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H I ST

MALLEUS
MALEFI r
/ CARUM

ACCESSION NUMBER

PRESS MARK

4?

MALLEUS

MALEFIC

ARUM translated

with an Introduction, Biblio¬
graphy and Notes by the
Rev. Montague Summers

JOHN RODKER < PUBLISHER / 1928

Bve.fiQY' CfoUoe)

*

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

This edition of Malleus Maleficarum,
comprising 12J5 numbered copies , is here trans¬
lated into English from the edition of 1489 for
the first time. The book is printed by Messrs .
R. Clay & Sons , Ltd., Bungay , Suffolk, on a
Dutch paper specially made for the edition.

This copy is No. . . jLkL-2. _

CONTENTS

r\oe

INTRODUCTION xi

A NOTE UPON THE BIBLIOGRAPHY xli

THE BULL OF INNOCENT VIII xliii

THE FIRST PART

TREATING OF THE THREE NECESSARY CONCOMITANTS OF WITCHCRAFT
WHICH ARE THE DEVIL, A WITCH. AND THE

PERMISSION OF

PART ONE

Question I.

Whether the Belief that there are such Beings as
Witches is so Essential a Part of the Catholic
Faith that Obstinacy to maintain the Opposite
Opinion manifestly savours of Heresy page i

Question II.

If it be in Accordance with the Catholic Faith to
maintain that in Order to bring about some Effect
of Magic, the Devil must intimately co-operate
with the Witch, or whether one without the other,
that is to say, the Devil without the Witch, or
conversely, could produce such an Effect 12

Question III.

Whether Children can be Generated by Incubi and
Succubi 2 1

Question IV.

By which Devils are the Operations of Incubus and
Succubus Practised? 28

Question V.

What is the Source of the Increase of Works of
Witchcraft? Whence comes it that the Practice
of Witchcraft hath so notably increased? 31

Question VI.

Concerning Witches who copulate with Devils.
Why is it that Women are chiefly addicted to
Evil Superstitions? 41

Question VII.

Whether Witches can Sway the Minds of Men to
Love or Hatred 48

Question VIII.

Whether Witches can Hebetate the Powers of
Generation or Obstruct the Venereal Act 54

Question IX.

Whether Witches may work some Prestidigitatory
Illusion so that the Male Organ appears to be
entirely removed and separate from the Body 58

Question X.

Whether Witches can by some Glamour Change
Men into Beasts 61

ALMIGHTY GOD

Question XI.

That Witches who are Midwives in Various Ways
Kill the Child Conceived in the Womb, and Pro¬
cure an Abortion; or if they do not this. Offer
New-born Children to Devils page 66

Question XII.

Whether the Permission of Almighty God is an
Accompaniment of Witchcraft 66

Question XIII.

Herein is set forth the Question concerning the
Two Divine Permissions which God justly allows,
namely, that the Devil, the Author of all Evil,
should Sin, and that our First Parents should
Fall, from which Origins the Works of Witches
are justly suffered to take place 7 1

Solutions of the Arguments.

Question XIV.

The Enormity of Witches is Considered, and it is
shown that the Whole Matter should be rightly
Set Forth and Declared 73

Question XV.

It is Shown that, on Account of the Sins of Witches,
the Innocent are often Bewitched, yea, Sometimes
even for their Own Sins 77' •

Question XVI.

The Foregoing Truths are Set out in Particular,
this by a Comparison of the Works of Watches
with Other Baleful Superstitions 80

Question XVII.

A Comparison of their Crimes under Fourteen
Heads, with the Sins of the Devils of all and
every Kind 82

Question XVIII.

Here follows the Method of Preaching against and
Controverting Five Arguments of Laymen and
Lewd Folk) which seem to be Variously Ap¬
proved, that God does not Allow so Great Power
to the Devil and Witches as is Involved in the
Performance of such Mighty Works of Witch¬
craft 84

Vll

CONTENTS
THE SECOND PART

TREATING OF THE METHODS BY WHICH THE WORKS OF WITCHCRAFT ARE
WROUGHT AND DIRECTED, AND HOW THEY MAY BE
SUCCESSFULLY ANNULLED AND DISSOLVED

Resolved in but two Questions, yet these are divided into many Chapters,

QUESTION I Chapter XIV.

Of those against whom the Power of Witches
availeth not at all page 89

Chapter I.

Of the several Methods by which Devils through
Witches Entice and Allure the Innocent to the
Increase of that Horrid Craft and Company 96

Chapter II.

Of the Way whereby a Formal Pact with Evil is
made 99

Chapter III.

How they are Transported from Place to Place 104

Chapter IV.

Here follows the Way whereby Witches copulate
with those Devils known as Incubi 109

Chapter V.

Witches commonly perform their Spells through
the Sacraments of the Church. And how they
Impair the Powers of Generation, and how they
may Cause other Ills to happen to God’s Creatures
of all Kinds. But herein we except the Question
of the Influence of the Stars 1 14

Chapter VI.

How Witches Impede and Prevent the Power of
Procreation 1 1 7

Chapter VII.

How, as it were, they Deprive Man of his Virile
Member 1 1 8

Chapter VIII.

Of the Manner whereby they Change Men into the
Shapes of Beasts 122

Chapter IX.

How Devils may enter the Human Body and the
Head without doing any Hurt, when they cause
such Metamorphosis by Means of Prestidigita¬
tion • 124

Chapter X.

Of the Method by which Devils through the
Operations of Witches sometimes actually
possess Men 128

Chapter XI.

Of the Method by which they can Inflict Every
Sort of Infirmity, generally Ills of the Graver
Kind 1 34

Chapter XII.

Of the Way how in Particular they Afflict Men with
Other Like Infirmities 137

Chapter XIII.

How Witch Midwives commit most Horrid
Crimes when they either Kill Children or Offer
them to Devils in most Accursed Wise 140

Here followeth how Witches Injure Cattle in

Various Ways page 144

Chapter XV.

How they Raise and Stir up Hailstorms and

Tempests, and Cause Lightning to Blast both
Men and Beasts 147

Chapter XVI.

Of Three Ways in which Men and not Women may
be Discovered to be Addicted to Witchcraft:
Divided into Three Heads: and First of the
Witchcraft of Archers 150

QUESTION II

THE METHODS OF DESTROYING AND
CURING WITCHCRAFT

Introduction, wherein is Set Forth the Difficulty of this

Question.

Chapter I.

The Remedies prescribed by Holy Church against
Incubus and Succubus Devils 164

Chapter II.

Remedies prescribed for Those who are Bewitched
by the Limitation of the Generative Power 167

Chapter III.

Remedies prescribed for those who are Bewitched
by being Inflamed with Inordinate Love or
Extraordinary Hatred 1 70

Chapter IV.

Remedies prescribed for those who by Prestidi-
gitatory Art have lost their Virile Members or
have seemingly been Transformed into the Shapes
of Beasts 1 73

Chapter V.

Prescribed Remedies for those who are Obsessed
owing to some Spell 1 75

Chapter VI.

Prescribed Remedies ; to wit, the Lawful Exorcisms
of the Church, for all Sorts of Infirmities and
Ills due to Witchcraft; and the Method of
Exorcising those who are Bewitched 1 79

Chapter VII.

Remedies prescribed against Hailstorms, and for
Animals that are Bewitched 188

Chapter VIII.

Certain Remedies prescribed against those Dark
and Horrid Harms with which Devils may
Afflict Men 192

CONTENTS

IX

THE THIRD PART

RELATING TO THE JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS IN BOTH THE ECCLESIASTICAL
AND CIVIL COURTS AGAINST WITCHES AND
INDEED ALL HERETICS

Containing XXXV Questions in which are most Clearly set out the Formal Rules for Initiating a Process of
Justice, how it should be Conducted, and the Method of Pronouncing Sentence.

QUESTION I
General and Introductory

Who are the Fit and Proper Judges in the Trial of
Witches ? page 1 94

THE FIRST HEAD

Question I.

The Method of Initiating a Process 205

Question II.

Of the Number of the Witnesses 208

Question III.

Of the Solemn Adjuration and Re-examination of
Witnesses 209

Question IV.

Of the Quality and Condition of Witnesses 209

Question V.

Whether Mortal Enemies may be Admitted as

Witnesses 209

THE SECOND HEAD

Question VI.

How the Trial is to be Proceeded with and Con¬
tinued. And how the Witnesses are to be
Examined in the Presence of Four Other Persons,
and how the Accused is to be Questioned in Two
Ways 210

Question VII.

In Which Various Doubts are Set Forth with
Regard to the Foregoing Questions and Negative
Answers. Whether the Accused is to be Im¬
prisoned, and when she is to be considered as
Manifestly Taken in the Foul Heresy of Witch¬
craft. This is the Second Action 213

Question VIII.

Which Follows from the Preceding Question,
Whether the Witch is to be Imprisoned, and of
the Method of Taking her. This is the Third
Action of the Judge 214

Question IX.

What is to be done after the Arrest, and whether
the Names of the Witnesses should be made
Known to the Accused. This is the Fourth
Action 216

Question X.

What Kind of Defence may be Allowed, and of the
Appointment of an Advocate. This is the Fifth
Action 2 1 7

Question XI.

What Course the Advocate should Adopt when the
Names of the Witnesses are not Revealed to him.
The Sixth Action 218

Question XII.

Of the Same Matter, Declaring more Particularly
how the Question of Personal Enmity is to be
Investigated. The Seventh Action. page 220

Question XIII.

Of the Points to be Observed by the Judge before
the Formal Examination in the Place of Deten¬
tion and Torture. This is the Eighth Action 222

Question XIV.

Of the Method of Sentencing the Accused to be
Questioned: and How she must be Questioned
on the First Day; and Whether she may be
Promised her Life. The Ninth Action 225

Question XV.

Of the Continuing of the Torture, and of the
Devices and Signs by which the Judge can
Recognize a Witch ; and how he ought to Protect
himself from their Spells. Also how they are to
be Shaved in those Parts where they use to
Conceal the Devil’s Masks and Tokens; to¬
gether with the due Setting Forth of Various
Means of Overcoming their Obstinacy in Keeping
Silence and Refusal to Confess. And it is the
Tenth Action 227

Question XVI.

Of the fit Time and of the Method of the Second
Examination. And it is the Eleventh Action,
concerning the Final Precautions to be Observed
by the Judge 230

THE THIRD HEAD

Which is the last Part of this Work. How the
Process is to be Concluded by the Pronounce¬
ment of a Definite and Just Sentence 232

Question XVII.

Of Common Purgation, and especially of the Trial
by Red-hot Iron, to which Witches Appeal 233

Question XVIII.

Of the Manner of Pronouncing a Sentence which
is Final and Definitive 235

Question XIX.

Of the Various Degrees of Overt Suspicion which
render the Accused liable to be Sentenced 236

Question XX.

Of the First Method of Pronouncing Sentence 240
Question XXI.

Of the Second Method of Pronouncing Sentence,
when the Accused is no more than Defamed 241

Question XXII.

Of the Third Kind of Sentence, to be Pronounced
on one who is Defamed, and who is to be put to
the Question 242

X

CONTENTS

Question XXIII.

The Fourth Method of Sentencing, in the Case of
one Accused upon a Light Suspicion page 244

Question XXIV.

The Fifth Manner of Sentence, in the Case of one
under Strong Suspicion 246

Question XXV.

The Sixth Kind of Sentence, in the Case of one
who is Gravely Suspect 248

Question XXVI.

The Method of passing Sentence upon one who is
both Suspect and Defamed 250

Question XXVII.

The Method of passing Sentence upon one who
hath Confessed to Heresy, but is not Penitent 252

Question XXVIII.

The Method of passing Sentence upon one who
hath Confessed to Heresy but is Relapsed,

Albeit now Penitent 2 54

Question XXIX.

The Method of passing Sentence upon one who
hath Confessed to Heresy but is Impenitent,
although not Relapsed 257

Question XXX.

Of One who has Confessed to Heresy, is Relapsed,
and is also Impenitent page 258

Question XXXI.

Of One Taken and Convicted, but Denying
Everything 259

Question XXXII.

Of One who is Convicted but who hath Fled or
who Contumaciously Absents himself 261

Question XXXIII.

Of the Method of passing Sentence upon one who
has been Accused by another Witch, who has
been or is to be Burned at the Stake 264

Question XXXIV.

Of the Method of passing Sentence upon a Witch
who Annuls Spells wrought by Witchcraft; and
of Witch Midwives and Archer-Wizards 268

Question XXXV.

Finally, of the Method of passing Sentence upon
Witches who Enter or Cause to be Entered an
Appeal, whether such be Frivolous or Legitimate
and Just 271

/

INTRODUCTION

IT has been recognized even from
the very earliest times, during the
first gropings towards the essential
conveniences of social decency and
social order, that witchcraft is an evil
thing, an enemy to light, an ally of
the powers of darkness, disruption, and
decay. Sometimes, no doubt, primitive
communities were obliged to tolerate
the witch and her works owing to
fear ; in other words, witchcraft was a
kind of blackmail ; but directly Cities
were able to co-ordinate, and it became
possible for Society to protect itself,
precautions were taken and safeguards
were instituted against this curse, this
bane whose object seemed to blight all
that was fair, all that was just and good,
all that was well-appointed and honour¬
able, in a word, whose aim proved to set
up on high the red standard of revolu¬
tion; to overwhelm religion, existing
order, and the comeliness of life in an
abyss of anarchy, nihilism, and despair.
In his great treatise De Ciuitate Dei S.
Augustine set forth the theory, or rather
the living fact, of the two Cities, the
City of God, and the opposing strong¬
hold of all that is not for God, that is
to say, of all that is against Him.

This seems to be a natural truth
which the inspired Doctor has so
eloquently demonstrated in his mighty
pages, and even before the era of
Christianity men recognized the verity,
and nations who had never heard the
Divine command put into practice the
obligation of the Mosaic maxim : Thou
shalt not suffer a witch to live. (Vul¬
gate: Maleficos non patieris uiuere.
Douay: Wizards thou shalt not suffer
to live. Exodus , xxii, 18.)

It is true that both in the Greek and in
the earlier Roman cults, worships often
directly derived from secret and sombre
sources, ancient gods, or rather demons,
had their awful superstitions and
their horrid rites, powers whom men
dreaded but out of very terror placated ;
fanes men loathed but within whose
shadowed portals they bent and bowed
the knee perforce in trembling fear.

Such deities were the Thracian Bendis,
whose manifestation was heralded by
the howling of her fierce black hounds,
and Hecate the terrible “ Queen of the
realm of ghosts,” as Euripides calls
her, and the vampire Mormo and the
dark Summanus who at midnight
hurled loud thunderbolts and launched
the deadly levin through the starless
sky. Pliny tells us that the worship
of this mysterious deity lasted long,
and dogs with their puppies were sacri¬
ficed to him with atrocious cruelty,
but S. Augustine says that in his day
“ one could scarce find one within a
while, that had heard, nay more, that
had read so much as the name of
Summanus” ( De Ciuitate Dei , iv, 23).
Nevertheless there is only too much
reason to believe that this devil-god
had his votaries, although his liturgy
was driven underground and his
supplicants were obliged to assemble
in remote and secret places. Towards
the end of the fifth century, the
Carthaginian Martianus Capella boldly
declares that Summanus is none other
than the lord of Hell, and he was
writing, it may be remembered, only a
few years before the birth of S. Bene¬
dict; * some think that he was still
alive when the Father of All Monks
was born.

Although in Greek States the prose¬
cution of witches was rare, in large
measure owing to the dread they
inspired, yet cases were not unknown,
for Theoris, a woman of Lemnos, who
is denounced by Demosthenes, was
publicly tried at Athens and burned
for her necromancy. It is perhaps

* The influence of this Saint over the dark
powers was very remarkable , and he is especially
venerated as “ effugator daemonum ." The Medal
of S. Benedict has been found to be extremely
potent against all evil spells. During a trial for
witchcraft in 1647 at Nattenberg near the Abbey
of Metten in Bavaria , the sorcerers acknow¬
ledged that their attempts against the monks were
foiled by the holy Medal. The possessed boys of
Illfurt (Alsace), 1864-69, exhibited the utmost
dread of S. Benedict's Medal.

xi

INTRODUCTION

• •

Xll

not impertinent to observe that many
strange legends attached to the island
of Lemnos, which is situated in the
Aegaean Sea, nearly midway between
Mt. Athos and the Hellespont. It is
one of the largest of the group, having
an area of some 147 square miles.
Lemnos was sacred to Hephaestus,
who is said to have fallen here when
hurled by Zeus from Olympus.* The
workshops of the Smith-God in ancient
legend were supposed to be on the
island, although recent geologists deny
that this area was ever volcanic, and
the fires which are spoken of as issuing
from it must be considered gaseous.
Later the officinae of Hephaestus were
placed in Sicily and the Lipari Islands,!
particularly Hiera.

The worship of Hephaestus in later
days seems to have degenerated and
to have been identified with some of
the secret cults of the evil powers. This
was probably due to his connexion
with fire and also to his extreme
ugliness, for he was frequently repre¬
sented as a swarthy man of grim and
forbidding aspect. It should further be
noted that the old Italian deity Vol-
canus, with whom he was to be
identified, is the god of destructive fire
— fire considered in its rage and terror,
as contrasted with fire which is a com¬
fort to the human race, the kindly
blaze on the hearth, domestic fire,
presided over by the gracious lady
Vesta. It is impossible not to think of
the fall of Lucifer when one considers
the legend of Hephaestus. Our Lord
replied, when the disciples reported:
Domine, etiam daemonia subiiciuntur
nobis in nomine tuoj (Lord, the devils
also are subject to us in Thy Name),
Uidebam Satanam sicut fulgur de
coelo cadentem (I saw Satan like
lightning falling from Heaven) ; and
Isaias says:§ “Quomodo cecidisti de

* Homer, “Iliad,” I, §go, sqq. Cf. Ovid,
“Fasti” III, 82 : “ Uolcanum tellus Hypsi¬
pylea colit” Upon which Paulus glosses :
“Hoc est, Lemnos insula, at Hypsipyle Thoantis
filia quae in ea regnauit.”

f “ Aeneid ,” VIII, 416—422 :

Insula Sicanium iuxta latus Aeoliamque
erigitur Liparen, fumantibus ardua saxis,
quam subter specus et Cyclopum exesa caminis
antra Aetnaea tonant, ualidique incudibus ictus
auditi referunt gemitus, striduntque cauernis
stricturae Chalybum et fornacibus ignis anhelat,
Uolcani domus, et Uolcania nomine tellus.

J S. Luke, x, 17, 18. § Isaias , xiv, 12.

coelo, Lucifer, qui mane oriebaris?
Corruisti in terram qui uulnerabas
gentes?” (How art thou fallen from
Heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in
the morning? How art thou fallen to
the earth, that didst wound the
nations?) Milton also has the following
poetic allusion:

Nor was his name unheard or unador’d

In Ancient Greece ; and in Ausonian land

Men called him Mulciber; and how he fell

From Heav’n, they fabl’d, thrown by
angry Jove

Sheer o’er the Chrystal Battlements:
from Morn

To Noon he fell, from Noon to dewy
Eve,

A Summers day ; and with the setting
Sun

Dropt from the Zenith like a falling
Star,

On Lemnos th’ JEgcean lie: thus they
relate,

Erring ; for he with his rebellious rout

Fell long before ; nor aught avail’d him
now

To have built in Heav’n high Towrs ;
nor did he scape

By all his Engins, but was headlong
sent

With his industrious crew to build in
hell.il

Hephaestus, especially in later days,
is represented with one leg shortened
to denote his lameness ; and throughout
the Middle Ages it was popularly
believed that his cloven hoof was the
one feature which the devil was unable
to disguise. In this connexion Loki, the
Vulcan of Northern Europe, will be
readily remembered. Frederick Hall
writes :^j “Hephaestos, Vulcan and Loki,
each lame from some deformity of foot,
in time joined natures with the Pans
and satyrs of the upper world ; the lame
sooty blacksmith donned their goatlike
extremities of cloven hoofs, tail and
horns; and the black dwarfs became
uncouth ministers of this sooty, black,
foul fiend. If ever mortal man accepted
the services of these cunning metal¬
workers, it was for some sinister purpose,
and at a fearful price — no less than that
of the soul itself, bartered away in a
contract of red blood, the emblem of
life and the colour of fire.”

There were also dark histories of

|| “Paradise Lost,” I, 738-51.

If “The Pedigree of the Devil,” London,
1883, pp. 178-g.

INTRODUCTION

Xlll

murder and blood connected with
Lemnos. When the Argonauts landed
here they found it inhabited only by
Amazons, who, having murdered all
their husbands, had chosen as their
queen Hypsipyle, daughter of Thoas,
whom she secretly preserved alive.
When this was discovered the unfortu¬
nate woman was compelled to leave
the island, and being subsequently cap¬
tured by pirates she was sold to
Lycurgus, king of the sacred groves
that surrounded the temple of Zeus
Nemeus in a remote Argive valley.
Hypsipyle here became the nurse of
the mysterious child Archemorus, the
Forerunner of Death, who was bitten
by a magic serpent and vanished,
portending the doom of the Seven who
went against Thebes.

At a later time the Pelasgians are
said to have massacred the inhabitants
of Lemnos, and to have settled there
with some Athenian maidens they had
carried off from Attica. Afterwards
these savages murdered both their wives
and their children. In consequence of
such atrocities Lemnian deeds became
proverbial in Greek for horrors and
sorceries.* It is curious to remark that
a certain red clay ( terra Lemnia) found
on the island was, as Pliny tells us,
employed as a remedy for wounds, and
especially the bite of a snake. This
latter may have some obscure connexion
with the story of Archemorus. In any
case enough has been said to show that
this island was considered a land of
mystery and ancient terrors, a fitting
origin for the witch Theoris.

In Rome black magic was punished
as a capital offence by the Law of the
Twelve Tables, which are to be assigned
to the fifth century b.c., and, as Livyf
records, from time to time Draconian
statutes were directed against those
who attempted to blight crops and
vineyards or to spread rinderpest
amongst flocks and cattle. None the
less it is very evident from many Latin
authors and from the historians that
Rome swarmed with occultists and
diviners, many of whom in spite of
the Lex Cornelia almost openly traded
in poisons, and not infrequently in
assassination to boot. Sometimes, as
in the Middle Ages, a circumstance of
which the Malleus Maleficarum most

* Aeschylus, “ Choephoroe 631-38.
t IV, 30; XXV, 1 ; XXXIX, 16.

particularly complains, the sorcerers
were protected by men of wealth and
high estate. This was especially the
case in the terrible days of Marius and
of Catiline, and during the extreme
decadence of the latest Caesars. Yet,
paradoxical as it may appear, such
emperors as Augustus, Tiberius, and
Septimius Severus, whilst banishing
from their realms all seers and necro¬
mancers, and putting them to death,
in private entertained astrologers and
wizards among their retinue, consulting
their art upon each important occasion,
and often even in the everyday and
ordinary affairs of life.

Nevertheless it must be noted that
all the while normal legislation utterly
condemned witchcraft and its works,
whilst the laws were not merely carried
out to their very letter, but reinforced
by such emperors as Claudius, Vitel¬
lius, and Vespasian.

These prosecutions are very signifi¬
cant, and I have insisted upon them in
some detail, as I wish to emphasize
that stern and constant official opposi¬
tion to witchcraft, and the prohibition
under severest penalties, the sentence
of death itself, of any practice or pursuit
of these dangerous and irreligious arts,
was demonstrably not a product of
Christianity, but had long and neces¬
sarily been employed in the heathen
world and among pagan peoples and
among polytheistic societies. More¬
over, there are even yet savage com¬
munities who visit witchcraft with
death.

Accordingly, if we cite the Vincent¬
ian canon, quod semper, quod ubique , quod
ab omnibus, we might surely say that
from the earliest dawn of civilization
witchcraft has been prohibited, hated,
and feared.

At the time of the triumph of
Christianity a decadent Empire in the
last throes of paganism was corroded
by every kind of superstition and
occult art, from the use of petty and
harmless sympathetic charms of healing
to the darkest crimes of goetic cere¬
monial. Spells, scrying, conjurations,
evokings of the dead were never more
fashionable and never more keenly
explored by every class and every order,
from the divine Caesar in his palace to
the losel peasant in his humble shed.
If the disease is universal, the medicine
must be sharp. It was very difficult,
when the infection of crime was so

XIV

ft

INTRODUCTION

general, to discriminate and draw the
line, to take into consideration relative
differences and nice gradations. So
much that was heathen, so much that
was bad, was mixed up with what
might seem to be simple credulity, and
the harmless folk-customs of some
grandam tradition and immemorial
usage, a song or a country dance may¬
hap, innocent enough on the surface,
and even pleasing, so often were but
the cloak and the mask for something
devilish and obscene, that the Church
deemed it necessary to forbid and
proscribe the whole superstition even
when it manifested itself in modest
fashion and seemed guileless, innoxious,
and of no account. Thus, for example,
to make the wind to blow or to drop
is a world-wide fantasy which appears
harmless enough. The Esthonians when
they wish to raise a wind strike a knife
into a house-beam in the direction
from which they desire the wind to
blow, while at the same time they croon
an old-time canzonet. The underlying
idea is that the gentle wind will not let
any innocent thing, not even a beam,
suffer without coming swiftly and
breathing softly thereon to assuage the
pain. But at Constantinople, in the
reign of Constantine, a warlock named
Sopater was put to death on a charge
of binding the winds by magic, which
he had at any rate essayed to do,
whether or no the fact that the corn-
ships of Egypt and Syria were detained
on their voyage by calms and head¬
winds was actually due to his inter¬
ference. The city was nearly starved,
and the Byzantine mob, clamouring
for bread, was ready to break out into
the wildest excesses.* In Scotland
witches used to raise the wind by
dipping the corner of a plaid in water
and beating it thrice upon a stone,
crooning the following words :

I knok this rag upone this stane

To raise the wind in the divellis name,

It sail not lye till I please againe.f

It will readily be remembered that one
of the chief charges brought against
the coven of North Berwick witches
during the famous trial of 1590 was that
they performed incantations to raise a

* Eunapius, “ Uitae sophistarum” : Aede sins
(ed. Didot, p. 463) .

f “ The Darker Superstitions of Scotland”:
T. G. Dalyell (p. 248).

tempest which might wreck the fleet
that was escorting James VI when he
brought his queen, Anne of Denmark,
from her native country to Scotland.
So we see that a superstition which in
a little fishing ’ village, when some
mother was calling a fair wind for her
son, or some lass whistled for a gentle
breeze to fill the sails of her sweetheart’s
trawler, was simple and kindly enough,
might yet become dangerous and
deadly at least in intent when launched
by malevolent witches who had the will
if not the power to destroy, and who if
this means failed would hasten to
employ other methods that should
prove far more resourceful in their
means and efficacious in their results.

Accordingly, during the years 319-
2 1 a number of laws were passed which
penalized and punished the craft of
magic with the utmost severity. A
pagan diviner or haruspex could only
follow his vocation under very definite
restrictions. He was not allowed to be
an intimate visitor at the house of any
citizen, for friendship with men of this
kind must be avoided. “The haruspex
who frequents the houses of others shall
die at the stake,” such is the tenor of
the code.J It is hardly an exaggeration
to say that almost every year saw a
more rigid application of the laws;
although even as to-day, when fortune¬
telling and peering into the future are
forbidden by the Statute-Book, diviners
and mediums abound, so then in spite
of every prohibition astrologers, clair¬
voyants, and palmists had an enormous
clientele of rich and poor alike. How¬
ever, under Valens, owing to his dis¬
covery of the damning fact that certain
prominent courtiers had endeavoured
by means of table-rapping to ascertain
who should be his successor upon the
throne, in the year 367 a regular
crusade, which in its details recalls the
heyday of Master Matthew Hopkins,
was instituted against the whole race
of magicians, soothsayers, mathematici,
and theurgists, which perhaps was the
first general prosecution during the
Christian era. Large numbers of per¬
sons, including no doubt many innocent
as well as guilty, were put to death,
and a veritable panic swept through
the Eastern world.

The early legal codes of most

X “ Codex Theodosianus ,” Lib. IX, tit. xvi,

/, /.

/

INTRODUCTION

xv

European nations contain laws directed
against witchcraft. Thus, for example,
the oldest document of Frankish
legislation, the Salic Law ( Lex salica ),
which was reduced to a written form
and promulgated under Clovis, who
died 27 November, 51 1, mulcts those
who practise magic with various fines,
especially when it could be proven that
the accused launched a deadly curse,
or had tied the Witch’s Knot. This
latter charm was usually a long cord
tightly tied up in elaborate loops,
among whose reticulations it was cus¬
tomary to insert the feathers of a black
hen, a raven, or some other bird which
had, or was presumed to have, no speck
of white. This is one of the oldest
instruments of witchcraft and is known
in all countries and among all nations.
It was put to various uses. The wizards
of Finland, when they sold wind to
sailors who were becalmed in harbour,
used to enclose the wind in the three
knots of a rope. If the first knot were
undone a gentle breeze sprang up; if
the second, it blew a mackerel gale ; if
the third, a hurricane.* But the
Witch’s Ladder, as it was often known,
could be used with far more baleful
effects. The knots were tied with cer¬
tain horrid maledictions, and then the
cord was hidden away in some secret
place, and unless it were found and the
strands released the person at whom
the curse was directed would pine and
die. This charm continually occurs
during the trials. Thus in the cele¬
brated Island-Magee case, March 171 1,
when a coven of witches was discovered,
it was remarked that an apron belong¬
ing to Mary Dunbar, a visitor at the
house of the afflicted persons, had been
abstracted. Miss Dunbar was suddenly
seized with fits and convulsions, and
sickened almost to death. After most
diligent search the missing garment
was found carefully hidden away and
covered over, and a curious string
which had nine knots in it had been so
tied up with the folds of the linen that
it was beyond anything difficult to
separate them and loosen the ligatures.
In 1886 in the old belfry of a village
church in England there were accident¬

* Olaus Magnus , “ Gentium septentr. hist.”
Ill, /5. A Stornoway woman sold a mariner such
a cord with three knots. “ Our Highland Folklore
Heritage ,” Alexander Poison , Inverness, IQ26,
P-73-

b

ally discovered, pushed away in a dark
corner, several yards of incle braided
with elaborate care and having a
number of black feathers thrust through
the strands. It is said that for a long
while considerable wonder was caused
as to what it might be, but when it was
exhibited and became known, one of
the local grandmothers recognized it
as a Witch’s Ladder, and, what is
extremely significant, when it was
engraved in the Folk Lore Journal an
old Italian woman to whom the picture
was shown immediately identified it as
la ghirlanda delle streghe.

The laws of the Visigoths, which were
to some extent founded upon the
Roman law, punished witches who had
killed any person by their spells with
death ; whilst long-continued and
obstinate witchcraft, if fully proven,
was visited with such severe sentences
as slavery for life. In 578, when a son
of Queen Fredegonde died, a number
of witches who were accused of having
contrived the destruction of the Prince
were executed. It has been said in
these matters that the ecclesiastical
law was tolerant, since for the most
part it contented itself with a sentence
of excommunication. But those who
consider this spiritual outlawry lenient
certainly do not appreciate what such
a doom entailed. Moreover, after a
man had been condemned to death
by the civil courts it would have been
somewhat superfluous to have repeated
the same sentence, and beyond the
exercise of her spiritual weapons, what
else was there left for the Church to do?

In 814 Louis le Pieux upon his
accession to the throne began to take
very active measures against all sor¬
cerers and necromancers, and it was
owing to his influence and authority
that the Council of Paris in 829 appealed
to the secular courts to carry out any
such sentences as the Bishops might
pronounce. The consequence was that
from this time forward the penalty of
witchcraft was death, and there is
evidence that if the constituted
authority, either ecclesiastical or civil,
seemed to slacken in their efforts the
populace took the law into their own
hands with far more fearful results.

In England the early Penitentials
are greatly concerned with the repres¬
sion of pagan ceremonies, which under
the cover of Christian festivities were
very largely practised at Christmas and

\ •

INTRODUCTION

on New Year’s Day. These rites were
closely connected with witchcraft, and
especially do S. Theodore, S. Aldhelm,
Ecgberht of York, and other prelates
prohibit the masquerade as a horned
animal, a stag, or a bull, which S.
Caesarius of Arles had denounced as a
“foul tradition,” an “evil custom,” a
“most heinous abomination.” These
and even stronger expressions would
not be used unless some very dark
and guilty secrets had been concealed
beneath this mumming, which, how¬
ever foolish, might perhaps have been
thought to be nothing worse, so that
to be so roundly denounced as devilish
and demoniacal they must certainly
have had some very grim significa¬
tion which did not appear upon the
surface. The laws of King Athelstan
(924-40), corresponsive with the early
French laws, punished any person
casting a spell which resulted in death
by exacting the extreme penalty.
During the eleventh and twelfth cen¬
turies there are few cases of witch¬
craft in England, and such accusations
as were made appeared to have
been brought before the ecclesiastical
court. It may be remarked, however,
that among the laws attributed to King
Kenneth I of Scotland, who ruled from
844 to 860, and under whom the Scots
of Dalriada and the Pictish peoples
may be said to have been united in one
kingdom, is an important statute which
enacts that all sorcerers and witches,
and such as invoke spirits, “and use to
seek upon them for helpe, let them be
burned to death.” Even then this was
obviously no new penalty, but the
statutory confirmation of a long-
established punishment. So the witches
of Forres who attempted the life of King
Duffus in the year 968 by the old bane
of slowly melting a wax image, when
discovered, were according to the law
burned at the stake.

The conversion of Germany to
Christianity was late and very slow,
for as late as the eighth century, in
spite of the heroic efforts of S. Columba-
nus, S. Fridolin, S. Gall, S. Rupert,
S. Willibrod, the great S. Boniface, and
many others, in spite of the headway
that had been made, various districts
were always relapsing into a primitive
and savage heathenism. For example,
it is probably true to say that the
Prussian tribes were not stable in their
conversion until the beginning of the

thirteenth century, when Bishop
Albrecht reclaimed the people by a
crusade. However, throughout the
eleventh and the twelfth centuries there
are continual instances of persons who
had practised witchcraft being put to
death, and the Emperor Frederick II,
in spite of the fact that he was con¬
tinually quarrelling with the Papacy
and utterly indifferent to any religious
obligation — indeed it has been said
that he was “a Christian ruler only in
name,” and “throughout his reign he
remained virtually a Moslem free¬
thinker” — declared that a law which
he had enacted for Lombardy should
have force throughout the whole
of his dominions. “Henceforth,”
Vacandard remarks, “all uncertainty
was at an end. The legal punishment for
heresy throughout the empire was death
at the stake.” It must be borne in mind
that witchcraft and heresy were almost
inextricably commingled. It is quite
plain that such a man as Frederick,
whose whole philosophy was entirely
Oriental ; who was always accompanied
by a retinue of Arabian ministers,
courtiers, and officers; who was per¬
haps not without reason suspected of
being a complete agnostic, recked little
whether heresy and witchcraft might
be offences against the Church or not,
but he was sufficiently shrewd to see
that they gravely threatened the well¬
being of the State, imperilling the
maintenance of civilization and the
foundations of society.

This brief summary of early laws and
ancient ordinances has been given in
order to show that the punishment of
witchcraft certainly did not originate
in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,
and most assuredly was not primarily
the concern of the Inquisition. In fact,
curiously enough, Bernard Gui, the
famous Inquisitor of Toulouse, laid
down in his Practica Inquisitionis * that
sorcery of itself did not fall within the
cognizance of the Holy Office, and in
every case, unless there were other
circumstances of which his tribunal was
bound to take notice when witches
game before him, he simply passed
them on to the episcopal courts.

It may be well here very briefly to
consider the somewhat complicated

* “ Practica Inquisitionis haereticae praui-
tatisP Document pub lie pour la premiere fois
par le chanoine C. Douais. Paris , 4/0, 1886.

INTRODUCTION

XVII

history of the establishment of the In¬
quisition, which was, it must be remem¬
bered, the result of the tendencies and
growth of many years, by no means a
judicial curia with cut-and-dried laws
and a complete procedure suddenly
called into being by one stroke of a
Papal pen. In the first place S. Dominic
was in no sense the founder of the
Inquisition. Certainly during the cru¬
sade in Languedoc he was present,
reviving religion and reconciling the
lapsed, but he was doing no more than
S. Paul or any of the Apostles would
have done. The work of S. Dominic
was preaching and the organization of
his new Order, which received Papal
confirmation from Honorius III, and
was approved in the Bull Religiosam
uitam , 22 December, 1216. S. Dominic
died 6 August, 1221, and even if we
take the word in a very broad sense,
the first Dominican Inquisitor seems
to have been Alberic, who in Novem¬
ber, 1232, was travelling through Lom¬
bardy with the official title of “Inquisi¬
tor hereticae prauitatis.” The whole
question of the episcopal Inquisitors,
who were really the local bishop, his
archdeacons, and his diocesan court,
and their exact relationship with the
travelling Inquisitors, who were mainly
drawn from the two Orders of friars,
the Franciscan and the Dominican, is
extremely nice and complicated ; whilst
the gradual effacement of the episcopal
courts with regard to certain matters
and the consequent prominence of the
Holy Office were circumstances and
conditions which realized themselves
slowly enough in all countries, and
almost imperceptibly in some districts,
as necessity required, without any sud¬
den break or sweeping changes. In
fact we find that the Franciscan or
Dominican Inquisitor simply sat as an
assessor in the episcopal court so that
he could be consulted upon certain
technicalities and deliver sentence con¬
jointly with the Bishop if these matters
were involved. Thus at the trial of
Gilles de Rais in October, 1440, at
Nantes, the Bishop of Nantes presided
over the court with the bishops of Le
Mans, Saint-Brieuc, and Saint-Lo as
his coadjutors, whilst Pierre de 1’ Hos¬
pital, Chancellor of Brittany, watched
the case on behalf of the civil authori¬
ties, and Frere Jean Blouin was present
as the delegate of the Holy Inquisition
for the city and district of Nantes.

Owing to the multiplicity of the crimes,
which were proven and clearly con¬
fessed in accordance with legal require¬
ments, it was necessary to pronounce
two sentences. The first sentence was
passed by the Bishop of Nantes con¬
jointly with the Inquisitor. By them
Gilles de Rais was declared guilty of
Satanism, sorcery, and apostasy, and
there and then handed over to the
civil arm to receive the punishment
due to such offences. The second sen¬
tence, pronounced by the Bishop alone,
declared the prisoner convicted of
sodomy, sacrilege, and violation of
ecclesiastical rights. The ban of ex-
communication was lifted since the
accused had made a clean breast of his
crimes and desired to be reconciled, but
he was handed over to the secular
court, who sentenced him to death, on
multiplied charges of murder as well as
on account of the aforesaid offences.

It must be continually borne in mind
also, and this is a fact which is very
often slurred over and forgotten, that
the heresies of the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, to cope with which the tri¬
bunal of the Inquisition was primarily
organized and regularized, were by no
means mere theoretical speculations,
which, however erroneous and dan¬
gerous in the fields of thought, practi¬
cally and in action would have been
arid and utterly unfruitful. To-day the
word “heresy” seems to be as obsolete
and as redolent of a Wardour-street
vocabulary as if one were to talk of a
game of cards at Crimp or Incertain,
and to any save a dusty mediaevalist it
would appear to be an antiquarian
term. It was far other in the twelfth
century ; the wild fanatics who fostered
the most subversive and abominable
ideas aimed to put these into actual
practice, to establish communities and
to remodel whole territories according
to the programme which they had so
carefully considered in every detail
with a view to obtaining and enforcing
their own ends and their own interests.
The heretics were just as resolute and
just as practical, that is to say, just as
determined to bring about the domina¬
tion of their absolutism as is any revo¬
lutionary of to-day. The aim and
objects of their leaders, Tanchelin,
Everwacher, the Jew Manasses, Peter
Waldo, Pierre Autier, Peter of Bruys,
Arnold of Brescia, and the rest, were
exactly those of Lenin, Trotsky, Zino-

xviii INTRODUCTION

viev, and their fellows. There were,
of course, minor differences and diverg¬
ences in their tenets, that is to say,
some had sufficient cunning to conceal
and even to deny the extremer views
which others were bold enough or mad
enough more openly to proclaim. But
just below the trappings, a little way
beneath the surface, their motives,
their methods, their intentions, the goal
to which they pressed, were all the
~£same. Their objects may be summed up
as the abolition of monarchy, the aboli¬
tion of private property and of inheri¬
tance, the abolition of marriage, the
abolition of order, the total abolition
of all religion. It was against this that
the Inquisition had to fight, and who
can be surprised if, when faced with so
vast a conspiracy, the methods em¬
ployed by the Holy Office may not
seem — if the terrible conditions are
conveniently forgotten — a little drastic,
a little severe? There can be no doubt
that had this most excellent tribunal
continued to enjoy its full prerogative
and the full exercise of its salutary
powers, the world at large would be
in a far happier and far more orderly
position to-day. Historians may point
out diversities and dissimilarities be¬
tween the teaching of the Waldenses,
the Albigenses, the Henricians, the
Poor Men of Lyons, the Gathari, the
Vaudois, the Bogomiles, and the Mani-'
chees, but they were in reality branches
and variants of the same dark fraternity,
just as the Third International, the
Anarchists, the Nihilists, and the Bol¬
sheviks are in every sense, save the mere
label, entirely identical.

In fact heresy was one huge revolu¬
tionary body, exploiting its forces
through a hundred different channels
and having as its object chaos and cor¬
ruption. The question may be asked —
What was their ultimate aim in wishing
to destroy civilization? What did they
hope to gain by it? Precisely the same
queries have been put and are put
to-day with regard to these political
parties. There is an apparent absence
of motive in this seemingly aimless cam¬
paign of destruction to extermination
carried on by the Bolsheviks in Russia,
which has led many people to inquire
what the objective can possibly be. So
unbridled are the passions, so general
the demolition, so terrible the havoc,
that hard-headed individuals argue
that so complete a chaos and such

revolting outrages could only be effected
by persons who were enthusiasts in
their own cause and who had some
very definite aims thus positively to pur¬
sue. The energizing forces of this fan¬
aticism, this fervent zeal, do not seem
to be any more apparent than the end,
hence more than one person has hesi¬
tated to accept accounts so alarming of
massacres and carnage, of wholesale
imprisonments, tortures, and persecu¬
tions, and has begun to suspect that
the situation may be grossly exaggerated
in the overcharged reports of enemies
and the highly-coloured gossip of scare¬
mongers. Nay, more, partisans have
visited the country and returned with
glowing tales of a new Utopia. It can¬
not be denied that all this is a very
clever game. It is generally accepted
that from very policy neither an indi¬
vidual nor a junto or confederacy will
act even occasionally, much less con¬
tinually and consistently, in a most
bloody and tyrannical way, without
some very well-arranged programme
is being thus carried out and deter¬
minate aim ensued, conditions and
objects which in the present case it
seems extremely difficult to guess at
and divine unless we are to attribute
the revolution to causes the modern
mind is apt to dismiss with impatience
and intolerance.

Nearly a century and a half ago
Anacharsis Clootz,* “the personal
enemy of Jesus Christ” as he openly
declared himself, was vociferating,
“God is Evil,” “ To me then Lucifer,
Satan ! whoever you may be, the demon
that the faith of my fathers opposed to
God and the Church.” f This is the
credo of the witch.

Although it may not be generally
recognized, upon a close investigation
it seems plain that the witches were
a vast political movement, an organ¬
ized society which was anti-social and
anarchical, a world-wide plot against
civilization. Naturally, although the
Masters were often individuals of high
rank and deep learning, the rank
and file of the society, that is to say,
those who for the most part fell into
the hands of justice, were recruited
from the least educated classes, the
ignorant and the poor. As one might

* Guillotined in 1794.

f Proudhon , “ La Revolution au XIXiime
siecle ,” p. 2go.

INTRODUCTION

xix

suppose, many of the branches or
covens in remoter districts knew nothing
and perhaps could have understood
nothing of the enormous system. Never¬
theless, as small cogs in a very small
wheel, it might be, they were carrying
on the work and actively helping to
spread the infection. It is an extremely
significant fact that the last regularly
official trial and execution for witch¬
craft in Western Europe was that of
Anna Goeldi, who was hanged at
Glaris in Switzerland, 17 June, 1782.*
Seven years before, in 1775, the villain
Adam Weishaupt, who has been truly
described by Louis Blanc as “the pro-
foundest conspirator that has ever
existed,” formed his “terrible and for¬
midable sect,” the Illuminati. The
code of this mysterious movement lays
down: “it is also necessary to gain the
common people (das gemeine Volk) to
our Order. The great means to that
end is influence in the schools.” This
is exactly the method of the organiza¬
tions of witches, and again and again
do writers lament and bewail the end¬
less activities of this sect amongst the
young people and even the children of
a district. So in the prosecutions at
Wurzburg we find that there were con¬
demned boys of ten and eleven, two
choir boys aged twelve, “a boy of
twelve years old in one of the lower
forms of the school,” “the two young
sons of the Prince’s cook, the eldest
fourteen, the younger twelve years old,”
several pages and seminarists, as well
as a number of young girls, amongst
whom “a child of nine or ten years old
and her little sister” were involved.

The political operations of the
witches in many lands were at their
trials exposed time after time, and
these activities are often discernible
even when they did not so publicly
and prominently come to light. A very
few cases, to which we must make but
brief and inadequate reference, will
stand for many. In England in the
year 1324 no less than twenty-seven
defendants were tried at the King’s
Bench for plotting against and en¬
deavouring to kill Edward II, together

* The last trial and judicial execution in
Europe itself was probably that of two aged
beldames, Satanists, who were burned at the
stake in Poland, 1793, the year of the Second
Partition, during the reign of Stanislaus Augustus
Poniatowski.

with many prominent courtiers and
officials, by the practice of magical
arts. A number of wealthy citizens of
Coventry had hired a famous “nigro-
mauncer,” John of Nottingham, to slay
not only the King, but also the royal
favourite, Hugh le Despenser, and his
father ; the Prior of Coventry ; the
monastic steward ; the manciple ; and a
number of other important personages.
A secluded old manor-house, some two
or three miles out of Coventry, was put
at the disposal of Master John, and
there he and his servant, Robert Mar¬
shall, promptly commenced business.
They went to work in the bad old-
fashioned way by modelling wax dolls
or mommets of those whom they wished
to destroy.* Long pins were thrust
through the figures, and they were
slowly melted before a fire. The first
unfortunate upon whom this experi¬
ment was tried, Richard de Sowe, a
prominent courtier and close friend of
the King, was suddenly taken with
agonizing pains, and when Marshall
visited the house, as if casually, in
order that he might report the results
of this sympathetic sorcery to the
wizard, he found their hapless victim
in a high delirium. When this state of
things was promptly conveyed to him,

* This is certainly one of the oldest and most
universal of spells. To effect the death of a man,
or to injure him by making an image in his like¬
ness, and mutilating or destroying this image, is a
practice found throughout the whole wide world
from its earliest years. It is common both in
Babylon and in the Egypt of the Pharaohs, when
magicians kneaded puppets of clay or pitch
moistened with honey. If it were possible to
mingle therewith a drop of a man’s blood, the
parings of his nails, a few hairs from his body, a
thread or two from his garments, it gave the
warlock the greater power over him. In ancient
Greece and Rome precisely the same ideas pre¬
vailed, and allusions may be found in Theocritus
(“Idyll” II), Vergil (“Eclogue” VIII, 75-82),
Ovid (“Heroides,” VI, 91, sqq.; “Amores,”
III, vii, 29, sqq.), and many more. (See R.
Wunsch, “ Eine antike Rachepuppe,” “Philo¬
logus,” Ixi, 1902, pp. 26-31.) We find this
charm among the Ojebway Indians, the Cora
Indians of Mexico, the Malays, the Chinese and
Japanese, the aborigines throughout Australia ,
the Hindoos, both in ancient India and at the
present day, the Burmese, many Arab tribes of
Northern Africa, in Turkey, in Italy and the
remoter villages of France, in Ireland and Scot¬
land, nor is it (in one shape and form or another)
yet unknown in the country districts of England.

XX

INTRODUCTION

Master John struck a pin through the
heart of the image, and in the morning
the news reached them that de Sowe
had breathed his last. Marshall, who
was by now in an extremity of terror,
betook himself to a justice and laid bare
all that was happening and had hap¬
pened, with the immediate result that
Master John and the gang of conspira¬
tors were arrested. It must be remem¬
bered that in 1324 the final rebellion
against King Edward II had openly
broken forth on all sides. A truce of
thirteen years had been arranged with
Scotland, and though the English
might refuse Bruce his royal title he
was henceforward the warrior king of
an independent country. It is true that
in May, 1322, the York Parliament had
not only reversed the exile of the
Despensers, declaring the pardons which
had been granted their opponents null
and void, as well as voting for the
repeal of the Ordinances of 1 3 1 1 , and
the Despensers were working for, and
fully alive to the necessity of, good and
stable government, but none the less
the situation was something more than
perilous ; the Exchequer was well-nigh
drained; there was rioting and blood¬
shed in almost every large town; and
worst of all, in 1323 the younger Roger
Mortimer had escaped from the Tower
and got away safely to the Continent.
There were French troubles to boot;
Charles IV, who in 1322 had suc¬
ceeded to the throne, would accept no
excuse from Edward for any postpone¬
ment of homage, and in this very year,
1324, declaring the English possessions
forfeited, he proceeded to occupy the
territory with an army, when it soon
became part of the French dominion;
There can be no doubt that the citizens
of Coventry were political intriguers,
and since they were at the moment
unable openly to rebel against their
sovran lord, taking advantage of the
fact that he was harassed and pressed
at so critical a juncture, they pro¬
ceeded against him by the dark and
tortuous ways of black magic.

Very many similar conspiracies in
which sorcery was mixed up with
treasonable practices and attempts
might be cited, but only a few of the
most important must be mentioned.
Rather more than a century later than
the reign of Edward II, in 1441, one
of the greatest and most influential
ladies in all England, “the Duchesse of

Gloucestre, was arested and put to
holt, for she was suspecte of treson.”
This, of course, was purely a political
case, and the wife of Duke Humphrey
had unfortunately by her indiscretion
and something worse given her hus¬
band’s enemies an opportunity to
attack him by her ruin. An astrologer,
attached to the Duke’s household,
when taken and charged with “werch-
yrye of sorcery against the JCing,” con¬
fessed that he had often cast the
horoscope of the Duchess to find out if
her husband would ever wear the Eng¬
lish crown, the way to which they had
attempted to smooth by making a wax
image of Henry VI and melting it
before a magic fire to bring about the
King’s decease. A whole crowd of
witches, male and female, were in¬
volved in the case, and among these
was Margery Jourdemain, a known
and notorious invoker of demons and
an old trafficker in evil charms.
Eleanor Cobham was incontinently
brought before a court presided over
by three Bishops, London, Lincoln,
and Norwich. She was found guilty
both of high treason and sorcery, and
after having been compelled to do
public penance in the streets of London,
she was imprisoned for life, according
to the more authoritative account at
Peel Castle in the Isle of Man.* Her
accomplices were executed at London.

In the days of Edward IV it was
commonly gossiped that the Duchess of
Bedford was a witch, who by her spells
had fascinated the King with the beauty
of her daughter Elizabeth, f whom he
made his bride, in spite of the fact that
he had plighted his troth to Eleanor
Butler, the heiress of the Earl of
Shrewsbury. So open did the scandal
become that the Duchess of Bedford
lodged an official complaint with the
Privy Council, and an inquiry was
ordered, but, as might have been sus-

* Some of the chronicles say Chester.
f This is referred to in Hey wood’s “ King
Edward IV fo, 1600, in the opening scene ,
where the Duchess of York, the King’s mother
says:

0 Edward, Edward! fly and leave this place,

Wherein, poor silly King, thou art en¬
chanted.

This is her dam of Bedford’s work, her
mother,

That hath bewitch’d thee, Edward, my poor
child.

INTRODUCTION

xxi

pected, this completely cleared the lady.
Nevertheless, five years later the
charges were renewed by the Lord
Protector, the Duke of Gloucester.
Nor' was this the first time in English
history that some fair dame was said to
have fascinated a monarch, not only
by her beauty but also by unlawful
means. When the so-called “Good Par¬
liament” was convened in April, 1376,
their first business seemed to be to
attack the royal favourite, Alice Per-
rers, and amongst the multiplicity of
charges which they brought against her,
not the least deadly was the accusation
of witchcraft. Her ascendancy over the
King was attributed to the enchant¬
ments and experiments of a Dominican
friar, learned in many a cantrip and
cabala, whom she entertained in her
house, and who had fashioned two pic¬
tures of Edward and Alice which, when
suffumigated with the incense of mys¬
terious herbs and gums, mandrakes,
sweet calamus, caryophylleae, storax,
benzoin, and other plants plucked be¬
neath the full moon what time Venus
was in the ascendant, caused the old
King to dote upon his lovely concu¬
bine. With great difficulty by a subtle
ruse the friar was arrested, and he
thought himself lucky to escape with
relegation to a remote house under the
strictest observance of his Order,
whence, however, he was soon to be
Tecalled with honour and reward, since
the Good Parliament shortly came to
an end, and Alice Perrers, who now
stood higher in favour than ever, was
not slow to heap lavish gifts upon her
supporters, and to visit her enemies
with condign punishment.

It is often forgotten that in the
troublous days of Henry VIII the
whole country swarmed with astrolo¬
gers and sorcerers, to whom high and
low alike made constant resort. The
King himself a prey to the idlest super¬
stitions, ever lent a credulous ear to the
most foolish prophecies and old wives5
abracadabra. When, as so speedily hap¬
pened, he wearied of Anne Boleyn, he
openly gave it as his opinion that he
had “made this marriage seduced by
witchcraft; and that this was evident
because God did not permit them to
have any male issue.”

There was nobody more thoroughly
scared of witchcraft than Henry’s
daughter, Elizabeth, and as John Jewel
was preaching his famous sermon be¬

fore her in February, 1560,* he de¬
scribed at length how “this kind of
people (I mean witches and sorcerers)
within these few last years are marvel¬
lously increased within this Y our Grace’s
realm ; ” he then related how owing to
dark spells he had known many “pine
away even unto death.” “I pray God,”
he unctuously cried, “they may never
practise further than upon the sub¬
jects!” This was certainly enough to
ensure that drastic laws should be
passed particularly to protect the
Queen, who was probably both thrilled
and complimented to think that her
life was in danger. It is exceedingly
doubtful, and more than doubtful,
whether there was any conspiracy at
all which would have attempted Eliza¬
beth’s personal safety. There were, of
course, during the imprisonment of the
Queen of Scots, designs to liberate this
unfortunate Princess, and Walsingham
with his fellows used to tickle the vanity
of Gloriana by regaling her with melo¬
dramatic accounts of dark schemes and
secret machinations which they had,
with a very shrewd knowledge of stage¬
craft, for the most part themselves
arranged and contrived, so we may
regard the Act of 1581, 23 Eliz., Cap.
II, as mere finesse and chicane. That
there were witches in England is very
certain, but there seems no evidence at
all that there were attempts upon the
life of Elizabeth. None the less the
point is important, since it shows that
in men’s minds sorcery was inexplicably
mixed up with politics. The statute runs
as follows: “That if any person . . .
during the life of our said Sovereign
Lady the Queen’s Majesty that now is,
either within her Highness’ dominions
or without, shall by setting or erecting
any figure or by casting of nativities or
by calculation or by any prophesying,
witchcraft, conjurations, or other like
unlawful means whatsoever, seek to
know, and shall set forth by express
words, deeds, or writings, how long her
Majesty shall live, or who shall reign a
king or queen of this realm of England
after her Highness’ decease . . . that
then every such offence shall be felony,
and every offender therein, and also
all his aiders (etc.), shall be judged
as felons and shall suffer pain of

* This is probably the exact date. The dis¬
course in question was certainly delivered between
November, 1559, and 17 March, i960.

XXII

INTRODUCTION

death and forfeit as in case of felony is
used, without any benefit of clergy or
sanctuary.”

The famous Scotch witch trial of
1590, when it was proved that upon
31 October in the preceding year, All
Hallow E’en, a gang of more than two
hundred persons had assembled for
their rites at the old haunted church of
North Berwick, where they consulted
with their Master, “the Devil,” how
they might most efficaciously kill King
James, is too well known to require
more than a passing mention, but it
may be remembered that Agnes Samp¬
son confessed that she had endeavoured
to poison the King in various ways, and
that she also avowed that she had
fashioned a wax mommet, saying with
certain horrid maledictions as she
wrought the work : “This is King James
the sext, ordinit to be consumed at the
instance of a noble man Francis Erie
Bodowell.” The contriver of this far-
reaching conspiracy was indeed none
other than Francis Stewart, Earl of
Bothwell, who, as common knowledge
bruited, almost overtly aspired to the
throne and was perfectly reckless how
he compassed his ends. It was he, no
doubt, who figured as “the Devil” at
the meeting in the deserted and ill-
omened kirkyard. In fact this is almost
conclusively shown by a statement of
Barbara Napier when she was inter¬
rogated with regard to their objects in
the attempted murder of the King. She
gave as her reason “that another might
have ruled in his Majesty’s place, and
the Government might have gone to
the Devil.” That is to say, to Francis
Bothwell. The birth of Prince Henry
at Stirling, 19 February, 1594, and
further of Prince Charles at Dunferm¬
line, 19 November, 1600, must have
dashed all Bothwell’s hopes to the
ground. Moreover, the vast organiza¬
tion of revolutionaries and witches had
been completely broken up, and accord¬
ingly there was nothing left for him to
do but to seek safety in some distant
land. There is an extremely significant
reference to him in Sandys,* who,
speaking of Calabria in the year 1610,
writes : “Here a certaine Calabrian hear¬
ing that I was an English man, came to
me, and would needs persuade me that
I had insight in magicke : for that Earl
Bothel was my countryman, who liues

* “ Relation of a Journey," London , 1632.

at Naples , and is in these parts famous
for suspected negromancie.”

In French history even more notori¬
ous than the case of the Berwick witches
were the shocking scandals involving
both poisoning and witchcraft that
came to light and were being investi¬
gated in 1679-82. At least two hundred
and fifty persons, of whom many were
the representatives and scions of the
highest houses in the land, were deeply
implicated in these abominations, and
it is no matter for surprise that a vast
number of the reports and several en¬
tire dossiers and registers have com¬
pletely disappeared. The central figures
were the Abbe Guibourg and Catherine
Deshayes, more generally known as La
Voisin, whose house in the Rue Beaure¬
gard was for years the rendezvous of a
host of inquirers drawn from all
classes of society, from palaces and
prisons, from the chambers of the King
and from the lowest slums of the vilest
underworld. That it was a huge and
far-reaching political conspiracy is
patent from the fact that the lives of
Louis XIV, the Queen’ the Dauphin,
Louise de la Valliere, and the Duchesse
de Fontanges had been attempted
secretly again and again, whilst as for
Colbert, scores of his enemies were con¬
stantly entreating for some swift sure
poison, constantly participating in un¬
hallowed rites which might lay low the
all-powerful Minister. It soon came to
light that Madame de Montespan and
the Comtesse de Soissons (Olympe
Mancini) were both deeply implicated,
whilst the Comtesse de Rouse and
Madame de Polignac in particular,
coveting a lodging in the bed royal,
had persistently sought to bring about
the death of Louise de la Valliere. It
is curious indeed to recognize the author
of The Rehearsal in this train, but there
flits in and out among the witches and
anarchists a figure who can almost cer¬
tainly be identified with George Vil-
liers, Duke of Buckingham. Yet this is
the less surprising when we remember
how very nearly he stirred up a mutiny,
if not an insurrection, against the King
who had so particularly favoured and
honoured him, but who, in the words
of a contemporary, “knew him to be
capable of the blackest designs.” Of
Buckingham it has been written with¬
out exaggeration: “As to his personal
character it is impossible to say any¬
thing in its vindication ; for though his

INTROD

severest enemies acknowledge him to
have possessed great vivacity and a
quickness of parts peculiarly adapted to
the purposes of ridicule, yet his warmest
advocates have never attributed to him
a single virtue. His generosity was pro¬
fuseness, his wit malevolence, the grati¬
fication of his passions his sole aim
through life.”* When we consider the
alliance of Buckingham with the in¬
famous Shaftesbury, we need hardly
wonder that whilst in Paris he fre¬
quented the haunts of this terrible
society, and was present at, nay, even
participated in the Satanic mass and
other of their horrible mysteries. At the
house of La Voisin necromancy was
continually practised, poisons were
brewed, the liturgy of hell was cele¬
brated, and it was undoubtedly the hub
of every crime and every infamy.
Other instances, and not a few, might
be quoted from French history to show
how intimately politics were connected
with witchcraft. Here Madame de
Montespan, aiming at the French
throne, an ambition which involved
the death of the Queen, Maria Theresa
of Austria, at once resorts to black
magic, and attempts to effect her pur¬
pose by the aid of those who were in¬
famous as past adepts in this horrid
craft.

Even in the Papal States themselves
such abominations were not unknowm,
and in 1633 Rome was alarmed and
confounded by an attempt upon the life
of Urban VIII. It seems that some
charlatan had announced to Giacinto
Gentini, nephew of the Cardinal
d’Ascoli, that his uncle would succeed
the reigning Pontiff in the Chair of
S. Peter. The rash and foolish young
man promptly attempted to hasten the
event, and did not hesitate to resort to
certain professors of occult arts to in¬
quire when the next conclave would
take place. He was so incredibly foolish
that, far from attempting any subter¬
fuge or disguise, he seems to have
resorted to the houses of astrologers and
other persons, who were already sus¬
pected of necromancy in the most open
way, and further to have boasted among
his intimates of the high honours which
he expected his family would shortly
enjoy. He first applied to one Fra
Pietro, a Sicilian, who belonged to the
Order of Augustinian Eremites. This

* "Bio graphia Dramatica,” Vol. /, p. J2g.

U G T I O N xxiii

occultist told him that the Cardinal
d’Ascoli would be elected at the next
conclave, but that the present Pope had
many years to live. Upon seeing the
young man’s bitter disappointment the
cunning mage whispered that it was in
his power to bring about the event much
sooner than it would happen in the
ordinary course of affairs. Needless to
say, the proposition was taken up with
alacrity, but it was necessary to employ
the services of two other diviners, and
they accordingly selected for the task
Fra Cherubino of Ancona, a Franciscan,
and Fra Domenico of the Eremite
monastery of S. Agostino at Fermo.
The friars then diligently set to work to
carry out their murderous projects. A
number of ceremonies and incantations
were performed which entailed consider¬
able expense, and for which it was need¬
ful to procure exotic herbs and drugs
and rare instruments of goetry that
could not readily be had without
attracting considerable curiosity. It
appeared, however, as if all their charms
and spells, their demoniac eucharists
and litanies, were quite ineffective,
since Urban at sixty- rive years of age
remained perfectly hale and hearty and
was indeed extraordinarily active in his
pontificate. Young Gentini became
manifestly impatient and spurred the
wizards on to greater efforts. It really
seems as if, vexed beyond measure and
goaded to exasperation by his impor¬
tunities, they flung all caution to the
winds, whilst he himself proclaimed so
magnificently what he would do for
his friends in a few weeks or months
after he had assumed the authority of
Papal nephew, that it was hardly a
matter of surprise when the Holy Office
suddenly descended upon the four
accomplices and brought them to the
bar. Amongst the many charges which
were put forward was one of causing
“a statue of wax to be made of Urban
VIII, in order that its dissolution might
ensure that of the Pope.” This in itself
would have been sufficiently damning,
but there were many other criminal
accounts all tending to the same end,
all proven up to the hilt. The result
was that Centini, Fra Pietro, and Fra
Cherubino were executed in the Gampo
di Fiore, on Sunday, 22 April, 1634,
whilst Fra Domenico, who was less
desperately involved, was relegated for
life to the galleys.

These few instances I have dwelt upon

XXIV

INTRODUCTION

in detail and at some length in order to
show how constantly and continually in
various countries and at various times
witchcraft and magical practices were
mixed up with political plots and
anarchical agitation. There can be no
doubt — and this is a fact which is so
often not recognized (or it may be for¬
gotten) that one cannot emphasize it
too frequently — that witchcraft in its
myriad aspects and myriad ramifica¬
tions is a huge conspiracy against
civilization. It was as such that the
Inquisitors knew it, and it was this
which gave rise to the extensive litera¬
ture on the subject, those treatises of
which the Malleus Maleficarum is per¬
haps the best known among the other
writers. As early as 600 S. Gregory I*
had spoken in severest terms, enjoining
the punishment of sorcerers and those
who trafficked in black magic. It will
be noted that he speaks of them as more
often belonging to that class termed
serui , that is to say, the very people from
whom for the most part Nihilists and
Bolsheviks have sprung in modern days.
Writing to Januarius, Bishop of Cag¬
liari, the Pope says : “Contra idolorum
cultores, uel aruspices atque sortilegos,
fraternitatem uestram uehementius
pastorali hortamur inuigilare custodia
. . . et si quidem serui sunt, uerberibus
cruciatibusque, quibus ad emenda¬
tionem peruenire ualeant, castigare, si
uero sunt liberi, inclusione digna dis-
trictaque sunt in poenitentiam redi¬
gendi. ...” But the first Papal ordi¬
nance directly dealing with witchcraft
may not unfairly be said to be the Bull
addressed in 1233 by Pope Gregory IX
(Ugolino, Count of Segni) f to the
famous Conrad of Marburg, bidding
him proceed against the Luciferians,
who were overtly given over to Satan¬
ism. If this ardent Dominican must not
strictly be considered as having intro¬
duced the Inquisition into Germany, he
at any rate employed Inquisitorial
methods. Generally, perhaps, he is best
known as the stern and unbending
spiritual director of that gentle soul
S. Elizabeth of Hungary. Conrad of
Marburg is certainly a type of the
strictest and most austere judge, but
it should be remembered that he spared
himself no more than he spared others,

* Reigned 590-604.

t Reigned 1227-41. He was almost one
hundred years old at the time of his death.

that he was swayed by no fear of persons
or danger of death, that even if he were
inflexible and perhaps fanatical, the
terrible situation with which he had to
deal demanded such a man, and he was
throughout supported by the supreme
authority of Gregory IX. That he was
harsh and unlovable is, perhaps, true
enough, but it is more than doubtful
whether a man of gentler disposition
could have faced the difficulties- that
presented themselves on every side.
Even his most prejudiced critics have
never denied the singleness of his con¬
victions and his courage. He was
murdered on the highway, 30 July,
1233, in the pursuit of his duties, but it
has been well said that “it is, perhaps,
significant that the Church has never
set the seal of canonization upon his
martyrdom.”|

On 13 Decenlber, 1258, Pope Alex¬
ander IV (Rinaldo Conti) § issued a
Bull to the Franciscan Inquisitors bid¬
ding them refrain from judging any
cases of witchcraft unless there was
some very strong reason to suppose that
heretical practice could also be amply
proved. On 10 January, 1260, the same
Pontiff addressed a similar Bull to the
Dominicans. But it is clear that by
now the two things could not be dis¬
entangled.

The Bull Dudum ad audientiam nostram
peruenit of Boniface VIII (Benedetto
Gaetani) || deals with the charges
against Walter Langton, Bishop of
Coventry and Lichfield,.^ but it may be
classed as individual rather than
general.

Several Bulls were published by
John XXII (Jacques d’Euse)** * * § ** and by
Benedict XII (Jacques Fournier, O.
Cist),!! both Avignon Popes, and these
weighty documents deal with witch¬
craft in the fullest detail, anathematiz¬
ing all such abominations. Gregory XI
(Pierre Roger de Beaufort) ;tt Alex¬
ander V (Petros Filartis, a Cretan), who
ruled but eleven months, from June
1409 to May 1410; and Martin V

X A. L. Maycock , “ The Inquisition,” 1926,

P ■ 235 •.

§ Reigned 1254-61.

|| 24 December, 1 294-11 October, 1303.

A close investigation was made, but the
Bishop completely cleared himself of the charges.

**7 August, 1316-4 December, 1334.
ft 20 December, 1334-25 April, 1342.
it 30 December, 1370-27 March, 1378.

INTRODUCTION

XXV

(Ottone Colonna) ;* each put forth one
Bull on the subject. To Eugenius IV
(Gabriello Condulmaro)f we owe four
Bulls which fulminate against sorcery
and black magic. The first of these,
24 February, 1434, is addressed from
Florence to the Franciscan Inquisitor,
Pontius Fougeyron. On 1 August, 1451,
the Dominican Inquisitor Hugo Niger
received a Bull from Nicholas V (Tom-
maso Parentucelli).^ Callistus III
(Alfonso de Borja)§ and Pius II (Enea
Silvio de’ Piccolomini)|| each issued one
Bull denouncing the necromantic crew.

On 9 August, 1471, the Franciscan
friar, Francesco della Rovere, ascended
the throne of Peter as Sixtus IV. His
Pontificate has been severely criticized
by those who forget that the Pope was a
temporal Prince and in justice bound
to defend his territory against the con¬
tinual aggression of the Italian despots.
His private life was blameless, and the
stories which were circulated by such
writers as Stefano Infessura in his
Diarium ^ are entirely without founda¬
tion. Sixtus was an eminent theologian,
he is the author of an admirable treatise
on the Immaculate Conception, and
it is significant that he took strong
measures to curb the judicial severities
of Tomas de Torquemada, whom he
had appointed Grand Inquisitor of
Castile, 11 February, 1482. During his
reign he published three Bulls directly
attacking sorcery, which he clearly
identified with heresy, an opinion of the
deepest weight when pronounced by one
who had so penetrating a knowledge of
the political currents of the day. There
can be no doubt that he saw the society
of witches to be nothing else than a vast
international of anti-social revolution¬

* 11 November, 1417-20 February, 1431.

t 3 March, 1431-23 February, 1447.

X 6 March, 1447-24 March, 1455.

§ 8 April , 1455-6 August, 1458.

|| ig August , 1458-15 August, 1464.

Stefano Infessura was born at Rome
circa 1435 and died there circa 1500. This
turbulent spirit was entangled in the con¬
spiracy of Stefano Porcaro against Nicholas - V
(I453), which aimed at overturning the Papal
government and making Rome a republic. His
violent bias wakes his “ Diarium urbis Romae,”
a chronicle from 1234 to 1434 ( written partly in
Latin and partly in Italian ), of little value, as
he did not hesitate to reproduce any idle scandal,
and even to invent notorious calumnies, con¬
cerning such Pontiffs as Sixtus IV and Innocent
VIII.

aries. The first Bull is dated 17 June,
1473; the second 1 April, 1478; and
the last 21 October, 1483.

It has been necessary thus briefly to
review this important series of Papal
documents to show that the famous
Bull Summis desiderantes affectibus , 9 De¬
cember, 1484, which Innocent VIII
addressed to the authors of the Malleus
Maleficarum, is no isolated and extra¬
ordinary document, but merely one
in the long and important record of
Papal utterances, although at the same
time it is of the greatest importance and
supremely authoritative. It has, how¬
ever, been very frequently asserted, not
only by prejudiced and unscrupulous
chroniclers, but also by scholars of
standing and repute, that this Bull of
Innocent VIII, if not, as many appear
to suppose, actually the prime cause
and origin of the crusade against
witches, at any rate gave the prosecu¬
tion an energizing power and an
authority which hitherto they had not,
and which save for this Bull they could
not ever have, commanded and pos¬
sessed.

It will not be impertinent then here
very briefly to inquire what authority
Papal Bulls may be considered to enjoy
in general, and what weight was, and
is, carried by this particular document
of 9 December, 1484.

To enter into a history of Bulls and
Briefs would require a long and elabor¬
ate monograph, so we must be content
to remind ourselves that the term bulla,
which in classical Latin meant a water-
bubble, a bubble* * * § * ** then came to mean
a boss of metal, such as the knob upon a
door.ft (By transference it also implied
a certain kind of amulet, generally made
of gold, which was worn upon the neck,
especially by noble youths.) Hence in
course of time the word bulla indicated
the leaden seals by which Papal (and
even royal) documents were authenti¬
cated, and by an easy transition we
recognize that towards the end of the
twelfth century a Bull is the document
itself. Naturally very many kinds of
edicts are issued from the Cancellaria,
but a Bull is an instrument of especial

** Cf. Ovid, “ Metamorphoseon,” x, 734-35:
ut pluuio per lucida caelo
Surgere bulla solet.

f| Cf. Cicero, “ In Uerrem,” II, iv, 56:
“ Bullas aureas omnes ex his ualuis, quae erant
et multae, et graues, non dubitauit auferre.”

XXVI

INTRODUCTION

weight and importance, and it differs
both in form and detail from constitu¬
tions, encyclicals, briefs, decrees, privi¬
leges, and rescripts. It should be re¬
marked, however, that the term Bull
has conveniently been used to denote all
these, especially if they are Papal letters
of any early date. By the fifteenth cen¬
tury clearer distinctions were insisted
upon and maintained.

A Bull was written in Latin and as
late as the death of Pope Pius IX, 1878,
the scrittura bollatica, an archaic and
difficult type of Gothic characters
much contracted and wholly unpunc¬
tuated, was employed. This proved
often well-nigh indecipherable to those
who were not trained to the script,
and accordingly there accompanied the
Bull a transsumptum in an ordinary plain
hand. The seal, appended by red and
yellow (sometimes white) laces, gener¬
ally bore on one side the figures of
SS. Peter and Paul; on the other a
medallion or the name of the reigning
Pontiff.

A Bull begins thus : “N. Episcopus
Seruus seruorum Dei ad perpetuam
rei memoriam.” It is dated “Anno
incarnationis Domini,” and also “Ponti¬
ficatus Nostri anno primo (uel secundo,
tertio, etc.).” Those Bulls which set
forth and define some particular state¬
ment will be found to add certain
minatory clauses directed against those
who obstinately refuse to accept the
Papal decision.

It should be remembered that, as
has already been said, the famous Bull
of Pope Innocent VIII is only one in a
long line of Apostolic Letters dealing
with the subject of witchcraft.

On 18 June, 1485, the Pontiff again
recommended the two Inquisitors to
Berthold, Archbishop of Mainz, in a
Bull Pro causa jidei; upon the same date
a similar Bull was sent to the Archduke
Sigismund, and a Brief to Abbot John
of Wingarten, who is highly praised for
his devotion and zeal. On 30 Septem¬
ber, i486, a Bull addressed to the
Bishop of Brescia and to Antonio di
Brescia, O.P., Inquisitor for Lombardy,
emphasizes the close connexion, nay,
the identity of witchcraft with heresy.

Alexander VI published two Bulls
upon the same theme, and in a Bull of
Julius II there is a solemn description of
that abomination the Black Mass, which
is perhaps the central feature of the
worship of Satanists, and which is un¬

happily yet celebrated to-day in Lon¬
don, in Paris, in Berlin, and in many
another great city.

Leo X, the great Pope of Humanism,
issued one Bull on the subject; but even
more important is the Bull Dudum uti
nobis exponi fecisti, 20 July, 1 523, which
speaks of the horrible abuse of the Sacra¬
ment in sorceries and the charms con¬
futed by witches.

We have two briefs of Clement VII ;
and on 5 January, 1586, was published
that long and weighty Constitution of
Sixtus V, Coeli et Terrae Creator Deus,
which denounces all those who are de¬
voted to Judicial Astrology and kindred
arts that are envenomed with black
magic and goetry. There is a Constitu¬
tion of Gregory XV, Omnipotentis Dei,
20 March, 1623 > and a Constitution of
Urban VIII, Inscrutabilis iudiciorum Dei
altitudo, 1 April, 1631, which — if we
except the recent condemnation of
Spiritism in the nineteenth century* —
may be said to be the last Apostolic
document directed against these foul
and devilish practices.!

We may now consider the exact force
of the Apostolic Bull Summis deside¬
rantes affectibus issued on 9 December,
1484, by Innocent VIII to Fr. Henry
Kramer and Fr. James Sprenger.

In the first place, it is superfluous to
say that no Bull would have been pub¬
lished without the utmost deliberation,
long considering of phrases, and above
all earnest prayer. This document of
Pope Innocent commences with the set
grave formula of a Bull of the greatest
weight and solemnity. “ Innocentius
Episcopus Seruus seruorum Dei ad
perpetuam rei memoriam.” It draws
to its conclusion with no brief and suc¬
cinct prohibitory clauses but with a
solemn measured period : “Non obstan¬
tibus praemissis ac constitutionibus et
ordinationibus Apostolicis contrariis
quibuscunque. . . .” The noble and
momentous sentences are built up word
by word, beat by beat, ever growing
more and more authoritative, more and
more judicial, until they culminate in
the minatory and imprecatory clauses
which are so impressive, so definite, that
no loophole is left for escape, no turn

* There are also decrees of the Holy Office of
1856; 30 March, i8g8; 24 April , 1317, etc.

t For a full account of the Papal Bulls see
my “ Geography of Witchcraft ,” 1927, c. vii,
“ Italy,” pp. 524-46.

INTRODUCTION

XXVll

for evasion. “Nulli ergo omnino homi¬
num liceat hanc paginam nostrae
declarationis extensionis concessionis et
mandati infringere uel ei ausu temeraris
contrarie Si quis autem attentare prae¬
sumpserit indignationem omnipotentis
Dei ac beatorum Petri et Pauli Aposto¬
lorum eius se nouerit incursurum.” If
any man shall presume to go against
the tenor let him know that therein he
will bring down upon himself the wrath
of Almighty God and of the Blessed
Apostles Peter and Paul.

Could words weightier be found?

Are we then to class this Bull with the
Bulla dogmatica Ineffabilis Deus wherein
Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of
the Immaculate Conception? Such a
position is clearly tenable, but even if
we do not insist that the Bull of Innocent
VIII is an infallible utterance, since the
Summis desiderantes affectibus does not in
set terms define a dogma although it
does set forth sure and certain truths, it
must at the very least be held to be a
document of supreme and absolute
authority, of dogmatic force.* It be¬
longs to that class of ex cathedra utter¬
ances “for which infallibility is claimed
on the ground, not indeed of the terms
of the Vatican definition, but of the
constant practice of the Holy See, the
consentient teaching of the theologians,
as well as the clearest deductions of the
principles of faith.” Accordingly the
opinion of a person who rashly impugns
this Bull is manifestly to be gravely cen¬
sured as erronea , sapiens haeresim , captiosa ,
subuersiua hierarchiae ; erroneous, savour¬
ing of heresy, captious, subversive of the
hierarchy.

Without exception non-Catholic his¬
torians have either in no measured
language denounced or else with sorrow
deplored the Bull of Innocent VIII as a
most pernicious and unhappy docu¬
ment, a perpetual and irrevocable mani¬
festo of the unchanged and unchange¬
able mind of the Papacy. From this
point of view they are entirely justified,
and their attitude is undeniably logical

* Similarly, Leo XIII undoubtedly meant the
Bull “ Apostolicae Curae,” 18 September, i8g6,
to fix the belief and practice of the Catholic
Church for ever. In a letter to Cardinal Richard,
5 November, i8g6, the Pope declared that his
intention has been absolute iudicare et penitus
dirimere, and that all Catholics must receive
his judgement as perpetuo firmam, ratam,
irreuocabilem.

and right. The Summis desiderantes
affectibus is either a dogmatic exposition
by Christ’s Vicar upon earth or it is
altogether abominable.

Hansen, either in honest error or of
intent, wilfully misleads when he writes,
“it is perfectly obvious that the Bull
pronounces no dogmatic decision.” f
As has been pointed out, in one very
narrow and technical sense this may be
correct — yet even here the opposite is
arguable and probably true — but such
a statement thrown forth without
qualification is calculated to create, and
undoubtedly does create, an entirely
false impression. It is all the more
amazing to find that the writer of the
article upon “Witchcraft” in the
Catholic Encyclopaedia J quotes Hansen
with complete approval and gleefully
adds with regard to the Bull of Inno¬
cent VIII, “neither does the form sug¬
gest that the Pope wishes to bind any¬
one to believe more about the reality of
witchcraft than is involved in the utter¬
ances of Holy Scripture,” a statement
which is essentially Protestant in its
nature, and, as is acknowledged by
every historian of whatsoever colour or
creed, entirely untrue. By its appear¬
ance in a standard work of reference,
which is on the shelves of every library,
this article upon “Witchcraft” acquires
a certain title to consideration which
upon its merits it might otherwise lack.
It is signed Herbert Thurston, and
turning to the list of “Contributors to
the Fifteenth Volume” we duly see
“Thurston, Herbert, S.J., London.”
Since a Jesuit Father emphasizes in a
well-known (and presumably authorita¬
tive) Catholic work an opinion so
derogatory to the Holy See and so
definitely opposed to all historians, one
is entitled to express curiosity concern¬
ing other writings which may have
come from his pen. I find that for a
considerable number of years Fr.
Thurston has been contributing to The
Month a series of articles upon mystical
phenomena and upon various aspects
of mysticism, such as the Incorruption
of the bodies of Saints and Beati, the
Stigmata, the Prophecies of holy per¬
sons, the miracles of Crucifixes that
bleed or pictures of the Madonna which

f “ Zauberwahn . . . im Mittelalter ,”
Munich, igoo.

X New York, The Encyclopaedic Press, Inc.,
Copyright, igig, Vol. XV, pp. 674-77.

XXV111

INTRODUCTION

move, famous Sanctuaries, the inner
life of and wonderful events connected
with persons still living who have
acquired a reputation for sanctity.
This busy writer directly or incidentally
has dealt with that famous ecstatica
Anne Catherine Emmerich;* the Cruci¬
fix of Limpias; Our Lady of Campo-
cavallo; S. Januarius; the Ven. Maria
d’Agreda ; Gemma Galgani ; Padre Pio
Pietralcina; that gentle soul Teresa
Higginson, the beauty of whose life has
attracted thousands, but whom Fr.
Thurston considers hysterical and
masochistic and whose devotions to him
savour of the “snowball” prayer; Pope
Alexander VI ; the origin of the Rosary ;
the Carmelite scapular ; and very many
themes beside. Here we have a mass of
material, and even a casual glance
through these pages will suffice to show
the ugly prejudice which informs the
whole. The intimate discussions on
miracles, spiritual graces and physical
phenomena, which above all require
faith, reverence, sympathy, tact and
understanding, are conducted with a
roughness and a rudeness infinitely
regrettable. What is worse, in every
case Catholic tradition and loyal
Catholic feeling are thrust to one side ;
the note of scepticism, of modernism,
and even of rationalism is arrogantly
dominant. Tender miracles of healing
wrought at some old sanctuary, the
records of some hidden life of holiness
secretly lived amongst us in the cloister
or the home, these things seem to pro¬
voke Fr. Thurston to such a pitch of
annoyance that he cannot refrain from
venting his utmost spleen. The obses¬
sion is certainly morbid. It is reason¬
able to suppose that a lengthy series of
papers all concentrating upon certain
aspects of mysticism would have col¬
lected in one volume, and it is extremely
significant that in the autumn of 1923
a leading house announced among
Forthcoming Books: “The Physical
Phenomena of Mysticism. By the Rev.
Herbert Thurston, SJ.” Although in
active preparation, this has never seen
the light. I have heard upon good
authority that the ecclesiastical superiors
took exception to such a publication. I

* Concerning whom he xmote no less than four
highly controversial articles, '“The Month,”
September to December, 1921, and in a fresh fit
of exacerbation returned to the attack, “ The
Month,” January, 1324.

may, of course, be wrong, and there can
be no question that there is room for a
different point of view, but I cannot
divest my mind of the idea that the
exaggerated rationalization of mystical
phenomena conspicuous in the series of
articles I have just considered may be
by no means unwelcome to the Father
of Lies. It really plays into his hands :
first, because it makes the Church
ridiculous by creating the impression
that her mystics, particularly friars and
nuns, are for the most part sickly
hysterical subjects, deceivers and de¬
ceived, who would be fit inmates of
Bedlam ; that many of her most reverend
shrines, Limpias, f Campocavallo, and
the sanctuaries of Naples, are frauds
and conscious imposture ; and, secondly,
because it contemns and brings into
ridicule that note of holiness which
theologians declare is one of the dis¬
tinctive marks of the true Church.

There is also evil speaking of digni¬
ties. In 1924 the Right Rev. Mgr.
Peter de Roo published an historical
work in five volumes, Materials for a
History of Pope Alexander VI, his Relatives
and his Time , wherein he demonstrates
his thesis that Pope Alexander VI was
“a man of good moral character and an
excellent Pope.” This is quite enough
for Fr. Thurston to assail him in the
most vulgar and ill-bred way. J The his¬
torian is a “ crank,” “constitutionally
incapable,” “extravagant,” one who
writes “queer English,” and by re¬
habilitating Alexander VI has “wasted
a good deal of his own time.” “One
would be loath to charge him with
deliberate suggestio falsi,” smugly re¬
marks Fr. Thurston, and of course
directly conveys that impression. As to
Pope Alexander, the most odious charges
are once more hurled against that
maligned Pontiff, and Fr. Thurston for
fifteen nauseating pages insists upon
“the evil example of his private life.”
This is unnecessary; it is untrue; it
shows contempt of Christ’s Vicar on
earth.

The most disquieting of all Fr.
Thurston’s writings that I know is
without doubt his article upon the Holy
House of Loreto, which is to be found

f One may contrast the beautiful and most
devotional study of this shrine by my friend Pro¬
fessor Allison Peers with the cold sneers of Fr.
Thurston's articles upon the miraculous Crucifix.
f “The Month,” April, 1925.

INTRODUCTION

XXIX

in the Catholic Encyclopaedia , Vol. XIII,
pp. 454-56, “Santa Casa di Loreto.”
Here he jubilantly proclaims that “the
Lauretan tradition is beset with diffi¬
culties of the gravest kind. These have
been skilfully presented in the much-
discussed work of Canon Chevalier,
‘Notre Dame de Lorette’ (Paris, 1906).

. . . His argument remains intact and
has as yet found no adequate reply.”
This last assertion is simply incorrect,
as Canon U. Chevalier’s theories have
been answered and demolished both
by Father A. Eschbach, Procurator-
General of the Congregation of the Holy
Ghost, in his exhaustive work La Verite
sur le Fait de Lorette * and by the Rev.
G. E. Phillips in his excellent study
Loreto and the Holy House, f From a care¬
ful reading of the article “Santa Casa
di Loreto” it is obvious that the writer
does not accept the fact of the Trans¬
lation of the Holy House ; at least that is
the only impression I can gather from
his words as, ignoring an unbroken
tradition, the pronouncements of more
than fifty Popes, the devotion of innu¬
merable saints, the piety of countless
writers, he gratuitously piles argument
upon argument and emphasizes objec¬
tion after objection to reduce the
Translation of the House of Nazareth
from Palestine to Italy to the vague story
of a picture of the Madonna brought
from Tersato in Illyria to Loreto.
With reference to Canon Chevalier’s
work, so highly applauded by Fr.
Thurston, it is well known that the late
saintly Pontiff Pius X openly showed his
great displeasure at the book, and took
care to let it be widely understood that
such an attack upon the Holy House
sorely vexed and grieved him.J In a
Decree, 12 April, 1916, Benedict XV,
ordering the Feast of the Translation of
the Holy House to be henceforward
observed every year on the 10th De¬
cember, in all the Dioceses and Religious
Congregations of Italy and the adjacent
Isles, solemnly and decisively declares
that the Sanctuary of Loreto is “the

* I9°9-

f igiy. There are, it should be remarked,
many other writers of authority who conclusively
traverse Canon Chevalier's thesis, but these are
dismissed by Fr. Thurston as “ comparatively
few and unimportant .” One would be loath to
charge him with deliberate suggestio falsi.

% “ Loreto and the Holy House,” by the Rev.
G. E. Phillips, p. 6.

House itself — translated from Palestine
by the ministry of Angels — in which
was born the Blessed Virgin Mary, and
in which the Word was made Flesh.”
In the face of this pronouncement it is
hard to see how any Catholic can
regard the Translation of the Holy
House as a mere fairy tale to be classed
with Jack and the Beanstalk or Hop o' my
Thumb. It is certain that Fr. Thurston’s
disedifying attack has given pain to
thousands of pious souls, and in Italy I
have heard an eminent theologian, an
Archbishop, speak of these articles in
terms of unsparing condemnation.

Father Thurston is the author of a
aper upon the subject of Pope Joan,
ut I am informed that it is no longer
in print, and as I have not thought it
worth while to make acquaintance with
this lucubration I am unable to say
whether he accepts the legend of this
mythical dame as true or no.

His bias evidently makes him incap¬
able of dealing impartially with any
historical fact, and even a sound and
generally accepted theory would gain
nothing by the adherence of so pre¬
judiced an advocate. It has seemed
worth while to utter a word of caution
regarding his extraordinary output,
and especially in our present connexion
with reference to the article upon
“Witchcraft,” which appears to me so
little qualified to furnish the guidance
readers may require in this difficult
subject, and which by its inclusion in a
standard work of reference might be
deemed trustworthy and reliable.

It is very certain then that the Bull
of Pope Innocent VIII, Summis deside¬
rantes affectibus, was at least a document
of the highest authority, and that the
Pontiff herein clearly intended to set
forth dogmatic facts, although this can
be distinguished from the defining of a
dogma. A dogmatic fact is not indeed
a doctrine of revelation, but it is so
intimately connected with a revealed
doctrine that it would be impossible to
deny the dogmatic fact without con¬
tradicting or seriously impugning the
dogma. It would not be very difficult
to show that any denial of the teaching
of Pope Innocent VIII must traverse
the Gospel accounts of demoniacs, the
casting out of devils by Our Saviour,
and His Divine words upon the activi¬
ties of evil spirits.

Giovanni Battista Cibo, the son of
Arano Cibo and Teodorina de’ Mare,

XXX

INTRODUCTION

was born at Genoa in 1432. His
father, a high favourite with Callistus
III (Alfonso de Borja), who reigned
from 8 April, 1455, to 6 August, 1458,
had filled with distinction the sena¬
torial office at Rome in 1455, and
under King Rene won great honour as
Viceroy of Naples. Having entered the
household of Cardinal Calandrini, Gio¬
vanni Battista Cibo was in 1467 created
Bishop of Savona by Paul II, in 1473
Bishop of Molfetta by Sixtus IV, who
raised him to the cardinalate in the
following year. In the conclave which
followed the death of this Pontiff, his
great supporter proved to be Guiliano
della Rovere, and on 29 August, 1484,
he ascended the Chair of S. Peter,
taking the name of Innocent VIII in
memory, it is said, of his countryman,
the Genoese Innocent IV (Sinibaldo
de’ Fieschi), who reigned from 25 June,
1243, to 7 December, 1254. The new
Pope had to deal with a most difficult
political situation, and before long
found himself involved in a conflict
with Naples. Innocent VIII made the
most earnest endeavours to unite Chris¬
tendom against the common enemy,
the Turk, but the unhappy indecision
among various princes unfortunately
precluded any definite result, although
the Rhodians surrendered to the Holy
Father. As for Djem, the younger son
of Mohammed II, this prince had
fled for protection to the Knights of S.
John, and Sultan Bajazet pledged him¬
self to pay an annual allowance of
35,000 ducats for the safe-keeping of
his brother. The Grand Master handed
over Djem to the Pope and on 13
March, 1489, the Ottoman entered
Rome, where he was treated with
signal respect and assigned apartments
in the Vatican itself.

Innocent VIII only canonized one
Saint, the Margrave Leopold of Aus¬
tria,* who was raised to the Altar
6 January, 1485. However, on 31 May,
1492, he received from Sultan Bajazet
the precious Relic of the Most Holy
Lance f with which Our Redeemer had

* Feast, /5 November. In Austria Duplex
primae classis cum octaua.

f On the second Friday in Lent was formerly
kept the Feast of the Spear and Nails first granted
by Innocent VI, 13 February, 1353, for Germany
and Bohemia at the request of Charles IV. In
some places the Feast was kept on the Friday
after Low Sunday. It is now observed by certain
religious families.

been wounded by S. LonginusJ upon
the Cross. A Turkish emir brought the
Relic to Ancona, whence it was con¬
veyed by the Bishop to Narni, when two
Cardinals took charge of it and carried
it to Rome. On 31 May Cardinal
Giuliano della Rovere solemnly handed
it in a crystal vessel to the Pope
during a function at S. Maria del
Popolo. It was then borne in proces¬
sion to S. Peter’s, and from the loggia
of the portico the Holy Father bestowed
his blessing upon the crowds, whilst
the Cardinal della Rovere standing
at his side exposed the Sacred Relic to
the veneration of the thronging piazza.
The Holy Lance, which is accounted
one of the three great Relics of the
Passion, is shown together with the
Piece of the True Cross and S. Veron¬
ica’s Veil at S. Peter’s after Matins on
Spy Wednesday and on Good Friday
evening; after High Mass on Easter
Day, and also several times during the
course of Maundy Thursday and Good
Friday. The Relics are exposed from
the balcony over the statue of S.
Veronica to the left of the Papal Altar.
The strepitaculum is sounded from the
balcony and then all present venerate
the Lance, the Wood of the Cross, and
the Volto Santo.

One of the most important exterior
events which marked the reign of Inno¬
cent was undoubtedly the fall of
Granada, the last stronghold of the
Moors in Spain, which city surrendered
to Ferdinand of Aragon, who thereby
with his Queen Isabella won the name
of “Catholic,” on 2 January, 1492.
The conquest of Granada was cele¬
brated with public rejoicings and the
most splendid fetes at Rome. Every
house was brilliant with candles; the
expulsion of the Mohammedans was
represented upon open stages in a kind
of pantomime; and long processions
visited the national church of Spain in
the Piazza Navona, San Giacomo degli
Spagnuoli, which had been erected in
I45°-§

On 25 July, 1492, Pope Innocent,
who had long been sickly and ailing so
that almost his only nourishment for

J Feast, /5 March. He is especially venerated
at Mantua.

§ It was restored rather less than fifty years
ago. S. Maria di Monserrato, of which church
S. Giacomo is Contitolare is now served by
Spanish priests.

INTRODUCTION

XXXI

many weeks was woman’s milk, passed
away in his sleep at the Vatican. They
buried him in S. Peter’s, this great and
noble Pontiff, and upon his tomb, a
work in bronze by Pollaiuolo, were in¬
scribed the felicitous words : Ego autem
in Innocentia mea ingressus sum.

The chroniclers or rather scandal¬
mongers of the day, Burchard and In-
fessura, have done their best to draw
the character of Innocent VIII in very
black and shameful colours, and it is
to be regretted that more than one
historian has not only taken his cue
from their odious insinuations and evil
gossip, but yet further elaborated the
story by his own lurid imagination.
When we add thereto and retail as
sober evidence the venom of contem¬
porary satirists such as Marullo and
the fertile exaggerations of melodra¬
matic publicists such as Egidio of
Viterbo, a very sensational grotesque is
the result. During his youth Giovanni
Battista Cibo had, it seems, become
enamoured of a Neapolitan lady, by
whom he was the father of two children,
Franceschetto and Teodorina. As was
proper, both son and daughter were
provided for in an ample and munificent
manner; in 1488* his father married
Franceschetto to Maddalena, a daugh¬
ter of Lorenzo de’ Medici. The lady
Teodorina became the bride of Messer
Gherardo Uso de’ Mare, a Genoese
merchant of great wealth, who was also
Papal Treasurer. The capital that has
been made out of these circumstances
is hardly to be believed. It is admitted
that during his earlier years Giovanni
Battista Cibo had indulged in an amour
with a fair Neapolitan; it is admitted
that this is contrary to strict morality
and to be reasonably blamed. But this
intrigue has been taken as the grounds
for accusations of the most unbridled
licentiousness, the tale of a lewd and
lustful life. So far as I am aware the
only other evidence for anything of the
kind is the mud thrown by obscure
writersf at a great and truly Christian,

* The bride, her mother Clarice Orsini, and a
magnificent retinue entered Rome on 3 November ,
1487; the marriage was celebrated at the Vatican ,
Sunday , 20 January, 1488.

f Burchard was only aware of two children of
Innocent VIII. But Egidio of Viterbo wrote:
“ Primus pontificum filios filiasque palam osten~
tauit, primus eorum apertas fecit nuptias .”
And there are the Epigrams of Marullo:
c

if not wholly blameless, successor of
S. Peter.

In spite of these few faults Innocent
VIII was a Pontiff who at a most
difficult time worthily filled his Apos¬
tolic dignity. In his public office his
constant endeavours for peace ; his tire¬
less efforts to unite Christendom against
their common foe, the Turk ; his opposi¬
tion to the revolutionary Hussites in
Bohemia and the anarchical Waldenses,
two sources of the gravest danger, must
be esteemed as worthy of the highest
praise. Could he have brought his
labours to fruition Europe would in
later ages have been spared many a
conflict and many a disaster.

Roscoe in reference to Innocent
remarks: “The urbanity and mildness
of his manners formed a striking con¬
trast to the inflexible character of his
predecessor.”! And again : “If the
character of Innocent were to be im¬
partially weighed, the balance would
incline, but with no very rapid motion,
to the favourable side. His native dis¬
position seems to have been mild and
placable; but the disputed claims of
the Roman See, which he conceived
it to be his duty to enforce, led him into
embarrassments, from which he was
with difficulty extricated, and which,
without increasing his reputation, de¬
stroyed his repose. Ӥ We have here
the judgement of a historian who is
inclined to censure rather than to de¬
fend, and who certainly did not recog¬
nize, because he was incapable of
appreciating, the almost overwhelming
difficulties with which Innocent must
needs contend if he were, as in con¬
science bound, to act as the chief Pastor
of Christendom, a critical position
which he needs must face and endeavour
to control, although he were well aware
that humanly speaking his efforts had
no chance of success, whilst they cost
him health and repose and gained him
oppugnancy and misunderstanding.

Immediately upon the receipt of the
Bull, Summis desiderantes affectibus, in
1485, Fr. Henry Kramer commenced

Quid quaeris testes, sit mas anfoemina Cibo?
Respice natorum, pignora certa, gregem.

Octo Nocens pueros genuit, totidemque puellas,
Hunc merito poterit dicere Roma patrem.

It is hardly to be believed that these libels have
been accepted as actual fact.

f “ Lorenzo de ’ Medici,” c. vi.

§ “ Leo the Tenth,” c. iii.

xxxn

INTRODUCTION

his crusade against witches at Inns¬
bruck, but he was opposed on certain
technical grounds by the Bishop of
Brixen, nor was Duke Sigismund so
ready to help the Inquisitors with the
civil arm.* In fact the prosecutions
were, if not actually directed, at least
largely controlled, by the episcopal
authority nor did the ordinary courts,
as is so often supposed, invariably carry
out the full sentence of the Holy Office.
Not so very many years later, indeed,
the civil power took full cognizance of
any charges of witchcraft, and it was
then that far more blood was spilled
and far more fires blazed than ever in
the days when Kramer and Sprenger
were directing the trials. It should be
borne in mind too that frequent dis¬
turbances, conspiracies of anarchists,
and nascent Bolshevism showed that
the district was rotted to the core, and
the severities of Kramer and Sprenger
were by no means so unwarranted as is
generally supposed.

On 6 June, 1474, Sprenger (Mag.
Jacobus Sprenger) is mentioned as Prior
of the Dominican house at Cologne,
and on 8 February, 1479, he was
present, as the socius of Gerhard von
Elten, at the trial of John von Ruchratt
of Wesel, who was found guilty of pro¬
pagating the most subversive doctrines,
and was sentenced to seclusion in the
Augustinian monastery at Mainz,
where he died in 1481.

Unfortunately full biographies of
these two remarkable men, James
Sprenger and Henry Kramer, have not
been transmitted to us, but as many
details have been succinctly collected in
the Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum of
Quetif and Echard, Paris, 1719, I have
thought it convenient to transcribe the
following accounts from that monu¬
mental v/ork.

F. Jacobus Sprenger {sub anno 1494).
Fr. James Sprenger, a German by
birth and a member of the community
of the Dominican house at Cologne,
greatly distinguished himself in his
academic career at the University of
that city. His name was widely known
in the year 1468, when at the Chapter

* Janseen, “ History of the German People
English translation, XVI, 24.9-51.

I In November 1485 the Bishop required Fr.
Kramer to leave the diocese of Brixen. At the
beginning of Lent, i486, the Bishop insists that
Fr. Kramer shall no longer delay his departure.

General of the Order which was held
at Rome he was appointed Regent of
Studies at the Formal House of Studies
at Cologne, and the following is
recorded in the statutes : Fr. James
Sprenger is officially appointed to study and
lecture upon the Sentences so that he may
proceed to the degree of Master. A few
years later, although he was yet quite
a young man, since he had already
proceeded Master, he was elected Prior
and Regent of this same house, which
important offices he held in the year
1475, and a little after, we are told, he
was elected Provincial of the whole
German Province. It was about this
date that he was named by Sixtus IV
General Inquisitor for Germany, and
especially for the dioceses of Cologne
and Mainz. His coadjutor was a Master
of Sacred Theology, of the Cologne
Convent, by name Fr. Gerard von
Elten, who unfortunately died within
a year or two. Pope Innocent VIII
confirmed Fr. Sprenger in this office,
and appointed Fr. Henry Kramer as
his socius. Fr. Sprenger was especially
distinguished on account of his burning
and fearless zeal for the old faith, his
vigilance, his constancy, his singleness
and patience in correcting novel abuses
and errors. We know that he was living
in our house at Cologne at least as late
as the year 1494, since the famous
Benedictine Abbot John Trithemius*
refers to him in this year. It is most
probable that he died and was buried
among his brethren at Cologne. The
following works are the fruit of his pen :

1 . The Paradoxes of John of Westphalia ,
which he preached from the pulpit at Worms ,
disproved and utterly refuted by two Masters
of Sacred Theology , Fr. Gerard von Elten
of Cologne and Fr. James Sprenger.
Printed at Mainz, 1479.

2. Malleus Maleficarum Maleficas &
earum haeresim , ut framea potentissima con¬
terens per F. Henricum Institoris & Jacobum

* Born at Trittenheim on the Moselle, 1
February, 1462; died at Wurzburg, 15 December,
1518. He took the monastic habit in 1482 at
Sponheim, and here, owing to his love of books ,
he built up the renowned library. Having ruled
as abbot for twenty-three years he sought a more
retired and peaceful life, which he enjoyed as head
of the Scottish house of S. James at Wiirzburg.
Here he died aged fifty-five years. Only a part of
his works, numbering more than eighty, have
appeared in print. Many treat of the ascetical
life, but some deal with classical literature and
natural science.

INTRODUCTION xxxiii

Sprengerum Ord. Praedic. Inquisitores * * * §
which has run into many editions (see
the notice of Fr. Henry Kramer). This
book was translated into French as
Le Maillet des Sorderes, Lyons, Stephanus
Gueynard, 4to.f See the Bibliotheque
Franfoise du Verdier.

3. The institution and approbation of the
Society or Confraternity of the Most Holy
Rosary which was first erected at Cologne on
8 September in the year 1475, with an
account of many graces and Miracles, as
also of the indulgences which have been
granted to this said Confraternity. I am
uncertain whether he wrote and issued
this book in Latin or in German, since
I have never seen it, and it was cer¬
tainly composed for the instruction and
edification of the people. Moreover, it
is reported that the following circum¬
stances were the occasion of the found¬
ing of this Society. In the year 1475,
when Nuess was being besieged by
Charles, Duke of Burgundy, J with a
vast army, and the town was on the
very point of surrender, the magistrates
and chief burghers of Cologne, fearing
the danger which threatened their city,
resorted in a body to Fr. James, who
was then Prior of the Convent, and
besought him that if he knew of any
plan or device which might haply ward
off this disaster, he would inform them
of it and instruct them what was best
to be done. Fr. James, having seriously
debated the matter with the senior
members of the house, replied that all
were agreed there could be no more
unfailing and present remedy than to
fly to the help of the Blessed Virgin,
and that the very best way of effecting
this would be if they were not only to
honour the Immaculate Mother of God
by means of the Holy Rosary which
had been propagated several years ago
by Blessed Alan de la Roche, § but that

* “ The Hammer of Witches which destroy eth
Witches and their heresy as with a two-edged
sword,” by Fr. Henry Kramer and Fr. James
Sprenger, of the Order of Preachers, Inquisitors.

f An edition which cannot be traced. See the
Note upon the Bibliography.

+ I433~77' In T4^7 he succeeded to the Duke¬
dom of Burgundy on the death of his father,
Philip the Good.

§ Alanus de Rupe, born about 1428; died at
Zwolle in Holland, 8 September, 1475. Early
in life he entered the Dominican Order, and after
a distinguished academic career, preached

throughout Northern France, Flanders, and the
Netherlands with intensest enthusiasm, his

they should also institute and erect a
Society and Confraternity, in which
every man should enrol himself with
the firm resolve of thenceforth zealously
and exactly fulfilling with a devout
mind the obligations that might be
required by the rules of membership.
This excellent plan recommended itself
to all. On the feast of the Nativity of
Our Lady (8 September) the Society
was inaugurated and High Mass was
sung; there was a solemn procession
throughout the city ; all enrolled them¬
selves and were inscribed on the Regis¬
ter;. they fulfilled their duties con¬
tinually with the utmost fervour, and
before long the reward of their devotion
was granted to them, since peace was
made between the Emperor Frederick
IV and Charles the Bold, Duke of
Burgundy. In the following year, 1476,
Alexander Nanni de Maltesta, Bishop
of Forli and legatus a latere\\ from
Sixtus IV, who was then residing at
Cologne, solemnly approved the Con¬
fraternity and on 10 March enriched it
with many indulgences. And this is the
first of those societies which are known
as the Rosary Confraternity** to be
erected and approved by the Apostolic
authority. For in a short time, being

special mission being the re-establishment every¬
where of the Holy Rosary. His vision of the
Rosary is generally assigned to the year 1460.
The “ Petite Annie Dominic aine” {Rome, 1911,
p. gog) says: ‘Tl fut le grand pridicateur des
vertus de la T.-Ste-Vierge au XV e siecle et le
restaurateur du St. Rosaire. Car . . . une
divotion si rationnelle, si facile, si attrayante, si
utile, inaugurie par un aussi grand saint
que Dominique itait tombee presque partout
dans Voubli. Alain se mit a V oeuvre . . . faisant
renaitre avec la culture du Rosaire, les fruits de
grdce. . . . Sa mort etait celle d’un saint, et son
tombeau devint glorieux par de nombreux
miracles. Un autel lui etait didii dans le couvent
de Dinan, et le B. Grignon de Montefort aimait
dy dire la messe.”

|| The legati a latere are cardinals sent by
the Pope on extraordinary missions or as
temporary representatives.

The Archbishop Rupprecht von der Pfalz
( 1469-80 ) was forcibly pressing his rights as
temporal lord, an action which gave rise to
considerable violence and much fighting through¬
out the territory.

** The Devotion itself was revealed by Our
Lady to S. Dominic. Although perhaps no actual
Confraternities had been granted indulgences
before 1479-6, yet there were Dominican Guilds
and Fraternities which fostered this Crown of
Prayers.

XXXIV

INTRODUCTION

enriched with so many indulgences, and
new privileges and benefice being be¬
stowed upon them almost daily, they
have spread everywhere and they are
to be found in almost every town and
city throughout the whole of Christen¬
dom.* * * § * * It is worthy of remark that on
the very same day that this Confra¬
ternity was erected at Cologne, Blessed
Alan de la Roche of blessed memory,
the most eminent promoter of the devo¬
tion of the Holy Rosary, died at Ros¬
tock and his beloved disciple, Fr.
Michel Francis de l’lsle, who was
sometime Master of Sacred Theology
at Cologne, J gave Fr. Sprenger the
most valuable assistance when the
Rosary was being established, as we
have related above. The works of Fr.
James Sprenger are well approved by
many authors as well as Trithemius;
since amongst others who have praised
him highly we may mention Albert
Leander, O.P. ; § Antony of Siena,
O.P. ; || Fernandez in his Concert. & Istor.
■del Rosar, Lib. 4, cap. 1, fol. 127; Fon¬
tana in his Theatro & Monum. published
at Altamura, 1481 ; and, of authors not
belonging to our Order, Antonius Pos-
sevinus, S.J.,^J Miraeus,** Aegidius

* In i486 a priest in London writes to his
patron in Yorkshire: * T send a paper of the
Rosary of Our Lady of Coleyn, and I have
registered your name with both my Ladis names,
as the paper expresses, and ye be acopled as
brethren and sisters .” “Plump ton Correspon¬
dence ” ( Camden Society, p. go).

f Later authorities say Jwolle in Holland.

£ Michel Frangois de VIsle, O.P. , Bishop of
Selymbria, born circa /455 ; died 2 June, 1502.
In 1488 this famous theologian was Regent of
Studies at Cologne. An ample biography may be
found in Quetif-Echard, “Scriptores Ordinis
Praedicatorum,” Paris, 1719, sub anno 1502,
Vol. II. pp. 7-9. Selymbria, or Selybria, is a
■titular see in Thracia Prima, suffragan of
Heraclea.

§ He was the socius of Francis Silvester, O.P.,
■of Ferrara, a celebrated theologian, who was born
circa 1474, and died at Rennes, 19 September,
1526.

|| Lusitanus, born near Braga in Portugal;
died at Naples, 2 January, 1383. The praise of
Sprenger may be found, in his “Bibliotheca
Ordinis Praedicatorum.” He is called “of
Siena” because of his great devotion to S.
Catharine of Siena.

Theologian and papal envoy. Born at
Mantua in 1333 or 1934; died at Ferrara, 26
February, 1611. His many writings include
“Moscovia,” Vilna, 1986, an important work
on Russian history; “Del Sacrificio della Messa,”

Gelenius in his De admiranda Coloniae
Agrippinae urbis Ubiorum Augustae magni¬
tudine sacra & ciuili. Coloniae, 1645, 4to,
p. 430 ; Dupin, ff and very many more.

Of Henry Kramer, Jacques Quetif
and Echard, Scriptores Ordinis Praedica¬
torum, Paris, 1719, Vol. I, pp. 896-97,
sub anno 1500, give the following
account: Fr. Henry Kramer (F. Hen-
ricus Institoris) was of German nation¬
ality and a member of the German
Province. It is definitely certain that he
was a Master of Sacred Theology, which
holy science he publicly professed, al¬
though we have not been able to dis¬
cover either in what town of Germany
he was born, in what Universities he
lectured, or in what house of the Order
he was professed. He was, however,
very greatly distinguished by his zeal
for the Faith, which he most bravely
and most strenuously defended both by
his eloquence in the pulpit and on the
printed page, and so when in those
dark days various errors had begun to
penetrate Germany, and witches with
their horrid craft, foul sorceries, and
devilish commerce were increasing on
every side, Pope Innocent VIII, by
Letters Apostolic which were given at
Rome at S. Peter’s in the first year of
his reign, 1484, appointed Henry
Kramer and James Sprenger, Professors
of Sacred Theology, general Inquisitors
for all the dioceses of the five metro¬
politan churches of Germany, that is to
say, Mainz, Cologne, Treves, Salzburg,
and Bremen. They showed them¬
selves most zealous in the work which
they had to do, and especially did they

Lyons, 1963; “Apparatus sacer ad Scripturam
Ueteris et Noui Test.,” Venice, 1603-6; “II
soldato cristiano,” Rome, 1369; and a “Biblio¬
theca Selecta,” Rome, 1393.

** Aubert Le Mire, ecclesiastical historian,
born at Brussels, 30 November , 1373; died at
Antwerp, 19 October, 1640. He was a canon of
Antwerp Cathedral, and in 1624 he became Dean
of the chapter and Vicar-general of the diocese.
He has left thirty-nine vast works on profane,
ecclesiastical, and monastic history. See De
Bidder's “Aubert Le Mire, sa vie, ses Merits,
memoire historique et critique,” Paris, 1863.

1 1 Louis-Ellies Dupin, born 17 June, 1637;
died 6 June, 1719. He wrote at great length
upon the Fathers, many of whose works he edited
with commentaries. Some of his statements
involved him in disputes with Dom. Petit-Didier
and later with Bossuet. Dupin is an extremely
prolific author, but several of his propositions were
regarded as suspect in orthodoxy.

INTRODUCTION

XXXV

make inquisition for witches and for
those who were gravely suspect of sor¬
cery, all of whom they prosecuted with
the extremest rigour of the law. Maxi¬
milian I, Emperor of Germany and
King of the Romans, by royal letters
patent which he signed at Brussels on
6 November, i486, bestowed upon Fr.
Kramer and Fr. Sprenger the enjoy¬
ment of full civil powers in the perform¬
ance of their duties as Inquisitors, and
he commanded that throughout his do¬
minions all should obey the two dele¬
gates of the Holy Office in their busi¬
ness, and should be ready and willing to
help them upon every occasion. For
several years Fr. Henry Kramer was
Spiritual Director attached to our
Church at Salzburg, which important
office he fulfilled with singular great
commendation. Thence he was sum¬
moned in the year 1495 to Venice by
the Master- General of the Order, Fr.
Joaquin de Torres, in order that he
might give public lectures, and hold
disputations concerning public worship
and the adoration of the Most Holy
Sacrament. For there were some theo¬
logians about this date who taught
that the Blessed Sacrament must only
be worshipped conditionally, with an
implicit and intellectual reservation of
adoring the Host in the tabernacle only
in so far as It had been duly and exactly
consecrated. Fr. Kramer, whose dis¬
putations were honoured by the pres¬
ence of the Patriarch of Venice,* with
the utmost fervour publicly confronted
those who maintained this view, and
not infrequently did he preach against
them from the pulpit. The whole ques¬
tion had recently arisen from a certain
circumstance which happened in the
vicinity of Padua. When a country fel¬
low' was collecting wood and dry leaves
in a little copse hard by the city he
found, wrapped up in a linen cloth be¬
neath some dry brambles and bracken
and dead branches of trees, two pyxes
or ciboria containing particles which
some three years before had been
stolen from a neighbouring village

* In 1457 Pope Nicholas V, upon the death of
Domenico Michel, Patriarch of Grado, suppressed
the Patriarchate and the Bishopric of Castello,
incorporating them both by the terms of the Bull
“ Regis aeterni ” in the new Patriarchate of
Venice, and thus Venice succeeded to the whole
metropolitan jurisdiction of Grado, including
the sees of Dalmatia.

church, the one of which was used to
carry the Lord’s Body to the sick, the
other being provided for the exposition
of the Sanctissimum on the feast of
Corpus Christi. The rustic immedi¬
ately reported what he had discovered
to the parish priest of the chapel hard by
the spinney. The good Father immedi¬
ately hastened to the spot and saw that
it was exactly as had been told him.
When he more closely examined the
vessels he found in one pyx a number
of Hosts, and so fetching thither from
the church a consecrated altar-stone
which it was the custom to carry when
the Viaticum was taken to the dying in
order that the ciborium might be de¬
cently set thereon, he covered the stone
with a corporal or a fair linen cloth and
reverently placed it beneath the pyx.
He built all around a little wooden
baldaquin or shrine, and presently put
devout persons to watch the place so
that no indignity might be done.
Meanwhile the incident had been
noised abroad and vast throngs of
people made their way to the place
where the thicket was; candles were
lighted all around ; “Christ’s Body,”
they cry, “is here” ; and every knee
bent in humblest adoration. Before long
news of the event was reported to the
Bishop of Padua, f who, having sent
thither two or three priests, inquired
most carefully into every detail. Since
in the other ciborium they only found
some corrupted particles of the Sacra¬
mental Species, in the sight of the whole
multitude the clerics who had come
from the Bishop broke down the tiny
tabernacle that had been improvised,
scattered all the boughs and leafery
which were arranged about it, ex¬
tinguished the tapers, and carried the
sacred vessels away with them. Imme¬
diately after it was forbidden under
severest penalties of ecclesiastical cen¬
sures and excommunication itself for
anyone to visit that spot or to offer
devotions there. Moreover, upon this
occasion certain priests preached openly
that the people who resorted thither had
committed idolatry, that they had wor¬
shipped nothing else save brambles and
decay, trees, nay, some went so far as to
declare that they had adored the devil
himself". As might be supposed, very
grave contentions were set astir between

f Jacopo Zeno, nephew and biographer of the
famous Venetian admiral, Carlo Zeno-

XXXVI

INTRODUCTION

the parish priests and their flocks, and it
was sharply argued whether the people
had sinned by their devotion to Christ’s
Body, Which they sincerely believed to
be there, but Which (it seems) perhaps
was not there: and the question was
then mooted whether a man ought not
to worship the Blessed Sacrament, ay,
even when Christ’s Body is consecrated
in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and
elevated and carried as Viaticum in
procession to the sick, only condition¬
ally, that is to say, since he does not
erhaps know if It is actually Christ’s
ody (or whether some accident may
not have occurred), since no man can
claim to be individually enlightened
by God on this point and desire to
have the Mystery demonstrated and
proved to him.* It was much about
the same time that Fr. Kramer under¬
took to refute and utterly disprove the
bold and wicked theories put forward
by another preacher who at Augsburg
dared to proclaim from the pulpit that
the Catholic Church had not definitely
laid down that the appearances of
Christ in His human body, and some¬
times bleeding from His Sacred
Wounds, in the Blessed Sacrament f

* It is remarkable that at the very moment
similar controversies are raised about the Blessed
Sacrament. The words “ Real Presence ” are
freely bandied. This is a popular phrase, since it
may mean anything or nothing. It is far better
to save all ambiguity, and to say “ The Blessed
Sacrament is God.” One writer, professing him¬
self a Christian, declares that it is at least doubt¬
ful whether Our Lord instituted The Holy
Sacrifice of the Altar. This, of course, is tanta¬
mount to a denial of Christ.

f It must suffice to mention only a few of the
many Saints who have seen Our Lord in the
Blessed Sacrament. S. Veronica of Binasco, the
Augustinian, saw Him there with her bodily eyes,
whilst the Host was environed by adoring Angels.
Vaulem the Cistercian saw in the Host the
Infant Jesus, Who held a crown of gold adorned
with precious stones. When Peter of Toulouse
was holding the Host over the chalice at Mass the
Bambino of marvellous beauty appeared between
his fingers. The same thing happened every
morning for two or three months. Similarly
Our Lord was seen by S. Angela of Foligno; S.
Hugh of Cluny; S. Lydwine; S. Ignatius; S.
Joseph of Cupertino; Domenica of Paradise;
Teresa de la Cerda, O.S.D., who saw the
Infant Jesus lying on the corporal; and very
many more. S. Catharine of Siena saw Our Lord
in the Blessed Sacrament under different forms,
and at the fraction of the Host she saw how He
remained entire in each part. Mary of Oignies at

are real and true manifestations of Our
Saviour, but that it may be disputed
whether Our Lord is truly there and
truly to be worshipped by the people.
This wretch even went so far as to say
that miracles of this kind should be left
as it were to the good judgement of
God, inasmuch as with regard to these
miraculous appearances nothing has
been strictly defined by the Church,
nor yet do the Holy Fathers or Doctors
lay down any sure and certain rule.
These doctrines Fr. Kramer opposed
with the utmost zeal and learning, de¬
livering many an eloquent sermon
against the innovator and utterly con¬
demning the theories which had been
thus put forth and proclaimed. Nay,
more, by virtue of his position and his
powers as delegate of the Holy Office
he forbade under the pain of excom¬
munication that anyone should ever
again dare to preach such errors. Fr.
Kramer wrote several works, of which
some have been more than once re¬
printed :

i. Malleus Maleficarum Maleficas &
earum haeresim , ut framea potentissima
conterens per F. Henricum Institorem &
Jacobum Sprengerum ord. Praed. Inquisi¬
tores, Lyons, Junta, 1484.J This edition
is highly praised by Fontana in his
work De Monumentis. Another edition
was published at Paris, apud Joannem
Paruum , 8vo ; also at Cologne, apud
Joannem Gymnicium , 8vo, 1520; and
another edition apud Nicolaum Bassaeum
at Frankfort, 8vo, 1580 and 1582 (also
twovols., i2mo, 1588). The editions of
1520, 1580, and 1582 are to be found
in the Royal Library, Nos. 2882, 2883,
and 2884. The editions printed at
Venice in 1576 and at Lyons in 1620
are highly praised by Dupin. The
latest edition is published at Lyons,
Sumptibus Claudii Bourgeat , 4 vols., i66g.§

the elevation in Passion-Tide saw Our Lord
upon the Cross; at Christmas Our Lady appeared
in the Host carrying the Infant Jesus in her
arms. In the Cathedral at Orvieto I have
venerated the Corporale which is stained with
blood that fell from the Host when a young priest
who doubted was saying Mass. This happened
in the days of Pope Urban IV, who reigned
1261-64.

f This can hardly be correct.

§ The contents of this valuable collection are
as follows:

* Vol. I:

Nider, O.P., John. Fornicarius de
maleficiis.

INTRODUCTION

XXXVll

The Malleus Maleficarum when sub¬
mitted by the authors to the University
of Cologne was officially approved by
all the Doctors of the Theological
Faculty on 9 May, 1487.

2. Several Discourses and various ser¬
mons against the four errors which have
newly arisen with regard to the Most Holy
Sacrament of the Eucharist , now collected
and brought together by the Professor of
Scripture of the Church of Salzburg , Brother
Henry Kramer, of the Order of Preachers,
General Inquisitor of heretical pravity. Pub¬
lished at Nuremberg by Antony Ko-
berger, 4to, 1496. This work is divided
into three parts:

1. The First Part. A Tractate
against the errors of the preacher who
taught that Christ was only to be con¬
ditionally worshipped in the Blessed
Sacrament : A Reply to the objection raised
by this preacher, and XI sermons on the
Blessed Sacrament.

The Second Part. XIX Sermons
on the Blessed Sacrament.

Sprenger and Kramer. Malleus Male¬
ficarum.

Vol. II:

Anania, Giovanni Lorenzo. De
Natura Daemonum.

Basin, Bernard. De Artibus magicis.

Bernard of Como, O.P. De Strigibus.
( With the annotations of Francesco
Pena.)

Castro, O. M., Alfonso A. De impia
Sortilegarum haeresi.

De Vignate, Ambrose. Quaestio de
Lamiis. ( With a commentary by Pena.)

Gerson, John. De Probatione Spirituum.
De erroribus circa artem magicam repro¬
batis.

Grilland, Paul. De Sortilegiis.

Leone, Giovanni Francesco. De
Sortilegiis.

Molitor, Ulrich. De Pythonicis
mulieribus.

Murner, O.M., Thomas. De Pythonico
Contractu.

Simancus, I ago. De Lamiis.

Spina, O.P., Bartolomeo. De Strigi¬
bus. In Ponginibium de Lamiis Apologia.

Vol. Ill:

Gorichen, Heinrich de. De super¬
stitionis quibusdam casibus.

Mamor, Pietro. Flagellum maleficorum.

Menghi, Girolamo, Capuchin.
Flagellum Daemonum. Fustis Dae¬
monum.

Stampa, Pietro Antonio. Fuga
Satanae.

Vol. IV:

Ars exorcistica tribus partibus.

The Third Part. i. Further Six
Sermons on the Sacrament.

2. Advice and cautels for priests.

3. A little Treatise concerning the miracu¬
lous Host and the species of Blood which
have been reserved for the space of 300 years
at Augsburg, or a sharp confutation of the
error which asserts that the miraculous
Sacrament of the Eucharist, whilst there is
the appearance in the Host of Blood or
Human Flesh or the form of a Figure, is not
truly the Blessed Sacrament, with the pro¬
mulgation of the Ban of Excommunication
against all and sundry who dare to entertain
this opinion. A copy of this book may
be found at Paris in the library of our
monastery of S. Honorat.*

It 'was about the same time, 1497-98,
that certain refractory and unruly
spirits took great exception against the
censure which the Bishop of Treves, J
who was a legatus de latere from the
Apostolic See, and the Patriarch of
Venice had pronounced on Antonio
degli Roselli of Arezzo and his book De
Monarchia siue de potestate imperatoris, and
since these rash men openly averred
that the censure and condemnation of
this work had not been brought about
in any just or legal way, Fr. Henry was
requested by Don Antonio de’ Piza-
manni, a patrician of Venice, who was
also a Doctor of Sacred Theology, to
write a tractate impugning this said
book of Antonio degli Roselli. Accord¬
ingly Fr. Kramer composed his opus¬
cule with the following title :

3. Here beginneth a Tractate confuting
the errors of Master Antonio degli Roselli
of Padua, jurisconsult, concerning the plen¬
ary power of the Supreme Pontiff and the
power of a temporal monarch. The conclu¬
sion is as follows : Here endeth the Reply of
the Inquisitor-General of Germany, Fr.
Henry Kramer, in answer to the erroneous
and mistaken opinions of Antonio degli Ro¬
selli. Printed at Venice, at the Press of
Giacomo de Lencho, at the charge of
Peter Liechtenstein, 27 July, 1499.

4. The Shield of Defence of the Holy
Roman Church against the Picards % and

* This great Saint is much honoured in France.
He was Archbishop of Arles, and founder of the
monastery of Lerins. Born about 350, he died in
January, 423.

I John II, Margrave of Baden.
j The extremer Picards seem to have been an
offshoot of the Behgards and to have professed the
Adamite heresy. They called their churches
Paradise and whilst engaged in common worship

XXXV111

INTRODUCTION

Waldenses. This was published when
Fr. Kramer was acting as Censor of the
Faith under Alexander VI * * * * § in Bo¬
hemia and Moldavia. This work is
praised by the famous Dominican
writer Noel Alexandre f in his Selecta his¬
toriae ecclesiasticae capita et in loca eiusdem
insignia dissertationes historicae , criticae ,
dogmaticae. In dealing with the fif¬
teenth century he quotes passages from
this work. The bibliographer Beug-
heim catalogues an edition of this work
among those Incunabula the exact date
of which cannot be traced. Georg Sim-
ler, who was Rector of the University of
Pforzheim, and afterwards Professor of
Jurisprudence of Tubingen in the early
decades of the sixteenth century, also
mentions this work with commendation.
Odorico Rinaldi J quotes from this
work in his Annales under the year 1500.
The Sermons of 1496 are highly praised
by Antony of Siena, O.P.§ Antonius
Possevinus, SJ., speaks of a treatise
Against the Errors of Witches. This I

stripped themselves quite nude. Shameful dis¬
orders followed. A number of these fanatics took
possession of an island in the river Nezarka and
lived in open communism. In 1421 Jiska, the
Hussite leader , practically exterminated the sect.
There have, however, been sporadic outbreaks of
these Neo-Adamites. Picards was also a name
given to the “ Bohemian Brethren ,” who may be
said to have been organized in 1457 by Gregory,
the nephew of Rokyzana. They held very extreme
views, denying that the Blessed Sacrament is the
Body of Christ, advocating the abolition of all
distinctions of rank and fortune and the living in
community. In the course of time these views
were practically modified, and to-day they may be
said to be represented by the Moravian Body.

* Reigned from n August, 1492, to 18
August, 1503.

4 Born at Rouen ig January, 1633; he
entered the Dominican Order in that city, g May,
1633. His literary labours were very vast, and
in 1677 he published at Paris the first volume of
his huge “History.” Some passages were very
sharply criticized, and even censured, but in the
preface to the third edition (Paris, i6gg,
8 volumes, folio ) the author, whilst fully sub¬
mitting to the Holy See, tactfully defends himself
He died of old age in the convent of S. Jacques at
Paris, 21 August, 1724.

4 Oratorian, born at Treviso, 1333; died at
Rome, 22 January, 1671. This eminent his¬
torian occupied himself with the continuation of
the “ Annales ” of the Ven. Cesar e Baronio, and
his work, which covers the years from ug8 to
1363, was published at Rome, 1646-77.

§ In his “ Bibliotheca Ordinis Praedic¬
atorum.”

have never seen, but I feel very well
assured that it is no other work than
the Malleus Maleficarum, which was
written in collaboration with Fr. James
Sprenger, and of which we have spoken
above in some detail.

In what year Fr. Henry Kramer died
and to what house of the Order he was
then attached is not recorded, but it
seems certain that he was living at least
as late as 1500.

Thus Quetif-Echard, but we may not
impertinently add a few, from several,
formal references which occur in
Dominican registers and archives.
James Sprenger was born at Basel (he
is called de Basilea in a MS. belonging to
the Library of Basel), probably about
1 436-38, and he was admitted as a
Dominican novice in 1452 at the con¬
vent of his native town. An extract
“ex monumentis conuent. Coloniens.”
says that Sprenger “ beatus anno 1495
obiit Argentinae ad S. Nicolaum in
Undis in conuentu sororum ordinis
nostri.” Another account relates that
he did not die at Strasburg on
6 December, 1495, but at Verona,
3 February, 1503, and certainly Jacobus
Magdalius in his Stichologia has “In
mortem magistri Iacobi Sprenger, sacri
ordinis praedicatorii per Theutoniam
prouincialis, Elegia,” which com¬
mences :

O utinam patrio recubassent ossa
sepulchro

Quae modo Zenonis || urbe sepulta
iacent.

Henry Kramer, who appears in the
Dominican registers as “Fr. Henricus
Institoris de Sletstat,” was born about
1430. His later years were distinguished
by the fervour of his apostolic missions
in Bohemia, where he died in 1505.

Although, as we have seen, Fr. Henry
Kramer and Fr. James Sprenger were
men of many activities, it is by the
Malleus Maleficarum that they will
chiefly be remembered. There can be
no doubt that this work had in its day
and for a full couple of centuries an
enormous influence. There are few
demonologists and writers upon witch-

11 S. Jem, Martyr, is the Patron of Verona, in
which city a basilica, San Jenone, is dedicated in
his honour. His feast is kept 12 April, and the
Roman Martyrology tells us that he was a Bishop
of Verona, put to death under the Emperor
Gallienus .

INTRODUCTION

XXXIX

craft who do not refer to its pages as an
ultimate authority. It was continually
quoted and appealed to in the witch-
trials of Germany, France, Italy, and
England ; whilst the methods and ex¬
amples of the two Inquisitors gained an
even more extensive credit and sanction
owing to their reproduction (sometimes
without direct acknowledgement) in
the works of Bodin, De Lancre, Boguet,
Remy, Tartarotti, Elich, Grilland,
Pons, Godelmann, de Moura, Oberlal,
Cigogna, Peperni, Martinus Aries,
Anania, Binsfeld, Bernard Basin, Men-
ghi, Stampa, Clodius, Schelhammer,
Wolf, Stegmann, Neissner, Voigt, Cat-
tani, Ricardus, and a hundred more.
King James has drawn (probably in-
direcdy) much of his Daemonologie, in
Forme of a Dialogue , Divided into three
Bookes * * * § from the pages of the Malleus;
and Thomas Shadwell, the Orange
laureate, in the “Notes upon the
Magick” of his famous play, The Lan¬
cashire Witches ,f continually quotes from
the same source.

To some there may seem much in the
Malleus Maleficarum that is crude, much
that is difficult. For example, the etym¬
ology will provoke a smile. The deriva¬
tion of Femina% from fe minus is no¬
torious, and hardly less awkward is the
statement that Diabolus § comes “a Dia,
quod est duo, et bolus, quod est mor-
sellus ; quia duo occidit, scilicet corpus
et animam.” Yet I venture to say that
these blemishes — such gross blunders, if
you will — do not affect the real con¬
texture and weight of this mighty
treatise.

Possibly what will seem even more
amazing to modern readers is the
misogynic trend of various passages, and
these not of the briefest nor least
pointed. However, exaggerated as these
may be, I am not altogether certain that
they will not prove a wholesome and
needful antidote in this feministic age,
when the sexes seem confounded, and

* Edinburgh, 1597.

f ^to, 1682. Produced at the Duke's Theatre,
Dorset Garden, in the autumn ( probably
September) of 1681.

I The word is from fe — , feu — , — Grk.
<f>v — <0, to produce; whence fetus, fecundus, etc.
Cfi Sanscrit bhuas, bhavas, to become. Also
fi — 0; fu — turus.

§ The word is from traducere.

So 8ux(3oXr;, slander, enmity. 6 8ta|3oXo<;, the
slanderer, the enemy; hence, Satan, the devil.

it appears to be the chief object of
many females to ape the man, an in¬
decorum by which they not only divest
themselves of such charm as they might
boast, but lay themselves open to the
sternest reprobation in the name of
sanity and common-sense. For the
Apostle S. Peter says : “Let wives be
subject to their husbands: that if any
believe not the word, they may be won
without the word, by the conversation
of the wives, considering your chaste
conversation with fear. Whose adorn¬
ing let it not be the outward plaiting of
the hair, or the wearing of gold, or the
putting on of apparel; but the hidden
man of the heart is the incorruptibility
of a quiet and meek spirit, which is rich
in the sight of God. For after the
manner heretofore the holy women also,
who trusted in God, adorned them¬
selves, being in subjection to their own
husbands: as Sara obeyed Abraham,
calling him lord : whose daughters you
are, doing well, and not fearing any
disturbance.”

With regard to the sentences pro¬
nounced upon witches and the course of
their trials, we may say that these
things must be considered in reference
and in proportion to the legal code of
the age. Modern justice knows sen¬
tences of the most ferocious savagery,
punishments which can only be dealt
out by brutal vindictiveness, and these
are often meted out to offences con¬
cerning which we may sometimes ask
ourselves whether they are offences at
all; || they certainly do no harm to
society, and no harm to the person.
Witches were the bane of all social
order; they injured not only persons
but property. They were, in fact, as has
previously been emphasized, the active
members of a vast revolutionary body,
a conspiracy against civilization. Any
other save the most thorough measures
must have been unavailing ; worse, they
must have but fanned the flame.

And so in the years to come, when
the Malleus Maleficarum was used
as a standard text-book, supremely
authoritative practice winnowed the
little chaff, the etymologies, from the
wheat of wisdom. Yet it is safe to say
that the book is to-day scarcely known

|| For an excellent study of this most difficult
and most painful subject see a valuable work by
George Ives, “ The History of Penal Methods ,”
1914.

xl

INTRODUCTION

save by name. It has become a legend.
Writer after writer, who had never
turned the pages, felt himself at
liberty to heap ridicule and abuse upon
this venerable volume. He could quote
— though he had never seen the text —
an etymological absurdity or two, or if
in more serious vein he could prate
glibly enough of the publication of the
Malleus Maleficarum as a “most dis¬
astrous episode.” He did not know very
clearly what he meant, and the humbug
trusted that nobody would stop to in¬
quire. For the most part his confidence
was respected ; his word was taken.

We must approach this great work
— admirable in spite of its triflings
blemishes — with open minds and grave
intent ; if we duly consider the world of
confusion, of Bolshevism, of anarchy
and licentiousness all around to-day, it
should be an easy task for us to picture
the difficulties, the hideous dangers with
which Henry Kramer and James
Sprenger were called to combat and to
cope ; we must be prepared to discount
certain plain faults, certain awkward¬
nesses, certain roughnesses and even
severities; and then shall we be in a

position dispassionately and calmly to
pronounce opinion upon the value and
the merit of this famous treatise.

As for myself, I do not hesitate to
record my judgement. Literary merits
and graces, strictly speaking, were not
the aim of the authors of the Malleus
Maleficarum , although there are felicities
not a few to be found in their admirable
pages. Yet I dare not even hope that
the flavour of Latinity is preserved in a
translation which can hardly avoid
being jejune and bare. The interest,
then, lies in the subject-matter. And
from this point of view the Malleus
Maleficarum is one of the most pregnant
and most interesting books I know in
the library of its kind — a kind which,
as it deals with eternal things, the
eternal conflict of good and evil, must
eternally capture the attention of all
men who think, all who see, or are
endeavouring to see, reality beyond
the accidents of matter, time, and
space.

Montague Summers.

In Festo Expectationis B.M.V.,

1927.

NOTA. — To Dr. H. J. Norman I wish to express my grateful thanks for his kindness in
having read through the proofs of the Malleus Maleficarum. Those who realize the labour and
sacrifice of time such a task demands will best appreciate the value of such generous assistance.

M. S.

A NOTE UPON THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE MALLEUS MALEFICARUM

The Bibliography of the Malleus Maleficarum is extremely intricate and
difficult, as many of the earlier editions both folio and quarto are without place
or date. Thus the British Museum possesses a copy (Press-Mark I B, 1606), folio,
which in the catalogue stands as “1485?”, but this can hardly be correct. The
British Museum has five editions of the fifteenth century: 4to, 1490? (I A 8634) ;
folio, 1490 (IB 8615); 4to, 1494 (IA 7468); folio, 1494 (IB 5064); 4to, 1496
(IA 75°3)-*

Graesse, Bibliotheca Magica , Leipzig, 1843, gives the editions of the fifteenth
century as Nuremberg, both 4to and folio, 1494 and 1496. He also mentions an
early folio and an early 4to without date or place. He further records a 4to
published at Cologne in 1489, and a folio published at Cologne, 1494.

Malleus Maleficarum, 8vo, Paris, an edition to which the British Museum cata¬
logue assigns the date “1510?”.

Malleus Maleficarum, 8vo, “Colonie. Per me Henricu de Nussia,” 1511.

Malleus Maleficarum, 8vo, Coloniae, J. Gymnicus, 1520. (Copies of these two
Cologne editions are in the British Museum.)

Malleus Maleficarum . . . per F. Raffaelem Majfeum Venetum et D. Jacobi a Judeca
instituti Seruorum summo studio illustratus et a multis erroribus vindicatus . . . Venetiis
Ad Candentis Salamandrae insigne. MD. LXXVI, 8vo. (This is a disappointing
reprint, and it is difficult to see in what consisted the editorial care of the Servite
Raffaelo Maffei, who may or may not have been some relation of the famous
humanist of the same name (d. 25 January, 1522), and who was of the monastery
of San Giacomo della Guidecca. He might have produced a critical edition of the
greatest value, but as it is there are no glosses, there is no excursus, and the text
is poor. For example, in a very difficult passage, Principalis Quaestio II, Pars II,
where the earliest texts read “die dominico sotularia iuuenum fungia . . . perun¬
gunt,” Venice, 1576, has “ die dominica solutaria iuuenum fungia . . . perungunt.”)

Malleus Maleficarum, Impressum Francofurti ad Moenum apud Nicolaum
Bassaeum . . . 8vo, 1580.

Malleus Maleficarum, . . . Francofurti . . . apud Nicolaum Bassaeum . . .
8vo, 1582.

Malleus Maleficarum, . . . Francofurti . . . apud Nicolaum Bassaeum, 2 vols.,
8vo, 1588. This edition also contains in Vol. I extracts from Nider’s Formicarius.
Vol. II, which is dedicated to John Miindzenberg, Prior of the Carmelite House
at Frankfort, contains the following nine Tractates:

Bernard Basin, De artibus magicis. (1482.)

Ulrich Molitor, De lamiis. (1489.)

Girolamo Menghi, O.S.F.C., Flagellum Daemonum. (1578.)

John Gerson, De probatione Spirituum. ( circa 1404.)

Thomas Murner, O.M., De Pythonico contractu. (1499.)

Felix Hemmerlin, De exorcismis. ( circa 1445.)

Eiusdem, De credulitate Daemonibus adhibenda. (1454.)

Bartolomeo Spina, O.P., De strigibus. (1523.)

Eiusdem, Apologiae III aduersus Ioann. Franc. Ponzinibium. (1525.)

The title-page announces that these works are “Omnes de integro nunc
demum in ordinem congestos, notis & explicationibus illustratos, atque ab
innumeris quibus ad nauseam usque scatebant mendis in usum communem
uindicatos.” It is true that the earlier editions did swarm with errors, and some of

* Jules Baissac, “Les grands Jours de la Sorcellerie ,” i8go, p. ig, says — I do not know on
what authority — -“La 1™ edition du ‘ Malleus Maleficarum' est de i48g, in — 4, Cologne, cinq ans
apr'es la publication de la Bulle Summis desiderantes .”

xli

xlii

A NOTE UPON THE BIBLIOGRAPHY

these blemishes have been duly corrected, but there still remains much to be done
in the way of emendation. It is to be wished that even the little care given to
Vol. II had been bestowed on the text of the Malleus Maleficarum in Vol. I, for this
is very poor and faulty.

Malleus Maleficarum , Lyons, 8vo, 1595. (Graesse.)

Malleus Maleficarum , Friburg, 1598.

Malleus Maleficarum , Lyons, 8vo, 1600.

Malleus Maleficarum, Lyons, “multo auctior,” 8vo, 1620.

Malleus Maleficarum, Friburg, 8vo, 1660.

Malleus Maleficarum, 4X0, Lyons, 1666. (Graesse.)

Malleus Maleficarum, 4 vols., “sumptibus Claudii Bourgeat,” 4to, Lyons, 1669.
This would appear to be the latest edition of the Malleus Maleficarum, and the text
has here and there received some revision. For example, in the passage to which
reference has already been made, Principalis Quaestio II, Pars II, where the former
reading was “sotularia iuuenum fungia . . . perungunt,” we have the correct
“axungia”* instead of “fungia.” I have given in the Introduction a list of the
collections contained in these four noble volumes.

Quetif-Echard, Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum, 2 vols., Paris, 1719, Vol. I,
p. 881, mention a French translation of the Malleus Maleficarum, Le Maillet des
Sorderes, as having been published, quarto, at Lyons by Stephanus Gueynard. No
date, however, is given, and as this book cannot be traced, it seems highly probable
that one of the many Lyons reprints of the Malleus Maleficarum was mistakenly
supposed to be a French rendering of the original. In answer to my inquiries
M. le Directeur of the Bibliotheque Nationale has kindly informed me : “L’ouv-
rage de Sprenger, Le Maillet des Sorderes, edition de Lyon, ne se trouve point a la
Bibliotheque Nationale. Mais, de plus, je me suis reporte a l’excellente biblio¬
graphic lyonnaise de Baudrier, XIe serie, 1914, et la non plus, l’edition de Stephanus
Gueynard ne se trouve point.” Le Maillet des Sorderes, 4to, Lyons, by Stephanus
Gueynard, does not occur in the valuable Essai dime Bibliographic Frangaise meth-
odique et raisonnee de la Sorcellerie of R. Yve-Plessis, Paris, 1900.

There is a modern German translation of the Malleus Maleficarum by
J. W. R. Schmidt, Der Hexenhammer, 3 vols., Berlin, 1906; second edition,

I922_3-

In 1912 Oswald Weigel, the famous “Antiquariat & Auktions-Institut” of
Leipzig, sold an exceptionally fine, if not — should it be once permissible to use
a much over- worked word — a unique collection of books dealing with witchcraft.
This Library contained no fewer than twenty-nine exemplars of the Malleus
Maleficarum , of which the dates were catalogued as follows: (1) Argentorati
(Strasburg), J. Priiss, ca. 1487. (2) Spirae, Peter Drach, ca. 1487. (3) Spirae,
Peter Drach, ca. 1490; or Basle, J. von Amorbach, ca. 1490?. (4) No place nor
date. With inscription “Codex moasterij scti Martini prope Treuirim.” (5) Koln,
J. Koelhoff, 1494. (6) Niirnberg, Anton Koberger, 1494. (7) Niirnberg, Anton
Koberger, 1496. (8) [Paris], Jehan Petit, ca. 1497. (9) Coin, Henricus de Nussia,
1 5 1 1 . (10) [Paris, Jehan Petit, no date.] (n) Lyon, J. Marion, 1519. (12) Niirn-
berg, Frederick Peypus, 1519. (13) Koln, J. Gymnicus, 1520. (14) Venetiis, Io.
Antonius Bertanus, 1574. (15) Venetiis, ibid., 1576. (16) Francofurti, apud
Nicolaum Bassaeum, 1580. (17) Francofurti, ibid., 1582. (18) Lugduni, apud
Ioannam Iacobi Iuntae, 2 tomi, 1584. In this edition the title is misprinted
Malleus Maleficorum. (19) Francofurti, Sumptibus Nicolai Bassaei, 1588. (20)
Duplicate of 19. (21) Lugduni, Petri Landry, 2 tomi, 1595. (22) Francofurti,
Sumptibus Nicolai Bassaei, 2 tomi, 1600. (23) Lugduni, Sumptibus Petri Landry,
3 tomi, 1604. (24) Lugduni, ibid., 1614. (25) Lugduni, ibid., 1615. (26) Lug¬
duni, Sumptibus Clavdii Landry, 3 tomi, 1620. (27) Lugduni, 3 tomi,

1620-21. (28) Lugduni, 4 tomi, 1669. (29) The modern German translation of
the Malleus Maleficarum by J. W. R. Schmidt, Der Hexenhammer, 3 vols., Berlin,
1906.

* Axis-ungo. See Palladius, I, xvii, 3. Also Vegetius, (‘De Arte Veterinaria fi IV, x, 3 ;
also IV, xii, 3.

THE BULL OF INNOCENT VIII

Innocent, Bishop, Servant of the servants of God, for an eternal

remembrance.

DESIRING with the most heartfelt anxiety, even as Our Apostle-
ship requires, that the Catholic Faith should especially in this
Our day increase and flourish everywhere, and that all heretical
depravity should be driven far from the frontiers and bournes of
the Faithful, We very gladly proclaim and even restate those particular
means and methods whereby Our pious desire may obtain its wished
effect, since when all errors are uprooted by Our diligent avocation as by
the hoe of a provident husbandman, a zeal for, and the regular observ¬
ance of, Our holy Faith will be all the more strongly impressed upon the
hearts of the faithful.

It has indeed lately come to Our ears, not without afflicting Us with
bitter sorrow, that in some parts of Northern Germany, as well as in the
provinces, townships, territories, districts, and dioceses of Mainz, Cologne,
Treves, Salzburg, and Bremen, many persons of both sexes, unmindful of
their own salvation and straying from the Catholic Faith, have abandoned
themselves to devils, incubi and succubi, and by their incantations, spells,
conjurations, and other accursed charms and crafts, enormities and horrid
offences, have slain infants yet in the mother’s womb, as also the offspring
of cattle, have blasted the produce of the earth, the grapes of the vine,
the fruits of trees, nay, men and women, beasts of burthen, herd-beasts,
as well as animals of other kinds, vineyards, orchards, meadows, pasture-
land, corn, wheat, and all other cereals; these wretches furthermore
afflict and torment men and women, beasts of burthen, herd-beasts, as
well as animals of other kinds, with terrible and piteous pains and sore
diseases, both internal and external; they hinder men from performing
the sexual act and women from conceiving, whence husbands cannot
know their wives nor wives receive their husbands ; over and above this,
they blasphemously renounce that Faith which is theirs by the Sacra¬
ment of Baptism, and at the instigation of the Enemy of Mankind they do
not shrink from committing and perpetrating the foulest abominations
and filthiest excesses to the deadly peril of their own souls, whereby they
outrage the Divine Majesty and are a cause of scandal and danger to very
many. And although Our dear sons Henry Kramer and James Sprenger,
Professors of Theology, of the Order of Friars Preachers, have been by
Letters Apostolic delegated as Inquisitors of these heretical pravities,
and still are Inquisitors, the first in the aforesaid parts of Northern Ger¬
many, wherein are included those aforesaid townships, districts, dioceses,
and other specified localities, and the second in certain territories which
lie along the borders of the Rhine, nevertheless not a few clerics and lay
folk of those countries, seeking too curiously to know more than concerns
them, since in the aforesaid delegatory letters there is no express and
specific mention by name of these provinces, townships, dioceses, and

xliii

xliv

THE BULL OF INNOCENT VIII

districts, and further since the two delegates themselves and the abomina¬
tions they are to encounter are not designated in detailed and particular
fashion, these persons are not ashamed to contend with the most unblush¬
ing effrontery that these enormities are not practised in those provinces,
and consequently the aforesaid Inquisitors have no legal right to exercise
their powers of inquisition in the provinces, townships, dioceses, districts,
and territories, which have been rehearsed, and that the Inquisitors may
not proceed to punish, imprison, and penalize criminals convicted of the
heinous offences and many wickednesses which have been set forth.
Accordingly in the aforesaid provinces, townships, dioceses, and districts,
the abominations and enormities in question remain unpunished not
without open danger to the souls of many and peril of eternal damnation.

