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COMPENDIUM 

MALEFICARUM 


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MALEFIC A 


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Collected in 3 Books from many Sources by 

BROTHER FRANCESCO MARIA GUAZZO 

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OF THE ORDER OF S. AMBROSE AD NEMUS 

SHOWING THE INIQUITOUS AND EXECRABLE OPERATIONS OF 
WITCHES AGAINST THE HUMAN RACE , AND THE DIVINE 
REMEDIES BT WHICH THEY MAY BE FRUSTRATED 

EDITED WITH NOTES BY THE REV. MONTAGUE 
SUMMERS ' ' / TRANSLATED BY E. A. ASHWIN 



r 


r 


JOHN RODKER 


1929 


LONDON 






This edition is of 1275 
copies only, this copy 
being numbered 


Printed in Great Britain by 

RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED 
BUNGAY 
SUFFOLK 



TO 

THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND RIGHT REVEREND 

LORD ORAZIO MAFFEI 

CARDINAL OF THE HOLY ROMAN CHURCH AND 
EVER VIGILANT PROTECTOR OF THE 
ORDER OF S. AMBROSE 

FRA FRANCESCO MARIA GUAZZO 

A HUMBLE BROTHER OF THE 
SAME ORDER 

GIVETH GREETING 


O M0ST vigilant Prelate, three years ago when I was attending 
the Court of His Serene Highness the Duke of Cleves and 
Julich (who was vexed and bound by many spells of witchcraft), 
I put together and composed this book which I have called “Compendium 
Maleficarum” and I have, moreover, filled it with various and most 
ample examples, with the sole purpose that men, considering the cunning 
of witches, might study to live piously and devoutly in the Lord. And 
although it may provoke the idle jests of the censorious (for what is 
more difficult than to satisfy every palate ?), yet I conceive that it will be 
of some avail to those who would escape the mortal venom of sorcerers. 
When I had, then, determined to print it, I began to look for a Patron 
under whose auspices it might be more securely brought to the light. 
Then, 0 most illustrious and Most Reverend Protector, whom no one has 
excelled in genius, gifts of mind and body and countless graces, did you 
stand out in my mind as one who has given public proof that your most 
eminent courage is joined to a like degree of learning, a Patron who, far 
from despising a humble writer, would rather extend to him your greatest 
favour and more than ordinary kindness. Having these considerations in 
my mind, therefore, I was assured that you were pre-eminently suited to 
act the part of a Maecenas towards such as devoted themselves to the 

V 


VI DEDICATION 

furtherance of sound doctrine, among whom I count myself the humblest: 
and I determined to light this new-born work upon its way with the 
torch of your most Famous Name; and although you are worthy of a far 
nobler work, I venture to dedicate to you this little bock which has not 
been compiled without some labour. And if fas is my hope) you will 
accept it wholly and generously with that fair candour which is yours, it 
may assuredly be expected that those carping critics, who will tolerate 
nothing that does not savour of perfect genius and unremitting industry, 
will turn a blind eye to its faults. Farewell: and may Guazzo be written 
among those who are whole-heartedly attached to you. 


Milan, May, 1608. 





PREFACE 

TO THE READER 


AMONG the countless blessings which the Divine mercy 
/ % daily confers upon the whole human race, and es- 
JL -EL pecially upon His faithful, I esteem this to be the 
most particular: the power to discover the malice and wicked¬ 
ness of our enemies, both visible and invisible. So that, recog¬ 
nising their cunning, we may counteract their stumbling-blocks 
and temptations. And since (Ps. lxxiii) the pride of them 
that hate God is daily increased and ever grows, and the 
venomous Enemy of the human race, whose fierceness waxes 
ever greater, does not fear to sow in our path the sharpest 
thorns of sorrow and tribulation and all sorts of maladies, 
although he himself is fearful of being tormented; therefore he 
essays his utmost to increase his own eternal punishment by 
leading as many men as he can to hell, and to deride, despise, 
and insult the most excellent and divine likeness of God which 
has been washed in the Precious Blood of Christ, and to turn 
man’s freedom to slavery. Therefore each one of us ought 
to search his heart to keep it free from the malice of the 
devil; for he goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he 
may devour; and even though his heart may be pierced and 
torn by his enemy’s weapons, yet the devil leaves nothing 
unattempted and dares everything. When he sees men of weak 
and timid mind, he takes them by storm: when he finds 
them dauntless and firm, he becomes as it were a cunning fox 
to deceive them: for he has a thousand means of hurting us, 
and he uses countless methods, superstitions and curious arts, 
to seduce men’s minds from God and lead them to his own 
follies; and all these he wondrously performs by means of 
illusions and witchcraft. Therefore it is agreed that this sort of 
evils has been disseminated to the destruction of men’s bodies 


Vll 


Vlll 


PREFACE 


and souls by the devil and his fiends through the agency of 
warlocks, witches, sorcerers and diviners; and in proof of this 
the present book will give a sure indication of the truth. And 
that each man may be able to guard himself, let him seriously 
read and carefully digest this book, which I have called 
Compendium Malejicarum ; for just as there are shown to be various 
means and methods of inflicting injury, so there are various 
remedies by which these harms may be met and dispersed when 
they are recognised. If therefore, reader, there be anything in 
this book which holds your attention and points you the way 
to a remedy, I lift up my hands in thanks to God, who to 
His own greater glory, and the confusion of devils, has per¬ 
mitted the temptation of our souls that the just may be made 
perfect and the wicked cast into hell. Therefore the demons 
do but work in accordance with the design and permission of 
Almighty God. 



EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION 


T HE ancient origins of the local Milanese Order Ambrosiani or 
Ambrosini, of which Francesco-Maria Guazzo was so eminent 
and honoured a member, are buried in obscurity, although the 
Brethren themselves, perhaps with more devotion than exactness, were 
ever wont to refer their foundation to no less a figure than the great 
S. Ambrose himself. It is very possible, and even probable, that some old 
traditions had actually been handed down from the illustrious Father who 
had taken so deep an interest in monasticism and so closely watched the 
beginnings of the cloister throughout his diocese. However that may be, 
in the earlier decades of the fourteenth century certain solitaries and 
hermit priests dwelling near Milan gradually adopted the cenobitic life, 
making it their pious custom to assemble at stated intervals during the 
day for solemn office and united prayer. About this very time three young 
nobles, Alessandro Crivelli, Alberto Besozzo, and Antonio della Pietra- 
Santa, disgusted with the licentiousness of the aristocratic society and 
court of Giovanni II, had sought refuge in retreat from the world, and 
taking as their anchorhold a wood not many leagues from the city, here 
they built a humble chapel which soon became the common oratory of a 
regular community, and this forest sanctuary may not untruly be said 
to have been the cradle of the Ambrosian Order. In 1375 Pope Gregory 
XI, who some twelve months before had approved the Congregation of the 
Spanish Hermits of S. Jerome, gave the Milanese frati the Rule of 
S. Augustine, adding thereto a number of particular constitutions, and 
assigning as their name cc Fratres Sancti Ambrosii ad Nemus.” They 
were, moreover, empowered to elect their own superiors, subject to the 
confirmation of the Archbishop of Milan. A habit was prescribed with 
broad scapular, a stuff girdle pendent as is the Augustinian cincture, a 
voluminous cowl and capuce, a mighty mantle in which to walk abroad, 
in colour all of chestnut brown * The Ambrosian Liturgy, both for 

* It does not seem certain whether the Ambrosians (ad Nemus ) were by rule discalced 
or shod. Helyot, “Histoire des Ordres Monastiques ” 1715, vol. IV, p. 52, gives an 
engraving, “Religieux de I’Ordre de S. Ambroise ad Nemus,” who is wearing sandals. 
But there appear to have been modifications, and this detail differed from time to time. 
Originally no doubt the brethren were discalced, but a mitigation tolerated some form of 
foot-gear. 


IX 


X 


editor’s introduction 

Mass and choir, must be followed. The Order henceforth was canonically 
established. 

Of the history of the Ambrosiani comparatively few details are 
known, and it is hardly necessary here to rehearse them a, any length. It 
will suffice to say that various houses were founded, and that for more 
than half a century each monastery remained entirely independent, their 
only connexion being the fact that each adopted the same rule. In 1 44 1 
Eugenius IV united all the existing foundations in ore Congregation 
under a Master-general who was to reside at the original convent where 
in future a full Chapter met every three years. It was found that the old 
discipline had become somewhat relaxed in the time of S. Carlo Borromeo, 
but at the request of the brethren this great Saint presided in person over 
their Chapter of ijyg, and with his encouragement the earlier strictness 
was soon restored. Subjects, none the less, were few, and. on if August 
T 5^9 Sixtus V issued a bull joining the Ambrosiani with the Apostolini 
or Barnabites,* who claimed the Apostle S. Barnabas as their founder, 
but whose constitution, as then followed at any rate, had been approved 
by Rome early in the ffteenth century. The Congregation thus formed 
was now generally known as the Brethren of S. Ambrose ad Nemus and 
S. Barnabas, and upon the engraved title-page of the second edition 
(1626) of Guazzo’s “Compendium Maleficarum, ,} the two Saints are 
duly depicted as patrons in full pontificalia. 

Outside the archdiocese of Milan the Ambrosiani held for a while 
only two houses, both of which were at Rome: San Clementeand 
San Pancrazio. In Milan itself their most important monastery was that 
attached to the Church of San Pnmo, a parish which in more recent 
years was divided among three other churches, S. Bartolomeo, S. Babila, 
and San Andrea. The Church of San Primo and the adjoining cloister 
stood hard by the Porta Onentale where was the Collegio Elvetico at the 
opening of the Strada Marina. The religious also served the church of 
S. Ambrogio della Vittona, which was built (1348) at Parabiago\ 
m thanksgiving for the famous battle won there by tne Milanese in 
I 339- 

* The Brothers of S. Barnabas, not to be confused with the Barnabites, Clerks 
Regular, Clcnci Rcgulares Sancti Pauli,” founded by S. Antonio A {aria Zaccaria in 
I53 °' 

j Now served by the Irish Dominicans. S. Pancrazio fuori le Mura was seriously 
damaged in 1849, bnt has been restored . 

J For an account of the connexion of the Am.brosini with this church and the jealousy 
oj the civic authorities who wished to appoint their own chaplains, see the article 
Ambrosiani by Monsignor Giovanni Galbiati in the “Grande Encichpedia Italiana.” 


XI 


editor’s introduction 

However popular at Milan, where they were held in high honour, 
even in the day of their greatest prosperity the Ambrosiani had never 
been more than a purely local Congregation, and when their numbers 
sensibly diminished and several of their houses fell vacant it is not 
surprising to find that the question of suppressing the Order was more 
than once debated. Eventually, on i April, 1645, by the bull “Qiioniam,” 
Innocent X dissolved the surviving monasteries, including that of Para- 
biago, which remained, directing that they should be assigned to secular 
priests. The details of these arrangements were entrusted to two Car¬ 
dinals, Odescalchi and Monti, who acted on behalf of the Holy See. 
It must not be supposed that the dissolution was in any way intended 
as a censure or refection upon the Ambrosiani. At that time certain 
reforms were being essayed in various directions, and of these one was 
the diminution of the very many provincial Congregations and obscurer 
local Orders, whose continuance involved a vast complexity of business 
and affairs, whose members were few and dwindling, whose purpose had 
been served, in most cases admirably and devotedly served throughout the 
years, but whose day was gone. Even as one of our own poets has 
said: 

God fulfils Himself in many ways, 

Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. 

The Ambrosiani were not without their holy names. There were Beati 
in the calendar of the Order; Blessed Alberto Besozzo; Blessed Antonio 
Gonzaga of Mantua, Blessed Filippo of Fermo, Blessed Gerardo of 
Monza, Blessed Guardate, Blessed Giovanni, Blessed Placido, and many 
more, a noble roll of sanctity. They boasted too eminent scholars and 
writers of renown; the pious and strictly orthodox Paolo Fabulotti whose 
authoritative “De potestate Papae super Concilium,” first published at 
Venice in 1613, ran into several editions; Ascanio Tasca, who left the 
Society of Jesus to follow the more cloistered Ambrosian life, and who 
rose to be Master-general; Michele Mulazzani, a Piedmontese, who in 
his day had also governed the Order; ffaccaria Visconti; and Francesco- 
Maria Guazzo. 

Even the recent and particular researches of Monsignor Professore 
Giovanni Galbiati, the distinguished Prefect of the Ambrosian Library, 
have failed to discover any details of the life of Guazzo. Perhaps this is 
because there is really little to know of the contemplative and monastic 
life, little to know of Guazzo save what we may gather from his own 
printed works. The archives and cartularies of the Ambrosiani whence 


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NoixonaoHiNi s^onaa 


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NononaoaxNi s^onaa 


nix 


XIV 


editor’s introduction 

directions; no country, town, village, or district, no class of society is free 
from it.” 

Lambert Daneau writing in 1574 tells us that in some districts “the 
witches are so defiant and audacious that they say openly , if only they 
had an eminent and renowned man for their captain they should become 
so strong and numerous that they could march against a powerful king in 
open battle and easily vanquish him with the help of thei' arts .” Well 
wight James I whilst yet he only held his Scottish throne fear the dark 
Earl of Bothwell. In later years too the boast of the witches has been 
fearfully fulfilled. 

Timely indeed was the writing of the “Compendium Malefic arum,” 
and necessary. A second edition “Ex Collegii Ambrosini Typographia,” 
appeared in 1626. The text here is very considerably amplified by further 
examples and the extended discussion of nice theological points. An 
exorcism is added together with various Benedictions, especially for the 
sick, such as the “Modus Curandi Febricitantes.” 

The second work of Guazzo was a Life of Blessed Alverto Besozzo, 
one of the earliest of the Ambrosiam, and especially venerated as the 
Propagator of the Order, “Vita del Beato Alberto Besozzo,” Milan, 
JVava, pto, 1625. This notable piece was widely esteemed for the elegance 
of its style, and brought Guazzo no small increase of reputation as a 
skilled hagiographer. The monograph was reprinted by the Milanese 
house of Corrada, pto, i68p In 1643 was issued at Venice Guazzo’s 
last book, “II principe perfetto,” i2mo. 

It has been conjectured that “II principe perfetto” may be a 
posthumous volume, in which case we should date Guazzo 1 s death “circa” 
1640, and. it has further been suggested that the dissolution of the 
monasteries of the Ambrosiam—a suppression determined some years before 
was purposely delayed until after the demise of so honoured and 
famous a member of that community. 

Francesco Mana-Guazzo comes before us as a writer end scholar of 
no mean order. In the course of the “Compendium Maleficarum” I have 
counted quotations from and references to more than two hundred and fifty 
authors, and these illustrations are never those of some mere commonplace 
book or random excerpts, but pertinent, illuminative, well chosen and 
aptly employed. His reading and erudition were prodigious. Steeped in 
the lore of Councils and in the Fathers, both Greek and Latin, the 
writings of S. Basil, S. Gregory JVazianzen, S. Athanasius, S. John 
Chrysostom, S. Cyril, Tertullian, Lactantius, S. Augustine, S. Ambrose, 


XV 


editor’s introduction 

S. Jerome, S. Bernard, S. Peter Damian, Dionysius the Carthusian, 
and many other a mighty name are easily familiar to him. With equal 
facility will he cite Cedrenus and Pontano; Pliny and the Dominican 
Silvester; Lucian and Luitprand; Hippocrates and Francesco Mattioli; the 
Catholic champion, Bishop Dubravsky of Olmiltz and the Protestant 
Philip Camerarius, the son of Melancthons partner in the Augsburg 
Confession. 

Although the “Compendium Malefic arum” was at once accepted as 
supremely authoritative by all contemporaries, and later demonologists 
have not been slow to commend, apprize, and make final appeal to this 
most salutary and excellent treatise—the learned and judicious Sinistrari 
manifestly and formally not merely follows but actually paraphrases 
entire more than one chapter when discussing dark problems of witchcraft 
—it is surprising indeed that Francesco-Maria Guazzo has never generally 
achieved the wide renown and high reputation of a Bodin, a Remy, a 
Boguet, or a De Lancre. The reason for this no doubt lies in the fact 
that these writers were also men of action, each of whom perforce from 
his very office and estate stood largely in the public eye, and wrought 
zealously for the public weal. Jean Bodin won fame as a politician, a 
deputy of the Third Estate to the States-General of Blois, Attorney- 
General at Laon; Nicolas Remy for fifteen years held the helm as Privy- 
Councillor and chief Judge in the Duchy of Lorraine; Boguet was 
“Grand Juge de St. Claude au Comte de Bourgogne”; Pierre De Lancre, 
the wealthy magistrate of Bordeaux, served as Commissioner Extraordinary 
in the witch trials of Labourd. Francesco-Maria Guazzo remained but a 
humble friar, the subject of an obscure and solitary Congregation. 

And. yet the “Compendium Maleficarum”* is a treatise of no less 
value and importance than the famous “Demonomanie des sorciers” and 
the “Tableau de Vinconstance des mauvais anges et demons.” Guazzo 
analyses and describes as perhaps no other demonologist has set out with 
equal conciseness and clarity the whole practice and profession of 
witchcraft. Although never sparing of illustration and detail he does not 
indeed draw examples from the trials of those whom he had examined 
and judged as do Boguet and De Lancre, a feature which lends their 
work an especial and personal value, but the “Compendium Maleficarum” 
may be taken to be in some sort a complementary volume, an essential 
text-book of the subject, as it were, a tractate which probes and proves 
every circumstance of Satanism and sorcery. 

* Curiously enough there is no mention of the book either in Graese or Brunet. 

b 


xvi 


editor’s introduction 

To the historian, to the occult student, Guazzfs work is of incalculable 
worth, and it is not too much to say that he can pretend to little knowledge 
of that evil Society and their horrid devices who is not intimately 
conversant with these pages. It will be found moreover that not the least 
valuable of these chapters are those which treat “De Remediis Diuinis,” 
and in particular the sections “De Eucharistia,” “Dt Signo Sanctae 
Cruetsf and “Auxilium singulare Beatae Mariae Virgir is,” per Quam, 
ut ait Bernardus, Deus nos uoluit totum habere. 

MONTAGUE SUMMERS. 

In Festo B.M. V. Diuini Pastoris Matris , iQ2g. 




FOREWORD 


ALTHOUGH the “Compendium Maleficarum,” both from the 
/\ encyclopaedic learning of the author and the scientific precision 
A \ of his details, must rank as one of the most important of all 
Witchcraft Manuals, not only—largely owing to his severe concentration 
of thought and expression and the many technicalities—is the original 
Latin more than ordinarily difficult, but Guazzo was ill-served both in 
1608 and in 1626 by his printers, for these two (which are the only) 
editions of the book are marred by a superabundance of most riddling 
typographical errors. Indeed before the work could be well rendered into 
English I found that it was necessary to prepare something like a 
definitive recension of the text, a preliminary which, if mechanical 
enough, has cost me no little time and labour. 

To write a full excursus upon the “Compendium Maleficarum,” 
giving further and later examples of the many ill observances and devices 
of witchcraft, the transvection of the sorcerers to their rendezvous, the 
abominations of the Sabbat, the worship of the demon, the pledges of 
diabolical servitude, the “osculum infame,” the revelry, the dances, the 
lewdness of the Incubus and the Succubus, the malice and evil charms of 
Satanists, all of which and many more black secrets of goety Guazzo 
has so amply and so authoritatively displayed, would be to pen a second 
“History of Witchcraft,” another volume as copious and as detailed as 
the “Compendium” itself. However interesting and useful it would have 
proved to afford modern instances of the continued practices of this horrid 
Society I have judged it best to reserve so extensive a relation for a 
separate occasion, and therefore I have furnished this work of Guazzo 
with a minimum of annotation. Even so I am very well aware that in the 
glosses will be found information some may perhaps deem superfluous. 
On the other hand I am constantly being requested 'to illustrate these 
manuals of the demonologists by far more extensive commentaries than my 
wont, so that in fine it is, I fear, not possible entirely to satisfy every 
student and reader. In the present case I frankly acknowledge that on 


XVII 


XV111 


FOREWORD 


account of practical limitations of space, if for no other reason, I have 
felt obliged entirely to pass over no small number of points concerning 
which I was minded to write something fully, as also was it necessary 
for me to treat with economy other details not unworthy of closer 
investigation. 

To the most learned Preject of the Ambrosian Library, Monsignor 
Professore Giovanni Galbiati, I am greatly indebted foi the trouble and 
pains he has so generously bestowed on my behalf in making very particular 
researches concerning Francesco-Maria Guazzo and in communicating to 
me important bibliographical and historical details of the Ambrosiam. 

My best thanks are due to Dr. H. T. Norman, not only for the loan 
of many rare pieces on witchcraft from 'among the treasures of his 
library, but also for the very real and inspiring interest he has so 
cordially taken in the present series. 


MONTAGUE SUMMERS. 





TABLE 


OF CONTENTS 





PAGE 

DEDICATION 

V 

PREFACE TO THE READER 

vii 

editor’s INTRODUCTION 

ix 

FOREWORD 

xvii 


THE FIRST BOOK 


PAGE 


C 

H. I 

The Nature and Extent of 



the Force of Imagination 

1 

CH. 

II 

Of Artificial Magic 

3 

CH. 

III 

Whether this Magic can 




produce True Effects 

7 

CH. 

IV 

That Witches Effect their 




Marvels with the Help 
of the Devil 

9 

CH. 

V 

The Men of Old Accredi¬ 




ted Witches with Mar¬ 
vellous Deeds 

11 

CH. 

VI 

Of the Witches' Pact with 




the Devil 

13 

CH. 

VII 

By their Terrible Deeds 




and Imprecations Wit¬ 
ches Produce Rain and 
Hail , etc. 

19 

CH. 

VIII 

The Power of Witches over 




External Things 

22 


PAGE 

ch. ix Whether the Devil can 
Truly Enrich His Sub¬ 
jects 25 

ch. x Whether Witches Can by 
their Art Create any 
Living Thing 28 

ch. xi Whether there Truly are 
Incubus and Succubus 

Devils; and Whether 

Children can be Gener¬ 
ated by Copulation with 
Them 3 ° 

ch. xii Whether Witches are 

Really Transported 
from Place to Place to 
their Nightly Assem¬ 
blies 33 

ch. xiii Whether Witches can 

Transmute Bodiesfrom 
One Form to Another 50 

xix 


XX 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

CH. XIV Whether Witches have 
Power to Make Beasts 
Talk 53 

ch. xv Whether the Devil can 
Make Men Insensible 
to Torture 55 

ch. xvi Whether by Witcher aft and 
Devils Work the Sexes 
can be Interchanged 57 


PAGE 

ch. xvii Whether the Spirits of the 
Dead car, Appear to 
Men 59 

ch. xviii Of Apparit 'ons of De¬ 
mons, or Spectres 73 

ch. xix That Cacodt mons Exercise 
their Magic Powers of 
their Own Will 80 


THE SECOND BOOK 

DEALING WITH THE VARIOUS KINDS OF WITCHCRAFT, 
AND CERTAIN OTHER MATTERS WHICH 
SHOULD BE KNOWN 


CH. 

1 Of Soporific Spells 

83 

CH. 

11 Witches use Human Corp¬ 
ses for the Murder of 
Men 

88 

CH. 

hi Of Witches' Poisons 

90 

CH. 

iv Of Tying the Points 

9i 

CH. 

v Of Incendiary Witchcraft 

95 

CH. 

vi The Devil Wishes to Per¬ 
petuate the Race of 
Witches 

96 

CH. 

vii Of the Various Ways by 
which Witches Vent 
their Spite upon the 
Human Race 

98 

CH. 

viii Of the Different Diseases 
Brought by Demons 

105 

CH. 

ix Why God Permits the 
Devil so to Busy Him¬ 
self with Witchcraft 

hi 

CH. 

x The Laws Observed by 
Witches in Causing and 
in Curing Sickness 

121 


ch. xi Witches Use something of 
Religion in Healing 
Sickness 123 

ch. xii Threatening or Beating 
Witches is the Best 
Method of Removing 
the Spells cast by Them 124 

ch. xiii After the Many Blasphe¬ 
mies Committed by 
Witches . the Demon at 
last Tries to Induce 
them to Kill Themselves 
with Th dr Own Hands 129 

ch. xiv Upon T/nse who have 
once Fallen into his 
Power the Devil keeps a 
Tenacious Grip, even 
when 7 hey stand Tor¬ 
tured before Their 
fudges, or in Holy 
Places, or wherever 
They may Be 132 

ch. xv A Summary in a Few 
Words of All the 
Crimes of Witches 135 


CONTENTS 


XXI 


PAGE PAGE 


gh. xvi The Devil Deceives and 


ch. xviii Of the Trial by Single 


Seduces by means of 


Combat 

*49 

False Revelations or 
Apparitions 

136 

ch. xix Of Vulgar Purgation by 
Fire 

151 

ch. xvii Of the Appeal to God 

r 47 

ch. xx Of Superstitious Folk 

160 


THE THIRD BOOK 

TREATING OF THE DIVINE REMEDIES FOR THOSE WHO 
ARE BEWITCHED, AND OF CERTAIN 
OTHER MATTERS 


ch. i Whether it is Lawful to Re¬ 


gh. hi Recent Examples of the 


move a Spell in Order to 


Mercy of God and the 


Heal One that is Bewitched 

163 

Tyranny of the Devil 

I 7 I 

gh. 11 How to Distinguish De¬ 




moniacs and Those who 


ch. iv Of Divine and Supernatural 


are Simply Bewitched 

167 

Remedies 

177 






COMPENDIUM 

MALEFICARUM 

BOOK I * * * § CHAPTER I 

The Nature and Extent of the Force of Imagination. 


ARGUMENT. 

M ANY authors have written 
at length concerning the 
force of imagination: for 
example Pico della Miran¬ 
dola,* De Imaginationibus; Marsilio 
Ficino,f De Theologia Platonica, Book 
13; Alonso Tostado,t On Genesis , 
Chapter 30; Miguel de Medina,§ De 


* “ Mirandola .” Giovanni Pico della 
Mirandola, 1463-1494.. There are many edi¬ 
tions of his Complete Works: Bologna, 1496; 
Venice, 1498; Strasburg, 1304; Basle, 1557; 
1573; *601. # 

f <c Marsilio FicinoP 1433-1499. “ Theo¬ 
logia Platonica de animarum Immortalitatef 
perhaps his most important work, was pub¬ 
lished at Florence 1482. 

J “Alonso TostadoP Circa 1400-1433. A 
famous exegete often quoted as Abulensis or 
Alonso Abulensis owing to his having been 
consecrated Bishop of Avila in 1449. The 
latest edition of his works is 27 volumes, folio, 
Venice, 1728. 

§ “Miguel de MedinaP 1489-1378. A 
Spanish Franciscan, esteemed as one of the 
most distinguished theologians of his day. 
“Annales Ordinis Minorum ,” xix, xxi. 

B 


Recta in Deum Fide, II, 7; Leonard 
Vair,|| De Fascino , II, 3; and count¬ 
less others. All are agreed that the 
imagination is a most potent force; 
and both by argument and by ex¬ 
perience they prove that a man’s 
own body may be most extensively 
affected by his imagination. For they 
argue that as the imagination examines 
the images of objects perceived by the 
senses, it excites in the appetitive 
faculty either fear or shame or anger 
or sorrow; and these emotions so 
affect a man with heat or cold that 
his body either grows pale or reddens, 
and he consequently becomes joyful 
and exultant, or torpid and dejected. 
Therefore S. Thomas ( Contra Gent. 
Ill, 103) has well said that a man’s 
body can be affected by his imagina¬ 
tion in every way which is naturally 
correspondent with the imaginative 
faculty, such as local motion in those 


|| “Leonard VairP Born at Benevento, of 
Spanish descent, c. 1340; Bishop of Pozzuoli, 
where he died in 1603. His “De Fascino 
Libri III, Paris, 1383; Venetiis apud Aldum, 
1589, is a work of singular erudition. 




2 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. I. CH. I. 


who are asleep: but that his other 
bodily dispositions which bear no 
natural relation with the imagination 
cannot be so affected; so that imagina¬ 
tion cannot, for example, cause any 
man to add one cubit to his stature. 

The argument is proved also by the 
daily experience of sleep-walkers who 
do wonderful things in their sleep: 
for it is agreed that such things are 
done through the power of imagina¬ 
tion while the senses are asleep. Many 
such matters are discussed by Martin 
Delrio,* Disquisitiones Magicae , Quaest. 
I, 3 - 

☆ 

Examples. 

MARTIN DELRIof tells of what 
happened at a monastery at Liege a 
few years ago. There was a certain 
lay brother whose duty it was during 
the day to teach the rudiments of 
the Catechism to a class of boys: 
and when he slept his thoughts were 
occupied with the same subject, so 
that he used to teach in his sleep, 
encouraging and scolding the boys as 
loudly and fervently as he did when 
he was awake; and in this way he 
disturbed the sleep of those near him. 
Another lay brother who slept next 
to him often complained to him about 
it; and one day he jokingly threatened 
that, if he made that noise again, he 
would get up in the night and go to 
his bed and beat him with a rope 
whip. And what did Gundislaus, as 


* “Martin Delrio.” This famous Jesuit 
scholar was born at Antwerp, 17 May, 155/, 
and died at Louvain, ig October, 1608. His 
encyclopaedic “ Disquisitionum Magic arum 
Libri Sex,” 3 vols., 4/0, 1599, was frequently 
reprinted. Of these the folio, 1603, Mainz , is 
among the most highly esteemed. It is some¬ 
times said that the first edition of Delrio's 
work was Mainz , 1393 , but this folio is a 
mere myth. 

f “Delrio.” “Disquisitiones Magicae ,” 
HI , q. 3 • 


his name was, do? In the middle of 
the night he arose in his sleep and 
went from his bed to his fellow’s 
cubicle with a pair of scissors in his 
hand which he pointed straight at 
the bed of the other who had threat¬ 
ened him. But see the providence of 
God! The moon was shining, and the 
night was clear and cloudless; so that 
the brother, who was awake, saw him 
coming and at once threw himself 
from the bed on that side where the 
partition w’as farthest renoved. The 
sleeper came up to the bed and 
stabbed the mattress three or four 
times with the scissors, and quickly 
went back where he came from. In 
the morning he was questioned, and 
said that he remembered nothing of 
it, adding that he had never had the 
least thought of doing such a thing; 
but that he had only contemplated 
frightening that brother and driving 
him off with the scissors if he had 
approached him with a whip. 

Two friends J were travelling to¬ 
gether back to their own country and 
came one day to a town where one of 
them had an acquaintance with whom 
he lodged, while the othe r went to an 
inn for the night, intendi ig to resume 
their journey the next day. But while 
his guest was sleeping the innkeeper, 
conceiving a greedy desire to take his 
money, killed him; and having done 
so began to think how he could 
smuggle the body out of the town to 


J “Two friends.” This history is very 
famous in English literature as having been in¬ 
troduced by Chaucer into the Nome Preestes 
Tale of the Cok and Hen, Chauntecleer and 
Pertelote. Guazzo had it from Cicero, “De 
Diuinatione,” I, 27. It is also related by 
Valerius Maximus, I, 7 (“ De Somniis”), 
where Warton wrongly supposed that Chaucer 
had found it. But it is plain that Cicero was 
the author to whom Chaucer refers, since in 
the “De Diuinatione” are two histories and 
both these the poet gives, but in a changed 
order and notes before the second narrative: 

And certes, in the same book I rede, 

Right in the nexte chapitn after this . . . 




BK. I. CH. II. 


MALEFICARUM 


bury it. The same night the murdered 
man appeared in a dream to his com¬ 
panion who was sleeping in his friend’s 
house, and said: “My friend, my 
friend, help me; for the innkeeper 
means to kill me.” An hour or two 
later he appeared again, saying: “Ah, 
my friend, you did not help me; and 
behold, the cruel innkeeper has de¬ 
stroyed me.” A little later on the 
same night he came the third time in 
his dream, and said: “My friend, you 
did not help me to escape from my 
murderer’s hands, and now I am 
lying dead. And the murderer is con¬ 
sidering how to dispose of and bury 
my body in the fields outside the 
town walls; and already he has hidden 
it in a cart-load of dung. I beg you, 
as you love me, not to allow this, but 
at least to see to it that I go to my 
burial in an honourable and befitting 
manner.” In the morning the man 
awoke and, terrified by his dream, 
went to look for his friend. He asked 
the innkeeper: “Where is my friend?” 
He answered, in the words of Cain: 
“Am I his keeper? He arose and went 
away, taking his belongings with him. 
I do not know where he went.” The 
friend stood for a while in doubt what 
he should do: but meanwhile he saw 
in the yard a cart laden with dung. 
The unhappy man was then struck 
with the vision he had seen in his 
imagination and, since he could not 
find his friend, quietly thought the 
matter over with himself. He waited 
some time to see whether his friend 
would come back; and when he did 
not return, he said that perhaps he 
had started on his journey, and 
added: “Good-bye then: if my friend 
comes, say that I have gone on, and 
tell him to follow me.” He then went 
straight to the mayor and told what 
had happened to his friend, mention¬ 
ing the load of dung and adding 
all other necessary information. The 
mayor sent his officers, who stood at 
a distance and watched what the 
innkeeper would do. The murderer, 
thinking that all was safe since the 


3 

dead man’s friend had gone away, 
started off with his cart to go out of 
the town. Seeing this the officers ran 
up and said: “Where are you off to, 
my good fellow, and what is this dung 
for? We have been ordered to take 
possession of it.” And overturning the 
cart they found the murdered man 
lying amidst the dung. The murderer 
was taken, and met with the terrible 
punishment which his crime deserved. 


☆ 


CHAPTER II. 

Of Artificial Magic. 

Argument 

M AGIC is of two kinds, natural 
and artificial. Natural or legiti¬ 
mate magic was, together with all 
other knowledge, a gift from God to 
Adam, who by peopling the world 
handed it down to posterity. This, as 
Psellus* (De Daemonibus) and Proclus f 
(De Magia) have noted, is no more 
than a more exact knowledge of the 
secrets of Nature, which by observing 
the courses and influence of the stars 
in the heavens, and the sympathies 
and antipathies subsisting between 
separate things, compares one thing 
with another and so effects marvels 


* “Psellus.” Michael Constantine Psellus, 
1020— 11 io ( Caillet); or c. ioi8-c. ioj8 
[Adrian Fortescue), the celebrated Byzantine 
philosopher, attained a vast reputation at Con¬ 
stantinople, and even 7iow Krumbacher, “ By- 
zantinische Litteraturgesch . 5 ’ (2nd ed., Munich, 
i8gj), regards him as “the first man of his 
time.” At Paris , 1615, was published the 
“ c De Operatione Dcemonum 5 Dialogus Gil¬ 
berts Gaulminus Molinensis primus Greece 
edidit et notis illustrauit.” 

f “Proclus.” Born at Constantinople, 410; 
died at Athens, 485. “The scholastic of Neo- 
Platonism.” His writings were collected by 
Cousin, “Procli Opera,” Paris, 1820-2 5. 



COMPENDIUM 


BK. I. CH. II. 


4 

which to the ignorant seem to be 
miracles or illusions. As when Tobias 
dispersed his father’s blindness with 
the gall bladder of a fish, a virtue 
which Galen and many others attri¬ 
bute to the dragonet.* Also the sound 
of a drum made from a wolf’s skin 
will burst a drum made from the skin 
of a lamb. Many other notable 
examples are mentioned by S. Augus¬ 
tine :f such as the peacock’s flesh which 
cannot decompose; chaff which by 
its coldness preserves snow, and by 
its heat ripens fruit; a chalk which is 
set on fire by water, but will not burn 
if oil be poured upon it; the salt of 
Girgenti which melts in fire, but 
becomes hard and groans in water; 
and many other such things. 

The other kind is artificial magic, 
which effects marvels by means of 
human skill. This again is two-fold, 
Mathematic and Prcstidigital. Mathe¬ 
matical magic involves the principles of 
Geometry, Arithmetic or Astronomy: 
and examples of this are the setting 
fire to the ships at the siege of Syra¬ 
cuse X by means of mirrors; the flying 
wooden doves of Archytas§ of Taren- 


* “Dragonet” Cf Pliny, “HistoriaJSfatur- 
alls” XXXII , 7: “Callionymi fel cicatrices 
sanat, et carries oculorum superuacuas consu- 
mit.” 

f “ S . Augustine .” “De Ciuitate Dei” 
XXI, 4, 5, and 6. “A chalk which is set on 
fire by water” “Earn uiuam calcern loquimur” 
i.e. “quicklime.” “The salt of Girgenti.” Cf. 
Pliny , “Historia Naturalis,” XXXI, 7; 
“Agrigentinus (sal) ignium patiens ex aqua 
exsilit.” This is repeated by Solinus, “ Poly - 
historia,” XI; and S. Isidore “Etymologiae,” 
XVI, 2, 4- 

J “Siege of Syracuse.” Syracuse was cap- 
tured by Claudius Marcellus in 212 b.c. The 
story of the burning of the Roman fleet by the 
reflected rays of the sun, a device said to be 
due to the genius of Archimedes, is not found 
in Plutarch, Polybius, or Livy. It is first men¬ 
tioned by Galen, “De Temp.” Ill, 2; and 
Lucian, “Hipp.” II, 2. In fuller detail it is 
recorded by Joannes Tzetzes, “Chiliades,” II, 

103, sqq- 

§ “Archytas.” He probably lived about 


turn; the golden singing birds || of the 
Emperor Leo; and such matters. Yet 
we affirm that by this means nothing 
can be effected which u opposed to 
the nature of things, but rather that 
it necessarily requires the help of 
natural causes and the correct appli¬ 
cation of certain mo\ ements and 
dimensions. The other sort, which 
may be called Prestidig.tal, is ludic¬ 
rous and illusionary, and its effects 
are not such as they seem to be. To 
this sort belongs much that is believed 
to be done by conjure:'s and rope- 
walkers by means of feigned incanta¬ 
tions as well as by the agility of their 
hands and feet. Such feats are at 
times performed by can fully trained 
brute animals; sometimes they are 
effected by the stealthy movements 
of hidden persons, as ii. the case of 
the priests of Bel ^ who claimed that 
the food was eaten by the Dragon. 
Now thaumaturgy and ratural magic 
are in themselves good and lawful, as 
any art is of itself good. But it may 
happen to become unlawful: first, 
when it is done for an evil purpose; 
second, when it gives rise to scandal, 
being thought to be done with the 
help of demons; third, when it in¬ 
volves any spiritual or todily danger 
to the conjurer or the spectators. And 
it must be noted that, for every ten 
tricks of prestidigital illusion, these 
men perform one of pi re sleight of 
hand, so as to foster the belief that 
there is no illusion or sorcery in any- 

400 b.c. Our chief authority for the little 
known of his life is Diogenes Laertius, VIII, 
79 - 83 - 

|| “Golden singing birds” “When the 
Crusaders came from their grey castles to Con¬ 
stantinople, they were dazzled by the magnifi¬ 
cence they saw at the Emperors Court. They 
told, when they came back, almost fabulous 
tales of the wonders they had seen, the costly 
toys, golden lions that roared trees of jewels 
where enamelled birds flapped their wings and 
sang, thrones of ivory and sheets of porphyry.” 
Fortescue, “The Orthodox Eastern Church,” 
Part I, chapter 3. 

If “Bel.” “Daniel” xiv. 




BK. I. GH. n. 


MALEFICARUM 


thing that they do, but that all is 
done by pure skill and dexterity. 
Ulricus Molitor * states that the devil 
is able to make one thing seem as if 
it were another; and Nider f tells us 
that many other tricks are practised 
by conjurers. For this prestidigital 
art was taught by the giant demons 
before the Flood, and from them 
Ham % learned it, and from him the 
Egyptians, then the Chaldaeans and 
Persians, and so in succession. S. 
Clement in his Recognitions (IV) says: 
Zoroaster was the first of the Chal¬ 
daeans, and he was struck by light¬ 
ning as a fit reward for his deeds. 

☆ 

Examples . 

A certain virgin of Cologne was 
said to have performed in the pres¬ 
ence of the nobles wonders which 
seemed to be due to magic art: for 
she was said to have torn up a nap¬ 
kin, and suddenly to have pieced it 
together again before the eyes of all; 
she threw a glass vessel against the 


* “Ulricus Molitor” A learned lawyer of 
Constance, who being consulted by Sigismund 
of Austria on various problems of witchcraft 
published in January , 1489, his famous trea¬ 
tise “De laniis [jiV] et philonicis mulieribus .” 
Molitor died in 1492 . 

j “ Nider” Jean Nider , O.P., prior of the 
important Dominican house at Basle, papal in¬ 
quisitor and Rector of the University of Vienna. 
He died in 1438. His work is very famous and 
there are constant appeals to his authority. The 
edition of the “Formicarius” (or “Formicar- 
ium”) which I have used is that of Douai, 
1602. 

J “Ham.” Cf “Malleus Maleficarum,” 
Part I, Question 2: “Vincent of Beauvais in 
his *Speculum historiale, 5 quoting many learned 
authorities, says that he who first practised the 
arts of magic and astrology was Zoroaster , 
who is said to have been Cham (Ham), the son 
of Noe.” This tradition is very frequently 
found. See my note on above passage in my 
translation of the “Malleus Maleficarum” (p. 
15), John Rodker, 1328. 


5 

wall and broke it, and in a moment 
mended it again; and other like 
things she did. She escaped from the 
hands of the Inquisition with a 
sentence of excommunication. 

From the same source we hear of a 
conjurer in France named Trois 
Eschelles,§ who in the sight of all and 
in the presence of Charles IX, called 
the Praiseworthy King, charmed from 
a certain nobleman standing at a. 
distance from him the rings of his 
necklace, so that they flew one by 
one into his hand, as it seemed; and 
yet the necklace was soon found to be 
whole and uninjured. This man was 
convicted of many actions which 
could not have been due to human 
art or skill or any natural cause, and 
confessed that they were all devil’s 
work, although he had obstinately 
denied this before. 

John Trithemius|| tells that much 
earlier, in the year 876 during the 
time of the Emperor Louis,a certain 
Zedechias, a Jew by religion and a 
physician by profession, worked won¬ 
ders in the presence of Princes. For 
he appeared to devour a cart loaded 
with straw, together with the horses 
and the driver; he used to cut off 
men’s heads and hands and feet, and 
exhibit them in a bowl dripping with 
blood, and then suddenly he would 
restore the men unharmed each to his 
own place; and in mid-winter he 
created in Caesar’s palace a most 
beautiful garden, with trees, grass, 
flowers, and the singing of suddenly 
produced birds. 


§ “Trois-eschelles.” For whom see “The 
Geography of Witchcraft ,” by Montague Sum¬ 
mers, c. v, pp. 398-g and 426. Also Bodin , 
“Demonomanie ” (ed. Lyons, 1393 ), III , 3, 
pp. 329-30; IV, 4, pp. 4 2I ~ 2 l and IV > 5> 
p. 309. 

|| “John Trithemius.” The famous Bene¬ 
dictine abbot was born at Trittenheim, 1 Feb¬ 
ruary, 1462; and died at Wurzburg, 13 De¬ 
cember, 1316. 

^ “Louis.” Louis le Germanique, third son 
of Louis le Debonnaire, born 806; died 8j6. 




6 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. I. CH. II. 


Thomas Fazelli, O.P.,* relates in his 
De rebus Siculis , Decade II. v. 2 (also 
Dec. I. iii. 1) wonders of a certain 
Diodorus, commonly known as Lio- 
dorus, who was endowed with magic 
art and flourished at Catania by 
means of his marvellous skill in illu¬ 
sions. This man, by the force of his 
incantations, appeared to change men 
into brute beasts, to effect a meta¬ 
morphosis of nearly all things into 
new shapes, and instantly to bring 
to himself objects very far distant 
from him. Moreover by slandering 
and insulting and reviling the people 
of Catania he bound them with such 
vain credulity that he incited them 
to worship him. When he was de¬ 
livered up to be punished with death, 
by means of his pre-eminent skill in 
incantations he had himself carried 
out of his gaolers’ hands through the 
air from Catania to Byzantium, to 
which Sicily was then subject, and 
back again from Byzantium to Catania 
in a very short space of time. And 
the people so wondered at this magic 
that they thought there was some 
divine power in him, and in sacri¬ 
legious error began to worship him. 
At length Leo, the Bishop of Catania, 
received a sudden power from God 
and in the midst of the city caused 
him to be cast in the sight of all into 


* “Thomas Fazelli , O.PT This famous 
historian , one of the glories of the Dominican 
Order , was born in 1498 at Sacca, a town of 
Sicily, not far from Palermo , where whilst yet 
young he joined the famous Priory of San Dome- 
nico. “In omni scientiarum genere excelluit . 
Orator enim euasit , pocta , philosophus, theolo- 
gus Patauii laureatus .” Thus the old bio¬ 
grapher . Amongst the works of Thomas Faz¬ 
elli the most important are: the posthumous 
“Thesaurum Antiquitatum et Historiarum 
Siciliarium,” Tomi x, 1579, and the history 
which is quoted here , “De rebus Siculis de¬ 
cades duof “nunc primum in lucem edit a f 
Panormi , folio, 1958. This was soon trans¬ 
lated into Italian . Fra Fazelli died at the 
Palermo convent , 8 April , 1970. For fuller 
details see Quetif-Echard , “Scriptores Ordinis 
Praedicatorumf vol. If pp. 212-19. 


a furnace of fire, in wiich he was 
burned. In this way divine justice 
prevailed; for he who had escaped 
death at the too lenient hands of the 
judges, could not escape from the 
hands of the Holy Man. 

In our own times they say that one 
Cesare, a Maltese, was captured by 
the Parisians, but cunni igly escaped 
from prison; and this, among other 
charges, was brought up against him 
in judgement by Bazius the Inquisitor. 
But as he was being exhorted to fear 
damnation, and the Gov urnor of that 
time had required the Ecclesiastical 
Judges to preside over the enquiry, 
he broke away into the midst of the 
Court and there began to do many 
fresh marvels. He caused another 
person to hold magic cards in his 
hands, and standing at a distance he 
altered their appearance two or three 
times: he charmed to himself vessels 
placed on another part of the table 
by merely moving a small piece of 
glass: at times he divined the thoughts 
of others, as when he scattered on the 
table a great number of small grains 
of sugar, and told each man which 
grain he was thinking of and even if 
any one was doubtful of his choice, he 
would then come to a decision after a 
little hesitation, boasting that he had 
long before known whicl they would 
choose: and many other such marvels 
he claimed to perform. \ therefore he 
was a third time called to trial by the 
illustrious Archbishop of Malines, the 
learned Hovius,f in theyeir 1600; and 
though he undertook to appear, he 
escaped to a refuge with a Prince who 
was the chief champion of Antichrist. 


j “HoviusT Matthias Hoiius was con¬ 
secrated Bishop of Malines , 18 February , 
1596; died 90 May , 1620. This great pre¬ 
late , “qui coaeuos omnes et di'cendi celeritate 
et ingenii facilitate antecelluitf is highly 
praised by his contemporaries for his “ingentes 
dotes f which were the admiration of all. Cor¬ 
nelius a Lapide in the preface to his Commen¬ 
tary on the Epistles of S. Paul pays a remark¬ 
able tribute to the learning of Bishop Hovius. 




BK. I. CH. III. 


MALEFICARUM 


7 


This Prince who unlawfully kept the 
conjurer from the Judge’s authority 
hardly lived two years longer, but 
died in the prime of his life; and after 
he had undertaken the defence of an 
evil cause nothing prospered in his 
government. From this it is clear that 
God never leaves unpunished those 
Princes who defend His enemies; for 
He has expressly commanded: “Thou 
shalt not suffer a witch to live” 
[Exodus xxii, 18). 

☆ 

CHAPTER III 

Whether this Magic can produce True 
Effects 

Argument 

A NY man who maintained that 
all the effects of magic were true, 
or who believed that they were all 
illusions, would be rather a radish 
than a man. Most often the devil, 
being the father of lies, deceives us 
and blinds our eyes or mocks our 
other senses with vain illusory images: 
and not seldom God prevents him 
from achieving on behalf of witches 
what he would and could truly essay; 
and when he sees that this is so he has 
recourse to glamours, so that his im¬ 
potence may not be perceived. But 
when God permits it, and the devil 
wishes to produce a true effect, pro¬ 
vided that it does not exceed his 
power, then there is nothing to pre¬ 
vent him from effecting a genuine 
result; for he then applies active to 
passive principles, and natural causes 
engender a true effect. Dionysius of 
Athens (De Diuinis Nominibus , IV.) 
proves this when he affirms that the 
Devil did not, in sinning, lose his 
natural gifts, so that he has the greatest 
natural strength together with age¬ 
long and unlimited experience to 
enable him to produce a true effect 
when he desired. But witches’ works are 
illusions, not real but apparent. This 


is shown by Glycas * where he speaks 
of the Egyptian Magicians who seemed 
to do as Moses did, and says: “They 
indeed changed their rods into ser¬ 
pents, but the rod of Moses swallowed 
their rods. And they also changed the 
water into blood, but once it had been 
changed, they could not restore it to 
its former state. They brought forth 
frogs also, but they were unable to 
protect the houses of the Egyptians 
from them. They had power to plague 
the Egyptians, but they had no power 
to ease their afflictions. Rather did 
God afflict the magicians with the 
same boils and blains as the rest of 
the people suffered; that it might be 
shown that not only were they unable 
to avert the divine punishment, but 
they must themselves partake of it.” 

☆ 

Examples. 

We read that the sorcerer Pasetes 
by means of certain enchantments 
caused a sumptuous feast to appear, 
and again he made all vanish at his 
pleasure. He used also to buy things 
and count out the price, and shortly 
the money would be found to have 
passed back secretly from the seller 
to the buyer. In S. Clement of Rome 
we also read much concerning Simon 
Magus: that he made a new man out 
of air, whom he could render invisible 
at will; that he could pierce stones as 
if they were clay; that he brought 
statues to life; that when cast into the 
fire he was not burned; that he had 
two faces like another Janus; that he 
could change himself into a ram or a 
goat; that he flew in the air; that he 
suddenly produced a great quantity 
of gold; that he could set up kings 
and cast them down; that he com- 


* “Glycas.” Michael Glycas , Byzantine 
historian. His “ Annals ” commence with the 
Creation and conclude with the death of Alexis 
/, Commenus, 1118. Editions; Bekker , Bonn, 
1836; Migne , Paris , 1866. 



8 


COMPENDIUM 


3K. I. CH. in. 


manded a scythe to go and reap of 
itself, and that it went and reaped ten 
times as much as the others; and that 
when a certain harlot named Selene 
was in a tower, and a great crowd had 
run to see her and had entirely sur¬ 
rounded that tower, he caused her to 
appear simultaneously at all the win¬ 
dows and exhibit herself to all the 
people. 

Anastasius * of Nicaea says: “Simon 
Magus made statues walk, and when 
thrown into the fire he did not burn, 
and he flew in the air, and made 
bread from stones. He changed him¬ 
self into the form of a serpent and 
other beasts; he had two faces: he 
was changed into gold; he would 
cause all sorts of spectres to appear at 
feasts; he caused many shades to go 
before him, which he said were the 
souls of the departed; he made the 
vessels in a house move as though of 
their own accord with apparently 
none to carry them.” 

Bishop Dubravsky f of Olmutz tells 
that a Bohemian sorcerer ZytoJ ex¬ 


* 44 Anastasius .” A theologian and exegete 
of the sixth century. The reference is to his 
“In Sacra scriptura,” q. xxiii. 

f “Bishop Dubravsky.” John Dubravsky, 
Bishop of Olmutz , was the great Catholic 
champion of the sixteenth century, who refuted 
Speratus, Hubmaier, Huter, Socinus and other 
sectaries. His various writings include five 
books on piscatology; the work entitled “Ueber 
das heilige Messopfer”; and the thirty-three 
volumes of his monumental History of Bo¬ 
hemia . The present reference is to Book XXIII 
of this work. 

t Zyt° wos the favourite magician of the Em¬ 
peror Wenceslas, and upon the occasion of the 
marriage of this latter in 1383 with Sophia of 
Bavaria, is said to have far outexcelled in his 
art all the warlocks and conjurers of the land. 
His feats are recorded in not a few chronicles: 
e.g. Concil. Pragens. anno 1355, c. 61 ( Ilartz - 
heim, IV, 400); Hofier, “Prager Concilien 
p. 2 ( Statuta breuia Arnesti anno 1353); Ray- 
naldus, anno 1400, No. 14. Most of these 
tricks—the sprouting of antlers on the heads 
of persons looking through a window; fardels 
of straw sold as pigs and sinking in running 


hibited his skill now in his own appear¬ 
ance and form, and now under that 
of another; also that he appeared 
before the King in purple and silk, 
which suddenly changed to sordid 
woollen rags; and that he walked upon 
the ground as if he were sailing over 
water. Sometimes he wou d drive in a 
four-wheeled coach drawn by cocks. 
He used also to make sport in many 
ways with the King’s guests; some¬ 
times causing them to hi unable to 
reach their hands to the dishes, by 
changing their hands intc the hooves 
of oxen or horses; and semetimes he 
fixed spreading stag’s ant ers to their 
foreheads when they looked out at 
window at some passing spectacle, so 
that they could not draw their heads 
in again. He made thirty fat pigs out 
of bundles of straw and drove them 
to a certain rich baker nam id Michael, 
saying that he might buy them at his 
own price; only he warned the buyer 
not to drive his new herd to the river 
to water. The baker took no notice of 
the warning, and saw his pigs sink 
into the water while bund .es of straw 
floated on the top: he then sought 
out the seller and at last found him 
in a tavern lying stretched out on a 
bench; and when he angr ly tried to 
stir him by pulling one of his legs, 
Zyto caused his foot and leg to come 
away in the other’s hand. Zyto then 
loudly complained and, seizing him 
by the throat, had him taken before 
the Judge. The baker seemed to have 
been caught in a manifest erime, and 
suffered punishment in addition to 
his loss. For this power of SDrcerers to 
throw off their limbs, see P iny, Books 
25, 26 and 28, and Auli.s Gellius, 
Book 10, chapter 12. 


water (fatal to sorcery); the leg toming away 
when pulled; passed into commin folk lore 
and chap-books, being attributed l o every con¬ 
jurer of popular renown. These ti ree illusions 
are introduced in Marlowe’s “Dr. Faust us,” 
4to, 1604. 

☆ 




BK. I. CH. IV. 


MALEFICARUM 


CHAPTER IV 

That Witches Effect their Marvels with 
the Help of the Devil 

Argument 

T HE demon can effect the most 
rapid local movement of bodies, 
so that he can withdraw an object 
from sight and substitute another so 
quickly that he deludes the under¬ 
standing and the eyes of the onlookers 
into a belief that the first object has 
been changed into the second. We 
must believe that the metamorphoses 
of the heathen were of this sort; such 
as the transformation of Diomedes’ 
companions into birds, and of Iphi- 
geneia into a hind, as S. Augustine * 
observes. These deceptions were ex¬ 
posed by Astirius also, whose deeds 
were saved from oblivion by Eusebius. 

We must, then, consider marvels as 
of two kinds. The first is when the 
effect is not due to any local motion 
and is beyond the sphere of applied 
natural causes, as, for example, the 
raising of the dead or the healing of 
true blindness; for in such there is 
always some glamour or deception. 
The other is when a visible object 
suddenly vanishes; and this is due to 
some prestidigital contrivance. An 
example of the first is when a sorcerer 
places in a room a bow made of 
a certain wood, and an arrow of 
another wood, and a string of a cer¬ 
tain material, and shoots the arrow 
and causes a river to appear in the 
place as wide as the length of the 
bow shot: of the second, when a horse 
appears to be torn in pieces, and then 
is found to be whole. Of the same sort 
is that trick mentioned by Nicetas, f to 
which we shall refer later, in which a 

* “S, Augustine,” “De Ciuitate Dei” 
XVIII, 18. 

f “Nicetas,” Acominatus, also called Cho- 
niates (from his birthplace Chonae in Phrygia ). 
He ranks among the most important Byzantine 
historians . Of his “Annales” there are edi¬ 
tions by Bekker, Bonn, 1835; by Migne, Paris, 
1865. “Annales,” IV, 23, 


9 

conjurer produces what appears to be 
a serpent. But for a better understand¬ 
ing of this it must be known that the 
devil deceives our senses in many 
different ways. First when he wholly 
or in part hides from our eyes an 
object which is present. Secondly, 
when he so affects the medium of our 
vision that an object seen through it 
seems different from what it is: as 
when salt is mixed with acid and a 
linen cloth soaked in it, if that cloth 
be lighted at a candle the faces of 
those present will assume a ghastly 
appearance; or if a candle made from 
an ass’s semen and wax be lighted, all 
those present appear to have asses’ 
heads. Thirdly, when the vapours of 
the intermediate air are thickened and 
so it appears that a cock is drawing 
along a beam, when it is really only 
a straw. Fourthly, when objects seem 
to move through the air, as trees 
appear to sailors to move along 
together with their ship. Fifthly, when 
there is shown to the onlookers an 
aerial or a fantastic body similar to that 
which they suppose it to be. Sixthly, 
by a swift agitation or a sudden con¬ 
cealment of visible objects, and by 
various secret arrangements and divis¬ 
ions of them, as conjurers do with 
strings and little balls, etc. Seventhly, 
if the bodily humours be agitated or 
disturbed things appear to be differ¬ 
ent from what they are, as.happens to 
drunkards and madmen. Finally, I say 
that the devil can so compound and 
arrange fantasms that even when a 
man may be said to be awake he is as 
one who sleeps, and thinks he sees 
what he does not see, according to 
Gaetani, £ 2. 2, q. 95, artic. 3. 


J “Gaetani.” Tomaso de Vio Gaetani, 
Dominican Cardinal, philosopher, theologian, 
and exegete, 1483-1334, His Commentaries 
on the “Summa” of S. Thomas are recognised 
as a classic of scholastic literature, and were 
by order of Leo XIII incorporated in the 
official Leonine edition of the works of S . 
Thomas, of which the first volume appeared at 
Rome in 1882, 




10 


COMPENDIUM 


Examples . 

At Caesarea Philippi, which the 
Phoenicians call Paneas, it is said that 
at a certain Festival of the Heathen a 
woman was solemnly sacrificed and 
thrown into the spring which there 
arises from the base of Mount Paneus, 
from which the Jordan is said to flow: 
and this woman, through the potent 
might of the demon, vanished in a 
wonderful manner from their eyes so 
that they thought that a memorable 
miracle had been performed. On one 
occasion Astirius chanced to be pres¬ 
ent while this was being done and, 
seeing so many people dumbfounded 
with wonder at this thing, he had pity 
on their ignorance and, raising his 
eyes to heaven, prayed God the Ruler 
of all through the mediation of Christ 
to restrain from his deception that 
demon who had so blinded the people 
with error, and to prevent him from 
those illusions with which he used to 
mock them. When he had thus prayed 
to God, the victim suddenly appeared 
floating on the water; and this matter 
which had caused so great wonder 
came to nothing, so that thereafter 
the like was no more practised in that 
place. 

Michael Sicidites looked from a high 
place in the Palace of Constantinople 
and saw a ship laden with pots and 
dishes; and by a magic spell he caused 
the captain to rise and start beating 
those dishes until they were reduced 
to powder. Soon, when his blindness 
had passed, the wretched man tore 
his beard and began to utter loud 
lamentations: and when he was asked 
why he had treated his merchandise in 
that manner, he sorrowfully answered 
that, while he was intent upon his 
oars, he saw a horrible serpent 
stretched upon the dishes and glaring 
at him as if it were about to devour 
him, and that it had not ceased from 
its twistings and contortions until all 
the dishes were broken. 

Hear another example which is so - 


bi:. i. ch. rv. 

well told and instructive th it I cannot 
refrain from relating it. 

In the time of Sigismund I,* King 
of Poland, Jacob Melstinch, the Mayor 
of the town ofBrezinium, was induced 
by some lightness of the m nd to take 
upon himself the authority and name 
of Christ. He chose Peter Zacorski of 
Cracow and eleven other robbers like 
him, and gave them the names of the 
Apostles; but himself he called Jesus 
Christ. They visited the tewms doing 
miracles after the manne r of con¬ 
jurers; they suborned other rogues 
and robbers to feign death and raised 
them to life; they planted fish in 
muddy marshes w'here they could not 
naturally be, and then in the name of 
Christ caught them in their hands; 
they hid loaves in ovens, and then in 
the name of their Christ brought 
them out as if they had not been there 
before, to the great wonder of the 
simple vulgar people. At one time he 
came with his disciples to Czensto- 
chowa,f a monastery famous for its 
picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary; 
and staying there some days incited 
one of their number to behave as if 
he were possessed of the devil, and 
by means of this man the*/ obtained 
food: for he went among the guest 
rooms, and snatched mea from the 
kitchen and threw it to his comrades, 
who blessed the meat with the cross 
and ate it. And when there was a 
great gathering of people before the 
Holy Image, these rogues led their 
possessed companion to the altar 
wearing a two-fold robe wi chin which 
he could secrete what was required. 
They put stones within hi:; garment. 
As he was being led to the altar, he 


* “Sigismund IP 1506-1548 
f “CzenstochowaOur Lady of Czensto - 
chowa , Krolowa Korony Polskiej. Czensto¬ 
chowa is a small town in the palatinate of 
Kalisz , near the Silesian frontier. The most 
Holy and Miraculous Picture of Our Lady 9 the 
work of S. Luke , is painted on cypress , and, 
says an old author , “has a majesty which 
passes the conception of art.” 



BK. I. CH. V. 


MALEFICARUM 


II 


broke away from their hands raging, 
and rushed upon the altar, which was 
covered with alms money which he 
seized and thrust between his two¬ 
fold garment. The monk who was at 
the altar broke off the divine office 
and fled; and the other monks ran 
up and undid the man’s belt. The 
stones then fell to the ground, but the 
money remained between the folds of 
his garment. The monks thought that 
the money had been changed into 
stones by the devil, and tried by exor¬ 
cisms to restore it to its proper shape: 
but when the stones still remained, 
the exorcist angrily threw down the 
holy book, saying: “We have never 
had such a devil. Depart with him 
to all the devils!” The rogues escaped 
with the real money into Silesia where 
in a certain village they approached 
a noble matron who, in the absence 
of her husband, would not receive 
them. They asked her to give them at 
least a napkin or a piece of flax as 
alms; and she offered them a bundle 
of flax, upon which they said: “This 
we will take and Christ will bless 
you, that your linen may increase 
more abundantly. Show us, if you 
have it, another bundle.” And when 
they would likewise have taken this, 
the woman, fearing her husband, re¬ 
fused : whereupon they secretly put a 
piece of lighted tinder in the flax as 
they returned it to her. And so by 
means of the flax the house was set 
on fire and burned. When the husband 
returned, the woman said that this 
was a just punishment for her bad 
behaviour to Christ and His disciples. 
But the husband was smitten with 
anger and said: “There has been no 
Christ here, but a very vile rogue.” 
So with his neighbours he went in 
pursuit and found them in a certain 
town. Then the false Christ said to 
him he called Peter: “Now my Pas¬ 
sion draws near, Peter, and the cup 
which I am to drink.” Peter answered: 
“And, Lord, I think it threatens me 
also.” He replied: “Peter, I can in no 
other wise escape from this than by 


the window.” Peter answered: “And 
as long as I live I will not leave you, 
but will follow you wherever you go.” 
So they escaped through the window, 
and the other Apostles by whatever 
means they could: but the peasants 
followed them smiting them with 
staves and ropes, saying: “Prophesy 
unto us, thou Christ and thy Apostles, 
in what forest did these sticks grow.” 
So, being chastened with blows, they 
thereafter chastened their lives, say¬ 
ing: “It is hard for us to bear the 
Passion of Christ and the persecutions 
of the Apostles as well.” This story 
is told in the Chronicles of Poland. 

☆ 

CHAPTER V. 

The Men of Old Accredited Witches 
with Marvellous Deeds . 

Argument. 

J OHN of Salisbury * says that, when 
God permits, witches can with the 
help of demons shake the elements 
together and alter the true appear¬ 
ance of things. They can foretell much 
of the future. They confuse the minds 
of men with dreams; and merely by 
the potency of their charms can cause 
death, etc. Saxo Grammaticus f writes 
that giants and sorcerers in the 
North practised unheard-of wonders 
with various illusions, and could so 
skilfully deceive men’s eyes that they 
hid their own features and those of 
others under various fantasms, and 
obscured the true shape of things 
under seductive forms, and did other 
marvels like those which we have 
already told of Simon Magus. Pytha¬ 
goras made his thigh appear to be 
golden, and by his spells tamed an 
eagle with which he often conversed. 
Baianus $ the King of Bulgaria was 

* “John of Salisbury.” “Polycraticus,” /, 
io. 

f “Saxo Grammaticus.” “Hist. Dan.” I. 
J “Baianus.” This is from Marcantonio 
Cocceius Sabellius , ///, “Ennead.” 2. 



12 


COMPENDIUM 


BSC. I. CH. V. 


seen to change himself whenever he 
would into a wolf or any other animal, 
and sometimes did so in such a manner 
that no one perceived it. Glycas * tells 
of Simon Magus, besides what we 
have already mentioned, that once 
when Caesar would have apprehended 
him he was stricken with terror and 
escaped by leaving another man in 
his own likeness. He says also that he 
had a dog chained to the door of his 
house, which devoured those who 
tried to come in without his permis¬ 
sion: but the dog told S. Peter to 
enter, and announced in human 
speech that S. Peter was present. You 
see how the power of the devil yielded 
to the divine virtue in S. Peter; for 
that Cerberus fawned upon S. Peter 
and was unable to’ harm him. Numa 
Pompilius produced a sumptuous feast 
when he had no food in his house. 
Ollerus sailed over the open sea on an 
enchanted bone as if it were a ship, 
as we are told by John Trithemius in 
his Chronica Hersaugiensis. Eric, King 
of the Goths, could draw a favourable 
wind from any quarter by turning his 
hat towards it. Apuleius f himself, 
according to many, was skilled in 
magic, and he relates a wonderful 
story of two women, the first of whom 
was a Queen among witches, as 
follows. 

☆ 

Examples . 

This woman, because her lover had 
seduced another woman, changed 
him with one word into a beaver; 
since that animal, when it is in fear of 
being caught, escapes its pursuers by 
cutting off its stones: and so also it 
happened to this man, because he had 
loved another woman. She changed 
a neighbouring innkeeper into a frog 
because he was jealous of her: and 
now (says Apuleius) in his old age he 
swims about in a large vessel of his 


* “Glycas ” “Annales,” II and III. 
f “Apuleius” “Metamorphoseon,” I. 


own wine, and squatting in the dregs 
of it greets his former customers with 
hoarse servile croakings. Ar. other man 
who spoke against her in public she 
changed into a ram. Also when her 
lover’s wife, who was heavy with 
child, loaded her with insults, she 
closed up the woman’s womb and 
by checking the growth of the foetus 
condemned her to a perpetual preg¬ 
nancy; so that it is agreed that the 
wretched woman went for eight years 
swollen like an elephant J about to 
give birth. The same author writes of 
one Pamphile who was said to be a 
witch of the first order and a mistress 
of every necromantic spell. This 
woman, by breathing upen pebbles 
and twigs and such small articles 
could plunge the heavenly light of the 
world into hellish and primeval dark¬ 
ness. Again, when she saw any beauti¬ 
ful youth she was at once smitten by 
his charms and turned her whole eyes 
and soul upon him; but if t ley would 
not comply with her, or proved in any 
way defective, she would detest them 
and at once change them into rocks 
or cattle or some other animal; while 
some she killed outright. 

It is certain that all the wonders 
we have just instanced were due to 
some magic illusion. But the Saints, 
as S. Paul§ says ( Hebr . xi. 34), per¬ 
formed miracles and wonders in the 
name of God and in perfect faith: 
“The Saints through faith quenched 
the violence of fire,” as did the 
Hebrew children, and S. Francis of 
Paula, and many others. Hear the 
following example of faith a ad praise¬ 
worthy religious obedience. 

Bernardino Scardeone wr .tes as fol¬ 
lows. A certain Dominicar. Prior of 
the Preaching Friars was nvited to 
dine with the Jesuates, the sons of 
Blessed John Colombini, ancl sat down 


J “ Elephant” Pliny, “ Historia Naturalis” 
VIII, io, says of the elephant: Decern annis 
gestare in utero uulgus existimat . Cf. Plautus, 
“Stichus ,” 1 ,3, and Achilles Tatius, Lib . IV. 
§ “ S . Paul .” “Hebrews ” XI, 34. 




BK. I. GH. VI. 


MALEFICARUM 


to the meal. When the food had been 
removed and leave was given to 
talk, this Prior began to speak of the 
Passion of Our Lord and His suffer¬ 
ings in good set phrase indeed, but 
somewhat arrogantly, tacitly criticis¬ 
ing his hosts because, although they 
were monks they did not, as other 
monks did, make public and private 
profession of the three vows. To this 
the Jesuate Prior, a simple man, but 
prudent and beloved of God, an¬ 
swered: “Since we have fallen into 
this talk, Father, do you agree that 
we see whether one of our Brothers, 
who has humbly devoted himself to 
God, or that companion of yours who 
has publicly professed the three vows, 
will show the more sincere obedience 
to his Superior?” Without thinking, 
the other willingly agreed. Then the 
Jesuate turned to our Brother Mark 
here as he ministered to those at the 
table, and said: “Brother Mark our 
guests are cold: in the name of your 
holy obedience bring them quickly 
from the kitchen in your bare hands 
some burning coals that they may 
be warmed at once.” The Brother 
promptly and unhesitatingly obeyed, 
not dreaming that anything could be 
impossible which he was commanded 
to do in the name of his obedience, 
and brought straight from the kitchen 
to the table as many burning coals as 
he could hold in his two hands, with¬ 
out taking the slightest hurt, and 
offered them to the two guests to 
warm themselves with: and at the 
Prior’s command, to the wonder of 
all, he then carried them back again 
to the place where he had fetched 
them from. The Dominican Prior was 
beyond measure astonished, and looked 
at his companion as if he were about 
to command him to do likewise; but 
this man, recognising this, thought 
there was not a moment to lose and 
broke out into the following words: 
“I beg you, Father, not to command 
me to tempt God. If you wish I will 
bring you fire as I always do in a 
potsherd, but not in my hands.” The 


*3 

other monks were looking at each 
other in silent amazement at this great 
miracle; but when they heard him 
blurt out those words, they quietly 
smiled at each other. 

☆ 

CHAPTER VI 

Of the Witches' Pact with the Devil. 
Argument. 

T HE pact formed between a witch 
and the devil may be either ex¬ 
pressed or tacit. The expressed pact 
consists of a solemn vow of fidelity and 
homage made, in the presence of wit¬ 
nesses, to the devil visibly present in 
some bodily form. The tacit pact in¬ 
volves the offering of a written petition 
to the devil, and may be done by 
proxy through a witch or some third 
person when the contracting party is 
afraid to see or have speech with the 
devil. Grilland* calls this a tacit pact, 
yet although it is made with another 
person than the devil, it is expressly 
made in the devil’s name, as is clear 
from the examples he gives. Perhaps 
we should class as an expressed pact 
that rather rare instance of a German 
woman who, jumping backwards out 
of her bath, said: “As far as I thus 
leap away from Christ, so much 
nearer may I come to the devil.” But 
there are certain matters common to 
all their pacts with the devil, and 
these may be arranged under eleven 
heads. 

First, they deny the Christian Faith 
and withdraw their allegiance from 
God. They repudiate the protection 


* “ Grilland .” Paul Grilland of Castig- 
lione wrote his famous Ci Tractaius de hereticis 
et sortilegiis , omnifariam coitu eorumque 
poenis ” about 1525. Grilland was il diocesis 
Aretinae (Arezzo) criminalium causarum 
auditor , Andreae de Iacobatiis, sanctissimi 
domini nostri papae almaeque urbis uicarii 
generalise The reference is Q. 1 //, N. 1 sqq. 
of the “De hereticis .” 



COMPENDIUM 


EK. I. CH. VI. 


14 

of the Blessed Virgin Mary, heaping 
the vilest insults upon her and calling 
her Harlot, etc. And the devil arro¬ 
gates honour to himself, as S. Augus¬ 
tine notes (contra Faustinum , cap. 22). 


Therefore S. Hippolytus * the Martyr 
writes that the devil compels them to 
say: “I deny the Creator of Heaven 
and earth. I deny my Baptism. I 
deny the worship I formerly paid to 
God. I cleave to thee, and in 
thee I believe.” The devil 
then places his claw upon 
their brow, as a sign that he 
rubs off the Holy Chrism and 
destroys the mark of their 
Baptism. 

Second, he bathes them in 
a new mock baptism. 

Third, they forswear their 
old name and are given a 
new one; as, for example, 
della Rovere of Cuneo was 
renamed Barbicapra. 

Fourth, he makes them 
deny their godfathers and 
godmothers, both of bap¬ 
tism and confirmation, and 
assigns them fresh ones. 

Fifth, they give the devil some piece 

* “S. HippolytusDied c. 236. This 
Saint was a prolific author , hut many of his 
works have not come down to us, and there is 
much in his history which is obscure . 


of their clothing. For the devil is 
eager to make them his own in every 
particular: of their spiritual goods he 
takes their Faith and Baptism; of their 
bodily goods he claims their blood, as 
in the sacrifices to Baal; of 
their natural goods he claims 
their children, as will be 
shown later; and of their 
acquired goods he claims a 
piece of their clolhing. 

Sixth, they swear allegiance 
to the devil within a circle 
traced upon the ground. Per¬ 
haps this is because a circle 
is the symbol of d vinity, and 
the earth is God’s footstool; 
and so he wishes 1 o persuade 
them that he is the God of 
heaven and earth. 

Seventh, they pray the 
devil to strike them out of 
the book of life, and to in¬ 
scribe them in the book of death. So 
we can read written in a black book 
the names of the witches of Avignon. 

. Eighth, they promise to sacrifice to 
him: and certain fiendish hags, as Bar¬ 


tolomeo Spina f tells, vow :o strangle 


f “Bartolomeo Spina.” c. 14J5-C. 1546. A 
Dominican theologian , Master of the Sacred 
Palace under Paul III. His “ Tractatus de 
Strigibus et Lamiis ,” Venice , 1523, has been 
often reprinted. 













































MALEFIC ARUM 


BK. I. CH. VI. 

prayers and lustrations against the 
evil of witchcraft); and finally the 
devil repeatedly accused her of cheat¬ 
ing him of his prey, and in the end the 
wretched woman was forced to poison 


*7 

dared to lie to Christ when he said, 
‘All these will I give to thee, if thou 
wilt fall down and worship me’” 
(S. Matthew iv). 

He promised the sorcerer Cyprian * 
that he should enjoy Justina, 
and yet he did not keep his 
word: for it is the height 

OF MADNESS TO EXPECT THE 
TRUTH FROM THE FATHER 

of Lies (see Origen, contra 
Celsum , Bk. 8). But these 
pacts with the devil are not 
only vain and useless; they 
are also dangerous and im¬ 
measurably pernicious, as I 
shall show by the two fol¬ 
lowing examples, and by 
many others in their proper 
places. 

☆ 



her own son Odilo, a babe in his 
cradle. 

But to return to our argument: the 
way to the pact between the devil and 
witches and the vow of service and 
allegiance seem to be pre¬ 
pared by some sympathy 
in wickedness between the 
witches and the devil, which 
gives rise to a familiarity 
approaching friendship, and 
so to a gradual feeling of 
confidence; and this begets 
in the weaker party a certain 
presumptuousness and bold¬ 
ness in making requests from 
the stronger, and in the 
stronger some pleasure in 
fulfilling his federate’s re¬ 
quests. And so it comes that 
the witch confides in the 
devil, thinking that he can 
command him, and the devil 
pretends to acknowledge his power. 
This has been well and fully proved 
by Abbot Trithemius: ( Questionum . 
VIII, 5). “Such pacts with the devil 
are usually vain and empty; for the 
devil never keeps faith, nor thinks 
himself bound by any promise, who 
c 


* “Cyprian” “ Martyrologium Romanum,” 
26 September: “At Nicomedia the birthday of 
the holy martyrs Cyprian and Justina the Vir¬ 
gin, the latter whereof suffered much for Christ 


under the Emperor Diocletian and the governor 
Eutholomius, and converted to Christ the said 
Cyprian, who was a mage, and who had at¬ 
tempted with his wizard arts to make her mad, 
and presently she underwent martyrdom with 
him” The birthday is the heavenly birthday, 
that day upon which a Saint passes to bliss . 













































i8 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. I. CH. VI. 


Examples . 

Remy (I, 9) relates that a youth 
named Theodore Maillot desired in 
marriage a maiden of very wealthy 
family, but was quite without hope of 
winning her since he was poor and of 
humble birth, and his family was en¬ 
gaged in commerce, which was then 
despised as ignoble; therefore he could 
see no honourable means of declaring 
his love. Now when matters are des¬ 
perate and entirely without hope, 
men readily turn to any conceivable 
remedy and engage themselves to fol¬ 
low any plan, whether it be lawful 
or not. Consequently young Maillot 
approached a fellow servant from Ger¬ 
many who, as he had heard, had a 
demon always at his service, and told 
him of his trouble, asking him not to 
begrudge him any help that he could 
give him, for he would not prove un¬ 
grateful. The German gladly ac¬ 
cepted this chance: for such were the 
terms of his pact with the demon that 
he was compelled within a few days 
either to deliver up another man to 
take his own debt upon him, or to have 
his neck twisted and be killed by the 
demon. He therefore appointed the 
following day at dawn for their busi¬ 
ness at a close and secret place; and 
they had hardly met there before the 
doors suddenly opened and there en¬ 
tered a maiden of the most beautiful 
and pleasing aspect (for so the demon 
chose to appear at first, lest Maillot 
should be revolted by his terrible 
appearance), who said that she would 
easily bring to pass the marriage which 
he so ardently desired, on condition 
that he would follow her instructions: 
and as he waited in anxious suspense, 
she gave him her advice. First she 
said that he must abstain from theft, 
obscenity, lust, blasphemy and other 
vices which soil the soul, and must 
practise piety and relieve the poor 
according to his ability, and fast twice 
a week, and not cease from solemn 
prayer every day, and be diligent in 
doing all that befits and becomes a 


Christian man; and that if he would 
bind himself by an oath tc do all this, 
he would without difficult;/ obtain the 
marriage he desired. Saying this, and 
having appointed a day foi his answer, 
she went out at the door. Maillot, 
seeing that so great a benefit was 
offered him on such holy z nd honour¬ 
able conditions, thought tiat he need 
have no hesitation in gratefully and 
willingly accepting them. But on 
thinking more and more deeply of the 
matter, and being tossed between hope 
and fear, there was that in his face 
which caused a certain priest of his 
house to guess that there was some 
cause for his distraction. This priest 
approached him kindly and searched 
out what was troubling his mind and 
succeeded in persuading him not to 
sink to any further communing with 
the devil. The German, thus cheated 
of his hope, soon after paid the debt of 
his pact; for not many days later he 
fell on to his head from his horse on a 
level and open road, and v/as instantly 
killed. 

Johann Nider ( Formicarius^J) relates 
that, a little before the pre* ent General 
Council, there dwelt in Lesser Basle a 
man of evil life and strongly suspected 
of witchcraft, whose daughter was 
married and living in ler father’s 
house. At length the old lather began 
to sicken and, showing his daughter 
and son-in-law a certain casket, said: 
“Do not move this chest, but let it rest 
in its place even after my d eath, or you 
will be sorry for it.” Anc soon after¬ 
wards he died. After some time had 
passed neither the dauglter nor her 
husband paid much attention to her 
father’s words: but as they were mov¬ 
ing the rest of their furniture to a new 
house, the man began to carry the 
chest, which was only a s mall one, to 
their new dwelling. On the way it 
began to grow so heavy that it was too 
much for his strength, and he called on 
his wife to help him. I do not know 
whether the woman opened the casket 
afterwards in the house, or whether 
she rashly interfered with it in some 


BK. I. CH. VII. 


MALEFICARUM 


other way; but it is certain that when 
they entered their new house with the 
child that had been born to them the 
woman suddenly became stark lunatic 
and rushed upon the cradle to kill the 
child. Seeing this, the husband for¬ 
cibly restrained her, recognising that 
she was possessed by a demon. She 
was exorcised, whereupon the demon 
threatened that he would not come out 
without killing her; and so it hap¬ 
pened, under the very hands of the 
exorcist. The next day, as the husband 
was walking in public, a stone sud¬ 
denly fell from the top of a conduit 
and, by the agency of the devil, as it 
seemed, struck him in the face and so 
deformed him that he no longer looked 
human. 

See how the demon exacted pay¬ 
ment in accordance with the pact 
which he had no doubt formed with 
the old father, namely, that he should 
kill whoever opened or moved the 
casket. Pierre Crespet* has much to say 
concerning such imprisoned demons, 
namely, that in serving their masters 
some are saturnine, some jovial, some 
venereal, some mercurial, etc.; that 
they must be approached with a cer¬ 
tain ritual, and that at certain times in 
the night they arouse their owners and 
require to be worshipped by them, if 
they do not demand a worse thing. 

It remains to quote another instance 
of how, when a witch attempts to do 
evil and fails, the evil rebounds upon 
herself, as I said in my argument. At 
Freising on the 4th September, 1589, 
Catharine Praevotte, whom I have 
mentioned before, told the following 
with her own lips. “Several of us 
witches met together to plot how to 
bewitch the cattle of a certain shoe¬ 
maker of Freising; but in some way we 
were thwarted so that we could not do 
this. Nevertheless our bargain had to 
be fulfilled, so that he who was await¬ 


* “Pierre Crespet .” A monk of the Celes- 
tine Order. A mystical and ascetical writer , 
author of “Deux livres de la haine de Satan et 
des malins esprits contre Vhommef Paris , i$go. 


19 

ing a sure prize should not be dis¬ 
appointed. So we decided to cast lots 
to see who should suffer for it, and it 
fell upon Agnes Eyswitz, the vilest and 
wickedest of all us women. She did 
not hesitate, but with the utmost readi¬ 
ness gave a drugged drink to her 
twenty-year-old son Peter in the 
presence of his companions, which 
soon caused his whole body to become 
monstrously distorted and deformed.” 
This was doubtless done so that he 
might suffer pains even worse than 
death at the hands of the demon, who 
never forgoes one tittle of his bargain. 

☆ 

CHAPTER VII 

By their Terrible Deeds and Imprecations 
Witches Produce Rain and Hail , etc. 

Argument . 

I T is most clearly proved by experi¬ 
ence that witches can control not 
only the rain and the hail and the 
wind, but even the lightning when 
God permits. Therefore Andrea Cesal- 
pino, in his Daemonum inuestigatio peri - 
patetica , says that men have been 
known who could raise, not only hail 
storms, but lightning also; but they 
confessed that they could not injure 
whomsoever they pleased, but only 
those whom God had forsaken, that is 
(for so I understand it) those who had 
fallen from God’s grace by mortal sin. 
They can also evoke darkness; where¬ 
fore we read in Marco Polo that the 
Tartars are so potent in devilish illu¬ 
sions that they can cause darkness 
when and where they will, and that he 
once narrowly escaped from robbers 
through the protection of this art. 
Bishop Haitof of Basle also tells that 
when the Tartar army was being 
beaten in battle, the witch Vexillarius 

f “Bishop HaitoP Born in 763 of a noble 
house of Swabia; died 17 March , 836, in the 
Abbey of Reichenau on an island in the Lake 
of Constance. Vautrey, “Histoire des Sveques 
de Balef /, ( Einsiedeln , 1884). 




