Materials Toward a History of Witchcraft

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Ihya.

v.2

58-02852

reference collection

book kansas

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kansas

city,

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Materials

Toward

A

HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT Collected by

Henry Charles Lea,

LLD.

Volume II

Arranged and edited by

Arthur G. Howland Htnry Charles Lea Professor of

Europwn History

University of Pcnnylvania

With an Introduction by

George Lincoln Burr Professor Emeritus of History,

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PART

III

THE DELUSION AT A. I.

ITS

ITS HEIGHT.

PROMOTERS AND

CRITICS.

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 inquiring and practical mind sought to find a reason for every fact presented to the eye or intelligible to the understanding, and not even Bacon could seek more 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 every night 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, acutely reasoning from effect to cause and tracing to natural laws the marvels of nature. In much he was of course mistaken; but, considering the little that

was then accurately known

in physical science, his arguments and elucidations 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, sifting flour (the latter the subject of what is probably the patent on record whereby the inventor accumulated a fortune), and in his descriptions he is careful to explain the physical principles which are 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 hydrostatics and hydraulics, tbe centre of gravity, the cause of hot springs, the deadly miasmata 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 ingenious VOL. ii 28 ( 435 )

machines for earliest

THE DELUSION AT

436

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 may smile 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 eminently creditable to his penetration. Even the thunder, which was so portentous to 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. Lightning he sees to be not ordinary fire, and he discusses its rapidity and subtilty with 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 good and evil spirits he could not deny, but he reduces their sphere of activity to an exceedingly narrow compass.

Lib. xviii,

De

mirdbilibus

et

modo representandi

res varias

praeter fidem.

V

Charles brought in his train to Milan a juggler so expert that the ignorant took him to be a magician. He did incredible things, and I understand this art to be imported from the

New

Certainly antiquity either knew nothing of it, as happened under Pharaoh and to Simon Magus. (Thus the Egyptian magicians and Simon are at once classed as jugglers. H. C. L.) Yet this art is held in no esteem, partly I think because it is useless and partly because it is practised by despicable men, and thirdly because it formerly was regarded as divine and is so no Belonger. sides, it is forbidden by law because formerly princes trusted to it and were deceived. Description of tricks, among which are swallowing and breathing out fire, vomiting thread, nails, All these are accomplished by sleight of hand or glass, etc. " by instruments devised for the purpose. These people jure ac circulatores, sycophantaeque imposlorcs dicuntur el infames habentur" and in some places are punished.

World.

this kind, or

adored

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 animals when swallowed or otherwise used. Some of these ho doubts, others he affirms. (He is by no means incredulous

with regard to natural properties ascribed to substances, H. C. L.) Recites a

number

of quaint remedies in vogue, in

which he seems to place

faith.

While writing

this,

some

of

ho cut his

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

437

when

eating and could not stanch the blood by salt or in any other manner, until he succeeded suddenly or pressure, " 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-

lip

}

"Nescio fixus." fuerint."

7

ego/

he adds, "an

fides

an verba pro-

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. Those which are buried under door sills or in crossroads in the name of the person to be injured, and are made of portions of his

worked up by spells and inserted in a dead man's bone are powerless, except through the influence which a strong mind may exert upon a weak one. They cannot hurt brave or wise men, but only women and children of the baser hair, nails, etc.,

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. He appears to attach some imSignificance of dreams. to this subsequently, attributes to them. He recurs portance 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 swallowed. 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.

To these he ecstasy. visions experienced by attributes for hermits. 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 conWaking

and illusions the most part the

visions

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 DELUSION AT

438

ITS

HEIGHT

the nervous system which predicates exhaustion of the vital Strong and brave men do not see spectres. If the anthropophagi do, it is a peculiarity of their region and excessive credulity. Robbers never see them, nor the Scythians, with whom homicide is a religion. forces.

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 be attributed to demons. It is evident

of

from

all this

that

mind and body, and that

nearly

all

Cardan had accurately studied the

in his

relations

system the imagination accounted for

the facts of superstition.

Lib. xix,

De Daemonibus.

He gives

the opinion of those

who

believe that

demons can

and describes their views as to the difference between the visitations of good and evil spirits. They likewise say that morbus comitialis can be relieved by a silver ring inscribed +Dabi+ Habi+Haber+Hebr+. Cardan has seen a headvisit us,

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 a noble lady of Milan who for seven months suffered frightfully from a disease of the bladder, which all the leading physicians

and surgeons of Milan, including Cardan himself, failed to by the most active treatment with drugs, cautery and the knife. Worn out by the disease and its treatment, she was abandoned to death, which seemed inevitably near, when Joseph Niger, a professor of Greek, who was reputed to be learned in sorcery, was called in. In her presence he placed a three-cornered crystal in the hands of her son, a boy ton years of age, and the child said he saw in it three small devils bound by a larger demon on horseback. The patient immediately began to mend and soon recovered entirely. Cardan argues that the cure was wrought either by faith and imagination or by demons, and concludes in favor of the latter because Niger refused all payment and could have no motive for a fraud which brought no reward and exposed him to infamy whether it was successful or not. To support this view be quotes Plutarch "in vitis Cimonis et Pausaniae"; PUn, Bplst, relieve

1.

vii;

Sueton. in Calig.,

etc.

His father, Facius Cardanus, confessed that he had a

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

439

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 familiar

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 they lived 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

Nothing is hidden from them, either of books or Asked about the immortality of human souls, they said there was no individual or distinct existence hereafter. As their substance is exceedingly tenuous they can dp neither good nor evil to men, except by teaching or terriThe smaller of the two had 300 students (discipuli) fying. and the larger 200, in the public academy, for each of them taught publicly. My father asked why, when they knew of was treasures, they did not reveal them, and they said this 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 perfor petuity, but was continually creating it, and if he desisted the from disputaa moment it would perish. They quoted 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 horses.

treasures.

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 was not more religion, and my father with all his demons never saw a who I than known or better richer or fortunate demon. But to this he would answer that he predicted many not do things which without the aid of demons he could master be would eventually as for instance that the Emperor

of Italy, which happened thirty years afterwards. He was careless of wealth and honors, which I am. not; perhaps I

THE DELUSION AT

440

ITS

HEIGHT

have a genius and others also, though they do not show themthough really helping us. They may have revealed themselves to him because he was better and purer, for he was most religious and excellent, or because he was wont to use, as he did, a conjuration which he had obtained from a dying Spaniard. There also seem to be subterranean demons, named Telchinnes, who destroy miners though Cardan suggests a

selves to us,

natural explanation of them.

Ancient oracles may have been priestly frauds, or exhalations 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 than the 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 such vast masses, for if so they would be here like birds, and much more common, while they are scarce seen more than once in many years in a whole province. Besides, princes, whose career shows them to be the wisest of men, do not believe in them, etc., etc. Philosophizes on death.

De

Angelis, sen Intelligences. off into the received hierarchy of Denis the Areopagite, recited in the canon of the Mass, of Angels, Lib. xx,

Here he wanders

Archangels, Thrones, Dominations, Virtues, Principalities, Powers, Cherubim and Seraphim, and he proceeds to assign to each class its functions in respect to the several bodies of the planetary system and their respective influences over man a wild mixture of theology and astrology, but he winds up

by 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 divination], whereof there are celebrated books passing under tho name of Petrus Apponensis. "This may have help from demons, but in L iv [of] De Sapientia, we have shown its 7 '

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

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

441

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 assigned to 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 disbelief in the multiplex theology of the church as was safe in a period when the in

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

Townley

(in his translation of

Maimonides' More Nevo-

chim, pp. 134-5) says Cardan was an enthusiastic astrologer who is said to have starved himself to death in order to verify the 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 spent one hundred hours in calculating the geniture of Edward VI of England and foretold dangerous sicknesses to attack him in his thirty-fourth and fifty-fifth years. When Edward died in his sixteenth year Cardan said that he had omitted something in his calculation, which, if he had revised it as he might have 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.

De

rebus praeter naturam admirandis. et Mortui: His visit to Scotland furnished him with sundry stories. (He does not believe in these H. C. L.) see below in his discussion of witches. stories

Lib. xvi, Cap. 93,

Daemones

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 Three days later the girl brought forth a hideous flames. monster,

who was promptly

burnt.

THE DELUSION AT

442

ITS

HEIGHT

Another case occurred in a vessel bound for the Low Counat the summer tries and leaving the Firth of Forth in 1486 sudden tempest A rule. the was weather fair when solstice, 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 was saved. stench; the tempest ceased and the ship Near Aberdeen a youth complained to the Bishop of A. that for months a beautiful succubus had infested him, enterHe his embraces. ing through closed doors and compelling had vainly sought to liberate himself, with the assistance of others. The bishop advised him to go elsewhere and try the

and prayer, which was soon successful. Cardan quotes from Hector Boece the story of Macbeth and Banquho Stuart, whose posterity is still represented by a girl (Mary, Queen of Scots). Also the story of Macduff and Burnam Wood carried to Dunsinane. but says Tells cases of seeing things in crystals and vials effect of fasting

to they are deceits. Young girls used for the purpose protend are that see in order to prove virgins. they Discusses at length the existence of demons, in which he firmly believes,

creates daemones case haud the earth produces animals as Argues that,

"Quamobrem

dubium est." and water fishes,

so air

must produce demons.

The

air

must

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

be

full of spirits,

;

they delight in the place where they are generated, which

is

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

the

that they cannot

move weights

or things of

much moment.

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

443

Second, it follows that they only frame images of things sounds, forms, larvae, odors, succubi, which are perceived by touch, 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 yet written anything about them worthy to be said. Fifth, how do they hear the murmured words of boys (in crystallomancy) wherever they may be, or understand the voice when they have no voice? To be everywhere at once is to be like God and if they hear from afar where there is no voice they must understand 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 demons to be present. Seventh, why is it that in deserts, depopulated cities, houses long vacant, among ruins and tombs and places where 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, they suffer and are sorrowful. patibilia valde et imbecillia" As they can be easily injured, they are necessarily timid. It is evident that demons having bodies are mortal, but there is no reason why some should not be without bodies* "Sunt igitur daemoncs animalia irivisibilia, mortalia, corpore perThere must be various ranks among them and some fecta." :

must know more and others less. They know much of which are ignorant and men know much of which they are ignorant, for they do not use reason and have none. They

men

know something of the future, but much less than the celestial powers, and what knowledge they have varies with the individual 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 was the only philosopher who had a demon, and Socrates was condemned 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 more accustomed to descend to us than men are to seek the bottom of the sea, not only because they cannot bear our denser air, .

.

,

THE DELUSION AT

444

ITS

HEIGHT

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. (Evidently they have material bodies. H. C. L.) Very rarely but they come to us and when they come they cannot stay, of images and the seem time a short variety make by long they They kill children, not the succession of forms and actions. If they really instruments. in using by themselves but by art of it the send not do and bodies imagination human enter 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

"

If nullum daernonem aut genium mihi adesse cognosce. so been often I have after there is one without my knowing it, warned by dreams, if God wills I will reverence God alone and and the demon give him thanks for whatever good may come, may be satisfied if what I owe to him I pay to our common

Demons desire to be worshipped; being without bodies no gluttony, lust, or avarice, but they are very have they 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 man than 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 Lord.

they cannot harm of themselves, still occasions are not to be sought, and fear alone may do much harm. Fire and f ireunnN are of

much

service.

altogether a very curious illustration of the advanced thought of 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.

This

is

the day.

Lib. xv.

Cap.

De

80.

divinations artificiosa. Striges, sen

lamiae,

et

fascinationes:

After re-

employed against King Duff of Sootland (from Hector Boece) and Pedro Portocarrero, he nayn that those who rely upon the principles of nature laugh at these things as fables. Thus great doubt has arisen lating cases of figurines

ITS

PKOMOTEBS AND CRITICS

445

witches, some affirming, others denying their existence. Those who affirm adduce cases like the above and things so in contempt of religion that I deem them not to be mentioned. (witches) adore the ludi Dominam and sacrifice to her as a God. Death often follows their touching infants, others All this they confess under perish through sorcery alone. torture when they know it will cause their destruction. Facts confirm their confessions, for many children, otherwise sound, waste away without manifest cause. They also confess to dancing, jesting, feasting splendidly, having carnal inter-

They

course, getting drunk dream, or imagine, or

and being or tell

fatigued.

what

Therefore they

It is absurd on the rack, with such evident peril of It is the same as to dreams, for dreams are various and life. these always the same. To imagine it would be folly and they

that they should

lie,

is

true.

lie

are in other things prudent.

They

also lead their daughters

and 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. They confess 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.

that, after

it through many years, so they rarely abandon it, even

Also the perseverance in

when once involved

in

it,

If there was imprisonment and the fear of death. nothing in it, how could it be so tenaciously adhered to by

those of all conditions, ages, and sexes? The cruel legal punishment of death by fire would, if they are innocent, conconvict 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 punishment and 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

THE DELUSION AT

446

ITS

HEIGHT

have cited in Inquisition of the Middle Ages, III, C. L.). Pico knew a priest named Benedetto H. p Berna, aged seventy-five years, who for more than forty whom he called years had relations with a demon succubus the in to talked he whom and streets, so that the Hermelina, Under insane. him deemed saw who nothing, bystanders, torture he confessed that in the mass he did not consecrate, he sucked the gave consecrated hosts to women for sorceries, he for other committed and crimes, children of great blood which he was duly punished. There was another more than held relations eighty years old, who for more than forty years I still was he Fiorinaand named living. with a succubus could add (says Cardan) other absurdities unworthy of so can be refuted great a man and destitute of all reason. He 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 thus deceived, his speech for, if both sight and touch can be I

(which

385.

;

But if it was a concludes nothing against St. Thomas. atrocious than more could be what torture body, to lie with a dead body, like one condemned by Mezentius. But Pico mixed the lies of monks and the figments of women and smirched the whole with filth. If St. Augustin had abstained 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 fictitious

(p.

569).

What strigae?

we to think of those called lamiae, or vulgarly They are miserable women, beggars, existing in the

are

field herbs, and but for a little milk are emaciated, deformed, with prying They in their faces black bile and melancholy. eyes, pallid, showing They are taciturn, stupid, and differ little from thofie called demoniacs. They are fixed in their opinions and so stubborn

valleys

would

on chestnuts and

starve.

if one regard only what they so boldly repeat that is impossible, we should regard it as true. It is no wonder therefore that those ignorant of philosophy are egregiounly impcmcd on. Illustrates with a story of Bernardo, nteward of a noblo in the time of Philippo Visconti of Milan (1412-47), a simple and frugal man, much prized by his manter* Convicted of

that,

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

447

witchcraft he refused to repent and was condemned to the His master, a favorite of Phiiippo, obtained his flames. release under bail for twenty days, during which he fed him upon eggs and meat and wine, and then easily persuaded him to repent and adhere to the Church; he was discharged and lived as a good Christian thereafter without reproach (p. 570).

Evidently Cardan considers witchcraft to be illusion engendered by poverty and hardship and lack of nourishment, but founded on some reality.

He

"Quae vero Berna et Pinnetus nosterque ille aut videre aut audire sibi persuadebant, partim vera partim falsa esse reor" for it is absurd really to see things and persevere in the vision, unless there is something seen. They see and hear some things and the cause of this is to be assigned to black bile, which arises partly from food and drink and air and grief and fear of poverty, partly from the heavens (stars) and partly from association with other crazy I had a friend who was obliged to live for eighteen folk. months in one of those valleys, and when he returned, though not ignorant of philosophy, he told so many incredible things that 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. Another cause 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 says,

rasticus,

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 persuade 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

THE DELUSION AT

448

ITS

HEIGHT

and contradictions. The Sabbat is a delusion: "Eadem autem vident atque audiunt ob fixam contempla-

vanities

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 are commonly folly is dangerous and unless they repent they far that so Their they boast of insanity goes put to death. misfortune of their enemies, being the authors of the disease or Also fortuitous. are these they cannot predict the though 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 7

longe similiora, utilius/

et

fabulis

quam

ullis

aliis

rebus

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.

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 Thus they persist through a their revealing the secrets. double fear, first of punishment and then of the demon. "Sed obstinatiores sunt quaecunque saepe itant ad luduu), It often

quae omnino addictae sunt huic hoc vitio corripiuntur" (p. 574).

flagitio.

Bis in

hebdomada

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 CathoRomae, 1572.

lids et Haereticis Tractatus.

a work of high repute, frequently referred to by Bubsequent native of Majorca, inquisitor of Sicily and Bishop of dying in 1544. The Tractatus consists of the portions wived of hin

This

is

writers. Patti,

He was a

work "Speculum Inquisitorum" and was published in 1553, in Palermo, by Bartolome Sebastian, his successor in the see of Patti. A second 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 projected

was regarded as an authority.

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

449

He commences

the subject by saying that whether witches enter and houses to work evil is doubted by excelfly by night lent jurists and therefore he will treat the question fully. But he will premise an account of them as he has learned it by experience, 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

The vulgar name bruxae

is

of strigae

and

lamiae.

Basque, where they greatly

Ib., n. 2.

flourish.

Describes from the Malleus the two professions, privata

and

solennis.

-Ib., n. 3.

a heresy maleficarum and not maleficorum because 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 and It is called

become

strigae

,

when they commit unspeakable

things.

Ib., n. 4.

Videtur prima facie 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 an old 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 woman to 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. VOL.

IT--

Thin seems the most pious and favorable to 20

THE DELUSION AT

450

ITS

HEIGHT

it removes these souls from these dewhich they would fall into if they thought it

Christian souls, for

praved

desires,

7 (fol. 111-12). This transportation seems untrue, if the mode For they are said to prepare an unguent from is considered. the 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, Ib., n.

true.

Sixthly.

;

or night, visibly or invisibly, as they prefer. Seventhly. Quotes the passage in the Cap. Episcopi pronouncing 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-

by day

maniacal, boys and stupid rustics and paupers, who, in the hope of wealth, are readily deceived by demons.

iacs, crazy,

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. Ib., n.

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 between them and demons, that they enter houses and strangle infants, and this is held by the Mall. Malef., by Bishop Tostato super iterum assumpsit, and by Sylvester Haereticus 3, although sometimes it may happen mentally and imaginarily. This appears firstly, as Tostato says, because there is no doubt that the devil han such power that he can transport not only one man but many through the air in a moment to different places, for demons have not lost their natural powers in which they are equal to the good angels and some of them much superior to many of the latter, for some fell from all ranksand the good angelB have such power that they can move the spheres. Again it appears that this is often done by bad angels as well as by good ones. The devil would not have attempted to transport

Matthaeum,

in his

c.

Summa,

4, versi.

s.v.

Christ unless he had often done it and knew his ability. Then a good angel transported Habakkuk. This is proved by daily experience, which I wish was not so well known. We know

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

451

many men

thus transported from distant places by the aid it is so manifest that it were imprudent to when there are a thousand witnesses for it who it, dispute are 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 Therefore life of St. James and the case of Simon Magus. what is said of women carried by night is true, for this has often been found and judicially punished, so that those wishing to 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 much of 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 imaginary. 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 of of

demons and

sometimes also fantastically and in imagination; and in this we must be governed by the witnesses and the confessions of

women and their accomplices. From this conclusion, if true,

the

Ib., n. 13 (fol. 113-14). I infer various things.

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

believed

women,

when they say they

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 from God, or lightning and hail, the demons receiving power see Job. which for his permission as regards their disciples,

THE DELUSION AT

452

For the

God

is

ITS

HEIGHT

evils which our sins cause to be brought in the world, accustomed to afflict by his tortures the demons.

16 (fol. 115). Maleficae can really, like demons, with the permission of God, injure men in property, fame, body, use of reason and Gives examples of the various kinds, drawn from legends life. and the customary sources. Ib., n. 17 (fol. 115). Thus men are rendered impotent by them, as respects all Ib., n.

women,

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

But, when this is destroyed, the bewitched is Duns Scotus says. Ib., n. 18 (fol. 115).

remains. as

These maleficia and incantations

may be worked by

cured,

natural

whose secret objects, poisonous properties the demons know. And though these are done by herbs, roots,

stones, etc.,

operations of the demons, they are to be attributed to the Ib., n. 19 witches, who are to be most severely punished. (foL 116).

For he who gives occasion to an injury Ib., n.

20

is

held to be an

116). Therefore these maleficia are rightly imputed to the said witches, although the demon is the chief author. So therefore

injurer.

(fol.

in these maleficia three things

must concur

witch and the divine permission.If these it is

women

Ib., n.

are said to have

21

the demon, the (fol.

1

16).

commerce with demons,

for which he quotes St. Augustin Aquinas as to the mode of procreation.

not to be rejected

(Civ. Dei, xx, 23) and --Ib., n. 22 (fol. 116).

why demons make themselves incubi and succubi, say that it is not for pleasure, since spirits have no flesh or bones, but to injure men in body and noul. The all of Gloss on kindn Levit., xviii, 24, forbidding Ordinary incest "quibus contaminatae sunt gcntes", explains "Daemones sunt qui propter multitudinem dicuntur gentew universae, qui, cum de omni peccato gaudiant, praecipxie taxncn fornicatione et idolatria," (which looks an though the G locator held that this incest with demons was a pervading BinH. C. L.). Ib., n. 23 (fol. 116). From all this it follows that the confessions must be accepted of those who say they are transported by demons arid that they fascinate and kill infants, for what is possible can be done. Nor do the contrary allegations prevail Firstly, there is the Cap. Episcopi. And because in the understanding of this lies the difficulty of this question I will investigate the If

you

asked

will

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

453

and the concordances between the sect of witches and those spoken of in it. 1. They are said to ride with Diana the pagan goddess, which is false, for there is no such pagan

differences

goddess 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 permitted 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 they are 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, whence it 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 by a good spirit. For Satan, when he has subjugated the mind of 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 changed 6. into another, as a man into a dog, except by God [is false]. Those women believed that Diana or Herodias was a good spirit, while these witches believe that the spirit appearing to them is the devil, the enemy of God. Whence it appears that 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

done in imagination is done in themselves to wander over spaces of 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

they

all

believe that

what

reality, also that all believe

is

454

THE DELUSION AT

ITS

HEIGHT

from the true faith, this does not apply to carrying men by 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 what is reasonable; but belief in the real transport of witches cannot be reasonably reproved, since it is proved by many examples 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, occur in dreams; but this does not exclude that it may occur without dreaming. Therefore it is not to be denied that witches, male and female, after anointing are taken by demons and carried to a place where they assemble, pay honors to the demon and abandon themselves to lust and all foulness. This is not affected by the well-known example of the old woman [Porta's?]; because, I say, both are true and that what witches do may be either imaginary or real.- Ib., n. 25 (fol. 117-18). errs

This labored argument, supported by innumerable citations of laws and 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 reasoning resolves itself into the* assertion of the actual transport to the Sabbat and the 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. Episcopi does not apply, for it refers to an illusive transportation while we have to do with a real one.) The writers of the period were willing enough to admit these illusions in theory, but the courts as Albertini tells them to do stood by the confessions of the deluded and burnt them. Though, to be sure, there was the implied heresy that deserved it. authorities,

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

Albertini agrees with the Cap, Episcopi that it is false sorcerers endeavor to make men believe that they

-

what

change men into beasts, wolves, serpents and the like, and it is infidelity to believe that they can do so. Quotes Hi. Auguntin to 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 explaining Pharaoh's magicians H. C. L.) but they can perform no transformations which are not natural. Everything beyond this is apparent and not realeither an illusion produced by ;

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

455

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 authorian all-sufficient proof. Ib., nn. 27-31

ties that confession is

(foL 119).

Truth

the all-important matter, beyond all other considerations, 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 confessions and the testimony of witnesses who 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). matter that these illusions mostly are not it does Finally, 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 deceived. 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). is

The whole of this long and elaborate argument, supported with a vast matters resolves array of citations and bringing in all kinds of adventitious it is all itself into the attempt by a cloud of words to obscure the fact that based on the assumption, that existent witchcraft is true, therefore the Cap. himself of this he devotes all Episeopi can not apply to it. To persuade his learning and ingenuity through 22 double-columned quarto pagos.

THE DELUSION AT

456

ITS

HEIGHT

connected with the above. First, sole confession without other her on convicted be witch a can evidence? Second, if a witch confesses that, in consequence of pact with the demon or other occasion, she has strangled and any children or inflicted some other ill of which they died, on account if she wishes to return to the bosom of the Church of her heresy, is she to be admitted, or is the bishop or into the secular court to be burnt on quisitor to relax her of those infants, without note of irregudeath of the account when she would have been admitted to reconciliation

He presents two questions

larity,

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 intention 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 of hearts, and the proved, since God alone is the searcher doubter as to faith is a heretic. But for the condemnation this confession must be a judicial one, before a bishop or is as though to God, but it does inquisitor; if sacramental it not deprive the judge of the faculty of punishing in the Ib., nn. 2-7 external forum if there is accusation and proof.

were

it

(fol.

122).

if Extrajudicial confession has the same effect as judicial, 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. single witneBS

A

only makes a fourth part of full proof a semiplena semiplenae. But, if there are two singular witnesses to separate conf c&jionn, combined together they make an indicium ad torturam.**Ib., nn. 19-20 (fol. 125). But if there are other conjectures supporting the extrajudicial 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 they were 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

ITS

non deberet esset

alias

excepta'O-

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

tradi curiae saeculari, ex verificata, Ib.,

457

quo ejus confessio non

sed alia poena gravi puniri, morte

nn. 24, 26 (fol 126).

The second question

is whether inquisitors without irregucan relax witches on account of killing infants, when, if larity they had not done so, they would be admitted to reconciliaThis question frequently arises in practice in the tion. mountains 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 doubted whether he could be relaxed to the secular court in the manner

of heretics.

Ib., n.

28

(fol.

127).

Goes on at great length to prove that homicide is punishable with death, and the killing of infants is specially detestable 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 cognizance (as for instance a layman for homicide), becomes irregular. Otherwise, if a cleric or the crime is ecclesiastical.

35 (fol. 128). a crime is mixti fori and a layman is punished by an ecclesiastical judge more lightly than he should be, he can be punished by the secular judge to the full amount provided by 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 and cannot 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 Church and absolve him from excommunication after he abjures his Ib., n. 66 (fol. 136). heresy. Ib., n.

If

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 punished with ordinary or arbitrary penalty for a confession of

THE DELUSION AT

458

ITS

HEIGHT

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 judge a copy of the confession, for he would thus incur irregularity. Nor in the sentence publicly read is any mention to be made of homicide perpetrated nor of public penance for it, of the heresy, lest occasion be given to the secular

but only 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 autode-fe of Logroflo in 1611.

The ecclesiastical judge must not take cognizance of homiby witches, for he would incur irregularity.- Ib. n. 71

cide

;

(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). is annulled by Gregory XV in the bull Omnipotentis Dei, March 20, which orders relaxation when death is caused. See below, under "Punishment."

All this

1623,

TOLEDO,

FRANCISCO

D.Instructio

Sacerdotum.

additionibus Andreae Victor elli Bassanensis.

Cardinal Francisco de Toledo, of Cordova, died in 1596. written prior to 1565. '

Cum

Romae, 16 IS.

1

The work was

Est autem superstitio vana sen falsa religio. Quinque sub se includit species: idololatriam, magiam, divinationem, vanam observantiam et maleficium."~Ib., L iv, l

.

.

.

14, n. 1.

c.

Idolatry is subject to excommunication as heresy. But where 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

under the

title

"Summa oammm

the same work, without tho addition** of VjVtorclH, roneciontiae/' published at Cologne, If>l)9,

ITS

PKOMOTEES AND CKITICS

459

external idolatry and, although in the external presumed to be internal and erroneous and is subject 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 This is two-fold. If the power comes from divine help, est." If from the devil, it is magic. it is that of working miracles. 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.

is

called

forum

it is

Yet the magus has no power over demons, but they pretend by him, so as more greatly to deceive. Still they may be compelled by a higher demon to obey a man.

to be forced Ib., n. 3.

Demons, however, have no power of producing the effects seen in magic, but they operate in three ways. First, by nature or by art, bringing things from elsewhere, for they have 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 twinkling of an eye they can traverse countless miles. Secondly, by applying natural causes and hastening action. For they know the nature and qualities of all things. They will often make a tree grow by planting the seed, or fruit or animals. They will often cure with hidden remedies or by entering the body expelling humors. Thirdly, by deluding in two waysone 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

and

dreams, and this in presence and at

command of the magus*

Ib., n. 4.

This is rarely that these things are done without pact. a promise by man to demon and by demon to man. The man 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 intervention 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 It

is

THE DELUSION AT

460

ITS

HEIGHT

tiling by means which of themselves or by any supernatural virtue produce such effects, as by charms, figures, characters, scripture texts written on paper, herbs gathered at 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 pertinacity 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 expects benefit 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 Those who consult magi or seek is to be excommunicated. 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 Ib., n. 7. venial, until he is informed and then it is mortal. It is satisfactory to know that a pact written in blood and given to the demon is annulled by confession and repentance and it is unnecessary to compel the demon to return it,

do a

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.) 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 noeondum aliis; ipsa autem opera quibus aliis nocot Bolont did nisi

.

.

:

.

;

maleficia.