Wherefore We, as is Our duty, being wholly desirous of removing all
hindrances and obstacles by which the good work of the Inquisitors may
be let and tarded, as also of applying potent remedies to prevent the
disease of heresy and other turpitudes diffusing their poison to the destruc¬
tion of many innocent souls, since Our zeal for the Faith especially incites
us, lest that the provinces, townships, dioceses, districts, and territories of
Germany, which We have specified, be deprived of the benefits of the
Holy Office thereto assigned, by the tenor of these presents in virtue of
Our Apostolic authority We decree and enjoin that the aforesaid In¬
quisitors be empowered to proceed to the just correction, imprisonment,
and punishment of any persons, without let or hindrance, in every way as
if the provinces, townships, dioceses, districts, territories, yea, even the
persons and their crimes in this kind were named and particularly desig¬
nated in Our letters. Moreover, for greater surety We extend these letters
deputing this authority to cover all the aforesaid provinces, townships,
dioceses, districts, and territories, persons, and crimes newly rehearsed,
and We grant permission to the aforesaid Inquisitors, to one separately or
to both, as also to Our dear son John Gremper, priest of the diocese of
Constance, Master of Arts, their notary, or to any other public notary,
who shall be by them, or by one of them, temporarily delegated to those
provinces, townships, dioceses, districts, and aforesaid territories, to pro¬
ceed, according to the regulations of the Inquisition, against any persons
of whatsoever rank and high estate, correcting, mulcting, imprisoning,
punishing, as their crimes merit, those whom they have found guilty, the
penalty being adapted to the offence. Moreover, they shall enjoy a full
and perfect faculty of expounding and preaching the word of God to the
faithful, so often as opportunity may offer and it may seem good to them,
in each and every parish church of the said provinces, and they shall
freely and lawfully perform any rites or execute any business which may
appear advisable in the aforesaid cases. By Our supreme authority We
grant them anew full and complete faculties.

At the same time by Letters Apostolic We require Our venerable
Brother, the Bishop of Strasburg,* that he himself shall announce, or by
some other or others cause to be announced, the burthen of Our Bull,
which he shall solemnly publish when and so often as he deems it neces¬
sary, or when he shall be requested so to do by the Inquisitors or by one
of them. Nor shall he suffer them in disobedience to the tenor of these
presents to be molested or hindered by any authority whatsoever, but he
shall threaten all who endeavour to hinder or harass the Inquisitors, all
who oppose them, all rebels, of whatsoever rank, estate, position, pre-

* Albrecht von Bayern, 1478-1506.

THE BULL OF INNOCENT VIII

xlv

eminence, dignity, or any condition they may be, or whatsoever privilege
of exemption they may claim, with excommunication, suspension, inter¬
dict, and yet more terrible penalties, censures, and punishment, as may
seem good to him, and that without any right of appeal, and if he will he
may by Our authority aggravate and renew these penalties as often as he
list, calling in, if so please him, the help of the secular arm.

Non obstantibus . . . Let no man therefore . . . But if any dare to
do so, which God forbid, let him know that upon him will fall the wrath
of Almighty God, and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.

Given at Rome, at S. Peter’s, on the 9 December of the Year of the
Incarnation of Our Lord one thousand four hundred and eighty-four, in
the first Year of Our Pontificate.

The translation of this Bull is reprinted by permission from “ The Geography of Witchcraft by

Montague Summers, pp. 533-6 (. Kegan Paul).

.

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'7V

MALLEUS

MALEFIC

ARUM

THE FIRST PART TREAT¬
ING OF THE THREE NECES¬
SARY CONCOMITANTS OF
WITCHCRAFT, WHICH ARE
THE DEVIL, A WITCH, AND
THE PERMISSION OF
ALMIGHTY GOD

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PART I

QUESTION I

Here beginneth auspiciously the first part
of this work. Question the First.

HETHER the belief that
there are such beings as
witches is so essential a
part of the Catholic faith
that obstinately to maintain the oppo¬
site opinion manifestly savours of
heresy. And it is argued that a firm
belief in witches is not a Catholic
doctrine : see chapter 26, question 5,
of the work of Episcopus. Whoever

believes that any creature can be
changed for the better or the worse,
or transformed into another kind or
likeness, except by the Creator of all
things, is worse than a pagan and a
heretic. And so when they report such
things are done by witches it is not
Catholic, but plainly heretical, to
maintain this opinion.

Moreover, no operation of witchcraft
has a permanent effect among us. And
this is the proof thereof: For if it were
so, it would be effected by the opera¬
tion of demons. But to maintain that
the devil has power to change human
bodies or to do them permanent harm
does not seem in accordance with the
teaching of the Church. For in this
way they could destroy the whole world,
and bring it to utter confusion.

Moreover, every alteration that takes
place in a human body — for example,
a state of health or a state of sickness —
can be brought down to a question of
natural causes, as Aristotle has shown
in his 7th book of Physics. And the
greatest of these is the influence of the
stars. But the devils cannot interfere
with the movement of the stars. This
is the opinion of Dionysius in his epistle
to S. Polycarp. For this alone God can
do. Therefore it is evident the demons

2

MALLEUS

Part. I. Question i.

cannot actually effect any permanent
transformation in human bodies ; that
is to say, no real metamorphosis. And
so we must refer the appearance of any
such change to some dark and occult
cause.

And the power of God is stronger than
the power of the devil, so divine works
are more true than demoniac operations.
Whence inasmuch as evil is powerful in
the world, then it must be the work of
the devil always conflicting with the
work of God. Therefore as it is un¬
lawful to hold that the devil’s evil craft
can apparently exceed the work of God,
so it is unlawful to believe that the
noblest works of creation, that is to say,
man and beast, can be harmed and
spoiled by the power of the devil.

Moreover, that which is under the
influence of a material object cannot
have power over corporeal objects.
But devils are subservient to certain
influences of the stars, because magicians
observe the course of certain stars in
order to evoke the devils. Therefore
they have not the power of effecting any
change in a corporeal object, and it
follows that witches have even less
power than the demons possess.

For devils have no power at all save
by a certain subtle art. But an art
cannot permanently produce a true
form. (And a certain author says :
Writers on Alchemy know that there is
no hope of any real transmutation.)
Therefore the devils for their part,
making use of the utmost of their craft,
cannot bring about any permanent
cure — or permanent disease. But if
these states exist it is in truth owing to
some other cause, which may be un¬
known, and has nothing to do with the
operations of either devils or witches.

But according to the Decretals (33)
the contrary is the case. “If by witch¬
craft or any magic art permitted by the
secret but most just will of God, and
aided by the power of the devil, etc. . . .”
The reference here is to any act of
witchcraft which may hinder the end
of marriage, and for this impediment
to take effect three things can concur,
that is to say, witchcraft, the devil, and
the permission of God. Moreover, the
stronger can influence that which is less
strong. But the power of the devil is
stronger than any human power ( Job
xl). There is no power upon earth
which can be compared to him, who
was created so that he fears none.

Answer. Here are three heretical
errors which must be met, and when
they have been disproved the truth will
be plain. For certain writers, pretending
to base their opinion upon the words of
S. Thomas (iv, 24) when he treats of
impediments brought about by magic
charms, have tried to maintain that
there is not such a thing as magic, that
it only exists in the imagination of those
men who ascribe natural effects, the
causes whereof are not known, to witch¬
craft and spells. There are others who
acknowledge indeed that witches exist,
but they declare that the influence of
magic and the effects of charms are
purely imaginary and phantasmical.
A third class of writers maintain that
the effects said to be wrought by magic
spells are altogether illusory and fanci¬
ful, although it may be that the devil
does really lend his aid to some witch.

The errors held by each one of these
persons may thus be set forth and thus
confuted. For in the very first place
they are shown to be plainly heretical
by many orthodox writers, and especi¬
ally by S. Thomas, who lays down that
such an opinion is altogether contrary
to the authority of the saints and is
founded upon absolute infidelity. Be¬
cause the authority of the Holy Scrip¬
tures says that devils have power over the
bodies and over the minds of men, when
God allows them to exercise this power,
as is plain from very many passages
in the Holy Scriptures. Therefore
those err who say that there is no such
thing as witchcraft, but that it is purely
imaginary, even although they do not
believe that devils exist except in the
imagination of the ignorant and vulgar,
and the natural accidents which happen
to a man he wrongly attributes to
some supposed devil. For the imagina¬
tion of some men is so vivid that they
think they see actual figures and appear¬
ances which are but the reflection of their
thoughts, and then these are believed
to be the apparitions of evil spirits or
even the spectres of witches. But this is
contrary to the true faith, which teaches
us that certain angels fell from heaven
and are now devils, and we are bound
to acknowledge that by their very
nature they can do many wonderful
things which we cannot do. And those
who try to induce others to perform
such evil wonders are called witches.
And because infidelity in a person who
has been baptized is technically called

Part I. Question i.

MALEFICARUM

3

heresy, therefore such persons are
plainly heretics.

As regards those who hold the other
two errors, those, that is to say, who do
not deny that there are demons and
that demons possess a natural power,
but who differ among themselves con¬
cerning the possible effects of magic and
the possible operations of witches : the
one school holding that a witch can
truly bring about certain effects, yet
these effects are not real but phantas-
tical, the other school allowing that
some real harm does befall the person or
persons injured, but that when a witch
imagines this damage is the effect of
her arts she is grossly deceived. This
error seems to be based upon two pas¬
sages from the Canons where certain
women are condemned who falsely
imagine that during the night they ride
abroad with Diana or Herodias.* This
may be read in the Canon. Yet because
such things often happen by illusion

* “ Diana or Herodias ." This decree, which
was often attributed to a General Council of
Ancyra, but which is now held to be of a later
date, was in any case authoritative, since it
passed into the “De ecclesiasticis disciplinis "
ascribed to Regino of Prum ( go6 ), and thence to
the canonists S. Ivo of Chartres and Johannes
Gratian. Section 364 of the Benedictine Abbot's
work relates that “ certain abandoned women
turning aside to follow Satan, being seduced by
the illusions and phantasms of demons, believe
and openly profess that in the dead of night they
ride upon certain beasts with the pagan goddess
Diana and a countless horde of women, and that
in these silent hours they fly over vast tracks of
country and obey her as their mistress, while on
other nights they are sullen to pay her homage ."
John of Salisbury, who died in 1180, in his
“ Policraticus ," I, xvii, speaks of the popular be¬
lief in a witch-queen named Herodias, who
called together the sorcerers to meeting at night.
In a MS., “De Sortilegis ," the following passage
occurs: “We next inquire concerning certain
wicked crones who believe and profess that in the
night-time they ride abroad with Diana, the
heathen goddess, or else with Herodias, and an
innumerable host of women, upon certain beasts,
and that in a silent covey at the dead of night
they pass over immense distances, obeying her
commands as their mistress, and that they are
summoned by her on appointed nights, and they
declare that they have the power to change
human beings for better or for worse, ay, even
to turn them into some other semblance or shape.
Concerning such women I answer according to
the decrees of the Council of Alexandria, that
the minds of the faithful are disordered by such
fantasies owing to the inspiration of no good
spirit but of the devil:'

and merely in the imagination, those
who suppose that all the effects of
witchcraft are mere illusion and im¬
agination are very greatly deceived.
Secondly, with regard to a man who
believes or maintains that a creature
can be made, or changed for better or
for worse, or transformed into some
other kind or likeness by anyone save by
God, the Creator of all things, alone, is
an infidel and worse than a heathen.
Wherefore on account of these words
“ changed for the worse ” they say that
such an effect if wrought by witchcraft
cannot be real but must be purely
phantastical.

But inasmuch as these errors savour
of heresy and contradict the obvious
meaning of the Canon, we will first
prove our points by the divine law, as
also by ecclesiastical and civil law, and
first in general.

To commence, the expressions of the
Canon must be treated of in detail
(although the sense of the Canon will
be even more clearly elucidated in the
following question). For the divine law
in many places commands that witches
are not only to be avoided, but also they
are to be put to death, and it would not
impose the extreme penalty of this kind
if witches did not really and truly make
a compact with devils in order to bring
about real and true hurts and harms.
For the penalty of death is not inflicted
except for some grave and notorious
crime, but it is otherwise with death of
the soul, which can be brought about
by the power of a phantastical illusion
or even by the stress of temptation.
This is the opinion of S. Thomas when
he discusses whether it be evil to make
use of the help of devils (ii. 7). For in
the 1 8th chapter of Deuteronomy it is
commanded that all wizards and
charmers are to be destroyed. Also the
19th chapter of Leviticus says : The
soul which goeth to wizards and sooth¬
sayers to commit fornication with them,
I will set my face against that soul, and
destroy it out of the midst of my people.
And again, 20 : A man, or woman, in
whom there is a pythonical or divining
spirit dying, let them die: they shall
stone them. Those persons are said to
be pythons in whom the devil works
extraordinary things.

Moreover, this must be borne in
mind, that on account of this sin
Ochozias fell sick and died, IV. Kings 1.
Also Saul, 1 Paralipomenon, 10. We have,

4

MALLEUS

Part I. Question i.

moreover, the weighty opinions of the
Fathers who have written upon the
scriptures and who have treated at
length of the power of demons and of
magic arts. The writings of many
doctors upon Book 2 of the Sentences
may be consulted, and it will be found
that they all agree, that there are
wizards and sorcerers who by the power
of the devil can produce real and ex¬
traordinary effects, and these effects
are not imaginary, and God permits
this to be. I will not mention those very
many other places where S. Thomas in
great detail discusses operations of this
kind. As, for example, in his Summa
contra Gentiles , Book 3, c. 1 and 2, in part
one, question 114, argument 4. And in
the Second of the Second , questions 92 and
94. We may further consult the Com¬
mentators and the Exegetes who have
written upon the wise men and the
magicians of Pharao, Exodus vii. We
may also consult what S. Augustine says
in The City of God* Book 18, c. 17. See
further his second book On Christian
Doctrine.] Very many other doctors
advance the same opinion, and it would
be the height of folly for any man to
contradict all these, and he could not
be held to be clear of the guilt of heresy.
For any man who gravely errs in an
exposition of Holy Scripture is rightly
considered to be a heretic. And who¬
soever thinks otherwise concerning these
matters which touch the faith that the
Holy Roman Church holds is a heretic.
There is the Faith.

That to deny the existence of witches
is contrary to the obvious sense of the
Canon is shown by ecclesiastical law.
For we have the opinions of the com¬
mentators on the Canon which com¬
mences: If anyone by magic arts or
witchcraft . . . And again, there are
those writers who speak of men im¬
potent and bewitched, and therefore by
this impediment brought about by
witchcraft they are unable to copulate,
and so the contract of marriage is
rendered void and matrimony in their
cases has become impossible. For they
say, and S. Thomas agrees with them,

* “ The City of God." S. Augustine's great
work " De Ciuitate Dei " was written 413-26.

f 11 On Christian Doctrine ." The '''‘De Doc¬
trina Christiana " was originally written in 337,
but S. Augustine revised his work with addition
in 427, leaving a monument of hermeneutics.

that if witchcraft takes effect in the
event of a marriage before there has
been carnal copulation, then if it is
lasting it annuls and destroys the con¬
tract of marriage, and it is quite plain
that such a condition cannot in any
way be said to be illusory and the effect
of imagination.

Upon this point see what Blessed
Henry of Segusio £ has so fully written
in his Summa : also Godfrey of Fon¬
taines § and S. Raymond of Penafort,||
who have discussed this question in
detail very clearly, not asking whether
such a physical condition could be
thought imaginary and unreal, but
taking it to be an actual and proven
fact, and then they lay down whether it

] " Blessed Henry." Blessed Henry of
Segusio, usually called Hostiensis, the famous
Italian canonist of the thirteenth century, was
born at Susa, and died at Lyons, 23 October,
1271. After a most distinguished career , on 4
December, 1261, he became Cardinal-Bishop of
Ostia and Velletri, whence his name Hostiensis.
His " Summa super titulis Decretalium " ( Stras -
burg, 1312; Cologne, 1612; Venice, 1603),
which was also known as " Summa aurea," or
" Summa archiepiscopi," since it was written
whilst he was Archbishop of Embrun, won for its
author the title "Monarcha iuris, lumen lucidis¬
simum Decretorum." One portion of this work,
the "Summa, siue Tractatus de poenitentia et
remissionibus," was very popular, and is con¬
tinually referred to as of high authority. The
book was written between 1230 and 1261.

§ "Godfrey." Godfrey of Fontaines, Doctor
Venerandus, scholastic philosopher and theo¬
logian, was born near Liege within the first half
of the thirteenth century; he became a canon of his
native diocese, and also of Paris and Cologne.
In 1300 he was elected to the See of Tournai,
which he declined. During the last quarter of the
century he taught theology with great distinction
at the University of Paris. His vast work, "XIV
Quodlibeta," which in manuscript was exten¬
sively studied in the mediaeval schools, has
recently been published for the first time with an
ample commentary.

|| "S. Raymond." One of the most dis¬
tinguished names of the Dominican Order.
Born in 1173, he professed Canon law at
Barcelona and Bologna. At the request of his
superiors he published his "Summa Casuum," of
which several editions appeared in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries. His reputation as a
jurist was so great that in 1230 he was called to
Rome by Gregory IX, who directed him to re¬
arrange and codify the ecclesiastical canons.
Having completed the work, he refused all
honours, and. returned to Spain. He died at
Barcelona, 6 January, 1273. His feast is
celebrated on 23 January.

Part I. Question i.

MALEFICARUM

5

is to be treated as a lasting or temporary
infirmity if it continued for more than
the space of three years, and they do not
doubt that it may be brought about by
the power of witchcraft, although it is
true that this condition may be inter¬
mittent. But what is a fact beyond dis¬
pute is that such impotency can be
brought about through the power of the
devil by means of a contract made with
him, or even by the devil himself with¬
out the assistance of any witch, al¬
though this most rarely happens in the
Church, since marriage is a most ex¬
cellent sacrament. But amongst Pagans
this actually does happen, and this
is because evil spirits act as if they had
a certain legitimate dominion over
them, as Peter of Palude* in his fourth
book relates, when he tells of the young
man who had pledged himself in wed¬
lock to a certain idol, and who never¬
theless contracted marriage with a
young maiden, but he was unable to
have any connexion with her because
the devil always intervened, actually
appearing in bodily form. But never¬
theless in the Church the devil prefers
to operate through the medium of
witches and to bring about such effects
for his own gain, that is to say, for the
loss of souls. And in what manner he is
able to do this, and by what means,
will be discussed a little later, where we
shall treat of the seven ways of doing
harm to men by similar operations.
And of the other questions which
Theologians and Canonists have raised
with reference to these points, one is
very important, since they discuss how
such impotence can be cured and
whether it is permissible to cure it by
some counter-charm, and what is to be
done if the witch who cast the spell is
dead, a circumstance of which Godfrey
of Fontaines treats in his Summa. And
these questions will be amply elucidated
in the Third Part of this work.

This then is the reason why the
Canonists have so carefully drawn up a
table of the various differing penalties,
making a distinction between the
private and open practice of witchcraft,
or rather of divination, since this foul
superstition has various species and

* “ Peter of Palude .” Peter of Palude, who
died 1342, of the Order of S. Dominic, was one
of the most distinguished Thomistic theologians
during the first half of the fourteenth century.

degrees, so that anyone who is notori¬
ously given to it must be refused Com¬
munion. If it be secretly practised the
culprit must do penance for forty days.
And if he be a cleric he is to be sus¬
pended and confined in a monastery.
If he be a layman he shall be excom¬
municated, wherefore all such in¬
famous persons must be punished, to¬
gether with all those who resort to
them, and no excuse at all is to be
allowed.

The same penalty too is prescribed by
the civil law. For Azo,f in his Summa
upon Book 9 of the Codex, the rubric
concerning sorcerers, 2 after the lex Cor¬
nelia ,t concerning assassins and mur¬
derers, lays down : Let it be known that
all those who are commonly called
sorcerers, and those too who are skilled
in the art of divination, incur the
penalty of death. The same penalty is
enforced yet again. For this is the exact
sentence of these laws : It is unlawful for
any man to practise divination; and if
he does so his reward shall be death by
the sword of the executioner. There are
others too who by their magic charms
endeavour to take the lives of innocent
people, who turn the passions of women
to lusts of every kind, and these
criminals are to be thrown to the wild
beasts. And the laws allow that any
witness whatsoever is to be admitted as
evidence against them. This the Canon
treating of the defence of the Faith

f “Ago.” Early in the thirteenth century
Portius Ago stood at the head of the Bolognese
school of law which was accomplishing the
resuscitation of the classical Roman law. He was
the pupil of the celebrated Johannes Bassianus,
and his fame so eclipsed all his contemporaries
that in 1203 Thomas of Marlborough, after¬
wards Abbot of Evesham, spent six months at
Bologna hearing his lectures every day. Ago was
saluted as " Master of all the Masters of the
laws,” and the highest praise that could be given
another canonist was to declare him to be
'‘'‘second only to Ago.” Savigrey says that Ago
was alive as late as 1230. His chief work is a
"Summa” of the first nine books of the Code, to
which he added a "Summa” of the Institutes.
No less than thirty-one editions appeared
between 1482 and 1610; of which five are
earlier than 1300. Throughout the Middle Ages
these treatises were in highest repute.

J "Lex Cornelia.” De Sicariis et Veneficis.
Passed circa 81 b.c. This law dealt with
incendiarism as well as open assassination and
poisoning, and laid down penalties for accessories
to the fact.

6

MALLEUS

Part I. Question i.

explicitly enjoins. And the same pro¬
cedure is allowable in a charge of heresy.
When such an accusation is brought,
any witness may come forward to give
evidence, just as he may in a case of
lese-majesty. For witchcraft is high
treason against God’s Majesty. And so
they are to be put to the torture in order
to make them confess. Any person,
whatever his rank or position, upon such
an accusation may be put to the torture,
and he who is found guilty, even if he
confesses his crime, let him be racked,
let him suffer all other tortures pre¬
scribed by law in order that he may be
punished in proportion to his offences.

Note : In days of old such criminals
suffered a double penalty and were
often thrown to wild beasts to be de¬
voured by them. Nowadays they are
burnt at the stake, and probably this is
because the majority of them are
women.

The civil law also forbids any con¬
niving at or joining in such practices,
for it did not allow a diviner even to
enter another person’s house ; and often
it ordered that all their possessions
should be burnt, nor was anyone
allowed to patronize or to consult
them; very often they were deported
to some distant and deserted island and
all their goods sold by public auction.
Moreover, those who consulted or re¬
sorted to witches were punished with
exile and the confiscation of all their
property. These penalties were set in
operation by the common consent of all
nations and rulers, and they have
greatly conduced to the suppression of
the practice of such forbidden arts.

It should be observed that the laws
highly commend those who seek to
nullify the charms of witches. And
those who take great pains that the
work of man shall not be harmed by the
force of tempests or by hailstorms are
worthy of a great reward rather than of
any punishment. How such damage
may lawfully be prevented will be dis¬
cussed in full below. Accordingly, how
can it be that the denial or frivolous
contradiction of any of these proposi¬
tions can be free from the mark of some
notable heresy? Let every man judge
for himself unless indeed his ignorance
excuse him. But what sort of ignorance
may excuse him we shall very shortly
proceed to explain. From what has
been already said we draw the following
conclusion: It is a most certain and

most Catholic opinion that there are
sorcerers and witches who by the help
of the devil, on account of a compact
which they have entered into with him,
are able, since God allows this, to pro¬
duce real and actual evils and harm,
which does not render it unlikely that
they can also bring about visionary and
phantastical illusions by some extra¬
ordinary and peculiar means. The scope
of the present inquiry, however, is
witchcraft, and this very widely differs
from these other arts, and therefore a
consideration of them would be nothing
to the purpose, since those who practise
them may with greater accuracy be
termed fortune-tellers and soothsayers
rather than sorcerers.

It must particularly be noticed that
these two last errors are founded upon
a complete misunderstanding of the
words of the Canon (I will not speak of
the first error, which stands obviously
self-condemned, since it is clean con¬
trary to the teaching of Holy Scripture) .
And so let us proceed to a right under¬
standing of the Canon. And first we
will speak against the first error, which
says that the mean is mere illusion al¬
though the two extremes are realities.

Here it must be noticed that there are
fourteen distinct species which come
under the genus superstition, but
these for the sake of brevity it is hardly
necessary to detail, since they have been
most clearly set out by S. Isidore* in his
Etymologiae, Book 8, and by S. Thomas
in his Second of the Second, question 92.
Moreover, there will be explicit men¬
tion of these rather lower when we dis¬
cuss the gravity of this heresy, and this
will be in the last question of our First
Part.

The category in which women of this
sort are to be ranked is called the
category of Pythons, persons in or by
whom the devil either speaks or per-

* “ St . Isidore .” The “ Etymologiae ,” or
“ Origines ” as it is sometimes called, must be
regarded as the most important and best known
of the works of S. Isidore of Seville, born circa
560; died 4 April, 636. It has been described as
“a vast storehouse in which is gathered, systema¬
tized, and condensed, all the learning possessed by
that time.” Throughout the greater part of the
Middle Ages it was the text-book most in use in
educational institutions. Arevalo , who is regarded
as the most authoritative editor of S. Isidore (7
vols., Rome, ijgj-1803 ), tells us that it was
printed no less than ten times between 14JO and

1529-

Part I. Question i.

MALEFICARUM

7

forms some astonishing operation, and
this is often the first category in order.
But the category under which sorcerers
come is called the category of Sorcerers.

And inasmuch as these persons differ
greatly one from another, it would not
be correct that they should not be
comprised in that species under which
so many others are confined : Where¬
fore, since the Canon makes explicit
mention of certain women, but does
not in so many words speak of witches ;
therefore they are entirely wrong who
understand the Canon only to speak of
imaginary voyages and goings to and
fro in the body and who wish to reduce
every kind of superstition to this
illusion : for as those women are trans¬
ported in their imagination, so are
witches actually and bodily trans¬
ported. And he who wishes to argue
from this Canon that the effects of
witchcraft, the infliction of disease or
any sickness, are purely imaginary,
utterly mistakes the tenor of the Canon,
and errs most grossly.

Further, it is to be observed that those
who, whilst they allow the two extremes,
that is to say, some operation of the
devil and the effect, a sensible disease,
to be actual and real, at the same time
deny that any instrument is the means
thereof; that is to say, they deny that
any witch could have participated in
such a cause and effect, these, I say, err
most gravely: for, in philosophy, the
mean must always partake of the nature
of the two extremes.

Moreover, it is useless to argue that
any result of witchcraft may be a
phantasy and unreal, because such a
phantasy cannot be procured without
resort to the power of the devil, and it is
necessary that there should be made a
contract with the devil, by which con¬
tract the witch truly and actually binds
herself to be the servant of the devil
and devotes herself to the devil, and
this is not done in any dream or under
any illusion, but she herself bodily and
truly co-operates with, and conjoins
herself to, the devil. For this indeed is
the end of all witchcraft; whether it
be the casting of spells by a look or
by a formula of words or by some
other charm, it is all of the devil, as
will be made clear in the following
question.

In truth, if anyone cares to read the
words of the Canon, there are four
points which must particularly strike

him. And the first point is this: It is
absolutely incumbent upon all crea¬
tures and Priests, and upon all who have
the cure of souls, to teach their flocks
that there is one, only, true God, and
that to none other in Heaven or earth
may worship be given. The second
point is this, that although these women
imagine they are riding (as they think
and say) with Diana or with Herodias,
in truth they are riding with the devil,
who calls himself by some such heathen
name and throws a glamour before their
eyes. And the third point is this, that
the act of riding abroad may be merely
illusory, since the devil has extra¬
ordinary power over the minds of those
who have given themselves up to him,
so that what they do in pure imagina¬
tion, they believe they have actually
and really done in the body. And the
fourth point is this : Witches have
made a compact to obey the devil
in all things, wherefore that the words
of the Canon should be extended to
include and comprise every act of
witchcraft is absurd, since witches do
much more than these women, and
witches actually are of a very different
kind.

Whether witches by their magic arts
are actually and bodily transported
from place to place, or whether this
merely happens in imagination, as is
the case with regard to those women
who are called Pythons, will be dealt
with later in this work, and we shall
also discuss how they are conveyed.
So now we have explained two errors
at least, and we have arrived at a
clear understanding of the sense of the
Canon.

Moreover, a third error, which mis¬
taking the words of the Canon says that
all magic arts are illusions, may be
corrected from the very words of the
Canon itself. For inasmuch as it says
that he who believes any creature can
be made or transformed for the better
or the worse, or metamorphosed into
some other species or likeness, save it
be by the Creator of all things Him¬
self, etc. ... he is worse than an
infidel. These three propositions, if
they are thus understood as they might
appear on the bare face of them, are
clean contrary to the sense of Holy
Scripture and the commentaries of the
doctors of the Church. For the follow¬
ing Canon clearly says that creatures
can be made by witches, although they

8

MALLEUS

Part I. Question i.

necessarily must be very imperfect
creatures, and probably in some way
deformed. And it is plain that the sense
of the Canon agrees with what S.
Augustine tells us concerning the
magicians at the court of Pharao, who
turned their rods into serpents, as the
holy doctor writes upon the 7th
chapter of Exodus , ver. 1 1 , — and
Pharao called the wise men and the
magicians. . . . We may also refer
to the commentaries of Strabo, who
says that devils hurry up and down over
the whole earth, when by their incanta¬
tions witches are employing them at
various operations, and these devils are
able to collect various germs or seeds,
and from these germs or seeds they are
able to cause various species to grow.
We may also refer to Blessed Albertus
Magnus,* De animalibus. And also S.
Thomas, Part 1, question 114, article 4.
For the sake of conciseness we will not
quote them at length here, but this
remains proven, that it is possible for
certain creatures to be created in this
way.

With reference to the second point,
that a creature may be changed for
better or for worse, it is always to be
understood that this can only be done
by the permission and indeed by the
power of God, and that this is only done
in order to correct or to punish, but that
God very often allows devils to act as
His ministers and His servants, but
throughout all it is God alone who can

* “ Blessed Albertus .” Albert the Great , the
Dominican doctor, scientist, philosopher, and
theologian. Born circa 1206; died at Cologne,
/5 November, 1280. He is called “ the Great ”
and “ Doctor Uniuersalis ” on account of his
extraordinary genius and encyclopaedic know¬
ledge, for he surpassed all his contemporaries in
every branch of learning cultivated in his day.
He is certainly one of the glories of the Order of
Preachers. Ulrich Endelbert speaks of him as:
“ Uir in omni scientia adeo diuinus, ut nostri
temporis stupor et miraculum congrue uocari
possit ” (“De summo bono,” III, iv). Perhaps
at the present day his extraordinary genius is not
sufficiently recognized, for he was certainly one
of the most learned men of all time. The latest
edition of his complete works, Paris (Louis
Vives), i8go-gg, in thirty-eight quarto volumes,
was published under the direction of the Abbe
Auguste Borgnet, of the diocese of Reims. “De
animalibus ” will be found in Vols. XI-XII.
The feast of Albertus Magnus is celebrated on
15 November. He was beatified by Gregory XV
in 1622, so in this translation I call him
“ Blessed ” by anticipation.

afflict and it is He alone who can heal,
for “I kill and I make alive” (Deuter¬
onomy xxxii, 39). And so evil angels
may and do perform the will of God.
To this also S. Augustine bears witness
when he says : There are in truth
magic spells and evil charms, which
not only often afflict men with diseases
but even kill them outright. We must
also endeavour clearly to understand
what actually happens when nowadays
by the power of the devil wizards and
witches are changed into wolves and
other savage beasts. The Canon, how¬
ever, speaks of some bodily and lasting
change, and does not discuss those
extraordinary things which may be
done by glamour of which S. Augustine
speaks in the 18th book and the 17th
chapter of Of the City of God, when he
reports many strange tales of that
famous witch Circe, and of the com¬
panions of Diomedes and of the father
of Praestantius. This will be discussed
in detail in the Second Part.

Whether it be a Heresy to Maintain that
Witches Exist.

The second part of our inquiry is
this, whether obstinately to maintain
that witches exist is heretical. The
question arises whether people who
hold that witches do not exist are to be
regarded as notorious heretics, or
whether they are to be regarded as
gravely suspect of holding heretical
opinions. It seems that the first opinion
is the correct one. For this is un¬
doubtedly in accordance with the
opinion of the learned Bernard. And
yet those persons who openly and
obstinately persevere in heresy must be
proved to be heretics by unshaken
evidence, and such demonstration is
generally one of three kinds; either a
man has openly preached and pro¬
claimed heretical doctrines ; or he is
proved to be a heretic by the evidence
of trustworthy witnesses ; or he is
proved to be a heretic by his own free
confession. And yet there are some who
rashly opposing themselves to all
authority publicly proclaim that
witches do not exist, or at any rate that
they can in no way afflict and hurt
mankind. Wherefore, strictly speaking
those who are convicted of such evil
doctrine may according to the com¬
mentary of Bernard be excommuni¬
cated, since they are openly and un-

Part I. Question i.

MALEFICARUM

9

mistakably to be convicted of false
doctrine. The reader may consult the
works of Bernard, where he will find
that this sentence is just, right, and true.
Yet perhaps this may seem to be alto-
ether too severe a judgement mainly
ecause of the penalties which follow
upon excommunication : for the Canon
prescribes that a cleric is to be degraded
and that a layman is to be handed over
to the power of the secular courts, who
are admonished to punish him as his
offence deserves. Moreover, we must
take into consideration the very great
numbers of persons who, owing to their
ignorance, will surely be found guilty
of this error. And since the error is very
common the rigor of strict justice may
be tempered with mercy. And it is
indeed our intention to try to make
excuses for those who are guilty of this
heresy rather than to accuse them of
being infected with the malice of
heresy. It is preferable then that if a
man should be even gravely suspected
of holding this false opinion he should
not be immediately condemned for
the grave crime of heresy. (See the
gloss of Bernard* upon the word Con¬
demned.) One may in truth proceed
against such a man as against a person
who is gravely suspect, but he is not to
be condemned in his absence and with¬
out a hearing. And yet the suspicion
may be very grave, and we cannot
refrain from suspecting these people,
for their frivolous assertions do cer¬
tainly seem to affect the purity of the
faith. For there are three kinds of
suspicion — a light suspicion, a serious
suspicion, and a grave suspicion. These
are treated of in the chapter on Accusa¬
tions and in the chapter on Contumacy,
Book 6, On Heretics. And these things
come under the cognizance of the
archidiaconal court. Reference may
also be made to the commentaries of

* “Bernard.” Junior , or Modernus, a canon¬
ist who lived in the middle of the thirteenth cen¬
tury, called “Compostellanus” from the fact that
he possessed an ecclesiastical benefice in Compo-
stella. He was also known as Brignadius from
his birthplace in Galicia, Spain. Bernard was
chaplain to Innocent IV, who reigned 1243-54,
and was himself a noted canonist. Bernard's
Commentaries on Canon law are very copious and
very celebrated. He is termed Modernus to dis¬
tinguish him from Bernard Antiquus, a canonist
of the early thirteenth century, a native of
Compostella, who became Professor of Canon
law in the University of Bologna.

Giovanni d’Andrea,| and in particular
to his glosses upon the phrases Accused;
Gravely suspect; and his note upon a
presumption of heresy. It is certain
too that some who lay down the law
on this subject do not realize that they
are holding false doctrines and errors,
for there are many who have no know¬
ledge of the Canon law, and there are
some who, owing to the fact that they
are badly informed and insufficiently
read, waver in their opinions and
cannot make up their minds, and since
an idea merely kept to oneself is not
heresy unless it be afterwards put
forward, obstinately and openly main¬
tained, it should certainly be said that
persons such as we have just mentioned
are not to be openly condemned for
the crime of heresy.. But let no man
think he may escape by pleading
ignorance. For those who have gone
astray through ignorance of this kind
may be found to have sinned very
gravely. For although there are many
degrees of ignorance, nevertheless those
who have the cure of souls cannot plead
invincible ignorance, nor that par¬
ticular ignorance, as the philosophers
call it, which by the writers on Canon
law and by the Theologians is called
Ignorance of the Fact. But what is to
be blamed in these persons is Universal
ignorance, that is to say, an ignorance
of the divine law, which, as Pope
Nicholas^ has laid down, they must and
should know. For he says : The dis¬
pensation of these divine teachings is
entrusted to our charge: and woe be
unto us if we do not sow the good seed,
woe be unto us if we do not teach our
flocks. And so those who have the
charge of souls are bound to have a
sound knowledge of the Sacred Scrip-

f “ Giovanni d’ Andrea.” This distinguished
canonist was born at Mugello, near Florence ,
about 1255; died 1348. He was educated at the
University of Bologna, where he afterwards
became Professor of Canon law. He had
previously taught at Padua and Pisa, and his
career as a lecturer extended for nearly half a
century. His works are “ Glossarium in VI
decretalium librum,” Venice and Lyons, 1472;
“ Glossarium in Clementinas” ; “ Nouella , siue
Commentarius in decretales epistolas Gregorii
IX,” Venice, 1581; “ Mercuriales , siue com¬
mentarius in regulas sexti”; “ Liber de laudibus
S. Hieronymi” ; 11 Additamenta ad speculum
Durand ” ( 1347 ).

X “ Pope Nicholas.” Nicholas V, 1397-1455 ,
the great patron of learning.

IO

MALLEUS

Part I. Question i.

tures. It is true that according to
Raymond of Sabunde* and S. Thomas,
those who have the cure of souls are
certainly not bound to be men of any
extraordinary learning, but they cer¬
tainly should have a competent know¬
ledge, that is to say, knowledge sufficient
to carry out the duties of their state.

And yet, and this may be some small
consolation to them, the theoretical
severity of the law is often balanced by
the actual practice, and they may know
that this ignorance of the Canon law,
although sometimes it may be culpable
and worthy of blame, is considered from
two points of view. For sometimes
persons do not know, they do not wish
to know, and they have no intention of
knowing. For such persons there is no
excuse, but they are altogether to be
condemned. And of these the Psalmist
speaks: He would not understand in
order that he might do good. But
secondly, there are those who are
ignorant, yet not from any desire not
to know. And this diminishes the
gravity of the sin, because there is no
actual consent of the will. And such a
case is this, when anyone ought to
know something, but cannot realize
that he ought to know it, as S. Paul
says in his ist Epistle to Timothy (i, 13) :
But I obtained the mercy of God,
because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
And this is technically said to be an
ignorance, which indirectly at least is
the fault of the person, insomuch as on
account of many other occupations he
neglects to inform himself of matters
which he ought to know, and he does
not use any endeavour to make himself
acquainted with them, and this ignor¬
ance does not entirely excuse him, but
it excuses him to a certain degree. So
S. Ambrose,| writing upon that passage

* “ Raymond of Sabunde Born at Bar¬
celona, Spain, towards the end of the fourteenth
century; died 1432. From 1430 to his death he
taught theology, philosophy, and medicine at the
University of Toulouse. Of his many works only
one remains, “ Theologia Naturalis .” It was
first written in Spanish, and translated into Latin
at various times: Deventer, 1487; Strasburg,
1436; Paris, i jog; Venice, 1581, etc. Montaigne,
who translated the book into French, Paris, /569,
bears witness to the extraordinary popularity it
enjoyed in his own day.

f “S. Ambrose .” “On designe depuis le
XV Ie siecle sous le nom dl Ambrosiaster (=
pseudo-Ambroise) V auteur anonyme d’un com¬
mentate sur les Epitres de saint Paul ( a V ex¬

in the Romans (ii, 4) : Knowest thou
not, that the benignity of God leadeth
thee to penance? says, If thou dost not
know through thine own fault then thy
sin is very great and grievous. More
especially then in these days, when souls
are beset with so many dangers, we
must take measures to dispel all ignor¬
ance, and we must always have before
our eyes that severe judgement which
will be passed upon us if we do not
use, everyone according to his proper
ability, the one talent which has been
given. In this way our ignorance will
be neither thick nor stupid, for meta¬
phorically we speak of men as thick and
stupid who do not see what lies directly
in their very way.

And in the Flores regularum moralium
the Roman Chancellor commenting
upon the second rule says : A culpable
ignorance of the Divine law does not
of necessity affect the ignorant person.
The reason is this: the Holy Spirit is
able directly to instruct a man in all
that knowledge essential to salvation,
if these things are too difficult for him
to grasp unaided by his own natural
intellect.

The answer to the first objection then
is a clear and correct understanding of
the Canon. To the second objection
Peter of Tarentaise (Blessed Innocent
Vj) replies: No doubt the devil, owing
to his malice which he harbours against
the human race, would destroy man¬
kind if he were allowed by God to do
so. The fact that God allows him some¬
times to do harm and that sometimes
God hinders and prevents him, mani¬
festly brings the devil into more open
contempt and loathing, since in all

elusion de VEpitre aux Hebreux) , qui au moyen-
age, peut-etre meme des Vepoque de Cassiodore,
fut impute inexactement a saint Ambroise.
Cette paraphrase est tout a fait remarquable;
Pest I’une des plus interessantes que V antiquite
chretienne nous ait leguees Labriolle, “ His -
toire de la Litterature Latine Chretienne c. III.

% “Innocent V.” Petrus a Tarentasia, born
in Tarentaise, towards 1223, elected at Arezzo,
21 January, 1276; died at Rome, 22 June, I2y6.
At the age of sixteen he joined the Dominican
Order, and he won great distinction as a Pro¬
fessor at the University of Paris, whence he is
known as Doctor Famosissimus. He is the
author of several works dealing with philosophy,
theology, and Canon law, some of which are still
unpublished. The principal of these is the “Com¬
mentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombardi ’ /
have used the edition, Toulouse .1632.

Part I. Question i.

MALEFICARUM

things, to the manifestation of His
glory, God is using the devil, unwilling
though he be, as a servant and slave.
With regard to the third objection,
that the infliction of sickness or some
other harm is always the result of
human effort, whereby the witch sub¬
mits her will to evil, and so actually
as any other evil-doer, by the volition
of her will can afflict some person or
bring about some damage or perform
some villainous act. If it be asked
whether the movement of material
objects from place to place by the devil
may be paralleled by the movement of
the spheres, the answer is No. Because
material objects are not thus moved by
any natural inherent power of their
own, but they are only moved by a
certain obedience to the power of the
devil, who by the virtue of his own
nature has a certain dominion over
bodies and material things ; he has this
certain power, I affirm, yet he is not
able to add to created material objects
any form or shape, be it substantial or
accidental, without some admixture
of or compounding with another created
natural object. But since, by the will of
God, he is able actually to move material
objects from place to place, then by the
conjunction of various objects he can
produce disease or some circumstance
such as he will. Wherefore the spells
and effects of witchcraft are not
governed by the movement of the
spheres, nor is the devil himself thus
governed, inasmuch as he may often
make use of these conditions to do him
service.

The answer to the fourth objection.
The work of God can be destroyed by
the work of the devil in accordance
with what we are now saying with
reference to the power and effects of
witchcraft. But since this can only be
by the permission of God, it does not at
all follow that the devil is stronger than
God. Again, he cannot use so much
violence as he wishes to harm the works
of God, because if he were unrestricted
he would utterly destroy all the works
of God.

The answer to the fifth objection may
be clearly stated thus: The planets
and stars have no power to coerce and
compel devils to perform any actions
against their will, although seemingly
demons are readier to appear when
summoned by magicians under the

ii

influence of certain stars. It appears
that they do this for two reasons. First,
Because they know that the power of
that planet will aid the effect which
the magicians desire. Secondly, They do
this in order to deceive men, thus mak¬
ing them suppose that the stars have
some divine power or actual divinity,
and we know that in days of old this
veneration of the stars led to the vilest
idolatry.

With reference to the last objection,
which is founded upon the argument
that gold is made by alchemists, we
may put forward the opinion of S.
Thomas when he discusses the power
of the devil and how he works : Al¬
though certain forms having a sub¬
stance may be brought about by art
and the power of a natural agent, as,
for example, the form of fire is brought
about by art employed on wood :
nevertheless, this cannot be done uni¬
versally, because art cannot always
either find or yet mix together the
proper agents in the proper propor¬
tions, and yet it can produce something
similar. And thus alchemists make
something similar to gold, that is to say,
in so far as the external accidents are
concerned, but nevertheless they do not
make true gold, because the substance
of gold is not formed by the heat of fire
which alchemists employ, but by the
heat of the sun, acting and reacting
upon a certain spot where mineral
power is concentrated and amassed,
and therefore such gold is of the same
likeness as, but is not of the same
species as, natural gold. And the same
argument applies to all their other
operations.

This then is our proposition: devils
by their art do bring about evil effects
through witchcraft, yet it is true that
without the assistance of some agent
they cannot make any form, either
substantial or accidental, and we do not
maintain that they can inflict damage
without the assistance of some agent, but
with such an agent diseases, and any
other human passions or ailments, can
be brought about, and these are real
and true. How these agents or how the
employment of such means can be
rendered effective in co-operation with
devils will be made clear in the follow¬
ing chapters.

☆

12

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 2.

QUESTION II

IF it be in accordance with the
Catholic Faith to maintain that in
order to bring about some effect of
magic, the devil must intimately co¬
operate with the witch, or whether one
without the other, that is to say, the
devil without the witch, or conversely,
could produce such an effect.

And the first argument is this : That
the devil can bring about an effect of
magic without the co-operation of
any witch. So S. Augustine holds. All
things which visibly happen so that they
can be seen, may (it is believed) be the
work of the inferior powers of the air.
But bodily ills and ailments are cer¬
tainly not invisible, nay rather, they are
evident to the senses, therefore they can
be brought about by devils. Moreover,
we learn from the Holy Scriptures of
the disasters which fell upon Job, how
fire fell from heaven and striking the
sheep and the servants consumed them,
and how a violent wind threw down the
four corners of a house so that it fell
upon his children and slew them all.
I he devil by himself without the co¬
operation of any witches, but merely by
God’s permission alone, was able to
bring about all these disasters. Therefore
he can certainly do many things which
are often ascribed to the work of witches.

And this is obvious from the account
of the seven husbands of the maiden
Sara, whom a devil killed. Moreover,
whatever a superior power is able to do,
it is able to do without reference to a
power superior to it, and a superior
power can all the more work without
reference to an inferior power. But an
inferior power can cause hailstorms and
bring about diseases without the help of
a power greater than itself. For Blessed
Albertus Magnus in his work De pas¬
sionibus aeris * says that rotten sage, if
used as he explains, and thrown into
running water, will arouse most fearful
tempests and storms.

Moreover, it may be said that the
devil makes use of a witch, not because
he has need of any such agent, but
because he is seeking the perdition of
the witch. We may refer to what Aris¬
totle says in the 3rd book of his Ethics.
Evil is a voluntary act which is proved

* “De passionibus. ’ ’ This treatise on physical
science may be found in Vol. IX. of Abbe Borg-
net’ s edition of the “ Opera omnia.”

by the fact that nobody performs an
unjust action merely for the sake of
doing an unjust action, and a man who
commits a rape does this for the sake of
pleasure, not merely doing evil for evil’s
sake. Yet the law punishes those who
have done evil as if they had acted
merely for the sake of doing evil.
Therefore if the devil works by means
of a witch he is merely employing an
instrument; and since an instrument
depends upon the will of the person who
employs it and does not act of its own
free will, therefore the guilt of the action
ought not to be laid to the charge of the
witch, and in consequence she should
not be punished.

But an opposite opinion holds that
the devil cannot so easily and readily
do harm by himself to mankind, as he
can harm them through the instru¬
mentality of witches, although they are
his servants. In the first place we may
consider the act of generation. But for
every act which has an effect upon
another some kind of contact must be
established, and because the devil, who
is a spirit, can have no such actual con¬
tact with a human body, since there is
nothing common of this kind between
them, therefore he uses some human
instruments, and upon these he bestows
the power of hurting by bodily touch.
And many hold this to be proven by the
text, and the gloss upon the text, in the
3rd chapter of S. Paul’s Epistle to the
Galatians :f O senseless Galatians, who
hath bewitched you that you should
not obey the truth? And the gloss upon
this passage refers to those who have
singularly fiery and baleful eyes, who
by a mere look can harm others, espe¬
cially young children. And AvicennaJ

f “ Galatians .” in, i. The original Greek is

TiQ av<$7)T0i raXaTou, 6[za<; ipxcrxavsv tJ)

aX'/jOda (jtr, 7rei0ea6ou; Curtius doubts the etymo¬
logical connexion between (3aaxaiv<o and Latin
“ fascino ” as from a root OAS. In classical
times the charm was dissolved by spitting thrice.
Cf. Theocritus, VI, 39: <x>q jj.7) fiaaxavOw Si,
rplq Ifx&v invoaoc x6X7TOv.

+ “Avicenna.” Abn Ali Al Hosian Ibn
Addallah Ibn Siha, Arabian physician and
philosopher, born at Kharmaithen , in the
province of Bokhara, 980; died at Hamadan, in
Northern Persia, 1037. It should be noted that
the Schoolmen were aware of the pantheistic
tendencies of Avicenna’ s philosophical works, and
accordingly were reluctant to trust to his
exposition of Aristotle.

Part I. Question 2.

MALEFICARUM

13

also bears this out, Naturalium, Book 3,
c. the last, when he says: “Very often
the soul may have as much influence
upon the body of another to the same
extent as it has upon its own body, for
such is the influence of the eyes of any¬
one who by his glance attracts and fas¬
cinates another.” And the same opinion
is maintained by Al-Gazali* in the 5th
book and 10th c. of his Physics. Avi¬
cenna also suggests, although he does
not put this opinion forward as irrefut¬
able, that the power of the imagination
can actually change or seem to change
extraneous bodies, in cases where the
power of the imagination is too unre¬
strained ; and hence we gather that the
power of the imagination is not to be
considered as distinct from a man’s
other sensible powers, since it is com¬
mon to them all, but to some extent it
includes all those other powers. And
this is true, because such a power of
the imagination can change adjacent
bodies, as, for example, when a man
is able to walk along some narrow beam
which is stretched down the middle of
a street. But yet if this beam were sus¬
pended over deep water he would not
dare to walk along it, because his
imagination would most strongly im¬
press upon his mind the idea of falling,
and therefore his body and the power
of his limbs would obey his imagination,
and they would not obey the contrary
thereto, that is to say, walking directly
and without hesitation. This change
may be compared to the influence exer¬
cised by the eyes of a person who has
such influence, and so a mental change
is brought about although there is not
any actual and bodily change.

Moreover, if it be argued that such a
change is caused by a living body owing
to the influence of the mind upon some
other living body, this answer may be
given. In the presence of a murderer
blood flows from the wounds in the
corpse of the person he has slain. There¬
fore without any mental powers bodies

* “ Al-Gazali .” Abu Hamid Mohammed
Ibn Mohammed , the celebrated Arabian philoso¬
pher, born at Tous in Khorasan in 103d; died at
Nissapour in mi. He passed through complete
scepticism to the mysticism of the Sufis. It is
often said that Blessed Albertus Magnus wrote
thus: “ Non approbo dictum Auicennae et Algagel
de fascinatione, quia credo quod non nocet
fascinatio, nec nocere potest ars magica, nec facit
aliquid ex his quae timentur de talibus .” But
this passage is more than suspicious.

can produce wonderful effects, and so
a living man if he pass by near the
corpse of a murdered man, although he
may not be aware of the dead body, is
often seized with fear.

Again, there are some things in nature
which have certain hidden powers, the
reason for which man does not know;
such, for example, is the lodestone,
which attracts steel and many other
such things, which S. Augustine men¬
tions in the 20th book Of the City of
God.

And so women in order to bring
about changes in the bodies of others
sometimes make use of certain things,
which exceed our knowledge, but this
is without any aid from the devil. And
because these remedies are mysterious
we must not therefore ascribe them to
the power of the devil as we should
ascribe evil spells wrought by witches.

Moreover, witches use certain images
and other strange periapts, which they
are wont to place under the lintels of
the doors of houses, or in those meadows
where flocks are herding, or even where
men congregate, and thus they cast
spells over their victims, who have oft-
times been known to die. But because
such extraordinary effects can proceed
from these images it would appear that
the influence of these images is in pro¬
portion to the influence of the stars over
human bodies, for as natural bodies
are influenced by heavenly bodies, so
may artificial bodies likewise be thus
influenced. But natural bodies may find
the benefit of certain secret but good
influences. Therefore artificial bodies
may receive such influence. Hence it is
plain that those who perform works of
healing may well perform them by
means of such good influences, and this
has no connexion at all with any evil
power.

Moreover, it would seem that most
extraordinary and miraculous events
come to pass by the working of the
powers of nature. For wonderful and
terrible and amazing things happen
owing to natural forces. And this S.
Gregory points out in his Second Dia¬
logue .f The Saints perform miracles,

f “ Second Dialogue .” The “ Dialogorum
Libri IV” is one of the most famous of S.
Gregory's works, and very many separate
editions have appeared.

i4

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 2.

sometimes by a prayer, sometimes by
their power alone. There are examples
of each : S. Peter by praying raised to
life Tabitha, who was dead.* By rebuk¬
ing Ananias and Sapphira, who were
telling a lie, he slew them without any
prayer. Therefore a man by his mental
influence can change a material body
into another, or he can change such a
body from health to sickness and con¬
versely.

Moreover, the human body is nobler
than any other body, but because of the
passions of the mind the human body
changes and becomes hot or cold, as is
the case with angry men or men who
are afraid : and so an even greater
change takes place with regard to the
effects of sickness and death, which by
their power can greatly change a
material body.

But certain objections must be al¬
lowed. The influence of the mind can¬
not make an impression upon any form
except by the intervention of some
agent, as we have said above. And
these are the words of S. Augustine in
the book which we have already quoted:
It is incredible that the angels who
fell from Heaven should be obedient to
any material things, for they obey God
only. And much less can a man of his
natural power bring about extraordin¬
ary and evil effects. The answer must
be made, there are even to-day many
who err greatly on this point, making
excuses for witches and laying the whole
blame upon the craft of the devil, or
ascribing the changes that they work
to some natural alteration. These errors
may be easily made clear. First, by
the description of witches which S.
Isidore gives in his Etymologiae , c. 9 :
Witches are so called on account of
the blackness of their guilt, that is to
say, their deeds are more evil than those
of any other malefactors. He con¬
tinues : They stir up and confound the
elements by the aid of the devil, and
arouse terrible hailstorms and tem¬
pests. Moreover, he says they distract
the minds of men, driving them to
madness, insane hatred, and inordinate
lusts. Again, he continues, by the ter¬
rible influence of their spells alone, as
it were by a draught of poison, they can
destroy life.

And the words of S. Augustine in his

* “S. Peter” “ Acts of the Apostles ix,
36-42; and v, 1-11.

book on The City of God are very much
to the point, for he tells us who magi¬
cians and witches really are. Magi¬
cians, who are commonly called witches,
are thus termed on account of the mag¬
nitude of their evil deeds. These are
they who by the permission of God
disturb the elements, who drive to dis¬
traction the minds of men, such as have
lost their trust in God, and by the ter¬
rible power of their evil spells, without
any actual draught or poison, kill
human beings. As Lucan says : A
mind which has not been corrupted by
any noxious drink perishes forspoken
by some evil charm. For having sum¬
moned devils to their aid they actually
dare to heap harms upon mankind, and
even to destroy their enemies by their
evil spells. And it is certain that in
operations of this kind the witch works
in close conjunction with the devil
Secondly, punishments are of four kinds:
beneficial, hurtful, wrought by witch¬
craft, and natural. Beneficial punish¬
ments are meted out by the ministry of
good Angels, just as hurtful punish¬
ments proceed from evil spirits. Moses
smote Egypt with ten plagues by the
ministry of good Angels, and the magi¬
cians were only able to perform three
of these miracles by the aid of the devil.
And the pestilence which fell upon the
people for three days because of the sin
of David who numbered the people,
and the 72,000 men who were slain in
one night in the army of Sennacherib,
were miracles wrought by the Angels
of God, that is, by good Angels who
feared God and knew that they were
carrying out His commands.

Destructive harm, however, is
wrought by the medium of bad angels,
at whose hands the children of Israel
in the desert were often afflicted. And
those harms which are simply evil and
nothing more are brought about by
the devil, who works through the
medium of sorcerers and witches. There
are also natural harms which in some
manner depend upon the conjunction
of heavenly bodies, such as dearth,
drought, tempests, and similar effects
of nature.

It is obvious that there is a vast differ¬
ence between all these causes, circum¬
stances, and happenings. For Job was
afflicted by the devil with a harmful
disease, but this is nothing to the pur¬
pose. And if anybody who is too clever

Part I. Question 2.

MALEFICARUM

*5

and over-curious asks how it was that
Job was afflicted with this disease by
the devil without the aid of some sor¬
cerer or witch, let him know that he is
merely beating the air and not inform¬
ing himself as to the real truth. For in
the time of Job there were no sorcerers
and witches, and such abominations
were not yet practised. But the provi¬
dence of God wished that by the ex¬
ample of Job the power of the devil
even over good men might be mani¬
fested, so that we might learn to be on
our guard against Satan, and, more¬
over, by the example of this holy
patriarch the glory of God shines abroad,
since nothing happens save what is
permitted by God.

With regard to the time at which this
evil superstition, witchcraft, appeared,
we must first distinguish the worshippers
of the devil from those who were merely
idolaters. And Vincent of Beauvais* in
his Speculum historiale , quoting many
learned authorities, says that he who
first practised the arts of magic and of
astrology was Zoroaster, f who is said
to have been ChamJ the son of Noe.

* “Vincent.” Little is known of the personal
history of this celebrated encyclopaedist. The
years of his birth and death are uncertain, but the
dates most frequently assigned are ngo and 1264
respectively. It is thought that he joined the
Dominicans in Paris shortly after 1218, and that
he passed practically his whole life in his
monastery at Beauvais, where he occupied himself
incessantly upon his enormous work, the general
title of which is “Speculum Maius,” containing
80 books, divided into 9885 chapters. The third
part, “Speculum Historiale,” in 31 books and
3793 chapters, brings the History of the World
down to a.d. 1290.

f “Zoroaster .” Pliny, “Historia Naturalis,”
XXX, ii, says of magic: “Sine dubio illic orta in
Perside a Zoroastre, ut inter auctores conuenit.
Sed unus hic fuerit, an postea et alius, non satis
constat.” Apuleius, “De Magia,” XXVI,
mentions Zoroaster an(l Oromazus as the in¬
ventors of sorcery. “ Audistisne magiam . . .
artem esse dis immortalibus acceptam . . . a
Zoroastro et Oromago auctoribus suis nobilem,
caelitum antistitam?”

% “ Cham .” “A. V.” Ham. Lenglet du Fres-
noy in his “ History of the Hermetic Philosophy ”
repeats an old tradition: “ Most alchemists pre¬
tended that Cham, or Chem, the son of Noe, was
an adept in the art, and thought it highly probable
that the words ‘ Chemistry ' and ‘ Alchemy ' are
both derived from his name.” Lactantius, “De
Origine Erroris,” II, says of the descendants of
Cham: “ Omnium primi qui Aegyptum occu-

And according to S. Augustine in his
book Of the City of God, Cham laughed
aloud when he was born, and thus
showed that he was a servant of the
devil, and he, although he was a great
and mighty king, was conquered by
Ninus the son of Belus, who built
Ninive, whose reign was the beginning
of the kingdom of Assyria in the time
of Abraham.

This Ninus, owing to his insane love
for his father, when his father was dead,
ordered a statue of his father to be
made, and whatever criminal took
refuge there was free from any punish¬
ment which he might have incurred.
From this time men began to worship
images as though they were gods; but
this was after the earliest years of his¬
tory, for in the very first ages there was
no idolatry, since in the earliest times
men still preserved some remembrance
of the creation of the world, as S.
Thomas says, Book 2, question 95,
article 4. Or it may have originated

pauerunt; caelestia suspicere, atque adorare
coeperunt.”

“Realite de la Magie et des Apparitions,”
Paris, 1819 (pp. xii-xiii), has: “Le monde,
purgS par le deluge, fut repeupU par les trois fis
de Noi. Sem et Japhet imiterent la vertu de leur
pere, et furent justes comme lui. Cham, au
contraire, donna entree au demon dans son coeur,
remit au jour 1'art exkrable de la magie, en
composa les regies, et en instruisit son fils
Misraim.

“Cent trente ans apres le deluge, Sem habitait
la Perse. Ses enfans pratiquaient la religion
naturelle, que Dieu mit dans le coeur du premier
homme; et leurs vieillards se nommaient mages,
qui veut dire “sages” en notre langue. Dans la
suite, les descendaris de Cham se partagerent, et
quelques-uns passerent en Perse; Cham, qui
vivait encore, etait a leur te te. II opera tant de
prodiges par ses charmes et ses enchantements,
que les Bactriens lui donnerent le nom de
Zoroastre, c' est-d-dire , ‘ astre vivant' ; et trans-
porterent a ceux de sa secte le nom honor¬
able de “mages,” que les adorateurs du vrai
Dieu abandonnerent, des qu'ils le virent ainsi
profane: et c' est de la que nous est venu le
nom de 'magie,' pour signifer le culte du
demon.

“Cham, ou Zoroastre, fut encore Vinventeur de
l' astrologie judiciaire; il regarda les astres comme
autant de divinites, et persuada aux hommes que
tout leur destin dependait de leurs bonnes ou
mauvaises influences. Ainsi l' on commenda a
leur rendre un culte religieux, qui fut l' origine de
I'idoldtrie. La Chaldee fut le premier theatre de
ces igar emens; et alors, ‘ Chaldeen , astrologue et
magicien' etaient trois mots synonymes.”

i6

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 2.

with Nembroth,* who compelled men
to worship fire ; and thus in the second
age of the world there began Idolatry,
which is the first of all superstitions, as
Divination is the second, and the Ob¬
serving of Times and Seasons the third.

The practices of witches are included
in the second kind of superstition, which
is to say Divination, since they expressly
invoke the devil. And there are three
kinds of this superstition : — N ecromancy,
Astrology, or rather Astromancy, the
superstitious observation of the stars,
and Oneiromancy.

I have explained all this at length
that the reader may understand that
these evil arts did not suddenly burst
upon the world, but rather were devel¬
oped in the process of time, and there¬
fore it was not impertinent to point out
that there were no witches in the days
of Job. For as the years went by, as
S. Gregory says in his Moralia, the
knowledge of the Saints grew : and
therefore the evil craft of the devil like¬
wise increased. The prophet Isaias says:
The earth is filled with the knowledge
of the Lord (xi, 6). And so in this
twilight and evening of the world, when
sin is flourishing on every side and in
every place, when charity is growing
cold, the evil of witches and their
iniquities superabound.

And since Zoroaster was wholly given
up to the magic arts, it was the devil
alone who inspired him to study and
observe the stars. Very early did sor¬
cerers and witches make compacts with
the devil and connive with him to bring
harm upon human beings. This is
proved in the seventh chapter of
Exodus, where the magicians of Pharao
by the power of the devil wrought
extraordinary wonders, imitating those
plagues which Moses had brought upon
Egypt by the power of good angels.

Hence follows the Catholic teaching,
that in order to bring about evil a
witch can and does co-operate with the

* “Nembroth.” S. Augustine , “ De Ciuitate
Dei,” XVI, 3, quotes: “ Chus autem genuit
Nebroth; hic coepit esse gigans super terram. Hic
erat gigans uenator contra Dominum Deum.”
Nebroth is the English Nimrod, who was con¬
sidered a past master of magic, and even by later
ages a demon. So we have: “ Nembroth . Un
des esprits que les magiciens consultent. Le
mardi lui est consacre, et on Vevoque ce jour-la: il
faut, pour le r envoy er, luijeter une pierre; ce qui
est facile.” Collin de Plancy (“Dictionnaire
Infernal ,” sixieme Edition, 1863).

devil. And any objections to this may
briefly be answered thus.

1. In the first place, nobody denies
that certain harms and damages which
actually and visibly afflict men, animals,
the fruits of the earth, and which often
come about by the influence of the stars,
may yet often be brought about by
demons, when God permits them so to
act. For as S. Augustine says in the 4th
book Of the City of God: Demons may
make use of both fire and air if God
allow them so to do. And a commen¬
tator remarks: God punishes by the
power of evil angels.

2. From this obviously follows the
answer to any objection concerning
Job, and to any objections which may
be raised to our account of the begin¬
nings of magic in the world.

3. With regard to the fact that rotten
sage which is thrown into running
water is said to produce some evil effect
without the help of the devil, although
it may not be wholly disconnected with
the influence of certain stars, we would
point out that we do not intend to
discuss the good or evil influence of the
stars, but only witchcraft, and therefore
this is beside the point.

4. With regard to the fourth argu¬
ment, it is certainly true that the devil
only employs witches to bring about
their bale and destruction. But when
it is deduced that they are not to be
punished, because they only act as in¬
struments which are moved not by their
own volition but at the will and
pleasure of the principal and agent,
there is a ready answer: For they are
human instruments and free agents, and
although they have made a compact
and a contract with the devil, neverthe¬
less they do enjoy absolute liberty : for,
as has been learnt from their own reve¬
lations — and I speak of women who
have been convicted and burned at the
stake and who were compelled to wreak
vengeance and evil and damage if they
wished to escape punishments and
blows inflicted by the devil — yet these
women do co-operate with the devil
although they are bound to him by
that profession by which at first they
freely and willingly gave themselves
over into his power.

With regard to these other arguments,
in which it is proved that certain old
women have an occult knowledge which

Part I. Question 2.

MALEFICARUM

17

enables them to bring about extra¬
ordinary and indeed evil effects without
the aid of the devil. It must be under¬
stood that from one particular to con¬
clude a universal argument is contrary
to all sound reason. And when, as it
seems, throughout the whole of the
Scriptures no such instance can be
found, save where it speaks of the
charms and spells old women practise,
therefore we must not hence conclude
that this is always the case. Moreover,
the authorities on these passages leave
the matter open to question, that is to
say, whether such charms have any
efficacy without the co-operation of the
devil. These charms or fascinations
seem capable of division into three
kinds. First, the senses are deluded,
and this may truly be done by magic,
that is to say, by the power of the devil,
if God permit it. And the senses may
be enlightened by the power of good
angels. Secondly, fascination may bring
about a certain glamour and a leading
astray, as when the apostle says: Who
hath bewitched you? Galatians iii, 1.
In the third place, there may be a cer¬
tain fascination cast by the eyes* over
another person, and this may be harm¬
ful and bad.

And it is of this fascination that
Avicenna and Al-Gazali have spoken;
S. Thomas too thus mentions this fas¬
cination, Part 1, question 117. For he
says the mind of a man may be changed
by the influence of another mind. And
that influence which is exerted over
another often proceeds from the eyes,
for in the eyes a certain subtle influence
may be concentrated. For the eyes
direct their glance upon a certain ob¬
ject without taking notice of other
things, and although the vision be per¬
fectly clear, yet at the sight of some
impurity, such as, for example, a
woman during her monthly periods, the
eyes will as it were contract a certain
impurity. This is what Aristotle says in
his work On Sleep and Waking ,f and thus
if anybody’s spirit be inflamed with
malice or rage, as is often the case with
old women, then their disturbed spirit

* “ Cast by the eyes” In Ireland it was sup¬
posed that certain witches could cast a spell at a
glance , and they were commonly called “ eye-
biting witches .”

t "On Sleep.” This is one of the smaller
treatises connected with Aristotle’s great work
“On the Soul,” rapl 4'UX'0<5*

looks through their eyes, for their coun¬
tenances are most evil and harmful, and
often terrify young children of tender
years, who are extremely impression¬
able. And it may be that this is often
natural, permitted by God ; on the
other hand, it may be that these evil
looks are often inspired by the malice
of the devil, with whom old witches
have made some secret contract.

The next question arises with regard
to the influence of the heavenly bodies,
and here we find three very common
errors, but these will be answered as we
proceed to explain other matters.

With regard to operations of witch¬
craft, we find that some of these may
be due to mental influence over others,
and in some cases such mental influence
might be a good one, but it is the
motive which makes it evil.

And there are four principal argu¬
ments which are to be objected against
those who deny that there are witches,
or magical operations, which may be
performed at the conjunction of certain
planets and stars, and that by the malice
of human beings harm may be wrought
through fashioning images, through the
use of spells, and by the writing of
mysterious characters. All theologians
and philosophers agree that the heav¬
enly bodies are guided and directed by
certain spiritual mediums. But those
spirits are superior to our minds and
souls, just as the heavenly bodies are
superior to other bodies, and therefore
they can influence both the mind and
body of a man, so that he is persuaded
and directed to perform some human
act. But in order yet more fully to
attempt a solution of these matters, we
may consider certain difficulties from a
discussion of which we shall yet more
clearly arrive at the truth. First, spirit¬
ual substances cannot change bodies to
some other natural form unless it be
through the mediumship of some agent.
Therefore, however strong a mental
influence may be, it cannot effect any
change in a man’s mind or disposition.
Moreover, several universities, especially
that of Paris, have condemned the fol¬
lowing article : — That an enchanter is
able to cast a camel into a deep ditch
merely by directing his gaze upon it.
And so this article is condemned, that
a corporeal body should obey some
spiritual substance if this be understood
simply, that is to say, if the obedience

i8

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 2.

entails some actual change or trans¬
formation. For in regard to this it is
God alone Who is absolutely obeyed.
Bearing these points in mind we may
soon see how that fascination, or in¬
fluence of the eyes of which we have
spoken, is possible, and in what respects
it is not possible. For it is not possible
that a man through the natural powers
of his mind should direct such power
from his eyes that, without the agency
of his own body or of some other
medium, he should be able to do harm
to the body of another man. Nor is it
possible that a man through the natural
powers of his mind should at his will
bring about some change, and by
directing this power through the
mediumship of his eyes entirely trans¬
form the body of a man, upon whom
he fixes his gaze, just as his will and
pleasure may be.

And therefore in neither of these ways
can one man influence and fascinate
another, for no man by the natural
powers of his mind alone possesses such
an extraordinary influence. Therefore,
to wish to prove that evil effects can be
produced by some natural power is to
say that this natural power is the power
of the devil, which is very far indeed
from the truth.

Nevertheless, we may more clearly
set forth how it is possible for a careful
gaze to do harm. It may so happen that
if a man or a woman gaze steadfastly at
some child, the child, owing to its power
of sight and power of imagination, may
receive some very sensible and direct
impression. And an impression of this
kind is often accompanied by a bodily
change, and since the eyes are one of
the tenderest organs of the body, there¬
fore they are very liable to such im¬
pressions. Therefore it may well hap¬
pen that the eyes receive some bad
impression and change for the worse,
since very often the thoughts of the
mind or the motions of the body are
particularly impressed upon and shown
by the eyes. And so it may happen that
some angry and evil gaze, if it has been
steadfastly fixed and directed upon a
child, may so impress itself upon that
child’s memory and imagination that it
may reflect itself in the gaze of the
child, and actual results will follow, as,
for example, he may lose his appetite
and be unable to take food, he may
sicken and fall ill. And sometimes we
see that the sight of a man who is

suffering from his eyes may cause the
eyes of those who gaze upon him to
dazzle and feel weak, although to a
large extent this is nothing else but the
effect of pure imagination. Several
other examples of the same sort might
be discussed here, but for the sake of
conciseness we will not discuss them in
any further detail.

All this is borne out by the commen¬
tators upon the Psalm, Qui timent te
uidebunt me.* There is a great power
in the eyes, and this appears even in
natural things. For if a wolf see a man
first, the man is struck dumb. More¬
over, if a basilisk see a man first its look
is fatal ; but if he see it first he may be
able to kill it; and the reason why the
basilisk is able to kill a man by its gaze
is because when it sees him, owing to
its anger a certain terrible poison is set
in motion throughout its body, and this
it can dart from its eyes, thus infecting
the atmosphere with deadly venom.
And thus the man breathes in the air
which it has infected and is stupefied
and dies. But when the beast is first
seen by the man, in a case when the
man wishes to kill the basilisk, he fur¬
nishes himself with mirrors, and the
beast seeing itself in the mirrors darts
out poison towards its reflection, but
the poison recoils and the animal dies.
It does not seem plain, however, why
the man who thus kills the basilisk
should not die too, and we can only
conclude that this is on account of some
reason not clearly understood.

So far we have set down our opinions
absolutely without prejudice and re¬
fraining from any hasty or rash judge¬
ment, not deviating from the teachings
and writings of the Saints. We con¬
clude, therefore, that the Catholic truth
is this, that to bring about these evils
which form the subject of discussion,
witches and the devil always work
together, and that in so far as these
matters are concerned one can do
nothing without the aid and assistance
of the other.

We have already treated of this fas¬
cination. And now with reference to the
second point, namely, that blood will
flow from a corpse in the presence of a
murderer. According to the Speculum
naturale of Vincent of Beauvais, c. 13, the

* “Qui timent .” Psalm li, 8: Uidebunt
iusti et timebunt.

Part I. Question 2.

MALEFICARUM

19

wound is, as it were, influenced by the
mind of the murderer, and that wound
receives a certain atmosphere which has
been impressed by and is permeated
with his violence and hatred, and when
the murderer draws near, the blood
wells up and gushes forth from the
corpse. For it would seem that this
atmosphere, which was caused and as it
were entered the wound owing to the
murderer, at his presence is disturbed
and greatly moved, and it is owing to
this movement that the blood streams
out of the dead body. There are some
who declare that it is due to some other
causes, and they say that this gushing
forth of the blood is the voice of the
blood crying from the earth against the
murderer who is present, and that this
is on account of the curse pronounced
against the first murderer Cain. And
with regard to that horror which a
person feels when he is passing near the
corpse of a man who has been mur¬
dered, although he may not be in any
way cognizant of the vicinity of a dead
body, this horror is psychic, it infects
the atmosphere and conveys a thrill of
fear to the mind. But all these explana¬
tions, be it noted, do not in any way
affect the truth of the evil wrought by
witches, since they are all perfectly
natural and arise from natural causes.

In the third place, as we have already
said above, the operations and rites of
witches are placed in that second cate¬
gory of superstition which is called
Divination ; and of this divination there
are three kinds, but the argument does
not hold good with reference to the
third kind, which belongs to a different
species, for witchcraft is not merely any
divination, but it is that divination, the
operations of which are performed by
express and explicit invocations of the
devil; and this may be done in very
many ways, as by Necromancy, Geo-
mancy, Hydromancy, etc.

Wherefore this divination, which is
used when they are working their spells,
must be judged to be the height of
criminal wickedness, although some
have attempted to regard it from
another point of view. And they argue
thus, that as we do not know the hidden
powers of nature, it may be that the
witches are merely employing or seeking
to employ these hidden powers: assur¬
edly if they are employing the natural
powers of natural things to bring about
a natural effect, this must be perfectly

lawful, as indeed is obvious enough.
Or even let us conceive that if they
superstitiously employ natural things,
as, for example, by writing down cer¬
tain characters or unknown names of
some kind, and that then they use these
runes for restoring a person to health,
or for inducing friendship, or with some
useful end, and not at all for doing any
damage or harm, in such cases, it may
be granted, I say, that there is no ex¬
press invocation of demons; neverthe¬
less it cannot be that these spells are
employed without a tacit invocation,
wherefore all such charms must be
judged to be wholly unlawful.

And because these and many other
charms like to them may be placed in
the third category of superstition, that
is to say, idle and vain observing of
times and seasons, this is by no means
a relevant argument as to the heresy of
witches. But of this category, the ob¬
serving of times and seasons, there are
four distinct species : A man may use
such observations to acquire certain
knowledge : or he may in this way seek
to inform himself concerning lucky or
unlucky days and things : or he may use
sacred words and prayers as a charm
with no reference to their meaning : or
he may intend and desire to bring about
some beneficial change in some body.
All this S. Thomas has amply treated
in that question where he asks, Whether
such observing be lawful, especially if
it be to bring about a beneficial change
in a body, that is to say, the restoration
of persons to health. But when witches
observe times and seasons, their prac¬
tices must be held to belong to the
second kind of superstition, and there¬
fore, in so far as they are concerned,
questions concerning this third class are
wholly impertinent.

We now proceed to a fourth proposi¬
tion, inasmuch as from observations of
the kind we have discussed certain
charts and images are wont to be made,
but these are of two separate sorts,
which differ entirely one from the other ;
and these are Astronomical and Necro¬
mantic. Now in Necromancy there is
always an express and particular invo¬
cation of demons, for this craft implies
that there has been an express compact
and contract with them. Let us there¬
fore only consider Astrology. In Astro¬
logy there is no compact, and therefore
there is no invocation, unless by chance
there be some kind of tacit invocation,

20

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 2.

since the figures of demons and their
names sometimes appear in Astrological
charts. And again, Necromantic signs
are written under the influence of cer¬
tain stars in order to counteract the
influence and oppositions of other
heavenly bodies, and these are inscribed,
for signs and characters of this kind are
often engraved upon rings, gems, or
some other precious metal, but magic
signs are engraved without any refer¬
ence to the influence of the stars, and
often upon any substance, nay, even
upon vile and sordid substances, which
when buried in certain places bring
about damage and harm and disease.
But we are discussing charts which are
made with reference to the stars. And
these Necromantic charts and images
have no reference to any heavenly body.
Therefore a consideration of them does
not enter into the present discussion.

Moreover, many of these images
which have been made with super¬
stitious rites have no efficacy at all, that
is to say, in so far as the fashioning of
them is concerned, although it may be
that the material of which they are
made does possess a certain power,
although this is not due to the fact that
they were made under the influence of
certain stars. Yet many hold that it is
in any case unlawful to make use even
of images like these. But the images
made by witches have no natural power
at all, nor has the material of which
they are formed any power; but they
fashion such images by command of the
devil, that by so doing they may, as it
were, mock the work of the Creator,
and that they may provoke Him to
anger so that in punishment of their
misdeeds He may suffer plagues to fall
upon the earth. And in order to in¬
crease their guilt they delight especially
to fashion many such images at the
more solemn seasons of the year.

With regard to the fifth point, S.
Gregory is there speaking of the power
of grace and not of the power of nature.
And since, as S. John says, we are born
of God, what wonder then that the sons
of God enjoy extraordinary powers.

With regard to the last point we will
say this, that a mere likeness is irrele¬
vant, because the influence of one’s own
mind on one’s own body is different
from its influence upon another body.
For since the mind is united to the body
as though the body were the material
form of the mind, and the emotions are

an act of the body, but separate, there¬
fore the emotion can be changed by the
influence of the mind whensoever there
is some bodily change, heat or cold, or
any alteration, even to death itself. But
to change the actual body, no act of
the mind is sufficient by itself, unless
there can be some physical result which
alters the body. Whence witches, by
the exercise of no natural power, but
only by the help of the devil, are able
to bring about harmful effects. And the
devils themselves can only do this by
the use of material objects as their
instruments, such as bones, hair, wood,
iron, and all sorts of objects of this kind,
concerning which operation we shall
treat more fully a little later.

Now with regard to the tenor 6f the
Bull of our Most Holy Father the Pope,
we will discuss the origin of witches,
and how it is that of recent years their
works have so multiplied among us.
And it must be borne in mind that for
this to take place, three things concur,
the devil, the witch, and the permission
of God who suffers such things to be.
For S. Augustine says, that the abomi¬
nation of witchcraft arose from this foul
connexion of mankind with the devil.
Therefore it is plain that the origin and
the increase of this heresy arises from
this foul connexion, a fact which many
authors approve.

We must especially observe that this
heresy, witchcraft, not only differs from
all other heresy in this, that not merely
by a tacit compact, but by a compact
which is exactly defined and expressed
it blasphemes the Creator and en¬
deavours to the utmost to profane Him
and to harm His creatures, for all other
simple heresies have made no open
compact with the devil, no compact,
that is, either tacit or exactly expressed,
although their errors and misbelief are
directly to be attributed to the Father
of errors and lies. Moreover, witchcraft
differs from all other harmful and mys¬
terious arts in this point, that of all
superstition it is essentially the vilest,
the most evil and the worst, wherefore
it derives its name from doing evil, and
from blaspheming the true faith. ( Male¬
ficae dictae a Malejiciendo , seu a male de
fide sentiendo .)

Let us especially note too that in the
practice of this abominable evil, four
points in particular are required.
First, most profanely to renounce the
Catholic Faith, or at any rate to deny

Part I. Question 3.

MALEFICARUM

21

certain dogmas of the faith; secondly,
to devote themselves body and soul to
all evil ; thirdly, to offer up unbaptized
children to Satan ; fourthly, to indulge
in every kind of carnal lust with Incubi
and Succubi and all manner of filthy
delights.

Would to God that we might sup¬
pose all this to be untrue and merely
imaginary, if only our Holy Mother the
Church were free from the leprosy of
such abomination. Alas, the judgement
of the Apostolic See, who is alone the
Mistress and the Teacher of all truth,
that judgement, I say, which has been
expressed in the Bull of our Holy Father
the Pope, assures us and makes us aware
that these crimes and evils flourish
amongst us, and we dare not refrain
from inquiring into them lest we imperil
our own salvation. And therefore we
must discuss at length the origin and
the increase of these abominations; it
has been a work of much labour indeed,
but we trust that every detail will most
exactly and most carefully be weighed
by those who read this book, for herein
will be found nothing contrary to sound
reason, nothing which differs from the
words of Scripture and the tradition of
the Fathers.

Now there are two circumstances
which are certainly very common at the
present day, that is to say, the con¬
nexion of witches with familiars, Incubi
and Succubi, and the horrible sacrifices
of small children. Therefore we shall
particularly deal with these matters, so
that in the first place we shall discuss
these demons themselves, secondly, the
witches and their works, and thirdly,
we will inquire wherefore such things
are suffered to be. Now these demons
work owing to their influence upon
man’s mind and upon his free will, and
they choose to copulate under the in¬
fluence of certain stars rather than
under the influence of others, for it
would seem that at certain times their
semen can more easily generate and
beget children. Accordingly, we must
inquire why the demons should act at
the conjunction of certain stars, and
what times these are.

There are three chief points to dis¬
cuss. First, whether these abominable
heresies can be multiplied throughout
the world by those who give themselves
to Incubi and Succubi. Secondly,
whether their actions have not a cer¬

tain extraordinary power when per¬
formed under the influence of certain
stars. Thirdly, whether this abominable
heresy is not widely spread by those
who profanely sacrifice children to
Satan. Moreover, when we have dis¬
cussed the second point, before we pro¬
ceed to the third, we must consider the
influence of the stars, and what power
they have in acts of witchcraft.

With regard to the first question there
are three difficulties which need eluci¬
dation.

The first is a general consideration of
these demons, which are called Incubi.

The second question is more particu¬
lar, for we must inquire, How can these
Incubi perform the human act of copu¬
lation?

The third question is also a special
one, How do witches bind themselves
to and copulate with these devils?

☆

QUESTION III

Whether children can be generated by Incubi
and Succubi.

AT first it may truly seem that it is
not in accordance with the Catho¬
lic Faith to maintain that children can
be begotten by devils, that is to say, by
Incubi* and Succubi : for God Himself,
before sin came into the world, insti¬
tuted human procreation, since He
created woman from the rib of man to
be a helpmeet unto man : And to them
He said : Increase and multiply, Genesis
i, 28. And again Adam being inspired
by God said : They shall be two in one
flesh, Genesis ii, 24. Likewise after sin
had come into the world, it was said to
Noe : Increase, and multiply, Genesis ix,
1. In the time of the new law also,
Christ confirmed this union : Have ye
not read, that he who made man from
the beginning, Made them male and
female? S. Matthew xix, 4. Therefore
men cannot be begotten in any other
way than this.

But it may be argued that devils take
their part in this generation not as the
essential cause, but as a secondary and
artificial cause, since they busy them-

* “Incubi.” For a very full discussion of the
whole subject see Sinis trari’s “ Demoniality ”
with my Commentary and glosses, Fortune Press,
1927.

22

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 3.

selves by interfering with the process of
normal copulation and conception, by
obtaining human semen, and them¬
selves transferring it.

Objection . The devil can perform this
act in every state of life, that is to say,
in the matrimonial state, or not in the
matrimonial state. Or he can perform
it in one only state. Now he cannot
perform it in the first state, because
then the act of the devil would be more
powerful than the act of God, Who in¬
stituted and confirmed this holy estate,
since it is a state of continence and
wedlock. Nor can he effect this in any
other estate : since we never read in
Scripture that children can be begotten
in one state and not in another.

Moreover, to beget a child is the act
of a living body, but devils cannot be¬
stow life upon the bodies which they
assume ; because life formally only pro¬
ceeds from the soul, and the act of
generation is the act of the physical
organs which have bodily life. There¬
fore bodies which are assumed in this
way cannot either beget or bear.

Yet it may be said that these devils
assume a body not in order that they
may bestow life upon it, but that they
may by the means of this body preserve
human semen, and pass the semen on
to another body.

Objection. As in the action of angels,
whether they be good or bad, there is
nothing superfluous and useless, nor is
there anything superfluous and useless
in nature. But the devil by his natural
power, which is far greater than any
human bodily power, can perform any
spiritual action, and perform it again
and again although man may not be
able to discern it. Therefore he is able
to perform this action, although man
may not be able to discern when the
devil is concerned therewith. For all
bodily and material things are on a
lower scale than pure and spiritual in¬
telligences. But the angels, whether
they be good or whether they be evil,
are pure and spiritual intelligences.
Therefore they can control what is be¬
low them. Therefore the devil can col¬
lect and make use as he will of human
semen which belongs to the body.

However, to collect human semen
from one person and to transfer it to
another implies certain local actions.
But devils cannot locally move bodies
from place to place. And this is the

argument they put forward. The soul
is purely a spiritual essence, so is the
devil : but the soul cannot move a body
from place to place except it be that
body in which it lives and to which it
gives life : whence if any member of the
body perishes it becomes dead and im¬
movable. Therefore devils cannot move
a body from place to place, except it be
a body to which they give life. It has
been shown, however, and is acknow¬
ledged that devils do not bestow life on
anybody, therefore they cannot move
human semen locally, that is, from place
to place, from body to body.

Moreover, every action is performed
by contact, and especially the act of
generation. But it does not seem pos¬
sible that there can be any contact
between the demon and human bodies,
since he has no actual point of contact
with them. Therefore he cannot inject
semen into a human body, and there¬
fore since this needs a certain bodily
action, it would seem that the devil
cannot accomplish it.

Besides, devils have no power to move
those bodies which in a natural order
are more closely related to them, for
example the heavenly bodies, therefore
they have no power to move those
bodies which are more distant and dis¬
tinct from them. The major is proved,
since the power that moves and the
movement are one and the same thing
according to Aristotle in his Physics. It
follows, therefore, that devils who move
heavenly bodies must be in heaven,
which is wholly untrue, both in our
opinion and in the opinion of the
Platonists.

Moreover, S. Augustine, On the
Trinity , III, says that devils do indeed
collect human semen, by means of
which they are able to produce bodily
effects : but this cannot be done without
some local movement, therefore demons
can transfer the semen which they have
collected and inject it into the bodies of
others. But, as Walafrid Strabo says in
his commentary upon Exodus vii, 1 1 :
And Pharao called the wise men and
the magicians: Devils go about the
earth collecting every sort of seed, and
can by working upon them broadcast
various species. See also the gloss on
those words (Pharao called). And again
in Genesis vi the gloss makes two com¬
ments on the words: And the sons of
God saw the daughters of men. First,
that by the sons of God are meant the

Part I. Question 3.

MALEFICARUM

23

sons of Seth, and by the daughters of
men, the daughters of Cain. Second,
that Giants were created not by some
incredible act of men, but by certain
devils, which are shameless towards
women. For the Bible says, Giants were
upon the earth. Moreover, even after
the Flood the bodies not only of men,
but also of women, were pre-eminently
and incredibly beautiful.

Answer. For the sake of brevity much
concerning the power of the devil and
his works in the matter of the effects of
witchcraft is left out; for the pious
reader either accepts it as proved, or he
may, if he wish to inquire, find every
point clearly elucidated in the second
Book of Sentences , 5. For he will see that
the devils perform all their works con¬
sciously and voluntarily ; for the nature
that was given them has not been
changed. See Dionysius* in his fourth
chapter on this subject; their nature
remained intact and very splendid,
although they cannot use it for any
good purpose.

And as to their intelligence, he will
find that they excel in three points of
understanding, that is, in the subtlety
of their nature, in their age-long experi¬
ence, and in the revelation of the
higher spirits. He will find also how,
through the influence of the stars, they
learn the dominating characteristics of
men, and so discover that some are
more disposed to work witchcraft than
others, and that they molest these chiefly
for the purpose of such works.

* “ Dionysius .” A series of famous writings
was attributed to S. Dionysius the Areopagite
{“Acts” xvii, 34), who was also popularly
identified with the Martyr of Gaul, the first
Bishop of Paris. The writings themselves form
a collection of four treatises and ten letters.
These will all be found in Migne, “ Patres
Graeci,” III. The treatises are generally re¬
ferred to under their Latin names, “De Diuinis
nominibus” ; “ Caelestis hier ar chia” ; “Ecclesi¬
astica hier archia”; “Theologia mystica .”
The main source from which the Middle Ages
obtained a knowledge of Dionysius and his
doctrine was undoubtedly the Latin translation
by Scotus Eriugena, made about 858. There are
ample commentaries by many great writers such
as Hugh of Saint-Victor, Blessed Albertus
Magnus, S. Thomas, and Denys the Carthusian.
The works of Dionysius the Areopagite and the
identification of this writer with S. Denys were
accepted by Saints and Schoolmen, and perhaps
we should do well to follow them without curious
questions and impertinent discussion.

And as to their will, the reader will
find that it cleaves unchangeably to
evil, and that they continuously sin in
pride, envy,, and gross covetousness;
and that God, for his own glory, per¬
mits them to work against His will.
He will also understand how with these
two qualities of intellect and will devils
do marvels, so that there is no power
in earth which can be compared to
them : Job xli. There is no power on the
earth which can be compared with him,
who was created that he should fear no
one. But here the gloss says, Although
he fears no one he is yet subject to the
merits of the Saints.

He will find also how the devil knows
the thoughts of our hearts ; how he can
substantially and disastrously meta¬
morphose bodies with the help of an
agent ; how he can move bodies locally,
and alter the outward and inner feelings
to every conceivable extent; and how
he can change the intellect and will of
a man, however indirectly.

For although all this is pertinent to
our present inquiry, we wish only to
draw some conclusion therefrom as to
the nature of devils, and so proceed to
the discussion of our question.

Now the Theologians have ascribed
to them certain qualities, as that they
are unclean spirits, yet not by very
nature unclean. For according to Dio¬
nysius there is in them a natural mad¬
ness, a rabid concupiscence, a wanton
fancy, as is seen from their spiritual sins
of pride, envy, and wrath. For this
reason they are the enemies of the
human race : rational in mind, but
reasoning without words ; subtle in
wickedness, eager to do hurt; ever fer¬
tile in fresh deceptions, they change the
perceptions and befoul the emotions of
men, they confound the watchful, and
in dreams disturb the sleeping; they
bring diseases, stir up tempests, disguise
themselves as angels of light, bear Hell
always about them ; from witches they
usurp to themselves the worship of God,
and by this means magic spells are
made; they seek to get a mastery over
the good, and molest them to the most
of their power; to the elect they are
given as a temptation, and always they
lie in wait for the destruction of men.

And although they have a thousand
ways of doing harm, and have tried ever
since their downfall to bring about
schisms in the Church, to disable
charity, to infect with the gall of envy

24

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 3.

the sweetness of the acts of the Saints,
and in every way to subvert and per¬
turb the human race; yet their power
remains confined to the privy parts and
the navel. See Job xli. For through the
wantonness of the flesh they have much
power over men ; and in men the source
of wantonness lies in the privy parts,
since it is from them that the semen
falls, just as in women it falls from the
navel.

These things, then, being granted for
a proper understanding of the question
of Incubi and Succubi, it must be said
that it is just as Catholic a view to hold
that men may at times be begotten by
means of Incubi and Succubi, as it is
contrary to the words of the Saints and
even to the tradition of Holy Scripture
to maintain the opposite opinion. And
this is proved as follows. S. Augustine
in one place raises this question, not
indeed as regards witches, but with
reference to the very works of devils,
and to the fables of the poets, and
leaves the matter in some doubt ; though
later on he is definite in the matter of
Holy Scripture. For in his De Ciuitate
Dei , Book 3, chapter 2, he says: We
leave open the question whether it was
possible for Venus to give birth to
Aeneas through coition with Anchises.
For a similar question arises in the
Scriptures, where it is asked whether
evil angels lay with the daughters of
men, and thereby the earth was then
filled with giants, that is to say, preter-
naturally big and strong men. But he
settles the question in Book 5, chapter
23, in these words: It is a very general
belief, the truth of which is vouched for
by many from their own experience, or
at least from hearsay as having been
experienced by men of undoubted
trustworthiness, that Satyrs, and Fauns
(which are commonly called Incubi)
have appeared to wanton women and
have sought and obtained coition with
them. And that certain devils (which
the Gauls call Dusii) assiduously at¬
tempt and achieve this filthiness is
vouched for by so many credible wit¬
nesses that it would seem impudent to
deny it.

Later in the same book he settles the
second contention, namely, that the
passage in Genesis about the sons of
God (that is Seth) and the daughters
of men (that is Cain) does not speak
only of Incubi, since the existence of
such is not credible. In this connexion

there is the gloss which we have touched
upon before. He says that it is not
outside belief that the Giants of whom
the Scripture speaks were begotten not
by men, but by Angels or certain devils
who lust after women. To the same
effect is the gloss on Esaias xiii,* * * § where
the prophet foretells the desolation of
Babylon, and the monsters that should
inhabit it. He says : Owls shall dwell
there, and Satyrs shall dance there.
By Satyrs here devils are meant ; as the
gloss says, Satyrs are wild shaggy crea¬
tures of the woods, which are a certain
kind of devils called Incubi. And again
in Esaias xxxiv, where he prophesies the
desolation of the land of the Idumeans
because they persecuted the Jews, he
says : And it shall be an habitation of
dragons, and a court for owls. The wild
beasts also of the desert shall meet . . .
The interlinear gloss interprets this as
monsters and devils. And in the same
place Blessed Gregory explains these to
be woodland gods under another name,
not those which the Greeks called Pans,
and the Latins Incubi.

Similarly Blessed Isidore, in the last
chapter of his 8th book, says: Satyrs
are they who are called Pans in Greek
and Incubi in Latin. And they are
called Incubi from their practice of
overlaying, I that is debauching. For
they often lust lecherously after women,
and copulate with them ; and the Gauls
name them Dusii, J because they are
diligent in this beastliness. But the devil
which the common people call an In¬
cubus, the Romans called a fig Faun;§

* “Esaias.” See my gloss upon this passage,
“ Demoniality ,” Introduction, xxvi-xxviii.

I “ Overlaying .” JVider, “ Formicarius ,” ix,
writes: “ Incubi dicuntur ab incumbendo, hoc est
struprando.”

£ “Dusii.” “De Ciuitate Dei,” XV, 23,
where S. Augustine has: “Et quosdam daemones,
quos Dusios Galli nuncupant, adsidue hanc
immunditiam et tentare et efficere, plures
talesque adseuerant, ut hoc negare impudentiae
uideatur.”

§ “A Fig Faun.” “ Jeremias ” l, 39, the
desolation of Babylon, has: Propterea habitabunt
dracones cumfaunis ficariis: et habitabunt in ea
struthiones: et non inhabitabitur ultra usque in
sempiternum, nec exstruetur usque ad genera¬
tionem, et generationem. Which Douay trans¬
lates: “Therefore shall dragons dwell there with
the fig fauns: and ostriches shall dwell therein,
and it shall be no more inherited for ever, neither
shall it be built up from generation to generation.”
The English gloss says: ‘“Fig fauns’ Monsters

Part I. Question 3.

MALEFICARUM

25

to which Horace said, “O Faunus, lover
of fleeing nymphs, go gently over my
lands and smiling fields.”

As to that of S. Paul in I. Corinthians
xi, A woman ought to have a covering
on her head, because of the angels,
many Catholics believe that “because
of the angels” refers to Incubi. Of the
same opinion is the Venerable Bede in
his History of the English’* * also William
of Parisf in his book De Uniuerso, the

of the desert, or demons in monstrous shapes:
such as the ancients called fauns'1 and 'satyrs’:
and as they imagined them to live upon wild figs,
they called them fauni ficarii ’ or fig fauns ’ ”
Mirabeau, " Erotika Biblion ” ( pseudo-Rome ),
1783, under " Behemah ” writes: " Les satyr es, les
faunes, les egypans, toutes ces fables en sont une
tradition tres remar quable. Satan en arabe signifie
bouc; et le bouc expiatoire nefut or dome par Moyse
que pour detourner les Israelites du gout qiiils
avoient pour cet animal lascifi ( Maimonide dans
le More Nevochin, p. m, c. xlvi, s’ e tend sur les
cultes des boucs.) Comme il est dit dans V Exode
qu’on ne pouvoit voir la face des dieux, les
Israelites etoient persuades que les demons si
faisoient voir sous cette forme. ... On a ensuite
confondu les incubes et les succubes avec les
veritables produits. Jeremie parle de faunes
suffoquans. ( Jerem ., I, 33. Faunis sicariis et
non pas ficariis. Car des faunes qui avoient des
figues ne voudroit n’en dire. Cependant Saci la
traduit ainsi; car les Jansenistes affectent la plus
grande purete des moeurs, mais Berruyer soutient
le ‘ Sicarii ’ et rend ses faunes tres actifs .)
Heraclite a decrit des satyres qui vivoient dans les
bois, et jouissoient en commun des femmes dont ils
s’ emparoient.” But the Vulgate has " Fauni
ficarii,” which settles the point. That the
reading was very disputed is clear from Nider,
" Formicarius ,” who has: "Quem autem uulgo
Incubonem uocant, hunc Romani uicarium dicunt.
Ad quem Horatius dicit: Faune Nympharum
fugientium amator meos per fines et aprica rura
lenis incedas. Insuper illud Apostoli I Cor. xi.
Mulier debet uelamen habere super caput suum
propter Angelos: Multi Catholici exponunt quod
sequitur, propter angelos, id est Incubos .” The
quotation from Horaee is "Carminum,” III, 18.

* " Bede .” Born 672 or 673, died 733. This
great work, "Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
Anglorum,” giving an account of Christianity in
England from the beginning until his own day,
has been recognized as a masterpiece by the
scholars of all ages and countries. An authorita¬
tive edition was published by Plummer, two vols.,
Oxford, 1836.

I "William of Paris.” William of Auvergne,
the celebrated philosopher and theologian, was
born at Aurillac in Auvergne towards the end of
the twelfth century, and died at Paris, of which
city he had in 1228 been consecrated Bishop, in
1243. Although not a "Summa theologica ,” his
"de Universo” is a practical endeavour to found

last part of the 6th treatise. Moreover,
S. Thomas speaks of this (I. 25 and
II. 8, and elsewhere; also on Esaias xii
and xiv). Therefore he says that it is
rash to deny such things. For that
which appears true to many cannot be
altogether false, according to Aristotle
(at the end of the De somno et uigilia,
and in the 2nd Ethics). I say nothing
of the many authentic histories, both
Catholic and heathen, which openly
affirm the existence of Incubi.

But the reason that devils turn them¬
selves into Incubi or Succubi is not for
the cause of pleasure, since a spirit has
not flesh and blood; but chiefly it is
with this intention, that through the
vice of luxury they may work a twofold
harm against men, that is, in body and
in soul, that so men may be more given
to all vices. And there is no doubt that
they know under which stars the semen
is most vigorous, and that men so con¬
ceived will be always perverted by
witchcraft.

When Almighty God had enumerated
many vices of luxury rife among the
unbelievers and heretics, from which
He wished His people to be clean, He
says in Leviticus xviii: Defile not ye
yourselves in any of these things: for
in all these the nations are defiled which
I cast out before you : and the land is
defiled : therefore I do visit the iniquity
thereof upon it. The gloss explains the
word “nations” as meaning devils who,
on account of their multitude, are called
the nations of the world, and rejoice in
all sin, especially in fornication and
idolatry, because by these are defiled
the body and the soul, and the whole
man, which is called “the land.” For
every sin that a man commits is outside
his body, but the man who commits
fornication sins in his body. If anyone
wishes to study further the histories
concerning Incubi and Succubi, let him
read (as has been said) Bede in his
History of the English, and William, and
finally Thomas of Brabant in his book
About Bees.

To return to the matter in hand.

a science of reality on principles opposed to those
of the Arabian commentators upon and perverters
of Aristotle. His theological works are par¬
ticularly interesting as devoting much attention
to a refutation of the Manichees, whose heresies
had been recently revived. There is a good study
by Valois, "Guillaume d’ Auvergne,” Paris,
1880.

26

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 3.

And first for the natural act of propa¬
gation instituted by God, that is, be¬
tween male and female ; that as though
by the permission of God the Sacrament
of Matrimony can be made void by the
work of the devil through witchcraft, as
has been shown above. And the same
is much more strongly true of any
other venereal act between man and
woman.

But if it is asked why the devil is
allowed to cast spells upon the venereal
act, rather than upon any other human
act, it is answered that many reasons
are assigned by the Doctors, which will
be discussed later in the part concerning
the divine permission. For the present
the reason that has been mentioned
before must suffice, namely, that the
power of the devil lies in the privy parts
of men. For of all struggles those are
the hardest where the fight is continuous
and victory rare. And it is unsound to
argue that in that case the work of the
devil is stronger than the work of God,
since the matrimonial act instituted by
God can be made void: for the devil
does not make it void by violence, since
he has no power at all in the matter
except as he is permitted by God.
Therefore it would be better to argue
from this that he is powerless.

Secondly, it is true that to procreate
a man is the act of a living body. But
when it is said that devils cannot give
life, because that flows formally from
the soul, it is true; but materially life
springs from the semen, and an Incubus
devil can, with God’s permission, ac¬
complish this by coition. And the semen
does not so much spring from him, as it
is another man’s semen received by him
for this purpose (see S. Thomas, I. 51,
art. 3). For the devil is Succubus to a
man, and becomes Incubus to a woman.
In just the same way they absorb the
seeds of other things for the generating
of various things, as S. Augustine says,
de Trinitate 3.

Now it may be asked, of whom is a
child so born the son? It is clear that
he is not the son of the devil, but of the
man whose semen was received. But
when it is urged that, just as in the
works of Nature, so there is no super¬
fluity in the works of angels, that is
granted; but when it is inferred that
the devil can receive and inject semen
invisibly, this also is true ; but he prefers
to perform this visibly as a Succubus
and an Incubus, that by such filthiness

he may infect body and soul of all
humanity, that is, of both woman and
man, there being, as it were, actual
bodily contact.

Moreover, devils can do invisibly
more things which they are not per¬
mitted to do visibly, even if they so
wished; but they are allowed to do
them invisibly, either as a trial for the
good, or as a punishment for the wicked.
Finally, it may happen that another
devil may take the place of the Suc¬
cubus, receive the semen from him, and
become an Incubus in the place of the
other devil; and this for a threefold
reason. Perhaps because one devil,
allotted to a woman, should receive
semen from another devil, allotted to a
man, that in this way each of them
should be commissioned by the prince
of devils to work some witchcraft ; since
to each one is allotted his own angel,
even from among the evil ones; or
because of the filthiness of the deed,
which one devil would abhor to com¬
mit. For in many inquiries it is clearly
shown that certain devils, out of some
nobility in their natures, would shrink
from a filthy action. Or it may be in
order that the Incubus may, instead of
a man’s semen, by interposing himself
on to a woman, invisibly inject his own
semen, that is, that which he has in¬
visibly received. And it is not foreign
to his nature or power to effect such an
interposition ; since even in bodily form
he can interpose himself invisibly and
without physical contact, as was shown
in the case of the young man who was
betrothed to an idol.

Thirdly, it is said that the power of
an angel belongs in an infinite degree
to the higher things ; that is to say, that
his power cannot be comprehended by
the lower orders, but is always superior
to them, so that it is not limited to one
effect only. For the highest powers have
most unbounded influence over crea¬
tion. But because he is said to be infi¬
nitely superior, that is not to say that
he is indifferently powerful for any work
that is propounded for him ; for then he
might just as well be said to be infinitely
inferior, as superior.

But there must be some proportion
between the agent and the patient, and
there can be no proportion between a
purely spiritual substance and a cor¬
poreal one. Therefore not even the
devils have any power to cause an effect,
except through some other active

Part I. Question 3.

MALEFICARUM

27

medium. And this is why they use the
seeds of things to produce their effects ;
see S. Augustine, de Trinitate, 3. Where¬
fore this argument goes back to the pre¬
ceding one, and is not strengthened by
it, unless anyone wishes for S. Augus¬
tine’s explanation why the Intelligences
are said to have infinite powers of the
higher and not of the lower degree,
given to them in the order of things
corporeal and of the celestial bodies,
which can influence many and infinite
effects. But this is not because of the
weakness of the inferior powers. And
the conclusion is that devils, even
without assuming bodies, can work
transmutations in semen ; although this
is no argument against the present pro¬
position, concerning Incubi and Suc-
cubi, whose actions they cannot perform
except by assuming bodily shape, as has
been considered above.

For the fourth argument, that devils
cannot move bodies or semen locally,
which is substantiated by the analogy
of the soul. It must be said that it is one
thing to speak of the spiritual substance
of the actual angel or devil, and another
thing to speak of the actual soul. For
the reason why the soul cannot locally
move a body unless it has given life to
it, or else by contact of a living body
with one that is not living, is this: that
the soul occupies by far the lowest grade
in the order of spiritual beings, and
therefore it follows that there must be
some proportionate relation between it
and the body which it is able to move
by contact. But it is not so with devils,
whose power altogether exceeds cor¬
poreal power.

And fifthly, it must be said that the
contact of a devil with a body, either in
the way of semen or in any other way,
is not a corporeal but a virtual contact,
and takes place in accordance with the
suitable proportion of both the mover
and the moved ; provided that the body
which is moved does not exceed the
proportion of the devil’s power. And
such bodies are the celestial bodies, and
even the whole earth or the elements
of the world, the power of which we
may call superior on the authority of
S. Thomas in his questions concerning
Sin (quest. 10, de Daemonibus) . For this
is either because of the essence of nature,
or because of condemnation for sin. For
there is a due order in things, in accord¬
ance both with their very nature and
with their motion. And just as the

higher heavenly bodies are moved by
the higher spiritual substances, as are
the good Angels, so are the lower bodies
moved by the lower spiritual substances,
as are the devils. And if this limitation
of the devils’ power is due to the essence
of nature, it is held by some that the
devils are not of the order of those
higher angels, but are part of this terres¬
trial order created by God; and this
was the opinion of the Philosophers.
And if it is due to condemnation for sin,
as is held by the Theologians, then they
were thrust from the regions of heaven
into this lower atmosphere for a punish¬
ment, and therefore are not able to
move either it or the earth.

This has been said on account of two
easily dispelled arguments: — One, re¬
garding the heavenly bodies, that the
devils could also move these, if they
were able to move bodies locally, since
the stars are nearer to them in nature,
as also the last argument alleges. The
answer is that this is not valid ; for if
the former opinion holds good, those
bodies exceed the proportion of the
devils’ power : and if the second is true,
then again they cannot move them,
because of their punishment for sin.

Also there is the argument that ob¬
jects that the motion of the whole and
of the part is the same thing, just as
Aristotle in his 4th Physics instances the
case of the whole earth and a clod of
soil; and that therefore if the devils
could move a part of the earth, they
could also move the whole earth. But
this is not valid, as is clear to anyone
who examines the distinction. But to
collect the semen of things and apply it
to certain effects does not exceed their
natural power, with the permission of
God, as is self-evident.

In conclusion, in spite of the conten¬
tion of some that devils in bodily shape
can in no way generate children, and
that by the “sons of God” is meant the
sons of Seth and not Incubi devils, just
as by the “daughters of men” is meant
the descendants of Cain; nevertheless
the contrary is clearly affirmed by
many. And that which seems true to
many cannot be altogether false, ac¬
cording to Aristotle in his 6th Ethics and
at the end of the de Somno et Uigilia. And
now also in modern times we have the
well-attested deeds and words of witches
who truly and actually perform such
things.

Therefore we make three proposi-

28

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 4.

tions. First, that the foulest venereal
acts are performed by such devils, not
for the sake of delectation, but for the
pollution of the souls and bodies of those
to whom they act as Succubi or Incubi.
Second, that through such action com¬
plete conception and generation by
women can take place, inasmuch as
they can deposit human semen in the
suitable place of a woman’s womb
where there is already a corresponding
substance. In the same way they can
also collect the seeds of other things for
the working of other effects. Third, that
in the begetting of such children only
the local motion is to be attributed to
devils, and not the actual begetting,
which arises not from the power of the
devil or of the body which he assumes,
but from the virtue of him whose semen
it was; wherefore the child is the son
not of the devil, but of some man.

And here there is a clear answer to
those who would contend that there are
two reasons why devils cannot generate
children: — First, that generation is ef¬
fected by the formative virtue which
exists in semen released from a living
body; and that because the body as¬
sumed by devils is not of such a sort,
therefore, etc. The answer is clear, that
the devil deposits naturally formative
semen in its proper place, etc. Secondly,
it may be argued that semen has no
power of generation except as long as
the heat of life is retained in it, and that
this must be lost when it is carried great
distances. The answer is that devils are
able to store the semen safely, so that its
vital heat is not lost; or even that it
cannot evaporate so easily on account
of the great speed at which they move
by reason of the superiority of the mover
over the thing moved.

☆

QUESTION IV

By which Devils are the Operations of Incubus
and Succubus Practised ?

IS it Catholic to affirm that the func¬
tions of Incubi and Succubi belong
indifferently and equally to all unclean
spirits? And it seems that it is so ; for to
affirm the opposite would be to main¬
tain that there is some good order
among them. It is argued that just as in
the computation of the Good there are
degrees and orders (see S. Augustine in

his book on the nature of the Good), so
also the computation of the Evil is based
upon confusion. But as among the good
Angels nothing can be without order, so
among the bad all is disorder, and there¬
fore they all indifferently follow these
practices. See Job x. : A land of dark¬
ness, as darkness itself; and of the
shadow of death, without any order,
and where the light is as darkness.

Again, if they do not all indifferently
follow these practices, this quality in
them comes either from their nature, or
from sin, or from punishment. But it does
not come from their nature, since they are
all without distinction given to sin, as was
set out in the preceding question. For
they are by nature impure spirits, yet
not so unclean as to pejorate their good
parts ; subtle in wickedness, eager to do
harm, swollen with pride, etc. There¬
fore these practices in them are due
either to sin or to punishment. Then
again, where the sin is greater, there is
the punishment greater ; and the higher
angels sinned more greatly, therefore
for their punishment they have the more
to follow these filthy practices. If this is
not so, another reason will be given why
they do not indifferently practise these
things.

And again, it is argued that where
there is no discipline or obedience, there
all work without distinction; and it is
submitted that there is no discipline or
obedience among devils, and no agree¬
ment. Proverbs xiii. : Among the proud
there is always contention.

Again, just as because of sin they will
all equally be cast into Hell after the
Day of Judgement, so before that time
they are detained in the lower mists
on account of the duties assigned to
them. We do not read that there is
equality on account of emancipation,
therefore neither is there equality in the
matter of duty and temptation.

But against this there is the first gloss
on 1 Corinthians xv: As long as the
world endures Angels are set over
Angels, men over men, and devils over
devils. Also in Job xl it speaks of the
scales of Leviathan, which signify the
members of the devil, how one cleaves
to another. Therefore there is among
them diversity both of order and of
action.

Another question arises, whether or
not the devils can be restrained by the
good Angels from pursuing these foul
practices. It must be said that the

Part I. Question 4.

MALEFICARUM

29

«#

Angels to whose command the adverse
Influences are subject are called
Powers, as S. Gregory says, and S.
Augustine (de Trinitate , 3). A rebellious
and sinful spirit of life is subject to an
obedient, pious and just spirit of life.
And those Creatures which are more
perfect and nearer to God have
authority over the others : for the
whole order of preference is originally
and in the first place in God, and is
shared by His creatures according as
they approach more nearly to Him.
Therefore the good Angels, who are
nearest to God on account of their
fruition in Him, which the devils lack,
have preference over the devils, and
rule over them.

And when it is urged that devils
work much harm without any medium,
or that they are not hindered because
they are not subject to good Angels
who might prevent them; or that if
they are so subject, then the evil that is
done by the subject is due to negligence
on the part of the master, and there
seems to be some negligence among the
good Angels: the answer is that the
Angels are ministers of the Divine
wisdom. It follows then that, as the
Divine wisdom permits certain evil to
be done by bad Angels or men, for the
sake of the good that He draws there¬
from, so also the good Angels do not
altogether prevent wicked men or
devils from doing evil.

Answer. It is Catholic to maintain
that there is a certain order of interior
and exterior actions, and a degree of
preference among devils. Whence it
follows that certain abominations are
committed by the lowest orders, from
which the higher orders are precluded
on account of the nobility of their
natures. And this is generally said to
arise from a threefold congruity, in
that such things harmonize with their
nature, with the Divine wisdom, and
with their own wickedness.

But more particularly as touching
their nature. It is agreed that from the
beginning of Creation some were always
by nature superior, since they differ
among themselves as to form ; and no
two Angels are alike in form. This
follows the more general opinion, which
also agrees with the words of the
Philosophers. Dionysius also lays it
down in his tenth chapter On the
Celestial Hierarchy that in the same order
there are three separate degrees ; and

we must agree with this, since they are
both immaterial and incorporeal. See
also S. Thomas (ii. 2). For sin does not
take away their nature, and the devils
after the Fall did not lose their natural
gifts, as has been said before; and the
operations of things follow their natural
conditions. Therefore both in nature
and in operation they are various and
multiple.

This harmonizes also with the Divine
wisdom; for that which is ordained is
ordained by God (. Romans xiii). And
since devils were deputed by God for
the temptation of men and the punish¬
ment of the damned, therefore they
work upon men from without by many
and various means.

It harmonizes also with their own
wickedness. For since they are at war
with the human race, they fight in an
orderly manner ; for so they think to do
greater harm to men, and so they do.
Whence it follows that they do not
share in an equal manner in their most
unspeakable abominations.

And this is more specifically proved
as follows. For since, as has been said,
the operation follows the nature of the
thing, it follows also that those whose
natures are subordinate must in turn
be subordinate to themselves in opera¬
tion, just as is the case in corporeal
matters. For since the lower bodies are
by natural ordination below the celestial
bodies, and their actions and motions
are subject to the actions and motions
of the celestial bodies; and since the
devils, as has been said, differ among
themselves in natural order; therefore
they also differ among themselves in
their natural actions, both extrinsic and
intrinsic, and especially in the perform¬
ance of the abominations in question.

From which it is concluded that since
the practice of these abominations is
for the most part foreign to the nobility
of the angelic nature, so also in human
actions the foulest and beastliest acts
are to be considered by themselves, and
not in relation to the duty of human
nature and procreation.

Finally, since some are believed to
have fallen from every order, it is not
unsuitable to maintain that those devils
who fell from the lowest choir, and even
in that held the lowest rank, are
deputed to and perform these and other
abominations.

Also it must be carefully noted that,
though the Scripture speaks of Incubi

30

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 4.

and Succubi lusting after women, yet
nowhere do we read that Incubi and
Succubi fell into vices against nature.
We do not speak only of sodomy, but of
any other sin whereby the act is wrong¬
fully performed outside the rightful
channel. And the very great enormity
of such as sin in this way is shown by the
fact that all devils equally, of what¬
soever order, abominate and think
shame to commit such actions. And it
seems that the gloss on Ezekiel xix means
this, where it says : I will give thee
into the hands of the dwellers in
Palestine, that is devils, who shall
blush at your iniquities, meaning vices
against nature. And the student will see
what should be authoritatively under¬
stood concerning devils. For no sin has
God so often punished by the shameful
death of multitudes.

Indeed many say, and it is truly be¬
lieved, that no one can unimperilled
persevere in the practice of such vices
beyond the period of the mortal life of
Christ, which lasted for thirty-three
years, unless he should be saved by some
special grace of the Redeemer. And this
is proved by the fact that there have
often been ensnared by this vice octo¬
genarians and centenarians, who had up
to that time ruled their lives according
to the discipline of Christ ; and, having
once forsaken Him, they have found the
very greatest difficulty in obtaining
deliverance, and in abandoning them¬
selves to such vices.

Moreover, the names of the devils
indicate what order there is among
them, and what office is assigned to
each. For though one and the same
name, that of devil, is generally used
in Scripture because of their various
qualities, yet the Scriptures teach that
One is set over these filthy actions, just
as certain other vices are subject to
Another. For it is the practice of
Scripture and of speech to name every
unclean spirit Diabolus, from Dia, that
is Two, and Bolus, that is Morsel;
for he kills two things, the body and the
soul. And this is in accordance with
etymology, although in Greek Diabolus
means shut in Prison, which also is
apt, since he is not permitted to do as
much harm as he wishes. Or Diabolus
may mean Downflowing, since he
flowed down, that is, fell down, both
specifically and locally. He is also
named Demon, that is, Cunning over
Blood, since he thirsts for and procures

sin with a threefold knowledge, being
powerful in the subtlety of his nature,
in his age-long experience, and in the
revelation of the good spirits. He is
called also Belial, which means Without
Yoke or Master ; for he can fight against
him to whom he should be subject. He
is called also Beelzebub, which means
Lord of Flies, that is, of the souls of
sinners who have left the true faith of
Christ. Also Satan, that is, the Adver¬
sary ; see 1 S. Peter ii : For your adver¬
sary the devil goeth about, etc. Also
Behemoth, that is, Beast, because he
makes men bestial.

But the very devil of Fornication, and
the chief of that abomination, is called
Asmodeus, which means the Creature
of Judgement : for because of this kind
of sin a terrible judgement was executed
upon Sodom and the four other cities.
Similarly the devil of Pride is called
Leviathan, which means Their Addi¬
tion; because when Lucifer tempted
our first parents he promised them, out
of his pride, the addition of Divinity.
Concerning him the Lord said through
Esaias : I shall visit it upon Leviathan,
that old and tortuous serpent. And
the devil of Avarice and Riches is called
Mammon, whom also Christ mentions
in the Gospel ( S . Matthew vi) : Ye cannot
serve God, etc.

To the arguments. First , that good
can be found without evil, but evil
cannot be found without good ; for it is
poured upon a creature that is good in
itself. And therefore the devils, in so
far as they have a good nature, were
ordained in the course of nature ; and
for their actions see Job x.

Secondly , it can be said that the devils
deputed to work are not in Hell, but
in the lower mists. And they have here
an order among themselves, which they
will not have in He'll. From which it
may be said that all order ceased
among them, as touching the attain¬
ment of blessedness, at that time when
they fell irrecoverably from such rank.
And it may be said that even in Hell
there will be among them a gradation
of power, and of the affliction of
punishments, inasmuch as some, and
not others, will be deputed to torment
the souls. But this gradation will come
rather from God than from themselves,
as will also their torments.

Thirdly , when it is said that the
higher devils, because they sinned the
more, are the more punished, and

Part I. Question 5.

MALEFICARUM

31

must therefore be the more bound to
the commission of these filthy acts,
it is answered that sin bears relation
to punishment, and not to the act or
operation of nature; and therefore it
is by reason of their nobility of nature
that these are not given to such filthi¬
ness, and it has nothing to do with
their sin or punishment. And though
they are all impure spirits, and eager
to do harm, yet one is more so than
another, in proportion as their natures
are the further thrust into darkness.

Fourthly , it is said that there is agree¬
ment among devils, but of wickedness
rather than friendship, in that they
hate mankind, and strive their utmost
against justice. For such agreement is
found among the wicked, that they
band themselves together, and depute
those whose talents seem suitable to
the pursuit of particular iniquities.

Fifthly , although imprisonment is
equally decreed for all, now in the
lower atmosphere and afterwards in
Hell, yet not therefore are equal
penalties and duties equally ordained
for them : for the nobler they are in
nature and the more potent in office,
the heavier is the torment to which
they are subjected. See Wisdom vi:
“The powerful shall powerfully suffer
torments.”

☆

QUESTION V

What is the Source of the Increase of Works
of Witchcraft? Whence comes it that
the Practice of Witchcraft hath so
notably increased?

IS it in any way a Catholic opinion
to hold that the origin and growth
of works of witchcraft proceed from
the influence of the celestial bodies ; or
from the abundant wickedness of men,
and not from the abominations of
Incubi and Succubi? And it seems that
it springs from man’s own wickedness.
For S. Augustine says, inBookLXXXIII,
that the cause of a man’s depravity
lies in his own will, whether he sins at
his own or at another’s suggestion.
But a witch is depraved through sin,
therefore the cause of it is not the devil
but human will. In the same place he
speaks of free-will, that everyone is the
cause of his own wickedness. And he
reasons thus : that the sin of man pro¬
ceeds from free-will, but the devil can¬

not destroy free-will, for this would
militate against liberty : therefore the
devil cannot be the cause of that or any
other sin. Again, in the book of
Ecclesiastic Dogma it is said : Not all
our evil thoughts are stirred up by the
devil, but sometimes they arise from
the operation of our own judgement.

But it is submitted that the true
source of witchcraft is the influence
of the celestial bodies, and not devils.
Just as every multitude is reduced to
unity, so all that is multiform is reduced
to some uniform beginning. But the
acts of men, both in vice and in virtue,
are various and multiform, therefore it
seems that they may be reduced to
some beginnings uniformly moved and
moving. But such can only be assigned
to the motions of the stars; therefore
those bodies are the causes of such
actions.

Again, if the stars were not the cause
of human actions both good and bad,
Astrologers would not so frequently
foretell the truth about the result of
wars and other human acts : therefore
they are in some way a cause.

Again, the stars can influence the
devils themselves in the causing of
certain spells ; and therefore they can
all the more influence men. Three
proofs are adduced for this assumption.
For certain men who are called Luna¬
tics are molested by devils more at one
time than at another; and the devils
would not so behave, but would rather
molest them at all times, unless they
themselves were deeply affected by
certain phases of the Moon. It is
proved again from the fact that Necro¬
mancers observe certain constellations
for the invoking of devils, which they
would not do unless they knew that
those devils were subject to the stars.

And this also is adduced as a proof;
that according to S. Augustine ( de
Ciuitate Dei, 10), the devils employ
certain lower bodies, such as herbs,
stones, animals, and certain sounds
and voices, and figures. But since the
heavenly bodies are of more potency
than the lower bodies, therefore the
stars are a far greater influence than
these things. And witches are the more
in subjection in that their deeds pro¬
ceed from the influence of those bodies,
and not from the help of evil spirits.
And the argument is supported from
1 Kings xvi, where Saul was vexed by a
devil, but was calmed when David

32

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 5.

struck his harp before him, and the evil
spirit departed.

But against this. It is impossible to
produce an effect without its cause ; and
the deeds of witches are such that they
cannot be done without the help of
devils, as is shown by the description
of witches in S. Isidore, Ethics VIII.
Witches are so called from the enormity
of their magic spells; for they disturb
the elements and confound the minds
of men, and without any venomous
draught, but merely by virtue of incan¬
tations, destroy souls, etc. But this sort
of effects cannot be caused by the
influence of the stars through the
agency of a man.

Besides, Aristotle says in his Ethics
that it is difficult to know what is the
beginning of the operation of thought,
and shows that it must be something
extrinsic. For everything that begins
from the beginning has some cause.
Now a man begins to do that which he
wills; and he begins to will because of
some pre-suggestion ; and if this is
some precedent suggestion, it must
either proceed from the infinite, or
there is some extrinsic beginning which
first brings a suggestion to a man.
Unless indeed it be argued that this is a
matter of chance, from which it would
follow that all human actions are
fortuitous, which is absurd. Therefore
the beginning of good in the good is
said to be God, Who is not the cause of
sin. But for the wicked, when a man
begins to be influenced towards and
wills to commit sin, there must also
be some extrinsic cause of this. And
this can be no other than the devil;
especially in the case of witches, as is
shown above, for the stars cannot
influence such acts. Therefore the truth
is plain.

Moreover, that which has power over
the motive has also power over the
result which is caused by the motive.
Now the motive of the will is something
perceived through the senses or the
intellect, both of which are subject to
the power of the devil. For S. Augustine
says in Book 83 : This evil, which
is of the devil, creeps in by all the
sensual approaches; he places himself
in figures, he adapts himself to colours,
he attaches himself to sounds, he lurks
in angry and wrongful conversation, he
abides in smells, he impregnates with
flavours and fills with certain exhala¬
tions all the channels of the under¬

standing. Therefore it is seen that it is
in the devil’s power to influence the
will, which is directly the cause of sin.

Besides, everything which has a
choice of two ways needs some deter¬
mining factor before it proceeds to
action. And the free-will of man has
the choice between good and ill ; there¬
fore when he embarks upon sin, it needs
that he is determined by something
towards ill. And this seems chiefly to
be done by the devil, especially in the
actions of witches, whose will is made
up for evil. Therefore it seems that the
evil will of the devil is the cause of evil
will in man, especially in witches. And
the argument may be substantiated
thus ; that just as a good Angel cleaves
to good, so does a bad Angel to evil;
but the former leads a man into good¬
ness, therefore the latter leads him into
evil. For it is, says Dionysius, the
unalterable and fixed law of divinity,
that the lowest has its cause in the
highest.

Answer. Such as contend that witch¬
craft has its origin in the influence of the
stars stand convicted of three errors.
In the first place, it is not possible
that it originated from astromancers and
casters of horoscopes and fortune¬
tellers. For if it is asked whether the
vice of witchcraft in men is caused by the
influence of the stars, then, in con¬
sideration of the variety of men’s
characters, and for the upholding of the
true faith, a distinction must be main¬
tained ; namely, that there are two
ways in which it can be understood
that men’s characters can be caused by
the stars. Either completely and of
necessity, or by disposition and con¬
tingency. And as for the first, it is not
only false, but so heretical and contrary
to the Christian religion, that the true
faith cannot be maintained in such an
error. For this reason, he who argues
that everything of necessity proceeds
from the stars takes away all merit and,
in consequence, all blame : also he
takes away Grace, and therefore Glory.
For uprightness of character suffers
prejudice by this error, since the blame
of the sinner redounds upon the stars,
licence to sin without culpability is
conceded, and man is committed to the
worship and adoration of the stars.

But as for the contention that men’s
characters are conditionally varied by
the disposition of the stars, it is so far
true that is it not contrary to reason or

Part I. Question 5.

MALEFICARUM

33

faith. For it is obvious that the disposi¬
tion of a body variously causes many
variations in the humours and character
of the soul ; for generally the soul
imitates the complexions of the body, as
it is said in the Six Principles. Where¬
fore the choleric are wrathful, the
sanguine are kindly, the melancholy are
envious, and the phlegmatic are sloth¬
ful. But this is not absolute; for the
soul is master of its body, especially
when it is helped by Grace. And we see
many choleric who are gentle, and
melancholy who are kindly. Therefore
when the virtue of the stars influences
the formation and quality of a man’s
humours, it is agreed that they have
some influence over the character, but
very distantly: for the virtue of the
lower nature has more effect on the
quality of the humours than has the
virtue of the stars.

Wherefore S. Augustine (de duitate
Dei , V), where he resolves a certain
question of two brothers who fell ill
and were cured simultaneously, ap¬
proves the reasoning of Hippocrates
rather than that of an Astronomer. For
Hippocrates answered that it was owing
to the similarity of their humours ; and
the Astronomer answered that it was
owing to the identity of their horo¬
scopes. For the Physician’s answer was
better, since he adduced the more
powerful and immediate cause. Thus,
therefore, it must be said that the
influence of the stars is to some degree
conducive to the wickedness of witches,
if it be granted that there is any such
influence over their bodies that predis¬
poses them to this manner of abomina¬
tion rather than to any other sort of
works either vicious or virtuous : but
this disposition must not be said to be
necessary, immediate, and sufficient,
but remote and contingent.

Neither is that objection valid which
is based on the book of the Philosophers
on the properties of the elements, where
it says that kingdoms are emptied and
lands depopulated at the conjunction of
Jupiter and Saturn; and it is argued
from this that such things are to be
understood as being outside the free¬
will of men, and that therefore the
influence of the stars has power over
free-will. For it is answered that in this
saying the Philosopher does not mean to
imply that men cannot resist the
influence of that constellation towards
dissensions, but that they will not. For

D

Ptolemy in Almagest * says : A wise man
will be the master of the stars. t For
although, since Saturn has a melan-

* “Almagest.” Claudius Ptolemaus was a
celebrated mathematician, astronomer, and geo¬
grapher. Of the details of his life nothing
appears to be known beyond the facts that he was
certainly at Alexandria in a.d. 133, and since he
survived Antoninus Pius he was alive later than
March, 161. His “ Geography ,” rewypa^ix^
ufrrtf-rfsiq, is very famous, but perhaps even
more celebrated was the MeydcX?) auvTa£i<;
aarpovopua<;, usually known by its Arabic
name of Almagest. Since the “ Tetrabiblus ,”
the work on astrology, was also entitled ouvt<x2;i<;,
the Arabs, to distinguish the two, called the
greater work [xeyaXrj, and afterwards pieytanr);
the title “ Almagest ” is a compound of this last
adjective and the Arabic article. The work is
divided into thirteen books , of which VII and
VIII are the most interesting to the modern
astronomer , as they give a catalogue of the stars.
The best edition of the “ Almagest ” is con¬
sidered to be that by Halma, Paris , 1813-16,
two vols., fo.

f “ Sapiens homo dominabitur astris.” This
famous tag is continually quoted. Cf Tomkis ’
“ Albumazar ” ( acted at Cambridge, March,
16 if), I, 7, where Albumazar says:

Indeed th ' ^Egyptian Ptolemy, the wise,

Pronounc'd it as an oracle of truth,
Sapiens dominabitur astris.

In Book III, Epigram 186, of John Owen's first
published volume, we get:

“ Fata regunt reges; sapiens dominabitur
astris.”

Sir Sampson Legend in Congreve's “ Love for
Love,” produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields, 30
April, 1633, II, 1, bantering- old Foresight, who
loudly acclaims the influence of the stars , throws
at him: “I tell you I am wise; and sapiens
dominabitur astris; there's Latin for you to
prove it.” According to W. Aldis Wright's note
on Bacon's “ Advancement of Learning ,” II,
xxiii, 12: “Mr. Ellis says this sentence is
ascribed to Ptolemy by Cognatus.” The refer¬
ence is to Cognati' s collection of Adages, which
together with the “Adagia” of Erasmus and
other famous repertories of saws and proverbs
may be found in the volume “ Adagia ” compiled
by Joynaeus. Joannes Nevizanus, “ Sylva
Nuptialis,” II, 36, notes: “ Dicit tamen Bal. in
c.j. at lite pand. quod sapiens dominabitur
astris .” Bal. is Baldus, Baldo degli Ubaldi
(b. 132J), the most famous canonist of his day
and Professor utriusque iuris at the Univer¬
sities of Padua, Perugia, and Piacenza, who
wrote ample glosses on the “ Corpus Iuris
Ciuilis.” Burton, “ Anatomy of Melancholy ,”
quotes “sapiens,” etc., and A. R. Shilleto in his
notes says that it is also cited by Jeremy Taylor,
and that C. G. Eden, his best editor, could not
trace the origin of the phrase.

34

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 5.

choly and bad influence and Jupiter a
very good influence, the conjunction of
Jupiter and Saturn can dispose men to
quarrels and discords ; yet, through
free-will, men can resist that inclination,
and very easily with the help of God’s
grace.

And again it is no valid objection to
quote S. John Damascene* where he
says (Book II, chap, vi) that comets are
often the sign of the death of kings. For
it will be answered that even if we
follow the opinion of S. John Damascene,
which was, as is evident in the book
referred to, contrary to the' opinion
, of the Philosophic Way, yet this is no
proof of the inevitability of human
actions. For S. John considers that a
comet is not a natural creation, nor is
it one of the stars set in the firmament ;
wherefore neither its signification nor
influence is natural. For he says that
comets are not of the stars which were
created in the beginning, but that they
are made for a particular occasion, and
then dissolved, by Divine command.
This then is the opinion of S. John
Damascene. But God by such a sign
foretells the death of kings rather than
of other men, both because a king is a
public person, and because from this
may arise the confusion of a kingdom.
And the Angels are more careful to
watch over kings for the general good ;
and kings are born and die under the
ministry of the Angels.

And there is no difficulty in the
opinion of the Philosophers, who say
that a comet is a hot and dry con¬
glomeration, generated in the higher

* “ S . John." S. John Damascene, Doctor of
the Church, was born at Damascus about 676,
and died some time between 754 and 787. The
quotation is from ’'ExSoct-.? axpif}-^
cp6o§6£ou Tua-recx;, which is the third part of
the most important of all his works, IlrjY^
Y vwceax;, Fountain of Wisdom. This third part,
“ The Orthodox Faith," to which reference is
made here, must be considered the most notable
of all the writings of S. John Damascene, and
it is in this treatise that he discloses so compre¬
hensive a knowledge of the astronomy of his day.
It may be pointed out that Sprenger regards the
authority of S. John far too lightly, for the
Doctor's words carry great weight. The only
complete edition of the works of S. John Damas¬
cene is that by Michael Lequien, 0 .P ., published
at Paris, 1717, and Venice, 1748. Migne has
reprinted this, “ Patres Graci," XCIV-XCVI,
with the addition of certain works by some
attributed to the same author.

part of space near the fire, and that a
conjoined globe of that hot and dry
vapour assumes the likeness of a star.
But unincorporated parts of that vapour
stretch in long extremities joined to that
globe, and are a sort of adjunct to it.
And according to this view, not of
itself but by accident, it predicts death
which proceeds from hot and dry
infirmities. And since for the most part
the rich are fed on things of a hot and
dry nature, therefore at such times
many of the rich die ; among which the
death of kings and princes is the most
notable. And this view is not far from
the view of S. John Damascene, when
carefully considered, except as regards
the operation and co-operation of the
Angels, which not even the philosophers
can ignore. For indeed when the
vapours in their dryness and heat have
nothing to do with the generation of a
comet, even then, for reasons already
set out, a comet may be formed by the
operation of an Angel.

In this way the star which portended
the death of the learned S. Thomas was
not one of the stars set in the firma¬
ment, but was formed by an Angel from
some convenient material, and, having
performed its office, was again dissolved.

From this we see that, whichever of
those opinions we follow, the stars have
no inherent influence over the free
will, or, consequently, over the malice
and character of men.

It is to be noted also that Astronomers
often foretell the truth, and that their
judgements are for the most part
effective on one province or one nation.
And the reason is that they take their
judgements from the stars, which,
according to the more probable view,
have a greater, though not an inevitable,
influence over the actions of mankind
in general, that is, over one nation or
province, than over one individual
person; and this because the greater
part of one nation more closely obeys
the natural disposition of the body than
does one single man. But this is men¬
tioned incidentally.

And the second of the three ways by
which we vindicate the Catholic stand¬
point is by refuting the errors of those
who cast Horoscopes and Mathe¬
maticians f who worship the goddess of

t“ Mathematicians." Although in Cicero and
in Seneca “ mathematicus " means a mathema¬
tician, in later Latin it always signifies an

Part i. Question 5.

MALEFICARUM

35

fortune. Of these S. Isidore ( Ethics ,
VIII. 9) says that those who cast
Horoscopes are so called from their
examination of the stars at nativity,
and are commonly called Mathe¬
maticians ; and in the same Book,
chapter 2, he says that Fortune has her
name from fortuitousness, and is a sort
of goddess who mocks human affairs
in a haphazard and fortuitous manner.
Wherefore she is called blind, since she
runs here and there with no considera¬
tion for desert, and comes indifferently
to good and bad. So much for Isidore.
But to believe that there is such a
goddess, or that the harm done to
bodies and creatures which is ascribed
to witchcraft does not actually proceed
from witchcraft, but from that same
goddess of Fortune, is sheer idolatry:
and also to assert that witches them¬
selves were born for that very purpose
that they might perform such deeds in
the world is similarly alien to the Faith,
and indeed to the general teaching of
the Philosophers. Anyone who pleases
may refer to S. Thomas in the 3rd book
of his Summa of the Faith against the
Gentiles, question 87, etc., and he will
find much to this effect.

Nevertheless one point must not be
omitted, for the sake of those who per-

astrologer, a diviner , a wizard. The “ Mathe¬
matici " were condemned by the Roman law as
exponents of black magic. Their art is indeed
forbidden in severest terms by Diocletian (a.d.
284-305): “ Artem geometriae discere atque
exercere publice interest, ars autem mathematica
damnabilis interdicta est omnino ." The word
“ mathematician " was used in English some¬
times to denote an astrologer, a fortune-teller.
So in Shirley's comedy “ The Sisters ," III,
licensed April, 1642, when the bandits dis¬
guised as diviners visit the castle, Giovanni enters
crying out: “ Master Steward, yonder are the
rarest fellows! In such fantastical habits too;
they call themselves mathematicians ." “ What
do they come for?" the steward asks. “To offer
their service to my Lady, and tell fortunes," is
the reply. When Antonio sees them he grumbles:

Her house is open for these mountebanks,
Cheaters, and tumblers, that can foist and flatter
My lady Gewgaw. . .

What are you, sir?

Strozzo. One of the mathematicians, noble
signior.

Antonio. Mathematicians! mongrel,

How durst thou take that learned name upon
thee?

You are one of those knaves that stroll the
country.

And live by picking worms out of fools' fingers.

haps have no great quantity of books.
It is there noted that three things are to
be considered in man, which are
directed by three celestial causes,
namely, the act of the will, the act of
the intellect, and the act of the body.
The first of these is governed directly
and solely by God, the second by an
Angel, and the third by a celestial
body. For choice and will are directly
governed by God for good works, as
the Scripture says in Proverbs xxi :
The heart of the king is in the hand
of the Lord ; he turneth it whither¬
soever he will. And it says “the heart
of the king” to signify that, as the
great cannot oppose His will, so are
others even less able to do so. Also
S. Paul says : God who causeth us to
wish and to perform that which is good.

The human understandingisgoverned
by God through the mediation of an
Angel. And those bodily actions, either
exterior or interior, which are natural
to man, are regulated by God through
the mediation of the Angels and the
celestial bodies. For Blessed Dionysius
(de Diuin. nom., IV) says that the celestial
bodies are the causes of that which
happens in this world ; though he makes
no implication of fatality.

And since man is governed as to his
body by the celestial bodies, as to his
intellect by the Angels, and as to his
will by God, it may happen that if he
rejects God’s inspiration towards good¬
ness, and the guidance of his good
Angel, he may be led by his bodily
affections to those things toward which
the influence of the stars inclines him,
that so his will and understanding
become entangled in malice and error.

However, it is not possible for anyone
to be influenced by the stars to enter
upon that sort of error in which the
witches are ensnared, such as blood¬
shed, theft or robbery, or even the
perpetration of the worst inconti¬
nences ; and this is true of other natural
phenomena.

Also, as William of Paris says in his
De Uniuerso , it is proved by experience
that if a harlot tries to plant an olive
it does not become fruitful, whereas if
it is planted by a chaste woman it is
fruitful. And a doctor in healing, a
farmer in planting, or a soldier in
fighting can do more with the help of
the influence of the stars than another
who possesses the same skill can do.

Our third way is taken from the

36

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 5.

refutation of the belief in Fate. And
here it is to be noted that a belief in
Fate is in one way quite Catholic, but
in another way entirely heretical. For
Fate may be understood after the
manner of certain Gentiles and Mathe¬
maticians, who thought that the differ¬
ent characters of men were inevitably
caused by the force of the position of
the stars, so that a wizard was pre¬
destined to be such, even if he were of a
good character, because the disposition
of the stars under which he was con¬
ceived or born caused him to be such as
he was. And that force they called by
the name of Fate.

But that opinion is not only false, but
heretical and altogether detestable on
account of the deprivation which it
must entail, as was shown above in the
refutation of the first error. For by it
would be removed all reason for merit
or blame, for grace and glory, and God
would be made the author of our
evil, and more such incongruities.
Therefore such conception of Fate
must be altogether rejected, since there
is no such thing. And touching this
belief S. Gregory says in his Homily
on the Epiphany: Far be it from the
hearts of the faithful to say that there is
any Fate.

And although, on account of the
same incongruity which is detected in
both, this opinion may seem to be the
same as that concerning the Astrologers,
they are yet different inasmuch as they
disagree concerning the force of the
stars and the influx of the seven
Planets.

But Fate may be considered to be a
sort of second disposition, or an ordina¬
tion of second causes for the production
of foreseen Divine effects. And in this
way Fate is truly something. For the
providence of God accomplishes His
effects through mediating causes, in such
matters as are subject to second causes ;
though this is not so in the case of some
other matters, such as the creation of
souls, glorification, and the acquisition
of grace.

Also the Angels may co-operate in the
infusion of Grace by enlightening and
guiding the understanding and the
capability of the will, and so a certain
arrangement of results may be said to
be one and the same as Providence or
even Fate. For it is considered in this
way; that there is in God a quality
which may be called Providence, or it

may be said that He has ordained
intermediary causes for the realization
of some of His purposes; and to this
extent Fate is a rational fact. And in
this way Boethius speaks of Fate ( de
Consolatione IV) : Fate is an inherent
disposition in things mobile, by which
Providence binds things to that which
It has ordained.

Nevertheless the learned Saints re¬
fused to use this name, on account of
those who twisted its meaning to the
force of the position of the stars.
Wherefore S. Augustine {de Ciuitate Dei ,
V) says : If anyone attributed human
affairs to Fate, meaning by Fate the
Will and Power of God, let him keep
his opinion but amend his tongue.

It is clear, then, that what has been
said provides a sufficient answer to the
question whether all things, including
works of witchcraft, are subject to
Fate. For if Fate is said to be the ordain-
ment of second causes of foreseen
Divine results, that is, when God wills
to effect His purposes through second
causes ; to that extent they are subject
to Fate, that is, to second causes so
ordained by God ; and the influence of
the stars is one of these second causes.
But those things which come directly
from God, such as the Creation of
things, the Glorification of things sub¬
stantial and spiritual, and other things
of this sort, are not subject to such
Fate. And Boethius, in the book we
have quoted, supports this view when
he says that those things which are near
to the primal Deity are beyond the
influence of the decrees of Fate. There¬
fore the works of witches, being outside
the common course and order of
nature, are not subject to these second
causes. That is to say, that as regards
their origin they are not subject willy-
nilly to Fate, but to other causes.

Witchcraft is not caused by the Powers
that Move the Stars.

It follows that, just as witchcraft can¬
not be caused in the manner that has
been suggested, so also it is not caused
by the separate Essences which are the
Powers that move the stars; although
this was believed to be the case by
Avicenna and his school, for the follow¬
ing reasons. For they argued that those
are separate Essences of a higher power
than our souls; and the soul itself can
sometimes, by the force of imagination,

Part I. Question 5.

MALEFICARUM

37

or merely through fear, effect a change
in its own body, and even sometimes
in another body. For example, a man
walking on a plank placed at a great
height easily falls, but in his fear he
imagines that he will fall; but if the
plank were placed on the ground he
would not fall, for he would have no
reason to fear falling. So by the mere
apprehension of the soul the body grows
hot in the case of the concupiscent and
wrathful, and cold in the case of the
fearful. It can also, by strongly imagin¬
ing and fearing such things, be affected
with illnesses, such as fever and leprosy.
And as with its own body, so it can
influence another body either for health
or sickness ; and to this is ascribed the
cause of bewitchment, of which we
have spoken above.

And since according to that view the
deeds of witches have to be attributed to
the Powers that move the stars, if not
precisely to the stars themselves ; there¬
fore we must add to what we have
already said on this subject, that this
also is impossible. For the Powers that
move the stars are good and intelligent
Essences, not only by nature but also
by will, as appears from their working
for the good of the whole universe.
But that creature by whose aid witch¬
craft is done, although it may be
good by nature, cannot be good by
will. Therefore it is impossible to hold
the same judgement of both these
Essences.

And that such an Essence cannot be
good in respect of will is proved as
follows. For it is no part of a well-
disposed intelligence to extend patron¬
age to those who act against virtue;
and of such sort are the actions of
witches. For it will be shown in the
Second Part that they commit murders,
fornications, and sacrifices of children
and animals, and for their evil deeds
are called witches. Therefore the
Intelligence by whose aid such witch¬
craft is performed cannot be well-
disposed towards virtue; although it
may be good in its original nature,
since all things are so, as is evident to
anyone who thinks about it. Also it is
no part of a good Intelligence to be
the familiar spirit of criminals, and to
extend patronage to them and not to
the virtuous. For they are criminals
who use witchcraft, and they are known
by their works.

Now the natural function of the

Essences that move the stars is to influ¬
ence any creature for good, although
it often happens that it becomes
corrupted by some accident. There¬
fore those Essences cannot be the
original cause of witches.

Besides, it is the part of a good spirit
to lead men to that which is good in
human nature, and of good repute;
therefore to entice men away from
such, and to betray them into evil
things, belongs to an evilly-disposed
spirit. And by the wiles of such a spirit
men make no headway in those things
which are worthy, such as the sciences
and virtues, but rather in that which
is evil, such as the knowledge of theft
and a thousand other crimes ; therefore
the origin is not in these separate
Essences, but in some Power evilly
disposed toward virtue.

Besides, that cannot be understood
to be a well-disposed spirit which is
invoked as a helper in the commission
of crimes. But this is what happens
in the deeds of witches; for, as will be
shown by their performances, they
abjure the Faith, and slay innocent
children. For the separate Essences
which move the stars do not, on account
of their goodness, provide help in these
works of witchcraft.

In conclusion, then ; this kind of
works can no more arise from the
Movers of the stars than from the stars
themselves. And since they must origi¬
nate from some Power allied to some
creature, and that Power cannot be
good in its will, although it may be
naturally good, and that the devils
themselves answer to this description,
it follows that it is by their power that
such things are done.

Unless, indeed, anyone should bring
forward the trifling objection that
witchcraft originates in human malice,
and that it is effected by curses, and the
placings of images in a certain place,
the stars being favourable. For example,
a certain witch placed her image and
said to a woman, ‘T will make you
blind and lame” ; and it happened so.
But it happened because the woman
from her nativity was destined by the
stars for such an affliction ; and if such
words and practices had been used
against anyone else, they would not have
been effective. And to this I shall
answer in detail ; first, that such witch¬
crafts cannot be caused by human
malice; secondly, that they cannot be

38

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 5.

caused by magic words or images,
whatever stars may be in concurrence.

Witchcraft does not operate from Human
Malice alone.

And first to prove that witches’ works
cannot arise from human malice, how¬
ever great. For a man’s malice may
be either habitual, inasmuch as by
frequent practice he acquires a habit
that inclines him to commit sin, not
from ignorance but from weakness ;
in which case he is held to sin from
wickedness. Or it may be actual malice,
by which is meant the deliberate choice
of evil, which is called the sin against
the Holy Ghost. But in neither case can
he, without the help of some higher
Power, work such spells as the mutation
of the elements, or the harming of the
bodies both of men and beasts. And
this is proved first as to the cause, and
secondly as to the effect of witchcraft.

For a man cannot effect such works
without malice, that is, a weakening of
his nature, and still less when his
nature has already been weakened ; as is
clear, since his active virtue is already
diminished. But man, through all sorts
of sin and wickedness, becomes weak¬
ened in his natural goodness. Both
reason and authority prove this. For
Dionysius {de Diuin. JVom. IV) says :
Sin is the effect of natural habit; and
he speaks of the sin of guilt. Wherefore
no one who is conscious of sin commits
it, unless he does so out of deliberate
revolt.

I answer thus. The sin of guilt stands
in the same relation to the good of
nature as does the good of grace to
the sin of nature. But by grace is
diminished natural sin, which is as a
tinder prone to guilt; therefore much
more is natural good diminished by
guilt. And it is not valid to put forward
the objection that a bewitchment is
sometimes caused by an old woman
evilly looking at a child, by which the
child is changed and bewitched. For,
as has already been shown, this can
only happen to children because of
their tender complexion. But here we
speak of the bodies of all sorts of men
and beasts, and even the elements and
hailstorms. If anyone wishes to inquire
further, he may refer to S. Thomas in
his questions concerning Evil : Whether
sin can corrupt the whole natural
good, etc.

