

Berna, aged seventy-five years, who for more than forty

years had relations with a demon succubus whom he called

Hermelina, and whom he talked to in the streets, so that the

bystanders, who saw nothing, deemed him insane. Under

torture he confessed that in the mass he did not consecrate, he

gave consecrated hosts to women for sorceries, he sucked the

blood of children and committed other great crimes, for

which he was duly punished. There was another more than

eighty years old, who for more than forty years held relations

with a succubus named Fiorinaand he was still living. I

could add (says Cardan) other absurdities unworthy of so

great a man and destitute of all reason. He can be refuted

by his own examples, for those women seemed to be real

bodies when they were not, which is repugnant not only to

the senses and to reason, but even to the authority of Christ;

for, if both sight and touch can be thus deceived, his speech

concludes nothing against St. Thomas. But if it was a

fictitious body, what torture could be more atrocious than

to lie with a dead body, like one condemned by Mezentius.

But Pico mixed the lies of monks and the figments of womenand smirched the whole with filth. If St. Augustin had ab-

stained from such stories, he might have had fewer readers,

but would enjoy a higher reputation among the learned.

But enough of such ravingsthe result of the greed of those

to whom is confided the inquisition and punishment of those

affairs, the vanity and folly of the delinquents, the desire of

novelty and the ignorance of natural causes and effects

(p. 569).What are we to think of those called lamiae, or vulgarly

strigae? They are miserable women, beggars, existing in the

valleys on chestnuts and field herbs, and but for a little milk

would starve. They are emaciated, deformed, with prying

eyes, pallid, showing in their faces black bile and melancholy.

They are taciturn, stupid, and differ little from thofie called

demoniacs. They are fixed in their opinions and so stubborn

that, if one regard only what they so boldly repeat that is

impossible, we should regard it as true. It is no wonder there-

fore that those ignorant of philosophy are egregiounly impcmcdon. Illustrates with a story of Bernardo, nteward of a noblo

in the time of Philippo Visconti of Milan (1412-47), a simpleand frugal man, much prized by his manter* Convicted of


witchcraft he refused to repent and was condemned to the

flames. His master, a favorite of Phiiippo, obtained his

release under bail for twenty days, during which he fed him

upon eggs and meat and wine, and then easily persuaded himto repent and adhere to the Church; he was discharged andlived as a good Christian thereafter without reproach

(p. 570).

Evidently Cardan considers witchcraft to be illusion engendered bypoverty and hardship and lack of nourishment, but founded on somereality.

He says, "Quae vero Berna et Pinnetus nosterque ille

rasticus, aut videre aut audire sibi persuadebant, partimvera partim falsa esse reor" for it is absurd really to see

things and persevere in the vision, unless there is somethingseen. They see and hear some things and the cause of this is

to be assigned to black bile, which arises partly from food anddrink and air and grief and fear of poverty, partly from the

heavens (stars) and partly from association with other crazyfolk. I had a friend who was obliged to live for eighteenmonths in one of those valleys, and when he returned, thoughnot ignorant of philosophy, he told so many incredible thingsthat I warned him to keep silent lest he should be taken for a

fool and run risk of life. Absorption in arduous affairs and

change of diet brought him to return to himself. Anothercause is the frauds of the judges; for formerly those who both

accused and condemned had the confiscations of the convicts,and they added many fables so that they might not seem to

condemn unjustly (pp. 571-2).It was the wise Senate of Venice that first took away the

power over these miserable and insane, when it saw that the

rapacity of these wolves was condemning the innocent and

seeking the possessors of wealth, not the contemners of religion.

Then came the Lutherans, who were richer, and their energies

were directed to them, to the neglect of the others, who are

treated more mildly, so that you may discover it all to be full

of folly or avarice. Besides, these (witches), when they per-

suade themselves that they see something, exaggerate it with

lieB in their mutual talk, so that a flea becomes an elephant.

Attributes some force to the evil eye, especially towards

infants, BO that it ia not safe to confide children to them

(p. 572).No confidence to bo placed in confessions BO full of lies and


vanities and contradictions. The Sabbat is a delusion:

"Eadem autem vident atque audiunt ob fixam contempla-

tionem fidemque illius rei" (p. 573).

Yet no one will deem unworthy of death these heretic

women, worshippers of demons, impious and homicides. If

there is no fact but only belief, they are fools, but this kind of

folly is dangerous and unless they repent they are commonly

put to death. Their insanity goes so far that they boast of

being the authors of the disease or misfortune of their enemies,

though these are fortuitous. Also they cannot predict the

future nor do any good "sed omnes amentes, fatuae,

miserae, improbae et inconstantes sunt."

"Itaque cum haec turn alia omnia quae de his proferuntur

vana esse comperiuntur et fabulis quam ullis aliis rebus

longe similiora, utilius/7

etc. (p. 573).

Cardan is thoroughly inconsistent. He explains that the fortitude with

which, they persist, after initiation, so that they cannot be diverted from

their purpose by torture or fear of death, arises from their belief that the

demon will save them from suffering and punishment.

It often happens that they will be reminded of this or that

one who has perished, when they reply that this is not because

the demon could not save them, but because of his wrath at

their revealing the secrets. Thus they persist through a

double fear, first of punishment and then of the demon.

"Sed obstinatiores sunt quaecunque saepe itant ad luduu),

quae omnino addictae sunt huic flagitio. Bis in hebdomada

hoc vitio corripiuntur" (p. 574).

Yet he had just pronounced the Sabbat an illusion. Observe he makes no

allusion to the Cap. Episcopi he deems himself a philosopher who abstain

from any dealings with theology, and he never refers to the Scripture text

which are the foundations built upon by the theologians,

ALBEBTINI, ARNALDO. -De Agnoscendis A&sertionibus Catho-

lids et Haereticis Tractatus. Romae, 1572.

This is a work of high repute, frequently referred to by Bubsequent

writers. He was a native of Majorca, inquisitor of Sicily and Bishop of

Patti, dying in 1544. The Tractatus consists of the portions wived of hin

projected work "Speculum Inquisitorum" and was published in 1553, in

Palermo, by Bartolome Sebastian, his successor in the see of Patti. Asecond edition appeared in Borne and my copy is the third, Rome, 1572,

It is therefore a practical work, designed for the guidance of inquisitors, and

was regarded as an authority.


He commences the subject by saying that whether witches

fly by night and enter houses to work evil is doubted by excel-

lent jurists and therefore he will treat the question fully.

But he will premise an account of them as he has learned it byexperience, for he can find no mention of them in the law.

Ib., q. xxiv, n. 1.

This last remark is significant.

Goes on to explain the meaning of strigae and lamiae.

The vulgar name bruxae is Basque, where they greatlyflourish. Ib., n. 2.

Describes from the Malleus the two professions, privata

and solennis. -Ib., n. 3.

It is called a heresy maleficarum and not maleficorum be-

cause consisting more largely of women, on account of the

fragility of the sex and of its insatiable lust, stronger than in

men. They are mostly old women who can find no lovers andbecome strigae ,

when they commit unspeakable things.

Ib., n. 4.

Videtur primafacie that it is heretical to assert that they are

transported bodily because, firstly, of the Cap. Episcopi, which

he quotes in full, and deduces seven assertions of heresy.

Secondly, because of a certain well known example of anold woman who, when a religious failed to convert her, said

she was going to Lady Herodias or Venus, lay down on a

couch and, when she dreamed herself carried to Herodias,she stretched out her hands, so that the couch turned over

and she WEB thrown to the floor in confusion. Nor should one

be moved by the fact that the feet of these old women can

be burnt without their feeling it, for such is the case in epilepsy,

and the demon so concentrates their imagination on the

fantasms that they lose the sense of feeling. St. Augustin tells

the same of a priest named Restitutus, and I knew a womanto whom this happened, so that, on the authority of St.

Auguntin, I assert it can occur without a miracle or the help

of the demons. Thirdly, quotes from various canons in C. 26,

Q. 5, that what is done by the art of the demon is false and

fantastic arid imaginary. Ib., n. 5. (fol. 111).

Fourthly, it seems, because this consists in a fact, i. e.,

that they are moved from place to place by the demon, and

facts are not presumed unless they are proved.---Ib., n. 6

(follil).

Fifthly. Thin seems the most pious and favorable to

VOL. IT-- 20


Christian souls, for it removes these souls from these de-

praved desires, which they would fall into if they thought it

true. Ib., n. 7 (fol. 111-12).

Sixthly. This transportation seems untrue, if the modeis considered. For they are said to prepare an unguent fromthe limbs of infants killed by them, mostly before baptism ;

and by the instructions of the demon they make a stool or a

staff, anoint it and themselves, and are forthwith transported,

by day or night, visibly or invisibly, as they prefer.

Seventhly. Quotes the passage in the Cap. Episcopi pro-

nouncing those who believe these things to be heretics.

Ib., n. 8 (fol. 112-13).

Eighthly and lastly. Because those involved in this crime

are mostly women. We have never heard of a wise man or

woman who said they had seen these things; but they are

mostly foolish old women and infirm men such as melanchol-

iacs, crazy, maniacal, boys and stupid rustics and paupers,

who, in the hope of wealth, are readily deceived by demons.

Ib., n. 10 (fol. 112-13).

Besides, other causes are assigned by Johannes Major in

4 Sentt. dist. 33, q. 2, and by Joan. Nider in Praeceptor.,

praecep. i, c. 11, q. 21 (of no account H. C. L.).-~Ib., nn.

11-12 (fol. 113).

Notwithstanding the above, the contrary is more true in

law that it is not heretical to assert that the women in

question are transported by day or night by a pact betweenthem and demons, that they enter houses and strangle infants,and this is held by the Mall. Malef., by Bishop Tostato superMatthaeum, c. 4, versi. iterum assumpsit, and by Sylvesterin his Summa, s.v. Haereticus 3, although sometimes it mayhappen mentally and imaginarily. This appears firstly, as

Tostato says, because there is no doubt that the devil hansuch power that he can transport not only one man but manythrough the air in a moment to different places, for demonshave not lost their natural powers in which they are equal tothe good angels and some of them much superior to manyof the latter, for some fell from all ranksand the good angelBhave such power that they can move the spheres. Again it

appears that this is often done by bad angels as well as bygood ones. The devil would not have attempted to transportChrist unless he had often done it and knew his ability. Thena good angel transported Habakkuk. This is proved by dailyexperience, which I wish was not so well known. We know


of many men thus transported from distant places by the aid

of demons and it is so manifest that it were imprudent to

dispute it, when there are a thousand witnesses for it whoare conscious of it to themselves. Sometimes, even, men are

carried to distant places against their will, whether on account

of their sins or by the mysterious will of God. There are not

lacking witnesses of this and it would often happen if God did

not forbid it. See the life of St. Cyprian and Justina and the

life of St. James and the case of Simon Magus. Therefore

what is said of women carried by night is true, for this has

often been found and judicially punished, so that those wishingto imitate these wicked ceremonies would incur great trouble,

nor could it be said that this occurred in sleep, for not only

those who have suffered but many others were witnesses and

there is no cause to doubt them. Yet it is true that muchof false is mixed with the true among simple people, for the

devil seeks to corrupt morals as well as faith. Goes on at

much length to quote from Sylvester and Nider and William

of Paris and the recent trials in Navarre. Also the Malleus

as to the power of demons. This, he says, suffices against those

who deny these transportations or assert them to be imagin-

ary. This error would be of little import, were it not that thus

many remain unpunished to the great detriment of their souls

and scandal to others. All this seems to be true, although in

1521, when, by order of Pope Adrian, I was called to Saragossa

to the general council of the Inquisition to examine two

processes of witches, I held the opposite opinion, which I then

thought true. But now on further investigation I reach the

above conclusion that this may happen bodily and really, but

sometimes also fantastically and in imagination; and in this

we must be governed by the witnesses and the confessions of

the women and their accomplices. Ib., n. 13 (fol. 113-14).

From this conclusion, if true, I infer various things.

Firstly, that these women, especially the old ones, are to be

believed when they say they fascinate children. This is of

two kinds the evil eye, which sickens or kills, or that which

makes a man seem to others to be a lion or horned. Ib.,

n. 14 (fol. 114).

Secondly, they are to be believed when they say they enter

houses and strangle children. Ib., n. 15 (fol. 115).

So demon*) ami their disciples can excite tempests and

lightning and hail, the demons receiving power from God, or

his permission as regards their disciples, for which see Job.


For the evils which our sins cause to be brought in the world,

God is accustomed to afflict by his tortures the demons.

Ib., n. 16 (fol. 115).

Maleficae can really, like demons, with the permission of

God, injure men in property, fame, body, use of reason and

life. Gives examples of the various kinds, drawn from legends

and the customary sources. Ib., n. 17 (fol. 115).

Thus men are rendered impotent by them, as respects all

women, or one, as long as the signum, say a curved needle,

remains. But, when this is destroyed, the bewitched is cured,

as Duns Scotus says. Ib., n. 18 (fol. 115).

These maleficia and incantations may be worked by natural

objects, poisonous herbs, roots, stones, etc., whose secret

properties the demons know. And though these are done byoperations of the demons, they are to be attributed to the

witches, who are to be most severely punished. Ib., n. 19

(foL 116).

For he who gives occasion to an injury is held to be an

injurer. Ib., n. 20 (fol. 116).

Therefore these maleficia are rightly imputed to the said

witches, although the demon is the chief author. So therefore

in these maleficia three things must concur the demon, the

witch and the divine permission.- Ib., n. 21 (fol. 1 16).

If these women are said to have commerce with demons,it is not to be rejected for which he quotes St. Augustin(Civ. Dei, xx, 23) and Aquinas as to the mode of procreation.

--Ib., n. 22 (fol. 116).

If asked why demons make themselves incubi and succubi,

you will say that it is not for pleasure, since spirits have noflesh or bones, but to injure men in body and noul. TheOrdinary Gloss on Levit., xviii, 24, forbidding all kindn of

incest "quibus contaminatae sunt gcntes", explains "Dae-mones sunt qui propter multitudinem dicuntur gentew uni-

versae, qui, cum de omni peccato gaudiant, praecipxie taxncn

fornicatione et idolatria," (which looks an though the Gloca-tor held that this incest with demons was a pervading Bin-

H. C. L.). Ib., n. 23 (fol. 116).

From all this it follows that the confessions must be acceptedof those who say they are transported by demons arid that

they fascinate and kill infants, for what is possible can bedone. Nor do the contrary allegations prevail Firstly, thereis the Cap. Episcopi. And because in the understanding of

this lies the difficulty of this question I will investigate the


differences and the concordances between the sect of witches

and those spoken of in it. 1. They are said to ride with Dianathe pagan goddess, which is false, for there is no such pagangoddess in this world or the other. 2. They are also said to

ride with Herodias, which is false, for it is not to be believed

that the most damned of adulterous women would be per-

mitted to leave hell to ride with them. 3. They are said to

ride on beasts, which is false, nor can be really so, for living

and corporeal beasts, such as horses, mules, camels or asses,

could not traverse long distances so silently as not to be

perceived, and in daylight; nor does it appear where theyare quartered until the women summon them again, whence it

manifestly appears that what they tell is dreams. 4. It is

said that they obey Diana and on certain nights wander in

her service, which is false and cannot happen in reality, whenceit is to be asserted that all this is false and such fantasms are

evoked in the minds of the faithful by a malignant and not bya good spirit. For Satan, when he has subjugated the mindof a woman through false credulity, transforms himself into

various appearances of persons and deludes her mind in

dreams of many kinds. 5. That one creature can be changedinto another, as a man into a dog, except by God [is false]. 6.

Those women believed that Diana or Herodias was a good

spirit, while these witches believe that the spirit appearingto them is the devil, the enemy of God. Whence it appearsthat in none of the above (except a few things to be mentioned

below) does the sect of witches agree with the said women.'

Besides, those women are not said to renounce God and the

crows and the Virgin and saints and sacraments as do the

witches in their profession. --Ib., n. 24 (fol. 116-17).

If it is said that witches agree with those women in that

they all believe that what is done in imagination is done in

reality, also that all believe themselves to wander over spacesof the earth, and that those who believe these things and the

like lose the faith and that what is done by witches is similar

to what is prohibited in (Jap. Episcopi, I reply that it cannot

be denied that women can be transported by demons at night,

but it in forbidden to believe what is there asserted, that they

travel with Herodias and with Diana and believe her to be a

goddess. Besides those women said that they rode on certain

beasts, but it is impossible for beasts to fly through the air,

so they were demons who can assume the form of beasts,

And as to what is said, that it is infidelity to believe this and it


errs from the true faith, this does not apply to carrying menby demons, for they sometimes really are carried, but it

applies to believing what is said above and especially as to

Diana being a goddess. Moreover, the law must contain whatis reasonable; but belief in the real transport of witches

cannot be reasonably reproved, since it is proved by manyexamples that it is possible. As to the assertion that these

things are dreams in which the devil deludes the fancy, I

admit that this may often, and for the most part does, occurin dreams; but this does not exclude that it may occur without

dreaming. Therefore it is not to be denied that witches, maleand female, after anointing are taken by demons and carried

to a place where they assemble, pay honors to the demon andabandon themselves to lust and all foulness. This is notaffected by the well-known example of the old woman[Porta's?]; because, I say, both are true and that what witchesdo may be either imaginary or real.- Ib., n. 25 (fol. 117-18).

This labored argument, supported by innumerable citations of laws and

authorities, shows how difficult it was to evade the decisions of the Cap.Episcopi. Of course it was easy to point out differences between the original

myth and its development; but when it comes to argument, his reasoningresolves itself into the* assertion of the actual transport to the Sabbat andthe admission that often indeed for the most part ("ut in pluribus")* -it is

only a dream. (Below, n. 33, fol. 120, his argument is that the Cap. Episcopidoes not apply, for it refers to an illusive transportation while we have to dowith a real one.) The writers of the period were willing enough to admitthese illusions in theory, but the courts as Albertini tells them to dostood by the confessions of the deluded and burnt them. Though, to be

sure, there was the implied heresy that deserved it.

Bart. Spina (In Ponzinibiurn de Lamiis, Apologia Prima,c. 10) admits that the devil can produce such illusions, butdenies that it is the case with witches.

Albertini agrees with the Cap, Episcopi that it is false - whatsorcerers endeavor to make men believe that they changemen into beasts, wolves, serpents and the like, and it is

infidelity to believe that they can do so. Quotes Hi. Auguntinto show that such transformations arc illusory. But Aquinas.(Summa, P. I, q. 114, art. 4), while denying the power of

transformation, says that demons may apply certain HoedH

existing in the elements and thus produce serpents and frogn,which are generated by putrefaction (thu explainingPharaoh's magicians H. C. L.) ; but they can perform notransformations which are not natural. Everything beyondthis is apparent and not realeither an illusion produced by


fascinating the eyes of beholders or a body formed of air

superimposed around the real body. Ib.; q. xxiv, n. 26

(fol. 118).

Proves at much length and with copious citation of authori-

ties that confession is an all-sufficient proof. Ib., nn. 27-31

(foL 119).

Truth is the all-important matter, beyond all other con-

siderations, and the truth is fully proved that witches are

transported, therefore this truth overcomes custom. Ib.,

n. 32 (fol. 119).

The argument of improbability is overcome by the confes-

sions and the testimony of witnesseswho must be presumed not

to be perjuring themselves. The passage of the Cap. Episcopi

saying that those believing these things lose the faith does not

apply to this real transportation with which we have to do;

it only refers to women believing in deity outside of God.

Ib., n. 33 (fol. 120).

Cap. Episcopi does not apply to these witches, who are

different from those women. Ib., n. 34 (fol. 120).

Finally, it does not matter that these illusions mostly are

found in women because they are more given to superstitions

and these diabolical maleficia than men, and the devil has

easier access to them and they are frail and more easily de-

ceived. Saul met his death for consulting a Pythoness and

Levit. xx prescribes lapidation for men and women having the

pythonic spirit. And the credulity forbidden in the Cap.

Episcopi does not extend to the real transportation, nor from

those women to these, on account of various inconveniences

which I have mentioned. Ib., n. 35 (fol. 120).

For that which does not exist cannot be extended; there are

no qualities in non-existing things; there is no quality without

a subject, nor movement without a terminal, nor an accessory

without a principal and no parts in the non-existent. And to

these the allegations to the contrary must give way. And thus,

to the praise of God and his most holy niother the Virgin,

an end i imposed to this question, under the correction of the

8. R. E. (Holy Roman Church), to which as a faithful servant

I subject myself and all that I say. Ib., n. 36 (fol. 120).

The whole of this long and elaborate argument, supported with a vast

array of citations and bringing in all kinds of adventitious matters resolves

itself into the attempt by a cloud of words to obscure the fact that it is all

based on the assumption, that existent witchcraft is true, therefore the Cap.

Episeopi can not apply to it. To persuade himself of this he devotes all

his learning and ingenuity through 22 double-columned quarto pagos.


He presents two questions connected with the above. First,

can a witch be convicted on her sole confession without other

evidence? Second, if a witch confesses that, in consequence

of pact with the demon or other occasion, she has strangled

any children or inflicted some other ill of which they died, and

if she wishes to return to the bosom of the Church on account

of her heresy, is she to be admitted, or is the bishop or in-

quisitor to relax her to the secular court to be burnt on

account of the death of those infants, without note of irregu-

larity, when she would have been admitted to reconciliation

were it not for those deaths? Ib., q. xxv, n. 1 (foL 122).

As to the first question, a distinction is to be drawn. If a

woman confesses heresy, such as renouncing Christ and paying

homage to the demon, or thinking to be saved in another law

than that of Christ, then her confession is to be acted upon,

without other testimony. For though in other crimes inten-

tion and will are not punishable without acts, yet this is not

so in heresy or apostasy, where the mere confession suffices for

condemnation; for the crime is perpetrated by the thought

and nothing more is required, for thought cannot be otherwise

proved, since God alone is the searcher of hearts, and the

doubter as to faith is a heretic. But for the condemnation

this confession must be a judicial one, before a bishop or

inquisitor; if sacramental it is as though to God, but it does

not deprive the judge of the faculty of punishing in the

external forum if there is accusation and proof. Ib., nn. 2-7

(fol. 122).

Extrajudicial confession has the same effect as judicial, if

it can be proved that one has said or admitted himself to be

a heretic. Ib., n. 10 (fol. 123).

But there must be two witnesses to this. A single witneBS

only makes a fourth part of full proof a semiplena semiplenae.

But, if there are two singular witnesses to separate confc&jionn,

combined together they make an indicium ad torturam.**-

Ib., nn. 19-20 (fol. 125).

But if there are other conjectures supporting the extra-

judicial confession, the accused can be compelled by torture

to persevere in it.Ib., n. 23 (fol. 125).

Or the witch may confess to having killed children and in

not to be simply believed, because it is really proved that theywere otherwise killed. (In discussing this he wanders off

to other cases and the only answer I can find-- which may not,

however, be applicable to the main question is "inerito


non deberet tradi curiae saeculari, ex quo ejus confessio nonesset alias verificata, sed alia poena gravi puniri, morte

excepta'O- Ib., nn. 24, 26 (fol 126).The second question is whether inquisitors without irregu-

larity can relax witches on account of killing infants, when, if

they had not done so, they would be admitted to reconcilia-

tion. This question frequently arises in practice in themountains of Navarre and I had a case of one accused of

heresy and apostasy who, in confessing these crimes, said

he had committed sodomy with a woman. It was doubtedwhether he could be relaxed to the secular court in the mannerof heretics. Ib., n. 28 (fol. 127).Goes on at great length to prove that homicide is punish-

able with death, and the killing of infants is specially detest-

able with excursions as to clerics and priests. Ib., nn. 29-34

(fol. 127-8).An ecclesiastical judge delivering any one to the secular

court to be punished for a crime of which he has not cog-nizance (as for instance a layman for homicide), becomes

irregular. Otherwise, if a cleric or the crime is ecclesiastical.

Ib., n. 35 (fol. 128).

If a crime is mixti fori and a layman is punished by anecclesiastical judge more lightly than he should be, he can be

punished by the secular judge to the full amount providedby law, Ib., n. 58 (fol. 134); n, 61 (fol. 135).

Final conclusion is that an inquisitor or bishop, trying a

witch, if she confesses homicide or other very heavy crime

incurring capital punishment by the civil law, ought not andcannot lawfully deliver her to the secular judge to be put to

death, as the latter would do in a case of heresy; but the

ecclesiastical judge must admit to reconciliation the culprit

desiring unfeignedly to return to the bosom of the Churchand absolve him from excommunication after he abjures his

heresy. Ib., n. 66 (fol. 136).

But as, in the question before u, these women are accused

chiefly of heresy, although incidentally they confess homicide,

they cannot be punished for homicide unless they are accused

afresh before their competent judge. Ib., n. 67 (fol. 136).

The confession of homicide before bishop or inquisitor

does not prejudice them, because it is made to an incompetent

judge; for bishop and inquisitor are not judges of laymen in

profane crimes. Therefore the said witches cannot be pun-ished with ordinary or arbitrary penalty for a confession of


homicide, nor does such confession prejudice them before their

competent judge. Ib., n. 68 (fol. 136).

But the ecclesiastical judge must not give the secular judgea copy of the confession, for he would thus incur irregularity.

Nor in the sentence publicly read is any mention to be madeof homicide perpetrated nor of public penance for it, but onlyof the heresy, lest occasion be given to the secular judge to

inquire into it or other crimes, for this would incur irregu-

larity.-Ib., n. 70 (fol. 137).

This rule certainly was not observed in the sentences read at the auto-

de-fe of Logroflo in 1611.

The ecclesiastical judge must not take cognizance of homi-

cide by witches, for he would incur irregularity.- Ib.;n. 71

(foL 137).

If you say that, if the inquisitor cannot punish the homicide,nor give information, nor hand over the confession, the crime

will remain unpunished, the answer is that we must not do

evil that good may come. Ib., n. 72 (fol. 137).

From these I conclude that bishop or inquisitor cannot

without incurring irregularity surrender a witch to the secular

judge to be punished for homicide. But I would advise that a

declaration be obtained from the pope, so that crime may not

remain unpunished nor the souls of ecclesiastical judges be

ensnared. Ib., n. 75 (fol. 138).

All this is annulled by GregoryXV in the bull Omnipotentis Dei, March 20,

1623, which orders relaxation when death is caused. See below, under"Punishment."

TOLEDO, FRANCISCO D.Instructio Sacerdotum. Cumadditionibus Andreae Victorelli Bassanensis. Romae, 16 IS. 1

Cardinal Francisco de Toledo, of Cordova, died in 1596. The work waswritten prior to 1565.

' l Est autem superstitio vana senfalsa religio. . . . Quin-que sub se includit species: idololatriam, magiam, divina-

tionem, vanam observantiam et maleficium."~Ib., L iv,

c. 14, n. 1.

Idolatry is subject to excommunication as heresy. Butwhere there is no intellectual error, but a man consider the

object he adores to be unworthy of it, though through fear or

other passion he adores, then it is not properly idolatry and

1 The Lea Library also possesses the same work, without tho addition** of VjVtorclH,under the title "Summa oammm roneciontiae/' published at Cologne, If>l)9,

ITS PKOMOTEES AND CKITICS 459

is called external idolatry and, although in the external

forum it is presumed to be internal and erroneous and is sub-

ject to excommunication, yet in the internal forum it is not

so subject. Both, however, are mortal sins. Ib., n. 2.

Magic"est potestas inordinata faciendi quod supra naturam

est." This is two-fold. If the power comes from divine help,

it is that of working miracles. If from the devil, it is magic.

Though a man may seem to do great things, it is not of his

own power, but it is the demon who does it at his command.Yet the magus has no power over demons, but they pretendto be forced by him, so as more greatly to deceive. Still

they may be compelled by a higher demon to obey a man.

Ib., n. 3.

Demons, however, have no power of producing the effects

seen in magic, but they operate in three ways. First, bynature or by art, bringing things from elsewhere, for theyhave power of local motion over all things here below. If

they make a serpent or other things appear, it is brought from

elsewhere, for their agility is wonderful and in the twinklingof an eye they can traverse countless miles. Secondly, by

applying natural causes and hastening action. For they knowthe nature and qualities of all things. They will often makea tree grow by planting the seed, or fruit or animals. Theywill often cure with hidden remedies or by entering the bodyand expelling humors. Thirdly, by deluding in two ways-one by offering to the senses real things, but not what they

seem, being condensed air, such as serpents, dragons and other

animals, which they move; the other by affecting the senses

and imagination so that things are seen which are not, as in

dreams, and this in presence and at command of the magus*

Ib., n. 4.

It is rarely that these things are done without pact. This

is a promise by man to demon and by demon to man. Theman promises obedience and negation of the divine precepts

and sacraments; the demon promises to do all these things.

There are two forms; sometimes directly with the demon who

appears and enters into it, sometimes through the interven-

tion of a magus. Sometimes the pact is solemn, as when the

demon sits on his throne surrounded by a crowd of demons;sometimcB it is private and without solemnity. Sometimes

there is tacit invocation, as when a man uses the methods of

magi to produce such effects without express pact. Ib., n, 5.

Tacit invocation of the demon is when a man attempts to


do a tiling by means which of themselves or by any super-

natural virtue produce such effects, as by charms, figures,

characters, scripture texts written on paper, herbs gatheredat such a day and hour and the like. -Ib., n. 6.

Magic may be either conjoined with heresy or without it.

There is heresy when there is intellectual error and pertin-

acity that is, when he knows it to be contrary to the Church.

The Magus is therefore to be examined whether he believes

demons worthy of honor, able to do anything without God's

permission, always telling the truth, whether he expectsbenefit from them in the future life and the like. If so, he is

excommunicated. When there is no such intellectual error

there is no heresy, but it is a horrid sin when pact exists;

he is not subject to excommunication latae sententiae but

is to be excommunicated. Those who consult magi or seek

their aid are excommunicated, but this excommunication is

not reserved. Magic with tacit invocation is mortal sin, unless

there is ignorance that the demon is invoked, when it is

venial, until he is informed and then it is mortal. Ib., n. 7.

It is satisfactory to know that a pact written in blood and

given to the demon is annulled by confession and repentanceand it is unnecessary to compel the demon to return it,

though some confessors deem it requisite to do so. Victorelli's

addition, p. 307, on authority of Sanchez, c. 40, n. 53 (q.v,),

and Suarezj De ReMg., T. 1, 1. ii, c. 17.

Cap. 15 of lib. iv is on divination, with which we have

nothing to do, except the final sentence," In divmatoria autem

(including chiromancy, aeromancy, geomancy, etc.- H. 0. L.)nisi expresse Deus invocetur, tacite invocatur daemon : ob id

ex se mortale est."

[Maleficium] "est ars nocendi aliis daemonic potentate,. . . Magus enim utitur arte daemonic ad ostentationem

;

divinus, ad sciendum abscondita; maleficus autem ad noeon-dum aliis; ipsa autem opera quibus aliis nocot Bolont didmaleficia.

7;

-~-Ib., c. 16, n. 3.

Maleficium may be either amatorium or venejicium* Ama-torium causes love or hatred; demons cannot control humanwill, but they persuade by phantasms and moving the imagina-tion, whereby the will is allured, and by making the object, to

be loved appear more amiable, and they can arouuc the carnal

appetite, but free will remains. Ib., nn. 3, 4.

Venefidum is that whereby men are injured in penson, bykilling, causing disease or barrenness in women, or in property


by destroying vineyards, trees, animals and buildings, and

exciting winds, hailstorms and great tempests. It is not to be

thought that the maleficus does this by any power inherent in

himself, but by giving poisons furnished by the demon, or

by the demon operating at his call Thus when the maleficusmakes a figurine and thrusts needles into it and the victim

suffers in the same part, the injury to the image does not

extend to the victim, but the demon acts on him while the

maleficus hurts the image." Daemon eniin ipsos decipit

maleficos." Ib., nn. 3, 4.

"Ad hoc peccatum reducuntur peccata lamiarum seu

strigum: nam hae potius carnalem quaerant delectationem.

Feruntur enim a daemonibus per aera corporaliter et cumipsis corpora sumentibus committunt rem veneream et

innumeras luxurias, quamvis non semper corporaliter ferantur

sed aliquando per solam imaginationem. In his intercedit

pactum. Etiam istae nocere solent et multa alia committere

peccata, et vix absque haeresi reperiuntur. Unum autemnotandum est, quod quamvis videantur corpora transmutare

humana in bestias, id non fit vere, sed daemone oculos

inspicientium deludente: intrant autem domos reseratas,

daemone aperiente januas et obstacula removente. Solent

etiam pueros occidere, aliis nocere, et maxima pars est

feminarum. Place autem omnia sunt horrenda peccata et in

foro interiori gravissima digna poenitentia: exterius enimforum gravissime pimit." Ib., n. 7.

Bear in mind that Cardinal Tolctus is instructing priests and confines

himself to the forum of conscience.

DIACCKTO, FRANCESCO DA CATTANI DA..Discor$o soprala Superstizzione dell' Arte Magica. Fiorenza, 1567.

He wa canon of Florence and Apostolic Prothonotary. Signs his dedica-

tion Francesco Diacceto.

Speaks of the diversity of opinion on the subject and writes

this tract in the vulgar tongue in order to show to those

ignorant of other languages how the devil takes part in all

superstitious operations (foL 2),

After reciting all the classical fables, from Medea down,and the experiences attributed to Nero and Julian the

Apostate, he declares that with the holy theologians we must

say that it should not, be doubted that there is an art baaed on

immaterial virtues and powers distinct from matter. "Di


maniera ctie se bene di lei si raccontano molte cose che sono

falsita e finzioni, non perd tutte Fopere sue sono finte e false.7 '

In support of this he cites the magicians of Pharaoh, the Witchof Endor and the prohibitions in Holy Writ. Then there are

the scholastic masters and doctors and the civil laws which

punish it with death, which is a probable argument of its

existence. Then there are the condemnations of Apolloniusof Tyana and Apuleius, and the poets, Theocritus and Virgil,

Dante and Petrarch (fol. 3-8).Goes on to relate all the marvels of demoniacs vomiting

nails, etc., and of diviners, etc., and argues that these can be

wrought only by magic (fol 10-11). Long argument to

prove that this must be the work of evil spirits (fol. 11-13).When this is with a superior spirit he constrains his subjectsto obey the magician and thus they are shut up in rings,

crystals, etc. (fol. 14-18).The works of these spirits are not real but only apparent.

Among other arguments to this effect he cites the Cap.Episcopi,which condemns those who believe in these imaginarythings, the work of malignant spirits. "Dal che pare che si

possa affermare simili opere esser' piu tosto presligii negliocchi de riguardanti: che quel che Pappariscono," and he

quotes Caietano (Commentaria de Summa Thornao Aquinat.,sec. sec., q. 95, art. 3), who relates that not long before awoman told him that she was persuaded that by a certain

unguent she would be transported naked to the chamber of

her lover. She used it and thought that she was thus trans-

ported, but found herself lying in her own room so exhaustedthat it was difficult to restore her, and, if he had not con-vinced her that it was imaginary, she would not have knownthe truth. And he had a similar case of a man, related on

competent authority (fol. 21).

Magicians perform many real works and also many illusory

(fol. 22).

Demons 7

knowledge of all the secrets of nature gives themimmense power. They can move all bodies at will- not the

earth, for that would disturb the course of nature, hut theycan move a tower or other building and transport things in amoment from place to place, bring tempests and hailstormsand make things seem to our eyes other than what they arehuman bodies or those of animals. Thus the devil showedhimself to our first parents in the form of a serpent (fol. 22*23) .

They can cause sickness and cure disease by bringing in a


moment from a distance and applying the corresponding

drugs (fol. 25).

They can predict much of the future and reveal hidden

things of the present, except human thoughts (fol. 26).

Explains how magicians make statues and beasts talk and

sing like men (fol. 26).

When the bewitched vomit nails, bones, needles, sponges,

etc., it is illusion (fol. 27).

They cannot transform men into beasts it is illusion

(fol. 27-8).He returns to the subject and says there is now-a-days

another sect really transported "non perd vi si determina

che altri d'altre sette non siano talhora portati in fatto, comesono, . . . affermando massimamente il Reverendiss.

Mons. Caietano che quei tali siano talhora in verit& tra-

portati/7

though he also alleges the illusions above stated

(fol. 29).

"E avviene anco qualche volta che si mostrino altrui

ne corpi presi e che conversino famigliarmente, parlino, e

talhora carnalmente si congiunghino, como che non habbiano

vera carne n6 vere ossa, ma la sola somiglianza, non tanto

visibile quanto ancora soda e che non cede altatto. II che fti

da alcuni di non mediocre autorit& quali per isperienza lo

poteu:ino affermare, riferito al Reverendissimo Caietano"

(fol. 29).

Expla/'-'.fcj at great length the difference between divine

miraoles and the marvels of demons and warns the faithful

against recourse to the latter.

This work is not without learning, but is discursive and childishappar-

ently written to address the vulgar intellect and dissuade it from seeking

aid by sorcery. It in all in one long paragraph without a break save where

once or twice he quotes some poetry.

ANANIA, Jo. LOBEJNZO. De Natura Daemonum et occultis

eorum Operationibus. Romae, 1654.

This work is worth attention from its repeated editions -Venice 1581,

Naples 1582, Venice 1589 and finally reprinted and dedicated to Innocent Xby the pious care of the author's nephew Marcello Anania, Bishop of Nepiand Sutri, Romae 1654.

Innumerable demons are always at work to seduce men into

sin and lead them to apostatize from God, tempting each one

through his prevailing weakness or passions and taking advan-

tage of every favorable moment (p. 31).


Demons only pretend to be coerced when they come when

summoned and raise tremendous tempests (p. 84).

Demons can assume any shape, but it is merely imaginary

and not material (p. 95).

Tells of an orphan asylum in Rome where, in a single night,

fifty girls became demoniacs (p. 105).

Demons excite terrible tempests also showers of stones.

This year there were many of the latter in this province,

which the people falsely ascribed to Vesuvius (pp. 116-7).

Gives full faith to sexual intercourse with incubi and succubi

and that children sprang from such unions, as the demigods

and heroes of old and heresiarchs such as Luther and Mahomet

(pp. 120-4).

Daily experience teaches us this. He knew a girl thus

unwillingly oppressed by the demon who at last made her

trouble known and was released from it by the aid of God

(p. 125).

Gives full account of the Sabbat and its obscene rites.

This has been practiced in all ages, but in this last old age of

the world it has so increased that, if the laws do not extirpate

it with fire, it will extend everywhere. Debates the question

whether real or phantasmic and pronounces unhesitatingly

for reality (pp. 125-9).

Yet he subsequently repeats his original assertion

"Spiritus enim sunt omnis corporis expertes" (p. 132).

While nearly all evils are attributable to demons, he admits

that there are four sources of human misery- nalura, minis-

terium, noxa ac maleficiurn: natura, an in the influence of the

stars; ministerium, when, God sends his angels to execute

justice; noxa (punishment), when God exacts punishment by

giving evil spirits power; and sorcery exercised by wicked

men with potions, herbs, ashes, the blood of animals, the

exuviae of serpents, the nails of men, the tongues, eyes, hair

and ropes of those hanged, the sacrilegious use of sacred

words and sacraments, etc. (pp. 141-3).

This is worth mention as indicating the mental condition of the period,

which ascribed to supernatural causes all afflictions and hold that infinite

numbers of demons were ever surrounding us, on the watch to work evil,

spiritual and material

Gives a long catalogue of the crimes wrought by demons

through the agency of sorcerers tempests, inundations,

conflagrations, sickness, etc., for which they require humanagency (pp. 144-50).


Anania was a man of much learning and his book is filled with examples

of the work of demons and sorcerers drawn from all sources, Hebrew,

Greek, Roman and Christian, and from all lands Asia, Africa, Europe and

the New World. He quotes Marco Polo for matters in Central Asia and

Boece for the witches of Macbeth. Not a country in Europe but yields

him examples, except perhaps France, from which there are none that I have

remarked.

VAIR, LEONARDO. -Trois Livres des Charmes, Sorcelages, ou

Enchantemens. Mis en Francois par Julian Baudon. Paris,

1583.

Leonardo Vair was a Spaniard, Prior of Santa Sofia of Beneventum.

He wrote in Latin and published in Paris in 1583, so that this French version

must have appeared simultaneously. Another edition of the Latin appeared

in Venice (Aldus), 1589.

He does not treat specially of witches, but his definition of

charms embraces the destructive powers attributed to witches

and he indicates how generally human disease and mis-

fortune were ascribed to demons acting through human

instruments. The great object of demons is to divert menfrom God and his service; they strive to provoke enmities

which lead men to gratify their malevolence by killing their

enemies with sorcery or overwhelming them with all kinds of

disease and insupportable calamities. The cunning of the

demons consists in so concealing their agency that it shall not

be suspected and that men shall believe that they are gifted

with the power of thus ruining each other (pp. 440-1).

Observe how widely this theory extends the power of sorcery, teaching

that all disease and misfortune are thus produced, while the source is so

carefully hidden that it escapes detection.

The quenchless hatred of demons for men arises from the

fact that when they were expelled from heaven God created

man to fill their places. In order to gratify this hatred, "ils

ont invent6 le charme par le moyen duquel ces mechans

puessent verser tel genre de mal qu'il leur plairoit sur tous

ceux & qui ils eri voudroient. C'est done & cause tant de

Fenvie quo les Diables portent au genre humain que de la

furicusc rage dont ils sont (mais en vain) incitez contre Dieu,

qu'ils parforit et dardent le charme 77

(p. 444).

He philosophically divides charms into species, according

to their object and to the person using them. Thus charms

for the gratification of hatred differ from those whose object

is lust or greed and the charm used by a cleric is not the same

as that employed by a layman (pp. 445-7).

VOL. 1130


Every baptized Christian has one or more demons assigned

to him to lead him astray (p. 475).

He approaches nearly to witchcraft when he describes howsorcerers acquire the power of evil by solemn and abominable

ceremonies of renouncing Christianity, despising Christ andthe Virgin, promising to invoke only demons, offering themsacrifices and recognizing them as their masters and sovereignlords. These powers may also be inherited when parentsdevote their children to the demons at birth or even whenthe descendants tacitly or expressly accept the alliance madewith demons by their ancestors (pp. 483-4).

He is learned and discursive, but says nothing as to the punishment of

sorcerers.

The cure for their sorceries is a virtuous and pious life-

the sacrament, confession, alms-giving, reading the word of

God, and abstinence from sin (pp. 524-37).

DE LA TOKRE, RAPHAEL. Tractatus de Potentate Ecdesiae

coercendi Daemones . . . una cum Praxi Exorcidica.

[Salamanca, 1611-12.]

De la Torre was a learned Dominican professor at Salamanca. His

work, De Religione et ejus Actibus, De Vitiis Religioni oppositis, appearedin Salamanca in 1611, 1612. From it the Cologne bookseller, Constantino

Munich, extracted two tractates, De Potestate Ecclesiae coorccndi Dae-mones and De Potestate Daemonum, and printed them in his Diversi

Tractatus, Colon. Agrip., 1629.

In the first of these tractates De la Torre describes the powersof demons: They can injure in fortune [by] destroying flocks

and herds, by slaughtering, poison and fire, burning harvests

and casting down houses all of which is easy to men, not to

say to the most potent spirits. They can injure good reputationin many ways through the mouths of the possessed or byappearing at the place of crime in the figure of the innocent.

They can afflict the body in many ways, beating, wound ng,

bringing sores, causing disease, rubbing in or scattering poisonand many other ways, much more powerfully than men.

They know the qualities of all things and can apply them to

bodies; they can even kill, as shown in Tobit. They can

change the senses, interior and exterior, of men, so an to deludeand deceive them. Whether they can injure the soul bycontrolling its powers, the intellect and will, we shall discusshereafter. These evils which demons can inflict on men, are

ITS PKOMOTEES AND CRITICS 467

proof against all human remedies; they can be cured by no

drugs and human help is of no avail, for there is no power onearth comparable to theirs. "Audiens quis daemones tarn

ingenti pollere potestate, haud dubium contremiscet et valde

timebit tarn potentes hostes et percupidos perniciei hominum."De Potest. Eccl., disputatio xi (Diversi Tract., pp. 63-4).But then he comforts us by proving, by a host of authorities

from St. Augustin down through the schoolmen, that the

demons can only exercise their power in so far as God per-mits. (See Augustin, De Civ. Dei, xviii, 18, "nee daemones

aliquid operari secundum naturae suae potentium . . .

nisi quod ille permiserit cujus judicia occulta sunt multa,

injusta nulla." See also xx, 3, 8; also ejusd. Contra Adver-

sarium legis, ii, 12; De Trinitate, iii, 7, 8 also P. Lombard,Sententt. lib. ii, dist. 7, n. 6.). And this limitation is exer-

cised by God not morally but physically by depriving them of

power against those whom he does not wish to be injured.

Ib., disput. xii (xi), pp. 64-7.

How the licence to injure is obtained from God by demonsis a disputed question among theologians. From the exampleof Job it is argued that it is asked for and granted and this

may be true in special cases, when the demons are especially

anxious for it,ased cum innumera mala et innumeris diaboli

inferant, non videtur probabile secundum ordinem communis

providentiae tot licentias a Deo petere, totque concessiones

datas fuisso ac multo plures negatas." Others hold that in

some way, not by vocal expression, intelligence is communi-cated to demons as to whom they may injure.

The attribution to Satan of all evils that befall mankind has scriptural

authority, for when Christ cured on the Sabbath the woman bent double

and was reproved for violating the Sabbath, he justified himself saying

"And ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound lo these

eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath-day?" (Luke,

xiii, 16). Thus it was matter of course that her crippling was the work of

Satan.

Others argue that the permission to injure may be con-

voyed through the guardian angels, either [by] intimating that

the demon may work his will, or by deserting their clients

and leaving them unprotected. Ib., rm. 12, 13, pp. 70-1.

All the power of magicians is based on pact with demons;if a magician has a pact/ with a superior demon, he cannot

coerce him, but through him he can coerce an inferior demonto do or to omit anything: the demon is not coerced by any


words of the magician, but by the superior demon.Ib.,disput. xvii, n. 16, p. 119.

Even in the seventeenth century demons seem to have

been as familiar as in the time of Caesarius. De la Torre

says he knew a pious priest who was persecuted with the

persistent presence of a demon who did not injure or threaten

but helped. If he walked out, the demon was at his side in

the guise of a secretary or walking before him as a servant;

in his cell, he took the shape of a pretty girl, making his bed

or sweeping out the room; he never left save when he went

to say mass, for the demon could not endure the presence of

his judge and lord, Jesus Christ. Ib. (De Praxi Exor-

cistarum), n. 38, p. 191.

DE LA TORRE. Tractatus de Potestate Daemonum.As all works of magic (other than natural) were the opera-

tions of demons, there was a nice distinction to be drawnbetween this and the gratia gratis data by God to holy men, to

work miracles, such as we see in the hagiology. To reduce

this distinction to a formula by which the two could be

separated was not easy. Disput. ii (Diversi Tract, pp.

197-9).He goes on at great length and in true scholastic [manner]

to describe and prove the power of demons. (I) They can

transport men and other bodies through the air with extreme

rapidity. (2) They can bring fire from the upper air to the

damage of men, excite tremendous tempests, inundations

and earthquakes. (3) They can render persons and things

invisible. (4) They can make statues walk like men. (5)

They can make statues, trees and brutes speak like men.

Again, by their knowledge of the hidden virtues of waters,

juices, gems, stones, herbs, woods arid animals and even of the

parts of the human body they can produce effects which,

although natural, seem supernatural; and in these, by virtue

of their innate power, they can produce greater results than

in the natural order of things,-- Ib., disput. iii, pp. 200 2.

But neither angels nor spirits nor magicians can change the

order of nature or the universal laws orduined by God, (1)

Demons cannot change the motions of the heavens and stars,

(2) They cannot transfer the whole of an element, thus

they can move part of the earth but not the whole. (3)

They cannot produce a vacuum. (4) They cannot move n

thing from one place to another without, passing through the


medium, nor can they operate on a thing at a distance from

them, nor can they carry souls where they wish, for this is

forbidden by God. (5) They cannot create out of nothing,nor can they annihilate. (6) They cannot produce a form,substantial or accidental, or corporeal or permanent. Theymay produce appearances, but they cannot make a horse or

an ox or other perfect animal, or flesh or blood or bones. (7)

They cannot make one thing out of another. (8) Thencefollows that demons and magicians cannot transform bodies

of a perfect species into another species. I say perfect species,

for it may happen that they can transform imperfect animals

(for this he quotes Aristotle and Pliny and St. Augustin,De Civ. Dei, xviii, 18, also his De Spiritu et Littera, c. 28,

but there is nothing there about it). It is impossible, how-

ever, to change a horse into an elephant or a man into a dogor a stone which he proves philosophically and rationally.

Therefore the demon cannot enable witches in the form of a

cat or a weasel to enter through narrow cracks and much less

to enter chambers with closed doors;"and for the same reason

I think that demons cannot place two bodies in one spot."

Nor can they make a man rise again (raise the dead) and much

less, anything else, living or dead, if it is once corrupted.Whence it is inferred that the resurrections of the dead as

related by magicians are fabulous or are illusions by demons.

All this he argues at much length and replies to objections.

Also he denies that they can move the souls of the dead and

thus he inferentially disposes of necromancy. Finally,

although they can produce worms, locusts, mice and such

imperfect insects through natural causes, in short order, theycannot produce perfect animals such as horses, save by regular

procreation. Ib., disput. iv, pp. 202-8.

As to the wonders wrought by demons through magicians,

some of them arc real, as is abundantly shown in Scripture,

operating by their superior knowledge of natural forces, but

they are mostly illusions and the demons prefer these in

consequence of their pleasure in deceit. There is a celebrated

question as to which of these categories includes the Sabbat.

Almost all canon lawyers regard it as illusory, citing the Cap.

Episcopi and many experiments which are told, as those

related by Tostato and Caietano, in which women after

anointing with an unguent fell into stupor in which they

fancied themselves to be transported through the air and

enjoyed all kinds of pleasure, which they related on waking.

470 THE DELITSION AT ITS HEIGHT

On the other hand, the common opinion of jurists and theo-

logians is that all this is real, according to Pena (Comment. 68,

in Director.) and Tostato, who says that it is impudent to denyit, as there are a thousand witnesses to it. So Sprenger in the

Malleus, de Castro (lib. i De just, punit. Haeret.), Grillandus

(q. 7), Binsfeld (De Confess. Malef., Praelud. 10), and manyothers. It is said often to occur that if in the Sabbat the

name of Christ is uttered or the sign of the cross is made, thenthe whole assembly disappears except those who have uttered

the word or made the sign, who have to wearily trudge backhome on foot. He himself admits the truth of the experi-

ments, but as to the Cap. Episcopi (admitting its authenticity,which is contested) he holds that it refers to another class of

deluded women who ride with Diana and Herodias. So the

doctors commonly interpret it, especially Turrecremata andTostato and Sylvester (s.v. Haeresis 3, and in Strigimag).

Ib., disput. v, pp. 208-12.

Goes on to describe how demons produce illusions, makingfigures, principally out of air, as when they present themselvesin the form of beautiful women to seduce holy men or servo

as incubi or succubi air being taken for any kind of vapor,however thick and earthly. In these bodies, whether of menor animals, they are not as souls, but only as motor powers.Or sometimes they invest things with fantastic bodies so as

to deceive the eye. Also they deceive by legerdemain, with

rapid motion, as jugglers do and by various applications of

optics and perspective and interposing a thick and untrans-

parent vapor. Also by changing the apparent form, HO that awoman may seem to be a mare, or when something seems to hefelt but not seen, or images present themselves to the eye,as in fevered patientsall of which he proceeds to discuss

philosophically at great length. Ib., disput. vi, pp. 212 21,

They cannot deceive the human will or force men to Bin,

though they can in many ways strongly incline them to it,

even by introducing into the stomach of a sleeping man foodthat will excite him to lust. Ib., Do Deceptions voluntatis,

pp. 226-8.

Demons, however, cannot perfectly imitate, so as to deceiveall the senses. All witches report that their incubi are coldlike corpses and horrid (scabrous, rough, prickly?), MHOthat their voices are not like human ones, but sharp andwhistling, like air through a hole, weak, confused and obscure.So their assumption of the human form is always in some way

ITS PBOMOTERS AND CBITICS 471

imperfect and is generally formidable and repulsive, withhooked hands and feet, and other deformities. Ib., disput.

ult., pp. 231-3.

VALDERAMA, PETRUS. Histoire Generate du Monde et de la

Nature, on TraicUz thfologiques de la Fabrique, Composition et

Conduicte g&n&rale de I'Univers. Traduit sur le MS. espag-nole par le Sieur de la Richardi&re. Seconde Edition, Paris,1619. 1

He adopts the general assumption that spirits can makebodies for themselves out of inspissated air when.they wish to

appear to men in any shape, and illustrates it by the fact

that, as water through cold becomes hardened into ice, so

spirits know how to solidify air. Ib., 1. iii, par. i, c. 2 (II.

p. 23).

Of course he accepts the belief in incubi and succubi, withthe ordinary explanation of procreation, and he relates in themost matter-of-fact way a large store of instances, gatheredfrom all sources and embodying a rare collection of various

wonders. Of course Merlin figures as offspring of a demon,but there is no end to the variety of births. One woman wasdelivered of a mass of nails, wood, glass, hair and other

objects; another of a monster, another of an elephant; in

1278 in Switzerland another bore a lion; at Pavia, in 1471,one bore a lion and in Brescia one had a cat. In 1545 a

woman named Margaret of Esslingen after intercourse withan incubus swelled up into a mass of flesh in which the headand feet were scarce distinguishable and from which issued

the cries of all kinds of animals cocks and hens, dogs, sheep,oxen and horses. The story of the descent of the Huns is

that Filimer, King of the Goths, drove out from his armyinto the forests all the loose women and there they were visited

by incubi and gave birth to the Huns, a people cruel and bar-

barous, with scarce a semblance of reason, and speaking not a

language but an unintelligible jargon. Ib., c. 3 (pp. 25-45).

There is no longer a question as to the power of demons to

transport men and women. Without labor or fatigue a demoncan transport a mountain, a city or a whole province alwaysof course with the permission of God. It is the subterranean

spirits that produce earthquakes. -Ib., p. 47.

x rpwo vok. in one. Vol. II, Paris, 1017; vol. I, Paris, 1619. In spite of the nota-

tion "Secondo Edition" in vol. I, this is apparently the first od. of both vole. TheSpanish MS., written c. 1605-10, scorns never to have been printed (see Ossinger,

Bibliotheca Auguetiniana). Valdorama died in 1011.


There is the same farrago of wonders as to transportation as to incubi.

The writers borrow of each other; in the later ones we meet the marvels

recounted by their predecessors enriched with new ones drawn from all

sources, ancient and modern, the mass growing like a snowball. All the

imaginative stories told by classical writers and poets are repeated as

absolute facts and every collector gathers from the superstitious gossip of

his neighbors and from the wonders told by witches in their confessions

something new to add to the labors of his predecessors. When these things

were disseminated by men respected for piety and learning, it is easy to

understand the atmosphere in which the populations of the sixteenth and

seventeenth century lived an atmosphere in which the supernatural was

as real as the natural, when men lived in constant touch with the spiritual

world and every man might feel constant apprehension of being made^thesport, at any moment, of invisible malignant spirits. See also Del Bio

which pretends to be a work for judges and embodies all the marvels he

could collect, without the slightest regard for authorities.

Every apparent deviation from the ordinary course of

nature is a work of the igneous spirits and is a portent of evil

parahelia, comets, showers of ashes;unusual darkness, etc.

Will-of-the-wisps are igneous spirits of a specially pernicious

nature they kill men on the spot. Ib.7c. 5 (pp. 59, 64).

Aerial spirits inhabit the air near the earth." Us sont tres-

superbes, sans craincte, pleins d'orgueil, de fausses tromperies

et de vaine gloire." They disturb this subtile and tender

element, raising tempests and furious winds, they elevate

the vapors of the earth and make hail, snow or frost and ice

with which they destroy all the things created by (Sod for

human nourishment. Ib., c. 6 (p. 68).

Long list of wonders and devastation worked by them.-

Ib., pp. 69-76.

Aquatic spirits are also called nymphs, fairies, Bybiles

blanches and bonnes dames, of whom the leader is Habondie.

They spread splendid fictitious banquets, as related in the

life of St. Germain. They regulate the fate of battles (Val-

kyries). Cardan relates that three of them revealed to

Macabee Amitine (Macbeth) that he would be king. Theybestow on children gifts of beauty, .strength, prudence awl

other gifts. They cause furious tempests at sou, destructive to

sailors. They caused the inundation** under Pope Alexander V I

which covered almost all Italy and particularly Bergamo and

Verona; that of 1515 which destroyed f>0?0()0 pen-urns in

Europe ;that in the reign of Charles V which submerged almost,

all Holland and Zealand; and that of a few yearn later which

destroyed the islands and drowned great; part of FrLsia and

Flanders; and that which inundated Poland, carrying away


men and houses and bridges in Cracovia and Casimiria.

They also take possession of demoniacs. Numerous stories

about them. Various kinds of divination through them.

Ib., pp. 77-90.

Although all evil spirits molest men, yet those called of

earth, because the earth is their residence, cause more trouble

than all the rest, because they ordinarily are among us. Theyare of various kinds, according to the difference of their

operations; but all tend to contempt of God and our ruin, so wemen should be on our guard and bear in mind what we shall

say. Some of the ancients called them Genies, Lares or

domestic gods; others, spectres, Alastors or Daemones Meri-

diani; others, Satyrs, Sylvans, Folets, familiar spirits, Far-

farets or otherwise (p. 91). Scripture mentions these genieswhich were adored as gods by the heathen, Adon, Adrame-

lech, Asmia, Astarte, Ashtaroth, Dagon, Tartaro, Sucot

Benoth, Nibas, Melchon, Nergal, Chamos, Bel, Belzebub,Baal (p. 94). Then there were Apis and Osiris in Egypt,Apollo at Delphi, Jupiter Capitolinus in Rome, Diana at

Ephesus and Pallas in Troy (p. 94). They are held to be of

the first order of those driven from heaven for vain-glory, for

they are vain and proud and seek to be worshipped by menand attribute to themselves what is due solely to God, as

when Lucifer sought to be adored by Christ (p. 85 bis).

Long account of the various kinds of divination through the

agency of these spirits, whose chief object is the overthrow

of the faith of Christ. Ib., c. 7 (pp. 91-5).The anomaly in the effort to reconcile the omnipotence of

God with the power of demons to mislead man is well dis-

played in this "Le desir qu'ont ces maudits Esprits de

dominer et d'estre tenus et adorez pour Dieux des hommes est

si grand, qu'ayant remply tout le monde de diverses sortes

d'idoles, ils font encore par le moyen d'icelles des prodiges

par la permission de Dieu: et choses dignes de merveilles,

afin que plustost les hommes se resoudent de les suyvre et

d'apostasier du vray service de Dieu." Ib., c. 8 (p. 96).

Spectres are cruel and malignant spirits who bring ruin

and destruction to those to whom they appear. Origen calls

them Alastores or Azazets; St. John calls them Exterminators,the Hebrews Abaddon and the Greeks Apolyon all of which

names signify demons who corrupt and destroy everything.

It was Hecate who sent to men these spectres, so terrible and

fearful (p.130). Scripture calls these wicked devils Daemones


Meridian!, explained by the Chaldean Paraphrast and Origenas because they have more power at noon and midnight as

Origen says, "Sicut enim in noctis tenebris, similiter in

meridie pluriores horum daemonum tentationes se demon-strant quam caeteris temporibus" (p. 131). Aristophanescalls the Prince of these Noonday Spirits Empusa (p. 132).

They appear under all kinds of shapes and are always a

presage of death. Some are attached to families, like the

Banshee or the White Lady of the Hohenzollerns (pp. 134-5).He piles up a great mass of wonders performed by these

malignant spectres in ancient and modern times. -Ib., c. 9

(pp. 130-146).The Sylvans, Fauns, Folets or Farfarels are familiar spirits.

These are those whom magicians use in their diabolic opera-tions. They appear kind and obliging, desirous to give aid

and comfort in affliction, but it is all for their own benefit andto lead men from God and cause them to lose their souls.

They assume human shape and associate with men and

women, talking, eating and drinking like men. Ib., c. 10

(pp. 147-8).

These are the familiar spirits who attach themselves to people and servo

them faithfully. From the number of instances of this and of individual

cases of intervention in human affairs it would seem to be the most ordinaryof occurrences. The intimacy between the spiritual and the material worlds

seems to be as great in the seventeenth century as in the time of CaesariuH.

It is curious to see the perpetuation of these beliefs so far into modern times,in spite of the enormous exaggeration of the fear of demonic agencies andthe more acute perception of the malignant power of demons incident to

the development of witchcraft.

The subterranean spirits are those who dwell in cavernsand other recesses of the earth, where they kill or suffocate or

render insane miners in search of precious metals. TheGermans call them Kobolds. They are gnomes, dwarfsnot over an ell in height, and they help in cutting stones,

getting out metals, packing them in baskets and hauling to

the surface. They laugh and whistle and perform a thousand

tricks, but their services often redound to the injury and deathof those whom they serve. They cut the ropes, break the

ladders, cause fall of rocks, send poisonous vapors; and youwill see rich mines abandoned for fear of them, Ib., c. 11

(pp. 161-2).It is they who cause earthquakes like that which in the

time of Bajazet ruined a third of Constantinople and killed


30,000 persons; or that of 1348 in Hungary, Illyria, Dalmatia,

Moravia and Bohemia, which levelled 26 towns and castles,

swallowed up churches and villages with their inhabitants,

split great mountains and submerged whole districts, when

these spirits converted into salt the bodies of fifty men and

animals. Ib., pp. 164-5.

They are sometimes so timid that they allow themselves

to be enslaved by magicians and confined in lead, or wax,

or a finger-nail, or a hat. Other demons more artful pretend to

be confined in a casket, ring, vial, etc. Besides this, it is

they who make rackets in houses (Poltergeist) at night,

throwing things about. Ib., pp. 165-6.

They are not only the guardians of mines, but of hidden

treasures, which they allow no one to take. Ample store of

cases in which the seekers are buried or driven off, Ib.,

pp. 166-74.

The Lucifuge Spirits are so named from shunning the light

and hiding in obscure places in forests. They are sometimes

friendly, especially in Russia, and sometimes hostile. It is

they who at night make noises in houses and cemeteries.

Ib., pp. 174-8.

He gives as an illustration of tacit pact bending a rod till

the ends join, cutting them off and hanging the pieces round

the neck to cure a quartain. Here the demons immediately

assist and produce the effect desired.- Ib., par. ii, c. 1 (p. 183).

He gives a compend of the influence of the planets on the

several diseases, all of which he pronounces folly. Ib.,

pp. 189-90.

In the diocese of Lausanne a sorceress buried a brazen

serpent under the threshold of a house, and itwas so effective a

charm that all the creatures, human and animal, could bring

forth no living offspring. The wife had seven abortions,

until the sorcery was found and removed. Ib., p. 198.

All these come under the head of tacit pact, which he defines

as using superstitious methods learned from books or from

instructions of another. An instance of this is a girl of

Sweden, eight years old, who, using a formula taught her by

her mother, poured water in a hole and uttered some magic

words, which produced a horrible tempest. The father

accused his wife, who was duly burnt. Ib., pp. 198-9.

Express pact is a formidable ceremony. The demon who

has seduced the postulant takes him to a subterranean palace

where Satan crowned sits in majesty on a throne, in a vast


hall magnificently adorned, and surrounded by his courtiers

and counsellors clothed in purple and scarlet. The demon

presents the applicant in a flowery speech. Satan replies

graciously, welcoming his new subject and promising him all

kinds of happiness here and hereafter, if he is obedient an4

devoted. The demon then instructs the magician to renounce

Christ and his baptism and the Virgin Mary; he must break

and insult holy images whenever he has the opportunity,

also the Sacrament of the Altar and all other sacraments;

he must adore Satan as his lord and perform a thousand other

execrable sacrifices, particularly of infants whom he is to kill

before their baptism. Whenever summoned he is to appearin the public assemblies where Satan is adored with feasting

and a thousand filthy acts with the demons who are present

under different forms; he swears to bring in all converts, menor women, that he can and he gives his body and soul to

Satan in life and death. When this is accomplished Satan

promises him all kinds of happiness, riches, honors and pre-

eminence, all the pleasures of the senses, and then, rising and

opening a great black book full of unknown letters and char-

acters, he makes the sorcerer take an execrable oath of obedi-

ence, fidelity and vassalage and that he will in future have no

other care but his service. Sometimes to make the obligation

more strict he draws blood from his thumb and makes him

write a pledge of fidelity (pp. 220-24) ;then with one of his

nails he makes a mark on his forehead in evidence of his

slavery. All sorcerers and sorceresses who engage themselves

to him body and soul are customarily marked in this manner.

Some have it on the forehead, others behind the ear, in the

nose, between the lips or in other places; these marks arc of

different shapes the foot of a hare, the paws of a dog or the

like. The Inquisitor Pierre Oran found this mark between the

shoulders of Jean de Valux; it was like a needle, a palm in

length, and was insensible. A student who was a great

enchanter was pardoned by the King of France on condition

of revealing his associates; he caused the arrest of all the

sorcerers and sorceresses and showed the judges their markson whatever part of their bodies they were; told of the HabbatH

and other places in which he had met thorn and by hin details

forced them to confess. Ib., c. 3 (pp. 220-5).The devil also requires them to adore him by turning their

backs to him, bending backwards and lifting one foot towards

the sky. He also requires them to kiss his posteriors. Some

ITS PKOMOTEKS AND CRITICS 477

hold that, after the sorcerer is thus enrolled, the devil giveshim a familiar spirit, whom they call petit maitre or Martinetand who constantly accompanies them, either in the shape of a

dog, a Moor or a servant, or invisibly, imprisoned in a ring,or vial, casket or whatever the sorcerer prefers. They do this

of their own will or because a higher spirit has ordered it.

Recites many cases from Grillandi, Del Rio and others.

Ib., pp. 226-32.

These Martinets never leave those to whom they are

assigned and render them all possible services. The Martinettells the witch when a Sabbat is to assemble, which is usuallyon a Tuesday or Friday night. She holds herself aloof so as

not to be observed, and when the time comes she strips herself

naked and anoints herself all over with a certain unguentand leaves the house by the door or window or chimney,carried by her Martinet in the shape of a goat, or a sheep, or a

serpent. The assembled witches adore Satan on his throne

in the manner above described, after which they sit at tables

served by demons with the most delicious dishes and exquisitewines. After this to the sound of most charming music theydance in strange fashion ; turning their shoulders to each other

and taking hold of arms, they rise from the ground and

descend, turning around and shaking the head from side to

side like fools. Then the lights are put out and demons as

succubi and incubi gratify their lusts. At dawn they departon their demons and return home, passing sometimes over a

space of 500 miles, warned by their demons not to make a

sign of the cross or invoke the name of God or the Virgin,

lest they fall, to the risk of life, besides being outrageously

punished by their demon. Sometimes they are called upon to

report their evil deeds, when those who have done the worst

arc applauded, while those who have nothing to report are

cruelly beaten, and the demon on dismissing publishes in a

loud voice I/he law "Revenge yourselves!" These assem-

blies are mostly held at midnight on dark and cloudy nights,

but sometimes at midday or at the twentieth hour (8 P.M.).

A friend of mine, a bookseller, tells me that, returning from

Germany, be several times saw these assemblies gathering,

the witches riding on horses or other phantoms; but on ap-

proaching I/hem they disappeared.- -Ib., c. 4 (pp. 233-6).

In these assemblies Satan's ambition to be regarded as Godis gratified by having sacrifices made to him with the same


ceremonies and vestments as the saint-sacrifice by priests.

This he desires more than anything else. Ib., p. 244.

This is evidently the mass, as reported by De I/Anere.

He quotes from Nider (1. v, c. 3) the mode of making oint-

ment. (This I have elsewhere. This belief was evidently

persistent H. C. L.) Ib., p. 246.

In 1553 two witches stole the infant of a neighbor, cut it

to pieces and put them in a caldron to boil. The mother in

search of her child came to the house and recognized the

limbs, complained to the officials and the witches confessed

under torture that it was to make the unguent, which also

served them to raise tempests and kill the harvests with

frost. (Grosius also tells this, Magica, 1. i, p. 166.). -Ib.,

p. 247.

This unguent also has the virtue of rendering the limbs

insensible, so that they do not shrink from the touch of the

demons. Also it gives them courage to fly through the air

on their demons. Ib., p. 251.

Demons have no power to change the form of man or

beast, but they can condense the air around a sorcerer so

that he seems to be a wolf, a dog, a cat, a monkey, a crow or

the like, thus deceiving the senses. And by the permissionof God, the fancy of the interior senses is changed so that the

person believes himself to be transformed and has the passionsand desires of the animal he seems to be.--Ib., c. 5, (p. 257).

This was the case of those two great sorcerers, Pierre

Bourgot and Michel Verdun, who with an unguent changedthemselves into wolves at pleasure --the classical cawo in all

the books. Ib., p. 259.

In Padua one of these werwolves chanced to be caught,and his paws were cut off, when he at once resumed humanshape, without hands and feet, to the great astonishment of

the bystanders. So the sorcerers of Vernonee took the shapoof cats and occupied a ruined castle. They were attackedand killed some of the assailants and beat off the rent, butsome of them were wounded and, resuming their human .shape,were recognized by the surgeons to whom they went for cure,

Mormier tells us that at Constance he witnessed the punish-ment of one of these werwolves. In 1542 under the SultnnSoliman there were so many of them that he; went in pursuit,of them with his Janissaries; coming upon a band of onehundred and fifty he charged upon them, when they all sud-

ITS PKOMOTERS AND CRITICS 479

denly disappeared. In Livonia there are great numbers ofthem and it is said that they all, male and female, assembleon a certain day of the year and, crossing a river, change them-selves into wolves so furious that they attack men and flocksand inflict incredible damage for twelve days, after which theyrecross the river and resume human shape. Ib., p. 261.

In Germany some sorcerers who kept an inn changed intoall kinds of animals the strangers who came. One was atravelling musician whom they changed into an ass. Heperformed numberless tricks and they sold him for a largeprice to a neighbor whom they warned not to let him drinkin a stream or he would lose him. The purchaser was careless

and the ass drank in a lake, when he resumed his human shapeto the great wonderment of all. He proceeds with abundantadditional stories of the kind. Ib., pp. 264-71.

It is held by men of judgment that when sorcerers fall into

the hands of the ministers of justice the demons abandonthem and have no further power over them never leavingthem till they have led them into misfortune.

Sorcerers receive from demons the gift of insensibility undertorture by the pact they have with them, performing certain

superstitions, hanging around the neck certain magic scrolls,

with the powder of unbaptized children, swallowing certain

characters or the king of bees, tying certain skins around the

body, muttering some words and other accursed ceremonies,mentioned by the jurist doctors such as Grillandi, Paolo de

Puteo, Hipp. Marsiglio and others. Ib., c. 6 (p. 287).

There was no limit to the credulity which accepted these marvels andswallowed the explanations, however halting, which are given for them.

In Germany at an inn a sorcerer cut off the head of a servant

in the presence of the assembled guests, but when he came to

replace it he recognized that another sorcerer among the

bystanders was interfering with him. After vainly askinghim to cease his opposition, he caused a lily in bloom to spring

up out of the table and, on cutting off its flowers, the head of

the second sorcerer fell on one side and his body on the other,

really dead. The first sorcerer then replaced the servant's

head, revived him and prudently fled. The explanation of

this is that the cutting off of the servant's head was a diabolic

illusion. The demon of the first sorcerer was more powerfulthan that of the second and enabled his master to kill him.

Ib., c. 7 (p. 307).


There were no wonders too extravagant to be attributed

by Valderama to Cornelius Agrippa. Having to leave

Louvain for a short absence, Agrippa confided the keys of

his study to his wife with strict orders to allow no one to enter.

An inquisitive friend of his persuaded the wife to admit him,

and, picking up a book of conjurations, he commenced to

read it, when a hideous demon appeared and asked what he

had summoned him for. The frightened scholar knew not

what to answer and the demon promptly strangled him. On

returning, Agrippa saw demons dancing in triumph on the

roof of his house, and, entering his study, found the corpse.

Summoning a demon, he compelled him to enter the body and

walk to the place frequented by the students, where he

abandoned it and it fell to the ground. It was taken up for

burial, but the marks of strangulation on the throat led to

investigation, and, the truth being discovered, Agrippa was

forced to fly to Lorraine (p. 304). Agrippa was the greatest-

magician of his time. Ib.? p. 310.

On Cornelius Agrippa see Inquisition in the Middle Ages, ///, 545.

Valderama further tells that Agrippa, though he retracted

what he had written in his youth and pronounced magic to

be a vain and diabolic illusion, still was so blinded by the

demon to whom he was tied, that, although he knew his

perfidy, he could never be released from him and thought ho

could be resuscitated by him without being Hubncqucntly

subject to death. Wherefore he had his head cut off and was

miserably deceived, for he remained dead, mocked by his

familiar spirit as his soul was plunged in the deepest abyss of

hell. Ib., c. 8 (p. 324).

Crude and absurd as all this is, yet Valderama was a man of extensive

learning. He quotes all the classical writers historians, philosopher**, and

poets and seems especially familiar with the Neo-Platonists. The early

Fathers he cites frequently, but is less acquainted with the medieval nchool-

men except Aquinas, and is fairly familiar with the modern,domouologiHts

up to his time. One curious thing is the credulity with which the classical

myths and fables are accepted an facta even to the Golden ASH of Apuldus.

Perhaps St. Augustin is partly responsible for this, for, regarding the

heathen gods and demons, he accepts much of their mythology an recording

the works and powers of demons; but his credulity develops in writers like

Valderama into a blind acceptance of everything as facts.

(I find I must revise my opinion of Valdcrama's learning. I find that he

has borrowed largely verbatim from the Magica of GrosiuH, In fact, these

collectors of marvels tell the same stories over and over again many of

them are stock pieces which do duty through HUCCOHHIVC generations.


Besides the classical writers and the hagiographers, Olaus Magnus, HectorBoethius and Jerome Cardan afford copious stores of marvels, while the

Malleus, Nider, Grillandus and other demonographers are rich quarries to

work.)

VALLE DE MOUKA, MANUEL DO.- De Incantationibus, senEnsalmis. Eborae, 1620.

The author was an Inquisitor in Portugal.

The poisons from which the Veneficae derive their name havetheir potency, not from the natural qualities of the ingredients,but from the charms and incantations used in their prepara-tion, the demon thus contributing their effectiveness. Lovepotions similarly derive their power from a pact with the

demon, who thus tempts to lust. There are other potions,however, composed of drugs, which excite the passions andsometimes cause insanity. Ib., c. 4 (p. 186).

Implicit pact is so thoroughly admitted in the daily practiceof the Inquisition and of all ecclesiastical tribunals and of thewhole church that to call it in question is a position more thanrash.-Ib., c. 5, n. 25 (p. 202).The holiness of the words used by sorcerers only increases

their guilt and [such] are employed merely to deceive and allure

the ignorant, who argue that, if the words are holy and a cure

follows, why should they not seek the sorcerer. Grillandus

points out (De Sortilegiis, q. 5, n. 11) that sorceresses to

undo maleficia commonly order the recital of the Ave Mariaor Paternoster, but never the Credo, which the devil holds in

abhorrence. Ib., c. 6, nn. 172 (pp. 212-13).

In treating of the abuse of sacraments Moura says, "Dematrimonio quod daemon modo incubus, modo (licet rarius)

succubus, cum suis confoederatis init, res est vulgatissima."

Ib., n. 8 (p. 216).The quaintest use of sacred texts is that for the cure of

hemorrhoids, popularly called figs, "Ficus enim non flore-

bit" the fig tree shall not flourish Habbakuk, iii, 17.

Ib., n. 11 (p. 217).Demons always seek to make their followers abuse sacred

things. Ib., n. 12 (p. 217).The instructions De Custodia Eucharistiae provide that it be

kept under lock and key "ne possit ad illa(m) terneraria

rnanus extendi ad aliqua horribilia vel nefaria exercenda/'which ho wishes had been observed in Porto to prevent the

scandalous theft which occurred in 1614.- Ib., n. 14 (p. 218).VOL. n 31


He is at much pains to reconcile this with the current

assumptions that the Eucharist drives away demons and dis-

solves their magic and enchantments. Ib., n. 15 (p. 219).He rejects as irrelevant the explanation of Grillandus (which

I cannot verify H. C. L.) that it is attributable to the

irreverence and immorality of the priests. Ib., n. 16 (p. 220).

There was a similar question why the demon should have

power, through witches, to kill baptized infants, though as

a rule it was the unbaptized which he says is explained bythe argument used as to the Eucharist. Ib., n. 18 (p. 220).

It seems that in Spain the saludadores who could pass anexamination and give assurance that they did not use

superstitious or sacrilegious methods were allowed to practiseand that they performed cures, although "sean mines

hombres," which was explained by"gratia gratis data in

utilitatem aliorum." Ib., sect, i, c. 3 (p. 33).

God's permission is invoked in both ways to explain diffi-

culties. The invocation of the name of Jesus and the sign of

the cross do not always, as though ex opere operato, drive awaydemons or undo their magic, "sed tantum, quando Deus ita

instituit pro finibus suae sapientiae." Ib., sect, ii, c. 6, n. 36

(p. 227).

Bear in mind Christ's promise for those that should believe :

" In my namethey shall cast out devils," etc. (Mark, xvi, 17). And Concil. Trident.,Sess. XIV, De Sacramento extremae unctionis, can. 2, infers that the old

gifts of power were still in force.

The difference between ensalmadores and saludadores IB

that the former cure by ceremonies formed of certain words,ex vi operis, like sacraments or sacramentals; the latter, by a

personal virtue peculiar to them, sometimes independentand sometimes dependent on exterior acts, such as breathing,the touch of hands, etc. It may be doubted, however, whetherin our age there are persons gifted by God with curative

virtue, whether natural or supernatural. Ib., c. 9, n, 1

(pp. 264-5).Ciruelo [writing in 1539] describes saludadores a "bor-

rachones viciosos que andan per el mundo en nonibre desaludadores

77 and that prelates and judges should examinethem "y no dexar ansi andar a quicnquiera saludando ycnsalmando." (Reprovacion de las Supersliciones, P. Ill,c. 7, n. 17, ed. Barcelona, 1628, p. 160.) Jofreu's annotationto this in 1628 (ib., p. 165) shows that the business wan still

ITS PKOMOTBES AND CRITICS 483

lively. Del Rio (Disquis. Mag., 1. i, c. 3, sect. 4, ed. Mainz

1612, I, p. 28) informs us that in Italy these Spanish saluda-

dores were called"Gentiles S. Catharinae aut S. Pauli,"

and in Flanders children of Fridays, as those born on that daywere gifted with sanative powers, as likewise were seventh

sons when no female interrupted the series of births. Re-

turning to the Spanish saludadores, he says he would advise

the episcopal officials, before permitting them to practise

their vocation, to examine strictly whether they use natural

remedies or whether they cure per gratiam gratis datam, or

whether by pact with the demon. Azpilcueta (ManualeConfessariorum, c. 11, n. 36) describes them and admits

their power "Porro illi qui vulgo salutatores vocantur

(quantuncumque alias sint perditissimi homines) licite possunt

suo munere perfungi, quoniam gratia ilia gratis data hujus-

modi hominbus a Deo solo conceditur in utilitatem aliorum."

All this is somewhat foreign to witchcraft strictly defined and yet it has

significance as illustrating the state of mind and credulity, not only of the

vulgar, but also of the learned who trained the popular intellect and con-

science.

To this Moura observes, "Quod gratiae gratis datae a

Deo conferantur ad confirmationem fidei, quamvis neget

Suarez, decent tamen ex professo passim alii Doctores et

Patres, ex illo I Corinth., xii, 9;J

("to another is given the gifts

of healing by the same Spirit"). Moura, sect, ii, c. 9, n. 3

(p. 265).So Aquinas (Summa, Prim. Sec., q. cxi, art. 4 ad 3):

" Gratia sanitatum distinguitur a generali operatione virtutum

quia habct specialem rationem inducendi ad fidem, ad quamaliquis magis prornptus rcdditur per beneficium corporalis

sanitatis quam per fidei virtutem assequitur."

Thus the gift of healing granted to the early disciples for the purpose of

spreading the faith is assumed to be continued to the drunken vagabondswho earned a precarious existence by speculating on the credulity of the

people. From what Ciruelo tells us, it was not confined to human beings,

but was largely used to preserve their flocks and herds.

Sanchez (In Praecepta Decalogi, 1. ii, c. 40, nn. 47-9) dis-

cusses the subject at great length and concludes "earn

virtutem ease gratiam gratis datam/ 7 He infers that their

customary claim that their functions require them to take

great draughts of wine is false, for God's grace is not dependent

upon heavy drinking and the risk of drunkenness.


Moura says that during his eighteen years of inquisitorship

he has always regarded this question as most difficult. It is

indubitable that God grants the grace of curing in all ages

and times; also that the demon concurs with sorcerers in

producing the same results; and the help of God and of the

demon are both invisible. If the burden of proof is thrown

upon the saludador he cannot, short of revelation, prove the

help to be divine. Thus all saludadores are to be prohibited

from functioning, thus depriving them and their patients and

the public of the right of rendering and enjoying their ser-

vices; or all are to be admitted, with results not less absurd.

Moura, sect, ii, c. 9, n. 9 (p. 268).

It is the old story of man's helplessness in dealing with the infinite. Toan inquisitor the questions involved were of supreme importance and

Moura devotes an immense space to their discussion.

The gratiae gratis datae do not depend on the morals of the

recipient or even on his faith, as might be inferred from the

validity of sacraments in polluted hands. Ib.?n. 24 (p. 276).

To the question whether inquisitors, bishops or even popescan lawfully prohibit the recipient of gratia gratis data from

using it, the answer is that it is not lawful to go against the

divine will. But, if there is doubt whether it comes from Godor the demon, its use can be prohibited.

~Ib., nn. 45-0

(p. 284).

An illustrative case is that of Pedro Eanes Mayo do Oovaoof Estremoz, who in 1525 obtained a faculty from the royal

surgeon Gil Sebastiani for curing disease, especially hydro-

phobia, confirmed in 1534 by the Infante Henrique, then

Archbishop of Braga. In 1555, May 3, he was arrested by the

Inquisitor and on June 30 abjured de formali the heresies

involved in his pact with the demon, whom he had adored.

His confession, confirmed by witnesses, showed that demons in

the form of kids had punished him for performing someChristian works in contravention of his pact, and that hehad intercourse with them as succubi.- Ib., c. 10, n. 17

(p. 294).

It is indubitable that the pope can prescribe exorcisms

against diseases caused by demons, which the demons cannotresist. Ib., c. 11, n. 1 (p. 297).When Christ gave power to Ms disciples "Behold I give

unto you power . . . over all the power of the enemy1 '


(Luke x, 19) this means power to drive away demons but notto use them even for good objects. Ib., n. 4 (p. 301).But the Church has not power to cure disease arising from

natural causes. Ib., n. 14 (p. 304).

I suppose this is the test between demonic and natural disease.

Holy Water is primarily instituted"contra daemones in

spiritualia mala tendentes." Ib., n. 27 (p. 312).He says that he suspects the bull of Sixtus V has not been

received into use, at least in Portugal, for during his eighteen

years of inquisitorship he has never seen any "vanitas"

(sorcery) not manifestly suspect of heresy brought before thetribunal or, if brought, that the inquisitors did anything withthe case. -Ib., sect, iii, c. 1, n. 9 (pp. 440-1).He says that in Portugal, after Sebastian had obtained for

the Inquisition jurisdiction over sodomy, no one convicted,whether a negative or confessing and begging mercy, escapedthe stake. The assimilation of this with commerce with

incubi rendered the fate of the witch irremissible, as Del Rio

(1. v, sect. 16, p. 776), quoting the Levitical law against

adultery, bestiality and sodomy, pronounces this "detesta-

bilius est et pessimum omnium carnaliurn peccatorum."And the sentence of the Avignonese inquisitors in 1582 (whichI have elsewhere H. C. L.) says "vos viri cum succubis andvos rmilieres cum iricubis fornicati estis, Sodomiam veram et

nefandissimum crimen misere cum illis tactu frigidissimo

exercuistis" (Del Rio, loc. cit., p. 779). Whence Moura

argues that there can be no hope of pardon. Moura, sect, iii,

c. 1, n. 21 (p. 445).He adds that under the secular law "peccatum nefandum

facillimae remissionis est/' And he goes on to ask why then

should the spiritual court be so unforgiving, when it admits

to pardon the penitent heretic and even grants favorable

hearing to the relapsed. Matt., xviii, 15-17, orders fraternal

correction before denouncing to the Church and therefore

the ecclesiastical Superior is held to act fraternally before

acting judicially. "Ergo benigno et remissibiliter se debet

cum istis miscris fragilibus habere." Ib., n. 22, p. 446.

In 1612 the royal council at Lisbon discussed the questionwhether certain sodomites should be sent to execution unless

the proceedings of the trials by the Inquisition should be sub-

mitted to them, and all but three or four voted in the negative.

But the Viceroy, Cristobal de Moura, seeing that Philip III


could not be consulted in time, decided that in this case the

sentence of the tribunal should be executedwhich was not

only approved by the king, but he decreed that in future this

practice should be observed.- Ib., n. 37 (pp. 453-4).He defines sapere haeresim "praebere indicia et motiva

quibus intellectus non temere sed prudenter suspicetur ac

judieet, cum formidine tamen partis oppositae haeresim

latere in mente taliter dicentis vel facientis. Manifeste

autem est quando dicta motiva fuerint valde vehementia seu

probabilia; et minus manifeste, minus probabilia, ita tamenut maneant intra latitudinem probabilitatis, tarn ex partedefectus quam excessus." Ib., c. 2, n. 1 (pp. 457-8).And then he proceeds to discuss these distinctions in a

manner to show how readily all suspicion could be broughtunder the definition of savoring of manifest heresy (cf.

Simancas, De Cath. Institt., tit. liv).

The long and intricate debates between theologians as to the exact

determination of the savor of heresy show how impossible it was of practical

definition.

We can understand the preference given in the Spanish Inquisition to

jurists rather than to theologians as inquisitors. (Instr. de Avila, ann.

1498, 1, in Arguello, Instr. del Santo Officio, Madrid, 1630, fol. 12; Siman-

cas, tit. xli, n. 3.)

Applying his arguments to sorcery, Moura concludes that

light suspicion is manifest and renders the sorcerer suspectof heresy. Ib., sect, iii, c. 2, n. 19 (p. 465).

Thus, in acts which render the accused lightly suspect,the Inquisitor can proceed. -Ib., c. 3, n. 27 (p. 480).He says the books are so full of veracious histories that it

would be impudent to deny the fact. He quotes from Tostatusthat succubi are much rarer than incubL -Ib., c. 4, n. 8

(p. 489).If what Grillandi says (Tract, de Sortilegiis, q. 5, n.

,1,

ed, Francofort., 1592, pp. 45-6) is true there wa reason in

classing diviners with devil-worshippers. He say there are

two classes those of tacit profession and thone of express

profession. The former operate through hydromancy,pyromancy, etc,, the astrolabe, the Clavicula HalomoxiiH.

The latter celebrate sacrifices to the demon with all the rever-

ence and ceremonies observed in divine worship. They haveoratories with altars on which they place idols; they offer

frankincense and other suffumigations and wear tunica andvestments like priests. Among them are those more expert-

ITS PROMOTEES AND CRITICS 487

enced who are called priests and they adore the devil with all

reverence as though he were their God "et hoc est in quoDiabolus summopere delectatur ut adoretur." After thesacrifice they inquire as to what they want to know andreceive responses from the idols voce didbolica. The responsesas to the future are usually ambiguous with double meanings,for the demon is ignorant as to the future.

Doubtless all this was obtained from confessions under torture, but it

shows why divination was so vigorously prosecuted.

It is a proof of the truth of the Catholic faith that amongChristians the first requisition made by the devil of sorcerers

and witches is that they renounce the faith, but amongMahometans this is not the case, the devil regarding it as

superfluous. Moura, sect, iii, c. 5, n. 15 (p. 517).But even Grillandfs

"tacit profession" manifestly savors

of heresy according to Arnaldo Albertino (De AgnoscendisAssertionibus, q. 11, n. 9): "Sapit etiam haeresim manifestesi inquirantur furta vel similia per inspectionem aquae cumcereo accenso in manibus pueri virginis tento cum invocatione

angeli. Idem posset dici si in manu pueri uncta nigredine et

infusis guttulis olei quaerantur umbrae seu imagines person-arum quae furatae sunt et si possent indicia ibi videri ubisunt reposita furta."

And Moura observes that the express pact which the doctors

require for the manifest savor of heresy is not understoodwith the same rigor as in law or philosophy or in commonspeech. The doctors consider it express or explicit pact if,

only by words or signs, either direct or through third parties,

there is reciprocal obligation incurred. Express pact is eventaken more loosely, as for example on the first appearance of

the demon, without any pact, he does something to oblige a

woman, or with her consent serves as an incubus, without

exacting anything from her, for the woman knowing the

character of the demon who gives nothing gratis may adore

him or may not. In this, legally and philosophically, there

is no express pact, but no one will deny that it exists pre-

sumptively for our purpose. "Pactum igitur expressum ad

praesentem effectxnn erit omnis ac solus ille cum Daemonetractatus ex quo capi possit prudens et juridica praesumptio

quod agens cum eo in illius obsequium vel ad eius instantiam

fidem abnegavit, qxiantumvis talis tractatus per se ad id nonordinetur." Moura, sect, iii, c. 5, n. 23 (p. 522).


While one or two dealings with the demon may not savor

of manifest heresy subjecting to the Inquisition, repetitionand custom render it so. Ib., n. 24 (p. 523).

This is rendered more urgent by the condition of the person

if, e. g., he comes from heathen or Jewish stock. Ib., n. 25

(p. 524).The abuse of sacraments or sacramentalia "sapit haeresim

manifeste."--Ib,, n. 27 (p. 525).

"Ensalmi confecti ex verbis sacris, quales sunt vulgareset qui regulariter usitantur sapiunt haeresim manifeste sub-

ditque Inquisitoribus." Ib., n. 37 (p. 530).

Yet "non videmus Inquisitores irruere in vulgares En-

salmatores, imo et Ordinarios passim conniventes." Ib.,

n. 38 (p. 531).

Hia effort is to get the Inquisition to persecute the curanderas more

vigorously.

Moura describes with zest an auto-de-fe at Lisbon, May 19,

1619, honored with the presence of Philip III and the royal

family, in which more than 124 heretics appeared. Amongthem were three for sorcery. Gianbattista of Milan abj ured

de vehementi for seeking treasure by magic arts, during whichthe devil threw him senseless on the ground with a whirl-

wind, which caused him seven years infirmity. The second

was a married woman named Luiza Cabral of Portalegre,who had adored the demon as God, had renounced the faith

and in Villa Vigosa had served him as succuba. He had

promised her riches and carnal delights and gave her a sumin gold pieces, which she placed under her pillow and next dayfound only coals, yet she adhered to him. She abjured in

forma j with confiscation and perpetual prison and sanbenito.

The third was Luis de la Penha, who had some Moorish blood.

He was impotent and for this cause his wife had divorced him,and infamous, for which the Ordinary had imprisoned him.He confessed that he had recognized Asmodeus as his god,had drawn blood from his finger as an offering (Moura nayshe saw the scar), and had offered fumigations and other

sacrifices. He had obtained from Asmodeus the power of

bewitching women, who became insane in his presence. Thedemon at his command injured people, either to gratify

revenge or that he might earn money by curing them. Alsohe had given him the gift of prophecy, his forecasts sometimes

proving true. Although these confessed to adoring the demon,


they said they did so only to obtain advantage and it is diffi-

cult to determine theologically whether they really lost thefaith and fell into heresy, so that they should abjure in formaand be subject to the penalties of heresy and be relaxed, if

they revoked the confession. It is most difficult to define

that a man trained in the faith and regularly asserting thatthe devil is damned by God to eternal torment can reallytake him as the true God, especially when he is not led to

such belief by intrinsic motives. Therefore we judges, whoare also advocates, must examine diligently and use great

prudence before condemning such a culprit as formally aheretic. Ib., sect, ii, c. 1 (pp. 87-9).

This illustrates the inquisitorial practice of not burning witches whoconfessed. It was as a rule only the negatives.

GUACCIO (al. Guazzo or Guazzi), FRANCESCO MARIA.Compendium Maleficarum. Ed. Secunda, Mediolani, 1626.

[First ed., 1608.]

Fra Guaccio of the Order of St. Ambrosius ad Nemus appears to be alearned and cultured scholar. The list of authorities cited amounts to 322,

ranging from classical writers and the Fathers, through the Middle Agesdown to contemporary writers, such as Del Rio. He collects a vast mass of

cases to illustrate his views and arguments and in an Appendix (p. 357)he gives a tremendous exorcism to expel demons and reduce them to obedi-

ence, compiled from accepted formulas, which is a ludicrous exhibition of

the methods through which revelations were obtained for the destruction of

such unfortunates as Gauffredi and Urbain Grandier though of course

they can be parallelled from any of the current manuals. (See Chapters

from the Religious History of Spain, p. 425.) Guaccio's exorcism does not

seem to be condemned in the decree of 1709.

With regard to the Sabbat, he says that the followers of

Luther and Melanchthon hold that the witch only goes there

through diabolical illusion. This sometimes happens, but

that it is wo always is not proved. The truth is that they are

sometimes transported by the demon, and this is the muchcommoner opinion of Catholic theologians and jurisconsults

of Italy and Germany and Spain. Ib.; p. 69.

All this is copied from Dei Eio, Disq. Mag., 1. ii, q. 16, 1, pp. 167, 169.

They anoint themselves with unguents, chiefly made from

the infants killed, and fly through the air on a staff, a broom,a goat, a dog or something else; or, when the meeting-place is

near, they may go on foot. Ib., p. 70.

Then he goes on with a full description of the abominations


of the Sabbat, as commonly received, relating it all in positive

terms as accepted fact. Ib., pp. 70, sqq.

List of forty-seven symptoms of demoniacal possession.-

Ib., pp. 285-8.

List of twenty symptoms of disease caused by sorcery.

Ib., pp. 288-90.

The whole book is a prodigious collection of marvels, drawn from all

sources, showing to what incredible lengths human credulity can extend.

Cuts on pp. 34, 36, 37, 38, 40, 46, 51, 68, 70, 71, 73, 77, 79, 97 show the

conceptions of the period and the beliefs inculcated on the people by their

spiritual guides.1

JOFBEU, PEDRO ANTONIO. Adiciones, etc. Barcelona,

1628. [For notes on his supplementary material appendedto Ciruelo's Tratado, see pp. 413-15.]

II. WRITERS NORTH OF THE ALPS.

WEYER, JOHANN. De Praestigiis Daemonum et Incanta-

tionibus ac Veneficiis. BasUeae, 1568.

This book is dedicated to the Duke of Cleves and Juliers and Berg,

whose physician Weyer had been for fifteen years. It was submitted before

publication to the theologians and priests of the court. (Reference to

year 1566 in iv, 8; to 1563 in iv, 13;to 1564 in v, 22

;to 1567 in vi, 6.) First

ed. 1563.

Dedication: Assumes the popular belief in the power of

witches to be caused by the Devil for the injury of mankind.

The religious quarrels of the age (which desolated Europe for

a century) caused no such trouble and unhappiness. Daily

experience shows what execrable alienation from God, what

fellowship with the Devil, what hatred among kinsmen, what

strife between neighbors, what enmities among the peasantry,

what differences between cities, what frequent slaughter of

the innocent under the auspices of the Devil, are caused bythat most fruitful mother of calamities, the belief in the sorcery

of witches. And as there are few diseases which are not

attributed to that cause, it is especially the province of the

medical profession to combat it.

Weyer recapitulates with approbation the opinion of the

Duke of Cleves himself, which was that, misled by devils,

old women imagine that they cause the evils which happen to

others whom they desire to harm. Acting on thin conviction,

in the Duke's dominions foolish old women are not put to

1 For further notes from Quacoio, 8< pp. 01S 10.

ITS PROMOTEBS AND CRITICS 491

death, but if there has been poisoning, if it can be proved after

careful examination, the law takes its course.

Praefatio ad Lectorem. : He speaks of his work as an attemptto find a clue hitherto unknown through the labyrinth in

which men have thus far strayed, He describes the scheme

of the treatise :

Lib. i. Describes the devil, his origin, his career since the

temptation of Eve, his powers and the limits imposed on him

by God.Lib. ii. Discusses the infamous magicians who work by his

assistance, and deceive men with prodigies. They are mostlymen of learning and spirit who travel everywhere to learn

the secrets of their art.

Lib. iii. Witches [are] poor ignorant creatures, old and pow-erless, who without instruction imagine themselves, in their

desperation and degradation, to be the cause of the evils which

God sends to man and beast. Unlike magicians, they have

no books, nor exorcisms, nor signs, nor other monstrous things,

nor teacher except a corrupted imagination or a mind diseased

by the devil. They are also to be distinguished from Vene-

ficae, who injure men and beasts by poison swallowed or

rubbed in, or by their breath.

Lib. iv. Shows that those who are thought to be bewitched

are really possessed by devils or visited by God, without the

agency of witches or other persons.

Lib. v. Shows that the cure of those supposed to be be-

witched can be effected by natural means; and the illicit

remedies by devils, conjurations, signs, images, etc., are dis-

proved.Lib. vi. Developes his opinions as to the punishment of

infamous magicians; of witches seduced by the devil but not

heretics, and of poisoners.

This is followed by an " Address to Emperor, Kings,

Princes, and Judges, Secular and Ecclesiastical," invoking

their attention to removing from Christendom the disgrace

of aiding the devil in his efforts to throw upon crazy old

women this charge, and cause such slaughter, while enforcing

the just laws against magicians.

Weyer was evidently a Protestant, and Cleves must have been at that

time a Protestant country see pp. 92-3, 112.

Lib. i, De Diabolo, ejus origine, studio et potentia.

i, c. 3. The curse of Ham was the special work of the devil,


and from it are derived demon worship and magic. Their

inventor was Misraim, the son of Ham, at the instigation of

evil spirits. Jupiter Hammon is the same as Ham, while the

oracle of Dodona takes its name from Dodanim, the grandson

of Noah, who settled in Epirus.

i, c. 4. Flushed by their early successes the demons aspire

to the control of the whole world, and succeed in becoming the

gods of the Gentiles. Weyer, whose acquaintance with the

infernal hierarchy is minute and accurate, proceeds to

enumerate them with particulars about each Bel, Beelzebub,

Baal, Beelphegor, Astarte, Astaroth, etc.

Did it never occur to the demonologists, who attribute all evil to the

devil, while acknowledging his power to be limited by God, that he suc-

ceeded not only in producing the fall of Adam, but in procuring the eternal

damnation of ninety-nine per cent of the human race?

j^ Gt Q m The devil is the author of human sacrifices, of

which a full account is given- also, of augury by the entrails

of men slaughtered for the purpose.

i, c. 8. The devil is the direct source of the superstitions

which prevail throughout Christendom -such as that of the

regular and formal baptism of the bells, which have the powerof driving him away, to prevent his carrying then) off from

the steeples. Ditches and ponds are pointed out in which

he has thrown them after thus carrying them away, and there

they are believed to be heard ringing at midnight of ( <hrist-

mas eve. Description of the ceremonies of baptism great

numbers of godfathers. This baptism of bells was one of tine

Gravamina Germ. Nationis under Maximilian JL

i, c. 11. Weyer, in his long and detailed description of the

powers of the devil, attributes to him almost all the evils

which can befall mankind, from the destruction of empiresto the drying up of cows' milk. Also, all sorts of diseases,

and the carrying of all manner of things into the mouths,

ears, and other passages to be vomited forth. On one occasion

Weyer himself succeeded in preventing him, aft/er a severe

struggle, from carrying a virgin bodily up to the castle of

Caldenbroch in Gueldres. In short, ho believes in the reality

of all the evil dfceds and prodigies attributed to witches, exceptthat they are caused directly by the devil, who appears to

need no intermediary. His subsequent details of the devil

show that he had full power to act upon matter, inflict blows

and personal injuries, etc.


i, c. 15. Several chapters devoted to stories of diabolic

apparitions, etc. In those days, evidently, every one lived

in the possibility that any stranger he might meet would proveto be the Evil One. The Emperor Maximilian I happeningto express a desire to see Hector and Achilles, an infamous

magician then protected at court undertook to gratify him,and did so, throwing King David into the bargain quite a

dramatic account. The pied piper of Hamelin given as an

unquestionable fact occurring June 16th, 1284.

He quotes the Liber Conformitatum Beati Francisci cumvita Domini, by F. Bartholomaeus Pisanus, approved by the

General of the Order, Aug. 2nd, 1349, and printed at Milan

in 1510 also called Alcoranus Franciscanorum. (Is this the

Alcoran des Cordeliers?H. C. L.) Fright of the devil

at the birth of Francis explanation of his stigmata.

i, c. 17. Explanation of natural marvels vulgarly mistaken

for sorcery ignisfatuus, etc. Pomponatius (Lib. de Incant.)

relates that he saw at Mantua and Pavia a conjurer namedReatius so expert that the Inquisition seized him and he only

escaped by showing that his performances were due to manual

dexterity aided by confederates. He was subsequently killed

by some one whom he had deceived. Others wonders of

prestidigitation and dexterity.

i, c. 18. Tricks of trained animals taken as supernatural.

i, c. 19. Various names and attributes of the devil in

Scripture-

~q. v.

i, c. 20. Various names and classes of demons among the

Greeks and Romans. Household spirits, brownies, etc.

Weyer's own experience of them in his father's house.

Gnomes, etc. modern instances and accounts of them.

Warnings of death- -white ladies. These things were formerly

very common throughout Germany, but since the Reforma-

tion had purified men's minds and restored the Gospel, the

devil had loss opportunity.

i, c. 22. Some theologians divide demons into nine orders

corresponding with those of angels. Classification given.

Weyer however contents himself with the limits of religious

doctrine and declines to classify them, with Psellus and

others, into fiery, aerial, aqueous, terrene, subterranean,

light-shining, jovial, Saturnine, oriental, occidental, southern,

northern, daily, nightly, noon-day, sylvan, mountain, field,

household, etc., or to divide them and their functions accord-


ing to the twelve signs of the Zodiac, or the decurions of

heaven, or quinary, or ternary, or the elements or planets.

i, c. 23. The devil can do nothing without the permissionof God, who strictly limits his powers, otherwise he would

instantly exterminate mankind. He is allowed to try the

good and punish the evil. He is the minister of the vengeanceof God, his executioner and torturer, as far as his powers allow.

Incapable of sexual congress or generation.

Witches, however, could do nothing supernatural, even

though they were a thousand times helped by the devil.

Indeed, their defects of age and sex and temperament wouldbe merely a hindrance to him, and if he required their inter-

position his operations would be interfered with,

This shows the fatal defect in Weyer's reasoning. He believes in ma-

gicians, taught and aided by the devil, but not in witches, and could hardly

expect to find others ready to draw the line with him so illogically.

i, c. 24. Limitations on the devil's power. He cannot

create the least thing out of nothing, or really transform or

change the substance of anything, however much he maymodify appearances. He could not really imitate the miracles

of Moses or the loaves and fishes of Christ, or change ^jfater to

wine, or cure leprosy, or make the blind see, or the deaf hear,or the crippled straight, or restore the dead to life, or disturb

the rest of blessed souls, or change the course of nature. Hecannot restore things destroyed, or move away harvested

crops; he cannot love the good or hate the bad, or know the

secret thoughts of men, or convey hard substances throughpassages too narrow for them. He cannot by any pact or art

be compelled by man to do any designated thing. Ho cannotof his own will, or by command of man or woman, enter the

body of another or be ejected therefrom - nor can ho knowwhat is the will of God with respect to future events.

Weyer's devil is evidently a very different being from that of popularbelief, and he has gone a long way towards dethroning him.

He quotes Decret., 1 Part., 26, q. 5, Kpucopi [i. c,9the

Cap. Episcopi], to the effect that he is worse than a pagan or

infidel who believes that anything can be created or madebetter or worse or transformed to another appearance exceptby the Creator. It should therefore be publicly proclaimedthat whoever professes these things has lost his faith and in of

the devil in whom he believes.


Lib. ii, De Magis Infamibus.

ii, c. 1. Whoever disputes on the question of witches is

always met with the texts of Scripture alluding to them. I

find, however, [says Weyer,] that these references are diversely

explained by the Rabbis and variously translated in the

Greek and Latin versions. See Exod. vii, viii, ix; Levit.

xix, xx;Deuter. xviii; Jeremiah xxvii; Daniel ii, iv; II Kings

xxi; II. Chron. xxxiii. I have therefore consulted that mostlearned scholar, Andreas Masius, who thus explains the seven

Hebrew words used in this connection:

[There follows, in Mr. Lea's notes, Masius 7

definitions of

Chesaph, Kasam, Onen, Nahas, Haber, Ob, lidoni; also a list

of the Latin words by which these are translated in the

Vulgate.]Besides these [Hebrew words] there is the word Hartumin,

which the Rabbis say signified those who perform apparent

prodigies by natural means and dexterity. But in Exod. vii

and viii they are rather infamous magicians, opposing Mosesand Aaron with diabolical assistance. Hue usque Masius.

All these are included by our Germans in the one word

Zauberer, the confusion arising from which leads to the

destruction of the unhappy women condemned for witchcraft.

I shall take care to distinguish the infamous magician from

the witch.

ii, c. 2. I shall employ the name of magician for all who

by words or spells, spoken or muttered, or by execrations,

ceremonies or incantations endeavor to obtain the aid of the

devil to perform anything or to obtain the answer to any

question. Definition of magic and magician.

Weyer's reform evidently only extended to shielding ignorant old women.

He could see the folly of attributing supernatural powers to them, but not

to the educated seeker into the mysteries of the Cabala. It is therefore

no wonder that his labors had so limited a result, but in the then condition

of public enlightenment it is probable that if he had gone further he would

not have been listened to at all. Doubtless in Clcves he was able to effect

much good by converting the Duke to his opinions.

ii, c. 3. Origin of magic. Ham teaches it to Misraim his

son, the progenitor of the Egyptians, Babylonians and

Persians, known by them as Zoroaster. He was burnt to

death by a demon whom he had importuned, and his ashes

were collected and reverenced. According to others, Zabulus

and Zamobcis were its propagators. Carried to Greece by

Osthanes, who accompanied Xerxes. Among the Arabs,


Almadal, Alchindus and Hipocus; among the Medes, Apus-corus and Zaratus; among the Babylonians, Marmaridius;

among the Assyrians, Zarmocenidas; among the Hyper-boreans, Abbaris, Charondas, Daemogorgon, Eudoxus and

Hermippus. Also others more celebrated, as Mercurius

Trismegistus or Hermes, who flourished among the Egyptiansat the time of Moses and perished in the Red Sea. Also

Apollonius of Tyana, Gog the Greek, Germa the Babylonian,

Later, Porphyry, lamblichus and Proclus.- All this is quotedfrom Jo. Fran. Pico, de Praenotione Superstic., 1. vii, c. 5.

Also Amphion and Orpheus, Democritus the Abderite, andNuma Pompilius a curious list, exemplifying the superstition

of the age.

Pliny (1. xxx, c. 1) asserts that Pythagoras, Empedocles,Democritus and Plato voyaged to learn the art in the schools

of Syria, Egypt, Judea and Chaldea. Egypt was especially

noted.

Simon Magus and his feats he was the founder of the

heresies of the Ophites, Gnostics, Valentinians, Ardomani,Marcionites, Montanists, etc.

ii, c. 4. Later magicians, Appion Grainmaticus, Julian the

Apostate, Artephius, Robert of England who died miserablyin Switzerland, Roger Bacon, Petrus Apponcnsis, Albcrtus

Magnus, Arnaldus de Villa Nova, Anselm of Paris, Picalrix

of Spain, Cicchus Asculus of Florence, etc., etc. For whomsee Pico, 1. vii, cc. 5, 7, 9.

How little was necessary to constitute a magician is shown

by Weyer's stories of Johann Faust of Kundling, who about

1540 studied magic at Cracow. It seems that he called the

devil his brother-in-law (sororius) and once when in prison

persuaded a goodnatured chaplain to shave himself with

arsenical paste which effectually removed beard and skin.

He was at last found lying dead by the side of his bed.

A schoolmaster at Goslar was tatight by Faust how to

imprison the demon within glass. lie went to a forest to

perform the incantation and evoked a hideous demon with

flaming eyes, nose like a bull's horn, boar's tusks, etc., andfell in a swoon for some hoxirs, then dragged himself to town,where he was carried to his house uttering horrible sounds,and became crazy. On the anniversary of the day he spokeagain, crying that the devil had reappeared in the same shape.He toofc the communion and died on the third day thereafter.

That Weyer was as credulous as any of his contemporaries

ITS PBOMOTERS AND CRITICS 497

is shown by his story of a "magician" who practised medicine,

half a mile from Jena, who poisoned in a prescription a sick

neighbor with whom he had had a quarrel. Prosecuted bythe family of his victim, he confessed under torture that hehad for adviser a familiar demon, and was burnt.

It evidently was only ignorance and sex that rendered Weyer less pitiless

than his neighbors.

He quotes from Jo. Fran. Pico a story of a magician who wascarried off bodily and disappeared forever while exhibiting a

combat between Hector and Achilles at the Siege of Troyfor the amusement of a too curious prince. (Qy. Emp.Maximilian I., as above narrated?- H. C. L.)

In 1530 the devil showed to a priest of Niirnberg hiddentreasures in a crystal. He went with a friend to a cave indi-

cated near the town, where he saw a chest guarded by a black

dog. On entering it, the cave fell in and buried him.

At Salzburg a magician promised to draw all the snakes

within a mile into one ditch and dispatch them. When theywere gathered together, suddenly a huge serpent darted out

of the mass, wound himself around the magician, drew himinto the ditch, and killed him.

ii, c. 5- Magicians not only attribute the foundation of

their science to the patriarchs and angels, but they exhibit

books which they say were given by the angels Raziel and

Raphael to Adam and Tobit but the extravagances and

ignorance displayed in these books everywhere show themto be modern impostures.He ridicules an abominable little book called the Fourth

Book of Occxilt Philosophy, recently published by an impiousman under the name of Henry Cornelius Agrippa, now about

twenty-seven years dead and who had been his (Weyer's)host and honored preceptor. To this work is appended the

book known as Heptameron or Elementa Magica of Petrus

de Abano, which like all such writings should be burnt.

ii, c. 6 Quotes at some length from Charles Boville an

account of Trithemius, Abbot of Spanheim, as a magicianand his book of magic arts named Steganographia. This wasa contemporary attack, and Trithemius defended himself

and his book as not treating of forbidden things, but Weyersays that he had read it while with Corn. Agrippa and that it

was as described by Boville.

VOL. n 32


Magic is divided into Ars Almadel, Ars Notoria, Ars

Bulaphiae, Ars Artepii, Ars Paulina and Ars Revelationum.

ii, c. 7. Describes at much length various forms of incanta-

tion. These magicians have modes by which by the help of

Satan they bring to themselves butter or wine from places far

distant, and in our time there have been such well known in

Germany.

This is inconsistent with the limitations above enumerated on the powerof the devil and shows Weyer to be only incredulous and logical when old

women are concerned.

ii, c. 8. Miracles of Moses and the Egyptian magicians.The latter are proved to be merely simulacra or appearances,it being orthodox doctrine that the devil cannot in reality

create or change matter.

ii, c. 9. Saul and the Witch of Endor. It was not really

the spirit of Samuel that the witch evoked, but only a diabolic

image of him.

ii, c. 10. Long quotations from St. Augustin to the effect

that Samuel was an appearance of the devil and not the spirit

of the prophet.

ii, c. 11. Necromancy cases of evoking and resuscitating

the dead, quoted from classical authors. Within our own time

the art of consulting the dead has been extensively practisedand even openly taught in some of the schools.

ii, c. 12. -Lecanomancy, Psellus says, was used in Assyria,

Chaldea and Egypt. Customary now among the Turks.

Basin of water with plates of silver or gold, or precious stones

inscribed. After spells over it, the water stirs, and demonsanswer questions asked.

Gastromancy. Vases of water surrounded by wax lights.

After the invocation, a pregnant woman or a virgin boy looks

in the water and sees represented there the answer to ques-tions.

Catoptromancy. Responses seen in a mirror after incanta-

tion. Didius Julianus used this successfully.

Dactyliomancy. Divination by finger rings made undercertain conjunctions of the stars or with diabolic, rites. Acommon practice at the present clay. Recent case in whicha noble paid 20 crowns for a magic ring which when wornwould give good luck in gaming. lie first tried it and won

largely; then purchased it and soon after lost twice what he

had won.


Hydromancy. Ring suspended by a string over a bowl of

water. Questions asked, and if true the ring would repeatedlystrike the side of the bowl. Used by Numa Pompilius.There are other varieties.

Onychomancy. Oil and soot smeared on the nail of a virgin

boy, then held in the sun. Answers to questions read in the

appearances presented.

Caskinomancy and Axinomancy. An axe fixed in a round

post moves when the name of the criminal is pronounced.Used to discover malefactors. See Homer and the suitors

of Penelope. Also a sieve is fixed on tongs (forcipes) which are

held with two fingers, and six unintelligible words are pro-

nounced, dies, nues, ieschet, benedoefet, donuina, enitemaus.

Then, reciting the names of the suspect, it will vibrate whenthe criminal is named which can also be accomplished bythe fingers of the holder.

Cephalaionornancy. Roasting the head of an ass on the

coals, with I know not what ceremonies formerly common

among the Germans.

Ceromancy. Dropping liquid wax upon water still in use

among the Turks.

Aeromancy. From movements in the air mentioned byAristophanes in the Clouds.

Alphitomancy. Described by Theocritus in Pharmaceutria.

Alouromancy. Observing flour mixed [with water?].

Thyromancy with cheese.

Ichthyomancy with fish used by Tiresias and Poly-

damas.

Capnomancy. Observing smoke from poppy-seeds or

sesame thrown on. coals.

Botanomancy with herbs, as sage leaves.

Sycomancy with fig-leaves.

Libanomancywith frankincense,

Daplmcmancy with laurel the crackling of its burning.

Also, laurel loaves under the pillow bring true dreams.

Tcphramancy. With finger or stick write the thing to be

divined with ashes, which is then carried out of doors. Whatis not scattered by the wind shows what is required.

All these have gone out of use.

ii, c. 13. Oleromancy- Sortilegium. Still believed in byboth vulgar and wise. Different kinds of lot dice opening

a book, or clexomancy- use of dice, or astragalomancy, on


which whole books are written to explain the significance of

the different throws, especially in France.

Onomancy significance of names.

Alectriomancy, in which a grain of corn and a letter are

placed in each of 24 compartments of a circle and a cock is

allowed to peck at which it chooses. Valens tried it, to ascer-

tain the name of his successor, and the cock took QEOJthus presaging Theodosius. Examples of Sortes Hornericae

and Virgilianae among the ancients.

All these are assisted by the devil.

ii, c. 14. De Gastrimanteia et Pythonicis. Apollo wasnamed Pythius, from slaying the Python. His oracle wascalled Pythian, whence the pythic spirit of soothsayers. In

Gastrimancy the response comes from the belly of the one

possessed. In Sternomancy from the chest. Women gaveresponses from the pudenda, as was done by the Delphicpriestess, and Tertullian mentions cases of this kind from, his

own observation. Coelius Ludovicus (Antiq. Lect., 1. iii,

c. 10) states that he had often, in his native town of Rhodigiumin Italy, seen a woman who thus gave responses, the unclean

spirit speaking quite intelligibly, and truthfully as regardsthe past and present, but doubtfully as to the future. In

men, the spirit speaks by the mouth. Knaveries of a ventrilo-

quist named Brabantius in Paris and Lyons, in which Weyerevidently thinks that the devil had some part.

ii, c. 15, Gyromancy and Circulatores.In Fezzan, Africa,are magicians and cirailators called Muhazzimin, who expeldevils speedily by drawing circles with spells, etc. Also

others who work by a difficult Cabalistic art named Kairagia,

combining Astrology with the Cabala. In Constantinople,at the present time, there are always many men and womenin the cemetery or public place professing divination byvarious means heating wax and oil and watching them as

they cool, or with water, or mirrors, or glass, etc.

ii, c. 16. All these are works of the devil, forbidden by the

divine law, and those who consult them arc fools, etc.

ii, c. 17. Weyer attacks the ignorant priests and monks(not including the pious ones whom he venerates) who,without knowledge of medicine, as soon as any one is sick,

pronounce them to be bewitched and point out the offender,thus branding with an indelible stigma some honest womanand her children. They are not satisfied with mistaking thedisease unless they can oppress the innocent with false


accusations, replace peace with discord, set neighbors andkindred to quarrelling and fighting, fill the prisons with vic-

tims and the land with slaughter. With the cloak of religion

they seek to exalt Beelzebub.

Ridicules a book recently written in German on the subject

by a certain priest. The same man, in a well known town of

Gueldres where Weyer was practising medicine, pronouncedbewitched a young nun of a very strict convent, who was onlya little sick, and declared she could not be cured unless the

sacrifice of the Mass was performed on her belly, which was

done, and then she became really bewitchedof which the

Mother Superior, a noble and right-minded lady, often com-

plained afterwards.

It would be difficult to imagine any process more likely to cause a nervous

girl to believe herself bewitched.

ii, c. 18. Ignorant pretenders to medical knowledgeattribute to witchcraft all diseases which they cannot diag-nosticate or cure. So blundering surgeons, when by malpraxis

they have converted a simple ulcer into phagestaena or

sphocelus or gangrene, abandon it to the saints.

Defense of old medicine against the chemical novelties of

that arch empiric, Theophrastus Paracelsus. Case in which a

prominent Paracelsist, after reducing to death's door a noble

of Juliers and extracting from him many ducats and rose-

nobles under pretence of preparing medicines with them,attributed his ill-success to witchcraft and pretended that

he was likewise bewitched* Weyer, called in, cures the patientand has possession of the quack's letters.

ii, c. 19. Against ignorant physicians who invoke St.

Hubert of Ardennes for the cure of hydrophobia, or St. John,St. Cornelius, St. Valentine or St. Giles for epilepsy. Theyare comparable to those who have recourse to diviners and

sorcerers. Quotation from Hippocrates (or Galen?) de-

nouncing similar practices in his time.

Lib. iii., De LamiiSj vulgo Strigis sen Sagis.

iii, c. 1. Called Strigae, from strix, an owl (see Ovid,

Fasti, vi.) ;also Sagae from satagendo.

iii, c. 2. Contradictions in the accounts given by witches of

the ceremonies of initiationshowing them to be unworthy of

confidence.

iii, c. 3. The evil deeds attributed to witches are the direct

work of the devil, who needs no human aid, as he is the instru-


ment of God. How can a pact with the devil abrogate the

previous pact with God solemnly made at baptism with

sponsors? Chrism of baptism indelible.

iii, c. 4. The killing of children by incantation is a merefiction of the devil; the digging up of their bodies a dreamof disordered minds, as can be proved by opening the graveswhence they are said to be taken, when the bodies will be

found. The boiling down of their bodies into soups and

unguents is incredible and irreconcilable with human nature,and he would not believe it if he witnessed it. Even were it so,

what would be the magic virtue of such an unguent? Wouldit carry people through the air? He does not deny that these

wretched women may believe their confessions to be true, butit is madness caused by the devil, or ravings created by torture

and the approaching stake. This is confirmed by Can.

Episcopi, P. II, C. 26, q. 5.

As to the injunctions of the devil to contravene the rules

of the church by fasting on Sundays, eating meat on Fridays,

concealing sins at confession, spitting or thinking aboutindifferent matters when the Host is elevated, Wcyer arguesas a Protestant that these are all good or indifferent actions.

iii, c. 6. Weakness of women their liability to deceptionand consequent fitness for diabolic illusions proved frominnumerable authorities. 1

iii, c. 7. Melancholy causes all kinds of diseased imaginings.

Many instances drawn from his own experience. Easy for

the devil to select such patients and pervert their minds,unsettled by atrabiliar vapors, to his own purposes, so that

they seem to themselves to see and do what lie suggests.

iii, c. 8. Strength and freaks of imagination- most power-ful in the weak and sensitive. Brave men rarely sec ghosts,but women and children do. The devil has from God the

power of producing these visions, and persons even while

awake may see them and think them real. Provcnl fromSt. Augustin,

Queer notions of a beneficent God!

1 To show how easily the dovil deceives old women into thinking ttwmtwlvori

witches, when in fact his evil purposes arc accomplished without human aid, Wuy*rut this point cites a long array of authorities, classical as well IIB medieval, to provethe unstable character of woman and tho oaso with which she can bo minUnl. After

quoting such descriptive epithets as credulae, lulmcav, malinonai*, incautofl, mollfa,delriles, imhectttw, imprudentcs, etc., he concludes: "Quaro Plato watm inciviliter

dubitare videtur, utro in genero ponat mulierem, rationalium animtilium an bru-toruxn." This is the passage erroneously ascribed by Mr. JOoa to the* MtUtauci Malo-fiearum see p, 308

ITS PBOMOTEKS AND CRITICS 503

iii, c. 10. Changing of men into beasts stories of this,

qualified as hae magae. Wer-wolves common in Livonia.

Either wolves excited by the devil, or demons who assume the

shape, and then maie some one dream that he is committingthese devastations all in order to cause innocent men to be

put to death. And yet honest judges will execute peopleunder such pretexts! It has already been proved that the

devil cannot changes the shape of any one.

iii, c. 11. These old women are like ecstatics who lie in a

trance and then relate visions of what they have seen. Thusthe devil suggests alll manner of scenes and actions which theybelieve themselves ito have witnessed and performed. Then

they confess it under torture and are burnt.

Quotation from F ortalicium Fidei, 1. v. de Bello Daemonum,a passage describing witches and assuming their actions to be

visions caused by Satan.

iii, c. 12. By the Temptation of Christ and other argu-ments he proves that the devil can carry men through the air.

But this can only be done by the express permission of God;therefore are they unnecessarily alarmed who fear that publicaffairs may be tkrown into confusion by the devil trans-

porting kings and princes to other countries. When Francis I.

left his sons as hostages in Spain he sent to Germany for a

celebrated rnaglciaia to transport them back with treasure,

but it proved fruitless. So God will not permit the devil

thus to use his powers on old women already wretched enoughwith age, ill health and disordered minds. God is not in

league with the devil. (Doubtful, according to current

beliefsH.C.L,) As for the mode by which a spirit can movea body, it is beyond our comprehension.

iii, c. 13. He proves however that a body cannot be in two

places at once, ixor can it pass through an aperture too small

for it, as witches* &re said to do through keyholes.

iii, c. 14. Stoiy from Hector Boethius of King Duff nearly

killed with a figurine. Proof of its improbability. Jerome

Cardan's comments upon it, regarding these tales of witches

as nearly all fictitious, the result of black bile, fear, grief,

poverty, and tlie imitation of others' craziness augmented

by the fact that formerly the judges were the recipients of the

confiscated properly of the condemned, and thus were inter-

ested in finding theem guilty. The Senate of Venice was the

first to protect these wretched lunatics by depriving the

wolves of their prey. Then arose the Lutheran sect, which


being propagated mostly in the cities, the poor were allowed

to escape and the energies of the judges were directed to

richer victims. Now they are treated more mildly and the

whole is found to be a compound of folly and avarice

(Cardan, de Varietate Rerum, lib. xv, c. 8).

It often happens that some one falls sick to whom an old

woman has wished ill, and she easily imagines it to be her

work. These stories get embodied in histories without veri-

fication and thus become accepted from one generation to

another.

iii, c. 15. Story of witchcraft from Johann. Grammat.,Hist. Danica. Also case of a woman who practised sorceryat Waldsass in 1555. When arrested and tortured, she stated

she was one of those whom the Germans call wandering spirits,

whose souls leave their bodies four times a year, during which

periods she frequented the imperial court and had imperialletters authorizing her to practise sorcery. Asked for them,she produced the Latin letters of initiation of N., chaplainto the Emperor, now a bishop, which had been lost at Egerduring the expedition against the Saxons. Doubtless the

devil had deceived her with them into thinking, as she did,

that she could lawfully practise all kinds of sorcery. She was

banished, and begged to have her letters restored to her, as

without them she would have no success in her occupation,and almost fainted when told that she would be burnt if she

tried it again.

iii, c. 16. Witches cannot cause tempests, etc.; but the

devil, who knows when storms are coming, persuades themthat by throwing a few stones behind them to the West, or

casting sand into a torrent, or dipping a broom in water and

sprinkling it towards the sky, or making a little trench,

filling it with water and stirring it with the finger, or boiling

hogs' bristles in a pot, or placing sticks transversely on the

shore, they can evoke tempests to damage their enemies.

He refers with grief to the burning, a few yearn before, of a

number of insane old women, in a part of Germany where the

Gospel is purest, because tempests had inflicted much damage.This storm extended over Wirtemberg, Franconia, Bavariaand Austria. If this belief were true, no crops could be savedand man would perish. And what would be the use of warlikearmaments when a single witch could destroy an cnomy'Hcountry? Germany ought to employ one permanently agairintthe Turks. If it be objected that this would be to invoke the


aid of the devil, let me ask who is the incentor of war and

slaughter, rape and rapine, God or the devil?

In the war between Denmark and Sweden in 1563 it was

reported in the Danish camp that the Swedes had with themfour witches whose spells rendered the Danes incapableeither of attack or defence. One of them was captured by a

knight of Gunther, Count von Schwartzenburg, the Danish

commander, and confessed the fact, after which they found in

the wells and marshes along the roads long strings to whichwere appended wooden crosses and other signs.

Quotation from Julius Scaliger to Cardan (libri. xv DeSubtil., exer. 349): "It is not true that men can injure menwith mere words. For who taught them such words? Notanother man, for then who taught him? Not celestial intelli-

gence, for who would dare to assume it to be the author of

sorcery? Ergo, the evil demon, not that he would render

man more powerful, but that human credulity should be de-

ceived, and man thus become his associate in impiety andeternal perdition. Thus it is the demon that acts, and the

fool believes himself to act with words."

iii, c. 16 [bis]. The experiences of witches are delirious

dreams induced by the drugs wherewith they confect their

ointments.

Long quotation from Jo. Bapt. Porta (Magia Naturalis,

lib. ii, c. 26), who had investigated the matter carefully. Hegives the ingredients which are mixed with infants' fat-

aconite, eleoselnium, frondes populneae, soot, [suim], penta-

phyllon, bat's blood, belladonna, etc. They first rub the

surface till red, to open the pores, and then rub the ointment

strongly in. He experimented with a well known witch who

promised for money to bring him answers. She turned every-one out of the room, but he watched her through the crack of

the door, saw her strip herself naked and anoint herself

thoroughly all over with an unguent. The somniferous drugsthrew her into a deep sleep, out of which she could not be

aroused by a smart whipping. When she awoke, she recited a

long delirium, how she had crossed mountains and seas, etc.,

bringing false responses, and persisted pertinaciously on being

contradicted. Their minds dwelling perpetually on these

subjects, they are more susceptible, and as they live exclusively

on insufficient vegetable foodbeets, chestnuts, greens,

etc. they are more easily affected.

Cardan (De Subtil., 1. xviii de Mirabilibus) gives very nearly


the same statement as Porta. Weyer adds various receipts

for delirium-producing preparations from common articles

hemlock, poppy seeds, folium, belladonna, hyoscyamus, etc.,

and notes several cases in which similar sleep was caused bylolium, belladonna, etc., accidentally administered.

iii, c. 17. Use among the Eastern nations of opium, hasch-

isch and other similar drugs. Case of imposture by four Domi-nicans in 1559 by similar means, of which they were convicted

and burnt, May 31st, 1559.

iii, c. 18. Incubi and Succubi they are the diseased

imaginings of disordered minds. Dissertation on night-mare,

ephialtes, incubus, germanice Die mar ryden. Epileptics

specially liable.

iii, c. 19. Impossibility of congress with virgins proved byphysical reasons.

iii, c. 20. Curious story from Suidas about the Virgin

Mary and Jesus.

iii, c. 21. Medical cases bearing on the subject.

iii, c. 22. Controverts the argument drawn from Gen., vi

about the Sons of God and Daughters of men Sons of God,as in many passages of scripture, only those who were loved of

God.

iii, c. 23. Heroes and demigods of antiquity. Huns said to

be the offspring of demons with Gothic women- -Plato said

to be the son of a virgin by Apollo Merlin Servius Tullius

Christ the only true instance.

iii, c. 24. In 1565, a bishop preaching in a well known townstated that the devil took the shape of a traveling jewel

merchant, went to Wittenberg (not Eislcbcn) and begged

hospitality of a citizen under pretext of not wishing to risk

his wares in common inns. He seduced the daughter of his

host, who gave birth to Luther amid many portents. The

boy easily outstripped his schoolfellows, by the advice of Ins

demon parent became a monk; then, after ravishing a nun,went to Rome, where he failed to secure the favor of the Popeand Cardinals. Out of revenge he attacked the church, after

first obtaining reputation by a commentary on the Lord's

Prayer. A French Catholic religious history of the time bySt. Fontaine likewise states that the most credible opinionis that Luther's mother Margaret conceived him of a demon.

iii, c. 25. Cases from Josephus and Eusebius of priests

deceiving women under guise of gods.

iii, c. 26. De mutua maleficarum commixtionc.


iii, c. 27. Ridicules the opinion of the theologians thatdemons fit themselves for incubi by first serving as succubi.

iii,, c. 28.~~Curious details as to Satyrs and Fauns.

iii, c. 29. Illusions as to Incubi.

iii, cc. 30 and 31. Stories of Incubi one very striking,from Boethius, Hist. Scotor., lib. viiL

iii, c. 32. Francesco Mirandola (qy. Jo. Fran. Pico?EL C, L.) relates a case of a priest named Benedict Berna,seventy-five years old, who for more than forty years had a

succubus, whom he called Hermelina, who accompanied himin the streets, and with whom he talked the bystandersseeing nothing and regarding him as a fool. Under torturehe confessed that he never used the Host in the Mass but gaveto the demon all the consecrated wafers, with other hideousacts. Another he knew, still living, named Pinnetus, eightyyears old, who for more than forty years had a succubus whomhe called Fiorina.

Cardan (De Varietate, lib. xv, c. 80), who quotes these from

Mirandola, comments upon them as ridiculous fictions andargues to prove their impossibility. He would have had morerespect for St. Augustin if he had abstained from repeatingsimilar absurd stories. These insane deliriums gain currencyfrom the avarice of judges, the vanity and folly of delinquents,the desire of novelty, and the general ignorance of naturalcauses and effects.

Weyer, however, does not go so far, and believes these

stories to be true in so far as the devil causes the illusion.

iii, c. 33. Story of a bewitched woman of Brussels in child-

bed. Weyer's explanation of it as an illusion of the devil

requires more credulity than the story itself, wild as it is.

iii, c. 34. Ridicules the idea that ignorant women without

study of books or written formulas can effect the thingsattributed to them. Recently, a judge named Hess, at

Hammona 1 asked a celebrated witch whom he was ex-

amining and afterwards burnt, how one could protect himself

from the attempts of witches. She replied that he should

preserve with the greatest care all his old boots and shoes!

iii, c. 35. Instances of belief in evil eye, from many quar-

ters, ancient and modern. Weyer does not dispute their truth,but argues that certain persons and races may have the powernaturally of killing or injuring by looks or emanations andthat this has nothing to do with witchcraft.

* Hanam in the County of La Marck,


iii, c. 36. Treats of Venefici, or poisoners. Curious cases of

wholesale poisoning but not witchcraft at Casale, Geneva,Milan, Pavia, Bologna cases in his own practice.

iii, c. 37. Story of executioner of Neumagen whollyirrelevant.

iii, cc. 38 and 39. Love philtres much curious learning,but not bearing on witchcraft.

iii, c. 40. Poisoning of cattle curious cases and methods,which might readily be mistaken for witchcraft.

Lib. iv. De iis qui Lamiarum malefitio affecti putantur.

iv, c. 1. From the history of Job and the allusions to de-

moniacs in the New Testament it is evident that the devil

operates by himself, with the permission of God, and requiresno human aid. All the crimes attributed to witches are his

work alone. They are themselves bewitched by him and led

to believe and to confess under torture that they are the agentsof the evil wrought by the devil.

iv, c. 2. Vomiting and ejection of various things generally

pieces of coarse cloth, quantities of nails, buckles, pins, hanksof thread, needles, etc. This is an illusion of the devil, whoconveys these things to the mouth of the patient, and makesthem appear to come from the stomach. Anatomical reasons

why such substances cannot pass through the narrow passagesof the body. Has had many such cases in his practice. Nochyle or fragments of food accompany the objects, even

though the vomiting takes place directly after a meal; and,before the vomiting, careful external manipulation shows notrace of such masses of hard and angular substances in thestomach or ventricle.

iv, cc. 3 and 4. Case in which he detected a girl of sixteen,afflicted with these vomitings, in hiding a piece of coarse

cloth under her tongue. She denounced as the cause of her

sufferings an honest woman then under arrest for witchcraft,

but subsequently released. Dissertation on the usclcssnona

of the sign of the cross. When the accused, with others, wasreleased, they were obliged, by Imperial decree, to blcsn all

who had thought themselves bewitched by them with this

formula "Benedico tibi in nomine Patris et Filii ct Spiritus

Sancti," and the afflicted were immediately cured. Absurdityof this law, as if those who were the slaves of Satan could bless.

Besides, it assumes that the judge had acquitted those whowere really guilty, and thus leads him to be a butcher arid nota judge.

ITS PEOMOTEES AND CBITICS 509

iv, c. 5. Opinion of Grillandus (q. v.) that the objects thus

ejected are mere simulacra, which disappear if kept. Quotedat full length without contradiction or comment, exceptstating that Cardan likewise believes (De Varietate, lib. xv,c. 80) such things "technas esse."

iv, c. 6. Cases of these vomitings. In one of these the

patient stated that the articles did not come from his stomach,but were placed by the devil in his mouth, one by one, as theywere ejected.

iv, c. 7. More cases. Weyer frequently observed that

when people sick of natural disease had recourse to sorcery

they became thus afflicted as a punishment for their distrust

of God.

iv, c. 8. Case in Amsterdam, March 1566, where 30 boyswere thus afflicted. The devil performs these feats to procurethe execution of innocent old women. These boys wereseized with fits like madness in which they would throw them-selves on the ground; the fit would last for half an hour or an

hour, after which they would know nothing of it but think

that they had slept. Physicians could do nothing and exorcists

were called in, during whose ministrations the boys vomitedneedles and pins, bits of crockery, pieces of cloth, glass, hair

and the like, but without relief. Weyer7

s explanation is that

with God's permission the devil was permitted to do this.

The articles vomited were never in the boys' bodies, but the

devil fascinated the eyes of the spectators to think they were*

His object was to increase belief in sorcery and to cause the

burning of innocent women. God permits these things fre-

quently to test the firmness of our faith. Thus in Rome in

1555, in an orphanage, seventy girls in one night became

demoniacs, of whom not one was cured in two years.

iv, c. 9.- -Similar case in 1539 at Fugenstal, of a husband-man named Ulric Neusesser who died in agonies and his

stomach when opened contained rough pieces of iron a span

long, knives, some sharp and some serrated, and other similar

things. Weyer argues that the pains might have been colic

and the things were a deceit of the devil.

iv, c. 10. Pursuing this line of thought he relates at great

length the "admirabilis et horrifica vexatio" endured by the

nuns of Wertet in County Hoorn. They lent a poor woman in

Lent 3 pounds of salt and received nearly double at Easter.

Thenceforth they were tormented in all possible ways; theybecame demoniacs and climbed trees like cats and slid down


without moving their limbs. This lasted for three years.

During it, two of the nuns were overheard laughing about a

black cat brought in a basket to the dormitory by a matronof the town whom they named. The superior opened the

basket and the cat escaped. The woman was arrested with

seven others. Her neighbors and the poor testified to her

abounding charity, by which she impoverished herself, butshe was tortured without confession until she died from its

effects. Now Weyer says there can be no doubt that the nunswere controlled by Satan, who seized the opportunity afforded

by the usurious transaction in salt. God gave him power to

molest them, and he caused the talk of the two nuns in order

to cause the torture and death of the innocent matron. If

t'here was a real cat, there can scarce be a doubt that Satan

brought it in, but Weyer believes, or rather is persuaded, that

the cat was a demon in that shape.

This is a fair example of his reasoning, and it and the two following cases

have interest because in 1689 one of the sturdiest defenders of all the

absurdities of witchcraft, Joh. Heinr. Pott, quotes Wcyer's belief as anevidence that demons can assume animal forms and in that shape haveintercourse with women (Pott, De nefando Lamiarum cum Diabolo coitu,

p. 925).

The nuns of Hessimons (Nimeguen) tormented by demons,one of whom in shape of a dog leaped into the bed of a nun"in quam muti peccati, quod vocant, cadebat suspicio."

So, in a prominent nunnery of Cologne, a demon in shape of

a dog sometimes ran and got under the clothing of nuns,when movements of the garments gave indications "spuriaevelitationis."

Case of the nuns of St. Bridget, near Saintes, whore similar

troubles lasted for twelve years, commenced by a young mmwho took the veil in consequence of disappointment in love,

and was evidently driven mad by it -a very tragical tale.

Other cases in convents at Nimeguen and Cologne.

The hysteric character of these troubles in such commutation of women Is

very evident.

iv, c. 11.- Similar case in convent of Kcntorp near IIam-monia [Haxnm], County of La Marck. When one would begin,the rest would all be seized, even though they only heard thesound in an adjoining cell. A soothsayer consulted ae<nused

the cook of the convent, Elsa Kamensis, who, with her mother,is burnt after varying confessions. (See vi, c. 10, Elna after

ITS PROMOTEES AND CEITICS 511

condemnation on being asked how the sorcery could be undonesaid that it would cease after she and her mother had been

put to death but it did not.) The devil gathering strengthfrom this success, many citizens, male and female, of Ham-monis become possessed then those of Hovel and another

neighboring town. Many women accused and tried their

cases carried up to the chancery of Cleves, where Weyer hadan opportunity of examination.

iv, c. 12. Similar troubles for several years in convent of

Nazareth at Cologne. Weyer and several others hold an

investigation there, May 25th, 1565; and find it caused by the

fact that many of the nuns had lovers who had been secretly

introduced at night. This was stopped, and then the troubles

began, commencing with a girl of fourteen named Gertrude,whose lover had been very regular in his visits. -Other cases.

iv, c. 13. Case of a girl in 1563 who swallowed a knife andwas thought bewitched.

iv, c. 14. Eight pages of labored explanation to show that

this case was nothing but a Satanic illusion. Nothing can

exceed the ingenious perversity with which Weyer brings

all his anatomical, physiological, pathological and theological

knowledge to bear, to prove the impossibility of the thing

having happened as it did, and that Satan had ingeniously

deceived the girl, her family, and the surgeon who extracted

the knife, a year after its ingestion, from a tumor in her side-

Satan having during this time hidden it in a dunghill to pro-

duce the eaten appearance which it presented. Woodcut of

the knife, 6f in. long by J in. wide.

iv, c. 15, Ridicules the explanation given in recent works

of these cases, viz., that Satan conveys the articles throughdistended pores of the skin which he at once closes up.

iv, c. 16. Describes many pathological formations and

foreign substances naturally found in bodies of men and cattle,

which the ignorant might easily mistake for witchcraft.

Among others a hair-pin, four fingers7 breadth long, acci-

dentally swallowed by a girl in Venice and discharged per

urethram, encrusted with calcareous deposit.

All this is common sense, and renders the folly of cap. 14 more extraord-

inary.

iv, c. 17. Cases in which learned doctors have been deceived

by the devil into treating for maladies those who were really

possessed. Melanchthon, however, in one case got the better


of a demon who held holy water in great terror. In exorcisingthe possessed, he brought some common water under his robe,and used it as though holy water, when it produced the sameeffect.

iv, c. 18. The devil can only enter a person by express per-mission of God. No man has power to make him enter

another, and he only pretends that he is sent by others in

order to cause persecution, and enmity and slaughter. If

men had power to devote each other to the devil, there wouldnone escape, for everybody is always cursing and imprecatingothers on the smallest provocation.

iv, c. 19. Cases of people carried off by the devil in the act

of perjury or execration. One of these quite dramatic

(p. 408).

iv, c. 20. The devil cannot remove the testes, etc., andthen restore them. He can however produce the appearance of

castration, to make men seek superstitious cures, and whenthis is accomplished he removes the illusion. Impotencecannot be caused by spells. The devil can cause it, but not

old women.

It is evident from various cases related by Weyer that the Catholic

religion was tolerated in the territories of the Duke of Cleves, but that

monastic regulations, etc., could not be enforced.

iv, c. 21. Various forms of ligatures superstitiously believed

in. Ligatures for love and for hate, for sickness and for health,and so forth. Of thieves and robbers, that they shall not steal

in a certain place; of merchants, to prevent them from buyingor selling in a certain place; of an army, to prevent it from

crossing certain bounds; of ships, to prevent them from

leaving port, even with a fair wind and all Bail; of a mill,

that it cannot turn; of a cistern or well, so that no watercan be drawn from it; of a field, that nothing shall sprout in it;

of a certain place, that nothing can be dug from it (ne guidin eo possit extrui) ;

of fire, that it cannot burn in a certain

place, nor light any combustible there, howsoever great heat

be applied to it; of lightning and tempests, that they shall

do no hurt; of dogs, to prevent their barking; of birds and

beasts, to prevent their flight; and all similar things exceedingthe just bounds of faith.

A curious picture of the superstition of the day, when every detail andcircumstance of daily life might be interfered with by sorcery, and no oneknew from moment to moment how his fortunes or career might be inter-

rupted by the hidden malignity of some one unknown.

ITS PEOMOTERS AND CRITICS 513

iv, c. 22. Men cannot by any power be changed into

beasts.

iv, c, 23. Lycanthropy. In 1541 a peasant at Patavium

(Pavia, Passau?) imagined himself to be a wolf, attacking and

killing all he could. Captured with difficulty, he maintainedthat he was a wolf, only differing in having the skin turned

hairy side in. His captors, real wolves, hacked and cut off

his limbs with their swords to find out, and convinced of his

innocence handed him over to a surgeon, but he died in a few

days.

iv, c. 24. That women can be changed into men is naturally

proved by argument and examples of doubtful sex but that

men can be changed into women is impossible, because nature

always proceeds by development and not by shrinkage.

iv, c. 25. The insane often mistaken for demoniacs, andvice versa. Extreme difficulty of diagnosis. Each condition

may change into the other.

iv, c. 26 Cases of feigned demoniacal possession. One of

these in 1562 imitated to perfection the persecution of the

devil, and professed to be bewitched by a person who hadbeen burnt for witchcraft.

iv, c. 27. Cases of similar imposture in which priests were

confederates.

iv, c. 28. Story of frenzied possession no authority.

iv, c. 29. Differential diagnosis between disease and poi-

soning difficult, but necessary.

iv, c. 30. Diseases of cattle mostly different from those

of men Every animal has its peculiar affections Not caused

by witchcraft.

Lib. v. Curatio eorum qui Lamiarum malefido affici, vel

daemonis obsidione subigi creduntur.

v, c. 1. Prophylaxis better than cure. The most effica-

cious modes of eluding the assaults of the devil are faith

and reliance on God and a virtuous and religious life.

v, c. 2.- The moral effect on the peace of society caused bythe witch-craze is thus described. "Odii certe plusquamVatiniani seminarium hoc, frequenter inter proximos quosqueuti pestilentissimum ita et duratissimum, ut non modo

integrae viciniae admodum antea pacatae, hac arte gravi-

bus conturbentur dissidiis, caedibusque divexentur, sed et

pagorum atque urbium avita societate unitarum compages

disrumpantur, ac inusta fanoiliis calummarum stigmata in

longam propagentur posteritatem." Apparently by way of

VOL, it -33


illustrating the reckless spread of such reports, he adds that

in the little town where he lived he knew a persecutor of

witches coming therefor the first time by chance, promptlyand lyingly declared that there were over 300 witches in it.

(See also Spee, dub. 2, for this disturbing element. H. C. L.).

v, c. 4 Blasphemous use of Scripture and of God's name to

cure diseases. Many curious examples cited: e. g. yto cure

horses of worms :

"In nomine Pa+tris et Fi+lii et Spiritus+Sancti, exorciso

te vermen per Deum Pa+trem et Fi+lium et Spiritum+Sanctum ut nee carnem, nee sanguinem, nee ossa hujus equiedas aut bibas, et ut fias tanta patientia quantus fuit sanctus

Job, ac tanta bonitate quantus fuit sanctus Johannes, quumbaptizaret Dominum nostrum in Jordane, in nomine Pa+triset Fi+Hi et Spiritus+Sancti." Then recite three times in

the horse's right ear the Pater Noster and Ave Maria, for the

glory of the Holy Trinity, ending with ''+Dominus+Filius+ Spiritus+Maria."

Cardan (De Subtil., 1. xviii and excr. 112) seems to have hadfaith in these charms, and to have been ridiculed therefor byJulius Scaliger.

v, c. 5.-Charms and spells to discover thieves in crystals or

vials of water. Long extract from Cardan (De Rer. Variet.,1. xvi, c. 93) who tried one of them thoroughly and pronouncedit an imposture. When virgins, as was customary, are em-

ployed to see the appearances in the water, he suggests that

they are apt to see whatever they are told, "ne vidcantur cor-

ruptae." Curious blasphemous charms and spells for the

same purpose.

v, c. 6 -Anathema of St. Adalbert, employed by priests to

obtain recovery of stolen goods (it is the curse of fit. Ernul-

phus, or something very like it H. C. L.). Some priests

employ the 108th Psalm as a spell against such persons, be-

lieving that the individual will either die at once or during the

year.

v, c. 7. Against these and other sacrilegious uses of the

name and word of God to cure the bewitched.

v, c. 8. Against formulas of barbarous gibberish, manycurious examples of which are given, against diseases andwitchcraft.

v, c. 9. Against the same some of them quaint enough.A short one against "comitiali irxorbo" is

" +habi+haber+habr." The word "ananisapta" was a sure euro for fevers.

% ITS PBOMOTERS AND CBITICS 515

For toothache "galbes, galbat, galdes, galdat." A certain

noble was celebrated for curing hydrophobia by administeringa piece of apple inscribed "Hax, pax, max, Deus adimax"the power being entailed on the eldest son of the house. Also,for the same, a piece of bread eaten with inscription of

"Irioni khirioni, effera khuder fere/' etc., etc.

v, c. 10. Charms for finding buried treasures. Figurinesmade in the name of the party to be harmed, of new virgin

wax, with the heart of a swallow under the right axilla and its

liver under the left.-Also, hung to the neck, an effigy of the

person, with new thread, sticking a new needle in the part to

be affected, reciting a certain spell. Sometimes the effigy

is made of brass, with the members misplaced to do greater

damage thus feet and hands are transposed, or the face

inverted. Or a figure is made of a man, with a certain wordinscribed on the head, and on the ribs "Alif, cafeil zaza hit

mel meltat leviatan leutatace" and it is buried in a grave.Or two figures are made, one of them of the earth of a dead

man; a weapon with which a man has been killed is placed in

the hand of the first statue so that it transfixes the head of

the other, and certain words are inscribed on both.

Whatever effects are produced by any of these spells andcharms are the direct work of the devil. The charm has no

power of itself, though the devil may so act as to create

belief in it.

v, c. 11. Charms to preserve silence and deprive torture of

suffering. So strong is the belief in them that persons will

sometimes voluntarily go to prison and submit to torture,

confident that they will not suffer. The devil, who alwaysdesires crime to be unpunished, aids them sometimes bydepriving them of voice, and sometimes by inducing a stuporin which they are insensible. The following verses are used:

"Imparibus meritis tria pendet corpora ramis,

Dismas ct Gestas in media est divina potestas :

Dismas damnatur, Gestas ad astra levatur."

(Perhaps referring to Christ and the two thieves H. C. L.)

Various texts of Scripture also used "Eructavit cor meumverbum bonum, veritatem nunquam dicam regi" (Psal. xliv)

"Jesus autem transiens, per medium illorum ibat"(Luc., iv)

-"Os autem non commiauctis ex eo" (Johan., xix). Others

again recite the following prayer"Quemadmodum lac

beatae gloriosae Mariae virginis fuit dulce et suave Domino


nostro Jesu Christo, ita haec tortura sive chorda sit dulcis et

suavis brachiis et membris meis."

That these formulas were accompanied by some anaesthetic more

powerful is evident from the accounts of the jurisconsults of the ease with

which the utmost resources of the torture chamber were sometimes borne.

Grillandus (Tract, de Quaest. et Tortur., q. 4, no. 14)

relates that, when at Rome he was Auditor in the criminal

court of the Auditor of the Camera, a very shrewd thief

against whom there were 15 witnesses as to his stealing 137

golden ducats, hearing that proceedings were on foot against

him, obtained a charm against torture, and finding by severe

tests that it was satisfactory, went to Grillandus and sur-

rendered himself, saying that he wished to clear himself of

the accusation and infamy. When put to the torture he

quietly slept as though in bed, and when the cords were pulledhe was like marble. Suspecting some charm, Grillandus care-

fully examined him, and found among his hair a small pieceof writing :+ Jesus autem transiens+per medium illorum

ibat+os non comminuetis ex eo+. He complained stoutlyof its being taken away; but on being again put to the torture

he muttered some unintelligible words, and then behaved as

before. The torture was changed, and another (taxillae) was

tried, but nothing could be done with him. He would not

confess and had to be discharged. Hippolytus de Marsiliis

had a similar case.

Grillandus mentions another case in Rome where the

criminal muttered some words concerning the milk of the

Virgin, and, though repeatedly and grievously tortured in

the presence of three judges and the procurator fiscal, seemedlike the other to sleep through it, and was discharged. (Aqueen-bee eaten by a witch was thought to render her insensi-

ble to torture. Weyer, 1. vi, c. 7.) Weyer states, however,that sometimes, though they feel no pain, their bones arc

broken.

Recent case at Antwerp, where the executioner of the city,

a Frenchman, guilty of maay notorious crimes, seemed underthe most cruel torture to pass at once into insensibility. Thetown council called in physicians to consult, who coxild onlysuggest the use of drugs by the criminal.

Grillandus (ib., q. 4, no. 16) adds that some recommend the

use of counter charms to counteract the others. The followingtexts have this power. "Eructavit cor meum verbum boxmm,

ITS PHOMOTERS AND CRITICS 517

dicam cuncta opera mea regi" (Psal. xliv and cxviii 1

)

"Dominus labia mea aperiat, et os meum annunciabit veri-

tatem" (Psal. 1) "Confundatur nequitia peccatoris, perdesonines, qui loquuntur mendacium" (Psal. vii) "Conterebrachia iniqui rei, et lingua maligna subvertetur" (Psal. ix).

See also Paris de Puteo (Tract, de Syndic., c. tortura, lo.3), etc.

When both sides thus have recourse to Scripture and prayers as an

armory for attack and defense we see how thoroughly all religion had becomea fetish void of moral, but full of supernatural power, at the service of anyone who could obtain possession of its spells.

v, c. 12. No virtue in signs or characters or words written

or engraved on amulets. Cardan (lib. xviii, De Subtil.)

admits there may be virtue in the stones, but none in the

figures cut on them.

v, c. 13. Other superstitious cures of diseases.

v, c. 14. When demons appear to cure, they are merely

ceasing to prolong a disease which they have caused. This is

also Tertullian's explanation (Apolog., c. 22) and others'.

v, c. 15. Cures by demons may be fictitious. Cures bysaints and relics and visiting shrines may be genuine, but if so

are caused by faith and credulity.

v, c. 16. Ludicrous cases of superstitious cures. Theindusium necessitatis, or Nothembd, formerly much used amongthe Germans, for safety in war and in childbed. No one

wearing it would be wounded by bullet or steel. Weyer hadseen one in the possession of a noble whose father-in-law hadworn it with perfect confidence, and even the Emperors and

great princes were accustomed to resort to it. It was madein the name of the devil by girls of approved purity, on

Christmas eve, from the flax, spun, woven, cut, and sewed

on the same night. On the breast were sewed two heads, one

with helmet and long beard, the other looking like Beelzebub,

with a crown and hideous face. A cross on each side. It had

sleeves, and its length from the neck was about half the height

of a man.

v, c. 17. Many physicians of note approve these supersti-

tious cures. Alex. Trallianus, Galen, Aetius, Benevenius, Mar-

cellus, etc. Q. Severius recommends the word Abracadabra

written in a certain manner and hung round the neck as a

cure for fever. Augier Ferrier gives cases of such cures and

explains them by the operation of faith on the mind of the

patient. Weyer thinks the devil has his share.

i Weyer cites the Vulgate.


v, c. 18 Amulets, etc., are of use physically when made of

proper drugs or other materials. Queer recipes for certain

diseases.

v, c. 19 Remedies against fascination in use among the

ancients. Ditto among the moderns ringing of church bells

against storms and thunderherbs hung up before the door

on the feast of St. John Baptist herbs and candles blessed

and burnt pro re nata.

In the Apennines between Pisa and Bologna when a storm

arises the women rush out of doors and make crosses in the

air with cheeses pressed on Ascension day. An egg laid onAscension day and tied on the peak of the roof is also there

thought to protect against tempests. Likewise a lapis

ceraunia ()omterfieitel ) placed on a table between two lighted

candles and when it sweats, as glass will do in certain states

of atmosphere, they regard it as a miracle.

v, c. 20.- Marvellous roots: Baaras of the JewsGyriospas-tus and Aglaophotis of the Greeks and RomansMandragoraof the moderns ceremonies of gathering and uses all nugae.

v, c. 21, Condemns the superstitious observances with

which priests (for the most part worldly men of dissolute lives)

exorcise those bewitched or possessed. Quotes the ordinary

process from Mall. Malef. (2. Secundae partis q. 4, cap. 6),

q. v. Scriptural texts to be read, according to the Tract, deModo Exorcizandi printed at Avignon in 1575 from the

authorized edition of Rome "provided the exorcist can read

them." One of the prayers is the following, suggesting to

Christ various anatomical details of which he is supposed to bo

ignorant "Obsecro te Domine Jesu Christe ut extrahaB

omnes languores ab omnibus membris hujus hominia, a capita,a capillis, a cerebro, a fronte, ab oculis, ab auribug, a naribxiR,

ab ore, a lingua, a dentibus, a faueibus, a gutturc, a collo, a

dorso, a pectore, ab uberibus, a corde, a stomacho, a lateribus,a came, a sanguine, ab ossibus, a tibiis, a pedibus, a digitiw, a

planta, a medulla, a nervis, a cute, et ab omni compaginemembrorum ejus," etc.

v, c. 22. August 17th, 1559, the priest of DurwcisB near

Eschweiler in Juliers, sweating in vain to exorcise the devil

from a girl named Helen, at length exclaimed in Latin,uSi

ullam habes potestatem transmigrandi in Christianum

sanguinem, transmigra ex ilia in me." To which the demonreplied,

"Quern pleno jure in postremo die poSRidebo, quid


opus est ilium tentare?J '

Weyer had this from another priest,

an eyewitness, whom he names.Last year, in 1563, at Lower Wesel, a stepmother beat and

starved Gerarda her stepdaughter, aged twelve, until thechild became epileptic. A Dominican named Winandusendeavored to exorcise the devil supposed to be in her, apply-

ing to her throat a pyx with mass bread in it. The same manendeavored to exorcise a cow by burying in the pasture whereshe fed a piece of stole worn at Mass. It is astonishing that

the magistrates tolerate these slaves of the devil.

v, c. 23. In 1534 the wife of the Praetor (supreme judge?)of Orleans died, leaving instructions that her funeral should beas simple as possible. It was customary when a person of

consideration died to send criers around with bells to pro-claim the name and quality of the deceased, asking the prayersof all, and announcing the time of the funeral. Then num-bers of mendicant friars were hired to attend the funeral with

lighted candles, attracting a great crowd. In obedience to her

wishes, the Praetor did none of this; and, when she was buried

in the Franciscan church among her ancestors, he gave the

friars only six pieces of gold, which was less than they expected.

Moreover, soon after cutting and selling timber, he refused

their request for some. Out of revenge they planned to pro-claim the damnation of the wife, and two doctors of theology,one of them a skilful exorcist, arranged the details. Abovethe "testudo" of the church they placed a young novice with

instructions to make a racket during the hour of prayer at

night. After exorcisms they asked whether the noise pro-ceeded from a condemned spirit, when it was renewed. Then

they invited the principal citizens to be present the next

night. A series of questions was addressed to the spirit, which

were answered by knocking, resulting in the statement that

the disturbance was caused by the spirit of the Praetor's wife,

hopelessly damned for Lutheranism, and that her body must

be removed from the church. This was reduced to writing

and the witnesses were asked to sign it, but in fear of the

Praetor they refused. The friars then removed all the utensils

of the Mass from the church and refused to celebrate until

it should be relieved of the profanation of the heretical body.This brought the episcopal official forward, requesting

exorcisms to be performed and persons sent to the loft to see

what went on there, but the friars refused. Then the Praetor

appealed to the King; the friars pleaded their privileges and


exemption, but the King appointed delegates with full powersfrom, the Parlement, and the Chancellor, Cardinal LegateDu Prat, did the same. The friars were brought to Paris,confined and examined separately, but would confess nothing;but at length the novice, under promise of protection, revealed

the whole plot. The friars concerned were taken back* to

Orleans and forced to make the amende honorable publiclyin the place of execution. Weyer spent some time in Orleans

not long after and had this account from eyewitnesses.

v, c. 24. The proper cure for cases of sorcery. When anydisease seems unnatural, recourse should first be had to the

skilled physician. If, after earnest thought and examination,he finds that the symptoms indicate the work of Satan, let

him transfer the case to some pious member of the church,known as innocent of life and not eager for filthy gain. Yetthere are many things in nature which are hidden even to

the experienced physician.

Experience has shown that even when patients are possessedof the devil it is well to begin by expelling the bile; and this,

according to Pomponatius, was the practice of the ancient

exorcists. In this way Galgarandus, the celebrated physicianof Mantua, cured perfectly the wife of a shoemaker possessedof the devil and speaking various tongues. Another case in

which a girl possessed and speaking a dialect new to her, after

vain exorcisms, was cured by expelling the bile, followed byroborants. Mental remedies also desirable reform of evil

living humiliate the proud, strengthen the humble, etc.

This shows a curious approximation to the truth and going so far it is

remarkable that physicians did not recognize the purely natural character

of the trouble.

v, c. 25. The patient is likewise to be shown that God aloneis to be feared and recourse only to be had to him that thedevil is subject to God and can only perform Ms will.

v, c. 26. The possessed are to be exhorted to invincible

passive resistance to the assaults of the devil. Examples of

St. Antony and St. Hilary comparative weakness of St.

Francis.

v, c. 27. Efficacy of prayers for the possessed. All thefaithful should pray for them.

v, c. 28. Virtue of fasting in such cases it purifies theflesh and tames the spirit. Cases.

v, c. 29. Almsgiving according to means likewise effica-

cious.


v, c. 30. When there are numerous cases together, as in

convents which are peculiarly liable to these attacks by the

devil, the best way is to separate them at once and send themto their relatives. The younger ones should never be allowed

to witness the attacks of the rest.

Case of Philip Wesselich, monk of the Abbey of Knechten-stein in Cologne, possessed by a spirit. All other means of

cure failing, at length his Abbot threatened to scourge him

severely if he did not resist the attacks of the demon andthe latter, seeing that his efforts were useless, abandoned the

field. This mode of cure, says Weyer, I think may sometimes

be recommended.

This whole mixture of physical, mental and spiritual remedies affords a

very curious insight into the transition stage of human thought, when the

old landmarks were gradually crumbling away, but men did not as yet dare

to follow out their premises to logical conclusions.

v, c. 31. Cases of feigned possession, promptly cured,

unguento bacuUno.

v, c. 32. Impotence caused by sorcery to be treated in the

same manner as possession.

v, c. 33. Not until everything else has been exhausted

should recourse be had to exorcism. Then it should be a simple

adjuration to depart in the name of Jesus Christ, by a zealous

minister of good conscience "habens peculiare id Spiritus

Sancti donum ejiciendi nimirum daemonia."

v, c. 34. This is conformable to the primitive custom of

the church.

v, c. 35. Quotations from the letters of Melanchthon show-

ing his unquestioning belief in possession. One case he mentions

of a girl sixteen years before in La Marck who would pull

hairs from off her clothesthese would change in her hands

to coins, which she would eat, with loud clangor of her teeth.