7;

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

Maleficium may be either amatorium or venejicium* Amatorium causes love or hatred; demons cannot control human will, but they persuade by phantasms and moving the imagination, 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. is that whereby men are injured in penson, by causing disease or barrenness in women, or in property

Venefidum killing,

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

461

trees, animals and buildings, and hailstorms and winds, exciting 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 maleficus makes 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 " Daemon eniin ipsos decipit maleficus hurts the image. 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 cum

by destroying vineyards,

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 autem notandum est, quod quamvis videantur corpora transmutare

ipsis

humana

non

fit vere, sed daemone oculos intrant autem domos reseratas, inspicientium 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

in bestias,

id

deludente:

foro

interiori

gravissima digna poenitentia:

forum gravissime pimit."

exterius

enim

Ib., n. 7.

Bear in mind that Cardinal Tolctus himself to the forum of conscience.

is

instructing priests

and confines

DIACCKTO, FRANCESCO DA CATTANI DA..Discor$o sopra Arte Magica. Fiorenza, 1567.

la Superstizzione dell'

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 tongue in order to show to those

this tract in the vulgar

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

THE DELUSION AT

462

maniera

ctie se

bene

falsita e finzioni,

di lei

si

ITS

HEIGHT

raccontano molte cose che sono

non perd tutte Fopere sue sono

finte e false.

7 '

cites the magicians of Pharaoh, the Witch 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 Apollonius

In support of this he

of

Endor and the

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). of

When to

this is with a superior spirit he constrains his subjects 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. other arguments to this effect he cites the Cap. Episcopi, which condemns those who believe in these imaginary "Dal che pare che si things, the work of malignant spirits. possa affermare simili opere esser' piu tosto presligii negli occhi 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 a woman 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 transported, but found herself lying in her own room so exhausted that it was difficult to restore her, and, if he had not convinced her that it was imaginary, she would not have known the truth. And he had a similar case of a man, related on

Among

competent authority (fol. 21). Magicians perform many real works and also (fol.

many

illusory

22).

Demons knowledge of all the secrets of nature gives them immense power. They can move all bodies at will- not the earth, for that would disturb the course of nature, hut they can move a tower or other building and transport things in a moment from place to place, bring tempests and hailstorms and make things seem to our eyes other than what they are human bodies or those of animals. Thus the devil showed himself to our first parents in the form of a serpent (fol. 22*23) They can cause sickness and cure disease by bringing in a 7

.

ITS

moment from a drugs

PKOMOTEBS AND CRITICS

distance

463

and applying the corresponding

25).

(fol.

predict much of the future and reveal hidden the present, except human thoughts (fol. 26). Explains how magicians make statues and beasts talk and

They can

things

of

men

sing like

When

(fol.

26).

the bewitched vomit

nails,

bones, needles, sponges,

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

They cannot transform men

into beasts

it

is

illusion

27-8). He returns to the subject

(fol.

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, come affermando massimamente il Reverendiss. so no, Mons. Caietano che quei tali siano talhora in verit& traportati/ though he also alleges the illusions above stated .

.

.

7

(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). at great length the difference between divine Expla miraoles and the marvels of demons and warns the faithful /'-'.fcj

against recourse to the latter. This work is not without learning, but is discursive and childishapparently 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 eorum Operationibus. Romae, 1654.

et occultis

This work is worth attention from its repeated editions -Venice 1581, Naples 1582, Venice 1589 and finally reprinted and dedicated to Innocent X by the pious care of the author's nephew Marcello Anania, Bishop of Nepi

and

Sutri,

Romae

1654.

Innumerable demons are always at work to seduce men into and lead them to apostatize from God, tempting each one through his prevailing weakness or passions and taking advan-

sin

tage of every favorable

moment

(p. 31).

THE DELUSION AT

464

ITS

HEIGHT

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, fifty girls became demoniacs (p. 105).

in a single night,

also showers of stones. excite terrible tempests in this province, latter the of were This year there many which the people falsely ascribed to Vesuvius (pp. 116-7).

Demons

sexual intercourse with incubi and succubi that children sprang from such unions, as the demigods heroes of old and heresiarchs such as Luther and Mahomet full faith to

Gives

and and

(pp. 120-4).

He knew a girl thus who at last made her from it by the aid of God

Daily experience teaches us this. unwillingly oppressed by the demon trouble (p.

known and was

released

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 Debates the question it with fire, it will extend everywhere. 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, ministerium, noxa ac maleficiurn: natura, an in the influence of the to execute stars; ministerium, when, God sends his angels 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

agency (pp. 144-50).

which they require

human

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

465

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

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.

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-

He

fortune were ascribed to demons acting through human instruments. The great object of demons is to divert men from 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 The cunning of the disease and insupportable calamities. 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). widely this theory extends the power of sorcery, teaching and misfortune are thus produced, while the source is so carefully hidden that it escapes detection.

Observe

that

all

how

disease

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

leur plairoit sur tous puessent verser tel genre de mal qu'il & cause tant de done C'est voudroient. eri ils ceux & qui Fenvie quo les Diables portent au genre humain que de la furicusc rage dont ils sont (mais en vain) incitez contre Dieu, 77 le charme (p. 444). qu'ils parforit et dardent 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 not the same is lust or greed and the charm used by a cleric

as that employed VOL.

1130

by a layman

(pp. 445-7).

THE DELUSION AT

466

to

ITS

HEIGHT

Every baptized Christian has one or more demons assigned him to lead him astray (p. 475).

He

approaches nearly to witchcraft when he describes

how

sorcerers acquire the power of evil by solemn and abominable ceremonies of renouncing Christianity, despising Christ and the Virgin, promising to invoke only demons, offering them

and recognizing them as their masters and sovereign These powers may also be inherited when parents devote their children to the demons at birth or even when

sacrifices

lords.

the descendants tacitly or expressly accept the alliance with demons by their ancestors (pp. 483-4).

He

made

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

is

sorcerers.

The cure for their sorceries is a virtuous and pious lifethe sacrament, confession, alms-giving, reading the word of God, and abstinence from sin (pp. 524-37).

DE

LA TOKRE, RAPHAEL.

coercendi

Daemones

.

.

.

Tractatus de Potentate Ecdesiae una cum Praxi Exorcidica.

[Salamanca, 1611-12.]

De

Torre was a learned Dominican professor at Salamanca. His Religione et ejus Actibus, De Vitiis Religioni oppositis, appeared in Salamanca in 1611, 1612. From it the Cologne bookseller, Constantino work,

la

De

Munich, extracted two tractates, De Potestate Ecclesiae coorccndi Daemones and De Potestate Daemonum, and printed them in his Diversi Tractatus, Colon. Agrip., 1629.

of

In the first of these tractates De la Torre describes the powers 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 reputation in many ways through the mouths of the possessed or by appearing 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 poison and 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 delude and deceive them. Whether they can injure the soul by controlling its powers, the intellect and will, we shall discuss hereafter. 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 on earth 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 permits. (See Augustin, De Civ. Dei, xviii, 18, "nee daemones aliquid operari secundum naturae suae potentium nisi quod ille permiserit cujus judicia occulta sunt multa, See also xx, 3, 8; also ejusd. Contra Adverinjusta nulla." sarium legis, ii, 12; De Trinitate, iii, 7, 8 also P. Lombard, .

.

.

Sententt. lib. ii, dist. 7, n. 6.). And this limitation is exercised 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 demons a disputed question among theologians. From the example of Job it is argued that it is asked for and granted and this may be true inaspecial cases, when the demons are especially anxious for it, sed 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 communicated to demons as to whom they may injure.

is

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

Satan.

Others argue that the permission to injure may be con[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 demon to do or to omit anything: the demon is not coerced by any

voyed through the guardian angels, either

THE DELUSION AT

468

ITS

HEIGHT

words of the magician, but by the superior demon.Ib., disput. xvii, n. 16, p. 119. Even in the seventeenth century demons been as familiar as in the time of Caesarius.

seem to have

De la Torre was who a knew he persecuted with the pious priest says not did who a demon of injure or threaten persistent presence 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 Ib. (De Praxi Exorhis judge and lord, Jesus Christ. ;

cistarum), n. 38, p. 191.

DE

LA TORRE. Tractatus de Potestate Daemonum. works of magic (other than natural) were the operations of demons, there was a nice distinction to be drawn between 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.

As

all

197-9).

He

goes on at great length and in true scholastic [manner] and prove the power of demons. (I) They can transport men and other bodies through the air with extreme (2) They can bring fire from the upper air to the rapidity. to describe

damage of men, and earthquakes.

excite

tremendous tempests, inundations

They can render persons and things invisible. (5) (4) They can make statues walk like men. They can make statues, trees and brutes speak like men. Again, by their knowledge of the hidden virtues of waters, (3)

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, thus (2) They cannot transfer the whole of an element, they can move part of the earth but not the whole. (3) juices,

They cannot produce a vacuum. (4) They cannot move n thing from one place to another without, passing through the

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

469

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) nor can they annihilate.

They cannot create out of nothing, (6) They cannot produce a form, substantial or accidental, or corporeal or permanent. They may produce appearances, but they cannot make a horse or an ox or other perfect animal, or

flesh or blood or bones. (7) (8) Thence thing out of another. follows 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

They cannot make one

he quotes Aristotle and Pliny and St. Augustin, Civ. Dei, xviii, 18, also his De Spiritu et Littera, c. 28, but there is nothing there about it). It is impossible, however, to change a horse into an elephant or a man into a dog or 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. (for this

De

;

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, they cannot produce perfect animals such as horses, save by regular Ib., disput. iv, pp. 202-8. procreation. As to the wonders wrought by demons through magicians,

them arc real, as is abundantly shown in Scripture, operating by their superior knowledge of natural forces, but some

of

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 theologians is that all this is real, according to Pena (Comment. 68, in Director.) and Tostato, who says that it is impudent to deny So Sprenger in the it, as there are a thousand witnesses to it. Malleus, de Castro (lib. i De just, punit. Haeret.), Grillandus (q. 7), Binsfeld (De Confess. Malef., Praelud. 10), and many others. 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, then the whole assembly disappears except those who have uttered the word or made the sign, who have to wearily trudge back home on foot. He himself admits the truth of the experiments, 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 and Tostato and Sylvester (s.v. Haeresis 3, and in Strigimag). Ib., disput. v, pp. 208-12. Goes on to describe how demons produce illusions, making figures, principally out of air, as when they present themselves in the form of beautiful women to seduce holy men or servo as incubi or succubi air being taken for any kind of vapor,

In these bodies, whether of men or 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 untransparent vapor. Also by changing the apparent form, HO that a woman may seem to be a mare, or when something seems to he felt but not seen, or images present themselves to the eye, as in fevered patientsall of which he proceeds to discuss

however thick and earthly.

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 food that will excite pp. 226-8.

him

to lust.

Ib.,

Do

Deceptions voluntatis,

Demons, however, cannot all

the senses.

perfectly imitate, so as to deceive All witches report that their incubi are cold

and horrid (scabrous, rough, prickly?), MHO that their voices are not like human ones, but sharp and whistling, like air through a hole, weak, confused and obscure. So their assumption of the human form is always in some way

like corpses

ITS

imperfect and

is

PBOMOTERS AND CBITICS

471

generally formidable and repulsive, with feet, and other deformities. Ib., disput.

hooked hands and 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. espagnole par le Sieur de la Richardi&re. Seconde Edition, Paris, 1619. 1 He adopts the general assumption that spirits can make bodies 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, with the ordinary explanation of procreation, and he relates in the most matter-of-fact way a large store of instances, gathered from 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 was delivered 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 with an incubus swelled up into a mass of flesh in which the head

and

feet

were scarce distinguishable and from which issued all kinds of animals cocks and hens, dogs, sheep,

the cries of

oxen and horses. The story of the descent of the Huns is that Filimer, King of the Goths, drove out from his army into the forests all the loose women and there they were visited by incubi and gave birth to the Huns, a people cruel and barbarous, 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 demon can transport a mountain, a city or a whole province always of course with the permission of God. It is the subterranean spirits that produce earthquakes. -Ib., p. 47. rpwo vok. in one. Vol. II, Paris, 1017; vol. I, Paris, 1619. In spite of the nota"Secondo Edition" in vol. I, this is apparently the first od. of both vole. The Spanish MS., written c. 1605-10, scorns never to have been printed (see Ossinger, Bibliotheca Auguetiniana). Valdorama died in 1011. x

tion

THE DELUSION AT

472

ITS

HEIGHT

is the same farrago of wonders as to transportation as to incubi. writers borrow of each other; in the later ones we meet the marvels recounted by their predecessors enriched with new ones drawn from all All the like a snowball. sources, ancient and modern, the mass growing as are and writers classical repeated told stories poets by imaginative absolute facts and every collector gathers from the superstitious gossip of his neighbors and from the wonders told by witches in their confessions these things something new to add to the labors of his predecessors. When men respected for piety and learning, it is easy to were disseminated

There

The

by

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^the See also Del Bio sport, at any moment, of invisible malignant spirits. 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 etc. parahelia, comets, showers of ashes unusual darkness, Will-of-the-wisps are igneous spirits of a specially pernicious nature they kill men on the spot. Ib. c. 5 (pp. 59, 64). " Us sont tresAerial spirits inhabit the air near the earth. fausses de sans tromperies d'orgueil, craincte, pleins superbes, 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.;

7

69-76.

Ib., pp.

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 (ValCardan relates that three of them revealed to kyries). Macabee Amitine (Macbeth) that he would be king. They

Aquatic

bestow on children

gifts of

beauty, .strength, prudence awl

They cause furious tempests at sou, destructive to sailors. They caused the inundation** under Pope Alexander V which covered almost all Italy and particularly Bergamo and other gifts.

I

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 ;

ITS

PKOMOTEBS AND CRITICS

473

men and

houses and bridges in Cracovia and Casimiria. 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. They are of various kinds, according to the difference of their operations; but all tend to contempt of God and our ruin, so we men should be on our guard and bear in mind what we shall Some of the ancients called them Genies, Lares or say. domestic gods; others, spectres, Alastors or Daemones Meridiani; others, Satyrs, Sylvans, Folets, familiar spirits, Farfarets or otherwise (p. 91). Scripture mentions these genies which were adored as gods by the heathen, Adon, Adramelech, Asmia, Astarte, Ashtaroth, Dagon, Tartaro, Sucot

They

also

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 men and 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 the power of demons to mislead man is well displayed 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).

God with

Spectres are cruel and malignant spirits who bring ruin 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

and destruction

names signify demons who corrupt and destroy everything. was Hecate who sent to men these spectres, so terrible and fearful (p .130). Scripture calls these wicked devils Daemones It

THE DELUSION AT

474

ITS

HEIGHT

by the Chaldean Paraphrast and Origen have more power at noon and midnight as "Sicut enim in noctis tenebris, similiter in

Meridian!, explained as because they

Origen says, meridie pluriores strant calls

quam

horum daemonum

caeteris

temporibus"

the Prince of these

Noonday

tentationes se (p.

131).

Spirits

demon-

Aristophanes

Empusa

(p. 132).

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

They appear under

all

(pp. 130-146).

The

Sylvans, Fauns, Folets or Farfarels are familiar spirits. whom magicians use in their diabolic operations. They appear kind and obliging, desirous to give aid and comfort in affliction, but it is all for their own benefit and to 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

These are those

(pp. 147-8). spirits who attach themselves to people and servo From the number of instances of this and of individual of intervention in human affairs it would seem to be the most ordinary

These are the familiar

them cases

faithfully.

of 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, enormous exaggeration of the fear of demonic agencies and

in spite of the

the more acute perception of the malignant power of the development of witchcraft.

The subterranean

spirits are

those

who

demons incident

to

dwell in caverns

and other recesses of the earth, where they kill or suffocate or render insane miners in search of precious metals. The Germans call them Kobolds. They are gnomes, dwarfs not 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 death of those whom they serve. They cut the ropes, break the ladders, cause fall of rocks, send poisonous vapors; and you will see rich

(pp. 161-2). It is they

mines abandoned for fear of them,

Ib., c. 11

who cause earthquakes like that which in the time of Bajazet ruined a third of Constantinople and killed

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

475

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, when split great mountains and submerged whole districts, these spirits converted into salt the bodies of fifty men and Ib., pp. 164-5. sometimes so timid that they allow themselves are They to be enslaved by magicians and confined in lead, or wax,

animals.

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 of treasures, which they allow no one to take. Ample store Ib., cases in which the seekers are buried or driven off,

pp. 166-74.

The Lucifuge

Spirits are so

and hiding in obscure places

named from shunning the light They are sometimes

in forests.

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

and produce the effect desired.- Ib., par. ii, c. 1 (p. 183). the planets on the gives a compend of the influence of he which of all several diseases, pronounces folly. Ib.,

assist

He

pp. 189-90. In the diocese of Lausanne a sorceress buried a brazen and it was so effective a serpent under the threshold of a house, and human the animal, could bring all charm that creatures, The wife had seven abortions, forth no living offspring. Ib., p. 198. until the sorcery was found and removed. tacit of head the under pact, which he defines All these come from books or from learned methods as using superstitious An instance of this is a girl of instructions of another.

her by Sweden, eight years old, who, using a formula taught some uttered and hole a magic in water her mother, poured father The a horrible tempest. which produced words, accused his wife, who was duly burnt. Ib., pp. 198-9. The demon who Express pact is a formidable ceremony. a subterranean to him palace takes the has seduced postulant where Satan crowned sits in majesty on a throne, in a vast

THE DELUSION AT

476

hall magnificently adorned,

ITS

HEIGHT

and surrounded by

his courtiers

The demon counsellors clothed in purple and scarlet. Satan replies a in the flowery speech. applicant presents and

new subject and promising him all and here kinds of happiness 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 appear

graciously, welcoming his

in 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, men or that he can and he gives his body and soul to

women,

When this is accomplished Satan life and death. promises him all kinds of happiness, riches, honors and preeminence, all the pleasures of the senses, and then, rising and opening a great black book full of unknown letters and charobediacters, he makes the sorcerer take an execrable oath of no ence, fidelity and vassalage and that he will in future have make the to Sometimes other care but his service. 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 Satan in

;

him body and soul are customarily marked in this manner. Some have it on the forehead, others behind the ear, in the

to

nose, between the lips or in other places; these marks arc of the foot of a hare, the paws of a dog or the different shapes like. The Inquisitor Pierre Oran found this mark between the shoulders of Jean de Valux; it was like a needle, a palm in

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 marks on whatever part of their bodies they were; told of the HabbatH and other places in which he had met thorn and by hin details length,

forced

The

them

to confess.

devil also requires

Ib., c. 3 (pp.

them

backs to him, bending backwards and the sky.

He

also requires

220-5).

to adore

them

him by turning

lifting

their

one foot towards

to kiss his posteriors.

Some

ITS

PKOMOTEKS AND CRITICS

477

hold that, after the sorcerer is thus enrolled, the devil gives him a familiar spirit, whom they call petit maitre or Martinet

and 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

Recites

many

Ib., pp.

226-32.

will or

cases

because a higher

from

Grillandi,

spirit

has ordered

it.

Del Rio and others.

whom they are assigned and render them all possible services. The Martinet tells the witch when a Sabbat is to assemble, which is usually on 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 unguent and 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 exquisite wines. After this to the sound of most charming music they dance 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 depart on 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 assemblies 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 approaching I/hem they disappeared.- -Ib., c. 4 (pp. 233-6). In these assemblies Satan's ambition to be regarded as God is gratified by having sacrifices made to him with the same These Martinets never leave those to

;

THE DELUSION AT

478

ITS

HEIGHT

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(This I have elsewhere. This belief was evidently H. C. L.) Ib., p. 246. persistent 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

ment.

frost.

(Grosius also

tells this,

Magica,

1.

i,

p.

166.).

-Ib.,

p. 247.

This unguent also has the virtue of rendering the limbs 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 permission of God, the fancy of the interior senses is changed so that the person believes himself to be transformed and has the passions and 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 changed themselves into wolves at pleasure --the classical cawo in all insensible, so that

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 human shape, without hands and feet, to the great astonishment of the bystanders. So the sorcerers of Vernonee took the shapo of cats and occupied a ruined castle. They were attacked and killed some of the assailants and beat off the rent, but some 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 punishment of one of these werwolves. In 1542 under the Sultnn Soliman there were so many of them that he; went in pursuit, of them with his Janissaries; coming upon a band of one hundred and fifty he charged upon them, when they all sud-

ITS

PKOMOTERS AND CRITICS

479

In Livonia there are great numbers of all, male and female, assemble on a certain day of the year and, crossing a river, change themselves into wolves so furious that they attack men and flocks and inflict incredible damage for twelve days, after which they recross the river and resume human shape. Ib., p. 261. In Germany some sorcerers who kept an inn changed into all kinds of animals the strangers who came. One was a travelling musician whom they changed into an ass. He performed numberless tricks and they sold him for a large price to a neighbor whom they warned not to let him drink in a stream or he would lose him. The purchaser was careless and the ass drank in a lake, when he resumed his human shape to the great wonderment of all. He proceeds with abundant denly disappeared.

them and

it is

said that they

additional stories of the kind. It is held

by men

of

Ib.,

pp. 264-71.

judgment that when

sorcerers fall into

the hands of the ministers of justice the demons abandon them and have no further power over them never leaving them till they have led them into misfortune. Sorcerers receive from demons the gift of insensibility under torture 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 and swallowed 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 asking him 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, The first sorcerer then replaced the servant's really dead. head, revived him and prudently fled. The explanation of this is that the cutting off of the servant's The demon of the first sorcerer

illusion.

head was a diabolic

was more powerful

than that of the second and enabled his master to Ib., c.

7

(p. 307).

kill

him.

THE DELUSION AT

480

ITS

HEIGHT

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, to and, picking up a book of conjurations, he commenced 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

on the returning, Agrippa saw demons dancing in triumph 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 led to burial, but the marks of strangulation on the throat truth the being discovered, Agrippa was investigation, and, forced to fly to Lorraine (p. 304). Agrippa was the greatestmagician of his time.

On

Ib. ? p. 310.

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 him and thought ho perfidy, he could never be released from without him could be resuscitated by 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).

all this is, yet Valderama was a man of extensive quotes all the classical writers historians, philosopher**, and The early poets an d seems especially familiar with the Neo-Platonists. Fathers he cites frequently, but is less acquainted with the medieval nchoolmen 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

Crude and absurd as

learning.

He

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 that he (I find I must revise my opinion of Valdcrama's learning. 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.

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

481

Besides the classical writers and the hagiographers, Olaus Magnus, Hector Boethius 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 Ensalmis.

DO.-

De

Incantationibus, sen

Eborae, 1620.

The author was an

Inquisitor in Portugal.

The poisons from which the

Veneficae derive their name have from the natural qualities of the ingredients, but from the charms and incantations used in their preparation, the demon thus contributing their effectiveness. Love potions 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 and sometimes cause insanity. Ib., c. 4 (p. 186). Implicit pact is so thoroughly admitted in the daily practice of the Inquisition and of all ecclesiastical tribunals and of the whole church that to call it in question is a position more than their potency, not

c. 5, n. 25 (p. 202). holiness of the words used by sorcerers only increases their guilt and [such] are employed merely to deceive and allure

rash.-Ib.,

The

the ignorant, follows,

who argue that,

why

if the words are holy and a cure 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 Maria or Paternoster, but never the Credo, which the devil holds in abhorrence. Ib., c. 6, nn. 1 2 (pp. 212-13). In treating of the abuse of sacraments Moura says, "De 7

matrimonio 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 florebit" 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

THE DELUSION AT

482

He

ITS

HEIGHT

much

pains to reconcile this with the current the Eucharist drives away demons and disthat assumptions 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 by the argument used as to the Eucharist. Ib., n. 18 (p. 220). It seems that in Spain the saludadores who could pass an examination and give assurance that they did not use superstitious or sacrilegious methods were allowed to practise and that they performed cures, although "sean mines " hombres," which was explained by gratia gratis data in aliorum." sect, c. 3 (p. 33). utilitatem Ib., i, is

at

God's permission culties.

is

invoked in both ways to explain

The invocation

of the

name

of Jesus

diffi-

and the sign

of

the cross do not always, as though ex opere operato, drive away demons or undo their magic, "sed tantum, quando Deus ita instituit pro finibus suae sapientiae." Ib., sect, ii, c. 6, n. 36 (p. 227). " In my name Bear in mind Christ's promise for those that should believe And etc. Concil. shall cast out devils," (Mark, xvi, 17). they 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 independent and sometimes dependent on exterior acts, such as breathing, the touch of hands, etc. It may be doubted, however, whether in 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 "borrachones viciosos que andan per el mundo en nonibre de 77 and that prelates and judges should examine saludadores them "y no dexar ansi andar a quicnquiera saludando y cnsalmando." (Reprovacion de las Supersliciones, P. Ill, c. 7, n. 17, ed. Barcelona, 1628, p. 160.) Jofreu's annotation to this in 1628 (ib., p. 165) shows that the business wan still

ITS

lively.

PKOMOTBES AND CRITICS

Del Rio (Disquis. Mag.,

1. i,

c. 3,

483

sect. 4, ed.

Mainz

1612, I, p. 28) informs us that in Italy these Spanish saluda" Gentiles S. Catharinae aut S. Pauli," dores were called and in Flanders children of Fridays, as those born on that day were gifted with sanative powers, as likewise were seventh sons when no female interrupted the series of births. Returning 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 (Manuale

Confessariorum,

c.

11,

"Porro

n.

36)

describes them and admits vulgo salutatores vocantur

qui power (quantuncumque alias sint perditissimi homines) licite possunt suo munere perfungi, quoniam gratia ilia gratis data hujusmodi hominbus a Deo solo conceditur in utilitatem aliorum."

their

illi

All this is somewhat foreign to witchcraft strictly defined and yet it has of the significance as illustrating the state of mind and credulity, not only vulgar, but also of the learned who trained the popular intellect and conscience.

To

this

Moura

"Quod

observes,

gratiae gratis datae a

Deo conferantur ad confirmationem fidei, quamvis neget Suarez, decent tamen ex professo passim alii Doctores et Patres, ex of healing (p.

illo I

by

Corinth.,

xii,

9

;J

("to another is given the gifts

the same Spirit").

Moura,

sect,

ii,

c. 9,

n. 3

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 quam aliquis 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 vagabonds who earned a precarious existence by speculating on the credulity of the From what Ciruelo tells us, it was not confined to human beings, people. but was largely used to preserve their flocks and herds.

Sanchez (In Praecepta Decalogi, 1. ii, c. 40, nn. 47-9) discusses the subject at great length and concludes "earn He infers that their virtutem ease gratiam gratis datam/ them to take functions their that claim require customary 7

great draughts of wine

is false,

upon heavy drinking and the

for

God's grace is not dependent

risk of drunkenness.

THE DELUSION AT

484

ITS

HEIGHT

Moura

says that during his eighteen years of inquisitorship It is this question as most difficult. 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 services; or all are to be admitted, with results not less absurd. Moura, sect, ii, c. 9, n. 9 (p. 268).

he has always regarded

To It is the old story of man's helplessness in dealing with the infinite. an 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 popes can 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 God or the demon, its use can be prohibited. Ib., nn. 45-0

~

(p. 284).

An illustrative

case is that of Pedro Eanes Mayo do Oovao in 1525 obtained a faculty from the royal surgeon Gil Sebastiani for curing disease, especially hydroof Estremoz,

who

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 some Christian works in contravention of his pact, and that he had 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 cannot resist.

When

Ib., c. 11, n. 1 (p. 297).

Christ gave power to Ms disciples "Behold I give over all the power of the enemy

unto you power

1 '

.

.

.

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

485

this means power to drive away demons but not x, 19) them even for good objects. Ib., n. 4 (p. 301). But the Church has not power to cure disease arising from

(Luke to use

natural causes. I

suppose this

is

Ib., n.

14

(p. 304).

the test between demonic and natural disease.

Holy Water is primarily spiritualia mala tendentes."

instituted Ib., n.

"

27

contra daemones in (p. 312).

V

He says that he suspects the bull of Sixtus 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 the tribunal or, if brought, that the inquisitors did anything with the 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, escaped the stake. The assimilation of this with commerce with incubi rendered the fate of the witch irremissible, as Del Rio sect. 16, p. 776), quoting the Levitical law against (1. v, adultery, bestiality and sodomy, pronounces this "detestabilius est et pessimum omnium carnaliurn peccatorum." And the sentence of the Avignonese inquisitors in 1582 (which H. C. L.) says "vos viri cum succubis and I have elsewhere vos rmilieres

cum

iricubis fornicati estis,

nefandissimum crimen misere cum exercuistis"

Sodomiam veram

illis

(Del Rio, loc. cit., p. 779). argues that there can be no hope of pardon. c.

1,

et

tactu frigidissimo

Whence Moura Moura,

sect,

iii,

n. 21 (p. 445).

He adds

that under the secular law "peccatum nefandum 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 question whether certain sodomites should be sent to execution unless the proceedings of the trials by the Inquisition should be submitted to them, and all but three or four voted in the negative. But the Viceroy, Cristobal de Moura, seeing that Philip III facillimae remissionis est/'

THE DELUSION AT

486

ITS

HEIGHT

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

mente taliter dicentis vel facientis. Manifeste quando dicta motiva fuerint valde vehementia seu probabilia; et minus manifeste, minus probabilia, ita tamen ut maneant intra latitudinem probabilitatis, tarn ex parte latere

in

autem

est

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 brought defectus

under the definition of savoring of manifest heresy Simancas,

De

Cath.