And now as regards the effects of
witchcraft. From the effects we arrive
at a knowledge of the cause. Now these
effects, as they concern us, are outside
the order of created nature as known
to us, and are done through the power
of some creature unknown to us,
although they are not miracles, which
are things done outside the order of
the whole of created nature. As for
miracles, they are wrought by His
power Who is above the whole order
of the entire natural creation, Which
is the Blessed God ; as it is said : Thou
art He Who alone workest great marvels.
So also the works of witches are said
to be miraculous only inasmuch as they
are done by some cause unknown to us,
and outside the order of created nature
as known to us. From which it follows
that the corporeal virtue of a man can¬
not extend itself to the causation of
such works ; for it has always this
quality, that the cause with the natural
effect is, in the case of man, recognized
naturally and without wonder.

And that the works of witches can in
some way be called miraculous, in so
far as they exceed human knowledge,
is clear from their very nature ; for they
are not done naturally. It is shown
also by all the Doctors, especially S.
Augustine in Book LXXXIII, where he
says that by magic arts many miracles
are wrought similar to those miracles
which are done by the servants of God.
And again in the same book he. says
that Magicians do miracles by private
contract, good Christians by public
justice, and bad Christians by the signs
of public justice. And all this is ex¬
plained as follows. For there is a
Divine justice in the whole universe,
just as there is a public law in the
State. But the virtue of any creature
has to do with the universe, as that of
the private individual has to do with
the State. Therefore inasmuch as good
Christians work miracles by Divine
justice, they are said to work them by
public justice. But the Magician, since
he works through a pact entered into
with the devil, is said to work by private
contract; for he works by means of the
devil, who by his natural power can do
things outside the order of created
nature as known to us, through the
virtue of a creature unknown to us;
and it will be for us a miracle, although
not actually so, since he cannot work
outside the order of the whole of

Part I. Question 5.

MALEFICARUM

39

created nature, and through all the
virtues of creatures unknown to us.
For in this way only God is said to
work miracles. As it is said : Thou art
God Who alone workest great marvels.
But bad Christians work through the
signs of public justice, as by invoking
the Name of Christ, or by exhibiting
certain sacraments. If anyone pleases,
he can refer to S. Thomas in the first
part of the questions, III, art. 4. He
can also study the conclusions in the
Second Part of this work, Chapter VI.

That Witchcraft is not exercised and wrought
by Voices and Words under a favouring
Influence of the Stars.

Neither does witchcraft proceed from
words uttered over images by men
under favourable constellations. For
the intellect of a man is of such a nature
that its knowledge springs from things,
and phantasms must be rationally
examined. It is not in his nature,
simply by thought or by the intrinsic
operation of his intellect, to cause things
to happen just by expressing them in
words. For if there were men who had
such power, they would not be of the
same nature as we, and could only
equivocally be called men.

But it is said that they effect these
things by words when the stars of the
nativity are favourable; from which
it would follow that they would be
able to act by the power of words only
under certain conditions, and that
they would be powerless without the
help of the stars of their victim’s
nativity. But this is clearly false from
what has been said before concerning
Astromancers, casters of Horoscopes
and Fortune-tellers.

Besides, words express the conception
of the mind ; and the stars cannot
influence the understanding, neither
can the Powers that move them, unless
they wish on their own account, and
apart from the motion of the stars, to
enlighten the understanding; and this
would only happen in regard to good
works, for not enlightenment but dark¬
ness is given to the understanding for
the performance of evil works; and
such is the function not of good, but
of evil spirits. Therefore it is clear
that if their words are in any way
effective, it is not by virtue of any star,
but by virtue of some Intelligence,
which may be naturally good, but

cannot be good in respect of will, since
it always works for evil ; and such is the
devil, as has been shown above.

And they cannot effect such things
by images influenced, as it were, by the
stars. For such images, marked with
whatever characters and figures, are
the result of a man working by art. But
the stars cause natural effects; a term
which cannot be applied to the effects
caused by evil witches, to the harm of
creatures, proceeding apart from the
accustomed order of nature. Wherefore
this argument is not relevant.

Again, it has been shown above that
there are two kinds of images. Those
of the Astrologers and Mages are
ordained not for corruption, but for
the obtaining of some private good.
But the images of witches are quite
different, since always they are secretly
placed somewhere by the command of
the devil for the hurt of a creature;
and they who walk or sleep over them
are harmed, as the witches themselves
confess. Wherefore whatever they effect
is done by means of devils, and is not
due to the influence of the stars.

To the arguments. For the first, we
must understand the words of S.
Augustine, that the cause of man’s
depravity lies in man’s will, meaning
the cause which produces the effect;
which is properly said to be the cause.
It is not so, however, with the cause
which permits the effect, or arranges
or advises or suggests it, in which sense
the devil is said to be the cause of sin
and depravity; God only permitting
it that good may come of evil. As
S. Augustine says : The devil provides
the inner suggestion, and persuades
both inwardly and outwardly by more
active stimulation. But he instructs
those who are entirely in his power, as
are witches, whom there is no need to
tempt from within, but only from
without, etc.

And through this we come to the
second argument, that everyone is, by
direct understanding, the cause of his
own wickedness. And concerning this
it is to be said that, though it would be
contrary to the doctrine of free-will to
believe that a man may be influenced
by direct command, it is not so to say
that he is influenced by suggestion.

Thirdly, impulses to good or evil
can be caused to be suggested by the
influence of the stars, and the impulse
is received as a natural inclination to

40

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 5.

human virtue or vice. But the works
of witches are outside the common order
of nature, and therefore they cannot
be subject to those influences.

The fourth argument is equally clear.
For though the stars are a cause of
human acts, witchcraft is not properly
a human act.

For the fifth argument, that the
Powers that move the stars can influence
souls. If that is understood directly,
they do so influence them by enlighten¬
ing them towards goodness, but not to
witchcraft, as has been shown above.
But if it is understood mediately, then
through the medium of the stars they
exert an indirect and suggestive
influence.

Sixthly, there are two reasons why
devils molest men at certain phases of
the Moon. First, that they may bring
disrepute on a creature of God, namely,
the Moon, as S. Jerome and S. John
Chrysostom say. Secondly, because they
cannot, as has been said above, operate
except through the medium of the
natural powers. Therefore they study
the aptitudes of bodies for receiving an
impression; and because, as Aristotle
says, the brain is the most humid of
all the parts of the body, therefore it
chiefly is subject to the operation of the
Moon, which itself has power to incite
humours. Moreover, the animal forces
are perfected in the brain, and therefore
the devils disturb a man’s fancy accord¬
ing to certain phases of the Moon,
when the brain is ripe for • such
influences.

And there are two reasons why the
devils are present as counsellors in
certain constellations. First, that they
may lead men into the error of thinking
that there is some divinity in the
stars. Secondly, because they think
that under the influence of some con¬
stellations corporeal matter is more apt
for the deeds that they counsel.

And as to what S. Augustine says in de
duitate Dei , XXXVI : Devils are at¬
tracted by various kinds of stones, herbs,
trees, animals, songs, and instruments of
music, not as animals are attracted by
food, but as spirits by signs, as if these
things were exhibited to them as a sign
of Divine honour, for which they are
themselves eager.

But it is often objected that devils
can be hindered by herbs and music
from molesting men ; as it is alleged in
the argument from Saul and the music

of the harp. And hence an attempt is
made to argue that some men can
work witchcraft through certain herbs
and occult causes, without the help of
devils, but only of the influence of the
stars, which have more direct power
over matters corporeal for corporeal
effects than over the devils for effects
of witchcraft.

Now, though this must be answered
more widely, it is to be noted that
herbs and music cannot by their own
natural virtue entirely shut out the
molestation which the devil can inflict
upon men, with the permission of God
and the good Angels. Yet they can
mitigate that molestation ; and this
can even be of so slight a nature that
they can entirely remove it. But they
would do this, not by acting against
the devil himself, since he is a separate
spirit against whom nothing corporeal
can naturally act, but by acting against
the actual molestation of the devil.
For every cause that has limited power
can produce a more intense effect on
a suitable than upon an unsuitable
material. See Aristotle De Anima. They
who act do so upon a predisposed

{)atient. Now the devil is an agent of
imited power; therefore he can inflict
a fiercer affliction on a man disposed
to that affliction or to that which the
devil means to inflict, than upon a man
of a contrary disposition. For example,
the devil can induce a fiercer passion
of melancholy in a man disposed to
that humour than in a man of the
contrary disposition.

Moreover, it is certain that herbs
and music can change the disposition
of the body, and consequently of the
emotions. This is evident in the case
of herbs, since some incline a man
to joy, some to sadness, and so with
others. It is evident also in the case of
music, as Aristotle shows ( Politics , VIII),
where he says that different harmonies
can produce different passions in man.
Boethius also mentions this in his
Music , and the author of the Birth of
Knowledge , where he speaks of the
usefulness of music, and says that it is
of value in the cure or alleviation of
various infirmities. And thus, Mother
things being equal, it may help to
weaken the affliction.

But I do not see how herbs or music
can cause a man to be of such a dis¬
position that he can in no way be
molested by the devil. Even if such

Part I. Question 6.

MALEFICARUM

41

a thing were permissible, the devil,
moving only in local vapour of the
spirit, can grievously afflict men super-
naturally. But herbs and harmonies
cannot of their own natural virtue
cause in man a disposition by which
the devil is prevented from creating
the aforesaid commotion. Neverthe¬
less it sometimes happens that the
devil is permitted to inflict only so
small a vexation on a man that, through
some strong contrary disposition, it
may be totally removed ; and then
some herbs or harmonies can so dispose
a man’s body to the contrary that the
vexation is totally removed. For ex¬
ample, the devil may at times vex a
man with the affliction of sadness ; but
so weakly that herbs or harmonies
which are capable of causing a swelling
and uplifting of the spirits, which are
contrary emotions to sadness, can
totally remove that sadness.

Moreover, S. Augustine, in his Second
Book On the Christian Doctrine , con¬
demns amulets and certain other things
of which he there writes much, attribut¬
ing their virtue to magic art, since they
can have no natural virtue of their
own. And this is clear from what he
says. To this sort belong all amulets
and charms which are condemned by
the School of Physicians, which con¬
demns very clearly their use, in that
they have no efficacy of their own
natural virtue.

And as for that concerning 1 Kings
xvi : that Saul, who was vexed by a
devil, was alleviated when David played
his harp before him, and that the devil
departed, etc. It must be known that
it is quite true that by the playing of
the harp, and the natural virtue of
that harmony, the affliction of Saul was
to some extent relieved, inasmuch as
that music did somewhat calm his
senses through hearing ; through which
calming he was made less prone to
that vexation. But the reason why the
evil spirit departed when David played
the harp was because of the might of
the Cross, which is clearly enough
shown by the gloss, where it says :
David was learned in music, skilful
in the different notes and harmonic
modulations. He shows the essential
unity by playing each day in various
modes. David repressed the evil spirit
by the harp, not because there was so
much virtue in the harp, but it was
made in the sign of a cross, being a

cross of wood with the strings stretched
across. And even at that time the devils
fled from this.

☆

QUESTION VI

Concerning Witches who copulate with
Devils.

Why it is that Women are chiefly addicted
to Evil Superstitions.

THERE is also, concerning witches
who copulate with devils, much
difficulty in considering the methods by
which such abominations are consum¬
mated. On the part of the devil : first,
of what element the body is made that
he assumes; secondly, whether the act
is always accompanied by the injection
of semen received from another ; third¬
ly, as to time and place, whether he
commits this act more frequently at one
time than at another ; fourthly, whether
the act is invisible to any who may be
standing by. And on the part of the
women, it has to be inquired whether
only they who were themselves con¬
ceived in this filthy manner are often
visited by devils ; or secondly, whether
it is those who were offered to devils by
midwives at the time of their birth;
and thirdly, whether the actual venereal
delectation of such is of a weaker sort.
But we cannot here reply to all these
questions, both because we are only en¬
gaged in a general study, and because
in the second part of this work they are
all singly explained by their operations,
as will appear in the fourth chapter,
where mention is made of each separate
method. Therefore let us now chiefly
consider women; and first, why this
kind of perfidy is found more in so
fragile a sex than in men. And our in¬
quiry will first be general, as to the
general conditions of women ; secondly,
particular, as to which sort of women
are found to be given to superstition and
witchcraft ; and thirdly, specifically
with regard to midwives, who surpass
all others in wickedness.

Why Superstition is chiefy found in
Women.

As for the first question, why a
greater number of witches is found in
the fragile feminine sex than among
men ; it is indeed a fact that it were idle
to contradict, since it is accredited by

42

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 6.

actual experience, apart from the verbal
testimony of credible witnesses. And
without in any way detracting from a
sex in which God has always taken
great glory that His might should be
spread abroad, let us say that various
men have assigned various reasons for
this fact, which nevertheless agree in
principle. Wherefore it is good, for the
admonition of women, to speak of this
matter ; and it has often been proved by
experience that they are eager to hear
of it, so long as it is set forth with dis¬
cretion.

For some learned men propound this
reason; that there are three things in
nature, the Tongue, an Ecclesiastic,
and a Woman, which know no modera¬
tion in goodness or vice ; and when they
exceed the bounds of their condition
they reach the greatest heights and the
lowest depths of goodness and vice.
When they are governed by a good
spirit, they are most excellent in virtue ;
but when they are governed by an evil
spirit, they indulge the worst possible
vices.

This is clear in the case of the tongue,
since by its ministry most of the king¬
doms have been brought into the faith
of Christ; and the Holy Ghost ap¬
peared over the Apostles of Christ in
tongues of fire. Other learned preachers
also have had as it were the tongues of
dogs, licking the wounds and sores of
the dying Lazarus. As it is said : With
the tongues of. dogs ye save your souls
from the enemy.

For this reason S. Dominic,* the
leader and father of the Order of
Preachers, is represented in the figure
of a barking dog with a lighted torch in
his mouth, that even to this day he may
by his barking keep off the heretic
wolves from the flock of Christ’s sheep.

It is also a matter of common ex¬
perience that the tongue of one prudent
man can subdue the wrangling of a
multitude ; wherefore not unjustly Solo¬
mon sings much in their praise, in
Proverbs x. : In the lips of him that hath
understanding wisdom is found. And

* “S. Dominic Before the birth of S.
Dominic , his mother , Blessed Joanna d’Aza ,
dreamed that she had brought forth a black-and-
white dog carrying in his mouth a lighted torch.
The dog with the torch is accordingly the pictorial
attribute of the Saint. Nor must the play upon
the name of his sons be forgotten — Dominicani,
Domini canes , Hounds of the Lord.

again, The tongue of the just is as
choice silver : the heart of the wicked is
little worth. And again, The lips of
the righteous feed many ; but fools die
for want of wisdom. For this cause he
adds in chapter xvi, The preparations
of the heart belong to man; but the
answer of the tongue is from the Lord.

But concerning an evil tongue you
will find in Ecclesiasticus xxviii : A
backbiting tongue hath disquieted
many, and driven them from nation to
nation : strong cities hath it pulled
down, and overthrown the houses of
great men. And by a backbiting
tongue it means a third party who
rashly or spitefully interferes between
two contending parties.

Secondly, concerning Ecclesiastics,
that is to say, clerics and religious of
either sex, S. John Chrysostomf speaks
on the text, He cast out them that
bought and sold from the temple.
From the priesthood arises everything
good, and everything evil. S. Jerome
in his epistle to Nepotian says : Avoid
as you would the plague a trading
priest, who has risen from poverty to
riches, from a low to a high estate. And
Blessed Bernard in his 23rd Homily On
the Psalms says of clerics : If one should
arise as an open heretic, let him be cast
out and put to silence ; if he is a violent
enemy, let all good men flee from him.
But how are we to know which ones to
cast out or to flee from? For they are
confusedly friendly and hostile, peace¬
able and quarrelsome, neighbourly and
utterly selfish.

And in another place: Our bishops
are become spearmen, and our pastors
shearers. And by bishops here is meant
those proud Abbots who impose heavy
labours on their inferiors, which they
would not themselves touch with their
little finger. And S. Gregory says con¬
cerning pastors : No one does more
harm in the Church than he who,
having the name or order of sanctity,
lives in sin; for no one dares to accuse
him of sin, and therefore the sin is
widely spread, since the sinner is

j" “S. John Chrysostom Born at Antioch
34J; died at Comana in Pontus, 14 September,
407. His ffty-nine homilies “On the Psalms ”
(iv-xii, xli, xliii-xlix, cviii-cxvii, cxix-cl) are
very famous. For a full study of these see Baur's
“Der urspriingliche JJmfang des Kommentars
des hi. Joh. Chrysostomus gu den Psalmeri” in
XpuCTOCTTOfjuxa, fasc. I, Rome, igo8.

Part I. Question 6.

MALEFICARUM

43

honoured for the sanctity of his order.
Blessed Augustine also speaks of monks
to Vincent the Donatist : I freely con¬
fess to your charity before the Lord our
God, which is the witness of my soul
from the time I began to serve God,
* what great difficulty I have experi¬
enced in the fact that it is impossible to
find either worse or better men than
those who grace or disgrace the monas¬
teries.

Now the wickedness of women is
spoken of in Ecclesiasticus xxv : There is
no head above the head of a serpent:
and there is no wrath above the wrath
of a woman. I had rather dwell with a
lion and a dragon than to keep house
with a wicked woman. And among
much which in that place precedes and
follows about a wicked woman, he con¬
cludes: All wickedness is but little to
the wickedness of a woman. Wherefore
S. John Chrysostom says on the text, It
is not good to marry (S. Matthew xix) :*
What else is woman but a foe to friend¬
ship, an unescapable punishment, a
necessary evil, a natural temptation, a
desirable calamity, a domestic danger,
a delectable detriment, an evil of
nature, painted with fair colours !
Therefore if it be a sin to divorce her
when she ought to be kept, it is indeed
a necessary torture ; for either we com¬
mit adultery by divorcing her, or we
must endure daily strife. Cicero in his
second book of The Rhetorics says : The
many lusts of men lead them into one
sin, but the one lust of women leads
them into all sins; for the root of all
woman’s vices is avarice. And Seneca
says in his Tragedies: A woman either
loves or hates ; there is no third grade.
And the tears of a woman are a decep¬
tion, for they may spring from true
grief, or they may be a snare. When a
woman thinks alone, she thinks evil.

But for good women there is so much
praise, that we read that they have
brought beatitude to men, and have
saved nations, lands, and cities; as is
clear in the case of Judith, Debbora,
and Esther. See also i Corinthians vii:
If a woman hath a husband that be-
lieveth not, and he be pleased to dwell
with her, let her not leave him. For
the unbelieving husband is sanctified
by the believing wife. And Ecclesias¬
ticus xxvi : Blessed is the man who has a

* “S. Matthew .” The ninety Homilies on S.
Matthew were written about the year 390.

virtuous wife, for the number of his
days shall be doubled. And throughout
that chapter much high praise is spoken
of the excellence of good women; as
also in the last chapter of Proverbs con¬
cerning a virtuous woman.

And all this is made clear also in the
New Testament concerning women and
virgins and other holy women who have
by faith led nations and kingdoms away
from the worship of idols to the Chris¬
tian religion. Anyone who looks at Vin¬
cent of Beauvais (in Spe. Histor., XXVI.
9) will find marvellous things of the
conversion of Hungary by the most
Christian Gilia,y and of the Franks by
Clotilda, % the wife of Clovis. Where¬
fore in many vituperations that we read
against women, the word woman is
used to mean the lust of the flesh. As it
is said : I have found a woman more
bitter than death, and a good woman
subject to carnal lust.

Others again have propounded other
reasons why there are more super¬
stitious women found than men. And
the first is, that they are more credu¬
lous ; and since the chief aim of the
devil is to corrupt faith, therefore he
rather attacks them. See Ecclesiasticus
xix: He that is quick to believe is
light-minded, and shall be diminished.

f “ Gilia .” Rather Gisela, the devout sister
of Duke Henry of Bavaria (the future Emperor
S. Henry II); in 993 married S. Stephen of
Hungary, who succeeded to the throne in 997.
She was untiring in her efforts to spread the
Faith throughout the kingdom. The coronation
mantle of Hungary, a purple damask cope,
embroidered in silk and gold by Queen Gisela,
dated 1031, is preserved at Budapest.

+ “Clotilda.” Born probably at Lyons about
474; died at Tours, 3 June, 343. The feast of
S. Clotilda is celebrated 3 June. From the sixth
century onwards, the marriage of Clovis I, King
of the Salic Franks, and Clotilda, which took
place in 492 or 493, was made the theme of epic
narratives and many legends. Clotilda soon
acquired a great ascendancy over her husband, and
she availed herself of this influence to win him to
the Catholic Faith. For a time her efforts seemed
unavailing, but Clovis, who in a great battle
against the Alemanni saw his men on the point
of defeat, invoked the God of his wife, promising
to become a Christian if only victory should be
granted to the Franks. The tide instantly turned,
and, true to his word, he was baptized at Reims
by S. Remigius at Christmas, 496. His sister and
three thousand of his noblest warriors at the
same time embraced the Faith. Thus S.
Clotilda was the instrument in the conversion of a
mighty people.

44

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 6.

The second reason is, that women are
naturally more impressionable, and
more ready to receive the influence of
a disembodied spirit; and that when
they use this quality well they are very
good, but when they use it ill they are
very evil.

The third reason is that they have
slippery tongues, and are unable to con¬
ceal from their fellow-women those
things which by evil arts they know;
and, since they are weak, they find an
easy and secret manner of vindicating
themselves by witchcraft. See Eccle¬
siasticus as quoted above : I had rather
dwell with a lion and a dragon than to
keep house with a wicked woman. All
wickedness is but little to the wicked¬
ness of a woman. And to this may be
added that, as they are very impres¬
sionable, they act accordingly.

There are also others who bring for¬
ward yet other reasons, of which
preachers should be very careful how
they make use. For it is true that in the
Old Testament the Scriptures have
much that is evil to say about women,
and this because of the first temptress,
Eve, and her imitators ; yet afterwards in
the New Testament we find a change of
name, as from Eva to Ave (as S. Jerome
says), and the whole sin of Eve taken
away by the benediction of Mary.
Therefore preachers should always say
as much praise of them as possible.

But because in these times this per¬
fidy is more often found in women than
in men, as we learn by actual experi¬
ence, if anyone is curious as to the
reason, we may add to what has already
been said the following: that since
they are feebler both in mind and
body, it is not surprising that they
should come more under the spell of
witchcraft.

For as regards intellect, or the under¬
standing of spiritual things, they seem
to be of a different nature from men ; a
fact which is vouched for by the logic of
the authorities, backed by various ex¬
amples from the Scriptures. Terence*
says : Women are intellectually like
children. And Lactantius ( Institu -

* “Terence.” “ Hecyra ,” III , i, 30-32:

Pueri inter sese quam pro leuibus noxiis iras
gerunt!

Qua propter? quia enim , qui eos gubernat ani¬
mus, infirmum gerunt.

Itidem ilice mulieres sunt ferme, ut pueri, leui
sententia.

tiones, III) : No woman understood
philosophy except Temeste.t And
Proverbs xi, as it were describing a
woman, says : As a jewel of gold in a
swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which
is without discretion.

But the natural reason is that she is
more carnal than a man, as is clear
from her many carnal abominations.
And it should be noted that there was a
defect in the formation of the first
woman, since she was formed from a
bent rib, that is, a rib of the breast,
which is bent as it were in a contrary
direction to a man. And since through
this defect she is an imperfect animal,
she always deceives. For Cato says :
When a woman weeps she weaves
snares. And again: When a woman
weeps, she labours to deceive a man.
And this is shown by Samson’s wife,
who coaxed him to tell her the riddle
he had propounded to the Philistines,
and told them the answer, and so de¬
ceived him. And it is clear in the case
of the first woman that she had little
faith ; for when the serpent asked why
they did not eat of every tree in Para¬
dise, she answered : Of every tree, etc.
— lest perchance we die. Thereby she
showed that she doubted, and had little
faith in the word of God. And all this
is indicated by the etymology of the
word; for Femina comes from Fe and
Minus, since she is ever weaker to hold
and preserve the faith. And this as re¬
gards faith is of her very nature ; al¬
though both by grace and nature faith
never failed in the Blessed Virgin, even
at the time of Christ’s Passion, when it
failed in all men.

Therefore a wicked woman is by her
nature quicker to waver in her faith,
and consequently quicker to abjure the
faith, which is the root of witchcraft.

And as to her other mental quality,
that is, her natural will ; when she hates
someone whom she formerly loved,
then she seethes with anger and im¬
patience in her whole soul, just as the
tides of the sea ai*e always heaving and
boiling. Many authorities allude to this

t “ Temeste .” “ Denique nullas unquam

mulieres philosophari docuerunt praeter unam ex
omni memoria Themisten.” Ill, xxv. But on
this Xistus Betulaeus (ed. 1556) glosses: “ Putat
fortasse Leontii coniugem, ad quam Epicurus
scripsisse legitur. Quid dicemus de Thermis-
toclea, Pythagorae sorore? quid de aliis pluribus
quarum bene longum catalogum Textor
recenset?”

Part I. Question 6.

MALEFICARUM

45

cause. Ecclesiasticus xxv : There is no
wrath above the wrath of a woman.
And Seneca ( Tragedies, VIII) : No might
of the flames or of the swollen winds, no
deadly weapon, is so much to be feared
as the lust and hatred of a woman who
has been divorced from the marriage
bed.*

This is shown too in the woman who
falsely accused Joseph, and caused him
to be imprisoned because he would not
consent to the crime of adultery with
her [Genesis xxx) . And truly the most
powerful cause which contributes to the
increase of witches is the woeful rivalry
between married folk and unmarried
women and men. This is so even among
holy women, so what must it be among
the others? For you see in Genesis xxi.
how impatient and envious Sarah was
of Hagar when she conceived : how
jealous Rachel was of Leah because she
had no children ( Genesis xxx) : and
Hannah, who was barren, of the fruitful
Peninnah (I. Kings i) : and how Miriam
[Numbers xii) murmured and spoke ill
of Moses, and was therefore stricken
with leprosy: and how Martha was
jealous of Mary Magdalen, because she
was busy and Mary was sitting down
(iS*. Luke x). To this point is Eccle¬
siasticus xxxvii : Neither consult with a
woman touching her of whom she is
jealous. Meaning that it is useless to
consult with her, since there is always
jealousy, that is, envy, in a wicked
woman. And if women behave thus to
each other, how much more will they
do so to men.

Valerius Maximus tells how, when
Phoroneus, the king of the Greeks, was
dying, he said to his brother Leontius
that there would have been nothing
lacking to him of complete happiness if
a wife had always been lacking to him.
And when Leontius asked how a wife
could stand in the way of happiness, he
answered that all married men well
knew. And when the philosopher So¬
crates was asked if one should marry a
wife, he answered : If you do not, you
are lonely, your family dies out, and a
stranger inherits ; if you do, you suffer
perpetual anxiety, querulous com¬
plaints, reproaches concerning the mar¬
riage portion, the heavy displeasure of
your relations, the garrulousness of a
mother-in-law, cuckoldom, and no cer¬
tain arrival of an heir. This he said as

* “ Seneca .” “Medea,” 579-82.

one who knew. For S. Jerome in his
Contra louinianum\ says : This Socrates
had two wives, whom he endured with
much patience, but could not be rid of
their contumelies and clamorous vi¬
tuperations. So one day when they
were complaining against him, he went
out of the house to escape their plagu¬
ing, and sat down before the house ; and
the women then threw filthy water over
him. But the philosopher was not dis¬
turbed by this, saying, “I knew that the
rain would come after the thunder.”

There is also a story of a man whose
wife was drowned in a river, who, when
he was searching for the body to take it
out of the water, walked up the stream.
And when he was asked why, since
heavy bodies do not rise but fall, he
was searching against the current of the
river, he answered : “When that woman
was alive she always, both in word and
deed, went contrary to my commands ;
therefore I am searching in the contrary
direction in case even now she is dead
she may preserve her contrary dis¬
position.”

And indeed, just as through the first
defect in their intelligence they are more
prone to abjure the faith; so through
their second defect of inordinate affec¬
tions and passions they search for,
brood over, and inflict various ven¬
geances, either by witchcraft, or by
some other means. Wherefore it is no
wonder that so great a number of
witches exist in this sex.

Women also have weak memories;
and it is a natural vice in them not to
be disciplined, but to follow their own
impulses without any sense of what is
due ; this is her whole study, and all that
she keeps in her memory. So Theo¬
phrastus says : If you hand over the
whole management of the house to her,
but reserve some minute detail to your
own judgement, she will think that you
are displaying a great want of faith in
her, and will stir up strife; and unless
you quickly take counsel, she will pre¬
pare poison for you, and consult seers
and soothsayers; and will become a
witch.

But as to domination by women, hear
what Cicero says in the Paradoxes. Can
he be called a free man whose wife
governs him, imposes laws on him,
orders him, and forbids him to do what

* “ Contra Iouinianum.” This treatise was
written 392-93.

46

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 6.

he wishes, so that he cannot and dare
not deny her anything that she asks?
I should call him not only a slave, but
the vilest of slaves, even if he comes of
the noblest family. And Seneca, in the
character of the raging Medea,* says:
Why do you cease to follow your happy
impulse ; how great is that part of
vengeance in which you rejoice? Where
he adduces many proofs that a woman
will not be governed, but will follow her
own impulse even to her own destruc¬
tion. In the same way we read of many
women who have killed themselves
either for love or sorrow because they
were unable to work their vengeance.

S. Jerome, writing of Daniel, tells a
story of Laodice, wife of Antiochus king
of Syria; how, being jealous lest he
should love his other wife, Berenice,
more than her, she first caused Berenice
and her daughter by Antiochus to be
slain, and then poisoned herself. And
why? Because she would not be gov¬
erned, but would follow her own im¬
pulse. Therefore S. John Chrysostom
says not without reason : O evil worse
than all evil, a wicked woman, whether
she be poor or rich. For if she be the
wife of a rich man, she does not cease
night and day to excite her husband
with hot words, to use evil blandish¬
ments and violent importunations. And
if she have a poor husband she does not
cease to stir him also to anger and strife.
And if she be a widow, she takes it upon
herself everywhere to look down on
everybody, and is inflamed to all bold¬
ness by the spirit of pride.

If we inquire, we find that nearly all
the kingdoms of the world have been
overthrown by women. Troy, which
was a prosperous kingdom, was, for the
rape of one woman, Helen, destroyed,
and many thousands of Greeks slain.
The kingdom of the Jews suffered much
misfortune and destruction through the
accursed Jezebel, and her daughter
Athaliah, queen of Judah, who caused
her son’s sons to be killed, that on their
death she might reign herself ; yet each
of them was slain. The kingdom of the
Romans endured much evil through
Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, that worst
of women. And so with others. There¬
fore it is no wonder if the world now
suffers through the malice of women.

* “Medea.” V, 895-6:

Quid, anime, cessas sequere felicem impetum ?
Pars ultionis ista, qua gaudes, quota est?

And now let us examine the carnal
desires of the body itself, whence has
arisen unconscionable harm to human
life. Justly may we say with Cato of
Utica: If the world could be rid of
women, we should not be without God
in our intercourse. For truly, without
the wickedness of women, to say
nothing of witchcraft, the world would
still remain proof against innumerable
dangers. Hear what Valerius said to
Rufinus : You do not know that woman
is the Chimaera, but it is good that you
should know it ; for that monster was of
three forms; its face was that of a
radiant and noble lion, it had the filthy
belly of a goat, and it was armed with
the virulent tail of a viper. And he
means that a woman is beautiful to look
upon, contaminating to the touch, and
deadly to keep.

Let us consider another property of
hers, the voice. For as she is a liar by
nature, so in her speech she stings while
she delights us. Wherefore her voice is
like the song of the Sirens, who with
their sweet melody entice the passers-by
and kill them. For they kill them by
emptying their purses, consuming their
strength, and causing them to forsake
God. Again Valerius says to Rufinus:
When she speaks it is a delight which
flavours the sin ; the flower of love is a
rose, because under its blossom there
are hidden many thorns. See Proverbs
v, 3-4: Her mouth is smoother than
oil; that is, her speech is afterwards as
bitter as absinthium. [Her throat is
smoother than oil. But her end is as
bitter as wormwood.]

Let us consider also her gait, posture,
and habit, in which is vanity of vanities.
There is no man in the world who
studies so hard to please the good God
as even an ordinary woman studies by
her vanities to please men. An example
of this is to be found in the life of
Pelagia,* a worldly woman who was

* ‘ ‘ Pelagia . ” ‘ ‘ Pelagia meretrix ” or1 1 Pelagia
mima ,” a beautiful actress who led the life of a
prostitute at Antioch. She was converted by the
holy bishop Nonnus, and disguised as a man
went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where for many
years she led a life of extremest mortification and
penance in a grotto on the Mount of Olives.
This “ bienheureuse pecheresse ” attained to such
heights of sanctity that she was canonized, and
in the East, where her cult was long very
popular, her festival is kept on 8 October, which
is also the day of her commemoration in the
Roman Martyrology.

Part I. Question 6.

MALEFICARUM

47

wont to go about Antioch tired and
adorned most extravagantly. A holy
father, named Nonnus, saw her and
began to weep, saying to his com¬
panions, that never in all his life had he
used such diligence to please God ; and
much more he added to this effect,
which is preserved in his orations.

It is this which is lamented in Eccle¬
siastes vii, and which the Church even
now laments on account of the great
multitude of witches. And I have
found a woman more bitter than death,
who is the hunter’s snare, and her heart
is a net, and her hands are bands. He
that pleaseth God shall escape from her ;
but he that is a sinner shall be caught
by her. More bitter than death, that
is, than the devil : Apocalypse vi, 8, His
name was Death. For though the devil
tempted Eve to sin, yet Eve seduced
Adam. And as the sin of Eve would not
have brought death to our soul and
body unless the sin had afterwards
passed on to Adam, to which he was
tempted by Eve, not by the devil,
therefore she is more bitter than death.

More bitter than death, again, be¬
cause that is natural and destroys only
the body ; but the sin which arose from
woman destroys the soul by depriving it
of grace, and delivers the body up to the
punishment for sin.

More bitter than death, again, be¬
cause bodily death is an open and ter¬
rible enemy, but woman is a wheedling
and secret enemy.

And that she is more perilous than a
snare does not speak of the snare of
hunters, but of devils. For men are
caught not only through their carnal
desires, when they see and hear women :
for S. Bernard says : Their face is a
burning wind, and their voice the hiss¬
ing of serpents : but they also cast
wicked spells on countless men and
animals. And when it is said that her
heart is a net, it speaks of the inscrutable
malice which reigns in their hearts.
And her hands are as bands for binding ;
for when they place their hands on a
creature to bewitch it, then with the help
of the devil they perform their design.

To conclude. All witchcraft comes
from carnal lust, which is in women in¬
satiable. See Proverbs xxx: There are
three things that are never satisfied, yea,
a fourth thing which says not, It is
enough ; that is, the mouth of the womb.
Wherefore for the sake of fulfilling their
lusts they consort even with devils.

More such reasons could be brought for¬
ward, but to the understanding it is
sufficiently clear that it is no matter for
wonder that there are more women than
men found infected with the heresy of
witchcraft. And in consequence of this,
it is better called the heresy of witches
than of wizards, since the name is taken
from the more powerful party. And
blessed be the Highest Who has so far
preserved the male sex from so great a
crime: for since He was willing to be
born and to suffer for us, therefore He
has granted to men this privilege.

What sort of Women are found to be above
all Others Superstitious and Witches.

As to our second inquiry, what sort of
women more than others are found to
be superstitious and infected with witch¬
craft; it must be said, as was shown in
the preceding inquiry, that three
general vices appear to have special
dominion over wicked women, namely,
infidelity, ambition, and lust. There¬
fore they are more than others inclined
towards witchcraft, who more than
others are given to these vices. Again,
since of these three vices the last
chiefly predominates, women being
insatiable, etc., it follows that those
among ambitious women are more
deeply infected who are more hot to
satisfy their filthy lusts; and such are
adulteresses, fornicatresses, and the
concubines of the Great.

Now there are, as it is said in the
Papal Bull, seven methods by which
they infect with witchcraft the venereal
act and the conception of the womb :
First, by inclining the minds of men to
inordinate passion ; second, by ob¬
structing their generative force; third,
by removing the members accommo¬
dated to that act; fourth, by changing
men into beasts by their magic art;
fifth, by destroying the generative force
in women; sixth, by procuring abor¬
tion; seventh, by offering children to
devils, besides other animals and fruits
of the earth with which they work much
harm. And all these will be considered
later ; but for the present let us give our
minds to the injuries towards men.

And first concerning those who are
bewitched into an inordinate love or
hatred, this is a matter of a sort that it
is difficult to discuss before the general
intelligence. Yet it must be granted
that it is a fact. For S. Thomas (IV,

48

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 7.

34), treating of obstructions caused by
witches, shows that God allows the
devil greater power against men’s
venereal acts than against their other
actions ; and gives this reason, that this
is likely to be so, since those women are
chiefly apt to be witches who are most
disposed to such acts.

For he says that, since the first cor¬
ruption of sin by which man became
the slave of the devil came to us
through the act of generation, therefore
greater power is allowed by God to the
devil in this act than in all others. Also
the power of witches is more apparent
in serpents, as it is said, than in other
animals, because through the means of
a serpent the devil tempted woman.
For this reason also, as is shown after¬
wards, although matrimony is a work
of God, as being instituted by Him, yet
it is sometimes wrecked by the work of
the devil: not indeed through main
force, since then he might be thought
stronger than God, but with the per¬
mission of God, by causing some tem¬
porary or permanent impediment in
the conjugal act.

And touching this we may say what
is known by experience ; that these
women satisfy their filthy lusts not only
in themselves, but even in the mighty
ones of the age, of whatever state and
condition ; causing by all sorts of witch¬
craft the death of their souls through the
excessive infatuation of carnal love, in
such a way that for no shame or per¬
suasion can they desist from such acts.
And through such men, since the
witches will not permit any harm to
come to them either from themselves or
from others once they have them in their
power, there arises the great danger of
the time, namely, the extermination of
the Faith. And in this way do witches
every day increase.

And would that this were not true
according to experience. But indeed
such hatred is aroused by witchcraft
between those joined in the sacrament
of matrimony, and such freezing up of
the generative forces, that men are un¬
able to perform the necessary action for
begetting offspring. But since love and
hate exist in the soul, which even the
devil cannot enter, lest these things
should seem incredible to anyone, they
must be inquired into ; and by meeting
argument with argument the matter will
be made clear.

it

QUESTION VII

Whether Witches can Sway the Minds of
Men to Love or Hatred.

IT is asked whether devils, through the
medium of witches, can change or
incite the minds of men to inordinate
love or hatred; and it is argued that,
following the previous conclusions, they
cannot do so. For there are three things
in man : will, understanding, and body.
The first is ruled by God Himself (for,
The heart of the king is in the hand of
the Lord) ; the second is enlightened by
an Angel ; and the body is governed by
the motions of the stars. And as the
devils cannot effect changes in the body,
even less have they power to incite love
or hatred in the soul. The consequence
is clear; that though they have more
power over things corporeal than over
things spiritual, they cannot change
even the body, as has been often
proved. For they cannot induce any
substantial or accidental form, except
by the help of some other agent, which
is as it were their artificer. In this con¬
nexion is quoted what has been said
before; that whoever believes that any
creature can be changed for the better
or the worse or transformed into
another kind or likeness, except by the
Creator of all things, is worse than a
pagan and a heretic.

Besides, everything that acts with de¬
sign knows its own effect. If, therefore,
the devil could change the minds of men
to hatred or love, he would also be able
to see the inner thoughts of the heart;
but this is contrary to what is said in the
Book of Ecclesiastic Dogma : The devil
cannot see our inner thoughts. And
again in the same place: Not all our
evil thoughts are from the devil, but
sometimes they arise from our own
choice.

Besides, love and hatred are a matter
of the will, which is rooted in the soul ;
therefore they cannot by any cunning be
caused by the devil. The conclusion
holds that He alone (as S. Augustine
says) is able to enter into the soul, Who
created it.

Besides, it is not valid to argue that
because he can influence the inner emo¬
tions, therefore he can govern the will.
For the emotions are stronger than
physical strength; and the devil can
effect nothing in a physical way, such
as the formation of flesh and blood;

Part I. Question 7.

MALEFICARUM

therefore he can effect nothing through
the emotions.

But against this. The devil is said to
tempt men not only visibly but also in¬
visibly ; but this would not be true
unless he were able to exert some in¬
fluence over the inner mind. Besides, S.
John Damascene says : All evil and all
filthiness is devised by the devil. And
Dionysius, de Divin. Nom. IV : The mul¬
titude of devils is the cause of all evil, etc.

Answer. First, one sort of cause is to be
distinguished from another: secondly,
we shall show how the devil can affect
the inner powers of the mind, that is the
emotions; and thirdly, we shall draw
the fit conclusion. And as to the first,
it is to be considered that the cause of
anything can be understood in two
ways; either as direct, or as indirect.
For when something causes a disposition
to some effect, it is said to be an occa¬
sional and indirect cause of that effect.
In this way it may be said that he who
chops wood is the cause of the actual
fire. And similarly we may say that the
devil is the cause of all our sins ; for he
incited the first man to sin, from whose
sin it has been handed down to the
whole human race to have an inclina¬
tion towards all sin. And in this way
are to be understood the words of S.
John Damascene and Dionysius.

But a direct cause is one that directly
causes an effect; and in this sense the
devil is not the cause of all sin. For all
sins are not committed at the instiga¬
tion of the devil, but some are of our
own choosing. For Origen says: Even
if the devil were not, men would still
lust after food and venery and such
things. And from these inordinate
lusts much may result, unless such
appetites be reasonably restrained. But
to restrain such ungoverned desire is the
part of man’s free-will, over which even
the devil has no power.

And because this distinction is not
sufficient to explain how the devil at
times produces a frantic infatuation of
love, it is further to be noted that though
he cannot cause that inordinate love by
directly compelling a man’s will, yet he
can do so by means of persuasion. And
this again in two ways, either visibly or
invisibly. Visibly, when he appears to
witches in the visible form of a man, and
speaks to them materially, persuading
them to sin. So he tempted our first
parents in Paradise in the form of a
serpent; and so he tempted Christ in

E

49

the wilderness, appearing to Him in
visible form.

But it is not to be thought that this is
the only way he influences a man ; for in
that case no sin would proceed from the
devil’s instruction, except such as were
suggested by him in visible form.
Therefore it must be said that even
invisibly he instigates man to sin. And
this he does in two ways, either by
persuasion or by disposition. By per¬
suasion, he presents something to the
understanding as being a good thing.
And this he can do in three ways ; for he
presents it either to the intellect, or to
the inner perceptions, or to the outer.
And as for the intellect ; the human in¬
tellect can be helped by a good Angel to
understand a thing by means of en¬
lightenment, as Dionysius says; and to
understand a thing, according to Aris-
tode, is to suffer something: therefore
the devil can impress some form upon
the intellect, by which the act of under¬
standing is called forth.

And it may be argued that the devil
can do this by his natural power, which
is not, as has been shown, diminished.
It is to be said, however, that he cannot
do this by means of enlightenment, but
by persuasion. For the intellect of man
is of that condition that, the more it is
enlightened, the more it knows the
truth, and the more it can defend itself
from deception. And because the devil
intends his deception to be permanent,
therefore no persuasion that he uses can
be called enlightenment: although it
may be called revelation, in that when
he invisibly uses persuasion, by means
of some impression he plants something
on the inner or outer senses. And by
this the reasoning intellect is persuaded
to perform some action.

But as to how he is enabled to create
an impression on the inner senses, it is
to be noted that the bodily nature is
naturally born to be moved locally by
the spiritual; which is clear from the
case of our own bodies, which are
moved by our souls ; and the same is the
case with the stars. But it is not by
nature adapted to be directly subject to
influences, by which we mean outside
influences, not those with which it is
informed. Wherefore the concurrence
of some bodily agent is necessary, as is
proved in the 7th book of the Meta¬
physics. Corporeal matter naturally
obeys a good or bad angel as to local
motion ; and it is due to this that devils

50

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 7.

can through local motion collect semen,
and employ it for the production of
wonderful results. This was how it hap¬
pened that Pharao’s magicians pro¬
duced serpents and actual animals,
when corresponding active and passive
agents were brought together. There¬
fore there is nothing to prevent the
devils from effecting anything that
appertains to the local motion of cor¬
poreal matter, unless God prevent it.

And now let us examine how the devil
can through local motion excite the
fancy and inner sensory perceptions of a
man by apparitions and impulsive
actions. It is to be noted that Aristotle
(De Somno et Uigilia ) assigns the cause of
apparitions in dreams through local
motion to the fact that, when an animal
sleeps the blood flows to the inmost seat
of the senses, from which descend mo¬
tions or impressions which remain from
past impressions preserved in the mind
or inner perception ; and these are
Fancy or Imagination, which are the
same thing according to S. Thomas, as
will be shown.

For fancy or imagination is as it were
the treasury of ideas received through
the senses. And through this it happens
that devils so stir up the inner percep¬
tions, that is the power of conserving
images, that they appear to be a new
impression at that moment received
from exterior things.

It is true that all do not agree to this ;
but if anyone wishes to occupy himself
with this question, he must consider the
number and the office of the inner per¬
ceptions. According to Avicenna, in his
book On the Mind , these are five :
namely, Common Sense, Fancy, Im¬
agination, Thought, and Memory. But
S. Thomas, in the First Part of Ques¬
tion 79, says that they are only four,
since Fancy and Imagination are the
same thing. For fear of prolixity I omit
much more that has variously been said
on this subject.

Only this must be said ; that fancy is
the treasury of ideas, but memory
appears to be something different. For
fancy is the treasury or repository of
ideas received through the senses; but
memory is the treasury of instincts,
which are not received through the
senses. For when a man sees a wolf, he
runs away, not because of its ugly colour
or appearance, which are ideas re¬
ceived through the outer senses and
conserved in his fancy; but he runs

away because the wolf is his natural
enemy. And this he knows through
some instinct or fear, which is apart
from thought, which recognizes the
wolf as hostile, but a dog as friendly.
But the repository of those instincts is
memory. And reception and retention
are two different things in animal
nature; for those who are of a humid
disposition receive readily, but retain
badly ; and the contrary is the case with
those of a dry humour.

To return to the question. The appa¬
ritions that come in dreams to sleepers
proceed from the ideas retained in the
repository of their mind, through a
natural local motion caused by the flow
of blood to the first and inmost seat of
their faculties of perception; and we
speak of an intrinsic local motion in the
head and the cells of the brain.

And this can also happen through a
similar local motion created by devils.
Also such things happen not only to the
sleeping, but even to those who are
awake. For in these also the devils can
stir up and excite the inner perceptions
and humours, so that ideas retained in
the repositories of their minds are drawn
out and made apparent to the faculties
of fancy and imagination, so that such
men imagine these things to be true.
And this is called interior temptation.

And it is no wonder that the devil can
do this by his own natural power ; since
any man by himself, being awake and
having the use of his reason, can volun¬
tarily draw from his repositories the
images he has retained in them ; in such
a way that he can summon to himself
the images of whatsoever things he
pleases. And this being granted, it is
easy to understand the matter of exces¬
sive infatuation in love.

Now there are two ways in which
devils can, as has been said, raise up this
kind of images. Sometimes they work
without enchaining the human reason,
as has been said in the matter of temp¬
tation, and the example of voluntary
imagination. But sometimes the use of
reason is entirely chained up; and this
may be exemplified by certain naturally
defective persons, and by madmen and
drunkards. Therefore it is no wonder
that devils can, with God’s permission,
chain up the reason ; and such men are
called delirious, because their senses
have been snatched away by the devil.
And this they do in two ways, either
with or without the help of witches.

Part I. Question 7.

MALEFICARUM

5i

For Aristotle, in the work we have
quoted, says that anyone who lives in
passion is moved by only a little thing,
as a lover by the remotest likeness of his
love, and similarly with one who feels
hatred. Therefore devils, who have
learned from men’s acts to which pas¬
sions they are chiefly subject, incite
them to this sort of inordinate love or
hatred, impressing their purpose on
men’s imagination the more strongly
and effectively, as they can do so the
more easily. And this is the more easy
for them, just as it is more easy for a
lover to summon up the image of his
love from his memory, and retain it
pleasurably in his thoughts.

But they work by witchcraft when
they do these things through and at the
instance of witches, by reason of a pact
entered into with them. But it is not
possible to treat of such matters in
detail, on account of the great number
of instances both among the clergy and
among the laity. For how many adul¬
terers have put away the most beautiful
wives to lust after the vilest of women !

We know of an old woman who,
according to the common account of
the brothers in that monastery even up
to this day, in this manner not only be¬
witched three successive Abbots, but
even killed them, and in the same way
drove the fourth out of his mind. For
she herself publicly confessed it, and
does not fear to say : I did so and I do
so, and they are not able to keep from
loving me because they have eaten so
much of my dung — measuring off a cer¬
tain length on her arm. I confess, more¬
over, that since we had no case to
prosecute her or bring her to trial, she
survives to this day.

It will be remembered that it was said
that the devil invisibly lures a man to
sin, not only by means of persuasion, as
has been said, but also by the means of
disposition. Although this is not very
pertinent, yet be it said that by a similar
admonition of the disposition and
humours of men, he renders some more
disposed to anger, or concupiscence, or
other passions. For it is manifest that a
man who has a body so disposed is more
prone to concupiscence and anger and
such passions ; and when they are
aroused, he is more apt to surrender to
them. But because it is difficult to quote
precedents, therefore an easier method
must be found of declaring them for the
admonition of the people. And in the

Second Part of this book we treat of the
remedies by which men so bewitched
can be set free.

The Method of Preaching to the People
about Infatuate Love.

Concerning what has been said
above, a preacher asks this question :
Is it a Catholic view to maintain that
witches can infect the minds of men
with an inordinate love of strange
women, and so inflame their hearts that
by no shame or punishment, by no
words or actions can they be forced to
desist from such love; and that simi¬
larly they can stir up such hatred be¬
tween married couples that they are
unable in any way to perform the pro¬
creant functions of marriage; so that,
indeed, in the untimely silence of night,
they cover great distances in search of
mistresses and irregular lovers?

As to this matter, he may, if he wishes,
find some arguments in the preceding
question. Otherwise, it need only be
said that there are difficulties in those
questions on account of love and hate.
For these passions invade the will, which
is in its own act always free, and not to
be coerced by any creature except God,
Who can govern it. From which it is
clear that neither the devil nor a witch
working by his power can force a man’s
will to love or to hate. Again, since the
will, like the understanding, exists sub¬
jectively in the soul, and He alone can
enter into the soul Who created it,
therefore this question presents many
difficulties in the matter of unravelling
the truth of it.

But notwithstanding this, we must
speak first of infatuation and hatred,
and secondly about the bewitching of
the generative power. And as to the
first, although the devil cannot directly
operate upon the understanding and
will of man, yet, according to all the
learned Theologians in the 2nd Book
of Sentences , on the subject of the power
of the devil, he can act upon the body,
or upon the faculties belonging to or
allied to the body, whether they be the
inner or outer perceptions. This is
authoritatively and reasonably proved
in the preceding question, if one cares
to look ; but if not, there is the authority
of Job ii: The Lord said unto Satan,
Behold, he is in thine hand. That is, Job
is in his power. But this was only in
regard to the body, for He would not

52

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 7

give his soul into his power. Wherefore
He said : Only save thou his life ; that
is, keep it unharmed. And that power
that He gave him over his body, He
gave also over all the faculties allied to
the body, which are the four or five
outer and inner perceptions, namely
Common Sense, Fancy or Imagination,
Thought, and Memory.

If no other instance can be given, let
us take an example from pigs and sheep.
For pigs know by instinct their way
home. And by natural instinct sheep
distinguish a wolf from a dog, knowing
one to be the enemy and the other the
friend of their nature.

Consequently, since all our reasoned
knowledge comes from the senses (for
Aristotle in the 2nd book On the Mind
says that an intelligent man must take
notice of phantasms), therefore the devil
can affect the inner fancy, and darken
the understanding. And this is not to
act immediately upon the mind, but
through the medium of phantasms. Be¬
cause, also, nothing is loved until it is
known.

As many examples as are needed
could be taken from gold, which the
miser loves because he knows its power,
etc. Therefore when the understanding
is darkened, the will also is darkened in
its affections. Moreover, the devil can
effect this either with or without the
help of a witch; and such things can
even happen through mere want of fore¬
sight. But we shall give examples of
each kind. For, as it is said in S. James
i: Every man is tempted when he is
drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, it
bringeth forth sin : and sin, when it is
finished, bringeth forth death. Again,
when Shechem saw Dinah going out to
see the daughters of the land, he loved
her, and seized her, and lay with her,
and his soul clave unto her ( Genesis
xxxiv) . And according to the gloss :
When the infirm mind forsakes its own
business, and takes heed, like Dinah, of
that of other people, it is led astray by
habit, and becomes one with the
sinners.

Secondly, that this lust can arise
apart from witchcraft, and simply
through the temptation of the devil, is
shown as follows. For we read in
II. Samuel xm. that Ammon desperately
loved his own sister Tamar, and
yearned greatly for her, so that he grew
ill for love of her. But no one would fall

into so great and foul a crime unless he
were totally corrupt, and grievously
tempted by the devil. Wherefore the
gloss says : This is a warning to us, and
was permitted by God that we should
always be on our guard lest vice should
get the mastery over us, and the prince
of sin, who promises a false peace to
those who are in danger, finding us
ready should slay us unaware.

Mention is made of this sort of passion
in the Book of the Holy Fathers, where
it says that, however far they withdrew
themselves from all carnal lusts, yet they
were sometimes tempted by the love of
women more than could possibly be be¬
lieved. Wherefore in II. Corinthians xii
the Apostle says : There was given to me
a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan to buffet me. On which the gloss
says : It was given to me to be tempted
by lust. But he who is tempted and does
not yield is no sinner, but it is a matter
for the exercise of virtue. And by temp¬
tation is understood that of the devil, not
that of the flesh, which is always venial
in a little sin. The preacher could find
many examples if he pleased.

The third point, that infatuate love
proceeds from the evil works of the
devil, has been discussed above ; and we
speak of this temptation.

It may be asked how it is possible to
tell whether such inordinate love pro¬
ceeds not from the devil but only from
a witch. And the answer is that there
are many ways. First, if the man
tempted has a beautiful and honest wife,
or the converse in the case of a woman,
etc. Secondly, if the judgement of the
reason is so chained up that by no blows
or words or deeds, or even by shame,
can he be made to desist from that lust
And thirdly, in especial, when he can¬
not contain himself, but that he is at
times unexpectedly, and in spite of the
roughness of the journey, forced to be
carried through great distances (as any¬
one can learn from the confessions of
such men), both by day and by night.
For as S. John Chrysostom says on
Matthew xx concerning the ass upon
which Christ rode : When the devil pos¬
sesses the will of a man with sin, he
carries him at his will where he pleases
Giving the example of a ship in the sea
without a rudder, which the winds carry
about at their pleasure ; and of a man
firmly sitting a horse ; and a King
having dominion over a tyrant. And
fourthly, it is shown by the fact that they

Part I. Question 7.

MALEFICARUM

53

are sometimes suddenly and unex¬
pectedly carried away, and at times
transformed, so that nothing can pre¬
vent it. It is shown also by the hideous¬
ness of their very appearance.

And before we proceed to the further
question of witches, touching the powers
of generation, which follows, we must
first resolve the arguments.

Here Follow the Resolutions of the
Arguments.

But for the answer to the arguments :
for the first, that the will of man is ruled
by God, just as his understanding is by
a good Angel, the solution is clear. For
the intellect is enlightened by a good
Angel only to the knowledge of the
truth, from which proceeds the love of
that which is good, for the True and the
Actual are the same thing. So also the
intellect can be darkened by a bad
angel in the knowledge of what appears
to be true ; and this through a confusion
of the ideas and images received and
stored by the perceptions, from which
comes an inordinate love of the appar¬
ently good, such as bodily delectation,
which such men seek after.

As to the second argument, that the
devil cannot effect physical changes in
the body; this is in part true, and in
part not, and this is with reference to
three sorts of mutation. For the devil
cannot change the body in such a way
that its whole shape and appearance is
altered (which is rather to be called a
new production than a change) without
the help of some agent, or with the per¬
mission of God. But if we speak of a
change in quality, as in the matter of
sickness and health, as has been shown
before, he can inflict upon the body
various diseases, even to taking away
the reason, and so can cause inordinate
hatred and love.

And a third kind of mutation can be
added, which is when a good or bad
angel enters into the body, in the same
way that we say that God alone is able
to enter into the soul, that is, the essence
of life. But when we speak of an angel,
especially a bad angel, entering the
body, as in the case of an obsession, he
does not enter beyond the limits of the
essence of the body ; for in this way only
God the Creator can enter, Who gave it
to be as it were the intrinsic operation of
life. But the devil is said to enter the
body when he effects something about

the body : for where he works, there he
is, as S. John Damascene says. And
then he works within the bounds of
corporeal matter, but not within the
very essence of the body.

From this it appears that the body has
two properties, matter and spirit. And
this is like the distinction between the
apparent and the real. Therefore when
devils enter the body, they enter the
powers belonging to the bodily organs,
and can so create impressions on those
powers. And so it happens that through
such operations and impressions a phan¬
tasm is projected before the understand¬
ing, such as the seeing of colours, as it is
said in the 3rd book de Anima. And so
this impression penetrates also to the
will. For the will takes its conception of
what is good from the intellect, accord¬
ing as the intellect accepts something as
good either in truth or in appearance.

As for the third argument: a know¬
ledge of the thoughts of the heart may
come about in two ways, either from
seeing their effects or by reading them
actually in the intellect. In the first way
they can be known not only by an angel,
but even by man, although it will be
shown that an angel has more skill in
this matter. For sometimes the thoughts
are made evident, not only by some
external action, but even by a change
in the countenance. And doctors also
can discern some affections of the mind
through the pulse. Wherefore S. Augus¬
tine says ( deDiuin . Daem .) thatsometimes
it is very easy to tell a man’s disposition,
not only from his words, but from his
very thoughts, which are signs of the
soul expressed in the body ; although in
his book of Retractations he says that
no definite rule can be laid down how
this can be done ; and I think that he is
reluctant to admit that the devil can
know the inner thoughts of the heart.

From another point of view, the
thoughts of the intellect and the affec¬
tions of the will can be known only by
God. For the will of a rational creature
is subject only to God, and He alone can
work in it Who is its first cause and
ultimate end. Therefore that which is
in the will, or depends only on the will,
is known only to God. Moreover, it is
manifest what depends only on the will,
if one considers things by their resultant
actions. For when a man has the quality
of knowledge, and the understanding
that comes from it, he uses it when he
wills.

54

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 8.

It is proved, then, from what has been
said, that a spirit cannot enter the soul,
therefore he cannot, naturally, see what
is in the mind, especially what is in the
inner depths of the soul. Wherefore,
when it is argued that the devil cannot
see the thoughts of the heart, and there¬
fore cannot move the hearts of men to
love or hatred, it is answered that he
does learn men’s thoughts through their
visible effects, and is more skilful in this
matter than man ; and so by subtle ways
he can move men to love and hatred, by
creating phantasms and darkening the
intellect.

And this must be said by way of com¬
fort to relieve the apprehensions of the
virtuous : that when the sensible ex¬
terior and bodily change which accom¬
panied men’s thoughts is so vague and
indeterminate that the devil cannot by
it arrive at any certain knowledge of the
thoughts, especially when the virtuous
at times take a little leisure from study
and good works, he molests them then
chiefly in dreams; as is known by ex¬
perience. But when the physical effect
of thought is strong and determinate,
the devil can know by a man’s appear¬
ance whether his thoughts are turned
towards envy or luxury. But we find
that it must be left an open question
whether he can by this means have cer¬
tain knowledge in respect of all circum¬
stances, as such and such ; although it is
true that he can know such circum¬
stances from their subsequent results.

And fourthly: although to enter the
soul belongs only to God, yet it is pos¬
sible for a good or bad angel to enter the
body and the faculties allied to the body,
in the manner which has been shown
above. And in this way hatred and love
can be aroused in such a man. For the
other argument, that the powers of the
spirit are greater than the physical
powers, which themselves cannot be
changed by the devil, it is answered that
the physical powers can be altered by
the devil, in so far as they can be has¬
tened or retarded in the flesh and bone.
But he does this, not for the sake of im¬
peding or stimulating the inner or outer
perceptions, but for his own gain ; since
he derives his chief benefit by the decep¬
tion of the senses and the delusion of the
intellect.

☆

QUESTION VIII

Whether Witches can hebetate the Powers
of Generation or obstruct the Venereal Act.

NOW the fact that adulterous drabs
and whores are chiefly given to
witchcraft is substantiated by the spells
which are cast by witches upon the act
of generation. And to make the truth
more clear, we will consider the argu¬
ments of those who are in disagree¬
ment with us on this matter. And first
it is argued that such a bewitching is not
possible, because if it were it would
apply equally to those who are married ;
and if this were conceded, then, since
matrimony is God’s work and witch¬
craft is the devil’s, the devil’s work
would be stronger than God’s. But if
it is allowed that it can only affect
fornicators and the unmarried, this in¬
volves a return to the opinion that
witchcraft does not really exist, but only
in men’s imagination ; and this was
refuted in the First Question. Or else
some reason will be found why it should
affect the unmarried and not the mar¬
ried ; and the only possible reason is that
matrimony is God’s work. And since,
according to the Theologians, this
reason is not valid, there still remains
the argument that it would make the
devil’s work stronger than God’s ; and
since it would be unseemly to make such
an assertion, it is also unseemly to main¬
tain that the venereal act can be
obstructed by witchcraft.

Again, the devil cannot obstruct the
other natural actions, such as eating,
walking and standing, as is apparent
from the fact that, if he could, he could
destroy the whole world.

Besides, since the venereal act is
common to all women, if it were ob¬
structed it would be so with reference to
all women ; but this is not so, and there¬
fore the first argument is good. For the
facts prove that it is not so ; for when a
man says that he has been bewitched,
he is still quite capable as regards other
women, though not with her with whom
he is unable to copulate ; and the reason
for this is that he does not wish to, and
therefore cannot effect anything in the
matter.

On the contrary and true side is the
chapter in the Decretals (If by sortilege,
etc.) : as is also the opinion of all the
Theologians and Canonists, where they

Part I. Question 8.

MALEFICARUM

55

treat of the obstruction to marriage
caused by witchcraft.

There is also another reason: that since
the devil is more powerful than man,
and a man can obstruct the generative
powers by means of frigid herbs or
anything else that can be thought of,
therefore much more can the devil do
this, since he has greater knowledge and
cunning.

Answer. The truth is sufficiently
evident from two matters which have
already been argued, although the
method of obstruction has not been
specifically declared. For it has been
shown that witchcraft does not exist
only in men’s imaginations, and not in
fact; but that truly and actually in¬
numerable bewitchments can happen,
with the permission of God. It has been
shown, too, that God permits it more in
the case of the generative powers, be¬
cause of their greater corruption, than
in the case of other human actions.
But concerning the method by which
such obstruction is procured, it is to be
noted that it does not affect only the
generative powers, but also the powers
of the imagination or fancy.

And as to this, Peter of Palude (III,
34) notes five methods. For he says
that the devil, being a spirit, has power
over a corporeal creature to cause or
prevent a local motion. Therefore he
can prevent bodies from approaching
each other, either directly or indirectly,
by interposing himself in some bodily
shape. In this way it happened to the
young man who was betrothed to an
idol and nevertheless married a young
maiden, and was consequently unable
to copulate with her. Secondly, he can
excite a man to that act, or freeze his
desire for it, by the virtue of secret
things of which he best knows the power.
Thirdly, he can so disturb a man’s per¬
ception and imagination as to make the
woman appear loathsome to him : since
he can, as has been said, influence the
imagination. Fourthly, he can directly
prevent the erection of that member
which is adapted to fructification, just
as he can prevent a local motion.
Fifthly, he can prevent the flow of the
vital essence to the members in which
lies the motive power; by closing as it
were the seminary ducts, so that it does
not descend to the generative channels,
or falls back from them, or does not
project from them, or in any of many
ways fails in its function.

And he continues in agreement with
what has been treated of above by
other Doctors. For God allows the
devil more latitude in respect of this act,
through which sin was first spread
abroad, than of other human acts.
Similarly, serpents are more subject to
magic spells than are other animals.
And a little later he says: It is the same
in the case of a woman, for the devil can
so darken her understanding that she
considers her husband so loathsome
that not for all the world would she
allow him to lie with her.

Later he wishes to find the reason why
more men than women are bewitched in
respect of that action ; and he says that
such obstruction generally occurs in the
seminal duct, or in an inability in the
matter of erection, which can more
easily happen to men; and therefore
more men than women are bewitched.
It might also be said that, the greater
part of witches being women, they lust
more for men than for women. Also
they act in the despite of married
women, finding every opportunity for
adultery when the husband is able to
copulate with other women but not with
his own wife ; and similarly the wife also
has to seek other lovers.

He adds also that God allows the
devil to afflict sinners more bitterly
than the just. Wherefore the Angel said
to Tobias : He gives the devil power
over those who are given up to lust.
But he has power also against the just
sometimes, as in the case of Job, but not
in respect of the genital functions.
Wherefore they ought to devote them¬
selves to confession and other good
works, lest the iron remain in the
wound, and it be in vain to apply
remedies. So much for Peter. But the
method of removing such effects will be
shown in the Second Part of this work.

Some Incidental Doubts on the subject of
Copulation prevented by Evil Spells are
made Clear.

But incidentally, if it is asked why this
function is sometimes obstructed in re¬
spect of one woman but not of another,
the answer, according to S. Bona-
ventura, is this. Either the enchantress
or witch afflicts in this way those persons
upon whom the devil has determined ;
or it is because God will not permit it
to be inflicted on certain persons. For
the hidden purpose of God in this is

5&

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 8.

obscure, as is shown in the case of the
wife of Tobias. And he adds :

If it is asked how the devil does this,
it is to be said that he obstructs the
genital power, not intrinsically by
harming the organ, but extrinsically by
rendering it useless. Therefore, since it
is an artificial and not a natural ob¬
struction, he can make a man impotent
towards one woman but not towards
others : by taking away the inflamma¬
tion of his lust for her, out not for other
women, either through his own power,
or through some herb or stone, or some
occult natural means. And this agrees
with the words of Peter of Palude.

Besides, since impotency in this act
is sometimes due to coldness of nature,
or some natural defect, it is asked how
it is possible to distinguish whether it is
due to witchcraft or not. Hostiensis
gives the answer in his Summa (but this
must not be publicly preached) : When
the member is in no way stirred, and
can never perform the act of coition,
this is a sign of frigidity of nature ; but
when it is stirred and becomes erect,
but yet cannot perform, it is a sign of
witchcraft.

It is to be noted also that impotence
of the member to perform the act is not
the only bewitchment; but sometimes
the woman is caused to be unable to
conceive, or else she miscarries.

Note, moreover, that according to
what is laid down by the Canons, who¬
ever through desire of vengeance or for
hatred does anything to a man or a
woman to prevent them from begetting
or conceiving must be considered a
homicide. And note, further, that the
Canon speaks of loose lovers who, to save
their mistresses from shame, use con¬
traceptives, such as potions, or herbs
that contravene nature, without any
help from devils. And such penitents
are to be punished as homicides. But
witches who do such things by witch¬
craft are by law punishable by the
extreme penalty, as has been touched
on above in the First Question.

And for a solution of the arguments ;
when it is objected that these things
cannot happen to those joined to¬
gether in matrimony, it is further to be
noted that, even if the truth in this
matter has not already been made
sufficiently plain, yet these things can
truly and actually happen just as much
to those who are married as to those
who are not. And the prudent reader,

who has plenty of books, will refer to
the Theologians and the Canonists,
especially where they speak of the
impotent and bewitched. He will find
them in agreement in condemning two
errors : especially with regard to married
people who seem to think that such
bewitchment cannot happen to those
who are joined in matrimony, advanc¬
ing the reason that the devil cannot
destroy the works of God.

And the first error which they con¬
demn is that of those who say that there
is no witchcraft in the world, but only
in the imagination of men who, through
their ignorance of hidden causes which
no man yet understands, ascribe certain
natural effects to witchcraft, as though
they were effected not by hidden causes,
but by devils working either by them¬
selves or in conjunction with witches.
And although all the other Doctors con¬
demn this error as a pure falsehood, yet
S. Thomas impugns it more vigorously
and stigmatizes it as actual heresy,
saying that this error proceeds from
the root of infidelity. And since infi¬
delity in a Christian is accounted heresy,
therefore such deserve to be suspected as
heretics. And this matter was touched
on in the First Question, though it was
not there declared so plainly. For if
anyone considers the other sayings of S.
Thomas in other places, he will find
the reasons why he affirms that such
an error proceeds from the root of
infidelity.

For in his questions concerning Sin,
where he treats of devils, and in his first
question, whether devils have bodies
that naturally belong to them, among
many other matters he makes mention
of those who referred every physical
effect to the virtue of the stars ; to which
they said that the hidden causes of
terrestrial effects were subject. And
he says : It must be considered that the
Peripatetics, the followers of Aristotle,
held that devils did not really exist;
but that those things which are attri¬
buted to devils proceeded from the
power of the stars and other natural
phenomena. Wherefore S. Augustine
says (de Ciuitate Dei, X), that it was
the opinion of Porphyry that from herbs
and animals, and certain sounds and
voices, and from figures and figments
observed in the motion of the stars,
powers corresponding to the stars were
fabricated on earth by men in order to
explain various natural effects. And the

Part I. Question 8.

MALEFICARUM

57

error of these is plain, since they re¬
ferred everything to hidden causes in
the stars, holding that devils were only
fabricated by the imagination of men.

But this opinion is clearly proved to
be false by S. Thomas in the same work ;
for some works of devils are found which
can in no way proceed from any
natural cause. For example, when one
who is possessed by a devil speaks in an
unknown language; and many other
devils’ works are found, both in the
Rhapsodic and the Necromantic arts,
which can in no way proceed except
from some Intelligence, which may be
naturally good but is evil in its inten¬
tion. And therefore, because of these
incongruities, other Philosophers were
compelled to admit that there were
devils. Yet they afterwards fell into
various errors, some thinking that the
souls of men, when they left their bodies,
became devils. For this reason many
Soothsayers have killed children, that
they might have their souls as their
co-operators ; and many other errors are
recounted.

From this it is clear that not without
reason does the Holy Doctor say that
such an opinion proceeds from the root
of infidelity. And anyone who wishes
may read S. Augustine [de Ciuitate Dei ,
VIII, IX) on the various errors of
infidels concerning the nature of devils.
And indeed the common opinion of all
Doctors, quoted in the above-mentioned
work, against those who err in this way
by denying that there are any witches,
is very weighty in its meaning, even
if it is expressed in few words. For they
say that they who maintain that there
is no witchcraft in the world go con¬
trary to the opinion of all the Doctors,
and of the Holy Scripture ; and declare
that there are devils, and that devils
have power over the bodies and imagi¬
nations of men, with the permission of
God. Wherefore, those who are the
instruments of the devils, at whose
instance the devils at times do mischief
to a creature, they call witches.

Now in the Doctors’ condemnation of
this first error nothing is said concerning
those joined together in matrimony;
but this is made clear in their condem¬
nation of the second error. For they
say that others fall into the error of
believing that, though witchcraft exists
and abounds in the world, even against
carnal copulation, yet, since no such
bewitchment can be considered to be

permanent, it never annuls a marriage
that has already been contracted. Here
is where they speak of those joined in
matrimony. Now in refuting this error
(for we do so, even though it is little to
the point, for the sake of those who have
not many books), it is to be noted that
they refute it by maintaining that it is
against all precedent, and contrary to all
laws both ancient and modern.

Wherefore the Catholic Doctors make
the following distinction, that impotence
caused by witchcraft is either temporary
or permanent. And if it is temporary,
then it does not annul the marriage.
Moreover, it is presumed to be tem¬
porary if they are able to be healed of
the impediment within three years from
their, cohabitation, having taken all
possible pains, either through the
sacraments of the Church, or through
other remedies, to be cured. But if they
are not then cured by any remedy, from
that time it is presumed to be per¬
manent. And in that case it either
precedes both the contract and the con¬
summation of marriage, and then it
prevents the contracting of a marriage,
and annuls one that is not yet con¬
tracted ; or else it follows the contract
of marriage but precedes its consum¬
mation, and then also, according to
some, it annuls the previous contract.
(For it is said in Book XXXIII, quest, i ,
cap. i that the confirmation of a marri¬
age consists in its carnal office.) Or else
it is subsequent to the consummation of
the marriage, and then the matrimonial
bond is not annulled. Much is noted
there concerning impotence by Hostien-
sis, and Godfrey, and the Doctors and
Theologians.

To the arguments. As to the first, it is
made sufficiently clear from what has
been said. For as to the argument that
God’s works can be destroyed by the
devil’s works, if witchcraft has power
against those who are married, it has no
force ; rather does the opposite appear,
since the devil can do nothing without
God’s permission. For he does not
destroy by main force like a tyrant, but
through some extrinsic art, as is proved
above. And the second argument is also
made quite clear, why God allows this
obstruction more in the case of the
venereal act that of other acts. But the
devil has power also over other acts,
when God permits. Wherefore it is
not sound to argue that he could destroy
the whole world. And the third objec-

5»

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 9.

tion is similarly answered by what has
been said.

☆

QUESTION IX

Whether Witches may work some Prestidi-
gitatory Illusion so that the Male Organ
appears to be entirely removed and
separate from the Body.

HERE is declared the truth about
diabolic operations with regard to
the male organ. And to make plain
the facts in this matter, it is asked
whether witches can with the help of
devils really and actually remove the
member, or whether they only do so
apparently by some glamour or
illusion. And that they can actually do
so is argued a fortiori ; for since devils
can do greater things than this, as
killing them or carrying them from
place to place — as was shown above in
the cases of Job and Tobias — therefore
they can also truly and actually remove
men’s members.

Again, an argument is taken from the
gloss on the visitations of bad Angels,
in the Psalms : God punishes by means
of bad Angels, as He often punished the
People of Israel with various diseases,
truly and actually visited upon their
bodies. Therefore the member is
equally subject to such visitations.

It may be said that this is done with
the Divine permission. And in that
case, as it has already been said that
God allows more power of witchcraft
over the genital functions, on account of
the first corruption of sin which came to
us from the act of generation, so also He
allows greater power over the actual
genital organ, even to its total removal.

And again, it was a greater thing to
turn Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt than
it is to take away the male organ ; and
that ( Genesis xix) was a real and actual,
not an apparent, metamorphosis (for it
is said that that pillar is still to be seen) .
And this was done by a bad Angel ; just
as the good Angels struck the men of
Sodom with blindness, so that they
could not find the door of the house.
And so it was with the other punish¬
ments of the men of Gomorrah. The
gloss, indeed, affirms that Lot’s wife was
herself tainted with that vice, and
therefore was she punished.

And again, whoever can create a
natural shape can also take it away.

But devils have created many natural
shapes, as is clear from Pharao’s
magicians, who with the help of devils
made frogs and serpents. Also S. Augus¬
tine, in Book LXXXIII, says that those
things which are visibly done by the
lower powers of the air cannot be con¬
sidered to be mere illusions; but even
men are able, by some skilful incision, to
remove the male organ ; therefore devils
can do invisibly what others do visibly.

But on the contrary side, S. Augus¬
tine [de Ciuitate Dei, XVIII) says : It is
not to be believed that, through the art
or power of devils, man’s body can be
changed into the likeness of a beast;
therefore it is equally impossible that
that should be removed which is
essential to the truth of the human body.
Also he says (de Trinitate, III) : It must
not be thought that this suostance of
visible matter is subject to the will of
those fallen angels ; for it is subject only
to God.

Answer. There is no doubt that cer¬
tain witches can do marvellous things
with regard to male organs, for this
agrees with what has been seen and
heard by many, and with the general
account of what has been known con¬
cerning that member through the
senses of sight and touch. And as to
how this thing is possible, it is to be said
that it can be done in two ways, either
actually and in fact, as the first argu¬
ments have said, or through some
prestige or glamour. But when it is per¬
formed by witches, it is only a matter of
glamour; although it is no illusion in
the opinion of the sufferer. For his
imagination can really and actually
believe that something is not present,
since by none of his exterior senses,
such as sight or touch, can he perceive
that it is present.

From this it may be said that there is
a true abstraction of the member in
imagination, although not in fact ; and
several things are to be noted as to how
this happens. And first as to two
methods by which it can be done. It is
no wonder that the devil can deceive
the outer human senses, since, as has
been treated of above, he can illude the
inner senses, by bringing to actual per¬
ception ideas that are stored in the
imagination. Moreover, he deceives
men in their natural functions, causing
that which is visible to be invisible to
them, and that which is tangible to be
intangible, and the audible inaudible,

Part I. Question 9.

MALEFICARUM

59

and so with the other senses. But such
things are not true in actual fact, since
they are caused through some defect
introduced in the senses, such as the eyes
or the ears, or the touch, by reason of
which defect a man’s judgement is
deceived.

And we can illustrate this from cer¬
tain natural phenomena. For sweet
wine appears bitter on the tongue of the
fevered, his taste being deceived not by
the actual fact, but through his disease.
So also in the case under consideration,
the deception is not due to fact, since
the member is still actually in its place ;
but it is an illusion of the senses with
regard to it.

Again, as has been said above con¬
cerning the generative powers, the
devil can obstruct that action by im¬
posing some other body of the same
colour and appearance, in such a way
that some smoothly fashioned body in
the colour of flesh is interposed between
the sight and touch, and between the
true body of the sufferer, so that it
seems to him that he can see and feel
nothing but a smooth body with its sur¬
face interrupted by no genital organ.
See the sayings of S. Thomas (2 dist. 8.
artic. 5) concerning glamours and
illusions, and also in the second of the
second, 9 1 , and in his questions concern¬
ing Sin ; where he frequently quotes that
of S. Augustine in Book LXXXIII : This
evil of the devil creeps in through all the
sensual approaches ; he gives himself to
figures, he adapts himself to colours, he
abides in sounds, he lurks in smells, he
infuses himself into flavours.

Besides, it is to be considered that
such an illusion of the sight and touch
can be caused not only by the inter¬
position of some smooth unmembered
body, but also by the summoning to the
fancy or imagination of certain forms
and ideas latent in the mind, in such a
way that a thing is imagined as being
perceived then for the first time. For,
as was shown in the preceding question,
devils can by their own power change
bodies locally; and just as the dis¬
position or humour can be affected in
this way, so can the natural functions.
I speak of things which appear natural
to the imagination or senses. For Aris¬
totle in the de Somno et Uigilia says,
assigning the cause of apparitions in
dreams, that when an animal sleeps
much blood flows to the inner con¬
sciousness, and thence come ideas or

impressions derived from actual pre¬
vious experiences stored in the mind.
It has already been defined how thus
certain appearances convey the im¬
pression of new experiences. And since
this can happen naturally, much more
can the devil call to the imagination
the appearance of a smooth body un¬
provided with the virile member, in
such a way that the senses believe it to
be an actual fact.

Secondly, some other methods are to
be noted which are easier to understand
and to explain. For, according to S.
Isidore ( Etym . VIII, 9), a glamour is
nothing but a certain delusion of the
senses, and especially of the eyes. And
for this reason it is also called a prestige,
from prestringo, since the sight of the eyes
is so fettered that things seem to be
other than they are. And Alexander of
Hales,* Part 2, says that a prestige,
properly understood, is an illusion of
the devil, which is not caused by any
change in matter, but only exists in the
mind of him who is deluded, either as to
his inner or outer perceptions.

Wherefore, in a manner of speaking,
we may say even of human prestidigi-
tatory art, that it can be effected in
three ways. For the first, it can be done
without devils, since it is artificially done
by the agility of men who show things
and conceal them, as in the case of the
tricks of conjurers or ventriloquists.
The second method is also without the
help of devils; as when men can use
some natural virtue in natural bodies or
minerals so as to impart to such objects
some other appearance quite different
from their true appearance. Wherefore,
according to S. Thomas (I, 1 14, 4), and
several others, men, by the smoke of
certain smouldering or lighted herbs,
can make rods appear to be serpents.

The third method of delusion is
effected with the help of devils, the per-

* “ Alexander Alexander of Hales , the
Franciscan theologian and philosopher, Doctor
Irrefragabilis, was one of the greatest of the
scholastics. He was born at Hales, or Hailles, in
Gloucestershire towards the end of the twelfth
century, and died at Paris at the convent of his
Order in 124.5. His principal work is the
“ Summa Uniuersae Theologiae ,” begun about
the year 1231, and left unfinished. It has several
times been published: Venice, 1475, 157S;
Nuremburg, 1481, 1502; Pavia , 1481; Cologne,
1622. A critical edition, which is much needed,
has been promised by the Quaracchi editors of the
works of S. Bonaventura.

6o

MALLEUS

Part I. Question g.

mission of God being granted. For it
is clear that devils have, of their nature,
some power over certain earthly
matters, which they exercise upon
them, when God permits, so that things
appear to be other than they are.

And as to this third method, it is to
be noted that the devil has five ways
in which he can delude anyone so that
he thinks a thing to be other than it is.
First, by an artificial trick, as has been
said; for that which a man can do
by art, the devil can do even better.
Second, by a natural method, by the
application, as has been said, and inter¬
position of some substance so as to hide
the true body, or by confusing it in
man’s fancy. The third way is when in
an assumed body he presents himself as
being something which he is not; as
witness the story which S. Gregory tells
in his First Dialogue of a Nun, who ate
a lettuce, which, however, as the devil
himself confessed, was not a lettuce, but
the devil in the form of a lettuce, or in
the lettuce itself. Or as when he ap¬
peared to S. Antony in a lump of gold
which he found in the desert. Or as
when he touches a real man, and makes
him appear like a brute animal, as
will shortly be explained. The fourth
method is when he confuses the organ
of sight, so that a clear thing seems hazy,
or the converse, or when an old woman
appears to be a young girl. For even
after weeping the light appears different
from what it was before. His fifth
method is by working in the imagina¬
tive power, and, by a disturbance of the
humours, effecting a transmutation in
the forms perceived by the senses, as
has been treated of before, so that the
senses then perceive as it were fresh
and new images. And accordingly, by
the last three of these methods, and
even by the second, the devil can cast
a glamour over the senses of a man.
Wherefore there is, no difficulty in his
concealing the virile member by some
prestige or glamour. And a manifest
proof or example of this, which was
revealed to us in our Inquisitorial capa¬
city, will be set forth later, where more
is recounted of these and other matters
in the Second Part of this Treatise.

How a Bewitchment can be Distinguished
from a Natural Defect.

An incidental question, with certain
other difficulties, follows. Peter’s

member has been taken off, and he does
not know whether it is by witchcraft or
in some other way by the devil’s power,
with the permission of God. Are there
any ways of determining or distinguish¬
ing between these? It can be answered
as follows. First, that those to whom
such things most commonly happen are
adulterers or fornicators. For when they
fail to respond to the demand of their
mistress, or if they wish to desert them
and attach themselves to other women,
then their mistress, out of vengeance,
causes such a thing to happen, or
through some other power causes their
members to be taken off. Secondly, it can
be distinguished by the fact that it is not
permanent. For if it is not due to witch¬
craft, then the loss is not permanent,
but it will be restored some time.

But here there arises another doubt,
whether it is due to the nature of the
witchcraft that it is not permanent. It
is answered that it can be permanent,
and last until death, just as the Canon¬
ists and Theologians judge concerning
the impediment of witchcraft in matri¬
mony, that the temporary can become
permanent. For Godfrey says in his
Summa : A bewitchment cannot always
be removed by him who caused it,
either because he is dead, or because he
does not know how to remove it, or be¬
cause the charm has been lost. Where¬
fore we may say in the same way that
the charm which has been worked on
Peter will be permanent if the witch
who did it cannot heal him.

For there are three degrees of witches.
For some both heal and harm; some
harm, but cannot heal ; and some seem
able only to heal, that is, to take away
injuries, as will be shown later. For
thus it happened to us : Two witches
were quarrelling, and while they were
taunting each other one said : I am not
so wicked as you, for I know how to
heal those whom I injure. The charm
will also be permanent if, before it has
been healed, the witch departs, either
by changing her dwelling or by dying.
For S. Thomas also says : Any charm
may be permanent when it is such as
can have no human remedy; or if it
has a remedy, it is not known to men,
or unlawful; although God can find a
remedy through a holy Angel who can
coerce the devil, if not the witch.

However, the chief remedy against
witchcraft is the sacrament of Peni¬
tence. For bodily infirmity often pro-

Part I. Question io.

MALEFICARUM

61

ceeds from sin. And how the charms
of witches can be removed will be
shown in the Second Part of this
Treatise, and in the Second Question,
chapter VI, where other different
matters are treated of and explained.

Solutions of the Arguments.

For the first, it is clear that there is no
doubt but that, just as, with God’s
permission, they can kill men, so also
can devils take off that member, as well
as others, truly and actually. But then
the devils do not work through the
medium of witches, concerning which
mention has already been made. And
from this the answer to the second
argument is also made clear. But this is
to be said : that God allows more power
of witchcraft over the genital forces be¬
cause, etc. ; and therefore even allows
that that member should be truly and
actually taken off. But it is not valid
to say that this always happens. For it
would not be after the manner of
witchcraft for it to happen so; and
even the witches, when they do such
works, do not pretend that they have
not the power to restore the member
when they wish to and know how to do
so. From which it is clear that it is not
actually taken off, but only by a
glamour. As for the third, concerning
the metamorphosis of Lot’s wife, we
say that this was actual, and not a
glamour. And as to the fourth, that
devils can create certain substantial
shapes, and therefore can also remove
them : it is to be said with regard to
Pharaoh’s magicians that they made
true serpents ; and that devils can, with
* the help of another agent, produce
certain effects on imperfect creatures
which they cannot on men, who are
God’s chief care. For it is said : Does
God care for oxen? They can, never¬
theless, with the permission of God, do
to men true and actual harm, as also they
can create a glamour of harm, and by
this the answer to the last argument is
made clear.

☆

QUESTION X

Whether Witches can by some Glamour
Change Men into Beasts.

HERE we declare the truth as to
whether and how witches trans¬
form men into beasts. And it is argued

that this is not possible, from the follow¬
ing passage of Episcopus (XXVI, 5) :
Whoever believes that it is possible for
any creature to be changed for the
better or for the worse, or to be
transformed into any other shape or
likeness, except by the Creator Him¬
self, Who made all things, and by
Whom all things are created, is without
doubt an infidel, and worse than a
pagan.

And we will quote the arguments of
S. Thomas in the 2nd Book of Sen¬
tences , VIII : Whether devils can affect
the bodily senses by the delusion of a
glamour. There he argues first that
-they cannot. For though that shape of a
beast which is seen must be somewhere,
it cannot exist only in the senses; for
the senses perceive no shape that is not
received from actual matter, and there is
no actual beast there; and he adduces
the authority of the Canon. And again,
that which seems to be, cannot really be ;
as in the case of a woman who seems to
be a beast, for two substantial shapes
cannot exist at one and the same time
in the same matter. Therefore, since
that shape of a beast which appears
cannot exist anywhere, no glamour or
illusion can exist in the eye of the be¬
holder; for the sight must have some
object in which it terminates.

And if it is argued that the shape
exists in the surrounding atmosphere,
this is not possible; both because the
atmosphere is not capable of taking any
shape or form, and also because the
air around that person is not always
constant, and cannot be so on account
of its fluid nature, especially when it
is moved. And again because in that
case such a transformation would be
visible to everyone; but this is not so,
because the devils seem to be unable to
deceive the sight of Holy Men in the
least.

Besides, the sense of sight, or the
faculty of vision, is a passive faculty, and
every passive faculty is set in motion
by the active agent that corresponds to
it. Now the active agent corresponding
to sight is twofold : one is the origin of
the act, or the object; the other is the
carrier, or medium. But that apparent
shape cannot be the object of the sense,
neither can it be the medium through
which it is carried. First, it cannot be
the object, since it cannot be taken hold
of by anything, as was shown in the
foregoing argument, since it does not

62

MALLEUS

Part I. Question io.

exist in the senses received from an
object, neither is it in the actual object,
nor even in the air, as in a carrying
medium, as was treated of above in the
third argument.

Besides, if the devil moves the inner
consciousness, he does so either by pro¬
jecting himself into the cognitive faculty,
or by changing it. But he does not do
so by projecting himself; for he would
either have to assume a body, and even
so could not penetrate into the inner
organ of imagination; for two bodies
cannot be at the same time in the same
place ; or he would assume a phantas¬
mal body; and this again would be
impossible, since no phantasm is quite
without substance.

Similarly also he cannot do it by
changing the cognition. For he would
either change it by alteration, which
he does not seem able to do, since all
alteration is caused by active qualities,
in which the devils are lacking; or he
would change it by transformation or
local motion; and this does not seem
feasible for two reasons. First, because
a transformation of an organ cannot
be effected without a sense of pain.
Secondly, because in this case the devil
would only make things of a known
shape appear; but S. Augustine says
that he creates shapes of this sort, both
known and unknown. Therefore it
seems that the devils can in no way
deceive the imagination or senses of a
man.

But against this, S. Augustine says ( de
Ciuitate Dei, XVIII) that the transmuta¬
tions of men into brute animals, said to
be done by the art of devils, are not actual
but only apparent. But this would not
be possible if devils were not able to
transmute the human senses. The
authority of S. Augustine is again to
the point in Book LXXXIII, which has
already been quoted : This evil of the
devil creeps in through all the sensual
approaches, etc.

Answer. If the reader wishes to refer
to the method of transmutation, he will
find in the Second Part of this work,
chapter VI, various methods. But pro¬
ceeding for the present in a scholastic
manner, let us say in agreement with
the opinions of the three Doctors, that the
devil can deceive the human fancy so
that a man really seems to be an animal.
The last of those opinions, which is that
of S. Thomas, is more subtle than
the rest. But the first is that of S.

Antoninus * in the first part of his
Summa, V, 5, where he declares that
the devil at times works to deceive a
man’s fancy, especially by an illusion
of the senses; and he proves this by
natural reasoning, by the authority of
the Canon, and by a great number of
examples.

And at first as follows: Our bodies
naturally are subject to and obey the
angelic nature as regards local motion.
But the bad angels, although they have
lost grace, have not lost their natural
power, as has often been said before.
And since the faculty of fancy or
imagination is corporeal, that is, allied
to a physical organ, it also is naturally
subject to devils, so that they can trans¬
mute it, causing various phantasies, by
the flow of the thoughts and percep¬
tions to the original image received by
them. So says S. Antoninus, and adds
that it is proved by the following Canon
(. Episcopus , XXVI, 5) : It must not be
omitted that certain wicked women,
perverted by Satan and seduced by the
illusions and phantasms of devils, be¬
lieve and profess that they ride in the
night hours on certain beasts with
Diana, the heathen goddess, or with
Herodias, and with a countless number
of women, and that in the untimely
silence of night they travel over great
distances of land. And later : Wherefore
priests ought to preach to the people of
God that they should know this to be
altogether false, and that when such

* “S. Antoninus The famous Dominican
Archbishop of Florence, born at Florence, 1
March , 1389; died 2 May, 14.99 . His feast day
is 10 May. His chief literary work is the
“ Summa Theologica Moralis, partibus IV
distincta ,” written shortly before his death, and
marking a very considerable development in
moral theology. Crohns in his “ Die Summa
theologica des Antonin von Florenz und die
Schatzung des Weibes im Hcxenhammer,”
Helsingfors, 1903, has set out to show that the
very pronounced misogyny which is apparent in the
“ Malleus Maleficarum ” can be traced to the
“Summa” of S. Antoninus. But Paulus, “ Die
Verochtung der Frau beim hi. Antonin,” in
“ Historisch-Politische Blatter ,” 1904, pp. 812-
30, has severely criticized this thesis, which he
declares to be untenable.

Within fifty years after the first appearance of
the “Summa” of S. Antoninus, fifteen editions
were printed at various important centres of
learning. Many other editions followed, and in
1740 it was issued at Verona in four volumes,
folio, edited by P. Ballerini; in 1741 at Florence
by two Dominicans, Mamachi and Remedelli.

Part I. Question io.

MALEFICARUM

63

phantasms afflict the minds of the
faithful, it is not of God, but of an evil
spirit. For Satan himself transforms
himself into the shape and likeness
of different persons, and in dreams
deluding the mind which he holds
captive, leads it through devious ways.

Indeed the meaning of this Canon
has been treated of in the First Question,
as to the four things which are to be
preached. But it would be to misunder¬
stand its meaning to maintain that
witches cannot be so transported, when
they wish and God does not prevent it ;
for very often men who are not witches
are unwillingly transported bodily over
great distances of land.

But that these transmutations can be
effected in both ways will be shown by
the aforesaid Summa , and in the chapter
where S. Augustine relates that it is
read in the books of the Gentiles that a
certain sorceress named Circe changed
the companions of Ulysses into beasts ;
but that this was due to some glamour
or illusion, rather than an actual
accomplishment, by altering the fancies
t>f men; and this is clearly proved by
several examples.

For we read in the Lives of the Fathers ,
that a certain girl would not consent to
a young man who was begging her to
commit a shameful act with him. And
the young man, being angry because of
this, caused a certain Jew to work a
charm against her, by which she was
changed into a filly. But this meta¬
morphosis was not an actual fact, but an
illusion of the devil, who changed the
fancy and senses of the girl herself, and
of those who looked at her, so that she
seemed to be a filly, who was really a
girl. For when she was led to the
Blessed Macarius, the devil could not so
work as to deceive his senses as he had
those of other people, on account of his
sanctity; for to him she seemed a true
girl, not a filly. And at length by his
prayer she was set free from that
illusion, and it is said that this had
happened to her because she did not
give her mind to holy things, or attend
the Sacraments as she ought; therefore
the devil had power over her, although
she was in other respects honest.

Therefore the devil can, by moving
the inner perceptions and humours,
effect changes in the actions and
faculties, physical, mental, and
emotional, working by means of any
physical organ soever ; and this accords

with S. Thomas, I, 91. And of this sort
we may believe to have been the acts
of Simon Magus in the incantations
which are narrated of him. But the
devil can do none of these things with¬
out the permission of God, Who with
His good Angels often restrains the
wickedness of him who seeks to deceive
and hurt us. Wherefore S. Augustine,
speaking of witches, says : These are
they who, with the permission of God,
stir up the elements, and confuse the
minds of those who do not trust in
God (XXVI, 5).

Also devils can by witchcraft cause a
man to be unable to see his wife rightly,
and the converse. And this comes from
an affectation of the fancy, so that she is
represented to him as an odious and
horrible thing. The devil also suggests
representations of loathsome things
to the fancy of both the waking and
the sleeping, to deceive them and lead
them to sin. But because sin does not
consist in the imagination but in the
will, therefore man does not sin in these
fancies suggested by the devil, and
these various transformations, unless of
his own will he consents to sin.

The second opinion of the modern
Doctors is to the same effect, when they
declare what is glamour, and in how
many ways the devil can cause such
illusions. Here we refer to what has
already been said concerning the argu¬
ments of S. Antoninus, which there is
no need to repeat.

The third opinion is that of S . Thomas,
and is an answer to the argument where
it is asked, Wherein lies the existence
of the shape of a beast that is seen ; in
the senses, or in reality, or in the sur¬
rounding air ? And his opinion is that
the apparent shape of a beast only exists
in the inner perception, which, through
the force of imagination, sees it in some
way as an exterior object. And the
devil has two ways of effecting such a
result.

In one way we may say that the forms
of animals which are conserved in the
treasury of the imagination pass by the
operation of the devil into the organs of
inner senses ; and in this way it happens
in dreams, as has been declared above.
And so, when these forms are impressed
on the organs of the outer senses, such as
sight, they appear as if they were
present as outer objects, and could
actually be touched.

The other way results from a change

64

MALLEUS

Part I. Question io.

in the inner organs of perception,
through which the judgement is de¬
ceived ; as is shown in the case of him
who has his taste corrupted, so that
everything sweet seems bitter ; and this
is not very different from the first
method. Moreover, even men can
accomplish this by the virtue of certain
natural things, as when in the vapour of
a certain smoke the beams of a house
appear to be serpents ; and many other
instances of this are found, as has been
mentioned above.

Solutions of the Arguments .

As to the first argument, that text is
often quoted, but is badly understood.
For as to where it speaks of transforma¬
tion into another shape or likeness, it
has been made clear how this can be
done by prestidigitatory art. And as to
where it says that no creature can be
made by the power of the devil, this is
manifestly true if Made is understood
to mean Created. But if the word Made
is taken to refer to natural production, it
is certain that devils can make some
imperfect creatures. And S. Thomas
shows how this may be done. For he
says that all transmutations of bodily
matters which can be effected by the
forces of nature, in which the essential
thing is the semen which is found in the
elements of this world, on land or in
the waters (as serpents and frogs and
such things deposit their semen), can
be effected by the work of devils who
have acquired such semen. So also it is
when anything is changed into serpents
or frogs, which can be generated by
putrefaction.

But those transmutations of bodily
matters which cannot be effected by the
forces of nature can in no way be truly
effected by the work of the devils. For
when the body of a man is changed into
the body of a beast, or a dead body is
brought to life, such things only seem to
happen, and are a glamour or illusion ;
or else the devil appears before men in
an assumed body.

These arguments are substantiated.
For Blessed Albertus in his book On
Animals , where he examines whether
devils, or let us even say witches, can
really make animals, says that they can,
with God’s permission, make imperfect
animals. But they cannot do so in an
instant, as God does, but by means of
some motion, however sudden, as is clear

in the case of witches. And touching
the passage in Exodus vii, where Pharao
called his wise men, he says : The devils
run throughout the world and collect
various germs, and by using them can
evolve various species. And the gloss
thereon says : When witches attempt to
effect anything by the invocation of
devils, they run about the world and
bring the semen of those things which
are in question, and by its means, with
the permission of God, they produce
new species. But this has been spoken of
above.

Another difficulty may arise, whether
such devils’ works are to be deemed
miraculous. The answer was made clear
in the preceding arguments, that even
the devils can perform certain miracles
to which their natural powers are
adapted. And although such things are
true in fact, they are not done with a view
to the knowledge of the truth ; and in
this sense the works of Antichrist maybe
said to be deceptions, since they are
done with a view to the seduction of
men.

The answer to the other argument,
that concerning the shape, is also clear.
The shape of a beast which is seen does
not exist in the air, or in actual fact, as
has been shown, but only in the per¬
ception of the senses, as has been
demonstrated above from the opinion of
S. Thomas.

For the argument that every passive
is set in motion by its corresponding
active, this is granted. But when it is
inferred that the shape which is seen
cannot be the original object which sets
in motion the act of sight, since it arises
from none of the senses, it is answered
that it does not arise, since it originates
from some sensible image conserved in
the imagination, which the devil can
draw out and present to the imagina¬
tion or powers of perception, as has been
said above.

For the last argument, it is to be said
that the . devil does not, as has been
shown, change the perceptive and
imaginative powers by projecting him¬
self into them, but by transmuting
them; not indeed by altering them,
except in respect of local motion. For
he cannot of himselfinduce new appear¬
ances, as has been said. But he changes
them by transmutation, that is, local
motion. And this again he does, not
by dividing the substance of the organ of
perception, since that would result in a

Part I. Question io. MALEFICARUM

65

sense of pain, but by a movement of the
perceptions and humours.

But it may be further objected as
follows : that according to this the devil
cannot present to a man the appearance
of anything new in respect of things
seen. It is to be said that a new thing
can be understood in two ways. In one
way it may be entirely new both in it¬
self and in its beginnings ; and in this
sense the devil cannot present anything
new to a man’s sense of vision : for he
cannot cause one who is born blind
to imagine colours, or a deaf man to
imagine sounds. In another sense, a
thing may be new as to the composition
of its whole; as we may say that it is
an imaginatively new thing if a man
imagines that he sees mountains of gold,
which he never saw; for he has seen
gold, and he has seen a mountain, and
can by some natural operation imagine
the phantasm of a mountain of gold.
And in this way the devil can present a
new thing to the imagination.

What is to be Thought of Wolves which
sometimes Seize and Eat Men and
Children out of their Cradles : whether
this also is a Glamour caused by Witches.

There is incidentally a question con¬
cerning wolves, which sometimes snatch
men and children out of their houses
and eat them, and run about with such
astuteness that by no skill or strength
can they be hurt or captured. It is to be
said that this sometimes has a natural
cause, but is sometimes due to a
glamour, when it is effected by witches.
And as to the first, Blessed Albertus in
his book On Animals says that it can arise
from five causes. Sometimes on account
of great famine, when stags and other
beasts have come near to men. Some¬
times on account of the fierceness of
their strength, as in the case of dogs in
cold regions. But this is nothing to the
point ; and we say that such things are
caused by an illusion of devils, when
God punishes some nation for sin. See
Leviticus xxvi : If ye do not my com¬
mandments, I will send the beasts of
the field against you, who shall con¬
sume you and your flocks. And again
Deuteronomy xxxii : I will also send the
teeth of beasts upon them, etc.

As to the question whether they are
true wolves, or devils appearing in that
shape, we say that they are true wolves,
but are possessed by devils; and they

are so roused up in two ways. It
may happen without the operation of
witches : and so it was in the case of the
two-and-forty boys who were devoured
by two bears coming out of the woods,
because they mocked the propheft
Elisaus, saying, Go up, thou bald head,
etc. Also in the case of the lion which
slew the prophet who would not per¬
form the commandment of God (III.
Kings xiii) . And it is told that a Bishop
of Vienna ordered the minor Litanies
to be solemnly chanted on certain days
before the Feast of the Ascension, be¬
cause wolves were entering the city
and publicly devouring men.

But in another way it may be an
illusion caused by witches. For William
of Paris tells of a certain man who
thought that he was turned into a wolf,*
and at certain times went hiding among
the caves. For there he went at a cer¬
tain time, and though he remained
there all the time stationary, he believed
that he was a wolf which went about
devouring children; and though the
devil, having possessed a wolf, was
really doing this, he erroneously thought
that he was prowling about in his
sleep. And he was for so long thus out
of his senses that he was at last found
lying in the wood raving. The devil
delights in such things, and caused the
illusion of the pagans who believed that
men and old women were changed into
beasts. From this it is seen that such
things only happen by the permission
of God alone and through the opera¬
tion of devils, and not through any
natural defect ; since by no art or
strength can such wolves be injured or
captured. In this connexion also Vin¬
cent of Beauvais {in Spec. Hist., VI, 40)
tells that in Gaul, before the Incar¬
nation of Christ, and before the Punic
War, a wolf snatched a sentry’s sword
out of its sheath.

* “A wolf. ” There are two kinds of wer¬
wolves, voluntary and involuntary. The voluntary
were, of course, wizards, such as Gilles Gamier,
who on 18 January, 1573, was condemned by the
court of Dole, Lyons, to be burned alive for “ the
abominable crimes of lycanthropy and witch¬
craft .” More than fifty witnesses deposed that he
had attacked and killed children in the fields and
vineyards, devouring their raw fiesh. He was
sometimes seen in human shape, sometimes as a
“ loup-garou.” During the sixteenth century in
France lycanthropy was very prevalent, and
numerous trials clearly show that murder and
cannibalism were rife in many country districts.

66

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 12.

QUESTION XI

That Witches who are Midwives in Various
Ways Kill the Child Conceived in the
Womb, and Procure an Abortion; or if
they do not this Offer New-born Children
to Devils.

HERE is set forth the truth con¬
cerning four horrible crimes which
devils commit against infants, both in
the mother’s womb and afterwards.
And since the devils do these things
through the medium of women, and
not men, this form of homicide is
associated rather with women than
with men. And the following are the
methods by which it is done.

The Canonists treat more fully than
the Theologians of the obstructions due
to witchcraft; and they say that it is
witchcraft, not only when anyone is
unable to perform the carnal act, of
which we have spoken above ; but also
when a woman is prevented from con¬
ceiving, or is made to miscarry after
she has conceived. A third and fourth
method of witchcraft is when they have
failed to procure an abortion, and then
either devour the child or offer it to a
devil.

There is no doubt concerning the
first two methods, since, without the
help of devils, a man can by natural
means, such as herbs, savin for example,
or other emmenagogues, procure that
a woman cannot generate or conceive,
as has been mentioned above. But with
the other two methods it is different;
for they are effected by witches. And
there is no need to bring forward the
arguments, since very evident instances
and examples will more readily show
the truth of this matter.

The former of these two abomina¬
tions is the fact that certain witches,
against the instinct of human nature,
and indeed against the nature of all
beasts, with the possible exception of
wolves, are in the habit of devouring
and eating infant children. And con¬
cerning this, the Inquisitor of Como,
who has been mentioned before, has
told us the following : that he was
summoned by the inhabitants of the
County of Barby to hold an inquisi¬
tion, because a certain man had missed
his child from its cradle, and finding
a congress of women in the night-time,
swore that he saw them kill his child
and drink its blood and devour it.

Also, in one single year, which is the
year now last passed, he says that
forty-one witches were burned, certain
others taking flight to the Lord Arch¬
duke of Austria, Sigismund. For con¬
firmation of this there are certain
writings of John Nider in his Formi-
carius* of whom, as of those events
which he recounts, the memory is still
fresh in men’s minds; wherefore it is
apparent that such things are not in¬
credible. We must add that in all these
matters witch midwives cause yet
greater injuries, as penitent witches
have often told to us and to others,
saying : No one does more harm to the
Catholic Faith than midwives. For
when they do not kill children, then,
as if for some other purpose, they take
them out of the room and, raising them
up in the air, offer them to devils.
But the method which they observe in
crimes of this sort will be shown in the
Second Part, which we must soon
approach. But first one more question
must be inquired into, namely, that of
the Divine permission. For it was said
at the beginning that three things are
necessary for the effecting of witch¬
craft : the devil, a witch, and the
Divine permission.

☆

QUESTION XII

Whether the Permission of Almighty God is
an Accompaniment of Witchcraft.

NOW we must consider the Divine
permission itself, touching which
four things are asked. First, whether
it is necessary that this permission
should accompany a work of witch¬
craft. Secondly, that God in His justice
permits a creature naturally sinful to
perpetrate witchcraft and other horrid
crimes, the other two necessary con¬
comitants being presupposed. Thirdly,

* “Nider.” John Nider, O.P., was bom
1380 in Swabia; and died at Colmar , 13 August,
1438. He gained a wide reputation as a preacher
and was active at the Council of Constance. An
advocate of the strictest reforms, he became
eminent in the annals of his Order by his energy
and example. The most important among his
many works is the “Formicarius,” a treatise upon
the theological, philosophical, and social
questions of the day. A complete edition was
published at Douai, 5 vols., 1602. The tractate
“De Maleficis ” has often been printed separately.

MALEFICARUM

67

Part I. Question 12.

that the crime of witchcraft exceeds all
other evils which God permits to be
done. Fourthly, in what way this
matter should be preached to the
people.

Concerning the third postulate of
this First Part, namely, the Divine
permission, it is asked : Whether it is
as Catholic to affirm the Divine per¬
mission in these works of witches, as it
is quite heretical to contradict such an
affirmation? And it is argued that it is
not heretical to maintain that God
does not permit so great power to the
devil in this sort of witchcraft. For it is
Catholic, and not heretical, to refute
such things as appear to be to the dis¬
paragement of the Creator. And it is
submitted that it is Catholic to main¬
tain that the devil is not allowed such
power of injuring men, since to hold
the opposite opinion seems to be a dis¬
paragement of the Creator. For it
would then follow that not everything
is subject to the Divine providence,
since the all-wise Provider keeps away,
as far as possible, all defect and evil
from those for whom He cares. And if
the works of witchcraft are permitted
by God, they are not kept away by
Him: and if He does not keep them
away, then God Himself is not a wise
Provider, and all things are not subject
to His providence. But since this is
false, therefore it is false that God
permits witchcraft.

And again, to permit a thing to
happen presupposes in him who per¬
mits it that either he can prevent it
from happening if he wishes, or he
cannot prevent it even if he wishes;
and neither of these suppositions can
apply to God. For in the first case,
such a man would be thought spiteful,
and in the second case impotent. Then
it is incidentally asked : As to that
bewitchment that happened to Peter,
if God could have prevented it, and
did not do so, then God is either de¬
spiteful or He does not care for all ;
but if He could not have prevented it
even if He wished, then He is not
omnipotent. But since it is not possible
to maintain the opinion that God does
not care for all, and the rest, therefore
it cannot be said that witchcraft is
done with the permission of God.

Besides, he who is responsible to
himself and is the master of his own
actions is not subject to the permission
or providence of any governor. But

men were made responsible to them¬
selves by God, according to Ecclesi¬
asticus xv : God made man from the
beginning, and left him in the hand of
his counsel. In particular, the sins
which men do are left in their own
counsel, according to the text : He gave
to them according to their hearts’
desire. Therefore not all evils are sub¬
ject to Divine permission.

Yet again, S. Augustine says in the
Enchiridion , as does also Aristotle in the
ninth book of Metaphysics: It is better
not to know certain vile things than to
know them, but all that is good is to
be ascribed to God. Therefore God
does not prevent the very vile works of
witchcraft, whether He permits or not.
See also S. Paul in I. Corinthians ix:
Doth God take care for oxen? And the
same holds good of the other irrational
beasts. Wherefore God takes no care
whether they are bewitched or not,
since they are not subject to His per¬
mission, which proceeds from His
providence.

Again, that which happens of neces¬
sity has no need of provident permis¬
sion or prudence. This is clearly shown
in Aristotle’s Ethics , Book II : Prudence
is a right reasoning concerning things
which happen and are subject to
counsel and choice. But several effects
of witchcraft happen of necessity; as
when for some reason, or owing to the
influence of the stars, diseases come,
or any other things which we judge to
be witchcraft. Therefore they are not
always subject to Divine permission.

And again, if men are bewitched by
Divine permission, then it is asked :
Why does this happen to one more
than to another? If it be said that it is
because of sin, which abounds more in
one than in another, this does not seem
valid ; for then the greater sinners
would be the more bewitched, but this
is manifestly not so, since they are less
punished in this world. As it is said :
Well is it for the liars. But, if this argu¬
ment were good, they also would be
bewitched. Finally, it is clear from the
fact that innocent children and other
just men suffer most from witchcraft.

But against these arguments : it is
submitted that God permits evil to be
done, though He does not wish it ;
and this is for the perfecting of the
universe. See Dionysius, de Diuin. Nom .
Ill : Evil will be for all time, even to the
perfecting of the universe. And S.

68

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 12.

Augustine in the Enchiridion : In all
things good and evil consists the admir¬
able beauty of the universe. So that
what is said to be evil is well ordained,
and kept in its due place commends
more highly that which is good; for
good things are more pleasing and
laudable when compared with bad.
S. Thomas also refutes the opinion of
those who say that, although God has
no wish for evil (since no creature
seeks for evil, either in its natural, or
its animal, or in its intellectual appe¬
tite, which is the will, whose object is
good) , yet He is willing that evil should
exist and be done. This he says to be
false; since God neither wishes evil to
be done, nor wishes it not to be done,
but is willing to allow evil to be done ;
and this is good for the perfecting of
the universe.

And why it is erroneous to say that
God wishes evil to be and to be done,
for the good of the universe, he says is
for the following reason. Nothing is to
be judged good except what is good in
itself and not by accident. As the virtu¬
ous man is judged good in his intel¬
lectual nature, not in his animal nature.
But evil is not of itself ordained for
good, but by accident. For against the
intention of those who do evil, good
results. In this way, against the inten¬
tion of witches, or against the intention
of tyrants, was it that through their
persecutions the patience of the martyrs
shone out clearly.

Answer. This question is as diffi¬
cult to understand as it is profitable
to elucidate. For there is among the
arguments, not so much of Laymen as
of certain Wise men, this in common ;
that they do not believe that such
horrible witchcraft as has been spoken
of is permitted by God ; being ignorant
of the causes of this Divine permission.
And by reason of this ignorance, since
witches are not put down with the
vengeance that is due to them, they
seem now to be depopulating the whole
of Christianity. Therefore that both
learned and unlearned may be satisfied
in each way, according to the opinion
of the Theologians, we make our answer
by the discussion of twc difficulties.
And first, that the world is so subject
to the Divine providence that He Him¬
self provides for all. Secondly, that in
His justice He permits the prevalence
of sin, which consists of guilt, punish¬
ment, and loss, by reason of His two

first permissions, namely, the fall of
the Angels and that of our first parents.
From which also it will be clear that
obstinately to disbelieve this smacks of
heresy, since such a man implicates
himself in the errors of the infidels.

And as for the first, it is to be noted
that, presupposing that which pertains
to the providence of God (see Wisdom
xiv : Thy providence, O Father, govern-
eth all things), we ought also to main¬
tain that all things are subject to His
providence, and that also Fie immedi¬
ately provides for all things. And to
make this clear, let us first refute a
certain contrary error. For taking the
text in Job xxii : Thick clouds are a
covering to him that He seeth not us ;
and He walketh in the circuit of heaven :
some have thought that the doctrine
of S. Thomas, I, 22, means that only
incorruptible things are subject to
Divine providence, such as the separate
Essences, and the stars, with also the
species of lower things, which are also
incorruptible; but they said that the
individuals of the species, being cor¬
ruptible, were not so subject. Where¬
fore they said that all lower things
which are in the world are subject to
Divine providence in the universal, but
not in the particular or individual
sense. But to others this opinion did
not seem tenable, since God cares for
the other animals just as He does for
men. Therefore the Rabbi Moses, wish¬
ing to hold a middle course, agreed
with their opinion in saying that all
corruptible things are not individually
entirely subject to Divine governance,
but only in a universal sense, as has
been said before ; but he excepted men
from the generality of corruptible
things, because of the splendid nature
of their intellect, which is comparable
with that of the separate Essences. And
so, according to his opinion, whatever
witchcraft happens to men comes from
the Divine permission; but not such
as happens to the animals or to the
other fruits of the earth,

Now though this opinion is nearer to
the truth than that which altogether
denies the providence of God in worldly
matters, maintaining that the world
was made by chance, as did Demo¬
critus and the Epicureans, yet it is not
without great fallacy. For it must be
said that everything is subject to Divine
providence, not only in the general,
but also in the particular sense; and

Part I. Question 12. MALEFICARUM

69

that the bewitching not only of men,
but also of animals and the fruits of
the earth, comes from Divine and
provident permission. And this is plainly
true; the providence and ordinance of
things to some end extend just so far
as the causality of them itself extends.
To take an example from things that
are subject to some master; they are so
far subject to his providence as they
are themselves under his control. But
the causality which is of God is the
original agent, and extends itself to all
beings, not only in a general but also
in an individual sense, and not only
to things incorruptible. Therefore, since
all things must be of God, so all things
are cared for by Him, that is, are
ordained to some end.

This point is touched by S. Paul in
Romans xiii : All things which are from
God were ordained by Him. Which is
to say that, just as all things come from
God, so also are all things ordained by
Him, and are consequently subject to
His providence. For the providence of
God is to be understood as nothing
else than the reason, that is, the cause
of the ordering of things to a purpose.
Therefore, in so far as all things are
a part of one purpose, so also are they
subject to the providence of God. And
God knows all things, not only in the
mass generally, but also in the indi¬
vidual particularly. Now the know¬
ledge which God has of things created
is to be compared with a craftsman’s
knowledge of his work : therefore, just
as all his work is subject to the order
and providence of a craftsman, so are
all things subject to the order and
providence of God.

But this does not provide a satis¬
factory explanation of the fact that
God in justice permits evil and witch¬
craft to be in the world, although He is
Himself the provider and governor of
all things; for it would seem that, if
this is conceded, He ought to keep
away all evil from those for whom He
cares. For we see among men that a
wise provider does all that he can to
keep away all defect and harm from
those who are his care; therefore why
does not God, in the same 'way, keep
away all evil? It must be noted that a
particular and an universal controller
or provider are two very different
matters. For the particular controller
must of necessity keep away all the
harm he can, since he is not able to

extract good out of evil. But God is the
universal controller of the whole world,
and can extract much good from par¬
ticular evils ; as through the perse¬
cution of the tyrants came the patience
of the martyrs, and through the works
of witches comes the purgation or
proving of the faith of the just, as will
be shown. Therefore it is not God’s
purpose to prevent all evil, lest the
universe should lack the cause of much
good. Wherefore S. Augustine says in
the Enchiridion: So merciful is Almighty
God, that He would not allow any evil
to be in His works unless He were so
omnipotent and good that He can
bring good even out of evil.

And we have an example of this in
the actions of natural things. For
although the corruptions and defects
which occur in natural things are
contrary to the purpose of that par¬
ticular thing (as when a thief is hanged,
or when animals are killed for human
food), they are yet in accordance with
the universal purpose of nature (as that
man’s life and property should be kept
intact) ; and thus the universal good is
preserved. For it is necessary for the
conservation of the species that the
death of one should be the preserva-
tion of another. For lions are kept alive
by the slaughter of other animals.

It is Explained with regard to the Divine
Permission , that God would not make a
Creature to be Naturally without Sin*

Secondly, God in His justice per¬
mits the prevalence of evil, both that
of sin and that of pain, and especially
now that the world is cooling and
declining to its end; and this we shall
prove from two propositions which
must be postulated. First, that God;
would not — or let us rather say, with
the fear of God, that (humanly speak¬
ing) it is impossible that any creature,
man or Angel, can be of such a nature
that it cannot sin. And secondly, that *
it is just in God to permit man to sin,
or to be tempted. These two proposi-

* “ Naturally without sin.” The theology here
is very intricate and must be followed with the
utmost caution. All have free-will, and therefore
might sin. But Our Lord and Our Lady did not
sin; and the thought that they might have sinned
is blasphemy. And S. John says (/. Hi. g):

“ Whosoever is born of God, committeth not sin:
for his seed abideth in him, and he cannot sin,
because he is born of God.”

70

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 12.

tions being granted, and since it is a
part of the Divine providence that
every creature shall be left to its own
nature, it must be said that, according
to the premisses, it is impossible that
God does not permit witchcraft to be
committed with the help of devils.

And that it was not possible to com¬
municate to a creature a natural in¬
capacity for sin, is shown by S. Thomas
(II, 23, art. 1). For if this quality were
communicable to any creature, God
would have communicated it; for He
has, at least in kind, communicated
all other graces and perfections to His
creatures that are communicable. Such
is the personal union of two natures
in Christ, the Maternity and Virginity
of Immaculate Mary, the free fellow¬
ship of travellers, the blessed com¬
panionship of the elect, and many other
things. But we read that this quality
was not given to any creature, either
man or Angel ; for it is said : Even in
His Angels He found sin. Therefore
it is certain that God will not com¬
municate to man a natural incapacity
for sin, although man may win to this
through grace.

Again, if this were communicable,
and were not communicated, the uni¬
verse would not be perfect. And its
perfection consists in the fact that all
communicable good qualities of crea¬
tures are communicated in kind.

Neither is it valid to argue that God,
being omnipotent, and having made
men and Angels in His likeness, could
also have caused his creatures to be
by nature impeccable: or even that
He would make that condition of
Grace, which is the cause of confirma¬
tion in goodness, an essential part of
the nature of Angels and men, so that
through their natural origin and natural
condition they would be so confirmed
in goodness that they would not be
able to sin.

For the first argument will not hold.
Since, although God is all-powerful
and all-good, yet he will not bestow
this quality of impeccability; not be¬
cause of any imperfection in His power,
but because of the imperfection of the
creature ; and this imperfection lies
chiefly in the fact that no creature, man
or Angel, is capable of receiving this
quality. And for this reason: that, being
a creature, its being depends upon its
Creator, just as an effect depends on
the cause of its being. And to create is

to make something out of nothing ; and
this, if left to itself, perishes, but en¬
dures so long as it preserves the influ¬
ence of its cause. You may take, if you
wish, an example from a candle, which
burns only so long as it has wax. This
being so, it is to be noted that God
created man, and left him in the hand
of his own counsel ( Ecclesiasticus xvii).
And so also He created the Angels in
the beginning of Creation. And this
was done for the sake of Free-will, the
property of which is to do or to omit
doing, to recede or not to recede from
its cause. And since to recede from
God, from free-will, is to sin, therefore
it was impossible for man or Angel to
receive, and God did not will to give,
such a natural quality that he should
at the same time be endowed with
free-will and also be incapable of sin.

Another imperfection by reason of
which this quality cannot be com¬
municated to man or Angel is that it
implies a contradiction; and since a
contradiction is by its nature im¬
possible, we say that God will not do
this thing. Or rather we should say
that His creatures cannot receive such
a quality. For example, it is impossible
that anything can be at one and the
same time alive and dead. And so it
would imply this contradiction : that a
man should have free-will, by which
he would be able to depart from his
Creator, and that he should also be
unable to sin. But if he were unable
to sin, he would be unable to depart
from his Creator. For this is sin: to
despise the incommutable good and
cleave to things that are variable. But
to despise or not to despise is a matter
of free-will.

The second argument also is not
valid. For if the confirmation of grace
were so essential a part of the original
creation that it became a natural
quality of the creature to be unable to
sin, then his inability to sin would
arise, not from any exterior cause or
from grace, but from his own very
nature; and then he would be God,
which is absurd. S. Thomas treats of
this in his above solution of the last
argument, when he says that whenever
there happens to any creature some¬
thing that can only be caused by a
superior influence, the lower nature
cannot of itself cause that effect with¬
out the co-operation of the higher
nature. For example, a gas becomes

Part I. Question 13. MALEFICARUM

71

ignited by fire ; but it could not of its
own nature light itself without fire.

I say, therefore, that since the con¬
firmation of a rational creature comes
only through grace, which is a sort of
spiritual light or image of the light of
Creation, it is impossible for any
creature to have, of its own nature,
that confirmation or grace, unless it be
made one with the Divine nature ; that
is, unless it be of the same nature as
God, which is altogether impossible.
Let us conclude by saying that the
inability to sin belongs by nature to
God alone. For He does not depart
from His nature, Who gives to all
things their being, neither can He
depart from the righteousness of His
goodness ; for this belongs to Him
through the character of His nature.
But for all others who have this quality
that they cannot sin, it is conferred
upon them through the confirmation
in goodness by grace; by which the
sons of God are made free from sin,
and they who in any way consort with
the Divine nature.

☆

QUESTION XIII

Herein is set forth the Question concerning
the Two Divine Permissions which God
justly allows , namely , that the Devil , the
Author of all Evil , should Sin, and that
our First Parents should Fall, from
which Origins the Works of Witches are
justly suffered to take place.

THE second question and proposi¬
tion is that God justly permitted
certain Angels to sin in deed, which
He could not have allowed unless they
were capable of sin; and that in like
manner He preserved certain creatures
through grace, without their having
previously suffered temptation ; and
that He justly allows man both to be
tempted and to sin. And all this is
clearly shown as follows. For it is a
part of Divine providence that each
single thing should be left to its own
nature, and not be altogether impeded
in its natural works. For, as Dionysius
says [de Diuin. Nom., IV), Providence is
not a destroyer, but a preserver of
nature. This being so, it is manifest
that, just as the good of the race is
better than the good of the individual
(Aristotle, Ethics, I), so also the good

of the universe takes precedence over
the good of any particular creature.
Therefore we must add that, if men
were prevented from sinning, many
steps to perfection would be removed.
For that nature would be removed
which has it in its power to sin or not
to sin; but it has already been shown
that this is a natural property of man’s
nature.

And let it be answered that, if there
had been no sin, but immediate con¬
firmation, then there would never have
appeared what debt of grace in good
works is due to God, and what the
power of sin has been able to effect,
and many other things without which
the universe would suffer great loss.
For it behoved that Satan should sin,
not through some outside suggestion,
but that he should find in himself the
occasion of sin. And this he did when
he wished to be equal to God. Now this
is to be understood neither simply and
directly, nor indirectly, but only with
a reservation ; and this is declared
according to the authority of Esaias
xiv: I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds ; I will be like the Most
High. For it must not be understood
simply and directly, because in that
case he would have had a limited and
erring understanding, in seeking some¬
thing which was impossible for him.
For he knew that he was a creature
created by God, and therefore he knew
that it was impossible for him to become
equal to his Creator. Neither, again,
must it be understood indirectly; for
since the whole good of an Angel and
a creature lies in its subjection to God,
j ust as the whole transparence of the air
consists in its subjection to the sun’s
rays; therefore nothing which would
be contrary to the good of its nature
could be sought for by an Angel. But
he sought for equality with God, not
absolutely, but with a reservation,
which was as follows. The nature of
God has two qualities, that of blessed¬
ness and goodness, and the fact that
all the blessedness and goodness of
His creatures issues from Him. There¬
fore the Angel, seeing that the dignity
of his own nature transcended that ol
the other creatures, wished and asked
that the blessedness and goodness of
all the inferior creatures should be
derived from him. And he sought this
in his own natural capacity, that just
as he was the first to be endowed in

72

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 13.

nature with those qualities, so the
other creatures should receive them
from the nobility of his nature. And
he sought this of God, in perfect
willingness to remain subject to God
so long as he had that power granted
to him. Therefore he did not wish to
be made equal with God absolutely,
but only with a reservation.

It is further to be noted that, wish¬
ing to bring his desire to the point of
action, he suddenly made it known to
others; and the understanding of the
other Angels of his desire, and their
perverse consenting to it, was also
sudden. Therefore the sin of the First
Angel exceeded and preceded the sins
of the others in respect of the magni¬
tude of his guilt and causality, but not
in respect of duration. See Apocalypse
xii. The dragon falling from heaven
drew with him the third part of the
stars. And he lives in the form of
Leviathan, and is king over all the
children of pride. And, according to
Aristotle ( Metaph ., V), he is called king
of princes, inasmuch as he moves those
who are subject to him according to
his will and command. Therefore his
sin was the occasion of sin in others,
since he first, not having been tempted
from outside, was the external tempta¬
tion of others.

And that all these things happened
instantaneously may be exemplified by
physical things; for the ignition of a
gas, the sight of the flame, and the
impression formed by that sight all
happen at one and the same time.

I have put this matter at some
length ; for in the consideration of that
stupendous Divine permission in the
case of the most noble creatures with
regard to the one sin of ambition, it
will be easier to admit particular per¬
missions in the case of the works of
witches, which are in some circum¬
stances even greater sins. For in certain
circumstances the sins of witches are
greater than that of the Angel or of
our first parents, as will be shown in
the Second Part.

Now the fact that the providence of
God permitted the first man to be
tempted and to sin is sufficiently clear
from what has been said concerning
the transgression of the Angels. For
both man and the Angel were created
to the same end, and left with free-will,
in order that they might receive the
reward of blessedness 'not without merit.

Therefore, just as the Angel was not
preserved from his fall, in order that
the power of sin on the one side and
the power of the confirmation of grace
on the other side might work together
for the glory of the universe, so also
ought it to be considered in the case
of man.

Wherefore S. Thomas (II, 23, art. 2)
says : That by which God is glorified
ought not to be hindered from within.
But God is glorified in sin, when He
pardons in mercy and when He punishes
injustice; therefore it behoves Him not
to hinder sin. Let us, then, return to a
brief recapitulation of our proposition,
namely, that by the just providence of
God man is permitted to sin for many
reasons. First, that the power of God
may be shown, Who alone is unchang¬
ing while every creature is variable.
Secondly, that the wisdom of God may
be declared, Who can bring good out
of evil, which could not be unless
God had allowed the creature to sin.
Thirdly, that the mercy of God may
be made manifest, by which Christ
through His death liberated man who
was lost. Fourthly, that the justice of
God may be shown, which not only
rewards the good, but also punishes
the wicked. Fifthly, that the condition
of man may not be worse than that of
other creatures, all of whom God so
governs that He allows them to act
after their own nature; wherefore it
behoved Him to leave man to his own
judgement. Sixthly, for the glory of
men; that is, the glory of the just man
who could transgress but has not. And
seventhly, for the adorning of the uni¬
verse ; for as there is a threefold evil in
sin, namely, guilt, pain, and loss, so is
the universe adorned by the corre¬
sponding threefold good, namely, right¬
eousness, pleasure, and usefulness. For
righteousness is adorned by guilt,
pleasure by pain, and all usefulness by
loss. And by this the answer to the
arguments is made plain.

Solutions of the Arguments.

According to the first argument it is
heretical to maintain that the devil is
allowed power to injure men. But the
opposite appears rather to be true ; for
it is heretical to assert that God does
not permit man, of his own free-will,
to sin when he wishes. And God per¬
mits much sin, by reason of His power

Part I. Question 14.

MALEFICARUM

73

to hurt men in the punishment of the
wicked for the adorning of the universe.
For it is said by S. Augustine in his
Book of Soliloquies: Thou, Lord, hast
commanded, and it is so, that the shame
of guilt should never be without the
glory of punishment.

And that is not a valid proof of the
argument which is taken from the wise
ruler who keeps away all defect and
evil as far as he can. For it is quite
different with God, Who has an univer¬
sal care, from one who has only a par¬
ticular care. For God, Whose care is
universal, can bring good out of evil,
as is shown by what has been said.

For the second argument, it is clear
that God’s power as well as His good¬
ness and justice are manifest in His
permission of sin. So when it is argued
that God either can or cannot prevent
evil, the answer is that He can prevent
it, but that for the reasons already
shown it does not behove Him to do so.

Neither is it valid to object that He
therefore wishes evil to be, since He can
revent it but will not; for, as has
een shown in the arguments for the
truth, God cannot wish evil to be. He
neither wishes nor does not wish it, but
He permits it for the perfecting of the
universe.

In the third argument S. Augustine
and Aristotle are quoted on the subject
of human knowledge, saying that it is
better for a man not to have knowledge
of that which is evil and vile for two
reasons: first, that then he will have
less opportunity to think of evil, since
we cannot understand many things at
the same time. And secondly, because
knowledge of evil sometimes perverts
the will towards evil. But these argu¬
ments do not concern God, Who with¬
out any detriment understands all the
deeds of men and of witches.

For the fourth argument: S. Paul
excepts the care of God from oxen, to
show that a rational creature has
through free-will command over its
actions, as has been said. Therefore
God has a special providence over
him, that either blame or merit may
be imputed to him, and he may receive
either punishment or reward ; but that
God does not in this way care for the
irrational beasts.

But to argue from that authority
that the individuals of irrational crea¬
tion have no part in Divine providence
would be heretical ; for it would be to

maintain that all things are not subject
to Divine providence, and would be
contrary to the praise which is spoken
in Holy Scripture concerning the Divine
wisdom, which stretches mightily from
end to end and disposes all things well ;
and it would be the error of the Rabbi
Moses, as was shown in the arguments
for the truth.

For the fifth argument, man did not
institute nature, but puts the works of
nature to the greatest use known to his
skill and strength. Therefore human
providence does not extend to the in¬
evitable phenomena of nature, as that
the sun will rise to-morrow. But God’s
providence does extend to these things,
since He is Himself the author of nature.
Wherefore also defects in nature, even
if they arise out of the natural course
of things, are subject to Divine provi¬
dence. And therefore Democritus and
the other natural philosophers were in
error when they ascribed whatever
happened to the inferior creation to
the mere chance of matter.

For the last argument: although
every punishment is inflicted by God
for sin, yet the greatest sinners are not
always afflicted with witchcraft. And
this may be because the devil does not
wish to afflict and tempt those whom he
sees to belong to him by just title, or
because he does not wish them to be
turned back to God. As it is said : Their
plagues were multiplied, and they
turned them to God, etc. And that all
punishment is inflicted by God for sin
is shown by what follows ; for according
to S. Jerome : Whatever we suffer,
we deserve for our sins.

Now it is declared that the sins of
witches are more grievous than those
of the bad angels and our first parents.
Wherefore, just as the innocent are
punished for the sins of their fathers,
so are many blameless people damned
and bewitched for the sins of witches.

☆

QUESTION XIV

The Enormity of Witches is Considered, and
it is shown that the Whole Matter should
be rightly Set Forth and Declared.

Concerning the enormity of

crimes, it is asked whether the
crimes of witches exceed, both in guilt,
in pain, and in loss, all the evils which

74

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 14.

God allows and has permitted from the
beginning of the world up till now.
And it seems that they do not, especially
as regards guilt. For the sin which a
man commits when he could easily
avoid it is greater than the sin which
another man commits when he could
not so easily avoid it. This is shown by
S. Augustine, de Ciuit. Dei: There is
great wickedness in sinning when it is
so easy not to sin. But Adam, and
others who have sinned when in a state
of perfection or even of grace, could
more easily because of the help of
grace have avoided their sins — especially
Adam who was created in grace — than
many witches, who have not shared in
such gifts. Therefore the sins of such
are greater than all the crimes of
witches.

And again in respect of punishment:
the greater punishment is due to the
greater blame. But Adam’s sin was the
most heavily punished, as is plainly
proved by the fact that both his guilt
and his punishment are shown in all
his posterity by the inheritance of
original sin. Therefore his sin is greater
than all other sins.

And again, the same is argued in
respect of loss. For according to S.
Augustine: A thing is evil in that it
takes away from the good ; therefore
where there is the more good lost, there
the greater evil has gone before. But
the sin of our first parent brought the
greatest loss both to nature and to
grace, since it deprived us of innocence
and immortality; and no subsequent
sin has brought such loss, therefore,
etc.

But on the contrary side: that which
includes the most causes of evil is the
greater evil, and such are the sins of
witches. For they can, with God’s per¬
mission, bring every evil upon that
which is good by nature and in form,
as is declared in the Papal Bull. Be¬
sides, Adam sinned only in doing that
which was wrong in one of two ways;
for it was forbidden, but was not wrong
in itself: but witches and other sinners
sin in doing that which is wrong in
both ways, wrong in itself, and for¬
bidden, such as murders and many
other forbidden things. Therefore their
sins are heavier than other sins.

Besides, sin which comes from definite
malice is heavier than sin which comes
from ignorance. But witches, out of
great malice, despise the Faith and the

sacraments of the Faith, as many of
them have confessed.

Answer. The evils which are per¬
petrated by modern witches exceed all
other sin which God has ever per¬
mitted to be done, as was said in the
title of this Question. And this can be
shown in three ways, in so far as they
are. sins involving perversity of char¬
acter, though it is different with the
sins that contravene the other Theo¬
logical virtues. First in general, by
comparing their works indifferently
with any other worldly crimes. Secondly
in particular, by considering the species
of the superstition and into what pact
they have entered with the devil. And
thirdly, by comparing their sins with
the sins of the bad Angels and even
with that of our first parents.

And first, sin is threefold, involving
guilt, punishment, and loss. Good also
is correspondingly threefold, involving
righteousness, felicity, and use. And
righteousness corresponds with guilt,
felicity with punishment, and use with
loss.

That the guilt of witches exceeds all
other sins is apparent in this way. For
according to the teaching of S. Thomas
(II, 22, art. 2), there is in the matter
of sin much that may be considered
whereby the gravity or lightness of the
sin may be deduced ; and the same sin
may be found heavy in one and light
in another. For example, we can say
that in fornication a young man sins,
but an old man is mad. Yet those sins
are, simply speaking, the heavier which
are not only attended by the more
extensive and more powerful circum¬
stances, but are in their nature and
quantity of a more essentially serious
sort.

And so we can say that, though the
sin of Adam was in some respects
heavier than all other sins, inasmuch
as he fell to the instigation of a smaller
temptation, since it came only from
within ; and also because he could
more easily have resisted on account of
the original justice in which he was
created : nevertheless in the form and
quantity of sin, and in other respects
which aggravate the sin the more in
that it is the cause of many yet heavier
sins, the sins of witches exceed all other
sins. And this will be made still clearer
in two ways.

For one sin is said to be greater than
another in one or other of the follow-

Part I. Question 14. MALEFICARUM

75

ing respects: in causality, as was the
sin of Lucifer ; in generality, as Adam’s
sin; in hideousness, as was the sin of
Judas ; in the difficulty of forgiving it,
as is the sin against the Holy Ghost;
in danger, as is the sin of ignorance ; in
inseparability, as is the sin of covetous¬
ness ; in inclination, as is the sin of the
flesh; in the offending of the Divine
Majesty, as is the sin of idolatry and
infidelity ; in the difficulty of combating
it, as the sin of pride; in blindness of
mind, as the sin of anger. Accordingly,
after the sin of Lucifer, the works of
witches exceed all other sins, in hideous¬
ness since they deny Him crucified, in
inclination since they commit nasti¬
ness of the flesh with devils, in blind¬
ness of mind since in a pure spirit of
malignity they rage and bring every
injury upon the souls* and bodies of
men and beasts, as has been shown
from what has been said before.

And this, indeed, is indicated, accord¬
ing to S. Isidore, by the word. For they
are called witches ( maleficae ) on account
of the enormity of their crimes, as has
been said above.

Our contention is also deduced from
the following. There are two gradations
in sin, a turning away, and a change
of heart. See our quotation from S.
Augustine: Sin is to reject the incom¬
mutable good, and to cleave to things
that are variable. And the turning
away from God is as it were formal,
just as the change of heart is as it were
material. Therefore the more a man is
separated from God by it, the heavier
is the sin. And since infidelity is the
chief cause of man’s separation from
God, the infidelity of witches stands
out as the greatest of sins. And this is
given the name of Heresy, which is
Apostasy from the Faith; and in this
witches sin throughout their whole
lives.

For the sin of infidelity consists in
opposing the Faith; and this may come
about in two ways, by opposing a faith
which has not yet been received, or by
opposing it after it has been received.
Of the first sort is the infidelity of the
Pagans or Gentiles. In the second way,
the Christian Faith may be denied in
two ways: either by denying the
prophecies concerning it, or by deny¬
ing the actual manifestation of its
truth. And the first of these is the
infidelity of the Jews, and the second
the infidelity of Heretics.

It is clear from this that the heresy
of witches is the most heinous of the
three degrees of infidelity ; and this fact
is proved both by reason and authority.
For it is said in II. S. Peter ii : It had
been better for them not to have known
the way of righteousness, than, after
they have known it, to turn from it.
And it is reasonable to suppose that,
just as he who does not perform what
he has promised commits a greater sin
than he who does not perform what he
never promised, so the infidelity of
heretics, who while professing the faith
of the Gospel fight against it by cor¬
rupting it, is a greater sin than that
of the Jews and Pagans.

And again, the Jews sin more greatly
than the Pagans ; for they received the
prophecy of the Christian Faith in the
Old Law, which they corrupt through
badly interpreting it, which is not the
case with the Pagans. Therefore their
infidelity is a greater sin than that of
the Gentiles, who never received the
Faith of the Gospel. But concerning
Apostasy, S. Thomas says in the Second
of the Second, question 1 2 : Apostasy
means a turning away from God and
religion, and this may happen accord¬
ing to the different ways by which man
is joined to God; that is, by faith, or
by the subjection of the will to obedi¬
ence, or by religion and Holy Orders.
S. Raymund and Hostiensis say that
Apostasy is a rash departure from the
state of faith or obedience or Religion.
Now if that which precedes is removed,
that which follows from it is also re¬
moved; but the converse proposition
is not true. Therefore Apostasy from
the Faith is a greater sin than the other
two forms of infidelity, since in its case
a precedent Religion has been removed.

But according to S. Raymund, a
man is not to be judged an Apostate
or deserter, however far and long he
may have strayed, unless he shows by
his subsequent life that he has no
thought of returning to the Faith. And
this would be shown in the case of a
cleric if he were to marry a wife, or
commit some similar crime. In the
same way it is an Apostasy of dis¬
obedience when a man wilfully spurns
the teaching of the Church and the
Bishops. And such a man must be
convicted of his infamy, and be excom¬
municated.

Now when we speak of the Apostasy
of witches, we mean the Apostasy of

76

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 14.

perfidy; and this is so much the more
heinous, in that it springs from a pact
made with the enemy of the Faith and
the way of salvation. For witches are
bound to make this pact, which is
exacted by that enemy either in part
or wholly. For we Inquisitors have
found some witches who have denied
all the articles of Faith, and others
who have denied only a certain number
of them ; but they are all bound to deny
true and sacramental confession. And
so, even the Apostasy of Julian does
not seem to have been so great, although
in other respects he did more harm
against the Church; but we cannot
speak of that here.

But it may be incidentally objected
that it is possible that they may keep
the Faith in the thoughts of their
hearts, which God alone, and not even
any Angel, can see into ; but do rever¬
ence and obedience to the devil only
in outward form. The answer to this
seems to be that there are two degrees
of the Apostasy of perfidy. One con¬
sists in outward acts of infidelity, with¬
out the formation of any pact with the
devil, as when one lives in the lands of
the infidels and conforms his life to
that of the Mohammedans. The other
consists in a pact made with the devil
by one who lives in Christian lands. In
the first case, men who keep the Faith
in their hearts but deny it in their
outward acts, though they are not
Apostates or Heretics, are guilty of
deadly sin. For in this way Solomon
showed reverence to the gods of his
wives. And no one can be excused on
the ground that he does this through
fear; for S. Augustine says: It is better
to die of hunger than to be fed by
Idolaters. But however much witches
may retain the Faith in their hearts
while denying it with their lips, they
are still to be judged Apostates, since
they have made a treaty with death
and a compact with hell. Wherefore
S. Thomas (II, 4), speaking of such
magic works, and of those who in any
way seek help from devils, says: They
are all Apostates from the Faith, by
reason of a pact made with the Devil,
either in word, when some invocation
is used, or by some deed, even if there
is no actual sacrifice. For no man can
serve two masters.

To the same effect writes Blessed
Albertus Magnus, where he asks whether
the sin of Magicians and Astrologers is

an Apostasy from the Faith. And he
answers: In such there is always
Apostasy either of word or of deed.
For if invocations are made, then there
is an open pact made with the devil,
and it is plainly Apostasy in word.
But if their magic is simply a matter
of action, then it is Apostasy in deed.
And since in all these there is abuse of
the Faith, seeing that they look for
from the devil what they ought to look
for from God, therefore they are always
to be judged Apostates. See how clearly
they set forth two degrees of Apostasy,
understanding a third, namely, that of
thought. And even if this last is lack¬
ing, yet witches are judged to be
Apostates in word and deed. There¬
fore, as will be shown, they must be
subject to the punishment of Heretics
and Apostates.

And there is in them a third enormity
of crime, exceeding all other heresies.
For S. Augustine (XXVIII, 1 and 2)
tells us that the whole life of infidels is
a sin ; and the gloss on Romans xiv says
that everything which comes not of
faith is sin. What then is to be thought
of the whole life of witches, that is, of
all their other actions which are not
pleasing to the devil, such as fasting,
attending church, communicating, and
other things? For in all these things
they commit deadly sin, as is shown as
follows. So far have they fallen in sin
that, although they have not lost all
power of amendment (since sin does
not corrupt the whole good of their
nature, and a natural light yet remains
in them) ; yet, because of their homage
given to the devil, and unless they be
absolved from it, all their works, even
when they appear to be good, are
rather of an evil nature. And this is
not seen to be the case with other
infidels.

For according to S. Thomas in the
Second of the Second , question 1 o, Whether
every action of an infidel is a sin; he
says that the deeds of the unfaithful
which are, of themselves, good, such
as fasting, almsgiving, and deeds of
that sort, are no merit to them because
of their infidelity, which is a most
grievous sin. Yet sin does not corrupt
the whole good of their nature, and
there remains in them a natural light.
Therefore not every deed of theirs is
mortal sin, but only those which pro¬
ceed from their very infidelity, or are
related to it. For example, a Saracen

Part I. Question 15. MALEFICARUM

77

fasts, to observe the law of Mohammed
as to fasting, and a Jew observes his
Feast days; but in such things he is
guilty of mortal sin. And in this way is
to be understood the above dictum of
S. Augustine, that the whole life of
infidels is sin.

That Witches Deserve the heaviest Punish¬
ment above All the Criminals of the
World.

The crimes of witches, then, exceed
the sins of all others; and we now
declare what punishment they deserve,
whether as Heretics or as Apostates.
Now Heretics, according to S. Ray-
mund, are punished in various ways,
as by excommunication, deposition,
confiscation of their goods, and death.
The reader can be fully informed con¬
cerning all these by consulting the law
relating to the sentence of excommuni¬
cation. Indeed even their followers,
protectors, patrons and defenders incur
the heaviest penalties. For, besides the
punishment of excommunication in¬
flicted on them, Heretics, together with
their patrons, protectors and defenders,
and with their children to the second
generation on the father’s side, and to
the first degree on the mother’s side,
are admitted to no benefit or office of
the Church. And if a Heretic have
Catholic children, for the heinousness
of his crime they are deprived of their
paternal inheritance. And if a man be
convicted, and refuse to be converted
and abjure his heresy, he must at once
be burned, if he is a layman. For if
they who counterfeit money are sum¬
marily put to death, how much more
must they who counterfeit the Faith?
But if he is a cleric, after solemn
degradation he is handed over to the
secular Court to be put to death. But
if they return to the Faith, they are
to be imprisoned for life. But in prac¬
tice they are treated more leniently
after recantation than they should be
according to the judgement of the
Bishops and the Inquisition, as will be
shown in the Third Part, where the
various methods of sentencing such are
treated of; that is to say, those who
are arrested and convicted and have
recanted their error.

But to punish witches in these ways
does not seem sufficient, since they
are not simple Heretics, but Apostates.
More than this, in their very apostasy

they do not deny the Faith for any fear
of men or for any delight of the flesh,
as has been said before; but, apart
from their abnegation, even give hom¬
age to the very devils by offering them
their bodies and souls. It is clear enough
from this that, however much they are
penitent and return to the Faith, they
must not be punished like other Heretics
with lifelong imprisonment, but must
suffer the extreme penalty. And because
of the temporal injury which they do
to men and beasts in various ways, the
laws demand this. It is even equally
culpable to learn as it is to teach such
iniquities, say the laws concerning
Soothsayers. Then how much more
emphatically do they speak concerning
witches, where they say that the penalty
for them is the confiscation of their
goods and decapitation. The laws also
say much concerning those who by
witchcraft provoke a woman to lust,
or, conversely, cohabit with beasts.
But these matters were touched upon
in the First Question.

☆

QUESTION XV

It is Shown that , on account of the Sins of
Witches , the Innocent are often Be¬
witched , yea, Sometimes even for their
Own Sins.

IT is a fact that, by Divine permis¬
sion, many innocent people suffer
loss and are punished by the aforesaid
plagues, not for their own sins, but
for those of witches. And lest this
should seem to any a paradox, S.
Thomas shows in the Second of the
Second , quest. 8, that this is just in
God. For he divides the punishments
of this life into three classes. First, one
man belongs to another; therefore, if
a man be punished in his possessions,
it may be that another man suffers for
his punishment. For, bodily speaking,
sons are a property of the father, and
slaves and animals are the property of
their masters ; and so the sons are some¬
times punished for their parents. Thus
the son born to David from adultery
quickly died; and the animals of the
Amalekites were bidden to be killed.
Yet the reason for these things remains
a mystery.

Secondly, the sin of one may be
passed on to another; and this in two

78

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 15.

ways. By imitation, as children imitate
the sins of their parents, and slaves and
dependents the sins of their masters,
that they may sin more boldly. In this
way the sons inherit ill-gotten gain,
and slaves share in robberies and unjust
feuds, in which they are often killed.
And they who are subject to Governors
sin the more boldly when they see them
sin, even if they do not commit the
same sins; wherefore they are justly
punished.

Also the sin of one is passed on to
another in the way of desert, as when
the sins of wicked subjects are passed
on to a bad Governor, because the sins
of the subjects deserve a bad Governor.
See Job : He makes Hypocrites to reign
on account of the sins of the people.