When snatched from her hands they were found to be real

coins of the district, and some are still preserved by her

friends. She recovered after some months and is still alive

and well.

A fuller account of what is apparently this case is given by Grosius,

Magica, pp. 105-6. It occurred at Frankfort am-Oder. The girl was the

daughter of Mark the fisherman and was in the house of Georg von Kulisch.

Whatever she touched, she drew forth coins. It occurred in 1558 and

Luther was applied to for advice, and could only recommend the prayers

of the faithful and assiduous attendance at sermon. This cured her, and

the Senate of Frankfort caused a public declaration of the case to be issued.


v, c. 36. Reproves the customary forms of exorcism of

cattle, etc. shouting the sacred names with scraps of dis-

connected and irrelevant texts, signs of the cross, holy

water, etc.

Quotes from Jacobus de Cusa, a Carthusian, some curious

formulas. Thus, to prevent cattle from being bewitched, at

Easter take some drops of wax or scraps from the upper partof a Paschal candle and make a little candle with it. Thenon Sunday morning rise early and light the wax, holding it

so that drops shall run upon the horns and ears of the cattle

"in nomine patris et filii et Sp. Sancti," and burn the animal

slightly with the candle below the horn or ears. What is

left of the wax, shape into a cross and fix it over the door of

the stable through which the cattle enter. Then those

beasts will be safe from witchcraft.

Another complicated formula for cows whose milk is taken

by spirits, in which the words "Tetragrammaton Adonai,

Otheos, Jesus, Maria, Joannes " are written in the form of a

cross, and the cow is made to drink nine times of holy water.

When beer begins to ferment, to prevent its being bewitched,

place in it a piece of blessed wax inscribed" +Jesus Nazarenus

+rex Judaeorum+Non percuties eos qui signati sunt hoc

signo thau T. ;> This same formula will cure men or beasts

bewitched if placed in their drink. "Hactenus Jacobusde Cusa.

7 '

Weyer relates a simpler form found effective by Christina,milkmaid of Theodore Lopers, vicar of the hospital in Ore-

veldt. He had three cows, and when they did not yield as

much milk as usual Christina would turn them out of the

stable telling them in the name of a thousand devils to go andfind their milk. Then they would go to the house of a womansuspected of witchcraft, stand there bellowing loudly for

awhile, and Christina declared that on their return they alwaysyielded the deficient amount. "Nugae sunt et mcra ludibria."

Similar exorcisms against hail and tempeststheir blas-

phemy and absurdity.

v, c. 37. When beasts are sick, they should be treated

secundum artem. If they die, the patience of Job is to beimitated.

Lib. vi. De Magorum infamium, Lamiarum el Vene~

ficorum Poenis.

vi, c. 1. Different kinds of magicians to be punished ac-

cording to their several deserts yet in no case does he seem

ITS PEOMOTEBS AND CRITICS 523

to indicate death penalty. Among magicians he classes the

ignorant monks, who in pursuit of gain attribute all diseases

to sorcery and pretend to cure them by exorcisms, while

causing infinite discord and misery by pointing out the allegedwitches. Also, all who use holy water and consecrated salt

to cure diseases of men and beasts.

vi, c. 2. Those who profess to detect thieves and divine

hidden questions by crystals and phials of water, and thus

accuse the innocent, should be punished with heavy fines andbanishment. Also those who by conjurations have confined

some unfortunate demon in a ring or jewel and carry himround as a slave to do their bidding as was done at Arnheim,July 14th 1548, to Jacob Josse de Rosa, who was sentenced

to break in public with a hammer his magic ring, and thus

liberate his demonunless the latter was crushed with the

blow, which was possible if he could be imprisoned in a ring;then to burn his magic booksafter which he was banished.

vi, c. 3. Extracts from Civil and Canon Law punishing

magic. The Law of Mahomet likewise prohibits it, and its

professors are punished.

vi, c. 4. Quotes the provisions of the German Law Art. 17

and 35 (qy. Constit. Carolina?) concerning witchcraft and the

prerequisites for torture, and then bursts out eloquently:"But very different is the ordinary procedure when merely

on malicious accusation or the false suspicion of rude and

ignorant peasants, old women deluded or possessed by the

devil are thrown by judges into the terrible dens of robbers

and caves of evil demons, and then handed over to be

butchered with the most exquisite torture that tyrants have

been able to invent, beyond human endurance. And this

cruelty is persevered in until the most innocent are forced to

confess themselves guilty. Thus it happens that the time

comes when these sanguinary men force them to choose

rather to render up their innocent souls to God among the

flames of the stake than longer to suffer the torments inflicted

on them by these tyrants. If, indeed, overcome by the

severity of torture, they die in the hands of their butchers,

or if their strength, exhausted by suffering and confinement,

gives way and they die when brought out, lo the joyful cry

goes up that they have made way with themselves (as well

they might, with the severity of their sufferings and the

squalor of their prison), or that the devil has killed them.

But when the great Searcher of Hearts, from whom naught


is hidden, shall appear, your deeds shall be made manifest,

oh cruel tyrants, blood-thirsty judges, butchers, torturers and

truculent robbers, who have cast off humanity and know no

mercy. Thus I summon you to the tribunal of the Great

Judge, who shall decide between you and me where the truth

which you have trodden under foot and buried shall arise

and confound you, demanding vengeance for your robberies.77

Within the last two years a certain Count of my ac-

quaintance burnt two poor women after hideous torture under

which one of them died. One was forced to confess to having

bewitched a noble, with the help of a young girl, then a

servant of a noble lady. She, with a man likewise suspected,

was at once thrown into prison; and the judge of the Count,

who was sent to me with the confessions of the others, said

that it was incredible that any one could endure the tortures

to which she was subjected. She had been exposed to the

water ordeal and had floated, which was considered evidence

of her guilt. The noble in question was possessed of the devil,

and, after a priest and monk had vainly exorcised him, myadvice was sought. I asked the Count to let me have her as a

servant, so sure was I of her innocence, and after manymonths she and the man were both released. A bastard

brother of the Count had likewise been possessed and the

Count himself is now bedridden.

Quotes Arts. 42 and 98, Constit. Imperial.

vi, c. 5.- History of Sylvester II given at much length to

show that repentance is never too late. As he was a learned

man Weyer believed all the grotesque stories told of him.

vi, c. 6. Witches are not heretics. They are poor ignorant

women, deceived by the devil, who uses them. Heretics are

those who persistently follow the wrong path after being

patiently and repeatedly entreated. Therefore should witches

be kindly treated and shown their errors.

Cruelty with which witches are treated. Difference be-

tween the custody which is required to keep a person not/

proved guilty and the imprisonment which is a punishment.The former should not be a punishment, but it is made BO.

"Thus these wretched women, whose minds have already been

disturbed by the delusions and arts of the devil and are now

upset by frequent torture, are kept in prolonged solitude in the

squalor and darkness of their dungeons, exposed to the hideous

spectres of the devil, and constantly dragged out to undergoatrocious torment until they would gladly exchange at any


moment this most bitter existence for death, are willing toconfess whatever crimes are suggested to them rather than bethrust back into their hideous dungeon amid ever recurringtorture."

"Thus is it that recently a poor old woman was so brokenby torture that after condemnation to the stake, she confessedthat she had caused the intense and continued cold of the

preceding winter of 1566. Nor were there wanting eminentmen who believed this to be absolute truth, when nothingcould be more absurd, as Dom Antonius Hovaeus, Abbot of

Echternach, a most estimable and pious man, wrote me."

vi, c. 7. Against the water ordeal, which he describes as

though regularly in use. Some persons are lighter than othersand will float. Women are of lighter substance than men, or

the sealing action of a spirit (spiritus sustinentis conclusionem)may sustain them or the devil makes them float to lead the

judge to injustice.

Mode of discovery from Mall. Malef., 2. Secundae partis,

quaesL 2 in initio (q. v.). Earth, "quam ter sparta primumin sepultura injiciunt pastores," is consecrated in the Mass and

sprinkled at the door of a church. As long as it is there nowitch can leave the building. "Assulas ligni quercini," in

which someone has been hanged or has strangled himself, are

sprinkled with holy water and hung in a church door. No witchcan then pass out.

The Book of Conjurations printed in Rome and Avignon(1565) directs that you take from each of your cows enoughmilk in all for one cheese, which is to be made and mouldedin new vessels. Then with a sharp-edged bracelet (armilla

acuta) punch a hole through the middle, and the face of

the witch will be revealed. Also the mark of the devil's

nail on the forehead.

vi, c. 8. Confession ought not to be sufficient for condemna-tion. The judge should examine the matter thoroughly andsee whether any crimes have really been committed. Ex-

perienced physicians should be consulted to see whether the

effects alleged are the result of natural causes, and the

accused should not be condemned unless there can be provedto have been poison used or injury done by breath.

Cardan, De Varietate, 1. xv, c. 80, says that many are

properly condemned either for being witches or for impiety;but most of them suffer without any such examination as is

given in cases of robbers and thieves, on imperfect confessions


and simply because they are foolish. Especially should theybe questioned as to the date of their Sabbats and the truth of

their statements thus compared and ascertained. Many of

them only attend it three times a year, and then unwillingly,

though it is thought to occur very often, and this by the use of

unguents.

vi, c. 9. Three confessions of witches, on which they were

burnt, examined to show the imperfect and absurd evidenceon which judgment was pronounced and executed. Two of

these are of the ordinary character. The third shows how thefishermen of Rotterdam and Schiedam went to the herring

fishery. The former hauled in their nets full of fish, the latter,

loaded with stones. Immediately suspecting sorcery, ontheir return they seized a woman, who confessed that after

their departure she had flown through an opening in her

window pane scarce large enough to admit the finger, had

changed herself into a mytulus or mussel shell (mosselcolp)at the bottom of the sea, had gone to where their nets were,and by spells had driven away the fish and replaced them withstones. The records of the tribunals will show thousands of

similar confessions.

vi, c. 10; Cardan, DeVarietat. 1. xvi, thus describes witches:

"They are deformed, bloodless and somewhat dark, showingthe black bile in their looks. They are taciturn and foolish,

differing little from those possessed of demons. They are so

fixed in their opinions that, if you only regard their assertions

and the intrepid constancy with which they maintain thingswhich never were nor could be, you would deem them true.

It is therefore not wonderful that even those who arc expertin philosophy should be egregiously imposed upon by them.

My father told me of a case which happened under PhilippeVisconti of Milan. A peasant named Bernard was condemnedfor this profane art. He was a plain miserly man and notmuch liked, therefore, at homo. As he could be brought; to

repentance neither by threats nor persuasions he was con-

demned to the flames. His seigneur, who disliked this, ob-tained from the prince, of whom he was a favorite, that theman should be given to him for twenty days, under bail to

return him. Then he began to feed the man liberally, withfour eggs night and morning, plenty of wine and meat andrich soups. Then when he found him beginning to change,he exhorted him to abandon his false and pernicious opinionsand adhere to the church. With little persuasion he yielded,

ITS PKOMOTEHS AND CEITICS 527

became an excellent Christian, and lived thenceforth withoutfurther trouble."

vi, c. 11. Lycanthropy. Intelligent men have often ob-

jected to me that I have been unable to refute the belief in

Lycanthropy, which they regard as an indubitable truth.

Confession of two werwolves obtained under torture in

1521 by Dr. Johann Bomm, Inquisitor at Besanson. With

unguents they changed themselves from men to wolves andback again with the quickness of thought. As wolves theycould run with the speed of light. Killed men and girls andate them. "Lupas etiam se iniise, et cum tanta voluptate

quasi cum uxoribus congress! essent." Had lived this life

for many years. Apparently when in the human form theywere beggars. It is noted that their confessions were some-

times contradictory with respect to the same fact, though one

had inducted the other, and they had acted in company.vi, c. 12. Analysis of these confessions and proof of their

worthlessness. The ointment alluded to was soporific, andtheir lupine adventures were dreams.

According to Job. Fincel.,1. ii, Mirac.,inl522 Constantinoplewas beset with a huge herd of wolves so bold that the in-

habitants were much alarmed. The Turks manned the walls

with a strong guard and then with horse and foot marched

around the city. At length in a corner of the walls they found

a mass of about 150 wolves and attacked them, when theyseemed to leap over the wall and disappear, nor were theyever seen again.

vi, c. 13. A certain judge, well known in these regions, con-

demned and burnt a number of women on the denunciation

of a diviner, who at length came to him and said he had

one more to accuse if the judge would not take it ill. The

latter promised, when the diviner accused the judge's wife

and promised to let him see her with his own eyes at a certain

time partaking in the Sabbat. The judge invited his friends

to a banquet for the hour named, his wife presiding. After

they were seated he excused himself and requested them to

await his return. Going with the diviner he witnessed the

Sabbat and recognized his wife. On his return he found her at

table where he had left her and his friends assured him that

she had not stirred. He repented of his cruelty in punishing

innocent persons, and, if I remember aright, put the diviner

to death.

A few years since, at Minden, several women were put to


death on the accusation of a woman named Margaret. Sub-

sequently at Verdun she accused another with the agreementthat she should be considered liable to the talio if the other

was not proved guilty. The accused bore repeated torture

without confession and died in the hands of the torturer.

The judge then ordered Margaret to be seized. At first she

frightened those sent to arrest her so that they left her, butothers were sent who took her, and under torture she confessed

that her accusation had been false, and was punished ac-

cordingly.In our memory, at "Marcoduri" [Duren?] a hailstorm which

destroyed other gardens spared, as is often the case, that of anold woman. She was seized as a witch and tortured, but per-sisted in declaring her innocence, and that God alone could

control the tempests. At length the judge had her hung to a

beam with heavy weights to her feet, and invited the torturer

to come with him and take a drink, telling her that on their

return she would speak more freely. She begged for a con-

fessor before they should leave her, but he laughed at her.

On their return she was found hanging dead. Shortly after-

wards the judge became insane and made way with himself.

In another town not far from here, a woman accused of

witchcraft could not be made to confess by torture. Apriest advised her with smooth words not to suffer longer,

promising that, if she would confess some small matters, hewould reconcile her to the church with holy water and restore

her to God. She confessed under expectation of escape, wascondemned and burnt.

Forty-two years ago at Elten, about half a mile from"Embrica" [Emmerich], where the highway passes over a

heath, travellers were constantly beset, beaten, thrown fromtheir horses, their vehicles overturned, etc., while no onewas visible, and only a hand could be seen. A woman namedSybilla Duiscops was accused of causing it by witchcraft.

She confessed under torture and was burnt, when the trouble**

ceased. The devil thus obtained his object of rendering them

guilty of innocent blood and confirming them in their false

belief.

vi, c. 14. Examples of wisdom in these matters: In 1563a rich farmer in the county of La Marck found his cows givingless milk than usual. Consulting a diviner, the latter pro-nounced it witchcraft and promised to point out the witch.

Going to the house of the farmer, he accused the latter's


daughter by a former wife, an unmarried girl. She wasfrightened into confessing but said she was inexperiencedand accused sixteen other women who were experienced in theart. The judge reported the matter to Duke William of

Cleves, advising that all should be at once imprisoned; buthe forbade them to be touched, and sent a minister of thechurch to the girl to examine her in points of faith andconvince her of the sin she had committed in accusing herself

and others. The milk returned to the cows, the affair blewover, and infinite misery was spared to the district.

This is very instructive as showing how the epidemic which raged in so

many places was started and spread and how easily it could have beencontrolled by a little coolness.

The same consideration is shown in the territories of

Frederic, Elector Palatine of the Rhine.

Count Hermann von Neuenaar lately banished a witchwho had confessed, because he saw that her neighbors, less

enlightened, would not endure her residence among them.Not long since in Berg an octogenary woman was tried for

witchcraft (she had previously gone through trial and torture

for the same-and her mother had died under the hands of the

torturer) and her burning was strongly urged, when CountWilliam allowed me to see her, and I found the principalevidence against her was that when arrested her son hadhanded her a ball of earth with which to effect her escape,and had told her to remember her promise, which her accusers

assumed to be that she would not put an end to herself. She

explained that her son had given her some linen rolled up,with which to make herself comfortable as her thighs weresore and she showed me where they had been deeply burnedwith boiling oil by the tortures to make her confess. As for

her promise, it was that if condemned she would summon her

accusers to meet her before the judgment seat of God within

thirty days, so that if this took effect her children might be

relieved of the suspicion under which they would labor amongtheir neighbors. The Count listened to what I had to sayand after close investigation released the old woman.

What a picture of misery this suggests!

Adolph of Nassau is also quoted as superior to the super-

stition.

vi, c. 15. It is true that many of these witches, seduced bySatan, rather deserve to be treated as heretics, who, the

VOL. n 34


Fathers of the Church teach, should not be corporally pun-ished if they will recant.

vi, c. 16. How heretics should be treated a long exhorta-

tion in favor of toleration.

vi, c. 17. Quotations from Grillandus and Mall. Malef. as

to two kinds of witchcraft. Legal authorities to show that

their confessions are insufficient for conviction.

vi, c. 18. Alciatus, Parergon Juris, Iviii, c. 23, relates that

anInquisitor in the Subalpine valleys persecuted witches, burn-

ing over one hundred of them, and daily adding to the number,until the inhabitants rose in arms and forced him to transfer

the matter to the episcopal court. Alciatus goes on to arguethat the whole affair is visionary and illusive. When husbandsin good repute swore that their wives were in bed with themat the very time when they were seen at the Sabbat, it wasassumed that the husbands were deceived by a demon-but why, he asks, was it not rather the demon that took their

shapes at the Sabbat? He evidently regards it all as the

effect of disordered imagination, rather to be cured by physi-cians than Inquisitors.

vi, c. 19. The punishment customary in Bologna is vastly

preferable to our cruelty in burning. There the witch after

conviction is stripped to the waist, mounted on an ass back-wards with the tail in her hands, and paraded through the

town with a paper mitre painted with devils on her head, while

soundly beaten with rods on breast and back;then taken to

the Dominican cemetery, where there is a cage for the exhibi-

tion of heretics (for the Dominicans are also inquisitors).In this she is tied for fifteen minutes, exposed to the derision

and missiles of the mob, and then banished. The same for

both sexes.

vi, c. 20. Numerous authorities to prove that women, as

weaker in mind and body than men, should be less severelypunished.

vi, c. 21. Error can be redeemed by repentance. Womenperverted by demons should be fined for the benefit of the

poor or, according to the Taxa Sacrae Poenikentiariac (q. v.),with other arbitrary punishments and for public tranquillity

might be banished for a time until they prove their conversionand reformation.

vi, c. 22. Controverts the arguments of Georgius Pietorius,

medicus, in Lib. de Sublxmaribus Daemonibus, urging the

burning of witches. Among these is that, if the immense

ITS PKOMOTEES AND CBITICS 531

multitude of these criminals were not thus thinned out, noone would be safe. Weyer replies that experience shows thesafest places to be those in which there are no such victims.

vi, c. 23. Punishment of veneficae who injure or kill bypoisons. These he would leave to the discretion of the judges,

according to degree of atrocity.

vi, c. 24. Summary of all previous arguments, with abund-ant citations from civil and canon law. Weyer did not pretendto deny the existence of magic nor the authority of theMosaic and imperial laws which condemned them to death,but he contended that these did not apply to witchcraft, whichwas an illusion.

" Lamias autem vulgo dictaset a me descriptas, ne quidemChristi temporibus apparuisse, multo minus Mosis, inde colligi

potest quod nulla earum vel ab ipsis laesorum mentio fiat in

Sacris literis." (Opera, 1660, p. 527).

"Lamiarum autem a me descriptarum conatus ab actibus

illorum xnagorum quorum Moses et sacrosancta meminit

Scriptura penitus sunt diversi." (Op., p. 531).

"Atqui eo adhuc confugitur, quod scilicet Magicae artes

sint capitales, et quia sub illarum complexu contineantur

Lamiarum coiaatus, eas pari supplicio afficiendas. Ante-

cedens a me non negatur, quinimo in libris meis constantissime

defenditur, verum applicatarn consequutionem nequaquamadmitto: magnum siquidem discrimen est inter Magos et

Lamias, uti supra explicui." (Op., p. 532).

"Alterum adversae partis argumentum, cui cumprimisnititur, est quod foedus Lamiae cum Satana ineant verumqueDeum abjurent. Hoc licet supra, lib. iii, cc. 3 et 4, satis sit

confutatum, ut tamen nonnihil praeterea addam, quaerounde hoc, quod pactum cum daemone conflarint, tibi constet?

Profecto hoc mihi donabis, quod nee videris nee a fide dignis

qui viderint habeas. Ergo ex propria stupidarum delusarum-

que anicularum confessione. At quae fatentur, vel faciunt

coactac vel sponte: si coactae confessio est mutila et nullius

ponderis, quia cmciatibus torturae intolerabilibus expressa.

Quid autem periculosius quam in diabolicis negotiis sine

maleficii patrati testibus pendere saltern ex confessione anus

demcntatae per vim extorta? Sileres hand dubie si vidisses

oleum illarum tibiis infundi fervens, candclis ardentibus

torrori ax! lias et infinita sumrnae barbariei et immanitatis

torrnenta in dccrcpitas exerceri vetulas, sicuti nos in insonti-


bus, partim etiam dimissis ob innocentiam ex nostro patro-

cinio, spectavimus." (Op., p. 533).

In lib. vi, c. 1 he heartily advocates the severest penaltiesof the Mosaic law on sorcerers.

Articles of University of Paris in 1398 pp. 669-75 (ed.

1568).

Epilogue pp. 675-80.

Commendatory letters which show that the book was in

the press of Oporinus from 1563 to 1565 pp. 680-92.

One of these letters from an abbot relates that a few yearsbefore the monks of his monastery had nearly all perishedfrom drinking too freely of bad wine. A priest persuaded the

then abbot that the mischief was wrought by a certain old

woman who had hidden various charms under the pavementof the choir on which the monks had to stand. She wasarrested and doomed to the stake, when an investigation wasmade by lifting the pavement. The accuser dexterously

emptied from his sleeve a lot of frogs, lizards, slugs, etc.,

which he had collected for the purpose. The woman wouldhave been burnt, had not some one seen the manoeuvre and

exposed the deceit.

Letter of Baudoin Roussy, dated in 1563, in which he saysthat twenty years before Jacques Sauvage of Antwerp hadshown him a MS. to the same purport as Weyer's book, whichhe had written and designed to print, but was prevented bydeath.

It seems that Cujas approved highly of the labors of Weyer.

WEYER, JoHANN.De Lamiis (in Opera, Amstelod,, 1660,

pp. 669-747). [First ed., Basel, 1577. German translation,Frankfurt a. M., 1586.]

I suppose that Weyer's profession of faith is succinctly set forth in the

Preface of his De Lamiis Liber a work considerably posterior to hin

De Praestigiis Daemonum, which was published at Basle, 1563, 1564, 1566and 1568, 1583.

In the Preface he says that before Christ the devil filled

the world with his deceits, but with the advent of the Son of

God they began to disappear; the oracles ceased and the oilier

impious kinds of divination. Christ in the performance of his

mission repressed the fraudulent efforts of Satan and com-mitted this duty to his disciples, who labored untiringlyin the attack on the kingdom of Satan but did not whollyoverthrow it. When their successors neglected it and the


light of Evangelical truth commenced to be obscured, Satantook fresh heart and with various arts and new illusions

(such as those of which our Lamiae are falsely accused) heendeavoured to overcome the doctrine of Christ, to fascinate

the minds of men and dull their eyes. Great was the ruin of

the church, but God in his immense mercy deigned to preserveits relics many years under profound darkness. In the mean-

while, mortals, having lost its splendor, were able neither to

seek the truth nor to detect error, but as deprived of mental

light, fluctuating hither and thither, blindly led by demoniac

illusions, fell into the densest errors, until at last the heavenlyFather, driving away the shadows which Satan had wrought,has illuminated us again with the rays of his truth. . . .

He congratulates himself on the success of his efforts to

diminish the slaughter of innocent old women, but as the

tyrants have renewed their persecutions he proposes to putin a condensed form his opinions and prevent the effusion of

innocent blood. Opera, pp. 669-71.

Cap. L -Begins his book De Lamiis by distinguishing

between the magus and the Lamia or venefica. "I call magusone who, taught by the demon or by another or from books,

by a formula of barbarous or unknown or known words or byexorcisms and dire execrations or ceremonies, seeks to evoke

the demon for some service delusive, deceitful and sometimes

ludicrous. He often appears to accomplish the supernatural

and is thought to work miracles. Of such were the famous

magi of Pharaoh who now are brought forward by everybodywhen there is a discussion of Lamiae, as if their acts were the

same, instead of being as I think wholly different. In order

therefore that this poweror rather fable and trick of

magi may more clearly appear we will investigate the

attempts, works and power of Pharaoh's magi (1-3,pp. 674-5).Goes on to argue that the feats of Moses were real miracles

worked by God; those of the magicians were merely apparent,

illusions caused by the demon with God's permission to

harden Pharaoh's heart. "Fatendum, tamen, daemones

etiam celeritate incredibili quibusdam rebus emotis, serpentes,

dracones vel quid aliud earum loca subjicere posse" (5).

The frogs of the magi were purely imaginary (8). And this

is the explanation given by Justin Martyr, qu. 26 (q. v.),

(9).~Ib.,pp.674r.Cap. 2. So the evocation of Samuel by the witch of Endor


was merely a spectre caused by the devil at the call of the

witch to deceive Saul. pp. 679-82.

Cap. 3. Treats of Simon Magus and the prohibitions of

the Jewish law (pp. 682-4).

Cap. 4. Venefici and veneficae are those who with poisonsmade from metals, plants, animals, excrements or mixed

bodies, swallowed, rubbed in or placed where their vaporsare breathed, bring diseases with the most cruel symptoms,wasting of the body, imbecility of strength, loosening of the

joints and other atrocious suffering, sometimes prolonged but

generally causing speedy death with intolerable pain. I knowhowever that the vulgar include other malefici in the namevenefici (1). Describes various notable poisonings, amongwhich is a wholesale one at Casale in 1536, worked by a bandof about forty persons, who made an unguent which, rubbedon the door bolts, killed those who touched them, and powderswhich, scattered on garments, did the same. The same occurred

at Geneva and at Milan and Padua (2-6). Ib., pp. 684-6.

His medical knowledge and scepticism did not lead to disbelief in Untori.

He says the Mosaic law (Exod., xxii, 18), "Thou shalt notsuffer a witch to live,

77 has Mekasshepha which is translated

in the Septuagint vapnaxofa (which is doubtless more correct

than the German Zauberinn) and he applies this to his veneficae

(How is it in the Vulgate? H. C. L.). He also says that

Josephus (Antiq., iv, 8) paraphrases the passage as relatingto poisons. (I give, Inquisition of the Middle Ages, II J, p. 388,"enchanter or sorcerer

77as the meaning of Mekassheph, and

he admits that it also has this meaning. H. C. L.) lie

also says that the "witchcraft" enumerated by St. Paul

(Galat., v, 20) as among the works of the flesh is <f>apnaK&v

in the original. The "magicians77of Pharaoh (P]xod., vii, 11)

are Mekasshephim and it occurs in 12 other places iu the O. T.

(Exod., xx, 17 Deut., xviii, 1011 Kings, ix, 22-11 Ohron.,xxxiii, 6 Isaiah, xlvii, 9, 12 Jeremiah, xxvii, 8 Daniel,ii, 2 Michaioh, v, 12 Nahum, iii, 4 (twice), and Maluchi,iii, 5), all of which in the Vulgate are rendered Malefwi or

Maleficia. And in these it is applied to various classes of

crimes, showing that it had an indefinitely extended sig-

nificancecorresponding, in fact, with maleficium, which is

likewise indefinite ( 7-1 1 ) .

All of which is important as showing how uncertain are our renderingsof the Hebrew laws on the subject and how dangerous has been the adoptionof them and their adaptation to our conceptions.

ITS PBOMOTEES AJSTD CRITICS 535

And he very rightly points out how foreign to all this is

the modern witch, of whom Moses and the Hebrews knewnothing (12). Ib., pp. 684-90.

Cf. Inquisition of the Middle Ages, III, p. 388, for Hebrew magic andmagicians.

Cap. 5. His definition of the Lamia is a woman who bydelusory or imaginary pact with the demon, and with his

help, works whatever evil she may think of, as causing lightningand thunder and hail, exciting tempests, destroying harvestsor transferring them to another field, causing and curingunnatural diseases in men and beasts, flying great distancesin a few hours, dancing, feasting and copulating with demons,transforming men into beasts and exhibiting a thousandmonstrous tricks. She is mostly an old woman, ignorant,stupid, without books, deluded with deceptions by thedemoniac spirit, imbued with fantasies by the devil and so led

astray by simulacra that she persistently confesses to havedone what she could not do and what never was in the natureof things (p. 690).

Cap. 6. As the works of the demon are never consistent,so the profession (reception) of witches is related differently

by every accused under examination. Quotes from Malleus,P. II, q. 1, c. 2 (1, 2). Ib., pp. 691-2.

Cap. 7. How incoherent and unworthy of faith all this is

will be admitted by every one not wholly devoid of intelligenceor inflexibly prejudiced. Goes on to show that they are

illusions. "Sic plerasque omnes actiones lamiae hactenus

attributas, quas suas esse male sana quoque fatetur, ex

corrupta a praestigiatore virtute imaginativa, non lamiae,sed ipsius Satanae existere, palam fit." He alludes subse-

quently to "Deo perrnittente." Argues that the pact is

invalid, as there are no witnesses or securities and [it is] againstGod's will. The earlier pact in baptism outweighs it, made byGod's command, with solemn words and with sureties (god-

parents) (1, 2),

This last is a curious lapse on his part, as it infers that the pact is reallymade and has to be argued away as legally invalid.

So the erasion of the Chrism from the forehead is bootless.

The internal effect is what counts and not the external andthis is dormant only and can be restored at any time byrepentance (4). Ib,, pp. 692-4.

Perhaps his course of argumentation can best be indicated by giving his

chapter heads.


Cap. 8. Foederis vani demonstratio reliqua.

The killing of infants by ceremonies is a false suggestionof the devil; so with their exhumation and boiling, for anexamination of the proceedings in which the accused relate

them will show them to be dreams or imaginative persuasionsof the devil. But, granting the making of the unguent, whencecomes its power to transport them? It is not to be denied

that these miserable women, demented by the devil, believe it,

as nearly all their supernatural actions at least seem imagin-

ary, and under torture and near the stake they openly confess

their wickedness, which they only dream (1,2, pp. 695-6).Discusses at length the inobservance of observances pre-scribed by the Church, required in the pact ( 5-8, pp. 695-8) .

Cap. 9. Qui homines daemonum illusionibus artibusque

magis sunt expositi (1-2, pp. 698-9).It is the melancholici and those depressed by misfortune

whom the devil assails as his fitting instruments. If they

yield they accept as realities his fantastic suggestions.

Cap. lO.Quomodo vim imaginativam vitiet diabolus

(1-7, pp. 699-702).Dilates on the absurd imaginings of the insane (melan-

cholici) believing themselves to be pots, or animals, or guiltyof crimes. The devil, by divine permission, obtains power to

impress these fancies. Quotes Cap. Episcopi. They can belikened to the ecstatics who fall into a trance and on wakingtell wonderful fables and fictions.

Cap. 11. Quomodo in corrumpenda phantasia naturalibus

quandoque pharmacis soporiferis utatur diabolus (1-4,pp. 703-4).The devil sometimes gives them narcotic drugs by anointing

themselves with which they fall into stupor and believe all thathe suggests to them. Quotes from Porta (Magiae naturalis,1. ii, c. 26) the ingredients of the unguents and their powern(1-3). Who then can believe in the sanctity of such anabsurd pact? Satan promises money, brings it, but it in

imaginary and disappears like smoke. "Quae hie nmtuaeobligationis fides?" (4).

Thus he fully believes in the reality of the pact and of Satan's action andargues against the binding character of the pact because all Satan can do is

to form illusions.

Cap. 12, Aerem nullo rnodo a Lamiis turbari posse, nee

fruges excantari (1-4, pp. 705-6).


Explains that the demon can foresee atmospheric disturb-

ances or other plagues sent by God, when he excites the old

women's minds and suggests their action to revenge them-selves on their neighbors and instructs them to throw pebblesbehind them towards the West, or sand from a stream into

the air, or to sprinkle with a wet broom towards the sky,or to make a little hole and fill it with urine or water and stir

it with a finger, or to throw a plank across a stream and other

follies. And when they see the result follow they are confirmedin their belief (1). Peasants uninstructed to put faith in

God attribute all evils to their fellow men if the milk fails,

or the hay is lost or the crops, or the cattle die, they attribute

it to Lamiae (4).

Cap. 13. Concubitum Daemonis et Lamiae esse imagin-arium (pp. 707-10).

It is deplorable that men can be so devoid of sense as to

believe that such congress can occur between a human beingof flesh and a spirit devoid of bones and flesh. That the

Lamiae confess it is convincing evidence that Satan dementsthem and deprives them of all common sense (1). Arguesthat the filii Dei of Gen. vi were the descendants of Seth whounited with corrupt women and they "sicut uxor Adam,deincepsque ferme omnes sic maritos suos corruperunt"

(2). Ridicules as an impudent figment the method of

procreation taught by the theologians (3). Explains the

illusions of amorous dreams, more easily excited in menthan in women (5). Refers to a case which he investigatedin 1565, occurring in 1564 in the nunnery of Nazareth in

Cologne, and described in his earlier work, De Praestigiis

Daemonum, iv, 12. In this convent the nuns were afflicted

with an epidemic of possession, and imagined themselves

to be visited by incubi It started with a young girl namedGertrude who in sleep went through all the motions andawoke exhausted. Her companion observed it and from her

it spread to all the rest. Its origin he traced to some youthswho succeeded in entering the nunnery and gratifying their

lust. When they were excluded the deprivation led to the

illusion in dreams. He says that if this delusion could be

abolished the whole machine of all this delusive pact and

demonic fantasms would quickly collapse and the kingdomof Satan would sink (6).

Exodus, xxii, 19, denouncing death for bestiality, was cited as.an argumentfor death punishment for witches on account of their commerce with

demonfi, 8ee c. 24, 19.


Cap. 14. Homines ullius rei potentia in bestias trans-

formari nequire (pp. 710-12).To the omnipotence of Lamiae is also ascribed the power of

transforming themselves into wolves, goats, dogs, cats, andother beasts in a moment and of resuming human shape at

will, and this delirium is defended as truth by excellent men,though contrary to divine Providence, to Scripture, to the

Decreta and denied by Augustin and Aquinas. The wolves of

Livonia, whom the Germans call werwolff, are real wolves

and it is the demon who leads men to the insane belief of

lycanthropy, or else demons assume the form of wolves so

as to ensnare men with their cunning, oppress the innocent

and lead magistrates to shed innocent blood. Those whobelieve themselves transformed into wolves are cast into deep

sleep by the devil and dream of chasing and devouring chil-

dren and flocks. So I greatly wonder that sagacious menaccept their confessions and condemn them to death. It

is for God alone to do such things and he has never conferred

the power on any one.

Cap. 15. Ridiculas esse res quibus laedere creduntur

lamiae (pp. 712-16).Lamiae are credited with ability to cause maleficiaj or if you

prefer it veneficia, to whom they please, even without touching

them, if they can get any of their excrementsurine, dung,hair, blood or nail-parings^ by treating them in some way,usually wrapping them up with those of a dog of a similar

kind, or a dead man's bones, and burying them in his name in

the doorway or a cross-roads or in a stream. No one can doubtthat this is absurd and ridiculous, suggested by Satan. A j udgcat Harnm (Westphalia) tells that he asked a famous witch,before burning her, how one could avert the maleficia

lamiarum, to which she replied seriously that every one should

carefully preserve his old shoes as if such thinga could causeor prevent maleficia. Whose mind can be so dull as not to

see that these are trifles? If any injury follows, it certainlymust be by Satan, with God's permission, to punish the

injured man's incredulity or to test him like Job. And the

demon persuades the old woman that it is her work and shebelieves it and asserts it (1-3). Proceeds to dincuss thevarious kinds of malefitia, showing some to be scientifically

impossible and others to be possible only by the intervention

and legerdemain of the devil, who can transpose things in a

moment and produce illusions. If imprecations could kill,


the human race would perish for everyone uses them at all

times and on all occasions, on themselves or on others (4-9).Cap. 16. Quotquot vulgo Lamiarum maleficio affecti

creduntur, et quorum ita ktesorum sacra meminere Biblia,omnes a diabolo vel exerceri vel obsessos esse (pp. 716-19).Now let us look at those who are thought to be tortured by

Larniae. It is they, most certainly, who, with the assent of

God, whether men or beasts, are plagued in their bodies bythe demon in various and unusual ways, mostly unnatural.

Sometimes he enters and sometimes he does not but disturbs

the humors, introduces hurtful things, obstructs the ducts and

veins, disjoints the structures, disturbs the brain. Sometimeshe excites them so that their powers are greater than in the

healthy, or with poisons or breath he befouls them inside and

out, nor do the substance and faculties of men remain perma-nently immune from this subtile maleficium of the enemy (1).Illustrates this with the cases of Job, Nebuchadnezzar andthe demoniacs and the deaf and blind cured by Christ (2~8).No one can be so wrong-headed as to deny that if these thingshad occurred in our time they would be ascribed to some old

woman. In the whole of the Old and New Testament there

is not a single example in which the devil called in the aid of a

Lamia, yet Scripture loses no opportunity of exhibiting whathis power, actions and deceits are (9). Yet are they so

beset with his frauds and fascinations that they know no

better and under torture confess to be their own the deeds

which really are Satan's, with the connivance of God. So

they state the numbers of those whose brains they have

turned, whom they have blinded, or mutilated or tormented

in various ways, so that they ought rather to be called maleficio

affectaej i. e., bewitched, than maleficae, or witches (10).

Cap. 17. De rebus monstrosis ore rejectis, quas non fuisse

in corpore, multis ostenditur argumentis (pp. 719-23).

I have seen woolen rags, iron nails of considerable size and

pieces of them, iron and brass pins, needles in numbers, some-

times wrapped up in a cloth and tied, vomited. Sometimes

bones and bolts and other more absurd wonders, often larger

than could pass through a man's throat stretched to the

utmost, or even his mouth, which is an irrefutable proof that

the demon in some way, by swiftness of motion or fascinating

our eyes, or interposing some aerial body, passes them into

the mouth. In this way that arch-deceiver deceives us by his

multiform machinations (1). Explains anatomically the


impossibility of these things being in the body and vomited

( 3-5) . Generally there is no complaint of previous internal

pains, which these things could not fail to excite (7). Close

inspection has shown me that, whether these vomitings take

place soon or long after a meal, there is in them no trace of

food or chyle. Also there are no lesions in the mouth or

throat, which such sharp and rugged substances would cause.

All this I repeatedly saw when I was public physician at

Arnheim in 1548, when patients of the kind would be broughtto me and I would examine them in the most thorough

manner, internally and externally, pressing and squeezing

them in every part to see whether there were any internal

lesions, and could find none (8).

See Grillandi's explanation of this, qu. 3, nn. 27-8 (pp. 38-9) ,if I have

not got it elsewhere.

Cap, 18. Ridiculus modus res duras in corpus insinuandi

(pp. 723-4).Doctor Jacobus, Dominus in Lichtenberg, in a German book

propounds the explanations given by Theophrastus Paracelsus,

and it is also embraced by Ludovic Milich (otherwise a piousand learned man) in his Der Zauber-Teufel. These assert

that the pores of the body are stretched by the devil, whoinserts through them straws, bristles, splinters, skin, parings,

threads, spines of fish and thorns and other sharp things.

Then the pores are closed so that when the demon desires the

hidden things can be extracted (1).

Cap. 19. Animantia naturalibus morbis varie affligi,

qui Lamiis attribuuntur falso (pp. 724-6).It is a common and persistent opinion that cattle are

afflicted and killed by Lamiae. Yet all agricultural arid

veterinary writers, ancient and modern, tell us that they have

their peculiar diseases and share some of those of man, which

yet by the vulgar are frequently ascribed to sorcery. Weoften see a pestilence attack oxen only, or sheep, or hogs, or

poultry. Venefici sometimes kill them with poisons mixed

with their food, or scattered so that they taste or breathe

them. Near Tubingen in 1564, an executioner familiar with

veneficium gave an example of this, for he had an agreementto take the hides and whatever else was useful of dead ani-

mals;he poisoned them and speedily grew rich from the hides,

lard and fat which he sold at Augsburg. Suspicion arose;

he was accused, confessed and was torn with hot pincers in

ITS PEOMOTEES AND CRITICS 541

the beginning of August. There are others who stab cattle

in certain places where by drawing back the skin it returnsand covers the wound, and these are held to die of sorcery.Others throw wolves' dung into sheepfolds the smell of whichexcites the flock, or hang a wolfs tail in a stable, when the

frightened horses refuse to eat, and all this is ascribed to

sorcery (1-5). God also sometimes sends pestilence to

cattle, as he does sterility to harvests and destruction to

vineyards, which people should bear with resignation andnot have recourse to diviners and sorcerers (6-7).

Cap. 20. Experimenta in dignoscendis Lamiis fallacissima

(pp. 726-7).^

In many districts magistrates and executioners regard thewater ordeal as a certain and indubitable method of dis-

covering Lamiae. It is wonderful that any one, even of little

sense, should place the slightest faith in this. Argues as to its

impossibility and calls it an invention of the devil, to bediscarded by Christians

;but says nothing as to its prohibition

by the Church ( 1) . A similar trial of demonic falsity is that

mentioned in the Malleus (P. II, q. ii, in initio). On Sundaythe shoes of young men are greased with lard, as is usual for

their preservation, and as long as they are in church the

witches among the congregation are unable to go out, except

by permission of those conducting the affair. Another im-

pious mode observed in many places is to consecrate in the

Mass earth from the first three spadefuls thrown into a graveand tread it under the threshold of a church, when if a Lamiais in church she cannot go out. Another is to take chips froman oak on which one has been hanged or has strangled himself;

sprinkle them with holy water and place them at the entrance

of a church, and as long as they are there a witch cannot

leave the church (2). A Book of Conjurations printed in

Rome and Avignon tells us to take a new milk-pail and a newtin form for cheese; milk from all your cows enough to make a

cheese in the name of the witch and make it in the form.

Then pierce the cheese through with a sharp ring and by this

the face of the witch will be laid bare. Also examine her fore-

head for the mark impressed by the devil, which she alwaystries to keep covered (3).

Cap. 21. -Quae in maleficii inquisitione sunt facienda:

Nee soli confession! standum esse (pp. 728-30).

The evil deeds confessed are to be minutely inquired into.

If they have occurred as stated, the means adopted must be


examined and whether they are such as naturally to producethe effects, for which the opinions of competent physiciansmust be had (1). Also as to whether there be any melan-

cholia or mental disorder. Nor is punishment to be rashly

inflicted on confession, unless it is found that poisons have been

used or deposited where they could injure. In this business

there is much of turbulence, of suspicion, of malignity; muchis confusedly disseminated about others; the confessions of

old women deluded by demons are accepted, and the judgewho lends a facile ear to accusations and confessions will find

himself deluded and involved in an inextricable labyrinth

(2). It is Satan's art to involve things beyond human

sagacity to unravel and no greater opportunity for his assaults

can be given than this. Sometimes truth is mixed with false-

hood till there is no end to crimination and accusation (3).And what is most iniquitous, these confessions are very often

extorted by the most exquisite and insufferable tortures byfamous torturers, so that most old women would rather

undergo the temporary burning than the continued and re-

peated extremity of torture. So if these confessions are

examined, with the exact knowledge of the poss ble and

impossible, they will be found doubtful, incoherent, often

false, futile, lying and mostly erroneous (4). To accomplish

this, confessions of things non-existent in nature are often

elicited by administering potions causing drunkenness or

mental disturbance. How can faith be reposed in confes-

sions made by those not in their right senses? And if these

old women confess lies, it vitiates the whole of the con-

fession (5).

Cap. 22. -De vanitate confessionis Lanuarum, earun-

demque innocentia, insignium Jurisconsultorum sententiac

(pp. 730-33).

(Gives in 2 the statement of Alciatus, more at length than

I think I have il elsewhere H. C. L.). Quotes Grillandi,

Malleus, Cap. Episcopi, as to distinctions between those who

simply follow and obey the devil and those who are baptizedin his name the former being admitted to penance if re-

pentant, while the latter are unpardonable (5).

Cap. 23. Quomodo Lamiae mentis errore a diabolo affectae,

nee ulli noxiae, sunt reduccndae, et quae eis statuenda pocna:Nee omnem voluntatem essc pumendam (pp. 733-5).

Lamiae known to be deluded and seduced by the pervenw

training of Satan, who have done no harm to any one but only


in imagination, are to be taught true doctrine, so that abandon-

ing the deceits of Satan they seek the sacrament of Christ andbe restored by repentance. Public prayers should be earnestly

put up for them (1). The heretic who confesses his error

is received back and pardoned, as consented to by the Fathers.

So should it be with penitent women, evilly persuaded by the

demon, and confirmed in the Christian faith. If able, a fine

may be imposed for the poor and some other arbitrary punish-

ments, but not capital, proportionate to the crime. Or a fine

like that imposed by the Taxes of the Penitentiary

"Mulierem incantatricem, postquam superstitiones ab-

juravit, in quolibet supradictorum casuum taxari, Turon. 6.

due. 2." The public peace may also indicate exile, [not] to be

terminated until her conversion is confirmed (2). Theuniversal consent of the laws provides that women should be

more leniently punished than men, "lumirum ob animi,

mentis et ingenii imbecillitatem et sexus infirmitatern"

(3). Consideration should also be had for the weakened

will induced by the devil and the absence of results (4).

Cap. 24. Quarundam objectionum confutatio (pp. 735-47).

There are learned men who agree with me that the marvels

related of witches and their powers and their evil deeds are

mostly fables and fantasms, but who yet oppose my plea

for their being not so rashly put to death. They argue: 1.

that they are comprehended under the Mosaic Law in Exod.,

xxii; 2. that they make pact with the demon, worship him

and abjure God; 3. that they are homicides; 4. that they

banquet with demons and hold carnal intercourse with them;

5. that they seduce others; 6. that they learn forbidden arts

(1, 2). These he discusses and confutes seriatim, but it is

not worth while to follow him, as it is merely a repetition and

condensation of his previous arguments.

Weyer evidently does not agree with those who hold that the devil

employs witches to do that which he can effect only through human agency.

The whole effort of this work is to prove first that the witch and the Sabbat

are illusions (though in De Praestigiis, iii, 12, he had devoted a chapter to the

transport of men through the air by demons, which he admitted), and then

that the evil works ascribed to witches and sorcerers are done by the devil

with God's permission, the intervention of the human agent being merely

putative, though he is led to believe himself the real actor. In this the

object of the devil is to spread superstition and lead souls astraythough

it would puzzle him to explain why God should favor him in this through

centuries of blood and fire caused by Satan's successful efforts at deception.

Weyer's system thus admitted so much that its opponents could readily


refute it and had only to ask why he drew the line between what the devil

did and what the sorcerers and witches thought that they did. Still his

sturdy maintenance of his theory required no little independence andhardihood and unquestionably was not without service. Moreover his

indignation at the cruel and lawless proceedings of superstitious courts,

fearlessly expressed, and his pleading for mitigation of punishment were

good work in the right direction, opening the way for Tanner and Laymannand Spee. Moreover he repeatedly speaks of the cases in which he per-

sonally intervened and saved the lives of unfortunates.

There is a passage in a letter of Weyer's to Dr. Johann

Brenz, October 10, 1565, who, when in Wiirtemberg the

vines and harvests had been ruined by hailstorms and the

people clamored for the burning of witches, endeavored to

calm them by preaching that this was really the work of the

devil; the witches could not do it, but the devil, when he knewthat God was going to permit it, warned them to perform their

incantations and deluded them into the idea that it was their

work. To this Weyer takes exception and in the course of his

argument he says: "They confess many things, especiallywhen subjected to enormous tortures, which are mere fables,

trifles, lies, which are not and never were, nor could be in the

nature of things. Nor should more faith be given to that partof the confession in which they say that they are consecrated

to the devil in this or that way and therefore have assented

to his will and evil acts, than where they freely confess that

they have disturbed the air, caused hailstorms, destroyedharvests and vines or have perpetrated any other evil.

. . . When there is no proof but the confession of an old

woman crazed with prison and torture, to whom in manythings we refuse faith, why not in all when nothing certain

is to be derived from the erroneous confession of a demoniac-

ally deluded old woman. "Liber Apologeticus (Opera,

p. 584).

W^r^n.Pseudomonarchia Daemonum. (Printed in his

Opera, Amstelodami 1660, pp. 649-66).1

As an illustration of the current follies of popular super-stition among priests Weyer printed in 1583 under the abovetitle a book known as Liber Officiorum Spirituum or Empto.Salomonis. This informs us that there is a regular hierarchy,with four kings, Amoymon of the East, Gorson of the South,Zymymar of the North and Goap of the West, under whom arc

Marquises, Dukes, Prelates, Knights, Presidents and Counts.1 Date of first ed, uncertain. 800 Binz f Doctor Johann Wcy@r (Bonn, 188f), p. 127.


It gives a list of sixty-eight of these with their names, appear-ance, powers and the number of legions subject to each, fromValefar who has but 10 to Byleth who commands 85, the

sum total being 2216 legions. To 5, however Belial, Mur-mur, Vine, Oze and Zaleos no legions are assigned. This,

however, comprises but a small fraction of the demonic host,for Solomon confined in a glass vase Belial, Byleth and

Asmoday with a thousand thousand legions. Op., pp. 649-64.

It indicates a curious state of mind that the invocation of these spirits

is addressed, in the name of the Trinity, to Jesus Christ, praying him by the

merits of the Virgin and saints to grant divine power over all malignant

spirits, so that whomsoever the adept calls shall at once appear and performhis will, without injuring or frightening him (see pp. 664-6).

I suppose the reasoning of this was that if, as universally believed, Godhad granted the power to Solomon over evil spirits, there was no reason

why he should not do so to any one else who sought it. Besides, this was

virtually what the exorcists were doing every day. The theologians uni-

versally held that there was no sin in commanding demons, though it washeretical to supplicate them, and thus this formula eluded the laws against

magic and sorcery. In fact, it was only the assumption by a layman of the

power of the clerk.

DANEATT, LAMBERT. De Venefitis, quos olim Sortilegos,

nunc autem vulgo Sortiarios vacant. Colon. Agrippinae, 1575

(to which references follow). Also Francofurti-ad-Moenam,

1581, along with Jaquerius and others.

The first edition is in French, Geneva, 1564. Translated into Latin,

English and German. Many editions. Daneau was a French Calvinist, a

disciple of Anne du Bourg. He taught theology at Leyden and died at

Castres in 1596.

The occasion of the Dialogue is that, some three months

before, an almost infinite number of sorcerers were broughtto Paris and tried by the Parlement, There were almost

daily executions. Among them were nobles, men and women,learned men, men of distinction, as well as peasants and

mechanics. There were cripples and blind men of the latter

one well known named Honor6, who was executed; he was

said to belong to an association of 300 blind men (pp. 4-5).

This seems to have excited discussion and Daneau under-

takes to prove that there are venefici and sortiarii, which is

confirmed by the fact that in all nations and places there are

many such condemned (p. 5) . In Savoy they are so numerous

that they cannot be extirpated in spite of the activity and

severity of the judgesin one town there were eighty executed

in a single year (p. 6). Such are their numbers and audacity

VOL. II- 35


that they declare that if they can get as leader a man of highreputation they will wage war against any king, whom theyhope to overthrow by their magic arts (p. 6).

Yet there are many who deny all this. When I was at

Orleans a sorcerer condemned by the magistrates appealed to

the Parlement, which refused to admit the accusation andtreated the whole as folly. But when he persisted in his

crimes and caused many deaths the magistrates hanged him

(p. 7).

Daneau says that at the time it was a matter of generaldiscussion about which scarce two men agreed, every one

having his own opinion. Has known men who changed their

opinions from morning to evening, while others were so

obstinate in denial that no facts would convince them (p. 8).

He explains the development of witchcraft by the increasingwickedness of mankind provoking the wrath of God to giveSatan power thus to mislead many and sift the good from, the

evil (p. 34). Now when he has made the light of the holy

Gospels shine again he justly wishes that many contemnersof the light should fall into the snares of Satan (p. 37) .

Though Satan is always seeking to win souls from God, he

cannot do so in any instance without God's permission. It is

beyond our power, however, to explain why he should permitthis one or that one to be taken in place of others (p. 40).

A most repellant theory worthy of Calvinistic predestination.

He disapproves of those who collect in huge volumes a

mass of old women's tales in treating of this subject

(pp. 43-44). And then he proceeds to ascribe to witches the

powers claimed for themexcept that he denies that of trans-

forming men into beasts; this he explains by illusions

(pp. 45-54). Denies lycanthropy (p. 55).

He admits the deviPs mark. The first thing the judgesdo is to shave the accused all over with a razor to find it.

Some say that he only marks those whose allegiance he doubtsbut this is not so (p. 58).

This indicates an easy way of holding those on whom no mark can be

found.

Describes the Sabbat. Not held at stated times, but whenSatan orders them to come, and then only those whom heselects. If the place is distant or the witch feeble, they arc

carried through the air on a staff or by the use of an ointment.

ITS PEOMOTERg AND CRITICS 547

All take oath to Mm. Singing and dancing. He distributes

the powders and poisons with which they kill though theycan kill by their breath and even kill at a distance (pp. 60-65).

Discusses at much length the theory of illusion and the

Can. Episcopi, but rejects it. It may apply to some cases, but

the infinite number of confessions shows that the witches are

bodily present (pp. 66-84).

Satan cannot work miracles; he can only operate throughnatural causesthough the distinction drawn is very in-

definite. In his argument about this it is curious to observe

how accurate is his knowledge of the exact limits of the powerswhich God permits Satan to exercise (pp. 94-5).

Speaks of the great number of witches whom Satan

strangles and puts to death in prison. Denies the theory that

the witch loses her power when imprisoned and explains her

helplessness by her not having with her the poisons she uses

and being afraid to call upon Satan (p. 99).

All right-thinking men from of old agree that witches

deserve the severest penalties poena acerbissima (p. 101).

All are not witches who are so considered by the vulgar;

it often happens that people are unjustly suspected (p. 111).

There is no crueller or worse pest of the human race than

witches and all judges and Parlements should hunt them out

and punish them severely without wasting time on vain and

curious questions. There should be no appeals and devices

by which they may slip out of the hands of the judges

(pp. 116-7).

LAVATER, LXJDWIG. De Spectris, Lemuribus, variisque

Praesagitionibus. Lugd. Bat., 1659.

This was a work of which the numerous editions show that it must have

exercised a wide and lasting influence, Lavater was a Protestant pastor in

Zurich. The first edition, in German (Zurich, 1569), was translated by him

into Latin and issued in 1570 at Zurich. There were Latin editions of

Geneva in 1575, 1580 and 1670, Leyden, 1659 and 1687, Gorinchem, 1683,

Wittemberg, 1683, and one by J. Crispin, s.l.et.a. Also French editions,

Paris, 1571; Geneva, 1571; and Zurich, 1581. In German, Zurich, 1569,

1578 and 1670. In English, London, 1572. In Dutch, Gorinchem, 1681.

This makes 16 editions, during more than a century, and there were doubtless

others which escaped the researches of Grasse, p. 81. My edition is Lugd.

Bat., 1659.1

1 Mr. Lea had also the Latin ed. of 1570.


Lavater's definition of Spectrum is an incorporeate beingor spirit, good or evil. Lemures are the wandering shades of

men, whether beneficent or maleficent. P. I, c. 1 (pp. 2, 4).

There are many good and pious men who regard as fables

all that is said about Spectra, partly because none have ever

appeared to them, but chiefly because in former ages menwere so often deceived by the false apparitions, visions andmiracles of monks and priests, so that truth is now held to be

falsehood. Daily experience, however, shows that spirits

and spectra sometimes appear, but it is also true that manyfalsely persuade themselves that they see or hear spectra,

either through melancholia, madness, weakness of the senses,

fear or other affections, or seeing animals, exhalations or other

natural things they deceive themselves. This is especially

liable to happen in insomnia through grief or sickness. Ib.,

c. 2 (p. 10).

In a long enumeration of the illusions and delusions of the

insane and others he alludes to those who fancy themselves

wolves, whom Paulus Aegineta assumes to be insane, andhe adds that Satan, the enemy of the human race, deceives

men into fancying themselves beasts (p. 13). Incubus, or

Ephialtes, is a disease of the ventricle, in which one seems to

be oppressed by a huge man whom he cannot throw off

(pp. 13-14) . Says nothing about sexual commerce.

Timidity as a cause of delusions. Ib., c. 3 (pp. 15-18).

Defective vision and drunkenness as a cause of delusions

(c. 4, pp. 18-20). It is well known that the eyes can be so

affected that we think we see a man swallow a sword, spit

out coins, coals and the like, eat bread and spit out flour,

drink wine which afterwards flows from his forehead, cut

off another's head and replace it, a cock carry an immense

beam, etc. (p. 20).

This shows the resources of the jugglers of the period, and seems to fore-

cast hypnotism. It was a dangerous sport when the witch-craze was at its

height.

By natural things such as suffumigations and other things,

all the guests at a table nxay be made to seem to have no

heads, or a vine to be growing around the ceiling. There are

books published about this matter. It is the same with the

other senses. Ib., c. 4 (pp. 20-1).

Tells of the tricks and disguises by which people are madeto think that they see ghosts and spectres. Sometimes used

ITS PEOMOTEKS AND CRITICS 549

by lovers and thieves to gain access to houses at night.

Ib., c. 5 (pp. 24-5)."Notum est multos praesertim ex monachis et sacrifi-

culis, magos, excantatores et necromanticos fuisse, qui et

spectra multa, miracula et animarum colloquia fingere potu-erunt." Tells of the four Dominicans of Berne, whom he con-

siders to have acted with the aid of the devil. Ib., c. 8

(p. 31).

Tells from Sleidan (Commentar., lib. 9) of a somewhatsimilar fraud committed at Orleans in 1534 by Franciscans,

disgusted with slender fees received at the burial of the wife

of the Praetor (Mayor?) of the city. Ib., pp. 41-6.

Tells of a priest of Chiavenna who in 1533, after vainly

endeavoring to seduce a girl, disguised himself as the Virgin

and ordered her to yield herself to him, which she did. Ib.,

c. 9 (pp. 46-7).While writing he hears of an occurrence "hoc anno 1569"

in Augsburg where a Jesuit disguised himself as the devil

and was introduced into the house of a distinguished family

by the master, in order to frighten the servants, who regarded

the Jesuits with little favor. A maid was duly terrified, but,

when a man went to investigate and the devil rushed upon

him, he stabbed the unlucky masquerader to death. Ib.,

p. 49.

Cap. 10 is devoted to abusing the Catholic clergy, secular

and regular, who of old often created apparitions and still

do so, through lust, ambition, envy and greed. Also dabble in

magic, like the popes Sylvester II, Gregory VII and Boniface

VIII (pp. 50-5).

Cap 11 is on natural thingssounds of animals, winds,

echoes, etc., which the timid and superstitious attribute to

spirits (pp. 55-9).

Cap. 12 recites cases of real appearances of spectres drawn

from classic writers- Plutarch, Pausanias, Dio Cassius, Pliny

the Younger, Valerius Maximus, the Historiae Augustae,

Ammianus Marcellinus, etc. (pp. 59-69).

Cap. 13 proves the existence of spectres from the writings

of the Fathers St. Augustin, Sozomen, Gregory I, Gregory

Nicephorus, etc. (pp. 69-72).

Cap. 14 tells of the ridiculous and fabulous stories in the

monkish chronicles and legends of the saints (pp. 72-4).

Cap. 15 proves from the writings of trustworthy authors

that spectres sometimes really appear. Phil. Melanchthon


in his book De Anima says that he had seen spectres and knewmany reliable men who had not only seen them but had longconversations with them. In his Examen Theologicum hetells of an aunt whose husband after death appeared to her,

accompanied by a tall Franciscan, and gave her certain in-

structions; he made her shake hands with him, her handthereafter remaining blackened, though unhurt. Luis Vives,De Veritate Fidei, lib. i, says that in the New World nothingis more common than to see spirits, by day or night, in cities

or the fields, who talk and command, forbid, infest, terrify

and strike (pp. 75-8).

Cap. 16. No one can deny that many men and women,wholly worthy of trust, dead or still living, have asserted

and assert that they have heard and seen spectra, sometimes

by day and sometimes by night. Describes the Poltergeistas a fact. Long account of Kobolds in mines (pp. 79-85).

Cap. 17 on signs and portents and banshees precedingdeath or wars (pp. 85-93).

Cap, 18. Evidence from Scripture as to spectres seen andheard and wonders occurring (pp. 93-96).

Cap. 19 discusses the times and places and forms in which

spectres appear. As a warning, however, to judges of the

deceits of the devil to ruin the innocent, he relates what wastold him by the prefect of Zurich, an important and prudent

man, who on an early summer morning traversing the fields

with a servant saw a man well known to him committingbestiality with a mare. Astonished he hastened to the man'shouse and found that he had not yet left his chamber. Thus,had he not investigated, a good and honest man would havebeen imprisoned and tortured (p. 100), So it was with

Chunegunda, wife of Emperor Henry II, suspected of adulterywith a youth, for the devil in his shape was repeatedly seen

leaving her chamber, but she vindicated her innocence bytreading with bare feet burning plow-shares (p. 100).

Spirits often appeared to hermits in the form of beautiful

women to tempt them; they also appear in the shape of a dog,

swine, horse, goat, cat, hare or of birds and serpents or

dragons; sometimes in an agreeable shape and sometimes in a

horrible one, etc., etc. Olaus Magnus says that at the presenttime spirits in various shapes assemble in many places in the

North, especially at night, and dance to the sound of music

(p. 101).

Spirits sometimes force men to leave their houses, which no


one will thereafter rent. They overturn things, strike men,throw stones at them and injure them in fortune and body,and sometimes with God's permission take their lives or makethem insane (p. 105).

In this first part of the work I hope to have proved that,

although many falsely persuade themselves that they have

seen spectres, nevertheless spectres exist and many wonderful

things occur. He who dares to deny these multiplied and

consentaneous evidences of ancients and moderns seems to meunworthy to be believed in whatever he may assert. It is

the greatest impudence for any one rashly to reject the testi-

mony of so many trustworthy historians, Fathers and others

of high authority (p. 106).

It manifestly is not difficult for the devil to appear in the

shape of the living or the dead or in that of animals and to do

incredible things. For by long manifold experience of the

power and effect of natural things he has the ability to work

wonders. By this knowledge and his quickness he can deceive

the senses and substitute one thing for another. Whatwonders Balaam worked with the aid of evil spirits, what

miracles the magi of Pharaoh! Did not Simon Magus byhis evil arts long fascinate the Samaritans, and in Rome

oppose Peter, flying in the air and falling break his thigh,

dying afterwards at Ariccio? P. II, c. 17 (pp. 184-5).

In 970 the Bulgarians were ruled by Peter and Bajanus,

sons of Simeon the Monk. Bajanus was most learned in

magic arts, by which he worked wonders, changing himself

at will to the shape of a wolf or other beast, or rendering him-

self invisible (ib., p. 185).

There are magicians today who boast that with their arts

they can throw down a horse and make long journeys in a

few hours. May God punish them duly! What wonders are

related of the German Faust, which in our age he did with

magic arts! (p. 187).

StrigeSj lamiae et incantatrices are said to injure men and

cattle, if they merely touch or stroke them; they do horrible

things of which whole books are extant (p. 188).

There are some who say that spectres asking for help are

souls, not demons, for they urge us to piety and good works

and to avoid sins, which is contrary to the deviPs practice.

The devil only does this to gain confidence and deceive the

incautious as a gamester will allure a simple youth. Thus


the demon will say "I am the soul of such a monk." Ib.7

c. 18 (pp. 189-93).

From this it would seem that he regards all apparitions as demons. Notaltogether, for subsequently in explaining why God permits it he says:

If they are good spirits which are seen by the pious andwarn them, they thus learn the care and paternal affection

of God towards them; if they are evil spirits, as they mostlyare, they incite the faithful to true repentance. Ib., P. Ill,

c. 1 (p. 195).The reason why fewer spectres are seen now than formerly

is the Reformation, restoring men to Christ. If men magnifythe word of God he does not allow them to be deceived as he

does those who admit other things. Tells a joke of an evan-

gelical disputing with a papist and telling him that the truth

of the reformed religion was proved by the rarity now of

spectres. To which the papist rejoined that it proved the

truth of Catholicism, for the devil only persecuted those whohe feared would escape him. -Ib., c. 2 (p. 200).

It seems odd that just when the witch-craze was gaining intensity it

should be recognized that visions and apparitions were diminishing.

The good Christian should be unmoved at the appearanceof spectra. If they are good angels, they are sent to us byGod for a good purpose; if demons, they cannot hurt us with-

out God's permission; if it is only a vain simulacrum, fear is

foolish. Ib., c. 5 (p. 212).If it please God to try you by a demon, like Job, bear

patiently what he inflicts (p. 213). It should not surpriseus if spirits are sometimes seen or heard, for Satan, as Peter

testifies, is walking everywhere, though he cannot be seen

unless God permits. We may thank God that he is not alwaysseen or heard, for otherwise we should not have a moment's

peace (p. 214).

Evidently to Lavater "spirits" or "spectres" means Satan and his demons,who are omnipresent.

When we are molested by Lemures or spectres it is well to.

seek the prayers of the whole Church. Ib., c. (5 (p. 210).All spirits and apparitions are to be suspected. Since

Christ, God much more rarely sends good angels to our aBsiBt-

ance than in previous times. Ib., c. 7 (p. 217).

"Deus serpentem, hoc est diabolum, qui hoc instrumento

usus fuerat, nolebat interrogare quare id fecisset" (p. 218).

Then the serpent was not the devil, but only his instrument.


Cap. 9 and 10 (P. Ill) are devoted to arguing against the

Catholic use of the sign of the cross, holy water, relics,

exorcisms, the Host and other superstitions to drive awaydemons. When apparently the devil yields to these means it

is only to deceive. "Quod Satan facit facit ultro et sponte,

ut homines a fiducia unici Dei abducat et in idololatriam

praecipites agat."-~Ib., c. 10 (p. 236).

How does lie reconcile this with his perpetual iteration that the devil

can do only what God permits?

Again, "Licet spiritus malignus simulet se propter haec

loco cedere, tamen interim efficit ut superstitiones in pec-

toribus hominum profundiores radices agant" (p. 237).

Although Lavater makes no special assault on witchcraft, his theory of

devils shows that he could have been no misbeliever in the power of sorcery.

It did not enter into his purpose either to stimulate or controvert the witch-

craze. His object was to persuade his readers to rely solely on God against

the persecutions of Satan and to throw off the superstitions taught and

practised by Catholicism, "ne deinceps se monachis et sacrificis impostoribus

regendos praebeant atque illudendos" (c. 12, p. 244).

NOD, PIERRE. Declamation contre VErreur execrable des

MaUficiers, Borders, [etc. ,]. . . d ce que recherche et punition

d'iceux soitfaicte. Paris, 1578.

Fr&re Nod6 asserts that these practices are the source of all

the misfortunes of France and of those threatening her, and

also of those extending over the earth (p. 3).

It is the practitioners of these infernal arts who send the

tempests that destroy the fruits of the earth, cause famine and

pestilence, new and unknown diseases; they poison or make

men and beasts die, present or absent, by charms, without

touching them; they send demons into human bodies; they

render wives sterile, or hated by their husbands, or cause

abortions; they steal little children to consecrate them to the

devil, or boil them to obtain the fat for their use, or suck

their blood while alive; they corrupt young girls; they cause

illusions and hallucinations; they overthrow houses and

castles; through unbridled lust they have relations with the

devil and lead others to the same. In short there is no

wickedness on earth of which they are not guilty (pp. 5-6).

Almost all female sorcerers have incubi and many male ones

succubi and they even have intercourse with dead bodies

animated by their devils (p. 30).


These execrable creatures are far worse than the heretics

who are executed by justice (p. 9).

He asks where are those whose duty it should be to deliver

France from this pestilence, which is more severe here thanelsewhere? (pp. 32-33).He intimates that the judges and persons of influence are

supposed by the people to be won over and favor these

wretches urges them strongly to execute justice on them

(pp. 48-50).Justice is deaf or asleep, and no one ventures to spend

his substance in vainly prosecuting them (p. 51).

The law condemns them to death do you wait till theyinclude you among their victims before you will extirpatethem? (pp. 54-55).

Sooner or later there must be inquisitors of the faith to

purify the kingdom of this evil seed. This is required byvarious duchies and countries infected by this increasing

pestilence and infernal fire, as in Rethelois, Savoy, Auvergne,Poitou, Rodez, Limousin, Lorraine, Languedoc, Provence,

Gascony and almost everywhere else (pp. 58-9).He speaks of it as something new which in a short time has

overthrown all order of justice and ravaged the whole of

France (p. 60).

BODIN, JEAN. De Magorum Daemonomania. Basil, 1581.

(Date of Preface, Laon, December 20, 1579.)l

Bayle alludes to Bodin as the ablest writer of France in the sixteenth

century, Montaigne as the highest literary genius of his time. Hallam and

Douglas Stewart speak highly of his De Republica. See Westminster Rev.,

Jan. 1871.

He writes the book for the information of judges and not to

gratify morbid curiosity (p. 151).

Bodin was a member of the Parlement of Paris and was led

to write this book by a case in which he was concerned in

April, 1578. A woman named Jeanne Harvilliers, born at

Verberie near Compidgne, was accused of witchcraft. Deniedit at first, but finally without torture confessed that when she

was twelve years old her mother had devoted her to the devil,who appeared as a tall man in dark clothes, booted andspurred and wearing a sword. He promised to take care of

her and make her happy. She had intercourse with him and

1 Appeared originally in French, Paris, 1580.


continued to do so until the present time, when she was about

fifty. His horse would stand at her door, but no onebut herself could see it, and she often had intercourse withhim while her husband lying at her side knew nothing of it.

Thirty years before her mother had been burnt as a witchand herself scourged by order of the judge at "Sanlissiani"

(St. Lizier), confirmed by the Parlement. She had been

compelled constantly to change her name and residence, andwhen arrested was with difficulty saved from the hands of amob which desired to burn her. The immediate cause wasthat, desiring to kill a man, she had sprinkled a certain

powder where he was to pass, but the wrong man came alongand was immediately struck down with mortal sickness.

Neighbors who had seen her on the spot accused her of it andshe promised to cure him, but her demon declared that he wasunable to do so and the victim died within two days. Shethen complained that the demon always deceived her andordered him to leave her, which he did. After her condemna-tion she confessed about the Sabbat, worshipping Beelzebub,

promiscuous intercourse, flying through the air, etc., etc.,

and accused a tyler of Genlis as being a wizard. On the

prosecution of Claude Dofay, procureur du Roi at Ribemont,she was unanimously condemned to death, a few of the moremerciful judges opining in favor of hanging in lieu of the usual

and time-honored punishment of burning, but they were

overruled. Praef .

Bodin states that those who deny the existence of witch-

craft are almost always witches themselves, such as Peter

de Apono, who tried to demonstrate that there were no such

things as spirits and who was afterwards proved to be facile

princeps of all the magicians of Italy. Praef.

Sec infra p. 557 for another reference to Peter de Apono, or de Abano.

So it was with M. Guilhelmus Linensis (called Luranus on

p. 420, and Guillaume de Line in the French ed.) , Dr. of Theol.,

condemned December 12, 1453 (at Poitiers, p. 420). Whenbrought to repentance he confessed that he had often attended

the Sabbat and renounced Christianity. Among his paperswas found a written contract with the devil, in which amongother things he bound himself to publicly preach that the

stories of witches were fables; and thus the number of witches

greatly increased as the judges ceased to prosecute them.

Praef.


Alciatus lately has endeavored to mitigate the ardor of the

judges, moved by the fact that an Inquisitor had condemnedmore than one hundred in Piedmont. Praef.

Barth61emy Faye, maltre des requetes, in his works com-

plains that many judges did not dare to burn witches, as wasdone everywhere else, and thus brought on the great calami-

ties sent by God. Praef.

M. d'Aventon, conseiller in the Parlement of Poitou, later

its president, in 1564 caused four witches to be burnt, dis-

regarding their appeal and indignant that others by appeal-

ing had escaped, to the great damage of the public, amongwhom they spread their contamination and excited tumults.

The impunity which at that time existed for them led to their

wonderful increase in the kingdom, to which they resorted

from all sides, especially from Italy. Among those was a

Neapolitan named Conservatore, the chief of them all, andbut too well known by his crimes. Praef.

Very well turned argument to show how little we know of

the natural and physical laws whence the absurdity of

refusing to believe the facts of magic because we cannot

explain them. Praef.

Ephialtes and Hyphialtes are the Greek equivalents of

incubus and succubus (qy. whether the latter are classical

words H. C. L.). Praef.

Catherine Dar4e, wife of a peasant at Coeuvres near

Soissons, when interrogated why she had cut off the heads of

two girls, one her own child and the other that of a neighbor,replied that a demon in the form of a tall dark man hadhanded to her her husband's sickle and instigated her to do it.

For this, in place of being sent to an insane hospital, she wassentenced at Compiegne and duly put to death. Praef.

Mention of the case of Enguerrand de Marigny. (Referin Grandes Chroniques to his trial. H. C. L.)

Bodin quotes from Sylvester Prierias an account of theofficial Inquisitor of Como, who captured a large number of

witches and not being able to believe their stories agreed to

go with one of them to the Sabbat. They were carried to a

solitary place where they saw the devil presiding and theusual abominations performed. At length the devil, whohad feigned not to see them, set upon them and beat them so

that they died within a fortnight. This happened recently,"nuper." Praef.


Legal definition of Magus by Bodin a thing not hereto-

fore attempted: "Qui sciens prudens diabolicis modis ad

aliquid conatur pervenire" (p. 1).

The Spaniards and Italians going to Flanders in 1567

provided themselves with amulets filled with sortilega to

protect them from all dangers (p. 34).

What is the meaning of this" German! quoque nonnulli indusiurn neces-

sitatis portant forma exsecrabili quam nihil opus est describere et crucibus

ubique figuratum" (p. 34) apparently as a charm to protect from evil?

Cornelius Agrippa "Fuit enim quamdiu vixit magorumsui temporis maximus." Paulus Jovius (Lib. Elogiorum) and

others state that when he died a large black dog which he used

to call Master rushed from his room and cast h mself in the

Rhone and was seen no more (p. 38).

Albumazar states that he who prays to God when the moonand a certain star (of which he conceals the name) are in con-

junction in the head of the dragon will have his prayer

granted and Peter de Apono, the Coryphaeus of all magiciansthat have been, says that he has found this to be true, for the

purpose of enticing others to the same wickedness (p. 63).

In 1563 Henry, King of Sweden, about to fight with the

King of Denmark had four witches who boasted that theywould be able to prevent the latter from being victorious.

One of them was taken and burnt and four years later

Henry was dethroned by his subjects and thrown into prison,

where he still lies (p. 79).

The ancient authorities, lamblichus, Proclus, Plotinus,

Porphyry and Julian the Apostate, speak of Magia as the

invocation of good demons and Goetia as that of evil ones

(p. 98).

Bodin hesitates whether to describe the processes of magic,

lest on the one hand he should teach what ought to be for-

gotten, or on the other omit to give the magistrates the

information they should have and this at a time when

cities, villages, and fields and even the elements are con-

taminated and even children are not exempt from these

crimes (p. 103).

Ligation of new-married couples is one of the most commonforms. Even boys perform it openly and boast of it. Details

of the art of tying the string. More than fifty modes, pro-

ducing different effects (pp. 109-11).

Paul Grillandi, who lived in 1537, relates that a certain


Sabine, living near Rome, was persuaded by his wife to rub

himself with a certain ointment while she recited certain

words, so that he might attend a witches' sabbat. He sud-

denly found himself under a huge nut tree in Beneventum

with a large assemblage of witches carousing. He did as they

did, until he called for some salt, which is very repugnant to

the devil. After some trouble he obtained it and exclaimed:" Laudato sia Dio pur e venuto questo sale." At the mention

of the sacred name the whole assemblage vanished, and he

found himself lying naked 100 miles from home. He had to

beg his way back; and, recognizing the impious character of

the proceedings, which his wife had concealed from him, he

accused her and she confessed and was burnt with a number of

her accomplices whom she pointed out (pp. 119-20).

The same story is quoted above (pp. 403-4) from Grillandi.

Similar case recently at Loches carried to the sands near

Bordeaux (p. 156); also, one at Lyons, carried to Lorraine

(pp. 156-7) ;another case in Spoleto, in 1535 (p. 160) ; another,

in Spain, related by Torquemada, where the party had to

travel for three years to get home (p. 163).

Salt as a symbol of eternity and immortality is especially

abhorrent to the devil. It is ordered to be part of the

sacrifices in the Mosaic Law, Levit., ii, 13 (pp. 120-21).

Bodin stoutly argues against the explanation of Aristotle

that the prophetic spirit of the pythonesses was derived from

the vapors of their caves, such as Lebadia, Trophonius,

Corycia, Pythia, etc. (pp. 143-4).

In the German monastery of Kentorp in 1552 all the nuns

became possessed of devils who asserted that they had been

sent there by the cook of the convent, Elizabeth Kama. She

confessed that she was a witch and had done it, and was duly

burnt (p. 146) . Her mother was burnt with her. Others outside

the monastery were affected and many witches burnt (p. 307).

Among the sorcerers revealed by the blind sorcerer hangedat Paris in 1571 was a lawyer who confessed that he hadentered into a contract with the devil written with his ownblood (pp. 152-3). He explained this by stating that he was

exceedingly sick and did it to be cured which was received

as an excuse (p. 245).

The devil marks those of whom he feels doubt, not those

of whose fidelity he is secure. Frequently in the shape of a

hare's foot. Insensible to pain. Cases in which it was seen


on the first examination of a prisoner, but removed by the

devil before the next day. To be looked for in hidden parts

of the body (pp. 153-4).

Lately at Le Mans a number were burnt who confessed to

frequenting the Sabbat and committing what we have

described. The records of the courts are full of these things

and a recent judgment tells of thirty witches who, quarrelling

among themselves, accused each other and their confessions

were unanimous as to transportation, adoration of the devil,

dancing and abjuring religion (p. 163).

It is evident that by this time there was a good deal of persecution in

France.

In 1564 at Poitiers three men and one woman were burnt

alive, convicted of killing many men and cattle by scattering

powders on the thresholds of houses, stables and sheepfolds.

They confessed to having been thrice to the Sabbat at a cross

in a cross-roads where innumerable witches gathered. It was

presided over by a huge black goat around whom they danced,

after which each one, bearing a candle, kissed him under the

tail; then he was consumed by fire and his ashes furnished

the poisonous powder. Finally the devil dismissed them,

saying in a terrible voice,"Revenge yourselves or die!"

Two of these repented and two were pertinacious. President

Salvert, who tried them, told Bodin that the records showed

that more than one hundred years before witches had been

condemned there, making the same confessions and having

the same meeting-place (pp. 167 and 217).

Witches are obliged to be always doing evil. Bodin tells

of a witch who was caught by her mistress intentionally

breaking an earthen pot. She confessed that she could not be

quiet unless she was doing something wrong, killing a man or

breaking a vessel. She was duly condemned to death. She

did not appeal, saying she preferred death to the suffering

inflicted by the devil, which allowed her no peace (p. 168).

At the Sabbat, those who had no evil deed to relate were

ridiculed and bastinadoed (p. 168).

As dancing was especially hateful at Geneva, the devil

gave a young Genevese girl an iron rod which caused every

one whom she touched with it to dance. She mocked the judges

and said they could not harm her but when arrested all her

courage disappeared and she complained that she had been


deserted by her Master, who had promised that she should not

be put to death (pp. 170-1).In 1271 Johannes Teutonicus, a priest of Halberstadt and

celebrated sorcerer of the period, sang in the middle of one

night three masses, one each at Halberstadt, Cologne andMainz (p. 172).

Jerome Cardan used to boast that he could at will throwhimself into an ecstasy in which his soul left his body and the

latter was insensible (p. 175).

President Turettanus related to Bodin a case he had seen in

Dauphiny where a servant girl was found by her master andmistress lying before the fire. They tried to awaken her bysevere beating and then by applying coals to the most sensi-

tive parts of the body. Finally, thinking her dead, they left

her and next morning were surprised to find her in bed, whenshe said, "Master, how you beat me." Talking of this withsome neighbors, some one said, "She is a witch." He took

up the idea and forced her to confess that in her mind she

was at the Sabbat. Then she admitted the wicked things she

had done and was given to the flames (p. 176).

In 1571, when there was a witch persecution throughoutFrance, an old witch at Bordeaux confessed that she and others

were transported every week to where they adored a great

goat, etc. Then Dr. Belot, maltre des r6qutes, desiring to

ascertain the truth, had her taken out of prison, where she

said she could do nothing; she stripped herself and anointedherself with a certain unguent and fell insensible; after five

hours she revived and narrated many things occurring in

various places, which were verified. So at Nantes, in 1549,seven magi promised to tell what happened within a circuit of

10 miles, and at once fell senseless, lying so for three hours,and then related what had happened in Nantes and the

vicinity, all of which was verified. They were found guiltyof many malefices and were duly burnt (p. 177).Seven witches condemned and burnt at Nantes in 1549.

They agreed to relate all that happened within 10 miles of

Nantes. Fell into a trance lasting three hours and thenrelated everything found to be true (p. 177).Baron "Raziorum" (Marshal de Rais), who was executed

for magic at Nantes, confessed that he had killed 8 boys andintended to sacrifice a ninth to Satan his own child, yetunborn (p. 179). He was ordered by Satan to sacrifice his

unborn child and proposed to do so by killing the pregnant

ITS PROMOTEKS AND CRITICS 561

mother. She however got wind of it and accused him, and heconfessed it. The suit as to the confiscation of Ms propertyis not yet concluded. This case occurred "ante annos C.

7J

(p. 244).

January 17, 1573, the Parlement of Dol condemned Giiles

Garnier [of Lyons], who was burnt. By evidence and con-

fession it was proved that on the feast of St. Michael he had,in the wood of La Serre (about 4 miles from Dol) killed a girl

ten or twelve years old, he having the feet, hands and teeth

of a wolf, and devoured the flesh of her legs and arms andcarried some of it home to his wife. A month later, in the

same shape, he killed a girl and would have eaten her hadhe not been driven off. Fifteen days afterwards he strangleda boy of ten in the vineyard of Gredisans and ate him. An-other boy of thirteen he killed in the village of Perouse in his

own shape and would have eaten him, but was prevented

(p. 185).

In December, 1521, John Bonin, Inquisitor at Besangon,condemned two men, Pierre Burgot and Michael Verdun,who with an ointment changed themselves into wolves of

great fleetness. They had intercourse with she-wolves and

experienced as much pleasure as they ever had with women.Cases of killing and eating children each had killed four

(pp. 185-6).

Bourdin, Procureur General du Roi, gave to Bodin the

particulars of a case of which the papers had been submitted

to him from Flanders. A wolf was wounded with an arrow. Aman took to his bed with the arrow sticking in him. On its

removal he confessed that he was the wolf (p. 186). Job

Fincelius relates a case at Padua in which a wolf was capturedand its paws cut off, and it immediately became a man with-

out hands and feet (p. 186). Petrus Mamoris states that he

had seen the same in Savoy, and Henry of Cologne affirms

it as indubitable (p. 187).

Many books published in Germany show "unum ex poten-tissimis Christianorum regibus, qui nuper vita defunctus est,

in lupum saepe fuisse versum, ut magorum omnium facile

princeps habebatur" (p. 187). (Qy.who was this? H. C. L.)

The East is much troubled with them. In 1542 Sultan

Solyman to rid Constantinople of wolves attacked themwith his janizaries. One hundred and fifty were driven

together and surrounded, when they suddenly disappearedin the sight of all the people (p. 188).

VOL. ii 36


The Greeks called them ^vK&vQpuirovs and /zoejuoAu/ete; the

Romans, according to Pliny, varios et versipelles; the

Germans, werwolff; the French, loups-garoux; the Picards,

loups-warous (p. 188).

Caspar Peucer, son-in-law of Meianchthon, says that he had

always treated this as a fable, but was forced to believe it

by the statement of merchants that in Livonia many were

convicted and put to death. Towards the end of Decemberall the sorcerers are assembled at a certain spot, those whofail to attend being severely beaten by the devil. Thousandsof them swim across a river, when they are changed to wolvesand fall upon sheep and men. After twelve days they recross

and resume human shape. Languet, a native of Burgundy,when in France as agent for the Duke of Saxony, confirmed

this to Bodin as universally known in Livonia, where he hadbeen on business for the Duke (p. 189).

Herodotus, Homer, Pomp. Mela, Solinus, Strabo, DionysiusAfer, M. Varro, Virgil, Ovid, and others confirm the belief.

Pliny (lib. viii, c. 22) doubts it. See Trithemius, ann. 970,for a Jew of Baiae named Simon who could transform himself

into a wolf at pleasure; Olaus Magnus, lib. iii, c. 18, for

the Lapp witches; Ovid for the fable of Lycaon; Guillel.

Tyrens., for story of an Englishman in Cyprus; Vincent.

Belvacen., Spec. Hist., lib. iii, c. 109 for story of men changedinto asses. This was affirmed by P. Damiani, discussed

before Leo VII and decided to be true. Apuleius is taken byBodin as truth, and Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel) is cited as an

example. Paracelsus, Pomponatius, and Fernel, the highestmedical authorities of the age, certify lycanthropy to beindubitable fact (pp. 190-5).Witches of Potezane convicted and burnt at Loigny

apparently several of them confessed "cum diabolis remhabuisse." Johann Meyer in his history of Flanders relates

that in 1459 a very large number of men and women wereburnt at a town in Artois, who confessed to having had inter-

course with demons. Grillandi relates in his book that in

1526 he was called upon by the Abbot of St. Paul in Rome to

examine three witches who all confessed "rem habuisse."

Aquinas concurs in the suggestion of the transfer of pro-creative power by succubi becoming incubi (pp. 201-3).In 1545 Magdalena Crucia, an abbess at Cordova, was

suspected of witchcraft by her nuns, and fearing the stake if

accused she went to Rome to beg for pardon of the Pope.

ITS PKOMOTERS AND CEITICS 563

She confessed that at six years of age the devil had appearedto her at twelve he had had intercourse with her and hadso continued for more than thirty years. By his aid she hadbeen lifted in the air while in church, and the consecrated host

had been conveyed to her through the air, giving her great

reputation for sanctity. She was pardoned by Paul III, whowas convinced of her repentance (pp. 205-6).

Wierus [i. e., Weyer] relates that in 1565 at the convent of

Nazareth^ diocese of Cologne, a young nun of fourteen namedGertrude confessed to her companions that she had had inter-

course with the devil. On their endeavoring to interfere theybecame all possessed by the demon. Wierus in the presenceof other learned men found in Gertrude's desk love letters

written by her to the demon (p. 206).

Various other cases. One at Laon in 1556 where the womanwas condemned to be strangled and burnt, but by mistake of

the executioner or rather by the judgment of God, for no

crime deserves it more she was burnt alive (p. 207).

In Valois and Picardy there are a kind of witches called

Cache-mares. Nicholas Noblet, a very rich farmer in Alto-

fonte in Valois, has told me that when a boy he often suffered

at night from incubi which they call Coche-mares and that

early next morning an old witch would always come to begfire or something else (p. 208).

This shows the confusion between nightmare and witchcraft.

Pontanus, lib. v, relates that, when the French were besieged

in Suessa (Naples) by the Spaniards and were grieviously in

want of water, some sorcerer priests dragged at night a crucifix

through the streets with curses and reviling and threw it into

the sea. Then they gave a Host to an ass and buried him

alive at the Church door. This was followed by a deluge of

rain which forced the enemy to raise the siege. This custom

of dragging crucifixes to obtain rain is practised in Gascony.I saw it at Toulouse done by boys in broad daylight in crowds

of people. In 1556 all the images were thrown into a well at

Salins, which was followed by abundant rain. The people

were taught this blasphemous wickedness by witches (p. 216).

Bodin seems to have no i uses of tempest-raising to add to those which he

quotes from Sprenger.

Cattle killed by burying powders a foot below ground. At

Bourgcs three hundred killed in one sheepfold in a moment.


The witches who were burnt at Poitiers in. 1564 confessed

that at their Sabbats Satan addressed them "Revenge your-

selves or die/' and theykilled many beasts and men to pre-

serve their lives from him (p. 217).

Monstrelet speaks of a witch at Compigne who used two

toads baptized by a priest, which would seem absurd^

if

instances of the kind were not met with every day. While

I am writing this, a woman at Laon is said to have given

birth to a toad, differing in appearance from other toads,

which the wondering midwife carried to the Prefect (pp.

218-9).Froissart relates the case of a courtier at Soissons who

applied to a witch for aid in revenge. She told him to baptize

a toad in the name of his enemy and give it a consecrated

host to eat, with other ceremonies omitted here (p. 219).

Barbara Dore at Senlis condemned in 1577 to be burnt

alive. She confessed that she had killed three men by throw-

ing a little powder wrapped in papers in the places where

they had to pass, repeating a formula "In the name of God

and of all the devils/' etc. (p. 221).

Billing with waxen images by no means certain.^

It suc-

ceeds in hardly more than 2 cases out of a hundred in which

it is tried. In 1574 a noble beheaded in Paris. He was found

in possession of a waxen image stabbed in head and heart,

and this was not the least of the causes of his punishment.

(Qy. was this La Molle? H. C. L.) In September, 1578,

the English ambassador announced that three waxen images

had been found buried in the mud bearing the names of the

Queen of England and of others, and a courtier of Islington

near London was suspected of it; but the matter had not

been determined when the news was sent (pp. 223-4).

Why are not our witches able to perform the marvels we

read of as wrought by Medea, Circe, Apollonius of Tyana,

etc.? Because God does not now allow to Satan the powers

granted him in pagan times (p. 226).

Frequent as magic is now-a-days, of old it was a hundred

times more so (p. 227).

Charity is the best safeguard against witchcraft. Witches

admit that they cannot injure charitable men, even if other-

wise vicious. Wierus relates 1 that the nuns of Werter, in the

county of Horn, were for three years troubled by demons

because they had lent to a poor old woman (a witch though1 See pp. 509-10 above. A comparison shows Bodin's inaccuracy.


they did not know it) a pound of salt on condition of her

returning 3 pounds in two months. She performed her

promise, grains of salt were found in the nunnery, and the

nuns were attacked by devils (p. 238).It is dangerous to refuse charity to a witch, not knowing

her to be one; more dangerous still to give her alms whenknown to be so, for she has more power over those who know-

ingly aid her than over others. Therefore it is necessary to

be careful about giving charity to reputed witches (p. 238).Bodin relates that, when he was officiating as prosecutor

in the great assembly (Grand Jours?) of Poitiers in 1567, he

had to do with two squalid sorcerers who had vainly asked

alms at a wealthy house, when they cast a spell by which all

the servants died raging mad not for this cause God gavethem over to the power of Satan, but, as they were reprobatesand pitiless, he was pitiless to them (p. 238).

There are sorcerers in Spain who make a profession of curingdisease called Salutadores (p. 245).

There was an old woman at Andes who professed to cure.

In 1573 she was interdicted by the judge, but appealed to

the Parlement, where her case was learnedly argued on both

sides. It was shown that she used cats7

brains, which are a

poison, and crows' heads. Judgment affirmed (pp. 245-6).

See Damhouder's case (c. xxxvii) of a witch who used her

power only for benevolent purposes and who yet was burnt

(p. 246).Bodin relates various cases of curing sorcery by transfer.

At Orleans a carpenter named Hulin le Petit was dying of a

disease inflicted by sorcery. He called in a man suspected of

sorcery who boasted that he could cure all diseases, who told

him he could only restore him by transferring the disease to

his son, a child at the breast. Hulin consented and the mantouched him and he was cured. He then called for the child,

but the nurse, who had heard the bargain, had fled with it

and it could not be found. The sorcerer exclaimed "Actumest de me" "My end has come where is the boy?

7 ' and

rushing out he had scarce set foot outside when the devil

killed him and his corpse was as black as if painted black.

One of the judges in a case at Nantes told me of a woman whowas accused of casting a spell on a neighbor, when the judges

ordered her to touch the victim, a thing often done in the

German courts, and even in the Imperial Chamber. She

refused and, when forced, she exclaimed, "My end has come/'


and as soon as she touched the sick woman she recoveredand the witch fell dead; her corpse was condemned to beburnt. At Bordeaux a student, whose friend was laboringunder a heavy quartain, told him he would transfer it to oneof his enemies; the sick man said he had no enemies; thenhe proposed to give it to his servant, but the other objected;then the sorcerer said,

" Give it to me/' and the other assented;the sick man recovered and the sorcerer died (pp. 248-9).

In 1579 Bodin saw in Paris an Auvergnat sorcerer whomade profession of curing horses and men. In his possessionwas found a large book full of hairs of horses, cattle, etc.

He took no money, saying that he would lose his power if hedid so, and wore a garment patched in a thousand places.He cured a horse by transferring its disease to the horse of anoble. Sent for to cure the latter, he transferred the disease

to a servant of the noble. Appealed to to cure the latter,he said he must have the noble's permission to return thedisease to the horse, for one or the other must die. The noblehesitated and while he hesitated the man died and thesorcerer was arrested (pp. 248-9).

Apparently the case was not concluded at the date of writing.

The devil gains at each change, for a better subject mustalways be selected, a finer horse, a man for a beast, a youngman for an old one, etc. (p. 249).

I had from one of the judges before whom it was tried atNantes an account of a case where a woman accused of bewitch-

ing a neighbor was ordered by the judges to touch her (as is

often done in Germany, even in the Imperial Chamber).She refused, but was forced to do so, when she exclaimed"I am lost," and fell dead the other recovering (p. 249).At Elten in the Duchy of Cleves in a public road travellers

were beaten and vehicles overturned without anything to beseen but a hand, popularly called Ekerken. This lasted for

a long while until at length, in 1535, a witch of the neighbor-hood named Sibylla DInscops was tried and burnt, when it

suddenly ceased (p. 252).Witchcraft flourishes because men hope to acquire by it

what they desire love, beauty, wealth, greatness, knowledge.Yet are they all deceived; for nothing uglier, poorer, moremiserable than witches can be conceived. Revenge is the

only success they achieve. There is a proverb which says"As ugly as a witch/' and Cardan, who was not the least


magician of his time, declares that he never saw a witch whowas not deformed (p. 254).

All rich men who cultivate magic to increase their store

become miserably and irrecoverably poor (p. 258). Kingswho seek the aid of magic are always unfortunate. Victorycomes from God and not the devil (p. 266).Demons stink, and from their acquired smell the ancients

called sorcerers "foetentes", and the Gascons call them"fetilleres" (p. 254).

Triscalain in the feats which he exhibited before the king

impressed him greatlyespecially with one performed withthe links of a gold chain so that the king ordered him to beremoved and would not see him again. In place of the

rewards which he expected he was condemned, as we said

before (p. 255).

This would seem to show that Triscalain was a juggler, and his trial as awizard was the result of the cleverness of his exhibitions before the king,and subsequent thereto.

He once raised a laugh against a priest in the presence of

his parishioners by exclaiming "See that hypocrite; he pre-tends to carry a breviary, but really has a pack of cards."

The priest took out his breviary to exhibit it, but it looked

to the bystanders like a pack of cards, so he threw it awayand went off mortified; but subsequently it was picked upand found to be a breviary (pp. 264-5).

After Triscalain's pardon he was again brought before

Charles IX in Poitou, where he entertained the king and court

with a full account of the Sabbat in all its details. Admiral

Coligny, who was present, confirmed the statement of the

deadly character of the witches' powder by relating an event

which had occurred in Poitou. Charles was then in perfect

health and Bodin remarks that, if he had ordered Triscalain

and others like him to be burnt, God would probably have

granted him a longer life. His death was likely a punishmentfor his ill-judged mercy. It is an unheard of thing in all

ages to spare witches (pp. 288-9).

These allusions to Triscalain are interesting as showing how readily a man

might earn the reputation of a magician. Bodin always speaks of him as

one of the greatest wizards of France.

Olaus Magnus speaks of Methotis, one of the greatest

magicians of his time, torn to pieces by the populace (p. 265).

"I questioned Jeanne Hervilliers, in whose trial I was con-


cerned, and she confessed that as soon as she fell into the

hands of justice the devil could do nothing for her, either to

liberate her or preserve her life" (p. 269).

Bodin repeats all the old superstitions about the inabilityof witches to harm judges or officials of justice or to escapefrom prison. If they attempt to fly away, as they sometimes

do, they fall and break their necks. They have, however,from the devil the gift of silence. They cannot shed tears

(p. 270).The question whether it is lawful to avert or cure magical

diseases by magic is the most perplexing of the whole subject.The jurists and canonists decide in the affirmative and someof the theologians, such as Scotus; but most of the latter,

and those the most experienced, as Aquinas, Bonaventure,Durandus, and Petrus Albertus (with whom Bodin agrees)decide that it is idolatry, and that it is better to die an honor-

able death than by witchcraft to transfer the disease to

another (pp. 275-6).He will not even admit that it is lawful to dig at the thresh-

old for bones and charms buried by witches to injure cattle

and men. Recourse should be had to God alone by prayer

(p. 282)."Jean Martin told me that when, while acting as Pr6fet of

Laon, he tried and condemned the witch of St. Proba, a masonwho had been bewitched by her so that his head was almostbent between his knees applied for a cure. Martin told her

that to cure him would be her best recommendation to

mercy. She then had a small package brought to her by her

daughter from her house, when she invoked the devil andmuttered some words with her head bent down. She thenordered the man to be placed in a bath and the package to

be thrown into it with the words 'Abi per diabolum. 7 Theman did so and was cured. Against her orders the packagewas examined and found to contain three small lizards.

The man said that while in the bath it seemed as thoughthree large carp were swimming round in it; but, when he

got out, neither fish nor lizards were to be found. The witchwas burnt alive'

7

(pp. 283-4).

This and the next case show that cures could be wrought without trans-

ferring the disease to someone else.

While this is writing a case has occurred to Charles Martin,Prfet of Laon. He ascertained that a poor woman of Laon


was bewitched by a neighbor. He threatened the witch with

death unless she would effect a cure. She went to the foot

of the bed of the invalid, called upon the devil, mutteredsome unknown words, and gave a piece of bread to the invalid,

who at once commenced to get well. Martin as soon as he

returned home resolved to arrest the witch and have her

burnt as soon as possible, but she had disappeared and wasseen no more (pp. 283-4).

This and the previous case illustrate Sprenger's teachings as to want of

faith.

In Germany, when a man believes himself or his cattle to

be bewitched, the court (even the Imperial Chamber) will

summon the presumed witch and make her address the suf-

ferer "Benedico tibi in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti,

in tuis bonis, sanguine et armento," and on the spot the

sufferer is made whole showing the pact existing betweenthe sorceress and Satan (p. 306).Demoniacal possession is not common in France, yet it is

sometimes met with. In Spain and Italy it is very frequent.Those possessed talk Greek and Latin and other languagesof which they are ignorant or, rather, it is the spirit that

talks, for they speak very eloquently while their tongues are

protruded far out of their mouths (pp. 293-4).In 1556, at Amsterdam, thirty boys were found possessed

by devils. They ejected bits of iron, cloth, hair, glass, andother things which are usually excreted by demoniacs (p. 306).

Several cases of women burnt because they had familiars

in the shape of dogs (p. 309).

Burning by a slow fire is an insufficient punishment for

witchcraft (p. 315). The punishment of burning does not

last more than a half-hour or an hour (pp. 315-16). The

object of punishing witches is to appease the wrath of God

impending over the people and to serve as a warning to others

(p. 316).Two years ago, at Haguenon near Laon, two witches

deserving death were condemned by the magistrates, the one

to be scourged and the other to be present at the scourging.

But the people arose, drove away the officials and stoned the

witches to death (p. 317).

Bodin evidently approves of this lynch law.

I used to wonder why so many princes eagerly pursued the

crimes of robbery, theft, usury, etc., and left witches undis-


turbed; but I have found that they were either magicians

themselves or patrons of magic (p. 317).

Is this a slap at Charles IX?

After the blind wizard in Paris accused 150 accomplices,

the matter began to attract more attention, and after the

death of Charles IX the judges were less restrained in their

action as they had been under Henry II (p. 319).

It would seem that there was little persecution under Charles IX.

One or two extraordinary judges should be added in each

jurisdiction to aid in these persecutions. The judge should

not, as in other crimes, wait for complaints or for the action

of the procureur du roi, but should make inquiries and bring

the matter up himself. (That is, be both accuser and judge

-H. C. L.) But, as some of them doubt whether they ought

to institute prosecutions, the public prosecutor ought to be

vigilant; for of all things this is the one that they should be

most vigilant about. When they are not so the accusations

of private parties should be heard and all the restrictions

usual in other crimes be disregarded, only preserving the

general principles of law (pp. 319-20).

Formerly this crime belonged to the ecclesiastical courts,

as may be seen by a decree of Parlement in 1282, at the

instance of the Bishop of Paris; but subsequently by decree

of Parlement in 1390 it was removed from the ecclesiastical

and given to the secular courts. Then Poulaillier, military

tribune of Laon, endeavored to try several witches whom he

had seized, but was prevented by decree of court, for at that

time Satan so managed that everything that was said about

witches was regarded as fabulous (pp. 319-20).

The people fear witches more than God or judges and it

is therefore very difficult to get them to accuse. It would be

well to adopt the Scottish custom, practised also at Milan,of a box in the churches in which any one can throw a paper

containing the name of a witch with place, date, circumstances

and names of witnesses. Two locks, with keys in hands of

judge and procureur, to be opened every fifteen days (p. 321).

Though in ordinary crimes the denunciation of an accom-

plice is not received, yet in this impunity or diminished pun-ishment should be promised to those who will accuse their

accomplices (p. 322).


The Imperial jurisprudence made crimes against the state exceptional.It was easy to argue that the crime laesae divinae majestatis was moreheinous than humanae majestalis.

The names of informers should not be divulged unless it

is an evident calumny, or the accused is wholly absolved, as

directed in the edict of Moulins (q. v.). No rules to be

strictly observed in so atrocious a crime (p. 321).

The children of witches should be seized, for they often are

cognizant of their mother's crimes and at their tender age

they can be persuaded or forced to speak. In this way Boninof Chateauroux learned all particulars, and thus the witch of

Loigny mentioned above was convicted (p. 322).

The judge should examine the witch as soon as she is

arrested, for then she is frightened and feels that Satan has

deserted her. But if she is left in prison for a few days Satan

comforts and instructs her (p. 323). They are not to be left

alone in chains, for Satan converses with them (p. 325).

The judge should pretend to commiserate them and attrib-

ute their errors to Satan, who forced them to crime (p. 326).

If torture is to be used, it is well to make great show of prep-aration of implements and torturers; and, before taking themto the torture chamber, to have some one there to shriek

horribly, and then tell them that a man is being tortured.

I have seen one judge who could threaten them with so

savage a look that they were frightened to confession. Craftyand experienced spies should be confined with them who

pretend to be accused of the same crime, so as to cajole themto confession or they may be told that their accompliceshave accused them, though nothing of the sort has occurred.

All this is permitted by divine and human law (pp. 327-8).

He follows this by a defence of lying for a good purpose,

but he does not, like Sprenger, advocate false promises (p.

328).List of indubitable proofs, sufficient for condemnation with-

out confession (pp. 331-4).He considers that in this crime a single eligible witness

should be sufficient for torture though not in other offences

(p. 337).Infamous witnesses admitted in this crime. No exceptions

for relationships as in other crimes. Daughters can be forced

to testify against mothers (pp. 340-1).

Mortal enmity the only objection to a witness. Counsel

can be forced to testify against their clients. A witness who


has been convicted of perjury, however, cannot be received

(pp. 342-3).It is only by the evidence of accomplices that their presence

at the Sabbat can be proved. Sprenger shows that such evi-

dence was received in Germany, and Grillandi in Italy.

Here1 it always was received, up to that miserable time when

opportunity was given to those involved in this execrable

crime to conceal their infamy (p. 343).

Witches often so tormented by the devil that they desire

death. Of such the confessions are not to be received unless

they contain homicide or some similar crime (pp. 344-5).

Scarcely one witch in 1000 is punished (p. 356).

If the child of a witch disappears, the presumption of lawis that it has been sacrificed to the devil (pp. 359-60).Common report is in this crime a praesumptio vehementis-

sima and is sufficient for torture (pp. 360-1). In the case of

witches it is scarcely possible that popular ruinor can beincorrect (p. 362).M. Anthoine de Lonan, Vicar General du Hoi at Ribemont,

says that a witch whom he condemned stated that they can

weep three tears with the right eye (p. 364).In 1536, at Casale in Piedmont, forty witches were caught

who used to anoint the handles of doors to kill those whotouched them, and the same was done in Geneva in 1568,where for seven years there was a pestilence that killed many(p. 365).In this crime many kinds of evidence are sufficient for con-

demnation which in others are only sufficient for torture

(p. 366). Witches are not to be tortured rashly, for theycare little for it and by its means are often able to escapedeath. Bodin's own practice was to torture children and

1 By "here" (in hoc regno) Bodin means, of course, in France. It was this per-sistent doubt as to the witch-sabbath, this reluctance of the courts to admit testi-

mony under torture as to who were seen there, that indeed was blocking the witch-

procedure. Ponzinibio and Weyer found everywhere disciples; and despite Bodinand his book, despite Binsfeld and Remy and Del Rio, both the Roman and the

Spanish Inquisitions were, before the end of the century, discouraging such accusa-tions. It was his wish to do justice to this attitude of the courts of the Church thatstirred Mr. Lea to this history of witchcraft. The Church courts were, of course,far from questioning the possibility of the Sabbat or of the witch-flight thither; butnevertheless, says Cardinal Albizzi, since oftener they are not transported bodily,but only by illusion and in fancy, "new solum in Suprema [i. e., the Inquisition's]non seroatur opinio quod ex dido duorum Sagarum oriatur indicium ad torturam , . .

aed nee faciunt indicium ad inguirendum. . Et quod Strigibua affirmantibusae in ludis Diabolicia vidisae tales peraonaa non credatur ad gu&mcunque effectual contra

illaa, guia "hdbentur pro illusionibua, resolut pluriea Suprema, aed praeaertim in unaFerrarien. 12 Novembris 1594, et in altera Firmana4 Februarii 1595. Et ex hocceaaat

confLictus opinionum Doctorum." Albizzi, De Inconstantia in Jure (1683), p. 35f> ~-B.


delicate persons, but not those who were old and hardened

(p. 367). Confession under torture requires to be confirmed

after twenty-four hours (p. 368).There is no punishment cruel enough for the wickedness

of witchcraft (p. 375).When there is neither satisfactory evidence nor confession

nor proof of any act having been committed, but only light

presumption, the accused is neither to be absolved nor con-

demned, but to be discharged and the matter reserved for

further consideration. If the presumptions are violent, in

this crime the accused may be put to death; but it is better

to substitute some other punishment, such as scourging,

mutilation, fines, confiscation or perpetual imprisonment.The latter is the best. It is the most dreaded by witches,but companions skilled in witchcraft should always be placedwith them (pp. 386-8).

If there has been an act committed, and there is violent

presumption against the accused, he should be put to death

(p. 393).The judge who does not put to death a convicted witch

should be put to death himself (p. 396).

Gypsies are generally witches, as has been found by judg-ments rendered (p. 401).

Many priests are wizards and almost all witches have

priests for their accomplices, to give them hosts, place rings

and charms under the altar cloth and furnish them with other

things necessary for their incantations (p. 405).

Children guilty of witchcraft, if convicted, are not to be

spared, though, in consideration of their tender age, they may,if penitent, be strangled before being burnt (p. 408).

The canonists all agree that penitence does not diminish

the punishment, and that after absolution by the church

the secular courts can execute the penalty (p. 408).

This agrees with Sprenger.

Witches often take refuge in monasteries to hide their

wickedness under the garb of sanctity. This only increases

their guilt, and the magistrate should not hesitate to prosecute

them (p. 409).A man accused of magic should never be entirely acquitted

unless the prosecution can clearly be proved to have been

the work of malice. If the strict forms of law were adhered

to, not one witch in 100,000 would be punished (p. 415).


At Verigny near Coucy a woman accused of many acts of

witchcraft. Discharged for want of proof. Then followed

the deaths of many men and beasts. She died April, 1579,and at once these deaths ceased (p. 416).

At the end of the Daemonomania there follows Rodin's "OpinionumJoannis Wieri Confutatio." Weyer had [earlier] published his book "DePraestigiis Daemonum." Lately he had issued that "De Lamiis," in

which he boasted that his former work had changed public opinion, that

witches were now being liberated in place of burnt, and he stigmatized as

butchers those judges who still persisted in the old customs. Bodin, whoin his judicial capacity had condemned witches to the stake, is keenlysensitive to this, and explains that such an opinion could only proceed froma most ignorant or a most wicked man. But Weyer, as a physician, is not

ignorant. Therefore (pp. 417-18) .

The "De Praestigiis" was re-printed at B&le in 1578. In

it Weyer gave all the formulae, imprecations, invocations,

charms, etc., of sorcerers, thus leading to infinite wickedness.

At the end he gave an Index of Devils, showing 72 chiefs and

7,405,926 subordinates, with their several functions andoffices (Bodin, p. 418).

Weyer believed fully in the hierarchy of devils, but denied witchcraft.

In the" De Lamiis", cap. 4 et ult., he [Weyer] says that the

wonders apparently performed by witches are really the workof Satan (Bodin, p. 434).

Weyer boasts of being a pupil and friend of Cornelius

Agrippa the prince of magicians in his day, who died in the

hospital at Grenoble. He says the celebrated black dog wasonly a dog, which he led away with a halter, after Agrippa 's

death (pp. 420-21).

Agrippa really was an astrologer and predicted the future from the stars

but he despised the art as trifling, and complained bitterly of the princeswho wasted their talents on such investigations when they might turn their

services to so much better account. See passages from his letters quotedby Bayle, Diet. Hist., s.v. Agrippa.

MICHAELIS, SEBASTIEN. Pneumalogie, ou Discours des

Esprits en taut qu'il est de besting pour entendre et resouldre la

matiere difficile des Sorciers, comprinse en la sentence centre

eux donn&e en Avignon Van de grace 1582. Paris, 1587. (Re-printed in the account of Gauffredi,

1

Paris, 1613, Lyon., 1614.)

Michaelis was a Dominican, a Doctor in Theology, and addressed hiswork to Federic Ragueneau, Bishop of Marseilles.

1 Entitled "Histoire admirable do la Possession et Conversion d'une Penitente."The Lea Library also has an English translation of this, published in London, 1613.


In the dedication he finds fault with the truckling spirit

which discards the use of the words Diable and Sathan and

adopts the complimentary term Demon. He also wishes

that in French there was a word suitable "& Pordure et infamede la miserable condition de ses aveugles et plus que bestiaux

sortiers" that word meaning only those who deal in sortes,

or lots for which he suggests Didbolo-latres or Sathano-

latres or at least Diabolistes or Sathanistes.

His first chapter (ff. 1-10) is devoted to proving that there

are spirits, both good and evil.

Chap. 2 (ff. 11-22) discusses the question whether spirits

have a body one of the most difficult questions in philos-

ophy and theology. Concludes that they are incorporeal andinvisible.

Chap. 3 (ff. 23-33) is on the creation of spirits good andevil. God created them good, but some rebelled under Satanand became evil; they concentrate on man the rage of their

defeat.

Chap. 4 (ff. 33-39). They can do nothing without first

asking permission of God, and God permits them to temptmen, but not beyond their power of resistance (fol. 36).

Chap. 5 (ff. 40-49). The object of Satan is to be adored

as God, but he cannot foretell the future nor read the humanheart.

Chap. 6 (ff. 49-60). Proves from Scripture and other

sources the existence of sorcerers. The devil is constantly

inventing new devices for them to work evil (fol. 56).

Chap. 7 (ff. 60-63). In explaining that there are morefemale than male sorcerers he says that just as we see that

honest women throw the first stones at sorcerers and cry out

loudest that they must be burnt, so women sorcerers are moreobstinate and given to evil and commit more execrable things,

such as strangling little children, presenting them to the devil

and making the unguent of their fat, things which men sor-

cerers rarely or never do (ff. 61-2).

Chap. 8 (ff. 63-72). Answers those who ask what dangeris there in serving the devil. In all the long and wanderingtalk of this chapter the only point connected with the subject

is that God prohibited all commerce with Satan so strictly

that those who addressed themselves to magicians and sor-

cerers were ordered to be lapidated without mercy (fol. 65).

He concludes by saying that sorcerers were to be put to death

in a manner to terrify and serve as warning, as has this year,


1582, been piously executed at Avignon, as can be understood

by the sentence given in the following chapter.

The sentence is followed by a number of scholia, Drawinglessons from various features of it -rambling and discursive

chatter of no possible profit. However, in considering the

mark affixed by the devil, he says that this alone suffices to

convince those, who think that these are dreams. For experi-

ence proves that this mark is so leprous that it is perfectly

insensible, so that (as we have seen with our eyes and proved

with a needle or pin) if a pin is stuck in it secretly, they feel

it no more than if they were lepers. But care must be taken

that they do not perceive it, for then they pretend to feel it,

and not a drop of blood follows (fol. 88).

The Sabbats take place on Thursday nights, when the

witches are transported to them (fol. 90). It never takes

place except on Thursdays (fol. 116).

Each witch has to make her own ointment out of the fat

of infants whom she kills (fol. 92).

He explains the form of goat or other beast adopted bythe demon as because God will not permit him to be adored

in the same human shape as Christ wore (ff, 102-3).

But after the adoration he can take human form and have

intercourse as incubus or succubus (fol. 105).

Winds up with a long discussion as to illusion or reality

and concludes for the latter, as there is reality in the murder

of infants, the devil-mark, the injuries wrought on men and

beasts, etc. (fol. 113).

He attaches much importance to the fact that the French

sorcerers of the present time confess the same things as those

of Germany, who are and have been there for 60 or 80 years

(fol. 116).

This looks decidedly as though witchcraft was of recent introduction in

France.

BINSFELD, PETER. Tractatus de Confessionibus Malefi-

corum et Sagarum. An et quantafides Us adhibenda sit? Editio

quarta, correctior et auctior, Coloniae Agripp., 1623.

The first ed, was Trier, 1589, followed by eds. in 1591, 1596 (reprinted in

1605), and by eds. in German, Trier, 1590, and Munchen, 1592. The later

editions, from 1591 on, also contain his Commentarius in Titulum Codicis

lib. ix de Malefic, et Mathematic,, a work of about the same size as the

former, which in his 1596 edition he says (p. 282) he will print [separately] in

1597. Binsfeld, who was Suffragan Bishop of Trier, had taught theology

at Prum and was evidently a man of great learning. His references show


bim to be familiar with all the authorities in Theology and Canon and Civil

Law, besides a tolerably wide range of reading on collateral subjects. Hiswork was one which undoubtedly was of considerable influence, as shownnot only by its repeated editions but by the frequent references to it bysubsequent demonologists.

He explains in the dedication that the world is daily rushingto greater wickedness, wherefore the Prince of Darkness is

seen to persecute the miserable human race with greater force

and more oppressive tyranny. For God in wrath at the

depravity of man permits the evil spirits, who bear us the

greatest ill-will, to exercise their power and contrive all evils

in destruction not only of the soul but of the body and all

the substance provided for the preservation of the humanrace.

Thus God permits the demon to tempt many and lead theminto all malice and iniquity, among whom the highest placeis sought by those who on account of the greatness of their

crimes the people call malefici, than whom none of the humanrace are more wicked, none more damnable, none more per-nicious to the Republic or nearer to demons.

Firstly, witches renounce God and their baptism, they makecovenant with death and hell, they worship the demon andoften devote themselves to his perpetual service, they abuse

themselves with incubi and succubi, who carry them throughthe air by night to distant places where they hold their assem-

blies and conspire against the common prosperity, so that bytheir incantations, sorceries and diabolical conjurations they

may disturb the elements, destroy the fruits of the earth and

of trees, slay men and cattle, strangle infants and burn themto ashes, which they use in then* sorceries, render men impo-tent and women barren, and work other horrors and abomina-

tions which righteous humanity blushes to recall, as by the

decrees and laws of the popes and fathers, their own confes-

sions, the testimony of judges and the examples related herein

are demonstrated to satiety. As thus they commit the most

enormous crimes, which no one of sane mind can doubt, theyare properly, by divine and human law, to be punished with

death and removed from human society. It is indecent and

improper to permit to live those who lay snares for the lives

of others, and it is cruelty to spare them who so cruelly ill-

treat the innocent.

This crime long lay hid, and spread its poison far and wide,

so that it could be partially extirpated with labor and diffi-

VOL. IT 37


culty; and many, who are moved with too great compassionfor this, the worst of the human race, ask when there is to be

an end to the burning of sorcerers and witches, to which the

answer is that punishment must continue as long as crime.

As long as there are malefici the sentence must be uttered :

"Fire for malefici, fire for sagae, fire for raa#^n

Epist. Dedi-

catoria.

He writes the book to resolve the doubts of many who,wise in their own conceit, pronounce the stories of witches

to be dreams and imaginations, proving that their confessions

are true and that their accusations of accomplices are to be

received and acted upon. Tractatus de Confessionibus etc.,

p. 1.

He who pertinaciously asserts that witchcraft is composedof dreams and inventions is a heretic and no Christian. Andthis proceeds from another heresy which denies the existence

of the devil (p. 3).

He attacks Weyer for asserting that stories of witches are

delusions and phantasms (p. 18).

Johannes Trithemius' "De reprobis et maleficis ad quaes-tiones propositas a Maximiliano Caesare" is quoted on p. 21

in support of the reality of witchcraft.

In 1591, when Binsfeld's second edition had appeared, a

Doctor of Theology (whose name is kindly concealed 1

) wrotea work to prove that witchcraft is a fable and its persecutiona wrong. It was partly in type by a printer in Cologne whenthe authorities interfered and suppressed the work, while the

author was forced to recant by the Papal Nuncio, Ottavio,

Bishop of Tricarico (pp. 28-9).

Story of Meisenbein's Anna of Rover [Ruwer], near Trier,

burnt alive at Trier, October 20, 1590, on the denunciation of

her own son, Johannes Cuno, a youth of eighteen, of goodparts, a student of the humanities and a poet. She hadseduced him to witchcraft when only nine years old. He con-

fessed without torture, was penetrated with contrition, andwhen the officials offered to let him be beheaded he refused,

preferring, in penance for his crimes, to be burnt with anotherwitch condemned to the stake, He was mercifully strangledbefore burning. After his judicial confession, he wrote it

out in German, mixed with Latin words, and from this Bins-

feld quotes. He had fallen in love with a girl and seduced

1 This means Cornells Loos, see below p. 601 and also Burr, Fate of Dietrich

Flade, p. 47.

ITS PBOMOTEES AND CRITICS 579

her. On one occasion a succubus assumed her form and pre-sented him with fourteen crowns, which soon after turned to

rottenness. He consulted his mother, who told him it was all

right, and that evening placed him on a broom and led himto the road, where they found a goat, mounting which theywere carried to Hetzenroderheidt, a [German?] mile fromRover [Ruwer], and a celebrated place for assemblages of

witches. Here his mother presented him to the devil and herenounced Christ and joined the sect. All this was confirmed

by the mother's confession. His denunciation of his motherwas purely out of filial piety, to save her soul. She hadseduced all her four children. The two eldest were hangedand burnt; the two youngest, being mere children, were

imprisoned to be instructed. Her own story was that, beingill-treated by her husband and one of her children dying, she

thought herself abandoned by God, and called on the devil,

who immediately appeared. Both she and another witch

named Maria, burnt November 10, 1588, near Trier, hadfound by experience that when they accidentally named Godor Jesus at the Sabbat the whole assemblage immediately

disappeared and they had to return home on foot. One thingis notable in the case of Anna. The official of the Abbot of

S. Maximin at Trier had jurisdiction over her. She fled from

his perquisition to Cologne, where she concealed herself, but

his messengers found her out and the Cologne magistratesdelivered her to him. He collected evidence against her andlaid it before the praetor and eschevins of Trier, who ordered

her to be tortured if she would not confess. Thus, althoughshe was a justiciable of the church, she was tried and con-

demned by the secular authorities (pp. 30-33, 54-58).The difference between pactum expressum and pactum taci-

turn is that the former is entered into with words, writings, or

signs, and the latter by using the means which infer belief in

and willingness to employ demonic aid (p. 33).

It is curious to observe the acuteness with which the reality of sorcery is

proved by arguments drawn not only from theology and the Scriptures, but

from etymology, physics, laws and almost every other source, the subject

being treated as a dry legal and philosophical question, the nature, powers,and attributes of the devil being developed with the minutest detail, and the

relations between him and the witch being discussed with reference to legal

principles as though it were a contract between two merchants or land

owners. The coolness with which the necessary premises are assumed, and

the ingenuity with which texts in favor are construed to the strictest letter


and those adverse are explained away, are only equalled by the logical

strictness of the deductions.

A belief in the efficacy of the signs and characters used in sorcery seems to

be a natural sequence to the belief in crossings, holy water, relics, the sacra-

ments and other human ministrations, and the theologians did not hesitate

to make use of this argument. The belief in the supernatural potency of

these signs, etc., was of very old date (see Tractatus, pp. 43-4).

Infernal Hierarchy. Lucifer is the demon of pride, Mam-mon of avarice, Asmodeus of lechery, Satan of anger and dis-

cord, Beelzebub of gluttony, Leviathan of envy, Belphegorof sloth (apparently the seven deadly sins H. C. L.). Each

of these has innumerable minor demons to do his bidding and

tempt men, each to his particular sin (pp. 47-8).

The devil can assume any shape of men or beasts, but it

is observable that he has never appeared in that of a dove,

which was the form taken by the Holy Ghost, nor in that of

a sheep, because Christ styled himself a shepherd and the

faithful his flock but he often appears as a goat, which is a

terrible-looking and ill-smelling animal (pp. 65-6).

It was a question zealously argued by the schoolmen

whether, if the devil should assume the likeness of Christ,

he could be ignorantly worshipped without sin. Caution

displayed by holy men whom he thus sought to deceive. See

Gerson, Tract, de Spirit. Decernend. (pp. 66-9).

Notwithstanding the apparition of Samuel to Saul, the

Doctors agree that departed souls are not to be evoked bymagic neither those which are in Heaven nor in Purgatory,nor in Hell each for good and sufficient reasons. Such appa-ritions are merely demons in the form of the departed (pp.

80-2).Haunted Houses. No one doubts that houses are disturbed

by the noises and freaks of spirits, but they are not the ghostsof the dead, but demons. The antiquity of this belief is shown

by Gregory, lib. iii Dialog., c. 4. Also Pliny, lib. vii, Epist.,

Epistola ad Suram, gives one framed on the best modernmodel. See also story of Pausanias and Cleonice in Plutarch,

Vit. Cymon.; also Aelian, Var., lib. viii; Strabo, lib. vi; and

Augustin, Civ. Dei, xxii, 8. Binsfeld himself knew of twohouses thus haunted. Jurists dispute whether a tenant can

abandon a house thus disturbed, but the question has been

repeatedly decided in favor of the tenant (pp. 80-89). See

also a case related by Guill. Paris., quoted p. 90; Simeon,

Metaphrast. in Vit. S. Theod. Archimandritae (p. 100);


Pet. Clurdacens., De Mirac., lib. i, cc. 6, 14, 16 (p. 102); Luci-

anus, in Dialogo Philopseude (p. 104).Dardanarii are speculators who by aid of demons foresee

times of scarcity and buy up crops to sell at a profit. For

legislation against them see Busson and Vicat. In moderntimes they league themselves with witches and attend the

Sabbat, so as to destroy the harvests when their own granariesare full (pp. 115-18).Crimes of magic and sorcery are subject to both secular

and ecclesiastical courts. In so far as they include heresy,

they are ecclesiastical in so far as injury to men, or beasts,or things, they are secular. When judged by ecclesiastical

courts the convict is handed over to the secular arm as in

other cases of heresy (p. 119).The ordinary operations of witches and sorcerers are mani-

fest heresy (manifestam sapiunt haeresim) . Then it may beasked why, if this crime is assimilated to heresy, there should

not be confiscation. Julius Clarus says that by custom it is

not used and that this is observed in practice. We may saythat in this as in others it is most justly abrogated by Carolina,art. penult. But human avarice eludes the justest laws, for

some judges, getting nothing from confiscations, pile up fees

and expenses against justice, to such an extent that they con-

fiscate the property of the accused so that they often reduce

widows and children to the deepest poverty, thus exposingthem to fresh temptation of the devil. To what such judgesare compared see Carolina, art. 205 (pp. 120-1).Reasons alleged by the Doctors for the zeal wherewith

demons lead men to sorcery. They are filled with hatred of

God, and being able to effect nothing against the divine

majesty, they transfer their anger to man, made in his image.

Moreover, man is heir to celestial life, of which they are

deprived, and envy impels them to rob him of it (p. 121).

The principal cause of the spread of witchcraft is the

ignorance of the priesthood, who are too idle and uncultured

to cope with the devil- and this ignorance he seems to have

brought about for that purpose (pp. 125-6). The next cause

is the indifference of the civil magistrates who neglect to seek

out and punish these malefactors, either through sloth or

unbelief (pp. 126-8). The third cause is infidelity, including

superstition. Curious list of superstitions and rules for deter-

mining what is superstition and what is faith. Belief in ordeals

included among superstitions (pp. 129-30). The fourth cause

582 THE DELUSION" AT ITS HEIGHT

Is vain curiosity the fifth, insatiable avarice the sixth, con-

cupiscence the seventh, blasphemy and imprecation the

eighth, in women, weakness, despondency in tribulation anddesire for revenge (pp. 138-43).The cause of perseverance in witchcraft is the belief, which

the devil instils, that God is irrevocably offended. He so

besets his worshippers that they have no peace and manywomen have preferred to be burnt rather than to fall againin his clutches though there is pardon for all (pp. 143-9).

Scripture and the Fathers teach us that every man has his

attendant good angel and also his evil demon. Ample author-

ities quoted for the latter Chrysostom, horn. 40 in Matth.;Lactantius, De Orig. Erroris, ii, 15; Cassian, collat. viii, c. 17;Thomas Aquinas, I pars, q. 113. The demons of sorcerers are

known by them as Martinetti or Martinelli, but we call themAmasii (pp. 151-7).

Sorcerers can work no miracles. The wonders they effect

are produced by purely natural causes, and if sorcery werestudied in the schools it would be called physics. Curiouslist of natural phenomena to illustrate this (pp. 157-61).

It is heresjr to assert that demons or sorcerers can transformmen into beasts see Cap. Episcopi. This impossibility is

generally admitted. See Augustin, Civ. Dei, xviii, 17, 18;Thomas Aquinas, I pars, q. 114, art, 4, ad 2; Alph. a Castro,De Justa Haeret. Punit., i, c. 14. Bodin is thus in error in

asserting the existence of lycanthropy, and the stories of menchanged into beasts are false. But demons can create illusions

by which men may appear to have the shape of animals (pp.

162-71) and they can create frogs, serpents, snails and other

imperfect animals which are formed from decomposition. SeeThomas Aquinas, I pars, q. 114, art. 4, ad 2 (pp. 171-2).Some physicians and jurists deny the possibility of carnal

intercourse between demons and men and women, but theyare advocates of sorcerers. The experience of mankind for

more than a thousand years has shown it to be so and all theFathers and Doctors of the church, from Augustin (Civ. Dei,v, 23), declare it, and it is a matter of daily experience fromthe confessions of men and women. According to all the

Doctors, children born of such unions are not children of the

devil, for the reason elsewhere alleged (pp. 172-9).

Yet his quotations from Cassiamis, coll. viii, c. 21, Chrysostom, Horn. 22in Genes., and Philastrius, Adv. Haeres., c. 108, would seem to show thatthese fathers denied the possibility of such intercourse. (Refer to them.)

ITS PEOMOTEBS AND CRITICS 583

See p. 192 for his assertion of the authenticity of the legalrecords from which he draws his examples of contemporarycases.

A certain Maria, burnt at Treves in 1598 (see case describedon p. 54), was fearfully beaten by her demon in prison after

confession. He endeavored to pull her tongue out and wouldhave succeeded, had not her outcries summoned assistance

(pp. 191-2).Bartoloimneo de Spina relates a case in which a young

woman of Bergamo was found naked in the bed of a youngcousin in Venice, and related that the night before she hadseen her mother get up, strip herself, and anoint herself withan unguent from a pot which she took from among the tiles,

and then disappear. Urged by curiosity, the girl followed

her example and suddenly found herself in the chamber of

the boy at Venice, where she saw her mother endeavoring to

bewitch him. Both were terrified, and the girl invoked thename of Christ and the Virgin, when the mother disappearedand the girl remained. The family informed the Inquisitorof Bergamo, who seized the mother, when under torture she

confessed that she had endeavored more than fifty times to

bewitch the boy, but had always failed because he had been

protected with the sign of the cross and prayer (pp. 211-2).Numerous contemporary instances of witchcraft cited (pp.

213-6).It is an admitted rule of law "Nemo de proprio crimine

confitentem super conscientia aliena scrutetur/'from whichresults the rule "Nulli de se confesso super aliorum crimine

creditur," which is customarily urged by the inexperiencedadvocates of malefici, however infirm and fragile it is in the

present matter, as will be seen hereafter. For majestas is

excepted, and other crimes such as robbery, coining, treach-

ery, conspiracy, sorcery and witchcraft, heresy and other

crimes, for which see the doctors. These are expressly

excepted (pp. 221-2).There is great difference between excepted and non-excepted

crimes. In non-excepted, if a judge examines a witness

against the rule, he is guilty of mortal sin; the defendant is not

required to answer truly, but may equivocate, if he avoids

lying, and if he incriminates others it does not prejudice them.

In excepted crimes, the judge sins mortally if he does not thus

interrogate the culprit, and the latter is bound to answer truly

(p. 223).


Although legists are agreed that the relationship between

parents and children excuses them from denouncing eachother in cases of laesae majestatis, yet this does not hold with

respect to heresy, wherein they are bound to save each others'

souls if possible by accusation, and it is the same with the

crime of witchcraft. But it is not very humane for judges bytorture to compel this, for the tie of blood is strong andnatural reverence strikes with horror (pp. 225-6).Those judges act unjustly who compel the confessed culprit

to [accuse those against whom] there are no indicia (p. 228).l

[As to accomplices] the judge is bound to interrogate andthe culprit to answer truly and his denunciation is to bebelieved. But the judge must not inquire as to individuals,for this is to suggest them and is a most evil act, and they sin

most gravely who force by every means, per fas et nefas, the

culprit to reveal his accomplices. Forbidden in Carolina,art. 31, to inquire about individuals (pp. 230-1).But when there are presumptions or indicia against persons

it is allowable to enquire about them [by name] as "fuit

Berta in conventu maleficarum quando a principe tenebrarum

accepisti unguentum ad maleficiandum Sempronium." Forthis he cites ample authorities and says he thinks no learned

one doubts it. So, when there are two or three denunciations

against any one, it is licit to ask about her (p. 232).

This explains the number of denunciations which we sometimes find

against an individual as present in the Sabbat.

The efficacy of the process employed is shown by Binsfeld's

argument to prove the truth of these denunciations against

accomplices; for he says it commonly appears that thedenounced is guilty, and, if by chance it happens that a false

denunciation is made, experience shows that a hundred ormore tell the truth (p. 237).The denunciation of a single accomplice is sufficient for

inquisition, but not for torture. If there is presumption or

other indicia, it suffices for torture (pp. 240-3).But the denunciation must be made under torture. This

is common among the doctors, for the witness is infamous and

1 Mr. Lea here errs in ascribing to Binsfeld's p. 228 what he has gathered insteadfrom the pages just following But too important for omission is the passage he hasmarked in pencil on p. 228, where Binsfeld declares that "those judges violate justiceand the divine command who by tortures and threats compel a culprit who alreadyhas confessed the crime charged to confess other things, as to which there were noindicia, and to make what amounts to a general confession of a whole life."


vile by Ms own confession and this defect must be purged bytorture (p. 243).The denunciation should be made under oath, either before

the torture or in confrontation (p. 245).After discussing whether one or more indicia suffice for

torture he concludes that it is impossible to lay down abso-lute rules so that much must be left to judicial discretion

whether one or more are requisite; but in this as in all else

the discretion of the judge must conform to equity, as other-

wise it is invalid (p. 248).But some ignorant judges are in fault by requiring such

an amount of indicia that in this most secret crime scarce

any one will dare to denounce. The laws, doctors and prac-tice of the most learned courts agree in requiring for these

crimes lighter suspicions and smaller indicia than in others

(p. 249).A frequent and puzzling case is when the accused under

torture denounces two or three accomplices and duly con-

firms it, but when at the stake, either through pressure of the

persons denounced or of the confessor, asks for a moment's

delay and, turning to the people, says, "I entreat you all to

pardon me and pray God for my soul because I have de-

nounced so and so as accomplices; I retract it, for I know noevil of them/

7

after which she is duly burnt. The questionwhether this annuls the denunciation has been little dis-

cussed by the doctors, but he decides it in the negativebecause the revocation is extrajudicial and not attended with

the solemnities requisite. Besides, when led to execution

they are so oppressed with fear that they are not in their

right minds, and have not full judgment. To be valid, the

accusation ought to have been revoked when brought before

the court to confirm it (when the party would have been

promptly tortured again H. C. L.). Confessors ought to

urge the penitent to denounce accomplices, or if they have

falsely accused any, to withdraw it with the same solemnitybefore sentence; if they postpone this to the time of execu-

tion, the stimulus of conscience and the terror of death maylead the culprit to cast her whole confession in doubt. Also,

after sentence the judge should not permit the culprit to be

disturbed by importunities to revoke (pp. 249-53).In heresy when one confesses as to himself and others and

varies in his confessions, that is to be accepted which reveals

heresy. This is a privilege conceded in favor of the faith and


religion. So great is the favor to the faith that, although in

other crimes when there is doubt it is safer to absolve the

guilty than to condemn the innocent, yet in heresy andmatters of the faith every one is presumed to be a heretic.

And this is applicable to sorcery with greater strength, since

it is the most atrocious of all crimes, destructive to religion

and bringing many evils on the Republic. Besides, it alwaysinfers heresy and inquisitors have always applied to it the

methods of detection and proof provided by the canons for

heretics (pp. 254-5).If two or three culprits under torture accuse others, it is

the duty of the judge, without other indicia, to arrest andtorture those denounced. It is true that, if subjects of a

person of power and authority thus accuse him, it perhaps

may be presumed that they do so out of hatred; but, if the

accused are of low condition or the same as the accusers,

justice must have its course. This obtains in all exceptedcrimes and especially in this, the most atrocious of all (pp.

256-9).All doctors agree that in default of proof, or to support it,

"admittuntur testes non integri, inhabiles, infames et socii

criminum." Now, by the nature of the case, the truth cannotbe had otherwise in sorcery, of which the operations, assem-

blies and conjurations are held secretly at night and in remote

places, whence they are called striges, or nocturnal birds.

What man, constantly with his wife, day and night, will dareto affirm her innocence, or what woman will pronounce herhusband free of this crime? (pp. 259-61).

"Regulare et juridicum est quod propter enormitatem et

immanitatem criminis jura et statuta transgredi licet. . . .

In venerabili Paschae die, propter immanitatem admittiturtortura ad honorem Dei. , . . Atque si haec omnia in

ullo crimine locum habeant, in hoc nostro proposito in summogradu obtinebunt. . . . Estne ullus canon aut lex autstatutum quod daemonem cum sua societate includat?"Wherefore in the name of God and the common safety hebeseeches judges to observe these rules laid down by themost learned doctors and not to cease from trial and execu-tion on the days specially consecrated to God (pp. 263-5).

He cites ample authority for all this and is only setting forth the received

jurisprudence of the age.

ITS PEOMOTEKS AND CEITICS 587

Some have doubted whether on the denunciation of a single

witness, or whether if the accusation be simply that of seeinga person at the Sabbat without seeing him take part in worksof witchcraft, he could be tortured. Elaborate reasoning to

show that either of these cases is sufficient for torture both bycivil and ecclesiastical judges (pp. 268-75). No other indicia

necessary (p. 276). He replies to the clamors of those whosay that indicia should precede torture and that proceedingsshould not begin with torture, by claiming that this is not

the case with his system (p. 276).

Shows that there were those who criticized the pitiless courts.

He concludes from all this that to exclude the denunciations

of accomplices is to render impossible the extirpation of this

crime and to preclude inquest, trial and punishment of the

leaders of this wickedness, which it would be most absurd

to concede. He quotes the proverb "Neeessitas legem nonhabet" (pp. 276-7).

Is the testimony of children an indicium for torture, since

witches frequently take their boys and girls to the Sabbat?

Our judges most justly examine children to get matter for

further inquisition; and their testimony makes a certain pre-

sumption, which, if supported by other indicia, increases the

indicium for torture. Minors and infamous persons may be

admitted as witnesses. The only objection to a witness is

inimicitia capitalis. Long discussion as to what enmity is

capital, but after all it is left very much to the discretion of

the judge. More female witnesses required than male "ob

fragilitatem sexus." Such witnesses, however, as minors,

infamous persons, and accomplices are only sufficient for

torture, not for condemnation. Dispute among the Doctors

whether a number of such witnesses are not sufficient for

condemnation without torture. Weight of authority in favor

of affirmative (pp. 284-7).

It is the custom with some judges, when a woman is pre-

sumed to be a witch and will not confess under torture, to

subject her to the water-ordeal. (Describes what he under-

stands to be the process showing that he does not speak by

experience H. C. L.) This is said to be frequently used in

Westphalia, and in our parts some judges are reported to

employ it. Scribonius defends it against Johannes Ewichius

and Hermann Neuwalt, but he can give no natural causes

and imagines a certain lightness in the devil and antipathy


in the water. "I say first that the judge who uses it sins mor-

tally. If it is not prohibited in the laws, the red-hot iron

and boiling water are, which are of the same class." Quotesthe prohibitions of all probationes vulgares. Not only do

judges sin mortally, but all who believe in the water-ordeal,unless excused by probable ignorance, which is removed bymonition and instruction (pp. 287-94).He is preoccupied by the subject of accomplices, which lay

at the bottom of witch-epidemics, and he returns to it to

argue away the provision of Carolina 21, that no one shall

be arrested and tortured on the denunciation of enchanters

and diviners. It applies, he says, to cases where one loses

something or has a horse sick. He goes to an enchanter or

diviner, who makes conjurations over his vial or his sieve,

invokes the devil and says so-and-so was the thief or sickened

the horse. Or a diviner comes to a town, as I understand

happened this year (1596) at Kerlich near Coblenz (the resi-

dence city of the Elector of Trier), saying "there are so manywitches here/

7 and names them "and you will soon see it."

And such things. These do not justify arrest and torture,as the Carolina properly says. But this is very different

from our case, where the accuser sees her accomplices, eats,

drinks, dances and talks with them. Sometimes some oneis left and has to return on foot; wine is brought home fromthem in vases. These are not dreams. In our time, when it

is seen that denunciations are making in places, the higherclass go there disguised and with faces covered, so as not to

be recognized, as we daily learn by many relations. Finally,the reason why the denunciations of witches are received andthose of diviners rejected is that the former testify as to

things accepted in a natural and human manner, the latter

of things which exceed human knowledge (pp. 294-7).After stating Bodin's assertion that false promises and

deceit may be employed to elicit confession, he denouncesthis as a "doctrina falsissima et perniciosissima. . . .

Quare falsissima est Bodini sententia quod licite possuntjudices mendaciis et falsis modis eruere veritatem." Thejudge in doing so sins gravely. As to the confession thus

obtained, if the accused persists in it, the common opinion is

that he may be condemned. If on finding the promise fraudu-lent he revokes the confession, he ought not and cannot becondemned. When he neither confirms nor revokes it, he is

to be punished arbitrarily and less severely (pp. 297-303).


Judges are to enforce the laws, as they are only the ministers

of justice. Yet the custom has obtained to strangle first,

lest in the agonies of a slow death they be plunged into

despair, and this is received among Christians. But, if the

culprit is pertinacious in evil and is not converted and peni-

tent, the practice in Italy and Spain with heretics is to burn

alive, which must be observed with sorcerers, for desperationis not to be feared with the impenitent (pp. 303-4).

It is the common opinion, confirmed by a motu proprio of

Pius V, that the sacrament is not to be refused to the convict

asking it, and many pious magistrates follow this custom,

though not everywhere, though Carolina 79 prescribes it. It

should be administered, however, the day before the execu-

tion; if from any cause the execution cannot be delayed, the

sacrament should be given four hours before so that digestion

may prevent irreverence to it. This is the custom in Rome.It is for the confessor to determine whether the culprit is in

proper disposition to receive it. It was an impious saying of

an unworthy priest who refused it with the remark, "The

holy sacrament is not to be given to dogs." They are not

dogs but sheep who repent and seek the Lord. The execrable

practice should be abolished of some ministers of injustice

rather than of justice who kill body and soul by making the

convict drunk, since after death there is neither place for

repentance or hope of pardon. I am often asked whether

prayers can be offered or masses sung for those executed and

I answer that they are not to be buried with the services used

for other Christians, but the friends and kindred can piously

pray for them, offer the sacrifice and perform works of satis-

faction (pp. 304-7).

The sound of church bells interferes with the work of sor-

cerers and impedes the cooperation of demons when the sound

can be heard, as I have learned from their confessions, and

they commonly call bells barking dogs. It often prevents

them from carrying into effect the projects agreed upon in

their assemblies. After telling at length the story from Gril-

landus (De Sortileg., q. 7, n. 30, p. 121) of the woman return-

ing from Benevento, suddenly dropped at the sound of the

morning Ave Maria bell, he adds a similar case of a man named

Johann, burnt in 1586 at Palenz (near Trier), when the

Sabbat had been unduly prolonged by discussing evil plans

and when near home the Ave Maria bell rang and he was


dropped into one of his own fields where his people were

already at work (pp. 307-14).

He argues away the authority of Cap. Episcopi 26, q. 5,

about the followers of Diana and Herodias, with a sharpness

of special pleading that if applied to the main question would

deprive witchcraft itself of all authority. Moreover, though

attributed by Gratian to Cone. Ancyrens., it is not to be found

in the canons of that Council (a provincial and Greek assem-

blage at best), but is quoted by S. Augustin in Lib. de Spiritu

et Anima, c. 28. It is wonderful that the conscience of jurists

should be so bound by the authority of this council, when

theologians and others whose business it is to decide uponmatters of faith find no difficulty in it. Do not all doctors

whose business it is to judge the sense of Scripture approve

and believe the bodily transportation? So popes, cardinals,

theologians, doctors, Italians, Spanish and Germans believe.

So also right-thinking jurists whose names are above. It is

the height of temerity to prefer one's own judgment, led by

fragile and apparent reason, to such a cloud of witnesses.

This testimony is supported by the most certain experience,

which is confirmed by the common voice of the people, "atque

hie certe dicere possumus vox populi vox Dei, cum omnis

veritas a Deo sit (p. 317).

Attacks the argument that the demon may take the shape

of the innocent in the Sabbat (pp. 318-28).

The leading points in this I think I have elsewhere.

BINSFELD, PETER. Commentarius in Titulum Codicis Lib.

IX de Maleficis et Mathematicis, etc. Colon. Agrippinae, 1622.

(Printed with the Tractatus de Confessionibus. The pagingcontinues that of the Tractatus.)

Witches are all the same, whether called Lamiae, Striges,

Magi, Venefici, Incantatores, Malefici, Sortiariae Mulieres,

Viri Sortilegi, Feminae Sagae (p. 333) .

Arnaldo de Villanova at Rome "summus fuit medicus,

theologus et magnus Alchimista, imo et daemonum invoca-

tor . . . nee non seminator multorum errorum et haere-

sum" (p. 391).

Of. Pefia, Comment, in Directorium, 2. part. q. 11. This Arnold of Villa-

nova was condemned as a heretic by the University of Paris and fled to

Frederic of Sicily, who sent him in 1314 to Avignon to treat Pope Cle-

ment, but he died on the j ourney.* He was one of the founders of chemistry

and pharmacy and Binsfeld's allusion to him shows how scientific attain-

ments entailed the reputation of sorcery.

1 On Arnaldo see Inquisition of the Middle Ages, III, pp. 52-7.


"Sapere haeresim nihil aliud esse quam vehementem hae-resis suspicionem praebere" (p. 436).

Witchcraft is frequently so potent that only a professor of

the same art can cure it. "Necesse ergo est ut eadem arte

mala hujusmodi tollantur qua illata sunt" (p. 462).

Is aot this to admit the superiority of the devil over God? And does it

not admit as allowable what other theologians condemn?

Sometimes a sorcerer cannot undo what he himself oranother has done. As a general rule, one who operates througha higher demon can counteract what has been done through alower one (pp. 463-4).The theory of Grillandus as to the needles, etc., which come

from the bodies of the bewitched is doubtless true in. somecases. In others, the opinion of theologians is that they are

conveyed through the pores in particles and then united in

the body (pp. 466-71).Binsfeld does not believe this, but thinks that the demon

may throw the sufferer into a profound sleep and then insert

the articles through a cut which he then closes. Two recent

cases in which this was done (pp. 473-4). Remarkable case

occurring in 1539 in which pieces of wood and iron were foundin the body of a patient, Ulric Neusesser of Fugelstal near

Eichstedt, related by Johann Lange, physician to the Elector

Palatine. An iron nail was cut out of his hand, under the

unbroken skin, with a razor. This did not relieve his suffer-

ings, which became so excruciating that he cut his throat.

His body was opened and in the stomach were found a long,round piece of wood, 4 steel knives, partly sharp, partlynotched like a saw, 2 rough pieces of iron each more than a

span long and a globular mass of hairs (p. 475).

From 1580 to 1595, about nine hundred witches were putto death in Lorraine (p. 481).

Plagues of locusts, snails, mice, and other vermin are fre-

quently caused by witches. These are sometimes congregated

together by demons, and sometimes created by sprinkling a

certain dust in the air. Numerous recent cases cited (pp.

482-3).Witchcraft is worse than ordinary heresy, which is a simple

sin, for it involves that and much more, because it leads to

evil deeds, which heresy does not necessarily do. When there

has been no evil wrought upon others, witchcraft is subject

to ecclesiastical courts alone (p. 489),


But by both human and divine law all who attend the

Sabbat are to be put to death, whether they have wroughtevil or not (p. 495).

John xv quoted by sundry doctors, Hostiensis, Panormi-

tanus, etc., as justifying the stake (p. 507).

Those who endeavor to protect witches are their cruelest

enemies, subjecting them to eternal flames in place of the

transitory suffering of the stake (p. 512).

This is the perennial argument employed to justify persecution.

With regard to children, girls at twelve and boys at four-

teen are considered to have reached puberty and to be doli

capaces liable for their acts. Some are more precocious,

however, than others and the judge must decide as to their

liability, and must consider the circumstances, the length of

time in which they have been concerned in witchcraft, the

probability of their conversion, etc. As a general rule theyshould be more leniently punished, and in their trials torture

should be avoided threats of scourging, etc., being generallysufficient (pp. 519-21).

Binsfeld recommends that those under sixteen should not

be put to death, though legally subject, unless some atrocityin the case would seem to render it advisable (p. 524).As for those who die in prison, if this occurs before they

have confessed or full proof has been given against them, the

body should receive Christian burial. If the judge, convincedof their guilt, should have the body carried to the spot of

execution and buried in an infamous place, the heirs mayprosecute him. In a case a few years since, the magistrates,at the instance of the heirs of a woman thus treated, were

obliged to exhume the body and give it honorable burial

(pp. 525-6).If the person dying has confessed or been convicted, but is

penitent, the body should receive Christian sepulture. If

suicide has been committed, it is deprived of burial (pp,

526-7).Most legists agree that a corpse should not be hanged or

burnt, though in many places the contrary is observed

(pp. 527-30).

From these provisions it is evident that the prosecution of the dead,always a practice of the Inquisition, had at this time become obsolete in

Germany.


Discusses the argument put forth by some advocates of

sorcerers that their great multitude at present requires miti-

gation of penalty, according to the well-known saying "Obpopulum multum crimen pertransit inultum." Of course hedenies this and adduces the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah andof those who worshipped the Golden Calf. When crime is

increasing, the punishment should be severer on account of

the number of culprits (pp. 535-9).Last year a judge ordered a sorcerer to be burnt alive, who

would otherwise have been strangled first, because he haddevoted his own child to death in the hideous rites of theSabbat. Our witches have killed many infants, as appearseverywhere in their trials; nay, what is still more abhorrentto nature, they cut out their hearts and eat them, led by thedevil to believe that, if they fall into the hands of justice,

they will thus be unable to tell the truth, as appears in thetrials of Meisenbein's Anna and others (pp. 541-2).He who follows the demon puts off his own nature and

assumes the diabolical ferocity and truculence (p. 542).Parents should morning and evening protect their children

with the sign of the cross, as it is frequently known by theconfessions of witches that they cannot harm those thusfortified (p. 543).

Gerson relates (De Error, circa Arteni Magicam, diet, iii,

lit. OOpera, T. I, sig. xxxi, f. 3) how King Philip of France,when shown a waxen image of himself baptized and execrated

to be melted to cause his death, resolutely said, "Let us see

whether the demon is more powerful to destroy me than Godis to save/' and thrust it into the fire (p. 544).

For story of King Duff, quoted by Boethius, Hist. Scot.,

lib. ii, see Binsfeld, pp. 545-6. Also Enguerrand de Marigny'swaxen image from Gaguino's Hist, in Vita Philippi Hutteni,lib. vii.

Binsfeld gives the ordinary rules for torture and may be handily referred

to for them. Also his reprehensions of cruel excesses of torture are signifi-

cant.

"Ad torturam nunquam procedendum sine legitimis et suffi-

cientibus indiciis" (p. 550).

"Si reus torqueatur sine legitimis indiciis praecedentibuset crimen confiteatur, confessio talis non est efficax ad con-

demnationem nee confitenti praejudicat" (p. 551).

"Regulariter, quando per testes aut confessionem aut alias

de delicto constat, non est deveniendum ad torturam." ThisVOL. ii 38


gives rise to a nice question on which the doctors are divided

whether, if in torture he denies the crime, it purges the

evidence or prior confession. The whole matter, however, is

rather academical than practical, for the advice of the doctors

is to torture him on something unproved or on accomplices,

first taking the precaution to protest that it is done without

prejudice to the evidence or confession. Albericus says the

judge is a fool who omits this (pp. 552-4).

Thus the poor wretch never escapes torture.

"Tortura non est adhibenda in omni caussa et delicto, sed

tantum in atrocibus et gravibus criminibus, pro quibus de

jure vel consuetudine aut statuto poena mortis aut corporalis

notabiliter affligens infertur" (p. 554).

"Tortura debet adhiberi cum moderamine secundum quali-

tatem personae, delicti, indiciorum et temporis, ita ut mortal-

iter [moraliter?] et verisimiliter reus tortus remaneat salvus

et illaesus in vita et membris." Wherefore the doctors justly

reprove cruel judges who observe no measure or reason, but

only their own wills, seeking vain-glory and unsparing like

raging beasts, so that the accused often lose their lives or

retain them so miserably that death would be preferable,

since the limbs are so torn as to be unfit for human labors

and never cease suffering (pp. 554-5).

"Judex in torquendo non debet adhibere modos exquisitos

et non consuetos, sed solitos et a consuetudine approbates."Hence judges inventing or using new methods are comparableto executioners. And in this crime of sorcery it is inhumanfor judges, forgetting that they are dealing with men, to em-

ploy dire, tyrannous and cruel methods, such as burning the

flesh with candles or pouring hot oil, etc. The duty of a judgeis to use discretion and reason and to prescribe the mode of

torture to the executioner, lest he become accomplice in

wickedness and injustice (pp. 555-6).

The strappado is the ordinary mode.

"In hoc crimine maleficii nemo aut ratione dignitatis aut

praetextu privilegii excipitur a tormentis" (p. 556).

But a pregnant woman should be spared until after confinement.

"Quando ex sententia et decreto judicis reus torquendus

est, et tortura veritas eruenda, id faciendum in praesentia

judicis et ad minus duorum scabinorum, nee non scribae


judicii aut notarii." The object of this, as provided in Caro-lina 47, is to prevent excess. "Quare aliquando valde sus-

pecta est aliquorum tortura : Ubi quidam Judices sunt valde

imperiti, qui soli, adjuncto aliquo scriba, ut audio, pro sua

imperitia aut voluntate tantum homines torquent, ut nonminim sit si saepe fateantur quae nunquam eogitaverunt"

(p. 557).

"Quando plures torquendi, ab eo incipiendum a quo veri-

simile est veritatem facilius eruendarn fore." This is a little

different from the ordinary rule to begin with the weakest.

He says this is especially to be observed in sorcery, wherethe confession of the first gives occasion for wider investiga-tion as to the others and opens the way to further indicia,for it is almost always the case that the sorcerers of a placeare connected and have a common meeting-place (pp. 5578).

"Judicis arbitrio relinquitur an tortura semel illata possititerum repeti." But, as the judge may extend his discretion

beyond reason, further explanation is necessary. So, "semelleniter tortus potest repeti in tortura, ut sufficienter torque-atur." Some say the reason is that light torture is not to becalled torture. There are various grades of torture, and com-mencement should be made with the lightest. Experienced

judges, when they order torture to cease, should order the

notary to record that they do so with the intention of repeat-

ing it, and this is rather to be termed continuing it, even if

there is an interval of some days (pp. 558-9)."Quando reus sufficienter fuit tortus, ita quod priora indicia

diluerit et purgaverit, et tamen nihilominus nihil confessus est,

sed in negativa persistit, tune regulariter non possunt repetitormenta, nisi nova indicia superverdant.

" When the first

indicia are very urgent and manifest, then, although by law

torture cannot be repeated, nevertheless by custom it is

repeated and such is the practice. But some doctors rightly

warn against too severe an application of this."Saepe enim

contingit ob saevitiam judicum et torrnentorum acerbitatem

multos confiteri quae nee committere cogit&runt." (Howcould he avoid seeing in this the explanation of the confessions

which he trusts so implicitly? H. C. L.) Goes on to dis-

course about the uncertainties of torture, giving the ordinary

examples, but adds nothing that can serve as a rule as to its

administration or repetition (pp. 560-3).(t

Quando reus in tortura crimen contra se confessus est,

potest repeti ad torturam ad detergendum socios criminis,


in casibus quibus de sceleris participibus interrogatio jure

institui potest" (p. 563),

This is common.

"Quando reus in tortura confessus fuerit crimen et deinde

ductus ad ratificandum confessionem eandem revocaverit,

potest repeti in tortura, etiamsi alia indicia non supervene-

rint." This is the universal custom everywhere. The doctors

say that the indicia have not been sufficiently purged and that

the variation of confession is a new indicium. Julius Clarus

and Pena give warning not to follow the example of the

cruelty and monstrous ferocity of some judges, who keep the

accused in torment until he perseveres. As to the question

now often the torture can be repeated for revocation, the

more common opinion and general practice is that, after being

thrice tortured and thrice revoking, the accused must be

discharged. Some, however, limit it to two (pp. 563-6).

Marsiglio tells a story, when he was official of the Duke of

Milan, of a ribaud who always denied "ad banchum juris"

what he had confessed under torture. Marsiglio at last asked

him why he allowed himself to be so often tortured, and

whether it would not be better to affirm his confession rather

than be so often tormented? To which he replied, "MyLord, it is better to be tortured a thousand times in the arms

than once in the throat, for there are plenty of physicians who

can straighten a dislocated arm, but there is no one who can

cure a broken neck. Therefore I would rather be hoisted

by your man than go up the gallows ladder with my feet.

I can turn my tongue to sayf

non' as easily as 'sic/ for

it is as much trouble to utter the one as the other, seeing

that there are the same number of letters." And at last he

had to be dismissed, for he never would confirm what he had

confessed (pp. 566-7)." Tarn malefici quamrei in aliis criminibus non confitentur

etiam in tortura veritatem, quandoque contingit ex incanta-

tionibus et maleficiis." There is no possible doubt as to this.

Sorcerers kill infants and with their hearts or ashes obtain

taciturnity. The devil, who knows all the secrets of nature,

furnishes applications which induce insensibility: he lifts

them up (in the strappado) or he impedes their speech or

renders them deaf, or he encourages them with the promise

of long life for endurance or threatens punishment for con-

fession. If caused by charms, shaving is to be resorted to.

ITS PROMOTERS A^D CRITICS 597

The most efficacious tortures are those which can be prolongedwithout serious bodily injury, and that of sleeplessness is

highly to be recommended as almost infallible (pp. 567-71)."Reus sufficienter tortus, si nihil confessus fuerit, sed in

negativa perseveraverit, liber dimittendus et relaxandus est."

The doctors commonly say that the testimony has been

purged. This is the general opinion, but in Italy the accused

is liberated under bail to present himself when summonedand the case is suspended; and Damhouder says the practice

in the Netherlands is to keep him in gaol for awhile to see

whether other evidence turns up. Binsfeld's conclusion is

that the sufficiency of the torture is at the judge's discretion;

if he deems it sufficient, the accused should be fully dischargedand not by being kept under bail be exposed to the malice

of those who may molest him and keep him in disquietude.

If the judge considers that the evidence has not been fully

purged and the truth cannot be reached at the time, he maywell release the accused under bail to present himself. Thirdly,

if the proofs are urgent and severe torture has not produced

confession, he can be sentenced to some extraordinary pen-

alty, as Julius Clams says, such as the galleys for a term or

for life. In cases of forfeiture of bail, the bailor is not held

to the punishment of his principal, but to some fine to be

fixed by the judge (pp. 571-7)." Tortus ad eruendam veritatem, si in negatione persistit,

et indicia praecedentia tortura sufficienter purgavit et abso-

lutus est, non infamatur per torturam." He can prosecute

for slander every one who defames him (p. 577)." Tortura etiam inferri potest die feriato et festo, etiam

paschalibus diebus, in maioribus et atrocioribus criminibus, in

honorem Dei." It is established by experience as certain

that it is most dangerous to keep sorcerers long in prison and

protract the trial, for the demon assails them with various

temptations to deny the truth, to revoke confession and to

commit suicide. He is constantly promising his assistance.

But in this I do not intend to promote the precipitance or

rather fury of some judges who give no opportunity to the

accused to consider what is necessary for their condition and

salvation, but arrest them in the morning, cast them in

prison, hurry them to the torture, obtain confessions, and

sentence and execute them the same day or early on the

next, all which is to be pronounced fury, not zeal. Humanaffairs which concern safety of mind and body and involve


the peril of souls are to be handled with mature judgmentand delay, conjoined with, compassion. Judges sin most

gravely who torture in excess and are held in the forum of

conscience to reparation "of all injuries occasioned by their

fault; and in the exterior forum punishment is to be inflicted

according to the fault, injury and excess (pp. 578-80).

In this and other atrocious crimes, persistent denial under

torture does not prevent condemnation when there is other

sufficient proof. If, for instance, a suspected person is seen

placing sorceries under the threshold of a stable, when cattle

subsequently die, no denial under torture will save him

(p. 583).

Any one can arrest a sorcerer and carry him to the judge,

but cannot put him to death on his own authority, however

manifest may be the offense (p. 594).

Indicia are of different degrees. Some are remota, some

propinqua, some propinquissima. In this the discretion of

the judge is of much importance, but discretion does not

mean acting of his own head and will, but according to law

and justice. He must follow the laws, the advice of experts,

and the practice of learned and righteous men (pp. 596-7).