(cf.

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 than to theologians as inquisitors. (Instr. de Avila, ann. 1, in Arguello, Instr. del Santo Officio, Madrid, 1630, fol. 12; Siman1498,

jurists rather

cas, tit. xli, n. 3.)

Applying his arguments to sorcery, Moura concludes that light suspicion is manifest and renders the sorcerer suspect of 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 Tostatus that succubi are much rarer than incubL -Ib., c. 4, n. 8 (p.

489).

If

what Grillandi says

(Tract, de Sortilegiis,

wa

q.

5,

n.

,1,

reason in He say there are classing diviners with devil-worshippers. two classes those of tacit profession and thone of express The former operate through hydromancy, profession. pyromancy, etc,, the astrolabe, the Clavicula HalomoxiiH. The latter celebrate sacrifices to the demon with all the reverence and ceremonies observed in divine worship. They have oratories with altars on which they place idols; they offer frankincense and other suffumigations and wear tunica and vestments like priests. Among them are those more experted, Francofort., 1592, pp. 45-6) is true there

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 quo Diabolus summopere delectatur ut adoretur." After the sacrifice they inquire as to what they want to know and receive responses from the idols voce didbolica. The responses as 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 shows why divination was so vigorously prosecuted.

it

It is a proof of the truth of the Catholic faith that among first requisition made by the devil of sorcerers

Christians the

and witches

is

Mahometans

this is not the case, the devil regarding it as

that they renounce the faith, but

among

Moura, sect, iii, c. 5, n. 15 (p. 517). But even Grillandfs " tacit profession" manifestly savors

superfluous.

of heresy according to Arnaldo Albertino (De Agnoscendis Assertionibus, q. 11, n. 9): "Sapit etiam haeresim manifeste si inquirantur furta vel similia per inspectionem aquae cum

cereo 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 personarum quae furatae sunt et si possent indicia ibi videri ubi

sunt reposita furta." And Moura observes that the express pact which the doctors require for the manifest savor of heresy is not understood with the same rigor as in law or philosophy or in common speech. 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 even taken 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 Daemone tract atus 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 non ordinetur." Moura, sect, iii, c. 5, n. 23 (p. 522).

THE DELUSION AT

488

ITS

HEIGHT

While one or two dealings with the demon may not savor of manifest heresy subjecting to the Inquisition, repetition and 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 vulgares et qui regulariter usitantur sapiunt haeresim manifeste subditque Inquisitoribus."

Ib., n.

37

(p. 530).

Yet "non videmus Inquisitores irruere in vulgares EnIb., salmatores, imo et Ordinarios passim conniventes." n.

38 Hia

(p. 531). effort is to get the Inquisition to persecute

the curanderas more

vigorously.

Moura describes with zest an auto-de-fe at Lisbon, 19, 1619, honored with the presence of Philip III and the royal family, in which more than 124 heretics appeared. Among them were three for sorcery. Gianbattista of Milan abj ured

May

de vehementi for seeking treasure by magic arts, during which the devil threw him senseless on the ground with a whirlwind, 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 sum in gold pieces, which she placed under her pillow and next day found only coals, yet she adhered to him. She abjured in forma 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 nays he saw the scar), and had offered fumigations and other He had obtained from Asmodeus the power of sacrifices. bewitching women, who became insane in his presence. The j

at his command injured people, either to gratify revenge or that he might earn money by curing them. Also he had given him the gift of prophecy, his forecasts sometimes

demon

proving true.

Although these confessed to adoring the demon,

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

489

they said they did so only to obtain advantage and it is difficult to determine theologically whether they really lost the faith and fell into heresy, so that they should abjure in forma and 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 that the devil is damned by God to eternal torment can really take him as the true God, especially when he is not led to such belief by intrinsic motives. Therefore we judges, who are also advocates, must examine diligently and use great prudence before condemning such a culprit as formally a heretic.

Ib., sect,

ii,

c. 1

(pp. 87-9).

This illustrates the inquisitorial practice of not burning witches who It

confessed.

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 a learned and cultured scholar. The list of authorities cited amounts to 322, ranging from classical writers and the Fathers, through the Middle Ages down 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 obedifrom 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. ence, compiled

With regard to the Sabbat, he says that the followers of Luther and Melanchthon hold that the witch only goes there This sometimes happens, but through diabolical illusion. that it is wo always is not proved. The truth is that they are sometimes transported by the demon, and this is the much commoner opinion of Catholic theologians and jurisconsults Ib. p. 69. of Italy and Germany and Spain. ;

All this

copied from Dei Eio, Disq. Mag.,

is

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.

Then he goes on with a

Ib., p. 70.

full

description of the abominations

THE DELUSION AT

490

HEIGHT

ITS

commonly received, relating it all in positive as terms accepted fact. Ib., pp. 70, sqq. List of forty-seven symptoms of demoniacal possession.of the Sabbat, as

Ib.,

pp. 285-8.

List of Ib.,

twenty symptoms of disease caused by sorcery.

pp. 288-90.

a prodigious collection of marvels, drawn from all 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 inculcated on the people by their conceptions of the period and the beliefs

The whole book

sources, showing to

is

what

1

spiritual guides.

JOFBEU, PEDRO ANTONIO. Adiciones, etc. Barcelona, 1628. [For notes on his supplementary material appended to Ciruelo's Tratado, see pp. 413-15.] II.

WRITERS NORTH OF THE ALPS.

WEYER, JOHANN.

De

tionibus ac Veneficiis.

Praestigiis

Daemonum

et

Incanta-

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 the court. (Reference to publication to the theologians and priests of 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 Daily a century) caused no such trouble and unhappiness. what experience shows what execrable alienation from God, what hatred what the with kinsmen, among Devil, fellowship 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 by that most fruitful mother of calamities, the belief in the sorcery And as there are few diseases which are not of witches. 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. Praef atio ad Lectorem. He speaks of his work as an attempt :

to find a clue hitherto

which

men have

of the treatise

unknown through

thus far strayed,

He

the labyrinth in describes the scheme

:

Describes the devil, his origin, his career since the temptation of Eve, his powers and the limits imposed on him Lib.

i.

by God. Discusses the infamous magicians who work by his Lib. ii. assistance, and deceive men with prodigies. They are mostly men of learning and spirit who travel everywhere to learn the secrets of their art. Lib. iii. Witches [are] poor ignorant creatures, old and pow-

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 Veneor ficae, who injure men and beasts by poison swallowed rubbed in, or by their breath. Shows that those who are thought to be bewitched Lib. iv. are really possessed by devils or visited by God, without the agency of witches or other persons. Shows that the cure of those supposed to be beLib. v. witched can be effected by natural means; and the illicit erless,

remedies by devils, conjurations, signs, images, etc., are disproved. Lib. vi. Developes his opinions as to the punishment of infamous magicians; of witches seduced by the devil but not

and

heretics,

This

is

of poisoners.

followed

" Address to Emperor, Kings, by an

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 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

women

time a Protestant country

Lib. i,

i,

c. 3.

see pp. 92-3, 112.

De Diabolo, ejus origine, studio et potentia. The curse of Ham was the special work of the devil,

THE DELUSION AT

492

ITS

HEIGHT

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.

Flushed by their early successes the demons aspire to the control of the whole world, and succeed in becoming the with the gods of the Gentiles. Weyer, whose acquaintance infernal hierarchy is minute and accurate, proceeds to enumerate them with particulars about each Bel, Beelzebub, i,

c. 4.

Baal, Beelphegor, Astarte, Astaroth, etc. never occur to the demonologists, who attribute all evil to the acknowledging his power to be limited by God, that he succeeded not only in producing the fall of Adam, but in procuring the eternal damnation of ninety-nine per cent of the human race?

Did

it

devil, while

The devil is the author of human sacrifices, of Q which a full account is given- also, of augury by the entrails of men slaughtered for the purpose. The devil is the direct source of the superstitions i, c. 8. which prevail throughout Christendom -such as that of the regular and formal baptism of the bells, which have the power j^

Gt

m

of 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 ( 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 absurdities 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 be eaten and yet be found uninjured in their graves. Ib., p. 532.

He forks,

classes

with the ridiculous absurdities the flying on

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 saying that 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.

pp. 534r-7. 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 one knew anything about the mass; but, after an executioner from elsewhere had been called in, the confessions became full of second baptisms and of sacrilegious masses celebrated in the Sabbat. Ib., p. 539. Ib.,

How

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 philosophers 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 understand that we do not deny all Sabbats, but we show that the Hexenmeister (judges) cannot tell anything about them. An intelligent, honest man can say nothing plausible or clear; so

THE DELUSION AT

740

HEIGHT

ITS

obscure and doubtful, so confused and suspicious chief that it is necessary to proceed with caution.

is this

mis-

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 young who confessed it examined by midwives and they were found to be virgins. The learned admit that the devil can deceive the witch and substitute a man in Ms place. But the devil through Ms experience may know how to stimulate girls

the humors of the body so as to deceive the senses and confuse 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. this

Apparently

He

was regarded as

illustrates this

she saw Samuel, but

From

the

which

with the Witch of Endor, really was

way among German in

received belief

He

it

scolds the

sufficient to justify arrest

this is

an

assumed,

evil spirit. it

and

torture.

who thought

Ib.,

pp. 544-6. it was the

would appear that

Protestants.

Hexenmeister who

assail

that holy

man

Martin Luther because he distinctly pronounces the whole business to be an illusion of the devil. Ib., p. 546. There are many examples to show how the devil can assume the 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 assume the shape of innocent persons, and he makes merry over their accurate knowledge of the secrets of God's justice and the exact delimitations of the power that he allows the devil to exercise. '''Listen, fiscals,

Ib.,

pp. 548 sq.

you money-hungering judges and bloodthirsty

the apparitions of the devil are lying apparitions.

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

741

It is high time the rulers appointed better judges and put more moderate preachers, and then the devil with

faith in

Ms lying apparitions would come to shame." Ib., p. 550. The witch-dance and the Sabbat can only be performed through 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 only bluster 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 who stir 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 get excited over what they hear from girls washing at the fountains, from drunkards in the beer-houses, from lying youths in the play-grounds, from bloodthirsty judges in the witchtrials, from light-headed people in the slander-gatherings. Ib., p. 565. calls upon

the rulers to forbid the preachers to overstep He the limits of their knowledge and conscience, to order them to teach according to the rules of their office. It is dangerous when 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 by Satan that they will not accept an appointment unless they are granted full power to act as they please, without the knowledge of the chancellor, the councils and the colleges of Ib., p. 567. also accuses them of drunkenness and, after cautioning as to the quality of witnesses, he adds, where are they

jurists.

He them

to get proper witnesses but then their office would yield income. Ib., p. 568. It is evident from his appeals to confessors that in Protestant lands, as in Catholic, it was customary for a pastor to attend the condemned at the last. He warns them not to little

THE DELUSION AT

742

ITS

HEIGHT

urge the confirmation of the extorted confession, for thus the souls are often disturbed by such ravening wolves. The confessor 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 destroyed and their property gone, and that if they withdraw a single point they will be tortured again and again and a worse confession 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 was submitted to a College of Jurists (fre-

report of the quently the faculty of a university) for decision. He tells a story of an eminent doctor who carelessly read the acta submitted to him and reported the case incorrectly to the "juristischen Collegium" whereby a young man was beheaded for trial

,

a minor offence. to

him and

also

Soon afterwards a headless ghost appeared 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. As an instance, he throws light on the confirmation required after twenty-four hours of all confessions under torture. He asks 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 you intend to deny what you have confessed, tell me now and I will do better. If you deny before the court, you come back to 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 brings the blood. By her side stand the gaoler and executioner and

ITS

PEOMOTEES AND CRITICS

743

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.

OB

the whole I

work, in spite of

1649.

Ib., p*

423.

am much

its florid

impressed with the hearty earnestness of this verbosity and pulpit eloquence.

HBINBICH. De Magicis Actionibus, Dantzig, (Analyzed in Hauber's Bibliotheca Magica, III, pp.

99-412.) Nieolai, who styles himself Professor in the Gymnasium of Danzig, in 1649 published his De Magicis Adionibus, consisting 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. 99109. He had held disputations on the subject at Wittenberg in ,

1623.

He

Ib., p. 105.

(Cf. Grasse, p. 60, s.v. Martini.)

us that in 1644, at the University of Greifswald, a student was beheaded for teaching sorcery. Ib., p. 108. tells

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.

Del Rio, Bodin, Remy, the Mal-

Nicolai's authorities were Ib., p. 112. leus, etc.

PERREAUD, FEAN^OIS.- Demmologie, ou TraitUdes Demons et 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 superannuated.

He dedicates his book to the authorities of Berne and speaks 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 qu a of their

7

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 considerant, sans doute, qu'il pes6e et balanc^e. vaut mieux pardonner & dix coulpables que de faire mourir .

.

.

THE DELUSION AT

744

ITS

HEIGHT

this, they further sought the ki advice of the theologians tant 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 in the prosecuinteresting that this region which was so early tion of witchcraft was now taking steps towards curbing the H. C. L.) While Perreaud warmly approves of this, craze. ies plus abominables Idolhe speaks of "Sorciers, Epistre. atres et Apostats qui soyent an monde." In his Address to the Reader he says that there is no more common talk and discussion in all companies than that of

un innocent." Not content with

.

.

.

and sorcerers. An Lecteur. 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 who deny the are, he says, a great number of Christians existence of evil spirits and assert that all that is told of them evil spirits

He

2. pure invention to frighten feeble souls. Ib., p. sorcerers are there that to proving Chap, ii is devoted and that what is told of them is not simple illusion. Scripis

ture of course renders this easy. Chap, iii against the too credulous,

that

is

who

believe

much

not true.

Chap, iv

against those

who

too readily believe that sor-

There is no cerers excite tempests whenever they choose. 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 sometimes mistaken.

Chap. action.

vii.

And

The second part

of their

firstly, their illusory effect

power consists in on the imagination

of sorcerers. The demon thus leads them to believe that they have been at the Sabbat, although it is only in imagination, and on waking they firmly believe all that Satan has suggested.

Ib v p. 108.

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CEITICS

745

of this he relates a fact occurring In his own or bailii in 1594 1595, at Echalens, Pays de Vaud. time, of Berne there invited the minister to dinner. The conver-

As a proof

A

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 prove them 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 through the 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 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.

sorcerer's trance.

Ib.,

pp. 115-6.

Another remarkable illusion of the devil is that by wMch sorcerers believe that they can pass into the body through the TMs is impossible, for no one but the smallest openings. 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 If we ask why God is

beautiful.

Ib., p. 118.

the devil, the answer permits found in Matt., xii, 43-5. (Curious exegesis. H. C. L.) all this to

Ib., p. 119.

rehearses the illusions of sight and hearing wMch such as troops of hunters, battles in the air, the aerial troop of riders and dogs known as that of

Chap,

viii

the devil can produce

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. Besides illusions, evil spirits ix.

Chap.

can perform

acts,

THE DELUSION AT

746

ITS

HEIGHT

speak, throw stones, etc. Demons ean approthe Eving they are priate bodies; when they take those of 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. They can also form bodies for themselves of condensed air, and in

when they

as

act. Thus they can sometimes transport 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,

all

these

ways can

sorcerers to the

_

superstition and atheism. features of Catholicism.

He

is

responsible for the evil

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.

To

confirm people in idolatry and superstition demons sometimes allow themselves to be apparently overcome by exorare cisms, the cross, holy water, relics, and the like. Demons afraid of swords, by which they can be cut through, although the parts reunite. 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

A

armor of prayer. But the sovereign remedy is God's command " to 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 Mascon" in which Perreaud recounts the tribulations which he Macon, from September 14, 1612, to from a demon who threw stones and household articles around, without breaking anything or hurting anybody. 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. He was 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. Perreaud 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 hand in it, as a sorceress and from what he says it is probable suffered while minister at

December

22,

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

747

that she was concerned in the physical manifestations, though she 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 Warnung 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, gathered from all sources and from his own observation and experience and from what had been communicated to him. Del Rio and Simone Maiolo are large contributors to it, and from the frequent citations and references to him in 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

did so

much

of the conservative Protestant clergy, which to perpetuate the witch-craze is illustrated in Anhorn's Magiologia. It treats "von dem Bund der Zauberer von der Gaueklerey, Verblendung mit demTeufel; und Verwandelung der Menschen in Thiere: von der Hexen .

.

.

Gabel-Reiten, Versammlung, Mahlzeiten, Beyschlaf, Wettermachen, Leute und Vieh besehadigen" etc. The work was reprinted in 1675 at Basel under the title "Philo: Magiologia, das ist christlicher Bericht von Aberglauben und Zau7

berey.

'

Grasse, pp. 51, 56.

like himself, were EvanIn 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 representative 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.,

Anhorn's father and grandfather,

gelical pastors

II,

pp. 671-7.

and

so

was

his son.

THE DELUSION AT

748

HEIGHT

ITS

tendencies of the time may be guessed from stanza of verses addressed to the author and prefixed to the work

The popular

the

first

"0

Fluch-verfluchter Menschen-Tand! lieber von des Ten!els Hand

Das

Socht unterweisung abziirennen, dem Sehopfer, seinem Gott, Der doeh nichts sucht als uns vom Todt Und von Verdammniss abzutrennen."

Als von

AUTUN, JACQUES Sgavante Borders.

et la

D' (piedicateur

Credulite Ignorante:

Ib., p. 677.

capucin). Ulncredulite Sujet des Magiciens et

Au

Avecque la Response a un Livre intitule Apologie out este faussement souppour tous Us Grands Personnages qni 1674. (First ed., Lyon, 1671.) gonnes de Magie. Lyon, 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 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

Parlement and

when a number of persons accused of the sorcery in various towns of Burgundy were acquitted by unbelief of the among author prevalence deplores judges. The those who consider themselves enlightened and that there are when judges who will believe nothing but what they see, and,

was

similar disorder

testimony as to anything surprising concerning witchcraft or sorcery, they hold it as a fable because they were not the overcredulouspresent. At the same time he deprecates ness of the ignorant and seeks to establish a via media between Bibl. Mag., I, pp. scepticism and blind credulity. Hauber, there

is

643-5, 650.

LEVENWALD, ADAM VON. und Betrug. Salzburg, 1680. Levenwald, physician and

Tractdtel von des

Teufels List

apostolic notary, deplores in no that tractate this preaching, no punishment, no execuThere are always enough are of help. no burnings tions, left of this deviPs brood to fly through the air with demons, Hauber, to outrage God and to molest men and beasts. Bibl.

He

I, p. 356. also believes in incubi

Mag.,

and suecubi.

Ib. ? p. 360.

ITS

PHOMOTERS AND CRITICS

Von den Hexen und dem BlindFrankfurt und Leipzig, 1723.

STKIDTBECKH, CHRISTIAN. niss so sie mit

dem

749

Teuffel haben.

an academical disputation, presented In Latin December 6 1690, by Christian Stridtbeekh,, under the presidency of Valentin Albrecht, and now reprinted in German under the name of the latter, who was a prolific writer on occult subjects. The Latin title of the 1st ed. (Leipzig, 1690) was De Saffis, sive foeminis, commerciwn cum malo spiriiu Tills Is

?

at Leipzig,

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 1st, gebe hierzu seine Gnade!" chapter Is devoted to elucidating the philology of of witches Saga Strix, Hexe, etc. displaying a

Werckzeuge His

first

the names 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 signed with her blood or by a simple promise, for a definite or indefinite time, and through his help divines the future, performs marvellous things and with God's permission works evil to men, beasts and harvests, frequents certain devilish assemblies and imagines herself hi an accursed way to have intercourse with the devil and bear children to him. Ib., c. 2, 2. He speaks afterwards of their Buhler, the devil, 10. 5

Children borne to Satan, 17. Admits that there are some men reasons why women are more numerous. Ib., 4. God not responsible the devil only partially, for he can7-8. not coerce the unwilling to submit to him. Ib., 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 fices to

Cites stories Ib.,

new-born infants and offer them as sacri10. Ib., delights in such victims. from Del Rio and Grillandi also Medea.

kill their

the devil,

who

12.

Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar had witches for wives, through whom this evil practice spread wider and wider. Ib.,

13.

THE DELUSION AT

750

ITS

HEIGHT

killed by Story of Frotho, the mythical king of Denmark, horn. her with who a cow of form the in a witch pierced

Mm

14.

Ib.,

Midwives are especial favorites of the numbers of them go to hell on account of

devil

and great

their

murdering

infants either before or at birth, sticking needles in the brains. could bring as examples many midwives burnt here within a few years, but it suffices to quote the Malleus as to two of hundred infants and the Basel, one of whom destroyed four

We

other a countless number. of

Upper Germany burnt

and

forty.

Ib.,

And eight

in the last century killed one

who had

a Count hundred

16.

He says Ms hair stands on end as he relates from the celebrated 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 like publicly with great solemnity in the Sabbat, 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

privately

oath.

Ib.,

Some say

18.

that the devil marks only those

who he

fears

me more

but it probable that and insensible are marks These no there are exceptions. 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 otherwise executed and that every one bore a mark. Ib., 19. Gohausen, he says, instances a girl of nine entering into did it pact; and Carpzov a woman named Cogelmarsche who

will leave his service,

at eighty-six.

Ib.,

seems to

20.

written compact is signed by both parties. Ib., 21. Details as to these writings. Conditions on both sides are what the devil is to do for the witch, while the set forth

The

ITS

PROMOTERS AND CRITICS

751

witch promises after a specified number of years to give him her body and soul for ever. Ib., 23. What power of divination witches have arises from information 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 impossible to the devil but he makes them believe that they are so transformed. Ib.,, 26. Power of the devil to work irreparable damage by tempests and droughts and his teaching witches to do it by permission of God. But for this limitation he would destroy the world. Ib.,

27-8.

The

devil works through witches they bring tempests and drive them away, they cause diseases and cure them cases.

29.

Ib.,

They spare neither age nor youth. Out of the cooked bodies of infants they make the ointment with which they cause disease.

Ib.,

30.

injure adults, especially by causing impotence, even at weddings. Casuists tell of five ways for this. Commonly they fasten a lock with conjurations during the marriage

They

ceremony and then throw it with the key into water or knots, which is called Nestel-kniipffen-the others, modesty forbids me to mention. Ib., 31. Sometimes they do this to both parties, but more commonly to the man. They cannot make it perpetual, but only for as long as God permits, and when this time has passed the spell is removed. The witch, however, can remove it at any time. Ib., 32. tie

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 had wounded witches, is told as occurring in the vicinity of Strassburg.

Ib.,

34.

752

THE DELUSION AT

ITS

HEIGHT

Tells from the Malleus how a witch killed twenty-three horses of a Regensburg merchant by putting a powder under the stable threshold. Also they render cows useless by stealing 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 on the 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.,

It is a difficult

36.

and widely discussed question whether

witches are really carried by the devil to their assemblies. We will make the whole thing clear with two propositions sometimes 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 dreams makes 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 Habakkuk and 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 have the confessions of the witches.

Ib.,

37.

The apparent

proposition is proved by the case cited by Luther, from Joh. v. Keisersberg, of the witch who to convince a preacher of the truth of the flight anointed herself and mounted a pitchfork, when she fell over in a deep slumber and tossing around fell to the floor and wounded her head. So Carpzov tells of one who in torture confessed to attending the Sabbat at an hour when her husband swore she was in

bed with him.

Ib.,

38.

for the place, a man executed at Stablo in 1603 said that in Holland it was in the Utrecht territory. Here we have the

As

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 physical reasons for the impossibility. Disposes of Gen., vi, 4, by suggestion that the sons of the patriarchs had to do with the

Blocksberg

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.

with a story from Johann Bissel, 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 made her appear to her accomplices with a halo around her head and her whole body shining with light. Ib., 43.

Concludes

S.J.,

this chapter

Ruinarum IllustriumDecad.,

?

The

third chapter presents his conclusions Consecturia. First that there are in fact witches. Has nothing special

Dismisses without argument the opponents to allege. Pietro di Abano, Abraham Palinghus, Weyer and Cornelius Agrippa, his master, "der zu seiner Zeit der grdste Hexenmeister 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 utterances of Innocent VI [VIII], Julius II, Adrian VI and Clement VII. 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 cum diabolo dicitur: cum et ipsemet non semel in suis scriptis testatus sit se probe cognitum habere diabolum nee parum salis cum eo comedisse. Verum ut 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

THE DELUSION AT

754

ITS

Defends Joan of Arc Fifthly. witchcraft. Ib., conseet. 5.

HEIGHT

from the accusation of

Defends from the stigma of being a witch the Sixthly. furious woman who made Attila in 454 retreat from the crossing of the Lech in the neighborhood of Augsburg by shouting thrice to him "Back, Attila!" Ib., consect. 6. ?

B.

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW. I.

DAMHOUDER, verpiae, 1601.

THE GERMAN

JURISTS.

Praxis Rerum Criminalium* AntWritten probably c. 1540.)

JOSSE.

(First ed. ? 1554.

Damhouder was one

Ms day and a member of probably had a hand in drawing up the

of the leading jurists of

the council of Charles V.

He

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 incantations. They worship the devil, are in strict alliance with When they hate anyone they injury and either slay him or destroy his 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. Kim and obey

his

commands.

devote themselves to

Ms

The space which he devotes to the subject, in a manual of practice, shows the importance it assumed. He does not discuss the question of the Cap. Episcopi, but the references he makes to Grillandus show that he accepted the latter's views.

The

is to be burnt and homicide comthe and other milk, prises ligatures, drying maleficia. Ib., c. 73, nn. 1, 2.

sorcerer homicide

The great authority of Damhouder was thrown upon the side of extending the 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). Conspicuous among these (heresy, blasphemy, etc.) comes sorcery. "

Sortilegium est quaedam superstitio illusoria et summe Et noxia, qua utitur homo Daemonis ministerio. ideo 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 maiefica sive amatoria, sive divinatoria fuerit." Ib., n. 84. If love potions produce death, even when given "bono zelo," it is to be punished with death. Ik, n. 88 (p. 133). Divination is either a manifest or tacit invocation of 5

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 durissimam mortem non rara viventes adigantur, hi citius, illi vero tardius. Hinc sit quod lex vocat istos humani generis inimi(All cos, ut qui semper tendunt ad hominum internicionem." 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 magicae and 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, when God 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 by speedily removable by the aid of demons, knowledge of natural secrets is much greater than that

human means, but whose

men and is only communicated by them to sorcerers. This 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

is

THE DELUSION AT

756 of the

ITS

HEIGHT

a

demon, whence jus civile hos utriusque

scilicet

artis magistros,

amatoria sortilegia perpetrantes et venefiea, aequi-

paraverit, non minus in facto quam in poenis: pan supplicio But whether the in ainbos animadvert endum decemens." does this he thinks best to pass over in silence. canon 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-

kw

toria) who make images of in the fire or pierce them

may come

wax

or fresh chalk and

with needles.

bum them

Necromancers

also

in the third class.

In this vast

field of

we meet with much that is must go more deeply into it for

sorcery

most loathsome, wherefore

I

the benefit of judges. Ib., n. 108 (pp. 136-7). There are two kinds of sorcery tacit and express. Tacit in is when one is bound to another under pledge to obey and and sacrifices faith the Catholic renouncing everything,

Mm

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

two kinds, public and private. The with the demon sitting on the throne made solemnly majesty, after the manner of princes, in the general

demon, and former of his

this is of

is

assemblies of witches, sorcerers and necromancers, held at night in places and hours indicated by him, when the profession 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 same kind 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, from which arises such close friendship that men (with God's permission) do the foulest things, too evil to relate. Those who make express profession, worship the demon with solemn sacrifices and ceremonies, with lights and prayers like those with which we worship Christ. It is thus that his pride shows itself. 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 they immediately obtain all that they ask of biro., provided it is in Ms power and is permitted by God. If it is not, he still promises it to them, and thus by these illusions they are miserably deceived. The maleficia which they do are worse than those of other magicians, for the devil especially seeks to gratify those 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, and always by night, as in Cap. Episeopi, and this for a double reason. Firstly, because the devil since his fall has been dark and obscure, hating the light, performing works of darkness 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 aforesaid places so as not to be disturbed see Can. Episeopi. Ib., n. 123.

What

things, signs, instruments, mixtures, compositions, and characters do sorcerers use? I reply that they are enumerated to satiety by Paulus Grillandus; the matter

ligatures

not less confused than profuse. Ib., n. 124. it is asked why, when arrested, they do not get themselves liberated by the demon and thus escape death? Some curious judges have endeavored by experiment to ascertain this, but in vain and with supreme risk of their salvation, wherefore this temerity is to be avoided. But the question is easily answered if we examine carefully the writings of 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 death before 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 exercise his powers, so that judges and officials of minds easily seduced may not be led to imitate them on seeing that they so easily escape with impunity, as stated by St. Augustin and St. Thomas for otherwise the people would think that is

Finally

HEIGHT

75S

THE DELUSION AT

the

demon was more powerful than God and

tian faith

would be ruined.

ITS

the whole Chris-

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 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 among their familiars and initiates. Ib., n. 136

any

Mm

(p. 141).