Sin, and consequently punishment,
can also be passed on through some
consent or dissimulation. For when
those in authority neglect to reprove
sin, then very often the good are
punished with the wicked, as S. Augus¬
tine says in the first book de Ciuitate
Dei . An example was brought to our
notice as Inquisitors. A town once was
rendered almost destitute by the death
* of its citizens ; and there was a rumour
that a certain buried woman was
gradually eating the shroud in which
she had been buried, and that the
plague could not cease until she had
eaten the whole shroud and absorbed
it into her stomach. A council was
held, and the Podestawith the Governor
of the city dug up the grave, and found
half the shroud absorbed through the
mouth and throat into the stomach,
and consumed. In horror at this sight,
the Podesta drew his sword and cut off
her head and threw it out of the grave,
and at once the plague ceased. Now
the sins of that old woman were, by
Divine permission, visited upon the
innocent on account of the dissimula¬
tion of what had happened before.
For when an Inquisition was held it
was found that during a long time of
her life she had been a Sorceress and
Enchantress. Another example is the
punishment of a pestilence because
David numbered the people.

Thirdly, sin is passed on by Divine
permission in commendation of the
unity of human society, that one man
should take care for another by re¬
fraining from sin ; and also to make sin
appear the more detestable, in that the
sin of one redounds upon all, as though

all were one body. An example is the
sin of Achan in Joshua vii.

We can add to these two other
methods : that the wicked are punished
sometimes by the good, and sometimes
by other wicked men. For as Gratianus
says (XXIII, 5), sometimes God pun¬
ishes the wicked through those who are
exercising their legitimate power at
His command; and this in two ways:
sometimes with merit on the part of
the punishers, as when He punished
the sins of the Canaanites through His
people; sometimes with no merit on
the part of the punishers, but even to
their own punishment, as when He
punished the tribe of Benjamin and
destroyed it except for a few men.
And sometimes He punishes by His
nations being aroused, either by com¬
mand or permission, but with no inten¬
tion of obeying God, but rather greedy
for their own gain, and therefore to
their own damnation ; as He now
punishes His people by the Turks, and
did so more often by strange nations
in the Old Law.

But it must be noted that for what¬
ever cause a man be punished, if he
does not bear his pains patiently, then
it becomes a scourge, not of correc¬
tion, but only of vengeance, that is, of
punishment. See Deuteronomy xxxii: A
fire is kindled in mine anger (that is,
my punishment; for there is no other
anger in God), and shall burn unto
the lowest hell (that is, vengeance shall
begin here and burn unto the last
damnation, as S. Augustine explains).
And there is further authority con¬
cerning punishment in his Fourth Dis¬
tinction. But if men patiently bear their
scourges, and are patient in the state
of grace, they take the place of a cor¬
rection, as S. Thomas says in his Fourth
Book. And this is true even of one
punished for committing witchcraft,
or of a witch, to a greater or less degree
according to the devotion of the sufferer
and the quality of his crime.

But the natural death of the body,
being the last terror, is not a correc¬
tion, since of its nature it partakes in
the punishment for original sin. Never¬
theless, according to Scotus, when it is
awaited with resignation and devotion,
and offered in its bitterness to God, it
can in some way become a correction.
But violent death, whether a man
deserves it or not, is always a correc¬
tion, if it is borne patiently and in

Part I. Question 15.

MALEFICARUM

79

grace. So much for punishments in¬
flicted on account of the sins of others.

But God also punishes men in this
life for their own sins, especially in the
matter of bewitchment. For see Tobias
vii : The ‘devil has power over those
who follow their lusts. And this is clear
from what we have already said con¬
cerning the member and the genital
powers, which God chiefly allows to be
bewitched.

However, for the purpose of preach¬
ing to the public it is to be noted that,
notwithstanding the aforesaid punish¬
ments which God inflicts on men for
their own and others’ sins, the preacher
should keep as his basic principle and

f>reach to the people this ruling of the
aw; which says, No one must be
punished without guilt, unless there is
some cause for doing so. And this ruling
holds good in the Court of Heaven,
that is, of God, just as it does in the
human Courts of Justice, whether
secular or ecclesiastic.

The preacher may predicate this of
the Court of Heaven. For the punish¬
ment of God is of two kinds, spiritual
and temporal. In the former, punish¬
ment is never found without guilt. In
the latter it is sometimes found quite
without guilt, but not without cause.
The first, or spiritual punishment, is
of three kinds ; the first being forfeiture
of grace and a consequent hardening
in sin, which is never inflicted except
for the sufferer’s own guilt. The second
is the punishment of loss, that is, de¬
privation of glory, which is never
inflicted without personal guilt in
adults, or contracted guilt in children
born from their parents’ sin. The third
is the punishment of pain, that is, the
torture of hell fire, and is plainly due
to guilt. Wherefore when it is said in
Exodus xx : I am a jealous God, visiting
the sins of the fathers upon the children
unto the third and fourth generation :
it is understood as speaking of the
imitators of their fathers’ crimes, as
Gratian has explained, Book I, quest.
4; where he also gives other expositions.

Now with regard to God’s second, or
temporal punishment : first, it may be,
as has been said before, for the sin of
another, or even without personal sin
or that of another (but not without
cause), or for personal guilt only, with¬
out any other’s sin. But if you wish
to know the causes for which God
punishes, and even without any guilt

of the sufferer or of another man, you
may refer to the five methods which
the Master expounds in Book IV, dist.
15, cap. 2. And you must take the
three first causes, for the other two
refer to personal guilt.

For he says that for five causes God
scourges man in this life, or inflicts
punishment. First, that God may be
glorified ; and this is when some punish¬
ment or affliction is miraculously re¬
moved, as in the case of the man born
blind ( S . John ix), or of the raising of
Lazarus ( S . John xi).

Secondly, if the first cause is absent,
it is sent that merit may be acquired
through the exercise of patience, and
also that inner hidden virtue may be
made manifest to others. Examples
are Job i and Tobias ii.

Thirdly, that virtue may be pre¬
served through the humiliation of
castigation. S. Paul is an example, who
says of himself in II. Corinthians xii :
There was given unto me a thorn in
the flesh, the messenger of Satan. And
according to Remigius this thorn was
the infirmity of carnal desire. These
are the causes that are without guilt
in the sufferer.

Fourthly, that eternal damnation
should begin in this life, that it might be
in some way shown what will be suffered
in hell. Examples are Herod {Acts xii)
and Antiochus (II. Maccabees ix).

Fifthly, that man may be purified,
by the expulsion and obliteration of
his guilt through scourges. Examples
may be taken from Miriam, Aaron’s
sister, who was stricken with leprosy,
and from the Israelites wandering in
the wilderness, according to S. Jerome,
XXIII, 4. Or it may be for the correc¬
tion of sin, as is exemplified by the case
of David, who, after being pardoned for
his adultery, was driven from his king¬
dom, as is shown in II. Kings , and is
commented on by S. Gregory in his
discourse on sin. It may, in fact, be
said that every punishment that we
suffer proceeds from our own sin, or
at least from the original sin in which
we were born, which is itself the cause
of all causes.

But as to the punishment of loss,
meaning by that eternal damnation
which they will suffer in the future,
no one doubts that all the damned will
be tortured with grievous pains. For
just as grace is followed by the blessed
vision of the Kingdom of Heaven, so

8o

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 16.

is mortal sin followed by punishment in
hell. And just as the degrees of blessed¬
ness in Heaven are measured in accord¬
ance with the degrees of charity and
grace in life, so the degrees of punish¬
ment in hell are measured according
to the degree of crime in this life. See
Deuteronomy xxv : The measure of punish¬
ment will be according to the measure
of sin. And this is so with all other sins,
but applies especially to witches. See
Hebrews x : Of how much sorer punish¬
ment, suppose ye, shall he be thought
worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the
Son of God, and hath counted the
blood of the covenant, wherewith he
was sanctified, an unholy thing?

And such are the sins of witches,
who deny the Faith, and work many
evil bewitchments through the most
Holy Sacrament, as will be shown in
the Second Part.

☆

QUESTION XVI

The Foregoing Truths are Set out in
Particular , by a Comparison of the
Works of Witches with Other Baleful
Superstitions.

NOW the foregoing truth concerning
the enormity of witches’ crimes is
proved by comparing them with the
other practices of Magicians and
Diviners. For there are fourteen species
of magic, springing from the three
kinds of Divination. The first of
these three is open invocation of
devils. The second is no more than a
silent consideration of the disposition
and movement of some thing, as of
the stars, or the days, or the hours, and
such things. The third is the considera¬
tion of some human act for the purpose
of finding out something that is hidden,
and is called by the name of Sortilege.

And the species of the first form of
Divination, that is, an open invocation
of devils, are the following : Sorcery,
Oneiromancy, Necromancy, Oracles,
Geomancy, Hydromancy, Aeromancy,
Pyromancy, and Soothsaying (see S.
Thomas, Second of the Second , quest.
95, 26, and 5). The species of the
second kind are Horoscopy, Haru-
spicy, Augury, Observation of Omens,
Cheiromancy and Spatulamancy.

The species of the third kind vary
according to all those things which are

classed as Sortilege for the finding out
of something hidden, such as the con¬
sideration of pricks and straws, and
figures in molten lead. And S. Thomas
speaks also of these in the above-quoted
reference.

Now the sins of witches exceed all
these crimes, as will be proved in
respect of the foregoing species. There
can then be no question concerning
smaller crimes.

For let us consider the first species,
in which those who are skilled in
sorcery and glamour deceive the human
senses with certain apparitions, so that
corporeal matter seems to become
different to the sight and the touch, as
was treated of above in the matter of
the methods of creating illusions.
Witches are not content with such
practices in respect of the genital
member, causing some prestidigitatory
illusion of its disappearance (although
this disappearance is not an actual
fact) ; but they even frequently take
away the generative power itself, so
that a woman cannot conceive, and a
man cannot perform the act even when
he still retains his member. And
without any illusion, they also cause
abortion after conception, often accom¬
panied with many other ills. And they
even appear in various forms of beasts,
as has been shown above.

Necromancy is the summoning of
and speech with the dead, as is shown
by its etymology ; for it is derived from
the Greek word Nekros, meaning a
corpse, and Manteia, meaning divina¬
tion. And they accomplish this by
working some spell over the blood of a
man or some animal, knowing that the
devil delights in such sin, and loves
blood and the pouring out of blood.
Wherefore, when they think that they
call the dead from hell to answer their
questions, it is the devils in the likeness
of the dead who appear and give such
answers. And of this sort was the art
of that great Pythoness spoken of in
I. Kings xxviii, who raised up Samuel at
the instance of Saul.

But let no one think that such
practices are lawful because the Scrip¬
ture records that the soul of the just
Prophet, summoned from Hades to
predict the event of Saul’s coming war,
appeared through the means of a
woman who was a witch. For, as
S. Augustine says to Simplicianus :
It is not absurd to believe that it was

Part I. Question 16.

MALEFICARUM

81

permitted by some dispensation, not
by the potency of any magic art, but by
some hidden dispensation unknown to
the Pythoness or to Saul, that the spirit
of that just man should appear before
the sight of the king, to deliver the
Divine sentence against him. Or else it
was not really the spirit of Samuel
aroused from its rest, but some phan¬
tasm and imaginary illusion of devils
caused by the machinations of the
devil ; and the Scripture calls that
phantasm by the name of Samuel, just
as the images of things are called by
the names of the things they repre¬
sent.* This he says in his answer to
the question whether divination by the
invocation of devils is lawful. In the
same Summa the reader will find the
answer to the question whether there
are degrees of prophecy among the
Blessed ; and he may refer to S. Augus¬
tine, XXVI, 5. But this has little to do
with the deeds of witches, which retain
in themselves no vestige of piety, as is
apparent from a consideration of their
works; for they do not cease to shed
innocent blood, to bring hidden things
to light under the guidance of devils,
and by destroying the soul with the body
spare neither the living nor the dead.

Oneiromancy maybe practised in two
ways. The first is when a person uses
dreams so that he may dip into the
occult with the help of the revelation
of devils invoked by him, with whom
he has entered into an open pact. The
second is when a man uses dreams for
knowing the future, in so far as there is
such virtue in dreams proceeding from
Divine revelation, from a natural
intrinsic or extrinsic cause; and such
divination would not be unlawful. So
says S. Thomas.

And that preachers may have at
least the nucleus of an understanding
of this matter, we must first speak about
the Angels. An Angel is of limited
power, and can more effectively reveal
the future when the mind is adapted
to such revelations than when it is not.
Now the mind is chiefly so adapted after
the relaxation of exterior and interior
movement, as when nights are silent
and the fumes of motion are quieted ;
and these conditions are fulfilled round

* “ Represent .” For a full discussion of the
appearance of Samuel at Endor, see my “ History
of Witchcraft c.v.: “ The Witch in Holy
Writ,” pp. 176-81.

G

about the dawn, when digestion is com¬
pleted. And I say this of us who are
sinners, to whom the Angels in their
Divine piety, and in the execution of
their offices, reveal certain things, so
that when we study at the time of the
dawn we are given an understanding of
certain occult matters in the Scriptures.
For a good Angel presides over our
understanding, just as God does over
our will, and the stars over our bodies.
But to certain more perfect men the
Angel can at any hour reveal things,
whether they are awake or asleep.
However, according to Aristotle, de
Somno et Uigilia, such men are more apt
to receive revelations at one time than
at another; and this is the case in all
matters of Magic.

Secondly, it is to be noted that it
happens through Nature’s care for
and regulation of the body, that certain
future events have their natural cause
in a man’s dreams. And then those
dreams or visions are not causes, as was
said in the case of Angels, but only signs
of that which is coming to a man in the
future, such as health or sickness or
danger. And this is the opinion of
Aristotle. For in the dreams of the spirit
Nature images the disposition of the
heart, by which sickness or some other
thing naturally comes to a man in the
future. For if a man dreams of fires, it
is a sign of a choleric disposition; if of
flying or some such thing, it is a sign
of a sanguine disposition ; if he dreams
of water or some other liquid, it is a
sign of a phlegmatic, and if he dreams
of terrene matters, it is a sign of a
melancholy disposition. And therefore
doctors are very often helped by
dreams in their diagnosis (as Aristode
says in the same book).

But these are slight matters in com¬
parison with the unholy dreams of
witches. For when they do not wish,
as has been mentioned above, to be
bodily transferred to a place, but desire
to see what their fellow-witches are
doing, it is their practice to lie down on
their left side in the name of their own
and of all devils ; and these things are
revealed to their vision in images. And
if they seek to know some secret, either
for themselves or for others, they learn
it in dreams from the devil, by reason
of an open, not a tacit, pact entered
into with him. And this pact, again, is
not a symbolical one, accomplished by
the sacrifice of some animal, or some act

82

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 17.

of sacrilege, or by embracing the wor¬
ship of some strange cult; but it is an
actual offering of themselves, body and
soul, to the devil, by a sacrilegiously
uttered and inwardly purposed abnega¬
tion of the Faith. And not content with
this, they even kill, or offer to devils,
their own and others’ children.

Another species of divination is
practised by Pythons, so called from
Pythian Apollo, who is said to have
been the originator of this kind of
divination, according to S. Isidore. This
is not effected by dreams or by con¬
verse with the dead, but by means of
living men, as in the case of those who
are lashed into a frenzy by the devil,
either willingly or unwillingly, only
for the purpose of foretelling the future,
and not for the perpetration of any
other monstrosities. Of this sort was
the girl mentioned in Acts xvi, who cried
after the Apostles that they were the
servants of the true God ; and S. Paul,
being angered by this, commanded the
spirit to come out of her. But it is clear
that there is no comparison between
such things and the deeds of witches,
who, according to S. Isidore, are so
called for the magnitude of their sins
and the enormity of their crimes.

Wherefore, for the sake of brevity,
there is no need to continue this
argument in respect of the minor forms
of divination, since it has been proved
in respect of the major forms. For the
preacher may, if he wishes, apply these
arguments to the other forms of
divination : to Geomancy, which is
concerned with terrene matters, such
as iron or polished stone ; Hydromancy,
which deals with water and crystals;
Aeromancy, which is concerned with
the air ; Pyromancy, which is concerned
with fire; Soothsaying, which has to
do with the entrails of animals sacri¬
ficed on the devil’s altars. For although
all these are done by means of open
invocation of devils, they cannot be
compared with the crimes of witches,
since they are not directly purposed for
the harming of men or animals or the
fruits of the earth, but only for the
foreknowledge of the future. The other
species of divination, which are per¬
formed with a tacit, but not an open,
invocation of devils, are Horoscopy, or
Astrology, so called from the considera¬
tion of the stars at birth; Haruspicy,
which observes the days and hours;
Augury, which observes the behaviour

and cries of birds; Omens, which
observe the words of men ; and Cheiro¬
mancy, which observes the lines of the
hand, or of the paws of animals. Any¬
one who wishes may refer to the teach¬
ing of Nider, and he will find much as to
when such things are lawful and when
they are not. But the works of witches
are never lawful.

☆

QUESTION XVII

A Comparison of their Crimes under Four¬
teen Heads , with the Sins of the Devils
of all and every Kind.

SO heinous are the crimes of witches
that they even exceed the sins and
the fall of the bad Angels ; and if this
is true as to their guilt, how should it
not also be true of their punishments in
hell? And it is not difficult to prove
this by various arguments with regard
to their guilt. And first, although the
sin of Satan is unpardonable, this is
not on account of the greatness of his
crime, having regard to the nature of
the Angels, with particular attention
to the opinion of those who say that the
Angels were created only in a state of
nature, and never in a state of grace.
And since the good of grace exceeds
the good of nature, therefore the sins
of those who fall from a state of grace,
as do the witches by denying the faith
which they received in baptism, exceed
the sins of the Angels. And even if we
say that the Angels were created, but
not confirmed, in grace ; so also witches,
though they are not created in grace,
have yet of their own will fallen from
grace; just as Satan sinned of his own
will.

Secondly, it is granted that Satan’s
sin is unpardonable for various other
reasons. For S. 'Augustine says that he
sinned at the instigation of none, there¬
fore his sin is justly remediable by none.
And S. John Damascene says that he
sinned in his understanding against the
character of God ; and that his sin was
the greater by reason of the nobility of
his understanding. For the servant who
knows the will of his master, etc. The
same authority says that, since Satan is
incapable of repentance, therefore he is
incapable of pardon ; and this is due to
his very nature, which, being spiritual,
could only be changed once, when lie

Part I. Question 17.

MALEFICARUM

83

changed it for ever; but this is not so
with men, in whom the flesh is always
warring against the spirit. Or because
he sinned in the high places of heaven,
whereas man sins in the earth.

But notwithstanding all this, his sin
is in many respects small in comparison
with the crimes of witches. First, as S.
Anselm* showed in one of his Sermons ,
he sinned in his pride while there was
yet no punishment for sin. But witches
continue to sin after great punishments
have been often inflicted upon many
other witches, and after the punishments
which the Church teaches them have
been inflicted by reason of the devil and
his fall ; and they make light of all these,
and hasten to commit, not the least
deadly of sins, as do other sinners who
sin through infirmity or wickedness yet
not from habitual malice, but rather
the most horrible crimes from the deep
malice of their hearts.

Secondly, although the Bad Angel
fell from innocence to guilt, and thence
to misery and punishment; yet he fell
from innocence once only, in such a
way that he was never restored. But
the sinner who is restored to innocence
by baptism, and again falls from it,
falls very deep. And this is especially
true of witches, as is proved by their
crimes.

Thirdly, he sinned against the
Creator ; but we, and especially witches,
sin against the Creator and the Re¬
deemer.

Fourthly, he forsook God, who per¬
mitted him to sin but accorded him no
pity; whereas we, and witches above

* “ S . Anselm ” Doctor of the Church;
Archbishop of Canterbury, born at Aosta, a
Burgundian town in the borders of Lombardy,
io33~34 '■» died 21 April, nog. High praise is
given him in the Breviary Office for his Feast,
21 April, Second Nocturn of Matins, Lection
VI: “ Obdormiuit in Domino, famam non solum
miraculorum et sanctitatis ( praecipue ob insignem
deuotionem erga Domini nostri passionem, et
beatam Virginem eius Matrem) assecutus, sed
etiam doctrinae, quam ad defensionem Christianae
religionis, animarum profectum, et omnium
theologorum, qui sacras litteras scholastica
methodo tradiderunt, normam coelitus hausisse ex
eius omnibus apparet .” There are several
collections of the works of S. Anselm, but of
these few, if any, can claim to be critical, and
none are adapted for modern requirements. At
the same time there are very numerous separate
editions, and even translations of the more
important treatises, in particular the “ Cur Deus
Homo.”

all, withdraw ourselves from God by
our sins, while, in spite of his permis¬
sion of our sins, He continually pities
us and prevents us with His countless
benefits.

Fifthly, when he sinned, God re¬
jected him without showing him any
grace; whereas we wretches run into
sin although God is continually calling
us back.

Sixthly, he keeps his heart hardened
against a punisher; but we against a
merciful persuader. Both sin against
God; but he against a commanding
God, and we against One who dies for
us, Whom, as we have said, wicked
witches offend above all.

The Solutions of the Arguments again
Declare the Truth by Comparison.

To the arguments. The answer to
the first is clear from what was said in
the beginning of this whole question.
It was submitted that one sin ought to
be thought heavier than another; and
that the sins of witches are heavier than
all others in respect of guilt, but not in
respect of the penalties that they entail.
To this it must be said that the punish¬
ment of Adam, just as his guilt, may be
considered in two ways ; either as
touching him personally, or as touching
the whole of nature, that is, the pos¬
terity which came after him. As to the
first, greater sins have been committed
after Adam ; for he sinned only in doing
that which was evil, not in itself, but
because it was forbidden : but fornica¬
tion, adultery, and murder are in both
senses sins in themselves, and because
they are forbidden. Therefore such sins
deserve the heavier punishment.

As to the second, it is true that the
greatest punishment resulted from the
first sin ; but this is only indirectly true,
in that through Adam all posterity was
infected with original sin, and he was
the first father of all those for whom the
Only Son of God was able to atone by
the power which was ordained. More¬
over, Adam in his own person, with the
mediation of Divine grace, repented,
and was afterwards saved through the
Sacrifice of Christ. But the sins of
witches are incomparably greater, since
they are not content with their own sins
and perdition, but ever draw countless
others after them.

And thirdly, it follows from what has
been said that it was by accident that

84

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 18.

Adam’s sin involved the greater injury.
For he found nature uncorrupted, and
it was inevitable, and not of his own
will, that he left it defiled ; therefore it
does not follow that his sin was in¬
trinsically greater than others. And
again, posterity would have committed
the same sin if it had found nature in the
same state. Similarly, he who has not
found grace does not commit so deadly
a sin as he who has found it and lost it.
This is the solution of S. Thomas (II,
21, art. 2), in his solution of the second
argument. And if anyone wishes fully
to understand this solution, he must
consider that even if Adam had kept his
original innocence, he would not have
passed it down to all posterity; for, as
S. Anselm says, anyone coming after him
could still have sinned. See also S.
Thomas, dist. 20, where he considers
whether new-born children would have
been confirmed in grace ; and in dist.
1 01, whether men who are now saved
would have been saved if Adam had not
sinned.

☆

QUESTION XVIII

Here follows the Method of Preaching
against and Controverting Five Argu¬
ments of Laymen and Lewd Folk , which
seem to be Variously Approved , that
God does not Allow so Great Power to
the Devil and Witches as is Involved in
the Performance of such Mighty Works
of Witchcraft.

FINALLY, let the preacher be
armed against certain arguments
of laymen, and even of some learned
men, who deny, up to a certain point,
that there are witches. For, although
they concede the malice and power of
the devil to inflict such evils at his will,
they deny that the Divine permission is
granted to him, and will not admit that
God allows such things to be done.
And although they have no method in
their argument, groping blindly now
this way and now that, it is yet neces¬
sary to reduce their assertions to five
arguments, from which all their cavil¬
lings proceed. And the first is, that
God does not permit the devil to rage
against men with such great power.

The question put is whether the
Divine permission must always accom¬
pany an infliction caused by the devil
through a witch. And five arguments

are submitted to prove that God does
not permit it, and that therefore there is
no witchcraft in the world. And the
first argument is taken from God; the
second from the devil; the third from
the witch ; the fourth from the affliction
ascribed to witchcraft; and the fifth
from preachers and judges, on the
assumption that they have so preached
against and punished witches that they
would have no security in life.

And first as follows : God can punish
men for their sins, and He punishes
with the sword, famine, and pestilence ;
as well as with various and countless
other infirmities to which human
nature is subject. Wherefore, there
being no need for Him to add further
punishments, He does not permit
witchcraft.

Secondly, if that which is said of the
devil were true, namely, that he can
obstruct the generative forces so that a
woman cannot conceive, or that if she
does conceive, he can cause an abor¬
tion ; or, if there is no abortion, he can
cause the children to be killed after
birth ; in that case he would be able to
destroy the whole world ; and it could
also be said that the devil’s works were
stronger than God’s, since the Sacra¬
ment of matrimony is a work of God.

Thirdly, they argue from man him¬
self, that if there were any witchcraft in
the world, then some men would be
more bewitched than others; and that
it is a false argument to say that men
are bewitched for a punishment of their
sins, and therefore false to maintain
that there is witchcraft in the world.
And they prove that it is false by argu¬
ing that, if it were true, then the greater
sinners would receive the greater pun¬
ishment, and that this is not the case;
for sinners are less punished sometimes
than the just, as is seen in the case of
innocent children who are alleged to be
bewitched.

Their fourth argument can be added
to that which they adduce concerning
God ; namely, that a thing which a
man can prevent and does not prevent,
but allows it to be done, may be judged
to proceed from his will. But since God
is All-Good, He cannot wish evil, and
therefore cannot permit evil to be done
which He is able to prevent.

Again, taking their argument from
the infliction itself, which is alleged to
be due to witchcraft ; they submit that
they are similar to natural infirmities

Part I. Question 18.

MALEFICARUM

85

and defects, and may therefore be
caused by a natural defect. For it may
happen through some natural defect
that a man becomes lame, or blind,
or loses his reason, or even dies ; where¬
fore such things cannot confidently be
ascribed to witches.

Lastly, they argue that preachers and
judges have preached and practised
against witches in such a way that, if
there were witches, their lives would
never be safe from them on account of
the great hatred that witches would
have for them.

But the contrary arguments may be
taken from the First Question, where it
treats of the third postulate of the First
Part; and those points may be pro¬
pounded to the people which are most
fitting. How God permits evil to be,
even though He does not wish it ; but
He permits it for the wonderful per¬
fecting of the universe, which may be
considered in the fact that good things
are more highly commendable, are
more pleasing and laudable, when
they are compared with bad things;
and authority can be quoted in support
of this. Also that the depth of God’s
Di\ fine wisdom, justice, and goodness
should be shown forth, whereas it would
otherwise remain hidden.

For a brief settlement of this question
there are various treatises available on
this subject for tfie information of the
people, to the effect, namely, that God
justly permitted two Falls, that of the
Angels and that of our first parents;
and since these were the greatest of all
falls, it is no matter for wonder if other
smaller ones are permitted. But it is in
their consequences that those two Falls
were the greatest, not in their circum¬
stances, in which last respect, as was
shown in the last Question, the sins of
witches exceed those of the bad angels
and our first parents. In the same
place it is shown how God justly per¬
mitted those first Falls, and anyone is
at liberty to collect and enlarge upon
what is there said as much as he wishes.

But we must answer their arguments.
As to the first, that God punishes quite
enough by means of natural diseases,
and by sword and famine, we make a
threefold answer. First, that God did
not limit His power to the processes of
nature, or even to the influences of the
stars, in such a way that He cannot go
beyond those limits; for He has often
exceeded them in the punishment of

sins, by sending plagues and other
afflictions beyond all the influence of
the stars ; as when He punished the sin
of pride in David, when he numbered
the people, by sending a pestilence upon
the people.

Secondly, it agrees with the Divine
wisdom that He should so govern all
things that He allows them to act at
their own instigation. Consequently,
it is not His purpose to prevent alto¬
gether the malice of the devil, but
rather to permit it as far as He sees it
to be for the ultimate good of the
universe; although it is true that the
devil is continually held in check by the
good Angels, so that he may not do all
the harm that he wishes. Similarly He
does not propose to restrain the human
sins which are possible to man through
his free-will, such as the abnegation of
the Faith and the devotion of himself to
the devil, which things are in the power
of the human will. From these two
premisses it follows that, when God is
most offended, He justly permits those
evils which are chiefly sought for by
witches, and for wrhich they deny the
Faith, up to the extent of the devil’s
power ; and such is the ability to
injure men, animals, and the fruits of
the earth.

Thirdly, God justly permits those
evils which indirectly cause the greatest
uneasiness and torment to the devil;
and of such a sort are those evils which
are done by witches through the power
of devils. For the devil is indirectly
tormented very greatly when he sees
that, against his will, God uses all
evil for the glory of His name, for the
commendation of the Faith, for the
purgation of the elect, and for the
acquisition of merit. For it is certain
that nothing can be more galling to
the pride of the devil, which he always
rears up against God (as it is said : The
pride of them that hate Thee increases
ever), than that God should convert
his evil machinations to His own glory.
Therefore God justly permits all these
things.

Their second argument has been
answered before ; but there are two
points in it which must be answered in
detail. In the first place, far from its
being true that the devil, or his works,
are stronger than God, it is apparent
that his power is small, since he can do
nothing without the Divine permission.
Therefore it may be said that the devil’s

86

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 18.

power is small in comparison with the
Divine permission, although it is very
great in comparison with earthly
powers, which it naturally excels, as is
shown in the often quoted text in Job
xi : There is no power on earth to be
compared with him.

In the second place, we must answer
the question why God permits witch¬
craft to affect the generative powers
more than any other human function.
This has been dealt with above, under
the title, How witches can obstruct the
generative powers and the venereal
act. For it is on account of the shame¬
fulness of that act, and because the
original sin due to the guilt of our first
parents is inherited by means of that
act. It is symbolized also by the serpent,
who was the first instrument of the
devil.

To their third argument we answer
that the devil has more intention and
desire to tempt the good than the
wicked ; although he does in fact tempt
the wicked more than the good, for the
reason that the wicked have more
aptitude than the good to respond to
his temptation. In the same way, he
is more eager to injure the good than
the bad, but he finds it easier to injure
the wicked. And the reason for this is,
according to S. Gregory, that the more
often a man gives way to the devil,
the harder he makes it for himself to
struggle against him. But since it is
the wicked who most often give way
to the devil, their temptations are the
hardest and most frequent, as they
have not the shield of Faith with which
to protect themselves. Concerning this
shield S. Paul speaks in Ephesians vi.
Above all, taking the shield of faith,
wherewith ye shall be able to quench
all the fiery darts of the wicked. But
on the other hand, he assails the good
more bitterly than the wicked. And
the reason for this is that he already
possesses the wicked, but not the good ;
and therefore he tries the harder to
draw into his power through tribulation
the just, who are not his, than the
wicked, who are already his. In the
same way, an earthly prince more
severely chastises those who disobey
his laws, or injure his kingdom, than
those who do not set themselves against
him.

In answer to their fourth argument,
in addition to what has already been
written on this subject, the preacher

can expound the truth that God permits
evil to be done, but does not wish it to
be done, by the five signs of the Divine
will, which are Precept, Prohibition,
Advice, Operation, and Permission.
See S. Thomas, especially in his First
Part, quest. 19, art. 12, where this is
very plainly set forth. For although
there is only one will in God, which is
God Himself, just as His Essence is
One; yet in respect of its fulfilment,
His will is shown and signified to us in
many ways, as the Psalm says: The
mighty works of the Lord are fulfilled
in all His wishes. Wherefore there is a
distinction between the actual essential
Will of God and its visible effects ; even
as the will, properly so called, is the will
of a man’s good pleasure, but in a meta¬
phorical sense it is the will expressed by
outward signs. For it is by signs and
metaphors that we are shown that God
wishes this to be.

We may take an example from a
human father who, while he has only
one will in himself, expresses that will in
five ways, either by his own -agency, or
through that of someone else. Through
his own agency he expresses it in two
ways, either directly or indirectly.
Directly, when he himself does a thing ;
and then it is Operation. Indirectly,
when he does not hinder someone else
from acting (see Aristotle’s Physics , IV :
Prohibition is indirect causation), and
this is called the sign of Permission.
And the human father signifies his will
through the agency of someone else in
three ways. Either he orders someone
to do something, or conversely forbids
something; and these are the signs of
Precept and Prohibition. Or he per¬
suades and advises someone to do some¬
thing; and this is the sign of Advice.
And just as the human will is manifested
in these five ways, so is God’s will.
For that God’s will is shown by Precept,
Prohibition, and Advice is seen in
S. Matthew vi : Thy will be done in earth
as it is in heaven : that is to say, may we
on earth fulfil His Precepts, avoid His
Prohibitions, and follow His Advice.
And in the same way, S. Augustine
shows that Permission and Operation
are signs of God’s will, where he says in
the Enchiridion : Nothing is done unless
Almighty God wishes it to be done,
either by permitting it or by Himself
doing it.

To return to the argument; it is
perfectly true that when a man can

Part I. Question 18. MALEFICARUM

87

prevent a thing, and does not, that
thing may be said to proceed from
his will. And the inference that God,
being All-Good, cannot wish evil to
be done, is also true in respect of
the actual Good Pleasure of God’s
Will, and also in respect of four of
the signs of His Will ; for it is needless
to say that Pie cannot operate evil,
or command evil to be done, or fail
to be opposed to evil, or advise evil;
but He can, however, permit evil to
be done.

And if it is asked how it is possible to
distinguish whether an illness is caused
by witchcraft or by some natural
physical defect, we answer that there
are various methods. And the first is
by means of the judgement of doctors.
See the words of S. Augustine On the
Christian Doctrine: To this class of super¬
stition belong all charms and amulets
suspended or bound about the person,
which the School of Medicine despises.
For example, doctors may perceive
from the circumstances, such as the
patient’s age, healthy complexion, and
the reaction of his eyes, that his disease
does not result from any defect of the
blood or the stomach, or any other
infirmity; and they therefore judge
that it is not due to any natural defect,
but to some extrinsic cause. And since
that extrinsic cause cannot be any
poisonous infection, wrhich would be
accompanied by ill humours in the
blood and stomach, they have sufficient
reason to judge that it is due to witch¬
craft.

And secondly, when the disease is
incurable, so that the patient can be
relieved by no drugs, but rather seems
to be aggravated by them.

Thirdly, the evil may come so
suddenly upon a man that it can only
be ascribed to witchcraft. An ex¬
ample of how this happened to one
man has been made known to us. A
certain well-born citizen of Spires had a
wife who was of such an obstinate
disposition that, though he tried to
please her in every way, yet she refused
in nearly every way to comply with his
wishes, and was always plaguing him
with abusive taunts. It happened that,
on going into his house one day, and
his wife railing against him as usual
with opprobrious words, he wished to
go out of the house to escape from
quarrelling. But she quickly ran before
him and locked the door by which he

wished to go out; and loudly swore
that, unless he beat her, there was no
honesty or faithfulness in him. At these
heavy words he stretched out his hand,
not intending to hurt her, and struck
her lightly with his open palm on the
buttock; whereupon he suddenly fell
to the ground and lost all his senses,
and lay in bed for many weeks afflicted
with a most grievous illness. Now it
is obvious that this was not a natural
illness, but was caused by some witch¬
craft of the woman. And very many
similar cases have happened, and been
made known to many.

There are some who can distinguish
such illnesses by means of a certain
practice, which is as follows. They hold
molten lead over the sick man, and
pour it into a bowl of water. And if
the lead condenses into some image,
they judge that the sickness is due to
witchcraft. And when such men are
asked whether the image so formed is
caused by the work of devils, or is due
to some natural cause, they answer that
it is due to the power of Saturn over
lead, the influence of that planet being
in other respects evil, and that the sun
has a similar power over gold. But
what should be thought of this practice,
and whether it is lawful or not, will be
discussed in the Second Part of this
treatise. For the Canonists say that
it is lawful that vanity may be con¬
founded by vanity ; but the Theologians
hold a directly opposite view, saying
that it is not right to do evil that good
may come.

In their last argument they advance
several objections. First, why do not
witches become rich? Secondly, why,
having the favour of princes, do they not
co-operate for the destruction of all
their enemies? Thirdly, why are they
unable to injure Preachers and others
who persecute them?

For the first, it is to be said that
witches are not generally rich for this
reason: that the devils like to show
their contempt for the Creator by buy¬
ing witches for the lowest possible price.
And also, lest they should be conspicu¬
ous by their riche§.

Secondly, they do not injure princes
because they wish to retain, as far as
possible, their friendship. And if it is
asked why they do not hurt their
enemies, it is answered that a good
Angel, working on the other side,
prevents such witchcraft. Compare the

88

MALLEUS MALEFICARUM Part I. Question 18.

passage in Daniel:* The Prince of the

* “ Daniel ” x, 13: “ But the prince of the
kingdom of the Persians resisted me one-and-
twenty days : And behold Michael, one of the
chief princes, came to help me, and I remained
there by the King of the Persians .” The Prince
of the Persians is the angel guardian of Persia:
who, according to his office, seeking the spiritual
good of the Persians, was desirous that many of
the Jews should remain among them.

Persians withstood me for twenty-one
days. See S. Thomas in the Second
Book of Sentences, where he debates
whether there is any contest among the
good Angels, and of what sort.

Thirdly, it is said that they cannot
injure Inquisitors and other officials,
because they dispense public justice.
Many examples could be adduced to
prove this, but time does not permit it.

THE SECOND PART,
TREATING OF THE
METHODS BY WHICH
WITCHCRAFT IS INFLICTED,
AND HOW IT MAY BE
AUSPICIOUSLY REMOVED

RESOLVED IN TWO ONLY QUESTIONS,
BUT DIVIDED INTO MANY CHAPTERS

☆

QUESTION I

Of those against whom the Power of Witches
availeth not at all.

THE second main part of this
work deals with the method of
procedure adopted by witches
for the performance of their
witchcraft ; and these are distinguished
under eighteen heads, proceeding from
two chief difficulties. The first of these
two, dealt with in the beginning, con¬
cerns protective remedies, by which a
man is rendered immune from witch¬
craft : the second, dealt with at the end,
concerns curative remedies, by which
those who are bewitched can be cured.
For, as Aristotle says ( Physics , IV),
prevention and cure are related to one
another, and are, accidentally, matters
of causation. In this way the whole
foundation of this horrible heresy may
be made clear.

In the above two divisions, the fol¬
lowing points will be principally em¬
phasized. First, the initiation of witches,
and their profession of sacrilege.
Second, the progress of their method of
working, and of their horrible observ¬
ances. Third, the preventive protec¬
tions against their witchcrafts. And be¬
cause we are now dealing with matters
relating to morals and behaviour, and
there is no need for a variety of argu¬
ments and disquisitions, since those
matters which now follow under their
headings are sufficiently discussed in
the foregoing Questions; therefore we
pray God that the reader will not look
for proofs in every case, since it is
enough to adduce examples that have
been personally seen or heard, or are
accepted at the word of credible
witnesses.

In the first of the points mentioned,
two matters will be chiefly examined :
first, the various methods of enticement
adopted by the devil himself; second,

the various ways in which witches pro¬
fess their heresy. And in the second of
the main points, six matters will be
examined in order, relating to the pro¬
cedure of witchcraft, and its cure.
First, the practices of witches with
regard to themselves and their own
bodies. Second, their practices with
regard to other men. Third, those
relating to beasts. Fourth, the mischief
they do to the fruits of the earth. Fifth,
those kinds of witchcraft which are
practised by men only and not by
women. Sixth, the question of remov¬
ing witchcraft, and how those who are
bewitched may be cured. The First
Question, therefore, is divided into
eighteen heads, since in so many ways
are their observances varied and multi¬
plied.

It is asked whether -a man can be so
blessed by the good Angels that he can¬
not be bewitched by witches in any of
the ways that follow. And it seems that
he cannot, for it has already been
proved that even the blameless and
innocent and the just are often afflicted
by devils, as was Job ; and many inno¬
cent children, as well as countless other
just men, are seen to be bewitched,
although not to the same extent as
sinners ; for they are not afflicted in the
perdition of their souls, but only in their
worldly goods and their bodies. But the
contrary is indicated by the confessions
of witches, namely, that they cannot
injure everybody, but only those whom
they learn, through the information of
devils, to be destitute of Divine help.

Answer. There are three classes of
men blessed by God, whom that detest¬
able race cannot injure with their
witchcraft. And the first are those who
administer public justice against them,
or prosecute them in any public official
capacity. The second are those who,
according to the traditional and holy
rites of the Church, make lawful use of
the power and virtue which the Church
by her exorcisms furnishes in the asper¬
sion of Holy Water, the taking of con¬
secrated salt, the carrying of blessed
candles on the Day of the Purification
of Our Lady, of palm leaves upon
Palm Sunday, and men who thus
fortify themselves are acting so that the
powers of devils are diminished ; and of
these we shall speak later. The third
class are those who, in various and
infinite ways, are blessed by the Holy
Angels.

90

MALLEUS

Part II. Question i.

The reason for this in the first class
will be given and proved by various
examples. For since, as S. Paul says,
all power is from God, and a sword
for the avenging of the wicked and the
retribution of the good, it is no wonder
that devils are kept at bay when justice
is being done to avenge that horrible
crime.

To the same effect the Doctors note
that there are five ways in which the
devil’s power is hindered, either wholly
or in part. First, by a limit fixed by
God to his power, as is seen in Job i
and ii. Another example is the case of
the man we read of in the Fotmicarius
of Nider, who had confessed to a judge
that he had invoked the devil in order
that he might kill an enemy of his, or
do him bodily harm, or strike him dead
with lightning. And he said : “When I
had invoked the devil that I might com¬
mit such a deed with his help, he
answered me that he was unable to do
any of those things, because the man
had good faith and diligently defended
himself with the sign of the cross ; and
that therefore he could not harm him
in his body, but the most he could do
was to destroy an eleventh part of the
fruits of his lands.”

Secondly, it is hindered by the appli¬
cation of some exterior force, as in the
case of Balaam’s ass, Numbers xxii.
Thirdly, by some externally performed
miracle of power. And there are some
who are blessed with an unique privi¬
lege, as will be shown later in the case
of the third class of men who cannot
be bewitched. Fourthly, by the good
providence of God, Who disposes each
thing severally, and causes a good Angel
to stand in the devil’s way, as when
Asmodeus killed the seven husbands
of the virgin Sara, but did not kill
Tobias.

Fifthly, it is sometimes due to the
caution of the devil himself, for at times
he does not wish to do hurt, in order
that worse may follow from it. As, for
example, when he could molest the
excommunicated but does not do so, as
in the case of the excommunicated Cor¬
inthian (I. Corinthians v), in order that
he may weaken the faith of the Church
in the power of such banishment.
Therefore we may similarly say that,
even if the administrators of public
justice were not protected by Divine
power, yet the devils often of their own
accord withdraw their support and

guardianship from witches, either be¬
cause they fear their conversion, or
because they desire and hasten their
damnation.

This fact is proved also by actual
experience. For the aforesaid Doctor
affirms that witches have borne witness
that it is a fact of their own experience
that, merely because they have been
taken by officials of public justice, they
have immediately lost all their power of
witchcraft. For example, a judge named
Peter, whom we have mentioned before,
wished his officials to arrest a certain
witch called Stadlin;* but their hands
were seized with so great a trembling,
and such a nauseous stench came into
their nostrils, that they gave up hope of
daring to touch the witch. And the judge
commanded them, saying: “You may
safely arrest the wretch, for when he is
touched by the hand of public justice,
he will lose all the power of his in¬
iquity.” And so the event proved; for
he was taken and burned for many
witchcrafts perpetrated by him, which
are mentioned here and there in this
work in their appropriate places.

And many more such experiences
have happened to us Inquisitors in the
exercise of our inquisitorial office, which
would turn the mind of the reader to
wonder if it were expedient to relate
them. But since self-praise is sordid
and mean, it is better to pass them
over in silence than to incur the stigma
of boastfulness and conceit. But we
must except those which have become
so well known that they cannot be
concealed.

• Not long ago in the town of Ratisbon
the magistrates had condemned a
witch to be burned, and were asked why
it was that we Inquisitors were not
afflicted like other men with witchcraft.
They answered that witches had often
tried to injure them, but could not.
And, being asked the reason for this,
they answered that they did not know,
unless it was because the devils had
warned them against doing so. For,
they said, it would be impossible to tell
how many times they have pestered us
by day and by night, now in the form of

* “ Stadlin .” Stadelein, who is described as
“ grandis maleficus ,” “a most notorious war-
lock ,” lived at Boltingen, a town in the duchy
and diocese of Lausanne. John Nider sat as
assessor at his trial. See the “ Formic ariusfi
c. III.

Part II. Question i.

MALEFICARUM

9i

apes, now of dogs or goats, disturbing us
with their cries and insults ; fetching us
from our beds at their blasphemous
prayers, so that we have stood outside
the window of their prison, which was
so high that no one could reach it
without the longest of ladders ; and then
they have seemed to stick the pins with
which their head-cloth was fastened
violently into their heads, and so they
were found by us when we had risen,
as if they had wished to stick them into
our own heads. But praise be to
Almighty God, Who in His pity, and
for no merit of our own, has preserved
us as unworthy public servants of the
justice of the Faith.

The reason in the case of the second
class of men is self-evident. For the
exorcisms of the Church are for this
very purpose, and are entirely efficaci¬
ous remedies for preserving oneself
from the injuries of witches.

But if it is asked in what manner a
man ought to use such protections, we
must speak first of those that are used
without the uttering of sacred words,
and then of the actual sacred invoca¬
tions. For in the first place it is lawful
in any decent habitation of men or
beasts to sprinkle Holy Water for the
safety and securing of men and beasts,
with the invocation of the Most Holy
Trinity and a Paternoster. For it is
said in the Office of Exorcism, that
wherever it is sprinkled, all uncleanness
is purified, all harm is repelled, and
no pestilent spirit can abide there, etc.
For the Lord saves both man and beast,
according to the Prophet, each in his
degree.

Secondly, just as the first must neces¬
sarily be sprinkled, so in the case of a
Blessed Candle, although it is more
appropriate to light it, the wax of it may
with advantage be sprinkled about
dwelling-houses. And thirdly, it is ex¬
pedient to place or to burn consecrated
herbs in those rooms where they can
best be consumed in some convenient
place.

Now it happened in the city of Spires,
in the same year that this book was
begun, that a certain devout woman
held conversation with a suspected
witch, and, after the manner of women,
they used abusive words to each other.
But in the night she wished to put her
little suckling child in its cradle, and
remembered her encounter that day
with the suspected witch. So, fearing

some danger to the child, she placed
consecrated herbs under it, sprinkled
it with Holy Water, put a little Blessed
Salt to its lips, signed it with the Sign
of the Cross, and diligently secured the
cradle. About the middle of the night
she heard the child crying, and, as
women do, wished to embrace the
child, and lift the cradle on to her bed.
She lifted the cradle, indeed, but could
not embrace the child, because he was
not there. The poor woman, in terror,
and bitterly weeping for the loss of her
child, lit a light, and found the child in a
corner under a chair, crying but unhurt.

In this it may be seen what virtue
there is in the exorcisms of the Church
against the snares of the devil. It is
manifest that Almighty God, in His
mercy and wisdom which extend from
end to end, watches over the deeds of
those wicked men; and that he gently
directs the witchcraft of devils, so that
when they try to diminish and weaken
the Faith, they on the contrary
strengthen it and make it more firmly
rooted in the hearts of many. For the
faithful may derive much profit from
these evils; when, by reason of devils’
works, the faith is made strong, God’s
mercy is seen, and His power mani¬
fested, and men are led into His keep¬
ing and to the reverence of Christ’s
Passion, and are enlightened by the
ceremonies of the Church.

There lived in a town of Wiesenthal
a certain Mayor who was bewitched
with the most terrible pains and bodily
contortions ; and he discovered, not by
means of other witches, but from his
own experience, how that witchcraft
had been practised on him. For he
said he was in the habit of fortifying
himself every Sunday with Blessed Salt
and Holy Water, but that he had neg¬
lected to do so on one occasion owing
to the celebration of somebody’s
marriage ; and on that same day he was
bewitched.

In Ratisbon a man was being
tempted by the devil in the form of a
woman to copulate, and became greatly
disturbed when the devil would not
desist. But it came into the poor man’s
mind that he ought to defend himself
by taking Blessed Salt, as he had heard
in a sermon. So, he took some Blessed
Salt on entering the bath-room; and
the woman looked fiercely at him, and,
cursing whatever devil had taught him
to do this, suddenly disappeared. For

92

MALLEUS

Part II. Question i.

the devil can, with God’s permission,
present himself either in the form of a
witch, or by possessing the body of an
actual witch.

There were also three companions
walking along a road, and two of them
were struck by lightning. The third was
terrified, when he heard voices speak¬
ing in the air, “Let us strike him too.”
But another voice answered, “We can¬
not, for to-day he has heard the words
‘The Word was made Flesh.’” And he
understood that he had been saved
because he had that day heard Mass,
and, at the end of the Mass, the Gospel
of S. John : In the beginning was the
Word, etc.

Also sacred words bound to the body
are marvellously protective, if seven
conditions for their use are observed.
But these will be mentioned in the last
Question of this Second Part, where we
speak of curative, as here we speak of
preventive measures. And those sacred
words help not only to protect, but also
to cure those who are bewitched.

But the surest protection for places,
men, or animals are the words of the
triumphal title of our Saviour, if they
be written in four places in the form of a
cross: IESUS t NAZARENUS t REX
t IUDAEQRUM t. There may also
be added the name of the Virgin MARY
and of the Evangelists, or the words of
S. John: The Word was made Flesh.

But the third class of men which
cannot be hurt by witches is the most
remarkable; for they are protected by
a special Angelic guardianship, both
within and without. Within, by the
inpouring of grace; without, by the
virtue of the stars, that is, by the pro¬
tection of the Powers which move the
stars. And this class is divided into two
sections of the Elect : for some are pro¬
tected against all sorts of witchcrafts,
so that they can be hurt in no way ; and
others are particularly rendered chaste
by the good Angels with regard to the
generative functions, just as evil spirits
by their witchcrafts inflame the lusts
of certain wicked men towards one
woman, while they make them cold
towards another.

And their interior and exterior pro¬
tection, by grace and by the influence
of the stars, is explained as follows. For
though it is God Himself Who pours
grace into our souls, and no other
creature has so great power as to do
this (as it is said : The Lord will give

grace and glory); yet, when God wishes
to bestow some especial grace, He does
so in a dispositive way through the
agency of a good Angel, as S. Thomas
teaches us in a certain place in the
Third Book of Sentences.

And this is the doctrine put forward
by Dionysius in the fourth chapter
de Diuinis Nominibus: This is the fixed
and unalterable law of Divinity, that
the High proceeds to the Low through
a Medium; so that whatever of good
emanates to us from the fountain of all
goodness, comes through the ministry
of the good Angels. And this is proved
both by examples and by argument.
For although only the Divine power
was the cause of the Conception of the
Word of God in the Most Blessed Virgin,
through whom God was made man;
yet the mind of the Virgin was by the
ministry of an Angel much stimulated
by the Salutation, and by the strength¬
ening and information of her under¬
standing, and was thus predisposed
to goodness. This truth can also be
reasoned as follows : It is the opinion of
the above-mentioned Doctor that there
are three properties in man, the will,
the understanding, and the inner and
outer powers belonging to the bodily
members and organs. The first God
alone can influence : For the heart of
the king is in the hand of the Lord. A
good Angel can influence the under¬
standing towards a clearer knowledge of
the true and the good, so that in the
second of his properties both God and a
good Angel can enlighten a man. Simi¬
larly in the third, a good Angel can
endow a man with good qualities, and
a bad Angel can, with God’s permission,
afflict him with evil temptations. How¬
ever, it is in the power of the human
will either to accept such evil influences
or to reject them ; and this a man can
always do by invoking the grace of God.

As to the exterior protection which
comes from God through the Movers
of the stars, the tradition is widespread,
and conforms equally with the Sacred
Writings and with natural philosophy.
For all the heavenly bodies are moved
by angelic powers which are called by
Christ the Movers of the stars, and by
the Church the Powers of the heavens ;
and consequently all the corporeal
substances of this world are governed
by the celestial influences, as witness
Aristotle, Metaphysics I. Therefore we
can say that the providence of God over-

Part II. Question i.

MALEFICARUM

93

looks each one of His elect, but He sub¬
jects some of them to the ills of this life
for their correction, while He so pro¬
tects others that they can in no way be
injured. And this gift they receive
either from the good Angels deputed by
God for their protection, or from the
influence of the heavenly bodies or the
Powers which move them.

It is further to be noted that some are
protected against all witchcrafts, and
some against only a part of them. For
some are particularly purified by the
good Angels in their genital functions,
so that witches can in no way bewitch
them in respect of those functions.
But it is in one sense superfluous to
write of these, although in another sense
it is needful for this reason: for those
who are bewitched in their generative
function are so deprived of the guard¬
ianship of Angels that they are either in
mortal sin always, or practise those im¬
purities with too lustful a zest. In this
connexion it has been shown in the
First Part of this work that God permits
greater powers of witchcraft against
that function, not so much because of
its nastiness, as because it was this act
that caused the corruption of our first
parents and, by its contagion, brought
the inheritance of original sin upon the
whole human race.

But let us give a few examples of how
a good Angel sometimes blesses just and
holy men, especially in the matter of
the genital instincts. For the following
was the experience of the Abbot S.
Serenus, as it is told by Cassian* in his

* “Cassian” John Cassian , monk and
ascetic writer of Southern Gaul, and the first to
introduce the rules of Eastern monasticism into
the West , was born probably in Provence about
360; and died near Marseilles about 433. The
two principal works of Cassian are the “Insti¬
tutes; De institutis coenobiorum et de octo
principalium uitiorum remediis libri XII” ; and
the “ Collations ” or “Conferences,” “Collationes
XXIV.” The author has himself remarked
upon the relation between the two works: “These
books (‘the Institutes' ) ... are mainly taken
up with what belongs to the outer man and the
customs of the coenobia; the others (the ‘ Con¬
ferences' ) deal rather with the training of the
inner man and the perfection of the heart.” The
best edition of the works of Cassian is that by
Petschenig ; Vienna, 1885-88.

Although never formally canonized, from very
early days Cassian was regarded as a saint. At
Marseilles his feast (with an octave) is celebrated
23 July, and his name is found in the Greek
Calendar.

Collations of the Fathers , in the first con¬
ference of the Abbot Serenus. This
man, he says, laboured to achieve an
inward chastity of heart and soul, by
prayers both by night and day, by fast¬
ing and by vigils, till he at last per¬
ceived that, by Divine grace, he had
extinguished all the surgings of carnal
concupiscence. Finally, stirred by an
even greater zeal for chastity, he used
all the above holy practices to pray the
Almighty and All-Good God to grant
him that, by God’s gift, the chastity
which he felt in his heart should be
visibly conferred upon his body. Then
an Angel of the Lord came to him in a
vision in the night, and seemed to open
his belly and take from his entrails a
burning tumour of flesh, and then to
replace all his intestines as they had
been ; and said : Lo ! the provocation of
your flesh is cut out, and know that this
day you have obtained perpetual purity
of your body, according to the prayer
which you prayed, so that you will
never again be pricked with that
natural desire which is aroused even in
babes and sucklings.

Similarly S. Gregory, in the first book
of his Dialogues, tells of the Blessed
Abbot Equitius. This man, he says, was
in his youth greatly troubled by the
provocation of the flesh; but the very
distress of his temptation made him all
the more zealous in his application to
prayer. And when he continuously
prayed Almighty God for a remedy
against this affliction, an Angel ap¬
peared to him one night and seemed to
make him an eunuch, and it seemed to
him in his vision that all feeling was
taken away from his genital organs ; and
from that time he was such a stranger to
temptation as if he had no sex in his
body. Behold what benefit there was in
that purification; for he was so filled
with virtue that, with the help of
Almighty God, just as he was before
pre-eminent among men, so he after¬
wards became pre-eminent over women.

Again, in the Lives of the Fathers col¬
lected by that very holy man S. Hera¬
clides,! in the book which he calls
Paradise, he tells of a certain holy Father,
a monk named Helias. This man was

I “S. Heraclides.” Episcopus Tamasi in
Cypro, cuius Festum agitur die xvii Septembris.
See “Analecta Bollandiana ,” XXVI, 238-g;
and Fr. JVau, “Revue de l' Orient chretien,” XII
(197), 125-38.

94

MALLEUS

Part II. Question i.

moved by pity to collect thirty women
in a monastery, and began to rule over
them. But after two years, when he was
thirty years old, he fled from the temp¬
tation of the flesh into a hermitage, and
fasting there for two days, prayed to
God, saying : “O Lord God, either slay
me, or deliver me from this tempta¬
tion.” And in the evening a dream
came to him, and he saw three Angels
approach him ; and they asked him why
he had fled from that monastery of
virgins. But when he did not dare to
answer, for shame, the Angels said: If
you are set free from temptation, will
you return to your cure of those women?
And he answered that he would will¬
ingly. They then exacted an oath to
that effect from him, and made him an
eunuch. For one seemed to hold his
hands, another his feet, and the third
to cut out his testicles with a knife;
though this was not really so, but only
seemed to be. And when they asked if
he felt himself remedied, he answered
that he was entirely delivered. So, on
the fifth day, he returned to the sorrow¬
ing women, and ruled over them for the
forty years that he continued to live,
and never again felt a spark of that first
temptation.

No less a benefit do we read to have
been conferred upon the Blessed
Thomas,* a Doctor of our Order, whom
his brothers imprisoned for entering
that Order ; and, wishing to tempt him,
they sent in to him a seductive and
sumptuously adorned harlot. But when
the Doctor had looked at her, he ran
to the material fire, and snatching up a
lighted torch, drove the engine of the
fire of lust out of his prison; and,
prostrating himself in a prayer for the

* “ Blessed Thomas .” At the instance of his
mother Theodora , Countess of Teano, S.
Thomas, who had received the Dominican habit
some time between 124.0 and August 1243, was
whilst on his way to Rome from Naples captured
near Aquapendente by his two brothers, Landolfo
and Rinaldo, officers in the army of the Emperor
Frederick. They confined him for nearly two
years in the fortress of San Giovanni at Rocca
Secca. He revealed this vision of Holy Angels
who endowed him with the white girdle of
chastity to his faithful friend, Reginald of
Piperno. One of the particular devotions of the
Dominican Order consists in wearing, as a
devout memorial of this event, a white girdle for
which a special form of blessing is prescribed:
“ Benedictio Cinguli S. Thomae Aquinatis Ad
Seruandam Castitatem .”

gift of chastity, went to sleep. Two
Angels then appeared to him, saying:
Behold, at the bidding of God we gird
you with a girdle of chastity, which
cannot be loosed by any other such
temptation ; neither can it be acquired
by the merits of human virtue, but is
given as a gift by God alone. And he
felt himself girded, and was aware of
the touch of the girdle, and cried out
and awaked. And thereafter he felt
himself endowed with so great a gift of
chastity, that from that time he ab¬
horred all the delights of the flesh, so
that he could not even speak to a woman
except under compulsion, but was
strong in his perfect chastity. This we
take from the Formicarius of Nider.

With the exception, therefore, of
these three classes of men, no one is
secure from witches. For all others are
liable to be bewitched, or to be tempted
and incited by some witchery, in the
eighteen ways that are now to be con¬
sidered. For we must first describe
these methods in their order, that we
may afterwards discuss more clearly the
remedies by which those who are be¬
witched can be relieved. And that the
eighteen methods may be more clearly
shown, they are set forth under as many
chapters as follows. First, we show the
various methods of initiation of witches,
and how they entice innocent girls to
swell the numbers of their perfidious
company. Second, how witches pro¬
fess their sacrilege, and the oath of
allegiance to the devil which they take.
Third, how they are transported from
place to place, either bodily or in the
spirit. Fourth, how they subject them¬
selves to Incubi, who are devils. Fifth,
their general method of practising
witchcraft through the Sacraments of
the Church, and in particular how,
with the permission of God, they can
afflict all creatures except the Celestial
Bodies. Sixth, their method of obstruct¬
ing the generative function. Seventh,
how they can take off the virile member
by some art of illusion. Eighth, how
they change men into the shapes of
beasts. Ninth, how devils can enter
the mind without hurting it, when they
work some glamour or illusion. Tenth,
how devils, through the operation of
witches, sometimes substantially inhabit
men. Eleventh, how they cause every
sort of infirmity, and this in general.
Twelfth, of certain infirmities in par¬
ticular. Thirteenth, how witch mid-

Part II. Question i.

MALEFICARUM

95

wives cause the greatest damage, either
killing children or sacrilegiously offer¬
ing them to devils. Fourteenth, how
they cause various plagues to afflict
animals. Fifteenth, how they raise hail¬
storms and tempests, and thunder and
lightning, to fall upon men and animals.
Sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth,
the three ways in which men only, and
not women, are addicted to witchcraft.
After these will follow the question of
the methods by which these sorts of
witchcraft may be removed.

But let no one think that, because we
have enumerated the various methods
by which various forms of witchcraft
are inflicted, he will arrive at a com¬
plete knowledge of these practices ; for
such knowledge would be of little use,
and might even be harmful. Not even
the forbidden books of Necromancy
contain such knowledge; for witch¬
craft is not taught in books, nor is it
practised by the learned, but by the
altogether uneducated ; having only
one foundation, without the acknow¬
ledgement or practice of which it is
impossible for anyone to work witch¬
craft as a witch.

Moreover, the methods are enumer¬
ated here at the beginning, that their
deeds may not seem incredible, as they
have often been thought hitherto, to
the great damage of the Faith, and the
increase of witches themselves. But if
anyone maintains that, since (as has
been proved above) some men are pro¬
tected by the influence of the stars so
that they can be hurt by no witchcraft,
it should also be attributed to the stars
when anyone is bewitched, as if it
were a matter of predestination whether
a man be immune from or subject to
witchcraft, such a man does not rightly
understand the meaning of the Doctors ;
and this in various respects.

And first, because there are three
human qualities which may be said to
be ruled by three celestial causes,
namely, the act of volition, the act of
understanding, and bodily acts. And
the first, as has been said, is governed
directly and only by God ; the second
by an Angel ; and the third is governed,
but not compelled, by a celestial body.

Secondly, it is clear from what has
been said that choice and volition are
governed directly by God, as S. Paul
says : It is God Who causeth us to will
and to perform, according to His good
pleasure : and the understanding of the

human intellect is ordered by God
through the mediation of the Angels.
Accordingly also all things corporeal,
whether they be interior as are the
powers and knowledge acquired
through the inner bodily faculties, or
exterior as are sickness and health, are
dispensed by the celestial bodies,
through the mediation of Angels. And
when Dionysius, in the fourth chapter
de Diuinis Nominibus , says that the celes¬
tial bodies are the cause of that which
happens in this world, this is to be
understood as to natural health and
sickness. But the sicknesses we are con¬
sidering are supernatural, since they
are inflicted by the power of the devil,
with God’s permission. Therefore we
cannot say that it is due to the influence
of the stars that a man is bewitched;
although it can truly be said that it is
due to the influence of the stars that
some men cannot be bewitched.

But if it is objected that these two
opposite effects must spring from the
same cause, and that the pendulum
must swing both ways, it is answered
that, when a man is preserved by the
influence of the stars from these super¬
natural ills, this is not due directly to
the influence of the stars, but to an
angelic power, which can strengthen
that influence so that the enemy with
his malice cannot prevail against it;
and that angelic power can be passed
on through the virtue of the stars. For
a man may be at the point of death,
having reached the natural term of
life, and God in His power, which in
such matters always works indirectly,
may alter this by sending some power
of preservation instead of the natural
defect in the man and in his dominating
influence. Accordingly we may say of
a man who is subject to witchcraft, that
he can in just the same way be pre¬
served from witchcraft, or that this
preservation comes of an Angel deputed
to guard him; and this is the chief of
all means of protection.

And when it is said in Jeremias xxii :
Write ye this man childless, a man that
shall not prosper in his days : this is to
be understood with regard to the choices
of the will, in which one man prospers
and another does not ; and this also can
be ascribed to the influence of the stars.
For example: one man may be influ¬
enced by his stars to make a useful
choice, such as to enter some religious
Order. And when his understanding is

96

MALLEUS

Part II. Qu. i. Ch. I.

enlightened to consider such a step, and
by Divine operation his will is inclined
to put it into execution, such a man is
said to prosper well. Or similarly when
a man is inclined to some trade, or any¬
thing that is useful. On the other hand,
he will be called unfortunate when his
choice is inclined by the higher Powers
to unprofitable things.

S. Thomas, in his third book of the
Summa against the Gentiles, and in
several other places, speaks of these and
many other opinions, when he discusses
in what lies the difference that one man
should be well born and another un¬
fortunately born, that a man should be
lucky or unlucky, or well or badly
governed and guarded. For according
to the disposition of his stars a man is
said to be well or badly born, and so
fortunate or unfortunate; and accord¬
ing as he is enlightened by an Angel,
and follows such enlightenment, he is
said to be well or badly guarded. And
according as he is directed by God
towards good, and follows it, he is said
to be well governed. But these choices
have no place here, since we are not
concerned with them but with the pre¬
servation from witchcraft ; and we have
said enough for the present on this sub¬
ject. We proceed to the rites practised
by witches, and first to a consideration of
how they lure the innocent into becom¬
ing partakers of their perfidies.

☆

CHAPTER I

Of the several Methods by which Devils
through Witches Entice and Allure the
Innocent to the Increase of that Horrid
Craft and Company.

THERE are three methods above
all by which devils, through the
agency of witches, subvert the innocent,
and by which that perfidy is continually
being increased. And the first is through
weariness, through inflicting grievous
losses in their temporal possessions.
For, as S. Gregory says : The devil often
tempts us to give way from very
weariness. And it is to be understood
that it is within the power of a man to
resist such temptation; but that God
permits it as a warning to us not to give
way to sloth. And in this sense is
Judges ii to be understood, where it
says that God did not destroy those

nations, that through them He might
prove the people of Israel; and it
speaks of the neighbouring nations of
the Canaanites, Jebusites, and others.
And in our time the Hussites and other
Heretics are permitted, so that they
cannot be destroyed. Devils, therefore,
by means of witches, so afflict their
innocent neighbours with temporal
losses, that they are as it were com¬
pelled, first to beg the suffrages of
witches, and at length to submit
themselves to their counsels; as many
experiences have taught us.

We know a stranger in the diocese of
Augsburg, who before he was forty-
four years old lost all his horses in
succession through witchcraft. His wife,
being afflicted with weariness by reason
of this, consulted with witches, and
after following their counsels, unwhole¬
some as they were, all the horses which
he bought after that (for he was a
carrier) were preserved from witch¬
craft.

And how many women have com¬
plained to us in our capacity of Inquisi¬
tors, that when their cows have been
injured by being deprived of their milk,
or in any other way, they have con¬
sulted with suspected witches, and even
been given remedies by them, on
condition that they would promise
something to some spirit; and when
they asked what they would have to
promise, the witches answered that it
was only a small thing, that they
should agree to execute the instructions
of that master with regard to certain
observances during the Holy Offices
of the Church, or to observe some silent
reservations in their confessions to
priests.

Here it is to be noted that, as has
already been hinted, this iniquity has
small and scant beginnings, -as that at
the time of the elevation of the Body of
Christ they spit on the ground, or shut
their eyes, or mutter some vain words.
We know a woman who yet lives,
protected by the secular law, who,
when the priest at the celebration of
the Mass blesses the people, saying,
Dominus uobiscum, always adds to herself
these words in the vulgar tongue,
“Kehr mir die Zung im Arss umb.”
Or they even say some such thing at
confession after they have received
absolution, or do not confess every¬
thing, especially mortal sins, and so by
slow degrees are led to a total abnega-

Part II. Qn i. Ch. i

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97

tion of the Faith, and to the abominable
profession of sacrilege.

This, or something like it, is the
method which witches use towards
honest matrons who are little given to
carnal vices but concerned for worldly
profit. But towards young girls, more
given to bodily lusts and pleasures,
they observe a different method, work¬
ing through their carnal desires and the
pleasures of the flesh.

Here it is to be noted that the devil
is more eager and keen to tempt the
good than the wicked, although in
actual practice he tempts the wicked
more than the good, because more
aptitude for being tempted is found in
the wicked than in the good. There¬
fore the devil tries all the harder to
seduce all the more saintly virgins and
girls ; and there is reason in this,
besides many examples of it.

For since he already possesses the
wicked, but not the good, he tries the
harder to seduce into his power the
good whom he does not, than the
wicked whom he does, possess. Similarly
any earthly prince takes up arms against
those who do not acknowledge his rule
rather than against those who do not
oppose him.

And here is an example. Two witches
were burned in Ratisbon, as we shall
tell later where we treat of their methods
of raising tempests. And one of them,
who was a bath-woman, had confessed
among other things the following : that
she had suffered much injury from the
devil for this reason. There was a
certain devout virgin, the daughter of
a very rich man whom there is no need
to name, since the girl is now dead in
the disposition of Divine mercy, and
we would not that his thoughts should
be perverted by evil; and the witch
was ordered to seduce her by inviting
her to her house on some Feast Day,
in order that the devil himself, in the
form of a young man, might speak with
her. And although she had tried very
often to accomplish this, yet whenever
she had spoken to the young girl, she
had protected herself with the sign of
the Holy Cross. And no one can doubt
that she did this at the instigation of a
holy Angel, to repel the works of the
devil.

Another virgin living in the diocese
of Strasburg confessed to one of us that
she was alone on a certain Sunday in
her father’s house, when an old woman

H

of that town came to visit her and,
among other scurrilous words, made
the following proposition; that, if she
liked, she would take her to a place
where there were some young men
unknown to all the townsmen. And
when, said the virgin, I consented, and
followed her to her house, the old
woman said, “ See, we go upstairs to
an upper room where the young men
are ; but take care not to make the sign
of the Cross.” I gave my promise not
to do so, and as she was going before me
and I was going up the stairs, I secretly
crossed myself. At the top of the
stairs, when we were both standing
outside the room, the hag turned
angrily upon me with a horrible
countenance, and looking at me said,
“ Curse you ! Why did you cross your¬
self ? Go away from here. Depart in
the name of the devil.” And so I
returned unharmed to my home.

It can be seen from this how craftily
that old enemy labours in the seduction
of souls. For it was in this way that the
bath-woman whom we have men¬
tioned, and who was burned, confessed
that she had been seduced by some old
woman. A different method, however,
was used in the case of her companion
witch, who had met the devil in human
form on the road while she herself was
going to visit her lover for the purpose
of fornication. And when the Incubus
devil had seen her, and had asked her
whether she recognized him, and she
had said that she did not, he had
answered : “ I am the devil ; and if you
wish, I will always be ready at your
pleasure, and will not fail you in any
necessity.” And when she had con¬
sented, she continued for eighteen
years, up to the end of her life, to
practise diabolical filthiness with him,
together with a total abnegation of the
Faith as a necessary condition.

There is also a third method of
temptation through the way of sadness
and poverty. For when girls have been
corrupted, and have been scorned by
their lovers after they have immodestly
copulated with them in the hope and
promise of marriage with them, and
have found themselves disappointed
in all their hopes and everywhere
despised, they turn to the help and
protection of devils ; either for the sake
of vengeance by bewitching those
lovers or the wives they have married,
or for the sake of giving themselves

98

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Gh. i

up to every sort of lechery. Alas!
experience tells us that there is no
number to such girls, and consequently
the witches that spring from this class
are innumerable. Let us give a few out
of many examples.

There is a place in the diocese of
Brixen where a young man deposed
the following facts concerning the
bewitchment of his wife.

“ In the time of my youth I loved a
girl who importuned me to marry
her; but I refused her and married
another girl from another country.
But wishing for friendship’s sake to
lease her, I invited her to the wedding,
he came, and while the other honest
women were wishing us luck and
offering gifts, she raised her hand and,
in the hearing of the other women who
were standing round, said, You will
have few days of health after to-day.
My bride was frightened, since she did
not know her (for, as I have said, I had
married her from another country),
and asked the bystanders who she was
who had threatened her in that way;
and they said that she was a loose and
vagrom woman. None the less, it
happened just as she had said. For
after a few days my wife was so be¬
witched that she lost the use of all her
limbs, and even now, after ten years,
the effects of witchcraft can be seen
on her body.”

If we were to collect all the similar
instances which have occurred in one
town of that diocese, it would take a
whole book ; but they are written and
preserved at the house of the Bishop
of Brixen, who still lives to testify to
their truth, astounding and unheard-of
though they are.

But we must not pass over in silence one
unheard-of and astonishing instance.
A certain high-born Count in the ward
of Westerich, in the diocese of Stras-
burg, married a noble girl of equal
birth; but after he had celebrated the
wedding, he was for three years unable
to know her carnally, on account, as
the event proved, of a certain charm
which prevented him. In great anxiety,
and not knowing what to do, he called
loudly on the Saints of God. It hap¬
pened that he went to the State of
Metz to negotiate some business; and
while he was walking about the streets
and squares of the city, attended by his
servants and domestics, he met a
certain woman who had formerly been

his mistress. Seeing her, and not at all
thinking of the spell that was on him,
he spontaneously addressed her kindly
for the sake of their old friendship,
asking her how she did, and whether
she was well. And she, seeing the
Count’s gentleness, in her turn asked
very particularly after his health and
affairs; and when he answered that
he was well, and that everything
prospered with him, she was astonished
and was silent for a time. The Count,
seeing her thus astonished, again spoke
kindly to her, inviting her to converse
with him. So she inquired after his
wife, and received a similar reply, that
she was in all respects well. Then she
asked if he had any children ; and the
Count said he had three sons, one born
in each year. At that she was more
astonished, and was again silent for a
while. And the Count asked her, Why,
my dear, do you make such careful
inquiries? I am sure that you con¬
gratulate me on my happiness. Then
she answered, Certainly I congratulate
you ; but curse that old woman who said
she would bewitch your body so that
you could not have connexion with
your wife ! And in proof of this, there
is a pot in the well in the middle of
your yard containing certain objects
evilly bewitched, and this was placed
there in order that, as long as its
contents were preserved intact, for so
long you would be unable to cohabit.
But see ! it is all in vain, and I am glad,
etc. On his return home the Count
did not delay to have the well drained ;
and, finding the pot, burned its con¬
tents and all, whereupon he immedi¬
ately recovered the virility which he
had lost. Wherefore the Countess again
invited all the nobility to a fresh wed¬
ding celebration, saying that she was
now the Lady of that castle and estate,
after having for so long remained a
virgin. For the sake of the Count’s
reputation it is not expedient to name
that castle and estate; but we have
related this story in order that the
truth of the matter may be known,
to bring so great a crime into open
detestation.

From this it is clear that witches use
various methods to increase their
numbers. For the above-mentioned
woman, because she had been sup¬
planted by the Count’s wife, cast that
spell upon the Count with the help of
another witch; and this is how one

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 2

MALEFICARUM

99

witchcraft brings innumerable others
in its train.

☆

CHAPTER II

Of the Way whereby a Formal Pact with
Evil is made.

THE method by which they profess
their sacrilege through an open
pact of fidelity to devils varies accord¬
ing to the several practices to which
different witches are addicted. And
to understand this it first must be noted
that there are, as was shown in the
First Part of this treatise, three kinds
of witches ; namely, those who injure
but cannot cure; those who cure but,
through some strange pact with the
devil, cannot injure; and those who
both injure and cure. And among
those who injure, one class in parti¬
cular stands out, which can perform
every sort of witchcraft and spell,
comprehending all that all the others
individually can do. Wherefore, if we
describe the method of profession in
their case, it will suffice also for all the
other kinds. And this class is made up
of those who, against every instinct of
human or animal nature, are in the
habit of eating and devouring the
children of their own species.

And this is the most powerful class
of witches, who practise innumerable
other harms also. For they raise hail¬
storms and hurtful tempests and light¬
nings ; cause sterility in men and
animals; offer to devils, or otherwise
kill, the children whom they do not
devour. But these are only the children
who have not been re-born by baptism
at the font, for they cannot devour
those who have been baptized, nor
any without God’s permission. They
can also, before the eyes of their
parents, and when no one is in sight,
throw into the water children walking
by the water side; they make horses
go mad under their riders; they can
transport themselves from place to
place through the air, either in body or
in imagination ; they can affect Judges
and Magistrates so that they cannot
hurt them ; they can cause them¬
selves and others to keep silence under
torture; they can bring about a great
trembling in the hands and horror in the
minds of those who would arrest them ;
they can show to others occult things

and certain future events, by the
information of devils, though this may
sometimes have a natural cause (see the
question : Whether devils can foretell the
future , in the Second Book of Sentences ) ;
they can see absent things as if they
were present ; they can turn the minds
of men to inordinate love or hatred ;
they can at times strike whom they will
with lightning, and even kill some men
and animals; they can make of no
effect the generative desires, and even
the power of copulation, cause abortion,
kill infants in the mother’s womb by a
mere exterior touch ; they can at times
bewitch men and animals with a mere
look, without touching them, and cause
death ; they dedicate their own children
to devils ; and in short, as has been said,
they can cause all the plagues which
other witches can only cause in part,
that is, when the Justice of God permits
such things to be. All these things this
most powerful of all classes of witches
can do, but they cannot undo them.

But it is common to all of them to
practise carnal copulation with devils;
therefore, if we show the method used
by this chief class in their profession of
their sacrilege, anyone may easily
understand the method of the other
classes.

There were such witches lately,
thirty years ago, in the district of
Savoy, towards the State of Berne, as
Nider tells in his Formicarius. And
there are now some in the country of
Lombardy, in the domains of the Duke
of Austria, where the Inquisitor
of Como, as we told in the former
Part, caused forty-one witches to be
burned in one year ; and he was fifty-
five years old, and still continues to
labour in the Inquisition.

Now the method of profession is
twofold. One is a solemn ceremony,
like a solemn vow. The other is
private, and can be made to the devil
at any hour alone. The first method is
when witches meet together in con¬
clave on a set day, and the devil
appears to them in the assumed body
of a man, and urges them to keep faith
with him, promising them worldly
prosperity and length of life ; and they
recommend a novice to his acceptance.
And the devil asks whether she will
abjure the Faith, and forsake the holy
Christian religion and the worship of
the Anomalous Woman (for so they
call the Most Blessed Virgin MARY),

100

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 2

and never venerate the Sacraments ;
and if he finds the novice or disciple
willing, then the devil stretches out his
hand, and so does the novice, and she
swears with upraised hand to keep that
covenant. And when this is done, the
devil at once adds that this is not
enough; and when the disciple asks
what more must be done, the devil
demands the following oath of homage
to himself : that she give herself to him,
body and soul, for ever, and do her
utmost to bring others of both sexes
into his power. He adds, finally, that
she is to make certain unguents from
the bones and limbs of children,
especially those who have been bap¬
tized; by all which means she will be
able to fulfil all her wishes with his
help.

We Inquisitors had credible experi¬
ence of this method in the town
of Breisach in the diocese of Basel,
receiving full information from a young
girl witch who had been converted,
whose aunt also had been burned in
the diocese of Strasburg. And she added
that she had become a witch by the
method in which her aunt had first
tried to seduce her.

For one day her aunt ordered her to
go upstairs with her, and at her com¬
mand to go into a room where she
found fifteen young men clothed in
green garments after the manner of
German knights. And her aunt said
to her: Choose whom you wish from
these young men, and I will give him
to you, and he will take you for his wife.
And when she said she did not wish for
any of them, she was sorely beaten and
at last consented, and was initiated
according to the aforesaid ceremony.
She said also that she was often trans¬
ported by night with her aunt over vast
distances, even from Strasburg to
Cologne.

This is she who occasioned our
inquiry in the First Part into the
question whether witches are truly
and bodily transported by devils from
place to place : and this was on account
of the words of the Canon (6, q. 5,
Episcopi ), which seem to imply that
they are only so carried in imagination ;
whereas they are at times actually and
bodily transported.

For when she was asked whether it
was only in imagination and phantasti-
cally that they so rode, through an
illusion of devils, she answered that

they did so in both ways; according
to the truth which we shall declare
later of the manner in which they are
transferred from place to place. She
said also that the greatest injuries were
inflicted by midwives, because they
were under an obligation to kill or
offer to devils as many children as
possible ; and that she had been
severely beaten by her aunt because
she had opened a secret pot and found
the heads of a great many children.
And much more she told us, having
first, as was proper, taken an oath to
speak the truth.

And her account of the method of
professing the devil’s faith undoubtedly
agrees with what has been written by
that most eminent Doctor, John Nider,
who even in our times has written very
illuminatingly ; and it may be especially
remarked that he tells us the following,
which he had from an Inquisitor of the
diocese of Edua, who held many
inquisitions on witches in that diocese,
and caused many to be burned.

For he says that this Inquisitor told
him that in the Duchy of Lausanne
certain witches had cooked and eaten
their own children, and that the follow¬
ing was the method in which they
became initiated into such practices.
The witches met together and, by their
art, summoned a devil in the form of
a man, to whom the novice was com¬
pelled to swear to deny the Christian
religion, never to adore the Eucharist,
and to tread the Cross underfoot when¬
ever she could do so secretly.

Here is another example from the
same source. There was lately a general
report, brought to the notice of Peter
the Judge in Boltingen, that thirteen
infants had been devoured in the State
of Berne; and public justice exacted
full vengeance on the murderers. And
when Peter asked one of the captive
witches in what manner they ate
children, she replied: “This is the
manner of it. We set our snares chiefly
for unbaptized children, and even for
those that have been baptized, especi¬
ally when they have not been protected
by the sign of the Cross and prayers”
(Reader, notice that, at the devil’s
command, they take the unbaptized
chiefly, in order that they may not be
baptized), “and with our spells we kill
them in their cradles or even when they
are sleeping by their parents’ side, in
such a way that they afterwards are

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 2

MALEFICARUM

101

thought to have been overlain or to
have died some other natural death.
Then we secretly take them from their
graves, and cook them in a cauldron,
until the whole flesh comes away from
the bones to make a soup which may
easily be drunk. Of the more solid
matter we make an unguent which is
of virtue to help us in our arts and
pleasures and our transportations ; and
with the liquid we fill a flask or skin,
whoever drinks from which, with the
addition of a few other ceremonies,
immediately acquires much knowledge
and becomes a leader in our sect.”

Here is another very clear and dis¬
tinct example. A young man and his
wife, both witches, were imprisoned
in Berne; and the man, shut up by
himself apart from her in a separate
tower, said : “If I could obtain pardon
for my sins, I would willingly declare
all that I know about witchcraft ; for I
see that I ought to die.” And when he
was told by the learned clerks who were
there that he could obtain complete
pardon if he truly repented, he joy¬
fully resigned himself to death, and
laid bare the method by which he had
first been infected with his heresy.
“The following,” he said, “is the manner
in which I was seduced. It is first
necessary that, on a Sunday before
the consecration of Holy Water, the
novice should enter the church with
the masters, and there in their presence
deny Christ, his Faith, baptism, and the
whole Church. And then he must pay
homage to the Little Master, for so and
not otherwise do they call the devil.”
Here it is to be noted that this method
agrees with those that have been
recounted ; for it is immaterial whether
the devil is himself present or not, when
homage is offered to him. For this he
does in his cunning, perceiving the
temperament of the novice, who
might be frightened by his actual
presence into retracting his vows,
whereas he would be more easily
persuaded to consent by those who are
known to him. And therefore they call
him the Little Master when he is
absent, that through seeming dis¬
paragement of his Master the novice
may feel less fear. “And then he drinks
from the skin, which has been men¬
tioned, and immediately feels within
himself a knowledge of all our arts and
an understanding of our rites and cere¬
monies. And in this manner was I

seduced. But I believe my wife to be so
obstinate that she would rather go
straight to the fire than confess the
smallest part of the truth ; but, alas !
we are both guilty.” And as the young
man said, so it happened in every
respect. For the young man confessed
and was seen to die in the greatest
contrition; but the wife, though con¬
victed by witnesses, would not confess
any of the truth, either under torture
or in death itself; but when the fire
had been prepared by the gaoler,
cursed him in the most terrible words,
and so was burned. And from these
examples their method of initiation in
solemn conclave is made clear.

The other private method is variously
performed. For sometimes when men
or women have been involved in some
bodily or temporal affliction, the devil
comes to them, at times in person, and
at times speaking to them through the
mouth of someone else ; and he
promises that, if they will agree to his
counsels, he will do for them whatever
they wish. But he starts from small
things, as was said in the first chapter,
and leads gradually to the bigger
things. We could mention many
examples which have come to our
knowledge in the Inquisition, but,
since this matter presents no difficulty,
it can briefly be included with the
previous matter.

A Few Points are to be Noticed in the

Explanation of their Oath of Homage.

Now there are certain points to be
noted concerning the homage which
the devil exacts, as, namely, for what
reason and in what different ways he
does this. It is obvious that his prin¬
cipal motive is to offer the greater
offence to the Divine Majesty by
usurping to himself a creature dedi¬
cated to God, and thus more certainly
to ensure his disciple’s future damnation,
which is his chief object. Nevertheless,
it is often found by us that he has
received such homage for a fixed term
of years at the time of the profession
of perfidy; and sometimes he exacts
the profession only, postponing the
homage to a later day.

And let us declare that the profession
consists in a total or partial abnegation
of the Faith: total, as has been said
before, when the Faith is entirely
abjured; partial, when the original

102

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 2

pact makes it incumbent on the witch
to observe certain ceremonies in opposi¬
tion to the decrees of the Church, such
as fasting on Sundays, eating meat on
Fridays, concealing certain crimes at
confession, or some such profane thing.
But let us declare that homage consists
in the surrender of body and soul.

And we can assign four reasons why
the devil requires the practice of such
things. For we showed in the First
Part of this treatise, when we examined
whether devils could turn the minds
of men to love or hatred, that they
cannot enter the inner thoughts of
the heart, since this belongs to God
alone. But the devil can arrive at a
knowledge of men’s thoughts by con¬
jecture, as will be shown later. There¬
fore, if that cunning enemy sees that a
novice will be hard to persuade, he
approaches her gently, exacting only
small things that he may gradually
lead her to greater things.

Secondly, it must be believed that
there is some diversity among those
who deny the Faith,, since some do so
with their lips but not in their heart,
and some both with their lips and in
their heart. Therefore the devil, wish¬
ing to know whether their profession
comes from the heart as well as from
the lips, sets them a certain period,
so that he may understand their minds
from their works and behaviour.

Thirdly, if after the lapse of a set
time he find that she is less willing to
perform certain practices, and is bound
to him only by word but not in her
heart, he presumes that the Divine
Mercy has given her the guardianship
of a good Angel, which he knows to
be of great power. Then he casts her
off, and tries to expose her to temporal
afflictions, so that he gain some profit
from her despair.

The truth of this is clear. For if it
is asked why some witches will not
confess the truth under even the
greatest tortures, while others readily
confess their crimes when they are
questioned (and some of them, after
they have confessed, try to kill them¬
selves by hanging), the reason is as
follows. It may truly be said that,
when it is not due to a Divine impulse
conveyed through a holy Angel that a
witch is made to confess the truth and
abandon the spell of silence, then it is
due to the devil whether she preserves
silence or confesses her crimes. The

former is the case with those whom he
knows to have denied the Faith both
with their lips and in their hearts, and
also to have given him their homage ;
for he is sure of their constancy. But
in the latter case he withdraws his
protection, since he knows that they
are of no profit to him.

We have often learned from the
confessions of those whom we have
caused to be burned, that they have
not been willing agents of witchcraft.
And they have not said this in the hope
of escaping damnation, for its truth is
witnessed by the blows and stripes
which they have received from devils
when they have been unwilling to
perform their orders, and we have
often seen their swollen and livid
faces. Similarly, after they have con¬
fessed their crimes under torture they
always try to hang themselves; and
this we know for a fact; for after the
confession of their crimes, guards are
deputed to watch them all the time,
and even then, when the guards have
been negligent, they have been found
hanged with their shoe-laces or gar¬
ments. For, as we have said, the devil
causes this, lest they should obtain
pardon through contrition or sacra¬
mental confession ; and those whose
hearts he cannot seduce from finding
grace with God, he tries to lead into
despair through worldly loss and a
horrible death. However, through the
great grace of God, as it is pious to
believe, they can obtain forgiveness by
true contrition and pure confession,
when they have not been willing
participators in those foul and filthy
practices.

This is exemplified by certain events
which took place hardly three years
ago in the dioceses of Strasburg and
Constance, and in the towns of Hage-
nau and Ratisbon. For in the first
town one hanged herself with a trifling
and flimsy garment. Another, named
Walpurgis, was notorious for her
power of preserving silence, and used
to teach other women how to achieve
a like quality of silence by cooking
their first-born sons in an oven. Many
such examples are to our hand, as they
are also in the case of others burned
in the second town, some of which
will be related.

And there is a fourth reason why the
devil exacts a varying degree of homage,
making it relatively small in some

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 2

MALEFICARUM

103

cases because he is more skilful than
Astronomers in knowing the length of
human life, and so can easily fix a term
which he knows will be preceded by
death, or can, in the manner already
told, forestall natural death with some
accident.

All this, in short, can be shown by
the actions and behaviour of witches.
But first we can deduce the astuteness
of the devil in such things. For accord¬
ing to S. Augustine in the de Natura
Daemonis* seven reasons are assigned
why devils can conjecture probable
future events, though they cannot know
them certainly. The first is that they
have a natural subtlety in their under¬
standing, by which they arrive at their
knowledge without the process of
reasoning which is necessary for us.
Secondly, by their long experience and
by revelation of supernal spirits, they
know more than we do. For S. Isidore
says that the Doctors have often
affirmed that devils derive their mar¬
vellous cunning from three sources,
their natural subtlety, their long experi¬
ence, and the revelation of supernal
spirits. The third reason is their
rapidity of motion, by which they can
with miraculous speed anticipate in
the West things which are happening
in the East. Fourthly, just as they are
able, with God’s permission, to cause
diseases and famines, so also they can
predict them. Fifthly, they can more
cunningly read the signs of death than
a physician can by looking at the
urine or feeling the pulse. For just as
a physician sees signs in a sick man
which a layman would not notice, so
the devil sees what no man can
naturally see. Sixthly, they can by
signs which proceed from a man’s
mind conjecture more astutely than'
the wisest men what is or will be in
that man’s mind. For they know what
impulses, and therefore what actions,
will probably follow. Seventhly, they
understand better than men the acts
and writings of the Prophets, and,
since on these much of the future
depends, they can foretell from them
much that will happen. Therefore it
is not wonderful that they can know the
natural term of a man’s life ; though it
is different in the case of the accidental

* “ De Natura Daemonis .” “De Diuinatione
Daemonum ,” written 406-11. Migne, “Patres
Latini ,” XL, pp. $8i-g2.

term when a witch is burned ; for this
the devil ultimately causes when, as
has been said, he finds a witch reluctant,
and fears for her conversion; whereas
he protects even up to their natural
death others whom he knows to be his
willing agents.

Let us give examples of both these
cases, which are known to us. There
was in the diocese of Basel, in a town
called Oberweiler situated on the
Rhine, an honest parish priest, who
fondly held the opinion, or rather error,
that there was no witchcraft in the
world, but that it only existed in the
imagination of men who attributed
such things to witches. And God
wished so to purge him of this error
that he might even be made aware
of the practice of devils in setting a term
to the lives of witches. For as he was
hastening to cross a bridge, on some
business that he had to do, he met a
certain old woman in his hurry, and
would not give way to her, but pressed
on so that he thrust the old woman into
the mud. She indignantly broke into
a flood of abuse, and said to him,
“Father, you will not cross with
impunity.” And though he took small
notice of those words, in the night,
when he wished to get out of his bed,
he felt himself bewitched below the
waist, so that he always had to be
supported by the arms of other men
when he wished to go to the church;
and so he remained for three years,
under the care of his own mother.
After that time the old woman fell
sick, the hag whom he had always
suspected as being the cause of his
witchcraft, owing to the abusive words
with which she had threatened him;
and it happened that she sent to him
to hear her confession. And though the
priest angrily said, “Let her confess to
the devil her master,” yet, at the
instance of his mother, he went to the
house supported by two servants, and
sat at the head of the bed where the
witch lay. And the two servants lis¬
tened outside the window, so eager
were they to know whether she would
confess that she had bewitched the
priest. Now it happened that, though
she made no mention in her confession
of having been the cause of his malady,
after the confession was finished, she
said, “Father, do you know who
bewitched you?” And when he gently
answered that he did not, she added,

i04

MALLEUS

“You suspect me, and with reason;
for know that I brought it upon you
for this reason,” explaining as we have
already told. And when he begged to
be liberated, she said, “Lo ! the set
time has come, and I must die; but I
will so cause it that in a few days, after
my death, you will be healed.” And
so it happened. For she died at the
time fixed by the devil, and within
thirty days the priest found himself
completely healed one night. The name
of that priest is Father Hasslin, and he
lives yet in the diocese of Strasburg.

Similarly in the diocese of Basel, in
the village called Buchel, near the
town of Gewyll, this happened. A
certain woman was taken, and finally
burned, who for six years had had an
Incubus devil, even when she was lying
in bed by the side of her husband.
And this she did three times a week,
on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays,
and on some of the other more holy
nights.* But the homage she had given
to the devil was of such a sort that she
was bound to dedicate herself body
and soul to him for ever, after seven
years. But God provided mercifully:
for she was taken in the sixth year and
condemned to the fire, and having
truly and completely confessed, is
believed to have obtained pardon from
God. For she went most willingly to
her death, saying that she would gladly
suffer an even more terrible death,
if only she could be set free from and
escape the power of the devil.

☆

CHAPTER III

How they are Transported from Place to
Place.

AND now we must consider their
ceremonies and in what manner
they proceed in their operations, first
in respect of their actions towards
themselves and in their own persons.
And among their chief operations are
being bodily transported from place to
place, and to practise carnal connexion
with Incubus devils, which we shall
treat of separately, beginning with their

* '‘Holy Nights .” Saturday, however, was
always particularly avoided as being the day
sacred to the Immaculate Mother of God. See my
“ History of Witchcraft ,” c. IV, pp. 115-16.

Part II. Qn 1. Gh. 3

bodily vectitation. But here it must be
noted that this transvection offers a
difficulty, which has often been men¬
tioned, arising from one single author¬
ity, where it is said: It cannot be ad¬
mitted as true that certain wicked
women, perverted by Satan and seduced
by the illusions and phantasms of devils,
do actually, as they believe and pro¬
fess, ride in the night-time on certain
beasts with Diana, a goddess of the
Pagans, or with Herodias and an in¬
numerable multitude of women, and in
the untimely silence of night pass over
immense tracts of land, and have to
obey her in all things as their Mistress,
etc. Wherefore the priests of God ought
to preach to the people that this is alto¬
gether false, and that such phantasms
are sent not by God, but by an evil
Spirit to confuse the minds of the faith¬
ful. For Satan himself transforms him¬
self into various shapes and forms ; and
by deluding in dreams the mind which
he holds captive, leads it through
devious ways, etc.

And there are those who, taking their
example from S. Germain and a cer¬
tain other man who kept watch over
his daughter to determine this matter,
sometimes preach that this is an alto¬
gether impossible thing; and that it is
indiscreet to ascribe to witches and their
operations such levitations, as well as
the injuries which happen to men,
animals, and the fruits of the earth;
since just as they are the victims of
phantasy in their transvections, so also
are they deluded in the matter of the
harm they wreak on living creatures.

But this opinion was refuted as hereti¬
cal in the First Question; for it leaves
out of account the Divine permission
with regard to the devil’s power, which
extends to even greater things than
this : and it is contrary to the meaning
of Sacred Scripture, and has caused
intolerable damage to Holy Church,
since now for many years, thanks to this
pestiferous doctrine, witches have re¬
mained unpunished, because the secular
courts have lost their power to punish
them. Therefore the diligent reader
will consider what was there set down
for the stamping out of that opinion,
and will for the present note how they
are transported, and in what ways this
is possible, of which some examples
will be adduced.

It is shown in various ways that they
can be bodily transported; and first,

\

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 3

MALEFICARUM

105

from the operations of other Magicians.
For if they could not be transported, it
would either be because God does not
permit it, or because the devil cannot
do this since it is contrary to nature.
It cannot be for the first reason, for both
greater and less things can be done by
the permission of God; and greater
things are very often done both to
children and men, even to just men
confirmed in grace.

For when it is asked whether sub¬
stitutions of children can be effected by
the work of devils, and whether the
devil can carry a man from place to
place even against his will; to the first
question the answer is, Yes. For Wil¬
liam of Paris says in the last part of his
De Uniuerso: Substitutions of children
are, with God’s permission, possible, so
that the devil can effect a change of the
child or even a transformation. For
such children are always miserable
and crying; and although four or five
mothers could hardly supply enough
milk for them, they never grow fat, yet
are heavy beyond the ordinary. But
this should neither be affirmed nor
denied to women, on account of the
great fear which it may cause them, but
they should be instructed to ask the
opinion of learned men. For God per¬
mits this on account of the sins of the
parents, in that sometimes men curse
their pregnant wives, saying, May you
be carrying a devil ! or some such thing.
In the same way impatient women often
say something of the sort. And many
examples have been given by other
men, some of them pious men.

For Vincent of Beauvais [Spec. Hist.,
XXVI, 43) relates a story told by S.
Peter Damian* of a five-year-old son of
a nobleman, who was for the time living
in a monastery; and one night he was
carried out of the monastery into a
locked mill, where he was found in the
morning. And when he was questioned,
he said that he had been carried by
some men to a great feast and bidden to
eat ; and afterwards he was put into the
mill through the roof.

And what of those Magicians whom
we generally call Necromancers, who

* “S. Peter Damian .” Doctor of the Church,
Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia, born at Ravenna
1007; died at Faenza, 21 February, 1072. His
works, which have been more than once collected,
may be conveniently found in Migne, “ Patres
Latini CXLIV-CXLV.

are often carried through the air by
devils for long distances? And some¬
times they even persuade others to go
with them on a horse, which is not really
a horse but a devil in that form, and,
as they say, thus warn their companions
not to make the sign of the Cross.

And though we are two who write
this book, one of us has very often seen
and known such men. For there is a
man who was once a scholar, and is
now believed to be a priest in the
diocese of Freising, who used to say
that at one time he had been bodily
carried through the air by a devil, and
taken to the most remote parts.

There lives another priest in Ober-
dorf, a town near Landshut, who was
at that time a friend of that one of us,
who saw with his own eyes such a
transportation, and tells how the man
was borne on high with arms stretched
out, shouting but not whimpering. And
the cause, as he tells it, was as follows.
A number of scholars had met together
to drink beer, and they all agreed that
the one who fetched the beer should
not have to pay anything. And so one
of them was going to fetch the beer, and
on opening the door saw a thick cloud
before the grunsel, and returning in
terror told his companions why he
would not go for the drink. Then that
one of them who was carried away said
angrily: “Even if the devil were there,
I shall fetch the drink.” And, going
out, he was carried through the air in
the sight of all the others.

And indeed it must be confessed that
such things can happen not only to
those who are awake, but also to men
who are asleep; namely, they can be
bodily transported through the air
while they are fast asleep.

This is clear in the case of certain
men who walk in their sleep on the roofs
of houses and over the highest buildings,
and no one can oppose their progress
either on high or below. And if they are
called by their own names by the other
bystanders, they immediately fall crash¬
ing to the ground.

Many think, and not without reason,
that this is devils’ work. For devils are
of many different kinds, and some, who
fell from the lower choir of Angels, are
tortured as if for smaller sins with
lighter punishments as well as the
punishment of damnation which they
must suffer eternally. And these can¬
not hurt anybody, at least not seri-

io6

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Gh. 3

ously, but for the most part carry out
only practical jokes. And others are
Incubi or Succubi, who punish men in
the night, defiling them in the sin of
lechery. It is not wonderful if they are
given also to horse-play such as this.

The truth can be deduced from the
words of Cassian, Collationes I, where he
says that there is no doubt that there
are as many different unclean spirits as
there are different desires in men. For
it is manifest that some of them, which
the common people call Fauns, and
we call Trolls, which abound in Nor¬
way, are such buffoons and jokers that
they haunt certain places and roads
and, without being able to do any hurt
to those who pass by, are content with
mocking and deluding them, and try to
weary them rather than hurt them.
And some of them only visit men with
harmless nightmares. But others are so
furious and truculent that they are not
content to afflict with an atrocious dila¬
tion the bodies of those whom they
inflate, but even come rushing from on
high and hasten to strike them with the
most savage blows. Our author means
that they do not only possess men, but
torture them horribly, as did those
which are described in S. Matthew viii.

From this we can conclude, first that
it must not be said that witches cannot
be locally transported because God
does not permit it. For if He permits it
in the case of the just and innocent, and
of other Magicians, how should He not
in the case of those who are totally
dedicated to the devil? And we say
with all reverence: Did not the devil
take up Our Saviour, and carry Him up
to a high place, as the Gospel testifies?

Neither can the second argument of
our opponents be conceded, that the
devil cannot do this thing. For it has
already been shown that he has so
great natural power, exceeding all
corporeal power, that there is no earthly
power that can be compared with him ;
as it is said : “There is no power on earth
that can be compared with him,” etc.
Indeed the natural power or virtue
which is in Lucifer is so great that there
is none greater among the good Angels
in Heaven. For just as he excelled all
the Angels in his nature, and not his
nature, but only his grace, was dimin¬
ished by his Fall, so that nature still
remains in him, although it is darkened
and bound. Wherefore the gloss on
that “There is no power on earth” says :

Although he excels all things, yet he is
subject to the merits of the Saints.

Two objections which someone may
bring forward are not valid. First, that
man’s soul could resist him, and that
the text seems to speak of one devil in
particular, since it speaks in the sin¬
gular, namely Lucifer. And because it
was he who tempted Christ in the wil¬
derness, and seduced the first man, he
is now bound in chains. And the other
Angels are not so powerful, since he
excels them all. Therefore the other
spirits cannot transport wicked men
through the air from place to place.

These arguments have no force. For,
to consider the Angels first, even the
least Angel is incomparably superior to
all human power, as can be proved in
many ways. First, a spiritual is stronger
than a corporeal power, and so is the
power of an Angel, or even of the soul,
greater than that of the body. Secondly,
as to the soul ; every bodily shape owes
its individuality to matter, and, in the
case of human beings, to the fact that
a soul informs it ; but immaterial forms
are absolute intelligences, and there¬
fore have an absolute and more universal
power. For this reason, the soul when
joined to the body cannot in this way
suddenly transfer its body locally or
raise it up in the air ; although it could
easily do so, with God’s permission, if
it were separate from its body. Much
more, then, is this possible to an entirely
immaterial spirit, such as a good or bad
Angel. For a good Angel transported
Habacuc* in a moment from Judaea

* “ Habacuc .” “ Daniel ” xiv, 32-38: 32.
Now there was in Judea a prophet called
Habacuc, and he had boiled pottage, and had
broken bread in a bowl: and was going into the
field, to carry it to the reapers.

33. And the angel of the Lord said to
Habacuc : Carry the dinner which thou hast into
Babylon to Daniel, who is in the lions' den.

34. And Habacuc said: Lord, I never saw
Babylon, nor do I know the den.

33. And the angel of the Lord took him by
the top of his head, and carried him by the hair
on his head, and set him in Babylon over the den
in the force of his spirit.

36. And Habacuc cried, saying: 0 Daniel,
thou servant of God, take the dinner that God
hath sent thee.

37. And Daniel said: Thou hast remembered
me, 0 God, and thou hast not forsaken them that
love thee.

38. And Daniel arose and ate. And the angel
of the Lord presently set Habacuc again in his
own place.

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 3

MALEFICARUM

107

to Chaldaea. And for this reason it is
concluded that those who by night are
carried in their sleep over high buildings
are not carried by their own souls, nor
by the influence of the stars, but by
some mightier power, as was shown
above.

Thirdly, it is the nature of the body
to be moved, as to place, directly by a
spiritual nature ; and, as Aristotle says,
Physics , VIII, local motion is the first of
motions, being the most perfect of all
bodily motions; and he proves this by
saying that local motion is not intrinsic¬
ally in the power of any body as such,
but is due to some exterior force.

Wherefore it is concluded, not so
much from the holy Doctors as from the
Philosophers, that the highest bodies,
that is, the stars, are moved by spiritual
essences, and by separate Intelligences
which are good both by nature and in
intention. For we see that the soul is
the prime and chief cause of local
motion in the body.

It must be said, therefore, that
neither in its physical capacity nor in
that of its soul can the human body
resist being suddenly transported from
place to place, with God’s permission,
by a spiritual essence good both in
intention and by nature, when the good,
who are confirmed in grace, are trans¬
ported ; or by an essence good by nature,
but not good in intention, when the
wicked are transported. Any who wish
may refer to S. Thomas in three articles
in Part I, question 90, and again in his
question concerning Sin, and also in
the Second Book of Sentences , dist. 7, on
the power of devils over bodily effects.

Now the following is their method of
being transported. They take the un¬
guent* which, as we have said, they
make at the devil’s instruction from the
limbs of children, particularly of those
whom they have killed before baptism,
and anoint with it a chair or a broom¬
stick ; whereupon they are immediately
carried up into the air, either by day or
by night, and either visibly or, if they
wish, invisibly; for the devil can con¬

* Henry Boguet, “ Discours des Sor tiers,”
Lyons, iygo, XVI, 4, points out that this
flying ointment is of itself useless. The actual
formulae for its confection have been preserved
and the employment thereof is to be considered,
say most demonolo gists, as a piece of vain and
empty ceremony of Satan, yet more to delude his
votaries.

ceal a body by the interposition of
some other substance, as was shown in
the First Part of the treatise where we
spoke of the glamours and illusions
caused by the devil. And although the
devil for the most part performs this
by means of this unguent, to the end
that children should be deprived of the
grace of baptism and of salvation, yet
he often seems to effect the same trans-
vection without its use. For at times he
transports the witches on animals,
which are not true animals but devils in
that form ; and sometimes even without
any exterior help they are visibly
carried solely by the operation of the
devil’s power.

Here is an instance of a visible trans-
vection in the day-time. In the town
ofWaldshut on the Rhine, in the diocese
of Constance, there was a certain witch
who was so detested by the townsfolk
that she was not invited to the celebra¬
tion of a wedding at which, however,
nearly all the other townsfolk were
present. Being indignant because of
this, and wishing to be revenged, she
summoned a devil and, telling him the
cause of her vexation, asked him to
raise a hailstorm and drive all the wed¬
ding guests from their dancing ; and the
devil agreed, and raising her up,
carried her through the air to a hill near
the town, in the sight of some shepherds.
And since, as she afterwards confessed,
she had no water to pour into the
trench (for this, as we shall show, is the
method they use to raise hailstorms),
she made a small trench and filled it
with her urine instead of water, and
stirred it with her finger, after their
custom, with the devil standing by.
Then the devil suddenly raised that
liquid up and sent a violent storm of
hailstones which fell only on the dancers
and townsfolk. And when they had
dispersed and were discussing among
themselves the cause of that storm, the
witch shortly afterwards entered the
town; and this greatly aroused their
suspicions. But when the shepherds had
told what they had seen, their suspicions
became almost a certainty. So she was
arrested, and confessed that she had
done this thing because she had not
been invited to the wedding: and for
this, and for many other witchcrafts
which she had perpetrated, she was
burned.

And since the public report of this
sort of transvection is continually being

io8

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 3

spread even among the common people,
it is unnecessary to add further proof
of it here. But we hope that this will
suffice to refute those who either deny
altogether that there are such trans-
vections, or try to maintain that they
are only imaginary or phantastical.
And, indeed, it would be a matter of
small importance if such men were left
in their error, were it not that this error
tends to the damage of the Faith. For
notice that, not content with that error,
they do not fear to maintain and pub¬
lish others also, to the increase of
witches and the detriment of the Faith.
For they assert that all the witchcraft
which is truly and actually ascribed to
witches as instruments of the devil is
only so ascribed in imagination and
illusion, as if they were really harmless,
just as their transvection is only phan-
tastic. And for this reason many witches
remain unpunished, to the great dis¬
praise of the Creator, and to their own
most heavy increase.

The arguments on which they base
their fallacy cannot be conceded. For
first they advance the chapter of the
Canon ( Episcopi , 26, q. 5), where it is
said that witches are only transported
in imagination ; but who is so foolish as
to conclude from this that they cannot
also be bodily transported? Similarly
at the end of that chapter it is set down
that whoever believes that a man can
be changed for the better or the worse,
or can be transformed into another
shape, is to be thought worse than an
infidel or a pagan ; but who could con¬
clude from this that men cannot be
transformed into beasts by a glamour,
or that they cannot be changed from
health to sickness and from better to
worse? They who so scratch at the
surface of the words of the Canon hold
an opinion which is contrary to that of
all the holy Doctors, and, indeed,
against the teaching of Holy Scripture.

For the contrary opinion is abun¬
dantly proved by what has been writ¬
ten in various places in the First Part
of this treatise; and it is necessary to
study the inner meaning of the words of
the Canon. And this was examined in
the First Question of the First Part of
the treatise, in refuting the second of
three errors which are there con¬
demned, and where it is said that four
things are to be preached to the people.
For they are transported both bodily
and phantastically, as is proved by their

own confessions, not only of those who
have been burned, but also of others
who have returned to penitence and the
Faith.

Among such there was the woman in
the town of Breisach whom we asked
whether they could be transported only
in imagination, or actually in the body ;
and she answered that it was possible in
both ways. For if they do not wish to
be bodily transferred, but want to know
all that is being done in a meeting of
their companions, then they observe
the following procedure. In the name
of all the devils they lie down to sleep
on their left side, and then a sort of
bluish vapour comes from their mouth,
through which they can clearly see what
is happening. But if they wish to be
bodily transported, they must observe
the method which has been told.

Besides, even if that Canon be under¬
stood in its bare meaning without any
explanation, who is so dense as to main¬
tain on that account that all their witch¬
craft and injuries are phantastic and
imaginary, when the contrary is evident
to the senses of everybody? Especially
since there are many species of super¬
stition, namely, fourteen ; among which
the species of witches holds the highest
degree in spells and injuries, and the
species of Pythonesses, to which they
can be reduced, which is only able to
be transported in imagination, holds the
lowest degree.

And we do not concede that their
error can be substantiated by the
Legends of S. Germain* and certain
others. For it was possible for the devils
to lie down themselves by the side of the
sleeping husbands, during the time
when a watch was being kept on the
wives, just as if they were sleeping with
their husbands. And we do not say
that this was done for any reverence
felt for the Saint; but the case is put
that the opposite of what is set down in
the Legend may not be believed to be
impossible.

In the same way all other objections
can be answered : that it is found that
some witches are transported only in
imagination, but that it is also found in
the writings of the Doctors that many

* “S. Germain Bishop of Auxerre, born
circa 380; died at Ravenna, 31 July, 448. His
body was brought back to Auxerre, and later
there arose the celebrated Benedictine Abbey
known as St. Germain’s.

Part II. Qn i. Gh. 4

MALEFICARUM

109

hav£ been bodily transported. Who¬
ever wishes may refer to Thomas of
Brabant in his book about Bees , and he
will find many wonderful things con¬
cerning both the imaginary and the
bodily transvection of men.

☆

CHAPTER IV

Here follows the Way whereby Witches
copulate with those Devils known as
Incubi .

AS to the method in which witches
copulate with Incubus devils, six
points are to be noted. First, as to the
devil and the body which he assumes,
of what element it is formed. Second,
as to the act, whether it is always accom¬
panied with the injection of semen re¬
ceived from some other man. Third, as
to the time and place, whether one time
is more favourable than another for this
practice. Fourth, whether the act is
visible to the women, and whether only
those who were begotten in this way are
so visited by devils. Fifth, whether it
applies only to those who were offered
to the devil at birth by midwives. Sixth,
whether the actual venereal pleasure is
greater or less in this act. And we will
speak first of the matter and quality of
the body which the devil assumes.

It must be said that he assumes an
aerial body, and that it is in some
respects terrestrial, in so far as it has an
earthly property through condensation ;
and this is explained as follows. The air
cannot of itself take definite shape, ex¬
cept the shape of some other body in
which it is included. And in that case
it is not bound by its own limits, but by
those of something else ; and one part
of the air continues into the next part.
Therefore he cannot simply assume an
aerial body as such.

Know, moreover, that the air is in
every way a most changeable and fluid
matter : and a sign of this is the fact that
when any have tried to cut or pierce
with a sword the body assumed by a
devil, they have not been able to; for
the divided parts of the air at once join
together again. From this it follows
that air is in itself a very competent
matter, but because it cannot take shape
unless some other terrestrial matter is
joined with it, therefore it is necessary
that the air which forms the devil’s

assumed body should be in some way
inspissated, and approach the property
of the earth, while still retaining its true
property as air. And devils and dis¬
embodied spirits can effect this con¬
densation by means of gross vapours
raised from the earth, and by collecting
them together into shapes in which they
abide, not as defilers of them, but only
as their motive power which gives to
that body the formal appearance of life,
in very much the same way as the soul
informs the body to which it is joined.
They are, moreover, in these assumed
and shaped bodies like a sailor in a ship
which the wind moves.

So when it is asked of what sort is the
body assumed by the devil, it is to be
said that with regard to its material, it
is one thing to speak of the beginning of
its assumption, and another thing to
speak of its end. For in the beginning
it is just air; but in the end it is inspis¬
sated air, partaking of some of the
properties of earth. And all this the
devils, with God’s permission, can do
of their own nature; for the spiritual
nature is superior to the bodily. There¬
fore the bodily nature must obey the
devils in respect of local motion, though
not in respect of the assumption of
natural shapes, either accidental or sub¬
stantial, except in the case of some small
creatures (and then only with the help
of some other agent, as has been hinted
before). But as to local motion, no
shape is beyond their power ; thus they
can move them as they wish, in such
circumstances as they will.

From this there may arise an inci¬
dental question as to what should be
thought when a good or bad Angel per¬
forms some of the functions of life by
means of true natural bodies, and not in
aerial bodies ; as in the case of Balaam’s
ass, through which the Angel spoke,
and when devils take possession of
bodies. It is to be said that those bodies
are not called assumed, but occupied.
See S. Thomas, II. 8, Whether Angels
assume bodies. But let us keep strictly
to our argument.

In what way is it to be understood
that devils talk with witches, see them,
hear them, eat with them, and copulate
with them? And this is the second part
of this first difficulty.

For the first, it is to be said that three
things are required for true conversa¬
tion : namely, lungs to draw in the air ;
and this is not only for the sake of pro-

no

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 4

ducing sound, but also to cool the heart ;
and even mutes have this necessary
quality.

Secondly, it is necessary that some
percussion be made of a body in the air,
as a greater or less sound is made when
one beats wood in the air, or rings a
bell. For when a substance that is sus¬
ceptible to sound is struck by a sound-
producing instrument, it gives out a
sound according to its size, which, is
received in the air and multiplied to
the ears of the hearer, to whom, if he is
far off, it seems to come through space.

Thirdly, a voice is required; and it
may be said that what is called Sound
in inanimate bodies is called Voice in
living bodies. And here the tongue
strikes the respirations of air against an
instrument or living natural organ
provided by God. And this is not a bell,
which is called a sound, whereas this is
a voice. And this third requisite may
t clearly be exemplified by the second;
and I have set this down that preachers
may have a method of teaching the
people.

And fourthly, it is necessary that he
who forms the voice should mean to
express by means of that voice some
concept of the mind to someone else,
and that he should himself understand
what he is saying; and so manage his
voice by successively striking his teeth
with his tongue in his mouth, by open¬
ing and shutting his lips, and by sending
the air struck in his mouth into the
outer air, that in this way the sound is
reproduced in order in the ears of the
hearer, who then understands his
meaning.

To return to the point. Devils have
no lungs or tongue, though they can
show the latter, as well as teeth and lips,
artificially made according to the con¬
dition of their body; therefore they
cannot truly and properly speak. But
since they have understanding, and
when they wish to express their mean¬
ing, then, by some disturbance of the
air included in their assumed body, not
of air breathed in and out as in the case
of men, they produce, not voices, but
sounds which have some likeness to
voices, and send them articulately
^ through the outside air to the ears of
the hearer. And that the likeness of a
voice can be made without the respira¬
tion of air is clear from the case of
other animals which do not breathe, but
are said to make a sound, as do also

certain other instruments, as Aristotle
says in the de Anima. For certain fishes,
when they are caught, suddenly utter a
cry outside the water, and die.

All this is applicable to what follows,
so far as the point where we treat of the
generative function, but not as regards
good Angels. If anyone wishes to in¬
quire further into the matter of devils
speaking in possessed bodies, he may
refer to S. Thomas in the Second Book of
Sentences , dist. 8, art. 5. For in that case
they use the bodily organs of the pos¬
sessed body; since they occupy those
bodies in respect of the limits of their
corporeal quantity, but not in respect of
the limits of their essence, either of the
body or of the soul. Observe a distinc¬
tion between substance and quantity, or
accident. But this is impertinent.

For now we must say in what manner
they see ahd hear. Now sight is of two
kinds, spiritual and corporeal, and the
former infinitely excels the latter ; for it
can penetrate, and is not hindered by
distance, owing to the faculty of light of
which it makes use. Therefore it must
be said that in no way does an Angel,
either good or bad, see with the eyes of
its assumed body, nor does it use any
bodily property as it does in speaking,
when it uses the air and the vibration of
the air to produce sound which becomes
reproduced in the ears of the hearer.
Wherefore their eyes are painted eyes.
And they freely appear to men in these
likenesses that they may manifest to
them their natural properties and con¬
verse with them spiritually by these
means.

For with this purpose the holy Angels
have often appeared to the Fathers at
the command of God and with His per¬
mission. And the bad angels manifest
themselves to wicked men in order that
men, recognizing their qualities, may
associate themselves with them, here in
sin, and elsewhere in punishment.

S. Dionysius, at the end of his Celestial
Hierarchy , says : In all parts of the human
body the Angel teaches us to consider
their properties : concluding that since
corporeal vision is an operation of the
living body through a bodily organ,
which devils lack, therefore in their
assumed bodies, just as they have the
likeness of limbs, so they have the like¬
ness of their functions.

And we can speak in the same way of
their hearing, which is far finer than
that of the body; for it can know the

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 4

MALEFICARUM

1 1 1

concept of the mind and the conversa¬
tion of the soul more subtly than can a
man by hearing the mental concept
through the medium of spoken words.
See S. Thomas, the Second Book of Sen¬
tences, dist. 8. For if the secret wishes of
a man are read in his face, and phy¬
sicians can tell the thoughts of the heart
from the heart-beats and the state of the
pulse, all the more can such things be
known by devils.

And we may say as to eating, that in
the complete act of eating there are four
processes. Mastication in the mouth,
swallowing into the stomach, digestion
in the stomach, and fourthly, metabol¬
ism of the necessary nutriment and
ejection of what is superfluous. All
Angels can perform the first two pro¬
cesses of eating in their assumed bodies,
but not the third and fourth; but in¬
stead of digesting and ejecting they have
another power by which the food is sud¬
denly dissolved in the surrounding
matter. In Christ the process of eating
was in ail respects complete, since He
had the nutritive and metabolistic
powers ; not, be it said, for the purpose
of converting the food into liis own
body, for those powers were, like His
body, glorified ; so that the food was
suddenly dissolved in His body, as when
one throws water on to fire.

How in Modern Times Witches perform the
Carnal Act with Incubus Devils, and how
they are Multiplied by this Means.

But no difficulty arises out of what
has been said, with regard to our prin¬
cipal subject, which is the carnal act
which Incubi in an assumed body per¬
form with witches : unless perhaps any¬
one doubts whether modern witches
practise such abominable coitus; and
whether witches had their origin in this
abomination.

In answering these two doubts we
shall say, as to the former of them,
something of the activities of the witches
who lived in olden times, about 1400
years before the Incarnation of Our
Lord. It is, for example, unknown
whether they were addicted to these
filthy practices as modern witches have
been since that time; for so far as we
know history tells us nothing on this
subject. But no one who reads the his¬
tories can doubt that there have always
been witches, and that by their evil
works much harm has been done to

men, animals, and the fruits of the
earth, and that Incubus and Succubus
devils have always existed ; for the tra¬
ditions of the Canons and the holy
Doctors have left and handed down to
posterity many things concerning them
through many hundreds of years. Yet
there is this difference, that in times
long past the Incubus devils used to
infest women against their wills, as is
often shown by Nider in his Formicarius ,
and by Thomas of Brabant in his
book on the Universal Good, or on
Bees.

But the theory that modern witches
are tainted with this sort of diabolic
filthiness is not substantiated only in
our opinion, since the expert testimony
of the witches themselves has made all
these things credible ; and that they do
not now, as in times past, subject them¬
selves unwillingly, but willingly em¬
brace this most foul and miserable servi¬
tude. For how many women have we
left to be punished by secular law in
various dioceses, especially in Con¬
stance and the town of Ratisbon,
who have been for many years addicted
to these abominations, some from their
twentieth and some from their twelfth
or thirteenth year, and always with a
total or partial abnegation of the Faith ?
All the inhabitants of those places are
witnesses of it. For without reckoning
those who secretly repented, and those
who returned to the Faith, no less than
forty-eight have been burned in five
years. And there was no question of
credulity in accepting their stories be¬
cause they turned to free repentance;
for they all agreed in this, namely, that
they were bound to indulge in these
lewd practices in order that the ranks of
their perfidy might be increased. But
we shall treat of these individually in
the Second Part of this work, where
their particular deeds are described ;
omitting those which came under the
notice of our colleague the Inquisitor
of Como in the County of Burbia, who
in the space of one year, which was the
year of grace 1485, caused forty-one
witches to be burned ; who all publicly
affirmed, as it is said, that they had
practised these abominations with
devils. Therefore this matter is fully
substantiated by eye-witnesses, by hear¬
say, and the testimony of credible wit¬
nesses.

As for the second doubt, whether
witches had their origin from these

1 1 2

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Gh. 4

abominations, we may say with S.
Augustine that it is true that all the
superstitious arts had their origin in a
estilent association of men with devils,
or he says so in his work On the Chris¬
tian Doctrine: All this sort of practices,
whether of trifling or of noxious super¬
stition, arose from some pestilent asso¬
ciation of men with devils, as though
some pact of infidel and guileful friend¬
ship had been formed, and they are all
utterly to be repudiated. Notice here
that it is manifest that, as there are
various kinds of superstition or magic
arts, and various societies of those who
practise them ; and as among the four¬
teen kinds of that art the species of
witches is the worst, since they have not
a tacit but an overt and expressed pact
with the devil, and more than this, have
to acknowledge a form of devil-worship
through abjuring the Faith; therefore
it follows that witches hold the worst
kind of association with devils, with
especial reference to the behaviour of
women, who always delight in vain
things.

Notice also S. Thomas, the Second
Book of Sentences (dist. 4, art. 4), in the
solution of an argument, where he asks
whether those begotten in this way by
devils are more powerful than other
men. He answers that this is the truth,
basing his belief not only on the text of
Scripture in Genesis vi : And the same
became the mighty men which were of
old; but also on the following reason.
Devils know how to ascertain the virtue
in semen : first, by the temperament of
him from whom the semen is obtained ;
secondly, by knowing what woman is
most fitted for the reception of that
semen ; thirdly, by knowing what con¬
stellation is favourable to that corporeal
effect ; and we may add, fourthly, from
their own words we learn that those
whom they beget have the best sort of
disposition for devils’ work. When all
these causes so concur, it is concluded
that men born in this way are powerful
and big in body.

Therefore, to return to the question
whether witches had their origin in
these abominations, we shall say that
they originated from some pestilent
mutual association with devils, as is
clear from our first knowledge of them.
But no one can affirm with certainty
that they did not increase and multiply
by means of these fouls practices, al-
hthoug devils commit this deed for the

sake not of pleasure but of corruption.
And this appears to be the order of the
process. A Succubus devil draws the
semen from a wicked man ; and if he is
that man’s own particular devil, and
does not wish to make himself an In¬
cubus to a witch, he passes that semen
on to the devil deputed to a woman or
witch; and this last, under some con¬
stellation that favours his purpose that
the man or woman so born should
be strong in the practice of witch¬
craft, becomes the Incubus to the
witch.

And it is no objection that those of
whom the text speaks were not witches
but only giants and famous and power¬
ful men ; for, as was said before, witch¬
craft was not perpetrated in the time of
the law of Nature, because of the recent
memory of the Creation of the world,
which left no room for Idolatry. But
when the wickedness of man began to
increase, the devil found more oppor¬
tunity to disseminate this kind of per¬
fidy. Nevertheless, it is not to be under¬
stood that those who were said to be
famous men were necessarily so called
by reason of their good virtues.

Whether the Relations of an Incubus Devil
with a Witch are always accompanied
by the Injection of Semen.

To this question it is answered that
the devil has a thousand ways and
means of inflicting injury, and from the
time of his first Fall has tried to destroy
the unity of the Church, and in every
way to subvert the human race. There¬
fore no infallible rule can be stated as to
this matter, but there is this probable
distinction: that a witch is either old
and sterile, or she is not. And if she is,
then he naturally associates with the
witch without the injection of semen,
since it would be of no use, and the devil
avoids superfluity in his operations as *
far as he can. But if she is not sterile, he
approaches her in the way of carnal
delectation which is procured for the
witch. And should she be disposed to
pregnancy, then if he can conveniently
possess the semen extracted from some
man, he does not delay to approach her
with it for the sake of infecting her
progeny.

But if it is asked whether he is able to
collect the semen emitted in some noc¬
turnal pollution in sleep, just as he col¬
lects that which is spent in the carnal

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 4

MALEFICARUM

”3

act, the answer is that it is probable
that he cannot, though others hold a
contrary opinion. For it must be noted
that, as has been said, the devils pay
attention to the generative virtue of the
semen, and such virtue is more abun¬
dant and better preserved in semen
obtained by the carnal act, being
wasted in the semen that is due to
nocturnal pollutions in sleep, which
arises only from the superfluity of the
humours and is not emitted with so
great generative virtue. Therefore it is
believed that he does not make use
of such semen for the generation of
progeny, unless perhaps he knows that
the necessary virtue is present in that
semen.

But this also cannot altogether be
denied, that even in the case of a mar¬
ried witch who has been impregnated
by her husband, the devil can, by the
commixture of another semen, infect
that which has been conceived.

Whether the Incubus operates more at one
Time than another: and similarly of the
Place.

To the question whether the devil
observes times and places it is to be said
that, apart from his observation of cer¬
tain times and constellations when his
purpose is to effect the pollution of the
progeny, he also observes certain times
when his object is not pollution, but the
causing of venereal pleasure on the part
of the witch; and these are the most
sacred times of the whole year, such as
Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and other
Feast Days.

And the devils do this for three
reasons. First, that in this way witches
may become imbued not only with the
vice of perfidy through apostasy from
the Faith, but also with that of Sacri¬
lege, and that the greater offence may
be done to the Creator, and the heavier
damnation rest upon the souls of the
witches.

The second reason is that when God
is so heavily offended, He allows them
greater power of injuring even inno¬
cent men by punishing them either in
their affairs or their bodies. For when
it is said : “The son shall not bear the
iniquity of the father,” etc., this refers
only to eternal punishment, for very
often the innocent are punished with
temporal afflictions on account of the
sins of others. Wherefore in another

place God says : “I am a mighty and
jealous God, visiting the sins of the
fathers unto the third and fourth genera¬
tion.”* Such punishment was exempli¬
fied in the children of the men of Sodom,
who were destroyed for their fathers’
sins.

The third reason is that they have
greater opportunity to observe many
people, especially young girls, who on
Feast Days are more intent on idleness
and curiosity, and are therefore more
easily seduced by old witches. And
the following happened in the native
country of one of us Inquisitors (for
there are two of us collaborating in this
work) .

A certain young girl, a devout virgin,
was solicited one Feast Day by an old
woman to go with her upstairs to a
room where there were some very
beautiful young men. And when she
consented, and as they were going up¬
stairs with the old woman leading the
way, she warned the girl not to make
the sign of the Cross. And though she
agreed to this, yet she secretly crossed
herself. Consequently it happened that,
when they had gone up, the virgin saw
no one, because the devils who were
there were unable to show themselves in
assumed bodies to that virgin. And the
old woman cursed her, saying : Depart
in the name of all the devils ; why did
you cross yourself ? This I had from the
frank relation of that good and honest
maiden.

A fourth reason can be added,
namely, that they can in this way more
easily seduce men, by causing them to
think that if God permits such things to
be done at the most holy times, it cannot
be such a heavy sin as if He did not per¬
mit them at such times.

With regard to the question whether
they favour one place more than
another, it is to be said that it is proved
by the words and actions of witches
that they are quite unable to commit
these abominations in sacred places.
And in this can be seen the efficacy of
the Guardian Angels, that such places
are reverenced. And further, witches
assert that they never have any peace
except at the time of Divine Service
when they are present in the church;
and therefore they are the first to enter
and the last to leave the church. Never¬
theless, they are bound to observe cer-

* “ Generation .” “ Exodus ” xx} 5: xxxiv, 7.

1

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Gh. 5

114

tain other abominable ceremonies at the
command of the devils, such as to spit
on the ground at the Elevation of the
Host, or to utter, either verbally or
otherwise, the filthiest thoughts, as: I
wish you were in such or such a place.
This matter is touched upon in the
Second Part.

Whether Incubi and Succubi Commit this
Act Visibly on the part of the Witch, or
on the part of Bystanders.

As to whether they commit these
abominations together visibly or in¬
visibly, it is to be said that, in all the
cases of which we have had knowledge,
the devil has always operated in a form
visible to the witch ; for there is no need
for him to approach her invisibly, be¬
cause of the pact of federation with him
that has been expressed. But with re¬
gard to any bystanders, the witches
themselves have often been seen lying
on their backs in the fields or the woods,
naked up to the very navel, and it has
been apparent from the disposition of
those limbs and members which pertain
to the venereal act and orgasm, as also
from the agitation of their legs and
thighs, that, all invisibly to the by¬
standers, they have been copulating
with Incubus devils ; yet sometimes,
howbeit this is rare, at the end of the
act a very black vapour, of about the
stature of a man, rises up into the air
from the witch. And the reason is that
that Schemer knows that he can in this
way seduce or pervert the minds of girls
or other men who are standing by.
But of these matters, and how they have
been performed in many places, in the
town of Ratisbon and on the estate
of the nobles of Rappolstein, and in cer¬
tain other countries, we will treat in the
Second Part.

It is certain also that the following
has happened. Husbands have actually
seen Incubus devils swiving their wives,
although they have thought that they
were not devils but men. And when
they have taken up a weapon and tried
to run them through, the devil has sud¬
denly disappeared, making himself in¬
visible. And then their wives have
thrown their arms about them, al¬
though they have sometimes been hurt,
and railed at their husbands, mocking
them, and asking therh if they had
eyes, or whether they were possessed of
devils.

That Incubus Devils do not Infest only those
Women who have been Begotten by their
Filthy Deeds or those who have been
Offered to them by Midwives, but All
Indifferently with Greater or Less Ve¬
nereal Delectation.

In conclusion, finally, it can be said
that these Incubus devils will not only
infest those women who have been
generated by means of such abomina¬
tions, or those who have been offered to
them by midwives, but that they try
with all their might, by means of
witches who are bawds or hot whores,
to seduce all the devout and chaste
maidens in that whole district or town.
For this is well known by the constant
experience of Magistrates ; and in the
town of Ratisbon, when certain
witches were burned, these wretches
affirmed, before their final sentence,
that they had been commanded by
their Masters to use every endeavour
to effect the subversion of pious maids
and widows.

If it be asked : Whether the venereal
delectation is greater or less with In¬
cubus devils in assumed bodies than it
is in like circumstances with men in a
true physical body, we may say this:
It seems that, although the pleasure
should naturally be greater when like
disports with like, yet that cunning
Enemy can so bring together the active
and passive elements, not indeed natur¬
ally, but in such qualities of warmth
and temperament, that he seems to ex¬
cite no less degree of concupiscence.
But this matter will be discussed more
fully later with reference to the quali¬
ties of the feminine sex.

☆

CHAPTER V

Witches commonly perform their Spells
through the Sacraments of the Church.
And how they Impair the Powers of
Generation, and how they may Cause
other Ills to happen to God’s Creatures of
all kinds. But herein we except the
Question of the Influence of the Stars.

BUT now there are several things to
be noted concerning their methods
of bringing injury upon other creatures
of both sexes, and upon the fruits of the
earth : first with regard to men, then
with regard to beasts, and thirdly with

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 5

MALEFICARUM

115

regard to the fruits of the earth. And as
to men, first, how they can cast an ob¬
structive spell on the procreant forces,
and even on the venereal act, so that a
woman cannot conceive, or a man can¬
not perform the act. Secondly, how that
act is obstructed sometimes with regard
to one woman but not another. Third¬
ly, how they take away the virile mem¬
ber as though it were altogether torn
away from the body. Fourthly, if it is
possible to distinguish whether any of
the above injuries have been caused by
a devil on his own account, or if it has
been through the agency of a witch.
Fifthly, how witches change men and
women into beasts by some prestige or
glamour. Sixthly, how witch midwives
in various ways kill that which has been
conceived in the mother’s womb; and
when they do not do this, offer the
children to devils. And lest these things
should seem incredible, they have been
proved in the First Part of this work by
questions and answers to arguments ; to
which, if necessary, the doubtful reader
may turn back for the purpose of in¬
vestigating the truth.

For the present our object is only to
adduce actual facts and examples which
have been found by us, or have been
written by others in detestation of so
great a crime, to substantiate those for¬
mer arguments in case they should be
difficult for anyone to understand ; and,
by those things that are related in this
Second Part, to bring back to the
Faith and away from their error those
who think there are no witches, and
that no witchcraft can be done in the
world.

And with regard to the first class of
injuries with which they afflict the
human race, it is to be noted that,
apart from the methods by which they
injure other creatures, they have six
ways of injuring humanity. And one is,
to induce an evil love in a man for a
woman, or in a woman for a man. The
second is to plant hatred or jealousy in
anyone. The third is to bewitch them
so that a man cannot perform the gen¬
ital act with a woman, or conversely a
woman with a man; or by various
means to procure an abortion, as has
been said before. The fourth is to cause
some disease in any of the human
organs. The fifth, to take away life.
The sixth, to deprive them of reason.

In this connexion it should be said
that, saving the influence of the stars,

the devils can by their natural power in
every way cause real defects and in¬
firmities, and this by their natural
spiritual power, which is superior to
any bodily power. For no one in¬
firmity is quite like another, and this is
equally true of natural defects in which
there is no physical infirmity. There¬
fore they proceed by different methods
to cause each different infirmity or
defect. And of these we shall give in¬
stances in the body of this work as the
necessity arises.

But first, lest the reader’s mind should
be kept in any doubt as to why they
have no power to alter the influence of
the stars, we shall say that there is a
threefold reason. First, the stars are
above them even in the region of
punishment, which is the region of the
lower mists ; and this by reason of the
duty which is assigned to them. See the
First Part, Question II, where we dealt
with Incubus and Succubus devils.

The second reason is that the stars are
governed by the good Angels. See
many places concerning the Powers
which move the stars, and especially
S. Thomas, part 1, quest. 90. And in
this matter the Philosophers agree with
the Theologians.

Thirdly, it is on account of the general
order and common good of the Uni¬
verse, which would suffer general detri¬
ment if evil spirits were allowed to cause
any alteration in the influence of the
stars. Wherefore those changes which
were miraculously caused in the Old or
New Testament were done by God
through the good Angels; as, for ex¬
ample, when the sun stood still for
Joshua, or when it went backward for
Hezekiah, or when it was supernatur-
ally darkened at the Passion of Christ.
But in all other matters, with God’s
permission, they can work their spells,
either the devils by themselves, or
devils through the agency of witches;
and, in fact, it is evident that they
do so.

Secondly, it is to be noted that in all
their methods of working injury they
nearly always instruct witches to make
their instruments of witchcraft by
means of the Sacraments or sacra¬
mental things of the Church, or some
holy thing consecrated to God : as
when they sometimes place a waxen
image under the Altar-cloth, or draw a
thread through the Holy Chrism, or
use some other consecrated thing in

ii6

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 5

such a way. And there are three reasons
for this.

For a similar reason they are wont to
practise their witchcraft at the more
sacred times of the year, especially at
the Advent of Our Lord, and at Christ¬
mas. First, that by such means they
may make men guilty of not only per¬
fidy, but also sacrilege, by contaminat¬
ing whatever is divine in them; and
that so they may the more deeply
offend God their Creator, damn their
own souls, and cause many more to rush
into sin.

Secondly, that God, being so heavily
offended by men, may grant the devil
greater power of tormenting men. For
so says S. Gregory, that in His anger He
sometimes grants the wicked their
prayers and petitions, which He merci¬
fully denies to others. And the third
reason is that, by the seeming appear¬
ance of good, he may more easily de¬
ceive certain simple men, who think
that they have performed some pious
act and obtained grace from God,
whereas they have only sinned the
more heavily.

A fourth reason also can be added
touching the more sacred seasons and
the New Year. For, according to S.
Augustine, there are other mortal sins
besides adultery by which the observ¬
ance of the Festivals may be infringed.
Superstition, moreover, and witchcraft
arising from the most servile operations
of the devil are contrary to the rever¬
ence that is due to God. Therefore, as
has been said, he causes a man to fall
more deeply, and the Creator is the
more offended.

And of the New Year we may say,
according to S. Isidore, Etym. VIII. 2,
that Janus, from whom the month of
January is named, which also begins on
the Day of Circumcision, was an idol
with two faces, as if one were the end of
the old year and the other the beginning
of the new, and, as it were, the protector
and auspicious author of the coming
year. And in honour of him, or rather of
the devil in the form of that idol, the
Pagans made much boisterous revelry,
and were very merry among themselves,
holding various dances and feasts. And
concerning these Blessed Augustine
makes mention in many places, and
gives a very ample description of them
in his Twenty-sixth Book.

And now bad Christians imitate these
corruptions, turning them to lasci¬

viousness when they run about at the
time of Carnival * with masks and
jests and other superstitions. Similarly
witches use these revelries of the devil
for their own advantage, and work their
spells about the time of the New Year
in respect of the Divine Offices and
Worship; as on S. Andrew’s Day and
at Christmas.

And now, as to how they work their
witchcraft, first by means of the Sacra¬
ments, and then by means of sacra¬
mental objects, we will refer to a few
known facts, discovered by us in the
Inquisition.

In a town which it is better not to
name, for the sake of charity and ex¬
pediency, when a certain witch received
the Body of Our Lord, she suddenly
lowered her head, as is the detestable
habit of women, placed her garment
near her mouth, and taking the Body of
the Lord out of her mouth, wrapped it
in a handkerchief; and afterwards, at
the suggestion of the devil, placed it in
a pot in which there was a toad, and hid
it in the ground near her house by the
storehouse, together with several other
things, by means of which she had to
work her witchcraft.f But with the help

* “Carnival.” These Pagan practices are
sternly reprobated in the “ Liber Poenitentialis ”
of S. Theodore, seventh Archbishop of Canter¬
bury. In Book XXXVII is written: “If anyone
at the Kalends of January goeth about as a stag
or a bull-calf, that is, making himself into a
wild animal, and dressing in the skins of a
herd animal, and putting on the heads of beasts;
those who in such wise transform themselves into
the appearance of ja wild animal, let them do
penance for three years, because this is devilish.”
See my “ Geography of Witchcraft,” Chap. II,
pp. 65-73. The Council of Auxerre in 578 ( or
585) forbade anyone “to masquerade as a bull-
calf or a stag on the first of January or to dis¬
tribute devilish charms.”

f “Witchcraft.” It is not unusual for
Satanists to go to Holy Communion in various
churches of a town, and instead of consuming the
Host they spit God's Body from their mouths
into a handkerchief or cloth and take it away to
abuse in their horrid worship. In the notorious
case of the Lancashire witches, at the first trial,
1612, James Device confessed “ that vpon
Sheare Thursday was two yeares, his Grand-
Mother Elizabeth Southernes alias Demdike, did
bid him this Examinate goe to the Church to
receive the Communion ( the next day after being
Good Friday) , and then not to eate the Bread the
Minister gave him, but to bring it and deliver it
to such a thing as should meet him in his way
homewards; Notwithstanding her perswasions

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 6

MALEFICARUM

of God’s mercy this great crime was de¬
tected and brought to light. For on the
following day a workman was going on
his business near that house, and heard
a sound like a child crying ; and when
he had come near to the stone under
which the pot had been hidden, he
heard it much more clearly, and think¬
ing that some child had been buried
there by the woman, went to the Mayor
or chief magistrate, and told him what
had been done, as he thought, by the
infanticide. And the Mayor quickly
sent his servants and found it to be as
he had said. But they were unwilling to
exhume the child, thinking it wiser to
place a watch and wait to see if any
woman came near the place; for they
did not know that it was the Lord’s
Body that was hidden there. And so it
happened that the same witch came to
the place, and secretly hid the pot under
her garment before their eyes. And
when she was taken and questioned, she
discovered her crime, saying that the
Lord’s Body had been hidden in the
pot with a toad, so that by means of
their dust she might be able to cause
injuries at her will to men and other
creatures.

It is also to be noted that when
witches communicate they observe this
custom, that, when they can do so with¬
out being noticed, they receive the
Lord’s Body under their tongue instead
of on the top. And as far as can be
seen, the reason is that they never wish
to receive any remedy that might
counteract their abjuration of the

this Examinate did eate the Bread: and so in his
comming homeward some fortie roodes off the
said Church, there met him a thing in the shape
of a Hare , who spoke onto this Examinate , and
asked him whether he had brought the Bread”

The toad constantly appears as a familiar.
In i$yg at Windsor “ one Mother Dutton
dwellyng in Cleworthe Parishe keepeth a Spirite
or Feende in the likenesse of a Toade, and
fedeth the same Feende liyng in a border of greene
Hearbes, within her garden, with blood whiche
she causeth to issue from her owne flancke .”
Ursley Kemp, a S. Osyth witch (1582), had a
familiar, Pygine, ilblack like a Toad.” Ales
Hunt of the same coven nourished two familiars,
“ the which she kept in a little lowe earthern pot”
Margerie Sammon, another S. Osyth' s witch,
“ hath also two spirites like Toades, the one
called ‘ Tom * and the other ‘ Robbyn .’ ” When
Ursley Kemp peeped through Mother Hunt's
window she “ espied a spirite to looke out of a
porcharde from under a clothe, the nose thereof
being browne like vnto a Ferret.”

117

Faith, either by Confession or by re¬
ceiving the Sacrament of the Eucharist ;
and secondly, because in this way it is
easier for them to take the Lord’s Body .
out of their mouths so that they can
apply it, as has been said, to their own
uses, to the greater offence of the
Creator.

For this reason all rectors of the
Church and those who communicate
the people are enjoined to take the ut¬
most care when they communicate
women that the mouth shall be well
open and the tongue thrust well out,
and their garments be kept quite clear.
And the more care is taken in this
respect, the more witches become
known by this means.

Numberless other superstitions they
practise by means of sacramental ob¬
jects. Sometimes they place a waxen
image or some aromatic substance
under the altar-cloth,* as we said be¬
fore, and then hide it under the thres¬
hold of a house, so that the person for
whom it is placed there may be be¬
witched on crossing over it. Countless
instances could be brought forward, but
these minor sorts of spells are proved by
the greater.

☆

CHAPTER VI

How Witches Impede and Prevent the
Power of Procreation.

ONCERNING the method by
which they obstruct the procreant
function both in men and animals, 2nd
in both sexes, the reader may consult
that which has been written already
on the question, Whether devils can
through witches turn the minds of men
to love or hatred. There, after the
solutions of the arguments, a specific
declaration is made relating to the
method by which, with God’s permis¬
sion, they can obstruct the procreant
function.

But it must be noted that such ob¬
struction is caused both intrinsically and
extrinsically. Intrinsically they cause it
in two ways. First, when they directly
prevent the erection of the member
which is accommodated to fructifica¬
tion. And this need not seem impos¬
sible, when it is considered that they are

* “ Altar-Cloth .” These practices still survive .

1 1 8

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 7

able to vitiate the natural use of any
member. Secondly, when they prevent
the flow of the vital essences to the mem¬
bers in which resides the motive force,
closing up the seminal ducts so that it
does not reach the generative vessels, or
so that it cannot be ejaculated, or is
fruitlessly spilled.

Extrinsically they cause it at times by
means of images, or by the eating of
herbs ; sometimes by other external
means, such as cocks’ testicles. But it
must not be thought that it is by the
virtue of these things that a man is
made impotent, but by the occult
power of devils’ illusions witches by this
means procure such impotence, namely,
that they cause a man to be unable to
copulate, or a woman to conceive.

And the reason for this is that God
allows them more power over this act,
by which the first sin was disseminated,
than over other human actions. Simi¬
larly they have more power over ser¬
pents, which are the most subject to the
influence of incantations, than over
other animals. Wherefore it has often
been found by us and other Inquisitors
that they have caused this obstruction
by means of serpents or some such
things.

For a certain wizard who had been
arrested confessed that for many years
he had by witchcraft brought sterility
upon all the men and animals which in¬
habited a certain house. Moreover,
Nider tells of a wizard named Stadlin *
who was taken in the diocese of Lau¬
sanne, and confessed that in a certain
house where a man and his wife were
living, he had by his witchcraft suc¬
cessively killed in the woman’s womb
seven children, so that for many years
the woman always miscarried. And
that, in the same way, he had caused
that all the pregnant cattle and animals
of the house were during those years
unable to give birth to any live issue.
And when he was questioned as to how
he had done this, and what manner of
charge should be preferred against him,
he discovered his crime, saying : I put a
serpent under the threshold of the outer
door of the house; and if this is re¬
moved, fecundity will be 1 estored to the
inhabitants. And it was as he said ; for
though the serpent was not found, hav¬
ing been reduced to dust, the whole
piece of ground was removed, and in the

* “Stadlin” “ Formicarius ,” c. III.

same year fecundity was restored to the
wife and to all the animals.

Another instance occurred hardly
four years ago in Reichshofen. There
was a most notorious witch, who could
at all times and by a mere touch be¬
witch women and cause an abortion.
Now the wife of a certain nobleman in
that place had become pregnant and
had engaged a midwife to take care of
her, and had been warned by the mid¬
wife not to go out of the castle, and
above all to be careful not to hold any
speech or conversation with that witch.
After some weeks, unmindful of that
warning, she went out of the castle to
visit some women who were met to¬
gether on some festive occasion; and
when she had sat down for a little, the
witch came, and, as if for the purpose of
saluting her, placed both her hands on
her stomach ; and suddenly she felt the
child moving in pain. Frightened by
this, she returned home and told the
midwife what had happened. Then the
midwife exclaimed: “Alas! you have
already lost your child.” And so it
proved when her time came; for she
gave birth, not to an entire abortion,
but little by little to separate fragments
of its head and feet and hands. And this
great affliction was permitted by God
to punish her husband, whose duty it
was to bring witches to justice and
avenge their injuries to the Creator.

And there was in the town of Mers- •
burg in the diocese of Constance a cer¬
tain young man who was bewitched in
such a way that he could never perform
the carnal act with any woman except
one. And many have heard him tell
that he had often wished to refuse that
woman, and take flight to other lands ;
but that hitherto he had been com¬
pelled to rise up in the night and to
come very quickly back, sometimes over
land, and sometimes through the air as
if he were flying.

☆

CHAPTER VII

How, as it were, they Deprive Man of his
Virile Member.

WE have already shown that they
can take away the male organ, not
indeed by actually despoiling the human
body of it, but by concealing it with
some glamour, in the manner which we

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 7

MALEFICARUM

”9

have already declared. And of this we
shall instance a few examples.