20 


COMPENDIUM 


DK. I. CH. VII. 


encompassed their enemies with a 
thick darkness by means of his spells, 
so that they rallied and won the vic¬ 
tory. They can moreover cause rivers 
to stop flowing, and dry up springs, 
and irrigate the land with fresh springs 
produced from rocks and stones: they 
can make the water of a river turn back 
and flow to its source, a thing which 
Pliny* says happened in his time (II, 
103). Many examples are to be found 
in Remy, of which I shall quote a few 
here. 

☆ 

Examples. 

In the dis¬ 
trict of Treves 
a peasant was 
planting cab¬ 
bages in his 
garden with 
his eight-year- 
old daughter, 
and praised 
the girl highly 
for her skill 
in the work. 

The young 
maid, whose 
sex and age 
combined to 
make her talk¬ 
ative, boasted 
that she could do more wonderful 
things than that; and when her father 
asked what they were, she said: “Go 
away a little, and I will quickly 
make it rain on whatever part of the 
garden you wish. 99 He was aston¬ 
ished, and said: “Come then, I will 
go a little away. 59 And when he 
had withdrawn the girl dug a trench 
and pissed in it, and beat the water 
with a stick, muttering I know not 
what, and behold there fell from the 
clouds a sudden rain upon the said 
place. The astounded father asked: 

* “Pliny” “His tor ia Naturalis” 11 , 103: 
“Amnes retro fluere et nostra uidit aetas , 
Neronis principis annis supremis , sicut in 
rebus eius retulimus ." 



“Who taught you to do this? 99 She 
answered: “My mother did; and she 
is very clever at this and other things 
like it." The peasant nobly faced his 
right and plain duty, sc a few days 
later, on the pretence thai he had been 
invited to a wedding, he took his wife 
and daughter dressed in festal wedding 
robes to the neighbouring town, where 
he handed them over to the Judge to 
be punished for the crime of witch¬ 
craft. 

It is recorded in the Malleus Male - 
Jicarum that certain Inquisitors deter¬ 
mined to prove by mear s of a witch 
whom they had in custody the truth of 

the power 
claimed by 
witches ofstir- 
ring up tem¬ 
pests. They 
therefore re¬ 
leased her; 
since it is cer¬ 
tain that, as 
long as they 
remain in 
prison, all 
nagic powers 
desert them. 
S he then went 
to a thickly 
wooded place 
and there dug 
a trench with her hands and filled 
it with water, which she continued 
to stir with her finger until there 
arose from it a vapour which grew 
into a dense cloud. This cloud at 
once became alive with thunder and 
lightning, to the great awe and terror 
of the onlookers. But she said: “Be of 
good heart; I will cause all this cloud 
to be removed to whatever place you 
wish." And when thev named a 
desert place near by, the cloud was at 
once borne thither by the force of the 
wind and tempest, and let loose its 
hail upon the rocks, so confining all its 
damage within the prescribed and 
indicated limits. 

The following example is very like 
the first. A Suabian peasant was bit- 







BK. I. GH. VII. 


MALEFICARUM 


21 


terly complaining of the drought from 
which they were suffering, and as he 
was doing so his daughter, who was 
eight or ten years old, came to him 
and said that if he wished she would 
at once bring a heavy shower upon the 
field in which they were together. 
When the father said that he very 
greatly wished it, she asked him to 
give her a little water. So they came 
to a neighbouring stream where she 
beat the water in the name of that 
Master, as she said, to whom her 
mother was dedicated; and thereupon 
there fell rain from the skies abun¬ 
dantly enough to water that field, 
while it left all the other fields as dry 
as they were before. 

Remy relates how a witch named 
Alexia Granjean told that she was 
once being carried through the clouds 
and came to a place where, from her 
point of vantage, she could see a man 
named Johann Vehon pasturing his 
horses. Suddenly there appeared to 
her a huge black man who, as if 
eager to serve her, asked her whether 
she had any grudge against that 
peasant, for he would quickly avenge 
her upon him. She answered that she 
hated the man bitterly because he had 
once beaten her only son nearly to 
death while he was pasturing his 
horse. “Very well,” replied he; “I 
agree to avenge you at once.” So say¬ 
ing, he quickly rose up in the air so 
high that no eye could see him, and 
thereupon the lightning, with a 
mighty flash and thunder, fell upon 
the horses and smote down two of 
them, while the peasant looked on in 
terror about thirty paces away, accord¬ 
ing to his own evidence. 

Giovanni Pontano* tells that Fer¬ 
dinand II, King of Naples, laid close 
siege to Sessa Aurunca, which is situ¬ 
ated near Monte Massico. Now this 
town was for the House of Anjou, and 
he hoped to force it to surrender 


* “Pontano.” “De Bello Neapolitano” V. 
“Pontani Opera Omnia” Basileae, 1538, //, 
PP- 574 - 75 - 


through lack of water. But a number 
of wicked priests dared to summon 
rain by means of magic. For some of 
the besieged townsmen went out in 
the dark of night evading the camp 
sentries, and stealthily made their way 
to the sea shore dragging with them 
over rugged rocks the image of the 
Crucifix, which these execrable sin¬ 
ners reviled with foul curses and incan¬ 
tations and then cast into the sea.. At 
the same time certain priests, the vilest 
sinners of all men, being anxious to 
assist the soldiers 5 profane practices, 
performed a wicked rite in order to 
produce rain of this sort. They stood 
an ass before the Church door and 
sang a funeral dirge as for a living 
soul: then they placed the Divine 
Eucharist in its mouth, and continued 
their funeral chants about the living 
ass, and finally buried it before the 
Church doors. Hardly had this rite 
been performed before the air grew 
dark and the sea began to be lashed 
with the wind, and at midday the 
darkness of night descended, and now 
the heavens were rent with lightning, 
and now all was black darkness, and 
the heavens and the earth shook with 
thunder, and trees were hurled 
through the air by the wind, and 
rocks were split by lightning and filled 
the air with crashing explosions: and 
so heavy a downpour of rain fell from 
the clouds that the cisterns were not 
adequate to collect the water, but the 
torrents swept away stones and rocks 
which had before been parched and 
dried by the sun. The King therefore, 
whose whole hope of taking the town 
had rested upon the townsmen’s thirst, 
was baffled in his intention and re¬ 
turned to his former camp by the river 
Savone. 

I purposely set down this example, 
reader, that you may be advised of 
what abuses have crept into certain 
regions; such as dragging the Crucifix 
and the images of the Saints over 
the ground, in Germany and Aqui¬ 
taine also they boldly resort to such 
evil means for ensuring seasonable 



22 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. I. CH. VII. 


weather; and Martin de Arles* has 
written against similar foul practices 
revailing in Spain in his book on 
uperstitions. 

☆ 

CHAPTER VIII 

The Power of Witches over External 
Things. 

Argument. 

I T is one of the obligations that 
witches owe to the devil that, when 
they assemble 
at the Sabbat, 
they must 
show that they 
have wrought 
some fresh 
evil since the 
last meeting; 
and if they 
cannot do so 
they do not 
escape with 
impunity. 

And that they 
may not be 
able to plead 
ignorance as 
an excuse, 
their evil Master instructs them in 
all those activities which he demands 
from them: as in infesting the trees 
and fruits with locusts, caterpillars, 
slugs, butterflies, canker-worms, and 
such pestilent vermin which devour 
everything, seeds, leaves and fruit; 
or in bewitching cattle; or in casting 
a spell on the crops so that they 
are destroyed by leeches or wasted 
in some other way; or in the use of 
poisons, and in working as far as in 
them lies for the destruction of the 
whole human race. For all this we 


* “Martin de Arles.” Martin de Arles y 
Andosilla, author of the rare “ Tractatus insig- 
nis de Superstitionibus, contra Maleficia, seu 
Sortilegia quae hodie uigent in Orbe ten arum,” 
Paris, 75/7. Another edition, Rome , 7559. 


know from their own confessions; as, 
for example, those of Helena of Ar- 
mentieres at Douzy on the 30th Sep¬ 
tember, 1586; of Anna Ruffa at the 
same place and time; of Jean the 
Fisher at Gerbeviller on the 13th 
May, 1585; of his wife Colette; and 
of several others whom we pass over 
for the sake of brevity. For these, see 
Remy, Book I, chap. 22, and else¬ 
where. 

They can also destroy the flocks and 
herds, either by scattering poison or 
by sending into their bodies a demon 
which throws them down and strangles 

them or tears 
theminpieces. 
They can re¬ 
move a man’s 
crops and 
fruits to an¬ 
other place, 
ss is told by 
Servius {In. 
Eclog. Verg.) 
and Apuleius 
{In Apologia ), 
and by S. 
Augustine 
{Ciu. Dei , 

VIII). They 
can cause 
houses to be 
consumed by fire, as was done in a 
certain town of Suabia in the year 
1 533 by a certain witch, as we shall 
tell in the proper place. 

They can conjure up feasts: and 
these are either sheerly fantastic like 
those of Scotof of Parma, from whose 

f “Scoto .” There is an allusion to Scoto of 
Parma, a notorious Italian recromancer and 
adept in the black art, in the u Defensalive 
against Supposed Prophecies” of Henry How¬ 
ard, Earl of Northampton, 75 “/ was pre¬ 
sent my selfe when diuers Get tlemen & noble 
men, which vndertooke to cescry the finest 
sleights, that Scoito the Italian was able to 
play by Leger du main before , he Queene, were 
notwithstanding no lesse beguiled then the rest: 
that presumed lesse vppon theyr owne dexteritie 
and skyll in those matters.” In J. Harvey's 
“Discoursive Problem concerning Prophecies,” 























BK. I. CH. VIII. 


MALEFICARUM 


23 


banquets the guests departed appar¬ 
ently satisfied, but soon they were tor¬ 
tured by hunger; or else they may be 
composed of true food, but bad tasting 
and of an evil odour, since God does 



not permit them to conjure savoury 
food. Generally salt is lacking, and 
often bread; perhaps because salt is 
used in Baptism, and in the Eucharist 
we are fed with the life-giving flesh 
of our Lord Christ veiled 
under the form or accident 
of bread. But with God’s 
permission they can also 
produce bread and salt and 
savoury foods, as the witches 
themselves have confessed 
to their Judges; but this is 
rarely the case. Again when 
God wills they can by mere 
local motion free captives 
from their prisons and fet¬ 
ters: but this does but re¬ 
quire the breaking of some¬ 
thing; and since this can 
be done by men, why not 
by a devil? Trithemius 
narrates a story worth re¬ 
cording, which we shall tell later. 


Examples. 

There was put to death at Treves 
some years ago a very famous witch 
who had inserted a pipe into the wall 
of her house, through which 
she charmed all the milk of 
her neighbours’ cows: that 
is to say, the demon milked 
the cows and instantly car¬ 
ried the milk to her house. 

Remy tells (I, 23) of a 
certain peasant named De¬ 
sire Finance, who dwelt 
among the Vosges moun¬ 
tains, and who, whenever he 
sat down to eat in company, 
had a dog lying at his feet 
from which he used secretly 
to take poison which he then 
administered to whomever 
he wished: and by him a 
considerable number of men 
were killed before any suspicion rested 
upon him as being the cause of it. 

The same author tells that Antoine 
Welsch was asked to lend the garden 
of his house for the approaching cele¬ 



bration of the witches’ Sabbat. At 
first he said that he could not do so 


1588, Scoto is named together with the well- 
known juggler Feates as a member of the 
“foisting crueAlso in Nash's “The Unfor¬ 
tunate Traveller1594, mention is made ? of 
Cornelius Agrippa , who is said to bear “the 


fame to be the greatest coniurer in Christen- 
dome , ‘Scotoj that dyd the iugling tricks be¬ 
fore the Qucene, neuer came neere him one 
quarter in magicke reputation .” 


































COMPENDIUM 


BE.. I. CH. VIII. 


24 

because he had to go out that night: 
but when they still continued to press 
him and insist upon it as their right, 
he knew that he was overpersuaded; 
yet, as he had said, he himself went 
out. When he came home in the morn¬ 
ing and happened to go into his gar¬ 
den, he found it all devoured by cater¬ 
pillars and slugs, and the whole 
garden filled with such animals: but he 
bore all in silence, recognising the 
usual traces of that ungodly Assembly. 

In the year 1323 Frederick Duke of 
Austria marched against the Emperor 
Louis of Bavaria, and was defeated in 
a great battle between Ottingen and 
Moldova, and was captured by Louis, 
who placed him under guard in his 
fortified citadel. Meanwhile a witch 
promised his brother Leopold in 
Austria that he would by his art bring 
back Frederick within an hour if he 
should have a sufficient reward; and 
the Prince made liberal promises. The 
demon then flew to Frederick in Ba¬ 
varia, and entered his prison in the 
form of a pilgrim, saying: “If you 
wish to be freed from captivity, mount 
this horse, and I will take you safe into 
Austria to your brother Leopold.” 
The Duke asked: “Who are you?” 
But he answered: “Do not ask who I 
am, for that does not concern you; but 
mount this horse which I bring you.” 
But when even this most valiant Duke 
was seized with horror and protected 
himself with the sign of the cross, the 
eyil spirit disappeared together with 
his black horse, and went back empty 
to him who had sent him; in reply to 
whose complaints that he had not 
brought the captive home, he told all 
that had happened. 

Among the Swedes Ollerus attained 
to such fame in arms by means of his 
magic art that, as Saxo Grammaticus 
{Hist. Dan . 3) says, he was thought to 
be divine. The same author writes as 
follows (Book 5) of the Danish pirate 
Oddo: “He sailed the seas without 
any ship, and by raising up storms 
often wrecked his enemies’ fleets. He 
was a foe to merchants and a friend to 


barbarians. He embarked upon a war 
with the Normans; and by his spells 
so deluded his enemies’ e) es that they 
thought they could see the flashing of 
the Danish swords at a distance, so 
that when it came to hand to hand 
fighting they were so dazzled that they 
could not see to fight, and were thus 
defeated by magic.” 

Bishop Martin Kromer* writes as 
follows of the memorable victory of 
the Tartars over the Poles: “In the 
year 1240 the Poles joined battle with 
the Tartars near Legnitz and pressed 
them strongly and were putting them 
to rout. In the extreme rear of the 
Tartar army there was, among other 
banners, a notable one bearing a 
picture of the letter X, while at the 
top was a hideous bearded black head. 
As the standard bearer strongly 
waved this banner, it exhaled a dense 
and horribly stinking clov d of smoke, 
which not only hid the barbarians 
from the Poles, but even killed the 
Poles with its overpowering stench. 
The Tartars had done this by their 
spells; for they were much addicted 
to consultation with soothsayers and 
diviners, especially in wai but also in 
peace, in order to foreknow the future. 
When they saw that the Poles were in 
a panic, the barbarians roused them¬ 
selves and charged them, and put 
them to rout with great si mghter. So 
great a number of Christians was 
killed in that battle that nine huge 
sacks were filled with the ears that 
were cut off, one from each dead man. 

The Chinese, according to Juan 
Gonzales de Mendoza,f worship the 

* “KromerThe famous Polish bishop of 
Ermland and historian. Born, 12; died 1589. 

His “De origine et rebus gestis Polonorum,” a 
vast work in thirty books treating of the history 
of Poland from the earliest tin es until 1906 , 
was published at Basle in 1599. It has been 
twice translated into Polish, and also into Ger¬ 
man, 1962. Walewski, “Martin Kromer ,” 
Warsaw, 1874. The reference here is to Book 
VIII of the “De origine . . . Polonorum .” 

f “MendozaP This eminent early geo¬ 
grapher was of the Order of Augustinian 




BK. I. CH. IX. 


MALEFICARUM 


Virgin Noema as sacred; and he says 
that she owed her cult to magic art. 
For when a certain captain named 
Compo had, by order of the King, 
taken the fleet to a certain island, he 
could by no force weigh anchor to sail 
away again; but at last he suddenly 
saw Noema sitting in the stern of his 
ship. He approached reverently and 
begged her for help and advice; and 
she replied that the Chinese would 
never win the victory except under her 
leadership. She set out with the fleet 
therefore; and though the enemy 
relied upon their magic spells she 
defeated them with more potent 
charms. For the enemy threw their 
god into the sea and made the Chinese 
fleet appear to be burning and every¬ 
thing to be consumed in the false 
flames: but Noema put the flames out 
and, by her more powerful art, sent a 
similar spell upon the enemy who, 
finding that all their efforts were un¬ 
availing, surrendered themselves to 
Compo as beaten. 

The people of Pergamus also once 
tried to raise a siege of the town by 
means of magic, but without success, 
as Paul the Deacon* * tells {Rerum 
Romanarum , XX). 

In the time of Leo Isaurus, Masal- 
mas the Saracen chief occupied Per¬ 
gamus with no difficulty, although the 
citizens, trusting to a witch, had 
offered up a terrible sacrifice to the 
devil by cutting open a pregnant 
woman and taking out the living 
foetus, which they boiled in a pot, and 
all the soldiers defiled their right 
sleeves with this abominable sacrifice. 
Theophanes is our authority for this. 

Duke Wratislaw, the founder of 
Breslau (says Aeneas Silvius), went to 
war with his grandson Gremozislav, 
Duke of Bohemia. There was a woman 

Hermits. It was he who made the first really 
intelligible map of China, 1585. 

* “Paul the Deacon .” c. 720-ygg. The 
Benedictine historian also known as Casinen - 
sis, Levita, Warnefridi. His “Historia Ro- 
manaf an amplified and extended version of 
Eutropius, was formerly much esteemed. 


25 

who foretold that her own son-in-law, 
together with Wratislaw and the 
greater part of the people, would fall 
in that war; but that the young man 
could escape if he would obey her. 
When the youth answered that he 
would obey her commands, she told 
him to kill the first man he met, then 
to make the sign of the cross with his 
sword on the ground between his 
horse’s forefeet, then to cut off both 
the dead man’s ears and put them in a 
bag and make haste to flee. The battle 
was fought in a plain near Tuscus; and 
when Wratislaw had been killed, the 
young man, having done as the old 
woman bade him, returned safe to his 
home; but he found his dearly loved 
wife killed and with her ears cut off 
and her breast pierced, and was 
amazed and grieved to find that the 
ears he had cut off from his enemy 
were those of his wife. This was indeed 
a fit reward for consulting with a 
witch: and it may be that the wife 
also was a witch and had joined in the 
battle after the manner of Bohemian 
women; or else the demon set some 
deadly image in the battle and trans¬ 
ferred the wounds which it received to 
the wretched woman in the house. 

☆ 

CHAPTER IX 

Whether the Devil can Truly Enrich His 
Subjects . 

Argument . 

W E read that Stuphius paid his 
army with magic money. Psellus 
writes that the devil cannot veritably 
fulfil any of his promises,, but only 
offers empty mockeries to his worship¬ 
pers: but this view, while it may be 
true of some of the things that the devil 
is said to do, is false if it be made ap¬ 
plicable to everything that he is able 
to do. For I say that the devil, if God 
permits and he himself wishes, can en¬ 
rich his subjects: and if God com¬ 
manded him to do so, he would be 




26 


COMPENDIUM 


B X. I. CH. IX. 


compelled to obey, however unwilling 
he were: but only rarely does the 
devil wish this, and never does God 
command it, and very seldom does 
God permit it. The devil’s reluctance 
in this matter is clear, since we see that 
he most often cheats his subjects; and 
although he enriches a few with a little 
money at times, as he did Doctor 
Vlaet at Treves, he usually deceives 
them with empty hope and vain ap¬ 
pearances. Remy proves this by 
many examples taken from eye-wit¬ 
nesses as follows. 

At Douzy on the 30th September, 
1586 it transpired that Seneel of Ar- 
mentieres, having received from the 
devil what appeared to be a gift of 
money, hurried home rejoicing to 
count it; but when she shook out her 
urse she found nothing but charred 
its of clay and coal. Catherine of 
Metz, on the 31st October, 1586, found 
nothing but pigs’ excrement. Claude 
Morelle, at Barr in December 1586; 
Benedict Driget, at Hericourt in Jan¬ 
uary; Dominique Petronine, at Parg- 
ny in October 1586; all were proved 
to have been similarly deceived. 
Jeanne de Bans, at Chalons-sur- 
Marne in July 1585, stated that she 
found on the road a sum of money 
wrapped in paper as the demon had 
foretold, and gleefully showed it to her 
husband; but to her shame she found 
that, instead of gold she had a rusty- 
looking pebble which crumbled at the 
first touch. Others have been given 
the leaves of a tree for money. But 
Catherine Ruffa, at Val-de-Ville near 
the Moselle, in 1587, admitted that 
she had once been given three genuine 
coins. 

I have freely quoted these examples 
because they are publicly vouched for 
in the Courts of Justice. I could add 
many more, but think it unnecessary 
since the above are sufficient. 

Lorenzo Anania* {de Natura Dae - 


* “ Anania” Giovanni Lorenzo Anania , 
born at Taverna in Calabria , died c. 1582, 
His chiefpatron was the Archbishop of Naples , 


monum , II) adduces anolher reason 
why the devil is loath to enrich his 
votaries. He says that evil spirits are 
given to avarice, and that they amass 
treasures and money to meet the needs 
of Antichrist, the son of perdition, and 
that a certain soothsayer was told this 
by a demon. And although the 
demon is a liar and little faith can be 
placed in him, yet this is r ot far from 
the truth. But we are nearer to the 
true reason when we say that God 
never bids the devil to enrich his 
votaries (since He has no part in evil), 
and only very rarely pen nits it: for 
indeed these to whom the devil 
promises riches, dignity, honours and 
the favour of Princes are the most vile, 
abject, needy and despicable: and if 
they were rich before, they become 
poor: and if they were poor, they 
never become rich. And those who 
seek to acquire riches at tie instance 
of the devil by their magic and against 
human laws, as may be seen from the 
first Canon Law de thesauri r, the devil 
frightens to death or cruelly' strangles. 
Andre Thevetf {Cosmog. VIII, 1) tells 
that he heard from an eye-'*witness that 
a certain Greek named Maerianus was 
looking for treasure in th* island of 
Paros, and was swallowed up by the 
earth. Anastasius quotes Cedrenus as 
telling the like, and many others have 
such stories, one of which I shall set 
down as being a wonder not unworthy 
of record. 

☆ 

Examples . 

About the year 1520 at Basle a cer¬ 
tain simple-minded tailor afflicted 
with a stammer somehow or other 


Caraffa . In 1581 was published at Venice his 
“De Natura dccmonum y libri quatuor.” A 
second edition followed in ig8g. The reference 
here is to Book II. 

f “ThevetThis great French explorer is 
best known for his voyage to America when 
with others in 1556 he landed on the banks of 
the Penobscot. He has left a very complete ac¬ 
count of his visit. 




BK. I. CH. IX. 


MALEFICARUM 


27 


entered the cave which has its entrance 
at Augst and going further into it than 
any had ever gone before, said that he 
saw marvellous sights. He said that, 
after burning consecrated corn, he 
went into the cave and first went 
through an iron gate, and then from 
one room to another, and so into a 
most beautiful flower garden. In the 
midst was a magnificently decorated 
hall where he saw a very beautiful 
Virgin with a golden diadem upon her 
head and her hair flowing loose; but 
the lower part of her body ended in a 
horrible serpent. This Virgin led him 
by the hand to an iron chest which was 
guarded by two black Molossian 
hounds, which by their baying pre¬ 
vented any from approaching: but the 
Virgin in some wonderful manner 
calmed them, and taking a bunch of 
keys from her neck, opened the chest 
and displayed every sort of gold, silver 
and copper money. And he said that 
the Virgin gave him no small sum of 
this money, which he brought back 
out of the cave. He added that the 
Virgin said that she was a King’s 
daughter who had always led a devout 
life, but that she had been changed by 
an evil spell into that monstrous shape 
and that there was no other hope of her 
recovery than for her to be kissed three 
times by a youth of unimpaired 
chastity; for then she would be re¬ 
stored to her former shape, and would 
give as dowry to her liberator the whole 
treasure hidden in that place. He as¬ 
serted also that he twice kissed the 
Virgin, and twice saw upon her face 
such a horrible gloating at the thought 
of her liberation that he was afraid 
that he would not escape from her with 
his life. Afterwards he was taken by 
some loose boys into a brothel, and 
could never thereafter find the ap¬ 
proach to the cave, to say nothing of 
entering it again. 

Who does not understand the illu¬ 
sion? The young man was not quite in 
his right senses: or a devil of the class 
of the Lamiae tempted him to kiss her, 
so that she might devour him after the 


third kiss; but God did not permit it. 
The two dogs were other demons, or 
may have been the true or pretended 
guardians of the treasure. The money 
was perhaps real, and given with the 
permission of God. 

Some years later another citizen of 
Basle entered that cave purposing to 
relieve his family’s poverty. He found 
nothing but the bones of human 
corpses, and seized with a sudden panic 
rushed out, and behaved so extrava¬ 
gantly that he perished miserably in 
three days. See Stamphius as above, 
and Beatus Rhenanus,* * * § Book III, 
Historia Germanorum. 

A few years before a certain Prior of 
Margulina, being in search of treasure, 
went with two companions into a pit 
in the cave of King Salaus near 
Pozzuoli, and met with a wretched 
death, never being seen again. This 
I have from Jacques de Villamont 
(Les Voyages , livre I, 23). 

Andreas of Ratisbon J writes: “ We 
know that many treasures have, been 
collected by magic art, but it is not 
known who obtained possession of 
them.” 

In our own time certain men began 
to dig for treasure at Pisa, but at last 
were beaten by the difficulty of the 
work and ceased from it. 

Finally last year men started to dig 
where Nero’s § palace is said to have 


* “BealusRhenanus.” 1485-1547. Human¬ 
ist and classical scholar , the friend of Erasmus 
and Gelenius. 

f “Les Voyages .” “Les Voyages du Seig¬ 
neur Jacques de Villamont.” I have used the 
Arras edition , 159#, of this very popular book. 
There were reprints Paris , 1600; Lyons , 1606 
and 1607; Paris , i6og; Rouen , 1618; and 
Paris , i6g8, which purports to be the Third 
Edition. This is, of course , incorrect. 

J “Andreas of Ratisbon.” All that is 
known of this historian is gathered from his 
works. Ordained priest at Eichstatt in 1405 , 
he joined the Canons Regular of S. Augustine 
at Ratisbon in 1410. His writings have won 
him the title of the “Bavarian Livy.” 

§ “Nero.” Nero's “Golden House ” ex¬ 
tended from the Palatine across the valley of 



28 


COMPENDIUM 


IX. I. CH. IX. 


stood, in a place which is to-day a 
cloister for Holy Virgins, where there 
is a huge pine tree: but they were so 
tormented by devils that fear com¬ 
pelled them to desist from the work 
which they had begun; and mean¬ 
while many of the nuns dwelling in 
that place were possessed by devils. 
And what wonder, when they per¬ 
mitted this unlawful treasure search in 
their own grounds? Therefore God 
punished them in this life that He 
might pardon them in the future. 
Paul Grilland {De sortileg. q. 3, n. 12) 
writes more exactly on this subject 
than do any others. 

☆ 

CHAPTER X 

Whether Witches Can by their Art Create 
any Living Thing. 

Argument. 

I T is the opinion of S. Augustine (. De 
Trinitate , III, 7), supported by all 
other Theologians, particularly S. 
Thomas and S. Bonaventura, that 
witches can in a moment produce im¬ 
perfect animals, such as flies, worms, 
frogs and such insects and other animals 
which are generated by putrefaction; 
not by creating them, but by applying 
active to passive principles. It is usually 
the demon who, in accordance with 
his pact with the witch, produces such 
animals by the application of active 
to passive forces: for the witches them¬ 
selves for the most part do not know 
how they are produced, and are ignor¬ 
ant of the causes: as when the devil 
gives a witch a little dust which she 
throws into the air, and there are born 
various kinds of locusts and grass¬ 
hoppers and mice and caterpillars 
and suchlike animals. The devil could 
also, having produced such things, 

the Colosseum and far up the Esquiline. It 
would be difficult—and it is perhaps not neces¬ 
sary—to identify the Convent of which Guazzo 
speaks. 


tend them and nourish them and give 
them breath in remote places where 
they appear to be generated; as 
among rocks, where imperfect animals 
are often born, such as flies and mice 
and similar things. And I believe that 
this is what happened in the case of 
those dogs mentioned by William of 
Newburgh {Hist. Anglorum , I, 28) as 
follows. A huge stone was being split 
open in a certain quarry, when there 
appeared two dogs equal in size to that 
stone; and from no perceptible hole 
there sprang these same dogs, which 
were of the kind called harriers, but 
fierce-looking, strongly smelling and 
very shaggy; and one of them, it is 
said, quickly disappeared. But the 
other, which is said to have been ex¬ 
traordinarily voracious, was kept in 
luxury for several days by Henry, 
Bishop of Winchester. These dogs 
could not, I think, have been gener¬ 
ated except from prolific semen; but 
the devil was able to take them from 
their mother’s womb and 1 ide them in 
that place. Demons can also bring 
forth strange, monsters, 1 ke that in 
Brazil which is seventeen )alms high, 
has a lizard’s skin, very swollen paps, 
the forelegs of a lion, deadly eyes and 
a flaming tongue: or like those mon¬ 
sters in the forests of Saxony, of half 
human appearance, which were cap¬ 
tured in 1240 (Anania, De Natura 
Daemonum , IV). Unless pe rhaps such 
were the issue of an abominable coition 
of men and beasts, which is u ndoub tedly 
the cause of most monsters. For in this 
way in the Marsic war A cippe gave 
birth to an elephant. And Alexander 
ab Alexandre),* II, tells us that in 
the year 1278 in Switzerland a woman 
gave birth to a lion. So in 1471 at 
Pavia one produced a cat, and another 
at Brixen a dog. So in 1531 a woman 
of Augsburg brought forth at one 


* “Alexander ab Alexandro .” Alessandro 
Alessandria a famous Neapolitan jurisconsult 
and archaeologist , born 1461; died c. 1523. 
The reference is to his Ci Genialium Dierumf 
an encyclopaedic work , often reprinted. 




BK. I. CH. X. 


MALEFICARUM 


birth first a human head covered in a 
caul, then a two-legged serpent, and 
thirdly a complete pig. We read of 
many such births in more recent 
times; but the most astounding of all 
is that recorded in the Chronicles of 
Portugal. 

☆ 

Examples . 

A woman was deported for some 
crime to a desert island and there left, 
and was at once surrounded by a 
chattering crowd of apes, of which 
there were many in that place. Then 
one larger than the rest, for whom they 
all made way, came and took her 
gently by the hand and led her into a 
big cave, where he and some other 
apes brought her a plentiful variety of 
fruit and nuts and roots, and signed 
to her to eat. Finally she was forced 
into foul sin with the ape, and so con¬ 
tinued for many days until she gave 
birth to two children by the animal. 
The wretched woman lived in this way 
for some years, until God took pity up¬ 
on her and sent a ship there from 
Portugal, from which some sailors 
came ashore to fetch water from a 
spring which was near her cave. It 
happened that the ape was not at 
hand; so the woman ran up to the 
men, whose like she had not seen for 
so long, and throwing herself at their 
feet implored them to set her free from 
her criminal and disastrous servitude. 
They consented, having pity on her 
misfortune, and she embarked upon 
the ship with them. But behold, the 
ape then appeared calling with extra¬ 
vagant gestures and groans to his wife, 
who was not his wife; and when he saw 
the sails set for departure, he quickly 
ran and held out one of her children 
to the mother, threatening to drown it 
in the sea if she did not come back. 
And he was not slow to carry out his 
threat. Then he ran back to the cave 
and as quickly came again to the shore 
with the other child, which he like¬ 
wise threatened and drowned. After 


29 

this, in his fury, he swam after the 
ship until he was overcome by the 
waves. This story became the talk of 
all Portugal; and the woman was con¬ 
demned by the King of Lisbon to be 
burned: but certain men petitioned for 
her, and her sentence was commuted 
to imprisonment for life. Does this 
surprise you, reader? Hear what Saxo 
Grammaticus and two great Bishops of 
Upsala say. They say that the Gothic 
Kings sprang from a bear and a nobly 
born virgin; and Joao de Barros * says 
that the Pegusian and Sianite Indians 
originated from the physical union of a 
dog and a woman. 

Yet I am sceptical in this matter, for 
man must be generated by man. And 
if there is any truth in what we have 
just told, I shall say that an Incubus 
devil injected the warm semen of 
those animals into the women: and as 
for the report concerning the. Gothic 
Kings, I think this is to be said; that 
the devil in the form of those beasts 
tumbled the women. And that he can 
do this is shown by the next example, 
and the following chapter. 

There was a lewd fellow in Belgium 
who had to do with a cow, and the 
cow soon became pregnant and after 
some months gave birth to a male 
foetus, which was not a calf but human. 
There were many present who saw it 
come from its mother’s womb, and 
they picked it up from the ground and 
gave it to a nurse. The boy grew up 
and was baptised and instructed in 
the Christian life, and applied himself 
seriously to piety and works of pen¬ 
ance for his father; and so came to 
manhood. But he felt in himself cer¬ 
tain bovine propensities, as that of 
eating grass and chewing the cud. 
What must be thought of this? Was 
he not a man? Certainly I believe he 


* “Joao de Barros” 1496-1570. His 
classical work “Asia,” giving an account of 
explorations and conquest, is highly esteemed as 
a masterpiece of Portuguese literature. See De 
Feria, “Vida de Joao de Barros,” Lisbon , 
J77& 



COMPENDIUM 


UK. I. CH. X. 


30 

was; but I deny that his mother was 
a cow. What then? The devil was 
aware of his father’s sin, and at his 
pleasure made the cow appear to be 
pregnant: he then secretly brought an 
infant from elsewhere, and so placed 
it by the labouring cow (which was big 
only with wind) that it seemed to be 
born from the cow. 

☆ 

CHAPTER XI 

Whether there Truly are Incubus and 
Succubus Devils; and whether Children can 
be Generated by Copulation with them. 

Argument . 

LMOST all the Theologians and 
learned Philosophers are agreed, 
and it has been the experience of all 
times and all nations, that witches 
practise coition with demons, the 
men with Succubus devils and the 
women with Incubus devils. Plato in 
the Cratylus , Philo, Josephus, and the 
Old Synagogue; S. Cyprian, S. Justin 
Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Ter- 
tullian, and others have clearly proved 
that devils can at will fornicate with 
women. But a more substantial proof 
is to be found in S. Jerome on Ephes¬ 
ians vi, and S. Augustine {Civ. Dei. 
XV, 23), who is followed by the con¬ 
sensus of all Theologians, and especi¬ 
ally by S. Isidore, chapter 8. The 
same belief is championed in the Bull 
of Pope Innocent VIII * against 
witches. 

This truth can be proved by argu¬ 
ment. For demons can assume the 
bodies of dead men, or make for them¬ 
selves out of air a palpable body like 
that of flesh, and to these they can im¬ 
part motion and heat at their will. 


* “Innocent VIIIT The Bull “Summis 
desiderantes ajfectibus” g December , 1484 ,, a 
translation of which will be found in my 
“Geography of Witchcraft ,” pp. 533-6, as 
also prefixed to the “Malleus Maleficarumf 
John Rodker, 1328. 


They can therefore create the appear¬ 
ance of sex which is net naturally 
present, and show themselves to men 
in a feminine form, and to women in a 
masculine form, and lie with each 
accordingly: and they can also pro¬ 
duce semen which they have brought 
from elsewhere, and i:nitate the 
natural ejaculation of it. 

I add that a child can be born of 
such copulation with an Incubus devil. 
To make this clear, it muit be known 
that the devil can collect semen from 
another place, as from a man’s vain 
dreams, and by his speed and experi¬ 
ence of physical laws can preserve that 
semen in its fertilising warmth, how¬ 
ever subtle and airy and volatile it be, 
and inject it into a woman’s womb at 
the moment when she is most disposed 
to conceive, making it appear to be 
done in the natural way, and so 
mingling it with the woman’s ova. 
Yet it is true that the devils cannot, as 
animals do, procreate children by vir¬ 
tue of their own strength and sub¬ 
stance: for neither between them¬ 
selves have they any propagation of 
their own kind, nor are they endowed 
with any semen which can in the least 
degree prove fertile. And how should 
they have semen of their own, since 
semen is a vital part of the corporeal 
substance, and (according to Sym- 
posianus in his Problems ) a secretion 
from well-digested food; whereas 
devils are substances without corporeal 
bodies? We say, then, that a child can 
be born from the copulaticn of an In¬ 
cubus with a woman, but that the 
father of such a child is not the demon 
but that man whose semen the demon 
has misused. There are countless 
examples told by many ar thors (Jor- 
nandus, de rebus Gothicis , and Luit- 
prand) that the Huns were descended 
from the union of Fauns w ith Gothic 
witches. Chieza (Hist. Pern, II, 27) 
writes that in Spanish America a 
demon named Corocotor lies with 
women and that there are born child¬ 
ren with two. horns. The Japanese 
claim that their Shaka is of the same 




BK. I. GH. XI. 


MALEFICARUM 


sort. Nor are there wanting those who 
place Luther * in this class. And not 
ten years ago a woman was punished 
in the chief city of Brabant because 
she had been brought to bed by a 
demon. It remains for us to reply to 
the arguments which are brought for¬ 
ward to contradict this belief. 

The first argument is that of Remy 
as follows. Devils and human beings 
are of a different species, and therefore 
no issue can come of a copulation be¬ 
tween them. I answer that this argu¬ 
ment bears no weight; for from a horse 
and an ass, and from other differing 
animals, are born mules, wolves, leo¬ 
pards, panthers, etc. Also, the pro¬ 
creation is not ascribed to the demon, 
but to the man whose semen is used, 
as S. Thomas says ( Quodlib . VI, art. 6 
and 8). 

The second argument is that the 
devil has no part in life, but is the 
source of death; therefore he cannot 
be the author and origin of the vital 
act. I answer that this vital force is 
not in the devil, but in the semen it¬ 
self; just as the warming virtue of wine 
is not in the vat or the goblet, but in the 
wine itself. See S. Thomas as above, 
and the Malleus Maleficarum , I, 4. 

The third argument is that witches 
confess that the semen injected by the 
devil is cold, and that the act brings 
them no pleasure but rather horror; 
and therefore no issue can come of 
such a union. This is the argument of 
Mark of Ephesus, who is followed by 
Remy, and it is based on the con¬ 
fessions of witches who say that such 
copulations are entirely devoid of 
pleasure, and that they rather feel the 
most acute pain in them. I answer 
that when the devil wishes to disguise 
himself in the form of a certain man, 
and would not have it known that he 


* “Luther” Malvenda, “De Antichristo” 
(1604), II, vi, certainly says of Luther: “Ex 
incubo dtemonio genitum baud leuibus futili- 
brisque coniecturis deprehensum est a plerisque , 
ut Coclaeus refert” Coclaeus is Johann Do - 
beneck, 1479-1552. 


31 

is a devil, then he must as far as 
possible imitate every detail of true 
copulation between a man and a 
woman: and then, if he wishes any 
issue to result (which is very rare; for 
he never desires propagation for his 
own sake, since nothing of like nature 
to himself can be generated: although 
sometimes at least he humours the 
woman’s wish and seeks to make her 
pregnant by means of another’s 
semen), he must necessarily take care 
to provide everything needful for pro¬ 
creation. Therefore he seeks for fer¬ 
tile semen and, having found it, con¬ 
serves it and so quickly transports it 
that its vital essence is not wasted; 
and when need is, he injects it. But 
when he does not mean to beget 
issue he injects some substance in the 
likeness of semen, which is warm so 
that the deception may not be de¬ 
tected. As for the cold semen, that is 
only found in the case of witches who 
are fully aware that he is a devil. 
Moreover, as Sprenger says [Malleus 
M. I, 1, c. 4), he usually asks the 
woman if she wishes to become preg¬ 
nant; and if she does, he provides 
true semen from another source, as I 
have described. 

The fourth argument was that it is 
incredible that God should allow such 
a thing to be done, or would endow 
with a living soul anything born of 
such a union, for this would be adding 
the final touch to the devil’s work. The 
answer to this is that, as far as natural 
operation is concerned, the devil is 
only the instrument which applies the 
principal agent, namely, true human 
semen; and therefore God concurs in 
the final disposition of an organic 
body born from human semen, al¬ 
though it is abnormal; and the sin 
lies entirely at the door of the witch 
and the devil’s malice. God, the 
author of nature, delights in all things 
natural: but if this argument held 
good, since He is not the author or 
abettor of sin, no issue could be born 
of fornication or adultery or unclean¬ 
ness or incest. It is further objected 



COMPENDIUM 


BK. I. CH. XI. 


32 

that the root of all procreation is the 
heart, and that when the necessary 
cordial heat and virtue are wanting 
there can be no procreation. The 
answer is that, whether its source is 
the heart or the brain, the vital fer¬ 
tilising germ is contained in the semen 
in the actual ejaculation of that semen 
from the human body; and that the 
devil can preserve that germ in its 
necessary warmth. 

We shall set down certain instances 
of the activities of Succubus devils, as 
well as some more of Incubus devils. 

☆ 

Examples. 

Fifteen years ago, at Bamberg, a 
certain Peter Stumpf was sentenced to 
death because he had sinned with a 
Succubus devil for more than twenty- 
eight years. This devil had given him 
a girdle which he had only to put on, 
and it appeared both to himself and 
others that he was changed into a wolf. 
He tried to devour two of his 
daughters-in-law. He lived with his 
own daughter and her godmother as 
his wives. This is all vouched for in 
the Court records, and is memorised 
in pictures carved in brass which are 
for sale. 

Remy tells an example which he 
heard from a trustworthy man named 
Melchiore Errico, taken from the most 
closely guarded secrets of the Most 
Serene Duke of Lorraine. “ There was 
at Hemingen,” says this man, “while I 
was watching my Lord’s interests in 
that place, a certain warlock who, 
when he was asked by the Judge how 
he had first been led into such wicked¬ 
ness and, especially, by what wiles the 
devil had seduced him, freely and 
openly declared as follows: ‘I was a 
common herdsman, and at dawn of 
day was gathering my herds from 
their several houses, when of all the 
girls who let the cattle out of the 
stables one especially fired my soul 
with love, and I began to think more 


and more of her by night ind by day. 
At last as I was burning with desire 
for her at my solitary pasturage, there 
appeared to me one like h( r coyly hid¬ 
ing behind a bush. I ran tc my longed- 
for prize, wooed her and at last em¬ 
braced her although against her will; 
but after some repulses, she consented 
to make me free of her c n condition 
that I acknowledged her as my Mis¬ 
tress and behaved to her as if she were 
God Himself. I accepted the con¬ 
dition, and possessed her; but she also 
so possessed me that from that time I 
have been unhappily subject to no 
will but hers. 5 55 

Hector Boece (De rebus Scoticis , liber 
8 ) tells that in the coasts around 
Moray Firth a highly born girl of 
great beauty refused several noblemen 
in marriage and fell into an abomin¬ 
able familiarity with an Incubus 
devil. When her parents commanded 
her to tell whether this were true, and 
to discover her paramour, she said 
that a marvellously beautiful youth 
had frequent intercourse with her by 
night, and sometimes by day, but that 
she did not know whence he came or 
whither he went. Her parents did not 
entirely believe the girl, and formed a 
plan by which they should learn more 
exactly who it was who had stormed 
the fortress of their daughter’s virgin¬ 
ity; and when, three days later, they 
were informed by a serving maid that 
the paramour was presenl, they bolted 
the house doors and, lighting many 
torches, went into the bedroom, where 
they saw in their daughter’s arms a 
horrible monster whose appearance 
was terrible beyond human imagina¬ 
tion. Others quickly ran up to see the 
foul sight, among them a Driest of most 
holy life not unlearned i.i rituals and 
exorcism, who, while the rest were run¬ 
ning away in terror or stood rooted to 
the ground with horror, began to 
recite the Gospel of S. Jol n; and when 
he had come to “ The Word was made 
flesh, 55 the evil demon gave a terrible 
cry, set fire to all the furniture, and 
departed, carrying with him the roof 


BK. I. CH. XII. 


MALEFICARUM 


33 


of the bed chamber. The girl, having 
escaped from this danger, gave birth 
to a monster of utterly loathsome 
appearance, such as had never before 
been seen, as it was said; and lest it 
should be seen and bring disgraceupon 
her family, the midwives lit a huge 
fire and quickly burned it. 

A little earlier the same author tells 
of a Succubus devil as follows. In the 
district of Gareotha in a village not 
fourteen miles from Aberdeen, a young 
man of great beauty openly com¬ 
plained before the Bishop of Aberdeen 
that for many months he had been 
tormented by 
a Succubus 
devil, as they 
say, more 
b e au ti ful 
than any 
woman that 
he had ever 
seen. He said 
that she came 
to him by 
nightthrough 
locked doors, 
coaxed and 
forced him 
into her em¬ 
braces, and 
went away 
as the dawn 
began to break, with scarcely any 
sound; and that he could by no 
means, though he had tried many, be 
delivered from so great and foul a 
madness. The excellent Bishop at 
once ordered the young man to re¬ 
move himself to another place, and 
to apply his mind more than usual 
to the Christian Religion, with more 
devout fasting and prayer; and so, 
following the advice of the venerable 
Bishop, the young man was after a 
few days delivered from the Succubus 
devil. Elsewhere I shall describe other 
examples. 

☆ 


CHAPTER XII 

Whether Witches are Really Transported 
from Place to Place to their Nightly 
Assemblies. 

Argument. 

ANY of the followers of Luther 
and Melancthon maintained 
that witches went to their Sabbats in 
imagination only, and that there was 
some diabolical illusion in the matter, 
alleging that their bodies had often 
been found lying at home in their 
beds and had never moved from 

them; and 
they support 
their conten¬ 
tion with that 
passage in 
the Life of 
S. Germanus 
concerning 
the women 
who met to¬ 
gether, as it 
seemed, in a 
feast, and yet 
were all the 
time sleeping 
at home. It 
is certain that 
such women 
are very often 
the victims of illusion, but it is not 
proved that this is always so. But as 
Michal the wife of David deceived 
the soldiers of her father Saul by put¬ 
ting an imageinDavid’s room, so we say 
that the devil can and does place a 
false body in the bed to deceive the 
husband while a witch has gone to the 
Sabbat; and in order that the husband 
may not suspect she is absent, he 
either causes him to fall into a heavy 
sleep, or substitutes a likeness of his 
wife so that the husband on awaking 
may think that it is indeed his wife. 
Nicolas Remy proves this from 
judicial records. A barber’s wife con¬ 
fessed at Forbach on ist September, 
1587, that she had often done this to 
her husband Bertrand, and had put 




D 
























COMPENDIUM 


BK. I. CH. XII. 


34 


him to so deep a sleep by anointing 
him with a certain ointment that she 
could tweak him by the ear without 
rousing him; and she used the same oint¬ 
ment upon herself when she wished to 
go to the Sabbat. On the same day at 
the same place Eller, the wife of a 
beadle of Ottingen, was said to have 
substituted for her own body a child’s 
cradle, or as some said a bundle of 
twigs marked with the name of her 
Familiar, and so often duped her 
husband. At Homberg on the 5th 
June, 1590, Maria, the wife of a tailor 
in Metzer Esch, anointed a bundle of 
straw and so 
created an 
illusionwhich 
vanished as 
soon as she 
herself re¬ 
turned to the 
house. Cath¬ 
arine Ruffa 
declared that 
the devil him¬ 
self had at 
times taken 
her place in 
bed and acted 
in her stead. 

These i n- 
stances are 
taken from 
Remy , Demonolatreia, I, 12. 

Further I hold it to be very true that 
sometimes witches are really trans¬ 
ported from place to place by the 
devil who, in the shape of a goat or 
some other fantastic animal, both 
carries them bodily to the Sabbat and 
himself is present at its obscenities. 
This is the general opinion of the 
Theologians and Jurisconsults of Italy, 
Spain, and Catholic Germany; while 
a great many others are of a like 
opinion. Turrecremata (Torque- 
mada) on Grilland, De sortileg. libre 2, 
q. 7, num. 8: Remy, Demonolatreia, 1, 
14, 24, 29: S. Peter Damian, Epist. 
IV, 17: Francesco Silvester,* In uerbo 

* “Silvester of Avila” Francesco Silvester , 
c. 1474-1526. Dominican theologian , and 


hacresis, num. 3: Gaietani on S. Mark 
iv, quest. 47: Alfonso a Castro f: 
Sisto of Siena Crespet: Spina, 
Contra Ponzinibium §: Anania: and 
very many others whom for the sake 
of brevity I omit. 

But it must be knowi that before 
they go to the Sabbat they anoint 
themselves upon some part of their 
bodies with an unguer t made from 
various foul and filthy ingredients, but 
chiefly from murdered children; and 
so anointed they are carried away on a 
cowl-staff, or a broom, or a reed, a 
cleft stick or a distaf ', or even a 

shovel, which 
things they 
ride. At times 
they are 
mounted 
upon an ox 
or a goat or 
a dog, and so 
are carried 
to their feast. 
And yet again 
they go on 
foot when the 
place is not 


sometime Mas- 
ter-General of 
the Order. A 
prolific and 
esteemed writer. 

| “Alfonso a Castro. 1495-1558. A Fran¬ 
ciscan theologian of great eminence. Confessor 
to Charles V and Philip II. Among his chief 
works are “Aduersus omnes l areses,” first edi¬ 
tion , Cologne , 1539; and “De Iusta Hcereti- 
corum punitione,” Salamancc , 1547. 

J “Sisto of Siena.” Doninican theologian 
and demonologist. His chief work is “ Biblio¬ 
theca Sancta,” Libri V. } Francofurti , folio , 
1575 (secunda editio ). 

§ “Contra Ponzinibium.” The jurist Gian- 
francesco Ponzinibio wroti a rationalistic 
monograph on witchcraft ir which he strove 
to regard the Sabbat , the flh ht of witches and 
much beside as a sick illusim. He was com¬ 
pletely answered and route i by Bartolomeo 
Spina , who devoted no less than three tractates 
to these points and very properly arraigned Pon¬ 
zinibio as himself vehemently suspect of heresy 
and an advocate of heretics. 

































BK. I. GH. XII. 


MALEFICARUM 


far distant. Examples of all these were 
to be found in Remy, I, 14. 

When these members of the devil 
have met together, they generally 
light a foul and horrid fire. The devil 
is president of the Assembly and sits 
on a throne in some terrible shape, as 
of a goat or a dog; and they approach 
him to adore him, but not always 
in the same manner. For sometimes 
they bend their knees as suppliants, 
and sometimes stand with their backs 
turned, and sometimes kick their legs 
high up so that their heads are bent 
back and their chins point to the sky. 

Then they 
offer him 
pitch black 
candles, or 
infants 5 navel 
cords; and 
kiss him upon 
the buttocks 
in sign of hom¬ 
age. Having 
committed 
these and 
similar crimes 
and execrable 
abomina¬ 
tions, they 
proceed to 
other infamies 
as we shall tell later: but first let us 
discuss the hour of their Sabbat. 

Remy says that he learned from the 
witches 5 own answers at their trials 
that the fixed time for the nocturnal 
assembly of witches is one or two hours 
before midnight, this being most suit¬ 
able and opportune not only for such 
assemblies but also for certain other 
devils 5 terrors, sports, runnings about 
and hubbub which follow, and are not 
at such an hour so obnoxious. Witches 
do not explain the cause of this, 
neither do I inquire into it.^ But it has 
been sworn to by Johannes a Villa and 
Agatina the wife of Francis the tailor. 
This one thing will I add: that no 
hours of the night are more suspect 
nor more favourable to the apparition 
of fearful and terrifying shades. In¬ 


35 

deed it is known from experience that 
such hours are chiefly notorious for 
spectres and hideous ghosts, as the 
classical authors have testified in their 
writings. For example, Aristomenes,* * * § 
in Apuleius, Golden Ass , Bk. I: Pliny, | 
VII, 6: Pliny the Younger, J EpisL 7: 
and among more modern writers 
Alexander ab Alexandro ( Genial . Die- 
rum , V, 24) tells that he heard in the 
silence of midnight a terrible noise of 
ghosts from certain houses in Rome. 
And authors of weight say that this 
silent time is the dead of night which 
comes (according to Censorinus,§ De 

Die Natali, 
cap. XXIV) 
just before 
the stroke of 
midnight. 
Eusebius of 
Caesarea ar¬ 
gues that the 
untimely hour 
of the night 
is just before 
cock crow, 
and that this 
is the most 
suited to the 
demon’s wick¬ 
ed purposes. 
Servius (in 


* “AristomenesThe traveller who relates 
the story of witchcraft, “ Me tamorphos eon, L 
The hags appear “circa tertiam ferme uigil- 
iam,” and long after their departure “nox ibat 
in diem” 

| “Pliny, H.N .” VII, 6: Plenilunium, 
“quod tempus editos quoque infantes praecipue 
infestat .” 

X “Pliny the Younger .” The allusion is to 
the well-known history of the haunted house at 
Athens, “Epist .” VII, 27. The spectre ap¬ 
peared with a noise of chains “per silentium 
noctis,” and when the philosopher Athenodorus 
was watching “Initio, quale ubique, silentium 
noctis, deinde concuti ferrum, uincula moueri” 

§ “Censorinus.” “Concubium,” cum itum 
est cubitum. Exinde “intempesta ,” id est, 
multa nox, qua nihil agi tempestiuum est: tunc 
“ad mediam noctem , 55 dicitur: et sic “media 
nox” 



























COMPENDIUM 


BK. I. CH. XII. 


36 




the Fifth Book of the Aeneid) says that Scolopendrae. Also that it portends 
it is the middle of the night: Macro- much when they crow out of time 
bius* that it is just after midnight; during the night, as Zacchia da Vol- 
since such time is aptest to the terra f ( Philologiae , libre 25) records 
Prince of Darkness for his dealings it to have happened on the birth night 

of the eldest so a of Matteo 
Visconti the Great, Lord of 
Milan: for on that night the 
cocks did not cease from 
crowing to the point of 
tediousness, ard therefore 
the child was r amed Gale- 
azzo, and grew up to great 
eloquence and military 
glory, as Paolo Giovio tells. 

Remy (I, i(i) tells that 
the witches themselves as¬ 
sert that a great number of 
both sexes meet at their 
nocturnal Sabbats, but that 
there are far more women 
than men. This was affirmed 
by Barbellina R aiel of Blain- 
with men, being an uncouth and ville-la-Grande on the 13th January, 
vacant time. And, to return to the 1587. In 1585 Jeanne cle Bans and 
subject of the cock crow, Remy in the Nicole Ganette from the town of Mainz 
same place says that he had it in in Lorraine said that they were some- 
judicial examination from a witch times present among so great a num- 
named Latoma that nothing 
more baleful and hostile to 
them could happen than 
that the cock should crow 
while they were still about 
their business. Johann Pul- 
mer and his wife Desideria, 
both of them witches, like¬ 
wise deposed in Court that 
their Masters often used to 
cry out, when it was nearly 
time to break up the Sab¬ 
bat: “Now go quickly away 
all, for the cocks begin to 
crow. 55 And this can only 
mean that they are unable 
to prolong their business any 
further. But I know not the 
reason of their fear of the cock crow, ber of witches that they felt no small 
From Pliny and Aelian I know that pity for the human race when they 
the cock crow is feared by lions and saw it assailed by so manv enemies and 
- betrayers, and that it was indeed 


* “ Macro bius .” “ Saturnalia /, 3: “ ma - —- 

gistratus . . . post mediam noctem auspican - f “ Volterra .” A famous professor of the 

tur .” University of Pisa . 


















































BK. I. CH. XII. 


MALEFICARUM 


wonderful that mortals did not suffer 
more harm from them. Catharine 
Ruffa of Val-de-Ville near the Moselle 
said in July 1587 that she saw no less 
than five hundred on that night when 
she was first lured into their number. 

There are tables placed and drawn 
up, and they sit and start to eat of the 
food which the demon has provided, or 
which they have themselves brought. 
But all who have sat down to such 
tables confess that the feasts are all 
foul either in appearance or in smell, 
so that they would easily nauseate the 
most ravenously hungry stomach. 
The above- 
mentioned 
Barbellina 
and Sybil 
Morelle said 
at Bar-le- 
Duc in Sep¬ 
tember 1586 
that all sorts 
of food were 
there, but so 
vile and 
mean and 
badly cooked 
that they 
were scarcely 
worth eating. 

At Bar-le- 
Duc in Feb¬ 
ruary 1587 Nicolas Morelle said that 
their taste was so evil and dry and 
bitter that he had to spue them out as 
soon as he had eaten them; and that 
the demon was so angry when he saw 
this that he hardly kept his hands 
from him. Their wine also is black 
like stale blood, and is given to the 
feasters in some filthy sort of drinking 
horn. They say that there is plenty of 
everything except bread and salt. In 
1583 at Ribeauville, near the Chateau 
de Girsberg, Dominique Isabelle added 
that human flesh was also set out, and 
that this was a frequent practice 
among the Scythian witches we learn 
from Belleforest ( Cosmographiae , II, 6). 
Most of the partakers of such feasts 
say that the food and drink satisfy 


37 

neither their hunger nor their thirst, 
but they are just as hungry and thirsty 
afterwards as they were before. Joanna 
Michaelis, of Chateau-Salins, in 1590 
added that the eyes of those who 
attend such assemblies are not sure 
and clear of sight, but that all is con¬ 
fused and disturbed and appears 
vague to them, like those who are 
blinded by drunkenness or some sin 
or some magic. Thus witches some¬ 
times are actually present at the Sab¬ 
bat; and often again they are fast 
asleep at home, and yet think that 
they are at the Sabbat; for the devil 

deceives their 
senses, and 
through his 
illusions 
many imag¬ 
inings may 
enter the 
minds of 
sleepers,leav¬ 
ing them 
with a con¬ 
viction of 
their reality 
when they 
awake, as if 
it were not a 
dream but an 
actual ex¬ 
perience and 
an undoubted physical action. For so 
for the most part does the crafty devil 
manage his affairs. 

Then follow dances, which are per¬ 
formed in a circle but always round 
to the left; and just as our dances are 
for pleasure, so their dances and 
measures bring them labour and 
fatigue and the greatest toil. And they 
return home from them so weary, 
according to the confession of Barbel¬ 
lina and nearly all witches who have 
attended them, that they have often 
had to lie abed for a full two days. 
And the most sorry and most iniqui¬ 
tous thing about it is that no one is 
allowed to excuse herself from the 
dance; and if any of them, by reason 
of ill health or old age, shirks that 



















COMPENDIUM 


EK. I. CH. XII 


38 

labour, she is soon beaten and bruised 
by fists and feet, just as salted fish is 
beaten with hammers. 

When they approach the demons to 
venerate them, they turn their backs 


and, going backwards like crabs, put 
out their hands behind them to touch 
him in supplication. When they speak 
they turn their faces to the ground; 
and they do all things in a manner 
altogether foreign to the use 
of other men. Indeed it is 
sufficiently clear from our 
own experience that the 
desire of men for wanton 
dancing and treading light 
measures nearly always lead 
by evil example to more lust 
and sin; in his day this was 
complained of by Scipio 
Aemilianus, in his oration 
contra legem iudiciariam Tiberii 
Gracchi , and by Macrobius, 

Saturnalia , III, 4. 

Sometimes they dance be¬ 
fore eating, and sometimes 
after the repast. Some three 
or four tables are set apart for 
the richest and most honoured among 
them. Sometimes each sits next to his 
own Familiar Spirit; sometimes the 
witches on one side, and the demons 
opposite them. There is not lacking a 
grace said at this table, worthy of such 


an assembly, composed of blasphe¬ 
mous words in which Beelzebub him¬ 
self is acclaimed the Creator and Giver 
and Preserver of all. Th * same spirit 
inspires their actions aft>r the tables 
have been removed. For 
when the banquet is done 
each demon tikes by the 
hand the disciple under his 
guardianship, and all the 
rites are performed with the 
utmost absurdity in a fren¬ 
zied ring with hands joined 
and back to bick; and so 
they dance, throwing their 
heads like frantic folk, some¬ 
times holding in their hands 
the candles which they have 
before used in worshipping 
the devil. 

They sing in honour of the 
devil the most c bscene songs 
to the sound of a bawdy pipe 
and tabor played by one 
seated in the fork of a tr^e; and then 
in the foulest manner tney copulate 
with their demon lovers They come 
to these Sabbats, as we have said, in 
the silence of midnight when the 


powers of darkness are strong; but 
sometimes they even meet at noon¬ 
tide ; and this is referred to in the pas¬ 
sage of the Psalms (xci, 6) where it 
speaks of the noon-day demon. They 
have also fixed days which differ in 





















































BK. I. CH. XII. 


MALEFICARUM 


various localities. In Italy they meet 
about midnight on Thursday, accord¬ 
ing to Sebastien Michaelis.* The 
witches of Lorraine meet on Wednes¬ 
day night, and on Saturday night 
with the Sunday following, according 
to Remy: and I have read that others 
meet on Tuesday night. 

From what we have already de¬ 
scribed, therefore, and from the con¬ 
fessions of witches themselves before 
their Judges, it is clearer than light, 
and will be confirmed by particular 
instances, that witches are carried 
bodily through the air to the Sabbat 
by demons; 
and not only 
are they 
themselves so 
carried, but 
with the help 
of the devil 
they can carry 
others on 
their own 
shoulders, as 
the examples 
will show. 

Sometimes 
indeed, when 
the Sabbat 
has been sud- 
denlydis- 

ersed, tables and silver furnishings 
ave been found and recognised by 
their owners, which the women have 
confessed that they have carried with 
them to the Sabbat. 

Only I will add this: that they who 
assert that all this is not true, but only 
a dream or an illusion, certainly sin in 

* “Sebastien Michaelis .” A Dominican of 
great sanctity, born at Saint acharie in Pro¬ 
vence, 15431 died at Paris, 1618. Pie was 
widely known for his deep study of the demono- 
logists, and as a most powerful exorcist he was 
summoned to deal with the possession of Made¬ 
leine de la Palud, who had been bewitched by 
Gaufridi. For an account of this see my “ Geo¬ 
graphy of Witchcraft,” pp. 408-12. The 
cause of Sebastien Michaelis has been intro¬ 
duced at Rome , and he has been declared 
Venerable. 


39 

lack of true reverence to our Mother 
the Church. For the Catholic Church 
punishes no crime that is not evident 
and manifest, and counts no one a 
heretic unless he has been caught in 
patent heresy. Now for many years 
the Church has counted witches as 
heretics and has ordered that they be 
punished by the Inquisitors and 

handed over to the Secular Courts, as 
is clear from the works of Sprenger, 
Nider, Nicolas Jacquier,f and Mi¬ 
chaelis, as well as from our own 
knowledge. Therefore either the 

Church is in error, or they who main¬ 
tain this be¬ 
lief. But he 
who says that 
the Church is 
in error over 
a matter con¬ 
cerning the 
faith is Ana¬ 
thema Mar- 
anatha. I con¬ 
clude there- 
fore that 
witches are 
most often ac¬ 
tually trans¬ 
ported by the 
devil, and 
that some¬ 
times they go afoot: and when they 
wish to be transported bodily they 
anoint themselves, as I have said 

already, with an ointment made from 
the fat of infants 5 bodies; but when 
they wish to attend the Sabbat only 
in dream, they lie down on their left 
side: but when they prefer to keep 
awake, and yet see what is done at 
the Sabbat as if they were present at 
it, then by some devils 5 work they 
send a thick vapour from their mouths, 
in which they can see all that is done 
as if in a mirror. 


f “Nicolas Jacquier.” Dominican and 
Inquisitor. Author of “Flagellum Haereti- 
corum fascinariorum,” a piece of great value, 
which with some other tractates was first printed 
at Frankfort by Basse in 1581. 




















40 


3JK. I. CH. XII. 


COMP] 

It is stated by some authors * as a 
fact that there have been women who 
have manifestly spent the night in bed 
with their husbands, and yet on the 
next morning have confidently remem¬ 
bered and spoken about many things 
pertaining to the Sabbat, at which 
they have maintained that they were 
presenton the preceding night. Others 
have been observed by their family 
and relations, who have formed some 
suspicion of them, to start violently in 
their sleep as if they were in great 
pain; or even to bestride a chair or 
some other object as if it were a horse, 
and spur it on with their heels: yet 
they have not gone out of the house, 
but on awaking have been as tired as 
if they had returned from a long jour¬ 
ney, and have told of marvellous 
things which they thought they had 
done. And what is more, they are 
angry and incensed against those who 
do not believe them. This has led 
many to believe that this is no more 
than a matter of dreams sent by the 
devil into the minds of those whom he 
has caught in his net. 

☆ 

Examples . 

In the County of York in England 
a wonderful thing happened which is 
recorded by Martin Delrio of the 
Society of Jesus, who quotes from 
William of Newburgh, f to whom it 
was known from boyhood (for it was 
not far from the birthplace of this his¬ 
torian) . There is a village some miles 
from the North Sea, near which are 
those famous waters which the com¬ 
mon people call “the Gipsies” J or the 


* “Some authors” e.g. Boditi , “ Demono - 
manie ,” II, 5. 

t “William of Newburgh” “Historia An - 
glicana ,” I, 28. 

+ “Gipsies .” “ Gipse” is the reading of 
Lambeth AIS.; Cotton MS.; and Hearne's 
edition of William of Newburgh. MS. Reg . 
13 B ix gives “ Vipse .” The village of Wold 
Newton , eight miles from Bridlington, has a 


NDIUM 

“Gipsey-race.” A certain peasant 
went on a visit from thi: village to a 
neighbouring village to see a friend 
and as he was returning late at night 
not very sober, behold from a mound 
some two or three furlongs from the 
village came the sound of voices sing¬ 
ing and of people feasting. He won¬ 
dered who could be t reaking the 
silence of the night in that place with 
these formal celebrations, and was 
curious enough to wish to enquire into 
it; and seeing an open door in the 
side of the mound he went and looked 
in, and saw a wide and well-lit hall 
filled with men and women sitting 
down to a grand feast. But one of the 
servers saw him standing at the door 
and brought him a cup,§ which he 
took but purposely refused to drink 
from it; for he spilled its contents and 
at once went away with the cup. An 
outcry arose among the fe asters at the 
theft of the cup, and the guests went 
in pursuit of him; but he escaped 
thanks to the speed of his horse, and 
came back to the village with his rare 
prize. Afterwards this cup, which was 
of unknown material aid unusual 
colour and uncommon shape, was 
offered as a gift to Henry I, King of 
England, and then to the brother of 
the Queen of David, King of Scotland, 
and was for many years kept in the 
Treasury of Scotland, as may be read 
in the First Book Rerum Anglicarum , 
cap. 28. 

Sebastien Michaelis tells that among 

large mere principally supplied by the “ Gip - 
seys,” streams of water which appear after in¬ 
tervals of two or three years and disappear after 
two or three months. Allen, “History of 
County of York,” vol. II, p. 330. 

§ “A cup.” Hamilton in his edition of 
William of Newburgh has the following note 
on this passage: 6 ‘This Scandinavian legend 
is common, with variations , to the ballad and 
romantic literature of most countries of 
Europe. It may be sufficient to direct attention 
to a version very, similar to the above, named 
the £ Altar-cup in Aegerup ,’ a story of the 
Trolls, quoted in Keightley's ‘Fairy Mytho - 
logy,'fr°m Thiele's 4 Danske FolkesagenP ” 





BK. I. CH. XII. 


MALEFICARUM 


the witches of Avignon a boy was 
taken who told the Judge that he had 
been led by his father to the Synagogue 
(for so they called their Assembly), and 
had there seen many wicked and horri¬ 
ble things done; so that in his terror 
he had signed himself with the cross 
and said “Jesus, what is this!” And 
as soon as he had said this the whole 
rout disappeared, leaving him there 
alone; and the next day he returned 
home, which was three German miles 
distant from the place of the Syna¬ 
gogue, and brought his father before 
the Judges. And therefore in that 
district the boy was given the name 
Masquillon, that is, Little Magician: 
and this boy was still in captivity at 
Avignon when Michaelis wrote this 
in 1582. 

Bartolomeo de Spina (De Strig. 
Tom. II, p. 11, cap. 17) relates, the 
following: Master Socino Benci, a 
famous physician of Ferrara who was 
Public Intendant of the sick in that 
city, lately told me as the faithful 
truth that when he was in the country 
about three years ago to see after his 
properties, he fell into conversation 
with his bailiff about witches. The 
physician said that all the talk about 
witches was madness, especially that 
they could be bodily transported wher¬ 
ever they wished. But the bailiff (who 
is still living, one Tommasino Polas- 
tros from the district of Mirandola, 
but now living in the place called 
Clavica Malaguzi) replied that there 
was another peasant living close by, 
who said that he had seen great num¬ 
bers of men and women dancing in 
the night and abandoning themselves 
to pleasures. The physician was as¬ 
tounded and asked the bailiff to bring 
that peasant to him; and when he 
was brought and asked about those 
things, he answered as follows: “One 
night I rose about three hours before 
dawn and came with my own oxen 
and wagon to this bailiff of yours to 
help him in a job of work; and I had 
got as far as that plain I am pointing 
to” (for it was near by) “when I saw 


41 

afar off a big fire in different places, 
like great lights, among which I saw 
a great crowd of men and women 
wrestling or dancing together. Going 
nearer, I saw more than six thousand 
people in the clear light of the fires, 
and tables spread, and some of them 
eating and drinking; but more were 
dancing and playing different sorts of 
games, while most of them were.acting 
bawdy in a way that it is not right to 
speak of. I saw some men and women 
among them whom I knew, and spoke 
to some of them: but after an hour a 
signal was given and they all seemed 
to run away very quickly indeed, and 
they were nowhere to be seen, as if 
they had been carried away in a 
cloud.” On hearing this evidence the 
physician changed his opinion, and 
not only believed that what he had 
formerly thought to be madness was 
possible, but that it did actually 
happen. 

The following, which is a witch’s 
own statement, is taken from Grilland. 
After she had paid her homage, the 
chief of the devils at once appointed 
as her guardian a demon who . must 
never leave her but serve her in all 
that she wished; and whenever their 
rendezvous and games were to be held 
he was to inform her of it and take her 
there fully instructed: and this demon 
used her carnally as a husband serves 
his wife. She said that witches often 
go to these Assemblies, where a great 
number of women meet; and that it 
is no matter of a mere mental or intel¬ 
lectual or apparent vision, for in their 
true and natural shape they go to such 
places in the following manner. A day 
or two before the Sabbat the witch is 
told by her guardian demon to pre¬ 
pare to go to the games on sucli a 
night at such an hour; and if she has 
any just cause to hinder her she 
adduces it and is heard, provided that 
it is a true and legitimate excuse: but 
if she invents a false reason to excuse 
her attendance, she is not carried 
there against her will, but remains in 
her house; yet as a punishment for 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. I. CH. XII. 


42 

her lies the demon so mightily tor¬ 
ments her both in mind and body 
with continuous torture of the sharpest 
degree, and aches and pains both 
within and without, that she can have 
no rest by day or by night, but is 
always plagued; and everything that 
she does comes to nothing and is abor¬ 
tive. So that, to put an end to such 
great pain, she must confess her fault 
and promise on oath that she will no 
more refuse to go to the Sabbat. When 
she has so promised, as soon as the 
night and the hour have arrived she is 
summoned in a sort of human voice 
by the demon himself, whom she does 
not call demon but Little Master, or 
Martinet Master, or Martinellus. And 
on this summons she goes out of her 
house and always finds her Little 
Master waiting by the door in the 
form of a goat, upon which this 
woman said that she rode holding 
tightly to its hair, and the goat rose 
into the air and in the shortest time 
carried her to the wizard walnut tree 
of Benevento * and gently put her 
down there. 

Paul Grilland {De sortileg. II, 7) 
tells that in 1524 there was brought 
to him as Inquisitor a certain Lucretia 
who, while she was being carried 
home from the Sabbat, came at dawn 
within sound of the bells calling the 
people to morning prayer, and was 
suddenly left by the devil who was 
carrying her near a river in a field 
covered with thorns. It happened that 
a young man well known to her was 
walking across it, and the unhappy 
woman called to him by his name. 
The young man, seeing her quite 
naked except for a covering over her 


* “Benevento .” The magic walnut tree of 
Benevento was reputed to be the general rendez¬ 
vous of all the witches in Italy. Peter of 
Piperno has a pamphlet , “De JVuce Maga 
Beneuentana,” which gives many of the legends 
connected with this ill-omened spot. See Mon¬ 
tague Summers , “Geography of Witchcraft ,” 
PP- 546-48; and A. de Blasio , “Inciarmatori, 
Maghi , e Streghe di BeneventoNaples , igoo. 


private parts, and with her hair all 
loose, was afraid to go near her: but 
she coaxed him with flattering words, 
and at last he went up to her and 
asked her how she came to be there 
in that state. At first she invented 
many lies, but the young man did not 
believe her and said he would not 
help her unless she told the truth. 
Then, binding him to secrecy, she 
told the truth of what hid happened 
to her, and the reason for it. The 
young man took her secretly to her 
home, and she gave him many gifts; 
but in the end he forgot his promise 
and spoke of the matter first to one 
and then to another, and so by de¬ 
grees the disgraceful story was spread 
abroad, and the woman was taken, 
and the young man was compelled to 
give evidence of the truth and he told 
all this to Grilland. 

A woman in the Diocese of Sabina 
practised this diabolic srt, and her 
husband becoming su* picious re¬ 
peatedly questioned her, but she 
always denied the chaige. But the 
husband retained his suspicions and 
anxiously sought to know the truth, 
and contrived so cunningly that one 
night he saw her anointing herself 
with some ointment, after which she 
flew away as quickly as a bird. He 
followed to see where she was going, 
but lost sight of her; and going to the 
door of the house he fomd it shut, 
which caused him great :urprise. On 
the following day he again asked his 
wife what he so eagerlv wished to 
know, and she firmly denied all know¬ 
ledge; until, so that she could no 
longer plead ignorance, he openly 
tolcl her all that he had seen her do 
the night before, and t ien soundly 
thrashed her, since it is wisely said 
that an obstinate heart is broken by 
the rod; and he threatened to beat 
her even more severely unless she told 
the truth, promising her a full pardon 
if she would freely confess. The 
woman,. seeing that she could no 
longer hide it, told the truth and asked 
pardon of her husband, which he 



BK. I. CH. XII. 


MALEFI 

granted on condition that she would 
take him to the Sabbat. To obtain 
forgiveness she readily promised this, 
and, with the permission of Satan, ful¬ 
filled her word. The husband was 
taken to the place of the Sabbat and 
saw the games and dances and every¬ 
thing else, and finally sat down with 
the rest at the tables to eat; but find¬ 
ing the food insipid, he asked for salt 
and, although there was none on the 
table, kept asking again and again for 
it, but was not given any until after 
much importunacy and long waiting. 
Then he said: “Praise be to God, for 
at last the salt has come!” As soon as 
he had uttered these words the demons 
immediately departed, and all the rest 
vanished, and the lights were put out 
and he remained there alone and 
naked. In the morning he saw some 
shepherds whom he asked in what 
country he was; and they answered 
that it was Benevento in the Kingdom 
of Naples, which was a hundred miles 
from the man’s own country. So, 
although he was a rich man, he had 
to beg his way home; and on his 
arrival he at once accused his wife of 
the crime of witchcraft, and told the 
Judges the whole story and how she 
had departed. And when they had 
well and duly examined the matter, 
they found all that we have related to 
be true, and it was all confirmed by 
the woman’s own confession. 

Bartolomeo Spina,* Master of the 
Sacred Palace, records some equally 
certain examples, one of which is as 
follows. A girl who lived with her 
mother at Bergamo was found one 
night at Venice in her brother-in-law’s 
bed. In the morning she was found 
naked and was recognised as a kins¬ 
woman, and was asked why she had 
come there. When they had clothed 
her she told with tears the following 
story: “Last night I was lying in bed 
awake and saw my mother, who 


* “Spina” This is from “De Strigibusf 
c. xviii. It was told Spina by Andrea Magnani 
of Bergamo , who personally knew of these events . 


CARUM 43 

thought I was asleep, rise from her 
bed and take off her vest and anoint 
her body with an unguent from a pot 
which she took from a secret place; 
and then she mounted a staff which 
was at hand as if it were a horse, and 
rose up and was carried through the 
window, so that I could no longer see 
her. Then I also rose from bed and 
anointed my body as my mother had 
done, and was at once borne through 
the window and brought to this place, 
where I saw my mother threatening 
with horrid gestures the boy lying in 
this bed. I was frightened at this, and 
saw that my mother also was dis¬ 
turbed by my appearance and began 
to menace me: so I called upon the 
Name of the Lord Jesus and of His 
Mother, and then I no longer saw my 
mother, and was left here alone and 
naked.” When they heard these words 
of the girl, her brother-in-law wrote 
all down and brought it before the 
Inquisitor-General of Bergamo, who 
took the woman into custody. She 
was exposed to torture and confirmed 
everything in confession, adding that 
the demon had carried her more than 
fifty times to kill the son of that 
brother-in-law, but that she had never 
succeeded in doing so because she had 
always found him too well protected 
by his parents with the sign of the 
cross and holy prayers. 

Spina also relates that a certain 
Antonio Leone, a charcoal burner of 
Ferrara, who was then living in the 
Valtellina, that very same year, at¬ 
tested that he knew intimately the 
man to whom the following occurred 
in his native district. This man, on 
account of many hints which had been 
given him, suspected his wife of going 
to the witches’ Sabbat while he him¬ 
self was asleep. One night, therefore, 
he pretended to be in a deep sleep, 
and saw his wife rise from her bed 
and anoint herself from a hidden vase, 
and immediately vanish. In astonish¬ 
ment not unmixed with curiosity the 
man also rose from his bed and did 
as his wife had done; and at once, as 



COMPENDIUM 


BX. I. CH. XII. 


44 

it seemed to him, he was carried up 
the chimney just as his wife appeared 
to have been, into the wine cellar of a 
certain noble Count, where he found 
his wife together with many others. 
When she saw him, his wife and all 
the rest of the company made a cer¬ 
tain occult sign and disappeared, the 
husband being left all alone in that 
place. There he was found in the 
morning by the servants of the house, 
who raised an outcry, and seizing him 
as a thief haled him before the Count. 
When he had been granted leave to 
speak, he shamefacedly told what had 
happened; and so his wife was accused 
before the Inquisitor, and at last con¬ 
fessed, and suffered the punishment 
well merited by her crimes. 

Nicolas Remy (I, 14) tells the fol¬ 
lowing examples. At Luthz at the foot 
of the Vosges Mountains in May 1589 
the villagers were celebrating a pagan 
festival. Claude Cotheze was return¬ 
ing in the evening from that village 
to the next, which is called Wisem- 
bach, and had already climbed a good 
part of the hill which separates the 
two villages, when he was suddenly 
caught in a whirlwind and stood look¬ 
ing about him in amazement to see if 
he could find any cause for such an 
unusual occurrence, for the air was 
most calm and still everywhere else. 
Then he saw in a sheltered place six 
witch women dancing round a table 
sumptuously decked with gold and 
silver, tossing their heads about like 
people afflicted with madness; and 
near them was a man like a black bull 
watching them as if he were a casual 
passer by. He therefore stood still for 
a while collecting himself and making 
sure that he saw quite clearly; and 
when he had done so, they all sud¬ 
denly vanished from his sight. Re¬ 
covering from his fright he then 
started on his road again and had 
already passed the top of the hill when 
behold, those women were following 
him from behind, throwing their heads 
about as before and keeping a deep 
silence, while before them went a man 


with a black face and hands curved 
like talons, with which he would have 
clawed his forehead if lie had not 
turned and opposed him with his 
drawn sword; but then the man 
ceased to threaten him and vanished 
as if in fear of his life. The women 
showed themselves yet again, and 
with them the man like a bull, who, 
as I have said, was looking on at their 
dances. Cotheze now fell more con¬ 
fident towards this man, c nd went up 
to him, saying: “Are not you my friend 
Desiree Gazete?” (for so he was 
named). “I beg you to protect me if 
you can; for I promise you that I will 
tell no one anything of v/hat I have 
seen.” Hardly had he said this when 
he was encompassed by a fresh whirl¬ 
wind or cloud, and when he had come 
out of it as soon as he could, he went 
home. Three days after he had given 
evidence as above, he was recalled for 
examination by the Judge, and added 
the following: that he iemembered 
that when he had gone near the table 
to see what food there was upon it, 
the demon had instantly flown at his 
face with his talons, and that while he 
was defending himself with his sword 
he had been lifted up by a violent 
wind and carried to the cataracts of 
Comber Hill, which was :io less than 
two hundred paces awav. And lest 
anyone should think that this was the 
imagining of a drunken man fright¬ 
ened by the darkness and jolitude, the 
story was confirmed at St.-Die in June 
1589 by Barbelline Gazete, one of the 
women in question, who told it in 
almost the same words to the Inquisi¬ 
tor, adding that her husband Desiree 
Gazete had given to Cothbze as a gift 
three measures of wheat and as many 
cow’s cheeses which he kept hidden, 
and that she had seen the m. All this 
was admitted and agreed to, except 
that Barbelline said that the demon 
had not raised his hands against 
Cotheze because he came near the 
table, as he had falsely stated in his 
evidence, but because he was about 
to steal a golden cup from it. 


BK. I. GH. XII. 


MALEFICARUM 


When Johann of Hembach was 
scarcely more than a child, his witch 
mother took him to the nocturnal 
assembly of demons and, because he 
was so clever a crowder, ordered him 
to play his kit and to climb up a tree 
from which he could be heard better. 
He did so and, having leisure to watch 
their lewd reels and rigadoons, found 
it very unusual (for everything at their 
Sabbat was uncouth and ridiculous), 
and cried out: “Good God, whence 
came that extraordinary mob of mad¬ 
men?” No sooner had he said this 
than he fell to the ground and hurt 
his shoulder; and when he called for 
help, he found himself alone. He told 
this story openly and various opinions 
were formed about it; some saying that 
it was only a vision, whilst others con¬ 
tended that it had really happened. 
But not long afterwards the oppor¬ 
tunity arose to remove all doubt. For 
Catharine Prevotte, one of those who 
had taken part in those dances, was 
soon afterwards taken on suspicion of 
witchcraft, and confessed the whole 
matter as we have told it, although 
she was unaware of the story told by 
Johann and was not pressed by any 
questions. 

As Nicole Langbernard was return¬ 
ing home from Marainviller to Igney- 
Avricourt in July 1590, and was walk¬ 
ing at full noonday along a wooded 
path, she saw in a neighbouring field 
a company of men and women danc¬ 
ing in a ring, not in the usual manner 
of men but in the opposite direction 
and with their backs turned. She 
looked more closely and saw further 
some who were deformed with hooves 
like goats or oxen among the dancers; 
and being struck with terror she began 
to call upon the Most Holy Name of 
Jesus, and earnestly to pray that she 
might come back safe and unharmed 
to her own people. Thereupon all the 
dancers vanished except one named 
Peter, and he quickly rose into the air 
and was seen to let fall to the earth a 
little brush of the sort used by bakers 
to clean their ovens before they bake 


45 

bread. Meanwhile she was caught in 
a violent wind so that she could hardly 
draw her breath; and then returned 
home, where she lay sick for three 
whole days. This thing became known 
through the talk of herself and her 
neighbours, and had soon spread all 
over the village. This Peter, lest by 
ignoring the story he should seem to 
admit and confess to so heavy a charge, 
went first to the Judge and angrily 
laid a complaint before him; but in 
the end he was afraid he would lose 
his suit and lay himself open to a 
greater danger, and so desisted from 
it. This brought him into far greater 
suspicion of the crime, since many 
were of opinion that his guilty con¬ 
science had caused him to withdraw 
the complaint which he had started 
so bitterly against her. Accordingly 
the Judge made diligent enquiry into 
his life and character, and found some 
indications that this was no empty 
suspicion, and arrested him (at Dieuze, 
Feb. 1591). And he was with little 
trouble induced to confess his guilt, 
and finally to name and indicate those 
others who had been partners in that 
crime, among whom were Barbelia 
the wife of Johann Latomer, and 
Mayette the wife of Laurentius, the 
Chief Magistrate, all of whom told the 
same story of their dancing back to 
back with the cloven-hoofed creatures, 
maintaining that it was all true. Their 
confession was yet further substanti¬ 
ated by Johann Michel, a herdsman, 
who stated that during those proceed¬ 
ings he had been playing upon his 
pipes, beating time with his foot and 
moving his fingers quickly over the 
pipes. But when Nicole in panic called 
upon Jesus, and moreover signed her¬ 
self with the Cross, he fell from the 
high branch of an oak on which he 
was sitting, and was then caught in a 
whirlwind and carried to a field called 
Veiler in which he had shordy before 
left his flock grazing. But the gravest 
and weightiest proof was that the 
place where the dance had been per¬ 
formed had been found, on the day 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. I. CH. XII. 