How much

wrought everywhere by tMs most pernimost pernicious men, harm than the good can 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." evil is

cious sect is known of all men. These full of lies and superstitions, do more

Ib.,

nn. 136-7 (p. 142).

They

circulate

dacity, in the

filled with foulness, impiety and menof ancient sages and philosophers, by

books

names

which 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 respond to questions. They promise all tMs, but there are few indeed in these times whom the malignant spirits will obey, for God does not permit it. (How then can they work such evil?

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW

759

E. C.

L.) There is another class equally to be shunned, who enter Into no compacts with demons, but observe days and auguries and use amulets. Also priests who say mass over

unconsecrated hosts, offer wicked oblations in the mass or foul and evil prayers for wrongful ends, who are to be degraded and 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 corruptae; also why there are more maleficae than malefid. But I refer the reader to the remarkable tract of D. Martin de Aries 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

conceded by God, so that when he permits they can harm, but without his permission they can do nothing. Those who desire further knowledge I refer to Paulus Grillandus, Troilus Malvetius, Martinus de Aries ("in suo insigni et exquisitissimo tractatu de superstitionibus"), Johannes Franciscus, the Malleus Maleficarum and Johannes Trittensorceresses

hemius in

is

his Lib. 8

Quaestionum, whose authority is by all no way confirmed by law. -

accepted as law, although it is Ib., n.

143

(p. 143).

It is noteworthy that in all this there is no special reference to the Sabbat nor to the question of evidence as to those seen there nor is there any discussion as to punishment, though in the next chapter on laesa Majestas kumana, attempts on rulers, he says:

"Quaecunque autem mulieres hujusmodi audent comxnittere crimen aut veneno aut incantationibus gravius puniendi sunt quam viri et semper igni consumendae." Ib., c. 62, n.

14

(p. 145).

" Whosoever kills anyone by sorcery or incantaagain: tions is to be consumed with fire; for this is not simply homicide, but stained with sorcery, for which he is condemned to So whoever by sorcery impedes the generative burning. power of man or woman, or dries up her milk, whether by food or drink or means external to the body, is to be reckoned a homicide." (In this he cites various authorities but not the

And

760

THE DELUSION AT

ITS

HEIGHT

Car0B.na. Carolina quoted as to Eucharist at execution H. C. L.) Ib c. 73 (pp. 172-3). see below. ; 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. Then the magistrates assemble and consider all details and circum,

stances and consult, maturely and sorrowfully, and pronounce a punishment commensurate with the guilty after hearing the opinions of all. In some places the sentence is pronounced the day before the sorcerer is to be punished, or at least it is agreed upon. (The Carolina, c. 79, requires three days between rendering sentence and execution, to give the convict time for repentance. -H. C. L.) The next day, when the sentence is capital, the sorcerer is brought before the magistrates, either in public or private, and the sentence is pronounced. In other places the sentence is uttered on the day of 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 urged to 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

Mm

to the place of execution. For he should dwell on the multitude and enormity of his sins and his great ingratitude to God, and point out that divine in the hands of justice and not allowed mercy has placed 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 undergo his 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 and for the justice itself, which will be for him a large part of satisfaction. Then he should implore the prayers and suffrages

mercy and piously lead this

Mm

of 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 communion be administered if asked for a question answered in the

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW

761

Carolina, art. 79 ? where

asking for

it,

and

also

communion is conceded to convicts by the canon lawa custom observed

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 convict to execution with more than military ceremony, and I in

especially disapprove the custom of making the convict drunk so that he may feel less dread of death- an abuse forbidden

79 of the Carolina, which also in art. 103 abrogates the abuse of some confessors who in mistaken piety lead the convict to revoke his confession, thus giving occasion to others of sinning more freely. Ib., nn. 5-6 (p. 507). in art.

I have condensed as much as possible an exceedingly long and pious discussion as to all this, filled with Scripture textsshowing the Importance attached 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 witchcraft there 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 me to 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 space allowed,

it

might be well to embody them as a whole.

GODEIMANN, JOHANN GEOHG. Lamiis

of

and Norebergae,

Veneficis

et

accessit

(Also editions of Francofurti,

1696.)

Godelmann was a legist and the dedication Denmark shows him to be a Protestant.

The Admonitio

Hie

ad MagisCeleberrimi J. C. D. Johannis Althusii

tratum Clarissimi et Admonitio. Francofurti, 1591. 1601,

De Magis,

recte cognoscendis et puniendis.

of his

book to Christian IV

of Dr. Althaus is printed at the end of Althaus begins by pointing out that the question de Maleficis, Sagis et Lamiis is arduous, controverted and perilous, 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 and leaves not a stone unturned to divert you from the right way. lib.

i.

THE DELUSION AT

762

ITS

HEIGHT

fills melancholy old women with imaginaand phanwith tions, soporiferous unguents he brings sleep think they tasms, he deludes men with his tricks so that they do things which spring from natural causes or from Ms own done which action, and deludes them into thinking things are 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 raised they have transferred crops, passed through cracks, or nature human to the" dead or done other things contrary when all is this but, human strength. (Now very impressive; he comes to detail, the fatal weakness of admitting the power of 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 excitis admittedly beyond ing tempests, hail, wind, frosts; all this 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 punIt is the same when they confess to rendering men ished. impotent, to causing or curing diseases immedicable by physiremote places, to cians, to flying through the air to the most

He

crazes men, he

have made serpents, frogs and other small animals, to have the produced the spectres of the dead, to have represented images of

lost or stolen things in mirrors, crystals, water,

and to have compelled serpents to part or rather the devil to have done this and Witches and diviners cannot do similar execrable tMngs. 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,

rings

and the

with their

like,

venom

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 power and I think the will is not wanting. And these are the penalties 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

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW

763

amounts to a certain degree of proof against those who do not confess, so that the case must be closely examined. I hold that the Judge may be certain that these are not phantasms or deceits of the devil, as most frequently are those which witches confess as to their assemblies, transportation, and monstrous lusts. From all this you can understand the acts of witches, but perhaps you may doubt as to the true mode of operation, especially in those things which exceed human powers* Judicial records show that sometimes they use things which can naturally produce the effect at others, signs, words and characters of no power. Whence then, you say, comes the operation in the latter I think from tacit or express pact with the demon case? invoked to produce it. Therefore I have truly called this an arduous and perilous question calling for circumspection and prudence in the judge. Therefore read what D. Godelmann has learnedly and accurately set forth in his second and third feasting, dancing

:

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 men and 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 they have 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 All this has of crimes does not diminish the punishment.

Godelmann observed and set forth most justly. I wish indeed that judges would observe these distinctions. (With what H. C. L.) I wish result? All would come to the same end. 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

in every saving the guilty, for the devil seeks to protect them the Winds lives. evil their iirgmg by and up prolong way use of GcKlelmann's book as solving aM arduous questions. i ad calcem). Althaus, Admonitio (Godelmann, De Magis, lib. 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 by fire 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 indicium 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 illud dispestilent! solum suspicione agantur, quod laudabile 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 semidaemones, Sagas, Lamias et Striges nominant, Schwartzktinstler, Zauberer, Hexen, Unholden et hoc idiomate Toverer, Toverschen) ideo ne nominum confusio in hoc tractatu

errorem pariat in irroganda pari poena, primo omnium Magos there is et Veneficas a Lamiis sejungere voluit" (qy. volui? And as there are many no nominative to voluit H. C. L.) diverse 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 abrogated by 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 by a judge without injury to his conscience. De Magis, lib. i, Praefatio.

He commences by enlarging on the power of the devil and his ceaseless efforts to injure and mislead the human race

WTTCHCKAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SBCULAB LAW

765

is no misfortune that may not be ascribed to Mm. TMs he illustrates with three or four stories of the customary

there

Ib., c. 1, nn. 1-10. Describes the pact in which the sorcerer renounces Christ and baptism and devotes himself to the devil, body and soul, sometimes signing a paper written with his blood.

absurdity.

Ib., c. 2, n. 8.

Then the devil, or one of the experienced sorcerers, teaches him all the arts of sorcery. Then the devil comes whenever summoned, either in the form of a beast or man, and gives him 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 he commanded. Ib., nn. 10-11. Of old these practices were rare among Christians, but they so increased that priests and clerics seemed uneducated who were not versed in them, and even the popes, for, if we believe Platina and others, a good part of them obtained the papacy by these arts, as Sylvester II, Benedict VIII, Gregory and XXI and others. Ib., n. 13. VII, John is

XX

There are great differences between them which it is necessary 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 renounce God and his cult and invoke the devil in their impious acts. And these are called either Praestigiatores or Necromancers or 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 judges in their delicate responsibilities shows how incurably impracticable he is.

"Praestigiatores itaque sunt qui opera Satanae hominum oculos incantationibus et illusionibus fascinant et fallunt ut non videant ea quae sunt et videre se arbitrentur ea quae non sunt. Hi proprie dicuntur Zauberer." Like the magicians of Pharaoh. Ib., c. 3, n. 3. Tells various stories as to the devil appearing personally to 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 among Praestigiatores the wandering jugglers whose feats are illusions, assumably performed with the aid of the demon. Ib., nn. 13-9. Nothing

is

too gross for his credulity.

THE DELUSION" AT

766

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 many different kinds of divination.

Ib., c. 5.

Incantatores by incantations oblige devils to make serpents render men impotent, lay aside their venom and become tame, enchant arms and do what the operator requires. Satan pretends to be captive to them and to suffer in animal form to be beaten and complain that he is forced to answer questions. his ceremonies he falls as After the enchanter has

performed some one though his soul had left his body and there must be after off it will twenty-four carry to guard it or the demons 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 This execrable is the ligature inflicted on new married folk. with the without is sometimes agreement express maleficium is by the devil and it is worthy of action the but devil, death. Among enchanters are to be classed the papal exorc. 6, nn. 1-28. cizers, who are mostly magicians. -Ib., 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. I

am

glad to get a definition of Venefici

that

is,

Ib., n. 32.

of Sorcerers:

"Venefici (utriusque sexus homines) sunt qui nefariis carminibus, diris imprecationibus, immundorum spirituum immissione, 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 SECT LAB, LAW

767

Solent enim veneficae multa ex earnibus ossibusque suspendiosonim ad rem Ipsam magicain pertinentia conficere, iisque In maglcis veneficiis uti." For which tie quotes Luean and Apuleius. Ib., c. 7, n. 1. 'Utrum Venefici, id quod volunt et cupiunt, etiam efEcere [ et praestare possint?' ] As to this there are different opinions. Weyer and Lercheimer deny it. Weyer (who classes Veneficae with LamiaeH. C. L.) says that to hold that these maleficia or veneficia can be worked without touching, by using some excrement 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 Cardano libere assero, atque Satanae instinctu in usuni vocari: quasi aliquid hie possent res prorsus inefficaces frivolaeque."

dunt.

k

7

(Weyer, De Praestig. Daemon., AmsteL, 1660). Ib., n. 4.

iii,

c.

33,

2, p.

260 of ed.

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 incredulitatem, 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 Thus

may

suggest.

this last clause gives all the rest

Ib.,

i,

c. 7,

n. 5.

away.

But truer is the conclusion of theologians, jurists, physiand philosophers "Veneficos, Veneficasque, ex Dei permissione et Diaboli auxilio, varia morborum genera tarn piis quam impiis, incantando, imprecando, fascinando, pharmaca cians

THE DELUSION AT

768

ITS

HEIGHT

magica arte incantata exhibendo, appHcandOj effundendo, sub limina defodiendo, vel quocunque modo usurpando,

Et horam sententia tarn drrinis quam humanis renim ipsaram experientia et multomm doctorum

Inf erre posse.

legibus,

vivorum testknonils probatur." Ib., n. 6. It shows how little reason there was in all this that Godelmana among the authorities whom he cites against the position of Weyer and Lercheimer includes a passage from NIC.

Hemmingius (Admonitio de vitandis Magicis Superstition!the bus, Hafniae, 1575) in which occurs an opinion virtually converborum recitation! vis enim same as theirs "Nulla Sed DIabolus eeptoram, characteribus, imaginibus inest. insinuans se hominibus, permittente Deo, ad incantationes intercesserit

cum

Magicas operatur, sive pactum expressum 77 Diabolo vel non. Ib., n. 16 (p. 69). The power of a witch's looks is explained by^Aretius: "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 confessed 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. Godelmann's lib. i,

Ib., n. 30.

devoted to the cure of magic diseases. quotes Paracelsus, who asserts as an aphorism that it makes no difference whether God or the devil, whether that angels or demons, bring help to the sick, provided only no natural have diseases the disease is cured. Supernatural whatever the theocure; only magic remedies suffice and, to God, because we not are these contrary may say, c.

8, is

He

logians

use them for the benefit and not the destruction of man. All them. They are not physicians should be familiar with art to be learned in is this nor or Galen Avicenna, taught by the schools, so the physician must seek the witches, the know more about these things gypsies, the peasants, who the schools. of Ib., nn. 11-15 (p. 81). than all the professors 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 east it into the fire while uttering a certain

769

magic formula.

Ib., n. 16.

Long description of magical and superstitious cures, ending with, amulets, pentagons, astrological medicine, ending with discussion on power of imagination. Ib., nn. 17-72. The Protestants had a protection like the crossing of the In Rostock four years ago

H. C. L.) (i. e., 1586 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 prison and 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." Catholics.

a

woman who was

Ib., n. 79.

Sortiarii or Sortilegi differ from Magi in that, without invocation of demons, they employ superstitious observances. In

a 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, Ib., nn. 13-30. astrology, etc. After full reference to classical stories of Lamiae, he says it is the same as the Hebrew Lilith, Isaiah, xxxiv, which Luther translates Kobold. The Lamia of the Vulgate (Lamentations,

Luther and the translators render Dragon. The Gerthe Lamia "Naehtfraw, Geist oder Zauberweib;" they are "Zauberinnen, Unholden, Hexen, Wahrsagerin, Wettermacherin," and are also called Striges and Sagae* The " Italians call them Jannara, incantatrice, strea, striga, maga, fattureia;" the Spaniards, "Bruja;" the French, "sorciere." iv, 3)

mans

call

Ib., lib. All this

ii, c.

1,

shows how

nn. 1-12. little strict definition

there

was

in terms.

"Sagae nostrae non quidem spectra sunt, sed quod se cum diabolis colludere, choreas ducere, concumbere, scopis insidentes 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 autem VOL.

n

49

THE DELUSION AT

770

ITS

HEIGHT

effoetas, stupidas, indoctas, in Christiana religione perverse Ib., n. 15. institutas menteque titubantes vetulas."

And he winds up by adopting a passage from Weyer (De "Nee 2, 3, p. 177): Daemonum, Mb. iii, c. 5, aliter sane queunt, quum illorum mentem ex prime assensu

Praestigiis

vel concinnaginibus inanibus vitiarit [diabolus], consopitis

hoc opus corporis humoribus et spiritibus, ut hac ratione ad organa aeeommodata species aliquas inducat, non solum perinde ac si intrinsecus eae occurrerent vere, 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

tatis in

:

?

?

horum immundomm spirituum prope et fraus

subtilitas incomprehensibilis

sensus

infatigabilis,

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 by

the 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 argument or 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 of popular detespoverty, consumed by fears and the object tation.

He

pleads for them: "Restat error et ignorantia.

Clarum autem est errantis nullam esse voluntatem et ignoLamias autem errare rantis nullum consensum. alienationem incidant mentis tantam in inde constat quod Diaboli ludibriis ut nesciant quid agant, oculique earum ita non est. perstringuntur ut scilicet videant credantque quod Melancholicis enim morbis vexantur. Ubi autem est caput melancholicum, ibi Diabolus habet praeparatum balneum. Imo Lamiamm passiones non absimiles sunt dormientium et Furiosum autem et dormientem furiosorum actionibus. volunpacisei non posse manifestum est omnibus, cum eorum .

tas nulla sit, per ornnia et in

.

.

.

.

Cum

.

.

.

.

nullus item consensus,

.

.

.

sed

omnia absentis et quiescentis loco habeatur. itaque Lamiae dolo circumventae, vi coactae,

"WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR

LAW

771

metu compulsae,

errore inductee in hanc eredulitatis temerihoc objici miseris potent quod in contractibus attenditur 3 quae ab Initio sunt voluntatis, ex post facto fiunt neeessitatis." Ib., nn. 6-13.

tatem

inciderint, profecto nee

A legal argument, for each clause of which lie cites abundant authorities. Again, Magi and Venefiti learn the diabolic art from books, from the devil or from other magi, with their incantations, rites, solemnities, characters, etc., and summon the demon in order to perform the supernatural; but the Lamiae know no 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, Magi bind 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, nearly all before burning invoke the eternal God and beseech his mercy and often even invoke him as witness of their innocence, 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 proof have 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 confess the impossible, as flying through the air, transformation into beasts and the like, such a confession cannot be punished as 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 deny their conspiring with the devil, for then they are to be classed with Magi and Veneficae and they lose the name of Lamiae. or

Ib., nn. 14-21.

THE DELUSION AT

772

ITS

HEIGHT

is simply one who frequents the Sabbat, the existence which he denies, and does no one harm, her compact with the ^devfl the injuries is illusorybeing an illusory device of the demon. The Sabbat 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

Thus the Lamia

of

combine with the Sabbat tee raising of tempests and So long as he admitted the power of the Vemfica the Lamia was practically of no moment.

in their confessions

injury to their neighbors?

Ms argument

for

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 to swine and explain away the followers of Ulysses changed

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, who turned out to be three ladies of the neighboring city, related in the Malleus (P. II, q. i, c. 9), he adopts the explanation, once rejected by Institoris, that the cats were demons who at Ib., n. 20. transferred the wounds to the women. 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, Konigsberg and 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, superstitious, barbarous, slaves of their lords, who beat and abuse them. Recently in Prussia one was captured who was said

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 change occurred. Ib., nn. 26-28. to

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. u His own explanation is: Facillimum enim est Daemon! alterius cujusdam bestiae, sive rei eujussaganzm corpora 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 Blocksberg and other places, asserted by the demonologists, he tells us that "Maior pars Theologonim, Jurasconsultoram, Medi-

corum et Philosophonun statuit haec omnia figment a 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 occupari," (which is a somewhat reckless assertion H. C. L.). .

.

.

Ib., c. 4, n. 15.

After reciting Jo. Bapt. Porta's experience (which I think

have elsewhere H. C. L.) he says that a few years before in Mecklenburg a faithful servant of a noble was accused, by some 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

I

After she anointed herself she fell into a sleep so deep that 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, gratifying 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.

her.

;

Germain.Ib., nn.

25-7.

THE DELUSION AT

774

ITS

HEIGHT

Also cites Luther, Melanchthon, Trithemius and Aleiatus. Ib., nn. 28-32. Also Johannes Flchardus, consIL ill, n. 2, and Martinus Ib M 18. Biennannus, Theses de Maglcis Actionibus, Tfa.es. nn. 34-5. And he calls attention to the fact that Carolina, c. 44, der Zauberey, says nothing about the Sabbat. Van

Anzeigung

Ib., n. 47.

rem habeat cum Quotes Luther "Potest esse ut Dlabolus 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, ^Caeterum sanior et magis receptior est sententia eorum qul statuunt daemoniacos hos concubitus saltern illusiones esse,^ quae etiam honestis et probis saepe mulieribus accidunt." Ib., n. 11.

In opposition he quotes Biennann, Lercheimer, Martin de Peter Martyr, Ulric MollAries, Weyer, Jaquerhis, Scaliger, Osiander. Ib., nn. 12-28. Joannus Cardan, Fichardus, tor, concubitus daemoniad cum He concludes "Quapropter earum confessiones sint tantum illusiones, sequltur quoque et nullius moment!." erroneas esse re ea de (Lamiamm) 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 tit. show, punishing It with the beasts. See Lib. IX Cod., 7. n. 6. 4 and const. et Maleficis Ib., De Math., in Novell. 65, pronouncing the ministry of cited by demonq. v. Yet these laws are n. 17, and Binsfeld, Comment, in Tit. Cod. de ologists, as Grillandus, q. 6, the abrogation. Male!., LL. 4 and 6 (pp. 423, 531), without noticing

But

this is nullified

by Leo

magicians to be an imposture,

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 approvingly 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

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW

775

Ms

position of denying that Lamiae and Maleficae are responsible for tempests and endeavors to argue it away. " Verum est, scripsi Veneficas posse tempest at es et grandines segetibus ac vineis perniciosas excitare, sed addidi: Diabolo

of

revera expediente ea quae moliuntur," for, when God gives the devil power to send hail, then he instructs the Maleficae sometimes to throw pebbles behind them to the west, sometimes to cast the sand of a torrent into the air, frequently to dip brooms into water and scatter it towards the sky, or dig a 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 and when they see the result they more firmly believe the eventfollows their acts. In this way the demon deludes the Maleficae 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 was the real operator, with God's permission, of all sorcery and witchcraft.

Magi, Veneficae or Lamiae could do what they would scarce be corn enough to support mankind; there would be no use for armies; a single old woman would only have to exercise her power and she could liberate Germany from the fear of the Turk. Ib., n. 23.

Truly

if

confess, there

Note the

"Non

distinction

which he draws without a

difference.

nego Diabolum Magos et Veneficas instruere inarte

et sortilegiis, quibus saepe homines et jumenta interSed hoc non concedo eas ficiunt aut alias da.rn.na inferunt: excitare mterveniunt quidem tonitrua et posse, tempestates

Magica

horum nihil efficere possunt." Ib., n. 24. Godelmairn's Third Book is devoted to the judicial aspect of 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 throughout 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 Constitution, which they are sworn to observe, and consign to the flames, without discrimination and without legitimate proofs,

sed

THE DELUSION AT

776

HEIGHT

ITS

Also that, as in the persecution of Christians as soon as anyone was accused of Christianity the people shouted, "To the beasts/ now they shout, "To 77 the stake as soon as any woman, however respectable, is After the disputation accused of incantations and veneficia. u de in the University in 1584 held et Veueficis Lamiis," Magis, of Rostock, many of Ms hearers and distant German cities

demented old women.

7

asked him to write out the ordinary process which can be Therefore, after Ms return from Livonia and Poland, he has collected some things from the laws and the Carolina and offers the result for

safely followed in this intricate matter.

consideration.

shows the influence that Bodin exercised that Godelmann Ms first attack against Bodin's dictum (De Magor. " In causis vero crimDaemonomania, lib. iv, c. 3, pp. 347-8) It

directs

inalibus ac in primis in veneficii et sortilegii crimine, ordinariam accusationis viam teneri non oportere, sed potius veritatem quibuscunque modis indagandam esse." Ib., lib. iii, c. 1, n.

19.

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

Chap.

omnibus causis criminalibus, Judices et Scabini (Schoppen) constitutions has semper prae oculis habeant, litigantesque ex iis, ubi petierint instruant, ne ignorantia harum in periculum aliquod incidant." The Carolina provides for prosecutions both by the accusatorial 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 in

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW

777

a sieve or making boys go to church with new shoes well greased with lard or bury things under the threshold of the church 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 the churches in which anyone can put papers with the name of a magus, the act, place, time and names of witnesses. These are opened fortnightly in the presence of a judge or prosecutor and investigation is made as to those accused but he considers this too loose a custom. Ib., n. 7. veneficae, either spontaneously or under torture, at the instigation of the devil, to accuse the leading women of the city of being accomplices. In such cases, where

It is

customary for

there is no proof, the judge can order purgation, which can be 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 This seems to be still current practice belief in its truth. and he gives a formula of the oath from a sentence "1st zu Recht erkannt, moge und wolle gemelte B. ein Eydt zu Gott und auff das heilige Evangelium schweren das sie niemahls mit Zauberey umbgegangen, auch dieselbige nicht zum Schaden 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 prosecute her for perjury, and it does not prevent the judge from subsequently instituting an inquisition if the purgation appears false.

He

Ib., c. 4, nn. 1-12.

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 nothing about 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 examination as true and natural, against Johannes Ewichius and

THE DELUSION AT

778

Hermannus Neuwaldus

(c. 5,

ITS

nn. 1-2).

HEIGHT 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 prohibited. Bodin condemns it (De Mag. Daem., c. 43] 372). So does Damhouder (Pract. Ciim., This common opinion of the doctors is approved by q.v.)all the juridical faculties of the German Universities and judges do wrong who depart from this common opinion.

ordeal Mb. iv,

is

c. 4, p.

Weyer, EwieMus, Neuwald, Lercheimer, all reject this crazy Satan and introtest, and say it is a superstition invented by doubt that a no is There credulous Ms duced by disciples. method is and diabolical this prohibited crazy, judge using liable to prosecution as if he had unjustly thrown one into Ib-, c. 5, nn. 21, 23, 26-30. Scxibonius gives as a reason the satanic lightness of witches' " Satanicam scilicet appellavi a causa efficiente, quod bodies. Satanas justissimo et imperscrutabili Dei judicio sua levitate aut superficie attrahat, tollat, retineatque Sagas in alto

prison.

aquaram. Est enim natura ejus, quam levissima, eum homines quoque per aerem ad loca remotissima ferre et retinere queat, impellere. Cum vero in aere superiore homines 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 ilium corgestans. Vel etiam, si dicerem eas ob inhabitantem n. 31. non levissimum suis Ib., submergi." spiritum poribus Scribonius also adduces the old argument "Aquam Sagas in suum alveumrecipere nolle, propterea quod ilia in Baptismo

abusae sunt." Ibidem. Quotes Carolina 6 and 219 to prove that there must be illfame or verisimilar proofs to justify arrest and imprisonment. Ib., c. 6, n. 4.

Those ignorant and ill-employed judges should be punished who 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.

often happens that the miserable creatures of God, already molested with the assiduous of the devil, by prolonged solitude, the squalor suggestions of the prison, the darkness, the spectres of demons and the butchery of torture, prefer to die rather than to be sent back

Thus

it

veneficae, vel lamiae,

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW and the most

to the rack

filthy caverns of

779

the prisons.

Ib., n. 10.

The reason why imprisoned

sorcerers are unable to injure 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 watched when they do not expect it. Ib., n. 17. is

If the venefica on arrest confesses spontaneously, she is to be condemned. If she denies, she is to be convicted by witnesses. 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 condemnation must be made in court, outside of prison and without cause

for fear of prison or torture. Ivor is it to be acted on

nn. 9-10. there are probable proofs of innocence or without certainty that a crime has been committed. 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., Ib.,

if

n. 12.

There are veneficae who seek death because they despair and are suffering extremely, so that the judge must seek for the innocence of the accused, even though she does not defend Ib., nn. herself, and must hear witnesses for the defence. 15-17. All this contradicts his first assertions.

In fact he adds from Bodin

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

(De Mag. Daem.,

lib. iv, c. 3, p.

sent to the stake. One who confesses and repents before she is accused 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 prosecution for her acts. This is an unexpected concession of Bodin's. is

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 that, as the

is

invalid,

whence he argues

Sabbat and flying through the

air are illusions,

780

THE DELUSION AT

ITS

HEIGHT

is not to accord faith to them. There is no allusion in the Carolina's enumeration of proofs of sorcery. Therefore the prudent prosecutor will not include in Ms interrogatories, "Is it true that the accused was at the

the judge to

them

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 and And in case the confession this even after condemnation. 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 disbut to veneficae, in whom he believes. It is a plea for more

believes,

equitable treatment of all cases of sorcery.

will not hear of sorcery being an says that in the absence of confession recourse must be had to proof. Suspicion and conjectures and 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 and canon law agree that one is insufficient, no matter how high he stands. So if two witnesses depose that they found with the accused a pot filled with toads, hosts, human limbs, wax So if a venefica images transfixed with needles, this suffices. is detected in killing an infant, this is evidence for condemnation, 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 contestes as to time, place and other circumstances. Singular witnesses who tell of different things, so that their evidence cannot be united, do not wholly prove. 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

Godelmann evidently

excepted case.

He

A

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECUL&K IAW

781

threshold after which men or cattle died; another, that he saw a man die suddenly after being touched by the magus, and a third that a man was taken sick after being threatened by him, all the doctors agree that this is full proof as all concern different manifestations of the same crime. Ib., c. 8, nn. 1-15. All this

shows

his credulity.

The testimony of two witnesses convicts without confessionsee Carolina, 6 and 22 though some doctors hold that both are necessary. Ib., n. 16. Witnesses can be compelled to testify not by imprisonment 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 commission another to take evidence. Ib., n. 18. The judge without being asked must give a copy of the articles 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 the case the truth cannot be ascertained without them, but thenevidence must be reinforced by torture. Ib., nn. 27-28.

Then follow a series of formulas or rather specimens of the opening and progress of a trial. Of these perhaps the articles of accusation, which are thrown 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 forbidden 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 many people 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 Walpurgis evening 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

THE DELUSION AT

782

ITS

HEIGHT

her sorcery the meadow and pasture of N. the accuser, so that the greater part of Ms cattle died. cut hair 6. Whether It is not true that X. the accused in her it and accuser the put from the deceased child of N.

bosom. 7. Whether it is not reputed that X. the accused, through the sorcery which she placed under the doorsill of her neighbor N., bewitched the daughter of N., so that she died. son of N., for 8. Whether it is not true that Junker N., the a time was imprisoned on account of disobedience. threaten 9. Whether it is not true that she was heard to his old would as the Junker befall give that such evil would 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 supernatural and

was so investigated as to show that it incurable by doctor or physic.