Indicia: (1) The first indicium is the denunciation of an

accomplice. (2) The second is superstitio of all kinds, which

mostly proceeds from implicit or express pact. (3) Offering

to teach magic. (4.) Threats followed by results. (5)

Friendship and frequent intercourse with sorcerers. (6)

Fame, provided it is supported by other indicia. Many doc-

tors hold fame alone to suffice, but "fama est indicium valde

remotum a delicto et fallax facile et sic ex nuda fanaa durumesset hominem tormentis subjicere, nisi esset delictum diffi-

cilis probationis et persona vilis aliis criminibus oonspersa."

Experience shows one peculiarity in this crime, that manymen exteriorly irreprehensible are involved in it, for it is

most hidden, and therefore canonical purgation is almost

impossible, for no one can conscientiously pronounce any one

innocent. In proving ill-fame it is not sufficient to prove its

existence, but also its origin, for it must come from the

respectable and trustworthy, and not from the vile andmalevolent. Yet circumstances must be considered, for in

this crime ill-fame can arise only "a consortibus, qui tarn

turpibus sceleribus praesentes sunt" (pp. 599-601). (7) Flightbefore action is taken or inquisition commenced. (8) Find-

ing in his possession a book on magic, or things instrumental

ITS PKOMOTERS AKI> CRITICS 599

in sorcery, as a jar full of ointments or of magic things.This is so vehement that I deem it sufficient for torture if

there is the slightest additional support. To this may be

added, if one suspect is found in another's house or stable or

at a place or time where he ought not to be, and there follows

any effect of death or disease. A most urgent indicium whichsuffices for torture is two persons seeing a woman standingin water and throwing it backwards into the air, or a man in

summer striking a stone when a tempest is threatened, or awoman gathering flowers from various trees and putting theminto a pot. A single unexceptionable witness suffices for

torture who testifies to seeing a witch giving a potion to a

horse which subsequently dies. See Carolina 30 (pp. 601-3).

(9) Extrajudicial confession in which is to be included whata witch may say when arrested, as "Actum est de me/' or

"ne me morte afficiatis, rei veritatem libenter fatebor", or if

she bids farewell to her family and kindred, asking their

forgiveness in all which is implicit confession (p. 604).

(10) In common with other crimes, but especially in this,

is silence an indicium, when a person knows from remon-strances or warnings or insults that he is suspected of sorceryand does not contradict it, but goes on quietly without caringfor it. Still, this indicium requires support (p. 604). (11)

Habitual blasphemy and use of the name of the devil, such

as cursing one's children or others or beasts with" Devil take

you!" "Go in the devil's name!''

"I wish the devil had you!"and the like. To this may be added the commission of other

wickedness apart from sorcery, for he opens the way to all

wickedness who abandons the Lord and gives his faith to the

devil (pp. 604-5). (12) The Malleus, Grillandi and Bodinassert that witches cannot shed tears. If this means tears of

repentance, I admit it, but I have little belief in their not

shedding tears of water, for they often do so out of cowardice,

grief or bodily pain (p. 605). (13) Some draw an indicium

from the face, as downcast eyes, ugliness and deformity as

the saying is "Ugly as a witch"; and it would seem that

looking upon and conversing with demons would cause an

aspect savage and awry. It is not impossible that witches

may contract deformity thus;but it may come from so many

other causes that this indicium is very light and weak (p. 606) .

(14) Danaeus and Bodin say that the devil impresses a

mark on some part of the body of those who he thinks will


not be faithful to him, and I have heard that some of our

witches had signs on them. Bodin says the spot is insen-

sible, even if a needle is thrust to the bone. But I do not think

much of such marks, for if any one seeks them he can easily

think or pretend what is not. A superstitious invention is

not to be presumed which is not sanctioned by a documentof the Fathers. A somewhat similar superstition is that bywhich some seek to recognize witches by the eradication

from the forehead of the Chrism (p. 607).

(15) Water ordeal- for which see above. (16) He does

not attach to parentage the importance that Bodin does,who says that, with rare exceptions, if the mother is a witch,the daughter is one. But, when there are other indicia, the

presumption is augmented if either of the parents or a relative

were magi or witches. The demon frequently demands of

mothers to devote their children to him, and sometimesmothers are found so wicked as to offer him their unbornchildren (p. 608). (17) The superstitious often walk in

sheep's clothing, while within they are devouring wolves, like

their master, who transfigures himself into an angel of light

(p. 608). (18) This is change of place. They run hither

and thither, especially when afraid, as when they are defamedor are near arrest, or know their accomplices are seized whosedenunciation they fear. They are wonderfully tortured in

their minds about the punishment of their wickedness. Theyrun from place to place, seeking rest and not finding it (pp.

608-9). (19) Mutability and contradictions in what theysay. The doctors hold this to be an indicium for torture,but it is not sufficient unless there are others of more moment.But this is observable in magi and witches, that they rarelyanswer promptly to interrogations (pp. 609-10). (20) Stam-

mering and trepidation on being examined may be an indi-

cium. Finally, in confrontation the judge should observe theutmost watchfulness as to how they answer each other,whether one is silent or denies, the firmness of soul, the useof words, for the devil teaches some of his best followers to

talk most cunningly. This confrontation should be mostprudently used and only when the accuser asks for it andher evidence is clear and consistent, for it is a great infamyfor one who is reputed a good man to be confronted withone guilty of so great a crime, as though he were an accom-plice (pp. 610-1).


Loos, CORNELIS. De vera et falsa Magia.1

(Partly printed

at Cologne, 1592; suppressed, 1593).

Loos was born in Gouda, where he became a canon. The

religious troubles of the Netherlands drove him into exile,

where in 1579 he exhaled his bitterness in a sharp attack on

Protestantism under the expressive title "Spiritus vertiginis

utriusque Germaniae in religionis dissidio (unde cunctae cala-

mitates) vera origo, progressus ac indubitatus curandi modus."

In 1581 he issued a "Catalogue of German Authors", in which

he denounced the erection of the new bishoprics in the Nether-

lands. In some of his writings he adopted the Latinized nameof Cornelius Callidius Chrysopolitanus. Then he wrote a

book "On True and False Magic", which he sent to a bookseller

in Cologne, who apparently recognized its dangerous quality

and communicated it to the spiritual authorities. The papal

nuncio caused his arrest and confinement in the abbey of St.

Maxirnin, where he was forced to a most humiliating recan-

tation, March 15, 1593, in the presence of Bishop Peter

Binsfeld and other distinguished personages. In this, as

usual in abjurations, he subjected himself, in case of renewal

of his errors, to all the penalties of relapse, of revolt and of

treason. He was driven from Trier and went to Brussels,

where he obtained a vicariate in the church of Notre Damede la Chapelle. He was again accused of maintaining his

old opinions and, as a relapsed, was imprisoned, but released

after long confinement. Then a third accusation was brought,

but death released him from it, probably in 1597, thoughFranciscus Swertius puts his death February 3, 1595.-

Hauber, Bibliotheca Magica, I, pp. 74-89, [following Del Rio].

"The vain ravings of those who deny the existence of witch-

craft are not to be listened to, such as those of the heretic

Wierus [Weyer] and in our days of Cornelis Loos to whose

soul may God be merciful who, while he lived, was impris-

oned at Brussels and expelled from Trier as suspect in the

faith on that account, for he had prepared a little book and

endeavored secretly at Cologne to put it forth, and was com-

pelled to abjure these utterances and writings."Del Rio,

Disquisitiones Magicae, 1. v, sec. iv (ed. Mogunt. 1612,

T. Ill, p. 719).

1 The MS. of Loos' book was discovered by Prof. Geo. L. Burr in 1886 on the shelves

of the City Library at Trier. See account in the Nation for Nov. 11, 1886. Of the

printed pages there remains a copy in the City Library of Cologne and the White

Library at Cornell has a facsimile of these as well as of the MS.


"Loos", [says Del Rio], "sought in a thousand ways to in-

trude his views on the public and lest some evil demon maysucceed in doing thislgive his abjuration as a prophylactic."

"Ego Cornelius Loseus Callidius, Goudae oppido Hollandiae

natus, nunc ob tractatus aliquot de vera et falsa Magia, sine

scitu et permissionesuperiorumhujus loci,temereet praesump-tuose scriptos, a me communicatos, deinde ad imprimendumColoniam missos: in Imperiale Monasterio S. Maximini prope

Treviros, ex mandato Reveren. ac Illustriss. Domini et Nuncii

Apostolici Domini Octavii Tricaricensis Episcopi arrestatus

atque detentus: cum certo sim informatus in supradictis libris,

nee non in Epistolis quibusdam meis, eadem de re ad clerum

et Senatum Trevirensem aliosque clam missis (ad impedien-dum executionem justitiae contra magos et veneficas) contineri

multos articulos, qui non solum erronei sunt et scandalosi,sed etiam suspecti de haeresi, crimenque laesae Majestatis

sapiant, utpote seditiosi et temerarii, contra communem Doc-torum Theologorum sententiam, decisiones ac bullas sum-morum Pontificum, contra praxim et statuta legesque magis-tratuum ac judiciorum, turn hujus Archidiocesis Trevirensis,turn aliarum Provinciarum et Principatuum : idcirco eosdem

articulos, prout ordine hie subnectuntur, revoco, damno,rejicio et pro non dictis atque assertis a me haberi volo.'

7

Then follow the 16 articles thus revoked and abjured:1. That the flight of witches is fantastic and a vain super-

stition to be held as a figment, for this evidently savors of

heretical pravity and, as it is mixed with sedition, of hightreason.

2. That in letters secretly circulated he had described the

cursus magicus (Sabbat) as false and imaginary, womenbeing forced by torture to confess to what they had never

done; that by such torture innocent blood was shed and by anew alchemy gold and silver were educed from human blood.

3. In this and other ways, partly by private talk and partlyby letters to magistrates, secular and spiritual, he had accused

judges of tyranny.4. Consequently, when the Archbishop Elector of Trier had

not only in his diocese inflicted due punishment on magiciansand witches but had issued laws concerning the order andexpenses of processes, he had tacitly accused the elector of

tyranny.5. That there were no witches who renounced God, adored


demons, raised tempests and perpetrated similar works of tlie

devil, but all these were dreams.

6. That magic is not malefidum nor magicians malefidand the text of Exodus xxii (Non patieris, etc.) is to be

understood of poisoners.

7. There is and can be no pact with the demon.8. Demons cannot assume bodies.

9. The Life of Hilarion by Jerome is not authentic.

10. There is no sexual intercourse between demons andhuman beings.

11. That neither demons nor magicians can cause tempests

hailstorms, etc., and that what is related of them are dreams12. That spirits can be seen by man in a form separate

from matter.

13. That it is rash to affirm that what demons can do

magicians can do with their aid.

14. That the opinion that a superior demon can expel aninferior is erroneous and injurious to Christ.

15. That the popes in their bulls have not said that magi-cians perpetrate such works.

16. That the popes have granted faculties of inquest against

malefid because otherwise there would be fictitious accusa-

tions, even as some of their predecessors were justly accused. 1

Then follows a formal revocation of all this and a pledge not

to utter or teach it, under pain of submitting himself to all

the pains of relapsed heretics, of the refractory, seditious,

traitors and perjurers, to be inflicted on him in fame and

honor, property and body, by the Archbishop of Troves or

any other magistrate. Done at Troves, Monday, March 15,

1592 more Trevirens. (It is really 1593 H. C. L.)

After this at Brussels, acting as pastor of the church of

Santa Maria de Capella, he was accused of relapse and after

prolonged imprisonment was released. Then on a third

accusation he escaped by death, leaving unfortunately not a

few men, insufficiently grounded in physiology and theology,

who followed his folly. -Del Rio, op. cit., 1. v, Append. (Ill,

pp. 823-5).

Loos's abjuration gives a fair indication of what his teaching was. It

shows Loos to be much more daring than his predecessor Weyer or his

contemporary Godelmann, whose book appeared in 1591. He denies all

1 Of this final article the Latin reads: "Pontiffcos Romanoa dediaae facultatem in-

quirendi in maleficos, ne si contra fecisaent, note magiae inaimularentur, quemad-modum antecessorea eonim aliquot vere magiae fuerunt insinralati."


power over the weather to demons and all relations between them and men.He scarce goes as far as Bekker, but he is a worthy colleague of ReginaldScot.1

REMY, NICOLAS. Daemonolatreia, ex judiciis capitalibus

nongentorum plus minus hominum qui sortilegii crimen intra

annos quindedm in Lotharingia capite luerunt. Colon.

Agripp., 1596. (First ed., Lyons, 1595.) Dedicated to Card.

Charles de Lorraine.

This book is perhaps the most vivid picture of the beliefs and crueltyof the period, as his statements are all authenticated with the names anddates of the victims whose confessions he received during the fifteen yearsin which he had officiated as judge. Remy was privy counsellor to the

Duke of Lorraine and "cognitor publicus." It was from the later yearsof this experience that his book was compiled in the enforced leisure of a

residence in the country caused by an epidemic driving him from Nancy.He was a man of learning and culture, quoting the Greek and Latin poetsand writing poetry himself.

Remy's Daemonolatreia to a great extent superseded the Malleus, as

may be seen by the continual references to it in the subsequent writers.

It was to a great extent based on judicial proceedings which he had analyzedand systematized, giving for every assertion the names of the victims fromwhose confessions he drew the details. Tartarotti (1. ii, 17, p. 193) says of it

"un libro che d& gran motivo d'errare a' Giudici mal accorti, e sopra cui lo

stesso Martino Delrio, non che altri Scrittori, la loro dottrina e le lor sen-

tenze stabiliscono." After him came Del Rio's great compilation, with its

parade of various learning, forming an inexhaustible fount from which to

draw precepts and examples. After these the Malleus is rarely quoted,

though it continued to be printed with its fellow treatises an edition

in Lyons in 1620, and again in 1660, 1666 and 1669. Of Remy's book

Grasse(p. 54) gives editions of Lyons 1595, Frankfort 1596 and 1597, Cologne1596 and Hamburg 1693 and 1698; besides two German translations,Frankfort 1598 and Hamburg 1693. It evidently obtained an immediate

1 Binafeld'a words as to Loos (see p. 578 above) should also be here translated:"When in the year 1591 there came out enlarged my book De Confessionibus Male-ficorutn. et Sagarum a certain member of our theological faculty (whom honoris gratiaI am unwilling to name) drew up in writing a treatise divided into books and gave it

to others to copy and sent a copy to be printed. Some leaves were already printedwhen the Cologne printer was stopped by order of the authorities, as I have myselfread in a letter from the printer's own hand. The book's purpose was to show thatall that is told of the confessions of witches and of their doings is empty, false, anddreamed, and that therefore the authorities who proceed against such persons are

guilty of the highest crime and greatest sin. To persuade of this he had loaded hia

book with verbal artifices, adding moreover things abusive and erroneous, contraryto the Catholic faith and to the common and most assured teaching of all theologicalauthorities. Yet, because he was a son of the Church, he recanted his errors at theinstance of the Most Reverend and Most Illustrious Octavius, Bishop of Tricanco,Nuncio Apostolic, asking pardon for his offenses." With the description by Binsfeldtallies in every way the MS. found by me in 1886 on the shelves of the Trier CityLibrary (shelves once those of the Trier Jesuits). The MS. (almost certainly thatseized from Loos' printer) is a copyist's; but its notes were added by the author's

pen, and the table of contents is in the hand of the notes. Of the title page, all buta corner is torn away, and of the four books described by the table but two are here.Were the others destroyed? B.


and wide circulation and then dropped out explicable apparently by its

supersession by Del Rio, whose book (Grasse, p. 47) appeared at Lovan.,15991

; Lugd. Bat., 1608, 1612; Mogunt., 1603, 1612, 1617, 1624; Colon.,

1633, 1657, 1679; Venet., 1746; also a condensed translation by Andr4

Duchesne, Paris, 1611. (See Grasse, p. 47; Burr, The Literature oj Witchcraft,

p. 60; also Feyjo6, TheoL Crit., II, disc, v, 8.)

Cases showing that Satan obtained his power over witches

by threats as well as by promises threats to twist the neck,to kill wife and children, to pull down the house, etc. Ib., 1. i,

c. 1.

At their initiation the devil gives his disciples three pow-dersone black, one gray or reddish, and one white. Theformer kills if only sprinkled on the clothes of the victim, the

second makes sick, the third cures. By preparing a staff

with them the witch can kill man or beast by merely touchingthem with it, as if by accident or in jest. They have no

power, however, over magistrates or judges, who may thus

administer justice without fear. The devil indeed can have

nothing to do with ministers of the law, as Didier Finance

of St. Dizier found while he was magistrate of that town, for

he could not even evoke the demon who had previously been

his familiar. Ib., c. 2.

They are also furnished with an ointment to anoint their

hands, when they can kill by touching even the skirt of the

dress. It only works, however, subject to their volition, andis powerless after capture. Cases in which they indicated

after confession where earthen pots full of it were concealed

it was a bitumen full of white and yellow drops and metallic

particles. Evidently genuine, because when thrown in the

fire it burned with superhuman vehemence. Ib., c. 3.

Money given by the devil to his disciples always turns to

leaves, stones, coals, etc. Only one case otherwise, in which

Catherine Ruffe testified to receiving three real coins. As

the devil has the guardianship of uncounted hidden treasures,

this shows the goodness of God, for if he could bestow real

money no one's integrity would be proof against his temp-tations. Ib., c. 4.

On receiving a disciple, the demon inflicts a scratch which

leaves a permanent scar as a badge of servitude. This spot

is insensible and cannot bleed. Cases of its existence in differ-

ent parts of the body. From his accounts it would seem

that in examining a suspected witch the first process generally1 The ed. attributed to 1593 by Grasse's Tr&sor de Livres rarcs is a myth. In the

great Brussels library is a briefer MS. draft of 1596. B.


was to strip her naked, to shave the whole person, to look for

this scar, and to thrust needles into it. Scientific explanationsof its lack of sensation drawn from the torpor of cold and the

stunning of lightning. Ib., c. 5.

Argues that intercourse as incubi with women must alwaysbe sterile. Ridicules the theory of Martin of Aries and Petrus

Paludanus that demons as incubi prepare themselves bysqueezing semen out of the bodies of dead men. Doubts the

possibility of the theory of receiving as succubi and impartingas incubi, though he admits the weight of authority in its

favor. Doctors differ whether children born of such inter-

course are weaker or stronger than ordinary men. The testi-

mony is universal that intercourse is the first pledge of the

pact between a demon and a new witch. Disgusting details

of intercourse quoted from the confessions of wretched women.Ib., c. 6.

Demons can instantly assume any form. Statements

quoted from confessions as to the shapes assumed by their

familiars visiting them in prison mice, crabs, birds, hares,etc. Their favorite form, however, is the human, and it

shows the goodness of God that there is always some dis-

tinguishing mark usually cloven feet or bird's talons asstated in numerous cases referred to. Ib., c. 7.

Nature of speech of demons. Names assumed by familiars

those attached to German speaking women take Germannames, as Ungluc (ill luck), Machleid (injurious), Tzum wait

vliegen (off to the woods), etc. Those belonging to Frenchwomen (both races are found in Lorraine) took French names,as Maistre Persil, Jolybois, Verdelet, Saute-buisson, etc. Theirvoices were always peculiar, like one speaking in the bung-hole of a barrel. Ib., c. 8.

Witches generally preserve a remarkably religious exterior,and perform their religious duties regularly. Case in Metzwhere one was burnt who was ever the first in church and thelast to leave it, was constantly praying and crossing herself,and yet was proved guilty of innumerable sorceries. Ib,, c. 9.

Devil delights in uncleanliness. Washing the hands in

the morning by a witch weakens her power; if done regularlyby others it preserves them from her machinations. Noteasily explained. Ib., c. 10.

Severity of demons in exacting the tribute and homageagreed upon. At the Sabbat every one must make an offer-

ing chickens, birds, straws, leather coin, hair from the head,


etc. For default they are punished by stripes, death of

children, loss of property, etc. Ib., c. 11.

Wives when going to the Sabbat throw their husbands into

profound sleep, or provide an image to take their place.

Ib., c. 12.

Unbearable tyranny of demons over their witches. Wantof punctuality at the Sabbat punished with beating almost to

death. Blows on the head with a hammer, tearing out their

mouths with his claws, etc., are punishments for curingbewitched persons without permission or neglecting to putpeople to death when ordered. When a certain task is under-

taken, they must make amends for failing in it. Numerouscases in which they were obliged to sacrifice their own children

on this account. Fearful beatings in prison from demons as

penalty for confessing. Ib., c. 13.

As regards the vexed question whether witches are carried

bodily to the Sabbat or only in visions, he says both sides

are true, as it happens both ways. Case reported (pp. 97-100)showing how direct was the testimony how easily anyonecould accuse an enemy, and how numerous others were at

once drawn into the net and perished, yet the judge had but

an apparently unavoidable duty to perform. No alibi could

be pleaded, for there was always the argument that the placeof an absentee was supplied by a simulacrum.

Different modes of carriage to the Sabbat, showing con-

siderable powers of imagination on the part of the condemned

(pp. 103-4).Sabbat always held on the night preceding Thursdays or

Sundays all confessions accord in this. In other countries

it seems to be different; probably the demons arrange it so

that they can be present successively. Ib., c. 14.

"In Lotharingia memini intra annos sedecim, a quibusrerum capitalium judicia exerceo, non minus octingentos ejuscriminis manifesto compertos, Duumviratus nostri sententia

capitis esse damnatos; praeter totidem fere alios qui vel fugavel tormentorum pertinaci tolerantia vitae suae consulue-

runt,"- "for torture is uncertain and in this crime the expecta-tions of the judge are often eluded.

"

This differs from the number stated on the title, but the book was [partly]

written in July, 1591 (see p. 205), though not printed till 1595. The later

fifteen years may have furnished 900 executions, and the early sixteen

years only 800:

Say 1581-95900 average 60 per annumSay 1575-91 800 average 50 per annum

which from 1575 to 1595, twenty years, would make 1200.


They all said that the attendance at the Sabbat was verynumerous in some cases as many as 500, and in view of the

multitude of witches they were themselves surprised that

much more harm was not done. Ib., c. 15.

To render his victims contented and ready to do his biddingthe demon at the Sabbat indulges them in feasts and dancingand sexual intercourse. Yet the general testimony quoted

proves that the banquet is disgusting, the food and drink

scarcely fit to swallow and not satisfying either to hunger or

thirst. Bread and salt always lacking. Long argument to

show that the devil hates both bread because it is the sub-

stance of the sacrament and salt because God prescribed it

in the sacrifice (Levit., ii, 13) and it is used in baptismal and

holy water. One witch stated that human flesh was some-times served up also flesh of dead cattle and refuse garbage.

-Ib., c. 16.

The dances at the Sabbat are laborious and exhausting.One witch stated that after them she had to spend three

days in bed. All the pleasures are vain there, the banquetdisgusting and unsatisfying, the copulation painful and devoid

of pleasure, the dancing a task. No one excused from dancingeither by age or sickness, and anyone declining is beaten

savagely. Ib., c. 17.

They are bound by fearful oaths not to confess under

torture, and believe that these oaths condemn them to eternal

torture if broken. Case of Martha Marguelotte who tortured

herself after confession, and explained it to the judge bysaying that she feared the devil would avenge her perjury

by eternal flames. At the Sabbat they all wear masks to

avoid detection. (!) Ib., c. 18.

Hideous music at the Sabbat from all sorts of queer instru-

mentshorsed skulls, oak-logs, etc. After all of whicheach of them is obliged, under pain of cruel beating, to take

leave of the demon with profuse thanks for the entertainment.

Ib., c. 19.

They take leave of the demon with humble obeisance.

He changes himself into a horribly stinking goat and theykiss his podex. Ib., c. 20.

They are furnished with a powder by scattering which theyraise clouds of locusts, caterpillars, slugs, etc., to devour the

crops of enemies. One testified that she could bring swarmsof flies to kill the cattle of any one by pulling up a plant and

throwing it on the ground with certain words; another, that


by casting grass against a tree and reciting a formula he

could summon a pack of wolves to devastate any sheepfold.

Remy argues for the truth of all this, against those who denythe power of the devil to create these pests, by showingthat he can assemble them instantaneously to any extent.

Ib., c. 21.

At the Sabbat each one is examined as to what he or she

has done since the last meeting and it fares ill with those whohave not some evil deed to report. Ib., c. 22.

The devil assumes all shapes according to the work to be

done. His first appearance to any one is usually as a manso as not to excite alarm dressed in black, with various

contrivances so as not to show the cloven feet which he

cannot get rid of. When grown familiar he takes all sorts of

forms dog, cat, fly, wolf, horse, etc. His favorite shape is

that of the goat, as most similar to him in qualities and

character. Ib., c. 23.

The aerial transportation to the Sabbat is wearisome and

painful to the highest degree. One witch declared that after

it she would be bedridden for three days. Ib., c. 24.

More than 200 of those whom Remy had condemned to

the flames voluntarily confessed that they would go to a pondor brook and on beating the water with a rod given them bythe demon mists would arise and form dense clouds on which

they would sail and direct where the storm of rain, hail and

lightning should burst. Slight variations of this in other

confessions use of powders, incantations, etc., for the same

purpose. Ib., c. 25.

The demon hates nothing so much as the sound of church

bells. If rung in time they avert the demoniac tempests (in

spite of Ciruelo H. C. L.) and the people depend almost

entirely upon them for protection. It is on account of the

spite felt for this by the demons that so many bell ringers

are killed by lightning. (Qy. what becomes of the superiority

of God over the devil? H. C. L.) Remy argues at length

against the modern notion that demons cannot cause tem-

pests, and that bells and firing cannon affect the atmosphere.

-Ib., c. 26.

Buildings struck by lightning show signs of scratches with

claws, as though the devil had scratched them. Not asserted

positively, but labored argument to show its probability.

Ib., c. 27.

Against the absurd opinion of the Epicureans that there

VOL. n 39


are no such things as spirits and that the stories about themare the imaginings of foolish boys and timid women. Casescited to prove this. Several cases of stone-throwing in houses

one of which occurred to the author in 1563 at Auch7when

there was a pestilence in Toulouse. Ib., c. 28.

Argues that Con. Ancyran. (Qy., Cap. Episcopi? H. C. L.)

is of no authority, and that witches are carried through the

air by demons. Gives various cases in which it was provedby witnesses as well as by the confessions of the witches

themselves. Testimony apparently irrefragable. Says hecould quote many more, but he is writing for jurists andwishes to adduce nothing that is not "laudata aliqua lege."

-Ib., c. 29.

Demons cannot arouse the dead, but they can assume the

appearance or enter the corpse and make it seem alive, whichis the explanation of ghosts and spectres. Fearful stories

of such. Wanders off to discourse on incubi and succubi,and says the latter are so rare that he has personally knownbut one instance, though he has heard of others. (In cap. 2

he mentions more as of his own knowledge.) Cases in whichwitches have killed their children. Ib., 1. ii, c. 1.

Demons always endeavor to make witches pervert their

children. In most cases it is found that witches are the

children of witches. Case of Barbara Gillette, in 1587, whoridiculed the tortures preparing for her, which she said she

could easily endure, but preferred to confess and be executedrather than submit longer to the persecution of her demon,who tormented her to force her to make witches of her four

children, which she would not do. (Qy. whether this was nota heroic self-sacrifice of a mother to preserve her children

from the terrible suspicion?!!. C. L.)

Case of Frangoise Hacquart in 1581, forced by her demonto make a witch of her daughter Jeanne, only seven yearsold. Confessions of mother and daughter tallied. Motherburnt and daughter taken by a noble lady to save and convert.

Soon after, while sleeping with the maid servant, she wasseized by the demon and carried off, but the cries of

"Jesus"

by the servants forced him to leave her hanging in the timbersof the roof, as was seen by many people, and for eight daysshe remained senseless.

Remy met with many cases of witch-children of tender age,and when they were not doli capaces (about six months under

puberty) and there were no crimes proved against them he


was accustomed to have them scourged naked three timesaround the place where their parents were burnt. He nowthinks, however, that he was too lenient and that publicsafety requires capital punishment in such cases, for experienceshows that the devil rarely releases his hold (what chancehad the poor wretches? H. C. L.); and judges should con-sider whether the law which releases from responsibility onaccount of youth should not be set aside in this crime.

Cases in which witches poisoned the nails of their children,that they might kill their playfellows (as if by accident) byscratching them.

Great discussion between the judges in May 1591 (thebook was written in July 1591 see p. 205 H. C. L.) overthe case of Laurent of Arselai, aged seven years, made a

witch by his parents, who confessed to have often been at

the Sabbat, where he turned the spit and assisted in cooking.His demon named Verd Joly gave him a powder wherewithto kill the cattle of those who offended him, which he did.

Arguments given at length whether he should be executed or

not, Remy evidently leaning to the affirmative. Finally hewas spared and shut up in a convent. Ib., c. 2.

Use of corpses in witchcraft. All were used, but those whohad been executed were best. Roasted to cinders or boiled

down to a mass, they served to make the magic powders andointments. Numerous cases cited with details. Case of

Agathina of Pittelingen, Anna of Miltzingen and Mayetteof Hochit, September 1590, who stole from its cradle a yearold child of John Molitor of Welferdingen and burned it in

a fire built on Mont Grise. The ashes of the child were then

worked into a paste with dew gathered from the grass andthe resultant powder used to scatter on the crops and fruit-

trees to destroy their fertility. Ib., c. 3.

Power of witches, though not unlimited, still very great.

With their poisons they overcome the sleeping or they laysnares for the vigilant which human prudence can scarce

avoid. Margaret Luodman, in 1587, among other spon-taneous confessions, stated that she had entered the house of

a certain man at night to kill him while sleeping, but bychance he awoke, and she and her accomplices were forced

to fly. He, when summoned as a witness, confirmed this.

He would have perished, had he not chanced to awake andrecited the Lord's prayer and crossed himself.

Numerous cases cited in which the accused stated that


they entered houses by changing themselves to cats, mice,locusts and other small deer, then resumed their shape,anointed the victim to prevent him from waking and pouredpoison down his throat by the light of a lantern emitting

sulphurous flames. Margaret Luodman testified that she

had entered the house of her own son with the intention of

roasting him alive, but had changed her mind and thrust a

potsherd into his side, which after some months worked its

way out. So in 1587 Bertrande confessed to having thus

inserted a piece of bone in the neck of a certain Eliza whohad refused her some milk. Other similar cases.

One in 1589 of Jeanne Blaise of "Thermopolis" whoseson-in-law Rainier, who lived with her, undertook to make a

pair of breeches for Claude Gerard, a neighbor. Gerard tired

of waiting, went to the house, where he found Jeanne withher family (Rainier absent) sitting by the fire, and demandedhis cloth back, saying he would find some one else to makethe garment. Jeanne dissembled her wrath and asked himto sit down by the fire and help himself to a roasted applefrom among some just cooked. He refused several times onthe plea of haste and not being hungry, when one of the applesstuck to his hand with so much heat that he applied theother hand to remove it, when the two stuck together as if

they had been rolled into one, and the apple between themburned so intensely that he became nearly insane. He rushedout and called for help. One brought water to cool the

apple, another tools to force the hands apart, but all wasuseless, and it was evident that the trouble was caused byevil arts. At length one wiser than the rest advised him to

be taken back to where the trouble was caused. It waswas done, and Blaise laughed at him, but stroked his armfrom the shoulder to the wrist, when the pain graduallyabated, the apple dropped out, and his hands were entirelycured.

The safeguard against nocturnal assaults is to ask the aid

and protection of God on going to bed. Ib., c. 4.

Nearly all those whose confessions passed through Remy'shands stated that they assumed the form of cats when enter-

ing houses to scatter their poisons, and the testimony of

others agreed with them in every detail of time, place, andcircumstance. Case of Barbeline Rayel, tried in January1587, who confessed that in the shape of a cat she enteredthe house of Jean Louis, and wandering around found his


baby, two months old, lying unwatched. She sprinkled it

with some powder, carried in the sole of her paw, and killed it.

Two cases (1581) of men who confessed to turning them-selves into wolves and killing the cattle of those who offended

them. Count Paul von Salm related to him a case occurringin his town of Hess-Pittelangen, where his peasants, after per-

forming a corvee of woodcutting, assembled to get food in

the courtyard of his castle. Their dogs got into a fight, whena bitch took refuge under an oven. One of the peasants looked

in after her and not liking her appearance wounded her in

the head with a weapon he carried. She rushed out and

disappeared, but soon it was known that an old woman of

the town, suspected of witchcraft, was bedridden with a

wound received no one knew how. The place was muchinfested with witches, suspicion was aroused, she was arrested

and confessed not only that occurrence but many other

crimes. Another case related to him by his patroness Diane

de Dommartin, wife of Ch. Philippe de Croy, which occurred

in her territory of "Thiecuria." A witch, desirous of reveng-

ing herself on a shepherd, was in the habit of taking the form

of a wolf and ravaging his flock. On one occasion he surprised

her at it, attacked her with an axe and wounded her. Hefollowed her into a thicket, where he found her binding upthe wound with strips torn off her dress. Thus caught in the

act she was condemned and burnt.

When thus metamorphosed they have all the qualities in

which the animals whose shape they take exceed man the

speed, fierceness, strength, agility, etc., of cats, birds, wolves,

locusts, etc., and this is given them by the demon. Ib., c. 5.

Cases in 1586 in which the demon helped his witches to

kill people by forcing down their throats in sleep small morsels

of putrid flesh from animals dead of disease. Ib., c. 6.

Case of Jeanne Ulrique, in 1588 roughly refused her wages

for watching cattle by Jean Canard. Enters his house at

night and strangles his child. Subsequently seized and con-

fesses it with other crimes.

The following case illustrates how the temper of the times

rendered the most trifling occurrences a ground for accusations

of witchcraft. Barbeline Rayel, of Blainville, executed Jan-

uary 1587, tried to injure Claude Mamm<, who had never

done her harm, entering his house at night with her demon,

and taking his baby from the cradle by the bedside for the

purpose of drowning it in a neighboring river. The mother,


roused by the cry of the infant, put her hands in the cradle

to see if it had got out of its swaddling clothes as it hadseveral times done before, and, not finding it, got up in the

dark. Thus disturbed, Barbeline hid the child in the bedand flew away with the demon. Alexe Belhore, with whomClaude had a quarrel, was tried soon after as a witch, whenClaude and his wife swore the above facts against her. Sub-

sequently, when Barbeline was tried, she confessed it was she

who did it.

The child apparently was not harmed. The mere fact that it had creptinto its parents' bed was sufficient to convince them that witches were at

work. This illustrates, moreover, how limited were the powers ascribed

to witches, when the case required it, while in others they were almostillimitable.

Barbeline also persecuted Jean Louis by tumbling a sackof wheat out of his cart as he was crossing a stream while

going to mill; by sprinkling powder on his horses, so that twodied and others were long sick; by entering his house in the

shape of a cat and mortally infecting his two-months-old

child; by placing on his path, when on the way to Gerbeville,a poisoned pear, which he ate, rendering him so sick that hecould scarce drag himself home. All of these were suggestedto her by the demon.June 1587, Catherine Ruffe confessed that she was in the

habit of entering houses at night, taking babies out of their

cradles, killing them and leaving them lying "in culcetram,"so that the husband might throw the blame on his wife andthus produce a permanent quarrel.

September 1587, Catherine of Metz brings a miscarriageon Lolle Gel6e by breathing on her.

Jeanne Grandsaincte, spinning late at night with a lantern,reflected how she could revenge herself on Barbara Gracieuse

(July, 1582). Suddenly the demon appeared in the form of a

cat and told her to powder a snail-shell and sprinkle it over

Barbara, which she did while the latter was foddering cattle

in a dark stall, killing her. She did the same abundantly to

a daughter of Antoine le Gibbeux (Gibbosi), but it only madeher slightly sick, and Jeanne afterwards cured her in thesame manner. For these poisons have not in themselves the

power of killing or healing, but the devil produces what effect

he wishes by them, and it is enough for Mm if the witch

merely places her hand to the work and makes herself anaccomplice.


Alexe Belhore (Blainville, January 1587) quarrelled with

her husband until she prayed the devil for revenge. The

night before Christmas he went to the neighboring town to

make purchases for the festivity. On his way home the devil

beat him and threw him into a hole, and then reported it to

Alexe. She went out to assure herself of the fact, found himwhere he lay and assisted him, home, where he died duringthe night. Then she called in the neighbors, showed the

bruises on her husband's body and said he had been waylaidthe night before by robbers, which was readily believed, as

her age and ugliness precluded the idea of lovers.

Jacobette Echine (October 1585), seeing some persons

against whom she had a grudge passing through a wood,asked the demon to mislead them. At once they lost their

way and after long wanderings found themselves back at

home so weary that they scarce could stand. Ib., c. 7.

Witches have the power of scattering on the ground weeds,

straws, powders, and such trifles which will kill those whowalk over them, if the witch so wishes, and prove innocuous

to those whom she wishes to spare. The sickness so induced

is incurable, except by the witch herself, who can heal with a

word or sign, or other thing not naturally curative. Sixteen

cases cited of this, dating from 1582 to 1589, showing the

various details also that the process is noxious only to the

person indicated. In one case five cows belonging to one

individual were thus killed, out of a number feeding in a

common pasture. In one case the witch relented, but could

not with all her supplications induce the demon to save her

victim. In another, he allowed the witch to do so. Ib., c. 8.

The devil often asks the consent of his followers before

inflicting evils. Some assume that he requires human aid

and that man can be harmed only by the agency of man,which is not devoid of probability. Others, that the devil

is God's instrument of wrath and punishment, and that he

can operate by himself, but desires to have confederates. Hewill do the deed himself with their assent, in their absence,

so that no suspicion attaches to them. After doing it, he

promptly returns and reports it. Barbeline Rayel (1587) said

that she could hardly form a wish against one of her neigh-

bors before a hideous dog would appear and inform her that

what she wished was accomplished. Fifteen cases, from

1583 to 1589, illustrating this.

Witches are roused to wrath by every trifling offence, when


they vomit forth their rage furiously, but when soothed by

gifts they often undo the evil they have wrought.

It is customary, and often very advantageous, to threaten

those with whom we quarrel, especially if they labor under

suspicion, that we will hold them accountable for anything

that may happen to us. As experience proves, this often

restrains them from executing revenge.

They can not only bring misfortunes on individuals and

families, but upon whole districts and towns.

The cursing of the fig-tree by Christ (Matt., xxi, 19) quoted

to support witchcraft. The death of Ananias and Sapphira

proves the power of killing with a word.

Yet Remy ridicules the idea that written charms of words

and characters have any power. Such things may be admitted

as collateral evidence, but not as conclusive. Does not believe

in incantations and execrations. When spoken words and

formulas have an effect, it is because there is a pact with the

devil of which they are the expression agreed upon. Ib., c. 9.

Case of Jeanne au Ban who, while at work in the fields,

saw Bernard Bloquat, against whom she had a spite, riding in

a wagon to Argentras to make purchases. She proceeded to

curse him and at once he fell from the wagon with so much

violence that he died on the spot, though no bruise or injury

was apparent on his body. The driver of the wagon, hired

by Bloquat, testified to this before suspicion was aroused as

to Jeanne (1585).

Jeanne of Montenaie (1582) testified that she rarely asked

her demon to do injury to any one without its being at once

performed. Ib., c. 10.

Case of L'Asnifere at Nancy. Old and infirm, she was a

regular recipient of charity. Standing at the door of a magis-

trate, she importuned for alms. His eldest son, passing out,

told her to come back at some other time, as the servants were

too busy to attend to her. Angered at this, she cursed him.

As though his foot had struck a stone, he at once fell so

violently that he was forced by the pain to return to the house,

where he related the affair, stating that it had not occurred

through any carelessness, but that he had been forced downfrom behind, and that doubtless he would have broken a

limb but for the help of God, for he had crossed himself and

commended himself to God early that morning. The devil

reported his ill success to the witch, but promised to carry

out the work when he could find the youth unfortified in

ITS PROMOTEKS AND CRITICS 617

this way. A few days afterwards the youth, stretching out

of a window to get a sparrow's nest from the wall, was lifted

up from behind and thrown out with so much violence that

he was carried senseless into the house. In a few days he

died, protesting to the last that he had not fallen throughcarelessness, but had been lifted up from behind and thrownto the ground with great force. A few days later L'Asniere

was seized on account of other evidences and long suspicionunder which she labored, and without torture she confessed

them all, including the above, her account of it agreeing withthe youth's statement, the devil having reported to her the

cause of his ill-success on the first attempt and his final

triumph all of which she repeated while the flames were

rising around her at the stake. Ib., c. 11.

Case of Apra Hoselotte (1587), whose son was ill-treated

by his employer, Jean of Halcourt, on account of suspectedtheft. To punish Jean therefore, once when he was returningon horseback from the pasture with his cattle, she with her

Jean demon, both invisible, so bent down the horse's neck that

slipped over its head and lamed himself for life. Lib., c. 12.

Claude Fell6e (1588) asked her demon to punish a neighborwith whom she had quarrelled, while she herself should be

at work in the fields and thus escape suspicion. Accordinglyone day the neighbors heard fearful cries in the offender's

house and, breaking open the bolted door, found the woman'sinfant in its cradle covered with burning coals and so injured

that it died in their hands. Suspicion pointed to Claude,who had before been accused of similar crimes, and she finally

confessed among other things that her demon had pulled

with a wand the burning coals from under the ashes and

thrown them in the cradle.

As the power of the demon to set houses on fire has been

disputed, Remy proceeds to give several instances of it, both

with and without the intervention of a witch. Also the case

of the town of Schiltach given at length from Erasmus,

Epistl. FamiL, 1. xxvii, c. 200 (pp. 289-90). Ib., c. 13.

Two cases (1584) wherein witches revenged themselves by

killing or injuring their victims with whirlwinds, while all the

rest of the heaven was serene. Ib., c. 14.

Colette "Piscatrix" (1585) puts out, while absent, one of

the eyes of Claude Jacquemin. She confesses to the judge,

and Claude describes it as seeming as though the branch of a

tree had been thrust into it, though no tree was near.


Jacobette Weber seeks for revenge on a peasant living with

her, but lie is watchful and she finds it difficult. At lengthshe gets her demon to thrust a thorn in his knee while heis kneeling in a thicket, and he is lamed for three months,until she relents and makes her demon extract it with his

nail while the man is cutting wood all of which he confirms.

Ib.,c. 15.

Case of Nicholas Wanneson of Reichau (1587), sick untodeath for a long while through the machinations of a neigh-

boring witch. At length she went to see himeither movedby pity, for they are not all devoid of it, or frightened at

the threats which commenced to be uttered against her andadvised that supplication be made to some saint throughwhose intercession such diseases are frequently cured. Accord-

ingly Hans Jacob is sent to the shrine of Beau Bernard in

Metz, which was then celebrated throughout that region;and those who were around the bed of Nicholas testified

that he commenced to recover at the precise moment whenJacob was making his offerings and causing prayers to besaid for him. He vomited bits of glass and balls of mattedhair.

These things vomited and extracted from the body are fre-

quently so large that people are incredulous. Remy proceedsto quote numerous cases from Ambroise Par6 and other

medical authorities to show that it is possible. Ib., 1. iii, c. 1.

It was customary among the ignorant and peasants, if

any one was sick of some unusual or mysterious disease, to

steal food or drink from the house of the person suspected of

causing it, and to take it in the hopes of cure. Remy con-

demns this as a device of the devil, but says that many per-sons have told him they were relieved by it. It is a manifes-tation of faith in the devil and substantially a pact withhim. Ib., c. 2.

The most efficacious way to make witches undo their sor-

cery is to beat and threaten them. They admit this them-selves. Various illustrative cases cited, where men of station

thus forced witches to cure members of their families. Insuch cases, however, the devil, who rarely does unmixed good,usually transfers the disease to some other person or animal.

Cf. story of Admetus.Nicole iStienne (1587), called in to remove a pestilence from

the castle of Dommartin, does so, but when the time camefor her to depart, her son dislikes to leave such good quarters;


so, under pretext of aiding the toilet of the Chatelaine, she

sprinkles some powder down her back which at once makesher deadly sick. The servants thereupon seize her and

threaten her with rigorous punishment, when she pretends to

take measures for a cure. The son gets frightened and lowers

himself at night from the castle walls with a rope, is pursued,

brought back and confesses the whole, saying that in two

weeks the disease will cease. It does so, but returns the next

day. The son, called to account, says that his mother has

caused the relapse and must be beaten to work a cure. Twostout peasants therefore pound and kick her brutally and

thrust her in the fire, until she promises a cure, which she

effects by giving the Chatelaine to eat an apple on which she

secretly had sprinkled a white powder. The cure was wrought,but when she left the castle, as had been promised to her,

two officers stationed outside seized her; she and her son were

tried, confessed and were burnt.

Case of a witch (1586) who succeeded in escaping from

prison.It is a crime to consult or employ witches, but it is con-

stantly done, even by kings and princes, and they gain

large sums thereby. Similar condemnation of all species of

divination.

In whipping witches to make them undo their sorcery the

popular belief is that grapevine branches are the most effi-

caciousof which, if true, the cause is not easily explained.

To beat and maltreat witches to force them to cure the

bewitched is a triumph over the devil, but at the same time

it has a slight savor of a pact with him, as using his interven-

tion. Ib., c. 3,

Within the last ten years at Nancy a witch named Thenotte

was frequently called in to cure diseases. She always said

the disease was caused by St. Fiacre, to whom a pilgrimage

and offering was necessary. She would thus be hired to

undertake it. She would first measure the sick person across

with a waxed linen cloth; then would watch all night at the

outer door and with the first dawn would start on the pil-

grimage, preserving unbroken silence. On entering the church

of St. Fiacre she would set fire to the linen, and with the

melted wax dropping from it would make a cross on the steps

of the principal altar; then with the cloth still burning she

would walk three times around the church and return home.

-Ib., c. 4.


Confessions of various witches to show: (1) That disease

caused by sorcery can only be removed by the person causingit. (2) That it can only be done by transferring it, in a graver

form, to some one else. (3) That the cure is never complete,some traces being always left. (4) That after accusation and

prosecution they no longer have power to cure, being no morein the hands of the demon.Witches are almost always beggars, living on charity.

Ib., c. 5.

All who have subjected themselves to the demon admitthat his yoke is hard to bear and that they eagerly seek to

throw it off, but he watches them so closely that they are

rarely able to do so, and consequently they are frequently

impelled to commit suicide. This he favors, and any attemptis apt to be successful, as he seems to render death so promptthat all human assistance is unavailing.

This explains why, when they are arrested, they so gen-

erally confess spontaneously without waiting for torture, andwelcome death, in which they can be reconciled to God. Nu-merous cases (6) cited in which they rejoiced at being thus

set free from the devil, and demanded early punishment.Suicide in jail also frequent, which is somewhat contradictory.

-Ib., c. 6.

Case of Didier Finance, condemned at Nancy in 1581 to

be torn with red-hot pincers and burnt alive for witchcraft

complicated with parricide. He commits suicide in jail witha knife carelessly brought with his bread by the jailer.

Jeanne au Ban testified that the devil was always temptingher to make way with herself, and she repeatedly attemptedit, even in prison after capture, but God always mercifullysaved her. Other similar cases. Ib., c. 7.

The devil seeks to retain his prey to the last. Cases

(1581-7) in which he urges his victims in prison to endurethe torture and not confess, assuring them that it will soonbe over and that then they would be released. While undertorture he would be concealed in the hair, or in the mouth,or at the end of the rack, urging constancy. One witch, after

enduring torture to the end of her resolution, burst out "Takeme away from this; the traitor has given me enough of words;I am ready to confess the truth.

7 'After confession they often

ask not to be left alone at night, when he has special oppor-tunity to injure them.

ITS PKOMOTERS AND CEITICS 621

He seeks to help them through, and In many cases he enables

them to escape the shrewdest efforts of the judge and to

elude the punishment due to their offences. Remy has knowncases in which they have twice passed through trial and tor-

ture and been discharged as innocent, and yet have broken

down on a third trial for the original offences. One woman(Marguerite Valtrine) bore for a full hour the utmostefforts of the torturers, and then, when about to be dis-

charged, asked pardon of the judge for her obstinacy andconfessed her guilt.

Case of Alexe Belhore (1587), who, when about to confess

after torture, suddenly threw herself against the wall, stun-

ning herself, and then on recovering her senses pointed at the

devil under the rack who was threatening her for her weak-

ness, after he had been consoling her under the torture.

All these cases show how thoroughly the judges in these dreadful scenes

believed themselves to be engaged in a direct conflict with the powers of

evil.

All witches agree in declaring that their day of freedom

begins when the judge commences to apply force and terror

and torture; they implore not to be discharged and aban-

doned to the slavery of their tyrant. Their only remedy is

to be put speedily to death during repentance, for otherwise

they will be exposed to his vengeance for confessing their

crimes;and they have no hope of being able to abandon their

career if deprived of the asylum of the law. Ib., c. 8.

Executioners pay great attention to the necessity of over-

coming the arts by which witches are enabled to endure tor-

ture, and they have many devices for this purpose. In Ger-

many they think it necessary, when a witch is arrested, to

carry her from her house to the prison without letting her

touch the ground probably for the same reason that in the

Vosges a bride is carried from her home to church in the arms

of two men to elude the incantations that might otherwise

impede the marriage. Others strip the witch and make her

put on a garment that has been spun, woven, and sewed all

in one day. Others shave them from the sole of the foot to

the crown of the head before torturing, thinking that the devil

may be hidden among the hairs. Case of Alexe Gall<e (1583),

who strove in vain to confess to the judge, until she asked to

have her hair cut off and burnt, when she was able to do so.

Others again inject cold water into the mouth by way of


disturbing the demon, and this is sometimes successful (prob-

ably from natural causes H. C. L.). Cold-water ordeal,described as a novelty introduced from Western Saxony and

Westphalia, believed in by many, and experimented uponthis year at Serres, in presence of a great prince. Didier

Gaudon (1588) in his confession asserted its efficacy.

All these things Remy believes to be the craft of the Devil

to induce men to tempt God and to neglect the proper meansat hand. Ib,, c. 9.

Instances of prophetic power. Jane, wife of Nic. Michel

(1590), was told by her demon that she would be arrested

in four days and it proved true. Yet the devil has no powerof foretelling the future proved by the usual arguments of

the demonographers. They can report what is going on at a

distance and thus astonish men. Cases related of Apolloniusof Tyana, and more recently of Louis XI, who knew the

defeat and death of Charles the Bold at the hour of its occur-

rence, though at ten days' journey distance. Several cases

(1581-94) in which the demon informed his victims in prisonthat they would be tortured the next day. And one (1586)in which Jean Rotier informed his jailer that he would beexecuted that day. The man had not heard of it and denied

it, but Jean said that his demon had told him so during the

night and given him all the details. He repeats this whenbrought before his judges a few hours later and describes his

demon minutely.- Ib., c. 10.

No place is so sacred as to be free from the intrusion of

the devil. He delights to pursue his prey into the mostsacred recesses of churches, at holy sermons, in monasteries,in the retreat of the hermit, etc. What wonder then that

he establishes himself in the judgment room to watch over

his followers?

Remy says that while an infant nothing affected him morethan the stories of ghosts and spirits which nurses are wontto tell to crying children to frighten them.

"Once I was pressing a witch named L'Asni&re (from the

occupation of her husband, an ass-driver) with the evidenceof the witnesses, so that there was no further escape for her,and she was preparing herself to confess, when suddenly hercolor changed, her eyes were fixed on a corner of the room,her voice failed, and her mind seemed about to leave her.

I ask the cause of this sudden sickness. She replies that she


sees her demon in that corner, threatening her with hands

like toothed crab's claws, as though about to fly at her.

I follow with my eye the pointing of her finger and see nothing.

I encourage her to fear nothing. She collects herself and

resumes her narrative, when from another corner he threatens

her again, this time with straight horns from his forehead as

though to butt her. Being again derided, he disappears, and

was seen by her no more, as she declared when mounting the

stake. I had heard of a similar case not many years before

at Metz. Such occurrences argue either an attempt of the

witches to frighten their judges, which they are none too goodto do, or that the demon can show himself to one person and

not to others. The former I cannot believe after witnessing

the horror, the stupor, as though at the last gasp, which theymanifest on these occasions

;besides they all persist in assert-

ing it, when the flames are rising around them." Ib., c. 11.

He proceeds to demolish those who argue that witches

ought not to be punished. It seems they alleged that manythings arising from natural causes were attributed to witches-

such as thunder, lightning, tempests, and the like. Long argu-

ment with innumerable authorities to show that this powerhas always been attributed to them, and that the demon mayat least be the instrument of God to punish man with the

elements.

As for disbelieving the carrying of witches through the air,

it is not for human reason to judge all that is done beyondthe ordinary order of nature.

Long and rambling argument based on countless authorities

to prove that no mercy is to be shown to witches "Nimirumhoc est rabidis canibus, quas alioqui insanabiles nemo nescit,

idcirco vitam dare: quia nulla sua culpa ac vitio in earn rabiem

incurrerunt." Neither age nor sex to be spared.

No terms of reprobation strong enough for those who oppose

their punishment" Hoc autem quid est aliud nisi si est

luporum in medio ovili arcem praesidiumque statuere?" Hehas seen whole districts prepare to emigrate for no other

reason than the license accorded to these wretches by the

too great lenity of the magistrates.

He ends with the declaration that after long experience in

the examination of witches he has no hesitation in stating his

opinion that their lives are so stained with crime, lust, impiety

and evil deeds "ut e jure esse non dubitum omnibus tornientis

excruciates igni interficere, turn ut debitis poenis sua expient


scelera, turn aliis sint documento ac magnitudine suppliciieos deteireant." Ib., c. 12. 1

THYKAEUS, PETER. De Spirituum Apparitionibus. Col-

oniae, 1594.

He was a distinguished Jesuit preacher and professor of theology andcontroversialist. Died 1601 (De Backer, II, p. 633). There were several

editions of this book.

Spirits form bodies for themselves of condensed air and the

evil ones also assume the bodies of the dead, which they abuseat their pleasure. From this comes a reason for the consecra-

tion of cemeteries, so that by prayer and the word of God the

power of using the corpses may be taken away from wicked

spirits. They have greater power over the bodies of those

whose demerits deprive them of burial in holy places. Theycannot use the bodies of those who have triumphed over themin life, but specially of those who have obeyed them. Ib.,

1. i, c. 9, nn. 166, 167, 170 (pp. 24-5).

[They differ from good angels chiefly in that] "quaedamoperentur quae coelestes spiritus minime deceant, id est, in

1 Mr. Lea's interest in Remy is attested by the materials pertaining to

him, both printed and MS., which were arriving from over sea when hedied. Among these an article by A. Fournier, "Une epide'mie de sorcel-

lerie en Lorraine" (Annales de I'Est, 1891, pp. 256-8), shows how in his

old age, after retirement, Remy continued to attack witches and to excite

others to do the same. His Daemonolatreia was written in rather barbarous

Latin; but to make himself better understood he explained in Frenchverse his method of making obstinate witches confess :

"Ces femmes en effect au milieu des tortures,

Vantent leur probit<, leurs intentions pures,Eludent du questeur les arguments pressants,

S'indignent de se voir en proie a ses tourments,Et par aucun aveu n'indiquent leur de*faite;

Mais de*ja si Ton sait les verser sur le dos,Et dans leur bouche ouverte infuser un peu d'eau,Surtout de 1'eau sacre*e emprunte*e & Fe"glise,

Une confession est aussitdt e*mise.

Les Grecs, en leur tourments si raffin6s, si forts,

N'en obtiendraient jamais 1'aveu des moindres torts,

Tous leurs poils tomberaient de leur peaux ratisse"s

Qu'on les verrait dormir sans crainte, de"honte"es,

Pour le sur, le de"mon, dans quelque coin cache",

Conduit toute la scene avec autorite1

.

C'est lui qui leur impose une male Constance

Et contre la douleur lour ferme resistance.

Juges, ne craignez point de vous montrer seVeres

Dans vos arre"ts ported pour punir les sorcieres;. . . Tous les si&cles loueront ces actes de justice."


assumptis corporibus succubi sint ad viros, incubi vero adfoeminas." Ib., c. 10, n. 172 (p. 25).

After admitting that this has been denied, he proceeds:

"Alioquin congressus hos daemonum cum utriusque sexus

hominibus negare ita temerarium est ut necessaiium sit simul

convellas et sanctissimorum et gravissimorum horoinum grav-issimas sententias, et humanis sensibus bellum indieas, et te

ignorare fatearis quanta sit illorum spirituum in haec corporavis atque potestas." Ib., n. 174 (p. 25).But he subsequently admits: "Quanquamnon negaverim

fieri posse ut in foedo hoc negotio quibusdain et in primismulieribus illudatur; dum aut per somnia decipiuntur, aut

vigilantes ex vehementi libidinis imaginatione vere contigissearbitrantur quae sola imaginatione perfecta fuerunt." Ib.,

n. 178 (p. 26).

An important admission!

Those sprung from these unions are not to be called children

of demons (for Aquinas' reason) and they do not differ fromother men. Ib., n. 179 (p. 26).

But the "sons of God" in Gen. vi were not angels whonever experience desire but designate the descendants of

Seth, and the daughters of men are those of Cain. Ib., n. 181

(p. 26).

There are demons of servile condition, called Martinelli or

Martinetij whose office it is to indicate the Sabbats and under

the shape of goats to transport the witches to them. Ib.,

n. 193 (p. 28).

This latter he borrows from Alph. de Castro, De Justa Punit. Haeret.,

lib. i, c. 16.

He says that those who are seen in the Sabbat are not

always there in person, but only their apparitions. And there-

fore the question is whether those thus seen are justly suspectof witchcraft and belong to the sect of witches. Ib., 1. ii,

c. 13, n. 183 (p. 107).

He concludes from the Cap. Episcopi that the witch is

sometimes not present, but is deluded by demons so that she

seems to be there and can scarce persuade herself that she is

not there. Ib., n. 184.

There are some who regard the whole matter as an illusion

of the demon. Ib., n. 185.

And why? It is beyond controversy that the whole can

be done. Such is the power of demons that they can trans-

port men wherever they choose. Ib., n. 187.

VOL. ii 40


Goes on to prove this by the case of Christ and others.

Tells a story from Alphonso de Castro, De Justa Punit.

Haeret., 1. i, c. 16 (which I have read EL C. L.), of a peasantin 1526 who saw his wife d sappear after anointing herself;

on her return he beat her till she confessed she had been to

the Sabbat. He disbelieved her unless she could take himthere, which she consented to do, warning him that he mustuse no sacred name. At the banquet he wanted salt, and after

some difficulty it was brought, when he exclaimed," Thank

God!" The whole assembly vanished at once; he was left

alone and was eight days in getting home. This and a some-what similar story from Grillandi are deemed sufficient and

irrefragable proof. Ib., n. 191 (pp. 107-08).The next question is whether demons can represent in the

Sabbat the simulacra of innocent and virtuous men. Ib.,

c. 14, n. 192 (p. 108).

There is no doubt of this. In Hydromancy the images of

saints are seen in the water. The image of Samuel was repre-sented by the demon and that of Christ appeared to St.

Martin. Paul says (II Cor., xi, 14) that Satan himself is

transformed into an angel of light Ib., n. 193.

Though this is incontrovertible, there is a great disputewhether the innocent are thus represented and whether great

wrong is done in subjecting to torture those thus suspected.

Ib., n. 194.

Goes on to consider the power of demons and the extent

to which God permits them to exert it. They have the same

powers as the good angels. They can stop the motions of

the spheres at least, those of the higher orders who fell-

but they are not permitted. Those who transfer womenfrom place to place, why, when they are arrested, do they notliberate them? Because they are not always allowed to dowhat they can do. If they were permitted to use their full

powers, there would be nothing but ruin and devastation.

They can do no more than what God permits. Ib., nn. 195-200 (pp. 108-9).

Therefore there is no doubt of their power to represent in

the Sabbat the innocent as well as their followers. Theyrepresent them outside of the Sabbat and can as well do so

in it. But it should not be believed that they are allowedto do so. This would be great injury to the innocent. Witchesin the Sabbat almost wholly recognize only their accomplices.Doubtless when questioned under torture about accomplices

ITS PBOMOTBBS ATD CRITICS 627

they might designate those (truly with what injury to the

innocent) whose images they had seen in similar gatherings.But we learn from Scripture how the singular providence of

God for the innocent averts from them this danger. Psalm 90tells us how he protects them. If demons at pleasure can

represent the innocent in the Sabbat, why can they not dothe same in robbery, adultery and other crimes? The assent

of all honest men confirms what we say. If this deceptionwere possible such men would live in constant fear lest theyshould be suspected and tortured, but they are tranquil and

assured, which testifies that this is one of the things that

cannot be done. Ib., nn. 201-8 (pp. 109-10).

A decree attributed to Pope Eutychianus (c. 280) lays down the rule

as to accusers: "Qui ad sortilegos magosque concurrerint nullatenus adaccusationem sunt admittendi" (St. Eutychiamis, Epist. ii Migne V,174). This is carried into Gratian, Decret., P. II, Caus. iii, c. 3. Bernardof Pavia (c. 1195), however, in his Summa of the Decretum, assumes that

this covers sorcerers and diviners themselves as it naturally would "neead accusationem admittantur" (Bern. Papiensis, Summa, 1. v, tit. 17, 5).

The conception of scholastic theology with regard to demonsis well expressed by the following:

" Daemonibus tria inter

alia sunt proposita; divinus honor, Dei contemptus et mor-talium pernicies sive interitus. Quibus morbis a temporequo a gratia Dei exciderunt laborarunt, iisdem omnibus

laborabant; quocirca, ut semper divini honoris fuerunt appe-

tentissimi, Deique contemptores et hominum salutis hostes,

ita adhuc in omnibus quaerunt ut praedictos fines conse-

quantur." Ib., c. 25 (p. 134).

This would make the fall of the angels subsequent to the creation of man.

It seems that there was a belief in "homunciones" little

men, dwarfs or gnomes or elves between men and animals,

to whom was ascribed frequent interference in human affairs,

especially disturbances at night, rattling of utensils and furni-

ture (Poltergeist?), which were held to presage death. Thy-raeus is disposed to deny the existence of these beings and

attributes the disturbances to demons of an inferior order, at-

tached to men the Lares or domestic gods of the ancients.

Ib., 1. iii, cc. 2, 8.

Can this have any relation to the incubi of Sinistrari?

GROSSE, HENNING. Magica, sen Mirabilium Historiarum

de Spectris et Apparitionibus Spirituum, etc., libri II. Ex pro-


batis et fide dignis historiarum scriptoribus diligenter collecti.

Cura, typis et sumptibus Henningi Grosii, Bibl. Lips., Isle-

biae, 1597 (again Lugd. Bat., 1656).One reason given for the dedication of the book to Henry

Julius, Duke of Brunswick and Liineburg, was that he had

recently been persecuting witches vigorously. In the dedica-

tion Grosse tells us that his object is to lay bare the frauds

and deceptions of Satan, with the view of leading the reader

to avoid these horrid and diabolical crimes and aid fathers

of families to teach their horrible results and exhort to piety :

a work most convenient to theologians, necessary to jurists

and useful to the Christian Republic. He states that he foundthe manuscript in a library, without the name of the authoror compiler. He publishes it for the benefit of theologians,

philosophers and jurisconsults. (From various allusions to

Luther, Melanchthon, etc., Grosse is evidently a Protestant,so his collection illustrates Protestant credulity. H. C. L.)When in 718 the pious Wulfram was endeavoring to convert

Ratbod, Duke of the Frisians, Satan, taking the form of an

angel of light, appeared to the latter and told him to ask

Wulfram what was the mansion of eternal splendor that hewould promise him; when Wulfram would hesitate, he should

propose that each should send a person to see the palace

promised him by the other side. It was done; a Frisian wasselected by the Duke and a deacon by Wulfram, who wan-dered off together and met a person offering to show themthe mansion prepared for Ratbod. They followed a magnifi-cent road paved with polished colored marbles which led to

a lofty palace of gold, having before it a plaza covered with

gold and precious stones. Entering its splendid halls theyfound a wonderful throne, and their guide declared this to

be the house prepared for Ratbod. Then the deacon, crossing

himself, exclaimed, "If all this is of God, let it stand; if of

the devil, let it vanish/' when the guide changed to a demon,the palace to mud, and the deacon and his companion foundthemselves floundering in a marsh, three weary days' journeyfrom their starting pointwhere, on their return, they foundRatbod dead. (From Vincentius, 1. xxiii, c. 146; Sigebertus,c. 66.)-Magica, L i, pp. 52-4.

But the devil showed himself not alone on occasions like

this when the boundaries of his empire were invaded. Hewas omnipresent, and no one could feel safe that he was notat any moment to be exposed to his wiles and interference.


Any chance person that might be met was liable to prove a

demon cunningly disguised, either to imperil the Christian's

soul, or to compass his death, or to play him some meaningless

trick, such as Rubezal was wont to amuse himself with, when,in the disguise of a monk, he would join some weary traveller,

profess to guide him on his way, and, when he had led him to

some pathless recess of an impenetrable forest, vanish up a

tree with a mocking laugh. Ib.? p. 59.

Generations living in an atmosphere of marvels inscrutable and irresis-

tible by human intelligence, holding life and health and fortune and all

that was most dear to them subject to the caprices of a purely malevolent

being gifted with practically illimitable power, were in no frame of mind

to deal humanely with such instruments of their enemy as good fortune

might occasionally throw into the hands of justice.

The following, which seems to be from Luther's Colloquies,

illustrates this ever-present danger. A certain noble invited

Luther and some other learned men to his country-seat near

Wittenberg. Going out to hunt hares, he saw a hare of unu-

sual size rushing through his fields, pursued by a fox, and urgedhis horse in pursuit. Suddenly the horse fell dead under him,while the hare rose through the air and vanished,

"

being

undoubtedly a satanic spectre. Ib., p. 60.

At Rothenburg the house of an honest citizen was fre-

quented by a stranger richly dressed and professing to be a

noble of high birth and great wealth, accompanied by two

others of equally impressive appearance. All that was want-

ing to him was a fitting wife, and this he had discovered in

the daughter of the burgher, to whom he paid assiduous

court, with musicians. The burgher, suspecting something,

one day invited a pious minister of God to be present, with

a request that he would turn the conversation to Scriptural

subjects. This displeased the guests, who expressed their

preference for lighter subjects as better befitting a joyous

banquet- when the master of the house, seeing his suspicions

confirmed, denounced them as lying demons and bade them

begone. Whereupon they vanished with a terrible noise,

leaving behind them an intolerable stink and three bodies of

malefactors borrowed for the occasion from a neighboring

gibbet. (Manlius in Collectaneis.) Ib., pp. 60-1.

This is evidently posterior to the Reformation. There is no mention of

holy water or sign of cross, and the holy man is a "verbi divini minister."


A rich man near Gorlitz spread a banquet to which the

invited guests declined to come. In his wrath he exclaimed,

"Then, let all the demons come." At once an immensenumber appeared, whom he received graciously; but, when hesaw that they had claws for hands, he recognized them andfled in terror with his wife, leaving an infant in a cradle, withhis fool, but they escaped unhurt. Ib., p. 61.

So, when some learned doctors at the Council of Basle wan-dered forth into the country t6 discuss at ease the topicswhich agitated the assembly, they were attracted to a woodby the ravishing melody of a nightingale. After listening

spell-bound for some time, one of them adjured the bird in

the name of Christ to tell them what he was. Whereuponthe bird replied that he was a lost soul, condemned to frequentthat place until the Day of Judgment, when he would bedamned forever; then he flew away, shrieking, "Oh, howimmense, how endless is eternity !" All those who were

present took sick and shortly after died and Melanchthon

expresses his opinion that the bird was a demon. (Manliusin Collectaneis.) Ib., p. 62.

In Misnian Freiburg Satan in the vestments of a priest

appeared to a pious old man on his death-bed and commandedhim to recite all his sins, which he would duly set down in

writing. The dying man said, "Begin with this: 'The seedof the woman shall bruise the serpent's head 7

/7

whereuponSatan flung on the floor his pen and ink and vanished, leavinga foul stench, and the man soon afterwards peacefully sleptin Christ.

So, oh Christmas eve, 1534, in a certain town of Saxony,a demon took a notion to present himself before the parish

priest, Lorenz Douer, among the crowd seeking the confes-

sional as a preparation for the holy exercises of the next day.His confession consisted of hideous blasphemies againstChrist, when, on being overcome with the word of God bythe priest, he vanished with an intolerable stench. (JobusFincelius, De Mirac., lib. i.) Ib., p. 63.

At Rotweil in 1545 Satan wandered through the town, in

the shape sometimes of a hare and sometimes of a goose,

announcing loudly that he was going to burn the town, whichthrew the inhabitants into great fear. Ib., p. 63.

In 1559, in the Mark (Westphalia), at harvest time, there

appeared fifteen, and afterwards twelve, headless men of

great size and horrible shape, bearing sickles with which they


made motions of reaping the oats, of wMch none was cut,

though the noise of the sickles was plainly heard. Manyspectators came to gaze on this portent ; they made no answerto inquiries as to who they were, and when attempts weremade to seize them they escaped with incredible speed. It

was evident to all that they were demons and the princeconvoked theologians to determine the significance of the

portent, who agreed that it foretold a pestilence. Ib., p. 68.

Magdalena Cruz, born at Cordova of obscure parents, was

placed at an early age in the convent of Sta. Clara. A demonin the shape of an Ethiop soon grew familiar with her, andfrom his teaching she became remarked for smartness beyondher age. When twelve years old, she yielded herself to himon his promising her that for thirty years she should be the

head of her order, with renown for wisdom and sanctityexcelled by none. He kept his word, and under his trainingshe rapidly acquired reputation, especially as he gave her

information of what transpired in other parts of the world.

Thus she announced, as revealed to her by an angel, the cap-

tivity of Francis I at Pavia, and the sack of Rome in 1527,

attracting the attention of the authorities, and successively

reaching the position of Abbess of her convent, and Superiorof her order in Spain. She was distinguished by miracles,moreover. On solemn feasts, she would be lifted several

cubits in the air. When the Eucharist was administered, the

wafer destined for her would disappear from the plate andshe would show it in her mouth; weeping profusely over a

crucifix, her hair would suddenly grow down to her feet andthen disappear, etc. Prelates and kings commended them-

selves to her prayers, and when Philip II was born his motherwould wrap him in no swaddling clothes but those which Mag-dalena had blessed. When the term of her thirty years drew

near, in 1546, Magdalena commenced to weary of her demon

lover, to his infinite disgust, and he began to persecute her.

She then appealed to the visitors of her order, confessing her

wickedness, imploring help, and was straightway imprisoned.Then the demon used to assume her form and assist at prayers,

etc., to the terror of the nuns, who begged that Magdalenashould be removed wholly from the convent and thus release

them from the demon. This was done, and she was subjected

to no other punishment, in consideration of her repentanceand confession ("ex Cassiodori Renii V. 0. et D. acroamatis")-

Ib., pp. 74-7.


Qy. whether there is any trace of this wild story in contemporary Spanishauthorities.

At Dammar/tin is a lady named Rosse who from her eighth

year has been possessed by the devil in such sort that she

is tied to a bedpost, or a tree, or a fence, or one hand over

the other, with rope or twine or withe or horse-hair, withsuch speed that no one can understand it. Brought to Paris

in 1552, she was examined by Dr.Picard and other theologians,who did all in their power, but in vain, to liberate her. Thephysician Holler laughed at it as a monomania until he sawher with other spectators standing with some other ladies and

suddenly exclaiming, when her hands were found to be tied

together so fast that the string had to be cut. Then headmitted it to be diabolical. No one could see anything,

except that the lady herself saw a white cloud when the spirit

approached her (Sylvula Mirabilium Historiarum). Ib.,

p. 113.

A Milanese woman near the gate of Como killed anddevoured a child. When under torture she stated that the

demon had told her that, if she would eat a three or four

months old child, she would obtain all her desires. Broken onthe wheel, she died a lingering death. Artunus, Hist. Mediol.,sect, i, describes this as a contemporary event. Ib., p. 120.

Cardan is authority for numerous stories of spectres and

witchcraft, showing that he was a believer in most of the

superstitions of the age. On p. 121 is an extract from his

De Rerum Varietate (1. xvi, c. 93), in which he states that

his father, Facius Cardanus, had an ethereal demon as his

familiar spirit for thirty-three years, during twenty-eight of

which it was bound by conjurations and gave true responses.

During the other five years it was free. (Also 1. xv, c. 84avision which comes true. H. C. L.)

At Essliagen in 1546 the daughter of Johann Ulmer had her

belly swell until its circumference exceeded ten palms and it

concealed her face, attended with horrible pains. She said

that various animals were in it, to be fed with odors anddelicate meats, and those around her bed could hear the

clucking of hens, the crowing of cocks, the hissing of geese,the barking of dogs, the lowing of cows, the grunting of hogs,the neighing of horses, etc. She produced from her side about150 worms and snakes, which gave assurance of truth. Manyphysicians and surgeons were consulted, among them the chief

physician of Tubingen, and finally the physicians of Charles V


and King Ferdinand came with some nobles and pronouncedit all indubitable. This lasted for four years, the pains con-

stantly increasing, until at length the magistrates of Esslingensent a physician with three surgeons and a midwife to cut

her open. She resisted stoutly, but they prevailed, when

they discovered that the belly was formed of hoops filled in

with cushions, and beneath it was only a remarkably well

formed young woman. The artificial belly was hung up in

the "loco anathematis." The mother confessed the deceit

under torture and was burnt after being strangled, while

the girl had her cheeks pierced with a hot iron and was

imprisoned for life (Lycosthenes in Prodigiis).- Ib., pp. 122-3.

It was Fulgosus who says, 1. viii, c. 11, "Unde meo

quidem judicio, in iis quae de Strigilibus mulieribus dicuntur,

haud aliud esse dixerim quam fantasticum magarum som-

nium, quanquam ipsis aliter esse videatur" (p. 126)? Yet he

was superstitious enough to give a story of a monk of Hesdin

who, after a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, was transported back

home in a single night. Ib., pp. 158-9.

At the battle of Liegnitz in 1240, the Poles were on the

point of defeating the Tartars when the latter saved them-

selves and converted defeat into victory by magic arts-

curious details (Cromerus, 1. viii). Ib., p. 135.

Magic was often used in war by the Northern nations. See Olaus Magnus.

When Ferdinand of Naples was besieging Marci (Marcos),

a town belonging to the Angevines, in 1462, and had reduced it

to great straits for water, the inhabitants sent some of their

number by night through his camp to the sea, in which they

threw a crucifix with dire incantations to raise a tempest.

Meanwhile in the town the impious priests took an ass and

recited a funeral service over him, then forced the Eucharist

down his throat and buried him alive with full solemnities in

front of the church. A tremendous storm at once arose which

filled all the cisterns and flooded the country, so that Ferdi-

nand had to withdraw (Pontanus, 1. v Belli Neapolitan!).

Ib., p. 139.

On p. 226 precisely the same story quoted from Pontanus,

lib. v, as occurring in 1557 when the French in Suessa were

besieged by the Spaniards.Feats of rope-dancing and circus-riding by Egyptians in

Constantinople under Andronicus, related as though super-

natural, pp. 143-5, from Gregoras, lib. viii. (No more won-

derful than are daily exhibited. H. C. L.)


How much Grosse is to be relied upon for his authorities is shown by his

giving a story from Boccaccio with the utmost seriousness.

Melanchthon gives a story as coming to him from menworthy of credence of a virgin in Bologna who by the fraudof the devil moved around for two years after her death, onlypeculiar in that she was pale and did not eat much at the

feasts which she attended. This lasted until by chance a

magician saw her and recognized the truth, and removedfrom under her left shoulder the charm which had caused it,

when she fell at once, a decaying corpse. Ib., pp. 162-3.

For a number of most outrageous stories from Luther's

Colloquies, see pp. 163, 167-8, 170.

Johann Faust, "turpissima bestia et cloaca niultorum dia-

bolorum", led around a demon in the shape of a dog. Whenat Wittenberg an edict ordered his capture he escaped. AtNiirnberg he sat down to dinner, when he suddenly arose,

paid his scot and hastily departed and he had scarce left thedoor when the officers came to seize him. Fate overtook himin the duchy of Wtirtemberg, where his host asked the causeof his sadness and he replied, "Do not be frightened to-nightif you hear a tremendous noise and the shaking of the wholehouse." In the morning he was found dead in his room withhis neck twisted around. Such is the reward which Satan

customarily gives to his worshippers. Ib.? p. 165.

Medieval readiness to condone magic is illustrated in the

story of Johannes Teutonicus, a canon of Halberstadt, so

skilled in the art that on Christmas eve, 1271, he celebratedthree masses, one at Halberstadt, the second at Mainz andthe third at Cologne, carried by his horse.Ib., p. 166.

Can this be the Glossator?

An illustrative case is that of a sorcerer near Jena who suc-

cessfully exercised curative sorcery with herbs taught to himby Satan, with whom he daily consulted. A quarrel arosebetween him and a neighboring carpenter who exasperatedhim with malicious jeers. Some months later the carpenterfell grievously ill and begged the sorcerer to forgive the pastand cure him. The sorcerer pretended to do so and gave hima potion of which he died in agony. The wife and kindred

prosecuted him before the Schoppen-Collegium of Jena; hewas tortured, confessed the murder and many other crimes,having learned sorcery from an old woman of the Black

Forest, and he was duly burnt in 1558. Ib., p. 167.


That Alexander VI should be enumerated among the popesaddicted to sorcery was natural He understood that Satan

promised him eighteen years of papacy, but, when at the

expiration of his eleventh year he was mortally sick, Satan

explained to him his mistake and he died in eight days.

Ib., p. 169.

This was only a fair return by the Protestants for the Catholic assertion

that Luther was the son of an incubus. We have seen that even Adrian VIdid not escape the charge. According to Benno Cardinalis, both BenedictVIII and IK. obtained the Papacy by magic.See Georgius Agricola, Liber de Subterraneis Animantibus, for full

account of Gnomes, Trolls, Kobolds, etc.

A few years ago a sorcerer was hanged who had twice been

hanged before, but had vanished, leaving a bundle of straw

hanging in his place. (Straw bail? H. C. L.) He sold afine horse to a man, cautioning him not to ride him into

water. The purchaser, being curious, hastened to ride himinto a river and soon found himself floundering in the waterwith a bundle of straw. In his anger he rushed back to the

inn where the sorcerer was and found him lying on a bench

pretending to sleep. He seized a leg to waken him, when it

came off in his hands, and he fled in terror. The sorcerer

often imposed on men by selling them hogs which changedto bundles of straw. At length he came to Neuburg with

two women accomplices, where he was thrown in prison. Noconfession could be extracted by torture until his head was

shaved, when he confessed and in a few days he and the

women were hanged. Ib., p. 171.

Pp. 172-186 are occupied with a series of wonders from the

Malleus.

A priest of Oberweiler, near Basle, who disbelieved the exist-

ence of witches, is paralyzed for three years by one whom he

had offended. He receives her deathbed confession, and she

cures him. (Qy. from Mall. Malef.? H. C. L.) Ib., p. 176.

The belief that officers of justice were by the mercy of

God not liable to the effects of witchcraft does not appear to

be carried out by two stories related by Groslus. In one case,

at the town of Fach, a judge ordered his officials to arrest a

wizard. When they attempted to do so he emitted so fearful

a stench that they were frightened, and their limbs were

seized with such a trembling that they were unable to fulfil

their duty. Whereupon the judge ordered them imperativelyto capture him, assuring them that the hour had arrived for


the wretch to answer for his crimes. Under this stimulus

they overcame the wiles of Satan and effected their object.

(No authority given. H. C. L.) Ib., p. 184.

Again, while an executioner was binding a witch to the

stake she breathed upon his face, and he fell down dead. Asecond one shared the same fate. A third was hardy enoughto undertake it, and, by carefully avoiding her breath, he

finished the work, but his face swelled up enormously, he

lost his sight, and in a short time he died. (No authority.-H. C. L.)-Ib., p. 184.

Story from Antonio de Torquemada, 1. iii, illustrating that

Spain shared the common belief. A man carried by a friend

to the Sabbat calls on God everything disappears and he is

three years in reaching home. Ib., pp. 196-7.

At Andes an old Italian woman cures diseases by charms.

Forbidden by the court to do so, she actually appeals to the

Parlement of Paris in 1573. It is proved that she uses cats7

brains, heads of crows and the like, and the prohibition is

affirmed. Ib., p. 200.

No authority, but probably from Bodin,

A certain "lanius" in travelling by night through a woodcame upon a Sabbat, which disappeared. He picked up somesilver goblets and took them to the magistrates. Those whosenames were on them accused others, and they all were putto death (Joachim Camerarius, De Nat. Daemonum). p. 211.

Four witches (three women and one man) burned alive at

Poitiers in 1564. (Qy. if from Bodin? H. C. L.). Ib., p. 211.

D. Bordin, Proc. G4n6ral du Roi, mentions a case of un-

doubted lycanthropy of which the documents were sent to

him for his judicial action. (Qy. from Bodin? H. C. L.)

Ib., p. 219.

It seems that in placing their charms beneath the door-sill

to injure men or beasts, these were buried one foot deep,

Ib., p. 227.

At Casale in Piedmont in 1536 a witch named Androgynacaused death whenever she entered a house. Suspected, she

confessed there were 40 of them who smeared the outside of

doors to kill the inmates of houses. The same thing happenedat Geneva in 1568, where a pestilence raged for seven years.

Ib,, p. 230.

ITS PEOMOTEKS AND CBITICS 637

[The first section of Qrosse's Kb. ii (pp. 232-319) deals with oracles and

predictions.] It was universally conceded by the fathers and the theologiansthat the devil could not foretell the future. It was also believed that the

ancient Oracles were the mouthpieces of Satan and, through him, had the

power of predicting events which is not logical.

The number of successful predictions by oracles and augurs recorded in

ancient history would seem to give as much evidence in their favor as

there is of medieval witchcraft.

The fourth section of this book, devoted to the miracles of

saints, etc., has the following heading (p. 399): "De mira-

bilibus Satanae praestigiis, ludibriis et imposturis ad stabili,

endam et confirmandam Idolatriam, de adoratione et invoca-

tione Sanctorum mortuorum, cultu statuarum sive imaginum-et ad confirmandum commentum de purgatorio, &c., juxtavaticinium S. Pauli Apostoli, II Thess., 2." (Showing that in

the time of Grosse the Catholic miracles were accepted as

true, but were attributed to the devil. H. C. L.)

The miraculous cures of the sick by saints, relics, etc., are merely the

continuation of similar wonders wrought hi the pagan temples. Thefashion there was generally to sleep in the temple, when the method of

cure was revealed in a dream. The temples of Aesculapius were especially

resorted to for this purpose. Strabo, 1. viii, specifies those at Epidaurusin the Island of Cos, at Trica in the Gulf of Salonica and at Tetrapolis on

the confines of Ionia and Caria, as constantly filled with a crowd of sick

and the walls all hung around with votive tablets.

(The first case of lithotomy on record, I presume, is that

of Emperor Henry IL H. C. L.) While in Apulia, Henrysuffered from the stone so that his life was despaired of. All

medical relief having failed, he repaired to Monte Cassino,

where he invoked the aid of St. Benedict and Sta. Scholastica.

In a dream he saw the former approach his bed, cut him open

(ferro pudenda aperire), take out a huge stone and place it in

his (Henry's) hand. Awaking, he found himself cured, with

a cicatrix of a recent wound. He accordingly enriched the

monastery with splendid gifts and revenues (from Cuspini-

anus). Ib., pp. 407-8.

When King Coloman of Hungary resolved to burn downJadera in Dalmatia on account of its frequent rebellions, one

night St. Nicholas of Jadera (its former bishop) appeared to

him in sleep, and seizing him by the hair scourgedMm soundlywith a golden whip. On waking he saw and felt the resultant

welts, and thereafter allowed Jadera to do as it liked (Bon-

finius, v, 2). Ib., pp. 421-2.


This material exercise of spiritual power is similar to that performed byRobert Grosseteste on the pope. See Matt. Paris.

The pervading fear of Satan is well illustrated by the story

of St. Bernard when in Speyer visiting the Church of S. Maryand reading the inscription under a statue of the Virgin,

"0 clemens, O duleis, pia mater Maria." Then a voice

came from the image "Salve Bernarde" -but he, modestly

deeming it to be a wile of Satan, replied, "Mulierem in

ecclesia loqui Paulus vetat." Ib., p. 422.

About 1516 Dr. Bait. Hubmeyer by his preaching so excited

the people of Ratisbon against the Jews that they tore downthe synagogue and in its place erected a church to the Virgin.

Miracles performed here were widely bruited about and from

every part of Germany there came an influx of pilgrims so

great that the town could scarce accommodate them. Men,women and children would be seized with enthusiasm and,

leaving their work, would start off with their implements of

labor in their hands, pressing forward so rapt that theywould recognize no one whom they met, and, arrived at the

temple, would offer up their tools to the Saint children

offering crusts of bread and apples. Entering, they would fall

senseless and on recovering be cured; the deaf heard, the

dumb spoke, the blind saw. This lasted for eight years until

the Senatus (Qy. imperial diet or magistracy of Ratisbon?-

H. C. L.) forbade it by edict, when it died out as suddenly as

it arose. It was mostly the poor and ignorant who were thus

affected (Sebast. Francus, Chronica). Ib., pp. 436-7.

This is a fair antetype of Lourdes and other similar manifestations.

When Poppa of Tr&ves went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem,

his place was temporarily filled by the Bishop of Metz. The

latter, while ordaining some clerks, endeavored to steal a

nail of the cross, by placing on the altar a counterfeit which

he had prepared, hiding the true one in his breast, but it

began to bleed and he was forced to restore it (Catalogue

Treverensis). Ib., p. 437.

A woman, who in Paris endeavored to steal a slipper (cal-

ceamenta) of St. Genevi&ve, was punished with blindness. Onrestoring it, she recovered (From Bonfinius, v, 1). Ib., p. 441.

When Helena gave to Constantine two nails of the cross,

he affixed one to the crest of his helmet and of the other madea bit for his horse, and, thus protected, escaped all the dangersof his perilous wars (Fulgosus ex Ambrosio). Ib., pp. 437-8.

ITS PROMOTERS AND CKITICS 639

This fetish power is very strongly exemplified in the numerous stories

of images of Christ, the Virgin and Saints, which avenge themselves on the

spot for insults offered to them. No Kaffir could regard his fetish, noIndian his totem, with blinder veneration. A fair illustration of these is

afforded by the following, which gives names and dates with more detail

than usual.

In 1383 a wretch named Schelkrop, abandoned to all evil

ways, at Mainz one afternoon went to a tavern known as

Zu der Blumen from its sign, in Filtbach, a suburb of Mainz.

Losing all his money at dice, he swore that he would revengehimself on the first image of Christ that he might meet. Re-

turning he came to a chapel between the Church of St. Albanand that of the Virgin Mary, where he struck off at one blowthe head of a Christ on the Cross, and then hacked and hewedthe images of the Virgin and other saints standing around.

Immediately they all poured forth blood. He turned to fly,

but found Ms feet rooted in the ground so that he could not

stir. He was caught in the act, was condemned and burnt

alive in the place where the Jews bury their dead. The

images were carried with great veneration to the church of

the Holy Cross, where they are still to be seen with the marksof blood on them (Theodor. Gresmundus). Ib., pp. 443-5.

A monk of St. Audoen of Rouen, going to seek his concu-

bine at night, fell from a bridge and was drowned. The devils

and the angels dispute over his soul, and finally refer the

matter to Richard, Duke of Normandy, who decides that the

soul shall be returned to the body in the same state that it

was, and be placed on the bridge, when if he pursues the pathhe had been following he shall be damned

;if he turn back, he

shall be saved. This was done; he turns back and is saved

(Ranulphus, Polychron., 1. vi, c. 7). Ib., p. 471.

This is one of the most extraordinary jumbles of superstition that I have

met. Its curious materialism affords a striking insight into the intellectual

condition of an age that could invent and believe it.

Equally degrading to the spiritual character of man are several stories

of material purgatory such as:

Paschasius, deacon in the curia of Rome, died with only

one sin on his soul that in the contest between Symmachusand Lawrence he had too warmly espoused the side of the

latter, whom he deemed the more worthy of the competitors.

Subsequently, Germanus, bishop of Capua, found him work-

ing as a slave in a public bath, to expiate this sin. Paschasius

asked Germanus to help him with his prayers, which Ger-


manus did, and in a few days he was released (Mamllus, 1. v,

c. 2.) (Qy. whether this may not be from the dialogues of

Gregory? H. C. L.). Ib., pp. 472-3.

A similar story is that in which a priest of Centumcelli

offers alms to a slave working in a bath. It is declined, the

slave stating that he is the soul of the former lord of the

place thus expiating his sins, and begging him to offer up for

him the sacrifice of the Eucharist. The priest does this, andthe soul is released. Ib. ab-eodem.

DEL Rio, MARTIN. Disquisitiones Magicae. Moguntiae,1612. [First ed. Louvain, 1599-1601. As to other eds., and for

its displacement both of Remy's book and of the Malleus

Maleficarum, see p. 604.]

Del Rio was a man highly regarded by his contemporariesas a prodigy of learning. At nineteen he wrote a work in three

volumes, Commentaries on the tragedies of Seneca, in whichhe cited 1100 authorities. He did not enter the Company of

Jesus till he was thirty, after he had served as counsellor of

the Supreme Council of Brabant, Auditor General and in other

offices. He died at fifty-seven after writing many books andwas said to be familiar with nine languages, including Greek,Hebrew and Chaldee. His Disquisitiones Magicae was

regarded as the final word on the subject and as renderingfurther discussion superfluous. Tartarotti, Del CongressoNotturno delle Lammie, pp. 232-3.

Theologians can always explain whatever incongruitiesobstruct their theories. It was notorious, as Del Rio admits,that witches and sorcerers were the vilest, the most poverty-

stricken, the most abject and most hateful of the human race;if rich, they became impoverished; if poor, they remained so.

It was notorious also that the money doled out to them bydemons, though apparently good, always turned to coals or

other things before they could use it. He tells of a noblematron burnt at Coblenz to whom the demon gave a pursefull of crowns; she put it in a chest and when she wanted to

use it she found it changed to horse-dung. Now, the devil

can gather the precious metals and strike coins; he knowswhere all buried treasures lie and those lost at sea, and he is

more expert than the most finished thief and can steal thehordes of the miserly. Yet he never enriches his followers,

A demon once explained this by stating that they reservedall the wealth within their reach in order to use it for the


support of Antichrist; but the real reason is that God will

not permit it, for, if the devil could enrich whom he pleased,it were greatly to be feared that thirst of gold would lead

almost all men to worship him and he could supply the

impious with the nerve of war to oppress the pious. Godtherefore wisely reserves to himself the power and the dis-

cretion of enriching men, Disq. Magic., 1. ii, q. 12, n. 10

(I, pp. 147-9).

Is this discretion discreetly used?

Del Rio expends much learning on the meaning of the

daemonium meridianum of Psalm xe, and after enumeratingall the explanations his own conclusion is that it merely meansdaemonium deserti. In the Old Testament, he says, meridies

and desertum are interchangeable and the Jews believed that

deserts were infested with demons a solution of the questionwhich is not without probability. Ib., q. 27, 2, n. 8 (p. 286).

In his comprehensive classification of demons the fourteenth

is that kind of spectres who are seen in groves and other

pleasant places in the shape of girls and matrons clad in

white, or sometimes in stables with lighted candles, drops of

wax from which are found in combing the horses' manes. It

is the same as those called Sibyllae, sen Nymphae albae,

Dominae nocturnae, Dominae bonae with their Regina Ha-bundia. Superstitious old women think their frequenting a

house brings great prosperity and abundance, and therefore

they set out banquets with dishes of food and vessels of wine

so that the visitors can feast without hindrance. (For this

he quotes William of Paris, De Universo, P. ult., c. 24, and

Nic. Cusanus, 1. ii Excitationum.) To these he refers the

banqueters in the case of St. Germain also the Valkyries of

the north and the Fatae of the Italians and Fees of France.-

Ib., n. 14 (p. 295).The devil can assume all forms except those of a lamb or

a dove, the former being the symbol of Christ, and the latter

of the Holy Ghost. Yet he appeared to St. Martin in the

form of Christ, in that of God to the widow Theodora and of

an angel to St. Juliana. At present he assumes human shapewhen a solemn express pact is to be entered into, but after-

wards he takes the shape of a goat when he is to be adored,

and generally that of a hideous and stinking one. This shapeis a favorite one on account of the salacity, pride and other

vices of the animal. When the impression to be made is that

VOL. II 41


of familiarity and fidelity, the demon assumes the shape of a

cat or a dog; if he is to carry any one, of a horse; if he is to

pass through a narrow opening or to deceive guards, he appearsas a bat, a mouse or a weasel; if he wants to interrupt conver-

sation or to whisper in the ear, he is a buzzing fly; if he wishes

to terrify, as a huge and ferocious cock he appeared to Paeho-

mius, as a crow or vulture to St. Romuald, as a fox to Damian,as a dog to Dunstan, as a serpent to Leonard of Corvey,as a dragon to Margaret and to Fernando Gonsalvo, Countof Castile, and his army. In fine, he assumes the form best

suited to his object and, as the human shape fits almost all

things, he mostly adopts it in different fashions.- Ib., q. 28,

3 (p. 305).As to doubts regarding the reality of witchcraft, Prierias

has no hesitation in declaring that denial of witchcraft is

heresy "Nam quicunque de his quae catholicam fiden con-

cernunt aliter quam Ecclesia Romana sentit haereticus sit

oportet. . . . Praedictos vero opinantes ejusmodi esse

nulli dubium esse potest" (De Strigimagis, lib. ii, c. 2, punct. 2

ed. of 1585, p. 140). The Malleus asserts that to denywitchcraft is heretical; but, as those who do so are so numerousand ignorant, it is impossible to inflict upon them the death

penalty of heresy, so the rigor of justice is to be tempered."Procedi potest contra talem sic vehementer suspectum, sed

non debet propterea condemnari, nisi adsit, ut ibidem decla-

ratur, violenta suspicio" (P. I, q. i, pp. 13-4).

Del Rio does not go quite so far, but approaches it

"Praeterea qui haec asserunt somnia esse et ludibria certe

peccant contra reverentiam Ecclesiae matri debitam. NamEcclesia Catholica non punit crimina, nisi certa et manifesta

nee habet pro haereticis, nisi qui in haeresi manifeste sunt

deprehensi. Striges autem jam a plurimis annis pro haereticis

habet et jubet per inquisitores puniri et brachio saeculari

tradi. . . . Ergo vel Ecclesia errat vel isti Pyrrhoniierrant : Ecclesiam in re ad fidem pertinente errare qui dicat

anathema maranatha sit." Disquis. Magic., 1. ii, q. 16 (I,

p. 182).

He subsequently goes further. As sorcerers are mostlyheretics, those who knowingly defend them, [even] without

defending their errors, render themselves very suspect andare to be investigated (specialiter inquiri) and are to be pun-ished for so defending, as well as advocates and notaries whodefend them in court. Ib., 1. v, 4, n. 3 (III, p. 720) ;

see also

16 (p. 805).

ITS FROMOTBRS AND CBITICS 643

This arguing in a circle shows how completely the belief destroyed the

powers of reasoning. The witch was guilty and therefore to be put to

death, and the fact of her guilt was proved by her punishment. Del Riowas not the first to use this argument. The Malleus (P. I, q. 1, p. 5) says,"Nam Lex Divina in plerisque locis praecipit Maleficas non solum esse

vitandas, sed etiam occidendas, cujusmodi poenas non imponeret si nonveraciter et ad reales effectus et laesiones cum daemonibus concurrerent.

Mors enim corporaliter non infligitur sine corporali et gravi peccato."Prierias adopts this argument (De Strig., ii, c. 2, punct. 2, p. 139). Bernardoda Como is even more emphatic, as he omits reference to the divine law"Plurimae personae hujus perfidae sectae, transactis jam plurimis tempori-

bus, per inquisitores haereticae pravitatis fuerant traditae brachio saeculari,

exigentibus id demeritis suis, et combustae, quod minime factum fuisset,

neque summi Pontifices hoc tolerassent, si talia tantummodo phantastice et

in somniis contingerent, . . . nam Ecclesia non punit crimina nisi

sint manifesta et vere deprehensa" (De Strigiis, c. 3).

Del Rio tells us that Philip Numans, the Secretary of

Brussels, a poet and man of eminent piety, writes him that

he had daily controversies with those who argued that the

doctors all admit that women are deluded by the devil so

that they imagine themselves really to have done thingswhich are mere works of the fancy in minds obscured by the

devil; that judges act indiscreetly in giving faith to con-

fessions, whether voluntary or compelled by torture, andthus perhaps putting the innocent to death. In this matter

confession should not be accepted as sufficient evidence, for

how is a judge to determine whether the accused is deluded

by imagination or has really committed what is confessed?

Ib., lib. v, 16 (p. 761).

Bear in mind that it was always admitted by the theological demonog-raphers that there might be cases of illusion for the Cap. Episcopi was in

the canon law but this was practically nullified by the argument that if

the illusioned one, in waking moments, consented to the illusory acts, the

guilt was the same.

Del Rio would seem fully justified in his argument that to

deny witchcraft is atheism and is"contra fidem" "quia sen-

tiunt aliter quam Ecclesia/7 "Nam caput Ecclesiae et (ut

sic dicam) ejus lingua seu os est Pontifex Romanus. Ponti-

ficum vero Romanorum multi post dictum Cap. Episcopiadhortati sunt Inquisitores ut contra striges seu Lamiassedulo et severiter procedant et pestem hanc exterminent; et

harum crimina, se non pro illusionibus sed pro veris ac nefandis

excessibus habere manifeste profitentur, ut patet ex Pontifi-

cum Bullis Innocentii VI (VIII) ad Inquisitores Germaniae,Julii III (II) ad Inquisitorem Cremonensem, Hadriani VI ad


Inquisitores Lombardiae, et dementis VII ad EpiscopumBolensem de strigibus Mirandulaiiis. . . . Sic etiam sen-

tiunt cuncta tribunalia ecclesiastica Italiae, Hispaniae, Ger-

maniae, Galliae; sic semper Apostolici Inquisitores in praxi

observarunt; ergo Me est sensus, hoc judicium Ecclesiae, a

quo dissentire non est cordis sincere Catholici, sed haeresim

sapit."-Ib., 1. v, 16 (p. 806).

Nor has the Church ever withdrawn from this position theologically,

though it has in the forum externum.

In an eloquent adjuration to stimulate persecution Del Rio

quotes Isaiah's denunciation of Babylon, "All things are

come upon thee because of the multitude of thy sorceries andfor the great hardness of thy enchanters," etc. (Isaiah, xlvii,

9-11). He deplores the slackness of persecution and foretells

the vengeance of God. "We see the witches growing moreaudacious through impunity and untiringly adding to their

numbers, for there is nothing more ardently desired by the

devil than that this cancer should infect all who as yet are

clean. This has always provoked the wrath of God, but nowmuch more since he has given his Son for our redemption.What hope remains for us now, when every day there multiplydefenders of these maleficent sorcerers in the councils of

judges, consuls, fiscals, parliaments and even of princes them-selves. I wish they would reflect on the past and see that

to no prince, republic or province has sorcery been aught butdestructive.

"Ib., p. 805.

Of course Del Rio takes the ground: "nee licet ullo modo,nee ab imparato [malefico] nee a parato, petere ut maleficium

maleficio tollat," But "baud dubie potest rnaleficus induci

ut per modum aliquem licitum tollat maleficium/' and more-over it is the general opinion that "licet a malefico petere,immo licet etiam ilium minis et levibus verberibus cogereut maleficium tollat, quandocumque probabiliter credo ilium

sine maleficio, modo aliquo licito id facere posse, sive quando-cumque non sum moraliter certus quod utetur modo illicito."

(And for this he cites Scotus, Vorrillong, Caietano, Gab. Biel,

Binsfeld and others so it is not, as I have thought, the

result of probabilism. H. C. L.) Ib., 1. vi, c. 2, 1, q. 2

(pp. 940-1)."Nota primo signa malefici vocari ollas, ligamma, claustra,

plumas, liberides et sirnilia, quae, ex pacto cum. daemone inito,

magus adhibuit ut aliquis maleficio laedatur; pactum vero


esse solet, ut quamdiu ligula sic nodata fuerit, vel tale quidsub limine defossum, vel sera clausa manserit, tamdiu tails

persona sit maleficiata, aut moriantur qui in tali loco eruntaut intrabunt vel exibunt et hujusmodi." In this the "claus-

tra" would seem to be illustrated by a case in which a lock

was locked and thrown into a well and the key into another.

"Quaeritur ergo utrum liceat aperiendo claustrum, eombu-rendo capillorum glomum, solvendo ligulae nodum, vel effodi-

endo ollam et exurendo quae in ilia habentur, aut similia

removendo ? perdendoque, maleficium destruere et liberare

maleficiatum." As to this, he says there are two opinions.The first is that it is illicit. This he has never met in any book,but it is taught in our time by Joannes Hessels of Louvainand is accepted as an oracle by many of his disciples, whonot only teach it in the schools but proclaim it in sermons,with such warmth that they condemn those who think other-

wise and endeavor to coerce them with ecclesiastical penal-ties. The reasons alleged are given by Del Rio as fourteen,but they virtually resolve themselves into the argument that

to remove the signa is to become party to the pact and asso-

ciate of sorcerers, while honoring the devil with the assump-tion that he is truthful and will keep to his bargain. Besides,the devil can afflict man only as severely and as long as Godpermits, so it is absurd to seek relief by removing the signuminstead of appealing to God. (True enough, but this would

imply non-interference with witches and witchcraft as a

whole. H. C. L.) He even condemns the custom of shavingwitches before torture in order to destroy any charms of

taciturnity. After candidly stating all Hessel's arguments,Del Rio states his opinion, "Signa maleficii, etiam spe cessa-

tionis morbi seu mali, licet quaerere et inventa removere et

tollere"; and he proceeds to demolish the arguments. Ib.,

q. 3 (pp, 943-5).Del Rio prefaces his examination of the Cap. Episcopi by

saying that he is not forced to it by necessity, but by the

impudent obstinacy of the other side. He goes over the

whole ground with a minuteness showing his secret recogni-tion of its importance. Some attribute it to C. Aquiliense,

others call it Acquirense, others Anquirense, others Ancyran-um. (Of the latter he cites Torquemada, Tostado, Jaquerius,Alf. de Castro, Victoria, Carranza, Simancas, Bart, de Spina,

Prierias, Binsfeld, and Antonio Augustino.) He disputes the

authority of Gratian; many of his canons have been abro-


gated by subsequent decretals; some lie inserted in error,

and the validity of his canons depends upon their sources.

The Can. Episcopi must be of some provincial council whoseconfirmation by the pope nowhere appears. He analyzes it

at great length and then proceeds to show that the womendescribed in it are not the same as the modern witches:

"Vermntamen communis opinio theologorum et jurisconsul-

torum est capitulum Episcopi ad Lamias nostras non per-

tinere . . . et sic passim Romae, in Italia, Hispania,

Gallia, Germania, fidei inquisitores et judices saeculares qui

justiores et doctiores unanimiter practicant; ut non obstante

isto eapitulo lamiarum confessionibus credunt et contra eas-

dem ad mortis usque supplicium procedunt, quod a me multis

probatum, lib. ii, q. 16" (p. 802). He goes on to demonstrate

that the opinion extending the Cap. Episcopi to our witches

is of no benefit to them, is pernicious to the Church and the

Commonwealth, dangerous to its assertors, and not in har-

mony with reason and truth. (In this he foams at the mouthin a manner illustrative of the savage earnestness of the war

waged against witchcraft. H. C. L.) After castigating Cor-

nells Loos and Weyer, he proceeds to declaim against the

defenders of the canon: "Hi dominium tyrannicum daemonisin Christi Ecclesiam confirmant, horum opera salus reipub-licae proditur, ab his de communi interitu privata lucra com-

parantur; quibus volupe est in utramque aurem dormire

donee tortuosus draco se toto corpore insinuet et venenum

apostasiae, idololatriae ac nefandissimarum libidinum incre-

dibilis crudelitatis execrandorum sacrilegiorum et quotidiana-rum contra tenellam aetatulam, contra fruges et alimoniam

mortalium, contra patriae totiusque generis humani salutem

machinationum per totum paulatim Christi corpus diffundat"

(p. 804). Finally he winds up by meeting the arguments of

the supporters. In this it is worth noting that he decides

against transformation and lycanthropy .

' i

Quoque respondeovel nullas vel vix ullas lamias hoc credere. Solent enim in

confessionibus suis dicere se aliis videri tales, ipsae autemsciunt se transformatas non esse. Quod si rudiores aliquae id,

ut Lycanthropi quidam faciunt putent, fateor tales a daemone

quo ad hoc punctum, delusas esse: tamen si hoc pertinaciter

teneant, dico ex hoc Cap. Episcopi, illas ut haereticas deberedamnari" (p. 809). Ib., 1. v, sect. 16 (III, pp. 786-810).


MEDER, DAVID. Acht Hexenpredigten von des Teufels Mord-kindern. Issued in 1605, at Leipzig; reprinted in 1615, 1646and 1675.

Meder was a Protestant and he thinks it the duty of all

preachers to attack these devilish sins and warn people

against them. He sets forth all the evils ascribed to witchesthe Sabbat, incubi and succubi, tempest-raising, ligatures,

and injuries to man and beast; but changing into animals,he says, is a deceit of the devil. When he was inspector

general of schools in the Grafschaft Hohenlohe, in various

places there and in the adjoining districts there were burningsof men and women, whereat many people were dissatisfied,

and this led him to preach, so that the authorities should not

be accused of cruelty and the judges might condemn to deathwith a clear conscience. He urges them to prosecute witch-

craft with all energy and approves of burning, but wouldtreat the repentant with exile, and torture should be usedwith caution, for it was often employed so ruthlessly that the

poor people were forced to confess what they subsequentlyrevoked. Taken from Diefenbach, Der Hexenwahn vorundnach der Glaubensspaltung in Deutschland, pp. 304-5.

Evidently he takes the same ground as did Tanner and Laymann [a few

years later], and indicates that as yet the people were not universallyconvinced of the truth of witchcraft.

FILESAC, JEAN DE. De Idololatria Magica. Francof ., 1670.

Jean Filesac, doctor of the Sorbonne, was a copious writer

who died in 1638. This is a reprint from the first edition,

Paris, 1609.

He reflects the extremest superstition of his time. These

people (witches) are a pest and destruction to the rest, far

and wide in France or rather throughout all Europe, whoincrease greatly and are unpunished. The Sabbat is absolutelytrue and has been so demonstrated by learned men in our

time that whoever doubts it must be held as ignorant of

Christian doctrine and faith and be deprived of understandingand reason. Hauber, Bibl. Magica, III, pp. 414, 416.

TANNER, ADAM. Tractatus Theologicus de Processu adversus

Crimina Excepta, ac speciatim adversus Crimen Veneficii.

In 1617 Father Tanner, S. J., published at Ingolstadt his Disputationes

theologicae in omnes partes Summae S. Th. Aquinatis. From the portion

on Sec. Sec., q. Ixvii, art. 2, 3, the Cologne bookseller, Constantine Munich,extracted the above tractate; and from Tanner's Disputatio de Angelis,


embodied in liis commentary on Pare I of the Sununa, Munich made other

extracts, which he appended to the above without separate title. Both

were published in the Diversi Tractatus, Colon. Agripp., 1629.

In excepted crimes the evidence of accomplices is admitted,

when there are other indicia and infamy is not a prerequisite.

-De Proeessu adv. Crimina Excepta, q. i, n. 3 (in Diversi

Tractatus) .

Witchcraft is included among these crimes, for witches are

not only impious and blasphemers, but are the worst and most

pernicious enemies of mankind, worthy of death and the

most extreme punishment and to be exterminated as far as

possible. It is perpetrated in secret, all of which shows that

the ordinary process is unsuitable in inquiring into and pun-

ishing it, nor can the magistrate be excused from the gravest

sin who hesitates to punish it when there is sufficient evidence;

nor are those to be borne with who deny the crimes of witches

and especially their bodily transport and their commercewith the demon. Ib., n. 5.

Nevertheless the judge in this and other excepted crimes

should follow a procedure consonant with natural reason and

equity, as prescribed for excepted or privileged crimes by the

common law and particular local statutes, if such there are.

Ib., n. 6.

Procedure should be such as not to expose the innocent

to danger, moral and frequent. If the crime cannot be extir-

pated without such moral dangers, it should be left to the

judgment of God, rather than that the innocent should perishwith the guilty. Ib., n. 7.

In this crime above all others this is specially the case

because of the very grave danger to the whole communityarising from illegal, inconsiderate and perilous procedure.

First, there is the infamy of the innocent, their excessive

tortures and sufferings in trials lasting for years; and, if

denunciations are illegally extorted and too much weight is

attached to them, it can scarce happen but that peril over-

hangs the whole community and innocent and guilty be in-

volved, as in a general conflagration or deluge.

"Quod in hoc crimine facilius accidere, ipsa acerbitas et fre-

quentatio consueta tormentorum persuadet." Ib., n. 8.

Second, there is the infamy and lasting disgrace of respec-table and even noble families, although some hold that this

is now so common that it may be disregarded. Ib., n. 9.

Thirdly, there is the disgrace to the Catholic religion, seeing


that so many condemned for witchcraft are persons who have

been regarded as examples of a pious life and religious observ-

ance. Ib., n. 10.

Wherefore it is evident that if, in this procedure, a single

innocent is condemned among ten or twenty guilty, it would

be better, if necessary, to abstain from the inquisition of the

guilty, seeing that when it is once commenced the numberof those to be punished multiplies without end. Ib., n. 11.

Even Del Rio himself (Disq. Mag., 1. v, sect. 5, n. 4) points

out the danger of involving the innocent with the guilty bythe excessive use of torture. Ib.

yn. 12.

As God could with a nod put an end to this, it has been

received as an axiom, "Deum non permittere aut permissurumut in hoc processu adversus striges multi innocentes a Magis-tratu damnati pereant." Ib., n. 13.

But this axiom is false. God permitted the martyrdom of

innumerable pious Christians in the early Church. He permits

wars and massacres. The witches confess to killing manyinnocent, even of their own kindred. Prudent and learned

men who have served as confessors admit that they greatly

fear that many innocent suffer and are so perplexed that

they know not what to believe. Ib., n. 14.

Many histories in all kinds of crime show innocents to suffer.

Why can this not happen in a crime in which the death

sentence is rendered more frequently and with less circum-

spection than in others? There is a recent experience which

shows that judges sometimes perform their office irregularly

when, in places not very far from Germany, two judges were

executed on account of illegal procedure endangering the inno-

cent. Ib., n. 15.

Therefore the axiom is false, for it leaves out of considera-

tion the nature of the procedure; and Binsfeld (Tract, de Con-

fess. Malef., membr. 2, post, conclus. 7, q. v.) and Del Rio

(Disq. Mag., 1. v, append. 2, q. 1) when they say," Sane

proyi-dentiam Dei hie operari clarum est, quia vix unquam permis-

sum reperias innocentes nominari [by accomplices], quod si

nominati mox eorum innocentia Deo sic disponente palamsit'

7

(thus man assumes that his judgments are those of God

H. C. L.), are too general, for God, from the most just

reasons, constantly permits the most enormous wickedness,

and they would assume that in the trials of witches he has

made a written contract to permit no injustice. Ib., n. 16.

Those arrested for witchcraft are usually not at the time


sufficiently convicted, so that it may be that they are inno-

cent. Therefore they should have opportunity of purgingthemselves. Most of them are arrested on the denunciation

of accomplices, which is insufficient for condemnation; besides

their immediate and repeated torture shows that the evidence

was insufficient for conviction. Ib.?n. 17.

For torture Is forbidden for those legally convicted and is

only used to supplement imperfect evidence. Ib., n. 18.

The unanimous opinion of the doctors is that torture purges

evidence, no matter how violent and urgent it be, and even

purges full proof according to Farinacci and Del Rio. Ib.,

n. 19.

Del Eio says (Disq. Magic., L v, sect. 9, p. 738) : "Caeterum si reus sit

convictus, consultius est judici non subjicere emu quaestioni, quia tortura

solet indicia praecedentia purgare, immo et plenas probationes; et ideo reus

etiam convictus in tortura et post earn constanter persistens, foret liberandus,

ut ex cornmuni Dd. sententia docet Farinacius." So torture after insuffi-

cient previous indicia is illegal and confession extorted by it is null (Del

Rio, tec. tit., sect. 11, p. 748).

There are two opinions among the doctors as to the suffi-

ciency for torture of the denunciation of accomplices (notreceivable in ordinary crimes, but only in these excepted ones).Del Rio brings ample authorities to the assertion that such

evidence is good. Those who confess are always tortured to

learn the names of accomplices and the evidence must beconfirmed by special torture, for they are infamous. Thoughsome object to the suggestion of individual names by the

judge, it is the common practice for him to do so when hehas suspects in mind. It is better to have denunciations

from a number of accomplices, but a single one suffices accord-

ing to some doctors so Del Rio, 1. v, sect. 3, n. 2; also 1. v,

Append, ii, q. 1, concl. 2 (pp. 705-6; p. 841). Some evenhold that several denunciations suffice for conviction, althoughthe majority deny this (Del Rio, p. 841), and so does Del Rio

himself, in 1. v, sect. 5, n. 4 (p. 728), adding that such is the

common practice. All these doctors agree that several denun-ciations suffice for torture. Tanner, op. cit, q. ii, nn. 20-2.

The other opinion is that no matter how many denuncia-tions by witches there may be they do not suffice either for

torture or condemnation of a person who before these denun-ciations was of good reputation, and this I hold to be of thetruer and safer opinion. Ib., n. 23.

He proceeds to argue at great length in support of this

ITS PEOMOTEES AND CBITICS 651

opinion, though he admits that it is contrary to the received

practice in many places. Its importance is great, for the

innocent are exposed to the malicious denunciations of con-

fessed and infamous witches, eager to bring others to share

their fate, and are brought through the severity of torture to

confession and condemnation. When there is such a multi-

tude of witches daily forced by torture to denounce, it is

impossible but that sometimes several denunciations shall

fall on the same innocent person, especially when, as some-

times happens, but few women are left not destroyed by these

indicia. Besides, the garrulity of the officials will let it beknown that certain persons have been denounced

;whence the

rumor spreads and by the time they are arrested they are

already defamed. Ib., nn. 38-40.

It is the same with injuries inflicted. I have been told bytwo learned and eminent men, experienced in these matters,that persons whom they believed to be innocent would imputeto themselves such things as they knew had happened in order

the more quickly to be relieved of torture. Ib., n. 41.

Often the confirmation of such things is neglected. A report

to the faculty of Ingolstadt not long since showed that in a

certain Rhine city, when the confessions of some condemnedwitches were read, they contained the killing of certain per-

sons there named who chanced to be present, alive and safe,

at the execution. Ib., n. 42.

It is certain that witches frequently are deluded into imagin-

ing themselves transported to the Sabbat, so that they can-

not distinguish between the real ones and the imaginary ones,

so that their evidence is not to be relied upon. Ib., n. 43.

Those who hold that several denunciations suffice for tor-

ture require that they shall be made by penitents (confessed

and repentant), but this is not observed in many tribunals

in which the witches are compelled by torture to denounce

before confession and repentance. So how can their denuncia-

tions be accepted against reputable persons? Ib., n. 44.

The point of this is that after confession and repentance, the witch, being

condemned to death, would have nothing to gain by denouncing the innocent.

Besides, there are examples of persons being represented

by the demon appearing in their semblance in the Sabbat,

and it can never be certain whether this is so or not. Thedevil has by nature the power of doing this unless specially

forbidden by God. It is related in the life of the blessed


Bertha Reuttensis, who shines In miracles, that the devil to

detract from her virtue of abstinence assumed her shape and

devoured food greedily, and there are many instances of

similar deceptions in the lives of the saints. Ib., n. 45.

There would be less danger to the innocent, if so much con-

fidence were not placed in the simple denunciations of accom-

plices, at least with regard to reputable persons, not otherwise

noted for the crime. Ib., n. 46.

It is morally certain that the severity and frequency of

torture compels confession. I have heard from a pious, pru-

dent and learned man of long experience in these matters

that he could not assure himself of resolution to protect his

innocence by enduring it. And the women denounced are

frequently heard to say that they would rather die than

undergo these tortures, not only on account of their severity

but of their outrages on modesty and decency. Ib., n. 47.

It is the common opinion of the doctors that the denuncia-

tion of several accomplices is overcome when the person

accused is of good fame and there are other indicia in her

favor, such as the evil character of the accusers. Del Rio

himself admits this (1. v, sect. 3, N p. Ill), though he after-

wards (lib. v, append, ii, q. 17, p. 805) says that there are

two opinions, both probable. He gives a long list of authori-

ties against the admission of such evidence, but concludes in

favor of the other side. Ib., n. 48.

If hatred disables a witness what shall we say as to those

who hate the whole human race? Ib., n. 49.

Even Del Rio admits that it rests with the discretion of the

judge whether the accusation or the good fame of the accused

shall preponderate (1. v, append, ii, q. 5, concl. 2, p. 852)

but the absolute good fame is a certainty and the denuncia-

tion an uncertainty. Ib., n. 50.

Whence it results that the principle that in excepted crimes

the denunciations of accomplices are admitted does not applyin this case, especially as in other crimes the illusions and

frauds of demons do not intervene. Ib., n. 51.

If the accuser revokes the accusation, she is immediatelytortured again to renew it. If she revokes at execution, it is

not admitted. Ib., nn. 52-3.

A prudent judge weighing all this will not decide that the

denunciation of accomplices, however numerous, without

other support, justifies the arrest and torture of persons of

good repute. So far as I know, Del Rio is almost the only


one who affirms it and even he contradicts himself* Certainly

Lessius, Binsfeld, and the Friburg doctors1

require the con-

dition of penitence (of the accusers). Ib., n. 54,

The practice in other crimes should be followed. After

sentence the criminal should be brought into a state of repen-

tance and should be urged by the confessor to reveal the names

of accomplices. This is the doctrine of Lessius. Ib. ? n. 57.

So Binsfeld and the Friburg doctors hold that denunciation

under torture is insufficient unless confirmed by the repentant,

but Del Rio thinks otherwise and pronounces it a novel

doctrine (L v, app. ii, q. 3, concl. d, p. 848). Ib,, n. 58,

He objects strongly to the tendency of Del Rio and others

to leave to the discretion of the judge, in this most excepted

of crimes, all the points on which the trial turns. Ib., q. iii,

nn. 62-4.

He condemns the practice of being content with the mere

assertion of having seen a person in the Sabbat without

requiring details as to time, place and circumstances, though

Del Rio himself (L v, sect. 3, 1) says these are requisite for

torture. Ib., n. 66.

Whether extrajudicial revocation after condemnation, or on

the way to execution, nullifies the denunciation is disputed

among the doctors, but Del Rio (L v, append, ii, q. 18, p. 878)

holds that it does not. He says that, if made before condemna-

tion, she is to be tortured for confirmation of the accusation.

Apparently it rests with the discretion of the judge. Ib.,

n. 67.

Universally those who deny are tortured three times, with-

out new indicia, although the doctrine is common that torture

cannot be repeated without new indicia. Ib., n. 69.

Del Rio says as to this (L v, sect. 9, FF) that torture is not

to be repeated beyond the third time without the most urgent

new indicia. If the accused persistently denies, she cannot

be tortured more than twice, even though varying, "licet con-

trarium servetur in praxi." It should not be repeated the

same day, but at least a day should intervene, so as to allow

the terror and suffering to do their work. It ought not to

be repeated without new indicia of a different and stronger

kind, unless the patient is so strong and robust as to maintain

body and mind through the first torture, or the earlier tor-

1 By the "Friburg doctors" (Doctores Friburgenses) he means the university faculty

of Freiburg (i.B.) in an opinion of 1601 quoted by Del Rio. B.


tures have been light and insufficient, of which the judgemust decide.

A confession retracted after torture requires a second tor-

ture; if in this lie does not confess, he should be discharged;if he confesses again and again retracts, he is to be tortured

a third time, when, if he confesses and again retracts, he is

to be considered as having purged the evidence and is to be

discharged. So also Lessius and Farinacei

As for the new "indicia urgentissima et gravissima77

, theyare often only additional denunciations of accomplices.

Ib., n. 70.

If the number of crimes charged is too great for torture to

be completed in one day, it can be repeated until he is exam-ined upon all. Thus, if tortured thrice upon three chargesand two remain, he can be thrice tortured on them. More-

over, if after three tortures he confesses, he can be tortured

a fourth and fifth time to reveal accomplices (Del Rio, 1. v,

app. ii, q. 34; Binsfeld, Comment, in Tit. Cod. de Malef.

et Math., lex 7, q. 1, concl. 13). Ib., 71.

We can understand from this the 15 or 20 tortures in some of the cases.

Paul III, in instructions to the Roman city officials, says"tune torquendum continuato actu torturae, non autem in

tortura per longum temporis spatium unius aut pluriumhorarum, aut ad extraneos actus, etiam prandii aut coenae

divertendo detineant" (Paul III, Bull Ad onus, 4 Julii, 1548Bullar. Roman., I, p. 776). This, though merely a local

regulation, is frequently quoted as a general rule. It meansthat the torture should last less than an hour and be con-

tinuous, not interrupted for the dinner or supper of the judge.Del Rio admits this, but suggests the reading "unius et

plurium,7 ' which he says the doctors seem to adopt in permit-

ting torture, in the most atrocious crimes, for an hour and a

little more (Del Rio, 1. v, append, ii, q. 27). Tanner assumesthat Del Rio permits torture for an hour or more. -Ib., n. 72.

Tanner cites abundant authorities to show that the accusedis to have a copy of the indicia. Del Rio cites even moreand says that, if the judge proceeds to torture without giving

copies and opportunity for the defence, the proceedings are

null unless custom or orders of the prince provide other-

wise. But, as in some provinces, as in Bavaria and Milan,the indicia are merely stated to the accused and his answersare required on the spot, he does not condemn such practice,

ITS PROMOTERS AN3> CRITICS 655

which the Friburg doctors consider lawful when the givingof copies would impede the course of the trial and render

the accused pertinacious in denial. Some authorities, more-

over, say the judge can restrict the defence, forbidding the

accused to consult any but his advocate and procurator andthese in presence of the officials and limiting the time for

defence, or in place of giving copies merely letting the advo-

cate see the originals. As in these crimes the judge is not

bound by the rules of positive law, what he thinks proper is

not unlawful (Del Rio, 1. v, append, ii, q. 37, p. 893). Ib.,

n. 73.

Tanner argues strongly against the licence thus permittedto judicial discretion. Ib., nn. 74-5.

In some places, moreover, this licence is extended to deny-ing advocates to the accused. Even Del Rio argues that

this cannot be done (loc. tit., q. 38, p. 894). Gregory of

Valencia, while admitting that advocates should be given,

yet argues that the names of witnesses should be withheld

when the accused is powerful and the witnesses may be

exposed to danger. Tanner points out the injustice of denyingadvocates to those accused of witchcraft, who are mostlywomen illiterate, simple, timid and unable to defend them-selves. Ib., nn. 76-9.

It often happens that on the mere denunciation of accom-

plices persons are not only arrested, but are at once subjectedto torture without an opportunity of reflection or defence.

In their consternation and terror the innocent are liable to

accuse themselves and their defence is thus rendered almost

impossible. Ib., n. 80.

In the application of torture there is sometimes no limit as

to the amount or kind, or respect for decency and modesty.No attention is paid to contrition except when one is notori-

ously not contrite, refusing to confess or receive the Eucharist.

No circumstances are inquired into except that witches on

trial, examined in general, say that they have seen N and Nat the Sabbat, and no defence is admitted, save those founded

in natural law. When a person has been once denounced,she is suggestively inquired after from others. Ib., n. 82.

From all this it would seem that as little as possible should

be left to the discretion of the judge and that persons of good

repute should not be tortured or even arrested on the meredenunciation of witches. Ib., n. 83.

No one will openly deny that, with the permission of God,


the innocent may be condemned, whether the process is

conducted legitimately or illegitimately and no one can denythat, if it is conducted illegitimately, the innocent may often

be condemned, for the process by its nature is attended with

danger to the innocent.- Ib., q. iv, n. 85.

Which shows how slight is the foundation of the assurances

of Del Rio (L ii, q. 12, n. 5, p. 142) that the demons can

represent in the Sabbat only the appearances of witches andnot of the innocent, in which Binsfeld joins (De Confess.

Malefiear,, Solutio Argument., p, 320 of ed. Colon. Agripp.,

1623). Ib., n. 87.

It may sometimes be that the confessor becomes morallycertain that the persons denounced and condemned are inno-

cent. This is denied, but I have often discussed it with pious,

learned, prudent and eminent men and am persuaded of it,

for the following reasons. At the hour of death and truly

repentant, convicts revoke the denunciations which they saywere extorted by torture; if they are to be believed when

unrepentant in the external forum, they surely are to be

believed in the internal forum when repentant and ready to

die. Ib., n. 89.

There is sometimes such true repentance and conversion

to God, such willingness to suffer in expiation of sins, such

submission to the decrees of Providence, that these retractions

are fully worthy of credence, for it is difficult to imagine that

hypocrisy can be concealed under such disposition without

betraying itself to the confessor. Ib., n. 90.

From the confession it sometimes is clear to the confessor

that the denunciation has been motived by hatred and sup-

ported by spreading false reports, by suborned witnesses and

taking to the chamber of the accused materials for sorcery,such as jars of ointment. Ib., n. 91.

Although some hold that innocence cannot be proved byan alibi, bringing witnesses to prove that one was elsewhere

at the time when she was denounced as being in the Sabbat,because in this crime the designation of time and place is

unnecessary, for when witches are absent they are represented

by demons, as in the case of Doctor Flact (Flade) still it

cannot be denied that the opinion is probable of those doctors

who assert that these "singular" and indefinite denunciationsare of no weight for torture and condemnation. Ib., n. 92.

For this see Binsfeld, pp. 268 sqq.

ITS PBOMOTERS ANB CRITICS 657

Therefore, if it is proved to the confessor by good witnessesthat the person denounced was elsewhere at the time whenshe was said to be at the Sabbat, and this is supported byother evidence, he may be morally certain that the revocationis sincere. Ib., n. 93.

It does not prejudice this, tihat sometimes falsity mayunderlie moral certainty; it suffices that the certitude of

innocence is greater than the evidence of guilt. Ib., n. 94.

When the confessor has this moral certainty he should

prudently communicate to the judge. Not that he should

adopt it against the evidence, but that he should diligentlyexamine all the details of the case (against the denounced)and weigh the indicia of innocence to see whether there maynot be some error in the proceedings. Ib., n. 95.

Del Rio treats these ante-mortem revocations with con-

tempt "Igitur ista praesumptio per se valde levis est; multienim moriuntur haud multum de anima soliciti, ut quotidiana

experientia docemur." And he concludes that such revoca-

tion does not annul the denunciation, though he is willing to

admit that it rests with the discretion of the judge whetherto stand by the inculpation or the exculpation (1. v, append, ii,

q. 18, p. 879). The question was one debated on both sides

by the doctors. Tanner says that in some places the judgesare accustomed to delay execution when the accused retracts,

and this is the more proper when the confessor is convincedof innocence. Ib., n. 97.

The Carolina is commonly quoted against this; but cap. 91

says that, although such revocations are commonly made in

order to obtain delay, yet the judge shall summon his twoassessors to declare that they have read the confession andthen shall submit the matter to his superiors to decide.

Ib., nn. 98-9.

There is a question whether the confessor at the last momentshould urge the innocent to retract the confession and denun-ciations. It is held that he is not bound to do so

;for though,

if the convict could expect release and restoration to goodfame by such revocation, she should make it under pain of

mortal sin; yet, as the most she could expect from it wouldbe to be taken to court again and tortured, she is not com-

mitting mortal sin in withholding revocation. Ib., nn. 100-2.

But, if she has denounced an innocent person, she is boundto retract and the confessor should compel her to it, and a

prudent judge will consider such retraction. Ib., n. 103.

VOL. n 42


This is based on Toletus, Summa Casuum Conscientiae, 1. v, c. 66.

Azpilcueta says that in certain crimes, including witchcraft, the confessor

should urge the convict to denounce his accomplices (Enchiridion Confes-

sajionim, c. 18, n. 58).

But the confessor should be careful not importunately to

urge the convict to retract a false denunciation, nor should

he cause scandal by imprudently maMng known a spon-taneous retraction, for such importunity in a disturbed mind

may cause unnecessary anxiety and move to scruple wherethere is no cause. So Del Rio (1. v, app. ii, q. 18) ;

for "scan-

dalum certain, fructum incertum fore." Binsfeld says the

same, but gives as a reason that it may lead the convict to

call in doubt his own confession (De Confess. Malefic., membr.

2, post conclus. 5). And the Carolina warns confessors not to

urge the convict to withdraw his confession or his denuncia-

tion of accomplices (cap. 103). The confessor should confine

himself to reporting to the judges such revocations for the

benefit of those denounced and as a warning for cautious

procedure. Tanner, De Processu, n. 105.

There is another question whether, when witches die in

prison without confession or complete conviction, they should

have the Eucharist and Christian burial. It is the commonopinion of the doctors that, if the suspicion is strong and notcleared away, communion should be denied, except absolutelyin articulo mortis, and this is observed in practice; but, if

she has purged the evidence by endurance of torture, she

should have it. Ib., nn. 106-7.

But in articulo mortis the sacrament is to be denied to noone and Christian burial is to be given to all who repent.

Ib., nn. 108-9.

Del Rio accepts this and says that the judge refusing burial

to one dying before condemnation commits mortal sin andcan be prosecuted by the kindred. But in this crime, as in

heresy, the dead can be prosecuted and the trial can go on

where, if conviction follows, the corpse can be dug up andthe estate be confiscated in those lands where confiscation is

inflicted. Tanner (n. Ill) admits this. If, however, the

accused during the trial commits suicide, the body should be

hung on the gallows. It is true that the majority of doctorsdo not agree to this, but it is proper and is the commonpractice (Del Rio, 1. v, sect. 19, p. 811). Ib., n. 111.

Then come the two questions, 1st how to avert the effects

of witchcraft; and 2d how to extirpate "hoc crimen quod

ITS PROMOTERS AJS'D CRITICS 659

diaboli tyranmde et hominum malitia adeo invaluit.3 '

Ib.,n. 112.

As regards the first, it is to be considered that the devil

cannot wreak his malice either himself or by witches exceptthrough God's permission. Therefore the best way of escap-ing is by hope and confidence in God, daily prayer and purityof life. If, notwithstanding these, God permits this affliction,it is to be borne in the conviction that it is for the sufferer's

good in this life or the next. Ib., n. 113.

Then follow the special methods confession, celebrationof masses, exorcisms, images of the cross, sign of the cross,the name of Jesus, the Virgin, the guardian angel and the

saints, the prayers of the church, the use of sacred thingssuch as the Agnus Dei, blessed water, wax, bread, palms,relics, images of saints, especially of St. Ignatius, fasting and

prayer, works of charity and mercy. Also the destructionof the charms and implements used though sorcery is neverto be relieved by sorcery. Ib., nn. 114-22.

As regards the extirpation of witchcraft, there are twomodes of actionthe political and the spiritual. With respectto the former he calls attention to the assemblies held of

both sexes, sometimes by day and sometimes by night,in which every kind of sexual excess occurs. These may becalled true schools of the devil and seminaries of witches of

both sexes, all the more injurious that no one disapproves of

or attaches blame to them. Recently when a Jesuit hap-pened upon one of these gatherings and reproved it, he scarce

escaped without bodily injury; and when another sought to

abolish them he was told that they were an ancient customof the land. Ib., nn. 123-4.

Another cause is the indecent familiarities between the

sexes the embraces, the nakedness, etc., in dances and

games and even in labors, and the gatherings at home and

abroad, private and public, to which add the obscene floggingof women on the day of the Innocents (December 28). These

open the way of seduction to the devil; these impel unhappymen to commerce with the devil, to satiate the lust thus

excited. If the magistrates, secular and spiritual, would putan end to these customs, there is no doubt that witchcraft

would be well-nigh extirpated. Ib., n. 115.

Another political method is the legitimate and accurate

prosecution of the crime, not in one place only but by the

general consent of all Christian princes. Though it cannot

660 TOE DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

be extenninated simply by severity? yet is that necessary, not

only to avoid scandal, lest the simple should conceive that

the crime does not exist, but also to vindicate the honor of

God and to punish the injuries to him with due severity.

(Where comes in the pious belief that it is all by God's per-

mission? -EL C. L.) For this, I should require, with sub-

mission to the judgment of wiser men, the following in addi-

tion to the doubts expressed above. Ib. sn. 116.

The judges should not only be specially learned and pru-

dent, but also exceedingly pious. Without this they would

expose to danger themselves and others and the whole com-

munity, in this contest with the devil in a matter the most

obscure and intricate. Ibidem.

Pious and learned theologians should be adjoined to the

judges to advise them in a matter involving faith and heresy

and the most perplexed and obscure matters both of fact and

philosophy and theology; to prudently determine why in

this or that place men are led to this sacrilegious intercourse

with the devil; to ascertain, from the more prudent of the

accused who repent, what they think are the most efficacious

methods of extirpation; that they may bring spiritual help

to the culprits; as this crime is mixti fori* but in reality

chiefly spiritual, that the secular judges may proceed more

securely in it. Ib., n. 127.

It would not be necessary for them to be present at torture,

but to have the reports and to have access to the accused

and to listen to what they have to say. Ib., n. 128.

That in each town or village or district there should be

syndics and examiners to silently observe all indications of

witchcraft and report them to the judges, so that the latter

may make inquest when necessary. Ib., n. 129.

As under leg. ult. Cod. de Malef. et Maihem. every one is

bound to secretly denounce those whom they know or suspectto be guilty, for which they are guaranteed silence and

impunity, such denunciations, if insufficient for arrest and

torture, should be recorded for use when necessary. For

this, it would be useful to utter warnings in sermons of this

duty incumbent on all; or, when a general inquisition is

established, public edicts should require, under certain penal-

ties, denunciation of aE that is known or seen or heard.

Ib., n. 130.

The trials should be speedy, so that under the forms of

ITS PEOMOTBKS AND CEITICS 661

law those condemned or confessed (be punished) and those

who purge the evidence by torture be discharged. Ib., n. 131.

To those who truly repent extrajudicially, pardon and

impunity should be promised, if a pious and prudent confessor

considers their repentance genuine; and, if he knows that

they have been denounced, he should take care to have their

names expunged from the records. This conforms to the

practice of the Holy Inquisition, Ib., n. 132.

I hear that in some places this plan works well. And it

might be well in some cases to use the benignity of the spiritual

forum, in accordance with Can. Episcopi, to those condemned,

separating them from communion for a time [and requiring

them to] perform public penance before the church doors

and submit, say for a year, to certain penitential privations.

This would humiliate the devil more than a thousand

executions.

Finally, what ought to be observed in the trials is that to

lawfully examine any one about himself (as St. Thomas and

Valencia say) it is necessary that he should be suspected of

this crime either through public infamy or through grave

indicia of at least two competent witnesses (Sylvester, and

Carolina, art. 23) or on account of semiplena probatio, such

as that, in addition to the denunciation, there should be one

unexceptionable witness, or testimony equivalent to it (Caie-

tano and Navarro). The accused when examined should be

informed that he is properly suspect on account of the afore-

said causes, so that he can understand that he is legally exam-

ined and obliged to answer (Soto, Caietano and Navarro).

Valencia adds that, to justify the examination of the accused

and of others as witnesses against him, any kind of suspicion

does not suffice, but it must arise from public infamy under

which the accused labors respecting this crime. But there

are limitations on this, especially in excepted crimes, other-

wise it would not be licit to inquire of witches who have con-

fessed about other specified persons, even though they have

been accused by several others and are properly suspected on

account of other indicia, unless there is precedent infamia,

the contrary being the received practice. Valencia admits

that the denunciation of an accomplice, confirmed in torture,

suffices for the arrest of the accused, and that proofs by con-

jectures and indicia and denunciations by accomplices, even

without confession, suffice for condemnation to milder pen-

altiesall of which we have disapproved above. But I


would not dare to disapprove that, after two or three denun-

ciations spontaneously made by accomplices already penitentand other supports or indicia, inquisition should be made of

the accused, if secrecy be observed and proper moderation

be used. Ib., n. 133.

But spiritual arms are much more efficient than corporealin exterminating this vice, such as those enumerated above.

If every one will thus guard "himself against the demon, the

whole community will be guarded. Ib., n. 134.

There is great value in solemn and public renunciation of

the devil made after sermons. I would wish this in the con-

fessional, especially from women, as a preliminary to con-

fession, as experience has shown that those suspect of witch-

craft are not easily brought to make it, Ib., n. 135.

Public protestation of Catholic faith, frequently repeated

according to the formula of Pius V, or an abridgment of it

for defect of faith frequently leads to the pacts and commerceof witches with the devil. Also the weekly or at least monthlycelebration of the office and mass of St. Michael, the con-

queror of the devil. Ib., n. 136.

Good training of children, breaking the habit of swearingand blasphemy and uttering filthy jests, and substituting

attendance, on feast days, on the mass and sermon andcatechism. Also public supplications and prayers to extir-

pate this crime and defeat the efforts of the devil. If these

be used against pestilence and war and tempests, much moreshould they be against this pest. These things I think wouldsuffice. The remaining matters pertaining to the prosecutionof witches can be seen in the authors cited above, especially

Del Rio, the Malleus and Binsfeld. Ib., n. 137.

This completes what Father Tanner has to say as to the procedure against

witches, and it will be observed how little the changes he urges would seemto justify the outcry of his brethren against him, as indicated by the fear

of equal denunciation which led Spee to write anonymously.

TANNER, ADAM. [Extracts from Disputatio de Angelis.]

That Tanner entertained no heretical doubts as to the existence of witch-

craft and of its supreme wickedness and the evils wrought by the exercise

of its malignant powers is visible in the following extracts from his Dispu-tatio de Angelis appended to the previous tractate. As the editor arrangedthe extracts to suit his own ideas, I see no way of referring to them exceptto the pages of the Diversi Tractatus, P. II (Colon. Agripp., 1629).


His q. i is devoted to proving by a long line of scholastic

theologians that angels (and demons) have power to trans-

port objects. Also that they cannot perform miracles, whichare reserved to God alone. Diversi Tractatus, pp. 49-53.

In q. ii, he proves that angels can move human souls andother angels, for demons carry souls to hell. But an angelcannot move an angel equal or superior to himself if the

other resists. An inferior angel, however, can move a superior

demon, though a demon cannot move an angel. Ib., pp. 53-6.

Goes on with definitions of details as to the powers andmethods of angels in moving stones through the air and the

spheres with the planets, with references to many doctors,

showing how intimate a knowledge had theologians of that of

which they could know nothing. Ib., pp. 56-59.

Q. iii. As these speculations, he says, are only of interest

from their practical applications, he proceeds to discuss "Annimiruin, et qua ratione, sagae seu striges utriusque sexus a

daemone vere et corporaliter transferantur ad nocturna ilia,

quae omnium ore celebrantur, conventicula, in quibus onmis

generis nefaria crimina nefandasque voluptates exerceant."

This question, of no little importance, is to be discussed bytheologians, not by judges, "utpote ex principiis Theologicis

potissimum non ex fori legibus decidenda." Writers are

divided as to it, one side holding that it is all a delusion of the

devil. To this side belong not only the non-Catholics gener-

ally, such as Weyer, Godelmann, Agrippa, Luther, Melanch-

thon, but also not a few Catholic jurists and physicists: the

Italians, Ponzinibio, Porta, Alciatus; the Frenchmen, Dua-

renus, Aerodius, Michael Montanus; the Spaniards, F. Samuel,author of the Fortalitium (Alfonso de Spina), Martinus de

Aries; the Germans, Philippus Camerarius, TJlricus Molitor;Leonardus Vairus and others. This opinion is chiefly based

on the Can. Episcopi, which he proceeds to give at full

length. Ib., pp. 59-61.

"Sed nihilominus vera et certa est contraria sententia,

striges non raro etiam vere et corporaliter ad sua ilia conven-

ticula a daemone transferri." This is the common opinionof Catholic jurists and theologians (of whom he cites a num-

ber), and it is the common view and practice of the RomanInquisitors and all the ecclesiastical courts in Italy, Spain,

Germany, and France, as is to be seen by their acts and pub-lic fame and from the various papal bulls to the inquisitors,

especially of Innocent VI (VIII), Julius II, Adrian VI and


Clement "VTI, given in Binsfeld and Del Rio. And this is

proved not only by the constant and concordant confessions

of witches of both sexes, but by the personal experience and

sight of others whose faith cannot be denied without temerity.

Ib., pp. 61-2.

Besides there is the theological reason, for we have seen

that demons can transport bodies and God permits it and

there is no reason why he should forbid it when in other things

he permits equal power to demons to injure man, as in

demoniacs. Ib.; p. 62.

Then he enumerates the various attempts to reconcile the

Cap. Episcopi with the witch-craze. As for the opinion of

Del Rio and others that it has no authority, he strenuously

argues for its authenticity and permanent authority, but he

concedes that illusion is more frequent than actual attendance

on the Sabbat; it is credible that God more readily permits

the former than the latter. Witches are mostly married and

sleeping with their husbands, and it seems incredible that for

twenty or thirty years they could often be absent for whole

nights without detection, and the suggestion of profound sleep

or the substitution of a demon or a beam of wood is unworthyof credence. Besides, the sleeping rooms are closed and the

windows fastened; they could not be opened without dis-

turbance and it will be shown below that they could not go

without opening them. Ib., pp. 62-66.

The very confessions of the witches create doubt, as they

do not accord together with those of accomplices as to fre-

quentation of the Sabbat; and the assertions that they escape

through cracks and holes in the shape of cats, mice and birds

are plainly incredible.

Learned, pious and prudent men engaged in hearing the

confessions are not rarely led to doubt whether what witches

confess as to this matter is to be believed or whether theyrelate delusions for facts, and they manifestly find that not

rarely those are delusions and dreams which the witches

firmly believe to be bodily flights.

Caietano (who is frequently cited in confirmation of witch-

craft) gives two instances of such delusions in his own experi-

ence, "ut accidit his qui ire se credunt, vesperae quintae feriae,

ad ludos Dianae vel similia diaboliea." A trustworthy person

told him of an old woman who promised to come to his

chamber and on that night he found her lying insensible and

naked in her own room. He knew another woman in love

ITS PBOMOTBRS AND CBITICS 665

whom the devil anointed naked, promising that he wouldtake her to her lover. She was insensible for some time and

imagined herself to be with her lover, when she awoke to

find herself in her room so exhausted that she had to be

revived, and if Caietano had not assured her that it wasimagination she would have continued to think it reality.

It therefore is probable that witches are more often deludedthan really transported. Ib., p. 66.

Nevertheless it is morally certain that witches are sometimes

bodily transported to the Sabbat, nor can this in any way bedenied of our witches publicly known for a hundred and fifty

years, as shown by Bernard of Como. Nor are useful rules

lacking by which phantasmic transportations can be dis-

tinguished from real ones, as may be seen in Del Rio (1. v,

sect. 16, q.v.). Nor is it in any way to be thought that

witches are carried by demons from closed places by pene-trating walls; but it is done by silently opening and then

closing bolts, etc., or by the chimney or window or by remov-

ing a board and replacing it, for which see P. Thyraeus (DeLocis Infestis, q.v.) and Del Rio (1. ii, q. 16, 17, q.v.). This

does not conflict with Cap. Episcopi, of which the intention

is not to define whether women are carried to the Sabbat bythe devil, but whether they are so carried as they boast, in

contempt of the Christian faith as enjoying the society of a

deity and not carried away by a demon, but as passing the

the night in religious devotion to Diana or Herodias, whichas the canon says involves a pagan error, while in reality theyare deluded by a malignant spirit, and think they are carried

bodily and not in imfl.ginfl.tirm. So that those who so believe,

lose the faith and pass into the power of the devil. This is

the meaning of the second part of the canon and that such

phantasms come from a malignant and not from a divine

spirit. It does not say that a real transportation is never

effected by the devil, but that it is not done by any pagangod. As to the substance of the crime and the impious cele-

bration of diabolic conventicles, all this is plainly in accord

with our witches, although it differs as to the sacrilegious

boasting of a foreign deity; yet our witches, when theyrenounce God and adore the demon, adopt another god,

namely the devil. Thus neither Burchard nor Navarrus under-stood the meaning of the canon, nor from it can any article bedrawn to prove that our witches are not transported to the

Sabbat by the devil.~~Ib., pp. 67-9.


Q. iv considers the power of angels and specially the trans-

formation of witches into animals and their causing tempests.

As for transformations, they are only apparent and not real,

which is the common opinion of the doctors, from Augustinand Aquinas down. They may be mere dreams of sleeping

witches, or delusions of the waking by demons who make

them believe that they are what they are not, as in lycan-

thropy, or that the demon forms out of air a form for a witch

or surrounds the witch with it and inflicts on her body the

wounds inflicted on the image, or encases a man in the skin

of a brute, or substitutes a real animal for the witch asleep.

Ib., pp. 69-74.

Demons can also, by the permission of God, either them-

selves or by means of witches, excite tempests, thunder and

lightning, hail-storms, etc., but not without the application

of their causes. This is so certain, both by the confessions of

witches and other arguments, that it cannot be denied without

temerity, and demons sometimes do this when evoked bywitches. Ib., pp. 74-5.

Q. v is on the assumption of bodies by demons and their

performing acts of life. He admits the difficulty of explaining

this, as they are solid to the senses, so that not only they seem

the genuine bodies of men and beasts, assumed for a moment,but can be touched and possess all the members of lust, as

is manifest from the confessions of witches. Yet the testi-

mony of Scripture is too decisive as to the angels who

appeared to Abraham and Lot and as to Raphael who guided

Tobit, for this to be called into question, and Aquinas is able

to prove it dialectically (Summa, P. I, q. li, art. 2 and 3)

(though he assumes that the "sons of God" were the descen-

dants of Seth and the daughters of men were those of Cain

H. C. L.)- These bodies "sibi plerumque ex impuro aere seu

vaporibus et exhalationibus nubibusve aeri admixtis formant"

(p. 80). But then this seems insufficient substance and sub-

sequently he suggests "praeter aerem jungendam praeterea

aquam, terram, lutum, sulphur, resinam, lignum, etc., forte

etiam accedunt quandoque a cadaveribus animalium damna-

toramque hominum ossa, uti etiam subinde verum a brutis

homineve decisum semen, aliaque similia, e quibus inter se

utcunque coagmentatis junctisque multo facilius citiusque

daemon, etiam sine alia diuturna actione alterationeque

physica, speciem humani corporis configurare potest, quam ex

praesupposita materia" (p. 82). There was always the diffi-


culty of the saying of the risen Christ when he appeared to

the disciples:" Handle me and see3 for a spirit hath not flesh

and bones as ye see me have" (Luke, xxiv, 39). He gives

(p. 85) the received explanation of the generative power of

incubi, which he says Aquinas states after St. Augustin, DeCiv. Dei, xv, 23 and De Trinitate, iii, 8. (But Augustin in

these places says nothing of the kind, though treating of the

subject.H. C. L.) Ib., pp. 75-86.

Q. vi discusses how and why angels can change the generalstate and order of the world and suspend or impede the effi-

ciency of natural causes. This is for the purpose of explain-

ing how the devil seems by means of witches to, e. g., render

them invisible or to prevent flames from burning straw. Hebegins by pointing out that angels cannot destroy the universe

or alter the course of the stars or annihilate the elements, etc.

Quotes St. Augustin (De Trinit., iii, 7, 8) that it is very diffi-

cult to define in detail what angels can do by nature or cannot

do when God prohibits. If you regard simply their faculties,

angels can kill animals, tear up trees and move mountains;but morally, by the permission of God, they cannot. The goodones do not wish nor can they wish; the evil ones, even if

they wish, are not able. They can impede and play with the

external senses which he proceeds to explain dialectically at

great length, showing how the devil can make a man invisible.

He cannot, however, prevent flame from burning straw, but

he can make it seem not to burn. He cannot render an animal

body incorruptible or invulnerable, but he can destroy the

force of a ball or a sword. So he can interpose somethingbetween flame and straw or he can drench the straw with a

liquid rendering it incombustible; God alone can restrain the

natural power of fire, as when the three children were unhurt

in the furnace. The devil cannot prevent fire from burningor balls from wounding, but he can intefere with the forces

through which they act. Ib., pp. 86-91.

Q. vii discusses the efforts of demons to seduce and lead

men to perdition; specially whether without God's permission,

by themselves or through witches they can injure men. Bydivine providence certain demons dwell among men, partly

in order that, with the permission of God, by tempting and

exercising them, they may against their will and intention

promote their good and the glory of God; partly also, that

as the ministers of God's justice they may chastise and punishmen for their sins.


The first question is whether all demons are occupied with

tempting men. The answer is, not all directly, but only those

dwelling in the air and on earth with men; this does not

happen to all at the same time, but to some now and to others

then, by turns except that the supreme Lucifer is thought

to be bound in hell till the corning of Antichrist. (Revelation,

xx, 1, 2, says 1000 years. H. C. L.)

But it is credible that all, indirectly and by counsel, are

thus occupied in seducing men and impelled by the great

hatred and envy which they bear to men. Ib., p. 92.

Secondly, it is asked whether in tempting men there is anysubordination among demons, so that some of them act in

obedience to others. To this the answer is that there is such

subordination among both good and bad angels, some being

subject to others. In the beginning the evil angels submitted

themselves to Lucifer and it is very credible that in seducing

men the inferior voluntarily submit to the superior, but there

is no doubt that there is frequent struggle for free will, but

it is not God but Lucifer who apportions between them their

duties of injuring. Ib., p. 93.

Thirdly, it is asked whether from the beginning of the world

until now demons infest all men equally. The persecution

was much greater before the advent of Christ, as seen in the

idol worship and oracles. At present it is much diminished

among the baptized, for their power is much greater amongheathens than in Christendom. Under Antichrist, however,

Lucifer will be let loose. In the meanwhile God, in the exer-

cise of Ms will, permits one to be tempted more severely or

more frequently than another, or in one way more than in

another. In this he does injustice to no one and gives greater

grace to whom he pleases. Ib., p. 94.

Fourthly, it is asked in what way does the demon infest

men generally. In two ways : first, exteriorly, by afflictions

or temptations, whether he appears personally or not. Sec-

ondly, interiorly, alluring nim;not directly inclining his will,

for this belongs alone to God (What about free-will? H.C . L.) ;

but by ingesting evil suggestions and thoughts by the com-

motion of phantasms or humors.

Fifthly, it is asked if different demons under different leaders

are destined to promote the several vices. This is not incred-

ible, but uncertain. Ib., p. 95.

Sixthly, it is asked whether a demon, worsted in his assault,

at least abandons it for a time, though it is improbable that


he is thrust into hell. Such is the common opinion, but It

does not follow that he will not return with greater audacity.

Ib., pp. 95-^6.Seventhly, it is asked whether, as is asserted by most with

regard to good angels, so with God's permission and Lucifer's

assignment, a demon is adjoined to each man at birth. This

is so according to the common and very probable assertion

of the doctors. God easily permits this so that all men maybe tempted, and the devil desiring as far as he can to dowhat God does on the other side and having the opportunity;

for, though there are not as many demons as angels, it is easily

believed that of the lower order there are as many as of menliving at one time, and it is easily conceivable that those of

a higher class may be assigned to this duty. Ib., p. 96.

Eighthly, it is asked whether demons without special per-mission of God can tempt men and injure them either bythemselves or through witches. The answer is that nothingis done without the permission or knowledge of God. All

the fathers agree in this as to demons. Thus Cyprian (DeOratione Dominica, ed. Oxon., 1682, p. 150): "Nihil contra

nos adversarium posse nisi Deus ante permiserit." So St.

Augustin (Enarratio in Psalmum hi, n. 20 Migne XXXVI,743), "Diabolus potestas quaedam est; plerumque tamen vult

nocere et non potest, quia potestas ista sub potestate est.

. . . Ad mensuram enim permittitur tentare diabolus."

So St, Bernard (Sermones de Diversis, Sermo Ixxxiv Migne,

CLXXXIII, 701): "Nihil quippe adversus nos malignus

spiritus potest, nisi missus aut pennissus. Unde cum

ejus sit voluntas semper mala, nunquam potestas est nisi

justa. Nam voluntas quidem mala ex se ipso sibi inest,

potestatem vero non aliunde quam a Deo habet" (p. 96).

In the ordinary methods of persecution, however, there is

no need of God's special permission, though even in these

God sometimes interferes, either personally or by his angels.

The reason of this is that it is included in his general permis-sion of tempting. Ib., pp. 96-7.

In special cases, whether as to external or personal affairs,

demons cannot act of themselves or use extraordinary methods

without special permission in each case.

So it is when witches are used; there must be special per-

mission in each case. Therefore demons cannot raise tempests,

even though the witch uses her broom or her jar of sorceries

and invokes the demon, unless God specially permits it.


But when witches have received from demons poisonous

ointments, they can use them unless God specially prevents

it, for God gives to men free-will to use natural things for

good or for ill. Ib., p. 97.

Ninthly, it is asked whether all temptations and all humanill-deeds coine from the machinations of demons. This is so,

indirectly and remotely, for Satan led the first man to fall;

but it is not so directly, for some arise from our free-will and

the corruption of the flesh. Still the demons are unwearied

in laboring for our perdition. Ib., p. 98.

Tenthly, what is to be thought about the classification of

demons, whether as to their habitat or varieties of injuring?

Generally speaking, they are neither to be approved or dis-

approved. St. Ignatius seems to know only two classes,

aerial and earthly (St. Ignatius, Epist. ad Ephesios Mag.BibL Patr., T. I, p. 93), though Paul in Ephesians, vi, 12,

speaks of Principalities and Powers and Rectores tenebrarum.

Ib., pp. 98-99 Sind finis.

LA.YMANN, PAUL, S. 3.Theologia Moralis (first ed., Mon-

achii, 1625).

Laymann's "Theologia Moralis73

appeared in 1625 and was speedily fol-

lowed by innumerable editions for more than a century. The section on

witchcraft, under the title "Traetatus Theologicus de Sagis et Veneficis,"

was included in the Diversi Tractatus (Colon. Agripp., 1629) and may be

considered to represent the work as it first left the author's hands or the

enlarged edition of 1626. There was another edition of the Theologia

Moralis in 1627 and two in 1630, and another enlarged edition in 1634.

Laymann died in 1635. The edition of the Seminary of Padua in 1733 is

a reprint of that of 1630, with all additions of subsequent ones inserted and

distinguished by" "

quotation marks. I have compared the text in the

"Tractatus" with that of 1733 and find it identical with the undistinguished

parts except in nn. 30-31. In the following I give the text in the Diversi

Tractatus to show what were Laymann's first views, and then follow with

the changes.

Q. i. Gives the reasons why more women than men make

pacts with the devil. Div. Tract., P. II, p. 100 (Theol.

Moral., 1. iii, tract, vi, c. 5, unic., n. 21).

Q. ii. How the confessor should treat witches who seek

confession. If a woman in confession gives ground for sus-

picion, the confessor should urge her to confess and assure

her of the inviolability of the seal. If moved by this she

confesses, he should assure himself of all details and whether

she has injured persons and has seduced others to the sin;


if so, she should convert them or denounce them, to justice,but this latter she is not bound to do, if it implies risk to her.

As it is difficult, if not impossible, to rescue them from the

devil, the confessor must labor strenuously and assure themof the falsity of the popular belief that one cannot be liberatedfrom a pact with the devil. Efficacy of prayers, sign of the

cross, images, relics, etc.-Ib., pp. 100-1 (TheoL Moral, ubi

sup. n. 22).

Q. iii. How should the confessor treat witches arrested orcondemned? (1) It is not advisable that they should beadmitted to confession before examination, for in the hope of

discharge they customarily assert innocence and can scarcebe induced to confess. Wherefore in most tribunals they arenot admitted to confession until they have been found

guilty. (2) The confessor should not criticize the methodsof procedure or the sentence, nor listen to complaints of injus-

tice, for it is not his business to judge of such things, but tolead them to repentance. (3) He should acquaint himselfwith all the details of the evidence of the wonders wroughtby holy water, agnus Dei, etc., so that he can refute her if

she denies her crime and exhort her not to incur eternal

punishment through the wiles of the demon. (4) If she con-fesses her crime, he should examine into all details and disposeher to repentance, so as to save her from the jaws of the

demon, with whom otherwise she will be burnt forever. Heshould animate her to bravely undergo her sentence and satisfyher sins. If, however, after confessing judicially, she asserts

her innocence and says it was extorted by torture, and onconsideration he believes her (for in the forum of conscience

the penitent is to be believed for and against herself), heshould console her with the example of the martyrs and that

God will know the truth. (5) If the witch confesses her

crime, the confessor should ask whether she has denounced,as she ought, her associates. If she persistently asserts that

she has, through fear of torture or enmity, denounced the

innocent, he should urge the obligation to retract even thoughshe exposes herself to fresh torture if there is any hope that

the judge will listen to the revocation; for ordinarily the

judges hold to the first denunciation, although it may berevoked after an interval, unless the deponent can presentsome probable reason. The doctors differ as to this; but as,

in the presence of death, no one is oblivious of his salvation,there is strong presumption that the revocation is true and


annuls the denunciation. But Binsfeld (De Confess., membr.

ii, conclus. 5, pp. 250-2) holds the negative side, as does

Del Rio (1. v, sect, v, n. 5) and the doctors commonly.But if she persists he should urge her to declare this publicly

at the place of execution, to ease her conscience and in some

degree to weaken the denunciation. (Here follows, in the

later edition of the TheoL Moral., nn. 26-8, a long argumentin favor of receiving the revocation.) But it will be wasted

labor and occasion for scandal if, after execution, the confessor

notifies the judge of the revocation. (In the later ed. he

suggests considering whether the judge is wont or not to attach

weight to such revocations; also that it is well to have wit-

nesses to attest the revocation. (See TheoL Moral., loc. tit.,

n. 28.) The confessor must not violate the seal and, if he

wishes to use the revocation, he must ask the penitent to

repeat it outside of confession. Ib., pp. 101-4 (TheoL Moral.,

loc. ctt., nn. 23-9).

Q. iv. If a woman persistently denies to the confessor

that she is a witch and says she confessed under fear of tor-

ture, what is to be done? I reply: (1) If she properly con-

fesses her other sins and seems sincere, she should have

absolution. (2) He should urge her, in view of the disgrace

to her family and herself and the evil of death self-caused,

that she should retract her confession before the judge, if

there is any hope that he will listen to her or give any credence.

Many judges hold to the confession confirmed outside of

torture, unless there are the most probable arguments of its

falsity, and thus the revocation will be futile. (3) If she

cannot be persuaded to retract in fear of the exceeding tor-

ture and would rather die, the confessor should not further

urge her, for she can adopt the opinions of the doctors whohold that the obligation of retraction, under pain of mortal

sin, does not apply. The contrary opinion appears to mespeculative. Ib., pp. 104-5 (TheoL Moral., ubi sup., n. 30).

Q. v. If a confessor concludes that a woman who has

confessed under fear of torture is really innocent, should he,

as the advocate of a penitent, inform the judge of this? I

answer that it is not advisable. (1) The judge will put nofaith in an extrajudicial retraction after the public confession

and conviction of the accused. (2) If the confessor is knownto intercede for those whom he suspects to be innocent, others

really guilty will conceal their crimes, with great sacrilege

and damage to their souls. (3) If he hears several confessions


and asserts the innocence of one and not of the others, heseems tacitly to confirm the guilt of the latter. Ib., pp.105-6 (Theoi Moral., ubi sup., n. 31).

There is an interest in all tins, apart from the question of credulity andinjustice, in the view it gives of the perplexities to which a conscientious

confessor was exposed, believing fully in witchcraft, and in the necessityof its punishment, yet brought in contact with despairing souls, consciousof their own innocence and eagerly seeking for salvation, whose death-bedassertions of innocence carry conviction to ThJFi against his will. Longexperience in the duties of the confessional, with its hardening influence,would give him a tolerably clear insight into the truth or falsehood of his

penitent and he could hardly fail to realize how often he was made the

participator in judicial murders, while the varying circumstances of indi-

vidual cases would raise a cloud of doubts requiring the subtlest casuistryto resolve, especially when he was called upon to act in administering or

withholding communion and absolution and in determining as to Christian

burial.