46 

following that mentioned by Nicole, 
marked with a ring such as is seen in 
circuses where horses run round in a 
circle, and there were recent tracks of 
goats or oxen, all of which could be 
seenuntil that field was again ploughed 
up in the following winter. 

In Holland there was in the village 
of Oostbruck not far from Maes- 
tricht a widow woman whose circum¬ 
stances required her to keep a man¬ 
servant to manage the affairs of the 
house. This man was, like most ser¬ 
vants, inquisitive, and often used to 
look through a window and see his 
mistress go at the dead of every night, 
as soon as the servants had gone to 
sleep, to a certain fixed spot in the 
stables, where she stretched up and 
laid fast hold of the nearest rack of 
hay. At last, wondering what she 
could be about, he made up his mind 
to do the same just once, unbeknown 
to his mistress, and to try the same 
venture. So when his mistress went 
as usual to that place and seemed to 
be out of sight, he followed and 
looked about the place and, as his 
mistress had done, grasped the hay. 
Then he was at once carried to the 
town of Wijk into a secret under¬ 
ground cave, where he found himself 
in the midst of a company of witches 
brewing their evil plots. The mistress 
was surprised at her servant’s unex¬ 
pected appearance, and asked how he 
had managed to come there in a 
moment of time. He told her how it 
was; and she waxed very angry and 
highly incensed, being afraid lest by 
this means their nocturnal and clan¬ 
destine meetings should become known. 
She therefore asked her associates 
what they advised in this doubtful 
pass, and they at length agreed that 
he should be received in friendly 
fashion and be sworn to keep silence, 
and that he would never communicate 
or tell to any one those mysteries 
which chance had allowed him to wit¬ 
ness, beyond his desert or expectation. 
He gave his promise and spoke fairly 
to them; and, that they might treat 


him more leniently, pretended that 
his one chief wish was that they should 
thereafter admit him into the fellow¬ 
ship and company of witches. Mean¬ 
while the hours passed until it was 
time for their return; anc. then a new 
question was posed by ’he mistress, 
whether he should be sent back home 
to be a danger to the whole assembly, 
or whether he should be lulled for the 
general good. They arrived at the 
more merciful decision of binding him 
by an oath and sending him home. 
This duty was undertaken by his mis¬ 
tress, who promised that when he had 
given his oath she would carry him 
home on her shoulders; and to this 
business they set themselves, and were 
carried by an east wind through the 
air. But when they had covered the 
greater part of their journey a lake 
overgrown with reeds cane in sight; 
and the old witch, fearing lest the 
young man should be led Dy penitence 
to disclose what he had seen at those 
frantic orgies, saw her c Y ance of get¬ 
ting rid of him, and to cast him from 
her as she flew, hoping, as it is 
thought, that he would di i either from 
the violence of his fall or in the deep 
waters of the lake. But God, who is 
merciful and desireth not the death of 
a sinner but rather that he should turn 
from his wickedness and live, frus¬ 
trated the evil design of that witch, 
and did not allow the innocent young 
man to be drowned, bul most justly 
granted that he should live to this very 
day. As he fell among the reeds he 
received no mortal hurt indeed, for 
the violence of his fall was a little 
broken by the reeds: but :he unhappy 
man was unable to do anything but 
use his tongue, and lay there till day¬ 
light in the most dreadful agony, sigh¬ 
ing and groaning, until some passers 
by were surprised to hear this unusual 
lamentation, and searched and found 
a young man with both his hips dis¬ 
located. They asked how de had fallen 
into such misfortune; and when he 
had told all they took him in a cart to 
Maestricht. There a nobleman, Jehan 


BK. I. CH. XII. 


MALEFICARUM 


47 


Chulenburgh, the Mayor of the city, 
being struck by the strangeness of the 
affair, wonderingly enquired into it 
all; and having examined the matter 
he ordered the youth’s mistress to be 
seized and put in chains. As soon as 
she fell into the hands of the Mayor, 
she denied nothing, but confessed to 
every particular. 

Bernard of Como * in his De 
Strigiis, 3, tells that about sixty years 
ago in the Diocese of Como proceed¬ 
ings were being taken against such 
witches by an Inquisitor named Mas¬ 
ter Bartolomeo de Homate, with Mas¬ 
ter Lorenzo da Concorezzo the Podesta 
and Giovanni da Fossato as Notary. 
One day the Podesta, out of curiosity, 
wished to prove by experience whether 
witches go to the Sabbat really and in 
their bodies. Accordingly he agreed 
to go one Thursday evening with his 
Notary and another companion to a 

E lace outside the townf which had 
een indicated by the witches. While 
they were standing there they saw 
many people assembled before one 
who was the devil in the form of a 
goat enthroned like some great Lord: 
and behold, at the command of the 
devil all those persons there assembled 
fell upon that magistrate and his com¬ 
panions and, with God’s permission, 
so beat them with sticks that they all 
three died from their blows within 
fifteen days. 

Florimond de Raymond,J Senator 


* “Bernard of Como .” Dominican Inqui¬ 
sitor. The “De Strigiis ” is a short but very 
important tractate which is usually found ap¬ 
pended to his famous “Lucerna Inquisitorum 
Haereticae Prauitatis .” My own copy is 
Venice, 1596, and this edition also contains the 
valuable Commentaries of Francesco Pegna. 

f “Place outside the town.” Mendrisio. 
For other accounts of this celebrated episode see 
—“Memoires de Jacques du Clercq,” IV, 4; 
“Chron. Cornel. \'anfliet,” ann. 1460 (Mar- 
tene, “Ampl. Coll.” V, 502); and Prierias, 
“De Strigimagarum mirandis,” I, 2, 14; II, 
1, 4. 

J “Raymond.” Or Raemond; sometimes 
Remond. Born at Agen c. 1540; died at Bor- 


of the King at the Parlement of Bor¬ 
deaux, a pious catholic and learned 
man, in his L? Antichrist, VII, tells of 
some, unspeakable and sacrilegious 
rites in the following words. 

At this Court in the year 1594 was 
tried a young girl of Aquitane, a 
wench of intelligent appearance who, 
without being tortured, freely con¬ 
fessed that she had been corrupted at 
a tender age by a certain Italian. In 
the middle of the night before the day 
of S. John Baptist the Italian had led 
her to a certain field, where he had 
traced a circle on the ground with a 
beech twig, muttering some words out 
of a black book. Suddenly there ap¬ 
peared a large and perfectly black 
goat, well horned, and accompanied 
by two women, and soon there came 
up a man clothed and vested like a 
priest. .The goat asked the Italian 
what girl that was; and he answered 
that she had been brought by him to 
be enrolled among the goat’s subjects. 
Hearing this, the goat ordered her to 
make the sign of the cross with her 
left hand, and all who were present to 
approach and perform their act of 
veneration. Thereupon they all kissed 
him with their lips under his tail. 
Between the goat’s horns a black 
candle gave a horrid light, and from 
this they all lit the candles they were 
holding; and as they worshipped the 
goat, they dropped money in a bowl. 
This is what happened the first time. 
Afterwards the Italian again took the 
girl to the same place; and then the 
goat asked her for a tress or lock of 
her hair, which the Italian cut off and 
gave to him. By this sign the goat led 
her apart as his bride into a neighbour¬ 
ing wood and, pressing her against the 
ground, penetrated her: but the girl 
said that she found this operation 
quite lacking in any sensation of plea- 


deaux, c. 1602 . His famous work , “VAnti¬ 
christ,” first appeared at Lyons in 1597, and 
was frequently reprinted. There are editions of 
Paris, 1599 and 1607; Arras, 1613; Cambrai, 
1613. 




r 


» 



them. Saying this, they^opened their 
hoods, and each of them was seen to 
be surrounded by flames of fire. Then 
their leader struck the table as a 
signal, and they all vanished: and 
the whole Convent was mightily dis¬ 
turbed with fear. 

In proof of this I will add another 
no less credible authority. In the year 
1599 at Naples, Fra Tiberio, a most 
holy man who was Superior of the 



* “Blessed Peter of ClunyBlessed Peter 
of Monthoissier, also known as Peter the Vener¬ 
able, c. 1092-1136. He was ever honoured as 
a Saint both by the people and his Order, and 
thus Pius IX confirmed the cult of this great 
and glorious monk. His works are in Migne, 
“Patrologia Latina,” CLXXXIX. 

| “Afonso of Aragon.” Alfonso II. Al¬ 
fonso I, the Fighter {“El Bataleador”), reigned 
1104-1134. 































COMPENDIUM 


BK. I. CH. XVII. 


7° 

of Callao, as the houses of that city 
are nearly all roofed with palm leaves). 
Another maid-servant was, in the sight 
of many people, dragged for a long 
way by her foot, although no one 
could be seen dragging her. 

On the seventh of October, when a 
serving-maid went into the wardrobe 
to fetch a certain garment, she saw 
Catharine standing stiff upon her feet; 
and as she ran away the apparition 
took up a vessel and hurled it against 
the wall with such violence that it was 
smashed into a thousand pieces. The 
next day a Cross was fixed upon the 


“Come here. How many times have 
I called you?” The servant, nearly 
dead, replied: “Good Jesus! Who 
would not be terrified to see you?” 
When she had said this, there came 
down to that place a most beautiful 
youth in white garments who told the 
servant to lay aside her fear and be of 
good courage, and to take careful note 
of what she heard from Catharine and 
spread it among the others, and to 
expiate all her sins by confession as 
soon as she left that place. Then 
Catharine spoke as follows: “Know 
that I am sent from Hell, and that I 

arr. —t/i- .tKp — mnef tPTTihlp 


72 COMF1 

are you?’ He humbly answered: ‘I am 
your servant Sancho.’ ‘What are you 
doing here?’ ‘I am going to Castile, 
and a great army accompanies me on 
the road, that we may do penance for 
our sins in the place where we sinned.’ 
‘And why,’ I asked, ‘have you turned 
aside here?’ ‘I have hope,’ he said ‘of 
pardon, and if you will have pity on 
me you can obtain an earlier rest for 
me.’ ‘How?’ ‘When I was lately in 
the expedition you know of, I was 
seduced by Satan’s wiles to enter a 
Church with some companions, and 
despoiled it of its contents and stole 
away with the priestly vestments; and 
on this account especially I am pun¬ 
ished. And with all my might I pray 
you, as my master, to help me; for you 
can give me many spiritual benefits 
if you will. Further I beg that you 
will ask my Lady your wife not to 
delay in paying the eight soldi which 
she owed me for my service, and to 
devote that money, which she would 
have paid me for the needs of the 
flesh if I were still alive, to the far 
greater needs of my soul by distri¬ 
buting it amongst the poor.’ Taking 
more courage after this conversation, 

I said: ‘What has happened to our 
fellow citizen Peter Deioca who lately 
died? Tell me what you know of 
him.’ He answered: ‘Because of his 
frequent works of mercy, and especi¬ 
ally because of his gifts to the poor 
during the late famine, he has earned 
the rest of the blessed and is a sharer 
in eternal life.’ When I heard him 
answer so promptly and easily, I 
added: ‘And do you know anything 
of our other fellow citizen Bernecio, 
who died a little while since?’ ‘He 
is in Hell: for when he was appointed 
to determine the boundaries of this 
town, he gave many unjust decisions 
owing to having received bribes or 
favours; and because he did not 
shrink from taking from a poor widow 
her only pig, which was the sustenance 
of her life.’ Then, being incited to 
ask greater things, I said: ‘Can you 
know anything of our King Alfonso 


NDIUM BK. I. CH. XVII. 

who died a few years ago?’ At this, 
another voice spoke to me from a 
window near my head: ‘Do not ask 
him this, for he does not know it; for 
he is but recently come among us and 
has not yet been permitted to know 
this thing. But I have been dead for 
five years and know more than he. 
What you ask of the King he cannot 
know.’ I was astonished to hear this 
fresh voice and, wishing to see him, 
turned to the window and, by the 
light of the moon which then lit up 
the whole court very clearly, saw a 
man sitting on the sill of the window, 
clothed just as the other was. ‘Who 
are you?’ I asked. And lie said: ‘I 
am his friend, and am going to 
Castile with him and many others.’ 
‘And do you know, as you said, any¬ 
thing of King Alfonso?’ ‘I know 
where he was, but I do not know 
where he is. For he was for a time 
terribly tortured in Purgatory, but 
was delivered from there by the 
Monks of Cluny,* and what has 
happened to him since, I do not 
know.’ Saying this, he addressed his 
friend who was sitting by the fire: 
‘Rise, and let us now resume our 
journey; for the army of our com¬ 
panions fills all the roads to Castile, 
and we must join them.’ At this 
Sancho arose and tearfully repeated 
his former request, groaning: 
“Master, I implore you not: to forget 
me, and that you will persuade my 
Lady your wife to restore in mercy 
for my soul what she owed to my 
body.’ When he had said this, they 
both at once vanished. Bui I called 
my wife and aroused her as she lay by 
me in bed, and before I told her what 
I had seen and heard, I asked her 
whether she owed anything to Sancho 
our servant for his services. She 
answered what I had nev;r heard 


* “Monks of Cluny." The Benedictine 
Monks of Cluny inaugurated the Solemn Com¬ 
memoration of All Souls, which was ordered by 
S. Odilo (died 104.8 s ) to be held annually in all 
the monasteries of his Congregation. 





































BK. I. CH. XII. 


MALEFICARUM 


When Johann of Hembach was 
scarcely more than a child, his witch 
mother took him to the nocturnal 
assembly of demons and, because he 
was so clever a crowder, ordered him 
to play his kit and to climb up a tree 
from which he could be heard better. 
He did so and, having leisure to watch 
their lewd reels and rigadoons, found 
it very unusual (for everything at their 
Sabbat was uncouth and ridiculous), 
and cried out: “Good God, whence 
came that extraordinary mob of mad¬ 
men?” No sooner had he said this 
than he fell to the ground and hurt 
his shoulder; and when he called for 
help, he found himself alone. He told 
this story openly and various opinions 
were formed about it; some saying that 
it was only a vision, whilst others con¬ 
tended that it had really happened. 
But not long afterwards the oppor¬ 
tunity arose to remove all doubt. For 
Catharine Prevotte, one of those who 
had taken part in those dances, was 
soon afterwards taken on suspicion of 
witchcraft, and confessed the whole 
matter as we have told it, although 
she was unaware of the story told by 
Johann and was not pressed by any 
questions. 

As Nicole Langbernard was return¬ 
ing home from Marainviller to Igney- 
Avricourt in July 1590, and was walk¬ 
ing at full noonday along a wooded 
path, she saw in a neighbouring field 
a company of men and women danc¬ 
ing in a ring, not in the usual manner 
of men but in the opposite direction 
and with their backs turned. She 
looked more closely and saw further 
some who were deformed with hooves 
like goats or oxen among the dancers; 
and being struck with terror she began 
to call upon the Most Holy Name of 
Jesus, and earnestly to pray that she 
might come back safe and unharmed 
to her own people. Thereupon all the 
dancers vanished except one named 
Peter, and he quickly rose into the air 
and was seen to let fall to the earth a 
little brush of the sort used by bakers 
to clean their ovens before they bake 


45 

bread. Meanwhile she was caught in 
a violent wind so that she could hardly 
draw her breath; and then returned 
home, where she lay sick for three 
whole days. This thing became known 
through the talk of herself and her 
neighbours, and had soon spread all 
over the village. This Peter, lest by 
ignoring the story he should seem to 
admit and confess to so heavy a charge, 
went first to the Judge and angrily 
laid a complaint before him; but in 
the end he was afraid he would lose 
his suit and lay himself open to a 
greater danger, and so desisted from 
it. This brought him into far greater 
suspicion of the crime, since many 
were of opinion that his guilty con¬ 
science had caused him to withdraw 
the complaint which he had started 
so bitterly against her. Accordingly 
the Judge made diligent enquiry into 
his life and character, and found some 
indications that this was no empty 
suspicion, and arrested him (at Dieuze, 
Feb. 1591). And he was with little 
trouble induced to confess his guilt, 
and finally to name and indicate those 
others who had been partners in that 
crime, among whom were Barbelia 
the wife of Johann Latomer, and 
Mayette the wife of Laurentius, the 
Chief Magistrate, all of whom told the 
same story of their dancing back to 
back with the cloven-hoofed creatures, 
maintaining that it was all true. Their 
confession was yet further substanti¬ 
ated by Johann Michel, a herdsman, 
who stated that during those proceed¬ 
ings he had been playing upon his 
pipes, beating time with his foot and 
moving his fingers quickly over the 
pipes. But when Nicole in panic called 
upon Jesus, and moreover signed her¬ 
self with the Cross, he fell from the 
high branch of an oak on which he 
was sitting, and was then caught in a 
whirlwind and carried to a field called 
Veiler in which he had shortly before 
left his flock grazing. But the gravest 
and weightiest proof was that the 
place where the dance had been per¬ 
formed had been found, on the day 


COMPENDIUM 


BK.I. CH. XII. 


46 

following that mentioned by Nicole, 
marked with a ring such as is seen in 
circuses where horses run round in a 
circle, and there were recent tracks of 
goats or oxen, all of which could be 
seen until that field was again ploughed 
up in the following winter. 

In Holland there was in the village 
of Oostbruck not far from Maes- 
tricht a widow woman whose circum¬ 
stances required her to keep a man¬ 
servant to manage the affairs of the 
house. This man was, like most ser¬ 
vants, inquisitive, and often used to 
look through a window and see his 
mistress go at the dead of every night, 
as soon as the servants had gone to 
sleep, to a certain fixed spot in the 
stables, where she stretched up and 
laid fast hold of the nearest rack of 
hay. At last, wondering what she 
could be about, he made up his mind 
to do the same just once, unbeknown 
to his mistress, and to try the same 
venture. So when his mistress went 
as usual to that place and seemed to 
be out of sight, he followed and 
looked about the place and, as his 
mistress had done, grasped the hay. 
Then he was at once carried to the 
town of Wijk into a secret under¬ 
ground cave, where he found himself 
in the midst of a company of witches 
brewing their evil plots. The mistress 
was surprised at her servant’s unex¬ 
pected appearance, and asked how he 
had managed to come there in a 
moment of time. He told her how it 
was; and she waxed very angry and 
highly incensed, being afraid lest by 
this means their nocturnal and clan¬ 
destine meetings should become known. 
She therefore asked her associates 
what they advised in this doubtful 
pass, and they at length agreed that 
he should be received in friendly 
fashion and be sworn to keep silence, 
and that he would never communicate 
or tell to any one those mysteries 
which chance had allowed him to wit¬ 
ness, beyond his desert or expectation. 
He gave his promise and spoke fairly 
to them; and, that they might treat 


him more leniently, pretended that 
his one chief wish was that :hey should 
thereafter admit him into the fellow¬ 
ship and company of witches. Mean¬ 
while the hours passed until it was 
time for their return; and then a new 
question was posed by the mistress, 
whether he should be sent back home 
to be a danger to the whole assembly, 
or whether he should be killed for the 
general good. They arrived at the 
more merciful decision of binding him 
by an oath and sending him home. 
This duty was undertaken by his mis¬ 
tress, who promised that ^ hen he had 
given his oath she would carry him 
home on her shoulders; md to this 
business they set themselve s, and were 
carried by an east wind ihrough the 
air. But when they had covered the 
greater part of their journey a lake 
overgrown with reeds came in sight; 
and the old witch, fearing lest the 
young man should be led t y penitence 
to disclose what he had seen at those 
frantic orgies, saw her chance of get¬ 
ting rid of him, and to cart him from 
her as she flew, hoping, as it is 
thought, that he would die either from 
the violence of his fall or in the deep 
waters of the lake. But God, who is 
merciful and desireth not :he death of 
a sinner but rather that he should turn 
from his wickedness and live, frus¬ 
trated the evil design of that witch, 
and did not allow the innocent young 
man to be drowned, but most justly 
granted that he should live to this very 
day. As he fell among t ie reeds he 
received no mortal hurt indeed, for 
the violence of his fall was a little 
broken by the reeds: but the unhappy 
man was unable to do anything but 
use his tongue, and lay th ere till day¬ 
light in the most dreadful agony, sigh¬ 
ing and groaning, until some passers 
by were surprised to hear this unusual 
lamentation, and searched and found 
a young man with both ais hips dis¬ 
located. They asked how lie had fallen 
into such misfortune; and when he 
had told all they took him in a cart to 
Maestricht. There a nobleman, Jehan 


BK. I. CH. XII. 


MALEFIC ARUM 


Chulenburgh, the Mayor of the city, 
being struck by the strangeness of the 
affair, wonderingly enquired into it 
all; and having examined the matter 
he ordered the youth’s mistress to be 
seized and put in chains. As soon as 
she fell into the hands of the Mayor, 
she denied nothing, but confessed to 
every particular. 

Bernard of Como * in his De 
Strigiis , 3, tells that about sixty years 
ago in the Diocese of Como proceed¬ 
ings were being taken against such 
witches by an Inquisitor named Mas¬ 
ter Bartolomeo de Homate, with Mas¬ 
ter Lorenzo da Concorezzo the Podesta 
and Giovanni da Fossato as Notary. 
One day the Podesta, out of curiosity, 
wished to prove by experience whether 
witches go to the Sabbat really and in 
their bodies. Accordingly he agreed 
to go one Thursday evening with his 
Notary and another companion to a 
place outside the townf which had 
been indicated by the witches. While 
they were standing there they saw 
many people assembled before one 
who was the devil in the form of a 
goat enthroned like some great Lord: 
and behold, at the command of the 
devil all those persons there assembled 
fell upon that magistrate and his com¬ 
panions and, with God’s permission, 
so beat them with sticks that they all 
three died from their blows within 
fifteen days. 

Florimond de Raymond^ Senator 


* “Bernard of Como” Dominican Inqui¬ 
sitor. The “De Strigiis” is a short but very 
important tractate which is usually found ap¬ 
pended to his famous “Lucerna Inquisitorum 
Haereticae Prauitatis.” My own copy is 
Venice, 1596, and this edition also contains the 
valuable Commentaries of Francesco Pegna. 

f “Place outside the town.” Mendrisio. 
For other accounts of this celebrated episode see 
—“Memoires de Jacques du Clercq,” IV, 4; 
“Chron. Cornel. Zjanfliet,” ann. 1460 ( Mar- 
tene, “Ampl. Coll.” V, 902); and Prierias, 
“De Strigimagarum mirandis,” I, 2, 14; II, 
1, 4- 

+ “Raymond.” Or Raemond; sometimes 
Remond. Born at Agen c. 1940; died at Bor- 


47 

of the King at the Parlement of Bor¬ 
deaux, a pious catholic and learned 
man, in his L Antichrist, VII, tells of 
some unspeakable and sacrilegious 
rites in the following words. 

At this Court in the year 1594 was 
tried a young girl of Aquitane, a 
wench of intelligent appearance who, 
without being tortured, freely con¬ 
fessed that she had been corrupted at 
a tender age by a certain Italian. In 
the middle of the night before the day 
of S. John Baptist the Italian had led 
her to a certain field, where he had 
traced a circle on the ground with a 
beech twig, muttering some words out 
of a black book. Suddenly there ap¬ 
peared a large and perfectly black 
goat, well horned, and accompanied 
by two women, and soon there came 
up a man clothed and vested like a 
priest. The goat asked the Italian 
what girl that was; and he answered 
that she had been brought by him to 
be enrolled among the goat’s subjects. 
Hearing this, the goat ordered her to 
make the sign of the cross with her 
left hand, and all who were present to 
approach and perform their act of 
veneration. Thereupon they all kissed 
him with their lips under his tail. 
Between the goat’s horns a black 
candle gave a horrid light, and from 
this they all lit the candles they were 
holding; and as they worshipped the 
goat, they dropped money in a bowl. 
This is what happened the first time. 
Afterwards the Italian again took the 
girl to the same place; and then the 
goat asked her for a tress or lock of 
her hair, which the Italian cut off and 
gave to him. By this sign the goat led 
her apart as his bride into a neighbour¬ 
ing wood and, pressing her against the 
ground, penetrated her: but the girl 
said that she found this operation 
quite lacking in any sensation of plea- 


deaux, c. 1602. His famous work, “VAnti¬ 
christ,” first appeared at Lyons in 1597 > an ^ 
was frequently reprinted. There are editions of 
Paris, 1599 and 160J; Arras, 1613; Cambrai, 
1613. 




COMPENDIUM 


BE. I. CH. XII. 


48 


sure, for she rather experienced a very 
keen pain and sense of horror of the 
goat’s semen, which was as cold as ice. 
On a Wednesday and a Friday in each 
month these rites were performed by 
the well of Dome, and she attended 
them countless times with more than 
sixty others, all of whom brought 
candles with them which the goat lit 
by blowing upon them from his be¬ 
hind, after which they danced round 
with joined hands and their backs 
turned. They also performed a trav¬ 
esty of the Mass, celebrated by one 
clothed in a black cope with no cross 
woven upon it. At the time of the 
Holy Sacrifice and the Elevation of 
the Host, he lifted up a segment or 
round of turnip stained black, upon 
which they all with one voice cried 
out: “Master, help us!” The Chalice 
contained water instead of wine; and 
they made their Holy Water as fol¬ 
lows:—The goat pissed into a hole 
dug in the ground, and with this un¬ 
diluted water the celebrant sprinkled 
them all with a black aspergillum. In 
this assembly each witch has his or 
her particular duty assigned, and each 
gives a report of what he has done. So 
writes Raymond; and he discusses the 
question of poisons, spells, charms and 
magic remedies, as also the destruc¬ 
tion of the fruits of the earth, and 
many such crimes. 

Let us now consider how witches 
are borne through the clouds by 
demons at other times than that of 
the nocturnal assembly. In Belgium a 
nobleman of proved faith named Van- 
derburch, Dean of the Cathedral 
Chapter and an honoured citizen of 
Mechlin, was walking outside the 
town with an arquebus, when sud¬ 
denly he heard the screaming of crows 
and crowds of obscene crows and pies 
in a tree near his path. He levelled his 
arquebus and discharged it at them, 
and thought he had fairly hit one and 
brought it down from the tree; but 
all he found was an iron key from a 
woman’s girdle. He took this home 
and told a friend what had happened, 


asking whether he recognk ed the key. 
His friend said that he knew it for the 
key of a neighbouring house. They 
then went to the house, fou id the door 
locked, opened it with their key and, 
shutting the door behind hem, went 
in, since they were acquainted with 
the good man of the house; and there 
they found a woman, the owner’s wife, 
wounded in the side with an arquebus 
shot. 

Martin Delrio (. Disqu . Magic . V, 3) 
makes the following obseivation:—I 
was at the Nieulay Bridge at Calais 
when it was stormed undei the auspi¬ 
cious leadership of the Se rene Arch¬ 
duke Albert and held by ihe soldiers 
of His Catholic Majesty. A company 
from Valogne was stationec as outpost 
to keep a watch upon the men of 
Boulogne, who were then on the 
enemy’s side; and towards the evening 
two of these men saw a black cloud 
floating out of the clear sky, and from 
the midst of it there seemed to come a 
confused sound of many voices, al¬ 
though no one could be seen. At last 
the bolder of these two nen said: 
“What is this? Are we safe? If you 
consent, I will discharge my arquebus 
into that cloud.” His comrade agreed, 
and after the report of the arquebus, 
there fell to their feet from the cloud 
a drunken naked woman, very fat and 
of middle age, wounded rig] it through 
the thigh. On being seized she pre¬ 
tended to be feeble mir. ded, and 
would answer nothing to their ques¬ 
tions but, “Are you friends or foes?” 
Now what do they say to this, who 
deny that these witches are trans¬ 
ported? They will say that they do 
not believe it. Then let them remain 
sceptical; for they will not believe any 
number of eye-witnesses whem I could 
produce. Why? Because they them¬ 
selves have never seen or heard such 
a thing, and they have examined cer¬ 
tain witnesses who have maintained 
that they knew nothing of such hap¬ 
penings. So says Delrio. 

Now, reader, I will take further 
instances from Nicolas Remy, the 


BK. I. CH. XII. 


MALEFIGARUM 


truth of which has been sworn on oath 
and given in evidence at trials. There 
is, he says, at Gironcourt in the Vosges 
Province a strong-built castle which 
was struck by lightning so that some 
of its roofing was torn away. Not long 
afterwards, namely, in October 1580, 
one Sebastienne Piccarde was accused 
of witchcraft in that village, and con¬ 
fessed to the Judge that this had been 
the work of herself and her demon. 
For, she said, we together rushed 
from a cloud upon the castle meaning 
to bring it entirely to ruin; but it was 
not in our power to do so, and we 
could only inflict a little damage so 
that our attempt should not be 
altogether abortive. 

The following instance is similar. 
A man named Cunin, who was a 
magistrate in the bailiwick of S. 
Clement in Ronchamp, was attending 
to his hay with his servants on the 1st 
December, 1586, when he noticed the 
sky grow very stormy. He was getting 
ready to go home, when suddenly he 
saw six oak trees near him struck by 
lightning and torn up by the roots, 
and a seventh appeared as if it had 
been all rent and lacerated with 
claws. He then made the more haste 
towards home, in his hurry leaving 
behind his hat and all his tools, and 
again heard the crash of lightning 
striking and saw perched in the top 
of an oak near him a woman who 
seemed to have come from the clouds. 
He looked at her more closely and 
recognised her as an old neighbour 
of his, and at once began to revile 
her as follows: “Are not you that vile 
hag Marguerite Warens, who, as I 
now find, thoroughly deserve the 
general suspicion of witchcraft which 
every one has long harboured against 
you? Whence come you now in that 
costume? 55 To this she answered: 
“Spare me, I entreat you, and keep 
silent about what you now see. If 
you will promise me this, I will 
manage so that no harm at all shall 
ever come from me to you and yours. 55 
And lest any should doubt the truth 
E 


49 

of this, let him know that it was proved 
not only by the evidence of Cunin, 
but by the confession of that very 
Warens which was often repeated 
even without the stimulus of torture, 
and confirmed by her in the hearing 
of many at the very last moment of 
her life. 

To the same effect are instances 
arising out of other capital trials, 
vouched for as true by those who 
conducted them. A great thunder¬ 
storm arose while some shepherds 
were watching their flocks in the 
Vosges, and since they were exposed 
in the open they took shelter in the 
neighbouring woods. There all at 
once they saw two peasants perched, 
or rather entangled, in the tops of the 
trees, so terrified that it was easy to 
see that they were not there of their 
own will, but quite by accident and 
through some unexpected impetus. 
But then the filth and muddiness of 
their clothing, and the fact that they 
were all scratched with brambles, 
gave rise to an increasing suspicion 
that they had been cast out and 
hurled into that place by their Master 
after he had dragged them hither and 
thither according to his custom. This 
suspicion was the more confirmed 
because, after they had sat there long 
enough for the shepherds 5 eyes to 
make sure that they saw clearly, in 
an instant, without anyone marking 
how, they seemed to fall to the ground. 
Finally all doubt was removed when 
their own words, and the report of 
the shepherds, were fully borne out 
by spontaneous confession when they 
were questioned in prison. 

There is also a village lying to the 
left as you go from Bellemont to 
Vittel, where the same two peasants 
fell headlong from a storm cloud on 
to the top of a roof. One of them, 
whose name was Rouet, was terribly 
troubled as to how they could get 
safely to ground from so difficult a 
place. But the other, Amant, had 
been led into the devil’s service by 
his parents as soon as he reached 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. I. CH. XII. 


50 

puberty and very soon adapted him¬ 
self to the conditions, saying: “Cheer 
up, you fool; for he in whose power 
we are is Master of far more difficult 
matters than this, and will very soon 
manage this affair for us.” And no 
sooner said than done; for they were 
suddenly caught up together in a 
whirlwind and set down safe on the 
ground, while the house itself shook 
so that it seemed to be torn from its 
foundations. This was told by each 
of them separately in the same words: 
moreover their story agreed in every 
respect with that of the villagers, as 
to the day, the storm, and all the 
anic. Finally, they who in life had 
een associated together in crime, 
perished in one fire by the Judge’s 
sentence. So says Remy. 


☆ 


CHAPTER XIII 

Whether Witches can Transmute Bodies 
from One Form to Another . 

Argument . 

N O one can doubt but that all 
the arts and metamorphoses by 
which witches change men into beasts 
are deceptive illusions and opposed to 
all nature. I add that any one who 
holds the contrary opinion is in 
danger of Anathema; and in this I am 
supported by the opinion of S. Augus¬ 
tine,* as also by logical reasoning. 
For a human soul cannot inform the 
body of a beast, any more than the 
soul of a lion can inhabit the body of 
a horse, or the soul of a horse the body 
of a man: because every substantial 
form, to be true to its own nature, 
requires the peculiarly adapted dis¬ 
positions and physical organism which 
are natural to its own body, and the 
soul regulates the motions of the 


* “ S . Augustine” “De Ciuitate Deif 
XVIII , 18 . 


organic body. Therefore, as I have 
said, no animal’s soul can inform the 
human body, and no human soul 
an animal’s body. The belief in such 
monstrous transformation: is nothing 
new, but was firmly held by the 
Ancients many ages ago. Euanthes,f 
an author of great note, says that it is 
recorded in the Annals of Arcadia 
that there was a certain £i mily of the 
tribe of Anthus which used every so 
many years to go to a certain pool 
across which, having taken off their 
clothes, they swam, and they were at 
once changed from men into beasts: 
and after nine years, if they had not 
in that time tasted human blood, they 
returned to their former shape. Hero¬ 
dotus in Melpomene , and So inus in the 
Polyhistor , chapter 8, recoid that the 
Neuri, who live by the river Dnieper, 
are changed into wolves on certain 
days in every year, and after the 
appointed time has elapsed they 
return to their true shape. But this 
did not happen to then only in 
times before the light of Christian 
truth shone upon the wo:’Id; for in 
Bulgaria a certain official had in his 
charge the son of that Symeon who 
had formerly ruled over tb e country, 
and this boy could when he wished 
change himself into a wolf or any 
other animal by black n agic. And 
a certain Russian chieftai i, hearing 
that there was in his territory a man 
who could change himself nto what¬ 
ever form he pleased, summoned him 
and put him in chains and commanded 
him to give instant proof of his power. 
The man said he would willingly do 
so if he might withdraw into the next 
room for a while; and when this 
had been granted, he suddenly came 
back in the form of a wol ', but still 
bound with his chains, to the great 
astonishment of all who were present. 
But the chieftain had two very fierce 
dogs at hand, which fell upon the un¬ 
happy creature and tore him to pieces. 


f “ Euanthes .” A Greek author as quoted 
by Pliny , tc Historia Naturalisf VIII , 22. 




BK. I. CH. XIII. 


MALEFICARUM 


But, as I have already said, no one 
must let himself think that a man 
can really be changed into a beast, or 
a beast into a real man; for these are 
magic portents and illusions, having 
the form but not the reality of those 
things which they present to our 
sight. For the devil, as I have said 
elsewhere, deceives our senses in 
various ways. Sometimes he substi¬ 
tutes another body, while the witches 
themselves are absent or hidden apart 
in some secret place, and himself 
assumes the body of a wolf formed 
from the air and wrapped about him, 
and does 
those actions 
which men 
think are 
done by the 
wretched ab¬ 
sent witch 
who is asleep. 

William of 
Paris tells 
how a certain 
Holy Man 
made this 
stratagem 
clear to all. 

Sometimes, in 
accordance 
with his pact, 
he surrounds a witch with an aerial 
effigy of a beast, each part of which 
fits on to the correspondent part of the 
witch’s body, head to head, mouth 
to mouth, belly to belly, foot to foot, 
and arm to arm; but this only happens 
when they use certain ointments and 
words, as in the case of the above 
example of the man who was torn 
in pieces by dogs: and then they 
leave the footprints of a wolf upon the 
ground. But in this last case it is no 
matter for wonder if they are after¬ 
wards found with an actual wound 
in those parts of their human body 
where they were wounded when in the 
appearance of a beast; for the envelop¬ 
ing air easily yields, and the true 
body receives the wound. But when 
the witch is not bodily present at all, 


51 

then the devil wounds her in that 
part of her absent body corresponding 
to the wound which he knows to have 
been received by the beast’s body. 
Bartolomeo Spina* tells the following 
example of this sort. 

☆ 1 

Examples. 

A certain day-labourer named 
Philip bore witness in this very city 
of Ferrara to this apparent conversion 
of witches into cats. For he swore to 
me on oath that, three months before, 

a certain 
witch had 
told him not 
to drive them 
away if he 
saw any cats 
come coying 
playfully up 
to his son, 
whom she 
had strongly 
be witched 
and had un¬ 
dertaken to 
cure. The 
same day, 
about an hour 
after she had 
gone away, he and his wife saw a 
big cat which they had never seen 
before go deliberately up to the boy. 
They were frightened and kept driving 
it off, and were at last goaded to 
exasperation by its insistence, and the 
man shut the door and chased it about 
for a long time, striking it with a 
stick, until finally he made it jump 
out of a high window, so that the 
cat’s body seemed to be all bruised 
and broken. After that, the old 
witch kept her bed for many days 
with a bruised and broken body. 
Consequently, where there had already 
been a slight suspicion that she was a 


* “Spina.” “De Strigibus”. XIX. “Ex- 
perientiae apparentis conuersionis strigum in 
catos.” 





































































COMPENDIUM 


BK.I. CH. XIII. 


52 

witch and had bewitched the boy who 
lay very sick under the spell of his 
infirmity, this now grew into a strong 
and grave suspicion; for the blows 
and wounds which were given to the 
cat were found upon the corresponding 
parts of the witch’s body. 

Remy (II, 5) writes that nearly all 
those who came into his hands 
charged with witchcraft told him 
that they changed themselves into 
cats whenever they wished to enter 
other people’s houses in secret, so 
that they could scatter their poison 
there by night. Barbelline Rayel, at 
Blainville-la-Grande on the 1st Janu¬ 
ary, 1587, confessed that she was 
turned into a cat so that in that shape 
she might more easily enter the house 
of Jean Louis and wander about it 
in greater safety; and when she had 
done so and found his two-year-old 
infant unguarded she dusted it with a 
drugged powder which she held in 
the pad of her paw, and killed it. 

The Shepherd Petronio, who was 
tried at Dalheim in 1581, whenever 
he felt moved with hatred or envy 
against the shepherds of neighbouring 
flocks (as is the way of such men), 
used to change himself into a wolf by 
the use of certain incantations, and so 
for a long time escaped all suspicion 
of being the cause of the mutilation 
and death of his neighbours’ sheep. 

The following example is told by 
the famous Count of Salm, chief 
Gentleman of the Bedchamber at the 
Palace of Lorraine. In Hesse-Lang- 
hau, over which town he was Lord, 
the inhabitants, in accordance with 
the ancient custom, came to pay him 
their yearly tribute of labour. As they 
came with their cart-loads of timber, 
and waited in turn for their reward 
of food, the dogs which were with 
them began to fight in the castle hall. 
One of these dogs hid itself in one 
of the bathroom furnaces, and the 
rest barked violently at it. One of the 
townsmen looked at it and, finding it 
uglier than the rest, began to suspect 
the truth (for that part is said to be 


infested with witches); so he thrust 
his weapon into its face and grievously 
wounded it, whereupon it rushed out 
of the door and was no more seen. 
Then a rumour crept al over the 
town that there was an old woman in 
bed with a wound of which no one 
knew where she had received it. They 
all began to suspect the truth, namely, 
that she was the mad dog who had 
been wounded in the castle hall. This 
suspicion, on the top of a long stand¬ 
ing rumour that she was a witch, led 
to her being seized and imprisoned; 
and at last, after she had been care¬ 
fully questioned, she freely confessed 
all that has just been told, together 
with very many other sorceries. 

Hear also what Remy reports to 
have been told him by the Noble 
Baroness Lady Diana of Dommart, 
the wife of the illustrious Prince 
Charles Philip of Croy, Marquis of 
Haurech, as follows. Not long since 
there was in Thiaucourt, a village of 
that country, a woman addicted to 
these evil practices and credited with 
the power of assuming different shapes 
with the help of the Devil. This 
woman had conceived a bitter hatred 
against the village shepherc on account 
of his having bested her in some money 
transaction, and fell in the form of a 
wolf upon his flock as it was feeding. 
The shepherd ran up ani wounded 
her in the thigh with an axe so 
grievously that, in her wc akness, she 
was forced to flee into a neighbouring 
thicket. He followed her there, and 
found her trying to stop the freely 
flowing blood by binding her wound 
with strips torn from her clothes. 
With this evidence agaiist her she 
was taken into custody and acknow¬ 
ledged all that we have said, and 
finally expiated her crines at the 
stake. 

In Flanders at a tov'n not Jar 
from Dixmude a peasant was drinking 
at an ale-house with his son, a lively 
youth, and watched the hostess scoring 
up the beer which she brought him. 
He noticed that she marked up double 


BK. I. CH. XIV. 


MALEFICARUM 


the quantity that he drank, but kept 
quiet until he had finished drinking. 
Then he called the hostess and asked 
what he owed; and she demanded 
the amount that she had scored. He 
refused to pay it and, thrusting many 
persons aside, threw on to the table 
what he knew to be a sufficient sum 
of money, and was going out. The 
enraged hostess said: “You will not 
o home to-day, or my name is not 
o-and-so!” But he went away despis¬ 
ing the woman’s threats. He came to 
a stream where he had left his boat, 
but he could not, however much he 
tried, even with the help of his son, 
who was a lusty lad, move it from 
the bank; so that you would have 
said that it was nailed to the very 
ground. Two or three soldiers hap¬ 
pened to come that way, and he called 
to them, saying: “Good friends, come 
and help me launch this boat from 
the bank, and I will give you a good 
drink.” They came and exerted them¬ 
selves to the utmost for a long time 
in vain, till one of them, panting and 
sweating, said: “Let us unload the 
boat. Perhaps when it is empty we 
shall manage better.” And behold, 
when the goods were exposed to view, 
a lurid great toad stood in the road 
looking at them with gleaming eyes. 
One of the soldiers at once spitted 
it through the throat with his sword 
and threw it into the water, where it 
floated belly upwards as if dead. The 
rest gave it more wounds as it floated, 
and suddenly the boat was launched. 
The overjoyed peasant took his helpers 
back to the same inn and ordered 
beer. This was brought by a serving 
maid; and he asked where the hostess 
was. He was told that she was very 
ill in bed. “What!” said he. “Do 
you think I am drunk, you fool? It is 
hardly half an hour since I left her 
as well as you are. I am going to 
see what the matter is.” He went 
into the bedroom and found that the 
woman had died from wounds in the 
neck and stomach. “How did she 
get these wounds?” he exclaimed. 


53 

The serving maid said she did not 
know and that, to her knowledge, she 
had not set foot outside the house. 
They went to the Magistrate, and the 
cuts and stabs were found to be in 
the same places as those in which the 
soldiers had wounded to death the 
toad, which was never found. 

☆ 

CHAPTER XIV 

Whether Witches have Power to Make 
Beasts Talk . 

Argument . 

A T times it happens that God 
grants the power of speech to 
that which naturally has no such 
power, as in the case of Balaam’s ass 
in Holy Scripture. How this, may 
be, none knows but He who is the 
author of all speech: but I think that 
for the most part it is the voice of an 
Angel speaking in such inanimate 
objects or brutes. As for brute animals 
speech is created in their own bodies 
and is a physical action of the beast 
itself; yet such action is intellectual 
only on the part of the Angel. This is 
true of such animals as have organs 
adapted to speech, as magpies, parrots, 
ravens and their like: but when the 
animal’s organs are not so adapted, as 
in asses, oxen, etc., I think that the 
Angel creates a voice from the air 
about the animal. The same would 
be true in the case of inanimate 
objects, such as fire, water, earth, air, 
or corpses, which likewise could easily 
be made to appear to speak. 

Porphyry, considering the question 
whether magicians can truly under¬ 
stand the speech of animals, writes 
that in his own time it used to be said 
of Apollonius of Tyana. that, having 
heard a sparrow twittering to a flock 
of its fellows, he explained to his 
friends who were with him that the 
sparrow was telling the others that 
an ass laden with corn had fallen by 


COMPENDIUM 


B I. CH. XIV. 


54 

the city gate, and the corn had been 
spilled on the ground. In this way 
Apollonius wished to pretend that he 
could understand the chattering of 
birds; but such a thing is incredible. 
Yet we have daily evidence of the 
fact that beasts, at any rate those of 
the same kind, understand each other; 
and Porphyry tried to prove this. 
For when a fish has broken from the 
net it warns the others of the danger, 
so that no more fish of that sort will 
be caught that day. Petrus Gregorius* 
in his De Republican XV, 5, mentions 
this matter, prudently adding that 
animals are incapable of true intelli¬ 
gence and conversation. 

☆ 

Examples . 

Antonius Bonfinius f in his Histories , 
III, writes that about three years 
after the defeat of the Emperor Sigis- 
mund by the Turks at Ternowar, a 
number of people went to the battle¬ 
field and heard a voice from among 
the bones calling upon the Names of 
Jesus Christ the Saviour and the 
Virgin Mary: and a talking head 
among the corpses, seeing that there 
were men standing by, said: “Why 
do you stand so amazed, O men? I am 
a Christian who died in this battle 
unconfessed; but Mary our Mother 
would not have me condemned to 
eternal punishment, and has granted 
me to keep my power of speech till 
now so that I may confess my sins 
and purge my soul with holy absolu¬ 
tion. I beg you, then, to bring me a 
priest to hear my confession and give 
me absolution. 55 When he was asked 
how he had earned so great a benefit 
from the Virgin, he answered that 
he had been peculiarly devout to 


* “Petrus Gregorius” A famous jurist 
who in 1570 was appointed to the Chair of 
Civil Law at the University of Cahors . 

| “Antonius Bonfinius” “Rerum Ungari - 
carum Decades Quattuor cum Dimidia” Folio , 
Basle , 1568. 


Her during his life, and had with 
great reverence observed Her seven 
yearly Feasts, fasting religiously on 
bread and water. There ore a priest 
was brought from the next village, 
who duly heard the confession; and 
when the head had obtained remission 
and absolution for all its sins, it at 
once and for ever fell silent. 

The devil, who is the Ape of God, at 
times performs many false miracles of 
a similar nature, which God permits 
in His own avenging justice. Phlegon 
of Tralles says that Polycl itus married 
a Locrian woman and, after having 
slept with her for three nights, died 
on the third day, leaving her pregnant. 
The woman gave birth to an herma¬ 
phrodite monster, which was brought 
before a council of the people to 
decide what it portended and what 
should be done about it: and then 
the ghost of Polycritus appeared in 
the midst of the people and foretold 
a massacre of the Lo:rians and 
Aetolians; and with the people power¬ 
less to interfere he took off the head 
of his monstrous son ani devoured 
him and vanished; and afterwards the 
head also spoke of the san e massacre. 

The same author quotes the follow¬ 
ing from Antisthenes the Peripatetic 
Philosopher. When the Ccnsul Acilius 
Glabro conquered Antiocl us, King of 
Asia, the Romans were frightened 
by oracles from invading Asia any 
further. And the Roman General, 
Publius, moved as it is tho ight with a 
divine madness, foretold that he 
would be devoured by a wolf, which 
would leave his head: and this head 
made a long speech foreshowing 
the coming defeat of the B omans. 

With the help of a demon a witch 
can easily vitiate a man 5 . 4 organs so 
that, while trying to speak, he barks 
or howls or clucks or neighs; for we 
have known many such cases. We 
read that in 1546 Margarita of 
Essling had pains in her belly, and 
that it swelled to such a size as com¬ 
pletely to hide her face, being more 
than ten palms in circumference. 



BK. I. CH. XV. M A L E F I 

Those who stood about her bed 
heard the crowing of cocks, the 
clucking of hens, the braying of asses, 
the barking of dogs, the bleating of 
sheep, the grunting of pigs, the lowing 
of oxen and the neighing of horses. 
Then she voided from her side about 
a hundred and fifty worms and 
serpents. This was believed to be a 
miracle; but it was in truth only a 
devil’s illusion created by the girl’s 
mother for the sake of gain. 

☆ 

CHAPTER XV 

Whether the Devil can Make Men 
Insensible to Torture .* 

Argument. 

D EALING with the question 
whether the devil can render 
insentient that which is naturally 
sensitive, so that, for example, a man 


* “Insensible to torture." It was well 
known that witches had charms which enabled 
them to bear the severest tortures without 
Jlinching. Damhouder, whilst member of the 
council at Bruges, relates a case which came 
under his own eyes. A witch during three ex¬ 
aminations not only endured the fiercest en¬ 
gines, but actually laughed at and mocked the 
officers. At length a piece of parchment 
covered with cabalistic characters was found on 
her person, and after its removal she soon con¬ 
fessed her pact with Satan. (“Rerum Crimin. 
Praxis," Cap. XXXVII, Nos. 21, 22. Cf. 
Brumemann, “Le Inquisit. Process," Cap. 
VIII, Memb. v, No. 70.) Grilland tells us 
that he had met instances of insensibility to 
torture only to be explained by magic. “De 
Quaestione et Tortura," Art. Ill, 12-16. He 
gives several conjurations which were used 
completely to deaden all pain: “Quemadmo- 
dum lac Beatae Gloriosae Mariae Uirginis 
fuit dulce et suaue Domino Nostro Iesu 
Christo, ita haec tortura sit dulcis et suauis 
brachiis et membris meis." Another ran: 

Imparibus mentis tria pendent corpora ramis. 
Dismas et Gestas, in medio est Diuina Potestas. 
Dismas damnatur, Gestas ad aslra leuatur. 


C ARUM 55 

should feel no pain when put to 
torture, Iamblichus (De myster. Aegypt.) 
writes that many heathen seers have 
been thrown into the fire and have 
either not been burned or have not 
felt their burning or any other tortures; 
and he says that this is due to some 
god who drives back the flames, or 
nullifies the other tortures. And what 
is this god of the sorcerer Iamblichus 
buttheCacodemon Eurycles? Whatare 
those seers but witches? In our own 
day there are impious soldiers who 
think that they are invulnerable if 
their armour is charmed with a 
certain spell, or if they have the hardi¬ 
hood to commit the sacrilege of 
piercing, threatening or breaking the 
image of the Crucifix. So Baptista 
Codronchif (De morbis ueneficis, III, 12) 
tells that they wear a shirt inscribed 
with a terrible and most horrid 
character, which they call the Shirt 
of Hell; or else they wear trinkets 
engraved with various magic signs; 
or they make use of prayers, which 

At Innsbruck a witch boasted that if she had 
but a thread of a prisoner's tunic she could 
enable him to endure torture to the death with¬ 
out confessing. W. B. Seabrook in his study 
of sorcery in Haiti, “ The Magic Island f re¬ 
lates that during a military engagement there 
was slain a notorious warlock, a member of 
the “culte des morts” Upon the body was 
found a small book of secret formulas written 
in creole by himself. Of these one is: When 
confronted with Torture." When one finds him¬ 
self tied up, it is very necessary to make this 
prayer: 4 For the sake of the great pain which 
Jesus Christ suffered from Judas, the traitor, 
in walking along Golgotha's hilly road, may I 
be relieved from the rope which is piercing 
through my [mention the part ] to the heart, just 
as the left side of Christ's Body did abundantly 
spill Blood by Herod, the infamous executioner. 
Amen.' Order a mass in the name of all the 

Saints" . 

f 44 Codronchi." This famous Italian physi¬ 
cian was born at Imola c. 1560. The work to 
which reference is made is: “Batistae Codron- 
chii de Morbis Ueneficis ac Ueneficiis, libri 
quattuor, in quibus non solum certis rationibus 
ueneficia claro demonstratur sed eorum species 
. . . aperiuntur." Venice, 1595* 




COMPENDIUM 


b;c. I. CH. XV. 


56 

the sorcerers blasphemously and 
falsely ascribe to S. Leo or Charle¬ 
magne, invoking the mighty Names 
of God. So does the devil delude his 
own, as may be seen from the examples. 

☆ 

Examples . 

Martin Delrio (D.M. I, 21) tells 
that he knew a certain law student 
named Quirino, a Bachelor of Law, 
who, relying upon such a charm, 
boldly mingled in brawls and fights 
and, though often struck, was never 
wounded. At last, in 1572 or 1573, 
he was killed at a drinking-bout in 
Rome through some trifling wound. 
The.following example is similar. 

Nider writes in his Formicarius that 
in the district of Berne there was a 
notorious witch named Scavius,* who 
dared to boast publicly that whenever 
he wished he could change himself 
into a mouse in the sight of all his 
rivals; and so he is said to have often 
escaped from the hands of his mortal 
enemies. But, when it was the will 
of Divine Justice to make an end of 
his wickedness, his enemies stole upon 
him as he was sitting in a warm bath 
by the window suspecting no attack, 
and suddenly struck him through the 
window with swords and spears, so 
that he perished miserably for his 
crimes. 


* “Scavius” This wretch was not only a 
warlock of most ancient impiety , but also an 
instructor of younger witches. Peter of Berne 
judged that he spread sorcery like a plague , and 
Nider tells us that this holy Inquisitor when 
bewailing the iniquities and necromancy prac¬ 
tised in Berne added “quorum primus auctor 
fuit quidam Scauius dictus . . . Hie tamen suae 
fraudis commenta discipulo, qui Hoppo uoca - 
batur, rcliquit. Et idem supra dictum Staedelin 
in maleficiis magistrum fecit.” Staedelin or 
Stadlin dwelt at Boltigen in Simmenthal. He 
was brought to trial before Peter of Berne and 
confessed many secrets of the horrid craft. 
See “Malleus Maleficarum ,” Part If Qji. 1, 


It is a common matter for witches 
to escape the torture of the rack; for 
they overcome all the pain by laughter 
or sleep or silence. Loys Charondas 
le Caronf in his Antichrist Jnmasked , I, 
tells a wonderful story of this sort as 
follows. He knew a woman of fifty 
who endured boiling fat poured over 
her whole body and severe racking 
of all her limbs without feeling any¬ 
thing. For she was taken from the 
rack free from any sense of pain, 
whole and uninjured, except that her 
great toe, which had been torn off 
during her questioning, was not re¬ 
stored, but this did not hinder or 
hurt her at all. After she lad under¬ 
gone every torture and had obstinately 
denied all her crimes, she cut her 
throat in prison. So the devil, having 
accused her of witchcraft through the 
mouth of a possessed woman, killed 
her. 

Near Amiens in 1599 a girl witch 
was imprisoned, who felt nothing 
when her feet were cruelly burned or 
when she was heavily scourged, until 
at the suggestion of a priest they 
hung about her neck a waxen image 
of the Blessed Lamb. Then, by virtue 
of .the sacred amulet, the wiles and 
guile of the devil were def ?ated, and 
she began, to feel the force of pain. 
Therefore it is clear that this indiffer¬ 
ence to torture, which even Tostado 
(In Genesim. XIII) recognises, springs 
from no physical cause, tut is due 
to the devil’s work. 

Remy (I, 5) tells the following. 
When Isabella Pardea was seized for 
witchcraft at Epinal on the 6th May, 
1588, and had shown the magistrate 
a part, of her body branded by the 
devil, it occurred to the magistrate 
to test the truth of this alleged 
insensitiveness to pain. So I e ordered 
a pin to be thrust and pressed deeply 
into her, and this was do le in the 
presence of sufficient witnesses, and 
no blood flowed from the wound, 


f “Loys.” “Charondas de Caron.” Born 
at Paris , 1530; died 1617. 




BK. I. CH. XVI. 


MALEFICARUM 


and the witch gave not the least sign 
of pain. 

At Brindisi in November 1590, 
when Claudia Bogarta was about to 
be tortured, she was closely shaved, 
as the custom is, and so a scar was 
exposed on the top of her bare brow. 
The Inquisitor then suspecting the 
truth, namely, that it was a mark made 
by the devil’s claw, which had before 
been hidden by her hair, ordered a 
pin to be thrust deep into it; and 
when this was done she neither felt 
any pain, nor did so much as a drop 
of blood come from the wound. Yet 
she persisted in denying the truth, 
saying that her insensitiveness was 
caused by an old blow from a stone. 
But when she was brought to the 
torture, she not only acknowledged 
that the scar had been given her by 
the devil, but confessed to many other 
abominable crimes which she had 
committed. 

In June 1591 at Iesi, a village a 
mile distant from Brindisi, the Judge 
ordered a gaoler to search Mugeta, 
who was charged with witchcraft. 
The gaoler therefore stripped her to 
see if he could find any devil’s mark, 
and at last found on her left thigh a 
mark like a shell. Into this he thrust 
his weapon with all his force, but 
Mugeta uttered no cry, nor could 
he get one drop of blood from the 
wound; but when he lightly pricked 
the place next to the mark, she roared 
aloud in pain, and much blood 
flowed from it. 

☆ 


CHAPTER XVI 

Whether by Witchcraft and Devil's Work 
the Sexes can be Interchanged. 

Argument. 

ORNELIUS GEMMA inquires 
into the mutation of the feminine 
into the masculine sex, and the 
masculine into the feminine, which is 


57 

admitted by modern physicians to 
be natural. We read of many women 
who have become men. Hippocrates 
writes that at Abdera Phaetula, the 
wife of Pitheus, had borne him 
children; but when her husband was 
sent into exile, after a few months her 
menstrual courses ceased, and she 
was smitten with terrible pains all 
over her body, and acquired the 
physical features of a man. He says 
that the same thing happened to 
Anamisia, the wife of Gorgippus, at 
Thasos. Livy tells the same story in 
Book 24 (de Spoletana muliere ). Pliny 
says that it is no fable that women 
are changed into men. Martin Delrio 
uses the following words (quoting 
from Pliny, Historia Naturalis , VII, 4): 
“I myself saw in Africa L. Cossicius, 
a Tisdritanian citizen, changed into 
a man on his wedding day.” S. 
Augustine* mentions heathen records 
of women becoming men, and of hens 
being changed into the masculine 
sex, not, however, by witchcraft but 
naturally: for witches cannot actually 
do this thing, but only in appearance 
to deceive us by casting a glamour 
over our senses with the help of the 
devil, as we have shown elsewhere. 

☆ 

Examples. 

Giovanni Pontanof {Hist. Neapolit.) 
tells that at Gaeta a woman changed 
into a man after having been married 
for fourteen years to a fisherman: and 
another, named Emilia, after having 
been for twelve years the wife of 
Antonio Spensa, a citizen of Eboli, 
dissolved her marriage, married a 
wife and begot children. He speaks 
also of another woman who had borne 
one son to her husband, and suddenly 
assumed virility, left her husband, 

* “S. Augustine .” “De Ciuitate Deif III , 
31. 

| “ Pontano .” “De Bello Neapolitans ,” V, 
“Pontani Opera Omni a f Basileae, 1338, II, 

PP- 574 - 75 • 




COMPENDIUM 


BE. I. CH. XVI. 


58 

and married a woman who bore 
children to her. 

Cocceius Sabellicus* has some simi¬ 
lar stories which I shall omit, and 
will set down two instances which 
occurred in Spain in our own time, 
and were faithfully described by 
Antonio de Turrecremata f in his 
Jardin de las Flores curiosas . 

In the town of Ezgueira in Portugal, 
about nine leagues from Coimbra, 
there lived a nobleman who had a 
daughter named Maria Pacheco. When 
this girl was at the age when a woman’s 
monthly courses usually begin, in¬ 
stead of a fluid excretion there broke 
or otherwise grew from those parts 
a virile member; and so, from being a 
girl, she suddenly became a pubic 
young man endowed with virility, 
and assumed the name of Manoel 
Pacheco. He then took ship for India 
and endured much hardship and 

g erformed great deeds as a soldier. 

.eturning to his country he married 
a noble wife: yet Amatus the Portu¬ 
guese, writing in his Centuries , makes 
no mention of any children, but 
says that he remained unbearded and 
with a feminine cast of countenance, 
these being indications of imperfect 


* “Cocceius Sabellicus” Marcus Antonius 
Cocceius Sabellicus, a Venetian writer of emin¬ 
ence. He is the author of “Epistolarum libri 
XII”; “ Orationum libri XII”; “De situ 
Uenetae libri tres”; and many poems, of which 
some are devotional, such as “De laudibus 
Deiparae Uirginis Eligiae XII” I have used 
the collected edition of his “Opera,” Venice 
(23 December), 1302. 

| “Antonio de Turrecremata.” In Latin 
Torquemada. The first edition of the “ Jardin 
de las Flores curiosas, en que se tradan algunas 
maiericis . . . etc.”, is Salamanca, 1570. 
“Olivante de Laura,” a romance by Turrecre¬ 
mata was discovered in Don Quixote's library 
and condemned to the fames by the curate. 
Turrecremata was a very popular author in his 
day, and the “ Jardin de las Flores” was trans¬ 
lated into French by Gabriel Chappuys as the 
“ Hexameron” as early as 1579. It was re¬ 
printed Lyons, 1582; Paris, 1583; Rouen, 
1610 . 


virility. Finally Torque nada adds 
that he heard this from a most trust¬ 
worthy friend of great authority. 

Not far from Benaventana in Spain 
the wife of a farmer cf moderate 
fortune was ill-treated by her husband 
because she was barren. Weary of 
such bad treatment she ran away 
one night dressed as a man-servant, 
and in this guise went from place 
to place earning her living by menial 
work. After some time, either because 
of the efficacy of her natural heat or 
through imagination iniuced and 
strengthened by her continuous mascu¬ 
line clothing and work, she found 
that she had actually turned into a 
man. Therefore she, who had long 
been a wife, determined to act the 
husband, and consummated her mar¬ 
riage with a woman. The secret was 
kept for a long time, sir.ee she did 
not dare to tell it to any one, until a 
certain man who had been very 
well known to her noticed that she 
was in face very like that farmer’s 
wife who had run away He asked 
if he were her brother; whereupon 
she told him the whole story as it 
happened, and so it came :o light. 

Baptista FregosoJ ( Exemplorum , I, 6) 
writes as follows. At Naples, in the reign 
of Ferdinand I, Ludovico Guarna, 
a citizen of Salerno, had five daughters, 
the two youngest of whom were named 
Francesca and Carola. When these 
two girls reached the age o f fifteen the 
genital parts of both of the n sprouted 
into masculinity, so that they changed 
their clothes and were taken for men, 
being called Francesco anc. Carolo. 

At Eboli in the same region, a girl 
had been betrothed for four years. 
On the first night of her marriage 
she went to bed with her husband: 
but either owing to the friction or to 
some other unknown cause, when 
the hymen which gave her t he appear¬ 
ance of a woman was broken, a male 
organ stood out. She then went home 


t “Baptista Fregoso.” An Italian writer of 
the fifteenth century . 




BK. I. CH. XVII. 


MALEFICARUM 


and sued in the Courts for a return 
of her dowry, and was thereafter 
reckoned as a man. 

Phlegon writes: “A virgin born at 
Smyrna named Philotis was, on reach¬ 
ing maturity, given by her parents in 
marriage to a man: but a masculine 
organ appeared and she changed 
into a man. Also in Laodicea in 
Syria a woman named Aeteta was 
changed into a man while in the very 
act with her husband, Aetetus. This 
was when Macrinus was Governor of 
Athens, and Lucius Lamia and 
Aelianus were Consuls at Rome.” 

Michel de Montaigne says that in 
his time there was at Viering a girl 
named Maria who, as she was dancing 
rather vigorously, was suddenly made 
a man by the sprouting of male 
organs, and was given in the Sacra¬ 
ment of Confirmation by the Bishop 
of Soissons the name of Germain, by 
which she began to be known. A 
beard grew upon her chin, and she 
lived long, even to a decrepit old 
age, but never married a wife. 

If this can come about naturally, as 
so many authors maintain, I. should 
think that with God’s permission it is 
possible to the devil, relying upon 
natural causes. 

☆ 


CHAPTER XVII 

Whether the Spirits of the Dead can 
Appear to Men . 

Argument. 

A LL the faithful of Christ are 
agreed that, through the power 
and might of God, the souls of the 
departed can and do at times appear 
to the living. For we read that Christ 
appeared to S. Peter when the Apostle 
was fleeing from persecution, and 
said that He was going to Rome to 
be crucified again. 

Our Holy Father Ambrose bears 
witness to the appearance of spirits 


59 

in his Contra Auxentium de basilicis 
tradendis . Dionysius the Areopagite 
writes that Jesus appeared with a 
great company of Angels and blamed 
him for his harshness in seeking to 
punish the sins of his brother and 
seducer. 

S. Justin Martyr testifies that the 
souls of the dead return and at times 
appear, maintaining that the spirit 
of Samuel was actually called up. 
Tertullian supports this view in the 
following words: “But if the Divine 
Power has recalled the souls of some 
to their bodies to witness to His 
truth, we must not on that account 
give credence to the claims of witches, 
to illusive dreams, or to poetic fables.” 
Origen speaks as follows in refutation 
of Celsus: “The wicked spirit, which 
is bound to the earth by horrid 
crimes so that it may. not aspire to 
Heaven, goes wandering about the 
earth haunting graveyards; and in 
such places shadowy ghosts are most 
often seen dwelling upon this earth. 
And it is to be thought that of such 
sort are the spirits of those in every 
age who have been snared and bound 
in witchcraft.” And in the time of 
Origen, the Blessed Potamiaena ap¬ 
peared to the murderer .Basilides and 
converted him to the faith, as we are 
told by Eusebius, and by Origen 
himself, contra Celsum , Bk. i. 

S. Gregory of Nyssa, in his most 
authoritative Life of S . Gregory the 
Thaumaturge , writes that the Blessed 
Virgin Mary and S. John the Evange¬ 
list appeared to him. See also S. 
Cyprian, De Uisionibus Nocturnis , Epist. 
12 and 69, where he argues against 
those who despise such visions. S. 
Ambrose, in Sermon go , says that 
while her family were watching by 
the tomb of S. Agnes one night, she 
appeared to them and said: “Do not 
mourn for me as dead, my kinsmen,” 
etc. 

In the year of Our Lord 300 Christ 
appeared to S. Peter of Alexandria in 
the form of a boy asking for his robe 
which had been torn by Arius (Surius, 


6o 


COMPENDIUM 


BK.I. CH. XVII, 


tom. 6, 15th Nov.). See also Pope 
Adrian I, Epist. tom. 2: Decret. et 
Synod. 7: Concil. Nicene 2, act. 2: 
S. Gregory of Tours, apud Laurentium, 
tom. 6, 12 tk December: S. Gregory of 
Neocaesarea, In oratione de Nicena 
Synodo: Nicephorus, VIII, 23 : S. Basil, 
de uera Uirginitate, paulo post medium , 
and S. Gregory of Nazianzus, In 
oratione in Laudem Caesarii. 

In the year 400 the death of S. 
Martin was made known to S. Severi¬ 
nus and S. Ambrose when they were 
absent from him. This is told also by 
S. Gregory of Tours in his Book on the 
Miracles of S. Martin, and in his Book 
on the Glory of the Confessors. We have 
the authority of S. Augustine* that 
SS. Gervasius and Protasius appeared 
to S. Ambrose and told him where 
their bodies were lying. 

About the year 429 the Blessed 
Virgin Mary with S. John the Baptist 
and S. John the Evangelist appeared 
to Abbot Ciriacus and said that she 
would not enter his cell because, un¬ 
known to him, there were in it two 
books by the heretic Nestorius written 
against the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

There is the signal authority of S. 
Jerome which at one blow silences all 
the heretics who say that the spirits 
are all held imprisoned until the Day of 
Judgement. These are S. Jerome’s own 
words: “Thou sayest that the souls of 
the Apostles and Martyrs abide in 
Abraham’s bosom, or in the outer cold, 
or under the Altar of God, and that 
they cannot appear at their tombs or 
wherever they wish: for they are for¬ 
sooth of senatorial dignity, and are 
shut, not in a foul prison together with 
murderers, but in free and honourable 
keeping in the Islands of the Blessed 
and the Elysian Fields. Wilt thou 
make laws for God? Wilt thou put 
chains upon the Apostles? So that they 
should be held in bondage up to the 
Day of Judgement, and not be with 
their Lord, of whom it is written that 


* “ S . Augustine.” “De Ciuitate Dei” 
XXII , 8; and “Confessiones,” IX, 7. 


they follow the Lamb wherever He 
goes. They therefore who are with 
the Lamb must be believed to go 
everywhere, if the Lamb goes every¬ 
where: and can the Devdl and his 
demons wander all over the earth 
and with great speed appear in 
every place, while the Mirtyrs, after 
their blood has been shed, are shut 
down in a box and cannot come out 
from it?” So says S. Jerome [Aduersus 
Uigilantium.) 

But we must understand that such 
apparitions are not the ordinary rule, 
but occur in accordance with the 
special and singular permission of 
God. S. Augustine ( De cur a pro mor- 
tuis agenda , c. 13), wrote about his 
mother in words which ou' opponents 
have scandalously twisted against us, 
as follows: “If the souls of the dead 
were concerned with the affairs of the 
living, I am sure that my mother (to 
say nothing of any others) would not 
fail to visit me every night.” Else¬ 
where he speaks openly about that 
exceptional permission, saying in 
Chapter 15 that it is no common or 
ordinary thing for the souls of the 
dead to appear to the living; but that 
the appearance of Samuel and Moses 
in the Scriptures proves that they can 
do so. 

# To conclude shortly, there is un¬ 
limited authority on th is matter. 
Therefore, that I may not t e tedious, I 
will only quote the autho rity of cer¬ 
tain Theologians; such as Richard 
de Middl’etonf; Peter of Palude,:j: 4, 

t “Richard de Middleton” 1 Doctor soli¬ 
dus et fundatissimus”; the date if his birth is 
unknown; most authorities name 1300 as the 
year of his death; but some say 13^4, and others 
T 3°7 °f t 3°8' This great schoolman paid due 
attention to the important problems of demonia - 
lily, “Quaestiones disputatae” {1284), q. xxxi; 
and he also treats of the Incubus end Succubus, 
“In secundo Sententiarum,” d. viii, a. 1, q. 6. 
Tor a full study see Edgar Hocedez, S.J., 
Richard de Middleton, Sa Vie, Ses CEuvres, 
Sa Doctrine,” Louvain, 1323. 

$ “Peter of Palude.” A Dominican theolo¬ 
gian of the fourteenth century; died 1342 . 





BK. I. CH. xvn. 


MALEFICARUM 


61 


distinct. 45, q. 3; Scotus, quest, 1, art. 4; 
Denys the Carthusian, Compendium 
Theologicum , 4, distinct. 45, <7. i.,and 
in his work on the Four Last Things, 
and in his book inscribed to the 
Novices of his Order; Dominic Soto* * * § 
and Peltanusf in their several treatises, 
de Purgatorio, cap. 5; S. Peter Canis- 
ius, S.J 4 and Gregory of Valencia, 
S.J.§ in the Third Part, of his Commen- 
tarii theologici , distinctions 6, 9, and 11, 
point 1. disposit. 11, quest 1, part 1; and 
very many others. Let us now turn 
to some examples. 

☆ 

Examples. 

Socrates and Rufinus record that 
S. Spiridion had a daughter named 
Irene who, having well ministered to 
him, died a virgin. After her death 
there came a man who said that he had 
given her something to keep for him. 

* “Dominic Soto.” A renowned Spanish 
theologian of the Order of S. Dominic. Bom 
at Segovia, 1494; died at Salamanca, i960. 
See Echard-Quetif “Scriptores Ordinis Prae- 
dicatorum,” II, p. 171 , sqq. 

| “Peltanus.” Theodore Peltanus, a Bibli¬ 
cal scholar of note, who translated several 
commentaries from Greek into Latin. His own 
glosses are very highly esteemed. One of his 
most important works is his version of the 
“Commentary on the Apocalypse,” by Bishop 
Andrew of Caesarea (sixth century), which was 
published, 4to, 1584. 

+ “S. Peter Canisius, S.J.” 1521 - 1597 - 
Doctor of the Church. 

§ “Gregory of Valencia, S.J.” Professor 
of the University of Ingolstadt. Born at Me¬ 
dina, March 1550 (some say 1551; others 
1540); died at Naples, 23 April, 1603. He 
wrote many theological works of great value. 
The lectures given at Ingolstadt {1575-92) ap¬ 
peared as “Commentariorum theologicorum 
tomi quatuor,” 1591-1597 • There have been 
many subsequent editions. Gregory of Valencia 
has been much criticised for holding (“ Com- 
mentarii,” Liv. Ill, col. 2008, sqq.) that 
where the guilt of witchcraft is legally estab¬ 
lished the judge must inflict the penalty, even 
though he himself were personally convinced of 
the nullity of the charge. 


The father knew nothing about it, but 
searched the whole house without find¬ 
ing what the man wanted. But he 
insisted and said with tears that he 
would lose his life unless he recovered 
the thing. The old man was touched 
by his tears, and went to his daughter’s 
tomb and called her by name. Then 
she said from the tomb: “What do you 
wish, father?” He answered: “Where 
did you put that thing which this man 
gave you to keep?” She indicated the 
place, saying: “If you dig there, you 
will find it.” He went home and found 
it just as his daughter had said, and 
gave the thing to the man. If she could 
speak, could she not also appear? 
Certainly she could. Hear also how 
the dead subscribed to the Council of 
Nicaea. 

Gregory of Neocaesarea records the 
following marvel, writing of the Coun¬ 
cil of Nicaea. Two Holy Bishops, 
Chrisantus and Musonius, happened 
by God’s will to die before they had 
appended their signatures to the 
Council’s decisions. So the Holy 
Fathers met together at the last rest¬ 
ing-place of the two who had gone 
before, and when they were where they 
could be heard, they said: “Brethren 
and Fathers, you have fought a noble 
fight with us, and have run your course 
and kept your faith. If therefore, in 
the light of your clearer knowledge, 
you judge that our decisions are pleas¬ 
ing to God, let there be nothing to 
prevent you also from adding your 
signatures.” Saying this, and leaving 
there the signed decisions of the Holy 
Fathers, they passed all that night in 
prayer: and on the next day when 
they came there, they found added to 
their own signatures those of the two 
Holy Fathers in the following words: 
“We, Chrisantus and Musonius, who 
sat with all the Fathers in the First 
Holy Oecumenical Council, although 
we are translated in body, with our 
hands we agree to and sign this docu¬ 
ment.” From this it is clear that with 
God’s permission the souls of the dead 
can return to us. 



62 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. I. CH. XVII. 


Blessed Paul the Deacon (not S. Paul 
of Nola) says in his Life of S. Ambrose : 
“On the day of his death a letter was 
received from the East by his vener¬ 
able successor Simplicianus, written by 
S. Ambrose as if he were still living, 
and this letter is still preserved in a 
monastery at Milan. He appeared to 
certain saintly men, praying with 
them and laying his hands upon them; 
and we found that the letter bore the 
same date as that of his death. And 
in Tuscany at Florence, where the 
good Zenobius is now Bishop, because 
he had promised that he would often 
visit them, he was seen praying at the 
altar in the Ambrosian Basilica which 
had been built there by him, as we 
learn from Zenobius himself. When 
Radagais the Ostrogott was besieging 
Florence and the citizens were in 
despair, he appeared to some one in the 
house where Eugenius lay sick, and 
promised that they would be relieved 
in two days; and at this the citizens 
took heart, and on the second day 
Count Stilicho came with an army 
and defeated the enemy. The follow¬ 
ing we learned from Pansofia, a religi¬ 
ous woman who was mother of the boy 
Pansofius. When Mazcezel was in 
despair for his own safety and that of 
his army which he was leading against 
Gildo, S. Ambrose appeared to him in 
a vision at night holding a stick; and 
when Mazcezel cast himself at the 
Saint’s feet, the old man struck the 
ground with his stick and said: ‘Here, 
here, here,’ pointing out the place, and 
giving the man who had been deemed 
worthy of the visitation to understand 
that in the same place where he had 
seen the Saint he would in three days 
gain the victory. And so he brought 
his war to a prosperous conclusion. 

“But we who are dwellers in Milan 
know these things on the authority of 
Mazcezel himself; for in this our Pro¬ 
vince he related this matter to many 
priests, and therefore we have set it 
down in our book with the greater 
confidence. 

“Further, we received at Milan with 


the greatest reverence tie Relics of 
the Martyrs Sisinnius and Alexandrin- 
us* who in our time, after the death of 
S. Ambrose, gained the Martyrs’ crown 
in the parts of Anaunia through the 
persecution of the heathen. And we 
know that on that day t iere came a 
blind man who touched the coffin in 
which the Relics of the Saints were 
being carried, and received his sight. 
For in a dream he had seen a ship 
coming to the shore with a number of 
men clothed in white; and as they 
came to the shore he prayed one of 
them to tell him who the y were, and 
was told that they were S. Ambrose 
and his companions. F earing this 
name he prayed that he might receive 
his sight, and was told ty the man: 
‘Go to Milan to my brethren who will 
come there on such a day, £ .nd you shall 
receive your sight.’ For the blind man 
was, as he said himself, from the coast 
of Dalmatia and had never been to the 
city before he came straight to the Holy 
Relics, although he was yet blind; 
and when he had touched :hem, began 
to see.” 

Constantius Presbyterf in his Life 
of S. Germain of Auxerre, chapter 17, 
writes as follows: The Saint was 
fearlessly abiding in a ghost-haunted 
house, when suddenly there appeared 
before the master of the house a 
terrible Shade which slowly raised it¬ 
self before his eyes, and the stone walls 
were hidden by a cloud. ' n terror the 
man begged for the priest's protec¬ 
tion; and the Saint ran forward and 
saw a fearful apparition. He first in¬ 
voked the Name of Christ, and then 
asked who he was and what he did 

* “Sisinnius and Alexandrirus .” “Roman 
Mar tyro logy,f 29 May. “In he district of 
Trent, the birthday of the holy Martyrs Sisin¬ 
nius, Marlyrius, and Alexandrirus, who in the 
time of the Emperor Honorius as Paulinas 
writeth in his “Life of S. Ambrose ,” obtained 
the crown of martyrdom, being persecuted by 
the heathen in the parts of Anauria.” 

f “Constantius Presbyter .” See Constan¬ 
tius, “Vie de St. Germain d’Auxerre, tr.frang. 
avec une etude,” 1874. 






BK. I. CH. XVII. 


MALEFICARUM 


there. The spectre at once put off its 
empty frightfulness and answered 
humbly as a suppliant that he and his 
companion had been guilty of many 
crimes, and lay unburied; and there¬ 
fore they haunted men because they 
themselves could not rest quiet: and he 
asked him to pray God for them that 
they might be granted rest. The Saint 
was grieved at this, and asked to be 
shown the place where they lay: and 
the ghost went before them and by the 
light of a wax taper, at dead of night 
among ruins most difficult of access, 
showed them the place where they had 
been thrown. When it was light he 
called upon the neighbours and urged 
them both by word and. his own 
example; and they threw aside all the 
rubbish and searched the place with 
rakes, and at last found the bodies 
lying quite disordered, with the bones 
still bound in chains. He directed a 
grave to be dug, freed the bodies from 
their chains and clothed them in 
shrouds, and buried them decently in 
the ground, uttering a prayer of inter¬ 
cession over them; and so the dead 
found rest. After that day. the house 
was happily inhabited without any 
sign of haunting. 

Every faith may be placed in the 
following history of Sinesius, Bishop of 
Cyrene, and the Philosopher Evagrius, 
which is preserved by Sophronius* 
from Leontius. Sinesius. tried dili¬ 
gently to convert Evagrius to Chris¬ 
tianity; but he objected that he could 
only regard as fables the Christian 
doctrine of the Resurrection of the 
body, and the teaching that alms¬ 
giving would be rewarded a hundred 
fold after this life. At last, however, 
by sparing no effort, the Bishop per¬ 
suaded him to become a Christian and 
to be baptised together with his child¬ 
ren. Not long after his baptism he 
gave the Bishop three hundred pieces 


* “ Sophronius .” c. 560-638; Patriarch of 
Jerusalem and Greek ecclesiastical writer, 
much of whose work is preserved in “Symeon 
Metaphrasles P 


63 

of gold for the use of the poor, saying: 
“Take this gold and distribute it to 
the poor; and give me a written 
undertaking that Christ will restore it 
to me in the next life. 55 He took the 
gold and at once gave him the under¬ 
taking required. The Philosopher lived 
for some years after his baptism, and 
at last fell sick to death. When he was 
near his end, he said to his sons: 
“When you arrange for my funeral, 
put that paper in my hand and bury it 
with me. 55 When he was dead they 
did as he had asked, and buried the 
paper with him. On the third day 
after his burial he appeared to the 
Bishop as he was sleeping at night, and 
said: “Come to the tomb where I lie, 
and take your paper: for I have re¬ 
ceived my debt and am satisfied. And 
to convince you of this, I have signed 
it with my own hand. 55 Now the 
Bishop did not know that they had 
buried that paper. In the morning 
he went to the sons and asked: “Did 
you place anything in the grave with 
your father? 55 They, thinking that he 
was asking about money, said: “No¬ 
thing, Lord, except the customary 
garments. 55 “What, did you not bury a 
certain paper with him? 55 Then the 
sons remembered and said: “Cer¬ 
tainly, Lord; for when he was dying 
he gave us a paper and said, ‘When 
you bury me, place this paper in my 
hand 5 ; but we did not know what it 
contained. 55 Then the Bishop told 
them his dream which he had seen in 
the night; and taking them with the 
Clergy and Elders of the city to the 
Philosopher’s grave, they opened it 
and found the Philosopher # lying, 
holding in his hand a paper written in 
the Bishop’s writing. They took it 
from his hand and opened it, and 
found newly written in the Philoso¬ 
pher’s handwriting the following 
words: “I, Evagrius the Philosopher, 
to thee, Sinesius the Most Reverend 
Lord Bishop, greeting. I have re¬ 
ceived the debt stated by you in this 
letter and am satisfied; and I have no 
legal claim against you for the gold 



COMPENDIUM 


BK. :. CH. XVII. 


64 

which I gave to you and, through you, 
to Christ Our Lord and Saviour.” 
Hugh Etherianus relates the same 
story. 

In his De regressu animarum ab in~ 
feris, XVI, Hugh Etherianus relates 
how the Abbot Menas told that he 
heard S. Eulogius* of Alexandria say 
as follows: “When I had set out for 
Constantinople, I was lodging with 
Master Gregory, Archdeacon of Rome 
and a famous man, who told me the 
following concerning the most Holy 
and Blessed Pope Leo. He said that 
Pope Leo had written in the Church at 
Rome a letter to S. Flavian, Bishop of 
Constantinople, against the heretics 
Eutyches and Nestorius; and that he 
laced the letter upon the tomb of 
. Peter, the First of the Apostles, 
and devoted himself to prayers and 
vigils and fasts, beseeching the mighty 
Apostle as follows: ‘If I, being but a 
man, have put anything in this letter 
ill-advisedly, do thou, to whom this 
Church and See were committed by 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
amend it.’ After four days the Apostle 
appeared to him and said: ‘I have 
read and amended it.’ Then he took 
the Letter from S. Peter’s sepulchre 
and, on opening it, found it amended 
by the Apostle’s hand.” 