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 12.

Whether

it is

arrested she several times said,

"Now

is

my

punishment

at

hand." it is not true that she told the watchers who at her night at N. that she would be burnt at N. guarded and would tell her son N. that he was going astray and must

14.

Whether

return.

A

Ib., n. 34.

formula for interrogating a witness indicates that the utmost care was taken to ascertain his character and impartialHe was asked his name, occupation, age and wealth, ity. where he was born and resided, whether he came spontaneously or summoned, whether he considered himself a Christhe sacrament tian, attended church, heard preaching, took 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

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW

783

otherwise, whether lie had any hatred or prejudice against the accused, or was more partial to the side that produced than to her, whether he knew why he was summoned or had seen the articles of accusation, or had been in any way instructed by the side producing him, and a number of other questions to similar effect. Ib., n. 35.

Mm

TMs is evidently concerning witnesses for the prosecution, interrogated on the articles of accusation.

who

are then

Many inexperienced judges now-a-days place faith in the confessions of veneficae implicating their associates, so that without further inquisition they arrest them and, if they do not at once confess at the bidding of the tyrants, they imprison, torture and bum them, thus condemning them on the evidence of a single witness, in which they sin gravely. Quotes Sichardus, who says experience shows that many veneficae will accuse innocent and illustrious persons, either through hope of impunity or out of mere hatred if they must 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, conspiracy, sacrilege, assassination, coining, pimping, etc., and Ib., nn. 2-3. finally magic arts. There are different opinions as to the faith to be reposed

in 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 who hold that it suffices for further inquisition. Then Mascardus who says that it depends on other indicia; if these are very light, it does not suffice for inquisition, if of weight it does, The fourth and most common opinion if urgent, for torture. is 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

THE DELUSION AT

784

ITS

HEIGHT

that the evidence of an accomplice is an indicium for further * indiciis inquisition and for torture, praecedentibus qulbusdam et circumstantiis", not only in excepted but in non-excepted crimes for which see Carolina, 29, 30, 31 providing six preMs associate under requisites: (1) that the accomplice names about ask not does the that special indijudge torture; (2) about all viduals; (3) that the denouncer is interrogated that the and judge circumstances; (4) details, time, place as to any enmity existing between them; (5) that f

inquires

the judge inquires whether the accused venqfica is suspected by neighbors and trustworthy persons; (6) that the accuser the doctors add that she persists in her statement. To these swears that she tells the truth. Ib., nn. 9-22. When the two veneficae discord in mutual denunciations be ascerthey can be confronted, and, if the truth cannot tained otherwise, they are to be mutually tortured in each other's presence.

Ib., nn.

23-24.

under threat of punishand tortured for the arrested be should ment, that anyone denunciation of a magus or wwleficus, but the emperor had in view the diviners called in for cases of theft or to deterIt is true that Carolina 21 forbids,

mine who injured a cow by

sorcery.

Ib., n. 32.

other proofs are lacking and veneficae refuse to conthem "praecedentibus infess, then the judge can torture is requisite, for in diciis/ but here the utmost prudence cannot endure lies he who and lies endure can torture he who the one to hide his guilt and the other to satisfy his tormentors. "And what are we to think of those whom we call Lamiae who confess to what never existed in nature?" Ib.,

When 5

c. 10,

nn. 3-4.

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 Carolina 6, 7, 20. Confession extorted by torture without legitimate indicia is invalid. Judges who hasten to torture without

He gives

are he quotes Carolina discuss to and 44 and (1) flight; (2) threats; 31, proceeds 25, with confession, though extrajudicial (4) magi; (3) consorting Bodin improperly says (iv, c. 4, p. 366), "Confessionem extrajudicialem in aliis criminibus sufficere ad quaestionem, in hoc ad condemnationem" (true to his disbelief in witches, Godel-

them are punishable. As to what these

;

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 her house 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 mulierem sagam esse fertur, earn sagam esse praesumptlo est vehemen"Certe tissima," but conjoined with some indicia. in aliis criminibus ex jure non potest quisquain ob communem ;

.

.

.

famam quaestioni subjiei.") And some doctors hold, as Bartolus, Brunus and Menochius, that in crimes difficult of UI proof fame alone suffices. (11) If on arrest she exclaims, 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 rigid authors

this

deem

he omits the various

sufficient for torture,

trifling things

which the more

They may be found

in Bodin,

lib. iv, c. 4.

Quotes Carolina 58 that the extent and repetition of torture is at the discretion of the judge, according to circumstances and says nothing about its customary abuse, showing that 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 who tortures an innocent person. Some say the talio, others an action for injuries, others an extraordinary penalty. But most agree that one who maliciously tortures to death, without 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

THE DELUSION AT

786

ITS

HEIGHT

punished according to the circumstances of the case, or may Ib., n. 53. Justify himself before the next higher authority. The proof of torture and even of unjust torture is easy; the presumption is in favor of the accused and the judge

must 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 we hear 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 days notice before execution, in order to prepare for death. Ib., c. 11, n. 4. 7

The

Carolina,

c.

109, prescribes death

by

fire

when

injury

has 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 great or small, by sorcery is punished with the sword. The laws of the city of Worms say that sorcery and divination, against Christian faith, shall be visited with death or corporal punishment. 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 or with exile. Ib., n. 31.

is

punished arbitrarily

Lamiae may confess possible things, such as killing men and beasts by sorcery, and then without doubt under the Carolina 109 they are to be burnt; or they confess impossibilities, 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 pact with the demon, for which on the repentant an extraordinary penalty 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, scourged and 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 To which he replies that secret thoughts It is not successful. are 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

punishable variably according to the 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 punished 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 is

respect and quality

of the cases.

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 punishment. Their actions and passions are like those of sleepers or 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, promising liberal support and to bring them food and drink from the cellars and kitchens of others. The repentance of lamiae should not also be punalso diminishes the offence. 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

Why

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.

THE DELUSION AT

788

ITS

HEIGHT

All very well and very humane, but to what does it amount? How many were 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 obtaining the adoption of his views, the saving of life would have been imperceptible. Still it was something in those days, however illogical the attempt, to deny

the higher absurdities of the current delusions, and it required some independence 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 "Non

as a popular saying

:

audet stygius Pluto tentare quod audet monachus plenaque fraudis anus." Lib.

Effrenis

i,

c. 7, n.

35.

Tractates duo: De Exceptionibus et sen Torturis Reorum. Francofurt ad M., 1730. Quaestionibus

ZANGEE, JOHANN.

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 Inquisition 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, crimina vindieat et de iis inqulrit, uti facere debet (alias ut conscius 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: Communicationem hanc fieri debere per responsionem rei praesentationes testium et lecturam depositionum coram reo, postquam coram interrogatus fuit si quid habeat ad reprobandum praesentes testes. Cum quo concordat Electoris Augusti (Augustus the Pious, 1553-86) sacratissimae memoriae Ordinatio Anno 79 Curiarum Provincialium Assessoribus et Quaestoribus insinuata. 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 GerichtsPersonen 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

quos ordine juris servato inquiritiir non dubitatur quin advocatus nomine inquisiti comparere Tib. Dec. in tr. crim. ubi ait cogendum esse Advopossit. 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 denunciante fama vel deferente elamore, debitum sui officii exequitur. 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, alios reos attinet, contra

3

?

saneivit: Quaestores et reliquos magistratus, qui jurisdictione faabent superiore nruniti sunt (Nam quod attinet ad eos qui diversum die placuit) Ert>-Gerichte, inferiorem, jurisdictionem ex officio debere, si accusatores non adsint et de

procedere

delicto certo constet, do kein Kldger vorhanden und die That Volunt autem interpretes hoc accipiendum esse, offeribar. 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, the blind, pregnant women until forty days after childbirth, obtain not did this But etc. the and the deaf insane, dumb, "excipiuntur et delicta nefanda dictu," Of these there were many, including including majestas. "maleficii sive stryges." Ib., c. 1, nn. 33-66. "Indicia sufficientia debent praecedere torturam" and confession extorted by torture does not prejudice without found. them, even though sufficient indicia are subsequently

in excepted crimes

-Ib.,

c. 2,

nn. 7,

9, 10,

indicia are classed "praesumptio, conet suspicio" by common consent of the a Carolina, cc. 19, 25. The evidence of

But under the term jectura,

signum

doctors and by c. 30). single witness suffices (Carolina, Threats are an indicium. Ib., n. 44.

Ib.,

nn. 13-16.

THE DELUSION AT

790

ITS

HEIGHT

He includes sorcery among the excepted crimes for which the accused under torture can be questioned as to associates. Ib., n. 73.

Common fame

Is an indicium, if it is strong and proceeds from 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 U " Don't torture I am undone/ or arrest exclaims, me, I will tell the truth/' or takes leave of family and servants, begging their pardon, or if she cannot shed tears, or fixes her eyes on the 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 summoned to justice, and when one breaks prison and escapes. 7

Ib., nn. 86-95. If the accused varies in

Ms statements or is detected in a nn. 96-100. Ib., 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, H. C. L.). Ib., nn. 116-25. etc.; hardly refers to witchcraft Evil character of one living in or near the scene of a crime. (Not applicable. H. C. L.) Ib., nn. 126-7.

falsehood.

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 mitted.

Ib., nn. 143-5.

is

com-

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 homines suis incantationibus interfeeerint, pecora occiderint ant eisdem damna hactenus intulerint, aut quod ludis diabolcis et

rem Veneream cum Diabolo habuermoverint aut int, tempest at es, pluvias, tonitraa, granclinem, pruinam aliave meteora produxerint, aut effecerint sterilitatem, 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 choreis interfuerint, aut

3

male sanis eonceptibus prodeuntia." Ib. n. 194. And again, "Est enim maleficium seu sortilegium delictum nefandum et exceptum; in criminibus vero exceptis noroinationem socii faeere indicium ad torturam, docui supra (nn. 47?

Nee 51), quod multis confirmat Petrus Binsfeldius. Constitutio, in art. 21" refragatur huic Dd. decision! Caroli (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, .

.

.

V

qui est pater mendacii, intelligant." Ib., n. 195. Then he goes on to detail the indicia appertaining to special Those concerning maleficia, I haye elsewhere, under crimes. But then he goes on to quote approv"Protestant Belief.' and Binsfeld what are indicia for sorcery from Bodin ingly and witchcraft which are rather proofs, for he says, "cum in hisce causis probationes esse debeant luce meridiana clariores" Thus, if she is found in possession of "venena mala (n. 199). 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 man 7

has followed.

It is

the same

if

possessing toads, or hostias, or

one reputed a witch

human

limbs, or

is

found

wax images

THE DELUSION AT

792

ITS

HEIGHT

or a signed compact pierced with needles, or a dead infant, with the devil, or if she is seen to touch an enemy and he fails dead or is attacked with elephantiasis, twisting of limbs, invokes a demon apoplexy or sudden disease. Also if a witch

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 or flies in the air all eyes, bewitching harvests and cattle, 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 itidem fama (which I have H. C. L.), which says, "quern delectetur eique adhaerescat, vulgi pro mago et qui magia it is manifest which from ferat" 200), (n. coEaudet, excusat, and evident seem indicia permanent, these may although that, is fama they are in no way indicia for torture unless there other some is or there or wizard a is that he or she witch, 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 whose benefit or excellent, originating with trustworthy men if it starts from, enemies, For involved not is 202). (n. injury torture can scarce be applied, even if there are the above named indicia (n. 203). Moreover, there are often presumptions for the torture of those accused of magic, such as familnotable peculiarities iarity with certain and convicted magi;

change of abode, especially when accomplices have been arrested (Binsfeld) ; or proffering its aid or asserting knowlto teach magic offering 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, or elves, and flies without

in religious observances;

witches

know that

5 '

superstitions restores the sick to health. Binsfeld holds that if one frequently uses the name of the demon or customarily curses children or animals in the name of the devil, it is an indicium ad torturani. In of truth, no one is subject to torture on the mere evidence

completing

it,

or

by magic

nor for these presumptions unless there is mala fama is a (n. 204) nor from them can it be inferred that anyone "Nisi maleficus, as a probable or necessary consequence. ergo mala fama ejus, qui magiae accusatur, vel alia indicia fact,

;

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECUULB LAW

793

eoncurrant, question! locus esse non debet" (n. 205). Binsfeid and Bodin enumerate many indicia, partly belonging to this general category, such as evil physiognomy inconsistency and contradiction, trembling fear, flight, fame, threats followed 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.

dub. 1 and in 1. fin. de indie, crim. malef., and Reiny in lib. ii Daemonolat. (n. 206).

7,

indicio 15, 16;

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 Binsto restrain the feld, but he evidently has no faith in them and endeavors barbarity of the judges by rendering repute indispensable and limiting that as much as possible.

Responsum Juris in Causa DASSEL, HABTWIG VON. Poenali Maleficarum Win$iensium 80 Junii 1597. Franeof. y

ad Oderam, 1698.

Some without

(First ed., Hamburg, 1597.) witches tried at Winsen (Limburg) endured torture confession. Hartwig von Dassel is asked for an

whether witches opinion, which he gives on the three points 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 incomparable 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 torture. There were indications on account of which they were tortured.

The

them as

was that other witches,

strongest of these

executed in various places of the associates in

district, severally

accused

many malefitia and pacts with the devil,

THE DELUSION AT

794

ITS

HEIGHT

stating in unison the acts and circumstances, so that it seemed scarce credible that these witches could be innocent. But the evidence of those witches is of slender importance, as they asserted facts in which they were themselves deceived and deluded by the devil, such as renouncing God, connection with ineubi, flying together to assemblies, drinking, dancing and the like, but all this is untrue, though believed by wicked women seduced by the illusions of demons as set forth in

That

Cap. Episcopi.

(De J.

Subtil.

,

also

phantasmic has been demonMartinus de Aries, Jerome Cardan

and

De

all this is

strated by Ponzinibio lib. xviii,

Varietate, lib. xv, c. 60) c. 26) and Wierus nn. 4-6. Ib.,

Bapt. Porta (Magia naturals,

Praestig., lib.

AH

this

ii,

c.

taken back

The same

is

31).

and (De

see below.

to be said of

commerce with

incubi,

an

illusion

often occurring even with virtuous matrons, as shown by Martin of Aries and Cardan and copiously demonstrated by Wierus (lib. ii, c. 33 sqq.)- Such being the case, "non video

quo

jure, nisi

summo, quod summa etiam injuria dicitur, poenam mortis, adeoque ignis (quae

praefatae veneficae ad

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 under torture. Perhaps it might be argued that in the case of witches these rules may be neglected, but this is not so. From all 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 friendThen, that so ship and conversation with other witches.

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 indicium for torture. Third, they at first denied that this crime had been imputed to them by any reputable persons and then they admitted that it had been, which variation and fama

are an important support for torture. And it appears that the fama against them was vehement, and this itself is sufficient for torture. But this was purged by the torture without confession, which overcame aH the indicia against them, and it would seem that there was nothing to do except to acquit and discharge them. Ib., nn. 22-25. Still this opinion is not universally held and the common practice is, when torture does not bring confession, to absolve the accused "ab ilia instantia, non autem definitive a delicto, sed it a 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.

instantia, which I have not understood, like the "suspension" of the Spanish Inquisition.

This explains the ohsoliMo db It is

much

But notwithstanding all the above,

it is

to be decided wholly

otherwise, for "ex pluribus indiciis simul junctis result et sufficiens 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 they cherish 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. the fact that and indubitable strong And, if indicia are so can scarce be denied, the judge can pass capital sentence. 7

can be made indubitable by the quality and number be seen in this case. For there and vehement constant and is old fama that the prisoners are for torture. Also well known suffices alone which witches, are 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,

And

it

of the indicia, as is plainly to

THE DELUSION AT

796

ITS

HEIGHT

as is specified fully in the case (if it were not true) and, though the assertions of an accomplice do not make indicium for torture, yet in this crime there is not required the presumpa tion necessary in others, sed sufficit qualisqualis (any kind 17 be said in this case that the assertion It of) suspicio. may 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 women deluded 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 prison and 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 accusation on the way to execution, though specially exhorted by the 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 quin Et magis in specie satis probatum sit esse nocentes. quod tales mulieres quae in tormentis nihil sunt confessae et tamen deprehensum in eis maleficium taciturnitatis, ex quo lacrymare non potuerunt et quae sunt diffamatae nee non familiaritatem habuerunt cum aliis maleficis et ab illarum pluribus delatae fuerunt, per judicem saecularem igni possunt .

adjudieari" 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

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW

797

modo purgata dici per torturam, cum ex lachrymare non valentes, maleficium tacitumitatis prodiderint atque fidem indieionim auxerint." vel indicia aliquo eo,

quod

tortae,

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 can be condemned to the stake, but the doctors say that on such indubitable indicia alone, without confession, no one should be capitally condemned. It is at the discretion of the judge what 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) Sic etiam incarcerata non potent evadere et nocere, quia divina justicia tune non pennittit daemoni naturalem potentiam exercere in carceratis, ne forte judices et officiates curiosi videntes manifesta signa liberations invitentur ad sequendam sceleratam illorum professionem." ' l

.

Ib., n. 58.

We would not hasten to condemn, but try various methods to obtain confession, even by repetition of torture, for, though all the doctors say that new indicia are requisite for repetition, yet they commonly admit that, if torture has been insufficient, it may be repeated and, if we consider the custom of judges, they repeat it indifferently without new indicia. authorities hold that, when the indicia are very urgent, torture can be repeated, and, however this may be, the judge in the present case cannot err in repeating the torture, for the witches seem not to have been sufficiently tortured and the 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 considered, however, that there may be in the second torture the

some

Some

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 dispose them 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,

torturing them,

they should be kindly treated and, before should make them change all their

women

THE DELUSION AT

798

ITS

garments and wash or stave their

HEIGHT

hair.

Then, after tying

to the instruments, the> should be loosened and persuaded to confess and led to hope that they will not be put to death. If this fails, they should be tortured at first lightly T

them

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.

he recommends a device in the Malleus which Is to send them separately to distant

all this,

Failing

(P. Ill, q. xvi), the castellan will pretend to be absent, when some course of talk respectable women are introduced who in the castles;

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 will ask the accused for

causing a tremendous hailstorm. The castellan was lying concealed where he heard everything and she was thus convicted.

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 frequent use in our parts of Saxony. Indeed it is everywhere in frequent use, but only among the ignorant vulgar. It is forbidden and fell out of use, but is reviving, among other old superstition superstitions. Proof by ordeal is a double sin

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 icum." illegal

If

frigidae tanquam opus diabolused as an indicium for torture, the torture is

and any confession extracted by

it is

invalid.

The

witches do not sink is that the demon supports them, for though he usually seeks to prevent their convic-

reason

why

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAB LAW tion

and

confession

and repentance,

in this case

lie is

799 willing

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. to lose

The

length of the discussion on this shows the Importance which the

water ordeal was assuming.

"Quare nunc conclusio totius Responsi est, that the judge should use every effort to obtain confessions and have them ratified, when the witches are to be sentenced to the customary penalty of fire. If he is unable to do this, they are not to be discharged, but to be perpetually imprisoned; when worn out with the squalor perhaps they may confess, or new proofs 1J

may supervene by which they may be clearly convicted, and then the judge will have enough for what he should do. Ib., n. 90.

Dat. Luneburg. Ultimo Junii Thus

confession

die,

Anno

1597.

necessary in the absence of absolute proof, but with it 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 scholastic

is

away by stronger Summae.

ones on the other

like the process in the old

is noteworthy to see how the Malleus continued to he cited as authoreven in Saxony, presumably Protestant. Ltineburg is in Lower Saxony now Hanover.

It

ity,

COTHMANN, EBNST.

Responsum Juris [16?].

law at Rostock, was a distinguished jurist of the Cothmann, early seventeenth century, died 1624. In Adam Volkmann Schonbach's Peinlicher Process (Goslar, 1624) is printed a consultation of his on a witchcraft case submitted to him, which absolved the accused. It is minute and conscientious and is remarkable not only for the enlightened views which it takes, but further as indicating the reckless methods customary, which brought to the stake so many thousand innocents. He does not dispute the reality of sorcery (except the Sabbat) and bases his argument on juridical grounds, for which he cites ample authorities. It is printed, with some omissions, in Hauber's Bibl. Magic., II, p. 217-55. professor of

He begins by pronouncing the whole process to be void on account 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 process had 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 proceeding 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 the body process. In such cases, no less than in other crimes, and life are involved, or torture and suffering, and it is of the highest necessity that every step of procedure shall be is carefully observed and cautiously applied, for the crime 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, commencing 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 witness must state the time at which it arose and this must be (2) That previous to the commencement of the prosecution. the 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 illfame arises. (7) He must himself be a man of good fame and (8) The ill-fame must arise not from persons conrepute. cerned in the affair, but from others. (9) The fame must arise from the crime to be proved (that is, sorcery in general) and not from other ones. (10) The fame must be complete and real, not trifling, variable or contradictory. Even when

these 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 mala fama (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 deposed anything in accordance with the above requisites. Finally, there is the good name of the accused, proved by such 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. There is no indicium when it occurs after procedure has commenced 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 fugitive has 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 against the liar. But if the depositions of the accused are examined with the sharpest and most unfriendly eyes, there can be found no certain untruth concerning the crime, but only about 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 only

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 confrontaavails

This does not justify torture, although a torture, provided the inquisition has been rightfully conducted otherwise, not. tion with witnesses.

wanton contumacy might move a judge to VOL.

n

51

THE DELUSION AT

802

ITS

HEIGHT

this does not apply when obedience would injure Mm, for would be to impede the defence (pp. 245-6). The sixth indicium, drawn from accomplices, is of no importance. It is clearly the law that the confession or assertion of accomplices is not an indicium ad torturam. The accomplice does not say that the accused is a sorcerer or has committed sorcery j but that he saw him at night on the Blocksberg "quod testimonium propter impossibilitatem falsum est"

But

this

(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 and is a woman and thus of little weight (pp. 246-7).

The

eighth indicium, that the accused purchased poison, it and kept it with him, makes indeed a presumption for torture but is insufficient firstly because it is an indicium a veneficii crimine remotum, and secondly because the poison can 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 have taken the poison had had no poison and that in his cure no antidotes 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 pears were repeatedly given to the man, but that he did not die of

prepared

?

,

,

them

(p. 248). Lastly, the tenth indicium, derived from the confession of the witch under torture, can easily be disposed of. For, although the testimony of an accomplice creates a presumption, yet this is single and, when there are no other indicia, is insuf-

ficient for torture; is

the

they must be weighty and urgent.

common opinion of the doctors, even in excepted

This

crimes,

which the accomplice can be legally interrogated. But that the evidence of an accomplice make an indicium it must be a 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 impossibilities, for he says he has seen him dance on the Blocksberg, in

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAV

803

is to be deemed a wicked fant asm and devil's work, condemned by the Word of God (for this he cites Cap. Episcopi, 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

which

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 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-

that

dence was given outside of torture. Moreover, the accused 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 accused appears that nothing has been proved against the tortured can be he which 248-51). for (pp.

is free

This long and labored and somewhat contradictory argument shows how evidence of accomplices. important and intricate was the question as to the

there are indicia for the defence, there must be him to condemn stronger, clearer and surer indicia against 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

When

and repute has pronouncing him innocent. A good name such force that it destroys ill-fame (which is not proved in this case), so that proof of good repute in general wholly There are some, overcomes ill-fame proved in special. in specie cannot fame that hold who proved good however, overcome ill-fame of another kind. Finally, the doctors unani-

THE DELUSION AT

804

ITS

HEIGHT

mously assert that a good name overcomes aE indicia sufficient for torture (pp. 251-2). it can be As, in this case, good repute was proved in specie, so extends this and said that the ill-fame wholly disappears

good repute proved by a few witnesses overcomes fame proved by many (p. 252).

far that

ill-

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

A

(p. 253).

A third proof is that, although the judge summoned innumerable 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 atrocious crime of sorcery the witnesses should have been wholly What he^ goes irreproachable and subject to no exceptions. 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 made to 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.

GOLD AST, MELCHIOR. Rechtliches Bedencken von Confiscaund Hexen-Guther. Bremen, 1661.

tion der Zauberer

read of an occurrence "im verschienen Sommer des 1630 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.

On p.

Jahrs." 1

117

we

This

is

He has no doubts as to the reality of witchcraft, which is properly punishable with death. Negligent magistrates who That, at least as a legal opinion, it was known thus early would seem assured paragraph, evidently addressed to the Abp. -Elector of Trier: "Das 1st allso was auff Ewer Churfurstlichen Gnaden gnadigstes Begehren ich vor diesem in meinem underthanigsten Rechtlichen Bedencken, nach meinem beaten Wissen und 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." 1

by

its closing

.

.

,

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW

805

be punished. The to this and the as should see supreme imperial jurisdiction "Kayserlicher Fiscal" should take action against them. Ib.,

do not labor

for Its eradication, should

p. 79.

The provisions of the Carolina are insufficient and vague and are variously Interpreted. The Elector August of Saxony felt 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 adopted in the Churfurstiiche Pf altzische Policey-Ordnung, the Is assau-

Dillenburgische Policey-Ordnung, the Holsteln-Schauenburgische PoKeey-Ordnung, the FiirstHche Bambergische Hals-Gerichts-Ordnung, the FiirstHche HessischeOrdnung und Reformation 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 Abraham Saurius* 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 Ib., p. 85. especial command. Therefore those, whether Catholic or Protestant, are wholly wrong who teach that witches and sorcerers who give themselves 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 These deny that sorcerers and witches church-discipline. 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 is imperial laws confirm and the holy fathers affirm, and It and sun the as examples. demonstrated as clearly by experience Ib., pp. 93-4.

In support of this he quotes from the Schauenburg PoliceyOrdnung 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 p. 103. It is true that in

sword.Ib.,

Naples, Sicily

some Catholic places, such as Rome, and Spain, where this crime is subject to the

THE DELUSION AT

806

ITS

HEIGHT

and spiritual courts^ only those who are obstinate their guilt (of which they are convicted) are put to death, while those who confess and abjure the devil and are released to their friends with swear to abandon Inquisition

and deny

Mm

penance. But this is not practiced in Germany, France and elsewhere where the civil power undertakes to punish these crimes. There, all who confess their misdeeds, either voluntarily 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 confirming it with torture. And it is much to be desired that in some places more caution and delay were used with the poor women and not so swiftly proceeded to torture on a simple denunciation. 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 disturbance of spirit and have abolished, where articles 1 are read to the accused before torture, leading poor weak women in the torture to repeat and affirm what they have thus been

And pious old priests have, with heartfelt grief and complained to me their deep concern as to whether innocent 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 told.

sighs,

witches is witnessed by the experienced jurists whose numerous 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 Delation em ex confessionibus Sagarum non sufficere ad cap-

turam,

nedum ad

torturam," Niellius, Melander, Lercheimer, 1

I. e. of

accusation

the charges.

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAB LAW

807

Rittershusius, Pet. Wesembec., Torreblanca (lib. iii, e. 19, 37 and c. 20, n. 35, q.v.) and Albrecht. He argues against those who hold that the Carolina punishes only the misdeeds and not the renunciation of God. In n.

he quotes Protestant authorities. Thus Joan. Brentius ? Luther's colleague, in Ms Pericop. Evangel., P. II, written seven years after the Carolina (1540?) says, "Hie est obserthis

vandum quod

leges puniant incantatiiees ? non quod ipsae possunt pro sua libidine elementa turbare, sed quod tradiderunt sese totas Satanae et Spiritum Satanae ita hauserantj ut non concipiant nisi hominum exitia, putentque se facere quod, permittente Deo, a Satana fit. Quare leges puniunt hanc impietatem et incredulitatem in incantatricibus, non quod 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 BL Creuz and senior of the Evangelical Ministry of Augsburg, in his Tractatus de Magia, that it is evident that witches renounce 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 was named Casperle Unfried. On account of such apostasy they are properly punished in body and life as God's enemies. .

Ib.,

.

.

pp. 112-4.

As concerns conversion, amendment and must come from hearing God's word and the

repentance, it exhortation of

preachers, before falling into the hands of justice; it must be of free-will and without pressure or fear of punishment, with contrition for past sins and abandonment of sinful life. Before the judge, repentance is too late; no mercy is to be expected but punishment, as both spiritual and secular law rightfully decree. 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 prejudice the rights of the secular courts. Such judgment and indulgence are only as to culpa, and not as to poena temporalis, which the secular magistrate preserves for all evil deeds performed, 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 DELUSION AT

808

HEIGHT

ITS

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 and church discipline to be imposed by the spiritual court-, should be spared the ordinary punishment of witchcraft, provided she has done no evil deeds, for such a one is to be regarded as an apostate. But

she has wrought evil by her sorcery and 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 Ib., p. 116. deeds, to serve as a warning. Such a case occurred in the summer of 1630 at Philipsthal in the province of Trier, where the widow of a peasant, after confessing to her son and afterwards to a priest, presented herself to the court, made a full confession of her evil pracif

freely places herself in the

which was duly pro to colled, and threw herself upon the mercy of the judges, and gave security to appear again when summoned. She came at the appointed time, when the sentence was that, without being touched by the executioner, she should go to the Platz before the Rath-Haus, be stripped there and beheaded, after which her friends might give her Christian burial, all of which was duly accomplished.

tices,

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 incubus like those in the Spanish Inquisition with a more tragic result. But the effect of such a case in confirming belief in witchcraft must have been considerable.