In the town of Ratisbon a certain
young man who had an intrigue with a
girl, wishing to leave her, lost his mem¬
ber; that is to say, some glamour was
cast over it so that he could see or touch
nothing but his smooth body. In his
worry over this he went to a tavern to
drink wine ; and after he had sat there
for a while he got into conversation with
another woman who was there, and told
her the cause of his sadness, explaining
everything, and demonstrating in his
body that it was so. The woman was
astute, and asked whether he suspected
anyone; and when he named such a
one, unfolding the whole matter, she
said : “If persuasion is not enough, you
must use some violence, to induce her to
restore to you your health.” So in the
evening the young man watched the
way by which the witch was in the
habit of going, and finding her, prayed
her to restore to him the health of his
body. And when she maintained that
she was innocent and knew nothing
about it, he fell upon her, and winding
a towel tightly round her neck, choked
her, saying: “Unless you give me back
my health, you shall die at my hands.”
Then she, being unable to cry out, and
with her face already swelling and
growing black, said : “Let me go, and I
will heal you.” The young man then
relaxed the pressure of the towel, and
the witch touched him with her hand
between the thighs, saying : “Now you
have what you desire.” And the young
man, as he afterwards said, plainly felt,
before he had verified it by looking or
touching, that his member had been
restored to him by the mere touch of
the witch.

A similar experience is narrated by a
certain venerable Father from the Do¬
minican House of Spires, well known in
the Order for the honesty of his life and
for his learning. “One day,” he says,
“while I was hearing confessions, ayoung
man came to me and, in the course of
his confession, woefully said that he had
lost his member. Being astonished at
this, and not being willing to give it
easy credence, since in the opinion of
the wise it is a mark of light-heartedness
to believe too easily, I obtained proof
of it when I saw nothing on the young
man’s removing his clothes and showing
the place. Then, using the wisest coun¬
sel I could, I asked whether he sus¬

pected anyone of having so bewitched
him. And the young man said that he
did suspect someone, but that she was
absent and living in Worms. Then I
said : T advise you to go to her as soon
as possible and try your utmost to soften
her with gentle words and promises’;
and he did so. For he came back after
a few days and thanked me, saying
that he was whole and had recovered
everything. And I believed his words,
but again proved them by the evidence
of my eyes.”

But there are some points to be noted
for the clearer understanding of what
has already been written concerning
this matter. First, it must in no way be
believed that such members are really
torn right away from the body, but
that they are hidden by the devil
through some prestidigitatory art so
that they can be neither seen nor felt.
And this is proved by the authorities
and by argument ; although it has been
treated of before, where Alexander of
Hales says that a Prestige, properly
understood, is an illusion of the devil,
which is not caused by any material
change, but exists only in the percep¬
tions of him who is deluded, either in
his interior or exterior senses.

With reference to these words it is to
be noted that, in the case we are con¬
sidering, two of the exterior senses,
namely, those of sight and touch, are
deluded, and not the interior senses,
namely, common-sense, fancy, imagin¬
ation, thought, and memory. (But S.
Thomas says they are only four, as has
been told before, reckoning fancy and
imagination as one; and with some
reason, for there is little difference be¬
tween imagining and fancying. See S.
Thomas, I, 79.) And these senses, and
not only the exterior senses, are af¬
fected when it is not a case of hiding
something, but of causing something to
appear to a man either when he is
awake or asleep.

As when a man who is awake sees
things otherwise than as they are ; such
as seeing someone devour a horse with
its rider, or thinking he sees a man
transformed into a beast, or thinking
that he is himself a beast and must asso¬
ciate with beasts. For then the exterior
senses are deluded and are employed by
the interior senses. For by the power of
devils, with . God’s permission, mental
images long retained in the treasury of
such images, which is the memory, are

120

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Gh. 7

drawn out, not from the intellectual
understanding in which such images are
stored, but from the memory, which is
the repository of mental images, and is
situated at the back of the head, and
are presented to the imaginative faculty.
And so strongly are they impressed on
that faculty that a man has an inevit¬
able impulse to imagine a horse or a
beast, when the devil draws from the
memory an image of a horse or a beast ;
and so he is compelled to think that he
sees with his external eyes such a beast
when there is actually no such beast to
see ; but it seems to be so by reason of
the impulsive force of the devil working
by means of those images.

And it need not seem wonderful that
devils can do this, when even a natural
defect is able to effect the same result,
as is shown in the case of frantic and
melancholy men, and in maniacs and
some drunkards, who are unable to dis¬
cern truly. For frantic men think they
see marvellous things, such as beasts
and other horrors, when in actual fact
they see nothing. See above, in the
question, Whether witches can turn the
minds of men to love and hatred ; where
many things are noted.

And, finally, the reason is self-
evident. For since the devil has power
over inferior things, except only the
soul, therefore he is able to effect cer¬
tain changes in those things, when God
allows, so that things appear to be
otherwise than they are. And this he
does, as I have said, either by confusing
and deluding the organ of sight so that
a clear thing appears cloudy: just as
after weeping, owing to the collected
humours, the light appears different
from what it was before. Or by operat¬
ing on the imaginative faculty by a
transmutation of mental images, as has
been said. Or by some agitation of
various humours, so that matters which
are earthy and dry seem to be fire or
water: as some people make everyone
in the house strip themselves naked
under the impression that they are
swimming in water.

It may be asked further with reference
to the above method of devils, whether
this sort of illusions can happen in¬
differently to the good and to the
wicked : just as other bodily infirmities
can, as will be shown later, be brought
by witches even upon those who are in
a state of grace. To this question, fol¬
lowing the words of Cassian in his

Second Collation of the Abbot Sirenus, we
must answer that they cannot. And
from this it follows that all who are de¬
luded in this way are presumed to be
in deadly sin. For he says, as is clear
from the words of S. Antony : The devil
can in no way enter the mind or body
of any man, nor has the power to pene¬
trate into the thoughts of anybody,
unless such a person has first become
destitute of all holy thoughts, and is
quite bereft and denuded of spiritual
contemplation.

This agrees with Boethius where he
says in the Consolation of Philosophy: *
We had given you such arms that, if you
had not thrown them away, you would
have been preserved from infirmity.

Also Cassian tells in the same place of
two Pagan witches, each in his own way
malicious, who by their witchcraft sent
a succession of devils into the cell of S.
Antony for the purpose of driving him
from there by their temptations ; being
infected with hatred for the holy man
because a great number of people
visited him every day. And though
these devils assailed him with the keen¬
est of spurs to his thoughts, yet he drove
them away by crossing himself on the
forehead and breast, and by prostrating
himself in earnest prayer.

Therefore we may say that all who
are so deluded by devils, not reckoning
any other bodily infirmities, are lacking
in the gift of divine grace. And so it is
said in Tobias vi : The devil has power
against those who are subject to their
lusts.

This is also substantiated by what we
told in the First Part in the question,
Whether witches can change men into
the shapes of beasts. For we told of a
girl who was turned into a filly, as she
herself and, except S. Macharius, all
who looked at her were persuaded. But
the devil could not deceive the senses of
the holy man; and when she was
brought to him to be healed, he saw a
true woman and not a horse, while on
the other hand everyone else exclaimed
that she seemed to be a horse. And the
Saint, by his prayers, freed her and the
others from that illusion, saying that this
had happened to her because she had
not attended sufficiently to holy things,

* “Boethius.” “De Consolatione Philoso¬
phiae.” Liber I, Prosa ii. “ Atqui talia con¬
tuleramus arma, quae nisi prius abiecisses ,
inuicta te firmitate tuerentur.”

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 7

MALEFICARUM

121

nor used as she should Holy Confession
and the Eucharist. And for this reason,
because in her honesty she would not
consent to the shameful proposal of a
young man, he had caused a Jew who
was a witch to bewitch the girl so that,
by the power of the devil, he turned her
into a filly.

We may summarize our conclusions
as follows : — Devils can, for their profit
and probation, injure the good in their
fortunes, that is, in such exterior things
as riches, fame, and bodily health. This
is clear from the case of the Blessed Job,
who was afflicted by the devil in such
matters. But such injuries are not of
their own causing, so that they cannot
be led or driven into any sin, although
they can be tempted both inwardly and
outwardly in the flesh. But the devils
cannot afflict the good with this sort of
illusions, either actively or passively.

Not actively, by deluding their senses
as they do those of others who are not in
a state of grace. And not passively, by
taking away their male organs by some
glamour. For in these two respects they
could never injure Job, especially the
passive injury with regard to the
venereal act; for he was of such con¬
tinence that he was able to say : I have
vowed a vow with my eyes that I shall
never think about a virgin, and still less
about another man’s wife. Neverthe¬
less the devil knows that he has great
power over sinners (see S. Luke xi :
When a strong man armed keepeth his
palace, his goods are in peace).

But it may be asked, as to illusions in
respect of the male organ* whether,
granted that the devil cannot impose
this illusion on those in a state of grace
in a passive way, he cannot still do so
in an active sense : the argument being
that the man in a state of grace is de¬
luded because he ought to see the mem¬
ber in its right place, when he who
thinks it has been taken away from him,
as well as other bystanders, does not see
it in its place; but if this is conceded, it
seems to be contrary to what has been
said. It can be said that there is not so
much force in the active as in the
assive loss ; meaning by active loss, not
is who bears the loss, but his who sees
the loss from without, as is self-evident.
Therefore, although a man in a state of
grace can see the loss of another, and to
that extent the devil can delude his
senses; yet he cannot passively suffer
such loss in his own body, as, for ex¬

ample, to be deprived of his member,
since he is not subject to lust. In the
same way the converse is true, as the
Angel said to Tobias: Those who are
given to lust, the devil has power over
them.

And what, then, is to be thought of
those witches who in this way some¬
times collect male organs in great num¬
bers, as many as twenty or thirty mem¬
bers together, and put them in a bird’s
nest, or shut them up in a box, where
they move themselves like living mem¬
bers, and eat oats and corn, as has been
seen by many and is a matter of com¬
mon report? It is to be said that it is
all done by devil’s work and illusion,
for the senses of those who see them are
deluded in the way we have said. For a
certain man tells that, when he had lost
his member, he approached a known
witch to ask her to restore it to him.
She told the afflicted man to climb a
certain tree, and that he might take
which he liked out of a nest in which
there were several members. And when
he tried to take a big one, the witch said :
You must not take that one; adding,
because it belonged to a parish priest.

All these things are caused by devils
through an illusion or glamour, in the
manner we have said, by confusing the
organ of vision by transmuting the
mental images in the imaginative
faculty. And it must not be said that
these members which are shown are
devils in assumed members, just as they
sometimes appear to witches and men
in assumed aerial bodies, and converse
with them. And the reason is that they
effect this thing by an easier method,
namely, by drawing out an inner
mental image from the repository of the
memory, and impressing it on the
imagination.

And if anyone wishes to say that they
could go to work in a similar way, when
they are said to converse with witches
and other men in assumed bodies ; that
is, that they could cause such appari¬
tions by changing the mental images in
the imaginative faculty, so that when
men thought the devils were present
in assumed bodies, they were really
nothing but an illusion caused by such
a change of the mental images in the
inner perceptions.

It is to be said that, if the devil had
no other purpose than merely to show
himself in human form, then there
would be no need for him to appear in

122

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Gh. 8

an assumed body, since he could effect
his purpose well enough by the afore¬
said illusion. But this is not so ; for he
has another purpose, namely, to speak
and eat with them, and to commit other
abominations. Therefore it is necessary
that he should himself be present, plac¬
ing himself actually in sight in an
assumed body. For, as S. Thomas says,
Where the Angel’s power is, there he
operates.

And it may be asked, if the devil by
himself and without any witch takes
away anyone’s virile member, whether
there is any difference between one sort
of deprivation and the other. In addi¬
tion to what has been said in the First
Part of this work on the question,
Whether witches can take away the
male organ, it can be said that, when
the devil by himself takes away a mem¬
ber, he does actually take it away, and
it is actually restored when it has to be
restored. Secondly, as it is not taken
away without injury, so it is not without
pain. Thirdly, that he never does this
unless compelled by a good Angel, for
by so doing he cut§ off a great source of
profit to him ; for he knows that he can
work more witchcraft on that act than
on other human acts. For God permits
him to do more injury to that than to
other human acts, as has been said.
But none of the above points apply
when he works through the agency of a
witch, with God’s permission.

And if it is asked whether the devil is
more apt to injure men and creatures by
himself than through a witch, it can
be said that there is no comparison
between the two cases. For he is in¬
finitely more apt to do harm through
the agency of witches. First, because he
thus gives greater offence to God, by
usurping to himself a creature dedi¬
cated to Him. Secondly, because when
God is the more offended, He allows
him the more power of injuring men.
And thirdly, for his own gain, which he
places in the perdition of souls.

☆

CHAPTER VIII

Of the Manner whereby they Change Men
into the Shapes of Beasts.

BUT that witches, by the power of
devils, change men into the shapes
of beasts (for this is their chief manner of

transmutation), although it has been
sufficiently proved in the First Part
of the work, Question io, Whether
witches can do such things : neverthe¬
less, since that question with its argu¬
ments and solutions may be rather
obscure to some; especially since no
actual examples are adduced to prove
them, and even the method by
which they so transform themselves is
not explained; therefore we add the
present exposition by the resolution of
several doubts.

And first, that Canon (26, Q. 5,
Episcopi) is not to be understood in
this matter in the way in which even
many learned men (but would that
their learning were good !) are de¬
ceived ; who do not fear to affirm
publicly in their sermons that such
prestidigitatory transmutations are in
no way possible even by the power of
devils. And we have often said that
this doctrine is greatly to the detriment
of the Faith, and strengthens the
witches, who rejoice very much in such
sermons.

But such preachers, as has been noted,
touch only the outer surface, and fail
to reach the inner meaning of the
words of the Canon. For when it says :
Whoever believes that any creature
can be made, or can be changed for the
better or the worse, or be transformed
into any other shape or likeness except
by the Creator Himself Who made all,
is without doubt an infidel. . . .

The reader must here remark two chief
things. First, concerning the words
“ be made ” ; and secondly, concerning
the words “ be transformed into
another likeness.” And as to the first,
it is answered that “ be made ” can be
understood in two ways : namely, as
meaning “ be created,” or as in the
sense* of the natural production of any¬
thing. Now in the first sense it be¬
longs only to God, as is well known,
Who in His infinite might can make
something out of nothing.

But in the second sense there is a
distinction to be drawn between crea¬
tures ; for some are perfect creatures, like
a man, and an ass, etc. And others are
imperfect, such as serpents, frogs, mice,
etc., for they can also be generated
from putrefaction. Now the Canon
obviously speaks only of the former sort,
not of the second; for in the case of
the second it can be proved from what
Blessed Albert says in his book On

Part II. Qn i. Gh. 8

MALEFICARUM

123

Animals , where he asks : whether devils
can make true animals ; and he answers
that they can, but only imperfect
animals; and still with this difference,
that they cannot do so in an instant,
as God does, but by some motion,
however sudden, as is shown in the
case of the Magicians in Exodus vii. The
reader may, if he likes, refer to some
of the remarks in the question we have
quoted in the First Part of the work, and
in the solution of the first argument.

Secondly, it is said that they cannot
transmute any creature. You may say
that transmutation is of two sorts,
substantial and accidental ; and this
accidental is again of two kinds, con¬
sisting either in the natural form be¬
longing to the thing which is seen, or
in a form which does not belong to the
thing which is seen, but exists only in
the organs and perceptions of him who
sees. The Canon speaks of the former,
and especially of formal and actual
transmutation, in which one substance
is transmuted into another; and this
sort only God can effect, Who is the
Creator of such actual substances.
And it speaks also of the second, al¬
though the devil can effect that, in so
far as, with God’s permission, he causes
certain diseases and induces some
appearance on the accidental body. As
when a face appears to be leprous, or
some such thing.

But properly speaking it is not such
matters that are in question, but
apparitions and glamours, by which
things seem to be transmuted into
other likenesses; and we say that the
words of the Canon cannot exclude
such transmutations ; for their exist¬
ence is proved by authority, by reason,
and by experience ; namely, by certain
experiences related by S. Augustine in
Book XVIII, chapter 17, of the
De duitate Dei, and by the arguments in
explanation of them. For among other
prestidigitatory transformations, he
mentions that the very famous Sorceress,
Circe, changed the companions of
Ulysses into beasts; and that certain
innkeepers’ wives had turned their
guests into beasts of burden. He men¬
tions also that the companions of
Diomedes were changed into birds, and
for a long time flew about the temple
of Diomedes; and that Praestantius
tells it for a fact that his father said that
he had been a packhorse, and had
carried corn with other animals.

Now when the companions of
Ulysses were changed into beasts, it
was only an appearance, or deception
of the eyes ; for the animal shapes were
drawn out of the repository or memory
of images, and impressed on the
imaginative faculty. And so imaginary
vision was caused, and through the
strong impression on the other senses
and organs, the beholder thought that
he saw animals, in the manner of which
we have already treated. But how
these things can be done by the devil’s
power without any injury will be shown
later.

But when the guests were changed
into beasts of burden by the inn¬
keepers’ wives ; and when the father of
Praestantius thought he was a pack-
horse and carried corn; it is to be
noted that in these cases there were
three deceptions.

First, that those men were caused by
a glamour to seem to be changed into
beasts of burden, and this change was
caused in the way we have said.
Second, that devils invisibly bore those
burdens up when they were too heavy
to be carried. Third, that those who
seemed to others to be changed in shape
seemed also to themselves to be changed
into beasts ; as it happened to Nabucho-
donosor, who lived for seven years
eating straw like an ox.*

And as to the comrades of Diomedes
being changed into birds and flying
round his temple, it is to be said that
this Diomedes was one of the Greeks
who went to the siege of Troy; and
when he wished to return home, he was
drowned with his comrades in the sea ;
and then, at the suggestion of some
idol, a temple was built to him that he
might be numbered among the gods ;
and for a long time, to keep that error
alive, devils in the shape of birds flew
about in place of his companions.
Therefore that superstition was one of
the glamours we have spoken of; for
it was not caused by the impression of
mental images on the imaginative
faculty, but by their flying in the sight
of men in the assumed bodies of birds.

But if it is asked whether the devils

* “An Ox.” “Daniel” iv, 30: “The same
hour the word was fulfilled upon JVabucho-
donosor, and he was driven away from among
men, and did eat grass like an ox, and his body
was wet with the dew of heaven: till his hairs
grew like the feathers of eagles and his nails like
birds' claws.”

124

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 9

could have deluded the onlookers by
the above-mentioned method of work¬
ing upon their mental images, and not
by assuming aerial bodies like flying
birds, the answer is that they could have
done so.

For it was the opinion of some (as
S. Thomas tells in the Second Book of
Sentences , dist. 8, art. 2) that no Angel,
good or bad, ever assumed a body;
but that all that we read in the Scrip¬
tures about their appearances was
caused by a glamour, or by imaginary
vision.

And here the learned Saint notes a
difference between a glamour and
imaginary vision. For in a glamour
there may be an exterior object which
is seen, but it seems other than it is.
But imaginary vision does not neces¬
sarily require an exterior object, but
can be caused without that and only
by those inner mental images impressed
on the imagination.

So, following their opinion, the com¬
rades of Diomedes were not repre¬
sented by devils in the assumed bodies
and likeness of birds, but only by a
fantastic and imaginary vision caused
by working upon those mental images,
etc.

But the learned Saint condemns this
as an erroneous and not a simple
opinion (though, it is piously believed,
it is not actually heretical), although
such appearances of good and bad
Angels may at times have been
imaginary, with no assumed body.
But, as he says, the saints are agreed
that the Angels also appeared to the
actual sight, and such appearance was
in an assumed body. And the scrip¬
tural text reads more as if it speaks of
bodily appearances than imaginary
or prestidigitatory ones. Therefore we
can say for the present concerning any
visions like that of the comrades of
Diomedes : that although those com¬
rades could by the devil’s work have
appeared in the imaginary vision of the
beholders in the manner we have said,
yet it is rather presumed that they were
caused to be seen by devils in assumed
aerial bodies like flying birds; or else
that other natural birds were caused
by devils to represent themi

☆

CHAPTER IX

How Devils may enter the Human Body
and the Head without doing any Hurt ,
when they cause such Metamorphosis by
Means of Prestidigitation.

ONGERNING the method of caus¬
ing these illusory transmutations it
may further be asked : whether the
devils are then inside the bodies and
heads of those who are deceived, and
whether the latter are to be considered
as possessed by devils ; how it can hap¬
pen without injury to the inner per¬
ceptions and faculties that a mental
image is transferred from one inner
faculty to another ; and whether or not
such work ought to be considered
miraculous.

First we must again refer to a dis¬
tinction between such illusory glam¬
ours; for sometimes the outer percep¬
tions only are affected, and sometimes
the inner perceptions are deluded and
so affect the outer perceptions.

In the former case the glamour can
be caused without the devils’ entering
into the outer perceptions, and merely
by an exterior illusion; as when the
devil wishes to hide some body by the
interposition of some other body, or in
some other way; or when he himself
assumes a body and imposes himself
on the vision.

But in the latter case it is necessary
that he must first occupy the head and
the faculties. And this is proved by
authority and by reason.

And it is not a valid objection to say
that two created spirits cannot be in
one and the same place, and that the
soul pervades the whole of the body.
For on this question there is the
authority of S. John Damascene, when
he says : Where the Angel is, there he
operates. And S. Thomas, in the
Second Book of Sentences, dist. 7, art. 5,
says : All Angels, good and bad, by their
natural power, which is superior to all
bodily power, are able to transmute
our bodies.

And this is clearly true, not only by
reason of the superior nobility of their
nature, but because the whole mechan¬
ism of the world and all corporeal
creatures are administrated by Angels ;
as S. Gregory says in the 4th Dialogue :
In this visible world nothing can be
disposed except by an invisible
creature. Therefore all corporeal

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 9

MALEFICARUM

!25

matters are governed by the Angels,
who are also called, not only by the
Holy Doctors but also by all the
Philosophers, the Powers which move
the stars. It is clear also from the fact
that all human bodies are moved by
their souls, just as all other matter is
moved by the stars and the Powers
which move them. Any who wish may
refer to S. Thomas in the First Part,
Quest. 90, art. 1.

From this it is concluded that, since
devils operate there where they are,
therefore when they confuse the fancy
and the inner perceptions they are
existing in them.

Again, although to enter the soul is
possible only to God Who created it,
yet devils can, with God’s permission,
enter our bodies; and they can then
make impressions on the inner faculties
corresponding to the bodily organs.
And by those impressions the organs
are affected in proportion as the inner
perceptions are affected in the way
which has been shown: that the devil
can draw out some image retained in a
faculty corresponding to one of the
senses ; as he draws from the memory,
which is in the back part of the head,
an image of a horse, and locally moves
that phantasm to the middle part of
the head, where are the cells of
imaginative power; and finally to the
sense of reason, which is in the front
of the head. And he causes such a
sudden change and confusion, that
such objects are necessarily thought
to be actual things seen with the eyes.
This can be clearly exemplified by the
natural defect in frantic men and other
maniacs.

But if it is asked how he can do this
without causing pain in the head, the
answer is easy. For in the first place he
does not cause any actual physical
change in the organs, but only moves
the mental images. And secondly, he
does not effect these changes by inject¬
ing any active quality which would
necessarily cause pain, since the devil
is himself without any corporeal
quality, and can therefore operate
without the use of any such quality.
Thirdly, as has been said, he effects
these transmutations only by a local
movement from one organ to another,
and not by other movements through
which painful transformations are
sometimes caused.

And as for the objection that two

spirits cannot separately exist in the
same place, and that, since the soul
exists in the head, how can a devil be
there also? It is to be said that the
soul is thought to reside in the centre of
the heart, in which it communicates
with all the members by an outpouring
of life. An example can be taken from
a spider, which feels in the middle of its
web when any part of the web is
touched.

However, S. Augustine says in his
book On the Spirit and the Soul* that it
is all in all, and all in every part of the
body. Granting that the soul is in the
head, still the devil can work there;
for his work is different from the work
of the soul. The work of the soul is in
the body, to inform it and fill it with
life ; so that it exists not merely locally,
but in the whole matter. But the devil
works in such a part and such a place
of the body, effecting his changes in
respect of the mental images. There¬
fore, since there is no confusion be¬
tween their respective operations, they
can both exist together in the same part
of the body.

There is also the question whether
such men are to be considered obsessed
or frenzied, that is, possessed of devils.
But this is considered separately ;
namely, whether it is possible through
the work of witches for a man to be
obsessed with a devil, that is, that the
devil should actually and bodily
possess him. And this question is
specially discussed in the following
chapter, since it has this special diffi¬
culty, namely, whether this can be
caused through the operations of
witches.

But as to the question whether the
temporal works of witches and devils
are to be considered as miracles or of a
miraculous nature ; it is to be said that
they are so, in so far as they are beyond
the order of created nature as known
to us, and are done by creatures un¬
known to us. But they are not properly
speaking miracles as are those which
are outside the whole of created nature ;
as are the miracles of God and the
Saints. (See what was written in the
First Part of this work, in the Fifth
Question, in the refutation of the third
error.)

* “ On the Spirit .” The treatise “ De Natura
et Origine Animae ” was written towards the end
of the year 41 g.

126

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 9

But there are those who object that
this sort of works must not be con¬
sidered miracles, but simply works of
the devil ; since the purpose of miracles
is the strengthening of the Faith, and
they must not be conceded to the
adversary of the Faith. And also be¬
cause the signs of Antichrist are called
lying signs by the Apostle.*

First it is to be said that to work
miracles is the gift of freely given grace.
And they can be done by bad men and
bad spirits, up to the limits of the power
which is in them.

Wherefore the miracles wrought by
the good can be distinguished from
those wrought by the wicked in at
least three ways. First, the signs which
are given by the good are done by
Divine power in such matters as are
beyond the capacity of their own
natural power, such as raising the dead,
and things of that sort, which the devils
are not able to accomplish in truth, but
only by an illusion: so Simon Magus
moved the head of a dead man; but
such manifestations cannot last long.
Secondly, they can be distinguished by
their utility; for the miracles of the
good are of a useful nature, as the
healing of sickness, and such things.
But the miracles done by witches are
concerned with harmful and idle
things; as when they fly in the air, or
benumb the limbs of men, or such
things. And S. Peter assigns this differ¬
ence in the Itinerarium f of Clement.

The third difference relates to the
Faith. For the miracles of the good are
ordained for the edification of the
Faith and of good living; whereas the
miracles of the wicked are manifestly
detrimental to the Faith and to
righteousness >

They are distinguished also by the
way in which they are done. For the
good do miracles by a pious and
reverent invocation of the Divine
Name. But witches and wicked men
work them by certain ravings and
invocations of devils.

And there is no difficulty in the fact
that the Apostle called the works of
the devil and Antichrist lying wonders ; J

* “Apostle.” S. Pauly “II. Thessalonians ” ii,

8, 9-

f “Itinerarium.” Pseudo-Clementines.

j “Lying Wonders.” “II. Thessalonians ” ii,
8-g: “That wicked one . . . whose coming is
according to the working of Satan, in all power,
and signs, and lying wonders.”

for the marvels so done by Divine per¬
mission are true in some respects and
false in others. They are true in so far
as they are within the limits of the
devil’s power. But they are false when
he appears to do things which are
beyond his power, such as raising the
dead, or making the blind to see. For
when he appears to do the former, he
either enters into the dead body or else
removes it, and himself takes its place
in an assumed aerial body; and in the
latter case he takes away the sight by a
glamour, and then suddenly restores it
by taking away the disability he has
caused, not by bringing light to the
inner perceptions, as is told in the
legend of Bartholomew. Indeed all the
marvellous works of Antichrist and of
witches can be said to be lying signs,
inasmuch as their only purpose is to
deceive. See S. Thomas, dist. 8, de
Uirtute Daemonum.

We may also quote here the dis¬
tinction which is drawn in the Com¬
pendium of Theological Truth between
a wonder and a miracle. For in a
miracle four conditions are required :
that it should be done by God ; that it
should be beyond the existing order
of nature; thirdly, that it should be
manifest; and fourthly, that it should
be for the corroboration of the Faith.
But since the works of witches fail to
fulfil at least the first and last con¬
ditions, therefore they may be called
wonderful works, but not miracles.

It can also be argued in this way.
Although witches’ works can in a sense
be said to be miraculous, yet some
miracles are supernatural, some un¬
natural, and some preternatural. And
they are supernatural when they can
be compared with nothing in nature,
or in natural power, as when a virgin
gives birth. They are unnatural when
they are against the normal course of
nature but do not overstep the limits
of nature, such as causing the blind to
see. And they are preternatural when
they are done in a manner parallel to
that of nature, as when rods are changed
into serpents ; for this can be done
naturally also, through long putre¬
faction on account of seminal reasons ;
and thus the works of magicians may
be said to be marvellous.

It is expedient to recount an actual
example, and then to explain it step
by step. There is a town in the
diocese of Strasburg, the name of

Part II. Qn i. Gh. 9

MALEFICARUM

127

which it is charitable and honourable
to withhold, in which a workman was
one day chopping some wood to burn
in his house. A large cat suddenly
appeared and began to attack him;
and when he was driving it off,
another even larger one came and
attacked him with the first more
fiercely. And when he again tried to
drive them away, behold, three of them
together attacked him, jumping up at
his face, and biting and scratching his
legs. In great fright and, as he said,
more panic-stricken than he had ever
been, he crossed himself and, leaving
his work, fell upon the cats, which were
swarming over the wood and again
leaping at his face and throat, and with
difficulty drove them away by beating
one on the head, another on the legs,
and another on the back. After the
space of an hour, while he was again
engaged upon his task, two servants of
the town magistrates came and took
him as a malefactor and led him into
the presence of the bailiff or judge. And
the judge, looking at him from a
distance, and refusing to hear him,
ordered him to be thrown into the
deepest dungeon of a certain tower or
prison, where those who were under
sentence of death were placed. The
man cried out, and for three days
bitterly complained to the prison guards
that he should suffer in that way, when
he was conscious of no crime ; but the
more the guards tried to procure him a
hearing, the more furious the judge
became, expressing in the strongest
terms his indignation that so great a
malefactor had not yet acknowledged
his crime, but dared to proclaim his
innocence when the evidence of the
facts proved his horrible crime. But
although these could not prevail upon
him, yet the judge was induced by the
advice of the other magistrates to grant
the man a hearing. So when he was
brought out of prison into the presence
of the judge, and the judge refused to
look at him, the poor man threw him¬
self before the knees of the other
magistrates, pleading that he might
know the reason for his misfortune ; and
the judge broke into these words: You
most wicked of men, how can you not
acknowledge your crime? At such a
time on such a day you beat three
respected matrons of this town, so
that they lie in their beds unable to
rise or to move. The poor man cast

his mind back to the events of that day
and that hour, and said : Never in all
my life have I struck or beaten a
woman, and I can prove by credible
witnesses that at that time on that day
I was busy chopping wood; and an
hour afterwards your servants found
me still engaged on that task. Then
the judge again exclaimed in a fury :
See how he tries to conceal his crime !
The women are bewailing their blows,
they exhibit the marks, and publicly
testify that he struck them. Then the
poor man considered more closely
on that event, and said : I remember
that I struck some creatures at that
time, but they were not women. The
magistrates in astonishment asked him
to relate what sort of creatures he had
struck ; and he told, to their great
amazement, all that had happened, as
we have related it. So, understanding
that it was the work of the devil, they
released the poor man and let him go
away unharmed, telling him not to
speak of this matter to anyone. But it
could not be hidden from those devout
persons present who were zealous for
the Faith.

Now concerning this it may be asked,
whether the devils appeared thus in
assumed shapes without the presence
of the witches, or whether the witches
were actually present, converted by
some glamour into the shapes of those
beasts. And in answering this it should
be said that, although it was equally
possible for the devils to act in either
way, it is rather presumed that it was
done in the second manner. For when
the devils attacked the workman in
the shapes of cats, they could suddenly,
by local motion through the air, trans¬
fer the women to their houses with the
blows which they received as cats from
the workman ; and no one doubts that
this was because of a mutual pact
formerly made between them. For in
the same way they can cause an injury
or wound in a person whom they wish
to bewitch, by means of puncturing a
painted or molten image which repre¬
sents the person whom they wish to
injure. Many examples of this could be
adduced.

And it cannot be validly objected
that perhaps those women who were
so injured were innocent, because
according to previously quoted
examples it is shown that injuries may
happen even to the innocent, when

128

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Ch. io

someone is unknowingly hurt by a
witch by means t)f an artificial image.
The example is not apposite; for it is
one thing to be hurt by a devil through
a witch, and another thing to be hurt
by the devil himself without any witch.
For the devil receives blows in the
form of an animal, and transfers them
to one who is bound to him by a pact,
when it is with such an one’s consent
that he acts in this manner in such a
shape. Therefore he can in this way
hurt only the guilty who are bound to
him by a pact, and never the innocent:
But when devils seek to do injury by
means of witches, then, with the per¬
mission of God for the avenging of so
great a crime, they often afflict even the
innocent.

Nevertheless, devils at times, with
God’s permission, in their own persons
hurt even the innocent; and formerly
they injured the Blessed Job, although
they were not personally present, nor
did the devils make use of any such
illusory apparition as in the example
we have quoted, when they used the
phantasm of a cat, an animal which is,
in the Scriptures, an appropriate
symbol of the perfidious, just as a dog
is the symbol of preachers; for cats
are always setting snares for each other.
And the Order of Preaching Friars was
represented in its first Founder by a dog
barking against heresy.

Therefore it is presumed that those
three witches attacked the workman
in the second manner, either because
the first manner did not please them
so much, or because the second suited
more with their curiosity.

And this was the order which they
observed. First, they were urged to do
this at the instance of the devils, and
not the devils at the instance of the
witches. For so we have often found
in their confessions, that at the instance
of devils who constantly spur them on
to commit evil, they have to do more
than they would. And it is likely that
the witches would not, on their own
account, have thought of attacking the
poor man.

And there is no doubt that the reason
why the devils urged them to do this
is that they knew well that, when a
manifest crime remains unpunished,
God is the more offended, the Catholic
Faith is brought into disrepute, and
the number of witches is the more
increased. Secondly, having gained

their consent, the devils transported
their bodies with that ease which
belongs to a spiritual power over a
bodily power. Thirdly, having in the
way which has been told been turned
into the forms of beasts by some glamour,
they had to attack the workman ; and
the devils did not defend them from
the blows, although they could have
done so just as easily as they had trans¬
ported them ; but they permitted them
to be beaten, and the one who beat
them to be known, in the knowledge
that those crimes would, for the reasons
we have mentioned, remain unpunished
by faint-hearted men who had no zeal
for the Faith.

We read also of a certain holy man,
who once found the devil in the form
of a devout priest preaching in a
church, and knowing in his spirit that
it was the devil, observed his words,
whether he was teaching the people
well or ill. And finding him irre¬
proachable and inveighing against sin,
he went up to him at the end of the
sermon and asked him the reason for
this. And the devil answered : I preach
the truth, knowing that, because they
are hearers of the word only, and not
doers, God is the more offended and
my gain is increased.

☆

CHAPTER X

Of the Method by which Devils through
the Operations of Witches sometimes
actually possess Men .

IT has been shown in the previous
chapter how devils can enter the
heads and other parts of the body of
men, and can move the inner mental
images from place to place. But some¬
one may doubt whether they are able at
the instance of witches to obsess men
entirely ; or feel some uncertainty about
their various methods of causing such
obsession without the instance of
witches. And to clear up these doubts
we must undertake three explanations.
First, as to the various methods of
possession. Secondly, how at the in¬
stance of witches and with God’s
permission devils at times possess men
in all those ways. Thirdly, we must
substantiate our arguments with facts
and examples.

With reference to the first, we must

Part II. Qn i. Ch. io

MALEFICARUM

129

make an exception of that general
method by which the devil inhabits a
man in any mortal sin. S. Thomas, in
Book 3, quest. 3, speaks of this method
where he considers the doubt whether
the devil always substantially possesses
a man when he commits mortal sin;
and the reason for the doubt is that the
indwelling Holy Ghost always forms a
man with grace, according to I. Corin¬
thians, iii : Ye are the temple of God,
and the spirit of God dwelleth in you.
And, since guilt is opposed to grace, it
would seem that there were opposing
forces in the same place.

And there he proves that to possess a
man can be understood in two ways :
either with regard to the soul, or with
regard to the body. And in the first
way it is not possible for the devil to
possess the soul, since God alone can
enter that; therefore the devil is not
in this way the cause of sin, which the
Holy Spirit permits the soul itself to
commit ; so there is no similitude
between the two.

But as to the body, we may say that
the devil can possess a man in two ways,
just as there are two classes of men:
those who are in sin, and those who are
in grace. In the first way, we may say
that, since a man is by any mortal sin
brought into the devil’s service, in so
far as the devil provides the outer
suggestion of sin either to the senses or
to the imagination, to that extent he is
said to inhabit the character of a man
when he is moved by every stirring of
temptation, like a ship in the sea
without a rudder.

The devil can also essentially possess
a man, as is clear in the case of frantic
men. But this rather belongs to the
question of punishment than that of
sin, as will be shown ; and bodily
punishments are not always the con¬
sequence of sin, but are inflicted now
upon sinners and now upon the inno¬
cent. Therefore both those who are
and those who are not in a state of
grace can, in the depth of the incom¬
prehensible judgement of God, be
essentially possessed by devils. And
though this method of possession is not
quite pertinent to our inquiry, we
have set it down lest it should seem
impossible to anyone that, with God’s
permission, men should at times be
substantially inhabited by devils at
the instance of witches.

We may say, therefore, that just as

K

there are five ways in which devils by
themselves, without witches, can injure
and possess men, so they can also do so
in all those ways at the instance of
witches; since then God is the more
offended, and greater power of molest¬
ing men is allowed to the devil through
witches. And the methods are briefly
the following, excepting the fact that
they sometimes plague a man through
his external possessions : sometimes they
injure men only in their own bodies ;
sometimes in their bodies and in their
inner faculties; sometimes they only
tempt them inwardly and outwardly;
others they at times deprive of the use of
their reason; others they change into
the appearance of irrational beasts.
We shall speak of these methods singly.

But first we shall rehearse five reasons
why God allows men to be possessed,
for the sake of preserving a due order in
our matter. For sometimes a man is
possessed for his own greater advantage ;
sometimes for a slight sin of another;
sometimes for his own venial sin ;
sometimes for another’s heavy sin ; and
sometimes for his own heavy sin. For
all these reasons let no one doubt that
God allows such things to be done by
devils at the instance of witches; and
it is better to prove each of them by
the Scriptures, rather than by recent
examples, since new things are always
strengthened by old examples.

For an example of the first is clearly
shown in the Dialogue of Severus,* a
very dear disciple of S. Martin, where
he tells that a certain Father of very
holy life was so gifted by grace with
the power of expelling devils, that they
were put to flight not only by his words,
but even by his letters or his hair-shirt.
And since the Father became very
famous in the world, and felt himself
tempted with vainglory, although he
manfully resisted that vice, yet, that
he might be the more humiliated, he
prayed with his whole heart to God
that he might be for five months

* “Severus.” Sulpicius Severus, who has been
styled the Christian Sallust, was born in Aqui¬
taine about 360; and died circa 420-25. He
became a personal friend and enthusiastic
disciple of S. Martin, and lived near Eauze, at
Toulouse and Luz in Southern France. His
“Life of S. Martin ” was very popular during
the Middle Ages, as also were his “Two
Dialogues ,” formerly divided into three. His
works are to be found in Migne , “Patres
Latini ,” XX, 95-248.

130

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Ch. io

possessed by a devil ; and this was done.
For he was at once possessed and had
to be put in chains, and everything had
to be applied to him which is customary
in the case of demoniacs. But at the
end of the fifth month he was im¬
mediately delivered both from all
vainglory and from the devil. But we
do not read, nor is it for the present
maintained, that for this reason a man
can be possessed by a devil through
the witchcraft of another man ; al¬
though, as we have said, the judgements
of God are incomprehensible.

For the second reason, when someone
is possessed because of the light sin of
another, S. Gregory gives an example.
The Blessed Abbot Eleutherius, a most
devout man, was spending the night
near a convent of virgins, who un¬
known to him ordered to be put by
his cell a young boy who used to be
tormented all night by the devil. But
on that same night the boy was
delivered from the devil by the presence
of the Father. When the Abbot learned
of this, and the boy now being placed
in the holy man’s monastery, after
many days he began to exult rather
immoderately over the boy’s liberation,
and said to his brother monks: The
devil was playing his pranks with those
Sisters, but he has not presumed to
approach this boy since he came to the
servants of God. And behold ! the
devil at once began to torment the boy.
And by the tears and fasting of the
holy man and his brethren he was with
difficulty delivered, but on the same
day. And indeed that an innocent
person should be possessed for the slight
fault of another is not surprising when
men are possessed by devils for their
own light fault, or for another’s heavy
sin, or for their own heavy sin, and some
also at the instance of witches.

Cassia, in his First Collation of the
Abbot Serenus, gives an example of
how one Moses was possessed for his
own venial sin. This Moses, he says,
was a hermit of upright and pious life ;
but because on one occasion he en¬
gaged in a dispute with the Abbot
Macharius, and went a little too far in
the expression of a certain opinion, he
was immediately delivered up to a
terrible devil, who caused him to void
his natural excrements through his
mouth. And that this scourge was
inflicted by God for the sake of purga¬
tion, lest any stain of his momentary

fault should remain in him, is clear from
his miraculous cure. For by continual
prayers and submission to the Abbot
Macharius, the vile spirit was quickly
driven away and departed from him.

A similar case is that related by S.
Gregory in his First Dialogue of the
nun who ate a lettuce without having
first made the sign of the Cross, and
was set free by the Blessed Father
Equitius.*

In the same Dialogue St. Gregory tells
an example of the fourth case, where
someone is possessed because of the
heavy sin of another. The Blessed
Bishop Fortunatus had driven the devil
from a possessed man,, and the devil
began to walk about the streets of the
city in the guise of a pilgrim, crying
out: Oh, the holy man Bishop Fortu¬
natus ! See, he has cast me, a pilgrim,
out of my lodging, and I can find no
rest anywhere. Then a certain man
sitting with his wife and son invited
the pilgrim to lodge with him, and
asking why he had been turned out,
was delighted with the derogatory
story of the holy man which the pil¬
grim had invented. And thereupon the
devil entered his son, and cast him
upon the fire, and killed him. And
then for the first time did the unhappy
father understand whom he had
received as a guest.

And fifthly, we read many examples
of men being possessed for their own
heavy sin, both in the Holy Scripture
and in the passions of the Saints.
For in I. Kings xv, Saul was possessed
for disobedience to God. And, as we
have said, we have mentioned all these
so that it need not seem to anyone
impossible that men should also be
possessed because of the crimes of, and
at the instance of, witches. And we
shall be able to understand the various
methods of such possession by quoting
actual examples.

In the time of Pope Pius II f the
following was the experience of one of
us two Inquisitors before he entered
upon his office in the Inquisition. A

* “Equitius.” In 487 Equitius was Bishop
of Matelica, a diocese now joined to Fabriano.
Only one other Bishop (. Florentius ) of the ancient
see is known.

f “ Pius II.” Enea Silvio de' Piccolomini was
born at Corsignano, near Siena, 18 October,
1405; and elected to the Chair of S. Peter, 19
August, 1498. He died at Ancona, 14 August,
1464.

Part II. Qn i. Ch. io MALEFICARUM

certain Bohemian from the town of
Dachov brought his only son, a secular
priest, to Rome to be delivered, be¬
cause he was possessed. It happened
that I, one of us Inquisitors, went into
a refectory, and that priest and his
father came and sat down at the same
table with me. We saluted each other,
and talked together, as is customary;
and the father kept sighing and praying
Almighty God that his journey might
prove to have been successful. I felt
great pity for him, and began to ask
what was the reason of his journey and
of his sorrow. Then he, in the hearing
of his son who was sitting next to me
at the table, answered : “ Alas ! I have
a son possessed by a devil, and with
great trouble and expense I have
brought him here to be delivered.”
And when I asked where the son was,
he showed me him sitting by my side.
I was a little frightened, and looked at
him closely; and because he took his
food with such modesty, and answered
piously to all questions, I began to
doubt that he was not possessed, but
that some infirmity had happened to
him. Then the son himself told what
had happened, showing how and for
how long he had been possessed, and
saying: “A certain witch brought this
evil upon me. For I was rebuking her
on some matter concerned with the
discipline of the Church, upbraiding
her rather strongly since she was of an
obstinate disposition, when she said
that after a few days that would happen
to me which has happened. And the
devil which possesses me has told me
that a charm was placed by the witch
under a certain tree, and that until it
was removed I could not be delivered ;
but he would not tell me which was the
tree.” But I would not in the least have
believed his words if he had not at once
informed me of the facts of the case.
For when I asked him about the length
of the intervals during which he had
the use of his reason more than is usual
in the case of persons possessed, he
answered : “I am only deprived of the
use of my reason when I wish to con¬
template holy things or to visit sacred
places. For the devil specifically told
me in his own words uttered through
my mouth that, because he had up to
that time been much offended by my
sermons to the people, he would in no
way allow me to preach.” For accord¬
ing to his father, he was a preacher

131

full of grace, and loved by all. But I,
the Inquisitor, wishing for proofs, had
him taken for a fortnight and more to
various holy places, and especially to
the Church of S. Praxedes the Virgin,*
where there is part of the marble pillar
to which Our Saviour was bound when
He was scourged, and to the place
where S. Peter the Apostle was cruci¬
fied ; and in all these places he uttered
horrible cries while he was being
exorcised, now saying that he wished
to come forth, and after a little main¬
taining the contrary. And as we have
said before, in all his behaviour he
remained a sober priest without any
eccentricity, except during the process
of any exorcisms ; and when these were
finished, and the stole was taken from
his neck, he showed no sign of madness
or any immoderate action. But when
he passed any church, and genuflected
in honour of the Glorious Virgin, the
devil made him thrust his tongue far
out of his mouth; and when he was
asked whether he could not restrain
himself from doing this, he answered :
“I cannot help myself at all, for so
he uses all my limbs and organs, my
neck, my tongue, and my lungs, when¬
ever he pleases, causing me to speak or

* Praxedes .” Praxedes and Pudentiana
were the daughters of the Senator Pudens, a pupil
of S. Peter. There was an old title-church of
Rome , “ titulus Pudentis ,” called also the
“ ecclesia Pudentiana .” The two female figures
in the mosaic of the apse of S. Pudentiana , via
Urbana , are Pudentiana and Praxedes. In the
fourth century a new church, “ titulus Praxedisf
was built near Santa Maria Maggiore, and
when Paschal I in 822 rebuilt the church in its
present form ( the basilica and title-church S.
Prassede alV Esquilino ) he translated to it the
bodies of S. Praxedes, S. Pudentiana, and of
many other martyrs. Under the High Altar are
the chief Relics of the Saints. In the Chapel of
S. Zeno, which dates from the ninth century, is
the Holy Pillar of the Scourging brought in 1223
from Jerusalem by Cardinal Giovanni Colonna.
Another portion of the Holy Pillar is preserved in
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem,
where it is publicly venerated each year on Easter
Eve. S. Prassede is one of the richest churches in
Rome in Relics. It contains the Bodies of S. Zoe->
S. Feldian, S. Candid, S. Basil, S. Celestine /,
S. Nicomedius; important Relics of S. Matthew,
S. Luke, S. Bartholomew, S. Philip, S. Andrew,
S. Peter, S. Paul, and S. John Baptist; some of
the garments of Our Lady; a piece of the seam¬
less robe of Our Lord; three Thorns from the
Crown of Thorns; and four fragments of wood
from the True Cross.

132

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Ch. io

to cry out ; and I hear the words as if
they were spoken by myself, but I am
altogether unable to restrain them ;
and when I try to engage in prayer he
attacks me more violently, thrusting
out my tongue.” And there was in the
Church of S. Peter a column brought
from Solomon’s Temple, by virtue of
which many who are obsessed with
devils are liberated, because Christ had
stood near it when He preached in the
Temple ; but even here he could not be
delivered, owing to the hidden purpose
of God which reserved another method
for his liberation. For though he re¬
mained shut in by the column for a
whole day and night, yet on the follow¬
ing day, after various exorcisms had
been performed upon him, with a great
concourse of people standing round, he
was asked by which part of the column
Christ had stood ; and he bit the
column with his teeth, and, crying out,
showed the place, saying: “Here He
stood ! Here He stood !” And at last
he said, “I will not go forth.” And
when he was asked why, he answered,
Because of the Lombards. And being
asked why he would not go forth
because of the Lombards, he answered
in the Italian tongue (although the
poor priest did not understand that
language), They all practise such and
such things, naming the worst vice of
lustfulness. And afterwards the priest
asked me, saying, “Father, what did
those Italian words mean which came
from my mouth?” And when I told
him, he answered, “I heard the words,
but I could not understand them.”
Eventually it proved that this demoniac
was of that sort of which the Saviour
spoke in the Gospel, saying: This sort
goeth not out save by prayer and
fasting. For a venerable Bishop, who
had been driven from his see by the
Turks, piously took compassion on
him, and by fasting on bread and water
for forty days, and by prayers and
exorcisms, at last through the grace of
God delivered him and sent him back
to his home rejoicing.

Now it would be a miracle if anyone
in this life could thoroughly explain
in what and in how many ways the
devil possesses or injures men : yet we
can say that, leaving out of account his
method of injuring men in their
temporal fortunes, there are five ways.
For some are affected only in their own
bodies; some both in their bodies and

in their inner perceptions; some only
in their inner perceptions ; some are so
punished as to be at times only de¬
prived of their reason ; and others are
turned into the semblance of irrational
beasts. Now the priest we have just
mentioned was possessed in the fourth
manner. For he was not touched in his
worldly fortunes or in his own body, as
it happened to the Blessed Job, over
whom the Scripture clearly tells us that
God gave the devil power, saying to
Satan : Behold, all that he hath is in thy
power ; only upon himself put not forth
thine hand. And this refers to exterior
things. But afterwards He gave him
power over his body, saying: Behold,
he is in thine hand ; but save his life.

And it can also be said that Job was
tormented in the third manner, that is,
in the inner perceptions of his soul as
well as his body; for it is said in
Job xii : If it is said to the Lord, My
bed will console me, and I will take
comfort to myself on my couch, then
Thou wilt terrify me with dreams, and
shake me with the horror of visions :
though these dreams were caused by
the devil, according to Nicolas of
Lyra* and S. Thomas : Thou wilt
terrify me with dreams, which appear
to me in sleep, and with visions which
come to me waking by a distortion of
my inner perceptions. For the phan¬
tasms which occur to the thoughts in
the day-time can become the terror of
sleepers, and such were visited upon
Job through the infirmity of his body.
Therefore he was so shut off from all
comfort that he saw no remedy or way
of escaping from his misery except in
death, and said that he was shaken with
horror. And no one doubts that
witches can injure men in these ways
through devils, as will be shown in what
follows, how they bring injuries upon
the fortunes of men and upon the
bodies of men and animals by means of
hailstorms.

And there is a third way of injuring
the body and the inner perceptions,
without taking away the reason, which

* “ Nicolas of Lyra” “ Doctor planus et
utilis ,” the famous exegete. was born at Lyra in
Normandy, 12J0;' and died at Paris, 1340. He
is the author of numerous theological works, by
far the most famous of which is his monumental
ilPostillae perpetuae in uniuersam S. Scrip¬
turam which was so popular that it gained the
distinction of being the first biblical commentary
to be printed.

Part II. Qn i. Ch. io

MALEFICARUM

133

is shown when witches, as has been said,
so inflame the minds of men with
unlawful lust that they are compelled
to travel long distances in the night to
go to their mistresses, being too fast
bound in the net of carnal desire.

We may mention an example which
is said to have happened in Hesse, in
the diocese of Marburg. A certain priest
was possessed, and during an exorcism
the devil was asked for how long he had
inhabited that priest. He answered,
For seven years. And when the
exorcist objected, But you have tor¬
mented him for hardly three years;
where were you for the rest of the
time? He answered, I was hiding in
his body. And when he asked in what
part of the body, he answered, Gener¬
ally in his head. And when he was again
asked where he was when the priest
was celebrating the Sacrament, he
said, I hid myself under his tongue.
And the other said : Wretch ! How
were you so bold as not to flee from the
presence of your Creator? Then the
devil said : Anyone may hide under a
bridge while a holy man is crossing, as
long as he does not pause in his walk.
But with the help of Divine grace the
priest was delivered, whether he told
the truth or not; for both he and his
father are liars.

The fourth method applies to the case
of the priest who was liberated in
Rome, under the proposition that the
devil can enter the body, but not the
soul, which only God can enter. But
when I say that the devil can enter the
body, I do not mean that he can occupy
the essential limits of the body.

I will explain this further; and in
doing so it will be shown how devils
sometimes substantially occupy a man,
and at times deprive him of his reason.
For we may say that the limits of the
body can be considered in two ways :
they may be physical or essential limits.
Whenever any Angel, good or bad,
works within the physical limits of the
body, he enters the body in such a way
as to influence its physical capacities.
And in this way the good Angels cause
imaginary visions in the good. But
they are never said to enter into the
essence of the body, since they cannot
do so, either as a part of it or as a
quality of it. Not as a part, for the
angelic and the human essence are
entirely different from each other ;
and not as a quality, as if giving it its

character, for it has its character by
creation from God. Wherefore He
alone is able to influence its inner
essence, and to preserve it when He is
pleased in His mercy to preserve it.

So we conclude that, speaking of all
other perfections in the good or defects
in the wicked, when these are caused
by a spirit operating in the head and its
attributes, such a spirit enters into the
head within the physical limits of the
physical capacities of the body.

But if the spirit is working upon the
soul, then again it works from the out¬
side, but in various ways. And they
are said to work on the soul when they
represent phantasms or shapes to the
intellect, and not only to the common
understanding and the outer percep¬
tions. And when bad Angels so operate,
there follow temptations and evil
thoughts and affections, caused by an
indirect influence upon the intellect.
But good Angels cause phantasms of
revelation which enlighten the under¬
standing. And there is this difference
between them; that good Angels can
even directly impress enlightening
fancies upon the intellect ; but bad
Angels are said not to enlighten but
rather to darken by means of their
phantasms, and they cannot influence
the intellect directly, but only in¬
directly, in so far as the intellect is
bound to take such phantasms into
consideration.

But even a good Angel is not said to
enter into the soul, although he en¬
lightens it : similarly a superior Angel
is not said to enter into an inferior,
although he enlightens it ; but he
works only from the outside, and co¬
operates in the way we have said.
Therefore far less can a bad Angel enter
the soul.

And so the devil occupied the body
of the priest in three ways. First, as he
could enter his body within its physical
limits, so he occupied his head by
substantially inhabiting it. Secondly,
he could extrinsically work upon his
soul so as to darken his understanding
and deprive him of the use of his
reason. And he could have so tor¬
mented him without any intermission
or respite; but we may say that the
priest had this gift from God, that he
should not be tormented by the devil
without intermission. Thirdly, that
although he was deprived of the power
of the sane use of words, yet he was

134

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Ch. n

always conscious of his words, though
not of their meaning. And this differs
from the other methods of obsession,
for we generally read that those who
are possessed are afflicted by devils
without intermission ; as is clear in the
case of the lunatic in the Gospel, whose
father said to Jesus : Lord, have mercy
on my' son, for he is lunatic, and sore
vexed ( S . Matthew xvii) ; and of the
woman whom Satan had crippled for
eighteen years, who was bowed to¬
gether and could in no wise lift herself
up ( S . Luke xiii). And in these ways
devils can without doubt at the in¬
stance of witches and with God’s
permission inflict torments.

☆

CHAPTER XI

Of the Method by which they can Inflict
Every Sort of Infirmity, generally Ills of
the Graver Kind.

BUT there is no bodily infirmity, not
even leprosy or epilepsy, which can¬
not be caused by witches, with God’s
permission. And this is proved by the
fact that no sort of infirmity is ex¬
cepted by the Doctors. For a careful
consideration of what has already been
written concerning the power of devils
and the wickedness of witches will show
that this statement offers no difficulty.
Nider also deals with this subject both
in his Book of Precepts * and in his
Fornicarius, where he asks : Whether
witches can actually injure men by their
witchcraft. And the question makes no
exception of any infirmity, however
incurable. And he there answers that
they can do so, and proceeds to ask in
what way and by what means.

And as to the first, he answers, as has
been shown in the First Question of the
First Part of this treatise. And it is
proved also by S. Isidore where he
describes the operations of witches
(Etym. 8, cap. 9), and says that they are
called witches on account of the
magnitude of their crimes; for they
disturb the elements by raising up
storms with the help of devils, they
confuse the minds of men in the ways
already mentioned, by either entirely
obstructing or gravely impeding the

* “Book of Precepts.” “Praeceptorum diuinae
legis Liber,” of which there were seventeen editions
before 1500. I have used that of Douai, 1612.

use of their reason. He adds also that,
without the use of any poison, but by
the mere virulence of their incantations,
they can deprive men of their lives.

It is proved also by S. Thomas in the
Second Book of Sentences, dist. 7 and 8,
and in Book IV, dist. 34, and in general
all the Theologians write that witches
can with the help of the devil bring
harm upon men and their affairs in all
the ways in which the devil alone can
injure or deceive, namely, in their
affairs, their reputation, their body,
their reason, and their life ; which
means that those injuries which are
caused by the devil without any witch,
can also be caused by a witch; and
even more readily so, on account of the
greater offence which is given to the
Divine Majesty, as has been shown
above.

In Job i and ii is found a clear case
of the injury in temporal affairs. The
injury to reputation is shown in the
history of the Blessed Jerome, that the
devil transformed himself into the
appearance of S. Silvanus, Bishop of
Nazareth, a friend of S. Jerome. And
this devil approached a noble woman
by night in her bed and began first to
provoke and entice her with lewd
words, and then invited her to per¬
form the sinful act. And when she
called out, the devil in the form of the
saintly Bishop hid under the woman’s
bed, and being sought for and found
there, he in lickerish language de¬
clared lyingly that he was the Bishop
Silvanus. On the morrow therefore,
when the devil had disappeared, the holy
man was scandalously defamed ; but his
good name was cleared when the devil
confessed at the tomb of S. Jerome that
he had done this in an assumed body.

The injury to the body is shown in
the case of the Blessed Job, who was
stricken by the devil with terrible sores,
which are explained as a form of
leprosy. And Sigisbertf and Vincent

f “ Sigisbert .” Sigebert of Gembloux, the
celebrated Benedictine historian, was born at
Gembloux (pr. Namur) about 1035, and died at
the same place , 5 November, 1112. He was a
prolific author, and his most famous work,
“Chronicon siue Chronographia ,” is the basis of
many other histories. It has frequently been
reprinted. The works of Sigebert may be con¬
veniently found in Migne, “Patres Latini
CLX. There is a study by Hirsch, “De uita
et scriptis Sigeberti Monachi Gemblacensis ,”
Berlin, 1841.

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 1 1

MALEFICARUM

135

of Beauvais (Spec. Hist. XXV. 37) both
tell that in the time of the Emperor
Louis II,* in the diocese of Mainz, a
certain devil began to throw stones and
to beat at the houses as if with a
hammer. And then by public state¬
ments, and secret insinuations, he
spread discord and troubled the minds
of many. Then he excited the anger
of all against one man, whose lodging,
wherever he was resting, he set on fire,
and said that they were all suffering
for his sins. So at last that man had to
find his lodging in the fields. And
when the priests were saying a litany
on this account, the devil stoned many
of the people with stones till he hurt
them to bleeding; and sometimes he
would desist, and sometimes rage ;
and this continued for three years, until
all the houses there were burned down.

Examples of the injury to the use of
the reason, and of the tormenting of
the inner perceptions, are seen in those
possessed and frenzied men of whom
the Gospels tell. And as for death, and
that they deprive some of their lives, it
is proved in Tobias vi, in the case of the
seven husbands of the virgin Sara, who
were killed because of their lecherous
lust and unbridled desire for the
virgin Sara, of whom they were not
worthy to be the husbands. Therefore
it is concluded that both by themselves,
and all the more with the help of
witches, devils can injure men in
every way without exception.

But if it is asked whether injuries of
this sort are to be ascribed rather to
devils than to witches, it is answered
that, when the devils cause injuries by
their own direct action, then they are
principally to be ascribed to them. But
when they work through the agency of
witches for the disparagement and
offending of God and the perdition of
souls, knowing that by this means
God is made more angry and allows
them greater power of doing evil ;
and because they do indeed perpetrate
countless witchcrafts which the devil
would not be allowed to bring upon
men if he wished to injure men alone
by himself, but are permitted, in the
just and hidden purpose of God,
through the agency of witches, on

* “ Louis II.” Son of Lothaire I, was born
about 822. He became associated with his father
in the Empire in 8j.g, and succeeded to the Imperial
Crown in 855. He died in 875.

account of their perfidy and abjuration
of the Catholic Faith; therefore such
injuries are justly ascribed to witches
secondarily, however much the devil
may be the principal actor.

Therefore when a woman dips a twig
in water and sprinkles the water in the
air to make it rain, although she does
not herself cause the rain, and could
not be blamed on that account, yet,
because she has entered into a pact
with the devil by which she can do this
as a witch, although it is the devil who
causes the rain, she herself nevertheless
deservedly bears the blame, because
she is an infidel and does the devil’s
work, surrendering herself to his service.

So also when a witch makes a waxen
image or some such thing in order to
bewitch somebody ; or when an image
of someone appears by pouring molten
lead into water, and some injury is
done upon the image, such as piercing
it or hurting it in any other way, when
it is the bewitched man who is in
imagination being so hurt; although
the injury is actually done to the image
by the witch or some other man, and
the devil in the same manner invisibly
injures the bewitched man, yet it is
deservedly ascribed to the witch. For,
without her, God would never allow
the devil to inflict the injury, nor would
the devil on his own account try to
injure the mah.

But because it has been said that in
the matter of their good name the
devils can injure men on their own
account and without the co-operation
of witches, there may arise a doubt
whether the devils cannot also defame
honest women so that they are reputed
to be witches, when they appear in
their likeness to bewitch someone ; from
which it would happen that such a
woman would be defamed without
cause.

In answering this we must premise
a few remarks. First, it has been said
that the devil can do nothing without
the Divine permission, as is shown in the
First Part of this work in the last
Question. It has also been shown that
God does not allow so great power of
evil against the just and those who live
in grace, as against sinners; and as
the devils have more power against
sinners (see the text : When a strong
manf armed, etc.), so they are per-

f “ Strong Man.” “ S . Luke” xi, 21.

136

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn 1. Ch. 11

mitted by God to afflict them more
than the just. Finally, although they
can, with God’s permission, injure the
just in their affairs, their reputation,
and their bodily health, yet, because
they know that this power is granted
them chiefly for the increase of the
merits of the just, they are the less
eager to injure them.

Therefore it can be said that in this
difficulty there are several points to be
considered. First, the Divine permis¬
sion. Secondly, the man who is thought
to be righteous, for they who are so
reputed are not always actually in a
state of grace. Thirdly, the crime of
which an innocent man would be
suspected; for that crime in its very
origin exceeds all the crimes of the
world. Therefore it is to be said that
it is granted that, with God’s permission,
an innocent person, whether or not
he is in a state of grace, may be in¬
jured in his affairs or reputation; but,
having respect to this particular crime
and the gravity of the accusation (for
we have often quoted S. Isidore’s saying
that they are called witches from the
magnitude of their crimes), it can be
said that for an innocent person to be
defamed by the devil in the way that
has been suggested does not seem at all
possible, for many reasons.

In the first place, it is one thing to be
defamed in respect of vices which are
committed without any expressed or
tacit contract with the devil, such as
theft, robbery, or fornication ; but quite
another matter to be defamed in
respect of vices which it is impossible
to accuse a man of having perpetrated
unless he has entered upon an ex¬
pressed contract with the devil; and
such are the works of witches, which
cannot be laid at their door unless it is
by the power of devils that they be¬
witch men, animals and the fruits of the
earth. Therefore, although the devil
can blacken men’s reputations in
respect of other vices, yet it does not
seem possible for him to do so in
respect of this vice which cannot be
perpetrated without his co-operation.

Besides, it has never hitherto been
known to have happened that an inno¬
cent person has been defamed by the
devil to such an extent that he was
condemned to death for this particular
crime. Furthermore, when a person is
only under suspicion, he suffers no
punishment except that which the

Canon prescribes for his purgation, as
will be shown in the Third Part of this
work in the second method of sen¬
tencing witches.

And it is set down there that, if such
a man fails in his purgation, he is to be
considered guilty, but that he should
be solemnly adjured before the punish¬
ment due to his sin is proceeded with
and enforced. But here we are dealing
with actual events; and it has never
yet been known that an innocent person
has been punished on suspicion of
witchcraft, and there is no doubt that
God will never permit such a thing to
happen.

Besides, He does not suffer the
innocent who are under Angelic pro¬
tection to be suspected of smaller
crimes, such as robbery and such things ;
then all the more will He preserve those
who are under that protection from
suspicion of the crime of witchcraft.

And it is no valid objection to quote
the legend of S. Germanus, when devils
assumed the bodies of other women and
sat down at table and slept with the
husbands, deluding the latter into the
belief that those women were in their
own bodies eating and drinking with
them, as we have mentioned before.
For the women in this case are not to
be held guiltless. For in the Canon
(. Episcopi 26, q. 2) such women are con¬
demned for thinking that they are
really and actually transported, when
they are so only in imagination ;
although, as we have shown above, they
are at times bodily transported by
devils.

But our present proposition is that
they can, with God’s permission, cause
all other infirmities, with no exception ;
and it is to be concluded from what we
have said that this is so. Fo no excep¬
tion is made by the Doctors, and there
is no reason why there should be any,
since, as we have often said, the natural
power of devils is superior to all cor¬
poreal power. And we have found in
our experience that this is true. For
although greater difficulty may be felt
in believing that witches are able to
cause leprosy or epilepsy, since these
diseases generally arise from some long¬
standing physical predisposition or de¬
fect, none the less it has sometimes been
found that even these have been caused
by witchcraft. For in the diocese of
Basel, in the district of Alsace and
Lorraine, a certain honest labourer

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 12 MALEFICARUM

137

spoke roughly to a certain quarrel¬
some woman, and she angrily threat¬
ened him that she would soon avenge
herself on him. He took little notice
of her ; but on the same night he felt
a pustule grow upon his neck, and he
rubbed it a little, and found his whole
face and neck puffed up and swollen,
and a horrible form of leprosy appeared
all over his body. He immediately went
to his friends for advice, and told them
of the woman’s threat, and said that he
would stake his life on the suspicion
that this had been done to him by the
magic art of that same witch. In short,
the woman was taken, questioned, and
confessed her crime. But when the
judge asked her particularly about the
reason for it, and how she had done it,
she answered : “When that man used
abusive words to me, I was angry and
went home ; and my familiar began to
ask the reason for my ill humour. I
told him, and begged him to avenge
me on the man. And he asked what I
wanted him to do to him ; and I
answered that I wished he would always
have a swollen face. And the devil went
away and afflicted the man even
beyond my asking ; for I had not hoped
that he would infect him with such
sore leprosy.” And so the woman was
burned.

And in the diocese of Constance, be¬
tween Breisach and Freiburg, there is a
leprous woman (unless she has paid
the debt of all flesh within these two
years) who used to tell to many people
how the same thing had happened to
her by reason of a similar quarrel which
took place between her and another
woman. For one night when she went
out of the house to do something in
front of the door, a warm wind came
from the house of the other woman,
which was opposite, and suddenly
struck her face; and from that time
she had been afflicted with the leprosy
which she now suffered.

And lastly, in the same diocese, in
the territory of the Black Forest, a
witch was being lifted by a gaoler on
to the pile of wood prepared for her
burning, and said : “I will pay you” ;
and blew into his face. And he was at
once afflicted with a horrible leprosy
all over his body, and did not survive
many days. For the sake of brevity, +he
fearful crimes of this witch, and many
more instances which could be re¬
counted, are omitted. For we have

often found that certain people have
been visited with epilepsy or the falling
sickness by means of eggs which have
been buried with dead bodies, especially
the dead bodies of witches, together
with other ceremonies of which we can¬
not speak, particularly when these eggs
have been given to a person either in
food or drink.

☆

CHAPTER XII

*

Of the Way how in Particular they Afflict
Men with Other Like Infirmities.

BUT who can reckon the number of
the other infirmities which they
have inflicted upon men, such as blind¬
ness, the sharpest pains, and contor¬
tions of the body? Yet we shall set down
a few examples which we have seen with
our eyes, or have been related to one of
us Inquisitors.

When an inquisition was being held on
some witches in the town of Innsbruck,
the following case, among others, was
brought to light. A certain honest
woman who had been legally married
to one of the household of the Archduke
formally deposed the following. In the
time of her maidenhood she had been
in the service of one of the citizens,
whose wife became afflicted with
grievous pains in the head ; and a woman
came who said she could cure her, and
so began certain incantations and rites
which she said would assuage the pains.
And I carefully watched (said this
woman) what she did, and saw that,
against the nature of water poured into
a vase, she caused water to rise in its
vessel, together with other ceremonies
which there is no need to mention.
And considering that the pains in my
mistress’s head were not assuaged by
these means, I addressed the witch in
some indignation with these words : “I
do not know what you are doing, but
whatever it is, it is witchcraft, and
you are doing it for your own profit.”
Then the witch at once replied: “You
will know in three days whether I am a
witch or not.” And so it proved ; for
on the third day when I sat down and
took up a spindle, I suddenly felt a
terrible pain in my body. First it was
inside me, so that it seemed that there
was no part of my body in which I did
not feel horrible shooting pains ; then

138

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn 1. Gh. 12

it seemed to me just as if burning coals
were being continually heaped upon
my head; thirdly, from the crown of
my head to the soles of my feet there
was no place large enough for a pin¬
prick that was not covered with a rash
of white pustules; and so I remained
in these pains, crying out and wishing
only for death, until the fourth day.
At last my mistress’s husband told me
to go to a certain tavern; and with
great difficulty. I went, whilst he
walked before, until we were in front
of the tavern. “See!” he said to me;
“there is a loaf of white bread over the
tavern door.” “I see,” said I. Then
he said : “Take it down, if you possibly
can; for it may do you good.” And I,
holding on to the door with one hand
as much as I could, got hold of the
loaf with the other. “Open it” (said
my master) “and look carefully at what
is inside.” Then, when I had broken
open the loaf, I found many things
inside it, especially some white grains
very like the pustules on my body ; and
I saw also some seeds and herbs such
as I could not eat or even look at, with
the bones of serpents and other animals.
In my astonishment I asked my master
what was to be done; and he told me
to throw it all into the fire. I did so ;
and behold ! suddenly, not in an hour
or even a few minutes, but at the
moment when that matter was thrown
into the fire, I regained all my former
health.

And much more was deposed against
the wife of the citizen in whose service
this woman had been, by reason of
which she was not lightly but very
strongly suspected, and especially be¬
cause she had used great familiarity
with known witches. It is presumed
that, having knowledge of the spell of
witchcraft hidden in the loaf, she had
told it to her husband; and then, in
the way described, the maid-servant
recovered her health.

To bring so great a crime into
detestation, it is well that we should
tell how another person, also a woman,
was bewitched in the same town. An
honest married woman deposed the
following on oath.

Behind my house (she said) I have
a greenhouse, and my neighbour’s
garden borders on it. One day I
noticed that a passage had been made
from my neighbour’s garden to my
greenhouse, not without some damage

being caused; and as I was standing
in the door of my greenhouse reckoning
to myself and bemoaning both the
passage and the damage, my neighbour
suddenly came up and asked if I
suspected her. But I was frightened
because of her bad reputation, and
only answered, “The footprints on the
grass are a proof of the damage.” Then
she was indignant because I had not,
as she hoped, accused her with action¬
able words, and went away murmuring ;
and though I could hear her words, I
could not understand them. After a
few days I became very ill with pains
in the stomach, and the sharpest
twinges shooting from my left side to
my right, and conversely, as if two
swords or knives were thrust through
my breast; whence day and night I
disturbed all the neighbours with my
cries. And when they came from all
sides to console me, it happened that a
certain clay-worker, who was engaged
in an adulterous intrigue with that
witch, my neighbour, coming to visit
me, took pity on my illness, and after
a few words of comfort went away.
But the next day he returned in a
hurry, and, after consoling me, added :
“I am going to test whether your illness
is due to witchcraft, and if I find that it
is, I shall restore your health.” So he
took some molten lead and, while I was
lying in bed, poured it into a bowl of
water which he placed on my body.
And when the lead solidified into a
certain image and various shapes, he
said : “See ! your illness has been caused
by witchcraft; and one of the instru¬
ments of that witchcraft is hidden under
the threshold of your house door. Let
us go, then, and remove it, and you
will feel better.” So my husband and
he went to remove the charm ; and the
clay-worker, taking up the threshold,
told my husband to put his hand into
the hole which then appeared, and take
out whatever he found; and he did
so. And first he brought out a waxen
image about a palm long, perforated
all over, and pierced through the
sides with two needles, just in the same
way that I felt the stabbing pains from
side to side; and then little bags con¬
taining all sorts of things, such as grains
and seeds and bones. And when all
these things were burned, I became
better, but not entirely well. For
although the shootings and twinges
stopped, and I quite regained my

Part II. Qn i. Gh. 12

MALEFICARUM

139

appetite for food, yet even now I am
by no means fully restored to health. —
And when we asked her why it was that
she had not been completely restored,
she answered : There are some other
instruments of witchcraft hidden away
which I cannot find. And when I
asked the man how he knew where
the first instruments were hidden, he
answered : “I knew this through the
love which prompts a friend to tell
things to a friend; for your neighbour
revealed this to me when she was coax¬
ing me to commit adultery with her.”
This is the story of the sick woman.

But if I were to tell all the instances
that were found in that one town I
should need to make a book of them.
For countless men and women who
were blind, or lame, or withered, or
plagued with various infirmities,
severally took their oath that they
had strong suspicions that their ill¬
nesses, both in general and in particular,
were caused by witches, and that
they were bound to endure those ills
either for a period or right up to their
deaths. And all that they said and
testified was true, either as regards a
specified illness or as regards the death
of others. For that country abounds in
henchmen and knights who have leisure
for vice, and seduce women, and then
wish to cast them off when they desire
to marry an honest woman. But they
can rarely do this without incurring
the vengeance of some witchcraft upon
themselves or their wives. For when
those women see themselves despised,
they persist in tormenting not so much
the husband as the wife, in the fond
hope that, if the wife should die, the
husband would return to his former
mistress.

For when a cook of the Archduke
had married an honest girl from
a foreign country, a witch, who had
been his mistress, met them in the
public road and, in the hearing of
other honest people, foretold the be¬
witching and death of the girl, stretch¬
ing out her hand and saying: “Not for
long will you rejoice in your husband.”
And at once, on the following day, she
took to her bed, and after a few days
paid the debt of all flesh, exclaiming
just as she expired : Lo ! thus I die,
because that woman, with God’s per¬
mission, has killed me by her witch¬
craft; yet verily I go to another and
better marriage with God.

In the same way, according to the
evidence of public report, a certain
soldier was slain by witchcraft, and
many others whom I omit to mention.

But among them there was a well-
known gentleman, whom his mistress
wished to come to her on one occasion
to pass the night ; but he sent his
servant to tell her that he could not
visit her that night because he was
busy. She promptly flew into a rage,
and said to the servant: Go and tell
your master that he will not trouble
me for long. On the very next day
he was taken ill, and was buried
within a week.

And there are witches who can
bewitch their judges by a mere look
or glance from their eyes, and publicly
boast that they cannot be punished ;
and when malefactors have been im¬
prisoned for their crimes, and exposed
to the severest torture to make them
tell the truth, these witches can endow
them with such an obstinacy of pre¬
serving silence that they are unable to
lay bare their crimes.

And there are some who, in order to
accomplish their evil charms and spells,
beat and stab the Crucifix, and utter
the filthiest words against the Purity
of the Most Glorious Virgin MARY,
casting the foulest aspersions on the
Nativity of Our Saviour from Her
inviolate womb. It is not expedient
to repeat those vile words, nor yet to
describe their detestable crimes, as the
narrative would give too great offence
to the ears of the pious; but they are
all kept and preserved in writing, detail¬
ing the manner in which a certain
baptized Jewess had instructed other
young girls. And one of them, named
Walpurgis, being in the same year at
the point of death, and being urged by
those who stood round her to confess
her sins, exclaimed : I have given myself
body and soul to the devil ; there is no
hope of forgiveness for me; and so
died.

These particulars have not been
written to the shame, but rather to the
praise and glory of the most illustrious
Archduke. For he was truly a Catholic
Prince, and laboured very zealously
with the Church at Brixen to exter¬
minate witches. But they are written
rather in hate and loathing of so great
a crime, and that men may not cease
to avenge their wrongs, and the insults
and offences these wretches offer to

140

Part II. Qn 1. Ch. 13

MALLEUS

the Creator and our Holy Faith, to
say nothing of the temporal losses
which they cause. For this is their
greatest and gravest crime, namely, that
they abjure the Faith.

☆

CHAPTER XIII

WE must not omit to mention
the injuries done to children by
witch midwives, first by killing them,
and secondly by blasphemously offering
them to devils. In the diocese of
Strasburg and in the town of Zabern
there is an honest woman very devoted
to the Blessed Virgin MARY, who tells
the following experience of hers to all
the guests that come to the tavern which
she keeps, known by the sign of the
Black Eagle.

I was, she says, pregnant by my
lawful husband, now dead, and as my
time approached, a certain midwife
importuned me to engage her to assist
at the birth of my child. But I knew
her bad reputation, and although I had
decided to engage another woman,
pretended with conciliatory words to
agree to her request. But when the
pains came upon me, and I had brought
in another midwife, the first one was
very angry, and hardly a week later
came into my room one night with
two other women, and approached the
bed where I was lying. And when I
tried to call my husband, who was
sleeping in another room, all the use
was taken away from my limbs and
tongue, so that except for seeing and
hearing I could not move a muscle.
And the witch, standing between the
other two, said : “See ! this vile woman,
who would not take me for her mid¬
wife, shall notwin through unpunished.”
The other two standing by her pleaded
for me, saying : “She has never harmed
any of us.” But the witch added :
“Because she has offended me I am
going to put something into her entrails ;
but, to please you, she shall not feel any
pain for half a year, but after that
time she shall be tortured enough.”
So she came up and touched my belly
with her hands; and it seemed to me

that she took out my entrails, and put
in something which, however, I could
not see. And when they had gone
away, and I had recovered my power
of speech, I called my husband as soon
as possible, and told him what had
happened. But he put it down to
pregnancy, and said: “You pregnant
women are always suffering from fancies
and delusions.” And when he would by
no means believe me, I replied: “I
have been given six months’ grace, and
if, after that time, no torment comes to
me, I shall believe you.”

She related this to her son, a cleric
who was then Archdeacon of the
district, and who came to visit her on
the same day. And what happened?
When exactly six months had passed,
such a terrible pain came into her
belly that she could not help disturbing
everybody with her cries day and night.
And because, as has been said, she was
most devout to the Virgin, the Queen of
Mercy, she fasted with bread and
water every Saturday, so that she
believed that she was delivered by Her
intercession. For one day, when she
wanted to perform an action of nature,
all those unclean things fell from her
body ; and she called her husband and
her son, and said: “Are those fancies?
Did I not say that after half a year
the truth would be known? Or who
ever saw me eat thorns, bones, and
even bits of wood?” For there were
brambles as long as a palm, as well as
a quantity of other things.

Moreover (as was said in the First
Part of the work), it was shown by the
confession of the servant, who was
brought to judgement at Breisach, that
the greatest injuries to the Faith as
regards the heresy of witches are done
by midwives ; and this is made clearer
than daylight itself by the confessions
of some who were afterwards burned.

For in the diocese of Basel at the
town of Dann, a witch who was burned
confessed that she had killed more than
forty children, by sticking a needle
through the crowns of their heads into
their brains, as they came out from
the womb.

Finally, another woman in the diocese
of Strasburg confessed that she had
killed more children than she could
count. And she was caught in this
way. She had been called from one
town to another to act as midwife to
a certain woman, and, having per-

How Witch Midwives commit most Horrid
Crimes when they either Kill Children
or Offer them to Devils in most Accursed
Wise.

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 13

MALEFICARUM

formed her office, was going back
home. But as she went out of the town
gate, the arm of a newly-born child fell
out of the cloak she had wrapped
round her, in whose folds the arm had
been concealed. This was seen by
those who were sitting in the gateway,
and when she had gone on, they picked
up from the ground what they took
to be a piece of meat; but when they
looked more closely and saw that it
was not a piece of meat, but recognized
it by its fingers as a child’s arm, they
reported it to the magistrates, and it
was found that a child had died before
baptism, lacking an arm. So the witch
was taken and questioned, and con¬
fessed the crime, and that she had, as
has been said, killed more children
than she could count.

Now the reason for such practices is
as follows : It is to be presumed that
witches are compelled to do such
things at the command of evil spirits,
and sometimes against their own wills.
For the devil knows that, because of the
pain of loss,* or original sin, such
children are debarred from entering
the Kingdom of Heaven. And by this
means the Last Judgement is delayed,
when the devils will be condemned to
eternal torture ; since the number of the
elect is more slowly completed, on the
fulfilment of which the world will be
consumed = And also, as has already
been shown, witches are taught by the
devil to confect from the limbs of such
children an unguent which is very
useful for their spells.

But in order to bring so great a sin
into utter detestation, we must not
passover in silence the following horrible
crime. For when they do not kill the
child, they blasphemously offer it to
the devil in this manner. As soon as
the child is born, the midwife, if the
mother herself is not a witch, carries
it out of the room on the pretext of
warming it, raises it up, and offers it
to the Prince of Devils, that is Lucifer,
and to all the devils. And this is done
by the kitchen fire.

A certain man relates that he noticed
that his wife, when her time came to
give birth, against the usual custom of
women in childbirth, did not allow
any woman to approach the bed except
her own daughter, who acted as mid¬
wife. Wishing to know the reason for

141

this, he hid himself in the house and
saw the whole order of the sacrilege and
dedication to the devil, as it has been
described. He saw also, as it seemed
to him, that without any human sup¬
port, but by the power of the devil,
the child was climbing up the chain by
which the cooking-pots were suspended.
In great consternation both at the
terrible words of the invocation of the
devils, and at the other iniquitous
ceremonies, he strongly insisted that
the child should be baptized immedi¬
ately. While it was being carried to
the next village, where there was a
church, and when they had to cross a
bridge over a certain river, he drew
his sword and ran at his daughter, who
was carrying the child, saying in the
hearing of two others who were with
them: “You shall not carry the child
over the bridge ; for either it must
cross the bridge by itself, or you shall
be drowned in the river.” The daughter
was terrified and, together with the
other women in company, asked him
if he were in his right mind (for he had
hidden what had happened from all
the others except the two men who were
with him). Then he answered: “You
vile drab, by your magic arts you made
the child climb the chain in the
kitchen; now make it cross the bridge
with no one carrying it, or I shall
drown you in the river.” And so, being
compelled, she put the child down on
the bridge, and invoked the devil by
her art; and suddenly the child was
seen on the other side of the bridge.
And when the child had been baptized,
and he had returned home, since he
now had witnesses to convict his
daughter of witchcraft (for he could not
prove the former crime of the oblation
to the devil, inasmuch as he had been
the only witness of that sacrilegious
ritual), he accused both daughter and
mother before the judge after their
eriod of purgation; and they were
oth burned, and the crime of mid¬
wives of making that sacrilegious offer¬
ing was discovered.

But here the doubt arises: to what
end or purpose is this sacrilegious
offering of children, and how does it
benefit the devils? To this it can be
said that the devils do this for three
reasons, which serve three most wicked
purposes. The first reason arises from
their pride, which always increases ;
as it is said : “They that hate Thee have

\

* “ Pain of loss.” Poena damni.

142

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 13

lifted up the head.”* For they try as
far as possible to conform with divine
rites and ceremonies. Secondly, they
can more easily deceive men under the
mask of an outwardly seeming pious
action. For in the same way they
entice young virgins and boys into
their power; for though they might
solicit such by means of evil and
corrupt men, yet they rather deceive
them by magic mirrors and the reflec¬
tions seen in witches’ finger-nails, and
lure them on in the belief that they
love chastity, whereas they hate it.
For the devil hates above all the
Blessed Virgin, because she bruised his
head ( Genesis iii. 15)-! Just so in this
oblation of children they deceive the
minds of witches into the vice of
infidelity under the appearance of a
virtuous act. And the third reason is,
that the perfidy of witches may grow,
to the devils’ own gain, when they
have witches dedicated to them from
their very cradles.

And this sacrilege affects the child
in three ways. In the first place,
visible offerings to God are made of
visible things, such as wine or bread
or the fruits of the earth, as a sign of
honour and subjection to Him, as it is
said in Ecclesiasticus xxv : Thou shalt
not appear empty before the Lord.
And such offerings cannot and must
not afterwards be put to profane uses.
Therefore the holy Father, S. John
Damascene, says : The oblations which
are offered in church belong only to
the priests, but not that they should
divert them to their own uses, but
that they should faithfully distribute
them, partly in the observance of
divine worship, and partly for the
use of the poor. From this it follows
that a child who has been offered to
the devil in sign of subjection and
homage to him cannot possibly be
dedicated by Catholics to a holy life,
in worthy and fruitful service to God
for the benefit of himself and others.

For who can say that the sins of the
mothers and of others do not redound in
punishment upon the children? Per¬
haps someone will quote that saying of
the prophet: “The son shall not bear

* “Head.” “Psalm” Ixxxii, 2.

I “Genesis.” Inimicitias ponam inter te et
mulierem , et semen tuum et semen illius: ipsa
conteret caput tuum, et tu insidiaberis calcaneo
eius.

the iniquity of the father.” But there is
that other passage in Exodus xx : I am
a jealous God, visiting the sins of the
fathers upon the children unto the
third and fourth generation. Now the
meaning of these two sayings is as
follows. The first speaks of spiritual
punishment in the judgement of Heaven
or God, and not in the judgement of
men. And this is the punishment of the
soul, such as loss or the forfeiture of
glory, or the punishment of pain, that
is, of the torment of eternal fire. And
with such punishments no one is
punished except for his own sin, either
inherited as original sin or committed as
actual sin.

The second text speaks of those who
imitate the sins of their fathers, as
Gratian* has explained (I, q. 4, etc.) ;
and there he gives other explanations
as to how the judgement of God inflicts
other punishments on a man, not only
for his own sins which he has com¬
mitted, or which he might commit (but
is prevented by punishment from com¬
mitting) , but also for the sins of others.

And it cannot be argued that then a
man is punished without cause, and
without sin, which should be the cause
of punishment. For according to the
rule of the law, no one must be punished
without sin, unless there is some cause
for it. And we can say that there is
always a most just cause, though it may
not be known to us: see S. Augustine,
XXIV, 4. And if we cannot in the
result penetrate the depth of God’s
judgement, yet we know that what He
has said is true, and what He has done
is just.

But there is this distinction to be
observed in innocent children who are
offered to devils not by their mothers
when they are witches, but by midwives
who, as we have said, secretly take
from the embrace and the womb of an
honest mother. Such children are not

* “Gratian.” The little that is known con¬
cerning the author of the “ Concordantia dis¬
cordantium canonum,” more generally called the
“ Decretum Gratiani,” must be gathered from the
work itself. Gratian was born in Italy, perhaps
at Chiusi. He became a Camaldolese monk and
taught at Bologna. It is uncertain at what time
he compiled the “Decretum,” but it was commonly
held to have been completed in //5/. More
recent authorities, however, are inclined to suggest
1140. Gratian died before 1179, some think as
early as 1160. He is regarded as the true founder
of the science of canon law .

Part II. Qn i. Gh. 13 MALEFICARUM

.H3

so cut off from grace that they must
necessarily become prone to such
crimes ; but it is piously to be believed
that they may rather cultivate their
mothers’ virtues.

The second result to the children of
this sacrilege is as follows. When a man
offers himself as a sacrifice to God, he
recognizes God as his Beginning and
his End ; and this sacrifice is more
worthy than all the external sacrifices
which he makes, having its beginning
in his creation and its end in his
glorification, as it is said : A sacrifice to
God is an afflicted spirit,* etc. In the
same way, when a witch offers a child
to the devil, she commends it body and
soul to him as its beginning and its end
in eternal damnation; wherefore not
without some miracle can the child be
set free from the payment of so great a
debt.

And we read often in history of
children whom their mothers, in some
passion or mental disturbance, have
unthinkingly offered to the devil from
the very womb, and how it is only
with the very greatest difficulty that
they can, when they have grown to
adult age, be delivered from that
bondage which the devil has, with
God’s permission, usurped to himself.
And of this the Book of Examples, Most
Blessed Virgin MAR T, affords many illus¬
trations ; a notable instance being that
of the man whom the Supreme Pontiff
was unable to deliver from the torments
of the devil, but at last he was sent to
a holy man living in the East, and
finally with great difficulty was delivered
from his bondage through the inter¬
cession of the Most Glorious Virgin
Herself.

And if God so severely punishes even
such a thoughtless, I will not say
sacrifice, but commendation used
angrily by a mother when her husband,
after copulating with her, says, I hope
a child will come of it ; and she
answers, May the child go to the
devil ! How much greater must be the
punishment when the Divine Majesty is
offended in the way we have described !

The third effect of this sacrilegious
oblation is to inculcate an habitual
inclination to cast spells upon men,
animals, and the fruits of the earth.
This is shown by S. Thomas in the
2nd Book, quest. 108, where he speaks

* “Spirit” “Psalm” l, 19.

of temporal punishment, how some are
punished for the sins of others. For
he says that, bodily speaking, sons are
part of their fathers’ possessions, and
servants and animals belong to their
masters ; therefore when a man is
punished in all his possessions, it follows
that often the sons suffer for the fathers.

And this is quite a different matter
from what has been said about God
visiting the sins of the fathers upon the
children unto the third and fourth
generation. For there it is a question of
those who imitate their fathers’ sins;
but here we speak of those who suffer
instead of their fathers, when they do
not imitate their sins by committing
them in fact, but only inherit the
results of their sins. For in this way the
son born to David in adultery died
very soon ; and the animals of the
Amalekites were ordered to be killed.
Nevertheless, there is much mystery in
all this.

Taking into consideration all that
we have said, we may well conclude
that such children are always, up to the
end of their lives, predisposed to the
perpetration of witchcraft. For just as
God sanctifies that which is dedicated
to Him, as is proved by the deeds of
the Saints, when parents offer to God
the fruit which they have generated;
so also the devil does not cease to
infect with evil that which is offered
to him. Many examples can be found
in the Old and New Testaments. For
so were many of the Patriarchs and
Prophets, such as Isaac, Samuel, and
Samson ; and so were Alexis and
Nicolas, f and many more, guided by
much grace to a holy life.

f “Alexis.” S. Alexis, Confessor. Feast, ij
July. The Basilica and title-church of SS.
Bonifacio ed Alessio air Aventino, Rome, con¬
tains the bodies of S. Boniface and S. Alexis under
the High Altar. S. Aglae is buried in the con¬
fessional.

S. Nicolas of Tolentino, O.S.A., circa 1246-
1306, was born of gentlefolk, Compagnonus de
Guarutti and Amata de Guidiani, pious and
devout, living in great seclusion on very moderate
means. He was the child of prayer, his mother
being advanced in years and vowing her son,
should she bare one, to God from the womb.
His parents joyfully consented to his joining the
Order of Augustinian Hermits, of which he is
one of the greatest glories. S. Nicolas was
distinguished by angelic meekness and celestial
purity. He died 10 September, and his feast is
celebrated on that day.

144

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 14

Finally, we know from experience
that the daughters of witches are
always suspected of similar practices, as
imitators of their mothers’ crimes; and
that indeed the whole of a witch’s
progeny is infected. And the reason for
this and for all that has been said
before is, that according to their pact
with the devil, they always have to
leave behind them and carefully in¬
struct a survivor, so that they may
fulfil their vow to do all they can to
increase the number of witches.* For
how else could it happen, as it has
very often been found, that tender
girls of eight or ten years have raised up
tempests and hailstorms, unless they
had been dedicated to the devil under
such a pact by their mothers. For
the children could not do such things
of themselves by abjuring the Faith,
which is how all adult witches have to
begin, since they have no knowledge
of any single article of the Faith. We
will recount an example of such a child.

In the duchy of Swabia a certain
farmer went to his fields with his little
daughter, hardly eight years old, to
look at his crops, and began com¬
plaining about the drought, saying :
Alas! when will it rain? The girl
heard him, and in the simplicity of her
heart said : Father, if you want it to
rain, I can soon make it come. And
her father said to her: What? Do you
know how to make it rain? And the
girl answered : I can make it rain, and
I can make hailstorms and tempests too.
And the father asked : Who taught
you? And she answered: My mother
did, but she told me not to tell any¬
body. Then the father asked : How
did she teach you? And she answered :
She sent me to a master who will do
anything I ask at any time. But her
father said: Have you ever seen him?

* “Number of Witches .” Francesco Maria
Guazzo, “ Compendium Maleficarum ,” Milan,
1608, tells us that the witches promise the devil
“to strive with all their power and to use every
inducement and endeavour to draw other men and
women to their detestable practices and the
worship of Satan.” So in the case of Janet
Breadheid of Auldearne it was her husband who
“enticed her into that craft .” {Pitcairn, “Criminal
Trials ,” Edinburgh, 1833.) At Salem, George
Burroughs, a minister, was accused by a large
number of women as “the person who had
Seduc'd and Compell'd them into the snares of
Witchcraft .” See my “History of Witchcraft ,”
Chap. Ill, pp. 83-84.

And she said : I have sometimes seen
men coming in and out to my mother ;
and when I asked her who they were,
she told me that they were our masters
to whom she had given me, and that
they were powerful and rich patrons.
The father was terrified, and asked her
if she could raise a hailstorm then.
And the girl said : Yes, if I had a little
water. Then he led the girl by the
hand to a stream, and said : Do it, but
only on our land. Then the girl put
her hand in the water and stirred it
in the name of her master, as her
mother had taught her ; and behold !
the rain fell only on that land. Seeing
this, the father said : Make it hail now,
but only on one of our fields. And
when the girl had done this, the father
was convinced by the evidence, and
accused his wife before the judge.
And the wife was taken and convicted
and burned ; but the daughter was
reconciled and solemnly dedicated to
God, since which hour she could no
more work these spells and charms.

☆

CHAPTER XIV

Here followeth how Witches Injure Cattle

in Various Ways.

HEN S. Paul said, Doth God
care for oxen? j* he meant that,
though all things are subject to Divine
providence, both man and beast each
in its degree, as the Psalmist says,J
yet the sons of men are especially in
His governance and under the pro¬
tection of His wings. I say, therefore,
if men are injured by witches, with
God’s permission, both the innocent
and just as well as sinners, and if parents
are bewitched in their children, as
being part of their possessions, who
can then presume to doubt that, with
God’s permission, various injuries can
be brought by witches upon cattle and
the fruits of the earth, which are also
part of men’s possessions? For so was
Job stricken by the devil and lost all
his cattle. So also there is not even
the smallest farm where women do not
injure each other’s cows, by drying up
their milk, and very often killing them.

But let us first consider the smallest

I “Oxen.” “I. Corinthians ,” ix. g.
x “Psalmist.” “ Psalmist ” xxxv, J, 8.

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 14

MALEFICARUM

145

of these injuries, that of drying up the
milk. If it is asked how they can do
this, it can be answered that, according
to Blessed Albert in his Book on Animals ,
milk is naturally menstrual in any
animal ; and, like another flux in
women, when it is not stopped by some
natural infirmity, it is due to witch¬
craft that it is stopped. Now the flow
of milk is naturally stopped when the
animal becomes pregnant; and it is
stopped by an accidental infirmity
when the animal eats some herb the
nature of which is to dry up the milk
and make the cow ill.

But they can cause this in various
ways bv witchcraft. For on the more
holy nights according to the instructions
of the devil and for the greater offence
to the Divine Majesty of God, a witch
will sit down in a corner of her house
with a pail between her legs, stick a
knife or some instrument in the wall or
a post, and make as if to milk it with
her hands. Then she summons her
familiar who always works with her
in everything, and tells him that she
wishes to milk a certain cow from a
certain house, which is healthy and
abounding in milk. And suddenly the
devil takes the milk from the udder of
that cow, and brings it to where the
witch is sitting, as if it were flowing
from the knife.

But when this is publicly preached to
the people they get no bad information
by it ; for however much anyone may
invoke the devil, and think that by
this means alone he can do this thing,
he deceives himself, because he is
without the foundation of that perfidy,
not having rendered homage to the devil
or abjured the Faith. I have set this
down because some have thought that
several of the matters of which I have
written ought not to be preached to the
people, on account of the danger of
giving them evil knowledge; whereas
it is impossible for anyone to learn
from a preacher how to perform any of
the things that have been mentioned.
But they have been written rather 10
bring so great a crime into detestation,
and should be preached from the
pulpit, so that judges may be more
eager to punish the horrible crime of
the abnegation of the Faith. Yet they
should not always be preached in this
way; for the secular mind pays more
attention to temporal losses, being
more concerned with earthly than

spiritual matters ; therefore when
witches can be accused of inflicting
temporal loss, judges are more zealous
to punish them. But who can fathom
the cunning of the devil?

I know of some men in a certain
city who wished to eat some May
butter one May time. And as they
were walking along they came to a
meadow and sat down by a stream;
and one of them, who had formed some
open or tacit pact with the devil,
said : I will get you the best May
butter. And at once he took off his
clothes and went into the stream, not
standing up but sitting with his back
against the current ; and while the
others looked on, he uttered certain
words, and moved the water with his
hands behind his back; and in a short
time he brought out a great quantity
of butter of the sort that the country
women sell in the market in May.
And the others tasted it, and declared
it was the very best butter.

From this we can deduce first the
following fact concerning their
practices. They are either true witches,
by reason of an expressed pact formed
with the devil, or they know by some
tacit understanding that the devil will
do what they ask. In the first case
there is no need for any discussion, for
such are true witches. But in the
second case, then they owe the devil’s
help to the fact that they were blasphem¬
ously offered to the devil by a midwife
or by their own mothers.

But it may be objected that the
devil perhaps brought the butter with¬
out any compact, expressed or tacit,
and without any previous dedication
to himself. It is answered that no one
can ever use the devil’s help in such
matters without invoking him ; and
that by that very act of seeking help
from the devil he is an apostate from
the Faith. This is the decision of S.
Thomas in the Second Book of Sentences ,
dist. 8, on the question, Whether it is
apostasy from the Faith to use the
devil’s help. And although Blessed
Albert the Great agrees with the other
Doctors, yet he says more expressly
that in such matters there is always
apostasy either in word or in deed.
For if invocations, conjurations, fumi¬
gations and adorations are used, then
an open pact is formed with the devil,
even if there has been no surrender of
body and soul together with explicit

146

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn 1. Ch. 14

abjuration of the Faith either wholly
or in part. For by the mere invoca¬
tion of the devil a man commits open
verbal apostasy. But if there is no
spoken invocation, but only a bare
action from which follows something
that could not be done without the
devil’s help, then whether a man does it
by beginning in the name of the devil,
or with some other unknown words, or
without any words but with that
intention; then, says Blessed Albert, it
is apostasy of deed, because that action
is looked for from the devil. But since to
expect or receive anything from the
devil is always a disparagement of the
Faith, it is also apostasy.

So it is concluded that, by whatever
means that sorcerer i procured the
butter, it was done with either a tacit
or an expressed pact with the devil ; and
since, if it had been with an expressed
pact, he would have behaved after
the usual manner of witches, it is
probable that there was a tacit or
secret pact, originating either from
himself or from his mother or a mid¬
wife. And I say that it arose from
himself, since he only went through
certain motions, and expected the
devil to produce the effect.

The second conclusion we can draw
from this and similar practices is this.
The devil cannot create new species
of things ; therefore when natural butter
suddenly came out of the water, the
devil did not do this by changing the
water into milk, but by taking butter
from some place where it was kept
and bringing it to the man’s hand. Or
else he took natural milk from a natural
cow and suddenly churned it into
natural butter; for while the art of
women takes a little time to make
butter, the devil could do it in the
shortest space of time and bring it to
the man.

It is in the same way that certain
dealers in magic, when they find them¬
selves in need of wine or some such
necessity, merely go out in the night
into a village with a flask or vessel,
and bring it back suddenly filled with
wine. For then the devil takes natural
wine from some vessel and fills their
flasks for them.

And with regard to the manner where¬
by witches kill animals and cattle, it
should be said that they act very much
as they do in the case of men. They
can bewitch them by a touch and a

look, or by a look only; or by placing
under the threshold of the stable door,
or near the place where they go to
water, some charm or periapt of
witchcraft.

For in this way those witches who
were burned at Ratisbon, of whom
we shall say more later on, were always
incited by the devil to bewitch the best
horses and the fattest cattle. And when
they were asked how they did so, one
of them named Agnes said that they
hid certain things under the threshold
of the stable door. And, asked what
sort of things, she said: The bones of
different kinds of animals. She was
further asked in whose name they did
this, and answered, In the name of the
devil and all the other devils. And
there was another of them, named
Anna, who had killed twenty-three
horses in succession belonging to one of
the citizens who was a carrier. This
man at last, when he had bought his
twenty-fourth horse and was reduced
to extreme poverty, stood in his stable
and said to the witch, who was standing
in the door of her house: “See, I have
bought a horse, and I swear to God and
His Holy Mother that if this horse dies
I shall kill you with my own hands.”
At that the witch was frightened, and
left the horse alone. But when she was
taken and asked how she had done these
things, she answered that she had done
nothing but dig a little hole, after
which the devil had put in it certain
things unknown to her. From this it
is concluded that the witch co-operates
sufficiently if it is only by a touch or a
look ; for the devil is permitted no
power of injuring creatures without
some co-operation on the part of the
witch, as has been shown before. And
this is for the great offence to the
Divine Majesty.

For shepherds have often seen
animals in the fields give three or four
jumps into the air, and then suddenly
fall to the ground and die; and this
is caused by the power of witches at
the instance of the devil.

In the diocese of Strasburg, between
the town of Fiessen and Mount Ferrer,
a certain very rich man affirmed that
more than forty oxen and cows belong¬
ing to him and others had been be¬
witched in the Alps within the space of
one year4 and that there had been no
natural plague or sickness to cause it.
To prove this, he said that when

147

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 15 MALEFICARUM

cattle die from some chance plague or
disease, they do not do so all at once,
but by degrees ; but that this witchcraft
had suddenly taken all the strength
from them, and therefore everyone
judged that they had been killed by
witchcraft. I have said forty head of
cattle, but I believe he put the number
higher than that. However, it is very
true that many cattle are said to have
been bewitched in some districts,
especially in the Alps ; and it is known
that this form of witchcraft is un¬
happily most widespread. We shall
consider some similar cases later, in
the chapter where we discuss the
remedies for cattle that have been
bewitched.

☆

CHAPTER XV

How they Raise and Stir up Hailstorms and
Tempests , and Cause Lightning to Blast
both Men and Beasts.

THAT devils and their disciples
can by witchcraft cause lightnings
and hailstorms and tempests, and that
the devils have power from God to do
this, and their disciples do so with
God’s permission, is proved by Holy
Scripture in Job i and ii. For the
devil received power from God, and
immediately caused it to happen that
the Sabeans took away from Job fifty
yoke of oxen and five hundred asses,
and then fire came from heaven and
consumed seven thousand camels, and
a great wind came and smote down
the house, killing his seven sons and
his three daughters, and all the young
men, that is to say, the servants, except
him who brought the news, were killed ;
and finally the devil smote the body of
the holy man with the most terrible
sores, and caused his wife and his three
friends to vex him grievously.

S. Thomas in his commentary on
Job says as follows : It must be con¬
fessed that, with God’s permission, the
devils can disturb the air, raise up
winds, and make the fire fall from
heaven. For although, in the matter
of taking various shapes, corporeal
nature is not at the command of any
Angel, either good or bad, but only at
that of God the Creator, yet in the
matter of local motion corporeal nature
has to obey the spiritual nature. And

this truth is clearly exemplified in
man himself; for at the mere command
of the will, which exists subjectively in
the soul, the limbs are moved to
perform that which they have been
willed to do. Therefore whatever can
be accomplished by mere local motion,
this not only good but also bad spirits
can by their natural power accomplish,
unless God should forbid it. But winds
and rain and other similar disturbances
of the air can be caused by the mere
movement of vapours released from the
earth or the water ; therefore the
natural power of devils is sufficient to
cause such things. So says S. Thomas.

For God in His justice using the
devils as his agents of punishment
inflicts the evils which come to us who
live in this world. Therefore, with
reference to that in the Psalms: “He
called a famine on the land, and wasted
all their substance of bread” ; the gloss
says : God allowed this evil to be caused
by the bad Angels who are in charge of
such matters; and by famine is meant
the Angel in charge of famine.

We refer the reader also to what has
been written above on the question
as to whether witches must always have
the devil’s help to aid them in their
works, and concerning the three kinds
of harm which the devils at times
inflict without the agency of a witch.
But the devils are more eager to injure
men with the help of a witch, since
in this way God is the more offended,
and greater power is given to them to
torment and punish.

And relevant to this subject is what
the Doctors have written in the Second
Book of Sentences , dist. 6, on the question
whether there is a special place assigned
to the bad Angels in the clouds of the
air. For in devils there are three things
to be considered — their nature, their
duty and their sin ; and by nature they
belong to the empyrean of heaven,
through sin to the lower hell, but by
reason of the duty assigned to them, as
we have said, as ministers of punish¬
ment to the wicked and trial to the
good, their place is in the clouds of the
air. For they do not dwell here with us
on the earth lest they should plague
us too much ; but in the air and around
the fiery sphere they can so bring
together the active and passive agents
that, when God permits, they can
bring down fire and lightning from
heaven.

148

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn 1. Ch. 15

A story is told in the Formicarius* of a
certain man who had been taken, and
was asked by the judge how they went
about to raise up hailstorms and
tempests, and whether it was easy
for them to do so. He answered : We
can easily cause hailstorms, but we
cannot do all the harm that we wish,
because of the guardianship of good
Angels. And he added : We can only
injure those who are deprived of God’s
help; but we cannot hurt those who
make the sign of the Cross. And this is
how we go to work : first we use certain
words in the fields to implore the chief
of the devils to send one of his servants
to strike the man whom we name.
Then, when the devil has come, we
sacrifice to him a black cock at two
cross-roads, t throwing it up into the
air; and when the devil has received
this, he performs our wish and stirs up
the air, but not always in the places
which we have named, and, according
to the permission of the living God,
sends down hailstorms and lightnings.

In the same work we hear of a
certain leader or heresiarch of witches
named Staufer,J who lived in Berne
and the adjacent country, and used
publicly to boast that, whenever he
liked, he could change himself into a
mouse in the sight of his rivals and
slip through the hands of his deadly
enemies ; and that he had often escaped
from the hands of his mortal foes in
this manner. But when the Divine
justice wished to put an end to his
wickedness, some of his enemies lay
in wait for him cautiously and saw
him sitting in a basket near a window,

* “Formicarius ,” Chap. iii.

f “ Cross-Roads .” In the trial of Dame Alice
Kyteler of Kilkenny, 1324, it was shown that
she had sacrificed at the cross-roads live animals
( Holinshed says nine red cocks) to her familiar,
Robert Artisson, “ qui se facit appellari Artis
Filium .” In Greek tradition the xzpxdmu;, a
poltergeist, haunted the cross-ways. Lemoine,
VI, p. iog, tells us: “Celui qui veut devenir
sorcier doit aller a un ‘ quatre chemins ’ avec une
‘poule noire,’ ou bien encore au ‘ cimetiere ,’ sur une
‘ tombe 5 et toujour s a ‘ minuit .’ II vient alors quel-
qu’un qui demande: ‘Que venez-vous faire ici ?’
lJ’ai une poule a vendre repond-on. Ce quel-
qu’un ( est ) le Mechant .”

X “ Staufer .” Staufus. “ Formicarius Chap,
iii. The edition Frankfort, 1588, Vol. I, p. 722,
reads “ Scavius ” and in the margin “ Schasius .”
( Marginal note: “De Schasio in murem se
corner tente.”)

and suddenly pierced him through
with swords and spears, so that he
miserably died for his crimes. Yet he
left behind him a disciple, named
Hoppo, who had also for his master
that Stadlin whom we have mentioned
before in the sixth chapter.

These two could, whenever they
pleased, cause the third part of the
manure or straw or corn to pass
invisibly from a neighbour’s field to
their own; they could raise the most
violent hailstorms and destructive winds
and lightning ; could cast into the
water in the sight of their parents
children walking by the water-side,
when there was no one else in sight;
could cause barrenness in men and
animals ; could reveal hidden things to
others; could in many ways injure
men in their affairs or their bodies;
could at times kill whom they would
by lightning; and could cause many
other plagues, when and where the
justice of God permitted such things
to be done.

It is better to add an instance which
came within our own experience. For
in the diocese of Constance, twenty-
eight German miles from the town of
Ratisbon in the direction of Salzburg,
a violent hailstorm destroyed all the
fruit, crops and vineyards in a belt one
mile wide, so that the vines hardly
bore fruit for three years. This was
brought to the notice of the Inquisition,
since the people clamoured for an
inquiry to be held ; many beside all the
townsmen being of the opinion that it
was caused by witchcraft. Accordingly
it was agreed after fifteen days’ formal
deliberation that it was a case of witch¬
craft for us to consider; and among a
large number of suspects, we par¬
ticularly examined two women, one
named Agnes, a bath-woman, and the
other Anna von Mindelheim. These two
were taken and shut up separately in
different prisons, neither of them know¬
ing in the least what had happened to
the other. On the following day the
bath-woman was very gently questioned
in the presence of a notary by the chief
magistrate, a justice named Gelre very
zealous for the Faith, and by the other
magistrates with him; and although
she was undoubtedly well provided
with that evil gift of silence which is
the constant bane of judges, and at the
first trial affirmed that she was innocent
of any crime against man or woman;

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 15

MALEFICARUM

149

yet, in the Divine mercy that so great a
crime should not pass unpunished,
suddenly, when she had been freed from
her chains, although it was in the
torture chamber, she fully laid bare all
the crimes which she had committed.
For when she was questioned by the
Notary of the Inquisition upon the
accusations which had been brought
against her of harm done to men and
cattle, by reason of which she had been
gravely suspected of being a witch,
although there had been no witness to
prove that she had abjured the Faith
or performed coitus with an Incubus
devil (for she had been most secret) ;
nevertheless, after she had confessed
to the harm which she had caused to
animals and men, she acknowledged
also all that she was asked concerning
the abjuration of the Faith, and copula¬
tion committed with an Incubus devil ;
saying that for more than eighteen
years she had given her body to an
Incubus devil, with a complete
abnegation of the Faith.

After this she was asked whether she
knew anything about the hailstorm
which we have mentioned, and answered
that she did. And, being asked how and
in what way, she answered: “I was
in my house, and at midday a familiar
came to me and told me to go with a
little water on to the field or plain of
Kuppel (for so is it named). And
when I asked what he wanted to do
with the water, he said that he wanted
to make it rain. So I went out at the
town gate, and found the devil standing
under a tree.” The judge asked her,
under which tree ; and she said,
“Under that one opposite that tower,”
pointing it out. Asked what she did
under the tree, she said, “The devil
told me to dig a little hole and pour
the water into it.” Asked whether they
sat down together, she said, “I sat
down, but the devil stood up.” Then
she was asked, with what words and
in what manner she had stirred the
water; and she answered, “I stirred
it with my finger, and called on the
name of the devil himself and all the
other devils.” Again the judge asked
what was done with the water, and she
answered : “It disappeared, and the
devil took it up into the air.” Then
she was asked if she had any associate,
and answered: “Under another tree
opposite I had a companion (naming
the other captured witch, Anna von

Mindelheim), but I do not know what
she did.” Finally, the bath-woman was
asked how long it was between the
taking up of the water and the hail¬
storm; and she answered: “There was
just sufficient interval of time to allow
me to get back to my house.”

But (and this is remarkable) when
on the next day the other witch had at
first been exposed to the very gentlest
questions, being suspended hardly clear
of the ground by her thumbs, after
she had been set quite free, she dis¬
closed the whole matter without the
slightest discrepancy from what the
other had told ; agreeing as to the
place, that it was under such a tree and
the other had been under another ; as to
the time, that it was at midday; as to
the method, namely, of stirring water
poured into a hole in the name of the
devil and all the devils; and as to the
interval of time, that the hailstorm had
come after her devil had taken the
water up into the air and she had
returned home. Accordingly, on the
third day they were burned. And the
bath-woman was contrite and con¬
fessed, and commended herself to God,
saying that she would die with a willing
heart if she could escape the tortures
of the devil, and held in her hand a
cross which she kissed. But the other
witch scorned her for doing so. And
this one had consorted with an Incubus
devil for more than twenty years with
a complete abjuration of the Faith,
and had done far more harm than the
former witch to men, cattle and the
fruits of the earth, as is shown in the
preserved record of their trial.

These instances must serve, since
indeed countless examples of this sort
of mischief could be recounted. But
very often men and beasts and store¬
houses are struck by lightning by the
power of devils ; and the cause of this
seems to be more hidden and ambiguous,
since it often appears to happen by
Divine permission without the co¬
operation of any witch. However, it
has been found that witches have freely
confessed that they have done such
things, and there are various known
instances of it, which could be men¬
tioned, in addition to what has already
been said. Therefore it is reasonable to
conclude that, just as easily as they
raise hailstorms, so can they cause
lightning and storms at sea ; and so no
doubt at all remains on these points.

i50

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Gh. 16

CHAPTER XVI

Of Three Ways in which Men and not
Women may be Discovered to be Addicted
to Witchcraft : Divided into Three
Heads : and First of the Witchcraft
of Archers.

FOR our present purpose the last
class of witchcraft is that which
is practised in three forms by men;
and first we must consider the seven
deadly and horrible crimes which are
committed by wizards who are archers.
For first, on the Sacred Day of the
Passion of Our Lord, that is to say,
on Good Friday, as it is called, during
the solemnization of the Mass of the
Presanctified they shoot with arrows, as
at a target, at the most sacred image
of the Crucifix. Oh, the cruelty and
injury to the Saviour ! Secondly, though
there is some doubt whether they have
to utter a verbal form of apostasy
to the devil in addition to that apostasy
of deed, yet whether it be so or not, no
greater injury to the Faith can be done
by a Christian. For it is certain that,
if such things were done by an infidel,
they would be of no efficacy; for no
such easy method of gratifying their
hostility to the Faith is granted to
them. Therefore these wretches ought
to consider the truth and power of the
Catholic Faith, for the confirmation of
which God justly permits such crimes.

Thirdly, such an archer has to shoot
three or four arrows in this way, and as
a consequence he is able to kill on any
day just the same number of men.
Fourthly, they have the following
assurance from the devil; that though
they must first actually set eyes on the
man they wish to kill, and must bend
their whole will on killing him, yet it
matters not where the man may shut
himself up, for he cannot be protected,
but the arrows which have been shot
will be carried and struck into him by
the devil.

Fifthly, they can shoot an arrow*
with such precision as to shoot a penny

* “ Shoot an Arrow.” This old tradition was
made the subject of the celebrated opera “Der
Freischutz,” the libretto of which is by Kind, the
music by Weber. It was originally produced at
Berlin in 1821 , and on 22 July , 1824, first per¬
formed in England at the Lyceum Theatre,
London, as (iDer Freischutz; or, The Seventh
Bullet.”

from a person’s head without hurting
his head, and they can continue to do
this indefinitely. Sixthly, in order to
gain this power they have to offer
homage of body and soul to the devil.
We shall give some instances of this
sort of practice.

For a certain prince of the Rhineland,
named Eberhard Longbeard because
he let his beard grow, had, before he was
sixty years old, acquired for himself
some of the Imperial territory, and was
besieging a certain castle named Lenden-
brunnen because of the raids which
were made by the men of the castle.
And he had in his company a wizard
of this sort, named Puncker, who so
molested the men of the castle that
he killed them all in succession with
his arrows, except one. And this is
how he proceeded. Whenever he had
looked at a man, it did not matter
where that man went to or hid himself,
he had only to loose an arrow and that
man was mortally wounded and killed ;
and he was able to shoot three such
arrows every day because he had
shot three arrows at the image of the
Saviour. It is probable that the devil
favours the number three more than
any other, because it represents an
effective denial of the Holy Trinity.
But after he had shot those three
arrows, he could only shoot with the
same uncertainty as other men. At
last one of the men of the castle called
out to him mockingly, “Puncker, will
you not at least spare the ring which
hangs in the gate?” And he answered
from outside in the night, “No; I shall
take it away on the day that the castle
is captured.” And he fulfilled his
promise : for when, as has been said, all
were killed except one, and the castle
had been taken, he took that ring and
hung it in his own house at Rorbach
in the diocese of Worms, where it can
be seen hanging to this day. But
afterwards he was one night killed with
their spades by some peasants whom he
had injured, and he perished in his sins.

It is told also of this man, that a very
eminent person wished to have proof
of his skill, and for a test placed his
little son before the target with a
penny on his cap, and ordered him to
shoot the penny away without removing
the cap. The wizard said that he
would do it, but with reluctance ; for he
would rather have refrained, not being
sure whether the devil was seducing him

Part II. Qn i. Gh. 16 MALEFICARUM

to his death. But, yielding to the per¬
suasions of the prince, he placed one
arrow in readiness in the cord which
was slung over his shoulder, fitted
another to his bow, and shot the
penny from the cap without hurting
the boy. Seeing this, the prince asked
him why he had placed the arrow in
that cord ; and he answered : “If I had
been deceived by the devil and had
killed my son, since I should have had
to die I would quickly have shot you
with the other arrow to avenge my
death.”

And though such wickedness is per¬
mitted by God for the proving and
chastisement of the faithful, nevertheless
more powerful miracles are performed
by the Saviour’s mercy for the strength¬
ening and glory of the Faith.

For in the diocese of Constance, near
the castle of Hohenzorn and a convent
of nuns, there is a newly-built church
where may be seen an image of Our
Saviour pierced with an arrow and
bleeding. And the truth of this miracle
is shown as follows. A miserable wretch
who wished to be assured by the devil
of having three or four arrows with
which he could, in the manner we have
told, kill whom he pleased, shot and
pierced with an arrow (just as it is
still seen) a certain Crucifix at a cross¬
road ; and when it miraculously began
to bleed,* the wretch was struck motion-

* “ Began to Bleed .” On 2g May, 1187, a
number of mercenaries and bandits were playing
with dice before the door of the church at Deols.
One of these fellows, who had lost a throw,
cursing and swearing, took up a stone, which he
flung at the figure of Our Lady with the Child
over the sacred portal. The arm of the Infant
JESUS was snapped in twain. “A stream of blood
poured from the arm of the broken image and
made a pool on the earth below. The wretch who
flung the stone was seized with madness, and
dropped down dead upon the spot.” The blood
was carefully collected in a phial which was
deposited in an Oratory dedicated to Our Lady.
Numberless cures were effected, and a Confrater¬
nity which was founded in honour of the miracle
flourished until the Revolution. It was re¬
organized in 1830, and on 31 May there is a
solemn Commemoration of the Blood-shedding of
JVotre Dame de Deols.

After S. Paul of the Cross (1634-1775) had
preached for the last time in the church of
Piagaro , a Crucifix over one of the side-altars was
seen to be oozing with blood. Hundreds wit¬
nessed the miracle, and later a chapel was built
to enshrine the Miraculous Cross. In 1630 at
Spoleto, drops of blood flowed from the head of

I5I

less in his steps by Divine power. And
when he was asked by a passer-by why
he stood fixed there, he shook his head,
and trembling in his arms and his hands,
in which he held the bow, and all over
his body, could answer nothing. So
the other looked about him, and saw
the Crucifix with the arrow and the
blood, and said : “You villain, you
have pierced the image of Our Lord !”
And calling some others, he told them to
see that he did not escape (although, as
has been said, he could not move), and
ran to the castle and told what had
happened. And they came down and
found the wretched man in the same
place; and when they had questioned
him, and he had confessed his crime,
he was removed from that district by
public justice, and suffered a miserable
death in merited expiation of his deeds.

But, alas ! how horrible it is to think
that human perversity is not afraid
to countenance such crimes. For it is
said that in the halls of the great such
men are maintained to glory in their
crimes in open contempt of the Faith,
to the heavy offence of the Divine
Majesty, and in scorn of Our Redeemer ;
and are permitted to boast of their
deeds.

Wherefore such protectors, defenders
and patrons are to be judged not only
heretics, but even apostates from the
Faith, and are to be punished in the
manner that will be told. And this
is the seventh deadly sin of these
wizards. For first they are by very
law excommunicated ; and if the
patrons are clerics they are degraded
and deprived of all office and benefit,
nor can they be restored except by a
special indulgence from the Apostolic
See. Also, if after their proscription
such protectors remain obstinate in
their excommunication for the period
of a year, they are to be condemned as
heretics.

This is in accordance with the
Canon Law ; for, in Book VI, it touches
on the question of direct or indirect
interference with the proceedings of
Diocesans and Inquisitors in the cause

a figure of Our Lord Crowned with Thorns.
Even in this unbelieving age the Most Holy
Crucifix of Limpias, El Santo Cristo de la
Agonia, sweats blood, whilst tears have been
observed in the eyes, which turn from side to side,
and the head sometimes moves as in all the
weariness of bitter pain. Very many other
instances of similar miracles might be cited.

!52

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 16

of the Faith, and mentions the aforesaid
punishment to be inflicted after a
year. For it says: We forbid any inter¬
ference from Potentates, temporal Lords
and Rulers, and their Officials, etc.
Anyone may refer to the chapter.

And further, that witches and their
protectors are by very law to be excom¬
municated is shown in the Canon of the
suppressing of the heresy of witchcraft ;
especially where it says: We excom¬
municate and anathematize all heretics,
Catharists, Sectaries . . . and others,
by whatever names they are known, etc.
And with these it includes all their
sympathizers and protectors, and others ;
saying later on: Also we excommuni¬
cate all followers, protectors, defenders
and patrons of such heretics.

The Canon Law prescribes various
penalties which are incurred within the
space of a year by such heretics,
whether laymen or clerics, where it
says : We place under the ban of excom¬
munication all their protectors, patrons
and defenders, so that when any such
has been so sentenced and has scorned
to recant his heresy, within a year
from that time he shall be considered
an outlaw, and shall not be admitted
to any office or council, nor be able
to vote in the election of such officers,
nor be allowed to give evidence; he is
not to be called as a witness, or to
be allowed free opportunity of giving
evidence ; he shall not succeed to any
inheritance, and no one shall be held
responsible for any business transaction
with him. If he be a judge, his judge¬
ment shall not stand, nor shall any
case be brought to his hearing. If he
be an advocate, he shall not be allowed
to plead. If he be a notary, no instru¬
ment drawn up by him shall have any
weight, but is to be condemned together
with its condemned author ; and similar
penalties are decreed for the holders
of other offices. But if he be a cleric,
he is to be degraded from all office and
benefice ; for, his guilt being the greater,
it is more heavily avenged. And if any
such, after they have been marked
down by the Church, contemptuously
try to ignore their punishment, the
sentence of excommunication is to
be rigorously applied to them to the
extreme limits of vengeance. And the
clergy shall not administer the Sacra¬
ments of the Church to such heretics,
nor presume to give them Christian
burial, nor accept their alms and

oblations, on pain of being deprived
of their office, to which they can in
no way be restored without a special
indulgence from the Apostolic See.

There are, finally, many other
penalties incurred by such heretics even
when they do not persist in their
'obstinacy for a year, and also by their
children and grandchildren: for they
can be degraded by a Bishop or by an
Inquisitor, declared deprived of all
titles, possessions, honours and ecclesias¬
tical benefits, in fine of all public
offices whatsoever. But this is only
when they are persistently and obstin¬
ately impenitent. Also their sons to
the second generation may be dis¬
qualified and unable to obtain either
ecclesiastical preferment or public
office ; but this is to be understood only
of the descendants on the father’s side,
and not on the mother’s, and only
of those who are impenitent. Also all
their followers, protectors, fautors and
patrons shall be denied all right of
petition or appeal ; and this is explained
as meaning that, after a verdict has been
returned that they are such heretics,
then can they make no appeal before
their sentence, however much they may
have been in any respect ill-used or
treated with undue severity. Much more
could be adduced in support of our
standpoint, but this is sufficient.

Now for the better understanding of
what has been said, some few points
are to be discussed. And first, if a
prince or secular potentate employ such
a wizard as we have described for the
destruction of some castle in a just
war, and with his help crushes the
tyranny of wicked men; is his whole
army to be considered as protectors and
patrons of that wizard, and to be
subjected to the penalties we have
mentioned? The answer seems to be
that the rigour of justice must be
tempered on account of their numbers.
For the leader, with his counsellors and
advisers, must be considered to have
aided and abetted such witchcraft,
and they are by law implicated in the
aforesaid penalties when, after being
warned by their spiritual advisers,
they have persisted in their bad course ;
and then they are to be judged pro¬
tectors and patrons, and are to be
punished. But the rest of the army,
since they have no part in their leaders’
council, but are simply prepared to
risk their lives in defence of their

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 16 MALEFICARU M

153

country, although they may view with
approval the feats of the wizard,
nevertheless escape the sentence of
excommunication; but they must in
their confession acknowledge the guilt
of the wizard, and in their absolution
by the confessor must receive a solemn
warning to hold all such practices for
ever in detestation, and as far as they
are able drive from their land all such
wizards.

It may be asked by whom such
princes are to be absolved when they
come to their senses, whether by their
own spiritual advisers or by the
Inquisitors? We answer that, if they
repent, they may be absolved either
by their spiritual advisers, or by the
Inquisitors. This is provided in the
Canon Law concerning the proceedings
to be taken, in the fear of God and as
a warning to men, against heretics,
their followers, protectors, patrons and
fautors, as also against those who are
accused or suspected of heresy. But
if any of the above, forswearing his
former lapse into heresy, wish to return
to the unity of the Church, he may
receive the benefit of absolution pro¬
vided by Holy Church.

A prince, or any other, may be said
to have returned to his senses when he
has delivered up the wizard to be
punished for his offences against the
Creator; when he has banished from
his dominions all who have been found
guilty of witchcraft or heresy; when
he is truly penitent for the past; and
when, as becomes a Catholic prince, he
is firmly determined in his mind not
to show any favour to any other such
wizard.

But it may be asked to whom should
such a man be surrendered, in what
court he should be tried, and whether
he is to be judged as one openly
apprehended in heresy ? The first diffi¬
culty is specially dealt with at the
beginning of the Third Part; namely,
whether it is the business of a secular or
of an ecclesiastical judge to punish
such men. It is manifestly stated in
the Canon Law that no temporal
magistrate or judge is competent to
try a case of heresy without a licence
from the Bishops and Inquisitors, or
at least under the hand of someone
who has authority from them. But
when it says that the secular courts have
no jurisdiction in this matter because
the crime of heresy is exclusively

ecclesiastical, this does not seem to
apply to the case of witches; for the
crimes of witches are not exclusively
ecclesiastical, but are also civil on
account of the temporal damage which
they do. Nevertheless, as will be shown
later, although the ecclesiastical judge
must try and judge the case, yet it is
for the secular judge to carry out the
sentence and inflict punishment, as is
shown in the chapters of the Canon on
the abolition of heresy, and on excom¬
munication. Wherefore, even if he does
surrender the witch to the Ordinary to
be judged, the secular judge has still
the power of punishing him after he
has been delivered back by the Bishop ;
and with the consent of the Bishop, the
secular judge can even perform both
offices, that is, he can both sentence
and punish.

And it is no valid objection to say
that such wizards are rather apostates
than heretics ; for both these are
offenders against the Faith ; but whereas
a heretic is only in some partial or
total doubt with regard to the Faith,
witchcraft in its very essence implies
apostasy intent from the Faith. For it
is a heavier sin to corrupt the Faith,
which is the life of the soul, than to
falsify money, which is a prop to the
life of the body. And if counterfeiters
of money, and other malefactors, are
immediately sentenced to death by
the secular courts, how much more just
and equitable it is that such heretics
and apostates should be immediately
put to death when they are convicted.

Here we have also answered the
second difficulty, namely, by what
court and judge such men are to be
punished. But this will be more fully
considered in the Third Part of this
work, where we treat of the methods of
sentencing the offenders, and how one
taken in open heresy is to be sentenced
(see the eighth and twelfth methods),
and of the question whether one who
becomes penitent is still to be put to
death.

For if a simple heretic constantly
backslides as often as he repents, he
is to be put to death according to the
Canon Law; and this is reasonable
according to S. Thomas, as being for
the general good. For if relapsed here¬
tics are often and often received back
and allowed to live and keep their
temporal goods, it might prejudice the
salvation of others, both because they

154

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn i. Ch. 16

might infect others if they fell again,
and because, if they were to escape
without punishment, others would have
less fear in being infected with heresy.
And their very relapse argues that they
are not constant in the Faith, and they
are therefore justly to be put to death.
And so we ought to say here that, if a
mere suspicion of inconstancy is suffi¬
cient warrant for an ecclesiastical judge
to hand over such a backslider to the
secular court to be put to death, much
more must he do so in the case of one
who refuses to prove his penitence and
change of heart by handing over to the
secular court an apostate or any witch,
but rather leaves free and unchecked
one whom the secular judge wishes
to put to death as a witch according to
the law, on account of the temporal
injuries of which he has been guilty.
But if the witch is penitent, the ecclesi¬
astical judge must first absolve him
from the excommunication which he
has incurred because of the heresy of
witchcraft. Also when a heretic is
penitent, he can be received back
into the bosom of the Church for the
salvation of his soul. This matter is
further discussed in the First Question
of the Third Part, and this is ample
for the present. Only let all Rulers
consider how strictly and minutely they
will be called to account by that
terrible Judge; for indeed there will
be a very severe judgement on those
in authority who allow such wizards to
live and work their injuries against the
Creator.

The other two classes of wizards
belong to the general category of those
who can use incantations and sacri¬
legious charms so as to render certain
weapons incapable of harming or
wounding them ; and these are divided
into two kinds. For the first class
resemble the archer-wizards of whom
we have just spoken, in that they also
mutilate the image of Christ crucified.
For example, if they wish their' head to
be immune from any wound from a
weapon or from any blow, they take off
the head of the Crucifix ; if they wish
their neck to be invulnerable, they
take off its neck; if their arm, they
take off, or at least shorten, the arm,
and so on. And sometimes they take
away all above the waist, or below it.
And in proof of this, hardly one in ten
of the Crucifixes set up at cross-roads
or in the fields can be found whole and

intact. And some carry the limbs thus
broken off about with them, and others
procure their invulnerability by means
of sacred or unknown words : therefore
there is this difference between them.
The first sort resemble the archer-
wizards in their contempt of the Faith
and their mutilation of the image of the
Saviour, and are therefore to be con¬
sidered as true apostates, and so must
be judged when they are taken ; but not
to the same degree as the archers, for
it is manifest that they do not approach
them in wickedness. For they seem
only to act for the protection of their
own bodies, either above the waist or
below it, or of the whole body. There¬
fore they are to be judged as penitent
heretics and not relapsed, when they
have been convicted as wizards and
have repented ; and they are to be
imposed a penance according to the
eighth manner, with solemn adjuration
and incarceration, as is shown in the
Third Part of this work.

The second sort can magically en¬
chant weapons so that they can walk
on them with bare feet, and similar
strange feats do they perform (for
according to S. Isidore, Etym. VIII,
enchanters are those who have some
skill to perform wonders by means of
words). And there is a distinction to
be made between them ; for some per¬
form their incantations by means of
sacred words, or charms written up
over the sick, and these are lawful
provided that seven conditions are
observed, as will be shown later where
we deal with the methods of curing those
who are bewitched. But incantations
made over weapons by certain secret
words, or cases where the charms
written for the sick have been taken
down, are matters for the judge’s
attention. For when they use words of
which they do not themselves know
the meaning, or characters and signs
which are not the sign of the Gross,
such practices are altogether to be
repudiated, and good men should
beware of the cruel arts of these war-
locks. And if they will not desist from
such deeds, they must be judged as
suspects although lightly, and the
manner of sentencing such after the
second method will be shown later.
For they are not untainted with the sin
of heresy; for deeds of this kind can
only be done with the help of the devil,
and, as we have shown, he who uses

Part II. Question 2.

MALEFICARUM

155

such help is judged to be an apostate
from the Faith. Yet on the plea of
ignorance or of mending their ways
they may be dealt with more leniently
than the archer-wizards.

It is most commonly found that
traders and merchants are in the habit
of carrying about them such charms
and runes ; and since they partake
of the nature of incantations, a com¬
plete riddance must be made of them,
either by the father confessor in the
box, or in open court by the ecclesi¬
astical judge. For these unknown words
and characters imply a tacit compact
with the devil, who secretly uses such
things for his own purpose, granting
their wearers their wishes, that he
may lure them on to worse things.
Therefore in the court of law such men
must be warned and sentenced after
the second method. In the box, the
confessor must examine the charm, and
if he is unwilling to throw it away
altogether, he must delete the unknown
words and signs, but may keep any
Gospel words or the sign of the Gross.

Now with regard to all these classes
of wizards, and especially the archers,
it must be noted, as has been declared
above, whether they are to be judged
as heretics openly taken in that sin;
and we have touched on this matter
even before in the First Question of
the First Part. And there it is shown
that S. Bernard says that there are
three ways by which a man can be
convicted of heresy : either by the
evidence of the fact when in simple
heresy he publicly preaches his errors,
or by the credible evidence of witnesses,
or by a man’s own confession. S.
Bernard also explains the meaning
of some of the words of the Canon
Law in this connexion, as was shown
in the First Question of the First Part
of this work.

It is clear, therefore, that archer-
wizards, and those mages who enchant
other weapons, are to be considered as
manifestly guilty of flagrant heresy,
through some expressed pact with the
devil, since it is obvious that their
feats would not be possible without
the devil’s help.

Secondly, it is equally clear that
the patrons, protectors and defenders
of such men are manifestly to be judged
in the same way, and subjected to the
prescribed punishments. For there is
not in their case, as there may be in that

of several . others, any doubt as to
whether they are to be regarded as
lightly or strongly or gravely suspected ;
but they are always very grave sinners
against the Faith, and are always
visited by God with a miserable death.

For it is told that a certain prince
used to keep such wizards in his
favour, and by their help unduly
oppressed a certain city in matters
of commerce. And when one of his
retainers remonstrated with him over
this, he threw away all fear of God and
exclaimed, “God grant that I may
die in this place if I am oppressing
them unjustly.” Divine vengeance
quickly followed these words, and he
was stricken down with sudden death.
And this vengeance was not so much
on account of his unjust oppression as
because of his patronage of heresy.

Thirdly, it is clear that all Bishops
and Rulers who do not essay their utmost
to suppress crimes of this sort, with
their authors and patrons, are them¬
selves to be judged as evident abettors
of the crime, and are manifestly to
be punished in the prescribed manner.

☆

QUESTION II

The Methods of Destroying and Cur¬
ing Witchcraft.

Introduction , wherein is set Forth the
Difficulty of this Question.

IS it lawful to remove witchcraft by
means of further witchcraft, or by
any other forbidden means?

It is argued that it is not; for it has
already been shown that in the Second
Book of Sentences, and the 8th Distinc¬
tion, all the Doctors agree that it is
unlawful to use the help of devils,
since to do so involves apostasy from
the Faith. And, it is argued, no witch¬
craft can be removed without the help
of devils. For it is submitted that it
must be cured either by human power,
or by diabolic, or by Divine power. It
cannot be by the first; for the lower
power cannot counteract the higher,
having no control over that which is
outside its own natural capacity.
Neither can it be by Divine power;
for this would be a miracle, which God
performs only at His own will, and not
at the instance of men. For when His

156

MALLEUS

Part II. Question 2.

Mother besought Christ to perform a
miracle to supply the need for wine,
He answered : Woman, what have I to
do with thee? And the Doctors explain
this as meaning, “What association is
there between you and me in the work¬
ing of a miracle?”* Also it appears
that it is very rarely that men are
delivered from a bewitchment by call¬
ing on God’s help or the prayers of
the Saints. Therefore it follows that
they can only be delivered by the help
of devils; and it is unlawful to seek
such help.

Again it is pointed out that the
common method in practice of taking
off a bewitchment, although it is quite
unlawful, is for the bewitched persons
to resort to wise women, by whom
they are very frequently cured, and
not by priests or exorcists. So experi¬
ence shows that such cures are effected
by the help of devils, which it is un¬
lawful to seek; therefore it cannot be
lawful thus to cure a bewitchment, but
it must patiently be borne.

It is further argued that S. Thomas
and S. Bonaventura, in Book IV,
dist. 34, have said that a bewitchment
must be permanent because it can
have no human remedy ; for if there is
a remedy, it is either unknown to men
or unlawful. And these words are taken
to mean that this infirmity is incurable
and must be regarded as permanent;
and they add that, even if God should
provide a remedy by coercing the
devil, and the devil should remove his
plague from a man, and the man
should be cured, that cure would not
be a human one. Therefore, unless
God should cure it, it is not lawful for
a man himself to try in any way to
look for a cure.

In the same place these two Doctors
add that it is unlawful even to seek a
remedy by the superadding of another
bewitchment. For they say that, grant¬
ing this to be possible, and that the
original spell be removed, yet the

* “Miracle” The sense is completely mis¬
taken here. It should rather be, “Lady, uihat is
it to Me and to Thee ” if these people lack wine?
Our Lord marvels at the supreme charity of Our
Lady. The first miracle was wrought at the
request of MART. Quod Deus imperio tu prece,
Virgo, potes. It may be argued that all miracles
are performed at the request of Our Lady, since,
as S. Bernard says, God wishes us to obtain
everything through Her. Totum nos uoluit
habere per MARIAM.

witchcraft is none the less to be con¬
sidered permanent; for it is in no way
lawful to invoke the devil’s help
through witchcraft.

Further, it is submitted that the
exorcisms of the Church are not
always effective in the repression of
devilsf in the matter of bodily afflic¬
tions, since such are cured only at the
discretion of God; but they are effec¬
tive always against those molestations
of devils against which they are chiefly
instituted, as, for example, against
men who are possessed, or in the matter
of exorcising children.

Again, it does not follow that,
because the devil has been given power
over someone on account of his sins,
that power must come to an end on
the cessation of the sin. For very often
a man may cease from sinning, but his
sins still remain. So it seems from these
sayings that the two Doctors we have
cited were of the opinion that it is
unlawful to remove a bewitchment,
but that it must be suffered, just as it
is permitted by the Lord God, Who
can remove it when it seems good to
Him.

Against this opinion it is argued that
just as God and Nature do not abound
in superfluities, so also they are not
deficient in necessities ; and it is a neces¬
sity that there should be given to the
faithful against such devils’ work not
only a means of protection (of which we
treat in the beginning of this Second
Part), but also curative remedies. For
otherwise the faithful would not be
sufficiently provided for by God, and
the works of the devil would seem to
be stronger than God’s works.

Also there is the gloss on that text in
Job. There is no power on earth,
etc. The gloss says that, although the
devil has power over all things human,
he is nevertheless subject to the merits
of the Saints, and even to the merits of
saintly men in this life.

Again, S. Augustine ( De moribus
Ecclesiae)% says: No Angel is more
powerful than our mind, when we hold
fast to God. For if power is a virtue
in this world, then the mind that keeps
close to God is more sublime than the

f “Devils.” If the exorcism is not effective it is
owing to lack of faith.

J “De Moribus.” “De Moribus ecclesiae
catholicae et de moribus Manichaeorum ” was
written 388-89.

Part II. Question 2.

MALEFICARUM

157

whole world. Therefore such minds can
undo the works of the devil.

Answer. Here are two weighty opin¬
ions which, it seems, are at complete
variance with each other.

For there are certain Theologians and
Canonists who agree that it is lawful to
remove witchcraft even by superstitious
and vain means. And of this opinion
are Duns Scotus,* Henry of Segusio,
and Godfrey, and all the Canonists.
But it is the opinion of the other
Theologians, especially the ancient
ones, and of some of the modern ones,
such as S. Thomas, S. Bonaventura,
Blessed Albert, Peter a Palude, and
many others, that in no case must evil
be done that good may result, and that
a man ought rather to die than consent
to be cured by superstitious and vain
means.

Let us now examine their opinions,
with a view to bringing them as far as
possible into agreement. Scotus, in his
Fourth Book, dist. 34, on obstructions
and impotence caused by witchcraft,
says that it is foolish to maintain that
it is unlawful to remove a bewitchment
even by superstitious and vain means,
and that to do so is in no way contrary
to the Faith; for he who destroys the
work of the devil is not an accessory
to such works, but believes that the
devil has the power and inclination to
help in the infliction of an injury only
so long as the outward token or sign
of that injury endures. Therefore when
that token is destroyed he puts an end
to the injury. And he adds that it is
meritorious to destroy the works of the
devil. But, as he speaks of tokens, we
will give an example.

There are women who discover a
witch by the following token. When a
cow’s supply of milk has been dimin¬
ished by witchcraft, they hang a pail
of milk over the fire, and uttering cer¬
tain superstitious words, beat the pail
with a stick. And though it is the pail
that the women beat, yet the devil
carries all those blows to the back of
the witch; and in this way both the
witch and the devil are made weary.

* “ Duns Scotus .” John Duns Scotus, Doctor
Subtilis, the famous Franciscan scholastic, died
8 November, 1308. He lived and taught at
Oxford, and for a time at Paris. His complete
work with commentaries appeared at Paris,
i8gi-gj, in twenty-six volumes, quarto, being a
reprint of the twelve folio volumes which were
issued by Luke Wadding in 1633 at Lyons.

But the devil does this in order that
he may lead on the woman who beats
the pail to worse practices. And so, if
it were not for the risk which it entails,
there would be no difficulty in accept¬
ing the opinion of this learned Doctor.
Many other examples could be given.

Henry of Segusio, in his eloquent
Summa on genital impotence caused by
witchcraft, says that in such cases re¬
course must be had to the remedies of
physicians ; and although some of these
remedies seem to be vain and super¬
stitious cantrips and charms, yet every¬
one must be trusted in his own pro¬
fession, and the Church may well
tolerate the suppression of vanities by
means of other vanities.

Ubertinusj also, in his Fourth Book,
uses these words : A bewitchment can
be removed either by prayer or by the
same art by which it was inflicted.

Godfrey says in his Summa : A
bewitchment cannot always be re¬
moved by him who caused it, either
because he is dead, or because he does
not know how to cure it, or because
the necessary charm is lost. But if he
knows how to effect relief, it is lawful
for him to cure it. Our author is speak¬
ing against those who said that an
obstruction of the carnal act could not
be caused by witchcraft, and that it
could never be permanent, and there¬
fore did not annul a marriage already
contracted.

Besides, those who maintained that
no spell is permanent were moved by
the following reasons : they thought
that every bewitchment could be re¬
moved either by another magic spell,
or by the exorcisms of the Church
which are ordained for the suppression
of the devil’s power, or by true peni¬
tence, since the devil has power only
over sinners. So in the first respect they
agree with the opinion of the others,
namely, that a spell can be removed
by superstitious means.

But S. Thomas is of the contrary
opinion when he says : If a spell can¬
not be revoked except by some unlaw-

| “ Ubertinus .” Ubertino of Casale, leader
of the Spiritual Franciscans, who expressed
extreme views regarding evangelical poverty. He
was born in 1233, and died about 1330. Owing
to his warm advocacy of the strictest ideas he was
severely condemned by the authorities, and his
history is a matter of considerable difficulty. His
chief work is generally considered to be “ Arbor
uitae crucifixae JESU Christi .”

158

MALLEUS

Part II. Question 2.

ful means, such as the devil’s help or
anything of that sort, even if it is known
that it can be revoked in that way, it
is nevertheless to be considered perma¬
nent ; for the remedy is not lawful.

Of the same opinion are S. Bona-
ventura, Peter a Palude, Blessed
Albert, and all the Theologians. For,
touching briefly on the question of
invoking the help of the devil either
tacitly or expressedly, they seem to hold
that such spells may only be removed
by lawful exorcism or true penitence
(as is set down in the Canon Law con¬
cerning sortilege), being moved, as it
seems, by the considerations mentioned
in the beginning of this Question.

But it is expedient to bring these
various opinions of the learned Doctors
as far as possible into agreement, and
this can be done in one respect. For
this purpose it is to be noted that the
methods by which a spell of witchcraft
can be removed are as follows : — either
by the agency of another witch and
another spell ; or without the agency of
a witch, but by means of magic and
unlawful ceremonies. And this last
method may be divided into two ;
namely, the use of ceremonies which
are both unlawful and vain, or the use
of ceremonies which are vain but not
unlawful.

The first remedy is altogether un¬
lawful, in respect both of the agent and
of the remedy itself. But it may be
accomplished in two ways ; either with
some injury to him who worked the
spell, or without any injury, but with
. magic and unlawful ceremonies. In the
latter case it can be included with the
second method, namely, that by which
the spell is removed not by the agency
of a witch, but by magic and unlawful
ceremonies; and in this case it is still
to be judged unlawful, though not to
the same extent as the first method.

We may summarize the position as
follows. There are three conditions by
which a remedy is rendered unlawful.
First, when the spell is removed through
the agency of another witch, and by
further witchcraft, that is, by the power
of some devil. Secondly, when it is
not removed by a witch, but by some
honest person, in such a way, however,
that the spell is by some magical remedy
transferred from one person to another ;
and this again is unlawful. Thirdly,
when the spell is removed without
imposing it on another person, but

some open or tacit invocation of
devils is used ; and then again it is un¬
lawful.

And it is with reference to these
methods that the Theologians say that
it is better to die than to consent to
them. But there are two other methods
by which, according to the Canonists,
it is lawful, or not idle and vain, to
remove a spell ; and that such methods
may be used when all the remedies of
the Church, such as exorcisms and the
prayers of the Saints and true peni¬
tence, have been tried and have failed.
But for a clearer understanding of
these remedies we will recount some
examples known to our experience.

In the time of Pope Nicolas there
had come to Rome on some business
a certain Bishop from Germany, whom
it is charitable not to name although
he has now paid the debt of all nature.
There he fell in love with a girl, and
sent her to his diocese in charge of two
servants and certain other of his posses¬
sions, including some rich jewels. While
this girl was on her way, with the
usual greed of women, she grew
covetous of these jewels, which were
indeed very valuable, and began to
think in her heart that, if only the
Bishop were to die through some witch¬
craft, she would be able to take posses¬
sion of the rings, the pendants and
carcanets. The next night the Bishop
suddenly fell ill, and the physicians
and his servants gravely suspected
that he had been poisoned; for there
was such a fire in his breast that he had
to take continual draughts of cold
water to assuage it. On the third day,
when there seemed no hope of his life,
an old woman came and begged that
she might see him, saying that she had
come to heal him. So they let her in,
and she promised the Bishop that she
could heal him if he would agree to
her proposals. When the Bishop asked
what it was to which he had to agree
in order to regain his health, as he so
greatly desired, the old woman an¬
swered : Y our illness has been caused
by a spell of witchcraft, and you can
only be healed by another spell, which
will transfer the illness from you to the
witch who caused it, so that she will
die. The Bishop was astounded; and
seeing that he could be healed in no
other way, and not wishing to come to
a rash decision, decided to ask the
advice of the Pope. Now the Holy

Part II. Question 2

MALEFICARUM

r59

Father loved him very dearly, and
when he learned that he could only
be healed by the death of the witch,
he agreed to permit the lesser of two
evils, and signed this permission with
his seal. So the old woman was again
approached and told that both he and
the Pope had agreed to the death of
the witch, on condition that he was
restored to his former health; and the
old woman went away, promising him
that he would be healed on the follow¬
ing night. And behold ! when about
the middle of the night he felt himself
cured and free from all illness, he sent
a messenger to learn what had hap¬
pened to the girl; and he came back
and reported that she had suddenly
been taken ill in the middle of the
night while sleeping by her mother’s
side.