Q. vL What is the judge's duty in trials of witches? Noone should be arrested and prosecuted without a true-

appearing indicium of a crime committed and not on themere delation of infamous persons or public fame of degradedpersons unsubstantiated. Torture must depend on the num-ber of delations and gravity of indicia and she should not betortured more severely or more often than the indicia demand.The doctors say that in heresy, to which witchcraft is con-

sidered equivalent, judges are accustomed to be more proneto torture. Some add that these crimes are so detestable and

pernicious, that, although sometimes there may be injustice

done, it is better to suffer this than that the public goodshould be imperiled by the hesitation of the magistrate. I

think, however, that in witchcraft and the like strongerindicia are required for arrest and trial, as Del Rio teaches

in 1. v, sect. 3. (He certainly says nothing of the kind onlythat stronger proofs are required for arrest than for inquest,for torture than for arrest, etc. H. C. L.) Also strongerindicia are required for persons of dignity or clerics. Fortorture the general rule is that the indicia must so incline

the mind of the judge to deem the accused guilty that nothingseems to be lacking but her confession. It is debated amongthe doctors whether the accused can be condemned without

confession, on account of the number of delations by infamous

persons. Binsfeld says yes (De Confess. Malef., membr. 2,

conclus. 7, p. 287), (He does say so, but that the penaltyshould be lighter. H. C. L.) And Del Rio says no (lib. v,

VOL. ii 43


sect. 5, n. 4). (He says so, adding that the opposite is com-

monly held and is used in practice. H. C. L.) The multi-

plication of accusers increases their weight and it may be

that a dozen or fifteen confessed witches persistently asserting

her as accomplice may equal full proof in hidden crimes; but

in this crime a no small difficulty arises, for that the evidence

of a number shall suffice for condemnation without confession

it is requisite that they shall be contestes, and I think it can

scarce ever happen that ten or twelve witches can testify

to the same fact. When asked about accomplices they only

say that Titia is also a witch and such denunciation without

specifying facts amounts only to infamy which alone is insuffi-

cient. Also, when asked as to accomplices they name some,not that they know them to be such, but because they have

been suspected. One will say she saw Titia in the Sabbat

two years ago; another says three years; another that with

her she raised a tempest; another that they were associated

in some other sorcery. Such evidence, however multiplied,

without other proof, I hold to be insufficient for condemna-tion. Ib., pp. 106-7.

In the later edition this question is expanded into q. vi-xiii for which

see below.

Q. vii. Whether condemned witches are to be burnt alive

or to be first strangled. If on account of the atrocity of a

crime the law orders burning, it means burning alive, and the

judge must obey the prescription unless he is supreme andcan dispense with it or unless on account of circumstances

epikeia dictates mitigation. But among Christians it is the

custom that the convict sentenced to fire shall not die a

lingering death, lest he fall into despair or other grave sin

and die impenitent; so in some places a bag of gunpowder is

hung on the breast whose explosion shall extinguish life.

Except the impenitent and pertinacious, who are properlyburnt without alleviation. Ib., pp. 107-8. (Theol. Moral.,ubi sup., nn. 58-9.)

Q. viii. If witches die in prison, are they to be defamedfor the crime or condemned? Although ordinarily crimes

and their punishment are extinguished by death, this does

not apply to excepted crimes. If convicted or confessed, she

can be condemned after death and her property be confis-

cated. (So Del Rio, 1. v, sect. 19.) Wherefore in some placesthe corpse is publicly burnt. If she dies before confession

ITS PBOMOTEBS AND CEITICS 675

or conviction, she should have Christian burial and not be

condemned or burnt. (So Del Rio, loc. cit.) But if she

commits suicide, that is considered a confession and she can

be burned or hanged (so Del Rio, loc. cit.). If before death

she repents, confesses and receives the sacrament, the judge

can still bum the corpse, as these concern the internal and

not the external forum. But, even if a judge permits Christian

burial, he can protest that he will continue the case and cite

the kindred to defend, as in heresy; but this right (says Del

Rio, loc. tit} endures only for five years. (But only according

to civil law; by ecclesiastical law the right of confiscation

endures for forty years and presumably also against the

person. H. C. L.) The custom is reprehensible of some

judges who in publishing the sentence of a witch allude to

another, dead either in or out of prison, as an accomplice,

thus rendering her memory infamous unless, indeed, there

are most vehement indicia. "Do., pp. 108-9. (TheoL Moral.,

ubi sup., nn. 60-2.)

Q. ix. Is the Eucharist to be given in prison to witches

about to die? I do not speak of those about tobe^

led to

execution, to whom, as with other convicts, the viaticum is

not to be refused, if repentant. If a woman strongly suspect

but not confessed, whether tortured or not, asks for the

Eucharist and confesses sacramentally, it cannot be refused.

This is common. It is so if she has confessed, under torture

or otherwise, and afterwards revoked. Nor is this annulled

by the custom in some tribunals that a confession is not

purged except by three tortures which is not conformable

to law. The sacraments are not to be refused to the dying

unless it is evident that they are in mortalsin,ând

a woman

who retracts a confession is not proved to be in mortal sin.

If a woman has confessed, or is convicted by the presumption

of the court, yet if she constantly denies to the confessor,

she is to be believed in the forum of conscience and is to have

absolution and to be fortified with the viaticum on the day

before execution; but if she publicly proclaims her innocence,

the sacrament is to be denied on account of scandal, for she

is publicly presumed to be lying, pertinacious and impenitent.

The same rules apply to burial in consecrated ground, if she

dies during trial without confessing or being sufficiently con-

victed, for the custom of denying sepulture to witches who

have received the sacrament is only applicable to those con-

demned or whose memory can be condemned after death,


since the memory cannot be condemned of those who havenot confessed or been sufficiently convicted. However

,the

custom is not to be reproved of refusing burial to a womanwho refused to confess but against whom there are indubitable

indicia, although the viaticum should not be refused after

sacramental confession, because the indicia of the external

forum are not to be transferred to the internal one. Anothermatter is that in carrying the sacrament to witches the bell

and the concourse of followers can be omitted yet it is not

to be done secretly, as though it were indecent and to bedone secretly. In the same way, burial should be quiet, butnot furtive, with only the principal and substantial cere-

monies of the ritual. So the kindred and friends can pray andoffer sacrifices, provided it does not appear that they died

impenitent. Ib., pp. 109-11. (Theol. Moral., ubi sup., nn.

62-4.)

Then follows (in the Tractatus) a corollary, omitted in the later editions,

probably because he found the case to be factitious. It illustrates the

stories that were in circulation. He says he takes it "ex eodem auctore,"

which must be Del Rio, though I cannot identify it. It says:

A midwife in sacramental confession confesses that she

had baptized forty children in the name of Zabulon, who were

presented to the parish priest without any other baptism.Some of these children died, others are alive but scattered

in various places, so that they can only be traced and their

insufficient baptism supplied, if the woman will betray her-

self to the magistrate and thus undergo execution. What is

the confessor to do? He answers that he should explain to

the woman the gravity of her sin and the spiritual injuryinflicted on the children; that she must renounce the devil

and, if after several instructions and catechising, he finds her

rightly disposed and ready to abstain for the future and to do

what the confessor shall require, he may absolve her. Then

subsequently he should urge upon her to give full satisfaction

for her sin and repair the injury by confessing to the magis-trate and undergoing the penalty; but, if he finds her unequalto this heroic act, he should not press it too strongly, lest hethrow her into despair and she fall again into the power of

the devil. Speculatively considered, however, it is most prob-able that the woman is held to betray herself to the magistrate,for the safety of the body is inferior to that of the soul.


Though, on the other hand, it may be argued that her pun-ishment would be certain, while the spiritual loss to the menis uncertain, for they may be saved by contrition. Ib., pp.111-2.

There follows a long passage intercalated in the later editions of the Theo-

logia Moralis after Q. v. The references are to the Theologia Moralis, 1. iii,

tract, vi, c. 5 unic., ed. Patavii, 1733 (T. I, pp. 475 ff.).

Q. vi. Whether public fame is a condition precedent in

witchcraft to special inquest on a person, arrest and torture.

This is the case in common law and seems to be indicated in

the Carolina, c. 6. But the common opinion is that it does not

apply to dangerous crimes like witchcraft, and this is to befollowed. Ib., n. 32.

Q. vii. What indicia are necessary for the judge to arrest

and torture in this crime of witchcraft? According to Fari-

nacci, in atrocious and pernicious and hidden crimes lighter

indicia are requisite on account of the difficulty of proof.

This doctrine and practice are not true, if indicia absolutely

light are held to suffice. In doubt, the benignant course is to

be followed and in atrocious crimes the greater infamy is

inflicted by arrest and torture. Ib., n. 33.

The doctors commonly say that it must be left to the dis-

cretion of the judge, but this is not to be interpreted that he

can proceed on any kind of indicia: they should be sufficient

to win the assent of a prudent person. Del Rio (1. v, sect. 3,

p. 703) requires strong indicia for the arrest (unless to prevent

flight), and very strong for torture. If in heresy the judgeshould not be moved by such indicia as the denunciation of

associates or adverse testimony unless they are such as to

lead hiTn to believe that the accused is guilty, still moreshould this be observed in witchcraft, for it is more liable to

deception and defames more the accused, though in Catholic

lands heresy is more dangerous to the public welfare. Ib.,

n. 34.

Q. viii. What conditions are required to render the denun-

ciations of those confessed sufficient for arrest and torture?

The doctors prescribe these conditions:

1. The judge should inquire generally of the one confessed

whether she had associates, and not specially about this or

that one, which is to suggest. So Carolina, c. 31, n. 1. Thus,if a judge asks a confessed witch whether she had as associate

Titia (who was otherwise suspect) and she says she has seen


her in the Sabbat, this is no indicium; it is a suggestion and

not legitimate evidence. Ib., n. 35.

2. The denunciation of an associate must be confirmed

under oath. Some doctors say this is unnecessary in places

where such is the custom, and even argue that witches should

not be made to swear for fear of perjury. But the oath is

essential. Ib., n. 36.

3. The associate who denounces must confirm it under

torture. This is the common opinion of the doctors, though

Binsfeld says in conspectu tormentorum suffices. As it is

favorable to the accused, it ought to be observed. Ib., n, 37.

4. The accused must be consistent and not variable in his

denunciation. If, when first questioned, he denies that he has

associates and afterwards accuses them, his denunciation is

not to be received. Ib., n. 37.

5. There must be no enmity between the denouncer and

the denounced. Ib., n. 38.

6. He should be closely questioned about the manner,

time, place and other circumstances of the association, so

that the judge can determine whether it is true or false.

Ib., n. 39.

7. As receiving the testimony of an associate is an excep-

tion to the general rule, it must be strictly construed and the

associate must not be an infamous person in other waysthan the crime confessed. Ib., n. 40.

Q. ix. Whether the judge is bound in conscience to inquire

of the convict about associates? Yes, for experience shows

that witches for the most part have associates and it is the

duty of the judge to exterminate as far as he can this crime

injurious to God and pernicious to man. But as witches,

especially women, are so unreliable and suffer so many defects

that faith is not to be placed in their denunciations, the judge

should not interrogate such, for there is nothing to be gained,

but rather the danger of injuring reputations. Ib., n. 41.

Q. x. Whether from the mere denunciation of two or five

or ten witches, without other support, the judge can arrest

and torture a person not suspect? To this the answer is:

(1) The sole denunciation of an associate is no legitimate

indicium, not only for arrest or torture, but not even for

inquest, if the person is of good repute. So teaches Tanner

ex communi. (2) The Carolina, c. 31, n. 4, requires that the

person accused should be such as to render him suspect.

Thus, if a witch denounces a person not suspect and the

ITS PROMOTEKS A2O> CRITICS 679

judge asks how she knows and she says she saw him two years

ago in the Sabbat, the judge must pay no attention to it until

other indicia occur against the party. Ib., n. 42.

(3) A third reason is that by the law of nature and of

nations an accuser is not believed unless he points out the

crime and in some way shows its likelihood , and a denuncia-

tion is akin to an accusation. So no faith is to be placed in a

simple denunciation unless accompanied by indicia enablingthe judge to frame an information to determine whether there

is just cause for arrest and prosecution. Otherwise any one

could damage the fame of another and involve him in risk.

Ibidem.I answer the second. If the denunciation is supported with

probable indicia it may sometimes justify inquest or even

arrest and torture at the discretion of a prudent judge.

Such indicium may be public fame, which would justify the

judge in a special inquest as to the cause of the fame and, if

well founded, lead to arrest and sometimes even to torture.

Or the associate may state intimacy with Titius and accom-

panying him to houses where injuries were done to men or to

church where irreverence was shown to the sacrament. Or a

subsequent associate may denounce the same person, so that

they are contestesss that on a certain day they stole a host

or were together in the Sabbat (which consensus is exceed-

ingly rare in these denunciations) it may sometimes suffice

for arrest and even for torture. It is a common doctrine that

denunciations are thus greatly strengthened by contestes. In

all this special attention must be given to the quality of the

parties. Whether the denouncers are men or women, for

less faith is to be given to the latter; whether they conspire

together, or have enmity. So whether the denounced is a

person of blameless life or of high position or a cleric. Ib.,

n. 43.

I answer the third. If the denunciations are of several

singular witches, not supported, they do not constitute an

indicium for arrest or torture. This is the opinion of manydoctors cited by Del Bio (1. v, app. ii, q. 1, concl. 2).

Del Rio held (1. v, sect. 3, ad torturam) that the denunciation of a single

associate sufficed for arrest and torture. Subsequently he abandons this

(app. ii, q. 1, concl. 1) in view of the array of opposing authorities, but he

proceeds to argue, in spite of those whom he cites, that the cumulative effect

of a number of denunciatory associates suffices to overbalance the worth-

lessness of their individual testimony (ib., litt. i). The importance of

this point can scarce be overestimated. It evidently was the one over

which the controversy raged.


Laymann proceeds to argue against Del Rio's conclusion

that two associates testifying, although singular, suffice for

arrest. This he says is not confirmed by any law or authority

of the doctors, but only by the custom of some tribunals, and

there are special difficulties in witch trials. In other excepted

crimes, as in heresy, the denunciations mostly include cir-

cumstances which enable the judge to verify them, but here

one deposes that she saw Titia in a Sabbat near Nordlingen

a year ago, another says two years and a different place, a

third says three or four years ago.

Yet Binsfeld argues that two or three similar denunciations suffice and

even one (De Confess. Malef., membr. ii, concl. 6, v. Tertio, p. 258, iPrimum,

p. 268) . All parties cite the can. In fidei fawrem of Alexander IV, which is

the crucial text on the subject. In favor of the faith, it allows in heresy

trials the testimony of excommunicates and associates in the absence of

other proof, "si ex verisimilibus conjecturis et ex numero testium aut per-

sonarum (tarn deponentium quam eorum contra quos deponitur) qualitate

ac aliis circumstantiis sic testificantes falsa non dicere praesumantur"

(c. 5, tit. ii in Sexto, lib. V) . One side alleges this to prove that the evidence

of accomplices and infamous persons is to be received, while Laymannassumes that it requires a number and tliat their evidence requires support.

Secondly, says Laymann, there is Carolina, c. 31, which

absolutely requires that the person denounced should be

defamed or suspect for the denunciation to have weight.

Thirdly, the mere report of a crime committed does not fur-

nish sufficient indicium for arrest or torture unless there are

concurrent indicia. In such case the judge's duty is to inquire

into the origin of the report and from whom and what proof

they have. If three, four or more witches denounce Caia as

seen in the Sabbat at different times and places, this is mere

fame and the judge cannot proceed to arrest and torture, if

she is of good repute and not otherwise suspect, as Tanner

proves, Disp. iv, q. 5, assert. 3. Ib., n. 44.

If, however, three or four persons persevere in denouncingone who, though not suspect of this crime, is defamed for

others leading to it, as adultery, sodomy, incest, blasphemy,

etc., it may not improbably be said that sometimes these

singular denunciations may justify arrest, provided the char-

acter of both parties lends verisimilitude to it. But it would

greatly promote the prosecution, if there were other indicia

tending to magic proved in court. But unless, besides the

denunciations of witches, there are other indicia, there

remains the difficulty that witches testifying as to presencein the Sabbat may be deceived, so that the indicium seems


insufficiently proved. Farinacci says (De Haeresi, q. 185, 8,

n. 152, p. 296) "Adverte tamen. quod vera non est, nee in

sancto general! Urbis universalisque Reipublicae Christianae

Inquisitionis Tribunal servatur propositio, quam facit Mar-tinus Del Rio ubi supra allegatus. Dum concludit indiciumoriri ad torturam ex depositione duarum sagamm seu lami-aram dicentium vidisse inquisitam vel inquisitum in conventuet congregatione aliannn sagarum, cum enim multoties noncorporaliter sed per illusionem daemonis in hoc conventu se

esse opinentur, et sic eorum assertio de visu possit esse falsa,

absurdum est dicere quod lamiae praedictae indicium faciant

ad torturam, cum ut suo loco dixi indicia ad torturam esse

debeant non aequivoca aut dubia sed eerta." Ib., n. 45.

Can the Roman Inquisition have been influenced by the Spanish as earlyas this?

There remains one objection to be removed to what I

have said. In a continuous crime singular denunciations seemcumulative when they assert its commission at successive

times and places.- Ib., n. 46.

To this I answer that, though it is true as a general propo-sition, it does not apply here. (1) For the denouncers are

vile persons not admissible as witnesses without supportingevidence. (2) As witches and associates of demons theyhave hatred of the human race. (3) Witches vary in then-

evidence and many of them before execution revoke every-

thing to those around them. (4) This crime is especiallyoccult and the judge is unable to form a conclusive judgmentof it. (5) There are illusions and deceptions of the devil

"quas leves, luridae et quandoque semifatuae mulieres pati

possunt", so that they seem to see those who are not pres-ent. Ib., n. 47.

Q. xi. How should the judges act respecting torture? The

practice is reprehensible of those judges who at once on arrest

subject to torture the prisoner, frightened and well-nigh des-

perate, when through desperation they are led to confess to

crimes which they have not committed, so that through death

they may escape from the infamy and misery to which theyare exposed. They should not be examined until they havea day or two to collect themselves, as Adam Tanner says,

Disp. iv, q. 5, dub. 3, n. 80. Ib., n. 48.

Again. The accused should not be subjected to torture

until after he has had opportunity for defence, which is of


natural right. Wherefore in all excepted crimes a copy of

the evidence should be submitted to him with ample time to

purge himself before torture is used. This is the common

opinion of the doctors, for man has a natural right of defence,

and Farinacci says that, if the accused is refused a copy of

the evidence, his subsequent confession under torture is of

no weight. Also an advocate cannot be refused, especially

to women and other illiterates who cannot defend them-

selves; but that according to custom is nowhere observed.

Ib., n. 49.

Thirdly. Torture ought not to be so severe that, consider-

ing the constitution of the accused, it is impossible to endure

and morally speaking compels confession, whether innocent

or guilty. I have said this above, n. 11, and this obtains in

excepted crimes the most atrocious, and cannot be abrogated

by the contrary custom of the judges. See also n. 10 about

repetition of torture, (These references are to a prior section

not devoted to witchcraft. H. C. L.) Ib., n. 50.

Fourthly. Confession is not to be accepted and recorded

during torture, but subsequently. So the Carolina, c. 58 (so!).

Fifthly, it is specially to be avoided that the accused shall

be forced to name accomplices by the fear or threat of torture,

for it is invalid. Wherefore the naming of associates should

be spontaneous and outside of torture and be confirmed

under torture when the next day before a notary and witnesses

it is to be ratified, as Farinacci and Bartolo say. Ib., n. 50.

Sixthly, it is a most certain principle that torture is only

to be used in defect of proof and one legitimately convicted

is not to be tortured. If torture is endured after conviction,

it purges the previous evidence, even if full proofs. Though a

milder punishment may be inflicted. Ib., n. 51.

Q. xii. Whether the accused can, on the multiplied testi-

mony of infamous persons, be condemned without confes-

sion? Binsfeld (De Confess. Malefic., membr. 2, concl. 7,

pp. 285-7) says yes. (Binsfeld does not say so positively. It

suffices for torture, but whether for condemnation is a dis-

puted question. Bodin is affirmative and the doctors incline

to this, but Binsfeld suggests a milder punishment in such

cases. H. C. L.) Del Rio says no (lib. v, sect. 5, n. 4), (but

admits that the majority of doctors say yes. H. C. L.).

In reply Laymann says: (1) That this multiplied testi-

mony may suffice, when supported by circumstances so as to

produce moral certitude, for condemnation in cases where it

ITS PEOMOTERS AND CEITICS 683

would be inexpedient to use torture because, if endured, the

accused would escape. Ib., n. 52.

(2) It may happen that the multiplied testimony is so

supported that the judge has a moral presumption of crime

committed and commerce with the devil, so that he can sen-

tence to an extraordinary penalty, such as perpetual prisonbut not if the person denounced is of good repute. But the

case of a person denounced and tortured once or twice with-

out confession; then other indicia come, but the accused seemsin such condition that he will not confess, yet if dischargedwill work much evil then he can be condemned to an extra-

ordinary penalty. (3) In witchcraft it is never allowable to

put the accused to death on the denunciations of the guilty,

however numerous for two reasons: one, that those whoconfess themselves witches are unworthy of belief on account

of their connection with the devil, to whose deceptions theyare liable, and on account of their hostility to the humanrace, enmity disabling a witness in criminal matters. Theother reason is that experience shows that the evidence of

witches, while concurrent as to the person, always vary as to

details and circumstances. Consequently they cannot pro-duce a certainty clearer than the noon-day light, which is

requisite for condemnation to death. Ib., n. 53.

Q. xiii. Whether it seems more expedient in witchcraft

cases to proceed cautiously and not to make special inquest

and arrest unless it appears clearly that public indicia justify

it, or whether, considering the enormity and perniciousnessof the crime, that dubious cases be prosecuted? This is dis-

puted among the doctors. There are peculiar difficulties in

witchcraft cases and very few decrees concerning them in the

laws. Thence there are differences of practice hi the tribunals

and discrepancies of opinion among both theologians and

jurists. Some hold and others deny that denunciations

unconfirmed by oath or torture and even when elicited byspecial questions of the judges, are entitled to full faith. There

are doctors who teach that the denunciations of two or three

witches, although singular, suffice for arrest and torture and

even for condemnation. Others hold that a thousand singular

witnesses count for no more than one and do not support each

other. Others again distinguish whether singular witnesses

are supported by other indicia which render the denunciation

probable, or whether they are unsupported and insufficient

for the arrest of a person of good repute. The question there-


fore Is whether It Is better to follow the severe opinion of

some doctors, or of the others who require more proof, and

that it Is necessary to consider not the number but the char-

acter of denouncers and denounced, so that the arrest and

prosecution can be conducted safely. Ib., n. 54.

The argument for severity is: (1) This is an excepted

crime and committed in secret, in which the prescriptions of

kw are not to be observed and lighter proofs suffice for arrest

and torture. (2) It is a crime most pernicious to society;

witches commit majestatis divinae laesio, are violators of the

sacraments and contemners of Christ, the saints and Inno-

cent men; from which they cause immense evils to the Repub-

lic. The crime constantly spreads, for they seek to have ac-

complices and they draw in especially children, servants and

familiars. (3) There should be no doubt felt as to the truth

of the denunciations, although singular and unsupported,

though indeed arrest should not be made unless there are

several of the same person and mostly confirmed by the death

of the denouncers, for it is not to be supposed that any one

at the supreme moment will place his soul in danger of God's

judgment. Besides, some advise judges never to examine

about accomplices except those who have confessed^

and are

repentant. (4) It is greatly to the benefit of the witches to

prosecute them, so that they may expiate their sins in bodily

punishment and their souls be freed from servitude to the

demon and from eternal torment. Ib., n. 55.

The argument for benignity is: (1) The imperial laws and

the Carolina agree that no faith is to be placed in denunci-

ations by criminals unless the infamy of the accused and other

indicia concur and caution be used In the examination as to

accomplices. Wherefore it cannot be denied that the judge

not only sorely wounds his conscience but risks syndicating

and the loss of reputation and even of life when he follows

the customs of other countries, not those of the Carolina, bywhich he is bound. In such case not only the kindred but

any one can accuse him to the supreme magistrate, for every

one is held to have interest that an innocent neighbor shall

not be put to death. (2) If the severer opinion of the doc-

tors and practice of the judges Is followed, it is a necessary

consequence that the innocent as well as the guilty will be

condemned. Even Del Rio (1. v, sect. 5, n. 4) says that it is

better that ten guilty escape than that one innocent be con-

demned. Now, if reckless and malignant women, perturbed

US PEOMOTBRS ANB CRITICS 685

in examination, are urged to name their accomplices and the

persons denounced, without regard to their good or bad repute,are seized and subjected twice or thrice to the severest torture

and long detained in squalid prison, does it not seem that

such persons, especially weak women, would choose rather to

die than be exposed to such suffering? It is sufficiently

proved that not a few innocent persons have thus been ad-

judged to death. See Tanner. But they say that God will

not permit the innocent to be prosecuted, or, if he does, their

innocence will be made plain. So Binsfeld, "Negandum nonest Deum posse pennittere lit innocens accusetur in hoc

crimine, sicut in aliis ad bonum aliquem finem. . . . Tan-dem tamen innocentia manifestabitur, ut supra sacris literis

et exemplis declaration est'7

(De Confess. Malef., membr. 2;

p. 324, Solutio Argumentorum) . But we have no such promisefrom God, and Scripture shows that he often permits the

innocent to be put to death; and the judge must act accordingto the nature of things and not according to some extra-

ordinary interposition of God, but so conduct prosecutionsthat morally there may be no danger of condemning the

innocent. (3) From the frequent and careless prosecutionof witches arise great injuries to the Republic. Besides the

danger of oppressing the innocent, there occur the disgraceof families, the horror and grief of respectable matrons and

virgins lest they be involved in the danger with those whomthey have regarded as innocent and worthy; the perturbation,

suspicions and fears of the people lest they are living amongwitches who may harm them; the horror of neighboring popu-lations who dread to deal with places suspect of the infection,

to send their children there or to marry their daughters there.

In some places, where a few denunciations lead to prosecu-

tion, things have reached a pass which, if continued, will

destroy districts, towns and cities, so that even respectable

persons and dignitaries, clerics and priests are involved, with

great disgrace to the Church and perturbation of the peopleand complaints that the magistrates are destroying the inno-

cent for all which see Adam Tanner. (4) On the one hand,it is urged that the severer opinion is not always obligatory,

but is useful to the public under certain circumstances. Butas the crime of magic and commerce with the devil are hidden

and mostly destitute of proof and the denunciations of aban-

doned women are of little weight and there are other diffi-

culties on account of the frauds of the devil and the incon-


stancy of women prisoners, therefore the judges, especially

in Germany where the Carolina is in force, are excusable if

they do not make arrests without sufficient proof obliging

them to it. Otherwise it will be difficult to find suitable and

experienced men to undertake the duty, when_

it is well

known that many who have undertaken it have resigned, say-

Ing that they would rather have any other respectable occu-

pation than to be involved in the cases a&d dangers incident

to this. On the other hand is the more imperative command,"Thou shalt not kill the innocent.

3 '

If there is danger that

the one denounced is really a witch and injury is inflicted on

God and the saints and men if he is not arrested and tortured

on the other hand, is the danger of putting the innocent

to death, and this is the greater and more binding. Christ

ordered that the tares be left, lest the wheat should be pulled

up, and the magistrate cannot be blamed, provided he is

ready to inquire and punish whenever there is legitimate

evidence, and otherwise to leave the matter to God, who

knows best for what purpose he permits the existence of

witchcraft and of other most wicked crimes among men.

Ib., n. 56.

These urgent reasons seem to show that in the Roman

Empire the judge should moderate his zeal and follow the

Carolina or those requisites enumerated above from the more

benignant and securer opinion. At the same time he should

not forget the duty of his office and the natural obligation to

suppress such crimes, injurious to God and the saints and

pernicious to men, and whenever there are indicia of witch-

craft among the people to investigate and, if legitimate evi-

dence appear, to make special inquest and proceed to arrest

and torture. Ib., n. 57.

Although in witchcraft, as an excepted crime, the forms

prescribed by positive law are not to be followed in every-

thing, yet right and natural equity are to be maintained

according to which the citizen is not to be arrested without

sufficient indicia that crime has been committed, for in doubt

the more benignant course is to be followed and the presump-tion is rather in favor of innocence. The judge as a public

person is not to obey his own impulses and views, but what

is ordered by the magistrate, from whom he has received his

powers, in the public laws. The denunciation by a criminal

confirmed by death has no more force than one confirmed by

oath, and the accuser, even under oath, is not to be believed


unless lie brings indicia or presumptions to support it. Otter-

wise the vilest men could bring the innocent to peril of infamyand death by swearing to falsehoods. Moreover, very often

women condemned for witchcraft, at the place of execution

revoke their confessions and denunciations. These are either

to be believed or not. If not, then the axiom fails which saysthat faith is to be given to the assertion of men in extremis

about important matters. If so, then why do not judgesabsolve the woman and those whom she has named? Then,if judges believe the revocations of denunciations which, when

made, might well be doubted, should faith be given to the

denunciations of other women which are not revoked, whenevil men are more prone to adhere to falsehoods than to

revoke them and confess changeableness?As to confession and repentance preceding examination of

witches about associates, this is of great importance and is

recommended by Binsfeld in 1. iii, concl. 6 (I cannot verifyit H. C. L.) and Tanner, but is not usually observed byjudges. But it cannot properly be observed, because the de-

nunciation of associates should be confirmed by torture, andit is not decent or customary to torture after sentence andconclusion of the judgment. But some judges, after sentence

and sacramental confession, are accustomed to interrogatethem about the accomplices named; but it is difficult for light

women to revoke what they have said, especially if in con-

sequence they must be again tortured. Moreover, such de-

nunciations, unless otherwise supported, do not confirm the

previous ones, partly because the judge cannot tell whether

confession and repentance have really preceded them or not

and the judge must look to the laws and not to the confes-

sional, and partly because the illusions and deceptions of the

devil are not wholly removed by confession. The judgerenders a service most grateful to God, if with zeal for souls

and for religion he inquires into and punishes the wickedness

of witches but according to law and natural equity. Evenas the judge proceeds against the obstinate heretic and putshim to death, regardless of his eternal damnation, so he can

and often must permit the evil of wicked men and their dam-

nation, if their crimes are so obscure and difficult of proofthat he cannot proceed according to law and without dangerto the innocent. Ib., n. 58.

Note how much more emphatic he is as to the injustice of the witch-

trials in 1634 than he was in 1625 or 1630.


[But harsher toward the witches than Laymann's Theologia Moralis at

its harshest is a little handbook for their trial Tractatus novus de Processu

Juridico amira Sagas et Vemficos which appeared in 1629, the same year

as the Diversi Tractatus in which Mr. Lea finds the extract from Lay-inann's Theologia (Tractatus theologians de Sagis et Venefiris), but which

he does not mention, though its title-page bears Layrnann's name and

though he possessed a copy. His silence is doubtless because he does not

believe it Laymann's a doubt well warranted by its divergent teaching

and by its citation of Laymairn as if a stranger. But, both in his day and

ours, it has been ascribed to Laymann, and by scholars so careful as

Biezler, the Bavarian historian of the witch trial.

It was Father Duhr, the historian of the German Jesuits, wbo first

(in the Zeitschrift fur katholische Theologie, xxui-xxv, xxix1899-1901,

1905) brought more convincing disproof. He pointed out that of the

Tractatus de Processu Juridico, which is in German, though it claims to

be a translation, no Lathi form has ever been found, and that the Asehaf-

fenburg publisher Quirin Botzer (whose impression must be earlier than the

Cologne one of the same year because he dedicates it to his city's council

as a New Year's gift) uses such phrasing as to its additions to Laymann'swork as might cover almost any corruption. He finds, too, in the city

library of Mainz another copy of this book, with imprint of the same year,

whose title-page calls it a "Posterior et Correctior Editio" and which

omits the name of La.yrnfl.im from both title-page and dedication, thoughit too calls itself a New Year's gift and dates its dedication on 1 Jan.

1629. Buhr has noticed, too, as perhaps did Mr. Lea, that the entire

text of this Processus Juridicus is reprinted word for word in a book

published early in the next year at Rinteln on the Weser by a jurist

of that town's university, Hermann Goehausen, whose title, Processus

Juridicus contra Sagas et Veneficos, das ist EecMLicher Process , etc., is the

same as that of the Aschaffenburg tractate (or, rather, its Cologne reprint's,

which leaves off the words "Tractatus novus"). To this German text

Goehausen adds, however, at the end of each "Titulus," "Notae" and

"Conclusions" in Latin and appends to the whole, with a separate title-

page, twenty Decisiones of "questions to this matter pertaining/7 The

authorship of his German text Goehausen ascribes to nobody not to

Laymarm, though he cites him often and with high approval, and thoughhis own relationship to the book is described on the main title-page by"edidit et recensuit," whereas the separate title-page of the Decisiones has

"auctore Herman. Goehausen." (For Mr. Lea on Goehausen see p. 811-

13.) But in 1900 Dr. Binz, the biographer of Weyer, pointed out in

the Hist. Zeitschrift, Ixxxv -that the Cologne historian Hartzheim in

Ms Bibliotheca Coloniensis (1747) ascribes the compiling of the Processus

Juridicus to Dr. Jordanaeus, canon and parish priest at Bonn, the Prince-

Bishop's place of residence, "tacito nomine," but "jussu serenissimi Prin-

cipis ArcM-Episcopi." Yet this ascription, accepted by Duhr and most later

bibliographers, needs reconciling with the words of Jordanaeus himself in the

one book else known from his pen, a Disputatio de Proba Stigmatica (1630)

refuting the Commentarius Juridicus on stigmata (1629) of the Cologne

professor Ostermann. Qstermann had defended the searching of witches

for the devil's mark and had quoted as his latest supporter Father Lay-mann "in processu Juridico contra sagas"; to which Jordanaeus replied

(p. 46) that Laymann, "if rightly weighed" (si rede consideretur) , is on his

ITS PROMOTERS AND CBITICS 689

own side, "though he wonders that this question is not explicitly discussed

by him." This, if the book quoted as Laymann's was Ms own, is puzz-ling as is Goehausen's use of it.

But the genuine tractate of Laymann the extract from his TheologiaMoralis which Mr. Lea used in the Diversi Tractatus of 1629 was in that

year repeatedly printed by itself, both in Latin and in German translation.In Wiirzburg it appeared as Aurea emwleatio de modo ac forma . . .

procede-ndi contra sagas (listed by Graesse in his BiUiotheca Magica} and as

Disquisitio de modo et forma . . . procedendi contra sagas (listed by thebookseller Heberle at Cologne as No. 629 of his Cat. 74) ;

and their editor,one Wolfgang Schilling, Registrator of the Cathedral Chapter there, broughtout in German a little pocket edition. All correctly described themselvesas taken from Laymann's Theologia Moralis; but at Asehaffenburg the clever

Quirin Botzer, who reprinted the Aurea enude-atio, saved the face of his

Traciatus novus by making this ascription read: "Ex eruditissimo Tractatuet Theologia Morali Laymannica" (see Duhr in Z&itschrift fur katholische

Theologie, xxiii 1899).It was in February, 1629, according to Ennen (Geschichte der Stadt Koln,

v, pp. 749-802), that the Prince-Archbishop, impatient with the city'sslowness in the crusade against witches, "sent to Cologne several envoysto confer with the town council as to the most effective procedure againstthe horrible witchcraft vice.

7 '

B.]

NATJDE, GABRIEL. Apologie powr les Grands Hommes soup-gonnez de Magie. Paris, 1625.

In this book Naude* did his share in combating the vulgar superstitionsof his day, and his book had considerable vogue, the first edition appearingin Paris in 1625, followed by one at the Hague in 1653 and a third at

Amsterdam in 1712. While he does not condescend to treat directly of

witchcraft, he expresses his opinion of it in passing.

"On dbite encore aujourd'hui qu'il (le diable) preside auxassemblies de cette miserable canaille qui lui sacrifie sous la

representation d'un bouc le plus hideux qui se puisse ren-

contrer" (c. 2).

Still, though he treats the stories compiled by Nider andthe Malleus Maleficarum as doubtful, and Bodin as careless

and uncritical, he says that the latter and "Weyer are the twoextremes between which we should take the middle path to

judge of the truth of these things (c. 7).

He does not propose to call in question the existence of

incubi and succubi, but only that such unions can be fruitful;

he cites without questioning, as a portion of his argument, the

confessions of witches concerning them (c. 16).

He quotes, for the purpose of refutation, Le Loyer's deri-

vation of the Sabbat from the DIonysiaca, originally attrib-

uted to Orpheus, where Bacchus held the place now occupied

by the devil in the Sabbat, all the customs in which are byLe Loyer drawn from those of the Orpheotelestes (c. 9),

VOL. IT 44

69Q THE DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

Pierre Le Loyer was a man of learning, a "Conseiiler au siege pi&ldial

d*Angers." Fis book is "Quatre livres des Spectres, on Apparitions et

Visions d'Esprits, Anges et D&nons se monstrans sensiblement aux Hom-

ines." Angers, 1585 [1586?], Paris, 1605, 1608 (Grasse, p. 82). It is worth

alluding to in view of its date and the position of the author.

Naud6's book no doubt did good in spite of its diffuseness and perpetual

divagations, apparently due to Ms invincible desire to display his uncom-

monly wide reading.

[ANQWSMOKS.]-~Malleus Judicum, das ist Gesetz-Hammer der

uribarmherzigen Hexenrichter, . . . von etlichen Christ-

lichen Mdstern geschmiedet: und jetzo durch einen barmhertz-

igen Catholischen Christen auffs neue bestielet.

Written after 1626, see below. Grasse, p. 32, gives this as issued without

date or place. Reprinted in Reiche's Unterschiedliche Schrifften von

Unfug des Hexen-Processes (Halle, 1703), to which the following page

references refer.

It begins by drawing a distinction between the venefici or

poison- and murder-sorcerers and the common infatuated

witches. For the first the command of Moses (Exod. xxii)

is unquestionable. For the latter, the following chapters will

show what should be done according to natural, secular and

spiritual law. Reiche, p. 2.

The first question is whether witches can affect the weather.

To this the answer is that it is a grave sin to ascribe God's

work to powerless man. Biblical passages are accumulated

to show that it is God who sends rain and hail, tempest and

lightning and drought. It is pointed out that in drought

they cannot save their fields by getting a drop of rain, nor in

war prevent the ravages of the enemy. What, it is asked, did

the Muscovite gain a few years ago when he assembled all

his witches to resist the Poles and Swedes? (Probably refers

to Gustavus Adolphus' campaigns against Poland, 1621-9.

H. C. L.) If it be asked why then in 1626 they confessed

that they destroyed all the vintage and fruits in Franken-

land by two nights' frost, which is the chief cause why they

are today prosecuted, the answer is why then the astrologers

could in previous years have predicted it from natural causes.

The devil, as skilled in nature, can foresee storms (though he

sometimes mistakes) and he tells them to boil hog's bristles

in a pot, or to take sand out of a brook and scatter it, and

then it rains or thunders or hails but nothing happens save

through nature by God's orders. If the season is wet or dryor there is scarcity through frost or other calamity, it is these

poor folk that have done it, Ib.? pp. 25,


The next Is on their sickening and killing men and cattle.

The witch cannot do this with thoughts, wishes, words or

gestures, but by poison or instruments or smearing with oint-

ment ,or other natural means. They can be lamed or killed

by stretching the skin and thrusting in a slender sharp-

pointed instrument so that the wound cannot be seen. In

1564 at Tubingen an executioner who had learned much in

torturing witches used to kill with a powerful poison oxen,

cows, sheep, and swine, whereby the hides and pelts, the

tallow and lard fell to Mm, which he sold in Augsburg and

Strassburg and became speedily rich. He confessed to it in

prison and in August he was torn with hot pincers. Goes on

to treat of the abstraction of milk. What the witches confess

under torture about killing children by looking at or touch-

ing them must be regarded as impossible and extorted bysuffering. Such poison in their eyes and breath would kill

them, for the devil cannot perform such a miracle as to pre-

serve them from it. That such things as needles, nails, yarn,

bristles, etc., can come out of the body or be cut out of the

skin is not true; it is an illusion of the devil to strengthen

men in superstition. Not long since, in 1625, in Coburg a

half-grown boy passed through the urethra many things,

such as pieces of wood, stones, etc., until a large mass of

them was collected. This was nothing but devil's illusion

to bring innocent people to the scaffold, for the boy passed

without pain things three fingers broad and very long and

thick and heavy- He who cannot see this tramples truth

under foot. Ib., pp. 6-8.

Discusses the transformation into cats, dogs, wolves, etc.

Quotes the Can. Episcopi to show that belief in this is heresy,

showing belief in the devil and not in God and ascribing to

him the power of God. It is evident illusion and melancholia

(insanity) when people think this of themselves and Satan

rejoices to find such and to strengthen the people in their

superstition. Enumerates the wild fancies of the insane.

Ib., pp. 8-12.

Discusses flying to the Sabbat on brooms, forks, sticks,

etc. It is not to be denied that the devil can transport

through the air. Quotes the temptation of Christ, the flight

of Simon Magus, and the devil's carrying Faust after supper

from Meissen to Salzburg, where in the bishop's cellar they

drank his wine. But he rarely carries witches from one place

to another, but deludes them through illusion in dreams. If


you ask why her ointment and fork are always found and are

burnt with her, the answer is that she prepares the ointment

as he instructs her, mostly out of somniferous herbs, and

smears herself and her broom or fork, falls into deep sleep

and dreams that she flies hither and thither with others, some

of whom she knows, eats, drinks, talks, jests, dances, has

sexual intercourse and admits it when tortured. This weknow by experience and may know it every day. Yet the

writer is amply credulous he tells the story from the Mall.

Malef. of the woodcutter near Strassburg attacked by three

cats whom he wounded and drove off; that same hour in the

city three ladies of quality were wounded in their houses bythe woodman, the explanation being that the devil in the

shape of the woodman had wounded the ladies. Also two

nobles in the court of Maximilian of whom one had sworn

the other's death. The latter was found stabbed to death

in his bed, at the head of which was hanging the bloodysword of the other in its sheath. Accused of the murder, he

proved that he had not been out of his house that night, but

he said he had dreamed that he killed his enemy. The

explanation is that none other but the devil did it. It is

against all reason and nature that a grown person can slip

through a smoke-hole so narrow that it will scarce admit a

fist. But you say that witches are seen and recognized in

the dance; the answer is that no living being is seen, but

spectres through which many innocent people are put to death.

At L., in Westphalia, many witches were burnt to no benefit,

for they only increased. A daring fellow went to the place

of the Sabbat and noted the women seen there, among whomwas the wife of the judge. The judge desired to see for him-

self and arranged to go with him on a certain night. Heinvited some guests, left them at the table with his wife,

hurried to the Sabbat, saw her there, came back, found her

with his friends, who assured him that she had not been

absent. After putting to death so many witches he learned

that it was all a deceit of the devil. Two other stories in

which the demon personates persons to get them condemnedso it happens that an innocent woman who is at home is

seen in her neighbor's stable milking the cows. Ib., pp. 12-16.

As to incubi and succubi, he holds it to be illusion. But he

goes on to tell stories how the devil animates dead bodies,

taken from the gallows, and he may do so to satisfy the lust

of those who want it. That pregnancy can occur in that


manner he explains at some length to be impossible. Intelli-

gent men have written that such amours are mere dreams, or

spectres, or disease. -Ib., pp. 16-18.

Describes the pact with the demon attributed to witches

adopting him as God, adoring him and obeying him and work-

ing the evil he prescribes, renouncing God and Christ and

baptism and his impressing a mark on them. Apparentlyhe does not dispute this, but argues that misery producesmental aberration rendering them easily deceived by the

devil, and that they are irresponsible in this condition, andcannot bind themselves, and they should not be punished for

what they have been driven into by deceit, force, fear, error

and ignorance. He draws a distinction between ignorantwitches beguiled in their despair by the devil and the sor-

cerers who study their art from books and use ceremonies

and conjurations to evoke him, who carry around demons in

rings and crystals and devote themselves to Mm, body and

soul. Witches do nothing of this, for almost all of them at

execution call upon the eternal God, implore his mercy, call

on him to witness their innocence and summon their blood-

thirsty judges to meet them at the Day of Judgment. WhenGod, the highest and most righteous judge, receives into his

mercy the souls of these poor penitents, why, O judge, do

you treat so mercilessly your brethren and sisters? Did not

Peter thrice forswear Christ and was he not forgiven, and

cannot a poor, weak, misled and deceived sinner who has

wrought no evil be left to the mercy of God? The Jews

deny Christ and revile him, but the authorities cherish and

protect them. Besides, the devil never keeps his promisesthe money he gives them turns to dung or stones and whenone side breaks a contract the other is released. Ib., pp.

20-25.

He then turns to the Hexen-Richter and their proceedings,

which he pronounces corrupt and unrighteous at every stage.

When a witch confesses and says she has seen such and such

persons at the Sabbat, all these poor people are at once im-

prisoned as closely as though the heavens would fall if they

got out. After pointing out that criminals are not lawful

witnesses and comparing the eagerness to prosecute for witch-

craft with the laxity shown in other crimes, he addresses the

judges: "But in witchcraft the evil spirit makes you as rest-

less as Saul; the giddy spirit drives you so that your feet are

swift to evil and hasten to shed blood, your thoughts are for


trouble and your way Is corruption and mischief, you know

not the way of peace and there is no justice in your walk;you are perverted in your ways and with you force goes before

justice" (p. 27). He eloquently describes the misery of the

innocent thus cast into prison without investigation as to

their guilt, perhaps to be discharged ruined and crippled bytorture, or executed to secure silence; whole families civilly

dead and orphans that had better never have been born

(pp. 27-8).4il ask you, judges, If, as often happens, a witch

accuses you and yours, will you then imprison yourselves and

yours as you did her? You will be ready enough with the

answer that Charles V's Criminalis Const!tutio requires noaction on such confession; there must first be investigationto find its truth" (p. 28).

The cruelty of this is aggravated by the miseries of the

prisons, where they are confined in dark, narrow, undergroundholes, where there is no distinction between day and night,where they lie in their own filth, are devoured by vermin, are

imperfectly fed, are exposed to such cold that their feet

freeze and, if they are discharged, are crippled for life, and are

ill-treated, ridiculed and abused by the gaolers and their

servants. In some of them are stocks confining arms and legsso that the prisoner cannot move; or large crosses of wood or

iron to which he is fastened by the neck, back, arms and legs;

or long iron rods, chained at the middle to the wall, with iron

bands at the ends in which the hands are fastened, and some-times to this are added heavy iron weights attached to the

feet. Sometimes the cells are so small that a man can neither

stand, sit, nor lie down. In some there are deep pits withcells in which the prisoners are put and abandoned. Ib.,

p. 29.

In such places they are often kept so long that those whoenter strong and intelligent become weakened in mind and

body and half insane. Then the devil brings them such

frightful visions and fancies that in despair or insanity theytake their own lives. Or he seduces them by promises tprelease them, so that those who had never done so now givethemselves to him. Who can tell all the miseries of such

imprisonment? ye unjust judges! God sees and hears all

this and records it and to him will ye answer for thus drivinghis creatures into hell. (This is a long and earnest adjura-tion, which I condense. H. C. L.) Ib., pp. 30-1.

Then follows an equally eloquent address on the abuse of


torture, which is the mother of lies, by which the innocent

are bodily injured and many before they are found guiltyare put to death tortured today and tomorrow dead. Youcrush the fingers, the arms and the legs with steel screws and

boots, you twist iron bands around the head, you break andtear the limbs asunder, you cut and burn with torch and

pitch and oil and with red-hot irons and your cruelties are

intensified by the cruel executioners; it would be better if

you would make those devils suffer the same and learn whatman can endure. Ib., pp. 31-2.

Still more abominable is it that when you have those

(whom you mockingly call your birds that must sing at your

pleasure) who will not for any torture confess what you wantas to themselves and others, you turn to the devil and his

arts to rob them of their senses; the executioner gives thema draught or puts on them prepared clothes, so that theybecome senseless and assent to all that you wish. Again, theyshave and singe with a torch the hair, not only of the head

and armpits but of the secrets, as if the devil lay in the hair

and they would expel him. This is not human but devilish

a gross and shameful sorcery. Thus you judges are sorcerers

greater and surer sorcerers and more justly to be tortured

than those whom you torture. Ib., pp. 32-3.

Again, it is not a small piece of cruel tyranny and haste to

shed blood that before the prisoners are brought from the

prison to the court you definitely and irrevocably condemn

them and only allow them to hear the simple sentence, with-

out seeing whether they will revoke, wholly or partly, the

confession wrung by torture or have anything to allege in

their favor. Whether found guilty by confession or other-

wise, each article should be read to them and they be allowed

to answer in person or through another. Through openaccusation and answer guilt or innocence is best discovered.

It was thus the Jews and the heathen and the ancient Chris-

tians rendered judgment, and thus the civil and military

authorities proceed, so that no one can accuse them of injus-

tice. Ib., pp. 33-4

He then proceeds to prove that witches are not to be putto death. He argues away the text Exod. xxii, because it

speaks of Zauberin and not of Hexe. The witch rides on

brooms, etc., to drink, eat and for Buhlschaft there was

nothing of this in the time of Moses; besides, the law fell into

desuetude among the Hebrews. Unless she commits murder


she should only be banished, if she will not repent and reform.

Paul did not wish the death of Elymas the sorcerer (Acts

xiii, 8-11) nor Peter of Simon Magus. Why do not the judges

put to death adulterers, false witnesses, diviners, crystal-

gazers, observers of days, sabbath-breakers, etc., who are

condemned by God? It follows that witches should not be

put to death, against whom there is no special command of

God. On the other hand, he gives long argument against the

hanging of thieves (not prescribed in Scripture) especially

as the judges keep the theft and do not restore it to the

owner and the corpse is often left hanging to be devoured

by birds until it drops. The law of man thus replaces the

law of God, and it is irrational to quote it against witches.

If you ask whether witches are to be left undisturbed in their

sinful ways, I answer no;but they should be converted and

brought to the right that is more praiseworthy, more useful

and better than to burn them. It is more laudable to makeone or two men pious than to reduce twenty to ashes, andthose who will not be converted should be driven from the

land. Ib., pp. 35-41.

He closes with a section to show how existing and future sorcery is to be

destroyed. Of this I give only the abstract at the head, which is probably

by the editor, Eeiche.

This is not to be brought about by persecuting witches but

converting them. The prevention is: (1) by the appointmentof wise and pious magistrates; (2) the eradication of idolatryand superstition; (3) this is to be done by bringing to its

proper uses the wealth bestowed on churches and cloisters

and religious foundations; (4) attracting adults to the Churchand teaching the young; (5) close watch by the magistratesover shameless, wanton and idolatrous people and suppressionof idleness and of revelling, banqueting and all godless assem-

blages; (6) eradication of gypsies and of wise men and women.With this, he concludes, will not only witchcraft and all

sorcery disappear, but also all superstition, error, shame andsin. Without it, hunting, seizing, imprisoning, torturing and

burning are in vain. Ib., pp. 42-7.

There is a rude and hearty eloquence about the writer that is sincere

and captivating; he is well versed in Scripture, shows considerable acquain-tance with jurisprudence and the fathers evidently a man of education

and training, though his logic is sometimes amusing.

ITS PROMOTERS ANB CRITICS 697

SPEE, FRIEBRICH VON, S. J. Cautio Criminalis, sen de

Processibus contra Sagas. Aug. VindeL, 1731.

Spee's book had repeated editions: (1) Rinteln, 1631; (2) Colon, et

Frankft., 1632; (3) Solesbacl, 1696; (4) Aug. VindeL, 1731. French transla-

tion by F. B. de Viliedor, 1660; German transktion by Hermann Schmidt,

Frankfort, 1649; [Dutch translation, 1657; also a Polish translation].

Spee officiated as confessor In Wilrzburg during the fierce

witch-craze under Bishop Philipp Adolf, and thus had full

opportunity of learning the cruelty of the procedure. He left

there in the first half of 1629 apparently during a lull, before

the recrudescence of the persecution. Leitsehuh, Beitrage zur

Geschichte des Hexenwesens in Franken (1883), p. 19.

Spee not only comforted the accused; but those who were

suspect sought his aid and advice. This irritated the judges

bitterly, and, if they had known what he thought of their

procedure, he would certainly have been burnt. His position

was such as to cast suspicion on him, but they were unable

to act, owing to the protection of the bishop. Still they soughtto lay snares for him and a peculiar event favored their plans

to have him summoned away. A pious woman came to himfor advice, as she was suspected of sorcery. He comforted

her, but she was soon arrested and sentenced. The priest

who accompanied her to the stake was convinced of her inno-

cence and reproached the judge, who replied that she would

not have been convicted, had she not had a conference with

Father Spee. How this worked on Spee I cannot picture to

myself. Ib., p. 19.

Leibnitz, who was in intimate correspondence with Philipp

von Schonborn (bishop of Wiirzburg, 1642, and of Mainz,

1647), relates that, when the young Philip asked Spee why his

hair had turned white before its time, Spee replied that it

was caused by the witches whom he accompanied to the stake

and explained that he had not discovered in a single one

anything to convince him that she was justly condemned.

They had in their confession, out of fear of greater torture,

confessed what was required. But when they recognized

that they had nothing to fear from the confessor, they had

with heartrending despair deplored the ignorance or wicked-

ness of the judges and in their last necessity called on God to

witness their innocence. This had so shattered his nerves

that he became gray before his time. Ib., p. 23-4.

The Cautio Criminalis begins by asking whether witches

exist. The conclusion of perplexing thoughts is "id omnino


tenendum existinio revera in mundo maleficos aliquos esse,

nee id sine temeritate ac praeposteri judicii nota negari posse."

But that there are so many, including ail who have been

reduced to ashes, "neque credo vel ego vel multi quoquemecum pii viri." -Cautio CriminaHs, dubium i.

Whether there are more in Germany than elsewhere? It

seems so and is believed, because (1) all Germany smokes

everywhere with fires which obscure the light and is therefore

no little discredited among our enemies. This arises from

ignorance and superstition, for in Germany more than else-

where all unusual misfortunes tempests and pestilence

are at once attributed to witchcraft and I know no magistrate

in Germany who restrains the talk and suspicions that lead

to this. (2) There is the envy and malevolence of the people.

Elsewhere it is conceded that some persons are more favored

by fortune than others, but here it is attributed to magicand suspicions are aroused, especially if they are particularly

given to religious observances. I do not deny that there are

witches in Germany, but in such a multitude of victims manyare innocent and there is nothing so uncertain as to number

the guilty in Germany. Ib., dub. iL

What is the crime of witches? I answer most enormous

and atrocious; for it combines all most enormous crimes-

apostasy, heresy, sacrilege, blasphemy, homicide and even

parricide and unnatural intercourse with spirits and hatred

of God. Ib., dub. iii.

Is this therefore an excepted crime? I answer yes. Ib.,

dub. iv.

Is it therefore lawful to proceed arbitrarily against excepted

crimes? I answer no. Some of the safeguards of the law

may be withdrawn, but not all. Some judges in proceeding

against witches, if the proofs are futile, if torture is excessive,

if they are too credulous, if they deny defence and the like,

say it is crimen exceptum. In excepted crimes that is not licit

which is contrary to right reason. -Ib., dub. v.

Do the German Princes do right in proceeding severely

against witches? The reasons alleged are; (1) They say they

purge the Republic of a great pest which creeps like a cancer

and spreads infection. (2) They prevent the losses and

slaughter which these slaves of the devil work without cessa-

tion. (3) They satisfy their duty. (4) They show their

zeal, according to Scripture "Nemaleficos viverepatiantur."

Ib., dub. vi.


Can the evil be extirpated by milder measures? Howevermuch the Princes may burn, they cannot burn it out; theydevastate their lands more than any war and gain nothing;It is a thing to cause tears of blood. Refers to Tanner. Areligious friend of mine has devised a method on which hewould stake Ms life, but he will not reveal it but to those

anxious to learn. "Res est facilis et expedita, minima et

magna, nota omnibus., omnibus ignota." Ib., dub. vii.

How cautiously should Princes proceed in this crime?

Because it is excepted, greater caution is necessary than in

others: (1) Because it is most hidden and is performed at

night for the most part. (2) We see proceedings continued

for years and the number of condemned increase until whole

districts are consumed, with no result but to fill whole books

with the names of others and no end of burnings in prospectuntil all the region is exhausted. Thus caution is necessary,

for when one is implicated innumerable others are necessarily

drawn in. (3) Those who seem most religious are carried

away in the torrent. I have heard from persons of distinction

that in some places malevolence is so great that whoever is

especially devout is suspected of magic. Thence in a neigh-

boring province men carefully avoid all piety and priests

who were wont to celebrate daily now wholly omit it; or, if

they do not, they celebrate with closed doors lest the peopledefame them. (4) Prosecutions are mostly against women,who are often crazy, light, garrulous, inconstant, tricky,

mendacious and perjured, or, if really guilty, are taught bytheir Master all wickedness. Peculiar care is requisite in

their examination if a thousand errors are to be avoided.

(5) I am told that in some places the judges or inquisitors

appointed for these cases are paid by so much a head four

or five dollars. A most perilous thing, for we are not all saints.

(6) If an error is committed, its correction is most difficult.

(7) New difficulties daily arise and opinions are divided.

There are learned and pious men who hold that too muchfaith is ascribed to the stories and deceptive confessions

extorted by torture; they doubt the Sabbat or at least with

Tanner consider it unusual and that it is more credible

that the women are deluded with fantasms. Every day books

appear which render the thing more perplexing. Against this

you may say that it suffices to follow an approved author, for

theologians tell us that when there are two probable opinions

either may be followed. Argument against this. The caution


I urge is the more necessary that some Inquisitors believe that

they can scarcely err that the witches can hypocriticallydelude the priests, but. not them or the secular judges. Ib.,

dub. viii.

Can Princes free their consciences by throwing all respon-

sibility on their officials? Long argument to prove the

contrary. List of suggestive questions which they should

investigate. Ib., dub. ix.

It is assumable from his argument that sentences were referred to the

prince for confirmation. He says the prince throws the responsibility onthe officials and the officials on the prince, in a vicious circle.

Is it credible that God would permit the innocent to beinvolved? Some hold that God would not permit the inno-

cent to be involved with the mass of guilty. Binsfeld andDel Rio use this argument. This is not to be admitted, as it

relieves judges and princes from responsibility. Besides it is

not true, as is evident from the martyrs whom he allowed to

perish. Ib., dub. x.

Is it credible that this is permitted as a fact? ThoughBinsfeld and Del Rio seem not to believe it, I have no doubtthat it is so. Proceeds to describe his anxieties and investi-

gations and tests of all kinds as a confessor with the con-

demned "de quaruni innocentia tarn minime etiamnumvacillo." The judges are often imprudent and malignant.

Recently two or three in Germany who had been excessivelysevere on witches confessed to witchcraft and were burnt.

When Satan finds such an inquisitor he has an open door to

extend his kingdom, to save true witches and destroy the

innocent. Recently an executioner was executed amongwhose crimes was that by magic art he forced those who fell

into his hands to confess whatever he asked. Binsfeld andDel Rio reject the proof by witch-mark (q.v.). -Ib., dub. xi.

Is the inquisition against witches to cease if it appears that

many innocent are in fact involved? No, if the trials be con-

ducted according to law and prudent reason so that theinnocent may not suffer. Ib., dub. xii.

If such danger hangs over the innocent without any fault,is the prosecution of the guilty still to be abandoned? Thereis no danger, if the process is so cautiously carried on as to

prevent danger. Ib., dub. xiii.

Should Princes and magistrates be urged to the inquisition

against witches? No, unless at the same time they are warned

ITS PROMOTERS AND CEITICS 701

as to the difficulties of the matter. I have heard preachers

thundering and urging magistrates to use every severity to

purge the republic of witches, and others who, in private,have stirred up Princes as though calling fire from heaven.

I do not wholly blame this nor deny that Princes should armtheir hands against so great a pest; but they should consider

the chances in a struggle, not with flesh and blood, but with

the Prince of Darkness, and avert all danger from the inno-

cent. Ib., dub. xiv.

Who are those who chiefly instigate magistrates againstwitches? There are four kinds: (1) Those theologians and

prelates who quietly enjoy their speculations and know noth-

ing of the squalor of prisons, the weight of chains, the imple-ments of torture, the lamentations of the poor, all of whichare beneath then* dignity. To these I add certain holy and

religious men who know nothing of human wickedness andlook upon the judge and inquisitor as like themselves and

accept the stories of witches as Holy Writ. (2) Certain

jurists who find the cases of witches a lucrative field. (3)

The inexperienced, envious and malicious vulgar who can

thus gratify their enmities and, if a magistrate does not act

at once on their futile clamors, cry out that he fears for his

wife or friends, that he is bribed by the rich, that some honor-

able family of the city is guilty, and so forth. (4) Those

among the vulgar who are themselves witches and exclaim

against the magistrates to remove suspicion from themselves.

In many places these extreme instigators have been arrested,

tortured, have confessed and been burnt with the rest. I

believe those inquisitors who declared that Tanner should be

tortured were certainly malefici and of this I have indicia.

The innocent zealots should bear in mind that, as the tor-

tured must denounce some people and the processes thus

continue to spread, the time must come when it will reach

them and there can be no end until all are burnt. Ib., dub. xv.

What precautions can be taken to avert danger from the

innocent? (1) Princes should appoint only fit judges. I

accuse no one, but I can affirm the unfitness of many and

I have wondered that they will accept the flimsiest arguments

against the accused and will listen to no remonstrance. I do

not approve of adjoining some great doctor or prelate to the

Prince, among other reasons on account of the expense, about

which already there are huge complaints, leading the poor to

hope for gradual immunity from the Inquisition when every-


thing sh.aU be exhausted. (2) Judges and Inquisitors should

foEow not only the laws but natural reason. It is incredible

how this is everywhere disregarded when almost all rage

against the accused and hold as valid and true whatever

bears against them, while whatever favors them is cast aside.

When they can convict they triumph; but if innocence is

demonstrated they are wroth. I suggested this to a man in

high position, when he told me that he was urged by his

Prince to proceed with the utmost severity; there was no

end to the monitions and mandates, and lie would fall under

suspicion of the crime if he did not act vigorously. I greatly

fear that in all Germany there is not a single judge or inquisi-

tor who labors to find innocence as much as to find guilt.

(3) Everything should be abolished which may deprave

judges, e. g., give them fixed salaries and not so much a head.

He does not know what truth underlies the popular talk of

the wealth gained by confiscations or of inquisitors who build

houses and grow rich, but the occasion for this gossip should

be removed* That inquisitor is not incorruptible who sends

agents to places to inflame the minds of the peasants about

witches and promises to come and destroy them, if a propercollection is made for him; when this is done he comes, cele-

brates one or two autos de fe, excites the people still morewith the confessions of the accused; pretends that he is going

away and has another collection made;when he has exhausted

the district, he moves off to another and repeats the game.

(4) Even if proper judges could be had, the diversity of pro-cedure and judgments creates scandal. New difficulties con-

stantly arise and the Carolina no longer suffices. It wouldbe desirable that the Emperor should issue a new Criminal

Constitution for the whole empire, in which as little as pos-sible should be left to judicial discretion. (5) As the Em-peror is impeded by wars and other affairs, the Princes should

undertake the work which Del Rio and Tanner and manylearned and religious men to-day think necessary. (6) In

preparing such a law not only jurists but theologians and

physicians should be called in goes on with details as to

perfecting it. (7) Many believe that the impunity accorded

to judges is a great cause of their lax consciences. Princes

should keep close watch on them and make them responsibleto those whom they abuse, as for instance in torturing oninsufficient evidence. It lately happened that two nobles

represented to their princes that, if empowered to treat certain


inquisitors as the inquisitors were in habit of treating the

accused, they would answer with their heads that they would

make the inquisitors confess to witchcraft. Ib., dub. xvi.

Should defence and advocates be allowed to those accused

of magic? I am ashamed of the question, but it is held bymany that as witchcraft is crimen exceptum all defence should

be refused. In support of it is quoted the decree of Boniface

VIII as to prosecutions of heresy "simpliciter et de piano et

absque advocatorum et judiciorum strepitu et figura" (Lib. Vin Sexto, Tit. ii, cap. 20) . He says this is only in the case whenthe accused admits the crime and seeks to justify or excuse

it. Even in excepted crimes the accused is entitled to defence

and counsel, as admitted by Dei Rio and Tanner and the

doctors of Ingolstadt, Freiburg, Padua, Bologna, the authors

of the Malleus, Eymerich, Pena, Humbert-, Simancas, Bossius,

Rolandus, etc. But why cite authorities when it is natural

law? It is ridiculous to call it a ctimen exceptum before the

accused is proved to be guilty; the question is whether she is

guilty. Goes on with a long argument to prove that it is

natural law and required by Christian charity. (This labo-

rious effort shows how general was the denial of defence, and

is capped by a story of a certain prince who for years had

been zealously persecuting witches. H. C. L.) It chanced

that a religious was arrested; his Order asked to defend him

and was refused, but the prince asked the opinion of the judge,

who tells the story and who replied that the petition should

be granted; the matter was referred to a University with the

same result, when the prince exclaimed angrily, "If it is so,

and if defence should be allowed to all, how many innocent

we have destroyed." Still the prince insisted, in order not

to condemn the previous processes, until he was made to see

that an injustice committed could not be cured by contin-

uing it. Ib., dub. xvii.

What corollaries are deducible from the foregoing? Amongthese may be mentioned the suggestion that the accused

should have some days to collect their thoughts, "Iniquumautem est, incontinent! statim ut captae fuerint, ad tormenta

rapere." The accused should have a copy of the evidence:

even Del Rio disapproves of its withholding and Sprenger

says the names of the witnesses should be given if it exposes

them to no danger. The accused should be allowed to see those

whom she desires to consult (apparently the prisoner was

incommunicado TL. C. L.) as in the Carolina, art. 4. Re-

704 THE DELrSION AT ITS HEIGHT

cently a certain priest demonstrated secretly to the judges,from the protocol itself, that certain women were unjustly

prosecuted; the only result was that they executed the womenand gave orders that hereafter no one should be admitted to

the gaol and I hear that this happens to many. (Apparentlycounsel were not always denied to the accused, for he goes on

to blame those who refused to serve and advised others to

refuse but7he adds, they are wise, for they only draw upon

themselves the accusation and are at once suspectedH. C. L.) Even to give friendly warning to the judge incurs

hatred "Quae causa est quod commentarium hunc monito-

rium, jamdudum a me conscriptum, typis non evulgo, sed

amicis tantum pauculis manuscriptum communico, suppressonomine. 53 He dreads the example of Tanner. The accused

can appeal from the sentence to torture and, if the judge

disregards it, the extorted confession is invalid (Farinacius,

q. 38, n. 17 and 22. q.v.). Even if sufficient indicia exist

for torture, if equal ones are for innocence (or even somewhat

less), he is not to be tortured (Farin., Z. c., n. 112); but whoobserves this now-a-days? Yet the process is that the inquisi-

tor summons the woman before him, tells her she knows of

what she is accused and the proof is as follows and she must

purge herself and answer. As I have very often found, she

does this and explains away everything to the minutest point,

so that the futility of the accusation is manifest. She mightas well be speaking to a stone. She is merely told to return

to her cell and think whether she will persist in denial, for

she will be summoned again in a few hours. In the meanwhilean entry is made in the protocol that she denies and is sen-

tenced to torture. No mention is made of her disproof.

When brought back she is asked if she persists in her obstinacy,for the decree of torture is issued. If she still denies, she is

carried to the torture. Where has there been any one who,no matter how she has cleared herself, has not been tortured?

Even if there is no legitimate proof, many judges enter on the

record that they proceed according to what is alleged a'nd

proved. When priests are arrested, respect for their orders

and the Church should obtain for them a day, or more, with

writing materials to draw up a supplication to the prince or

the emperor. Before execution they should be allowed to

choose their confessors and not those whom the judge mayforce upon them. Ib., dub. xviii.

Is it to be presumed that those arrested for witchcraft are


necessarily guilty? The prisoner meets none judges, gaolers,

executioners, confessors who do not insist on her confessing,

calling her obstinate, stinking whore, slave of hell, dumbtoad, possessed of the devil, and the like; if pertinacious, the

devil has closed her jaws, and all requests for spiritual con-

solation and advice are refused. They frequently say that

they would rather admit the executioner than the priest

assigned to them, for his importunity is worse than torture.

I have seen such priests whose only motive is to earn wagesor alms or even meat and drink. Goes on with a long denun-

ciation of such priests. I know a priest who accompaniedsome two hundred witches to execution who was accustomedto ask them whether they would repeat in confession what

they had confessed under torture; if they hesitated or said

they would confess truly, he rejected them and told them

they should die like dogs without the -sacrament; then, fearing

another torture or to die like dogs, they would confess them-

selves guilty in the sacrament. And recently a most eminent

jurist, an inquisitor and connected with the priest, told this

at a public table, in praise of the priest, as a most admirable

stratagem to elicit the truth, and there are other priests whodare to imitate him. Another priest used to urge the judgeto arrest this one and that, and not to spare children, for theywould not amend, and to assist at the torture. Such priests

do not seem to understand what constitutes irregularity.

Ib., dub. xix.

What is to be thought of torture? Does it bring frequent

moral peril to the innocent? In revolving what I have seen,

read and heard I can only conclude that it fills our Germanywith witches and unheard-of wickedness, and not only Ger-

many but any nation that tries it. The agony is so intense

that to escape it we do not fear to incur death. The danger,

therefore, is that many to avoid it will falsely confess what-

ever the examiner suggests or what they have excogitated in

advance. The most robust who have thus suffered have

affirmed to me that no crime can be imagined which they

would not at once confess to if it would bring ever so little

relief, and that they would welcome ten deaths to escape a

repetition. If there are some who will submit in silence to

be torn in pieces, they are rare now-a-days and are fortified

by evil arts against pain. Experienced confessors know that

there are those who have made false denunciations under

torture and, when told that they must withdraw the accusa-

VOL. ii 45


tions of the innocent, will say that they would willingly doso

7if there were any way without incurring a second torture,

but they cannot risk it even to avoid damnation. I confess

that I would at once admit any crime and choose death

rather than such suffering, and I have heard many men,religious and of uncommon fortitude, say the same. Whatthen is to be presumed of the fragile female sex? Then, in

witchcraft sharper tortures are used than in other crimes,and I learn that in some places the old tortures are considered

too light and new ones are invented. Moreover, there is no

scruple in exceeding in measure and time. I know that manydie under enormous tortures, many are crippled for life, manyare so torn that when they are to be beheaded the executioner

does not dare to bare their shoulders and expose them to the

people. Sometimes they have to be hurried to the place of

execution, lest they die by the way. As to length, the mostmerciful judges deem it insufficient, if it does not last anhour. If some endure in silence, it is through a cause little

imagined, but which I have learned by much experience, for

mostly the women accused believe that they sin mortallyand cannot be saved, if they accuse themselves falsely of

such a crime as witchcraft, though even these succumb whenendurance is exhausted; then, when they believe that theyhave forfeited salvation, it is incredible what despair theysuffer in the prison, unless they find some one to comfortand instruct them. There is a frequent phrase used byjudges, that the accused has confessed without torture andthus is undeniably guilty. I wondered at this and madeinquiry and learned that in reality they were tortured, but

only in an iron press with sharp-edged channels over the shins,in which they are pressed like a cake, bringing blood and

causing intolerable pain, and this is technically called without

torture, deceiving those who do not understand the phrasesof the inquisitors. Then there are the liberty and wickednessof the executioners, who in some places control the torture

instead of silently doing what they are ordered. They ques-tion, urge and insist with terrible threats, if the accused doesnot confess; they augment the torture till it is insufferable.

Thus some are praised because not a single one of their

victims is not forced to confess, and these are called in whenothers have failed. Then there are judges who tolerate iniqui-ties. The law prescribes (leg. 1 ff. de Quaestionibus, andthe Carolina, art. 13) that no one under torture shall be ques-

IIS PKOMOTERS AND CRITICS 707

tioned about accomplices by name; but this is disregardedand names are put in the mouths of the accused for denuncia-tion. This is not only customary in many places, but special

crimes, places and times for the Sabbat, and other details,

are suggested in the questions. A certain prelate recently

approved of a malicious inquisitor who asked the womenwhether they had not seen a parish priest or cleric in the

Sabbat. A certain prince recently expressly ordered, in writingan inquisitor, not thus to ask about ecclesiastics in general or

particular an order which the inquisitor in no way obeyed.I heard recently of an inquisitor who, when he commencedto arrest and torture in a place, would ask who of the magis-trates appeared in the Sabbat, so that after getting rid of

the principal persons he could more readily ravage the flock.

Some executioners, when preparing the accused for torture,

will tell them what accomplices to denounce and warn themnot to refuse; they will also tell them what others have said

about them, so that they will know what details to confess,

and thus make all accord. Thus the protocols are made to

agree and the evidence of guilt is perfect. A single innocent

person, compelled by torture to confess guilt, is forced to

denounce others of whom she knows nothing; it is the samewith them, and thus there is scarce an end of accusers and

accused, and, as none dare to revoke, all are marked for death.

All that Remy, Binsfeld, Del Rio and the rest tell us is based

on stories extorted by torture. When once the accused con-

fesses under torture, there is no hope for her. If she retracts

and says it was forced by torture, she is tortured again, andthen a third time, if necessary and though Del Rio and others

say that after a third torture retraction merits absolution,

there are others who pronounce for further torture, and judgeswho follow their opinion. Retraction at the stake brings no

relief. (He says nothing here about strangulation or behead-

ing for those who adhere to their confessions and burning alive

for those who retract. EL C. L.) There is no provisionmade by which innocence can be proved. A certain religious

(probably Spee) recently discussed the matter with several

judges who had lighted many fires and asked them how an

innocent person, once arrested, could escape; they were

unable to answer and finally said they would think over it

that night. Ib., dub. xx.

Can one accused of witchcraft be tortured repeatedly?There are two questions involved : Can one be tortured again


who revokes a confession made under torture? Can one whodoes not confess under torture be tortured again? I will

discuss both. He admits that a second torture for revoked

confession is necessary, for the confession is a half-proof andthe prior proofs remain, and, if a revocation insured acquittal,

there would be no convictions; but he would not allow a third.

As for those who endure without confession, the commonopinion of jurists and theologians is that it cannot be repeatedunless new and urgent evidence comes. Quotes Farinacci

(1. v, q. 38, n. 77) that this proof must be of a new kind andnot merely cumulative of the former. But this is not observed

in practice, as Farinacci admits (n. 76). Against this I have

frequently heard it urged that, if the evidence could be so

readily purged, we should burn very few witches as if the

object was to have witches and burn them. Ib., dub. xxi.

Why do many judges unwillingly absolve witches whohave purged themselves in torture? I have never seen, thoughI could have seen it in many places, a woman dischargedwho had purged herself in the first torture. It is with the

utmost difficulty and scarcely ever, that one is acquittedwho has been thrown in prison. They want to burn, per faset nefas. They think it a disgrace if they acquit, as thoughthey had been too hasty in arresting and torturing the inno-

cent. Two years ago I was at a place where an inquest

against witches was commencing. Gaia was arrested the

first, because of evil repute; she confessed under torture andaccused Titia as accomplice. Titia was arrested and tortured

without confessing. On her way to the stake Gaia revokedher accusation of Titia, and persisted in it as she entered the

flames. Titia should have been discharged, but the judgesagreed that to do so would cause them to be regarded as

indiscreet in arresting her. The executioner also regards it

as a disgrace if he cannot extort a confession from a woman.Greed also contributes and the desire of gain. "Itaque, quodnon semel audivi et indolui, quaerunt omnibus modis ut rea

sit quam esse volunt; compingunt in arctiora vincula, mace-rant squalore carceris, domant frigore et aestu, submittunt

sacerdotes, quales supra descripsi, impetuosos seu imperitos,seu olim mendicabula nunc Inquisitorum servos; retrahuntin nova ac nova tormenta, ac denique eousque vexant et

affligunt, dum tot miseriis confectam tandem ad confessionemseu veram seu mendacem impellant." Ib., dub. xxii.

By what pretexts can torture be repeated without fresh


proofs? Bartolus and Baldus and others, cited by Farinaeei

(q. 38, n. 87), say it is left to the discretion of the Judge to

repeat an unsuccessful torture. They cite this, and, if you

say judicial discretion must be used according to law, they

reply that in excepted crimes it is lawful to transgress the

law. Others say it can be repeated when the first is insuffi-

cient and this rests with the judge's discretion, wherefore

they are accustomed to record, when they stop, that it is

with the intention of repeating it. (The Spanish way was

better, of merely suspending it for the present see below.

H. C. L.) Another pretext is suggested by Bartolus, that

the torture cannot be repeated if the proof is slender?but

can if it is strong (Farinaeei, q. 38, n. 79), and this weighingof testimony is at the discretion of the judge. Again, even

honest judges hold that torture in this crime can be prolonged

for an hour or five quarters; they can divide this and give

half on one day and half the next and the next is immeasur-

ably more severe, when the body is stiffened and the will

weakened and endurance diminished. Again, in the Malleus

Sprenger and Institoris say that, though torture cannot be

repeated, it can be continued, and I have often feared that

"praedicti Inquisitores omnem hanc Sagarum multitudinem

primum in Germaniam importarint torturis suis tarn indis-

cretis." Others teach (see Del Rio, 1. v, app. ii, q. 34) that,

if the accusation is of a number of crimes, the accused can

be tortured on each and then to discover his accomplices.

Ib., dub. xxiii.

How a scrupulous judge, who does not dare to torture with-

out new proofs, can easily find them? The present practice

is to macerate the accused in prison, suffering heat and cold

and squalor; meanwhile in the trials of other accused to ask

whether they have seen her hi the Sabbat and suggest such

details as are fitting. This evidence can readily be found.

Or even without this, in the torturing of others, it may likely

happen that the prisoner may be named, as she is known to

be suspect. This also serves to justify the re-arrest of those

who have been discharged under bail, which is customary

at present. There is also the confrontation, which looms so

largely in the popular mind and with the princes. One who

has thus denounced the prisoner is led forward, warned by

the executioner of the heaviest punishment unless she con-

firms her denunciation. When they meet, the accused is

scolded for her pertinacity and told that her guilt is to be


proved. The accuser Is asked whether she has not confessed

that she saw the accused in the Sabbat, and as soon as she

assents she is taken away lest she recall it, and the accusedis told that she is convicted and can not only be tortured

again, but that, if she overcomes it, she will nevertheless beburnt. Monstrous as this seems, I can bring sworn witnesses

who have seen it and that those thus convicted are burnt

alive for their obstinacy. (This would seem to show that

confession secured previous execution. H. C. L.) Even eccle-

siastics are thus condemned. Another method is to assumethat the endurance of torture is a proof of sorcery, whichthus furnishes the novum indicium. She is to be exorcised

and then tortured again. -Ib., dub. xxiv.

Does the maleficium taciturnitatis furnish a novum indicium?

It is assumed that a woman cannot endure two or three tor-

tures unless she is a witch; it requires the aid either of the

devil or of God (Malleus, P. Ill, q. 15; Del Rio, 1. v, sect. 9).

But this is to admit that the torture as beyond human endur-

ance was excessive therefore illegal, and the accused is neither

to be tortured again nor condemned. Also why was it not

rather God sustaining the innocent than the devil supportingthe guilty? Besides, the assumption of sorcery shows that

guilt is assumed then why torture again? Each torture

implies a fresh proof and the process can be repeated indefi-

nitely. Priests should be ashamed to exorcise in such cases.

Ib., dub. xxv.

What are the signs ascribed to the maleficium taciturnitatis?

They say that some do not feel [pain], but laugh. This is a

lie, and I speak knowingly. If to endure great torment one

grinds her teeth, compresses her lips and holds her breath,

they say she laughs. They say that some are silent and

sleep. This is also a lie; some faint under torture and theycall it sleep; some shut their eyes and, exhausted with pain,bow their heads and remain quiet, and this they call sleep.

Physicians tell us that it may happen that great suffering will

stupefy and present the appearance of sleep. They say that

some, while on the rack, do not bleed when cut with the rods

(scourges). This may happen, physicians say, from the blood

congesting around the heart and leaving the surface. Besidesthere are authors who mention substances that will dull the

sensibility. Ib., dub. xxvi.

Is torture a proper method of ascertaining the truth? Thatit is not appears sufficiently from the foregoing; but repetition

ITS PEOMOTEES AXD CRITICS 711

will impress the reader and he gives some forcible general

arguments. Ib., dub, xxvii.

What are the arguments of those who believe that what is

confessed under torture is true? It is marvellous that the

learned writers who teach the world about witchcraft basetheir whole argument on this deceitful foundation. He pro-ceeds to state the ordinary arguments and refutes them. Tothat of the confessions being truthful because they show she

knows what goes on in the Sabbat, he replies that all this is

known ad nauseam to everybody because the sentences con

meritos1 are always publicly read, and he refers to the Carolina,art. 60, which says that the utterances are to be believed whenthey relate "quae nemo innocens dicere ac scire potuerit."

Ib., dub. xxviii.

Whether torture, since it is so perilous, should be abolished?

His answer to this is "tollendam igitur penitusque ex usu pro-scribendam esse torturam: Aut saltern ea omnia et singula cor-

rigenda, aliterque moderanda, quae hanc periculi necessitate,

torturis imponunt. Alterutrum evadi non potest." Goes onwith argument in which he says that he has no doubt that

among any fifty condemned to the stake, scarce five or twoare guilty. Ib., dub. xxix.

What "documenta" (counsels) are to be given to the con-

fessors of witches? A series of admirable instructions, in whichit is significant that he prohibits the confessor from urgingand scolding the accused to confess herself guilty and from

urging the judge to greater severity. Also [he says] that

judges commonly get rid speedily of confessors who seek to

do their duty and replace them with those [who] confound

justice. Even if we accept Del Rio's opinion that it is licit

for the judge to circumvent the accused, in no way can we

permit this to the confessor. It does not become priests to

suggest, as I hear some do, methods of torture to the judgeunless indeed milder ones. It is most certain that manyinnocent will confess themselves guilty even in the sacrament :

they are urged to this by the executioners, who fear the escapeof their prey through revocation. The confessor is to main-

tain absolute silence as to what the penitent says, both in

and out of the sacrament. He may cause him another tor-

ture or precipitate his death. Irregularity is to be dreaded.

Many judges seek hints from confessors. I recently heard a

judge boast that he had never condemned to death any one1 For explanation of this phrase see Inquisition of Spain, III, p. 93.


unless he had first learned from the confessor that he was

guilty thus showing how efficaciously confessors contribute

to condemnation. Praises the answer of a priest to judges

asking him whether this or that one was guilty. Condemnsanother, the regular prison confessor, who in a public sermondeclared that the magistrates should not fear to prosecutewitches severely, for he knew positively that as yet not one

had been condemned there who was without fault. It is such

confessors, he says, who fill the princes of Germany with belief

in the multitude of witches. They seek per fas et nefas to

force the penitents to confess themselves guilty and Spee

says that no woman is so innocent but that with such

importunity he could force her to confess herself guilty. If

he finds that she has accused others falsely, it is his duty to

make her revoke it, even if he foresees that it will expose her

to another torture; but this must be done immediately,before sentence is rendered, for after that revocations are

not attended to. (This is a specimen of the horrible anxieties

to which the confessor was exposed, for the mortal sin of

false witness could only be pardoned by revoking it.

H. C. L.) Finally Spee declares that he deposes under oath

"me quidem nullam hactenus ad rogum duxisse, de qua omnibusconsideratis prudenter statuere potuerim, fuisse ream" (doc. 19,

p. 214). Ib., dub. xxx.

Is it proper for women to be shaved by the torturer before

torture? Prior to the torture, the torturer takes the womanto an adjoining room and there shaves or burns the hair,

not only of the head and arm-pits, but also "qua parte mulierest." Reasons against it: (1) It is foul and filthy, whichChristian and gospel purity does not endure to think of.

(2) It brings danger of sin in a foul and obscene man. (3)

It gives occasion to illusions and filthy handling by inconti-

nent buffoons (scurrae), especially as a certain writer suggeststhat a deeper exploration should be made for magic trifles

(little things). (4) Sexual modesty is all-important, anddeath is often preferred to such dishonor. (5) It is useless;in our time what is sought for is never found, and there are

pious remedies against sorcery. It is stupefying to think that

even priests are subjected to this. (6) In places where this

is not done there are quite as many burnings and torture is

just as potent without this foul preface. If it is deemednecessary, female barbers should be supplied for women.(7) Alludes to the remark of the Malleus that in Germany


this was regarded as indecent and wonders at the loss of

German modesty. Has heard of a case in which a woman wasviolated and the hair then burnt off. Ib., dub. xxxi.

For what causes is torture allowable? Jurists call "indicia"

everything that can be collected against the accused. Let us

divide them into magna, majora, maxima. For arrest, magnaare required; in this everywhere great sins are committed.

For condemnation,umaxima seu urgentissima, luce meridi-

ana clariora, quae plenae probationes sunt." For torture,

magna do not suffice, they must be majora~y as all authorities

say,u'adeo firma et clara ac pene certa, ut merito prudens

quisque iis multuni fidere possit" ; they call these "probationes

s&miplenae" it ought to be "fereplenae," bringing a moral

certainty, as Lessius says, so that only confession is lacking.

(See Farinaeci, q. 37, n. 3.) They must be proved by two

lawful witnesses (Farinacci, q. 37, n. 17). Ib., dub. xxxii.

At whose discretion is it to determine whether the indicia

can be reckoned as nearly full proof? There are those wholeave it to the judge. I think the practice of those courts is

laudable which submit the evidence to some university and

never torture without its sentence. To this are objected the

delay and expense. Goes on to argue against such views in a

matter of life and death. Tells of an inquisitor, regarded as

rather tepid, who answered his remonstrances by saying that

in truth there ought to be more careful weighing of evidence

and greater facilities for defence, but that they never could

get through the work. Thus everything is licit in order to

burn promptly. Ib., dub. xxxiii.

Does common fame, without other clear proofs, suffice for

torture? It does not, according to the common opinion of

the doctors. It is an axiom of the jurists and theologians that

it is not proof, but only a kind of accusation. It is very fal-

lacious (Farinacci, q. 47). It mostly arises from quarrels,

envy, the responses of diviners, the mockery of boys, and

spreads through gossip and chatter. If we meet with mis-

fortune we at once think of this or that person who has be-

witched us; we run to diviners, and honest persons are loaded

with suspicion, the poison spreads hi secret through the town

and when it gains strength it develops into common fame.

The magistrate, in place of repressing it, seizes and tortures

the victim. That common fame should have weight as proof

requires two lawful sworn witnesses who at least know what

is its definition and depose that they have heard it from a


majority of the people of the place, that it arises from a

good foundation of such and such things and from good men,or at least that it does not arise from quarrels and the above-

mentioned things. So Del Rio, 1. v, sect. 3, and Farinacci,

and [it is] commonly admitted. From which I conclude that

common fame in this crime is never proved at present andhas no weight as proof. And Del Rio says the same of his

time, loc. ait. Indeed the judges say that, if it was to be

thus investigated, they could never proceed: thus they con-

vict themselves out of their own mouths, and it follows that

confession under such torture proves nothing against the

accused. They boast that they follow Del Rio, but in this

they do not. Ib., dub. xxxiv.

Del Rio evidently is the great authority in the seventeenth century.

He has supplanted the Malleus. It is evident from the treatment of this

subject by Spee that it lay at the very root of the witch-craze and its

abuse was of supreme importance; indeed he says "Passim ex indicia famaein crimine Magiae per Imperium Germanicum proceditur."

Is the magistrate in these times bound spontaneously to

act against detractors and calumniators? Yes, he is boundto suppress with the severest penalties the venomous tongueswhich cause suspicions of witchcraft against their neighbors.I have heard men say that on this account they would rather

live among the Turks, if they could preserve their faith.

Recently the treasurer of a town was prosecuted by the

authorities to make him refund. In his fury he aspersed the

people as a multitude of witches and procured that an

inquisitor should be sent there. There is no easier way of

obtaining revenge. With grief Spee declares that clerics and

religious are foremost among the calumniators. They are the

first to attribute everything to incantations and witchcraft;

they stimulate the suspicions which they ought to suppressand that they may seem to understand they read exorcisms,scatter holy water and offer sacred amulets. They discuss

in the homes the malignity and infection of witches, theyhave a store of fables which they chatter; they are laughedat by prudent men, who with difficulty endure this old--

womanish itch of detraction and garrulity in spiritual men.

Recently a preacher filled a town with suspicion of every-

body, with incredible perturbation of all and the laceration

of charity and human society. The magistrates ought to

suppress the crying out by boys of "old witch 77

;the women

endure it to avoid enmities, but a stain remains which gradu-

ITS PEOMOTEKS AND CEITICS 715

ally develops into common fame. If the calumniated prose-cutes the calumniation, It only spreads and calls attention to

the calumny; the vulgar remember it and suspicion breaksout at the smallest opportunity. Besides, those arrested and

tortured, when forced to accuse somebody, select those thus

defamed. Of all this there are daily examples. Ib., dub.

xxxv.

Does common fame, legitimately proved, suffice for torture

in excepted crimes and difficult of proof? Julius Claras,

Farinacei, Binsfeld and others assert that torture is to beused on slighter grounds in secret crimes of difficult proof.

Argues against this and quotes even Del Rio, who condemns

(Ib. v, sec. 3) those judges who torture for witchcraft on

merely common fame, for which he cites Farinacci. It is

absurd that, when common fame is in other crimes not "indi-

cium urgentissimum et fere plenum77

,it should acquire that

value in secret and excepted crimes. Ib., dub. xxxvi.

In general, are proofs which in common crimes do not

suffice, sufficient in excepted and secret crimes which are

difficult of proof? Argues that the more atrocious the crime,"the fuller should be the proof, and disproves the opposite at

great length. Ib., dub. xxxvii.

Whether in no sense is the juridical axiom true that in

secret crimes and difficult of proof torture should be more

readily employed than in others? Yes, provided there is

"probationem fere plenam" and without this torture is not

to be employed. Torture is only to be used after exhaustive

search has failed to develop absolute proof, and this is moreto be hoped for in ordinary crimes. The mistake is to under-

stand the axiom as meaning slighter proof. Ib., dub. xxxviii.

Can one who does not confess under torture be condemned?Guilt is proved in either of two ways ;

either the accused con-

fesses or there are full proofs, "luce meridiana clariores."

Either suffices and both are not necessary. Therefore the

accused who is silent under torture cannot be condemned in

justice and right reason. But this is contrary to the practiceof some judges now-a-days. Recently a woman was burnt

who had denied through five successive tortures, and she per-sisted till she entered the flames. Had the proof been full,

she would not have been tortured; she did not confess, there-

fore she was punished without being convicted. If it is said

that the judge tortured, not to ascertain the truth but to

confirm it, I answer that the law knows nothing of this; all


jurists and theologians say that torture Is used to supportthe evidence, and this is wholly new law. In this case con-

firmation was either necessary or unnecessary: if necessary,

why was she condemned without it; if unnecessary, torture

was wanton cruelty. Again, the common opinion is that

torture purges the evidence, even if full. Farinacci and Del

Rio say that torture without confession liberates the accused.

Every one admits the axiom that it is better that ten guilty

escape than that one innocent be condemned but nobodyobserves it. In another recent case a woman resisted torture

and the persistent importunities of a foolish priest. He

accompanied her to the stake and promised mercy for con-

fession, when she simply said "Then I am guilty," where-

upon he said "Ego te absolve" and hastened to the judgewith the news that she had confessed and asked for a miti-

gation of punishment; but the judge had her burnt alive.

(Looks as though confession earned strangulation or behead-

ing. H. C. L.) Ib., dub. xxxix.

Does revocation at the place of execution have any weight?It is the practice that such revocations, whether as to the

party or as to others, are disregarded. Judges are governed

by the arguments of Binsfeld and of Del Rio, 1. v, sect. 6,

which, however, are not plainly to that effect. Yet such

revocations, if made by the truly penitent (of which a prudentconfessor is to be the judge) are of great moment, especially

as to those falsely denounced. Quotes the Carolina, art. 91

(q. v.), which makes careful provision for weighing ante mor-

tem revocations; but as yet no judge in Germany has done

this. In answering arguments, he says that after sentence

no one is admitted to the culprit save the priest and the

executioner. When brought before the judge for sentence

they are told that they have full liberty to tell the truth, but

they know that if they revoke their confessions they will at

once be subjected again to torture; it is only in the face of

death, when all hope is gone, that they can relieve their

consciences as to themselves and others. A certain inquisitor,whom I will not name, is accustomed to warn the accused

that if he retracts his confession, whether in the judgmentseat or place of execution, and then confesses again under

torture, he will be tied to a ladder and lowered alive into the

burning pilea threat which he has recently carried out in

some cases. And there are confessors who tell their penitents


that they cannot be saved unless they ratify their confessions

to the last. Ib., dub. xl.

What Is presumable as to those who are found dead in

prison? If an accused, not yet confessed under torture, is

found dead, the presumption Is an honest and natural death,unless the contrary certainly appears. But this is againstthe practice of many, who at once pronounce him to be killed

by the demon and order his corpse to be hanged, as I haveseen more than once. Under the law the presumption is not

against the dead, but against the gaoler for El-treatment. (See

Damhouder, cap. 2.) Among the causes of desperation heincludes the lack of all consolation perhaps the priest (fromwhom she expected It) has been a greater molestation than

the gaoler. Gives a case in which a man had been severelytortured without confession. The next day he was found dead

and it was pronounced that the devil had broken his neck;Ms corpse was thrust into the ground under the gallows.

Though he was not convicted, his memory was blasted and the

infamy descended to his family and posterity. Ib., dub. xli.

When with a safe conscience can the dead be said to have

been killed, either by himself or the demon? Gives various

signs, as when the head Is twisted around so that the face is

between the shoulders, or if the first vertebra of the neck is

dislocated and sticks out behind. He admits, however, that

the demon can kill without leaving signs. The mobility of

the head on the neck was regarded as an infallible sign a

thing which he says is common in those just dead. Mentions

a recent case in which a woman was severely tortured; she

was being carried for a second torture when she expired in

the hands of the gaolers, and the confessor who accompaniedher exclaimed that the demon had twisted her neck and

insisted that he had seen it brokena fable accepted by all.

Ib., dub. xlii.

Do the marks of witches afford proof for torture and con-

demnation? They say there is a spot on the bodies of witches

(though not on all) which is insensible and bloodless, so that

a needle can be thrust in it without causing pain or drawing

blood, and that this is indicated by a mark that it is made

by the demon on his followers as a man brands his cattle.

In some places the torturer strips any woman and examines

her diligently and wantonly. Some judges are so convinced

of this that they will listen to no objections. I have never

seen it, nor will I believe it without seeing; but I do not deny


it, but will say what I think. It is in vain to ask whether

stigmata are an indication for torture. Semiplena proof is

requisite for torture and it should be for allowing a brutal

executioner to strip a woman and inspect her, which to someis worse than torture, and if proof is semiplena what is the

necessity of the stigmata for torture? Besides, there may bea scar which is insensible, or, if the woman is hanging in the

strappado, terror may stagnate the blood. More than all,

the torturer should be closely watched to see that no fraud

is performed, for many are vile and seek their pay, as one

recently only pretended to prick and then cried out that hehad found the mark; nor should he be allowed to use cheating

pricks, whether magic and charmed, or so made that at

pleasure they enter and wound or only seem to do so by sliding

back into themselves. Nor must he know incantations or

other arts by which the blood is prevented from flowing, as

I understand some conjurors do. That judges should be

absolutely certain that God would not permit the innocent

to be thus condemned! Goes on to argue on this and con-

cludes that the devil must be growing foolish, if he will thus

mark his followers so that they may be known and killed.

Del Rio and Binsfeld, he says, reject this proof. Ib., dub. xhii.

Are the denunciations of accomplices to be given great

weight (magnifaciendae)*? According to common practice

they are held of great moment, so that three or four suffice

for the arrest and torture, even of persons of good repute,

according to Binsfeld, Del Rio and others. Spee, however,considers them of no account, so that no matter how manythey be, they do not, without other indicia, justify the arrest

and torture even of persons of ill-repute. Such, at least as

regards those of good repute, is the opinion of the most andbest authorities. In the Carolina there is no mention of the

evidence of accomplices among the indicia of witchcraft.

Those who testify are either witches or are not. If not, theyknow nothing and are merely lying to escape torture

;if they

are, they are liars on whom no dependence can be placed;even the Malleus admits this (p. 512). Witches being infam-

ous, their evidence is not to be received, but Binsfeld andDel Rio argue that torture purges infamy; so the practicenow is, when confession under torture has rendered her

infamous, to torture her again for accomplices and thus purgethe infamy. (He ridicules the notion of torture purginginfamy, but does not allude to the torturing of slaves in clas-


sical times in order to render their evidence legal. H. C. L.)

Then, under the canon law, in criminal cases the evidence of

women is not received (cap. forum, 10, sub finem d-e verborum

signif^ and cap. 16 mulierum, 33, q. 5) and these are mostlywomen of the lowest class, ignorant and sometimes half

crazy. He discusses at much length their incapacity onvarious grounds, infamy, vileness, abjectness, perjury, etc.,

as accomplices, but seems not to recognize that the Inquisi-tion had familiarized the practice of accepting all kinds of

witnesses in heresy and witchcraft inferred heresy. Besides,Del Rio (app. 2, 1. v, q. 17) suggests that all these conjoineddefects can be cured by repeated torture. Frequently judgeswhen getting a new confessor train Mm by impressing onhim, the thousand arts by which the witches will seek to

deceive him; they are not to be believed even in the sacra-

ment. Yet, when it comes to denouncing accomplices under

torture, he accepts all they say as truth; she who is not to bebelieved in the sacrament, speaks truth on the rack. It is

denied that prosecutions rest on denunciations alone that

there must be other indicia. But for the most part they rest

on denunciations and common fame and we have seen that

common fame is the veriest gossip, so that virtually it is the

denunciation alone. Ib., dub. xliv.

Whether when the accuser is penitent the denunciation is

to be believed? This is sometimes urged, but vainly, for the

denunciations are made before penitence; the confessor is not

called in until the judicial examinations are over. If the

inquiry was postponed till after sentence and the denuncia-

tions were only what conscience suggested and not whattorture compelled, there would be few witches. This is whatTanner suggested, but to no purpose, for inquisitors will not

adopt it, as it would diminish their gains. Denunciations are

made by impenitents; if, after penitence and preparation for

death, they are revoked, not only is the revocation disre-

garded, but is considered a sign of fictitious repentance.

Ib., dub. xlv.

At least ought denunciations to be credited if it is infallibly

certain that the denouncers are really converted and wish

to speak truth? Judges repeat torture when denunciations

are revoked and the executioner carefully warns the prisoner

to this effect, therefore even the truly repentant do not dare

to revoke them for fear of the heavy suffering. There are

few who can be induced to revoke false denunciations. They


will revoke a portion, in order to relieve the conscience to

that extent, but leave some in order to escape the torture.

Moreover, it is conceded that the witches are not always

carried to the Sabbat, but often believe themselves to be

there and to act and see, when it is an illusion like a dream.

How can the judge distinguish between the vision and the

reality? Unless this fundamental fact is settled there can be

no rightful process. Ib., dub. xlvi.

Whether in the Sabbat the demon can represent the inno-

cent? I answer yes and not only those quiet, as some more

readily concede, but even dancing. Examples prove it and

therefore it can be. I know a monastery a member of which

was denounced by a number of witches who had confessed

and repented as having been seen in the Sabbat, and even

the person named with whom he danced, yet the evidence of

the whole convent showed that at the times named he had

been in the choir occupied in the divine offices. Either the

witches lied or they took an image for the reality. I could

name some holy men, and even princes, whom many witches

accused of being in the dances. The demon can transform

himself into an angel of light, as Scripture attests and the

Lives of the Saints; so he can represent the innocent, espe-

cially as it is not incredible that God permits many things to

him. As for me, whether the demon can or cannot do this, it

matters little. It is for the other side to prove their affirma-

tion that he cannot. Ib., dub. xlvii.

What are the arguments of those who try to prove that

the demon cannot or will not represent the innocent in the

Sabbat? Del Rio says (1. ii, q. 12, n. 5) that the demon can

represent the innocent if God does not prevent it, and I have

never read or heard of his permitting it. If God permits the

fraud, it is in satisfaction of their other sins or for the glory

of suffering. Binsfeld argues that, if this was the case, inno-

cent people would be living in daily fear of torture and burn-

ing, to which Spee replies that they do so, from his own

experience of the numbers who have sought him for counsel

and to decide the case of conscience as to how far they could,

without mortal sin, under torture bear false witness against

themselves and others. In many places good people live in

perpetual terror. Binsfeld also argues that the thing never

happens, because it is always the case that those thus de-

nounced are found guilty by their own confirmed confessions

which is the natural and unfailing result of the methods


adopted. Binsfeld also argues that, if the demon could dothis, lie would also personify the innocent as homicides, rob-

bers, adulterers, etc.., and this argument he asserts is unan-swerable. It is easily refuted by showing that a comparisondrawn from an individual crime, the commission of whichmust be proved, is inapplicable to participation in an assem-

blage, the existence of which rests on the sole authority of

the denouncer. Another argument is that God would not

permit the demon to represent the innocent. How do theyknow that God would not permit it? He permits manyworse things martyrdoms, tramplings on the sacraments,etc. He permits the demon to present the images of personsin mirrors, water, oil, etc., when the curious consult diviners,in which he often deceives and the innocent are falselyaccused. I knew an upright, learned and pious man, exceed-

ingly handsome, pursued by a witch crazed with love; and,when she found that she could not shake Ms virtue, she con-

soled herself, as she afterwards confessed, by making herincubus assume his shape. (Spee thus admits witches andincubi. H. C. L.) Another argument is that this would

injure third parties and be of great damage to the republic.

Agreed, but how do you know that God would not permit it?

He permits the demon to carry witches, to give them poisonsfor their sorcery and the like, which are of great damage to

the republic. Spee relates as a recent and absolute fact that

in an important German town, where nearly everybody hadbeen burnt, the prince entertained at a banquet two religiousof known virtue and learning. Turning to one of them the

prince said his conscience troubled him that so many hadbeen burnt on the evidence of ten or twelve witnesses havingseen them in the Sabbat. The religious told him he could

rest easy in conscience, for there could be no doubt of their

guilt, and he persisted against all argument. Then the prince

said, "I regret that you have condemned yourself and cannot

complain if I have you arrested on the spot, for there are

fifteen witnesses who testify to seeing you in the Sabbat. If

you wish, you can read the testimony." Whereupon the holyman was abashed and had nothing to say. Binsfeld's final

argument is the authority of the doctorsthe Malleus,

Jaquerius, Spina, Le Loyer, etc. Spee's own conclusion is:" Hitherto it never came into my mind to doubt that there

were many witches in the world; now, when I closely examinethe public judgments, I find myself gradually led to doubt

VOL. ii 46


whether there are scarce any. Certainly there is no little

doubt whether the Sabbat actually (coTporalit&r) exists.77

Ib., dub. xlviii.

What are the arguments of those who have faith in the

denunciations of witches and hold that they suffice for tor-

ture? This is a very long section (26 pp.); rebutting a dozen

arguments, but it is threshing out old straw and presents

nothing new of importance. Ib., dub. xlix.

Can a judge securely follow our opinion which despisesor that of others which magnifies denunciations? He cannot

securely follow the others' opinion. In doubtful things the

safest course is to be chosen, and this rule becomes a preceptwhen there is danger of injury to a neighbor. I have shown

by good arguments that the contrary opinion is unsound;the judge must either refute them or follow them. Accordingto Keg. 11 jur. in Sexto, in doubtful matters the accused is

to be favored rather than the accuser. The inquisitors all

cry that witchcraft is the most hidden of crimes. How can

that be, if it is so easily discovered that there is in the worldno crime in which so many guilty, as they think, have been

dragged to light and are daily dragged? You may say this

opinion is more merciful, but the other is more useful to the

Republic. I reply that it is more useful to both, as it saves

the Republic from devastation, as it tolerates a few guiltylest many innocent be exposed to the peril of death. Bins-

feld's zeal is indiscreet when he says (p. 292) that there is

no other method of procedure than through these Satanic

denunciations. Ib., dub. 1.

What is the brief summary of the processes in use at present

by many against witches? (1) Through incredible super-stition of the vulgar among Germans and chiefly (I amashamed to say) among Catholics, envy, calumny, gossip,

etc., create suspicion of witchcraft. All divine punishmentsare ascribed to witches; God and nature do nothing, andwitches everything. (2) Everybody clamors that the magis-trate shall investigate against the witches whom they havecreated by their talk. (3) Then the princes order their

judges to proceed against the witches. (4) These do notknow where to begin, as they have no indications or proofs.

(5) They are ordered a second and a third time to proceed;the people cry that this delay is suspicious and the princes

persuade themselves to the same effect. (6) In Germany it

is a grave offence to disobey the princes; nearly all, even the

ITS PBOMOTEES AND CEITICS 723

clergy, approve what pleases the princes, nor do they advertas to who instigates them. (7) The judges at length yieldand find some way of beginning the trials. (8) Or, if theystill delay, a special inquisitor is deputed; if he is inexperiencedand impetuous, this is held to be zeal for justice, and is notdiminished by the hope of gain, especially in poor and greedymen with large families, when there is a stipend of doEarsfor each burning and the subsidiary collections and contri-

butions which they are allowed to exact from the peasantry.

(9) Then the utterance of some demoniac or a malicious

rumor indicates some poor old woman: she is the first accused.

(10) In order that the prosecution may have some founda-

tion, indications are found in the dilemma: if she is of evil

life, the presumption is strong, for evil comes from evil; if

she is good, the presumption is as strong, for witches seek

to protect themselves by good appearances. (11) She is

thrown in gaol, and then her bearing furnishes another

dilemma: if she shows fear, her conscience accuses her; if

she wears a bold front, this is common with witches, whoboast of their innocence. (12) Besides, the inquisitor hashis men, often wicked and infamous, who investigate the

past life of the accused and find sayings or doings which can

be twisted into witchcraft. (13) Also those who wish her

ill have ample opportunity of saying what they please to

heighten the indicia. (14) Thus she is promptly put to the

torture, unless, indeed, which is frequently the case, she is

tortured on the day of arrest. (15) No advocate or full

defence is permitted, for this is called an excepted crime, andwhoever seeks to defend her falls under suspicion as well as

those who urge caution, for they are called patrons of witches.

Thus all mouths are closed and all pens kept idle. (16)

Generally, however, so that she shall not seem to be deprivedof all defence, the indicia are first read to her and perhapsare examined. (17) If she purges them and satisfies each

and all of them, no attention is paid to this and it is not

recorded; the indicia retain their value; she is put in chains

that she may consider whether she will persist in obstinacy,

for whoso purges herself is obstinate. If she does this accu-

rately, it is a new indicium, for only witches are so skilful.

(18) After she considers, the decree of torture is read to her,

as though she had answered the accusation. (19) Before

torture she is shaved to see that she has no charms against

it, though nothing of the kind has ever been found. (20)


Why should not this be done to a woman when it is done to

consecrated priests, even by the inquisitors and officials of

ecclesiastical princes, in spite of the bull In Ccena Dominiwhich prohibits prosecution of clerics without special papal

authority? (21) She is then tortured to make her teU the

truth that is, simply to confess herself guilty, for anythingelse is not and cannot be the truth. (22) It commenceswith what is called the first or lighter torture, though it is

excessively severe; if she confesses she is said to have done

so without torture. (23) Who that hears this will not think

her most certainly guilty, since she confessed without torture?

(24) She is therefore executed without scruple but she would

be executed if she had not confessed, for when once torture

has commenced the die is cast, she cannot escape and mustdie. (25) Thus, whether she confesses or not it is all the

same. Revocation is vain, as we have shown above. If she

does not confess, the torture is repeated twice, thrice, four

times; everything is permissible in excepted crimes and judgeshold it no sin in the forum of conscience. (26) If in the tor-

ture she rolls her eyes, they say she is looking for her incubus;if she fixes them, they say she sees him. If she keeps silent,

they say she has the charm of taciturnity; if she twists her

face, they call it laughing; if she faints, she is sleeping; all is

an evidence of greater guilt, to be punished by burning alive

which has recently been done to some who would not speak.

(27) Then the confessors say that she died obstinate and

impenitent ;that she would not desert her incubus, but kept

faith with him. (28) If she dies from the effect of torture,

they say the demon broke her neck, which they prove by an

irrefragable argument. (29) Wherefore the executioner bur-

ies the corpse under the gallows. (30) If she does not die

and a scrupulous judge will not torture her without further

proofs nor burn her unconfessed, she is kept in prison heavilychained to macerate until she yields, if it takes a year. (31)

She cannot ever purge herself with torture and clear the accu-

sation as the laws prescribe. It is a disgrace to the inquisitors

to acquit after arrest; she must be guilty per /as et nefas,

when once she has been imprisoned. (32.) Meanwhile unskil-

ful and violent priests, more importunate than the torturers

themselves, are employed, whose duty it is to distract her in

every way until she confesses, whether guilty or innocent;

they tell her that she cannot otherwise be saved or have the

sacraments. (33) The utmost care is taken not to admit


learned and sedate priests nor any one who can be advocate

for tier or instruct the princes. Nothing is more dreaded than

that something be brought to light to prove her innocence.

Such persons are openly stigmatized as disturbers of justice.

(34) While she is thus kept in prison and molested, there are

not lacking most beautiful inventions by which not only newindicia are discovered, but such as convict her to her face,

so that by the judgment of the doctors of the Universities

she is at least to be burnt alive. (35) Some, of abundant

caution, have her exorcised, transferred elsewhere and tor-

tured again, to overcome the maleficium taciturnitdtis; if this

fails, they bum her alive. How then can the innocent escape?Then why not at first confess? Foolish and crazy woman,why do you wish to die so often, when you can die once? Take

my advice and before these pains call yourself guilty and

die. You cannot escape, for this is the final result of Germanzeal. (36) When once she has confessed, the misery is inde-

scribable; for there is no way in which she can avoid makingothers guilty whom she does not even know when frequentlythe examiners suggest names to her for accusation, and thus

the matter must spread to infinity. (37) Wherefore the

judges must abandon these proceedings or burn their own

people and finally themselves, for false accusations include

everybody and, if followed by torture, all are guilty. (38)

Thus at last those are involved who at first clamored most

loudly to light the fires, and this by the just judgment of

God, for by their pestilent tongues they created witches and

condemned to the flames so many innocent. (39) But now

many more prudent and learned men begin to perceive this,

as opening their eyes after heavy sleep, and proceed more

slowly and cautiously. (40) Judges need not deny that theytorture on mere denunciations; for common fame, usually

conjoined with denunciations, is null and invalid since it is

never legitimately proved, and as for the stigmata I wonder

the wise have not yet remarked that they are mostly deceits

of the torturers. (41) Denunciations become known, whenthose denounced have this dilemma to fly or to stay. If

they fly, it is a strong proof of guilt; if they stay, it is the

same, for the demon detains them, as I have often heard

said. (42) Or if one goes to the judge and asks whether

what he hears be true, so that he may prepare defence, this

also is a proof that his conscience is disturbed by his crime.

(43) Whatever he does he incurs common fame, which in a

726 ime DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

year becomes of age and suffices with the denunciations for

torture. (44) It is the same with those who are maliciously

calumniated; if they do not seek justice, their silence is proofof guilt; if they do seek it, this spreads the calumny, suspicionsare aroused and it becomes common fame, (45) And thusthose forced under torture to denounce are prone to namethem. (46) The corollary which follows on all this is that,if this process is to continue, no one is safe, of whatever sex,

fortune, condition or dignity, if he has an enemy or detractor

who can cast on him suspicion of witchcraft. "I have said

above and repeat it, that this pestilence is not to be curedwith fire; but it can be otherwise and with little bloodshed."

Ib., dub. li.

Spee subsequently printed a book, "Guldenes Ttigend-buch," in which he speaks (Th. iii, Kap. 13, 2) most movinglyof the innocent forced to accuse themselves by insufferable

torment. Rightly or wrongly, nothing else will be accepted.

They are tortured so long that they must either confess or

die. If they endure it, it is said that the devil is so strongthat he controls their tongue and they must therefore be

guilty and as hardened impenitents must have a more cruel

death. Leitschuh, p. 15.

The earliest edition which De Backer gives of the" Guldenes

Ttigend-bueh" is 1649. [Spee died in 1635.] It continuedto be printed as late as 1850 and there were also Latin andBohemian editions. De Backer, Bibliotheque des crivains

de la Compagnie de J&us, II, p. 579.

[Father Duhr, who in his revision of DieFs Life of Spee (Duhr thinks it

better written "Spe"), in his Die Stellung der Jesuiten in den deutschen

Hexenprozessen, in his articles in the Jahrbuch der Gorres-Gesellschaft (1900,1905), and in his Geschichte der Jesuiten in den Landern deutscher Zunge,has greatly enlarged and corrected our knowledge of Spee's career, makesit likely that his experience with the witch-trials was gained more largelyin Wesphalia than in Franconia and shows how deep and fierce was the

controversy over them in the Jesuit order itself, so that even fellow Jesuits

sought to put his book upon the Index. In two different libraries at Munichhe has found copies of the Cautio Criminalis in which at end are two extra

printed pages "de Auctore hujus Commentarii" in which a friend confessesto the pious theft of the manuscript and the sending of it "ad Visurgim"(to the Weser, i. e. to Rinteln) for printing.That Father Spee suffered more for his defense of the witches than the

premature graying of his hair is suggested by a book unknown to Mr. Leaand unused by Spec's biographers a book so rare that its only surviving


copy may be that in the White library at Cornell, yet so important to this

history that it should here find brief description. TMs book, printed at

Cologne in 1634 at the author's expense, calls itself Eine amsfuhrliche Instruc-

tion wie in Inquisition Sachen des grewlichen Lasters der Zauberei . . .

zu procediren, and its author was Heinrich von Schultheis, J. U. D., an old

Rhineland judge and investigator in witch cases. His volume, a small

quarto of more than 500 pp., is as pious as it is gruesome. The title-pageis backed by his portrait, beneath which is the prayer "Clementissime Jesu,

iliumina intellectum meum"; and this prayer captions every page of Mstext. Dedicating it to the Prince-Archbishops of Mainz and Cologne, whose

lifelong servant, he says, he has been (first in the Eiehsfeld for many years,then at Cologne for several, and now in Westphalia for nearly twenty),and to the Bishop of Bamberg and Wurzburg and the Bishop of Osnabruck,

Minden, and Verden, who have honored him with tokens of esteem, he

pleads with these prelates for the extirpation of the witches despite the

witch-defenders who now, he says, play the serpent in Eden. Whereforehe has printed this "Instruction how, without danger to the innocent, to

proceed against witchcraft," giving his work the form of a "friendly dia-

logue" between a Freiherr now alive to his duty of dealing with the witches

in his dominions and a learned Doctor (of course Schultheis himself) whoexplains to him the needed procedure. There are brought also into the

dialogue the accused themselves, whose examinationstheir denials and

evasions, their very shrieks under the torture are reproduced in full.

The book is equipped with an approbation from the local representative of

the Holy Inquisition and with another from Peter Ostermann, "Dictator

of the College of Law at Cologne" and now "Aulic Councilor of the Arch-

bishop and Prince-Elector of Mainz/' whose own treatise on the witch-

mark is discussed by Mr. Lea below (p. 889). Yet Schultheis writes largelyin self-defense. Bitterly he complains of the charges against his own con-

duct of witch-cases and he goes into much detail in their refutation. Andwhen the Freiherr tells him (p. 365) how on a recent visit to Paderborn,where the procedure against the witches came up for discussion, his hosts

had made a great to do about a book being written by men of distinction

and dignity, of great wisdom and exceptional piety, concerning the trials

against the witches a book at this time necessary to the Magistrates ofGermany(these words, "de processibus contra sagas liber ad Magistratus Germaniae

hoc tempore necessarius" are borrowed bodily from the title of Spee's book,which must therefore be in Schultheis' hands) and how it was likewise

boasted to him that Father Tanner, the theologian, taught publicly that the

accusations of accomplices were not a sufficient ground for using torture

the Doctor's reply is full of significance. "Gracious Sir, of the strangeand far-reaching things said openly at Paderborn, and even before the

students in the schools, about the inquisitors busied in Germany with the

outrooting of the witches I have heard much, and about the runaway priest

who on account of witchcraft was held in prison (not under me, to be sure,

but under another Commissioner), and who escaped out of the prison andwas staying at Paderborn of the horrible abuse he poured out regardingthe inquisitors and regarding the authorities high and low who were pro-

ceeding against the witches, as likewise of the booklet which is said to be

in preparation. But with these we will not interrupt our discourse." Nor


does he. Spee's name, if he knew it, Schultheis never mentions, nor that his

book may be had in print.1

Father Tanner could not so easily be ignored; for his protests were too

widely known. At first the "Doctor" refuses to believe that a Jesuit can

teach such doubts; for he has himself, he says, apart from Ms law studies,

been a pupil of the Jesuits alone. But, faced with Tanner's own words, he

fills the rest of the book with refutation of them.

But Schultheis's dialogue, too, found refutation; and by an author of

whose book there survives but a single copy. This book is the Hochnotige

. . . Klage der Frommen Unschultigen, in which Hans Loher, the fugi-

tive burgomaster of Rheinbach near Bonn, records in his exile at Amster-

dam his bitter memories of the cruelty he was forced to share when an

Assessor (Scheffen) in the witch-trials. Here one reads often of "the false

witch-judge Heinrich von Schultheis;'7 and the book finally settles into a

continuous answer to his Dialogue ("Gesprach-Buch").Loher's book, too, mentions (often and with high esteem) the Cautio

of Spee, and knows that its author is a Jesuit. But he calls him only "the

author of the Cautio Criminalis" and has of him no personal details;

"For

not I alone," he says (p. 102), "but others too, have written against the

false witch-trials as the venerable sirs of the Society of Jesus, Father

Tanner and the author of the Cautio Criminalis; Father Joannes Freylinck,

Dominican Doctor; Herr Anton Praetorius, of Protestant religion; Herr

Winand Hartmann, Pastor at Rheinbach, two letters; and Herr^

Michel

Stapirius, Pastor at Hirschberg, who in his Brillen-Tractat has written of

twenty-one notable cases of false witch-trials." Had we this lost Brillen-

Tractat, now known to us only through Loher's book, we should doubtless

learn more of the activities of Heinrich von Schultheis; for Hirschberg lies

close to Arnsberg, his later headquarters.

Schultheis's book is mentioned indeed by Grasse (Bibl. Magica, p. 34) ;but

that he spells the name Schultz and misdates the book 1643 shows that all

his knowledge comes from Hauber (Bibl. Magica, iii, pp. 505-7), who like-

wise knows it only at second hand through the almost as rare Drachen-Konig

of Heinrich Rimphof (Rinteln, 1647) and, though he tries to quote the

passage dealing with Spee, misunderstands it. Rimphof, who was Pastor

Primarius of the Cathedral at Verden under the Danish administration

and Superintendent of the duchy's churches for the Swedes, was a bitter

a But what has already been quoted must be given in the writer's own words

(Schultheis, pp. 365 ff.) :

'

'Freyh&rr. Ich hab fur diesem dem Herra Doctor referirt das ich zu Paderborn bey

N. N. N. N. und N. N. gewesen, welche als under andern der Inquisition sachen mel-

dung geschehen, gewaltig auffgeschmtten und gestruntzet, Insignes graves et magnae

prudentiae et singularis pietatis mros scribere de processibus contra sagas librum ad

Magistrate Germaniae hoc tempore necessarium, et guod simttiter mihi valde yacta-

bunde relatum fuerit, Patrem Tannerum Theologum publice profitere denunciationes

complicum . . . ad torquendum . . . non sufficere. . . .

"Doctor. Gnadiger Herr, das zu Paderborn uber die Inquisition, so in Teutsch-

landt in aussreuttung der Hexen gehalten wirdt, seltzame und weiht aussehende

discursen auch bey den Studenten in den schulen offendtlich uber die inguisitioren

[mqmsitoren] gefuhrt werden und das der verlauffener Pfaff, so der Zauberey halber

zwar nicht under meiner, sonder eines andern Commissarii inquisition gefanglich

gesessen, welcher auss der gefangnuss aussgerissen, sich in Paderborn auffgehalten,

und uber die inquisition auch liber hohe und mdere Obrigkeit, welche gegen die

Hexen procediren lassen, grewliche schmehaffte Rede aussgegossen, darvon, wie im

gleichen von dem Buchlein, das underhanden seyn soil, hab ich viel gehort, wir willen

uns aber darmit in unserm discurs nicht auffhalten."


witch-hater and was spurred to the writing of his book by Spec's Cantw and

by its abridgment in German (mentioned by Mr. Lea on p. 697) by the

Swedish field-preacher Johaim Seifert of Ubn. He devotes an appendixto these.

Loher's book has long been known to students of witch-history (see Schel-

tema, Gesch. der Hexenprocesses, 1828, and in Geschiedenis en letterkundig

Mengelwerk, IV, ii, p. 106; Dombuseh, in the Annalen d. hist Vereins furden Niederrkein, xxx (1876); Diefenbach, Der Hexenwahn, 1886, pp. 118-

123; and, in English, the study of Lois Gibbons in Persecution and Liberty ,

N9 Y., 1931, pp. 335-359.) Beside the one printed copy surviving at Loher's

birthplace, Munster-Eifel, there is in the White library at Cornell a MS.copy of this. Of the pictures which Loher has added to his book to showthe cruelty of the tortures reproductions may be found in Duhr's Geschichte

der Jesuiten in den Ldndern dewtscher Zunge (1922-8). BJ

MBTPAKTH, JOHANN MATTHATJS. Christliche Erinnerungan gewaltige Regenten und gewissenhaffte Prddicanten wie das

abscheuliche Laster der Hexerey mil Ernst auszurotten, aber in

Verfolgung desselbigen auff Cantzeln und in Gerichts-Hdusern

sehr bescheidentlich zu handlen sey. Vor Idngsten aus hochdring-enden Ursachen gestellet. (Schleusingen, 1635.)

Dr. Johann Matthaus Meyfarth was a doctor of Holy Writ and professorin the University of Erfurt. A good Lutheran presumably. His book first

appeared in 1635 at Schleusingen, in 1666 at Leipzig, and is included in

Reiche's Unterscbiedliche Schrifften, Magdeburg, 1703, pp. 357-584, to

which page citations refer. (See p. 1415.)He says his book was written four years before (therefore 1631) and sub-

mitted to criticism in many places. On p. 545 he mentions December 10,

1634, as the date of a part. He had been Director of the Casimirische Gym-nasium at Coburg and it is against the judges there that his reproaches are

addressed, and he expresses the belief that in other places the officials are

sufficient and moderate. An allusion to the' ' Catholischen aber lobwurdigen

Mann der die Cautionem Criminalem geschrieben hat" (Vbrrede) shows

that his preface at least is subsequent to the appearance of Spee's book. Also

refers to it in c. 14. He makes frequent use of the work, sometimes without

acknowledgment.The writer impresses me as a deeply religious, clear-sighted man, earnestly

laboring for the welfare of his fellows; and impelled by profound conviction

of the necessity of his admonitions. His book is written in a long-winded

pulpit style.

Meyfarth commences by deprecating intemperate zeal,

however conscientious, on the part of the clergy; it should be

subordinated to deliberation and caution, and the generaltenor indicates how great were the influence and authorityof the clergy at the time in the Protestant districts. He tells

them they should consider whether their zeal is excited over

good works or over disputed questions of theology, jurispru-

dence and philosophy, wrangled over by quarrelsome men.He eloquently reproaches them for self-seeking, for acting out


of improper motives, sparing the worst sinners through influ-

ence of friendship or ambition, for their participation in eating

and drinking and dancing and drolleries. It illustrates impres-

sively their power and their abuse of it when he warns themof what they will experience on the sick-bed for what theyhave done through audacious zeal. Conscience then will not be

silent; the devil will not spare; the fires of hell for soul and

body will not be extinguished. Keiche, Unterschiedliche

Sehrifften, pp. 366-73.

All this is addressed to "Pradicanten und Regenten" (the latter being

the Judges, I have translated Regent by Judge, but it is scarcely soit is

rather the higher authorities whom he holds responsible for the abuses of

their representatives), so this cannot be ascribed merely to the parsonsbut the writer evidently treats the responsibility as equal. He draws no

distinction between them.

If a parchment were stretched across the utmost heavens,the Cherubim and Seraphim could not record on it the sighs

and tears and miseries with which the judges load their con-

sciences. Ib., p. 373.

The first seven chapters are directed to the evils in general arising from

unrighteous zeal. It is not until Chapter 8 that he turns to "Zauberey"and applies to its treatment the results which he has reached in his general

declamation.

When God founds a church, the devil builds a chapel. So

when God places a worthy preacher who labors to punish

grave sins, the devil instals alongside of him one who raises

the wrath of God and the tears of angels. This is clearly

proved by the present course of affairs, when through the

impulse of Satan faithful Christians are driven from homeand country or in countless numbers are burnt under the

pretext of witchcraft. Ib., pp. 391-2.

Witchcraft is one of the most abominable sins for whichthere is no sufficient punishment, for it combines the crimes

of heresy, church-robbery, knavery, lewdness, treason, murder,and sodomy with unclean spirits, the denial of God and hatred

of all creatures in heaven, earth and water. Therefore legists

have classed it with the crimina excepta, which are excluded

from the customary procedure of law. As such beasts workincredible injury, it has been wisely ordained that such

extraordinary wickedness shall be investigated, prosecutedand extirpated in an extraordinary way. Ib., pp. 392-3.

Yet unrighteous zeal sins grossly in the investigation,

prosecution and extirpation of witchcraft. Among the

ITS PEOMOTERS AOT CEITICS 731

people, if a man is rich, or learned, or honored, it is throughsorcery; when anything goes amiss, it is through the Unholden,and this man is a wizard and that woman a witch. Ib., p. 393,

Thus there is hatred and suspicion everywhere in courts

and castles, in churches and schools and between neighbors.

Everyone suspects everyone and openly accuses Mm of

witchcraft. Ib., pp. 393-4.

Then the preacher excites himself in the pulpit accordingto his imagination and spares not. With fiery thunder and

poisonous snake-bites he fancies that he is acquiring eternal

fame, while the crowd before him sits dismayed. He does not

confine himself within his limits, but spurs on the judges with

sharp exhortations. Ib., p. 394.

Urges caution and action only on unimpeachable evidence,instead of rushing on upon mere rumor and suspicion. Ib.,

p. 395.

Old Dr. Georg Agricola, Professor of Canon Law at Heidel-

berg, said that he did not know what were the doings of the

women who were called witches and were burnt and he could

render no judgment in such matters. When he was told

that it was known from their own confessions he replied that

it was erroneous and came from derangement, for theyaffirmed impossible things. Ib., p. 396.

Unrighteous zealots as preachers are not experienced

jurists, but they know what are the doings of the womencalled witches and burnt and they can lightly give the sen-

tence from the pulpit and pass judgment in such cases.

Ib., p. 396.

Does this mean that the pastors took part in the trials?

Many preachers sin when they seek to defend their owndelusion by constantly quoting the words of Moses, "Thoushalt not suffer a witch to live," when they do not understand

what misdeed is referred to in the text. I like the opinionwhich Dr. Meisnerus with Chemnitz, Morlin and many other

Fathers upholds: "Quaedam sunt tantum melancholicae, quaea Satana sic fascinantur, ut se foedus cum eo contraxisse,

haec vel ilia se effecisse opinentur, et postea fateantur, quaetamen omnia merae sunt imaginationes et illusiones, nee

ullam foederis vel actionis veritatem continent. Quaedamsunt realiter foederatae, non tamen maleficae, quae vere

quidem pactum inierunt cum Diabolo, non tamen hominibus

neque jumentis nocuerunt. Quaedam sunt et foederatae et


maleficae, quae non modo pactum cum Satana scienter et

pnidenter pereusserunt ;sed insuper Diabolo relpsa serviunt,

ad gravissima damna hominibus, junientis et segetibus infer-

enda," etc. Ib., pp. 396-7.

There Is a Jo. Meisner who wrote "De apparitlone Daemonum/' Viteb.,

1680, reprinted 1714 (Gra&se, p. 86). A Chr. Chemnitzius wrote "De Fide

Daemonum, Dissertatio,M

Jenae, 1667. But these can scarce be those

alluded to. 1 find nothing about Merlin.

The first of these are not punishable, as it Is disease. For

the second the most of our theologians Indicate mild punish-ment. The third are to be put out of the way (p. 397).

This seems to be a continuation of the opinion of the doctorSj in Meyfart'stranslation which follows after the text.

The evilly zealous preachers call it enforcing the word of

God when they shriek for chains and dungeons, for woodand straw, for fire and powder and brimstone, and denouncethe judges and lawyers who

?from unavoidable causes, hesi-

tate lightly to shed blood. Where is it seen in the Levitieal

or Christian Churches, in the Prophetic or Apostolic Churches,that priests and preachers have clamored and sighed for

blood and property in a matter so doubtful, so dark, so impene-trable to human intelligence? I cannot believe that teachers

desire to uplift the souls who so thirst to burn the bodies.

Ib., pp. 397-8.

You preachers burden yourselves and your children with

the curse of God, the curse of the angels, the curse of the

elect, the curse of men. You monks and priests burden

yourselves and your Orders, your Rules and your brethren,with the curse of God, the curse of the angels, the curse of

the elect, the curse of men. Ib., p. 400.

He then turns upon the secular powers. Who can blame

righteous zeal in extirpating sorcery and witchcraft, but whocan justify unrighteous zeal? Witchcraft is made a crimen

exceptum the judge is bound by no rules and can do as he

pleases. Everyone, except the ignorant people, knows that

witchcraft is the most secret and hidden work. Whoso seeks

to punish it should use the utmost caution and circumspectionin all his acts. When the prosecution of witchcraft once

begins it never remains still, but flies from person to person,from family to family, from village to village, from city to

city. Hourly, daily, weekly and monthly the number growsof accused witches. The torturers and executioners have not

ITS PROMOTERS AND CEITICS 7SS

enough wood from the Thuringian and Franconian forests to

bum them, enough swords and halters to murder them. Howmuch prudence and foresight, then, are required in the begin-

ning and conduct of such cases! Many noble and knightlyand citizen families are disgraced; many honorable Christian

men and women through lying reports are imprisoned andunder insufferable torment are forced to confess what theyhad regarded as mere parrot-chatter. The wickedness of menhas so increased that when they see any one frequent the

preaching, take the sacrament and join in the prayers and

services, they say they must unquestionably be a wizard or

a witch. Ib., pp. 402-3.

Judges seek for new executioners who can invent fresh

tortures or learn those newly invented by others, or used

elsewhere, through which to extort confessions and send mul-

titudes to the place of execution. The Christian judges

betray themselves and show that their object is not to reach

the truth through orderly process of law, but first to condemnand then to find reason for it through inflictions that no wild

beast or stone or log could overcome Ib., p. 406.

Alongside of the executioner Christian judges place Traten-

meister and Hexen-Bichter, like the inquisitors of old. Theygive themselves dignified names, such as Malefiz-Rathe,

Fiscals and Commissioners and seek to be honored and feared;

they swell with pride and boast of their full powers and lord

it at banquets. They control the torturer and can and do

act with the prisoners without instructions or knowledge of

the higher officials. Ib., pp. 406-7.

To sharpen their zeal Christian judges will often order them

paid twelve dollars more or less per head of the prisoners.

Then the judge rests with a quiet conscience while the con-

fession is extorted from morning to night, from Monday till

Wednesday. And sometimes after the first torture it is

repeated within a month. The judge does not trouble him-

self about the utterances; makes no investigation to see

whether the confession agrees with the circumstances of the

person or time or place or other details or whether it is

extorted by insufferable torture. Ib., p. 408.

If anyone dares to raise his voice in defence of the innocent,

however upright and honorable he may be, at once there is

an outcry raised against him. He fears for his wife, his chil-

dren, his friends and for himself and seeks to save his body and


theirs from the gaoler, the executioner?the headsman and

the flames. Ib., p. 409,

From this it appears that the object of the officials is not

to seek the truth, but to find pretext for the gaoler to imprisonand to chain, the Hexenmeister to condemn, the executioner

to torture, bum and behead, the judge to punish and seize

the property. Ib., p. 411.

The preachers excite their regents, the regents urge the

judges, the judges torture the accused, the accused under

the pressure of torture name all they can, the people hear

the utterances and conceive false suspicions as to this personand that, watch their Mends and kindred, their companionsand acquaintances, draw foolish conclusions from the mewingof cats, the chirping of crickets, the lowing of cattle, and are

ready to give evidence under oath. Ib., p. 424.

Through this inquisitorial process, innocent persons accused

of this work by thoughtless witnesses are condemned by blood-

thirsty judges, widowers and widows and orphans are madeand covered with infamy, whole families and houses andraces and communities and villages and cities are exterminated

and laid waste. Ib., p. 427.

There are many of these mistakenly zealous preachers and

judges who imagine that God will not allow the innocent in

this witch matter to be imprisoned, condemned and executed,and fortify themselves with many Bible texts the folly of

which he proceeds to demonstrate. Ib., pp. 427-8.

He quotes Del Rio and Binsfeld as urging this assertion

and Father Tanner as ridiculing it. Ib., p. 429.

This mistaken opinion makes the judges more careless and

conscienceless, the executioner more cruel, the people moreaudacious and the princes and regents in the highest degreecareless and conscienceless, cruel and audacious, so that theytake no care to see that their officials, commissioners,, fiscals,

etc., act with rectitude and skill. Ib., pp. 432-3.

He says that some years earlier he had been inspired withearnest zeal against witchcraft and was vexed when trials

were prolonged and not finished quickly. Ib., p. 433.

After quoting Spee's experience he adds that a well-known

preacher had told him that his experience had been the same.The condemned witches all protested to him their innocenceat the hour of death. Ib., p. 435.

Rulers are to be praised who mercilessly prosecute and

ITS PBOMOTEES AND CBITICS 735

punish, witchcraft when proved by clear and conclusive

evidence of facts. Ib., p. 463.

This chapter (e. 16) is an eloquent argument against the

rulers who refuse to adopt a procedure through which the

innocent may be spared and the guilty alone be convicted.

He disposes of the arguments advanced by those who defendthe existing practice. Ib., pp. 455-64.

He describes the torture through which the innocent are

forced to convict themselves: sleeplessness, where the victim

is kept awake by pricking; feeding on salted meat and

withholding water. As for active tortures, he says that in

Ms youth, through the will of God, he had been present at

various torturings and he would give a thousand dollars if

he could banish it from his memory. There are men who in

this art exceed the spirits of hell. I have seen the limbs forced

asunder, the eyes driven out of the head, the feet torn fromthe legs, the sinews twisted from the joints, the shoulder-

blades wrung from their place, the deep veins swollen, the

superficial veins driven in, the victim now hoisted aloft andnow dropped, now revolved around, head undermost andfeet uppermost. I have seen the executioner flog with the

scourge, and smite with rods, and crush with screws, and load

down with weights, and stick with needles, and bind around

with cords, and burn with brimstone, and baste with oil,

and singe with torches. In short, I can bear witness, I can

describe, I can deplore how the human body is violated

(verode).Ib., pp. 466-7.

Then he proceeds to allude to other tortures (which appar-

ently he has not witnessed) : seats with sharp points, shoes

with pricks, bands with needles, burning with red-hot irons,

burning with powder, burning with hot eggs. In Italy and

Spain torture is limited to an hour, but in Germany it will

last anywhere from a day and a night to four days and four

nights, during which the executioner never ceases Ms work,and the judge never omits to order Mm to renew it, and the

executioner has full power to employ new methods. Ib.,

p. 468.

To illustrate the way in wMch. the innocent were accused

by those under torture he mentions a case in wMch an irre-

proachable Biirgerin was confronted with an old woman whohad been tortured for three days, and who said, "I have never

seen you in the Sabbat, but to end the torture I had to accuse

some one. You came into my mind because, as I was being


led to prison^ you met me and said you would never have

believed it of me. I beg forgiveness, but if I were tortured

again I would accuse you again." She was replaced on the

trestle, repeated the accusation, and the Biirgerin was prose-

cuted. Ib., p. 470.

It often happens that at the last moment the convict desires

to withdraw accusations against the innocent and unburden

her soul of the false-witness to the confessor, but with the

condition of silence; for, if he reports the revocation to the

]udge 9 she will infallibly be tortured again. The confessor

replies that she must relieve the accused of the accusation

or bear the guilt before God, to which she rejoins that the

torture will be insufferable. Ib., pp. 474-5.

The absence of revocations at the scaffold is explained by Spee: those

who revoke their confessions are burnt alive as Impenltents those who

persist as repentant are strangled (Cautio Grim., dub. xl). Meyfart also

says the same (p. 481).

He makes a good point when he says that, as one who con-

fesses under torture is forced to denounce accomplices before

the torture ceases, so if the accused is innocent she must of

necessity accuse the innocent, for she has had no opportunityof knowing the guilty. Ib., p. 479.

He says he knew a Hexen-Richter who forbade his wife to

attend dinners and parties or to accept invitations to mar-

riages and christenings because he had found that throughthese means many men and women had been led into sorcery.He did not recognize that the innocent could scarce denounce

any with whom they were not acquainted. It is in this waythat whole families and races and associations have beenexterminated. -Ib., p. 480.

The incredible tales of the wildest imagination related in

the confessions were held by the judges to be convincingevidence of guilt, for the devil deluded his followers and

produced these illusions. Ib., p. 485.

Meyfart is a believer in diabolical possession in fact hecould scarce be otherwise. -Ib., p. 486.

Torture was not invented by God or the angels, whence heinfers that it is a device of the devil and proceeds to demon-strate its unfitness as a means of discovering truth. Ib.,

pp. 488, sq.

The admissible means of convicting witches of their mis-

deeds is by the evidence of two or three God-fearing impartialwitnesses of what they have seen with their own eyes and can

ITS PKOMOTBHS AND CRITICS 737

substantiate with their oaths. Or the confession of the

accused, freely made and without torture, even if what she

confesses is impossible for man to do, but has its origin in

the devil. Or again the clear act which bears witness againsther. By these three means the judge can convict the accusedthat she is not innocent of the horrible crimes in which she

has participated. Ib., p. 500.

If there is unseasonable weather, cold or hot, wet or dry,frost or snow, hail or thunder or heavy winds any of the

punishments sent by God citizen and peasant attribute it

to witches and there arises a general outcry. This one has

suddenly become sick, therefore he is a wizard; this maidenis beautiful, therefore she is a witch; this one gives alms,therefore he is a wizard; this woman cultivates her fields

prosperously, therefore she is a witch. The villages, the

towns, the cities, the whole land appeal to the authorities.

The princes listen and order the judges and town-councils to

extirpate witchcraft ;these do not know what to do or onwhom

to begin; there come a second and a third command; still theyhesitate; the rabble suspect them. Then comes a celebrated

witch-finder, ignorant and blundering; he eats and drinks of

the best, he parades in the costliest garments and is delightedwith his appointment. In his cups he says to his wife, "Liza,thank God that you belong to me, for I could not be higherthan I am. I hold full power over rich and poor, over youngand old, man and woman, youth and maiden, servant and

maid, citizen and peasant, knight and noble, doctors, licen-

tiates, masters and bachelors. I know how to play the cards,

and you may thank God." Then some fools begin to talk

about Anna, a poor but discreet woman. The council consult

together. Is Anna in good or bad repute? If in bad, she is

a witch; if in good, she is undoubtedly a witch, for witches

always seek to be well thought of. She is arrested; they ask

if she is frightened or not; if yes, she is a witch; if not, she

is certainly a witch, for witches always represent themselves

as innocent. The people clap their hands and rejoice, the

preachers thunder from the pulpit. The council sets detectives

at work for evidence. One man says that last Michaelmas

evening she shook his hand and wished him good night andthe next evening he had a fever, for she bewitched him;another remembers that she praised his black cow and in

three days the cow took sick and died; another that she told

him of a remedy which cured a toothache. In short, what-VOL. II 4:7


ever hatred or ill-will or folly can suggest comes forward.

Meanwhile she lies in chains and when the trial opens she is

refused an advocate, for witchcraft is an excepted case, andif one were granted he would not serve, for he would be called

a protector of witches. She is examined and explains awayall the foolish accusations. Then she is sentenced to torture

and the executioner shaves her from head to foot to remove

any charms that might render her insensible an outrage to

which all are subjected, maids, wives and widows. Then she

is purified with incense and water and marked with crosses

and figures to overcome sorceries (apparently this was donein Protestant as well as in Catholic lands H. C. L.)- Goeson to describe the horrors of the torture-chamber and sayshe has himself seen the accused, while hanging in the

strappado, burnt in the pudenda with a ball of brimstone

and that men and women have all to endure such outrages

(p. 512). The executioner goes on, trying one torture after

another, until he has extracted all that he can, or what satis-

fies the officials, and of course the accused inculpates enoughto satisfy them. Whoever confesses, dies; whoever is silent,

offers his body to the fifth, sixth and seventh torture and then

follows to the place of execution (p. 514). When any one dies

of the effect of torture, the judges report that the devil has

strangled him, and the rulers believe it. When the accused

endures, they assert that it is with the aid of the devil (pp.

515-6). Ib., pp. 506-16.

He turns upon the priests, pastors and preachers, Protes-

tant and Catholic, for their iohumanity when called in to

administer to the condemned. To all protestations of inno-

cence they reply, "If you are innocent, you have no need of

me and I will go whence I came/7 and thus they inflict on the

soul a torture severer than that of the body. Ib., pp. 517-8.

In some places it is the shameful custom to begin withtorture as soon as a prisoner is brought in. No one with senses

thus violently perturbed can collect his thoughts, recall his

acts and answer the questions properly. He should be allowedtime to compose himself, the evidence should be given to

him in writing, so that he can consider the quality of the wit-

nesses and the circumstances of the acts detailed. Ib., p. 521.

He asks why the authorities can believe the absurd, contra-

dictory, incredible and impossible things related in the con-fessions on which the accused are put to death. No Turk

ITS PBOHOTBBS AOT> CBTTICS 739

or Tartar or heathen or barbarian 1ms ever persevered in

such craziness. Ib., p. 528.

While he believes in witchcraft, he classes among the absurd-ities the eating in the Sabbat of dead children, putrid carcasses,

dogs and cats without injury, for physicians tell us that such

things are poisonous. Ib., p. 531.

It is impossible that dead and buried children should beeaten and yet be found uninjured in their graves. Ib., p. 532.

He classes with the ridiculous absurdities the flying on

forks, brooms, etc.-~Ib., p. 532.

Some have confessed that they have in their houses set

before guests rats for field-hares, frogs for thrushes and the

like and they have been duly eaten as such. Ib., p. 532.

Some explain why their absence is not noticed by sayingthat their flying to the Sabbat, eating and drinking there

and returning all takes place in a moment. Ib., p. 533.

While he does not venture absolutely to deny the Sabbat,he presents a series of reasons to show its improbability.

Ib., pp. 534r-7.

How suggestive were the questions put by the executioner

is shown in the fact that (I suppose in Coburg H. C. L.)

nobody had heard of a second baptism by Satan and no oneknew anything about the mass; but, after an executioner fromelsewhere had been called in, the confessions became full of

second baptisms and of sacrilegious masses celebrated in the

Sabbat. Ib., p. 539.

This serves to explain the uniformity of the stories told and also the

fact that the confessions were made public and became the subject of

common talk.

He tells of a judge who spread a report that Belial had

organized a regular camp and court of his subjects, and he

questioned his prisoners under torture about it. He also

speaks of certain theologians, jurists, physicians and philos-

ophers who accept falsities from the extorted confessions as

the so-called insensible witch-mark in which the executioner

sticks pins without their being felt. Ib., p. 540.

He alludes to the belief that witches enter through a crack

through which a gnat could scarce creep. Ib., pp. 540-1.

Yet he adds that the Christian reader will wisely under-

stand that we do not deny all Sabbats, but we show that the

Hexenmeister (judges) cannot tell anything about them. Anintelligent, honest man can say nothing plausible or clear; so


obscure and doubtful, so confused and suspicious is this mis-

chief that it is necessary to proceed with caution. Ib., p. 541.

Many hundred women and some men confess to sexual

intercourse with the demons. It is asked if this is possible.

The celebrated Thummius, on being asked, replied that it is

only an illusion, as we all experience in sleep. Besides the

spirits have no members suitable. The authorities had younggirls who confessed it examined by midwives and they werefound to be virgins. The learned admit that the devil can

deceive the witch and substitute a man in Ms place. Butthe devil through Ms experience may know how to stimulate

the humors of the body so as to deceive the senses and con-

fuse the thoughts. He may make a lusty youth regard an

old, repulsive woman as a young, beautiful girl, and a young,beautiful girl as an old, repulsive woman. Ib., p. 542.

In discussing the confessions of the guilty and innocent,he assumes that there are guilty ones who attend the Sabbat.

He argues that even with the guilty their evidence as to those

whom they have seen in the Sabbat is not admissible, as the

devil can cause illusions. Ib., p. 544.

Apparently this was regarded as sufficient to justify arrest and torture.

He illustrates this with the Witch of Endor, who thoughtshe saw Samuel, but it really was an evil spirit. Ib., pp. 544-6.

From the way in which this is assumed, it would appear that it was the

received belief among German Protestants.

He scolds the Hexenmeister who assail that holy manMartin Luther because he distinctly pronounces the wholebusiness to be an illusion of the devil. Ib., p. 546.

There are many examples to show how the devil can assumethe appearance of innocent persons, not only in witchcraft,but in theft, deceit and murder. Ib., p. 547.

He speaks of a hundred or a thousand innocent persons

tortured, condemned and burnt on this kind of evidence.

Ib., p. 548.

He devotes a chapter (c. 33) to disproving the assertion of

the Catholics that God would not allow the devil to assumethe shape of innocent persons, and he makes merry overtheir accurate knowledge of the secrets of God's justice andthe exact delimitations of the power that he allows the devil

to exercise. Ib., pp. 548 sq.

'''Listen, you money-hungering judges and bloodthirstyfiscals, the apparitions of the devil are lying apparitions.


It is high time the rulers appointed better judges and putfaith in more moderate preachers, and then the devil with

Ms lying apparitions would come to shame." Ib., p. 550.

The witch-dance and the Sabbat can only be performedthrough illusion and they are so performed, since the witches

return from the feast hungry and thirsty and from the dance

sad and melancholy. Ib., p. 552.

To that point he gives credence to their confessions.

In depicting the misery and despair of the innocent when

brought to the stake he says the priests according to their

custom will listen to no assertions of innocence they onlybluster and threaten. When his misery seeks to break forth

it is thrust back by the preacher. Ib., p. 557.

Among those accountable he includes the preachers whostir up these matters in the pulpit and excite the rulers.

Ib., p. 559.

Eloquent adjuration to the evilly-zealous preachers not to

meddle with what they do not understand and not to getexcited over what they hear from girls washing at the foun-

tains, from drunkards in the beer-houses, from lying youthsin the play-grounds, from bloodthirsty judges in the witch-

trials, from light-headed people in the slander-gatherings.

Ib., p. 565.

He calls upon the rulers to forbid the preachers to overstepthe limits of their knowledge and conscience, to order themto teach according to the rules of their office. It is dangerouswhen the rulers are blind and the preachers see wrongly.He tells the judges that, as they boast, they take no bribes

from the accused, but they rob the goods of the tortured and

condemned. Ib., p. 566.

The Hexenmeister are now so crafty and so inspired bySatan that they will not accept an appointment unless theyare granted full power to act as they please, without the

knowledge of the chancellor, the councils and the colleges of

jurists. Ib., p. 567.

He also accuses them of drunkenness and, after cautioning

them as to the quality of witnesses, he adds, where are theyto get proper witnesses but then their office would yield

little income. Ib., p. 568.

It is evident from his appeals to confessors that in Protes-

tant lands, as in Catholic, it was customary for a pastor to

attend the condemned at the last. He warns them not to


urge the confirmation of the extorted confession, for thus

the souls are often disturbed by such ravening wolves. Theconfessor ought to urge them to withdraw accusations against

the innocent. To this the answer is generally, "Oh God!the torture is too great." The confessor should not too

readily believe what the convict says in the secret confession.

Very many have admitted what they never did out of disgust

for life and desire of death. They know themselves to be

shunned by the whole world, that their health is destroyedand their property gone, and that if they withdraw a single

point they will be tortured again and again and a worse con-

fession be extorted. Ib., pp. 569-71.

The devil in Germany has carried his wickedness to such

a point that, when commissioners order the executioner to

proceed gently, he replies audaciously that witchcraft is a

crimen exceptum and that he is free to act as he pleases.

Ib., p. 571.

It would appear that, in some places at least, a protocol or

report of the trial was submitted to a College of Jurists (fre-

quently the faculty of a university) for decision. He tells a

story of an eminent doctor who carelessly read the acta sub-

mitted to him and reported the case incorrectly to the "juris-

tischen Collegium" , whereby a young man was beheaded for

a minor offence. Soon afterwards a headless ghost appearedto him and also demanded, from another who had sat in the

Schoppenstuhl (court of sheriffs or local court), his head, of

which he had been unjustly deprived. Ib., p. 575.

This illustrates the procedure. Thus of course everything

depended upon the drawing up of the protocol, and this is

one of the abuses which he denounces in the procedure. Asan instance, he throws light on the confirmation requiredafter twenty-four hours of all confessions under torture. Heasks what is the meaning of the words, "Margaretha, before

the bench of justice, has of free will confirmed the confession

made under torture." It means that, when after unendurable

torment she confessed, the executioner said to her, "If youintend to deny what you have confessed, tell me now andI will do better. If you deny before the court, you come backto my hands and you will find that I have only played with

you thus far, for I will treat you so that it would draw tears

from a stone." When Margaretha is brought before the

court, she is in fetters and her hands so tied that it bringsthe blood. By her side stand the gaoler and executioner and


behind her armed guards. After the reading of the confession,

the executioner asks her whether she confirms it or not?so

that he may act conformably. And Meyfarth asks if this is

free confession. Ib., p* 423.

OB the whole I am much impressed with the hearty earnestness of this

work, in spite of its florid verbosity and pulpit eloquence.

HBINBICH. De Magicis Actionibus, Dantzig,1649. (Analyzed in Hauber's Bibliotheca Magica, III, pp.

99-412.)

Nieolai, who styles himself Professor in the Gymnasiumof Danzig, in 1649 published his De Magicis Adionibus, con-

sisting of his lectures there. In this he accepts all the beliefs

as to Sabbat , incubi, etc., and styles those who disbelieve

Atheists^ Sadducees, Epicureans, etc. Hauber, III, pp. 99-

109.

He had held disputations on the subject at Wittenberg in

1623. Ib., p. 105. (Cf. Grasse, p. 60, s.v. Martini.)

He tells us that in 1644, at the University of Greifswald,

a student was beheaded for teaching sorcery. Ib., p. 108.

At this time Danzig was Lutheran, but Catholicism was tolerated. I

cannot find that it had a University, but the Jesuits had a college there.

Nicoiai's lectures, however, must have been delivered hi a Protestant

institution.

Nicolai's authorities were Del Rio, Bodin, Remy, the Mal-

leus, etc. Ib., p. 112.

PERREAUD, FEANÔIS.- Demmologie, ou TraitUdes Demonset Sorciers: de leur Puissance et Impuissanee. Geneve, 1653.

Perreaud was minister at Thoiry in the Bailliage de Gex. He speaks of

having been in the ministry for fifty-two years and being now super-

annuated.

He dedicates his book to the authorities of Berne and speaksof their having recently issued an Ordonnance "touchant la

Justice criminelle contre ceux qui sont accuses du crime de

sorcelerie, portant en substance que votre intention est qu7

a

Pavenir on procede en ce fait plus meurement et retenuement,

sans user de precipitation: ains examiner soigneusement les

accusations avec toutes leurs circonstances et dependances,

puis qull s'agit de la vie de rhomme laquelle doit estre bien

pes6e et balancê. . . . considerant, sans doute, qu'il

vaut mieux pardonner & dix coulpables que de faire mourir


un innocent." Not content with this, they further sought the

advice of the theologianskitant de vostre Ville de Berne que

des deputes des cinq Classes de vostre Pays de Vaux(it^would

seem that Berne was suzerain of the Pays de Vaud

H. C. L.) sur les causes de la sorcelerie et des moyens d'y

remedier et sur quelques poincts qui en dependent." (It is

interesting that this region which was so early in the prosecu-

tion of witchcraft was now taking steps towards curbing the

craze. H. C. L.) While Perreaud warmly approves of this,

he speaks of "Sorciers, . . . ies plus abominables Idol-

atres et Apostats qui soyent an monde." Epistre.

In his Address to the Reader he says that there is no more

common talk and discussion in all companies than that of

evil spirits and sorcerers. An Lecteur.

He evidently had studied the subject. He quotes William

of Paris, Bodin, Boguet, Pico della Mirandola, Grillandus,

De Lanere, Montaigne, Weyer and others.

His Chap, i is directed against the incredulous. There

are, he says, a great number of Christians who deny the

existence of evil spirits and assert that all that is told of them

is pure invention to frighten feeble souls. Ib., p. 2.

Chap, ii is devoted to proving that there are sorcerers

and that what is told of them is not simple illusion. Scrip-

ture of course renders this easy.

Chap, iii against the too credulous, who believe muchthat is not true.

Chap, iv against those who too readily believe that sor-

cerers excite tempests whenever they choose. There is no

doubt that evil spirits can excite hail and tempests, but it

does not follow that sorcerers can do so, and both can do only

what God permits. Ib., p. 57.

Chap. v. The first part of the power of demons consists

in their knowing and understanding all things past, present

and future.

Chap, vi explains how they can predict the future from their

knowledge of the past and of the stars. But they are some-

times mistaken.

Chap. vii. The second part of their power consists in

action. And firstly, their illusory effect on the imagination

of sorcerers. The demon thus leads them to believe that theyhave been at the Sabbat, although it is only in imagination,

and on waking they firmly believe all that Satan has sug-

gested. Ibv p. 108.

ITS PROMOTERS AND CEITICS 745

As a proof of this he relates a fact occurring In his own

time, in 1594 or 1595, at Echalens, Pays de Vaud. A bailii

of Berne there invited the minister to dinner. The conver-

sation turned on a sorcerer lying in the prison under sentence

of death and the wonders he had confessed. The bailli went

to the prison and brought out the man who, having resigned

himself to death, confirmed Ms confessions and to provethem said that, if they would give him his box and Ms staff,

he would kill the oxen of a certain neighbor. They were

brought and in the presence of the guests he went throughthe customary ceremonies and fell into a stupor, lasting for

about an hour. On awaking, he said he had been to the oxen

and had killed them; the bailli at once sent to ascertain the

fact and found that the oxen were dead. Perreaud explains

this by saying that Satan had killed the oxen during the

sorcerer's trance. Ib., pp. 110-3.

Similarly the demon makes those subject to the mental

disease known to physicians as lycanthropy believe that

they are changed into wolves and more strangely leads

others to think it. Ib.., pp. 113-5.

Another illusion and popular error is that the souls of

sorcerers can fly to the Sabbat or elsewhere and return to

the body. Death alone separates the soul from the body.

Ib., pp. 115-6.

Another remarkable illusion of the devil is that by wMchsorcerers believe that they can pass into the body through the

smallest openings. TMs is impossible, for no one but the

Creator can change the order of nature. Ib., pp. 116-8.

God permits not only these illusions of the imaginations

of sorcerers but also the imaginations of others, as in the

ligature of married folk: men are led to regard their wives as

Mdeously ugly, and ugly women as beautiful. Ib., p. 118.

If we ask why God permits all this to the devil, the answer

is found in Matt., xii, 43-5. (Curious exegesis. H. C. L.)

Ib., p. 119.

Chap, viii rehearses the illusions of sight and hearing wMchthe devil can produce such as troops of hunters, battles in

the air, the aerial troop of riders and dogs known as that of

King Herod. It was thus Pharaoh's magicians worked their

wonders, and Simon Magus. There are some theologians

who thus explain the Temptation of Christ, while others hold

that it really occurred as related.

Chap. ix. Besides illusions, evil spirits can perform acts,


as when they speak, throw stones, etc. Demons ean appro-

priate bodies; when they take those of the Eving they are

called demoniacs; they can take those of the dead from

their graves and make them move and act as though alive,

and of this he tells grotesque stories with full credence. Theycan also form bodies for themselves of condensed air, and in

all these ways can act. Thus they can sometimes transport

sorcerers to the Sabbat or elsewhere and back home._They

can also work all sorts of disorders in houses (Poltergeist).

Chap. x. Another work of the devil is to cause idolatry,

superstition and atheism. He is responsible for the evil

features of Catholicism.

Chap. xi. But the work most to be dreaded is when they

transform themselves into angels of light, or into Christ

himself, or into the soul of a dead man.

Chap. xii. Remedies against demons and sorcerers. Toconfirm people in idolatry and superstition demons some-

times allow themselves to be apparently overcome by exor-

cisms, the cross, holy water, relics, and the like. Demons are

afraid of swords, by which they can be cut through, although

the parts reunite. A Poltergeist in Toulouse was quieted by

swinging a sword all around a room. But the better defence

is the sword of the spirit and the buckler of faith and the

armor of prayer. But the sovereign remedy is God's commandto Abraltam,

"Walk before me and be perfect" (Gen., xvii, 1).

Whether we have guardian angels is problematical.

The good man does not hint at torture and the stake as remedies.

Appended to the D&nonologie is "L'Antidemon de Mas-

con" in which Perreaud recounts the tribulations which he

suffered while minister at Macon, from September 14, 1612, to

December 22, from a demon who threw stones and household

articles around, without breaking anything or hurting any-

body. He never showed himself but he talked freely, and it

seems that during the visitations almost every evening there

was a gathering in Perreaud's house to talk with him. Hewas good-natured though occasionally he would maliciously

reveal something about one of the company, known only to

him and which he did not care to be publicly known. Per-

reaud had suspicions of his chambermaid, a girl from Bresse

a district where sorcery was rife whose mother had been

accused of sorcery. He thought she might have had a handin it, as a sorceress and from what he says it is probable


that she was concerned in the physical manifestations, thoughshe could scarce have been in the conversations. At the time

there were other houses in Macon similarly affected. In one

case, that of the Sieur Abraham Luliier, after vainly trying

conjurations, recourse was had to "et mesmes quelques pro-cedures judicielles qu

?on a tenues centre lui, comme j?ai s$eu,

en intention de le chasser." L'Antidemon, p. 56.

ANHORX, BAETHOLOMAUS. Magiologia. Christliche War-

nung fur den Aberglauben und Zauberey. Basel, 1674.

Some reference should be made to this preacher of the 2wingHan Church,whose work is a collection of every kind of superstitious story, gatheredfrom all sources and from his own observation and experience and from whathad been communicated to him. Del Rio and Simone Maiolo are large

contributors to it, and from the frequent citations and references to himin Carl Meyer's Der Aberglanbe des MiUelaUers und der nachstfolgenden

Jahrhunderte (Basel, 1884) it is a perfect treasure-house of the grossest

absurdities of witchcraft. In his Preface he alludes to his forty years of

preaching, during which he has had frequent occasion to discourse of these

matters, and he must have been a zealous propagator of the witch-craze.

See Hauber, Bibliotheca Magiea, II, p. 671.

The spirit of the conservative Protestant clergy, which

did so much to perpetuate the witch-craze is illustrated in

Anhorn's Magiologia. It treats "von dem Bund der Zauberer

mit demTeufel; . . . von der Gaueklerey, Verblendungund Verwandelung der Menschen in Thiere: von der Hexen

Gabel-Reiten, Versammlung, Mahlzeiten, Beyschlaf, Wetter-

machen, Leute und Vieh besehadigen" etc. The work was

reprinted in 1675 at Basel under the title "Philo: Magio-

logia, das ist christlicher Bericht von Aberglauben und Zau-

berey.7 '

Grasse, pp. 51, 56.