Theodore, the Holy Bishop of Dorna 
in Lybia, told us as follows: When I 
was lodging with the Holy Father 
Eulogius I saw in a dream a man in 
the habit of a monk and of huge stature, 
who said to me: “Announce my 
arrival to Eulogius.” I said: “Who 
are you who tell me to announce 
you?” He answered: “I am Leo, the 


* “.S'. Eulogius .” Patriarch of Alexandria 
from 580 to 607. He was a warm friend of S. 
Gregory the Great, who bestowed upon him 
many signal marks of esteem. S. Eulogius 
stoutly refuted the many heresies which were 
vexing the Church, but unfortunately with the 
exception of one sermon and a few fragments 
his writings have perished. Those that remain 
are in Migne, “Patrologia Graeca ,” LXXXV 1 

(*)> 2 9 I 3 -64. 


Pope of Rome. 55 So I went: n and told 
him, saying: “The Most Holy and 
Blessed Pope Leo, Bishop of Rome, 
desires you to come to him. 55 Hear¬ 
ing this, Father Eulogius quickly arose 
and ran to him; and they saluted each 
other and, having prayed sat down 
together. Then the Exalted Lord Leo 
said to S. Eulogius: “Do you know 
why I have come to you? 55 And when 
he said “No, 55 he told him: “To thank 
you for your just and eloqumt defence 
of my Letter which I wiote to my 
Brother Flavian, Patriarch of Constan¬ 
tinople, expounding its sense and 
meaning, and closing the mouths of 
heretics. For know, my Brother, that 
your holy zeal and labour were not for 
me only, but also for S. Peter, the Chief 
of the Apostles, and for Him whose 
truth we all preach, namely, Christ 
Our Lord. 55 I saw this vision not once 
only, but twice and three times; and 
so, being assured of its trut h, I told it 
to S. Eulogius. 

About the year 587 a vision of this 
sort appeared to King Gun tram about 
Chilperic, that terrible tyrant of the 
Franks; and the King related it as 
follows to S. Gregory of Tours: “And 
I saw another vision which oretold the 
death of this man. For he was led 
before me in chains by three Bishops, 
the first of whom was Tetricus, the 
second Agricola, and the third Nicetus 
of Lyons. Two of these Bishops were 
saying: ‘Loose him, I beg, <ind scourge 
him and let him go. 5 Bu: the third 
Bishop answered them bitterly: ‘Not 
so; but he shall be burned in the fire 
for his crimes! 5 While they were dis¬ 
puting together at great le igth, I saw 
at a distance a bronze ves >el set on a 
fire and glowing fiercely. Then, as I 
wept, they seized Chilperic and broke 
his limbs and threw him into the pot, 
where he was soon dissolved by the 
flames so that no trace remained of 
him. 55 

In the year 600 the Most Blessed 
Gregory I, Pope of Rome and Doctor 
of the Church, tells ( Dialogorum , IV, 
17) the following of S. Musa. One 





BK. I. GH. XVII. 


MALEFICARUM 


night there appeared to her in a vision 
the Blessed Mother of God the Virgin 
Mary, together with some maidens of 
her own age clothed in white. She 
wished to mingle with these, but dared 
not; but she heard the voice of the 
Blessed Virgin Mary ask if she wished 
to be of their company and live in Her 
service. The girl said that she did, 
and was at once ordered to behave in 
no foolish or girlish manner, and to 
abstain from laughter and joking; for 
she must know that on the thirtieth 
day from then she would enter Her 
service with those other virgins. The 
girl followed these precepts and be¬ 
came changed in all her habits and 
with great gravity put away all her 
girlish levity; and when her parents 
expressed surprise at the change in her, 
she told them what the Blessed Mother 
of God had commanded her and on 
what day she was going to enter Her 
service. On the twenty-fifth day she 
was taken with a fever; and on the 
thirtieth day, as the hour of her death 
drew near, she saw the Blessed Mother 
of God come to her with the same 
virgins whom she had seen in her 
vision, and spoke to Her aloud with 
eyes reverently lowered, saying: “Be¬ 
hold, Lady, I come. 55 And with these 
words she gave up the ghost. 

Hugh Etherianus* again writes of 
the spirit of the owner of a bath who 
for his sins was, after his death, de¬ 
puted to the heat of the hot rooms 
where he was compelled to attend 
carefully upon the bathers. He had 
performed this duty to a priest of 
Civita Vecchia more than once when, 
in charity, the priest gave him two 

* ‘ £ Hugh Etherianus” A Tuscan em¬ 
ployed at the Court of Constantinople under the 
Emperor Manuel 1 (Comnenus 1143-1180). 
He was a very learned theologian and on ac¬ 
count of his treatise commonly known as “ Ad- 
uersus Graecos” he is esteemed as one of the 
most eminent Catholic controversialists against 
the Eastern Church. His “De regressu anima- 
rum ah infer is” was composed at the request of 
the clergy of Pisa. His works are in Migne , 
6i Patrologia Latina” CCII. 

F 


65 

pieces of Blessed Bread. But he, weep¬ 
ing and lamenting, said: “Why do 
you give me this, Father? This bread 
is holy, and I cannot eat it. For I 
whom you see was once the Master of 
this place; but for my sins I was de¬ 
puted after my death to serve here. If, 
however, you wish to help me, offer 
this bread for me to Almighty God 
and intercede for my sins: and you 
will know that you have been heard 
when you come here and do not find 
me. 55 Saying this, he disappeared and 
so showed that, although he seemed to 
be a man, he was a spirit. 

In the year 1139 Alfonso, King of 
Portugal, when about to join battle 
with five Saracen Kings, was told by 
Christ in a dream to be of good heart, 
and to use in the battle a Standard on 
which the Five Wounds were depicted. 
He won a notable victory which was 
the foundation of the glory of the 
Kingdom of Portugal. Fourteen years 
later Alfonso, King of Castille, was 
besieging Baeza, when S. Isidore ap¬ 
peared to him and advised him to make 
an assault, which resulted in one of 
the most remarkable victories ever 
won. 

A very wonderful thing is told as 
an eye-witness by Bishop Constantine 
concerning the translation of the Relics 
of S. Euphemiaf the Martyr. In order 
to put a stop to her marvellous 
miracles, Leo Illj the Isaurian secretly 
removed the Martyr’s Relics, putting 
dry bones in their place and throwing 
into the sea the true Relics in their 
coffin. Some sailors chanced upon this 
coffin, knowing nothing about it; 
and thinking some treasure was hid¬ 
den in it, they took it and opened it. 
But by the miraculous scent which 
came from it they knew that they were 
Holy Relics. While they were still 


| “S. Euphemia.” Virgin and Martyr. 
She suffered under Diocletian. Feast Day , 16 
September. Her Relics were venerated at Chal- 
cedon. 

J “Leo III.” The Iconoclast; Emperor of 
Byzantium , 717-741- 




66 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. I. CH. XVII. 


ignorant of whose they were, on the 
same night they saw lights and candles 
and men wondrously chanting and 
praising God. And when they had 
reached Levinum and had gone to 
sleep, in the quiet of the night they 
saw Glycerias the Martyr come to 
Euphemia the Virgin and embrace 
and kiss her, congratulating her on her 
arrival; and so they knew whose 
Relics they were. Three times they 
sailed from that place, and three times 
the winds drove them back again. At 
last S. Euphemia came to them in a 
dream and told them what would hap¬ 
pen, saying that she wished to remain 
in that place, from which she had been 
cast into the sea by the impious Leo. 

In the year 800 Ramiso I, King of 
Spain, fought fiercely all day with a 
mighty host of Saracens. Towards 
night he retired to a hill with a small 
band of his followers. As he was 
watching and praying to God, S. 
James appeared to him and com¬ 
manded that they should all purge 
themselves by confession and take the 
Eucharist, _ and then give battle. In 
the morning, when they had all 
obeyed the divine warning, they ad¬ 
vanced their standards and slew sixty 
thousand of the enemy. In that battle 
the Apostle was seen riding on a white 
horse bearing a snow-white banner 
with a red transverse cross upon it. 
This is told by Bishop Roderick in his 
Chronicum generate Alphonsi Regis* and 
by Mariana,t Bk. VII, 13. 


* “Alphonsi Regis:' Alfonso X“el Sabio,” 
1220-84. It was under his patronage that the 
“Cronica de Espaha,” more commonly known 
as “Cronica general,'’ was compiled from many 
historical sources. 

| “Mariana." Juan Mariana, S.J., 

I 53^~ * I ^ 2 3- His most important work is the 
great history of Spain which during the life¬ 

time of the author himself went through several 
editions, to which he added, continuing his 
chronicle of events. The work first appeared as 
“Idistoriae de rebus Hispaniae, libri XX," 
159 2 , but the Spanish version made by Mari¬ 
ana, which was published at Toledo in 1601, 
has Thirty Books. 


In the year 1117, amorg other pro¬ 
digies which were appalling Italy, an 
infant was lying in its cradle at Cre¬ 
mona wrapped in clouts and, contrary 
to all nature, opened its mouth and 
began to speak, calling from her bodily 
cares its mother as she was preparing 
food for its elder brother who was cry¬ 
ing for something to ea :. The babe 
said that it had seen Mary the Mother 
of God standing before thJ Judgement 
Seat of Christ, interceding with Him 
with the most earnest prayers for the 
doom which was coming upon the 
world because of its sins. After this it 
ceased to speak until the aatural time 
for a child to begin tailing. This is 
told by Dodechinus in his History. 

Fregoso . (Exemplorum, IX, 12) tells 
the following: Since Udo, Bishop of 
Magdeburg, would not lor any sign 
and warnings from God keep himself 
from impudicity, certain religious men 
prayed God either to correct or to 
remove the Bishop. One night, as one 
of these, Canon Freder ck, was so 
praying in the Cathedral of S. 
Maurice, all the lights of the Church 
were suddenly put out by a violent 
gust of wind, and soon afterwards two 
young men came bearing lighted wax 
candles, and following them came 
Christ with His Motht r and the 
Apostles, calling upon tin: Holy Men 
whose bones were rest ng in the 
Church. Among these came S. 
Maurice, who spoke gravely and at 
length in denunciation of Bishop Udo. 
Soon afterwards Christ passed sentence 
that Udo should be brought there 
naked by two of them. The Bishop 
struggled and one of those who were 
fetching him struck him i.i the belly; 
and he vomited into the Chalice upon 
the Altar the Host which I. e had taken 
the day before in Comm anion. Udo 
was struck down with an axe, and then 
all that vision vanishes. Frederick 
was greatly frightened and went up 
to the Altar, where he saw the Chalice 
with the Host in it, and the dead body 
of the Bishop lying on the ground. 
He then roused the other religious 



BK. I. CH. XVII. 


MALEFIGARUM 


67 


men, who took the Bishop’s body 
away and buried it in a field. 

Two rich merchants of no mean 
birth were entering France by the 
Mont Genis Pass, when they met a 
man of more than human stature who 
ordered them as follows: “Speak to 
my brother Lodovico Sforza and give 
him this letter in my name.” As they 
stood wondering who he was, he told 
them that he was Galeazzo Sforza, 
and soon vanished from them. They 
at once returned to Milan and thence 
to Vigevano where the Moor lived. 
They delivered the Duke’s letter, 
which was written in these terms: 

“Oh, Oh, Oh, Lodovico, beware! 
For the Venetians and French are 
about to come against you and destroy 
your Dukedom. But if you will give 
me three thousand pieces of gold I will 
help you to conciliate the Spirits and 
avert your evil fate; and this I hope 
to do if you do not oppose me. Fare¬ 
well!” The signature was: “The 
Spirit of your brother Galeazzo.” 

And though some may laugh at this 
thing, yet it is true that not long after¬ 
wards the Duke was thrust from his 
Dukedom by Louis XII,* King of 
France, and was led away captive. 
Bernard of Arles testifies that he was 
an eye-witness of this. 

The father of Lodovico Alidosi, the 
Lord of Imola, not long after he died 
appeared like one on horseback with 
a hawk, to a man secretly sent by his 
son Lodovico to Ferrara as he went 
on his way, and told him to tell his 
son to meet him in that place on the 
next day, for he had a matter of great 
importance to say to him. When 
Lodovico heard this, both because he 
did not believe it and because he 
feared a trap, he sent another in his 
place, to whom the same Shade ap¬ 
peared and bitterly grieved that his 
son had not come; for he said that he 
had been going to tell him much 


* “Louis XII” This king imprisoned 
Sforza for the remainder of his life in the 
Castle of Loches. 


more, but that now he would only say 
that after twenty-two years and one 
month, on a specified day, he would 
lose the Lordship of the city that he 
then enjoyed. When the time pre¬ 
dicted by the Shade had come, al¬ 
though the greatest precautions were 
taken on the night indicated by his 
father’s spirit, the Confederate Army 
of Duke Philip of Milan set up lad¬ 
ders, since the moats were frozen 
over, and captured the town and its 
Prince. This is from Marcantonio 
Cocceius Sabellicus. 

Francesco Guiccardini says that 
there was a popular rumour that the 
spirit of Ferdinand, King of Naples, 
appeared on three different nights to 
Jacopo, the surgeon of his son King 
Alfonso; and first with mild and 
gentle words, but afterwards with 
threats and commands, had ordered 
him to acquaint Alfonso that he must 
not buoy himself with a vain hope of 
withstanding the French power: for it 
was written in the Book of Destiny 
that the House of Aragon must be sub¬ 
ject to untold misfortunes, and finally 
be cast out from the Kingdom. 

The Ven. Cesare Baronio relates 
that Michele Mercatis the Elder was 
bound by a strong friendship to Mar- 
siglio Ficino by reason of their com¬ 
mon interest in Platonic philosophy. 
They happened one day to be dis¬ 
cussing, as they frequently did, Plato’s 
theory of the survival of the human 
soul after death; and not without re¬ 
verential awe they decided that his 
opinons could not stand without the 
support of the Christian faith. (A 
record is extant of that argument, in a 
learned letter concerning God and the 
immortality of the soul written by 
Marsiglio to Michele Mercatis.) When 
they had argued this matter for a 
long time they concluded it in the 
following manner: they joined hands 
and agreed that whichever of them 
died first should, if he were permitted, 
reassure the other concerning the next 
life. Having sworn this together, they 
parted. Not long afterwards it hap- 



COMPENDIUM 


BK. ). CH. XVII. 


70 

of Callao, as the houses of that city 
are nearly all roofed with palm leaves). 
Another maid-servant was, in the sight 
of many people, dragged for a long 
way by her foot, although no one 
could be seen dragging her. 

On the seventh of October, when a 
serving-maid went into the wardrobe 
to fetch a certain garment, she saw 
Catharine standing stiff upon her feet; 
and as she ran away the apparition 
took up a vessel and hurled it against 
the wall with such violence that it was 
smashed into a thousand pieces. The 
next day a Cross was fixed upon the 
wardrobe door, but it was torn down 
and rent in three pieces before their 
eyes. The same day, as the lady was 
dining in the garden, a brick was 
hurled and overturned the whole 
dinner; and at the same time her four- 
year-old son began to cry out: 
“Mamma! Mamma! Catharine is 
suffocating me!” They then hung 
Holy Relics about his neck, and so 
delivered him from that pain. These 
occurrences compelled the lady to 
change her house, and she went and 
lodged with a kinswoman, leaving her 
own house in charge of some servants. 
On the tenth of the same month one 
of the servants went into the house¬ 
keeper’s office and heard herself called 
three times by Catharine, and was so 
overcome with fear that the other 
servants urged her to call upon Our 
Lord for help and to take a lighted holy 
candle and go back with two of the 
boldest of them. This she did safely, 
and the dead woman then told her to 
send the others away and throw away 
her candle, since it hurt her, and to 
remain alone. Catharine sent out 
flames from all her joints, with an 
incredible stench, and was afire from 
head to foot, and was girt with a 
blazing girdle eight or ten fingers wide, 
the ends of which fell to the ground, 
which seemed to be some punishment 
for her lust and acknowledged lewd¬ 
ness. Seeing this spectre, the servant 
began to tremble and grow pale, and 
the wretched corpse said to her: 


“Come here. How many times have 
I called you?” The servant, nearly 
dead, replied: “Good Jesus! Who 
would not be terrified to see you?” 
When she had said this, there came 
down to that place a most beautiful 
youth in white garments who told the 
servant to lay aside her fear and be of 
good courage, and to take careful note 
of what she heard from Catharine and 
spread it among the others, and to 
expiate all her sins by confession as 
soon as she left that p ace. Then 
Catharine spoke as follows: “Know 
that I am sent from Hell, and that I 
am subjected to the most terrible 
punishment because, when I went to 
confess my sins to the priest, I con¬ 
fessed only the least of them, as that I 
was garrulous and talkative and prone 
to anger, and such thing* ; but was 
silent about my lusts and my habitual 
meetings with young men. Do you 
then learn to confess well and to keep 
no sin back. I give you this warning 
because I am so commanded and am 
compelled to speak of thi; matter as 
an example for others.” Then the bell 
was heard ringing for the Angelus, and 
the dead woman quickly withdrew 
into a corner and vanished. And the 
Angel (for such was that beautiful 
young man) told the servant to go to 
her companions, which she did. We 
have set down this well-at' ested story, 
because all the kinds of apparition 
are found in it: Angels, S. Mary Mag¬ 
dalene, the devil in the form of an 
Ethiopian, and a damned spirit in an 
assumed body not, I think, its own, 
but one formed of air in the likeness of 
its own body. 

At Naples about the year 1370 it 
happened in a Dominican Friary 
(as Brother Antonio of Siena says 
in the Chronicon Fratrum Praedicatorum) 
that, after he had completed his last 
duty of the day the Friar whose task 
it was to look after the Refectory 
entered it, and found it filled with 
Friars wearing hoods who were sit¬ 
ting down as if it was the hour for 
supper and they were expecting a 


BK. I. CH. XVII. 


MALEFICARUM 


71 


meal. He at once ran and told the 
Prior of it: but the Prior thought he 
was mad or dreaming; yet, as he 
insisted, went with him, and saw, and 
believed. At this he also was per¬ 
turbed, and at once consulted with 
the gravest and most prudent Fathers 
of the House. On their advice he put 
on sacred vestments and, bearing the 
Holy Body of Christ, proceeded with 
all the Brethren to the Refectory and, 
addressing him who sat in the seat of 
honour, adjured him to say who they 
were and for what they had come, 
and urged him to answer in the Name 
of that Lord whom he bore in his 
hands. When the Prior appeared thus 
before them with the Holy Sacra¬ 
ment, they all rose and bowed their 
heads, but they kept their faces so 
hooded that they could not be seen. 
Then they sat down and, being com¬ 
manded by the Prior to answer his 
questions, nodded in agreement. .At 
last the chief among them said: 
“We formerly belonged to this same 
religious Order, and were for the 
most part Masters, Priors, Superiors, 
Lectors, or holders of other offices.” 
And he went on to say that they had 
all been judged to damnation because 
they had been guilty of ambition, 
pride, envy, and many such mortal 
crimes; but that by the mercy of 
God they had been commanded to 
come there to warn them and all of 
their Order to be content in their 
vocation. For because they had 
thought too little of it, they were all 
damned and were being burned in 
eternal flames. And in sign of the 
truth of this, let them all look upon 
them. Saying this, they opened their 
hoods, and each of them was seen to 
be surrounded by flames of fire. Then 
their leader struck the table as a 
signal, and they all vanished: and 
the whole Convent was mightily dis¬ 
turbed with fear. 

In proof of this I will add another 
no less credible authority. In the year 
1599 at Naples, Fra Tiberio, a most 
holy man who was Superior of the 


Dominican house, says that the follow¬ 
ing happened to him. One night 
when he was going the rounds to see 
if the Brethren were in bed as usual, 
he went through the Refectory, and 
there saw many lights and heard the 
voice of a man reading from a lectern, 
and saw men serving. Finally he who 
sat in the chief place gave a signal 
upon the table and spoke as follows: 
“Ambition and gluttony led us to 
Hell.” And even now there is a scar 
upon the table as if it had been 
burned. 

Blessed Peter of Cluny * tells the 
following, which he had from a 
Spanish noble: “When King Alfonso 
of Aragon f succeeded to the Kingdom 
of the greater King Alfonso of Spain 
at his death, it happened that he was 
gathering an army against certain 
rebels in Castile, and issued an edict 
that each house of his Kingdom 
should send so many horse or foot. 
Obeying this command, I sent to the 
army one of my servants, named 
Sancho. Some days passed, and when 
all who had been in that expedition 
were returned to their homes, he also 
came back; but not long afterwards, 
as is the way of men, he fell ill and 
died. Four months after his death, 
while I was lying in bed near the fire 
in my winter house near Estella, the 
same Sancho suddenly appeared to 
me at midnight, I being still awake, 
and sat down by the fire and stirred the 
coals so as to give more light or heat, 
and so made it far easier for me to re¬ 
cognise him. He was naked except for 
a slight covering upon his shameful 
parts. When I saw him, I said: ‘Who 


* “Blessed Peter of Cluny.” Blessed Peter 
of Montboissier , also known as Peter the Vener¬ 
able , c. 1032-1136. He was ever honoured as 
a Saint both by the people and his Order , and 
thus Pius IX confirmed the cult of this great 
and glorious monk. His works are in Migne, 
“Patrologia LatinaCLXXXIX. 

| “Afonso of Aragon .” Alfonso II. Al¬ 
fonso /, the Fighter (“El Bataleador”), reigned 
1104-1134. 



COMPENDIUM 


BK.I. CH. XVII. 


72 

are you?’ He humbly answered: ‘I am 
your servant Sancho.’ ‘What are you 
doing here?’ ‘I am going to Castile, 
and a great army accompanies me on 
the road, that we may do penance for 
our sins in the place where we sinned.’ 
‘And why,’ I asked, ‘have you turned 
aside here?’ ‘I have hope,’ he said ‘of 
pardon, and if you will have pity on 
me you can obtain an earlier rest for 
me.’ ‘How?’ ‘When I was lately in 
the expedition you know of, I was 
seduced by Satan’s wiles to enter a 
Church with some companions, and 
despoiled it of its contents and stole 
away with the priestly vestments; and 
on this account especially I am pun¬ 
ished. And with all my might I pray 
you, as my master, to help me; for you 
can give me many spiritual benefits 
if you will. Further I beg that you 
will ask my Lady your wife not to 
delay in paying the eight soldi which 
she owed me for my service, and to 
devote that money, which she would 
have paid me for the needs of the 
flesh if I were still alive, to the far 
greater needs of my soul by distri¬ 
buting it amongst the poor.’ Taking 
more courage after this conversation, 
I said: ‘What has happened to our 
fellow citizen Peter Deioca who lately 
died? Tell me what you know of 
him.’ He answered: ‘Because of his 
frequent works of mercy, and especi¬ 
ally because of his gifts to the poor 
during the late famine, he has earned 
the rest of the blessed and is a sharer 
in eternal life.’ When I heard him 
answer so promptly and easily, I 
added: ‘And do you know anything 
of our other fellow citizen Bernecio, 
who died a little while since?’ ‘He 
is in Hell: for when he was appointed 
to determine the boundaries of this 
town, he gave many unjust decisions 
owing to having received bribes or 
favours; and because he did not 
shrink from taking from a poor widow 
her only pig, which was the sustenance 
of her life.’ Then, being incited to 
ask greater things, I said: ‘Can you 
know anything of our King Alfonso 


who died a few years ago?’ At this, 
another voice spoke to me from a 
window near my head: : Do not ask 
him this, for he does not know it; for 
he is but recently come among us and 
has not yet been permitted to know 
this thing. But I have b(en dead for 
five years and know more than he. 
What you ask of the Kin % he cannot 
know.’ I was astonished :o hear this 
fresh voice and, wishing to see him, 
turned to the window and, by the 
light of the moon which then lit up 
the whole court very clearly, saw a 
man sitting on the sill of :he window, 
clothed just as the other was. ‘Who 
are you?’ I asked. And he said: ‘I 
am his friend, and an going to 
Castile with him and many others.’ 
‘And do you know, as you said, any¬ 
thing of King Alfonso?’ ‘I know 
where he was, but I do not know 
where he is. For he was for a time 
terribly tortured in Purgatory, but 
was delivered from there by the 
Monks of Cluny,* and what has 
happened to him since, I do not 
know.’ Saying this, he addressed his 
friend who was sitting by the fire: 
‘Rise, and let us now resume our 
journey; for the army cf our com¬ 
panions fills all the roads to Castile, 
and we must join them.’ At this 
Sancho arose and tearfully repeated 
his former request, groaning: 
“Master, I implore you not to forget 
me, and that you will persuade my 
Lady your wife to restore in mercy 
for my soul what she owed to my 
body.’ When he had said this, they 
both at once vanished, fut I called 
my wife and aroused her as she lay by 
me in bed, and before I told her what 
I had seen and heard, 1 asked her 
whether she owed anything to Sancho 
our servant for his services. She 
answered what I had never heard 


* “Monks of Cluny” Tk’. Benedictine 
Monks of Cluny inaugurated the Solemn Com¬ 
memoration of All « Souls, which was ordered by 
S. Odilo (died 1048) to be held annually in all 
the monasteries of his Congregat'on . 



BK. I. CH. XVIII. 


MALEFICARUM 


from any except the dead man, that 
she owed Sancho eight soldi. I could 
no longer doubt the truth, since my 
wife had confirmed the dead man’s 
story. In the morning I took the eight 
soldi from my wife and, myself adding 
what I thought suitable, distributed 
the money among the poor for the 
soul of him who had appeared to me, 
and had the priests say Mass for him, 
and spared no expense to obtain for 
him pardon of his sins.’’ 

In this clear, certain and most 
edifying vision we are taught that 
men’s deeds follow them in death. 

☆ 

CHAPTER XVIII 
Of Apparitions of Demons , or Spectres. 

Argument. 

I T must be known that there are 
many kinds of demons differing 
among themselves by fixed degrees. 
The first kind is the Fiery, for they 
dwell in the upper air and will never 
sink to the lower regions until the Day 
of Judgement, and these have no 
dealings on earth with men. 

The second is the Aerial, for they 
dwell in the air about us. These can 
descend to Hell and, by assuming 
bodies formed from the denser air, 
can at times appear to men. More 
often, with the permission of God, 
they disturb the air and raise thunders 
and tempests; and they all conspire 
together for the ruin of the human 
race. 

The third sort is Terrestrial; and 
we may not doubt that these were cast 
from Heaven upon earth for their 
sins. Some of these devils dwell in 
woods and forests, and lay snares for 
hunters; some dwell in the fields and 
lead nightfarers astray; others dwell 
in hidden places and caverns; while 
others delight to live in secret with 
men. 

A fourth sort is of the Water; for 


73 

they dwell under water in rivers and 
lakes; and are full of wrath, turbulent, 
unquiet and fraudulent. They raise 
up storms at sea, sink ships in the 
deep, and destroy life in the waters. 
When such demons appear, they are 
more often women than men; for they 
live in humid places and lead a softer 
manner of life. But those which live 
in drier and harder places usually 
appear as men. 

The fifth sort is Subterranean, for 
they live in caves and caverns in the 
mountains. These demons are of 
the worst disposition, and chiefly 
molest those who dig pits or mines 
and look for treasure in the earth; and 
they are ever ready to harm the human 
race. They cause earthquakes and 
winds and fires, and shake the 
foundations of houses. 

The sixth sort is called Lucifugous, 
because they chiefly abhor and detest 
the light, and never appear by day, 
nor can they assume a bodily form 
except at night. This kind of demons 
is altogether inscrutable and of a 
nature beyond human understanding, 
being all dark within, and shaken 
with icy passions; malicious, restless, 
and perturbed; and when they meet 
men at night they violently oppress 
them and, with the permission of God, 
often kill them by some breath or 
touch. Of this sort, perhaps, was 
that Asmodeus* of whom we read in 
the story of Tobias. This kind of 
demons has no dealings with witches; 
neither can they be kept away by 
incantations, for they shun the light 
and the voices of men and every sort 
of noise. 

It is further to be noted that the 
demon manifests himself in many 
various forms of spectres, such as dogs, 
cats, goats, oxen, men, women, or a 
horned owl. But, that his deceptions 
may be made known to us, Almighty 
God will not allow him to appear in 


* “Asmodeus.” Possibly this demon corre¬ 
sponds with the demon called Abaddon, the De¬ 
stroyer , mentioned in the Apocalypse, IX, ii. 



COMPENDIUM 


BK. I. CH. XVIII. 


74 

certain other forms, such as doves, 
lambs, or sheep; for the true Lamb is 
Christ, the Good Shepherd, and the 
Holy Spirit is won to make His 
appearance in the form of a dove: 
also, because these animals are with¬ 
out guile and do no harm, God does 
not permit him to appear in their 
form. But because the human form 
is in all respects the most perfect and 
beautiful, therefore he generally 
appears in that form to us. For, as 
Marulli* writes, the human form is 
adapted to nearly every purpose. 

☆ 

Examples. 

A certain wagoner from Nancy was 
in a fenny copse on the outskirts of 
the town of Nancy, cutting wood, 
when a fierce storm suddenly arose. 
He made haste towards a cottage to 
find shelter, and on the way rested 
under a thick wide-spreading tree, 
and waited for the storm to abate. 
There he was surprised to see standing 
near him another woodman; and 
when he looked at him more closely 
(as we do when we meet a stranger) 
he saw that his nose kept shooting 
out to the length of a stick and then 
quickly contracting to its former shape 
and size; that his feet were cloven 
hooves; and that his whole body was 
of immoderate size. He was struck 
nearly dead with sheer terror at this, 
and then (as is the Christian custom 
in difficulties) made the sign of the 
Cross, after which he found himself 
alone as before. But he remained so 
stupefied by his experience that, 
though he was used to say that he 
could find his way about Nancy 
blindfold, now he could not do so even 
with the most diligent attention; but 
came to that city with his tongue 
sticking and his eyes staring and so 
trembling all over that it was easy 


* “Marulli” Cesare Marulli , Archbishop 
of Palermo {1578). 


to believe what he said ha I happened. 
This belief was largely borne out by 
the report of what some other wood¬ 
men had seen at a distance; for they 
said that it had appeared :o them that 
in that place the air had become thick 
and wrapped in a dense cloud. 

In the same chapter Remy tells of 
a similar occurrence in 1588. One 
Nicolas Stephen had been com¬ 
missioned by Master Desiderius, the 
Mayor’s cellarman, to buy some wine 
vessels for him; and, having done so, 
he sent his wife Jacobeta (who was a 
witch) time and again to ask for the 
urchase money to be paid to him, 
ut in vain. Jacobeta gr*w tired of 
asking and angry at so much waste of 
time and trouble, and turned her 
whole attention to finding the means 
and occasion to punish Desiderius for 
his tricks and subterfuges. Meanwhile 
it fell aptly enough that Desiderius was 
forced by an outbreak of ti e plague in 
his house to take refuge in the open 
fields, and lived there away from his 
household in a hut. As h * was there 
with his only son there appeared to 
him late at night (through the agency 
of Jacobeta) a demon with so terrible 
a shrieking and groaning that it 
seemed as if the whole Leaven had 
burst from its foundatiors and was 
falling upon his hut. And that this 
was no feigned terror maliciously 
assumed by Desiderius, as it was 
emptily rumoured, was afterwards 
proved by the fact that he and his son 
became so ill because of it that every¬ 
body who saw them despaired of them. 

The following happered within 
our own memory at Cole mbieres, a 
village six miles from Tcul. At the 
extreme end of the village where the 
road goes to Salsure, a peasant lived 
in a humble cottage which was, how¬ 
ever, as clean and neat as his means 
would allow and had r ever been 
rumoured to be haunted by spectres. 
Yet it became occupied b y r a demon 
who was at first content with throw¬ 
ing stones at night at the servants 
without hurting them; but as they 



BK. I. CH. XVIII. 


MALEFICARUM 


grew used to this they ignored it and 
treated it as a joke. The demon could 
not tolerate this contempt, so one dark 
night he set fire to the cottage, which 
was quickly burned almost to the 
ground. Some days later I was travel¬ 
ling that way and heard of this from 
the inhabitants; so I went myself to 
see the ruins of the cottage so that I 
could tell the story to others rnore 
clearly and with the greater authority. 

The Spanish author Antonio de 
Turrecremata (Torquemada) writes 
as follows in his native tongue, 
and this is from his Jardin de las Flores 
curiosas. “At Salamanca there was a 
matron whose house was popularly 
said to be haunted by stone-throwing. 
The Mayor of the city, was incited by 
this rumour to test for himself whether 
the persistent report concerning that 
house was true, or whether it was not 
rather invented by the servants in 
order to cover some naughty pranks 
of theirs; for there were among them 
two young girls of no mean beauty, 
and it was suspected that the whole 
of this story had been fabricated in 
order to facilitate their meetings with 
their lovers. So the Mayor went to 
the house at the time when the stoning 
was said to be most frequent; and 
there went with him no less than 
twenty of the townsmen, some of 
whom he sent with a light to search 
the upper part of the house to see who 
it was who threw stones at the ser¬ 
vants. They searched diligently every¬ 
where, and came back and said they 
had found nothing at all alarming. 
He then decided to examine the 
cellars, to which some steps led down 
from the dining-room, and to spend 
some time in a further search in that 
direction. And lo! hardly had they 
reached the place before there was a 
great noise and stones began to be 
hurled at them and swept them off 
their legs, but without harming them. 
So they were sent again to see where 
this shower of stones came from; and 
although they found no one in the 
place, the shower of stones kept falling. 


75 

This went far to confirm the opinion 
which many had formed, that the 
phenomena were all due to devil’s 
work and magic; and this belief they 
more stoutly maintained as the stones 
kept falling about their heads. Some 
of them there rushed from the house in 
terror; but one of them, feeling bolder 
at a safe distance, took up and care¬ 
fully noted the appearance of one 
particular stone and threw it into 
the house, saying: ‘If this came from 
you, O demon, throw the same stone 
back at me.’ And when this was at 
once done, there was no more room 
for doubt that the house was haunted 
by demons as the Matron had said.” 

I remember, when the plague was 
raging at Toulouse about the year 
1563 I was in Auch spending the 
night gaming and playing in a manner 
fitting my age and leisure, with my 
good friend Master Abel, a member 
of the Cathedral Chapter. And to all 
of us who were in that house a petu¬ 
lant demon of this sort manifested, as 
we were playing, no slight disturbance, 
hurling stones roughly here and there, 
although they fell to the ground with¬ 
out hurting anyone. The room was 
locked from the inside and there was 
no furniture, except the gaming table 
and the seats, so that there was no 
place where any mechanical device 
could have been hidden. 

In such ways do good and evil 
demons approach men, with hatred, 
terror, hurt and injury. So says Remy 
as above quoted. 

Nider in his Formicarius relates that 
when the Kingdom of Bohemia was 
shaken with tumults and massacres 
because of its heresies, near a valley 
on the boundary of that country there 
were heard shouts at night, and the 
clashing together of horsemen, who 
were often seen to be clothed in various 
colours. There were two bold standard- 
bearers in the camp not far from the 
valley of spectres, who determined 
to learn the whole truth and what 
these visions portended; so they went 
one night to the haunted valley and 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. [. CH. XVIII. 


76 

saw the usual spectres, but before 
they dared to come near to it one of 
them grew afraid and said to the 
other: “It is quite enough that we 
have seen these things at a distance; 
I shall not go near to them. For it is 
an old saying that no one should joke 
with such matters. 55 The other called 
him a coward and spurred his horse 
forward and drew near to the whole 
ghostly aimy, whereupon one of them 
came and cut off his head and returned 
to his companions. When the one 
who had loitered behind owing to his 
apprehensions saw this he took to 
flight and spread the news of this 
horror. And the next day they found 
the headless body and the head in the 
valley where the armies had been seen, 
but there was no trace of man or 
horse; and only the marks of some 
birds were seen in muddy places. 

Nider adds another story worthy 
of belief, which was told him by the 
Bishop of Mayence. He said that he 
knew a soldier from the Rhine, whose 
son was still living where he heard 
this story, who was remarkable for 
his intrepidity in warfare; and 
because of his boldness and pugnacity 
others were often involved in quarrels 
on account of which he used fre¬ 
quently to ride by night to suitable 
meeting places. One night he was 
thus riding with his attendants and 
came into a wood near the Rhine; 
but before coming out of the wood, 
since a wide plain lay beyond it, he 
sent one of his attendants, as is the 
habit of those who suspect an am¬ 
bush, to discover if there were any 
lurking enemies lying in wait for him 
in the plain at the end of the wood. 
It was a clear moonlight and star-lit 
night, and he had no difficulty in see¬ 
ing: so the attendant spied through 
the branches of the trees and saw a 
wonderful army extending right across 
the plain and advancing on horse¬ 
back, and came back and told his 
master, who said: “Let us stand still 
a little; for it is likely that a rearguard 
will follow this army, and we will ride 


up to those and inquire whether the 
main army are friends or enemies; 
nor will we be afraid of a few men. 55 
After a short pause the soldier and his 
attendants came into the plain, and 
found no one except one man riding 
a horse and leading another by the 
bridle. The soldier went up to him 
and asked: “Are you not my cook? 55 
For so it seemed to him at a distance. 
That cook had died a little before this, 
and now answered: “[ am he. 
Master. 55 The soldier then asked: 
“What are you doing here ? And who 
are those who went before? 55 The 
dead man answered: “Master, they 
who went before are nobles and 
knights 55 (and he named many of 
them by name), “and they and I must 
this night be at Jerusalem, for that is 
our punishment. 55 The scldier then 
asked: “What is the meaning of this 
horse which you lead without a rider? 55 
“That, 55 he said, “is for your use if you 
will come with me to the Holy Land. 
Be assured by the Chris :ian Faith 
that I shall bring you back alive and 
safe if you obey my words. 55 Then 
said the soldier: “In my cay I have 
done marvels, and I will not shrink 
from adventure too. 55 Ard though 
his attendants tried to dissuade him, 
he dismounted from his own horse 
and mounted that of the dead man, 
and they both vanished from their 
sight. On the next day, as his attend¬ 
ants were waiting by the same place, 
the soldier and the dead ma 1 returned 
to the place where they hac. first met, 
and the dead man said: ‘Lest you 
should think that this is not ling but a 
false phantasm, I give you two rare 
things which you must keep in 
memory of me—a small piece of 
cloth no fire can burn or scorch, and 
a knife in a sheath. The first, when it 
is dirty, you must clean in the flames: 
the second you must handle with care, 
for whoever is wounded by it, is 
poisoned. 55 

Cromerus, a diligent author, tells 
the following. Wratislaw I, King of 
Poland, was besieging Dramburg, a 


BK. I. GH. XVIII. 


MALEFIGARUM 


very strong city of Pomerania. One 
moonlight night the sentries saw a 
great host of armed enemies riding 
over the open fields and attacking the 
Polish lines: and when this happened 
many times the Poles became angry 
because they could never engage these 
enemies in hand-to-hand fighting. 
So one night, when this enemy army 
was announced to be at hand, they 
charged furiously out of the camp, 
troop after troop, and pursued the 
fleeing enemy for a long way in vain. 
Hearing this uproar in the Polish 
camp and seeing their charge from 
the camp, the besieged army made a 
sudden sortie and set fire to the 
military works and soldiers 5 quarters, 
with burning straw and reeds, and so, 
since only a few had been left to guard 
the camp, easily burned all the works 
and the greater part of the camp. It 
is said that these were shadows of the 
night who, with divine permission, 
disturbed the Poles in this way 
because, in contempt of the usage 
and institutions of the Catholic 
Church, they had dared on a former 
expedition to desecrate the solemn 
Forty Days’ Fast of all Christians by 
the ungodly eating of flesh arid milk 
foods. God sometimes permits such 
apparitions because of sin, either as a 
trial for the righteous, or to announce 
plagues, wars, changes in kingdoms, 
and such things, as the following 
examples show. 

On the night before the sedition of 
Antioch, a huge woman of formidable 
appearance was seen, beating a bronze 
shield so violently that the sound was 
heard all over the city. 

Gennadius, Patriarch of Constanti¬ 
nople, went one night to the altar to 
pray to God for the public safety, 
when there appeared to him a horrible 
spectre which, on being conjured 
according to the sacred ritual of 
exorcism, said that as long as Gennad¬ 
ius lived he was not allowed to inflict 
the injuries which were threatening 
that Church; but that when he was 
dead he would rage terribly against it. 


77 

Cabades, King of Persia, heard that 
on the boundary between Persia and 
India, in a strongly fortified place 
named, there was a huge treasure of 
precious stones and gold and silver 
guarded by demons, who kept all 
mortals from coming near. He there¬ 
fore set out with an army and tried 
to take the place by storm, but the 
demons fought fiercely and drove him 
off. He then tried the arts of the Jews 
and Magicians, but these were equally 
useless. At last he was persuaded that 
he could win his desire by the prayer 
of Christians to God, and asked help 
from a Christian Bishop living in 
Persia. This Bishop ordered the 
Christians to fast, and with prayers 
performed the Divine mysteries before 
the congregation, and going to the 
place conjured the demons living there 
and drove them out, and with no 
trouble gave the fortress to Cabades. 
Of this sort was that demon of Basle 
which we have already mentioned. 

Philinnion,* the daughter of Demo- 
stratus and Charito, fell in love with 
their guest Machates; but since her 
parents refused to countenance this, 
she died of grief and was publicly 
buried. Six months after her death, 
Machates returned to that house, and 
Philinnion entered to him and took 
supper with him and was entwined 
with him more than once that even¬ 
ing ; and Machates gave her an iron 
ring and a gold cup, while she gave 
him a gold ring and a girdle. Now as 
her old nurse came to make sure that 
the guest lacked nothing, she saw her 
charge lying in bed with him, and 
joyfully told it to the girl’s parents. 
They ran up in astonishment, and the 
next morning found them both, and 


* “PhilinnionThis is from Phlegon of 
Tralles , “ Mirabilia,” No. 30. It may be 
read apud “Fragmenta Historicorum Graeco - 
rum.” Ed. Carolus Muller us, Parisiis , Didot , 
1843, vol. Ill , pp. 611-13. See “The Vam¬ 
pire in Europe ,” by Montague Summers , Chap¬ 
ter /, “The Vampire in Greece and Rome,” 

PP • 34 S 7 • 



COMPENDIUM 


BK. I. CH. XVIII. 


78 

with cries of joy embraced their 
daughter as she lay sleeping with 
their guest. But Philinnion looked at 
them with stern eyes and said: “O 
you cruel parents to your daughter! 
Did you then begrudge me three short 
days in my father’s house with my 
Machates? Whether it be curiosity or 
cruelty on your part, it will bring you 
great misfortune, for you will renew 
your former grief, and once more 
bury your daughter.” When she had 
said this, she grew pale and fell down 
like the dead corpse which she 
actually was; and her parents were 
overcome with sorrow. When this 
matter became known to the people 
and the Magistrate, they ordered the 
tomb to be opened, and found it 
empty of any corpse; for there were 
in it only an iron ring and a gold cup, 
the gifts of Machates. But the corpse 
of Philinnion was found in the bed in 
his bedroom, and on the advice of a 
certain seer named Hyllus it was cast 
out of the city as a prodigy, to be 
devoured by the birds and beasts. 
As for Machates, when he saw that he 
had been mocked by a spectre, he 
would not bear the ignominy of it, 
and before long he laid violent hands 
upon himself. 

Such are the many false resurrec¬ 
tions of the heathen: and just as it is 
agreed that the devil has to do with 
witches in an assumed body, either as 
Incubus or Succubus, so also in this 
kind of spectre a nauseating charnel 
smell is perceived. 

Among the writings of the Germans 
(says Remy, I, 2) there is a popular 
story of a certain Aulicus, who received 
news of his wife’s death and of the 
manner of her burial. He at once 
returned home to see to his domestic 
concerns; and as he kept thinking of 
his wife during the night (as is usual 
when anyone has a deep-seated desire 
for anything), he saw her undressing 
herself as usual ready to come to bed 
with him. He made some effort to 
prevent her from doing this, since he 
had been assured that she was dead; 


but he was overborne by the sound 
of her voice and the sight of her body, 
and allowed her to lie down with 
him. And so he continued for some 
days, until the potent v/ords of an 
Exorcist drove away the demon who 
had inhabited the corpse in order to 
delude and, if he could, destroy the 
husband. And certainly this could 
not have been done if the body had 
been informed with its Dwn proper 
soul. But just as the law has power 
to eject an usurper, so let no one, who 
knows the power of adjurations and 
exorcisms, wonder that the demon 
can be cast out from his insidious 
occupation of a dead body. 

Philostratus, in the Life of Apollonius 
of Tyana , IV, xxv, records that a 
similar thing once happened to Menip- 
pus, the disciple of Demetrius the 
Cynic. He was going from Corinth to 
Cenchreae, when he met a graceful 
and apparently rich foreign girl who 
said that she was seized with love for 
him, and familiarly invited him to 
turn aside into her house. Since he in 
his turn was taken with love for her, 
he lay with her many times and began 
to think of marrying her; for she had 
a house decked like a king’s palace. 
But as soon as Apollonius looked at 
the house he cried out th it she was a 
Lamia who would soon ei :her entirely 
devour him, or bring sc-me terrible 
injury upon him. 

Thomas of Brabant, *in his De bono 
uniuersali , II, 57, relates t le following 
history. In Genappe, a sober and 
noted town of Brabant, a certain 
young man loved a girl who was a 
virgin, and spoke to her parents with 
a view to marrying her; but they 
refused. In the middle of the night 
the girl fell into an acute fever and 


* “Thomas of BrabantA Dominican 
and suffragan bishop , 1201-jo. He is gener¬ 
ally referred to as Thomas Can impratanus , or 
Thomas of CantimprL His famous work 
“Bonum uniuersale de Apibus ” was immensely 
popular , but now is of the last rarity . I have 
used the Douai edition of J597. 



BK. I. GH. XVIII. 


MALEFICARUM 


grew so ill that they all thought she 
was dead; and they mourned and 
tolled the bell as if for the dead. The 
young man her lover was going that 
evening from that town to another, 
and as he was going by a thicket he 
heard the sound of a woman weeping. 
He anxiously ran up and, seeking for 
the woman he had heard, found the 
girl whom he thought to be dead, and 
said to her: “Your parents are mourn¬ 
ing you as dead! Whence have you 
come here? 55 “See, 55 she cried, “the 
man going before me, who led me 
away. 55 The young man was aston¬ 
ished at this, since he saw no one 
except the girl; and he boldly caught 
her up and hid her in a house outside 
the town. Returning to the town, he 
spoke to his friends, and then went to 
the girl’s father as he sat with his 
friends at the funeral feast, and asked 
him if he would give him his daughter 
whom he was mourning as dead. The 
father answered in surprise: “Are you 
God, to raise up and wed the dead? 55 
But the young man said: “Only 
promise me that I shall have your 
daughter as my wife if I bring her 
back alive and safe. 55 To this the 
father agreed, and confirmed his 
promise in presence of them all. 
The young man then raised the shroud 
which hid the body, and they found 
an image so wonderful that it could 
have been the work of no man. For 
they who have seen such images made 
by the devil say that they are like 
rotten wood inside, but are covered 
outside with a delicate skin. After 
this the girl was brought back safe and 
sound to her father, and a few days 
later married the young man, and 
lived safely right up to our own times. 

An old author tells in the Life of 
S . Robert* the Abbot that one night the 
Holy man saw a foul demon standing 
at the entrance of the Choir and 
repeatedly trying to enter, but in vain. 
He had the form of a peasant in a 


* “ S . Robert .” Abbot of Molesme; c . 
1029-1111 . 


79 

rough smock with long bare legs, 
carrying a basket on his back and a 
piece of wood slung in front of him; 
and he kept going about the Choir 
with his neck stretched out, looking 
attentively at the Brothers to see 
whether he could find in any of them 
a quality favourable to himself. The 
Man of God prayed earnestly and 
roused the Brothers from their torpor; 
and when the wicked spy had waited 
a long time in vain and saw that he 
was meeting with no success, he 
mocked the sleepy Brothers with bitter 
laughter and, leaping about with 
extraordinary agility, applauded them 
whenever their thoughts were turning 
to evil. At last he found among them 
a young Brother whose thoughts kept 
wandering upon forbidden things, 
his body only being present in that 
place, for he was even meditating a 
secret flight. Seeing that this man was 
ripe for his purpose, the devil seized 
him with his pitch-fork and thrust 
him into his basket and quickly ran 
away with him. Perceiving this, the 
Holy man was in great anxiety for 
that Brother’s safety, and diligently 
sought for him in the morning. But 
he had escaped before the dawn and 
had become an outcast, throwing off 
the easy yoke of Christ and following 
the Enemy; for he joined himself with 
the worst criminals and gave himself 
up to brigandage, and was not long 
afterwards captured and miserably 
punished with death. 

Ranulf Higden,f the author of the 
Polychronicon , writes that Count 
Richard went one night alone into 
the church to pray, and found there a 
coffin with a corpse in it. While the 
Count was praying, the corpse burst 
from its shroud with a great cry and 


■)* “Ranulf HigdenP Benedictine chroni¬ 
cler; a monk of S. Werburg , Chester; died 
1364. The “Polychronicon f a universal history 
to his own times , was translated into English 
by John of Trevisa in 1387, and this version 
was printed by Caxton in 1482, and by Wynkyn 
de Worde in 1433 . 




COMPENDIUM 


bk i. ch. xvm. 


8 o 

rushed with arms outstretched as if to 
embrace him. The Count made the 
sign of the Cross on his brow, and 
having adjured it in vain to depart, 
drew his sword and cut it in two; and 
he then ordered that the Office for the 
dead with Requiem Masses should be 
solemnly sung throughout the whole 
land. 

More wonderful than any is the 
following, taken from the description 
of Muscovy by Guagninus.* He 
writes that certain inhabitants of the 
Livonian district of Russia die every 
year on the 27th of November on 
account of the intense cold, just like 
swallows and frogs; and on the 24th 
of April in the next spring they come 
to life again. He adds that when they 
feel their annual death approaching, 
they put their possessions in a certain 
place; and their neighbours, the 
Ruthenians and Courlanders, take 
these away, leaving equivalent goods 
in their place. When they come to life 
again, they take their goods if they 
seem to be just; but if they do not 
appear just they demand their own 
back. And therefore much strife and 
warfare are said to arise between them. 

Sigismund, Baron Herbestein,f it 


* “ Guagninus .” Alessandro Guagnini (or 
Alexander Gwagnin, as he turned his name) 
was horn at Verona in 1538 and died at 
Cracow in 1614. His whole life was spent in 
Poland, and he became a naturalised Pole. For 
a full study of this curious and most interesting 
man see Carlo Cipollds “Un Italiano nella 
Polonia e nella Svezia tra il XVI e il XVII 
secolof Torino, 1887. The work of Guagnini 
from which Guazzo quotes is the monumental 
“Sarmatiae Europeae Descriptio, quae Reg- 
num Poloniae, Lituaniam, Samogitiam, Rus- 
siam, Masouiam, Prussiam, Pomeraniam, 
Liuoniam, et Moschouiae Tartariaeque partem 
complectitur, Alexandri Gwagnini Ueronensis, 
Equitis Aurati peditumque praefecti, diligentia 
conscriptaef Cracow, 1578. 

| “Baron Herhestein .” Sigismund, Baron 
Herbestein was born in i486. He was pro¬ 
moted and became eminent in the Austrian ser¬ 
vice, and acted as Ambassador to Russia and 
to Constantinople. He died in 1366. The De¬ 


is true, relates the same story in his 
Rerum Moscouitarum Commtntarii , but he 
makes it quite clear that he regards 
it as a mere fable. 

☆ 


CHAPTER XIX 

That Cacodemons Exercise their Magic 
Powers of their Owr Will . 

Argument. 

O N this subject Tost ado (on Job 
xl) argues strongly as follows. It 
must not be maintained 1 hat men can 
constrain or confine a demon to any 
particular place except by Divine 
power, that is, by exorcisms and ad¬ 
jurations : but witches do not claim to 
subject a demon to themselves except 
by the power of their spells and signs, 
or by deeds very foreign to the Chris¬ 
tian Religion; therefore it is impos¬ 
sible for the lesser power, which is 
man’s, to subject to itself the greater, 
which is the demon’s, since there is no 
power on earth which can be com¬ 
pared with the power of demons. 
Therefore there can be r.o natural or 
ritual means by which a man can 
compel the demons to appear or to 
answer him or to do anything, except, 
as I have said, by means of the Exor¬ 
cisms of the Church: for then it may 
be said that they are pul under com¬ 
pulsion either to depart from the 
bodies of those whom they possess, or 
to refrain from injuring tl em; and this 
was instituted by God to be performed 
by the Church, and the power of God 
is in such Exorcisms. But God is not 
present in the operation of witches by 
which they claim to master demons, t 
for such are contrary to t he honour of 
God. The demons themselves play 


dication to Ferdinand I, King of the Romans, 
of his “Rerum Moscouitarun Commentarii ” 
( T 549 ) I s dated 1 March, 1349, and signed 
Sigismundus, liber Baro in Herbestein, Ney- 
perg, et Guettenhag. 




BK. I. CH. XIX. 


MALEFICARUM 


false and pretend that they are com¬ 
pelled ; for in this lies their chief 
power of persuasion. But demons 
cannot really be mastered by men 
through witchcraft; or, if they could, 
they would not themselves teach men 
the way to master them, for the 
demons would be in a sorry case 
indeed if they could be mastered by 
men. So they pretend that they are 
subject when they are not, that they 
may deceive men: they pretend to be 
caught, that they may catch you; to 
be bound, that they may bind you; 
that they are subject to your com¬ 
mands, that they may make you sub¬ 
ject to them; that they are imprisoned, 
that they may imprison you for ever: 
they pretend that they are in bondage 
to your art or image or charm, that 
they may bring you to Hell bound by 
the cords of your sins. Therefore, in 
short, they pretend that they are under 
compulsion, when they are really 
serving of their own will and volun¬ 
tarily until such time as seems good to 
them. 

☆ 

Examples . 

Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mi- 
randola (the younger) in his De 
Praenotione * says that two magicians 
met in the hall of the Queen of Eng¬ 
land to give an entertainment, having 
mutually agreed to obey each other 
implicitly. The first ordered the 
second to look out of the window; and 
when he had done so, stag’s horns grew 
from his head, and he was for a long 
time exposed to the ridicule and jokes 
of all. So, since he had been powerless 
under this outrage and wished to 
avenge himself with a worse one, he 
drew a human figure with charcoal 
on the wall, and ordered the first sor¬ 
cerer to stand under that figure and 
walk through the wall. The first 


* “De Praenotione.” Libri Nouem. I have 
used the folio edition , Argentoraci [ Strasburg ], 

1506-7• 

G 


81 

magician saw instant death in this, 
and was afraid and began to beg to 
be excused; but when the other re¬ 
minded him of their agreement he was 
compelled to obey, and he was seen to 
walk through the wall. But he was 
never found afterwards; for the demon 
with his higher power had killed him 
and hidden his body in some deserted 
place or cave. 

I will give another example, taken 
from a certain German jurisconsult.f 
A conjurer, a man of high estate, for 
the public amusement and at the 
request of his fellow guests, cut off the 
head of his host’s servant; but when 
he wanted to restore his head to him, 
he found that there was another sor¬ 
cerer who was preventing this. He 
asked the man not to do so; but when, 
after many warnings, he still per¬ 
sisted, the first conjurer caused a lily 
to grow upon the table and, no sooner 
had he cut off its head and leaves 
than that second sorcerer who had 
been thwarting him fell headless from 
the table, and the conqueror replaced 
the head upon the servant with no 
difficulty. Having done this he im¬ 
mediately fled from the house and 
city, lest he should be taken by the 
Magistrate for murder. 

This pretended cutting off the head, 
and its restoration, as well as the pro¬ 
duction and cutting off of the lily, 
must all be ascribed to magical illu¬ 
sion. There was a contest between the 
demons of the two sorcerers, and the 
weaker of them was strong enough to 
hinder the success of the glamour, but 
was compelled by the stronger (though 
not unwillingly, as I think) to agree to 
his client’s death, which was a matter 
of fact, and no illusion. 

Johan Dubravsky, Bishop of Ol- 
miitz, in his Historia rerum Bohemi - 
carum , XXIII, tells the following. 
Wenceslaus, the Emperor and King 
of the Bohemians, formed an alliance 
with Prince John of Bavaria by marry- 


f “German jurisconsult.” John George 
Godelmann in his “De lamiis.” 




COMPENDIUM MALEFICARUM 


I K. I. CH. XIX. 


82 

ing his daughter Sophia. And since 
the Prince knew that his son-in-law 
took a delight in ludicrous shows and 
magical illusions, he took a wagon full 
of buffoons and conjurers to Prague. 
There the most skilful of the con¬ 
jurers was giving an exhibition of his 
power to deceive the eyes, when there 
came amongst the spectators Zyto, the 
Magician of Wenceslaus, with his 
mouth stretched open to the ears. 
He came nearer and ate up that Ba¬ 
varian conjurer with all his apparatus, 
except his shoes, which he spat out be¬ 
cause they were muddy. He then 
retired to rid his belly of its unwonted 
burden, and voided it into a tub full 
of water; and thus he restored the 
dripping conjurer to be laughed at on 
all sides by the spectators. After this 


his companions also stopped their 
tricks. 

Now that eating of the conjurer was 
mere illusion; but the wretched man 
was really snatched up and thrown 
into the tub of water by a demon, and 
was not voided through the other’s 
bowels. 

Olaus Magnus (III, 20) writes that 
a certain magician name i Gilbert was 
quarrelling with his master Catilla as 
to which of them was superior in their 
art. The master then ihrew him a 
little stick carved with Gothic or 
Ruthenian characters, which he seized 
and at once became stiff, and was car¬ 
ried bound to an island in the lake 
called Wetter in the country of the 
Ostrogoths, and there imprisoned in 
an underground cavern. 



THE SECOND BOOK, DEAL¬ 
ING WITH THE VARIOUS 
KINDS OF WITCHCRAFT, 
AND CERTAIN OTHER 
MATTERS WHICH SHOULD 
BE KNOWN. 

☆ 

CHAPTER I 
Of Soporific Spells . 

Argument. 

S ORCERERS and witches are in 
the habit of putting others to 
sleep by means of potions or evil 
incantations or some secret rite, 
so that they 
may then 
poison them 
or seize their 
children, or 
kill them, or 
rob them, or 
pollute them 
with filth and 
adultery. And 
this, as the 
examples will 
show, can be 
effected by 
natural so¬ 
porific drugs. 

For it is a 
very truth 
that there are many natural drugs 
which, on being applied internally 
or externally, induce not only sleep, 
but a torpid insensitiveness to the 
acutest pain; and this is well known 
to surgeons, who make use of them 
when they wish to cut a limb from 
the human body without any pain. 
A laughable and at the same time 
pitiable example of this art is told 
of a young man of Narbonne who 
was led into slavery by a Thracian 
pirate. He was put to sleep by a 
powerful drug, and his testicles were 
so neatly cut out that, when he awoke 
thus deprived of his virility, he mar¬ 


velled at himself as at a new man. 
Another story is told by Mattioli * of 
the asses of Etruria which were so put 
to sleep by eating hemlock that they 
were carried away for dead; but when 
they had started to skin them, they at 
last awoke and stood up on their feet 
and rushed miserably back to their 
stalls. Many drugs, then, are known 
and used by chemists, such as darnel, 
nightshade, the rush commonly called 
Euripice , mandragora, castor, poppy, 
etc., but if all these have the property 
of inducing a compulsory sleep in the 
daytime simply by reason of the 
natural powers with which they are 
imbued, what, I ask, cannot demons 
effect with their arts and contrivances, 
since they have perfect knowledge, 

not only of 
the secret 
and hidden 
powers of 
nature, but 
can also, with 
the permis¬ 
sion of God, 
effect many 
things with¬ 
out the help 
or presence 
of any exter¬ 
nal thing? 

And that 
witches may 
the more 
conveniently 
pour abroad, spread and disseminate 
their poisons, they themselves con¬ 
fess, as can be read in Remy (II, 4), 
that after they have worked with 
their familiars for some years, they 
are given by these demons power to 
penetrate into houses, so they can 
easily slip through narrow openings by 


* “Mattioli.” Pietro Andrea Mattioli , the 
famous Italian physician , born at Siena in 
1500; died at Trent 1577- He was especially 
renowned for his knowledge of herbs and 
simples. One of the best editions of his “Com- 
mentarii” (secundo aucti) is that of Venice , 

1538 - 
































COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. I. 


84 

shrinking themselves into mice or cats 
or locusts or some such small animal 
as the occasion demands, and once 
they are inside they can again, if they 
wish, resume their proper shape and 
then go deedily about their business. 
Now they would first anoint all the 
limbs of their victim whose death they 
were contriving, so that he should not 
awake, and next they would pour 
poison down his throat. And the oint¬ 
ment they use is either given them by 
the demon or brewed by themselves 
with devilish art. Wherefore this 
seems particularly worth noting: that 
just as Em¬ 
perors reserve 
certain re¬ 
wards for 
their veteran 
soldiers only, 
so the demon 
grants this 
power of 
changing 
themselves 
into different 
shapes, as the 
witches be¬ 
lieve, only to 
those who 
have proved 
their loyalty 
by many 
years of faithful service in witchcraft; 
and this is as it were a reward for 
their long service and loyalty. This 
was amply proved by Henry Carmut 
in the year 1583 by his own particu¬ 
lar confession, coming after that of 
many others of his sort. Witches used 
also to make use of strange lights in 
order to induce sleep, and I think 
Apuleius * called the smoke of them 
“a cloud of smoke.” Sometimes they 
set fire to the feet or hands of corpsesf 


* “Apuleius” The expression used in the 
“Metamorphoseon,” II, go, of the sleep in - 
duced by the witches is “iniecta somni nebula 
Statius, “Siluae,” IV, viii, 2, has, I remember, 
“Sabaeae nub es” for ‘ fume of frankincense.” 
f “Hands of corpses.” A Hand of Glory . 


which they have first aaointed with 
an oil given them by the demon: or 
else they fix candles to each of a 
corpse’s fingers, or light the way 
before them with enchanted torches 
made from a horrid fat known to 
them, or they fix these torches in a 
certain place in the house; and the 
sleep lasts as long as those corpse lights 
burn. Sometimes they aang several 
parts of the corpse in various places; 
sometimes they practise other ini¬ 
quities, all equally abom nable, which 
are efficacious solely bee ause of their 
pact with the devil. Tiey also use 

nagic char¬ 
acters in or¬ 
der to escape 
or overcome 
:he tortures 
0 which the 
Judges sen- 
ence them, 
as will be 
:;hown in the 
examples. 

Therefore 
ct those who 
go to sleep 
orotect them¬ 
selves by re¬ 
citing Holy 
osalm and 
prayer: such 
as “Qjii habitat in adiutoru Altissimi ” or 
“In te Domine speraui ,” or some such 
orison. Let them make t le sign of the 
Gross, reciting the Salue Regina Mater 
misericordiae, the Paternoster, and the Aue 
Maria , etc., if they woulc be safe from 
such snares. Let them have by them 
a waxen Agnus Dei bhssed by the 
Pope, or some Holy Relics. For such 
devotions are the safest p rotection and 
rampart against all the wiles of the 
Prince of Darkness. 

“Le Petit Albert” gives directions how one 
may “se servir de la mam de gorief and other 
grimoires {such as “Le Dragon noir”) have 
full receipts for the composition of this horrible 
charm . It will be readily remembered that in 
“The Ingoldsby Legends” there is a striking 
poem, “The Hand of Glory.” 




































BK. II. CH. I. 


MALEFICARUM 


Examples . 

Marguerite Jenin came to hate her 
son Jaquelin because she had to keep 
bullying him to go and earn money at 
the Alsatian markets round about, and 
by no arguments or demands could she 
prevail upon him to bestir himself. 
At last she was taken at dead of night 
by a demon, together with her associ¬ 
ates in crime, to his house in Sax- 
bingen, and suddenly approached him 
as he slept and roused him from his 
bed and stood him in front of the fire 
intending to roast him alive, if it lay 
in them to do so. But they were by 
some means prevented from this, and 
turned to another method of injuring 
him. They made a cut in his side and 
inserted a piece of brick which was 
lying on the ground; and the wound 
grew together again in a moment. 
After many months of torture, the 
piece of brick broke out from under 
his flesh in the sight of many. 

The following history is very similar. 
At Vorpach in September 1586 Be- 
trande, a barber’s wife, confessed that, 
with the help of her fellow witches, she 
had fixed a bone on to the neck of a 
woman named Elisa because she had 
refused her a pitcher of milk. 

Similarly Seneael of Armentieres 
confessed at Douzy on the 30th Sep¬ 
tember, 1586, that he had inserted 
part of a sheep’s hip-bone into the top 
of the foot of one Philippe, a baker, 
having first made an incision with a 
fish’s spine; and when the wound 
hardened, the baker suffered acute 
and continual pain, as he himself 
complained. 

A man named Benignus was impli¬ 
cated in the murder of a Counsellor of 
Her Most Serene and Christian 
Majesty, the Queen of Denmark. He 
could easily have escaped the death 
penalty, because he was abroad when 
the law was set in motion against him: 
but he preferred to rely upon a magic 
charm which had been given him by 
some strolling charlatan, and volun¬ 
tarily offered himself for trial. And he 


85 

was in no way deceived in his hope; 
for he came through all sorts of torture 
unhurt and without confessing, and 
was acquitted. But just as he was 
being released from prison he was 
unable to bear any longer the burden 
of so great a crime, and openly ac¬ 
knowledged his guilt, and at length 
suffered the punishment of death. 

In the Diocese of Liege, relates 
Caesarius of Heisterbach ( Miracul . 
Ill, 40), in a town which some call 
Hugo and others Dinant, there came 
one night to an inn two men who pre¬ 
tended that they were tired from their 
journey; and when they had supped 
they said that they would not go to 
bed in another room, but importun¬ 
ately insisted that the inn-keeper 
should allow them to sleep by the fire 
in the kitchen. But a maid-servant, 
who did not like the appearance of 
the travellers, secretly spied through 
the key-hole what they would do. In 
the middle of the night she saw them 
take from a bag a hand cut from a 
dead man and anoint the fingers, and 
light them at the fire; and all of them 
except one were soon ablaze. The 
warlocks were surprised at this unusual 
occurrence, and tried many times to 
light this finger at the fire, but always 
in vain. Then one of them said: 
“What does it matter if there is one 
person in the house keeping awake?” 
And setting the hand by the chimney 
with its four fingers burning with a 
dim blue flame, they went out of the 
house and by a whistle signalled to 
their companions to come and join in 
the plunder. The maid followed them 
and, locking the door, shut them out. 
Then she ran to the room where her 
master and mistress slept, and found 
them so fast asleep that she could not 
awaken them although she dragged 
them from the bed into the middle 
of the room. Meanwhile the thieves 
were trying to get into the house 
through a window, so she ran and 
threw down their ladder. But they 
persisted in their attempts to enter 
the house. The servant then remem- 


86 


COMPENDIUM 


IK. II. CH. I. 


bered the light and, suspecting it to 
be the cause of the deep sleep of those 
in the house, extinguished all those 
burning fingers, and after that the 
sleepers awoke and ran to see what the 
matter was, and drove from the house 
the thieves who were thus caught in 
the act. After some days these villains 
were captured and confessed their 
crime. What wonder is it, then, if 
witches steal by night to the cradles 
of infants, and to others whom they 
mean to destroy? 

Peter Binsfeld * writes as follows: 
Anna, the mother of Johann Cuno de 
Rouer, and two other witches met 
together one night in order to bewitch 
a certain zealous witch-hunter. Their 
Little Master went before them and 
opened the doors; and Johann Cuno 
himself was taken as a companion by 
his mother and the others, that he 
might hold a lighted candle, made not 
naturally but by devilish art. They 
came into the room of him whom they 
would bewitch, in the town of Treves; 
but because he had, after the manner 
of good Christians, fortified himself 
with the sign of the Cross and other 
pious acts before he went to rest, they 
could do nothing but had to shut the 
doors again and hurry back without 
effecting any harm. The good man 
whom they wished to injure yet lives 
by the grace of God, and shall live for 
as long as God pleases. Johann Cuno 
himself told this; and his mother, 
when she was questioned concerning 
information laid against her, confessed 
to the same matter. Necromancers, 
who are high in the order of witch¬ 
craft, have no need of this candle 
burning before them; but when they 
have lit it, they put it in some more 
remote place, as will be seen in the 
following example. 

What I am about to set down was 


* “Binsfeld” “Commentarius in Titulum 
Codicis Lib. IX. de Maleficis et Mathemati - 
cis” Quaestio VIII , ed. 1605 , pp. $66~6g. 
Peter Binsfeld, suffragan Bishop of Treves, 
was born c. 1540 and died 1603. 


taken from grave authors worthy of all 
belief, and is mentioned also by Martin 
Delrio ( Disqu. Magic . Ill, :, q. 3) and 
should, I think, be especially noted so 
that we may see the vengeance of God 
against sorcerers and nec romancers. 
It has seemed to me fitting to conceal 
the names of the person and place. In 
a certain town in Spain a very famous 
man was the intimate friend of a 
nobleman who had a most beautiful 
but chaste wife. He began to love her, 
and not for long keeping this flame 
hidden, revealed his thoug it and tried 
to persuade the woman 1o sin. She, 
sure of keeping her chastity, tried her 
hardest to recall him from nis madness 
to a better state of mind; but it was 
only throwing oil on the fire. For as 
flaming naphtha does but burn the 
more furiously if you throw water 
upon it, so her admonitions did but 
the more inflame the man, who con¬ 
tinued to press her until she grew 
weary and determined to lie revenged 
upon the wretch. She told the whole 
matter to her husband, who was 
seized with no less a fury :han that of 
the sons of Atreus. At his command 
the wife made an assignat: on, and the 
longed-for night came for the wicked 
lover. The husband with some of his 
servants waited well armed in the next 
room to receive his friend in no friendly 
manner. And lo, at last arrived the 
lover girt with sword and dagger: he 
boldly followed where she led and, 
when they had sat down, repeated his 
old refrain: the woma 1 as usual 
refused and denied him: the adulterer 
was emboldened by the darkness of 
night, and resorted to force: she force¬ 
fully resisted him until at last she cried 
out in fear, giving the agreed signal to 
her husband; but she might as well 
have called to the deaf, for neither her 
husband nor anyone else ran to her 
help. What was she to do? Should 
she run away? She was held by 
stronger arms. Should she consent? 
Rather an honourable death than a 
shameful sin. So she used her woman’s 
weapons, her nails and teeth, and 



BK. II. CH. I. 


MALEFICARUM 


87 


mutilated his face: but in his madness 
he hardly felt it. He laid his sword 
aside; but between her sobs the 
woman noticed his dagger sticking out 
behind him, seized it, drew it and 
stabbed her assailant to death, and his 
dead body fell to the ground. Having 
conquered, she regained command of 
herself and ran to the room where she 
had hidden her husband, and found 
him and his servants more like dead 
men than living. She called them, 
shook them and dragged them about, 
and left nothing undone to awaken 
them; but they remained asleep. 
Suspecting that this was due to witch¬ 
craft (as in fact it was), and seeing 
that her whole hope rested in herself 
she carried the corpse out of the house 
and threw it into the street with the 
sword and the bloody dagger. While 
it lay there some of the night watch 
came upon it, took it into the guard 
house and, washing its face, not 
without difficulty recognised the man. 
Here the Alcalde exhibited great pru¬ 
dence. He enjoined silence upon all 
the rest, and next morning went to the 
man’s house and saying that he wished 
to speak to the master in the presence 
of the whole household on a matter of 
the greatest importance ordered them 
all to assemble together. All the living 
were assembled, the dead man only 
being absent. The Alcalde remarked 
that it seemed to him that someone 
was missing, and the master of the 
house noted the fact and said: “All 
are present except So-and-so, who is 
probably now getting ready for some 
business.” “Let him also be sum¬ 
moned,” said the other. To save time 
some of them ran to call him, and 
finding his bedroom locked they beat 
upon the door; but no one answered. 
So the Alcalde himself went with the 
master and forced the door open; 
but there was no one in the room: 
and they were all amazed to find 
nothing but a torch burning with a 
pale flame by the chimney. Then the 
Alcalde told the master of the house 
how and where he had found the 


corpse: and while they took it from 
the guard house to bury it in uncon¬ 
secrated soil, behold there came that 
nobleman and his wife who related 
the whole story. On taking note of 
the times, they found that they had 
awaked when the torch was extin¬ 
guished. So the perfidy of that vile 
hypocrite was exposed to universal 
detestation, and the chastity and 
bravery of the lady became re¬ 
nowned and honoured throughout the 
whole neighbourhood. 

Caesarius of Heisterbach (vi, 10) 
tells that a few years ago there died a 
simple man named Engilbert, a native 
of the Province of Tolbiac. Although 
he was born blind, he was known in 
many Provinces and esteemed by 
many noble persons of either sex on 
account of certain gifts with which 
the grace of God had illumined his 
inner life. In a simple hood and a 
woollen tunic and with bare feet he 
went both in summer and winter; and 
following this mode of conduct himself 
from his earliest years, he often visited 
distant shrines of the Saints, he never 
ate flesh, never slept at night on a bed, 
but only on a little hay or straw, and 
edified many both by word and ex¬ 
ample. In the time of his youth he 
was one night in the house of his aunt, 
a rich matron, and had gone to bed 
with her servants, when in the early 
evening two thieves broke through the 
wall and entered the house, where 
they stirred up the fire, lit the lamp, 
broke open the boxes and talked to 
each other without any fear. As soon 
as Engilbert heard them he had no 
doubt that they were thieves, but 
being unable to rouse the servants 
sleeping on each side of him, he cut 
himself a club from the wooden seat 
with his knife and, since he was blind, 
found his way towards the thieves by 
his ears, and lay about with his club 
on all sides wherever he could reach, 
striking like a madman, and so drove 
them from the house. He followed 
them to the door where a ladder 
barred the exit; and when they were 


88 


COMPENDIUM 


EK. II. CH. I. 


outside the house and saw that there 
was no one awake but him only, they 
were ashamed at being so driven out. 
They took counsel and tried to enter 
again; but when he perceived this 
from the motion of the rungs, Engilbert 
so placed the ladder that the thieves 
would fall into a great corn-bin which 
was near the hole in the wall; and 
when they had done so, he pinned 
them down with the actual steps so 
that they could move neither forward 
nor backward. The thieves, fearing 
that they would be captured in the 
morning, begged to be pardoned, and 
after they had sworn a terrible oath 
never to harm his person or to enter 
that house, he let them go away. 
When Engilbert reported this in the 
morning no one could by any means 
rouse the sleepers, and so they searched 
for the magic charm which they were 
convinced must be the cause of this, 
and found hanging from the roof above 
the hole in the wall what appeared to 
be the backbone of a human corpse; 
and when this was taken away, they 
all quickly awoke. Many years later 
the same thieves, inspired by the fame 
and virtues of that Engilbert and, as I 
think, urged to it by his prayers, 
approached him and confessed their 
crimes and afterwards embraced the 
religious life. 

Remy writes that at her trial at 
Gebweiler in January 1589 Marguerite 
Luondman confessed the following 
among other crimes. One night she 
and other wretches entered a house 
with the intention of pouring poison 
down the throat of the inmate who 
was sleeping heavily; and they had 
nearly accomplished their purpose, 
since everything seemed to favour 
them,, when they were amazed to see 
their intended victim waken from his 
slumber, so that she and her fellow 
criminals were compelled to make 
their escape with their purpose un¬ 
achieved. The man seized a weapon 
and pursued them, but not being able 
to catch them hurled terrible threats 
at them. To arrive at a more complete 


knowledge of this matter, the man 
himself was examined as a witness, and 
told everything clearly and fully as 
the witch had told it; namely, that 
there had been an attempt to poison 
him, which had been thwarted only 
by his having awaked (for he had not 
yet been anointed with the: r unguent) 
and his having protected himself by 
the sign of the Cross and the Lord’s 
Prayer against so great a clanger. He 
said that it was quite true lhat he had 
chased them a long way with a hal¬ 
berd without catching tiem. After 
this nearly all those who were charged 
with witchcraft in the German 
province of Lorraine agreed in con¬ 
fessing that they owed :o demons 
their power of penetrating i nto houses, 
as I have said above, and cf anointing 
all the limbs of their victims so that 
they should not awake, a id holding 
their mouths firmly open >0 that the 
poison should not be spilled, and 
finally pouring the poison down their 
throats by the light of a lanp burning 
with a sulphurous flame. 


☆ 


CHAPTER II 

Witches use Human Corpi es for the 
Murder of Men . 

Argument. 

I N our days it is the custom of 
witches to dig up human corpses 
to use them for the murderous slaugh¬ 
ter of men, especially the bodies of 
those who have been punished by 
death or hanged. For not only from 
such horrid material do they renew 
their evil spells, but also from the 
actual appliances used at executions, 
such as the rope, the chains, the stake, 
and the iron tools. Indeed it is the 
popular belief that there is some magic 
power and virtue inherent in such 
objects. 

Others cook the whole body to dry 


BK. II. GH. II. 


MALEFICARUM 


89 



ashes, and mix it with certain other the day before by its father, Wolf the 
matter into a solid lump. Giovanni Smith. It differs from the case we have 
Battista Porta mentions that this was just quoted only in the fact that they 
wont to be done in his day, and Pliny did not burn the body to ashes, but 
(Historia Naturalis , XXVIII, 7) * also melted it into a solid lump so that 

they could more easily make 
an unguent from it. But they 
reduced the bones to ashes 
with which they sprinkled 
the trees of orchards to pre¬ 
vent them from bearing fruit. 

At Guermingen in Decem¬ 
ber 1588 Antony Welch re¬ 
ported what had been told 
him by the wives of Nichel 
Gross and Beschess, both of 
whom were well known to 
him through his companion¬ 
ship with them in witch¬ 
craft. They said that not 
long before they had dug up 
from the cemetery of Guer¬ 
mingen two corpses which 
had lately been consigned to 
speaks of it. In our own time Remy the earth by their relatives Bernard 
tells of many who have been tried and and Antony Lerchen, and that they had 
executed for such practices in German burned them in a fire and used them 
Lorraine. for their own vile spells of witchcraft. 

☆ But first they cut off the right arm 


Examples . 

At Douzy on the 1st Octo¬ 
ber, 1586, Anna Ruffa con¬ 
fessed that she helped a 
witch named Lolla to dig 
up in this way a corpse 
which had recently been 
buried, and from its burned 
ashes they compounded a 
potion that they afterwards 
used for killing those whom 
they would. 

The evidence of the witch 
Briceia at Vorpach in August 
1587 is clear concerning the 
digging up of an infant’s 
body which had been buried 



* “Historia Naturalis ,” XXVIII , 7. uerum etiam ipsae meretrices prodidere . . . 

“Quae ex mulierum corporibus traduntur, ad Cinere eo quidem , si in testa sint cremati , uel 

portentorum miracula accedunt, ut sileamus cum spuma argenti scabritias oculorumacprun- 

diuisos membratim in scelera abortiuos, men - gines emendari: item uerrucas, et infantium 

sium piacula , quaeque alia non obstetrices modo ulcer a cum melle 












































COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. II. 


90 

together with the shoulder and the ribs 
pertaining to it, which they required 
for the devilish light that we have 
mentioned above: for if they wished 
to poison anyone by night they set light 
to the fingers at the end of the limb, 
which burned with a blue sulphurous 
flame until they had completed their 
work; and when the flame was extin¬ 
guished the fingers remained whole 
and unwasted, as if they had never 
been burned. And this happened in 
the same manner just as often as they 
wished. 

Johann Muller of Welferdingen had 
a child but 
one year old 
whom he 
loved very 
dearly. Aga- 
tina of Pittel- 
ingen and 
Maietta of 
Hoheneck 
s t o le this 
child from its 
cradle and 
laced it on a 
urning pyre 
which they 
had prepared 
for that pur¬ 
pose on a 
steep hill called “La Grise ,” and care¬ 
fully collected its calcined ashes. These 
they mixed with dew, shaken from the 
ears of corn and the heads of grasses, 
into a mass that could be easily 
crumbled, and with this they dusted 
the vines and crops and trees, causing 
their flowers to fade and preventing 
them from bearing fruit. 

☆ 

CHAPTER III 
Of Witches' Poisons. 

Argument. 

T HE poisons used by witches are 
compounded and mixed from 
many sorts of poisons, such as the 


leaves and stalks and roots of plants; 
from animals, fishes, venomous rep¬ 
tiles, stones and metals; sometimes 
these are reduced to powder and 
sometimes to an ointment. It must 
also be known that witc les admin¬ 
ister such poisons either by causing 
them to be swallowed, or by external 
application. In the first instance they 
usually mix some poisonous powder 
with the food or drink: in the second 
they bewitch their victim, whether 
man or woman, while he is sleeping by 
anointing him with their lotions, 
waters, oils, and unguents which con¬ 
tain many 
and various 
poisons. They 
anoint the 
thighs, or 
belly, or head, 
tl roat, breast, 
riDs, or some 
olher part of 
tl e body of 
tie person to 
be bewitched, 
who being 
asleep feels 
nothing; but 
sich is the 
pDtency of 
tl at unguent 
that, as it is slowly absoibed by the 
heat of the sleeper’s body, it enters 
his flesh and penetrates 1:0 his vitals, 
causing him the greatest bodily pain, 
as. Spina has said. They have also a 
third method of administering poison, 
namely, by inhalation: and this is the 
worst of all kinds of poison, for by 
reason . of its tenuity it is readily 
drawn in through the mouth and so 
quickly reaches the heart. 

☆ 

Examples. 

Villamont in his Voyage ;, I, 33, tells 
of a witch at Venice who was the 
most villainous of all. He used to buy 
the souls of those condemned to the 
galleys, promising them freedom from 






































BK. II. CH. IV. 


M A L E F I 

their earthly punishment of slavery: 
he used to pay ten pieces of gold for 
their souls, which they sold with a 
duly engrossed deed written with 
blood, making them over to a demon 
and the witch. Soon after this, lest 
they should retract, he used to kill 
them by suddenly touching them with 
some poison, saying that he had been 
charged with carrying out the sen¬ 
tence which had been passed upon 
them. Who ever heard tell of such a 
thing? 

Sprenger relates the history of two 
midwives who were burned, one in the 
Diocese of Basle and one in that of 
Strasburg. One of them had killed 
forty, and the other a countless number 
of newly born children, by secretly 
thrusting great needles into their 
heads. 

According to Xiphilinus and Dio 
Cassius in the time of Domitian there 
were arrested many who used to prick 
whom they would with poisoned 
needles, so that numbers died without 
feeling any pain. This was also prac¬ 
tised in the time of the Emperor 
Commodus. 

Johann Nider tells that in the terri¬ 
tory of Berne certain witches of both 
sexes killed and ate their own chil¬ 
dren ; and that others did the same in 
the district of Lausanne. 

A certain lawyer of Frankfort, says 
Godelmann, de Lamiis, I, 7, narrated 
a few years ago that a Count of Higher 
Germany gave to the fire eight witches 
who had murdered a hundred and 
forty infants. In the year 1553 there 
were captured at Berlin two women 
witches who tried to cause a frost to 
destroy the fruit: these women secretly 
kidnapped the child of a women who 
was their neighbour, and cut it up 
and cooked it; but by Divine will it 
happened that the mother, seeking her 
child, came upon them and saw the 
pot with the limbs of her child thrust 
in it. The women were therefore 
taken and examined under torture, 
and said that if that cooking had gone 
forward a great frost would have fol¬ 


CARUM 91 

lowed, so that all the fruit would have 
been lost. 