It is to be understood that at the
very same hour and moment the illness
left the Bishop and afflicted the girl
witch, through the agency of the old
witch ; and so the evil spirit, by ceasing
to plague the Bishop, appeared to
restore him to health by chance,
whereas it was not he but God Who
permitted him to afflict him, and it was
God Who properly speaking restored
him; and the devil, by reason of his
compact with the second witch, who
envied the fortune of the girl, had to
afflict the Bishop’s mistress. And it
must be thought that those two evil
spells were not worked by one devil
serving two persons, but by two devils
serving two separate witches. For the
devils do not work against themselves,*
but work as much as possible in agree¬
ment for the perdition of souls.

Finally, the Bishop went out of com¬
passion to visit the girl; but when he
entered the room, she received him
with horrible execrations, crying out:
May you and she who wrought your
cure be damned for ever! And the
Bishop tried to soften her mind to
penitence, and told her that he for¬
gave her all her wrongs ; but she
turned her face away and said : I have
no hope of pardon, but commend my
soul to all the devils in hell; and died
miserably. But the Bishop returned
home with joy and thankfulness.

Here it is to be noted that a privilege

* “ Against themselves .” “ S . Matthew ”
xii , 26: “ Et si Satanas Satanam eiicit, aduersus
se diuisus est: quomodo ergo stabit regnum eius?”

granted to one does not constitute a
precedent for all, and the dispensation
of the Pope in this case does not argue
that it is lawful in all cases.

Nider in his Formicarius refers to the
same matter, for he says : The following
method is sometimes employed for
removing or taking vengeance for a
spell of witchcraft. Someone who has
been bewitched either in himself or in
his possessions comes to a witch desir¬
ing to know who has injured him.
Then the witch pours molten lead into
water until, by the work of the devil,
some image is formed by the solidified
lead. On this, the witch asks in which
part of the body he wishes his enemy
to be hurt, so that he may recognize
him by that hurt. And when he has
chosen, the witch immediately pierces
or wounds with a knife the leaden
image in the same part, and shows him
the place by which he can recognize
the guilty person. And it is found by
experience that, just in the same way as
the leaden image is hurt, so is the
witch hurt who cast the spell.

But of this sort of remedy I say, and
of others like it, that generally they are
unlawful; although human weakness,
in the hope of obtaining pardon from
God, is very often ensnared in such
practices, being more careful for the
health of the body than for that of the
soul.

The second kind of cure which is
wrought by witches who remove a spell
again requires an expressed pact with
the devil, but is not accompanied by
any injury to another person. And in
what light such witches should be con¬
sidered, and how they are to be recog¬
nized, will be shown later in the
fifteenth method of sentencing witches.
There are very many such witches, for
they are always to be found at intervals
of one or two German miles, and these
seem to be able to cure any who have
been bewitched by another witch in
their own district. Some of them claim
to be able to effect such cures at all
times; some that they can only cure
those bewitched in the neighbouring
signiory ; others that they can only
perform their cures with the consent
of the witch who cast the original
spell.

And it is known that these women
have entered into an open pact with
the devil, because they reveal secret
matters to those who come to them to

i6o

MALLEUS

Part II. Question 2

be cured. For they suddenly disclose
to such a person the cause of his
calamity, telling him that he has been
bewitched either in his own person or
in his possessions because of some
quarrel he has had with a neighbour
or with some other woman or man;
and at times, in order to keep their
criminal practices secret, they enjoin
upon their clients some pilgrimage or
other pious work. But to approach
such women in order to be cured is all
the more pernicious because they seem
to bring greater contempt upon the
Faith than others who effect their
cures by means of a merely tacit com¬
pact with the devil.

For they who resort to such witches
are thinking more of their bodily
health than of God, and besides that,
God cuts short their lives to punish
them for taking into their own hands
the vengeance for their wrongs. For so
the Divine vengeance overtook Saul,
because he first cast out of the land all
magicians and wizards, and afterwards
consulted a witch; wherefore he was
slain in battle with his sons, I. Samuel
xxviii, and I. Paralipomenon x. And
for the same reason the sick Ochozias*
had to die, IV. Kings i (Ahaziah;
II. Kings i. A.V.).

Also they who consult such witches
are regarded as defamed, and cannot
be allowed to bring an accusation, as
will be shown in the Third Part; and
they are by law to be sentenced to
capital punishment, as was said in the
First Question of this work.

But alas ! O Lord God, Who art
just in all Thy judgements, who shall
deliver the poor who are bewitched
and cry out in their ceaseless pains?
For our sins are so great, and the
enemy is so strong ; and where are they
who can undo the works of the devil
by lawful exorcisms? This one remedy
appears to be left; that judges should,
by various penalties, keep such wicked¬
ness as far as possible in check by

* “Ochozias,” who when sick sent messen¬
gers, saying to them: Go, consult Beelzebub, the
god of Hecaron, whether I shall recover of this
my illness. And an angel of the Lord spoke to
Elias the Thesbite, saying: Arise, and go up to
meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and
say to them: Is there not a God in Israel, that ye
go to consult Beelzebub, the god of Hecaron?
Wherefore thus saith the Lord: From the bed on
which thou art gone up thou shalt not come down,
but thou shalt surely die.”

punishing the witches who are the
cause of it; that so they may deprive
the sick of the opportunity of consulting
witches. But, alas ! no one understands
this in his heart; but they all seek for
their own gain instead of that of JESUS
Christ.

For so many people used to go to be
freed from spells to that witch in Reichs-
hofen, whom we have already men¬
tioned, that the Count of the castle set
up a toll-booth, and all who were be¬
witched in their own persons or in
their possessions had to pay a penny
before they could visit her house; and
he boasted that he made a substantial
profit by this means.

We know from experience that there
are many such witches in the diocese
of Constance: not that this diocese is
more infected than others, since this
form of infidelity is general in all
dioceses ; but this diocese has been more
thoroughly sifted. It was found that
daily resort was being made to a man
named Hengst by a very large con¬
course of poor folk who had been be¬
witched, and with our own eyes we
saw such crowds in the village of
Eningen, that certainly the poor never
flocked to any shrine of the Blessed
Virgin, or to a Holy Well or a Hermi¬
tage, in such numbers as they went to
that sorcerer. For in the very coldest
winter weather, when all the highways
and byways were snow-bound, they
came to him from two or three miles
round in spite of the greatest diffi¬
culties ; and some were cured, but
others not. For I suppose that all spells
are not equally easy to remove, on
account of various obstacles, as has
been said before. And these witches
remove spells by means of an open
invocation of devils after the manner
of the second kind of remedies, which
are unlawful, but not to the same extent
as the first kind.

The third kind of remedy is that
which is wrought by means of certain
superstitious ceremonies, but without
any injury to anyone, and not by an
overt witch. An example of this method
is as follows :

A certain market merchant in the
town of Spires deposed that the follow¬
ing experience had happened to him.
I was staying, he said, in Swabia in a
well-known nobleman’s castle, and one
day after dinner I was strolling at my
ease with two of the servants in the

Part II. Question 2.

MALEFICARUM

161

fields, when a woman met us. But
while she was still a long way off my
companions recognized her, and one
of them said to me, “Cross yourself
quickly,” and the other one urged me
in like manner. I asked them what
they feared, and they answered, “The
most dangerous witch in the whole
Province is coming to meet us, and she
can cast a spell on men by only looking
at them.” But I obstinately boasted
that I had never been afraid of such;
and hardly had I uttered the words
before I felt myself grievously hurt in
the left foot, so that I could not move
it from the ground or take a step with¬
out the greatest pain. Whereupon they
quickly sent to the castle for a horse
for me, and thus led me back. But the
pains went on increasing for three days.

The people of the castle, understand¬
ing that I had been bewitched, related
what had happened to a certain peasant
who lived about a mile away, whom
they knew to have skill in removing
spells. This man quickly came and,
after examining my foot, said, “I will
test whether these pains are due to a
natural cause ; and if I find that they
are due to witchcraft, I will cure you
with the help of God; but if they are
not, you must have recourse to natural
remedies.” Whereupon I made reply,
“If I can be cured without any magic,
and with the help of God, I will gladly
agree; but I will have nothing to do
with the devil, nor do I wish for his
help.” And the peasant promised that
he would use none except lawful means,
and that he would cure me by the
help of God, provided that he could
make certain that my pains were due
to witchcraft. So I consented to his
proposals. Then he took molten lead
(in the manner of another witch whom
we have mentioned), and held it in an
iron ladle over my foot, and poured it
into a bowl of water ; and immediately
there appeared the shapes of various
things, as if thorns and hairs and bones
and such things had been put into the
bowl. “Now,” he said, ‘T see that this
infirmity is not natural, but certainly
due to witchcraft.” And when I asked
him how he could tell this from the
molten lead, he answered, “There are
seven metals belonging to the seven
planets; and since Saturn is the Lord
of lead, when lead is poured out over
anyone who has been bewitched, it is his
property to discover the witchcraft by

M

his power. And so it has surely proved,
and you will soon be cured ; yet I must
visit you for as many days as you have
been under this spell.” And he asked
me how many days had passed; and
when I told him that was the third day,
he came to see me on each of the next
three days, and merely by examining
and touching my foot and by saying
over to himself certain words, he dis¬
solved the charm and restored me to
complete health.

In this case it is clear that the healer
is not a witch, although his method is
something superstitious. For in that he
promised a cure by the help of God,
and not by devils’ work, and that he
alleged the influence of Saturn over
lead, he was irreproachable and rather
to be commended. But there remains
some small doubt as to the power by
which the witch’s spell was removed,
and the figures caused in the lead. For
no witchcraft can be removed by any
natural power, although it may be
assuaged, as will be proved later where
we speak of the remedies for those who
are possessed: therefore it seems that
he performed this cure by means of
at least some tacit pact with a devil.
And we call such a pact tacit when the
practitioner agrees tacitly, at any rate,
to employ the devil’s aid. And in this
way many superstitious works are done,
but with a varying degree of offence to
the Creator, since there may be far
more offence to Him in one operation
than in another.

Yet because this peasant was certain
of effecting a cure, and because he had
to visit the patient for as many days
as he had been ill, and although he
used no natural remedies, yet cured
him according to the promise made;
for these reasons, although he had
entered into no open pact with the
devil, he is to be judged not only as a
suspect, but as one plainly guilty of
heresy, and must be considered as con¬
victed and subject at least to the
penalties set out below in the second
method of sentencing; but his punish¬
ment must be accompanied with a
solemn adjuration, unless he is pro¬
tected by other laws which seem to be
of a contrary intention ; and what the
Ordinary should do in such a case will
be shown later in the solution of the
arguments.

The fourth class of remedies, con¬
cerning which the Canonists are in

MALLEUS

Part II. Question 2.

162

partial agreement with some of the
Theologians, is said to be no worse
than idle and vain; since it is super¬
stitious only, and there is no pact
either open or tacit with the devil as
regards the intention or purpose of the
practitioner. And I say that the Canon¬
ists and some Theologians are only
partially agreed that this sort of
remedy is to be tolerated; for their
agreement or non-agreement depends
upon whether or not they class this
sort of remedies together with the third
sort. But this sort of vain remedy is
exemplified above in the case of the
women who beat a pail hung over the
fire in order that the witch may be
beaten who has caused a cow to be
drained of milk ; although this may be
done either in the name of the devil or
without any reference to him.

We may adduce other examples of
the same kind. For sometimes when a
cow has been injured in this way, and
they wish to discover who has be¬
witched it, they drive it out into the
fields with a man’s trousers, or some
such unclean thing, upon its head or
back. And this they do chiefly on
Feast Days and Holy Days, and pos¬
sibly with some sort of invocation of
the devil; and they beat the cow with
a stick and drive it away. Then the
cow runs straight to the house of the
witch, and beats vehemently upon the
door with its horns, lowing loudly all
the while ; and the devil causes the cow
to go on doing this until it is pacified
by some other witchcraft.

Actually, and according to the afore¬
said Doctors, such remedies can be
tolerated, but they are not meritorious,
as some try to maintain. For S. Paul
says that everything which we do, in
word or deed, must be done in the
name of Our Lord JESUS Christ. Now
in this sort of remedy there may be no
direct invocation of the devil, and yet
the devil’s name may be mentioned :
and again there may be no intention
to do such things by means of any
open or tacit pact with the devil, yet
a man may say, “I wish to do this,
whether the devil has any part in it or
not” ; and that very temerity, by put¬
ting aside the fear of God, offends God,
Who therefore grants the devil power
to accomplish such cures. Therefore
they who use such practices must be
led into the way of penitence, and
urged to leave such things and turn

rather to the remedies of which we
shall speak later, though we have
touched upon them before, namely, the
use of Holy Water and Blessed Salt and
exorcisms, etc.

In the same light should be regarded
those who use the following method.
When an animal has been killed by
witchcraft, and they wish to find out
the witch, or to make certain whether
its death was natural or due to witch¬
craft, they go to the place where dead
animals are skinned, and drag its
intestines along the ground up to their
house; not into the house through the
main door, but over the threshold of
the back entrance into the kitchen;
and then they make a fire and put the
intestines over it on a hurdle. Then,
according to what we have very often
been told, just as the intestines get hot
and burn, so are the intestines of the
witch afflicted with burning pains.*

* “Burning pains .” The following quotation
is from an article “ Witchcraft , Past and
Present ,” by Lady Peirse, that appeared in
“Word-Lore ,” Vol. I, No. 3 (pp. 122-28 ),
May- June, 1326. The district to which refer¬
ence is made is “a south-country village in
England .” “A local farmer, whose cows and
sheep ailed mysteriously, and showed all the
usual signs of being ‘ overlooked 5 or bewitched,
whilst things in general went wrong with him,
consulted the witch doctor, and was told to
repeat a certain charm last thing at night, to nail
a sheep's heart to his front door, to bolt and bar
up the house, to sit up alone, and on no account to
open the door till morning, no matter what
happened.

“This the farmer did, and when his family
had repaired to bed, he commenced his lonely
vigil by the kitchen fire. After a while there
came a thunderous knocking on the door, and a
voice crying ''Open and let me in .’ The voice was
very urgent, but the farmer, though he trembled
exceedingly, kept firm grip of himself and never
moved from his chair. Then came the knocking a
second time and a deplorable voice begging to be
allowed in, but the farmer remained obdurate.
Lastly came a feeble knocking and moaning. The
farmer, who was greatly alarmed, remained at his
post till the sun was up next morning. When he
opened his door a neighbour lay stretched across
his threshold dead.

“The doctor, so my friend was told, believed
it to be a case of heart failure. We can only
imagine that the farmer and his family remained
silent about the voice and the knocking at the
door; perhaps no one but the farmer had heard.
To the doctor, a simple though regrettable
episode; to the farmer, an awesome case of
retribution. To the world at large, a story that
may be interpreted in many different ways; but

Part II. Question 2. [MALEFICARUM

163

But when they perform this experiment
they take great care that the door is
securely locked; because the witch is
compelled by her pains to try to enter
the house, and if she can take a coal
from the fire, all her pains will dis¬
appear. And we have often been told
that, when she is unable to enter the
house, she surrounds it inside and out
with the densest fog, with such horrible
shrieks and commotions that at last all
those in the house think the roof is
verily going to fall down and crush
them unless they open the door.

Certain other experiments are of the
same nature. For sometimes people
pick out the witches from a number of
women in church by causing the
witches to be unable to leave the church

with a lesson for all who run to read, namely,
that it does not pay to practise witchcraft or the
indulgence of personal spite if there happens to be
a witch doctor in the neighbourhood, since it is
apparently quite an easy thing, with a little
occult knowledge, to do the witch to death!
Throughout many centuries witches in the long
run always seem to come off second best. Faith
and fear in their victims seem to lend them
strength, just as faith and love help righteous¬
ness. ”

Not very many years ago a farmer and his wife
who lived in the country just outside Milan came
to the conclusion that their daughter, who had
long been suffering from a mysterious ailment,
which the best doctors in Milan seemed unable to
diagnose and cure, was bewitched by an old
woman dwelling in their village, a wretch of
notoriously bad reputation, whom the girl had
unwittingly offended in some small way.
Accordingly they resorted to a “ wise man,” who
lived in a small town a good many miles distant.
He gave them a bundle of herbs, telling them to
boil these in water and at the same time to recite
a certain rune or rhyme which he taught them.
He told them that if their daughter was indeed
plagued by the malice of some individual, as the
water boiled the witch who had cast the spell
would be so tormented that she would hasten to
their house and betray herself by begging them to
take the cauldron from the fire. They could then
refuse to do so unless she at once relieved the girl
from her sickness. They precisely obeyed the
directions which had been given, and hardly had
the water begun to bubble with the heat than
there came running the hag whom they had
suspected, imploring them with every symptom of
intense agony to throw away the contents of the
pot. This they would not do unless the charm
was broken. In her despair the old woman
promised to restore their daughter to health, and
from that time the child rapidly began to mend
until she was as stout and sturdy as any lass in
the whole country-side.

without their permission, even after the
service is finished. And they do it in
this way. On a Sunday they smear the
shoes of the young men with grease,
lard or pigs’ fat, as is their wont when
they wish to repair and renew the
freshness of the leather, and thus the
juvenals enter the church, whence it is
impossible for any witches who are
present to make their way out or depart
until those who are anxious to espy
them either go away themselves or give
them express leave to make their way
to their homes. |

It is the same with certain words,
which it is not expedient to mention
lest anyone should be seduced by the
devil to use them. For judges and
magistrates should not attach too much
weight to the evidence of those who
pretend to discover witches by this
means, for fear lest the devil, that wily
enemy, should induce them under this
pretext to defame innocent women.
Therefore such persons must be en¬
joined to seek the remedy of penitence.
However, practices of this kind are on
occasion to be tolerated and allowed.

In this way we have answered the
arguments that no spell of witchcraft
must be removed. For the first two
remedies are altogether unlawful. The
third remedy is tolerated by the law,
but needs very careful examination on
the part of the ecclesiastical judge. And
what the civil law tolerates is shown in
the chapter on witches, where it is said
that those who have skill to prevent
men’s labours from being vitiated by
tempests and hailstorms are worthy,
not of punishment, but of reward.
S. Antoninus also, in his Summa, points
out this discrepancy between the Canon
Law and civil law. Therefore it seems

f The text of this passage seems corrupt and
varies considerably in the later editions. The
earliest edition of the “Malleus’ fin the British
Museum reads: “ Nam die dnico sotularia
iuuenu fungia seu pinguedie porci vt moris e p
restauratoe fieri pungut et sic vbi ecclesia intrat
tadiu malefice exire eccias non poterut quo
adusq: exploratores aut exeunt aut illis licentia
sub expssione ut sup exeundi peedat.” “ Die
dnico ” was almost immediately altered to “ die
dominica .” The usual reading is “ die Dominica
Sotularia, iuuenum fungia ...” Venice, 1576,
introduces a fresh error: “ die dominica Solutaria
iuuenum fungia. . . .” The Lyons text of i66g
has an excellent emendation, which is, no doubt,
correct: “ die Dominica Sotularia iuuenum
axungia. ...”

164

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 1

that the civil law concedes the legality
of such practices for the preservation
of crops and cattle, and that in any
event certain men who use such arts
are not only to be tolerated but even
rewarded. Wherefore the ecclesiastical
judge must take particular note whether
the methods used in counteraction of
hailstorms and tempests are within the
spirit of the law, or whether they are
in any way superstitious; and then, if
no scandal to the Faith is involved,
they can be tolerated. But actually this
does not belong to the third method,
but to the fourth, and also to the fifth,
of which we shall speak later in the
following chapters, where we deal with
the ecclesiastical and lawful remedies,
with which are sometimes included
certain superstitious practices belonging
to the fourth method.

☆

CHAPTER I

The Remedies prescribed by Holy Churck
against Incubus and Succubus Devils.

IN the foregoing chapters on the
First Question we have treated of
the methods of bewitching men, animals
and the fruits of the earth, and espe¬
cially of the behaviour of witches in
their own persons; how they seduce
young girls in order to increase their
evil numbers; what is their method of
profession and of offering homage ;
how they offer to devils their own chil¬
dren and the children of others; and
how they are transported from place
to place. Now I say that there is
no remedy for such practices, unless
witches be entirely eradicated by the
judges, or at least punished as an
example to all who may wish to
imitate them; but we are not imme¬
diately treating of this point, which
will be dealt with in the last Part of
this work, where we set forth the
twenty ways of proceeding against and
sentencing witches.

For the present we are concerned
only with the remedies against the
injuries which they inflict; and first
how men who are bewitched can be
cured; secondly, beasts, and thirdly,
how the fruits of the earth may be
secured from blight or phylloxera.

With regard to the bewitchment of

human beings by means of Incubus and
Succubus devils, it is to be noted that
this can happen in three ways. First,
as in the case of witches themselves,
when women voluntarily prostitute
themselves to Incubus devils. Secondly,
when men have connexion with Succu¬
bus devils; yet it does not appear that
men thus devilishly fornicate with the
same full degree of culpability; for
men, being by nature intellectually
stronger than women, are more apt to
abhor such practices. Thirdly, it may
happen that men or women are by
witchcraft entangled with Incubi or
Succubi against their will. This chiefly
happens in the case of certain virgins
who are molested by Incubus devils
wholly against their will ; and it would
seem that such are bewitched by
witches who, just as they very often
cause other infirmities, cause devils to
molest such virgins in the form of
Incubi for the purpose of seducing
them into joining their vile company.
Let us give an example.

There is in the town of Coblenz a
poor man who is bewitched in this way.
In the presence of his wife he is in the
habit of acting after the manner of
men with women, that is to say, of
practising coition, as it were, and he
continues to do this repeatedly, nor
have the cries and urgent appeals of
his wife any effect in making him desist.
And after he has fornicated thus two or
three times, he bawls out, “We are
going to start all over again” ; when
actually there is no person visible to
mortal sight lying with him. And after
an incredible number of such bouts,
the poor man at last sinks to the floor
utterly exhausted. When he has re¬
covered his strength a little and is
asked how this has happened to him,
and whether he has had any woman
with him, he answers that he saw
nothing, but that his mind is in some
way possessed so that he can by no
means refrain from such priapism. And
indeed he harbours a great suspicion
that a certain woman bewitched him
in this way, because he had offended
her, and she had cursed him with
threatening words, telling him what
she would like to happen to him.

But there are no laws or ministers of
justice which can proceed to the
avenging of so great a crime with no
other warrant than a vague charge or
a grave suspicion; for it is held that

Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 1

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165

no one ought to be condemned unless
he has been convicted by his own con¬
fession, or by the evidence of three
trustworthy witnesses; since the mere
fact of the crime coupled with even the
gravest suspicions against some person
is not sufficient to warrant the punish¬
ment of that person. But this matter
will be dealt with later.

As for instances where young maidens
are molested by Incubus devils in this
way, it would take too long to mention
even those that have been known to
happen in our own time, for there are
very many well-attested stories of such
bewitchments. But the great difficulty
of finding a remedy for such afflictions
can be illustrated from a story told
by Thomas of Brabant in his Book on
Bees .

I saw, he writes, and heard the con¬
fession of a virgin in a religious habit,
who said at first that she had never
been a consenting party to fornication,
but at the same time gave me to under¬
stand that she had been known in this
way. This I could not believe, but
narrowly charged and exhorted her,
with the most solemn adjurations, to
speak the truth on peril of her very
soul. At last, weeping bitterly, she
acknowledged that she had been cor¬
rupted rather in mind than in body;
and that though she had afterwards
grieved almost to death, and had daily
confessed with tears, yet by no device
or study or art could she be delivered
from an Incubus* devil, nor yet by the
sign of the Cross, nor by Holy Water,
which are specially ordained for the
expulsion of devils, nor even by the
Sacrament of the Body of Our Lord,
which even the Angels fear. But at last
after many years of prayer and fasting
she was delivered.

It may be believed (saving a better
judgement) that, after she repented and
confessed her sin, the Incubus devil
should be regarded rather in the light
of a punishment for sin than as a sin
in itself.

A devout nun, named Christina, in
the Low Country of the Duchy of

* “Incubus.” Sinistrari tells of a case which
came under his own notice when a deacon, a monk
of the Certosa at Pavia, was sorely vexed by an
Incubus. Exorcisms seemed unavailing; the
Incubus himself in the shape of Father Prior
blessed the place with Holy Water. However,
the demon was at last banished. See my trans¬
lation, “ Demoniality ,” pp. 57-59, and passim.

Brabant, told me the following con¬
cerning this same woman. On the vigil
of one Pentecost the woman came to
her complaining that she dared not
take the Sacrament because of the im¬
portunate molestation of a devil.
Christina, pitying her, said : “Go, and
rest assured that you will receive the
Body of Our Lord to-morrow; for I
will take your punishment upon my¬
self.” So she went away joyfully, and
after praying that night slept in peace,
and rose up in the morning and com¬
municated in all tranquillity of soul.
But Christina, not thinking of the
punishment she had taken upon her¬
self, went to her rest in the evening, and
as she lay in bed heard, as it were, a
violent attack being made upon her;
and, seizing whatever it was by the
throat, tried to throw it off. She lay
down again, but was again molested,
and rose up in terror; and this hap¬
pened many times, whilst all the straw
of her bed was turned over and thrown
about everywhere, so at length she per¬
ceived that she was being persecuted by
the malice of a devil. Thereupon she
left her pallet, and passed a sleepless
night; and when she wished to pray,
she was so tormented by the devil that
she said she had never suffered so much
before. In the morning, therefore, say¬
ing to the other woman, “I renounce
your punishment, and I am hardly
alive to renounce it,” she escaped from
the violence of that wicked tempter.
From this it can be seen how difficult
it is to cure this sort of evil, whether or
not it is due to witchcraft.

However, there are still some means
-by which these devils may be driven
away, of which Nider writes in his
Formicarius. He says that there are five
ways by which girls or men can be
delivered: first, by Sacramental Con¬
fession; second, by the Sacred Sign of
the Cross, or by the recital of the
Angelic Salutation; third, by the use
of exorcisms ; fourth, by moving to
another place; and fifth, by means of
excommunication prudently employed
by holy men. It is evident from what
has been said that the first two methods
did not avail the nun ; but they are not
on that account to be neglected, for
that which cures one person does not
necessarily cure another, and conversely.
And it is a recorded fact that Incubus
devils have often been driven away by
the Lord’s Prayer, or by the sprinkling

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 1

166

of Holy Water, and also especially by
the Angelic Salutation.

For S. Caesarius* tells in his Dialogue
that, after a certain priest had hanged
himself, his concubine entered a con¬
vent, where she was carnally solicited
by an Incubus. She drove him away
by crossing herself and using Holy
Water, yet he immediately returned.
But when she recited the Angelic
Salutation, he vanished like an arrow
shot from a bow; still he came back,
although he did not dare to come near
her, because of that Ave MARIA.

S. Caesarius also refers to the remedy
of Sacramental Confession. For he says
that the aforesaid concubine was en¬
tirely abandoned by the Incubus after
she was clean confessed. He tells also
of a man in Leyden who was plagued
by a Succubus, and was entirely de¬
livered after Sacramental Confession.

He adds yet another example, of an
enclosed nun, a contemplative, whom
an Incubus would not leave in spite of

fjrayers and confession and other re-
igious exercises. For he persisted in
forcing his way to her bed. But when,
acting on the advice of a certain re¬
ligious man, she uttered the word Bene¬
dicite, the devil at once left her.

Of the fourth method, that of moving
to another place, he says that a certain
priest’s daughter had been defiled by
an Incubus and driven frantic with
grief; but when she went far away
across the Rhine, she was left in peace
by the Incubus. Her father, however,
because he had sent her away, was so
afflicted by the devil that he died within
three days.

He also mentions a woman who was
often molested by an Incubus in her
own bed, and asked a devout friend of
hers to come and sleep with her. She
did so, and was troubled all night with
the utmost uneasiness and disquiet, and
then the first woman was left in peace.

* “ Caesarius .” A learned monk of the
Cistercian monastery of Heisterbach near Bonn,
born about njo at Cologne, died about 1240 as
Prior of Heisterbach . Abbot Henry requested
Caesarius to draw up an abstract of his teaching,
and this resulted in the famous “ Dialogus magnus
uisionum atque miraculorum, Libri XII,” which
it is no exaggeration to say was probably the
most popular book in Germany of its period.
More than fifty MSS. are extant, and seven
printed editions are known. The latest, two
volumes, was edited by Strange, Cologne, 1851;
an index to this followed, Coblenz, 1857.

William of Paris notes also that Incubi
seem chiefly to molest women and girls
with beautiful hair ; either because they
devote themselves too much to the care
and adornment of their hair, or be¬
cause they are wont to try to excite
men by means of their hair, or because
they are boastfully vain about it, or
because God in His goodness permits
this so that women may be afraid to
entice men by the very means by which
the devils wish them to entice men.

The fifth method, that of excom¬
munication, which is perhaps the same
as exorcism, is exemplified in a history
of S. Bernard. In Aquitaine a woman
had for six years been molested by an
Incubus with incredible carnal abuse
and lechery ; and she heard the Incubus
threaten her that she must not go near
the holy man, who was coming that
way, saying : “It will avail you nothing :
for when he has gone away, I, who have
till now been your lover, will become
the cruellest of tyrants to you.” None
the less she went to S. Bernard, and he
said to her: “Take my staff and set it
in your bed, and may the devil do
what he can.” When she had done this,
the devil did not dare to enter the
woman’s room, but threatened her
terribly from outside, saying that he
would persecute her when S. Bernard
had gone away. When S. Bernard
heard this from the woman, he called
the people together, bidding them
carry lighted candles in their hands,
and, with the whole assembly which
was gathered, excommunicated the
devil, forbidding him evermore to
approach that woman or any other.
And so she was delivered from that
punishment.

Here it is to be noted that the power
of the Keys granted to S. Peter and
his successors, which resounds on the
earth, is really a power of healing
granted to the Church on behalf of
travellers who are subject to the juris¬
diction of the Papal power; therefore
it seems wonderful that even the Powers
of the air can be warded off by this
virtue. But it must be remembered
that persons who are molested by devils
are under the jurisdiction of the Pope
and his Keys; and therefore it is not
surprising if such Powers are indirectly
kept at bay by the virtue of the Keys,
just as by the same virtue the souls in
purgatory can indirectly be delivered
from the pains of the fire ; inasmuch as

Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 2

MALEFICARUM

167

this Power availeth upon the earth,
ay, and to the relief of souls that are
under the earth.

But it is not seemly to discuss the
Power of the Keys granted' to the Head
of the Church as Christ’s Vicar ; since
it is known that, for the use of the
Church, Christ granted to the Church
and His Vicar as much power as it is
possible for God to grant to mere man.

And it is piously to be believed that,
when infirmities inflicted by witches
through the power of devils, together
with the witches and devils themselves,
are excommunicated, those who were
afflicted will no longer be tormented;
and that they will be delivered all the
sooner by the use of other lawful
exorcisms in addition.

There is a common report current in
the districts of the river Etsch, as also
in other places, that by the permission
of God a swarm of locusts came and
devoured all the vines, green leaves
and crops; and that they were sud¬
denly put to flight and dispersed by
means of this kind of excommunica¬
tion and cursing. Now if any wish that
this should be ascribed to some holy
man, and not to the virtue of the Keys,
let it be so, in the name of the Lord;
but of one thing we are certain, that
both the power to perform miracles and
the power of the Keys necessarily pre¬
suppose a condition of grace in him
who performs that act of grace, since
both these powers proceed from grace
granted to men who are in a state of
grace.

Again, it is to be noted that, if none
of the aforesaid remedies are of any
avail, then recourse must be had to
the usual exorcisms, of which we shall
treat later. And if even these are not
sufficient to banish the iniquity of the
devil, then that affliction must be con¬
sidered to be an expiatory punishment
for sin, which should be borne in all
meekness, as are other ills of this sort
which oppress us that they may, as it
were, drive us to seek God.

But it must also be remarked that
sometimes persons only think that they
are molested by an Incubus when they
are not so actually; and this is more
apt to be the case with women than
with men, for they are more timid and
liable to imagine extraordinary things.

In this connexion William of Paris is
often quoted. He says: Many phan-
tastical apparitions occur to persons

suffering from a melancholy disease,
especially to women, as is shown by
their dreams and visions. And the
reason for this, as physicians know, is
that women’s souls are by nature far
more easily and lightly impressionable
than men’s souls. And he adds : I know
that I have seen a woman who thought
that a devil copulated with her from
inside, and said she was physically
conscious of such incredible things.

At times also women think they have
been made pregnant by an Incubus,
and their bellies grow to an enormous
size ; but when the time of parturition
comes, their swelling is relieved by no
more than the expulsion of a great
quantity of wind. For by taking ants’
eggs in drink, or the seeds of spurge or
of the black pine, an incredible amount
of wind and flatulence is generated in
the human stomach. And it is very easy
for the devil to cause these and even
greater disorders in the stomach. This
has been set down in order that too
easy credence should not be given to
women, but only to those whom ex¬
perience has shown to be trustworthy,
and to those who, by sleeping in their
beds or near by them, know for a fact
that such things as we have spoken of
are true.

☆

CHAPTER II

Remedies prescribed for Those who are
Bewitched by the Limitation of the
Generative Power.

ALTHOUGH far more women are
witches than men, as was shown
in the First Part of the work, yet men
are more often bewitched than women.
And the reason for this lies in the fact
that God allows the devil more power
over the venereal act, by which the
original sin is handed down, than over
other human actions. In the same way
He allows more witchcraft to be per¬
formed by means of serpents, which
are more subject to incantations than
other animals, because that was the
first instrument of the devil. And the
venereal act can be more readily and
easily bewitched in a man than in a
woman, as has been clearly shown. For
there are five ways in which the devil
can impede the act of generation, and
they are more easily operated against
men.

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn 2. Gh. 2

168

As far as possible we shall set out the
remedies which can be applied in each
separate kind of obstruction; and let
him who is bewitched in this faculty
take note to which class of obstruction
his belongs. For there are five classes,
according to Peter a Palude in his
Fourth Book, dist. 34, of the trial of
this sort of bewitchment.

For the devil, being a spirit, has by
his very nature power, with God’s per¬
mission, over a bodily creature, espe¬
cially to promote or to prevent local
motion. So by this power they can pre¬
vent the bodies of men and women
from approaching each other; and this
either directly or indirectly. Directly,
when they remove one to a distance
from another, and do not allow him to
approach the other. Indirectly, when
they cause some obstruction, or when
they interpose themselves in an assumed
body. So it happened to that young
Pagan who had married an idol, but
none the less contracted a marriage
with a girl ; but because of this he was
unable to copulate with her, as has
been shown above.

Secondly, the devil can inflame a
man towards one woman and render
him impotent towards another; and
this he can secretly cause by the applica¬
tion of certain herbs or other matters
of which he well knows the virtue for
this purpose.

Thirdly, he can disturb the apper¬
ception of a man or a woman, so that
he makes one appear hideous to the
other; for, as has been shown, he can
influence the imagination.

Fourthly, he can suppress the vigour
of that member which is necessary for
procreation ; just as he can deprive any
organ of the power of local motion.

Fifthly, he can prevent the flow of
the semen to the members in which is
the motive power, by as it were closing
the seminal duct so that it does not
descend to the genital vessels, or does
not ascend again from them, or cannot
come forth, or is spent vainly.

But if a man should say: I do not
know by which of these different
methods I have been bewitched; all I
know is that I cannot do anything with
my wife : he should be answered in this
way. If he is active and able with regard
to other women, but not with his wife,
then he is bewitched in the second way ;
for he can be certified as to the first
way, that he is being deluded by

Succubus or Incubus devils. Moreover,
if he does not find his wife repellent,
and yet cannot know her, but can know
other women, then again it is the second
way ; but if he finds her repellent and
cannot copulate with her, then it is the
second and the third way. If he does
not find her repellent and wishes to
have connexion with her, but has no
power in his member, then it is the
fourth way. But if he has power in his
member, yet cannot emit his semen,
then it is the fifth way. The method of
curing these will be shown where we
consider whether those who live in
grace and those who do not are equally
liable to be bewitched in these manners ;
and we answer that they are not, with
the exception of the fourth manner, and
even then very rarely. For such an
affliction can happen to a man living
in grace and righteousness; but the
reader must understand that in this
case we speak of the conjugal act
between married people; for in any
other case they are all liable to be¬
witchment ; for every venereal act out¬
side wedlock is a mortal sin, and is only
committed by those who are not in a
state of grace.

We have, indeed, the authority of
the whole of Scriptural teaching that
God allows the devil to afflict sinners
more than the just. For although that
most just man, Job, was stricken, yet
he was not so particularly or directly
in respect of the procreant function.
And it may be said that, when a
married couple are afflicted in this way,
either both the parties or one of them
is not living in a state of grace; and
this opinion is substantiated in the
Scriptures both by authority and by
reason. For the Angel said to Tobias :*
The devil receives power against those
who are given over to lust: and he
proved it in the slaying of the seven
husbands of the virgin Sara.

Cassian, in his Collation of the
Fathers , quotes S. Antony as saying
that the devil can in no way enter our
mind or body unless he has first de-

* “Tobias.” “ Tobias ” vi, 16 and 17: Then
the angel Raphdel said to him: Hear me , and I
will show thee who they are , over whom the
devil can prevail. For they who in such manner
receive matrimony as to shut out God from them¬
selves , and from their mind, and to give them¬
selves to their lust, as the horse and mule, which
have not understanding, over them the devil hath
power.

Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 2

MALEFICARUM

169

prived it of all holy thoughts and made
it empty and bare of spiritual contem¬
plation. These words should not be
applied to an evil affliction over the
whole of the body, for when Job was
so afflicted he was not denuded of
Divine grace ; but they have particular
reference to a particular infirmity in¬
flicted upon the body for some sin.
And the infirmity we are considering
can only be due to the sin of incon¬
tinence. For, as we have said, God
allows the devil more power over that
act than over other human acts,
because of its natural nastiness, and
because by it the first sin was handed
down to posterity. Therefore when
people joined in matrimony have for
some sin been deprived of Divine help,
God allows them to be bewitched
chiefly in their procreant functions.

But if it is asked of what sort are
those sins, it can be said, according to
S. Jerome, that even in a state of matri¬
mony it is possible to commit the sin of
incontinence in various ways. See the
text : He who loves his wife to excess is
an adulterer. And they who love in
this way are more liable to be be¬
witched after the manner we have said.

The remedies of the Church, then,
are twofold : one applicable in the
public court, the other in the tribunal
of the confessional. As for the first,
when it has been publicly found that
the impotence is due to witchcraft, then
it must be distinguished whether it is
temporary or permanent. If it is only
temporary, it does not annul the mar¬
riage. And it is assumed to be tem¬
porary if, within the space of three
years, by using every possible expedient
of the Sacraments of the Church and
other remedies, a cure can be caused.
But if, after that time, they cannot be
cured by any remedy, then it is assumed
to be permanent.

Now the disability either precedes
both the contract and the consummation
of marriage ; and in this case it impedes
the contract : or it follows the contract
but precedes the consummation; and
in this case it annuls the contract. For
men are very often bewitched in this
way because they have cast off their
former mistresses, who, hoping that
they were to be married and being
disappointed, so bewitch the men that
they cannot copulate with another
woman. And in such a case, according
to the opinion of many, the marriage

already contracted is annulled, unless,
like Our Blessed Lady and S. Joseph,
they are willing to live together in holy
continence. This opinion is supported
by the Canon where it says (23, q. 1)
that a marriage is confirmed by the
carnal act. And a little later it says
that impotence before such confirma¬
tion dissolves the ties of marriage.

Or else the disability follows the con¬
summation of a marriage, and then it
does not dissolve the bonds of matri¬
mony. Much more to this effect is
noted by the Doctors, where in various
writings they treat of the obstruction
due to witchcraft; but since it is not
precisely relevant to the present inquiry,
it is here omitted.

But some may find it difficult to
understand how this function can be
obstructed in respect of one woman but
not of another. S. Bonaventura answers
that this may be because some witch
has persuaded the devil to effect this
only with respect to one woman, or
because God will not allow the obstruc¬
tion to apply save to some particular
woman. The judgement of God in this
matter is a mystery, as in the case of
the wife of Tobias. But how the devil
procures this disability is plainly shown
by what has already been said. And
S. Bonaventura says that he obstructs
the procreant function, not intrinsically
by harming the organ, but extrinsically
by impeding its use ; and it is an
artificial, not a natural impediment;
and so he can cause it to apply to one
woman and not to another. Or else he
takes away all desire for one or another
woman; and this he does by his own
power, or else by means of some herb
or stone or some occult creature. And
in this he is in substantial agreement
with Peter a Palude.

The ecclesiastical remedy in the
tribunal of God is set forth in the
Canon where it says : If with the per¬
mission of the just and secret judgement
of God, through the arts of sorceresses
and witches and the preparation of the
devil, men are bewitched in their pro¬
creant function, they are to be urged
to make clean confession to God and
His priest of all their sins with a con¬
trite heart and a humble spirit ; and to
make satisfaction to God with many
tears and large offerings and prayers
and fasting.

From these words it is clear that such
afflictions are only on account of sin,

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn 2. Gh. 3

170

and occur only to those who do not
live in a state of grace. It proceeds to
tell how the ministers of the Church
can effect a cure by means of exorcisms
and the other protections and cures
provided by the Church. In this way,
with the help of God, Abraham cured
by his prayers Abimelech and his
house.*

In conclusion we may say that there
are five remedies which may lawfully
be applied to those who are bewitched
in this way: namely, a pilgrimage to
some holy and venerable shrine; true
confession of their sins with -contrition ;
the plentiful use of the sign of the Cross
and devout prayer ; lawful exorcism by
solemn words, the nature of which will
be explained later ; and lastly, a remedy
can be effected by prudently approach¬
ing the witch, as was shown in the case
of the Count who for three years was
unable to cohabit carnally with a
virgin whom he had married.

☆

CHAPTER III

Remedies prescribed for those who are Be¬
witched by being Inflamed with In¬
ordinate Love or Extraordinary Hatred.

JUST as the generative faculty can
be bewitched, so can inordinate love
or hatred be caused in the human mind.
First we shall consider the cause of this,
and then, as far as possible, the
remedies.

Philocaption, or inordinate love of one
person for another, can be caused in
three ways. Sometimes it is due merely
to a lack of control over the eyes;
sometimes to the temptation of devils;
sometimes to the spells of necromancers
and witches, with the help of devils.

The first is spoken of in S. James i.
14, 15: Every man is tempted by his own
concupiscence, being drawn away and
allured. Then when concupiscence hath
conceived, it bringeth forth sin : but
sin, when it is completed, begetteth
death. And so, when Shechem saw
Dinah going out to see the daughters
of the land, he loved her, and ravished
her, and lay with her, and his soul
clave unto her ( Genesis xxxiv). And
here the gloss says that this happened
to an infirm spirit because she left her

* “ Abimelech “ Genesis ” xx.

own concerns to inquire into those of
other people ; and such a soul is
seduced by bad habits, and is led to
consent to unlawful practices.

The second cause arises from the
temptation of devils. In this way Am-
non loved his beautiful sister Tamar,
and was so vexed that he fell sick for
love of her (II. Samuel xiii). For he
could not have been so totally corrupt
in his mind as to fall into so great a
crime of incest unless he had been
grievously tempted by the devil. The
book of the Holy Fathers refers to this
kind of love, where it says that even in
their hermitages they were exposed to
every temptation, including that of
carnal desire; for some of them were
at times tempted with the love of
women more than it is possible to
believe. S. Paul also says, in II. Cor¬
inthians xii : There was given to me a
thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan to buffet me : and the gloss
explains this as referring to the tempta¬
tion of lust.

But it is said that when a man does
not give way to temptation he does not
sin, but it is an exercise for his virtue;
but this is to be understood of the
temptation of the devil, not of that of
the flesh; for this is a venial sin even
if a man does not yield to it. Many
examples of this are to be read.

As for the third cause, by which
inordinate love proceeds from devils’
and witches’ works, the possibility of
this sort of witchcraft has been exhaus¬
tively considered in the Questions of
the First Part as to whether devils
through the agency of witches can turn
the minds of men to inordinate love or
hatred, and it was proved by examples
which had fallen within our own ex¬
perience. Indeed this is the best known
and most general form of witchcraft.

But the following question may be
asked : Peter has been seized with an
inordinate love of this description, but
he does not know whether it is due to
the first or the second or the third
cause. It must be answered that it can
be by the work of the devil that hatred
is stirred up between married people
so as to cause the crime of adultery.
But when a man is so bound in the
meshes of carnal lust and desire that he
can be made to desist from it by no
shame, words, blows or action; and
when a man often puts away his beauti¬
ful wife to cleave to the most hideous

Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 3

MALEFICARUM

of women, and when he cannot rest in
the night, but is so demented that he
must go by devious ways to his mis¬
tress; and when it is found that those
of noblest birth, Governors, and other
rich men, are the most miserably in¬
volved in this sin (for this age is domi¬
nated by women, and was foretold by
S. Hildegard,* as Vincent of Beauvais
records in the Mirror of History, although
he said it would not endure for as long
as it already has) ; and when the world
is now full of adultery, especially
among the most highly born ; when all
this is considered, I say, of what use is
it to speak of remedies to those who
desire no remedy? Nevertheless, for
the satisfaction of the pious reader, we
will set down briefly some of the
remedies for Philocaption when it is not
due to witchcraft.

Avicenna mentions seven remedies
which may be used when a man is
made physically ill by this sort of love ;
but they are hardly relevant to our
inquiry except in so far as they may be
of service to the sickness of the soul.
For he says, in Book III, that the root
of the sickness may be discovered by
feeling the pulse and uttering the name
of the object of the patient’s love; and
then, if the law permits, he may be
married to her, and so be cured by
yielding to nature. Or certain medi-

* “S. Hildegard .” Born at Bdckelheim on the
Nahe, iogd; died on the Rupertsberg near
Bingen, nyg. This great Benedictine seeress
and prophetess has been called the Sibyl of the
Rhine. From her earliest years she was favoured
with visions, and when she was aged about forty
she received a Divine command to publish to the
world what she had seen and heard. After much
hesitation owing to her humility she obeyed, and
in 1 1 41 she commenced her profound treatise
“ Scivias ” (“scire uias Domini”), which occupied
her for ten years. It is ecstatic and prophetic
throughout, and demands profoundest study.
Herwegen, “Kir chi. Handlexikon ” (igo8),

remarks that in order fully to appreciate this
marvellous writer a new and critical edition of her
writings must be prepared, a task entailing
immense labour and research. No formal
canonization of S. Hildegard has taken place ,
but many miracles were wrought at her inter¬
cession, and her name is in the Roman Martyr-
ology. The feast is celebrated on iy September
in the dioceses of Speyer, Mainz, Trier and
Limburg, and by the Solesmes monks on 18
September with a proper Office. The Relics of
the Saint are at Eibingen, of which town she is
patron. The convent of S. Hildegard there was
formally constituted on /7 September, igo 4.

171

cines may be applied, concerning which
he gives instructions. Or the sick man
may be turned from his love by lawful
remedies which will cause him to
direct his love to a more worthy object.
Or he may avoid her presence, and so
distract his mind from her. Or, if he is
open to correction, he may be admon¬
ished and expostulated with, to the
effect that such love is the greatest
misery. Or he may be directed to some¬
one who, as far as he may with God’s
truth, will vilify the body and disposi¬
tion of his love, and so blacken her
character that she may appear to him
altogether base and deformed. Or,
finally, he is to be set to arduous duties
which may distract his thoughts.

Indeed, just as the animal nature of
a man may be cured by such remedies,
so may they all be of use in reforming
his inner spirit. Let a man obey the
law of his intellect rather than that of
nature, let him turn his love to safe
pleasures, let him remember how
momentary is the fruition of lust and
how eternal the punishment, let him
seek his pleasure in that life where joys
begin never to end, and let him con¬
sider that if he cleaves to his earthly
love, that will be his sole reward, but
he will lose the bliss of Heaven, and be
condemned to eternal fire : behold !
the three irrecoverable losses which
proceed from inordinate lust.

With regard to Philocaption caused by
witchcraft, the remedies detailed in the
preceding chapter may not inconveni¬
ently be applied here also; especially
the exorcisms by sacred words which
the bewitched person can himself use.
Let him daily invoke the Guardian
Angel deputed to him by God, let him
use confession and frequent the shrines
of the Saints, especially of the Blessed
Virgin, and without doubt he will be
delivered.

But how abject are those strong men
who, discarding their natural gifts and
the armour of virtue, cease to defend
themselves ; whereas the girls them¬
selves in their invincible frailty use
those very rejected weapons to repel
this kind of witchcraft. We give one
out of many examples in their praise.

There was in a country village near
Lindau in the diocese of Constance
a grown maid fair to see and of even
more elegant behaviour, at sight of
whom a certain man of loose princi¬
ples, a cleric in sooth, but not a priest,

172

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 3

was smitten with violent pangs of love.
And being unable to conceal the wound
in his heart any longer, he went to the
place where the girl was working, and
with fair words showed that he was in
the net of the devil, beginning by ven¬
turing in words only to persuade the
girl to grant him her love. She, per¬
ceiving by Divine instinct his meaning,
and being chaste in mind and body,
bravely answered him : Master, do not
come to my house with such words, for
modesty itself forbids. To this he re¬
plied: Although you will not be per¬
suaded by gentle words to love me, yet
I promise you that soon you will be
compelled by my deeds to love me.
Now that man was a suspected en¬
chanter and wizard. The maiden con¬
sidered his words as but empty air, and
until then felt in herself no spark of
carnal love for him; but after a short
time she began to have amorous
thoughts. Perceiving this, and being
inspired by God, she sought the pro¬
tection of the Mother of Mercy, and
devoutly implored Her to intercede
with Her Son to help her. Anxious,
moreover, to enjoy the society of pious
folk, she went on a pilgrimage to a
hermitage,* where there was a church

* “ Hermitage .” The famous shrine of Our
Lady of the Hermits , at the Benedictine Abbey of
Einsiedeln, in the Canton of Schwyz, Switzer¬
land. S. Meinrad, who was assassinated by
bandits in 861, had embraced the solitary life and
established his hermitage on the slopes of Mount
Etzely when he built a small oratory for the
wonder-working statue of Our Lady which had
been given him by Abbess Hildegard of Zurich.
Several anchorites succeeded him , and one of
these , by name Eberhard, erected a monastery and
church there. This fane was miraculously con¬
secrated in 948 by Christ Himself assisted by the
Four Evangelists, S. Peter and S. Gregory the
Great. Even the rationalistic Father Thurston,
S.J., will be unable to impugn this holy marvel,
as it was investigated and confirmed by Pope Leo
VIII, and subsequently ratified by many a
Pontiff, the last being Pius VI, who in 1793 con¬
firmed the acts of all his predecessors. The
miraculous statue is enthroned in a little chapel
which stands within the great abbey church in
much the same way as the Holy House at Loreto,
encased in marbles and elaborate wood-work, the
goal of ten thousand pilgrimages. The two chief
days are the fourteenth of September and the
thirteenth of October, the first being the anni¬
versary of the Divine consecration of Eberhard" s
basilica, the second that of the translation of the
Relics of S. Meinrad from Reichenau to Ein¬
siedeln in 1039.

miraculously consecrated in that dio¬
cese to the Mother of God. There she
confessed her sins, so that no evil spirit
could enter her, and after her prayers
to the Mother of Pity all the devil’s
machinations against her ceased, so
that these evil crafts thenceforth never
afflicted her.

None the less there are still some
strong men cruelly enticed by witches
to this sort of love, so that it would
seem that they could never restrain
themselves from their inordinate lust
for them, yet these often most manfully
resist the temptation of lewd and filthy
enticements, and by the aforesaid de¬
fences overcome all the wiles of the
devil.

A rich young man in the town of
Innsbruck provides us with a notable
pattern of this sort of struggle. He was
so importuned by witches that it is
hardly possible for pen to describe his
strivings, but he always kept a brave
heart, and escaped by means of the
remedies we have mentioned. There¬
fore it may justly be concluded that
these remedies are infallible against
this disease, and that they who use
such weapons will most surely be
delivered.

And it must be understood that what
we have said concerning inordinate
love applies also to inordinate hatred,
since the same discipline is of benefit
for the two opposite extremes. But
though the degree of witchcraft is equal
in each, yet there is this difference in
the case of hatred ; the person who is
hated must seek another remedy. For
the man who hates his wife ana puts
her out of his heart will not easily, if
he is an adulterer, be turned back
again to his wife, even though he go
on many a pilgrimage.

Now it has been learned from
witches that they cause this spell of
hatred by means of serpents; for the
serpent was the first instrument of the
devil, and by reason of its curse inherits
a hatred of women; therefore they
cause such spells by placing the skin or
head of a serpent under the threshold
of a room or house. For this reason all
the nooks and corners of the house
where such a woman lives are to be
closely examined and reconstructed as
far as possible; or else she must be
lodged in the houses of others.

And when it is said that bewitched
men can exorcise themselves, it is to be

Part II. Qn 2. Gh. 4

MALEFICARUM

173

understood that they can wear the
sacred words or benedictions or incan¬
tations round their necks, if they are
unable to read or pronounce the bene¬
dictions; but it will be shown later in
what way this should be done.

☆

CHAPTER IV

Remedies prescribed for those who by
Prestidigitatory Art have lost their
Virile Members or have seemingly been
Transformed into the Shapes of Beasts.

IN what has already been written it
has clearly enough been shown the
remedies which are available for the
relief of those who are deluded by a
glamour, and think that they have lost
their virile member, or have been
metamorphosed into animals. For since
such men are entirely destitute of
Divine grace, according to the essen¬
tial condition of those who are so be¬
witched, it is not possible to apply a
healing salve while the weapon still
remains in the wound. Therefore be¬
fore all things they must be reconciled
to God by a good confession. Again,
as was shown in the seventh chapter of
the First Question of the Second Part,
such members are never actually taken
away from the body, but are only
hidden by a glamour from the senses of
sight and touch. It is clear, too, that
those who live in grace are not so
easily deluded in this way, either
actively or passively, in such a manner,
that is, that they seem to lose their
members, or that those of others should
appear to them to be missing. There¬
fore the remedy as well as the disease is
explained in that chapter, namely, that
they should as far as possible come to
an amicable agreement with the witch
herself.

As to those who think that they have
been changed into beasts, it must be
known that this kind of witchcraft is
more practised in Eastern countries
than in the West ; that is to say, in the
East witches more often bewitch other
people in this way, but it appears that
the witches so transform themselves
more frequently in our part of the
world ; namely, when they change
themselves, in full sight, into the shapes
of animals, as was told in the eighth
chapter. Therefore in their case the

remedies to be used are those set out in
the Third Part of this work, where we
deal with the extermination of witches
by the secular arm of the law.

But in the East the following remedy
is used for such delusions. For we have
learned much of this matter from the
Knights of the Order of S. John of
Jerusalem in Rhodes; and especially
this case which happened in the city of
Salamis in the kingdom of Cyprus. For
that is a seaport, and once when a vessel
was being laden with merchandise
suitable for a ship which is sailing into
foreign parts, and all her company were
providing themselves with victuals, one
of them, a strong young man, went to
the house of a woman standing outside
the city on the seashore, and asked her
if she had any eggs to sell. The woman,
seeing that he was a strong young man,
and a merchant far away from his own
country, thought that on that account
the people of the city would feel less
suspicion if he were to be lost, and said
to him: “Wait a little, and I will get
you all that you want.” And when she
went in and shut the door and kept him
waiting, the young man outside began
to call out to her to hurry, lest he should
miss the ship. Then the woman brought
some eggs and gave them to the young
man, and told him to hurry back to the
ship in case he should miss it. So he
hastened back to the ship, which was
anchored by the shore, and before going
on board, since the full company of his
companions was not yet returned, he
decided to eat the eggs there and re¬
fresh himself. And behold ! an hour
later he was made dumb as if he had no
power of speech ; and, as he afterwards
said, he wondered what could have
happened to him, but was unable to
find out. Yet when he wished to go on
board, he was driven off with sticks by
those who yet remained ashore, and
who all cried out: “Look what this ass
is doing! Curse the beast, you are not
coming on board.” The young man
being thus driven away, and under¬
standing from their words that they
thought he was an ass, reflected and
began to suspect that he had been be¬
witched by the woman, especially since
he could utter no word, although he
understood all that was said. And
when, on again trying to board the
ship, he was driven off with heavier
blows, he was in bitterness of heart
compelled to remain and watch the

i74

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 4

ship sail away. And so, as he ran here
and there, since everybody thought he
was an ass, he was necessarily treated as
such. At last, under compulsion, he
went back to the woman’s house, and
to keep himself alive served her at her
pleasure for three years, doing no work
but to bring to the house such neces¬
sities as wood and corn, and to carry
away what had to be carried away like
a beast of burden : the only consolation
that was left to him being that although
everyone else took him for an ass, the
witches themselves, severally and in
company, who frequented the house,
recognized him as a man, and he could
talk and behave with them as a man
should.

Now if it is asked how burdens were
placed upon him as if he were a beast,
we must say that this case is analogous
to that of which S. Augustine speaks
in his De duitate Dei, Book XVIII,
chapter 1 7, where he tells of the tavern
women who changed their guests into
beasts of burden; and to that of the
father of Praestantius, who thought he
was a pack-horse and carried corn with
other animals. For the delusion caused
by this glamour was threefold.

First in its effect on the men who saw
the young man not as a man but as an
ass; and it is shown above in Chapter
VIII how devils can easily cause this.
Secondly, those burdens were no illu¬
sion; but when they were beyond the
strength of the young man, the devil
invisibly carried them. Thirdly, that
when he was consorting with others, the
young man himself considered in his
imagination and perceptive faculties at
least, which are faculties belonging to
the bodily organs, that he was an ass;
but not in his reason: for he was not
so bound but that he knew himself to
be a man, although he was magically
deluded into imagining himself a beast.
Nabuchodonosor provides an example
of the same delusion.

After three years had passed in this
way, in the fourth year it happened
that the young man went one morning
into the city, with the woman following
a long way behind ; and he passed by a
church where Holy Mass was being cele¬
brated, and heard the sacring-bell ring
at the elevation of the Host (for in that
kingdom the Mass is celebrated accord¬
ing to the Latin, and not according to
the Greek rite) . And he turned towards
the church, and, not daring to enter for

fear of being driven off with blows,
knelt down outside by bending the
knees of his hind legs, and lifted his
forelegs, that is, his hands, joined to¬
gether over his ass’s head, as it was
thought to be, and looked upon the
elevation of the Sacrament.* And
when some Genoese merchants saw this
prodigy, they followed the ass in
astonishment, discussing this marvel
among themselves; and behold! the
witch came and belaboured the ass
with her stick. And because, as we
have said, this sort of witchcraft is
better known in those parts, at the in¬
stance of the merchants the ass and the
witch were taken before the judge;
where, being questioned and tortured,
she confessed her crime and promised
to restore the young man to his true
shape if she might be allowed to return
to her house. So she was dismissed and
went back to her house, where the
young man was restored to his former
shape; and being again arrested, she

* “ Sacrament .” One of the most famous of
the miracles of S. Antony of Padua, wrought for
the conversion of heretics, was that of a mule,
belonging to one Bovidilla, a blasphemer of the
Sacrament. The animal, although it had been,
as agreed, kept fasting for three days, refused to
turn to a sieve of oats held out by its master, but
fell down upon its knees and adored the Host
which the Saint was carrying in the ostensory.
Some narratives of the fourteenth century say this
happened at Toulouse, and some name Bruges ,
but the actual place was Rimini. In the basilica
II Santo, at Padua, this miracle is depicted more
than once. There is a bronze bas-relief by
Donatello in the Chapel of the Sacrament, and
a fresco by Campagnola. The same subject was
painted by Van Dyck for the Recollects at
Malines.

Animals have been known to distinguish Our
Lord's Body in the Host, a fact which, when one
considers their sense and intelligence, is not at
all surprising.

At the trial of the Satanist Louis Gaufridi it
was proved that upon one occasion during their
accursed rites a dog was led in to devour the
consecrated Species, but he stretched out his paws in
adoration before the Body of Christ and bowed down
his head, nor could kicks nor blows compel him to
stir. Several of the devotees broke down into tears
and began loudly to bewail their sins, after which
it was decreed in future that the Host should be
defiled, but that no animals must be admitted.
See my “ Geography of Witchcraft,” pp. 410-
411.

S. Optatus tells us that certain Donatists once
threw the Host to some hungry dogs, who
suddenly turned on the heretics and tore them to
pieces.

Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 5

MALEFICARUM

175

paid the debt which her crimes merited.
And the young man returned joyfully
to his own country.

☆

CHAPTER V

Prescribed Remedies for those who are
Obsessed owing to some Spell.

WE have shown in Chapter X of the
preceding Question that sometimes
devils, through witchcraft, substantially
inhabit certain men, and why they do
this : namely, that it may be for some
grave crime of the man himself, and
for his own ultimate benefit; or some¬
times for the slight fault of another
man ; sometimes for a man’s own venial
sin; and sometimes for another man’s
grave sin. For any of these reasons a
man may in varying degrees be pos¬
sessed by a devil. Nider in his For-
micarius states that there is no cause
for wonder if devils, at the instance of
witches and with God’s permission,
substantially take possession of men.

It is clear also from the details given
in that chapter what are the remedies
by which such men can be liberated;
namely, by the exorcisms of the
Church; and by true contrition and
confession, when a man is possessed for
some mortal sin. An example is the
manner in which that Bohemian priest
was set free. But there are three other
remedies besides, which are of virtue;
namely, the Holy Communion of the
Eucharist, the visitation of shrines and
the prayers of holy men, and by lifting
the sentence of excommunication. Of
these we shall speak, although they are
plainly set out in the discourses of the
Doctors, since all have not easy access
to the necessary treatises.

Cassian, in his Collation of the Abbots ,
speaks in these words of the Eucharist :
We do not remember that our elders
ever forbade the administration of the
Holy Communion to those possessed by
evil spirits ; it should even be given to
them every day if possible.* For it

* '‘''Every day.” Since the Sacrament is
“ medicina animae ”. In “ En Route,” Chap. V,
the Abbe Gevresin says: “Je comprends tres bien
le systeme du pere Milleriot qui forfait a com-
munier des gens qu’il apprehendait de voir
retomber dans leur peches , apres. Pour toute
pinitence, il les obligeait a recommunier encore et

must be believed that It is of great
virtue in the purgation and protection
of both soul and body ; and that when
a man receives It, the evil spirit which
afflicts his members or lurks hidden in
them is driven away as if it were
burned with fire. And lately we saw
the Abbot Andronicus healed in this
way; and the devil will rage with mad
fury when he feels himself shut out by
the heavenly medicine, and he will try
the harder and the oftener to inflict his
tortures, as he feels himself driven
farther off by this spiritual remedy. So
says S. John Cassian.

And again he adds : Two things must
be steadfastly believed. First, that with¬
out the permission of God no one is
altogether possessed by these spirits.
Second, that everything which God
permits to happen to us, whether it
seem to be sorrow or gladness, is sent
for our good as from a pitying Father
and a merciful Physician. For the devils
are, as it were, schoolmasters of hu¬
mility, so that they who descend from
this world may either be purged for the
eternal life or be sentenced to the pain
of their punishment ; and such, accord¬
ing to S. Paul, are in the present life
delivered unto Satan for the destruction
of the flesh, that the spirit may be
saved in the day of the Lord Jesus
Christ.

But here there arises a doubt. For
S. Paul says : Let a man examine him¬
self, and so eat of that Bread : then how
can a man who is possessed com¬
municate, since he has not the use of
his reason? S. Thomas answers this in
his Third Part, Question 80, saying that
there are distinct degrees in madness.
For to say that a man has not the use of
his reason may mean two things. In
one case he has some feeble power of
reason; as a man is said to be blind
when he can nevertheless see imper¬
fectly. And since such men can to some
extent join in the devotion of this
Sacrament, it is not to be denied to
them.

But others are said to be mad because
they have been so from birth ; and such
may not partake of the Sacrament,

il finissait par les epurer avec les Saintes
Especes prises d de hautes doses. Cest une
doctrine tout a la fois realiste et surelevee.” Pere
Milleriot, . S.J., was largely concerned in the
conversion (1879-80) of Paul-Maximilien- Emile
LittrS, who died at Paris, 2 June, 1881.

176

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn 2. Gh. 5

since they are in no way able to engage
in devout preparation for it.

Or perhaps they have not always been
without the use of their reason; and
then, if when they were sane they
appeared to appreciate the devotion
due to the Sacrament, It should be
administered to them when they are
at the point of death, unless it is
feared that they may vomit or spew
It out.

The following decision is recorded by
the Council of Carthage (26, q. 6).*
When a sick man wishes to confess, and
if on the arrival of the priest he is ren¬
dered dumb by his infirmity, or falls
into a frenzy, those who have heard him
speak must give their testimony. And
if he is thought to be at the point of
death, let him be reconciled with God
by the laying on of hands and the
lacing of the Sacrament in his mouth.

. Thomas also says that the same pro¬
cedure may be used with baptized
people who are bodily tormented by
unclean spirits, and with other mentally
distracted persons. And he adds, in
Book IV, dist. 9, that the Communion
must not be denied to demoniacs unless
it is certain that they are being tortured
by the devil for some crime. To this
Peter a Palude adds : In this case they
are to be considered as persons to be
excommunicated and delivered up to
Satan.

From this it is clear that, even if a
man be possessed by a devil for his own
crimes, yet if he has lucid intervals and,
while he has the use of his reason, is
contrite and confesses his sins, since he
is absolved in the sight of God, he must
in no way be deprived of the Com¬
munion of the Divine Sacrament of the
Eucharist.

How those who are possessed may be
delivered by the intercessions and

Erayers of the Saints is found in the
legends of the Saints. For by the
merits of Saints, Martyrs, Confessors
and Virgins the unclean spirits are sub¬
dued by their prayers in the land where

* “Carthage.” The earliest Council of Car¬
thage of which we know was held about a.d. ig8,
when seventy bishops , presided over by the Bishop
of Carthage , Agrippinas , were present. After
this date more than twenty Councils were held at
Carthage , of which the most important were those
under S. Cyprian , relative to the “lap si,” Nova-
tianism , and the re-baptism of heretics , and the
synods of 412, 416 and 418 which condemned the
doctrines of Pelagius.

they live, just as the Saints in their
earthly journey subdued them.

Likewise we read that the devout
prayers of wayfarers have often ob¬
tained the deliverance of those pos¬
sessed. And Cassian urges them to pray
for them, saying : If we hold the opinion
or rather faith of which I have written
above, that everything is sent by the
Lord for the good of our souls and the
betterment of the universe, we shall in
no way despise those who are possessed ;
but we shall incessantly pray for them
as for our own selves, and pity them
with our whole heart.

As for the last method, that of re¬
leasing the sufferer from excommuni¬
cation, it must be known that this is
rare, and only lawfully practised by
such as have authority and are in¬
formed by revelation that the man has
become possessed on account of the ex-
communication of the Church : such
was the case of the Corinthian forni¬
cator (I. Corinthians v) who was ex¬
communicated by S. Paul and the
Church, and delivered unto Satan for
the destruction of the flesh, that his
spirit might be saved in the day of our
Lord JESUS Christ ; that is, as the gloss
says, either for the illumination of grace
by contrition or for judgement.

And he delivered to Satan false
teachers who had lost the faith, such as
Hymenaeus and Alexander, that they
might learn not to blaspheme (I.
Timothy i). For so great was the power
and the grace of S. Paul, says the gloss,
that by the mere words of his mouth he
could deliver to Satan those who fell
away from the faith.

S. Thomas (IV. 18) teaches concern¬
ing the three effects of excommunica¬
tion as follows. If a man, he says, is
deprived of the prayers of the Church,
he suffers a threefold loss corresponding
with the benefits which accrue to one
who is in communion with the Church.
For those who are excommunicated are
bereft of the source from which flows an
increase of grace to those who have it,
and a means to obtain grace for those
who have it not ; and, being deprived of
grace, they lose also the power of pre¬
serving their uprightness; although it
must not be thought that they are alto¬
gether shut out from God’s providence,
but only from that special providence
which watches over the sons of the
Church; and they lose also a strong
source of protection against the Enemy,

Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 5

MALEFICARUM

177

for greater power is granted to the devil
to injure such men, both bodily and
spiritually.

For in the primitive Church, when
men had to be drawn into the faith by
signs, just as the Holy Spirit was made
manifest by a visible sign, so also a
bodily affliction by the devil was the
visible sign of a man who was excom¬
municated. And it is not unfitting that
a man whose case is not quite desperate
should be delivered to Satan ; for he is
not given to the devil as one to be
damned, but to be corrected, since it is
in the power of the Church, when she
pleases, to deliver him again from the
hands of the devil. So says S. Thomas.
Therefore the lifting of the ban of ex-
communication, when prudently used
by a discreet exorcist, is a fitting remedy
for those who are possessed.

But Nider adds that the exorcist must
particularly beware of making too pre¬
sumptive a use of his powers, or of
mingling any ribaldry or jesting with
the serious work of God, or adding to it
anything that smacks of superstition or
witchcraft ; for otherwise he will hardly
escape punishment, as he shows by an
example.

For Blessed Gregory, in his First
Dialogue, tells of a certain woman who,
against her conscience, yielded to her
husband’s persuasions to take part in
the ceremonies at the vigil of the dedi¬
cation of the Church of S. Sebastian.
And because she joined in the Church’s
procession against her conscience, she
became possessed and raged publicly.
When the priest of that church saw this,
he took the cloth from the altar and
covered her with it ; and the devil sud¬
denly entered into that priest. And
because he had presumed beyond his
strength, he was constrained by his tor¬
ments to reveal who he was. So says
S. Gregory.

And to show that no spirit of
ribaldry * must be allowed to enter into
the holy office of exorcism, Nider tells

* “Ribaldry.” A rubric of the “ De exorciz¬
andis Obsessis a Daemonio ” prescribes:
“ Necessarie uero interrogationes sunt, ut de
numero et nomine spirituum obsidentium, de
tempore quo ingressi sunt, de causa, et aliis
huiusmodi. Ceteras autem daemoniis nugas,
risus, et ineptias Exorcista cohibeat, aut con¬
temnat, et circumstantes, qui pauci esse debent,
admoneat, ne haec curent, neque ipsi interrogent
obsessum: sed potius humiliter et enixe Deum
pro eo precentur .”

N

that he saw in a monastery at Cologne
a brother who was given to speaking
jestingly, but was a very famous ex-
peller of devils. This man was casting a
devil out of a man possessed in the
monastery, and the devil asked him to
give him some place to which he could
go. This pleased the Brother, and he
jokingly said, “Go to my privy.” So the
devil went out ; and when in the night
the Brother wished to go and purge his
belly, the devil attacked him so savagely
in the privy that he with difficulty
escaped with his life.

But especial care is to be taken that
those who are obsessed through witch¬
craft should not be induced to go to
witches to be healed. For S. Gregory
goes on to say of the woman we have
just mentioned : Her kindred and those
who loved her in the flesh took her to
some witches to be healed, by whom she
was taken to a river and dipped in the
water with many incantations ; and
upon this she was violently shaken, and
instead of one devil being cast out, a
legion entered into her, and she began
to cry out in their several voices.
Therefore her kindred confessed what
they had done, and in great grief
brought her to the holy Bishop For¬
tunatus,! who by daily prayers and
fasting! entirely restored her to health.

But since it has been said that exor¬
cists must beware lest they make use of
anything savouring of superstition or
witchcraft, some exorcist may doubt
whether it is lawful to use certain
unconsecrated herbs and stones. In
answer we say that it is so much the
better if the herbs are consecrated ; but
that if they are not, then it is not super¬
stitious to use a certain herb called
Demonifuge, § or even the natural
properties of stones. But he must not
think that he is casting out devils by the
power of these ; for then he would fall
into the error of believing that he could
use other herbs and incantations in the
same way; and this is the error of
necromancers, who think that they can
perform this kind of work through the

f “ Fortunatus .” Bishop of Naples, who was
appointed to that see by S. Gregory the Great in
593 upon the deposition of Demetrius.

Fasting.” “S. Matthew” xvii, 20: Hoc
autem genus non eiicitur nisi per orationem et
ieiunium.

§ “ Demonifuge .” See Sinis trari, “ De Dae-
monialitate,” LXVIII, in my translation
“ Demoniality ,” pp. 52-53.

1 78

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 5

natural and unknown virtues of such
objects.

Therefore S. Thomas says, Book IV.
dist. 7, art. the last : It must not be be¬
lieved that devils are subject to any
corporeal powers; and therefore they
are not to be influenced by invocations
or any acts of sorcery, except in so far
as they have entered into a pact with
a witch. Of this Esaias (xxviii) speaks :
We have made a covenant with death,
and with hell are we at agreement. And
he thus explains the passage in Job xli :
Canst thou draw out Leviathan with an
hook? and the following words. For he
says : If one rightly considers all that
has been said before, it will seem that it
belongs to the heretical presumption of
necromancers when anyone tries to
make an agreement with devils, or to
subject them in any way to his own will.

Having, then, shown that man can¬
not of his own power overcome the
devil, he concludes by saying: Place
your hand upon him; but understand
that, if you have any power, it is yet by
Divine virtue that he is overcome. And
he adds : Remember the battle which I
wage against him; that is to say, the
present being put for the future, I shall
fight against him on the Cross, where
Leviathan will be taken with an hook,
that is, by the divinity hidden under
the bait of humanity, since he will think
our Saviour to be only a man. And
afterwards it says : There is no power
on earth to be compared with him : by
which it is meant that no bodily power
can equal the power of the devil, which
is a purely spiritual power. So says S.
Thomas.

But a man possessed by a devil can
indirectly be relieved by the power of
music, as was Saul by David’s harp, or
of a herb, or of any other bodily matter
in which there lies some natural virtue.
Therefore such remedies may be used,
as can be argued both from authority
and by reason. For S. Thomas, XXVI.
7, says that stones and herbs may be
used for the relief of a man possessed by
a devil. And there are the words of
S. Jerome.

And as for the passage in Tobias, where
the Angel says : Touching the heart and
the liver (which you took from the
fish), if a devil or an evil spirit trouble
any, we must make a smoke thereof
before the man or the woman, and the
party shall be no more vexed; S.
Thomas says : We ought not to marvel

at this, for the smoke of a certain tree
when it is burned seems to have the
same virtue, as if it had in it some
spiritual sense, or power of spiritual
prayer for the future.

Of the same opinion are Blessed
Albert, in his commentary on S. Luke ix,
and Nicolas of Lyra and Paul of
Burgos,* on I. Samuel xvi. The last-
named homilist comes to this conclu¬
sion : that it must be allowed that those
possessed by a devil can not only be
relieved, but even entirely delivered by
means of material things, understand¬
ing that in the latter case they are not
very fiercely molested. And he proves
this by reasoning as follows: Devils
cannot alter corporeal matter just at
their will, but only by bringing to¬
gether complementary active and pas¬
sive agents, as Nicolas says. In the
same way some material object can
cause in the human body a disposition
which makes it susceptible to the opera¬
tions of the devil. For example, accord¬
ing to physicians, mania very much pre¬
disposes a man to dementia, and con¬
sequently to demoniac obsession : there¬
fore if, in such a case, the predisposing
passive agent be removed, it will follow
that the active affliction of the devil will
be cured.

In this light we may consider the
fish’s liver ; and the music of David, by
which Saul was at first relieved and then
entirely delivered of the evil spirit; for
it says: And the evil spirit departed
from him. But it is not consonant with
the meaning of the Scripture to say that
this was done by the merits or prayers
of David ; for the Scripture says nothing
of any such matter, whereas it would
have spoken notably in his praise if this
had been so. This reasoning we take
from Paul of Burgos. There is also
the reason which we gave in Question V
of the First Part : that Saul was liber-

* “ Paul of Burgos .” Paul de Santa Maria,
a Spanish Archbishop, Lord Chancellor, and
exegete, born at Burgos about 1351; died 23
August, 1435. The most wealthy and influential
Jew of Burgos {Jewish name Solomon-Ha-
Levi), and a scholar of the first rank in Talmudic
and Rabbinical literature, a Rabbi of the Hebraic
community, he was converted to Christianity by
the irrefutable logic of the “Summa” of S.
Thomas. He received baptism 21 July, 1330.
His reputation as a Biblical writer chiefly rests
upon his “ Additiones ” to the “ Postilla ” of
Nicolas of Lyra, Nuremberg, 1481; Venice ,
1481 ; and many other editions.

Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 6

MALEFICARUM

179

ated because by the harp was pre¬
figured the virtue of the Cross on which
were stretched the Sacred Limbs of
Christ’s Body. And more is written
there which may be considered to¬
gether with the present inquiry. But
we shall only conclude by saying that
the use of material things in lawful
exorcisms is not superstitious. And now
it is expedient that we should speak
about the exorcisms themselves.

☆

CHAPTER VI

Prescribed Remedies; to wit, the Lawful
Exorcisms of the Church , for all Sorts of
Infirmities and Ills due to Witchcraft;
and the Method of Exorcising those who
are Bewitched.

IT has already been stated that witches
can afflict men with every kind of
physical infirmity; therefore it can be
taken as a general rule that the various
verbal or practical remedies which can
be applied in the case of those infirmi¬
ties which we have just been discussing
are equally applicable to all other in¬
firmities, such as epilepsy or leprosy, for
example. And as lawful exorcisms are
reckoned among the verbal remedies
and have been most often considered by
us, they may be taken as a general type
of such remedies; and there are three
matters to be considered regarding them.

First, we must judge whether a per¬
son who has not been ordained as an
exorcist, such as a layman or a secular
cleric, may lawfully exorcise devils and
their works. Bound up with this ques¬
tion are three others: namely; first,
what constitutes the legality of this
practice ; secondly, the seven conditions
which must be observed when one
wishes to make private use of charms
and benedictions ; and thirdly, in what
way the disease is to be exorcised and
the devil conjured.

Secondly, we must consider what is to
be done when no healing grace results
from the exorcism.

Thirdly, we must consider practical
and not verbal remedies ; together with
the solution of certain arguments.

For the first, we have the opinion of
S. Thomas in Book IV, dist. 23. He
says: When a man is ordained as an
exorcist, or into any of the other minor
Orders, he has conferred upon him the

power of exorcism in his official ca¬
pacity; and this power may even law¬
fully be used by those who belong to no
Order, but such do not exercise it in
their official capacity. Similarly the
Mass can be said in an unconsecrated
house, although the very purpose of
consecrating a church is that the Mass
may be said there ; but this is more on
account of the grace which is in the
righteous than of the grace of the
Sacrament.

From these words we may conclude
that, although it is good that in the
liberation of a bewitched person re¬
course should be had to an exorcist
having authority to exorcise such be¬
witchments, yet at times other devout
persons may, either with or without any
exorcism, cast out this, sort of diseases.

For we hear of a certain poor and
very devout virgin, one of whose friends
had been grievously bewitched in his
foot, so that it was clear to the phy¬
sicians that he could be cured by no
medicines. But it happened that the
virgin went to visit the sick man, and
he at once begged her to apply some
benediction to his foot. She consented,
and did no more than silently say the
Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed,
at the same time making use of the sign
of the life-giving Cross. The sick man
then felt himself at once cured, and,
that he might have a remedy for the
future, asked the virgin what charms she
had used. But she answered : You are of
little faith and do not hold to the holy
and lawful practices of the Church, and
you often apply forbidden charms and
remedies for your infirmities ; therefore
are you rarely healthy in your body,
because you are always sick in your soul.
But if you would put your trust in
prayer and in the efficacy of lawful
symbols, you will often be very easily
cured. For I did nothing but repeat the
Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed,
and you are now cured.

This example gives rise to the ques¬
tion, whether there is not any efficacy
in other benedictions and charms, and
even conjurations by way of exorcism;
for they seem to be condemned in this
story. We answer that the virgin con¬
demned only unlawful charms and un¬
lawful conjurations and exorcisms.

To understand these last we must
consider how they originated, and how
they came to be abused. For they were
in their origin entirely sacred ; but just

i8o

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 6

as by the means of devils and wicked
men all things can be defiled, so also
were these sacred words. For it is said
in the last chapter of S. Mark, of the
Apostles and holy men : In My Name
shall they cast out devils; and they
visited the sick, and prayed over them
with sacred words; and in after times
priests devoutly used similar rites ; and
therefore there are to be found to-day in
ancient Churches devout prayers and
holy exorcisms which men can use or
undergo, when they are applied by
pious men as they used to be, without
any superstition ; even as there are now
to be found learned men and Doctors
of holy Theology who visit the sick and
use such words for the healing not only
of demoniacs, but of other diseases as
well.

But, alas ! superstitious men have, on
the pattern of these, found for them¬
selves many vain and unlawful remedies
which they employ in these days for sick
men and animals ; and the clergy have
become too slothful to use any more the
lawful words when they visit the sick.
On this account Gulielmus Durandus,*
the commentator on S. Raymond, says
that such lawful exorcisms may be used
by a religious and discreet priest, or by
a layman, or even by a woman of good
life and proved discretion ; by the
offering of lawful prayers over the sick :
not over fruits or animals, but over the
sick. For the Gospel says : They shall
place their hands upon the sick, etc.
And such persons are not to be pre¬
vented from practising in this way;
unless perhaps it is feared that, follow¬
ing their example, other indiscreet and
superstitious persons should make im¬
proper use of incantations. It is these
superstitious diviners whom that virgin
we have mentioned condemned, when

* “Durandus.” William Duranti, canonist
and one of the most important mediaeval
liturgical writers, born about 1237 at Pui-
misson, Provence; died at Rome 1 November,
1236. His career was most noble and distin¬
guished. A long epitaph upon his monument in
Santa Maria sopra Minerva tells the story of his
life and gives a list of his works. The most
important of these is the “ Rationale diuinorum
officiorum ,” the first edition of which by Fust and
Schoeffier was issued at Mainz in 1453. It has
been frequently reprinted, the last complete edition
being Naples, 1833. The “ Speculum Iudiciale ”
and the “ Commentarius in canones Concilii
Lugdunensis I I” are valuable treatises upon the
canons and canonical processes.

she said that they who consulted with
such had weak, that is to say bad, faith.

Now for the elucidation of this
matter it is asked how it is possible to
know whether the words of such charms
and benedictions are lawful or super¬
stitious, and how they ought to be used ;
and whether the devil can be conjured
and diseases exorcised.

In the first place, that is said to be
lawful in the Christian religion which is
not superstitious ; and that is said to be
superstitious which is over and above
the prescribed form of religion. See
Colossians ii : Which things indeed have
a show of wisdom in superstition: on
which the gloss says: Superstition is
undisciplined religion, that is, religion
observed with defective methods in evil
circumstances.

Anything, also, is superstition which
human tradition without higher author¬
ity has caused to usurp the name
of religion ; such as the interpolation of
hymns at Holy Mass, the alteration of
the Preface for Requiems, the abbre¬
viation of the Creed which is to be sung
at Mass, the reliance upon an organ
rather than upon the choir for the
music, neglect to have a Server on the
Altar, and such practices. But to return
to our point, when a work is done by
virtue of the Christian religion, as when
someone wishes to heal the sick by
means of prayer and benediction and
sacred words (which is the matter we
are considering), such a person must
observe seven conditions by which such
benedictions are rendered lawful. And
even if he uses adjurations, through the
virtue of the Divine Name, and by the
virtue of the works of Christ, His Birth,
Passion and Precious Death, by which
the devil was conquered and cast out;
such benedictions and charms and
exorcisms shall be called lawful, and
they who practise them are exorcists or
lawful enchanters. See S. Isidore, Etym.
VIII, Enchanters are they whose art
and skill lies in the use of words.

And the first of these conditions, as
we learn from S. Thomas, is that there
must be nothing in the words which
hints at any expressed or tacit invoca¬
tion of devils. If such were expressed, it
would be obviously unlawful. If it were
tacit, it might be considered in the light
of intention, or in that of fact : in that
of intention, when the operator has no
care whether it is God or the devil who
is helping him, so long as he attains his

Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 6

MALEFICARUM

181

desired result ; in that of fact, when a
person has no natural aptitude for such
work, but creates some artificial means.
And of such not only must physicians
and astronomers be the judges, but
especially Theologians. For in this way
do necromancers work, making images
and rings and stones by artificial
means ; which have no natural virtue to
effect the results which they very often
expect : therefore the devil must be con¬
cerned in their works.

Secondly, the benedictions or charms
must contain no unknown names; for
according to S. John Chrysostom such
are to be regarded with fear, lest they
should conceal some matter of super¬
stition.

Thirdly, there must be nothing in the
words that is untrue ; for if there is, the
effect of them cannot be from God,
Who is not a witness to a lie. But some
old women in their incantations use
some such jingling doggerel as the
following :

Blessed MARY went a-walking
Over Jordan river.

Stephen met her, and fell a-talking, etc.

•Fourthly, there must be no vanities,
or written characters beyond the sign
of the Cross. Therefore the charms
which soldiers are wont to carry are
condemned.

Fifthly, no faith must be placed in the
method of writing or reading or binding
the charm about a person, or in any
such vanity, which has nothing to do
with the reverence of God, without
which a charm is altogether super¬
stitious.

Sixthly, in the citing and uttering of
Divine words and of Holy Scripture
attention must only be paid to the
sacred words themselves and their
meaning, and to the reverence of God ;
whether the effect be looked for from
the Divine virtue, or from the relics of
Saints, which are a secondary power,
since their virtue springs originally from
God.

Seventhly, the looked-for effect must
be left to the Divine Will ; for He knows
whether it is best for a man to be healed
or to be plagued, or to die. This con¬
dition was set down by S. Thomas.

So we may conclude that if none of
these conditions be broken, the incan¬
tation will be lawful. And S. Thomas
writes in this connexion on the last
chapter of S. Mark: And these signs

shall follow them that believe; in my
name shall they cast out devils ; they
shall take up serpents. From this it is
clear that, provided the above con¬
ditions are observed, it is lawful by
means of sacred words to keep serpents
away.

S. Thomas says further : The words of
God are not less holy than the Relics
of the Saints. As S. Augustine says :
The word of God is not less than the
Body of Christ. But all are agreed that
it is lawful to carry reverently about
the person the Relics of the Saints :
therefore let us by all means invoke the
name of God by duly using the Lord’s
Prayer and the Angelic Salutation, by
His Birth and Passion, by His Five
Wounds, and by the Seven Words
which He spoke on the Cross, by the
Triumphant Inscription, by the three
nails, and by the other weapons of
Christ’s army against the devil and his
works. By all these means it is lawful
to work, and our trust may be placed in
them, leaving the issue to God’s will.

And what has been said about the
keeping off of serpents applies also to
other animals, provided that the atten¬
tion is fixed only on the sacred words
and the Divine virtue. But great care
is to be used in incantations of this
nature. For S. Thomas says : Such
diviners often use unlawful observances,
and obtain magic effects by means of
devils, especially in the case of ser¬
pents; for the serpent was the devil’s
first instrument by which he deceived
mankind.

For in the town of Salzburg there
was a certain mage who one day, in
open view of all, wanted to charm all
the snakes into a particular pit, and
kill them all within an area of a mile.
So he gathered all the snakes together,
and was himself standing over the pit,
when last of all there came a huge and
horrible serpent which would not go
into the pit. This serpent kept making
signs to the man to let it go away and
crawl where it would ; but he would not
cease from his incantation, but insisted
that, as all the other snakes had entered
the pit and there died, so also must this
horrible serpent. But it stood on the
opposite side to the warlock, and sud¬
denly leapt over the pit and fell upon
the man, wrapping itself round his belly,
and dragged him with itself into the pit,
where they both died. From this it may
be seen that only for a useful purpose,

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Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 6

182

such as driving them away from men’s
houses, are such incantations to be
practised, and they are to be done by
the Divine virtue, and in the fear of
God, and with reverence.

In the second place we have to con¬
sider how exorcisms or charms of this
kind ought to be used, and whether they
should be worn round the neck or sewn
into the clothing. It may seem that such
practices are unlawful ; for S. Augustine
says, in the Second Book on the Christian
Doctrine : There are a thousand magic
devices and amulets and charms which
are all superstitious, and the School of
Medicine utterly condemns them all,
whether they are incantations, or cer¬
tain marks which are called characters,
or engraved charms to be hung round
the neck.

Also S. John Chrysostom, comment¬
ing on S. Matthew, says : Some persons
wear round their neck some written
portion of the Gospel; but is not the
Gospel every day read in the church
and heard by all? How then shall a
man be helped by wearing the Gospel
round his neck, when he has reaped no
benefit from hearing it with his ears?
For in what does the virtue of the Gos-

f)el consist ; in the characters of its
etters, or in the meaning of its words?
If in the characters, you do well to
hang it round your neck ; but if in the
meaning, surely it is of more benefit
when planted in the heart than when
worn round the neck.

But, on the other hand, the Doctors
answer as follows, especially S. Thomas
where he asks whether it is unlawful to
hang sacred words round the neck.
Their opinion is that, in all charms and
writings so worn, there are two things
to be avoided.

First, in whatever is written there
must be nothing that savours of an in¬
vocation of devils; for then it is mani¬
festly superstitious and unlawful, and
must be judged as an apostasy from the
faith, as has often been said before.

Similarly, in accordance with the
above seven conditions, it must not con¬
tain any unknown names. But if these
two snares be avoided, it is lawful both
to place such charms on the lips of the
sick, and for the sick to carry them with
them. But the Doctors condemn their
use in one respect, that is, when a man
pays greater attention to and has more
reliance upon the mere signs of the
written letters than upon their meaning.

It may be said that a layman who
does not understand the words cannot
pay any attention to their meaning.
But it is enough if such a man fixes his
thoughts on the Divine virtue, and
leaves it to the Divine will to do what
seems good to His mercy.

In the third place we have to con¬
sider whether the devil is to be conjured
and the disease exorcised at the same
time, or whether a different order
should be observed, or whether one of
these operations can take place without
the other. Here there are several points
to be considered. First, whether the
devil is always present when the sick
man is afflicted. Second, what sort of
things are capable of being exorcised or
remedied. Third, the method of exor¬
cising.

For the first point, it would seem, fol¬
lowing that pronouncement of S. John
Damascene that where the devil operates
there he is, that the devil is always
present in the sick man when he afflicts
him. Also in the history of S. Bartholo¬
mew it seems that a man is only de¬
livered from the devil when he is cured
of his sickness.

But this can be answered as follows.
When it is said that the devil is present
in a sick man, this can be understood in
two ways: either that he is personally
present, or that he is present in the
effect which he has caused. In the first
sense he is present when he first causes
the sickness; in the second sense he is
said to be present not personally but in
the effect. In this way, when the Doc¬
tors ask whether the devil substantially
inhabits a man who commits mortal sin,
they say that he is not personally
present, but only in effect; just as a
master is said to dwell in his servants
in respect of his mastership. But the
case is quite otherwise with men who
are possessed by a devil.

For the second point, as to what sort
of things can be exorcised, the opinion
of S. Thomas, Book IV, dist. 6, should
be noted, where he says that on account
of man’s sin the devil receives power
over a man and over everything which
a man uses, to hurt him with them;
and since there can be no compromise
of Christ with Belial, therefore when¬
ever anything is to be sanctified for
Divine worship, it is first exorcised that
it may be consecrated to God freed
from the power of the devil, by which
it might be turned to the hurt of men.

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MALEFICARUM

183

This is shown in the blessing of water,
the consecration of a church, and in all
matters of this sort. Therefore, since
the first act of reconciliation by which
a man is consecrated to God is in
baptism, it is necessary that a man
should be exorcised before he is bap¬
tized; indeed in this it is more imper¬
ative than in any other circumstance.
For in man himself lies the cause by
reason of which the devil receives his
power in other matters which are
brought about by man, namely, sin,
either original or actual. This then is
the significance of the words that are
used in exorcism, as when it is said,
“Depart, O Satan, from him”; and
likewise of the things that are then. done.

To return, then, to the actual point.
When it is asked whether the disease is
to be exorcised and the devil adjured,
and which of these should be done
first ; it is answered that not the disease,
but the sick and bewitched man him¬
self is exorcised : just as in the case of a
child, it is not the infection of the fomes
which is exorcised, but the child itself.
Also, just as the child is first exorcised,
and then the devil is adjured to depart;
so also is the bewitched person first
exorcised, and afterwards the devil and
his works are bidden to depart. Again,
just as salt and water are exorcised, so
are all things which can be used by the
sick man, so that it is expedient to
exorcise and bless chiefly his food and
drink. In the case of baptism the fol¬
lowing ceremony of exorcism is ob¬
served : the exsufflation towards the
West and the renunciation of the devil ;
secondly, the raising of the hands with
a solemn confession of the faith of
the Christian religion ; thirdly, prayer,
benediction, and the laying on of
hands ; fourthly, the stripping and
anointing with Holy Oil; and after
baptism, the communion and the
putting on of the chrisom. But all this
is not necessary in the exorcism of one
who is bewitched; but that he should
first have made a good confession, and
if possible he is to hold a lighted candle,
and receive the Holy Communion ; and
instead of putting on a chrisom, he is to
remain bound naked to a Holy Candle
of the length of Christ’s body or of the
Cross. And then may be said the
following :

I exorcise thee, Peter, or thee, Bar¬
bara, being weak but reborn in Holy

Baptism, by the living God, by the true
God, by God Who redeemed thee with
His Precious Blood, that thou mayest
be exorcised, that all the illusions and
wickedness of the devil’s deceits may
depart and flee from thee together with
every unclean spirit, adjured by Him
Who will come to judge both the quick
and the dead, and who will purge the
earth with fire. Amen.

Let us pray.

O God of mercy and pity, Who
according to Thy tender lovingkindness
chastenest those whom Thou dost
cherish, and dost gently compel those
whom Thou receivest to turn their
hearts, we invoke Thee, O Lord, that
Thou wilt vouchsafe to bestow Thy
grace upon Thy servant who suffereth
from a weakness in the limbs of his
body, that whatever is corrupt by
earthly frailty, whatever is made violate
by the deceit of the devil, may find
redemption in the unity of the body of
the Church. Have mercy, O Lord, on
his groaning, have mercy upon his
tears; and as he putteth his trust only
in Thy mercy, receive him in the sacra¬
ment of Thy reconciliation, through
Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Therefore, accursed devil, hear thy
doom, and give honour to the true and
living God, give honour to the Lord
Jesus Christ, that thou depart with thy
works from this servant whom our Lord
Jesus Christ hath redeemed with His
Precious Blood.

Then let him exorcise him a second
and yet a third time, with the prayers
as above.

Let us pray.

God, Who dost ever mercifully
govern all things that Thou hast made,
incline Thine ear to our prayers, and
look in mercy upon Thy servant
labouring under the sickness of the
body; visit him, and grant him Thy
salvation and the healing virtue of Thy
heavenly grace, through Christ our
Lord. Amen.

Therefore, accursed devil, etc.

The prayer for the third exorcism.

O God, the only protection of human
frailty, show forth the mighty power of
Thy strong aid upon our sick brother
(or sister), that being holpen by Thy
mercy he (she) may be worthy to enter
Thy Holy Church in safety, through
Christ our Lord. Amen.

184

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn 2. Gh. 6

And let the exorcist continually
sprinkle him with Holy Water. And
note that this method is recommended,
not because it must be rigidly observed,
or that other exorcisms are not of
greater efficacy, but that there should
be some regular system of exorcism and
adjuration. For in the old histories and
books of the Church there are some¬
times found more devout and powerful
exorcisms; but since before all things
the reverence of God is necessary, let
each proceed in this matter as he finds
it best.

In conclusion, and for the sake of
clearness, we may recommend this form
of exorcism for a person who is be¬
witched. Let him first make a good
confession (according to the often-
quoted Canon: If by sortilege, etc.).
Then let a diligent search be made in
all corners and in the beds and mat¬
tresses and under the threshold of the
door, in case some instrument of witch¬
craft may be found. The bodies of
animals bewitched to death are at once
to be burned. And it is expedient that
all bed-clothes and garments should be
renewed, and even that he should
change his house and dwelling. But in
case nothing is found, then he who is to
to be exorcised should if possible go
into the church in the morning, espe¬
cially on the Holier Days, such as the
Feasts of Our Lady, or on some Vigil ;
and the better if the priest also has con¬
fessed and is in a state of grace, for
then the stronger will he be. And let
him who is to be exorcised hold in his
hand a Holy Candle as well as he can,
either sitting or kneeling ; and let those
who are present offer up devout prayers
for his deliverance. And let him begin
the Litany at “Our help is in the Name
of the Lord,” and let one be appointed
to make the responses : let him sprinkle
him with Holy Water, and place a
stole round his neck, and recite the
Psalm “Haste thee, O God, to deliver
me” ; and let him continue the Litany
for the Sick, saying at the Invocation of
the Saints, “Pray for him and be
favourable ; deliver him, O Lord,” con¬
tinuing thus to the end. But where the
prayers are to be said, then in the place
of the prayers let him begin the exor¬
cism, and continue in the way we have
declared, or in any other better way,
as seems good to him. And this sort of
exorcism may be continued at least
three times a week, that so through

many intercessions the grace of health
may be obtained.

Finally, he must receive the Sacra¬
ment of the Eucharist; although some
think that this should be done before
the exorcism. And at his confession the
confessor must inquire whether he is
under any bond of excommunication,
and if he is, whether he has rashly
omitted to obtain absolution from his
Judge; for then, although he may at
his discretion absolve him, yet when he
has regained his health, he must seek
absolution also from the Judge who
excommunicated him.

It should further be noted that, when
the exorcist is not ordained to the Order
of Exorcist, then he may proceed with
prayers ; and if he can read the Scrip¬
tures, let him read the beginnings of the
four Gospels of the Evangelists, and the
Gospel beginning, “There was an Angel
sent” ; and the Passion of our Lord ; all
of which have great power to expel the
works of the devil. Also let the Gospel
of S. John, “In the beginning was the
Word,” be written and hung round the
sick man’s neck, and so let the grace of
healing be looked for from God.

But if anyone asks what is the differ¬
ence between the aspersion of Holy
Water and exorcism, since both are
ordained against the plagues of the
devil, the answer is supplied by S.
Thomas, who says : The devil attacks us
from without and from within. There¬
fore Holy Water is ordained against his
attacks from without ; but exorcism
against those from within. For this
reason those for whom exorcism is neces¬
sary are called Energoumenoi, from En,
meaning In, and Ergon , meaning Work,
since they labour within themselves.
But in exorcising a bewitched person
both methods are to be used, because he
is tormented both within and without.

Our second main consideration is
what is to be done when no healing
grace results from exorcisms. Now this
may happen for six reasons ; and there
is a seventh about which we suspend any
definite judgement. For when a per¬
son is not healed, it is due either to want
of faith in the bystanders or in those who
present the sick man, or to the sins of
them who suffer from the bewitchment,
or to a neglect of the due and fitting
remedies, or to some flaw in the faith
of the exorcist, or to the lack of a greater
trust in the powers of another exorcist,
or to the need of purgation and for

Part II. Qn 2. Gh. 6

MALEFICARUM

185

the increased merit of the bewitched
person.

Concerning the first four of these the
Gospel teaches us in the incident of the
only son of his father, who was a luna¬
tic, and of the disciples of Christ being
there present ( S . Matthew xvii. and
S. Mark ix.). For in the first place He
said that the multitude were without
faith ; whereupon the father prayed
Him, saying : Lord, I believe : help
Thou mine unbelief. And JESUS said to
the multitude : O faithless and perverse
generation, how long shall I be with
you?

Secondly, with regard to him who
endured the devil, JESUS rebuked him,
that is, the son ; for, as Saint Jerome
says, he had been tormented by the
devil because of his sins.

Thirdly, this illustrates the neglect of
the rightful remedies, because good and
perfect men were not at first present.
For S. John Chrysostom says: The
pillars of the faith, namely, Peter and
James and John, were not present, for
they were at the Transfiguration of
Christ: neither were there prayer and
fasting, without which Christ said that
this sort of devil goeth not out. There¬
fore Origen, writing on this passage,
says : If at any time a man be not cured
after prayer, let us not wonder or ask
questions or speak, as if the unclean
spirit were listening to us; but let us
cast out our evil spirits by prayer and
fasting. And the gloss says: This sort
of devil, that is, the variability of carnal
desires induced by that spirit, is not
conquered except by strengthening the
soul with prayer, and subduing the
flesh with fasting.

Fourthly, the flaw in the faith of the
exorcist is exemplified in the disciples
of Christ who were present. For when
they afterwards asked Him privately
the cause of their failure, He answered :
Because of your unbelief: for verily I
say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain
of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this
mountain, Remove hence,* etc. And

* “ Remove hence.,> The miracle of the
removal of a mountain was actually performed by
S. Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop of Neo-
caesarea ( d. circa 270-275), as the Venerable
Bede tells us in his Commentary upon “S. Mark ”
xi: “Hoc quoque fieri potuisset, ut mons ablatus
de terra mitteretur in mare, si necessitas id
fieri poscisset. Quomodo legimus factum precibus
beati patris Gregorii Neocaesareae Ponti Anti¬
stitis, uiri mentis et uirtutibus eximii, ut mons in

S. Hilary says: The Apostles believed,
indeed, but they were not yet perfect
in faith: for while the Lord was away
in the mountain with the other three,
and they remained with the multitude,
their faith became lukewarm.

The fifth reason is illustrated in the
Lives of the Fathers, where we read
that certain possessed persons could not
be delivered by S. Antony, but were
delivered by his disciple, Paul.

The sixth reason has already been
made clear ; for not always when a man
is freed from sin is he also freed from
punishment, but sometimes the penalty
remains as a punishment and atone¬
ment for the previous sin.

There is yet another remedy by which
many have been said to be delivered,
namely, the re-baptizing of those who
are bewitched ; but this is a matter on
which, as we have said, we can make no
definite pronouncement. Nevertheless
it is most true that when a person has
not been duly exorcised before baptism,
the devil, with God’s permission, has
always more power against such a
person. And it is clearly shown without
any doubt in what has just been writ¬
ten, that much negligence is committed
by improperly instructed priests (in
which case it pertains to the fourth of
the above-noted impediments, namely,
a flaw in the exorcist), or else by old
women who do not observe the proper
method of baptism at the necessary
time.

However, God forbid that I should
maintain that the Sacraments cannot be
administered by wicked men, or that
when baptism is performed by a wicked
man it is not valid, provided that he ob¬
serves the proper forms and words. Simi¬
larly in the exorcism let him proceed
with due care, not timidly and not rashly.
And let no one meddle with such sacred
offices by any accidental or habitual
omission of any necessary forms or
words ; for there are four matters to be
observed in the right performance of

terra tantum loco cederet, quantum incolae
duitatis opus habebant. Cum enim uolens
aedificare ecclesiam in loco apto, uident eum
angustiorem esse quam res exigebat, eo quod ex
una parte rupe maris, ex alia monte proximo
coarctaretur; uenit nocte ad locum, et genibus
flexis admonuit Dominum promissionis suae, ut
montem longius iuxta fidem petentis ageret. Et
mane facto reuersus inuenit montem tantum spatii
reliquisse structoribus ecclesiae, quantum opus
habuerant .”

1 86

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn 2. Gh. 6

exorcism, namely, the matter, the form,
the intention and the order, as we have
set them out above; and when one of
these is lacking it cannot be complete.

And it is not valid to object that in
the primitive Church persons were bap¬
tized without exorcism, and that even
now a person is truly baptized without
any exorcism ; for in that case S.
Gregory would have instituted exorcism
in vain, and the Church would be in
error in its ceremonies.* Therefore I
have not dared altogether to condemn
the re-baptism under certain conditions
of bewitched persons, that they may
recover that which was at first omitted.

It is said, also, of those who walk in
their sleep during the night over high
buildings without any harm, that it
is the work of evil spirits who thus lead
them ; and many affirm that when such
people are re-baptized they are much
benefited. And it is wonderful that,
when they are called by their own
names, they suddenly fall to the earth,
as if that name had not been given to
them in proper form at their baptism.

Let the reader pay attention to those
six impediments mentioned above,
although they refer to Energoumenoi, or
men possessed, rather than to men be¬
witched ; for though equal virtue is
required in both cases, yet it may be
said that it is more difficult to cure a
bewitched person than one possessed.
Therefore those impediments apply
even more pertinently to the case of
those who are bewitched ; as is proved
by the following reasoning.

It was shown in Chapter X of the First
Question of the Second Part that some
men are at times possessed for no sin
of their own, but for the venial sin of
another man, and for various other

* “Ceremonies Actually baptismal exorcism
is earlier than S. Gregory. From the very first
catechumens were exorcised as a preparation for
the Sacrament of Baptism. In this connexion
exorcism is a symbolical anticipation of one of
the chief effects of the Sacrament of Regeneration,
and since it was used in the case of children who
had no personal sins, S. Augustine, writing
against the Pelagians, appeals to it as clearly
implying the doctrine of original sin. S. Cyril of
Jerusalem in his “ Catecheses a.d. 347, gives
a detailed description of baptismal exorcism, by
which it appears that anointing with exorcised
oil formed a part of this function in the East.
The earliest Western witness which explicitly
treats unction as part of the baptismal exorcism
is that of the Arabic Canons of Hippolytus.

causes. But in witchcraft, when adults
are bewitched, it generally happens to
them that the devil grievously possesses
them from within for the destruction of
their souls. Therefore the labour re¬
quired in the case of the bewitched is
twofold, whereas it is only single in the
case of the possessed. Of this most
grievous possession John Cassian speaks
in his Collation of the Abbot Serenus:
They are truly to be judged unhappy
and miserable who, although they pol¬
lute themselves with every crime and
wickedness, yet show no outward sign
of being filled with the devil, nor does
there seem to be any temptation com¬
mensurate with their deeds, nor any
punishment sufficient to restrain them.
For they do not deserve even the healing
medicine of purgatory, who in their
hardness of heart and impenitence are
beyond the reach of any earthly cor¬
rection, and lay up to themselves anger
and vengeance in that day of wrath
and revelation of the Just Judgement,
when their worm shall not die.

And a little earlier, comparing the
possession of the body with the binding
of the soul in sin, he says : Far more
grievous and violent is the torment of
those who show no sign of being bodily
possessed by devils, but are most terribly
possessed in their souls, being fast bound
by their sins and vices. For according
to the Apostle, a man becomes the slave
of him by whom he is conquered. And
in this respect their case is the most
desperate, since they are the servants
of devils, and can neither resist nor
tolerate that domination. It is clear then
that, not they who are possessed by the
devil from without, but they who are
bewitched in their bodies and possessed
from within to the perdition of their
souls, are, by reason of many impedi¬
ments, the more difficult to heal.

Our third main consideration is that
of curative charms, and it is to be noted
that these are of two sorts. They are
either quite lawful and free from suspi¬
cion, or they are to be suspected and
are not altogether lawful. We have
dealt with the first sort in Chapter V,
towards the end, where we disposed of a
doubt as to the legality of using herbs
and stones to drive away a bewitch¬
ment.

Now we must treat of the second sort
which are under suspicion of not being
altogether lawful; and we must draw
attention to what was said in the Intro-

Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 6

MALEFICARUM

187

duction to the Second Question of the
Second Part of this work as to the four
remedies, of which three are judged to
be unlawful, and the fourth not alto¬
gether so, but vain, being that of which
the Canonists say that it is lawful to
oppose vanity to vanity. But we In¬
quisitors are of the same opinion as the
Holy Doctors, that when, owing to the
six or seven impediments which we
have detailed, the remedies of sacred
words and lawful exorcism are not suffi¬
cient, then those who are so bewitched
are to be exhorted to bear with a patient
spirit the evils of this present life for the
purgation of their crimes, and not to
seek further in any way for superstitious
and vain remedies. Therefore, if anyone
is not content with the aforesaid lawful
exorcisms, and wishes to have recourse
to remedies which are, at least, vain,
of which we have spoken before, let him
know that he does not do this with our
consent or permission. But the reason
why we have so carefully explained and
detailed such remedies is that we might
bring into some sort of agreement the
opinions of such Doctors as Duns Scotus
and Henry of Segusio on the one hand,
and those of the other Theologians on
the other hand. Yet we are in agree¬
ment with S. Augustine in his Sermon
against Fortune-tellers and Diviners , which
is called the Sermon on Auguries * where
he says : Brethren, you know that I have
often entreated you that you should not
follow the customs of Pagans and sor¬
cerers, but this has had little effect on
some of you. Yet, if I do not speak out
to you, I shall be answerable for you in
the Day of Judgement, and both you
and I must suffer eternal damnation.
Therefore I absolve myself before God,
that again and again I admonish and
adjure you, that none of you seek out
diviners or fortune-tellers, and that you
consult with them for no cause or
infirmity ; for whosoever commits this
sin, the sacrament of baptism is im¬
mediately lost in him, and he at once
becomes a sacrilegious and a Pagan,
and unless he repents will perish in
eternity.

And afterwards he adds : Let no one
observe days for going out and coming
back; for God hath made all things
well, and He Who ordained one day

* “Auguries.” The “De Auguriis ,” which is
often ascribed to another writer, may be found in
the Migne S. Augustine, Ap. V, 2268.

ordained also another. But as often as
you have to do anything or to go out,
cross yourselves in the name of Christ,
and saying faithfully the Creed or the
Lord’s Prayer you may go about your
business secure in the help of God.

But certain superstitious sons of our
times, not content with the above
securities and accumulating error upon
error, and going beyond the meaning or
intention of Scotus and the Canonists,
try to justify themselves with the follow¬
ing arguments. That natural objects
have certain hidden virtues the cause
of which cannot be explained by men ;
as a lodestone attracts iron, and many
other such things which are enumerated
by S. Augustine in the City of God, xxi.
Therefore, they say, to seek for the re¬
covery of one’s health by the virtue of
such things, when exorcisms and natural
medicines have failed, will not be un¬
lawful, although it may seem to be vain.
This would be the case if a man tried
to procure his own or another’s health
by means of images, not necromantic
but astrological, or by rings and such
devices. They argue also that, just as
natural matter is subject to the influence
of the stars, so also are artificial objects
such as images, which receive some
hidden virtue from the stars by which
they can cause certain effects: there¬
fore it is not unlawful to make use of
such things.

Besides, the devils can in very many
ways change bodies, as S. Augustine
says, de Trinitate, 3, and as is evident
in the case of those who are bewitched :
therefore it is lawful to use the virtues
of such bodies for the removing of
witchcraft.

But actually all the Holy Doctors are
of an entirely contrary opinion to this,
as has been shown here and there in the
course of this work.

Therefore we can answer their first
argument in this way: that if natural
objects are used in a simple way to
produce certain effects for which they
are thought to have some natural
virtue, this is not unlawful. But if there
are joined to this certain characters
and unknown signs and vain observa¬
tions, which manifestly cannot have
any natural efficacy, then it is super¬
stitious and unlawful. Wherefore S.
Thomas, II, q. 96, art. 2, speaking of
this matter, says that when any object is
used for the purpose of causing some
bodily effect, such as curing the sick,

1 88

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn 2. Gh. 7

notice must be taken whether such
objects appear to have any natural
quality which could cause such an
effect ; and if so, then it is not unlawful,
since it is lawful to apply natural causes
to their effects. But if it does not appear
that they can naturally cause such
effects, it follows that they are not
applied as causes of those effects, but as
signs or symbols; and so they pertain
to some pact symbolically formed with
devils. Also S. Augustine says, in the
City of God , xxi: The devils ensnare us
by means of creatures formed not by
themselves, but by God, and with
various delights consonant with their
own versatility; not as animals with
food, but as spirits with signs, by various
kinds of stones and herbs and trees,
animals and charms and ceremonies.

Secondly, S. Thomas says : The
natural virtues of natural objects follow
their material forms which they obtain
from the influence of the stars, and from
the same influence they derive certain
active virtues. But the forms of artifi¬
cial objects proceed from the concep¬
tion of the craftsman; and since, as
Aristotle says in his Physics , I, they are
nothing but an artificial composition,
they can have no natural virtue to
cause any effect. It follows then that
the virtue received from the influence
of the stars can only reside in natural
and not in artificial objects. Therefore,
as S. Augustine says in the City of God ,
x, Porphyry was in error when he
thought that from herbs and stones
and animals, and from certain sounds
and voices and figures, and from cer¬
tain configurations in the revolutions
of the stars and their motions, men
fabricated on earth certain Powers
corresponding to the various effects of
the stars ; as if the effects of magicians
proceeded from the virtue of the stars.
But, as S. Augustine adds, all such
matters belong to the devils, the de¬
ceivers of souls which are subject to
them. So also are those images which
are called astronomical the work of
devils, the sign of which is that they
have inscribed upon them certain
characters which can have no natural
power to effect anything; for a figure
or sign is no cause of natural action.
But there is this difference between the
images of astronomers and those of
necromancers; that in the case of the
latter there is an open invocation, and
therefore an open and expressed pact

with devils ; whereas the signs and
characters on astronomical images
imply only a tacit pact.

Thirdly, there is no power given to
men over devils, whereby a man may
lawfully use them for his own purposes ;
but there is war declared between man
and the devils, therefore by no means
may he use the help of devils, by either
a tacit or an expressed pact with them.
So says S. Thomas.

To return to the point : he says, “By
no means”; therefore not even by means
of any vain things in which the devil
may in any way be involved. But if
they are merely vain, and man in his
frailty has recourse to them for the
recovery of his health, let him repent
for the past and take care for the future,
and let him pray that his sins may be
forgiven and that he be no more led
into temptation; as S. Augustine says
at the end of his Rule.

☆

CHAPTER VII

Remedies prescribed against Hailstorms , and
for Animals that are Bewitched.

WITH regard to the remedies for
bewitched animals, and charms
against tempests, we must first note
some unlawful remedies which are
practised by certain people. For these
are done by means of superstitious
words or actions ; as when men cure the
worms in the fingers or limbs by means
of certain words or charms,* the
method of deciding the legality of which
has been explained in the preceding
chapter. There are others who do not
sprinkle Holy Water over bewitched
cattle, but pour it into their mouths.

Beside the proofs we have already
given that the remedy of words is un¬
lawful, William of Paris, whom we have
often quoted, gives the following reason.
If there were any virtue in words as
words, then it would be due to one of
three things: either their material, which
is air ; or their form, which is sound ;
or their meaning; or else to all three

* “Charms.” Cf. Shirley's comedy “The
Sisters ,” licensed April 1642, where Antonio says
to one of the supposed astrologers , III, 1:

“ You are one of the knaves that stroll the
country,

And live by picking worms out of fools'
fingers

Part II. Qn 2. Gh. 7

MALEFICARUM

together. Now it cannot be due to air,
which has no power to kill unless it be
poisonous; neither can it be due to
sound, the power of which is broken by
a more solid object; neither can it be
due to the meaning, for in that case the
words Devil or Death or Hell would
always be harmful, and the words Health
and Goodness always beneficial. Also
it cannot be due to all these three to¬
gether; for when the parts of a whole are
invalid, the whole itself is also invalid.

And it cannot validly be objected that
God gave virtue to words just as He
did to herbs and stones. For whatever
virtue there is in certain sacramental
words and benedictions and lawful
incantations belongs to them, not as
words, but by Divine institution and
ordinance according to God’s promise.
It is, as it were, a promise from God
that whoever does such and such a
thing will receive such and such a grace.
And so the words of the sacraments are
effective because of their meaning ;
although some hold that they have an
intrinsic virtue ; but these two opinions
are not mutually inconsistent. But the
case of other words and incantations
is clear from what has already been
said ; for the mere composing or utter¬
ing or writing of words, as such, can
have no effect ; but the invocation of the
Divine Name, and public prayer, which
is a sacred protestation committing the
effect to the Divine Will, are beneficial.

We have treated above of remedies
performed by actions which seem to be
unlawful. The following is a common
practice in parts of Swabia. On the
first of May before sunrise the women
of the village go out and gather from
the woods leaves and branches from
willow trees, and weave them into a
wreath which they hang over the stable
door, affirming that all the cattle will
then remain unhurt and safe from
witchcraft for a whole year. And in the
opinion of those who hold that vanity
may be opposed by vanity, this remedy
would not be unlawful; and neither
would be the driving away of diseases
by unknown cantrips and incantations.
But without meaning any offence, we
say that a woman or anyone else may go
out on the first or any other day of the
month, without considering the rising
or the setting of the sun, and collect
herbs or leaves and branches, saying the
Lord’s Prayer or the Creed, and hang
them over the stable door in good faith,

189

trusting to the will of God for their pro¬
tective efficacy ; yet even so the practice
is not above reproach, as was shown in
the preceding chapter in the words of
S. Jerome; for even if he is not invoked,
the devil has some part in the efficacy
of herbs and stones.

It is the same with those who make
the sign of the Gross with leaves and
consecrated flowers on Palm Sunday,
and set it up among their vines or crops ;
asserting that, although the crops all
round should be destroyed by hail, yet
they will remain unharmed in their own
fields. Such matters should be decided
upon according to the distinction of
which we have already treated.

Similarly there are women who, for
the preservation of milk and that cows
should not be deprived of their milk by
witchcraft, give freely to the poor in
God’s name the whole of a Sunday’s
yield of milk ; and say that, by this sort
of alms, the cows yield even more milk
and are preserved from witchcraft.
This need not be regarded as super¬
stitious, provided that it is done out of
pity for the poor, and that they implore
the Divine mercy for the protection of
their cattle, leaving the effect to the
good pleasure of Divine providence.

Again, Nider in the First chapter of
his Praceptorium says that it is lawful
to bless cattle, in the same way as sick
men, by means of written charms and
sacred words, even if they have the
appearance of incantations, as long as
the seven conditions we have mentioned
are observed. For he says that devout
persons and virgins have been known
to sign a cow with the sign of the Gross,
together with the Lord’s Prayer and
the Angelic Salutation, upon which the
devil’s work has been driven off, if it is
due to witchcraft.

And in his Formicarim he tells that
witches confess that their witchcraft is
obstructed by the reverent observation
of the ceremonies of the Church ; as by
the aspersion of Holy W ater, or the con¬
sumption of consecrated salt, by the
lawful use of candles on the Day of
Purification and of blessed palms, and
such things. For this reason the Church
uses these in her exorcisms, that they
may lessen the power of the devil. '

Also, because when witches wish to
deprive a cow of milk they are in the
habit of begging a little of the milk or
butter which comes from that cow, so
that they may afterwards by their art

b

MALLEUS

Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 7

190

bewitch the cow ; therefore women
should take care, when they are asked
by persons suspected of this crime, not
to give away the least thing to them.

Again, there are women who, when
they have been turning a churn for a
long while to no purpose, and if they
suspect that this is due to some witch,
procure if possible a little butter from
the house of that witch. Then they
make that butter into three pieces and
throw them into the churn, invoking
the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost; and so all witch¬
craft is put to flight. Here again it is a
case of opposing vanity to vanity, for the
simple reason that the butter must be
borrowed from the suspected witch.
But if it were done without this ; if with
the invocation of the Holy Trinity and
the Lord’s Prayer the woman were to
throw in three pieces of her own butter,
or of that belonging to someone else
if she have none of her own, and were to
commit the effect to the Divine Will,
she would remain beyond reproach.
Nevertheless it is not a commendable
practice to throw in the three pieces of
butter ; for it would be better to banish
the witchcraft by means of sprinkling
Holy Water or putting in some exorcised
salt, always with the prayers we have
mentioned.

Again, since often the whole of a
person’s cattle are destroyed by witch¬
craft, those who have suffered in this
way ought to take care to remove the
soil under the threshold of the stable or
stall, and where the cattle go to water,
and replace it with fresh soil sprinkled
with Holy Water. For witches have
often confessed that they have placed
some instrument of witchcraft in such
places ; and that sometimes, at the
instance of devils, they have only had
to make a hole in which the devil has
placed the instrument of witchcraft;
and that this was a visible object, such
as a stone or a piece of wood or a mouse
or some serpent. For it is agreed that
the devil can perform such things by
himself without the need of any partner ;
but usually, for the perdition of her soul,
he compels a witch to co-operate with
him.

In addition to the setting up of the
sign of the Cross which we have men¬
tioned, the following procedure is
practised against hailstorms and tem-
. pests. Three of the hailstones are
thrown into the fire with an invocation

of the Most Holy Trinity, and the
Lord’s Prayer and the Angelic Saluta¬
tion are repeated twice or three times,
together with the Gospel of S. John,
In the beginning was the Word. And the
sign of the Gross is made in every direc¬
tion towards each quarter of the world.
Finally, The Word was made Flesh is
repeated three times, and three times,
“By the words of this Gospel may this
tempest be dispersed.” And suddenly,
if the tempest is due to witchcraft, it
will cease. This is most true and need
not be regarded with any suspicion.
For if the hailstones were thrown into
the fire without the invocation of the
Divine Name, then it would be con¬
sidered superstitious.

But it may be asked whether the
tempest could not be stilled without
the use of those hailstones. We answer
that it is the other sacred words that are
chiefly effective ; but by throwing in the
hailstones a man means to torment the
devil, and tries to destroy his works by
the invocation of the Holy Trinity.
And he throws them into the fire rather
than into water, because the more
quickly they are dissolved the sooner
is the devil’s work destroyed. But he
must commit to the Divine Will the
effect which is hoped for.

Relevant to this is the reply given by
a witch to a Judge who asked her if
there were any means of stilling a tem¬
pest raised by witchcraft. She answered:
Yes, by this means. I adjure you, hail¬
storms and winds, by the five wounds of
Christ, and by the three nails which
pierced His hands and feet, and by the
four Holy Evangelists, Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John, that you be dissolved
and fall as rain.

Many also confess, some freely and
some under stress of torture, that there
are five things by which they are much
hindered, sometimes entirely, some¬
times in part, sometimes so that they
cannot harm a certain man himself, and
sometimes so that they cannot harm his
friends. And these are, that a man
should have a pure faith and keep the
commandments of God ; that he should
protect himself with the sign of the
Gross and with prayer ; that he should
reverence the rites and ceremonies of
the Church ; that he should be diligent
in the performance of public justice;
and that he should meditate aloud or in
his heart on the Passion of Christ. And
of these things Nider also speaks. And

Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 7

MALEFICARUM

r9i

for this reason it is a general practice
of the Church to ring bells as a protec¬
tion against storms, both that the devils
may flee from them as being consecrated
to God and refrain from their wicked¬
ness, and also that the people may be
roused up to invoke God against tem¬
pests. And for the same reason it is
common to proceed against tempests
with the Sacrament of the Altar and
sacred words, following the very ancient
custom of the Church in France and
Germany.

But since this method of carrying out
the Sacrament to still a storm seems to
many a little superstitious, because
they do not understand the rules by
which it is possible to distinguish be¬
tween that which is superstitious and
that which is not; therefore it must be
considered that five rules are given by
which anyone may know whether an
action is superstitious, that is, outside
the observances of the Christian reli¬
gion, or whether it is in accordance with
the due and proper worship and honour
of God, proceeding from the true
virtue of religion both in the thoughts
of the heart and in the actions of the
body. For these are explained in the
gloss on Colossians ii, where S. Paul
says : Which things have a show of wis¬
dom in superstition; and the gloss says:
Superstition is religion observed with¬
out due discipline ; as was said before.

The first of these is, that in all our
works the glory of God ought to be our
chief aim ; as it is said : Whether ye eat
or drink, or whatsoever else ye do, do
all in the glory of God.* Therefore in
every work relating to the Christian
religion let care be taken that it is to
the glory of God, and that in it man
should give the glory chiefly to God, so
that by that very work the mind of man
may be put in subjection to God.
And although, according to this rule,
the ceremonies and legal procedures
of the Old Testament are not now
observed, since they are to be under¬
stood figuratively, whereas the truth
is made known in the New Testament,
yet the carrying out of the Sacrament
or of Relics to still a storm does not seem
to militate against this rule.

The second rule is that care should
be taken that the work is a discipline
to restrain concupiscence, or a bodily
abstinence, but in the way that is owed

* “ Glory of God.” “/. Corinthians ” x, 31.

to virtue, that is, according to the rites
of the Church and moral doctrine. For
S. Paul says, Romans xii : Let your service
be reasonable. And because of this rule,
they are foolish who make a vow not to
comb their hair on the Sabbath, or who
fast on Sunday, saying, The better the
day the better the deed, and such like.
But again it does not seem that it is
superstitious to carry out the Sacra¬
ment, etc.

The third rule is to be sure that what
is done is in accordance with the statutes
of the Catholic Church, or with the
witness of Holy Scripture, or according
at least to the rites of some particular
Church, or in accordance with universal
use, which S. Augustine says may be
taken as a law. Accordingly when the
Bishops of the English were in doubt
because the Mass was celebrated in
different manners in different Churches,
S. Gregory wrote to them that they might
use whatever methods they found most
pleasing to God, whether they followed
the rites of the Roman or of the Gallican
or of any other Church. For the fact
that different Churches have different
methods in Divine worship does not
militate against the truth, and therefore
such customs are to be preserved, and
it is unlawful to neglect them. And so,
as we said in the beginning, it is a very
ancient custom in the Churches of
France and some parts of Germany,
after the consecration of the Eucharist
to carry It out into the open; and this
cannot be unlawful, provided that It
is not carried exposed to the air, but
enclosed and contained in a Pyx.

The fourth rule is to take care that
what is done bears some natural rela¬
tion to the effect which is expected;
for if it does not, it is judged to be
superstitious. On this account unknown
characters and suspected names, and
the images or charts of necromancers
and astronomers, are altogether to be
condemned as suspect. But we cannot
say that on this account it is super¬
stitious to carry out Holy Relics or the
Eucharist as a protection against the
plagues of the devil; for it is rather a
most religious and salutary practice,
since in that Sacrament lies all our help
against the Adversary.

The fifth rule is to be careful that what
is done should give no occasion for
scandal or stumbling; for in that case,
although it be not superstitious, yet
because of the scandal it should be

MALLEUS Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 8

forgone or postponed, or done secretly
without scandal. Therefore if this carry¬
ing of the Sacrament can be done with¬
out scandal, or even secretly, then it
should not be neglected. For by this
rule many secular priests neglect the
use of benedictions by means of devout
words either uttered over the sick or
bound round their necks. I say that
nothing should be done, at least pub¬
licly, if it can give any occasion of
stumbling to other simple folk.

Let this be enough on the subject
of the remedies against hailstorms, either
by words or lawful actions.

☆

CHAPTER VIII

Certain Remedies prescribed against those
Dark and Horrid Harms with which
Devils may Afflict Men.

YET again we reserve our judge¬
ment in discussing the remedies
against certain injuries to the fruits of
the earth, which are caused by canker-
worms, or by huge flights of locusts
and other insects which cover vast areas
of land, and seem to hide the surface
of the ground, eating up everything to
the very roots in the vineyards and
devouring fields of ripe crops. In the
same light too we consider the remedies
against the stealing of children by the
work of devils.

But with regard to the former kind of
injury we may quote S. Thomas, the
Second of the Second , Question 90, where
he asks whether it is lawful to adjure
an irrational creature. He answers that
it is ; but only in the way of compulsion,
by which it is sent back to the devil,
who uses irrational creatures to harm
us. And such is the method of adjura¬
tion in the exorcisms of the Church
by which the power of the devil is kept
away from irrational creatures. But if
the adjuration is addressed to the irra¬
tional creature itself, which under¬
stands nothing, then it would be nuga¬
tory and vain. From this it can be
understood that they can be driven off
by lawful exorcisms and adjurations,
the help of the Divine mercy being
granted ; but first the people should be
bidden to fast and to go in procession
and practise other devotions. For this
sort of evil is sent on account of adul¬
teries and the multiplication of crimes ;

wherefore men must be urged to con¬
fess their sins.

In some provinces even solemn ex-
communications are pronounced ; but
then they obtain power of adjuration
over devils.

Another terrible thing which God
permits to happen to men is when their
own children are taken away from
women, and strange children are put
in their place by devils. And these
children, which are commonly called
changelings, or in the German tongue
Wechselkinder , are of three kinds. For
some are always ailing and crying, and
yet the milk of four women is not enough
to satisfy them. Some are generated by
the operation of Incubus devils, of
whom, however, they are not the sons,
but of that man from whom the devil
has received the semen as a Succubus,
or whose semen he has collected from
some nocturnal pollution in sleep. For
these children are sometimes, by Divine
permission, substituted for the real
children.

And there is a third kind, when the
devils at times appear in the form of
young children and attach themselves
to the nurses. But all three kinds have
this in common, that though they are
very heavy, they are always ailing and
do not grow, and cannot receive enough
milk to satisfy them, and are often
reported to have vanished away.

And it can be said that the Divine
pity permits such things for two reasons.
First, when the parents dote upon their
children too much, and this is a punish¬
ment for their own good. Secondly, it is
to be presumed that the women to
whom such things happen are very
superstitious, and are in many other
ways seduced by devils. But God is
truly jealous in the right sense of the
word, which means a strong love for a
man’s own wife, which not only does
not allow another man to approach her,
but like a jealous husband will not suffer
the hint or suspicion of adultery. In
the same way is God jealous of the soul
which He bought with His Precious
Blood and espoused in the Faith ; and
cannot suffer it to be touched by, to
converse with, or in any way to approach
or have dealings with the devil, the
enemy and adversary of salvation. And
if a jealous husband cannot suffer even
a hint of adultery, how much more
will he be disturbed when adultery is
actually committed ! Therefore it is no

Part II. Qn 2. Ch. 8

MALEFICARUM

193

wonder if their own children are taken
away and adulterous children sub¬
stituted.

And indeed that it may be more
strongly impressed how God is jealous
of the soul, and will not suffer anything
which might cause a suspicion, it is
shown in the Old Law where, that He
might drive His people farther from
idolatry, He not only forbade idolatry,
but also many other things which might
give occasion to idolatry, and seemed to
have no use in themselves, although in
some marvellous way they retain some
use in a mystical sense. For He not only
says in Exodus xxii : Thou shalt not
suffer a witch to live on the earth ; but
He adds this : She shall not dwell in thy
land, lest perchance she cause thee
to sin. Similarly common bawds and
bulkers are put to death, and not
allowed to company with men.

Note the jealousy of God, Who says
as follows in Deuteronomy xxii: If thou
find a bird’s nest, and the dam sitting
upon the eggs or upon the young ones,
thou shalt not take the dam with the
young, but thou shalt let the dam fly
away; because the Gentiles used these
to procure sterility. The jealous God
would not suffer in His people this sign
of adultery. In like manner in our days
when old women find a penny, they
think it a sign of great fortune; and
conversely, when they dream of money
it is an unlucky sign. Also God taught
that all vessels should be covered, and
that when a vessel had no cover it
should be considered unclean.

There was an erroneous belief that
when devils came in the night (or the
Good People * as old women call them,
though they are witches, or devils in
their forms) they must eat up everything,
that afterwards they may bring greater
abundance of stores. Some people give
colour to the story, and call them
Screech Owls; but this is against the
opinion of the Doctors, who say that

* “ Good People .” So in Ireland the fairies
are called “ good people ,” and traditionally seem
to be of a benevolent but capricious and even
mischievous disposition. In some parts of High¬
land Scotland fairies are called lidaoine si the” or
“ men of peace,” and it is believed that every year
the devil carries off a tenth part of them.

It will be readily remembered that to the
Greeks the Fairies were at EujxeviSeq, the
gracious goddesses.

there are no rational creatures except
men and Angels; therefore they can
only be devils.

Again, in Leviticus xix: Ye shall not
round the corners of your heads, neither
shalt thou mar the corners of thy
beard ; because they did this idolatrously
in veneration of idols.

Again in Deuteronomy xxii: God says
that men shall not put on the garments
of women, or conversely ; because they
did this in honour of the goddess Venus,
and others in honour of Mars or Priapus.

And for the same reason He com¬
manded the altars of idols to be de¬
stroyed; and Hezechias destroyed the
Brazen Serpent when the people wanted
to sacrifice to it, saying: It is brass.
For the same reason He forbade the
observance of visions and auguries, and
commanded that the man or woman in
whom there was a familiar spirit should
be put to death. Such are now called
soothsayers. All these things, because
they give rise to suspicion of spiritual
adultery, therefore, as has been said,
from the jealousy which God has for
the souls He has espoused, as a husband
espouses a wife, they were all forbidden
by Him.

And so we preachers also ought to
bear in mind that no sacrifice is more
acceptable to God than a jealousy of
souls, as S. Jerome says in his com¬
mentaries upon Ezekiel.

Therefore in the Third Part of this
work we shall treat of the extermination
of witches, which is the ultimate remedy.
For this is the last recourse of the
Church, to which she is bound by Divine
commandment. For it has been said :
Ye shall not suffer witches to live upon
the earth. And with this will be in¬
cluded the remedies against archer-
wizards; since this kind can only be
exterminated by secular law.

A remedy. When certain persons for
the sake of temporal gain have devoted
themselves entirely to the devil, it has
often been found that, though they may
be freed from the devil’s power by true
confession, yet they have been long and
grievously tormented, especially in the
night. And God allows this for their
punishment. But a sign that they have
been delivered is that, after confession,
all the money in their purses or coffers
vanishes. Many examples of this could
be adduced, but for the sake of brevity
they are passed over and omitted.

o

THE THIRD PART
RELATING TO THE
JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS IN
BOTH THE ECCLESIASTICAL
AND CIVIL COURTS
AGAINST WITCHES AND
INDEED ALL HERETICS

CONTAINING XXXV QUESTIONS IN
WHICH IS MOST CLEARLY SET OUT THE
FORMAL RULES FOR INITIATING A
PROCESS OF JUSTICE, HOW IT SHOULD
BE CONDUCTED, AND THE METHOD OF
PRONOUNCING SENTENCE

☆

GENERAL

&

INTRODUCTORY

Who are the Fit and Proper Judges in the
Trial of Witches?

THE question is whether witches,
together with their patrons and
protectors and defenders, are so
entirely subject to the jurisdic¬
tion of the Diocesan Ecclesiastical Court
and the Civil Court so that the Inquisi¬
tors of the crime of heresy can be alto¬
gether relieved from the duty of sitting in
judgement upon them. And it is argued
that this is so. For the Canon (c. accu¬
satus, § sane , lib. VI) says : Certainly those
whose high privilege it is to judge con¬
cerning matters of the faith ought not to
be distracted by other business; and
Inquisitors deputed by the Apostolic
See to inquire into the pest of heresy
should manifestly not have to concern
themselves with diviners and sooth¬
sayers, unless these are also heretics, nor
should it be their business to punish
such, but they may leave them to be
punished by their own judges.

Nor does there seem any difficulty in
the fact that the heresy of witches is not
mentioned in that Canon. For these
are subject to the same punishment as
the others in the court of conscience, as
the Canon goes on to say (dist. i, pro
dilectione ). If the sin of diviners and
witches is secret, a penance of forty days
shall be imposed upon them: if it is
notorious, they shall be refused the
Eucharist. And those whose punish¬
ment is identical should receive it from
the same Court. Then, again, the guilt
of both being the same, since just as

soothsayers obtain their results by
curious means, so do witches look for
and obtain from the devil the injuries
which they do to creatures, unlawfully
seeking from His creatures that which
should be sought from God alone ;
therefore both are guilty of the sin of
idolatry.

This is the sense of Ezechiel xxi, 23 ;
that the King of Babylon stood at the
cross-roads, shuffling his arrows * and
interrogating idols.

Again it may be said that, when the
Canon says “Unless these are also here¬
tics,” it allows that some diviners and
soothsayers are heretics, and should
therefore be subject to trial by the In¬
quisitors ; but in that case artificial
diviners would also be so subject, and
no written authority for that can be
found.

Again, if witches are to be tried by
the Inquisitors, it must be for the crime
of heresy ; but it is clear that the deeds
of witches can be committed without
any heresy. For when they stamp into
the mud the Body of Christ, although
this is a most horrible crime, yet it may
be done without any error in the
understanding, and therefore without
heresy. For it is entirely possible for a

* “Arrows.” Esarhaddon is employing a
mode of sortilege by arrows, belomancy, which
was extensively practised among the Chaldeans,
as also among the Arabs. Upon this text S.
Jerome comments: “He shall stand in the high¬
way, and consult the oracle after the manner of
his nation, that he may cast arrows into a quiver,
and mix them together, being written upon or
marked with the names of each people, that he
may see whose arrow will come forth, and which
city he ought first to attack .” The arrows
employed by the Arabs were often three in number,
upon the first of which was inscribed, “My Lord
hath commanded me”; upon the second, “My
Lord hath forbidden me”; and the third was
blank. If the inquirer drew the first it was an
augury of success; the second gave an omen of
failure; if the third were drawn, all three were
mixed again and another trial was made. In
some countries divining rods were employed
instead of arrows. These were drawn from a
vessel, or, it might be, cast into the air , the
position in which they fell being carefully noted.
This practice is rhabdomancy. The LXX,
“Ezechiel” xxi, 21, reads papSojxocvTda, not
PeXopiavTsta, and rhabdomancy is mentioned by
S. Cyril of Alexandria. The “Koran,” V, for¬
bids prognostication by divining arrows, which
are there denounced as “an abomination of the
work of Satan.” See my “History of Witch¬
craft,” Chap. V,pp. 182-83.

Part III.

*95

Eerson to believe that It is the Lord’s
ody, and yet throw It into the mud to
satisfy the devil, and this by reason of
some pact with him, that he may
obtain some desired end, such as the
finding of a treasure or anything of that
sort. Therefore the deeds of witches
need involve no error in faith, however
great the sin may be; in which case
they are not liable to the Court of the
Inquisition, but are left to their own
judges.

Again, Solomon showed reverence to
the gods of his wives out of com¬
plaisance, and was not on that account
guilty of apostasy from the Faith ; for in
his heart he was faithful and kept the
true Faith. So also when witches give
homage to devils by reason of the pact
they have entered into, but keep the
Faith in their hearts, they are not on
that account to be reckoned as heretics.

But it may be said that all witches
have to deny the Faith, and therefore
must be judged heretics. On the con¬
trary, even if they were to deny the
Faith in their hearts and minds, still they
could not be reckoned as heretics, but
as apostates. But a heretic is different
from an apostate, and it is heretics who
are subject to the Court of the In¬
quisition; therefore witches are not so
subject.

Again it is said, in c. 26, quest. 5 : Let
the Bishops and their representatives
strive by every means to rid their
parishes entirely of the pernicious art of
soothsaying and magic derived from
Zoroaster ; and if they find any man or
woman addicted to this crime, let him
be shamefully cast out of their parishes
in disgrace. So when it says at the end
of c. 348, Let them leave them to their
own Judges ; and since it speaks in the
plural, both of the Ecclesiastic and the
Civil Court ; therefore, according to this
Canon they are subject to no more than
the Diocesan Court.

But if, just as these arguments seem
to show it to be reasonable in the case
of Inquisitors, the Diocesans also wish
to be relieved of this responsibility, and
to leave the punishment of witches to
the secular Courts, such a claim could
be made good by the following argu¬
ments. For the Canon says, c. ut in¬
quisitionis: We strictly forbid the tem¬
poral lords and rulers and their officers
in any way to try or judge this crime,
since it is purely an ecclesiastical mat¬
ter: and it speaks of the crime of

heresy. It follows therefore that, when
the crime is not purely ecclesiastical, as
is the case with witches because of the
temporal injuries which they commit, it
must be punished by the Civil and not
by the Ecclesiastical Court.

Besides, in the last Canon Law con¬
cerning Jews it says : His goods are to
be confiscated, and he is to be con¬
demned to death, because with per¬
verse doctrine he opposed the Faith of
Christ. But if it is said that this law
refers to Jews who have been converted,
and have afterwards returned to the
worship of the Jews, this is not a valid
objection. Rather is the argument
strengthened by it; because the civil
Judge has to punish such Jews -as
apostates from the Faith ; and therefore
witches who abjure the Faith ought to
be treated in the same way ; for abjura¬
tion of the Faith, either wholly or in
part, is the essential principle of witches.

And although it says that apostasy
and heresy are to be judged in the
same way, yet it is not the part of the
ecclesiastical but of the civil Judge to
concern himself with witches. For no
one must cause a commotion among
the people by reason of a trial for
heresy ; but the Governor himself must
make provision for such cases.

The Authentics of Justinian, speaking
of ruling princes, says: You shall
not permit anyone to stir up your
Province by reason of a judicial in¬
quiry into matters concerning religions
or heresies, or in any way allow an in¬
junction to be put upon the Province
over which you govern; but you shall
yourself provide, making use of such
monies and other means of investi¬
gation as are competent, and not allow
anything to be done in matters of
religion except in accordance with our
precepts. It is clear from this that no
one must meddle with a rebellion
against the Faith except the Governor
himself.

Besides, if the trial and punishment
of such witches were not entirely a
matter for the civil Judge, what would
be the purpose of the laws which pro¬
vide as follows? All those who are
commonly called witches are to be
condemned to death. And again :
Those who harm innocent lives by
magic arts are to be thrown to the
beasts. Again, it is laid down that they
are to be subjected to questions and
tortures; and that none of the faithful

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MALLEUS

Part III.

are to associate with them, under pain
of exile and the confiscation of all their
goods. And many other penalties are
added, which anyone may read in
those laws.

But in contradiction of all these
arguments, the truth of the matter is
that such witches may be tried and
punished conjointly by the Civil and
the Ecclesiastical Courts. For a canon¬
ical crime must be tried by the Gover¬
nor and the Metropolitan of the
Province ; not by the Metropolitan
alone, but together with the Gover¬
nor. This is clear in the Authentics ,
where ruling princes are enjoined as
follows: If it is a canonical matter
which is to be tried, you shall inquire
into it together with the Metropolitan
of the Province. And to remove all
doubt on this subject, the gloss says : If
it is a simple matter of the observance
of the faith, the Governor alone may
try it; but if the matter is more com¬
plicated, then it must be tried by a
Bishop and the Governor ; and the
matter must be kept within decent
limits by someone who has found
favour with God, who shall protect the
orthodox faith, and impose suitable
indemnities of money, and keep our
subjects inviolate, that is, shall not
corrupt the faith in them.

And again, although a secular prince
may impose the capital sentence, yet
this does not exclude the judgement of
the Church, whose part it is to try
and judge the case. Indeed this is per¬
fectly clear from the Canon Law in the
chapters de summa trin. and fid. cath.,
and again in the Law concerning
heresy, c. ad abolendam and c. uergentis
and c. excommunicamus , i and 2. For the
same penalties are provided by both
the Civil and the Canon Laws, as is
shown by the Canon Laws concerning
the Manichaean* and Arian heresies.
Therefore the punishment of witches
belongs to both Courts' together, and
not to one separately.

Again, the laws decree that clerics
shall be corrected by their own Judges,
and not by the temporal or secular
Courts, because their crimes are con¬
sidered to be purely ecclesiastical. But
the crime of witches is partly civil and
partly ecclesiastical, because they com¬

* “ Manichaean .” For the close connexion
between the Manichees and witches see my “ His¬
tory of Witchcraft ,” Chap. I.

mit temporal harm and violate the
faith; therefore it belongs to the Judges
of both Courts to try, sentence, and
punish them.

This opinion is substantiated by the
Authentics , where it is said : If it is an
ecclesiastical crime needing ecclesias¬
tical punishment and fine, it shall be
tried by a Bishop who stands in favour
with God, and not even the most
illustrious Judges of the Province shall
have any hand in it. And we do not
wish the civil Judges to have any know¬
ledge of such proceedings; for such
matters must be examined ecclesiastic¬
ally and the souls of the offenders must
be corrected by ecclesiastical penalties,
according to the sacred and divine
rules which our laws worthily follow.
So it is said. Therefore it follows that
on the other hand a crime which is of a
mixed nature must be tried and pun¬
ished by both Courts.

We make our answer to all the above
as follows. Our main object here is to
show how, with God’s pleasure, we
Inquisitors of Upper . Germany may be
relieved of the duty of trying witches,
and leave them to be punished by their
own provincial Judges; and this be¬
cause of the arduousness of the work:
provided always that such a course shall
in no way endanger the preservation
of the faith and the salvation of souls.
And therefore we engaged upon this
work, that we might leave to the
Judges themselves the methods of
trying, judging and sentencing in such
cases.

Therefore in order to show that the
Bishops can in many cases proceed
against witches without the Inquisitors ;
although they cannot so proceed with¬
out the temporal and civil Judges in
cases involving capital punishment; it
is expedient that we set down the
opinions of certain other Inquisitors in
parts of Spain, and (saving always the
reverence due to them), since we all
belong to one and the same Order of
Preachers, to refute them, so that
each detail may be more clearly under¬
stood.

Their opinion is, then, that all
witches, diviners, necromancers, and in
short all who practise any kind of
divination, if they have once embraced
and professed the Holy Faith, are liable
to the Inquisitorial Court, as in the
three cases noted in the beginning of
the chapter, Multorum querela , in the

Part III.

MALEFICARUM

197

decretals of Pope Clement * concerning
heresy; in which it says that neither
must the Inquisitor proceed without the
Bishop, nor the Bishop without the In¬
quisitor: although there are five other
cases in which one may proceed without
the other, as anyone who reads the
chapter may see. But in one case it is
definitively stated that one must not
proceed without the other, and that is
when the above diviners are to be con¬
sidered as heretics.

In the same category they place
blasphemers, and those who in any way
invoke devils, and those who are ex¬
communicated and have contumaci¬
ously remained under the ban of ex-
communication for a whole year, either
because of some matter concerning faith
or, in certain circumstances, not on
account of the faith; and they further
include several other such offences. And
by reason of this the authority of the
Ordinary is weakened, since so many
more burdens are placed upon us In¬
quisitors which we cannot safely bear
in the sight of the terrible Judge who
will demand from us a strict account of
the duties imposed upon us.

And because their opinion cannot be
refuted unless the fundamental thesis
upon which it is founded is proved un¬
sound, it is to be noted that it is based
upon the commentators on the Canon,
especially on the chapter accusatus , and
§ sane, and on the words “savour of
heresy.” Also they rely upon the sayings
of the Theologians, S. Thomas, Blessed
Albert, and S. Bonaventura, in the
Second Book of Sentences , dist. 7.

It is best to consider some of these in

* “Pope Clement .” Pope Clement V, born at
Villandraut , 1264; elected to the Chair of S.
Peter, 5 June, 1305; died at Roquemare, 20
April, 1314; completed the mediaeval “ Corpus
luris Canonici ” by the publication of a collection
of papal decretals known as “ Clementinae ” or
“ Liber Clementinarum ,” sometimes as “Liber
Septimus ” in reference to the “Liber Sextus ” of
Boniface VIII. It contains decretals of this
latter Pontiff, of Benedict XI, and of Clement
himself Together with the decrees of the Council
of Vienne it was promulgated, 21 March, 1314,
at the Papal residence of Monteaux near Car-
pentras. It is divided into five books with sub¬
divisions of titles and chapters. As Clement V
died before the collection had been generally
published, John XXII promulgated it anew, 23
October , 1317, and sent it to the University of
Bologna as the authoritative Corpus of decretals
to be used in the courts and schools.

detail. For when the Canon says, as
was shown in the first argument, that
the Inquisitors of heresy should not con¬
cern themselves with soothsayers and
diviners unless they manifestly savour of
heresy, they say that soothsayers and
diviners are of two sorts, either arti¬
ficial or heretical. And the first sort are
called diviners pure and simple, since
they work merely by art ; and such are
referred to in the chapter de sortilegiis,
where it says that the presbyter Udal-
ricus went to a secret place with a cer¬
tain infamous person, that is, a diviner,
says the gloss, not with the intention of
invoking the devil, which would have
been heresy, but that, by inspecting the
astrolabe, he might find out some hid¬
den thing. And this, they say, is pure
divination or sortilege.

But the second sort are called heret¬
ical diviners, whose art involves some
worship of or subjection to devils, and
who essay by divination to predict the
future or something of that nature,
which manifestly savours of heresy;
and such are, like other heretics, liable
to the Inquisitorial Court.

And that this is the meaning of the
Canon they prove from commentaries
of the Canonists on the word “savour.”
For Giovanni d ’Andrea, writing on this
Canon accusatus, and on the word
“savour,” says : They savour of heresy
in this way, that they utter nefarious
prayers and offer sacrifices at the altars
of idols, and they consult with devils
and receive answers from them ; or they
meet together to practise heretical
sortes, or make predictions by means of
blood or by the Lord’s Body ; or in their
sortes, that they may have an answer,
re-baptize a child, and practise other
such matters.