Anhorn's father and grandfather, like himself, were Evan-

gelical pastors and so was his son. In 1650 the Elector Carl

Ludwig appointed him. inspector at Mossbach in the Pfalz,

but in 1660 he was relieved of the office. He speaks himself

of his forty years' labors in the pulpit. He was thus a repre-

sentative of his class and highly respected. His book is a

perfect treasury of wonders; he accepts without question the

marvels recounted by Del Rio and the orthodox demonologists,

although in his good faith he also tells of fictitious cases and

deceits. As for the devil, however hideous and terrible a

painter may depict him, he is yet more hideous and terrible

than human imagination can* conceive. Hauber, Bibl. Mag.,

II, pp. 671-7.


The popular tendencies of the time may be guessed from

the first stanza of verses addressed to the author and pre-

fixed to the work

"0 Fluch-verfluchter Menschen-Tand!

Das lieber von des Ten!els HandSocht unterweisung abziirennen,

Als von dem Sehopfer, seinem Gott,

Der doeh nichts sucht als uns vom Todt

Und von Verdammniss abzutrennen." Ib., p. 677.

AUTUN, JACQUES D' (piedicateur capucin). Ulncredulite

Sgavante et la Credulite Ignorante: Au Sujet des Magiciens et

Borders. Avecque la Response a un Livre intitule Apologie

pour tous Us Grands Personnages qni out este faussement soup-

gonnes de Magie. Lyon, 1674. (First ed., Lyon, 1671.)

The work begins with a most fulsome dedication to the

Parlement of Dijon. Then the author states the origin of

the book to be a discussion in a group of Mends over the

contrast between a condemnation in 1670 of a witch by the

Parlement and its action some years before in acquitting

fourteen accused of the same crime, which had caused great

excitement among the people. He says that in 1644 there

was similar disorder when a number of persons accused of

sorcery in various towns of Burgundy were acquitted by the

judges. The author deplores the prevalence of unbelief amongthose who consider themselves enlightened and that there are

judges who will believe nothing but what they see, and, when

there is testimony as to anything surprising concerning witch-

craft or sorcery, they hold it as a fable because they were not

present. At the same time he deprecates the overcredulous-

ness of the ignorant and seeks to establish a via media between

scepticism and blind credulity. Hauber, Bibl. Mag., I, pp.

643-5, 650.

LEVENWALD, ADAM VON. Tractdtel von des Teufels List

und Betrug. Salzburg, 1680.

Levenwald, physician and apostolic notary, deplores in

this tractate that no preaching, no punishment, no execu-

tions, no burnings are of help. There are always enoughleft of this deviPs brood to fly through the air with demons,

to outrage God and to molest men and beasts. Hauber,

Bibl. Mag., I, p. 356.

He also believes in incubi and suecubi. Ib.? p. 360.

ITS PHOMOTERS AND CRITICS 749

STKIDTBECKH, CHRISTIAN. Von den Hexen und dem Blind-

niss so sie mit dem Teuffel haben. Frankfurt und Leipzig, 1723.

Tills Is an academical disputation, presented In Latin December 6? 1690,at Leipzig, by Christian Stridtbeekh,, under the presidency of Valentin

Albrecht, and now reprinted in German under the name of the latter, whowas a prolific writer on occult subjects. The Latin title of the 1st ed.

(Leipzig, 1690) was De Saffis, sive foeminis, commerciwn cum malo spiriiu

habentibus, e Christiana pneumatologia des'umpta.

The author piously concludes Ms preface by Invoking the

grace of God for his labors "Gott der Allerhochste, der ein

scharffer Richter und Raeher des Teuffels und aller seiner

Werckzeuge 1st, gebe hierzu seine Gnade!"His first chapter Is devoted to elucidating the philology of

the names of witches Saga 5 Strix, Hexe, etc. displaying a

vast amount of useless learning.His definition of a Hexe is a woman, either maid, wife or

widow, who enters into a terrible pact with the devil, either

directly or through a third party, either by writing signedwith her blood or by a simple promise, for a definite or indefi-

nite time, and through his help divines the future, performsmarvellous things and with God's permission works evil to

men, beasts and harvests, frequents certain devilish assem-

blies and imagines herself hi an accursed way to have inter-

course with the devil and bear children to him. Ib., c. 2, 2.

He speaks afterwards of their Buhler, the devil, 10.

Children borne to Satan, 17.

Admits that there are some men reasons why womenare more numerous. Ib., 4.

God not responsible the devil only partially, for he can-

not coerce the unwilling to submit to him. Ib., 7-8.

Mothers often devote their young daughters to the devil

so girls of ten or twelve vears are skilled in witchcraft.

Ib., 9.

When such mothers hear from their Buhler,the devil, that

their children refuse to remain hi the pact, they have no

scruple in encompassing their death by violence or fraud.

Mothers kill their new-born infants and offer them as sacri-

fices to the devil, who delights in such victims. Ib., 10.

Cites stories from Del Rio and Grillandi also Medea.

Ib., 12.

Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar had witches for wives,

through whom this evil practice spread wider and wider.

Ib., 13.


Story of Frotho, the mythical king of Denmark, killed by

a witch in the form of a cow who pierced Mm with her horn.

Ib., 14.

Midwives are especial favorites of the devil and great

numbers of them go to hell on account of their murdering

infants either before or at birth, sticking needles in the brains.

We could bring as examples many midwives burnt here within

a few years, but it suffices to quote the Malleus as to two of

Basel, one of whom destroyed four hundred infants and the

other a countless number. And in the last century a Count

of Upper Germany burnt eight who had killed one hundred

and forty. Ib., 16.

He says Ms hair stands on end as he relates from the cele-

brated Dannhauerus how in 1650 an old serving-woman

named Maria Sprawelin gave to a noble and pious child

ten years old a poisoned nut received from her hellish Buhler.

The girl ate only a small piece and threw the rest away, but

suffered tortures. Then there was Anna Hafnerin, who bore

three sons to Satan. Ib., 17.

The devil receives no one into his society without an oath

of allegiance and compact. Pact is either express or tacit.

In express pact the witch renounces, by word or writing, God,

Christ and the Holy Ghost. This may be done publicly or

privately publicly with great solemnity in the Sabbat, like

a king on his throne privately, with the oath of allegiance, but

without solemnity. Tacit pact is a simple promise to serve

the devil, but without renouncing Christ. The devil brands

his subjects with a mark, so that they shall observe their

oath. Ib., 18.

Some say that the devil marks only those who he fears

will leave his service, but it seems to me more probable that

there are no exceptions. These marks are insensible and

bloodless when a needle is thrust in deeply. Petrus Gregorius

in Ms Syntagma Juris, lib. xxxiv, c. 21, relates that in Toulouse

in 1577 more than four hundred witches were burnt or other-

wise executed and that every one bore a mark. Ib., 19.

Gohausen, he says, instances a girl of nine entering into

pact; and Carpzov a woman named Cogelmarsche who did it

at eighty-six. Ib., 20.

The written compact is signed by both parties. Ib., 21.

Details as to these writings. Conditions on both sides are

set forth what the devil is to do for the witch, while the


witch promises after a specified number of years to give himher body and soul for ever. Ib., 23.

What power of divination witches have arises from infor-

mation given by the devil. Ib., 24.

Witches can do wonderful things but not work miracles,for the devil has not power for this. Ib., 25.

Transformation into dogs, cats, wolves, etc., is impossibleto the devil but he makes them believe that they are so

transformed. Ib.,, 26.

Power of the devil to work irreparable damage by tempestsand droughts and his teaching witches to do it by permissionof God. But for this limitation he would destroy the world.

Ib., 27-8.

The devil works through witches they bring tempestsand drive them away, they cause diseases and cure themcases. Ib., 29.

They spare neither age nor youth. Out of the cooked bodies

of infants they make the ointment with which they cause

disease. Ib., 30.

They injure adults, especially by causing impotence, evenat weddings. Casuists tell of five ways for this. Commonlythey fasten a lock with conjurations during the marriageceremony and then throw it with the key into water or

tie knots, which is called Nestel-kniipffen-the others,

modesty forbids me to mention. Ib., 31.

Sometimes they do this to both parties, but more com-

monly to the man. They cannot make it perpetual, but onlyfor as long as God permits, and when this time has passedthe spell is removed. The witch, however, can remove it at

any time. Ib., 32.

Queer conception of the comparative power of God and witch.

They can injure by their looks though I think this is

rather from the poisonous vapor of their mouth and eyes,and the fear of the person looked at contributes to it. Ib.,

33.

I have elsewhere from Pliny, vii, 2, an account of the Illyrians who kill

with their eyes. Aulus Gellius (Noc. Att., ix, 4) has the same, but treats

it as a fable of the Greeks.

The story, this time of a carpenter, attacked by great cats

and wounding them, and it is afterwards found that he hadwounded witches, is told as occurring in the vicinity of Strass-

burg. Ib., 34.


Tells from the Malleus how a witch killed twenty-threehorses of a Regensburg merchant by putting a powder underthe stable threshold. Also they render cows useless by steal-

ing their milk and making them abort. Ib., 35.

Tells of a witch, burnt at Wolmerstadt in 1653, that she

confessed she had often sought to inflict dangerous disease onthe pastor of Neustadt, but had been unable, as it was not

God's will. Who does not know that they are unable to

injure the judges who condemn them? And it appears that

God bestows this special privilege on judges so that they can

fearlessly do justice. So he does this customarily with other

pious men, and, when it pleases him, the witches cannot

injure cattle. Ib., 36.

It is a difficult and widely discussed question whether

witches are really carried by the devil to their assemblies.

We will make the whole thing clear with two propositionssometimes it is true and sometimes only apparent. It is

only apparent when she anoints herself with the devilish

unguent and the devil through deep and ecstatic dreamsmakes her believe that she flies

,feasts and dances. Who can

doubt that the devil has the power to assume a corporeal

body and perform these things? Cites cases of Habakkukand Simon Magus. Luther, in his Tischreden, tells of a priest

in 1217 who was carried to celebrate a mass of the Nativity in

three towns. We have no reason to doubt it, for we havethe confessions of the witches. Ib., 37.

The apparent proposition is proved by the case cited byLuther, from Joh. v. Keisersberg, of the witch who to con-

vince a preacher of the truth of the flight anointed herself

and mounted a pitchfork, when she fell over in a deep slumberand tossing around fell to the floor and wounded her head.

So Carpzov tells of one who in torture confessed to attendingthe Sabbat at an hour when her husband swore she was in

bed with him. Ib., 38.

As for the place, a man executed at Stablo in 1603 said that

in Holland it was in the Utrecht territory. Here we have the

Blocksberg otherwise Brocken. In general it is in desert

places forests, mountain tops, or caves. Ib., 40.

Now we come to the last and most shameful question, as

to the godless intercourse with the devil, which some assert

to be actual and others more rightly deny. Gives the physicalreasons for the impossibility. Disposes of Gen., vi, 4, bysuggestion that the sons of the patriarchs had to do with the

ITS PROMOTERS AND CKITICS 753

daughters of the godless. Adopts the theory of his preceptor,Valentin Albrecht, that the devil instantly substitutes a

sorcerer for himself and thus deceives the witch. Ib., 41.

Makes no allusion to the theory of Aquinas.

Concludes this chapter with a story from Johann Bissel,

S.J., Ruinarum IllustriumDecad., ii, p. 277 (Anibergae, 1657) ?

who relates that twenty-five years before he had known a

witch, executed in August, who had stipulated with the devil

that he would make her a goddess, so the next night he madeher appear to her accomplices with a halo around her headand her whole body shining with light. Ib., 43.

The third chapter presents his conclusions Consecturia.

First that there are in fact witches. Has nothing specialto allege. Dismisses without argument the opponentsPietro di Abano, Abraham Palinghus, Weyer and Cornelius

Agrippa, his master, "der zu seiner Zeit der grdste Hexen-meister gewesen 1st." Ib., c. 3, consect. 1.

Second. The Canon Law wrongly denies the Sabbat in

Cap. EpiseopL It is sufficiently disproved by what is stated

above. Del Rio shows that it is of no authority and the

Roman canonists strive in vain to reconcile it with the utter-

ances of Innocent VI [VIII], Julius II, Adrian VI and ClementVII. Ib., consect. 2.

Third. It is nowise permissible to seek help from the

devil advice, health and the like even without pact, or to

accept proffered service. Ib., consect. 3.

Fourth. Some papists in evil wise hold the mother of

blessed Luther to have been a witch and his father the devil.

Fontanus, Gretserus, Cochlaeus and Genebrardus (Gilbert

Genebrard, Professor of Hebrew in Paris, 1597) and others

have not scrupled to assert this. Some, like Serarius, say the

connection occurred in the bath; others, as Weyer, in Luther's

house. But others, as Spondanus, say that he was born of a

man. Ib., consect. 4.

Spondanus in fact says: "Quod autem ex incubo natum nonnulli dixere,

potuit id quidem in suspicionem induci ex commercio quod habuisse cumdiabolo dicitur: cum et ipsemet non semel in suis scriptis testatus sit se

probe cognitum habere diabolum nee parum salis cum eo comedisse. Verumut non etiam matrem ejus in crimen vocemus, natus sit ex homine, sicut et

caeteri." "But that he is none the less culpable is shown by the diabolic

acts which he is known to have committed, for we do not doubt that men

may commit crimes which the devil would not dare" (Spondanus, Annal.

Eccles., ann. 1517, n. 13).

VOL. II 4:8


Fifthly. Defends Joan of Arc from the accusation of

witchcraft. Ib., conseet. 5.

Sixthly. Defends from the stigma of being a witch the

furious woman who made Attila in 454 retreat from the

crossing of the Lech in the neighborhood of Augsburg byshouting thrice to him

? "Back, Attila!" Ib., consect. 6.

B. WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW.

I. THE GERMAN JURISTS.

DAMHOUDER, JOSSE. Praxis Rerum Criminalium* Ant-

verpiae, 1601. (First ed.?1554. Written probably c. 1540.)

Damhouder was one of the leading jurists of Ms day and a member of

the council of Charles V. He probably had a hand in drawing up the

Carolina.

He had implicit faith, in the power and wickedness of

witches. They are the cause of infinite evils and calamities

to men and beasts. They can kill men by their simple incan-

tations. They worship the devil, are in strict alliance withKim and obey his commands. When they hate anyone theydevote themselves to Ms injury and either slay him or destroyhis cattle, harvests, vineyards and fruits. No mercy is to be

shown to them, but they are to be exterminated. Ib., c. 61,

nn. 90, 91, 105, 119, 125, 127, 135, 137.

The space which he devotes to the subject, in a manual of practice, showsthe importance it assumed. He does not discuss the question of the Cap.Episcopi, but the references he makes to Grillandus show that he acceptedthe latter's views.

The sorcerer homicide is to be burnt and homicide com-

prises ligatures, drying the milk, and other maleficia. Ib.,

c. 73, nn. 1, 2.

The great authority of Damhouder was thrown upon the side of extendingthe belief in the reality and atrocity of sorcery and witchcraft, not only as

a magistrate of Bruges, but hi his Praxis Rerum Criminalium, which for

more than half a century was a leading manual of criminal jurisprudence.First in his list of capital crimes stands that of laesa Majestas divina,which he declares to be the greatest of all crimes (c. 61, n. 1). Conspicuousamong these (heresy, blasphemy, etc.) comes sorcery.

"Sortilegium est quaedam superstitio illusoria et summe

noxia, qua utitur homo Daemonis ministerio. . . . Etideo sortilegi, divinatores et malefici, hanc diabolicam super-

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAB LAW 755

stitlonem professi, dicuiitur hostes humanae salutis, et human!generis inimici credendi sunt." Ib., c. 61, nn. 80, 81 (p. 132).He takes care to specify that sortilegimn is meant "pro

omni specie superstitiosa, sive ea maiefica5 sive amatoria, sive

divinatoria fuerit." Ib., n. 84.

If love potions produce death, even when given "bonozelo," it is to be punished with death. Ik, n. 88 (p. 133).

Divination is either a manifest or tacit invocation of

demons. Ib., n. 87.

"Tertia sortilegiorum species est venefica, sive nialefica,

quae caeteris multis partibus est perniciosior, eoque magi.s

execranda, per quam infinita mala suppullulant : tot infirmi-

tates: tarn varii niorbi: tot calamitates, hmnana pariter ac

brutorum corpora excamificantur, adeo ut ad durissimammortem non rara viventes adigantur, hi citius, illi vero tardius.

. . . Hinc sit quod lex vocat istos humani generis inimi-

cos, ut qui semper tendunt ad hominum internicionem." (All

of which is by divine permission H.C.L.) Ib., n. 90 (p. 134).

There are some who by incantations alone can cause death

without poison, according to S. Augustin, Civ. Dei, lib. x

(Cannot identify this H. C. L.), which is inserted in Caus.

xxvi, q. 5, cap. 14, 1. Ib., n. 91.

This is so and is credited to Augustin: "Magi sunt qui vulgo malefici

ob facinoruin magnitudineni nuncupantur. Hi pennissu Dei elementa

concutiunt, turbant mentes hominum minus confidentium in Deo, ac sine

ullo veneni haustu violentia tantum carminis interimunt" (Corp. Jur. Can.).

There are some who can remove these pollutiones magicaeand restore to health, but it is by the same arts and by the

operation of the demon, for otherwise it cannot be done.

Ib., nn. 91-4.

What conception can they have had of divine wisdom and mercy, whenGod provided no remedy for what he had permitted except by recourse to

the same sinful arts?

There are even natural ills as by poison incurable byhuman means, but speedily removable by the aid of demons,whose knowledge of natural secrets is much greater than that

of men and is only communicated by them to sorcerers. This

is not prohibited by the civil law, but is by the canon law.

Ib., nn. 95-8 (p. 135).

Goes on with a long description of the various kinds of

divination, for which he refers to Gratian, C. xxvi, q. 5, c. 14

(in the Decretum ascribed to St. Augustin). It is all the work


of the demon, whenceajus civile hos utriusque artis magistros,

scilicet amatoria sortilegia perpetrantes et venefiea, aequi-

paraverit, non minus in facto quam in poenis: pan supplicio

in ainbos animadvertendum decemens." But whether the

canon kw does this he thinks best to pass over in silence.

There are also incantatores who affect men's minds with

the force of their charms alone, who are mostly to be classed

with the third kind, as also are some of the first kind (ama-

toria) who make images of wax or fresh chalk and bum themin the fire or pierce them with needles. Necromancers also

may come in the third class.

In this vast field of sorcery we meet with much that is

most loathsome, wherefore I must go more deeply into it for

the benefit of judges. Ib., n. 108 (pp. 136-7).

There are two kinds of sorcery tacit and express. Tacit

is when one is bound to another under pledge to obey Mm in

everything, renouncing the Catholic faith and sacrifices and

adoring him as an idol and doing everything in his name.

This is called tacit because there is no pact with the demon,but only with the demon's agent. It is accompanied with

the same ceremonies as in express pact and the demon places

himself at the service of the sorcerer as though he had direct

pact. In support of this he cites some canons of Gratian which

have no special bearing. Ib., nn. 110-1 (p. 137).

Then there is the express profession, made direct with the

demon, and this is of two kinds, public and private. Theformer is solemnly made with the demon sitting on the throne

of his majesty, after the manner of princes, in the generalassemblies of witches, sorcerers and necromancers, held at

night in places and hours indicated by him, when the pro-fession is made in the sight of all. The private profession is

made with oath and express pact, without solemnities or

presence of others; but sometimes this is made with the samekind of observances as those of a monk entering a religious

order renouncing God and the sacraments and the faith

and pledging with the strictest oaths implicit obedience to

the demon, making themselves his subjects and vassals, fromwhich arises such close friendship that men (with God's per-

mission) do the foulest things, too evil to relate. Those whomake express profession, worship the demon with solemn sacri-

fices and ceremonies, with lights and prayers like those with

which we worship Christ. It is thus that his pride showsitself. As of old he desired to equal himself to God, so still he

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW 757

seeks to obtain from man adoration similar to that paid to

God, and those who render it are so dear to him that theyimmediately obtain all that they ask of biro., provided it is in

Ms power and is permitted by God. If it is not, he still prom-ises it to them, and thus by these illusions they are miserablydeceived. The maleficia which they do are worse than thoseof other magicians, for the devil especially seeks to gratifythose from whom he receives the greatest honor. Ib., nn.112-5 (pp. 137-8).Where do these sorcerers meet? CMefly in forests, Mdden

caves, places afar from men, ruined castles and deserts, andalways by night, as in Cap. Episeopi, and this for a doublereason. Firstly, because the devil since his fall has beendark and obscure, hating the light, performing works of dark-ness in the obscurest places and times. Ib., nn. 118-22

(p. 139).The second reason is that in daylight their wickedness

might be seen and reported to the courts and they would be

captured and punished; so they seek the night and the afore-

said places so as not to be disturbed see Can. Episeopi.Ib., n. 123.

What things, signs, instruments, mixtures, compositions,ligatures and characters do sorcerers use? I reply that theyare enumerated to satiety by Paulus Grillandus; the matteris not less confused than profuse. Ib., n. 124.

Finally it is asked why, when arrested, they do not getthemselves liberated by the demon and thus escape death?Some curious judges have endeavored by experiment to ascer-

tain this, but in vain and with supreme risk of their salva-

tion, wherefore this temerity is to be avoided. But the ques-tion is easily answered if we examine carefully the writingsof the doctors, for two causes are to be found in the often

cited Can. Nee mirum (Caus. xxvi, q. 5, c. 14, attributed to

Augustin, De Civ. Dei). The first is that the demon, whose

object is the perdition of souls, desires their speedy deathbefore they escape from his toils. (As if he did not know that

they could gain purgatory by death-bed confession and

repentance. H. C. L.) Ib., nn. 125-6 (pp. 139-40).The second is that God does not permit the demon to exer-

cise his powers, so that judges and officials of minds easily

seduced may not be led to imitate them on seeing that theyso easily escape with impunity, as stated by St. Augustinand St. Thomas for otherwise the people would think that

75S THE DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

the demon was more powerful than God and the whole Chris-

tian faith would be ruined. Ib., n. 127.

Dilates at much length on the omnipotence of God and

that whatever sorcerers do with the help of demons is solely

bj God's permission, as asserted by all the doctors. Ib.,

nn. 128-32 (pp. 140-1).

Sorceresses who have pact with demons receive from them,

certain notes and symbolical signs by which the demons are

summoned and appear. But in these operations there is

nothing more efficacious than the foolish credulity of the

women, for the firmer the faith they have in them, the speedier

the results they obtain, and when they are excited to fury the

demons fly to serve them. Thus Plato says the Bacchantes

when maddened extract honey and milk from rivers, which

they cannot do when in their senses; and similarly we have

found that sorceresses, in the time of their furies, can extract

butter by agitating the water of wells and rivers, which at

other times they cannot do. So, when burning with hate for

any one, they can destroy him or damage Ms cattle, fields,

vineyards and harvests, while another, who is not bound by

pact to the demons, can very rarely effect this, even if he has

the materials and knows the methods, for the demons do not

count Mm among their familiars and initiates. Ib., n. 136

(p. 141).

How much evil is wrought everywhere by tMs most perni-

cious sect is known of all men. These most pernicious men,full of lies and superstitions, do more harm than the goodcan offset with their piety and prayers. Unless God prevents

they injure the Christian Republic more than the others

benefit it. Therefore they are nowhere to be tolerated, but

are rather to be completely removed, as God has commanded,Exod. xxii, and Deut. xii, "Maleficos non patieris vivere."

Ib., nn. 136-7 (p. 142).

They circulate books filled with foulness, impiety and men-

dacity, in the names of ancient sages and philosophers, bywhich they endeavor to drag others into the same pit with

themselves. They promise great and incredible things; that

they can coerce demons with signs, conjurations, statues,

images, exorcisms and the rest and confine them in circles,

rings and crystals, so that they will be visible and respondto questions. They promise all tMs, but there are few indeed

in these times whom the malignant spirits will obey, for Goddoes not permit it. (How then can they work such evil?


E. C. L.) There is another class equally to be shunned, whoenter Into no compacts with demons, but observe days andauguries and use amulets. Also priests who say mass overunconsecrated hosts, offer wicked oblations in the mass orfoul and evil prayers for wrongful ends, who are to be degradedand deprived of their benefices. Ib., n. 138.

I could here explain the cause why women are more fit

than men for making malefida, and virgins rather than cor-

ruptae; also why there are more maleficae than malefid. ButI refer the reader to the remarkable tract of D. Martin deAries and to the most useful book of Paulus Grillandus. I

could also enumerate the many genera of demons and their

several grades and places; for some are aerial, others fiery,

others watery, others terrestrial, others subterranean, others

of darkness, having names appropriate to the places they are

addicted to or to the nature of their malice; but for lack of

space I abstain. Ib.?n. 142.

But you must bear in mind that all the limited power of

sorceresses is conceded by God, so that when he permits theycan harm, but without his permission they can do nothing.Those who desire further knowledge I refer to Paulus Gril-

landus, Troilus Malvetius, Martinus de Aries ("in suo insigniet exquisitissimo tractatu de superstitionibus"), Johannes

Franciscus, the Malleus Maleficarum and Johannes Tritten-

hemius in his Lib. 8 Quaestionum, whose authority is by all

accepted as law, although it is no way confirmed by law. -

Ib., n. 143 (p. 143).

It is noteworthy that in all this there is no special reference to the Sabbatnor to the question of evidence as to those seen there nor is there anydiscussion as to punishment, though in the next chapter on laesa Majestas

kumana, attempts on rulers, he says:

"Quaecunque autem mulieres hujusmodi audent comxnit-

tere crimen aut veneno aut incantationibus gravius puniendisunt quam viri et semper igni consumendae." Ib., c. 62,

n. 14 (p. 145).

And again:"Whosoever kills anyone by sorcery or incanta-

tions is to be consumed with fire; for this is not simply homi-

cide, but stained with sorcery, for which he is condemned to

burning. So whoever by sorcery impedes the generative

power of man or woman, or dries up her milk, whether byfood or drink or means external to the body, is to be reckoned

a homicide." (In this he cites various authorities but not the


Car0B.na. Carolina quoted as to Eucharist at execution

see below. H. C. L.) Ib; ,

c. 73 (pp. 172-3).

After guilt of sorcery is sufficiently proved or confessed,

the Praetor justitiae (Fiscal?) demands of the magistrates

justice according to the laws of God and of the prince. Thenthe magistrates assemble and consider all details and circum-

stances and consult, maturely and sorrowfully, and pronouncea punishment commensurate with the guilty after hearing the

opinions of all. In some places the sentence is pronouncedthe day before the sorcerer is to be punished, or at least it

is agreed upon. (The Carolina, c. 79, requires three daysbetween rendering sentence and execution, to give the con-

vict time for repentance. -H. C. L.) The next day, when the

sentence is capital, the sorcerer is brought before the magis-

trates, either in public or private, and the sentence is pro-nounced. In other places the sentence is uttered on the dayof execution, and the custom of the place is to be observed.

It is almost universally conceded that the convict whom they

deprive of life shall be saved as to spiritual life and be urgedto repent and lifted to hope of pardon, so a priest is sent to

him to urge him to confess and repent and appeal to divine

mercy and piously lead Mm to the place of execution. For

this he should dwell on the multitude and enormity of his

sins and his great ingratitude to God, and point out that divine

mercy has placed Mm in the hands of justice and not allowed

him to be suddenly slain in quarrel, thus taking consideration

of his salvation and giving him opportunity for contrition,

for which great benefit he should render heartfelt thanks.

And as satisfaction is a part of repentance he should undergohis punishment with a willing mind, trusting in resurrection

with a glorious body and eternal life. Then at the place of

execution admonish him to ask, in a loud voice, God's

pardon for those whom he had injured in body or goods andfor the justice itself, which will be for him a large part of

satisfaction. Then he should implore the prayers and suffragesof all present and prepare himself for death, reciting the

Paternoster, the Angelical Salutation, the symbol of faith,

and, invoking the Virgin, his guardian angel and all saints,

commend his soul to God. To do all this more easily a small

crucifix should be placed in his hands. This laudable and

pious custom I have seen always diligently observed in our

city of Bruges. It is customarily asked whether communionbe administered if asked for a question answered in the


Carolina, art. 79? where communion is conceded to convicts

asking for it, and also by the canon lawa custom observedin most of the cities of the Empire. Ib., c. 152, nn. 1-4

(pp. 505-7).All this I deem better than the practice of leading the con-

vict to execution with more than military ceremony, and I

especially disapprove the custom of making the convict drunkso that he may feel less dread of death- an abuse forbiddenin art. 79 of the Carolina, which also in art. 103 abrogatesthe abuse of some confessors who in mistaken piety lead theconvict to revoke his confession, thus giving occasion to

others of sinning more freely. Ib., nn. 5-6 (p. 507).

I have condensed as much as possible an exceedingly long and piousdiscussion as to all this, filled with Scripture textsshowing the Importanceattached to saving the convict's soul.

Then follows an argument to prove that a confessor is

bound to respect the seal, both as to confession before arrest

and after, showing that in the terror excited by witchcraftthere was an effort made to break the seal. Ib., nn. 7-8

(p. 508).

The views held at this period by an eminent jurist have seemed to meto throw so much light on the opinion of intelligent and cultured men as

to sorcery that I have given them thus at length, thinking that, if spaceallowed, it might be well to embody them as a whole.

GODEIMANN, JOHANN GEOHG. De Magis, Veneficis et

Lamiis recte cognoscendis et puniendis. Hie accessit ad Magis-tratum Clarissimi et Celeberrimi J. C. D. Johannis Althusii

Admonitio. Francofurti, 1591. (Also editions of Francofurti,

1601, and Norebergae, 1696.)

Godelmann was a legist and the dedication of his book to Christian IVof Denmark shows him to be a Protestant.

The Admonitio of Dr. Althaus is printed at the end of

lib. i. Althaus begins by pointing out that the question de

Maleficis, Sagis et Lamiis is arduous, controverted and peril-

ous, and he solemnly warns judges that it does not concern

questions of property, in which error can be rectified, but the

lives and honor and reputation of men, where a mistake is

irreparable. Nor are you to think that you are dealing with

crazy old women, it is with the devil, the craftiest enemy of

the human race, who has a thousand arts of deception andleaves not a stone unturned to divert you from the right way.


He crazes men, he fills melancholy old women with imagina-

tions, with soporiferous unguents he brings sleep and phan-

tasms, he deludes men with his tricks so that they think they

do things which spring from natural causes or from Ms own

action, and deludes them into thinking things are done which

are not or which could not be done by man or even by the

devil himself. I ask whether we can believe that things are

done by them or by the devil when they confess that they

are transformed into wolves, cats or other beasts, or that

they have transferred crops, passed through cracks, raised

the" dead or done other things contrary to human nature or

human strength. (Now this is all very impressive; but, when

he comes to detail, the fatal weakness of admitting the powerof the devil and the tacit or express pact with him reduces

Ms plea to nothing and leaves the witch as helpless as ever

before the judge. H. C. L.) She confesses, he says, to excit-

ing tempests, hail, wind, frosts; all this is admittedly beyond

human power, but all confess it and the facts confirm it.

What then is to be done? The demon can do it through

natural causes and we understand that she does it through

tacit or express pact with him. Is she therefore to be excused?

Nay, rather is she to be most diligently investigated and pun-

ished. It is the same when they confess to rendering men

impotent, to causing or curing diseases immedicable by physi-

cians, to flying through the air to the most remote places, to

have made serpents, frogs and other small animals, to have

produced the spectres of the dead, to have represented the

images of lost or stolen things in mirrors, crystals, water,

rings and the like, and to have compelled serpents to part

with their venom or rather the devil to have done this and

similar execrable tMngs. Witches and diviners cannot do

these tMngs, it is true, by themselves, but they do it with

the help of the devil. Goes on to describe in detail the

enormous powers of the devil, "qui Deus seculi hujus est,

princeps mundi, potestas aeris et dominus rectorque mundi,

in quo videlicet regnum suum habet." And when he can do

so much more, with divine permission, why should he not

do it at the invocation of Ms maleficif He has the powerand I think the will is not wanting. And these are the pen-

alties with wMch God wishes to punish the impiety of man.

Thus is it to be resolved when witches confess to doing what

is beyond their powers. Finally all circumstances and urgent

conjectures concur as to the author of witchcrafts, so that it


amounts to a certain degree of proof against those who donot confess, so that the case must be closely examined. I

hold that the Judge may be certain that these are not phan-tasms or deceits of the devil, as most frequently are thosewhich witches confess as to their assemblies, transportation,

feasting, dancing and monstrous lusts. From all this youcan understand the acts of witches, but perhaps you maydoubt as to the true mode of operation, especially in those

things which exceed human powers* Judicial records showthat sometimes they use things which can naturally producethe effect : at others, signs, words and characters of no power.Whence then, you say, comes the operation in the latter

case? I think from tacit or express pact with the demoninvoked to produce it. Therefore I have truly called this anarduous and perilous question calling for circumspection and

prudence in the judge. Therefore read what D. Godelmannhas learnedly and accurately set forth in his second and third

books, and especially as to the difference "inter veneficos,

incantatores, praestigiatores, ariolos et lamias, sagas seu

striges, quae ab aliis hucusque magno errore confusa fuere."

Venefici act with poisons. Incantatores with certain words or

adjuration or other ceremonies bring injury or death to menand beasts or damage to inanimate things. Praestigiatores

bring the shadows of things and form false appearances so

that they deceive the sight and other senses. Arioli divine

and endeavor to reveal hidden things by many methods."Lamiae ludis, jocis, colloquio, familiaritate, commessationi-

bus, choreis, transportation et Venere nefando cum Diabolo

utuntur." All agree in this that whatever they do they do

with the aid of the devil, with whom for that object theyhave made express or tacit pact, and have devoted their

souls and bodies to his service. The witch may also be a

venefica and incantatrix, but the concurrence and multitude

of crimes does not diminish the punishment. All this has

Godelmann observed and set forth most justly. I wish indeed

that judges would observe these distinctions. (With whatresult? All would come to the same end. H. C. L.) I wish

also they would consider how deceitful and perilous is the

water ordeal, which our author justly calls mad (furiosum),

prohibited of old by Councils, as he shows in lib. iii. "At,

inquis, si prohibition fuit, quomodo hodie in plurimis locis

robur et fidem accepit? quomodo in consuetudinem venit?"

Goes on to denounce it as condemning the innocent and

764 TEE DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

saving the guilty, for the devil seeks to protect them in every

way and prolong their evil lives. Winds up by iirgmg the

use of GcKlelmann's book as solving aM arduous questions.

Althaus, Admonitio (Godelmann, De Magis, lib. i ad calcem).

This is a curious piece of self-deception. He admits everything that

the demonologists assert and then seems to think that some unmeaning

distinctions will save the innocent.

Godelmann's book is in the shape of lectures on cc. 109, 43

and 21 of the Carolina, the first of which decrees death byfire to those who injure or kill by magic arts and poisons,

while magic not causing injury is to be punished according

to circumstances;due advice and counsel being sought. The

second says that threats of sorcery followed by effects, or

use of prohibited arts or general fame of it, is sufficient indi-

cium for torture; the third provides that the evidence of

sorcerers shall not suffice for the arrest or torture of anyone,

but the arioli et accusatores shall be punished.

After reciting these, he proceeds: "Cum autem in hoc

maleficii genere multa turbulenter, ex sinistra fanatica ac

pestilent! solum suspicione agantur, quod laudabile illud dis-

crimen inter prophanos vel infames Magos, Veneficas et

Lamias sit confusum et hactenus absque ullo discrknine et

exactissima cognitione de his actum et pronunciatum (Ger-

mani enim nostri absque ulla differentia Magos, Ariolos,

Incantatores, Veneficas, Exorcistas, ejusque farinae semi-

daemones, Sagas, Lamias et Striges nominant, Schwartz-

ktinstler, Zauberer, Hexen, Unholden et hoc idiomate Toverer,

Toverschen) ideo ne nominum confusio in hoc tractatu

errorem pariat in irroganda pari poena, primo omnium Magoset Veneficas a Lamiis sejungere voluit" (qy. volui? there is

no nominative to voluit H. C. L.) And as there are manydiverse opinions of this malefidum (for Bodin exaggerates

the powers of Lamiae, rejects the ordinary process in this

kind of crime and revives many absurd and exploded opinions,

Weyer writes that they can effect little or nothing, and

Gulielmus Adolphus Scribonius endeavors to renew the use

of the water ordeal long ago abrogatedby the Emperor Lothair

and the Church) I shall set forth these diverse opinions and

point out which is nearest the truth and may be followed bya judge without injury to his conscience. De Magis, lib. i,

Praefatio.

He commences by enlarging on the power of the devil andhis ceaseless efforts to injure and mislead the human race

WTTCHCKAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SBCULAB LAW 765

there is no misfortune that may not be ascribed to Mm. TMshe illustrates with three or four stories of the customaryabsurdity. Ib., c. 1, nn. 1-10.

Describes the pact in which the sorcerer renounces Christand baptism and devotes himself to the devil, body andsoul, sometimes signing a paper written with his blood.

Ib., c. 2, n. 8.

Then the devil, or one of the experienced sorcerers, teacheshim all the arts of sorcery. Then the devil comes wheneversummoned, either in the form of a beast or man, and giveshim the aid he asks. Or allows himself to be imprisoned in

the hilt of a sword, or a ring, or a crystal and does all that heis commanded. Ib., nn. 10-11.

Of old these practices were rare among Christians, but theyso increased that priests and clerics seemed uneducatedwho were not versed in them, and even the popes, for, if webelieve Platina and others, a good part of them obtained the

papacy by these arts, as Sylvester II, Benedict VIII, GregoryVII, John XX and XXI and others. Ib., n. 13.

There are great differences between them which it is neces-

sary to know on account of the varieties of punishments.Some use express invocation of demons, others do not.

Those who are most to be abominated are they who renounceGod and his cult and invoke the devil in their impious acts.

And these are called either Praestigiatores or Necromancersor diviners or enchanters or Venefiti and curers of disease.

The rest we call Sortilegi and Lamiae. Ib., n. 16.

That he should offer this unintelligible ckssification as an aid to judgesin their delicate responsibilities shows how incurably impracticable he is.

"Praestigiatores itaque sunt qui opera Satanae hominumoculos incantationibus et illusionibus fascinant et fallunt ut

non videant ea quae sunt et videre se arbitrentur ea quaenon sunt. Hi proprie dicuntur Zauberer." Like the magi-cians of Pharaoh. Ib., c. 3, n. 3.

Tells various stories as to the devil appearing personallyto people. Ib., nn. 8-11.

Long discussion as to whether Pharaoh's magicians really

made serpents or only illusions, and follows with stories of

incredible feats of sorcerers of all ages. He includes amongPraestigiatores the wandering jugglers whose feats are illu-

sions, assumably performed with the aid of the demon.

Ib., nn. 13-9.

Nothing is too gross for his credulity.

766 THE DELUSION" AT ITS HEIGHT

"Necromantici sunt qul sacrificlis solenni ritu eonstitutis

et peractls, Magicis artibus et dirls execrationibus ab Inferis

manes evocant." TMs is an execrable kind of magic and the

souls which they tMnk they call up are devils. Ib., c. 4,

nn. 1-4.

Long discussion follows and many fabulous stories.

Arioli are diviners, usually employed to recover lost or

stolen things and point out the thieves. The innocent are

often executed through them. Many stories told, from some

of which it appears that a frequent practice was to get the

sorcerer to strike out one eye of the thief by way of indicating

him- All this is done by aid of the devil. Describes manydifferent kinds of divination. Ib., c. 5.

Incantatores by incantations oblige devils to make serpents

lay aside their venom and become tame, render men impotent,

enchant arms and do what the operator requires. Satan pre-

tends to be captive to them and to suffer in animal form to be

beaten and complain that he is forced to answer questions.

After the enchanter has performed his ceremonies he falls as

though his soul had left his body and there must be some one

to guard it or the demons will carry it off;after twenty-four

hours he revives as from deep sleep or as one revived from

death. The modern Cabala of the Jews is incantation. Of

all incantations the most frequent and pernicious at present

is the ligature inflicted on new married folk. This execrable

maleficium is sometimes without express agreement with the

devil, but the action is by the devil and it is worthy of

death. Among enchanters are to be classed the papal exor-

cizers, who are mostly magicians. -Ib., c. 6, nn. 1-28.

A Wittenberg student, to have money always in his purse,

made a pact with the devil written with his blood. Excited

to repentance by Luther's preachings, he appealed to him and

Luther by his ardent prayers to God, together with public

prayers, forced the devil to surrender the writing. Ib., n. 32.

I am glad to get a definition of Venefici that is, of Sorcerers:

"Venefici (utriusque sexus homines) sunt qui nefariis car-

minibus, diris imprecationibus, immundorum spirituum im-

missione, pharmacis a Diabolo praeparatis, vel per artes

illicitas ex cadaveribus, funibus suspendiosorum, et corporibus

mixtis concinnatis, illatis, defossis, pabulo vel potu mixtis,

hominum et pecudum valetudinem ac vitam laedunt et per-

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECTLAB, LAW 767

dunt. Solent enim veneficae multa ex earnibus ossibusque

suspendiosonim ad rem Ipsam magicain pertinentia conficere,

iisque In maglcis veneficiis uti." For which tie quotes Lueanand Apuleius. Ib., c. 7, n. 1.

[

k 'Utrum Venefici, id quod volunt et cupiunt, etiam efEcere

et praestare possint?'7

]As to this there are different opinions.

Weyer and Lercheimer deny it. Weyer (who classes Veneficaewith LamiaeH. C. L.) says that to hold that these maleficia

or veneficia can be worked without touching, by using someexcrement of the party blood, hair, nail clippings, etc., and

burying them under the doorway or in crossroads or in streams

"cum bona venia mei olim heri et praeceptoris venerandi

Agrippae, haec mere inania esse adeoque ridicula cum Cardanolibere assero, atque Satanae instinctu in usuni vocari: quasi

aliquid hie possent res prorsus inefficaces frivolaeque."

(Weyer, De Praestig. Daemon., iii, c. 33, 2, p. 260 of ed.

AmsteL, 1660). Ib., n. 4.

Weyer goes on to argue (Ib., 4, p. 261) that these things are innoxious

in themselves and cannot possibly injure, especially as they are held to

hurt no one but the person aimed at but he virtually gives away the whole

argument when he adds: "Si tamen nocumentum hinc subsequi videatur,

certum est ab ipso Satana, ex Dei assensu ob hominis laedendi increduli-

tatem, vel etiam ut Me probetur cum Jobo, idipsum excitati." This is the

weakness of all these disputants. They admit, with their opponents, that

it is the work of the devil and the difference between them becomes too

shadowy to be effective. His incredulity as to the special stories which he

narrates becomes merely a matter of temperament or of opinion. The

concession once made furnishes an opening through which all superstitions

can pass.

So also Godelmann quotes from Augustin Lercheimer

(Bedencken von der Zauberey, Heidelb., 1585) a passage to

the effect that the sorcerer can effect no evil by wishes, words

or charms, but only by the application of force or poison.

She cannot abstract the milk of cows except by milking them

into her pail. If the milk fails, it is to be ascribed to the

fraud of the devil, who carries it to the sorceress or wherever

else he wishes, and this milk may be drawn from a post or

otherwise as the devil may suggest. Ib., i, c. 7, n. 5.

Thus this last clause gives all the rest away.

But truer is the conclusion of theologians, jurists, physi-

cians and philosophers "Veneficos, Veneficasque, ex Dei per-

missione et Diaboli auxilio, varia morborum genera tarn piis

quam impiis, incantando, imprecando, fascinando, pharmaca


magica arte incantata exhibendo, appHcandOj effundendo,

sub limina defodiendo, vel quocunque modo usurpando,

Inferre posse. Et horam sententia tarn drrinis quam humanis

legibus, renim ipsaram experientia et multomm doctorum

vivorum testknonils probatur." Ib., n. 6.

It shows how little reason there was in all this that Godel-

mana among the authorities whom he cites against the posi-

tion of Weyer and Lercheimer includes a passage from NIC.

Hemmingius (Admonitio de vitandis Magicis Superstition!-

bus, Hafniae, 1575) in which occurs an opinion virtually the

same as theirs "Nulla enim vis recitation! verborum con-

eeptoram, characteribus, imaginibus inest. Sed DIabolus

insinuans se hominibus, permittente Deo, ad incantationes

Magicas operatur, sive pactum expressum intercesserit cum

Diabolo vel non.77

Ib., n. 16 (p. 69).

The power of a witch's looks is explained byÂretius:"Maleficarum vero oculi veneno imbuti sunt Satanico, quae

infantes diro aspectu facile laedunt." Ib., n. 17.

He proceeds to pile on extracts from authorities to prove

the power of the venefiti. In 1553 at Berlin two women were

arrested who had stolen an infant, cut it up and boiled it.

The mother in search of the child came and recognized its

limbs in the pot; they were arrested and under torture con-

fessed that, if they had been allowed to proceed, they would

have caused so intense a frost that all the fruits of the earth

would have perished. Ib., n. 30.

Godelmann's lib. i, c. 8, is devoted to the cure of magic

diseases. He quotes Paracelsus, who asserts as an aphorism

that it makes no difference whether God or the devil, whether

angels or demons, bring help to the sick, provided only that

the disease is cured. Supernatural diseases have no natural

cure; only magic remedies suffice and, whatever the theo-

logians may say, these are not contrary to God, because weuse them for the benefit and not the destruction of man. All

physicians should be familiar with them. They are not

taught by Galen or Avicenna, nor is this art to be learned in

the schools, so the physician must seek the witches, the

gypsies, the peasants, who know more about these things

than all the professors of the schools. Ib., nn. 11-15 (p. 81).

His method of cure is for the physician to make a waxen

image of the part affected or of the whole body of the patient

and with strong imagination believe that it will cure him and

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAJi LAW 769

east it into the fire while uttering a certain magic formula.

Ib., n. 16.

Long description of magical and superstitious cures, endingwith, amulets, pentagons, astrological medicine, ending withdiscussion on power of imagination. Ib., nn. 17-72.

The Protestants had a protection like the crossing of theCatholics. In Rostock four years ago (i. e., 1586 H. C. L.)a woman who was burnt, while in prison commissioned the

devil to kill the judges who had tortured her the day before,or to injure in some way them or their families. During the

night they saw a spectre, but the devil returned to the prisonand told her he could do nothing against them because on

going to bed they had commended themselves to God in their

prayers, adding "Der Allerhochste hat's nicht haben wollen."

Ib., n. 79.

Sortiarii or Sortilegi differ from Magi in that, without invo-

cation of demons, they employ superstitious observances. Ina general way they are considered as Magi, but strictly

speaking they are diviners using the sortes sanctorum or

other superstitious observances that have no natural causes.

Ib., c. 9, nn. 1-6.

Goes on to describe Astragalomantia, Stichomantia (Sortes

Virgilianae, etc.) wandering fortune tellers, chiromancy,

astrology, etc. Ib., nn. 13-30.

After full reference to classical stories of Lamiae, he saysit is the same as the Hebrew Lilith, Isaiah, xxxiv, which Luthertranslates Kobold. The Lamia of the Vulgate (Lamentations,

iv, 3) Luther and the translators render Dragon. The Ger-

mans call the Lamia "Naehtfraw, Geist oder Zauberweib;"

they are "Zauberinnen, Unholden, Hexen, Wahrsagerin, Wet-

termacherin," and are also called Striges and Sagae* TheItalians call them "

Jannara, incantatrice, strea, striga, maga,

fattureia;" the Spaniards, "Bruja;" the French, "sorciere."

Ib., lib. ii, c. 1, nn. 1-12.

All this shows how little strict definition there was in terms.

"Sagae nostrae non quidem spectra sunt, sed quod se cumdiabolis colludere, choreas ducere, concumbere, scopis insi-

dentes per caminos evolare somniant, Lamiae sunt vocatae."

Ib., n. 13.

He evidently considers this an illusion, by which the devil

"ut plurimum inducit sexum foemineum lubricum, credulum,

malitiosum, impotentis animi, melancholicum, imprimis autemVOL. n 49


effoetas, stupidas, indoctas, in Christiana religione perverse

institutas menteque titubantes vetulas." Ib., n. 15.

And he winds up by adopting a passage from Weyer (De

Praestigiis Daemonum, Mb. iii, c. 5, 2, 3, p. 177): "Nee

aliter sane queunt, quum illorum mentem ex prime assensu

nnaginibus inanibus vitiarit [diabolus], consopitis vel conci-

tatis in hoc opus corporis humoribus et spiritibus, ut hac

ratione ad organa aeeommodata species aliquas inducat,

perinde ac si intrinsecus eae occurrerent vere, non solum

dormientibus, verum et vigilantibus : atque hoc modo aliqua

foris vei existere vel fieri putentur, quae tamen revera nee

sunt ?nee fiunt

?nee saepe in renim natura existunt. Ea est

horum immundomm spirituum subtilitas incomprehensibilis

prope et fraus infatigabilis, sensus hominmn eludens."

Ib., n. 18.

The execrable and horrible pact of Magi and Venefici with

the devil is in no way fictitious but is real, as is proved by the

books of the Magi and their confessions as written in the

records of the courts. That of the Lamiae is delusive. The

Lamiae^ or those ignorant old women, are circumvented bythe wiles of the devil, are compelled by force and fear and

are induced by error and ignorance to this delusive compact.

Ib., c. 2, nn. 1-5.

Having thus begged the question, without offering argumentor proof as to the distinction of the pact between that of the

magus and of the lamia and why the confessions of the one

are to be accepted and of the other to be rejected, he proceeds

to pity the miserable condition of the latter, oppressed with

poverty, consumed by fears and the object of popular detes-

tation. He pleads for them: "Restat error et ignorantia.

Clarum autem est errantis nullam esse voluntatem et igno-

rantis nullum consensum. . . . Lamias autem errare

inde constat quod in tantam mentis alienationem incidant

Diaboli ludibriis ut nesciant quid agant, oculique earum ita

perstringuntur ut scilicet videant credantque quod non est.

Melancholicis enim morbis vexantur. Ubi autem est caput

melancholicum, ibi Diabolus habet praeparatum balneum.

Imo Lamiamm passiones non absimiles sunt dormientium et

furiosorum actionibus. Furiosum autem et dormientem

pacisei non posse manifestum est omnibus, cum eorum volun-

tas nulla sit, . . . nullus item consensus, . . . sed

per ornnia et in omnia absentis et quiescentis loco habeatur.

. . . Cum itaque Lamiae dolo circumventae, vi coactae,

"WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW 771

metu compulsae, errore inductee in hanc eredulitatis temeri-

tatem inciderint, profecto nee hoc objici miseris potent quodin contractibus attenditur

3 quae ab Initio sunt voluntatis, ex

post facto fiunt neeessitatis." Ib., nn. 6-13.

A legal argument, for each clause of which lie cites abundant authorities.

Again, Magi and Venefiti learn the diabolic art from books,or from the devil or from other magi, with their incantations,

rites, solemnities, characters, etc., and summon the demonin order to perform the supernatural; but the Lamiae knowno arts, have neither books nor teachers nor want them, but

the devil insinuates himself with those whom he suspects or

knows to be credulous, or stupid with age, or by nature

melancholy or desperate with poverty, and thus obedient

instruments of his deceptions and illusions so that he can

control their fancies with various phantoms. Thirdly, Magibind themselves to the devil with writings in their own blood,

they cany a demon in a ring or crystal and devote themselves

to the devil body and soul. But Lamiae do nothing of this,

it is unheard of that they give a writing, etc. Indeed, nearlyall before burning invoke the eternal God and beseech his

mercy and often even invoke him as witness of their inno-

cence, citing before his tribunal their sanguinary judges.

Proceeds with an appeal for mercy for them, since they have

injured no one and, if God can pardon them, the judge can,

since he holds no tribunal in the divine judgment. Peter

abjured Christ and was pardoned. Moreover, what proofhave you that witches make pact with the demon? Only the

confessions of stupid and deluded old women. If there are

no legitimate preceding proofs, as required in the Carolina,

the confession is void as extorted by insufferable torment.

You would doubtless cease, if you saw the boiling oil poured

upon the legs, the burning candles applied to the arm-pits

and the infinite barbarities exercised on decrepit old women,as we have seen on the innocent, sometimes even discharged

by our intervention as innocent. If they spontaneously con-

fess the impossible, as flying through the air, transformation

into beasts and the like, such a confession cannot be punishedas it concerns aSvvarov. If possibilities are confessed, such

as killing men and cattle with magic arts, then there can be no

doubt that they are to be burnt. In such case I do not denytheir conspiring with the devil, for then they are to be classed

with Magi and Veneficae and they lose the name of Lamiae.

Ib., nn. 14-21.


Thus the Lamia is simply one who frequents the Sabbat, the existence

of which he denies, and does no one harm, her compact with the^devfl

being an illusory device of the demon. The Sabbat is illusory- the injuries

to men and beasts are positive facte and lie really is arguing only in

accordance with the CaroMna. But how many were there who did not

in their confessions combine with the Sabbat tee raising of tempests and

injury to their neighbors? So long as he admitted the power of the Vemfica

Ms argument for the Lamia was practically of no moment.

His next chapter is devoted to disproving the power of

witches to transform themselves and others into wolves and

other beasts or of demons to transform men. It is a curious

illustration of the manner in which the demonologists accepted

the classical myths and fables that he finds it necessary to

explain away the followers of Ulysses changed to swine and

those of Diomed into birds, by arguing that it was illusion.

But, as Diomed's birds were said to have propagated offspring,

he suggests it may have been an art of the demon in spiriting

away the men and substituting birds, as a fawn was substi-

tuted for Iphigenia. Ib., c. 3, n. 18.

The Arcadian lycanthropes he admits with Pliny were

probably fabulous. Ib., n. 19.

In the case of the three cats wounded by a woodman, whoturned out to be three ladies of the neighboring city, related

in the Malleus (P. II, q. i, c. 9), he adopts the explanation,

rejected by Institoris, that the cats were demons who at once

transferred the wounds to the women. Ib., n. 20.

In Rostock a venefica who hated a girl sent a demon in the

shape of a cat which attacked her in her room and on being

repulsed attacked a serving man and so tore his face that it

scarce looked human. Ib., n. 20.

Lycanthropy he holds to be a delusion of melancholia. Such

are the lycanthropes of Prussia and Livonia. When he was

in Livonia in 1587 he diligently inquired at Riga, Konigsbergand Warsaw whether it was true and was assured that it was

a delusion. The devil casts the man into a profound slumber,

and fills his mind with dreams of running and tearing children

and cattle. The livonian peasants are most wretched, super-

stitious, barbarous, slaves of their lords, who beat and abuse

them. Recently in Prussia one was captured who was said

to have slaughtered the flocks. He was deformed and like

a beast, and said that twice a year, at Christmas and St.

John's day, he underwent the transformation, which was very

painful. He was kept in prison and watched, but no changeoccurred. Ib., nn. 26-28.

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY SECULAR LAW 773

Even the credulous Lambert Danaeus says the tales of

lyeanthropy are "meras nugas et aniles fabulas." Ib., n. 30.

His own explanation is:u Facillimum enim est Daemon!

saganzm corpora alterius cujusdam bestiae, sive rei eujus-Mbet figura vel imagine superindueta tegere, ne quales sint

homines agnoseantur. Interdum enim Daemones sub forma

luporum apparent et homines ac jumenta interficiunt."

Ib., nn. 33-4.

The livonian explanation of sleep does not satisfy Mm.After describing the flight through the air to the Blocksbergand other places, asserted by the demonologists, he tells us

that "Maior pars Theologonim, Jurasconsultoram, Medi-

corum et Philosophonun statuit haec omnia figmenta et

prodigiosas ac aniles fabulas esse, similes fabulis Vergilianis

de iis quae in campo Elyseo gerentur . . . statuuntque

post inunctionem eas in profundum somnum incidere et a

Diabolo forti quadam imaginatione phantasiis ejusmodi occu-

pari," (which is a somewhat reckless assertion H. C. L.).

Ib., c. 4, n. 15.

After reciting Jo. Bapt. Porta's experience (which I think

I have elsewhere H. C. L.) he says that a few years before

in Mecklenburg a faithful servant of a noble was accused, bysome veneficae about to be burnt, of having been with them

on the Blocksberg. The noble, who valued her, refused to

believe it, but at length questioned her, when she said it was

true and that she was obliged to be there the next night. The

noble, with the pastor and servants, shut her up and watched

her. After she anointed herself she fell into a sleep so deepthat she could not be aroused that night or the next day.

The following morning on being questioned she asserted that

she had been at the Blocksberg with other veneficae and would

not be persuaded to the contrary. Thus the devil, when he

has obtained power from God of forming these appearances

and impressing them on the mind, exhibits them as persons,

sometimes joyful, as eating, drinking, singing, dancing, grati-

fying lust;sometimes sorrowful, as though they were doing

or suffering evil, sometimes human, sometimes beastly,

sometimes hiding (?), sometimes flying, and impresses them on

the senses as realities. Ib., n. 24.

And he cites in confirmation of this Weyer (De Praestig.

Daem., iii, 11, p. 192), whose view is the same.

Then he quotes Cap. Episcopi and the stock story of St.

Germain.Ib., nn. 25-7.


Also cites Luther, Melanchthon, Trithemius and Aleiatus.

Ib., nn. 28-32.

Also Johannes Flchardus, consIL ill, n. 2, and Martinus

Biennannus, Theses de Maglcis Actionibus, Tfa.es. 18. IbM

nn. 34-5.

And he calls attention to the fact that Carolina, c. 44,

Van Anzeigung der Zauberey, says nothing about the Sabbat.

Ib., n. 47.

Quotes Luther "Potest esse ut Dlabolus rem habeat cum

Lamils et Sagis, sed quod ex Illo congressu Hberi proereentur,

hoc nihil est. Quia Dens est creator et gignit homines per

constituta media." Ib., c. 5, n. 3.

After citing various authorities In favor, he says, ^Caeterumsanior et magis receptior est sententia eorum qul statuunt

daemoniacos hos concubitus saltern illusionesesse,^

quae

etiam honestis et probis saepe mulieribus accidunt." Ib.,

n. 11.

In opposition he quotes Biennann, Lercheimer, Martin de

Aries, Weyer, Jaquerhis, Scaliger, Peter Martyr, Ulric Moll-

tor, Joannus Fichardus, Cardan, Osiander. Ib., nn. 12-28.

He concludes "Quapropter cum daemoniad concubitus

sint tantum illusiones, sequltur quoque confessiones earum

(Lamiamm) ea de re esse erroneas et nullius moment!."

Ib., n. 38.

It is true that the greater part of mankind consider that

the destruction of vines, harvests and ships by hail and

storm is not sent by God but by Lamiae and therefore cry

out for burning them. Ib., c. 6, n. 1.

This was a belief of both pagans and Christians in the

fifth century, as laws of Constantine, Constantius and Julian

show, punishing It with the beasts. See Lib. IX Cod., tit.

De Maleficis et Math., const. 4 and 6. Ib., n. 7.

But this is nullified by Leo in Novell. 65, pronouncing the ministry of

magicians to be an imposture, q. v. Yet these laws are cited by demon-

ologists, as Grillandus, q. 6, n. 17, and Binsfeld, Comment, in Tit. Cod. de

Male!., LL. 4 and 6 (pp. 423, 531), without noticing the abrogation.

The self-contradiction of Godelmann's position is well illus-

trated by this subject. In lib. i, c. 7, "De Veneficis," he

ascribes all kinds of powers to the Venefici and quotes approv-

ingly from Luther, "Me puero, inquit, rnultae erant veneficae

quae pecora atque homines, praecipue pueros incantabant:

item nocebant segetibus per tempestates et grandines quas

suis veneficiis excitabant" (n. 12). He feels the inconsistency


of Ms position of denying that Lamiae and Maleficae are

responsible for tempests and endeavors to argue it away." Verum est, scripsi Veneficas posse tempestates et grandines

segetibus ac vineis perniciosas excitare, sed addidi: Diabolorevera expediente ea quae moliuntur," for, when God givesthe devil power to send hail, then he instructs the Maleficaesometimes to throw pebbles behind them to the west, some-times to cast the sand of a torrent into the air, frequently to

dip brooms into water and scatter it towards the sky, or diga small hole and fill it with urine or water and stir it with a

finger ;also to boil hogs' bristles or to place sticks across the

bank (of a stream) and other crazy things. And Satan, to

ensnare them more securely, pre-fixes the day and hour andwhen they see the result they more firmly believe the event-

follows their acts. In this way the demon deludes the Male-

ficae as if it were their work which the demon does with God?

s

permission. Ib., nn. 20-21.

As if it were not the commonplace of demonologists that the devil wasthe real operator, with God's permission, of all sorcery and witchcraft.

Truly if Magi, Veneficae or Lamiae could do what they

confess, there would scarce be corn enough to support man-

kind; there would be no use for armies; a single old womanwould only have to exercise her power and she could liberate

Germany from the fear of the Turk. Ib., n. 23.

Note the distinction which he draws without a difference.

"Non nego Diabolum Magos et Veneficas instruere inarte

Magica et sortilegiis, quibus saepe homines et jumenta inter-

ficiunt aut alias da.rn.na inferunt: Sed hoc non concedo eas

tempestates et tonitrua excitare posse, mterveniunt quidemsed horum nihil efficere possunt." Ib., n. 24.

Godelmairn's Third Book is devoted to the judicial aspectof the matter. It is dedicated to TJlric, Duke of Mecklenburg,and consists of his teaching in the University of Rostock.

He alludes to the Provincial Consistory as the high court of

the duchy and probably it was to it that cases were submitted.

In a preliminary address to the reader he says that through-out Germany many inexperienced judges and schoppen follow

the teachings of Bodin and their own opinions in the trial of

these cases, rather than the laws and the Caroline Constitu-

tion, which they are sworn to observe, and consign to the

flames, without discrimination and without legitimate proofs,


demented old women. Also that, as in the persecution of

Christians as soon as anyone was accused of Christianity

the people shouted, "To the beasts/7 now they shout, "To

the stake77

as soon as any woman, however respectable, is

accused of incantations and veneficia. After the disputationude Magis, Veueficis et Lamiis," held in 1584 in the University

of Rostock, many of Ms hearers and distant German cities

asked him to write out the ordinary process which can be

safely followed in this intricate matter. Therefore, after Msreturn from Livonia and Poland, he has collected some things

from the laws and the Carolina and offers the result for

consideration.

It shows the influence that Bodin exercised that Godelmann

directs Ms first attack against Bodin's dictum (De Magor.

Daemonomania, lib. iv, c. 3, pp. 347-8)" In causis vero crim-

inalibus ac in primis in veneficii et sortilegii crimine, ordinari-

am accusationis viam teneri non oportere, sed potius veri-

tatem quibuscunque modis indagandam esse." Ib., lib. iii,

c. 1, n. 19.

Chap. 1 of this lib. iii is devoted to proving that these

offences are to be tried in the regular way. The Carolina,

wMch is the law of Germany, makes no exception of them,

and he ends by quoting c. 83, wMch he renders: "Volumus ut

in omnibus causis criminalibus, Judices et Scabini (Schoppen)

constitutions has semper prae oculis habeant, litigantesque

ex iis, ubi petierint instruant, ne ignorantia harum in peri-

culum aliquod incidant."

The Carolina provides for prosecutions both by the accusa-

torial process and by the judge officially (inquisitorial).

Description of the accusatorial process. Ib., c. 2.

Describes the inquisitorial process in the ordinary way.When he treats of the indicia justifying arrest it is surprising

to find that he considers being daughter of a veneUca to be

almost certain, "Si enim Saga est mater, est etiam filia, juxta

proverbium Germanicum, Das Bier schmecket nach dem Pass.

Nam quod in causa impudicitiae dicitur filiam esse matri

persimilem, non semper vemm est, de Magis vero omnibus

fere certissima est regula," for there is no sacrifice so desired

by the devil as that parents should devote their new-born

children to him. Ib., c. 3, n. 16.

At the same time he rejects taciturnity and the witch-mark

as frivolous and absurd, and he blames the ignorant and

sanguinary judges who investigate them with the turning of


a sieve or making boys go to church with new shoes well

greased with lard or bury things under the threshold of thechurch so that veneficae shall not be able to go out. Ib. y

nn. 25 ? 28.

He says that in Scotland there are chests placed in thechurches in which anyone can put papers with the name of a

magus, the act, place, time and names of witnesses. Theseare opened fortnightly in the presence of a judge or prosecutorand investigation is made as to those accused but he con-

siders this too loose a custom. Ib., n. 7.

It is customary for veneficae, either spontaneously or under

torture, at the instigation of the devil, to accuse the leadingwomen of the city of being accomplices. In such cases, wherethere is no proof, the judge can order purgation, which canbe either canonical or by duel. In canonical purgation the

accused takes, in presence of the judge and of seven or fewer

eonjurators, an oath of negation and the conjurators swear to

belief in its truth. This seems to be still current practiceand he gives a formula of the oath from a sentence "1st zu

Recht erkannt, moge und wolle gemelte B. ein Eydt zu Gottund auff das heilige Evangelium schweren das sie niemahls

mit Zauberey umbgegangen, auch dieselbige nicht zumSchaden und Untergang der Menschen oder Viehe gebraucht.Das soU gehoret werden, und alsdann, sie thue das oder nicht,

ferner ergehen was recht ist." When the oath is taken, the

accused must be discharged, but the accuser can prosecuteher for perjury, and it does not prevent the judge from sub-

sequently instituting an inquisition if the purgation appearsfalse. Ib., c. 4, nn. 1-12.

He says this conjuration is in constant use in cases of

breach of marriage-promise when a girl had been seduced.

Also in civil matters. In criminal cases it is largely used in

Holstein, Denmark and Sweden. Ib., nn. 13-15.

He discusses learnedly the wager of battle, but says nothingabout its use in sorcery cases. Ib., nn. 16-33.

Some inexperienced judges in Germany, when a woman is

defamed for sorcery or confesses, without further inquisition,

seize her and cast her, tied hands to feet crossways, into

water; if she floats she is guilty, if she sinks she is innocent.

There are differences of opinion about this among the most

learned doctors. Guilielmus Adolphus Scribonius, a most

learned doctor, in his Physiologia Sagarum, defends this exam-

ination as true and natural, against Johannes Ewichius and


Hermannus Neuwaldus (c. 5, nn. 1-2). Goes on to describe ail

the ordeals. All these methods are suggestions of the devil

and tend to tempt God and therefore are abolished by law.

It is the common opinion of the doctors that the cold-water

ordeal is prohibited. Bodin condemns it (De Mag. Daem.,

Mb. iv, c. 4, p. 372). So does Damhouder (Pract. Ciim., c. 43]

q.v.)- This common opinion of the doctors is approved byall the juridical faculties of the German Universities and

judges do wrong who depart from this common opinion.

Weyer, EwieMus, Neuwald, Lercheimer, all reject this crazy

test, and say it is a superstition invented by Satan and intro-

duced by Ms credulous disciples. There is no doubt that a

judge using this crazy, diabolical and prohibited method is

liable to prosecution as if he had unjustly thrown one into

prison. Ib-, c. 5, nn. 21, 23, 26-30.

Scxibonius gives as a reason the satanic lightness of witches'

bodies." Satanicam scilicet appellavi a causa efficiente, quod

Satanas justissimo et imperscrutabili Dei judicio sua levitate

attrahat, tollat, retineatque Sagas in alto aut superficie

aquaram. Est enim natura ejus, quam levissima, . . .

eum homines quoque per aerem ad loca remotissima ferre et

impellere. Cum vero in aere superiore homines retinere queat,

ubi alias secundum suam naturam non vivunt, quid impediet

quominus in aqua, velut elemento graviore crassioreque Sagas

elevet atque sustentet;

illis subjacens et eas quasi in dorso

gestans. Vel etiam, si dicerem eas ob inhabitantem ilium cor-

poribus suis spiritum levissimum non submergi." Ib., n. 31.

Scribonius also adduces the old argument "Aquam Sagasin suum alveumrecipere nolle, propterea quod ilia in Baptismoabusae sunt." Ibidem.

Quotes Carolina 6 and 219 to prove that there must be ill-

fame or verisimilar proofs to justify arrest and imprisonment.

Ib., c. 6, n. 4.

Those ignorant and ill-employed judges should be punishedwho at once on delation of a magus or venefica, or on bare

suspicion without legitimate evidence seize the accused and

throw them into the most squalid and atrocious prisons.

Ib., n. 8.

Thus it often happens that the miserable creatures of God,

veneficae, vel lamiae, already molested with the assiduous

suggestions of the devil, by prolonged solitude, the squalor

of the prison, the darkness, the spectres of demons and the

butchery of torture, prefer to die rather than to be sent back


to the rack and the most filthy caverns of the prisons.

Ib., n. 10.

The reason why imprisoned sorcerers are unable to injureis that they cannot get the materials., nor can they, for fear

of being seen, communicate freely with Satan. Therefore

careful judges use every precaution that they shall be watchedwhen they do not expect it. Ib., n. 17.

If the venefica on arrest confesses spontaneously, she is to

be condemned. If she denies, she is to be convicted by wit-

nesses. There is no better proof than confession and it leaves

the judge nothing to do but to condemn. Ib., c. 7, nn. 1-4.

But spontaneous confession to be valid for condemnationmust be made in court, outside of prison and without cause

for fear of prison or torture. Ib., nn. 9-10.

Ivor is it to be acted on if there are probable proofs of

innocence or without certainty that a crime has been com-mitted. Ib., n. 11.

Many have been found innocent after confessing crime,

and there must be diligent search whether or not she has

killed men and cattle with her sorceries as confessed. Ib.,

n. 12.

There are veneficae who seek death because they despairand are suffering extremely, so that the judge must seek for

the innocence of the accused, even though she does not defend

herself, and must hear witnesses for the defence. Ib., nn.

15-17.

All this contradicts his first assertions. In fact he adds from Bodin

(De Mag. Daem., lib. iv, c. 3, p. 345) that, although the law says that the

judge has nothing to do with one who confesses except to condemn him,

this does not hold in these cases. For the opinion is (I suppose the ruling

opinion) that a witch vexed by the devil who repents and is in the way of

salvation should be held in prison, taught and corrected with moderate

salutary punishment. But if there is no sign of repentance, she is to be

sent to the stake. One who confesses and repents before she is accused

is not to be prosecuted unless the homicides she confesses are real and also

that there is no fraud in that she foresees that she cannot escape prosecu-

tion for her acts. This is an unexpected concession of Bodin's.

It is the common opinion of the doctors that a judge can

promise immunity for confession and can then condemn.

Ib., nn. 25-6.

Observe, he does not deny this.

Confession of impossibilities is invalid, whence he argues

that, as the Sabbat and flying through the air are illusions,


the judge is not to accord faith to them. There is no allusion

to them in the Carolina's enumeration of proofs of sorcery.

Therefore the prudent prosecutor will not include in Msinterrogatories, "Is it true that the accused was at the

Blocksberg and danced with other witches? Is it true that

the accused transformed herself into dogs and cats?" and the

judge should reject these as impertinent. Ib., nn. 30-1.

It is the common opinion of the doctors that the accused

can revoke a spontaneous confession as erroneous and prove

by her kindred and neighbors that she is of good fame andthis even after condemnation. And in case the confession

cannot be revoked she can excuse and interpret it. Ib.,

nn. 32-5.

This was certainly not observed in practice.

Confession must be clear and unequivocal. Any doubts

must be resolved on the benignant side. Ib., n. 36.

Observe that all this is applicable not alone to witches, in whom he dis-

believes, but to veneficae, in whom he believes. It is a plea for more

equitable treatment of all cases of sorcery.

Godelmann evidently will not hear of sorcery being an

excepted case. He says that in the absence of confession

recourse must be had to proof. Suspicion and conjecturesand presumptions do not suffice. He quotes Carolina 66 and

67, that there must be two or three unexceptionable witnesses

who speak of their own knowledge. All doctors of civil andcanon law agree that one is insufficient, no matter how highhe stands. So if two witnesses depose that they found withthe accused a pot filled with toads, hosts, human limbs, waximages transfixed with needles, this suffices. So if a veneficais detected in killing an infant, this is evidence for condem-

nation, for there is nothing more common with them than

killing infants; so if witnesses have seen her digging under a

threshold to bury sorceries; or if they have found in her chest

a written compact with the devil; or if they have seen her

invoking and talking with the devil; or if they have seen

a magus bewitching men or cattle, ascending hi the air or

talking with a dog. All this is strengthened if there are con-

testes as to time, place and other circumstances. Singularwitnesses who tell of different things, so that their evidencecannot be united, do not wholly prove. A singular witness

helps but does not suffice. But if their evidence all tends to

the same effect, as one says he saw a magus digging under a

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECUL&K IAW 781

threshold after which men or cattle died; another, that hesaw a man die suddenly after being touched by the magus,and a third that a man was taken sick after being threatenedby him, all the doctors agree that this is full proof as all con-cern different manifestations of the same crime. Ib., c. 8,nn. 1-15.

All this shows his credulity.

The testimony of two witnesses convicts without confes-sionsee Carolina, 6 and 22 though some doctors hold thatboth are necessary. Ib., n. 16.

Witnesses can be compelled to testify not by imprison-ment but by fines and pledges but coerced evidence suffices

only for torture and not for conviction. Ib., n. 17.

The rule is that witnesses must testify before the judge,but by the Carolina, 72 and 73, a magistrate can commissionanother to take evidence. Ib., n. 18.

The judge without being asked must give a copy of thearticles to the accused, so that he can frame his interrogatories,and no one is to be deprived of his defence. His witnesses

may be objected to, if they are unfit or unknown. Ib., nn.19-24.

But there is a general rule that witnesses (on either side)who are unfit may be heard when from the nature of thecase the truth cannot be ascertained without them, but then-

evidence must be reinforced by torture. Ib., nn. 27-28.

Then follow a series of formulas or rather specimens of the opening andprogress of a trial. Of these perhaps the articles of accusation, which arethrown in form of interrogatories for the accused to answer, may be worth

translating as well as I can:

1. Whether it is not true that in the Divine Law and in the

general Keyser-Recht, by the heaviest punishment, it is for-

bidden that any one shall practice sorcery, and much less

therewith kill men and cause injuries.2. Whether it is not true that N. the accused has for a

long time been suspected and defamed of sorcery and by manypeople been held as a sorceress as well as her mother.

3. Whether it is not fitting that witnesses tell what she

has done.

4. Whether it is not true that a year ago on Walpurgisevening the said N. stood before N.'s door among his cattle

and threw sand crosswise over them.5. Whether it is not true that the said N. poisoned with


her sorcery the meadow and pasture of N. the accuser, so that

the greater part of Ms cattle died.

6. Whether It is not true that X. the accused cut hair

from the deceased child of N. the accuser and put it in her

bosom.7. Whether it is not reputed that X. the accused, through

the sorcery which she placed under the doorsill of her neigh-

bor N., bewitched the daughter of N., so that she died.

8. Whether it is not true that Junker N., the son of N., for

a time was imprisoned on account of disobedience.

9. Whether it is not true that she was heard to threaten

that such evil would befall the Junker as would give his old

mother much to think of.

10. Whether it is not true that soon thereafter the said N.

was seized with severe and dreadful sickness, so that he could

not rest day or night and cried out continually and finally

died.

11. Whether it is not true that the illness of the said N.

was so investigated as to show that it was supernatural and

incurable by doctor or physic.

12. Whether it is not true that whenever the accuser N.

came the accused N. would fly to N. and other places.

13. Whether it is not true that when the accused N. was

arrested she several times said, "Now is my punishment at

hand."14. Whether it is not true that she told the watchers who

guarded her at night at N. that she would be burnt at N.

and would tell her son N. that he was going astray and must

return. Ib., n. 34.

A formula for interrogating a witness indicates that the

utmost care was taken to ascertain his character and impartial-

ity. He was asked his name, occupation, age and wealth,

where he was born and resided, whether he came spontane-

ously or summoned, whether he considered himself a Chris-

tian, attended church, heard preaching, took the sacrament

and how long since he had taken it, whether he was a subject

of the party who presented him, or was employed by him or

owed him any service or was indebted to him, whether he

was a homicide, adulterer, thief, whoremaster, blasphemer,

usurer, rioter or drunkard, and whether his fellow-witness was

guilty of any of these sins, whether he expected any profit

from his testimony, whether he was in any way related or

connected with the one who produced him, by friendship or


otherwise, whether lie had any hatred or prejudice againstthe accused, or was more partial to the side that producedMm than to her, whether he knew why he was summonedor had seen the articles of accusation, or had been in any wayinstructed by the side producing him, and a number of other

questions to similar effect. Ib., n. 35.

TMs is evidently concerning witnesses for the prosecution, who are then

interrogated on the articles of accusation.

Many inexperienced judges now-a-days place faith in theconfessions of veneficae implicating their associates, so that

without further inquisition they arrest them and, if they donot at once confess at the bidding of the tyrants, they im-

prison, torture and bum them, thus condemning them onthe evidence of a single witness, in which they sin gravely.

Quotes Sichardus, who says experience shows that manyveneficae will accuse innocent and illustrious persons, either

through hope of impunity or out of mere hatred if theymust burn, they wish the whole world to burn. Ib., c. 9, n. 1.

Quotes the legal rule that the evidence of criminals is not

receivable against accomplices, but admits that there are

excepted crimes treason, divine and human, simony, con-

spiracy, sacrilege, assassination, coining, pimping, etc., and

finally magic arts. Ib., nn. 2-3.

There are different opinions as to the faith to be reposedin the naming by a venefica whether for further inquisition

or for torture. Quotes some who say it does not suffice for

further inquisition, much less for torture. Then others whohold that it suffices for further inquisition. Then Mascarduswho says that it depends on other indicia; if these are very

light, it does not suffice for inquisition, if of weight it does,

if urgent, for torture. The fourth and most common opinionis that it suffices (for what? -H. C. L.) in excepted cases.

Ib., nn. 4-8.

But the greater doubt is whether the naming of a venefica

suffices for torture. The general opinion is that it requires

other indicia, but in the difficulty of defining these it is left

to the discretion of the judge. Bodin, however, holds (lib. iv,

c. 2, p. 343) that in this crime the evidence of accomplices,

especially if there are several, suffices for condemnation, as

everyone knows that only they can testify as to attendance

at the Sabbat. Finally, the true and received opinion, which

the common use of judges throughout Germany observes, is


that the evidence of an accomplice is an indicium for further

inquisition and for torture,* f

praecedentibus qulbusdam indiciis

et circumstantiis", not only in excepted but in non-excepted

crimes for which see Carolina, 29, 30, 31 providing six pre-

requisites: (1) that the accomplice names Ms associate under

torture; (2) that the judge does not ask about special indi-

viduals; (3) that the denouncer is interrogated about all

details, time, place and circumstances; (4) that the judge

inquires as to any enmity existing between them; (5) that

the judge inquires whether the accused venqfica is suspected

by neighbors and trustworthy persons; (6) that the accuser

persists in her statement. To these the doctors add that she

swears that she tells the truth. Ib., nn. 9-22.

When the two veneficae discord in mutual denunciations

they can be confronted, and, if the truth cannot be ascer-

tained otherwise, they are to be mutually tortured in each

other's presence. Ib., nn. 23-24.

It is true that Carolina 21 forbids, under threat of punish-

ment, that anyone should be arrested and tortured for the

denunciation of a magus or wwleficus, but the emperor had

in view the diviners called in for cases of theft or to deter-

mine who injured a cow by sorcery. Ib., n. 32.

When other proofs are lacking and veneficae refuse to con-

fess, then the judge can torture them "praecedentibus in-

diciis/5 but here the utmost prudence is requisite, for in

torture he who can endure lies and he who cannot endure lies

the one to hide his guilt and the other to satisfy his tor-

mentors. "And what are we to think of those whom we call

Lamiae who confess to what never existed in nature?" Ib.,

c. 10, nn. 3-4.

He gives the customary warnings that the proofs justifying

torture must be clear and sufficient, and where there is doubt

the judge should consult experts. Quotes for all this Caro-

lina 6, 7, 20. Confession extorted by torture without legiti-

mate indicia is invalid. Judges who hasten to torture without

them are punishable. As to what these are he quotes Carolina

25, 44 and 31, and proceeds to discuss (1) flight; (2) threats;

(3) consorting with magi; (4) extrajudicial confession, thoughBodin improperly says (iv, c. 4, p. 366), "Confessionem extra-

judicialem in aliis criminibus sufficere ad quaestionem, in hoc

ad condemnationem" ; (true to his disbelief in witches, Godel-

mann says that extrajudicial confession to suffice for torture

must be of possibilities thus, if a venefica boasts of flying up

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECCLAB LAW 785

a chimney or being changed into a beast, it is to be rejected,n. 22) (5) invoking the devil to remove sorceries or to find

stolen things; (6) being seen to throw powders over cattle

who soon die; (7) if a suspect venefica is seen in the house or

stable of another and death or disease follows; (8) if in herhouse is found a pot with toads and other magic things; (9)the testimony of one unexceptionable witness deposing of the

crime, which is semiplena probatio; (10) vehement Hi-fame,supported. (Of this Bodin says, p. 360, "Nam cum mulieremsagam esse fertur, earn sagam esse praesumptlo est vehemen-tissima," but conjoined with some indicia. . . . "Certein aliis criminibus ex jure non potest quisquain ob communemfamam quaestioni subjiei.") And some doctors hold, as

Bartolus, Brunus and Menochius, that in crimes difficult of

proof fame alone suffices. (11) If on arrest she exclaims,UI

am undone" or "Don't put me to death, I will tell all" as

alluded to in Carolina, 44. Ib., nn. 9-35.

Observe that in this he omits the various trifling things which the morerigid authors deem sufficient for torture, They may be found in Bodin,lib. iv, c. 4.

Quotes Carolina 58 that the extent and repetition of tor-

ture is at the discretion of the judge, according to circum-stances and says nothing about its customary abuse, showingthat his humanitarian principles extended only to witches.

Ib., n. 36.

Mentions the custom of shaving at considerable length and

gives in full detail the classical case of Damhouder without

expressing disbelief or disapprobation. Ib., nn. 37-40.

If a venefica confesses after repeated torture and afterwards

revokes, she is to be discharged, for it is better to absolve

the guilty than to punish the innocent; and truly torture

often repeated is no less a punishment than death. Ib., n. 50.

It is the same if he persists in denial and purges the indicia,

but what is required for the purging rests with the discretion

of the judge. Ib., nn. 51-2.

The doctors differ as to the punishment of the judge whotortures an innocent person. Some say the talio, others anaction for injuries, others an extraordinary penalty. Butmost agree that one who maliciously tortures to death, with-

out cause or proof, is to be put to death. But if it is through

inexperience, an extraordinary penalty only. The Carolina,c. 61, provides that the judge who abuses torture shall be

VOL. n 50


punished according to the circumstances of the case, or mayJustify himself before the next higher authority. Ib., n. 53.

The proof of torture and even of unjust torture is easy;the presumption is in favor of the accused and the judgemust prove the justification. Ib., n. 54.

This well-meant holding of the judge to responsibility had an unfortunate

reflex action, for it stimulated hfrn to persevere until he had extorted a

confession. This perhaps explains the extremity of torture of which wehear in the trials and the esteem in which torturers were held who could

boast that they never failed.

The Carolina, c. 79? orders that the convict shall have

three days7

notice before execution, in order to prepare for

death. Ib., c. 11, n. 4.

The Carolina, c. 109, prescribes death by fire when injuryhas been wrought. Otherwise such punishment as the judge

may prescribe after consultation as ordered below. This is

virtually followed in the Policey-Ordnung of Mecklenburg.The Constitution of the Elector of Saxony prescribes death

by fire for pact with the demon, whether injury has been

wrought or not; where there is no pact, injury, whether greator small, by sorcery is punished with the sword. The laws

of the city of Worms say that sorcery and divination, againstChristian faith, shall be visited with death or corporal pun-ishment. In some regions it has been the custom to strangle

veneficae before burning, when they are penitent, lest a slow

and painful death lead them to blasphemy and despair.

Ib., nn. 17-22.

When the offender dies or commits suicide in prison, there

is question as to the treatment of the body, but the usual

custom is to burn it. Ib., nn. 23-24.

Consulting with magi and diviners is punished arbitrarilyor with exile. Ib., n. 31.

Lamiae may confess possible things, such as killing menand beasts by sorcery, and then without doubt under the

Carolina 109 they are to be burnt; or they confess impossi-

bilities, such as passing through cracks, flying through the

air, intercourse with demons, for which they are not to be

punished, but to be better instructed. Or they confess pactwith the demon, for which on the repentant an extraordinarypenalty may be inflicted, such as exile, scourging, fines.

Ib., n. 32.

He gives the text of a sentence in which a sorceress who

WITCHCBAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECITLAR LAW 787

had never wrought evil to man or beast was branded, scourgedand banished from the territory for twelve years. Ib., n. 33.

In doubtful matters benignity is always preferable and it

Is better to absolve many guilty than condemn one innocent.

But it may be said that lamiae,for the attempt, should be

put to death, for they have the Intention of killing, even if

It is not successful. To which he replies that secret thoughtsare not punishable and the law does not judge hidden things.Then he discourses at length upon thought and intention,and quotes Carolina, c. 177, which says that an unsuccessful

attempt at crime is punishable variably according to the

respect and quality of the cases. But, according to the

common opinion of the doctors, this is not to be followed in

the most atrocious crimes, for in these the attempt is pun-ished as if it had succeeded. But he concludes in behalf of

his favorite lamiae that it is to be distinguished between

attempts at the possible and the impossible, and the latter

are therefore to be visited with extraordinary penalties,

because they have believed in the vain suggestions of the

devil, and as he has shown that what the lamiae confess is

impossible, they coine under this category. Consideration is

also to be had for their age, for they are mostly decrepit and

feeble-minded, so they should be spared torture and pun-ishment. Their actions and passions are like those of sleepersor the insane, who are not held responsible. Besides their

sex should command mitigation and so also should their

poverty and their numerous children, for they often have not

a crust of bread or a farthing to support themselves and their

children and the devil takes advantage of their misery, prom-ising liberal support and to bring them food and drink from

the cellars and kitchens of others. The repentance of lamiae

also diminishes the offence. Why should not also be pun-ished blasphemy and cursing, disobedience to parents, lying

calumnies, detraction of neighbors, which are so lightly

regarded? Those are not punished who consult magi and

veneficae for lost things and we daily see not only books of

magic printed and sold with impunity, but the art exercised

by many fearlessly. Therefore lamiae should be treated with

mildness and circumspection, lest evil be cumulated on evil

and lest that lying and deceitful spirit shall seduce and

deceive the magistrate as well as the miserable and afflicted.

Ib., nn. 33-35.


All very well and very humane, but to what does it amount? How manywere there of those who confessed to his impossibilities that is to the

Sabbat who were not also compelled under torture to confess to some

injury inflicted on person or property? Even had he succeeded in obtainingthe adoption of his views, the saving of life would have been imperceptible.

Still it was something in those days, however illogical the attempt, to denythe higher absurdities of the current delusions, and it required some inde-

pendence to proclaim his disbelief, but of course his influence was trivial.

He admitted too much and his opponents could reasonably ask what

reason he could allege for drawing the line where he did between the possible

and the impossible.

Godelmann quotes as a popular saying :

"Non audet stygius Pluto tentare quod audet

Effrenis monachus plenaque fraudis anus." Lib. i, c. 7, n. 35.

ZANGEE, JOHANN. - Tractates duo: De Exceptionibus et

Quaestionibus sen Torturis Reorum. Francofurt ad M., 1730.

Zanger was a Protestant and wrote his work in 1592 at Wittenberg,where he was professor of law. The inquisitorial process employed in

excepted crimes, as summarized by him, differed from that of the Inquisi-

tion only in the fact that the witnesses were not concealed from the accused,

that the charges were made known to him and that an advocate was denied

when the evidence was conclusive. I copy it, omitting the innumerable

references to authorities.

"Nam quando judex ex officio, hoc est motu proprio, crim-

ina vindieat et de iis inqulrit, uti facere debet (alias ut con-

scius crimina tegere censebitur), ordine juris opus non est,

sed summarie proceditur absque strepitu et figura judicii.

Et siquidem praesens sit reus exponuntur ei capita de quibus

inquirendum est et responsio ab eo exigitur, quod an ita

ruditer (strongly, forcibly) sit intelligendum ut debeat dari

eopia in scriptis dispungenda (for examination) traditur in

addit. consil. Alex. 65 in lit. A. lib. i, ubi legitur: Communi-cationem hanc fieri debere per responsionem rei

} praesentationestestium et lecturam depositionum coram reo, postquam coram

interrogatus fuit si quid habeat ad reprobandum praesentestestes. Cum quo concordat Electoris Augusti (Augustus the

Pious, 1553-86) sacratissimae memoriae Ordinatio Anno 79Curiarum Provincialium Assessoribus et Quaestoribus insinu-

ata. Ita enim verba sonant: Wann wieder die Verbrecher

Ampts halber und ex officio inquisitionis verfahren wird, soil

keine Weitldufftigkeit verstattet, sondern dem Gefangenen die

Verbrechung Artickels weise verfasst, in Beyseyn der Gerichts-

Personen vorgehalten, er daruber gehart, seine Aussage darauf

WITCHCHA.FT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW 789

mil Fleiss verzeichnet, und was darinnen verneinet, dumber

Zeug&m verhvret werden. Hinc Hippol. de Mars, scriptum

relquit: Publice delinquent!, id est, in flagrant! crimine

deprehenso non esse dandum advocatum. Xam quod ad

alios reos attinet, contra quos ordine juris servato inquiritiir 3

non dubitatur quin advocatus nomine inquisiti comparere

possit. Tib. Dec. in tr. crim. ubi ait cogendum esse Advo-

catum etiam haereticum quando videlicet res dubia est.

Quod si Reus absens sit, fonnatur inquisitio, hoc est, testes

recipiuntur eo fine, ut adversus eundem pronuncietur, ant si eo

loci deprehendatur, in vincula publica conjiciatur et denuo

apud acta audiatur, donee de eo pronuncietur. Judex ergo

motu proprio inquirens non est accusator, sed quasi denun-

ciante fama vel deferente elamore, debitum sui officii exequi-

tur. Inde nostri tradunt, tum demum judicem ex ofBcio et

motu proprio inquirere debere, si de evidentia facti constet.

Ob quam causam idem Elector Augustus, Anno 55 in Ordinat.

Provin.?sub titulo Von Unkosten der peinlichen Rechtfertigung,

saneivit: Quaestores et reliquos magistratus, qui jurisdictione

superiore nruniti sunt (Nam quod attinet ad eos qui faabent

jurisdictionem inferiorem, die Ert>-Gerichte, diversum placuit)

ex officio procedere debere, si accusatores non adsint et de

delicto certo constet, do kein Kldger vorhanden und die That

offeribar. Volunt autem interpretes hoc accipiendum esse,

non de omni delicto, nisi consuetudo aliud suadeat, sed tantum

de delictis nefandis et exceptis." Tract, de Quaestionibus,

Prooem., nn. 1-13.

In ordinary crimes there were many classes exempt from

torture high station, youth under fourteen, extreme old age,

pregnant women until forty days after childbirth, the blind,

the deaf and dumb, the insane, etc. But this did not obtain

in excepted crimes "excipiuntur et delicta nefanda dictu,"

including majestas. Of these there were many, including

"maleficii sive stryges." Ib., c. 1, nn. 33-66.

"Indicia sufficientia debent praecedere torturam" and

confession extorted by torture does not prejudice without

them, even though sufficient indicia are subsequently found.

-Ib., c. 2, nn. 7, 9, 10,

But under the term indicia are classed "praesumptio, con-

jectura, signum et suspicio" by common consent of the

doctors and by Carolina, cc. 19, 25. The evidence of a

single witness suffices (Carolina, c. 30). Ib., nn. 13-16.

Threats are an indicium. Ib., n. 44.


He includes sorcery among the excepted crimes for whichthe accused under torture can be questioned as to associates.

Ib., n. 73.

Common fame Is an indicium, if it is strong and proceedsfrom credible persons (a region of doubt which always ends

with leaving it to the discretion of the judge. H. C. L.)

It suffices if supported by circumstances, as when a witch on

arrest exclaims,UI am undone/

7

or " Don't torture me, I will

tell the truth/' or takes leave of family and servants, beggingtheir pardon, or if she cannot shed tears, or fixes her eyes onthe ground, or has distorted features, or witch-marks are

found on her. (This from Binsfeld. H. C. L.) Ib., nn. 80-84.

Flight is an indicium, but Zanger limits it to two cases

when one flies before arrest and does not return when sum-moned to justice, and when one breaks prison and escapes.

Ib., nn. 86-95.

If the accused varies in Ms statements or is detected in a

falsehood. Ib., nn. 96-100.

Trepidation, if accompanied with other indications. Ib.,

nn. 101-2.

Taciturnity refusal to answer questions is an indicium.

Ib., nn. 103-10.

Mortal enmity (hardly refers to witchcraft H. C. L.).

Ib., nn. 111-15.

Compounding with those wronged (as in adultery, murder,

etc.; hardly refers to witchcraft H. C. L.). Ib., nn. 116-25.

Evil character of one living in or near the scene of a crime.

(Not applicable. H. C. L.) Ib., nn. 126-7.

When one not personally concerned is exceedingly insistent

that inquisition be made. Ib., nn. 128-30.

Habitually receiving criminals not kindred. Ib., nn. 131-3.

Carrying a criminal away is indicium of being accomplice.

Ib., n. 134.

Not denouncing a crime known to him. Ib., nn. 135-9.

Whispering secretly to one who immediately thereafter

commits a crime. Ib., n. 140.

Being seen to leave a place when crime is committed.

Ib., n. 141.

Preparing arms or poison with which a crime is committed.

Ib., n. 142.

Ownership or presence in a place when a crime is com-mitted. Ib., nn. 143-5.

WITCHCRAFT A3 VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW 791

Evil physiognomy though Zanger holds that there should

be concurrent indicia. Ib., nn. 146-51.

Describing the indicia requisite for torture, Zanger says:

"Praeeipuum autem esse dicunt, quando a sociis malefic! et

sagae denunciantnr, quod hanc artem calleant et hominessuis incantationibus interfeeerint, pecora occiderint ant eis-

dem damna hactenus intulerint, aut quod ludis diabolcis et

choreis interfuerint, aut rem Veneream cum Diabolo habuer-

int, aut moverint tempestates, pluvias, tonitraa, granclinem,

pruinam 3 aliave meteora produxerint, aut effecerint steri-

litatem, et rerum neeessariaram ad conservationem huinanae

vitae inopiarsa, aut per illusionem et apparentiam se virtute

daemonis in lupos, feles vel aliam quamcunque bestiam

tranformarint, aut quid aliud, quod magiam sapere videtur,

feeerint." This presents a tolerably complete digest of the

wicked works ascribed to sorcerers and witches as facts

except that transformation into beasts is an illusion. But

Zanger is careful to add a note "De Ms indiciis dixi, ea

ut plurimum fallacia esse, ex hominum melancholicorum

male sanis eonceptibus prodeuntia." Ib.?n. 194.

And again, "Est enim maleficium seu sortilegium delictum

nefandum et exceptum; in criminibus vero exceptis noroina-

tionem socii faeere indicium ad torturam, docui supra (nn. 47-

51), quod multis confirmat Petrus Binsfeldius. . . . Nee

refragatur huic Dd. decision! CaroliV Constitutio, in art. 21"

(which forbids it in sorcery and which I have elsewhere

H. C. L.). "Nam hi divinatores et incantatores testantur de

secretis peccatis et talibus objectis, quae excedunt humanam

cognitionem. Unde necesse est, ut fallantur, aut a Diabolo,

qui est pater mendacii, intelligant." Ib., n. 195.

Then he goes on to detail the indicia appertaining to special

crimes. Those concerning maleficia, I haye elsewhere, under

"Protestant Belief.'7 But then he goes on to quote approv-

ingly from Bodin and Binsfeld what are indicia for sorcery

and witchcraft which are rather proofs, for he says, "cum in

hisce causis probationes esse debeant luce meridiana clariores"

(n. 199). Thus, if she is found in possession of "venena mala

aut sortilegia seu magicae superstitiones," as a jar filled with

magic ointments, or a book of magic or other instruments,

if she has buried poisons under the threshold of a stable and

the cattle have died, or sudden disease or death of a manhas followed. It is the same if one reputed a witch is found

possessing toads, or hostias, or human limbs, or wax images


pierced with needles, or a dead infant, or a signed compact

with the devil, or if she is seen to touch an enemy and he

fails dead or is attacked with elephantiasis, twisting of limbs,

apoplexy or sudden disease. Also if a witch invokes a demon

and speaks with him and he replies though invisible, -or if

she disappears from her bed while the doors are closed and

afterwards returns to it, or if she performs wonders with her

eyes, bewitching harvests and cattle, or flies in the air all

these are evident proofs of magic (all these are borrowed from

Bodin. H. C. L.). So if a woman standing in water throws

water backwards in the air or gives drink to an animal which

is subsequently found dead, it is regarded as an evident

indicium of sorcery (Binsfeld). See also Carolina, c. 44

(which I have H. C. L.), which says, "quern itidem fama

vulgi pro mago et qui magia delectetur eique adhaerescat,

coEaudet, excusat, ferat" (n. 200), from which it is manifest

that, although these indicia may seem evident and permanent,

they are in no way indicia for torture unless there is famathat he or she is a wizard or witch, or there is some other

concurrent indicium (n. 201). And this fama ought not to

be the empty talk of the vulgar, which has no certain source

or cause or probable reasons, but solid, unanswerable and

excellent, originating with trustworthy men whose benefit or

injury is not involved (n. 202). For if it starts from, enemies,

torture can scarce be applied, even if there are the above

named indicia (n. 203). Moreover, there are often presump-tions for the torture of those accused of magic, such as famil-

iarity with certain and convicted magi; notable peculiarities

in religious observances; change of abode, especially when

witches know that accomplices have been arrested (Binsfeld) ;

offering to teach magic or proffering its aid or asserting knowl-

edge of it (Carolina, 44, 22). These are valid presumptions.

Bodin thinks the same if a witch promises cure to one afflicted

or to drive away the "gnawing ones,5 '

or elves, and flies without

completing it, or by magic superstitions restores the sick to

health. Binsfeld holds that if one frequently uses the nameof the demon or customarily curses children or animals in

the name of the devil, it is an indicium ad torturani. In

truth, no one is subject to torture on the mere evidence of

fact, nor for these presumptions unless there is mala fama(n. 204) ;

nor from them can it be inferred that anyone is a

maleficus, as a probable or necessary consequence. "Nisi

ergo mala fama ejus, qui magiae accusatur, vel alia indicia

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECUULB LAW 793

eoncurrant, question! locus esse non debet" (n. 205). Bins-

feid and Bodin enumerate many indicia, partly belonging to

this general category, such as evil physiognomy , inconsistency

and contradiction, trembling ? fear, flight, fame, threats fol-

lowed by effects, and others; partly such things as should not

move the judge to suspect one of magic ,for example the

results of the ordeal of water or of the sieve and scissors,

birth from parent sorcerers, putting new shoes greased with

lard on children going to church so that- witches cannot go out

without their recognizing them for which see Bodin, lib. iv,

c. 4 in fin.; Binsfeld, 2. memfor. principal, quaest., conclus.

7, dub. 1 and in 1. fin. de indie, crim. malef., indicio 15, 16;

and Reiny in lib. ii Daemonolat. (n. 206).

The space which Zanger devotes to this shows the importance which he

attached to it and the existing confusion. He evidently feels bound to

give all the superstitious beliefs of demonologists, such as Bodin and Bins-

feld, but he evidently has no faith in them and endeavors to restrain the

barbarity of the judges by rendering repute indispensable and limiting that

as much as possible.

DASSEL, HABTWIG VON. Responsum Juris in Causa

Poenali Maleficarum Win$iensiumy80 Junii 1597. Franeof.

ad Oderam, 1698. (First ed., Hamburg, 1597.)

Some witches tried at Winsen (Limburg) endured torture

without confession. Hartwig von Dassel is asked for an

opinion, which he gives on the three points whether witches

on trial can be tortured when the truth cannot otherwise be

ascertained whether, if tortured without confession, they

are to be acquitted, or condemned, or anything else can be

done with them and whether the water ordeal can be

employed.He begins by alluding to the great prudence and incompar-

able labor required in torturing witches, seeing that by the

aid of the devil they are rendered so insensible that they will

suffer themselves to be torn limb from limb rather than

confess as Sprenger says, Mall. P. Ill, q. 13 and q. 22.

Responsum Juris, n. 3.

At first sight it would appear that they should be absolved,

as there was nothing special against them. Fama does not

count for much and would not in itself be sufficient for tor-

ture. There were indications on account of which they were

tortured. The strongest of these was that other witches,

executed in various places of the district, severally accused

them as associates in many malefitia and pacts with the devil,


stating in unison the acts and circumstances, so that it seemedscarce credible that these witches could be innocent. Butthe evidence of those witches is of slender importance, as theyasserted facts in which they were themselves deceived and

deluded by the devil, such as renouncing God, connection

with ineubi, flying together to assemblies, drinking, dancingand the like, but all this is untrue, though believed by wicked

women seduced by the illusions of demons as set forth in

Cap. Episcopi. That all this is phantasmic has been demon-strated by Ponzinibio also Martinus de Aries, Jerome Cardan

(De Subtil.,lib. xviii, and De Varietate, lib. xv, c. 60) and

J. Bapt. Porta (Magia naturals, c. 26) and Wierus (De

Praestig., lib. ii, c. 31). Ib., nn. 4-6.

AH this taken back see below.

The same is to be said of commerce with incubi, an illusion

often occurring even with virtuous matrons, as shown byMartin of Aries and Cardan and copiously demonstrated byWierus (lib. ii, c. 33 sqq.)- Such being the case, "non video

quo jure, nisi summo, quod summa etiam injuria dicitur,

praefatae veneficae ad poenam mortis, adeoque ignis (quae

gravissima habetur) ob solas hujusmodi illusiones, cum in

caeteris fuerint innoxiae, eondenmari possint." Ib., nn. 7-8.

It is the common doctrine that the confession or assertion

of accomplices only creates a certain presumption, which

without other indicia does not suffice for torture, even in

these excepted crimes in which those who have confessed can

be interrogated about their associates. Ib., n. 10.

It does not matter that in this case eight or more witches

testified against them. Ib., n. 11.

There must have been an active persecution in limburg.

Argues that these witnesses to render their testimony valid

ought to be sworn and this in the presence of the accused;

moreover, as they are such as are not deserving of belief,

their testimony required to be confirmed by them undertorture. Perhaps it might be argued that in the case of

witches these rules may be neglected, but this is not so. Fromall which it is plain that such evidence without other indicia

does not even justify arrest. Ib., nn. 15-21.

Still we confess that these witches were liable to torture,for there were many other indicia. First, they had friend-

ship and conversation with other witches. Then, that so

WITCHCBAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECHLAB LAW 795

many of their companions inculpated them, for in these

excepted crimes a number of associates makes an indiciumfor torture. Third, they at first denied that this crime hadbeen imputed to them by any reputable persons and then

they admitted that it had been, which variation and famaare an important support for torture. And it appears that

the fama against them was vehement, and this itself is suffi-

cient for torture. But this was purged by the torture without

confession, which overcame aH the indicia against them, andit would seem that there was nothing to do except to acquitand discharge them. Ib., nn. 22-25.

Still this opinion is not universally held and the commonpractice is, when torture does not bring confession, to absolve

the accused "ab ilia instantia, non autem definitive a delicto,

sed ita rem indiscussam relinquere" and to discharge the

accused under bail. The result is that, if new indicia arise,

the prosecution can be resumed; if proofs of innocence super-

vene, he is definitely acquitted. Ib., nn. 27, 28.

This explains the ohsoliMo db instantia, which I have not understood,

It is much like the "suspension" of the Spanish Inquisition.

But notwithstanding all the above, it is to be decided wholly

otherwise, for "ex pluribus indiciis simul junctis resultet suffi-

ciens et plena probatio," and, although this applies to civil

and not to criminal cases, yet in this case it is not applicable,

for here we have the secret crime of witches, which theycherish in secret and minister to the devil, attending the

nocturnal Sabbat and secretly performing maleficia, as is

well known. Therefore another method intervenes, for in

secret and hidden acts such full proof is not required as in

others, "sed hie admittuntur conjecturae, verisimilitudines,

indicia quae in tali casu vim plenae probationis obtinent.7 '

And, if indicia are so indubitable and strong that the fact

can scarce be denied, the judge can pass capital sentence.

And it can be made indubitable by the quality and numberof the indicia, as is plainly to be seen in this case. For there

is old and constant and vehement fama that the prisoners are

witches, which alone suffices for torture. Also well knownare their conversation and friendship with other witches, for

which alone they can be punished. Thirdly, the deposition

of the other witches made separately must aid in the proof,

for it is improbable that they, arrested and examined in

different places and times, could agree about so many acts,


as is specified fully in the case (if it were not true) and, thoughthe assertions of an accomplice do not make indicium for

torture, yet in this crime there is not required the presump-tion necessary in others,

ased sufficit qualisqualis (any kind

of) suspicio.17

It may be said in this case that the assertion

of a single accomplice would suffice for torture. It is certain

that in the heresy of witches and the like the accused can

and ought to be examined as to accomplices, and inculpation

by one suffices for torture. So in this case the number and

character of the depositions make full proof. Ib., nn. 29-33.

For all this, at every point, he cites abundant authorities.

Against this it may be urged that such evidence is not to

be received, as it is all an illusion, as argued by Ponzinibius

from Cap. Episcopi. But Ponzinibius was miserably in error.

Cap. Episcopi referred to an entirely different class of womendeluded by the devil, and not to witches who make pact with

the devil and in his service seek to injure all God's creatures,

for which he quotes the Malleus and Grillandus. Ib., n. 34.

As to the objection urged above that the witnesses should

be sworn in the presence of the accused. They were in prisonand could not be confronted; the law requires them to be

examined for accomplices and its mandates are not in vain.

Goes on with long argument to prove this. Ib., nn. 35-42.

Besides these witness-witches did not retract their accusa-

tion on the way to execution, though specially exhorted bythe priest, so their assertions were like death-bed oaths. Also

they could not weep before, during and after torture, nor did

they confess, which taciturnity, as the Malleus and Grillandus

show, is a certain proof of their guilt. And so with the present

case, they confessed nothing, whence "non dubitamus quinsatis probatum sit esse nocentes. . . . Et magis in specie

quod tales mulieres quae in tormentis nihil sunt confessae et

tamen deprehensum in eis maleficium taciturnitatis, ex quolacrymare non potuerunt et quae sunt diffamatae nee nonfamiliaritatem habuerunt cum aliis maleficis et ab illarum

pluribus delatae fuerunt, per judicem saecularem igni possuntadjudieari" according to Malleus. Ib., nn. 43-7.

Thus, when a witch was once sentenced to torture, her fate was sealed. If

she confessed, she was burnt; if she did not, it was conclusive proof of guilt.

Thus the folly underlying the torture theory is carried to the nth power.

Even in the Inquisition proofs could be purged by torture,but not so here "Neque possunt in casu nostro probationes


vel indicia aliquo modo purgata dici per torturam, cum ex

eo, quod tortae, lachrymare non valentes, maleficium taci-

tumitatis prodiderint atque fidem indieionim auxerint."

Ib., n. 48.

Then lie turns around and says he has not found in the

process what would enable him to reach a conclusive sentence.

There are indubitable indicia that they are witches and canbe condemned to the stake, but the doctors say that on suchindubitable indicia alone, without confession, no one shouldbe capitally condemned. It is at the discretion of the judgewhat weight to attach to the depositions of the accomplices.

Ib., nn. 51-2.

In such cases it is customary to sentence to some lesser

penalty, such as the galleys or perpetual imprisonment.They certainly ought not to be discharged, to the danger of

human society (nn. 54-7) .

' l

Sic etiam incarcerata non potentevadere et nocere, quia divina justicia tune non pennittitdaemoni naturalem potentiam exercere in carceratis, ne forte

judices et officiates curiosi videntes manifesta signa liberations

invitentur ad sequendam sceleratam illorum professionem."

Ib., n. 58.

We would not hasten to condemn, but try various methodsto obtain confession, even by repetition of torture, for, thoughall the doctors say that new indicia are requisite for repeti-

tion, yet they commonly admit that, if torture has been insuf-

ficient, it may be repeated and, if we consider the custom of

some judges, they repeat it indifferently without new indicia.

Some authorities hold that, when the indicia are very urgent,torture can be repeated, and, however this may be, the judgein the present case cannot err in repeating the torture, for

the witches seem not to have been sufficiently tortured andthe indicia were very vehement. In fact in the torture there

came a new indicium, that they could not weep under it, a

matter he could not know in advance. There is to be con-

sidered, however, that there may be in the second torture the

same taciturnity, wherefore he should in advance use the

methods prescribed in the Malleus, which says he should

send discreet persons to them to teach them and disposethem to tell the truth and to escape the torment, promising

them, if they repent, they shall not be put to death but have

a lighter penalty and urging upon them the squalor of the

prison. If this fails, they should be kindly treated and, before

torturing them, women should make them change all their


garments and wash or stave their hair. Then, after tying

them to the instruments, the>T should be loosened and per-

suaded to confess and led to hope that they will not be put

to death. If this fails, they should be tortured at first lightly

and then severely, for witches must be most sharply examined

and at the end a term must be assigned for a continuation

as often as may be necessary to reach the truth. During the

interval they should be carefully watched to see that the

devil does not lead them to suicide, and when the term comes,

they are to be tortured again, if they will not confess. Ib.,

nn. 63-8.

Failing all this, he recommends a device in the Malleus

(P. Ill, q. xvi), which Is to send them separately to distant

castles; the castellan will pretend to be absent, when some

respectable women are introduced who in the course of talk

will ask the accused for a specimen of her powers, promising

to set her free. This often succeeds, says Institoris, as in a

recent case in the castle of Konigsheim near Sehlettstadt, where

a witch who had resisted repeated tortures was tricked into

causing a tremendous hailstorm. The castellan was lying

concealed where he heard everything and she was thus con-

victed. Ib., n. 69.

Or the judge may ask them whether they will undergo the

red-hot iron ordeal, to which they will answer affirmatively

for all witches desire it, knowing that the devil will preserve

them from injury. This Is an admission of guilt and the

judge can then say that he cannot undertake it, as it is a

method contrived by the devil and forbidden by law. For

a notable example of this see Malleus, P. Ill, q. xvii. Ib.,

nn. 71-2.

Although the cold water ordeal is prohibited, it is in fre-

quent use in our parts of Saxony. Indeed it is everywhere in

frequent use, but only among the ignorant vulgar. It is for-

bidden and fell out of use, but is reviving, among other old

superstitions. Proof by ordeal is a double sin superstition

and tempting God; and not only do those ski who employ it,

but those also who believe in it, unless excused by probable

ignorance. "Quare recte Bodinus et alii contra Scribonium

damnant probationem aquae frigidae tanquam opus diabol-

icum." If used as an indicium for torture, the torture is

illegal and any confession extracted by it is invalid. Thereason why witches do not sink is that the demon supports

them, for though he usually seeks to prevent their convic-


tion and confession and repentance, in this case lie is willingto lose a soul because he gains all those who codperate in it

and believe in it, for it is an implicit pact with the devil.(Note the ingenuity with which all the wiles of the devil are

explained and reasons found for all foregone conclusions,-H. C. L.) Ib., nn. 73-89.

The length of the discussion on this shows the Importance which thewater ordeal was assuming.

"Quare nunc conclusio totius Responsi est,1Jthat the judge

should use every effort to obtain confessions and have themratified, when the witches are to be sentenced to the customarypenalty of fire. If he is unable to do this, they are not to be

discharged, but to be perpetually imprisoned; when worn outwith the squalor perhaps they may confess, or new proofsmay supervene by which they may be clearly convicted, andthen the judge will have enough for what he should do.

Ib., n. 90.

Dat. Luneburg. Ultimo Junii die, Anno 1597.

Thus confession is necessary in the absence of absolute proof, but withit there may be conviction without confession.

This whole Responsum is interesting as showing the methods of legal

reasoning in these cases and the presentation of arguments on one side to

be swept away by stronger ones on the other like the process in the old

scholastic Summae.It is noteworthy to see how the Malleus continued to he cited as author-

ity, even in Saxony, presumably Protestant. Ltineburg is in Lower Saxonynow Hanover.

COTHMANN, EBNST. Responsum Juris [16?].

Cothmann, professor of law at Rostock, was a distinguished jurist of the

early seventeenth century, died 1624. In Adam Volkmann Schonbach'sPeinlicher Process (Goslar, 1624) is printed a consultation of his on a witch-

craft case submitted to him, which absolved the accused. It is minute andconscientious and is remarkable not only for the enlightened views whichit takes, but further as indicating the reckless methods customary, which

brought to the stake so many thousand innocents. He does not disputethe reality of sorcery (except the Sabbat) and bases his argument on jurid-ical grounds, for which he cites ample authorities. It is printed, with some

omissions, in Hauber's Bibl. Magic., II, p. 217-55.

He begins by pronouncing the whole process to be void onaccount of the irregularity and carelessness of the procedure.There was no proof that any crime had been committed

(Hauber, p. 226); the requisita of the inquisitorial processhad not been observed (p. 226), including the specification of

80G THE DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

time and place, which the Carolina prescribes as necessary

to give opportunity for defence (p. 228), and the whole pro-

ceeding was uncertain and inconclusive (p. 229).

He evidently has no belief in so-called excepted crimes and

asks why sorcery cases cannot be tried by the ordinary

process. In such cases, no less than in other crimes, the bodyand life are involved, or torture and suffering, and it is of

the highest necessity that every step of procedure shall be

carefully observed and cautiously applied, for the crime is

heinous and the punishment severe, and in the Carolina it

is prescribed that in such cases the rules of procedure shall

be zealously respected (p. 230).

He then proceeds to define the indicia necessary for torture,

laying down the strictest rules, and argues that the saying

that lighter indicia suffice in hidden crimes, such as sorcery,

only applies to commencing prosecution and not to torture

(pp. 230-9).He then considers the leading classes of indicia, commenc-

ing with fama. As this was one of the most abused and

dangerous of all the so-called proofs in these cases, it is inter-

esting to see the definitions which he prescribes as necessary

to render fama an indicium justifying torture. (1) The wit-

ness must state the time at which it arose and this must be

previous to the commencement of the prosecution. (2) Thatthe ill-fame arises from an offence which cannot be endured

for the public good. (3) That the witness declares he has it

from the majority of the people of the place. (4) The wit-

ness must name the persons from whom he heard it. (5)

These persons must be trustworthy and unexceptionable.

(6) The witness must specify the cause from which the ill-

fame arises. (7) He must himself be a man of good fame and

repute. (8) The ill-fame must arise not from persons con-

cerned in the affair, but from others. (9) The fame mustarise from the crime to be proved (that is, sorcery in general)and not from other ones. (10) The fame must be completeand real, not trifling, variable or contradictory. Even whenthese requisites are present, ill-fame does not justify torture

unless there are other indicia, and the Carolina, art. 44,

clearly indicates this when it says that indicia are not strength-ened by malafama (pp. 240-2).How little these prescriptions were observed in general,

the documents show. In the present case, he says, these

requisites are not to be found. In the Articles on Fame it is

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW SOI

not legitimately deduced that the accused is regarded as

suspect of sorcery; It should have been distinctly stated that

the majority of the people so suspect him, as proved above,to say nothing of the fact that not a single witness deposedanything in accordance with the above requisites.

Finally, there is the good name of the accused, proved bysuch apparent arguments that all which is alleged to the

contrary falls of itself and is reduced to nothing (p. 242).The next principal indicium is flight. Although this is an

indicium ad torturam when it occurs before commencement of

proceedings, when there axe other indicia, or when the fugitive

goes to unaccustomed places, still the flight is not alone to

be considered, but also the intention of the fugitive. Thereis no indicium when it occurs after procedure has com-menced or he understands that it is about to be and there is

rightful cause, such as fear of the partiality of the judge, or of

undue haste, or of constraint and prison. Or when the fugitivehas always been in good repute, or when he voluntarily returns,or the inquisition is invalid or begun without due proofs, or

when he flies to seek a higher court or a juridical faculty.In this case it will be seen that the accused did not take

flight, but went to the higher judge (pp. 242-4).The third indicium is that the accused did not tell the

truth. I admit that mendacity is a strong indicium againstthe liar. But if the depositions of the accused are examinedwith the sharpest and most unfriendly eyes, there can befound no certain untruth concerning the crime, but onlyabout things disconnected with it, which afford no indicium.

If the act which he denied occurred many years ago, it is to

be assumed that this was lapse of memory and not fraud.

The common opinion is that when body and life are at stake,

a necessary lie (Noth-Luge) affords no indicium ad torturam,or when he denies that which would be not injurious to him

(pp. 244-5).The fourth indicium is that he kept company with sorcerers,

but this is not a sufficient indicium ad torturam. It onlyavails when he knows the party to be a sorcerer, or when he

has no good name and repute (p. 245).The fifth indicium is his contumacy in refusing confronta-

tion with witnesses. This does not justify torture, although a

wanton contumacy might move a judge to torture, providedthe inquisition has been rightfully conducted otherwise, not.

VOL. n 51


But this does not apply when obedience would injure Mm, for

this would be to impede the defence (pp. 245-6).The sixth indicium, drawn from accomplices, is of no impor-

tance. It is clearly the law that the confession or assertion

of accomplices is not an indicium ad torturam. The accom-

plice does not say that the accused is a sorcerer or has com-mitted sorcery j but that he saw him at night on the Blocks-

berg "quod testimonium propter impossibilitatemfalsum est"

(p. 246).The seventh indicium, from, the testimony of the seventh

witness, that the accused asked him to consult a sorcerer,has no force, for many reasons. The witness is singular andis a woman and thus of little weight (pp. 246-7).The eighth indicium, that the accused purchased poison,

prepared it and kept it with him, makes indeed a presumptionfor torture

,but is insufficient

? firstly because it is an indiciuma veneficii crimine remotum, and secondly because the poisoncan be used for other purposes (p. 247).The ninth indicium

,that the accused prepared apples,

pears or other things and gave them to another to eat,

approaches closely to an indicium, but can be avoided in

many ways, as in this case it appears from the Acta that the

physicians testified positively that the man said to havetaken the poison had had no poison and that in his cure noantidotes were given, but remedies for the natural disease

from which he suffered, so that all suspicion of the accused is

purged away. The inquisitors say that the poisoned pearswere repeatedly given to the man, but that he did not die of

them (p. 248).

Lastly, the tenth indicium, derived from the confession of

the witch under torture, can easily be disposed of. For, al-

though the testimony of an accomplice creates a presumption,yet this is single and, when there are no other indicia, is insuf-

ficient for torture; they must be weighty and urgent. Thisis the common opinion of the doctors, even in excepted crimes,in which the accomplice can be legally interrogated. But thatthe evidence of an accomplice make an indicium it must bea matter connected with the affair; if about something remote,it has no weight. In the present case the evidence of the

pretended accomplice has no bearing on the accusation. It is

further necessary that it affirm something worthy of belief,which this accomplice does not do, but only foolish impossi-bilities, for he says he has seen him dance on the Blocksberg,

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAV 803

which is to be deemed a wicked fantasm and devil's work,

condemned by the Word of God (for this he cites Cap. Epis-

copi, Ponzinibio, Alciatus, Joh. Torquemada) (pp. 248-9).

An accomplice creates a presumption only when the crime

has been entirely secret or its nature and quality are such

that no one else can bear testimony about it. When legal

evidence is procurable, it is dangerous to depend on what is

doubtful and this should be especially borne in mind in this

crime of witchcraft, for daily experience shows us that witches

to escape from torture will denounce honorable matrons and

besmirch them with perpetual dishonor, which frauds and

injuries can easily be avoided, if only those were tortured

against whom there is weighty evidence. For the evidence

of an accomplice to create a presumption it is necessary

that it should be given under torture, for a confessed witch

is infamous and not to be believed without it, even in excepted

crimes; but the inquisitor here himself admits that this evi-

dence was given outside of torture. Moreover, the accused

is free from all presumption when the accomplice names him

without being interrogated, and this even in excepted crimes.

But here the inquisitor admits that the accomplice named

him spontaneously, without any preceding question. Besides,

the evidence is worthless unless given under oath, and here

the Acta show that the accomplice was not sworn. Besides

here there can be no accomplice, since no crime has been

committed. From this and from all the foregoing it clearly

appears that nothing has been proved against the accused

for which he can be tortured (pp. 248-51).

This long and labored and somewhat contradictory argument shows how

important and intricate was the question as to the evidence of accomplices.

When there are indicia for the defence, there must be

stronger, clearer and surer indicia against him to condemn

him. And when this is not the case, he cannot be tortured,

but must be acquitted. The first sign of this that he is

innocent and to be acquitted is the public voice and fame

pronouncing him innocent. A good name and repute has

such force that it destroys ill-fame (which is not proved in

this case), so that proof of good repute in general wholly

overcomes ill-fame proved in special. There are some,

however, who hold that good fame proved in specie cannot

overcome ill-fame of another kind. Finally, the doctors unani-


mously assert that a good name overcomes aE indicia sufficient

for torture (pp. 251-2).

As, in this case, good repute was proved in specie, it can be

said that the ill-fame wholly disappears and this extends so

far that good repute proved by a few witnesses overcomes ill-

fame proved by many (p. 252).

A second proof of innocence is that the accused was not

only held generally as an honorable and irreproachable man,but was so pronounced by those whom he sued for defamation,

who were obliged to recant and withdraw their slanders

(p. 253).A third proof is that, although the judge summoned innu-

merable witnesses and interrogated them about ill-fame,

there were scarce two or three who knew anything to that

purpose (p. 253).

A fourth proof is that he voluntarily presented himself for

arrest, and this is a common opinion, not to be neglected

(p. 253).It is certain that in the inquisitional process on this atro-

cious crime of sorcery the witnesses should have been wholly

irreproachable and subject to no exceptions. Whathe^ goes

on to say is not very clear, but it infers that the inquisitor

summoned great numbers, endeavoring to make up in quantity

what was lacking in quality, and that every effort was madeto reconcile conflicting evidence (p. 254).

"And this is my opinion" that "der Inquisitus gantzlichen

absolviret werden soil" (p. 255).

And he must undoubtedly have been acquitted.

GOLDAST, MELCHIOR. Rechtliches Bedencken von Confisca-

tion der Zauberer und Hexen-Guther. Bremen, 1661.

On p. 117 we read of an occurrence "im verschienen Sommer des 1630

Jahrs."1 This is a posthumous work, printed from his papers. He died

in 1635. It is very learned, the notes and references to all manner of

authorities being considerably more than the text.

He has no doubts as to the reality of witchcraft, which is

properly punishable with death. Negligent magistrates who1 That, at least as a legal opinion, it was known thus early would seem assured

by its closing paragraph, evidently addressed to the Abp.-Elector of Trier: "Das1st allso was auff Ewer Churfurstlichen Gnaden gnadigstes Begehren ich vor diesem

in meinem underthanigsten Rechtlichen Bedencken, nach meinem beaten Wissenund Gewissen, habe auffgesetzet und in forma ConsUH eroffnet, anjetzo aber, auff

empfangenen. anderweitern Befelch, mit mehrenn auasgefuhrt, auch rtztionibus

decidendi, sampt den (Megaiionibus et remissioniJbus prolatoriis, confirmirt babe. . . ,

Signatum Cobolentz, am Rhein, den 24. Octobr. anno 1629."


do not labor for Its eradication, should be punished. The

imperial jurisdiction as supreme should see to this and the

"Kayserlicher Fiscal" should take action against them. Ib.,

p. 79.

The provisions of the Carolina are insufficient and vagueand are variously Interpreted. The Elector August of Saxonyfelt this and decreed that sorcerers and witches who renounce

God and bind themselves to the devil are to be burnt whether

they have wrought injuries or not. This has also been adoptedin the Churfurstiiche Pfaltzische Policey-Ordnung, the Is assau-

Dillenburgische Policey-Ordnung, the Holsteln-Schauen-

burgische PoKeey-Ordnung, the FiirstHche Bambergische

Hals-Gerichts-Ordnung, the FiirstHche HessischeOrdnung undReformation of 1572, the Stadt Worms' Reformation, the

Ordinances de la Ville de Geneve, which as a free city of the

Empire uses the Carolina (in a French version), and other

Ordnungen, extracts from which can be seen in AbrahamSaurius* Straffbtichlein.Ib.j p. 82.

Of this opinion are all Catholic theologians and jurists and

no small number of Protestant jurists and some of the more

judicious theologians and philosophers, seeing that it is God's

especial command. Ib., p. 85.

Therefore those, whether Catholic or Protestant, are wholly

wrong who teach that witches and sorcerers who give them-

selves to the devil and renounce God, but do no harm to

man or beast, are not to be executed, but, like heretics, are

to be received to repentance and absolution, with public

church-discipline. These deny that sorcerers and witches

can cause tempests, fly through the air, change themselves

into beasts, have sexual intercourse with the devil, all of

which the Holy "Universal Church believes, Scripture and

imperial laws confirm and the holy fathers affirm, and It is

demonstrated as clearly as the sun by experience and examples.

Ib., pp. 93-4.

In support of this he quotes from the Schauenburg Policey-

Ordnung of 1615 that whoever has pact with the devil, even

though he works no evil to anyone, shall be burnt alive. If

without such pact he works evil with sorcery, he shall be

beheaded. All divination with the aid of the devil or seeking

to learn from him the future or the past is punished with the

sword.Ib., p. 103.

It is true that in some Catholic places, such as Rome,

Naples, Sicily and Spain, where this crime is subject to the


Inquisition and spiritual courts^ only those who are obstinate

and deny their guilt (of which they are convicted) are put to

death, while those who confess and abjure the devil andswear to abandon Mm are released to their friends with

penance. But this is not practiced in Germany, France andelsewhere where the civil power undertakes to punish these

crimes. There, all who confess their misdeeds, either volun-

tarily or through torture., and proof and witnesses are at

hand, are condemned to death. Those, however, who endure

without confession two or three tortures, there being witnesses

and some indicia, are not lightly to be put to death, and this

is everywhere a general observance, unless the evidence

against them is as clear as the sun. And it is a great abuse

among the common, ignorant country judges who have the

barbarous custom not to condemn to death the criminal,

however full and free his confession may be, without con-

firming it with torture. And it is much to be desired that in

some places more caution and delay were used with the poorwomen and not so swiftly proceeded to torture on a simpledenunciation. Especially should it be kept in view that

many innocent persons, under unendurable torture, confess

what they have never thought, much less put into action.

Particularly as I have in some places seen with much dis-

turbance of spirit and have abolished, where articles1 are read

to the accused before torture, leading poor weak women in

the torture to repeat and affirm what they have thus been

told. And pious old priests have, with heartfelt grief and

sighs, complained to me their deep concern as to whetherinnocent blood is not shed through these hurried processes.As the celebrated jurist Bachovius says, "Multa illis (den

Hexen) vane affingi, multa falsa per tormenta illis exprimi,nee paucas per injuriam igni tradi, mihi sane persuasum est."

How little confidence is to be placed in the admissions of

witches is witnessed by the experienced jurists whose numer-ous expressions are in print. Although Paul Layinann S. J.

is of the contrary opinion. Ib., pp. 104-6.

The reference to Laymann shows that this must have been written later

than 1625.

In his notes to this section he cites as affirming the maxim" Delationem ex confessionibus Sagarum non sufficere ad cap-

turam, nedum ad torturam," Niellius, Melander, Lercheimer,

1 I. e. of accusation the charges.


Rittershusius, Pet. Wesembec., Torreblanca (lib. iii, e. 19,n. 37 and c. 20, n. 35, q.v.) and Albrecht.He argues against those who hold that the Carolina pun-

ishes only the misdeeds and not the renunciation of God. Inthis he quotes Protestant authorities. Thus Joan. Brentius

?

Luther's colleague, in Ms Pericop. Evangel., P. II, writtenseven years after the Carolina (1540?) says, "Hie est obser-vandum quod leges puniant incantatiiees

? non quod ipsaepossunt pro sua libidine elementa turbare, sed quod tradide-runt sese totas Satanae et Spiritum Satanae ita hauserantj utnon concipiant nisi hominum exitia, putentque se facere quod,permittente Deo, a Satana fit. . . . Quare leges puniunthanc impietatem et incredulitatem in incantatricibus, nonquod ipsae inferant damnum, sed quod putent se inferre et

quod totae donatae sint Satanae in pemiciem hominum."Then he quotes from Bernardus Albrecht, priest of the BLCreuz and senior of the Evangelical Ministry of Augsburg,in his Tractatus de Magia, that it is evident that witchesrenounce God and baptism and abjure the Christian faith.

Each one has her own demon whom she serves and obeys, as

recently here one who was burnt confessed that her devil wasnamed Casperle Unfried. On account of such apostasy theyare properly punished in body and life as God's enemies.

Ib., pp. 112-4.

As concerns conversion, amendment and repentance, it

must come from hearing God's word and the exhortation of

preachers, before falling into the hands of justice; it must beof free-will and without pressure or fear of punishment, withcontrition for past sins and abandonment of sinful life. Before

the judge, repentance is too late; no mercy is to be expectedbut punishment, as both spiritual and secular law rightfullydecree. Ib., p. 114.

Although the Inquisition or the spiritual court absolves

the converted and repentant person and relieves him as far

as it can from secular punishment, this does not prejudicethe rights of the secular courts. Such judgment and indul-

gence are only as to culpa, and not as to poena temporalis,which the secular magistrate preserves for all evil deeds per-

formed, as the old inquisitor Sprenger admits. Ib., p. 116.

"Sprenger" does not exactly say this, but that it seems probable that,

however they may repent and return to the faith, they should not like other

heretics be perpetually immured, but should be put to death on account of

the temporal injuries inflicted on men and cattle. Mall. Malef., P. I, q. xiv,

ed. of 1580, p. 169.


The witch who, before she becomes notorious or is accused,confesses her sin regularly to a confessor, acknowledges it

publicly before the community, gives competent security to

forsake and abjure the devil and to perform penance andchurch discipline to be imposed by the spiritual court-, should

be spared the ordinary punishment of witchcraft, providedshe has done no evil deeds, for such a one is to be regarded as

an apostate. But if she has wrought evil by her sorcery and

freely places herself in the hands of the magistrate, while she

should not have the sharpest ordinary punishment, she should

have a milder punishment according to the degree of her evil

deeds, to serve as a warning. Ib., p. 116.

Such a case occurred in the summer of 1630 at Philipsthalin the province of Trier, where the widow of a peasant, after

confessing to her son and afterwards to a priest, presentedherself to the court, made a full confession of her evil prac-

tices, which was duly protocolled, and threw herself uponthe mercy of the judges, and gave security to appear againwhen summoned. She came at the appointed time, whenthe sentence was that, without being touched by the execu-

tioner, she should go to the Platz before the Rath-Haus, be

stripped there and beheaded, after which her friends mightgive her Christian burial, all of which was duly accomplished.

Ib., p. 117.

The details would seem to render this true, but it is an extraordinary

story probably a case of hysteric belief in intercourse with an incubuslike those in the Spanish Inquisition with a more tragic result. But the

effect of such a case in confirming belief in witchcraft must have beenconsiderable.

At present the custom with us is that the obstinate, impeni-tent witch is burnt alive, with a bag of powder hanging to

the neck,1 in case her crimes do not require harsher punish-

ment. Those who repent and receive the viaticum are

beheaded or strangled and then burnt. Ib., p. 118.

For sorcery without renouncing God and the faith, as it is

of various kinds, so there are various penalties. Ib.; p. 119.

There is an old rule of law Qui confiscat corpus confiscatbona. This is based on spiritual as well as imperial law, as

also on Judaic law hi the Talmud and the Leges Barbarorum.

Ib., p. 129.

1 Goldast's words are: "dass die hartnackige verstockte unbussfertige TJebel-thater lebendig mit dem Feuer mit Sckwefel und Pulver umbhanget oder auchwohl ohne dieaelbe . . . gerichtet . . . werden.'

'


It prevails throughout France, Germany, Italy, Switzer-

land, Savoy, Flanders, Lorraine, Provence, Tyrol, Alsace,

Spain, etc. Ib., pp. 130-1.

But, to check abuses, Theodoric in Ravenna and Justinianrestricted it to majesia and some other cases. This wasconfirmed by Maximilian I in 1505 and by Charles V in 1532.

But it is very curious that in the Carolina, art. 218, 6 is

unintelligible "Item, an etlichen Orten, so ein Uebelthaterausserhaib des Lasters der Beleydigung Unser Majestatt, oder

sonst in andern Fallen, so der Uebelthater Leib und Guthnicht verwiircket, vom Leben zum Todt gestraffet, Weib undKinder am Bettelstab, und das Guth dem Herrn zugewiesenwerden." Some legists construe this as restricting confisca-

tion to majestas; others assume that the nicht is a careless

interpolation of a scrivener; others again (as Goldast) that

it should read mit. He compares it with art. 135 and concludesthat confiscation occurs in other cases than majestas. Ib.,

pp. 132-5.

The commentators also say that oder sonst has here the

sense of und. The Latin version of Dr. Friedrich Martini

reads, "Et quia in quibusdam locis (excepto crimine laesae

Majestatis nostrae, vel aliis casibus, in quibus delinquensvitam et bona sinrul amisit) mortis suppHcio afficitur, uxor et

liberi mendicitati dimittuntur, bona autem Dominis adjudi-cantur". Ib., p. 141.

Yet, in spite of this clear declaration, there are still some

jurists so obstinate as to hold that Charles V forbade confis-

cation except in majestas. The real meaning of the passageis that there are other crimes subject to confiscation. This

may be adjudged by any competent authority, but the con-

fiscations belong to the lord. Ib., pp. 143-4.

He goes on to enumerate twenty-one excepted crimes, leav-

ing little from confiscation, and descending even to bigamyand incestuous marriage. Of course heresy comes in arguingfrom the less to the greater, "a laesione humanae ad laesionem

divinae Majestatis/' and sorcery of all kinds is the worst

form of heresy. This is so held by all theologians and canon-

ists and jurists, the emperors and popes. Ib., p. 160.

Whence he triumphantly considers disproved the opinion of

those doctors who assert "hodie per totum mundum, exceptocriminae [sic] laesae majestatis, confiscationem in caeteris

omnibus casibus abolitam esse." Ib., p. 161.

It is the common opinion of jurists, of Catholic theologians


and canonists and of part of the Protestant preachers, that

sorcery is punished with, not only death but confiscation;

enuring to the lord. Ib., p. 164.

Yet some insist that by a universal custom heresy, sorcery

and witchcraft are not subject to confiscation: but, be this

as it may in some places, still in the German Empire,1 France

and Spain confiscation is enforced. Ib., p. 166.

Argues away Deut. xxiv, 16, and Ezekiel xviii, which forbid

punishing children for fathers7

sins, insisting that this refers

to eternal punishment. Ib., p. 168.

Also argues away similar prescriptions of the Roman law.

Ib., p. 169.

Also the ancient German law: "Niemand soil mit zwey-facher Ruthen geschlagen, noch mit zweyfacher Straffe beleget

werden. 35

Ib., p. 171.

Then there is the question to whom the confiscation

enures the over-lord or he who holds the right of haute et

basse justice. The jurists conclude in common that it belongs

to the lord holding immediate jurisdiction. Ib., p. 172.

But in Spain it is different from Germany and France, for

there all confiscations go to the royal fisc. In Italy they are

divided into thirds one to the lord, one to the bishop and

one to the Inquisition. In the papal territories of Italy,

Avignon and Aries, sometimes one half goes to the papalcamera and the other to the Inquisition; sometimes the Inquis-

ition takes it all; sometimes the division is in thirds between

the camera, the bishop and the Inquisition. Ib., p. 173.

When the condemned has property lying in several juris-

dictions, some legists hold that the lord of each place seizes

what is in his land. Others say that only that is confiscated

which lies in the jurisdiction where he is condemned and

that the rest goes to the heirs, and Goldast adheres to the

latter opinion. When there is more than one lord of a place,

the confiscations are divided between them in proportion to

their shares in the jurisdiction. Ib., p. 174.

Under spiritual and secular law it is the duty of all rulers

to extirpate these crimes in their lands and they are

empowered to seize the confiscations. The object of the

offenders is to gain money and they are properly punishable

by depriving them of property according to the legal rule

"Per quae quis peccat, per eadem punitur" and it serves as

a warning. But the ruler should not appropriate it to his

1 "Im Heil. Rom. Reich Teutscher Nation."

WITCHCBAFT AS VIEWED BY SECULAR LAW 811

own uses, but employ It to restore the losses of those whohave suffered, or in pious uses of religion and charity. Ib.,

pp. 1756.

Urges ail Christian rulers to see that innocent blood is not

shed through hurried and arbitrary processes and that the

guilty do not escape through bribes and favor. Ib., p. 177.

Also to be merciful as to confiscations and not cause the

innocent to suffer not to take the husband's property whenthe wife alone has sinned, nor the wife's when the husbandis the sinner, nor what children have inherited or earned

or, where confiscation is not used, to exaggerate the costs.

In all he urges mercy and to remember what legists say

quod summa justitia saepe fit summa injuria. Ib., pp. 177-8.

TMs last is very suggestive of the abuses of confiscation.

GOEHAUSEN, HERMANN. Processus Juridicus contra Sagaset Veneficos. Das ist: RechtUcher Process wie man gegen Unholdt-

en und Zauberische Persemen verfahren soil. Una cum Decision-

ibus Quaestionum ad hanc materiam pertineniium . Bintelii-ad-

Yisurgim, 1630. 1

TMs work shows the influence commencing to check the

widespread slaughter. In his preliminary remarks, he quotesFather Tanner with approbation and earnestly cautions

judges not to commence prosecutions except under urgent

necessity, for we see how, when once begun, they multiplyuntil there is no end to them. If among ten or twenty guiltythere is a single innocent, they should abstain; or, if once begun,

they should finish as quickly as possible, for when the matter

is dragged out through years it hangs over the whole com-

munity and involves the innocent with the guilty in a common

deluge. In this way we see with grief in some places nearlyall the women absumptas esse, with disgrace to the Catholic

religion. The excessive zeal of judges in obtaining denuncia-

1 As has been pointed out on p. 688 above, the title and text of Goehausen's bookare borrowed from a PTOCBSSUS Juridicus of 1629 ascribed to the Jesuit Paul Laymann ;

and the title-page of the present work makes Wm only its "editor and reviser"

(edidit et recensuit). But his Latin notae and condusiones attached, chapter bychapter, to this German text, and his Detisiones appended, with distinct title-page,

make much the larger part of the volume; and it is on these alone that what Mr. Lea

says of Goehausen is based. But, as was also pointed out above, this German Proces-

8U8 juridicits was not Laymann's; and, though it is now ascribed to the Bonn pastor

Jordanaeus, writing at the behest of the Prince-Archbishop, it is by no means impos-sible that Goehausenmay have had a hand in it. His book is dedicated to bis maternal

uncle, Georg Heystermann, then "Gaugraf and Provincial Judge in the Diocese

of Paderborrt"; the Prince-Archbishop of Cologne was then also Bishop of Pader-

born, where witch-persecution was raging. Goehausen's preliminary matter and

hia whole handling of his German text seems to imply a closer relation thaa that of

an editor. B.


tions of accomplices through the severest torture is followed

by such a multitude of witches that in some places there are

few women left. Ib., pp. 12-15.

Judges should not assume that those arrested for witch-

craft are already convicted, but should believe that they maybe in reality innocent and should afford them facilities to

purge themselves, and not subject them at once to torture.

The accused should be informed of the evidence and have anadvocate to defend her, especially as the accused women are

mostly rude, illiterate, simple and timid. Ib., pp. 15-20.

Yet he adds that God rarely permits the innocent to be

accused. Ib., p. 20.

He controverts the opinion of Bodin, who justifies the judgein making false promises of pardon and telling lies about the

evidence said to be given by accomplices (p. 260) such as

promising grace, with the reservation that it is to the public,or promising to build her a new house, meaning the pyre to

bum her (p. 267). Yet he approves of admitting her accom-

plices and letting them eat and drink together and postingsecret witnesses with a notary to overhear their talk, or

bringing in pretended friends who may induce them to talk

freely (p. 267); also other tricks (pp. 267-70). Though the

judge sins in lying, he does not sin in condemning on a con-

fession thus obtained, for that he must do this is confirmed

by the practice of many places and the opinion of most doctors

(p. 282).That there is pact with the demon he says is admitted on

all hands, by Protestants as well as by Catholics. That thereis sexual intercourse is commonly denied by Protestants, buthe says it is too universally admitted from the time of St.

Augustin and confirmed by too much evidence to be called in

question. At the same time he denies that the demon has

power to make the witch assume the shape of a cat or otheranimal or to pass through closed doors and windows. Id.,Decisiones aliquot Quaestionum ad hanc materiam pertinen-tium, q. 3 (pp. 44-54).He says that he formerly held to Can. Episcopi and that

the Sabbat was an illusion sent by the devil, but he acknowl-

edges his error, convinced that it is a reality and that this is

the common opinion of Catholic doctors and jurisconsults.

Ib., q. 4 (pp. 55-64).But even those who believe it an illusion admit that there

is real pact with the demon and true apostasy. Ib., p. 62.


He discusses a case submitted to the faculty of Rinteln in

which a girl of nine was trained as witch by her stepmother,carried to the Sabbat and had intercourse with the demonassigned to her, all of which she described in exact detail.

It was argued that capital punishment would be mercy, asshe would grow up hated and shunned and forced into evil

courses, with the stake at the inevitable end, but the con-clusion was that she should be scourged with rods, be madeto witness the burning of her stepmother and be placed with

good Christian people who would train her in the right way.Ib., q. 17 (pp. 162-6).

CARPZOV, BENEDICT. Practica Rerum Criminalium. Wit-

tenberg, 1670.

Carpzov was the most eminent of a family of eminent jurists. TheCollegium Scabmomm Lipsiensium, of which he was a member, was the

only body, he tells us, authorized to render final decisions in the Saxon Elec-

torate. He is said in his long judicial career to have signed no less than

20,000 death-sentences. His Practica Rerum Crimindium, originallyissued in 1635, was long the leading authority on criminal jurisprudence.

My edition is that of 1670.

Crimes are classified; atrocious ones are punished with

simple death; very atrocious ones with a more cruel death.

Thus sodomy, arson, sorcery, counterfeiting, heresy, withdeath by fire; poisoning, assassination, robbery and sacrilege,with the wheel; parricide and infanticide with drowning."Quin ergo crimina haec omnia pro atrocissimis habeantur,dubium prorsus non est." Practica, Pars III, q. cii, n. 65

(p. 16).

In simply atrocious crimes, torture on nova indicia could

only be applied twice. On the very atrocious, it could beused thrice. Besides, "Notissimum est quod in delictis atro-

cissimis propter criminis enormitatem jura transgredi liceat."

Ib., n. 68 (p. 16).

It was a cruel age and, if more so to witchcraft than to other crimes of

the same class, this may be ascribed to the terror felt for it.

Devotes a long argument to prove that the inquisitorial

process has become universally used and has superseded the

other process. To the rule that no one can be sentenced

without an accuser, he replies, "indicia et fama sunt loco

accusationis in inquisitione." Ib., q. ciii, n. 36 (p. 22).

"Hodie de consuetudine regulariter judex in omnibus casi-


bus per viam inquisitionis licite et juste procedere queat;. . . de qua consuetudine testatur Bald, generalem scilicet

omnium locorum consuetudinem hanc esse" (n. 41, p. 23).

Then, after speaking of the dilatory nature of the other pro-

cedures, he says: "Cui incommodo per processum inquisi-toriuxn faciiime subveniri poterit, si nempe judex absquemultis ambagibus per viam inquisitionis summarie procedetet absque longo Mtis sufflamine, habita sufficienti causae

cognitione et delicti certitudine, poenam delinquent! irrogetet in terrorem aliorum exemplum statuat." Ib., n. 43 (p. 23).

What was wanted was speedy conviction, without taking too muchtrouble to avoid injustice.

He proceeds to cite a number of decrees, from the Carolina

of 1532 to one of the Elector of Saxony in 1612, to provethat this is the law of the Electorate. Ib., nn. 44-51 (pp.

24-5)."IJnde porro et hoc sequitur, judicem non modo deficiente

accusatore inquirere posse, sed et hoc facere rations niuneris

sui obstrictum esse ? adeo ut negHgens inquirere ipsemetcrimine non levi se obstringat." Ib., n. 52 (p. 24).

He adds various decrees to this effect directed by the Scabini

Lipsienses to the authorities of various places, from 1609 to

1632. Ib., n. 54 (p. 24).

In places where the inquisitorial process is rarely usedthere is a fiscal who serves as an accuser, so that the judgemay not seem to be both accuser and judge. But in our landsthere is no accuser and the magistrate inquires ex officio.

Ib., q. civ;nn. 6-7 (p. 25).

The accused is not to be allowed a procurator. He mustanswer for himself. Ib., q. cv, nn. 25-6 (p. 37).The accused is not to be denied defence, but it must be

according to law, which does not permit defence by procurator.

Ib., nn. 34, 39, 40, 41 (p. 39).All this is the case even when the accused is a prisoner in

chains. Ib., n. 53 (p. 41).And it applies to women. Ib., n. 58 (p. 41).Kindred not admitted to defend except in cases of absence

(n. 35, p. 39). But the inquisitorial process cannot be em-ployed against the absent. When the accused is hidden ora fugitive, the only penalty for contumacy is the ban or pro-scription. Ib., q. cvii, n. 63 (p. 63).There is often complaint of judges who without just cause,

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECUfcAB LAW 815

or moved by hatred^ prosecute the innocent, wherefore In theOrdin. Polit. It is provided that in doubtful cases they shall

consult the Seabini or await a rescript from the Electorwhich was not without cause, for it was known that muchabuse of the kind existed. Ib., nn. 19-21 (p. 58).The inquisitorial process is not applicable to all offences,

but only to atrocious crimes, leaving it to the discretion ofthe judge to determine in each case. Ib., n. 29 (p. 59).The formalities of the inquisitorial process as formulated

by the Elector August in 1579 and Ms successors were: First,the fact and the corpus delicti must be established. Thenfrom the indicia the judge must be certain of the person ofthe accused. The judge must be competent (have competentjurisdiction H. C. L.). The accused is arrested and impris-oned. The articles of inquisition are drawn up, to which theaccused replies, a competent record being made. If hedenies, the witnesses are sworn in his presence, if the crimeand evidence justify torture. The accused presents his

defence; his witnesses are summoned and examined, for

which full opportunity must be given. The Acta are thensent to the Collegium Scabinoram, whose decision is to be

strictly obeyed, whether of condemnation, of purgatorial oathor of torture. Ib., nn. 72-8 (p. 65),This skeleton is filled up by subsequent details

"Ad quaminquisitionem levia sufficiunt indicia, modo aliquem coloremhabeant et talia sint ut judicem probabiliter in suspicionemcommissi criminis contra aliquem inducere possint." (All of

which is not subject to the rules of the process. H. C. L.)

Ib., q. cviii, n. 2 (p. 66).

This evidently refers to the preliminaries which start the inquest. It is

a "generalis inquisitio" which precedes the "specialis", for the judge mustmake himself certain before he institutes the special inquisition (nn. 3-4

p. 67).

By this general inquisition the corpus delicti is established,which is a condition precedent. As to this there has beenmuch confusion owing to the confounding of three stages

proof of corpus delicti prior to prosecution, or prior to torture,

or prior to sentence. For the first, it suffices that there is

complaint, ill fame or denunciation; but, if the judge canview the corpse, the burnt house or the false money, it is well

for him to do so before commencing. For torture or for

condemnation, however, an absolute proof of the corpus delicti


Is necessary, but it is not necessary that the corpse be pro-

duced, for it may be hidden. Ib., nn. 9-16 (pp. 67-8).

Torture is only to be used when confession alone is lacking

for conviction. Ib.?n. 17 (p. 68).

For punishment, even if the accused has confessed or been

convicted, proof of the corpus delictiis indispensable; indida7

however urgent and indubitable, do not suffice. If the judge

cannot see the corpse and its wounds or the burnt house,

there must be ocular witnesses to the commission of the

crime. Ib., n. 26 (p. 69).

In homicide cases there must be evidence that the wounds

were mortal. Ib., n. 31 (p. 70).

But [these rules are limited] "in delictis occultis et difficilis

probationis, ut in haeresi, soriHegio, etc. De quorum corpore

sufficit constare per conjecturas et certa indicia." In these

"praesumptiva et conjecturata probatio habeatur pro plena

et concludenti probatione generaliter et communiter receptum

est." In these, as in the Carolina, art. 60, confession suffices

(nn. 33-4, p. 70). Also in crimes which leave no trace, as

adultery, incest, etc. (n. 36). Also in those which are punish-

able with less than the death penalty. Ib., nn. 39-40 (p. 71).

The verification or identification of the individual also

necessary. Ib., nn. 43-9 (p. 72).

While ill-fame, proved by two sufficient witnesses, suffices

to start an inquisition, it is not absolutely essential, for it

may be replaced by other indicia. Ib., nn. 51-2 (p. 72-3).

Denunciation by the injured party suffices. Ib., n. 54

(p. 73).

The denunciation of an accomplice, without other presump-

tions, is insufficient to start an inquiry, especially if he is

"infected" with other crimes though there are authorities

who hold it suffices in atrocious crimes. Ib., nn. 57-9 (p. 73).

After all, it lies with the discretion of the judge to determine

what indicia suffice for commencing prosecution and also for

torture. But in doubtful cases they should consult the

Collegium Scabinorum. Ib., nn. 60-1 (p. 74).

In Germany all dukes,, marquises, counts and others hold-

ing directly of the Empire have the same jurisdiction as the

emperor. Ib., q. cix, n. 7 (p. 76).

Each territory has its own uses and customs and is sub-

ject to the legislation of its ruler. Ib., n. 14 (p. 77).

In Saxony, a special inquisition on greater and scandalous

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW 81?

crimes could only be formed by a judge (Oberrichter) holdinghaute justice die Obergerichte. Ib.. n. 18 (p. 77).

The distinction between crimes attributable to the Gber-

gerichte and Niedergerwhte was of course complicated and

obscure, but it suffices for us that capital cases belonged to

the former. Ib., n, 26 (p. 78).

A prince investing a vassal "mil den Geriehtenj" without

specifying Ober or Nied&r is held to grant Mm haute et basse.

Ib., n. 89 (p. 85).

When king or kaiser, however, enters the territory of a

vassal, whether duke or count, the jurisdiction of the latter

ceases and is vested in the suzerain. Ib., n. 98 (p. 85).

There was no clerical immunity for crime, but for spiritual

cases both clerics and laymen were subject to the Consistory.

Ib., q. ex, n. 87 (p. 93).

"Quum vero career sit mala mansio ae torturae species et

morti comparetur propter squalorem, inediam? frigus, tene-

braSj etc.," the judge should be cautious not to proceed to it

hastily and unduly hold the innocent. He can be punishedfor unjust imprisonment. Ib., q. cxi, nn. 2, 3 (p. 95).

As there are many things not definable by law concerning

this, it is left to the discretion of the judge. Ib., n. 4 (p. 95).

It can only be for a crime involving corporal punishment,and the corpus delicti must be substantiated. Ib., n. 6 (p. 96).

While there are various opinions as to the necessity of

indicia as condition precedent, under the Carolina and in

Saxony there must be sufficient indicia before arrest and

prison. Ib., n. 21 (p. 97).

But what are sufficient? This must be left to the discretion

of the judge. The universal rule is "quod delinquens non sit

incarcerandus nisi indicia criminis ab eo perpetrati praeces-

serint, quae judex pro arbitrio sufficientia existimaverit."

Ib., n. 22 (p. 97).

The Carolina (Leges Capitales Carol!) ,c. 18 sqq., admits

the impossibility of defining this, but seeks to give some

general rules for guidance. "Sufficiant probabilia indicia

quae colorem aliquem veritatis habent, licet sint leviora quamut ex iisdem ad torturam deveniri queat." Ib., nn. 24, 25

(p. 97).'

'Praeterea aliter procedendum est in delictis occultis quamin publicis, et sic minora indicia sufficient ad deeemendam

capturam quando agitur de crimine occulto quam de pub-lico." Ib., n. 26 (p. 98).

VOL. n 52

SIS THE BBLrSION AT ITS HEIGHT

Arrest is never to be made on the sole statement of a com-

plainant; the Judge must investigate and satisfy himself that

a crime has been committed and that there is ground for

suspecting the accused. Ib., n. 27 (p. 98).

Those unjust and inexperienced judges are worthy of pun-ishment who on a simple delation throw the accused into

prison, which is a living death. Ib., n. 28 (p. 98).

The judge can be punished who thus inflicts irreparable

injury, unless there is danger of flight (nn. 29-31, p. 98).

In Saxony the penalty was 40 Silbergroschen for every dayand night of unjust imprisonment, payable to the sufferer in

compensation. The false accuser also had to pay the same.

Ib., nn. 71-7 (p. 102).

The denunciation by an accomplice, without other presump-tion, is no ground for even inquiry much less procedure,whether it be volunteered or made under examination, andthis is daily observed in practice. Ib., nn. 32-4 (p. 98).

Flight is an indicium for both arrest and torture. Ib.,

n. 35 (p. 98).

But a complaint or accusation by an accomplice justifies

summoning and examining the accused, when, if he varies,he gives ground for suspicion which may justify arrest.

Ib., n. 38 (p. 99).

The prison should be endurable, "qui ut plurimum in Ger-mania perhibetur esse locus subterraneus, horribilis et im-

mundus," whence often the prisoners, at the suggestion of the

devil, commit suicide or, as happened to a girl near Weissen-

burg, are killed by snakes. Or through the cold and dampnessthey are sickened and incur risk of death. The constitution

of the Elector August requires that the prisoner shall not be

exposed to injury of life or body. And the Collegium Scabi-norum in a response of 1627 prescribed that prisoners shouldnot be deprived of daylight or suffer injury to health fromcold or other hardship. Yet it is in the judge's discretion to

prescribe milder or severer prison according to the quality of

the person and nature of the crime and to employ chains.

In villages, through lack of strong places, it is customary to

keep prisoners chained in houses under guard. Trials shouldbe brief and execution should follow sentence so as to shortenthe tedium of prison. Ib., nn. 45-55 (pp. 99-100).Although as a rule judges cannot impose a sentence of per-

petual imprisonment, yet there are many statutes which

impose it as a grace, in commutation of death-penalty, and in


such case the judge can render such a sentence. Ib., nn. 56-61 (p. 101).

Imprisonment as a punishment is constantly inflicted (I pre-sume for specified terms H. C. L.). Ib., n, 64 (p. 101).He quotes as in force the Carolina, c. 11, that accomplices

are to be imprisoned separately, so as to prevent collusion inconfessions. Ib,, n. 65 (p. 101).Xo one is to be condemned unheard, nor can any penalty

be imposed until guilt is established either by confession orcertain proof. Ib., q. cxiii, nn. 7-9 (p. 121).The articles of accusation are to be clearly and concisely

drawn up and presented to the accused in the presence ofthe Judge, Scabini and Notary, and he is required to answer toeach one- The articles should contain all the pertinentdetails and circumstances, including time and place, so thatthe accused shall not be deprived of defence. Each article

should contain a single interrogation, so as not to confusethe accused. The same interrogation can be repeated underdifferent words, so as to test the truth if he varies. The judgecan use deceit and pretend that he will do what he does notintend to do, in order to discover the truth, but he must not

terrify by threats, as in many courts of the nobles. Ib., nn.11-41 (pp. 121-5).

The length of his disquisition on this shows the importance attached toit and the number of questions to which it gave rise.

The answers of the accused are to be plain and simple andnot under oath. This is to avoid leading them to Commit

perjury. Ignorant judges administer an oath of purgation,

opening a way to escape punishment, for under this oathwhen they deny they have to be discharged. Ib., n. 42 (p.

125).

The doctors allow the judge to threaten torture, but I

cannot assent to this. Ib., nn. 47-9 (p. 125).

If new evidence is obtained, new articles can be framed andanswered. Ib., nn. 43-44 (p. 125).

The actuary or scribeaof the judge is to write down the

answers accurately and add them to the Acta. Also whateverthe accused may say in his defence. If his answers are evasive

and ambiguous, the questions must be repeated until he replies

clearly and categorically. If he will not do so or will not

answer, he can be tortured, for his evasiveness is a sufficient

indicium, and the Scabini so decide daily. The accused must


answer personally, for & procurator is not admitted, nor is lie

allowed to answer in writing. Ib., nn. 52-64 (pp. 125-6).

Confession is not indispensable. Conviction can be laad bywitnesses. Ib., q. cxiv, n. 2 (p. 127),

In criminal cases, proper and full proof is requisite, or a

full, spontaneous and free confession. Probatio plena is that

of two witnesses omni excepiione majores, and this is what is

commonly mEedprobaliolmemeridiana clamor. Ib., nn. 3-5

(pp. 127-8).The four things to be specially attended to are (1) the

formation of the articles of accusation, (2) the quality of the

witnesses, (3) their depositions, and (4) the recording of the

depositions. -Ib., n. 6 (p. 128).

In the inquisitorial process the accused was not permitted

to put interrogatories to the accusing witnesses, on the ground

that it protracted and confused the case and he might thus

escape deserved punishment. But in his defence he was

allowed to put forward what he could against them and their

evidence and he could then have them interrogated. Ib.,

nn. 21-5 (p. 129).

The "testis omni exceptione major" was one against whomno legitimate exception could be taken. Ib., n. 27 (p. 130).

After a long list of disabilities for witnesses, he adds that

"testes inhabiles" are sometimes admitted "si aliter veritas

haberi non possit, et praesertim in delictis et factis quae sunt

difficilis probationis. . . . Ideoque et in iisdemnon solum

praesumptiva et conjecturata probatio sufficit, verum etiam

ad probandum testes inhabiles admittuntur." His list of

these crimes difficult of proof includes nearly everything, but

oddly enough he says nothing of sorcery. Ib., nn. 35-6

(p. 130).

The depositions of the witnesses are to be repeated in the

presence of the accused and it is customary to confront

them, though this is not absolutely essential. If there is an

accomplice who has confessed, it is well to confront him with

the accused, who may thus be brought to confess. Ib.,

nn. 75-8 (p. 134).

It is curious that Carpzov quotes Zanger that witnesses

must be sworn in presence of the accused and then adds,

"Illud in processu inquisitorio nee usu receptum est nee

observatum memini." Ib., n. 65 (p. 133).

Everything that takes place in the trial must be accurately

recorded in order that the Scabini, to whom the record is


submitted, may with safety utter sentence and condemn theaccused. Ib., n. 80 (p. 134).The utterances of the witnesses are to be taken down

word for word, neither substituting a word for another of

the same meaning nor condensing what is said, for thus thesense is often changed, with greater danger to the accused.

Ib., n. 83 (p. 134).It is the duty of the judge to help the accused in Ms defence

and to suggest to him,, what he may not ask for. The Scabininot infrequently, on examination of the Acta, will requirefurther interrogatories put to the witnesses. Ib., q. exv

?

nn. 13-15 (pp. 136-7).The accused is always to be heard in Ms defence, whether

before the deposition of the witnesses or after them or after

torture. Ib., n. 21 (p. 137).Also after confession and conviction at any time before

execution of sentence if he asks to prove Ms innocence heis to be heard. Ib., nn. 34-5 (p. 138).He can offer an argument in writing and have witnesses

called and examined. Ib., n. 69 (p. 141).But he must not use evasions and circuitous ways and

endeavor to convert the inquisitorial process into the ordinaryone. Ib., n. 71 (p. 141).

Single witnesses suffice for the defence and semiplena pro-batio is reckoned as plena; witnesses as to belief are admittedand witnesses who would otherwise be rejected. Ib., nn.

75-7 (p. 141).The time allowed for the defence is at the discretion of the

judge. It may be a month, or even two or three, if witnesses

are to be produced from a distance. In Saxony, six weeksand three days are customarily allowed. Ib., nn. 857 (p.

142).The accused is allowed an advocate to advise and assist

him, though denied a procurator. But the advocate must bean honest man and not a pettifogger who seeks to delay

justice and fill Ms purse. Ib., nn. 88-97 (pp. 142-3).

Although the common law prescribes that the accused shall

have a copy of the proceedings with the evidence and the

names of the witnesses, yet in Saxony he and Ms advocate are

allowed only to examine them in the presence of the judgeand Scabini. Ib., nn. 99-103 (p. 143).

The Carolina (Leges Capitales Carol! V, cap. tilt.) says that it was an

old custom for the local judges in cases of doubt to refer the matter to the

jurists of the courts of the princes, a process which it approves.