About the year of Our Lord 1536 at 
Saluzzo * some forty men, one of 
whom was a hangman, and as many 
women, swore together that, since the 
plague which had been raging was 
now abating, they would make an 
unguent which would cause death 
when placed on the cornices of the 
doors. They also made a powder 
which they secretly sprinkled over 
persons 5 clothes. This evil was for 
some time unsuspected, and many 
died; but when they had killed the 
brother and the only son of a certain 
citizen named Neri, and it was 
noticed that hardly any but the 
masters of houses or their sons died; 
and when at the same time they 
became aware of an Hermaphrodite 
which went creeping into the houses, 
and that they whose house it entered 
generally died, the plot was at last 
exposed, and all the conspirators were 
put to death with the most exquisite 
torture. They confessed moreover that 
they had planned to anoint the 
thresholds during the festival, of a 
Saint much honoured in that district, 
and so kill all the citizens; and for that 
purpose they had prepared more than 
twenty vessels of ointment. Others 
attempted the same thing at Geneva, 
and paid the penalty. 

☆ 

CHAPTER IV 
Of Tying the Points. 

Argument. 

I FIND that learned men have 
given seven immediate causes of 
this impotence. The first is when one 

* “At Saluzzo .” This is from Girolamo 
Cardano, /501-7570, the famous Italian physi¬ 
cian, mathematician, and philosopher. “De 
rerum uarietate libri XVIIf lib. XV, c. 80. 
I have used the Basle edition, “per. H. Petri f 
1557 - 



COMPENDIUM 


BK II. CH. IV. 


92 

of a married couple is made hateful to 
the other, or both hateful to each 
other, by means of calumny or sus¬ 
picion, or by the affliction of some dis¬ 
ease, as Medea is said to have injected 
a poison which made all the women 
of Lemnos smell badly in their breath, 
and so caused their husbands to neg¬ 
lect them. 

The second is some bodily hindrance 
to their coming together. By this 
means a husband and wife are either 
kept apart in different places; or, 
when they try to approach each other, 
a phantasm or some such thing is 
interposed be¬ 
tween ' them, 
as will be 
seen in the 
example. 

The third is 
when the vital 
spirit is hin¬ 
dered from 
flowing to the 
genital organ, 
and so the 
emission of 
semen is pre¬ 
vented. This 
has been well 
expounded by 
John Mayor.* 

The fourth is when the fertile semen 
is dried up and taken away. 

The fifth is when the man’s penis 
becomes flabby whenever he wishes to 
perform the conjugal act. 

The sixth is the application of cer¬ 
tain natural drugs which in some way 
deprive a woman of the power to con¬ 
ceive. These are the more common 
causes mentioned by learned Doctors. 

The seventh is rarer, namely, the 


* “John Mayor” Joannes Maior or Had- 
dingtonus Scotus , Scotch philosopher and his¬ 
torian, 1496-1550. For an account of his many 
literary productions which were all written in 
Latin see Macka/s “Life of John Mayor” 
prefixed to Constable's translation of Mayor's 
“History of Greater Britain ,” Edinburgh 
1892. 


closing up or narrowing of the female 
genitals; or the retraction, hiding or 
actual removal of the male genitals. 
Sprenger (II, q. 1, cap. 7) and Remy 
(II, 5) tell various stories of such a 
calamity to the male. This kind of 
witchcraft is of two sorts, one tem¬ 
porary and the other permanent. It is 
called permanent when it lasts up to 
death and cannot be removed by any 
natural medicine or other lawful 
means. It is temporary wh< n it is only 
to last for a certain time. 

☆ 

Examples. 

Vincent of 
B c au vais f 
tells the fol¬ 
lowing. At 
Rome in the 
tin e of the 
Emperor 
Henry III 
there was a 
certain noble 
and rich 
yoi.ng man 
who had 
lately mar¬ 
ried a wife 
and invited 
his friends to a sumptuous wedding 
feast, and they went out a ter dinner 
into the fields to play at ball. The 
bridegroom as leader of the game 
asked for the ball, and lest his be¬ 
trothal ring should fall ofl he put it 
on the finger of a bronze statue of 
Venus which was close by, and all 


f “Vincent of Beauvais.” Eve,1 the years of 
the birth and death of this celebiated encyclo¬ 
paedist are uncertain , but the dates most fre¬ 
quently assigned are 1190 and 1264 respectively. 
It is thought that he joined tht Dominican 
Order shortly after 1218 , and that he passed 
practically his whole life in his monastery at 
Beauvais incessantly occupied with his enor¬ 
mous work , of which the general title is “Specu¬ 
lum Maius,” containing 80 books divided into 
9885 chapters. 
































BK. II. GH. IV. 


MALEFICARUM 


turned to the game. He soon grew 
tired and stopped playing, and came 
back to the statue to get his ring; but 
the statue’s finger was bent back to 
the palm of the hand, and however he 
tried to recover the ring, he could not 
bend the finger nor draw off the ring. 
He went back to his friends, but told 
them nothing about this. In the dark 
of night he came back with a servant 
to the statue, and found the finger 
stretched out as it had been at first, 
but without the ring. He kept quiet 
about his loss and went into the house 
to his newly married wife; and when 
he entered the bridal chamber and 
wished to lie with his wife, he felt 
himself prevented, and something 
cloudy and dense rolled between his 
body and his wife’s. He could feel this, 
but he could not see it. By this ob¬ 
stacle he was prevented from embrac¬ 
ing his wife; and he also heard a voice 
saying: “Live with me, for to-day you 
have wed me. I am Venus, upon 
whose finger you placed the ring, 
which I shall not return.” The man 
(says S. Antoninus, who takes this story 
from Vincent of Beauvais) was terri¬ 
fied by such a prodigy, and neither 
did he dare nor was he able to make 
any answer, but he spent that night 
without sleep in deep thought. So it 
continued for a long time, that when¬ 
ever he wished to have intercourse 
with his wife he felt and heard the 
same thing. In other respects he was 
healthy, ruled his house well, and was 
diligent in his military service. At last, 
driven by his wife’s complaints, he 
took the matter to his parents and 
they, after due consideration, made it 
known to a certain suburban priest 
named Palumbus, who was a necro¬ 
mancer and a master of spells. This 
man, in return for many fair promises, 
wrote a letter and gave it to the young 
man, saying: “Go at such an hour of 
the night to the cross-road where four 
ways meet, and stand there in silent 
thought. There will go by you the 
figures of men and women of all ages 
and conditions, some on horseback 


93 

and some afoot, some rejoicing and 
some mourning; but whatever you 
hear, you must not speak. Following 
that company will come one of greater 
stature and bulk sitting on a car, and 
to him you must silently give the letter 
to read; and he will at once do what 
you desire.” The young man did all 
this exactly as he had been directed, 
and he saw there among the rest a 
woman clothed like a harlot riding 
upon a mule with her hair flowing 
loose over her shoulders and bound 
with a golden fillet in front, carrying 
in her hand a golden rod with which 
she drove the mule, and appearing 
almost naked because of the thinness 
of her garment, and making lascivious 
gestures. Last came the Lord of the 
whole rout, bending terrible eyes upon 
the young man from a superb chariot 
made of emeralds and pearls, and 
asked him why he was there. He 
answered nothing, but held out the 
letter to him. The demon recognised 
the seal and, not daring to despise it, 
read what was written, and thereupon 
raised his arms to heaven and said: 
“Almighty God, how long wilt Thou 
suffer the iniquities of the priest Pa¬ 
lumbus?” He at once sent his servants 
from his side to wrest the ring from 
Venus, who after many subterfuges at 
last yielded it with reluctance. So the 
young man, having obtained what he 
sought, at last consummated his long- 
wished love. But when Palumbus 
heard of the demon’s cry to God about 
him, he understood that his days were 
numbered; therefore he himself cut off 
all his limbs and died in miserable 
pain, having confessed to unheard of 
crimes in the presence of the Roman 
people. 

Gotschalcus Hollen,* the Augus- 
tinian Eremite, writes as follows ( Prae - 


* “Gotschalcus Holleti the Augustinian .” I 
have used two editions of the “ Praeceptorium ” 
of this Eremite theologian; Preceptoriu nouum, 
Cologne, folio, 1481; and “Preceptorium gots- 
calci ordinis heremitarum sancti Augustini 
Cologne, folio, 148(4, 



COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. IV. 


94 

ceptorium, fol. 20, litt. A). I know a 
woman who wished to cause a divorce 
between a man and a woman who 
loved each other, and for this she was 
to receive payment. She wrote upon 
some cards two strange characters, 
together with other devout words, and 
gave them these cards to wear; yet 
they did not quarrel. Then she wrote 
the same words on a cheese which she 
gave them to eat; and afterwards took 
a black chicken which she cut in half, 
and offered one half to the devil with 
certain sacrificial rites, and gave the 
other half to the man and woman to 
eat. After this there arose the greatest 
hatred between them, so that they 
could not bear to look at each other. 
And how did this happen, unless it 
were a sacrificial offering to the devil? 
So writes Hollen. 

Giovanni Battista Godronchi (De 
morbis maleficiis , XIII, 8) relates that 
there was in the town of Sepino, in the 
Kingdom of Naples, a man named 
Jacopo whose wife so detested him 
that, from the very first day of their 
marriage, they had been so far from 
being able to consummate the wed¬ 
ding that they could not even live 
together; and if ever Jacopo tried to 
approach his wife, she was filled with 
such fury and rage that she would 
rather throw herself from the window 
than submit to him. This was told to 
a certain religious man to whom they 
had given hospitality; and he found it 
difficult to believe the story, and there¬ 
fore, in order to prove it, asked that 
the woman should be approached 
there and then. The husband accord¬ 
ingly hid himself within the house, lest 
his wife, knowing him to be present, 
should refuse to come in. The woman 
came, and being asked the reason for 
her hatred of her husband began to 
bemoan her evil fate and said that she 
could give no reason at all; but she 
declared that when her husband was 
absent she was consumed with such a 
longing and love for him as she could 
not express in words; but when she 
went near him to speak to him and 


look at him, there at once appeared 
in her imagination such deformed, 
ugly and horrible monsters in the like¬ 
ness of her husband that she would 
rather die than endure him; and that 
her whole soul and all her strength 
and part of her life seemed 1o be drawn 
into her husband as an evil offering 
to her own ruin: but when he was 
again absent she again burned with 
the same love. The good priest wished 
to prove the truth of the woman’s 
words and told the women who were 
with her to bind her by her arms and 
legs with a strong rope to the bed in 
the form of a cross; and le told the 
husband to put off all repu jnance and 
quickly have to do with her. For the 
priest suspected that the woman might 
be pretending to be affected in that 
way so that she might conceal some 
deformity. The wife, in her desire for 
her husband, let herself be bound and 
asked that her husband should be ad¬ 
mitted to her: but when he came in, 
never was seen such terrible fury, no 
wild beast was ever so f.erce or so 
filled with madness and rige as that 
woman; for she foamed at the mouth 
and gnashed her teeth ancl rolled her 
eyes, whilst her whole bodv seemed to 
be shaken and possessed with demons. 
The women who were present said 
that when they touched her belly 
which was twisting under 1 he ropes, it 
appeared to be crammed lull, and all 
her skin was covered with weals as if 
she had been beaten. Th*re was no 
end to this raging until the husband, 
tired out with struggling and moved 
with pity for her, went away. 

The same author says as follows. In 
the town S. Gimignano in Etruria a 
young man so desperately fell in love 
with a witch that he left his beautiful 
and faithful wife as well as lis children 
and, forgetting them, lived with his 
mistress until his wife, periuaded that 
his conduct was due to witchcraft, 
secretly searched for the charm which 
had caused it, and found in ajar under 
her bed a toad with its eyes stitched up. 
This she at once took away, opened 





BK. II. CH. V. 


MALEFICARUM 


its eyes, and afterwards burned; and 
immediately her husband, as if he were 
awaking from sleep, remembered his 
family and forthwith came back to his 
wife and children. 

☆ 

CHAPTER V 
Of Incendiary Witchcraft. 
Argument. 

ITCHES, that brood of hellish 
vipers, do not only by their 
devilish work 
inflame souls, 
but set fire 
to] bodies, 
houses, and 
whole towns; 
wherefore 
they are mani¬ 
festly fuel for 
t|he eternal 
fire. 

☆ 

Examples . 

Remy (II, 

13) tells that 
at Montlhery 
a certain 
witch called Black Jeanne Armacu- 
riana quarrelled with one Frangoise 
Huyna and, when she could not get 
what she wanted, was consumed with 
a desire for vengeance. She was then 
given by the demon a piece of linen 
in which were wrapped some small 
objects like cut straws, and was told 
to hide it in Huyna’s house and go 
away quickly; for the house would 
soon afterwards catch fire suddenly 
and be burned with all the furniture. 
She therefore rolled the piece of 
linen into a ball and offered it for 
sale as a head ornament to Huyna, 
who was then busy in the bakehouse. 
But when she said that she did not 
need it, as her servants could provide 
all that she required, Jeanne never¬ 


95 

theless threw it into the bakehouse 
saying that if she had no use for it she 
could return it to her; and she had 
hardly left the house before the bake¬ 
house where that ball was caught on 
fire, and then the whole house began 
to blaze so fiercely that it was burned 
down before any help could be 
brought. The truth of this matter was 
established beyond doubt by the sepa¬ 
rate accounts of the two women and 
by the event itself. 

A less subtle, though equally per¬ 
nicious work of incendiarism is testified 
to by Conrad Wolff hart,* who writes 

as follows in 
his Prodigiorum 
ac Ostentorum 
Chronicon. 
There is a 
town in Swit¬ 
zerland called 
Schiltach 
which, on 13 
A P ri l> 

was suddenly 
and com¬ 
pletely burn¬ 
ed ; and, ac¬ 
cording to the 
report of the 
townsmen to 
the Magis¬ 
trate at Frei¬ 
burg, the cause of the fire was popu¬ 
larly supposed to be as follows. A 
demon whistled a signal from a cer¬ 
tain part of the house, and the master 
went up thinking it was a thief, but 
found no one. But the signal was 
heard again from the upper dining¬ 
room; and the master ran up to find 
the thief, but again saw no one, yet 
the whistling was heard from the top 


* 11 Conrad Wolffhart.” This famous Ger¬ 
man scholar was born at Rouffach in Alsace , 
1318. He professed Grammar for many years 
at the University of Basle where he died 1561. 
In his writings he often adopted a hlellenised 
name , Lycosthenes, under which he is not infre¬ 
quently known. I have used the Basle edition , 
folio , 7557, of the “Prodigiorum Chronicon .” 

















COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. V. 


96 

of the smoke-chamber. Then it came 
into the master’s mind that it was 
something devilish; and he bade his 
household keep their wits while two 
priests were fetched. They began their 
exorcism, and he answered that he 
was a demon. Asked what he was 
doing there, he said that he wished to 
ruin the town. When they threatened 
to offer Masses, he said that he cared 
nothing for their menaces. And soon 
afterwards he seized a woman with 
whom he had had intercourse for four¬ 
teen years (although she had confessed 
every year and had received the 
Eucharist), 
and bore her 
up in the air 
and set her 
on the top of 
the smoke- 
chamber, and 
gave her a jar 
which he told 
her to upset: 
and when 
she had done 
so the whole 
town was 
burned down 
within an 
hour. 

A few years 
ago some 
incendiaries were infesting the region 
of the Rhine. They used to place in 
other persons’ houses a sword or spear 
or knife, or some other object entirely 
free from heat or fire; and after a few 
hours flames would burst from the 
house and consume it as if it had 
been made of straw. 

☆ 

CHAPTER VI 

The Devil Wishes to Perpetuate the Race 
of Witches. 

Argument. 

T HE infection of witchcraft is 
often spread through a sort of 
contagion to children by their fallen 


parents, when these study to find 
favour with their Cacodemons by so 
doing. For the greed of Satan was 
ever infinite and insatiable : thus, when 
once he has gotten a foot lold in any 
family, he is never known to relinquish 
it except with the greatest difficulty. 
And it is one among many sure and 
certain proofs against these who are 
charged and accused of witchcraft, if 
it be found that their parents before 
them were guilty of this ciime. There 
are daily examples of this inherited 
taint in children, for the devil is always 
busy to increase the number of his 

own. And 
there can be 
nc more fruit¬ 
ful means of 
at:aining this 
end than by 
urging and 
cc mpelling 
th Dse who are 
already in his 
pewer to cor¬ 
rupt their 
children. 

☆ 

Examples. 

Nicole Mo¬ 
re 11 e con¬ 
fessed at Barr injanuary 1587 that her 
father had taken her to tl le demon’s 
assemblies at night befoie she had 
reached puberty. There was another 
who, although she was :iot yet of 
marriageable age, was taken by her 
mother far into a dense w ood, being 
promised that she would meet a 
handsome young man, vvhom she 
might easily take to husband: and 
it happened as her mothei had said; 
but as soon as she was embraced by 
him she felt herself deceived, for she 
seemed to be embraced by some statue 
of marble, he lay so stiff and heavy 
upon her. 

At Gebweiler, in July 1568, Henry 
and Catharine gave their son Hanzel 
a Succuba for wife. As far ;is he could 


























BK. II. GH. VI. 


MALEFICARUM 


see at his first approach, her hair and 
garments were black, and her feet de¬ 
formed like horse’s hooves; yet he did 
not on that account repulse her, but 
immediately lay with her in greedy 
pleasure, having abjured all holy 
thoughts: but it was as if he had 
entered an icy cavern, and he went 
away ashamed and sorrowful without 
accomplishing his purpose. 

At Girancourt, in October 1586, 
Domenico Petronius said that before 
he was twelve years old he had been 
taken by his mother to those abomin¬ 
able meetings that he might marry a 
wife. For marriages are often per¬ 
formed at the Sabbat. Colette the 
Fisher’s wife and many others have 
confessed this. And Bertrande the 
Barber’s wife, and Synchen May re¬ 
ported that they had witnessed a wed¬ 
ding of this sort, when they happened 
to be present there one night, and that 
in place of the customary wedding 
gifts the couple were only required to 
stoop down and blow upon each 
other’s fundaments. 

Near Ribeauville Domenique Falvet 
was picking rushes with her mother 
for binding up the vines, and they lay 
on the ground to rest. After they had 
talked a little, the mother began to 
warn her not to be frightened if by 
any chance she saw something strange, 
for there would be no danger to her in 
it. When she had said this, there sud¬ 
denly appeared something in human 
form which looked like a shoe-maker, 
for he was girt round the middle with 
twine rubbed with pitch. The girl was 
made to swear an oath to this man, 
and he marked her on the brow with 
his nail as a sign of her new allegiance, 
and then he lay with her in the sight 
of her mother. The mother in her turn 
offered herself to be defiled by him in 
her daughter’s presence. Then they 
joined hands and danced round in a 
ring for a while; after which he gave 
them what seemed to be money (but 
afterwards it crumbled to dust), and 
disappeared into air and returned to 
his own place. 

H 


97 

At Jouy-aux-Arches, in 1581, Fran¬ 
chise Hacquart, in order to free herself 
from persecution by a demon, de¬ 
livered up to the demon her daughter 
Jeanne, who was not yet seven years 
old. This was the chief of her many 
confessions at her trial. Now since 
there was evidence that the child had 
consented to this thing, and this was 
largely substantiated by her own clear 
statements concerning the witches’ 
Sabbats at which she had been present, 
it began to be commonly thought that 
she should be held equally guilty with 
her mother. But she seemed too young 
to be tried as a criminal, and no evil 
act of witchcraft could be proved 
against her; so a lady of that place 
took her into her own house to try to 
wean her from that execrable way of 
life with every holy means in her 
power. After her mother had been put 
to death, therefore, she was kept in the 
matron’s house for some time and 
urged to lead a good life, and they all 
thought that she had verily shaken 
off the demon’s yoke and won back 
her former liberty. But alas! one night 
as she was sleeping as usual with the 
serving maids, the demon seized her 
and lifted her up as if he were about 
to carry her away with him: and it is 
believed that he would have done so, 
if the maids had not prevented him 
by calling often upon the Name of 
Jesus. Thus cheated of his prey, he 
left her hanging between the boards 
of the roofing and went away. And 
this was no hysterical vain report of 
the servant maids, for it was seen by 
all the neighbours who ran there upon 
hearing of it. The girl then fell into a 
sort of stupor, fasting and keeping silent 
and awake for eight days and nights 
together; and that this was not as¬ 
sumed by her through fraud or malice 
was sufficiently indicated by the fact 
that, according to Pliny, no one can 
with safety fast for more than seven 
days, and if anyone should continue 
to fast up to the eleventh day it must 
be confessed to be something preter¬ 
natural. 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. VI. 


98 

Remy says that he has read, in the 
accounts of such trials, of those who 
have confessed that they had hidden 
beneath their nails a poison given 
them by their parents, and that by 
this means they had often scratched 
and killed their companions while 
playing. 

In the same place he writes of a 
child not yet seven years old named 
Laurent d’Arsonval, who lived at 
Barr in 1591, and who clearly proved 
by his own evidence that he had been 
taken by his parents to the execrable 
assemblies of demons, where he was 
set to turn the 
spit and tend 
the flesh that 
was to be 
eaten; also 
the presiding 
Little Master, 
who had 
given him the 
name of Verd 
Joli,had more 
than once 
given him 
poison with 
which he 
afterwards 
killed the 
cattle of those 
who did him even the very smallest 
injury. This was proved by the actual 
event. 

☆ 


CHAPTER VII 

Of the Various Ways by which Witches 
Vent their Spite upon the Human Race. 

Argument. 

I T is not to be wondered at that 
witches are everywhere to be 
feared*: for although they have not 


* “Witches . . . to be feared.” King James 
in his “ Damonologie,” Book II, v, says that 
there are three kinds of folk whom God will 


an infinite power of doin^ ill to whom¬ 
soever they wish (see the history of 
Asmodeus and the seven husbands of 
Sara in Tobit), yet our sins, when God 
wills, often make us the victims of 
their malice. For no om is so upright 
of life and free from sin but that he is 
pricked and terrified by lie conscience 
of some misdeed; no one is so attentive 
and diligent in his religious observ¬ 
ances but that sometimes the stress of 
business will cause him :o neglect the 
customary prayers by which he was 
daily wont to commend himself to the 
protection and guardiarship of God; 

10 one is so 
secure as to 
he free from 
ill fear of in¬ 
jury by the 
wicked. Our 
daily experi¬ 
ence is proof 
enough that 
most of us are 
exposed to no 
light danger 
in this direc¬ 
tion. F o r 
witches do not 
attack with 
1 heir poisons 
only those 
who are off their guard or asleep at 
night; but they spread their snares for 
the vigilant in such a way that they 
can scarcely be escaped by human 
counsel or foresight. There are many 
stories upon this subject :n other parts 
of our book which should abundantly 
satisfy the reader; but as we are ap¬ 
proaching the subject from a fresh 
angle, and the stories are not alto¬ 
gether without pleasant profit and 


permit to be troubled or tempted by witches: 
“the wicked for their horrible sinnes , to punish 
them in the like measure; Tfu godlie that are 
sleeping in anie great sinnes 0' infirmities and 
weakenesse in faith, to waken diem up the fas¬ 
ter by such an uncouth forme: and even some of 
the best, that their patience may bee tryed before 
the world, as lob was.” 





























BK. II. CH. VII. 


MALEFICARUM 


interest, it may not prove wearisome 
if they are here set out at some 
length. 

☆ 

Examples . 

An old man who was porter at the 
Chateau de Bassompierre had married 
a young wife, but continued to live in 
adultery with another woman who had 
been his mistress before his marriage. 
His wife grieved that a harlot, who 
could not be compared with her for 
youth or beauty, should be preferred 
to her; and, as the custom is, went and 
told her trouble to a neighbouring 
woman and asked her advice as to 
what she should do. Her neighbour, 
whose name was Laire, told her to be 
of good heart, for she had ready a 
remedy for her misfortune; and she 
picked a herb from her garden and 
gave it to her, saying that if she made 
a broth from it and gave it to her 
husband he would entirely lose his love 
for the other woman. She gave him 
the broth the next day at supper; and 
he then first experienced a heaviness 
in his head and afterwards sank into a 
deep sleep. When he awoke from this 
on the next day he discovered, not 
without shame, that his virility had 
been taken from him; yet he told his 
wife of his misfortune, since he could 
not hope to conceal it from her for 
long. His wife, seeing that her impru¬ 
dence and folly had betrayed her, and 
that through begrudging another 
woman a part she had herself lost the 
whole, told her husband everything 
that had been done, and asked for¬ 
giveness for her fault, saying that it 
was all due to the great love which 
she had for him. The husband easily 
forgave her, recognising that the mis¬ 
fortune had been brought about by 
his own lasciviousness and lust; and 
he told the whole matter to his 
patron, the Lord of the place, Francois 
de Bassompierre. This noble man 
thought it his duty both to attend to 


99 

the recovery and health of a member 
of his household, and worthily to 
punish the witch for so foul a crime; 
so he summoned the woman and com¬ 
pelled her by his threats to restore to 
the man that which had to all seeming 
been lost: and this she did by giving 
him another herb to eat. She was 
therefore guilty by her own showing, 
and was seized and soon afterwards 
burned to death. It is very clear from 
this that there is no real actuality in 
such matters, but that it is all a 
mockery and a delusion of the eyes. 
This is taken from Remy, II, 5. 

Again, Barbellina Rayel had con¬ 
ceived a vindictive hatred for Jean 
Louis. As he was crossing a river on 
his way to a mill house, with the help 
of a demon she shook a big sack of 
wheat from his wagon, and then threw 
over his horses some powder which 
had been drugged by her Little Mas¬ 
ter, by which means she killed two of 
them at once, and the rest were ill for 
many days. Next, changing herself 
into a cat, she entered his house by 
night in that form, and with the same 
powder killed his two-year-old son. 
Finally she placed a poisoned pear in 
his way as he was going to Gerbeviller, 
as if it had fallen from a traveller’s 
bag; he imprudently took it up and 
ate it, and at once became so ill that 
he could hardly crawl home for pain. 
The demon had foretold all these 
things just as they happened, and had 
even himself advised the placing of the 
pear by the roadside. 

Lolla Gelea aroused against herself 
the hatred and malice of Catharine of 
Metz, who kept trying to find a means 
of avenging herself but could not see 
how to do it without attracting sus¬ 
picion towards herself, for she knew 
that the other was on the alert against 
her wiles. But a demon showed her a 
safe way, and told her to come the 
next day and fill a pitcher with burn¬ 
ing cinders from the metal furnaces 
(which at Dieuze are the most famous 
in all Lorraine), and to go to Lolla 
and upset the pitcher and breathe in 


100 


COMPENDIUM 


Bit II. CH. VII. 


her face: for he said that Lolla would 
give birth before her time with the 
greatest pain. And it was as he had 
said; for no sooner had Catharine 
overset the pitcher and breathed un¬ 
cleanly upon her, than Lolla was at 
once seized with violent parturient 
pains, and could hardly get into her 
house in time. 

At Conz in July 1582 Jeanne Gran- 
saint went alone to the window late 
one night thinking how she could be 
revenged on the comely Barbara, who 
had insulted her. At once there ap¬ 
peared a demon in the form of a cat, 
who told her to pound a slug’s head 
to powder and sprinkle it over Bar¬ 
bara’s clothes. She followed this ad¬ 
vice as closely as she could, and soon 
found an occasion to make use of it; 
for she found Barbara sleeping in a 
mean stable on some straw in the 
cattles’ stall. She therefore blew the 
powder over her and the cattle that 
were with her, and they all at once 
died. 

She used the same powder with less 
harmful effect against the daughter of 
Antoine Lebossa: for though she thor¬ 
oughly sprinkled her limbs with it, she 
only suffered a slight sickness and re¬ 
covered her health after a few days. 

Here it is to be noted that the drugs 
which they use in this way possess no 
inherent power either to kill or to heal, 
neither can the same substance possess 
such contradictory qualities. But all 
this is contrived and effected by the 
power of the demon, who is satisfied if 
the witch does but lend her hand to 
the work so that she may be a con¬ 
scious participator in the crime. 

Alexia Belheure used continuously 
to quarrel with her husband, as is 
usually the case when there are poverty 
and want in the home: and her hatred 
of him grew to such an extent that it 
was only the difficulty of injuring him, 
not the will to do so, that restrained 
her. But a demon agreed to do the 
work for her, if he should consider her 
request worthy of execution by him; 
and when she had extravagantly 


E rayed him to do so, he undertook the 
usiness. It chanced that on Christ¬ 
mas Eve the unhappy husband had 
gone to a neighbouring town to buy 
household necessities fo * that Holy 
Season, and was returning home late 
at night. The demon vie lently seized 
him on his way and beat him and left 
him half dead in the cave of Donali- 
baria (as it was called), uid flying to 
his good wife told her what he had 
done. On hearing this :he hastened 
out to all appearance a* if she were 
anxious about her husband’s return, 
but really that she might see with her 
own eyes the miserable condition of 
him against whom she had so long 
cherished evil thoughts When she 
found him lying and tewailing his 
unhappy lot, she said: “A as! husband, 
I was coming to meet you, knowing 
that you were returning through the 
country so late at night; but what 
does this mean? Why d) I find you 
lying thus on the ground and groan¬ 
ing?” When he had told her what she 
already knew, she raised him up and, 
supporting him as well as she could 
with her shoulder, brought him home, 
where he died on the same night from 
the intolerable pain of his wounds. 
The next day she roused the neigh¬ 
bours and showed them the naked 
body all black and blue with bruises, 
and said that he had fallen into the 
hands of brigands the day before and 
had crawled home in that condition 
gasping for breath. And they all easily 
believed her, for she was not young or 
beautiful enough to be suspected of 
having entertained adulterers. 

Odille Boncoeur of Harecourt said 
that it was the custom of witches, when 
they feared to be caught in the act, to 
sprinkle a poison powder in the way 
by which they thought lhose persons 
would go against whom they plotted 
some calamity. And thk agrees with 
the confession of Rose Gerardine in 
1588, that she infected her partner 
Stephane Obert with a mortal disease 
by scattering such a powder on his 
threshold before the dawn. 


BK. II. GH. VII. 


MALEFIGARUM 


IOI 


Jacobus Agathius, again, said that 
his demon had taught him that this 
was by far the easiest way to destroy 
the wife of Hilary a Banno. 

Isabella Pardea and Martha Merge- 
latia affirmed that they had never used 
this means against anyone without 
success, especially if they were bidden 
to do it by their demons. 

Francesca Perina took, as she was 
passing, some pears which had fallen 
from a tree belonging to a neighbour 
called Riberianus, and was severely 
beaten for it. As she was enraged by 
this and seeking to be revenged by any 
means, it was not long before a demon 
showed her a way to obtain her wish, 
and gave her some herbs which she 
must scatter on the path by which 
Riberianus used to go to his work in 
the morning. This she did; and he, 
not suspecting anything, walked over 
the herbs and at once became ill, so 
that he soon died in great agony. 

Barbeline Rayel used similar means 
against Francois le Violon, near whom 
she had lately come to live. She 
poisoned with a powder the gate 
through which his cattle used to go to 
water, and on the next day three of 
his mares were found in the stable 
dead on their backs. 

In 1586 Claude Morel spread such 
a powder before the doors of his kins¬ 
man by marriage, Wolfgang Hado- 
wille; and when his daughter hap¬ 
pened to go that way she at once fell 
ill and soon afterwards died miserably: 
for when she passed by that way she 
broke her leg. 

Catharina of Metz was angry be¬ 
cause she had been refused by a baker 
from whom she wished to obtain bread 
on credit, and asked the help of her 
demon to pay him out. The demon, 
as is their nature, came at once ready 
and eager for any chance of doing ill, 
and gave her some herbs wrapped in 
a paper, telling her to scatter them in 
the place most often used by the baker 
and his family. She at once took them 
and spread them in the doorway by 
which they had to go to the village: 


and the baker, and after him his wife 
and children, walked over them and 
were all afflicted with the same sick¬ 
ness. And they did not recover until 
the witch, moved by pity, obtained 
from the demon another herb to re¬ 
store them. This she secretly hid in 
their beds, as she had been told to do, 
and they were soon all restored from 
sickness to their former health. 

Driget and Odille considered that 
they were being taxed too heavily by 
the officials of the village where they 
lived, and wished to exact some heavy 
vengeance for that grievance. A 
demon did not fail to appear and 
show them how to set to work; for 
he told them to scatter a poison broad¬ 
cast in that place where the village 
cattle most often went to pasture, and 
that they might readily prepare the 
poison by pounding a sufficient quan¬ 
tity of grubs and worms. This they 
did, and within a few days there died 
of the cattle of that village a hundred 
and fifty according to Driget, and a 
hundred and sixty according to Odille. 
For they were questioned separately 
but agreed in everything except the 
number. 

Jeanne Foirelle gave a drugged caie 
to the whole of a neighbour’s family 
to eat, but that one only died whom 
she had intended to kill. 

Huberte of Bussiere had been un¬ 
fairly treated by one of the townsmen, 
and it seemed to her that she would 
be amply revenged if she killed by 
poison the five cows by which he sup¬ 
ported himself and his family. But 
there was a danger of her being caught 
in the act if she did the business with 
her own hand by touching each cow 
with a poisoned wand as was her 
method in her other poisonings. So 
her Little Master relieved her of that 
fear and told her to sprinkle before 
dawn a poison powder which he gave 
her about the place where the cattle 
were usually driven. But she hesitated, 
fearing lest the poison should affect 
the whole of the cattle, since she 
wished to harm none except that of 


102 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. VII. 


the man against whom she wished to 
be revenged. The demon then pro¬ 
mised that all the harm should be 
confined to those five cows; and so it 
proved in the event. For of all the 
cattle, only those five died or even 
became sick. 

Jeanne Armacuriana had stolen 
three bundles of faggots from a neigh¬ 
bour’s land, and had hidden them in 
the garden of Alexee Cabuse, which 
lay most conveniently to conceal her 
theft; but she did not manage secretly 
enough to prevent Cabuse, who was 
at work in a remote part of her garden, 
from seeing her. After the way of 
women, she told her neighbours what 
she had seen; and in consequence, 
Jeanne was not only ill spoken of, but 
was even in some danger: for in Lor¬ 
raine the punishment for the theft of 
even a cabbage from another’s garden 
is the lash. Her anger and indignation 
against Cabuse was beyond descrip¬ 
tion, and she kept looking for any 
means of revenging herself satisfac¬ 
torily for so great an injury. While she 
was pondering deeply on this subject, 
the demon to which she had given 
herself came to her and twitted her 
with cowardice in that she had allowed 
herself to suffer such mental torture 
for so long when she had so often 

roved that he was ready to procure 

er the occasion for vengeance; and 
he undertook that it would not be long 
before the other woman should be 
punished for her evil tongue, if she 
would allow him to work. Jeanne said 
that such was her wish, and the demon 
at once flew to Alexee, who was then 
tending her cattle in the meadows and 
was trying to drive back to the herd 
one which had strayed into a neigh¬ 
bour’s corn-field. He caught her up 
in a whirlwind and dashed her to the 
ground so violently that her leg was 
broken, and she was so bewildered by 
this. happening that she had to be 
carried home half dead. 

The following example concerns one 
Bernard Bloguat. He was driving his 
cart to Strasburg where he had some 


business, when he was seen by Jeanne 
de Bans as she was working in the 
fields. She then called to mind certain 
injuries he had done her, which had 
not been avenged, and ty her curses 
and execrations brought disaster upon 
him. For she had hardly begun to 
curse before he fell so violently from 
the cart in which he wa; sitting that 
he was instantly killed. Yet his body 
was quite uninjured, with no wound 
or bruise or discoloration or any swell¬ 
ing or dislocation or hurt of any sort, 
so that it is to be believec. that his life 
and soul were cut off in a moment by 
a demon. And lest any :;hould think 
that such a belief was base i solely upon 
that witch’s confession, Lit him know 
that it was commonly r eported that 
an ostler named Johann, who had lent 
Bloguat his cart for that journey, 
was privy to the whole affair. More¬ 
over, the strange and unh >ard-of man¬ 
ner of his death is itself an argument 
that it was due to some preternatural 
power of evil. 

At Nancy a certain witc h commonly 
known as Asinaria used to go from 
door to door begging, anc her age and 
infirmity so aroused the pity of the 
rich that she received every day 
enough to live in comfort. One day 
she was standing as usual begging in 
front of the Governor’s door, when his 
eldest son, coming out ir an unlucky 
moment, told her to go away and to 
ask him another time, because it was 
not convenient just then for his ser¬ 
vants to give her money. She became 
indignant at this treatn.ent and, as 
witches are always ready to do, cursed 
him: and immediately afterwards, as 
if he had pierced his foo' with a flint 
stone, he fell and hurt himself so that 
he had to be carried bick into the 
house at once. There he told his ser¬ 
vants how it had all happ med, adding 
that it was not the result of any im¬ 
prudent or careless step on his part, 
but that he had been struck from be¬ 
hind by some higher power and that 
there was no doubt he would have 
broken his leg if God had not helped 


BK. II. GH. VII. 


MALEFIGARUM 


him as he fell; for he said that he had 
fortified himself with the sign of the 
Cross at his prayers that morning. Yet 
after this the witch did not rest: for 
when her familiar had indignantly up¬ 
braided her because he had been foiled 
in his attempt, she started to beg and 
beseech him all the more to proceed 
by any means with the destruction of 
the young man, a task which would 
be easy for him if ever the youth came 
out without the protection of his morn¬ 
ing prayers and the sign of the Cross; 
for the demon himself admitted that 
these were the causes of his previous 
failure. Not many days later it hap¬ 
pened that the young man put his arm 
out of the window of an upper room 
to take some young sparrows from the 
nest on the wall, when he was lifted 
up from behind and thrown through 
the window with such force that he 
was thought to be dead. But after a 
few hours he regained consciousness 
and, looking at his father who was 
abandoning himself to tears and 
lamentation, said: “Father, do not 
think that this evil has happened to 
me through my own fault, for indeed 
I am very far from being to blame. 
Something came behind me and 
thrust me through the window in spite 
of my struggles, and I was over¬ 
powered by some stronger power and 
forced out.” And indeed they had 
found near him as he lay prone a piece 
of wood from a pile which had been 
stored for household use in the top 
attic. Constantly maintaining the 
same story, the youth died after a few 
days. Not many days later, Asinaria 
was thrown into prison by reason of 
the evidence of other witches against 
her and because of the daily increasing 
suspicion that she was a witch,. and as 
a result of her careful examination and 
the evidence taken by Remy, who tells 
this story. And at last she was induced 
by persuasion, without any recourse 
to torture, to make a full confession 
of all her crimes; and among them 
was that which had been so often and 
confidently affirmed by the boy. For 


103 

she said that as soon as he had accom¬ 
plished the crime the demon had flown 
to her in a neighbouring market-place 
and told her everything that had been 
done: and she continued to maintain 
this until she suffered punishment by 
death in the fire. 

There were some peasants, one of 
whom was lopping off the over luxu¬ 
riant boughs of a tree, another throw¬ 
ing fruit from a loft down to the yard 
ready to be pressed, and another load¬ 
ing and arranging straw at the top of 
a wagon. None of them were acting 
rashly in any way; but they were taken 
and hurled to the ground with such 
force that they had to be carried away 
half dead. Yet there was no sign of 
any person or thing to have caused 
their fall. 

There was a pear tree in a remote 
part of a wood, from which Jean 
Rotier had long planned to gather the 
fruit; and he did not think that the 
tree, being in such a hidden and out- 
of-the-way place, would be noticed by 
anyone, and his tit-bit be taken from 
his mouth. Yet the tree was discovered 
by Desire Salet, a man of his own 
class, who came there first and picked 
the pears. He was caught in the act, 
and it was not long before Rotier made 
him suffer for robbing him of his 
booty; for this class of men bears such 
injuries hardly and is easily incited to 
vengeance. He accordingly cursed 
Desire, as he was in the habit of 
cursing others, and he was suddenly 
caught in a whirlwind and hurled to 
the ground, and so hurt in one leg 
that he could not move until some 
swineherds ran at his cry and helped 
him home. And he was not yet healed 
when Rotier made a full confession of 
this matter. 

The following story of Apra Hose- 
lotte is similar. She had a son in the 
service of Jean Halecourt, whom his 
master had cruelly punished for a 
theft of which he, more than the rest 
of the servants, was suspected. This 
grieved the mother and made her wish 
for revenge, the chance for which she 


COMPENDIUM 


B (. II. CH. VII. 


IO4 

eagerly grasped. When the master was 
bringing his horses home from pasture 
and was carelessly riding upon one of 
them, she and her familiar came in¬ 
visibly and so bore upon the horse’s 
neck that the rider fell to the ground 
and broke his leg: and he was still 
lame and crippled by that fall when 
he appeared as a witness against that 
witch. 

Claude Fellet of Maizieres was al¬ 
ways quarrelling with a neighbouring 
woman, as it so often appears that 
women of the same class have only to 
live near each other to find occasion 
to quarrel and dispute; and she had 
pondered for a long time how she 
could privily bring some harm upon 
her neighbour. For it had to be done 
very secretly, since all the inhabitants 
would at once accuse Fellet if any 
rave accident befell the other woman, 
he consulted a demon about it, and 
he told her to go out into the fields 
and work as usual, while he would 
play his part in the town; for if she 
stayed at home she would be sus¬ 
pected. The neighbour’s house was 
shut up and the doors were bolted, 
when her son, whom the woman had 
left alone in the house when she went 
out, was heard crying pitifully. All who 
heard it ran up and broke open the 
door to see what had happened to the 
child to make it cry so; and they found 
it covered and surrounded with hot 
coals. They quickly threw these aside 
and took him from his cradle to save 
him if possible, but he was already 
breathing his last and died in their 
arms. A rumour then began to be 
spread that Fellet had certainly been 
at the bottom of this, for it was bruited 
that she had punished others before 
in the same way. Accordingly she was 
brought to trial on account of this and 
other crimes of which she had long 
been suspected, and she was at last 
induced to confess freely that she had 
wrought this mischief, and to tell 
everything that the demon had done 
at her request, particularly the matter 
of the burning coals which he had 


taken with a stick from the hearth near 
by, and had thrown them over the 
poor child’s cradle. 

A peasant named Mauletic was 
going early one morning to a castle 
by the Moselle to negotiate' a profitable 
deal in milk, since that was his trade, 
when a violent whirl wine took all his 
breath away, though everywhere else 
it was dead calm, so that he lay for a 
long time between life and death. This 
misfortune came to him through the 
contrivance of Francois Fellet with the 
help of a demon; for this man had 
long nursed a rancorous desire for 
vengeance upon Mauletic for certain 
injuries, as he himself af:erwards ac¬ 
knowledged freely, being induced by 
penitence to confess his si 1. 

Colette the Fisher’s wife, without 
coming near her fellow townsman 
Claude Jaquimine, made him blind in 
one eye by employing a demon to do 
that work, as she herself freely con¬ 
fessed when she was triei for witch¬ 
craft. And the greater fai :h was given 
to her story because the same Jaqui¬ 
mine afterwards said that his eye had 
been wounded as if pierce i by a force¬ 
fully driven branch of a tree, although 
there were no trees for a :onsiderable 
distance in any direction. Therefore 
it was suspected that he had received 
that injury through some black art. 

Jacobeta Weher testified as follows: 
“For many reasons I hated a certain 
peasant who lodged in the same house 
as I; but I could not see how to harm 
him without incurring suspicion, for 
he kept a keen and careful watch upon 
me. But at last I found a way; for 
when he was busy over some work in a 
thicket, a demon at my request drove 
a thorn so deep into his knee that he 
was disabled for a whole three months; 
and he was not cured until I took pity 
on his prolonged pain ard asked the 
demon to heal him again. A few days 
after this, as he was cutt ng wood in 
the forest, the demon pot red a lotion 
upon the wound and he was imme¬ 
diately healed.” 

☆ 


BK. II. GH. VIII. 


MALEFICARUM 


CHAPTER VIII 

Of the Different Diseases Brought by 
Demons. 

Argument. 

VICENNA and Galen and Hip¬ 
pocrates deny that it is possible for 
any diseases to be brought upon man 
by demons; and their view is followed 
by Pietro Pomponazzi * and Levin 
Lemne,f not because they did not be¬ 
lieve that the demons, which they 
acknowledged to be evil, wished to 
cause disease, 
but because 
they held that 
every disease 
is due to natu- 
ral causes. 

But that is no 
good argu¬ 
ment : for is 
it not possible 
for sicknesses 
to spring 
from natural 
causes, and at 
the same time 
possible for 
demons to be 
the instiga¬ 
tors of such sicknesses? The contrary 


* “Pietro Pomponazzi-” 1492-1929. Phil¬ 
osopher and founder of the Aristotelean-Aver- 
roistic School. He taught philosophy at Padua, 
Ferrara, and Bologna. Among his chief works 
is the “De naturalium effectuum admirandorum 
causis, siue de incantationibus (1520)” in 
which he seeks to prove that in Aristotle's phil¬ 
osophy miracles are not possible. The doctrine 
was condemned and Pomponazzi did not escape 
in common report the stigma of heresy. 

f “Levin LemneOr Livin Lemmens, 
/ 909-1968. A Dutch philosopher, born at 
Zirickzee in 2Jeland, where also he died. He 
practised medicine and acquired no small repu¬ 
tation in his day. His “De Miraculis Occultis 
Naturae Libri IV 55 was well esteemed, and 
was translated into French both by du Pinet 
(Lyons, 1566) and by Jacques Gohory (Paris, 


105 

opinion is held by Codronchi, Andrea 
Cesalpino, Jean Fernel,J Franciscus 
Valcsius the Spaniard, and other most 
learned physicians, together with S. 
Jerome (on Matt, iii), S. Chrysostom 
(Homily 54, on Matt, xvii), S. Thomas 
(I, 2, 115, art. 5), and other theo¬ 
logians. The jurists also, especially 
Burchard§ (Decret. XIX, de re magica ), 
argue excellently on the same side. 
Grilland (2, 6, to number 13) has 
often been quoted to the same effect: 
but I prefer the firmer authority 
of the Holy Scriptures. Did not the 
devil afflict Job with loathsome sores 

from the soles 
of his feet to 
the crown 
of his head? 
Did not the 
devil put to 
an alien use 
the tongue 
and ears of 
him whom S. 
Matthew calls 
the Lunatic? 
Did not a 
devil afflict 
Saul with a 
black hum¬ 
our? The ac¬ 
count is quite 
explicit, for it says that an evil spirit 
afflicted him, which went away when 
David played the harp. 

Let us now see by what method the 
demon causes sickness. This has been 


+ “Jean Feme IT Born in 1497; “le G alien 
moderne ” physician and master astrologer to 
Henri II and Diane de Poitiers. He published 
several works on medicine; “La Pathologie”; 
“Les VII livres de la physiologie”; and after 
his death a “Uniuersa Medicina” containing 
his various tractates and monographs appeared 
at Frankfort in 1592. 

§ “ Bur chardT The famous Bishop of 
Worms; born shortly after the middle of the 
tenth century; died 20 August, 1029. His cele¬ 
brated “Collectarium canonum ” or “Decretum ” 
is in twenty books, and was long used as a 
practical guide for the clergy. 























io8 


COMP 

den, he answered: “I knew this 
through the love which prompts a 
friend to tell things to a friend.” 

A tale surpassing all wonder is 
told in his De Naturae diuinis character- 
tsmis, II, 4. by Cornelius Gemma,* 
who relates that a fifteen-year-old girl 
of Louvain named Catarina Gualteri 
was sometime under his charge in 
the year 1571. She was given by a 
kinswoman of her own age something 
to taste, and when she had eaten it 
she at once showed extraordinary 
symptoms of sickness; for Gemma him¬ 
self saw her every day void so many 
objects of such a size and nature that 
he would not have believed if it had 
been told him by anyone else. In the 
eighth month of her sickness with a 
great effort she voided from her back 
passage a live eel, perfectly formed, as 
thick as a thumb and six feet long, 
with scales and eyes and tail and 
everything belonging to an eel. He 
tells that, three days before it came 
out, not only the girl herself but also 
those near her heard the eel utter a 
sharp thin cry in her belly; and when 
it was coming out the girl said that 
she clearly felt that at the first 
attempt it drew back its head, and 
then came out with a rush. They 
killed and disembowelled the eel, and 
hung it high out of the reach of the 
animals; but it suddenly vanished. 
Meanwhile the girl began to vomit an 
immense quantity of fluid not unlike 
wine and of an unpleasant taste; and 
this continued for more than fourteen 
days, each day s vomiting weighing 
twenty-four pounds. Besides this she 
made water copiously two or three 
times a day. No tumour or external 
swelling could be seen in her stomach 
or anywhere in her body, and the girl 


* “Cornelius Gemma.” Dutch physician 
and astrologer, born at Louvain in 1535, the 
son of Regnier Gemma (Frisius or Frizon), 
Professor at the University of Louvain. The 
chief work of Cornelius Gemma, “ De Naturae 
diuinis characterismis . . . libri II,” was pub¬ 
lished at Antwerp in 1575. 


N D I U M BK. IX. CH. vm. 

ate and drank very sparingly, hardly 
taking a cup of wine or beer or other 
liquor; but her excretion of water was 
such that in two weeks she could easily 
fill two water-butts. After this flood 
of water she began to vomit a vast 
number of hairs of about a finger’s 
length, some longer and some shorter, 
like those which fall from old dogs; 
and the quantity of the hairs grew 
each day so that she coulc easily have 
filled many full-sized balls. All this 
she vomited with much retching and 
difficulty. After a few days’ interval 
there followed other vomitings of great 
balls of hair floating in a purulent 
sanies, and sometimes of ;he appear¬ 
ance of the dung of pigeons or geese; 
and in this pus were found bits of 
wood and tiny pieces of skin, some of 
the wood being various-sized pieces of 
living trees, as if they had been broken 
off from the trunks; these were of the 
thickness and breadth of a nail, 
spongy inside and black with old bark 
outside. Shortly afterwards her vomit¬ 
ing became as black as coal, so that 
you would have said that it was ink 
or the excretion of a cuttle fish, with 
minute pieces of coal in it; and each 
day she vomited two or three pounds, 
nearly always accompanied with more 
hairs than could be put into a walnut, 
all white and long and stiff. This con¬ 
tinued for three days, and then in one 
single vomit she threw up two pounds 
of pure blood, as from an opened vein, 
unmixed with any other matter. After 
this blood, the black vomiting re¬ 
turned, as if the fluid had seen dyed 
with pounded antimony, and each 
day there were five or six pounds of 
the fluid; and this prodigy continued 
for seven solid hours. The application 
of human and divine remedies brought 
some relief, during which the hairs 
were still ejected, but they were fewer 
and gradually became blacker and 
shorter every day, growing from 
auburn to dark and so to jet black, 
and it.seemed that the vomiiing broke 
them into minute particles, such was 
her virulent spitting; though at times 










BK. II. CH. VIII. 


MALEFICARUM 


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. 

The same author tells in the same 
place the following story. An honest 
married woman deposed the following 
on oath. Behind my house (she said) I 
have a greenhouse, and my neigh¬ 
bour’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 green¬ 
house reckoning to myself and be¬ 
moaning 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 indig¬ 
nant because I had not, as she hoped, 
accused her with actionable 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 twmges 
shooting from my left side to my right, 


107 

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 con¬ 
sole 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 go¬ 
ing 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 
instruments 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 hus¬ 
band 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 containing all sorts 
of things, such as grains and seeds and 
bones. And when all these things were 
burned, I became better, but not en¬ 
tirely well. For although the shootings 
and twinges stopped, and I quite re¬ 
gained my 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 complete¬ 
ly 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 hid- 


io8 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. VIII. 


den, he answered: “I knew this 
through the love which prompts a 
friend to tell things to a friend.” 

A tale surpassing all wonder is 
told in his De Naturae diuinis character - 
ismis, II, 4 by Cornelius Gemma,* 
who relates that a fifteen-year-old girl 
of Louvain named Catarina Gualteri 
was sometime under his charge in 
the year 1571. She was given by a 
kinswoman of her own age something 
to taste, and when she had eaten it 
she at once showed extraordinary 
symptoms of sickness; for Gemma him¬ 
self saw her every day void so many 
objects of such a size and nature that 
he would not have believed if it had 
been told him by anyone else. In the 
eighth month of her sickness with a 
great effort she voided from her back 
passage a live eel, perfectly formed, as 
thick as a thumb and six feet long, 
with scales and eyes and tail and 
everything belonging to an eel. He 
tells that, three days before it came 
out, not only the girl herself but also 
those near her heard the eel utter a 
sharp thin cry in her belly; and when 
it was coming out the girl said that 
she clearly felt that at the first 
attempt it drew back its head, and 
then came out with a rush. They 
killed and disembowelled the eel, and 
hung it high out of the reach of the 
animals; but it suddenly vanished. 
Meanwhile the girl began to vomit an 
immense quantity of fluid not unlike 
wine and of an unpleasant taste; and 
this continued for more than fourteen 
days, each day’s vomiting weighing 
twenty-four pounds. Besides this she 
made water copiously two or three 
times a day. No tumour or external 
swelling could be seen in her stomach 
or anywhere in her body, and the girl 


* “Cornelius Gemma ” Dutch physician 
and astrologer , born at Louvain in 1535, the 
son of Regnier Gemma (Frisius or Frizon ), 
Professor at the University of Louvain . The 
chief work of Cornelius Gemma , “De Naturae 
diuinis characterismis . . . libri II” was pub¬ 
lished at Antwerp in 7575 . 


ate and drank very sparingly, hardly 
taking a cup of wine or beer or other 
liquor; but her excretion of water was 
such that in two weeks she could easily 
fill two water-butts. After this flood 
of water she began to vomit a vast 
number of hairs of aboi.t a finger’s 
length, some longer and some shorter, 
like those which fall from old dogs; 
and the quantity of the hairs grew 
each day so that she coulc. easily have 
filled many full-sized bells. All this 
she vomited with much retching and 
difficulty. After a few days’ interval 
there followed other vomit ings of great 
balls of hair floating in a purulent 
sanies, and sometimes of the appear¬ 
ance of the dung of pigeens or geese; 
and in this pus were feund bits of 
wood and tiny pieces of skin, some of 
the wood being various-sized pieces of 
living trees, as if they had been broken 
off from the trunks; these were of the 
thickness and breadth of a nail, 
spongy inside and black w ith old bark 
outside. Shortly afterwards her vomit¬ 
ing became as black as coal, so that 
you would have said that it was ink 
or the excretion of a cutlle fish, with 
minute pieces of coal in it; and each 
day she vomited two or three pounds, 
nearly always accompanied with more 
hairs than could be put into a walnut, 
all white and long and stilf. This con¬ 
tinued for three days, and then in one 
single vomit she threw up two pounds 
of pure blood, as from an opened vein, 
unmixed with any other matter. After 
this blood, the black \omiting re¬ 
turned, as if the fluid had been dyed 
with pounded antimony, and each 
day there were five or six pounds of 
the fluid; and this prodigy continued 
for seven solid hours. The application 
of human and divine reme dies brought 
some relief, during whic h the hairs 
were still ejected, but they were fewer 
and gradually became slacker and 
shorter every day, growing from 
auburn to dark and so .0 jet black, 
and it seemed that the vo niting broke 
them into minute particles, such was 
her virulent spitting; though at times 



BK. II. GH. VIII. 


MALEFICARUM 


it was more like mud. About the 
middle of September she vomited 
larger pieces of skin which seemed to 
be torn from her stomach, and they 
had the appearance of a thick fleshy 
membrane, tough and difficult to tear, 
like the choroid envelope of a foetus, 
and were marked with a network of 
veins, and were sometimes as much as 
half a palm in length. Immediately 
after these followed others much 
thinner but black right through, but 
still bearing the marks of veins, and 
in other respects not unlike the allan¬ 
toid membrane. Last came mem¬ 
branes of a third kind, devoid of vasa, 
and thinner than any of the others, 
like the amnion yet differing from it 
in appearance and material; for 
though thin, they were remarkably 
tough, and in some marvellous man¬ 
ner larger. The fragments differed in 
size, but two especially were more 
than two palms wide and were deeply 
grooved: these split themselves from 
top to bottom and took the form 
of cancellated rhombs. I can com¬ 
pare them with nothing better than 
the slough of a viper, although I had 
never before seen anything compar¬ 
able with them. But this was chiefly 
remarkable in them, that along the 
length of them there appeared a 
deeper groove marked sparsely with 
transverse marks, as appears in hoarse¬ 
ness of the lung. They had a hollow 
circular cavity within, a little nar¬ 
rower in the fastigium of one mem¬ 
brane, like the mark of a snake’s head 
with a mastoid apophysis or a mamil¬ 
lary processus. In the end of the other 
there lurked something abdominal 
and asymmetrical, not unlike a bifur¬ 
cated vertex. All these joined together 
clearly attained to the length and 
thickness of an eel, and I think that 
it was a papillary tubercle through 
which the eel breathed and, perhaps, 
drew into itself the needful solid and 
liquid nutriment. 

After she cast up these membranes, 
there followed a vast quantity of 
stones, which she brought up always 


109 

in the evening and at a fixed hour 
with much contortion and nausea. 
These stones were of the shape which 
is found in the ruins of old houses, 
and were solid, angular, and of vari¬ 
ous shapes and sizes, some as big as 
walnuts; and she vomited them not 
without danger of suffocation. Some¬ 
times also they were coated with chalk 
and joined together, so that they could 
not be distinguished from stones 
pulled from a house wall. 

Once in my presence she brought 
up an angular stone as big as a 
double chestnut, with very great diffi¬ 
culty, so that I manifestly saw her 
vomiting it and heard the sound of it 
falling into the basin, to the great 
horror both of my own mind and of 
those who were standing about. Im¬ 
mediately afterwards she brought up, 
but with less difficulty, a piece of 
wood as long and thick as a thumb. 
This was bound right round with a 
sort of thread. Meanwhile at intervals 
she still vomited hairs, but fewer and 
blacker. Then came that which would 
surpass all belief, for she brought up 
a hard triangular bone, hollow and 
spongy inside, such as was clearly a 
fragment of ox’s leg, and the girl’s 
father said he had seen such a one the 
day before in his broth. Without delay 
on the following day she vomited a 
number of bony objects, some sharp 
and some round, of various shapes and 
sizes, still mingled with hairs and 
stones: and last of all, pieces of glass 
and bronze. Gemma justly supposes 
that a demon was, with the permission 
of God, the originator of these prodi¬ 
gies, but that he nevertheless employed 
natural causes in their due order as 
far as he could. 

Sprenger {Malleus Maleficarum , II, 
q. 1, c. 13) tells of a woman of 
^abern with whom a certain midwife 
was very angry because she did not 
engage her to minister to her at child¬ 
birth. This midwife came one night 
with two other witches where she was 
lying in bed and said that, out of 
revenge, she was going to put some- 


no 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. VIII. 


thing in her intestines, the pain of 
which she would feel in six months 5 
time; and she touched her belly. And 
it seemed to her that she took out her 
entrails and put in something which 
she could not see. After six months 
were gone, in the words of Sprenger, 
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 de¬ 
livered 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? 55 For there were brambles 
as long as a palm, as well as a quan¬ 
tity of other things. 

There is a castle * called St.- 
Symphorien in the Diocese of Lyons 
and a few miles from that city, where 
there lived a man full of faith, a con¬ 
scientious entertainer of religious men, 
and of sober and learned conversation 
and opinions. This man once dragged 
an Abbot, almost by force, to his 
dwelling to see his daughter who was 
troubled with a wretched affliction: 
for, instigated by her envious mother- 
in-law, an evil witch-woman had 
caused her to sink into a hopeless 
languor, so that she could not endure 
the presence or sight of her husband. 
The girl’s mother, led by womanly 
affection to believe that Satan would 
cast out Satan, sought the help of a 
famous warlock, who came and ex¬ 
amined the girl and pronounced that 
she was bewitched. He then rubbed 


* “ There is a castle .” This history is given 
by Laurentius Surius the hagiologist. “De pro- 
batis Sanctorum historiis” ( Cologne , 1570-77), 
Tom . Ill , 8 May , c. xxiii. 


the bark of a tree with a potion of 
herbs which he gave her to drink, 
uttering certain enchantments; and 
with his own teeth bit th* poor girl’s 
arm, a marvellous and si range thing 
unheard of before. She then recovered 
from her languor; but ke 3t feeling as 
it were needles coming fro m her heart, 
and was in terrible pain while some 
unseen power drew these needles out 
through the bite in her arm, upon 
which no scar had appeared. A cruel 
remedy, but one worthy c f its author. 
In this way at various times more than 
thirty needles were expelled, some 
with and some without an eye for the 
thread. The Abbot who, as we have 
said, came to the house where this 
was happening, is a most eminent and 
distinguished monk whose good work 
in this and other marvel ous cases is 
not unknown; but since he is yet 
living I have thought fit not to divulge 
his name. The anxious father showed 
him his unhappy daughter and with 
tears explained her miserable case, 
and as he was speaking his words were 
proved by the fact: for the girl 
groaned and said that she felt a 
needle coming. The nee lie reached 
the opening, preceded by the usual 
flow of blood, and had already begun 
to show part of itself, when one of the 
lay brothers waiting upon the Abbot 
drew it out all bloody, to be kept for 
many years as evidence of the fact. 
The Abbot touched the wound and 
promised that by virtue of faith no 
more iron would come out of it. And 
so it was; but the material only was 
changed, for the malady was not yet 
conquered. Instead of the iron needles 
there began to come out little bits of 
wood, like spits of oak or ash, thicker 
and rather longer than thorns, but not 
all of the same length cr thickness, 
any more than the needles had been. 
Within a year and a few months six¬ 
teen of these bits of wooc came from 
the woman. At last came the Rever¬ 
end Bishop Peter who was endowed 
with grace to perform this miracle. 
He gave orders in the preceding even- 



BK. II. CH. IX. 


MALEFICARUM 


III 


ing that the woman should be brought 
to him as he celebrated Mass; and 
during the Mass the seventeenth piece 
of wood came from her body. The 
Chaplain drew it out in the sight of 
all, and the Bishop confessed and 
absolved the woman, and gave her 
the Eucharist, and bade her hence¬ 
forth be secure from all extrusion of 
any matters. In this way she was 
freed from all spells and sorcery and 
abode by her husband and gave birth 
to children, and is said to live to this 
day testifying to the miracle which she 
was permitted to experience. Her 
father’s name was Pierre du Fraxinet, 
a man well known and honoured by 
his neighbours, as may be verified by 
any who may find this story too 
strange to be believed. 

Cesalpino writes as follows, in the 
De Inuestigatione Daemonum , cap. 17: 
This year at Pisa I, with many others, 
saw the following. A woman possessed 
by demons used frequently, sometimes 
while she was being exorcised and 
sometimes after, to cast from her body 
objects of a size and nature which 
precluded the possibility of her having 
eaten them; such as long iron nails, 
bones, stones, balls of wool, coals, and 
many other things. And in her bed, 
where her breast, and especially her 
heart, lay, were found many balls 
cunningly formed from palm leaves 
in various shapes, but mostly in the 
form of a rose with many layers of 
delicate petals, some bound round 
with thread and others stuck together 
with glue. Other objects were found 
on her pillow where her head rested. 

☆ 

CHAPTER IX 

Why God Permits the Devil so to Busy 
Himself with Witchcraft . 

Argument . 

T HERE can be no doubt that 
there are many reasons for this. 
First, that glory may be increased 


even in us, when the glorious qualities 
of God are manifested in us. 

Secondly, it is consonant with the 
laws of God; for since He created man 
to be free, He freely permits him to sin. 

Thirdly, we may see in this a proof 
of His benevolent government; for He 
gave free will even to the devil, and 
permits him to make use of it at times. 

Fourthly, it proves His mercy to¬ 
ward the human race. For if the devil 
were permitted to do all the harm that 
he wished and could, no man would 
escape, but all would be killed. There¬ 
fore God often denies him the power 
to do harm. 

Fifthly, it shows God’s wisdom. For 
although He allows the devil to use 
his natural powers, yet He causes that 
Father of Pride to be overcome by 
such foolish little creatures as men. 

Sixthly, it shows His power. For 
although He allows the demon to effect 
the greater marvels, such as turning 
water into blood, He does not permit 
him to accomplish smaller things, such 
as the generation of gnats. 

Seventhly, it shows His justice: for 
in this way God punishes men’s sins 
even in this life. 

☆ 

Examples . 

In 1566, through the mouth of a 
demoniac woman at Laon, a demon 
in the hearing of all mocked at the 
Calvinists, crying out that he had 
nothing to fear from them since they 
were his friends and allies. This is too 
well known throughout Picardy for it 
to be denied; and it is recorded by 
Bishop Willem Damasus van Linda * 
(j De fugiendis nostri seculi idolis , I, 14). 

* “Bishop Willem Damasus van Linda ” 
(or van der Lint ), 1525-88. Bishop of Rure - 
monde and of Ghent. He was a staunch de¬ 
fender of the Faith , and the author of many 
theological and controversial treatises , some of 
which he wrote in Dutch for the instruction and 
safeguarding of his people. See Thus in “De 
Katholiekf CXXV (Leyden and Utrecht , 

1904) > 435 • 



112 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. IX. 


It was noted as a fact that when 
Martin Luther * died at Eisleben, the 
demons flew to his funeral from those 
who were possessed, as is recorded by 
Brcdembach, Bk. VII, ch. 37 and 39. 

In an ancient Life of S. Zenobius f 
of Florence, the history is told of a 
certain heathen woman of that city 
who was both noble and wealthy. Her 
husband died, leaving her with two 
sons whom she reared most carefully; 
but when they had come to their full 
growth they fell one day into a rage 
and terribly beat their own mother 


* “Martin Luther .” Malvenda, u De Anti - 
christo ” ( Romae, 1604 ), Liber X, p. 501, 
writes as quoting Bredembach: “Narrauit mihi 
uenerabilis Dominus jV. aetate, doctrina, et uitae 
sanctimonia commendatissimus, atque etiam- 
num superstes, eo ipso die, quo nouus euange - 
lista Martinus Lutherus defunctus est, uniuersos 
daemoniacos, qui id temporis ad Gheelam 
Brabentiae spe liberationis, quam apud corpus 
S. Dymnae diuino beneficio plurimi istic iam 
inde a multis retro annis consequi solent, 
aduecti erant, a teterrimis illis et horrendis 
daemonibus hospitibus suis liberatos. Postridie 
uero ab iisdem rursus obsessos et discruciatos 
fuisse: daemones uero, cum interrogarentur ubi 
pridie delituissent, respondisse, principem ipso - 
rum et archidaemonem precepisse, ut uniuersi 
spiritus maligni ad sui prophetae et Jidelis co - 
operarii D. Martini Lutheri exequias conflue- 
rent, congruere enim, ut qui quam plurimos ad 
inferos seduxisset, a quam plurimis ad eosdem 
solemniter deduceretur.” 

S. Dympna, Virgin and Martyr, whose 
Relics are now venerated at Gheel, province of 
Antwerp, was the daughter of a pagan king 
in Ireland. In art she is represented with a 
sword in her hand and a devil chained at her 
feet. From time immemorial the Saint has been 
invoked upon behalf of those possessed by 
demons and lunatics. Miraculous cures and 
deliverances from demons have without number 
been wrought at her shrine. The feast of the 
Saint is 15 May, when many pilgrims visit the 
sanctuary, as also on the Tuesday after Pente¬ 
cost. 

f “Life of S. Zenobius.” Apud Surium; 
Tom. 3; 23 May. S. Z eno ^ us (died 337) is 
venerated as one of the Patrons of Florence 
when his Feast is kept, 23 May , with especial 
solemnity. 


with many blows. Unable to endure 
this outrage she cursed their bodies 
with horrible imprecations, falling on 
her knees and beating the ground with 
her hands, and calling upon Erinnys 
and the hellish furies to bring madness 
upon her sons. The demons heard her 
from the depths of darkness; and they 
attacked the young men, driving them 
to a fury so that they immediately 
became like mad dogs and began bit¬ 
ing each other’s limbs. The servants 
ran up, there was a grea: outcry, and 
some brought ropes and some chains, 
and the young men wen bound; but 
even so their madness could not be 
restrained. 

S. Augustine, in The City of God, 
XXII, 8, refers to the following story 
told by one Paul. While (he said) we 
were still living at Cae;area in our 
native country of Cappadocia, our 
eldest brother began to maltreat our 
mother in a terrible and insufferable 
manner, not hesitating to lay his hands 
on her. The rest of us brothers and 
sisters bore this patier.tly without 
speaking a word for our mother to our 
brother to ask him why he treated her 
so: but our mother, goaded by woman¬ 
ish anguish, determined to punish her 
cruel son by cursing him, and went 
after cock crow to the font of Holy 
Baptism where she called down the 
wrath of God upon her son. Then 
there came to her some c emon in the 
form, as it is said, of oui father, and 
asked her what she wished to do; and 
she answered: “To curse my son, for 
his intolerable ill-treatmmt of me.” 
Then that enemy, since lie can easily 
find a place in the heart of an angry 
woman, persuaded her to curse all her 
children; and she, kindled by his 
viperish counsel, prostrated herself 
and seized the sacred font, and with 
her hair all disordered and her breasts 
bared begged from God the following 
boon:—that we should be banished 
from our country and wander about 
foreign lands as a terrible example to 
the whole human race. Our mother’s 
prayers soon took effect, and her ven- 



BK. II. CH. IX. 


MALEFICARUM 


geance at once fell upon our eldest and 
guiltiest brother; for he was seized with 
just such a shaking of his limbs as your 
Holiness saw in me three days ago. 
Before a year had passed we were all 
afflicted with the same punishment in 
the order of our age. But when our 
mother saw the great effect of her 
curses, she could no longer endure the 
conscience of her unnatural behaviour 
or the general disgust felt against her, 
but tied a cord round her throat and 
thus miserably ended her unhappy 
life. Unable to bear the scandal of 
these events, we all left our native land 
and were scattered in all directions, 
and after long wandering we have 
won freedom from our afflictions. 

In the County of Flanders (hear and 
tremble!) there is a Monastery (but it 
is well not to reveal its situation or the 
name of its Order) where there were 
three who were monks in name, but 
in reality beastly gluttons and whore¬ 
mongers, who had no shame at all in 
their crapulence or their lechery. Once 
when they had sat drinking till late in 
the night one of them, not quite so 
hardened in sin, said: “We have given 
enough to Bacchus and our stomachs. 
Let us at least thank God.” “For my 
part,” said another, who was bolder, 
“I thank Cacodemon; and I think it 
is he who should be thanked, since it 
is he whom we serve.” They then left 
the table with laughter and went to 
the dormitory, each with his wench. 
They had hardly lain down when 
there walked in through the bolted 
door a demon, in the form of a great 
fierce black man dressed like a hunter, 
and with him two little cooks. He 
looked threateningly at the beds and 
in a terrible voice exclaimed: “Where 
is he who gave thanks to me? I am 
here to repay him!” Then he dragged 
that man from his bed, quaking and 
nearly dead with fright, and giving 
him to the cooks ordered them to spit 
him and roast him by the blazing fire. 
They at once obeyed, and the wretched 
man was roasted and most obviously 
died. The rest were nearly dead with 
i 


*13 

terror, for the room was filled with the 
stench of the burned body. At last the 
hunter turned to the others who were 
cowering half dead under their blan¬ 
kets, and said: “You also deserve the 
same punishment, and I would will¬ 
ingly inflict it; but I am prevented by 
a higher power and leave you against 
my will. But I warn you to mend your 
ways, lest an even more terrible fate 
should overtake you.” The demons 
then vanished; but the men did not 
recover their courage or even their 
speech until broad daylight. Then 
when they arose they found their com¬ 
rade dead and (to prove that it had 
been no empty vision) quite blackened 
and burned. I doubt whether there 
has been so useful an example as this 
for hundreds of years. 

Geilana, the wife of the Duke of 
Franconia, ordered SS. Kilian,* Colo- 
man and Totnan to be put to death, 
and this crime remained hidden until 
God discovered its author in the fol¬ 
lowing manner. One of those who had 
struck S. Kilian with his sword was 
suddenly possessed by a demon and 
began to cry aloud: “O Kilian, you 
persecute me cruelly, for I am con¬ 
sumed with fire and cannot hide what 
I did. I see threatening me a sword 
red with your blood.” He kept shout¬ 
ing like this for a long time, tearing 
himself with his own teeth, until he 
passed from present to eternal punish¬ 
ment. Of such it is written, “Destroy 
them, O Lord, with double destruc¬ 
tion ” (Jeremiah, xvii, 18). The other 
associate in the killing fell into a mad¬ 
ness and disembowelled himself with 
his sword, passing from the torments 


* “S. Kilian” SS. Kilian , Coloman , and 
Totnan converted the Thuringian Duke Goz - 
bert, who after baptism was bound to put 
away his brother's widow , Geilana , whom he 
had wedded , since under the Christian dispen¬ 
sation this pagan marriage was unlawful — 
Geilana plotted vengeance and in the absence 
of the Duke caused S. Kilian and his two com¬ 
panions to be murdered , 8 July, 689. S. Kilian 
is Patron of Wurzburg. 



COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. IX. 


114 

of this present time to those of eternity. 
And what of Geilana when this was 
known to her? The wretched woman 
was infuriated to the point of extremest 
agony; and not long afterwards this 
ogress was seized with tormenting 
pains and cried out at the top of her 
voice: “I am justly tortured, since I 
set the torturers upon the Holy Men; 
I am rightly tormented, since I pre¬ 
pared torments for them. O Kilian, 
you come upon me relentlessly; you 
light the fire, O Kilian; and you, O 
Totnan apply the burning coals. Be 
content with your victory, for you 
have sufficiently avenged your wrongs. 
O Kilian, you are named from a cup; 
but the drink you give me is too 
bitter. 55 Saying this she was cruelly 
tortured, so that she could hardly be 
held by many people; and at last in 
excruciating pangs passed to the tor¬ 
ments prepared for the devil. 

Thomas Netter* * * * * in his book against 
the Wycliffites, De Sacramento Euchar- 
istiae, cap. 63, vouches that in 1384 he 
was an eye-witness of the following. 
He writes in these words: “I tell the 
story of what I saw myself with the 
eyes of my flesh in the Cathedral of 
S. Paul in London. The venerable 
Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas 
Arundel of happy memory, whose 
father and brother were Earls of 
Arundel, sat there in the Episcopal 
throne in judgement, with Bishop 
Alexander of Norwich and others as 
his assessors, and put some questions 
concerning the faith in the Eucharist 
to one William Taylorf from Worcester 

* “Thomas Netter” Born at Saffron Wal¬ 
den, c. 1375; died at Rouen , 2 November , 1430. 
Carmelite theologian and controversialist. He 
took a prominent part in the prosecution of 
Wycliffites and Lollards , confounding their 
teachers and refuting their abominable doc¬ 
trines in many admirable treatises. He died in 
the odour of sanctity; miracles were wrought at 
his tomb; and it is hoped that his cult will 
shortly be confirmed by the Congregation of 
Rites . 

f “ William Taylor.” This horrid heretic 
graduated M.A. at Oxford and proceeded to 


who had been chargee with heresy. 
When this man could by no means be 
turned to the true faith, and persisted 
in calling and believ ng the most 
Sacred Host to be nothing but 
‘blessed bread, 5 he was :inally ordered 
to do reverence to the Host. But he 
blasphemously replied: Trulya spider 
is more worthy to be revered. 5 Im¬ 
mediately there descended from the 
top of the roof a huge and hideous 
spider, and came straigl: t on its thread 
to the blasphemer’s meuth, and per¬ 
sistently tried, while he vvas yet speak¬ 
ing, to gain an entrance through his 
polluted lips. Thomas of Woodstock, 
uncle of the King, war; present and 
witnessed the miracle. The Arch¬ 
bishop immediately aiose with the 
other bishops, and expounded to the 
whole congregation there gathered 
what the avenging hand of the Lord 
had done to the blasphemer. A demon 
in the form of the spider possessed the 
blasphemer and so avenged the dis¬ 
honour done to God. 55 

Sophronius writes as follows of a 
vengeance taken by the Blessed Virgin 
Mary. In Heliopolis of Syria (Baal¬ 
bek) there was an actor named Gaia- 
nus who used to blaspheme against 
the Holy Mother of God publicly in 
the theatre. The Holy Mother ap¬ 
peared to him and saic.: “Do not, I 
beg you, do not such hurt to your 
soul. 55 He did but the more blaspheme 
against her, and she carr e a third time 


priest's Orders. Under Arcnbishop Thomas 

Arundel he was laid by the tuels for his sub¬ 

versive and blasphemous opinions . 12 Feb¬ 

ruary , 1420 , he recanted and was absolved . 

5 May , 1421 , he was charged in convocation by 
the Bishop of Worcester , to which diocese he 
belonged. Condemned to perpetual imprison¬ 
ment, he was afterwards pardoned. However , 
he gave continual trouble by his teaching 
against prayer , the veneration of the Cross , the 
worship of the Saints , and other holy doctrines . 
In the end this pestilent wretch was degraded 
from his Orders and burned at Smithfield , 1 
March , 1423. See Shirley's “Fasciculi Zfza- 
niorum,” pp. 412 , sqq.; Wilkins , “Concilia ” 
III , 404. 




BK. II. CH. IX. 


MALEFICARUM 


to him repeating the same words. 
When he would not mend his ways, 
but even increased his blasphemies, 
she appeared to him as he was sleeping 
one mid-day, and without saying any¬ 
thing touched his hands and feet with 
her finger; and when he awoke he 
found himself without hands or feet, 
lying there wretched, maimed and use¬ 
less. He then confessed to all how and 
why he had suffered that fate. He was 
thus mercifully punished for his blas¬ 
phemy; for so do the Blessed Saints 
mete out gentle punishment. 

Nider says: When I was studying 
sacred Theology at the University of 
Cologne, there was a virgin some 
fifteen or sixteen years old, well 
enough behaved as manners are now 
counted, and she was living away from 
her parents in the house of a kins¬ 
woman. She happened to break a 
common earthenware pot belonging 
to this kinswoman, who was sore 
angered when she knew of it, and cried 
out that it was due to the girl’s care¬ 
lessness. This angered the girl all the 
more because it was but a very com¬ 
mon pot; and in her temper she de¬ 
clared at dinner-time that she would 
not eat, nor even come to the table. 
Her kinswoman said to her: “You 
must eat.” But the girl muttered to 
herself some such words as: “If I 
must eat, be it so in the name of the 
devil,” and thus came to the table, 
neglected to asked the customary bless¬ 
ing, and with her first mouthful of 
bread (as it is thought) felt a fly in her 
mouth. Being by no means able to 
eject it, she swallowed this and was 
immediately possessed; yet she always 
kept her faculties and reason, although 
she was often tormented by the demon. 
She was sorrowfully taken back to her 
parents’ house, and for a long time 
no one was found who could deliver 
her. But at last a certain Dominican 
had pity on the girl and her parents, 
and undertook to exorcise her on con¬ 
dition that, if she were delivered, no 
earthly reward should be given to the 
exorcist, but that the girl should serve 


II 5 

God for the rest of her life, if she freely 
consented to do so, in her present vir¬ 
gin state, and not be given to any in 
marriage. Thisgood priest then offered 
the Holy Sacrifice, and the possessed 
girl made the usual offering and was 
present throughout the whole Mass 
without appearing to suffer any tor¬ 
ments. But after long exorcism the 
demon came out of her, leaving every 
limb of her virgin body bruised; and 
from that time she began to serve God 
in virgin chastity. 

The same author tells the following. 
When Peter,* the famous Judge of 
witches, resigned his office, he went 
back to Berne and lived there. But 
one day he returned to the Castle of 
Blankenburg, where a kinsman of his 
had succeeded him in his office, and 
there intended to do some business 
with certain of his acquaintances. 
Then a witch, together with four men 
who were her associates in this crime, 
being busy late one night with the 
mysteries of their art, searched their 
brains for a means of grievously harm¬ 
ing or killing Peter by witchcraft in 
some secret manner without being 
suspected. Accordingly when night 
came Peter crossed himself and went 
to his bedroom, but with the intention 
of keeping awake all night in order to 
write some necessary letters so that he 
might be able to leave the place in the 
morning. As he was thus awake, in 
the middle of the night it suddenly 
seemed to him that the day had come, 
for he was deceived by a fictitious 
light. Being then angry with himself 
because he thought he had wasted the 
night, he put on his clothes without 
blessing himself as he should, and went 
downstairs to the place where he kept 
his writing materials, and found it 
locked. He then became more angry 
and began climbing upstairs again to 
his bedroom, allowing himself, in his 
irritation, one brief word of cursing, 
mentioning the name of the devil. At 


* “Peter” “ FormicariusLib . V, c . j, 
4 > 7 - 



n6 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. IX. 


once he was hurled downstairs in 
dense darkness so violently that his 
servant, who was sleeping near at 
hand by the stairs, was awakened and, 
coming out to see what was the matter, 
and lighting a light, saw his master 
Peter lying senseless on the ground 
with all his limbs broken and profusely 
bleeding. Some time later it was dis¬ 
covered through the confession of a 
prisoner that those four men and that 
witch had thus hurled Peter down the 
stairs. Note, reader, what harm came 
to Peter through neglecting to make 
the sign of the Cross. 

Remy relates the following mar¬ 
vellous story. Jeanne Blaise of Baden 
had a son-in-law named Rayner with 
whom she lived in the same house. 
A fellow countryman of this Rayner, 
one Claude Gerard, had long ago 
lent him a pair of breeches, but so 
far had been unable by any impor¬ 
tunity to get him to give them back to 
him. Weary of so long a delay he at 
last came to Rayner to ask when he 
was going to be done with his subter¬ 
fuges, but found that he was away from 
home and that only his mother-in-law 
Blaise was sitting by the fire with their 
family. He therefore asked her to re¬ 
turn him his garment, saying that, as 
often as her fine son-in-law had made a 
fool of him, he would find that he was 
well able to pay him back in his own 
coin. This enraged the woman; but 
she decided to refrain from words so 
that she might be fully avenged in 
deed upon the man, and asked him to 
wait a few days more, and he should 
have what he wanted without any 
further delay. In the meantime she 
asked him if he would not sit down 
with her by the fire for a little in 
friendly wise and partake of some ap¬ 
ples which she had just baked. Gerard 
declined more than once, saying that 
he had no leisure to tarry there any 
longer and that he had no wish for the 
food which she offered him; but one of 
the applesstuck to thepalmof his hand, 
and was so hot that he was forced to 
try to knock it off with the other hand. 


Then both his hands were stuck, as if 
they had grown together, while the 
apple between them kept waxing 
hotter until he was driven nearly out 
of his mind. He therefor 3 cried out on 
some who were present to have pity on 
him, and each brought what remedy 
he could, some bringing water to 
quench the heat, and others tools for 
forcing his hands apart; but none of 
these were of any avail It then be¬ 
came clear that it was a matter of some 
evil art, and one of his more under¬ 
standing neighbours advised that he 
should be taken to the place where the 
evil had first come upoi him: and 
when this was done old gammer 
Blaise began to make fun of what had 
happened to him; yet sh^ gently rub¬ 
bed his arm from the shoulder to the 
hand, and thereupon the apple fell 
from him and the pain v r as assuaged, 
and he was able to use hh hands freely 
as before. 

A certain German Jurisconsult 
(Godelman, Lib. 1, de Landis , cap. de 
malitia Diaboli) tells the following 
history. Elizabeth the laughter of 
John, King of Denmark, Sweden and 
Norway, was married to Joachim the 
Elector of Brandenburg; and he left 
her at his death Queen o 'the town of 
Spandau, at the confluence of the 
rivers Havel and Spree. While she 
was yet living in this tov'n, a certain 
soldier came travelling through the 
Province and was taken ill and had to 
go to bed; and he gave lis hostess a 
purse of money to keep for him. 
Some days later, when he had re¬ 
covered, he asked for hi:; purse. But 
the avaricious woman was loath to 
part with so much money and deliber¬ 
ated with her husband whether she 
must give it back, and they decided 
that she should deny having received 
it. Accordingly when the: oldier again 
asked for it she brazenly $ aid that she 
had never had it and thit she won¬ 
dered at his impudence in daring to 
ask for something which he had never 
given her to keep. Moved to indigna¬ 
tion, the soldier in his turn accused the 


BK. II. CH. IX. 