Many others also they quote in
support of their opinion, including John
Modestus ; S. Raymund, and William de
Laudun, O.P. And they refer to the de¬
cision of the Church at the Council of
Aquitaine, c. 26, q. 5, Episcopi, where
such superstitious women are called
infidels, saying, Would that these had
perished alone in their perfidy. And
perfidy in a Christian is called heresy;
therefore they are subject to the Court
of the Inquisitors of heresy.

They quote also the Theologians,
especially S. Thomas, the Second Book
of Sentences, dist. 7, where he considers
whether it is a sin to use the help of
devils. For speaking of that passage in

198

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Esaias viii: Should not a people seek
unto their God? he says among other
things : In everything the fulfilment of
which is looked for from the power of
the devil, because of a pact entered into
with him, there is apostasy from the
faith, either in word, if there is some
invocation, or in deed, even if there be
no sacrifice offered.

To the same .effect they quote
Albertus, and Peter of Tarentaise, and
Giovanni Bonaventura,* who has lately
been canonized, not under the name of
Giovanni, although that was his true
name. Also they quote Alexander of
Hales and Guido the Carmelite.f All
these say that those who invoke devils
are apostates, and consequently here¬
tics, and therefore subject to the Court
of the Inquisitors of heretics.

But the said Inquisitors of Spain have
not, by the above or any other argu¬
ments, made out a sufficient case to
prove that such soothsayers etc. may
not be tried by the Ordinary or the
Bishops without the Inquisitors; and
that the Inquisitors may not be relieved
from the duty of trying such diviners
and necromancers, and even witches:
not that the Inquisitors are not rather
to be praised than blamed when they
do try such cases, when the Bishops fail
to do so. And this is the reason that
they have not proved their case. The
Inquisitors need only concern them¬
selves with matters of heresy, and the
heresy must be manifest ; as is shown by
the frequently quoted Canon accusatus ,

§ sane.

* “ Bonaventura .” The parents of S. Bona¬
ventura were Giovanni di Fidanza and Maria
Ritella. He was born at Bagnorea, near
Viterbo , in 1221, and baptized Giovanni. This
was changed to Bonaventura owing to the
exclamation of S. Francis , “O buona ventura,”
when the child was brought to him to be cured of
a dangerous illness. ( This account has been
doubted, and it is true that others bore the name
before S. Bonaventura .) S. Bonaventura was
canonized by Sixtus IV, 14 April, 1482. This
formal enrolment in the catalogue of the Saints
was thus long delayed mainly owing to the un¬
fortunate dissensions concerning Franciscan
affairs after the Saint’s death, /5 July, 1274.
He was inscribed among the principal Doctors of
the Church by Sixtus V, 14 March, 1587. His
feast is celebrated 14 July.

t “ Guido the Carmelite .” Guy de Perpignan,
“ Doctor Parisiensis ,” d. 1342; General of the
Carmelite Order from 1318-20. His chief work
was the “ Summa de Haer esibus.”

This being the case, it follows that,
however serious and grave may be the
sin which a person commits, if it does
not necessarily imply heresy, then he
must not be judged as a heretic, al¬
though he is to be punished. Conse¬
quently an Inquisitor need not inter¬
fere in the case of a man who is to be
unished as a malefactor, but not as a
eretic, but may leave him to be tried
by the Judges of his own Province.

It follows again that all the crimes of
invoking devils and sacrificing to them,
of which the Commentators and Canon¬
ists and Theologians speak, are no con¬
cern of the Inquisitors, but can be left
to the secular or episcopal Courts,
unless they also imply heresy. This
being so, and it being the case that the
crimes we are considering are very
often committed without any heresy,
those who are guilty of such crimes are
not to be judged or condemned as
heretics, as is proved by the following
authorities and arguments.

For a person rightly to be adjudged a
heretic he must fulfil five conditions.
First, there must be an error in his
reasoning. Secondly, that error must be
in matters concerning the faith, either
being contrary to the teaching of the
Church as to the true faith, or against
sound morality and therefore not lead¬
ing to the attainment of eternal life.
Thirdly, the error must lie in one who
has professed the Catholic faith, for
otherwise he would be a Jew or a
Pagan, not a heretic. Fourthly, the
error must be of such a nature that he
who holds it must still confess some of
the truth of Christ as touching either
His Godhead or His Manhood ; for if a
man wholly denies the faith, he is an
apostate. Fifthly, he must pertinaci¬
ously and obstinately hold to and follow
that error. And that this is the sense of
the Canon where it speaks of heresy and
heretics is proved as follows (not by way
of refuting, but of substantiating the
gloss of the Canonists).

For it is well known to all through
common practice that the first essential
of a heretic is an error in the under¬
standing ; but two conditions are neces¬
sary before a man can be called a
heretic; the first material, that is, an
error in reasoning, and the second
formal, that is, an obstinate mind. S.
Augustine shows this when he says:
A heretic is one who either initiates or
follows new and false opinions. It can

Part III.

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199

also be proved by the following reason¬
ing : heresy is a form of infidelity, and
infidelity exists subjectively in the
intellect, in such a way that a man
believes something which is quite con¬
trary to the true faith.

This being so, whatever crime a man
commits, if he acts without an error in
his understanding he is not a heretic.
For example, if a man commits fornica¬
tion or adultery, although he is dis¬
obeying the command Thou shalt not
commit adultery , yet he is not a heretic
unless he holds the opinion that it is
lawful to commit adultery. The point
can be argued in this way: When the
nature of a thing is such that two con¬
stituent parts are necessary to its exist¬
ence, if one of those two parts is wanting
the thing itself cannot exist; for if it
could, then it would not be true that
that part is necessary to its existence.
For in the constitution of a house it is
necessary that there should be a founda¬
tion, walls, and a roof; and if one of
these is missing, there is no house.
Similarly, since an error in the under¬
standing is a necessary condition of
heresy, no action which is done entirely
without any such error can make a man
a heretic.

Therefore we Inquisitors of Germany
are in agreement with Blessed Anto¬
ninus where he treats of this matter in
the second part of his Summa; saying
that to baptize images, to worship
devils, to sacrifice to them, to tread
underfoot the Body of Christ, and all
such terrible crimes, do not make a man
a heretic unless there is an error in his
understanding. Therefore a man is not
a heretic who, for example, baptizes an
image, not holding any erroneous belief
about the Sacrament of Baptism or its
effect, nor thinking that the baptism of
the image can have any effect of its
own virtue ; but does this in order that
he may more easily obtain some desire
from the devil whom he seeks ,to please
by this means, acting with either an
implied or an expressed pact that the
devil will fulfil the desires either of
himself or of someone else. In this way
men who, with either a tacit or an
expressed pact, invoke devils with char¬
acters and figures in accordance with
magic practice to perform their desires
are not necessarily heretics. But they
must not ask from the devil anything
which is beyond the power or the know¬
ledge of the devil, having a wrong

understanding of his power and know¬
ledge. Such would be the case with any
who believed that the devil could coerce
a man’s free will ; or that, by reason of
their pact with him, the devil could do
anything which they desired, however
much it were forbidden by God; or
that the devil can know the whole of
the future; or that he can effect any¬
thing which only God can do. For there
is no doubt that men with such beliefs
have an error in their understanding,
holding a wrong opinion of the power
of the devil ; and therefore, granting the
other conditions necessary for heresy,
they would be heretics, and would be
subject at once to the Ordinary and to
the Inquisitorial Court.

But if they act for the reasons we have
said, not out of any wrong belief con¬
cerning baptism or the other matters
we have mentioned, as they very com¬
monly do ; for since witches and necro¬
mancers know that the devil is the
enemy of the faith and the adversary
of salvation, it must follow that they
are compelled to believe in their hearts
that there is great might in the faith
and that there is no false doctrine of
which the father of lies is not known to
be the origin ; then, although they sin
most grievously, yet they are not here¬
tics. And the reason is that they have
no wrong belief concerning the sacra¬
ment, although they use it wrongly and
sacrilegiously. Therefore they are
rather sorcerers than heretics, and are
to be classed with those whom the above
Canon accusatus declares are not prop¬
erly subject to the Inquisitorial Court,
since they do not manifestly savour of
heresy; their heresy being hidden, if
indeed it exists at all.

It is the same with those who worship
and sacrifice to the devil. For if they do
this in the belief that there is any
divinity in devils, or that they ought to
be worshipped and that, by reason of
such worship, they can obtain from the
devil what they desire in spite of the
prohibition or permission of God, then
they are heretics. But if they act in such
a way not out of any such belief con¬
cerning the devil, but so that they may
the more easily obtain their desires
because of some pact formed with the
devil, then they are not necessarily
heretics, although they sin most griev¬
ously.

For greater clearness, some objections
are to be disposed of and refuted. For

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it appears to be against our argument
that, according to the laws, a simonist
is not a heretic (i, q. i : “Whoever by-
means of money, but not having an
error of the understanding”). For a
simonist is not in the narrow and exact
sense of the word a heretic ; but broadly
speaking and by comparison he is so,
according to S. Thomas, when he buys
or sells holy things in the belief that the
gift of grace can be had for money.
But if, as is often the case, he does not
act in this belief, he is not a heretic.
Yet he truly would be if he did believe
that the gift of grace could be had for
money.

Again we are apparently in opposi¬
tion to what is said of heretics in the
Canon ; namely, that he who reveres a
heretic is himself a heretic, but he who
worships the devil sins more heavily
than he who reveres a heretic, there¬
fore, etc.

Also, a man must be obviously a
heretic in order that he may be judged
as such. For the Church is competent
to judge only of those things which are
obvious, God alone having knowledge
and being the Judge of that which is
hidden (dist. 33, erubescant). But the
inner understanding can only be made
apparent by intrinsic actions, either
seen or proved; therefore a man who
commits such actions as we are con¬
sidering is to be judged a heretic.

Also, it seems impossible that anyone
should commit such an action as the
treading underfoot of the Body of Christ
unless he held a wrong opinion con¬
cerning the Body of Christ; for it is
impossible for evil to exist in the will
unless there is error in the understand¬
ing. For according to Aristotle every
wicked man is either ignorant or in
error. Therefore, since they who do
such things have evil in their wills, they
must have an error in their under¬
standings.

To these three objections we answer
as follows ; and the first and third may
be considered together. There are two
kinds of judgement, that of God and
that of men. God judges the inner man ;
whereas man can only judge of the
inner thoughts as they are reflected by
outer actions, as is admitted in the third
of these arguments. Now he who is a
heretic in the judgement of God is truly
and actually a heretic ; for God judges
no one as a heretic unless he has some
wrong belief concerning the faith in his

understanding. But when a man is a
heretic in the judgement of men, he
need not necessarily be actually a here¬
tic ; but because his deeds give an ap¬
pearance of a wrong understanding of
the faith he is, by legal presumption,
considered to be a heretic.

And if it be asked whether the Church
should stigmatize at once as heretics
those who worship devils or baptize
images, note these answers. First, it be¬
longs rather to the Canonists than to
the Theologians to discriminate in this
matter. The Canonists will say that
they are by legal presumption to be
considered as heretics, and to be
punished as such. A Theologian will
say that it is in the first instance a
matter for the Apostolic See to judge
whether a heresy actually exists or is
only to be presumed in law. And this
may be because whenever an effect can
proceed from a twofold cause, no pre¬
cise judgement can be formed of the
actual nature of the cause merely on
the basis of the effect.

Therefore, since such effects as the
worship of the devil or asking his help
in the working of witchcraft, by bap¬
tizing an image, or offering to him a
living child, or killing an infant, and
other matters of this sort, can proceed
from two separate causes, namely, a
belief that it is right to worship the
devil and sacrifice to him, and that
images can receive sacraments; or be¬
cause a man has formed some pact with
the devil, so that he may obtain the
more easily from the devil that which
he desires in those matters which are
not beyond the capacity of the devil, as
we have explained above ; it follows that
no one ought hastily to form a definite
judgement merely on the basis of the
effect as to what is its cause, that is,
whether a man does such things out of
a wrong opinion concerning the faith.
So when there is no doubt about the
effect, still it is necessary to inquire
farther into the cause; and if it be
found that a man has acted out of a
perverse and erroneous opinion con¬
cerning the faith, then he is to be judged
a heretic and will be subject to trial by
the Inquisitors together with the Ordi¬
nary. But if he has not acted for these
reasons, he is to be considered a sor¬
cerer, and a very vile sinner.

Another answer which touches the
matter nearly is that, whatever may be
said and alleged, it is agreed that all

Part III.

MALEFICARUM

201

diviners and witches who are judged as
heretics by legal presumption and not
by actual fact are subject to the Court
of the Ordinary, not of the Inquisitors.
And the aforesaid Inquisitors of other
countries cannot defend their opinions
by quoting the Canon and its com¬
mentators, because they who sacrifice
to and worship devils are judged to be
heretics by legal presumption, and not
because the facts obviously show that
they are such. For the text says that
they must savour of heresy manifestly,
that is, intrinsically and by their very
nature. And it is enough for us Inquisi¬
tors to concern ourselves with those who
are manifestly from the intrinsic nature
of the case heretics, leaving others to
their own judges.

It has been said that the cause must
be inquired into, to know whether or
not a man acts out of an error of faith ;
and this is easy. For the spirit of faith
is known by the act of faith, which is
to believe and confess the faith ; as the
spirit of chastity is shown by a chaste
life: similarly the Church must judge a
man a heretic if his actions show that
he disputes any article of the faith. In
this way even a witch, who has wholly
or in part denied the faith, or used
vilely the Body of Christ, and offered
homage to the devil, may have done
this merely to propitiate the devil ; and
even if she has totally denied the faith
in her heart, she is to be judged as an
apostate, for the fourth condition, which
is necessary before anyone can rightly
be said to be a heretic, will be wanting.

But if against this conclusion be set
the Bull and commission given to us by
our Holy Father Innocent VIII, that
witches should be tried by the Inquisi¬
tors, we answer in this way. That this
is not to say that the Diocesans also
cannot proceed to a definite sentence
against witches, in accordance with
those ancient laws, as has been said.
For that Bull was rather given to us
because of the great care with which we
have wrought to the utmost of our
ability with the help of God.

Therefore we cannot concede to those
other Inquisitors their first argument,
since the contrary conclusion is rather
the true one; for simonists are thought
to be heretics only by legal presump¬
tion, and the Ordinaries themselves
without the Inquisitors can try them.
Indeed, the Inquisitors have no need to
concern themselves with various simon¬

ists, or similarly with any others who
are judged to be heretics only by legal
presumption. For they cannot proceed
against schismatic Bishops and other
high Dignitaries, as is shown by the
chapter of the Inquisition Concerning
Heretics , Book VI, where it says: The
Inquisitors of the sin of heresy deputed
by the Apostolic See or by any other
authority have no power to try such
offenders on this sort of charge, or to
proceed against them under pretext of
their office, unless it is expressly stated
in the letters of commission from the
Apostolic See that they are empowered
to do so.

But if the Inquisitors know or dis¬
cover that Bishops or other high Dig¬
nitaries have been charged with heresy,
or have been denounced or suspected
of that crime, it is their duty to report
the fact to the Apostolic See.

Similarly the answer to their second
argument is clear from what has been
said. For he who cherishes and com¬
forts a heretic is himself a heretic if he
does this in the belief that he is worthy
to be cherished or honoured on account
of his doctrine or opinion. But if he
honours him for some temporal reason,
without any error of faith in his under¬
standing, he is not rightly speaking a
heretic, though he is so by a legal fiction
or presumption or comparison, because
he acts as if he held a wrong belief
concerning the faith like him whom he
cherishes : so in this case he is not
subject to the Inquisitorial Court.

The third argument is similarly an¬
swered. For though a man should be
judged by the Church as a heretic on
account of his outward actions, visible
and proved, yet it does not always fol¬
low that he is actually a heretic, but is
only so reputed by legal presumption.
Therefore in this case he is not liable to
be tried by the Inquisitorial Court, be¬
cause he does not manifestly savour of
heresy.

For their fourth argument, it is a
false assumption to say that it is not
possible for anyone to tread underfoot
the Body of Christ unless he has some
perverse and wrong belief concerning
the Body of Christ. For a man may do
this with a full knowledge of his sin, and
with a firm belief that the Body of
Christ is truly there. But he does it to
please the devil, and that he may more
easily obtain his desire from him. And
though in every sin there is error, it

202

MALLEUS

Part III.

need not necessarily be an error of the
understanding, which is heresy or a
wrong belief concerning the faith; for
it may be an erroneous use of some
power which turns it to vicious pur¬
poses ; and then it will only be the first
of those five conditions which are neces¬
sary constituents of heresy, in accord¬
ance with which a heretic is rightly
liable to the Inquisitorial Court.

And it is not a valid objection to say
that an Inquisitor may, nevertheless,
proceed against those who are de¬
nounced as heretics, or are under a
light or a strong or a grave suspicion
of heresy, although they do not appear
to savour manifestly of heresy. For we
answer that an Inquisitor may proceed
against such in so far as they are de¬
nounced or suspected for heresy rightly
so called ; and this is the sort of heresy
of which we are speaking (as we have
often said), in which there is an error
in the understanding, and the other
four conditions are superadded. And
the second of these conditions is that
such error should consist in matters
concerning the faith, or should be con¬
trary to the true decisions of the Church
in matters of faith and good behaviour
and that which is necessary for the
attainment of eternal life. For if the
error be in some matter which does not
concern the faith, as, for example, a
belief that the sun is not greater than
the earth, or something of that sort,
then it is not a dangerous error. But an
error against Holy Scripture, against
the articles of the faith, or against the
decision of the Church, as has been said
above, is heresy (art. 24, q. 1, haec est
Jides) .

Again, the determination of doubts
respecting the faith belongs chiefly to
the Church, and especially to the
Supreme Pontiff*, Christ’s Vicar, the
successor of S. Peter, as is expressly
stated (art. 24, q. 1 , quotiens) . And against
the determination of the Church, as
S. Thomas says, art. 2, q. 2, no Doctor or
Saint maintains his own opinion; not
S. Jerome nor S. Augustine nor any
other. For just as he who obstinately
argues against the faith is a heretic, so
also is he who stubbornly maintains his
opinion against the determination of the
Church in matters concerning the faith
and that which is necessary for salva¬
tion. For the Church herself has never
been proved to be in error over matters
of faith (as it is said in art. 24, q. 1 , a recta ,

and in other chapters). And it is ex¬
pressly said, that he who maintains any¬
thing against the determination of the
Church, not in an open and honest
manner, but in matters which concern
faith and salvation, is a heretic. For he
need not be a heretic because he dis¬
agrees over other matters, such as the
separability of law from use in matters
which are affected by use : this matter
has been settled by Pope John XXII
in his Extrauagantes,* where he says
that they who contradict this opinion
are stubborn and rebellious against the
Church, but not heretics.

The third condition required is that
he who holds the error should be one
who has professed the Catholic faith.
For if a man has never professed the
Christian faith, he is not a heretic but
simply an infidel, like the Jews or the
Gentiles who are outside the faith.
Therefore S. Augustine says in the City
of God : The devil, seeing the human
race to be delivered from the worship
of idols and devils, stirred up heretics
who, under the guise of Christians,
should oppose Christian doctrine. So
for a man to be a heretic it is necessary
that he should have received the Chris¬
tian faith in baptism.

Fourthly, it is necessary that the man
who so errs should retain some of the
true belief concerning Christ, pertain¬
ing either to His divinity or to His
humanity. For if he retains no part of
the faith, he is more rightly to be con¬
sidered an apostate than a heretic. In
this way Julian was an apostate. For

* “ Extrauagantes .” This word designates
some Papal decretals not contained in certain
canonical collections which possess a special
authority , that is, they are not found in ( but
“ wander outside ,” “ extra uagari ”) the Decree
of Gratian, or the three great official collections
of the “ Corpus Iuris ” {the Decretals of Gregory
IX; the Sixth Book of the Decretals; and the
Clementines ). The term is now applied to the
collections known as the “ Extrauagantes Ioannis
XXII” and the “ Extrauagantes Communes .”
When John XXII {1316-34) published the
Decretals already known as “ Clementines ,”
there also existed various pontifical documents ,
obligatory upon the whole Church indeed, but not
included in the “ Corpus Iuris,” and these were
called “ Extrauagantes .” In 1323 Jenselinus de
Cassanis added glosses to twenty constitutions of
John XXII, and named this collection “ Uiginti
Extrauagantes papae Ioannis XXII.” Chappuis
also classified these under fourteen titles con¬
taining in all twenty chapters.

Part III.

MALEFICARUM

203

the two are quite distinct, though some¬
times they are confused. For in this
manner there are found to be men who,
driven by poverty and various afflic¬
tions, surrender themselves body and
soul to the devil, and deny the faith, on
condition that the devil will help them
in their need to the attainment of riches
and honours.

For we Inquisitors have known some,
of whom a few afterwards repented, who
have behaved in this way merely for
the sake of temporal gain, and not
through any error in the understanding ;
wherefore they are not rightly heretics,
nor even apostates in their hearts, as
was Julian, though they must be
reckoned as apostates.

They who are apostates in their heart
and refuse to return to the faith are,
like impenitent heretics, to be delivered
to the secular Court. But if they are
desirous of reconciliation, they are re¬
ceived back into the Church, like peni¬
tent heretics. See the chapter ad abo¬
lendam, § praesenti, de haeretic ., lib. 6. Of
the same opinion is S. Raymund in his
work de Apostolica, cap. reuertentes, where
he says that they who return from the
perfidy of apostasy, though they were
heretics, are to be received back like
penitent heretics. And here the two are
confused, as we have said. And he adds :
Those who deny the faith through fear
of death (that is, who deny the faith
for the sake of temporal gain from the
devil, but do not believe their error)
are heretics in the sight of the law, but
are not, properly speaking, heretics. And
he adds: Although they have no erro¬
neous belief, yet since the Church must
judge by outward signs they are to be
considered as heretics (note this fiction
of the law) ; and if they return, they are
to be received as penitent heretics. For
the fear of death, or the desire for tem¬
poral gain, is not sufficient to cause a
constant man to deny the faith of Christ.
Wherefore he concludes that it is more
holy to die than to deny the faith or to
be fed by idolatrous means, as S. Augus¬
tine says.

The judgement of witches who deny
the faith would be the same ; that when
they wish to return they should be re¬
ceived as penitents, but otherwise they
should be left to the secular Court. But
they are by all means to be received
back into the bosom of the Church
when they repent; and are left to the
secular Court if they will not return;

and this is because of the temporal
injuries which they cause, as will be
shown in the methods of passing sen¬
tence. And all this may be done by the
Ordinary, so that the Inquisitor can
leave his duties to him, at least in a
case of apostasy; for it is otherwise in
other cases of sorcerers.

The fifth condition necessary for a
man to be rightly thought a heretic is
that he should obstinately and stub¬
bornly persist in his error. Hence, ac¬
cording to S. Jerome, the etymological
meaning of heresy is Choice. And again
S. Augustine says: Not he who initiates
or follows false doctrines, but he who
obstinately defends them, is to be con¬
sidered a heretic. Therefore if anyone
does not evilly persist in believing some
false doctrine, but errs through ignor¬
ance and is prepared to be corrected
and to be shown that his opinion is
false and contrary to Holy Scripture
and the determination of the Church,
he is not a heretic. S. Paul also con¬
firms this opinion. And S. Augustine
himself used to say: I may err, but I
shall not be a heretic. For he was ready
to be corrected when his error was
pointed out to him. And it is agreed
that every day the Doctors have various
opinions concerning Divine matters,
and sometimes they are contradictory,
so that one of them must be false ; and
yet none of them are reputed to be
false until the Church has come to a
decision concerning them. See art. 24,
q. 3, qui in ecclesia.

From all this it is concluded that the
sayings of the Canonists on the words
“ savour manifestly of heresy ” in the
chapter accusatus do not sufficiently
prove that witches and others who in
any way invoke devils are subject to
trial by the Inquisitorial Court; for it
is only by a legal fiction that they judge
such to be heretics. Neither is it proved
by the words of the Theologians; for
they call such persons apostates either
in word or in deed, but not in their
thoughts and their hearts; and it is of
this last error that the words “ savour
of heresy ” speak.

And though such persons should be
judged to be heretics, it does not follow
from this that a Bishop cannot proceed
against them without an Inquisitor to
a definite sentence, or punish them with
imprisonment or torture. More than
this, even when this decision does not
seem enough to warrant the exemption

204

MALLEUS

Part III.

of us Inquisitors from the duty of trying
witches, still we are unwilling to con¬
sider that we are legally compelled to
perform such duties ourselves, since we
can depute the Diocesans to our office,
at least in respect of arriving at a
judgement.

For this provision is made in the
Canon Law (c. multorum in prin. de
haeret, in Clem.). There it says: As a
result of a general complaint, and that
this sort of Inquisition may proceed
more fortunately and the inquiry into
this crime be conducted more skilfully,
diligently, and carefully, we order that
this kind of case may be tried by the
Diocesan Bishops as well as by the
Inquisitors deputed by the Apostolic
See, all carnal hatred or fear or any
temporal affection of this sort being
put aside; and so either of the above
may move without the other, and arrest
or seize a witch, placing her in safe
custody in fetters and iron chains, if it
seems good to him; and in this matter
we leave the conduct of the affair to
his own conscience ; but there must be
no negligence in inquiring into such
matters in a manner agreeable to God
and justice ; but such witches must be
thrust into prison rather as a matter of
punishment than custody, or be ex¬
posed to torture, or be sentenced to
some punishment. And a Bishop can
proceed without an Inquisitor, or an
Inquisitor without a Bishop ; or, if either
of their offices be vacant, their deputies
may act independently of each other,
provided that it is impossible for them
to meet together for joint action within
eight days of the time when the inquiry
is due to commence ; but if there be no
valid reason for their not meeting to¬
gether, the action shall be null and void
in law.

The chapter proceeds to support our
contention as follows : But if the Bishop
or the Inquisitor, or either of their
deputies, are unable or unwilling, for
any of the reasons which we have men¬
tioned, to meet together personally,
they can severally depute their duties
to each other, or else signify their advice
and approval by letters.

From this it is clear that even in those
cases where the Bishop is not entirely
independent of the Inquisitor, the In¬
quisitor can depute the Bishop to act
in his stead, especially in the matter of
passing sentence : therefore we ourselves
have decided to act according to this

decision, leaving other Inquisitors in
other districts to act as seems good to
them.

Therefore in answer to the arguments,
it is clear that witches and sorcerers
have not necessarily to be tried by the
Inquisitors. But as for the other argu¬
ments which seek to make it possible
for the Bishops in their turn to be re¬
lieved from the trial of witches, and
leave this to the Civil Court, it is clear
that this is not so easy in their case as it
is in that of the Inquisitors. For the
Canon Law (c. ad abolendam , c. uergentis ,
and c. excommunicamus utrumque ) says that
in a case of heresy it is for the eccle¬
siastical judge to try and to judge, but
for the secular judge to carry out the
sentence and to punish ; that is, when
a capital punishment is in question,
though it is otherwise with other peni¬
tential punishments.

It seems also that in the heresy of
witches, though not in the case of other
heresies, the Diocesans also can hand
over to the Civil Courts the duty of
trying and judging, and this for two
reasons : first because, as we have men¬
tioned in our arguments, the crime of
witches is not purely ecclesiastical, being
rather civil on account of the temporal
injuries which they commit; and also
because special laws are provided for
dealing with witches.

Finally, it seems that in this way it is
easiest to proceed with the extermina¬
tion of witches, and that the greatest
help is thus given to the Ordinary in
the sight of that terrible Judge who, as
the Scriptures testify, will exact the
strictest account from and will most
hardly judge those who have been
placed in authority. Accordingly we
will proceed on this understanding,
namely, that the secular Judge can try
and judge such cases, himself proceed¬
ing to the capital punishment, but leav¬
ing the imposition of any other peni¬
tential punishment to the Ordinary.

A Summary or Classification of the Matters
Treated of in this Third Part.

In order, then, that the Judges both
ecclesiastical and civil may have a ready
knowledge of the methods of trying,
judging and sentencing in these cases,
we shall proceed under three main
heads. First, the method of initiating a
process concerning matters of the faith ;
second, the method of proceeding with

Part III. Question i.

MALEFICARUM

the trial; and third, the method of
bringing it to a conclusion and passing
sentence on witches.

The first head deals with five difficul¬
ties. First, which of the three methods
of procedure provided by the law is the
most suitable. Second, the number of
witnesses. Third, whether these can be
compelled to take the oath. Fourth,
the condition of the witnesses. Fifth,
whether mortal enemies may be allowed
to give evidence.

The second head contains eleven
Questions. I. How witnesses are to be
examined, and that there should always
be five persons present. Also how
witches are to be interrogated, generally
and particularly. (This will be num¬
bered the Sixth Question of the whole
Part ; but we alter the numeration here
to facilitate reference by the reader.)
II. Various doubts are cleared up as to
negative answers, and when a witch is
to be imprisoned, and when she is to be
considered as manifestly guilty of the
heresy of witchcraft. III. The method
of arresting witches. IV. Of two duties
which devolve upon the Judge after the
arrest, and whether the names of the
deponents should be made known to
the accused. V. Of the conditions
under which an Advocate shall be
allowed to plead for the defence.
VI. What measures the Advocate shall
take when the names of the witnesses
are not made known to him, and when
he wishes to protest to the Judge that
the witnesses are mortal enemies of the
prisoner. VII. How the Judge ought
to investigate the suspicion of such
mortal enmity. VIII. Of the points
which the Judge must consider before
consigning the prisoner to torture.

IX. Of the method of sentencing the
prisoner to examination by torture.

X. Of the method of proceeding with
the torture, and how they are to be tor¬
tured; and of the provisions against
silence on the part of the witch. XI. Of
the final interrogations and precautions
to be observed by the Judge.

The third head contains first of all
three Questions dealing with matters
which the Judge must take into con¬
sideration, on which depends the whole
method of passing sentence. First,
whether a prisoner can be convicted by
a trial of red-hot iron. Second, of the
method in which all sentences should
be passed. Third, what degrees of sus¬
picion can justify a trial, and what sort

205

of sentence ought to be passed in respect
of each degree of suspicion. Finally, we
treat of twenty methods of delivering
sentence, thirteen of which are common
to all kinds of heresy, and the remainder
particular to the heresy of witches. But
since these will appear in their own
places, for the sake of brevity they are
not detailed here.

☆

THE FIRST HEAD
QUESTION I

The Method of Initiating a Process.

THE first question, then, is what is
the suitable method of instituting
a process on behalf of the faith against
witches. In answer to this it must be
said that there are three methods
allowed by Canon Law. The first is
when someone accuses a person before
a judge of the crime of heresy, or of
protecting heretics, offering to prove it,
and to submit himself to the penalty
of talion if he fails to prove it. The
second method is when someone de¬
nounces a person, but does not offer to
prove it and is not willing to embroil
himself in the matter ; but says that he
lays information out of zeal for the faith,
or because of a sentence of excom¬
munication inflicted by the Ordinary
or his Vicar; or because of the tem¬
poral punishment exacted by the secular
Judge upon those who fail to lay
information.

The third method involves an in¬
quisition, that is, when there is no
accuser or informer, but a general
report that there are witches in some
town or place; and then the Judge
must proceed, not at the instance of
any party, but simply by virtue of his
office.

Here it is to be noted that a judge
should not readily admit the first
method of procedure. For one thing, it
is not actuated by motives of faith, nor
is it very applicable to the case of
witches, since they commit their deeds
in secret. Then, again, it is full of dan¬
ger to the accuser, because of the
penalty of talion which he will incur if
he fails to prove his case. Then, again,
it is very litigious.

Let the process begin with a general
citation affixed to the walls of the

206

MALLEUS

Part III. Question i.

Parish Church or the Town Hall, in
the following manner.

WHEREAS we, the Vicar of such
and such Ordinary (or the Judge of
such and such county), do endeavour
with all our might and strive with our
whole heart to preserve the Christian
people entrusted to us in unity and the
happiness of the Catholic faith and to
keep them far removed from every
plague of abominable heresy: There¬
fore we the aforesaid Judge to whose
office it belongs, to the glory and honour
of the worshipful name of JESUS Christ
and for the exaltation of the Holy
Orthodox Faith, and for the putting
down of the abomination of heresy,
especially in all witches in general and
in each one severally of whatever con¬
dition or estate: (Here, if he is an
ecclesiastical Judge, let him add a sum¬
mons to all priests and dignitaries of the
Church in that town and for a distance
of two miles about it, who have know¬
ledge of this notice. And he shall add)
By the authority which we exercise in
this district, and in virtue of holy
obedience and under pain of excom¬
munication, we direct, command, re¬
quire, and admonish that within the
space of twelve days (Here the secular
Judge shall command in his own man¬
ner under pain of penalties suitable to
his office), the first four of which shall
stand for the first warning, the second
for the second, and the third for the
third warning; and we give this treble
canonical warning that they should
reveal it unto us if anyone know, see,
or have heard that any person is re¬
ported to be a heretic or a witch, or if
any is suspected especially of such prac¬
tices as cause injury to men, cattle, or
the fruits of the earth, to the loss of the
State. But if any do not obey these
aforesaid commands and admonitions
by revealing such matters within the
term fixed, let him know (Here the
ecclesiastical Judge shall add) that he
is cut off by the sword of excommunica¬
tion (The secular Judge shall add the
temporal punishments) . Which sen¬
tence of excommunication we impose
as from this time by this writing upon
all and several who thus stubbornly set
at naught these our canonical warnings
aforesaid, and our requirement of their
obedience, reserving to ourselves alone
the absolution of such sentence (The
secular Judge shall conclude in his
manner). Given, etc.

Note also that in the case of the
second method the following caution
should be observed. For it has been
said that the second method of pro¬
cedure and of instituting a process on
behalf of the faith is by means of an
information, where the informer does
not offer to prove his statement and is
not ready to be embroiled in the case,
but only speaks because of a sentence
of excommunication, or out of zeal for
the faith and for the good of the State.
Therefore the secular Judge must
specify in his general citation or warn¬
ing aforesaid, that none should think
that he will become liable to a penalty
even if he fails to prove his words;
since he comes forward not as an
accuser but as an informer.

And then, since several will appear
to lay information before the Judge, he
ought to take care to proceed in the
following manner. First, let him have a
Notary and two honest persons, either
clerics or laymen ; or if a Notary is not
to be procured, then let there be two
suitable men in the place of the Notary.
For this is dealt with in the c. ut
officium, § uerum, lib. 6, where it is said :
But because it is expedient to proceed
with great caution in the trial of a
grave crime, that no error may be com¬
mitted in imposing upon the guilty a
deservedly severe punishment; we de¬
sire and command that, in the examina¬
tion of the witnesses necessary in such
a charge, you shall have two religious
and discreet persons, either clerics or
laymen.

It goes on to say : In the presence of
these persons the depositions of the wit¬
nesses shall be faithfully written down
by a public official if one is obtainable,
or, if not, by two suitable men. Note
therefore that, having these persons, the
Judge shall order the informer to lay
his information in writing, or at least
give it clearly by word of mouth. And
then the Notary or the Judge shall begin
the process in the following manner.

In the Name of the Lord. Amen.

In the year of Our Lord - , on the

- day of the - month, in the

presence of me the Notary and of the
witnesses subscribed, N. of the town of

- in the Diocese of - , as above,

appeared in person at - before the

honourable. Judge, and offered him a
schedule to the following effect.

Part III. Question i. MALEFICARUM

207

(Here shall follow the schedule in its
entirety. But if he has not deposed in
writing but by word of mouth, it shall
continue thus.)

He appeared, etc. and laid informa¬
tion to the Judge that N. of the town or

parish of - in the Diocese of -

had said and asserted that he knew
how to perform or had actually done
certain injuries to the deponent or to
other persons.

After this, he shall immediately make
the deponent take the oath in the usual
manner, either on the four Gospels of
God, or on the Cross, raising three
fingers and depressing two in witness
of the Holy Trinity and of the damna¬
tion of his soul and body, that he will
speak the truth in his depositions. And
when the oath has been sworn, he shall
question him as to how he knows that
his depositions are true, and whether
he saw or heard that to which he
swears. And if he says that he has seen
anything, as, for example, that the
accused was present at such a time of
tempest, or that he had touched an
animal, or had entered a stable, the
Judge shall ask when he saw him,
and where, and how often, and in what
manner, and who were present. If he
says that he did not see it, but heard of
it, he shall ask him from whom he
heard it, where, when, and how often,
and in whose presence, making separate
articles of each of the several points
above mentioned. And the Notary or
scribe shall set down a record of them
immediately after the aforesaid denun¬
ciation ; and it shall continue thus :

This denunciation, as we have said,
having been made, the Inquisitor him¬
self did at once cause him to swear as
above on the four Gospels, etc. that he
was speaking the truth in his deposi¬
tions, and did ask him how and why he
knew or suspected that what he said
was true. He did make answer either
that he saw, or that he heard. The
Inquisitor did then ask him where he
saw or heard this ; and he answered on

the - day of the - month in the

year - in the town or parish of - .

He asked him how often he saw or
heard it, etc. And separate articles shall
be made, and the whole set down in
process, as has been said. And particu¬
larly he shall be asked who shared or
could share in his knowledge of the case.

When all this has been done, he shall
finally be asked whether he lays his

information out of ill-will, hatred, or
rancour ; or if he has omitted anything
through favour or love; or if he has
been requested or suborned to lay
information.

Finally, he shall be enjoined, by
virtue of his oath, to keep secret what¬
ever he has said there, or whatever the
Judge has said to him; and the whole
process shall be set down in writing.
And when all this is completed, it shall
be set down a little lower as follows.
This was done at such a place on the

- day of the - month in the

year - , in the presence of me the

Notary or scribe together with those
associated with me in the duty of
writing, and of such and such witnesses
summoned and interrogated.

The third method of beginning a
process is the commonest and most
usual one, because it is secret, and no
accuser or informer has to appear. But
when there is a general report of witch¬
craft in some town or parish, because
of this report the Judge may proceed
without a general citation or admoni¬
tion as above, since the noise of that
report comes often to his ears ; and then
again he can begin a process in the
presence of the persons, as we have said
before.

In the Name of the Lord. Amen.

In the year of Our Lord - , on the

- day of the - month, or in — - — -

months, to the ears of such and such
official or judge there came a persistent
public report and rumour that N. of

the town or parish of - did or said

such and such a thing savouring of
witchcraft, against the faith and the
common good of the State.

And the whole shall be set down
according to the common report. And
a little lower :

The case was heard on the - day

of the - month in the year - , in

the presence of me the Notary of such
and such authority, or of such and such
a scribe, and of such and such witnesses
who were called and interrogated.

But before we proceed to the second
Head, which deals with the method of
conducting this sort of process, we must
first say something of the witnesses who
are to be examined, as to how many
they should be, and what should be
their condition.

☆

208

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 2.

QUESTION II

Of the Number of the Witnesses.

SINCE we have said that in the
second method the evidence of the
witnesses is to be written down, it is
necessary to know how many witnesses
there should be, and of what condition.
The question is whether a Judge may
lawfully convict any person of the
heresy of witchcraft on the evidence of
two legitimate witnesses whose evidence
is entirely concordant, or whether more
than two are necessary. And we say
that the evidence of witnesses is not
entirely concordant when it is only
partially so ; that is, when two witnesses
differ in their accounts, but agree in the
substance or effect: as when one says,
“ She bewitched my cow,” and the
other says, “ She bewitched my child,”
but they agree as to the fact of witch¬
craft.

But here we are concerned with the
case of two witnesses being in entire, not
partial, agreement. And the answer is
that, although two witnesses seem to be
enough to satisfy the rigour of the law
(for the rule is that that which is sworn
to by two or three is taken for the
truth) ; yet in a charge of this kind two
witnesses do not seem sufficient to en¬
sure an equitable judgement, on ac¬
count of the heinousness of the crime
in question. For the proof of an accusa¬
tion ought to be clearer than day¬
light; and especially ought this to be
so in the case of the grave charge of
heresy.

But it may be said that very little
proof is required in a charge of this
nature, since it takes very little argu¬
ment to expose a person’s guilt; for it
is said in the Canon de Haereticis , lib. II,
that a man makes himself a heretic if in
the least of his opinions he wanders
from the teaching and the path of the
Catholic religion. We answer that this
is true enough with reference to the
presumption that a person is a heretic,
but not as regards a condemnation.
For in a charge of this sort the usual
order of judicial procedure is cut short,
since the defendant does not see the
witnesses take the oath, nor are they
made known to him, because this might
expose them to grave danger ; therefore,
according to the statute, the prisoner
is not permitted to know who are his
accusers. But the Judge himself must,

by virtue of his office, inquire into any
personal enmity felt by the witnesses
towards the prisoner; and such wit¬
nesses cannot be allowed, as will be
shown later. And when the witnesses
give confused evidence on account of
something lying on their conscience, the
Judge is empowered to put them
through a second interrogatory. For the
less opportunity the prisoner has to de¬
fend himself, the more carefully and
diligently should the Judge conduct his
inquiry.

Therefore, although there are two
legitimate and concordant witnesses
against a person, even so I do not allow
that this would be sufficient warrant for
a Judge to condemn a person on so
great a charge; but if the prisoner is
the subject of an evil report, a period
should be set for his purgation ; and if
he is under strong suspicion on account
of the evidence of two witnesses, the
Judge should make him abjure the
heresy, or question him, or defer his
sentence. For it does not seem just to
condemn a man of good name on so
great a charge on the evidence of only
two witnesses, though the case is other¬
wise with a person of bad reputation.
This matter is fully dealt with in the
Canon Law of heretics, where it is set
down that the Bishop shall cause three
or more men of good standing to give
evidence on oath to speak the truth as
to whether they have any knowledge
of the existence of heretics in such a
parish.

Again it may be asked whether the
Judge can justly condemn a person of
such heresy only on the evidence of
witnesses who in some respects differ in
their evidence, or merely on the strength
of a general accusation. We answer that
he cannot do so on either of the above
grounds. Especially since the proofs of
a charge ought, as we have said, to be
clearer than daylight; and in this par¬
ticular charge no one is to be con¬
demned on merely presumptive evi¬
dence. Therefore in the case of a pris¬
oner who is the subject of a general
accusation, a period of purgation shall
be set for him ; and in the case of one
who is under strong suspicion arising
from the evidence of witnesses, he shall
be made to abjure his heresy. But when,
in spite of certain discrepancies, the
witnesses agree in the main facts, then
the matter shall rest with the Judge’s
discretion; and indirectly the question

Part III. Qns 3, 4, 5. MALEFICARUM

209

arises how often the witnesses can be
examined.

☆

QUESTION III

Of the Solemn Adjuration and Re-examina¬
tion of Witnesses.

BUT it may be asked whether the
Judge can compel witnesses to
swear on oath to tell the truth in a case
concerning the Faith or witches, or if
he can examine them many times. We
answer that he can do so, especially an
ecclesiastical Judge, and that in eccle¬
siastical cases witnesses can be com¬
pelled to speak the truth, and this on
oath, since otherwise their evidence
would not be valid. For the Canon Law
says : The Archbishop or Bishop may
make a circuit of the parish in which it
is rumoured that there are heretics, and
compel three or more men of good re¬
pute, or even, if it seems good to him,
the whole neighbourhood, to give evi¬
dence. And if any through damnable
obstinacy stubbornly refuse to take the
oath, they shall on that account be
considered as heretics.

And that the witnesses can be exam¬
ined several times is shown by the
Canon, where it says that, when the
witnesses have given their evidence in a
confused manner, or appear to have
withheld part of their knowledge for
some reason, the Judge must take care
to examine them afresh; for he may
legally do so.

☆

QUESTION IV

Of the Quality and Condition of Witnesses.

IV TOTE that persons under a sen-
L >1 tence of excommunication, asso¬
ciates and accomplices in the crime,
notorious evildoers and criminals, or
servants giving evidence against their
masters, are admitted as witnesses in a
case concerning the Faith. And just as
a heretic may give evidence against a
heretic, so may a witch against a witch ;
but this only in default of other proofs,
and such evidence can only be admitted
for the prosecution and not for the de¬
fence : this is true also of the evidence
of the prisoner’s wife, sons and kindred ;
for the evidence of such has more weight

in proving a charge than in disprov¬
ing it.

This is made clear in the c. in fidei de
haer ., where it says: As a. protection of
the faith we allow that in a case of
inquiry into the sin of heresy, persons
under excommunication and partners
and accomplices in the crime shall be
admitted as witnesses, in default of other
proofs against heretics and their patrons,
protectors and defenders ; provided that
it appears probable both from the num¬
ber of the witnesses and of those against
whom they give evidence, and from
other circumstances, that they are not
giving false testimony.

The case of evidence given by per¬
jurers, when it is presumed that they
are speaking out of zeal for the faith, is
dealt with in the Canon c. accusatus ,
§ licet , where it says that the evidence
of perjurers, after they have repented,
is admissible; and it goes on to say:
If it manifestly appears that they do
not speak in a spirit of levity, or from
motives of enmity, or by reason of a
bribe, but purely out of zeal for the
orthodox faith, wishing to correct what
they have said, or to reveal something
about which they had kept silence, in
defence of the faith, their testimony
shall be as valid as that of anyone else,
provided that there is no other objection
to it.

And it is clear from the same chapter
of the Canon that the testimony of men
of low repute and criminals, and of
servants against their masters, is ad¬
mitted; for it says: So great is the
plague of heresy that, in an action in¬
volving this crime, even servants are
admitted as witnesses against their mas¬
ters, and any criminal evildoer may
give evidence against any person soever.

☆

QUESTION V

Whether Mortal Enemies may be Admitted
as Witnesses.

BUT if it is asked whether the Judge
can admit the mortal enemies of
the prisoner to give evidence against
him in such a case, we answer that he
cannot; for the same chapter of the
Canon says: You must not understand
that in this kind of charge a mortal
personal enemy may be admitted to give
evidence. Henry of Segusio also makes

210

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 6.

this quite clear. But it is mortal enemies
that are spoken of ; and it is to be noted
that a witness is not necessarily to be
disqualified because of every sort of
enmity. And a mortal enmity is con¬
stituted by the following circumstances :
when there is a death feud or vendetta
between the parties, or when there has
been an attempted homicide, or some
serious wound or injury which mani¬
festly shows that there is mortal hatred
on the part of the witness against the
prisoner. And in such a case it is pre¬
sumed that, just as the witness has tried
to inflict temporal death on the prisoner
by wounding him, so he will also be
willing to effect his object by accusing
him of heresy; and just as he wished to
take away his life, so he would be willing
to take away his good name. Therefore
the evidence of such mortal enemies is
justly disqualified.

But there are other serious degrees of
enmity (for women are easily provoked
to hatred), which need not totally dis¬
qualify a witness, although they render
his evidence very doubtful, so that full
credence cannot be placed in his words
unless they are substantiated by inde¬
pendent proofs, and other witnesses
supply an indubitable proof of them.
For the Judge must ask the prisoner
whether he thinks that he has any
enemy who would dare to accuse him
of that crime out of hatred, so that he
might compass his death ; and if he says
that he has, he shall ask who that person
is ; and then the Judge shall take note
whether the person named as being
likely to give evidence from motives of
malice has actually done so. And if it
is found that this is the case, and the
Judge has learned from trustworthy
men the cause of that enmity, and if
the evidence in question is not substan¬
tiated by other proofs and the words of
other witnesses, then he may safely re¬
ject such evidence. But if the prisoner
says that he hopes he has no such
enemy, but admits that he has had
quarrels with women ; or if he says that
he has an enemy, but names someone
who, perhaps, has not given evidence,
in that case, even if other witnesses say
that such a person has given evidence
from motives of enmity, the Judge must
not reject his evidence, but admit it
together with the other proofs.

There are many who are not suffi¬
ciently careful and circumspect, and
consider that the depositions of such

quarrelsome women should be alto¬
gether rejected, saying that no faith can
be placed in them, since they are nearly
always actuated by motives of hatred.
Such men are ignorant of the subtlety
and precautions of magistrates, and
speak and judge like men who are
colour-blind. But these precautions are
dealt with in Questions XI and XII.

☆

THE SECOND HEAD
QUESTION VI

How the Trial is to he Proceeded with and
Continued. And how the Witnesses are
to be Examined in the Presence of Four
Other Persons , and how the Accused is
to be Questioned in Two Ways.

IN considering the method of pro¬
ceeding with a trial of a witch in the
cause of the faith, it must first be noted
that such cases must be conducted in
the simplest and most summary man¬
ner, without the arguments and con¬
tentions of advocates.

This is explained in the Canon as
follows : It often happens that we insti¬
tute a criminal process, and order it to
be conducted in a simple straightfor¬
ward manner without the legal quibbles
and contentions which are introduced
in other cases. Now much doubt has
been experienced as to the meaning of
these words, and as to exactly in what
manner such cases should be con¬
ducted ; but we, desiring as far as pos¬
sible to remove all doubt on the matter,
sanction the following procedure once
and for all as valid : The Judge to whom
we commit such a case need not require
any writ, or demand that the action
should be contested; he may conduct
the case on holidays for the sake of the
convenience of the public; he should
shorten the conduct of the case as much
as he can by disallowing all dilatory
exceptions, appeals and obstructions,
the impertinent contentions of pleaders
and advocates, and the quarrels of wit¬
nesses, and by restraining the super¬
fluous number of witnesses ; but not in
such a way as to neglect the necessary
proofs; and we do not mean by this
that he should omit the citation of and
swearing of witnesses to tell and not to
hide the truth.

And since, as we have shown, the

I

Part III. Question 6. MALEFICARUM

21 1

process is to be conducted in a simple
manner, and it is initiated either at the
instance of an accuser, or of an informer
actuated by zeal, or by reason of a
general outcry and rumour; therefore
the Judge should try to avoid the first
method of beginning the action,
namely, at the instance of an accusing
party. For the deeds of witches in con¬
junction with devils are done in secret,
and the accuser cannot in this case, as
in others, have definite evidence by
which he can make his statements good ;
therefore the Judge ought to advise the
accuser to set aside his formal accusa¬
tion and to speak rather as an informer,
because of the grave danger that is in¬
curred by an accuser. And so he can
proceed in the second manner, which
is commonly used, and likewise in the
third manner, in which the process is
begun not at the instance of any party.

It is to be noted that we have already
said that the Judge ought particularly
to ask the informer who shares or could
share in his knowledge of the case.
Accordingly the Judge should call as
witnesses those whom the informer
names, who seem to have most know¬
ledge of the matter, and their names
shall be entered by the scribe. After
this the Judge, having regard to the
fact that the aforesaid denunciation of
heresy involves of its very nature such
a grave charge that it cannot and must
not be lightly passed over, since to do
so would imply an offence to the Divine
Majesty and an injury to the Catholic
Faith and to the State, shall proceed to
inform himself and examine the wit¬
nesses in the following manner.

Examination of Witnesses.

The witness N., of such a place, was
called, sworn, and questioned whether
he knew N. (naming the accused), and
answered that he did. Asked how he
knew him, he answered that he had seen
and spoken with him on several occa¬
sions, or that they had been comrades
(so explaining his reason for knowing
him). Asked for how long he had
known him, he answered, for ten or for
so many years. Asked concerning his
reputation, especially in matters con¬
cerning the faith, he answered that in
his morals he was a good (or bad) man,
but with regard to his faith, there was
a report in such a place that he used
certain practices contrary to the Faith,

as a witch. Asked what was the report,
he made answer. Asked whether he had
seen or heard him doing such things,
he again answered accordingly. Asked
where he had heard him use such
words, he answered, in such a place.
Asked in whose presence, he answered,
in the presence of such and such.

Further, he was asked whether any
of the accused’s kindred had formerly
been burned as witches, or had been
suspected, and he answered. Asked
whether he associated with suspected
witches, he answered. Asked concern¬
ing the manner and reason of the
accused’s alleged words, he answered,
for such a reason and in such a manner.
Asked whether he thought that the
prisoner had used those words care¬
lessly, unmeaningly and thoughtlessly,
or rather with deliberate intention, he
answered that he had used them jok¬
ingly or in temper, or without meaning
or believing what he said, or else with
deliberate intention.

Asked further how he could distin¬
guish the accused’s motive, he answered
that he knew it because he had spoken
with a laugh.

This is a matter which must be in¬
quired into very diligently; for very
often people use words quoting someone
else, or merely in temper, or as a test
of the opinions of other people; al¬
though sometimes they are used asser¬
tively with definite intention.

He was further asked whether he
made this deposition out of hatred or
rancour, or whether he had suppressed
anything out of favour or love, and he
answered, etc. Following this, he was
enjoined to preserve secrecy. This was
done at such a place on such a day in
the presence of such witnesses called
and questioned, and of me the Notary
or scribe.

Here it must always be noted that in
such an examination at least five per¬
sons must be present, namely, the pre¬
siding Judge, the witness or informer,
the respondent or accused, who appears
afterwards, and the third is the Notary
or scribe : where there is no Notary the
scribe shall co-opt another honest man,
and these two, as, has been said, shall
perform the duties of the Notary ; and
this is provided for by Apostolic author¬
ity, as was shown above, that in this
kind of action two honest men should
perform as it were the duty of witnesses
of the depositions.

212

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 6.

Also it must be noted that when a
witness is called he must also be sworn,
that is, he must take the oath in the
manner we have shown; otherwise he
would falsely be described as called and
sworn.

In the same way the other witnesses
are to be examined. And after this the
Judge shall decide whether the fact is
fully proven ; and if not fully, whether
there are great indications and strong
suspicions of its truth. Observe that we
do not speak of a light suspicion, arising
from slight conjectures, but of a per¬
sistent report that the accused has
worked witchcraft upon children or
animals, etc. Then, if the Judge fears
the escape of the accused, he shall cause
him or her to be placed in custody;
but if he does not fear his escape, he
shall have him called for examination.
But whether or not he places him in
custody, he shall first cause his house to
be searched unexpectedly, and all chests
to be opened and all boxes in the
corners, and all implements of witch¬
craft which are found to be taken away.
And having done this, the Judge shall
compare together everything of which
he has been accused, and everything of
which he has been convicted or sus¬
pected by the evidence of witnesses, and
conduct an interrogatory on them, hav¬
ing with him a Notary, etc., as above,
and having caused the accused to swear
by the four Gospels of God to speak the
truth concerning both himself and
others. And they shall all be written
down in this following manner.

The General Examination of a Witch or
Wizard: and it is the First Action.

The accused N. of such a place was
sworn by personally touching the four
Gospels of God to speak the truth con¬
cerning both himself and others, and
was then asked whence he was and from
where he originated. And he answered,
from such a place in such a Diocese.
Asked who were his parents, and
whether they were alive or dead, he
answered that they were alive in such
a place, or dead in such a place.

Asked whether they died a natural
death, or were burned, he answered in
such a way. (Here note that this ques¬
tion is put because, as was shown in the
Second Part of this work, witches gener¬
ally offer or devote their own children
to devils, and commonly their whole

progeny is infected; and when the in¬
former has deposed to this effect, and
the witch herself has denied it, it lays
her open to suspicion.)

Asked where he was brought up, and
where he chiefly lived, he answered, in
such or such a place. And if it appears
that he has changed his abode because,
perhaps, his mother or any of his kin¬
dred was not suspected, and had lived
in foreign districts, especially in such
places as are most frequented by
witches, he shall be questioned accord¬
ingly.

Asked why he had moved from his
birthplace and gone to live in such or.
such a place, he answered, for such a
reason. Asked whether in those said
places or elsewhere he had heard any
talk of witches, as, for example, the
stirring up of tempests, the bewitching
of cattle, the depriving of cows of their
milk, or any such matter of which he
was accused ; if he should answer that
he had, he must be asked what he had
heard, and all that he says must be
written down. But if he denies it, and
says that he has heard nothing, then he
must be asked whether he believes that
there are such things as witches, and
that such things as were mentioned
could be done, as that tempests could
be raised or men and animals be¬
witched.

Note that for the most part witches
deny this at first; and therefore this
engenders a greater suspicion than if
they were to answer that they left it to a
superior judgement to say whether there
were such or not. So if they deny it,
they must be questioned as follows:
Then are they innocently condemned
when they are burned? And he or she
must answer.

The Particular Examination of the Same.

Let the Judge take care not to delay
the following questions, but to proceed
at once with them. Let her be asked
why the common people fear her, and
whether she knows that she is defamed
and hated, and why she had threatened
such a person, saying, “You shall not
cross me with impunity,” and let her
answers be noted.

Then let her be asked what harm that
person had done her, that she should
have used such words to threaten him
with injury. And note that this ques¬
tion is necessary in order to arrive at

Part III. Question 7. MALEFICARUM

213

the cause of their enmity, for in the end
the accused will allege that the informer
has spoken out of enmity; but when
this is not mortal, but only a womanish
quarrel, it is no impediment. For this
is a common custom of witches, to stir
up enmity against themselves by some
word or action, as, for example, to ask
someone to lend them something or else
they will damage his garden, or some¬
thing of that sort, in order to make an
occasion for deeds of witchcraft; and
they manifest themselves either in word
or in action, since they are compelled
to do so at the instance of the devils,
so that in this way the sins of Judges
are aggravated while the witch remains
unpunished.

For note that they do not do such
things in the presence of others, so that
if the informer wishes to produce wit¬
nesses he cannot do so. Note again that
they are spurred on by the devils, as we
have learned from many witches who
have afterwards been burned; so that
often they have to work witchcraft
against their own wills.

Further, she was asked how the effect
could follow from those threats, as that
a child or animal should so quickly be
bewitched, and she answered. Asked,
“Why did you say that he would never
know a day of health, and it was so?”
she answered. And if she denies every¬
thing, let her be asked concerning other
bewitchments, alleged by other wit¬
nesses, upon cattle or children. Asked
why she was seen in the fields or in the
stable with the cattle, and touching
them, as is sometimes their custom, she
answered.

Asked why she touched a child, and
afterwards it fell sick, she answered.
Also she was asked what she did in the
fields at the time of a tempest, and so
with many other matters. Again, why,
having one or two cows, she had more
milk than her neighbours who had four
or six. Again, let her be asked why she
persists in a state of adultery or con¬
cubinage; for although this is beside
the point, yet such questions engender
more suspicion than would be the case
with a chaste and honest woman who
stood accused.

And note that she is to be continually
questioned as to the depositions which
have been laid against her, to see
whether she always returns the same
answers or not. And when this exam¬
ination has been completed, whether

her answers have been negative, or
affirmative, or ambiguous, let them be
written down : Executed in such a place,
etc., as above.

☆

QUESTION VII

In Which Various Doubts are Set Forth with
Regard to the Foregoing Questions and
Negative Answers. Whether the Accused
is to be Imprisoned , and when she is to
be considered as Manifestly Taken in the
Foul Heresy of Witchcraft. This is the
Second Action.

IT is asked first what is to be done
when, as often happens, the accused
denies everything. We answer that the
Judge has three points to consider,
namely, her bad reputation, the evi¬
dence of the fact, and the words of the
witnesses ; and he must see whether all
these agree together. And if, as very
often is the case, they do not altogether
agree together, since witches are vari¬
ously accused of different deeds com¬
mitted in some village or town ; but the
evidences of the fact are visible to the
eye, as that a child has been harmed by
sorcery, or, more often, a beast has been
bewitched or deprived of its milk ; and
if a number of witnesses have come
forward whose evidence, even if it show
certain discrepancies (as that one should
say she had bewitched his child, another
his beast, and a third should merely
witness to her reputation, and so with
the others), but nevertheless agree in
the substance of the fact, that is, as to
the witchcraft, and that she is suspected
of being a witch ; although those wit¬
nesses are not enough to warrant a con¬
viction without the fact of the general
report, or even with that fact, as was
shown above at the end of Question III,
yet, taken in conjunction with the
visible and tangible evidence of the fact,
the Judge may, in consideration of these
three points together, decide that the
accused is to be reputed, not as strongly
or gravely under suspicion (which sus¬
picions will be explained later), but as
manifestly taken in the heresy of witch¬
craft; provided, that is, that the wit¬
nesses are of a suitable condition and
have not given evidence out of enmity,
and that a sufficient number of them,
say six or eight or ten, have agreed
together on oath. And then, according
to the Canon Law, he must subject her

214

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 8.

to punishment, whether she has con¬
fessed her crime or not. And this is
proved as follows.

For since it is said, that when all
three of the above considerations are in
agreement, then she should be thought
to be manifestly taken in heresy, it must
not be understood that it is necessary
for all three to be in agreement, but
only that if this is the case the proof is
all the stronger. For either one instance
by itself of the following two circum¬
stances, namely, the evidence of the
fact and the production of legitimate
witnesses, is sufficient to cause a person
to be reputed as manifestly taken in
heresy; and all the more when both
these considerations are in agreement.

For when the Jurists ask in how many
ways a person may be considered as
manifestly taken in heresy, we answer
that there are three ways, as S. Bernard
has explained. This matter was treated
of above in the First Question at the
beginning of this work, namely, the
evidence of the fact, when a person has
publicly preached heresy. But here we
consider the evidence of the fact pro¬
vided by public threats uttered by the
accused, as when she said, “You shall
have no healthy days,” or some such
thing, and the threatened effect has
followed. The other two ways are the
legitimate proof of the case by witnesses,
and thirdly her own confession. There¬
fore, if each of these singly is sufficient
to cause a person to be manifestly sus¬
pected, how much more is this the case
when the reputation of the accused, the
evidence of the fact, and the depositions
of witnesses all together point to the
same conclusion. It is true that S. Ber¬
nard speaks of an evident fact, and we
here speak of the evidence of the fact ;
but this is because the devil does not
work openly, but secretly. Therefore
the injuries and the instruments of
witchcraft which are found constitute
the evidence of the fact. And whereas
in other heresies an evident fact is alone
sufficient, here we join three proofs
together.

Secondly, it is thus proved that a per¬
son so taken is to be punished according
to the law, even though she denies the
accusation. For a person taken on the
evidence of the fact, or on the deposi¬
tions of witnesses, either confesses the
crime or does not. If he confesses and
is impenitent, he is to be handed over to
the secular court to suffer the extreme

penalty, according to the chapter ad
abolendam , or he is to be imprisoned for
life, according to the chapter excom¬
municamus. But if he does not confess,
and stoutly maintains his denial, he is
to be delivered as an impenitent to the
power of the Civil Court to be punished
in a fitting manner, as Henry of Segusio
shows in his Summa, where he treats of the
manner of proceeding against heretics.

It is therefore concluded that it is
most just if the Judge proceeds in that
manner with his questions and the
depositions of witnesses, since, as has
been said, he can in a case concerning
the Faith conduct matters quite plainly
and in a short and summary manner;
and it is meet that he should consign
the accused to prison for a time, or for
several years, in case perhaps, being
depressed after a year of the squalor of
prison, she may confess her crimes.

But, lest it should seem that he arrives
at his sentence precipitately, and to show
that he proceeds with all equity, let us
inquire into what should next be done.

☆

QUESTION VIII

Which Follows from the Preceding Question ,
Whether the Witch is to be Imprisoned ,
and of the Method of Taking her. This
is the Third Action of the Judge.

IT is asked whether, after she has
denied the accusation, the witch
ought to be kept in custody in prison,
when the three aforesaid conditions,
namely, her reputation, the evidence of
the fact, and the depositions of wit¬
nesses, are in agreement; or whether
she should be dismissed with the secur¬
ity of sureties, so that she may again
be called and questioned. As to this
question there are three opinions.

First, it is the opinion of some that
she should be sent to prison, and that
by no means ought she to be dismissed
under bond ; and they hold this opinion
on the strength of the reasoning brought
forward in the preceding question,
namely, that she is to be considered as
manifestly guilty when all those three
considerations are in agreement.

Others, again, think that before she is
imprisoned she may be dismissed with
the safeguard of sureties ; so that if she
makes her escape, she can then be con¬
sidered as convicted. But after she has

Part III. Question 8. MALEFICARUM

215

been imprisoned because of her nega¬
tive answers, she is not to be released
under any safeguard or condition of
bail, that is, when those three con¬
siderations noted above are in agree¬
ment; because in that case she could
not subsequently be sentenced and
punished by death ; and this, they say,
is the general custom.

The third opinion is that no definite
rule can be given, but that it must be
left to the Judge to act in accordance
with the gravity of the matter as shown
by the testimony of the witnesses, the
reputation of the accused, and the
evidence as to the fact, and the extent
to which these three agree with each
other; and that he should follow the
custom of the country. And they who
hold this opinion conclude by saying
that if reputable and responsible sureties
are not to be procured, and the accused
is suspected of contemplating flight, she
should then be cast into prison. And
this third opinion seems to be the most
reasonable, as long as the correct pro¬
cedure is observed ; and this consists in
three things.

First, that her house should be
searched* as thoroughly as possible, in
all holes and corners and chests, top
and bottom ; and if she is a noted witch,
then without doubt, unless she has pre¬
viously hidden them, there will be found
various instruments of witchcraft, as we
have shown above.

Secondly, if she has a maid-servant
or companions, that she or they should
be shut up by themselves; for though
they are not accused, yet it is presumed
that none of the accused’s secrets are
hidden from them.

Thirdly, in taking her, if she be taken
in her own house, let her not be given

* “ House should be searched .” Thus in the
famous witch trial of Dame Alice Kyteler and
her coven before the Bishop of Ossory in 1324,
John le Boer , the husband of Dame Alice,
deposed that in her closet were discovered
mysterious vials and elixirs, strange necromantic
instruments and ghastly relics of mortality which
she used in her horrid craft. Holinshed in his
“ Chronicle of Ireland ” ( London , 1387, p. 515),
sub anno 1323, has: “In rifling the closet of the
ladie, they found a wafer of sacramental bread,
having the divels name stamped thereon in steed of
JESUS Christ, and a pipe of ointment, wherewith
she greased a staffe, upon which she ambled and
gallopped thorough thicke and thin when and in
what manner she listed .” See my “ Geography of
Witchcraft Chap. II, pp. 83-31.

time to go into her room ; for they are
wont to secure in this way, and bring
away with them, some object or power
of witchcraft which procures them the
faculty of keeping silent under exam¬
ination.

This gives rise to the question whether
the method employed by some to cap¬
ture a witch is lawful, namely, that she
should be lifted from the ground by the
officers, and carried out in a basket or
on a plank of wood so that she cannot
again touch the ground. This can be
answered by the opinion of the Canon¬
ists and of certain Theologians, that this
is lawful in three respects. First, because,
as is shown in the introductory question
of this Third Part, it is clear from the
opinion of many authorities, and especi¬
ally of such Doctors as no one would
dare to dispute, as Duns Scotus, Henry
of Segusio and Godfrey of Fontaines,
that it is lawful to oppose vanity with
vanity. Also we know from experience
and the confessions of witches that when
they are taken in this manner they more
often lose the power of keeping silence
under examination : indeed many who
have been about to be burned have
asked that they might be allowed at
least to touch the ground with one foot ;
and when this has been denied them
and they have been asked why they
made such a request, they have an¬
swered that if they had touched the
ground they would have liberated
themselves, striking many other people
dead with lightning.

The second reason is this. It was
manifestly shown in the Second Part
of this work that a witch loses all her
power when she falls into the hands of
public justice, that is, with regard to
the past ; but with regard to the future,
unless she receives from the devil fresh
powers of keeping silent, she will con¬
fess all her crimes. Therefore let us say
with S. Paul:f Whatsoever we do in
word or deed, let all be done in the
name of the Lord JESUS Christ. And if
the wiich be innocent, this form of
capture will not harm her.

Thirdly, according to the Doctors it
is lawful to counteract witchcraft by
vain means; for they all agree as to
this, though they are at variance over the
question as to when those vain means
may also be unlawful. Therefore when
Henry of Segusio says that it is lawful

f “S. Paul." “ Colossians ” iii, 17.

2l6

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 9.

to oppose vanity with vanity, this is
explained as meaning that he speaks of
vain means, not of unlawful means. All
the more, then, is it lawful to obstruct
witchcraft; and it is this obstruction
which is referred to here, and not any
unlawful practice.

Let the Judge note also that there are
two sorts of imprisonment ; one being a
punishment inflicted upon criminals,
but the other only a matter of custody
in the house of detention. And these
two sorts are noted in the chapter mul¬
torum querela; therefore she ought at least
to be placed in custody. But if it is only
a slight matter of which she is accused,
•and she is not of bad reputation, and
there is no evidence of her work upon
children or animals, then she may be
sent back to her house. But because she
has certainly associated with witches
and knows their secrets, she must give
sureties; and if she cannot do so, she
must be bound by oaths and penalties
not to go out of her house unless she is
summoned. But her servants and do¬
mestics, of whom we spoke above, must
be kept in custody, yet not punished.

☆

QUESTION IX

What is to be done after the Arrest , and
whether the Names of the Witnesses
should be made Known to the Accused.
This is the Fourth Action.

THERE are two matters to be
attended to after the arrest, but
it is left to the Judge which shall be
taken first; namely, the question of
allowing the accused to be defended,
and whether she should be examined
in the place of torture, though not
necessarily in order that she should be
tortured. The first is only allowed
when a direct request is made; the
second only when her servants and
companions, if she has any, have first
been examined in the house.

But let us proceed in the order as
above. If the accused says that she is
innocent and falsely accused, and that
she wishes to see and hear her accusers,
then it is a sign that she is asking to
defend herself. But it is an open ques¬
tion whether the Judge is bound to
make the deponents known to her and
bring them to confront her face to
face. For here let the Judge take note

that he is not bound either to publish
the names of the deponents or to bring
them before the accused, unless they
themselves should freely and willingly
offer to come before the accused and
lay their depositions in her presence.
And it is by reason of the danger in¬
curred by the deponents that the Judge
is not bound to do this. For although
different Popes have had different
opinions on this matter, none of them
has ever said that in such a case the
Judge is bound to make known to the
accused the names of the informers or
accusers (but here we are not dealing
with the case of an accuser). On the
contrary, some have thought that in
no case ought he to do so, while others
have thought that he should in certain
circumstances.

But, finally, Boniface VIII* decreed
as follows : If in a case of heresy it
appears to the Bishop or Inquisitor
that grave danger would be incurred
by the witnesses or informers on account
of the powers of the persons against
whom they lay their depositions, should
their names be published, he shall not
publish them. But if there is no danger,
their names shall be published just as
in other cases.

Here it is to be noted that this refers
not only to a Bishop or Inquisitor, but
to any Judge conducting a case against
witches with the consent of the In¬
quisitor or Bishop; for, as was shown
in the introductory Question, they can
depute their duties to a Judge. So that
any such Judge, even if he be secular,
has the authority of the Pope, and not
only of the Emperor.

Also a careful Judge will take notice
of the powers of the accused persons;
for these are of three kinds, namely,
the power of birth and family, the
power of riches, and the power of
malice. And the last of these is more
to be feared than the other two, since
it threatens more danger to the wit-

* “ Boniface VIII.” Benedetto Gaetani, born
at Anagni about 1235; elected Pope , 24 Decem¬
ber, 1234; died at Rome, n October, 1303. He
was one of the most eminent canonists of his age,
and as Supreme Pontiff enriched legislation by
the promulgation ( Bull “ Sacrosanctae ,” 1238)
of a large number of his own constitutions and
those of his predecessors since 1234, when
Gregory IX issued his five books of Decretals.
In reference to this, the collection of Boniface
VIII is known as “ Liber Sixtus,” i.e. of
Pontifical Constitutions.

Part III. Question io. MALEFICARUM

217

nesses if their names are made known
to the accused. The reason for this is
that it is more dangerous to make
known the names of the witnesses to
an accused person who is poor, because
such a person has many evil accom¬
plices, such as outlaws and homicides,
associated with him, who venture
nothing but their own persons, which
is not the case with anyone who is
nobly born or rich, and abounding in
temporal possessions. And the kind of
danger which is to be feared is ex¬
plained by Pope John XXII as the
death or cutting off of themselves or
their children or kindred, or the wast¬
ing of their substance, or some such
matter.

Further, let the Judge take notice
that, as he acts in this matter with the
authority of the Supreme Pontiff and
the permission of the Ordinary, both
he himself and all who are associated
with him at the depositions, or after¬
wards at the pronouncing of the sen¬
tence, must keep the names of the
witnesses secret, under pain of excom¬
munication. And it is in the power of
the Bishop thus to punish him or them
if they do otherwise. Therefore he
should very implicitly warn them not
to reveal the names from the very
beginning of the process.

Wherefore the above decree of Pope
Boniface VIII goes on to say : And that
the danger to those accusers and wit¬
nesses may be the more effectively
met, and the inquiry conducted more
cautiously, we permit, by the authority
of this statute, that the Bishop or
Inquisitors (or, as we have said, the
Judge) shall forbid all those who are
concerned in the inquiry to reveal
without their permission any secrets
which they have learned from the
Bishop or Inquisitors, under pain of
excommunication which they may in¬
cur by violating such secrets.

It is further to be noted that just
as it is a punishable offence to publish
the names of witnesses indiscreetly,- so
also it is to conceal them without good
reason from, for instance, such people
as have a right to know them, such as
the lawyers and assessors whose opinion
is to be sought in proceeding to the
sentence ; in the same way the names
must not be concealed when it is
possible to publish them without risk
of any danger to the witnesses. On this
subject the above decree speaks as

follows, towards the end : We command
that in all cases the Bishop or Inquisi¬
tors shall take especial care not to sup¬
press the names of the witnesses as if
there were danger to them when there
is perfect security, nor conversely to
decide to publish them when there is
some danger threatened, the decision
in this matter resting with their own
conscience and discretion. And it has
been written in comment on these
words : Whoever you are who are a
Judge in such a case, mark those words
well, for they do not refer to a slight
risk but to a grave danger; therefore
do not deprive a prisoner of his legal
rights without very good cause, for this
cannot but be an offence to Almighty
God.

The reader must note that all the
process which we have already de¬
scribed, and all that we have yet to
describe, up to the methods of passing
sentence (except the death sentence),
which it is in the province of the
ecclesiastical Judge to conduct, can
also, with the consent of the Diocesans,
be conducted by a secular Judge.
Therefore the reader need find no
difficulty in the fact that the above
Decree speaks of an ecclesiastical and
not a secular Judge ; for the latter can
take his method of inflicting the death
sentence from that of the Ordinary in
passing sentence of penance.

☆

QUESTION X

What Kind of Defence may be Allowed ,
and of the Appointment of an Advocate.
This is the Fifth Action.

IF, therefore, the accused asks to be
defended, how can this be admitted
when the names of the witnesses are
kept altogether secret? It is to be said
that three considerations are to be
observed in admitting any defence.
First, that an Advocate shall be allotted
to the accused. Second, that the names
of the witnesses shall not be made
known to the Advocate, even under an
oath of secrecy, but that he shall be
informed of everything contained in
the depositions. Third, the accused
shall as far as possible be given the
benefit of every doubt, provided that
this involves no scandal to the faith
nor is in any way detrimental to justice,

2l8

MALLEUS

Part III. Question ii.

as will be shown. And in like manner
the prisoner’s procurator shall have full
access to the whole process, only the
names of the witnesses and deponents
being suppressed; and the Advocate
can act also in the name of procurator.

As to the first of these points : it
should be noted that an Advocate is
not to be appointed at the desire of
the accused, as if he may choose which
Advocate he will have ; but the Judge
must take great care to appoint neither
a litigious nor an evil-minded man, nor
yet one who is easily bribed (as many
are), but rather an honourable man
to whom no sort of suspicion attaches.

And the Judge ought to note four
points, and if the Advocate be found
to conform to them, he shall be allowed
to plead, but not otherwise. For first
of all the Advocate must examine the
nature of the case, and then if he finds
it a just one he may undertake it, but
if he finds it unjust he must refuse it;
and he must be very careful not to
undertake an unjust or desperate case.
But if he has unwittingly accepted the
brief, together with a fee, from some¬
one who wishes to do him an injury,
but discovers during the process that
the case is hopeless, then he must
signify to his client (that is, the accused)
that he abandons the case, and must re¬
turn the fee which he has received. This
is the opinion of Godfrey of Fontaines,
which is wholly in conformity with
the Canon de jud. i, rem non novam. But
Henry of Segusio holds an opposite view
concerning the return of the fee in a
case in which the Advocate has worked
very hard. Consequently if an Advocate
has wittingly undertaken to defend a
prisoner whom he knows to be guilty, he
shall be liable for the costs and expenses
{de admin, tut. i, non tamen est ignotum).

The second point to be observed is
that in his pleading he should conduct
himself properly in three respects.
First, his behaviour must be modest
and free from prolixity or pretentious
oratory. Secondly, he must abide by
the truth, not bringing forward any
fallacious arguments or reasoning, or
calling false witnesses, or introducing
legal quirks and quibbles if he be a
skilled lawyer, or bringing counter¬
accusations ; especially in cases of this
sort, which must be conducted as
simply and summarily as possible.
Thirdly, his fee must be regulated by
the usual practice of the district.

But to return to our point ; the Judge
must make the above conditions clear
to the Advocate, and finally admonish
him not to incur the charge of defend¬
ing heresy, which would make him
liable to excommunication.

And it is not a valid argument for
him to say to the Judge that he is not
defending the error, but the person.
For he must not by any means so con¬
duct his defence as to prevent the case
from being conducted in a plain and
summary manner, and he would be
doing so if he introduced any compli¬
cations or appeals into it; all which
things are disallowed altogether. For
it is granted that he does not defend
the error ; for in that case he would be
more damnably guilty than the witches
themselves, and rather a heresiarch
than a heretical wizard. Nevertheless,
if he unduly defends a person already
suspect of heresy, he makes himself
as it were a patron of that heresy, and
lays himself under not only a light but
a strong suspicion, in accordance with
the manner of his defence ; and ought
publicly to abjure that heresy before
the Bishop.

We have put this matter at some
length, and it is not to be neglected by
the Judge, because much danger may
arise from an improper conducting of
the defence by an Advocate or Pro¬
curator. Therefore, when there is any
objection to the Advocate, the Judge
must dispense with him and proceed
in accordance with the facts and the
proofs. But when the Advocate for the
accused is not open to any objection,
but is a zealous man and a lover of
justice, then the Judge may reveal to
him the names of the .witnesses, under
an oath of secrecy.

☆

QUESTION XI

What Course the Advocate should Adopt
when the Names of the Witnesses are
not Revealed to him. The Sixth Action.

BUT it may be asked: What, then,
should the Advocate acting as Pro¬
curator for the accused do, when the
names of the witnesses are withheld
from both himself and his client, al¬
though the1 accused earnestly desires
that they should be made known? We
answer that he should obtain informa-

Part III. Question i i . MALEFICARUM

219

tion from the Judge on every point of
the accusation, which must be given
to him at his request, only the names
of the witnesses being suppressed ; and
with this information he should ap¬
proach the accused and, if the matter
involves a very grave charge, exhort
him to exercise all the patience which
he can.

And if the accused again and again
insists that she should know the names
of the witnesses against her, he can
answer her as follows: You can guess
from the charges which are made
against you who are the witnesses.
For the child or beast of so and so has
been bewitched ; or to such a woman
or man, because they refused to lend
you something for which you asked,
you said, “You shall know that it
would have been better to have agreed
to my request,” and they bear witness
that in consequence of your words the
person was suddenly taken ill ; and
facts are stronger evidence than words.
And you know that you have a bad
reputation, and have for a long time
been suspected of casting spells upon
and injuring many men. And talking
in this manner, he may finally induce
her to enter a plea that they had borne
witness against her from motives of
hatred ; or to say, “I confess that I did
say so, but not with any intent to do
harm.”

Therefore the Advocate must first
lay before the Judge and his assessors
this plea of personal enmity, and the
Judge must inquire into it. And if it
should be found to be a case of mortal
enmity, as that there has been some
attempted or accomplished murder
committed by the husbands or kindred
of the parties, or that someone of one
party has been charged with a crime
by someone of the other party, so that
he fell into the hands of public justice,
or that serious wounds have resulted
from quarrels and brawls between
them ; then the upright and careful
Judge will consult with his assessors
whether the accused or the deponent
was the aggravating party. For if, for
example, the husband or friends of the
accused have unjustly oppressed the
friends of the deponent, then if there
is no evidence of the fact that children
or animals or men have been bewitched,
and if there are no other witnesses,
and the accused is not even commonly
suspected of witchcraft, in that case it

is presumed that the depositions were
laid against her from motives of ven¬
geance, and she is to be discharged as
innocent and freely dismissed, after
having been duly cautioned against
seeking to avenge herself, in the manner
which is usually used by Judges.

The following case may be put.
Katharina’s child, or she herself, is
bewitched, or she has suffered much
loss in her cattle; and she suspects
the accused because her husband or
brothers had previously brought an
unjust accusation against her own
husband or brother. Here the cause of
enmity is twofold on the part of the
deponent, having its root both in her
own bewitchment and in the unjust
accusation brought against her hus¬
band or brother. Then ought her
deposition to be rejected or not? From
one point of view it seems that it
should, because she is actuated by
enmity; from another point of view it
should not, because there is the evidence
of the fact in her bewitchment.

We answer that if in this case there
are no other deponents, and the
accused is not even under common
suspicion, then her depositions cannot
be allowed, but must be rejected ; but
if the accused is rendered suspect, and
if the disease is not due to natural
causes but to witchcraft (and we shall
show later how this can be distin¬
guished), she is to be subjected to a
canonical purgation.

If it be asked further whether the
other deponents must bear witness to
the evidence of the fact as experienced
by themselves or others, or only to
the public reputation of the accused ;
we answer that, if they give evidence
of the fact, so much the better. But if
they only give evidence as to her
general character, and the matter
stands so, then, although the Judge
must reject that deponent on the
grounds of personal enmity, yet he
shall take the evidence of the fact, and
of her bad reputation given by the
other witnesses, as proof that the
accused must be strongly suspect, and
on these grounds he can sentence her
to a threefold punishment: namely, to
a canonical purgation because of her
reputation ; or to an abjuration, be¬
cause of the suspicion under which she
rests, and there are various forms of
abjuration for various degrees of sus¬
picion, as will be shown in the fourth

220

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 12.

method of passing sentence ; or, because
of the evidence of the fact, and if she
confesses her crime and is penitent, she
shall not be handed over to the secular
branch for capital punishment, but be
sentenced by the ecclesiastical Judge
to imprisonment for life. But notwith¬
standing the fact that she has been
sentenced to imprisonment for life by
the ecclesiastical Judge, the secular
Judge can, on account of the temporal
injuries which she has committed,
deliver her to be burned. But all these
matters will be made clear later when
we deal with the sixth method of
passing sentence.

To sum up: Let the Judge first take
care not to lend too easy belief to the
Advocate when he pleads mortal enmity
on behalf of the accused ; for in these
cases it is very seldom that anyone
bears witness without enmity, because
witches are always hated by every¬
body. Secondly, let him take note that
there are four ways by which a witch
can be convicted, namely, by wit¬
nesses, by direct evidence of the fact,
by indirect evidence of the fact, and
by her own confession. And if she is
detained on account of a general
report, she can be convicted by the
evidence of witnesses ; if on account of
a definite suspicion, the direct or in¬
direct evidence of the facts can convict
her, and by reason of these the sus¬
picion may be judged to be either light
or strong or grave. All this is when she
does not confess; but when she does,
the case can proceed as has been said.

Thirdly, let the Judge make use of
all the foregoing circumstances to meet
the plea of the Advocate, whether the
accused is charged only by reason of a
general report, or whether, there are
also certain evidences to support the
charge by which she incurs slight or
strong suspicion ; and then he will be
able to answer the Advocate’s allega¬
tion of personal enmity, which is the
first line of defence which he may
assume.

But when the Advocate assumes the
second line of defence, admitting that
the accused has used such words against
the deponent as, “You shall soon know
what is going to happen to you,” or
“You will wish soon enough that you
had lent or sold me what I asked for,”
or some such words ; and submits that,
although the deponent afterwards ex¬
perienced some injury either to his

person or his property, yet it does not
follow from this that the accused was
the cause of it as a witch, for illnesses
may be due to various different causes.
Also he submits that it is a common
habit of women to quarrel together
with such words, etc.

The Judge ought to answer such
allegations in the following manner.
If the illness is due to natural causes,
then the excuse is good. But the
evidence indicates the contrary ; for it
cannot be cured by any natural
remedy ; or in the opinion of the
physicians the illness is due to witch¬
craft, or is what is in common speech
called a Night-scathe. Again, perhaps
other enchantresses are of the opinion
that it is due to witchcraft. Or because
it came suddenly, without any previous
sickening, whereas natural diseases
generally develop gradually. Or per¬
haps because the plaintiff had found
certain instruments of witchcraft under
his bed or in his clothes or elsewhere,
and when these were removed he was
suddenly restored to health, as often
happens, as we showed in the Second
Part of this work where we treated of
remedies. And by some such answer
as this the Judge can easily meet this
allegation, and show that the illness
was due rather to witchcraft than to
any natural causes, and that the accused
must be suspected of causing such
witchcraft, by reason of her threaten¬
ing words. In the same way, if someone
said, “I wish your barn would be
burned down,” and this should after¬
wards happen, it would engender a
grave suspicion that the person who
had used that threat had caused the
barn to be set on fire, even if another
person, and not he himself, had
actually set light to it.

☆

QUESTION XII

Of the Same Matter , Declaring more Par¬
ticularly how the Question of Personal
Enmity is to be Investigated. The
Seventh Action.

TAKE notice that only mortal
enemies are debarred from giving
evidence, as was shown in the Fifth
Question. But the Judge may consider
that to come to a decision about such
enmity by the means we have just

Part III. Question 12. MALEFICARUM

221

explained is rather dubious and un¬
satisfactory; and the accused or her
Procurator may not be willing to
accept a decision arrived at on such
grounds as to whether the enmity is
mortal or not. Therefore the Judge must
use other means to decide concerning
the alleged enmity, so that he may
not punish the innocent, but exact
full justice from the guilty. And though
these means may savour of cunning
and even guile, yet the Judge may
employ them for the good of the faith
and the State ; for even S. Paul says :
But being crafty, I caught you by guile.
And these means are especially to be
employed in the case of a prisoner who
has not been publicly defamed, and is
not suspected because of the evidence
of any fact; and the Judge may also
employ them against prisoners who
have alleged enmity on the part of
the deponents, and wish to know all
the names of the witnesses.

The first method is this. The accused
or her Advocate is given a copy of the
process with the names of the de¬
ponents or informers, but not in the
order in which they deposed ; but in
such a way that the name of the wit¬
ness who comes first in the copy is
sixth or seventh in the schedule, and
he who comes second is last or last
but one. In this way the accused will
be deceived as to which witness deposed
this or that. And then she will either say
that they are all her enemies, or not ; and
if she says that they all are, she will be
the more easily detected in a lie when
the cause of the enmity is investigated
by the Judge ; and if she names only
certain ones, still the cause of the enmity
will be more easily investigated.

The second method is similar, when
the Advocate is given a copy of the
process, and separately a list of the
names of the deponents ; but there are
added other matters perpetrated else¬
where by witches, but not set down in
writing by the witnesses or deponents.
And so the accused will not be able to
say definitely that this one or that one
is her mortal enemy, because she does
not know what they have deposed
against her.

The third method was touched upon
in the Fifth Question above. For when
the accused is questioned at the end
of her second examination, and before
she has demanded to be defended or
an Advocate has been allotted to her,

let her be asked whether she thinks
that she has any mortal enemies who,
setting aside all fear of God, would
falsely accuse her of the crime of heresy
and witchcraft. And then perhaps with¬
out thinking, and not having seen the
depositions of the witnesses, she will
answer that she does not think that
she has any such enemies. Or if she
says, “I think I have,” and names any
of the witnesses who have laid informa¬
tion, and the reason for that enmity is
known, then the Judge will be able to
investigate it with more certainty after¬
wards, when the accused has been given
separate copies of the process and of
the names of the witnesses, in the
manner we have explained.

The fourth method is this. At the
end of her second examination and
confession (as we showed in the Sixth
Question), before she is granted any
means of defence, let her be questioned
as to the witnesses who have laid the
more serious charges against her, in
this manner. “Do you know So-and-
so?” naming one of the witnesses; and
then she will answer either Yes or No.
If she says No, she will not be able,
after she has been given means of
defence and an Advocate, to plead
that he is a mortal enemy, since she
has said on oath that she does not
know him. But if she says Yes, let her
be asked whether she knows or has
heard that he or she has acted in any
way contrary to the Christian faith
in the manner of a witch. Then if she
says Yes, for he did such and such a
thing; let her be asked whether he
is her friend or enemy; and she will
immediately answer that he is her
friend, because the testimony of such
is not of very great account ; and conse¬
quently she will not be able afterwards
to plead on oath through her Advocate
that he is her enemy, for she has
already said that he is her friend. But
if she answers that she knows nothing
about him, let her again be asked
whether lie is her friend or enemy, and
she will at once answer that he is her
friend ; for it would be futile to allege
enmity on the part of someone of whom
she knows nothing. Therefore she says,
“I am his friend, but if I knew any¬
thing about him I would not fail to
reveal it.” Therefore she will not be
able afterwards to plead that he is her
enemy. Or perhaps she will from the
very beginning allege reasons for mortal

222

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 13.

enmity, and in that case some credence
must be placed in the plea of the
Advocate.

A fifth method is to give the Advo¬
cate or the accused a copy of the pro¬
cess, with the names of the informers
suppressed. And then the accused will
guess, and very often rightly, who has
deposed such and such against her.
And then if she says, “So-and-so is my
mortal enemy, and I am willing to
prove it by witnesses,” then the Judge
must consider whether the person
named is the same person named in the
schedule ; and since she has said that
she is willing to prove it by witnesses,
he will examine those witnesses and
inquire into the causes of the enmity,
having secretly called into consultation
learned and aged men of known
prudence. And if he finds sufficient
reasons for mortal enmity, he shall reject
that evidence and dismiss the prisoner,
unless there are other grave charges
against her, sworn to by other witnesses.

And this fifth method is commonly
used; and it is found in practice that
witches quickly guess from the copy
of the process who has laid information
against them. And because in such
cases mortal enmity is rarely found
unless it arises from the wicked deeds
of the witch, therefore the Judge can
easily come to a decision by the above
means. Also it is to be noted that often
the informers desire to confront the
witch personally, and to charge her to
her face with the bewitchment which
has befallen them.

There is still one more method
whereunto the Judge may finally have
recourse, when perhaps the other
methods, and especially the first four,
seem to some to savour too much of
cunning and deceit. Accordingly, to
satisfy and content the scrupulous, and
that no fault may be found with the
Judge, let him take care, after he has
found by the above methods that there
is no mortal enmity between the
accused and the deponent, but wishes
to remove all grounds for complaint
by settling the question finally in con¬
sultation with his other assessors, to
act as follows. Let him give to the
accused or her Advocate a copy of the
process, with the names of the de¬
ponents or informers suppressed. And
since her defence is that she has mortal
enemies, and perhaps she has alleged
various reasons for the enmity, whether

or not the facts are in agreement with
her statements, let the Judge call into
consultation learned men of every
faculty (if such can be had), or at least
some honest and reputable persons (for
this is the purport of that statute we
have so often quoted); and let him
cause the whole process to be read
through to them from end to end by
the Notary or scribe, and let the names
of the witnesses be made known ■ to
them, but under an oath of secrecy;
and he shall first inquire whether or
not they are willing to be bound by
such an oath, for if not the names
must by no means be declared to them.

Then let him tell how he has inquired
in such and such a manner into the
alleged enmity, and has not been able
to find any testimony of fact. But he
shall add that, if they please, one of
two courses shall be pursued. Either
they shall decide then and there in
consultation whether the evidence of
any of the witnesses shall be rejected
on the grounds of mortal personal
enmity; or let them choose three or
four or five persons who have most
knowledge in that town or village of
any friendship or enmity between the
accused and the informer, who are not
present at the consultation, and let
them be informed of the names only
of the accused and the witness, but
not of the information which has been
deposed, and let the whole question
be left to their judgement. If they
follow the former of these courses,
they cannot very well reject any wit¬
ness, since the Judge has already used
his own methods of investigation; but
by the second course he protects him¬
self perfectly, and clears himself of all
ugly suspicions. And he ought to
observe this last method when the
accused has been taken in a foreign
town or country. These methods will
suffice for examining the question of
personal enmity.

☆

QUESTION XIII

Of the Points to be Observed by the Judge
before the Formal Examination in the
Place of Detention and Torture. This
is the Eighth Action.

THE next action of the Judge is
quite clear. For common justice
demands that a witch should not be

Part III. Question 13. MALEFICARUM

223

condemned to death unless she is con¬
victed by her own confession. But here
we are considering the case of one who
is judged to be taken in manifest heresy
for one of the other two reasons set
down in the First Question, namely,
direct or indirect evidence of the fact,
or the legitimate production of wit¬
nesses; and in this case she is to be
exposed to questions and torture to
extort a confession of her crimes.

And to make the matter clear we
will quote a case which occurred at
Spires and came to the knowledge of
many. A certain honest man was bar¬
gaining with a woman, and would not
come to terms with her about the price
of some article; so she angrily called
after him, “You will soon wish you
had agreed.” For witches generally use
this manner of speaking, or something
like it, when they wish to bewitch a
person by looking at him. Then he,
not unreasonably being angry with her,
looked over his shoulder to see with
what intention she had uttered those
words; and behold! he was suddenly
bewitched so that his mouth was
stretched sideways as far as his ears in
a horrible deformity, and he could not
draw it back, but remained so de¬
formed for a long time.

We put the case that this was sub¬
mitted to the Judge as direct evidence
of the fact ; and it is asked whether the
woman is to be considered as mani¬
festly taken in the heresy of witchcraft.
This should be answered from the
words of S. Bernard which we have
quoted above. For there are three ways
in which a person may be judged to be
so taken, and they not so closely con¬
joined as though it were necessary for
all three to agree in one conclusion,
but each one by itself, namely, the
evidence of the fact, or the legitimate
production of witnesses, or her own
confession, is sufficient to prove a witch
to be manifestly taken in that heresy.

But indirect evidence of the fact is
different from direct evidence ; yet
though it is not so conclusive, it is still
taken from the words and deeds of
witches, as was shown in the Seventh
Question, and it is judged from witch¬
craft which is not so immediate in its
effect, but follows after some lapse of
time from the utterance of the threaten¬
ing words. Wherefore may we conclude
that this is the case with such witches
who have been accused and have not

made good their defence (or have
failed to defend themselves because
this privilege was not granted them;
and it was not granted because they
did not ask for it) . But what we are to
consider now is what action the Judge
should take, and how he should pro¬
ceed to question the accused with a
view to extorting the truth from her so
that sentence of death may finally be
passed upon her.

And here, because of the great
trouble caused by the stubborn silence
of witches, there are several points
which the Judge must notice, and these
are dealt with under their several
heads.

And the first is that he must not be
too quick to subject a witch to examina¬
tion, but must pay attention to certain
signs which will follow. And he must
not be too quick for this reason: unless
God, through a holy Angel, compels
the devil to withhold his help from the
witch, she will be so insensible to the
pains of torture that she will sooner be
torn limb from limb than confess any
of the truth.

But the torture is not to be neglected
for this reason, for they are not all
equally endowed with this power, and
also the devil sometimes of hi$ own
will permits them to confess their
crimes without being compelled by a
holy Angel. And for the understanding
of this the reader is referred to that
which is written in the Second Part of
this work concerning the homage which
they offer to the devil.

For there are some who obtain from
the devil a respite of six or eight or
ten years before they have to offer
him their homage, that is, devote
themselves to him body and soul ;
whereas others, when they first profess
their abjuration of the faith, at the
same time offer their homage. And
the reason why the devil allows that
stipulated interval of time is that,
during that time, he may find out
whether the witch has denied the faith
with her lips only but not in her heart,
and would therefore offer him her
homage in the same way.

For the devil cannot know the inner
thoughts of the heart except conjectur-
ally from outward indications, as we
showed in the First Part of this work
where we dealt with the question
whether devils can turn the minds of
men to hatred or love. And many have

224

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 13.

been found who, driven by some neces¬
sity or poverty, have been induced by
other witches, in the hope of ultimate
forgiveness in confession, to become
either total or partial apostates from
the faith. And it is such whom the
devil deserts without any compulsion
by a holy Angel; and therefore they
readily confess their crimes, whereas
others, who have from their hearts
bound themselves to the devil, are pro¬
tected by his power and preserve a
stubborn silence.

And this provides a clear answer to
the question how it comes about that
some witches readily confess, and others
will by no means do so. For in the case
of the former, when the devil is not
compelled by God, he still deserts
them of his own will, in order that by
temporal unhappiness and a horrible
death he may lead to despair those
over whose hearts he could never
obtain the mastery. For it is evident
from their sacramental confessions that
they have never voluntarily obeyed the
devil, but have been compelled by him
to work witchcraft.

And some also are distinguished by
the fact that, after they have admitted
their crimes, they try to commit suicide
by strangling or hanging * themselves.

* “Hanging.” There are recorded many
instances of this. In iggy the Scotch warlock
Playfair , having killed Lord Lothian by witch¬
craft, was laid for, and “being soon apprehended,
was made prisoner in Dalkeith steeple, and having
confest that and much more wickedness to Mr.
Archibald Simson, minister there, and that con¬
fession coming to the ears of Robert, Earl of
Lothian, my lord's son, he had. moyen to get some
persons admitted to speak with the prisoner in the
night, by which means he was found worried in
the morning, and the point of his breeches knit
about his neck, but never more inquiry was made
who had done the deed.”

Alice Gooderidge, a Derbyshire witch, who
was tried in iggy and condemned, “should haue
bin executed, but that her spirit killed her in the
prison.” John Stewart, a warlock of Irvine, in
1618, “for his better preferring to the day of the
assys, was put in ane lockfast buith, . . . and
for avoyding of putting violent handis on himself,
was verie strictly gairdit and flitherit be the
airms, as us is.” He was visited by two
ministers, whn exhorted him to repentance, and
seemed very contrite, confessing his witchcrafts.
However, almost immediately after “he was
fund be the burrow officers, quha went about him
stranglit and hangit be the cruik of the dur, with
ane tait of hemp {or a string maid of hemp,
supposed to haif been his garters, or string of his

And they are induced to do this by the
Enemy, lest they should obtain pardon
from God through sacramental con¬
fession. This chiefly happens in the
case of those who have not been willing
agents of the devil; although it may
also happen in the case of willing
agents, after they have confessed their
crimes : but then it is because the devil
has been compelled to desert the
witch.

In conclusion we may say that it is
as difficult, or more difficult, to compel
a witch to tell the truth as it is to
exorcise a person possessed of the devil.

bonnet ) not above the length of two span long ,
his kneyis not being from the grund half ane span,
and was brocht out of the hous, his lyf not being
so layt expellit: but notwithstanding of quhat-
somever meines usit to the contrair for remeid of
his lyf, he revievit not , but so endit his lyf
miserable by the help of the devill his maister.”
In i6pg the lady of Pittahro, Mistress Hender¬
son, “being delated by many to be a witch, was
apprehended and carried to Edenbroughe, wher
she was keiped fast; and after her remaining in
prison for a tyme, being in health all night,
vpon the morne was found dead. It was thought,
and spoken by many, that she wronged her selfe,
either by strangling or by poyson.”

It is recorded of the Renfrewshire trials { i6gy )
that John Reid, a notorious warlock of Bar-
garran, “ after his Confession had called out of
his prison Window, desiring Baily Scott to keep
that old body Angus Forrester, who had been
his fellow prisoner, close and secure ; whereupon
the company asked John when they were leaving
him on Friday night the 21st of May, whether
he desired company or would be afraid alone, he
said he had no fear of anything: So being left till
Saturday in the Forenoon, he was found in this
posture, viz- sitting upon a stool which was on
the Hearth of the Chimney, with his feet on the
floor and his Body straight upward, his shoulders
touching the lintel of the Chimney, but his Neck
tied with his own neck-cloath {whereof the knot
was behind) to a small stick thrust into a hole
above the lintel of the Chimney, upon which the
Company, especially John Campbel a Chyrurgeon
who was called, thought at first in respect of his
being in an ordinary posture of sitting, and the
neck-cloath not having any drawn knot {or “ run
loup ”) but an ordinary one which was not very
strait, and the sticke not having the strength to
bear the weight of his Body or the struggle, that
he had not been quite dead; but finding it other-
ways, and that he was in such a Situation that
he could not have been the Actor thereof himself,
concluded that some extraordinary Agent had
done it, especially considering that the Door of the
Room was secured, and that there was a board set
over the Window which was not there the night
before when they left him.”

Part III. Question 14. M A L E F I C A RUM

225

Therefore the Judge ought not to be
too willing or ready to proceed to such
examination, unless, as has been said,
the death penalty is involved. And in
this case he must exercise great care,
as we shall show; and first we shall
speak of the method of sentencing a
witch to such torture.

☆

QUESTION XIV

Of the Method of Sentencing the Accused
to be Questioned: and How she must
be Questioned on the First Day; and
Whether she may be Promised her Life.
The Ninth Action.

EGONDLY, the Judge must take
care to frame his sentence in the
following manner.

We, the Judge and assessors, having
attended to and considered the details
of the process enacted by us against you
N. of such a place in such a Diocese,
and having diligently examined the
whole matter, find that you are equivo¬
cal in your admissions ; as for example,
when you say that you used such
threats with no intention of doing an
injury, but nevertheless there are various
proofs which are sufficient warrant for
exposing you to the question and tor¬
ture. Wherefore, that the truth may be
known from your own mouth, and that
henceforth you may not offend the
ears of the Judges, we declare, judge
and sentence that on this present day
at such an hour you be placed under
the question and torture. This sentence
was given, etc.

Alternatively, as has been said, the
Judge may not be willing to deliver
the accused up to be questioned, but
may punish her with imprisonment
with the following object in view. Let
him summon her friends and put it to
them that she may escape • the death
penalty, although she will be punished
in another way, if she confesses the
truth, and urge them to try to per¬
suade her to do so. For very often
meditation, and the misery of imprison¬
ment, and the repeated advice of honest
men, dispose the accused to discover
the truth.

And we have found that witches
have been so strengthened by this sort
of advice that, as a sign of their rebel-
Q.

lion, they have spat on the ground as
if it were in the devil’s face, saying,
“Depart, cursed devil ; I shall do what
is just” ; and afterwards they have
confessed their crimes.

But if, after keeping the accused in a
state of suspense, and continually post¬
poning the day of examination, and
frequently using verbal persuasions,
the Judge should truly believe that the
accused is denying the truth, let them
question her lightly without shedding
blood; knowing that such questioning
is fallacious and often, as has been said,
ineffective.

And it should be begun in this way.
While the officers are preparing for
the questioning, let the accused be
stripped ; or if she is a woman, let her
first be led to the penal cells and there
stripped by honest women of good
reputation. And the reason for this is
that they should search for any instru¬
ment of witchcraft sewn into her
clothes ; for they often make such
instruments, at the instruction of devils,
out of the limbs of unbaptized children,
the purpose being that those children
should be deprived of the beatific
vision. And when such instruments
have been disposed of, the Judge shall
use his own persuasions and those of
other honest men zealous for the faith
to induce her to confess the truth
voluntarily; and if she will not, let
him order the officers to bind her with
cords, and apply her to some engine of
torture ; and then let them obey at once
but not joyfully, rather appearing to
be disturbed by their duty. Then let
her be released again at someone’s
earnest request, and taken on one side,
and let her again be persuaded ; and
in persuading her, let her be told that
she can escape the death penalty.

Here it is asked whether, in the case
of a prisoner legally convicted by her
general bad reputation, by witnesses,
and by the evidence of the fact, so that
the only thing lacking is a confession
of the crime from her own mouth, the
Judge can lawfully promise her her
life, whereas if she were to confess
the crime she would suffer the extreme
penalty.

We answer that different people have
various opinions on this question. For
some hold that if the accused is of a
notoriously bad reputation, and gravely
suspected on unequivocal evidence of
the crime ; and if she-is herself a great

226

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 14.

source of danger, as being the mistress
of other witches, then she may be
promised her life on the following con¬
ditions: that she be sentenced to im¬
prisonment for life on bread and water,
provided that she supply evidence
which will lead to the conviction of
other witches. And she is not to be
told, when she is promised her life, that
she is to be imprisoned in this way ; but
should be led to suppose that some
other penance, such as exile, will be
imposed on her as punishment. And
without doubt notorious witches, especi¬
ally such as use witches’ medicines and
cure the bewitched by superstitious
means, should be kept in this way,
both that they may help the bewitched,
and that they may betray other witches.
But such a betrayal by them must not
be considered of itself sufficient ground
for a conviction, since the devil is a
liar, unless it is also substantiated by
the evidence of the fact, and by
witnesses.

Others think that, after she has been
consigned to prison in this way, the
promise to spare her life should be
kept for a time, but that after a certain
period she should be burned.

A third opinion is that the Judge
may safely promise the accused her
life, but in such a way that he should
afterwards disclaim the duty of passing
sentence on her, deputing another
Judge in his place.

There seems to be some advantage
in pursuing the first of these courses
on account of the benefit which may
accrue from it to those who are be¬
witched; yet it is not lawful to use
witchcraft to cure witchcraft, although
(as was shown in the First and Intro¬
ductory Question to this Third Part)
the general opinion is that it is lawful
to use vain and superstitious means to
remove a spell. But use and experience
and the variety of such cases will be
of more value to Judges than any art
or text-book ; therefore this is a matter
which should be left to the Judges.
But it has certainly been very often
found by experience that many would
confess the truth if they were not held
back by the fear of death.

But if neither threats nor such
promises will induce her to confess
the truth, then the officers must pro¬
ceed with the sentence, and she must
be examined, not in any new or
exquisite manner, but in the usual

way, lightly or heavily according as the
nature of her crimes demands. And
while she is being questioned about
each several point, let her be often
and frequently exposed to torture,
beginning with the more gentle of
them ; for the Judge should not be too
hasty to proceed to the graver kind.
And while this is being done, let the
Notary write all down, how she is
tortured and what questions are asked
and how she answers.

And note that, if she confesses under
torture, she should then be taken to
another place and questioned anew,
so that she does not confess only under
the stress of torture.

The next step of the Judge should
be that, if after being fittingly tortured
she refuses to confess the truth, he
should have other engines of torture
brought before her, and tell her that
she will have to endure these if she
does not confess. If then she is not
induced by terror to confess, the tor¬
ture must be continued on the second
or third day, but not repeated at that
present time unless there should be
some fresh indication of its probable
success.

Let the sentence be pronounced in
her presence in the following manner:
We the aforesaid Judge, as above,
assign to you N. such a day for the
continuation of your questioning, that
the truth may be heard from your own
mouth. And the Notary shall write all
down in the process.

And during the interval before that
assigned time the Judge himself or
other honest men shall do all in their
power to persuade her to confess the
truth in the manner we have said,
giving her, if it seems expedient to
them, a promise that her life will be
spared.

The Judge should also take care that
during that interval there should always
be guards with her, so that she is never
left alone, for fear lest the devil will
cause her to kill herself. But the devil
himself knows better than anyone can
set down in writing whether he will
desert her of his own will, or be com¬
pelled to do so by God.

☆

Part III. Question 15. MALEFICARUM

227

QUESTION XV

Of the Continuing of the Torture, and of
the Devices and Signs by which the
Judge can Recognize a Witch; and how
he ought to Protect himself from their
Spells. Also how they are to be Shaved
in those Parts where they use to Conceal
their Devil's Masks and Tokens to¬
gether with the due Setting Forth of
Various Means of Overcoming their
Obstinacy in Keeping Silence and Re¬
fusal to Confess. And it is the Tenth
Action.

THE Judge should act as follows
in the continuation of the torture.
First he should bear in mind that, just
as the same medicine is not applicable
to all the members, but there are
various and distinct salves for each
several member, so not all heretics
or those accused of heresy are to be
subjected to the same method of ques¬
tioning, examination and torture as to
the charges laid against them ; but
various and different means are to be
employed according to their various
natures and persons. Now a surgeon
cuts off rotten limbs ; and mangy sheep
are isolated from the healthy; but a
prudent Judge will not consider it safe
to bind himself down to one invariable
rule in his method of dealing with a
prisoner who is endowed with a witch’s
power of taciturnity, and whose silence
he is unable to overcome. For if the
sons of darkness were to become accus¬
tomed to one general rule they would
provide means of evading it as a well-
known snare set for their destruction.

Therefore a prudent and zealous
Judge should seize his opportunity and
choose his method of conducting his
examination according to the answers
or depositions of the witnesses, or as
his own previous experience or native
wit indicates to him, using the following
precautions.

If he wishes to find out whether she
is endowed with a witch’s power of
preserving silence, let him take note
whether she is able to shed tears when
standing in his presence, or when
being tortured. For we are taught both
by the words of worthy men of old and
by our own experience that this is a
most certain sign, and it has been
found that even if she be urged and
exhorted by solemn conjurations to
shed tears, if she be a witch she will

not be able to weep : although she will
assume a tearful aspect and smear her
cheeks and eyes with spittle to make it
appear that she is weeping ; wherefore
she must be closely watched by the
attendants.

In passing sentence the Judge or
priest may use some such method as
the following in conjuring her to true
tears if she be innocent, or in restrain¬
ing false tears. Let him place his hand
on the head of the accused and say: I
conjure you by the bitter tears shed on
the Cross by our Saviour the Lord
JESUS Christ for the salvation of the
world, and by the burning tears poured
in the evening hour over His wounds
by the most glorious Virgin MARY,
His Mother, and by all the tears*
which have been shed here in this
world by the Saints and Elect of God,
from whose eyes He has now wiped
away all tears, that if you be innocent
you do now shed tears, but if you be
guilty that you shall by no means do
so. In the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and' of the Holy Ghost,
Amen.

And it is found by experience that
the more they are conjured the less
are they able to weep, however hard
they may try to do so, or smear their
cheeks with spittle. Nevertheless it is
possible that afterwards, in the absence
of the Judge and not at the time or in
the place of torture, they may be able
to weep in the presence of their gaolers.

And as for the reason for a witch’s'
inability to weep, it can be said that
the grace of tears is one of the chief
gifts allowed to the penitent; for S.
Bernard tells us that the tears of the
humble can penetrate to heaven and
conquer the unconquerable. Therefore
there can be no doubt that they are

* “Tears.” The beautiful devotion to the
Sacred Tears of Our Lord is well known. The
Premonstratensians have a Mass , “De Lacryma
Christi ,” proper to the Order.

Our Lady of Tears, Santa Maria delle
Lagrime, is the Patroness of Spoleto. A picture
of Our Lady , painted upon the wall of the house
belonging to Diotallevio d' Antonio, which stood
on the road from Spoleto to Trevi, was seen to
shed tears in great abundance. Many graces and
favours were obtained before the miraculous
picture. A small chapel was erected on the spot
in August , 1485, and Mass was daily offered
therein. On 2j March, 148’/, the large basilica
was begun, which on its completion, 8 March,
i48g, was entrusted to the Olivetans.

228

MALLEUS Part III. Question 15.

displeasing to the devil, and that he
uses all his endeavour to restrain them,
to prevent a witch from finally attaining
to penitence.

But it may be objected that it might
suit with the devil’s cunning, with
God’s permission, to allow even a witch
to weep ; since tearful grieving, weaving
and deceiving are said to be proper to
women. We may answer that in this
case, since the judgements of God are a
mystery, if there is no other way of
convicting the accused, by legitimate
witnesses or the evidence of the fact,
and if she is not under a strong or
grave suspicion, she is to be discharged ;
but because she rests under a slight
suspicion by reason of her reputation
to which the witnesses have testified,
she must be required to abjure the
heresy of witchcraft, as we shall show
when we deal with the second method
of pronouncing sentence.

A second precaution is to be observed,
not only at this point but during the
whole process, by the Judge and all his
assessors; namely, that they must not
allow themselves to be touched physic¬
ally by the witch, especially in any
contact of their bare arms or hands;
but they must always carry about
them some salt consecrated on Palm
Sunday and some Blessed Herbs. For
these can be enclosed together in
Blessed Wax* and worn round the
neck, as we showed in the Second Part
when we discussed the remedies against
illnesses and diseases caused by witch¬
craft ; and that these have a wonderful
protective virtue is known not only
from the testimony of witches, but from
the use and practice of the Church,
which exorcizes and blesses such objects
for this very purpose, as is shown in
the ceremony of exorcism when it is
said, For the banishing of all the power
of the devil, etc.

But let it not be thought that physical
contact of the joints or limbs is the only
thing to be guarded against ; for some¬
times, with God’s permission, they are
able with the help of the devil to be¬
witch the Judge by the mere sound of
the words which they utter, especially

* “ Blessed Wax.” The “ Agnus Dei,” which
is a disc of wax, stamped with the figure of a
Lamb, and on certain stated days blessed by the
Holy Father. These Agnus Deis may either be
worn suspended round the neck, or preserved as
objects of devotion. They are to be regarded as
Sacramentals.

at the time when they are exposed to
torture.

And we know from experience that
some witches, when detained in prison,
have importunately begged their gaolers
to grant them this one thing, that they
should be allowed to look at the Judge
before he looks at them; and by so
getting the first sight of the Judge they
have been able so to alter the minds
of the Judge or his assessors that they
have lost all their anger against them
and have not presumed to molest them
in any way, but have allowed them to
go free. He who knows and has experi¬
enced it gives this true testimony ; and
would that they were not able to effect
such things !

Let judges not despise such pre¬
cautions and protections, for by hold¬
ing them in little account after such
warning they run the risk of eternal
damnation. For our Saviour said : If
I had not come, and spoken to them,
they would not have sin ; but now they
have no excuse for their sin.f There¬
fore let the judges protect themselves
in the above manner, according to the
provisions of the Church.

And if it can conveniently be done,
the witch should be led backward into
the presence of the Judge and his asses¬
sors. And not only at the present point,
but in all that has preceded or shall
follow it, let him cross himself and
approach her manfully, and with God’s
help the power of that old Serpent will
be broken. And no one need think that
it is superstitious to lead her in back¬
wards; for, as we have often said, the
Canonists allow even more than this
to be done for the protection against
witchcraft, and always say that it is
lawful to oppose vanity with vanity.

The third precaution to be observed
in this tenth action is that the hair
should be shaved from every part of
her body. The reason for this is the
same as that for stripping her of her
clothes, which we have already men¬
tioned; for in order to preserve their
power of silence they are in the habit
of hiding some superstitious object in
their clothes or in their hair, or even
in the most secret parts of their bodies
which must not be named.

But it may be objected that the
devil might, without the use of such
charms, so harden the heart of a witch

t “Sin.” “S. John ” xv, 22.

Part III. Question 15. MALEFICARUM

229

that she is unable to confess her crimes ;
just as it is often found in the case of
other criminals, no matter how great
the tortures to which they are exposed,
or how much they are convicted by
the evidence of the facts and of wit¬
nesses. We answer that it is true that
the devil can effect such taciturnity
without the use of such charms ; but he
prefers to use them for the perdition
of souls and the greater offence to the
Divine Majesty of God.

This can be made clear from the
example of a certain witch in the town
of Hagenau, whom we have mentioned
in the Second Part of this work. She
used to obtain this gift of silence* in
the following manner : she killed a
newly-born first-born male child who
had not been baptized, and having
roasted it in an oven together with
other matters which it is not expedient
to mention, ground it to powder and
ashes; and if any witch or criminal
carried about him some of this sub¬
stance he would in no way be able to
confess his crimes.

Here it is clear that a hundred
thousand children so employed could
not of their own virtue endow a person
with such a power of keeping silence ;
but any intelligent person can under¬
stand that such means are used by the
devil for the perdition of souls and to
offend the Divine Majesty.

Again, it may be objected that very
often criminals who are not witches
exhibit the same power of keeping
silence. In answer to this it must be
said that this power of taciturnity can
proceed from three causes. First, from
a natural hardness of heart ; for some
are soft-hearted, or even feeble-minded,

* “Gift of Silence .” De Lancre, “ Tableau
de Vinconstance des mauvais anges et demons ,”
Paris , 1612, has : “ Pour ne confesser iamais le
secret de Vescole, on f aid au sabbat 1 me paste de
millet noir, auec de la poudre du foyer de quelque
enfant non baptise qu’on faid secher, puis meslant
cette poudre avec ladicte paste , elle a celte vertu
de taciturnite; si bien que qui en mange ne con¬
fesse iamais .” Five Forfar witches , of which one
was Helen Guthrie, in 1661 dug up the body of
an unbaptized infant, which was buried in the
churchyard near the south-east door of the church
“ and took sever all peices thereof, as the feet,
hands, paid of the head, and a paid of the
buttocks, and they made a py thereof, that they
might eat of it, that by this meanes they might
never make a confession (as they thought) of their
witchcraft .”

so that at the slightest torture they
admit everything, even some things
which are not true ; whereas others are
so hard that however much they are
tortured the truth is not to be had
from them; and this is especially the
case with those who have been tortured
before, even if their arms are suddenly
stretched and twisted.

Secondly, it may proceed from some
instrument of witchcraft carried about
the person, as has been said, either in
the clothes or in the hairs of the body.
And thirdly, even if the prisoner has
no such object secreted about her
person, they are sometimes endowed
with this power by other witches, how¬
ever far they may be removed from
them. For a certain witch at Issbrug
used to boast that, if she had no more
than a thread from the garments of
any prisoner, she could so work that
however much that prisoner were
tortured, even to death, she would be
unable to confess anything. So the
answer to this objection is clear.

But what is to be said of a case that
happened in the Diocese of Ratisbon?
Certain heretics were convicted by
their own confession not only as im¬
penitent but as open advocates of that
perfidy; and when they were con¬
demned to death it happened that they
remained unharmed in the fire. At
length their sentence was altered to
death by drowning, but this was no
more effective. All were astonished,
and some even began to say that their
heresy must be true; and the Bishop,
in great anxiety for his flock, ordered
a three days’ fast. When this had been
devoutly fulfilled, it came to the know¬
ledge of someone that those heretics
had a magic charm sewed between the
skin and the flesh under one arm ; and
when this was found and removed,
they were delivered to the flames and
immediately burned. Some say that a
certain necromancer learned this secret
during a consultation with a devil, and
betrayed it; but however it became
known, it is probable that the devil,
who is always scheming for the sub¬
version of the faith, was in some way
compelled by Divine power to reveal
the matter.

From this it may be seen what a
Judge ought to do when such a case
happens to him : namely, that he should
rely upon the protection of God, and
by the prayers and fasting of devout

230

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 16.

persons drive away this sort of devil’s
work from witches, in those cases where
they cannot be made to confess under
torture even after their clothes have
been changed and all their hair has
been shaved off and abraded.

Now in the parts of Germany such
shaving, especially of the secret parts,
is not generally considered delicate, and
therefore we Inquisitors do not use it;
but we cause the hair of their head to
be cut off, and placing a morsel of
Blessed Wax in a cup of Holy Water
and invoking the most Holy Trinity,
we give it them to drink three times on
a fasting stomach, and by the grace of
God we have by this means caused
many to break their silence. But in
other countries the Inquisitors order
the witch to be shaved all over her
body. And the Inquisitor of Como has
informed us that last year, that is, in
1485, he ordered forty-one witches to
be burned, after they had been shaved
all over. And this was in the district
and county of Burbia, commonly called
Wormserbad, in the territory of the
Archduke of Austria, towards Milan.

But it may be asked whether, in a
time of need, when all other means of
breaking a witch’s silence have failed,
it would be lawful to ask the advice
in this matter of sorceresses who are
able to cure those who are bewitched.
We answer that, whatever may have
been done in that matter at Ratisbon,
it is our earnest admonition in the
Lord that no one, no matter how great
may be the need, should consult with
sorceresses on behalf of the State ; and
this because of the great offence which
is thereby caused to the Divine Majesty,
when there are so many other means
open to us which we may use either in
their own proper form or in some
equivalent form, so that the truth will
be had from their own mouths and they
can be consigned to the flames ; or fail¬
ing this, God will in the meantime
provide some other death for the
witch.

For there remain to us the following
remedies against this power of silence.
First, let a man do all that lies in his
own power by the exercise of his own
qualities, persisting often with the
methods we have already mentioned,
and especially on certain days, as will
be shown in the following Question.
See II. Corinthians ix: That ye may
abound in all good works.

Secondly, if this should fail, let him
consult with other persons; for per¬
haps they may think of some means
which has not occurred to him, since
there are various methods of counter¬
acting witchcraft.

Thirdly, if these two fail, let him
have recourse to devout persons, as it
is said in Ecclesiasticus xxxvii : Be con¬
tinually with a godly man, whom thou
knowest to keep the commandments of
the Lord. Also let him invoke the Patron
Saints of the country. But if all these
fail, let the Judge and all the people at
once put their trust in God with
prayers and fasting, that the witch¬
craft may be removed by reason of
their piety. For so Josaphat prayed in
II. Paralipomenon xx: When we know
not what we should do, we have this
one refuge, that we should turn our
eyes to Thee. And without doubt God
will not fail us in our need.

To this effect also S. Augustine
speaks (26, q. 7, non obseruabitis ) : Who¬
soever observes any divinations or
auguries, or attends to or consents to
such as observe . them, or gives credit
to such by following after their works,
or goes into their houses, or introduces
them into his own house, or asks ques¬
tions of them, let him know that he
has perverted the Christian faith and
his baptism and is a pagan and apos¬
tate and enemy of God, and runs grave
danger of the eternal wrath of God,
unless he is corrected by ecclesiastical
penances and is reconciled with God.
Therefore let the Judge not fail always
to use the lawful remedies, as we have
said, together with these following final
precautions.

☆

QUESTION XVI

Of the fit Time and of the Method of the
Second Examination. And it is the
Eleventh Action , concerning the Final
Precautions to be Observed by the Judge.

rr,HERE are one or two points to be
X noted with regard to what we have
just written. First, that witches should
be questioned on the more Holy Days
and during the solemnization of the
Mass, and that the people should be
exhorted to pray for Divine help, not in
any specific manner, but that they
should invoke the prayers of the Saints
against all the plagues of the devil.

Part III. Question 16. MALEFICARUM

Secondly, as we have said before, the
Judge should wear round his neck Con¬
secrated Salt and other matters, with
the Seven Words which Christ uttered
on the Cross written in a schedule, and
all bound together. And he should, if
he conveniently can, wear these made
into the length of Christ’s stature against
his naked body, and bind other Holy
things about him. For it is shown by
experience that witches are greatly
troubled by these things, and can
hardly refrain from confessing the truth.
The Relics of the Saints, too, are of
especial virtue.

Having taken these precautions, and
after giving her Holy Water to drink,
let him again begin to question her, all
the time exhorting her as before. And
while she is raised from the ground, if
she is being tortured in this way, let the
Judge read or cause to be read to her
the depositions of the witnesses with
their names, saying: “See! You are
convicted by the witnesses.” Also, if the
witnesses are willing to confront her
face to face, the Judge shall ask her if
she will confess if the witnesses are
brought before her. And if she consents,
let the witnesses be brought in and
stand before her, so that she may be
constrained or shamed into confessing
some of her crimes.

Finally, if he sees that she will not
admit her crimes, he shall ask her
whether, to prove her innocence, she is
ready to undergo the ordeal by red-hot
iron. And they all desire this, knowing
that the devil will prevent them from
being hurt; therefore a true witch is
exposed in this manner. The Judge
shall ask her how she can be so rash as
to run so great a risk, and all shall be
written down ; but it will be shown later
that they are never to be allowed to
undergo this ordeal by red-hot iron.

Let the Judge also note that when
witches are questioned on a Friday,
while the people are gathered together
at Holy Mass to await our Saviour, they
very often confess.

But we must proceed to the extreme
case, when after every expedient has
been tried the witch still maintains
silence. The Judge shall then loose her
and, using the precautions which follow,
shall take her from the place of punish¬
ment to another place under a strong
guard ; but let him take particular care
not to release her on any sort of secur¬
ity; for when that is done, they never

231

confess the truth, but always become
worse.

But in the first place let him cause her
to be well treated in the matter of food
and drink, and meanwhile let honest
persons who are under no suspicion
enter to her and talk often with her on
indifferent subjects, and finally advise
her in confidence to confess the truth,
promising that the Judge will be merci¬
ful to her and that they will intercede
for her. And finally let the Judge come
in and promise that he will be merciful,
with the mental reservation that he
means he will be merciful to himself or
the State ; for whatever is done for the
safety of the State is merciful.

But if he promises her her life, as we
showed in Question XIV that he can
do in three ways, let it all be written
down by the Notary in what words and
with what intention mercy was pro¬
mised. And if the accused begs for
mercy in this way, and discovers her
crime, let her be promised in a vague
and general way that she will receive
even more than she has petitioned for,
so that she may speak with the greater
confidence.

As a second precaution in this case,
when she refuses altogether to reveal
the truth, the Judge should, as we have
said before, examine her friends and
associates without her knowledge; and
if these have deposed anything which
might lead to her conviction, this must
be diligently investigated. Also, if any
instruments or unguents or boxes have
been found in her house, they should
be shown to her, and she should be
asked for what purpose they have been
used.

A third precaution can be taken when
she still persists in her obstinacy after
her associates have been examined and
borne witness against her, and not for
her. If she has no friends, let some
other trustworthy man who is known
to be congenial to the accused and to
some extent a patron of hers, enter to
the witch one evening and engage her
in a protracted conversation. And then,
if he is not an accomplice, let him pre¬
tend that it is too late for him to return,
and stay in the prison with her, and
continue talking during the night. And
if he is an accomplice, let them eat and
drink together, and talk to each other
about the things they have done. And
then let it be arranged that spies should
stand outside in a convenient place, and

232

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 16.

listen to them and take note of their
words, and if necessary let them have a
scribe with them.

As a fourth precaution, if she then
begins to tell the truth, let the Judge on
no account postpone hearing her con¬
fession, even in the middle of the night,
but proceed with it to the best of his
ability. And if it is in the day-time, let
him not care if he delays his luncheon
or dinner, but persist until she has told
the truth, at least in the main. For it is
generally found that, after postpone¬
ments and interruptions, they return*
to their vomit and will not reveal the
truth which they began to confess,
having thought worse of it.

And let the Judge take note that,
after she has confessed the injuries done
to men and animals, he shall ask her
for how many years she has had an
Incubus devil, and how long it is since
she abjured the faith. For they never
confess to these matters unless they have
first confessed their other deeds ; there¬
fore they must be asked concerning
these last of all.

As a fifth precaution, when all the
above have failed, let her, if possible,
be led to some castle ; and after she has
been kept there under custody for some
days, let the castellan pretend that he
is going on a long journey. And then
let some of his household, or even some
honest women, visit her and promise
that they will set her entirely at liberty
if she will teach them how to conduct
certain practices. And let the Judge
take note that by this means they have
very often confessed and been con¬
victed.

Quite lately a witch was detained in
the Castle of Konigsheim near the town
of Schlettstadt in the Diocese of Stras-
burg, and could not be induced by any
tortures or questions to confess her
crimes. But at last the castellan used
the method we have just described.
Although he was himself present in the
castle, the witch thought he was away,
and three of his household came in to
her and promised they would set her
free if she would teach them how to do

* “They Return” “ Proverbs ” xxvi, n: “As
a dog that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool
that repeateth his folly.” II. S. Peter , ii, 22:
“For, that of the true proverb has happened to
them: the dog is returned to his vomit: and, The
sOw that was washed, to her wallowing in the
mire.”

certain things. At first she refused, say¬
ing that they were trying to entrap her ;
but at last she asked what it was that
they wanted to know. And one asked
how to raise a hailstorm, and another
asked about carnal matters. When at
length she agreed to show him how to
raise a hailstorm, and a bowl of water
had been brought in, the witch told him
to stir the water a little with his finger,
and herself uttered certain words ; and
suddenly the place which he had
named, a wood near the castle, was
visited by such a tempest and storm of
hail as had not been seen for many
years.

It yet remains to show how the Judge
is to proceed in pronouncing sentence
in a case where all these means have
failed, or what is further to be done
even when she has confessed her crimes,
that the whole process may be brought
to an end; and we shall complete this
Last Part of this work with a considera¬
tion of these matters.

☆

THE THIRD HEAD

Which is the Last Part of the Work: How
the Process is to be Concluded by the
Pronouncement of a Definite and Just
Sentence.

HAVING by the grace of God
examined the proper means of
arriving at a knowledge of the heresy
of witchcraft, and having shown how
the process on behalf of the faith should
be initiated and proceeded with, it
remains to discuss how that process is
to be brought to a fitting termination
with an appropriate sentence.

Here it is to be noted that this heresy,
as was shown in the beginning of this
Last Part, is not to be confused with
other simple heresies, since it is obvious
that it is not a pure and single crime,
but partly ecclesiastical and partly civil.
Therefore in dealing with the methods
of passing sentence, we must first con¬
sider a certain kind of sentence to which
witches are in the habit of appealing, in
which the secular judge can act on his
own account independently of the Ordi¬
nary. Secondly, we shall consider those
in which he cannot act without the
Ordinary. And so thirdly it will be
shown how the Ordinaries can dis¬
charge themselves of their duties.

Part III. Question 17. MALEFICARUM

233

QUESTION XVII

Of Common Purgation , and especially of the
Trial by Red-hot Iron , to which Witches
Appeal.

THE question is now asked whether
the secular judge may allow a witch
to be submitted to a common purgation
(concerning which see the Canon 2,
q. 4, consuluisti , and cap. monomachiam) ,
in the manner in which a civil defendant
is allowed the trial by ordeal, as, for
example, that by red-hot iron. And it
may seem that he may do so.

For trial by combat is allowable in a
criminal case for the protection of life,
and in a civil case for the protection of
property; then wherefore not the trial
by red-hot iron or boiling water? S.
Thomas allows that the former is per¬
missible in some cases, when he says in
the last article of the Second of the Second ,
q. 95, that a duel is lawful when it
appears to be consonant with common-
sense. Therefore the trial by red-hot
iron should also be lawful in some cases.

Also it has been used by many
Princes of saintly life who have availed
themselves of the advice and counsel of
good men ; as, for example, the Sainted
Emperor Henry* in the case of the
virgin Cunegond whom he had married,
who was suspected of adultery.

Again, a judge, who is responsible

* “Henry.” S. Henry II, German King and
Roman Emperor, was born 972, and died in his
palace of Grona, at Gottingen, 13 July, 1024.
He was canonized in 1146 by Eugenius III; and
his wife Cunegond on 3 March, 1200, by
Innocent III. Later writers are inclined to believe
that the ascetic theme of his maiden marriage has
no foundation in fact. Saint Henry on assuming
the Imperial dignity took to wife Cunegond,
daughter of Siegfried , Count of Luxemburg. It
has been beautifully said that she shares her
husband's celestial, as she shared his earthly
crown. When scandalous reports were circulated
concerning her honour, although her husband
could not for a moment suspect her purity, she
insisted upon an appeal to the trial by ordeal, and
having walked unhurt over the red-hot plough¬
shares, publicly testified her innocence. The story
is immensely popular in German poetry and
German art. A print by Hans Burgkmair shows
her stepping over the shares, one of which she
holds in her hand. Upon her shrine in the
Cathedral at Bamburg a bas-relief by Hans
Thielmann of Wargburg depicts the same
incident. Having already retired to a Bene¬
dictine cloister, upon the death of her husband S.
Cunegond took the veil.

for the safety of the community, may
lawfully allow a smaller evil that a
greater may be avoided; as he allows
the existence of harlots in towns in
order to avoid a general confusion of
lust. For S. Augustine On Free Will f
says: Take away the harlots, and you
will create a general chaos and con¬
fusion of lust. So, when a person has
been loaded with insults and injuries
by any community, he can clear him¬
self of any criminal or civil charge by
means of a trial by ordeal.

Also, since less hurt is caused to the
hands by the red-hot iron than is the
loss of life in a duel, if a duel is per¬
mitted where such things are custom¬
ary, much more should the trial by
red-hot iron be allowed.

But the contrary view is argued where
it says (2, q. 5, monomachiam ) that they
who practise such and similar things
appear to be tempting God. And here
the Doctors affirm it must be noted
that, according to S. Paul (I. Thessa-
lonians v), we must abstain, not only
from evil, but from all appearance of
evil. Therefore the Canon says in that
chapter, not that they who use such
practices tempt God, but that they
appear to tempt Him, so that it may be
understood that, even if a man engage
in such a trial with none but good
intentions, yet since it has the appear¬
ance of evil, it is to be avoided.

I answer that such tests or trials are
unlawful for two reasons. First, because
their purpose is to judge of hidden
matters of which it belongs only to God
to judge. Secondly, because there is no
Divine authority for such trials, nor are
they anywhere sanctioned in the writ¬
ings of the Holy Fathers. And it says
in the chapter consuluisti , 2, q. 5 : That
which is not sanctioned in the writings
of the Sainted Fathers is to be presumed
superstitious. And Pope Stephen | in
the same chapter says : It is left to your
judgement to try prisoners who are con¬
victed by their own confession or the

f “On Free Will.” S. Augustine's “ De
Gratia et libero Arbitrio” was written 426-27.
It will be found in Migne, “Patres Latini,”
xliv, pp. 881-912.

J “Pope Stephen.” Stephen ( IX ) X, elected
3 August, 1037; died at Florence, 29 March,
1038. He was buried in the church of S.
Reparata. He was distinguished for his learning
and even during the few short months of his
Pontificate he showed himself a zealous re¬
former.

234

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 17.

proofs of the evidence; but leave that
which is hidden and unknown to Him
Who alone knows the hearts of men.

There is, nevertheless, a difference
between a duel and the trial by red-hot
iron or boiling water. For a duel ap¬
pears to be more humanly reasonable,
the combatants being of similar strength
and skill, than a trial by red-hot iron.
For although the purpose of both is to
search out something hidden by means
of a human act ; yet in the case of trial
by red-hot iron a miraculous effect is
looked for, whereas this is not so in the
case of a duel, in which all that can
happen is the death of either, or both,
of the combatants. Therefore the trial
by red-hot iron is altogether unlawful ;
though a duel is not illegal to the same
extent. So much has been incidentally
admitted in respect of duels, on account
of Princes and secular Judges.

It is to be noted that, because of
those words of S. Thomas which make
the above distinction, Nicolas of Lyra,
in his Commentary on the duel or
combat between David and Goliath,
I. Re gum xvii, tries to prove that in some
cases a duel is lawful. But Paul of
Burgos proves that not this, but rather
the opposite was the meaning of S.
Thomas; and all Princes and secular
Judges ought to pay particular atten¬
tion to his proof.

His first point is that a duel, like the
other trial by ordeal, has as its purpose
the judgement of something hidden,
which ought to be left to the judgement
of God, as we have said. And it cannot
be said that this combat of David is an
authority for duelling; for it was re¬
vealed to him by the Lord through
some inner instinct that he must engage
in that combat and avenge upon the
Philistine the injuries done against God,
as is proved by David’s words : I come
against thee in the name of the living
God. So he was not properly speaking
a duellist, but he was an executor of
Divine justice.

His second point is that Judges must
especially note that in a duel power, or
at least licence, is given to each of the
parties to kill the other. But since one
of them is innocent, that power or
licence is given for the killing of an
innocent man ; and this is unlawful, as
being contrary to the dictates of natural
law and to the teaching of God. There¬
fore a duel is altogether unlawful, not
only on the part of the appellant and

the respondent, but also on the part of
the Judge and his advisers, who are all
equally to be considered homicides or
parties to manslaughter.

Thirdly, he points out that a duel is
a single combat between two men, the
purpose of which is that the justice of
the case should be made clear by the
victory of one party, as if by Divine
judgement, notwithstanding the fact
that one of the parties is fighting in an
unjust cause; and in this way God is
tempted. Therefore it is unlawful on
the part both of the appellant and the
respondent. But considering the fact
that the judges have other means of
arriving at an equitable and just ter¬
mination of the dispute, when they do
not use such means, but advise or even
permit a duel when they could forbid
it, they are consenting to the death of
an innocent person.

But since it is unlikely that Nicolas
the Commentator was unaware or igno¬
rant of the above reasoning, it is con¬
cluded that, when he says that in some
cases a duel can be fought without
mortal sin, he is speaking on the part
of the Judges or advisers, namely, in a
case when such a trial is undertaken,
not on their responsibility or advice, but
purely on that of the appellant and
respondent themselves.

But since it is not our purpose to
linger over and debate such considera¬
tions, but to return to the question of
witches, it is clear that, if this sort of
trial is forbidden in the case of other
criminal causes, such as theft or rob¬
bery, still more must it be forbidden in
the case of witches, who, it is agreed,
obtain all their power from the devil,
whether it be for causing or curing an
injury, for removing or for preventing
an effect of witchcraft.

And it is not wonderful that witches
are able to undergo this trial by ordeal
unscathed with the help of devils; for
we learn from naturalists that if the
hands be anointed with the juice of a
certain herb they are protected from
burning. Now the devil has an exact
knowledge of the virtues of such herbs :
therefore, although he can cause the
hand of the accused to be protected
from the red-hot iron by invisibly inter¬
posing some other substance, yet he can
procure the same effect by the use of
natural objects. Hence even less than
other criminals ought witches to be
allowed this trial by ordeal, because of

Part III. Question 18. MALEFICARUM

235

their intimate familiarity with the devil ;
and from the very fact of their appealing
to this trial they are to be held as sus¬
pected witches.

An incident illustrative of our argu¬
ment occurred hardly three years ago
in the Diocese of Constance. For in the
territory of the Counts of Fiirstenberg
and the Black Forest there was a notori¬
ous witch who had been the subject of
much public complaint. At last, as the
result of a general demand, she was
seized by the Count and accused of
various evil works of witchcraft. When
she was being tortured and questioned,
wishing to escape from their hands, she
appealed to the trial by red-hot iron;
and the Count, being young and inex¬
perienced, allowed it. And she then
carried the red-hot iron not only for
the stipulated three paces, but for six,
and offered to carry it even farther.
Then, although they ought to have
taken this as a manifest proof that she
was a witch (since none of the Saints
dared to tempt the help of God in this
manner), she was released from her
chains and lives to the present time,
not without grave scandal to the Faith
in those parts.

☆

QUESTION XVIII

Of the Manner of Pronouncing a Sentence
which is Final and Definitive.

IN proceeding to treat of those cases
in which the secular Judge by him¬
self can arrive at a judgement and pro¬
nounce sentence without the co-opera¬
tion of the Diocesan and Ordinaries,
we necessarily presuppose that not only
is it consistent with the protection of
the faith and of justice that we Inquisi¬
tors should be relieved of the duty of
passing sentence in these cases, but in
the same sincerity of spirit we endeav¬
our to relieve the Diocesans also from
that duty ; not in any desire to detract
from their authority and jurisdiction,
for if they should elect to exercise their
authority in such matters, it would
follow that we Inquisitors must also
concur in it.

It must be remembered, also, that
this crime of witches is not purely eccle¬
siastic; therefore the temporal poten¬
tates and Lords are not debarred from
trying and judging it. At the same time

we shall show that in some cases they
must not arrive at a definitive judge¬
ment without the authorisation of the
Diocesans.

But first we must consider the sen¬
tence itself: secondly, the nature of its
pronouncement; and thirdly, in how
many ways it is to be pronounced.

With regard to the first of these ques¬
tions, S. Augustine says that we must
not pronounce sentence against any
person unless he has been proved guilty,
or has confessed. Now there are three
kinds of sentence — interlocutory, defini¬
tive, and preceptive. These are ex¬
plained as follows by S. Raymund.
An interlocutory sentence is one which
is given not on the main issue of the
case but on some other side issues which
emerge during the hearing of a case;
such as a decision whether or not a
witness is to be disallowed, or whether
some digression is to be admitted, and
such matters as that. Or it may perhaps
be called interlocutory because it is de¬
livered simply by word of mouth with¬
out the formality of putting it in writing.

A definitive sentence is one which
pronounces a final decision as to the
main issue of the case.

A preceptive sentence is one which is
pronounced by a lower authority on the
instruction of a higher. But we shall be
concerned with the first two of these,
and especially with the definitive sen¬
tence.

Now it is laid down by law that a
definitive sentence which has been
arrived at without a due observance of
the proper legal procedure in trying a
case is null and void in law; and the
legal conduct of a case consists in two
things. One concerns the basis of the
judgement; for there must be a due
provision for the hearing of arguments
both for the prosecution and the de¬
fence, and a sentence arrived at without
such a hearing cannot stand. The other
is not concerned with the basis of the
judgement, but provides that the sen¬
tence must not be conditional ; for ex¬
ample, a claim for possession should not
be decided conditionally upon some
subsequent claim of property; but
where there is no question of such an
objection the sentence shall stand.

But in the case we are considering,
which is a process on behalf of the faith
against a charge of heresy (though the
charge is a mixed one), the procedure
is straightforward and summary. That

236

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 19.

is to say, the Judge need not require a
writ, or demand that the case should
be contested. But he must allow oppor¬
tunity for the necessary proofs, and issue
his citation, and exact the protestation
of the oath concerning calumny, etc.
Therefore there has lately been a new
law made as to the method of procedure
in such cases.

To proceed to our second considera¬
tion, namely, of the nature of the pro¬
nouncement of the sentence, it must be
noted that it should be pronounced by
the Judge and no one else, otherwise it
is not valid. Also the Judge must be
sitting in a public and honourable
place ; and he must pronounce it in the
day-time and not in the darkness ; and
there are other conditions to be ob¬
served ; for example, the sentence must
not be promulgated upon a Holy Day,
nor yet merely delivered in writing.

Yet it is to be noted that since, as we
have said, this case is conducted in a
simple and summary manner, it may
lawfully be conducted on Holy Days for
the sake of the convenience of the pub¬
lic, and the Judge may cut short any
digressions. Therefore the Judge may, if
he pleases, act in such a manner, and
even pass sentence without putting it in
writing. For we are authoritatively in¬
formed that there are cases in which a
sentence is valid without its being put
into writing, as, for example, when such
is the custom of any particular locality
or Court. Also there is excellent pre¬
cedent for a Bishop, when he is the
Judge, allowing the sentence to be
pronounced by some other person.

Note again that, although in criminal
actions the execution of the sentence is
not to be delayed, this rule does not
hold good in four cases, with two of
which we are here concerned. First,
when the prisoner is a pregnant woman ;
and then the sentence shall be delayed
until she has given birth. Secondly,
when the prisoner has confessed her
crime, but has afterwards denied it
again : that is to say, when the con¬
fession has not been repeated in the
way which we explained in the Four¬
teenth Question.

Now before we proceed to our third
consideration, namely, the different
methods of passing sentence which we
shall proceed to treat of up to the end
of this work, we must first make some
remarks about the various ways in
which a prisoner is rendered suspect,

from which the various methods of
passing sentence follow as a conse¬
quence.

☆

QUESTION XIX

Of the Various Degrees of Overt Suspicion
which render the Accused liable to be
Sentenced.

BOTH the old and the new legisla¬
ture provide an answer to the
question as to in how many and what
ways a person can be held suspect of
heresy or any other crime, and whether
they can be judged and sentenced by
reason of such suspicions. For the
gloss on the chapter nos in quemquam ,
which we quoted in the last Question,
says that there are four means of
convicting a prisoner : either by the
depositions of witnesses in Court, or by
the evidence of the facts, or by reason
of previous convictions against the
prisoner, or because of a grave suspicion.

And the Canonists note that sus¬
picion is of three kinds. The first, of
which the Canon says, “ You shall
not judge anyone because he is suspect
in your own opinion.” The second is
Probable; and this, but not the first,
leads to a purgation. The third is
Grave, and leads to a conviction ; and
S. Jerome understands this kind of
suspicion when he says that a wife may
be divorced either for fornication or for
a reasonably suspected fornication.

It must further be noted that the
second, or highly probable and cir¬
cumstantial, suspicion is admitted as a
kind of half-proof; that is to say, it
helps to substantiate other proofs.
Therefore it can also lead to a judge¬
ment, and not only to a purgation.
And as for the grave suspicion, which
suffices for a conviction, note that it is
of two kinds. One is of the law and by
the law, as when the law fixes and
determines some point against which
no proof can be admitted. For example,
if a' man has given a woman a promise
of matrimony, and copulation has
ensued, then matrimony is presumed,
and no proof to the contrary is admitted.
The second is of the law but not by the
law, as where the law presumes but
does not determine a fact. For ex¬
ample, if a man has lived for a long
time with a woman, she is presumed to

Part III. Question 19. MALEFICARUM

237

have had connexion with him ; but
against this proofs are admitted.

Applying this to our discussion of the
heresy of witches and to the modern
laws, we say that in law there are three
degrees of suspicion in the matter of
heresy : the first slight, the second great,
and the third very great.

The first is in law called a light sus¬
picion. Of this it is said in the chapter
Accusatus, de Haeret, lib. 6 : If the accused
has incurred only a light and small
suspicion, and if she should again fall
under that suspicion, although she is to
be severely punished for this, she ought
not to suffer the punishment of those
who have relapsed into heresy. And
this suspicion is called small or light,
both because it can be removed by a
small and light defence, and because it
arises from small and light conjectures.
Therefore it is called small, because of
the small proofs of it; and light, because
of the light conjectures.

As an example of simple heresy, if
people are found to be meeting together
secretly for the purpose of worship, or
differing in their manner of life and be¬
haviour from the usual habits of the
faithful; or if they meet together in
sheds and barns, or at the more Holy
Seasons in the remoter fields or woods,
by day or by night, or are in any way
found to separate themselves and not to
attend Mass at the usual times or in the
usual manner, or form secret friendships
with suspected witches : such people
incur at least a light suspicion of
heresy, because it is proved that heretics
often act in this manner. And of this
light suspicion the Canon says: They
who are by a slight argument discovered
to have deviated from the teaching and
path of the Catholic religion are not to
be classed as heretics, nor is a sentence
to be pronounced against them.

Henry of Segusio agrees with this in his
Summa; de Praesumptione, where he says :
It is to be noted that although a heretic
be convicted by a slight argument of
that matter of which he is suspected, he
is not on that account to be considered
a heretic ; and he proves it by the above
reasoning.

The second or grave suspicion is in
law called grave or vehement, and of
this the above Canon {Accusatus) again
says : One who is accused or suspected
of heresy, against whom a grave or
vehement suspicion of this crime has
arisen, etc. And it goes on : And these

are not two kinds but the same kind
of suspicion. Giovanni d’Andrea also
says: Vehement is the same as strong,
as the Archdeacon says speaking of this
Canon. Also Bernardus Papiensis* and
Huguccioj" say that vehement is the
same as strong or great. S. Gregory
also, in the First Book of his Morals,
says: A vehement wind sprang up.
Therefore we say that anyone has a
vehement case when he has a strong
one. So much for this.

Therefore a great suspicion is called
vehement or strong ; and it is so called
because it is dispelled only by a vehe¬
ment and strong defence, and because
it arises from great, vehement, and
strong conjectures, arguments, and
evidence. As, to take an example of
simple heresy, when people are found
to shelter known heretics, and show
favour to them, or visit and associate
with them and give gifts to them,
receive them into their houses and
protect them, and such like : such
people are vehemently suspected of
heresy. And similarly in the heresy of
witches, they are brought under sus¬
picion when they share in the crimes of
witches.

And here are especially to be noted
those men or women who cherish some
inordinate love or excessive hatred,
even if they do not use to work any

* “ Papiensis .” Bernardus Papiensis, a
famous and prolific Italian canonist of the
thirteenth century, who died 18 September, 1213 .
He was born at Pavia, studied law and theology
at Bologna, was provost of the Cathedral of
Pavia until ngi. Bishop of Faenza until ng8,
and then Bishop of Pavia until his death. The
most celebrated of his many works is the
“ Breuiarium extrauagantium” {later called
“ Compilatio prima antiqua”), a collection of
canonical texts comprising ancient canons not
inserted in the “ Decretum ” of Gratian, as also
various later documents. The work was com¬
piled between 1187 and ngi, and was edited by
Friedberg, “ Quinque compilationes antiquae ,”
Leipzig , 1882.

f “ Huguccio .” Hugh of Pisa, a distinguished
Italian canonist, who died in 1210. He was born
at Pisa, but the date is unknown. He studied at
Bologna, where later he professed Canon Law.
In ngo he became Bishop of Ferrara. Among
his works are a ‘ Tiber deriuationum ” which
treats of etymology. He also wrote a 11 Summa”
on the “ Decretum” of Gratian, which has been
considered the most extensive and one of the most
valuable commentaries of the time. There are ,
however, certain omissions, but these gaps were
filled by the industry of Joannes de Deo.