Cazpzov says that what led Charles to approve of this wasthat "Plerique namque Jtidlcum criminalium sunt duriores?

ne dicam cnideliores? qui rigorosissime super dorsum pauper-

urn inculpatonim proeedunt, et contra omnes juris terminos,

approbates mores et usus consuetudinarios alios perdunt,alios maetant, alios mancos reddunt. . . . Legum sanc-

titatem violant et humanam societatem evertunt. Carnifices,non judices. Qui suspectum in carcerem detrusum statimtorturae subjieiunt, nee piius inquirant an crimen perpe-tratum sit nee ne, an veritas criminis aliter haberi possit neene. Quibus ineonsideratis statim ad cruciatum, ignem, tor-

mentum, supplieium reeurrant.'7 On the other hand, others

are too lax; they say that equity and not law is to be observed,

leading to immunity for crime; they convert punishment into

fines, so that the small flies are caught, while the great beasts

escape. Today it has come to that pass that such judgesregard the amount of fines as the best fruits of jurisdiction.

Ib., q. cxvi, nn. 11-6 (pp. 145-6).

Every one knows that in the small places, plebeians andmechanics administer merum imperium (haute justice) ;

in the

country districts, scribes and prefects and the like wish to

appear fiscals and criminalists. Ignorant of law and of crim-inal affairs, trusting to the denunciation of some scamp or

witch, torturing men and women, they thrust the innocentinto the most squalid prisons and so detain and torment themthat they choose to confess what they have not done and seekdeath rather than endure the fetor of the subterranean dun-

geons. Even in the larger towns it not rarely happens that

Pfeffersacke, ignorant tyros, are chosen rather than prudentand experienced men, so that, without supervision, the guiltywould be set free and the innocent punished. Ib., nn. 17-19

(p. 146).All this explains the prescription of the Carolina and the

decree of Elector August in 1579 and the Ordin. Polit. deanno 1612, by which in Saxony haute justice was taken fromthe local magistrates and lodged in the Scabini Lipsienses,who in the Electorate have the sole power to decide criminalcases involving corporal punishment. Ib., nn. 23-8 (p. 147).

After pointing out that with full proof the accused can becondemned without confession or torture and that in doubtfulcases he can be put on his purgatorial oath and discharged,Carpzov proceeds to discuss torture. He quotes abundantlyfrom authorities to show its uncertainty and concludes, "Unde


remedium hoc Indagandae veritatis non modo periculosum sed

et maxiine dubium esse patet;" to which lie adds a quotationfrom another authority : "Abusum nempe omnium periculosis-

simum totam fere Europam iniestare, ut si toties torti,

tortaeve, vel metu tomientonim, . . . quam nunquamfecerint, aut imposslbilia, aut erronea confiteantur, protinuSjcondemnentur

? comburantur, seeentur." Ib., q. cxvii, nn. 5,

6 (p. 153).

Yet "Tiihilominus tamen, suadente necessitate, quo veritas

exquiratiir?tormenta adhibenda sunt. EtsI enim quilibet

praesumatur innocens et sine vitio." Ib., n. 8 (p. 153).

Curious intellectual process!

The use of torture belongs to the merum impermm or haute

justice. Ib., nn. 19-22 (p. 154).

After describing at length various kinds of torture for he

says the judge should be familiar with them, as he prescribeswhat is to be employed he adds "hodie permagna occurrit

tormentorum varietas quorum multa etiam sunt atrocissima.

Seculo enim hoc nostro, crescente lite et malitia, nova creve-

runt tormentorum genera, in quibus excogitandis ingeniosi

volunt audiri." 1

Ib., nn. 37-8 (p. 156).

Those in use in Saxony, to which judges should confine

themselves, are cords twisted around the fingers, the thumb-

screws, a similar contrivance applied to the legs (I supposelike the boot H. C. L.) causing intolerabilem dolorem. Thenthere is the ladder, similar to the rack in violently stretching

the patient. In excepted crimes where the indida are urgent,

candles are applied to slowly burn parts of the body, or wooden

wedges are driven under the nails and then set on fire. (A suffi-

cient list to select from! H. C. L.). Ib., nn. 40, 41 (p. 156).

"Quandoque etiam, adhibito igne et sulphure, corpora

reorum affiigunt et quasi excarnificant." Ib., n. 58 (p. 158).

(Zanger adds, De Quaest. et Tort., c. 4, n. 10, that the patient

is placed on a metal ass or bull, in which fire is kindled and

gradually heated. H. C. L.)

The first stage is territio, in which the torturer seizes the

patient and threatens "verbis et gestis severioribus et ad

torquendum consuetis." Ib., nn. 47-8 (p. 157).

Shows that what Spee and others describe was customary.

Then follows a list of 17 kinds of torture, "not to mention a hundred others."

S24 THE DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

There were three grades of torture* The first with cords

and thumbscrew, and the like. The next with the ladder,which was the ordinary form and was understood whentorture was simply indicated. The third was the various

uses of fire "tertiushic torturae gradus atrocissimus et horri-

bilissimus est." The Scabini Lipsienses when ordering the

use of torture were accustomed to designate by the phraseol-

ogy which was to be employed. Ib., nn 59-66 (p. 158).In the adiDLJnistration consideration is to be given to the

strength of the evidence and the character of the crime andthe power of endurance of the patient. Ib., n. 69 (p. 159).

Torture is not to be inflicted before the age of puberty, nor

on the aged unless robust and fully intelligent, nor on the

debilitatus and infirm, nor on pregnant women, nor until forty

days after childbirth. Ib., q. exviii, nn. 11-64 (pp. 161-5).It is only to be used in atrocious crimes implying corporal

or death punishment. Ib., q. cxix, nn. 8-19 (pp. 168-70).The corpus delicti must be proved. Torture is not to

ascertain facts but persons. Judges neglecting this are liable

to be syndicated. Ib., nn, 55-9 (pp. 173-4).But in hidden crimes and those which leave no trace,

including sorcery, no sane man will deny that torture and the

death-penalty can be resorted to "praesumptionibus certis et

indubitatis," for in these presumptive and conjectural proofis commonly reckoned as full and conclusive, Ib., nn. 61-3

(p. 174).

A culprit confessed or convicted of a crime can be tortured

to ascertain his other crimes. Ib., nn. 689 (p. 175).The indicia sufficing for torture are nowhere defined, nor

in the multifarious circumstances and qualities is definition

possible, "ideoque judicantis arbitrio hoc relinquendum est;"but the judge must be guided by the principles of law and

equity. Ib., q. cxx, nn. 2-4 (pp. 176-7).Then he proceeds to discuss the various indicia. Of these

fama is the first (nn. 17-29) ; 2d, presence at or near the placeof crime (nn. 30-34) ; 3d, intimacy with criminals (nn. 35-42) ;

4th, mortal enmity towards the injured (nn. 43-48); 5th,

advantage or gain to accrue to him (n. 49) ; 6th, assertionof the wounded man near death (nn. 50-59) ; 7th, flight (nn.

60-70). These are the indicia enumerated in the Carolina,c. 25, to which may be added lying or variation (nn. 71-6) ;

embarrassment and trepidation (nn. 77-8) ;an evil physiog-

nomy, though this is a light indicium and unless supported


by stronger ones is insufficient (nn. 79-80); silence andabstention from asserting innocencealso of slender import(nn. 81-2) ; withholding knowledge of a crime or not impedingits consummation, seeming to imply complicity insufficient

of itself (nn. 83-5). There are many other similar indicia,doubtful and uncertain, for wMch

3unless supported, no one

is to be tortured (nn. 88-9). Ib,, pp. 178-84.

The next quaestio discusses the certain indicia, any one of

which suffices for torture. Scarce necessary to enumerate

them, as he says, as before, that the multifarious circum-stances and details render definition impossible and it mustbe left to the discretion of the judge. Ib., q. exxi, n. 3

(p. 186).

As two witnesses afford plena probatio, sufficing for con-

viction without confession, so one witness is semi-plena andsuffices for torture, but he must be uomni exceptione major"and must depose "de actu immediate." Ib., nn. 10-9 (pp.

186-7).The nomination by an accomplice confessed or convicted,

when interrogated about his accomplices, provided he spon-

taneously gives the name and it is not suggested to him [is

sufficient for torture]. So in Carolina, c. 31 (which I haveelsewhere -H. C. L.). The received rule was that only in

excepted crimes (majestas, rebellion, sacrilege, assassination,

maleficium, robbery, adultery, sodomy) could inquiry bemade for accomplices, but Carpzov thinks it can be done in

all, when there is reason to believe that there are accomplices.

-Ib., nn. 30-40 (pp. 187-90).

Threats, followed by their realization, are usually held to

be sufficient for torture, but Carpzov considers this to be

dangerous. Ib., nn. 50-55 (pp. 190-1).

The Carolina, c. 32, considers threats followed by results to justify

torture.

In treating of the indicia peculiar to sorcery he admits the

opinions of Bodin and Ponzirdbio that the proof is so difficult

that it is unnecessary to be restricted by rules. Nevertheless

the Carolina, c. 44 (which I have elsewhere H. C. L.), gives

four indicia peculiar to this crime which the judge should

consider before ordering torture. Ib., q. cxxii, nn. 60-1

(p. 199).

1. Teaching incantations to others. Magicians commonlyteach their art to their children and others and there is no

826 THE DELrSIOX AT ITS HEIGHT

sacrifice more acceptable to the devil than to devote their

children to Ms worship. Those who teach admit knowledge

of the art and should properly be tortured. Ib., n. 62 (p. 199).

2. When a sorcerer threatens to make use of sorcery and the

event followsas witches commonly do, who are vindictive

women unable to restrain their tongues. Ib., n. 63 (p. 199).

3. Close intimacy with convicted sorcerers. Ib., n. 64

(p. 199).

4. Possessing things suspect of sorcery or using gestures or

words customary in incantations. As when in the house of

a witch are found poisons, pots filled with toads, hosts, human

limbs, or a book of magic or a written pact with the devil,

or when a witch invokes a demon and talks with him while he is

invisible; when she is seen to cast powders on a drove of hogs

and they die, or other acts justifying suspicion. Ib.?nn.

65-66 (p. 199).

But these are insufficient unless there is fame that she is a

witch. Ib., n. 67 (p. 199).

There is also the water ordeal, practiced in some places.

But this must be wholly rejected as unsupported by nature.

Ib., n. 69 (p. 199).

It is noteworthy that here and in the Carolina there is no allusion to the

witch-mark.

Torture is never to be employed without sufficient indicia

and confession thus extorted is invalid. Ib., q. cxxiii, nn. 1-8

(p. 202).

"Non minimus enim judicum quorundam modernorumabusus est ut suspectum in carcerem detrusum statim torturae

subjiciant nee prius inquirant an crimen perpetratum sit nee

ne; an veritas criminis aliter haberi queat, nee ne; an indicia

ad torturam adsint nee ne. Sed, hisce inconsideratis, ad cru-

ciatum, ignem et tormenta properant. Ib., n. 2 (p. 202).

The accused is not even to be placed in conspectu tormen-

torum without sufficient indicia. Ib., n. 22 (p. 204).

After prescribing moderation he adds, "Qua in re, prohdolor! hodie a plerisque judicibus peccatur. Hodiernis

namque temporibus . . . multi larvati, stupidi et bibuli

judices intolerandis humanae patientiae cruciatibus miseros

captivos lacerant, imo pastis cruore luminibus, ut fera quae

gustatum semelsanguinem semper sitit,saepenumerotormenta

duplicari jubent." Many others are not present, but passthe time in eating and drinking, leaving the accused to cruel


and indiscreet underlings, so that lie often dies, as thought

they thought the accused were to be tortured like corpses.Some again even put their own hands to the work. Ib.,

q. exriv, nn. 21-2 (p. 211).

See the moderation enjoined by the Carolina^ c. 58, which I have else-

where.

In Saxony lie says this is provided for, as the Judges are

held to the sentences of the Scabini, which prescribe the

grade of torture.- Ib., n. 25 (p. 211).

A very doubtful protection.

As prescribed in the Carolina, c. 58, the record is not to

be of what the patient may say while under torture, for thenhe cannot clearly remember or express what he has to say,but what lie confesses when it is stopped. Ib,, nn. 27-8

(P- 211).It is well for the judge in advance to prepare a series of

interrogations , plain, concise and simple, with which to exam-ine him after torture. Ib., n. 34 (p. 212).The Scabini Lipsienses are accustomed to prepare such a

series and forward them when ordering the torture. Ib., n. 36

(p. 212).In sorcery cases he is to be asked how and when, with what

words or acts, he has performed Ms magic. If he says he has

buried something which is thought to cause maleficium

magicum, the judge must inquire diligently about it, askinghim from whom he learned magic, what led him to it, whether

he has exercised it on several persons, what persons they are,

what injuries were caused, as provided in the Carolina, c. 52

(which I have-E. C. L.).-Ib., n. 43 (p. 213).

If his confession is found to be false, he is to be tortured

again more sharply, as the Carolina says, c. 55. Ib., nn.

62-3 (pp. 214-5).If he persists in denial, he purges the evidence and is to be

acquitted. This is the unanimous opinion of the doctors, for

it is better to absolve the guilty than to punish the innocent.

Ib., q. cxxv, nn. 3, 71 (pp. 216, 222).

But according to some with whom I do not agree and it

is not the Saxon practice this acquittal is not definitive, for

if new evidence is obtained he can be tried and tortured

again (nn. 4-15, p. 216). But if new indicia appear after the

third torture he can be sentenced to some extraordinary

penalty relegation, prison, fines. Ib., nn. 73-5 (p. 222).


Torture is not to be repeated unless new evidence of a dif-

ferent kind is obtained. In atrocious crimes a second torture

is then permitted, in the most atrocious a third and no more.

Among the latter, sorcery is included. Ib., nn. 39-55, 72

(pp. 219-20, 222).

But what if he endures throughout all? Criminals are said

to train themselves to endurance, so that they contemn the

arts of the torturer. Sometimes by magic arts they render

themselves insensible, as by muttering, while being tied,

charms such as"Christus autem transiens per medium illorum

ibat, etc.," "Quemadmodum lac beatae gloriosae Mariae Vir-

ginis fuit dulce et suave Salvatori nostro, ita haec tortura sit

dulcis et suavis brachiis, manibus et pedibus meis," or the

words of the Saviour in the Passion. Orby hiding in some part

of the body a paper with superstitious words or signs, of which

Damhouder relates a signal example (which he details).

There is also a stone called Memphitis which when powderedand mixed with water causes insensibility. Witches and sor-

ceresses, taught by the devil, have a thousand ways of averting

torment, so that they sleep on the ladder as though in a soft

bed, as I have often learned from the Acta transmitted to our

Collegium. Therefore, judges, before repeating torture,

should counteract this, not, as Hippolytus de Marsilio and

Grillandi urge, by reciting other words, which I deem equally

diabolical, for they can only act through impious superstition,

but by having the torturers search for the charms and remove

them. Judges should therefore be vigilant to prevent the

friends of a prisoner from bringing him suspicious food with

which incantations may be feared, and to interrupt the reci-

tation of magic words; also to meet these frauds with stripping

off all clothes and change of prison. Ib., nn. 64-70 (pp.

221-2).

He does not suggest shaving, but favors denudation.

After the accused has rested from his sufferings and has

regained Ms strength he is to be brought into court to ratify

Ms confession, when "tanta itaque vis est ratificationis ut ex

confessione tormentis extorta faciat spontaneam confes-

sionem." Ib., q. cxxvi, nn. 17-20 (p. 225).

As to the length of the interval, some say a day and a

night, others three days. But the true view is to leave it to

the discretion of the judge, dependent on the severity of the

infliction, yet it should not be less than a day, nor more than

WITCHCHAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECCLAB LAW 829

three days, lest the impression of the torture should wearoff and during this time he should be confined alone, for

eel-companions mav urge Mm to revoke. Ib., nn. 22-28

(p. 226).It not infrequently happens that he revokes Ms confession,

alleging that it was extorted by torture. If this were admitted,crime would be unpunished for all would do so. It is neces-

sary then to torture him again, when a second confession andrevocation may be followed by a third torture in most atro-

cious crimes,but no more,

4

eo quod infinitum reprobetur a

jure, in odiosis maxime." But if on the first revocation he

puts forward reasons to show that Ms confession was errone-

ous, he is to be listened to (Leges Capitales Caroli V, e. 57).

Ib., nn. 37-53 (pp. 227-9).

Formerly ail this availed nothing, for after the third tor-

ture and revocation he was condemned, "Et ita veteres Sca-

binos pronunciasse reperio." But Carpzov regards this as

perilous and says it is better to sentence him to prison or exile,

and this is the daily custom, of the Scabini. Ib., nn. 54-60

(p. 229).

If, however, after confessing in the torture he immediatelyrevokes and says it was extorted by the torment, he oughtrather to be absolved. Ib., nn. 61-2 (p. 229).

If after sentence he revokes on the day of execution, it is

certainly in order to postpone the execution. If the judge

recognizes this, he can order the execution. TMs is in accord-

ance with the Leges Capit. Car. V, c. 91, which order that

in such case the judge shall consult his assessors as to the

previous confession and confirmation. Ib., n. 63 (pp.229-30).If the revocation is made hi the act of execution, it is to

be performed without attending to the revocation. Ib.,

n. 69 (p. 230).

If, after a third torture, the culprit refuses either to con-

firm or revoke, the question is difficult. In such a case the

Scabini were in favor of execution, but Carpzov persuadedthem to substitute scourging. Ib., nn. 74-83 (p. 231).

Judges who unjustly tortured the accused were liable to

prosecution and, if permanent injuries were inflicted, the suf-

ferer had cause for action against them. Quaestio cxxvii is

devoted to this subject (pp. 232-7).

The section on punishment is a collection of horrors.

Beheading (poena gladii), he says, is the commonest capital

punishment ("Ita omnium quoque poenarum communissima


ac frequentissima ea est") and is used for homicide, difidatio

(Du Gauge renders this "defiance" H. C. L.), blasphemy,violation of public peace, majestas, abortion, injuries wroughtby sorcery, adultery, bigamy, incest between parents and chil-

dren, pimping, perjury thrice committed, unnatural crime,

rapine, kidnapping, etc. "Eaque praedictorum criminum rei

non solum in Saxonia sed et plerisque Gennaniae locis puni-untur" (as appears in the Carolina). Ib., q. cxxviii, nn.

35-6 (p. 241).

Hanging was reserved for thieves "Quod genus supplicii

in nullo alio erimine quam furto inoribus nostris usurpariconsuevit.

77

Ib., n. 41 (p. 242).

The wheel, on which the limbs were broken (and on whichafter death the corpse remained woven), was used for assassi-

nation, robbery, parricide, poisoning, sacrilege, etc. (n. 42 ?

p. 242). The final blow was generally given on the head or

the heart, killing the patient (n. 86: p. 244).

Drowning is provided in the Carolina (cc. ISO, 131 and 159)

for women in infanticide, poisoning, theft, etc. "Attamen in

Saxonia hodiernis moribus in desuetudinem abut haec poena,"

except for parricide committed on parents, husbands or chil-

dren, when the culprit is tied in a bag with a dog, a viper anda monkey or, in place of the latter, a cat and a cock, and cast

into the water. Ib., nn. 46-7 (p. 242).

Burning is the greatest of capital punishments, used for

arson, coining, pact with the devil and sodomy with beasts.

The culprit is placed on a pile of wood and burnt alive andreduced to ashes. Ib., nn. 49-51 (p. 243).

Finally there is quartering, "quod omnium severissimum

est," reserved for majestas. The culprit is cut into four piecesand the quarters are hung in the public roads. "Sed raris-

simum hoc supplicium est," and is only used for direct

attempts on the life of the emperor or electors. Other cases

of majestas have the poena gladii. Ib., nn. 52-4 (p. 243).There are four modes in which the death-penalty may be

aggravated. The first is dragging, in which the culprit is

placed on a hide and dragged by a horse to the place of exe-

cution, "quod absque ingenti cruciatu omnium membrorumfieri nequit." In Saxony it is used for parricide on nearkindred. Ib., nn. 58-9 (pp. 243-4).The second is placing the corpse on the wheel, for thus the

culprit is deprived of sepulture, which in itself is a severe

punishment. Ib., nn. 60-2 (p. 244).

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECCLAB LAW S3!

The third is tearing with hot pincers. As provided in the

Leges Capit. Car. V, c. 194, this is, that on the way to the

place of execution the culprit is torn three or four times with

red hot pincers. TMs is used for poisoning and robbery andnot infrequently for Infanticide, when the crime has been

repeated.Ib. 3nn. 63-5 (p. 244).

Fourth Is the wheel, when the mortal blow is reserved to

the iastj 'istudque hand pararo. aggravat et dolores atquecniciatus accumulate J

Ib., n. 66-7 (p. 244).

[All penalties might be intensified by afflictive, but not

capital punishments, the most usual being scourging.]"Quod

genus supplicn hodie frequentissknuni et comrnunissimumest ac siniul grande et atrox, non solum propter graveni

quam infert infamiam . . . sed et quod maxlrnos et

ingentes dolores ac cruciatus corpori inferat." The culprit

was scourged through the streets and perpetual exile was

always a part of it, even if not specifically included in the

sentence. It can be moderated or intensified at the discretion

of the judge and care must be taken not to endanger life. It

can also be administered in the prison, especially in the case

of minors and impuberes of whom there is no hope of amend-ment. Exile can also be prescribed without scourging.

Ib., q. cxxix, nn. 14-29 (pp. 246-7).

Oddly enough, he says, the Italian tratto di corda (strap-

pado) was used in Saxony, but not elsewhere, as a special

punishment for fish poaching under a constitution of the

Elector August, who added the alternatives of the mines or

galleys, likewise not used elsewhere. Ib., nn. 39-42 (pp.

248-9).

Carpzov argues in favor of denial of burial, urging that the

principal use of punishment is as a deterrent and that a

body left hanging or on the wheel is effective with others.

Ib., q. cxxxi, nn. 27-40 (pp. 259-60).

Arbitrary or extraordinary penalties are understood to be

scourging, amputation of hands, exile, prison, fines. Carpzov

argues, against many doctors^ that the term does not extend

to capital punishment, "quod in causis poenalibus semper

benignior et humanior facienda sit interpretation* Ib., q.

cxxxiii, nn. 10-39 (pp. 272-6).He says the old law of confiscation is obsolete except in

majestas and that this is the case throughout the German

Empire, for which he quotes the Carolina, c. 218, 6 (which

I have elsewhere H. C. L.). The condemned criminal can


make a will before execution. Ib., q* cxxxv, nn. 8-12 (pp.

286-7).The formalities of sentencing and execution were so essen-

tial that, if not strictly observed, the proceedings were invalid.

The Carolina (cc. 82-87) prescribes that the people be sum-

moned by trumpets or bell-ringing. The judge sits in the

court either in a hall or out of doors, as local custom indi-

cateswith not less than seven assessors or councillors; he

holds upright a drawn sword and a staff (or either) and asks

them one by one whether the proceedings are lawful, to

which they respond. Carpzov says that in most places the

number of assessors is less, but there must be at least three,

and he describes a somewhat more elaborate ceremony as the

Saxon usage. Then an official calls for accusers to appear.

One steps forward and, holding a drawn sword, obtains per-

mission to proclaim the accused to be guilty and asks for his

condemnation to the lawful penalty. The judge calls on the

accused to answer. If he admits his guilt (and he can scarce

do otherwise, as he has already confessed H. C. L.), nothing

remains but for the judge to order the notary to read the

sentence In public. The judge should do this personally, but

the common custom is otherwise; it is the judge's duty to

condense the sentence into as few words as possible. The

usual form is: "Dieweil du N. N. bekennest das du N. N. uff

freyer Strassen ermordet und beraubet hast, so erkenne ich

N. N., Elchter zu N. N., uff Belernung der Churfurst. Sach-

sischen Schoppen zu Leipzig, das du, von wegen des begangenen

Mordts und Raubs, mit dem Rade vom Leben zrum Tode

sollest gestraffet werden, V. R. W." Then the judge breaks

his staff and orders the executioner to execute the proper

penalty. After the convict has been led away, the Frohn-

bote (bailiff, summoner) thrice summons to come forward

any one who desires to accuse any one. Then the judge

asks an assessor if the proceedings should close and on an

affirmative response he proclaims the court closed. Ib.,

q. cxxxvi, nn. 5-42 (pp. 294-7).

I have omitted a good many minor details which indicate how formal

and precise the whole solemnity was.

Carpzov admits that much was superfluous and only caused

delay. Ib., n. 43 (p. 297).

Yet all this shows that the taking of a human life was regarded as a

matter of no little import, and that it should be as impressive as possible.

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BT THE SECULAR LAW 833

Execution should follow swiftly. It Is a great abuse to

keep the convict suffering in the squalor of prison^ and thusto inflict a double punishment to say nothing of the expenseto the public. Ib., q. cxxxvii, nn. 3-10 (pp. 305-6).Yet there may be causes for delay to investigate false

witnesses, to enable the culprit to settle accounts with Mslord, to look after accomplices; if a woman is pregnant sheis to be kept til six weeks after childbirth. The convict,moreover, should have some days to prepare Mmself for

death, to make his will and to reconcile himself to God andtake the sacrament. It is a laudable custom also that a death-sentence should be announced to the culprit by a religiousman, who will exhort him to repentance. Different placeshave different customs. But there is one rule to be strictlyobserved that, when the day of execution is fixed, it shouldbe announced to him, three days in advance, as provided in

the Carolina, c. 79. During these days he should be removedfrom prison to a more comfortable place, furnished with goodfood and wine, and free access be given to his friends andministers of religion but the latter must be careful not to

urge him to revoke what he has truly confessed of himselfor of others, which is prohibited in the Carolina, c. 103.

If he is impenitent and refuses to confess his sins, the exe-cution may be delayed in order to labor for his conversion;but, if he is contumacious, the execution should be hastened,so that he may not profit by his obstinacy. Ib., nn. 11-48

(pp. 306-9).

(Considering "the character given to the torturer and exe-

cutioner by the writers, it is refreshing to see the ideal pre-scribed for such officials. H. C . L.) Damhouder says (Praxis,

q. civ, nn. 7-9) he wishes the officials should choose "Carni-ftces qui ab iis vitiis sint liberi et inculpati, quibus plerunquetales sunt obnoxii. Nempe qui non sint aleatores assidui,

publici scortatores, calumniatores improbi, blasphematoresimpii, sicarii, fures, homicidae, latrones, aut qui similibus

vitiis nee sunt nee fuerunt obnoxii. Sed eligant bonos, in

officio suo gnaros, certos ac imperterritos, praeterea probos,mites, humanos, commisericordes, affabiles, qui honestum

opificium exerceant, qui torquendos reos mitius alloquantur,clementer tractent, pie humaniterque consolentur, ad Chris-

tianam patientiam cohortentur et ad certain in Deum fidu-

ciary cui et vivere et mori lucrum erit." All which is dulyquoted and approved by Carpzov, in n. 52 (p. 309).

VOL. n 53

S34 THE DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

But if there is no regular executioner In a place, the judgecan force some vile person a slave or a beggar to serve,

who is to receive five gold pieces for an execution. Ib., n. 53

(p. 309).

Or lie can force some criminal prisoner, about to be con-

demned to death or penal servitude, to act either temporarilyor permanently, paying him a salary or exempting Mm from

death with consent of the prince. Ib., n. 54 (p. 310).

But, as the office was deemed infamous and its holders

were everywhere execrated, "inde forsan provenit quod carni-

fices pleranque non zelo justitlae nee cum tanta commisera-

tione et humanitate suuin exerceant officium quae ipsos

deceret et amabiliores redderet, sed omnibus sceleribus inqui-

natissimi in sibi cominissos patientes reos desaeviant, ipsos

tractent, raptent, perdant ac mactent, non secus quam si

beluam conficerent et in tarn crudeli ac tyrannica executione

glorientur, reis interim merita supplicia exprobrantes et aequosaevius ac citius eos abripientes, non secus quam si propriaebill potius iaservirent et affectibus, quam ration!, justitiae

mandatriei." Ib. 3 n. 58 (p. 310).

After the execution the executioner asks the judge if he

has properly performed it, to which the judge replies, "If

you have executed according to the sentence and law, I let

it so remain." (Carolina, c. 98.). Ib., n. 63 (p. 311).

The judge and assessors should be present, so that the exe-

cutioner may more zealously do his duty. Ib., n. 64 (p. 311).Also to see that he is not interfered with or injured, for an

evil custom obtained, especially in Saxony, that, if he did not

kill with the first blow or otherwise bungled, the peopleattacked him with stones and darts. (Carolina, c. 97, requiresthe presence of the judge to prevent disorder.) Ib. 3 n. 66

(p. 311).

The corpse should be properly buried, except in cases of

hanging and the wheel, in which its remaining there is partof the penalty. Ib., nn. 69-70 (p. 311).

It seems, however, to be a disputed question whether the

corpse should be given to the physicians for dissection.

Carpzov thinks this should be left to the discretion of the

judge, to consider the circumstances of the case the family,etc. Ib., nn. 72-4 (p. 312),

According to the common law, appeals were admitted from

every act, from the time of arrest onward, and the right was


characterized as the "praesidium innocentlae et gravaminis

justi relevatio.'' Ib., q. cxxxix, nn. 7-11 (pp. 321-2).But in the inquisitorial process ail this was abrogated-

<k

'Quod scilicet hodie in processu criminal inquisitorio appel-latio nequaquam sit admittenda.

MIb., n. 14 (p. 322).

There is no appeal from any sentence, whexher interlocutory

or definitive.i

lndifferenter siquidem in processu inquisl-

tionis appellatio rejicitur." Ib., n. 22 (p. 323).

Therefore there was no appeal from a sentence of torture. This can be

understood when the papers were al submitted to the higher court at

Leipzig from which emanated sentences of torture and of final decision.

For crimes in general there was a prescription of twentyyears, after which they could not be prosecuted. But this

did not apply to the excepted ones the enormous and atro-

cious ones, for which there was no prescription such as

heresy or apostasy, "Quae aKaque crimina enormia vicennali

praescriptione neutiquam tolluntur, sed in perpetuum du-

rant." Ib., q. cxli, n. 52 (p. 344).For some crimes the prescription was shorter thus for

simple adultery it was only five years. Ib., n. 45 (p. 344).

Thus no matter how long before the alleged offences were committed

they could always be brought up to institute a prosecution or to aggravateone started on insufficient grounds.

As a rule the death-penalty could not be inflicted before

the age of puberty, which was fixed at fourteen, but this wasnot applicable to the most atrocious crimes. In 1617 the

Scabini Lipsienses, in the case of a boy not yet fourteen whohad committed arson, authorized the judge of Leisnig to

commute burning alive to beheading, with burning of the

body. Ib., q. cxliii, nn. 48-56 (p. 358).

Minority lasted in general until twenty-five, but in Saxonymajority was reached at the completion of the twenty-first

year. Ib., n. 60 (p. 359).Between puberty and majority the doctors generally hold

that punishment should be mitigated, but Carpzov considers

that the culprits are fully doli capaces and act through malice;the judge may, if he deems best, moderate penalties, but he

is not bound to. The Carolina, c. 164, provides that for

theft up to fourteen the death punishment is not to be

inflicted. After fourteen it rests with the discretion of the

judge according to the case. Ib., nn. 61-70 (pp. 359-60).He quotes some decisions of the Schoppen to illustrate


this. One of a boy of fourteen, to be hanged, shows that

torture was used, Another, a veneficus of seventeen, was to

be burnt. A girl of fifteen for infanticide was let off with

beheading instead of drowning* Ib., na. 71-5 (p. 360).

Old age as a rule does not excuse, "quod scilicet senectus

regulariter a poena neniinem exeuset." Some say old age

begins at fifty, others at sixty. It must be left to the judge,but at seventy no one can dispute it. Ib., q. exliv, nn. 12-4

(p. 362).Old age, especially when the mind is weakened, calls for

mitigation of punishment, though not if the person is robust

and vigorous. Ib., nn. 18-24 (p. 363),"In crimine quoque Sortilegii senectutem a poena incendii

neminem exeusare, tantum abest ut negari possit ut etiam

Veneficae plerumque sint vetulae, quibus haec poena irrogari

soleat." Ib., n. 25 (p. 363).

Various decisions of the Schoppen show that insanity wasa good defence. Witnesses and physicians were examined

and, if satisfied of the insanity, the accused was not punished,but was confined, if necessary in chains, to prevent his injur-

ing himself or others. Ib., q. cxlv, nn. 19-21 (pp. 368-9).If a judge promises immunity for confession, the ordinary

punishment is not to be inflicted, but a mitigated one. Other-

wise it is deceit. Besides, a confession must be spontaneousto convict, and one obtained in this way is not spontaneous.

Ib., q. cxlix, nn. 9-13 (p. 391).The reason for this is that the judge has no right to make

such a promise and therefore it is invalid, while, on the other

hand, the confession is not spontaneous so between the twoa middle course is taken and the penalty is diminished.

Ib., nn. 19-22 (p. 392).

[On the subject of sorcery] Bodin is an especial authority with Carpzov,but Grillandus, Damhouder and others are frequently referred to also

Del Rio, Remy, etc., and occasionally the Malleus.

Sorcery is a crime of lese-majeste divine "quod in generesumptum est ars illusoria et summe noxia, qua homo utitur

Daemonis ministerio.n--Practica Rerum Criminalium, P. I,

q. xliix [xlviii], nn. 1-2 (p. 307).

Sorcerers, renouncing the Christian faith, contract a pact or

society with the devil, with whose cooperation and the useof illicit arts they sometimes injure men and beasts and even

perform miraculous things. Ibidem.


Praestigiatores, who by fascination deceive the eye, to seewhat is not and not to see what Is.

Haruspices, diviners observers of hours and Inspectors ofentrails.

Venefiti, "qui nefariis carminibus, diris imprecationibus,Immiindomm spnituuni inimissione et pharmaeis a DIabolo

praeparatls, in pernieiem et necem pecudum et hominumutuntur."

Lamias, Sagae ac Singes, "quae tempestates et tonitrua

excitant, hominum et pecudum Internecloni et exitio student,Itemque conventus sive synagogas diabolicas, ad quas in furca,baculis aut scopis femntur, visitant et cuin ipso Daemonenefandam exercent libidinem."

Necromantid, divining by corpses. Ib., nn. 4-8 (p. 308).But to each of these there can be no certain attributions

made, for all these are kindred arts and it would be a hopelesslabor to define them individually, and the doctors frequentlyuse indifferently the words Magi, Lamiae, Striges, Sortilegi,

Mathernatid, Incantores and Incantatrices, Veratrices and

Praestigiatrices, for all have pact and custom with the devil,

though some may subject themselves more closely to him thanothers. The theologians divide pact into express and tacit.

In the former, Necromantid and Magi, whose names are

inscribed "albo Veneficorum", renounce God and Ms Son, his

benefits, and their baptism; they pay homage to the devil,

promising perpetual obedience and delivering their souls andbodies to eternal condemnation, and this sometimes with

special ceremonies and solemnities. Tacit or implicit pact Is

that which all others have who without express agreementhave dealings with the devil or who knowingly make use of

superstitious observances. Ib., nn. 9-11 (p. 308).It is common to all sorcerers and malefid that they use

diabolic arts and with the cooperation of the devil injure menand beasts and dare to perform miraculous things. "Quod, uti

sceleratissimum ac nefandissimum crimen est, Ita ejusdemReos a poena liberare et eximere velle impium prorsus esset.

Quin etiam nulla esse alia crimina quorum tarn horrenda sit

constitutio, quae tarn graves poenas mereantur, aut quae adhoc proxime videantur accedere." Ib., n. 12 (p. 308).Yet there are not lacking Christians who in their books

strive in every way to defend the magi, such as Weyer, Pier

di Apono, Joh. Fr. Ponzinibio, whom Bodin justly denounces.

Thus the devil has his faithful ministers of all orders and

83g THE DEUJSION AT ITS HEIGHT

conditions who bravely defend Ms kingdom, propagate the

diabolical assemblies, persuading judges and magistrates that

the punishment of magi and venefici is unjust and that they

are never to be put to death, and this not without what they

regard as most urgent arguments. Ib., nn. 1314 (pp. 308-9).

Then at considerable length he quotes them and their argu-

mentSj with stories to show the illusions caused by the demon.

Ib., nn. 15-32 (pp. 315-17).

But to what does all this tend? That ail that is attributed

to witches are deceits and figments, whence Weyer and Msfollowers seek to prove that judges gravely err who condemn

them to death. They think that witches and sorcerers, who

make pacts and deal with the devil, should have milder and

arbitrary punishment. Ib., n. 33 (p. 311).

Goes on with further arguments of the contestants, who

are refuted by Bodin, Del Rio, Thorn. Erastus, James I, "et

hodie coromuniter theologi pariter ac jurisconsulti et pMlo-

sophi," who hold that they should be put to death. Ib.,

nn. 34-9 (p. 312).

This is the true opinion. It consorts with the law of

God, "Praestigjatricem ne sinas vivere (Exod. xxii, 18). Qui

textus neutiquam ad veneficos tantum qui scilicet veneno

male propinato mortem procurant restringendus est, ut putat

Joharm. Wier., sed omnes denotat qui praestigiis aliis offen-

dunt.??

Again there is Levit. xx, 26. Therefore all magi and

witches are to be put to death and this law was in force always.

The ten tribes of Israel were destroyed because they gave

themselves up to sorcery and divination, see II Chron. 17 [18].

(Somewhat forced H. C. L.). Ib., nn. 40-2 (pp. 312-3).

Then he cites the Roman Law, Plato, the Persians, the old

councils, to show that the practice has always been to visit

such crimes with death. Ib., nn. 43-6 (p. 313).

Quotes Bodin, Remy and Grillandus that there is always

pact "Quinimo Sagae non solum sunt homicidae, dum mor-

bos periculosos ipsamque mortem aliis inmuttunt suis incan-

tationibus, proprios infantes Diabolo sacrificant eosque hac

ratione qua corpus qua animam perdunt, aliorumque infantes

in utero matris occidunt, sed et adulterae et tanto tetriores

adulterae quanto tetrior est is cui succumbunt, nempe Diabo-

lus. Homicidaram vero ac adulterorum poenam capitalem

esse tam certum est ut nil certius." Ib., n. 47 (p. 313).

Besides it fits the witches themselves that they should be

speedily removed, for Remy shows that when once ensnared

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW S39

by the devil lie never releases them until death. Ib., n. 48

(p. 313).Let any one who has ever so little piety and sanity judge

whether magistrates punishing witches are not acting in

accordance with divine and human law and whether the

reasons of Weyer suffice to overturn those laws. Ib., n. 49

(p. 314).Proceeds to argue against Weyer. Experience shows that

for many centuries to the present time it is proved by infinite

examples and the just complaints of innumerable men and

irreparable damage. Ib., n. 50 (p. 314).Who will dare to deny the pact of witches with the demon,

proved not only by experience, but by the frequent confes-

sions of the witches themselves. Before granting their requests

the devil requires a written obligation or, if they cannot

write, a verbal stipulation. He often demands it written in

blood and, if he fears they will desert Mm, he impresses cer-

tain marks, sometimes conspicuous enough, as on the right

sh * alder or the thigh or even on the forehead or the occiput

(back of the head) ,the breast, etc. Sometimes in hidden places,

as inside the lips, under the axilla, under the eyelids, etc.,

which spot, known as the devil's stigma, is said to be so

bloodless and insensible that a needle driven in deeply causes

no pain and not a drop of blood. Sometimes witches cause

themselves to be rebaptized in the name of the devil, whence

they have two names, as appears from the appended sen-

tences. Ib., n. 51 (p. 314).

If witches were to be excused because misled by the wiles

and deceits of the devil, all crimes should be pardoned, for

none are committed save by the persuasion and sometimes

even by the impulse of the devil. Ib., n. 53 (p. 314).

Witches can create mutual hatred between spouses, dry upmilk of nurses, cause abortion in women and cattle, even in a

whole herd; they can bring food and drink, etc., from the

greatest distances in the shortest time; they can open locks

and bolts; they can cause rain and hail, tempests and light-

ning; they can produce flies, locusts, caterpillars, serpents,

frogs, lice, worms, fleas, toads, mice and such animals and

send them into the harvests; they can throw stones, enter

locked places, transfer bodies from place to place. It is not

absurdly asserted that they fly bodily to the Sabbat and are

present there, for, if angels can transport men, as with

Habakkuk, why cannot the devil, who transported Christ?


And many most learned men assert that the transport^!witches to the Blocksberg and other places and the feasting

and dancing there are real and not illusions and they confirm

this with the most solid reasons and support it with common

experience and Infinite examples. See also the appended

sentences of the Scabini Lipsienses ?in which these confessions

of witches are inserted word for word. Ib., nn. 55-7 (pp.

314-5).He says he will not deny that witches often are at the

Sabbat only in imagination and he quotes the Malleus (P. II,

q. i, c. 3) that they attend in both ways, for when they do

not want to attend personally but wish to know what goes on

among their comrades they lie on the left side, after invoking

all the demons; then a whitish vapor issues from the mouth,

in which they see all details; if they wish to go personally,

they anoint a stool or a staff with an unguent made from the

limbs of infants dead before baptism. Then he quotes from

Remy (Daemonolatreia, 1. i, c. 12, p. 82) that in order that

their husbands may not detect their absence, they, by an

incantation, scratching the ear with the right hand smeared

with the ointment, throw them into a profound sleep, or else

make images in their likeness to personate them, if they

awake. Or, according to Grillandus (Tract, de Sortilegiis,

q. 7, n. 39) , provide succubi who will take their place, if neces-

sary, so that the wisest husband may well be deceived.

Ib., nn. 58-9 (p. 315).

Important as showing how all the old superstitions survived.

It makes no difference as to punishment whether they are

present personally or in imagination, for they have pact and

commerce with the devil and owe him obedience, and more-

over they firmly believe that what they see really happensand there is nothing lacking as to their will. Ib., n. 60

(pp. 315-6).To Weyer's argument that God permits what is done, he

replies that he admits that there is no real power in the

charms and incantations of sorcery and that what the witches

do belongs to God alone and could not be effected without

the permission of God rwho allows the devil either with or

beyond natural causes to produce the effects. Although it is

Ms power that the witches use and although they would

labor in vain with their own arts, yet are they worthy of the

severest punishment, for they serve the devil and labor for

WITCHCBAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAE LAW 841

Ms benefit and without their assent the devil could not

injure men or beasts. Ib., n. 61 (p. 316).

"Decent Theologi, Diabolo in primo lapsu vires

nocendi sic ademptas et eoMbitas esse ut, nisi accedat nova

aliqua voluntas sive consensus hominis malefici, non possit

inferre noxam; si enim suae permissus esset licentiae, in nos

vel nostra saeviendi, exitialia prorsus danma quotidie foret

praestitnnis. . . . Non igitur potest furere Satan pro libitu,

sed vel a Deo impetrata potestate vel consensu hominis (a

quo alias Dens pennittit laedi vieinos homines) elicito."

Ib., n. 62 (p. 316).

Thus the devil can do nothing without the consent of the

witch; if she refuses to do the evil he commands, he beats

her most severely, because he needs the human consent.

Ib., n. 63 (p. 316).

Thus, although the imprecations and acts of the witches

by themselves cannot injure men or beasts, yet by them

they effect that the devil can do the evil. Therefore they are

to be put to death who by their magic and devilish arts bringsickness and death to men and beasts. This the witches do,

not by their wicked incantations and imprecations ,which

have no power of themselves, but by giving their consent to

the designs of the devil, by which he can do evil. Therefore

are they justly condemned to death. Ib., n. 64 (p. 316).

It is of little moment whether they work evil of themselves

or through the devil. They firmly believe that what happensis their work, so that there is nothing lacking as to their will

and desire to injure and their belief as to their doing it,

wherefore they are to be put to death. Ib., n. 65 (p. 316).

Besides, there are the gravest crimes of which they are

guilty apostasy, which they urge on their children and

others, blasphemy, and the foulest of all lust which they con-

stantly gratify with the devil the most detestable form of

sodomy, always punishable with fire. Ib., n. 66 (p. 316).

No one not obstinately adhering to the frivolous opinions

of Weyer can deny that witches and magi are to be punished

with death, as provided in the divine and the civil law, but

as to the manner of death the texts of the civil law are various

and obscure, so that nothing certain is to be asserted. Ib.,

q. xlix, n. 1 (p. 317).

According to the civil law sometimes they are simply to

be put to death, sometimes sent to the beasts, or sent to the

842 THE DELUSION AT IIS HEIGHT

islands, or fire and confiscation are ordered,, or torture with

pricks and hooks. Ib., n. 2 (p. 318).

Some modem writers simply prescribe death and confisca-

tion (as Farinacci and Griliandus though the latter, q. 11,

imm 5-7^sayS death and afterwards quotes authorities that

the penalt/is arbitrary) others that it is arbitrary [i. e., at

the will of the judge]. Ib., q. xlix, mi. 4-6 (p. 318).

The Carolina, c. 109 (which I have elsewhere EL C. L.)

prescribes fire when injury has been done and otherwise

leaves to judicial discretion according to circumstances. Onwhich Carpzov quotes commentators to show that these

circumstances may include pact, apostasy from the faith,

sexual intercourse with the devil, etc., which infer death byfixe and this accords with the Saxon Landrecht which pre-

scribes burning, and so from of old the Scabin,i Lipsienses

have decided, whether there has been injury or not. Ib.,

nn. 7-8 (p. 318).

But all do not renounce their Creator, or make express

pact with the devil or have commerce with Mm, and therefore

Charles V wisely provided that the judge should have dis-

cretion. So Elector August to guide the judges restricted

death by fire to those who had left the faith and bound them-

selves to the devil, while those who without such pact had

relations with the devil or injured others by magic arts were

to be beheaded. Pact is defined of two kinds express when

the devil is adored, and tacit which covers all magic arts

and superstitious observances. Ib., nn. 9-12 (pp. 318-9).

Fire is the penalty for express pact renouncing God and

the faith, promising obedience to the devil and expecting

from Mm aid and riches. Sometimes this is done in the

Sabbat, with the devil sitting in majesty on his throne; some-

times without solemnity and a crowd, rendering homage to

the devil or to a sorcerer in his name, promising obedience

and giving himself body and soul to the devil, renouncingthe Christian faith and baptism; very often also giving a

writing signed with blood. Or ipso facto they give themselves

to the devil by having sexual intercourse with him, but this

is rare without previous pact. These are properly called

Magi, Praestigiatores, Singes ac Lamiae vel Sagae, and it is

of these alone that the Electoral Constitution of August

speaks, excluding those who have not express pact. Ib.,

nn. 13-16 (p. 319).

He commits manifold sins who enslaves himself to the

WITCHCBAFT AS VIEWED BY SECCLAB LAW 843

devil, renounces God Ms Creator and Ms baptism, denies the

Son of God and the Christian faith, tramples the sacra-

ments under foot, abjures the benefits of God and covers Msname with horrid blasphemies and insults, offers perpetual

vassalage to the devil, that he "will never return to the Chris-

tian faith or observe the divine precepts, but will obey the

devil always and forever when he is summoned to the

Sabbat and do what is done there by the other witches, be

present at their nocturnal sacrifices and render the accus-

tomed prayers and worship, adoring the devil and promisingto fulfill all commands with all Ms strength and to bring all

he can to the same worsMp and finally surrendering Ms bodyand soul to the devil for eternal condemnation. So horrible

is all tMs that certainly sorcery exceeds all other crimes.

Although all sorcerers do not specially and literally promiseall these tMngs yet are they comprehended under the general

pact with the devil and are promised by all the faithful of

the devil, so there can be no doubt whatever that express

pact with the devil merits death by fire. Ib., nn. 20-1

(p. 320).Goes on to argue for death by fire. In view of the Carolina,

when injury is committed "vix quisquam hodie dubitat" that

tMs penalty is to be inflicted. "Sed et eadem poena Magiscum Daemone paciseentibus imponenda est si nemini prorsus

nocuerint, sed vel solum conventibus diabolicis in monteBructerorum interfuerint, vel cum Daemone commercii quidhabuerint, aut tantummodo ejus auxilio confiderint, nil

prorsus praeterea efficientes." Ib., nn. 22-3 (p. 320).

Quotes Binsfeld (Comment, in Tit. de Malef., 1. v, q. 1,

concl. 2, p. 592) to argue away the concluding section of

Carolina 109, wMch prescribes arbitrary penalties when no

injury has been committed, and to prove that it only refers

to those who without express pact have endeavored to do

injury but without success. Ib., n. 27 (p. 321).

Besides, it may reasonably be said that the discretion

allowed to the judge includes death by fire when there is pact,for the judge may think that when there is pact there may be

other crime quite as worthy of fire as injury to others. Ib.,

n. 28 (p. 321).

Again, even when there is no pact, sexual intercourse with

demons is to be pumshed with fire. He admits that there

are jurists and philosophers who deny the reality of tMs andassert that it is an illusion, but he says the question is twofold.

844 THE DELUSION AT US HEIGHT

He denies that there can be offspring from such unions anddeclares it a base calumny of Cochlaeus and other Catholics

who relate that Luther was thus begotten by a demon in

the guise of a merchant (I cannot identify this in CochlaeusH. C. L.). His view is confirmed by the confessions of

witches who say that they give birth only to things like

worms (commonly called Elben, Bose Dinger) with which

they injure men by sending them into their legs and arms

through fascination. But it does not follow from this that

the sexual intercourse is a fiction, for it is asserted by highauthorities (Malleus, Jerome, Augustin, Isidor, Binsfeld, etc.)

and the innumerable confessions of witches who describe it

with all details. This is appropriate to the devil who is the

spirit of fornication and can adapt to himself the corpse of adead man, or can form a body of condensed air, water andearth, Therefore all witches of either sex who thus lie with

demons, if they have express verbal pact with them, "igne e

medio tollendas esse," under the constitution of the Elector.

If there is no pact, still the iniquity of the crime, which is

worse than ordinary sodomy, like it should be punished with

fire, and it is so ordered by the Scabini Lipsienses. And this

applies to both sexes. Ib., nn. 29-50 (pp. 321-3).

The length of Ms disquisition on this subject shows its importance in the

jurisprudence of the period.

There are some who commiserate the female sex and saythat old women are prone to melancholia and are deservingof compassion rather than severity. But they are not all

old; there are girls of twelve or fifteen whose malice exceedstheir years, and the older they grow the worse they are and

deserving of severer punishment for their prolonged sins.

Human and divine laws make no distinction as to sex. Ib.,nn. 51-55 (p. 323).That the judge should not be moved to remit the pain of

fire is strengthened by the positive rule that before the corpusdelicti is established he cannot prosecute and punish theaccused. But it is certain that when there is no injury bywitches it cannot be established that there is pact or sodomy

Ib., n. 56 (p. 323).Therefore it may be said that witchcraft is a special crime

in that the confessed culprit is condemned and punished,although pact and sodomy are not established. He approvesthe reasoning of Bodin (De Mag. Demon., lib. iv, c. 3) that

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULtAB LAW 845

in this most atrocious of crimes, so hidden and difficult of

proof that out of thousands scarce one is punished, it is impos-sible to adhere to rules, and judgment must be given on basesdifferent from other crimes. Ib., n. 57 (p. 324).

So too in heresy one may be convicted solely on intention,even if there is no other proof, and those are considered as

heretics who make pact with the devil. Ib., n. 58 (p. 324).Still in my judgment it is safer before sentencing to con-

sider carefully whether the circumstances and indicia are

such as to satisfy certainly the judge that the crime of mdle-

ficium has been committed, as prescribed in the Carolina,c. 60. Ib., n. 59 (p. 324)."Unde in delictis occultis et difficilis probationis sufficit de

eorundern corpore const-are per conjecturas. . . . Et in

ejusmodi delictis occultis praesumptiva et conjecturata pro-batio pro plena et concludenti habetur." Ib. 3 nn. 60-1

(p. 324)._ _

But it is impossible to define what presumptions and indicia

suffice to create certitude of malefidum and it must be left

to the discretion of the judge. Then he proceeds to enumeratesome of those suggested by the doctors, among which is the

witch's inability to shed tears. Ib.?nn. 62-3 (p. 324).

Pact may be probably inferred when men or beasts are

injured with magic arts. Ib., n. 64 (p. 324).

It may be considered as proved if a written instrument of

the kind is found in his possession. Ib., n. 65 (p. 324).

Or if the witch is caught talking with the demon or invokinghim. The other presumptions sufficient for torture are partly

specified in Carolina, c. 44 (which I have elsewhere H. C. L.)

and the rest may be left to the judge. Ib., n. 66 (p. 324).

The confession of the accused should be compared with

other confessions to see that it comports with them, for as

Bodin says (ubi supra) those of all lands are in unison, and

this is found to be the case by the Scabini Lipsienses, whoreceive them from the most distant parts of Germany. Ib.,

n. 67 (pp. 324-5).Godelmann says (De Magis, lib. iii, c. 11, n. 45) that

repentance diminishes the punishment, while others say that

this does not apply to those who have made pact, abjured the

faith, been rebaptized and taken another name. Carpzov

prefers the opinion of Bodin, who (De Mag. Daemon., lib. iv,

c. 5, p. 409) only grudgingly admits that the fiery death maybe mitigated for those who before conviction repent, confess


and denounce their associates, for this may attract others

to do the same. Life is only to be spared to those who, before

they are accused, repent and spontaneously come forward,

confess and denounce their associates. Ib., nn. 71-2 (p. 325).

But Carpzov is even more pitiless. After accusation, those

who confess are to have death by fixe, for who, he says, is so

insane that he would not thus escape? For those who without

accusation spontaneously repent, the penalty may be dimin-

ished to decapitation. Ib., nn. 73-6 (p. 325).

This latter, however, appears only to refer to those who on

trial profess to have repented and abandoned their evil ways,

for in confirmation he quotes a sentence of the Leipzig

Sehoppen, July, 1586, on E. G. of Eisenach who under torture

confessed to killing cattle and frequenting the Sabbat, but

asserted that after the Walpurgis night of 1585 she had dis-

missed her demon lover and had returned to God, wherefore

she was only to be beheaded. Ib., n. 79 (p.* 325).

Those who, without pact, use magic arts to inflict injuries

are to be beheaded. Such is the Saxon law. Ib., q. 1, nn.

4HL4 (pp. 326-7).

And this irrespective of the means, whether by wicked

charms, dire imprecations, sending unclean spirits, or with

drugs prepared by the devil or by illicit arts from corpses,

hangman's halters and mixtures, concocted or imported and

mingled with food or drink." Non raro etiam Veneficae excre-

mentis utuntur in magicis veneficiis." Very often the devil

gives to his sorcerer servants a powder which kills or sickens

when scattered on a person or mixed with his food. Some-

times they use powders, herbs and roots, with water or urine

and filth; they scatter this and who walks over it is sickened

or dies. Commonly also they injure men by sending into themunclean spirits or worms or caterpillars which they procreatefrom demons, which by incantations they send into the head

or feet or limbs of men and 3ause intense agony. They use

these and a thousand other modes to injure, which can be

easily proved since we need not be solicitous about the corpus

delicti, so that no one can easily deny that they are to suffer

decapitation. Although the words and imprecations and

superstitious acts which they use have no power of themselves,

yet can they scarce escape the penalty, since thus they con-

sent and enable the devil to do the evil he desires. Ib., nn.

15-22 (pp. 327-8),


All this shows the fallacy of the discrimination as to pact. There is no

practical distinction to be drawn between these sorcerers and witches

save that here there is no allusion to the Sabbat or devil-worship, while

there is one to connection with the devil.

It makes no difference as to the death penalty whether the

injury inflicted is great or small or whether on man or beast.

Ib., nn. 23-8 (pp. 328-9).The same penalty is to be inflicted on those who use sor-

cerers for these purposes, as is customary with the malevolent.

This occurred hi 1622 in the Lausitz, where two noble sisters,

A. M. and E. von W., unable to collect a debt from BL A.5

Baron von P., out of revenge or to extort it, paid a sorceress

who inflicted intolerable suffering on him, and the Scabini

decided that they were subject to the same penalties as if

they had done it themselves, which was beheading. Ib.,

nn. 32-36 (p. 329).

Then there are the diviners, who without pact use crystals

and glasses and mirrors to interrogate the demon and do no

injury. All intercourse with the demon is liable to the same

penalty of beheading. lEustrated by a decision of the Scabini

in 1586 on the case of H. K., who to discover some stolen

money summoned a little demon named Sibille, whose strange

appearance is minutely described and who gave him elaborate

instructions as to finding it with a candle made of blessed

wax. Ib., nn. 37-41 (pp. 329-30).There is no doubt that the devil, through diviners, can

predict the future not that which depends on the will of

Providence, but that which depends on natural causes. Those

who thus seek his aid have tacit pact with him and are sub-

ject to capital punishment, whether their predictions provetrue or false. Ib., nn. 42-7 (pp. 330-1).

It is the same with invoking the devil to cure disease

"Neque auxilium Daemonis invocare licet etiam pro mille

corporum sanitatibus; quia minus detrimentum est quod

pereant mille corpora quam quod pereat una anima." Ib.,

n. 48 (p. 331).Then there are the wise women, kluge Frauen, curanderas,

who have no pact nor use magic arts to injure, but supersti-

tious remedies, amulets, charms, etc., to cure disease, to dispel

fascinations, to recover lost or stolen things. To these the

Constitutio Electoralis makes no reference;but I hold that

they are punishable with arbitrary penalties prison, exile,

or at most with scourging (nn. 49-50). The Saxon custom is


before punishing them to confide them to ministers of the

church to lead them out of error (n. 54). Ib., pp. 331-2.

Following these sections on witchcraft Carpzov gives (P. I,

pp. 333-43) 36 sentences by the Scabini Lipsienses, to illus-

trate the working of justice on witches. They begin as early

as 1558, and the latest is 1622. By 1582 the persecution seems

to be energetic. In one sentence of that year two womenare condemned to be burnt alive and two men to be torn with

red-hot pincers and broken on the wheel. The penalty as a

rule is death by fire, though occasionally beheading. The use

of torture seems to be a matter of course; the execution of

the sentence is made to depend on the free confirmation of

the confession or other convincing proof. Investigation is to

be made as to the reality of the injuries to man and beast and

property confessed by the culprit. In the later cases there

is no reference to such investigation.

The sentences contain a brief abstract of the confessions.

They are mostly by women who nearly all confess to sexual

relations with the demon. The Sabbat does not figure

largely, but all the superstitions of witchcraft find unques-

tioning acceptance. In 1586 a witch confesses to havingburnt the house and barn of Matthes Schirmer of Seidewitz

in a tempest by sorcery (n. 7, p. 334) evidently a case of

lightning, showing how all the accidents of nature were

ascribed to sorcery.

In 1593 a woman who endured the torture without confes-

sion subsequently confessed "in gutem" that for twelve yearsshe had relations with a demon to whom every six weeks she

bore two Elben, with which she bewitched people. Con-demned to death by fire (n. 10, p. 334).

In 1594 three others confessed under torture that for

thirty years they had "fleischliche unzucht getrieben" with a

demon and had injured many people in body and goods.Burnt alive (nn. 11, 12, 13, p. 335). Another for twenty-five

years (n. 21, p. 336).

In 1599 there is a case where pardon was promised. She

is let off with beheading (n. 16, p. 335).

Sexual intercourse with demons seems sufficient to justify

the stake (nn. 18, 19 pp. 335-6).In a number of cases confessions are made in gutem with-

out torture.

The Elben, sprung from demonic intercourse, play a great

part in inflicting injuries.

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED* BY THE SECULAR LAW 49

In 1608 a witch says that her demon lover Lucas visited

her repeatedly in prison, urged her not to confess finally

brought a rope and told her to hang herself, which she refused

to do, when he took the rope away (n. 213 p. 336).

In 1613 a witch confesses to eighteen years" intercourse

with a demon who visits her twice a week; thrice a year hetakes her to the Sabbat. She has renounced Christ and whenshe takes communion she retains the host and gives it to

Mm. Also a long list of injuries wreaked on people. Yetthere is no enhancement of the death by fire fn. 22, p. 337).

1613. Another confesses going to the Blocksberg andnames a number of those who were there (n. 24, p. 338).

1614. A woman is tortured without confession. Is tor-

tured again for a longer time and confesses with details.

Then revokes. Is tortured a third time unsuccessfully. TheScabini conclude that she has purged the evidence and, as

there are no new indicia, she is banished perpetually (n. 27,

p. 339).

1615, September. Mother and daughter burnt. One of

them confesses to have borne twins to the demon, but, as theyseemed lifeless and unhuman, she cast them into the water

(n. 29, p. 340).

This Is the only case In which anything but EUbm are procreated.

1616, October. Another sentence concerning the same

woman. It appears that she was subjected to severer torture

when she confessed that she had taught sorcery to her three

daughters and a son; the daughters had practiced it as for

the son she could not say, as he lived elsewhere. She is nowordered to be executed with two of her daughters (n. 31,

p. 341).1618. M. L. under torture confesses to have had for eigh-

teen or nineteen years relations with her demon. He had

visited her five times in prison. Burnt (n. 35, p. 342).

1621. A prisoner describes the mark which she says all

sorcerers have a black streak or spot on the forehead, the

eyes or other parts (n. 26, p. 339).

1622. Weissbarbara under torture confessed to have had

for twenty years relations with a demon, Juncker Hans Bas-

tian, who visited her thrice a week and often took her to the

Blocksberg. Burnt (n. 34, p. 342).

1622. A. M. of W. confesses that she and her sister E.

had given six groschen to "erne offentliche Zauberin" (public?

VOL. ii 54

850 THE DELTTSION AT ITS HEIGHT

notorious?) to cause terrible pains to N. N., when the sorceress

promised to make her suffer like a bird roasting on a spit

and that no doctor could cure her. Whether the victim wasafflicted or not is not stated. She also confessed to numerousadulteries and to killing an infant born to her. The judgmentsays that the latter things do not appear in the Acta, but that

for employing the sorceress she and her sister are to be

beheaded (n. 36, p. 343).

In all these cases, there are but two or three of men; the rest are all

women. Invariably there is sexual intercourse and from details it wouldseem that judges were in the habit of inquiring industriously into them.

As a rule all the confessions are alike; there is little variation, showinghow thoroughly the general formula was understood among the people.

"When the demon is described, he is always a man tall or short, dark or

light as may be, usually with feathers in his hat, but he generally has one

deformed foot (either right or left) which is like an ass's hoof, or a cow's.

In one case his hands are claws; in another his left hand has long nails.

OLDEKOP, JUSTUS. Observati&nes Criminates Practicae.

Francofurti-ad-Oderam, 1698. [Earlier ed., Bremen, 1654.]

Oldekop's book may be dated about 1640. He quotes Carpzov, whosebook appeared in 1635, and he is quoted by Brunnemann, writing about

1650.1

The German criminal justice of the period seems to have been singularly

objectionable at least in the smaller places, where the local courts (Scabini,

Eschevins, Schoppen) were ignorant and careless. So well was this under-

stood that they were required to submit their cases to neighboring univer-

sities or the courts of the larger cities, where the advice of trained lawyerscould be had.

Oldekop (writing presumably in the first half of the seven-

teenth century) says that local courts run no risk "si causas

criminates ex consilio sapientum, der nechsten Hohen Schulen,Stddte oder Communen (supposito tamen quod eousque legitime

processerint) determinant (nisi notorie sit injustum) ut adhoc potius teneantur si dubitent." This is ordered in the

Carolina, cap. ult., and is alluded to in it 57 times. In the

Saxon Electorate, if they render sentence in criminal cases

without the advice of the " Scabinatus Lipsiensis vel Dicasterii

(court) Wittenbergensis," custom requires that it can beattacked for nullity. There are some scriveners and actuaries

and even commissioners of criminal justice, as experienceshows, so inexpert that they very often, to the great danger

1 The work first appeared in briefer form under the title" Cautelarum criminalium

Sylloge," Brunswick, 1633, republished at Hildesheim, 1639 See Stintzing, Ge-schichte der deutschen Rechtswissenschaft, II, p. 223,

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY SECtTULB LAW 851

of the accused, neglect necessary procedure^ especially in thedifficult points of torture

,indwia and confession. Some cus-

tomarily, in order to conform with custom, frame protocolsin which they enter their own opinions to the great disad-

vantage of the accused, or they make marginal notes on therecords to make his ease worse. On the other hand, theyoften omit necessary matters and circumstances. Whereforethe jurists consulted ought to exercise great vigilance andnot content themselves as some Collegia Juridica do with

adding this clause "si diligent! habita inquisitione de delicto

certo constet." Ib., tit. i, observatio 7, nn. 11-13.

Evidently responsibility was divided, and ignorance and negligence com-bined to work injustice under the forms of law. He gives (Ib., n, 18)instances of shocking injustice arising from this circuitous division of

responsibility.

From the Carolina we may assume that this was customary in bothProtestant and Catholic lands except where there was an inquisitor whoof course had supreme jurisdiction,

He tells us that the protocols were sometimes surchargedwith falsehoods and advises the accused or Ms advocate

always to apply for a copy to the judges and, if they are

suspect, to the juridical faculty to which it was sent. Ib.,

obs. 8, nn. 2-4.

On the other hand, the accused resorted to all kinds of

devices to escape punishment. The bearers of the protocolswere bribed to let the responses be read on the way, or theywere waylaid and robbed of them, or members of the consult-

ing faculty were bribed. Altogether the administration of

criminal justice in Germany in the seventeenth century wouldseem fully to deserve Oldekop's description "Si ad viros

possent revocari ante nominati et alii antiquiores jurisconsulti,

ut praesentem judicioram criminalium calamitatem, et jus-

titiae statum deploratissimum cernerent, quo omnia ruunt in

pejus, horrore percuterentur et obstupescerent," and his

remarks are rendered more emphatic by his adding that there

are some universities which are adorned with learned, experi-

enced and conscientious men. Ib., obs. 9, nn. 6, 7.

He inveighs against judges who refuse counsel to those

accused of excepted crimes. Such refusal is only justified

when the crime (I suppose he means the guilt H. C. L.) is

notorious. Ib., obs. 10, nn. 1-3.

He illustrates this thus: If a robber admits robbery but

argues that it is lawful, or if a witch admits magic but asserts

H52 THE DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

that it is a liberal art or that she has been deceived by the

devil, they can properly be refused counsel, for these defences

are plainly frivolous, absurd and contrary to law; but to

deny counsel because the alleged and unproved crime is

atrocious is to deny defence when it is most needful. Ib.,

nn. 11-13.

His elaborate argument to prove all this shows that it was not infrequent.

Counsel incurred danger in defending their clients: "Ex-

empla sunt in promptu recentiora quod advocati et notarii

suum officium in ejusmodi causis modo plane licentissimo

exercentes, in squalidos carceres fuerint conjecti et ibidem ad

tempus non sine jactura vitae et sanitatis detenti." So he

advises counsel before undertaking a case to obtain letters of

security and grace under the signature and seal of the judge

or prince. Ib., obs. 12, nn. 3-5.

Illustrates the system of German justice.

He says that in cases of homicide the judges customarily

made the accused touch the corpse to see whether blood

would flow, but he considers this too uncertain to be an

indicium for torture without other proofs. Ib., tit. ii, obs. 2,

nn. 1-2.

"Judex in causis criminalibus procedere potest ex officlo et

hodie plerumque solet per modum inquisitionis, quod est

notissimum."-~Ib., obs. 3, n. 1.

"Et processus inquisitionis non sit amplius remedium

extraordinarium sed ordinarium." Even when there is an

accuser the judge proceeds, "super inquisitione." Ib., nn.

6,7.He deems it necessary to warn judges not to seek to discover

the perpetrator of a crime by sorcery or divination, for he

commits a capital offence and the inquisition based on it is

null Ib., obs, 16.

"Fama mala ejus est naturae ut pedetentim serpat, ali-

mentum a creduhs et malevolis, ac tandem tantas acquirat

vires, ut si nulla contradictione impediatur, quodammodoveritatis fidem occupet." Ib., obs. 21, n. 1.

The hardship of arrest was fully appreciated. He quotes

from various authorities" Cum career sit irreparabile prae-

judicium, propter incommodum et aliqualem infamiae notam.

. . . Non personae captae tantum, sed etiam totae ejus

familiae aspersam, imo sit ignominia irretractabilis, quae


facile aboleri nequit. . . . Et saepe magnum tormentum/'

(See also below.) Ib., tit. iii, obs. 1, n. LCarolina, c. 11, orders that accomplices be imprisoned

separately. Oidekop quotes authorities to show that solitary

confinement was advisable. Also, no one to be admitted who

may counsel Mm not to confess and rather to endure torture,

or give him magic charms to induce taciturnity. Even the

confessor is to be watched lest he teach the prisoner how to

elude examination and admissions. Ib., obs. 11, nn. 7-8.

Here are further expressions of the authorities as to the

hardships of prisons."Career est species tormenti et mala

mansio morti aequiparanda." "Career est locus horribilis,

turn propter privationem conversations hominum, propter

immunditiein, quae in carceribus reperitur."i lmo vero

career est vivoram sepultura, bonoram consumptio, consolatio

inimicorum, et amicorum experimentum." Ib., obs. 16, nn.

1-3.

He himself speaks strongly as to the unjustifiable harsh-

ness and negligence of the prisons of the period. He mentions

eases in which, after a year's incarceration, prisoners have

been for the first time interrogated and asked on what charges

they were arrested. He is especially severe on underground

dungeons, which some judges boast of, and relates a recent case

hi which a man was for years so confined and when brought to

daylight was crazed, but rejoiced in the light as though in

heaven and died in ten days. Ib., nn. 12-16.1 '

Tempore hoc exulceratissimo, quo omnia ruunt in detenus,

propter levi delictum immoderati saepe judices detrudunt

homines in carceres squalidissimos." Ib., obs. 26, n. 1.

"Idque in tantum, ut totius ferine praxis criminalis funda-

mentum, hi materia indiciorum et torturae consistere non

dubitaverit statuere Frantz. Personal, in tr. de indie, et tort."

Ib., tit. iv, obs. 1, n. 2.

It is impossible to lay down rules to decide whether the

indicia are sufficient for torture, therefore "ut plurimum aequo

judicis arbitrio committitur." Ib., n. 5.

After dilating on the severity and efficiency of torture, he

says that some are wont to call it omnipotent and he blames

those too zealous judges who say, "Si aliquod facinus est

commissum, et non constat de autore ejus, primum, qui tibi

redditur obviam, quicunque tandem ille, etiam si honestissi-

mus et innocentissimus sit, cape, ad equuleum rape, modo


usltato torque, sic sine labore, molestiis et sumptibus statim

habebis eonfessum reum." Ib., n. 9.

He discusses the discretion ascribed to the judge and points

out that it is not arbitrary, but must be governed by justice

and inclined to mercy, not to severity. "In quo saepe curn

injuria reorum turpiter hallueinatur vulgus judicum, quomodotortura et indicia ad eandem sint arbitraria ignorans."

Ib., n. 12.

"Indicia debent esse verisimilia, non dubia sed certa et

coneludentia, hoc est, ut singula indicia saltem duorum, inte-

gronim et omni exceptione majonim testimonio sint probata,. , . non levia, perfunetoria, quae pluribus quis potest

interpretari modis, et pro eujuslibet inaniter assuinpta sapi-

entia, ex proprio cerebro judicantur sufficientia. Probante

enim varie, dubie, obscure et perturbate suam intentionem,

probatio nullius est ponderis, nee quicquani efficere potest."

Ib., nn. 13-14.

Numerous authorities quoted in support of the assertion" Imo in suo genere indicia debent esse tanquam luce clariora,

ita ut nIMl deficere videatur quam propria rei confessio."

Ib., n. 14.

Carolina, c. 58, orders that torture should be tempered

according to the age, sex, strength and condition of the

accused. Oldekop adds that for its repetition not only are

required "nova indicia et primis fortiora," but that the

strength of the tortured be such as to endure it, and the judgeshould always incline to the milder side. Ib., nn. 21-3.

The juridical faculties, when approving the use of torture,

customarily add "Doch Mensch- oder Christlicher Weise"inhumane or Christian fashion. Ib., n. 23.

No words seem to be too severe for the judges who abuse

torture they are called beasts rather than men, bewitched,

stupid, drunken, without a grain of learning; they delight in

seeing the gallows filled and grieve when it is empty. Ib.,

nn. 25-6.

Those who think it a disgrace if any prisoner escapes,

when they cannot get indicia sufficient, keep them in squalid

dungeons, perishing with hunger and cold until in desperation

they confess. Ib., n. 28.

Ignorant judges often torture, not only without sufficient

indicia, but without communicating them to the accused for

his defencein which case confession and sentence are

invalid. Ib., obs. 2, n. 1.


Before the accused is called upon for Hs defence he shouldhave a copy of al the evidence and opportunity of consultingwith his advocate and procurator and summoning his wit-nesses. Ib., n. 7.

If a person once justly tortured is tortured again withoutnew indicia stronger and of another kind, the confession

obtained is null. "Sed locutions continuare torturara usqueadeo abutuntur, ut sine iege et ratione, in earn perversamprorumpant sententiam, qua quidem distinguunt inter iterare

et continuare torturam, sed ubi semel inflicta est, secundo vel

tertio die earn continuari, non iterari suo arbitrate statuunt.

Quae verbomm perditio, a decies et ultra facta repetitione, in

fraudem legum, cmdeles posset excusare judices." Ib., n. 13.

And this is so, not only in the lighter offences, "sed etiam in

majoribus, exceptis et atrocissirois, etiam in crimine laesae

majestatis." Ib., n. 15.

Even when there are legitimate indicia a person forced to

confess by immoderate torture is to be acquitted. Ib., nn.

16-17.

It is assumable that all the above is applicable to excepted crimes.

Although confrontation of witness and accused "sit odiosa

et species suggestionis, . . . tamen in usu est et saepe

expostulat necessitas ut omitti non posrit." Ib., obs. 4, n. 1.

It is recognized that flight is an indicium ad torturam, unless

it can be explained by a just cause. But it is uncertain and"Si indicium fugae unquam fuit lubricum et exiguae fidei,

sane illud hac nostra rerum criminalium et processuum tem-

pestate vel maxime tale, nedum ferme nullius esse, quis nonasseruerit. Plurimi enim procul dubio innocentes in earn

trahuntur quando niinirum judicum inscitiam et saevitiam,

praesertim circa funestam juxta ac saepe iniquissimam in

insontibus exercitatam torturae praxin, quae proh dolor si

aliter fieri non potest, stylo curiae, consuetudine sive judicii

observantia excusatur, testium praefidiam, tribunalia cor-

rupta, careens incommoda, quibus plerumque justae et debitae

defensioni via praecluditur, anxie et caute seeum expendunt."

Ib., obs. 8, nn. 1, 5.

The Carolina, c. 25, 7, in considering the various indicia

requires the judge to consider "Num fuga, quae consciam

fere arguit nuntem, sibi consulere voluerit, eamque ampereparaverit, aut fugiens apprehensus sit." Notwithstanding

which, Oldekop concludes that it is of no weight, Ib., n. 6.


The Carolina, c. 21, forbids recourse to magic and divina-

tion to obtain indicia for torture which shows that it wassometimes practiced. Oldekop says that in his time he knowsof no examplethough Baldus says it is licit to remove

maleficium by incantations of demons, provideduanimus non

recedat a Deo. 7 '

Oldekop concludes it is evil and punishableand no good can come of it for the devil is the author of

lies and from Ms incantation can come only delusions andabsurdities which create dangers to the innocent among the

credulous. Ib., obs. 9.

He says he has very often seen examinations committed to

inexperienced and ignorant scriveners and others, who can

scarce abstain from suggestions, which is forbidden by Caro-

lina, c. 56. But there are some, more cruel than Nero, who

place their glory in circumventing the accused by deceits and

sophistical arguments. Ib., obs. 10.

Notaries are in error in recording that the accused con-

fessed spontaneously, though he may have been led to it byterror or threats or promises of impunity, which is a great

impediment to justice. No one can be so demented as to

spontaneously confess a capital crime. Ib.

There are executioners who consider it a disgrace not to

extort a confession. While tying the frightened and half-dead

victim, they urge him to confess and name his accomplices,who they tell Mm have confessed and have denounced Mm,and cannot anyhow escape, and they promise him lighter

torture if he does so (n. 1) ; so, when he is hoisted, he yields

to the torture and confesses as to himself and other innocents

(n. 2), and when tMs is entered on the protocol the inquisitorsare deceived and think they have obtained the truth. This

occasionally occurs with witches, whose sex leads them to

yield more readily to torture. There are famous torturers,

much commended, who, when tying the patient on the rack,will dexterously slip under Ms arms or in other parts of Msbody a slip of parchment with characters wMch they call a

charm of taciturmty, and then exMbit it so that they mayhave license to torture more savagely. Ib., obs. 12, nn. 1-3.

The judge and the commissioners deputed to torture are

readily deceived when the executioners "diligenter non minus

quam petulanter" ("wantonly," "lasciviously" H. C. L.)

seek for the witchmarks wMch are said to be insensible andbloodless when pierced. Many people have scars or birth-

marks, less sensitive than other places. May not also the


exquisite torment of the patient hanging in the torture

when the needle is thrust in prevent its pain from beingfelt? What prevents the executioner from using a deceiving

stylus, magic and enchanted,or one, like the juggler's knives,

which can either enter really or only apparently, as the tor-

turer wishes? May not the torturers themselves often be

magicians and by incantations prevent sensation and flow of

blood? Examples are given by the author of the Cautio

Criminals, dub. 11 and 43. I suggest all this to caution

judges to be watchful and attentive and allow the torturer

never to be alone with the accused or to talk with him. Ib.,

nn. 4-7.

Some judges, when they have a specially robust prisoner or

one whom they think difficult to make confess, will call in

from elsewhere torturers celebrated for extorting confessions.

These are said to prepare the accused for the rack by givinghim potions for two days previous, so that he will confess

everything at the first hoist. There is no doubt that there is

food and drink which will disturb the mind, without incan-

tations, and who can doubt that these famous torturers also

use incantations and sorceries. Ib., nn. 7-9.

An iniquitous custom has invaded some places in Germanyof trying witches by the water ordeal tying them hand and

foot crosswise and casting them in the water, when, if they

sink, they are pronounced innocent, and guilty if they float.

This is a tempting of God and a cunning delusion of the devil.

Last year I saw an example of this, when some suspects were

cast into the water and all floated. Then one of the spectators,

entirely free from suspicion, was paid by some illustrious

persons and allowed himself to be tied and cast in, when he

floated and could not be submerged by all the efforts of the

executioners. Thus it is not even an indicium for torture

and any judge using it as such is liable to prosecution and

any confession thus extorted is invalid.-Ib., obs. 13.

Some, as Grillandus, Bodin and the Malleus, hold that

inability to shed tears before the judge and under torture is

a most certain indicium of being a witch, for which they

give a conjuration that is superstitious and savoring of sor-

cery. Others say rightly that tears may be present or absent

with innocent or guilty and that it is no indicium for torture.

Not only is it so, but "summopere demirandam tanquam

iniquissimam, detestandam et ex judiciis plane explodendam.

. . Mirari satis nequeo talium scriptorum placita a


quibusdam zeiosis et rig^dis imitatoribus, etiam a nonnulEs

JuriseonsultiSj in processu contra sagas pro norma et forma

ferine observari." Ib., obs. 14, nn. 1-6.

Equal reprehension is deserved by those who assert that

witehes bear a stigma like a hare's foot, impressed by the

devil "saepe in locis abditis et genitalibus/J which affords the

strongest presumption. If, however, it is not found, this is

held to be a sign that she will keep most surely her pact with

the devil, for he impresses it only on those whose fidelity he

mistrusts. Whence it follows that no one arrested is innocent.

Ib., n. 7.

Thus there were two kinds of witch-marks the stigma and the insensible

one. The above argument shows how superfluous was the indecent search

described by Spee.

In the same way, if a woman is especially regular in public

worship, it is argued that it is the worst witehes who makethe greatest show of piety and, if she is neglectful, it is the

same. So with morals an irreprehensible life is an indicium

and so is a flagitious one. According to the absurd judgmentsof these judges everything is an excuse for torture and con-

demnation. As an old poet says, physicians and judges can

slay with impunity. Ib., n. 7.

So it is that, if a woman brought before the judge has an

assured and unchanged countenance, it is said that only

witches carry so bold a front. If she is terrified and cast down,it is the consciousness of guilt and the pangs of conscience.

Ib., n. 8.

There are a few so hardy that they despise torture and

cannot be compelled to tell the truth. There are those whoassert that incantations can harden against torture, amongwhom is Hippolito de

7

Marsigli, who advises in such cases

that the prisoner's cell be changed and all his garments; the

judge must examine all food brought to him and reject whatis suspicious; bread and cakes especially must never be per-

mitted, for incantations against torture are commonly placedin them; nor must he be allowed to mutter words while being

tied, but be continually interrupted, for they are accustomed

to use those which are in the Passion of Christ, after which

they sleep and feel no pain. Weyer, De Praestig. Daemon.,lib. v, c. 12, gives ample store of such things and stories from

Grillandus (q. v.). To all this I neither give faith nor do I

deny, leaving it to observers and to experience. Hippolito

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY SECULAB LAW 859

records that he learned from a great scoundrel and forgersome words which. If whispered in the ear of the accusedwhen bound for the torture, will overcome all incantations,and by using them he acquired great honor in convicting

many criminals -in which I hold that Hippolito committedan impious act by overcoming diabolical arts with diabolical

arts, and with the tacit consent of the devil. If a confession

is thus elicited, it is not to be received as true and valid andinvalidates all that follows, as being obtained through the

cunning of the devil. Ib., obs. 15.

This last illustrates Oldekop's own credulity. He nowhere denies the

existence of witchcraft and sorcery and the intervention of the devil,

but only objects to the methods in vogue by which innocence and guilt

are confounded.

It is an almost universal error that in exeepted crimes the

judge should be prompter to torture than in others and that

it is licit to transgress the law, as if, without legitimate indicia,

on light suspicions and conjectures the body of the accused

could be torn at the pleasure of the judge. This most danger-ous error has acquired such strength that not only the ordinary

judges but some jurisconsults of great name entertain it.

Ib., obs. 16, nn. 1-3.

It is significant that he argues that in excepted crimes the defence should

be heard before proceeding to torture, as ordered in Carolina, c. 47, and

also that the proofs should be stronger than in lighter offences (nn. 12-13).

The length and earnestness with which Oldekop argues the question shows

the importance attached to it and the abuses to which it gave occasion.

It was so clearly understood that confession under torture

was doubtful that the Carolina, c. 60, requires an investiga-

tion of it to see whether it bears evidence of truth, and espe-

cially whether it contains matters which no one but the

accused should know, and be verified. When this is the

case, sentence can be securely pronounced but it does not

say what is to be done in the other cases.

To illustrate this he mentions a recent case of a womantried as a witch who confessed under torture that she had

at a certain time killed a person's cow and two years before

the child of another. Both of these deaths were known to

every one in the district and any one could have owned to

them, but on the strength of this she was executed, though

many believed her innocent. This, he says, was wholly neglect-ful of the Carolina, and who can doubt that through the


deplorable abuse of torture such things frequently happen,

for such Is the ignorance of many Judges that they scarce

look at the law and specially neglect the Carolina, brief and

perspicuous as it is, Ib-, obs. 22, n. 4.

It appears that local custom in some places did not allow

appeals from the interlocutory sentence of torture. Where

appeals were allowed, judges sometimes evaded them by not

pronouncing them until the accused was bound and ready

for the torture, which, he says, is to incur a horrible wound of

conscience. Ib., obs. 23.

The judge must not exceed the amount of torture customary

for the quality of the person and the crime. An hour-glass

must be used and the notary must keep record of the time.

It is the duty of the judge to be present throughout and see

that the torturers commit no excess and, if the patient faints,

to release him and not, as some do, go away to eat and drink,

or, what is worse, to gamble. If the patient dies, physicians

must examine the corpse and declare whether or not it was

the result of torture. How abominably all this is often

neglected appears from the excessive license and liberty with

which the torturers act, in some places, without interference

of the judges. Ib., obs. 24, nn. 4-5.

The judge who tortures unjustly, without sufficient proof,

is liable to prosecution, wherefore he is advised, when the

sufferer is unbound to lead him to admit that he was justly

tortured, of which the notary makes entry in Ms record. This

Oldekop characterizes as an abuse of the worst kind, against

which the advocate of the accused should take precautions,

or argue that it was extorted by fear of prolonged imprison-

ment. Ib., obs. 25.

Inexperienced judges, when they have some witnesses testi-

fying as to fame, think they have indicium for torture and

like wild beasts hurry the accused to it. But they should

inquire whether the fame be vehement and causing scandal.

The fame must arise from respectable and trustworthy per-

sons; there may be a thousand others without making it an

indicium. The causes of fame must be probable, importantand urgent. It must be universal; if there are witnesses to

good fame, they prevail. There is no worse evidence than

that of fame, which can be so readily overcome. Its proof is

most difficult and he cites an author who says that he had

never seen a case in which fame was legally proved. Ib.,

obs. 33, nn. 1-9.

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW &61

All this (precautions to be observed by the advocate that

the fame exists before arrest) is especially the case in prose-cutions for sorcery, where even sagacious and prudent menare led to suspect the woman on this account (arrest). Veryoften a fallacious opinion arises from, malevolence or fromone who has suffered, which spreads among the ignorant

people through garrulity and credulity and easily brings meninto suspicion of this crime, breeding, as experience shows,furious hatred, boiling up either from fear of future harm or

from the thought of the enormity of this abominable crime,

till there is no distinction recognized between real and ficti-

tious crimes, imputed to whoever incurs the fame of this

offence. Ib., n. 12,

Except in excepted crimes, the evidence of a criminal is

not receivable against his associates. In these he is a witness

and his evidence must be taken under oath, the one he

accuses being present or at least cited. If the torture under

which he has accused associates has been improperly applied,

the whole falls to the ground. Ib., obs. 35.

A single witness, to furnish the semi-plena proof requisite

for torture, must be unexceptionable and testify to the guilt

of Ms own knowledge directly he has seen or heard the

homicide or blasphemy. If the evidence is not thus direct,

two unexceptionable witnesses are required. Carolina, c. 30.

Ib., obs. 38, n. 1.

He was evidently a humane man whose experience in the courts had

led him to entertain a profound horror of the injustice of the torture system

and of the whole criminal practice of the period.

"Funesta et horribilis torturae praxis est cognita: simul ac

reus trahitur ad equuleum, statim ei mortem praeparari.

. . . Sunt, experientia teste, quos propter damnurn ex

carceris diuturnitate et tortura tarn corpori quam honori et

famae illatum ulterius vivere taedet et pudet, ac propterea,

etiam ipsorum innocentia tandem reperta, mori malint quamvivere." Ib., obs. 38, n. 4.

The judge who condemns on a confession made under tor-

ture never knows whether he has killed an innocent or a

guilty man. Ibid.

He lays great stress on the full and accurate report of the

testimony of every witness in the protocol to be laid before

the jurists consulted "quia saepe cum magna reorum injuria

male observari sum expertus. Ibid.


Torture must be of the customary Muds and amount"Existent mMlominus quidam judices tantae inhumanitatis,

impietatis et nescio cujus affeetatae vanae gloriae qui eonsue-

tum non solum torquendi modum excedunt sed etlam novatonnentonon genera eaque crudelissiraa excogitant." Ib.,

obs. 39, n. 3.

"Exinde saepe vitam adimunt, vel membnun mutilant ut

perpetuo sint inutiles . - . et, experientia teste, quandocondemnatl ad supplicium ducuntur ita sunt saepe lacerati

ut vix pedibus eonsistere nee incedere possint vixque sunt apti

ad supplicium sustinendum." Ib., n. 4.

His quotations from legists of Italy and Spain Julius Claras, Hippolitode" Marslgli and Suarez indicate that this refinement of cruelty was not

peculiar to Germany, but existed generally. There seem, however, to be

no French authorities cited (Ib., n. 5).

It is true that judges thus abusing their power were liable

to be syndicated, "Sed quis unquani audivit hac rerum crim-

inalium, ad seculum ferme si non ultra excurrente tempestate

deploranda, nebulones istos, larvatos homicidas et latrones in

curiiSj suorum homicidiorum et latrociniorum sub specioso

justitiae velamento commissorum, dedisse poenas nedumscelere suo condignas?" Ib., n. 8, "Ah major plerumque est

ilia, quae quotidie in torturae exercitio in miseros truculentia

instituitur, quam ut verbis satis exprimi possit." Ib., obs.

48, n. 5.

The only excuse for repetition of torture is new indicia

and the Germans do not seem to have learned the device of

the Spanish Inquisition of continuing it, for he mentions onlythe device of giving a light torture and unbinding the accused

with a reservation of repeating it and to this he gives a

qualified assent. Ib., obs. 44, n. 3.

Yet we hare seen in the witch-trials how endless repetitions were common*

He condemns the practice, often successful, of posting wit-

nesses with a notary where they can overhear the accused

talking with his accomplices or with persons sent in to himin the guise of sympathizers. Ib., obs. 45.

Continues his declamation against the abuses of torture.

They might be checked if, instead of administering it in

secret, it were semi-public, in the presence of advocates,notaries, discreet and experienced men who might wish to

be present. There is also the falsehood of reporting confessions

as voluntary and of concealing the foulest murders this one

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAK LAW 863

was choked by a catarrh, that one killed himself, the otherwas poisoned, and the devil twisted the neck of anotherexcessive torture and prolonged squalor of the prison are neverreferred to no inspection is made of the corpses and theyare thrust into ground under the gallows. Ib., obs. 48

?

nn. 8-10.

The corpse should be examined by physicians, as in anyother case of homicide u

disparitateni enini rationis haccrudeli et horrenda judicum tempestate et imnianitate cemere

nequeo" and at least the way should be open for the heirs

to defend the innocence of the dead. Ib., n. 11.

In excepted crimes there should be greater care and delib-

eration to avoid injustice, in place of the intemperate zeal to

convict by disregarding the forms of justice. Ib., n. 12.

Under the civil law there is appeal in criminal cases, with

suspension of execution. Formerly this was to the Imperial

Kammer-Gericht, but a Recess of 1530 withdrew it on the

plea of stress of business. This did not forbid appeal else-

where, and it is proper where justice is observed in the inferior

courts, but "ubi secus est, veluti in pluribus judiciis criminali-

bus errores errantur plurimi et maximi et apertis faucibus

inhiatur humano sanguine, tmo in locis quibusdam plane hor-

rendus et lachrymis irrigandus est justitiae status/' it would

be far more salutary if there were appeal to the ImperialCamera. Some authorities assume that the Recess of 1530

took away all appeal in capital cases, but this is an error, for

in the dominions of the electors and dukes of Saxony and in

some other provinces there is appeal. Ib., tit. v, obs. 1,

nn. 1-7.

Goes on with a long argument to prove that the Recess

could not deprive princes of the right to establish appeals,

and the inhumanity of denying them, showing that there was

a strong tendency on the part of jurists and judges to do awaywith them altogether. Ib., nn. 8-24.

There was a custom in Italy and in some parts of Germanythat when the accused, after prison and torture, was acquitted,

he had to pay a certain amount of money to the judge, as

though it were the price of absolution. This was especially

the case "quando judices inferiores vel certi conunissarii ad

quaerendas sagas sunt constituti." Also during the trial

they feast on the property of the accused women, often inno-

cent, "et quilibet de quovis capite certain suam accipit mer-

cedem." Ib., obs. 13, n. 3.


From this, and from other allusions above, it appears that special com-

missioners were appointed to prosecute witches. Undertorture^

there are

frequent references to commissioners to administer it. Perhaps it is these

commissioners that are alluded to as inquisHore^ by Brannemann.

Three days should intervene between sentence and execu-

tion to give the convict time to prepare himself. Censures

the undue haste of some judges, and also the mistaken mercy

of intoxicating the convict. Greater time should be allowed

for the instruction of those destitute of religious training.

"Yerum enim vero hisce temporibus perditissimis juxta ac

deploratissnnis usque adeo viluit pietas, institutio juventutis

et onmis fenne honesta vivendi ratio, etiam inter Christianos,

ut reperiantur plurimi, praesertim malefici, qui vel panimvel prorsus nihil schmt de doetrina salvifica et ab ethnicis

non nisi nomine et baptismate discrepant." Ib.?obs. 20,

nn. 1-3.

Bear in mind that this is during the Thirty Years' War, when Germanywas reduced to the lowest condition, materially and spiritually.

He asks the reader not to believe that the condemnation of

the innocent through torture is a matter of the past."Innp-

centes enim torqueri, dolori cedere, confiteri et suppliciis in

hunc usque diem affici plurimos, imo ubi rigorosi et zelosi

sunt inquisitores et supplicia frequentia, plures innocentes

quam vere criminis reos ad mortem damnarl, nunc viginti

sex annorum praxi expertus, nihil est cur dubitem." Ib.;

Appendix, Proloq.

This hideous statement applies to all criminals and is probably too

moderate when we reflect on the 20,000 capital sentences ascribed to

Carpzov.

The magistrates of Tubingen were deprived of the right

of sentence and obliged to submit their protocols to a juridical

faculty, because they had tortured to confession and broken

on the wheel a youth who had started with a companion on

a journey and returned alone, clothed in his companion's

garments soon after which the comrade returned. This wascommemorated by a statue of a man bound on a wheel

erected in the church, which Oldekop says he had often seen

when studying in Tubingen. -Ib., Append., exemplum 4.

BBANBT, NICOLATJS. Disputatio de Legitima Maleficos et

Sagas investigandi et convincendi Ratione. Giessae Hassorum,1662.

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAV 865

Brandt was a native of Liibeek and he dedicates this ponderous treatise

of 122 quarto pages, [his thesis for a doctorate,] to the magistrates andauthorities of Llibeck. The treatise is again printed in Oldekop's Obser-vationes Criminales Practicae, Francof.-ad-Od., 1698.

The process by inquisition is at present the ordinary one-certainlythemost frequent so thatby theBayersche Malefitz-process-Ordnung, if an inquisition is commenced and anaccuser supervenes, it does not interrupt the former. Pars I,

thesis i, n. 1.

His spirit is shown in his quoting from Seiffert's Gewissens-Buch von Processen gegen die Hexen (which is a compendiumof Spee) that the magistrate should not make inquisition if

there is risk that the innocent shall be brought under sus-

picion and arguing that in this case no inquisition could bemade against witches, while Exod. xxii

5 18, orders the magis-trate not to permit them to live. This danger should not

prevent the judge from inquiring, but should make himcautious in so grave a matter. There is a difference betweenan orderly process and one conducted negligently, irregularlyand without circumspection, "nam illegitimum procedendimodum nee nos defendere conabimur." Ib., n. 5.

There are two forms of inquisition, general and special.

In the former the judge summons witnesses and questionsthem as to whether they know that magic arts are practiced;how they know it; who practices them; whether they knowwho taught him. If they deny knowledge of these questions,

they are asked whether any one is defamed for sorcery, howthis fame has arisen and how he can be investigated, and whoelse are noted for it. In other crimes there must be a corpusdelicti proved to justify a general inquisition, but not in

sorcery, for it is hidden and difficult of proof and it suffices

that there are indications and conjectures of the fact. Ib.,

nn. 6-9.

The way is thus paved for special inquisition on individuals,but this is not necessary if there should be other sufficient

causes to lead the judge to it. The doctors commonly requirethat there should be preceding ill-fame, but this is unneces-

sary if there are other indicia. Damhouder holds that fame

alone, unsupported by other indicia, amounts to nothing;Bocer that when it is vehement, even if unsupported, it suf-

fices for torture; but Brandt says it is so fragile that the judgemust be cautious not to believe every rumor and take the

vain voice of the people for diffamation ;its origin should be

VOL. n 55


investigated, whether it comes from trustworthy people or

from enemies or drunkards. Even vehement diffamation

requires a special inquisition into the character of the defamedwhat is Ms rank and whether from Ms previous career he is

a person likely to commit the crime. If aE this concurs, famesuffices for a special inquisition but unless there are other

indicia he should not be at once arrested but be cited to

appear; if he does not come or if he varies and equivocatesor if there is danger of flight, he can be arrested. Such anindicium is, if without study he suddenly displays great eru-

dition; if he has shown himself a defender of witches andasserted that aU that is said of them is delusion and especiallyif he has assisted them with advice and money (the belief in

witchcraft was thus stimulated by rendering unbelief a proof,of a certain legal value, of guilty participation in the crime.

H. C. L.); if he has removed and gone away on hearing of

the arrest of Ms associates. Keeping magic books creates

strong suspicion but tMs does not apply to the simple

Mstory of Faust. There are also many who cure diseases

and wounds with superstitious remedies, using words of Scrip-ture or certain words hung around the neck, anointing the

weapon that wounded and placing it for some days in a certain

corner; the word Abracadabra written in a certain mannerand hung around the neck is deemed to have a singularcurative virtue. All who use these are strongly suspect of

magic, for these have their power only from demons, and the

devil cures by them with pact, either express or tacit. Ib.,

nn. 6-18.

But all tMs suffices for arrest only of those of low condition.

Unless there are stronger indications a noble or a person of

position may only be cited verbally; where a common personcan be imprisoned, a noble can only be cited. Ib,, n. 19.

Even when there is not fame there may be proofs sufficient

to warrant citation or arrest. Ib., n. 20.

But proceedings are never to be commenced with torture

and condemnation, nor is the accused to be deprived of de-

fence the more so as God did not condemn Adam withoutcitation and hearing Ms defence. Ib., n. 21.

A sufficient commentary on customary injustice !

Although citation is very damaging to reputation, the judgecannot be held responsible if the accused is found innocent,

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BT THE SECULAR LAW 867

for tie has only to thank Ms own imprudence for arousing

suspicion. Ib., n. 22.

He proceeds to indicate what justifies inquisition. Thereare some who by conjurations and incantations can cause

invulnerability to steel and fire-arms. Others can induce

stupor of the limbs. All this is implicit or express pact and

justifies the judge's suspicion. Ib., n. 23.

Witches are said to have signs on their bodies the figureof a horse in one eye and two pupils in the other or betweentheir lips, or under the eye-lid, or on the left shoulder, thoughwith women it is usually on the thigh, under the arm-pitaut membris genitalibus. The sign is usually in the shape of a

hare and the place is insensible and can be pierced to the

bone without drawing blood. Witches commonly call this

sign ein Teuffelskratz. Ostermann says that many are con-

demned by it. They are also said to have an oblique look,

fixing their eyes on the ground and not looking straight at

any one also they cannot shed tears. The devil also makesthem weaker and meaner in soul and body than they were

before; he takes away their intelligence, destroys their sense.

makes them sickly, cripples them, makes their looks wanderingand indirect, their countenance revolting, their mouth awry,the breath stinking, the face death-colored. (So a withered

and starving old crone's appearance was itself sufficient evi-

dence. H. C. L.) But Brandt argues that these are not

evidence, as good men may have them. Ib., n. 24.

Del Rio, Disquis. Magic., lib. v, sect. 14, n. 21, also con-

siders these signs insufficient for torture and includes an evil

name among them, as parents may impose such on their

children. And he also holds tearlessness under torture as

frivolous. Ib., n. 25.

Being the child of a witch is commonly reputed as an indi-

ciumon the strength of such proverbs as "Der Apffel fallt

nicht weit vom Baum" and "Das Bier schmackt gern nach

dem Fass." But Brandt deems it fallacious, though it mayadd strength to other indicia, for witches generally train their

children in magic arts and no offering is more eagerly sought

by the devil than that children at birth should be devoted to

him. Ib., n. 25.

Argues that alchemy is not an indicium, unless it is con-

ducted with the help of demons, but it adds weight to ill

fame. Ib., nn. 26-7.

There is much discussion as to the weight of the denuncia-


tion of others by a witch. Many hold it sufficient to justify

prosecution and torture; but the opinion would seem better

of those who hold that it does not, unless it is made without

suggestions, seems to be inspired by a desire to tell the truth,

the accused is of such condition as to be suspect and the

denouncer perseveres without variation. Even then, although

many hold it to suffice for torture, the truer opinion is that it

only justifies inquisition, examination and confrontation,

when, if stronger indicia emerge, then torture is required.

Ib., nn. 28-9.

Observe how little all these apparent limitations help the accused.

No proof derived from incantations or the Cabala or magicarts is to be received, as provided in Carolina, c. 21. Ib.,

n. 30.

To justify arrest the indicia must be not only asserted but

proved and this by at least two witnesses "vox unius est

vox nullius" though it suffices if they testify to different

acts having the same intent. Ib., n. 32.

The indicia being sufficiently proved, the accused may be

imprisoned. If there are accomplices, they should be segre-

gated. The prison should be such that men can live in it and

have light and air. Ib., n. 33.

A witch taking asylum in church can be dragged out.

Ib~, n. 34.

On arrest she is to be examined with a view to eliciting a

confession. This should be immediate, because, as Bodin

says, she feels herself deserted by Satan, is stupefied and terri-

fied and more ready to tell the truth than after a detention

in which Satan can instruct her what to say. To examine so

as to educe the truth from the unwilling is most difficult;

there are many who apply undue pressure to the great dangerof the innocent and of their own salvation, and the judgeshould in advance implore the divine assistance. He should

treat the noble and vile alike, without timidity or oppression,

but he can terrify the timid with threats and compel him to

tell the truth. Ib., n. 35.

To conduct properly the examination articles of interro-

gation should be drawn up, which should be interrogative and

not, as some notaries do, be assertive of guilt. In mostcourts this is presented by the fiscal, who appears as the

accuser, and he gives a long and detailed formula for it. This

commences by the fiscal demanding that the accused answer


each article with her own mouth and without a defender and,if necessary to extort the truth, that she be subjected to

torture. The articles follow, commencing with pact, then that

her mother and kindred were suspect of witchcraft, then that

she was herself suspect, then that she had uttered threats

in quarrel which were effective; that she consorted with sus-

picious persons or with so and so who was burnt and she had

pots with toads; that three accomplices, N, N and X, hadtestified and ratified to having seen her on the Blocksbergwith her incubus named N, where they passed the night in

the Zauber-Tantz; that she had boasted to N and N that her

incubus had marked her under the hair of the back of the head,in virtue of which she could not under torture be forced to

weep or to confess; that when her neighbor's daughter N was

married, during the ceremony shehad knotted a leather string,

so that the husband was rendered impotent for six monthsuntil she untied it; that recently when the gaoler broughther food she said she would be burnt and so would other

witches whom she could name, for the most certain proof of

witchcraft according to Bodin is when one condemns herself

before she is accused. The fiscal concludes by petitioning

that the accused be declared to have committed great offences

against spiritual and secular law and to have thereby incurred

vehement suspicion and, if not to be severely punished in

body and life, at least to be sharply tortured to extort the

truth, and then to be condemned. Ib., n, 36.

The articles should comprise only one thing each, lest the

accused in answering may be held to admit all and thus com-

promise herself a matter to which the Leipzig Scabini have

often been required to call attention. Ib., n. 37.

The judge must strictly abstain from suggesting circum-

stances in his interrogatories, as provided in Carolina, c. 56,

as the accused may be led to assent to them. Ib., n. 38.

The doctors say that impossible and improbable things

should not be asked thus Godelmann objects to such ques-

tions as, "Is it true that accused flew with other witches to

the Blocksberg and danced there?" or "Is it true that the

accused changed herself into dogs and cats?77 and Fiehard

adds that the night-flying and intercourse with evil spirits is

all fantasy and trickery by which the devil deceives poor folk,

for it is at bottom clear dreaming, so that the judge should

give no faith to the confessions of such impossibilities. These

opinions are customarily based upon Can. Episcopi, which


he argues is not of the Cone. Ancyran. and therefore is sup-

posititious. The papists who accept it assert that it does not

condemn those who believe that witches may be transferred

by the demon, but the women themselves who believe them-

selves to fly with Diana. "Magnum ergo errorem errant

JCti Gurisconsulti), etiam orthodox! [Protestant], qui hoc

eapitulo decepti non audent credere haec nunquam fieri

quae aliquando non fiunt, cum diabolus et veris et falsis

imaginationibus possit homines decipere" in support of

which he cites Griliandus, Remy and Binsfeld and gives a

long passage from Bernhard Waldsehmidt's Sermons (Py-

thonissa Endorea, Erfurt, 1660) to the effect that, although

the devil can deceive with dreams and women may lie by their

husbands all night and yet in the morning be tired out and

relate wonderful things of their flight, yet it is not to be con-

cluded from this that such is always the case and that there

is no true and corporeal flight through the air, for which he

instances many examples. The judge must use great circum-

spection, so that, if the accused confesses such things, he can

assume such confessions as proof against them, notwithstand-

ing that they may be illusions of the devil, inasmuch as it

proves that they have such faith in the devil and allow them-

selves to be deluded, that there must be pact with the devil

and therefore they are really witches. But if they say they

have seen others in the Sabbat, such bare assertions are not

deserving of faith unless corroborated by such other things

as are requisite in Carolina, c. 31. Ib., n. S9.

The accused must reply to the interrogatories. If he

refuse, he may be coerced with torture, and stiU refusing is

held to be confessed. His answers must be clear and cate-

goricalsuch replies as "I don't know/3

"I forget," in matters

presumably within his cognizance, are not to be received and

he may be tortured to force him to answer definitely. This

torture is not for the purpose of eliciting the truth, but is

preliminary, to obtain answers. Ib., n. 40.

A specimen is given in n. 41 of an interrogatory embracing thirty questions

and answers, all relating to apparently the most trivial matters of talk

between women, interesting only as showing the danger in which every

one lived when the most innocent matters might receive an evil interpreta-

tion and be treasured up to be brought forth in court and serve to add to

the indicia which would justify torture. A slight expression, of ill-will

towards anyone, an expression of satisfaction that her beer had turned

sour, became a serious accusation when it was assumed that the accused

had made it turn sour. Every misfortune, great or little, was attributed

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW 87!

to sorcery and some one was to be held responsible for it. There wa& a

pervading atmosphere of suspicion which perverted the most innocent

acts and no one could feel certain that the most careless talk might not

turn up in judgment, when every one was on the lookout for sorcery andthe dearest friends felt it their duty to betray each other.

The accused must answer the articles of accusation one

by one on the spot and without having a copy of them. -

Ib., n. 42.

The judge must not elicit confession by promise of impunity,because he would have to keep his word and many guiltywould escape. Therefore Paul Laymann (in Rechtlicher

Process gegen die Unholden und zauberischen Personen 1

) prop-

erly condemns the act which Janus Buissard2 (De divin. et

mag. praestig., c. 9) relates of GriUandus. TMs latter was

examining a witch who had confessed much, and after rebuk-

ing her severely he promised her pardon if she would sincerely

repent and thereafter abstain from serving the devil, andmoreover would give to the judges and magistrates a specimenof her powers. She readily consented. They went with her

some distance from the town, when she suddenly conjured upa storm so terrible that they did not know what to do with

themselves. She told them not to be alarmed and asked themto designate a spot where the tempest should expend its

force. GriUandus designated a barren and rocky spot, on

which the tempest thereupon burst with lightning, hail and

rain, doing no damage anywhere else. Ib., n. 43.

The judge must not use threats, for a confession thus

extorted is invalid. Ib., n. 44.

Whether the answers of the accused are to be under oath

or not is a disputed question. In Italy the oath is necessary;

other authorities deny it; the author's opinion is that it is

discretional with the judge. Ib., n. 45.

If the witch commences to confess, she must be allowed to

continue to the end without interruption, for, if allowed time

for consideration, she may refuse to complete it. In her

answers to the interrogatories she is not to be interrupted or

accused of falsehood. Ib., n. 46.

She is not to be sentenced on her simple confession, but

is to be examined on the points contained in it and ratify it,

so that an innocent person may not be condemned on a con-

fused statement. There should be no haste in punishing and

1 Wrongly attributed to Laymann see p. 688.2 J. J. Boissard.


ail corroborating points should be secured. Those eager to

die are not to be believed. Ib., n. 47.

A nice question is whether a witch possessed by the demon

is responsible for her acts. There was a case in Britanny in

which a woman confessed freely to having attended the Sab-

bat, renounced Christ, worshipped the devil, raised tempests,

etc. When asked whether she had feasted and danced and

had intercourse with incubi, she was silent and pointed to her

throat, which had swelled greatly. On recovering from this

and asked the reason, she said she was possessed by two

demons who had entered her on. eating an apple given to her

by a sorcerer and he, who was imprisoned elsewhere, con-

fessed the same thing. But it could not be made out -whether

this was before or after her visits to the Sabbat, and when

asked whether she had submitted to an incubus she was silent

but nodded her head, and when asked how often she held up

two fingers. The Church was called in to liberate her from

the demons, which was finally effected, they leaving her in

the shape of two black snails which crawled around the cell

and suddenly disappeared. Then examined again, she re-

peated her confession, adding that it was after her possession

that she was transported to the Sabbat, she knew not how,

and what she did there was against her will. To solve his

doubts the judge ordered her to be tortured, from which she

appealed to the Parlement of Dol, where the question was

fully discussed whether, assuming that she was possessed, she

was responsible for her sacrilegious acts. It was finally

decided that the crimes were her own and she was condemned

to death, but without confiscation (a truly logical sentence

E. C. L.). Ib., n. 48.

In dealing with the dumb, if they can read and write,

they can be required to write their confessions and this is as

conclusive against them as if spoken. If illiterate, communi-

cation must be made by signs and, if the judge cannot under-

stand them, two interpreters must be called in, accustomed

to associate with them. Ib., n. 49.

If, however, the accused cannot be led to confession, he is

not to be at once acquitted, but the judge must see whether

he has legitimate proofs to convict him. If there are no

legitimate proofs and no confession, his acquittal follows at

once; if there are sufficient proofs he is condemned. Havingthus concluded the subject of inquiry, we proceed to con-

sider conviction. Ib., n. 51.

WITCHCBAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW 873

Proof is pl^na vel semiplen. Proof for conviction must befull and clearer than the noon-day light. Semiple?ia probatiorequires support, but it creates suspicion justifying torture.

Probatio plena is divided into ordinary and subsidiary, thelatter being derived from torture, which is only to be usedin the absence of the ordinary full proof. Yet, as torture is

deceitful, judges are not to be prone to it for witches, lest

they escape unpunished, for experience shows that many areso insensible that they may be torn asunder rather than tell

the truth. Ib., P. II, thes. i, n. 1.

Regularly probatio plena is made with writings and wit-

nesses. Experience shows that witches usually pact with thedevil by writing and this proof is so perfect that, if the writingcontains only the renunciation of God and the invocation of

Satan, it is sufficient for death sentence, though the devil hasnever appeared. A specimen of such writings is the following

by a soldier thirty years old:

"Ich G. M. unterschreib mich dir Luciveras als meinemHerrn und meinem Gott, dich anzuruffen in aller ineiner

Noht und allein dir und deinen Gesandten zu dienen. Ichverfluche alle andere Gotter, den Sohn Gottesund seine Marter

(sic for Mother) und die Dreifaltigkeit und die 12 Apostelund alle Heiligen und Jungfrauen und alle diejenigen die nicht

mit mir glauben und alles was wider dich ist, solches zu

meiden, ietzunder befehl ich mich dir und solches mit meinemeigenem Blut unterschrieben. Anno 1647." Then with his

blood, "G. M. bekenne solches wahr zu seyn, wie hier obenstehet." And on the margin, "Aber ich bitt du wollest mirbald einen Gesandten schicken und mir etwas erfahmerszu lemen" (sic). And the inscription on the writing was"Und diese Handschrifft dir zu liefern wann du sie wilt habenvon mir. 1647."

His story was that in a tavern he had his canteen filled with

wine, but some Frenchmen drank it; for fear of losing his

money he only scolded and went to his room, where he wrote

the above with the intention of going to a cross-roads some

Saturday night in the expectation that the devil would appear,from whom he would ask to be taught how to make himself

invisible, to be strong and to be lucky in gaining. A few

weeks later some talk at mess rendered him suspect and he

was arrested. Then follows a long opinion by the theologianfrom whose MSS. Brandt gets this and to whom the case

was referred. He argues in detail all the points on the side


of mercy and severity and concludes that the man should be

placed "in conspeetu tonnentorum" and interrogated with a

series of 18 questions which he sets forth, to ascertain whether

he has seen the devil and has by sorcery injured men and

beasts. If he has not, then he should be beheaded and Ms

corpse be burnt. If he truly repents and is converted, the

latter may be omitted. The soldier, it seems, is a Catholic,

the theologian a Protestant. Ib., n. 2.

Doubtless this opinion was rendered in the year 1647,the

date of the pact, and there is some interest in the writer's

remark "wie denn auch die Klage heutiges Tages gar gemein

1st das man auf die Hexen und Zauberer entweder gar nicht

oder doch nur frigide und obenhin (superficially H. C. L.)

inquirere." Ib., n. 2 (p. 71).

Some doctors hold that in these cases where the convict

can be brought to true penitence some other punishment can

be substituted for death, and Brandt agrees with them if the

renunciation of God arises from mere simplicity. Ib., n. 3.

Other writings may serve as evidence, such as invitations

from one witch to another to go to the Sabbat, which empha-sizes the advice of Brunnemann (Tract, de Inquis. Proe.,

c. 8, membr. 2, n. 7) that on arrest her house should be

searched for writings, magic books and other compromising

things. Ib., n. 4.

Perfect proof is that by witnesses and suffices for condem-

nation without confession, when they are unexceptionable

(Carolina, art. 67) and testify to certitude or that they have

seen the witch at work. One witness does not suffice, and the

two must depose to the same act, for if to two different acts

they are singular, unless their evidence can be combined.

Ib., n. 5.

Children and the insane are not to be received unless the

latter have lucid intervals. Ib., n. 6.

But, when unexceptionable witnesses are not to be had,

exceptionable ones can be admitted, as this is an excepted

crime on account of its atrocity and difficult of proof.

Infamous witnesses are not admissible unless they purge their

infamy with torture. But all these are sufficient only for

torture, not for condemnation. Ib., nn. 7-8.

Witnesses can be coerced to testify. Nevertheless, the

greater humanity of this process over that of the Inquisition

is seen by the rule that the witnesses are to be sworn in the


presence of the accused and without this oath their evidenceis not receivable. Ib., nn. 9-10.A copy of the articles is to be given to the accused, so that

he can frame interrogatories for the witnesses, who are to beexamined on them at the same time as they are examined for

the prosecution, for no defendant is to be deprived of defence,

Ib., n. 11.

What Mud of defence is this? It is only a blind Mud of nnn-examination,of no practical service.

Hearsay evidence is received, but the witness must bequestioned as to whom he heard it [from] and they must besummoned and examined unless dead or absent. Much caremust be exercised to witnesses de auditu. "Ex eis enimassaepius sententiae condemnatoriae, vitam quandoque et bonaadimentes pronunciantur." Ib., n. 12.

The witnesses are not to be examined in the presence of the

accused, but the judge ought personally to examine them,unless he is incompetent, in which case he can commit it toanother. Also when witnesses reside in another jurisdictionhe can ask the judge there to examine them. Ib., n. 13.

The judge must be on the watch to detect the witness in

varying or in being inimical or overfriendly. A witnessdetected in lying can be threatened with torture and evenbe tortured, but less severely than an 'accused. Ib., n. 15.

He must see that all the evidence is truthfully recorded for

the information of the court and not imitate certain godless

judges and notaries who set down only what favors the prose-cution and omit what favors the defence. Ib., n. 18.

The testimony is then to be scrutinized to see whether it

suffices for conviction. The accused is to be asked whethershe knows the witnesses, holds them to be friends or enemiesand to be worthy of belief. Then the judge asks whether she

will tell the truth; whether on Walpurgis night of such a

year she stood before the doors of N. and threw sand cross-

wise under his cow, whereof the cow died. She has only to

admit it, for the witness has been heard. If she denies it,

the actuary reads the testimony and asks what she has to

oppose it. If she says she wonders how Sempronius could

say such a thing, she is to be urged to confess because she has

said Sempronius was her friend and worthy of belief. Andso on with the rest. Ib., n. 19.

If she persists, the judge may have recourse to confronta-


tion, but this is a dangerous expedient and to be employedwith great discretion. As between accomplices, however, con-

frontation should be immediately resorted to, as it is veryefficacious. Ib., nn. 20-1.

If no confession is to be thus obtained, the accused is to

be heard in her defence. Innocence can be proved by wit-

nesses not unexceptionable and by presumptions and con-

jectures for instance there is a strong conjecture if she has

voluntarily presented herself before the judge, for no one is

presumably so stupid and crazy, if she is guilty, as to depriveherself of liberty and go to prison. Ib., n. 22.

He quotes from Godelmann (lib. iii, c. 4, n. 8 q. v.) a

form of oath of denial, on taking which the accused is to be

discharged but he argues that, if there are any indicia,

witches are so given to perjury that no judge can admit themto such an oath without the utmost peril of his own salva-

tion. Ib., n. 23.

Many deny that counsel should be allowed to witches for

their defence. "If I think otherwise I am moved by the

Carolina, c. 88, which requires that the defendant shall havecounsel if he desires it." But he must answer personally to

the articles of the accusation and to the interrogatories of

the judge. Ib., n. 24.

When the defence has been heard, it is to be considered

whether the crime has been proved, whether he has proved his

innocence, or whether he is subject to such indicia that hecan be tortured. As to all this the experts or the higher magis-trates are to be consulted and, if they decide that the indicia

are strong and the accused refuses to confess, she is to betortured. Ib., n. 25.

He does not agree with those who condemn the use of tor-

ture. It has been employed for ages in Germany as a means of

eliciting truth. But "neque etiam nos aliter, nisi quandocrimen semiplene jam est probatum et indicia suffieientia et

urgentia adsunt, ita ut argumentis pene fuerit convictus reus,

et fere moraliter certum sit aliquem esse maleficum, nihilquealiud deesse videatur quam ipsius rei confessio, adhiberi posseasserimus." Ib., n. 26.

In a matter of such moment the judge must be circumspect.The indicia may be individually insufficient, but collectivelysufficient. Or they may be certain and a single one be suffi-

cient; or they may be specifically concerned with witchcraft,as enumerated in Carolina, c. 44 (which I have elsewhere

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY SECULAR LAW 877

H. C. L.} such as finding jars of toads, poisons, etc., or rene-

ficia buried under thresholds of houses or stables which he

goes on to enumerate and expound.' Ib., nn. 27-30,

But these, according to the Carolina, require the supportof evil fame. But there may be other indicia which permittorture without ill fame. Daily experience shows that menof the best reputation, whose outward conduct is beyondreproach, are stained with this greatest of crimes, wherefore,if indicia indicating crime are present, prison and torture are

indicated. Ib., n. 31.

Argues at much length against the water ordeal as an indi-

cium justifying torture. Quotes Godelmann's experience

(which I have in Superstition and Force H. C. L.) but saysthat in some places, especially in Westphalia, it is used. Ib.,

n. 32.

Before torture the indicia are to be made known to the

accused, even though he does not ask for them, in order that

he may disprove them, if possible. Ib., n. 33.

Everyone is liable to torture, with the following exceptions:

defective intelligence, as in youth but these may be beaten

with rods or subjected to the thumbscrew (apparently these

were not reckoned as torture H. C. L.) (n. 35) ;the insane

but a physician must be called in to decide (n. 36) ;the deaf

and dumb but, if this has been caused by disease and theyare educated and have intelligence so that they can answer

by nods or in writing, they may be tortured (n. 37) ; those agedor sick and unable to endure torture but this is left to the

judge's discretion besides they can be terrified, as with

children, in conspectu (n. 38). Pregnant women until forty

days after childbirth. Exemptions for rank and dignity are

not regarded in this crime (n. 39).

Before sentencing to torture, the judge in the presence of

his assessors and notary must solemnly warn and threaten

the accused. If he confesses, he escapes torture; if he denies,

he is to be tortured as provided in Carolina, c. 46. Ib.,

n. 40.

Threatening torture is of two kinds verbal, when brought

into the presence of the executioner and instruments of tor-

ture; actual, when stripped and bound. Of torture itself

there are three grades. The first is when the hands are

tightly tied behind the back or the legs squeezed at intervals.

The second, when one is stretched on the rack so that all the

joints seem torn asunder. The third is when the severer


"remedies" are applied, suet as fire and the like; it is cus-

tomary sometimes to burn parts of the body with candles,

or to blow water with quicklime up the nostrils. There are

many kinds of torturethe rope (strappado), sleeplessness,

"taxilloram, fibularam, feraiaram, etc." This latter (scourg-

ing) Damhouder says is most effective; when other modes

have failed to extract a confession, and new indicia super-

vene, a strong scourging with sharp green rods will do more

than the more atrocious kinds. The judge has discretion to

employ what Muds he chooses and to sharpen or moderate

them according to the degree of suspicion. Ib., n. 41.^

The following interrogatory under torture is given in the

Austrian Ordinance. (1) Has she any pact with the devil?

(2) Of what kind? (3) When did it take place? (4) For how

long? (5) Was it written or verbal? (6) At what place?

(7) On what occasion? (8) Were others present? (9) Whatwas the pact, or has she a mark? (10) What led her to it?

(11) Has she practiced sorcery? (12) Of what kind and in

what way? (13) With what words and acts? (14) Howoften? (15) In what places? (16) When and at what time?

(17) Against whom? (18) Whom has she injured and howmuch? (19) Can she help the bewitched persons? (20) Fromwhom did she learn sorcery? And why was it, if she did not

teach others? Whom? What kind? Ib., n. 43.

Somewhat similar in Carolina, c. 52, after confession.

He quotes through Brunnemann (c. 8, membr. 5, n. 47)

from Del Rio (lib. v, 9 which I have elsewhere -H. C. L.)

the ways in which the demon induces witches to endure tor-

ture without confession giving full credence to it all. Some-

times the devil deadens their senses so that they do not feel

the pain, or feel it but slightly. Or he lifts the weights, or

the body of the criminal himself, or stretches or loosens the

ropes; or he averts from the body and directs elsewhere or

destroys the force of the things which seem to be applied to

it, or interposes a dense medium, invisible to the bystander.

Or he occupies the body of the patient and prevents him from

speaking, by closing his mouth or throat, [but] so as not to

produce suffocation. Or he gives them membranes, markedwith figures, which they hide in secret parts of the body.Often patients will go to sleep during torture and slumber as

peacefully as in bed. Albertus Magnus and Hipp. Marsigli

state that insensibility may be produced by "amuletis silen-


tiariis et lapide mempMto contrite et aqua vinove commixtopotato, ant placenta ex farina et lacte matrls ant fiiiae cocta."(All these things are gravely quoted from one legist to anotherand form part of the received practice of jurisprudence.-H. C. L.) Some say that witches, to procure insensibility,recite the verses

ulmparibus mentis tria pendent corpora ram is,

Dismas et Gestas in medio est divina potestas,Dismas damnatur, Gestas ad astra levatur."

Also the words of the psalm, "Eructavit cor meum verbunibonum, veritatem nunquam dicam Regi"; also "Jesus autenitransiens per medium illorum." However, he condemns all

the "superstitious" means recommended by Catholic writersto overcome taciturnity. Ib., n. 44.

The executioners had a Hexentrunk which they adminis-tered to their patients to overcome taciturnity, consisting of

beer with bread-crumbs, caraway seed and some otherarticles. Ib., n. 45,

The licit means of overcoming taciturnity are for pastorsto adjure the accused to renounce their pact with the devil.

The person to be tortured should be stripped and shaven or

the hair burned off of all parts of the body by persons of thesame sex, and fresh garments put on. It is true that someauthors oppose this Joh. Seiffert, Bemhard Waldschmidtand Anton Praetorius but vainly. Their assertion that

parchments with characters have never been found nor haveconfessions been elicited by these means is refuted by abundantexamples in which they have been found in the most secret

parts of the body, and the objection of indecency is removed

by having women officiate for women. Then he quotes theclassic case of Damhouder. Even Waldschmidt admits that

the devil may be concealed in the hair when he says that heis with the witch in her torture, in the shape of a flea, in her

hair or ears. Ib., n. 46.

If she confesses, she is to be questioned as to all details,

as in Carolina, 52, and the Austrian Ordinance above, while

the torture is slightly lessened. Ib., n. 47.

If she confesses, some authorities say that she cannot be

questioned as to other crimes, but she can if they have con-

nection with sorcery and she is of evil fame. Ib., n. 48.

Although the principle of the Roman law that one who con-

fesses as to himself is not to be questioned as to others (1. ult.

Cod. de Accusat.) is to be observed in general, it does not


obtain in this crime, which is excepted, especially as it is

rarely committed without associates. But the judge mustnot suggest and only put the general question if she has

companions. Ib. , n. 49.

The confession is of no weight unless ratified after two daysor more. This obtains even with confessions in conspectu,as they are not spontaneous. Ib., n. 50.

If she revokes, she is to be tortured again. This is neces-

sary, for otherwise the guilty would rarely or never be pun-ished and the minister of justice would mostly waste Ms time.

If, however, immediately after confession she declares that

It was extorted by torture, Carpzov says It cannot be repeatedand she must be absolved. But this depends on whether she

can present other reasons than coercion; the torture should

not be resumed at once, but the process should be examinedto see whether the indicia are weak or strong. If she revokes

the confession made in the second torture, she is to be tortured

a third time if the indicia are urgent. If again she revokes,she can be absolved ab instantia unless the indicia are veryurgent, in which case she can be condemned, for the rule

does not hold in hidden crimes, but the penalty should be

lighter than if she was regularly condemned or confessed.

Ib., n. 51.

If she ratifies and persists in her confession, she is to be

condemned; for, though confession under torture is insufficient

for condemnation, this is purged by the free ratification awayfrom torture. If at the place of execution she revokes, never-

theless the sentence is carried out. Ib., n. 52.

If the accused does not confess, the torture can be pro-

longed. It cannot be repeated without new indicia. But if

the torture has been light it can be repeated without themand the judges customarily at the end of the first torture

record that it is with the intention of repetition. The newindicia, says Carpzov, must be stronger than those sufficient

for a first torture. But there was a common practice, whenno new indicia could be found, of repeatedly examining theaccused as to details, carefully recorded, and, if variations

and vacillations were found, such variations were a newindicium justifying torture. If the accused perseveres in

asserting innocence, the doctors differ. Some say that heis to be absolved, for it is better that a crime should remain

unpunished than that the innocent be condemned. Othershold for condemnation without confession, which is the French

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECUIÂB LAW SSI

custom. Others recommend absolution, but not completeand only "ab instantla sive a judicii observatione" amongwhom is Zanger, c. 5, n. 2 and this is the truer opinion.But close attention is to be paid as to how a sorcerer endurestorture, for it may render Mm even more suspect so that

according to circumstances he may be fully absolved, or dis-

charged under bail to present himself, or he may be con-

demned, but to a lighter penalty than if confessed andconvicted. Carpzov states that the Leipzig court condemneda witch to perpetual exile who had been thrice tortured "exnovis indicns.'

7Ib. ?

n. 53.

No one can be discharged without taking the Urphede, notto prosecute the judges and he must pay the costs of trial.

Ib., n. 54.

Those acquitted after torture are not subject to infamv.

Ib., n. 54.

It is observable that in these legal disquisitions the writers on witchcraft,such as Boguet and Bodin, are quoted as authorities. Also the legal writers,Catholic as well as Protestant. There was practically no difference on this

subject between the sects.

FUCHS, [PAUL voNl].Decisione$.

In the Decisiones (decad. ii, p. 101) of von Fuchs there is a decision drawnup by him, in 1662, for the Law Faculty of the University of Duisburg[and it is reprinted by Hauber, Bibi. Magica, I, pp. 614-35].

At Rietberg (Westphalia) the Burgomaster Hermann B.was accused of witchcraft. In the papers transmitted to

Duisburg the articles of accusation were six: (1) He hadvisited Heinrich Franckefeld eight days before the latter wastaken with mortal illness and he therefore was presumed tohave killed him. (2) Many witches condemned to deathhad accused him. (3) Public fame. (4) That he had famili-

arity with witches. (5) That in proof of his innocence hehad alleged that when led to prison an image of God therehad bowed to him. (6) That he said he did not believe there

were witches. [The question was whether he should be tor-

tured.] Hauber, Bibl. Mag., I, p. 614.

l Paul von Fuchs (1640-1704), born of a leading Pomeranian family, son of theforemost Protestant divine of Stettin, studied at the German universities of Greifs-

wald, Helmstadt and Jena, then at those of Leyden and Franeker in the Nether-lands. In 1661, while still a student at Leyden, he had distinguished himself byproducing valued tables for the study of Roman law, and, early attracting theattention of the Great Elector of Brandenburg, whose secretary and favoriteminister he was later to be, he had by him been enabled to travel in France and in

England before becoming a lawyer at Berlin and a professor of law at Duisburg,VOL. ii 56

SS2 THE DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

Fuchs* in a long opinion, learned and supported by cita-

tions of writers of all ages, from Aristotle, Cicero, Justinian,

down to modern times, explodes these articles seriatim. It is

interesting as showing that by this time, at least in some

places, there was careful labor brought to bear on the adjudi-

cation of these cases, and from some allusions it appears

that the accused had a defender and that there was a close

examination or cross-examination of witnesses- though the

fact that he had been denounced by "multis ad mortem raptis

sagis?? shows that a lively persecution had been on foot.

After laying down general principles that should guide the

treatment of such cases, and the necessity of absolute evi-

dence, and the definition of pact, he proceeds to show that in

Franckefeld's case there was no proof that Ms disease was not

natural or that there had been enmity or threats, and that it

would be a bar to human intercourse if a man were to be

held responsible because some one whom he had seen was

shortly afterwards taken sick. Ib., pp. 617-21.

As for the burnt witches who testified to seeing Mm in the

Sabbat, as it concerns an impossibility, their evidence is not

to be admitted; but, even if we admit that there is a Sabbat,

their eyes might be fascinated by the devil. Besides their

evidence was not wholly in accord and one of them withdrew

the charge before execution. If we admit with Carpzovhis

that the Sabbat can take place, still no reliance can be placed

on evidence based on it, as the devil is always seeking to

destroy the pious and can assume the form of any one. Ib.,

pp. 622-4.

As to ill-fame, the evidence is rather in favor of the accused.

Witnesses depose that he was not suspect before the inquest

commenced and Ms reputation for good deeds was satisfac-

torily proved. Ib., pp. 624-5.

As to familiarity with witches, the evidence only shows

that as a retail dealer inurem pinguiariam" he had to asso-

ciate with everybody. Ib., pp. 625-6.

As for the bowing of the image, what wonder is it that a

man whose life and fortune and that of Ms cMldren was at

stake should grasp at any chance of safety, without becoming

suspect of magic? Ib., p. 626.

As for denying the existence of witches, if those who do so

are to be suspect of witchcraft, it will include many of the

most meritorious in the literary world and the majority of


the people in Belgium/ Britain and France. We do not agreewith these, but willingly admit that there are magicians andthat those proved guilty of magic are rightly to be put todeath. Ib., pp. 627-8.

"

As for the argument of the prosecution that in hidden

crimes, including magic, less evidence is sufficient, we preferto answer in the words of a most eminent writer of the presenttime and he quotes from Ant. Matthaeus, De Crim., thatthe laws require probable proofs for torture without exceptionof the more atrocious and difficult of proof. Carpzov in one

passage leaves it to the discretion of the judge and in another

requires such proof that the judge can be certain that theaccused has committed the crime. Ib., pp. 629-30.Fuchs goes on to say that this opinion was accepted

by his colleagues and sentence was rendered acquittingHermann B. with compensation for costs. This was carried

out with the result that in Bletberg prosecutions ceased for

witchcraft, based on confessions extorted from accomplices.So in Cleves and Belgium2 there are few accusations of magic,but many private suits arising out of mutual recriminations.

Such recriminations work extreme hardship ; they become dis-

seminated and create ill-fame, rendering marriage impossiblefor women and public office for men, without the injured partyknowing the cause and having redress (p. 632). In Dort-

mund, in 1671, Trina Tuckersch, for such insults uttered in

a wrangle, was sentenced to the Trifel, an iron cage in whichshe was exposed for an hour to pelting with rotten eggs bythe crowd a punishment inflicted for petty thieving. Ib.,

pp. 632-3.

Since writing the above I have met with Tabor's Tractatus

de Confrontatione [1663], from which I learn that the case sub-

mitted to us was differently decided by the jurists of Giessen,who adopted the opinion of the relator sustaining the views of

the Fiscal. In many provinces of Germany the doctors haveto be crazy with the insane, for there one would seem to lack

common sense wrho did not believe that this general pest mustbe extirpated with fire and sword, in accordance with the

most frivolous arguments inherited from the past, and he

who defends the conspirators against God and man properly1 "Belgium," not yet a name for the region now so called, meant at this time the

Low Countries in general; and the authorities here cited by Fuchs (the Pijnbank of

Jonktijs and the Bateefsche Arcadia of Heemskerk) show that he was thinking of

the Dutch Netherlands, where he had studied.a i. c., doubtless, in the Dutch Netherlands and in that part of the duchy of

Cleves which had fallen to Brandenburg.


incurs suspicion of secret conspiration with. them. Muchhappier were the times of Tiberius, who used sometimes to

boast that in a free community tongues should be free. It

is otherwise here, for in the catalogue made by Melehior Gol-

dast you will find the men of liberal minds included amongMagi, This author wished not only to escape the suspicionof magic, but to improve by it the condition of the fisc, whichseems to be the cause of so many evils in Germany, wherethis crime entails confiscation. If a good prince will renounce

this bloody profit, the judge will not be spontaneously evil

or hasten to the destruction of others, nor will there be so

much question of these crimes. Ib., pp. 633-5.

II. NOTES ON PBOCEDUKE.

Initiation of Trials.

[The older Teutonic law required a private accuser to ini-

tiate criminal proceedings against a suspected person. Oneof Charlemagne's reforms was the introduction of the Rilge-

verfahren, whereby the public official could take action in

case of a crime without awaiting an accuser. Though this

method never entirely disappeared in Germany, it ceased to

be important and was soon replaced by the older procedure

by accusation, which remained the normal method of initiatingcriminal actions until after the thirteenth century.] Thiswas followed by the Lewnundsprozess (I presume prosecutionbased on ill-fame -H. C. L.) until finally the inquisitorial

process became established, which required confession as a

precedent to conviction. This came later in Germany thanin France and Italy, but it became established. Hansen,Zauberwahn, p. 376.

Leumund, or/ama publica, appears first in the Treuga Hen-

rici, 1224 (I do not have this H. C. L.), as justifying harder

purgation and is found elsewhere during the thirteenth cen-

tury (pp. 376-7). When the Leumund could be established

to the satisfaction of the judge he could proceed without

awaiting an accuser. From 1320 onward the cities of UpperGermany obtained from the emperors the privilege of employ-ing the Leumundsprozess. The Schoffencollegium would heara number of witnesses as to the Leumund, when a majoritywould decide, under oath, as to its being established, and, if

so, the formula was that the accused was "besser und ntitz-

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW SS5

Eeher tot als lebendig."1 It is true that torture (the use of

which spread rapidly in Germany during the fourteenth

century) could further be employed to secure confession and

denunciation of accomplices, and this in time became the

rule and finally confession was indispensable fpp. 378-80).The results are seen in the greater number of prosecutionsin Upper Germany than in Lower, where the old accusation-

process, with its risk of the talio, still persisted. In western

Germany the influence of France brought the same results as

in Upper Germany. Ib., pp. 380-81.

The Carolina requires the accusatory process. There mustbe an accuser. It will not suffice for a man desiring the injury

of another to give security that he will produce an accuser

who will share the prison of the accused. Then, by way of

warning, Ulpian is quoted: "Careeres ad continendos ho-

mines non puniendos aut excruciandos aut male tractandos

haberi atqui destinari debere." Caroli V Leges Capitales,

c. 11 (Goldast, Constitutions, III, p.520).

The accuser is to be placed under guard unless he gives

security satisfactory to the judge; and, if he fails in provingthe charge, he must pay all expenses and make good to the

defendant his costs and damages in money and reputation.

Ib., c- 12.

It is discretionary with the judge, if he fails to give security,

to imprison hi or keep him under guard. Ib., c. 14.

While the accused is in chains the accuser must not absent

himself without giving information as to where he can be

found and cited to appear.Ib., c. 17.

When, however, the crime is notorious and self-evident

and "luce meridiano clarior" the offender can be imprisoned

and forced to confess, if necessary by torture. Ib., c. 16.

There follow various chapters (20-23) restricting the use of

torture and rejecting the accusations made by sorcerers, etc.,

as insufficient for imprisonment and torture.

In the Centum Gravamina address to Adrian VI by the

Diet of Niirnberg in 1523, one complaint is that, if in a quarrel

between women one accuses the other of adultery or sorcery,

the parties are summoned before the spiritual court, the

accused purges herself by oath and is charged 2J goid^ pieces

for letters of absolution. Centum Gravamina Nationis Ger-

manicae, c. 51 (Le Plat, Monumentt. Concil. Trident., II,

pp. 193, 194).i On Leumundsprozess see Carl Georg von Wachter, BeitrQge zur deutschen Geschichte

(Tubingen, 1845), pp. 260-76.


Also that in matters of mixed jurisdiction, such as sorcery,

etc., the spiritual courts assert exclusive jurisdiction. Ibvc. 53.

Evidence of Accomplices.

It Is a matter of course that the professed demonologists vigorously

deny that the demon can represent innocent persons at the Sabbat, as the

testimony of accused as to those seen there was the chief source of extensive

persecutions.

Institoris does not refer to this special feature, but lays the

foundation for it by arguing the impossibility that God would

permit the demon to destroy the reputation of innocent

parties in so black a crime as witchcraft. He may be able

to do so as to other offences, but not as to those which require

pact with Mm. Up to the present time it has never occurred

that innocent persons have been thus represented by demonsand we can be assured that it will never happen in the future.

Besides, there is the protection of guardian angels to preventit. He argues away the story of St. Germain, which wouldseem to refute him. Mall. Malef., P. II, q. 1, c. 11 (pp.

307-9).Binsfeld takes the same ground and argues away the St.

Germain case. The devil can do nothing but what God

permits; God grants him, according to the true and common

opinion of theologians, much greater power over the evil than

over the innocent. If he represents any one, it is those whoare already guilty. De Confess. Malefic., conclus. 7, solutio

argumentorum (pp. 318-22).Bart. Spina says that daily experience shows that those

accused by their associates (as seen in the Sabbat), thoughthey deny at first, confess at last, with the rarest exceptionswhich arise from the unwillingness of judges to push the prose-

cution, and he characteristically adds, "Et qui hoc proterve

negaret habet quoque processus omnium Inquisitorum falsos

asserere, quod plane apud non insanos execrabile reputatur."

Quaestio de Strigibus, c. 14 (pp. 40-1).

Again, in his answer to Ponzinibio, God will not permitthose to be represented who have not been frequenters of the

Sabbat (and more which I have elsewhere H. C. L.).

Apologia Tertia, c. 3, pp. 173-4.

See also Del Rio, 1. ii, q. 12, n. 4, p. 142 (which I have else-

where H. C. L.).

Bodin says, "Quapropter in tarn horrendo crimine nihil

necesse est religiose haerere quemquam regulis procedendi

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECTLAR LAW SS7

aut refellendonim recipiendorumve testium ordinariis. . . .

Quin etiam licet a conreis In crnninibus aHis probatio neces-

saria erui non possit, Magi tamen conrei soclos ejusdemcriminis accusantes aut dicentes in eos testimonium, maxnnevero si piures fuerint, probationem satis fLimain asseront ex

qua damnentur rei. Xemo nam est qui nesciat non alios

quam Magos testan posse ut illi coetibus quos adeunt de

nocte interfuerint." -De Mag. Daemono., 1. iv, c. 2, pp. 341,

343.

Del Rio says, "Sed (inquit) potest in eonventu Innocens

repraesentari, adeo ut multi testes postea deponant eum se

illic vidisse . Respondi alias vel Deum id nunquam passum;vel si passus fuit aliquando eos infamari, nunquam tamen

passus est eos damnari, sed mox eonim innocentiam in lucem

protulit, ut in illo ipso facto B. Germani." -Disquis. Magic.,

1. v, sect. 16 (p. 775).

The Malleus considers the accusation of an accomplice

insufficient "nee tamen eorum proditione staretur, eo quodDiabolus mendax, nisi pariter et alia indicia fact! cum testibus

occurrent."-P. Ill, q. 14 (p. 512).

The practice of accepting the evidence of accomplices in

the Sabbat is accepted in Germany, France, Spain, Italy and

Belgium and is thoroughly well founded. Those who hold it

as illusory are deluded by Alciatus, Ponzinibius and a few

others, for the most part infected with the flour of Weyer and

not with the pollen of pure faith. Del Rio, Disquis. Magic.,

L v, app. ii, q. 41 (p. 897).

Del Rio admits that as little as possible should be left to

the judge's discretion, wherefore he winds up by saying that

a prince would deserve well of the republic who should decree:

(1) What denunciations shall justify torture and, though two

suffice by law, yet three at least shall be required, without dis-

tinction between men and women. (2) That no attention

be paid to contrition, unless she is wholly unrepentant so

that she will not confess or take the Eucharist. (3) That no

circumstances be required except that imprisoned witches be

kept apart and examined separately and in general depose

that they have seenN and N in such a Sabbat ;and no defence

be allowed save what is based on natural law, for in excepted

crimes the provisions of the civil law are abandoned. (4)

That when a person is once denounced associates can be ques-

tioned specially about her, though as special inquiries_

are

somewhat dangerous there ought to be two denunciations

to justify them. Ib., pp. 897-8.

SSS THE DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

The Witch-mark.

Irenaeus tells us that the Carpocratians burnt a mark

inside the lobe of the right ear of their disciples. Contra

Haereses, I. i, c. 25, n. 6.

The shaving of the accused was not so much, at least at first, to find the

witch-mark, as to discover charms which might obstruct the course of

justice. The necessity for this was proved by a classical story, copied byone writer after another, but apparently originated by Caesarius of Heister-

bach (Dial. Mirae., dist. v, c. 19), -whose authority was his fellow monk

Conrad, a resident of Besancpn at the time of the occurrence. As Conrad

is described as an old man the date may be assumed to be about 1200.

[For this tale see p. 104.]

I have Binsfeld's views elsewhere, but repeat them here.

He quotes Daneau, Dial, de Sortiariis, and Bodin, 1. iv, c. 4,

who say the devil impresses it on those who he fears will not

prove faithful. Binsfeld says he remembers to have heard that

"some of our witches" had such a mark, and Bodin quotes

Triscalain that it is like a hare's foot and insensible. Be this

as it may, he regards it as of little importance. It would be

easy for the examiner to feign it or to see what is not. Whatis not approved by the Fathers is not to be admitted, as [it

might be] a superstitious invention. If the demon knew that

his followers could thus be recognized he would not impress

it, and Bodin quotes cases in which it disappeared the dayafter it had been discovered. Binsfeld, Comment, in Tit.

Cod. De Male!., de indie., n. 14 (ed. 1623, p. 607).

Del Rio quotes Binsfeld approvingly. He sets little store

by the witch-mark as evidence. The devil does not impress

it on all those whose fidelity he doubts. Sometimes he removes

it from them when arrested and sometimes he leaves it so as

to maintain this superstition among the judges, and thus

sometimes the innocent are punished, for it is not easily dis-

tinguishable from natural marks or spots or moles or erup-

tions, since it is not always the same, being sometimes like

the footprint of a hare or a toad's foot, or a spider's, a cat's

or a weasel's and also is not always in the same place. In menit is seen often under the eyelids or lips or armpits or in sede

ima; in women even in the breasts or genitals. Also it is not

always insensible, as is found by experience, and if they know

they are pricked they may pretend to feel pain even if theydo not. There are also often scars, for the devil frequentlyinflicts wounds.- Disquis. Magic., 1. v, sect. 4, n. 28 (III,

p. 726).

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW SS9

Remy asserts as a fact that at the moment of abjuring thefaith and adoring the demon he makes a mark with his nail.

He gives cases in which it is on the forehead, the head, theleft or right shoulder, the breast and back, and the hip. This

spot is bloodless and insensible; a needle thrust in deeplydoes not draw a drop of blood and is not felt. This is so

well understood that often the officials commence with it the

investigation and torture. He discusses at length the causesof this and sensibly concludes that, as the demon is not sub-

ject to natural powers, it is useless to try to explain this bynatural causes. He devotes a whole chapter to the subject.

Daemonolatreia, 1. i, c. 5.

In his Commentary on the Avignon sentence of 1582,Michaelis sa}

rs the phrase, "Signum seu stignia cuilibet ves-

trum, etc./7

is sufficient to convince those who think this a

fable, for experience shows that the mark they have on their

bodies is so leprous that it is insensible and, as we have seen

with our own eyes, if a pin is thrust in it is not felt; but theymust not be allowed to know it, or they will pretend to suffer.

Sebastien Michaelis, Discours des Esprits, schol. v (Paris,

1612).

[Where, as in the case of Ostermann, an author has devoted

a monograph to a single topic, its analysis has been placedunder this topic in the "Notes'' instead of among those rangedin chronological order in the general bibliographical sections

of these materials.]

OSTEKMANN, PETER. Comm&ntarius juridicus ad L. Stig-

mata C. de Fdbricensibus. . . . In quo de variis speciebus

Signaturarum . . . imprimis vero Antichristi et de illorum

quae sagis inusta deprehenduntur . . . hinc derivata origine,

etc. Colon. Agripp., 1629.

Ostermann was a professor of law in the University of Cologne and presi-

dent of public disputations. His work is dedicated to the ArchbishopFerdinand of Bavaria, whom he urges in impassioned terms to exterminate

witches. He is evidently a man of wide learning and is greatly discursive,

an unquestioning believer in all the horrors told of the Sabbat, devil-

worship, intercourse with demons, etc.

The witch-mark is found, "nisi in locis abditissimis oecul-

tentur . . . his inter labia notam esse, illis sub palpebris,

aliis in sede si metuunt retegi, plurimum ad dextrum humer-

um, foeminis ad femur, sub axilla, aut in genitalibus." Ib.,

sect. viii. p. 24.


He seems to have no special knowledge of Ms own. Theabove Is an extract from Bodin and he goes on with long

passages from Bodin, Remy, Daneau, Erastus and others.

Ib., pp. 24r-3Q.

One extract from Petras Gregorius Tholosanus, SyntagmaJuris IMversi, 1. xxxiv, c. 21, n. 10, is important: "Nam et

Tholosae hoc anno 1577 tot maleficae et sortilegae in senatu

undique reae peractae sunt ut omnium, reorum qui a duobusannis ante fuerunt quorumcunque criminuin numerum super-arent et maleficiorum cumulo vincerent, fere plus quamquadringentae, quarum pars Vulcano sacratae, aliae aliis tor-

mentis sublatae vel emendatae. Et quod mirum est, omnesfere a Diabolo notam inustam certo loco habebant, prodide-

runtque execrabilia plura et impia." Tb. y p. 30.

Then he gives what is apparently the whole of De Lancre's

lib. iii, diseours 2, on the subject. Ib., pp. 31-42.

Cornelius a Lapide (fl637) in his Comment, on II Peter,

ii, says, "Hoc seculo secta est Diabolistarum qui gloriantur

se sortiarios esse et Diaboli charactere insignitos, quern, ubi

vino incaluere, nudata came aliis ostendere non verentur.

Auditum est ex ipsorum confessione quod numerus eorum

usque ad 60 millia excreverit in Galliis." Ib., p. 42.

The remainder of section viii is occupied with extracts

from Seb. Michaelis, King James, and others. Ib., pp. 42-50.

The stigma diabolicum is an infallible sign of witchcraft.

It is not larger than a pea. It is readily distinguishable fromnatural marks, moles, etc., by insensibility and bloodlessness.

It is dead flesh, surrounded by living, but it does not become

gangrenous or putrefy like spots caused by disease, such as

leprosy or mortification, and the rest of the body is healthyand sound. There is no danger of error "quoniam ita cense-

bunt antiquiores D D. quoniam [quorum?] sententia tradi-

tione ad haec usque tempora pervenit et ab immemoria fuit

semper experientia testa verificata; ita quod nunquam aliquishabuisset carnem hoc modo exanguem et insensibilem et post-modum constiterit de ipsorum innocentia. Ex quibus duoinferebat : (1) Quod Diabolus niortificat carnem aliquorumqui sunt ei ab obsequio, et quod non alia nota demonstrat

quod sint ejus mancipia, quam per hoc quod reddit carnemhorum mortuam; (2) Non est temerarium propter hujusmodiindicium aliquem judicare maguna, nam si antiquiores superhoc processerunt indicio contra maleficos, multo confidentius

possunt moderni/ 7

Ib,, sect, ix, pp. 50-1.


Xo one can instance a single person having this stigma whowas of blameless life, and therefore this indicium dees not

endanger the honor and life of the innocent, because it is not

possible that this nota (mark) can be found on the body of

an innocent person. Ib., p. 51.

Not only is it the common opinion of the doctors that all

witches have this stigma, but no author can be found who

reports any one convicted of magic who was not thus marked,

for the witch is no more without it than the Christian is

without the character of baptism. Ib., p. 51.

The stigma is more infallible than accusations, for accusers

cannot impose it, nor can the devil impress it except on those

of the congregation of magicians, and accusations may comefrom envy or error in mistaking one for another. It is the

proof of proofs and more infallible than confession, for if

one confesses and the stigma is not to be found he is not to

be believed unless other proofs are had. Ib., p. 51.

It is frivolous to say that the devil only marks those whomhe considers less persistent, for all the most pertinacious have

it. He does not impress it to render them constant, but to

distinguish magi from others. Ib., p. 52.

Whoever has the stigma must have been personally present

in the Sabbat, for though the devil could impress it else-

where he does not do so on account of the ceremonies of

renunciation in his hands, seated on his throne. Ib., p. 52.

A multiplication of stigmata is a sign of pre-eminence in

the synagogue bestowed as marks of honor for greater and

repeated crimes. Ib., p. 52.

God does not permit the devil to impress this sign except

on Ms vassals; otherwise he could do it on judges and the

most righteous, to the peril of their honor and lives. Ib.,

p. 53.

He then proceeds to refute the opinions of Binsfeld and Del

Rio, who set little store by the witch-mark as a proof. He

says they are only two and cannot prevail against the opinions

of the ancient doctors. Ib.? pp. 53-56.

Ostermann then goes on to prove the existence and sig-

nificance of the mark. What is uniformly asserted by innu-

merable persons of both sexes in every place and at various

times is to be accepted without doubt and not to be denied,

especially when the assertion is received in law. Ib., sect, x,

aitiologia 2, p. 59.

To deny it is injurious to the Republic, as favoring a most


heinous and injurious crime and impeding its punishment*Judges of this opinion either do not punish witches, or else

too lightly, allowing them to live. Thus innumerable personssuffer and the devil safely rages. Ib., ait. 4, p. 61.

The devil is the ape of God and desires in all things to bedeemed Ms equal; therefore he institutes his own sacraments

in imitation of those provided by God for his Church. Ib.,

ait. 6, p. 62.

Mentions a Queen of witches whose stigma was on her

head, like the tonsure of priests (the poor creature was doubt-

less bald H. C. L.). Others have testified that at night the

stigmata shone at the Sabbat like rotten wood or glow-worms.

Ib., p. 64.

Antichrist will mark Ms followers with a certain sign. It

is therefore probable that the devil anticipates this by mark-

ing his apostate witches. Ib., ait. 7, p. 70.

These marks are supernatural and must be either divine

or diabolic but they are not divine. Ib., ait. 8, p. 72.

Evidently the occasion of this work is ascribable to a fact

wMch he states, that recently in Cologne there was publisheda series of questions decided by the theologians of Li6ge and

Louvain, of wMch one was whether faith was to be placed in

stigmata denounced by the devil or energumens or discovered

by the executioner or otherwise, to wMch the answer wasnegative, based on Binsfeld and Del Rio. 1

Ib., sect, xii, p. 79.

Ordeals.

Duke Wilhelm of Juliers replies, July 24, 1581, to an inquiryfrom Bertram von Lansberg (doubtless an official H. C. L.)that "in order that others of our subjects be not injured bythis woman, and such unchristian conduct be duly punished,the accused person is to be arrested and examined without andwith torture and, if no confession is extracted, the proof of

whether she is guilty of sorcery is to be determined by thewater ordeal." Meinders, Gedancken u. Monita, pp. 121-22

(Lemgo, 1716).

1 The most recent supporter adduced by Ostermann (p. 98) for the use of thewitch-mark is the Jesuit Paul Laymann, "in Processu Juridico contra Sagas." But(as is shown above, p. 688) the Processits Juridicua was not Father Laymann's; andPastor Jordanaeus, who is believed to have compiled this at the instance of the Prince-

Archbishop, was so averse to being counted O's partisan, that forthwith (1630)and perhaps again at the instance of the Prince he brought out, in refutation of

Ostermann, a "Disputatio de Proba Stigmatica" which Mr. Lea does not mention.

(It is in the White Library at Cornell.) B.

WITCHCKAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAK LAW 893

Is this Weyer's Duke of Juiiers and Cleves? Here the ordeal is the final

proof and not as usual an indicium for torture. 1

Meinders, who gives this letter textuaHy, says the waterordeal was formerly in use and that in Ms time womenaccused of witchcraft customarily ask for it. Ib., p. 122.

He says there are not lacking ignorant judges who to

gratify a vain curiosity promptly throw into the water womenaccused of witchcraft who appeal to this judgment. Ib.,

p. 126.

Eveling, in his Tractatus de Provoeatione ad Indicium Dei,

LemgOj 1709, says that this was largely used during the

previous century as an indicium for torture on the evidence

of a single accomplice, especially in Westphalia, but is nowwholly disused. Meanders, p. 125.

The medical and philosophical faculty of Leyden, in 1594,rendered a decision that the water ordeal was no proof, givingas a reason for the frequent swimming that the way in whichthe patients' hands and feet were tied together rendered the

back a sort of boat which upheld him on the surface. Oskarv. Wachter, Vehmgerichte u. Hexenprozesse in Deutschland

(Stuttgart, 1882), p. 137.

In Herford (Westphalia) about 1630 the magistrates one

morning hauled 30 women out of their beds, tried them bythe water ordeal, and, as they swam, proceeded with their

trials. Under torture they all confessed and were all burnt.

Ib., pp. 137-8.

At Oudewater in Holland there was a pair of scales, said

to have been given to the town by Charles Y, which had a

wide reputation the country round as a reliable ordeal for

witchcraft. The manner of its use was somewhat crude.

The suspect who desired to clear himself presented himself

to the magistrates. They guessed his weight by his appear-ance and put that amount in the balance; if he overtopped it

he was innocent, if he was outweighed he was guilty. Persons

accused of sorcery came there from all quarters and Bait.

Bekker states that at the time he wrote (1694) it was still in

use. Bekker, Le Monde enchant^, liv. i, c. 21, nn. 9-11.

1 The Duke's letter does not call it "final" proof. It orders only that, if she will

not confess, "aladann auf den Wasser, ob aie solches angegebenen Zauberwercks

pflichtig, der Gebuhr znr Probe stellen zsu lassen. Und tins furder alle Gelegenheit.

zu verstandigen."

894 THE DELt'SIOX AT ITS HEIGHT

Use of Deceit.

Bodin prescribes deceit of all kinds, though lie admits that

St. Augustin and Aquinas forbid it. The judge at first should

pretend to be compassionate, telling them that not they but

the devil is the author of their crimes, compelling them to kill

men, and that they seem to be Innocent. Adjoining the

audience chamber a man should be made to scream and shriek

terribly and they be told that it is some one undergoing

torture. Shrewd spies should be confined with them who

pretend to be sorcerers and thus lead them to talk and, if

this fails, they are to be told that their accomplices have

informed of them though this be not the case so as to

induce them to revenge themselves. De Mag. Daemono-

mania, 1. IT, c. 1 (pp. 326, 327, 328).

Del Rio reproves Bodin for permitting lying, but he dis-

tinguishes between dolwn bonum and dolum malum and says

it is the common opinion of the doctors "Potent judex uti

aequivocatione et verbis subdoHs (citra mendacium) et am-

bigua prornissione liberationis ut reum inducat ad fatendum

veritatem." Disquis. Magic., 1. vi, sect. 10, p. 744. (Thus

equivocation and mental reservation can be freely employed.

H. C. L.)

The Malleus says it is well to promise life, for the fear of

death often prevents confession. Whether the promise is to

be kept, there are three opinions. One is that, unless she is a

leader among witches, she can be confined for life on bread

and water, if she will denounce accomplices sufficiently for

conviction. The second is to keep the promise for a time by

sending her to prison and afterwards burning her. The third

is for the judge to leave the bench and let a substitute sen-

tence her. Between these the judgment of Institoris is that

it should be left to the judge to decide. Mall. Malef ., P. Ill,

q. 14 (p. 512).He subsequently describes various other tricks. To change

her prison and treat her well; then some "personae honestae

et non suspectae" visit her as friends, urge her to confess and

promise to intercede with the judge for her; then the judgeenters and promises her gratia, meaning "gratia" for the

public and not for her, taking care that the notary records

this intention of the word. Or to send some one whom she

knows on a friendly visit, who pretends to be delayed and

gets locked in for the night, while spies are stationed within


earshot to listen to their talk. Or to send her for confinementto a castle of which the castelkn pretends to be absent;women (honestae) are let in as visitors who persuade her to

give them some examples of her art, with promises of libera-

tion; and this he says very often succeeds. Recently at

Schlettstadt a woman was thus persuaded to excite a tempestof hail over a wood adjacent to the castle. Ib., q. 16 (pp.

524-6).

Torture.

The perverse ingenuity with which all doubts were thrown against theaccused and consciences were soothed in committing the rankest injusticeis exemplified in one of Del Bio's arguments against the received rule thatin doubtful cases the judge must adopt the securer and milder course.

"Denique quid si dieamus quod utique verissimum: securi-

orem hie partem esse si judex praesumat potius veram esse

denunciationem quam si praesumat esse falsam, primo quiaillud utilius est ipsi personae denunciatae : spes enim est fore

ut torta delictum confiteatur et sic anima ejus salvetur. Si

vero non torqueatur, timendum quod morietur sine confes-

sione et damnabitur." Del Rio, Disquis. Magic., 1. v, append.ii, q. 1 (III, p. 834).

Here, although the denunciation may be false, the guilt of the accused

is assumed.

Again, when there are two opposite probable opinions, the

judge can select either. Here both are probable and the

affirmative is properly regarded as more useful to the republic.

Ibidem.

Again, "Quinto haec sententia tutior est ipsi judici; probo,

quia est magis consentanea verae clementiae et misericordiae

quam altera. . . . Revera tamen non est crudelis qui ut

multos ab unius injuria defendat, aciem gladii, quern ad hoc

a Deo recepit, in unum exerit: clemens ille potius dicendus et

misericors." Ib., p. 835.

The proofs justifying torture, says Nehring, are: 1. Whenthe person suspected has offered to teach incantations to

others as sorcerers and witches are wont to educate their

children to it;

2. An invocation of the devil with an adjuration to undo

any evil or to discover things lost or when an old womanuses suspicious words or when a man is constantly calling

on the devil, or cursing in the name of the devil his children,

or others', or even animals;


3. Qy. whether the Draco vofans, where It rests over the

house of any one, is a sufficient proof? TMs Draco volans is a

heavy wreath of smoke, rising by its lightness and bent down

again by the coldness of the clouds, so that its curves resemble

a serpent, and seeming to discharge sparks from its mouth.

Therefore, though the devil sometimes mixes himself in such

smoke, or takes on such an appearance and hangs over houses,

still it may proceed from natural causes alone, and therefore

it is not sufficient proof for torture. Besides, the devil is

constantly seeking to injure good men, and he may ^thus

hang over the houses of the best, for the purpose of ruining

them;4, As to stigmata. These are marks on the persons of

witches, as very recently in Eysfeldt a person accused of

witchcraft was found to have such a mark on the right shoul-

der. It is often like the print of a hare's foot, or a toad's

foot, etc., and a needle can be thrust into it to the bone with-

out producing any sensation. Danaeus suggests ^thatthe

devil thus marks those who he fears may desert him, while

leaving unmarked those of whom he is sure. It is sometimes

inside the lip, under the eyebrows, in women in genitalibus

and in men in podice, so as to escape detection though the

right shoulder is the most usual place. When it is insensible,

it is good proof when not so, it is uncertain, as a scar mayassume such an appearance. Job. Christ. Nehring, De Indi-

ciis (Jenae, 1714) [pp. 39-42].