MALEFICARUM 


hostess of perfidy; and her husband, as 
if in defence of his wife, thrust the 
soldier out of the house. Enraged by 
the hostess’s theft, he stood before the 
door and drew his sword as if to attack 
the host, and beat upon the door. The 
host asked for help from his neigh¬ 
bours, complaining that his house was 
being attacked; and the officers ran up 
and took the soldier off to prison for 
causing a public disturbance. After 
a few days the Mayor of the town sent 
a report of the case to another place, 
and asked that a sentence should be 
passed; upon which it was decided 
that the house had been publicly at¬ 
tacked and that therefore the soldier 
must be sentenced to death. When 
the day of his execution was at hand, 
the devil came to him in his prison and 
told him what sentence the Judges 
would pass upon him, promising that 
he would free him from that danger on 
condition that he gave himself to the 
devil. The soldier firmly answered 
that he would rather die, although he 
was innocent. The devil with great 
eloquence exaggerated his danger; 
but when he could not influence the 
soldier’s determination he finally pro¬ 
mised him his freedom without any 
condition; saying: “When you come 
into the Court, say that you are un¬ 
skilled in pleading and ask for an 
advocate; and I shall be there wearing 
a dark hat decorated with feathers. 
Ask then that I may be permitted to 
plead for you.” Thinking that he 
might do this without sinning, the 
soldier said that he would follow this 
advice. Next day he was led into the 
Court, where he saw a lawyer wearing 
a dark hat. The prosecutor demanded 
that the soldier should be put to death 
for causing a public disturbance; 
whereupon the soldier said that he was 
unfamiliar with legal procedure and 
asked that his advocate might speak 
for him. The Judges consented: and 
then the devil discoursed learnedly on 
the law, saying that he ought not to 
be sentenced to death who was neither 
the origin nor real cause of the quarrel 


ny 

and disturbance; that the soldier had 
been turned out and robbed by the 
host; and he said that they would find 
the purse if they looked in a certain 
place. The host violently denied this 
with terrible cursing. Then the devil 
added: “Swear then that, if you did 
rob this man, the devil may seize you 
and carry you away.” And when he 
had repeatedly sworn this, invoking 
the devil, that advocate left his learned 
pleading, suddenly went up to the 
host and, seizing him, took him away 
with a great noise through the window 
and over the market square to the 
terror of all; and the host’s body was 
never afterwards found. 

Three men* were drinking together 
in a tavern and, being heated with 
wine, began discussing the immortal¬ 
ity of the soul and the pains of hell. 
One, rasher than the rest, said that it 
was all nonsense and the invention of 
priests; and the others laughingly ap¬ 
plauded him. Thereupon there came 
in a man of great stature but slightly 
built, who sat down and said: “What 
may you be discussing, and why are 
you all laughing? ” The same bold 
fellow told him, and added that he 
would sell his soul cheap to any bidder, 
so that it were for money. “For how 
much,” said the newcomer, “will you 
sell it to me?” They soon agreed 
upon a price, and the man’s soul was 
bought and sold. They drank hard 
with the purchase money; and at last 
when it was night the buyer said: “It 
is time for each man to return to his 
own place. But do you tell me rightly: 
if a man buys a horse which is tied up 
with a halter, has he not the right to 
take away both horse and halter?” 
Saying this, he seized the trembling 
vendor of his own soul before their 
eyes, and raising him up in the air 
carried him off to hell to see that which 
he had refused to believe. For that was 
a dealer in souls, like the King of 


* “Three men.” This is from Thomas 
Cantimpratanus , “Bonum uniuersale ,” II, 55, 
Par . 3 . 



n8 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. IX. 


Sodom who said: “Give me the souls, 
and you may have the rest. 55 

Again, Godelmann says: A noble¬ 
man in Silesia had invited some guests, 
and the time of the feast had come and 
everything was ready, when he was 
disappointed by all his guests excusing 
themselves. Angry at their failure to 
appear, he broke out into these words: 
“Then let all the devils come, if no 
man can eat with me. 55 So saying, he 
went out and entered the church, 
where the priest was addressing his 
congregation, and listened to him for 
a while with the intention of calming 
his anger. But while he was in the 
church there came into the courtyard 
of his house some tall black horsemen 
who told his servant to call his master 
and tell him that his guestshad arrived. 
The servant went in terror to the 
church and told this to his master who, 
not knowing what to do, asked the 
priest’s advice. The priest broke off 
his sermon and advised that all the 
household should leave the house. 
This was done, the servants, men and 
women, all hurrying out; but it hap¬ 
pened that they forgot the baby and 
left it lying asleep in its cradle. The 
demons began to eat and shout and 
look through the windows in the form 
of bears, wolves, cats and men, holding 
up cups full of wine, and roast meats 
and fishes. When the neighbours and 
the priests and others saw this, the un¬ 
happy father cried: “Ah, where is my 
child? 55 When he had said this, one 
of the demons carried the child in his 
arms to the window as if to show it to 
its parents. The nobleman was then in 
the utmost anxiety for the child’s 
safety, and asked a faithful servant of 
his: “What, I entreat you, am I to 
do? 55 The servant said: “Master, I 
will commend and commit my life to 
my God, and in the name of the Lord 
will go in and see whether, with God’s 
mercy and help, I can bring out your 
child. 55 “Good!” Said the nobleman. 
“God be with you and help you and 
preserve your soul.” After being 
blessed by the priest and the others, 


the servant went in ai.d fell on his 
knees before the door of the chamber 
where the demons we ’e assembled, 
and commended himself to God, and 
in that mind opened the door. There 
he saw demons of horrible appearance 
sitting, standing, walking and creep¬ 
ing about, who all rar. together to¬ 
wards him shouting: “Huh,huh! what 
are you doing here?” Sweating, but 
still trusting in God, he said to the 
demon who was carrying the child: 
“Give me that child.” fie answered: 
“By no means, for this child is now 
mine. Tell your master to come and 
take it.” The servant rep lied: “I do my 
duty in that state of life in which God 
has placed me, and I know that what¬ 
ever I do in duty is pleasing to God; 
therefore as in duty bound, and with 
the help of and in the name and might 
of Jesus Christ, I take the child from 
ou and restore it to its parents ” And 
e took the child in his arms. The 
demons made no answer but: “Huh, 
rascal! Huh, rascal! Leave the child, 
leave it; or else we wi 1 tear you to 
an hundred pieces.” But he took no 
notice of their devilish threats, and 
went out unharmed, and gave the 
child back safe to its noble father. 
After some days had passed the demons 
vanished, and the nobleman was able 
to enter his house again with all his 
household.* 

Again he writes: In .Saxony a rich 
virgin had promised marriage to a 
handsome but poor young man. The 
man, fearing what would happen, told 
the girl that she was very wealthy and, 
like all her sex, changeable, and would 
hardly keep her promise!, but the girl 
answered with the most solemn oaths: 
“If I marry any but you. then may the 
devil take me in that marriage!” And 
what happened? After some time 
she changed her mind arid married an¬ 
other man, spurning her former be¬ 
trothed, although he again and again 


* “Household .” It will be remembered that 
in “The Ingoldsby Legends ' this history is 
turned as “ The Lay of S. CuMert .” 




BK. II. CH. IX. 


MALEFICARUM 


reminded her of her promise and her 
terrible oath: but she put all that be¬ 
hind her and, leaving him, celebrated 
her marriage with another. On the 
day of the wedding, when ail her re¬ 
lations and friends and guests were 
gathered together, her conscience 
pricked her sorely and made her very 
sad. Then came two devils to the mar¬ 
riage house in the likeness of horsemen, 
and were welcomed and led to the 
table. Afterwards the tables were re¬ 
moved and they fell to dancing, and 
the bride danced with one of the horse¬ 
men to do honour to a stranger. He 
gave two leaps with her, and then in 
the sight of her parents and with her 
friends groaning and lamenting bore 
her up on high through the door. On 
the next day her wretched parents and 
friends looked for the bride to bury 
her, if they could find where she had 
fallen; but the same horseman came 
back with her clothes and jewels, say¬ 
ing: “Not over these things, but over 
the bride was power given to us by 
God. 55 So she gave herself body and 
soul to the devil, because she had 
broken her promise, and had more¬ 
over despised the oath which she had 
sworn. 

Pietro Bizzari* tells the following: 


* “Pietro Bizzari” A humanist of the 
sixteenth century who won great repute for his 
elegant verses as also for his erudite but some¬ 
what diffuse histories and chronicles. He was 
born at Sassoferrato. Much of his work is 
conveniently collected in the Antwerp folio of 
1589 , “Senatus Populique Genuensis Rerum 
Domi Forisque Gestarum Historiae atque An- 
nalesf “cum luculenta uariarum rerum cogni - 
tione dignissimarum , quae diuersis temporibus , 
et potissimum hac nostra tempestate continge - 
runt , enarratione” I have used this edition. 
Certain of Bizzari's shorter poems will be 
found in Gheri's “Delitiae Italorum Poetarum” 
( 1608 ), /, pp. 436-441; and in the “Carmina 
Illustrium Poetarum Italorum ( Florence , 1719 ), 
If pp. 230-233. Notable among these are the 
odes to Catherine de* Medici , and to Girolamo 
Priuli , who was Doge of Venice , I 559 ~ I 567 - 
Of particular interest also are the addresses to 
the Earl of Leicester , Sir Thomas Randolph , 


”9 

In Suabia, which lies by Bavaria and 
Franconia, there was a very rich and 
wealthy nobleman named Richberger, 
whose yearly returns exceeded thirty 
thousand gold gulden. Yet, because of 
his manner of acting, he was not 
popular with the people; for he was of 
an unspeakably miserly nature. His 
one aim was, by fair means or foul, to 
increase his wealth every day; and he 
tried to get everything into his own 
hands. Accordingly, when he foresaw 
the famine, which followed in the next 
year, he filled his barns with wheat 
and fruit and began to sell them at a 
great profit, so that the poor were 
compelled by his boundless avarice to 
buy their food from him; and they 
must either die of hunger or, if they 
wished to get food and nourishment, 
they were reduced to the utmost want 
and poverty, so dearly did he sell them 
corn and other necessaries. Among 
many others there came to him a cer¬ 
tain poor man burdened with children, 
who offered him six thalers, begging 
him to take the money and let him 
have a certain measure of wheat, and 
he would pay him the rest that he 
owed for it in a short time. But he 
looked proudly and angrily at him and 
told him to be gone at once and fetch 
the rest of the money if he wanted any 
corn; and so the poor wretch went 
away, bitterly cursing him. After a few 
days he sent one of his servants to in¬ 
spect his granaries as usual, and was 
told by him that there were three 
black oxen eating his corn: and the 
servant who reported this took to his 
bed the next day and soon after died. 
The same thing happened to a gentle¬ 
man whom the master had sent to see 
whether it was as he had been told: 
for he saw both oxen and horses. When 
he was told of this, the master deter¬ 
mined to go himself to the place and, 
coming to the door of the granary, he 
saw through the chinks the whole 


and the brief “In mortem Eduardi Curtnaei.” 
Edward Courtenay , Earl of Devon , died in 
exile at Padua , September 1336. 




120 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. IX. 


place full of countless cattle of all 
sorts, which were eating all the corn. 
He was so terrified by this sight that 
he at once became stark mad and 
rushed away in a frenzy committing 
many violent acts until he was caught 
and put in chains. This horrible event 
aroused great wonder in that province 
and especially in Aalen, where he had 
always been known as a most sober 
and prudent man. 

A priest named Epachius* was over¬ 
taken by the judgement of God be¬ 
cause he presumed to do that which 
he was not worthy to do. For when 
he should have been in the church 
keeping the Vigil of the Nativity of 
Christ, he kept leaving the church and 
going into his house where he drank 
lewdly of foaming cups of wine, so 
that many said they had seen him 
drinking that night till after cock¬ 
crow. But since he was of noble rank 
and there was not his superior in 
secular dignity in that town of Riom, 
he was asked to celebrate the solemn¬ 
ities of the Mass; and the wretch did 
not hesitate, although sodden with 
wine, to undertake that which no man, 
even after fasting, can approach with¬ 
out fear and searching of his conscience. 
But when he had pronounced the 
sacred words and had broken the 
sacrament of the Lord’s Body, and had 
himself taken It and distributed It to 
others to eat, he uttered a neigh like a 
horse and fell to the ground and 
vomited out the Sacred Mystery, 
which lie had not been able to chew 
with his teeth, and was carried from 
the church by his servants. And he 
never recovered from that epilepsy; 
but with the waxing and waning of 
each moon, so his malady increased 
and abated; for the unhappy man 
could by no means keep from drinking 
too much wine. 

Not long ago, after the people of 
Dorpatf had embraced the Lutheran 


* “Epachius.” This is from S. Gregory of 
Tours , “De gloria Marty rum,” I, 8j. 
f “Dorpat.” This is from Tilmannus 


teaching, on the Saturday before 
Easter Sunday the Lulherans had 
concluded their meeting and the 
people were returning from the holy 
church of the Blessed Virgin Mother, 
when one of them met another who 
was his friend and asked aim to come 
home and dine with him, for he had a 
fine fat Westphalian ham all ready. 
The other, not at all shocked, an¬ 
swered that he had a plump boiled 
chicken which he would bring as his 
contribution to the fea;t. They sat 
down to table; and one of them, eat¬ 
ing a chicken bone rashly, nearly 
swallowed it, so that it could neither 
be extracted nor gulped down, and he 
was suffocated the same day. The 
other was seized by an evil spirit on 
the day after Easter, and soon after¬ 
wards, shaken by madness and fury, 
gasped out both his life and the 
demon. 

Peter of Cluny {Liber Miraculorum , 
II, i) tells the following as a warning 
to heretics. A certain Count of Ma$on 
was sitting in his palace on the town’s 
patronal festival with a large company 
of soldiers and others iround him, 
when suddenly a stranger on horse¬ 
back entered the palace gate and, as 
they all looked on in wonder, rode 
right up to the Count. When he had 
come near him he said that he wished 
to speak to him, and not so much 
asked as commanded him to arise and 
follow him. Compelled by some un¬ 
seen power and unable to resist, the 
Count arose and went 10 the palace 
door where he found a horse ready for 
him. He was bidden to mount, and 
did so; whereupon the n.an seized the 
reins and in the sight of all began to 


Bredenbachius. His work , which was first 
printed at Douai, has a Dedication , signed at 
Cologne, 1569, to Julius P>ugh, Bishop of 
Nuremberg. The “Historia belli Liuonici 
quod gestis magnus Muscouitarum Dux,” 
“auctore Tilmanno Bredenb.ichio,” occupies 
pp. 217-239, of the folio “Rerum Muscoui- 
tarum Auctores Uarii Unum in Corpus nunc 
primum Congesti,” Frankfort 1600. 




BK. II. CH. X. 


MALEFICARUM 


121 


carry him swiftly up through the air. 
The whole town ran up at his loud 
crying and wretched lamenting to see 
this strange spectacle, and watched 
him flying through the air for as long 
as their eyes could follow him. They 
heard him for a long time crying out: 
“Help, citizens, help!” But they could 
not help him, and he was taken from 
the sight of men and became, as he 
deserved, an eternal associate of the 
demons. So did this man expiate in 
this life and the next his despoiling of 
churches and his sacrileges. 

In a very old life of S. Calais* we 
read of a woman named Gunda who 
was enticed by the subtle Deceiver to 
mock the Holy Spirit. For she put on 
man’s clothing and tried to enter the 
monastery of the Saint, to test the 
truth of his prophecy that no woman 
would ever be able to enter there. 
But, by the just judgement of God, 
before she even came in sight of the 
closed approach to the cloisters, she 
was seized by the devil and driven 
back; and was so shamefully tormented 
by him that I blush to speak of it. For 
he thrust her head between her thighs, 
so that she who had tried to imprint a 
false kiss upon the holy threshold was 
forced to kiss the filthy parts of her own 
body; and she had to exhibit openly 
to all who wished to see it that sex 
which she had tried to conceal be¬ 
neath a man’s clothing. The result 
of this was that no woman thereafter 
dared to approach the monastery. 


* “ S . Calais ” or S. Carileff {c. 540) was 
a monk of Menat on the Sioule , in Auvergne . 
For the sake of greater solitariness this holy 
recluse withdrew and fled away to the desert 
near Le Mans when he made his hermitage at 
the place since called Aninsole. His reputation 
for sanctity became so great that before long a 
monastery grew up there of which he was forced 
to assume the government. A life of S . Calais 
was written by S. Siviard, Abbot of Aninsole , 
died 687. The feast of S . Calais is observed on 

1 July- 

☆ 


CHAPTER X 

The Laws Observed by Witches in Causing 
and in Curing Sickness. 

Argument . 

E VEN as witches always see their 
way clearly to any evil, so they 
find many difficulties and obstacles 
when they would do good or heal. For 
what time witches would bring disease 
or death, everything is ready, every¬ 
thing at hand for them; all kinds of 
poison, curses, spells, and enchant¬ 
ments. With all these the devil is 
prompt, and with the witches’ consent 
always undertakes the work of doing 
harm. This he does to earn their grati¬ 
tude by gaining them the vengeance 
they have so ardently desired, and he 
is able to provide means which, it 
seems, no human art or skill can com¬ 
bat. At the same time it is in his power 
to keep the witch clear of all suspicion, 
when he acts in their absence without 
their stirring even a finger to help him. 
But when it is a question of restoring 
health or saving life, then there are 
never wanting opposing forces to com¬ 
bat such an intention. 

☆ 

Examples. 

Rosa Girardin gave it as the truth 
that a sickness could not be removed 
except by the person who had caused 
it; for no one might thrust his sickle in 
another’s harvest, according to the law 
which provides that he who binds must 
also unbind. And therefore we must 
fear injury and look for help from the 
same hand. 

Dominique Eurea said that no one 
who had been bewitched could be re¬ 
stored to health unless his sickness were 
even more grievously transferred to 
another; and that the sickness always 
grew in these exchanged. Also the 
healing power receivedfrom thedemon 
always vanished when a priest or a 
physician laid his hands on the sick to 
heal him. 



122 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. X. 


Alexee Drigee said that such restora¬ 
tions to health were never absolute and 
complete, but that there always re¬ 
mained some trace of the sickness. 

Catharine Balandre used to say that 
it was useless to look for any alleviation 
or cure of a sickness from those who 
had been brought to trial for witch¬ 
craft; for all such power had then 
passed into the hands of the devil, who 
is able to perform all such things. 

Nicolas Morell agreed with this 
statement. For when he was asked, in 
prison, to heal the son of Jean Chemat, 
whom he admitted that he had be¬ 
witched with the sickness from which 
he was suffering, he answered that he 
had no more power in such matters 
since, by confessing his crimes, he had 
driven the devil away from him, and 
the sanctity of his place of imprison¬ 
ment also prevented him from such 
work. And not even to expiate his 
crimes could he work those spells which 
were necessary to heal the boy. 

When Cattina Gilotte was asked why 
it was that she had not healed Canasse 
Godefreda of the disease which she had 
brought upon her by witchcraft, al¬ 
though she had more than once given 
her to eat apples and plums and other 
such fruit by means of which she was 
in the habit of curing others, she an¬ 
swered that it was because that Gode¬ 
freda had not prayed to be healed. 

Balial Basol and Colette the fisher’s 
wife mentioned another kind of ob¬ 
stacle. For they said that when they 
were trying to effect a cure, and some 
other person, without informing or 
consulting them, meddled in the matter 
by making and fulfilling a vow to one 
of the Saints, then they were prevented 
by this contempt of their art from do¬ 
ing anything more to heal the sick 
man. And no doubt they essayed a 
cure, because such wretches desire 
above all things the alms and thanks 
of sick folk, since they are beggars 
and live entirely on such charity. 

When the father of Nicole Morell 
was charged with witchcraft and was 
pleading in his own defence, he said 


that which involved his daughter in 
suspicion of the same crime; and so the 
apparitor who was then present per¬ 
suaded the judge to order her arrest. 
While Nicole Morell was yet at liberty 
a demon warned her of this and urged 
her to be revenged by bringing some 
harm upon the apparitor, and that he 
would gladly undertake such work if 
she bade him. She qui :kly assented, 
and he flew to the appiritor’s house 
where he found his wife sitting by the 
fire giving the breast to ler baby. He 
passed by and blew upon her breasts so 
poisonous a powder thai they at once 
became dried up and empty of milk. 
The apparitor soon suspected the cause 
of this, and went to Nicole Morell, who 
was now in prison, and offering her a 
cake to appease her begged her not to 
begrudge him any help w lich she could 
give in the matter; and in his turn he 
would take care that she had every¬ 
thing to make her life easier while she 
was in prison. He then left her, won¬ 
dering what she would c.o in the mat¬ 
ter. The demon at once appeared to 
her and scolded her for speaking with 
the apparitor; but at Iasi allowed him¬ 
self to be persuaded to fill the breasts 
of the man’s wife aga.n with milk, 
even to superfluity if she wished. And 
soon after he accompl.shed this by 
applying a white powder to her. 

Catharine Ocrea had brmerly been 
discharged on her own recognizances, 
but was again broughc to trial by 
reason of fresh suspicion against her 
and because of the eloquent mandate 
of His Most Serene Highness the Prince 
of Lorraine, who had been advised of 
the whole matter. Before she was re¬ 
imprisoned she had sm tten with her 
evil art the arm of one of the witnesses 
against her so that it became withered: 
and now she seized this man’s arm 
roughly as if she was angry, and to the 
astonishment of all whe were present 
it was at once restored to health; so 
that whereas it had bien for many 
months useless and witiout strength, 
it at once became vigorous and fit and 
able to perform all its former work. 


BK. II. CH. XII. 


MALEFICARUM 


ing to succeed to the kingdom. The 
annals of that time are filled with ac¬ 
counts of such inequitable bargains 
cunningly driven by men of old time 
who were infected with the sin of 
demons. For when a huge chasm ap¬ 
peared through the subsidence of the 
earth in the middle of the Roman 
Forum,* it was said that it would never 
again be filled unless some youth of the 
greatest promise cast himself into it. 
In this can easily be seen the great 
difference between the fatherly kind¬ 
ness of God and the tyrannical cruelty 
and savagery of the devil: for God calls 
man through adversity to Heaven, 
whereas the devil turns and draws man 
to eternal death through prosperity 
(if such a man may be said ever to 
prosper). 

Thirdly, with the utmost mockery 
and derision witches, when they heal, 
imitate and copy the method used by 
Elisha and S. Paul and Elijah, and 
many Holy Fathers, when they brought 
the dead to life; stretching themselves 
limb for limb upon the bodies of the 
dead. 

Fourthly, there is no curative virtue 
in any of the external remedies used by 
witches for the sicknesses they have 
caused, such as herbs, unguents, baths 
and such things; but these are merely 
a cover for their witchcraft which, 
through fear of the severity of the law, 
they dare not show openly. 

Fifthly, so tenacious is the demon’s 
hold that he does not easily let go when 
once he has gripped. Therefore when, 
at the prayer of his follower, he has 
sent a sickness, it is on the understand¬ 


* “Roman Forum.” When a chasm ap¬ 
peared in the forum at Rome in 362 b.c. the 
soothsayers announced that it could only be 
filled by throwing into it the city's greatest 
treasure , whereupon a gallant youth , Mettus 
or Mettius Curtius, in full armour mounted his 
steed and leaped into the abyss which inconti¬ 
nently closed over him. Varro tells us that the 
spot was blasted by lightning in 445 B.c. and 
was enclosed by Curtius, one of the consuls for 
that year, whence the legend had its origin. 


125 

ing either that the sickness shall never 
for any prayers be cured or assuaged, 
or that it shall be commuted for a 
graver sickness in another man. Thus 
the demon provides that in any event 
he is always the gainer. 

☆ 

Examples. 

Claude Morell said that the greatest 
compulsion he felt to remove the evil 
spells which he had cast was due to 
his fear of prison, the lash, or any 
violence. 

On this point Remy (III, 3) writes 
as follows. I was speaking of this mat¬ 
ter with one of the Ministers of His 
Most Serene Highness the Duke of 
Lorraine, who told me in good faith 
that at one time he had been informed 
that his infant son had suddenly fallen 
ill, and that it was thought that he had 
been bewitched by a certain old wo¬ 
man. He first made enquiries from the 
nurse who had been holding the child 
when he was taken ill, and then formed 
an accurate estimate of the nature of 
the sickness, whether or not it was of 
the sort which naturally overtakes 
children of that age. He decided that 
without doubt it could only be due to 
magic and witchcraft; and after pon¬ 
dering over this conviction, could not 
come to any other conclusion save that 
his son had been bewitched by that old 
beldame. Accordingly he ordered her 
to be summoned, and when she was 
alone with him in the house he at first 
appealed to her kindly, if she knew of 
any cure for the sickness, that she would 
freely use it, and he would not be un¬ 
grateful. But when he saw her begin 
to be very voluble in averting any sus¬ 
picion of witchcraft from herself, and 
obstinately refusing to listen to his en¬ 
treaties that she would find a cure, he 
took a rope which he had ready for the 
purpose and so beat her on the shoul¬ 
ders and flanks that she said she was 
ready to do what he asked: only she 



126 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. XII. 


required a little time to prepare what 
was necessary for the work. This was 
granted her and she was given all the 
opportunity she desired for ministering 
to the sick child, and soon afterwards 
she restored him to health by the ap¬ 
plication of certain matters which were 
not themselves of any medicinal value, 
but were used as a cloak for her witch¬ 
craft. 

Remy in the same place tells the 
following, which is similar: My friend 
Antoine Blyestem, the public treasurer 
of Dammartin and that district, once 
told me that the same thing had hap¬ 
pened to a son of his. For he said that, 
as children will, the boy had wandered 
from his mother to play while they 
were in church, and an old woman 
came and stroked his head as if to pet 
him, and after blessing him went out 
as if she were hastening off somewhere. 
The boy then hung down his head and, 
hardly able to stand up, clearly showed 
by his pitiable crying that he was sick. 
So he was carried home and, when the 
sickness grew worse every hour, all 
who heard what had passed were con¬ 
vinced that it had been caused by that 
old woman, who was already strongly 
suspected of being a witch. She was 
therefore seized by some neighbours 
and brought to remove the spell; and 
as soon as she was in the child’s pres¬ 
ence she began to suffer the same kind 
of affliction as the little lad was suffer¬ 
ing; for her face grew livid and she 
foamed at the mouth, causing great 
terror to those who saw her and 
thought that she had become raging 
mad. When the night came, she spent 
it in the same bed as the child, at 
times lying upon him with arms out¬ 
stretched, and her mouth upon his 
mouth as if she were trying to restore 
his failing life with her warmth and her 
breath. From the talk of the women 
who were watching it was learned that 
a buzzing, such as is made by the gad¬ 
fly in summer, was heard at times 
about the boy; and that they ceased to 
see the fragment of the Gospel which 
was stitched to his pillow as a godly 


charm, though they couli not tell 
whether it had been taken away by the 
witch or her demon. But the truth 
was that the boy who, the day before, 
was thought to be sick to death was 
found at the dawn to be well and 
strong. Yet this was no advantage to 
my friend: for it was not long before 
he had to repay it with interest when 
he lost through witchcraft t he greatest 
part of his cattle which was stabled 
there. 

At Dammartin, December 1587, 
Nicole Stephanie of Saint-Pol was in¬ 
duced by a reward to purge the castle 
from the plague which was afflicting 
it, since she had a reputat.on for skill 
in such matters. She performed this 
task with great care: but after a 
sufficient period to prevenl any fear of 
further contagion, and when she had 
been paid her reward and was allowed 
to depart, she was angry at being dis¬ 
missed earlier than she expected and 
at the thought of losing tl: e good rich 
living she had been enjoying, and 
thought that she could provide an 
excuse for delaying her departure by 
casting some spell of sickness on the 
Chatelain’s wife, who had been very 
prompt and eager to dismiss her. So 
without any hesitation she decided to 
afflict that lady with a disease, so that 
she might again be asked for her ser¬ 
vices in removing it. Acc ordingly she 
at once went and stood at her bedroom 
door and said: “ My Lad), the folds of 
your stomacher are disarranged: let 
me put them a little in order.” And 
when she was admitted to do this ser¬ 
vice, she cunningly contrived to shake 
down the lady’s back some grains of a 
poisoned powder which 5 he had con¬ 
cealed in her hand: and at once the 
lady was attacked with a trembling in 
all her limbs, such as is suffered at the 
height of a sharp fever. B< fore long she 
began to feel such pain in her feet that 
they were horribly curled up so that 
the toes were twisted round to the 
heels. All this was seen and noted by 
the servants; and the woman was 
seized and kept under obs orvation, and 


BK. II. CH. XII. 


MALEFIGARUM 


finally put in fear of the lash, and 
threatened that they would not let her 
go until she removed the spell from 
their mistress and restored her to her 
former health. For their suspicion of 
witchcraft had been increased by the 
fact that she had been heard to say that 
any skill she had in preventing or avert¬ 
ing the plague was derived from a cer¬ 
tain Matthieu Amant, who not long 
since had been condemned to death 
for witchcraft, and that to pay for her 
initiation she had let him swive her 
and had been made pregnant by 
him. 

At first she cried aloud that they 
were wronging her cruelly in repaying 
her thus vilely for her services to them, 
and threw out threats of hanging her¬ 
self. But when they none the less 
seemed to persist in their opinion, and 
she saw she could do no good in that 
way, she changed her tactics and be¬ 
gan to ask, if she must needs find some 
cure for the lady, that they would wait 
while she tried to call to mind whether 
she had ever heard tell of a remedy for 
such a sickness. 

Soon afterwards she came back and 
said that she had found a remedy in 
which they could put their hope and 
faith, for she knew a herb which when 
rubbed into the bath would infallibly 
curethatsickness: and she begged them 
not to take it ill if the cure were not 
instantaneous, since it was not so easy 
a sickness to cure. 

Meanwhile when her son, who was 
with her, saw his mother thus seized, 
he feared the same fate for himself 
since he knew that he was implicated 
with her. So at dead of night he let 
himself down by a rope from the battle¬ 
ments. But he was caught the next day 
and brought back bound, and bidden 
to confess why he had escaped so 
secretly: whereupon he explained 
everything as we have told it; adding 
that he was entirely responsible for 
causing his mother to look for an ex¬ 
cuse to postpone her departure, and 
that all those fomentations which she 
was so meticulously applying to the 


127 

sick lady had no remedial value, being 
no more than a pretext to give the im¬ 
pression that the cure was wrought by 
the appropriate natural remedies. For, 
he said, she had already begun a secret 
antidote as soon as they first threatened 
to beat her; but there could be no 
shortening of the time which was set at 
the beginning for the duration of the 
sickness. Let them, then,wait until the 
day of the week and the hour had twice 
recurred; for that was the time set for 
the spell, and after that their mistress 
would surely recover her health, being 
at least freed from all pain although 
her limbs would still remain weak. In 
the hope he thus gave he was in no re¬ 
spect found to be wrong: for at the 
very moment of the day he had fore¬ 
told the sickness was assuaged. 

But on the following night it re¬ 
turned in an acuter form. For, as was 
discovered afterwards, the witch had 
repented of undertaking the cure, on 
the ground that she had been induced 
to do so in order to provide convincing 
and indubitable evidence of witchcraft 
against herself. For, as I have shown 
above, it is one of their laws that a 
spell can hardly be removed or as¬ 
suaged except by that witch who has 
cast it. This was the reason then why 
the spell was renewed and re-inflicted 
by the woman. 

The next day when complaint was 
made to the son of the failure of his 
prediction he cursed much under his 
breath and would only say that they 
should lash his mother as cruelly as 
possible, for that was the only remedy 
against her treacheries. So she was 
again seized, and two lusty peasants 
went on lashing her with vine birches, 
kicking her, beating her and shaking 
her, and finally dragged her to the fire, 
until she gave her promise to heal their 
mistress that very day and hour. This 
she fulfilled, giving her to eat an apple 
which she had first drugged in the 
sight of many with a whitish powder. 
So she was at last allowed to go, as she 
had been promised, and fell into the 
hands of the officers of justice waiting 







COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. XIII. 


130 

in death suffer eternal punishment. 
For death, which men commonly 
term the end of life and all its mis¬ 
fortunes, is for these poor wretches 
but a beginning of misery. But the 
Divine Shepherd in His unspeakable 
mercy and lovingkindness again and 
again recalls to the fold His sheep 
that have been carried away by the 
wolf, and again He feeds them in the 
celestial pastures; and so when witches 
have been cast into prison and have 
confessed their sins, not grudgingly 
and under the stress of torture, but 
willingly and with penitential joy, 
it may well be said that they obtain the 
opportunity to avert so great and 
eternal a calamity from themselves 
at the small expense of their most 
wretched lives. For the bow does not 
always strike where it aims, neither is 
it always in Satan’s power to drive 
men where he will by his violence. He 
is permitted to tempt men, but not to 
coerce them. For this reason it is that 
he does not himself cast despairing 
souls against their wills into the waters, 
or hang them by a rope from a beam, 
or stab them with knives; but he only 
lures them to commit such madness. 
But all his wiles are often thwarted by 
God, who pities the folly of men and 
in His wisdom protects them, now in 
this way and now in that, as will be 
seen from the examples. 

☆ 

Examples . 

Remy says (III, 6) that he saw the 
body of a malefactor named Sedenarius 
hanging by the neck from a nail in¬ 
securely fixed in the wall, by means of a 
flimsy and rotten strip of undercloth¬ 
ing, with his knees drawn up just clear 
of the floor. And in this way he had 
killed himself just as easily as if he had 
been hanged from a high beam with a 
short rope, and a skilful executioner 
had performed the operation. And 
nearly all such who kill themselves die 
just as quickly and easily. 


I was at Hambach in Lower Ger¬ 
many in the boundaries of Flanders 
during the reign of the Serene Duke 
John William, of the Duchies of Cleves 
and Jiilich, being there for the pur¬ 
pose of curing that same Duke, who 
was bewitched. A ninety-year-old 
sorcerer priest was summc ned, named 
John, who had a cure of souls at a town 
named Lauch in the Archdiocese of 
Cologne; for, according to his own 
confession, he had by witchcraft made 
the Duke mad, fearful and panic- 
stricken. Three days before he was 
summoned by the Duke the re appeared 
to him in his house at Lauch a demon, 
who told him that the Duke would 
shortly send to him, but vvarned him 
on no account to go, since he saw 
danger in it. To him ihe sorcerer 
answered: “What is tha;: to you? I 
shall go where I wish.” Hearing this, 
the demon said no more but, as the 
witch himself told, pulled down his 
breeches (for he had taker , the form of 
a nobleman with an attend ant servant) 
and, turning his bum to him, let fly 
a fart of such an intolerable stink 
that the sorcerer could not be rid of 
that stench for three days, although he 
fumigated the house with incense and 
other rare perfumes. This ninety-year- 
old sorcerer came to the Duke and, 
being questioned, confesse< l that he had 
bewitched him, and that at that time 
he had invoked Lucifer, the Prince of 
the Devils, to inscribe those characters 
which comprised the spell. After¬ 
wards, as he was sleeping* in a tower 
in a state of despair because he was 
to be burned for the crime which he 
had confessed, a demon appeared to 
him and tempted him so lhat on Sun¬ 
day morning, the 25th September of 
the year 1605 now passed, he cut his 
own throat with his knife; and al¬ 
though the wound was not serious 
enough to cause instant death, yet 
the demon, in that very act of despera¬ 
tion, seized violently on to his soul and 
carried it to hell, to the great astonish¬ 
ment of all. I saw the man dead, and 
still warm, lying on the straw: and as 



BK. II. CH. XIII. 


MALEFICARUM 


he had led the life of a beast, so he 
lay upon the provender of beasts. 
For so did Divine Justice dispose, 
which rewards every man according to 
his works; and God willed that he, 
who had for ninety years lived a fol¬ 
lower of Satan, should also end his 
life at the hands of Satan. 

Jeannette Gallee gave a very com¬ 
plete proof of one of my contentions. 
For she begged and entreated the 
magistrate who examined her not to 
delay her well-merited punishment 
any further, for she was well content 
to undergo it in order that she might 
the sooner expiate the terrible crimes 
which she confessed she had com¬ 
mitted against God. 

From the moment when she con¬ 
fessed her crimes to the Judge Nicole 
Morell did not cease to proclaim her 
happiness in thus being able first to 
make her peace with God and free 
herself from all her bondage to the 
devil. For she said that such had ever 
been her wish for three years, but she 
had been unable to accomplish it, or 
even to attempt it, because that 
enemy was so tenacious of his prey. 

Catharine Latomia of Marques did 
not deny that for her horrible sins she 
deserved the extreme penalty and the 
utmost severity of her Judge; but she 
asked that, if there was left her any 
room for mercy, she might be granted 
one request, namely, that her death 
should be no longer deferred, so that 
she might stand as soon as possible 
before the tribunal of that Judge in 
Whom all her hope was placed, since 
her soul was very heavily laden. 

Idatia of Miremont implored her 
Judge to sentence her to death as soon 
as possible; for she said that even if 
she were loosed from her bonds she 
would never be free to mend her ways 
and bring forth better fruit, because 
she had pledged her faith to the devil, 
as to an inexorable creditor, and could 
not escape her obligations to him as 
long as she lived. 

Apollonie of Freising said that 
nothing could be more welcome to her 


13 * 

than death, by which she could at last 
put an end to her most wicked life: 
for as long as she lived she would be 
unable to abstain from sin and witch¬ 
craft, since her demon was so assidu¬ 
ous a persuader, and she could only 
by death free herself from his domina¬ 
tion. On the next day therefore she 
was the first of all to find a term to her 
unhappiness, and to open and lay 
bare her life to her Heavenly Father. 

Antonia Mercatrix said that she 
desired nothing so much as to die 
placed on the fire as quickly as pos¬ 
sible, since she knew that she had long 
justly deserved such a fate. 

Because of his patricide and many 
foulest mischiefs wrought by witch¬ 
craft, the two Supreme Justiciars of 
Nancy passed a very heavy sentence 
upon Desire Finance of the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Chatenois, namely, that 
he should be punished by being torn 
with red-hot pincers and then be cast 
alive on to the fire. Whether he was 
informed of this by his demon (as it 
has been and will be shown that it has 
happened to many), or whether his 
own consciousness of his horrible guilt 
foretold it, he determined to die at 
once by his own hand and so escape 
that punishment. So he took a knife 
which his gaoler had carelessly left in 
the bin with the bread, and thrust it 
as far as he could into his throat, and 
so died. In the same year there were in 
Lorraine more than fifteen who thus 
killed themselves to escape public 
execution. But, lest my readers’ minds 
be filled with horror, there is enough 
of this: let us turn to matters which 
had a more fortunate outcome. 

Jeanne de Ban by her free confes¬ 
sion gave evidence that her demon 
had never persuaded her so impor¬ 
tunately to anything as he had that 
she should throw herself into a well 
or drown herself in a river, or hang her¬ 
self with a rope, or destroy herself in 
some way or other, and that it was 
impossible to say how insistent he had 
been when he knew that she was about 
to be made a prisoner, just as if he 


COMPENDIUM 


BKII. CH. XIII. 


132 

saw a morsel being snatched from 
his jaws: and even after her imprison¬ 
ment he had not relaxed his efforts, 
but had rather redoubled them and the 
more insistently tried to bring his 
wishes to accomplishment. And when 
she excused herself by saying that 
there was no means of killing herself 
in prison, he showed her in an obscure 
corner of the prison a neglected chain 
which she could, if she wished, put 
round her neck, and so strangle her¬ 
self. In the end she had consented; 
but she was prevented from achieving 
her purpose by the fact that there was 
nothing from which to hang the chain. 

In the same way he tried to persuade 
Anna Drigee. For he represented to 
her the horrible torture of the flames 
in which she was to die, the disgrace 
of being made a public example, and 
the infamy she would incur in the eyes 
of all; and so easily persuaded her to 
prevent all this by killing herself. But 
her desire (natural to all of us) to 
escape present misfortune was com¬ 
bated by the thought that she would 
certainly lose her soul’s safety; and 
that is a thing feared by even the most 
abandoned. Therefore her mind was 
drawn to a contrary decision, and she 
firmly rejected the demon’s advice that 
she should throw herself out of the 
prison window, which gave on to a 
precipice. 

When he could by no argument 
bring Desire Guerardu to commit this 
crime, the demon added as a further 
inducement that, if he killed himself, 
he would come to be a demon like 
himself, who would have power to 
fulfil all his wishes. But not even this 
promise could make him budge from 
his determination. For he had so often 
before been deceived by the wiles of 
the familiar that he suspected all such 
advice, holding it certain that the 
demon would keep no better faith with 
him in the future. For it belongs to the 
devil only to persuade, not to compel; 
as it is said in S. Matthew iv: “If thou 
art the Son of God, cast thyself down.” 
☆ 


CHAPTER XIV 

Upon Those who have onee Fallen into 
his Power the Devil keeps a Tenacious 
Grip, even when They s.and Tortured 
before Their Judges , or in Holy 
Places , or wherever They may Be. 

Argument. 

O NCE the devil has acquired 
power over a man he obstin¬ 
ately guards and retains i t, so that he 
does not lose his hold of, or deny his 
help to, his bondslave even when such 
a one stands bound befoie the Judge; 
just as a strenuous pugi ist does not 
slacken or relax his efforts so long as 
his strength endures and he is able to 
fight. And the demon lever leaves 
those who have once followed him 
until they are snatched fi om him as a 
lamb from a wolf. And v'hen he fore¬ 
sees such an event, he often drives 
them by base counsel to take their own 
lives by hanging themselves, or else he 
actually kills them by twisting their 
necks, beating them, or (unless God 
prevents him) persuade. 1 them some 
other way to death, as we have else¬ 
where shown in our examples. Or if 
even this is forbidden lim he con¬ 
trives, if he can, to do some horrible 
thing so that he shall :iot go away 
without leaving mischief and misfor¬ 
tune. And although this is so evident 
as to be apparent to any who have 
leisure to consider the matter, it will 
not be tedious to describe certain hap¬ 
penings which may help us to under¬ 
stand better the wiles of our enemy. 
There is, moreover, no place so sacred 
or religious but that bold and intrepid 
old Enemy will try to violate and break 
into it when he is pursiing his prey. 
He roams about churches, shrines, the 
cells of anchorites, and frequently and 
assiduously haunts then; and this 
should not seem wonderful to anyone, 
when it is remembered that formerly 
he dared to be present when the Sons 
of God gathered before God, as we 
learn from Job i. And wherever he 


BK. II. GH. XIV. 


MALEFICARUM 


may be, he shows himself visible to 
those whom he wishes, while the rest 
are able to discern nothing; as will be 
seen from the examples. 

☆ 

Examples . 

As soon as Quirina Xallea was cast 
in prison a demon came and told her 
that she would not come out from 
there except after having endured the 
most excruciating torture; but if she 
would only bear in silence a short 
period of pain, she would certainly be 
free afterwards; and meanwhile he 
would not fail her at her need. And, 
as he had foretold, so it happened be¬ 
fore long. For while she was being 
tortured and was in supreme anguish, 
he hid himself in her hair-net and did 
not cease to encourage her and to 
promise that the torture was just com¬ 
ing to an end. And if it so happened 
that the examiner signed to them to 
relax the torture a little, he would 
foresee this and tell the wretched 
woman that it was going to happen, 
just as if he was the cause of it. But 
when there was no end to her pain and 
it became more than could be borne 
by the most hardened, she broke into 
these words: “Take me away; for that 
deceiver of mine has given me enough 
of his words. See, I am ready to con¬ 
fess the truth. 55 And so when she was 
free from the devil, whom she was 
bidden to abjure in a solemn declara¬ 
tion, she told the whole in order from 
that day when she had given herself 
to the devil. 

In the same year and at the same 
place Anna Xallea told a similar story 
in nearly the same words. But she 
said that her devil had hidden himself, 
not in her hair, but at the back of her 
throat while she was being tortured, 
doubtless that he might more easily 
prevent her from speaking if by chance 
she felt impelled, through inability 
to bear the pain, to confess the truth. 
And in the opinion of those who were 


x 33 

present this was no deception; for they 
saw her throat swell to a great size 
until it became level with her chin and 
so livid and discoloured that they could 
easily believe there was some large 
object strangling her. 

Among many other women con¬ 
demned to the fire for witchcraft, 
whose names I do not now remember, 
when Claude Simonette and her son 
were led into prison it was observed 
that a demon in the form of a fly* 
buzzed round their temples and re¬ 
peatedly warned them not to lay their 
crimes bare by confession even under 
stress of the direst torture: for if they 
confessed, it was most certain that they 
would be condemned to the most 
terrible death; whereas if they held 
their tongues they would shortly 
escape safe and unharmed. 

Frangoise Fellet said that a demon 
had impressed upon her a similar 
need of keeping silent; and moreover 
that her ears were so deaf to the Judge’s 
words when he first questioned her 
that she heard no more than if he had 
not spoken at all: but that when this 
spell was at length overcome and the 
truth had been wrung from her by 
torture, the demon had not ceased 
from that time to threaten her with 
death, And for that reason she begged 
that they would not leave her alone, 


* “Form of a fly .” Beelzebub was the Lord 
of Flies , and it was considered that a familiar 
might often assume the appearance of a fly. In 
the description given by the Rev. John Gaule 
(“Select Cases of Conscience Touching 
Witches ,” London , 1646) of the methods em¬ 
ployed by Matthew Hopkins the watching of 
witches is particularly described. The sus¬ 
pected witch was placed cross-legged or in some 
uneasy posture upon a stool or table in the 
middle of a room. Here she was watched and 
kept without meat or sleep for twenty-four 
hours, “A little hole is likewise made in the 
door for the Impe to come in at; and lest it 
might come in some less discernible shape , they 
that watch are taught to be ever and anon 
sweeping the room , and if they see any spiders 
or flyes to kill them. And if they cannot kill 
them then they may be sure they are her ImpesT 



COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. XIV, 


134 

especially at night, when she had the 
greatest fear of being attacked by him. 

At the same place, in the year 1587, 
Francois Fellet, who had twice escaped 
a capital sentence by concealing the 
truth and resisting the torture, was 
a third time accused, and was con¬ 
victed and, after a full confession, paid 
a belated but heavy penalty for his 
crimes. There have not been lacking 
others who have endured the stress of 
their questioning without confessing, 
and when they were on the point of 
being discharged have at last dis¬ 
covered the crimes about which they 
had so long kept silence. 

This is exemplified by the case of 
Marguerite Valtrin, who endured the 
executioner’s fiercest tortures for a 
whole hour without admitting any¬ 
thing against herself; but when at 
length she was to be discharged she 
asked that the Judge should be sum¬ 
moned, and first having asked pardon 
of him for her obstinacy which was 
due to the lying promises of the demon, 
she then unburdened herself by a 
confession of every sort of wickedness. 

Not unworthy of being recorded is 
what happened in the same year to 
Alexia Belhore, to the utter amaze¬ 
ment of all who were present, when 
she wished to behave in the same way. 
For when she had in like fashion pre¬ 
pared herself for a free confession, and 
had in the manner of Christians pre¬ 
faced with the Lord’s Prayer, she 
rushed backwards against the wall 
behind her with such violence that 
many were of opinion that she should 
be carried away as a dead woman. 
But after a little she came to herself 
and, being asked what had caused her 
mishap, said: “Do you not see the 
executioner lying under the bed, who 
just now seized me by the throat and 
nearly strangled me? See how he 
threatens me and does all he can to 
prevent me from saying a word about 
him. That is not the first time he has 
tried to keep me from telling the truth: 
for while I was being tortured he stood 
by my left ear as big as a thumb, and 


busily warned me to hold my tongue 
and not allow myself to be over¬ 
powered by a short period of not too 
violent pain. 

Remy writes as follows of a case 
which he witnessed with his own eyes: 
There was a witch commonly called 
Asinaria, from her husband the ass- 
driver, whom I was confounding with 
the evidence that had oeen given 
against her, so that she had no room 
left for evasion. Accordingly she was 
preparing herself to make a full con¬ 
fession, when she suddenly changed 
colour and fixed her eyes in horror 
upon a corner at the tack of the 
prison, and began to lose ill power of 
speech or thought. I asked her what it 
was that so suddenly ailed her; and 
she answered that she sav r at the top 
of that corner her Little Master* 
threatening her with hand;; forked and 
jagged like a crab’s claws, and that 
he seemed about to fly at her. I 
looked there, and she continued to 
point her finger in that direction, but I 
could see nothing. I then told her to 
be of good courage, and with every 
confidence spoke a great deal in con¬ 
tempt of that Little Master: and at 
last she recovered from her fear and 
was starting to tell her story. But be¬ 
fore she had begun she saw him again 
in a monstrous guise starting out from 
another corner. He had completely 
changed his appearance, just as if he 
had been a play actor on the stage, for 
huge horns were sprouting from his 
head, and he seemed on the very point 
of rushing violently upon her. But 

* “Little Master .” Bodin, “ Demono - 

manie ,” II, iv, quoting the examination of 
three witches at the Costello San Paolo, Spoleto, 
by Grilland, says that the yoi ngest of these 
made an ample confession concerning her at¬ 
tendance at the Sabbat . “Et quad il falloit 
partir pour y alter, elle oyoii la voix d’vn 
homme, qiCelles appelloyent lew petit maistre, 
& quelquesfois maistre Martine“Euocaba- 
tur” says Debris {II, xvi), t: uoce quadam, 
uelut humana ab ipso daemone, quern non 
uocant daemonem, sed Magisterulum, aliae 
magi strum Martinettum, siue Martinellum .” 



BK. II. GH. XV. 


MALEFICARUM 


when he was again reviled and loaded 
with derision he departed, and was 
never again seen by her, as she frankly 
declared when she was on her way to 
the stake. 

Elsewhere there have been told, and 
will be told, examples of how the de¬ 
mons enter sacred buildings and 
cloisters. 

☆ 

CHAPTER XV 

A Summary in a Few Words of All the 
Crimes of Witches. 

EBASTIEN MICHAELIS in his 
Pneumalogie* gives an example of a 
sentence passed at Avignon in 1582, as 
comprising in a little space the most 
execrable and abominable of the 
crimes of Witches and Sorcerers. The 
extract is as follows:— 

We N. N. having considered the 
charge wherewith you stand charged 
and accused before us, and having 
examined both the statements of your¬ 
selves and your associates, and your 
own confessions made to us according 
to lawful requirements and often re¬ 
peated upon oath, as well as the depo¬ 
sitions and charges of the witnesses 
and the other legitimate proofs, bas¬ 
ing our judgement on that which has 
been said and done during this pro¬ 
cess, we are fully and lawfully agreed 
that you and your associates have 
denied God the Creator of us all and 
the Most Holy Trinity our Maker, and 
that you have worshipped the devil, 
that ancient and implacable Enemy 
of the human race. You have vowed 
yourselves to him for ever, and have 
renounced your most Holy Baptism 
and your sponsors therein, together 


* “ Pneumalogie .” “Discours des Esprits 
en tant qvdil est de besoin pour entendre et 
resoudre la maniere difficile des sorciers . Fait 
et compose par le R. P. Sebastien Michaelis , 
Docteur en theologie de Vordre des Freres Pre- 
scheurs , et Prieur au convent Royal de S. Maxi - 
min en ProvenceParis , 8vo, 1587. 


*35 

with your part in Paradise and the 
eternal heritage which our Lord Jesus 
Christ bought for you and the whole 
race of men by His death. All these 
you did deny before the said cacode- 
mon in the form of a man, and that 
blatant devil did baptise you anew 
with water, and you did change the 
names given to you at the Holy Font, 
and so took and received another false 
name in the guise of baptism. And as 
a pledge of your fealty sworn to the 
devil you gave to him a fragment and 
article of your clothing; and that the 
ather of Lies should have a care to 
delete and obliterate you from the 
book of life you did at his direction 
and command with your own hands 
write your names in the black book 
there prepared, the roll of the wicked 
condemned to eternal death; and that 
he might bind you with stouter bonds 
to so great a perfidy and impiety, he 
branded each of you with his mark as 
belonging to him, and you did swear 
homage and obedience to his behests 
upon a circle (the symbol of Divinity) 
traced upon the earth (which is God’s 
footstool); and each of you bound her¬ 
self to tread under foot the Image of 
the Lord and the Cross; and in obedi¬ 
ence to Satan, with the help of a staff 
smeared with some abominable un¬ 
guent given to you by the devil him¬ 
self and placed between your legs you 
were enabled to fly through the air at 
dead of night to the place ordained, 
at an hour fit for vilest criminals, and 
on stated days you were so carried and 
transported by the Tempter himself; 
and there in the common synagogue 
of witches, sorcerers, heretics, con¬ 
jurers and devil-worshippers, you did 
kindle a foul fire and after many re¬ 
joicings, dancings, eating and drink¬ 
ing, and lewd games in honour of your 

E resident Beelzebub the Prince of 
>evils in the shape and appearance of 
a deformed and hideous black goat, 
you did worship him in deed and word 
as very God and did approach him 
on bended knees as suppliants and 
offered him lighted candles of pitch; 




COMPENDIUM 


BE . II. CH. XV. 


I36 

and (fie, for very shame!) with the 
greatest reverence you did kiss with 
sacrilegious mouth his most foul and 
beastly posterior; and did call upon 
him under the name of the true God 
and invoke his help; and did beg him 
to avenge you upon all who had 
offended you or denied your requests; 
and, taught by him, you did wreak 
your spite in spells and charms against 
both men and beasts, and did murder 
many new-born children, and with 
the help of that old serpent Satan you 
did afflict mankind with curses, loss 
of milk, the wasting sickness, and other 
most grave diseases. And your own 
children, many of them with your own 
knowledge and consent, you did with 
those magic spells suffocate, pierce, 
and kill, and finally you dug them up 
secretly by night from the cemetery, 
where they were buried, and so carried 
them to the aforesaid synagogue and 
college of witches: there you did offer 
them to the Prince of Devils sitting 
upon his throne, and did draw off 
their fat to be kept for your use, and 
cut off their heads, hands, and feet, 
and did cook and stew their trunks, 
and sometimes roast them, and at the 
bidding of your aforesaid evil Father 
did eat and damnably devour them. 
Then, adding sin to sin, you the men 
did copulate with Succubi, and you 
the women did fornicate with Incubi: 
moreover, in most bitter and icy con¬ 
nexion and foul coitus with demons 
you did commit the unspeakable 
crime of buggery. And, most hateful 
of all, at the bidding of the aforesaid 
Serpent thrust from Paradise, you did 
keep in your mouths the most Holy 
Sacrament of the Eucharist received 
by you in the sacred Church of God, 
and did execrably spit It out upon the 
ground that you might with the great¬ 
est of all contumely, contempt and 
blasphemy dishonour God, our true 
and sacred Hope, and promote the 
glory, honour, triumph and kingdom 
of the devil himself, and worship, 
honour and glorify him with all 
honour, praise, majesty, authority and 


adoration. All which most grave, ab¬ 
horred and unspeakable crimes are 
directly contumacious and contemptu¬ 
ous of Almighty God the Creator of 
all. Wherefore We, Brolher Florus, 
etc. 

☆ 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Devil Deceives and Seduces by means 
of False Revelations or Apparitions. 

Argument. 

T OUCHING revelations or visions 
and as to the character of the 
person who sees them, much must be 
taken into consideration if the true 
are to be distinguished fr am the false. 
In the first place it must be discovered 
whether such a person i; of the true 
Catholic faith; for no credence can 
be placed in the visions 3f devil-wor¬ 
shippers or heretics. In the town of 
Gretz, in the year 1601, there were a 
man and his wife who persistently de¬ 
clared that it was through them alone 
that the Church had endired. There¬ 
fore the father baptised their children, 
with the mother acting as sponsor. 
They foretold that the world would 
come to an end in that y *ar; but they 
were hanged, and by their own death 
anticipated that of the ^ orld. 

Secondly, it must bs considered 
fanatic, for no belief may be placed in 
the revelations or prophecies of such. 
Firmilian* sent to S. Cyprian many 
who had been deluded by a woman 
of this sort (Epistola lxxi v.). 

Thirdly, it must be examined 
whether the person’s honesty and 
virtues point to the sincerity of his 
faith, or whether his vices and notable 
imperfections constitute a contrary 
indication. For we must not believe 
the proud and ambitious, the im¬ 
patient, the carnally m nded, drunk¬ 
ards, those who cherish anger or stir 


* “ Firmilian .” Bishop of Caesarea in 
Cappadocia , died c. 26g. 



BK. II. CH. XVI. 


MALEEICARUM 


up hatred and spread dissent, or those 
who defame others; nor hypocrites 
who display and parade some excep¬ 
tional proof of devotion and penitence, 
against the approval of their superiors 
in the Church. 

Fourthly, the state of his body must 
be considered. For if his health is not 
robust, if he suffers from a retching of 
the black bile, if his body is wasted 
through excessive fasting or want of 
sleep; if he is injured in the brain, 
or is excessively timid and subject to a 
violent clouding of the imagination; 
none such are to be credited. For it 
is said that such men, even when they 
are awake, think they see, hear or 
taste that which is not there to be 
seen or heard or tasted; for the devil 
easily deludes them, since they eagerly 
accept and believe the images of false 
appearances. 

Fifthly, the consideration of their 
age and sex must not be neglected. 
For in their declining years persons are 
often delirious; and if they are children 
there is the risk of a light and morbid 
imagination,since the brains of children 
are more humid than the normal, and 
are full of vapours and are influenced 
by a little thing. Therefore in times 
past the demons used to love to utter 
their oracles through children’s 
mouths, as being more adapted to 
their work. And as for the female sex, 
it is agreed that this must be regarded 
with the greater suspicion, as is noted 
by Johann Nider* in the Praecep - 
torum , I, n, in the Question De 
Diuinatione. 

Sixthly, it should be considered 
whether the person is an old practi¬ 
tioner of such spiritual exercises, or 
whether she is only a novice; whether 
the devil has in other ways attempted, 
with or without success, to deceive her; 
and whether her former prophecies 
were true, and, if not, which of them 


* “Nider.” I have used the Douai edition , 
1612, of the “Praeceptorum diuinae legis .” 
There were seventeen editions of this book be¬ 
fore 1500 


*37 

were false. If she is a novice there must 
be suspicion of fraud. For, according to 
Gerson, the fervour of a novice is soon 
misled if she has none to control her, 
especially in the case of the young and 
of women, whose fervour is too eager, 
captious and unbridled, and therefore 
suspect. By this indication Giovanni 
Francesco Pico della Mirandola (De 
rerum praenotione , IX. 3) discovered the 
falsity of a certain revelation or vision, 
after other indications had tended to 
prove its truth; for the devil, to give his 
vanities an appearance of verity, had 
begun to speak in the likeness of our 
Lord Christ. 

I said above that the sex is to be 
taken into consideration; for, other 
things being equal, greater faith is to 
be placed in the revelations of men. 
The feminine sex is more foolish, and 
more apt to mistake natural or de¬ 
moniacal suggestions for ones of 
Divine origin. Women, too, are of a 
more humid and viscous nature, more 
easily influenced to perceive various 
phantoms, and slower and more loath 
to resist such impulses. Therefore 
women are quicker to imagine, but 
men are less obstinate in holding to 
their imaginings; and since women 
have less power of reasoning and less 
wisdom, it is easier for the devil to 
delude them with false and deceptive 
apparitions. 

Further, since women are lascivious, 
luxurious and avaricious in their 
manner of life (as Apollonius has re¬ 
marked), it must be noted whether 
such prophetesses are particularly gar¬ 
rulous, of a roaming disposition, evil¬ 
doers, greedy of praise, passionate, and 
whether in their teaching or in their 
attitude towards the Sacraments of the 
Church they show themselves in any 
way opposed to the Apostolic doctrine. 
For women of this sort not only deceive 
themselves, but drag even learned 
men to destruction when these place 
too much credence in them, as will be 
shown in the examples. 

☆ 



138 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. XVI 


Examples . 

Father Jose de Acosta,* in the De 
temporibus nouissimis , Bk. II, ch. ii., 
relates the following:— 

In the Kingdom of Peru there was 
a man who was at that time held to be 
of great ability, a learned professor of 
Theology, a pious Catholic of long 
standing, and almost esteemed the 
marvel of his age. This man became 
familiar with a woman who declared 
that she had been taught certain mys¬ 
teries by an Angel and was not infre¬ 
quently thrown into a trance (or 
rather she pretended to be rapt) like 
another Priscillaj or a Maximilla 


* “Jose de Acosta .” 1540-1600. It has 
been said that few members of the Society of 
Jesus in the sixteenth century have been so 
uniformly eulogized as Father Acosta. His 
learning and the philosophic spirit pervading 
his many works attracted the widest attention. 
Born at Medina del Campo he became a Jesuit 
novice at thirteen , and in April 1565 he was 
sent to Lima , the Jesuits having been established 
in Peru during the preceding year. In Peru , 
through which country he travelled extensively , 
he occupied many important positions. Return¬ 
ing to Europe he filled the chair of theology at 
the Roman College in 1594, and at the time of 
his death he was rector of the College of Sala¬ 
manca. A good biography and a short biblio¬ 
graphy of Jose de Acosta will be found in 
Enrique Torres Saldanando’s “Los antiguos 
Jesuitas del Peril f Lima , 1882. 

t “Priscilla.” Or Prisca (also called by 
Epiphanius Qiiintilla), and Maximilla , two 
prophetesses , together with the prophet Mon- 
tanus founded the sect called Montanists, schism¬ 
atics of the second century. The headquarters 
of these enthusiasts were in the village of 
Pepuza , and the ecstatics did not so much speak 
as messengers of God but vaunted that they 
were possessed by God and uttered oracles in 
His Person. It appears that the extravagances 
of the sect increased after the deaths of the 
founders {Maximilla must have died about the 
end of 179, Montanus and Priscilla yet earlier); 
but Tertullian , the most famous of the Mon¬ 
tanists who definitely broke away from the 
Church in 207, merely emphasised those parti¬ 
culars of the Montanist teaching that appealed 
to him and almost ignored the remainder which 


among the Montanists: and he was so 
enslaved by her that he often con¬ 
sulted her upon the deepest points of 
Theology and in all things treated her 
as an oracle, proclaiming t hat she was 
filled with mighty revelations and was 
very dear to God. Yet in other 
respects she was mundane enough and 
had very little intelligence except for 
constructing lies. But whe :her she was 
possessed by the devil (as is the easier 
to believe) when she we at into this 
sort of ecstasy, or whether she cleverly 
simulated it (as many prudent men 
have thought), the result was that the 
Theologian, hearing from the woman 
many wonders concerning himself and 
wishing greatly to enhance his future 
importance, freely avowed himself a 
disciple of him whom the v oman called 
her spiritual father. Whit followed? 
The man was so far led astray that he 
tried to perform miracles, and was per¬ 
suaded that he did perform them, 
although there was never even the 
slightest indication of a miracle. For 
this reason, and because lie had taken 
from that prophetess certain doctrines 
foreign to the teaching of the Catholic 
Church, he was, to the amazement of 
the whole Kingdom, seized by the 
Judges of the most Holy Inquisition, 
and was for five years patiently heard 
and examined, until fir ally he was 
clearly proved to be the proudest and 
maddest of all men. For although he 
most obstinately maintained that he 
had been divinely gifted with an Angel 
from whom he learned all that he 
wished, and that he was on terms of the 
most familiar conversation with God 
Himself, yet he proclaimed the wildest 
absurdities which no one could believe 
it possible for any man co give utter¬ 
ance to unless he were quite out of 
his mind. None the less, as to his intel¬ 
lect, it seemed to all that no one could 
be saner. He soberly aff rmed that he 
would be King and Pope, when the 
Apostolic See had been transferred to 


was presently to degenerate into Gnostic theo¬ 
sophy and other fantastical htresies. 




BK. II. GH. XVI. 


MALEFICARUM 


that Kingdom; that he had been en¬ 
dowed with a sanctity above all Angels 
and Celestial Choirs and Apostles, and 
that God had even offered him a 
hypostatic union with Himself, but that 
he had declined this: that he had been 
sent to be the redeemer of the world 
in point of efficacy, whereas Christ (as 
he said) had been so only in point of 
sufficiency. All the laws of the Church 
were to be abrogated, and he would 
make new laws which would be easy 
and clear: the celibacy of the clergy 
should be abolished, and plurality of 
wives allowed, and holy confession 
should no longer be obligatory. These 
and other arguments he maintained so 
strongly that all were astonished that a 
man with such opinions should not be 
mad. Finally after a long exposure of 
his frantic behaviour and when he had 
been found guilty of more than a 
hundred and ten doctrines which were 
heretical or foreign to the true teach¬ 
ing of the Church, skilled theolo¬ 
gians were bidden, after the manner of 
that holy Tribunal, to reason with the 
man and try to bring him back to his 
senses and his faith. Accordingly the 
Judges and the Bishop of Quito* and 
three other doctors met together, and 
the man was brought into their 
presence, where he defended his most 
pernicious cause with such fluency and 
eloquence that to this very day, says 
the writer, I am astounded that the 
pride of the human mind could pro¬ 
ceed to such lengths. He professed 
that he could not prove his doctrine 
except by the Holy Scriptures and by 
miracles, which were above all human 
reasoning; yea, that he had indeed 
proved his arguments by the authority 
of the Scriptures far more clearly and 
effectively than S. Paul proved that 
Jesus Christ was the true Messiah: 


* “Quito” The Diocese of Quito was 
created by Paul III on 8 January , 1545, at the 
request of Charles V , and made suffragan of 
Lima. By the Bull “Nos semper Romanis 
Pontificibus,” 13 January , 1848, Pius IX made 
Quito a Metropolitan See. 


139 

that he had performed so many and 
such mighty miracles that the resur¬ 
rection of Christ was no greater. For 
he said that he had actually died and 
risen again, and that he had most 
clearly manifested this. He quoted 
from memory (for he had no book, 
and even his breviary had been taken 
from him) so many long passages from 
the Prophets, the Apocalypse, the 
Psalms, and other Books, that it was 
wonderful merely as a feat of memory: 
but he so twisted them to his argu¬ 
ment, and so allegorised, that it would 
have made anyone either laugh or 
weep. Finally he said that, if we 
wished him to prove his case by 
miracles, he was ready to perform 
them at once. And then the poor 
fellow proceeded to speak in a manner 
that suggested either that he thought 
we were mad, or that he was mad him¬ 
self. For he said that it had been re¬ 
vealed to him that the Archduke John 
of Austria had been defeated at sea 
by the Turks, and that the Kingdom of 
Spain had been nearly lost by the in¬ 
vincible Philip, and that a Council had 
been held at Rome to consider the 
deposition of Pope Gregoryf and the 
election of another. All that he told 
us that we might know just as surely 
as if we had received certain news of 
them, saying that he could only 
through some divine quality have had 
knowledge of them. And although all 
this was so false that nothing could be 
falser, yet he maintained it all as very 
truth. Finally when after two days’ 
reasoning we could do no good, and 
he had been taken as the Spanish 
law directs, to be shown to the public 
with the other criminals, he kept look¬ 
ing up to Heaven waiting for the fire 
to descend upon the Inquisitor and 
everyone else as the devil had prom¬ 
ised him it should. No fire from above 
seized upon us, however; but the fire 
from below seized upon that King, 
that Pope, Redeemer, and Legislator, 

| “Pope Gregory.” Gregory XIII , who 
reigned 1572-1383. 




COMPENDIUM 


BK. H. CH. XVI. 


I40 

and burned him to ashes. So says 
Father Jose. 

We read in Surius (1 June) that S. 
Simeon * the Monk of Treves was sent 
by divine command to live at the top 
of Mount Sinai. One night a demon 
appeared to him in the form of an 
angel and bade him celebrate Mass. 
Between sleeping and waking, he ob¬ 
jected that no one who was not in 
Priest’s Orders must undertake that 
office; but the Enemy urged that he 
was a messenger from God, and that it 
was Christ’s will, for it was not right 
that the holy place should any longer 
be without such a celebration. While 
he yet argued and resisted, the demon, 
with the help of another demon, 
dragged him from his bed and set him, 
now fully awake, before the altar, and 
put an alb upon him; but there was a 
dispute about the stole. For the Enemy 
would have him wear it after the 
manner of a priest, but Simeon said he 
should wear it as a deacon. At length 
the servant of God came to himself by 
virtue of prayer, and drove off the 
Enemy by the sign of the Cross, and 
bemoaned that he had been deceived. 

That Deceiving Spirit, seeing 
amongst the Premonstratensian 
Canonsf certain ignorant triflers whom 
he had long recognised as his own vessels 
since they devoted themselves to idle¬ 
ness and pleasure, so filled them with 
his false illusion of wisdom that they, 
who had before been scarcely able to 
read from a book, now quoted grave 
matters from books and prophesied 
even greater and more astounding 
things for the future. One of them 
maintained that he understood the 
prophecy of Daniel and, under a lying 
inspiration, made certain pronounce- 


* “S. Simeon.” In the “Roman Mar tyro- 
logy” under 1 June is inscribed: “At Treves, of 
S. Simeon, a monk who was numbered among 
the Saints by Pope Benedict IX.” 

f “Premonstratensian Canons.” This his¬ 
tory is from Surius under 6 June, the Feast of 
S. Norbert, the Founder of the Order of Pre- 
montre . 


ments with regard to the passage where 
the prophet writes of the four and the 
seven and the ten horns an d the kings 
and Antichrist; and so he gained the 
ears of the more simple, and if it had 
been possible would have le i into error 
even the man of God the Venerable 
Abbot Simon of S. Nicolas. For his 
arrogance went so far that, when they 
were sitting in the preseice of the 
Superior, he dared to preach a sermon 
upon that Chapter. One who heard 
and saw it bears witness to :he truth of 
this, and as a proof has given us the be¬ 
ginning of that sermon, as follows:— 
“Be ye valiant in war, and fight against 
that old Serpent.” These words did 
that lying spirit utter tl rough this 
man’s mouth; but he was in no way 
able to proceed to the truth which 
follows, namely: “And ye shall re¬ 
ceive the eternal Kingdom.” When 
the Deceiving Spirit saw tf at he could 
not wholly delude his hearers, being 
wonderfully full of guile he rurned with 
the greater skill to other methods of 
deceit; so that if he could not openly 
subvert those who were on :heir guard, 
he might at least disturb them in their 
meditations. Accordingly that same 
cleric who was his minister in this work 
was seized with a sudden and very 
grave sickness; and whereas he had 
confined his pronouncements to visible 
matters, he now turned his face to 
Heaven and did not fear to speak of 
matters invisible and ineffable. The 
Brothers, as is the custom, ran up to 
give him Unction, and :o hear his 
words; for he said much of himself, but 
more of many of those who stood round 
him. Of himself he said that on that 
same evening he would either be with 
the Angels in Heaven, or he would be 
standing restored to heal :h with the 
Brothers in the choir, Of the others, 
he considered the character of each 
and said as if prophesying and prog¬ 
nosticating: “This man, when I was 
lately borne up to Heaven in the 
church, I saw called to eternity ” ; and 
so he foretold various things of the 
others. 



BK. II. CH. XVI. 


MALEFICARUM 


Here note, reader, the degree of the 
devil’s pride when he chooses the 
ignorant and makes them appear 
learned. Then he causes them to in¬ 
terpret the Scriptures and to preach 
before their superiors in places where 
they should be silent. 

Ribadeneira * in his Life of S. 
Ignatius Loyola (V, io) writes that a few 
years ago in Belgium in one of the cities 
of Hainault there was a nun who was 
thought to be possessed, and she was 
led to the Superior of her Order to be 
exorcised. But when the ceremony had 
already been proceeding a long time, 
she began to speak successively with 
different voices, in a gentler voice 
claiming that she was Christ Our 
Lord God, while her other voice was 
harsher and more like a demon: and 
(with this) she openly blurted out 
many impieties, and much that was 
apparently devout; and so some who 
should have known better came to be¬ 
lieve that now Jesus and now the devil 
spoke through her. This matter so full 
of danger and deception was carried 
to such an extent that the woman, as if 
Christ were speaking through her, 
dared with solemn intention to utter 
the canonical words and consecrate 
the Bloodless Sacrifice; and (ah, woe!) 
certain pious but ignorant or rash per¬ 
sons bowed in adoration before the un¬ 
leavened bread consecrated (or rather, 
let it be said, execrated) by this priestess 
(but not after the order of Melchise- 
dech) and as if it were the live Body 
of the Lord brought and placed candles 
upon the altar and venerated it. Yet 
there were two indications that it was 
animposture: first the fact that she was 
a possessed woman, and secondly that 
she dared to usurp the priestly office 


* “Ribadeneira.” Pedro de Ribadeneira, 
S.J., 1526-1611, wrote his “Life of S. Igna¬ 
tius” as an eye-witness of many of the events. It 
appeared for the first time in Latin at Naples, 
1572. The first Spanish edition was 1585. 
The final text may be accounted the edition of 
1554. This book was soon translated into al¬ 
most all European languages . 


141 

which belongs to men, not women. But 
God deliver us from the like! 

In two of the above examples we 
have shown what fruit may come of 
intercourse with women of fictitious 
holiness. I will here in a very few 
words add a third instance, and Ter- 
tullian f himself testifies is indeed a 
signal example. For he, most pro¬ 
found scholar of his time, trusting in 
the visions of women as concerning the 
quantity and colour of the soul, forgot 
all that he had most learnedly and 
truthfully written against such women 
and fell into gross and ridiculous errors. 

Francesco Benci % adds the following 
example. During the year 1590, in a 
certain outlying district near the town 
of Arona, some thirty women were 
tormented by the devil. Most of them 
were girls of the humblest station, and 
those especially were afflicted who 
were bound by a vow of virginity; for 
it was wonderful with what wiles he 
surrounded them and with what arts 
he attacked them, assuming various 
forms to tempt them to sin or to deter 
them from honesty. Now he would 
take the appearance and piety of a 
monk, or even (a tiling which the ears 
shudder to hear) that of Christ Himself 
upon the Cross persuading them to 
impious deeds. Now he would appear 
as a bear or a lion or a serpent about 
to rush with gaping mouth upon the 
virgins and devour them in one gulp. 
At other times he appeared as a soldier 
with his dishonourable weapon thrust 
out, threatening them with fire and 
thunder if he could not achieve his 


f “ Tertullian.” Labriolle dates the “De 
Anima” 208-11, and by 207 Tertullian had 
definitely broken away from the Church to em¬ 
brace Montanism, of which sect the prophet¬ 
esses were Maximilla and Priscilla. Tertul¬ 
lian was indeed in Guazzo's phrase “sui tern- 
poris doctissimus” for of him S. Jerome writes: 
“Quid Tertulliano eruditius, quid acutius? 
Apologeticus eius et contra Gentiles libri cunc- 
tam saeculi continent disciplinam.” “Epistola 
LXX.” 

J “Francesco Benci.” A Milanese writer 
of local gazettes and intelligences. 




COMPENDIUM 


BK. [I. CH. XVI. 


142 

aim. But their virgin simplicity, with 
the help of God, overcame all his 
subtleties. Great indeed was their 
faith, and with that shield they 

? uenched the fiery darts of the Evil 
)ne. Let us relate two of the many 
stories which are told of these virgins. 
One of them, who was born of noble 
parents and had been gently reared, 
was much disturbed one night by the 
devil’s temptings; and therefore, 
though it was mid-winter and bitterly 
cold, she left her bed and slept naked 
on the bare floor. But when the flame 
of her desire in no way decreased (for a 
mighty fire does but burn the more 
when water is thrown upon it), she stole 
from her bedroom into the garden and 
there, in emulation of the great S. 
Francis who she had heard had done 
the same, threw her body into a bank 
of snow; and, although the demon 
(who was visible to her) raved and 
gnashed his teeth, she rolled in the 
snow so long that she wholly quenched 
her internal fire with the external cold. 
To another of these virgins the demon 
likewise appeared at night in the form 
of S. Ursula bearing the banner of the 
Cross with a company of many virgins, 
and spoke to her as follows: “ Gocl 
sees and loves your zeal in keeping 
your chastity. But because it is some¬ 
what difficult for you in your father’s 
house, with so much bustle of people 
coming and going, and so many 
dangers to be encountered, to avoid 
contaminating your mind in some 
part, He has sent us to take you to a 
Convent of Holy Virgins who have put 
aside all other cares to serve His will 
with all their strength.” The virgin, 
with the breath of God upon her, 
feared some ambush of the devil and 
drew her right hand from her brow to 
her breast, and then from left to right 
in the form of the Cross, and protested 
that she was most unworthy of such 
a vision and so great an honour. And 
she added: “ Neither have I very 

great faith in you, for I fear some 
hidden guile in your specious counsel. 
But if you are the messengers of God, 


then humbly adore these R elics of the 
Saints.” (For she was wearing these 
about her neck.) Strange to say, the 
devils knelt in worship before them, 
and urged her all the mor * to hasten 
her departure with them. B lit she said: 
“ I may not come to any grave de¬ 
cision without the advice of my 
spiritual father, and it is not seemly for 
me to go to him at this hour of the 
night. Do you, therefore approach 
him and make known the commands 
of God; and when it is day I will come 
and abide by his advice.” At this an¬ 
swer the demons threw off all disguise 
and hid themselves in their own dark¬ 
ness, raging at, and attacking with 
their tongues only, and pouring insults 
and vituperations upon tie maiden, 
who mocked at them and humbly gave 
thanks to God. What greater wisdom 
could there be than that of this virgin? 
But indeed true wisdom became hers 
who bound herself with the girdle of 
chastity. 

I will add an example cf a remark¬ 
able precaution, by which we are 
taught that nothing is safer for a man 
than to mistrust his own judgement, 
and to preserve his obedience to his 
superior even in the face of a vision 
which compels his belief. S. Gene- 
bald,* Bishop of Laon, formed a 
friendship, which arose from the best 
of motives, with a woman but such is 
human frailty that at last he had carnal 
intercourse with her. Afterwards he 
came to his senses and confessed to S. 
Remigius of Reims. He was shut in a 
narrow cell like a tomb, and there did 
bitter penance for seven years. In the 
seventh year at the vigil of the Lord’s 
Supper, while S. Genebalc was spend¬ 
ing the night in prayer and lamenta¬ 
tion, about the middle of 1 he night an 
Angel of the Lord came :o him in a 
great light in the cell where he lay, 
and said to him: “ Genebald, the 


* tc S. GenebaldAs the nephew of S. Re¬ 
migius , S. Genebald, first Bishop of Laon , who 
was appointed to that see in 497, is much ven¬ 
erated in the Diocese of Reims . 



BK. II. GH. XVI. 


MALEFICARUM 


prayers of your father Remigius for 
you have been heard, and the Lord 
has accepted your penitence and your 
sin is absolved. Arise and go hence, 
and perform your Episcopal duties and 
reconcile penitent sinners with the 
Lord. 55 But S. Genebald was too terri¬ 
fied to answer anything. Then the 
Angel of the Lord comforted him and 
told him not to fear, but to rejoice in 
the mercy of God shown to him. Thus 
encouraged, he said to the Angel: 
“ I cannot go from here; for my Lord 
and father Remigius carries with him 
the key of this door, and he has sealed 
it with his seal. 55 And the Angel said to 
him: “ Do not doubt: I am sent from 
the Lord. Even as Heaven is open to 
you, so also will this door open. 55 And 
at once the door was opened, the wax 
of the seal being yet unbroken. Here, 
then, are the signs of a true vision: for 
first he was afraid, and then he was 
comforted; and the unbroken seal and 
wax was a true and patent miracle. 

Ah, how different was that virgin of 
Ghent in our own times! 

This miserable woman spent much 
time in prayer and frequently assisted 
at Mass, but either she did not go often 
enough to a confessor or, if she did, she 
did not unfeignedly open to him the 
secrets of her heart, or else she did not 
follow his good advice. In any case, 
by degrees and in various visions the 
devil filled her with spiritual pride, 
and at last persuaded her that in all 
other merits she was the equal of the 
Virgin Mary, but that the one thing 
lacking to her was fertility joined with 
spotless virginity; and that, if she per¬ 
severed, she would achieve that also. 
Oh madness, worthy of the folly of 
women! After that she no longer de¬ 
spised confession but used it regularly 
for some years, at the same time par¬ 
taking of the Holy Communion. What 
followed? Once when she was in 
church awaiting her Communion, and 
was fervently praying for that one re¬ 
maining benefit, she heard a voice say: 
“ Be of good heart, beloved; for know 
that your prayer is heard and you are 


143 

permitted to become pregnant with all 
the prerogatives of chastity. Have faith 
that you have conceived from heaven.” 
(For she had lain with the demon who 
was pretending to be an Angel.) She 
went home, and felt her womb swel¬ 
ling ; and after the due period of gesta¬ 
tion she went to a pious and discreet 
citizen who was well known, and told 
him all, and asked that she might give 
birth in the interior of his house, 
begging him to keep it secret. The 
man did not believe her story about 
her visions, yet he would not thrust 
the woman from his house; for the 
Sectarians were just then gaining 
ground, and he feared that if this 
matter were made public it would give 
rise to blasphemous and injurious 
utterances by the heretics. Therefore 
he took her in and, having engaged a 
trustworthy midwife, awaited her de¬ 
liverance. The unhappy woman was 
afflicted with violent pains, and at 
length, instead of a human child, shed 
from her womb a great quantity of 
horrible, ugly and vile worms, so 
terrible to see that all were appalled, 
and of so foul a stench that it nearly 
killed all who were present. So at last 
the wretched woman understood that 
she had been deluded, and that she 
had reaped the merited fruit of her 
pride from the Prince of Pride. In this 
way was the woman deceived. 

S. Friard* and his companion, the 
Deacon Secondel, remained perfectly 
stable in their anchoretic vocation 
upon an island, each having his own 
cell at a long distance from the other’s. 
As they were labouring in strenuous 
prayer, the Tempter appeared at night 
to the Deacon Secondel in the likeness 
of the Lord, saying: “I am Christ to 
whom you continually pray. And 
now you are a Saint, and I have 


* “S. Friard” The two holy hermits S. 
Friard and S. Secondel of Besne {sixth century) 
are particularly honoured in the diocese of 
Nantes. Guazzo has his history from S. Gre¬ 
gory of Tours, “De uita Patrumf X, and one 
may also consult Surius under 1 August . 



COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. XVI. 


I44 

written your name in the Book of Life 
with the rest of my Saints. Depart 
now from this island, and go among 
the people healing the sick. 35 De¬ 
ceived by this illusion he departed 
from the island without telling his 
companion; and when he placed his 
hands upon the sick in the name of 
Christ they were moreover healed. 
After a long time he returned to the 
island and came with great glory to 
his companion, saying: “I went from 
the island and have done many 
mighty works among the people. 33 
The other was appalled, and asked 
what he meant; and he told him 
simply all that he had done. But the 
old man was amazed, and said with 
sighs and tears; “Woe to us! How 
terribly do I hear that you have been 
deceived by the Tempter! Come now 
and do penance, lest his wiles prevail 
over you. 33 Secondel, understanding 
his error, fell weeping at his feet and 
begged him to intercede for him with 
God; and the Saint said to him; 
“Come, let us both pray the Almighty 
for the safety of your soul: for He is not 
a hard God to those who trust in His 
mercy, as He said by the Prophet.* 
I desire not the death of a sinner, but 
rather that he should turn and live. 33 
While they were praying the Tempter 
came again in the same likeness to the 
Deacon Secondel, saying: “Did I not 
tell you, because my sheep were sick 
and without a shepherd, to go out and 
visit them and heal their sickness? 33 
But he answered: “I know now of a 
truth that you are a seducer, and I do 
not believe that you are God, whose 
image you falsely assume. But if you 
are Christ, show me your Cross which 
you have left behind, and I will be¬ 
lieve you. 33 And when he could not 
show it, and the Deacon had made the 
sign of the Cross upon his face, he 
vanished in confusion. 