238

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 19.

harm against men or animals in other
ways. For, as we have said, those who
behave in this way in any heresy are
strongly to be suspected. And this is
shown by the Canon where it says that
there is no doubt that such persons act
in this way out of some heretical
sympathy.

The third and greatest suspicion is in
law called grave or violent: for the
Canon and the glosses of the Arch¬
deacon and Giovanni d’ Andrea explain
that the word vehement does not mean
the same as the word violent. And of
this suspicion the Canon says (dist. 34) :
This presumption or suspicion is called
violent because it violently constrains
and compels a Judge to believe it, and
cannot be cast off by any evasion ; and
also because it arises from violent and
convincing conjectures.

For example, in simple heresy, if
persons are found to show a reverent
love for heretics, to receive consolation
or communion from them, or per¬
petrate any other such matter in
accordance with their rites and cere¬
monies: such persons would fall under
and be convicted of a violent suspicion
of heresy and heretical beliefs. (See
many chapters on this subject in Book
VI of the Canon.) For there is no
doubt that such persons act in this way
out of a belief in some heresy.

It is the same, as regards the heresy
of witches, with those who perform
and persist in performing any of the
actions which pertain to the rites of
witches. Now these are of various
kinds. Sometimes it is only some
threatening speech, such as “You shall
soon feel what will happen to you,” or
something similar. Sometimes it is a
touch, just laying their hands curiously
on a man or a beast. Sometimes it is only
a matter of being seen, when they show
themselves by day or by night to others
who are sleeping in their beds ; and this
they do when they wish to bewitch men
or beasts. But for raising hailstorms
they observe various other methods
and ceremonies, and perform various
ritual actions round about a river, as
we have shown before where we dis¬
cussed the manner and methods of
working witchcraft. When such are
found and are publicly notorious they
are convicted of a violent suspicion of
the heresy of witchcraft ; especially
when some effect of witchcraft has
followed upon their actions, either

immediately or after some interval.
For then there is direct evidence of the
fact, or indirect evidence when any
instruments of witchcraft are found
hidden in some place. And although
when some interval of time has elapsed
the evidence of the fact is not so strong,
such a person still remains under strong
suspicion of witchcraft, and therefore
much more of simple heresy.

And if it be asked whether the devil
cannot inflict injury upon men and
beasts without the means of a woman
being seen in a visipn or by her touch,
we answer that he can, when God
permits it. But the permission of God
is more readily granted in the case of a
creature that was dedicated to God, but
by denying the faith has consented to
other horrible crimes; and therefore
the devil more often uses such means to
harm creatures. Further, we may say
that, although the devil can work
without a witch, he yet very much
prefers to work with one, for the many
reasons which we showed earlier in this
work.

To sum up our conclusions on this
matter, it is to be said that, following
the above distinctions, those who are
suspected of the heresy of witchcraft
are separated into three categories,
since some are lightly, some strongly,
and some gravely suspected. And they
are lightly suspected who act in such
a way as to give rise to a small or light
suspicion against them of this heresy.
And although, as has been said, a
person who is found to be suspected in
this way is not to be branded as a
heretic, yet he must undergo a canonical
purgation, or he must be caused to
pronounce a solemn abjuration as in
the case of one convicted of a slight
heresy.

For the Canon (cap. excommunicamus)
says : Those who have been, found to
rest under a probable suspicion (that is,
says Henry of Segusio, a light suspicion),
unless, having respect to the nature of
the suspicion and the quality of their
persons, they should prove their inno¬
cence by a fitting purgation, they are to
be stricken with the sword of anathema
as a worthy satisfaction in the sight of
all men. And if they continue obstinate
in their excommunication for the period
of a year, they are to be utterly con¬
demned as heretics.

And note that, in the purgation
imposed upon them, whether or not

Part III. Question 19. MALEFICARUM

239

they consent to it, and whether or not
they fail in it, they are throughout to be
judged as reputed heretics on whom a
canonical purgation is to be imposed.

And that a person under this light
suspicion can and should be caused to
pronounce a solemn abjuration is shown
in the chapter Accusatus , where it says :
A person accused or suspected of heresy,
against whom there is a strong suspicion
of this crime, if he abjures the heresy
before the Judge and afterwards com¬
mits it, then, by a sort of legal fiction,
he shall be judged to have relapsed into
heresy, although the heresy was not
proved against him before his abjura¬
tion. But if the suspicion was in the
first place a small or light one, although
such a relapse renders the accused liable
to severe punishment, yet he is not to
suffer the punishment of those who
relapse into heresy.

But those who are strongly suspected,
that is, those who have acted in such a
way as to engender a great and strong
suspicion; even these are not neces¬
sarily heretics or to be condemned as
such. For it is expressly stated in the
Canon that no one is to be condemned
of so great a crime by reason of a strong
suspicion. And it says :

Therefore we order that, when the
accused is only under suspicion, even
if it be a strong one, we do not wish him
to be condemned of so grave a crime ;
but such a one so strongly suspected
must be commanded to abjure all heresy
in general, and in particular that of
which he is strongly suspected.

But if he afterwards relapses either
into his former heresy or into any other,
or if he associates with those whom he
knows to be witches or heretics, or
visits them, receives, consults with,
forgives, or favours them, he shall not
escape the punishment of backsliders,
according to the chapter Accusatus.
For it says there: He who has been
involved in one kind or sect of heresy, or
has erred in one article of the faith or
sacrament of the Church, and has
afterwards specifically and generally
abjured his heresy: if thereafter he
follows another kind or sect of heresy,
or errs in another article or sacrament
of the Church, it is our will that he be
judged a backslider. He, therefore, who
is known to have lapsed into heresy
before his abjuration, if after his
abjuration he receives heretics, visits
them, gives or sends them presents or

gifts, or shows favour to them, etc., he
is worthily and truly to be judged a
backslider ; for by this proof there
is no doubt that he was in the first
place guilty. Such is the tenor of the
Canon.

From these words it is clear that there
are three cases in which a person under
strong suspicion of heresy shall, after
his abjuration, be punished as a back¬
slider. The first is when he falls back
into the same heresy of which he was
strongly suspected. The second is when
he has abjured all heresy in general, and
yet lapses into another heresy, even if
he has never before been suspected or
accused of that heresy. The third is
when he receives and shows favour to
heretics. And this last comprises and
embraces many cases.

But it is asked what should be done
when a person who has fallen under so
strong a suspicion steadily refuses to
comply with his Judge’s order to
abjure his heresy: is he to be at once
handed over to the secular Court to be
punished? We answer that by no means
must this be done; for the Canon (ad
abolendam) expressly speaks, not of
suspects, but of those who are mani¬
festly taken in heresy. And more
rigorous action is to be employed against
those who are manifestly taken than
against those who are only suspected.

And if it is asked, How then is such a
one to be proceeded against? We answer
that the Judge must proceed against
him in accordance with the chapter
excommunicamus , and he must be ex¬
communicated. And if he continues
obstinate after a year’s excommunica¬
tion, he is to be condemned as a heretic.

There are others again who are
violently or gravely suspected, whose
actions give rise to a violent suspicion
against them; and such a one is to be
considered as a heretic, and throughout
he is to be treated as if he were taken in
heresy, in accordance with the Canon
Law. For these either confess their
crime or not ; and if they do, and wish
to return to the faith and abjure their
heresy, they are to be received back
into penitence. But if they refuse to
abjure, they are to be handed over to
the secular Court for punishment.

But if he does not confess his crime
after he has been convicted, and does
not consent to abjure his heresy,, he is
to be condemned as an impenitent
heretic. For a violent suspicion is

240

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 20.

sufficient to warrant a conviction, and
admits no proof to the contrary.

Now this discussion deals with simple
heresy, where there is no direct or
indirect evidence of the fact, as will
be shown in the sixth method of passing
sentence, where a man is to be con¬
demned as a heretic even though he
may not actually be one: then how
much more is it applicable to the heresy
of witches, where there is always in
addition either the direct evidence of
bewitched children, men, or animals,
or the indirect evidence of instruments
of witchcraft which have been found.

And although in the case of simple
heresy those who are penitent and
abjure are, as has been said, admitted
to penitence and imprisonment for
life; yet in this heresy, although the
ecclesiastic Judge may receive the
prisoner into penitence, yet the civil
Judge can, because of her temporal
injuries, that is to say, the harm she has
done to men, cattle, and goods, punish
her with death ; nor can the ecclesiastic
Judge prevent this, for even if he does
not hand her over to be punished, yet
he is compelled to deliver her up at the
request of the civil Judge.

☆

QUESTION XX

Of the First Method of Pronouncing
Sentence.

SINCE, therefore, the accused is
either found innocent and is to be
altogether absolved, or is found only to
be generally defamed as a heretic, or is
found a proper subject for the questions
and the torture on account of her
reputation, or is found to be lightly
suspected of heresy, or is found to be
strongly or gravely suspected of heresy,
or is found to be at the same time
commonly defamed and suspected of
heresy, or is found to have confessed
her heresy and to be penitent and not
to have relapsed truly, or is found to
have confessed and to be penitent but
probably to have relapsed, or is found
to have confessed her heresy and to
be impenitent but not really to have
relapsed, or is found to have confessed
and to be impenitent and certainly to
have relapsed, or is found not to have
confessed but by legitimate witnesses
and otherwise legally to have been con¬

victed of heresy, or is found to have
been convicted of heresy but to have
escaped or defiantly absented herself,
or is found not to have done injury by
witchcraft but to have removed be¬
witchments unfittingly and by unlaw¬
ful means, or is found to be an archer-
wizard or enchanter of weapons with
the purpose of causing death, or is
found to be a witch-midwife offering
infants to the devil in the manner of an
enemy, or is found to make frivolous
and fraudulent appeals with a view to
saving her life :

Therefore, if she is found to be en¬
tirely innocent, the final sentence shall
be pronounced in the following manner :

Here it is first to be noted that the
accused is found to be entirely innocent
when, after the facts of the process
have been diligently discussed in con¬
sultation with skilled lawyers, she can¬
not be convicted either by her own
confession, or by the evidence of the
fact, or by the production of legitimate
witnesses (since they have disagreed
upon the main issue) ; and when the
accused has never before been suspected
of or publicly defamed as regards that
crime (but the case is different if she
has been defamed as regards some other
crime) ; and when there is no evidence
of the fact against her. In such a case
the following procedure is observed;
for she is to be absolved by the Bishop
or Judge by a sentence to the following
effect :

We N., by the mercy of God Bishop
of such a town (or Judge, etc.), con¬
sidering that you N. of such a place and
such a Diocese have been accused
before us of the crime of heresy and
namely of witchcraft ; and considering
that this accusation was such as we
could not pass over with connivent
eyes, have condescended to inquire
whether the aforesaid accusation can
be substantiated as true, by calling
witnesses, by examining you, and by
using other means which are fitting
according to the canonical sanctions.
Wherefore having diligently seen and
examined all that has been done and
said in this case, and having had the
counsel of learned lawyers and Theo¬
logians, and having repeatedly ex¬
amined and inquired into all; sitting
as Judges on this tribunal and having
only God before our eyes and the truth
of the case, and the Holy Gospels being
placed before us that our judgement

Part III. Question 21. MALEFICARUM

241

may proceed from the countenance of
God and our eyes behold equity, we
proceed to our definitive sentence in this
way, invoking the name of Christ.
Since by that which we have seen and
heard, and has been produced, offered,
done, and executed before us in this
present case, we have not found that
anything has legally been proved
against you of those things of which you
were accused before us, we pronounce,
declare, and give it as our final sentence
that no act has legally been proved to
us against you by which you can or
ought to be judged a heretic or witch
or be in any way suspected of the sin
of heresy. Wherefore by this present
declaration, inquiry, and judgement,
we freely discharge you. This sentence
was given, etc.

Let care be taken not to put anywhere
in the sentence that the accused is
innocent or immune, but that it was
not legally proved against him; for if
after a little time he should again be
brought to trial, and it should be
legally proved, he can, notwithstanding
the previous sentence of absolution,

' then be condemned.

Note also that the same method of
absolution may be used in the case of
one who is accused of receiving, pro¬
tecting, or otherwise comforting and
favouring heretics, when nothing is
legally proved against him.

A secular Judge commissioned by
the Bishop shall use his own manner of
pronouncement.

☆

QUESTION XXI

Of the Second Method of Pronouncing
Sentence, when the Accused is no more
than Defamed.

THE second method of delivering
judgement is to be employed when
he or she who is accused, after a diligent
discussion of the merits of the case in
consultation with learned lawyers, is
found to be no more than defamed as
a heretic in some village, town, or
province. And this is when the accused
does not stand convicted either by her
own confession, or by the evidence of
the facts, or by the legitimate produc¬
tion of witnesses, nor has there been
anything proved against her except
that she is the subject of common

R

aspersion : so that no particular act of
witchcraft can be proved by which she
can be brought under strong or grave
suspicion, as that she has uttered
threatening words, for example, “You
will soon feel what will happen to you,”
or something to that effect, and after¬
wards some injury has befallen the
person or the cattle of the man she
threatened.

The following procedure, therefore,
is to be employed in the case of such a
one against whom nothing has been
proved except public obloquy. In this
case judgement cannot be delivered for
the accused, nor can she be absolved as
in the first method; but a canonical
purgation must be imposed upon her.
Therefore let the Bishop or his deputy,
or the Judge, first take note that, in a
case of heresy, it is not necessary that a
person should be defamed only by good
and respected people; for the calum¬
niation uttered by common and simple
folk carries equal weight.

And the reason for this is, that the
same persons who are admitted as
accusers in a case of heresy are also
admitted as detractors. Now any
heretic can be accused by anybody,
except his mortal enemies ; therefore
he can also be defamed by anybody.

Therefore let the Bishop or Judge
pronounce his sentence of canonical
purgation in this or some similar
manner :

We N., by the mercy of God Bishop
of such a city, or Judge of such a county,
having diligently examined the merits
of the process conducted by us against
you N. of such a Diocese accused before
us of the crime of heresy, etc. We
have not found that you have confessed
to or have been convicted of the afore¬
said sin or that you are even lightly
suspected of it, except that we find
that truly and legitimately you are
publicly defamed by both good and
bad in such a village, town, or Diocese ;
and that you may be in good odour
among the company of the faithful we
impose upon you as by law a canonical
purgation, assigning to you such a day
of such a month at such hour of the
day, upon which you shall appear in
person before us with so many persons
of equal station with you to purge you
of your defamation. Which sponsors
must be men of the Catholic faith and
of good life who have known your habits
and manner of living not only recently

242

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 22.

but in time past. And we signify that,
if you should fail in this purgation, we
shall hold you convicted, according to
the canonical sanctions.

Here it is to be considered that, when
a person is duly found to be publicly
defamed of some heresy, and nothing
is proved against him except that
defamation, a canonical purgation shall
be imposed upon him. That is, he must
produce some seven, ten, twenty, or
thirty men, according to the extent to
which he has been defamed and the
size and importance of the place con¬
cerned, and these must be men of his
own station and condition. For ex¬
ample, if he who is defamed is a religi¬
ous, they must be religious ; if he is a
secular, they must be seculars; if he
be a soldier, they must be soldiers who
purge him from the crime for which he
is defamed. And these sponsors must
be men professing the Catholic faith
and of good life, who have known his
habits and life both recently and for a
long time.

But if he refuses this purgation, he
must be excommunicated; and if he
remains obstinate in that excommuni¬
cation for a year, he is then to be con¬
demned as a heretic.

And if he accepts the purgation and
fails in it; that is, if he cannot find
sponsors of the number and quality
desired ; he shall be considered as con¬
victed, and is to be condemned as a
heretic.

And it must here be remarked that,
when it is said that he must purge himself
by means of so many men of his own
station in life, this is meant generically
and not specifically. Thus, if a Bishop
is to be purged, it is not necessary that
all his sponsors should be Bishops ; but
Abbots and other religious who are
priests are admitted; and similarly in
other cases.

And the defamed person shall purge
himself in the following manner. At the
time assigned to him for his canonical
purgation, he shall appear in person
with his sponsors before the Bishop who
is his Judge, in the place where he is
known to be defamed ; and, placing his
hand upon the Book of the Gospels set
before him, he shall say as follows :

I swear upon these four Holy Gospels
of God that I never held, believed or
taught, neither do I hold or believe such
heresy (naming it) for which I am
defamed.

That is to say, he shall deny on oath
whatever it is for which he is defamed.

After this, all his sponsors shall place
their hands on the Gospels ; and each of
them severally shall say: And I swear
upon this Holy Gospel of God that I
believe him to have sworn the truth.
And then he is canonically purged.

It is also to be noted that a person
defamed of heresy is to be purged in the
place where he is known to be defamed.
And if he has been defamed in many
places, he must be required to profess
the Catholic faith and deny the heresy
in all the places in which he is known as
defamed.

And let not such a person hold in light
esteem this canonical purgation. For it
is provided by the Canon Law that, if
he afterwards falls into the heresy of
which he has been purged, he is to be
handed over as a backslider to the
secular Court. But the case is somewhat
different if he falls into some other
heresy, of which he has not before been
purged.

☆

QUESTION XXII

Of the Third kind of Sentence , to be Pro¬
nounced on one who is Defamed , and who
is to be put to the Question.

THE third method of bringing a
process on behalf of the faith to
a conclusive termination is when the
person accused of heresy, after a care¬
ful consideration of the merits of the
process in consultation with learned
lawyers, is found to be inconsistent in
his statements, or it is found that there
are sufficient grounds to warrant his
exposure to the question and torture:
so that if, after he has been thus
questioned, he confesses nothing, he
may be considered innocent. And this
is when the prisoner has not been taken
in heresy, nor has he been convicted by
his own confession, or by the evidence
of the facts, or by the legitimate pro¬
duction of witnesses, and there are no
indications that he is under such a
suspicion as to warrant his being made
to abjure the heresy; but nevertheless
he is inconsistent in his answers when
interrogated. Or there may be other
sufficient reasons for exposing him to
torture. And in such a case the follow¬
ing procedure is to be observed.

And because such a judgement in-

Part III. Question 22 MALEFICARUM

243

eludes an interlocutory sentence which
must be against and not for the prisoner,
the Inquisitor must not divide it into
two sentences, but include it all in one.
And in the first place, if the accused
remains firm in his denials and can in
no way be induced by honest men to
confess the truth, the following manner
of sentence, which is in some respects
definitive, shall be used.

We N., by the mercy of God Bishop
of such a town, or Judge in the territory
subject to the rule of such a Prince,
having regard to the merits of the pro¬
cess conducted by us against you N.,
of such a place in such a Diocese, and
after careful examination, find that you
are not consistent in your answers, and
that there are sufficient indications be¬
sides that you ought to be exposed to
the question and torture. Therefore,
that the truth may be known from your
own mouth and that from henceforth
you may not offend the ears of your
Judges with your equivocations, we
declare, pronounce, and give sentence
that on this present day at such an
hour you are to be subjected to an
interrogatory under torture. This sen¬
tence was given, etc.

If the person to be questioned is both
found to be equivocal and at the same
time there are other indications suffi¬
cient to warrant his being tortured, let
both these facts be included in the
sentence, as they are above. But if only
one or the other of these hold good, let
that one only be put in the sentence.
But let the sentence be soon put into
execution, or let them make as if to
execute it. Nevertheless let not the
Judge be too willing to subject a person
to torture, for this should only be
resorted to in default of other proofs.
Therefore let him seek for other proofs ;
and if he cannot find them, and thinks
it probable that the accused is guilty
but denies the truth out of fear, let him
use other approved methods, always
with due precautions, and by using the
persuasions of the friends of the accused
do his utmost to extract the truth from
his own lips. And let him not hasten
the business ; for very often meditation,
and the ordeal of imprisonment, and
the repeated persuasion of honest men
will induce the accused to discover the
truth.

But if, after keeping the accused in
suspense, and after due and decent
postponements of the time, and many

exhortations of the accused, the Bishop
and the Judge are well persuaded that,
all circumstances considered, the ac¬
cused is denying the truth, let them
torture him slightly, without shedding
blood, bearing in mind that torture is
often fallacious and ineffective. For
some are so soft-hearted and feeble¬
minded that at the least torture they
will confess anything, whether it be true
or not. Others are so stubborn that,
however much they are tortured, the
truth is not to be had from them. There
are others who, having been tortured
before, are the better able to endure it
a second time, since their arms have
been accommodated to the stretchings
and twistings involved ; whereas the
effect on others is to make them weaker,
so that they can the less easily endure
torture. Others are bewitched, and
make use of the fact in their torture, so
that they will die before they will con¬
fess anything; for they become, as it
were, insensible to pain. Therefore
there is need for much prudence in the
matter of torture, and the greatest
attention is to be given to the condition
of the person who is to be tortured.

When, then, the sentence has been
pronounced, the officers shall without
delay prepare to torture the accused.
And while they are making their pre¬
parations, the Bishop or Judge shall
use his own persuasions and those of
other honest men zealous for the faith
to induce the accused to confess the
truth freely, if necessary promising to
spare his life, as we have shown above.

But if the accused cannot thus be
terrified into telling the truth, a second
or third day may be appointed for the
continuation of the torture,; but it must
not be repeated then and there. For
such a repetition is not permissible
unless some further indications against
the accused should transpire. But there
is nothing to prevent a continuation of
the torture on another day.

Let it then be said : We N. Bishop and
N. Judge (if he is present) aforesaid,
assign to you N. such a day for the con¬
tinuation of the torture, that the truth
may be known from your own mouth.
And let all be set down in the process.
And during the interval appointed to
him, let them use their own persuasions
and those of other honest men to induce
him to confess the truth.

But if he has refused to confess, the
torture can be continued on the day

244

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 23.

assigned, more or less severely according
to the gravity of the offences in question.
And the Judges will be able to observe
many lawful precautions, both in word
and deed, by which they may come at
the truth: but these are more easily
learned by use and experience and the
variety of different cases than by the
art or teaching of anyone.

But if, after having been fittingly
questioned and tortured, he will not
discover the truth, let him not be
further molested, but be freely allowed
to depart. If, however, he confesses,
and abides by his confession, and un¬
covers the truth, acknowledging his
guilt and asking the pardon of the
Church; then according to the Canon
ad abolendam he is to be treated as one
taken in heresy on his own confession,
but penitent, and he must abjure the
heresy, and sentence must be pro¬
nounced against him as in the case of
those who are convicted by their own
confession as being taken in heresy.
This will be explained in the eighth
method of sentencing such, to which the
reader may refer.

If, on the other hand, he confesses the
truth, but is not penitent but obstinately
persists in his heresy, but is not a re¬
lapsed heretic, then according to the
Canon, after a decent interval and due
warning, he is to be condemned as a
heretic and handed over to the secular
Court to suffer the extreme penalty, as
we show later in the tenth method. But
if he is a relapsed heretic, he is to be
condemned in the way which is again
explained in the tenth method, to which
the reader may refer.

But here it must be particularly
noted that in some instances he who
is to be questioned confesses nothing
against himself before the torture, nor
is anything proved on the strength of
which he can be required to abjure the
heresy or be condemned as a heretic;
and in such cases the above procedure
should be adopted, as we have said,
immediately. But in other cases the
accused is taken in heresy, or there are
other proved indications by reason of
which he ought to be required to abjure
the heresy, or he is to be considered
either lightly or strongly suspected ; and
he is not to be tortured in respect of such
matters ; but if, apart from these, he
denies some points which are not proved,
but of which there is sufficient indica¬
tion to warrant his being tortured ; and

if, having been questioned as to these
under torture, he confesses to none of
them, he is not on that account to be
absolved in accordance with the first
method; but he must be proceeded
against according to that which has
been proved against him, and he or she
must abjure the heresy as being one
under suspicion of or taken in heresy, as
the merits of the process may exact or
require. And if, after torture, he con¬
fesses all or part of that for which he was
tortured, then he must abjure both this
and the former heresy which was
proved against him, and sentence must
be pronounced against him in respect
of both of these.

☆

QUESTION XXIII

The Fourth Method of Sentencing , in the
Case of one Accused upon a Light
Suspicion.

THE fourth method of concluding
the process on behalf of the faith
is used when, after the merits of the
process have been diligently examined
in consultation with expert lawyers,
the accused is found to rest under only
a light suspicion of heresy. And this is
when the accused is not taken in heresy,
nor is convicted by her own confession
or by the evidence of the facts or by the
legitimate production of witnesses, and
there are no other strong or vehement
indications of heresy against her; but
only small and light indications of such
a sort as, in the opinion of the Court,
to engender a light suspicion against her.
And such a one must be required to
abjure the heresy of which she is
accused ; and then, if she relapses into
heresy, she is not liable to the punish¬
ment of backsliders, although she must
be more severely punished than would
be the case if she had not previously
abjured the heresy (see the Canon c.
accusatus) . The following procedure
shall be followed in such a case. For
such an accused, if the matter be a
public one, will publicly make the
following abjuration in the Church :

I, N., of such a Diocese, a citizen of
such a city or place, being on my trial,
do swear before you the Lord Bishop
of such a city, and upon the Holy
Gospels placed before me and upon
which I set my hand, that I believe in

Part III. Question 23. MALEFICARUM

245

my heart and profess with my lips that
Holy Catholic and Apostolic Faith
which the Holy Roman Church believes,
confesses, preaches, and observes. Also
I swear that I believe in my heart and
profess with my lips that the Lord JESUS
Christ, in company with all the Saints,
abominates the wicked heresy of
witches; and that all who follow or
adhere to it will with the devil and his
Angels be punished in eternal fire unless
they turn their hearts and are reconciled
by the penitence of the Holy Church.
And therefore I abjure, renounce, and
revoke that heresy of which you, my
Lord Bishop, and your Officers hold me
suspected : namely, that I have been
familiar with witches, have ignorantly
defended their errors, have held in
detestation their Inquisitors and prose¬
cutors, or that I have failed to bring
their crimes to light. Also I swear that I
have never believed the aforesaid
heresy, nor do I believe it, nor have I
adhered, nor do I adhere to it, nor shall
I ever believe, adhere to, or teach it,
nor do I intend to teach it. And if I
should hereafter be guilty of any of the
aforesaid practices (which God forbid),
I shall willingly submit myself to the
punishment provided by law for such
who are so forsworn ; and I am ready to
undergo any penance which you see fit
to enjoin me for those words or deeds of
mine for which you hold me deservedly
suspect ; and I swear to fulfil such
penance to the best of my strength, and
to omit no part of it, so help me God
and -these Holy Gospels.

The above abjuration shall be made
in the common speech, so that all may
understand it. And when it is done, the
Judge, if he is present, or his deputy
shall speak to her in the common speech
to the following effect :

My son (or daughter), you have not
unworthily abjured the suspicion which
we entertained of you, and have purged
yourself by the aforesaid abjuration.
Beware then lest hereafter you fall into
the heresy you have abjured. For
although, if you should repent, you
would not be delivered up to the secular
Court, since you made your abjuration
as one under a light, and not a strong,
suspicion, yet you would then be far
more severely punished than you would
have been if you had not abjured, and
you would then rest under a strong in¬
stead of a light suspicion. And when you
should abjure as such, and afterwards

should relapse, you would suffer the
due punishment of a backslider, and
would without mercy be delivered to
the secular Court to endure the extreme
penalty.

But if she makes her abjuration
secretly in the chamber of the Bishop or
Judge, which will be the case when the
matter is not a public one, she shall
abjure in the same manner. And after¬
wards sentence shall be pronounced as
follows :

We, by the mercy of God Bishop of
such a city, or (if he is present) Judge
in the territory subject to such a Prince,
having carefully seen and examined the
merits of the process conducted by us
against you N., accused before us of
heresy, find that you have committed
such and such (naming them) which
render you lightly suspected of heresy,
on account of which we have judged it
proper to cause you to abjure that
heresy as one lightly suspected of it.
But not for that can you be dismissed
unpunished. And that you may become
more careful in the future, having con¬
sulted with many eminent persons
learned in the law and with religious
men, and having carefully weighed and
digested the whole matter, having
only God before our eyes, and the
irrefragable truth of the Holy Catholic
Faith, and with the Holy Gospels
placed before us that our sentence may
proceed as from God’s countenance and
that our eyes may see with equity, and
sitting in tribunal as Judge, we con¬
demn, sentence, or rather impose
penance upon you N., standing in
person here in our presence, in the
following manner. Namely, that never
hereafter shall you knowingly hold to,
associate with, defend in your speech,
read (if you are well learned), or here¬
after, etc. And let there be set down that
which she has committed, on account
of which she was held suspected of the
crime of heresy. This sentence and
penance were given, etc.

And let the Notary take care that he
sets it down in the process that such
abjuration was made as by one under a
light, not a strong, suspicion of heresy ;
for otherwise great danger might
ensue.

☆

246

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 24.

QUESTION XXIV

The Fifth Manner of Sentence , in the Case of
one under Strong Suspicion .

THE fifth method of concluding a
process on behalf of the faith ^
used when she who is accused of heresy,
after a careful examination of the
merits of the process in consultation
with learned lawyers, is found to be
strongly suspected of heresy. And this
is when the accused is not legally taken
in heresy, nor has been convicted by
her own confession or by the evidence
of the facts or by the legitimate pro¬
duction of witnesses; but strong and
weighty indications have been proved
against her by reason of which she is
held to be under strong suspicion of
heresy.

The procedure in such a case is as
follows. For such a person should
abjure that heresy as one strongly
suspected of it, in such a manner that,
if she should afterwards relapse, she
must be delivered to the secular Court
to suffer the extreme penalty. And she
shall make her abjuration publicly or
secretly according to whether she is
publicly or secretly suspected, or by
more or less, high or low, as was just
said in the case of one under a light
suspicion; and she must abjure that
specific heresy.

And the preparations for such an
abjuration should be as follows : — When
the Sunday comes which has been fixed
for the abjuration and the hearing of
the sentence or the imposition of the
penance, the preacher shall deliver a
general sermon. After this, the Notary or
clerk shall publicly read out the crimes
of which the accused has been con¬
victed, and those of which she is strongly
suspected as a heretic.

Then the Judge or his deputy shall
say to her : Behold ! according to that
which has been read you are strongly
suspected by us of such heresy ; where¬
fore it behoves you to purge yourself
and abjure the aforesaid heresy. And
then the Book of the Gospels shall be
placed before her, and she shall set
her hand upon it ; and if she can read
competently, she shall be given the
following written abjuration, and shall
read it in the presence of the whole
congregation.

But if she cannot read competently,
the Notary shall read it phrase by

phrase, and the accused shall repeat it
in a loud and audible voice in the
following manner. The Notary or clerk
shall say: I, N., of such a place, and
the accused person shall repeat after
him the same words, but always in the
vulgar tongue. And so on up to the end
of the abjuration. And she shall abjure
in the following manner :

I, N., of such a place in such a Diocese,
standing my trial in person in presence
of you reverend Lords the Bishop
of such city and the Judge of the terri¬
tory subject to the rule of such a Lord,
upon the Holy Gospels set before me and
touched by my hands, I swear that I
believe in my heart and profess with
my lips that Holy Catholic and Apos¬
tolic Faith which the Holy Roman
Church teaches, professes, preaches,
and holds. Also I swear that I believe
in my heart and profess with my lips
that, etc. And let her pronounce the
Catholic article of the faith against that
heresy of which she is strongly suspected.

For example, if the heresy of witch¬
craft is in question, let her say as
follows :

I swear that I believe that not only
will simple heretics and schismatics be
tortured in fire everlasting, but that
those above all will be so punished who
are infected with the heresy of witches,
who deny before the devil that faith
which they received in Holy Baptism at
the font, and practise demoniac lewd¬
ness for the fulfilment of their evil
desires, inflicting all sorts of injuries
upon men and animals and the fruits
of the earth. And consequently I
abjure, renounce, and revoke that
heresy, or rather infidelity, which falsely
and mendaciously maintains that there
are no witches in the world, and that no
one ought to believe that those injuries
can be caused with the help of devils ;
for such infidelity is, as I now recognize,
expressly contrary to the decision of our
Holy Mother the Church and of all
the Catholic Doctors, as also against
the Imperial laws which have decreed
that witches are to be burned.

Also I swear that I have never per¬
sistently believed in the aforesaid heresy,
neither do I believe nor adhere to it at
the present, nor have I taught it, nor
intend to teach it, nor shall teach it.
Also I swear and promise that I will
never do or cause to be done such and
such (naming them) of which you hold
me strongly suspected as a heretic.

Part III. Question 24. MALEFICARUM

247

And if hereafter (which God forbid) I
should do any of the aforesaid, I am
ready to undergo the punishment pro¬
vided by law for backsliders ; and I am
ready to submit myself to any penance
which you decide to impose upon me
for those deeds and words of mine for
which you hold me strongly suspected
of the said heresy. And I swear and
promise that I will perform it to the
best of my strength, and will omit no
part of it, so God and this Holy Gospel
help me.

And the said abjuration shall be made
in the vulgar tongue so that it may be
understood by all, unless it be made
only in the presence of Clerics with a
competent knowledge of the Latin
tongue. But if the abjuration be made
secretly in the Bishop’s palace or
chamber, when it is not a public
matter, it shall be made in a similar
manner. And afterwards the Bishop
shall admonish her as above to beware
lest she relapse and incur the penalty
of a backslider. And let the Notary
take care that he set it down how such
abjuration was made by such a person
as one strongly suspected of heresy, so
that, if she should relapse, she may be
punished as is proper for a backslider.

And when this has been done, let the
sentence or penance be pronounced in
the following manner :

We, N., Bishop of such city, and
Brother N. (if he is present), Inquisitor
of the sin of heresy in the domains
subject to the rule of such a Prince,
especially deputed by the Holy Apostolic
See: having in mind that you, N., of
such a place in such a Diocese, have
done such and such (naming them), as
lawfully appears from the carefully
examined merits of the process, where¬
fore we reasonably hold you strongly
suspected of such heresy, and have
caused you to abjure it as one so sus-
ected, being persuaded to that course
y considerations of justice and the
advice of men skilled in the law. But
that you may be more careful in the
future nor become more prone to the
like practices, and that your crimes may
not remain unpunished, and that you
may be an example to other sinners;
having consulted with many eminent
and learned lawyers, and Masters or
Doctors of the faculty of Theology,
having carefully digested the whole
matter, and having before our eyes only
God and the truth of the Catholic and

Apostolic Faith, having set before us the
Holy Gospel that our judgement may
proceed as from God’s countenance and
our eyes see with equity, and sitting in
tribunal as Judges, we condemn, or
rather impose penance in the following
manner upon you, N., standing here in
person before us : namely, that you shall
never hereafter presume to do, say,
or teach such and such things. And let
there be set down those things of which
she has been convicted, and by reason
of which she was strongly suspected of
the aforesaid heresy, as well as certain
others which, if she were to commit
them, would make her guilty of a slight
relapse into heresy; but this must be
as the particular nature of the case
demands and requires. As, for ex¬
ample, that she should never wittingly
follow such practices, nor receive those
whom she knows to have denied the
faith, etc. This sentence was given, etc.

But it must be noted that those who
are suspected, but not taken in heresy,
whether they be strongly or lightly
suspected, must not be imprisoned or
confined for life. For this is the punish¬
ment of those who have been heretics
and afterwards repented. But they may,
because of their deeds for which they
have come under suspicion, be sent to
prison for a time, and afterwards, as
will be seen, released.

Neither are they to be branded with
the sign of the Gross, for such is the
sign of a penitent heretic ; and they are
not convicted heretics, but only sus¬
pected, therefore they are not to be
marked in this way. But they can be
ordered either to stand on certain
solemn days within the doors of a
church, or near the altar, while Holy
Mass is being celebrated, bearing in
their hands a lighted candle of a certain
weight;* or else to go on some pil¬
grimage, or something of the kind,
according to the nature and require¬
ments of the case.

* “A Certain Weight .” This was exactly
specified, when sentence was delivered. Thus
Urbain Grandier on 18 August, 1634, at
Loudun, was sentenced “to make honourable
amends , with bare head, a rope round his neck,
and with a burning torch of two pounds' weight
in his hand, before the principal door of the
church of Saint-Pierre du Marche, and before
that of Sainte Ursule of this town, and there,
upon his knees, to ask pardon of God and the
King." His execution followed.

248

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 25.

QUESTION XXV

The Sixth Kind of Sentence , in the Case of
one who is Gravely Suspect.

THE sixth method of bringing to
a conclusion a process on behalf
of the faith is used when the person
accused of heresy, after a careful
examination of the merits of the

I)rocess in consultation with learned
awyers, is found to be gravely sus¬
pected of heresy. And this is when the
accused is not convicted of heresy by
her own confession or by the evidence
of the facts or by the legitimate
production of witnesses, but there are
indications, not only light or even
strong, but very strong and grave,
which render her gravely suspected of
the said heresy, and by reason of which
she must be judged as one gravely
suspected of the said heresy.

And for a clearer understanding of
this, we shall give examples both of a
case of simple heresy and of the heresy
of witches. For the case would fall
under this head in simple heresy if the
accused were not lawfully found con¬
victed by his own confession, etc. as
above, but for something which he had
said or done. As, for example, he may
have been summoned in a case not
concerning the faith, and have been
sentenced to excommunication; and if
he should continue obstinate in ex-
communication for a year or more, he
would come under a light suspicion of
heresy ; for such behaviour is not
without some suspicion of heresy. But
if he should then be summoned on a
charge concerning the faith, and should
not appear but contumaciously refuse
to appear, and therefore be excom¬
municated, then he would be strongly
suspected of heresy ; for then the light
suspicion would become a strong one.
And if he remained obstinate in that
excommunication for a year, then he
would be gravely suspected of heresy ;
for then the strong suspicion would
become a grave one, against which no
defence is admitted. And from that
time such a person would be condemned
as a heretic, as is shown by the Canon,
c. cum contumacia , lib. 6.

An example of a grave suspicion in
the heresy of witches would be when
the accused has said or done anything
which is practised by witches when
they wish to bewitch anyone. And it

commonly happens that they are con¬
strained to manifest themselves by
threatening words, by deeds, by a
look or a touch, and this is for three
reasons. First that their sins may be
aggravated and more manifest to their
Judges; secondly, that they may the
more easily seduce the simple; and
thirdly, that God may be the more
offended and they may be granted more
power of injuring men. Therefore a
witch must be gravely suspected when,
after she has used such threatening
words as “I shall soon make you feel,”
or the like, some injury has befallen
the person so threatened or his cattle.
For then she is not to be considered as
lightly suspected, as was the case with
those who are familiar with witches, or
those who wish to provoke someone to
inordinate love. See above where we
deal with the three degrees of suspicion,
light, strong, and grave.

Now we must consider what pro¬
cedure is to be observed in such a case.
For in the case of one gravely suspected
of simple heresy, the following is the
procedure. Although he may not in
actual truth be a heretic, since there
may not be any error in his under¬
standing, or if there is, he may not cling
obstinately to it in his will : nevertheless
he is to be condemned as a heretic
because of the said grave suspicion,
against which no proof is admitted.

Such a heretic is condemned in this
manner. If he refuses to return and
abjure his heresy and give fitting
satisfaction, he is delivered to the
secular Court to be punished. But
if he is willing and consents, he abjures
his heresy and is imprisoned for life.
And the same holds good in the case of
one gravely suspected of the heresy of
witches.

But although the same method in the
main is to be observed in the case of
one gravely suspected of the heresy of
witches, there are some differences.
It is to be noted that, if the witch
maintains her denial, or claims that
she uttered those words not with the
implied intention but in a vehement
and womanish passion ; then the Judge
has not sufficient warrant to sentence
her to the flames, in spite of the grave
suspicion. Therefore he must place
her in prison, and cause inquiry to be
made by proclamation whether she has
been known to have done the like
before. And if it is found that this is

Part III. Question 25. MALEFICARUM

249

so, he must inquire whether she was
then publicly defamed in respect of
that heresy ; and from this he can
proceed further so that, before all
else, she may be exposed to an interro¬
gation under the question and torture.
And then, if she shows signs of such
heresy, or of the taciturnity of witches ;
as that she should be unable to shed
tears, or remain insensible under tor¬
ture and quickly recover her strength
afterwards ; then he may proceed with
the various precautions which we have
already explained where we dealt
with such cases.

And in case all should fail, then let
him take note that, if she has per¬
petrated the like before, she is not to
be altogether released, but must be
sent to the squalor of prison for a year,
and be tortured, and be examined very
often, especially on the more Holy
Days. But if, in addition to this, she
has been defamed, then the Judge
may proceed in the manner already
shown in the case of simple heresy, and
condemn her to the fire, especially if
there is a multitude of witnesses and
she had often been detected in similar
or other deeds of witchcraft. But if he
wishes to be merciful, he may set her a
canonical purgation, that she should
find twenty or thirty sponsors, sen¬
tencing her in such a way that, if she
should fail in her purgation, she shall
be condemned to the fire as convicted.
And the Judge can proceed in such a
manner.

And if she should purge herself, then
the Judge must sentence her to an
abjuration of all heresy, on pain of
the punishment for backsliders, together
with a perpetual penance, in the
following manner. The preparations for
the abjuration will be the same as were
explained in the fourth and fifth
methods of concluding a process on
behalf of the faith.

Note that in all the following methods
of pronouncing sentence, when the
Judge wishes to proceed in a merciful
manner he can act in the way we have
already explained. But since secular
Judges use their own various methods,
proceeding with rigour but not always
with equity, no fixed rule or method
can be given for them as it can for an
ecclesiastical Judge, who can receive
the abjuration and impose a perpetual
penance in the following manner :

I, N., of such a place in such a Diocese,

standing in person before you my
venerable Lords the Bishop of such city
and Judges, having touched with my
hands the Holy Gospel placed before
me, swear that I believe in my heart
and profess with my lips the Holy
Catholic and Apostolic Faith which
the Holy Roman Church holds, pro¬
fesses, believes, preaches and teaches.
And consequently I abjure all heresy,
and renounce and revoke all who raise
themselves against the Holy Roman
and Apostolic Church, of whatever
sect or error they be. Also I swear and
promise that I shall never hencefor¬
ward do, say, or cause to be done such
and such (naming them) which I have
done and said, and for which, in my
guilt, you hold me gravely suspected of
the said heresy. Also I swear and
promise that I will perform every
penance which you wish to impose
upon me for the said crimes to the best
of my strength, and that I will not
omit any part of it, so help me God
and the Holy Gospel. And if (which
God forbid) I should hereafter act in
contravention of this abjuration, I here
and now bind and oblige myself to
suffer the due punishments for back¬
sliders, however severe they be.

Let the Notary take care to set it
down that the said abjuration was made
by one gravely suspected of heresy, so
that if she should be proved to have
relapsed, she should then be judged
accordingly and delivered up to the
secular Court.

After this let the Bishop absolve her
from the sentence of excommunication
which she has incurred as one gravely
suspected of heresy. For when a heretic
returns to the faith and abjures his
heresy, he is to be released from the
sentence of excommunication which is
passed on all heretics. Similarly, such
a one as we are considering was con¬
demned as a heretic, as we have said;
but after she has abjured her heresy
she is to be released from excommunica¬
tion; and after this absolution she is
to be sentenced in the following manner :

We N., Bishop of such city, and, if
he is present, Judge in the territory
of such Lord, seeing that you N., of
such a place in such a Diocese, have
been accused before us of such and
such touching the faith (naming them),
and that we have proceeded to inform
ourselves concerning them as justice
demanded by a careful examination

250

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 26.

of the merits of the process and of all
that has been done and said in the
present case, have found that you
have committed such and such (naming
them). Wherefore, and not without
reason holding you gravely suspect
of such heresy (naming it), we have
caused you as one so suspected publicly
to abjure all heresy in general, as the
canonical sanctions bid us. And since
according to those same canonical
institutions all such are to be con¬
demned as heretics, but you holding
to wiser counsel and returning to the
bosom of our Holy Mother the Church
have abjured, as we have said, all vile
heresy, therefore we absolve you from
the sentence of excommunication by
which you were deservedly bound as
one hateful to the Church of God.
And if with true heart and faith
unfeigned you have returned to the
unity of the Church, you shall be
reckoned from henceforth among the
penitent, and as from now are received
back into the merciful bosom of the
Holy Church. But since it would be
most scandalous to pass over with
connivent eyes and leave unpunished
your offences against God and your
injuries to men, for it is a graver
matter to offend the Divine Majesty
than a human monarch, and that
your crimes may not be an incentive
for other sinners, and that you may
become more careful in the future and
less prone to commit again the afore¬
said crimes, and may suffer the less
punishment in the next world : We the
aforesaid Bishop and Judge, having
availed ourselves of the wise and con¬
sidered advice of learned men in this
matter, sitting in tribunal as Judges
judging, having before our eyes only
God and the irrefragable truth of the
Holy Faith, with the Holy Gospels
placed before us that our judgement
may proceed as from the countenance
of God and our eyes see with equity,
sentence and condemn, or rather impose
penance in the following manner upon
you N., appearing in person before
us on the day and at the hour which
was before assigned to you. First, you
shall put on over all the garments which
you wear a grey-blue garment after
the manner of a monk’s scapulary,
made without a hood either before
or behind, and having upon it crosses
of yellow cloth three palms long and
two palms wide, and you shall wear

this garment over all others for such
a length of time (setting a period of
one or two years, more or less as the
guilt of the person demands). And
in the said garment and crosses you
shall stand in the door of such a church
at such a time for so long, or on the
four major Feasts* of the Glorious
Virgin, or in such and such cities in
the doors of such and such churches;
and we sentence and condemn you for
life, or for such a period, to such a
prison. (Let this be set down as seems
most to the honour of the faith, and
according to the greater or less guilt
and obstinacy of the accused.) And
we expressly, and in the sure knowledge
that it is so ordained by canonical
institution, reserve to ourselves the
right to mitigate the said penance, to
increase it, change it, or remove it,
in whole or in part, as often as seems
good to us. This sentence was given,
etc.

And when this has been read, it shall
at once be duly put into execution, and
she shall be clothed with the aforesaid
garment with the crosses as has been
said.

☆

QUESTION XXVI

The Method of passing Sentence upon one
who is both Suspect and Defamed.

THE seventh method of bringing
to a conclusion a process on behalf
of the faith is employed when the
person accused of the sin of heresy,
after a careful examination of the
merits of the process in consultation
with men learned in the law, is found
to be both suspected and defamed of
heresy. And this is when the accused
is not legally convicted by his own
confession or by the evidence of the
facts or by the legitimate production
of witnesses ; but is found to be publicly

* “ Four Major Feasts.'” Presumably the
Annunciation , the Visitation, Assumption, and
Nativity of Our Lady are intended. Candlemas,
which in the Middle Ages had an octave in many
dioceses, may be intended instead of the Visitation.
The last Pope, Sixtus IV, had in 14.70 published
a work on the Immaculate Conception. By a
decree of 28 February, 1476, this Pontiff
adopted the Feast of Our Lady’s Conception for
the entire Latin Church and granted an indul¬
gence to all who should assist at the Divine
Office of this Solemnity.

Part III. Question 26. MALEFICARUM

251

defamed, and there are also other
indications which render him lightly
or strongly suspected of heresy : as that
he has held much familiarity with
heretics. And such a person must,
because of his defamation, undergo a
canonical purgation; and because of
the suspicion against him he must
abjure the heresy.

The procedure in such a case will
be as follows. Such a person, being
publicly defamed for heresy, and being
in addition to this suspected of heresy
by reason of certain other indications,
shall first publicly purge himself in the
manner which we explained in the
second method. Having performed this
purgation, he shall immediately, as
one against whom there are other
indications of the suspected heresy,
abjure that heresy in the following
manner, having before him, as before,
the Book of the Gospels :

I, N., of such a place in such a
Diocese, standing my trial in person
before you my Lords, N., Bishop of such
city and Judge in the territory of such
Prince, having touched with my hands
the Holy Gospels placed before me,
swear that I believe in my heart and
profess with my lips that Holy Apostolic
Faith which the Roman Church be¬
lieves, professes, preaches and observes.
And consequently I abjure, detest,
renounce and revoke every heresy
which rears itself up against the Holy
and Apostolic Church, of whatever
sect or error it be, etc., as above.

Also I swear and promise that I will
never hereafter do or say or cause to
be done such and such (naming them),
for which I am justly defamed as having
committed them, and of which you
hold me suspected. Also I swear and
promise that I will perform to the best
of my strength every penance which
you impose upon me, nor will I omit
any part of it, so help me God and
this Holy Gospel. And if hereafter I
should act in any way contrary to this
oath and abjuration (which God for¬
bid), I here and now freely submit,
oblige, and bind myself to the legal
punishment for such, to the limit of
sufferance, when it shall have been
proved that I have committed such
things.

But it must be noted that when the
indications are so strong as to render
the accused, either with or without the
aforesaid defamation, strongly suspected

of heresy, then he shall, as above,
abjure all heresy in general. And if he
relapses into any heresy, he shall suffer
the due punishment of a backslider.
But if the indications are so small and
slight as, even taken together with the
said defamation, not to render him
strongly, but only lightly, suspected
of heresy, then it is enough if he makes
not a general abjuration, but specifically
abjures that heresy of which he is
suspected ; so that, if he were to relapse
into another form of heresy, he would
not be liable to the penalty for back¬
sliders. And even if he were to relapse
into the same heresy which he had
abjured, he would still not be liable
to the said penalty, although he would
be more severely punished than would
have been the case if he had not
abjured.

But there is a doubt whether he would
be liable to the penalty for back¬
sliders if, after his canonical purgation,
he should relapse into the same heresy
of which he was canonically purged.
And it would seem that this would be
so, from the Canon Law, c. excom¬
municamus and c. ad abolendam. There¬
fore the Notary must take great care to
set it down whether such a person has
made his abjuration as one under a
light or a strong suspicion of heresy;
for, as we have often said, there is a
great difference between these. And
when this has been done, sentence or
penance shall be pronounced in the
following manner :

We, N., Bishop of such city or Judge
in the territories of such Prince, having
diligently in mind that you, N., of such
a place in such a Diocese, have been
accused before us of such heresy (naming
it) ; and wishing to inquire judicially
whether you have fallen into the said
heresy, by examining witnesses, by
summoning and questioning you upon
oath, and by all convenient means in
our power, we have acted and proceeded
as it behoved.

Having digested, observed and di¬
ligently inspected all the facts, and
having discussed the merits of the
process of this case, examining all and
singular which has been done and
said, and having consulted with and
obtained the mature opinion of many
learned Theologians and lawyers, we
find that you have been in such place
or places publicly defamed by good
and sober men for the said heresy;

252

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 27.

wherefore, as we are bidden by the
canonical institutions, we have imposed
upon you a canonical purgation by
which you and your sponsors have
here publicly purged yourself before
us. We find also that you have com¬
mitted such and such (naming them),
by reason of which we have just cause
to hold you strongly or lightly (let it
be said whether it is one or the other)
suspected of the said heresy; and
therefore we have caused you to abjure
heresy as one under such suspicion
(here, if he has abjured as one under
strong suspicion, let them say “all
heresy” ; and if as one under light
suspicion, “the said heresy”).

But because we cannot and must not
in any way tolerate that which you
have done, but are injustice compelled
to abominate it, that you may become
more careful in the future, and that
your crimes may not remain un¬
punished, and that others may not be
encouraged to fall into the like sins,
and that the injuries to the Creator
may not easily be passed over: There¬
fore against you, N., having so purged
yourself and abjured, standing per¬
sonally in our presence in this place
at the time which was assigned to you,
We, the aforesaid Bishop or Judge, sit¬
ting in tribunal as Judges judging,
having before us the Holy Gospels that
our judgement may proceed as from
the countenance of God and our eyes
see with equity, pronounce sentence or
penance in the following manner,
namely, that you must, etc.

And let them pronounce sentence as
shall seem most to the honour of the
faith and the extermination of the sin of
heresy : as that on certain Sundays
and Festivals he must stand at the
door of such a church, holding a candle
of such a weight, during the solemniza¬
tion of Holy Mass, with head uncovered
and bare feet, and offer the said candle
at the altar; and that he must fast on
Fridays, and that for a certain period
he must not dare to depart from that
place, but present himself before the
Bishop or Judge on certain days of the
week; and any similar penance which
seems to be demanded by the particular
nature of his guilt ; for it is impossible
to give a hard-and-fast rule. This
sentence was given, etc. And let it be
put into execution after it has been
pronounced; and it can be cancelled,
mitigated or changed as may be

required by the condition of the
penitent and for his correction and
humiliation; for the Bishop has this
power by law.

☆

QUESTION XXVII

The Method of passing Sentence upon one
who hath Confessed to Heresy , but is
not Penitent.

THE eighth method of terminating
a process on behalf of the faith
is used when the person accused of
heresy, after a careful examination of
the merits of the process in consultation
with learned lawyers, is found to have
confessed his heresy, but to be penitent,
and not truly to have relapsed into
heresy. And this is when the accused
has himself confessed in a Court of law
under oath before the Bishop and
Inquisitor that he has for so long lived
and persisted in that heresy of which he
is accused, or in any other, and has
believed in and adhered to it ; but that
afterwards, being persuaded by the
Bishop and others, he wishes to be
converted and to return to the bosom
of the Church, and to abjure that and
every heresy, and to make such satis¬
faction as they require of him ; and it
is found that he has made no previous
abjuration of any other heresy, but is
now willing and prepared to abjure.

In such a case the procedure will be
as follows. Although such a person has
for many years persisted in the said
heresy and even in others, and has
believed and practised them and led
many others into error; yet if at last
he has consented to abjure those
heresies and to make such satisfaction
as the Bishop and the ecclesiastical
Judge shall decree, he is not to be
delivered up to the secular Court to
suffer the extreme penalty ; nor, if he
is a cleric, is he to be degraded. But
he is to be admitted to mercy, accord¬
ing to the Canon ad abolendam. And
after he has abjured his former heresy
he is to be confined in prison for life
(see the Canon excommunicamus , where
it provides for the absolution of such).
But great care must be taken that he
has not simulated a false penitence in
order to be received back into the
Church. Also the secular Court is not
at all bound by such a sentence as the
above.

Part III. Question 27. MALEFICARUM

253

He shall make his abjuration in the
manner already set out, with this
difference. He shall with his own mouth
confess his crimes before the congrega¬
tion in church on a Feast Day, in the
following manner. The clerk shall ask
him, Have you for so many years
persisted in the heresy of witches? And
he shall answer, Yes. And then, Have
you done this and this to which you
have confessed? And he shall answer,
Yes. And so on. And finally he shall
make his abjuration kneeling on his
knees. And since, having been con¬
victed of heresy, he has been excom¬
municated, after he has by abjuration
returned to the bosom of the Church,
he is to be granted the grace of absolu¬
tion, according to the manner used by
the Bishops with Apostolic authority of
absolving from the major excommuni¬
cation. And sentence shall at once be
pronounced in the following manner :

We, the Bishop of such city, or the
Judge in the territories of such Prince,
seeing that you, N., of such a place
in such a Diocese, have been by public
report and the information of credible
persons accused before us of the sin of
heresy; and since you had for many
years been infected with that heresy
to the great damage of your soul ; and
because this accusation against you has
keenly wounded our hearts : we whose
duty it is by reason of the office which
we have received to plant the Holy
Catholic Faith in the hearts of men
and to keep away all heresy from their
minds, wishing to be more certainly
informed whether there was any truth
in the report which had come to our
ears, in order that, if it were true, we
might provide a healthy and fitting
remedy, proceeded in the best way
which was open to us to question and
examine witnesses and to interrogate
you on oath concerning that of which
you were accused, doing all and singu¬
lar which was required of us by justice
and the canonical sanctions.

And since we wished to bring your
case to a suitable conclusion, and to
have a clear understanding of your past
state of mind, whether you were walk¬
ing in the darkness or in the light, and
whether or not you had fallen into
the sin of heresy; having conducted
the whole process, we summoned
together in council before us learned
men of the Theological faculty and
men skilled in both the Canon and the

Civil Law, knowing that, according
to canonical institution, the judgement
is sound which is confirmed by the
opinion of many; and having on all
details consulted the opinion of the
said learned men, and having diligently
and carefully examined all the circum¬
stances of the process; we find that
you are, by your own confession made
on oath before us in the Court, con¬
victed of many of the sins of witches.
(Let them be expressed in detail.)

But since the Lord in His infinite
mercy permits men at times to fall
into heresies and errors, not only that
learned Catholics may be exercised
in sacred arguments, but that they
who have fallen from the faith may
become more humble thereafter and
perform works of penitence: having
carefully discussed the circumstances of
this same process, we find that you, at
our frequent instance and following
the advice of us and other honest men,
have with a healthy mind returned to
the unity and bosom of the Holy
Mother Church, detesting the said
errors and heresies, and acknowledging
the irrefragable truth of the Holy
Catholic Faith, laying it to your inmost
heart : wherefore, following in His
footsteps Who wishes that no one
should perish, we have admitted you
to this adjuration and public abjuration
of the said and all other heresies. And
having done this, we absolve you from
the sentence of major excommunica¬
tion by which you were bound for your
fall into heresy, and reconciling you
to the Holy Mother Church we restore
you to the sacraments of the Church;
provided that with a true heart, and
not with simulated faith, you return to
the unity of the Church, as we believe
and hope that you have done.

But because it would be a very
scandalous thing to avenge the injuries
done to temporal Lords and to tolerate
the offences committed against God
the Creator of all the Heavens, since
it is a far greater sin to offend against
the Eternal than against a temporal
Majesty, and that God Who pities
sinners may have mercy upon you, that
you may be an example for others,
and that your sins may not remain
unpunished, and that you may become
more careful in the future, and not
more prone but less apt to commit
the said and any other crimes : We the
said Bishop and Judge, or Judges, on

254

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 28.

behalf of the faith, sitting in tribunal
as Judges judging, etc., as above . . .
that you put on a grey-blue garment,
etc. Also we sentence and condemn
you to perpetual imprisonment, there
to be punished with the bread of
affliction and the water of distress;*
reserving to ourselves the right to
mitigate, aggravate, change, or remit
wholly or in part the said sentence if,
when, and as often as it shall seem good
to us to do so. This sentence was
given, etc.

After this the Judge shall proceed
point by point, pronouncing sentence
in the following or some similar manner :

My son, your sentence or penance
consists in this, that you bear this cross
during the whole period of your life,
that you stand so bearing it on the
altar steps or in the door of such
churches, and that you be imprisoned
for life on bread and water. But, my
son, lest this may seem too hard for
you, I assure you that if you patiently
bear your punishment you will find
mercy with us ; therefore doubt not nor
despair, but hope strongly.

After this, let the sentence be duly
executed, and let him put on the said
garment and be placed on high upon
the altar steps in full view of the people
as they go out, surrounded by the
officers of the secular Court. And at the
dinner hour let him be led by the
officers to prison, and the rest of the
sentence be carried out and duly
performed. And after he is led out
through the door of the church, let the
ecclesiastical Judge have no more to
do with the matter ; and if the secular
Court be satisfied, it is well, but if not,
let it do its pleasure.

☆

QUESTION XXVIII

The Method of passing Sentence upon
one who hath Confessed to Heresy but
is Relapsed , Albeit now Penitent.

THE ninth method of arriving at a
conclusive sentence in a process on
behalf of the faith is used when the
person accused of heresy, after a careful

* “Distress.” “III. Kings” (A. V., “/.

Kings”) xxii, 27: Put this man in prison, and
feed him with bread of affliction , and water of
distress.

investigation of the circumstances of
the process in consultation with men
of good judgement, is found to have
confessed her heresy and to be penitent,
but that she has truly relapsed. And
this is when the accused herself con¬
fesses in Court before the Bishop or
Judges that she has at another time
abjured all heresy, and this is legally
proved, and that she has afterwards
fallen into such a heresy or error :
or that she has abjured some particular
heresy, such as that of witches, and has
afterwards returned to it; but that
following better advice she is penitent,
and believes the Catholic faith, and
returns to the unity of the Church.
Such a one is not, if she humbly ask for
them, to be denied the sacraments of
Penance and the Eucharist; but how¬
ever much she may repent, she is
nevertheless to be delivered up as a
backslider to the secular Court to
suffer the extreme penalty. But it must
be understood that this refers to one
who had made her abjuration as one
manifestly taken in heresy, or as one
strongly suspected of heresy, and not
to one who has so done as being under
only a light suspicion.

The following procedure must be
observed in this case. When, after
mature and careful and, if necessary,
repeated investigation by learned men,
it has been concluded that the said
prisoner has actually and prepense
relapsed into heresy, the Bishop or
Judge shall send to the said prisoner
in the place of detention two or three
honest men, especially religious or
clerics, who are zealous for the faith,
of whom the prisoner has no suspicion,
but rather places confidence in them;
and they shall go in to her at a suitable
time and speak to her sweetly -of the
contempt of this world and the miseries
of this life, and of the joys and glory
of Paradise. And leading up from this,
they shall indicate to her on the part
of the Bishop or Judge that she cannot
escape temporal death, and that she
should therefore take care for the safety
of her soul, and prepare herself to con¬
fess her sins and receive the Sacrament
of the Eucharist. And they shall visit
her often, persuading her to penitence
and patience, strengthening her as
much as they can in the Catholic
truth, and they shall diligently cause
her to confess, so that she may receive
the Sacrament of the Eucharist at her

Part III. Question 28. MALEFICARUM

255

humble petition. For these Sacraments
are not to be denied to such offenders.

And when she has received these
Sacraments, and been well disposed by
these men to salvation; after two or
three days during which they have
strengthened her in the Catholic faith
and induced her to repentance, the
Bishop or Judge of that place shall
notify the bailiff of the place or the
authorities of the secular Court, that
on such a day at such an hour (not
a Feast Day) he should be with his
attendants in such a square or place
(but it must be outside a church)
to receive from their Court a certain
backslider whom the Bishop and Judge
will hand over to him.

And on the morning of the day fixed,
or on the day before, it shall be
publicly proclaimed throughout the
city or place in those towns and villages
where such proclamations are custom¬
ary, that on such a day at such an hour
in such a place there will be a sermon
preached in defence of the Faith, and
that the Bishop and other Judges will
condemn a certain person who has
relapsed into the sin of heresy, deliver¬
ing her up to secular justice.

But here it must be considered that,
if he who has so relapsed should have
been ordained in any Holy Orders, or
should be a priest or a religious of any
Order, before he is handed over he is
to be degraded and stripped of the
privileges of his ecclesiastic order. And
so, when he has been degraded from all
ecclesiastical office, let him be handed
over to secular justice to receive his due
punishment.

When, therefore, such a one is to be
degraded from his orders and handed
over to the secular Court, let the Bishop
summon together all the prelates and
religious men of his Diocese. For in
this case, though not in others, only
the Bishop together with the other
prelates and religious and learned men
of his Diocese can degrade one who
has received Holy Orders when he is
to be delivered to the secular Court,
or is to be imprisoned for life for the
sin of heresy.

On the day appointed for the de¬
grading of the backslider and the hand¬
ing of him over to the secular Court,
if he be a cleric, or, if he be a layman,
for leaving him to hear his definitive
sentence, the people shall gather to¬
gether in some square or open place

outside the church, and the Inquisitor
shall preach a sermon, and the prisoner
shall be set on a high place in the
presence of the secular authorities.
And if the prisoner be a cleric who is
to be degraded, the Bishop shall don
his Pontifical robes, together with the
other prelates of his Diocese in their
vestments and copes, and the prisoner
shall be clothed and robed as if he
were to minister his office; and the
Bishop shall degrade him from his
orders, beginning from the higher and
proceeding to the lowest. And just as
in conferring Holy Orders the Bishop
uses the words ordained by the Church,
so in degrading him he shall take off
his chasuble and stole, and so with the
other vestments, using words of a
directly opposite meaning.

When this degradation has been
accomplished, the proceedings must
continue in the legal and accustomed
manner, and the Notary or religious
or clerk shall be bidden to read the
sentence, which shall be after the follow¬
ing manner, whether the prisoner be a
layman or a degraded cleric :

We, N, by the mercy of God Bishop
of such city, and Judge- in the terri¬
tories of such Prince, seeing that we are
legitimately informed that you, N., of
such a place in such a Diocese, have
been before us (or before such Bishop
and Judges) accused of such heresy
or heresies (naming them), of which you
were lawfully convicted by your own
confession and by witnesses, and that
you had obstinately persisted in them
for so long, but afterwards, listening to
better advice, publicly in such a place
abjured, renounced and revoked those
heresies in the form provided by the
Church, on which account the said
Bishop and Inquisitor, believing that
you had truly returned to the bosom of
the Holy Church of God, did absolve
you from the sentence of excom¬
munication by which you were bound,
enjoining upon you a salutary pen¬
ance if with true heart and faith
unfeigned you had returned to the
unity of the Holy Church ; but where¬
as after all the aforesaid and the
lapse of so many years you are again
accused before us and have again
fallen into such heresies which you
had abjured (naming them), and
though it was sore grief to us to hear
such things of you, yet we were by
justice compelled to investigate the

256

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 28.

matter, to examine the witnesses, and
to summon and question you on oath,
proceeding in each and every way
as we are bidden by the canonical
institutions.

And since we wished to conclude this
case without any doubt, we convened
in solemn council learned men of the
Theological faculty and men skilled in
the Canon and the Civil Law, and in
consultation with them maturely and
carefully examined all and singular
which had been done, said and seen in
the process and diligently discussed
each circumstance, weighing all equally
in the balance as it behoved us; and
we find both by the legitimate evidence
of witnesses and by your own confession
received in Court that you have fallen
into the heresies which you had
abjured. For we find that you have
said or done such and such (let all be
named), on account of which, with the
concurrence of the said learned men,
we have judged and now judge that
you are a backslider, according to the
canonical institutions, to which we
refer in grief and grieve to refer.

But since it has come to the know¬
ledge of Us and of many honest
Catholic men that, by the inspiration
of Divine grace, you have once more
returned to the bosom of the Church
and to the truth of the faith, detesting
the aforesaid errors and heresies and
with true orthodoxy unfeigned be¬
lieving and protesting the Catholic
faith, we have admitted you to receive
the Church’s Sacraments of Penance
and the Holy Eucharist at your
humble request. But since the Church
of God has no more which it can do in
respect of you, seeing that it has acted
so mercifully towards you in the manner
we have said, and you have abused
that mercy by falling back into the
heresies which you had abjured: there¬
fore We the said Bishop and Judges,
sitting in tribunal as Judges judging,
having before us the Holy Gospels
that our judgement may proceed as from
the countenance of God and our eyes
see with equity, and having before our
eyes only God and the irrefragable
truth of the Holy Faith and the extirpa¬
tion of the plague of heresy ; against you,
N., in this place on the day and at the
hour before assigned to you for the
hearing of your definitive sentence, we
pronounce in sentence that you have
truly fallen back into the sin of heresy,

although you are penitent; and as one
truly so relapsed we cast you forth
from this our ecclesiastical Court, and
leave you to be delivered to the secular
arm. But we earnestly pray that the
said secular Court may temper its
justice with mercy, that there be no
bloodshed or danger of death.

And here the Bishop and his
assessors shall withdraw, and the secular
Court shall perform its office.

It is to be noted that, although the
Bishop and Inquisitor ought to use their
utmost diligence, both by their own
efforts and those of others, to induce
the prisoner to repent and return to
the Catholic faith; yet, after he has
repented and it has been decided in
council that, though he is penitent, he
is nevertheless truly a backslider and as
such to be handed over in person to
the secular Court, they ought not to
inform him of such sentence and
punishment. For the face of his Judge
terrifies the prisoner, and his words are
more likely to cause one who is to be
punished to be impenitent than peni¬
tent. Therefore from that time, neither
before nor after the sentence should
they present themselves before him,
that he be not moved in his spirit
against them, a thing which is very
carefully to be avoided in death of this
sort. But, as we have said, let them
send to him some honest men, especially
those in religious orders, or clerics, in
whom he has confidence ; and let
them inform him of the sentence to
come and of his death, and strengthen
him in the faith, exhorting him to have
patience; and let them visit him after
the sentence, and console him and
pray with him, and not leave him until
he has rendered his spirit to his Creator.

Let them, therefore, beware and be
on their guard not to do or say any¬
thing which may enable the prisoner
to anticipate his death, or place them¬
selves in an irregular position. And,
as they have burdened themselves
with the care of his soul, let them then
share also in his punishment and guilt.

It must also be remarked that such a
sentence which delivers up a person to
the secular Court ought not to be pro¬
nounced on a Festival or Solemn Day,
nor in a church, but outside in some
open space. For it is a sentence which
leads to death; and it is more decent
that it should be delivered on an
ordinary day and outside the church;

Part III. Question 29. MALEFICARUM

257

for a Feast Day and the church are
dedicated to God.

☆

QUESTION XXIX

The Method of passing Sentence upon
one who hath Confessed to Heresy but
is Impenitent, although not Relapsed.

THE tenth method of completing a
process on behalf of the Faith by a
final sentence is used when the person
accused of heresy, after a careful
examination of the circumstances of
the process in consultation with skilled
lawyers, is found to have confessed his
heresy and to be impenitent, though
he has not relapsed into the heresy.
Such a case is very rarely found,
but yet it has come within the experi¬
ence of us Inquisitors. In such a
case, therefore, the Bishop and Judge
must not be in haste to sentence the
prisoner, but must keep him well
guarded and fettered, and induce him
to be converted, even to the extent of
several months, showing him that, by
remaining impenitent, he will be
damned in body and soul.

But if neither by comforts nor hard¬
ships, nor by threatening nor persuasion,
can he be brought to renounce his errors,
and the appointed period of grace has
expired, let the Bishop and Judges pre¬
pare to deliver or abandon him to the
secular Court ; and they shall give
notice to the herald or bailiff or secular
authorities that on such a day, not a
Feast, and at such an hour they should
be in such a place with their attendants
outside a church, and that they will
deliver to them a certain impenitent
heretic. None the less they shall
themselves make public proclamation
in the customary places that on such a
day at such a time in the aforesaid
place a sermon will be preached in
defence of the faith, and that they will
hand over a certain heretic to secular
justice; and that all should come and
be present, being granted the custom¬
ary Indulgences.

After this, the prisoner shall be
delivered to the secular Court in the
following manner. But let him first
be often admonished to renounce his
heresy and repent ; but if he altogether
refuses, let the sentence be pronounced.
We, N., by the mercy of God Bishop
s

of such city, or Judge in the territories
of such Prince, seeing that you, N., of
such a place in such a Diocese, have
been accused before us by public
report and the information of credible
persons (naming them) of heresy,
and that you have for many years
persisted in those heresies to the
great hurt of your immortal soul ; and
since we, whose duty it is to exter¬
minate the plague of heresy, wishing
to be more certainly informed of this
matter and to see whether you walked
in darkness or the light, have diligently
inquired into the said accusation,
summoning and duly examining you,
we find that you are indeed infected
with the said heresy.

But since it is the chief desire of our
hearts to plant the Holy Catholic
Faith in the hearts of our people, and
to eradicate the pest of heresy, we have
used diverse and various suitable
methods, both by ourselves and by
others, to persuade you to renounce
your said errors and heresies in which
you had stood, were standing, and even
now defiantly and obstinately stand
with stubborn heart. But since the
Enemy of the human race is present
in your heart, wrapping you up and
entangling you in the said errors, and
you have refused and yet refuse to
abjure the said heresies, choosing rather
the death of your soul in hell and of
your body in this world than to re¬
nounce the said heresies and return to
the bosom of the Church and cleanse
your soul, and since you are deter¬
mined to remain in your sin :

Therefore inasmuch as you are
bound by the chain of excommunica¬
tion from the Holy Church, and are
justly cut off from the number of the
Lord’s flock, and are deprived of the
benefits of the Church, the Church
can do no more for you, having done
all that was possible. We the said
Bishop and Judges on behalf of the
Faith, sitting in tribunal as Judges
judging, and having before us the Holy
Gospels that our judgement may pro¬
ceed as from the countenance of God
and our eyes see with equity, and having
before our eyes only God and the truth
of the Holy Faith and the extirpation of
the plague of heresy, on this day and at
this hour and place assigned to you for
the hearing of your final sentence, we
give it as our judgement and sentence
that you are indeed an impenitent

258

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 30.

heretic, and as truly such to be de¬
livered and abandoned to the secular
Court: wherefore by this sentence we
cast you away as an impenitent heretic
from our ecclesiastical Court, and
deliver or abandon you to the power
of the secular Court : praying the said
Court to moderate or temper its
sentence of death against you. This
sentence was given, etc.

☆

QUESTION XXX

Of one who has Confessed to Heresy ,
is Relapsed , and is also Impenitent.

THE eleventh method of concluding
and terminating a process on behalf
of the Faith is used when the person
accused of heresy, after a diligent
discussion of the circumstances of the
process in consultation with learned
men, is found to have confessed her
heresy, and to be impenitent, and to
have relapsed into it. And this is
when the accused confesses with her
own mouth in Court that she believes
and has practised such and such. The
procedure in such a case is the same as
that above ; and because she is mani¬
festly a heretic, sentence shall be
pronounced in the following manner
in the presence of the Bishop and
Judges :

We N., by the mercy of God Bishop
of such city, or Judge in the terri¬
tories of such Prince, seeing that you
N., of such a place in such a
Diocese, were formerly accused before
us (or before such and such, our pre¬
decessors) of the crime of heresy (nam¬
ing them), and that you were legally
convicted of that crime by your own
confession and the testimony of worthy
men, and that you obstinately per¬
sisted in it for so many years ; but that
afterwards, having listened to better
advice, you publicly abjured those
heresies in such a place and in the
form required by the Church, on
which account the aforesaid Bishop and
Judge, believing that you had truly
renounced the said errors and had
returned with Catholic faith to the
bosom of the Church, granted you the
benefit of absolution, releasing you
from the sentence of excommunication
by which you were formerly bound,
and, setting you a salutary penance if

with true heart and faith unfeigned
you remained converted to the unity
of the Holy Church, received you back
in mercy. For the Holy Church of God
is not closed to such as return to her
bosom.

But after all the aforesaid you have
to our great grief been accused before
us of having again fallen into those
damnable heresies which you formerly
abjured in public ; yea, you have done
so and so (naming them) in contraven¬
tion of the said abjuration and to the
damage of your soul ; and although we
are sore wounded and cut to the heart
to have heard such things of you, yet
we were injustice compelled to inquire
into the matter, to examine the wit¬
nesses, and to summon and question
you on oath as it behoved us, and in
every particular to proceed as we are
bidden by the canonical institutions.
And as we wished to conclude this
case beyond any doubt, we summoned a
solemn council of men learned in the
Theological faculty and of those skilled
in the Canon and Civil Laws.

And having obtained the mature and
considered judgement of the said
learned men upon every single parti¬
cular which had been brought to
notice and done in this case, after
repeated examination of the whole
process and careful and diligent dis¬
cussion of every circumstance, as law
and justice demanded, we find that
you are legally convicted both by the
evidence of credible witnesses and by
your own repeated confession, that you
have fallen, and fallen again, into the
heresies which you abjured. For we
find that you have said or done such
and such (naming them), wherefore
we have reason, in the opinion of the
said learned men, and compelled
thereto by your own excesses, to judge
you as a backslider according to the
canonical decrees. And that we say
this with grief, and grieve to say it, He
knows from Whom nothing is hid and
Who seeth into the secrets of all hearts.
And with all our hearts we desired and
still desire to lead you back to the
unity of Holy Church and to drive out
from your heart the said foul heresy,
that so you may save your soul and
preserve your body and soul from
destruction in hell, and we have
exerted our utmost endeavour by
various fitting methods to convert you
to salvation; but you have been given

Part III. Question 31. MALEFICARUM

259

up to your sin and led away and
seduced by an evil spirit, and have
chosen to be tortured with fearful and
eternal torment in hell, and that your
temporal body should here be con¬
sumed in the flames, rather than to give
ear to better counsels and renounce
your damnable and pestilent errors,
and to return to the merciful bosom of
our Holy Mother Church.

Wherefore since the Church of God
can do nothing more for you, having
done all that was possible to convert
you : We the Bishop and Judges named
in this cause on behalf of the faith,
sitting in tribunal as Judges judging,
having before us the Holy Gospels that
our judgement may proceed as from
the countenance of God and our eyes
see with equity, and having before our
eyes only God and the honour of the
Holy Catholic Faith, on this day at
this hour and place before assigned to
you for the hearing of your final
sentence, we pronounce judgement
upon you N., here present before us,
and condemn and sentence you as a
truly impenitent and relapsed heretic,
and as such to be delivered or aban¬
doned to secular justice; and by this
our definitive sentence we cast you
out as a truly impenitent and relapsed
heretic from our ecclesiastical Court,
and deliver and abandon you to the
power of the secular Court; praying
that the said secular Court will temper
or moderate its sentence of death
against you. This sentence was given,
etc.

☆

QUESTION XXXI

Of one Taken and Convicted , but Denying
Everything.

THE twelfth method of finishing and
concluding a process on behalf of
the faith is used when the person
accused of heresy, after a diligent
examination of the merits of the pro¬
cess in consultation with skilled lawyers,
is found to be convicted of heresy by
the evidence of the facts or by the
legitimate production of witnesses, but
not by his own confession. That is to
say, he may be convicted by the
evidence of the facts, in that he has
publicly practised heresy; or by the
evidence of witnesses against whom
he can take no legitimate exception;

yet, though so taken and convicted,
he firmly and constantly denies the
charge. See Henry of Segusio On Heresy ,
question 34.

The procedure in such a case is as
follows. The accused must be kept in
strong durance fettered and chained,
and must often be visited by the
officers, both in a body and severally,
who will use their own best endeavours
and those of others to induce him to
discover the truth; telling him that if
he does so and confesses his error, and
abjures that vile heresy, he will be
admitted to mercy; but that if he
refuses and persists in his denial, he
will in the end be abandoned to the
secular law, and will not be able to
escape temporal death.

But if he continues for a Jong time in
his denials, the Bishop and his officers,
now in a body and now severally, now
personally and now with the assistance
of other honest and upright men, shall
summon before them now one witness,
now another, and warn him to attend
strictly to what he has deposed, and to
be sure whether or not he has told the
truth; that he should beware lest in
damning another temporally he damn
himself eternally ; that if he be afraid,
let him at least tell them the truth in
secret, that the accused should not die
unjustly. And let them be careful
to talk to him in such a way that they
may see clearly whether or not his
depositions have been true.

But if the witnesses, after this warn¬
ing, adhere to their statements, and the
accused maintains his denials, let not
the Bishop and his officers on that
account be in any haste to pronounce
a definitive sentence and hand the
prisoner over to secular law; but let
them detain him still longer, now
persuading him to confess, now yet
again urging the witnesses (but one at
a time) to examine their consciences
well. And let the Bishop and his
officers pay particular attention to that
witness who seems to be of the best
conscience and the most disposed to
good, and let them more insistently
charge him on his conscience to speak
the truth whether or not the matter
was as he had deposed. And if they
see any witness vacillate, or there are
any other indications that he has given
false evidence, let them attest him
according to the counsel of learned men,
and proceed as justice shall require.

26o

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 31.

For it is very often found that after
a person so convicted by credible
witnesses has long persisted in his
denials, he has at length relented,
especially on being truly informed that
he will not be delivered to the secular
Court, but be admitted to mercy if he
confesses his sin, and he has then freely
confessed the truth which he had so
long denied. And it is often found that
the witnesses, actuated by malice and
overcome by enmity, have conspired
together to accuse an innocent person
of the sin of heresy ; but afterwards, at
the frequent entreaty of the Bishop and
his officers, their consciences have been
stricken with remorse and, by Divine
inspiration, they have revoked their
evidence and confessed that they have
out of malice put that crime upon the
accused. Therefore the prisoner in
such a case is not to be sentenced
hastily, but must be kept for a year or
more before he is delivered up to the
secular Court.

When a sufficient time has elapsed,
and after all possible care has been
taken, if the accused who has been thus
legally convicted has acknowledged his
guilt and confessed in legal form that
he hath been for the period stated
ensnared in the crime of heresy, and
has consented to abjure that and every
heresy, and to perform such satisfac¬
tion as shall seem proper to the Bishop
and Inquisitor for one convicted of
heresy both by his own confession and
the legitimate production of witnesses ;
then let him as a penitent heretic
publicly abjure all heresy, in the man¬
ner which we have set down in the
eighth method of concluding a process
on behalf of the faith.

But if he has confessed that he hath
fallen into such heresy, but neverthe¬
less obstinately adheres to it, he must
be delivered to the secular Court as an
impenitent, after the manner of the
tenth method which we have explained
above.

But if the accused has remained
firm and unmoved in his denial of the
charges against him, but the witnesses
have withdrawn their charges, revoking
their evidence and acknowledging
their guilt, confessing that they had put
so great a crime upon an innocent
man from motives of rancour and
hatred, or had been suborned or
bribed thereto; then the accused shall
be freely discharged, but they shall be

punished as false witnesses, accusers or
informers. This is made clear by Paul
of Burgos in his comment on the Canon
c. multorum. And sentence or penance
shall be pronounced against them as
shall seem proper to the Bishop and
Judges; but in any case such false
witnesses must be condemned to per¬
petual imprisonment on a diet of bread
and water, and to do penance for all the
days of their life, being made to stand
upon the steps before the church door,
etc. However, the Bishops have power
to mitigate or even to increase the
sentence after a year or some other
period, in the usual manner.

But if the accused, after a year or
other longer period which has been
deemed sufficient, continues to main¬
tain his denials, and the legitimate
witnesses abide by their evidence, the
Bishop and Judges shall prepare to
abandon him to the secular Court;
sending to him certain honest men
zealous for the faith, especially re¬
ligious, to tell him that he cannot escape
temporal death while he thus persists
in his denial, but will be delivered up as
an impenitent heretic to the power of the
secular Court. And the Bishop and his
officers shall give notice to the Bailiff
or authority of the secular Court that
on such a day at such an hour and in such
a place (not inside a church) he should
come with his attendants to receive
an impenitent heretic whom they will
deliver to him. And let him make
public proclamation in the usual places
that all should be present on such a
day at such an hour and place to hear
a sermon preached on behalf of the
faith, and that the Bishop and his
officer will hand over a certain
obstinate heretic to the secular Court.

On the appointed day for the pro¬
nouncement of sentence the Bishop and
his officer shall be in the place afore¬
said, and the prisoner shall be placed
on high before the assembled clergy and
people so that he may be seen by all,
and the secular authorities shall be
present before the prisoner. Then
sentence shall be pronounced in the
following manner:

We, N., by the mercy of God Bishop
of such city, or Judge in the territories
of such Prince, seeing that you, N., of
such a place in such a Diocese, have
been accused before us of such heresy
(naming it) ; and wishing to be more
certainly informed whether the charges

Part III. Question 32. MALEFICARUM

261

made against you were true, and
whether you walked in darkness or in
the light ; we proceeded to inform our¬
selves by diligently examining the
witnesses, by often summoning and
questioning you on oath, and admitting
an Advocate to plead in your defence,
and by proceeding in every way as we
were bound by the canonical decrees.

And wishing to conclude your trial
in a manner beyond all doubt, we
convened in solemn council men learned
in the Theological faculty and in the
Canon and Civil Laws. And having
diligently examined and discussed each
circumstance of the process and
maturely and carefully considered with
the said learned men everything which
has been said and done in this present
case, we find that you, N., have been
legally convicted of having been in¬
fected with the sin of heresy for so long
a time, and that you have said and
done such and such (naming them) on
account of which it manifestly appears
that you are legitimately convicted of
the said heresy.

But since we desired, and still desire,
that you should confess the truth and
renounce the said heresy, and be led
back to the bosom of Holy Church and
to the unity of the Holy Faith, that so
you should save your soul and escape
the destruction of both your body and
soul in hell ; we have by our own efforts
and those of others, and by delaying
your sentence for a long time, tried to
induce you to repent; but you being
obstinately given over to wickedness
have scorned to agree to our whole¬
some advice, and have persisted and do
persist with stubborn and defiant
mind in your contumacious and dogged
denials; and this we say with grief,
and grieve and mourn in saying it.
But since the Church of God has waited
so long for you to repent and acknow¬
ledge your guilt, and you have refused
and still refuse, her grace and mercy
can go no farther.

Wherefore that you may be an
example to others and that they may
be kept from all such heresies, and that
such crimes may not remain un¬
punished : We the Bishop and Judges
named on behalf of the faith, sitting
in tribunal as Judges judging, and
having before us the Holy Gospels that
our judgement may proceed as from
the countenance of God and our eyes
see with equity, and having before our

eyes only God and the glory and
honour of the Holy Faith, we judge,
declare and pronounce sentence that
you standing here in our presence on
this day at the hour and place ap¬
pointed for the hearing of your final
sentence, are an impenitent heretic,
and as such to be delivered or
abandoned to secular justice; and as
an obstinate and impenitent heretic
we have by this sentence cast you off
from the ecclesiastical Court and deliver
and abandon you to secular justice
and the power of the secular Court.
And we pray that the said secular
Court may moderate its sentence of
death upon you. This sentence was
given, etc.

The Bishop and Judges may, more¬
over, arrange that just men zealous for
the faith, known to and in the con¬
fidence of the secular Court, shall have
access to the prisoner while the secular
Court is performing its office, in order
to console him and even yet induce
him to confess the truth, acknowledge
his guilt, and renounce his errors.

But if it should happen that after the
sentence, and when the prisoner is
already at the place where he is to be
burned, he should say that he wishes
to confess the truth and acknowledge
his guilt, and does so ; and if he should
be willing to abjure that and every
heresy; although it may be presumed
that he does this rather from fear of
death than for love of the truth, yet
I should be of the opinion that he may
in mercy be received as a penitent
heretic and be imprisoned for life.
See the gloss on the chapters ad
abolendam and excommunicamus. Never¬
theless, according to the rigour of the
law, the Judges ought not to place
much faith in a conversion of this sort ;
and furthermore, they can always
punish him on account of the temporal
injuries which he has committed.

☆

QUESTION XXXII

Of one who is Convicted but who hath Fled
or who Contumaciously Absents himself.

THE thirteenth and last method of
arriving at a definite sentence in
a process on behalf of the Faith is used
when the person accused of heresy,
after a diligent discussion of the merits

262

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 32.

of the process in consultation with
learned lawyers, is found to be con¬
victed of heresy, but has made his
escape, or defiantly absents himself
after the expiration of a set time. And
this happens in three cases.

First, when the accused is convicted
of heresy by his own confession, or by
the evidence of the facts, or by the
legitimate production of witnesses, but
has fled, or has absented himself and
refused to appear after being legally
summoned.

Secondly, when a person has been
accused and certain information has
been laid against him on account of
which he rests under some suspicion,
even if it be only a light one, and he has
been summoned to answer for his
faith; and because he has defiantly
refused to appear, he is excommunic¬
ated, and has stubbornly remained in
that excommunication for a year, and
always defiantly absents himself.

The third case is when someone
directly obstructs the Bishop’s or Judges’
sentence or process on behalf of the
Faith, or lends his help, advice or
protection for that purpose, and such
a person has been stricken with the
sword of excommunication. And if
he has obstinately endured that ex-
communication for a year, he is then
to be condemned as a heretic who has
defied the administration of justice.

In the first case, such a person is,
according to the Canon ad abolendam ,
to be condemned as an impenitent
heretic. In the second and third cases
he is not to be judged as an impenitent
heretic, but to be condemned as if he
were a penitent heretic. And in any
of these cases the following procedure
should be observed. When such a
person has been awaited for a sufficient
time, let him be summoned by the
Bishop and his officer in the Cathedral
Church of that Diocese in which he
has sinned, and in the other churches
of that place where he had his dwelling,
and especially from where he has fled ;
and let him be summoned in the
following manner :

We, N., by the mercy of God Bishop
of such city, etc., or Judge of such
Diocese, having in our charge the
welfare of souls, and having above all
the desires of our heart this most
earnest desire that in our time in the
said Diocese the Church should flourish
and that there should be a fruitful

and abundant harvest in that vineyard
of the Lord of Hosts, which the right
hand of the Most High Father has
planted in the bosom of the righteous,
which the Son of that Father has
plentifully watered with His own life-
giving Blood, which the reviving Spirit
the Paraclete has made fruitful within
by His wonderful and ineffable gifts,
which the whole incomprehensible and
ineffable Blessed Trinity has endowed
and enriched with many very great and
holy privileges ; but the wild boar out
of the forest, by which is meant any
sort of heretic, has devoured and
despoiled it, laying waste the fair fruit
of the faith and planting thorny briars
among the vines; and that tortuous
serpent, the evil enemy of our human
race, who is Satan and the devil, has
breathed out venom and poisoned the
fruit of the vineyard with the plague
of heresy : And this is the field of the
Lord, the Catholic Church, to till and
cultivate which the only first-born Son
of God the Father descended from the
heights of Heaven, and sowed it with
miracles and Holy discourse, going
through towns and villages and teach¬
ing not without great labour ; and He
chose as His Apostles honest labouring
men, and showed them the way,
endowing them with eternal rewards;
and the Son of God Himself expects to
gather from that field on the Day of
the Last Judgement a plentiful harvest,
and by the hands of His Holy Angels to
store it in His Holy barn in Heaven:
But the foxes of Samson,* two-faced
like them who have fallen into the sin
of heresy, having their faces looking
both ways but tied together by their
burning tails, run about with many
torches amidst the fields of the Lord
now white unto harvest and shining
with the splendour of the faith, and
bitterly despoil them, speeding most
cunningly here and there, and with
their strong attacks burning, dissipat¬
ing, and devastating, and subtly and
damnably subverting the truth of the
Holy Catholic Faith.

Wherefore, since you, N., are fallen
into the damned heresies of witches,
practising them publicly in such place
(naming it), and have been by legiti¬
mate witnesses convicted of the sin of
heresy, or by your own confession
received by us in Court; and after

* “Samson” “ Judges ” xv, 1-6.

Part III. Question 32. MALEFICARUM

263

your capture you have escaped, refusing
the medicine of your salvation : there¬
fore we have summoned you to answer
for the said crimes in person before us,
but you, led away and seduced by a
wicked spirit, have refused to appear.

Or as follows :

Wherefore, since you, N., have been
accused before us of the sin of heresy,
and from information received against
you we have judged that you are under
a light suspicion of that sin, we have
summoned you to appear personally
before us to answer for the Catholic
faith. And since, having been sum¬
moned, you have defiantly refused to
appear, we excommunicated you and
caused you to be proclaimed excom¬
municate. And in this state you have
remained stubborn for a year, or so
many years, hiding here and there, so
that even now we do not know
whither the evil spirit has led you ; and
though we awaited you kindly and
mercifully, that you might return to
the bosom and the unity of the Holy
Faith, you being wholly given up to
evil have scorned to do so. Yet we
wish and are bound by justice to con¬
clude this case beyond any question,
nor can we pass over with connivent
eyes your iniquitous crimes.

We the Bishop and Judges in the
said cause on behalf of the faith require
and strictly command by this our
present public edict that you the
aforesaid, at present in hiding and a
runaway and fugitive, shall on such a
day of such a month in such a year, in
such Cathedral Church of such Diocese,
at the hour of Terce appear personally
before us to hear your final sentence:
signifying that, whether you appear or
not, we shall proceed to our definitive
sentence against you as law and justice
shall require. And that our summons
may come to your knowledge before¬
hand and you may not be able to pro¬
tect yourself with a plea of ignorance,
We wish and command that our said
present letters, requisition and sum¬
mons be publicly affixed to the doors
of the said Cathedral Church. In wit¬
ness of all which we have ordered these
our present letters to be authorized by
the impressions of our seals. Given, etc.

On the appointed day assigned for
the hearing of the final sentence, if the
fugitive shall have appeared and con¬
sented to abjure publicly all heresy,

humbly praying to be admitted to
mercy, he is to be admitted if he has not
been a backslider ; and if he was con¬
victed by his own confession or by the
legitimate production of witnesses, he
shall abjure and repent as a penitent
heretic, according to the manner
explained in the eighth method of
concluding a process on behalf of the
faith. If he was gravely suspected, and
refused to appear when he was sum¬
moned to answer for his faith, and was
therefore excommunicated and had
endured that excommunication obstin¬
ately for a year, but becomes penitent,
let him be admitted, and abjure all
heresy, and repent as one gravely
suspected of heresy, in the manner
explained in the sixth method of pro¬
nouncing sentence. But if he shall
appear, and not consent to abjure, let
him be delivered as a truly impenitent
heretic to the secular Court, as was
explained in the tenth method. But if
he still defiantly refuses to appear, let
the sentence be pronounced in the
following manner :

We, N., by the mercy of God Bishop
of such city, seeing that you, N., of such
a place in such a Diocese were accused
before us by public report and the
information of worthy men of the sin of
heresy : We, whose duty it is, proceeded
to examine and inquire whether there
was any truth in the report which had
come to our ears. And finding that you
were convicted of heresy by the deposi¬
tions of many credible witnesses, we com¬
manded that you be brought before us
in custody. (Here let it be said whether
he had appeared and been questioned
under oath or not.) But afterwards,
led away and seduced by the advice of
the evil spirit, and fearing to have your
wounds wholesomely healed with wine
and oil, you fled away (or, if it was the
case, You broke from your prison and
place of detention and fled away),
hiding here and there, and we are
altogether ignorant of whither the said
evil spiiit has led you.

Or after this manner :

And finding that against you, accused
as aforesaid before us of the sin of
heresy, there were many indications by
reason of which we judged you to be
lightly suspected of the said heresy, we
summoned you by public edict in such
and such churches of such Diocese
within a certain time assigned to appear

264

MALLEUS

in person before us to answer to the
said charges against you and otherwise
on matters concerning the Faith. But
you, following some mad advice,
obstinately refused to appear. And
when, as in justice bound, we excom¬
municated you and caused you to be
publicly proclaimed as excommunicate,
you stubbornly remained in that ex-
communication for more than a year,
and kept hidden here and there, so that
we do not know whither the evil spirit
has led you.

And whereas the Holy Church of God
has long awaited you up to this present
day in kindness and mercy, that yOu
might fly to the bosom of her mercy,
renouncing your errors and professing
the Catholic Faith, and be nourished by
the bounty of her mercy ; but you have
refused to consent, persisting in your
obstinacy ; and since we wished and still
wish, as we ought to do and as justice
compels us, to bring your case to an equit¬
able conclusion, we have summoned
you to appear in person before us on
this day at this hour and place, to hear
your final sentence. And since you have
stubbornly refused to appear, you are
manifestly proved to abide permanently
in your errors and heresies ; and this we
say with grief, and grieve in saying it.

But since we cannot and will not
delay to do justice, nor may we
tolerate so great disobedience and
defiance of the Church of God ; for the
exaltation of the Catholic Faith and the
extirpation of vile heresy, at the call of
justice, and by reason of your dis¬
obedience and obstinacy, on this day
and at the hour and place heretofore
strictly and precisely assigned to you for
the hearing of your final sentence,
having diligently and carefully dis¬
cussed each several circumstance of
the process with men learned in the
Theological faculty and in the Canon
and Civil Laws, sitting in tribunal as
Judges judging, having before us the
Holy Gospels that our judgement may
proceed as from the countenance of
God and our eyes see with equity, and
having before our eyes only God and
the irrefragable truth of the Holy F aith,
and following in the footsteps of the
Blessed Apostle Paul, in these writings
we pronounce final sentence against
you, N., absent or present, as follows,
invoking the Name of Christ.

We the Bishop and Judges named on
behalf of the Faith, whereas the process

Part III. Question 33.

of this cause on behalf of the Faith has
in all things been conducted as the laws
require ; and whereas you, having been
legally summoned, have not appeared,
and have not by yourself or any other
person excused yourself; and whereas
you have for a long time persisted and
still obstinately persist in the said
heresies, and have endured excom¬
munication in the cause of the Faith for
so many years, and still stubbornly
endure it ; and whereas the Holy
Church of God can do no more for
you, since you have persisted and
intend to persist in your excom¬
munication and said heresies: There¬
fore, following in the footsteps of the
Blessed Apostle Paul, we declare, judge
and sentence you, absent or present,
to be a stubborn heretic, and as such to
be abandoned to secular justice. And
by this our definitive sentence we drive
you from the ecclesiastical Court, and
abandon you to the power of the
secular Court; earnestly praying the
said Court that, if ever it should have
you in its power, it will moderate its
sentence of death against you. This
sentence was given, etc.

Here it is to be considered that, if
that stubborn fugitive had been con¬
victed of heresy, either by his own con¬
fession or by credible witnesses, and
had fled before his abjuration, he is by
the sentence to be judged an impenitent
heretic, and so it must be expressed in
the sentence. But if, on the other hand,
he had not been convicted, but had
been summoned as one under suspicion
to answer for his faith ; and, because he
has refused to appear, has been excom¬
municated, and has obstinately endured
that excommunication for more than
a year, and has finally refused to appear ;
then he is not to be judged a heretic,
but as a heretic, and must be con¬
demned as such; and so it must be
expressed in the sentence, as it is said
above.

☆

QUESTION XXXIII

Of the Method of passing Sentence upon one
who has been Accused by another
Witch, who has been or is to be Burned
at the Stake.

THE fourteenth method of finally
concluding a process on behalf of
the Faith is used when the person

Part III. Question 33. MALEFICARUM 265

accused of heresy, after a careful dis¬
cussion of the circumstances of the
process with reference to the informant
in consultation with learned lawyers,
is found to be accused of that heresy
only by another witch who has been
or is to be burned. And this can happen
in thirteen ways in thirteen cases.
For a person so accused is either found
innocent and is to be freely discharged ;
or she is found to be generally defamed
for that heresy; or it is found that, in
addition to her defamation, she is to be
to some degree exposed to torture; or
she is found to be strongly suspected of
heresy; or she is found to be gravely
suspected of heresy ; or she is found to
be at the same time defamed and sus¬
pected ; and so on up to thirteen
different cases, as was shown in the
Twentieth Question.

The first case is when she is accused
only by a witch in custody, and is not
convicted either by her own confession
or by legitimate witnesses, and there
are no other indications found by reason
of which she can truly be regarded as
suspect. In such a case she is to be
entirely absolved, even by the secular
Judge himself who has either burned
the deponent or is about to burn her
either on his own authority or on that
commissioned to him by the Bishop
and Judge of the Ordinary Court; and
she shall be absolved in the manner
explained in the Twentieth Question.

The second case is when, in addition
to being accused by a witch in custody,
she is also publicly defamed throughout
the whole village or city; so that she
has always laboured under that parti¬
cular defamation, but, after the deposi¬
tion of the witch, it has become
aggravated.

In such a case the following should
be the procedure. The Judge should
consider that, apart from the general
report, nothing particular has been
proved against her by other credible
witnesses in the village or town; and
although, perhaps, that witch has
deposed some serious charges against
her, yet, since she has lost her faith by
denying it to the devil, Judges should
give no ready credence to her words,
unless there should be other circum¬
stances which aggravate that report;
and then the case would fall under the
third and following case. Therefore she
should be enjoined a canonical purga¬
tion, and the sentence should be

pronounced as shown in the Twenty-
first Question.

And if the civil Judge orders this
purgation to be made before the
Bishop, and ends with a solemn
declaration that, if she should fail,
then, as an example to others, she
should be more severely sentenced by
both the ecclesiastical and civil Judges,
well and good. But if he wishes to
conduct it himself, let him command
her to find ten or twenty compurgators
of her own class, and proceed in
accordance with the second method of
sentencing such : except that, if she has
to be excommunicated, then he must
have recourse to the Ordinary; and
this would be the case if she refused to
purge herself.

The third case, then, happens when
the person so accused is not convicted
by her own confession, nor by the
evidence of the facts, nor by credible
witnesses, nor are there any other
indications as to any fact in which she
had ever been marked by the other
inhabitants of that town or village,
except her general reputation among
them. But the general report has
become intensified by the detention of
that witch in custody, as that it is said
that she had been her companion in
everything and had participated in her
crimes. But even so, the accused firmly
denies all this, and nothing of it is
known to other inhabitants, or of
anything save good behaviour on her
part, though her companionship with
the witch is admitted.

In such a case the following is the
procedure. First they are to be brought
face to face, and their mutual answers
and recriminations noted, to see whether
there is any inconsistency in their words
by reason of which the Judge can decide
from her admissions and denials whether
he ought to expose her to torture ; and
if so, he can proceed as in the third
manner of pronouncing sentence,
explained in the Twenty-second Ques¬
tion, submitting her to light tortures :
at the same time exercising every
possible precaution, as we explained
at length towards the beginning of this
Third Part, to find out whether she is
innocent or guilty.

The fourth case is when a person
accused in this manner is found to be
lightly suspected, either because of her
own confession or because of the
depositions of the other witch in

266

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 33.

custody. There are some who include
among those who should be thus
lightly suspected those who go and
consult witches for any purpose, or
have procured for themselves a lover
by stirring up hatred between married
folk, or have consorted with witches
in order to obtain some temporal
advantage. But such are to be ex¬
communicated as followers of heretics,
according to the Canon c. excom¬
municamus, where it says : Similarly we
judge those to be heretics who believe
in their errors. For the effect is pre¬
sumed from the facts. Therefore it
seems that such are to be more severely
sentenced and punished than those who
are under a light suspicion of heresy
and are to be judged from light con¬
jectures. For example, if they had per¬
formed services for witches or carried
their letters to them, they need not on
that account believe in their errors : yet
they have not laid information against
them, and they have received wages
and vails from them. But whether or
not such people are to be included in
this case, according to the opinion of
learned men the procedure must be
as in the case of those under a light
suspicion, and the Judge will act as
follows. Such a person will either
abjure heresy or will purge herself
canonically, as was explained in the
fourth method of pronouncing sentence
in the Twenty-third Question.

However, it seems that the better
course is for such a person to be ordered
to abjure heresy, for this is more in
accordance with the meaning of the
Canon c. excommunicamus, where it
speaks of those who are found to be
only under some notable suspicion.
And if such should relapse, they should
not incur the penalty for backsliders.
The procedure will be as above
explained in the fourth method of
sentencing.

The fifth case is when such person is
found to be under a strong suspicion,
by reason, as before, of her own con¬
fession or of the depositions of the other
witch in custody. In this class some
include those who directly or indirectly
obstruct the Court in the process of
trying a witch, provided that they do
this wittingly.

Also they include all who give help,
advice or protection to those who cause
such obstructions. Also those who in¬
struct summoned or captured heretics

to conceal the truth or in some way
falsify it. Also all those who wittingly
receive, or visit those whom they know
to be heretics, or associate with them,
send them gifts, or show favour to
them; for all such actions, when done
with full knowledge, bespeak favour
felt towards the sin, and not to the
person. And therefore they say that,
when the accused is guilty of any of the
above actions, and has been proved so
after trial, then she should be sentenced
in the fifth method, explained in the
Twenty-fourth Question; so that she
must abjure all heresy, under pain of
being punished as a backslider.

As to these contentions we may say
that the Judge must take into con¬
sideration the household and family
of each several witch who has been
burned or is detained; for these are
generally found to be infected.

For witches are instructed by devils
to offer to them even their own children ;
therefore there can be no doubt that
such children are instructed in all
manner of crimes, as is shown in the
First Part of this work.

Again, in a case of simple heresy it
happens that, on account of the
familiarity between heretics who are
akin to each other, when one is con¬
victed of heresy it follows that his
kindred also are strongly suspected ; and
the same is true of the heresy of witches.

But this present case is made clear
in the chapter of the Canon inter
sollicitudines. For a certain Dean was,
owing to his reputation as a heretic,
enjoined a canonical purgation ; on
account of his familiarity with heretics,
he had to make a public abjuration;
and through the scandal he was
deprived of his benefice, so that the
scandal might be allayed.

The sixth case is when such a person
is under a grave suspicion; but no
simple and bare deposition by another
witch in custody can cause this, for
there must be in addition some indica¬
tion of the facts, derived from certain
words or deeds uttered or committed
by the witch in custody, in which the
accused is at least said to have taken
some part, and shared in the evil
deeds of the deponent.

To understand this, the reader should
refer to what was written in the
Nineteenth Question, especially con¬
cerning the grave degree of suspicion,
how it arises from grave and convincing

Part III. Question 33. MALEFICARUM

267

conjectures; and how the Judge is
forced to believe, on mere suspicion,
that a person is a heretic, although
perhaps in his heart he is a true
Catholic. The Canonists give an
example of this by the case, in simple
heresy, of a man summoned to answer
in the cause of the faith, and defiantly
refusing to appear, on which account
he is excommunicated, and if he
persists in that state for a year, becomes
gravely suspected of heresy.

And so likewise in the case of a
person accused in the way we are
considering, the indications of the facts
are to be examined by which she is
rendered gravely suspect. Let us put
the case that the witch in custody has
asserted that the accused has taken part
in her evil works of witchcraft, but the
accused firmly denies it. What then
is to be done? It will be necessary to
consider whether there are any facts
to engender a strong suspicion of her,
and whether that strong suspicion can
become a grave one. Thus, if a man
has been summoned to answer some
charge, and has obstinately refused to
appear, he would come under a light
suspicion of heresy, even if he had not
been summoned in a cause concerning
the Faith. But if he then refused to
appear in a cause concerning the Faith
and was excommunicated for his
obstinacy, then he would be strongly
suspected ; for the light suspicion would
become a strong one; and if then he
remained obstinate in excommunica¬
tion for a year, the strong suspicion
would become a grave one. Therefore
the Judge will consider whether, by
reason of her familiarity with the witch
in custody, the accused is under a
strong suspicion, in the manner shown
in the fifth case above; and then he
must consider whether there is any¬
thing which may turn that strong
suspicion into a grave one. For it is
presumed that it is possible for this to
be the case, on account of the accused
having perhaps shared in the crimes of
the detained witch, if she has had
frequent intercourse with her. There¬
fore the Judge must proceed as in the
sixth method of sentencing explained
in the Twenty-fifth Question. But it
may be asked what the Judge is to do
if the person so accused by a witch in
custody still altogether persists in her
denials, in spite of all indications against
her. We answer as follows :

First the Judge must consider
whether those denials do or do not
proceed from the vice or witchcraft of
taciturnity: and, as was shown in the
Fifteenth and Sixteenth Questions of
this Third Part, the Judge can know
this from her ability or inability to shed
tears, or from her insensibility under
torture and quick recovery of her
strength afterwards. For then the grave
suspicion would be aggravated; and
in such a case she is by no means to be
freely discharged, but, according to the
sixth method of sentencing, she must
be condemned to perpetual imprison¬
ment and penance.

But if she is not infected with the
taciturnity of witches, but feels the
keenest pains in her torture (whereas
others, as has been said, become
insensible to pain owing to the witch¬
craft of taciturnity), then the Judge
must fall back upon his last expedient
of a canonical purgation. And if this
should be ordered by a secular Judge,
it is called a lawful vulgar purgation,
since it cannot be classed with other
vulgar purgations. And if she should
fail in this purgation she will be judged
guilty.

The seventh case is when the accused
is not found guilty by his own con¬
fession, by the evidence of the facts, or
by legitimate witnesses, but is only
found to be accused by a witch in
custody, and there are also some
indications found which bring him
under light or strong suspicion. As,
for example, that he had had great
familiarity with witches ; in which case
he would, according to the Canon,
have to undergo a canonical purgation
on account of the general report con¬
cerning him; and on account of the
suspicion against him he must abjure
heresy, under pain of being punished as
a backslider if it was a strong suspicion,
but not if it was a light one.

The eighth case occurs when the
person so accused is found to have
confessed that heresy, but to be penitent,
and never to have relapsed. But here
it is to be noted that in this and the
other cases, where it is a question of
those who have or have not relapsed,
and who are or are not penitent, these
distinctions are made only for the
benefit of Judges who are not con¬
cerned with the infliction of the
extreme penalty. Therefore the civil
Judge may proceed in accordance with

268

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 34.

the Civil and Imperial Laws, as
justice shall demand, in the case of one
who has confessed, no matter whether
or not she be penitent, or whether or
not she have relapsed. Only he may
have recourse to those thirteen methods
of pronouncing sentence, and act in
accordance with them, if any doubtful
question should arise.

☆

QUESTION XXXIV

Of the Method of passing Sentence upon a
Witch who Annuls Spells wrought by
Witchcraft ; and of Witch Midwives
and Archer- Wizards.

THe fifteenth method of bringing
a process on behalf of the faith to
a definitive sentence is employed when
the person accused of heresy is not found
to be one who casts injurious spells of
witchcraft, but one who removes them ;
and in such a case the procedure will
be as follows. The remedies which she
uses will either be lawful or unlawful ;
and if they are lawful, she is not to be
judged a witch but a good Christian.
But we have already shown at length
what sort of remedies are lawful.

Unlawful remedies, on the other
hand, are to be distinguished as either
absolutely unlawful, or in some respect
unlawful. If they are absolutely unlaw¬
ful, these again can be divided into two
classes, according as they do or do not
involve some injury to another party;
but in either case they are always
accompanied by an expressed invoca¬
tion of devils. But if they are only in
some respect unlawful, that is to say,
if they are practised with only a tacit,
and not an expressed, invocation of
devils, such are to be judged rather
vain than unlawful, according to the
Canonists and some Theologians, as
we have already shown.

Therefore the Judge, whether ecclesi¬
astical or civil, must not punish the
first and last of the above practices,
having rather to commend the first
and tolerate the last, since the Canonists
maintain that it is lawful to oppose
vanity with vanity. But he must by
no means tolerate those who remove
spells by an expressed invocation of
devils, especially those who in doing
so bring some injury upon a third
party ; and this last is said to happen

when the spell is taken off one person
and transferred to another. And we
have already made it clear in a former
part of this work that it makes no
difference whether the person to whom
the spell is transferred be herself a
witch or not, or whether or not she be
the person who cast the original spell,
or whether it be a man or any other
creature.

It may be asked what the Judge
should do when such a person main¬
tains that she removes spells by lawful
and not unlawful means ; and how the
Judge can arrive at the truth of such a
case. We answer that he should sum¬
mon her and ask her what remedies
she uses ; but he must not rely only upon
her word, for the ecclesiastical Judge
whose duty it is must make diligent
inquiry, either himself or by means of
some parish priest who shall examine
all his parishioners after placing them
upon oath, as to what remedies she
uses. And if, as is usually the case,
they are found to be superstitious
remedies, they must in no way be
tolerated, on account of the terrible
penalties laid down by the Canon Law,
as will be shown.

Again, it may be asked how the lawful
remedies can be distinguished from the
unlawful, since they always assert that
they remove spells by certain prayers
and the use of herbs. We answer that
this will be easy, provided that a
diligent inquiry be made. For although
they must necessarily conceal their
superstitious remedies, either that they
may not be arrested, or that they may
the more easily ensnare the minds of
the simple, and therefore make great
show of their use of prayers and herbs ;
yet they can be manifestly convicted
by four superstitious actions as sor¬
ceresses and witches.

For there are some who can divine
secrets, and are able to tell things which
they could only know through the
revelation of evil spirits. For example :
when the injured come to them to
be healed, they can discover and make
known the cause of their injury ; as that
it arose from some quarrel with a
neighbour or some other cause; and
they can perfectly know this and tell it
to those who consult them.

Secondly, they sometimes undertake
to cure the injury or spell of one person,
but will have nothing to do with that
of another. For in the Diocese of Spires

Part III. Question 34. MALEFICARUM

269

there is a witch in a certain place
called Zunhofen who, although she
seems to heal many persons, confesses
that she can in no way heal certain
others ; and this is for no other reason
than, as the inhabitants of the place
assert, that the spells cast on such
persons have been so potently wrought
by other witches with the help of devils
that the devils themselves cannot
remove them. For one devil cannot or
will not always yield to another.

Thirdly, it sometimes happens that
they know that they must make some
reservation or exception in their cure
of such injuries. Such a case is known
to have occurred in the town of Spires
itself. An honest woman who had been
bewitched in her shins sent for a
diviner of this sort to come and heal
her; and when the witch had entered
her house and looked at her, she
made such an exception. For she said :
If there are no scales and hairs in the
wound, I could take out all the other
evil matter. And she revealed the
cause of the injury, although she had
come from the country from a distance
of two miles, saying: You quarrelled
with your neighbour on such a day,
and therefore this has happened to
you. Then, having extracted from the
wound many other matters of various
sorts, which were not scales or hairs,
she restored her to health.

Fourthly, they sometimes themselves
observe, or cause to be observed, certain
superstitious ceremonies. For instance,
they fix some such time as before
sunrise for people to visit them ; or say
that they cannot heal injuries which
were caused beyond the limits of the
estate on which they live ; or that they
can only heal two or three persons in a
year. Yet they do not heal them, but
only seem to do so by ceasing to injure
them.

We could add many other con¬
siderations as touching the condition
of such persons : as that, after the lapse
of a certain time they have incurred
the reputation of leading a bad and
sinful life, or that they are adulteresses,
or the survivors from covens of other
witches. Therefore their gift of healing
is not derived from God on account of
the sanctity of their lives.

Here we must refer incidentally to
witch midwives, who surpass all other
witches in their crimes, as we have
shown in the First Part of this work.

And the number of them is so great
that, as has been found from their
confessions, it is thought that there is
scarcely any tiny hamlet in which at
least one is not to be found. And that
the magistrates may in some degree
meet this danger, they should allow no
midwife to practise without having
been first sworn as a good Catholic;
at the same time observing the other
safeguards mentioned in the Second
Part of this work.

Here too we must consider archer-
wizards, who constitute the graver
danger to the Christian religion in that
they have obtained protection on the
estates of nobles and Princes who
receive, patronize, and defend them.
But that all such receivers and pro¬
tectors are more damnable than all
witches, especially in certain cases, is
shown as follows. The Canonists and
Theologians divide into two classes the
patrons of such archer-wizards, accord¬
ing as they defend the error or the
person. They who defend the error are
more damnable than the wizards them¬
selves, since they are judged to be not
only heretics but heresiarchs (24, quest.
3). And the laws do not make much
special mention of such patrons,
because they do not distinguish them
from other heretics.

But there are others who, while
not excusing the sin, yet defend the
sinner. These, for example, will do all
in their power to protect such wizards
(or other heretics) from trial and
punishment at the hands of the Judge
acting on behalf of the Faith.

Similarly there are those in public
authority, that is to say, public persons
such as temporal Lords, and also
spiritual Lords who have temporal
jurisdiction, who are, either by omis¬
sion or commission, patrons of such
wizards and heretics.

They are their patrons by omission
when they neglect to perform their duty
in regard to such wizards and suspects,
or to their followers, receivers, defenders
and patrons, when they are required
by the Bishops or Inquisitors to do this :
that is, by failing to arrest them, by not
guarding them carefully when they are
arrested, by not taking them to the
place within their jurisdiction which
has been appointed for them, by not
promptly executing the sentence passed
upon them, and by other such derelic¬
tions of their duty.

270

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 34.

They are their patrons by com¬
mission when, after such heretics have
been arrested, they liberate them from
prison without the licence or order of
the Bishop or Judge; or when they
directly or indirectly obstruct the trial,
judgement, and sentence of such, or
act in some similar way. The penalties
for this have been declared in the
Second Part of this work, where we
treated of archer-wizards and other
enchanters of weapons.

It is enough now to say that all these
are by law excommunicated, and incur
the twelve great penalties. And if they
continue obstinate in that excom¬
munication for a year, they are then
to be condemned as heretics.

Who, then, are to be called receivers
of such ; and are they to be reckoned as
heretics? All they, we answer, who
receive such archer-wizards, enchanters
of weapons, necromancers, or heretic
witches as are the subject of this whole
work. And such receivers are of two
classes, as was the case with the
defenders and patrons of such.

For there are some who do not
receive them only once or twice, but
many times and often; and these are
well called in Latin receptatores , from
the frequentative form of the verb.
And receivers of this class are some¬
times blameless, since they act in
ignorance and there is no sinister
suspicion attaching to them. But some¬
times they are to blame, as being well
aware of the sins of those whom they
receive ; for the Church always de¬
nounces these wizards as the most
cruel enemies of the faith. And if
nevertheless temporal Lords receive,
keep and defend them, etc., they are and
are rightly called receivers of heretics.
And with regard to such, the laws say
that they are to be excommunicated.

But others there are who do not
often or many times receive such
wizards or heretics, but only once or
twice ; and these are not properly called
receptatores , but receptores , since they are
not frequent receivers. (Yet the Arch¬
deacon disagrees with this view; but it
is no great matter, for we are consider¬
ing not words but deeds.)

But there is this difference between
receptatores and receptores: those temporal
Princes are always receptatores who
simply will not or cannot drive away
such heretics. But receptores may be
quite innocent.

Finally, it is asked who are they who
are said to be obstructors of the duty
of Inquisitors and Bishops against such
heretics; and whether they are to be
reckoned as heretics. We answer that
such obstructors are of two kinds. For
there are some who cause a direct
obstruction, by rashly on their own
responsibility releasing from gaol those
who have been detained on a charge
of heresy, or by interfering with the
process of the Inquisition by wreaking
some injury to witnesses on behalf of
the Faith because of the evidence they
have given; or it may be that the
temporal Lord issues an order that none
but himself may try such a case, and
that anyone charged with this crime
should be brought before no one but
himself, and that the evidence should
be given only in his presence, or some
similar order. And such, according to
Giovanni d’ Andrea, are direct obstruc¬
tors. They who directly obstruct the
process, judgement or sentence on
behalf of the Faith, or help, advise or
favour others in doing so, although they
are guilty of great sin, are not on that
account to be judged heretics, unless
it appears in other ways that they are
obstinately and wilfully involved in
such heresies of witches. But they are
to be smitten with the sword of ex-
communication ; and if they stubbornly
endure that excommunication for a
year, then are they to be condemned
as heretics.

But others are indirect obstructors.
These, as Giovanni d’ Andrea explains,
are those who give such orders as that
no one shall bear arms for the capture
of heretics except the servants of the
said temporal Lord. Such are less
guilty than the former, and are not
heretics; but they, and also any who
advise, help or patronize them in such
actions, are to be excommunicated ;
and if they obstinately remain in that
excommunication for a year, they are
then to be condemned as if they were
heretics. And here it is to be under¬
stood that they are in such a way to be
condemned as heretics that, if they
are willing to return, they are received
back to mercy, having first abjured their
error ; but if not, they are to be handed
over to the secular Court as impeni tents.

To sum up. Witch-midwives, like
other witches, are to be condemned and
sentenced according to the nature of
their crimes; and this is true also of

Part III. Question, 35. MALEFICARUM

271

those who, as we have said, remove
spells of witchcraft superstitiously and
by the help of devils ; for it can hardly
be doubted that, just as they are able
to remove them, so can they inflict
them. And it is a fact that some
definite agreement is formed between
witches and devils whereby some shall
be able to hurt and others to heal, that
so they may more easily ensnare the
minds of the simple and recruit the
ranks of their abandoned and hateful
society. Archer-wizards and enchanters
of weapons, who are only protected by
being patronized, defended and re¬
ceived by temporal Lords, are subject
to the same penalties; and they who
patronize them, etc., or obstruct the
officers of justice in their proceedings
against them, are subject to all the
penalties to which t'he patrons of heretics
are liable, and are to be excommunic¬
ated. And if after they have obstinately
endured that excommunication for a
year they wish to repent, let them
abjure that obstruction and patronage,
and they can be admitted to mercy;
but if not, they must be handed over
as impenitents to the secular Court.
And even if they have not endured
their excommunication for a year, such
obstructors can still be proceeded
against as patrons of heretics.

And all that has been said with
regard to patrons, defenders, receivers,
and obstructors in the case of archer-
wizards, etc., applies equally in respect
of all other witches who work various
injuries to men, animals, and the fruits
of the earth. But even the witches
themselves, when in the court of
conscience with humble and contrite
spirit they weep for their sins and make
clean confession asking forgiveness, are
taken back to mercy. But when they
are known, those whose duty it is must
proceed against them, summoning,
examining, and detaining them, and in
all things proceeding in accordance
with the nature of their crimes to a
definitive and conclusive sentence, as
has been shown, if they wish to avoid
the snare of eternal damnation by
reason of the excommunication pro¬
nounced upon them by the Church
when they deliberately fail in their duty.

☆

QUESTION XXXV

Finally, of the Method of passing Sentence
upon Witches who Enter or Cause to be
Entered an Appeal, whether such be
Frivolous or Legitimate and Just.

BUT if the Judge perceives that the
accused is determined to have
recourse to an appeal, he must first
take note that such appeals are some¬
times valid and legitimate, and some¬
times entirely frivolous. Now it has
already been explained that cases con¬
cerning the Faith are to be conducted
in a simple and summary fashion, and
therefore that no appeal is admitted
in such cases. Nevertheless it sometimes
happens that Judges, on account of the
difficulty of the case, gladly prorogue
and delay it ; therefore they may
consider that it would be just to allow
an appeal when the accused feels that
the Judge has really and actually acted
towards him in a manner contrary to
the law and justice; as that he has
refused to allow him to defend himself,
or that he has proceeded to a sentence
against the accused on his own responsi¬
bility and without the counsel of others,
or even without the consent of the
Bishop or his Vicar, when he might have
taken into consideration much further
evidence both for and against. For
such reasons an appeal may be allowed,
but not otherwise.

Secondly, it is to be noted that, when
notice of appeal has been given, the
Judge should, without any perturbation
or disturbance, ask for a copy of the
appeal, giving his promise that the
matter shall not be delayed. And when
the accused has given him the copy of
the appeal, the Judge shall notify him
that he has yet two days before he need
answer it, and after those two days
thirty more before he need prepare the
apostils of the case. And although he
may give his answer at once, and at
once proceed to issue his apostils if he
is very expert and experienced, yet it
is better to act with caution, and fix a
term of ten or twenty or twenty-five
days, reserving to himself the right to
prorogue the hearing of the appeal up
to the legal limit of time.

Thirdly, let the Judge take care that
during the legal and appointed interval
he must diligently examine and dis¬
cuss the causes of the appeal and the
alleged grounds of objection. And if

272

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 35.

after having taken good counsel he
sees that he has Unduly and unjustly
proceeded against the accused, by
refusing him permission to defend
himself, or by exposing him to ques¬
tions at an unsuitable time, or for any
such reason; when the appointed time
comes let him correct his mistake,
carrying the process back to the point
and stage where it was when the
accused asked to be defended, or when
he put a term to his examination, etc.,
and so remove the objection; and then
let him proceed as we have said. For
by the removal of the grounds for
objection the appeal, which was legi¬
timate, loses its weight.

But here the circumspect and provi¬
dent Judge will carefully take note that
some grounds of obj ection are reparable ;
and they are such as we have just
spoken of, and are to be dealt with in
the above manner. But others are
irreparable: as when the accused has
actually and in fact been questioned,
but has afterwards escaped and lodged
an appeal ; or that some box or vessel
or such instruments as witches use has
been seized and burned ; or some other
such irreparable and irrevocable action
has been committed. In such a case
the above procedure would not hold
good, namely, taking the process back
to the point where the objection arose.

Fourthly, the Judge must note that,
although thirty days may elapse be¬
tween his receiving the appeal and
his completing the apostils of the case,
and he can assign to the petitioner the
last day, that is, the thirtieth, for the
hearing of his appeal ; yet, that it may
not seem that he wishes to molest the
accused or come under suspicion of
unduly harsh treatment of him, and
that his behaviour may not seem to lend
support to the objection which has
caused the appeal, it is better that he
should assign some day within the legal
limit, such as the tenth or twentieth
day, and he can afterwards, if he does
not wish to be in a hurry, postpone it
until the last legal day, saying that he is
busy with other affairs.

Fifthly, the Judge must take care
that, when he affixes a term for the
accused who is appealing and petition¬
ing for apostils, he must provide not
only for the giving, but both for the
giving and receiving of apostils. For
if he provided only for the giving of
them, then the Judge against whom

the appeal is lodged would have to
discharge the appellant. Therefore let
him assign to him a term, that is, such
a day of such a year, for the giving and
receiving from the Judge such apostils
as he shall have decided to submit.

Sixthly, he must take care that, in
assigning this term, he shall not in his
answer say that he will give either
negative or affirmative apostils; but
that he may have opportunity for fuller
reflection, let him say that he will give
such as he shall at the appointed time
have decided upon.

Let him also take care that in assign¬
ing this term to the appellant he give
the appellant no opportunity to exercise
any malicious precautions or cunning,
and that he specify the place, day, and
hour. For example, let him assign the
twentieth day of August, in the present
year, at the hour of vespers, and the
chamber of the Judge himself in such a
house, in such a city, for the giving and
receiving of apostils such as shall have
been decided upon for such appellant.

Seventhly, let him note that, if he
has decided in his mind that the charge
against the accused justly requires that
he should be detained, in assigning the
term he must set it down that he assigns
that term for the giving or receiving of
apostils by the appellant in person,
and that he assigns to the said appellant
such a place for giving to him and
receiving from him apostils; and then
it will be fully in the power of the Judge
to detain the appellant, granted that
he has first given negative apostils ; but
otherwise it will not be so.

Eighthly, let the Judge take care not
to take any further action in respect of
the appellant, such as arresting him,
or questioning him, or liberating him
from prison, from the time when the
appeal is presented to him up to the
time when he has returned negative
apostils.

To sum up. Note that it often
happens that, when the accused is in
doubt as to what sort of sentence he
will receive, since he is conscious of his
guilt, he frequently takes refuge in an
appeal, that so he may escape the
Judge’s sentence. Therefore he appeals
from that Judge, advancing some
frivolous reason, as that the Judge held
him in custody without allowing him
the customary surety; or in some such
way he may colour his frivolous appeal.
In this case the Judge shall ask for a

Part III. Question 35. MALEFICARUM

273

copy of the appeal ; and having received
it he shall either at once or after two
days give his answer and assign to the
appellant for the giving and receiving
of such apostils as shall have been
decided upon a certain day, hour, and
place, within the legal limit, as, for
instance, the 25th, 26th or 30th day of
such a month. And during the assigned
interval the Judge shall diligently
examine the copy of the appeal, and
the reasons or objections upon which
it is based, and shall consult with
learned lawyers whether he shall sub¬
mit negative apostils, that is, negative
answers, and thereby disallow the
appeal, or whether he shall allow the
appeal and submit affirmative and
fitting apostils to the Judge to whom the
appeal is made.

But if he sees that the reasons for the
appeal are frivolous and worthless, and
that the appellant only wishes to
escape or to postpone his sentence, let
his apostils be negative and refutatory.
If, however, he sees that the objections
are true and just, and not irreparable ;
or if he is in doubt whether the accused
is maliciously causing him trouble,
and wishes to clear himself of all
suspicion, let him grant the appellant
affirmative and fitting apostils. And
when the appointed time for the
appellant has arrived, if the Judge has
not prepared his apostils or answers,
or in some other way is not ready, the
appellant can at once demand that
his appeal be heard, and may continue
to do so on each successive day up to
the thirtieth, which is the last day
legally allowed for the submission of
the apostils.

But if he has prepared them and is
ready, he can at once give his apostils
to the appellant. If, then, he has
decided to give negative or refutatory
apostils, he shall, at the expiration of
the appointed time, submit them in the
following manner :

And the said Judge, answering to the
said appeal, if it may be called an
appeal, says that he, the Judge, has
proceeded and did intend to proceed
in accordance with the Canonical
decrees and the Imperial statutes and
laws, and has not departed from the
path of either law nor intended so to
depart, and has in no way acted or
intended to act unjustly towards the
appellant, as is manifest from an
examination of the alleged grounds for

T

this appeal. For he has not acted
unjustly towards him by detaining him
and keeping him in custody ; for he was
accused of such heresy, and there was
such evidence against him that he was
worthily convicted of heresy, or was
strongly suspected, and as such it was
and is just that he should be kept in
custody : neither has he acted unjustly
by refusing him sureties ; for the crime
of heresy is one of the more serious
crimes, and the appellant had been
convicted but persisted in denying the
charge, and therefore not even the
very best sureties were admissible, but
he is and was to be detained in prison.
And so he shall proceed with the other
objections.

Having done this, let him say as
follows: Wherefore it is apparent that
the Judge has duly and justly pro¬
ceeded, and has not deviated from the
path of justice, and has in no way
unduly molested the appellant ; but the
appellant, advancing pretended and
false objections, has by an undue and
unjust appeal attempted to escape his
sentence. Wherefore his appeal is fri¬
volous and worthless, having no founda¬
tion, and erring in matter and form.
And since the laws do not recognize
frivolous appeals, nor are they to be
recognized by the Judge, therefore the
Judge has himself said that he does not
admit and does not intend to admit
the said appeal, nor does he recognize
nor yet propose to recognize it. And
he gives this answer to the said accused
who makes this undue appeal in the
form of negative apostils, and com¬
mands that they be given to him
immediately after the said appeal.
And so he shall give it to the Notary
who has presented the appeal to him.

And when these negative apostils
have been given to the appellant, the
Judge shall at once proceed with his
duty, ordering the accused to be
seized and detained, or assigning to him
a day to appear before him, as shall
seem best to him. For he does not
cease to be the Judge, but shall con¬
tinue his process against the appellant
until the Judge to whom the appeal
was made shall order him to cease.

But let the Judge take care not to
commence any new proceedings against
the appellant, by arresting him or, if
he is in custody, liberating him from
prison, from the time of the presenta¬
tion of the appeal up to the time of the

274

MALLEUS

Part III. Question 35.

return of negative apostils to him. But
after that time, as we have said, he can
do so if justice requires it, until he is pre¬
vented by the Judge to whom the appeal
has been made. Then, with the process
sealed under cover, and with a sure and
safe escort and if necessary a suitable
surety, let him send him to the said
Judge.

But if the Judge has decided to
return affirmative and fitting apostils,
let him submit them in writing in the
following manner on the arrival of the
day appointed for the giving and
receiving of apostils :

And the said Judge, answering to the
said appeal, if it may be called an
appeal, says that he has proceeded in
the present cause justly and as he ought
and not otherwise, nor has he molested
or intended to molest the appellant,
as is apparent from a perusal of the
alleged objections. For he has not
molested him by, etc. (Here he shall
answer to each of the objections in the
appeal, in the best and most truthful
manner that he can.)

Wherefore it is apparent that the
said Judge has in no way dealt unjustly
by the appellant nor given him cause
to appeal, but that the appellant is
afraid lest justice should proceed
against him according to his crimes.
And therefore the appeal is frivolous
and worthless, having no foundation,
and not being admissible by the laws
or the Judge. But in reverence for the
Apostolic See, to which the appeal is
made, the said Judge says that he
admits the appeal and intends to
recognize it, deferring the whole matter
to our Most Holy Lord the Pope, and
leaving it to the Holy Apostolic See:
assigning to the said appellant a certain
time, namely, so many months now
following, within which, with the
rocess sealed under cover given to him
y the said Judge, or having given
suitable sureties to present himself at
the Court of Rome, or under a sure and
safe escort appointed to him by the
said Judge, he must present himself in
the Court of Rome before our Lord the
Pope. And this answer the said Judge
gives to the said appellant as affirmative
apostils, and orders that it be given to
him immediately after the appeal
presented to him. And so he shall hand
it to the Notary who has presented the
appeal to him.

The prudent Judge must here take

note that, as soon as he has given these
fitting apostils to the appellant, he
at once ceases to be the Judge in that
cause from which the appeal was
made, and can proceed no further in it,
unless it be referred back to him by our
Most Holy Lord the Pope. Therefore
let him have no more to do with that
case, except to send the said appellant
in the above manner to our Lord the
Pope, assigning to him a convenient
time, say one, two or three months,
within which he must prepare and
make himself ready to appear and
present himself at the Court of Rome,
giving a suitable surety ; or, if he cannot
do this, let him be sent under a sure
and safe escort. For he must either
bind himself by the best means in his
power to present himself within the
assigned time before our Lord the Pope
in the Court of Rome, or his appeal
must necessarily fall to the ground.

But if the Judge has another case,
and proceeds against the accused in
another case in which he has not lodged
any appeal; in that other case he
remains, as before, Judge. And even if,
after the appeal has been admitted,
and the affirmative apostils have been
given, the appellant is accused and
denounced to the Judge in respect of
other heresies which were not in
question in the case from which he
appealed, he does not cease to be the
Judge, and can proceed with the
inquiry and the examination of wit¬
nesses as before. And when the first
case has been finished in the Court of
Rome, or after reference back to the
Judge, he is free to proceed with the
second.

Let Judges also take care that they
send the process to the Court of Rome,
sealed and under cover, to the Judges
appointed to execute justice, together
with a digest of the merits of the pro¬
cess. And Inquisitors should not con¬
cern themselves to appear at Rome
against the appellants ; but should
leave them to their own Judges, who,
if the Inquisitors are unwilling to
appear against the appellants, shall
provide their own advocates for the
appellant, if they wish to expedite the
case.

Let Judges also take note that, if they
are personally summoned by the appel¬
lant, and appear, they must beware at
all costs against engaging in litigation,
but must leave the whole process and

Part III. Question 35. MALEFICARUM

275

cause to those Judges, and so manage
that they may be able to return as soon
as possible; so that they may not be
sorely troubled with fatigues, misery,
labour, and expense in Rome. For by
this means much damage is caused to
the Church, and heretics are greatly
encouraged; and thereafter Judges will
not receive so much respect and
reverence, nor will they be so much
feared as before. Also other heretics,
seeing the Judges fatigued and detained
in the Court of Rome, will exalt their
horns, and despise and malign them,

and more boldly proclaim their here¬
sies; and when they are accused, they
will appeal in the same way. Other
Judges, also, will have their authority
weakened when they proceed on behalf
of the Faith and are zealous in extirpat¬
ing heretics, since they will fear lest
they may be troubled with miseries and
fatigues arising from similar appeals.
All this is most prejudicial to the Faith
of the Holy Church of God ; wherefore
may the Spouse of that Church in
mercy preserve her from all such
injuries.

Official Letter of Approbation of the Malleus Maleficarum from the
Faculty of Theology of the Honourable University of Cologne

rHE official Document of Approbation of the treatise Malleus Maleficarum, and the
subscription of the Doctors of the most honourable University of Cologne, duly set forth and
recorded as a public document and deposition.

/N the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Know all men by these presents, whosoever shall
read, see or hear the tenor of this official and public document, that in the year of our Lord,
1487, upon a Saturday, being the nineteenth day of the month of May, at the fifth hour after
noon, or thereabouts, in the third year of the Pontificate of our most Holy Father and Lord, the
lord Innocent, by divine providence Pope, the eighth of that name, in the very and actual presence
of me Arnold Kolich, public notary, and in the presence of the witnesses whose names are hereunder
written and who were convened and especially summoned for this purpose, the Venerable and Very
Reverend Father Henry Kramer, Professor of Sacred Theology, of the Order of Preachers, Inquisitor
of heretical depravity, directly delegated thereto by the Holy See together with the Venerable and
Very Reverend Father James Sprenger, Professor of Sacred Theology and Prior of the Dominican
Convent at Cologne, being especially appointed as colleague of the said Father Henry Kramer,
hath on behalf both of himself and his said colleague made known unto us and declared that the
Supreme Pontiff now happily reigning, lord Innocent, Pope, as hath been set out above, hath com¬
mitted and granted by a bull duly signed and sealed unto the aforesaid Inquisitors Henry and James,
members of the Order of Preachers and Professors of Sacred Theology, by His Supreme Apostolic
Authority, the power of making search and inquiry into all heresies, and most especially into the
heresy of witches, an abomination that thrives and waxes strong in these our unhappy days, and he
has bidden them diligently to perform this duty throughout the five Archdioceses of the five Metro¬
politan Churches, that is to say, Mainz, Cologne, Treves, Salzburg and Bremen, granting them
every faculty of judging and proceeding against such even with the power of putting malefactors
to death, according to the tenor of the Apostolic bull, which they hold and possess and have exhibited
unto us, a document which is whole, entire, untouched, and in no way laceratedLorfmpaired, in fine
whose integrity is above any suspicion. And the tenor of the said bull commences thus: ‘k Innocent ,
Bishop, Servant of the servants of God, for an eternal remembrance. Desiring with the most heart¬
felt anxiety, even as Our Apostleship requires, that the Catholic Faith should especially in this Our
day increase and flourish everywhere, . . .” and it concludes thus: “ Given at Rome , at S. Peter’s,
on the g December of the Tear of the Incarnation of Our Lord one thousand, four hundred and
eighty-four, in the first Tear of Our Pontificate .”

Whereas some who have the charge of souls and are preachers of the word of God, have been so
bold as to assert and declare publicly in discourses from the pulpit, yea, in sermons to the people,
that there are no witches, or that these wretches cannot in any way whatsoever molest or harm either
mankind or beasts, and it has happened that as a result of such sermons, which are much to be
reprobated and condemned, the power of the secular arm has been let and hindered in the punishment
of such offenders, and this has proved to be a great source of encouragement to those who follow the
horrid heresy of witchcraft and has very notably increased and augmented their ranks, therefore the
aforesaid Inquisitors, wishing with their whole hearts and strength to put a check unto such abomina¬
tions and to counteract such dangers, have with much study, much research, and much labour, indited
and composed a certain Treatise in which they have used their best endeavours on behalf of the
integrity of the Catholic Faith to rebuke and rebut the ignorance of those who dare to preach so gross

276 OFFICIAL LETTER OF APPROBATION

errors, and they have also been at great pains to set forth the lawful and proper way whereby these
pestilent witches may be brought to trial, may be sentenced and condemned, according to the tenor
of the aforesaid bull and the regulations of Canon Law. But since it is very right and altogether
reasonable that this good work which they have wrought for the common benefit of us all should be
sanctioned and confirmed by the unanimous approval of the reverend Doctors of the University, lest
by some evil chance ignorant and ill-intentioned men should suppose that the aforesaid Rectors of
the faculty and the Professors of the Order of Preachers are not wholly at one in their view of these
matters, the authors of the aforesaid Treatise, exactly written out as it is to be printed in fair
characters, in order that when it is so printed it may be recommended and honourably approved by
the recorded good opinions and mature judgement of many learned Doctors, handed to, and laid
before, the most honourable University of Cologne, that is to say, before certain Professors of Sacred
Theology, who are commissioned and required to act as representatives of the most honourable
University, the aforesaid Treatise in order that by them it might be perused, examined, and dis¬
cussed, so that should there be found any points which may seem in any way doubtful or hardly in
agreement with the teachings of the Catholic Faith, such points might be corrected and emended by
the judgement of the said learned Doctors, who shall, moreover, ojficially approve and commend
whatsoever the Treatise contains which is agreeable to the teachings of the Catholic Faith. This
accordingly was done as hath been set forth above.

In the first place, the honoured lord Lambertus de Monte with his own hand subscribed his judge¬
ment and opinion as here followeth: “I, Lambertus de Monte, Professor ( albeit unworthy ) of Sacred
Theology, and at this time Dean of the faculty of Sacred Theology in the University of Cologne,
do here solemnly declare, and I confirm this my declaration with my own hand, that I have read and
diligently perused and considered this Treatise, which is divided into three parts, and that, in my
humble judgement at any rate, the first two parts contain nothing at all which is in any way contrary
to the doctrines of sound philosophy or contrary to the truth of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Faith ,
or contrary to the opinions of those doctors whose writings are approved and allowed by Holy Church.
Moreover, in my opinion, the third part is to be entirely approved, and is to be put into actual
practice, so far as in the trials and punishment of these heretics, of which matters it treats, nothing
is done that may infringe the Canon Law. And again on account of the most weighty and salutary
matters which are contained in this Treatise, which, even if it were only because of the honourable
estate, learning, and good report of these most worthy and honoured Inquisitors, might well be held
to be useful and necessary, all diligent care should be taken that this Treatise be widely distributed
to learned men and men full of zeal, who thence may very profitably have the advantage of so many
and so well-considered directions for the extermination of witches, and it should also be put into
the hands of all rectors of churches , particularly those who are honest, active, and God-fearing men,
who may by reading therein be encouraged to arouse hatred in every heart against the pestilent heresy
of witches and their foul craft, so that all good men may be warned and safeguarded and evil-doers
may be discovered and punished, so that in the full light of day mercy and blessing shall fall upon
the righteous and justice shall be meted out to those who do evil, and thus in all things God shall
be glorified, to Whom be all honour, praise, and glory.”

Next the Venerable Master Jacobus de Stralen with his own hand subscribed his judgement
and considered opinion thus: “I, Jacobus de Stralen, Professor of Sacred Theology, after having
diligently read the aforesaid Treatise, declare that my opinion entirely and altogether is in agree¬
ment with the judgement which hath been set forth by our Venerable Master Lambertus de Monte,
Dean of Sacred Theology, as he hath written above, and this I attest and witness by my own signature
to the glory of God.”

In like manner the honourable Master Andreas de Ochsenfurt wrote with his own hand as
follows: “In the same way I, Andreas de Ochsenfurt, Junior Professor of Sacred Theology, record
that my considered opinion of the matters contained in the said Treatise entirely and wholly agrees
with the judgement written above, and to the truth of this I bear witness by the subscription of my
signature.”

And next, in like manner, the honoured Master Thomas de Scotia subscribed with his own
hand as followeth: “I, Thomas de Scotia, Doctor of Sacred Theology ( unworthy though I be), am
fully in agreement with all that our Venerable Masters have written above with regard to the matters
contained in the said Treatise, which I also have carefully examined and perused, and to the truth
of this I bear witness by subscribing my signature with my own hand.”

Here followeth the second subscription with regard to those discourses which have been pro¬
nounced from the pulpit by ignorant and blameworthy preachers. And in the first place it seems
good to set forth the following articles:

First Article: The Masters of Sacred Theology, who have subscribed their names below, do
much commend the Inquisitors of heretical pravity, who, according to the Canons, have been sent
as deputies by the supreme authority of the Apostolic See, and they would humbly exhort them to
fulfil their exalted office with all zeal and industry.

Second Article: The doctrine that witchcraft may be wrought by the Divine Permission owing
to the co-operation of the devil with wizards or witches is not contrary to the Catholic Faith, but is in

OFFICIAL LETTER OF APPROBATION

*

277

every way agreeable to the teaching of Holy Scripture; nay more, according to the opinions of the
Doctors of the Church it is a belief which must surely be held and steadfastly maintained.

Third Article: Therefore it is a grave error to preach that witchcraft cannot be, and those who
publicly preach this vile error notably hinder the holy work of the Inquisitors to the sore prejudice
of the safety of many souls. It is not convenient that the secrets of magic which are often revealed
to the Inquisitors should indiscriminately be made known to everybody.

Last Article: All princes and all pious Catholics are to be exhorted that they should use their
best endeavours always to assist the Inquisitors in their good work of the defence of the Catholic
Faith.

Wherefore, these Doctors of the aforesaid faculty of Theology who have already signed above
and who have also signed below, have affixed their signatures to these articles, as I, Arnold Kolich ,
public notary, who have signed my name below, have learnt from the sworn information of John
Vorde of Mechlin, good man and true, sworn Bedel of the most honourable University of Cologne , who
declared this upon oath unto me, and as ( for their hands as signed above and below are well known
unto me) I myself have seen set forth as here followeth: “I, Lambertus de Monte, Professor of Sacred
Theology, Dean of the faculty, stoutly maintain and entirely approve of the articles here rehearsed,
and to the truth of this I bear witness by my signature subscribed with my own hand. I, Jacobus
de Stralen, Professor of Sacred Theology, similarly maintain and entirely approve of the articles
as rehearsed above, and to the truth of this I bear witness by affixing my signature with my own
hand. I, Udalricus Kridwiss von Esslingen, Junior Professor of Sacred Theology, likewise main¬
tain and entirely approve of the articles as set forth above, and to the truth of this I bear witness
by affixing my signature with my own hand. I, Conradus von Campen, Professor in ordinary of Sacred
Theology, declare that I assent to and am in entire agreement with the judgement of the Senior Pro¬
fessors. I, Cornelius de Breda, Junior Professor, maintain and entirely approve of the articles as
set forth above, and to the truth of this I bear witness by affixing my signature with my own hand.
I, Thomas de Scotia, Professor of Sacred Theology ( albeit unworthy), entirely agree to, maintain,
and approve of the opinion of the Venerable Professors who have signed above, and to the truth of
this I set my name with my own hand. I, Theoderich de Bummel, Junior Professor of Sacred Theology,
entirely agree with what has been written above by the honoured Masters who have signed their
names above, and to the truth of this I bear witness by my signature written with my own hand '.
In confirmation of the above articles I declare that I am wholly and entirely of the same opinion as
the above most honoured Masters and Professors, I, Andreas de Ochsenfurt, Professor of the faculty
of Sacred Theology, a junior member of the Board of Theologians of the most honourable University
of Cologne.”

Finally and last of all, the aforesaid Venerable and Very Reverend Father Henry Kramer,
Inquisitor, was in possession of and showed us another letter, written out fair on virgin parchment,
bestowed upon and granted unto him by the most Serene and Noble monarch the King of the Romans,
which parchment bore his own royal red official seal, impressed upon a ground of blue wax, which
seal was suspended from and hanging at the bottom of the said parchment, and this was whole
and entire, untouched, not cancelled or suspect, in no wise lacerated or impaired, and by tenor of-
these presents the most Exalted Lord, the aforesaid Noble King of the Romans, in order that for
the benefit of our Holy Faith these businesses might be dispatched with the greater ease and expedi¬
tion, in his royal office as the Most Christian King, wished and wishes that the same Apostolic bull,
whereof we have spoken above, should be in every way respected , honoured, and defended, and the
provisions thereof enforced, and he takes the Inquisitors wholly under his own august protection,
commanding and. requiring all and everyone who are subjects of the Roman Empire that they shall
show the said Inquisitors all favour and grant them every assistance of which they may stand in need
in the discharge of their office, and they shall afford the Inquisitors every help according to the pro¬
visions which are more fully contained and rehearsed in this said letter. And this said letter issued
by the King commences thus, and concludes thus, as is set forth in order here below: “ Maximilian ,
by the Divine Favour and the Grace of God, most August King of the Romans, Archduke of Austria,
Duke of Burgundy, of Lorraine, of Brabant, of Limburg, of Luxemburg and Guelderland, Count
of Flanders . . . ”; and it concludeth thus: ''‘'Given in our good city of Brussels, under our own
hand and seal, on the sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand, fourteen hundred
and eighty-six, in the first year cf our reign.” Wherefore, with regard to all that hath been rehearsed
and set forth above, each and every, the aforesaid Venerable and Very Reverend Father Henry,
Inquisitor, on behalf of himself and his aforesaid colleague, sought from me, the public notary,
whose name is written above and is subscribed below, that each document and all these documents
should be officially drawn up and relegated in the form of a public instrument or public instruments,
and this was done at Cologne in the house and the dwelling of the aforesaid Venerable Master
Lambertus de Monte, which house is situate within the immunities of the Church of S. Andrew at
Cologne, in the room where this same Master Lambertus pursueth his studies and dispatcheth his
businesses, in the year of our Lord, in the month, on the day, at the hour, and during the Pontificate,
all which have been set forth above, there being present there at that very time the aj'oresaid Master
Lambertus, and the Bedel John, as also Nicolas Cuper von Venroid, sworn notary of the Venerable

Curia of Cologne , and Christian Wintzen von Eusskirchen, a cleric of the diocese of Cologne , both
good men and true, who bear witness that this request was formally made and formally granted .

And I, Arnold Kolich von Eusskirchen, a cleric of the diocese of Cologne, sworn notary, was also
present whilst the above businesses each and all were being performed and were carried out , and
to this I give my evidence with the aforenamed witnesses; and in accordance with what I saw and
with what, as I have stated above, I heard upon the sworn testimony of the said Bedel, good man
and true, I have written out fair with my own hand and engrossed the present public instrument,
which I have subscribed, and have caused to be published since I have drawn it up in this official
form for publication, and being requested and required so to do I have signed it and sealed it
according to the wonted manner with my own name and my own seal, that it may be officially
approved and may be a sufficient and legal testimony and probation of all and single that are herein
set forth, rehearsed, and contained .