At present the custom with us is that the obstinate, impenitent witch is burnt alive, with a bag of powder hanging to the neck, 1 in case her crimes do not require harsher punishment. 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 confiscat bona. 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 TJebelthater lebendig mit dem Feuer mit Sckwefel und Pulver umbhanget oder auch wohl ohne dieaelbe . . werden.' gerichtet '

.

.

.

.

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW

809

It prevails throughout France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Savoy, Flanders, Lorraine, Provence, Tyrol, Alsace,

Spain, etc. Ib., pp. 130-1. But, to check abuses, Theodoric in Ravenna and Justinian restricted it to majesia and some other cases. This was

confirmed by Maximilian I in 1505 and by Charles V in 1532. it is very curious that in the Carolina, art. 218, 6 is unintelligible "Item, an etlichen Orten, so ein Uebelthater ausserhaib des Lasters der Beleydigung Unser Majestatt, oder sonst in andern Fallen, so der Uebelthater Leib und Guth

But

nicht verwiircket, vom Leben zum Todt gestraffet, Weib und Kinder am Bettelstab, und das Guth dem Herrn zugewiesen werden." Some legists construe this as restricting confiscation 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 concludes that 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 delinquens et bona sinrul amisit) mortis suppHcio afficitur, uxor et mendicitati dimittuntur, bona autem Dominis adjudicantur". Ib., p. 141. Yet, in spite of this clear declaration, there are still some jurists so obstinate as to hold that Charles V forbade confiscation except in majestas. The real meaning of the passage is that there are other crimes subject to confiscation. This may be adjudged by any competent authority, but the confiscations belong to the lord. Ib., pp. 143-4. He goes on to enumerate twenty-one excepted crimes, leav-

vitam liberi

little from confiscation, and descending even to bigamy and incestuous marriage. Of course heresy comes in arguing from 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 canonists 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, excepto

ing

laesae majestatis, confiscationem in caeteris esse." Ib., p. 161. the common opinion of jurists, of Catholic theologians

criminae

[sic]

omnibus casibus abolitam It is

THE DELUSION AT

810

ITS

HEIGHT

of part of the Protestant preachers, that punished with, not only death but confiscation;

and canonists and sorcery

is

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 1 as it may in some places, still in the German Empire, France

and Spain confiscation is enforced. Ib., p. 166. Argues away Deut. xxiv, 16, and Ezekiel xviii, which forbid 7

refers punishing children for fathers sins, insisting that this to eternal punishment. Ib., p. 168. Also argues away similar prescriptions of the Roman law. Ib., p. 169.

German law: "Niemand soil mit zweyRuthen geschlagen, noch mit zweyfacher Straff e beleget

Also the ancient f acher

werden.

35

Ib., p. 171.

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 papal camera and the other to the Inquisition; sometimes the Inquisition 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 jurisdictions, some legists hold that the lord of each place seizes what is in his land. Others say that only that is confiscated

Then

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

which

The object of the to seize the confiscations. 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 empowered offenders

is

to gain

1

"Im

Heil.

Rom. Reich Teutscher Nation."

SECULAR LAW

WITCHCBAFT AS VIEWED BY

811

own uses, but employ It to restore the losses of those who have 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 when the wife alone has sinned, nor the wife's when the husband is 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

TMs

last is

saepe fit

summa

injuria.

Ib.,

pp. 177-8.

very suggestive of the abuses of confiscation.

GOEHAUSEN, HERMANN. Processus Juridicus contra Sagas Veneficos. Das ist: RechtUcher Process wie man gegen Unholdten und Zauberische Persemen verfahren soil. Una cum Decisionet

Bint elii-adibus Quaestionum ad hanc materiam pertineniium 1 Yisurgim, 1630. TMs work shows the influence commencing to check the .

widespread slaughter. In his preliminary remarks, he quotes Father Tanner with approbation and earnestly cautions judges not to commence prosecutions except under urgent necessity, for we see how, when once begun, they multiply until there is no end to them. If among ten or twenty guilty there 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 community and involves the innocent with the guilty in a common deluge. In this way we see with grief in some places nearly all the women absumptas esse, with disgrace to the Catholic religion. The excessive zeal of judges in obtaining denuncia1 As has been pointed out on p. 688 above, the title and text of Goehausen's book are borrowed from a PTOCBSSUS Juridicus of 1629 ascribed to the Jesuit Paul Laymann and the title-page of the present work makes only its "editor and reviser" But his Latin notae and condusiones attached, chapter by (edidit et recensuit). chapter, 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 Proces8U8 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 impossible that Goehausen may 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-

Wm

;

born, where witch-persecution was raging. Goehausen's preliminary matter and whole handling of his German text seems to imply a closer relation thaa that of

hia

an

editor.

B.

THE DELUSION AT

812

ITS

HEIGHT

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 witchcraft are already convicted, but should believe that they may be 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 an advocate 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 judge in 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 accomplices and letting them eat and drink together and posting secret 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 confession 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 hands, by Protestants as well as by Catholics. That there is sexual intercourse is commonly denied by Protestants, but he 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 other animal or to pass through closed doors and windows. Id., Decisiones aliquot Quaestionum ad hanc materiam pertinenall

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 acknowledges his error, convinced that it is a reality and that this is the common opinion of Catholic doctors and jurisconsults. Ib., q. is

4 (pp. 55-64).

But even those who believe it an illusion admit that there real pact with the demon and true apostasy. Ib., p. 62.

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW

813

He

discusses a case submitted to the faculty of Rinteln in girl of nine was trained as witch by her stepmother, carried to the Sabbat and had intercourse with the demon

which a

assigned to her, all of which she described in exact detail. It was argued that capital punishment would be mercy, as she would grow up hated and shunned and forced into evil courses, with the stake at the inevitable end, but the conclusion was that she should be scourged with rods, be made to 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. The Collegium Scabmomm Lipsiensium, of which he was a member, was the only body, he tells us, authorized to render final decisions in the Saxon Electorate. He is said in his long judicial career to have signed no less than His Practica Rerum Crimindium, originally 20,000 death-sentences. issued in 1635, was long the leading authority on criminal jurisprudence. edition is that of 1670.

My

Crimes are classified; atrocious ones are punished with simple death; very atrocious ones with a more cruel death. Thus sodomy, arson, sorcery, counterfeiting, heresy, with death 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 be used thrice. Besides, "Notissimum est quod in delictis atrocissimis propter criminis Ib., n. It

was a

the same

68

enormitatem jura transgredi

liceat."

(p. 16).

cruel age and,

class, this

if

more

than to other crimes of to the terror felt for it.

so to witchcraft

may be ascribed

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-

THE DELUSION AT

814

ITS

HEIGHT

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 procedures, he says: "Cui incommodo per processum inquisitoriuxn faciiime subveniri poterit, si nempe judex absque multis ambagibus per viam inquisitionis summarie procedet et absque longo Mtis sufflamine, habita sufficienti causae .

.

.

cognitione et delicti certitudine, poenam delinquent! irroget et in terrorem aliorum exemplum statuat." Ib., n. 43 (p. 23).

What was wanted was

speedy conviction, without taking too

much

trouble to avoid injustice.

He

proceeds to cite a number of decrees, from the Carolina 1532 to one of the Elector of Saxony in 1612, to prove that this is the law of the Electorate. Ib., nn. 44-51 (pp. of

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 ipsemet crimine 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 ?

Ib., n. 54 (p. 24). In places where the inquisitorial process is rarely used there is a fiscal who serves as an accuser, so that the judge may not seem to be both accuser and judge. But in our lands there 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 must answer 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.

1632.

;

Ib., nn. 34, 39, 40, 41 (p. 39). All this is the case even when the accused chains. Ib., n. 53 (p. 41).

is

a prisoner

in

And

it applies to women. Ib., n. 58 (p. 41). Kindred not admitted to defend except in cases of absence But the inquisitorial process cannot be em(n. 35, p. 39). ployed against the absent. When the accused is hidden or a fugitive, the only penalty for contumacy is the ban or pro-

scription.

There

is

Ib., q. cvii, n.

63

(p. 63).

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 the Ordin. Polit. It is provided that in doubtful cases they shall consult the Seabini or await a rescript from the Elector which was not without cause, for it was known that much

abuse of the kind existed.

Ib., nn.

19-21 (p. 58). not applicable to all offences, but only to atrocious crimes, leaving it to the discretion of the 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. Then from the indicia the judge must be certain of the person of the accused. The judge must be competent (have competent jurisdiction H. C. L.). The accused is arrested and imprisoned. The articles of inquisition are drawn up, to which the accused replies, a competent record being made. If he denies, the witnesses are sworn in his presence, if the crime and evidence justify torture. The accused presents his defence; his witnesses are summoned and examined, for which full opportunity must be given. The Acta are then sent to the Collegium Scabinoram, whose decision is to be strictly obeyed, whether of condemnation, of purgatorial oath or of torture. Ib., nn. 72-8 (p. 65), This skeleton is filled up by subsequent details " Ad quam

The

inquisitorial process

is

inquisitionem levia sufficiunt indicia, modo aliquem colorem habeant et talia sint ut judicem probabiliter in suspicionem commissi 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 must make himself certain before he institutes the special inquisition (nn. 3-4 p. 67).

By which

this general inquisition the corpus delicti is established, is a condition precedent. As to this there has been

much 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 can view 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

THE DELUSION AT

816 Is

Torture

is

HEIGHT

not necessary that the corpse be prohidden. be Ib., nn. 9-16 (pp. 67-8). may confession alone is lacking when used to be only

necessary, but

duced, for it

ITS

for conviction.

it is

Ib. ? n. 17 (p. 68).

For punishment, even

if

the accused has confessed or been

indida convicted, proof of the corpus delictiis indispensable; 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 7

Ib., n. 26 (p. 69). In homicide cases there must be evidence that the wounds were mortal. Ib., n. 31 (p. 70).

crime.

occultis et difficilis [these rules are limited] "in delictis etc. De quorum corpore in ut soriHegio, haeresi, probationis, In these sufficit constare per conjecturas et certa indicia."

But

"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

leave no trace, as (nn. 33-4, p. 70). Also in crimes which are punishadultery, incest, etc. (n. 36). Also in those which nn. 39-40 death the (p. 71). Ib., able with less than penalty. The verification or identification of the individual also

43-9 (p. 72). 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 necessary.

While

Ib., nn.

ill-fame,

(p. 73).

The denunciation of an accomplice, without other presumpan inquiry, especially if he is crimes with other "infected" 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

tions, is insufficient to start

what indicia suffice for commencing prosecution and also for But in doubtful cases they should consult the torture. Collegium Scabinorum. Ib., nn. 60-1 (p. 74). In Germany all dukes,, marquises, counts and others holding directly of the Empire have the same jurisdiction as the emperor.

Ib., q. cix, n.

7 (p. 76).

territory has its own uses and customs and is subthe to Ib., n. 14 (p. 77). ject legislation of its ruler. In Saxony, a special inquisition on greater and scandalous

Each

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW

81?

crimes could only be formed by a judge (Oberrichter) holding haute justice die Obergerichte. Ib.. n. 18 (p. 77). The distinction between crimes attributable to the Gbergerichte 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 haute et basse. specifying Ober or Nied&r is held to grant 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, tenebraSj etc.," the judge should be cautious not to proceed to it hastily and unduly hold the innocent. He can be punished for unjust imprisonment. Ib., q. cxi, nn. 2, 3 (p. 95). As there are many things not definable by law concerning Ib., n. 4 (p. 95). this, it is left to the discretion of the judge. 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 Ib., n. 21 (p. 97). prison. 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-

Mm

?

quae judex pro arbitrio sufficientia existimaverit." 22 (p. 97). The Carolina (Leges Capitales Carol!) c. 18 sqq., admits the impossibility of defining this, but seeks to give some serint, Ib., n.

,

general rules for guidance.

"Sufficiant probabilia indicia

quae colorem aliquem veritatis habent, licet sint leviora quam Ib., nn. 24, 25 ut ex iisdem ad torturam deveniri queat." (p. 97). '

'Praeterea aliter procedendum est in delictis occultis

quam

minora indicia sufficient ad deeemendam agitur de crimine occulto quam de pubquando capturam

in publicis, et sic lico."

Ib., n. VOL. n 52

26

(p. 98).

THE BBLrSION AT

SIS

ITS

HEIGHT

never to be made on the sole statement of a comthe Judge must investigate and satisfy himself that plainant; a crime has been committed and that there is ground for suspecting the accused. Ib., n. 27 (p. 98). Arrest

is

Those unjust and inexperienced judges are worthy of punishment who on a simple delation throw the accused into Ib., n. 28 (p. 98). prison, which is a living death. 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 day and 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 presumption, is no ground for even inquiry much less procedure, whether it be volunteered or made under examination, and this 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 Germania perhibetur esse locus subterraneus, horribilis et immundus," whence often the prisoners, at the suggestion of the devil, commit suicide or, as happened to a girl near Weissenburg, are killed by snakes. Or through the cold and dampness

they 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 Scabinorum in a response of 1627 prescribed that prisoners should not be deprived of daylight or suffer injury to health from cold 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 should be brief and execution should follow sentence so as to shorten the tedium of prison. Ib., nn. 45-55 (pp. 99-100). Although as a rule judges cannot impose a sentence of perpetual imprisonment, yet there are many statutes which impose it as a grace, in commutation of death-penalty, and in

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW such case the judge can render such a sentence. 61

Ib., nn.

819

56-

(p. 101).

Imprisonment as a punishment is constantly inflicted (I prefor specified terms H. C. L.). Ib., n, 64 (p. 101).

sume

He quotes as in force the Carolina, c. 11, that accomplices are to be imprisoned separately, so as to prevent collusion in confessions. 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 or certain 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 of the Judge, Scabini and Notary, and he is required to answer to each one- The articles should contain all the pertinent details and circumstances, including time and place, so that the accused shall not be deprived of defence. Each article should contain a single interrogation, so as not to confuse the accused. The same interrogation can be repeated under different words, so as to test the truth if he varies. The judge can use deceit and pretend that he will do what he does not intend 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 it

of his disquisition on this shows the importance attached to of questions to which it gave rise.

and the number

The answers of the accused are to be plain and simple and not 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 oath when they deny they have to be discharged. Ib., n. 42 (p. 125).

The

doctors allow the judge to threaten torture, but I this. Ib., nn. 47-9 (p. 125). If new evidence is obtained, new articles can be framed and answered. Ib., nn. 43-44 (p. 125). The actuary or scribe of the judge is to write down the answers accurately and add them to the Acta. Also whatever the 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

cannot assent to

a

820

THE DELUSION AT

ITS

HEIGHT

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 by witnesses. Ib., q. cxiv, n. 2 (p. 127), In criminal cases, proper and full proof is requisite, or a spontaneous and free confession. Probatio plena is that two witnesses omni excepiione majores, and this is what is commonly mEedprobaliolmemeridiana clamor. Ib., nn. 3-5

full,

of

(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 of the witnesses, (3) their depositions, and (4) the recording n. 6 128). (p. depositions. -Ib., 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 he was escape deserved punishment. But in his defence 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 whom no 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 iisdem non solum et conjecturata probatio sufficit, verum etiam praesumptiva 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

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW

821

submitted, may with safety utter sentence and condemn the accused. 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 the sense is often changed, with greater danger to the accused. Ib., n.

83

(p. 134).

duty of the judge to help the accused in Ms defence to suggest to him,, what he may not ask for. The Scabini not infrequently, on examination of the Acta, will require further 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 he It is the

and

?

to be heard.

Ib., nn. 34-5 (p. 138). 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 ordinary is

He

can

offer

Ib., n. 71 (p. 141). Single witnesses suffice for the defence and semiplena probatio is reckoned as plena; witnesses as to belief are admitted and witnesses who would otherwise be rejected. Ib., nn.

one.

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 weeks and three days are customarily allowed. Ib., nn. 857 (p.

142).

The accused

is allowed an advocate to advise and assist a procurator. But the advocate must be denied him, though an honest man and not a pettifogger who seeks to delay Ib., nn. 88-97 (pp. 142-3). justice and fill Ms purse. law the common prescribes that the accused shall Although 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 judge and 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.

THE DELUSION AT

822

ITS

HEIGHT

Cazpzov says that what led Charles to approve of this was that "Plerique namque Jtidlcum criminalium sunt duriores ? ne dicam cnideliores qui rigorosissime super dorsum pauperurn inculpatonim proeedunt, et contra omnes juris terminos, approbates mores et usus consuetudinarios alios perdunt, alios maetant, alios mancos reddunt. Legum sanctitatem violant et humanam societatem evertunt. Carnifices, non judices. Qui suspectum in carcerem detrusum statim torturae subjieiunt, nee piius inquirant an crimen perpetratum sit nee ne, an veritas criminis aliter haberi possit nee ne. Quibus ineonsideratis statim ad cruciatum, ignem, tormentum, supplieium reeurrant.' 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 judges regard 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 and mechanics 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 criminal affairs, trusting to the denunciation of some scamp or witch, torturing men and women, they thrust the innocent into the most squalid prisons and so detain and torment them that they choose to confess what they have not done and seek death rather than endure the fetor of the subterranean dungeons. Even in the larger towns it not rarely happens that Pfeffersacke, ignorant tyros, are chosen rather than prudent and experienced men, so that, without supervision, the guilty would be set free and the innocent punished. Ib., nn. 17-19 ?

.

.

.

7

;

(p. 146).

All this explains the prescription of the Carolina and the decree of Elector August in 1579 and the Ordin. Polit. de

anno 1612, by which in Saxony haute justice was taken from the local magistrates and lodged in the Scabini Lipsienses, who in the Electorate have the sole power to decide criminal cases involving corporal punishment. Ib., nn. 23-8 (p. 147). After pointing out that with full proof the accused can be condemned without confession or torture and that in doubtful cases he can be put on his purgatorial oath and discharged,

Carpzov proceeds to discuss torture. He quotes abundantly from authorities to show its uncertainty and concludes, "Unde

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW

823

remedium hoc Indagandae veritatis non modo periculosum sed et maxiine dubium esse patet;" to which lie adds a quotation from another authority "Abusum nempe omnium periculosissimum totam fere Europam iniestare, ut si toties torti, tortaeve, vel metu tomientonim, quam nunquam :

.

.

.

aut imposslbilia, aut erronea confiteantur, protinuSj condemnentur comburantur, seeentur." Ib., q. cxvii, nn. 5,

fecerint,

?

6 (p. 153). Yet "Tiihilominus tamen, suadente necessitate, quo veritas EtsI enim quilibet exquiratiir ? tormenta adhibenda sunt.

praesumatur innocens et sine

vitio."

Ib., n.

8

(p. 153).

Curious intellectual process!

merum impermm or haute 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 prescribes what 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 creverunt 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 thumbscrews, a similar contrivance applied to the legs (I suppose The use

justice.

of torture belongs to the

Ib.,

the boot H. C. L.) causing intolerabilem dolorem. Then there 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 sufficient list to select from! H. C. L.). Ib., nn. 40, 41 (p. 156). like

etiam, adhibito igne et sulphure, corpora Ib., n. 58 (p. 158). affiigunt et quasi excarnificant." n. that the patient c. et De 10, 4, Tort., Quaest. (Zanger adds, is placed on a metal ass or bull, in which fire is kindled and

"Quandoque

reorum

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 when torture was simply indicated. The third was the various uses of fire "tertiushic torturae gradus atrocissimus et horribilissimus est." The Scabini Lipsienses when ordering the use of torture were accustomed to designate by the phraseology 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 and the 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 proof is 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

"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).

possible,

Then he proceeds to discuss the various indicia. Of these fama is the first (nn. 17-29) 2d, presence at or near the place ;

of 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, assertion of the wounded man near death (nn. 50-59) ; 7th, flight (nn. ;

;

These are the indicia enumerated in the Carolina, which may be added lying or variation (nn. 71-6) embarrassment and trepidation (nn. 77-8) an evil physiognomy, though this is a light indicium and unless supported 60-70).

c.

25, to

;

;

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW

325

by stronger ones is insufficient (nn. 79-80); silence and abstention from asserting innocencealso of slender import (nn. 81-2) ; withholding knowledge of a crime or not impeding consummation, seeming to imply complicity insufficient There are many other similar indicia, doubtful and uncertain, for wMch unless 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 circumstances and details render definition impossible and it must be left to the discretion of the judge. Ib., q. exxi, n. 3 its

of itself (nn. 83-5).

3

(p. 186).

As two witnesses afford plena probatio, sufficing for conviction without confession, so one witness is semi-plena and u omni exceptione major" suffices for torture, but he must be 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 spontaneously gives the name and it is not suggested to him [is So in Carolina, c. 31 (which I have sufficient for torture]. elsewhere -H. C. L.). The received rule was that only in excepted crimes (majestas, rebellion, sacrilege, assassination, maleficium, robbery, adultery, sodomy) could inquiry be made 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, torture.

c.

32,

considers threats followed

by

results to justify

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 commonly teach their art to their children and others and there is no

THE DELrSIOX AT

826

ITS

HEIGHT

more acceptable to the devil than to devote their children to Ms worship. Those who teach admit knowledge Ib., n. 62 (p. 199). of the art and should properly be tortured. of use make to sorcery and the 2. When a sorcerer threatens event followsas witches commonly do, who are vindictive

sacrifice

to restrain their tongues. Ib., n. 63 (p. 199). Close intimacy with convicted sorcerers. Ib., n. 64

women unable 3.

(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 the devil, limbs, or a book of magic or a written pact with or when a witch invokes a demon and talks with him while he is on a drove of hogs invisible; when she is seen to cast powders 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.

There

is

67

(p. 199).

also the

water ordeal, practiced in some places. rejected as unsupported by nature.

But this must be wholly Ib., n. It is

69

(p. 199).

noteworthy that here and in the Carolina there

is

no allusion to the

witch-mark.

never to be employed without sufficient indicia and confession thus extorted is invalid. Ib., q. cxxiii, nn. 1-8 Torture

is

(p. 202).

"Non minimus enim judicum quorundam modernorum abusus 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 cruciatum, ignem et tormenta properant. Ib., n. 2 (p. 202). The accused is not even to be placed in conspectu tormentorum without sufficient indicia. Ib., n. 22 (p. 204). After prescribing moderation he adds, "Qua in re, proh Hodiernis dolor! hodie a plerisque judicibus peccatur. et bibuli multi larvati, stupidi namque temporibus judices intolerandis humanae patientiae cruciatibus miseros captivos lacerant, imo pastis cruore luminibus, ut fera quae .

.

.

gustatum semelsanguinem semper sitit,saepenumero tormenta Many others are not present, but pass duplicari jubent." the time in eating and drinking, leaving the accused to cruel

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR LAW

827

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^ where.

c.

58,

which

have

I

else-

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 then he 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 examine 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 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, asking him 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

words or

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 this acquittal is not definitive, for is not the Saxon practice 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).

THE DELUSION AT

828

ITS

HEIGHT

not to be repeated unless new evidence of a difobtained. In atrocious crimes a second torture more. is then permitted, in the most atrocious a third and no 72 nn. included. is 39-55, Ib., Among the latter, sorcery

Torture

is

ferent kind

is

(pp. 219-20, 222).

Criminals are said that they contemn the to train themselves to endurance, so Sometimes arts of the torturer. by magic arts they render themselves insensible, as by muttering, while being tied, " charms such as Christus autem transiens per medium illorum Mariae Viribat, etc.," "Quemadmodum lac beatae gloriosae ita haec tortura sit Salvatori suave et fuit dulce nostro, ginis manibus et pedibus meis," or the dulcis et suavis

But what

if

he endures throughout

all?

brachiis,

words of the Saviour in the Passion. Or by 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 powdered and mixed with water causes insensibility. Witches and sorthousand ways of averting ceresses, taught by the devil, have a as though in a soft ladder the on that so they sleep torment, to our bed, as I have often learned from the Acta transmitted Therefore, judges, before repeating torture, Collegium. 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 recitation 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 Ms strength he is to be brought into court to ratify Ms confession, when "tanta itaque vis est ratificationis ut ex confessione tormentis extort a faciat spontaneam confessionem." 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 regained

WITCHCHAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECCLAB LAW

829

three days, lest the impression of the torture should wear and during this time he should be confined alone, for to revoke. eel-companions mav urge Ib., nn. 22-28

off

Mm

(p. 226). It not

infrequently happens that he revokes Ms confession, that it was extorted by torture. If this were admitted, alleging crime would be unpunished for all would do so. It is necessary then to torture him again, when a second confession and revocation may be followed by a third torture in most atrocious crimes but no more, 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 erroneous, 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 torture and revocation he was condemned, "Et ita veteres Scabinos 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 4

,

(p. 229). If, however, after confessing in the torture he immediately revokes and says it was extorted by the torment, he ought rather 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 accordance 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 confirm or revoke, the question is difficult. In such a case the Scabini were in favor of execution, but Carpzov persuaded them 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 sufferer 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

THE DELUSION AT

830

ITS

HEIGHT

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 wrought by sorcery, adultery, bigamy, incest between parents and children, pimping, perjury thrice committed, unnatural crime ,

rapine, kidnapping, etc. "Eaque praedictorum criminum rei non solum in Saxonia sed et plerisque Gennaniae locis puniuntur" (as appears in the Carolina). Ib., q. cxxviii, nn.

35-6

(p. 241).

Hanging was reserved in nullo alio erimine

consuevit.

77

Ib., n.

41

for thieves

quam

"Quod genus

supplicii

furto inoribus nostris usurpari

(p. 242).

wheel, on which the limbs were broken (and on which after death the corpse remained woven), was used for assassination, robbery, parricide, poisoning, sacrilege, etc. (n. 42 ? p. 242). The final blow was generally given on the head or

The

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 children, when the culprit is tied in a bag with a dog, a viper and a 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 and reduced to ashes. Ib., nn. 49-51 (p. 243). Finally there is quartering, "quod omnium severissimum

The culprit is cut into four pieces in the public roads. "Sed rarissimum hoc supplicium est," and is only used for direct attempts on the life of the emperor or electors. Other cases est," reserved for majestas.

and the quarters are hung

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 execution, "quod absque ingenti cruciatu omnium membrorum In Saxony it is used for parricide on near fieri nequit." kindred. 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). of majestas

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECCLAB LAW

The

S3!

tearing with hot pincers. As provided in the Car. V, c. 194, this is, that on the way to the Leges Capit. place of execution the culprit is torn three or four times with red hot pincers. TMs is used for poisoning and robbery and not infrequently for Infanticide, when the crime has been repeated.Ib. 3 nn. 63-5 (p. 244). Fourth Is the wheel, when the mortal blow is reserved to the iastj 'istudque hand pararo. aggravat et dolores atque cniciatus accumulate Ib., n. 66-7 (p. 244). [All penalties might be intensified by afflictive, but not " capital punishments, the most usual being scourging.] Quod hodie et comrnunissimum frequentissknuni genus supplicn est ac siniul grande et atrox, non solum propter graveni sed et quod maxlrnos et quam infert infamiam 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 amendment. 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 (strappado) 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 Ib., nn. 39-42 (pp. galleys, likewise not used elsewhere. third

is

J

.

.

.

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. 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 Ib., q. cxxxi, nn.

to capital punishment, "quod in causis poenalibus semper benignior et humanior facienda sit interpretation* Ib., q.

nn. 10-39 (pp. 272-6). 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 H. C. L.). The condemned criminal can I have elsewhere cxxxiii,

He

THE DELUSION AT

832

make a

will before execution.

ITS

HEIGHT

Ib., q*

cxxxv, nn. 8-12 (pp.

286-7). formalities of sentencing and execution were so essential that, if not strictly observed, the proceedings were invalid.

The

The Carolina (cc. 82-87) prescribes that the people be summoned by trumpets or bell-ringing. The judge sits in the

either in a hall or out of doors, as local custom indicateswith not less than seven assessors or councillors; he

court

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 perthe accused to be guilty and asks for his mission to

proclaim

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 so erkenne ich freyer Strassen ermordet und beraubet hast, SachChurfurst. der uff Belernung N. N., Elchter zu N. N., des von das zu begangenen du, wegen sischen Schoppen Leipzig, 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 led away, the Frohnpenalty. After the convict has been 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 Ib., affirmative response he proclaims the court closed. q. cxxxvi, nn. 5-42 (pp. 294-7). I

and

have omitted a good many minor precise the whole solemnity was.

details

which indicate how formal

Carpzov admits that much was superfluous and only caused delay.

Yet

Ib., n.

all this

matter of no

43

(p.

297).

shows that the taking of a human life was regarded as a import, and that it should be as impressive as possible.

little

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 thus to inflict a double punishment to say nothing of the expense to 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 Ms lord, to look after accomplices; if a woman is pregnant she is to be kept til six weeks after childbirth. The convict, moreover, should have some days to prepare self for

Mm

death, to make his will and to reconcile himself to God and take the sacrament. It is a laudable custom also that a deathsentence should be announced to the culprit by a religious man, who will exhort him to repentance. Different places have different customs. But there is one rule to be strictly observed that, when the day of execution is fixed, it should be announced to him, three days in advance, as provided in the Carolina, c. 79. During these days he should be removed from prison to a more comfortable place, furnished with good food and wine, and free access be given to his friends and ministers of religion but the latter must be careful not to urge him to revoke what he has truly confessed of himself or of others, which is prohibited in the Carolina, c. 103. If he is impenitent and refuses to confess his sins, the execution 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 executioner by the writers, it is refreshing to see the ideal prescribed 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

tales sunt obnoxii.

sint liberi et inculpati, quibus plerunque Nempe qui non sint aleatores assidui,

publici scortatores, calumniatores improbi, blasphematores impii, 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 Christianam patientiam cohortentur et ad certain in Deum fiduciary cui et vivere et mori lucrum erit." All which is duly

quoted and approved by Carpzov, in VOL.

n

53

n.