Albert Leanderf tells us that when 


* “Prophet” Ezechiel, xxxiii, 11. 

| “Albert Leander.” A Dominican writer 
and hagiographir of the sixteenth century. The 


Blessed Jordanj of Saxony, the 
Master General of the Order of 
Preaching Friars, was suffering from 
an acute fever, there chanced to be 
with the venerable Fathe ' the Supe¬ 
rior, or Prior, of a certain friary of 
the same Order, a discreet man, skil¬ 
ful, provident, learned and of sober 
behaviour, who brought him some 
medical assistance. But he could read 
the mind of Father Jorda i and knew 
that in his very sickness he bore him¬ 
self very stiffly towards him. There¬ 
fore he said: “Father, a sic k man must 
in all things be subject to his physician 
if he wishes to recover his former 
health. Wherefore, althoi.gh you are 
the chief and head of cur religious 
Order, now that you are sick you must 
lay aside your headship and subject 
yourself to me and obey me. And, if 
you do this, I have no fea: but that in 
a short time you will go away from 
here cured. 33 The Venerable Father 
agreed, and at the order of the prudent 
Prior lay upon a bed of feathers, con¬ 
trary to the custom of the Order. In 
the night the devil came in the form of 
an Angel and said to him, as if in 
astonishment: “Is this the famous 
Jordan so renowned among all men? 
Is this the Master and lather of the 
esteemed Order of Preach its? I should 
doubt it if I had not know l you before. 
Oh how vile and imprudent you have 
become, that you lie upon a bed of 
feathers and silken stuffi like one of 
the Lords of the earth. Uj lhappy man, 
what an example you give to the 
Brethren of your Order! Yet God 
has not forgotten you, foi He has sent 
me to correct you. Rise therefore from 
your bed and cast yourself in prayer 
upon the ground. 33 And zt once, when 
the devil had vanished, J ordan threw 


history isfrom his “ Uita B. Ioidanis” xxi and 
xxii. 

f “Blessed Jordan.” The Second Master 
General of the Dominicans , which Order he 
ruled from 1222-1237. His cult was confirmed 
by Leo XII and his feast is kept on 13 Febru¬ 
ary. 




BK. II. CH. XVI. 


MALEFIGARUM 


himself in terror to the ground, and 
after the dawn he was found so lying 
by the Prior and the Brethren. The 
Prior seized him roughly and com¬ 
pelled him, on his obedience, to lie 
upon the bed prepared for him. On 
the following night the devil came 
again in the same likeness, and chid 
him more than before for his disobed¬ 
ience, and ordered him to jump down 
on to the ground. When the Prior 
again saw him in the morning lying on 
the ground he was at first angry, say¬ 
ing : “I wonder at your simplicity, not 
to say ignorance, that you have pre¬ 
sumed to act thus in disobedience and 
to the danger not only of your body 
but of your soul. For I call God, the 
Lord of Heaven and Earth, to witness 
that, for my part, I would not for the 
whole world sin so gravely against God 
and the Order.” And so saying he 
burst into a flood of tears. Seeing this, 
the Venerable Father himself wept and 
fell at his feet, and told him of his 
visions, or rather illusions, and how, as 
he guessed, it had been the devil, 
transfigured into the form of an Angel 
of Light. The Prior was then seized 
with astonishment and became soft¬ 
ened to him through pity, and told 
him to climb into bed: for these hap¬ 
penings had brought him such a weak¬ 
ness of the limbs and such an indura¬ 
tion of his humours that he hardly 
had breath left for sleep. On the third 
night the devil came as before, but as 
soon as he saw him the Holy Man said: 
“O shameless dog! O most wicked 
foe to the human race! O filthy 
beast! How have you dared to delude 
my simplicity under a cloak of zeal for 
our Order? Had it not been per¬ 
mitted by the dispensation of Al¬ 
mighty God, I should have been more 
rudent in noting that obedience is far 
etter than the sacrifices of fools.” And 
spitting in his face, he put him to flight. 

Not long after his death S. Meinolf * * 


* “ S . Meinolf .” S. Meinolf was a canon 
of the Cathedral chapter of Paderborn in the 
first half of the ninth century, and the founder 

L 


145 

the canon of Paderborn and Confessor 
appeared in a vision to one of his 
sacristans, urging him quickly to 
renounce the world and its pomps, and 
to fight under the banner of the 
Eternal King. But the man took the 
vision to be an illusion, and made no 
attempt to mend his life. The Saint 
had pity on his infirmity and again 
warned him as before: but when even 
so he took no thought for correcting 
his life, he appeared the third time 
and said: “You know not, unhappy 
wretch, you know not how the savage 
Thief is claiming your soul for himself; 
for he it is who has persuaded you to 
disobey the message of God and of me 
who am sent by Him. When you were 
plainly going astray in evil living and 
would not of your own will desist from 
sinning, a Divine revelation warned 
you so that you might thus betake 
yourself to better fruits. But, fool that 
you are, you allowed yourself to be 
miserably and perniciously deluded, 
taking a true revelation to be a fan¬ 
tastic illusion. For none of the faithful 
can be in doubt that there is no illusion 
about that revelation which invites a 
man to Christian piety and religion. 
But if such a vision were to come to 
you while you were awake, you ought 
in no wise to despise it: and since 
words will not serve to correct you, we 
must proceed to deeds. Therefore, that 
I may make it plain that the vision 
which you affect to misunderstand was 
a very true one, you shall be left in no 
doubt at all.” When the Saint had 
said this, the man arose and found 
that his entire beard had been torn 
from his chin, and all sleep fled far 
from his eyes. 

Cardinal Jacques de Vi try,* in his 


of the Boddeken monastery. His feast is kept 
on 5 October and his life by Person Gobelinus 
(“Uita Meinulphi ”) will be found in the 
“Acta Sanctorum 55 of the Bollandists, October , 
vol. Ilf 216, sqq. 

* “ Jacques de VitryP Historian of the 
Crusades, cardinal , Bishop of Acre, and later 
of Tusculum, was born c. 1160 and died at 




COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. XVI. 


I46 

Book de Mulieribus Leodiensibus , I, 9, 
tells that a friend of Blessed Marie 
d’Oignies was notably infested by an 
evil spirit which walked in darkness at 
noon-tide and was sometimes violently 
and sometimes cunningly dangerous. 
For the subtle Enemy transfigured 
himself into an Angel of light and ap¬ 
peared to him familiarly in dreams 
under the cloak of piety, sometimes 
reproving him for certain faults, 
sometimes fraudulently urging him to 
good works; so giving him as it were 
a false seeming antidote that anon he 
might the more secretly instil his 
poison, and caressed him with a 
honeyed tongue that he might after¬ 
wards sink his teeth in and bind him 
securely to his tail. For when the man 
had put a complete trust in him, then 
that Betrayer, like a sophist or im¬ 
postor, so covered his falsehoods with 
a shadow of truth that at length by his 
machinations he led that Brother to 
what would have been a disastrous 
conclusion of his life, had not the 
handmaiden of Christ learned through 
the revelation of the Holy Spirit the 
deceits of that cunning Enemy. For 
she told the man that those revelations 
of his were not from God but were 
illusions of a wicked demon: but he on 
the other part objected, guided by his 
own spirit instead of the Holy Spirit, 
saying: “That spirit has brought me 


Rome 1240. After attending the University of 
Paris he visited Marie d'Oignies , a mystic of 
the Diocese of Liege , who had won a great re¬ 
putation for sanctity. Acting upon her advice 
he became a Canon Regular and from 1210 to 
1213 he was one of the most eminent preachers 
of the crusade against the Albigenses. His 

“Liber de Mulieribus Leodiensibus 55 is very 
famous . The most celebrated of these holy 

women was Marie d'Oignies , whose visions he 
relates; see “Acta Sanctorum , 55 June , vol. IV , 

636, 666. 

S. Marie d'Oignies was born at Nivelles 
about 11and died at the beguinage of Oignies 
in 1213. Her feast is kept in the dioceses of 
Namur and Liege on 23 June. Her holy Relics 
were enshrined by order of Pope Paul V in 
i6og. 


so many benefits, and has truthfully 
foretold so much of the future, that I 
am sure he does not wish to impose 
upon me. 55 The woman then had re¬ 
course to her customary weapon of 
prayer (see, what a sure remedy and 
shield it is!), and watered with her 
tears the feet of the Crucifix, assailing 
Heaven with her prayers; nor did she 
cease until that wicked Impostor with 
much groaning and shame came to her 
as she prayed in her cell at night. 
Seeing him thus clothed in false 
splendour, she said: “W10 are you, 
and what are you called? * * * * 5 He looking 
proudly and balefully at her said: “I 
am he whom you with your cursed 
prayers have compelled to come to 
you; and you are trying :o take from 
me my friend by force. I am called 
Dream; for I appear in \ isions in the 
likeness of Lucifer to mar.y, especially 
to Religious, and they obey me and by 
my consolations are driven from their 
senses and consider them? elves worthy 
to converse with Gods and Angels. 
And I was just about 1o lead from 
righteousness that friend of mine who 
is lost to me through your will. 55 And 
so it proved in the evrnt. But the 
adder’s eggs were broken, and the evil 
counsels of the Wicked One were 
brought to light. 

In his De schismate Angl. cano Nicholas 
Sander* relates how the heretics 
formed an unheard of PI Dtf to rouse a 


* “Nicholas Sander1330-1381. Edu¬ 
cated at Winchester and New College , Oxford , 
he graduated in 1331. Under Elizabeth he had 
to fly the country and was oriained at Rome . 
His writings are very valuable and he did much 
to help the oppressed Catholics during the 
Elizabethan persecutions. The most widely 
known of his books is the “De schismate Angli - 
canof which was published after his death , 
first at Cologne in 1383 and in the following 
year with many additions by 1 1 ather Parsons at 
Rome. It has been translated into various lan¬ 
guages and frequently reprinted . 

j* “Plot.” “De schismate Anglicano.” 
Rome , 1386, “Liber Secundus , Maria ” (pp. 
342-2), where Sander gives details of this silly 
and profane plot. Elizabeth Croft or Crofts , an 




BK. II. CH. XVII. 


MALEFICARUM 


turbulent mob to disturb the people of 
London and urge them to sedition and 
heresy. They persuaded a girl eight¬ 
een years of age, corrupted both by 
heresy and bribes, to act the following 
abominable lie. She permitted her¬ 
self to be shut up for a time between 
two walls in an obscure corner of a 
certain house, and through a suitable 
crack to utter such words as were sug¬ 
gested to her by the plotters. The girl’s 
name was Elizabeth Croft, and the 
name of the author of the plot was 
Drake. Accordingly, having been thus 
instructed and posted in the place con¬ 
venient for the deception, the girl kept 
making wonderful utterances from her 
hiding place, so loudly that all the 
neighbours could hear her. They ran 
up from all directions to see what it 
was, and in their wonder declared that 
it was not a mortal voice, but the voice 
of an Angel. That spirit threatened 
the city and the country with misery, 
suffering and every misfortune if they 
permitted the Spanish marriage, or 
communion with the Pope of Rome. 
The voice also uttered much in the 
manner of an oracle against the Holy 


idle wench of eighteen, has found a place in the 
“Dictionary of National Biography.” Early 
in 1554 she seems to have concealed herself in 
the thick wall of a house in Aldersgate Street, 
and through a whistle or trumpet her voice ut¬ 
tering denunciations of the Catholic Faith , 
King Philip, and the Queen herself sounded so 
hollow and loud that large crowds collected, 
amongst which confederates spread the rumour 
that the locutions were divinely inspired. Be¬ 
fore July /, 1354, the mysterious voice, “the 
spirit in the wall,” was traced, and Elizabeth 
sent to Newgate. Drake, Sir Antony Knyvett's 
servant, had supplied the whistle and a rabble 
of low rascals were numbered among his ac¬ 
complices. On Sunday, 75 July, Elizabeth 
Crofts was set on a scaffold by S. Paul's Cross, 
and there she read her public confession and on 
her knees asked forgiveness of the Queen. She 
returned to prison very penitent, but owing to 
the clemency of Mary was soon released. See 
Stowe's “Annals,” 1354, and the authorities 
cited in “ The Dictionary of National Bio¬ 
graphy” 


147 

Sacrifice and the rest of the Catholic 
Faith. Some of the conspirators took 
care to mingle with the crowd and 
interpret the prophetic and darker 
sayings of this spirit as admonitions for 
the subversion of religion and the 
stirring up of sedition. The Lord 
Mayor, to appease the multitude and 
to see what the matter was, found some 
difficulty in exposing the fraud: but 
at last he decided to pull down the 
wall and those next to it, whence the 
voice seemed to come. The wretched 
girl was then discovered and was 
questioned as to who had induced and 
persuaded her to act in that way; and 
she at once confessed that she had been 
led to that horrible wickedness by 
certain seditious sectaries, and espec¬ 
ially by the villain who was called 
Drake. 


☆ 


CHAPTER XVII 
Of the Appeal to God. 

Argument . 

I T is dangerous for men not of 
proved righteousness to provoke 
such an appeal. Indeed they commit 
mortal sin who knowingly and un¬ 
justly call others to judgement, for so 
they cause grievous harm and injustice 
and the Judges are brought into dis¬ 
repute as the oppressors of the inno¬ 
cent. But if such action is taken with¬ 
out hatred, desire for vengeance, im¬ 
patience, anger, despair, vanity or any 
other vicious motive; or if anyone op¬ 
pressed by injustice acts in good faith 
to make his innocence appear, so that 
his family should not become infam¬ 
ous, or that the world should be rid of 
such a tyrant, or that he should be 
turned and through fear become peni¬ 
tent and cease from his oppression and 
down-treading of the unfortunate; 
then such a citation is lawful, neither 



COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. XVII. 


I48 

did Francois Feuardent * dare to con¬ 
demn it, since when the end is good I 
suppose the means if indifferent are to 
be commended. There are many ex¬ 
amples in Holy Writ. Sarah said: 
“ The Lord judge between me and 
thee. 55 (Genesis xvi, 5). David said to 
Saul: “ The Lord judge between me 
and thee, and the Lord avenge me of 
thee. 55 (I. Samuel xxiv, 12). So said 
Zechariah the son of Jehoiada: “ The 
Lord look upon it and require it. 55 (II. 
Chronicles xxiv, 22). 

☆ 

Examples. 

Thomas of Brabant in his De Apibus , 
VII, records a most memorable event 
in the following words: The Monas¬ 
tery of S. James at Liege is well known 
to all, as is the truth of the following 
story. A young man who was cousin to 
the Bishop entered that monastery for 
the sake of devotion and religion. But 
when the Bishop heard this he was en¬ 
raged and collected a strong band of 
his servants and, forcing his way into 
the monastery, seized the young man 
and stripped him of his religious habit 
and clothed him in secular clothing. 
The Abbot of the monastery therefore 
collected the chief men of the city and 
complained to the Bishop, and ap¬ 
pealed to all the clergy concerning this 
outrage. But the Bishop in his rage 


* “Frangois Feuar dent,” 1539-1610. A fa¬ 
mous Franciscan theologian who took a pro¬ 
minent part in the religious and political 
troubles which so disturbed France during his 
day. He was one of the most zealous preachers 
in the cause of the Catholic League, and a- 
chieved no mean reputation as an eloquent and 
ardent defender of the Faith. In his old age he 
retired to the convent of Bayeux which he re¬ 
stored and furnished with a large library. For 
his own works, both theological and contro¬ 
versial , one may conveniently consult Wadding- 
Sbaralea, “Scrip tores Ordinis Minor umf ed. 
Nardecchia, I, 80, sqq.; Rome, 1906. The 
present reference is to his “Entremangeries et 
guerres ministrales” {Caen, 1601). 


would scarcely listen to him, but rather 
spoke harshly to the Abbot; where¬ 
upon the Abbot knelt down and said 
with great moderation: “ O Bishop, I 
can have no Judge again; t you upon 
earth; and therefore I appeal to God 
the Supreme Judge against you, that 
within forty days both of us may ap¬ 
pear before him to receive judgement 
according to our deserts. 55 The Bishop 
laughed at this, and with his followers 
mocked at the good man and despised 
him and drove him away in disgrace. 
What happened? On the fortieth day 
about Nones that Abbot died; and as 
they were solemnly tolling* for him the 
Bishop, sitting in his bati, asked the 
bystanders what it was. Sc on one came 
in and said that the Abbot of S. James 
had just died, and that the solemn tol¬ 
ling was for him. The Bishop then re¬ 
membered that it was the fortieth day 
since the time he had beei summoned 
by the Abbot, and in terror of soul said 
to his followers: “Quick! See what I 
must do. I am dead, and t o-day I must 
appear in the sight of the Supreme 
Judge. 55 Shortly after these words, as 
he was hastening out of the bath, he 
died with a terrible groan in the arms 
of his attendants, withoul doubt being 
compelled to answer for limself there 
where no causes are ciied and the 
pleadings of advocates arc silent, where 
freedom cannot be won by prayers or 
by bribery. 

Fregoso, 1 ,6, writes that Francois I, J 


f “Frangois I.” Born at Vannes, 11 May, 
1414; the eldest son of John VI of Brittany. 
When Sir Francis Surienne invaded Brittany 
on the pretext of redressing the wrongs done by 
the Duke to his younger broth er, Gilles, Fran¬ 
gois appealed for protection to Charles VII of 
France. The king after remonstrating in vain 
with the Duke of Somerset on the conduct of 
Surienne instituted against the English a cam¬ 
paign which led to their expul non from Lower 
Normandy. The cruel treatmi nt of his brother 
by Frangois has left an ineffai eable blot on his 
memory. But it had terrible results. A month 
after the death of Gilles in 1450, Frangois, con¬ 
fronted in his sleep by his brother's confessor, 
was solemnly cited to appear In forty days be - 




BK. II. CH. XVIII. 


MALEFICARUM 


Duke of Brittany, with infamous and 
cruel treachery put to death his 
brother who was returning from Eng¬ 
land. But within a year the Duke in 
his turn perished miserably, for his 
brother had cited him to the tribunal 
of God, and thus he most wretchedly 
lost both his Dukedom and his life. 


☆ 


CHAPTER XVIII 
Of the Trial by Single Combat. 
Argument. 

I N former times, when an accusa¬ 
tion was doubtful and could not be 
proved, no sort of trial was more com¬ 
mon than this. For then either the 
accuser challenged the defendant, or 
else the defendant offered himself or 
someone else in his place to fight. It is 
agreed that this is a most ancient 

! )ractice, and that it was used in the 
ands of Palestine; for Alciati * * points 
out in his De singulari certamine , II, that 
Davidf challenged and overcame Goli¬ 
ath. After the invasion of Italy by the 
Barbarians it was chiefly practised b y 
the Lombards, the Germans, Frank s, 


fore the tribunal of God, there to answer for his 
misdeeds. Terror gave full effect to the ghostly 
citation, which the wretched man perforce 
obeyed, dying on ig July, 1450. 

* “Alciati.” Andrea Alciati, 1492-1550, 
the famous Italian jurist. 

■f “David.” This Scriptural example was 
of old quoted by several writers in support of 
the wager of battle and the duel. But as early 
as 1240 S. Ramon de Penafort {“Siimma,” II, 
tit. 2) definitely laid down that all who engage 
in such combats are guilty of mortal sin. Car- 
dinal Henry of Susa is no whit less uncompro¬ 
mising {“Aureae Summae, V, tit. “De Clu. 
pugnant”). Alexander of Hales {“Summae, 
III; Q. xlvi, Mem. 5) regarded the precedent 
of David and Goliath as altogether an excep¬ 
tion from which no argument must be deduced. 
It was to him only permissible to refer to it in 
an allegorical manner as prefiguring the tri¬ 
umph of Christ over the devil. 


149 

and even Spaniards. But this sort of 
combat provides no proof; for it is 
against all law according to the unan¬ 
imous opinion of the Doctors. Sufius 
{De iniustitia duelli) and Pedro MexiaJ 
{Silva de varia leccion, IV, 9) prove 
that it is contrary to natural law. 
All the Doctors agree in proving that 
it is against the civil law, although that 
law is not very clear in detail; yet there 
is no Roman law by which such com¬ 
bats can be justified. That duels are 
forbidden by the law of God is proved 
by every argument which forbids us to 
tempt God, and by the Command¬ 
ment that we shall do no murder. This 
is more clearly proved by the Ecclesi¬ 
astic, or positive Divine Law, as ex¬ 
pressed by the Council of Trent as 
follows: The detestable practice of 
duelling, introduced by the wiles of 
the devil that he might win the death 
of souls together with the bloody death 
of the body, should be entirely exter¬ 
minated from the Christian world, etc. 
(Sess. XXV; De Reform, cap. XIX). 
And a little later the same holy Coun¬ 
cil added the following: They who 
engage in duels, and they who act as 
seconds thereto, let them be punished 
with excommunication and the con¬ 
fiscation of all their goods and per¬ 
petual disgrace, and may they for ever 
be deprived of ecclesiastical burial like 
murderers, etc. There exists that most 
admirable Bull of Pope Gregory XIII 
of blessed memory, issued in the year 
1582 in the month of December, which 
begins with these words: Crescente 
hominum malitia,%facinorosi non desunt. 

J “Pedro Mexia.” This famous Spanish 
author was born c. 1496 and died in 1552. His 
“Silva de varia leccion,” published at Seville 
in 1543, has been compared to the “Nodes At- 
ticae” of Aulus Gellius. Mexia was a great 
favourite with Charles V and collected material 
for a history of that monarch. This, unfor¬ 
tunately, was never written. 

§ “Crescente hominum malitia.” Reference 
may also be made to the glosses of Pedro Mattel 
upon the Bull “Mox laudandam” of Gregory 
XIII. Benedict XIV decreed that duellists, 
even if they had not perished on the duelling- 




150 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. i:. CH. XVIII. 


Examples . 

In the year 1326, when William III 
was Count of Hainault, a certain Jew 
pretended to be baptised in all sin¬ 
cerity into the Holy Christian Faith, 
and the Count gave him the name of 
William at the font and appointed him 
as a servitor in the palace at Mons. 
Not long afterwards this wicked fellow 
entered the church at the monastery of 
Cambrai and in a fit of fury hurled a 
number of blasphemies against the 
image of the Mother of God, and (oh, 
horror!) wounded it with his spear in 
five several places from which streams 
of blood at once flowed. This was seen 
by a carpenter and by a lay Brother 
named Matthaeus Lobbius. The car- 
enter was about to cleave the Jew’s 
ead with his axe, but he was pre¬ 
vented by the Brother. They reported 
the matter to the Abbot, John of Mons, 
and he to the Count. The Jew stub¬ 
bornly withstood all torture and was 
therefore released, but four years later 
an Angel appeared to an old man 
named Jean Flander D’Esteney who 
had been bed-ridden with paralysis for 
seven years, and ordered him to accuse 
the Jew and challenge him to a duel. 
After he had been thus warned twice, 
the old man still, at the bidding of the 
parish priest, delayed, but the third 
time the Virgin Herself came and 
showed him her five bleeding wounds, 
and commanded him to fight the duel. 
Full of hope and faith the old man 
went to Cambrai, and having seen the 
wounds upon the image obtained an 
audience of the Count and thereupon 

ground but had lingered and later received ab¬ 
solution1, should without exception be denied 
Christian burial; Pius IX in the il Constitutio 
Apostolicae Sedis” 12 October , i86g, excom¬ 
municates all who are in any way accessory to 
a duel, who are present at a duel, or who permit 
and do not prevent a duel, even though they be 
kings or emperors; Leo XIII in his letter 
“Pastoralis officii ,” 12 September, i8gi, em¬ 
phasises the fact that the duel is an offence 
against the Divine Law proclaimed both by the 
inspired Holy Scriptures and natural reason. 


accused the Jew of his cr me. A day 
was appointed for the coml >at; and the 
weapons, rough clubs* and wooden 
shields, exist even to this day. The Jew, 
who although he seemed but a puny 
fellow was in fact muscular and 
vigorous, had sewn a number of little 
tinkling bells to his galligaskins and 
gambadoes in bitter mockery of the 
poor old man: but God helped His 
champion who had undertaken so un¬ 
equal a fight, for the sick man beat the 
healthy man, the weak the strong, and 
the old the young. And as he was con¬ 
victed terribly blaspheming and im- 
enitent, the Count ordered him to be 
ound by the hair of hi.; head to a 
horse’s tail and so dragged to the gib¬ 
bet, and after he had been hanged by 
the neck with two fierce Molossian 
hounds rending his flanks he was cast 
into the fire. This story is fully told by 
Robertus Hauport, who w rote a poem 
in two books on the subject. 

Radislaus,f a Prince of Kreis Kau- 
rim (Kolin) and son of Mistibogius, 
wrongfully invaded Bohenia, so that 
at last good King Wenceslaus was per¬ 
suaded to raise an army igainst him. 
As they were on the point of joining 


* “Rough clubs” When champions were 
employed on both sides, and such would be actu¬ 
ally the case here since the old man was fighting 
in honour of Our Lady, the low of battle re¬ 
stricted the combatants to the club and buckler . 
See Patetta, “Le Ordalie” {Tonno, i8go),for 
full details. Philip Augustus in 1215 directed 
that the club should not excel d three feet in 
length, but in England this baton was often 
rendered a formidable enough weapon through 
being furnished with a sharp )eak or pick of 
iron. The wooden shield was generally 
covered with leather. It may b ? remarked that 
the difference of age between tie old man and 
the Jew was altogether exceptional as the punc¬ 
tilio of combat required an equality. 

f “ Radislaus.” Guazzo’s sources for this 
history are: Widukind of Corvey, O.S.B., 
“Resgestae saxonicaesiue annalium libri tres,” 
II, which see in the “Scriptures rerum ger- 
manicarumHanover, 1882; Vincent of Beau¬ 
vais, “Speculum,” xxiv, 70, and Dubravsky , 
“Historia Bohemorum,” v. 




BK. II. CH. XIX* 


MALEFICARUM 


battle, Wenceslaus said: “ If the mat¬ 
ter cannot be settled except by fight¬ 
ing, why should we two not decide it in 
single combat without shedding inno¬ 
cent blood?’ 5 And without delay he 
put on a cuirass over his hair shirt and 
girt himself with a small sword and 
came out into the battle field. But 
Radislaus armed himself to the teeth 
with mighty armour. Wenceslaus 
made the sign of the Cross on his brow, 
and suddenly saw Angels who spoke in 
human voice, saying: “ Do not strike. 55 
And suddenly Radislaus lay upon the 
ground and asked pardon for his bold¬ 
ness and yielded himself into the hands 
of his victor. Wenceslaus raised him up, 
forgave him and restored him to his 
dignities, bidding him to turn his con¬ 
tumacy to fitting humility, lest he 
should thereafter suffer severer punish¬ 
ment from the angry Godhead. Here 
God declared the justice of the cause 
by a miracle. 

When God does not wish a miracle 
to take place, it generally happens that 
the matter remains in doubt, or that 
he who is in the right submits to the 
judgement of God. The first was the 
case in a duel between two noble 
Spaniards in the time of King Alfonso 
XI,* the father of King Pedro of Cas¬ 
tile. Their names were Ruy Paez de 
Biedma and Pay Rodriguez de Ambia. 
The former accused the latter of 
treason, and the latter retaliated with 
an accusation of an even more serious 
crime. They met and fought for three 
days from sunrise to sunset, and both 
were sorely wounded; yet the affair re¬ 
mained in doubt and neither could 
claim the victory. Therefore the King 
declared them both innocent and 
equally virtuous, and bade them be 
friends. This is fully related by Pedro 
Mexia in his Silva de varia leccion , II, x. 


* “Alfonso XI” This combat took place in 
1342. See the “Cronica de Alfonso el Once no,” 
cap . CCLXIL 

☆ 


151 


CHAPTER XIX 
Of Vulgar Purgation by Fire . 
Argument . 

T HIS purgation was formerly of 
three sorts; that by the pyre, that 
by burning coals, and that by red hot 
iron: and a man’s innocence was 
proved if he escaped unhurt from the 
ordeal. The ordeal of red hot iron is 
still used by the Japanese, as we learn 
from letters written in the year 1595 
by Father Luis Froes, a Jesuit, which 
were afterwards printed at Mainz in 
the year 1598. In France in olden 
times it was only legal in secular causes, 
as we learn from the Epistles of Ivo.f 
I find that this hot iron was called a 
“judgement,” and that this name was 
applied to all the instruments of these 
vulgar proofs, as is noted by Pierre 
Le Loyer in his De Spectris , II, 7. It 
is referred to in various laws of the 
Northern peoples introduced by the 
Gauls into Italy after the Barbarian 
invasions. RadevicusJ in his De Frid - 
erici Imperatoris Gestis , I, 26, mentions a 
military law by which a slave who has 
not been caught stealing, but is ac¬ 
cused of it, was commanded to prove 
his innocence either by an oath before 
God or by the ordeal of red hot iron. 
The laws of the Franks and Lombards 
provided that a man accused of mur¬ 
der must purge himself by walking 
over nine red hot ploughshares. 


f “ Ivo .” S. Ivo of Chartres denied the lia¬ 
bility of ecclesiastics to the Ordeal , but allowed 
that it could be properly used on laymen, and 
even pronounces that there is no appeal from the 
result . “Iuon. Carnot . Epist .” ccxxxii, ccxlix, 
cclii. 

J “ Radevicus .” A Canon of Freisingen. 
His “Libri duo . . . de . . . Friderici Impera¬ 
toris gestis” were published, folio, 15/5. An¬ 
other edition is the text given in Tissier's “ Bib¬ 
liotheca Patrum Cistcrciensium,” vol. VIII, 
folio, 1660 . The work is also included in 
Wursisterls “Germaniae Historicorum illus- 
trium Collectio,” folio, 1670. 




COMPENDIUM 


BK. I. CH. XIX. 


152 

We learn from the Council of Tri- 
bur* that in Germany this purgation 
was not employed for nobles (for whom 
it was enough that twelve of their peers 
should swear their innocence), but for 
the base-born. Yet history proves that 
even nobles often underwent it, using 
either red hot blades or red hot gaunt¬ 
lets or some other such thing. In the 
year 1215 or thereabouts Conrad of 
Marburg, f the Apostolic Inquisitor, 
ordered those who had denied a charge 
of heresy to undergo the ordeal by red 
hot iron; and if they were burned he 
at once committed them to the stake. 
If this is true, he acted against the 
Canon Law: for Pope Stephen V had 
already forbidden that practice. 

☆ 

Examples . 

A certain Christian^ was living in 
the land of Omura with the heathen, 
and was accused of theft. Now this is a 
crime most severely punished in 
Japan, so that if a man be convicted 
on the very slightest evidence he is con¬ 
demned to death without hope of 
pardon. But they could not truly 
convict this Christian; so the heathen, 
baffled in all other attempts, insisted 
upon his being forced to swear an oath 
after their custom in the following 


* “ Tribur.” The First Council of Tribur 
(now Trebur) was held in May #95, and pre¬ 
sided over by Archbishop Hallo of Mainz . For 
the ordinances of this politico-ecclesiastical as¬ 
sembly see Concil. Triburens. am. #95 apud 
Harduin , “Concil.” VI. i. 446. 

| “Conrad of Marburg” The confessor of 
S. Elizabeth of Thuringia , and papal inquisi¬ 
tor. He was assassinated 30 July , 1233. Fope 
Stephen V reigned 816-17. As recently as 1210 
Innocent III prohibited the employment of any 
ordeal by the ecclesiastical courts (“ Regest.” 
xiv, 138). Guazzo has taken this instance 
from Trithemius (“ Chron. Hirsaug.” arm. 

1215 ). 

X “A certain Christian.” This is from the 
Japanese letter's of Fr. Luis Froes , S.J., which 
were collected and printed at Mainz , / 338. 


manner: he must write the needful 
oath upon a paper and, with the paper 
in his hand, must grip ho d of a red 
hot iron, calling upon his head the 
vengeance and wrath of Kami if he 
were guilty; and if his hand were 
burned they would say that it was a 
proof that he was guilty, and if his 
hand and the paper were unharmed 
it would prove him innocent. Being 
placed in this dilemma (f )r either he 
must take this oath, or else by refusing 
to do so prove himself guilty and en¬ 
danger his life), the Chr.stian relied 
upon his innocence, but said that it 
was not lawful for him as a Christian 
to swear by the false Kami, but only 
by the true God. The heathen agreed 
that he should swear by his own God. 
He then made the sign of the Cross on 
the paper and, being forced to take 
the red hot iron in his hand, gripped 
it with the greatest confidence. And 
by a notable miracle neither his hand 
nor the paper was burr ed. He was 
therefore freed not only from the 
punishment with which the heathen 
threatened him, but also from the 
accusation which they had falsely 
brought against him. 

The Emperor Otto III § had a wife 
named Maria, of slipper) faith and no 
conscience. Like another Phaedra this 
woman tried to entice ^mula, Count 
of Modena, into her embraces, and 
when she was repulsed conceived a 
furious hatred against th e man whose 
love she had failed to win; and put 
her own crime upon him. The Count 
was aware of her treachery, but was 
torn between his love foi the Emperor 
and his own honour. His honour gave 


§ “Otto III.” The date assigned to these 
incidents is gg6. The history s given by several 
chroniclers: Gotfridi Uiterb ensis Pars xvii, 
“Be Tertio Othone Imperatoi e”; Siffridi Epit. 
Lib. I. ann. gg8; Ricobaldi Hist. Impp. sub 
Ottone III. Muratori originally (“Antiqui- 
tates italicae medii aeui”; dissert, xxxviii) ac¬ 
cepted the old account , but later (“Annali 
dTtalia”; anno gg6) he argues that it is im¬ 
probable . 




BK. II. CH. XIX. 


MALEFICARUM 


way to his love, for he preferred the 
honour of Caesar to his own life. But 
to his wife, a most prudent and (which 
is rare) brave woman, he told all about 
the attempt of the Empress, his own 
answer, her calumnies and his own 
danger; and said that he had deter¬ 
mined to die a thousand bitter deaths 
rather than bring to light so great a 
disgrace to the Emperor arising from 
the incontinence and perfidy of the 
Empress. And he begged her, if he 
had deserved her love, to witness that 
he would undergo the sentence of 
death which threatened him in all 
constancy as a faithful husband to 
her: and when he was dead, he begged 
her to vindicate the name and honour 
of her husband and free him from 
ignominy. Not long afterwards the 
Count was sentenced to death by a too 
credulous judge. Afterwards a Court 
was held at Roncevaux, and on the 
day set for the hearing of widows’ 
causes, the Count’s wife came forward 
and in legal form before the Court 
brought a claim of talion against the 
Emperor, because he had put her 
husband to death unjustly. Otto in 
astonishment said: “But how will you 
prove that your husband was, as you 
say, innocent?” “By a red hot iron,” 
she answered. At the Emperor’s com¬ 
mand a well heated iron was brought, 
and the widow in the sight of all took 
it and held it in her hand without 
being hurt at all. This miracle so 
astounded the Emperor that he avowed 
that he was worthy to be punished, 
but he pleaded for delay before he 
underwent punishment. “I demand a 
threefold bail from three sureties,” she 
answered, “But I only ask the punish¬ 
ment of the Queen, whose wicked 
calumnies robbed me of my husband, 
you of a loyal soldier, and the State of 
a useful citizen.” All thought her de¬ 
mands were just, and the Emperor 
praised her and offered the security of 
four sureties in his camp in Etruria. 
But as for the Empress, who had so 
evilly burned with the fire of lust, he 
ordered her to be thrown by the execu¬ 


153 

tioner on to the pyre, there to be con¬ 
sumed in the flames she justly deserved. 

In the town of Wittenberg* in 
Saxony, a man was accused of public 
incendiarism; but he proved himself 
on his oath and by ordeal. For he 
carried a red hot iron for a long way 
in his hand and put it down on the 
ground unharmed; but the iron sud¬ 
denly vanished from sight. Exactly a 
year later the man who was really 
guilty of the incendiarism was at work 
in the town paving the roads with 
stones, and turned up that iron where 
it lay hidden, and badly burned his 
hand. All were astonished, and recog¬ 
nised that iron, and accused the man 
before the Judge. On being ques¬ 
tioned he confessed the truth, and his 
legs were broken and he was bound 
to the wheel as guilty. See Kranz, 
Historia Uandalorum, VIII, 30. 

Caesarius of Heisterbach (X, 35) 
describes another equally marvellous 
instance as follows: Abbot Bernard of 
Lippe used to say that he knew a fisher 
in theT)iocese of Utrecht who had for a 
long time fornicated with a woman; 
and because his sin was too widely 
known and he was afraid of being 
accused at a synod which was about to 
be held, he went straight to a priest 
and confessed his sin rather, as it 
appeared later, through fear of punish¬ 
ment than for love of justice; and he 
received the following advice. “If,” 
said the priest, “you are firmly re¬ 
solved never to sin again with her, you 
will be able to carry the red hot iron 
safely and resist that sin; and I hope 
that through the virtue of a good con¬ 
fession you will be free.” And this was 
done, to the astonishment of all to 
whom he had told the matter. He 
was not hurt by the fire; but when he 
fell back into a wish to repeat his 
crime, and boasted that he had no 
more been burned by the iron than by 
the water of the river which he was 
then crossing in a boat, and took up 


* “ Wittenberg .” This is from the “ Chroni - 
con ” {Book iv ) of Godfrey of Wittenberg . 



COMPENDIUM 


BK. a. CH. XIX. 


154 

some of the water in his hands, the 
cold water acted as if it were red hot 
iron and burned all the skin off his 
hand. 

In the same chapter he tells of an 
abominable hypocrite who hid his 
crimes under the cloak of a pilgrimage. 
This man, being bribed by another 
rascal, burned down the house of his 
host by whom he had been well enter¬ 
tained: and after he had twice been 
received into the house, twice showed 
his gratitude by again setting fire to it. 
The master in a panic accused many 
whom he suspected, but they all 
proved their innocence by safely 
undergoing the ordeal by red hot iron. 
The house was built again for the third 
time, and the iron was put in a corner 
of it. After some time the false travel¬ 
ler came and was for the third time 
hospitably received and, seeing the 
iron, asked what it was for. His host 
told him, and he replied: “Well, I 
should put it to some other use, and 
not let it lie there idle. 55 At the same 
time he took it in his hand: but it 
immediately grew hot and badly 
burned his hand. He dropped it with 
a yell; and the host in astonishment 
formed a just suspicion that this man 
was guilty of having twice burned his 
house. Therefore he had him seized 
and taken before the Judge, who 
ordered him to be tortured on the rack. 
He then confessed all and was bound 
to the wheel. So wonderful are the 
judgements of God. 

I will add another instance taken 
from the abundant store of Caesarius. 
Rollo the Norman Duke, who was 
afterwards called Robert, knew that 
his subjects were given to robbery, 
theft and rapine. Therefore he made 
strmgent laws against these crimes 
which he thought would be a sufficient 
deterrent, and told the peasants that 
they might confidently leave their 
agricultural implements in the fields. 
One of the farmers, on his return home, 
was immediately asked by his wife 
why he had not brought his tools with 
him, and he excused himself on the 


ground of the Duke’s advice. But she 
secretly stole the tools fro n the field 
and hid them, to teach her husband a 
lesson in caution. The mar. went back 
to the field and, not finding what he 
had left there, reported it to the magis¬ 
trate of the place, who :n his turn 
reported it to the Duke. The Duke 
summoned the peasant to him and 
gave him the price of what he had lost, 
and ordered the Prefect :o find the 
thief by means of the ordeal by fire. 
The first attempt failed to ndicate the 
thief, although all the peasants sub¬ 
mitted to the test. Ther the Duke 
turned to the Bishop and said: “If the 
God of the Christians kno\N s all secrets, 
why does He not expose the thief? 55 
Since he was not yet well confirmed in 
the Faith, the Bishop did not reprove 
him, but said that it was because the 
fire had not yet touched t ae thief. So 
the Prefect was bidden to ;earch more 
diligently even among the neighbour¬ 
ing villages; but no one was found. 
The Duke then summoned the peasant 
and asked him if he had told anyone 
that he had left the tools in the field; 
and he answered that he had told no 
one except his wife. The wife was 
questioned and confessed the theft. 
Then the Duke called the peasant and 
privately asked him: “Did you know 
that your wife was the th ef, or not? 55 
He said: “I knew thal she was. 55 
Then said the Duke: “ Why then did 
you not either punish her or expose 
her? 55 Therefore he orderc d them both 
to be hanged, and by :his severity 
established the law. 

There comes to my mii.d the action 
of a Spanish Catholic who in the time 
of Leovigild* challenged an Arian 
Goth to the ordeal by fire. For when 
he could make no impression upon him 
by logic or argument, he said: “I have 
on my finger a gold ring which I will 
throw into the fire. Do yc u take it out 


* “LeovigildThe Arian King of the 
Visigoths, 569-86. He was the father of S. 
Hermengild. This incident is from S. Gregory 
of Tours , “De Gloria Confess orumf xiv. 



BK. II. CH. XIX. 


MALEFICARUM 


red hot.” He then threw the ring 
among the coals and let it become as 
hot as fire, and turning to the heretic 
said: “If your contention is true, take 
it from the fire.” But when he re¬ 
fused, he said: “O Almighty Trinity, 
if I hold any unworthy belief, let it 
appear; but if my faith is right, let 
this fierce fire have no strength against 
me.” And he took the ring from the 
fire and kept it for a long time in his 
hand, and was not hurt. This was no 
judicial enquiry, but a cogent argu¬ 
ment as to the true and sincere faith. 

We read in Polydore Vergil’s* His¬ 
tory of * England (Bk. 8) that Robert, 
Archbishop of Canterbury, persuaded 
King Edward the Confessor to compel 
his mother Emmaf to undergo the 
ordeal of walking over red hot plough¬ 
shares because she was suspected of hav¬ 
ing committed fornication with Alwyn, 
Bishop of Winchester. She was un¬ 
harmed by the fire, but fled at once 
from England in terror, and shortly 
died with a broken heart. 

In the Life of S. JohnJ the Alms- 
giver in the month of June, we read 
that when S. Leontius was sick and felt 
his death to be at hand, he ordered a 
thurible full of burning coals to be 
brought, and in the presence of many 


* “Polydore Vergil” Born at Urbino, c . 
1470; died there probably in 1555. In 1501 
Pope Alexander VIsent him to England as sub¬ 
collector of Peter's pence. He settled here, and 
only returned to his native land owing to the 
religious changes under Edward VI. The first 
edition of his “Historia Anglic a” was pub¬ 
lished at Basle in 1533. In the third edition 
(1:535) the work is continued from 1503 to 1538. 

| “Emma.” Giles states {note to William 
of Malmesbury, anno 1043) Richard of 
Devizes is the earliest authority for this story. 

J “ S. John.” S. Joannes Eleemosynarius, 
Patriarch of Alexandria {606-16), was born 
c. 550 at Amathus in Cyprus, where he died in 
616. He is said to have devoted the whole 
revenues of his see to the relief of the poor. He 
was the original Patron Saint of the Hospital¬ 
lers, and was commemorated by the Greeks on 
12 November. In the “Roman Martyrology” 
his name is given under 23 January. 


155 

took those coals and poured them upon 
his bosom and said in the hearing of 
all: “Blessed be God who of old saved 
the Bush from burning! Let Him be 
my faithful witness that, even as the 
burning power of the fire has not 
touched my garments, so have I never 
in all my life touched a woman.” 

In France St. Brice,§ who succeeded 
S. Martin in the See of Tours, invoked 
a similar judgement. For the people 
accused him of fornication with a nun, 
who used to wash the Bishop’s linen, 
and had given birth to a child by some 
rascal. S. Brice ordered the child, 
which was not yet a month old, to be 
brought among them, and asked it in 
the presence of the people whether he 
were its father. The child answered 
that he was not, but another whom he 
did not name. This was the work of 
God, but the people ascribed it to the 
devil. Then S. Brice filled his biretta 
with burning coals and wore it all over 
the city without being hurt; and so he 
declared himself innocent of the crime 
of carnal lust, for not even his clothes 
were touched by the fire. 

Peter,|| a priest of Marseilles, during 


§ “S. Brice.” Bishop of Tours from 337 to 
444. Among the principal feasts of his diocese, 
observed with a vigil, Perpetuus, Bishop of 
Tours {461-431), sets down: Natalis S. 
Bricii, 13 November. 

|| “Peter.” Peter Bartholomew was a fol¬ 
lower of Count Raymond of Toulouse. In 1038 
during the First Crusade after the capture of 
Antioch when the Christians were in turn be- 
seiged in that city and sorely pressed by famine, 
sickness and every need, it was revealed to this 
humble priest by Our Lord and S. Andrew in a 
vision that the Lance which pierced the side of 
Christ upon the Cross lay hidden in the Church 
of S. Peter. The next day with much toil the 
Sacred Relic was exhumed, and cheered by this 
signal manifestation of divine favour the 
Christians rallied shortly to defeat the Infidels 
with great slaughter. Yet such was the un¬ 
happy rivalry of the leaders of the Crusade that 
certain of the Frankish princes, jealous of the 
possession of the treasure by Count Raymond, 
audaciously presumed to dispute the authenticity 
of the Relic, blasphemously declaring that the 




COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. XIX, 


I56 

the First Crusade, at the time of the 
seige of Antioch (1098), was suspected 
of heresy. On Good Friday, therefore, 
he went with the Holy Lance of the 


Lance was unworthy of veneration. Peter in 
order completely to satisfy the doubts expressed 
as to his veracity offered to vindicate his truth 
and the identity of the Relic by the fiery ordeal. 
After a space of three days allowed for fasting 
and prayer there was built a pile of dry olive- 
branches, fourteen feet long and four feet high 
with a central passage one foot wide. In the 
sight of forty thousand men all hotly impatient 
for the result, Peter clad only in a tunic and 
bearing in his hands the Holy Lance boldly 
passed through the blazing flames. He emerged 
in perfect safety, but unluckily the frenzied 
multitude so pressed round him to touch if it 
were but the hem of his garment that he fell 
and was trampled in the throng, being injured 
so severely that he died a few days later main¬ 
taining with his last breath the truth of his 
visions and the authenticity of the Holy Lance. 
In this account we follow Raimond de Agiles , 
the chaplain of the Count of Toulouse. He was 
actually present at the discovery of the Holy 
Lance and throwing himself into the pit which 
had been excavated he kissed the point as soon 
as it was seen in the earth. It was he who 
officiated at the Ordeal and so delivered the 
solemn adjuration as Peter entered the pyre. 
Foulcher de Chartres , chaplain to Baldwin I of 
Jerusalem, who also has some account of the 
finding of the Holy Lance, does not write as 
warmly as he should, and seems a little jealous 
that the treasure was not granted to his patron. 
Raoul de Caen who wrote in 1107 and was 
primed by the party inimical to Count Raymond 
must not be believed. 

The Holy Lance subsequently fell into the 
hands of the Turks, and there can be no doubt, 
as all authorities are agreed, that the Sacred 
Relic discovered by revelation in iog8 was that 
sent in 1492 by Sultan Bajazet to Innocent VIII 
to conciliate the Pope's favour towards the 
Sultan's brother, Djem, who was then a pri¬ 
soner in the Vatican. 

The Holy Lance, preserved at S. Peter's, is 
one of the Three Great Relics of the Passion 
which are shown after Matins on Wednesday 
in Holy Week; several times in the course of 
Maundy Thursday and Good Friday; and 
again after Mass on Easter Day. They are ex¬ 
hibited from the balcony over the statue of S. 
Veronica. 


Lord Christ in his hand naked through 
a pile of burning wood, and escaped 
unhurt from the fire. 

Poppo,* a Danish priest, acted as 
follows in proof of the Chr istian faith. 
He soaked all his clothes in wax and, 
putting them on, entered a fire in the 
presence of all the people, and (as he 
solemnly declared) stood there with¬ 
out feeling any pain while the whole 
of the clothes upon his body were 
burned to ashes without the fire having 
touched his skin. Moved by this 
miracle, the Danes abolisied the or¬ 
deal by combat and sub;tituted the 
ordeal by fire. 

From Theodorusf Lector we get the 
following story. In the time of Mar¬ 
ciano two Bishops, one Catholic and 
the other Arian, began a dispute about 
the controversies and dogmas of the 
faith; and at last the Catholic Bishop 
proposed as a condition of their dis¬ 
pute that they should lay aside all 
vain arguments and go together into 
the fire and so prove by tae evidence 
of God which of them hid the true 
faith. The Arian hesitated, but the 
Catholic went straight into the fire 

* “Poppo." This is related by Widukind 
of Corvey, III, 65: Sigebert. Cemblac. Anno 
g66: Dithmari Chron. II, viii: Saxo Gramma¬ 
ticus Hist. Danic. X. The history is said to be 
that of Bishop Poppo of Slesvici:, the date g62, 
and the King of the Danes Ha *old Blaatand. 
But the chroniclers of Trhes claim the merit of 
this conversion for S. Poppo, who was Arch¬ 
bishop of Treves from 1016 to 1047. “Gest. 
Treuin. Archiep." xvi ( MarUne, “Ampliss . 
Collect." iv. 161). Guazzo has taken as his 
authority the “Historia Francorum" (iv) of 
Paulus Emilius. 

f “ Theodoras." A Lector attached to the 
Church of Santa Sophia in Constantinople dur¬ 
ing the earlier part of the sixJi century. He 
compiled a “Historia Tripartita," which is 
mainly an epitome of the his to nans Socrates , 
Sozomen, and Theodoret. Fragments of the 
“Historia" were published by Valesius, who 
used the book in his editions of the original 
historians. These fragments may also be found 
in Migne, “Patres Graeci," LXXXVI. 

X “Mardan." Marcian was Emperor 450- 
457. Anastasius I was crowned in 4gi . 




BK. II. CH. XIX. 


MALEFICARUM 


and spoke to many from its very 
midst, and came out not in the least 
burned. This is a true story, but some 
writers say that it happened in the 
time, not of the Emperor Marcian 
but of Anastasius I, and indeed they 
seem to prove their contention from 
Cedrenus and Nicephorus. 

Pietro di Pavia,* Archbishop of 
Florence, was accused of simony by 
procuring his dignity with the help of 
money, and he named a day for his 
public purgation by fire. In a public 
place there were built two heaps of 
wood, ten feet long, five feet wide 
and four and a half feet high; and 
between them was a path an arm’s 
length wide strewed with burning 
coals. When the holy day came, he 
called upon the help of God to prove 
his innocence and walked between the 
masses of flame which rose on high, 
treading upon the burning coals on 
the path between the blazing heaps of 
wood: and when he was about to re¬ 
turn by the same way, and there was 
no sign of burning upon his body or 
his clothes, he was restrained by the 
people and went away unharmed. 
And so the people learned the truth of 
the matter. See how wonderful is God 
in his saints. 


* “Pietro di Pavia” This account is 
slightly confused. Pietro di Pavia, Bishop of 
Florence, was accused of simony and heresy. 
Although acquitted by the Council of Rome in 
1063, his enemies still continued to denounce 
him, and when he rejected the ordeal of fire, the 
monks of Vallombrosa {whose house of San 
Salvio he had destroyed, butchering many of the 
religious) determined to decide the question of the 
bishop’s guilt by a public trial, and with the 
sanction of his abbot S. Giovanni Gualberto, a 
holy monk Pietro Aldobrandini offered to make 
the trial. The blazing pyre was lit and before 
a vast concourse of many thousands he passed 
slowly through the fames, unscathed, un¬ 
touched by the fierceness of the fire. It is said 
that the Bishop now confessed his simony. 
Pietro Aldobrandini has been canonized, and 
his feast is kept by the Vallombrosians as S. 
Peter Igneus, a Double of the Second Class, on 
8 February. 


157 

Caesariusf of Heisterbach tells the 
following:—In the Cathedral City of 
Cambrai less than five years ago 
[about 1215] several heretics were 
taken, all of whom for fear of death 
denied their perfidy. The Bishop sent 
a Cleric to examine them with the 
ordeal of the red hot iron, and if they 
were burned they were to be sentenced 
as heretics. They were all examined 
and all were burned. As they were 
being led to their punishment, the 
Cleric kept alive one who was of noble 
blood in the hope that he might by 
some means bring him to penitence, 
and said to him: “You are of noble 
birth, and I pity you and feel com¬ 
passion for your soul. I beg and im¬ 
plore you to think better even now of 
such great perfidy and return from 
your error to the truth, lest through 
temporal death you come to death 
eternal.” To this he answered: “I 
have proved by experience that I was 
in error. If a belated repentance may 
avail me at all, I shall not refuse to 
confess.” And he said to him that true 
penitence was never too late; there¬ 
fore a priest was called and the man 
confessed his error with all his heart, 
promising satisfaction to God if his life 
were spared. Now as the holy man 
taught him the power of confession, 
the man soon began to confess his sins 
as a penitent; and at the same time 
the burn upon his hand began gradu¬ 
ally and visibly to disappear in pro¬ 
portion as his confession proceeded. 
When the confession was half made, 
half the burn was healed; and when 
he had completed his confession his 
hand was entirely restored to its former 
health, all pain and discoloration hav¬ 
ing vanished. The Judge summoned 
the man to the fire, but the Cleric 
asked: “Why do you call this man?” 
“That he may burn,” said the Judge, 
“since he was burned at the examina¬ 
tion.” Then the Cleric showed them 
his hand perfectly whole and freed 


| “ Caesarius .” “Dialogus Miraculorum 
III, xvi and xviu 




COMPENDIUM 


BK. II. CH. XIX. 


I58 

him from punishment; but the rest 
were consumed in the fire. 

Master Conrad Abati tells the fol¬ 
lowing example, which is said to have 
happened a few years ago at Stras- 
burg. Ten heretics were apprehended 
in that city, and when they denied the 
charge they were convicted by the 
red hot iron and were sentenced to be 
burned. As they were being taken to 
the fire on the appointed day one of 
their escort said to one of them: 
“Unhappy man, you are damned! 
But come, and confess your sins now 
with true penitence, so that after the 
death of your body, which lasts but a 
moment, the fire of Gehenna may not 
eternally burn your soul. 55 He an¬ 
swered him: “I know, indeed, that I 
have erred; but I fear that God would 
not accept a repentance conceived 
under such stress. 55 The other said to 
him: “Only confess from your heart. 
God is merciful and will accept your 
repentance. 55 And lo, a wonder! For 
as soon as the man had confessed his 
perfidy his hand was fully healed. He 
was lingering over his confession, and 
the Judge summoned him to come to 
his punishment; but his confessor an¬ 
swered the Judge: “It is not just that 
an innocent man should be unjustly 
condemned. 55 And when no trace of a 
burn was found on his hand, he was 
discharged. This man had a wife not 
far from the city, who had heard 
nothing of what we have just told. 
When he came to her rejoicing, and 
saying: “Blessed be God, who has to¬ 
day delivered me from the death of 
my body and my soul ! 55 and told her 
how it had been, she answered: “What 
have you done, most unhappy one, 
what have you done? Have you re¬ 
canted your true and holy faith be¬ 
cause of a moment’s pain? It would 
have been better for you if your body 
could have been burned a hundred 
times, than that you should once draw 
back from the true faith. 55 Alas! who 
is not seduced by the voice of the 
serpent? Forgetting the great good¬ 
ness of God to him, forgetting that 


undoubted miracle, he liste ned to his 
wife’s advice and again embraced his 
former heresy. But God die not forget 
to avenge Himself for so great in¬ 
gratitude, and wounded the hand of 
each of them. The burn re-appeared 
upon the heretic’s hand, ar d since his 
wife was the cause of his returning to 
his error she was made a partaker in 
the backslider’s pain. The burn was 
so severe that it penetrated to the 
bones of their hands: and because they 
dared not in the town give vent to the 
cries which the pain wrung from them, 
they fled to a neighbou 'ing wood 
where they howled like wolves. What 
need I say more? They were taken 
and led back to the city and together 
cast upon the fire which was not yet 
quite extinguished, and w ;re burned 
to ashes. What, I ask, is t ie truth of 
the matter? Does the flame follow 
heresy, even as a shadow follows the 
body? 

In another altogether marvellous 
happening God manifested the truth, 
using a demoniac as the executioner 
of a heretic. Two writers have wit¬ 
nessed to the truth of it: lernard* of 
Luxemburg, O.P., in hi; Catalogue 
haereticorum omnium , under the letter 
E; and that more ancient authority, 
Thomas of Brabant, whose words in 
the Bonum Uniuersale , Bk. II, I shall 
here quote: Near Cambra' there was 
a very astute heretic who, fearing lest 
he should be questioned 2nd burned 
by the Friars Preachers, who at that 
time were burning many in that city, 
pretended that he was possessed by a 
demon; and therefore lis friends 
bound him and took him to Dour 
to the shrine of S. Aichari who had 
power to cast out devils, since they 
thought that his affliction was mad¬ 
ness, and not heresy. When a certain 
cleric, who was possessed by a devil 
and was bound, heard that Eloi Bou- 


* “Bernard.” Dominican theologian and 
Inquisitor of the Archdioceses of Cologne , 
Mainz and Treves. He died at Cologne , 5 
October , 1555. 



BK. II. GH. XIX. 


MALEFICARUM 


gris (for that was the man’s name) 
was in the place, he was by God’s will 
freed from his bonds on the following 
night, and went and heaped rush 
mats, straw, and benches from the 
church upon the bound heretic. Eloi 
pretended to treat this as a mad joke, 
until the cleric took a light from a 
lamp and began to burn the heretic; 
but upon this he cried out and aroused 
the gaolers, who ran up and tried to 
put the fire out. But the cleric seized 
a sword which he happened to find by 
the bed, and fiercely drove them all 
off, and so burned the heretic in the 
fire. Immediately afterwards, having 
executed the just judgement of God, 
the cleric was delivered from his 
demon and was entirely healed. 

S. Gregory of Tours \De Gloria Mar - 
tyrum I, 81) tells how a Catholic 
deacon disputed with an Arian priest 
and invited him to prove by his deeds 
which was the true faith, in the fol¬ 
lowing manner. A fire was lit under a 
cauldron and each of them was to 
throw his ring into the boiling water; 
and he who should take his ring out 
of the boiling water should be held to 
have proved his argument. The here¬ 
tic accepted these conditions; but 
meanwhile the deacon began to lose 
confidence, and smeared some un¬ 
guent upon his hand and arm. The 
heretic also began to shrink from the 
danger; but when he saw the Catho¬ 
lic’s arm anointed with an unguent, 
he protested that his adversary was 
relying upon magic arts and protec¬ 
tions, not upon his faith; and a dispute 
arose. As they were thus quarrelling, 
there came another deacon from the 
town of Ravenna named Tacintus, 
who, when he knew the cause of their 
quarrel, at once put forth his arm from 
his robe and plunged it into the boiling 
cauldron. Now the ring which had 
been thrown in was very light and 
small, and was tossed about by the 
boiling water like a straw in the wind: 
but he kept searching and groping 
for it, and within an hour’s time found 
it. Meanwhile the fire under the caul¬ 


*59 

dron was burning fiercely and became 
so hot that it was not easy for his hand 
to take hold of the ring when he had 
found it: but at last the deacon drew 
it out, feeling no pain in his flesh but 
rather protesting that the cauldron 
was cold at the bottom and only 
moderately hot at the top. Seeing this 
the heretic was quite confounded and 
rashly thrust his hand into the caul¬ 
dron saying: “Let this be the proof 
of my faith.” And at once all his flesh 
was melted and came away from his 
hand, right down to the joints of his 
bones. Thus was the dispute ended. 

S. Gengulphus* the Martyr tested 
the violated honour of his adulterous 
wife in the following manner: He and 
his wife came to a certain spring, and 
he addressed her in these words: “O 
wife, on all sides I hear shameful 
things of you, unworthy of your birth, 
but hitherto I am not certain whether 
they are true or false.” She then un- 
blushingly swore that the rumours 
about her were false, and that she had 
never defiled herself in another’s bed; 
but S. Gengulphus said: “Divine pro¬ 
vidence, from which nothing escapes, 
will clearly show how the matter 
stands. See, here is a spring, neither 
very cold nor immoderately hot. Put 
your hand in, then, and pick up a 
stone from the bottom; and if you are 
free from guilt you will suffer no harm, 
but if you are corrupt God will not 
allow your crime to be hidden.” She 
ascribed these words of the Saint, as 
she did all his utterances, to madness, 
and unhesitatingly plunged her hand 
into the spring. But as soon as she 
tried to take hold of the stone, she 
became stiff in nearly all her limbs, 
and wherever the water touched her 
fingers and arm the skin was stripped 


* il S. Gengulphus .” Originally a warrior 
and a favourite of King Pepin. He retired from 
the world and led a life of strictest piety. He is 
especially venerated in the diocese of Langres. 
See Pet. Cantor. Verb. Abbreu. Not. in cap. 
Ixxviii ( Migne , “Patres Latinif CCV, p. 
47 1 )- 



i6o 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. I. CH. XIX. 


off leaving the bare flesh exposed, and 
the wretched woman expected nothing 
but instant death. He put his wife 
away from him when she was thus 
convicted of adultery; and not long 
afterwards, at the instance of his wife, 
he was murdered by her adulterer. 

☆ 

CHAPTER XX 
Of Superstitious Folk* 
Argument. 

B E it known to them who lightly 
use and practise superstitious rites, 
that the inventor of all superstitious 
and vain observances is the devil, who 
at the beginning of the world led 
nearly the whole human race astray 
into idolatry. They, therefore, who 
study and follow superstitious observ¬ 
ances show themselves to be disciples 
not of Christ but of the devil, and they 
manifest themselves to be lovers of his 
service and learned in his wiles, and 
they are alienated from the teaching 
of the Catholic Church. But it is a 
marvel that anyone should put faith 
in such illusions, if he knows of the 
wretched death of all magicians and 
conjurers. Zoroaster, the inventor of 
magic, was at last burned to ashes by 
the very demon to which he addressed 
his too importunate supplications, as 
S. Clement has testified. The fate of 
Simon Magus is notorious, how he 
was carried up in the air by demons, 
and fell and broke his legs, and died 
in anguish and ignominy. When 
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippaj was at 


* “Of Superstitious Folk.” The present 
Pope, Pius XI, now happily reigning, has re¬ 
commended (says the “Osservatore Romano,” n 
January, ig2g ) the bishops to condemn super¬ 
stitions, particularly the prejudice against the 
number thirteen and the idea that Friday is an 
unlucky day. 

t “Agrippa.” But see Weyer, “De Praes- 
tigiis Daemonum” II, c. v, u and 12. Weyer 
lived for some years in daily attendance upon 


the point of death he drove from him 
his dog, a familiar, saying: “Depart, 
evil beast! You have destroyed me. 35 
The citizens knew how Joannes Por- 
tantius met his death in prison at 
Antwerp. William, J Archbishop of 
Tyre, in his Historia Hitrosolymitana 
(VIII, 15) tells how tw} sorcerers 
tried to bewitch the war machines of 
the Christians, and were themselves 
the first to be killed by th< m. 

That conjurer of high estate Zyto 
lived a consort and companion of 
devils to the end, when he was taken 
body and soul from the midst of men. 
Johann Faust, the famous German sor¬ 
cerer of our time, was at 1 ist dragged 
from his bed by the cacodemon at 
night, and was strangled with his face 
twisted round to his back, and the 
whole house was shaken and nearly 
fell, as we are told by Camerarius and 
others. Francesco Pico tells how he 
heard from his friends who were 
actually present that a certain sor¬ 
cerer had been carried aw ay alive by 
a demon and was never lo be found 
anywhere again. And Sco :o of Parma 
in our own day had his reck twisted 
in an ale-house by a den .on in Ger¬ 
many, and perished miserably. 

☆ 

Examples. 

Johann Pistorius§ the younger in 
his Artis cabbalisticae tomus unus writes 


Agrippa, and the black dog; “Monsieur,” re¬ 
specting which such strange stories were 
spread, was a perfectly innocent animal which 
he had himself often led abou, on its leash. 
Agrippa was much attached to his dog, which 
used to eat off the table with hir i and of nights 
lie in his bed. 

J “William.” Born in Palestine of a Euro¬ 
pean family about 1127-30; dud in ngo or a 
little later. Baldwin IV, who became king of 
Jerusalem in 1174, appointed William chan¬ 
cellor and then Archbishop of Tyre. His chief 
work is the “Historia Hierosolymitana” in 23 
books. 

§ “Johann Pistorius.” 1346-1608. The 
son of a well-known Protestant minister, he was 




BK. II. CH. XX. 


MALEFIGARUM 


161 


that there was a swineherd who had 
in his pastoral staff a writing inscribed 
with the name of S. Blaise; and he 
thought that the virtue of this staff 
kept his swine safe from attack by 
wolves, and placed such confidence in 
it that he would leave his swine to 
feed alone in the fields. At last it 
chanced that, while the swineherd was 
absent, someone passed that way and 
saw a demon keeping the herd, and 
asked what he, the sworn persecutor 
of human safety, was guarding there. 
He answered: “I am guarding the 
swine.” The other asked: “ At whose 
bidding?” And the demon said: ‘‘Be¬ 
cause of the foolish confidence of the 
swineherd. For he has put in his staff 
a writing to which he imputes divine 
virtue because it has upon it the name 
of S. Blaise; and the fool fast bound 
in false superstition believes that it 
supernaturally guards his swine from 
wolves. And when I had called and 
called him again, and he did not come, 
I undertook to keep the swine instead 
of S. Blaise; for I am always ready to 
take the place of God and His Saints. 
And so I most gladly keep his swine 
for him in the place of S. Blaise, that 
I may encourage and strengthen the 
silly man in his vain confidence, and 
lead him to think more of that writing 
than of God.” 

Lucian, in the Philopseudes , relates 
that when a certain Eucrates saw an 
Egyptian magician named Pancrates 
do many marvels, he gradually in¬ 
sinuated himself into his friendship 
until he learned nearly all his secrets. 
At last the magician persuaded him 
to leave all his servants in Memphis 
and accompany him alone, for they 
would have no lack of servants; and 
from that time (he said) thus we lived. 


converted in 1588. Hefilled many offices of high 
responsibility both before and after his ordina¬ 
tion in 7597. He wrote several controversial 
treatises of great value , such as the “Anatomia 
Luther if Cologne , 1595-8. His “Artis caba¬ 
listic ae tomus unus” was published at Basle in 


“When we came into an Inn, he 
taking the bolt of the door, or a broom 
or bar, and clothing it, spoke a charm 
to it, and to enable it to go, and in all 
things to resemble a man. The thing 
going forth, would draw water, pro¬ 
vide, and dress our supper, and dili¬ 
gently wait and attend upon us. After 
his business was done, he pronounced 
another charm, and turned the broom 
into a broom again, and the pestle 
into a pestle. This was an art which, 
though I laboured much, I could not 
learn of him. For this was a mystery 
which he denied me, though in all 
things else he were open. One day, 
hiding myself in a dark corner, I over¬ 
heard his charm, which was but three 
syllables. He having appointed the 
bolt its business, went into the market. 
The next day, he having some other 
employment in the market, I taking 
the pestle and apparelling it, in like 
manner pronounced the syllable, and 
bid it fetch me some water. When it 
had brought me a basin full, ‘It is 
enough, 5 I said, ‘fetch no more, but 
be a pestle again. 5 But it was so far 
from obeying me, that it ceased not 
to fetch water till it had overflown the 
room. I, much troubled at the acci¬ 
dent, and fearing lest if Pancrates 
should return (as he did) he would be 
much displeased, took an axe and cut 
the pestle in two. Then both parts 
taking several buckets fetched water. 
And instead of one, I had two servants. 
In the meantime Pancrates came in, 
and perceiving what had happened, 
transformed them into wood again, as 
they were before I uttered the spell. 
Shortly after he secretly left me, and 
vanishing went I know not whither.” 
Here it may be seen how his curiosity 
was nearly the cause of his being 
drowned. (From Sir T. More's trans¬ 
lation.) 

Hear another example of how some 
men were in instant danger of cutting 
off their own noses. Philippus Came- 
rarius writes as follows: Johann Faust 
was once with some noted persons who 
had heard much concerning his magic, 


M 



COMPENDIUM MALEFICARUM 


BK. Cl. CH. XX. 


162 

and they asked him to show them a 
specimen of his art. For a long time 
he refused, but at last yielded to the 
not too sober company and promised 
that he would show them whatever 
they wished. With one accord they 
desired him to show them a vine laden 
with ripe grapes: for they thought 
that, on account of the unseasonable 
time of year (for it was winter), this 
would be impossible for him to do. 
Faust agreed, and said that what they 
had asked for would presently be seen 
upon the table: but he made this con¬ 
dition, that they should all keep per¬ 
fectly still and silent until he told them 
to pluck the grapes; for if they did 
otherwise they would be in instant 
danger of their lives. When they had 


given this promise, he soon so deceived 
the eyes of that drunken company and 
obscured their senses that they thought 
they saw upon a fair vine as many 
large and juicy grapes as :here were 
persons present. Greedy for such a 
novelty, and thirsty after their drink¬ 
ing, they took their knives a id awaited 
his bidding to cut the graphs. At last, 
after he had kept the fools for some 
time in suspense in their vain error, 
the vine and its grapes suddenly 
vanished in smoke; and eich one of 
them was seen holding, instead of a 
grape, his own nose with his knife 
poised over it. So if any o ' them had 
forgotten the condition and tried to 
cut his grapes, he would lave sliced 
off his own nose. 



THE THIRD BOOK, TREAT- 
ING OF THE DIVINE REME¬ 
DIES FOR THOSE WHO ARE 
BEWITCHED; AND OF CER¬ 
TAIN OTHER MATTERS. 

☆ 

CHAPTER I 

Whether it is Lawful to Remove a Spell in 
Order to Heal One that is Bewitched. 

Argument . 

ITCHCRAFT is a form 
of magic whereby with 
the help of a demon one 
man does an injury to 
another. Now the instruments of 
witchcraft are pots, bands, bars, 
feathers, little balls, and such things, 
which the witch uses in order to be¬ 
witch a person: and the witch is 
usually promised that, so long as 
those bands are knotted in that man¬ 
ner, or so long as a certain matter is 
buried under the threshold, or certain 
bolts are barred, for so long will the 
person affected remain bewitched; or 
it may cause death to whomsoever is 
in that place, or enters or leaves it; 
and so on. Therefore it is asked 
whether it is lawful, by unbarring the 
bolt, by burning the ball of hairs, by 
untying the knotted band, or by dig¬ 
ging up the pot and burning or de¬ 
stroying its contents, to break the 
spell and deliver the person who is 
bewitched. To answer this question 
in a few words, I will quote the words 
of Henry of Ghent.* * He says: “It is a 


* “Henry of Ghent.” Doctor Solemnis; 
died at Paris or Tournai , 1293. He lived in 
the golden age of Scholasticism , and as philoso¬ 
pher and theologian ranks only just below his 
great contemporaries S. Thomas , S. Bonaven- 
tura, and the Venerable John Duns Scotus. It 
has been well said that the writings of Henry 
of Ghent reflect much deep and searching 
thought upon the eternal problems of religion 
and prove that much that has been advanced 


Catholic duty to destroy the super¬ 
stitious work of the devil and thereby 
to thwart him. 55 ( Qxiodlibeta. E.q. 33). 
And therefore I say that it is clearly 
lawful to break a spell of witchcraft, 
just as it is lawful to throw down an 
idol into the gutter. Duns Scotus* also 
says {In 4. Sent. d. 34): “If the power 
of the demon be hindered by the 
prayers of the Saints, it is well: but if 
God does not hear their prayers, but 
the charm is discovered and destroyed 
so that the demon troubles him no 
more, since by his pact he can only 
work for as long as the charm endures, 
then it is not only lawful to remove 
the spell, but it is even meritorious 
to destroy the works of the devil. 
Neither does this savour of infidelity; 
for he who destroys such evil works 
does not signify his belief in them, but 
by destroying them puts an end to the 
affliction. 55 

☆ 

Examples. 

In the year 1589 a devout young 
man of Genoa cast wanton eyes upon 
a woman and conceived such a burn¬ 
ing love for her that he forgot his love 
for God. These two, then, exchanged 
furtive messages and gifts for the space 
of three months, after which he was 
perforce obliged to take to his bed by 
a grave malady; and it was marvel¬ 
lous what variety of filthy objects he 
vomited before the eyes of the spec¬ 
tators: women’s hairs, sheep’s wool, 
linen, silk, hair-pins, needles, nail- 


with great applause by modern inquirers con¬ 
cerning these matters is but a pale reflex of 
mediaeval knowledge and mediaeval reverent 
speculation. Of the “Disputationes Quodlibet- 
ales” or “Quodlibeta,” the work to which re¬ 
ference is here made , there are editions Paris , 
1518; Venice , 1608 and 1613. 

* “Duns Scotus.” The reference is to D. 34. 
of the so-called “Opus Oxoniense,” the vast 
Commentary of Scotus on the “ Sentences” of 
Peter Lombard , which was composed at Ox¬ 
ford. 





COMPENDIUM 


UK. III. CH. I. 


164 

parings, fragments of bone, and no 
small quantity of iron nails, together 
with blood. A friend admonished him 
not to let himself be bound any longer 
by his pestilent love, and asked 
whether he had any letters or gifts 
from the woman. He said that he had 
received letters, but had torn them 
up. The other did not believe him and 
told his servants to search his chest 
and remove any love tokens that they 
might find. When the sick man had 
been made aware of this by some 
secret voice, he cried out horribly and 
demanded the key of his chest; and 
when he had it, at the instigation of 
the same voice, he threw it into his 
mouth and would have swallowed it if 
he had not been prevented. Then he 
hid it beneath his pillow, and anon 
lost the sight of his eyes. His mother 
urged him to restore the key; but 
when he looked for it he could not 
find it and thought that it had been 
stolen. He then cried the louder, yet 
it could not be found though the whole 
bed was carefully shaken. At last the 
chest was forced open and two love 
letters were found and burned; after 
which his sight was restored to him 
and, to his great surprise, the key lay 
exposed to his eyes. Meanwhile he 
began to grow better in body and soul, 
and soon after was entirely healed. 
Here it was evident to all that the 
letters were the spell of witchcraft and 
that the demon had tried to prevent 
them from being removed; and that 
when they were taken away and 
burned the demon had ceased to 
afflict him. 

A certain high-born Count in the 
ward of Westerich,* in the diocese of 
Strasburg, married a noble girl of 
equal birth; but after he had cele¬ 
brated the wedding, he was for three 
years unable to know her carnally, on 
account, as the event proved, of a 


* “Westerich ” This is from the “Malleus 
Maleficarumf Part //, Qu. 1, ch. 1. See the 
“Malleus Maleficarum” translated by Mon¬ 
tague Summers {John Rodker , ig28 ), p. g8. 


certain charm which presented him. 
In great anxiety, and rot knowing 
what to do, he called loudly on the 
Saints of God. It happened that he 
went to the State of Metz to negotiate 
some business; and while ic was walk¬ 
ing 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 spon¬ 
taneously addressed her kindly for the 
sake of their old friendship, asking her 
how she did, and whetner she was 
well. And she, seeing the Count’s 
gentleness, in her turn asked very par¬ 
ticularly 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 C ount, seeing 
her thus astonished, again spoke kindly 
to her, inviting her to CDnverse with 
him. So she inquired alter his wife, 
and received a similar reply, that she 
was in all respects wel . 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 Couni asked her, 
Why, my dear, do yoi make such 
careful inquiries? I am :;ure that you 
congratulate me on my happiness. 
Then she answered, Certainly I con¬ 
gratulate you; but cu'se that old 
woman who said she would bewitch 
your body so that you cc uld not have 
connexion with your wife! And in 
proof of this, there is a pDt in the well 
in the middle of your ya’d containing 
certain objects evilly bewitched, and 
this was placed there in Drder that, as 
long as its contents were preserved 
intact, for so long you wo old be unable 
to cohabit. But see! it is all in vain, 
and I am truly glad. On his return 
home the Count did not delay to have 
the well drained; and, finding the pot, 
burned its contents and all, where¬ 
upon he immediately recovered the 
virility which he had lost. 





BK. III. CH. I. 


MALEFICARUM 


Martin Delrio* of the Society of 
Jesus relates the following, taken from 
the public lectures which have now 
for many years been delivered at 
Louvain by Father Robert Bellarmine 
in refutation of the teaching of Jean 
Hessels: I remember as a boy seeing 
at Montepulciano during Lent a cer¬ 
tain preacher try to address his con¬ 
gregation : but he was unable to speak, 
and this happened a second and a 
third time. Understanding that it was 
not natural that he should lose his 
voice only when he tried to preach, 
he prayed to S. Agnes, the patron 
Saint of the place, and found in the 
pulpit certain charms of witchcraft, 
such as hairs tangled together and the 
like. These he burned, and recovered 
his voice, and afterwards was able to 
preach to the people as before. Now 
if this had been a sin, God would not 
have healed the preacher when he 
called upon Him, nor have revealed 
the charms to him. 

The same author tells of a certain 
priest who was most evilly bewitched 
and kept his bed for many months, 
for none of all the remedies which the 
physicians gave did him any good. 
But one month several witches 5 charms 
were found in the bed and were 
burned: after another month, yet 
more of different sorts were found and 
likewise burned. After this with the 
help of God and of the Church’s 
remedies he regained his former 
health. This happened only a few 
years ago. 

Codronchi (De morbis uenejic. I, 8) 
tells the following of his own daugh¬ 
ter: When my daughter Francesca 
was ten months old and still at nurse, 
she became very greatly emaciated, 
and kept heaving great sighs; and she 
always cried when she was undressed 
and hated to be undressed, contrary 
to the nature of children, who how¬ 
ever ill they may be or in pain always 
are soothed when they are rid of their 


* “Delrio” “Disquisitiones Magicae” 
Lib . vi, cap . 2 , sec . /, quaest. 3. 


165 

clothes, and then begin to play* When 
no preternatural cause of this could 
be found, her nurse was changed. But 
she grew worse, and her mother began 
to suspect that, because she was a very 
beautiful child, some old witch had 
been envious and had bewitched her. 
So she searched the cradle and found 
not a few witches’ charms, such as 
chickpeas, coriander seeds, bits of coal 
and dead bone, as well as a certain 
strange matter which is compounded 
by evil women from horrid ingredients 
mingled with menstrual blood. A 
learned exorcist was called. There 
were also discovered some feathers 
such as are usually sewn on to a hat. 
All these were burned in a blessed fire, 
and the exorcisms were conducted for 
three days, other holy remedies being 
also employed; after which the child 
began to be better and to take food, 
so that we thought she was healed. 
But some days later, since she was very 
peevish and cried much, the cradle 
was again searched and other charms 
were found; and when these were 
burned she appeared to be restored to 
health. But at full moon, after she had 
been awake crying all through the 
night, she was found in the morning 
to be the colour of ashes and so altered 
in appearance from what she had been 
on the evening before, that it was a 
matter for tears rather than wonder. 
The cradle was again searched and 
there were found two pieces of dry nut 
and white bone, nine or ten fish-bones 
formed into a hair comb, and cer¬ 
tain little wreaths wonderfully and 
variously fashioned. All these were 
burned, we changed our house, and 
applied, through the learned exorcist, 
several other more potent remedies; 
and by the mercy of God the child 
recovered without any natural remedy. 

A certain Nobleman was riding his 
horse in the outskirts of a city and, 
passing an ale-house, saw there some 
of his debtors. He determined to 
remind them of their debt, and 
threatened to prosecute them if they 
did not pay. Some of them found 



COMPENDIUM 


UK. III. CH. I. 


166 

excuses for their delay; others, who 
thought he was of a generous disposi¬ 
tion, asked to be allowed time to find 
the money. Among all these there 
stood out an old woman with a baleful 
look, who bent her eyes upon the 
ground as if in admiration of his paw¬ 
ing steed, and asked him whither he 
was going, at the same time warning 
him not to trust too much to his horse. 
He smiled, and said: “What! Do you 
think I do not know the strength of 
this brave horse which it seems im¬ 
possible to tire, seeing that I have 
been used to ride him for ten miles 
and more without tiring him?” Yet 
she answered that she was afraid it 
would not carry him. The man looked 
upon this as an old woman’s tale, and 
dug his spurs into his horse; but for 
the first time in its life it moved very 
sluggishly, tottering and staggering 
upon its legs. Wondering at his horse’s 
sudden weakness, he went home lead¬ 
ing the horse by hand step by step, 
and at once summoned a veterinarian 
who, seeing the horse reeking with 
sweat, asked whether it had been over¬ 
worked, or had been suddenly made 
to gallop after a day’s rest, or had 
drunk too soon after galloping; and 
made other enquiries about such 
things as are often the cause of illness 
in horses. But when he could find no 
obvious cause of that sort of sickness 
he asked that the horse be left in his 
care, and promised that he would not 
fail in his duty and would leave no 
stone unturned to discover the reason 
of the sickness and find a cure for it. 
The horse was entrusted to the veteri¬ 
narian, who led him into the stable, 
where the horse began to suffer acute 
pain and, after scraping with its 
hooves, fell flat to the ground panting 
violently. The veterinarian puzzled 
his brain to think of the various causes 
of sickness in horses, and it came into 
his mind that there was always great 
danger in such illnesses when there 
was any inflammation of the bowels 
or when the animal could not pass 
water as often as it should. Therefore 


he determined to exam me whether 
there were any obstruc tions in its 
bowels or bladder, and lie thrust his 
hand into its anus to see whether any¬ 
thing was there to cause such an ill¬ 
ness. For when horses are badly con¬ 
stipated it causes them to roll about 
in agony and to be bathed in sweat. 
But when he could find no such mat¬ 
ter, he began to draw out its genital 
member with his hand, and found it 
to be tightly and intrica:ely knotted. 
First he tried to undo the knots with 
his finger-nails; but he could not, be¬ 
cause the ends of those knots were 
hidden in the confusion of their coils, 
and they could only be prised loose 
with an iron tool. For, as all think, 
this knot was woven by witchcraft 
from the roots of hemp, and was thus 
more formidable than :he Gordian 
knot which was made of reeds which 
were pliable in ever/ direction, 
whereas this was made from the root 
itself and was inflexible. But when the 
knot was untied, the horse at once 
jumped up, made water logether with 
a deal of coagulated blood, and did 
indeed recover; but it v r as never re¬ 
stored to its full former \ igour. 

Grilland (De sortil. q. 8, num. 16) 
relates that a lawyer in the diocese of 
Sabina married a wife bat was made 
impotent by witchcraft, and could not 
be helped at all by the physician’s 
skill. So he consulted a witch who told 
him to sleep with his wife that night, 
but to take a certain pot on before he 
went to bed; only he was to take great 
care that neither he nor his wife made 
the sign of the Cross that night, and 
they were not to be afraid if they heard 
or saw anything strange. The lawyer 
obeyed and observed al his instruc¬ 
tions to the letter: and a Dout the fifth 
hour of the night, behold there was a 
great rain and tempest, with a mighty 
thunder and lightning, followed by 
such a quaking of the e irth that the 
house was shaken from top to bottom 
like a tree which is almost uprooted 
by the wind. After this there came 
much shouting and yelling of men; 


BK. III. GH. II. 