The indications justifying torture in magic are, if any one

has taught others incantations; a special indication is threats

if followed by the event, especially if it is something prodigious

and unusual. If books on magic are found in possession of

the accused, magic instruments, poisons and other "super-

stitiosa." Insensible marks on the body, "cujus magnusabusus hodie." Brunnemann, Tract. Jurid. de Inquisitionis

Processu, c. 8, mernbr. 5, n. 7.

Observe, nothing about those seen in Sabbat No, see below.

But torture is never to be used "nisi de corpore delicti

constet." Ib.., n. 18.

There must be an interlocutory sentence for torture in

which the reasons for it are expressed, so that if the accused

wishes to appeal he can state the grounds for it. As appeals,

however, interfere with the inquisitorial process, some judges

do not promulgate the sentence, but take the accused to the

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY SECULAB LAW S97

torture chamber and, while he Is being tied, present thesentence and immediately proceed to torture, "sed panun tutaest haec cautela."lb.

3nn. 34, 35, 38.

As a rule the accused under torture is not to be questionedas to accomplices, but, if there are indicia of accomplices orthe crime is such that it requires accomplices, he may be

lightly tortured to ascertain them. Ib., n. 64.

"Pessimus autem error et superstitio est nonnulloram judi-cum qui veneficas interrogant de sociis quos in Bructeromonte (Blocksberg) viderint, quis eorum rebaptisationi inter-

fuerit, etc., et confessiones has in actis scribunt et eas praes-

tigias pro veritate habent et exinde alias nominatas personasconfrontant, etc., quasi vero non innocentes personae perejusmodi praestigias a veteratore Satana repraesentari pos-sint." Ib., n. 65.

He refers to Carp&ov as authorityj who thus must have been of the same

opinion (Carpzov, q. 48, n. 17). This indicates that Brannemann believed

in witchcraft and the Sabbat.

Farinacci says the same and adds that the Roman Inquisi-tion did not admit as sufficient for torture the assertion of

two witches as to the persons seen in the Sabbat, for the

reason that often they are not corporally there, but only byillusion of the demon. Farinacius, Tract, de Haeresi, q. 185,

8, n. 152 (Romae, 1616), p. 296. Also q. 188, 4, n. 76.

That Brunnemann was as credulous as his contemporariesis seen in his saying that witches customarily endured torture

contumaciously, even laughing or quietly sleeping as thoughin bed, examples of which were on record in the Faculty. Andhe proceeds to quote Del Rio at length who says (Disq. Mag.,1. v, 9, GG citing Binsfeld) that they are silent because

either they feel no pain or cannot speak, or can neither feel

nor speak, as when the demon throws them into profound

sleep, or even if they feel and can speak they are robust andendure all. If they do not feel, it is because the demon stupe-

fies the senses so that they either feel no pain or very slight.

Sometimes he lifts the weights or the body itself or loosens

the ropes with which they are tied; sometimes he averts the

things which seem to be inflicted or poured in, or removes

their power before they touch the body or interposes somesolid and dense medium simultaneously, so that the by-standers shall not see it. Sometimes he removes the bodyfrom the rack and substitutes another, all of which are easily

done with God's permission, though I think the substitution

VOL. n 57

89S THE DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

of bodies is rare. The devil is wont to induce silence by

occupying the body of the witch, closing from the inside the

fauces and mouth, but so as not to strangle her. Sometimes

he obstructs the hearing so that she may not hear the ques-

tions. Sometimes he only stands by with promises and

threats. Finally, he is accustomed to furnish little membranes

with characters and charms, hidden in the secret places of

the body, which remove sensibility. And all this Brunne-

maun piously accepts. Brarmemann, De Inq. Processu, c. 8,

memb, 5, n. 68.

Brunnemann denounces as a superstition that the witch is

unable to shed tears, and also the Catholic devices to over-

come taciturnity with holy water, celebrating masses and the

rest. Ib., n. 69.

But he adds that ministers of God should exhort her to

renounce the pact, tell the truth and give glory to God. If

this fails, all the clothes should be changed, by women for

women and by men for men, lest there should be charms

in the garments. This failing, the hair of the head and beard

canbe shaved and also the secret parts of the body, by persons

of the same sex, for sometimes little parchments inscribed

with characters are concealed there, as in the celebrated case

related by Darohouder and quoted everywhere (see below)

which Ambrosinus writes he has often found to be the most

potent remedy. Also the whole body should be washed with

warm water, lest there be some ointment. Damhouder also

tells us that the torture of sleeplessness is most efficacious.

Also there should be a thorough examination, by persons of

the same sex, of all orifices nose, ears and secret parts, to

see whether there is any scar or trace of incision, for according

to Del Rio and Sanchez (De Matron.) the devil is accustomed

to signify pact by some such sign, which he binds himself

can be removed. Also no food is to be allowed to be brought

to the prisoner. Also, as magic words can be uttered in a low

voice, any recitation of words is to be interrupted. Ib., n. 70.

Damhouder says he has often seen at Bruges the prudent

precaution followed, before the application of torture, of

shaving the whole body, to discover charms preventing sen-

sation of torture. A special case was that of an old womanwhose apparent piety in every shape won her the good opinion

of all and whom many reverenced as an apostle of Christ on

account of the miraculous cures which she wrought without

the use of remedies, save spiritual ones, such as fasting, prayer,


and pilgrimages. Xo reason is stated for her arrest, whichwas done at dead of night, and the next day the judges ordered

torture in spite of her assertions that she had always used

pious means alone. During the audience the burgomasterwas groaning with gout, when she offered to cure him and hesaid he would give her 2000 ducats if she could. Then the

counsellors interposed; she was removed and they pointedout that he would be using illicit means to escape suffering;on her being brought back she was asked what means she

would employ, to which she replied that all that was necessarywas that he should have full faith in her powers to cure. Shewas again removed and he was shown what a risk he hadincurred through his credulity, of which he repented to his

last day. She was sharply tortured, confessing some trifling

matters and denying all important offences, and was taken to

her cell as having purged the accusation. New indicia super-vened and she was tortured again with the same result, till

she begged to be allowed to go to the latrine to relieve her-

self. After some discussion this was permitted, when she

remained for a half-hour in spite of repeated summons. Whentied again to the rack and tortured, she snapped her fingers

at the judges, laughing and telling them they could do nothingwith her, and then sleeping, till she was removed to her cell.

Further testimony carne and a third torture was ordered, "but

as a prior precaution we ordered her shaved from head to

foot/' but though the torture was of the severest she confessed

nothing. Then it occurred to some of those present "earn

non esse tonsam in pudendis, sub axillis et in culo, ubi pertonstrices illi quoque crines abrasi fuerunt et inter radendum

reperta fuit pergamena culo cunnoque inserta cui inscripta

fuerunt aliquot peregrina vocabula daemonum, crucibus ali-

quot inter se distincta." When the judges saw this parch-ment they ordered her replaced on the rack and tortured

again, with the result that she confessed everything in the

testimony. When asked why she had not sooner confessed her

crimes, "Nisi a me, inquit, omnes crines atque etiam hanc

schedulam abstulissetis, nunquam a me perquirere quicquam

potuissetis, ut quae per illam, ob maligni spiritus operam, facta

eram impassibilis; quod haud dubie verissimum fuerat."

There follows a debate as to her punishment: some were for

death by fire; others, pitying her sex and age, proposed that

she should be exhibited to the people in the accustomed garb

(of those condemned by the Inquisition), her head covered

900 DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

with, false hair which the executioner should cast into thefire to indicate that she was treated with the utmost clemencyand not burned alive according to the custom of the land,and moreover be exiled forever, with threat of burning for

returnand that, if outside of Flanders she should repeat her

crimes, she should be burnt alive. This milder sentence pre-

vailed; she hastened to Zeeland and lived for some weeks at

iliddelburg, where she speedity resumed her evil courses,when the praetor, Florenz van Darnm, "informed by us of

her trial, watched her and, becoming assured of her relapse,burned her alive on the strength of her previous confession

and sentence and reported it to us." Damhouder, RenimCriminal Praxis, c. 37, nn. 20-22.

Observe that in this case there was no charge of maleficence, whichunder the Carolina was a requisite to the death penalty. The sorcery was

purely curative and beneficent. I do not know whether the Carolina wasin force in Flanders probably not but it shows that pact alone was notat the time deemed worthy of death.

The torture of sleeplessness is frequently used in Italy andis found efficient in compelling maleficae to confess. Ibidem.

Institoris tells us that after witches have confessed undertorture they always try to hang themselves, so that it is neces-

sary to keep them under watch, day and night ;in spite of

which they sometimes succeed in doing it. This he attributes

to the persuasion of the devil, who seeks to prevent their

earning salvation by repentance (though a more rational

explanation would seem to be despair and desire to escapeburning alive H. C. L.). Mall. Malef., P. II, q. 1, c. 2 (ed.

1580), p. 228.

He also tells us that much of their evil work is done unwill-

ingly, under compulsion by the demon, and the truth of this

is attested by their bruised and livid faces. Ibidem.That witches could not shed tears was a commonplace

among jurists, but if they were truly repentant they coulddo so according to a most experienced theologian and canonistcited by Grillandi. Grillandi relates a case of Ms own occur-

ring within three years of his writing (1526), when he wastrying a witch of twenty years' standing who had wrought aninfinite amount of mischief. She professed profound repen-tance with abundant sighs and weeping, but could shed notears "et visum fuit valde mirabile quod muHer flevi sine

lachrymis et nisi vidissem forte non credidissem." P. Gril-

landus, De Sortilegiis, q. 9, n. 3 (p. 146).

WITCHCBAPT AS VIEWED BY SECULAR LAW 901

Maximilian I, who became so energetic a persecutor of

witchcraft, seems to have entertained scruples at the begin-ning of Ms reign. In the case of three women implicatedin their misdeeds by a group executed in 1800 at Munich headdressed not only the faculty of Padua for an opinion, butthose of Ingolstadt, Diilingen, Freiburg. Koln and Bologna.Also Father Delrio, Xieoias Remigius and the Archbishops of

Treves and Mainz. Biezler, Hexenprozesse in Bayern, p. 213.

The greater part of the inquiries are with regard to thenature and amount of testimony, Common report, the char-acter of witnesses^ their enmity, whether male or female, etc.,

that suffice for torture; the degree and repetition of torture;

whether copies of the evidence are to be given to the accused;whether she may have counsel, who usually harden theaccused and make her deny; and whether confrontation is

to be used, as it generally leads to revocation.

The opinion of the University of Padua was requested onJune 1

?1601. The reply is dated January- 8, 1602. The

answer is very elaborate, in 157 articles with abundantcitation of authorities. A single witness, without other

indicia, is not sufficient for torture, though it justifies arrest;the judge should not commence with torture. It goes on to

discuss the intricate questions as to evidence and, while

admitting the latitude allowed in these "excepted crimes," it

gives a wholesome admonition: "Primo semper, ante omnia,

diMgenter inquirite, ut cum justitia et eharitate diffinitatis,

neminem condemnetis ante verum et justum judicmm, nullum

judicetis suspitionis arbitrio. Sed primum probate et posteacharitativam sententiam proferte, et quod vultis vobis non

fieri, alteri non faciatis." Marc. Anton. Peregrinus, Consil-

ium de Sagis, p. 127 (Diversi Tractatus, Coloniae, 1629).

In spite of this humane precept, the Consilium affords a fearful view of

the existing criminal law. In atrocious or "excepted" crimes, not only was

the punishment severer, but the wholesome rules as to the character of the

witnesses and of the evidence admitted were relaxed, showing that it was

not simple justice but punishment that was sought. All doubts were

resolved by resort to torture, both of the accused and of witnesses. It is

true that careful and minute prescriptions were current as to what justified

torture, but in discussing them the conclusion is reached that in the end

everything is left to the discretion of the judge. It is the same with the

severity, duration and repetition of torture. It is described as almost

equivalent to death and worse than the amputation of both hands, but

there was practically no limit to its severity except that if it killed the

accused the judge was subject to investigation. Theoretically it was ad-

mitted that a confession extorted by illegal torture did not condemn the


accused, but In practice this was illusory, for to admit it condemned the

judge, and there was no one to pronounce It illegal. There was one redeem-

ing featurethe accused was entitled to a copy of the evidence and to

competent time to answer it; but this could be set aside by the will of the

legislator. He could also have an advocate, unless he had an evil reputa-

tion or was caught in flagranti, but the advocate was not to Induce him to

suppress the truth. As to confrontation, when the accused under torture

denounced others, she was In their presence to be lightly torturedâgain

and repeat the denunciation the reason given for which was that It was

better sometimes that the guilty should escape than that the innocent

should be afflicted with dire torments. Such was In brief the^system

of

jurisprudence which developed the witch madness. See Peregrinus' Con-

sQium, loc. cU.

In 1627 Catlierina Henot, daughter of the imperial post-

master of Kdln, and sister of the Provost and Canon of the

Cathedral, Hartger Henot, was accused by some demoniac

sisters of the St. ClarenHoster of having bewitched them.

She was arrested in her brother's house. Three times she

was exposed to the highest grade of torture, but persisted

throughout in asserting her innocence, in spite of which she

was condemned and burnt. Nippold, Wiederbelebung des

Hexenglaubens, p. 80.

We are told that in the records of Briihl (Koln) there are

dozens of cases in which arrest, confession under torture,

sentence and execution were all hurried through on the same

day. Ein Hexenproeess zu Briihl vom Jahr 1604. (This is

an extract from some periodical, not named and without the

authors name. H. C. L.)

Perhaps the most atrocious case is that of Veith Pratzer,

in Saxony, in 1660. He was a joker with a turn for leger-

demain and on one occasion he exhibited his skill by producing

24 mice from a bag in which he had concealed them. It was

regarded as sorcery; he fled, but strenuous efforts were made

successfully for his capture. It was in vain that he offered

to repeat the feat and that the physician declared that there

was no witch-mark. He was tortured until he confessed all

that was wanted and was condemned to be burnt by a slow

fire. Even this was not sufficient; one of the judges argued

that his two young children must infallibly be sorcerers and

should be put out of the way; it was voted unanimously that

their veins should be opened in a bath. On his way to execu-

tion he begged to be allowed to see them and was told that

they were already dead. Cannaert, J. B., Olim: Proces des

Sorcieres en Belgique sous Philippe II et le Gouvernement des

Archiducs (Gand, 1847), pp. 148-55.

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW 9U3

Spee (dub. 26) alludes to a practice of torturers who, when

they fail to extract confessions, overcome the malifium tad-

tumitatis with a potion which disorders the brains of the

accused. Weyer (De Praestig., I. vi, c. 8, 6) had alreadynoted this. After describing the horrible treatment whichwould elicit confession of whatever was desired, he adds:

"Ad trueulentae hujus tragoediae aetus egregie perficiendosne quid interim desideretur, ut plurimum accersuntur sangui-narii spiculatores qui flagitiorum mauditoruni et saepe in

rerum natura non existentium confessionem potionibus eUci-

ant; quae profecto non ex aliis possunt apparari substantiis

quam quae vel inebrient vel dementent. Ab iis itaque quibusmens ejuscemodi potionum vi laesa est quomodo veritatem cui

in re criminali fidendum inquisieris?>?

In Carl Lempens'* 4

Gesehichte der Hexen tind Hexenprozesse" (St.

Gallen, 1880, 4), there is a vivid enumeration of the varieties of torture

invented in Germany for witch trials too sensational to be altogether

trustworthy, although we know from calmer contemporaries that ingenuity

was stimulated to the utmost to devise unendurable suffering. The "Hex-

enstuhl" is, however, I believe a recognized fact an iron arm-chair studded

everywhere with points, in which the accused was bound hand and foot

and left for an indefinite time. What was known as the "Bambergische

Tortur," invented by a bishop of Bamberg, was an exquisitely varied and

prolonged series of scourgings. Then there were the "Mecklenburgisches

Instrument" and the "Pommersche Mutae," or Pomeranian bonnet-

names which show where various methods took their origin and gradually

spread over the land.

The tetter or ladder so often referred to had rungs armed

with sharp wooden points. The patient, with arms twisted

over his head, was hoisted on this and then let down suddenly

and hoisted again. 0. Wachter, Vehmgerichte u. Hexen-

prozesse, p. 146.

A protocol of October 31, 1724, at Coesfeld (in the then

bishopric of Minister) of the torture of Enneke Fiirstenees,

shows that its severity had not in the least abated. She with-

stood it all with incredible constancy and maintained her

innocence throughout, until Dr. Gogravius, the judge, ordered

it to cease. But the next day the executioner obtained a con-

fession from her. Ib., pp. 162-7.

"Hexenthiirme" still exist in many German towns, in which

were confined those who refused to confess under torture,

exposed to all manner of suffering, until the will should be

broken down and the confession be extorted. Ib., p. 169.

It is to these that the hideous descriptions of Meyfarth refer.


Torture was not abolished in Saxony until 1770. The

Elector Friedrich August III in 1789 addressed the judicial

bodies, setting forth the evils and inconsequence of torture

and asking their opinion as to its abrogation. Both the Schof-

fen-Collegiuni of Leipzig and that of Wittenberg protested

against the proposed change. In Prussia, they said, it had not

been wholly abandoned it was not used to extort confession,

but to prevent the escape of the guilty through ^persistentdenial, and the marks left by it were useful, if the criminal was

again brought before justice; also it was useful in obtaining

denunciation of accomplices. In spite of this, torture was

abolished, and criminal procedure was reformed in successive

decrees from 1770 to 1783. Karl Fried. Giinther, De Tormen-

torum in Saxonia Abrogatione, anno 1770 (Lipsiae, 1838).

Prisons.

The stubborn fact that the devil never released witches

from prison had to be explained in some fashion. Paolo

Grillandi teUs us that the theologians and canonists give two

reasons for this. Firstly, that as soon as the witch is arrested

the devil's supreme desire is to have her executed at once, so

as to be secure of the damnation of her soul, and therefore

will not assist her to escape. If she manifests a tendency to

save her soul by repentance, he tells her that at the last he

will preserve her from the halter or the stake, even if she is

brought to the gallows or placed on the pile. The second

reason is that such an exhibition of the power of the devil as

the liberation of his followers from the hand of justice would

be apt to seduce judges and officials to adopt the profession

of sorcery and therefore it is not permitted by God.Gril-

landus, Tract, de Sortilegiis, q. 9, nn. 1, 2, 4 (pp. 145-7).

It would appear much simpler to base the refusal of God's permission

on Grillandi's subsequent argument that to allow it would lead to the sub-

version of the Christian faith by showing that the devil was more powerful

than God.

Yet in the case of Sister Renata, executed in Wurzburg in 1749, the

boundless credulity of her judges admitted as evidence that during her

imprisonment and trial she was nightly in the company of the demonswho were disturbing the convent and was recognized there. Presumablythe inscrutable wisdom of God permitted her to continue her evil work,but forced her to return to prison every morning.

Bart. Spina (De Strigibus, c. 30) gives as a reason for the

helplessness of the prisoner, that God as protector of justice

WITCHCBAPT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW 906

deprives the witch of all power as as she Into thehands of justice.

Binsfeld says the reason is to be sought in divine providenceand is proved by the fact shown by experience that the demonhas no power to liberate Ms followers from the hand of justice.-De Confess. j\lalef.

? eonel. 7,solutio argumentor. (pp. 323-4).The Protestants Lambert Danaeus and Godelmann explain

it by the fact that in prison they are deprived of their powdersand unguents with which they prepare for flight ;

also that

they do not dare to treat with Satan while in prison for fear

of being observed by the gaolers and attendants. For this

Tartarotti quotes Danaeus, De Veneficis, and Godelmann,L iii, c. 6, n. 17 (q. v.). Tartarotti, Del Congresso Nottumo(Rovereto, 1749), p. 103.

We have the testimony of the Carolina as to the prisons:"Est enim haec consuetudo pessima, cujus et supra men-tionem fecimus, ut carceres non tam custodiendorum quampuniendorum atque excruciandorum reoram causa fiant, in

quibus vel ob sordes squaloremque vel frigorein perire cogan-tur." Carolina, c. 217, 3 (Goldast, III, p. 559).

*

Punishments.

There is a formula (c. 1320) for sentence of a priest convictedof sorcery, immolation to demons, making figurines, etc. Thepenalty is degradation (as a priest), perpetual immuration in

chains "in pane doloris et aqua angustiae," and to wear the

tunic with yellow crosses. Bernard Guidonis, Practica, P.

Ill, n. 40 (ed. Douais, Paris 1886, p. 152).

A learned opinion of the great jurist Bartolo da Sassofer-

rato (c. 1331-42) says that the "mulier striga de qua agitur,sive latine loquendo lamia", must be burnt. She confesses

that she has renounced Christ and her baptism, wherefore

she should die, according to Christ's saying, "If a man abide

not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered; andmen gather them and cast them into the fire and they are

burned," and the gospel law controls all other laws and mustbe observed even "in foro contentioso," for it is the Law of

God. "Item, dicta striga seu lamia" confesses that she madea cross of sticks and trampled on it, for which alone she

should be punished with death. Moreover, she confesses that

she adored the devil on her knees, for which she deserves

1 For condition of prisons in the seventeenth century see Grevius, Tribunal Refor-

matum (Hamburg, 1624).

(CJ6 THE DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

capital punishment. Also she confesses that with her touch

she bewitched children so that they died, and their death is

proved and their mothers have complained, so this striga

should die as a homicide. I have heard from some holy theo-

logians that these women who are called strigae seu lumiae

can fascinate even to death men and children and beasts, for

they have infected souls which they have vowed to the devil.

But as to this, whether strigae seu lamiae by touch or sight

can injure even to death, I remit myself to Holy MotherChurch

and to the holy theologians, for in this at present I decide

nothing, since the foregoing are sufficient that she should be

put to death and her property be confiscated to the Bishop

of Novara, Giovanni Ploto (Giovanni Visconti), the temporal

and spiritual lord of Orta and Blva, whence she comes. But

as to whether ista striga, if she repents and reverts to the

Catholic faith, prepared to abjure publicly her errors at the

discretion of the said bishop, should be spared the secular

penalties and death, I advise that if, immediately after arrest,

she reverts and signs of repentance appear in her, she should

indubitably be spared. And if it is not at once, but after an

interval, I think it should be left to the discretion of the judge

whether the signs are of true repentance. If so, she should

be spared; but not if she repents through fear of punishment.

But if it is conceded that she is a homicide, penitence should

not save her; but, as I have said, as to homicide I remit

myself to Holy Church. Hansen, Quellen, pp. 64-66.

This is important it shows the growth of the conception of witches

(though the Sabbat is not specifically alluded to), while the caution with

which the lawyer avoids all responsibility for their destructive power and

throws it on the Church is highly significant, also his lack of confidence in

the truth of her confession, doubtless extorted by torture; also the discus-

sion as to remission of penalty for repentance and conversion. The fact

that the most eminent legist of his time was consulted in a case concerning

a common peasant shows that it was novel and that the court had not only

doubts, but a desire to render justice.

The principle, however, insisted upon by Jaquerius and

the Malleus that the crimes of witches required burning was

not accepted by the Church, ia view of the canonical principle

that the repentant sinner was to be received back into the

Church. Prierias endeavors to get around this by pointing

out that although in simple heresy the penitent is condemned

to perpetual prison, in this, on account of evil deeds, the

secular judge can condemn her to death, thus following the

suggestion of the Malleus. This, however, infringed the

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECITLAR LAW 9î7

principle that the secular judge had no claim to see the Aetaof the process. On the other side it was argued that the

Inquisition had nothing to do with murders and other non-heretical crimes and was bound to receive back the penitent,and this was strongly upheld by Pena and by Am. Albertino

(De Agnosc. Assert., q. 25).Pena holds that only when a witch has been arrested by

the civil power and handed over to the Inquisitor to deter-mine the heretical quality of her offences, can she be reclaimedfor burning. Hansen, Zauberwahn, pp. 529-30.

See about this a constitution of Pius V printed by Pena in

his appendix to Eymeric. He says that, in view of the fre-

quent infanticides and other crimes, the popes issued specialmandates to deliver them to the secular judges after a trial

for the first time (not relapse). Ib., p. 531.

Against all this, however, is the assertion of Paramo that

the Inquisition in the last one hundred and fifty years hadburnt 30,000 witches. Ibidem.

Hansen gives (pp. 427-34) a long enumeration of individual

cases tried by the secular courts during the fifteenth century

throughout Europe and says that they punished with death

only the evil acts of the accused, and with various penalties

sorcery or witchcraft as a crime in itself.

See Hansen, Zauberwahn, pp. 366-74, for a detailed account

of the development of punishment for sorcery and witchcraft

in Germany and the prevalence of burning. Still, in manyplaces the old penalty of banishment was preserved till late in

the fourteenth century (p. 383) and even in the fifteenth

century (pp. 389, 394). He points out the influence in multi-

plying trials of the gradual introduction of public prosecutionin place of accusation owing to some extent to the infiltra-

tion of the principles of Roman law.

The Bambergische Halsgerichtsordming, published byBishop Georg of Bamberg in 1507 and drawn up by Johann

von Schwarzenberg, exercised great influence on Tengler's

Layenspiegel and on the Carolina. It is largely based on the

Roman law. Torture is allowed in accusations of sorcery

where there are indicia. When injury has been caused, the

punishment, as for heresy, is death by fire. When no injury-

has been wrought, the penalty is according to circumstances

and the judge must consult (I suppose, learned jurists

H. C. L.). Hansen, Quellen, p. 279.

Ulrieh Tengler's Layenspiegel (Strassburg, 1510) says that


customarily witches and sorcerers are put to death In fire or

water, or are burnt to ashes. Ib., p. 296.

A second edition, Augsburg, 1511, has an addition, bor-

rowed from the Malleus, proving that secular judges have the

right to inquire systematically into witchcraft and punishwitches after the methods of the Inquisition, with all formulae

and instructions as to procedure. It has a full page wood-cut

representing the details of witchcraft riding on goats, makinghail-storms, stealing milk, intercourse, etc. Ib., p. 297.

The influence of this work was great.

The Carolina, 116, punishes unnatural crime with death

by fire, which had influence on the punishment of witches

concerned with incubi and succubi. Ib.? p. 343.

Reray gives at much length the arguments pro and con as

to holding responsible a boy named Lorenz, not seven years

old, who had been taken to the Sabbat by his parents, wherehe was employed to turn the spit in roasting meat; his Magis-tellus gave him repeatedly powders with which he killed the

cattle of those who offended Mm. The case was thoroughlydiscussed by the judges and decided in favor of mercy. Remy,however, leans to severity and objects to the custom with

such children of merely flogging them around the place wheretheir parents are burning. Daemonolatreia, 1. II, c. 2, nn.

12, 18-37 (pp. 195, 198-204).

Express pact with the demon incurs the penalty of the lex

Cornelia (death) such as "magi, mathematical (astrologers)

qui nomine scientiae sc. abutuntur eoque sua somnia palliunt,

augures, aruspices, vates, harioli, sortilegi et tales qui decent

vel discunt." Brunnemann, Tract. Jurid. de Inquisit. Pro-

cessu, c. 9, n. 11.

"Magi in specie sunt qui diris defigunt homines, etc., sed

hi vel igne vel gladio absumendi." Ib., n. 12.

"Qui hominibus aut animalibus diris suis nocuerunt illi in

specie vivi exuruntur." Ib., n. 13.

Those who have not injured men or beasts, but have con-

tracted express pact with Satan and renounced God, their

punishment is capital. Thus by divine law (Exod. xx, 18;Levit. xx in fine, Deut. xviii, 10) their punishment is fire,

"per tradita" (by custom or tradition? H. C. L.), thoughusually it is modified to beheading, which seems more con-

sonant with art. 109 of the Carolina. Ib., n. 14.

"Qui vero expressum pactum fecerunt et simul abominan-


dam eonsuetudinem habuerant cum Satana solent poena ignisaffici." Ib., n. 15.

This evidently means intercourse with incubi, etc.

Those who without express pact use magical remedies and

injure others have the same penalty as poisoners and in Saxoncourts and elsewhere are beheaded. For the sacristan whofurnishes baptismal water for superstition and those whoinflict impotence on married folk see Carpzovius, P. II, dec.

185, 186. Ib., n. 16.

Who divine by magic arts are beheaded. Ib., n. 17.

Sorcerers using superstitious remedies, characters, amulets,

etc., are punished at discretion. Ib., n. 18.

Those who consult magicians are to be beheaded, if theydo so in fraud, but not if in simplicity; and much more, if

they ask a sorceress to torture some one. Ib., n. 19.

In this the frequent references to the Roman law show its influence on

German practice. The references to Carpzov indicate how great was Ms

authority.It is remarkable that there is no special allusion to witchcraft and the

Sabbat though this is doubtless included in the "abominanda consuetudo

cum Satana." This is treated above, under Torture. But sorcery is rec-

ognized as one of the excepted cases in which witnesses of aE kinds were

admitted.

[Legal qualification of witnesses may be dispensed with]

"in criminibus exceptis, ut perduellionis, veneficii, magiae,

latrocinii, homicidii, in quibus etiam testes alias inhabiles

admittuntur." Ib., c. 8, rnemb. 2, n. 28.

The spirit which stimulated the criminal jurisprudence of

the period is expressed in the remark, "Nulla gratior victima

Deo afferri possit quam sanguinis facinorosi." Ib., n. 41.

Showing how readily human passion could mask itself with piety.

But there was a praiseworthy effort to prevent injustice

by ignorant or inexperienced local judges in the requisition

that, after all the testimony on both sides was taken, the

records were to be sent to a higher court or to the legal faculty

of a University for its decision. This was provided in the

Carolina, c. ult.; and Oldekop (Observations Criminales,

tit. i, obs. 7, nn. 6, 11) says that in the Carolina there are

no less than 57 references to such consultations. In the

Mark of Brandenburg this reference was customarily to the

legal faculty of the University of Frankfort-on-the-Oder, in

which Brunnemann was professor. In fact, by a recess of the


Elector Johann Sigmund of 1611 it Is prescribed that reference

should be made to it or to the Schoppenstuhl zu Brandenburg,

rather than to foreign Schdppenstuhlen.Ib., membr. 4, nn.

2? 3, 5.

Schoppenstufdl think can be rendered "bench of judges." The Sohoppe

or Scabinus was a local village justice [as weH as an assessor of the court].

The fullness of the records is prescribed in the Carolina,

c. 181. But Brunnemann complains that those transmitted

were often imperfect. Ib., n. 7.

III. NOTES ON THE CHIMES OF WITCHES.

Their Power to Injure.

The cruel fear with which witches were prosecuted was amply justified

by the irresistible malevolent powers ascribed to them. Where witches

were suspected to exist, every one felt that his prosperity or his life was at

their mercy and no one could tell when the blow might fall on him or those

dear to him.

In fact, their power to injure was infinite and no one could

so protect himself by pious observances as to be safe. Daily

experience showed the peril impending for every one. Theyattacked the careless or the sleeper with their poisons and

laid snares which no human prudence could guard against.

A word, the touch of a hand, the sprinkling of a powder, could

cause disease incurable by science. Remy, Daemonolatreia,

L ii, c. 8.

And all this he illustrates with ample examples drawn from

his judicial experience. Ib., c. 4,

Or it was only necessary to indicate to the demon what

injury to inflict on an offender and it was forthwith done.

Ib., c. 9, n. 12.

The Malleus cautions the judge and his assessors not to

let the witch touch them, especially on the joints of the arms

and hands, but always to provide themselves with exorcized

salt and blessed herbs wrapped up in blessed wax and hungaround the neck to protect them from her powers. Also she

is always to be brought into court backwards, for, if she sees

them first, they will not be able to treat her with just severity,

and they should arm themselves with the sign of the cross.

Mall. Malef., P. Ill, q. 15 (pp. 516-7).Prierias orders that when a witch is arrested she must be

lifted from the ground and be carried in a basket, for, if her


feet are allowed to touch the earth, she will be able to escapeand kill those around with lightning, as many have confessed

they would have done. Prierias, De Strigimagis, 1. iii c. 3,

punet. 6 (p. 231).Bodin says that this is sometimes practiced, but not by all

lictores (De Mag. Daemonomania, L iii, c. 4, pp. 270-1).And Tartarotti tells us that in some places caldrons were

provided, the height of a man, in which witches were carried

to prison, a sample of which was still existing in the district

of Bressanone (Del Congresso nottumo, p. 205).The town of Schiltach (eight German miles from Freiburg)

was destroyed by a conflagration, April 10, 1533, and a womanwho confessed was put to death. Erasmus tells the story as

he heard it. A demon gave a signal by whistling in a tavern;the host sent for two priests who exorcised Mm, but he ridi-

culed them, saying that both were thieves and one a whore-

master, and that he was going to burn the town. Then hetook a woman with whom for fourteen years he had relations

and placed her on the top of the chimney; he gave her a jarand told her to turn it upside down; she did so and in anhour the town was in ashes. Erasmus suggests as probablethat the demon was enraged because the son of the tavern-

keeper was Ms rival. Erasmus, Epistt., 1. xxvii, ep. 19 (ed.

Londini, 1642), col. 1525.

This is written from Freiburg in Breisgau, July 25, 1533

and is followed by another from the same place, November 19,

1533, in which he describes how for months he has been tor-

mented with fleas in his house, so numerous that he can

neither sleep, read nor write. He used jokingly to speak of

them to his friends as demons, which proved to be divination,

not joking, for a few days ago at Kylchove, 2 leagues distant,

a woman was burnt, who, although married, had for eighteen

years commerce with a demon and among other crimes con-

fessed that by her lover she had sent to Freiburg some greatsacks of fleas. Ib., Ep. 49 (col. 1564).

Attendance on the Sabbat.

A somewhat original feature of the Sabbat is told by three

men and one woman burnt at Poitiers in 1564. It was pre-

sided over by a huge goat, around which the assembly danced

in a circle. Then each one, holding a candle, kissed the goatunder the tail, after which it exploded in flames and its ashes

were gathered by the witches and served them as the mortal


powder with, which, they killed or sickened men and beasts.

Bodin, De Mag. Daemonomania, 1. ii, c. 4 (ed. Basel., 1581,

p. 168).

It is a very curious proof of the invincible preoccupation which dis-

regarded all incotisistencies and contradictions, that the allurements of

the Sabbat, wkich were represented as so powerful as to override all motives

of conscience and religion, were at the same time described as sources of

disgust rather than of delight. We have seen this as regards carnal pleasures

and so it was as to the feasts.

Kemy tells us: "Ac primum in confesso est omnibus, quos

sic sua dignatur mensa, adeo omnes ejus epulas sordere, sive

earum apparatus oeulis, sive odor naribus percipiatur, ut vel

famelico ac latranti stomacho facile nauseam parare possint."

And the flavor of the food tallied with its appearance: "ita

tristem astrictum atque amanim esse illis gustum ut sumptos

confestim prae molestia sibi necesse fuerit expuere. . . .

Virnim praeterea instar atri atque insynceri sanguinis in sor-

dido aliquo simpulo epulonibus solitinn propinari." Remy,Daemonolatreia, 1. i, c. 16, nn. 1-5 (ed. Colon. Agrip., 1596,

pp. 111-12). See also Del Rio, Disqis. Magic., 1. ii, q. 12

(ed. Mogunt., 1612, 1, p. 143).

Bread and salt were always absent, these being hateful

to the devil, because they were essential things in divine

worship.-Remy, op. tit., nn. 6-9 (p. 112) ;also Del Rio, loc.cit.

"Lamiae seu strighae," as apostates from Catholic faith,

are wholly outside the bosom of the Church, for in presence

of the devil they renounce Christ and the sacraments, they

trample on the cross and promise obedience to the devil.

Thus they can be punished by inquisitors as apostates and

worshippers of the devil. Locatus, Opus Judiciale Inquisi-

torum (Romae, 1570), p. 226.

Dr. Franz Joel, Professor of Medicine in the University of

Greifswald, in his "De Morbis Hyperphysicis" (Rostochii,

1580), admits that most of the learned look on the Sabbat as

a fable and an impossibility, while others believe it because

all witches in different places correspond in their sayings.

His own conclusion is that it is not a dream or an illusion of

melancholia, but that witches and sorcerers really and truly

sin and incur the death penalty by both divine and humanlaw. Hauber, Bibl. Mag., I, p. 687.

There were various ways in which husbands could be pre-

vented from recognizing the absence of their wives at the

Sabbat. Remy relates cases, hi one of which Bertrande the


barber said she was wont to cast her husband into profoundsleep by touching his ear with the ointment used for flying.

Eller, wife of the Dean of Ottingen, substituted for herself

the pillow of her infant, and Sichen May a broom, after

invoking the names of their respective demons; Maria, wifeof Johann Schneider, a bundle of straw touched with the

ointment, and it would disappear as soon as she returned.

Katrina Ruffa sometimes made her demon take her place.

Remy, Daemonolatreia, 1. i, c. 12 (p. 82).Porta says that while he was doubtfully weighing the matter

(the truth of the Sabbat) there fell into Ms hands an old

woman of those they call striges, who willingly promised to

bring him tidings (from a distance). She shut every one out,but they peeped through the cracks of the door and saw her

strip herself and anoint herself all over, when she fell into a

deep sleep. They opened the door and beat her soundly with-

out awaking her. They left her, and, when the trance passed,she told many crazy things, of passing seas and mountains,but brought false answers. They denied, and showed her

the bruises, but she persisted and would not be convinced.

This succeeds better with melancholic natures. Such is the

force of imagination that they seem to be carried through the

night to banquets, where they dance and have commercewith handsome youths, which they principally desire; bynature easy of belief, they dwell on these things day and nightto the exclusion of everything else, and this is assisted bytheir scanty diet of vegetables and chestnuts. He gives twoformulas for the preparation of the ointment, of which the

base is the fat of infants. Giambattista Porta, De Miraculis

Rerum Naturalium, L ii, c. 26 (Antverpiae, 1560), fol. 85.

He also gives formulas by which men can seem to wear the

heads of horses, asses, and other beasts. Ib., c. 17, fol. 64.

Benedict XIV (pope 1740-58) says: "Per illusionem sen-

suum tarn interiorum quam exteriorum facta sunt ea de quibusin Can. Nee mirum, 26, Q. 5, . . * et ad hanc eamdemclassem referri posse videntur ea quae de Strigibus narrantur

a Daemone deportatis juxta alium textum in Can. Episcopi,

26, Q. 5, ubi haec habentur." He quotes part of it and pro-

ceeds: "quamvis non desint Catholici Scriptores qui hasce

deportationes aliquando vere factas fuisse et fieri Daemonurn

potestate admittunt Paulus Grillandus, Del Rio, Laurentius

Anianus, Alfonso de Castro, et novissime Frassen in suo Scoto

Academico, torn. 4 Romanae Editionis anni 1721, tract. 1,

ii 58

914: THE DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

disput. 3, art. 3, in Appendice de Strigibus, 3." Prospero de

Lambertlnis, De Servorum Dei Beatifieatione, L iv, P. I, c.

3 ;n. 3 (ed Bononiae, 1738), IV, p. 24.

He also cites, after St. Aiigustii^ the companions of Ulyssesand Diomed, the Arcadian transformations into beasts, andthe change of Iphigenia into a doe, not as legends, but as

instances of the same diabolic illusions. Ibidem.Even Bart. Spina admits that there may be illusion and

that women after inunction may fall into stupor in which

they imagine themselves at the Sabbat and so report on

waking, giving all details. Of this he gives several cases,both experimental and accidentally observed. Also a curious

one of a man poisoned with a narcotic who imagined himself

changed into a horse carrying burdens, as related by S. Augus-tin, De Civ. Dei, xviii, 28, q. v. B. Spina, Quaestio de

Strigibus, c. 2.

Bodin also has several cases of the same kind. Of courseit was easy for Mm and the demonologists to explain awaythis by the arts of the devil to stimulate unbelief. Bodin,Daemonomania, L ii, c. 5.

So Del Rio "tune sagas decipit eas loco non movendo, utsic judicibus et principibus persuadeat falsa esse quae detalibus transvectionibus feruntur atque ita justitiae execu-cutionem impediat." Disquis. Magic., L ii, q. 16 (I, p. 169).

See also Godelmann, De Magis, etc., 1. ii, c. 4, n. 23, q. v.

Alfonso Tostato, In Gen., c. 13, q. 355, relates a similarcase in which it was tried as an experiment. Tartarotti,p. 144.

See also Gianfrancesco Pico in his Strega.

Remy admits that there are cases of this kind. The personon awaking will sometimes be enraged on finding that her

story of absence at the Sabbat is disbelieved. This leads

many to regard the whole thing as a matter of dreams sent

by the devil to those whom he has entangled in his snares.

Remy, Daemonolatreia, L i, c. 14, nn. 1, 2 (p. 91).For the composition of the unguent see Porta, De Magia

naturali, L viii, cc. 1 and 2.

Much perverted ingenuity has been devoted by learned Germans toexplaining how the witch-craze arose and developed its devastating course,some of them as fantastic as the craze itself. It is not worth while to wearythe reader with these more or less crude speculations which throw morelight on the idiosyncrasies of their authors than on the history of witch-craft. Should anyone have the curiosity, however, to examine them hewill find an abstract of them in Dr. Otto SnelTs Hexenprozess und Geistes-

storung (Miinchen, 1891), pp. 6S-77.

WITCHCKAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAB IAW 915

Dr. Snell rejects the theory (advanced by Porta andCardan) of the soporific and hallucinatory powers of the

ointment. He experimented on himself with an ointment of

aconitin and fat and found neither anaesthesia nor livelydreams to follow. Then he went further and took internallydoses of tinctures of belladonna and of stramonium and a

solution of sulphate of atropia in larger doses than prescribed

by the pharmacopoeia, with no result except painful cerebral

symptoms the next day which warned Mm to desist from Msinvestigations. The statements,, he says, of the erotic and

agreeable hallucinations produced by belladonna and datura

are based on severely poisonous doses that forbid the assump-tion of their having been used customarily. Snell, op. cit.,

p. 81.

Some of the speculations of modern spiritualistic psychologists to explain

the more or less authentic accounts of telepathy and its cognate manifes-

tations, that there is a psychic body which in certain states of trance or

slumber can separate itself from the corporeal body and see and be seen

at distant places, would have served the denaonologists admirably and in

much simpler fashion than their invocation of demon substitutes when the

witch was in bed with her husband and at the same time seen actively

engaged in the Sabbat, the pleasures of which the corporeal body was

enjoying in its dreams.

Yet, if these theories have any substantial basis of fact, it is difficult to

understand why these manifestations should have been matters of every-

day occurrence in the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries among the

rude, uncultured and unspnitual classes and have become so rare in modern

times that the energetic investigators into psychical research during so

many years should have discovered so few cases bearing an approach to

authenticity.

Cannibalism.

Peter of Berne stated that in Lausanne there were witches

who cooked and ate their own cMldren. In the Canton of

Berne there were tMrteen infants thus devoured in a brief

time. One of the witches related that with their arts they

killed them in the cradle or by the mother's side, dug them

up after burial and boiled them till the flesh left the bones;

of the more solid parts the unguent was made and the liquid

was drunk. Nider, Formicarius, 1. v, c. 3 (pp. 545-6).

"Sunt autem hae quae contra humanae naturae inclina-

tionem, imo omnium ferarum, propriae speciei infantes vorant

et comedere solent." Mall. Male!., P. II, q- 1, c. 2 (p. 220).

Again, P. I, q. 11 (p. 143), speaks of an infant being killed

and devoured in a liquid.


Del Rio tells of a certain Peter Stumpf ,of a village near

Cologne, who for twenty years had relations with a succubuswho gave Mm a belt, on wearing which he became a wolf.

In this shape he killed fifteen boys and devoured their brains

and endeavored to devour two daughters-in-law. All of which

appears in the proceedings of the trial and in engravings for

sale everywhere.- Disquis. Magic., L ii, c. 18 (I, p. 190).

In the Logrono auto de fe it is shown that the flesh of ex-

humed corpses was a part of the ordinary banquets in the

Sabbat.

Torreblanca tells us that they tear living infants to piecesand drink their blood to rejuvenate themselves, or cook themand eagerly devour them in the Sabbat. Epitome Delic-

torum, 1. ii, c. 38, nn. 5, 11, 19 (pp. 291-2).

Remy informs us that human flesh was sometimes served

in the banquet. Daemonolatreia, 1. i, c. 16, n. 17 (p. 114).

Bodin describes it as a well-known custom "Undecimumcrimen est quod humanas cames ac puerorum maxime come-dunt Sagae et palam bibunt sanguinem. . . . Verumtamenistud est exploratissimum. Quod si pueros habere non pos-

sunt, hominum cadavera e sepulchris effodiunt aut suspen-sorum eximunt e patibulis, prout persaepe compertum est."

De Mag. Daemonomania, 1. v, c. 5 (pp. 380-1).Gilles Gamier, burnt by the Parlement of Dole, January 18,

1573, as a loup-garou, confessed to devouring several children

and even when in human shape endeavoring to kill a boy of

thirteen to eat him, but was prevented. Grosius, Magica(Islebiae, 1597), p. 218.

Pierre Burgot and Michel Verdun, burnt at Besan9on byInquisitor Jean Boine in 1521, had as werwolves killed anddevoured four girls. Ibidem.

Sexual Relations with Demons.

Cardinal Caietano evidently has no conception that theasons of God" could be angels. He treats them as just men

and therefore avoids all questions as to intercourse between

spirits and human beings. Commentarii in Quinque Libros

Mosis, Gen., vi, 1-5.

The curiosity of the judges was insatiable to learn all possible details as

to sexual intercourse and their industry in pushing the examinations wasrewarded by an abundance of foul imaginations. It is remarkable thatwhile the demonologists tell us that the gratification of lust was one of

the leading incentives to witchcraft (see Malleus Maleficarum, P. II, q. 1,

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR IAW 917

c. 1), yet the women with singular unanimity everywhere describe the

relation as painful and distasteful. It is impossible for me to into

these repulsive detafls} but perhaps in a footnote the following extracts from

Nicholas Jtemy may be given in the original. It condenses into small

compass what is dilated on with endless repetition and variation in the re-

ports of the trials and the elaborate discussions of the systematic writers.

"At hoc qui nobis istos concubitus suceubitusque Daemo-num memorant, uno ore loquuntur omnes, nihil iis frigidius

ingratiusque quicquain fingi, ant dici posse. Petronius Armen-tarius membra sibi omnia statizn atque Abrahelem suam com-

plectebatur diriguisse; Hennezelius quasi in frigida oppletamspecum immisisset re imperfecta Seuatzebourg suam (erantvero haec snccnbarum nomina) reliquisse se prodiderant.

Sagae quoque omnes perhibent sic Daemonibus suis comparataesse, quae putantur virilia, ut sine sensu maximo doloris praevastitate rigoreque nimio admitti non possint . Alexia Drigaearecensnit Daemoni suo penem cum surrigebat tantum semperextitisse quanti essent subiees focarii quos turn forte praesentes

digito demonstrabat;scroto ac coleis nullis inde pendentibus.

Claudia Fellaea expertam esse se saepius instar fusi in tantam

vastitatem turgentis ut sine magno dolore contineri a quan-tumvis capace muliere non posset. . . . Et communis fere

est omnium quaerela perinvitas se a Daernone suo comprimi,non prodesse tamen quod obluetantur. . . . Sed esto,

possit aliquis inter adeo frigidos inamoenosque complexus

dispumare in libidinem. Remy, Daemonolatreia, 1. i, c. 6,

an. 7-13.

Alphonso de Castro (1547) holds that this commerce with

demons is the chief incentive to witchcraft." Primus autem

et praecipuus finis ad quern homines hujus diabolicae artis

tendunt est carnis voluptas, propter quam ad libitum et

satietatem assequendam, se totos daemon! dedunt et alia

omnia quae diximus faciunt." And he thus explains whythere are more women than men, for, like all other monkish

theologians, he asserts that women are more libidinous than

men "quia foeminae vehementius carnis voluptates appetunt

et facilius hujusmodi appetitui succumbunt." Alph. de Cas-

tro, De Justa Punitione Haereticorum, 1. i, c. 16 (Opera, Parisiis,

1571, col. 1147-8).

How does this tally with the assertions of the women that there was no

pleasure?

Bellarmine approves of the belief that Antichrist will be

born of a woman and a demon and proves in the customary


way that procreation can ensue from such connections.

Beliarmine, De Romano Pontifice, 1. MI, c. 12 (Xeapoii, 1856),

I, p. 443.

Now BeUarmine gives as authority for this St. Augustin, "Testatur hoc

Augustinus, lib. xv de Civ. Bel, c. 23" which is a good example of the

tendency to father everything on him, for, while he in this chapter admits

the possibility of procreation, he says nothing about the method.

GUACCIO, FRAN. MARIA. Compendium Maleficarum. Me-diolani, 1626 (2d ed.).

1

The credulity of the period was insatiable, Guaccio pre-cedes his chapter on Incubi with preposterous stories of off-

spring from unions of a monkey with a woman, of a man with

a cow, etc. He explains them by the universal solvent of the

intermediation of demons. Ib., p. 61.

(Saxo Graminaticus in Hist. Danicae, 1. x, ed. 1576, p. 174,

tells a story of a monstrous bear which carried off a girl andhad a son by her, whose posterity he recounts. H. C. L.)

Demons can assume the corpses of the dead or make bodies

for themselves out of air and other elements, move and warmthem. As they have no sex they can present themselves to

men in female form and to women in male. "Possunt etiamaliunde aceepturn semen adferre et naturalem ejus emissionemimitari.'

7

Guaccio, p. 63.

Children can be born from such unions (though the demonis not the father), of which there are ample examples: the

Huns from Gothic witches, some say Luther. Within ten

years, in a leading city of Brabant, a woman was punishedfor having a child by a demon. Ib., pp. 62-3.

Some argue against it that "semen quod Daemon infundit

Sagae fatentur esse frigidum et nullam afferre voluptatem sed

horrorem potius, quare nee potent inde generatio sequi; haecest ratio Marci Ephesii et confirmata a Remigio confessione

Sagarum dicentium omnem voluptatem abesse a tali copula,imo summum dolorem se percipere." To this the answer is

that the witches know they have to do with demons, whotherefore use no precautions. With others they ask whether

they wish to conceive which is very rare. In this case theyuse human semen properly preserved; otherwise "infundit

aliquid instar seminis, caUdum tamen ne fraus deprehen-datur." Ib., p. 63.

It is from such unions that the malefici are descended.

Ib., p. 64.

1 For other excerpts from Guaccio see pp. 489^90.


The greater the wickedness in which demons can involve

men, the more God is offended and the greater the power he

grants to demons to punish them. Ib., p. 65.

Thus it works in a vicious circle not complimentary to divine intel-

ligence.

To a certain extent he seems to anticipate Sinistrari in

saying that incubi and succubi are drawn from the inferior

class of spirits, known as nymphs and dryads, fauns and

satyrs. Ib., p. 66.

In 1615 near Tr&ves a man was executed who had had rela-

tions with a suceubus for more than twenty years. She gavehim a belt, on wearing which he seemed to himself and to

others to be a wolf, and as such had killed 15 boys and eaten

their brains. "Constant haec omnia actis judiciariis et Iconi-

bus in aes incisis palamque venalibus." Ib., p. 67.

There are three classes subject to visitations from incubi

and succubi. There are women, such as witches, who seek

it voluntarily. There are others who against their will are

involved by sorcerers with incubi and succubi. "Tertio

aMae stint, et hae sunt praecipue quaedam virgines quaecontra earuin omnino voluntatem ab incubis daemonibus

molestantur, de quibus praesumitur saepe quod sic a malefieis

maleficiantur , quia daemones ad instantiam maieficanim, sicut

immittunt alias infirmitates ita et illis personis incubos fieri

affectant, quo sic eas ad stulta ejus commenta allicere vale-

ant." Ib., p. 309.

While he talks in a general way of the frequency of this, he has few

examples to recount. He gives the old stock stories of Boethius, St. Bernard

and others, but only two or three contemporary ones.

SINISTRAKI DE AMEND, LuDOVicus MAHiA. De Daemoni-

alitate et Incubis et Succubis. Written towards the end of the

seventeenth century, it was first published (Paris, 1875) byits finder, Isidore Liseux, with translations into English and

French. 1

It is written for the instruction of confessors, to guide them

in the imposition of penance. He also desires to confute the

i Sinistrari, who died in 1701, had been at different times Consultor to the Holy

Inquisition at Rome, Vicar General of the Archbishop of Avignon and theologian

to the Archbishop of Milan. His non-posthumous works were: Practica Criminalis,

Formularium Criminale, De Incorrigibilium Expulsione ab Ordinibus Regularibus,

and De Delictis et Poenis. These were collected and republished at Rome in 3 vols.

fol 1753-4. He was also intrusted with the task of compiling the statutes of his Order,

the'Reformed Friars Minor of the Stricter Observance. The De Daemonialitate is

almost certainly a body of paragraphs cut by an ecclesiastical censor from an unfin-

ished draft of Sinistrari's treatise on crimes and penalties.


sciolists who deny the existence of the offence and attribute

it to the imagmation. Ib., pp. 12-14.

He admits that this as well as the Sabbat is sometimes an

illusion (p. 14).

The object of Sinistrari is to prove that incubi and suceubi

are not demons the evil angels who fell with Satan, but

beings of a different order called in Italy Fotteti, in France

Follets and in Spain Dumdes. One distinction is that they

care nothing for exorcisms, holy water, relics, the invocation

of God, Christ, the Virgin and the Saints the ordinary rem-

edies against demons. They are impelled by lasciviousness-

falling in love with men and women whom they persecute till

they attain their end or become discouraged, when they mani-

fest their spite in all kinds of malicious persecutions, which

show what powers they possess over all material things.

They assume human shape and appear and disappear at will.

TbM p. 30.

He tells a long story of a persecution of this kind occurring

twenty-five years before at Pavia when he was Professor of

Theology in the convent of Santa Croce. It lasted for years

until the spirit abandoned the attempt, finding the womanobdurate. Ib., pp. 32-46.

He concludes the story by saying: "In hoc casu et similibus

qui passim audiuntur et leguntur, Incubus ad nullum actum

contra Religionem tentat, sed solum contra castitatem. Hinc

fit quod ipsi consentiens non peccat irreligiositate, sed ineon-

tinentia" which establishes a wide difference between this

and the Demoniality of Caramuel and the theologians, impor-

tant for the confessor.

He gives a list of those credited as the offspring of demons

and women Romulus and Remus, Servius Tullius, Plato,

Alexander the Great, King Seleucus of Syria, Scipio Afri-

canus, Augustus, Aristomenes of Messina, Merlin and Martin

Luther. Ib., p. 48.

At the same time he controverts as impossible the common

opinion of the doctors as to the mode of generation by acting

alternately as succubus and incubus giving amply valid

reasons (p. 50). "Sub correctione Sanctae Matris Ecclesiae

et mere opinative dico Incubum Daemonem, dum mulieribus

eommiscetur, ex proprio ipsius semine hominem generare

(p. 60)."He admits that the creatures he describes may be all de-

scendants of a single pair, be born and die, be of both sexes,


have human senses and passions, be nourished by the effluviaof meat and wine and flowers

, and their bodies are material,though exceedingly tenuous (p. 96) ; they may form organizedsocieties with different social orders, government, cities, andarmies. Their shape cannot be determined, but it is probablylike that of man; they have souls capable of salvation or

perdition (pp. 82-88). But their lives must be longer thanthose of men (p. 98),

They can penetrate through substances by the pores whichexist in all matter (p. 104). They can enlarge or contracttheir bodies (p. 106). Whether they are born in original sin

depends on whether their first progenitor sinned like Adam;if so, they participate in the redemption wrought by Christ

(p. 108) . He assumes that these beings are the demons alluded

to by Plato and Plutarch (p. 112).These succubi are distinguished from demons by the fact

that what they seek is purely the gratification of the senses;if their advances are welcomed they reward the object of

their affection; if rejected, they persecute him cruelly; it is

not only the human species that they affect, but animals, such

as mares, as is seen every day, by taking away their food so

they perish of hunger; they require no adoration, or renunci-

ation of Christ and baptism, like the evil spirits, and they are

not driven off by exorcisms, holy water, invocation of Christ,

etc., but by fumigations and perfumes or other substances,which are obnoxious to them according to their temperament(pp. 116-20, 126, 130, 134).

They can appear in any shape they please. Story of one

who besieged a monk of the Certosa of Ticino, and, being

refused, vexed him by appearing as a skeleton, a hog, an ass,

an angel, a bird, then as the vicar of the convent and heard

him in confession, then as the monk presented himself to the

vicar and asked for brandy and tobacco (pp. 132-6).

In support of his theory as to suffumigations he refers to

Tobias, when Raphael says to him,"If thou put a little piece

of its heart upon coals the smoke thereof driveth away all

kinds of devils, either from man or from woman, so that theycome no more to them" (Tobit, vi, 8).

Which suggests that Sinistrari derived his idea as to these

spirits from the devil Asmodeus that slew Sara's seven hus-

bands; and also from Jerome's story in his life of St. Paul.

St. Anthony wandering in the desert in search of St. Paul's

hermitage meets a small man with horns and goat's feet who


offers Mm some dates and in reply to Ms question says,"Mortalis ego sum, et unus ex accoHs Eremi, quos vario errore

delusa Gentilitas Faunos Satyrosque et Incubos vocans colit.

Legations fungor gregis mei. Precamur ut pro nobis commu-

nem Deum depreceris, quern pro salute mundi venisse cogno-

vimus, et in universam terrain exiit sonus ejus." Then the

"animal" disappeared in rapid flight. Ib., pp. 138-48.

To forestall incredulity Jerome adds that under Constans (337-350) a

"man" of this kind was brought to Alexandria, where he was regarded with

great surprise, and after his death Ms body was pickled and carried to the

emperor at Antioch. Hieron., Vita Pauli Eremitae, n. 8 (Migne XXIII, 23).

Sinistrari argues that Ms incubi, when they generate, have

no need of the device attributed to demons. They have then-

own powers of generation, about which he enters into muchdetail (p. 188).

He concludes by considering the character of the offence

committed in having relations with his incubi. ItJs

less

heinous in itself than those with demons, but, as the individual

believes them to be demons, in conscience it is the same (p.

202).

This is evidently requisite to preserve his book from condemnation, as

otherwise it would be calculated to mislead confessors. But anyhow, as

his book was not printed at the time, it probably was refused license as

subversive of received opinion.

The editor, Liseux, appends an extract from SinistrarFs

work "De Delictis et Poenis," which we have seen above was

twice printed. In this he draws a distinction between incubi

and demons "Quantum ad probationem hujus criminis

attinet, distinguendum est de Daemonialitate, puta, vel ejus,

quae a Sagis seu Maleficis fit cum Diabolis; sive de ea quaeab aliis fit cum Incubis" (p. 206); but this may be from the

earlier edition, prohibited donee corrigatur, or from the later

corrected one. The editor does not say which.

Sinistrari says he can find no law, civil or canon, which

prescribes a penalty for demoniality. But, as it presupposes

pact and apostasy and the infinite evils wrought by witches,

regularly, outside of Italy, it is visited with halter and stake.

"In Italia autem rarissime traduntur hujusmodi Malefici ab

Inquisitoribus Curiae saeculari" (p. 218).

POTT, JOHANNES HENBICTJS. Specimen Juridicum de Ne-

fando Lamiarum cum Didbolo Coitu, in quo abstrusissima haec

materia diludde explicatur, quaestiones inde emergentes curate

resolvuntur, variisque non injucundis exemplis illustrantur.

Jenae, 1689.


The temper, even at this period, of the upholders of the witehcmze is

illustrated in the Preface, in which the author enlarges eloquently upon the

incessant and all-pervading efforts of the devil to injure all members of

the human race, requiring every man to be perpetually on guard againstthis powerful, astute and remorseless enemy. That his credulity wasinsatiable is seen in Ms illustrating Ms argument with absurd stories from

Grodelmann, showing that a century had brought no enlightenment to

believers. Yet this man was a Dr. Phil, et U. J. D. and Eegim. Saxo-

Jenensis Adv. Ord., so I suppose he had a hand in the cases brought to

Jena for adjudication.

He commences by discussing the various names given to

witches Lamiae, Singes, Sagae and Veneficae in German,

Hexm, Zauberinnen, Wettermacherinnen9Tochter des Donners,

Unholden, Gabelreiterinnen (riders on pitchforks) and in some

places Truten and Wickhersen, from "wicken," to foretell.

Ib., c. 1, 1-2 (p. 2).

There are three kinds of lamiae. One is of those given to

melancholia, who are fascinated and deceived by the devil,

so they seem to have made pact with Mm and to do various

things which are all mere tricks of the imagination. Thethird is of those who of set purpose enter into pact with the

devil, subject themselves to him body and soul, gratify the

foulest lust with him and work evil to men. Ib., 4 (p. 3).

Men have intercourse with succubi, as women with incubi,

but, as the latter are more numerous, he adopts the latter in

the rubric of his Dissertation. Ib., 7 (pp. 4-5).

As there are some who deny the existence of such relations

and treat them as dreams and illusions he devotes the next

chapter to the question of their truth. Ib., 8 (p. 5).

He commences by quoting from some of the sceptics

Jaquerius, c. 2, Joh. Fichard, Consult, iii, and Theod. Thum-

mius, Tract, theolog. de Sagarum impietate, nocendi imbecilli-

tate et poenae gravitate (Tubingen, 1666, 2 ed. 1667).

Then he argues in favor of his own opinion. The thing is

not repugnant to the nature of the devil, who is a "spiritus

foriricationis et luxuriae," as appears from Holy Writ (for

this he quotes Hosea, iv, 12, which merely says that the

people are possessed by a spirit of fornication H. C. L.).

He knows that man is attracted to lust as iron to a magnet

and through it he seeks to allure them and therefore "cum

sagis initium consuetudinis a turpi hac venere ut plurimumsumere solet," as appears from their confessions and from

some cases which he relates. Secondly, there is no doubt, as

shown by experience, that there are persons of such impiety


that they do not hesitate to renounce Christianity and make

pact with the devil, surrendering body and soul to him and

often giving writings in their own blood. "Ex hoc pacto

oritur praesumptio concubitus satanici, rarius enio^ absque

foedere praemisso hanc nefandam libidinem locum invenire

notat Carpzov." (He has just said that it was the beginning

of relations. H. C. L.) Thirdly, it is certain and confirmed

by the universal opinion of theologians and jurists that,

although the demon is destitute of flesh and of a real human

body, he can surround himself with such a body, either a

corpse or one formed of air, earth and water, which can be

seen and felt. For this and for the intercourse he quotes, as

usual, Augustin, De Civ. Dei, xv, 23. Fourthly, from manyconfessions of witches it appears that they often as a result

give birth to worms, injurious to men, which they afterwards

by sorcery convey into the legs, arms and other members of

men. "Quoniam vero ex his affirmativae sententiae veritas

satis superque elueescit," he passes on to controvert the con-

traxy arguments. Ib., c. 2, 3-6 (pp. 7-10).

THs is a fair specimen of the flimsy arguments which, satisfied men

presumably of trained intelligence in support of preconceived opinions.

He demolishes the assertion that such acts are imaginary

by references to the Malleus, to Carpzov and to the case

related of St. Bernard. To the second argument that witches

stated they felt no pleasure in the act he opposes cases from

Carpzov and Goehausen. As to the third argument, that no

offspring resulted, he replies that the only object of the

demon is to vitiate the men and women with whom he deals

and he quotes some stories to show how the devil seeks to

do this. The fourth argument is that Scripture, which fully

describes the evil works of the devil, says nothing of this.

To which he answers that to argue negation from silence is

of no weight.-Ib., 7-10 (pp. 10-13).

Having thus, he says, proved the reality of the matter, he

proceeds to describe it. The devil appears in the shape of all

animals, as well as of man, except the lamb and the dove

as wolf, bear, lion, serpent, dog, monkey, bat, crow and manyothers, but most frequently as serpent, goat, crow and raven.

As man, there is always some defect, horns, goat's feet, claws,

nose long and terrible, flaming eyes, hairy hands, dark and

prominent teeth as witches all attest. In whatever form

they appear they consummate the act. Goes on to relate


numerous stories, some of which he admits to be incredibleIb., c. 3, 1-12 (pp. 14-20).

Describes the Sabbat and its ending with incubi and suc-eubi. Ib., 13 (pp. 20-1).Demons even mix with brutes. In Flanders one in human

shape thus acted with a cow, which gave birth to an infant

who^was baptized and educated and became a pious and God-fearing man, but he said he had a continual desire to walkin the meadows and browse with the herds. Ib., 14 (p. 21).(This is from Del Rio, 1. ii, q. 14, p. 157. H. C. L.)But whether this be true or not, it is an indubitable fact

that demons in the form of animals have intercourse withwitches for which he quotes a case from Carpzov. Ib.,15 (p. 21).

The number of references to Carpzov show how much influence he hadin perpetuating these beliefs. The cases which he gives form an inexhaus-tible storehouse, armed as they are with the highest judicial authority ofthe times.

He also refers to Weyer, De Praestig. Daem., 1. iv, c. 10,in proof that demons in the shape of animals have intercoursewith women, which shows the fallacies of Weyer's position,

though the cases referred to scarce bear out Ms inference.

From Strozzi Cicogna (Palagio de gli Incanti, Vicenza, 1605)Pott borrows a story of the wife of a merchant near Witten-

berg who, in her husband's absence, used to admit an adulter-

ous youth, till one night he exclaimed, "Behold your lover,

changed into a woodpecker/' and disappeared to return nomore. Ib., 16 (pp. 22-3).He says there is a wonderful difference of opinion among

the doctors as to how the act is accomplished, but he mentionsnone of them except that many believe the demon acts alter-

nately as succubus and incubus. Ib., 17-18, (pp. 23-4).Demons experience no pleasure in such unions. Ib., c. 4,

1, (p. 25).

There is difference of opinion among the doctors as to pro-creationsome holding this to be impossible, others that it

is possible with the borrowed sperm. He holds it impossibleand says that the offspring attributed to such unions are

children supplied by demons at the time of parturition.

Quotes Luther's Tischreden in support, who holds that the

creation of a child is an act of God. Ib., 3 (pp. 26-8).

Del Rio has no difficulty in accepting procreation and says that the

incubus will sometimes ask the woman if she wishes to be impregnated,


In which case she is. Disquis. Magic., 1. ii, q. 15, axiom. 3 (pp. 159-61)

which is virtually the same as Mall. Maief., P. II, q. 1, c. 4 (p. 253).

It is worth noting here that Dei Rio tells us that the heretics for the

greater part deay the intercourse of incubi and succubi, and even some

Catholics, but these latter are of little weight among the Belgians Philippus

Broideus and among the Italians Cardan, Ponzirdbio and Porta. Disquis.

Magic., 1. ii, q. 15, axiom. 1 (p. 159).

Pott goes on to give opinions on both sides and says the

negative has the preponderance, though he does not wish

the reader to accept as gospel his opinion on so abstruse a

matter. Ib., 4-7 (pp. 29-32).

Then he relates a case from Strozzi Cicogna (Palagio de gli

Incanti) of Margaret of Essingen who, after intercourse with

an incubus, found her belly swell so that it covered her from

head to foot and she seemed nothing but a ball of flesh, from

the exterior of which came the crowing of cocks, the barking

of dogs, the bleating of sheep, the lowing of oxen, the neighing

of horses, the grunting of pigs and in fine the sounds of all

animals. What was the result is not stated. Ib., 8 (p. 32).

Cicogna also tells that in 1278 in Switzerland a womanthus gave birth to a lion; in 1471 at Pavia one bore a cat and

at Brescia another bore a dog; and in 1531 at Augsburg one

was delivered first of a human head enveloped in a membrane,then of a two-footed serpent and third of a swine. Ib., 9

(p. 32).

Pott quotes from Elich (Philip-Ludwig, Daemonomagia,

Frankfort, 1607), who says he was an eye-witness that a

peasant witch would daily when she pleased lay eggs in a nest

constructed of straw in her bedroom. She cackled like a hen;

there never were more than nine, and she would gather them

up. He suggests that they were brought by a demon and

says that such things are rare but are proved by the confes-

sions of many witches. Ib., 10 (pp. 33-4).

Moslem tradition relates that B&kis, Solomon's Queen of Sheba, was

the daughter of a jinneyehor female jinn or spirit. Hanauer, Folk-Lore

of the Holy Land (London, 1907), p. 97.

He goes on with a number of cases of births of evil things,

worms, etc., used afterwards in sorcery mostly drawn from

Carpzov, but scarce worth repeating here. Ib., 11-13 (pp.

34-8).All magi have a bad end. Among others he enumerates

Johann Faust, who with the aid of the devil performed manymarvels. Leaving a certain town, he stopped for the night


at an inn; at supper Ms host asked why he looked so sad,when Faust warned MTU not to be disturbed if there was a

noise during the night. That night the devil came with sucha crash that the house seemed to be torn from its foundationsand in the morning Faust was found King dead, with face

twisted around, by his bedside. Ib. 5 c. 5, 5 (p. 42).

Among other authorities for this he cites Weyer, who has

a chapter on the unhappy end of magi. Among Weyer'sexamples is that of Joannes Faustus "ex Kundling/' whoshortly before 1540 practised magic "cum multoram admira-

tione, mendaciis et fraude multifaria in diversis Gennaniaelocis." Arrested at Batoburgum on the Meuse near the

border of Gueldres in the absence of Baron Hermann, his

chaplain, D. Joannes Dorstenius, treated him mildly on the

promise of being taught various arts. They drank wine

together and when Dorstenius broke off, saying he was goingto Grave to be shaved, Faust promised, if he would bringmore wine, to teach "hrm how to shave without a razor. Dor-

stenius agreed and Faust gave him an arsenical preparationto rub in. It took off not only the hair but the skin and some

of the flesh with the violence of the inflammation. Weyer hadthis from first hands, for he says, "Cum stomacho idem ille

mihi facinus hoc non semel recensuit.57 As to his death,

Weyer briefly says, "Hie tandem in pago ducatus Witten-

bergici inventus fuit juxta lectum mortuus inversa facie et

domo praecedenti nocte media quassata, ut fertur." Weyer,

De Praestig. Daemon., 1. ii, c. 4, 8 (p. 105).

Look up the Faust legend. This seems all matter of fact.

There are some who endeavor to defend witches from the

death penalty, among whom is Antonius Praetorius in his

Griindliche Bericht von Zauberey und Zauberern (Frankfort

a. M. 1629). There is also Weyer, with whom Thunnnius

agrees (Tractatus theol. de Sagarum Impietate, Tubingen,

1667) and argues that they are deceived by the devil into

pact, and that if they have not wrought any malefitii delictum,

they are not to be put to death for merely renouncing the

faith, but are to be led to repentance and, when they have

thrown off the yoke of the devil, are to be discharged; if they

are obstinate, they are to be banished from Christendom.

There is also Godelmann. Against Thummius Pott quotes

the Saxon law denouncing death for pact and argues away

the Carolina, cap. 109. Also quotes the Jus Prutenicum

928 THE BELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

(Prussian?), fib. vi, tit. 4, art. 2, 1, which says, "Itaque si quis

Christianus fide derelicta sacramentum Deo praestitum per-

fide violaverit, et contra cum Satana, humani generis ^hoste,

pactum fecisse, alludve commerclum habuisse, etiam si nem-

ini nocuerit, multoque magis si homines ant animalia veneficio

laesisse, aut alia damna infefici sua arte dedisse, convictus

fuerit, eum vivum exuri et ultricibtis flammis e medio tolli

debere sancimus et decemimus." Observe this gives no

alternative of beheading for penitents. Pott, op. tit., c. 5,

7-8 (pp. 43-7).

Fire is the penalty for witches and magi "cum Daemone

detestandam hanc libidinem exercentes," even if there is no

pactfor which he quotes Carpzov and Bodin. Ib., 10-11

(pp. 47-8).When convicted witches die or commit suicide in gaol their

bodies are to be burnt "in terrorem aliorum ut a tarn nefando

delicto absterreantur." Ib., 12 (p. 49).

He gives opinions on both sides and finally leaves the ques-

tion to him "qui summam habet potestatem et condere leges

vel statuta potest."Ib., 16 (p. 53).

Penitence and confession after arrest earn no mitigation,

but before arrest and accusation death by fire may be com-

muted to decapitation for which he quotes from Carpzov a

decision of the Scabini Lipsienses "lamiae cuidam quae inter

caetera delicta cum Diabolo quoque concubuerat et nondumincarcerata vel accusata, recedendo a pactione cum Diabolo

contracta, poenitentiam egerat, poenam gladii dictasse."

Ib., 17 (pp. 53-4).

Extreme youth may call for mitigation. He quotes a sen-

tence of the judges of Rinteln on a girl of nine or ten, misled

by her stepmother, who had had intercourse with her magis-

tellus and in consideration of all this was condemned to be

scourged, instructed and handed over to pious folk who were

to keep her under severe discipline. Moreover she was to be

present at the burning of her stepmother and told that this

would be her fate if she relapsed. Ib., 18 (pp. 54-5).

Minority alone from fourteen to twenty-five does not

call for mitigation, though some discretion may be exercised

in special cases by the judge. Ib., 19 (pp. 55-6).

Promises of grace and impunity for confession ought never

to be made, but if made should be kept. Quotes from Carpzova case in 1599 where the Leipzig judges in consideration of

this commuted burning to beheading. Ib., 20 (p. 57).

WITCHCKAFT AS "VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW 929

Whether ignorance that the person with whom intercourseis had Is [a demon constitutes] a valid excuse for immunity,is a question which Pott discusses without reaching a con-

clusion. Ib., 21 (pp. 58-9).He makes no allusion to taciturnity caused by charms and

spells or demonic influence, but discusses what is to be donewhen the accused is dumb and cannot speak. If educatedshe can write her confession; if not, the examination may becarried on in the sign language; if the judge does not under-

stand it, he should have two interpreters. Ib., 23 (p. 61).

It is significant that so credulous a writer should not allude to taciturnity .

If adultery is cause for divorce, so intercourse with demonsdissolves marriage, if the witch from any cause is spared. It

was so decided by the Scabini Lipsienses, November, 1613,in the case of Curt Puchenss of Meiningen, whose wife con-

fessed to it but was not put to death in view of long imprison-ment and other causes. He was told that he was free to

marry again. Ib., 24 (p. 62).

He appends to his little work an example of a pact with

Satan made in 1676 at Pignerol by a French duke whose

name he suppresses. He says he doubts whether it was really

executed because the duke is reported to have been released

from prison and set at liberty. It is exceedingly elaborate,

in 28 articles, and was probably drawn up by some sharper

who was speculating on the duke's superstition, but anyhowit is a curious illustration of what such things were thoughtto be and of the beliefs of the period and may be worth

translating.- Ib., pp. 70-72.

KLEIN, JOHANTST. JEJxamen juridicum judicialis LamwrumConfessionis se ex nefando cum Satana coitu prolem mscipisse

humanum. S.L, 1731.

An academical dissertation presented November 19, 1698 in the Univer-

sity of Rostock. First printed, Gtistrow, 1698, again in 1705, 1731, 1741.

German translation; 1707 (s.l.) and again Frankfurth u. Leipzig, 1717.1

In his Preface he says, "Id vero sine horrore in Protocollis

judicialium Lamiarum confessionum vix legi potest, turpis-

sima haec Satanae Organa, ex execranda cum impurissimo

hoc Spiritu consuetudine, majori saepe affici delectationis

sensu, quam si cum legitimis licita venere corpus misceant

1 Klein was a Professor of Law at the University of Rostock. The Examen Juri-

dicum was first published as the thesis of one of his students, Nicolaus Putter, but

in the German translation it appeared under Klein's own name.

VOL. II 59


mantis suis, imo detestandam hane libidinem effectu non

semper suo caruisse? saeplus humanae formae nvis liberis ex

sodomitlca hac eorporam commixtione natis." Praef., nn.

3-4.

TMs sliows the insatiable credulity with which lie approaches the subject.

Then lie proceeds to quote from the papers of a trial sent

to the legal faculty of the University of Rostock by the magis-trates for judgment. TMs woman confessed that the first

thing she gave birth to was a black Wind-Worm (tape-worm?)which by order of David, her incubus, she burnt to a powderwhich he carried away. The next time it was a girl-babythe size of a jug (Pott-Krug) which sucked her breast, but

after two days David took it away. Then by her favorite

demon lover, Hansen, she had another girl, whom he carried

off, and some time afterwards a boy, whom he took. Thenwhile she was in prison both incubi visited her, from which,on September 21, 1698, she bore a girl, whom they took away;although there was copious flooding which stained the clothes

and the floor, all traces of it disappeared. Ib., nn. 6-12.

All this, the author says, gave him food for thought andled him to write this thesis, and he concludes, "Tu autemAlme Deus dirige calamum ut non nisi quae ad Tui Nominis

gloriam et detegendam miram mille fraudum Artificis vafri-

tiam factura sunt inde fluant." Ib., n. 15.

After this prefatory matter he commences his examinationof the question, "TJtrum ex nefando cum Satana coitu verusnasci possit partus humanus?" As this would be impossiblewithout sexual intercourse it is necessary first to determinewhether this actually occurs. He does not deny that often

Satan deludes women in dreams so that after waking theyimagine that they have enjoyed his embraces, but frequentlyit is real "cum semine frigidissirno." Ib., c. 1, nn. 2-5.

That the demon can assume a body capable of the act, he

says, is "communi Theologorum, Jurisconsultorum ac saniori

philosophiae addictorum probatur calculo," and among his

authorities for this he cites St. Augustin, De Civ. Dei, xv, 23.

And the same holds good of succubi for which he quotesAquinas, Toletus, Alph. a Castro, Carpzov and others.- Ib.,nn. 6-12.

Quotes from the acts of a process sent to the faculty in

October, 1698, part of the confession of a witch who at twelve

years old was furnished by an old sorceress with a demon

WTICHCBAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECUIAE LAW 931

lover. Then, when fifteen, another was provided for her,

and subsequently she took a third one. Full details given.

This last one came to her while in prison andudiese unmensch-

Hche Unzucht wiederholet/' She also furnished a succubus

to a young man and an incubus to a serving-maid.- Ib.,

nn. 51-8.

These [examples] he says could be multiplied to infinity,

with aE the circumstances which show that they were real

and not illusory. Quotes the Mai. Malef. Ib., nn. 19-24.

Observe that in all this there is no allusion to the Sabbat.

The connection with the incubus is a more or less lasting one,

the acts take place by day or by night, in bed, on the floor,

in the fields, etc. The witch just quoted says that whenshe wanted her lover she had only to say, "Komm Raster

und Knaster mie" and he at once appeared ? ready for service.

Ib., n. 14.

Gives the arguments of disbelievers and answers them in

which he quotes the Malleus and Del Rio . Uses the argumentof Aquinas. Ib., nn. 28-39.

Having thus proved to Ms satisfaction the existence of congress he pro-

ceeds (cap. 2) to discuss procreation.

Commences by citing authorities that a real human being

can thus be procreated the chief among them being the

Malleus, Del Rio, Grillandus, etc., and their argument, being

the alternate appearance as succubus and incubus, or the use

of a corpse. Ib., c. 2, nn. 1-9.

Gives, with abundant authorities, a curious case in which

a noble, Jer6me Auguste de Montleon, who was absent from

his wife for four years with Cardinal Lavalette in Alsace and

died there. After Ms death she had a son whom she claimed

to be legitimate, saying that her husband had appeared to

her in a dream and impregnated her. His brothers, Adrien

and Charles, claimed the title and inheritance and obtained

a decision in their favor by the lower court, but she appealed

to the Parlement of Grenoble, which, after taking the testi-

mony of learned physicians of Montpellier and of midwives,

who declared such things possible and not infrequent, declared

the widow to be virtuous and the son to be the lawful heir,

in 1637 (nn. 18-20). But the Sorbonne set aside the decision

as being rendered to save the honor of a noble family and as

detracting from the mystery of the conception of Christ.

Ib., nn. 114-6.


Against all this he argues that there can be no procreationof a human being by a demon. To prove this he enters into

details of the act, to show that there must be an effusion of

spirits and ardor erethism to render the union fertile, of

which the demon is incapable. Ib., nn. 22-33.

Further arguments, not necessary to repeat. Ib., nn. 34-

43.

And this applies when the demon enters a corpse for the

purpose. Ib., nn. 44-9.

Goes on to enforce the above by the universal testimonyof witches as to coldness. Ib., nn. 50-66.

Argues against case cited by Pott. Considering that the

whole case against witches rests upon their own confessions

and that he begins his tract with a confession of bearingchildren to incubi, it shows the lack of reasoning power whenhe asserts, "Saga, ceu impossibilia deponens, eo minori fide

digna censebitur quo minori certitudine." Ib., nn. 67-74.

That is, a man accepts or rejects evidence according to his prepossessions.

Thus again he seems unaware how he strikes at the whole

structure of witchcraft when he says, "Circumstantiarum

consideratio, quas generation! prolis humanae ex illicito Lam-iarum cum Satana congressu susceptae, adfuisse referunt

Sagae et omnem illarum JudiciaHbus confessionibus planefidem adimit, illasque admodum suspectas facit." Ib., n. 76.

Enumerates five details, quite sufficient to prove the

improbability of the confession given in the Preface. Then

suggests that the whole thing may be an illusion or deceit of

the demon, who brings an infant from elsewhere at the time

of parturition and shows it to the woman as her own. Cites

Zacchias, Carpzov, Carranza, Ambros. Paraeus, Pott andothers as sharing his disbelief. Ib., nn. 77-93.

He then proceeds to argue away the reasons advanced bythe other side, revealing the curious notions entertained bythe science of those days as to the processes of fertilization.

Ib., nn. 94-117.

There is a gleam of sense if he would only apply it to the

whole business of witch prosecution in his assertion, "Cir-

cumstantialiter factis Sagarum judicialibus Confessionibus

non aliter fidem habendam esse quam quando Lamiae possi-bilia deponunt, additaeque circumstantiae rei veritate congru-unt et naturae Ordini. Quern si, aut vires etiam naturae super-

gressae videantur Sagarum Confessiones, redolent Patris


mendaciorum doctrinam et artes, a quibus prudeiis judex sibi

omni cavebit conamine." Ibv nn. 119-20.Then he hastens to add that, as sexual union is possible with

demons, when this is satisfactorily proved the false confession

of offspring is not to lead the judge to modify the penalty,under the futile pretext that the witch did not bear children.

Ib., nn. 121-3.

Therefore Carpzov is correct in saying that the judge in

his sentence, while reciting the connection with the demon,must omit all mention of children thence resulting. And this

is the position taken by the juridical faculty of Rostock,October, 1698, in returning to the magistrates of Lubeck the

case of Lucia Bernetsche. Ib., nn. 126-7,

this last it appears that, although Lubeck was a free imperial cityin Holstein, it sent its criminal cases to Rostock for decision Of courseall Mecklenburg did so.

Infliction of Impotence.

(I believe [among] the last commentaries on the Sentencesare those of de Soto on Lib, IV., published in Salamanca in

1557. H. C. L,) On the subject of impotence de Soto begins

by citing Si per sortiarias', he says there are some who denyits production by sorcery, saying that it is imaginary and not

real, for things whose causes are unknown are ascribed to

demonic maleHcia, and that impotence arising from frigidity

or other natural cause is attributed to it. But faith teaches

us that spirits exist and have power of assailing men unless

divinely coerced and there is no power on earth comparableto them. Which is supported by reason, for spirits can

move bodies, as the Intelligences do the orbs. (This belief

that the stars and planets were moved by angels is frequentlycited in proof of their power. H. C* L.) It is therefore pos-sible and indeed frequent that maleficium impedes carnal

intercourse by the craft and help of demons all which he

proves logically and at length. But there are some who hold

that this is only temporary and not permanent. They are

in error, for if demons are divinely permitted to vex mentemporarily they can be permitted to do so through life.

This conclusion is confirmed by the Church. Those who hold

the above opinion say that the canon Si per sortiarias is

ancient and abrogated, but this is insulting to the Church,

for it is not only not abrogated but is confirmed and renewed

by the cap. Literae defwyidis et malefi., adjecta Glossa. The


question whether medicaments as well as spiritual exercises

can be employed leads him into a detailed examination of the

various ways in which the impotence is caused and manifested,

more curious than decent. Also the ways in which the male-

ficia are confected and applied. As it is the work of demons,

natural remedies are useless. If it is asked whether ^magiccan be employed, the answer is not only that it is illicit, but

a mortal crime. But if the sorcerer can be seized and com-

pelled to undo or destroy the sorcery, this is licit. He points

out that the devil does not often interfere with fornication,

for this as sinful is grateful to him. As the devil is subject

to God he can do nothing without God's permission and it is

to God's clemency that we owe that he is not permitted so

to vex us as to prevent all our operations, for then we could not

exist. He explains why exorcisms have not as much powerover demons as in primitive times, because now faith is

settled and assured, and then that power was necessary for

its propagation and confirmation. Dominic de Soto, In IV.

Sententt., dist. 34, q. 1, art. 3 (ed. Venet., 1598, II, pp. 266-

71).

Nowhere else have I met so long and exhaustive a discussion of the sub-

ject. Is this attributable to an increased sense of its importance or to a

feeling that scepticism was growing and had to be confuted?

All the questions arising from impotence caused by sorcery

will be found discussed and solved by Jos. Angles, Flores

Theologicarum Quaestionum in IV. Lib. Sententt., P. I, q. de

Impedimentis Matrimonii, art. ii (Venet., 1584, fol. 197).

(They are not of a sort to be inquired into too closely here.

H. C. L.)

The Rev. Father Alfonso de Vera Cruz tells us "quoddaemon est tantae potestatis ut (Deo permittente) possit

hominem impedire ab omnibus operationibus suis exteriori-

bus. Habet quidem, ex hoc quod spiritus est, potestatem

supra creaturam corporalem ad motum localem prohibendumvel faciendum, adhuc ipsa invita," and he proceeds to describe

the various modes in which the demon can prevent the

matrimonial act, which we need not here set forth. The

impediment thus effected "Maleficium, si perpetuum sit

et matrimonium praecedat, impedit contrahendum et dirimit

jam contractum." R. P. F. Alphonsus a Vera Cruce, Specu-lum Conjugiorum, P. I, art. 40 (Mediolani, 1599, p. 117).

Bodin says, "Ex omnibus autem sceleribus hujusmodinullum exstat frequentius passim, nullum prope perniciosius

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAE LAW 935

eo impedimento quod novis eonjugibus affertur: hoc vulgusdicit ligare ligulam, quod pueri quoque exercent palam, summaimpunitate et licentia, nonnulli etiam gloriantur,

Imprimis vero illud est admirabile quod pueruli magicarumsortium imperitissimi hanc artem pronunciatis quibusdamvocibus exercent, vinctaque ligula." "When in 1567 I acted

as vice-procureur du roi at the great assembly of Poitiers

(" Grands Jours/' States-General, or what? H. C. L.) I was

given the proceedings in a case of sorcery. In speaking of it

with my hostess, a matron respectable and of good repute, she,

as proficient in that art, explained to me and to the notary

Jacques Beauvais, that there were more than fifty ways of

knotting the aiguillette, whether to impede the man or the

woman only, so that one, disgusted with the other, would

pollute him or herself with adultery; but that it was mostlythe man and rarely the woman who was tied. It could be

for one day, for a year, for eternity unless the knot was loos-

ened. There was a knot by which one would love the other

desperately and not be loved, but be vehemently hated; there

was one by which they would love each other ardently, but

when they came to congress they would tear each other shame-

fully with their nails. And what amazed me more was that

while the knot remained there would appear lumps on the

strap like warts, showing the number of children that would

have been born but for it. The knot can be made not to

prevent congress, but procreation. There were men who could

not be ligatured; others whom the knot would impede before

marriage; others who could be impeded after marriage, but

with more difficulty. Also she said that urination could be

impeded, and many died of it. Thus I found a wretched boy

nearly dead from this, until the impediment was removed byhimwho had made it a sorcerer who died insane a few months

later. The woman also repeated various phrases appertaining

to the various kinds of knots, which were neither Greek,

Latin, Hebrew, French, Spanish, nor Italian, nor I think

belonging to any other tongue. She also told of what leather

and what color the ligature should be made. When this evil

was increasing in Poitou, in 1560, a bride accused a woman

neighbor of ligating her husband, and the magistrate threw

her into prison, threatening that she should never leave it

until the impediment was removed; in two days she ordered

the spouses to copulate; they did so and she was discharged.

That words and the strap have really nothing to do, but


only the malice of the devil aiding the evil will of men, is

shown by the Latin words of Virgil which we omit for cause;the Latin charm to prevent copulation is clear to the sense,

but the words used today are plainly barbarous; then Virgil

orders nine knots; our people use but one. It is also observ-

able that neither the devil nor the sorcerer interferes with anyother sense of the victim or prevents eating and drinking.

Nor do they do anything with the member except to depriveit of virility; they do not hide it in the belly, as Sprenger saysis done in Germany." Bodin, Demonomania, 1. ii, c. 1 (pp.

109-13).

The words of Virgil referred to are possibly those in the 8th Eclogue.

Franz Joel, Professor of Medicine in the University of

Greifswald, in his De Morbis Hyperphysicis (Rostock, 1580),

says that there is scarce anything so common as ligaturing

in the coast lands, especially among the peasants, and that

it is punishable with death. Hauber, Bibl. Mag., I, p. 684.

The prevalence of belief in ligatures is indicated by Del Rio's

remark: "Nullum hoc frequentius hodie est maleficium: adeo

ut in aliquibus locis vix audeat quisquam clara luce matri-

monii solemnia celebrare, ne quis malus conjugum votis

illudat. Id si fit, quia, quo pauciores adfuturi et rei conscii

fuerint, hoc plurimum insidias effugiunt." Disquis. Magic.,1. iii, P. I, q. 4, sect. 8 (II, p. 417).

Infliction of Disease.

As so much of the proof against witches and so much of the

evil ascribed to them consisted in their causing disease, it is

interesting to have the testimony of a physician that, withthe exception of possession, it was most rare that even the

most experienced physicians could distinguish between nat-

ural disease and that caused by witchcraft on account of the

identity of the attacks. The only proof was the confession

of the witch and when, in a case, the customary remedies wereuseless. Franz Joel, De Morbis Hyperphysicis (Rostock,1580), ap. Hauber, Bibl. Mag., I, p. 686.

The universal prevalence of belief in [the relation of] sor-

cery [to disease] is evidenced by Binsfeld who, after condemn-ing the impious sentiment of Paracelsus that, providing thesick are cured, it makes no difference whether the cure comesfrom God or the devil, adds that this belief is deplorablycommon among Christians, who, when any misfortune occurs,


care nothing whether the remedy is licit or illicit, so that it

is not wonderful that among our people many almost excel

the heathen in superstitions. Binsfeld, Comment, in Tit.

Cod. de Malef., lex iv, q. 5, concl. 2 (p. 458).

Transformation .

I think I have elsewhere the following, which shows that the story

furnished comfort in subsequent generations to those who endeavored to

explain the powers of sorcerers to change their victims into animals.

A certain young girl was by magic made to seem a mare to

all onlookers. Her parents brought her to St. Maearius the

Elder, representing that sorcerers had transformed her, and

begging him to restore her to human form. He said at once

that to him she was a girl and that the change was not in

her, but in the eyes of those looking at her. Then he and they

joined in prayer to God, after which he anointed her with

oil in the name of the Lord, whereupon the spell was broken

and she looked the girl she was. Rufinus (f410), Hist.

Monachorum, c. 28.

That men could be transformed into beasts was proved bythe case of Nebuchadnezzar, who, as Gregory the Great

informs us, was changed into an irrational animal. Moralia,1. v, c. 11.

There is nothing in Daniel, iv, 30-33, about his transformation, exceptthat his hair grew like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws, [and

that he ate grass like an ox].

Frotho the Great, the mythical King of Denmark about

the Christian era, met his death by a transformed witch.

As an evidence of the security which he had established in

his kingdom, he placed gold at the cross-roads, under heavy

penalties for whoso should steal it. A witch persuaded her

son to do so, promising him immunity, for Frotho was near

his end. Frotho came to seize her and her children, when she

changed herself into a sea-cow, and the children into calves,

and wandered along shore as though feeding. Frotho ordered

them to be captured, and descending from his chariot sat on

the ground, when the witch pierced him with her horns. His

attendants slew them all and were astonished to find them

changed to human corpses. Saxo Grammat., Hist. Dan.,

1. v (ad calcem).

This represents beliefs of the twelfth century, in which Saxo flourished


Demons cannot of their own power effect transformations.

-Aquinas, Summa contra Gentiles, 1. iii, c. 103. Ejusd., De

Potentia, q. vi, art. 3.

Weyer gives the confession of two men, Pierre Bourgot

and Michel Verdung, before Jean Boin, inquisitor at Besangon,

in 1522, who made pact with the demon. On rubbing them-

selves with a salve they would be changed into wolves, and

on rubbing with certain herbs would resume human shape.

As wolves they had marvellous swiftness; they would couple

with she-wolves, experiencing the same pleasure as with

women. They told various stories of killing and devouring

children and animals. Michel would be transformed in his

clothes, but Pierre took his off, and resumed them when

retransformed. Their confessions did not correspond in all

particulars and were to some extent contradictory. Weyerdoes not state the result, but we may assume that they were

burnt. He proceeds to demonstrate the illusory character of

it all. Whether torture was used is not stated. De Praestigiis

Daemonum, L vi, c. 11.

The transformation of men into beasts gave the theologians

some profound questions to discuss whether the man in his

animal shape retained his human soul or acquired an animal

one, or whether he had both, and, if so, when he resumed his

human shape what became of the animal soul. Thyraeus,

De Spirit. Apparitionibus, L ii, c. 16 (ed. Colon. Agrip., 1594,

pp. 114-18).There are those who hold that men are thus really changed

into beasts, body and soul. While in brute form they have

all brute propensities, they have the strength of brutes and

the transformation lasts sometimes for three, seven, nine or

even more years, which could not be if they were only phan-

tasmal forms. Ib., c. 17 (pp. 118-19).

In controverting these views Thyraeus quotes largely

from Pseudo-Augustin's Liber de Spiritu et Anima, c. 26

(attributed with probability to the Cistercian monk Aicherus

I suppose late twelfth century H. C. L.), who says that

human opinion asserts that by the arts of women and the

power of demons men can be converted into wolves and asses

and carry great loads and afterwards return to human shape;

they have not bestial minds, but retain human reason. Bythis is to be understood, not that demons can create animals,

but that they can cause them to appear what they are not.

By no art or power can the mind or body be really converted,

WITCHCBAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAB LAW 939

but they can be made to appear so, and if they carry loads it

is the demon who carries them (Ps. Augustin, Lib. de Spir.et An., c. 26). The Cap. Episcopi also teaches these illusions.

It can be proved by many examples that those who thinkthemselves converted into beasts, really fall into deep sleepwhen they anoint themselves, and when they awake believethat they have been changed to wolves and have devouredflocks. If their hands or feet are cut off, they are found tobe human hands or feet; if they are killed, the corpse is

human. (There is a fearful lapse in his logic here. But as anevidence of his disbelief he quotes, though not in full, the

following passage in Pliny's Hist. Nat., 1. viii, c. 34 [22].

H. C. L.):" Homines in lupos verti rursumque restitui sibi falsum esse

confidenter existimare debemus, aut credere omnia quaefabulosa tot saeculis comperimus. Unde tamen ista vulgoinfixa sit fama in tantum ut in maledictis versipelles habeat,indicabitur, Evanthes, inter auctores Graeciae non spretus,tradit Aracadas scribere ex gente Anthi cujusdam, sorte

familiae lectum, ad stagnum quoddam regionis ejus duci,

vestituque in quercu suspense, transnatare atque abire in

deserta transfigurarique in lupum et cum caeteris ejusdemgeneris congregari per annos novem. Quo in tempore si

homine se abstinuerit, reverti ad idem stagnum et cum trans-

nataverit effigiem recipere, ad pristinum habitum addito

novem annorum senio. Id quoque Fabius eamdem reciperevestem. Mirum est quo procedat Graeca credulitas ! Nullumtarn impudens mendacium est ut teste careat."

St. Augustin might learn a lesson from the pagan. The Fabius quotedwas probably Fabius Rusticus, an eloquent Roman historian. Pliny (op.

tit.) also quotes from Agriopas a story of Demaenetus Parrhasius, who, in

conducting the Aracadian human sacrifice to Zeus Lycaeus, tasted the

entrails of a boy victim and was changed into a wolf for ten years, and after

recovering human shape was an Olympian victor in boxing.

Thyraeus then proceeds to disprove all that has gonebefore. He agrees with Augustin (De Civ. Dei, xviii, 18) that

the companions of Diomed were not changed into birds, but

by demons the birds were substituted for men, as a sheep wassubstituted for Iphigenia at Aulis. So in other cases Augustinsays there is no transformation, but only illusion created bydemons. Thyraeus proves from Scripture that Nebuchad-nezzar did not assume the form of a beast, but only the con-

dition of a beast. As for the confessions of the loups-garoux,


he says: "Reliquum est iis respondeamus qui se in lupos con-

versos fuisse et ferinam vitam egisse constantissime affir-

marunt. Sed profecto horum testimonio parum probari potest

cum dubitum non sit daemonis praestigiis et illusionibus

bisce hominibus impositum esse." The devil persuades the

individual that he is transformed into a beast, and he fasci-

nates the eyes of spectators, who imagine that he is trans-

formed. The learned know that all this can be done. Of

course it follows that the human soul is not changed to an

animal one. But at last he makes a concession to supersti-

tion: "Non negaverim humano corpori caput ovinum aut

lupinum, opera daemonum, affingi posse, id est caput hominis

in hanc vel illam formam transmutari." Thyraeus, 1. ii,

cc. 19-23 (pp. 121-31).

He proceeds to inquire what is the power of the ointments,

incantations, food, or drink which are used in these trans-

formations (here he seems to regard them as real H. C. L.)

by the individual himself or by the sorcerer to effect them.

He answers that the whole is the work of the devil the

means employed have no power and he only makes his ser-

vants use them to conceal his own agency and lead them to

imagine that they have the power. Ib., c. 24 (pp. 132-3).

The object of those who are said to change themselves

into beasts is to be able to injure others without detection in

their assumed form. As for those who are transformed bysorcerers, with divine permission, the object is to teach them

humility and to augment their merit through patience and

lead them to implore divine assistance and to expiate their

sins in this life. Ib., c. 25 (pp. 134-6).

All this implies that transformation is a fact, which is permitted, he

says, most justly by God, so that those who have faith in sorcery and seek

the aid of sorcerers "pennittit justissime Deus ut ab iisdem in nescio quasmonstrosas formas mutentur." So that, after all, it is a fact, permitted

by God.

"Dicuntur etiam hi (sortiarii) convertere homines male-

ficiis suis in bestias, non tamen rei veritate, sed vel ludifica-

tione daemonum ut faciunt homines bestias videri, vel fic-

tione poetica haec referuntur. Tales autem ultra mortale et

gravissimum (peccatum) secundum leges morte puniuntur et

secundum canones debet eis negari communio ac etiam ejici

de parochiis."- S. Antonino, Summa, P. II, tit, 12, c. 1, 12.

See also the Cap. Episcopi: "Qui credit vel asserit possefieri aliquam creaturam aut in melius deteriusve inunutari

WITCHCBAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECTJLAK LAW 941

aut transformari in aliam speciem vel similitudinem quam aDeo creatore infidelis est." Quoted approvingly by St.

Antonino (ib., 15).

J. de Nynauld, a physician, writes a book of which twoeditions appeared in Paris in 1615, entitled, "De la lycan-

thropie, transformation et extase des Sorciers, ou les astucesdu Diable sont mises tellement en evidence, qu'il est presqueimpossible, voire aux plus ignorants^ de se laisser dorenavantseduire. Avec la refutation des arguments contraires queBodin allegue au 6e

chapitre du second livre de sa Demono-manie pour soutenir la r6alite de ceste pretendue transfor-

mation d'hommes en bestes." Paris, Nicolas Rousset, 1615.

Autre edition, Paris, Millot, 1615. Yve-Plessis, Bibliog-

raphie, p. 123, n. 976.

Thus there were disbelievers who explained lycanthropy by trances.

This was not the only book of J. de Nynauld. He had already

published "Les ruses et tromperies du Diable descouvertes

sur ce qu'il pretend avoir envers les corps et ames des Sorciers.

Ensemble la composition de leurs onguens." Paris, 1611.

Ib., p. 126, n. 1006.

Hauber says that wer-wolves are rarely found in the witch-

processes. Of a hundred men, only three or four are accused

of or confess to it. Hauber, Bibl. Magica, III T p. 285.

He quotes from "Die Nord-Schwedische Hexerey, oder

Simia Dei" that "the predominant trouble in the northern

lands and adjacent principalities, such as Curland and Lief-

land [Livonia], is that the witches change themselves into

wolves and run around by night inflicting great damage on

people, cattle and harvests hence they are called Wahr- or

Gefahr- or sometimes Fahr-Wolffe. If watch is kept, towards

morning they will be seen returning to their homes, where

they resume human shape and work, eat, drink, and talk

like other men. It seems laughable and absurd and almost

incredible that many writers will not admit any belief in

these Wahr- or Wahr-Wolffe." "An especially trustworthy

person related to me that in 1637 he had seen such Wahr-Wolffe in packs and had learned about them to his own

great damage. . . . Once in Dublin (Curland) about

Christmas time he had been entertained in a tavern by somefellow Germans. Another table was surrounded by somenative peasants, one of whom advanced to him with glass in

hand as though to drink with him. He was about to respond


when a friend clapped his hand over his mouth, and after-

wards informed him that if he had answered the greeting he

would that night have been changed to a wer-wolf, as had

happened to many Germans ignorant of the language and

customs. In the morning he was shown many such wolves

returning home. They could be distinguished by carrying

their tails stiff and upright, like sticks of wood, while natural

wolves carried theirs between their legs.73

Hauber, III,

pp. 285-9.

The most extraordinary thing in the transformation of

men into beasts, which is proved by daily experience, is that

Satan has the power of conferring the qualities of the animal

on the man the strength, the speed, the fierceness, the cour-

age, the voice, the power of penetration, so that if a wolf

he has the swiftness of a wolf, he tears flocks to pieces and

eats the raw flesh; if a cat, she can enter closed houses at

night, and so forth. Remy, Daemonolatreia, 1. ii, c. 5 (ed.

Colon. Aug. 1596, p. 236).

Henrich Hossli, in his "Hexenprocess -und Glauben, Pfaf-

fen und TeufeP' (Leipzig, 1892) an otherwise negligible

pamphlet says that he has in his hands a sentence rendered

at Utrecht, August 1, 1595, against Volkart Dirxen and his

seventeen-year-old daughter Henriette, and Anton Bulk andhis wife Margaretha Barten, after severe torture, condemningthem to the stake as loups-garoux, in which shape they hadattacked cattle. Dirxen had failed in the water ordeal. Hehad three sons, Anton, Hessel and Gisbert, whose ages

ranged from fourteen to eight. They were sentenced to wit-

ness the execution, after which they were to be stripped andtied to stakes and to be scourged till the blood came and thento be thrown into prison to await further action. Hossli,

p. 14.

C. THE WITCHCRAFT LITERATURE OF THE ROMANINQUISITION.

CARENA, CAESAR. Tractate de Officio Sanctissimae Inqui-sitionis et modo procedendi in Causis Fidei. Lugdini, 1669.

[First ed., Cremonae, 1636.]

Caesar Carena was a consultor and fiscal of the Roman Inquisition,

specially appointed by Urban VIII and the Congregation. He had beenfiscal in Cremona.

WITCHCRAFT LITERATURE OF ROMAN INQUISITION 943

He commences [his title on sorcery] by enumerating the

powers of demons :

1. They can excite tempests, lightning, etc. (n. 4).2. They can transport men from place to place as happens

commonly with witches in the Sabbat. Whatever some maysay that this is imaginary, such opinion is false and injuriousto society, for it cannot be denied that it is often real, thoughsometimes imaginary (n. 5).

3. They can transform men and animals, not really chang-ing their bodies but enveloping them in another made of

vapors (n. 6).

4. They can induce incurable disease and cure all curablediseases (n. 7).

5. They can reveal hidden treasures and render them invis-

ible and send demons to take possession of men (n. 8).6. They can render men impotent and women sterile (n. 9).

7. As incubi and succubi they can have commerce withmen and women and procreate children by alternating betweenthe sexes. Quotes a case in Cremona some fifty years beforewhen a woman had commerce with a demon, thinking himto be her lover; she never apostatized from the faith nor wasasked by him to do so

;she was imprisoned, and in the prison

he daily appeared to her, but without having intercourse

with her (n. 10).

In this they can so manage that the progeny is a giant or

a pigmy (n. 11).

See Del Rio for this (1. ii, q. 15) and the elaborate explanation, morecurious than decent, of how it is done, by Francisco Valerio, the physicianof Philip II a high medical authority.

8. They can make beasts talk, as in the case of the serpentwho tempted Eve (n. 12). But again he holds the serpentto be the devil for, with a reference to Gen., iii, 15, he says,"ab ipso mundi exordio Deus inter homines et daemonesinimicitias posuit" (n. 21).

Del Rio, who discusses at great length and with much learning all the

questions concerning the speech of animals (1. ii, q. 19, 20), refrains from

adducing the serpent. Evidently he considers that it was Satan in that

guise.

On the other hand, demons cannot work true miracles, for

that requires infinite power. Nor can they change the order

of nature; when anything is beyond the power of demons it

must be attributed to deceit, as says Del Rio, lib. ii, q. 6

(nn. 13-14).


WMle the soul of man is in the body, the demon can do

anything with it which depends on the disposition of the

body or the imagination; thus he can induce insanity, love,

hatred and lust. When the soul is separated, the demon cando nothing to it save torture it in accordance with the justice

of God for its merits. He cannot raise it from the dead-the raising of Samuel by the Witch of Endor was by the will

of God for the punishment of Saul (nn. 15-16). Carena,P. II, tit. 12, 2, nn. 4-16 (pp. 171-2).Pact is express or tacit. Tacit pact is when one uses the

forms devised by the demon to produce effects, even thoughhe does not intend to invoke the aid of the devil. Ib., 3,

nn. 18-20.

But "in foro conscientiae sortilegus ex pacto tacito ali-

quando evitat culpam mortalem." Ib., n. 22.

Heretical sorcery is that which is exercised with any hereti-

cal speech or act or with abuse of the sacraments or of whatthe theologians call Sacramentalia, such as blessed oil and

candles, Agnus Dei, etc., or when any sacred texts are used

or the Symbol or Pater Noster or prayers, especially when a

mortal sin is to be effected. Also when anything is asked of

the demon which is reserved to God, as the resurrection of

the dead, etc. Or in baptizing a child or a figurine or a corpse.

Or when adoration due only to God and the saints is paid to

the devil, or if he is called holy or blessed, or is prayed to

kneeling, or candles are lighted for him, or frankincense or

spices are burnt, or any animal or one's own blood is offered

in sacrifice. Or if [to find stolen goods] a virgin holding a

lighted candle before a vase of water says, "Angelo bianco,

Angelo santo, per la tua santita, per la mia virginita, mostrami chi h& tolto tal cosa" though some deny this latter. Also

all sorceries by sorcerers who have express pact, even if whatis sought does not exceed the natural power of demons.Also those in which the head of a dead man is fumigated, the

images of the saints are insulted or spat upon, crosses thrown

down, or fashioned, obedience promised to demons or songsuttered in their praise, chastity vowed in their honor or bytheir command, or fasting or maceration of the flesh, whiteor black garments worn, beseeching them with signs or

unknown words or in fact anything done out of reverence

or obedience to them. Ib., 4, nn. 23-8 (p. 172).

Non-heretical sorcery is that in which none of these thingsare done and without any implicit pact. This, even if for a

WITCHCRAFT LITERATUBE OF ROMAN INQUISITION 945

good purpose, is punished by the Inquisition, as was decided

in the archiepiscopal court of Naples in the case of an old

woman who performed these simple sorceries to cure disease.

Thus in the Milan Penitentiary it was decided that curinga wound by putting on it pieces of linen wet with the bloodof the patient was superstitious sorcery and those using it

were to be denounced to the Inquisition, and in our Cremonatribunal this and other curative methods are punished most

severely. Also it is non-heretical sorcery to work with deadmen's bones, taken from a cemetery though some learned

and pious men think otherwise, as these bones have beenblessed in the funeral rites, whence it would follow that the

sorceries performed with the hair of a woman who had been

baptized were heretical. Ib., n. 29 (p. 173).

The Roman Inquisition condemned as superstitious a

prayer commencing Crux Cristi used to escape pestilence, andin the Cremona tribunal all these curative sorceries were

heavily punished. Ib., 5 (p. 174).

So the Congregation of the Inquisition, September 26,

1638, condemned as sorcery a cure in which an unconsecrated

wafer was employed though he adds (n. 37) that, when weuse an unconsecrated wafer to seal a letter, this is merely

per acddens. ("Hostia, sive consecrata sive non, habet in se

signum crucis vel crucifixi vel nominis Jesus; unde ea abuti,

est abuti re sacra, nam tarn crux quam crucifixus sunt signarei sacrae." Lupo da Bergamo, Lux Nova in Edictum, P. Ill,

lib. xix, dist. 3, art. 1, diff. 3.) These wafers had the impressof a cross. As to the heresy of using them in sorcery the

doctors are at odds. Ib., 8, nn. 52-4 (p. 175).

Amatory potions are not heretical, if there is no abuse of

the sacraments or sacramentalia, or of Scripture, and if there

is no pact and the demon is addressed imperatively all of

which must be closely scrutinized. Ib., 7, nn. 48-51.

It is heretical sorcery to carry on the neck a paper inscribed

Gibet and other unknown names, for Gibet is the name of

a demon. Ib., 10, n. 57 (p. 177).

Though a grave sin, it is not heretical to invoke the demonif it is not done deprecatively, if no sacred things are employed,if he is not invoked as a friend of God, if it is not for things

which he cannot do, if it is not thought to be a grave sin

and if it is not thought that he can work without God's per-

mission.^., nn. 60-1.

According to present practice the Inquisitor is judge of

VOL. n 60

946 THE BELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

sorcery, heretical and non-heretical. Although formerly it

was mixti fori, now the Inquisition has exclusive jurisdictionas respects the secular judges. In all cases it rests with the

Inquisitor to decide as to his jurisdiction. The opinion that

a lay judge can determine it is rash. If a sorceress is confined

in a secular prison, the inquisitor can compel her surrender

with all the papers. But this does not deprive the bishopsof jurisdiction and of deciding cases without the intervention

of the Inquisition, for the bull Creator Coeli of Sixtus V does

not take away from them what is conceded to them by com-mon law. It was so decided by the Congregation, December21, 1602.Ib., 15, nn. 140-1 (p. 185).

The question frequently arises whether, when a secular

court in torturing criminals finds them provided with charmsfor taciturnity, it can punish them or must hand them over

to the Inquisition. Carena holds that, whatever was the case

before, the bull Creator Coeli of Sixtus V gives jurisdiction to

the Inquisition, which also has the decision as to the char-

acter of the charms. Ib., 16, nn. 142-50 (pp. 185-7).Connected with this is the doctrina singularis of Binsfeld,

who says that it is almost the universal custom that the

crimes against society homicides and killing animals are

referred to the secular judge and the heresy features belongto the ecclesiastical. In some places, however, the ecclesi-

astical judge tries and afterwards, as in heresy, relaxes themto the secular court (Binsfeld, De Confess. Malef., praelud.

14, p. 119). Again he says that the heresy pertains to theecclesiastical judge and the injuries to men, beasts and har-

vests to the secular (membr. 2, conclus. 6, dub. 2, p. 275).But Carena says that, if he were a lay judge, he would do

this with great trepidation, for the doctors generally givethe Inquisition exclusive jurisdiction over heretical sorcery,

and, if the distinction were admitted, the lay judge mighteasily become a competent judge in cases of formal heresy.Still he will not deny that from charms found on the accusedthe lay judge could deduce a valid indicium against him, and,if this is true, the judge could examine him as to where he

got them, so as to learn as to accomplices and to aggravatethe case against him. But all this is subject to the Churchand the Inquisition, to which Carena submits himself.-

Loc. cit.y nn. 153-5.

The Inquisitor can proceed alone in witch trials withoutthe concurrence of bishops, under a constitution of Adrian VI,Cum acceperimus, printed by Pena. Ib., 19, n. 170 (p. 188).

WITCHCBAFT UTERATUBE OF ROMAN INQUISITION 947

The only bull of Adrian VI printed by Pefia (append., 105) bearing onthis is one commencing Dudum uti nobis, 20 Julii 1523, in which he extendsto all Inquisitors of Lombardy a bull of Julius authorizing Giorgio da

Casale, inquisitor of Cremona, to prosecute witches in conjunction withthe Ordinaries, if they wished to concur. Apparently this was held to

confer independent jurisdiction.

The first indicium he mentions is finding in possession of

the accused instruments of magic, such as pentacles or books

containing sorceries, such as the Clavicula Salomonis, Alma-del, Centum Regum, Opus Mathematicum, the works of

Piero di Abano, etc. This without other indicia suffices for

torture, as ruled by the Congregation in 1599. Ib., 21,n. 177 (p. 189). (So also Binsfeld, Com. in Tit. Cod. de Malef.

et Math., tit. De Indiciis, indie. 8, ed. 1623, p. 602.)The second indicium is frequent use of the devil's name

as saying, "Devil take you," "Go in the devil's name/' etc.

Ib., n. 180 (p. 190). (So also Binsfeld, loc. cit., ind. 11, p. 604.)

Goes on with the customary indicia, which I have elsewhere.

Many hold that flow of blood from a corpse when touched

by one concerned in his death is sufficient for torture. Del

Rio, however (lib. v, sect. 4, n. 20), considers it uncertain

and insufficient, and Carena says he has always held it to be"incertissimum ac levissimum." Ib., 22, nn. 186-93 (pp.

190-1).The Instructions of the Inquisition concerning witch trials

prescribe caution as to action on the indicium of ill fame,and Carena echoes this. He also mentions that eleven years

ago (1631?), while he was consultor at Cremona, the Congre-

gation, when consulted, did not venture to order the arrest"contra duas mulieres cujusdam oppidi, quamvis laborarent

fama vehementi quod essent striges." Ib., 23, nn. 202-3

(p. 192).The Inquisition is never to act on letters or anonymous

accusations. The proceedings must always commence with

the examination of the party or parties who denounce. Ib.,

24, n. 205 (p. 193).

It was a standing rule of the Inquisition that anonymous accusations

received no attention. In the "Edictum Denunciandorum," corresponding

to the Spanish Edict of Faith, there was a clause declaring that those whothus made denunciations did not, and did not intend to, satisfy the require-

ments of the Edict: because of those which did not bear the name and cog-

nomen of the writer "niuno conto si tiene nel Sant'Officio" (Lupo da

Bergamo, Nova Lux in Edictum S. Inquisition is, Bcrgomi, 1648, Intro-

ductio). It is observable that in this edict the section on sorcery makes no

allusion to witches or the Sabbat.


Before proceeding to arrest and prison, the judge must

carefully consider whether the corpus delicti is proved and

the sufficiency of the indicia, according to the MS. Instruc-

tionsfor which in detail see Masini, Sacro Arsenale (ed.

1639, p. 175). Carena, loc. tit> n. 206.

For the rest of the preliminaries and torture he copies (in nn. 207-17),

and refers to, the Sacro Arsenale., q. v. iM sup.

In this crime the judge should be more prompt and ready

to use torture, as Binsfeld proves at length (De Confess.

Malef., membr. 2, concl. 6,fsexto, p. 262). Ib., 25, n. 218

(p. 194). .

If the accused is neither confessed nor convicted, recourse

must be had to torture, provided there are some conjectures

as, for instance, if found in possession of books of sorcery or

a pentacle. Thus a doctor of good repute was tortured bythe Roman Inquisition for possessing a pentacle, and in the

archiepiscopal court of Naples it is in daily use for possession

of books. "Modus autem torturae hujusce prudentis judicis

arbitrio est reliquendus, ut pro qualitate et efficacitate indi-

ciorum reum torqueri faciat.'7

Ib., nn. 219-20.

Then the accused is to be tortured as to accomplices-

for, although this is generally forbidden, it is customary in

excepted crimes and those difficult of proof in which the

truth is not otherwise to be had. For which Binsfeld cites

innumerable authorities (De Confess. Malef., membr. 2,

concl. 6, f quinto, p. 259). Ib., nn. 221-4.

He is then to be examined as to belief and intention and,

if he denies heretical belief and intention, he is to be tortured

on this. Ib., n. 224.

This makes three regular tortures besides what additional ones maybe requisite to overcome taciturnity.

Under Bordonus I have given what Carena has to say (nn. 226-35) as

to the evidence of accomplices.

If he endures the torture as to belief and persistently asserts

his orthodoxy, he is to abjure de vehementi.-~Ib., 30, n. 245

(p. 197).

Since the bull Coeli et Terrae of Sixtus V placed non-heretical

sorcery under the Inquisition, it requires abjuration de levL

Ib., n. 246.

He objects to the penalty of exile, for this exposes other

provinces to the risk of infection and prefers perpetual prison

as avoiding this and preventing them from relapse. As to


the women who frequent the Sabbat, apostatize, trample onthe image of Christ and have foul intercourse with demons"gratias de hoc agere debent Judicibus violatae religionis,

quia a Judicibus laicis hae mulieres, in iis regionibus in quibusJudices in huiusmodi crimine procedunt, solent damnari admortem." Ib., 31, n. 257 (p. 199).Thus in Cremona such a woman was scourged and perpetu-

ally imprisoned, with other customary penances. Ibidem.

Shows the leniency of the Inquisition, but there is here no allusion to

killing men and beasts. Would this call for capital punishment or relaxa-

tion? See above.

It is questioned what is to be done with those who frequentthe Sabbat, if they relapse. Castro Palao says that theMadrid Instructions of 1613 admit them to reconciliation

two and three times and that it is so practiced in the Logronotribunal. But I would advise inquisitors to consult the Con-

gregation, for this is a special Spanish custom. Ibidem.He debates the question whether, under the bull of Gregory

XV the judge can relax a sorcerer on indubitable indicia

compelling belief in his guilt (evidently without confession),He says that in crimes easy of proof a judge cannot do so,

but in atrocious and hidden crimes like sorcery a supremejudge can, but an inferior one cannot. Ib., 32, nn. 26CM(pp. 200-1).As regards mitigating punishment for children, I concur

with Binsfeld, who discusses the matter at great length (Com-ment, in Tit. Cod. de Malef., q. 1, concl. 3, pp. 519-24).Children from eight to eleven are to be whipped. Above the

age of fourteen by law they can be put to death, but the judgeshould act according to the nature of the case, the intelligence

of the culprit and the chances of reform. Still he would not

advise death under fourteen years completed, unless there

were urgent reasons. Ib., 33, n. 271 (p. 201).

We know and the doctors all tell us that to those who have

pact with him the devil gives a black powder which kills,

even if it only touches the clothes;also a powder, partly red

and partly ash colored, which will cause disease. If from

any cause it fails of effect, there is a dispute whether the

sorcerer is liable to the penalties of the bull of Gregory XV,but the practice of the courts is in the affirmative. Ib., 34,

nn. 273-93 (p. 202).In answer to the question whether there is any excommuni-

cation launched against sorcerers, Carena answers in the


negative, because the only bull denouncing it is the Super illius

Specula of John XXII, "quod non est usu recepta." Ib.,

35, n. 304 (p. 204).

A confessor who is an accomplice can give valid absolution

to his associates. Ib., nn. 307-8.

Though the 7th Provincial Council of Milan (1609) forbade

guilty confessors from absolving their associates. Ib., nn.

309-12.

INQTJISITIO SANCTA ROMANA. Instruct proformandis Pro-

cessibus in causis Strigum. [This, the well-known Instructio

Romana, is printed, with Carena's annotations, at the end of

his De Officio (Lyons, 1669), pp. 487-501.]

To the Lyons (1669) edition of Carena's De Officio SS. Inquisitionis

there are appended the two first books of Francisco Pena's "Praxis Inquisi-

torum" with Carena's notes. As Carena could not find the rest of Pefia's

book, he supplemented it with this Roman "Instructio pro formandis Proces-

sibus in Causis Strigum/'

copiously annotated.

Now, in the Preface to the 1641 Cremona edition of the De Officio he

promises to bring out the Spanish Instructions (I suppose of 1561) to show

how the practice of the Roman and Spanish Inquisitions concurred, and

also a "Glossa super Instructione quae in Tribunalibus nostris Italiae

circumfertur de modo formandi processus in causis strigum," together with

some other matters. This proposed publication never appeared, and the

Praxis and [the Roman] Instructio of the Lyons edition were posthumous.But this shows that in 1641 he had the Instructio.

Moreover in the text of the 1641 edition of his work he twice refers to

the Instructio. Thus, in P. II, tit. 12, n. 203 (ed. 1669, p. 192), he says, "Et

circa indicium hoc famae diligenter in materia nostra animadvertenda sunt

verba Instructions pro formandis processibus in causis strigum et sorti-

legorum quae circumfertur in Inquisitionibus Italiae manuscripta"followed by a passage which (with exception of trifling errors) is textually

the same as vii of the Instructio, printed on p. 495 (ed. 1669).

These Instructions were adopted and issued in 1669 by Casimir Florian

Czartoriski, Bishop of Cujavia and Pomerania, accompanied with a very

severe animadversion on the cruelties habitual in the trials of witches.

For this see under Poland. The whole was reprinted in 1821 in a Festschrift

of the Albertine University of Konigsberg for Pentecost of that year as a

proof that Catholic moderation preceded Protestant.

Then, when treating of the necessity of proving the corpw delicti, Carena

refers the reader to the second edition of Masini's Sacro Arsenale, "quaeomnia haec et alia infrascripta notanda desumpsit ex quodam manuscripto

quod in Inquisitionibus Italiae circumfertur, cui titulus est Instructio proformandis processibus in causis strigum, sortilegorum et maleficarum"

(De Officio, p. 193).

Now, in the "Sacro Arsenale, overo Prattica delPOfficio della S. Inquisi-

tione Ampliata," Romae, 1639, Settima Parte (pp. 175-9), is a tolerably free

translation of the Instructio, 1-9 (Carena, pp. 487-96) or of all the pre-

liminary general introductory portion, warning judges to be cautious and


pointing out where they may be deceived. It omits a few things andintroduces a few, but the arrangement and details are evidently in fairly

strict accordance with the Latin text (also in instructions as to torture andother things Masini uses the Instructio) so that, at the least, prior to

1639 there was evidently circulating among the tribunals a manuscriptinstruction on which witch-trials were based. I have an edition of the Sacro

Arsenale, likewise "ampliata," dated Genovae, 1625, which has this whole

passage word for word as in the subsequent editions, so that the Instruc-

tions are at least as old as 1625. It is probable that after the death of

Gregory XV (July 8, 1623) and the accession of Urban VIII (Aug. 6, 1623}the Inquisition issued them to serve as a mitigation of the cruelty of his

bull.

Carena gives no date to the Instructio, but as printed in the Appendixto Spec's Cautio Criminalis (August. VindeL, 1731) it has the colophon"Romae ex Typographia Reverendae Camerae Apostolicae, AnnoMDCLVII," which fixes the date of the printed edition as 1657. Pignatelli

also prints it in his "Novissimae Consultationes Canonicae," Cosmopoli,1740. Prof. J. Friedrich of Munich in 1891 kindly collated this edition for

me with Carena's and noted two or three variants, the existence of which

removed my doubts as to the official character of the Instruction. I have

also examined the copy in Spee and find that it accords sometimes with

one and sometimes with the other. The numeration of the sections differs

from that of Carena. Carena's text of this Instruction is very incorrect-

possibly the MS. he used had errors of copyists, and these were aggravated

by the posthumous printing of the book in Lyons. In fact the whole volume

is carelessly printed.The conclusion to which all this leads is that, at least as early as 1625,

there was circulating a manuscript Instruction, the same, as far as can be

judged, as that printed in 1657. Carena already had it in manuscriptwhen he added it to his edition of Pefia's Praxis.1

The section of the Sacro Arsenale borrowed from the Instruction con-

tinues unchanged in the edition of Natale Doriguzzi (Bologna, 1679) and

in that of Giovanni Pasqualone (Roma, 1693). But they all have a very

significant passage, replacing the termination of Carena's 8 and nowhere

to be found in the Instruction. Where the Instruction in 8 warns the

judge that many think that no sorceries can be committed without formal

apostasy from God, and thus great injustice is done to women prosecuted

for the minor sorceries the Sacro Arsenale, after pointing out that she

may not be Strega formale, goes on "E strega formale deve riputarsi, ed &

1 A copy of this Inetructio, as printed by itself at Rome in 1657, is in the White

library at Cornell and is the very copy described in 1822 by Horst (Zauber-Bibliothek,

in, pp. 115 ff.) as sent him by the Trier historian Wyttenbach and as bearing the

autograph of the Inquisitor Leonhard Messen. It is perhaps the only copy now

surviving. The Instructio had, however, been printed in 1651 in the second volume

of Gaetaldi's work De Potenlia Angdorum (at p. 242) ;and what Mr. Lea here writes

as to its identity with the directions given by the Sacro Arsenale of Eliseo Masini

is interestingly confirmed by Gastaldi, who tells us that the Instructio was drawn up

by a friend of his and implies that this friend was Masini by saying that Masini

borrows from it "optimo jure." That m manuscript form it was in use by the Inqui-

sition as early as 1635 has, since Mr. Lea wrote, been shown by Nicolaus Paulus in

his study on "Rom und die Bliitezeit der Hexenprozesse" (in his Hexenwahn und

Hexenprozeas, 1 910, pp. 273-6) . A share in its authorship Mr. Lea ascribes (see p. 963

below) to Cardinal Desiderio Scaglia; and the MS. instruction for procedure against

witches ascribed to him by Quetif and Echard (in their Scriptores Ordinis Praedica-

torum) can hardly be another. But his relations with Masini were close. B.


colei, e'haura fatto patto col Demonic, ed apostatando dalla fede, con i

suoi malefic! 6 sortilegi danneggiato una, 6 piu persone, in guisa, che ne sia

loro seguita per cotali malefici, 6 sortilegi la morte; e se non la morte,

almeno irifermita, divortii, impotenza al generare, d detrimento notabile

a gli animali, biade, 6 altri fnttti della terra; che perci6, se eoster& in giudicio,

che alcuna donna sia di tanto, e si grave delitto rea, dovr& per vigore della

nuova Bolla Gregoriana nel primo caso anco per la prima volta rilasciarsi

alia Corte secolare, e nel secondo perpetuamente esser' immurata" (Sacro

Arsenale, Settima Parte, ed. Bologna, 1679, p. 198).

This evidently formed part of the early Sacro Arsenale, soon after the

issue of Gregory XV's bull. Its retention throughout the successive edi-

tions (it was reprinted until 1716 at least) and the omission of such sangui-

nary severity in the Instruction would seem equally instructive of the-

oretical severity and practical moderation. I am inclined to think that

this passage formed part of the original Instruction. As the whole section

is in the edition of 1625, issued so soon after Pope Gregory's bull, but after

his death (f July 8, 1623), it was probably felt necessary to temper the

moderation of the Instruction with this acceptance of the Gregorian sever-

ity. As Gregory's instructions, however, were not obeyed and fell into

desuetude, this passage was probably dropped and the text altered as

above, though it continued to the end to appear in the Sacro Arsenale,

which was not official and yet might serve in terrorem. It is curious that

Carena, in his edition of 1636, seems to have known nothing of the Instruc-

tion and relies on Binsfeld, Del Rio and other similar authorities (De

Officio, pp. 199-201).

The preface to the Instruction says that experience shows

that the gravest errors are daily committed by ordinaries,

vicars and inquisitors in the trial of witches, to the notable

prejudice of justice and of the women, so that it has long

been observed by the Congregation that scarce any trial has

been rightly conducted, and it has constantly been necessaryto reprimand and often even to punish judges on account of

undue vexations, inquisitions, imprisonments, as well as bad

and impertinent methods of forming the process, examiningthe accused, inflicting excessive tortures, so that unjust sen-

tences have sometimes been rendered, even of relaxation to

the secular arm. It has also been found that many judgeshave been inclined to believe women to be witches on the

slenderest evidence and have therefore left nothing undone,even by illicit means, to extort confession, when there have

been such variations and contradictions and improbabilitiesthat no value was to be placed on it. Therefore all ordinaries

and their vicars and inquisitors must keep before them and

accurately observe the following. -Instructio pro formandis

Processibus in Causis Strigum, Sortilegorum ac Maleficorum

(Carena, p. 487; Spee, Cautio Criminahs, Aug. VindeL, 1731,

p. 409).

WITCHCBAFT LITERATUKE OF ROMAN INQUISITION 953

Carena in his comment on this alludes to the Logrono auto-

de-fe and the redintegrations which followed, which he quotesfrom Castro Palao. He also quotes from Francisco Ferrer

some cases worth referring to under Spain as showing that

the Suprema had to enforce its new views. In Barcelona, four

women, accused by others who were condemned and hangedby the ordinary, appealed to the Suprema, who dischargedthem under bail to present themselves when summoned andnever summoned them; also, another case in which a womanappealed and was discharged on her own security,

uquae est

species liberationis" (I suppose case suspendedH. C. L.).-

Annott. 3, 4, Carena, p. 488.

Carena admits that there has been much injustice and that

judges, in view of the atrocity of the crime, have been led

to disregard all legal rules in the trials. He quotes Godel-

mann, Remy's Daemonolatreia, and Berlich ad Saxoniae

Constitutiones in proof. At the same time he makes the

devil responsible by his misleading men with his deceits. Headmits that much of witchcraft is illusion, but insists that in

it there is also much of reality. While judges ought to proceedwith caution, there is danger to others in delay and witches

ought to be denounced to the Inquisition without waiting to

give fraternal correction. Ib., annott. 5, 6.

That Alberghini, whose book was written in Sicily about 1640 and

reprinted in Saragossa in 1671, should know nothing of the Roman Instruc-

tions is natural, but he seems equally ignorant of the Spanish. His section

on witches is an unconditional assertion of all the powers and wickedness

attributed to them, for which he cites Bernardo da Como, the Malleus, Del

Rio, etc. (Alberghini, Manuale Qualificatorum, c. 18, 9, Caesaraugustae,

1671, pp. 81-5). And in place of the caution prescribed, both in Spain

and Rome, he urges that, in view of the peril to others, witches are to be

denounced without any fraternal correction, even when their crime is not

conjoined with heresy (Ib., c. 38, n. 14, p. 151).

The principal and special error of nearly all judges in this

matter is to proceed not only to inquest andprison,^but

even

to torture, without the corpus delicti or maleficium being estab-

lished, although it is a positive rule of law that this cannot

be done in cases where traces of the corpus delicti remain.--

Instr. Rom., 1 (Carena, pp. 488-9).Carena explains that such traces in sorcery are death,

injuries, etc., and to show the caution on which he insists

he quotes from Ferrer a case in which a woman confessed to

having taken an infant from its mother's breast to the Sabbat,

where it was killed, yet the mother on examination declared


that nothing of the sort had happened to her child. He also

quotes with high praise Tanner's utterances on the subject.

Annott. 1-10 (p. 489).

The Instruction proceeds: The corpus delicti is not proved,

as many judges seem to presume, when the pretended be-

witched is sick or has died. Sickness and death are not

regularly caused by sorcery and the most careful investiga-

tions must be made, examining the physicians in attendance,

as to the nature of the disease and whether medical art can

determine if it was natural, and all the course of the disease

must be recorded so that, if the physician through inexperi-

ence, as often happens, does not know its nature, another

more skilled may be able to determine whether it was natural.

To this end also the family of the patient should be examined

as to its beginning and progress. Thus the judge can decide

whether the corpus malefidi is established, and if it appears

to him that the disease was natural he is not to proceed against

the accused. If skilled physicians indicate that the disease

was possibly or probably sorcery, he can more securely think

about prosecuting the accused. Instr. Rom., 2(pp.^

489-90).

From Carena's commentary on this and his quotations from

medical authorities it is evident that when physicians were

puzzled by a case they found easy refuge in pronouncing it

sorcery. They had a list of symptoms which indicated it

rapid heart action, sudden swelling and subsidence of the

throat, formication running from head to feet and from feet

to head, etc. He also quotes from a manuscript Praxis S.

Officii "quae circumfertur manuscripta in Inquisitionibus

Italiae" (this is Cardinal Scaglia's Prattica del S. Officio, c. 8,

fol. 19 verso, mihiH. C. L.) that it is well to consult a pru-

dent exorcist a prudent one "perche molti ve ne sono, che

ogni infermit& giudicano maleficio 6 per poca prattica, 6 per

farni sua mercantia, e talvolta se le persone non sono male-

ficiate essi col mitrirli quelFhumor malenconico e con altre

arti illecite le maleficiano e causano pessimi effetti inconveni-

enti e scandali." 1-Ib., annott. 6-14 (p. 490). Carena adds

that the exorcist must be strictly examined. Ib., 5, annot. 7

(p. 494).

The exorcists drove a thriving business on popular superstition. See

Menghi's Flagellum Daemonum, in the Thesaurus Exorcismorum, Colo-

niae, 1626, for conjurations and applications to cure the bewitched (pp.

385 sq.); for special formulas to liberate from incubi and succubi (pp.

1 Thia passage, quoted directly from the MS., differs slightly from the passage as

quoted by Carena.

WITCHCRAFT LITERATURE OF ROMAN INQUISITION' 955

420-3) ;for formulas to preserve from attacks of witches and demons on

men, cattle, houses, etc. (p. 424) ; conjuration against tempests and hail-

storms caused by demons (p. 424). Even in the eighteenth century we

have formulas to cure bewitched children e. g., Brognolo, Manuale Exor-

cistarum ac Parochorum, P. Ill, c. 4, art. 3, q. 3 (Venet. 1720, pp. 280-1).

The Instruction proceeds thus: Before the judge imprisons

the pretended witch he should closely scrutinize the indicia

against her, nor be prompt to imprison on the sole denuncia-

tion of the pretended bewitched and his kindred unless some

probable cause be alleged which can reasonably move him

to believe that the accused desired to commit the sorcery,

and such cause must have strong indicia. Instr. Rom.,

3 (p. 491)..

Carena's commentary on this dwells on the necessity of

abundant caution. The patient and her family are interested

witnesses whose evidence requires substantial support. All

this precaution he says was duly observed in his tribunal of

Cremona. Ib., annott. 3-9 (p. 491).

In making an arrest the judge personally or by a fitting

deputy with a notary must make a diligent perquisition of

the house of the pretended witch from which the friends of

the pretended bewitched are to be excluded, lest, as is some-

times suspected, they introduce things fraudulently to the

great prejudice of the accused. The notary is to make note

of all things found in the house and chests, not only what

favors the prosecution, but also what favors the defence,

such as images of the saints, beads, offices, books of devotion,

certificates of communion, blessed water and palms. Nor are

judges to be credulous about things found, such as oil in vials,

fat, powders as being apt for sorcery, but must have them

examined by experts. It often happens that the kindred of

the pretended bewitched search inside the mattress, bolsters

and pillows of the patient, and when they find things wrapped

up bring them to the judge as proof; in this he must be very

vigilant and circumspect, for it may well be that these have

been put there by the family to lead him to believe in the

sorcery. He should examine these things closely, for rolls

may form themselves during prolonged use, or through care-

lessness of the makers things may slip in in the making.

Such rolls are often found in feather beds, nor is it surprising

that needles are sometimes found, for where there are womenneedles abound and it may easily happen that they get into

the bedding. Nor is it to be forgotten that the demon may


sometimes insert these things to cause suspicion of witchcraft

and make the innocent suffer. In this way we see in the

exorcising of the possessed that they seem to vomit needles,

nails and rolls impossible for them to have in their bodies,

but which the demon in the act places in the mouth of the

demoniac so that he may be supposed to be bewitched.

Instr. Rom., 4 (pp. 491-2).

Carena's long commentary on this is mostly a mere devel-

opment of it. But he quotes from Cospius, Judex criminaUs,

lib. ii, c. 44, a curious Kst of the things to be searched for in

the bed of the patient bones, nuts, egg-shells, feathers stuck

together, cords, laces, locks of hair, ribbons, knots of hair or

other things, and whatever could not naturally be in such a

place. Carena adds that, if half a skull is found and the other

half in the possession of the accused, it would certainly give

rise to suspicion. Ib., annott. 7-26 (pp. 492-3).

(Father Menghi relates a case illustrative of the necessity

of examining beds. When he was at Reggio, in 1575, a noble

lady fell sick of a disease which her doctor, Girolamo Arleton,

was unable to cure. In despair he consulted Menghi at whose

advice, though unwillingly, Arleton consented to have the

bed examined. In it was found the image of a man made of

feathers with head, arms, hands, legs and feet. It was

promptly burnt, when the patient, to whom extreme unction

was about to be administered, suddenly recovered, to the

admiration of all. He gives another case occurring to him

in Bologna in 1582 in which similar charms were found in the

bed, but apparently too late, for the patient died. Hieron.

Mengus, Fustis Daemonum, c. 14.)

The Instruction proceeds to say that many imprudent

exercisers, according to the theory of the Flagellum Dae-

monum, ask the demon of the possessed how he entered the

body, whether through sorcery and who did it; whence the

demon, the father of lies and enemy of human peace, often

answers that he entered through the sorcery of such a one,

in such food or drink, and in order to render the exorcist

more certain he makes the obsessed vomit something similar

to that in which he said the sorcery was. It has on several

occasions been observed that judges prosecute those thus

named by the demon, as if it were proved by him. The Con-

gregation has never placed confidence in such prosecutions,

but has always reproved the exorcists who thus abused

their pious office and the judges who prosecuted on the

WITCHCKAFT LITBEATUBE OF EOMAN INQUISITION 957

strength of such responses of the demon, Instr. Rom., 5

(p. 493).

I cannot find in Menghi's worksthe Flagellum Daemonum, the Fustis

Daemonum and the Compendio delTArte Essorcistica (Bologna, 1580) anyabsolute instructions to inquire of the possessed who had sent the demonsto them, but he teaches so absolutely that demons are sent by sorcerers

that the exorcizer could scarce fail to inquire after the delinquent espe-

cially as he could be brought to undo his work. Thus in the Compendio

(p. 152) he says, "Possono adunque gli demoni, a prieghi ed instanza dej

Malefici, occupare, habitare e travagMare gli corpi humani" and he con-

stantly instructs the exorcizer to search for the charms which cause the

possession. After these works had enjoyed wide circulation for more than

a century new editions of the Flagellum in 1708 and 1709 at Frankfort

apparently called attention to them in Rome and they were condemned in

an edict of March 4, 1709 (Index dementis, PP. XI, Romae, 1716, pp. 90,

173, 184), although it would require a skilled theologian to point out in

what they were more mischievous than those of Gelasio di Cilia, Max. ab

Eynatten, Candido Brognolo, etc.; in fact, Carolus de Baucio (whose work

was condemned in the Edict of March 4, 1709) in enumerating the deceits

of the demon to mislead the exerciser says that he will sometimes show

the malefitium, tell who made it and how it is to be overcome, but he will

often accuse the innocent and give signs (i. e., the charms or sorceries) to

make it credible for the purpose of creating scandal (Baucio, De ModoInterrogandi Daemonem, petes 15, Venetiis, 1643, pp. 25 sq.).

Brognolo (1651), in describing the power of sorcerers, says, "qui homini-

bus nocent nunc devovendo, id est daemonem in brutorum vel hominum

corpora sola imprecatione immittendo, ut plurimis exemplis Remigius, Lib. 2,

c. 9, 10, confirmat" (Candido Brognolo, Manuale Exorcistarum, P. I, c. 2,

art. 2, q. 1, 3, Venetiis, 1720, p. 42).

Brognolo goes even beyond the Instruction and advises against asking

the demon the cause of the possession, "Nam daemon ex hac facillime locum

potest sumere aliquem vel aliquos, qui erant satis illaesae famae ac bonae

conditionis, infamandi eisque honorem detrahendi. Immo ipsummet Exor-

cistam non difficulter in nassam trahendi dicendo (ut plurimum consuevit)

se ingressum fuisse in tale corpus quia sic jussus est a tali malefico vel tali

saga, quae posuit signa maleficii, sed abscondidit ea; ideo non posse egredi

a tali corpore nisi prius obsessi ad sagam vel ad maleficum confugiant et

rogent ut ipse hujusmodi tollat signa, quibus manet ligatus; sicque maleficio

affectos vel obsessos in earn impellat necessitatem . . . suppliciter adire,

obtestari atque etiam munerari" (Brognolo, op. tit., P. I, c. 3, art. 5, q. 4,

p. 120).

Carena, in his commentary on section 5 of the Instructions,

cautions the exorcizer to be prudent and circumspect, avoiding

all unnecessary questions and among them "an ex maleficio

in corpus obsessi ingressus fuerit, a quo perpetratum fuerit

et similia.'7

Ib., annot. 3 (p. 494).

Domingo Soto had already prescribed the same caution.

De Justitia et Jure, 1. viii, q. 3, art. 2.


Jerome relates that, when a girl possessed by a demon of lust was brought

to St. Hilarion and the demon said he was bound to remain until a charm

placed under the threshold by a youth madly in love with her was removed,

the saint refused to have it sought for, lest he should seem to believe the

demon or lest the demon might seem to be expelled by undoing the sorcery.

So he expelled him without it (S. Hieron., Vit. S. Hilarion, n. 21 Migne,

XXIII, 39). . . ,

But Del Rio brings a host of authorities to prove that it is the common

opinion of authorities that it is licit to find and destroy the charm by

which one is bewitched (Disq. Mag., 1. vi, c. 2, sect. 1, q. 3, 2, p. 945, sqq.).

Zacharia Visconti holds it to be the duty of the exorcizer to search dili-

gently in all parts of the house, in the feathers of the beds and pillows and,

if he finds anything that looks like a charm, it is to be burnt solemnly with

some blessed things as olive branches, incense, etc., in a cemetery, to the

sound of church bells (Zach. Vicecomes, Complementum Artis Exorcisticae,

P. I, doct. 12, Venetiis, 1643, pp. 37-8. The first edition of this book is

of Milan, 1537. It was placed on the Index by decree of March 4, 1709.

See Index of Clement XI, Romae, 1716, p. 92.)

The Instruction says that some judges wrongly believe that

all possession comes from sorcery and from this unjustly

prosecute those to whom the demoniacs are inimical or are

otherwise indicated, which is the greatest absurdity, for who

doubts that with God's permission the demon can vex the body

of any one? Therefore judges must be cautious not to prose-

cute from this cause alone and not to be imposed upon by the

numerous impostors. -Instr. Rom., 6 (p. 494).

Catena's comment on this is that the corpus delicti is not

established by some one being possessed. Ibidem.

Judges must not be ready to prosecute for witchcraft on

the indicium of fame; for though in other cases it is of much

weight, yet in this the general hatred of witches, against

whom every one clamors, fame easily arises against any

woman, especially if she is old and ugly. Little importance,

therefore, is to be attached to fame and at least the judge

must inquire diligently how long it has been, and by whomand from what cause; it will thus be often found to be of

little moment. Instr. Rom., 7 (pp. 494-5).

Carena's commentary on this has nothing of importance.

Moreover it is to be kept in view that, while women are

very superstitious and much given to amatory sorceries, yet

it does not follow that, if a woman frames sorceries and incan-

tations either to remove bewitchments or to compel men's

wills or for other purposes, she is therefore a formal witch,

for there may be sorcery without formal apostasy to the

demon, although it is not without suspicion, either light or


vehement, according to the character of the sorceries. There-

fore when a good judge prosecutes a woman, either confessed

or convicted of such sorceries, he must not be ready to believe

that she is a formal apostate to the demon, though she maybe; but when it comes to torture her he should question her

as to whether she has had to do with the demon, in accord-

ance with what is said below about torture. Judges must

pay special attention to this, for many are thus deceived,

thinking that this kind of sorcery necessarily involves formal

apostasy to the demon, whence arise the greatest wrongs to

women accused of it, for inexperienced or careless judges,

misled into this presupposition by reading books on sorcery

and witches, leave no way, however undue, untried to extort

confessions from women who are induced, by evil and unlawful

methods, to confess what they had never thought of.

Therefore, in order to avoid these evils, judges must strictly

observe the following rules. Instr, Rom., 8 (p. 495).

Carena, to elucidate this, describes the professio expressa

as that made by the witch when inducted in the Sabbat she

adores the demon, renounces the faith and goes through all

the other formalities described by the demonologists (espe-

cially by Torreblanca, lib. ii, c. 7, nn. 5-16). Tacita professio

is when obedience is promised, not to the demon, but to some

other magician, including renunciation of the Catholic faith

and sacraments but this, although called tacit by the doc-

tors, comprises formal apostasy from the faith and differs

little from the other. Ib., annott. 4-8 (p. 496).

He evidently chooses to misinterpret the text. Then follow the Rules.

As far as possible a woman imprisoned for this is not to be

allowed to speak with any one. If there are several, they

must be confined in separate cells, for often they agree together

to confess what is false in the hope of speedier discharge.

Judges must not permit gaolers or others to persuade pris-

oners to confess, for it is often found that women, induced

by these persuasions or the promise of impunity (which must

never be made), confess to that of which they have never

dreamed. Judges are never to discuss with them the merits

of their cases except when judicially examining them.

Instr. Rom., 9 (p. 496).

("arena says as to this that the prison should be endurable

and not horrible or subterranean. Carpzov relates that one

woman in a horrible prison, induced by the devil, committed


suicide, and another in an underground one was killed bysnakes. Yet it is not to be denied that the judge can render

the prison harsher or easier according to the case. Ib.,

annott. 4-7.

No suggestions are to be made in the examinations. The

judge must begin by asking whether they know or presumethe cause of arrest; then as to enemies and causes of enmity,

who was their confessor, and similar things from which their

mode of life may be gathered, their frequentation of the sacra-

ments, etc., from which may be judged their good or evil life

and condition. Then in general they may be asked whether

they know any sorceries and their effects, and whether theyhave ever used them. If they deny, other general questions

may be asked by degrees, telling them that it is deposed

against them that they know or have committed such a

sorcery and in different examinations gradually revealing what

there is against them, at the same time suppressing the

names of witnesses and circumstances which might betraythem. When this informative process is finished, if they still

deny, articles are drawn up under the heads which the fiscal

advances. A copy of these articles is to be given to the

accused, assigning to them a proper advocate and procurator,

even by the Inquisition, if the accused through poverty or

otherwise is unable to furnish them. Sufficient time is to

be given them to frame their interrogatories (for the defence).

Then the adverse witnesses are to be re-examined; a term is

fixed for the defence and a copy of the process is given. Whenthe defence is made, or the term elapsed, the judge convokes

the assembly of consultors, in which the whole process is

read in extenso, suppressing names and circumstances; if the

consultors are not unanimous as to sentence or the cause is

important by reason of the crime or of the person, before

torture is resorted to the Congregation of the Inquisition is

to be consulted, sending to it a complete copy of the process,

both prosecution and defence. And when it seems by the

vote of the assembly that there is no objection to the use of

torture, because the proofs are strong, care must be taken in

the torture not to inquire about the specific offence. But,before torture is decreed, they are to be reminded of the

evidence against them and in the torture they are only to be

told to tell the truth as to the matters on which they were

interrogated. If they begin to confess, no suggestions are

to be made to them, but only the precise words that they


utter are to be taken down, examining them afterwards in

general as to further truth. Instr. Rom., 10 (p. 497).

Carena assumes that the further examination is for associates or accom-

plices.

Be careful that the torture is given without jerkings, or

without weights or sticks to the feet, but is a simple torture

of some other kind, if the patient cannot have the torture of

the rope (strappado). Instr. Rom., 11 (p. 498).

Judges are not readily to repeat torture unless the case is

most serious, in which case the Congregation is to be con-

sulted. Under no circumstances are they to shave the

accused, nor are they to use force in a certain indicium alleged

by some doctors, viz., that the women under torture do not

shed tears. Ib., 12.

As to this last, Carena says, "Verum cum hoc indicium

nullum habeat fundamentum ideo non est a judicibus haben-

dum in consideratione." Ib., annot. 7.

Torture is never to exceed an hour, nor may it reach

this limit without urgent reasons. The length of time must

be entered on the record. Instr. Rom., 13 (p. 498).

It is especially to be observed that, if these women confess

apostasy to the demon and access to the Sabbat, in case the

corpus delicti can be proved only by their confession, care

must be taken that the women, without the slightest sugges-

tion, relate the whole series of what they have done; how

they were led to it from the beginning, the times and the

circumstances, for in this way it can be seen whether the

confession is likely to be true or not; and, if they state any-

thing that can be verified, the judges must positively seek

for its verification, for thus the confession can be rendered

more probable, and if the alleged circumstances prove false,

the truth of the confession is doubtful, whether induced by

torture, which is a deceiving remedy, or by somebody's sug-

gestion, or by weariness of prison, or because they think they

will thus more readily obtain pardon, as it has sometimes

been found that by these motives they have confessed falsely

such apostasy and frequentation of the Sabbat. And in order

that judges may more readily abstain from suggestion, when

women begin to confess such apostasy, it would perhaps be

better that judges should banish from their minds what the

doctors have said on the subject, for it has often been seen

that judges do much injustice to these women by following

VOL, II 61


what they have read in the doctors. Instr. Rom., 14

(p. 499).

Carena remarks on this that it is very certain that often

these things occur to women in dreams, though sometimes it

is true. It is certain that, as far as apostasy is concerned, it

is not necessary to establish a corpus delicti, in order to pro-

ceed against them; but when they confess to have intention-

ally apostatized, they are to be forced to abjure de formali;

when they say they apostatized only in word, after torture

on intention, they are to abjure de vehementi. As for womenaccused of amatory sorcery, who say they believe that the

demon can coerce the will of the lover, they are not to be

forced to abjure de formdli, for the article of faith on the

liberty of the will is not generally known. Thus in Cremona

an old woman who sought to gain the love of a youth with

some beans over which a mass was sung, and with other

things, and who confessed she thought the demon could con-

trol the will of the youth, she was sentenced to abjure de

vehementi and was scourged through the streets. Ib., annott.

7-8 (p. 499).

Carena goes on to say that the order to banish the stories

of the doctors from the judges' minds is most holy and he

wishes it could be kept before the eyes of the secular judges,

especially the ultramontane ones, for the authors relate hor-

rible things of the witches, so that all, especially judges,

abhor them and think they are making a sacrifice to Godwhen they proceed most cruelly and extort confessions by

every device. The excesses in these sentences of the Leipzig

judges can be found in Carpzov's Praxis Criminal, P. I, q. 50,

n. 66 (ed. 1670, pp. 333-42). At the end of this section, he

says, I append the words of the learned inquisitor San Vicente

in his Notabilia in Materia Inquisitionis, c. 13, 1: "It is

most certain that in this crime there are many deceptions

and falsities invented by the demon, the author of this sect"

but he goes on to quote the Lucerna Inquis. de Strigis, n. 9,

that, although the things are dreams, still they take pleasurein them and confirm them when awake and thus are not to

be excused. Ib., annott. 10-11.

The Instruction proceeds: That, although such womenconfess apostasy and attendance on the Sabbat and name

accomplices in it, in no wise are the accomplices to be prose-

cuted, for, since such attendance is mostly illusory, justice

WITCHCEAFT LITERATTJBE OF ROMAN INQUISITION 963

does not require action against accomplices recognized,[perhaps,] through illusion. Instr. Rom., 15 (p. 500).

Carena's remark is that this is the practice which will

always be observed by the Holy Office, based on its decreecommented on by Farinacci, Be Haeresi, q. 185, n. 152

(which I have elsewhere EL C. L.). Ib., annot. 2.

Especially must judges have all questions put by themrecorded in full, so that whoever reads them may see what theywere and whether suggestive. For some, with the greatestabuse and prejudice, are accustomed to write only: "To an

opportune question she replied/' or "On being questioned she

replied."

Many judges have a formula of heading for their recordswhich does not show how the case began or what was the first

indicium thus, "When it came to our ears" or "Public rumorhaving preceded." Judges must avoid this error and mustalways begin by examining the persons who have talked, or

how such rumor came to their knowledge, recording everythingin order and omitting nothing.

It may often happen that infants are overlain in the bedsof poor mothers and nurses; so they are ordered to keep themnot in their beds, but in cradles. Prudent judges will there-

fore bear this in mind, for, when such suffocation occurs,to prevent its detection mothers or nurses assert that the

infants were killed by witches.

In all these trials the fee-bills issued by the Congregationare to be strictly observed and, when the women are poor,

judges must be careful not to despoil them of their property.Instr. Rom., 16 (p. 500).

On these instructions Carena says nothing worth recording.

SCAGLIA, DESIDERIO. Prattica per le Cause del Sanf Offitio

[MS. in the Lea Library].

There can be but little doubt that Cardinal Desiderio Scaglia of Brescia

had a hand in the Instructio Romana. He was in high official position in

the Congregation when elevated in 1605 to the cardinalate by Paul V. Hedied in 1639 (Ciacconius, IV, p. 460). His views as to the treatment of

witchcraft are interesting, as reflected in his "Prattica per le Cause del

Sant' Offitio," which, though never printed, was circulated in manuscript.

Carena, in quoting a passage from it (De Officio SS. Inq., p. 490, n. 12),

speaks of it as "praxis Sancti Officii quae circumfertur manuscripta in

Inquisitionibus Italiae." Scaglia's c. 8 is "Dei Sortileghi." A reference

to Farinacci, de Haeresi, printed in 1616, shows the Prattica to be subse-

quent to that date.


Scaglia indicates no incredulity as to the powers of sorcery,

from causing death to so consecrating money that when spent

it will return to the purse of the spender. He explains the

distinction between explicit and implicit pact. He alludes to

the wordy disputations of theologians and canonists as to

the different modes of invoking and adjuring demons and

the degrees of suspicion attaching to them, but the safe

opinion which determines the practice of the Holy Office is

that any recourse to the demon, whether deprecative or

imperative, when the Christian in baptism has renounced

him and can appeal in his necessities only to God, renders him

suspect. The only lawful adjuration of the demon is to

command Mm to abandon those whom he has possessed.

When sorcerers are denounced and there are legitimate

indicia, the ordinary course is to make perquisitions, for

there are commonly found writings and books of magic,

instruments such as swords with characters, mirrors, rings,

pentacles, loadstones, etc., all of which are taken to the

Inquisition as corpus delicti. The accused is made to recog-

nize them and is interrogated as to their use and as to accom-

plices and when he confesses, "si suol dare un poco di corda

pro ulteriore veritate et super complicibus . . . et anco

sopra Pintentione, cio s'ha creduto esser lecito dar opera a

cose magiche, valersi delTopera del demonio, haver patto

seco, darli honore, apostatare dal vero Dio."

In amatory sorcery they are interrogated as to belief in

the power of the demon to coerce the human will. Manythrough ignorance, and especially women through ardent

passion which disturbs the intellect, confess to believing it,

which is heresy, but the Holy Office does not make them

abjure de formali, but only de vehementi or de levi accordingto the quality of the persons and the impulses which lead

them to expect material effects, without penetrating more

deeply. But, if the sorcerer is learned and intelligent and

says he believes the will can be coerced, "senza dubio entrar-

ebbe la formalita cioe si farebbe abiurare de formali."

When indicia and writings of superstition are brought to

the Holy Office, it is considered whether they are qualificate

or not qualificate. The former are the abuse of the sacraments

and sacramentals, writings in blood with observance of wax-

ing and waning moon, calling on God and the saints for helpto commit mortal sins, celebrating mass on inanimate objects,etc. The latter are charms to liberate from danger by the

WITCHCRAFT LITEBATUKE OF BOMAN INQUISITION 965

use of senseless prayers and crosses and Scripture texts. Theformer are judged by the Holy Office; the latter are left to

the Ordinaries or, if they are heard, they are dismissed witha warning and some salutary penance.Then there are the "streghe i [6] stregoni." Gives long detail

of their methods in causing love or death figurines, powders,charms placed under thresholds, etc., so that the bewitchedwaste away beyond the power of physicians to cure. In these

cases, being in themselves very difficult to determine judicially,the Holy Office proceeds with the greatest circumspectionand slowness both in believing and procedure, and few or nocases in this matter are properly conducted, because they are

mostly based on remote indicia, as of threats, "I will makeyou repent/' "You will pay for it"; or on indifferent indicia,as when a person is sick after eating something, when the

corpus delicti cannot be proved, for the illness may comefrom a natural cause; it is customary to obtain a physician's

opinion that it is not natural or that of an expert and prudentexerciser that it comes from sorcery. I say a prudent exor-

cizer, for there are many who pronounce all diseases sorceries,

either through lack of experience or desire of gain, and some-

times, if the persons are not bewitched, this develops the

melancholy humor, and with other illicit arts they bewitch

them and cause the worse effects, inconveniences and scandals.

Little can ordinarily be made of these sorcerers on account

of the weakness of the indicia; but when these are urgent

they are tortured on the facts and the intention respectivelyand as regards pact and the work of the demon they are

required to abjure in the form suitable to the quality of the

crime and of the person ; they are condemned to imprisonmentand other penalties, greater or less, or more or less humiliating.

But it very often happens in these proceedings that the

accused, especially women, when interrogated or spontane-

ously, confess commerce with the demon, that they have

given themselves to him body and soul and, carried by himto the Sabbat, have adored him, renounced their baptism,

trampled on the crucifix, renounced God and the Virgin and

committed other acts of apostasy, that they have committed

many infanticides and that in the Sabbat they have seen

and recognized other persons whom they name. But, on dili-

gently questioning them as to the time and occasion when

they commenced dealing with the demon, and making them

relate the course of their lives, and asking them as to accom-


plices in their crimes (which are mostly infanticide), it is

necessary that all this be verified. Then they are made to

abjure de formali, if they have apostatized with the heart,

but, if they deny intention, then de vehementi. They are

condemned to formal prison when there are prior indicia

against them, but when they confess without precedingindicia they are regarded as "per sponte comparenti." Theaccomplices are prosecuted, excepting those whom they state

they have seen in the Sabbat, as to whom there is a special

decree of the Inquisition (Farinacci, De Haer., q. 185, n. 159)that they are not to be prosecuted, as the deponent may bedeceived as to the persons named, through illusion of the

devil; but, as to what concerns their person, the confession is

accepted as true ("si sta alia sua eonfessione")-He also mentions exile with requirement to present herself

monthly to the Ordinary in order to keep a check on her.

Also, "Tal volta anco si frustano ma pero vero che quandohanno marito 6 figlie nubili, il Santo Officio per benignits'astiene da questa condanna perche ridonda in ignominiodelle figliole che per questo rispetto non trovono mariti et i

mariti perdono Famore alle mogli frustate."

Altogether this indicates no little common sense and humanity, while

giving full credence to all the superstitions.

ALBERGHINI, GIOVANNI. Manuale Qualificatory, Sanctae

Inquisitionis. Caesaraugustae, 1671.

The first edition is of Palermo [1642]. It was written between 1640 and1642. Frequently reprinted. There are editions of Coloniae, 1740, andVenetiis, 1754.

He follows Aquinas (Summa, Sec. Sec., q. 92, art. 2) in divid-

ing [superstition] into three species Idolatria, Divinatio andVana observantia. Cap. 18, n. 2.

It is heretical superstition to keep a demon confined in a

ring or other thing and seek responses from him, as this can

only be done through pact. Ib., sect. 2, 1, n. 12.

Express pact, in which the demon pledges himself "Faciesut faciam, id est invocabis me et dabis cultum, et ego auxili-

abor tibi. Item pones talia vel talia signa, aut hoc vel illud

facies, et ego ad positionem illorum, aut cum hoc vel illud

feceris, favebo tibi et hoc vel illud pro te efficiam." Thedemon is expressly invoked, by virtue of this pact, not onlywhen help is asked in words, but also when, knowing that he

WITCHCRAFT LITBRATUEE OF EOMAN INQUISITION 967

can be invoked by certain signa, [these signa are employed].Ib., 2, n. 2.

The demon is tacitly or implicitly invoked when any one,

by vain or undue methods, procures knowledge or effects

reserved alone to God, even though it is not his intention toinvoke the demon, for the demon most willingly intervenesin these methods. Ib., n. 3.

Express pact is generally understood by the doctors to

include renunciation of the Christian faith, of obedience to

God and of the protection of the Virgin, in which case it is

apostasy, although it may exist without these, in which case

it only involves danger of apostasy. The oath to the devil is

usually taken in a circle drawn upon the ground. Ib., n. 4.