52

(p.

309).

THE DELUSION AT

S34

But

(p.

is

HEIGHT

no regular executioner In a place, the judge person a slave or a beggar to serve, to receive five gold pieces for an execution. Ib., n. 53

if

there

is

can force some

who

ITS

vile

309).

Or lie can force some criminal prisoner, about to be condemned to death or penal servitude, to act either temporarily or 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 carnifices pleranque non zelo justitlae nee cum tanta commiseratione et humanitate suuin exerceant officium quae ipsos deceret et amabiliores redderet, sed omnibus sceleribus inquinatissimi 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 aequo saevius ac citius eos abripientes, non secus quam si propriae bill potius iaservirent et affectibus, quam ration!, justitiae mandatriei." Ib. 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 executioner 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 people attacked him with stones and darts. (Carolina, c. 97, requires the presence of the judge to prevent disorder.) Ib. 3 n. 66 3

(p. 311).

The corpse should be properly buried, except in cases of hanging and the wheel, in which its remaining there is part of 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

WITCHCRAFT AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAB LAW

835

characterized as the "praesidium innocentlae et gravaminis Ib., q. cxxxix, nn. 7-11 (pp. 321-2). justi relevatio.'' But in the inquisitorial process ail this was abrogated.

413-16).

Then he proceeds

to prove that the charms

nails, needles, feathers, hairs

images, coals,

can injure, for otherwise they

would not be placed in beds, pillows, thresholds, etc., and exorcisers would not search for them. They have no power in themselves, but only when placed with the superstitious observances. The demon requires them in order that he may 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 they soon liquefy and could not be swallowed or passed without Others say they are real, but that the demon brings applies them in the act of vomiting or dejection. (Binsfeld, Comment, in Tit. Cod. de Malef., lex ix, q. 7, p. 466;

injury.

them and

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 therefore real and may be kept, as may be seen in many places where they are 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 may Rue is especially abominable to them. properly employ. Among stones he enumerates as having various qualities, jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonix, sard, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, hyacinth, and amethyst. Ib., art.

2 (pp. 417-19).

Things to be avoided by exorcists. They are not to imagine that 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 says he is the spirit of some one dead, e. g., Judas. The energumen is 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).

990

THE DELUSION AT

ITS

HEIGHT

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 Inquirolls of wool or sition, and also in saying that the finding of feathers or needles in the bed or pillow is a slender indicium, for they may come there naturally or be placed by the demon to lead the exorcist to believe there is witchcraft and thus molest some one. The exerciser is not to ask the demon how or 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, though he 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 permission may enter the body. Again, the evil fame of any one must not make it suspected that the patient is bewitched by her, 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 curative 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 pact with the demon. Moreover, sometimes mothers and nurses overlie children and, fearing the consequences, spread the report that they have been killed by witches. These precautions apply not only to exorcists but to inquisitors in Ib., diff. 2 (p. 422). prosecuting witches. It is noteworthy that for this last caution he cites the Sacro Arsenale, but nowhere alludes to the Instructions yet he must have had them before him.

Does the exorcist sin in presenting rue to the demon to 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 away eject

The bitterness of rue typifies the bitter Passion of Christ and the bitter tears of contrition and is thus obnoxious to demons, but material things have no power over spiritual. demons.

4 (p. 423). 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, Ib., diff.

He

but also that of infamy and scandal. (p.

423).

Ib.,

art.

2,

diff.

2

WITCHCRAFT LITERATURE OF ROMAN

INQUISITION'

991

Lupo quotes from the Roman Ritual that the exorcist must command the demon to tell "an detineatur in illo corpore ab instrumenta maleficae; quae si obsessus ore sumpserit, praestet ut

ubi

sint,

evomat; vel si alibi extra corpus fuerint, revelet inde auferantur et crementur." Ib., diff. 3

ilia

et

(p. 424).

This passage has Interest as being virtually in opposition to the Instructions of the Inquisition. Moreover, it is retained with only unimportant verbal changes in the modern Ritual (Rituale Romanum Pauli Pont.

V

Max. jussu editum Taurin., 1891,

et a

Benedicto

XIV

auetum

et castigatum, August.

tit. x, c. 1, p.

The Ritual has

289). 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 ceremonies 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 attendendum 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 by Archbishop 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 excommunication 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 commentary on 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 Causis Sanctae Fidei. Romae, 1648. Bordonus was consultor to the Inquisitor

He commences

of

Tribunal Judicum in

Parma.

with a long scholastic disquisition as to the powers of angels and demons, the character of which may be 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-

THE DELUSION AT

992

ITS

HEIGHT

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 discretus? Quarto, an possit esse instantaneus? Quinto, an sit lastici

,

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 idem numero possit esse in pluribus locis?" All of which questions he 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 they form 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, with admixture of aqueous vapor and terrestrial exhalation. They have 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

for they are not vitally joined in them. Ib., n. 33. Demons have power to move the elements and cause pests, storms, hail, snow, etc.--Ib., n.

Demons can move

34

vital,

tem-

(p. 316).

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 horse into 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 and what 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 by

natural causes.

Ib., n. 41.

WITCHCHAFT LITEEATUBE OF EOMAN INQUISITION

993

He cannot generate on women, but he can carry semen acquired as succubus and impregnate women as incubus, all of which he duly proves. Ib., n. 42. (For this he quotes Aquinas 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 knows more than men.

Quotes ample authorities for

this.

Ib.,

n. 43.

He

can work marvels, though not true miracles. He can beasts and serpents speak, "nam Daemon sub figura serpentis Evam decipit," but he cannot resuscitate the dead or 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., but

make

not

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 power or from God, but from the devil. Ib., nn. 4-6. Invocation of demons implies servitude and subjection to

them.

Ib., n. 7.

deprecative invocation of the demon implies pact. 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 Thus if one uses words is the demon who secretly effects it. 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).

Any

Ib., n.

The long disquisition on this shows how difficult it was always to distinguish 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

THE DELUSION AT

994 tacit

may

infer light or

of the case.

ITS

HEIGHT

vehement according to the nature

Ib., nn. 32-3 (p. 331).

The demon can be compelled by exorcisms to surrender a his compact writing by which a man signs with his blood and 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).

dicunt "Igitur amplius locum non habet opinio illorum qui modo facta sortilegii crimen esse mixti fori, quae improbabilis est, turn ex dictis Bullis, turn ex consuetudine qua hujusmodi causae 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, dubitatur enim an casus sit haereticalis, an haeresis suspicionem haeresim super sapiat, ac proinde habet pro formali objecto sententiam." fert ecclesiasticus Ib., n. 52 qua solus judex (p. 348).

V

1567) ordered that in the papal dominions all courts and dignitaries should obey the orders of the Inquisition 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

Pius

(c.

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.

Has

Ib., n. 53. 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). is evidently Coeli et Terrae Creator, 5 January 1585, This bull of Sixtus against astrology and divination, in which he orders inquisitors, bishops, prelates, superiors and ordinaries to proceed against all who teach or learn

V

"hujusmodi

illicitas

divinationes, sortilegia, supers titiones, veneficia, incan-

WITCHCRAFT LITERATURE OF ROMAN INQUISITION

995

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 were found to possess charms which gave them the "sortilegium J '

This rendered them guilty of sorcery. Under the old practice the secular judge could condemn them, but after the bull of Sixtus it was claimed that they must be surrendered to the Inquisition. Bordonus, loc. dt., n. 54 taciturnitatis.

(p. 348).

Carena says (De Officio SS. Inq., P. II, tit. 12, nn. 143-6) the question was 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 and two of them were found protected with parchments inscribed with holy names 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 Ib. n. 55 (p. 349). exclusive jurisdiction thereon. 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 washed and 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 Praecepta Decalogi, 1. ii, c. 41, n. 19. Ib., c. 19, n. 4 (p. 353). The universal opinion that it is illicit to cure sorcery by sorcery 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). 3

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

THE DELUSION AT

996

ITS

HEIGHT

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 This

he

is

be plena.

Ib., n. 15.

somewhat contradictory.

It

is

better stated

by Carena, whom

who

says: "In sorcery, there are crimes which leave cites,

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. in proceeding First, the heresy of witches is proved by their confessions, nor or against them for heresy is it necessary to establish the crime of heresy the corpus delicti, for heresy is committed by the will and one can be condemned 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

And

proved.

although

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,

the doctors

all

say that the corpus

delicti

must be established

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 Nemo Cod. de Mai. et Math., q. 1, concl 2. In 1. 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 Binsfeld, Comment. other similar crimes,

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 1 Palermo, 1553.

To

return to Bordonus.

The

indicia

which in defect of

proof establish the corpus delicti are enumerated common ones, such as evil acts, ill fame, flight, accomplice, etc., which will be treated hereafter. 1.

Books or writings containing

for torture 1

sorceries.

except the

mandatum,

These

but simple love-charms do not.

For Albertini's discussion of these questions see pp. 456-7.

suffice

WITCHCRAFT LITERATURE OF ROMAN INQUISITION

997

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. some other cause, she must prove it.

He

from

refers as to this to Carena, P. II, tit. 12, n. 182,

refers to the

the indicia. sect.

If she says it is

De

but Carena here witch-mark made by the demon, which he includes among Binsfeld, however (Comment, in tit. Cod. de Mai., ad calcem,

Indiciis, ed. Col. Ag., 1623, p. 607), describes it as insensible; says

he remembers to have heard that it was found on some of our witches, "sed quicquid sit non puto tale signum magnifaciendum esse. Facile enirn 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 to be faithful, so that it is absent in the principal ones. Illustrates the prinif present it is ciple of witch prosecution good evidence; if absent, it shows the party to be a leader.

A pot

full of human limbs, sacred things, images, hosts, a grave indicium. 4. Conversation overheard between the witch and a demon,

3.

etc., is

whether he 5.

is visible or invisible. Offering to teach sorcery.

6. If

a witch touches an enemy and he dies suddenly or is some evil; also if she gives him to eat with the

stricken with

same 7. 8.

result.

Invocation of the devil or express pact. 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. this as the foolish of the vulgar. n. denounces opinion 20, 37,

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.

not but must be conjoined with others, and must be certain, not doubtful or equivocal. Ib., c. 19, n. 16

Note that each

of the above, especially 8 to 11, does

suffice for torture,

(pp. 357-8).

of being a witch, proved by two not suffice for torture without other does witnesses, legitimate support, for fame is mostly fallacious, especially against per-

Repute among the people

THE DELUSION AT

998

sons of this condition

who

ITS

HEIGHT

are popularly disliked.

Fame

aris-

ing after arrest proves nothing. Ib., n. 17. It does not suffice to prove death or disease or mutilation

but only that (the Inquisition punishes none of these things), ecclesiastical the is what this and from sorcery, they proceed is made by physicians or This ascertain. must proof judge failure of exorcists, but this is difficult, for the experienced 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 So does not suffice for inquest and torture. Ib., n. 19. n. 15. tit. and 17, Simancas, Farinacci, Simancas says the evidence

is

wholly unreliable, but otherwise

if

she

the same sees her anointing herself or invoking the demon. Carena says commisan that and nn. tit. ignorant P. 227) SS. 226, Off. II, 12, Inq. } (De sioner

who

tortured a

woman on

such evidence was duly punished by the

a single witness Binsfeld, on the other hand, says that of the kind suffices for torture (De Confess. Malef., membr. ii, conclus. 6, . So Del Rio (lib. v, app. 2, q. 8) considers the evidence of associates dub.

Roman Inquisition. 1)

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 (ib v 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.

this that in almost all tribunals of the does not require confirmation by evidence Inquisition the

Bordonus says as to

torture.

Ib., n. 20.

the accused is neither convicted nor confessed he is to be tortured on three points. (1) As to the use of the other and (2) As to associobjects found. books, writings but only in in is which witchcraft, required especially ates, general and not suggestively by naming persons. (3) As to his belief as to sorcery and witchcraft, whether the demon can 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

When

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 perpetually immured as provided in the bull of Gregory XV, for which see below. Other heretical sorcerers are condemned to the

WITCHCRAFT LITERATURE OF ROMAN INQUISITION

999

galleys for three, five or seven years according to the gravity of the offence, or to prison for a time. Non-heretical sorcerers

who have not abused the sacraments

or sacramentals have salutary 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 inquisitors of the place of exile, so that they may not dare to injure men whence it is better to imprison them. Ib., c. 21, n. 5 (p. 369).

Gregory XV

recites how men adhere to Satan and, imitating who never ceases to persecute men with deadly they injure others and lose their own souls. There-

their master

hatred, 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 whoever has made pact with the devil and apostatized from the faith and has by sorceries caused the death of one or more persons shall, 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 animals or harvests, the offender is to be immured perpetually in the Holy Office, where it exists, in prisons to be built. (Carena says, P, II, tit. 12, n. 257, that for this others say galleys for H. C. L.) All who know of such offences five or seven years 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 shown that the fever was caused by sorcery, the death must be attributed to the disease. Ib., nn. 25-6. XV, Del Rio is more savage: "Lamiae occidendae hominem uullum veneno necassent, etiamsi segetibus et animanti-

Prior to Gregory

etiamsi

bus non nocuissent etiamsi necromanticae non forent, eo ipso tantum quod ;

THE DELUSION AT

1000

ITS

daemon! foederatae, quod conventui interesse

HEIGHT

solitae, et

quae

ibi

exercentur

W,

p. 775). praestare" (Disq. Magic., 1. v, sect. 16, 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 constare certo posse procedi non posse, quia ex tali non videtur satis judici tamen necessarium est ad condemnandum ex sententia de

crimine, quod communiore" (Del Rio,

op. ctt., p. 761). of sorcerers was of old date.

Gregory the Great speaks of a one of their principals, Basilius, persecution of them in Rome in which the Bishop of Amisought safety in flight in the habit of a monk and got 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,

The burning

iMalogi,

c. 4).

1. i,

The final question of Bordonus as to the bull of Gregory ^1V

"damnum notabile" which should incur perpetual he says must be left to the discretion of the This prison. to the to proportion the severity of the punishment judge,

is

as to the

extent of injury inflicted.

Ib., n. 27.

seems curious that the Holy See should look wholly to the secular and not to the spiritual one. This is to be expected in the Carolina, but not in ecclesiastical law. Del Rio is much more It

offence in witchcraft

logical.

involved in the activity of [As early as Lactantius the spiritual offense sorcerers was recognized.] "Magorum quoque ars omnis ac potentia horum

hominum [daemonum] aspirationibus constat, a quibus invocati visus

ut non videant ea quae sunt, et videre praestigiis obcaecantibus fallunt, Hi ut dico spiritus contaminati ac perditi se putent ilia quae non sunt.

suae perdendis hominper omnem terrain vagantur, et solatium perditionis 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-

. Qui quoniam sunt spiritus tenues et incomprehensibiles pretantur. insinuant se in corporibus hominum, et occulte in visceribus operati, valetudinem vitiant, morbos citant, somniis animos terrent, mentes furoribus .

.

quatiunt, ut homines his malis cogunt ad men from the true God

eorum auxilia decurrere," i. e,, and worship them (Lactantus,

Div.

Observe, no allusion to God's

in order to divert Inst.,

1.

ii,

c.

15,

Migne VI,

332).

permission.

BORDONUS, FEANCISCUS. Parmae, 1693.

Manuale Consultorum in Causis

S. Officii.

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.

WITCHCRAFT LITERATURE OF ROMAN INQUISITION

1001

Sorcerers causing death are to be relaxed to the secular 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 suspicion of heresy. Ib., sect, xx, n. 10 (p. 180). Mortuary masses to kill people were of early practice. The 13th Cone. Tolet., ann. 683, cap. 7 (Bruns, I, p. 341), precourt.

scribes degradation for priests

who do

this.

Gratian quotes

and says many

priests are guilty of it and orders degradation, besides perpetual exile for the priest and for the person

this

ordering 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 sorcery and 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 heretical 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 pills, without scruple of sin, but says that

wrapping around

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

vehement suspicion in the abuse of the water in the flagon after mixing with the wine of the remaining Eucharist, also of priestly vestments, the alb, the amice, the Ib., nn. 40-1 girdle, the maniple, the stole and chasuble. There

is

(p. 188).

All the words of Scripture are sacred and their abuse savors and is therefore vehemently suspect.

of manifest heresy 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

THE DELUSION AT

1002

ITS

HEIGHT

use in sorcery savors of manifest heresy and induces vehement suspicion. Tinctus means holy water and unction with the same effect. Edens means the blessed bread distributed to the people on Sundays same as above. Confessus is the Dans is public confession in the litany same as above. it is heretical for ends misused evil charitywhen 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 and around the church: the cup, the paten, the pyre, the monstrance, the candles and candlesticks, the corporal, the thurible, the keys, the almsbox, the palls, the bells, the palms, etc., the abuse of which induces 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, vessels used in divine service

art. 2).

Aquinas then proceeds to discuss them separately. Idolatry with him 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 is

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 maleficent sorcery that he does not consider it. He does not even treat of ligaturesthough he discusses them in lib. iv, Sentt., if I remember aright,

Bordonus, in quoting Aquinas's

number to

five

classification, increases

the

Idolatry, Divination, Magic, Maleficium

and

Vain Observances.-

Ib., sect, xxx, n. 20 (p. 273). Idolatry has developed since the time of Aquinas. Besides the old sense, if the worship of the demon is for the purpose of accomplishing an object, good or bad, it becomes sorcery.

28 (p. 274). This worship may be implied.

Ib., n.

When consultor of the Inquisitor of Parma, Bordonus had a case in which, by shaking a sieve, a man was designated as author of a theft. Yet there was no theft, for the person who used the divination had merely forgotten where he had hidden recollecting

sed n.

4

found

daemon (p.

He

his

money, and on

"Motus

ergo cribri nullius est virtutis, his mediis homines decipit."-Ib., sect, xxxi, it.

275).

does not admit the old distinction between heretical

WITCHCRAFT LITERATURE OF ROMAN INQUISITION and non-heretical

sorcery:

"Probabo omnia

1003

sortilegia sapere

haeresim 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 pact with the demon, who is not invoked but operates secretly. Ib., n. 11 (p. 276).

"Merito igitur judices Fidei in omnibus sortilegiis praesumunt suspicionem haeresis, quod antiquiores non adverIb., 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 suspicionem." Ib., n. 19 (p. 277). The sortilegus qualificatus can always be tortured on intention; the simplex cannot, "quia levi suspicion! non debet correspondere gravis poena." Ib., nn. 21-3, p. 277. He fully believes in the Sabbat, "quod experientia docet tot rnagarum et sagarum quae a daemonibus f eruntur velocissimo 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

terunt."

Ib., n. 16 (p. 280). fully believes in commerce with demons and adopts the Ib. ? nn. 17-18 traditional explanation as to procreation.

one.

He

(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. n. 22 (p. 280). All devices of sorcery, whether merely superstitious acts "vocantur signa" like sieve-shaking, or substantive things as being signs or significant of the operation expected of the

-Ib.,

significant effectum quern tamen non causant, a Daemone productus." Ib., sect, xxxii, n. 24 sequatur

demon. "Quia licet

(p. 281).

A and the

very long and intricate discussion as to pact, express

and how they

how

it exercised the doctors to define all their corresponding effects as to guilt sometimes differed in their results. Ib., sect.

tacit, showing infinite degrees

xxxiii (pp. 282-90).

and

THE DELUSION AT

1004

ITS

HEIGHT

He devotes a long and curious section to curative sorcery. Considerable space is given to the Spanish Saludadores and Ensalmadores. 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 be ascribed 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 put together. 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

" Res

same conclusion

things, with the

perdita inveniendae sunt industria et vel investigandae sunt invocando deum et labore . AHter quaerens perdita per media inepta Sanctos ejus. et vana sortilegium committit, quia quaerit ilia ope daemonis." Ib., sect, xxxv, n. 14 (p. 304). He quotes Augustin (Civ, Dei, viii, 19) "Omnia miracula doctrinis fiunt et operibus daemonum." magorum 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 suspect. If without all this, there is tacit pact and light suspicion. 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 mors contra maleficos occidentes homines arte daemonis per bullam Gregorii XV incip. Omnipotentis Dei, 46. Antea enim hoc delictum non poterat puniri morte nisi cum nota irregularitatis." Ib., sect, xlii, n. 7

pontificio inducta fuit

(p. 326).

He differs from the doctors who say to employ the demon in amatory sorcery is not heretical, because it is the function of the devil to tempt to sin. He says it is certain that the invocation of the demon, whether imperative or deprecative, for anything, induces vehement suspicion of heresy. -Ib., nn. 11, 12 (p. 327). He c.

cites in

18, sect. 3,

Simancas

"Non enim

support of this Alberghini, Manuale QuaMcat., 8, n. 6, who quotes also Bart. Rpinaeus, ApoL iv.

ridicules those

who pretend

est potestas super terram

to invoke

demons imperatively. els;" and though

quae comparetur

WITCHCRAFT LITERATURE OF ROMAN INQUISITION

1005

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, argue that the deprecative assumes that the demon has power independent of God and is in some sort adoration, which is heretical, while the imperative

they pretend to be forced and to be

no intellectual

infers

error.

presumed that it is a maleficium by the demon when a sky is suddenly overcast, with violent winds and heavy rain and hail, damaging harvests and forests. It also happens when 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 November 1, the latter adding "under penalty of suspension". Ib., nn. 34-5 (p. 329). It is

clear

I cannot identify these councils, nor can I find in with these titles. 1

Gams any

bishoprics

XV

denouncAfter quoting the clause in the bull of Gregory to he for the proceeds sorcery, by killing death-penalty ing 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

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 does not suffice; [even] on indubitable indicia; presumption 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 cause of causing the fever is the principal and immediate causes that which is concurrent two between for death; is clear that sorcery is a strongest must be selected and it even malignant, for it is rendered stronger cause then fever, Carena says (tit. 12, n. 257) the though sorcery malignant by that the death comes from the fever and not from sorcery. before

i

San Pedro de Cornazo and Santiago de Nembra

in northwestern Spain?

THE DELUSION AT

1006

ITS

HEIGHT

is not punAgain, an unsuccessful attempt to kill by sorcery ishable with de^th. Again, those who procure the commission of sorcery are not liable to death, but to other penalties; it is only the actor. Again, although ecclesiastics are not in the named bull, still they are to be degraded. specially

Ib., nn.

38-51 (pp. 330-1).

for which the culprit is to be perbe left to the discretion of the must petually imprisoned be [something] more than must it I think judge, though

The

theft.

notabile

damnum

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. months Simple sorcery is punishable with prison for some n. 54. or with salutary penance. Ib., Sorcerers and astrologers are not required to make restitution of their earnings unless they pretend to do what they

know they cannot. The maleficus is him.

Ib., n. 56 (p. 332). required to make good injuries done

by

Ib., n. 57.

character must be corpus delicti and its superstitious unless to flight is feared, in arrest, proved before proceeding 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.

The

Ib.,

nn. 3-4 (pp. 333-4).

of this ought to be full and conclusive, not prein its absence the confession of the accused and sumptive, 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

The proof

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 In case of death, the evidence of an experienced sorcery. 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 must be 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 be clear and probable and proved by two witnesses, and confirmed by torture. Spontaneous confession to the judge does 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 urging that in this crime the slenderest indicia suffice to support En Rhodm, the confession (Disq. Mag., lib. v, sect. 16,

W,

Ib., nn. 21-9. p. 761). I think I have elsewhere Del Rio's admission, but not his virtual withdrawal of it.

While for the death penalty the proof must be conclusive, presumptions and conjectures suffice for arbitrary and extraordinary penalties. Ib., nn. 31-2 (p. 336). The indicia to prove diabolical sorcery (sufficing for torl (1) Finding books of magic, when the presumption ture) are is that they are read and used, also instruments such as astro(2) A brand impressed by the labes, pentacles and the like. Holy Office but it is necessary to prove that it is by the (3) A vessel full Inquisition, for thieves also are branded. 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 (12) Evil looks and deformity of urgent and indubitable. :

i

Sec also notes on Bordonus' Sacrum Tribunal, pp. 996-7.

THE DELUSION AT

1008

ITS

HEIGHT

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 the accused anoint or give drink to a man or animal and they have soon sickened or died. If the witness is unexceptionface, for

able, this suffices for torture. (15) Threats followed by sickness which resists remedies suffice for torture. (16) Public old women but as this arises against fame, through commonly malevolence, this is light and insufficient, unless supported by 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 they have 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 Carena adds that a decision of the Roman Inquisition is that their

depositions do not suffice for inquiry. (Apparently he had never 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 cannot be 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 and this 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 himself 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

support of this Carena, De Off. S. Inq., P. II, who says that the assertion of demons extorted by exorcism does not make an indicium for torture, for the devil is the father of lies. Inquisitors should proceed with the utmost caution on the assertions of exorcists, for they are tit.

cites in

12, n. 227,

often deceived. Bordorms also cites the Rituale Romanum Pauli V, tit. de Exorcis., as "In nuUo ergo ei credendum est, quia habet mille nocendi artes;"

saying,

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 et modum ad ilium dissipandum, sed caveat ne ob hoc ad magos vel ad sagas vel ad alios quam ad Ecclesiae ministros confugiat, aut ulla superstitione aut 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 Loudun is

manifest.

This

be worth alluding to as instance of modern recrudescence of

may

superstition.

It is the duty of the sorcerer, or of any one cognizant, to destroy the charms (signa) which cause it, for he quotes Micheas as saying (c. 5, n. 11), "I will take away sorceries out 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 signa is not included, but it is decided in the negative. Ib., nn. 3-4. If there is doubt whether the cure is superstitious, it is not licit.

Ib., n. 5.

To command

the demon to dissolve it is not licit, except otherwise it is a request which involves society

to exorcists

with the demon. Ib., n. 6. It is licit to ask the sorcerer to undo his work if there is a but not if this is doubtful. Ib., n. 7. licit way to do it If a bridegroom who is ligatus recovers his virility by making water through the wedding ring, this is a sortilegium qualificatum and is punishable with penitence and he should denounce the person who taught him. Ib., nn. 13-15 (p. 340).

SALELLES, SEBASTIAN, Inquisitionis.

S. J.

De

Romae, 1651-6. 3

Salelles for forty years

was

Materiis Tribunalium S. vols.

consultor of the tribunal of Malta.

In his preliminary remarks to the chapter on sorcery, etc., he describes the subject as "Materia autem ista secundum totam 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

Sabbat. VOL.

deny that witches are transported to the

The Cap. Episcopi n

64

refers to certain

women who

THE DELUSION AT

1010

ITS

believed there was a certain goddess

by whom

HEIGHT

named Diana,

they were carried through the

of great

air for evil

power, 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 by diabolical illusion imagined herself to be carried to distant places and this happens with other witches. Ib., n. 202 (p. 229).

tacit pact unknown to a man and without when he hangs on his neck or utters prayers with vain circumstances which show that they are not

There

may be

his intention, as

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. Ib.,

It is all sinful, unless there is invincible ignorance.

nn. 209-11, 213

(p. 230).

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 coming before me. Ib., reg. 120, n. 212 (p. 230). Long discussion on the difficulty of distinguishing between what are harmless and what are sinful. Quotes a test from Caietano (who says he has found it work) requiring a preliminary protest that the spell or charm is not used as coming from 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 when a student he had learned a charm a verse from Ps. cvii by reciting which on retiring, he could wake at any determined

The

signs

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 working by pact with the devil. He consulted his Jesuit confessor, who confirmed it and taught him Caietano's test, on using which the charm lost its power. -Ib., n. 258 (pp. 233-4). time.

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 permission of God, the action of the demon and the free-mil of the sorcerer. "Haec enim tria semper in omni maleficio concurrunt, nee enim capillus de capite cadere potest sine Dei permissu; 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 throwing them over a precipice. (2) By simple breathing, as thus they cause 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 (4) By only the signa through which the pact operates. ointments, 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, throwing them on the ground, when those who pass over them, at the will of the sorcerer, suffer disease or even death. (6) They use 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. add sacred (7) To these powders, ointments, herbs, etc., they

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 incantaeven tions, when the sleeper cannot be aroused by any force, to sleep made thus was A German a torch. with burning 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

1012

THE DELUSION AT

ITS

HEIGHT

commit adultery with the

poisons, to kill or to nn. 275-8 (p. 235).

The malefitium amatorium

wife.

Ib.,

requires considerable

argument and is only accomplished by differentiating the appetitus sensitivus from the voluntas is based spiritualise though the crucial text on which free-will 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 to elude the free-will, which

is defide,

"sed sub te erit appetitus ejus et tu says, "usus conficiendi hujusmodi maleficia frequentissimus est, ut nobis Consultoribus sanctae Inquisitionis manifeste constat ex innumeris pene causis quae quotidie tractantur in hoc sacro tribunali." Ib., nn. 280-1 as the Vulgate has

dominaberis

illius."

it,

He

(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 produced by natural causes or by sorcery, but the latter is shown when 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 but these are merely signa; it is the demon who, sleep through pact, causes the injury. The signa may be attached to the garment of the victim, or hidden in his bed, or placed under 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 The demon can aid the potencies, by permission of God. 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 and illuminate the intellect, the demon can darken it and bring

WITCHCRAFT LITERATURE OF ROMAN INQUISITION

1013

happened recently here to two important 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 physicians and theologians. Ib., nn. 290-3 (p. 236). There are three kinds of fascination vulgaris sen poetica,

it

to dementia, as

persons, as

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,

says that strong malevolence makes an impression of injury on others, especially boys whose tender bodies are c.

103,

who

susceptible

to

impressions.)

from express or

tacit pact

Demoniac

arises

fascination

and brings harm to

all

on

whom

the sorcerer looks angrily. (See Aquinas, Summa, P. H. C. L.) 117, art. 3, ad 2, which I have elsewhere.

I,

q.

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 sententia divortium fuit indictum. H. C. L.) et -

judicial!

Ib., nn.

297-8

(p.

236).

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 nn. 299-300 touch, or incantation, or placing a signum. Ib.,

Then

(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 immense medical c. 46 to milk drying, in all of which he shows down. and Aristotle from Hippocrates learning, 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.

THE DELUSION AT

1014

ITS

HEIGHT

Salelles] says, when conthe of cure sidering sorcery by sorcery, "Praemittendum est primo, cognitionem aliquam, aut bonum naturale, ut sanitatem, a daemone acquisita, posse licite retineri, et illorum usuni esse licitum, dummodo conservatio jam a daemone non

Th. Sanchez [frequently cited by

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 be elusive is illicit

as money changing to coals or vanishing, so that it to use them till verified. If the demon gives good

money he

usually steals it from some one else; and, if this can it should be returned to the owner (Sanchez,

be ascertained, loc.

cit.,

n. 2).

Thirdly,

it

is

not

licit,

for

whatever good

object, to use sorcery; to invoke the aid of the demon by sorcery 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 who hold 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 not certain that he knows that way (n, 6), Hence it is unlawful to ask a sorcerer to remove a sorcery placed by another, when he does not know what it is or where the signa are placed (n. 8). There are some who, while admitting that it is unlawful to ask this of a sorcerer, hold that he can be coerced by threats and blows, but this is false. Therefore judges are not to be excused who require sorcerers to remove a sorcery by some benediction, for this benediction is only a pact with

demon to when about to

cease (nn. 9-10). But judges are at liberty, torture a sorcerer, to wash him and shave him all over to remove any concealed charms (n. 11). When the sorcerer knows a licit and an illicit method, it is admitted that it is licit to ask him to remove a sorcery, if we think it

the

probable that he will use the licit means. If we feel certain that 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 method known to him, it is lawful to employ him, but not if the sufferer has to cooperate in

superstitious (nn. 14-15).

it, even by taking some vain and remedy which derives its power from pact

WITCHCEAFT LITERATUBE OF ROMAN INQUISITION All this has interest as showing how probabilism eluding the old prescriptions.

1015

and casuistry succeeded

in largely

Sanchez also discusses (nn. 18-22) the old question as to the lawfulness of destroying the signa (which I have elsewhere 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

Inquisitorum."

jurisdictioni

332-3

Salelles,

reg.

124,

nn.

239). what Heretical sorcery is that which seeks from the 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 (p.

dmon

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 So Diana deprecative is heretical and imperative is not.

(Summa Diana, 1646, p.

s.v.

Inquisit.

n. 71, Venetiis, v, sect. 15, dico 6,

Jurisdict.,

476) and Del Eio (Disq. Mag.,

1.

Ib., nn. 340-2 (p. 240). p. 755). 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 however, who hold that, if it is for indif-

some,

ferent things, such as the discovery of theft or one's own but this is safety, the use of sacred things is not heretical,

by the greater number. Ib., nn. 344-6 (p. 240). contain what is Finally, all sorceries or magic works which as baptizing such of heresy heretical savor manifestly denied

on the images, kneeling to idols, throwing salt 347-9 nn. 241). (p. Ib., It is

a disposition of

God

in

punishment

fire,

etc.

of sin that "ipsi

THE DELUSION AT

1016

ITS

HEIGHT

daemones et cibos in conviviis solitis insipidos et actus venereos incuboram et succubonun vix ullius delectationis exhibeant." Ib., n. 349.

How so

do they reconcile

this with the attractions that

they say seduce

many?

AU

ligatures of married folk

and beasts and harvests are

and those which injure men heretical tinder the bull of

Innocent VIII, Summis desiderantes. So Farinacci, De Haeresi, q. 181, 1, n. 31, who quotes this bull. (Salelles also quotes Summa 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 reasonably decree it to be punishable as heretical. Again, s.v. Haeresis II, n. 5, he says that sorceries manifestly savor of heresy when they contain what is manifestly heretical, such as baptizing an 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 God is 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 savor of heresy, though there may be tacit pact, unknown to the operator. Ib., n. 355 (p. 241). The Inquisition has no jurisdiction over simple and nonheretical sorcery, but only of heretical or savoring of heresy in 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 does not 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 not received 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, but now under the new law of Sixtus V they have jurisdiction over all sorcerersreciting curative prayers and the like. Even without the consti-

WITCHCRAFT LITERATUKE OF ROMAN INQUISITION

1017

V

they had jurisdiction in doubtful cases to determine Simancas clearly proves against those who think otherwise (tit. 30, nn. 20-1), thus contradicting Sylvester above. (See Summa Diana, s.v. Inquisitor. Jurisd., n. 69.) tution of Sixtus

whether

it

was

heretical, as

The

constitutions of Alexander VI Cum acceperimus and Dudum gave to the Inquisition many simple Coeli et terrae still more, and sorceries, and that of Sixtus this was confirmed and enlarged by the Inscrutabilis of Urban VIII, all of which are to be accepted and leave no room for interpretations. Salelles, nn. 360-1 (p. 242).

Adrian VI

V

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 extend its 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. Haeresim.

De

Lugduni, 1666.

Officio

Sanctae Inquisition/is circa

(2 T., foL)

Delbene was a Theatin and an official of the Congregation of the InquiThe 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.

sition.

V

He attributes to the bull of Sixtus inquisitional jurisdiction 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 way savor of heresy, "licet hae rarissimae sint." Ib., P. II, dub. 195, sect. 70 (II, p. 47). The Inquisition can punish Ensalmadores, under the bull -

and the decision of Paul V on this point, cumulatively with the Ordinary, "etiam quando manifeste non sapiunt haeresim." The Malleus (P. Ill, q. 1, q.v.) is mistaken when it 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). of Sixtus

THE DELUSION AT

1018

ITS

HEIGHT

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 they were 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 Madrid Instruction. ~-Ib., dub. 206, n. 7 (p. 112). He refers to what he has said as to torture, that the practice of the Roman Inquisition does not allow it on the testimony 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 two such suffice is not followed. Ib., P. I, dub. 192, sect. 8 (I, pp. 593-4). Curiously enough he cites in support of this Binsfeld (De Confess. 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, according to 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 tions

it

may be inferred that these provisions Roman Inquisition.

were accepted by the

of the

Madrid Instruc-

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

but Binsfeld says that it suffices for condemnation, but as it is not positive proof the sentence should be to some milder penalty. Even Del Rio says (Disquis. Magic., 1. v, sect. 4, n. 4) that the multiplied evidence of infamous witnesses does not suffice, although the common opinion and this,

to the contrary. 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 But certain epicheia to mitigate the law in special cases. 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). practice

is

When

This explains the persistence in confession of the unfortunates, if they revoked, they would be burnt alive as impenitent.

who knew

that,

Delbene in dub.

4, p.

305),

this copies almost literally Binsfeld (loc. ciL, who says this is the practice in Spain and Italy.

Although death ordinarily extinguishes crime and penalty, with excepted crimes, so the accused, if is to be condemned and her property It is customary to burn or to hang the body. confiscated. 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

this is not the case

confessed or convicted,

done in cases of heresy. Ib., petit. 3 (p. 113). Del Rio says (Disq. Mag., v, sect. 19, p. 811) that the is contrary to the punishment of the corpse of a suicide it. he but common opinion, upholds

a unjust of some judges who in sentencing a as of out prison, witch name another dead, either in or the defames this as of magic arts, companion or mistress

The

practice

is

THE DELUSION AT

1020

is

petit.

HEIGHT

one not convicted. Yet, when the proof against convincing, it may be permitted. Delbene, loc. tit.,

memory her

ITS

4

of

(p. 114).

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

He

and help of demons. Ib., petit. 5 (p. 114). For this customary reasoning may also be (De Sortilegiis, q. 7, n. 31), who lays especial

cited Grillandus stress

on women

being thus able to satisfy their lust without incurring ill-fame. Binsfeld (Comment, in Tit. Cod. de Malef., rubr. n, 8,

more in

p. 336) develops all this

detail.

Simancas (De Cathol. Instit., tit. 37, n. 3) says the same, laying especial stress on lust: "praecipuus finis ad quern hujus artis professores tendunt est carnis voluptas cujus illae insatiabiles sunt."

The

Malleus, however (P. I, q. 6), is the most impressive and set the pace for subsequent writers. 1 Delbene quotes Pena, who says that, although the Malleus and Sylvester and Ambrosius de Vignate hold that for infanticide 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 them otherwise than as the canons order for apostates (returning to 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, on account of the frequency of infanticide and other aggravating circumstances, witches after abjuration may, by special papal command, be handed over to the secular court for a new trial and punishment according to the laws. Delbene, loc. of all

6 (p. 114). 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, tit.,

petit.

Then

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 injures persons that they die is to be delivered to the secular court for due punishment. Ib., dub. 229, sect. 6, nn. 9-10 (p. 312).

He it

discreetly

was a dead

makes no observation on

this,

whence we

may

infer that

letter.

Inquisitors can proceed against witches without calling in the diocesan, and their sentences are valid, under a constitution 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 unbaptized Jews and Moors who committed these offences, by a bull 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, "Si daemones invocaverit consulueritve aut eorum responsa acceperit, ad illosve sacrificia aut preces ob divinationern aliamve causam direxerit, aut quid eis immolaverit vel thuris alteriusve 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 question as 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. Delbene, loc. tit., petit. 2 (p. 116).

Gregory's bull only extended what was already recognized. Locatus, in 1570, draws a distinction "Invocantes daemones tarn 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 by Jews 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 sacrificando, quod est facto perpetrare,

.

.

.

daemonem Deum

saltern facto,

asserere, et similia

quod est plusquam verbo,

idola

THE DELUSION AT

1022 colentes,

.

.

.

ITS

HEIGHT

daemones invocantes, ad aras daemonionon

responsa sperantes et obtinentes et nonChristianos verbo vel exemplo ad nefaria similia pertrahentes, episcoporum et inquisitorum pro talibus nefansacrificia offerentes,

nunquam

judicium non evadunt, imo sunt durius ab Locatus, Opus Judiciale, s.v. Invocare, nn.

dis

eis 1,

puniendi." 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 quod foeminis ob sexus fragilitatem non aeque ac manibus fides adhibeatur; ut proinde, ut aliquis tanquam criminis socius capi et torqueri possit, trium vel quatuor foeminarum consentiens 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 excommunication. 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 abjure the devil and have full hope in God and to be assiduous in Ib., petit. 11 (p. 149). religious duties. There is nothing said here as to absolution and communion, or denouncing herself to the Inquisition. No ordinary confessor could absolve for heresy, except in articulo. But after condemnation, the confession is understood 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.

accused during trial asks for a confessor, the request to be granted or refused according to the custom of the He cannot grant absolution, however, until the explace. communication (presumably incurred H. C. L.) is removed and the penitent reconciled. He is to exhort her to repentance If the

is

and 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 punishment 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

by

1023

fear of torture, as a penitent is always to be believed in he is to comfort, her with the example of the

confession,

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 denunciation 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 show reasons 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 antemortem statement weakens the prior accusation and, if there are other indicia of the falsity of the denunciation, the party should not be prosecuted. Ib., n. 8 (p. 151). But the confessor should not give occasion for scandal by informing the judge, after the execution, of the revocation,

which as extrajudicial he cannot accept.

Ib., n. 9.

the confessor must obtain permission of the penitent before revealing anything to the

To avoid breaking the

judge.

seal,

Ib., n. 10.

woman confesses freely and sincerely, yet persistently affirms her innocence, she is to be believed, as penitents 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 If

the

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,

1024

THE DELUSION AT

ITS

HEIGHT

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.

p. 507; Toletus, Instruct*

How vividly this illustrates the hideous features of torture. The doctors assume that the innocent are thus forced to condemn themselves, and dispute as to the degree in which they thus commit mortal sin and consign themselves to eternal fires. all

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 confession publicly. Ib., Petit. 15, nn. 1-3 (p. 152).

Binsfeld says (De Confess. Malef., membr. 2, concl. 7, in a dub. 5) this is common and was confirmed by Pius motu proprio] that it is followed by many pious judges but not universally. It is ordered in the Carolina, cap. 79 (which I have elsewhere H. C. L.). If, after conviction through torture or proof, she persistently denies in confession to the confessor, she is to be absolved and have the viaticum to fortify her for death; but if she denies in public, it is to be withheld on account of scandal, for she will be regarded as lying and pertinacious.

V

Delbene, petit. 15, n. 6

(p. 152).

she admits her guilt and munion see above. If

is

truly repentant, she

is

admitted to com-

If she dies during trial without confession or sufficient proof for conviction, she is to have Christian burial. The custom of refusing it applies only to the condemned or to those 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. But it is to be carried without ringing a bell and procession, yet not 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 pray for 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. The more pious they were, the stronger were the inducements.

A confession procured by immunity or equivocation, is

fraud, as invalid,

by

even

promises of not retracted. 2 (I, p. 578).

false if

P. I, dub. 184, petit. 7, coroll. 1, nn. 1, Curare debent quod reo, quando torquendus est, detrahantur omnes vestes, et abradantur omnes pili, ne forte in vestibus vel in pilis maleficium vel facturam aliquam ad hunc finem 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 corpore Item curare debent quod adMbeantur remedia quaeillius. Ib.,

"

dam (I,

ecclesiastica."

Ib.,

P.

I,

dub. 192,

sect. 37, nn.

1-3

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, which see for details as to how the demon p. 571) recommends shaving saves the witch in torture.

"Magicians, by aid of demons, can excite tempests, hailstorms, thunder and lightning, overthrowing crops, trees, animals and buildings. They can cause inundations, earthquakes, 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, espeMagicians also can, with the cially when several cooperate. aid of demons, transport men and beasts from place to place most swift and (as is evident with witches), for the demon is his. powerful and there is no earthly power comparable to 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

1026

THE DELUSION AT

ITS

HEIGHT

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 deny it 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 who believe this doctrine do not punish witches, or punish them lightly, sparing their lives, whence it results that very many practice this pestiferous art and the demon can rage in safety. It condemns all tribunals, secular and ecclesiastic, not only for 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 presumed not to be deluded, as they are in their right minds and give details of time and place and those present and other circumstances and this often long after the occurrence. Moreover, 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 body and 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 monstrous wickedness as it would if they were witches, and this credulity consists only in believing themselves with Diana and Herodias and 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 know that 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 by demons 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 assemof Jesus is pronounced, which 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-

blies,

vanishing

when the name

they could not do

if

;

;

tator are dulled while the demons carry off the witchesto are say nothing of the fact that they are sometimes left and found."-- Ib., P. II, dub. 227, sect. 3, nn. 6-18 (II, pp. 255-7).

Ancyra was provincial and not no authority but this is not so, canonical and for it was confirmed by the Council of Nicaea and by the Sixth General Synod, can. 2, wherefore it is better to answer

Some say the Council

of

therefore of

as above.

Ib., n. 17 (p. 257).

Witches cannot penetrate bodies or be in two places at to kill infants, they once, so when they enter closed houses 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 transforms them into mice, cats, locusts and other small animals.

transform men into Magicians with the demon's aid can but extrinsieally, by them intrinsically not changing beasts, some surrounding them with vapors and exhalations. Thus, the to themselves accommodate are changed to wolves; they and hands on can as as far waiting by they shape of wolves what is necessary to render them feet, and the demon adds and by exciting exactly like wolves; he then enters them, he gives them the mind humors and adding poisonous juices wolves they attack like that so its and beast of the agility, and devour men. Or secondly, the demon can suddenly

THE DELUSION AT

1028

ITS

HEIGHT

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 the imagines himself to be doing what is done. Or fourthly, to seem insane the when as mere it do demon can deceit, by themselves to see wonders, which are mere perturbations of Ib., nn. 20-3 (p. 257). inflict diseases Magicians, with the aid of demons, can six hundred have cure. to medicine of art They the beyond modes of doing this, of which he enumerates some. Among these are introducing into the body of the patient rolls of So they can cure all hair, nails, pieces of glass and the like. curable diseases and those imposed by sorcery. Ib., n. 25

the humors.

'(p.

257).

Note as to

this last that

he says nothing about the caution enjoined by

the Instructions.

by the aid of demons, can dig up hidden treasthough God in mercy on us very rarely permits this,

Magicians,

ures, 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 with interposing something that hides them, or by interfering Ib., n. 30 (p. 258). Magicians can control all the operations of the soul dependent upon the body, and the imagination, as v. g. to cause Ib., n. 32 (p. 258). insanity, love, lust or hatred. 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 make

the vision of the spectators.

them appear to the living. Ib., n. 33. But the demon sometimes appears in the of the soul of the dead.

Ib., sec. 4, n.

10

fictitious

character

(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 unspeakable commerce (with demons). Ib., sect. 5, n. 14 (p.

260).

Compensation is to be made to all who have suffered by magic 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 by the doctors. Ib., sect. 2, nn. 1-4 (p. 262).

Under the sorceries that

V

old law, inquisitors

on both

sides

had cognizance only

of

heretical, but under the motu proprio of another of Urban VIII they have cognizance

were

and Sixtus of 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 creature 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.

that in this implicit pact there may be but Delbene parvitas materiae relieving it from mortal sin, nn. 6 sect. denies it. 267). (p. 5, 6, Ib.,

Some authors hold

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 may cause 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. one which It comprehends only two kinds of sorcery divorce, impoother infirmity, the and causing death causes tence and notable damage to harvests, etc. As papal bulls

THE DELUSION AT

1030

ITS

HEIGHT

are construed strictly, it therefore does not comprise other Ib., sect. 28, n. 2 (p. 292). sorceries, such as amatory. 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 Ib., n. 6. sorcerers to injure others, even if death follows. to the but to only the attempts, do Nor penalties apply successful acts.

Ib., n. 7.

Nor does the bull include tion.

the "sortilegium" used for divina-

Ib., nn. 8-9.

The excommunication of sorcerers is not lata sententia, as Del Rio and others think, but ferenda except when conexcommunicated as in joined with heresy, for heretics are of Sixtus V all sorceries bull the Since Domini. the Coena are justiciable by the Inquisition. Heretical sorcery is double on on the part of the operator. The inferred from the work, as when

Ib., nn. 10-11. the part of the work and former when the heresy is

the demon is invoked for as raising the dead or such his powers, exceeding purposes when the demon is latter restoring sight to the blind; the his is within for what powers, as for inducing or invoked 12 n. disease. 293). (p. Ib., curing

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 tit. 62, n. 3, facie manifests some heresy (Simancas says, commiscentur aliqua v. g., "cum in sortibus aut sortilegiis dicta vel facta haeretica vel quae probabilem suspicionem haeresis praebent")But, although this raises a presumption of heresy, if the operator is sound in the faith he is not a heretic. Those are mistaken who hold, as Sousa (Aphor.

But there

is

more Torreblanca), that all Inquis., 1. i, c. 53, n. 21, and still sorceries with explicit or implicit pact are heretical or manifor then there could be festly savor of heresy. But it is false, 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. and I Corinth., x, 20), for whatever he does, apparently in obedience 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 disease or 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 kinds of possible detailsbut he professes disbelief in Institoris' statements as to the ablation of members. Ib., nn. 21-33 (II, pp. 294-5). It is licit to summon the sorcerer to undo the sorcery, "quia maleficus arte bona quam male didicerit, bene uti potest," provided she is not to use another illicit magic pact. But you 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

he enters into

all

on her, when it is a necessity or useful. But charity requires that 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 much more probable. So, if a sorcerer will not release a sorcery by licit methods, he who seeks can accept that she does so by another 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 becoming current. It is merely a feature of the relaxed morality introduced by the probabilist casuists. it is not lawful to ask this directly of amicitia vel benevolentia," though it may be

At the same time the

demon "ex

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.

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).

He

THE DELUSION AT

1032

But

if it

is

ITS

HEIGHT

it certain, or nearly certain, that

cannot be

removed without a magicum signwn, it is unlawful to call and upon her to do so, under Deut. xviii, and Levit. xix, xx, like are those who, Thus wrong a cloud of authorities. and threaten to licit is it that 3 c. lib. (q.v.), say iii, Remigius, 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 it is necessorcery. Therefore, if such a one promises help, to do and from whom she she how examine to proposes sary has learned where the sorcery is, and as long as there is doubt It follows that it is not lawful to she cannot be

employed. 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.

doubt and you can form a probable 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 you know 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 If there is positive

opinion that

it is licit,

involved, including the question as to the lawfulness of removing the signa in which he points out that judges properly have the accused shaved all over, not as a matter of super-

but to remove any charms that they may have about or in the openings of the body, or any ointment that make them insensible to torture. Ib., sect. 2, n. 11

stition,

them

may

(p. 303).

WITCHCRAFT LITEBATURE OF ROMAN INQUISITION

1033

The

discussion continues through another long section (sect. 3), up to It is not necessary to follow this in detail, but it is significant of the eagerness with which the so-called bewitched sought for relief through the employment of sorcerers and [shows] the infinite number of puzzling p. 308.

and doubtful questions which arose

to be discussed

by the

casuists.

Natural remedies are rarely of benefit, for the demon has of counteracting them, though God may perhaps not permit him, so it is well to try them. With these may be classed other things which the demon abhors, as signs, for, as he delights in some things (such as gluttony, lust, hogs and filthy places), so he detests others, as rue, the smoke of burnt leather and the like. Ib., sect. 4, n. 2 (p. 309).

means

For exhaustive detail as to pp. 970 sqq.

all this

see

Del Rio,

lib. vi, c. 2, sect. 2, q.

3*

Supernatural remedies, or ecclesiastical, are first, faith; second, 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 remedies 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 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

work

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 purposes, the accused can be tortured. The penalties are, according to status of culprit, suspension of dignities, scourging, exile, prison, confinement in monasteries and the like; they can 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

THE DELUSION AT

1034

ITS

HEIGHT

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. 4-8 312).

(p.

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 to obtain a female, to learn a hidden occurrence in the past or present, woman's love, to prevent the burning of anything thrown in the fire, to It

to ligature transport a man from one place to another, to cause sickness, 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 Pefia (Comtempests and storms, clouds and lightning and the like. See ment, in Eymeric., P. II, comment. B8) and Torreblanca (Epit. Delict., Grillandus (Tract, de Sortilegiis, q. 10, n. 15; q. 11, n. 2) says lib. ii, c. 8). Locatus (Opus Judic., s.v. Apostata, n. 9) says it is it is not heretical. Simancas (De Cath. Instit., heretical, for invocation assumes worship. 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

Aquinas had long before said, in treating of divinathat all invocation of the demon is express pact (Sec. Sec., q. 95, in Therefore Delbene (loc. df) is moderate when he concludes that corp.). this creates at least suspicion de Uvi of heresy or apostasy.

vehemently suspect. tion,

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). in the Congregation of the Inquisition, Feb. 17, 1559, provided relaxation for "qui abusi sunt sacratissimo 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).

A decree

of

Paul IV

NEBI, JOHANNES BAPTISTA. Opusculum. Florentiae, 1685.

De

Judice S. Inquisitionis

WITCHCKAFT MTBKATUBE OF KOMAN INQUISITION

1035

This is a condensed manual of practice. It has nothing new on the subject of sorcery; but is interesting as showing that the Instructions were observed, with their inculcation of caution and moderation.

In the punishments [to be inflicted] it is observable that Cardinal Scaglia's humane prescription not to scourge matrons and women with marriageable daughters on account of the humiliation is duly preserved (p. 75). The penalties are light and the care exercised before arrest and prosecution is indicated by the remark: "Ex istis maleficiis parva educl possunt, cum ut plurimum ratione debilitatis indiciorum inquisitores praemere non possint, mMlominus quando urgentia sunt, proceditur ad capturam personae indicatae et ad torturam 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 superstitious observances. Leading questions are skilfully avoided.

DANDINI, ANSELMO. De Suspectis de Haeresi. Romae, 1703. Malefici sometimes abjure the faith with the mouth only and sometimes with mouth and heart. The devil is unable to penetrate the secrets of the heart and, to find out, commits the sorcerer for a certain number of years to the care of an inferior demon called Martinellus, as a novice to his master, whose duty it is to observe whether his abnegation of the If he is found unreliable in Ms duty, he faith is sincere. 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).

1, c.

is also in Lupo da Bergamo in Edict. S. Inq., P. Ill, lib. xx, dist. 1, which I already have. Both are derived from Mall. Malef., P. II, 2 (p. 227) though not so detailed.

No

one of sane mind relieves malefici of suspicion of heresy.

This diff. 3,

q.

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 many

popes, emperors, kings, orthodox fathers, theologians, jurists

THE 0ELTTSION AT

10S6

ITS

HEIGHT

and numerous physicians and he marvels greatly that some physicians reject the authority of their compeers. 6, subsect. 1, nn. 1-4 (pp. 230-1).

Tb. } sect.

can kill by looks Malefici have the greatest power; they the unbapof blood the suck especially children, alone; they their old age; in them believe which rejuvenates they tized, also use the bodies of infants to make the famous oint-

they

ment without which they cannot fly to the Sabbat, and they eat them cooked in their banquets; they start great conflagrations of houses and cities by merely murmuring spells; mothers' they cause abortions and barrenness and dry up Ib., subsect. 2, nn. 1, 4, 5,

milk.

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 disof the mind think tinguish between the higher and lower parts their ignorance, for but for the control which, will, they can nn. 9, 10 (p. 233). heretics. be formal would Ib., they through the violence thus exercised on the sensitive hatred. Ib., nn. 11, 14, 16 part that they excite to love or It is

(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, to which yet much more often they employ innoxious things subsect. much 3, n. 5 Ib., the demon adjoins powers greater. (p.

235).

Sometimes these are thorns, bones, stones, needles, knives, introduced in the body by the demon. Or ointments are For which cause used, rubbed on the body during sleep. the witches attack during the night, using not only ointments but all other means of harming adults and infants, sometimes It is no oppressing them tiU they seem to be suffocated. or of forms in the chambers enter animals, that wonder they 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.

WITCHCRAFT LITERATURE OF ROMAN INQUISITION 1037 Generally maUficia are wrought by signa either sewed to the cloak of the victim, or hidden in his bed, or under his threshold, while muttering spells, or smearing the garments or door-posts. Then there are figurines of wax transfixed with needles or melted before a fire; and there are innumerable others. 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., Ib., n. 16 (pp. 237-8). All of them whose absurd

Women

rest

lib.

ii,

c.

12, n. 10).

on the wild talk of the Mall. Malef., lib. still seem to find credulous believers.

ii,

c. 1, q.

7

stories

are also rendered barren, or their milk is dried, or Ib., nn. 17-21 (p. 238).

they are caused to abort.

In fact there was no misfortune afflicting attributed to witches and witchcraft.

mankind that could not be

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 Crusius 2, c. 6, n. 7, Eborae, 1620, p. 216). Indiciis Delict., c. 32, n. 41) says it is often in hidden not parts, as inside the eyelids or lips, and adds that all are

Ensalmis, sect.

(De

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

THE DELUSION AT

1038

ITS

HEIGHT

without being felt or bringing blood; the other that the figure varies sometimes it is the shape of a hare, or again of the foot of a toad or lizard or black cat. He agrees with Godelmann that this is proof insufficient for torture, and Berlich says that it creates no suspicion, as it may be an accident. 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 entered and who is the maleficus, for the devil is the father of lies, and to impress the exorcist will sometimes name some one whose reputation is bad or who is disliked by the possessed. Ib., n. 15 (p. 242).

He

GHEEAEDI, PIERANTONIO. novelli Vicari

Foranei

Breve Istruzione Romae, 1752. .

.

.

per

i

del S. Uffizio.

Like Menghini's Regole this affords no special instructions as to witchthough it likewise bears testimony to the care prescribed to procure proper evidence prior to prosecution. craft

He bears testimony to the difficulty of defining Indicium and quotes approvingly from Julius Clarus "Scire debes quod secundum omnes Doctores in materia Indiciorum non potest dari certa doctrina, sed totum relinquitur arbitrio boni viri scilicet Judicis, qui secundum qualitatem personae et delicti et demonstrationum seu Indiciorum judicet an sit t

sufficiens vel

non."

Regola

5, n.

12

(p. 87).

!

3

115532