Tacit pact is not excluded by expressly declaring that it is

not intended when one is using these vain methods to produceresults. Ib., n. 7.

Pact is presumed when certain knowledge is sought, or

more certain [knowledge] than can be had by natural means,but it is otherwise when only conjectural knowledge is sought.

-Ib., n. 8.

There is tacit pact in using words or prayers or placing

things under the head to obtain knowledge by dreams.

Ib., n. 9.

Tacit pact does not imply heresy unless there is someheretical act committed. Ib., n. 13.

Demons are accustomed to appear in two ways either byvoice alone, without a body, or in an assumed body. This

body may be either pre-existing or formed of condensed air

or by affecting the senses as if an object came before them.

Ib., 3, n. 1.

To procure such apparition or response is illicit, as it cus-

tomarily requires sacrifices, oblations, prayers or cult, imply-

ing idolatry.- Ib., n. 2.

"Magia . . . est ratio quaedam seu facultas efficiendi

mira opera, ope et ministerio daemonis, per signa ab ipso

inslituta." It infers at least tacit pact. Ib., sect. 3, 4, n. 2.

' '

Magicam artem exercentes non solum sortilegi haereticales

reputantur sed etiam ut haeretici habendi." But this is to

be understood, not of magic superstition in itself, but of

attending circumstances, such as express pact, idolatry

through sacrifice offered to the demon or similar cult, through

which they commonly lapse into heresy. Ib., n. 4.

It is certain that demons must have the greatest power to

968 1HE DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

injure men, if God permits it, since they did not by their sin

lose their natural power over things here below, admitted byall as Aquinas says, P. I, q. 64, art. 4. They can truly, andnot in appearance only, produce certain effects which canarise from rapid local motion and the application of active

and passive elements, such as frogs, mice, flies and the like.

They have power over these elements and transfer from one

place to another snow, winds, rain, hail and lightning. Theycan drive tempests hither and thither and make them stayor diminish. They can cause inundations, earthquakes, ruin

of buildings, conflagrations, destroy crops or move them from

place to place in the twinkling of an eye and transport forests

and orchards. They can extract gold hidden in the earth and

sea, but God rarely permits this, lest they should attract mento their service, whence nearly all magi are poor, abject, vile.

They have power over the human body to afflict it with dis-

eases which are incurable by men, as by instilling unknownpoisons and regulating them to operate slowly and impedethe virtue of remedies. Also by inserting in the stomach tufts

of bristles, nails, fragments of glass and other things whichare often found in the bewitched. They can prevent injuries

by fire, the sword and other implements, either interposing

themselves, or impeding the blow, or applying contrary media,or stopping the flow of blood from the veins. Ib., 5, nn. 1, 2.

But demons cannot so change the quantity of bodies that

penetration of parts results, nor can they place one body in

two different places, or two bodies interpenetrated in one

place. Therefore they cannot enable a man, like a cat or

weasel, to creep into a room through a narrow opening, muchless to enter through closed doors; they only can precedeand open the door for witches to come in. (For all this he

quotes Del Rio, 1. ii, q. 17, who says the same. ~H. C. L.)

Ib., n. 3.

It follows that the demon cannot so compress the quantityof a man as to render him invisible to those whose eyes are

normal and not fascinated; but he can render him invisible

per accidenSj interposing some other body or transportinghim to a distance. (So Del Rio, loc. tit, who thus explainsthe ablation of virilia told in the Malleus. H. C. L.) Ib.,n. 4.

Nor can demons and magi transform bodies from one formto another, truly and intrinsically, but they can do so extrin-

sically, though this is delusory. Still its effects may be real,


as the killing of men and animals by the demon in an aerial

lupine body or by men clothed in lupine effigy. Ib., n. 5.

This is also from Del Rio, 1. ii, q. 18, who adds that those who assert

the contrary are subject to excommunication under Cap. Episcopi thus

admitting its genuineness and still existing authority.

Old men can be rejuvenated by the help of demons apply-ing natural remedies by which the radical moisture is restored,the dryness of old age is tempered and the color of the hair

restored. Ib., n. 6.

This is also from Del Rio, 1. ii, q. 23, who tells some incredible stories

of rejuvenation.

Demons can do with souls conjoined to bodies everythingwhich depends on the disposition of the body and imagina-tionsuch as exciting to love or hatred or lust and other

similar affections. Also they can coerce inferior demons to

enter human bodies and can expel them and they finally

can subject themselves to the will of magi in producing these

effects. Ib., n. 8.

"Quoniam Magia quae alteri nociva est Maleficium appel-

latur, ideo Maleficium est vis ac potestas nocendi aliis ex

pacto expresso vel tacito cum daemone." It is of two kinds,

amatory, causing carnal love, and injurious, used by malefici

to injure, whether by killing or causing disease, sterility andthe like, or destroying vineyards and flocks. To this pertains

exciting tempests and hailstorms to damage harvests andhouses. Ib., 7, n. 1.

Malefici do not do these things of themselves or by their

inherent power, but demons do them at the will of the malefici,

"Deo id permittente." As, for instance, when they make

figurines and stick them or melt them at the fire, then demons

stick the victim or consume him. "Caetera sunt communia

Magis et Maleficis." Ib., n. 2.

It is unlawful to remove a maleficium by another maleficiumor to seek relief from a maleficus, for this is the same as seeking

it from the demon, as the maleficus can only operate throughhim. Ib., n. 3.

It is unlawful for judges to compel a maleficus to remove a

maleficium. Ib., n. 4.

But it is lawful to ask a maleficus, who knows of licit means,

to remove a maleficium. Also if the sufferer probably thinks

he will use lawful means. Also if the sufferer doubts whether

the means will be licit or illicit, for in such doubt it is pre-


sumable that good means will be used. If there is moral

certainty that illicit means will be used, yet if there are licit

means and the maleficics knows both, although some deny it,

still it can be more probably sustained that it is licit to applyto the maleficus. Ib., n. 5.

For this probabilistic casuistry he quotes Sanchez, Suarez, Lessius, Fili-

ucius, Castropalao and Fagundez. It shows how the old vigor was arguedaway.

Moreover it is licit for the sufferer or anyone else to destroythe signum maleficii to obtain relief, whether the pactumnocendi be single, viz., for the placing of the signum, or double,for the placing and its removal to cause relief. But he whodestroys it must have the intention of destroying the pactand not of preserving or confirming it. Ib., n. 6.

When in maleficium there is express invocation of the

demon, it creates violent suspicion of heresy. The use of

sacred objects causes open and violent suspicion. As to male-

fida et sortilegia non haereticalia, those committing them are

suspect de levi.Ib., n. 7.

Malefici who believe that love philtres control humanfree-will are to be held as heretics. Ib., 8, n. 3.

Philtres and invocation of demons to tempt the virtue of

women are not considered heretical, yet malefici using themare vehemently suspect and therefore inquisitors can prose-cute them. Ib., n. 4.

[Certain nefarious sorcerers are] known as magiae, lamiae,

striges, maleficae, vene/icae, sagae Hisp., bruxas ItaL, donne

difuora.Ib., 9 r n. 1.

Description of them (which I believe I have elsewhereH. C. L.), drawn from Malleus, Albertinus and Bernardo daComo mostly. Ib., nn. 1-3.

It is customary (solef) to doubt whether they are carried

by demons to distant places, to which I answer with Suarezthat there should be no doubt that the demon can carry themto most distant places in the shortest time, for this does notexceed the natural power of demons; for it is proved thatdemons can take them into the interior of houses and he addsthat they are really carried to distant places, where theyassemble and commit many foul and sacrilegious acts witheach other and with demons in human shape and this is thecommon decision of theologians and jurists. Ib., n. 5.

Del Rio says the ointment used is made of various foolish

things, but chiefly of the fat of slain infants; sometimes only


the staff is anointed, sometimes the thighs or other parts ofthe body. The transport could be effected without it, butthe demon insists on it to stimulate infanticide. This is

shown by the fact that the first time the witch can use oint-ment made by another, but afterwards she must make it

for herself. (Disquis. Magic., 1. ii, q. 16, p. 172.) Ib., n. 6.

There is a question whether inquisitors can deliver to thesecular judges repentant witches on account of the homicides

perpetrated by them. This is denied by Simancas, Albertino,Pena and others on account of incurring irregularity, but it

is affirmed recently in the new law, for GregoryXV in the con-stitution Omnipotentis Dei orders relaxation even without

relapse when death has been wrought. Ib., nn. 7-8.

He says that Del Rio, who was prior to this decree, is of the affirmative

opinion, but this is scarcely so. Del Rio says nothing about inquisitors or

irregularity, but merely states the general proposition that by both civil

and canon law sorcerers, heretical or savoring of heresy, are to be prose-cuted as heretics; if there is no heretical error it is usual for the secular

magistrate to scourge them, send to galleys or exile or other penalty less

than death, besides fine proportioned to the culprit. But, if death hasresulted from sorcery, the common opinion is that the Lex Cornelia mustact and the culprit is to be burnt. Even the patrons of witches admit this,

excepting witches. But the common opinion of theologians and jurists is

that our witches are not to be excepted. (Disquis. Magic., 1. v, sect. 16,

p. 758.)

Although by the new law of Sixtus V inquisitors inquireand have cognizance of all sorcery, even not heretical, and of

superstitions and diviners, this jurisdiction is not exclusive

and does not deprive the Ordinaries of their faculties of prose-cution and sentence even without the intervention of the

Inquisition, unless the sorceries and maleficia manifestlysavor of heresy, in which case the inquisitors have cognizance,with episcopal concurrence. If there is no savor of heresy,

the bishops have cognizance, as before the decree of Sixtus V,

although it granted jurisdiction to the Inquisition. This wasdecided by a decree of the Congregation of the Inquisition,

December 21, 1602. Ib., n. 9.

LTJPO DA BEKGAMO, IGNATIUS. Nova Lux in Edictum S.

Inquisitionis ad Praxim Sacramenti Penitentiae. Bergomi,1648.

Of the numerous approbations apparently necessary for the printing of

this work, one is dated in 1633, one in 1634, four in 1645 and one in 1647.

This renders the date of its composition uncertain, as well as the date of


the Edict of Denunciation, which itself is not dated. He cites Carena in

what must be the edition of 1641 so doubtless the work was revised and

enlarged. It would look as though an edict had been published early in the

thirties and then again after a long interval about 1645. (The Edict wasissued Jan. 3, 1623, and is ordered to be published twice yearly by all

parish priests and preachers see Gherardi, Breve Istrazione, Rome, 1752,

pp. 15-16.)

The "Editto Generale per il Sant' Officio delPInquisitione"is issued in the name of the Bishop of the Diocese and the

Inquisitor General of the City and Diocese. It is apparentlyto be posted in public places, for there is a note at the bottom"Non sia rimosso sotto pena di Seonrrnunica." It requires

the denunciation to the Inquisition under pain of excommuni-cation and other canonical penalties of "tutti e ciascuno di

quelli de' quali sappiano 6 habbiano havuto 6 haverannonotitia" that they are heretics, etc. The portion respecting

sorcery is: "6 habbiano apostato dalla Santa Fede Christiana,6 in qualunque modo espressamente 6 tacitamente habbiano

invocato 6 invochino il Demonio, 6 gPhabbiano prestato 6

prestino honore, 6 habbiano havuto parte 6 si siano ingeriti

6 s'ingeriscano in qual si sia esperimento di magia, 6 negro-

mantia, incantesimi 6 altre simili superstitiose attioni, e

massime con abuso di cose sacre."

Note the abstinence from allusion to the Sabbat, witchcraft, etc.

Then there is a general clause against anonymous communi-cations "Awertendo, che & questi nostri precetti non sodis-

faranno nd s'intendano sodisfare quelli che con bolettini 6

lettere senza nome e cognome delFAuttori, 6 in altra maniera

incerti, delle quali niuno conto si tiene nel Sant' Officio,

pretendessero revelare i delinquent}."

All this is in the unpaged introductory matter.

Non-heretical sorcery is to be denounced to the bishopheretical sorcery to the Inquisition. P. Ill, 1. xv, p. 253.

But his definition of tacit invocation of the demon leaves

little for non-heretical superstition. It is the old one : "tacitamdaemonis invocationem intercedere cum homo intendit aliquidfacere per ea quae nee virtute naturali nee supernatural! fieri

possunt." And he illustrates this with endeavoring to cure

a headache by measuring with the palm the belt of the

sufferer. Ib., art. 2, 3 (p. 255).But this leads to distinctions sometimes not readily defined.

Thus it is an open question whether or not it is superstitious


to harm or benefit a sick man by treating Ms shirt at a dis-

tance, say of a mile. Ib., p. 256.

He draws a distinction between what he calls the old law,when only superstitions which savored of manifest heresywere cognizable by the Inquisition, and the new law which

gives it jurisdiction "etiam si non sapiant manifestam haeresimdummodo tamen sapiant" (non-manifest heresy). For the

old rule see Eymeric, Director., P. II, q. 42, and Pena,Comment., P. II, comm. 67. Ib., art. 4, diff. 1 (p. 257).

Also see Bart. Fumus, Aurea Armilla (Methymnae Campi, 1552), s.v.

"Inquisitor," nn. 2, 3 which says: "Inquisitor non potest se intromittere

de incantationibus, sortilegiis, quaestionibus usurarum nisi in quantumsapiunt manifesto haeresim" and it goes on with a list of sacrificing to

idols, consulting demons, abusive use of sacraments, and the like. Besides,"Ad inquisitores non pertinet cognoscere an aliquid sapiat manifeste haer-

esim, quia jurisdictio est sibi attributa conditione existente. ... Si

tamen certum est quod sapit haeresim, sed dubitatur an sit manifesta,

potest recipere probationes an sit manifesta."

The new law apparently has its origin in the enlarged jurisdiction (thoughnot exclusive) in such matters conferred by Sixtus V. in the bull Coeli et

Terrae Creator, 1585, which I have elsewhere (Pena, Append, ad Eymeric.,

p. 142).

Still two things are requisite for the denunciation that

in the superstition the demon is at least tacitly invoked, andthat it involves mortal sin. Lupo da Bergamo, lac. cit.,

diff. 2 (p. 257).Then follows a list of 24 superstitions involving mortal

sin, varying from the adoration of demons to believing that

herbs or music will protect against demons or effecting cures

by means that have no power to cure. Ib., art. 5 (p. 258).

Goes on to discuss the superstitious arts invented by the

demon the Cabala (the pious, known as Arithmantica with

mystic and symbolic theology; and the forbidden, as Theman-

tica), the Planetary Art, the Ars Speculatoria, Ars Alchemica,

Ars Angelica, Ars Paulina, the Clavicula Salomonis, the Ars

Notoria -followed by discussion of a long series of popular

superstitions, more or less curious. Ib., dist. 1-6 (pp. 259-

88).

Then he treats of benedictions and exorcisms, licit and

illicit. Ib., dist. 7 (pp. 288-9).

The next book treats of demons. First as to their knowledgeof the future. Ib., lib. xvi, dist. 1 (pp. 290-3).

Then as to the use of their knowledge in deceiving man.-

Ib., dist. 2 (pp. 294-6).


Then as to their power over the souls and bodies of men,over riches and honors. They can kill men, strip them of

riches, etc. but only in so far as God permits. The reason

for this permission, according to Tostatus, is first, that manshould hold the demon in hatred; second, that he shall beware

of consorting with him; third, that he may regard him as an

implacable enemy. Ib., dist. 3, art. 1, diff. 1 (p. 297).

Demons can assume any shape they choose, but by divine

disposition they do not take that of a sheep, for Christ called

himself shepherd and Ms disciples sheep, nor that of a dove

which the Holy Ghost took. But sometimes a demon trans-

forms himself into an angel of light, or the Crucified, or the

Blessed Virgin. These bodies they form of air and can dissi-

pate them instantaneously. They can make them appear

to one and not to another who is present, or their voices can

be heard by one and not by another. Ib., diff. 2 (p. 297).

With the permission of God, honest and innocent women

by the fraud of the demon can be defamed for witchcraft,

but this rarely happens, owing to the care of the guardian

angel. (What about God's permission? H. C. L.). Ib.,

diff. 3 (p. 297).

The several following sections are devoted to the subject

of demons, revealing the intimate knowledge acquired by

theologians as to their powers, their functions, their social

internal organization and the exact influence which they can

exercise over man all derived from competent theological

authorities. (It is a curious exemplification of the intimate

acquaintance with the spiritual world built up by scholastic

theology on premises deduced from vague scriptural allusions

and developed under the artificial rules of the schools.

H. C. L.). Ib., altera pars, lib. xvi, De Daemonum Potentia,

dist. 3, 4 (pp. 296-301).This is followed by a still longer and more detailed defini-

tion of the limitations on the power of demons. In this

among other things he shows (dist. 7, art. 2) that demons are

not bound by any pact they may make with mortals and,

if they keep it, this is only for the purpose of ulterior decep-tion. Ib., tertia pars, De Impotentia Daemonum (pp. 302-

11).

It is worthy of note how often throughout the work he recurs to the

expression "non est potestas super terram quae ipsis comparetur."

Then follows lib. xvii on Divination, pp. 312-25.

Then Kb. xviii, on Astrology, pp. 326-38.

WITCHCKAFT LITEHATUBE OF KOMAN INQUISITION 975

Then lib. xix, on Maleficent Magic, pp. 339-57.

"Voeatur Diabohis a Dia, quod idem est ac duo, et bolus

quod est morsellus, quia duo sunt morselli ex quibus saturari

cupit, nimirum anima intellectual! et corpore humano."

Ib., 1. xx, dist. 3, art. 1, dif. 1 (p. 366).Distinctions between explicit and implicit pact the latter

may be or may not be mortal sin owing to ignorance. Ib.,

1. xix, dist. 3, art. 1, dif. 4 (pp. 344-5).The invocation of the demon always savors of heresy,

Ib., art. 2.

Recourse to demons for help in things which they can do

and we cannot was not under the old law to be denouncedto the Inquisition unless it savored of heresy, but under the

new law all recourse is to be denounced. Ib., art. 3.

Axe all sorcerers excommunicate ipso jure? The doctors

say not, because there is no express decree to that effect exceptthe Super illius Specula of John XXII, which has fallen into

disuse, as Carena says, tit. xii, n. 112. But the safer course

is to be followed, which the Holy Office pursues and which

you must accept. Ib., art. 4.

Long disquisition on amatory sorcery. Ib., secunda pars,

dist. 3, arts. 1-5 (pp. 346-9).

Disquisition on necromancy. The only point worth record-

ing is his assertion that the transformation of men into

beasts, etc., and the production of animals are not real but

illusory. Ib., dist. 4, art. 2, diff. 2 (p. 350).

Section on incantations. Among these he includes wearing

pious prayers, not used by the Church, if they are worn in

the belief that they preserve from danger as that the

wearers cannot be hurt by firearms. Ib., dist. 6, art. 3, diff. 1

(p. 352).Fascination is the power possessed by some of injuring men

and beasts and harvests by look, praising, voice, touch, etc.

It may be natural or may arise from express or tacit pact.

A man may fascinate a woman to love him in order that he

may afterwards kill her (in the same way) -though this incurs

the objection of interfering with free-will (a thing that con-

stantly arises to trouble the learned demonologists, and which

they elude rather than explain H. C. L.). Philosophical

disquisition on susceptibility to fascination. Treats also of

self-fascination. As fascination may be either natural or

diabolical, the question as to denouncing it to the Inquisition


is a nice one but is decided by affirming that all cases must

be denounced. Ib., dist. 7 (pp. 353-7).

Although in the Edict there is a noteworthy abstention

from alluding to witchcraft and maleficent sorcery, Lupoconsiders that the general concluding clause "6 altre simili

superstitiose attioni" justifies him in going on with these

forms."Malefici quidam nocent sed non curant. Quidam e contra

curant sed non nocent; quidam vero utrumque praestant."

Ib., 1. xx, dist. 1, art. 1, diff. 1 (p. 360).

Enlarging on Mall, Malef. P. II, q. 1, c. 2, he tells us that

when a witch renounces the faith, some do so only by mouth,others by mouth and heart. The devil cannot read the

human heart and cannot tell which, so he assigns to her a

certain number of years and meanwhile deputes a certain

demon, commonly known as Martinello, like a master of

novices, to watch over her and converse with her, and, if he

sees that she wavers, he reports to his superior, who thereupon

exposes her to temporal afflictions, till in desperation she sur-'

renders her soul to him. Ib., diff. 3 (p. 360).

A good explanation of the misfortunes of the accused.

The causes which lead to the diffusion of witchcraft are:

(1) The ignorance of pastors. (2) Negligence of magistratesin prosecution and punishment. (3) Defect of perfect faith,

which is a shield against the fiery darts of the devil. (4) Too

great a curiosity to know what should not be known. (5)

Greed for wealth. (6) Lust. (7) Too great sadness (despera-

tion). (8) Desire for revenge on enemies. Ib., art. 2 (p. 361).

The power of maleficent sorcery is derived : (1) From insuf-

ficient reliance on God. (2) From pact, tacit or express.

(3) From the extreme desire of the demons to injure men.

Ib., art. 3.

The work of witches is more dangerous when they use

natural means, such as poisons, than when they use charms;for crosses and sacramentals cannot impede the effect of

natural causes, while, in the case of charms, the assaults of

the demon can often be repelled by spiritual arms. Ib.,

art. 4.

God permits the maleficia for his own praise and for the

benefit of men. The praise of God is elicited "duin ex male-

ficiis potest et novit elicere bona." There is no little benefit

to man when, by maleficia diabolica, which the bewitched

WITCHCEAFT LITERATURE OF ROMAN INQUISITION 977

patiently endures, he is compelled to return to God. Evenas the patience of martyrs is educed by the persecution of

tyrants, so by the works of witches is elicited the test of thefaith of the just. Although it is not the intention of theshepherd that the sheep should be devoured, yet it is for thegeneral good, for thus the race of wolves is preserved; it is

necessary that the corruption of one should be the preserva-tion of the other. Ib., dist. 2, art. 1, difL 1 (p. 362).

These are the salient points of a long and inconclusive discussion.

Yet God, in restricting the power of the devil, does notpermit him to do all the evil he desires; so he does not permitthe witch to do all she wishes in order to gain the favor ofthe devil Ib., diff. 2 (p. 263).

In answer to the question why God permits such a slaughterof children as is seen in practice, he replies that God's judg-ments are inscrutable, for often what at first sight seemshurtful to the children and their parents in fact is advan-tageous to them both. We may also say with the theologiansthat God permits this destruction of children to spread inorder that his wisdom, power and goodness may shine forth.

Unless the demon was specially bound by God, without doubthe would work greater evils than we experience, for the powerof evil angels is as great as that of the good. Ib., diff. 3

(p. 363).The remedy for the demon's desire to kill children is, firstly,

to commend them to the Virgin morning and evening and to

protect them with the sign of the cross, for it is known by theconfessions of many witches that this sign is of the greatest

utility against them. Secondly, that the parents do notconfide them to old women, for it may happen that withoutsin they may be naturally fascinated by the putrid vaporsarising from the mouth, eyes and other parts of women,especially when from age their monthly purifications cease,and special care should be taken not to let them sleep withthem. Thirdly, sprinkling them and their beds with holywater is a most powerful protection against demons. Fourthly,the greatest protection is a papal Agnus Dei suspended fromthe neck or the cradle. Ib., art. 2 (p. 363).The reason why guardian angels permit men to be molested

by demons is not lack of power or good-will, but because Godwill not permit them to act except in accordance with divine

providence and justice. Ib., art. 3, diff. 1 (p. 364).VOL. is 62


There is no doubt, even to those moderately experienced,

that changelings can be substituted for children by demons

and by witches. Their bodies are formed ex mistis. But in

fact God very rarely permits it, not allowing parents to be

tempted beyond endurance. The best protection is the sign

of the cross on the forehead. Some call them changelings

(cambiones); others vagiones (piangetori?) from their con-

tinual crying (vagitu). They have three evil qualities-

insatiable thirst that exhausts four nurses, their weight is

extreme for their size, and after a few years they vanish.

Ib., art 4, diff. 1 (pp. 364-5).

God does not permit the devil so to hide himself as not to

be detected. "Hinc apparens Evae pendens ab arbore pomiscientiae boni et mali, varius visus fuit; nam a medietate cor-

poris usque ad caput inclusive habebat formam speciosissi-

mae foeminae; a medietate vero partis inferioris usque ad

pedes praeferebat formam serpentis." Ib., p. 365.

Although the demon is the principal, because it is his powerand action that works the evil to men, beasts and harvests,

yet this is justly imputed to the sorcerer because, as a rule,

without them God does not permit demons to do these things,

nor are they wont to attempt them without the urging of

the sorcerer. Ib., dist. 3, art. 2, diff. 3 (p. 369).

Seeing that there is no power on earth equal to that of demons, it is

necessary to interpose God in order to explain why witches are necessary

to them. Similar was the belief of the early Christians thus Minucius

Felix (c. 220): "Magi quoque non tantum sciunt daemones, sed etiam,

quidquid miraculi ludunt, per daemones faciunt: illis aspirantibus et

infundentibus, praestigias edunt, vel, quae non sunt, videri; vel, quae sunt,

non videri" (Octavius, c. 26, Migne, III, 335).

There are two opinions: one, based on Cap. Episcopi, that

witches are transported by demons only in imagination; the

other, based on Scripture, that men can be transported both

by good and bad angels. They reply to the former that in

Cap. Episcopi it is not denied that men and especially witches

are sometimes really transported, but that often it is merely

imaginary; nor is it denied that they fly swiftly through the

air over great distances, but only that these witches ride with

Diana and Herodias; nor is it denied that these witches after

abominable ceremonies and inunctions are carried by demonsto specified places, where many assemble to worship the demonand indulge in all foulness. Then, after telling some of the

ordinary stories, he concludes that witches are sometimes


really carried, but that this is more often imaginary. Ib.,

dist. 4, art. 1, diff. 1 (p. 369).Sometimes this transportation is made without the party

being aware or seeing the demon he suddenly finds himself

elsewhere. Sometimes he is sensible of it and sees the demon.The demon can do it without touching him or by touchinghim only with a finger. Ib., diff. 2 (p. 370).The demon does this by the exercise of will alone and in

the same way he opens and shuts the doors. Ib., art. 2

(p. 371).....By divine permission the innocent can be represented in

the Sabbat and consequently be denounced and even for a

time be defamed; but as this Is too great a load, God is not

accustomed to permit it to the demons, although he custom-

arily permits even heavier things to demons, for by the singu-

lar providence of God it is so ordered that the Inquisition,

even if it does not at once see the truth, yet in course of time

all things are opened to it and it agitates and handles the

case of the accused, so that the truth necessarily appears at

last. It is also an established fact that God preserves the

inquisitors and their ministers from the wickedness and hate

of demons and witches, to which if they were exposed, theywould at once be destroyed. Ib., dist. 5, art. 1, diff. 1 (p. 371).

As there is no power on earth like that of demons, it would

seem that they could liberate imprisoned witches, but theyare not permitted by God. If they could, it would lead to

the gross absurdity that the power of demons was greater

than the divine. Confessors, therefore, when witches are

hesitating as to conversion can assure them that, if they are

arrested, they will not be saved from the judges by the

demon. Ib., diff. 2 (p. 372).

Argument to prove that witches can repent and be con-

verted : Any pact which they may make with the demon is

invalid and does not bind them, otherwise it would prove

that he is more powerful than God. Besides in baptism they

have made a pact with God, renouncing the devil and all his

works. It is a popular superstition that this is annulled byhis removing the chrism from her forehead, for the character

it brings is ineradicable. Ib., art. 2, diff. 1 (p. 372).

Nor is it necessary for the demon to return any written

paper, or that it be destroyed; true repentance suffices.

Ib., diff. 2 (p. 373).

Repentant witches, when executed, can have Christian

980 THE DELUSIOISr AT ITS HEIGHT

burial, though it is not decent that it should be publicly

solemnized as for respected persons. Also they can have

masses, etc. Ib., art. 3 (p. 373).

When the demon injures anyone's possessions in the name

of a witch, or to gratify her, though without her command,she is not required to make restitution, even if she ratifies it

after it is done. Ib., art. 4, diff. 1 (p. 373).

The heirs of an executed witch are bound to make good

the injuries she has inflicted in so far as her estate will go,

and this in preference to legacies. Where there is confisca-

tion the fisc is likewise under the same obligation, Ib., diff. 2

(pp. 373-4).

Explains the different names applied to witches Magae,

Sagae, Lamiae, Veneficae, Striges, Incantatrices, Sortilegae.

As for Lamiae " Lamia item naturalis habet speciem et

faciem mulieris, sed pedes equinos; ita hae lamiae similitudine

habent formam humanam, sed earum affectus sunt bestiales

et inhumani" they devour their own children. Ib., dist. 6,

art. 1, diff. 1 (p. 374).

The Malefica is the same as the Maga, with a difference

the Maga acts for her own pleasure, the Malefica to injure

others; the Maga things she controls the demon, the Malefica

recognizes him as her master; the Maga learns her art from

books, the Malefica is taught by the demon; the Maga, unless

of the worst kind, does not renounce God and the saints, the

Malefica usually does so. Maga is a generic, Malefica a specific

name. Ib., diff. 2 (p. 375).

Returns to the Cap. Episcopi and pronounces the night

riding with Diana and Herodias an illusion. There is no

Diana; she is a fiction; as for Herodias, she is in hell, payingthe penalty for her iniquities and it is not to be imaginedthat God would permit her to leave it for this purpose. Norcould horses carry them in so short a time to such distances,

nor do it silently. It is true that they are sometimes carried

by demons in the form of beasts, and this is sometimes an

illusion in dreams. Ib., diff. 4 (pp. 375-6).

He asks with Mall. Malef. why princes who favor witches

do not with their aid overcome all enemies. The Malleus

replies because the good angels prevent it (P. I, q. xviii), to

which Lupo adds that God will not permit it.- Ib., art. 2,

diff. 1 (p. 376).

This suggests that much which puzzled the earlier demonologists was

readily explained by the extended application later of the universally


recognized principle that the demon could do nothing without the expresspermission of God. This smoothed away all difficulties and reconciled all

absurd contradictions. The contrast between the earlier and the later

writers is seen in this passage of the Malleus.

In elaborate instructions to preachers how to impress the people and to

answer all questions, the Malleus concludes with these Why witches are

not enriched? Why princes favoring them are not aided in destroying then-

enemies? Why they are unable to injure preachers and others persecutingthem? Now to all these in the later times the ready answer would be thelimitations imposed by God; but to the first the Malleus replies that the

demon has pleasure in contumely of the Creator, in buying them at thelowest price, and also that their wealth may not attract attention. To the

second, that they do not harm princes (that is, the adversaries) so as to

preserve their friendliness and also that the good angel protects them. Tothe third, that they cannot hurt inquisitors and other officials because theyare executing public justice; says nothing about preachers (Mall. Malef.,P. I, q. xviii).

Now here there is here not a word about God's withholding permission.Yet see Conrad Molitor's Dialogus in 1487, where the limitation is fully set

forth (Inquisition of the Middle Ages, III, p. 542).

Although witches, with the power of the demon, desire to

injure everybody, yet by the providence of God there are

three classes whom they cannot harm. The first is the min-

ister of justice, such as inquisitors and their officials. Thesecond is the ministers of the Church, who confect sacramen-

talia to diminish the power of the demon. The third is those

who really love Christ, as shown in the case of the virgin

Justina and other saints. Yet there should be no suspicion

as to those who are molested with sorceries that they are not

pious, for the divine justice is inscrutable and not to be

questioned. Lupo da Bergamo, loc. tit., art. 2, diff. 2 (p. 376).

For further development of this see Mall. Malef., P. II, q. 1. The third

class here is those who are protected by the angels.

Four reasons why the demon does not enrich witches.

(1) If they grew suddenly rich, they would be suspected and

prosecuted. (2) The providence of God, for if there are so

many now, what would happen if they were enriched. (3)

That we may appreciate the miserable condition of those whoabandon God, the Giver of all things. (4) That there maynot be an incentive for those infirm in faith to leave the

right path. Ib., art. 3 (p. 376).

Reasons why women are more prone than men to witch-

craft. They are talkative and tell whatever they know, so

that a single one will corrupt a whole district. They are

cowardly and cannot shake off sadness, giving the demon


opportunity to tempt them. They are vindictive and given

to anger, and the demon offers them revenge. They are

credulous and ignorant, and the demon can deceive them,

often under the appearance of righteousness. They are

curious and seek to know forbidden things. They are of

softer complexion, readily receiving impressions from spirits,

so that if they are taught by good spirits they become very

devout, but if by bad ones they are the worst of all. Theyare by nature fragile, so that the demon ensnared the first

woman as the weaker vessel. Ib,, art. 4, diff. 1 (p. 376).

Nothing here as to proneness to lust.

To the question what women become witches he replies.

Some doctors say those less stable in faith. Others, those

who are ambitious. Others, those who are given to carnal

vices, like adulterous wives and prostitutes. I agree with

this last, for they principally seek to render men impotent.

Ib., diff. 2 (p. 376).

Whether a daughter who knows her mother to be a witch

is required to denounce her? Some witches are harmful only

to themselves, as those who become so in order to gratify

their lust with demons. Others are harmful to others. The

daughter is not bound to denounce the former, but is bound

as to the latter. Ib., art. 5 (p. 377).

The question as to applying to the witch to remove a

bewitchment has two distinctions. If she cannot remove it

without recourse to the demon, it is unlawful. If she can

relieve it herself as when a charm is secreted under a

threshold which she can take away without invoking the

demonit is lawful Ib., dist. 7, art. 1, diff. 1 (pp. 378-9).

This latter is the doctrine of Duns Scotus, which I have elsewhere.

Prierias merely says it is licit for anyone who knows the charm to destroy

it which is a different matter (Sumrna Sylvestrina, s.v. Malefidum, n. 8).

Domingo Soto goes further and says it is licit to apply to the sorcerer

and compel him to remove the charm (Dom. Soto in 4 Sent., dist. xxxiy,

q. 1, art. 3, II, p. 269).

Angelo da Chivasso quotes Scotus that it is a meritorious act to destroy

the work of the devil (Summa Angelica, s.v. Superstttio, n. 13).

I presume that I have Laymann's views in Theologia Moralis, 1. iv,

tract. 10, c. 4, n. 9.

Lupo goes on to discuss the question whether applicationcan be made to one of whom it is doubtful whether she knows

where the charm is. This he says is illicit, but it is lawful


to ask whether she knows, and, if she knows, she can removeit. Ib., diff. 2 (p. 379).

It is absolutely forbidden to employ a sorcerer to remove a

charm by another that is, to cause another sin. Ib., diff. 3

(p. 380).

This is the common opinion of the doctors, except Angelo da Chivasso,who says if a sorcerer is disposed to do it, one can employ him, for it is

licit to use the evil of another for a good end (Summa Angelica, s.v. Swper-

stitio, n. 13).

For this Prierias takes him roundly to task, and says this opinion is the

cause of innumerable sins, for it opens the way to all kinds of incantations,

as everywhere there are men and women ready to cure sorcery by sorcery

and multitudes go to them, thus building up the kingdom of the devil

(Summa Sylv,, s.v. Malefidum, n. 8).

But there are still further refinements. The question is

divided into whether the charm is removed by her who placedit or by another. Then, in the first case, whether she had

two pacts with the demon the first that he would continue

to injure as long as it remained, the other that he would

cease on its removal or only one that he would injure

while it remained, saying nothing about what should follow

its removal. When there are two pacts, it is not licit for her

to remove it, because this calls in play the second pact

unless indeed she does so through repentance, to break wholly

off with the demon. If there is only one pact, she can remove

the charm. In the second case, removal by another person,

if he knows of the second pact, he cannot remove it, if in

order to cooperate with evil in carrying it out; but, whether

ignorant or knowing, if he does so merely to destroy the

sorcery, he can do it. Lupo, loc. tit, diff. 4 (p. 380).

Judges sin who force witches to undo a sorcery by a bene-

diction, for this is but a formula of a pact by which the demon

is to cease. If cure is sought by a benediction, that of a

priest must be employed. The witch sins who obeys such a

command, for she is conscious of a pact, implicit or explicit.

The sick sin similarly in asking for such benedictions and

they are bitterly deceived who think it Ecit to seek cure by

sorcery. Ib., art, 2, diff. 1 (p. 380). See Del Rio, lib. vi,

c. 2, sect. 1, q. 2, F.

It is the common opinion that it is licit to force the witch,

by threats and even with light stripes, to remove the charm,

provided it is within her reach and can be removed without

calling in the aid of the demon, as sometimes happens when

984: THE DELUSION AT ITS HEIGHT

it is thrown into the sea or a deep well In such case it is not

licit to coerce her. Ib., diff. 2 (p. 381); see Del Rio, loo. tit

If a man promises to pay for a sorcery, when it is done he

can pay not for the sorcery as object, but as alms or to

preserve his honor. Ib., art. 3 (p. 381).

That sorcerers can render men impotent is established "ex

quotidiana praxi, quae est veritatis magistra." It is rarely

exercised, however, except on married men out of hatred or

jealousy.-Ib., dist. 8, art. 1, diff. 2 (p. 382).

He goes on with long discussion as to details, for it is a

subject so connected with marriage as to give rise to niany

questions of practice requiring settlement in the spiritual

courts. It occupies the whole of dist. 8 (pp. 382-5).

Lupo denies the power "auferre membrum virile" and says

it is only an illusion. Ib., art. 3, diff. 1 (p. 385).

So also says Malleus Malef. and explains that the illusion may be not

only to the eye but also to the touch (P. I, q. 9). But subsequently, where

some most incredible stories of the kind are told, Institoris admits that the

demon personally can remove the member and subsequently restore it

(R II, q. 1, c. 7).

Lupo pronounces the Mons Veneris to be a fiction, although

the witches say there is such a place where they assemble on

certain days, especially Thursdays of Rogation days, to wor-

ship the demon and pass the night in lust, gluttony, and

drunkenness. He adds : "In our province there is such a moun-

tain called Tonalis. There is also a fictitious Mons Bernesis,

where there are men and women removed from all human

companionship, who are carried through the air on solemn

feasts, such as Easter, Pentecost and Christmas, to receive

communion." Ib., dist. 8, pars 2, art. 1, diff. 4 (pp. 386-7).

The intercourse with demons is properly called bestiality,

as being between different species. Ib., diff. 3 (p. 386).

He adopts like everyone else Aquinas's theory as to method

of generation and that the offspring are the children not of

the demon but of the man from whom the seed was borrowed.

It seems from his citation that theologians investigated the

subject further and wisely concluded that this did not bring

about affinity between the man and the womanan affinity

which it would have been difficult to establish between indi-

viduals. Ib., art. 2, diff. 1 (p. 387).

We need not follow him into his physiological and psycho-

logical inquiries as to whether such children are stronger or

weaker than the ordinary. Ib., diff. 2 (p. 387).

WITCHCRAFT LITEBATUBE OF ROMAN INQUISITION 985

The article on diseases which are often attributed to sorceryis interesting as showing how universally all human ills wereascribed to it, and his explanations of the real causes throwa curious light on the physic of the time. It would appearthat women were wont to attribute to it ordinary headaches,also the nausea of pregnancy and its fancies for unusual food.

Bitter taste in the mouth, he explains, comes from bile. Chil-

dren may be born imperfect, leprous or imbecile from natural

causes. Fetid breath may come from the stomach; pallor in

women may be healthful. Deficient smell may be caused byfrigidity and humidity of the brain and so may whitening

hair, or from fear, while baldness may be caused by defect in

humidity, and stuttering in children from too great humidityof the tongue. Defective vision is rather to be attributed

to injury of the visual nerves than to sorcery. It is ignorantand foolish to attribute to witches the change in the color of

the nails in old age. In short he concludes that all these

things may have a natural rather than a diabolical cause

and in doubt the natural cause should be assumed. Ib.,

dist. 9, art. 1 (p. 388).

Then he proceeds with female defects ascribed to witches.

Sterility may possibly be caused by the demon, with the

permission of God, but it has many natural causes which he

expounds. Abortions are not to be attributed to sorcery,

but to natural causes which he enumerates, and so is debility

of the foetus. Hermaphrodites are due to certain anatomical

peculiarities of women, which he describes, and not to sorcery.

Ib., art. 2 (p. 390).

Describes why some children are born male rather than

female (naturally and not through magic arts, I presumeH. C. L.). Ib., art. 3 (p. 391).

Advice as to choice of wet-nurses. Ib., art. 4 (p. 391).

Though he says nothing here about sorcery, I presume he is seeking to

dispel some popular belief as to children being thus bewitched.

Can a witch cure an evil wrought by herself? If she has

worked through a superior demon and now employs an inferior

one he cannot cure unless by permission of the superior one.

But if the later one is superior he can cure. But neither

can cure when the disease has gone so far as to destroy

nature. Demons and sorcerers can cure diseases that physi-

cians cannot, because the knowledge of demons is superior.

Ib., dist. 10, art. 1, diff. 2 (p. 392).


Is it licit to dissipate tempests caused by demons, by bell-

ringing and the sign of the cross? That it is so is shown by

the rites of the Church; it is a popular error that the bells

have this virtue because they are baptized, for they are^not

and cannot be baptized, but they are blessed, which gives

them a special power against demons. There are some doctors

who argue that the power of bell-ringing arises from the con-

cussions of the air, which break the tempests; but this does

not satisfy me, because all corporeal power is inferior to that

of demons unless the help of God cooperates. We also drive

off the demons of air with the sign of the cross and also pro-

tect our fields and vineyards and olive groves so that they

cannot harm them. When these fail, it is because God wishes

to punish us for our sins. Ib., art. 2 (p. 393).

When a sorcery is removed by persevering prayers to God,

is it said to be miraculously removed? No, for this is the

ordinary mode. Ib., art. 3, diff. 1 (p. 394).

When God removes a perpetual sorcery, is this a miracle?

No. Ib., diff. 2 (p. 394).

Confessors should know that in all sorceries, whether for

love or hatred, there is express or tacit pact with the demon.

That when the thing vulgarly called the maleficium is placed

in the bed, the pillow, or under the threshold, it is the demon

who works, either in presence as in energumens, or poten-

tially as in those bewitched, as Mengo says (Fustis Daemo-

num, c. 12). He should also know that the sorcerons made

by the witches are carried by the demons to the houses of

those to be bewitched and hidden in the beds, pillows, under

thresholds, etc. -or at least the demon helps by opening the

doors, ripping open the beds, etc., and the demon renews

these monthly, if the places are purged, as Girolamo Menghifirst observed.-Ib., dist. 11, art. 1, diff. 1 (p. 395).

(This is taken from Menghi, who illustrates it by a case

occurring in Bologna in 1582, when a priest was thus bed-

ridden for many months, beyond the power of physicians to

cure. Exorcists pronounced it witchcraft; the beds were

examined and many charms were found, which were burnt.

The next month they were found again and burnt, and this

was repeated many times. The Cardinal Archbishop called

in Mengo, whose prescription was gold, frankincense, myrrh,exorcised salt, olives, blessed wax from the Easter candles

and rue all duly blessed and in packets placed with the

sign of the cross at the four comers of the bed, after it had


been purified. The priest recovered and is still alive.Hieron. Menghi, Fustis Daemonum, c. 18, ed. Coloniae, 1626,pp. 469-70.)

If in confession the confessor should hear that such instru-ments of sorcery have been found, such as feathers, bones,hair, grains, iron, nails, sulphur, needles and the like, he shouldorder the penitent to replace them and call in an exorcizerwho will burn them in a blessed fire. Then he should comfortthe penitent, whether possessed or bewitched, and urge himto endure with patience, showing him the motives of God in

permitting such tribulations. First, for the common good, to

disprove the error of some philosophers who deny the existenceof demons; second, to punish some grave sin; third, to aug-ment grace and merit; fourth, to manifest the grace of restor-

ing health; fifth, to prove the superior power of God overdemons. -Lupo, loc. cit, diff. 2 (p. 395).

If a confessor suspects a penitent of witchcraft, he should

represent the peril to her soul and the obligation of the seal.

If she confesses he should inquire into all the circumstances,whether she has adored the demon and injured others, whethershe has led others to the sin and her duty of denouncing them

and finally represent the mercy of God in receiving contrite

penitents. Ib., art. 2, diff. 1 (p. 396).When called in to a witch under trial, the confessor should

exhort her to contrition and to obedience to the Inquisitorand sincerity towards the judges. If she confesses, he should

inquire into the circumstances and represent God's mercy,so that she can be rescued from the demon. He should

strengthen her to endure the punishment by which a brief

temporal pain will redeem an eternal one. If she has confessed

in judgment and says she is innocent and her confession wasextorted by torture, he should remind her that the martyrssuffered unjustly and their pains were to their merit and in

satisfaction of their sins; that God cannot be deceived and

she must beware lest by representing herself as innocent,

against the truth and the will of God, she will expiate it with

eternal suffering with the devil. If she confesses, he should

examine her as to accomplices and urge her to denounce

them. If she says she has denounced the innocent throughhatred or fear of torture, he should represent that her strictest

duty is to revoke the accusation, even if it exposes her to

renewed torture provided always that there is hope that

the judge may accept such revocations. Otherwise (Laymann


says) the confessor should persuade her to retract publiclybefore the people, as such retraction before God, when near

to death, weakens somewhat the previous denunciation, so

that, if there are other indicia of falsity, the prosecution should

cease. If in any case the confessor thinks it wise to inform the

judge as to the innocence of anyone, he should ask the womanto repeat it outside of confession, so that he can repeat it to

the inquisitor. If he knows that a woman through torture

has accused herself falsely, he should urge her to retract

before the judge, as otherwise she will be her own slayer.

So Laymann with many others. If a woman has confessed

or has been convicted on presumptions, yet, if in confession

she denies her guilt, she is to be believed, absolved and giventhe viaticum before the day of execution, but she is not to

have communion in public to avoid scandal, because publiclyshe is presumed to be a liar and impenitent (so Laymann).Those whom the demon has once corrupted he seeks to lead

to eternal perdition; when they fall into the hands of the

inquisitor he hardens their hearts against confessing, whetherin court or in the sacrament of penitence. If any injuryworked by the witch is pending, the confessor must not absolve

her until she has done what she can lawfully to prevent it;

if it has been wrought, he must require her to make satisfac-

tion, if she can, making her give security, at least on oath;he must explain that the death-penalty does not remove the

obligation of restitution; this obligation extends to the heirs

unless the injured party expresses himself as satisfied withthe punishment. Ib., diff. 2 (pp. 396-7).He should also represent to her that her arrest and trial

are a special grace of God as they prevent a further career

of crime, and give her opportunity for repentance and salva-

tion. Also that she should be grateful to the judge and regardhim with greater affection than those who sought to defendher. Ib., diff. 3 (p. 397).The confessor called in when the case is still pending should

give the accused a lesson in demonology and explain that

the demon cannot help her and has deceived her with false

promises. Ib., art. 3 (p. 398).Then follows lib. xxi, De locis infestis places haunted by

spirits, Poltergeister, etc.; distinction between things done bydemons and by ghosts, etc. Ib., pp. 400-11.

Lupo considers the cases in which possession is the workof witchcraft to be sufficiently numerous to require extended

WITCHCRAFT LITEKATUBE OF KOMAN INQUISITION 989

explanation in illustrating the Edict of the Inquisition anddevotes lib, xxii to this topic (pp. 412-26).He first discusses possession in general. Ib., dist. 1 (m>.

413-16).Then he proceeds to prove that the charms images, coals,

nails, needles, feathers, hairs can injure, for otherwise theywould not be placed in beds, pillows, thresholds, etc., andexorcisers would not search for them. They have no powerin themselves, but only when placed with the superstitiousobservances. The demon requires them in order that hemay seem to be coerced by his pact with the witch. Ib.,dist. 2, art. 1, diff. 1 (pp. 416-17).Are the things needles, nails, coals, stones, sulphur, and

the like which the bewitched vomit or pass per anum real

or apparent? Some hold them to be unreal, because theysoon liquefy and could not be swallowed or passed without

injury. Others say they are real, but that the demon bringsthem and applies them in the act of vomiting or dejection.

(Binsfeld, Comment, in Tit. Cod. de Malef., lex ix, q. 7, p. 466;Grillandus, De Sortilegiis, q. 3, nn. 27, 28). Lupo, however,approves of a third theory, that the demon introduces these

things into the body in a state of powder and then swiftly

recomposes them as they are discharged. They are thereforereal and may be kept, asmay be seen in many places where theyare preserved in honor of the Virgin and the saints. Ib., diff. 2.

Discusses the herbs, odors, suffumigations, stones, etc.,

which have power against demons and which exorcists mayproperly employ. Rue is especially abominable to them.

Among stones he enumerates as having various qualities,

jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonix, sard, chryso-

lite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, hyacinth, and amethyst. Ib.,

art. 2 (pp. 417-19).

Things to be avoided by exorcists. They are not to imaginethat demons can be expelled by fatiguing the patient with

blows, scourging, spittle, sulphur, etc. Nor by shaving the

head and body. Nor that it is the sin of the patient or their

own that causes them to remain. Nor that the power of

ejection is based on the sanctity of the minister, but on the

name of God. They are not to credit the demon if he sayshe is the spirit of some one dead, e. g., Judas. The energumenis not to be believed if he asserts that God has transferred

some of his demerits to the demon or to the flock. Ib., dist. 4,

art. 1, diff. 1 (p. 421).


Infirmities mostly arise from natural causes, and rarely

from witchcraft; so the opinions of physicians should first

be obtained. In his he follows the Instructions of the Inqui-

sition, and also in saying that the finding of rolls of wool or

feathers or needles in the bed or pillow is a slender indicium,

for they may come there naturally or be placed by the demonto lead the exorcist to believe there is witchcraft and thus

molest some one. The exerciser is not to ask the demon howor through what part he has entered, nor as to the author of

the sorcery, for he is not to be believed as wholly a liar, thoughhe may say something apparently true as to a person suspected

by the people. He must bear in mind that possession does

not always arise from witches, for the demon by divine per-

mission may enter the body. Again, the evil fame of any one

must not make it suspected that the patient is bewitched byher, although in other things this indicium is regarded highly;

in this matter it is otherwise, for the universal hatred of

witches easily causes report against a person otherwise suspect,

especially if she is old and deformed. Again, if a woman is

confessed or convicted of simple sorcery amatory or cura-

tive it is in no wise to be deduced that she is a formal witch,

for the latter is one who has apostatized and made a pactwith the demon. Moreover, sometimes mothers and nurses

overlie children and, fearing the consequences, spread the

report that they have been killed by witches. These pre-

cautions apply not only to exorcists but to inquisitors in

prosecuting witches. Ib., diff. 2 (p. 422).

It is noteworthy that for this last caution he cites the Sacro Arsenale,

but nowhere alludes to the Instructions yet he must have had thembefore him.

Does the exorcist sin in presenting rue to the demon to

eject him? No, if he presents it in contempt of the demon,to confuse him and give him occasion of going. Yes, if he

does so in the belief that it has a natural power to drive awaydemons. The bitterness of rue typifies the bitter Passion of

Christ and the bitter tears of contrition and is thus obnoxiousto demons, but material things have no power over spiritual.

Ib., diff. 4 (p. 423).He discusses the question whether it is licit to trade with

those who work diabolical moleficia and warns against it,

not only on account of the danger of being led into apostasy,but also that of infamy and scandal. Ib., art. 2, diff. 2

(p. 423).

WITCHCRAFT LITERATURE OF ROMAN INQUISITION' 991

Lupo quotes from the Roman Ritual that the exorcistmust command the demon to tell "an detineatur in illo corporeab instrumenta maleficae; quae si obsessus ore sumpserit,praestet ut ilia evomat; vel si alibi extra corpus fuerint, reveletubi sint, et inde auferantur et crementur." Ib., diff. 3

(p. 424).

This passage has Interest as being virtually in opposition to the Instruc-tions of the Inquisition. Moreover, it is retained with only unimportantverbal changes in the modern Ritual (Rituale Romanum Pauli V Pont.Max. jussu editum et a Benedicto XIV auetum et castigatum, August.Taurin., 1891, tit. x, c. 1, p. 289).The Ritual has also another passage (p. 288) even more repugnant to

the Instructions "Aliqui (daemones) ostendunt factum maleficium et a

quibus sit factum et modum ad ilium dissipandum: sed caveat (exorcista)ne ob hoc ad magos vel ad sagas vel ad alios quam ad Ecclesiae ministros

confugiat, aut ulla superstitione aut alio modo illicito utatur." The cere-

monies and exorcisms which follow (pp. 289-308) are of the same character

as of old, commanding the demon to depart under threat of punishment,but without the vulgar abuse found in the old formularies.

It is evident that Lupo had in mind the Instructions when,after quoting the Ritual, he adds: "Sed mihi probatur atten-

dendum esse an expediat de hoc quaerere, maxime coram

astantibus, qui pauci esse debent et admoniti ne ipsi inter-

rogent obsessum. Ib., diff. 3 (p. 424).We have seen the warnings as to the care to be exercised in

licensing exorcists and the limited number permitted byArchbishop Borromeo. Yet this was neutralized by the

claim of the Regular Orders that they were exempt from the

Ordinary's jurisdiction and were not liable to the excommuni-cation threatened on those who exorcised without license.

Ib., art. 3, diff. 4 (p. 426).

The angle subtended by sorcery and witchcraft is seen in this commentaryon the Edict, which comprehended all the offences subject to the Inquisition.

The portion devoted to this subject extends from p. 253 to p. 426 174 pp.

folio out of 516 pp. or almost exactly one-third.

BOBDONUS, FRANCISCUS. Sacrum Tribunal Judicum in

Causis Sanctae Fidei. Romae, 1648.

Bordonus was consultor to the Inquisitor of Parma.

He commences with a long scholastic disquisition as to

the powers of angels and demons, the character of which maybe judged by his discussion on their locomotion. It shows

the kind of investigation in which the schoolmen revelled in

investigating all the unknown details of the universe. "Scho-


lastici nonnulla quaerunt circa motum localem Angelorum.PrimOj an per Ulum aliquid intrinsice acquiratur naobili

(?mobile) ,seu an motus sit ad formam intrinsecam? SecundOj

an sit continuus an indivisibiKs? TertiOj an possit esse dis-

cretus? Quarto, an possit esse instantaneus? Quinto, an sit

semper conjunctus cum operatione? Sexto, an sit transitus

ab extreme ad extremum non transeundo per medium?SeptimOj an in instanti possit moveri ad locum remotissimum?

Octavo, an plures in eodem loco esse possint? Nono, an idemnumero possit esse in pluribus locis?" All of which questionshe proceeds gravely to elucidate. Cap. 16, n. 12 (p. 311).

Angels and demons can assume bodies truly and really

and not through imagination demons for the purpose of

vexing men, with God's permission. These aerial bodies theyform by their own power and are in them by accidental union,not informative or hypostatic.- Ib., n. 23 (p. 313).

These bodies are formed of impure and condensed air, withadmixture of aqueous vapor and terrestrial exhalation. Theyhave color and hardness. Ib., n. 29 (p. 315).

They assume the bodies of dead men and animals. Ib.,

n. 30.

The acts which they perform in these bodies are not vital,

for they are not vitally joined in them. Ib., n. 33.

Demons have power to move the elements and cause tem-

pests, storms, hail, snow, etc.--Ib., n. 34 (p. 316).Demons can move things from place to place, as is proved

by Christ carried to the mountain and pinnacle of the temple,and by the experience of so many witches, transported to the

Sabbat. It is a matter of faith. Ib., n. 35.

The demon can transform a man into a lion and a horseinto a dog by applying an extrinsic form to the real form, so

that a man shall appear to be an animal which he really is

not; for he knows what things are necessary to this andwhat marvels to present to the onlooker. Ib., n. 38 (p. 317).He knows where treasures lie hid and can reveal them to

men, though he often deceives them. Ib., n. 39.

With God's permission he can cause infirmities, disease

and death in men, as experience shows at the expense of so

many men suffering with grave and prolonged illness of

which physicians are ignorant and unable to apply remedies.

-Ib., n. 40 (p. 318).

So he can cure disease, whether caused by himself or bynatural causes. Ib., n. 41.

WITCHCHAFT LITEEATUBE OF EOMAN INQUISITION 993

He cannot generate on women, but he can carry semenacquired as succubus and impregnate women as incubus, all

of which he duly proves. Ib., n. 42. (For this he quotesAquinas and St. Augustin, De Civ. Dei, v, 23 which has

nothing to do with it. H. C. L.)He can render man and wife impotent for men know

drugs and herbs to cause sterility and the demon knowsmore than men. Quotes ample authorities for this. Ib.,n. 43.

He can work marvels, though not true miracles. He canmake beasts and serpents speak, "nam Daemon sub figura

serpentis Evam decipit," but he cannot resuscitate the deador give sight to those born blind though he can restore it

to those who have lost it as the angel did to Tobit. Ib.,

n. 44 (p. 319).He has no power over rational souls to make them sin, but

he can tempt and allure and incite to love, hatred, etc., butnot by coercing free-will. Ib., n. 45.

He does not know the secrets of the heart, for this is reserved

alone to God. Ib., n. 46.

Idolatry is the cult paid to the creature which is due to

the Creator. Therefore the adoration, real or feigned, of the

demon is idolatry. Ib., c. 17, n. 2 (p. 324).This includes divination and vain observance, which is to

expect from anything that which it has not by natural poweror from God, but from the devil. Ib., nn. 4-6.

Invocation of demons implies servitude and subjection to

them. Ib., n. 7.

Any deprecative invocation of the demon implies pact.

Ib., n. 16 (p. 326).

Tacit pact occurs when any vain and useless means are

employed for a result, whether the man knows or not that it

is the demon who secretly effects it. Thus if one uses words

of Scripture to render married folk impotent or urinates

through the blessed wedding ring to remove the impotence.

Express pact is when the demon is invoked with words,whether he appears or not, and the effect is produced. Ib.,

n. 17 (pp. 327-8).

The long disquisition on this shows how difficult it was always to dis-

tinguish between implicit and explicit pact, for the circumstances varied

so infinitely.

Tacit and express pact are the same species, the difference

being that express infers vehement suspicion of heresy, while

VOL. n 63


tacit may infer light or vehement according to the nature

of the case. Ib., nn. 32-3 (p. 331).

The demon can be compelled by exorcisms to surrender a

writing by which a man signs with his blood his compactand it is the business of the judge to make him do so but

if it cannot be had, which God does not seem to permit, it

can be rendered invalid by the conversion and true repentance

of the sinner. Ib., n. 35 (p. 332).

"Igitur amplius locum non habet opinio illorum qui dicunt

sortilegii crimen esse mixti fori, quae improbabilis modo facta

est, turn ex dictis Bullis, turn ex consuetudine qua hujusmodicausae a solis judicibus ecclesiasticis tractantur; turn ex allata

ratione de suspicione haeresis." Ib., c. 18 ?n. 50 (p. 347).

"Quod etiam in dubio sit ne casus Inquisitoris, debeat

laicus cedere, probatur, quia causae hujus decisio spectat ad

Ecclesiasticum tantum, cum sit de objecto ecclesiastico, dubi-

tatur enim an casus sit haereticalis, an haeresis suspicionem

sapiat, ac proinde habet pro formali objecto haeresim super

qua solus judex ecclesiasticus fert sententiam." Ib., n. 52

(p. 348).

Pius V (c. 1567) ordered that in the papal dominions all

courts and dignitaries should obey the orders of the Inquisi-

tion and he entreated all other potentates to do the same

and that when they held prisoners guilty of crimes subject

to the Inquisition they should deliver them when called for

by the Inquisition, which would judge them for heresy and

then return them for punishment of other offences (Pena,

Append, ad Eymeric., p. 135). Bordonus cites this to show

that those held for sorcery, etc., are to be surrendered to the

ecclesiastical court to be subsequently delivered to the secular

court. Ib., n. 53.

Has this a bearing on the burning of witches by the secular authorities

after confession and repentance in the Inquisition? Yes, for Bordonus adds

that, under this bull, the inquisitor does not incur irregularity by remitting

a sorcerer to the secular tribunal in which he will be condemned to death,

for this is considered as a dispensation. Bordonus says (loc. tit.) that, if

the ecclesiastical court condemns to galleys and the secular to death, then

death absorbs or replaces the galleys.

Carena says that formerly simple sorcery, not "calificado," was mixti fori,

but in modern times, since the bull of Sixtus V, it belongs exclusively to

the Inquisition (Carena, De Officio SS. Inquis., P. II, tit. 12, n. 147).

This bull of Sixtus V is evidently Coeli et Terrae Creator, 5 January 1585,

against astrology and divination, in which he orders inquisitors, bishops,

prelates, superiors and ordinaries to proceed against all who teach or learn

"hujusmodi illicitas divinationes, sortilegia, superstitiones, veneficia, incan-


tationes ac praemissa detestanda scelera et delicta ut praefertur faciunt

aut in eis se quoquomodo intromittunt . . . etiamsi in plerisque ex his

casibus antea non procedebant aut procedere non valebant" (Pena, App.ad Eym., p. 144). This does not confer exclusive jurisdiction.

The question sometimes arose when in the secular courts

prisoners could not be forced by torture to confess and werefound to possess charms which gave them the "sortilegiumtaciturnitatis.

J ' This rendered them guilty of sorcery. Underthe old practice the secular judge could condemn them, butafter the bull of Sixtus it was claimed that they must besurrendered to the Inquisition. Bordonus, loc. dt., n. 54

(p. 348).

Carena says (De Officio SS. Inq., P. II, tit. 12, nn. 143-6) the questionwas decided at Cremona, in 1636, in a case in which he was concerned,where four assassins were tried for the murder of Dom Carlo Gonzaga andtwo of them were found protected with parchments inscribed with holynames and prayers and unknown characters.

Bordonus insists that wherever there is sorcery there is

heresy or the suspicion of heresy, so that the Inquisition has

exclusive jurisdiction thereon. Ib.3n. 55 (p. 349).

It was a nice question whether a judge was guilty of an

act of superstition when he found that a prisoner through

sorcery endured torture without suffering and had him washedand shaved all over. Bordonus answers in the negative,

because he is destroying sorcery customarily concealed in

the hair. Ib., n. 58 (pp. 349-50).It is licit for the sorcerer to remove the sorcery so that

the bewitched may recover, but he should protest at the

time that he does so of his free-will and not through any

preceding pact with the demon. See Th. Sanchez, In Prae-

cepta Decalogi, 1. ii, c. 41, n. 19. Ib., c. 19, n. 4 (p. 353).

The universal opinion that it is illicit to cure sorcery bysorcery is based on a decretal of Alexander III (c. 2, tit. 21,

Extra, lib. v) punishing a priest who used an astrolabe to

discover a theft. Ib., n. 5 (p. 354).

Bather a forced conclusion,

In answer to the question how is sorcery to be proved in

cases of sickness, mutilation, death, damage to crops, etc.,

he says that, if it leaves behind a corpus delicti or trace, that

must be proved, otherwise the confession of the delinquent

takes its place, since that which does not remain for the

senses cannot be seen, and in this all doctors agree, as also


that in sorcery the accused, even when confessing, cannot

be condemned unless the corpus delicti is established. Ib.,

nn. 13, 14 (p. 356).But as sorcery is classed among crimes difficult of proof

because committed secretly, it is not necessary that the

crime be fully established and conclusively by witnesses or

evidence of the fact, but it suffices in the defect of proof that

the corpus delicti be established by indicia, for in these crimes

this is held to be plena. Ib., n. 15.

This is somewhat contradictory. It is better stated by Carena, whomhe cites, who says:

"In sorcery, there are crimes which leave no trace, such as going to the

Sabbat, intercourse with demons, etc., and some which leave traces, such

as infanticide, bewitchment, etc. From this I draw these conclusions.

First, the heresy of witches is proved by their confessions, nor in proceeding

against them for heresy is it necessary to establish the crime of heresy or

the corpus delicti, for heresy is committed by the will and one can be con-

demned for the will alone. Second, in sorceries which leave some trace

the judge to proceed rightly must establish the corpus delicti & child

killed, a man sickened, harvests destroyed, by the attestation of physicians

or of prudent exorcists. In this matter of the corpus delicti, in heretical

sorcery it is not stated that the corpus delicti is proven if death or sickness

is proved, because the Inquisition does not punish homicides and wounds,but it is necessary to prove that the death or sickness was caused by sorcery,

and it is enough to state that the corpus delicti is proved. And althoughthe doctors all say that the corpus delicti must be established fully and

conclusively, either by witnesses or the evidence of fact, yet this is not

the case in crimes difficult to prove like sorcery, which is performed secretly,

for in such crimes it suffices to prove the corpus delicti by indicia, which

are held as clear proof in hidden crimes, which indicia are most fully set

forth by Binsfeld, 1. fin., Cod. de Malef. et Mathem., and Del Rio, lib. v,

sect. 3 and 4. Thirdly, in sorcery which leaves no traces, then the accused

can be condemned on simple confession. So Del Rio, ubisup., sect. 16, and

Binsfeld, Comment. 1. Nemo Cod. de Mai. et Math., q. 1, concl 2. In

other similar crimes, when proving the corpus delicti is discussed, refer to

Farinacius and Giurba, who hold that the corpus delicti must absolutely

be proved but in such fashion as it can be proved, per aliquas saltern

leves conjecturas" (Carena, De Officio SS. Inq., P. II, tit. 12, nn. 171-6.)

Both Bordonus and Carena refer to Albertini, so it is worth while to see

what he says. His work was posthumous, issued after his death (1545) in

Palermo, 1553.1

To return to Bordonus. The indicia which in defect of

proof establish the corpus delicti are enumerated except the

common ones, such as evil acts, ill fame, flight, mandatum,accomplice, etc., which will be treated hereafter.

1. Books or writings containing sorceries. These suffice

for torture but simple love-charms do not.

1 For Albertini's discussion of these questions see pp. 456-7.


2. Marks or brands burnt in by the Inquisition, "quod in

poenam hujusmodi delicti inquisitores solent inurere" show-ing that she has already been punished. If she says it is fromsome other cause, she must prove it.

He refers as to this to Carena, P. II, tit. 12, n. 182, but Carena hererefers to the witch-mark made by the demon, which he includes amongthe indicia. Binsfeld, however (Comment, in tit. Cod. de Mai., ad calcem,sect. De Indiciis, ed. Col. Ag., 1623, p. 607), describes it as insensible; sayshe remembers to have heard that it was found on some of our witches,"sed quicquid sit non puto tale signum magnifaciendum esse. Facileenirn si quis querat hujusmodi signa, finget aut putabit esse quod non est."

It is said that the demon only thus marks those whom he suspects not tobe faithful, so that it is absent in the principal ones. Illustrates the prin-ciple of witch prosecution if present it is good evidence; if absent, it showsthe party to be a leader.

3. A pot full of human limbs, sacred things, images, hosts,

etc., is a grave indicium.

4. Conversation overheard between the witch and a demon,whether he is visible or invisible.

5. Offering to teach sorcery.6. If a witch touches an enemy and he dies suddenly or is

stricken with some evil; also if she gives him to eat with the

same result.

7. Invocation of the devil or express pact.8. Stripping bodies hanging on the gallows to use the

clothes for sorcery.9. Frequent invocation of the devil to harm a neighbor,

for this infers friendship and association with him.

10. Evil and frightful countenance or deformity of face

indicates that she has the friendship of the demon.11. Being the child of a witch or sorcerer. (Simancas, tit.

37, n. 20, denounces this as the foolish opinion of the vulgar.

H. C. L.)12. Threats followed by evil happenings.13. Evidence that she has been seen gathering poisons or

giving them to animals who have died of it. This suffices for

torture.

Note that each of the above, especially 8 to 11, does not

suffice for torture, but must be conjoined with others, and

must be certain, not doubtful or equivocal. Ib., c. 19, n. 16

(pp. 357-8).

Repute among the people of being a witch, proved by two

legitimate witnesses, does not suffice for torture without other

support, for fame is mostly fallacious, especially against per-


sons of this condition who are popularly disliked. Fame aris-

ing after arrest proves nothing. Ib., n. 17.

It does not suffice to prove death or disease or mutilation

(the Inquisition punishes none of these things), but only that

they proceed from sorcery, and this is what the ecclesiastical

judge must ascertain. This proof is made by physicians or

experienced exorcists, but this is difficult, for the failure of

medicines proves nothing, although the pulse and healthy

urine while the person is tormented [may serve for proof].

Ib., n. 18.

Does the evidence of witches that they have seen a person

suffice for inquest and torture? The assertion of two witches

does not suffice for inquest and torture. Ib., n. 19. So

Farinacci, and Simancas, tit. 17, n. 15.

Simancas says the evidence is wholly unreliable, but otherwise if she

sees her anointing herself or invoking the demon. Carena says the same

(De Off. SS. Inq. }P. II, tit. 12, nn. 226, 227) and that an ignorant commis-

sioner who tortured a woman on such evidence was duly punished by the

Roman Inquisition. Binsfeld, on the other hand, says that a single witness

of the kind suffices for torture (De Confess. Malef., membr. ii, conclus. 6,

dub. 1) . So Del Rio (lib. v, app. 2, q. 8) considers the evidence of associates

as to those seen in the Sabbat amply sufficient. Whether the testimony

of the associate has to be confirmed by torture is a doubtful question.

Carena (ibv nn. 228-35) gives opinions on both, sides and concludes that

each tribunal must follow its own custom. In that of Cremona, in which

he was fiscal, they were not tortured.

Bordonus says as to this that in almost all tribunals of the

Inquisition the evidence does not require confirmation bytorture. Ib., n. 20.

When the accused is neither convicted nor confessed he is

to be tortured on three points. (1) As to the use of the

books, writings and other objects found. (2) As to associ-

ates, which is especially required in witchcraft, but only in

general and not suggestively by naming persons. (3) As to

his belief as to sorcery and witchcraft, whether the demoncan compel the human will to love, whether the abuse of

sacred things has power to evil, whether the dead can be

raised, etc., for if he affirms it he is to be punished as a formal

heretic. Ib., nn. 21-2 (p. 359).

Those who cause death by sorcery are delivered to the

secular court; those who cause infirmities, impotence or

notable damage to animals or fruits are to be perpetuallyimmured as provided in the bull of Gregory XV, for which

see below. Other heretical sorcerers are condemned to the


galleys for three, five or seven years according to the gravityof the offence, or to prison for a time. Non-heretical sorcererswho have not abused the sacraments or sacramentals havesalutary penance, or sometimes prison for one or two months,and are sometimes fined. Women are scourged and exiled,with requirement to present themselves before the inquisitorsof the place of exile, so that they may not dare to injure menwhence it is better to imprison them. Ib., c. 21, n. 5 (p. 369).

GregoryXV recites how men adhere to Satan and, imitatingtheir master who never ceases to persecute men with deadlyhatred, they injure others and lose their own souls. There-fore heavier penalties are necessary to stop such destructive

wickedness. Wherefore, motu proprio and in the exercise of

the plenitude of Apostolical power, he orders that whoeverhas made pact with the devil and apostatized from the faith

and has by sorceries caused the death of one or more personsshall, even for a first offence, be delivered to the secular court

for due punishment. When death has not followed, but

infirmity, divorce, impotence, or notable damage to animalsor harvests, the offender is to be immured perpetually in the

Holy Office, where it exists, in prisons to be built. (Carenasays, P, II, tit. 12, n. 257, that for this others say galleys for

five or seven years H. C. L.) All who know of such offences

are to denounce them to the bishop or inquisitor (Gregor.PP. XV, Const. Omnipotentis Dei, 20 Mart. 1623, BuUar.,

Ill, p. 498). Bordonus, c. 21, n. 23 (p. 376).

As he speaks of more rigorous punishment, this is probably the first

authoritative prescription of relaxation. It is a revolution in Inquisitoria

practice.

Bordonus goes on to comment on this bull. For relaxation

there are three requisites. First, that there be pact, written

or verbal; second, apostasy, renouncing the faith, either

before the demon or at his order; thirdly, death by sorcery

and not from natural causes or violence. -Ib., n. 24.

If the sorcery is established, but it is doubtful whether it

caused the death or some fever, Carena says (De Off. SS.

Trib., P. II, tit. 12, n. 257) that unless it can be clearly shownthat the fever was caused by sorcery, the death must be

attributed to the disease. Ib., nn. 25-6.

Prior to Gregory XV, Del Rio is more savage: "Lamiae occidendae

etiamsi hominem uullum veneno necassent, etiamsi segetibus et animanti-

bus non nocuissent;etiamsi necromanticae non forent, eo ipso tantum quod


daemon! foederatae, quod conventui interesse solitae, et quae ibi exercentur

praestare" (Disq. Magic., 1. v, sect. 16, W, p. 775).

At the same time he is earnest in asserting that confession is insufficient

by itself and this he asserts is the universal opinion of the doctors: "Quis

umquam asseruit (non ego quidem usquam) soli standum confessioni?

censui semper et profiteer in hoc crimine ex nuda et sola confessione rei

procedi non posse, quia ex tali non videtur satis judici constare certo posse

de crimine, quod tamen necessarium est ad condemnandum ex sententia

communiore" (Del Rio, op. ctt., p. 761).

The burning of sorcerers was of old date. Gregory the Great speaks of a

persecution of them in Rome in which one of their principals, Basilius,

sought safety in flight in the habit of a monk and got the Bishop of Ami-

ternum to place him in the monastery of St. Equitius, though the saint

at first sight pronounced him to be a demon. His sorcery was soon detected

and he was expelled, "Qui non post longum tempus, in hac Romana urbe,

exardescente zelo Christian! populi, igne crematus est" (St. Gregor. PP. I,

iMalogi, 1. i, c. 4).

The final question of Bordonus as to the bull of Gregory ^1Vis as to the "damnum notabile" which should incur perpetual

prison. This he says must be left to the discretion of the

judge, to proportion the severity of the punishment to the

extent of injury inflicted. Ib., n. 27.

It seems curious that the Holy See should look wholly to the secular

offence in witchcraft and not to the spiritual one. This is to be expected

in the Carolina, but not in ecclesiastical law. Del Rio is much more

logical.

[As early as Lactantius the spiritual offense involved in the activity of

sorcerers was recognized.] "Magorum quoque ars omnis ac potentia horum

[daemonum] aspirationibus constat, a quibus invocati visus hominum

praestigiis obcaecantibus fallunt, ut non videant ea quae sunt, et videre

se putent ilia quae non sunt. Hi ut dico spiritus contaminati ac perditi

per omnem terrain vagantur, et solatium perditionis suae perdendis homin-

ibus operantur. Itaque omnia insidiis, fraudibus, dolis, erroribus complent;

adhaerent enim singulis hominibus et omnes ostiatim domos occupant, ad

sibi geniorum nomen assumuntj sic enim latino sermone daemonas inter-

pretantur. . . . Qui quoniam sunt spiritus tenues et incomprehensibiles

insinuant se in corporibus hominum, et occulte in visceribus operati, vale-

tudinem vitiant, morbos citant, somniis animos terrent, mentes furoribus

quatiunt, ut homines his malis cogunt ad eorum auxilia decurrere," i. e,,

in order to divert men from the true God and worship them (Lactantus,

Div. Inst., 1. ii, c. 15, Migne VI, 332). Observe, no allusion to God's

permission.

BORDONUS, FEANCISCUS. Manuale Consultorum in Causis

S. Officii. Parmae, 1693.

This is a posthumous work of Bordonus. The approbations are all

dated 1692. The dedication is signed by Fr. Hermengildus Bordonus,

grand-nephew of the author.


Sorcerers causing death are to be relaxed to the secularcourt. For this he cites the bull of Gregory XV, 1623, Carena,Diana, and the Sacro Arsenale. Sect, xiv, n. 14 (p. 120).

Baptizing a dog, a magnet, the host, infers vehement sus-

picion of heresy. Ib., sect, xx, n. 10 (p. 180).

Mortuary masses to kill people were of early practice. The13th Cone. Tolet., ann. 683, cap. 7 (Bruns, I, p. 341), pre-scribes degradation for priests who do this. Gratian quotesthis and says many priests are guilty of it and orders degrada-tion, besides perpetual exile for the priest and for the personordering it (Decret,, P. II, caus. xxvi, q. 5, can. 13). Bordonus

says he is vehemently suspect. Ib., sect, xxi, n. 12, p. 185.

(Locatus, Judic. Inquis., s.v. Sacerdos n. 4, p. 317, says it is

not heretical sorcery, but is otherwise punishable. H. C. L.)The abuse of a consecrated host infers vehement suspicion

and is punishable with relaxation by a decree of Paul IV in

1559. Ib., n. 26 (p. 187).

The abuse of an unconsecrated host is heretical sorceryand infers vehement suspicion. Some, however, hold that,if mass has not been celebrated over it, there is no suspicion.Farinacci (De Haeresi, q. 181, 1, n. 20) says it is not heret-

ical sorcery to use it in sorcery, except by one who has express

pact with the demon. Bordonus alludes to clerics who use

them for sealing letters, for attaching images to walls, for

wrapping around pills, without scruple of sin, but says that

notwithstanding this there is heretical sorcery on account of

the sign of the cross impressed on them. Their use for sealing,

etc., is on account of their glutinous material and not on

account of the cross, which is what induces sorcerers to use

them. Ib., nn. 29-30 (p. 187).

A nice distinction 1

There is vehement suspicion in the abuse of the water

remaining in the flagon after mixing with the wine of the

Eucharist, also of priestly vestments, the alb, the amice, the

girdle, the maniple, the stole and chasuble. Ib., nn. 40-1

(p. 188).

All the words of Scripture are sacred and their abuse savors

of manifest heresy and is therefore vehemently suspect.

Ib., sect, xxix, n. 9 (p. 264).

Sacramentals are expressed in the word Orans, Tinctus,

Edens, Confessus, Dans, Benedicens. Orans means the prayers

prescribed by the church, except the Pater and Ave. Their


use in sorcery savors of manifest heresy and induces vehement

suspicion. Tinctus means holy water and unction with thesame effect. Edens means the blessed bread distributed to

the people on Sundays same as above. Confessus is the

public confession in the litany same as above. Dans is

charitywhen misused for evil ends it is heretical sorcery.Benedicens is the benediction of all kinds, including that of

comestibles; its abuse for sorcery is as above. Ib., nn. 13-21

(pp. 264-5).Then there are the multifarious utensils and objects and

vessels used in divine service and around the church: the

cup, the paten, the pyre, the monstrance, the candles and

candlesticks, the corporal, the thurible, the keys, the alms-

box, the palls, the bells, the palms, etc., the abuse of whichinduces vehement suspicion. Ib., nn. 27-74 (pp. 266-70).

Aquinas divides superstition into three species idolatry,divination and various kinds of observances (Sec. Sec., q. 92,

art. 2).

Aquinas then proceeds to discuss them separately. Idolatry with himis what it was in the time of Augustin. merely the worship of demons

pretending to be gods (Sec. Sec., q. 94). The observances he treats under

q. 96 and they consist merely of those for acquiring knowledge, as the Ars

Notoria, those for altering the condition of the body, as for curing disease,those for conjecturing good or evil fortune and suspending sacred texts

to the neck. It is noteworthy how little was thought at the time of male-ficent sorcery that he does not consider it. He does not even treat of liga-

turesthough he discusses them in lib. iv, Sentt., if I remember aright,

Bordonus, in quoting Aquinas's classification, increases thenumber to five Idolatry, Divination, Magic, Maleficium andVain Observances.- Ib., sect, xxx, n. 20 (p. 273).

Idolatry has developed since the time of Aquinas. Besidesthe old sense, if the worship of the demon is for the purposeof accomplishing an object, good or bad, it becomes sorcery.

Ib., n. 28 (p. 274).This worship may be implied. When consultor of the

Inquisitor of Parma, Bordonus had a case in which, by shak-

ing a sieve, a man was designated as author of a theft. Yetthere was no theft, for the person who used the divinationhad merely forgotten where he had hidden his money, and onrecollecting found it. "Motus ergo cribri nullius est virtutis,sed daemon his mediis homines decipit."-Ib., sect, xxxi,n. 4 (p. 275).He does not admit the old distinction between heretical


and non-heretical sorcery: "Probabo omnia sortilegia saperehaeresim et arguere illius suspicionem." Ib., n. 8 (p. 276).

Simple sorcery does not savor of manifest heresy, but it

imports suspicion of heresy in secret that is, by tacit pactwith the demon, who is not invoked but operates secretly.

Ib., n. 11 (p. 276)."Merito igitur judices Fidei in omnibus sortilegiis prae-

sumunt suspicionem haeresis, quod antiquiores non adver-terunt." Ib., sect, xxxi, n. 12 (p. 276).

"Sortilegium autem qualificatum (savoring of manifest

heresy) arguit sortilegum esse vehementer suspectum de

haeresi; sortilegium vero simplex infert tantum levem sus-

picionem." Ib., n. 19 (p. 277).The sortilegus qualificatus can always be tortured on inten-

tion; the simplex cannot, "quia levi suspicion! non debet cor-

respondere gravis poena." Ib., nn. 21-3, p. 277.

He fully believes in the Sabbat, "quod experientia docet

tot rnagarum et sagarum quae a daemonibus feruntur velocis-

simo cursu a domibus suis ad locum in quo exercentur diversa

maleficia." Ib., sect, xxxii, n. 14 (p. 280).The demon can change appearances, but not substance

he can make a man look like an ox, but not change him into

one. Ib., n. 16 (p. 280).

He fully believes in commerce with demons and adopts the

traditional explanation as to procreation. Ib.?nn. 17-18

(p. 280).The exorcist has power to force the demon to surrender the

writing by which one has bound himself to him; if he fails

to obtain it, this is not because he lacks the power, but that

the person does not deserve the restitution; yet, if he is truly

converted, the obligation expressed in the writing is dissolved.

-Ib., n. 22 (p. 280).

All devices of sorcery, whether merely superstitious acts

like sieve-shaking, or substantive things "vocantur signa"as being signs or significant of the operation expected of the

demon. "Quia significant effectum quern tamen non causant,

licet sequatur a Daemone productus." Ib., sect, xxxii, n. 24

(p. 281).A very long and intricate discussion as to pact, express

and tacit, showing how it exercised the doctors to define all

the infinite degrees and their corresponding effects as to guilt

and how they sometimes differed in their results. Ib., sect.

xxxiii (pp. 282-90).


He devotes a long and curious section to curative sorcery.Considerable space is given to the Spanish Saludadores andEnsalmadores. The former profess to cure by a special virtue

divinely conceded to them; he does not deny the possibility

of this, but says they must prove it, otherwise it must beascribed to the demon. One feature is their saying that the

virtue is greatly increased by copious draughts of wine. Ib.,

sect, xxxiv, nn. 11-15 (pp. 293-4).The Ensalmadores use for curative purposes ensalmas, or

formulas mostly composed of fragments of the psalms puttogether. As these can have no special virtue in themselves,their power is attributable to the demon. Ib., nn. 16-19

(pp. 294-5).Sect, xxxv is devoted to lost and hidden things, with the

same conclusion"Res perdita inveniendae sunt industria et

labore . . . vel investigandae sunt invocando deum et

Sanctos ejus. . . . AHter quaerens perdita per media ineptaet vana sortilegium committit, quia quaerit ilia ope daemonis."

Ib., sect, xxxv, n. 14 (p. 304).

He quotes Augustin (Civ, Dei, viii, 19) "Omnia miracula

magorum . . . doctrinis fiunt et operibus daemonum."Ib., sect, xxxvi, n. 2 (p. 305).When the magician works wonders with invocation of the

demon or with abuse of sacred things, he is vehemently sus-

pect. If without all this, there is tacit pact and light suspi-cion. They must abjure de levi or de vekementi as the case

may be and the punishment is galleys for five or seven or

more years, or scourging or prison. Ib., nn. 12-15 (p. 306)."Et quia homicidium est gravissimum peccatum, jure

pontificio inducta fuit mors contra maleficos occidentes homi-nes arte daemonis per bullam Gregorii XV incip. Omnipo-tentis Dei, 46. Antea enim hoc delictum non poterat punirimorte nisi cum nota irregularitatis." Ib., sect, xlii, n. 7

(p. 326).He differs from the doctors who say to employ the demon

in amatory sorcery is not heretical, because it is the functionof the devil to tempt to sin. He says it is certain that theinvocation of the demon, whether imperative or deprecative,for anything, induces vehement suspicion of heresy. -Ib.,nn. 11, 12 (p. 327).He cites in support of this Alberghini, Manuale QuaMcat.,

c. 18, sect. 3, 8, n. 6, who quotes also Bart. Rpinaeus, ApoL iv.

Simancas ridicules those who pretend to invoke demons imperatively."Non enim est potestas super terram quae comparetur els;" and though


they pretend to be forced and to be afraid, they laugh at those who do it,

as fools (Simancas, De Cath. Instt., tit. 30, n. 17). Alberghini quotes this

approvingly, ubi sup. They quote Augustin (De Civ. Dei, x, 11) for this,

but I cannot find that he does more than recite some vague expressions of

Porphyry. Simancas also cites Gerson to the same effect. The conclusion

which Bordonus seems to draw is that there is no difference between the

deprecative and imperative invocation; but the theologians, I think, arguethat the deprecative assumes that the demon has power independent of

God and is in some sort adoration, which is heretical, while the imperativeinfers no intellectual error.

It is presumed that it is a maleficium by the demon when a

clear sky is suddenly overcast, with violent winds and heavyrain and hail, damaging harvests and forests. It also happenswhen a possessing demon is expelled by exorcisms and vents

his rage around the neighborhood, wherefore in the synod of

Cornazana, tit. 36, and Nembrma, c. 10, it is forbidden to

priests to exorcisein that of Cornazana from June 1 to

November 1, and in that of Nembrina from May 1 to Novem-ber 1, the latter adding "under penalty of suspension". Ib.,

nn. 34-5 (p. 329).

I cannot identify these councils, nor can I find in Gams any bishoprics

with these titles.1

After quoting the clause in the bull of Gregory XV denounc-

ing the death-penalty for killing by sorcery, he proceeds to

define the conditions requisite. First, the culprit must have

made an express pact, by word or writing, with the demon.

Secondly, he must have apostatized before the demon or

before some one at his command. Third, death must have

been caused by sorcery. Fourth, the corpus delicti must be

established. Again, the culprit is not to be put to death

[even] on indubitable indicia; presumption does not suffice;

there must be full and conclusive proof though Carena says

otherwise (P. II, tit. 12, n. 263) on account of the atrocity

of the crime and difficulty of proof. Again, if the victim dies

of fever, it is to be concluded that the death is not less caused

by sorcery than by fever, and it is certain that the sorcery

causing the fever is the principal and immediate cause of

death; for between two concurrent causes that which is

strongest must be selected and it is clear that sorcery is a

stronger cause then fever, even malignant, for it is rendered

malignant by the sorcery though Carena says (tit. 12, n. 257)

that the death comes from the fever and not from sorcery.

i San Pedro de Cornazo and Santiago de Nembra in northwestern Spain?


Again, an unsuccessful attempt to kill by sorcery is not pun-

ishable with de^th. Again, those who procure the commis-

sion of sorcery are not liable to death, but to other penalties;

it is only the actor. Again, although ecclesiastics are not

specially named in the bull, still they are to be degraded.

Ib., nn. 38-51 (pp. 330-1).

The notabile damnum for which the culprit is to be per-

petually imprisoned must be left to the discretion of the

judge, though I think it must be [something] more than

theft. Ib., n. 52.

Sorcerers of other kinds can be punished with prison and

even with galleys for five or seven years. Men can be

scourged, as slso foeminae viks.Ib., n. 53.

Simple sorcery is punishable with prison for some months

or with salutary penance. Ib., n. 54.

Sorcerers and astrologers are not required to make resti-

tution of their earnings unless they pretend to do what they

know they cannot. Ib., n. 56 (p. 332).

The maleficus is required to make good injuries done byhim. Ib., n. 57.

The corpus delicti and its superstitious character must be

proved before proceeding to arrest, unless flight is feared, in

which case the party can be arrested or held to bail. Ib.,

sect, xliii, nn. 1-2 (p. 333).

It is the universal opinion that the corpus delicti must first

be proved, otherwise the citation, examination, torture and

condemnation are invalid, for without it there is no case.

Ib., nn. 3-4 (pp. 333-4).

The proof of this ought to be full and conclusive, not pre-

sumptive, and in its absence the confession of the accused

is of no weight against him. Nevertheless, when the crime

is difficult of proof, presumptions and conjectures suffice.

In this matter proof is very difficult, as it depends on sorcery

and the art of demons, which operates most secretly at the

instance of the sorcerer. Ib., nn. 5-8 (p. 334).

To bring the matter under the jurisdiction of the Inquisitor,

its superstitious character must be proved, as otherwise it

has no cognizance. The sickness, death, or destruction of

property must be proved to come from sorcery. In things

difficult of proof there is no need of ocular inspection, but

conjectures and indicia suffice, and this is the case with

sorcery. In case of death, the evidence of an experienced

physician or of an exorcist suffices, if he swears that he believes

WITCHCBAFT LITEBATUHE OF EOMAN INQUISITION 1007

the death probably to have been caused by sorcery. Ib.,

nn. 9-14. (But then he subsequently says, in n. 30, that this

does not suffice, as the proof to justify the death sentence mustbe full and conclusive, as he has shown in sect, xlii, n. 41.)When there are no indicia the mere confession of the

accused does not suffice for condemnation, for there should

be some antecedent indicia. Ib., nn. 15-16 (p. 334).

Confession, to serve as an indicium for torture, must beclear and probable and proved by two witnesses, and con-

firmed by torture. Spontaneous confession to the judgedoes not lead to condemnation, but to salutary penalties.

Ib., nn. 18-19 (p. 335).

Long discussion to prove this against Del Rio, who admits

it in principle and then proceeds to argue it away by urgingthat in this crime the slenderest indicia suffice to supportthe confession (Disq. Mag., lib. v, sect. 16, W, En Rhodm,p. 761). Ib., nn. 21-9.

I think I have elsewhere Del Rio's admission, but not his virtual with-

drawal of it.

While for the death penalty the proof must be conclusive,

presumptions and conjectures suffice for arbitrary and extra-

ordinary penalties. Ib., nn. 31-2 (p. 336).

The indicia to prove diabolical sorcery (sufficing for tor-

ture) are :l

(1) Finding books of magic, when the presumptionis that they are read and used, also instruments such as astro-

labes, pentacles and the like. (2) A brand impressed by the

Holy Office but it is necessary to prove that it is by the

Inquisition, for thieves also are branded. (3) A vessel full

of bones, sacred things and the like. (4) Conversation between

witch and demon overheard by others when the witch only

was visible. (5) Offering to teach sorcery. (6) If by touch,

or something given by the witch, a person suddenly dies or

falls sick. (7) Invocation of the devil or express pact with

him. (8) The stripping of corpses hanging on the gallows is

a strong indication, as sorcerers are wont to use their clothes

in sorcery. (9) The gathering on the night of St. John of

the seeds of the plant named Felix is a strong indication, as

sorcerers use them. (10) The frequent invocation of the

devil to injure others, but this is a light indication insufficient

for torture, for it is often used in anger. But if it is followed

by the sudden sickness or death of the party aimed at, it is

urgent and indubitable. (12) Evil looks and deformity of

i Sec also notes on Bordonus' Sacrum Tribunal, pp. 996-7.


face, for those having friendship with the devil contract it,

though Del Rio says (lib. v, sect. 4, n. 21, p. 725) that it is

not to be regarded, as it may come from other causes. (13)Children of witches are apt to be witches, but this is a light

indication. (14) The assertion of one who has seen theaccused anoint or give drink to a man or animal and theyhave soon sickened or died. If the witness is unexception-

able, this suffices for torture. (15) Threats followed by sick-

ness which resists remedies suffice for torture. (16) Public

fame, but as this commonly arises against old women throughmalevolence, this is light and insufficient, unless supportedby other proofs (n. 49). Ib., nn. 34-49 (pp. 336-7).Does the assertion by two witches of having seen such a

one in the Sabbat suffice for inquiry, arrest and torture? No,for no faith is to be reposed in it unless they tell of what theyhave antecedently seen as to preparation for going there.

Therefore it does not suffice for investigation, much less for

arrest or torture. Firstly, no faith is due, for they suffer two

exceptions that of sex and that of accomplices. And Carenaadds that a decision of the Roman Inquisition is that their

depositions do not suffice for inquiry. (Apparently he hadnever seen the Instructions. H. C. L.) But they are valid,if they say they saw her anoint herself and mount a goat.

Binsfeld, Del Rio, Pena, etc., say that these depositions suffice,

because in the Sabbat one is not always deluded, so there

may be truth in it. But this is of no moment, for it cannotbe told when the demon deceives and when he shows the truth;

consequently, as the assertion is doubtful, it proves nothing.Ib., nn. 50-3 (pp. 337-8).Are witches to be tortured to confirm their testimony?

No, for they may retract what is in favor of the faith andthis is the practice of the Holy Office.- Ib., n. 54 (p. 338).Do the utterances of demons and the possessed make

indicia against sorcerers? No, for the demon speaking him-self or through the possessed is assumed to be lying, as he is

the father of lies and there is no truth in him. Ib., nn. 55-6.He cites in support of this Carena, De Off. S. Inq., P. II,

tit. 12, n. 227, who says that the assertion of demons extorted

by exorcism does not make an indicium for torture, for thedevil is the father of lies. Inquisitors should proceed withthe utmost caution on the assertions of exorcists, for they areoften deceived.

Bordorms also cites the Rituale Romanum Pauli V, tit. de Exorcis., as

saying, "In nuUo ergo ei credendum est, quia habet mille nocendi artes;"

WITCHCKAFT LITEBATURE OF BOMAJtf INQUISITION 1009

but the modern Eitual, tit. x, c. 1 (p. 288, August. Taurin., 1891) says:"Aliqui [daemones] ostendunt factum maleficium et a quibus sit factum etmodum ad ilium dissipandum, sed caveat ne ob hoc ad magos vel ad sagasvel ad alios quam ad Ecclesiae ministros confugiat, aut ulla superstitioneaut alio modo illicito utatur." I have already copied this elsewhere.

Apparently the modern ritual is more credulous than that of Paul V.The bearing of all this on the cases of Gaufridy and the Diables de Loudunis manifest.

This may be worth alluding to as instance of modern recrudescence of

superstition.

It is the duty of the sorcerer, or of any one cognizant, to

destroy the charms (signa) which cause it, for he quotesMicheas as saying (c. 5, n. 11), "I will take away sorceriesout of thy hand and there shall be no divinations in thee."

Ib., sect, xliv, nn. 1, 2 (p. 339).But it is not licit to destroy a sorcery by another sorcery.

This raises the question whether the destruction of the signais not included, but it is decided in the negative. Ib., nn. 3-4.

If there is doubt whether the cure is superstitious, it is notlicit. Ib., n. 5.

To command the demon to dissolve it is not licit, exceptto exorcists otherwise it is a request which involves societywith the demon. Ib., n. 6.

It is licit to ask the sorcerer to undo his work if there is alicit way to do it but not if this is doubtful. Ib., n. 7.

If a bridegroom who is ligatus recovers his virility by mak-ing water through the wedding ring, this is a sortilegium

qualificatum and is punishable with penitence and he shoulddenounce the person who taught him. Ib., nn. 13-15 (p. 340).

SALELLES, SEBASTIAN, S. J. De Materiis Tribunalium S.

Inquisitionis. Romae, 1651-6. 3 vols.

Salelles for forty years was consultor of the tribunal of Malta.

In his preliminary remarks to the chapter on sorcery, etc.,

he describes the subject as "Materia autem ista secundumtotam suam latitudinem abundantissima et vastissima est."

Ib., 1. i, c. 14, Prooem. (I, p. 213).

"Quod vero Daemon sit primus ac praecipuus auctor seu

inventor et propagator hujus perniciosissimae artis magiae

superstitiosae in dubium revocari non potest, etiamsi circa

hoc delirent diversi haeretici." Ib., regula 119, n. 184 (I,

p. 227).It is impudent to deny that witches are transported to the

Sabbat. The Cap. Episcopi refers to certain women whoVOL. n 64


believed there was a certain goddess named Diana, of great

power, by whom they were carried through the air for evil

purposes; as this was false and against the Christian faith,

priests were properly ordered to teach the people that it

arose from illusion or deceits of the devil. Ib., nn. 197-8

(p. 229).The demon's power of deceit is shown in men thinking

themselves enriched by him with abundant gold which

changes to coals. Ib., n. 199.

Tostato tells of a witch who lay insensible on the ground,while fire was applied without her feeling it, and yet bydiabolical illusion imagined herself to be carried to distant

places and this happens with other witches. Ib., n. 202

(p. 229).There may be tacit pact unknown to a man and without

his intention, as when he hangs on his neck or utters prayerswith vain circumstances which show that they are not

addressed to God; or if he uses things or characters or figures

or herbs which are inefficacious in themselves for the purpose

designed, or if he seeks by divination to forecast good or evil

fortune. It is all sinful, unless there is invincible ignorance.

Ib., nn. 209-11, 213 (p. 230).

The signs employed both in tacit and express pact are

innumerable. In a service of thirty years in the tribunal of

Malta there were always new and unknown ones comingbefore me. Ib., reg. 120, n. 212 (p. 230).

Long discussion on the difficulty of distinguishing betweenwhat are harmless and what are sinful. Quotes a test fromCaietano (who says he has found it work) requiring a pre-

liminary protest that the spell or charm is not used as comingfrom the demon and that worship is directed wholly to God,after which he has found the charm to fail when otherwise

it would be infallibly successful. Ib., reg. 121, n. 257 (p. 233).Salelles says that he mentioned this once in the presence

of an illustrious prelate, who confirmed it, saying that whena student he had learned a charm a verse from Ps. cvii byreciting which on retiring, he could wake at any determinedtime. He used it thousands of times when studying in Naples,

Bologna, Padua and Salamanca and when travelling, until in

Rome he heard a preacher reprobate all such things as work-

ing by pact with the devil. He consulted his Jesuit confessor,who confirmed it and taught him Caietano's test, on usingwhich the charm lost its power. -Ib., n. 258 (pp. 233-4).

WITCHCRAFT LITERATUHE OF ROMAN INQUISITION 1011

Broadly defined, maleficium applies to any work of demonic

magic, but here it is taken as that which inflicts injury.

Ib., reg. 122, n. 264.

Del Rio, 1. iii, P. I, q. 1, p. 356, divides this into three

kinds somniferum, amatorium and hostile. He says (p. 354)that its efficiency depends on three causes the permissionof God, the action of the demon and the free-mil of the

sorcerer. "Haec enim tria semper in omni maleficio concur-

runt, nee enim capillus de capite cadere potest sine Dei per-

missu; nee daemon plus damni potest inferre quam Deus

permittit, nee vult id quod permittitur pat-rare nisi maleficus

in maleficium consentiat."

Del Rio (loc. tit.), Salelles says, divides the "instruments"

into seven kinds. (1) They, with the aid of the demon,injure by real touch, as when they take infants from the

cradle and kill them by piercing with a needle or throwingthem over a precipice. (2) By simple breathing, as thus theycause abortion in child-bed, with great danger to life. (3)

By simple words or threats, scoldings or even praises, in which,as Del Rio says, it is not the power of the words, which are

only the signa through which the pact operates. (4) Byointments, white or brownish like bitumen, in which there

are particles of metal, and also yellowish with shining drops.

These ointments cause death, even if they touch the outside

of garments, nor is there doubt that they are the work of

demons. (5) They use herbs or straws or other trifles, throw-

ing them on the ground, when those who pass over them, at the

will of the sorcerer, suffer disease or even death. (6) Theyuse powders which, applied to the skin or sprinkled on the

clothing if black, produce death; if ash-colored or reddish,

produce disease; but their effects are not due to diversity

of colors, but to the demon who produces various effects.

(7) To these powders, ointments, herbs, etc., they add sacred

ceremonies, as the celebration of a certain number of masses

by a man in red garments of peculiar shape over the herb

commonly called provinea, sprinkling the powders with holy

water, etc. For which see Remy, 1. i, cc. 2, 3. Ib., nn. 266-

72 (p. 234).

The maleficium somniferum is performed with incanta-

tions, when the sleeper cannot be aroused by any force, even

burning with a torch. A German was thus made to sleep

for six months (Torreblanca, Epit. Delict., 1. ii, c. 22, n. 2).

The object of this is to enable the sorcerer to steal, to pour


poisons, to kill or to commit adultery with the wife. Ib.,

nn. 275-8 (p. 235).The malefitium amatorium requires considerable argument

to elude the free-will, which is defide, and is only accomplished

by differentiating the appetitus sensitivus from the voluntas

spiritualise though the crucial text on which free-will is based

is God's saying to Cain "but the lust thereof shall be under

thee and thou shalt have dominion over it" (Gen., iv, 7), or

as the Vulgate has it, "sed sub te erit appetitus ejus et tu

dominaberis illius." He says, "usus conficiendi hujusmodimaleficia frequentissimus est, ut nobis Consultoribus sanctae

Inquisitionis manifeste constat ex innumeris pene causis quae

quotidie tractantur in hoc sacro tribunali." Ib., nn. 280-1

(p. 235).He goes on to describe the various methods (nn. 282-4)

not necessary to follow.

The same interference with free-will is seen in the ligatures recognized

by the Church, for among the modes by which they operate is rendering

spouses odious to each other. That sorcery could produce hatred as well

as love was recognized see Torreblanca, Epitome Delictorum, L ii, c. 48,

"Maleficium odii, ut moraliter, ita a daemone causari potest, ut se invicern

abhorreant," and he tells us that witches did it by sewing up the eyes of

toads and hiding them under the bed.

It is often difficult to determine whether the effect is pro-duced by natural causes or by sorcery, but the latter is shownwhen it is more easily and rapidly effected, which indicates

the assistance of the demon. Poisons are sometimes used in

food or drink, or poisonous unguents are rubbed in during

sleep but these are merely signa; it is the demon who,through pact, causes the injury. The signa may be attached

to the garment of the victim, or hidden in his bed, or placedunder the threshold, with mutterings and imprecations; or a

figurine of wax may be transfixed with needles, or melted at

a fire, when the demon causes disease or death. But there

would be no end if we were to recount them all, for these

signa are infinite. Ib., nn. 285-90 (pp. 235-6).The maleficium works evil to man, not only in his property

and body and senses, but also in the soul, its spiritual

potencies, by permission of God. The demon can aid the

memory so that it retains firmly, and can weaken or even

destroy it, with God's permission, in punishment for sin.

Though it is the duty of the good angels to strengthen andilluminate the intellect, the demon can darken it and bring


it to dementia, as happened recently here to two important

persons, as was manifest by external signs, though some

persons thought it was natural. So some years since a most

Serene Prince sickened and died from both natural causes

and sorcery, of which weighty indicia were observed by physi-

cians and theologians. Ib., nn. 290-3 (p. 236).

There are three kinds of fascination vulgaris sen poetica,

physica et daemoniaca. The common or poetical is based

only on the false belief of the people, or the fiction of the

poets that from the mere aspect of a malevolent person great

injury may arise, and it is rejected by the learned. Physical

fascination is admitted by all, that from the eyes of an angry

person a virus is diffused which injures one near, as from

infected air. (He cites Aquinas, Summ. contra Gentiles, 1. iii,

c. 103, who says that strong malevolence makes an impression

of injury on others, especially boys whose tender bodies are

susceptible to impressions.) Demoniac fascination arises

from express or tacit pact and brings harm to all on whomthe sorcerer looks angrily. (See Aquinas, Summa, P. I, q.

117, art. 3, ad 2, which I have elsewhere. H. C. L.) Ib.,

nn. 294-6 (p. 236).

He dismisses ligatures briefly as being so well known and

fully described by Torreblanca in his Epitome Delictorum,

1. ii, c. 42. (The latter goes fully into all details and relates

that recently in Granada D. Antonio Portocarrero and D.

Alfonsa de Guzman were unable to have commerce with

their wives, "cum alias, multas alias, se cognoscere affirmarent

et judicial! sententia divortium fuit indictum. H. C. L.)-

Ib., nn. 297-8 (p. 236).

Then there are abortions, difficult parturition and drying

of milk caused by sorcerers ex vi pacti with help of demons,

either using natural causes which they know or by mere

touch, or incantation, or placing a signum. Ib., nn. 299-300

(p. 237).

He refers for details to Torreblanca, who devotes L ii, c. 43

to abortion, c. 44 to sterility, c. 45 to difficult parturition and

c. 46 to milk drying, in all of which he shows immense medical

learning, from Aristotle and Hippocrates down.

Del Rio also treats these points in L iii, P. I, q. 4, sect. 3,

and also of transferring milk from neighbors' cows. He tells

of Biebrana, a witch of Laon, who by threats alone dried up

the breasts of a woman so that as long as the witch lived the

woman had no milk, though she bore many children.


Th. Sanchez [frequently cited by Salelles] says, when con-

sidering the cure of sorcery by sorcery, "Praemittendum est

primo, cognitionem aliquam, aut bonum naturale, ut sani-

tatem, a daemone acquisita, posse licite retineri, et illorum

usuni esse licitum, dummodo conservatio jam a daemone non

pendeat" (In Praecepta Decalogi, P. I, lib. ii, c. 41, n. 1).

Secondly, as for external things, such as money, the first

thing is to see that they are genuine, for they are apt to beelusive as money changing to coals or vanishing, so that it

is illicit to use them till verified. If the demon gives goodmoney he usually steals it from some one else; and, if this can

be ascertained, it should be returned to the owner (Sanchez,loc. cit., n. 2). Thirdly, it is not licit, for whatever goodobject, to use sorcery; to invoke the aid of the demon bysorcery is intrinsically evil (n. 3). Thus judges sin mortally

who, through curiosity or to verify crimes, cause sorcery to

be wrought before them, such as causing frogs to appear or

a witch to anoint herself and fly (n. 4). There are some whohold that it is licit to ask a sorcerer prepared to remove a

sorcery to do it, because it is not inducing him to evil but to

use for a good purpose what is ready. But this is wholly false

and erroneous (n. 5). Nor, if a sorcery can be removed in

a licit way is it licit to ask a sorcerer to do it, if it is notcertain that he knows that way (n, 6), Hence it is unlawfulto ask a sorcerer to remove a sorcery placed by another, whenhe does not know what it is or where the signa are placed(n. 8). There are some who, while admitting that it is unlaw-ful to ask this of a sorcerer, hold that he can be coerced bythreats and blows, but this is false. Therefore judges arenot to be excused who require sorcerers to remove a sorceryby some benediction, for this benediction is only a pact withthe demon to cease (nn. 9-10). But judges are at liberty,when about to torture a sorcerer, to wash him and shave himall over to remove any concealed charms (n. 11). When thesorcerer knows a licit and an illicit method, it is admittedthat it is licit to ask him to remove a sorcery, if we think it

probable that he will use the licit means. If we feel certainthat he will use the illicit, some think it unlawful, but it is

licit (nn. 12-13). Even if a sorcerer will not use a licit methodknown to him, it is lawful to employ him, but not if thesufferer has to cooperate in it, even by taking some vain andsuperstitious remedy which derives its power from pact(nn. 14-15).

WITCHCEAFT LITERATUBE OF ROMAN INQUISITION 1015

All this has interest as showing how probabilism and casuistry succeeded

in largely eluding the old prescriptions.

Sanchez also discusses (nn. 18-22) the old question as to

the lawfulness of destroying the signa (which I have else-

where H. C. L.). It is not only licit, but it is the duty of

the sorcerer or of anyone else to destroy the signa, and it is

the duty of the judge to force the sorcerer to do it (nn. 23^4).

The ingenuity with which all possible aspects of all possible cases are

imagined and threshed out is worthy of the casuists. See whole chapter.

Salelles, in his reg. 123, of lib. i, c. 14, (I, pp. 237-9), follows

Sanchez.

"Aliqua denique opera magica sapiunt haeresim, saltern

occultam, quae procedunt ex pacto tacito cum daemone.

Quamquam ex hoc pacto, ut in plurimum censentur sortilegia

simplicia, absque sapore haeresis, subsunt nihilominus etiam

ipsa jurisdictioni Inquisitorum." Salelles, reg. 124, nn.

332-3 (p. 239).Heretical sorcery is that which seeks from the dmon what

is beyond his powers and can be performed only by God.

Savoring manifestly of heresy is that wMch is performed

through express pact with the demon and seeks only what is

within the power of the demon. This express pact includes

adoration of the demon, renunciation of God and the Virgin

and the sacraments. Ib., nn. 338-9 (p. 240).

Therefore wholly to be rejected is the distinction drawn

by Pena (q. 43, comment. 68, in Direct., P. II, p. 345 of ed.

Venetiis, 1607), Oldradus, and Riccius that invocation made

deprecative is heretical and imperative is not. So Diana

(Summa Diana, s.v. Inquisit. Jurisdict., n. 71, Venetiis,

1646, p. 476) and Del Eio (Disq. Mag., 1. v, sect. 15, dico 6,

p. 755). Ib., nn. 340-2 (p. 240).

It is common [opinion] that if sacred things are used, even

in tacit pact, it savors of manifest heresy. Ib., n. 343 (p. 240).

There are some, however, who hold that, if it is for indif-

ferent things, such as the discovery of theft or one's own

safety, the use of sacred things is not heretical, but this is

denied by the greater number. Ib., nn. 344-6 (p. 240).

Finally, all sorceries or magic works which contain what is

heretical savor manifestly of heresy such as baptizing

images, kneeling to idols, throwing salt on the fire, etc.

Ib., nn. 347-9 (p. 241).

It is a disposition of God in punishment of sin that "ipsi


daemones et cibos in conviviis solitis insipidos et actus

venereos incuboram et succubonun vix ullius delectationis

exhibeant." Ib., n. 349.

How do they reconcile this with the attractions that they say seduce

so many?

AU ligatures of married folk and those which injure menand beasts and harvests are heretical tinder the bull of

Innocent VIII, Summis desiderantes. So Farinacci, De Haer-

esi, q. 181, 1, n. 31, who quotes this bull. (Salelles also quotesSumma Sylvestrina, but wrongly. It says, s.v. Haeresis I,

n. 8, that the adoration of the demon cannot of itself be

regarded as heretical, though the glossators argue that it is

so by presumption of law, but the Church can reasonablydecree it to be punishable as heretical. Again, s.v. Haeresis II,

n. 5, he says that sorceries manifestly savor of heresy whenthey contain what is manifestly heretical, such as baptizingan image. But inquisitors cannot assume jurisdiction in

cases of doubt, for they have not jurisdiction. Haec ille. All

this was rendered superfluous by the brief of Sixtus V, Creator.

H. C. L.) Salelles continues that any superstitious act in

which more honor is attributed to the creature than to Godis heretical. This is Farinacci, q. 181, 1, n. 42. To keep a

demon imprisoned in a ring, as sorcerers falsely believe, is

heretical under John XXIFs Super illius specula. Ib., nn.

351-5 (p. 241).Yet it cannot be denied, as admitted by all, that there are

many acts included in daemonic magic, both divinatory and

operative, which are mere simple sorceries and do not savorof heresy, though there may be tacit pact, unknown to the

operator. Ib., n. 355 (p. 241).The Inquisition has no jurisdiction over simple and non-

heretical sorcery, but only of heretical or savoring of heresyin some way. Inquisitors are not required to deliver such

persons to their judges, but only not to interfere with their

punishment after they have determined that the sorcery doesnot savor of heresy. So Valle de Moura, De Incantationibus,sect, iii, c. 6, n. 10 (Eborae, 1620, p. 538). Ib., n. 358 (p. 242).

But this seems to ignore the bull of Sixtus V, which perhaps was notreceived in Portugal.Diana is more to the point when he says that by the old law inquisitors

had cognizance only when the sorcery savored manifestly of heresy, butnow under the new law of Sixtus V they have jurisdiction over all sor-

cerersreciting curative prayers and the like. Even without the consti-

WITCHCRAFT LITERATUKE OF ROMAN INQUISITION 1017

tution of Sixtus V they had jurisdiction in doubtful cases to determinewhether it was heretical, as Simancas clearly proves against those whothink otherwise (tit. 30, nn. 20-1), thus contradicting Sylvester above.

(See Summa Diana, s.v. Inquisitor. Jurisd., n. 69.)

The constitutions of Alexander VI Cum acceperimus andAdrian VI Dudum gave to the Inquisition many simplesorceries, and that of Sixtus V Coeli et terrae still more, andthis was confirmed and enlarged by the Inscrutabilis of

Urban VIII, all of which are to be accepted and leave noroom for interpretations. Salelles, nn. 360-1 (p. 242).Some may question whether the Inquisition, founded for

the suppression of heresy, can have jurisdiction when there is

no heresy, so he proceeds to argue that the pope can extendits jurisdiction for the benefit of society, as in the case of

sodomy in the kingdom of Aragon, and he adds other reasons.

-Ib., nn. 362-6.

And he winds up by thanking God that he has got to the

end of this vastissima et diffidllima materia of demoniacal

magic. Ib., n. 367 (p. 242).

DELBENE, THOMAS. De Officio Sanctae Inquisition/is circa

Haeresim. Lugduni, 1666. (2 T., foL)

Delbene was a Theatin and an official of the Congregation of the Inqui-sition. The licence of the Master of the Sacred Palace is dated July 31,

1658. Other Roman and some French authorizations are of 1662 and the

final French one is 1666. The title-page says it is now first brought to light,

so I suppose there was delay in finding a printer to undertake it.

He attributes to the bull of Sixtus V inquisitional juris-

diction over superstitions, such as figurines to create love or

hate, incantations, etc., but admits that this is not exclusive

but cumulative with that of the Ordinaries. It does not confer

jurisdiction over pure superstitions that do not in any waysavor of heresy, "licet hae rarissimae sint." -

Ib., P. II, dub.

195, sect. 70 (II, p. 47).

The Inquisition can punish Ensalmadores, under the bull

of Sixtus and the decision of PaulV on this point, cumulativelywith the Ordinary, "etiam quando manifeste non sapiunthaeresim." The Malleus (P. Ill, q. 1, q.v.) is mistaken whenit says that these are mixtifori with the secular courts "etiam

quando manifeste saperent haeresim." Ib., dub. 196, sect.

76 (p. 49).As in excepted crimes, the inquisitor is not required, before

examining the accused, to reveal to him the evidence against

him. Ib., dub. 217, petit. 2, n. 15 (p. 137).


It seems remarkable that Delbene does not cite the Roman Instructions,

but the Spanish, in support of the cautious and humane procedure which

he inculcates.

The arrest of witches requires clearer proofs than in other

crimes "ob periculum falsitatis, quod, ut experientia doeet,

saepe saepius contingere solet." No arrest is to be made on

the deposition of an accomplice that she has been seen in the

Sabbat, because pious men have been seen there when theywere not present, and witches themselves very often believe

themselves to be there when they are not. So that, if there

are not other proofs (v.g., of the death of a man or of a beast

or that unguents and unclean animals, as toads or snakes,

have been found with her) the practice of the Inquisition of

Spain is never to arrest, as appears in a certain MadridInstruction. ~-Ib., dub. 206, n. 7 (p. 112).

He refers to what he has said as to torture, that the prac-

tice of the Roman Inquisition does not allow it on the testi-

mony of two or three accomplices that they have seen her

in the Sabbat; for, as mostly witches are not bodily in the

Sabbat, but only through illusion, it would be absurd to hold

such evidence sufficient, and the doctrine of Del Rio that twosuch suffice is not followed. Ib., P. I, dub. 192, sect. 8 (I,

pp. 593-4).

Curiously enough he cites in support of this Binsfeld (DeConfess. Malefic., membr. 2, concl. 6, dub. 2, ed. 1623, pp.

269-74), who, on the contrary, devotes a long and eloquent

argument to prove that two such witnesses suffice for torture.

Binsfeld admits of no illusion as to the Sabbat and says that

without admitting such evidence this nefarious sect cannot be

exterminated, while infinite examples show its reliability.

If a witch spontaneously denounces herself and confesses

to adoration of demons and intentional apostasy, accordingto the Madrid Instructions of 1613, she is admitted to secret

reconciliation, no sanbenito is put on her and her property is

not confiscated. If she relapses, although by strict law she

should be relaxed, she is admitted to reconciliation a second

and a third time. If under thirteen, she is absolved ad

cautelam. If she confesses to adoration in the Sabbat, but

without apostasy, the commissioner can absolve her ad

cautelam and receive her abjuration. Delbene, P. II, dub.

206, mi. 8-9 (II, p. 112).

From this it may be inferred that these provisions of the Madrid Instruc-

tions were accepted by the Roman Inquisition.

WITCHCRAFT LITEEATTJBE OF KOMAN INQUISITION 1019

The cumulative evidence of 15 or 16 infamous persons,such as witches who have confessed, suffices to form moral

certainty, on which the accused can be condemned to death,

although she has not confessed, but they must be contestes to

the same fact. Ib., dub. 206, petit. 1, nn. 1, 2 (p. 112).

He quotes Binsfeld (loc. cit.j concl. 7, p. 287) in support of

this, but Binsfeld says that it suffices for condemnation, but

as it is not positive proof the sentence should be to somemilder penalty. Even Del Rio says (Disquis. Magic., 1. v,

sect. 4, n. 4) that the multiplied evidence of infamous wit-

nesses does not suffice, although the common opinion and

practice is to the contrary.When the law prescribes burning, it means burning alive,

and this must be followed, unless the judge is supreme and

can dispense with the law, or unless circumstances admit of a

certain epicheia to mitigate the law in special cases. But

among Christians it is customary not to burn alive, lest the

condemned fall into despair or other grave sin and thus die

impenitent. But if he is pertinacious or impenitent, then he

should be burnt alive. Delbene, loc. tit., petit. 2 (p. 113).

This explains the persistence in confession of the unfortunates, who knew

that, if they revoked, they would be burnt alive as impenitent.

Delbene in this copies almost literally Binsfeld (loc. ciL,

dub. 4, p. 305), who says this is the practice in Spain and Italy.

Although death ordinarily extinguishes crime and penalty,

this is not the case with excepted crimes, so the accused, if

confessed or convicted, is to be condemned and her property

confiscated. It is customary to burn or to hang the body.

If she dies before confession or conviction, the body should

have Christian burial. If she has committed suicide, however,

this is tantamount to confession and the body should be burnt

or hanged, even though she had repented and been admitted

to communion. When, however, the judge permits the body

to be buried, as above, he should protest that he will continue

the case, citing those in interest to defend it, as is always

done in cases of heresy. Ib., petit. 3 (p. 113).

Del Rio says (Disq. Mag., v, sect. 19, p. 811) that the

punishment of the corpse of a suicide is contrary to the

common opinion, but he upholds it.

The practice is unjust of some judges who in sentencing a

witch name another dead, either in or out of prison, as a

companion or mistress of magic arts, as this defames the


memory of one not convicted. Yet, when the proof againsther is convincing, it may be permitted. Delbene, loc. tit.,

petit. 4 (p. 114).

He explains why there are more women than men by the

fact that through defect of judgment they are more credulous

and more easily deceived than men; they are also more

inquisitive and more given to lust, and thus, less able to

endure grief and resist passion, they seek the impious solace

and help of demons. Ib., petit. 5 (p. 114).

For this customary reasoning may also be cited Grillandus

(De Sortilegiis, q. 7, n. 31), who lays especial stress on womenbeing thus able to satisfy their lust without incurring ill-fame.

Binsfeld (Comment, in Tit. Cod. de Malef., rubr. n, 8,

p. 336) develops all this more in detail.

Simancas (De Cathol. Instit., tit. 37, n. 3) says the same,

laying especial stress on lust: "praecipuus finis ad quern hujusartis professores tendunt est carnis voluptas cujus illae insa-

tiabiles sunt."

The Malleus, however (P. I, q. 6), is the most impressiveof all and set the pace for subsequent writers. 1

Delbene quotes Pena, who says that, although the Malleusand Sylvester and Ambrosius de Vignate hold that for infan-

ticide witches may be relaxed to the secular arm even for a

first offence and it is so observed in certain Inquisitions,

especially in Piedmont where this pest is so great, yet the

Holy Office is not accustomed to do this nor to punish themotherwise than as the canons order for apostates (returningto the faith, of course H. C. L.). Delbene adds that, if the

secular judge, suspending the case, hands them over to the

Inquisition, when it has finished the heresy trial it ought and

customarily does return them to the judge, for which there

is a special constitution of Pius V. But occasionally, onaccount of the frequency of infanticide and other aggravatingcircumstances, witches after abjuration may, by special papalcommand, be handed over to the secular court for a newtrial and punishment according to the laws. Delbene, loc.

tit., petit. 6 (p. 114).Then in a subsequent passage he says that those who

confess to homicide committed by sorcery and profess to be

ready for conversion cannot be relaxed by the Inquisition,but must be admitted to reconciliation although (quamvis)a recent bull of Gregory XV, March 20, 1623, orders that

1 See pp. 307-8.

WITCHCRAFT LITERATURE OP ROMAN INQUISITION 1021

whoever has pact with the devil and by sorcery so injurespersons that they die is to be delivered to the secular courtfor due punishment. Ib., dub. 229, sect. 6, nn. 9-10 (p. 312).

He discreetly makes no observation on this, whence we may infer thatit was a dead letter.

Inquisitors can proceed against witches without calling inthe diocesan, and their sentences are valid, under a consti-tution of Alexander VI (for which see Pena, App. ad Eymeric.,p. 85). But it is safer and more decent to call in the Ordinary,as is done in Spain in these and other cases of heresy. Ib.dub. 206, petit. 7 (p. 114).

The jurisdiction of the Inquisition was extended over unbap-tized Jews and Moors who committed these offences, by abull of Gregory XIII.Ib., dub. 207, petit. 1 (p. 116).

This is Gregory's bull Antiqua Judaeorum improUtas, 3,

June 1, 1581. Among the offences enumerated are, "Sidaemones invocaverit consulueritve aut eorum responsa accep-erit, ad illosve sacrificia aut preces ob divinationern aliamvecausam direxerit, aut quid eis immolaverit vel thuris alter-

iusve rei fumigationes obtulerit aut alia quaevis impietatis

obsequia praestiterit." Pena, Append, ad Eymeric., p. 139;

Mag. Bullar. Rom. (Luxemburg!, 1742), II, p. 484.

The bull contains a long list of offences justiciable by the

Inquisition and prescribes "ftagra, remigia etiam perpetua,rerum quoque publicationes, exilia aliaque atrociora" as pun-ishment. Pena, however, in considering the general questionas to the punishment of the unbaptized, says, "Sed si atrox

sit scelus a Judaeo vel alio infideli contra fideni patratum,acrior poena imponi poterit, ac etiam relinqui poterunt curiae

saeculari" (Comment. 69 in Eymeric. Direct., P. II, p. 350),which Delbene considers applicable to Gregory's bull. Del-

bene, loc. tit., petit. 2 (p. 116).

Gregory's bull only extended what was already recognized.

Locatus, in 1570, draws a distinction "Invocantes daemonestarn Judaeos quam Paganos atque Saracenos indifferenter

inquisitor punire non potest." That is, Jews are liable, not

pagans or Moors. It is only in matters accepted both byJews and Christians, as the unity of God, [that the former

come under the inquisitor's jurisdiction]. Thus "asserendo

verbo unum Deum non esse, vel facto daemonibus sacrifi-

cando, quod est facto daemonem Deum asserere, et similia

perpetrare, . . . saltern facto, quod est plusquam verbo, idola


colentes, . . . daemones invocantes, ad aras daemoniononsacrificia offerentes, responsa sperantes et obtinentes et non-

nunquam Christianos verbo vel exemplo ad nefaria similia

pertrahentes, episcoporum et inquisitorum pro talibus nefan-

dis judicium non evadunt, imo sunt durius ab eis puniendi."

Locatus, Opus Judiciale, s.v. Invocare, nn. 1, 2 (Romae,

1570), pp. 188-4.

As the denunciators of accomplices were almost always

women, it is well to bear in mind that the contempt for

women, which at times excluded them as witnesses, required

that there be more of them than of men. ' '

Praeterquam quodfoeminis ob sexus fragilitatem non aeque ac manibus fides

adhibeatur; ut proinde, ut aliquis tanquam criminis socius

capi et torqueri possit, trium vel quatuor foeminarum con-

sentiens seu conformis denunciatio requiratur, quod etiam in

praxi observatur in processu super crimine veneficii vel simili

alio." Delbene, dub. 217, petit. 3, nn. 31-2 (II, p. 141).

If a witch comes spontaneously to confession, all details

are to be asked of her whether she has injured anyone in

body or goods, and if these are clerics for then there is ex-

communication. Whether she has seduced any one, for then

she is required to bring them back to the faith and, if they

refuse, she is to denounce them unless this will bring her

into suspicion or danger, which excuses her. She is to abjurethe devil and have full hope in God and to be assiduous in

religious duties. Ib., petit. 11 (p. 149).

There is nothing said here as to absolution and communion, or denounc-

ing herself to the Inquisition. No ordinary confessor could absolve for

heresy, except in articulo. But after condemnation, the confession is under-

stood to be in extremis. Del Rio (L vi, c. 1, pp. 904 sqq.) gives a fearful

enumeration of details to be inquired into. He throws no light on the

question of absolution.

If the accused during trial asks for a confessor, the requestis to be granted or refused according to the custom of the

place. He cannot grant absolution, however, until the ex-

communication (presumably incurred H. C. L.) is removedand the penitent reconciled. He is to exhort her to repentanceand obedience to the magistrate. Ib., dub. 195, sect. 38

(p. 37) and dub. 217, petit. 12 (p. 150).

If she has confessed, he is to exhort her to endure her pun-ishment with patience and reflect that the brief suffering in

satisfaction for her sins will win her eternal bliss. If she

protests her innocence and says her confession was extorted

WITCHCRAFT LITERATUEE OF BOMAN INQUISITION 1023

by fear of torture, as a penitent is always to be believed in

confession, he is to comfort, her with the example of the

martyrs, but to caution her, as God is not to be trifled with,

that, if she falsely asserts innocence, she will endure for

eternity the pains of hell with the demon. Ib., dub. 217,

petit. 12, nn. 3, 4 (p. 150).He is to tell her that she is bound to denounce accomplices.

If she says she has accused others falsely through fear of

torture, he must urge her to retract it before the judge,

though she may fear that this will subject her to fresh torture,if there is any hope that the judge will accept the retraction,

though ordinarily they hold to the confession and denuncia-

tion even if revoked, unless she can give a probable reason

for error. Del Rio holds (Disq. Mag., 1. v, sect. 5, n. 6) that

the first confession is to hold, unless the convict can showreasons of just cause for the change. Ib., n. 5 (p. 150).

If just before execution she declares the innocence of those

whom she has accused, the judge is not to regard it. This is

common. Ib., nn. 6-7. (So Del Rio, ubi sup., n. 5.)

Nevertheless the confessor should not only permit but

persuade her to make this recantation before the public,

not only to relieve her conscience but because such an ante-

mortem statement weakens the prior accusation and, if there

are other indicia of the falsity of the denunciation, the partyshould not be prosecuted. Ib., n. 8 (p. 151).

But the confessor should not give occasion for scandal byinforming the judge, after the execution, of the revocation,

which as extrajudicial he cannot accept. Ib., n. 9.

To avoid breaking the seal, the confessor must obtain per-

mission of the penitent before revealing anything to the

judge. Ib., n. 10.

If the woman confesses freely and sincerely, yet persis-

tently affirms her innocence, she is to be believed, as peni-

tents are assumed to tell the truth for and against themselves.

In view of the disgrace to herself and her family, if the judge

may probably receive her revocation (which is unlikely, as

they stand on the judicial confession), the confessor should

urge her to revoke it but otherwise it would be useless

(Simancas, De Cath. Inst., tit. 13, nn. 28-30). But if she

refuses for fear of repetition of torture and says she would

rather die, the confessor should not urge her, but should

follow the common opinion (Summa Angelica, s.v. Detractio,

n. 6; Dona. Soto, De Justitia et Jure, lib. v, q. 10, art. 21,


p. 507; Toletus, Instruct* Sacerdotum, lib. v, c. 66, n. 4) that

she does not incur mortal sin by leaving unretracted a false

confession as to herself. Ib., petit. 13, nn. 1-3 (p. 151).

But Delbene does not agree with this, arguing that she is

thus committing suicide. Ib., nn. 4, 5.

How vividly this illustrates the hideous features of torture. The doctors

all assume that the innocent are thus forced to condemn themselves, and

dispute as to the degree in which they thus commit mortal sin and consignthemselves to eternal fires.

Should the confessor when convinced of the innocence of

the penitent notify the judge? He answers in the negative,because the confession as extrajudicial would not be received

and because the guilty would be led thus to endeavor to save

themselves. Besides, it would break the seal. Ib., petit. 14

(p. 151).

The viaticum is not to be denied to the witch dying in

prison, when truly penitent and sacramentally confessed,and this whether she has confessed or not, or revokes confes-

sion publicly. Ib., Petit. 15, nn. 1-3 (p. 152).

Binsfeld says (De Confess. Malef., membr. 2, concl. 7,

dub. 5) this is common and was confirmed by Pius V in amotu proprio] that it is followed by many pious judges butnot universally. It is ordered in the Carolina, cap. 79 (whichI have elsewhere H. C. L.).

If, after conviction through torture or proof, she persis-

tently denies in confession to the confessor, she is to beabsolved and have the viaticum to fortify her for death; butif she denies in public, it is to be withheld on account of

scandal, for she will be regarded as lying and pertinacious.

Delbene, petit. 15, n. 6 (p. 152).

If she admits her guilt and is truly repentant, she is admitted to com-munion see above.

If she dies during trial without confession or sufficient

proof for conviction, she is to have Christian burial. Thecustom of refusing it applies only to the condemned or tothose who may be condemned after death, and cannot be

objected to when the proofs are strong and urgent but, if

sacramentally confessed, she should have the viaticum. Butit is to be carried without ringing a bell and procession, yetnot secretly as in irreverence of the sacrament. Ib., nn. 8, 9

(pp. 152-3).The burial of one dying in prison or executed is not to be

WITCHCKAFT LITEEATUKE OF BOMAN INQUISITION 1025

publicly ceremonious nor yet furtive, but with the substantial

observances. Provided she has not died impenitent or there

is violent presumption of it, the kindred may privately prayfor her and offer sacrifices. Ib., n. 10 (p. 153).

It will be seen how strong were the motives for those carried to execution

not to retract their confessions and incur the fire here and hereafter. Themore pious they were, the stronger were the inducements.

A confession procured by fraud, as by false promises of

immunity or equivocation, is invalid, even if not retracted.

Ib., P. I, dub. 184, petit. 7, coroll. 1, nn. 1, 2 (I, p. 578)." Curare debent quod reo, quando torquendus est, detra-

hantur omnes vestes, et abradantur omnes pili, ne forte in

vestibus vel in pilis maleficium vel facturam aliquam ad huncfinem involutam habeat. Item curare [jurare in text] debent

propter eamdem rationem quod reo inspiciantur os, foramina

narium et aurium, pudendae tarn anteriores quam posteriores,

et etiam si qua plaga, cauthericum vel incisio sit in corporeillius. Item curare debent quod adMbeantur remedia quae-dam ecclesiastica." Ib., P. I, dub. 192, sect. 37, nn. 1-3

(I, p. 613).

This is of general application to all crimes not alone to witchcraft.

So also Binsfeld (Comment, in Tit. Cod. de Malef., lex 7, conclus. 15,

p. 571) recommends shaving which see for details as to how the demonsaves the witch in torture.

"Magicians, by aid of demons, can excite tempests, hail-

storms, thunder and lightning, overthrowing crops, trees,

animals and buildings. They can cause inundations, earth-

quakes, conflagrations; they can transfer from one place to

another crops, trees and orchards, for with God's permission

the demon can easily condense vapors and exhalations, espe-

cially when several cooperate. Magicians also can, with the

aid of demons, transport men and beasts from place to place

(as is evident with witches), for the demon is most swift and

powerful and there is no earthly power comparable to his.

If you object that witches are not really transported, but are

deceived in so thinking, so that their flight and all that occurs in

the Sabbat are only imaginary and that the demon represents

these fantasms to them in sleep, I concede this sometimes;

if that the demon cunningly does this to persuade judges that

the whole matter is imaginary and hurts nobody, I deny

that this is always the case, for it is refuted by 600 examples

and by the experiences of those who have been caught in the

VOL. n 65


act (for which he cites the Malleus, Alph. de Castro and Del

Rio), and moreover it is repugnant to reason. It cannot be

denied that this is in the power of the demon, to which no

earthly power can be compared; nor can it be denied that God

permits it when witches consent and the demon invites them,and Christ permitted himself to be carried to the pinnacle of

the temple and thence to a high mountain, as shown in Matt.,

iv, and the Holy Fathers everywhere teach it. Besides, to denyit is a doctrine most pernicious to the republic, for it protects

a crime most heinous and most pernicious to the republic

and impedes the due punishment of witches, for judges whobelieve this doctrine do not punish witches, or punish them

lightly, sparing their lives, whence it results that very manypractice this pestiferous art and the demon can rage in safety.

It condemns all tribunals, secular and ecclesiastic, not onlyfor ignorance and imprudence in not being able to distinguish

between the real and the imaginary, but even for injustice

and cruelty in punishing with death women for maleficia

which they have not done but have only dreamed of doing

through illusion of the demon. If you insist that they are

sometimes deluded and therefore it is unsafe to punish those

who may be innocent, the answer is that they are presumednot to be deluded, as they are in their right minds and givedetails of time and place and those present and other cir-

cumstances and this often long after the occurrence. More-

over, even if deluded, they have express pact with the demon

usually conjoined with apostasy, and have desire to do what

they seem to do in sleep; they anoint themselves and use

charms for it and subsequently approve of it and intend to

repeat it, including idolatry, commerce with the demon,renunciation of Christ and desire to injure others in bodyand goods. If you persist and cite the Cap. Episcopi that

witches are not really transported, but only in imagination,the reply is that this does not apply, as it does not speak of

witches, but of some other kind of women, for it only taxes

them with credulity and does not condemn their monstrouswickedness as it would if they were witches, and this credulityconsists only in believing themselves with Diana and Herodiasand obeying them as goddesses, and not in being transported

by a demon in the shape of a goat, feasting and dancing and

having wicked commerce with the demon. Witches knowthat they are with the demon and do not believe what is

condemned in the Cap. Episcopi. If it applied to our matter,

WITCHCEAFT LITERATTJBE OF ROMAN INQUISITION 1027

there would be heresy in believing witches to be carried bydemons in the shape of goats, which "quod omnino dici non

potest." If it is argued that witches are found sleeping in

their beds at the time when they imagine themselves to be

transported (as is written in Vita S. Germani and seems to

be the opinion of St. Augustin, De Civ. Dei, lib. xv, c. 13, and

of the Council of Ancyra), which is confirmed by the assem-

blies, vanishing when the name of Jesus is pronounced, which

they could not do if they were corporeal then this is answered

by what I have said above ;sometimes they are imaginary and

sometimes real, and Del Rio, lib. ii, q. 16 (which is full of

marvels H. C. L.) and also Malleus, P. II, q. 1, c. 3, show

that they may be replaced in the husband's bed with other

bodies;as for the disappearance of the assemblies, it is to be

said that this is not instantaneous, but the eyes of the spec-

tator are dulled while the demons carry off the witchesto

say nothing of the fact that they are sometimes left and are

found."--Ib., P. II, dub. 227, sect. 3, nn. 6-18 (II, pp. 255-7).

Some say the Council of Ancyra was provincial and not

canonical and therefore of no authority but this is not so,

for it was confirmed by the Council of Nicaea and by the

Sixth General Synod, can. 2, wherefore it is better to answer

as above. Ib., n. 17 (p. 257).

Witches cannot penetrate bodies or be in two places at

once, so when they enter closed houses to kill infants, they

do not penetrate the walls, but the demons open the doors

and even the walls, replacing them afterward, or convey

them through upper openings, i. e., chimneys. (So Toletus,

Instruct. Sac., lib. iv, c. 16, n. 7, and Del Rio, lib. ii, q. 17,

p. 185.) Ib., n. 19 (p. 257).

Del Rio (loc. cit.) prefers this to the suggestion that the demon trans-

forms them into mice, cats, locusts and other small animals.

Magicians with the demon's aid can transform men into

beasts, not changing them intrinsically but extrinsieally, by

surrounding them with vapors and exhalations. Thus, some

are changed to wolves; they accommodate themselves to the

shape of wolves as far as they can by waiting on hands and

feet, and the demon adds what is necessary to render them

exactly like wolves; he then enters them, and by exciting

humors and adding poisonous juices he gives them the mind

of the beast and its agility, so that like wolves they attack

and devour men. Or secondly, the demon can suddenly


substitute a wolf for a man so that he seems converted into

a wolf. Or thirdly, he can throw the man into deep sleep and

himself assume the form of a wolf, while the man in slumber

imagines himself to be doing what is done. Or fourthly, the

demon can do it by mere deceit, as when the insane seem to

themselves to see wonders, which are mere perturbations of

the humors. Ib., nn. 20-3 (p. 257).

Magicians, with the aid of demons, can inflict diseases

beyond the art of medicine to cure. They have six hundred

modes of doing this, of which he enumerates some. Amongthese are introducing into the body of the patient rolls of

hair, nails, pieces of glass and the like. So they can cure all

curable diseases and those imposed by sorcery. Ib., n. 25

'(p. 257).

Note as to this last that he says nothing about the caution enjoined by

the Instructions.

Magicians, by the aid of demons, can dig up hidden treas-

ures, though God in mercy on us very rarely permits this,

for almost all sorcerers are poor, vile and abject. Ib., n. 29

(p. 258).

They can render themselves invisible by the aid of demons

either by transferring themselves suddenly elsewhere, or by

interposing something that hides them, or by interfering with

the vision of the spectators. Ib., n. 30 (p. 258).

Magicians can control all the operations of the soul depen-dent upon the body, and the imagination, as v. g. to cause

insanity, love, lust or hatred. Ib., n. 32 (p. 258).

They can, however, do nothing, with the aid of demons,to the souls of the dead, for demons have no power over

them except to torture those condemned according to their

degrees of guilt. They therefore cannot raise them and makethem appear to the living. Ib., n. 33.

But the demon sometimes appears in the fictitious character

of the soul of the dead. Ib., sec. 4, n. 10 (p. 259).

Witches are worthy of death, even though they have

harmed no one, and ate to be wholly exterminated from, the

Republic on account of heresy, idolatry, apostasy and un-

speakable commerce (with demons). Ib., sect. 5, n. 14

(p. 260).

Compensation is to be made to all who have suffered bymagic arts in person or property. Where confiscation is

enforced, the fisc must make this restitution out of the

WITCHCKAFT LITERATURE OF ROMAN INQUISITION 1029

property. Wliere the heirs succeed, they must do so. Ib.,

dub. 228, sect. 1, n. 7 (p. 262).Whether the excommunication incurred by sorcerers is

sententia lata or ferenda is a question argued on both sides

by the doctors. Ib., sect. 2, nn. 1-4 (p. 262).

Under the old law, inquisitors had cognizance only of

sorceries that were heretical, but under the motu proprio of

Sixtus V and another of Urban VIII they have cognizanceof all kinds; but where there is no suspicion of heresy it is

mixtifori secular and ecclesiastic. Ib., nn. 4-6 (p. 263).

Vain observances are those in which effects are sought that

are not naturally producible by the means employed "et sic

pertinent ad pacta signifieationum (charms) cum daemonibus

inita" (S. Th. Aquin., Sec. Sec., q. 96, art. 2). Therefore the

malice of vain observance consists in attributing to the crea-

ture effects not intended by God, and it rests on pact, express

or tacit, with the demon. Ib., sect. 5, n. 4 (p. 265).

There is implicit pact, when there is no invocation of the

demon, when means are employed to produce an effect which

are in themselves vain and useless. Ib., n. 17 (p. 266).

All this is virtually the definition of the Paris University and is carried

back to Aquinas.

Some authors hold that in this implicit pact there may be

parvitas materiae relieving it from mortal sin, but Delbene

denies it. Ib., sect. 6, nn. 5, 6 (p. 267).

The use of amulets and charms hung around the neck are examples o*

vain observance; also the unintelligible charms employed to cure disease.

The prevalence and endless variety of these is seen in the numerous sections

devoted to them.

When a man has given a written pact to the demon,

renouncing Christ and promising obedience, if he repents

and returns to the Church, it is not necessary to reclaim it,

for it becomes void by the fact of his repentance. If he has

retained a copy, however, he should destroy it, as it maycause scandal if mislaid or is found after his death. Ib., sect.

22 (p. 283).

He prints (II, pp. 291-2) the bull of Gregory XV, 1623, and

adds a commentary.It comprehends only two kinds of sorcery one which

causes death and the other causing infirmity, divorce, impo-

tence and notable damage to harvests, etc. As papal bulls


are construed strictly, it therefore does not comprise other

sorceries, such as amatory. Ib., sect. 28, n. 2 (p. 292).

It comprises only those exercised with pact and apostasy

from the faith. Ib., n. 3.

Its penalties therefore do not affect those who make pacts

without apostatizing. Ib., nn. 4r-5*

It follows that those are not included who use the work of

sorcerers to injure others, even if death follows. Ib., n. 6.

Nor do the penalties apply to attempts, but only to the

successful acts. Ib., n. 7.

Nor does the bull include the "sortilegium" used for divina-

tion. Ib., nn. 8-9.

The excommunication of sorcerers is not lata sententia, as

Del Rio and others think, but ferenda except when con-

joined with heresy, for heretics are excommunicated as in

the Coena Domini. Since the bull of Sixtus V all sorceries

are justiciable by the Inquisition. Ib., nn. 10-11.

Heretical sorcery is double on the part of the work and

on the part of the operator. The former when the heresy is

inferred from the work, as when the demon is invoked for

purposes exceeding his powers, such as raising the dead or

restoring sight to the blind; the latter when the demon is

invoked for what is within his powers, as for inducing or

curing disease. Ib., n. 12 (p. 293).

But there is always heresy in such sorcery, for it depends

on the internal assent of the operator, provided it be of a

nature that cannot be performed without heresy or prima

facie manifests some heresy (Simancas says, tit. 62, n. 3,

v. g., "cum in sortibus aut sortilegiis commiscentur aliqua

dicta vel facta haeretica vel quae probabilem suspicionem

haeresis praebent")- But, although this raises a presump-tion of heresy, if the operator is sound in the faith he is not

a heretic. Those are mistaken who hold, as Sousa (Aphor.

Inquis., 1. i, c. 53, n. 21, and still more Torreblanca), that all

sorceries with explicit or implicit pact are heretical or mani-

festly savor of heresy. But it is false, for then there could be

no sorcery or divination or vain observance that is not

heretical or savoring of heresy and thus would be superfluous

the distinction of the new law that those not savoring of

heresy are mixtifori.Ib., nn. 13-14 (p. 293).

Whether the demon is invoked per modum adorationis,

including apostasy, or in another mode not inferring apostasy,

it is always forbidden, for all association with the demon is

WITCHCRAFT LITEBATUKE OP BOMAST INQUISITION 1031

prohibited (St. Thomas, Sec. Sec., q. 90, art. 2 in corp. andI Corinth., x, 20), for whatever he does, apparently in obedi-ence to us, he twists to our disadvantage, temporal or spiritual.

Ib., nn. 15-17 (p. 293).But it is licit to coerce the demon to remove the maleficium

by which he molests any one. Ib., n. 18.

He goes on to consider the various means of causing diseaseor death by figurines or objects of sorcery under thresholds,

etc., as confirmed by the bulls of Innocent VIII, Alexander VI,Adrian VI and Leo X, but draws no deductions from them.

Ib., n. 20 (pp. 293-4).Then the impediments to conjugal intercourse, in which

he enters into all kinds of possible detailsbut he professesdisbelief in Institoris' statements as to the ablation of mem-bers. Ib., nn. 21-33 (II, pp. 294-5).

It is licit to summon the sorcerer to undo the sorcery, "quiamaleficus arte bona quam male didicerit, bene uti potest,"

provided she is not to use another illicit magic pact. Butyou can require her to do it, and if she uses illicit means, the

fault is with her, and this does not prevent you from calling

on her, when it is a necessity or useful. But charity requiresthat you should charge her to use lawful means. If you are

certain that she will use illicit means, many doctors hold that

it is unlawful to call upon her, but the opposite seems muchmore probable. So, if a sorcerer will not release a sorcery bylicit methods, he who seeks can accept that she does so byanother sorcery. So, if she does so by vain observances, which

have no power of cure except through the demon. Ib., dub.

229, sect. 1, nn. 1-8 (pp. 296-7).

This abolition of the old rule is effected by an elaborate application of

probabilism. to the relaxation of the prohibition of usury which was becom-

ing current. It is merely a feature of the relaxed morality introduced bythe probabilist casuists.

At the same time it is not lawful to ask this directly of

the demon "ex amicitia vel benevolentia," though it may be

done "per modum objurgationis et contemptus." Ib., n. 9.

Of course the teaching of Duns Scotus is licit to ask of

the sorcerer to remove the sorceries and to destroy them

when found. Ib., n. 10.

He proceeds to argue this at great length and to cite a

cloud of authorities. It is licit, even if it causes damage to

a third party. Ib., nn. 11-18 (pp. 298-9).


But if it is certain, or nearly certain, that it cannot be

removed without a magicum signwn, it is unlawful to call

upon her to do so, under Deut. xviii, and Levit. xix, xx, and

a cloud of authorities. Thus those are wrong who, like

Remigius, lib. iii, c. 3 (q.v.), say that it is licit to threaten and

beat a witch to undo a sorcery, for this is to force her to sin.

Nor is it licit to ask one to remove a sorcery whom you know

to be ignorant of a lawful method, nor if you doubt whether

she can do so in a licit manner. But it is easy to presume

that one who has placed a sorcery can destroy it, and she

can be forced to do it by threats and blows. But this is not

so readily presumable of one who is not the author of the

sorcery. Therefore, if such a one promises help, it is neces-

sary to examine how she proposes to do and from whom she

has learned where the sorcery is, and as long as there is doubt

she cannot be employed. It follows that it is not lawful to

ask of another sorcerer to remove the sorcery, for she does

not know what and where it is, and thus it is a tacit request

for her to learn about it from the demon, for she cannot cure

without the cooperation of the demon. Ib., nn. 19-25

(pp. 299-300).If there is negative doubt, you must abstain, for it is a

mortal sin to incur the chance of mortal sin and you show

that you desire more the end to be obtained than to obey

God.-~Ib., n. 26 (p. 300).

For negative and positive doubt see Auricular Confession and Indulgences,

II, pp. 320-1.

If there is positive doubt and you can form a probable

opinion that it is licit, you can do it without sin.Ib., n. 27.

Nor do you expose yourself to the danger of sin or induce

another to sin, if you ask one to undo the sorcery, when youknow certainly that he will do it in an illicit way, if there is

another licit way in which he could do it, provided always

that you know that he knows it. Ib., n. 28.

Then follows a long discussion over the various points

involved, including the question as to the lawfulness of remov-

ing the signa in which he points out that judges properly

have the accused shaved all over, not as a matter of super-

stition, but to remove any charms that they may have about

them or in the openings of the body, or any ointment that

may make them insensible to torture. Ib., sect. 2, n. 11

(p. 303).

WITCHCRAFT LITEBATURE OF ROMAN INQUISITION 1033

The discussion continues through another long section (sect. 3), up to

p. 308. It is not necessary to follow this in detail, but it is significant ofthe eagerness with which the so-called bewitched sought for relief throughthe employment of sorcerers and [shows] the infinite number of puzzlingand doubtful questions which arose to be discussed by the casuists.

Natural remedies are rarely of benefit, for the demon hasmeans of counteracting them, though God may perhaps not

permit him, so it is well to try them. With these may beclassed other things which the demon abhors, as signs, for,

as he delights in some things (such as gluttony, lust, hogsand filthy places), so he detests others, as rue, the smoke of

burnt leather and the like. Ib., sect. 4, n. 2 (p. 309).

For exhaustive detail as to all this see Del Rio, lib. vi, c. 2, sect. 2, q. 3*

pp. 970 sqq.

Supernatural remedies, or ecclesiastical, are first, faith; sec-

ond, baptism; third, confession; fourth, the Eucharist; fifth,

exorcism; sixth, holy water; seventh, relics; eighth, sign of

the cross; ninth, the name of Jesus and the Virgin; tenth,

prayer. Ib., nn. 3-18 (p. 309).All other remedies are superstitious and vain and therefore

illicit. See also Malleus, P. II, q. 2, c. 6 (which relies chiefly

on exorcism and condemns the vain and superstitious rem-edies H. C. L.). Also Prierias, De Strigimagis, lib. ii, c. 10,

punct. 1 (p. 195). Ib., sect. 5, n. 1 (p. 310).The judge commits mortal sin who forces a sorcerer to,

cure by a benediction. That can only be administered by a

priest; by a sorcerer, if it has any effect, it is through the

work of the demon. Ib., n. 3 (p. 310).

There was a dispute among the doctors whether the bull

of Sixtus V conferred on the Inquisition exclusive jurisdiction

over sorcery not savoring of manifest heresy. The prevailing

opinion seems to be that these were mixti fori between the

Inquisition and the secular courts, and that the one who first

laid hold of a case could keep it, but it was for the Inquisition

to determine as to the heresy. Ib., sect. 6, nn. 2, 3 (p. 311).

When sacramentals are used for divination or other pur-

poses, the accused can be tortured. The penalties are, accord-

ing to status of culprit, suspension of dignities, scourging,

exile, prison, confinement in monasteries and the like; theycan be exposed to public derision at the church doors with a

mitre. The present style of the Inquisition is to send to the

galleys ignoble laymen. Priests who abuse the mass or sacred

vessels for such purposes are to be deprived of benefices and


perpetually imprisoned. To celebrate mortuary mass to Mil

people entails degradation from tlie priesthood and those

who counsel or order it are perpetually exiled. Ib., nn. 4-8

(p. 312).

It seems curious that there should be a difference of opinion among the

doctors as to whether heresy is involved in invoking the demoa, without

adoration but in mandatory fashion, to perform acts recognized as within

the power of demons such as (according to Delbene, loc. cit., sect. 7, p. 313)

to discover treasure, to learn whether an expected infant will be male or

female, to learn a hidden occurrence in the past or present, to obtain a

woman's love, to prevent the burning of anything thrown in the fire, to

transport a man from one place to another, to cause sickness, to ligature

married folk, to make a corpse appear alive for a time, to cure blindness

caused by disease, to obtain knowledge by purgation of the intellect, bring

tempests and storms, clouds and lightning and the like. See Pefia (Com-ment, in Eymeric., P. II, comment. B8) and Torreblanca (Epit. Delict.,

lib. ii, c. 8). Grillandus (Tract, de Sortilegiis, q. 10, n. 15; q. 11, n. 2) says

it is not heretical. Locatus (Opus Judic., s.v. Apostata, n. 9) says it is

heretical, for invocation assumes worship. Simancas (De Cath. Instit.,

Romae, 1575, tit. 21, n. 13) says that some assert it not to be heresy as

there is no intellectual error, but the Inquisition can prosecute them as

vehemently suspect. Aquinas had long before said, in treating of divina-

tion, that all invocation of the demon is express pact (Sec. Sec., q. 95, in

corp.). Therefore Delbene (loc. df) is moderate when he concludes that

this creates at least suspicion de Uvi of heresy or apostasy.

The nice distinctions on which this question of heresy

turns are indicated by Grillandus, who tells us that to use a

consecrated host in sorcery to learn whether a woman loves

you is not heretical, because you are imploring the help of

the sacrament for that which is within divine power, which

knows the secrets of hearts; to invoke the demon (even

without adoration) for the same purpose is heretical, because

the demon does not know the secrets of the heart. Grillandus,

De Sortileg., q. 10, nn. 7, 15.

To use an unconsecrated host over which mass has been

celebrated, in sorcery is heretical, not on account of the host

but of the mass. Delbene, loc. cit., sect. 8, n. 1 (p. 313).

A decree of Paul IV in the Congregation of the Inquisition,

Feb. 17, 1559, provided relaxation for "qui abusi sunt sac-

ratissimo altaris sacramento." Locatus, Opus Judic., p. 476.

Delbene assumes that this includes use of the sacrament

in sorcery, and that it passed into general use. Op. tit.,

P. II, dub. 229, sect. 8, n. 2 (II, p. 314).

NEBI, JOHANNES BAPTISTA. De Judice S. Inquisitionis

Opusculum. Florentiae, 1685.

WITCHCKAFT MTBKATUBE OF KOMAN INQUISITION 1035

This is a condensed manual of practice. It has nothing new on the sub-ject of sorcery; but is interesting as showing that the Instructions wereobserved, with their inculcation of caution and moderation.

In the punishments [to be inflicted] it is observable thatCardinal Scaglia's humane prescription not to scourge matronsand women with marriageable daughters on account of thehumiliation is duly preserved (p. 75). The penalties are lightand the care exercised before arrest and prosecution is indi-

cated by the remark: "Ex istis maleficiis parva educl pos-sunt, cum ut plurimum ratione debilitatis indiciorum inquisi-tores praemere non possint, mMlominus quando urgentiasunt, proceditur ad capturam personae indicatae et ad tor-

turam et super factum et super intentionem" (p. 72).

MENGHINI, TOMASO. Regole del Tribunate del Sanf Offitio.

Ferrara, 1687 ("seconda impressione corrette et ampliate").

This has nothing that bears on the treatment of sorcery except that,as in other cases, care is taken to obtain sufficient proof before prosecution.The case taken as an example is digging for treasure with superstitiousobservances. Leading questions are skilfully avoided.

DANDINI, ANSELMO. De Suspectis de Haeresi. Romae, 1703.

Malefici sometimes abjure the faith with the mouth onlyand sometimes with mouth and heart. The devil is unableto penetrate the secrets of the heart and, to find out, commitsthe sorcerer for a certain number of years to the care of aninferior demon called Martinellus, as a novice to his master,whose duty it is to observe whether his abnegation of the

faith is sincere. If he is found unreliable in Ms duty, he

reports to the superior demon, who casts off the sorcerer and

exposes him to temporal afflictions so as to gain his soul

through despair. Cap. 2, sect. 6, n. 3 (p. 229).

This is also in Lupo da Bergamo in Edict. S. Inq., P. Ill, lib. xx, dist. 1,

diff. 3, which I already have. Both are derived from Mall. Malef., P. II,

q. 1, c. 2 (p. 227) though not so detailed.

No one of sane mind relieves malefici of suspicion of heresy.

Ib.,n. 6 (p. 230).As there are many who deny that there are any real malefici

and earnestly argue that malefidum is not to be inferred where

physicians can assign no natural cause, we will inquire

whether there is such a thing. Ib., n. 7 (p. 220).

This he proceeds to do by citing the authority of manypopes, emperors, kings, orthodox fathers, theologians, jurists

10S6 THE 0ELTTSION AT ITS HEIGHT

and numerous physicians and he marvels greatly that some

physicians reject the authority of their compeers. Tb.}sect.

6, subsect. 1, nn. 1-4 (pp. 230-1).

Malefici have the greatest power; they can kill by looks

alone; they suck the blood of children, especially the unbap-

tized, which they believe rejuvenates them in their old age;

they also use the bodies of infants to make the famous oint-

ment without which they cannot fly to the Sabbat, and they

eat them cooked in their banquets; they start great confla-

grations of houses and cities by merely murmuring spells;

they cause abortions and barrenness and dry up mothers'

milk. Ib., subsect. 2, nn. 1, 4, 5, 7 (pp. 231-3).

They can disturb the mind with dreams or by altering the

blood and humors, so that the ignorant who can not dis-

tinguish between the higher and lower parts of the mind think

they can control the will, for which, but for their ignorance,

they would be formal heretics. Ib., nn. 9, 10 (p. 233).

It is through the violence thus exercised on the sensitive

part that they excite to love or hatred. Ib., nn. 11, 14, 16

(pp. 233, 234).

It is difficult to find reasons for admitting the power to sway the affections

while denying it for the will. The usual excuse is that it is the business of

the Tempter to temptbut this is applied to lust and not that I remember

to other sins. But hi fact the whole business of asserting the uncontrollable

freedom of will is easily eluded in some way or other, as when Ahab was

to be lured to his destruction (I Kings, xxii, 19-22).

Although they know and use natural poisons and philtres,

yet much more often they employ innoxious things to which

the demon adjoins powers much greater. Ib., subsect. 3, n. 5

(p. 235).

Sometimes these are thorns, bones, stones, needles, knives,

introduced in the body by the demon. Or ointments are

used, rubbed on the body during sleep. For which cause

the witches attack during the night, using not only ointments

but all other means of harming adults and infants, sometimes

oppressing them tiU they seem to be suffocated. It is no

wonder that they enter chambers in the forms of animals, or

the demon carries them there and opens and closes the

doors although sometimes the witches dream that they do

these things, while really the demon does them and persuades

them that they do them. Ib., nn. 6-9 (pp. 325-6).

But it must be admitted that these flights are sometimes

real Ib., n. 10.


Generally maUficia are wrought by signa either sewed tothe cloak of the victim, or hidden in his bed, or under his

threshold, while muttering spells, or smearing the garmentsor door-posts. Then there are figurines of wax transfixed withneedles or melted before a fire; and there are innumerableothers. Ib., nn. 12-15 (pp. 236-7).Then there are ligatures, than which nothing is more

common at present. For this there are seven methods

among them the abstraction of the member (for which he

quotes Torreblanca, Epit. Delictor., lib. ii, c. 12, n. 10).

Ib., n. 16 (pp. 237-8).

All of them rest on the wild talk of the Mall. Malef., lib. ii, c. 1, q. 7whose absurd stories still seem to find credulous believers.

Women are also rendered barren, or their milk is dried, or

they are caused to abort. Ib., nn. 17-21 (p. 238).

In fact there was no misfortune afflicting mankind that could not be

attributed to witches and witchcraft.

Credulous as he is, when he comes to treat of proofs he

quotes the Instructions, warning judges not to be easy in

believing that things found in beds and pillows are evidences

of sorcery, when produced by the family of the patient, for

it may be that they have placed them there so as to induce

the judge to prosecute some one, or the demon can have

introduced them with the purpose of deceit as we see in

exorcising demoniacs that they vomit needles, nails and rolls,

which it is impossible for them to have in their bodies, but

the demon makes it appear as though they are vomited. Ib.,

subsect. 4, nn. 3-5 (pp. 239-40).A good proof is recovery following destruction of the

charmsafter which he discusses as usual what is licit and

illicit as to this. Ib., nn. 6-8 (p. 240).

Treats of other proofs, but without any special interest.

Ib., nn. 9-10 (pp. 240-1).Other evidence is the stigmata which the demon impresses

on his followers. Valle de Moura holds that the devil does

this as an imitation of the sacrament (De Incantationibus seu

Ensalmis, sect. 2, c. 6, n. 7, Eborae, 1620, p. 216). Crusius

(De Indiciis Delict., c. 32, n. 41) says it is often in hidden

parts, as inside the eyelids or lips, and adds that all are not

thus marked, but only those whose fidelity to the pact is

doubtful. It is necessary to know two things one that this

mark is insensible, so that a needle can be thrust to the bone


without being felt or bringing blood; the other that the figurevaries sometimes it is the shape of a hare, or again of thefoot of a toad or lizard or black cat. He agrees with Godel-mann that this is proof insufficient for torture, and Berlich

says that it creates no suspicion, as it may be an accident.

He assents to all this, if there are no other indicia, but if

there are it is a weighty proof. Ib., nn. 11-13 (pp. 241-2).It does not prove one to be a maleficus to be named by the

demon when the exorcist asks the obsessed how he enteredand who is the maleficus, for the devil is the father of lies,

and to impress the exorcist will sometimes name some onewhose reputation is bad or who is disliked by the possessed.

Ib., n. 15 (p. 242).

GHEEAEDI, PIERANTONIO. Breve Istruzione . . . per i

novelli Vicari Foranei del S. Uffizio. Romae, 1752.

Like Menghini's Regole this affords no special instructions as to witch-craft though it likewise bears testimony to the care prescribed to procureproper evidence prior to prosecution.

He bears testimony to the difficulty of defining Indiciumand quotes approvingly from Julius Clarus "Scire debes

quod secundum omnes Doctores in materia Indiciorum nonpotest dari certa doctrina, sed totum relinquitur arbitrio boniviri t scilicet Judicis, qui secundum qualitatem personae et

delicti et demonstrationum seu Indiciorum judicet an sit

sufficiens vel non." Regola 5, n. 12 (p. 87).

!3 115532

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