MALEFICARUM 


167 


and when the husband turned his eyes 
in that direction it seemed to him that 
he saw in the room more than a 
thousand combatants struggling and 
fighting fiercely with their nails and 
fists and feet, tearing each other’s faces 
and clothes; and among them he saw 
a woman from a neighbouring town 
who was said to be a witch: and the 
husband had formed a strong sus¬ 
picion that he had been bewitched by 
this very woman. This woman was 
howling and shrieking louder than all 
the rest, tearing her hair and her face 
with her nails; so that the ensorcelled 
lawyer said that at first he was afraid 
that it boded some harm to himself. 
But then he remembered the sorcerer’s 
warning and took courage again, all 
the time keeping his wife under the 
blankets so that she should see nothing. 
After they had struggled for an hour 
or more, the sorcerer came into the 
room at about midnight and at his 
entrance all those fighting folk, to¬ 
gether with the woman, disappeared 
and vanished at once. But the sor¬ 
cerer came up to the lawyer and 
touched his shoulders and rubbed 
them a little with his hand, telling 
him to doubt no longer, for he was 
now cured. After his departure, the 
husband was healed and able to beget 
children. In this case the sorcerer 
compelled the woman who had cast 
the spell to remove it, by sending 
demons in the guise of rioters to tor¬ 
ment her. But it is not lawful to re¬ 
move a spell by this means, because 
of the mortal sin which is committed; 
and beside the sin, there is great dan¬ 
ger when demons are invoked, as will 
be seen from the following example. 

A certain man ordered a witch to 
summon demons to bring his mistress 
to him in an underground cavern. A 
demon came in the likeness of his 
beautiful mistress and, standing in his 
sight, strangled the lover by pressing 
him strongly against the side of the 
cave, and then threw his body so 
violently at the witch that he nearly 
killed him. 


CHAPTER II 

How to Distinguish Demoniacs* and 
Those who are Simply Bewitched. 

T HE peculiar symptoms of posses¬ 
sion by demons through witch¬ 
craft are difficult to recognise when the 
demon which has been sent into a 
person by witchcraft mingles himself 
with some unclean substance intro¬ 
duced into the body from another 
source, or arising from the humours of 
the sick person himself. For as long 
as such substance remains hidden in 
any part of the body, it often happens 
that there are no signs of its presence 
beyond some interference with the 
natural functions of that particular 
part. Many such persons however, 
have debased imaginations, especially 
in their sleep, and so betray the pres¬ 
ence of a demon: but this indication 
by itself is not enough, since it is com¬ 
mon also to sufferers from melancholia. 
But when the evil spirit moves from 
one place to another in the body, the 
matter becomes easier to recognise; as 
follows: 

1. If something moves about the 
body like a live thing, so that the 
possessed feel as it were ants crawling 
under their skin. 

2. If the part of the body for which 
the demon is making is stirred by a sort 
of palpitation. 

3. If the patient is tortured with cer¬ 
tain prickings. 

4. If it is as though wind descended 
from his head to hisfeet,and then again 
went from his feet to his head. 

5. If blisters are raised upon the 
tongue and immediately disappear; or 
if they are like many little grains, it is 
a sign that he is inhabited by many 
demons. 

6. If the demon rises as far as the 
throat and causes it to swell, and brings 
on a dry cough. 


* “ Demoniacs .” The rubrics of the t£ De 
Exorcizandis Obsessis a Daemonic” in the 
ct Rituale Romanum ” should be consulted . 



COMPENDIUM 


BK . III. CH. II. 


168 

7. If the demon takes hold of his 
tongue and twists it and makes it swell; 
or if he causes it to give utterance not 
to the man’s thoughts but to those of 
the demon; or if the mouth is stretched 
wide open and the tongue thrust 
out. 

8. If he feels as if cold water were 
continually being poured down his 
back. 

9. An even more certain sign is 
when the sick man speaks in foreign 
tongues unknown to him, or under¬ 
stands others speaking in those tongues; 
or when, being but ignorant, the pati¬ 
ents argue about high and difficult 
questions; or when they discover hid¬ 
den and long-forgotten matters, or 
future events, or the secrets of the inner 
conscience, such as the sins and im¬ 
aginings of the bystanders; or if they 
provoke them to quarrel without cause 
or become so furious that they cannot 
be bound or restrained by many strong 
men. 

1 o. Some say that they hear a voice 
speaking inside them, but that they 
know nothing of the meaning of the 
words. 

11. Others, when they are asked 
what they have done or said, confess 
that they remember nothing after¬ 
wards. 

12. Some think that it is an in¬ 
fallible and inseparable sign when 
those who are possessed are unable to 
attend Divine worship, so that they 
can by no means be sprinkled with 
Holy Water, nor hear nor utter sacred 
words: but if they are compelled by 
force to observe the ceremonies of the 
Church or the Divine Offices, and 
chiefly if they are forced to be present 
at the most Holy Sacrifice of the 
Altar, then they are tormented far 
more violently. And in support of this 
opinion is the fact that they themselves 
testify that they wish to assist and be 
present at all these Masses and Offices, 
and to have the help of holy things, 
but that there is something within 
them which strongly prevents them. 

13. Some demoniacs have terrible 


eyes; and the demons miserably de¬ 
stroy their limbs and kill iheir bodies 
unless help is quickly brought to them. 

14. Some pretend to be stupid, and 
always grow even more so; but they 
can be detected if they refuse to recite 
the Psalm Miserere mei Deus, or Qui 
habitat in adiutorio Altissimi or the be¬ 
ginning of the Gospel of 3 . John, In 
principio erat Uerbum, or similar passages 
of Scripture. 

15. It is a sign of obsession if a man 
speak in a tongue foreign to his own 
country, provided that he is not living 
out of his own country. 

16. It is a manifest siga when an 
ignorant man speaks li erary and 
grammatical Latin, or if without 
knowledge of the art he sings musically 
or says something of whic h he could 
never have had any knowledge. 

17. Abstinence from foo i and drink 
for seven or more days is a powerful 
sign. 

18. When some inner power seems 
to urge the possessed to hurl himself 
from a precipice, or hang or strangle 
himself, or the like. 

19. Sometimes they become as if 
they were stupid, blind, lame, deaf, 
dumb, lunatic, and almost incapable 
of movement, whereas befo e they were 
active, could speak, hear and see, and 
in other respects acted sensibly. 

20. It is also a sign whin they are 
subject to sudden frights, which are as 
suddenly allayed. 

21. A man may very surely be 
known for a demoniac i:' he is dis¬ 
turbed when the exorcism:, are read. 

22. When the priest’s ha ad is placed 
upon his head, it feels very heavy and 
ponderous. 

23. When the patient fee Is under the 
priest’s hand something as cold as ice. 

24. When a very cold wi id descends 
through his shoulders and reins. 

25. When his head swell: to an enor¬ 
mous size. 

26. When his brain feels as if it were 
tightly bound, or pierced and stricken 
as if by a sword. 

27. When the head ami face, and 


BK. III. CH. II. 


MALEFICARUM 


sometimes the whole body, swells as if 
it were filled with hot vapour. 

28. Some are afflicted with violent 
fever and headache, and their whole 
body is weakened and in pain; but all 
these symptoms last a very little while, 
since a conjuration takes away the 
power of the demon. 

29. In some the throat is so con¬ 
stricted that they seem as if they are 
being strangled. 

30. From the abdominal orifice of 
some there issue certain matters like 
balls, as if they were worms or ants or 
frogs. 

31. Some have a great vomiting 
from their stomachs. 

32. Many feel acute pain in their 
guts. 

33. The stomach of some becomes 
forcibly inflated. 

34. Some feel a contraction of the 
heart, as if it had been unmercifully 
beaten. 

35. Sometimes the demon shows 
himself in some part of the body palpi¬ 
tating like a fish, or like moving ants. 

36. Sometimes the bewitched per¬ 
son has a face the colour of cedar wood. 

37. Some have very narrow eyes, 
and appear bound in all their limbs, 
and their shoulder blades grate dryly. 

38. Two very sure signs are the con¬ 
traction of the heart and of the arms, 
and when it seems to them that they 
have a lump upon their stomach. 

39. Some have their hearts punc¬ 
tured as if by needles. 

40. Some feel as if their heart was 
being eaten away. 

41. Some have great pain in their 
heart and kidneys, and it seems as if 
those organs were being torn by dogs. 

42. Some feel a lump rising and 
falling in their throat. 

43. In some the genital vein is ob¬ 
structed. 

44. Some are so indisposed in their 
stomachs that they vomit whatever 
they eat and drink; but this is a very 
slight sign unless accompanied by other 
symptoms. 

45. Some have a very cold wind, or 


169 

one as hot as fire running through their 
stomach. 

46. In some the sign is indigestion 
of their food; especially when they are 
given drugs without being relieved. 

47. Some have a continuous pulsa¬ 
tion about their necks, which seems to 
inspire them with terror. 

☆ 

The Signs which Show a Man to be Simply 
Bewitched . 

All the above have been far more 
exactly classified and proved by Cod- 
ronchi {De morbis ueneficis. III, 13) who 
states that some of those signs are 
common to all cases of bewitchment, 
and others peculiar to particular cases. 
He says that the signs common to all 
cases are to be found either in the cause 
of the malady or in its concomitant 
circumstances. Such signs may . be 
recognised in the cause, when the sick¬ 
ness originates from some inordinate 
and irrational love or some insensate 
hatred for another, or from the curses 
or threats of some witch, or if magic 
charms are found such as we have often 
spoken of and are mentioned by 
Andrea Cesalpini ( De inuestigat . dae- 
monum. c. 22). Among the signs which 
accompany the sickness are paroxysms, 
and the efficacy or harmfulness of 
medicines. The commonest signs are 
the following: 

1. In the first place, when the pati¬ 
ent’s sickness is very difficulty to diag¬ 
nose, so that the physicians hesitate and 
are in doubt and keep changing their 
minds, and are afraid to make any 
definite pronouncement about it. 

2. If, although remedies have been 
applied from the very first, the sickness 
does not abate but rather increases and 
grows worse. 

3. If it does not, like natural sick¬ 
nesses, come on by degrees; but the 
sick man oftensufferstheseverest symp¬ 
toms and pains from the very begin¬ 
ning, although there is no apparent 
pathological cause for it. 

4. That the sickness is very erratic: 


COMPENDIUM 


BU. III. CH. II. 


170 

and although it may be periodic, it 
does not keep its regular periods; and 
although it may resemble a natural 
sickness, yet it differs in many respects. 

5. Although the sick man is often in 
the greatest pain, he cannot say in 
which part he feels the pain. 

6. At times the sick give the most 
mournful sighs without any manifest 
cause. 

7. Some lose their appetite, and 
some vomit up their food and are so 
sick in the stomach that often they are 
doubled up with pain, and a sort of 
lump may be seen rising and falling 
from the stomach to the throat; and if 
they try to eject this when it is risen all 
their efforts are in vain, although it 
may very soon shoot out of its own 
accord. 

8. They feel painful pricks in the 
region of the heart, so that often they 
say that it is being torn in two. 

9. In some the pulse may be seen 
beating and, as it were, trembling in 
their necks. 

10. Others have excruciating pains 
in their neck or kidneys or the bottom 
of their bellies, and often an ice-cold 
wind goes about their stomach and 
quickly comes again, or they feel a 
vapour like a hot flame of fire torment¬ 
ing them in the same manner. 

11. Some become sexually impo¬ 
tent. 

12.. Some fall into a light sweat 
especially at night, although the 
weather and the season are very cold. 

13. Others seem to have certain 
parts of their bodies twisted as it were 
in a knot. 

14. The sicknesses with which those 
who are bewitched suffer are generally 
a wasting or emaciation of the whole 
body and a loss of strength, together 
with a deep languor, dullness of mind, 
various melancholy ravings, different 
kinds of fever, all of which keep the 
physicians very busy; certain con¬ 
vulsive movements of an epileptic 
appearance; a sort of rigidity of the 
limbs giving the appearance of a fit: 
sometimes the head swells in all direc¬ 
tions, or such a weakness pervades the 


whole body that they can hardly move 
on any account at all. 

15. Sometimes the whole skin, but 
generally only the face, becomes 
yellow or ashen coloured. 

16. Some have their eyelids so tight 
shut that they can scarcely open them, 
and there are certain tests by which 
such may be recognised. 

17. Those who are bewitched can 
hardly bear to look at the face of a 
priest, at least not directly; for they 
keep shifting the whites oi the eyes in 
different ways. 

18. When the charms are burned, 
the sick are wont to chaage for the 
worse, or to take some greater or less 
harm according as their bewitchment 
was slight or severe; so lhat not in¬ 
frequently they are forced to utter 
terrible cries and roars. But if no 
change or fresh lesion can be found, 
there will be great hope t lat the sick 
man will with a little attention be pre¬ 
sently restored to good health. 

19. If by chance the witch should 
come to see the sick man, the patient 
is at once affected with g'eat uneasi¬ 
ness and seized with terror and tremb¬ 
ling. If it is a child, it cries. The eyes 
become grey in colour, and other re¬ 
markable changes are to oe noted in 
the sick man. 

20. Finally when the priest, to heal 
the sickness, applies certain holy lini¬ 
ments to the eyes, ears, brow, and 
other parts, if a sweat or some other 
change is seen in those part s it is a sign 
that he is bewitched. 

The following is the usual practice 
to determine whether the sick man is 
possessed by a demon. T ley secretly 
apply to the sick man a writing with 
the sacred words of God, Dr Relics of 
the Saints, or a blessed Agnus Dei, or 
some other holy thing. The priest 
places his hand and his ste le upon the 
head of the possessed and pronounces 
sacred words. Thereupon the sick 
man begins to shake and tremble, and 
in his pain makes many uncouth move¬ 
ments, and says and does many strange 
things. If the demon is in ais head, he 
feels the keenest pains in his head, or 


BK. III. GH. III. 


MALEFICARUM 


else his head and all his face are suf¬ 
fused with a hot red glow like fire. If 
he is in his eyes, he twists them about. 
If in the back, he bruises his limbs be¬ 
fore and behind, and sometimes makes 
the whole body so rigid and inflexible 
that no exertion of force can bend it. 

Sometimes they fall down as if dead, 
as though they were suffering from 
tertiary epilepsy, and a sort of vapour 
rushes up into their heads: but at the 
priest’s bidding they arise, and the 
vapour returns whence it came. If the 
demon is in their throats, they are so 
throttled as to be nearly strangled. If 
he is in the nobler parts of the body, 
as about the heart or lungs, he causes 
panting, palpitation and syncope. If he 
is more towards the stomach, he pro¬ 
vokes hiccoughs and vomiting so that 
sometimes they cannot take food, or if 
they do they cannot retain it. And he 
causes them to void a sort of ball by 
the back passage, with roarings and 
other harsh cries; and afflicts them 
with the wind and pain about the mid¬ 
riff. They are known also sometimes 
by certain fumes of sulphur or some 
other strong smelling matter. 

☆ 


CHAPTER III 


Recent Examples of the Mercy of God and 
the Tyranny of the Devil . 



M artin delrio (. Disquisit . 

magicarum . VI. 2, sec. 3) narrates 
the following story, and says that it was 


171 

both related on paper and told by word 
of mouth by the man to whom these 
things happened, and that he himself 
had that account to his hand as he 
wrote. On the 22nd of March in the 
year 1600, being the Wednesday in 
Holy Week, a young nobleman aged 
twenty-two, of the name of Nicolas 
Prutenns, entered the College of the 
Jesuits, and was seen and heard by one 
of the Brothers walking about and 
making arrogant gestures in the lower 
portico of the College, shaking his 
head and rashly uttering desperate 
blasphemies against God. He was told 
again and again to moderate his be¬ 
haviour and bridle his tongue, but in 
vain; for he became even worse, and 
showed every sign of a troubled and 
disturbed mind. Therefore one of the 
Brethren went up to him and asked 
him kindly what was the matter and 
what was so troubling him, and why he 
kept breaking out into such irreverent 
use of the Name of God. He answered: 
“Alas, I am lost! I am bound by the 
shackles of the devil. And yet he has 
not given me the pleasures I desire, 
which he promised me.” Hearing this 
the good Jesuit feared there was some¬ 
thing gravely amiss and led him by the 
hand into the College, where he gently 
asked him not to hesitate to tell him 
what was the matter. Then Nicolas 
Prutenns with tears and at first wholly 
incoherent, but more calmly on the 
next day, began to tell him as follows. 
That he was of noble birth and had 
been brought up richly, elegantly and 
delicately; but for certain reasons 
(which I need not mention) he had 
forfeited his parents’ love and had been 
driven from his father’s house. He had 
plenty of money when he set out, but 
had spent it and fallen into extreme 
want: but at last a demon came to him 
with a mighty gust of wind one night 
as he was lying under a tree, and 
promised him help and assistance for 
the ills he had just suffered and those 
which he would suffer, and also that 
he would restore him to his former 
favour with his parents, if only he 
would put his signature to certain 










COMPENDIUM 


BK. III. CH. III. 


172 

small obligations. That time he did 
not obey the suggestion, which he 
knew to be full of danger, and the 
demon departed with the same wind 
and disturbance as he had come, pre¬ 
dicting that he would some day be 
sorry for not having accepted his con¬ 
ditions. This happened near a village 
not far from Breslau; therefore he went 
to that city and lived there for a short 
space in hardship. One evening he 
went out reproaching himself for not 
having put faith in the demon, and 
weeping because there was no help or 
hope left to him since he had been 
offered his chance and had rejected it. 
It was the dead of night, and a demon 
of gigantic size appeared to him and 
reviled him, saying: “Did I not say 
that the day would come when you 
would beg for my help? By right I 
should refuse to help you as being un¬ 
worthy however much you begged me; 
but that you may know how I love 
you from my heart, see, I will help 
you! You shall have twelve solid 
years of favour with your parents as 
before, of pleasures and happiness; 
but when they are done, I shall have 
full power over your body and soul. 
You for your part must freely agree to 
the stipulations which I exact. First, 
then, abjure God and His Mother, all 
the Saints, and the Faith taught you of 
old. Swear also that you will reveal 
this pact to no mortal, that you will 
not read any book of prayers, that you 
will persecute with implacable hatred 
all men, especially those who would 
incite and urge you to piety, and that 
you will not marry a wife but use con¬ 
cubines hired for money. 55 When the 
youth had agreed to this vile compact, 
and it only remained for him to sign 
the agreement with his own blood, 
the demon squeezed his left hand as he 
put it out, with such force that he 
filled his hand with blood pressed 
from the ends of three fingers, and 
gave him a document to sign, I know 
not of what material, but it was softer 
than parchment and harder than 
paper; and the pen wrote as it were 


of its own will the terms o;'the agree¬ 
ment as they affected bc th parties. 
After he had signed and delivered the 
document, he said that lie heard a 
wonderful music of all instruments and 
was lulled to a deep sleep by the sound; 
and the next day he at last awoke late 
in the morning without having been 
disturbed by the noise of any passers 
by on the public road. Then he re¬ 
pented of the crime he had com¬ 
mitted, and went from Breslau to 
Olmtitz and from there to Vienna. 
From Vienna he went to Graz where 
he visited the learned Wei linger, and 
was directed and recommended by 
him to Master Strassberger. Lastly 
he came to Marburg to the learned 
Homelius, and there, weary of his 
exile, he again lamented that he had 
not kept his pact with the demon. 
Again as he lay in bed at night the 
demon came to him and offered to 
renew the pact; and he signed a new 
agreement with the demor. in his own 
blood, and placed it by night in a 
ruined temple near Marbr rg. After a 
few days he again repented of his 
crime, and in his despair would have 
killed himself; but someone persuaded 
him to seek a remedy at Graz. But the 
day before he left Marburg the demon 
came to him at night and described to 
him a certain cottage at Graz near 
Karlau, telling him to be there on the 
30th of March, and ther he would 
fulfil his vow and restore him to his 
former fortune: but meanwhile he 
must very particularly beware against 
approaching any Jesuits, f)r if he did 
he would be most severely punished. 
All this the young man :old to our 
Brother on the day that the demon 
had appointed to meet him at the cot¬ 
tage; and although our Brother 
frightened him from goir.g there on 
that day, yet on the next day (which 
was Good Friday) after neon, the un¬ 
happy man went to the place assigned 
by the demon, without consulting any¬ 
one. The demon appeared and rated 
him for his want of faith, in that he 
had disobeyed him by approaching 


BK. III. CH. III. 


MALEFICARUM 


the scoundrelly Jesuits, and asked 
him to renew his pact for the third 
time, and to offer his middle finger 
as a pledge: then he recounted all 
his sins from the time of his youth, 
showing him that he must despair of 
his soul’s salvation, and quoted the 
Scriptures to prove that he ought to 
live his days in luxury, and at the same 
time offered him a book containing 
the names of all the demons, and show¬ 
ing how to summon whichever one 
he needed. But the young man would 
have none of it. 

On Holy Saturday, when it was 
known what had happened, they 
began to take greater care of the young 
man, never allowing him to be alone, 
and from that time he was instructed 
in the Catholic Faith by a Father to 
whose peculiar care he was entrusted. 
About the end of April he was ripe for 
confession, and on the day when he 
was to make his confession, he was 
bidden to renounce the devil in the 
presence of some of the Fathers, and 
righteously to violate his unholy pact. 
During the recital of the Litanies, at 
the words Pater de Coelis Deus , he fell 
down nearly dead. We raised the 
man, trembling in all his limbs; but 
he would have fallen again at the 
glorious Name of the Mother of God, 
if we had not held him up on each 
side. When he had at last with diffi¬ 
culty made his renunciation and 
abjuration of the devil, and had been 
refreshed with food (for all his strength 
had gone), he was taken in the after¬ 
noon to the church to make his con¬ 
fession. But when he had recited the 
Litanies of the Name of Jesus and of 
the Angels, and had begun to tell his 
sins, the demon whispered in his ear: 
“Do not trust this rogue of a confessor, 
unless you wish to be foully cheated 
by him.” During the whole of May 
there was not a day but the Father 
assigned to him wrestled with him to 
strengthen him in the faith and that he 
might by frequent confession purge 
every corner of his conscience; and 
there appeared to be some hope of his 


173 

salvation. Yet he suffered various in¬ 
juries at the hands of the demon. 
Three times one night he was thrown 
from his bed to a distance of three 
paces, but without receiving any hurt. 
At other times the demon appeared to 
him and, pretending great kindness to 
him, persuaded him to return to Mar¬ 
burg ; for why did he afflict himself in 
that place? “I wonder,” he said, “that 
when you know that you are damned, 
you take no greater care to make your 
present life happy, and that you do 
not return to your former fortunes 
from which you fell. I am ashamed of 
you and pity you that, being mine, 
you lead such a hard life in this place.” 
And as at that very time a most pious 
and religious man had died in the 
paupers’ house (in which the youth 
himself was), and certain of the 
Brethren were praying to God for him 
all night in the hospital, he added that 
he neither could nor would remain any 
longer while those living hell-hounds 
were barking in the hospital about the 
dead dog; and therefore he begged 
him again and again to come even 
once more to the cottage, where he 
would hear such new things as had 
never been heard before. 

On Trinity Sunday, the 28th of 
May, when our Brethren had carefully 
commended the work to God and had 
to this end offered to God many other 
pious exercises and mortifications, he 
was brought to a public assembly 
of the Faithful, where first, before 
many of our good Brethren and the 
holy congregation in the church of 
S. Catharine, he abjured the devil in 
measured words read from a paper, 
and protested that he repudiated the 
pact which he had so wickedly made. 
But he did this with incredible diffi¬ 
culty, for the demon so hindered his 
faculties that he could not read, and 
could only repeat the words after 
another, slowly and with difficulty. 
Then he made a profession of the 
Catholic Faith according to the form 
laid down in the Bull of Pius the 
Fourth where it is expressed in these 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. III. CH. III. 


*74 

words: “The traditions, observations 
and constitutions of the Church I do 
most firmly believe and embrace: and 
that there are seven true and proper 
Sacraments of the new law: and that 
in the most Holy Sacrament of the 
Eucharist there is truly, really and 
substantially the Body and Blood, etc. 
And all heresies condemned by the 
Church, I do also condemn. 55 All his 
strength had gone from him, and he 
was deprived of the use of his eyes, 
ears and tongue; so that, when he 
regained a little strength, he said that 
he feared he would die in that place. 
While he was in that state, and we 
were vainly urging him to express in 
words what he believed in his heart, 
namely that he believed in the presence 
of Christ in the Eucharist, he agreed 
to be moved nearer to the Adorable 
Sacrament. And at Its presence he 
was so restored that he awoke as it 
were from a deep slumber and said 
that he believed and most fully felt the 
power of Christ’s presence. Yet the 
matter ended otherwise: for when the 
Eucharist was yet on the Altar, he 
could both speak and hear; but when 
the priest approached to offer the 
Sacrament to the youth, he lost all his 
senses and his teeth were clenched so 
tightly that it seemed that no power 
could unlock them; and when the 
priest withdrew again with the Euchar¬ 
ist, he could again see and speak and 
hear. And he said that he knew no¬ 
thing of all that we had cried in his 
ears, but had only known that his 
mouth seemed to be shut as if in a vice. 
That nothing might be left unat¬ 
tempted, the same priest left the 
Eucharist upon the Altar and placed 
his consecrated finger upon the 
youth’s mouth; then when he brought 
the Host to his lips and offered It to 
him to eat, the Enemy openly attacked 
him and began to raise him up in the 
air, although many struggled against 
him. When the demon was adjured to 
leave him in peace and to restore his 
signed compact, this was seen (but only 
by the young man) hanging by a great 


rope from the roof of the church; for 
no one else saw any such thing. 
Nothing else was done that day, 
except that many prayers were offered 
to God for his safety, and the young 
man was left with great hop<. of recover¬ 
ing the pact which he had signed. 

On the third of June the young man 
entered the church, when the Enemy 
smote him unexpectedly in the face as 
if with his cloak, and at the same time 
tore his left hand so grievously that 
the blood flowed freely; ye t there was 
no one visible who did this. He also 
felt his neck twisted by some one; but 
suffered no inconvenience except that 
for some days the scars remained on 
his hand, though with les: pain than 
when the hand had been torn. That 
day our Brethren redoubled their 
pious efforts that the matter might 
have a happy end to the g 'eater glory 
of God. And that night a terrible 
wind arose without any rain, and the 
voice of the young man was heard as 
it were in the wind, woefully lament¬ 
ing. 

On the fourth of June, on the Sun¬ 
day within the Octave of Corpus 
Christi, after the offertory and Litanies 
to each Person of the Most Holy 
Trinity, he was bidden tc read a re¬ 
pudiation of his sins and i profession 
of faith, and to protest before God, 
Angels and men that he was a Catholic, 
and that he would never nistrust the 
mercy of God towards him. This he 
did for some time without help from 
any; and when his sight failed, another 
read for him and he repeated the 
words slowly, with difficul ty and hesi¬ 
tation, since the demon obstructed his 
tongue. When he came to the words, 
“Wherefore, O Blessed Je:;u,” etc., he 
could neither read them nor suffer 
another to suggest them. The demon 
was adjured by the virtue of God not 
to hinder the youth in th:s; and then 
the young man was violently shaken 
as if he were possessed, and in a single 
moment learned the German tongue 
which, by the help of the demon, he 
spoke elegantly enough but with his 


BK. III. CH. III. 


MALEFICARUM 


own native idiom. When they saw 
this all believed yet more firmly in the 
power of grace, and recited the Te 
Deum laudamus , and bade him pro¬ 
ceed. But he could not say “I confess 
to Almighty God, ”etc. and “Lord, 
I am not worthy,” etc. And it was 
in vain that the priest approached him 
with the Sacrament, and commanded 
the demon by the power of God to 
leave the man alone: for the youth was 
taken up into the air so violently that 
ten or twelve men with difficulty held 
him back. 

At the repeated pronouncement of 
the Name of Jesus and the invocation 
of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary the 
demon was broken and departed from 
him; and the young man exclaimed in 
his own tongue: “He has fled from 
me.” Thereupon he at once bent his 
knees and proceeded in a clear and 
loud voice to recite: “Wherefore, O 
good Jesus,” etc., and at the end of the 
prayer added these words: “Praise be 
to God, I am now another man.” And 
he prepared himself for Communion 
and confessed, saying the “Confiteor.” 
The demon was adjured not only to 
leave the young man alone thereafter, 
but also to restore the written com¬ 
pact; and he confessed again. At 
length he was so weak that he could 
not even sit; yet, being now free from 
the attacks of the demon, he none the 
less knelt and recited the Confiteor and 
Domine, non sum dignus , etc., and pro¬ 
tested aloud that he believed with all 
the strength of his soul that Christ was 
resent in the Eucharist and that he 
oped that He would be merciful to 
him. He took the Eucharist kneeling 
with the greatest devoutness of spirit, 
and continued for some time to return 
thanks and so far recovered his strength 
that he left the church without appear¬ 
ing to suffer from any weakness. 
“Now at last,” he said, “I do not fear 
the demon, but scorn him from my 
heart; but of myself I could never 
have won this freedom. I am ready 
now to shed my blood a hundred times 
for the Catholic Faith.” And much 


175 

more he said in praise of the charity 
of our Brethren, who had been so 
careful for the salvation of a man 
whom they had never seen before; 
saying that the like was not to be 
found among the Lutherans, and much 
more which modesty forbids me to 
repeat. 

On the 10th of June, the vigil of 
S. Barnabas the Apostle, our Brethren 
again armed themselves in the monas¬ 
tery against the Enemy by those 
methods known to the Society; and 
the young man wore a hair shirt all 
day lest he should fail himself, and in 
the evening scourged himself soundly 
of his own accord. That evening, and 
during a great part of the night, a 
great wind blew upon the college. 
Before the eleventh hour of the night 
the Enemy came, together with some 
man or woman, and walked into the 
dormitory where the young man was 
sleeping with three others, and the 
demon said to the woman with him 
(who is thought to have been a certain 
witch): “Do you see this vile fellow 
lying here? Oh, if I had managed my 
business differently it would not have 
ended like this: they would hardly 
have driven me off before its fulfil¬ 
ment ! Meanwhile I commend the 
fellow to you. Torment him as much 
as you can.” Then he turned to the 
young man and said in a terrible 
voice: “O faithless varlet, O you most 
light and inconstant wretch who never 
kept your promise to me, O base and 
degenerate heart! Your forefathers 
would have lost body and soul a 
hundred times rather than break their 
word once it had been given. Have, 
then, what you gave me; but I will 
keep what is mine.” He said this 
two or three times, and the young man 
heard him making a sound like the 
erasure of writing from a paper. Then 
he said to the woman: “I go to the 
place appointed for me. Do you mean¬ 
while take care of this fellow.” And 
then again to the young man: “And 
did you think, you worthless rogue, 
that you would escape from my 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. III. CH. III. 


I76 

hands? I am compelled now to re¬ 
store to you that which is yours: but 
meanwhile do you and the vile Jesuits 
leave me untroubled by the foolish 
mummery of your ceremonies; for I 
have nothing of yours. Yet hereafter I 
shall take much more from you; for 
the faith which you have embraced is 
unsound and an invention of these 
Fathers, whom you revere as holy 
men, but I drag them to hell as they 
deserve.” Saying this he placed an 
ice-cold hand upon the young man’s 
neck without at all wounding him, and 
vanished. To all this the young man 
made no answer except for telling him 
at once to depart, for God was upon 
his side. Then he tried to arouse the 
others who were sleeping soundly in 
the dormitory, calling out their names; 
and one of them, who was sick, heard 
him and sprang to his feet and, going 
to the bed of another who was in good 
health, awakened him. This man 
struck fire from a flint and kindled 
tinder; but before he could light a 
candle it was violently put out by 
someone. This happened a second and 
third time, and when at last he had 
just got the candle alight, both it and 
the tinder were again extinguished. 
At last it came into his mind to light a 
blessed candle; and, when he had done 
this, it could no longer be put out. 
On the appearance of a light the 
Enemy vanished; and although he 
had again and again said that he was 
restoring to the young man that which 
was his, yet the youth had had nothing 
from him. They then addressed them¬ 
selves to prayer, and he who had lit 
the light recited Litanies before an 
Image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 
After about half-an-hour he arose and 
saw lying upon the floor a bloody 
paper, which he took up and offered 
to him whose handwriting it was. 
He, recognising the writing, began to 
show great joy, kissing it and pressing 
it to his bosom; and then they all gave 
thanks to God, the four of them to¬ 
gether reciting the Te Deum laudamus , 
etc. And lest by chance the demon 


should recover the paper, they pro¬ 
tected it with the sign of the Cross, and 
sprinkled it with Holy Water, and 
bound it round with the lalo of the 
Blessed Virgin Mary. 

On Sunday morning they called the 
Father to whose care the young man 
had been committed, and s howed him 
the recovered paper which he had 
written at Marburg, with the blood 
erased which recorded the demon’s 
part of the pact. But lest there should 
yet remain some evil gui e and per¬ 
haps there had not been a c< )mplete sur¬ 
render of everything whic 1 the young 
man had written, our Brethren went 
again as is their custom tc the church 
ofS. Catharine and pourec out prayers 
to God, recited Litanies, orought the 
Sacrament to the young man, and 
adjured and required the demon, if 
there was anything further belonging 
to the young man, by t ie virtue of 
Almighty God to restore it. But since 
the youth said that he was sure that 
everything had been restored, and he 
was perfectly at ease in his heart, they 
decided to proceed no fur Jher. There¬ 
fore they gave hearty thanks to the 
Divine goodness for so great a mercy, 
saying a Te Deum laudamus , etc., and 
we all returned rejoicing. His Most 
Serene Highness the Archduke Ferdi¬ 
nand, and the Right Rev irend Bishop 
of Seckau determined to make the 
whole of this matter known to the 
people. Accordingly this was done at 
midday on the eighteenth of June, and 
the very paper written w th blood was 
by the order of the Bishop burned in 
our church by the parish Driest of Graz 
before a great concourse of men. This 
is a most true story of wh it really hap¬ 
pened: and you may see from it, 
reader, the efficacy of each and every 
of the Catholic ceremonu s, of which we 
could add countless other examples. 


☆ 


BK. III. CH. IV. 


MALEFICARUM 


CHAPTER IV 

Of Divine and Supernatural Remedies . 
Argument. 

T HERE are many remedies of this 
sort which men ought always to 
use; for they always help the soul and 
never harm the body, and often they 
cure or prevent the sicknesses and other 
ills of witchcraft. These have been 
approved by the wiser physicians and 
catholic-minded men, such as Jean 
Fernel ( Uniuersa Medicina II), Cornelio 
Gemma ( Cosmocrit .), Baptista Cadron- 
chi ( de Morbis ueneficis ), Andrea Cesal- 
pini ( Disquisit . de nat . daem .), and others. 

The first of these remedies is a true 
and lively faith, fortified with the love 
of God and His Son. S. Paul bids us 
to take this as a shield ( Eph . vi and I. 
Thess. v). S. Antony the Great also 
commends this to his disciples, say¬ 
ing: “O my dearly beloved, a sincere 
life and a pure faith in God are 
mighty weapons against the devil. 55 
Cornelius Chempensis (De origine et 
situ Frisiae , III, 31) affirms the same 
in the following words: “About the 
time of the Emperor Lothair there were 
throughout all Friesland, 55 etc. And 
the same author proceeds to say how 
S. Cyprian (Ad Fortunatum , de exhortat . 
Martyrii ) and Lactantius (II, 16) and 
Ambrosius Ansbertus* (In Apoc. V, 
11) teach that the observance of God’s 
Commandments and innocence of life 
are the most effective remedies pos¬ 
sible. And Nider (In Epitom. Formic. 
cap. 4), quoting a certain Peter, 
praises the following five most efficaci¬ 
ous remedies: To have an entire faith, 

* “Ambrosius Ansbertus.” Ambrose Aut- 
pert, an early mediaeval writer and Benedictine 
Abbot; born in France early in the eighth cen¬ 
tury, and died after ruling little more than a 
year at his monastery of S. Vincent on the Vol - 
turno, near Benevento , yy8 or yyg. “Ambrosii 
Ansberti Galli presbyteri . . . in sancti loan - 
nis.” “Apostoli et Euangelistae Apocalypsim 
libri decern . . . nunc primum typis excusi” 
(Cura Eucharii Ceruicorni ). Coloniae, per E. 
Ceruicornium, folio, 1536 . 

N 


177 

and keep the commandments of God; 
to protect oneself with the sign of the 
Cross and with prayer; to honour the 
rites and ceremonies of the Church; 
to execute public justice truly; to 
contemplate aloud or in secret Christ’s 
passion. 

The second is a lawful use of the 
Sacraments of the Catholic Church; 
as, for example, Baptism in the case of 
those not yet initiated into the Faith. 
For it is proved by experience that 
they who are known not to have been 
baptised are freed from magic spells 
by means of unconditionally adminis¬ 
tered baptism: while for such as may 
with probability be assumed not to 
have been baptised, the same benefit is 
obtained from a conditional baptism. 
When I speak of a probable assump¬ 
tion, I mean that an unsubstantiated 
conjecture is insufficient to warrant 
even a conditional baptism. 

The third remedy is to have recourse 
to holy men and to seek help from 
them who are known to possess the 
gift of working miracles (a gift which 
may be found, though rarely, even in 
those whose life is not upright, so long 
as they have the true faith; as may be 
seen from the Gospels (Matth. vii, 
Mark ix, Luke x)). Although there 
are hardly any now (at least in Europe) 
who have this gift, it was formerly much 
used as a remedy: for all sacred his¬ 
tories are full of examples of men who 
have profitably had recourse to holy 
men. And it is agreed that not all they 
who cast out demons were ordained by 
the Church into the order of Exor¬ 
cists. Of old, certainly, holy men put 
to flight and conquered demons simply 
by their presence, as we read of S. 
Macarius of Alexandria in Palladius, 
chapters 19 and 20; of Aegyptius in 
Sozomen, Bk. VI, chap. 20; of S. 
Cuthbert in chapter 15 of his Life 
written by Bede; of S. Rusticus in 
John Cassian, Collat. 14, chap. 7; 
and of many others everywhere in the 
histories. 

The fourth remedy is Ritual Exor¬ 
cism. Touching this it is to be noted 



COMPENDIUM 


BK III. CH. IV. 


178 

that this order of Exorcists has existed 
in the Church for 1300 years, as is 
clear from the Epistle of S. Ignatius to 
Antioch; and the Epistle of Pope 
Cornelius* to Fabius preserved by 
Eusebius; (Hist. Eccl . VI, xliii.) and 
from the Letters of Firmilianus to S. 
Cyprian, and from other Fathers. 

The fifth way is to seek a remedy by 
sufficient works of mercy, by fasting, 
alms-giving, and prayer. Alms-giving 
is commended by the authority of the 
Canon, chapter si per sortiarias. With 
regard to fasting, I find that S. Auxen- 
tiusf the Abbot prescribed it to a 
certain countess, as Metaphrastes re¬ 
cords in his Life, February 14th. And 
S. Procopius the Monk very often won 
the victory against the demon by 
means of fasting. $ We have, more¬ 
over, Christ to witness in Matth. 
xvii and Mark xxix. As for prayer, 
there survives a verse of an anonymous 
old versifier: 

Against the Fiend’s might 

Prayer is a weapon right. 


* “Pope Cornelius.” 251-252. This Pon¬ 
tiff in his letter to Fabius mentions that there 
were then in the Roman Church forty-two 
acolytes and fifty-two exorcists , readers and 
door-keepers , and the formal institution of these 
orders together with the organisation of their 
functions was probably the work of Pope 
Fabian , 256-251. The practice of exorcism , 
not confined to any one particular order , pre¬ 
vailed in the Church from the very foundation , 
the power of exorcism being given to the Apostles 
by Our Lord Himself. 

| “ S. Auxentius.” The “Roman Martyr- 
ology” under 14 February has: “In Bithynia , 
of S. Auxentius , Abbot.” See the Bollandists 
for this day. 

$ “Fasting.” The Homily of S. Basil the 
Great , “Homilia I de ieiunio,” rises to supreme 
heights of sacred eloquence. Passages are read 
in the Roman Breviary in the Second Nocturn 
of Matins on the Fourth Sunday of Lent. 
“Ieiunium legislatores sapientes facit: animae 
optima custodia , corporis socius securus, forti- 
bus uiris munimentum et arma, athletis et 
certantibus exercitatio. Hoc propterea tenta- 
tionem propulsat , ad pietatem armat , cum 
sobrietate habitat , temperantiae opifex est.” 


The sixth is a devout invocation of 
the Name of the Saviour Jesus Christ, 
or of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or a 
prayer for help to the Guaidian Angel. 
All the most ancient ecclesiastical 
writers assert so firmly and fre¬ 
quently the power of the Name of 
the Saviour that it would be super¬ 
fluous to collect their word;. There are 
many examples of the invo :ation of the 
Blessed Virgin, especially that famous 
one of Theophilus § about which, 
among others, Honorius | of Autun 
treats in the Seal of Mary. The help 
from the Guardian Angel is testified 

§ “Theophilus.” This histor ns well known. 
Theophilus had made so forme l compact with 
Satan that he actually signed away his soul 
with a written deed. Even in his darkest mo¬ 
ment r, however , he cherished some love and 
honour for Our Lady , and at the hour of his 
doom Mary intervened to save him , since She 
took the charter from the evil me and signally 
protected Her servant , who ref. ented and made 
a good death. This instance of the omnipotent 
power of the Mother of God and the salutary 
effects of devotion to Her may be found in one 
of the earliest collections of Miracles of Our 
Lady , that which goes under the name of Botho 
(or Potho ), an Abbot of Priefii 7g near Ratisbon 
in the eleventh century. It is quoted by S. Peter 
Damian , S. Bernard , S. Bonauentura , S. Anto¬ 
ninus , and many other writers of authority. In 
“The Glories of Mary” S. Alphonsus Liguori 
gives it as the “example” in the second section 
of his commentary on “Ad Te suspiramus.” It 
is also related on the Twemy-fourth Day of 
“The Love of Mary,” a golden treatise by 
Dom Roberto , a Camaldolese Hermit of Monte 
Corona. S. Peter Damian cries: “0 Mary , 
Who couldst snatch Theophilus from the very 
jaws of perdition , what is there that Thou 
canst not do?” 

|| “Honorius.” A theolog'an, philosopher , 
and encyclopaedist who lived n the first half of 
the twelfth century. Although many works from 
his pen have won considerable reputation , of his 
life practically nothing is kuown , and it has 
even been discussed whether £ of August” (near 
Basle) or “of Augsburg” (in Suabia) ought 
not to be read instead of “of Autun” in Ber- 
gundy. The “Sigillum Beatae Mariae” is an 
exposition upon the “Canticle of Canticles.” 
The works of Honorius will befound in Migne , 
“Patres Latini ,” CLXXII. 




BK. III. GH. IV. 


MALEFICARUM 


by Origen contra Celsum, Bk. VI, and 
S. Golanduch, who is mentioned by 
his contemporary Evagrius,* * * § Bk. VI. 
chap. 19. 

The seventh is the sign of the Holy 
Cross, f in commendation of which a 
whole book could be compiled from 
the writings of the Holy Fathers and 
from actual examples. See S. Cyprian, 
Serm. de Passione Christie Origen upon 
Job, Bk. Ill; Lactantius, De Uera 
Sapientia IV, 26; S. Antony as quoted 
by S. Athanasius; S. Athanasius him¬ 
self, De Incarnatione Uerbi XLVIII; S. 
Gregory of Naziansus, Oration. 1. in 
Julianum , and ad Nemesium ; S. John 
Chrysostom, the 8th homily on the 
Epistle to the Colossians , and the 50th 
homily upon S. Matthew; S. Cyril, 
Cathechesis 4, de Ascensione ; Diego 
Niceno the Basilian in the Life of the 
Thaumaturges; S. Jerome in the Life 
of S. Hilarion; S. Augustine, de Symbol, 
ad Cathecumen , Bk. II, and Serm. 81, 
de tempore; Theodoret in the Life of 
Macedonius , and Hist. Ill, 3 and V, 21; 
S. Gregory, Dialogues II, 10, and many 
others. 

The eighth safeguard is the Relicsf 
of the Saints, of which we read: “Thy 
friends, O God, are greatly honoured, 
and their kingdom is very secure. 55 
But care must be taken not to mingle 
certain superstitious rites with this 
most sacred worship, as Silvester§ 


* “Evagrius.” Scholasticus, born in 536 at 
Epiphania in Corte-Syria; died after 594, the 
exact date being unknown. Of all his works 
one alone survives, the important “Ecclesiastical 
History” in six books. 

| “Holy Cross.” 0 Crux aue spes unica! 
See also Baltus, “Histoire des Oracles,” I, p. 
304, etc. 

J “Relics.” The virtue of Holy Relics is 
indeed inestimable. I have myself known and 
experienced many instances of this. Upon one 
occasion a Relic of S. Antony of Padua, ven¬ 
erated in the private Oratory of Our Lady of 
Loreto, healed and restored permanent health to 
a sick man. Mirabilis Deus in sanctis suis . 

§ “Silvester.” Francis Silvester ( Ferrarjen- 
sis), Dominican, 1474-1526. It is difficult to 
see how any superstition could be connected with 


179 

warns us, speaking of the word Relics. 
For to the Saints superstition is odious, 
religion is pleasing. This was attested 
by S. Glyceria the Martyr, from whose 
personal garments there was distilled 
a most sweet and healing unguent for 
all diseases; but one day the Bishop of 
Heraclea unwittingly tried to collect 
the unguent in a silver vase which had 
been used for purposes of sorcery, 
and the holy ointment at once ceased 
to be distilled. The Bishop therefore 
enquired diligently into the matter 
and found that that vessel had been 
used for unspeakable purposes; there¬ 
fore he removed it and put another in 
its place, whereupon the ointment 
flowed again as before. This is told by 
S. Nicephorus,|| XVIII, 32. 

The ninth remedy is of most ancient 
standing in the Church and is of 
wonderful efficacy, namely Holy 
Water blessed by the solemn rite 
ordained for its benediction. One 
sort, which is called Baptismal, is con¬ 
secrated on the Eves of Easter and 
Pentecost. The other, called Lustral, 
is consecrated at Prime on every 
Sunday, and it is avowedly for repel¬ 
ling the attacks of the devil, and for 
averting other dangers. Its use was 
known before the time of Pope S. 
Alexander I,^J and has always been 


Holy Relics, save indeed these hallowed objects 
were abused by heretics and witches in their dark 
rites. Such instances have occurred. No doubt 
it is to this that Silvester and Guazzo refer. 

|| “S. Nicephorus.” Born about 758; died 
2 June, 829; Patriarch of Constantinople 806- 
815. This holy and orthodox champion of the 
veneration of Images was sorely persecuted by 
the abominable iconoclasts, and his dogmatic 
treatises upon the controversy have the greatest 
weight. His feast is celebrated both in West 
and East on 13 March, which day he was in¬ 
terred in the Church of the Holy Apostles at 
Constantinople. 

“Pope S. Alexander I.” S. Irenaeus tells 
us that he was the fifth Pope in succession from 
S. Peter. Duchesne dates his pontificate 106- 
115; Lightfoot, 109-116. “Conslituit aquam 
sparsionis cum sale benedici in habitaculis 
hominum.” 




i8o 


COMPENDIUM 


B C. III. CH. IV. 


retained by all Catholics to their great 
advantage. It is worshipfully men¬ 
tioned in the Life of S. Gregory the 
Great by John the Deacon, a Monk of 
Monte Cassino, who says that those 
possessed by devils are delivered when 
sprinkled with it; and that this miracle 
is often renewed to-day among the 
Indians. 

Tenthly, there are other things 
which the Catholic rite is wont to bless 
for a remedy, as waxen discs which 
we call Agnus Deis because of the print 
of a lamb on one side. Of their efficacy 
there is a book by Vincenzo Bonar- 
do,* and Pietro Mattei speaks much 
of them in 7 Decretal, f When the 
Pope blesses them, he asks God to 
grant all kinds of favours to those who 
wear them devoutly. Of the same sort 
are Blessed Grain, Blessed Candles, 
Blessed Salt, and Blessed Bread. 

Eleventh are pious writings or 
sacred amulets hung around the neck, 
such as the Apostles’ Creed; the be¬ 
ginning of the Gospel of S. John, c 7 /z 
Principo erat Uerbum or verses of some 
Psalm. These were much used of old; 
and Manuel de CostaJ writes that in 
our own time a devil was driven out of 
a demoniac at Hormuz by this means. 
But for this remedy to be lawful S. 
Thomas says that there must be two 
conditions: first that nothing super¬ 
stitious is mingled with the sacred 
words, as that one should put faith in 
the shape or colour of the letters, or 


* “Vincenzo BonardoThe work here al¬ 
luded to is this author's famous “Discorso 
intorno all 3 origine , antichita e virtu degli 
Agnus Dei di cera benedetti 33 Roma , 1586. 

f “7 Decretal .” The collection of Clement 
V published by John XXII on 25 October , 
73/7, under the title of “Liber septimus Deere - 
talium 33 but better known as “Constitutiones 
Clementis V 39 or “ Clementinae 33 This is the 
last official collection of decretals , and the 
glosses of the canonist Mattei were long highly 
esteemed. 

J “Manuel de Costa." A famous canonist 
of Salamanca, who when the University of 
Coimbra was at the height of its reputation 
accepted a chair in the faculty of law at the 
particular invitation of John III (1521-57). 


the manner of writing, or the material 
of the paper or the ink and second 
that the wearer’s intention must be 
righteous, and he must piously ob¬ 
serve the sense of the words and put 
his true hope in God. 

Twelfth is the ringing of Bells§ in 
the Catholic Church (foi heretics take 
more delight in the explosion of 
grenades). This we know from daily 
experience to be so hostil e and inimical 
to demons that they are prevented by 
it from raising up violent storms, and 
even if they have been already raised 
it lulls them or turns them aside else¬ 
where, as has been righi ly asserted by 
the Council of Cologne, chapter 24. 

Let us now come to seme examples 
of all these remedies of which we 
have spoken. 

☆ 

Examples. 

1. Of Faith. 

© 

Johann Nider in his Formicarius 
(IV) tells the followiag: A certain 
witch said: “When a nan once asked 
me to kill an enemy of his, or else to 
injure, him grievously by a stroke of 
lightning or in some other way, I 
invoked my Little Master, or demon, 
who answered that he could do 
neither: for he said thrt the man had 
a pure faith and prctected himself 
diligently with the sign of the Cross; 
therefore he could not injure him in 
his body but, if I would, he could 
destroy an eleventh part of his crops 
in his field.” 

The Empress Justiaa sent against 
our Father S. Ambrose a witch named 
Innocentius, who afterwards openly 


§ “Bells. 33 Boguetf An Ex amen of Witches 33 
(John Rodker , 1925), tells us: “Satan holds 
bells in extreme detestation: for by their ringing 
the people are warned to prepare to observe their 
duty and pray to God. Also they drive away 
storms and tempests .” 





BK. III. CH. IV. 


MALEFICARUM 


confessed that he had delegated some 
demons to kill S. Ambrose, but they 
had been unable to approach even 
the door of the house in which the 
Bishop was; for the house was pro¬ 
tected all round by an unquenchable 
fire which burned there even at a 
distance; and so their wiles were 
thwarted, and baffled was the mis¬ 
chief t>y which he thought to have 
done injury to the Priest and Bishop 
of God. 

John Cassian relates that two philo¬ 
sophers tried to trouble S. Antony by 
means of magical illusions and the 
deceits of demons. But when with all 
their labour they could effect nothing, 
and that was all the result of the plots 
they had sought out with such deep 
magic, it became very evident to them 
that there was great virtue in the 
professions of the Christians; for the 
same savage Powers of Darkness 
which could, as they thought, at will 
obscure the sun and moon, were not 
only unable to injure S. Antony, but 
could not even cause him the slightest 
disturbance in his monastery. There¬ 
fore S. Epiphanius denounces the 
heretical opinion of the Ebionites* 
that there is no virtue in an invocation 
which uses the name of Christ and 
the sign of the Cross. 

About the time of the Emperor 
Lothair Friesland was infested with a 
reat number of Spectres of Hellish 
erpent-fiends who lived in an under¬ 
ground cave in a little overhanging 
brow of a high hill, which they had 
built by magic without human help. 
Here lived those whom the ancients 
called White Nymphs, who used to 
seize upon night-farers, and such as 
kept watch over their flocks and herds 
in the open, and yet more frequently 
they snared women with the children 
they had just borne; and the spectres 
used to take them secretly to their 


* “Ebionites.” Early Christian sects in¬ 
fected with Judaistic and {later) with Gnostic 
errors. In the time of S. Epiphanius only a few 
obscure communities existed among the scat¬ 
tered hamlets of Syria . 


181 

hidden underground caves, from which 
there could then be heard the sound 
of murmuring under the ground, and 
the wailing of children and the loud 
weeping and moans of men; and 
sometimes singing and other uncer¬ 
tain sounds were heard. For this 
reason a careful watch was set upon 
pregnant women and little children, 
lest they should be seized unawares 
by those hellish Nymphs. But all these 
devilish illusions vanished and came 
to nought after they received the true 
Gospel of God; for erstwhile the 
Frisians were deluded by the errors 
of Sabellius and Arius. 


2. Of Baptism. 



We read in Ecclesiastical History 
that Tiridates, King of Armenia, 
afflicted the Christians in the time of 
Diocletian with various massacres and 
persecutions, and that he placed S. 
Gregoryf to die of hunger in a deep 


f “S. Gregory .” Surnamed the Illuminator , 
the apostle of Armenia. He was born c. 237 and 
died c. 337. S. Gregory after having been at 
first persecuted by King Trdat {Tiridates) 
eventually converted that monarch , and with his 
aid spread Christianity throughout the country . 
This happened whilst Diocletian was emperor 
{284-303). There is a famous life of S. Gre¬ 
gory by Agathangelos which was composed 
shortly after the year 436 in Armenian , whence 
it was turned into Greek , used by Symeon Meta- 
phrastes , and translated into Latin early in the 
tenth century. 









COMPENDIUM 


BK. III. CH. IV. 


182 

and muddy pit. Moreover, because 
she would not comply with his de¬ 
sires, he ordered to a most cruel death 
the virgin Rhipsime, together with 
many of her pious companions. But 
he soon felt the vengeance of God. 
For he was afflicted with madness so 
that he raged like one possessed, and 
his body was changed into that of a 
pig, and in his madness he tore his 
meat with his teeth. And others who 
had approved his deeds, the soldiers, 
magistrates, and officers, were also 
driven mad and showed the same 
symptoms; for they too were changed 
into swine (as Nicephorus will have 
it), or suffered from a delusion to that 
effect (as Metaphrastes thinks). But 
at last they were washed in the font 
of Baptism and recovered the shape 
of their bodies and the health of their 
minds and souls, being baptised and 
urged to repentance by S. Gregory 
the Martyr himself;—not the Thau¬ 
maturge, as is thought by Nicephorus 
and some scholiasts, but the other 
one [S. Gregory the Illuminator], as 
Metaphrastes teaches. And this evil 
was not brought upon them by any 
magic art, as one learned man thinks, 
but by the vengeance of God working 
through the evil Angels. 

Kazan* the King of the Tartars, 
otherwise known as the Great Cham, 
conquered Syria and the surrounding 
lands with two hundred thousand 
horsemen; and having thus made him¬ 
self an object of fear to all, he de¬ 
manded in marriage the daughter of 
the King of Armenia, whom he had 
heard to be very beautiful. The 
Christian King, fearing the might of 
this great King, agreed. After some 
time she bore a son to her husband 
Kazan, so hideous that the King her 
husband would by no means acknow¬ 
ledge it as his, since it appeared to 
be a monster. He summoned his chief 
men to a council, and on their advice 
sentenced to death his wife as an 


* “Kazan” This history is from Gio¬ 
vanni Villani, “Croniche,” Venice , 1337, Book 
VIII, chapter 33. 


adulteress, and her son is having been 
conceived in adultery. The innocent 
woman bewailed her misfortune and 
took refuge in prayer, and while still 
unaware of the sentence which had 
been passed upon her, asked permis¬ 
sion to baptise her son. This was 
granted on condition that there were 
present some men of known reliability, 
as well as the King, to see that there 
was no fraudulent practice. By a 
miracle, when the boy was baptised 
he at once became so ex( eeding comely 
and beautiful that the King and 
many others were moved wholly to 
turn to God, and the Christian cause 
was very greatly advanced in the 
land. S. Antoninus tells this story at 
greater length in his Historiarum Opus , 
tit. 20, c. 8. Let us turn to more recent 
and equally proved eximples. Pedro 
Cieza de Leon describe j a miraculous 
victory over spectres granted by God 
by means of this holy sacrament of 
Baptism. I will quote faithfully from 
his Cronica del Peru. 

Near Anzerma, in a place called 
Pirsa, reigned an Inca who had 
a youthful brother naned Tamara- 
cunga. This young man thirsted 
eagerly for baptism and therefore 
tried to seek the company of Chris¬ 
tians; but he was frightened by 
demons which appeared to him in 
strange forms, for they were visible to 
him alone, in the shape of huge birds, 
the condor of the And 2s. Seeing the 
demons thus raging, the young man 
ordered a poor Christian of the neigh¬ 
bourhood to be summoned; and he 
came without delay and, hearing the 
will of the Inca, made .he sign of the 
Cross upon his brow. This did but 
the more enrage those enemies, whom 
only the Indian saw threatening him 
even more furiously; for the Christian 
saw nothing but falling stones, and 
heard the whistling o ' demons. By 
good fortune there ther came to that 
place a Spaniard naned Pacheco 
who offered to help the other Chris¬ 
tian in his difficulty. While these two 
were striving, Tamaracunga trembled 
more violently and grew pale with 



BK. III. GH. IV. 


MALEFICARUM 


fear, and was snatched up into the 
air. This was seen by all, and they 
heard his prayers and groans, and the 
howling and whistling of the demons. 
Once, when the Indian was holding a 
cup of wine, behold, the cup was lifted 
up in the air and returned empty of 
wine, and soon the wine was again 

f loured into it from on high; and the 
ndia, full of fear, tried to hide his 
face with his garment so that he 
might not see the horrible spectres: 
yet, without removing the garments 
with which his face was covered, they 
took possession of his mouth and 
nearly throttled him in his throat. At 
length the Christians, who had mean¬ 
while been praying continually to 
God, decided to take him to the town 
of Anzerma and there sprinkle him 
from the saving font. More than three 
hundred Indians offered to accom¬ 
pany them, but they were so terrified 
that they dared not come near the 
chief who was to be baptised. They 
came all together to a place where 
they were hindered by a broken road, 
and there some human enemies tried 
to pick up the chieftain and cast him 
over a precipice: but he cried aloud 
to the Christians to help him, and 
while the Indians retreated in terror, 
they placed* him in their midst, bind¬ 
ing him with ropes to their girdles, 
and so guarding him they went on 
together, bearing three crosses in their 
hands and not ceasing to pray for the 
deliverance and salvation of the un¬ 
happy man. Not even so did they pro¬ 
ceed free from all molestation: for the 
Enemy often threw him to the ground, 
and as they ascended a hill on their 
way they had the greatest difficulty in 
saving him from some birds that tried 
to snatch him up and kill him. When 
they came to Anzerma, the Christians 
in the town met at the house of 
Pacheco, where they all saw a violent 
hail-storm, and heard the demons 
shouting and whistling, together with 
that terrible war cry of the Indians— 
Hu , Hu, Hu! The demons threatened 
him with death unless he abandoned 
his wish for baptism; they execrated 


183 

the God of the Christians who would 
not permit them to seize the living 
soul from the Indian’s body. With 
the hail still falling they went to the 
church where, because it was a 
thatched building, the Sacrament was 
not reserved. Some say that before 
they entered it they heard something 
walking. When the church was open 
and the rest had gone in with the 
Indian, the Indian saw demons of 
frightful appearance but with their 
heads bent down towards their feet. 
When Brother Juan of the Order of 
the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy 
made ready to baptise him, the 
demons, unseen by any of the Chris¬ 
tians, visibly snatched the Indian into 
the air and stood him up on high with 
his head down in the same posture as 
themselves. The Christians then, rely¬ 
ing on their faith, cried aloud: “Jesus 
Christ, help us!” and dragged back 
the Indian, and holding him put a 
sacred stole about his neck and 
sprinkled him with Holy Water; yet 
whistlings and groans were still heard 
in the church. Tamaracunga saw the 
demons, and received many blows 
from them; for they brandished darts 
before his eyes, and spat their fetid 
saliva in his face. These things hap¬ 
pened at night. In the morning a 
monk put on his sacred vestments 
to offer the bloodless Sacrifice; and 
he had hardly begun the Mass when 
the whistling, groaning, howling and 
clanking ceased, and the Indian was 
no more molested. As soon as the 
Sacrifice was done, Tamaracunga 
together with his wife and children 
asked to be baptised: and when he 
had been baptised he became stronger 
and bolder in the Faith, and asserted 
that he was now a Christian and would 
like to see what the Enemy could do 
if they would let him brave them 
alone. But they did not dare to attack 
him, alone as he was. Unable to con¬ 
tain his joy he marched up and down 
the church three or four times shout¬ 
ing: “I am a Christian, I am a Chris¬ 
tian!” And when he found himself 
safe and victorious, he went home and 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. III. CH. IV. 


184 

was no more molested: so great was 
the might of Baptism. 

At Bungo in the year 1596 there 
was a heathen woman possessed by a 
demon, and she was told that she 
could not be delivered unless she 
became a Christian. She consented 
and was already preparing for baptism 
when, on the following night, the 
demon dissuaded her from becoming 
a Christian, saying: “Have you been 
associated with me in such intimate 
familiarity for so long, and will you 
desert me now? You shall not do so 
with impunity.” And as she slept and 
felt nothing, he cut off her hair leaving 
but one tress upon her head. When 
in the morning she saw that her hair 
had been cut off and woven into the 
reeds of the opposite bed, she took it 
as a spur to be baptised the sooner. 
This she did and, having received that 
Sacrament, she was immune from all 
the torments of the demon. This is 
told by Luis Froes in his Japanese 
Letters .of that year; and he adds the 
following: 

In the island of Chusan there kept 
appearing to a young heathen, eigh¬ 
teen years of age, a horrible great red 
dog which spoke with him and led 
him through the mountains to most 
remote places, keeping him there for 
two or three days, and compelling 
him to lift up his hands and worship 
him, and to do other unmentionable 
things. The unhappy youth, seeing 
that he was so molested by the mortal 
foe of the human race, at last fled to 
the church, heard and learned the 
Christian doctrine, and was bound 
to Christ by the Sacrament of Baptism; 
after which he was no more molested 
by that hell-hound. 

At Bungo about the year 1549 a 
certain man had a serving maid who 
was familiar with a demon. For the 
demon used to come to her every 
night in the likeness of a fox and lead 
her from the house: but when she 
embraced the faith through Baptism, 
she was delivered from this spectre. 

In 1583 at Munich in Bavaria a 


young Jew twenty-three years old was, 
to the gratification of all, baptised in 
the College of the Jesuits. A demon 
laid many wonderful snares for him; 
and the more the youth sought for 
Baptism, the more violently did the 
demon assail him. He threw him 
nearly naked out of the house; some¬ 
times he nearly throtthd him; often 
he frightened him with visions and 
spectres so as to drive aim out of his 
mind. The face of the demon was so 
foully hideous that the youth said that 
there was no torture tc be compared 
with the sight of him On the day 
before he was to be baptised, it was 
then or never for the demon to gain 
the victory; and the bitter Enemy so 
violently took hold upon the youth 
that he could hardly te held in one 
place by many men. But when he was 
made a member of Christ through 
Baptism, the demon was at once 
broken and deprived of his strength. 

3. Of Confession. 



Anno 1591, in a certain Cisalpine 
Valley in the Diocese of Novara, there 
was a girl who was quite out of her 
senses, and seemed to be amazed and 
stupefied by the spectres and shades 
which she seemed to see. In the 
farthest part of this vdley of which 
we speak there was a wise woman, or 
witch, who claimed to cure with her 
charms diseases which could not other¬ 
wise be cured; and a gr iat many men 











BK. III. CH. IV. 


MALEFICARUM 


went to her for help and advice. 
Although the priests warned them 
that it was a sin, yet when they had 
departed, the girl’s mother, moved 
by a mother’s care, took the girl to 
ask the witch’s help about the shades. 
Then the witch said: “Take the girl 
to the priests and ask help from 
them.” The father and mother took 
the girl a journey of eight miles, and 
told the priests what the witch had 
said: and after they had confessed 
their sins, they were bidden to fortify 
themselves with the Holy Body of 
Christ. And when they had done so 
the girl became better. 

About the year 1591, at Pont-a- 
Mousson in Lorraine, there was a boy 
of noble birth but poor fortune who 
was, at his parents’ bidding, taken 
from school and assigned a position at 
the Court. But his active spirit rebelled 
at this and, longing for his former 
life, he preferred to go and live with 
the servants in the military camps. 
As he was on his way, he met a black 
man in silken garments who asked 
him why he was sad, and promised to 
find a remedy. “But,” said he, “if I 
help you, what reward will you give 
me?” But the boy said: “If you turn 
me up and shake me, you won’t find a 
farthing.” But the other answered: 
“Only give yourself to me, and no 
wish of yours shall be in vain.” The 
boy thought he was being asked for as 
a slave, and demanded time to con¬ 
sider ; and the other loaded him with 
great promises, so that even the boy 
wondered at such vain words and 
began to suspect the hidden presence 
of a cacodemon in the form of the 
man. He then silently observed the 
whole of his body, and saw that his 
left foot was deformed with a cloven 
hoof; and at once in horror he mur¬ 
mured the name of Jesus and made 
the sign of the Cross on his brow; and 
at the same time the terrible spectre 
vanished. On the third day as he was 
returning to his own people, the same 
demon appeared and was again be¬ 
trayed by his foot, and asked whether 


185 

he had made up his mind. The boy 
answered that he did not require a 
master; and, on being asked where he 
was going, named the town. Then the 
demon threw at his feet a jingling 
purse containing thirty or forty gul¬ 
den of bronze (as was later tested by 
fire). Then he gave him a poisonous 
powder wrapped in linen, telling him 
how to afflict whom he would with 
sudden death, and how to satisfy his 
base lusts; and warned him to abstain 
from the use of Holy Water and from 
adoring the Consecrated Host (which 
he contemptuously called “The Little 
Cake”). The boy, shrinking in his 
pious heart from this blasphemy, and 
at the same time fearing lest he should 
have his neck twisted or be strangled 
by the master, made the saving sign 
of the Cross upon his breast, and at 
once fell with a crash to the ground, 
and could not rise for half an hour. 
Soon afterwards he came back to his 
mother and his school; and having 
obtained forgiveness of his sins by a 
good confession, rejoiced to find him¬ 
self freed both from the snare of the 
hunter and from his fear, through the 
help of God. 

Hear some more ancient examples. 
“Certane marchandis* wer passand 
betwix Forth and Flanderis (quhen 
haistelie came sic ane Thud of wynd) 
that sail mast and taikillis were blawin 
in the brym seis, throw quhilk the 
schip belevit nocht bot sicker derth. 
The patroun thairof astonist with sa 
huge and uncouth tempestis againis 
the season of the yeir because it wes 
about Sanct Barnabyis day (quhen 
the seis apperis more calme than 
rageande) traistit the samyn war cumin 
be illusioun of the devil the ennyme 
of man, than be violence of weddir. 
In the mene tyme the voce wes hard 
of ane woman in the bow of the schip 
wariand hir self. For the instant hour 
scho wes conversit with ane devil in 


* “Certane marchandis .” Hector Boece , 
Scotorum Historiae ,” viii. Bellenden's 

translation ( 1536 ). 



COMPENDIUM 


BK. III. CH. IV. 


186 


ymage of ane man. And schew how 
this devill had usit hir in that maner 
mony yeris afore. And thairfore be- 
socht the pepill to cast hir in the seis, 
that be hir deith the remenant pepill 
in the schip mycht be savit. Than be 
command of the patroun ane preist 
went to hir in the hevy cheir. Com- 
mandying hir to male confessioun of 
hir abhominable lyfe. And to have 
confidence in God, be quhais mercy 
all synnis ar purgit, quhen the synnar 
hes repentance and teris. Quhen this 
woman wes makand hir confessioun 
with gret repentance to the preist in 
sycht of all the pepill ane uglie cloud 
with ane crak of fyre and reik flew out 
of the schip and fell down with ane 
vennomus stink in the seis. Incon¬ 
tinent this tempest ceissit.” [From 
Bellenderts translation , published 1536.) 

Peter the Venerable, Abbot of 
Cluny, describing the terrible tor¬ 
menting of a certain Monk, agonies 
which could not be relieved either by 
prayer or by the use of Holy Water, 
in all sober truth adds the following 
words: “But lest any should marvel 
that the demon was not put to flight 
by Holy Water, let him know that 
when the plague is seated internally 
no outward application of salves can 
avail. And by the plague I mean 
mortal sin which, as long as it lurks 
within a man, cannot be removed by 
partaking of an external sacrament.” 
But the Abbot urged the Monk to 
make confession of his sins; and after 
he had confessed he at once ceased to 
be tormented. 

Caesarius tells that at Bonn a priest 
who had led an abominable life made 
an end of himself by hanging. When 
he was dead his concubine entered a 
Convent, wishing to repent; but by 
the permission of God she was con¬ 
tinually solicited by an Incubus Devil 
to sin with him. She drove him away 
with the sign of the Cross and with 
Holy Water; and when he again 
returned she devoutly recited the 
Angelic Salutation, upon which he 
fled further than a bow-shot: but the 


importunate fornicator never returned 
after she had purged heiself clean of 
all the stains of her life by a general 
confession. 

It is recorded that a man at Liege 
was similarly vexed by a most pestilent 
Succubus Devil. But let us relate a 
more recent example. In Austria in 
the year 1591 a nobleman was en¬ 
slaved by a great love, r ear to mad¬ 
ness; and no worldly advice or divine 
admonition could persuade him to 
cease from it, so entirely was his heart 
filled with the fire of this poison. But 
he was cured of his frmzy in the 
following manner, being ; tricken with 
the fear of God. He had :ontracted a 
slight fever and was lyinj in his bed 
at night, when he saw tefore him a 
fiery chariot drawn by a horse blazing 
with fire, and the chari iteer in the 
form of a hideous monster even more 
savage than the Evil Spirit himself, 
than whom there is nothing more fear¬ 
ful to mortals. “Why do you delay,” 
he said, “to mount into a chariot 
which is worthy of your deserts?” 
The unhappy man was pa ralysed with 
fear, but at last recovered his courage 
and seized a sword which was by the 
bed and brandished it, crying aloud 
the while for his servant* to come to 
his help. The attendant:; ran up in 
terror, and the whole hcusehold was 
aroused from sleep; even the neigh¬ 
bours were awakened, seme of them 
asking the reason for the tumult and 
then covering their ears a id eyes with 
their blankets to hide themselves from 
the terror. But when the tumult con¬ 
tinued and their fear was not appeased, 
but rather spread to the breasts of 
others, despite the hour if the night 
the priests were sent for, being Re¬ 
ligious of the Society of Jesus. These 
came and, by the use of ioly Water, 
the sign of the Cross, and blessed wax 
imprinted with the Lamb calmed the 
terror a little while the sick man 
asserted that the demon had departed 
for the present with a threatening 
countenance full of savage anger. 
Then, when he had confe* sed his sins, 


BK. III. CH. IV. 


MALEFICARUM 


l8 7 


he was delivered from his shameful love 
and from the sad terror in his soul. 

At the same time in Bavaria a poor 
woman was induced, either by the 
lightness of her nature or by poverty, 
to give herself to a demon in return 
for his help; and though she did not 
at the time perceive his presence, she 
felt that she was in his power. After 
she had recovered from her poverty, 
she paid the penalty for her rash 
words; for she was not only haunted 
by sore alarm, but was even beaten 
with blows and prevented from ap¬ 
proaching a church: yet she alone 
could see the rods that menaced her. 
She told the matter to a certain 
matron who led her to a priest,. by 
whom she was purged in confession, 
and so was delivered from all moles¬ 
tation, having hung about her neck a 
waxen image of the Celestial Lamb. 

The same remedy was used for 
another who suffered under the same 
affliction. At the instigation of her 
kindred a woman broke her vows of 
chastity and outraged the monastic 
life by contracting an incestuous mar¬ 
riage. But she was not unpunished; 
for she had wedded an evil man, and 
she was in perpetual anguish of con¬ 
science, and so lived wretchedly. 
Weighed down by these cares, and in 
need of solace, she went one day out 
of the house and soon, to her utter 
horror, saw a demon. She drove him 
away with the sign of the Cross; but 
immediately she became as one mad, 
and meditated every abominable crime 
in her heart. Yet there shone a ray of 
light in this darkness when she took 
refuge in prayer; and, like a cloud at 
the rising of the sun, her fear departed 
and she suddenly thought of confes¬ 
sion and remembered the vow she had 
broken. But when this hot-bed of vice 
came to the church, the more she 
tried to come to the priest the more 
she was withheld from confession as if 
by a hand that restrained her: yet at 
last, with the help and example of 
others, she conquered both herself and 
the evil spirit. 


4. Of Confirmation. 

Thomas of Brabant, De Bono Uniuer - 
sali , c. lvii, writes as follows:. The 
Venerable Boniface, one time Bishop 
of Lausanne, related in my hearing a 
story to the following effect. There 
was in a certain town a blind man 
who used to watch the cows of the 
whole town at pasture, keeping them 
off the tilled land and leading them 
to the richest pastures. What was even 
more wonderful, he could tell the 
colour and appearance of each separ¬ 
ate cow; so that if you asked him for 
such a cow of such a colour, he would 
take that cow by the horns and bring 
it to you without any difficulty.. A 
bishop came to the place and, having 
heard and proved this marvel of the 
blind man, asked him if he had re¬ 
ceived the Sacrament of Confirmation 
from a bishop; and he said that he 
had not. The bishop at once confirmed 
him; and thereupon he lost that power 
of discrimination between the different 
cows. For he had done this through 
the operation and ministry of demons. 

5. Of the Eucharist. 



Saint Prosper* writes: In our own 
times a girl of Arab race, who wore 

* “Saint Prosper .” The dates of his birth 
and death are uncertain . He is first mentioned 
in 428 or 42g, when he writes to S. Augustine , 
and he appears to have been living rather later 
than 455. It does not seem that he was Bishop 
of Reggio , as was once believed. 


















188 


COMPENDIUM 


b:c. in. ch. iv. 


the habit of a handmaiden of God, 
was once washing herself in a bath 
when she cast immodest eyes upon a 
statue of Venus, comparing herself 
with it, and so offered herself as a 
dwelling place for the devil. For he 
who goes about as a roaring lion at 
once found what he sought and 
entered into her throat. For nearly 
seventy days and nights no food or 
drink passed down her throat, and 
the devil proved his mastery and pos¬ 
session of her by this fast. The girl’s 
parents, hoping to be able to put an 
end to this prodigy after so many 
days, and unable to endure the evil 
yoke any longer, went with their 
daughter to a priest and faithfully 
told him what had happened. The 
girl only confessed that a bird had 
appeared to her in the middle of the 
night and had poured something into 
her mouth. All were amazed to see 
the girl showing no signs of her long 
fast, being neither pale nor wasted 
nor weakened, but on the contrary 
organically sound and robust of limb. 
And when the story seemed incredible, 
they held a council in a nunnery 
where were certain Relics of S. Stephen, 
and the priest and the Prior com¬ 
mended the girl to God. On the first 
day there she asserted that the bird 
had appeared to her and rated her 
because neither hunger nor thirst had 
driven her to seek that place to which 
it was not lawful for her to go; and 
she remained in the convent for two 
weeks without taking food or drink. 
But at the dawn of the fifteenth day 
which was a Sunday, the priest went 
up with us to offer the customary 
morning Sacrifice, and the Prior led 
the girl to the Altar, she adopting the 
gait and habit of women overcome 
with shame after feasting and drink¬ 
ing. Then, prostrating herself at the 
Altar, by the noise of her weeping she 
moved all those present to groans and 
tears, with which all the people 
prayed God to take away so great a 
misery: for there was an increasing 
murmuring among the people. After 


the Sacrifice had been performed, she, 
with the other women, received a 
small particle of the Body of the Lord 
from the priest; but afte* chewing It 
for half an hour she could not swallow 
It. For he had not yet been put to 
flight of whom the Apostle says “What 
concord hath Christ with Belial?” 
(II. Cor., vi, 15). And again, “Ye 
cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and 
the cup of devils” (I. Cor. x, 21). 
While, therefore, the priest supported 
her face with his hand so that she 
should not eject the Holy Element, a 
certain deacon suggest* d that the 
priest should hold the Cap of Salva¬ 
tion to her lips: and nc sooner was 
this done than, at the Saviour’s com¬ 
mand, the devil left that place which 
he was possessing, and t ie girl cried 
out, praising the Redeemer, that she 
had swallowed the Sacnment which 
she had in her mouth. At this there 
was joy and voices lifted to the glory 
of God, that after eighty-two days 
the devil had been cast out and the 
girl delivered from the power of the 
Enemy. 

In Milan at the church of S. 
Ambrogio, there was bi ought to S. 
Bernard a woman who h id been pos¬ 
sessed for many years, and was so 
deformed that she seemed rather a 
monster than a woman. The Saint 
turned to the congregatioi. and ordered 
them to pray fervently tD God, then 
commanding the Clerics to hold the 
woman near the Altar, l .e proceeded 
to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 
Every time he made the sign of the 
Cross over the Sacred Host, this 
valiant champion turnec also to the 
woman and fought the Evil Spirit 
with the same sign of the Cross. At 
the end of the Lord’s Prayer he 
attacked the Enemy more strongly, 
placing the Holy Body of the Lord 
upon the paten and holding It over 
the woman’s head, with these words: 
“Here is He Who, when about to 
suffer for our salvation, said: ‘Now 
shall the Prince of this v r orld be cast 
out.’ This is that Body which was 


BK. III. CH. IV. 


MALEFICARUM 


formed in the Virgin’s womb, and 
was stretched upon the Cross, and 
lay in the tomb, and rose from the 
dead, and ascended into Heaven in 
the sight of His disciples. By the 
terrible power of this Majesty I com¬ 
mand you, O evil spirit, to depart 
from the body of this woman, and 
never to be so hardy as to molest her 
again!” The demon, being forced to 
leave her and unable to remain 
longer, tormented her cruelly, show¬ 
ing the greater fury and rage in that 
he had but little time to exercise them. 
The Holy Father returned to the Altar 
and completed the Breaking of the 
Host of Salvation and gave the Pax 
to the deacon that he might com¬ 
municate it to the people: and at 
once the woman regained both peace 
and health. So much says the Abbot 
William* in his Life of Blessed Bernard , 
Book II, c. 4. 

Jehan Molinetf (Chroniques, Pan 1491) 
describes a most pestilent vexation 
lasting for many years with which 
God, on account of the sin of one of 
them who had long fornicated with a 
demon, permitted Satan to afflict a 
convent of holy virgins of le Quesnoy. 
The Dean of Cambrai, a learned and 
righteous man, came with other Exor¬ 
cists, and having celebrated the Mass 
carried the life-giving Host to the 
possessed community. But the demons 
could not endure this, and cried out 
together: “Ah, are you well armed? 
Have you bread there?” “What are 
you calling bread?” said the dean. 
“If this is nothing but bread, remain 
in possession of this body: but if, as 
we believe, It is the true Body of our 
Saviour Jesus Christ, I command you 
to depart at once from this body and 


* “Abbot William” William ofS. Thierry , 
author of the “ Uita Prima” of the Saint . 

f ‘ c Jehan Molinet .” “Les Chroniques de 
Jehan Molinet 55 cover the period from 1474 to 
1504. Molinet died in 1507. There were cur¬ 
rent many MSS. of the “ Chroniques ” but actu¬ 
ally they were not published until they appeared 
in five volumes , 1828. 


189 

never more to trouble it.” When he 
had said this (oh, wonderful!) the 
possessed woman seemed as if she 
were freed from a great burden, and 
at once began to breathe freely and 
to cry aloud on the name of Jesus; and 
all the others did likewise, being freed 
when the demons were driven away. 

That the like of this happened in 
our own times at Laon in Belgium is 
well known to many thousands of 
Calvinists who witnessed it to their 
terror and confusion. 

S. Auxentius the Abbot had a 
disciple named Basil who was so 
terribly afflicted by demons that, with 
his whole body wounded and broken, 
he was taken for dead in a cart to S. 
Auxentius. The holy Abbot ordered 
him to arise and to take the venerable 
Body and the life-giving Blood of Our 
Lord Jesus Christ, and to return at 
once to his home. Upon this he went 
away, and the tempter assailed him 
no more. 

A history, surpassing all wonder, is 
related by Bernard of Luxemburg con¬ 
cerning one Guido de Lachia ( Cata - 
logus haereticorum , sub littera G). This 
man obtained such a false reputation 
for sanctity in the Diocese of Brixen 
that the people took him to be a second 
S. John Baptist, and therefore gave 
him a most honourable burial. After 
his death the Inquisitors were led by 
certain sure indications to pronounce 
that he was a heretic; and therefore, 
following the advice of the Bishop and 
other wise men who were his assessors, 
they passed a sentence that his body 
should be exhumed and burned. This 
was done in the presence of the people, 
and his bones were thrown upon the 
fire: but behold, certain demons, 
which were seen by not a few, lifted 
them from the pyre and held them 
suspended in the air. This aroused the 
indignation of the people, who cried 
out: “Death to the Bishop and these 
Monks who, out of jealousy, have 
tried to burn the bones of a Saint! 
Why do we hold our hands? God is 
manifesting unto us His sore dis- 



COMPENDIUM 


BK. III. CH. IV. 


19° 

pleasure!” The Bishop was afraid, but 
the Inquisitors encouraged him to 
commence Holy Mass, saying that 
God would perform a miracle rather 
than permit the cause of the Faith to 
be imperilled. He then said the Mass 
of Our Lady; and when it came to the 
Elevation of the Lord’s Body the 
demons began to shout in the air: “O 
Guido de Lachia, we have defended 
you to the best of our power but can 
do so no longer, for a greater than we 
is here.” At once the bones fell back 
upon the pyre and were burned to 
ashes in the flame. 

Peter Martyr d’Anghierra, who 
composed the history of the voyage 
of Columbus to that Western Land of 
the Indians, testifies that the follow¬ 
ing miracle commonly happened: if 
the Sacrament of the Eucharist was 
reserved anywhere by the Christians 
the demons at once were silenced in 
that place. 

Nearly four hundred years ago lived 
Caesarius of Heisterbach, who in his 
Dialogue of Miracles , IX, 12, wrote as 
follows: At the time when the heresy 
of the Albigenses began to manifest 
itself some malignants, supported by 
the power of the devil, showed certain 
signs and portents by which they both 
strengthened that heresy and subverted 
the faith of many Catholics: for they 
used to walk upon the waters without 
sinking. A certain priest of the Catholic 
faith and of religious life saw this and, 
knowing that no true signs could 
proceed from a false doctrine, carried 
the Lord’s Body in a Pyx to the river 
where these men were to show the 
people their powers, and said in the 
hearing of all: “I adjure thee, thou 
devil, by Him whom I bear in my 
hands, that thou work not such phan¬ 
tasies upon this river by means of 
these men to the subversion of the 
people.” Saying this, and while the 
men were walking as before upon the 
waters of the river, the priest in 
righteous wrath by some inspiration 
threw the Lord’s Body into the river. 
Marvellous is the might of Christ: for 


as soon as the Sacred Host touched 
the water phantasy gave place to 
truth, and those false sain:s sank like 
lead to the bottom and weie drowned. 
But the Pyx with the Sacrament was 
immediately borne away by Angels. 
Seeing all this the priest rejoiced, in¬ 
deed, in the miracle, but grieved at 
having thrown away the Sacrament, 
spending the whole night in tears and 
groaning. But in the irorning, he 
found the Pyx with the Sacrament 
upon the Altar. 

In the same century, in the year 
1231, lived Thomas of Bnbant, com¬ 
monly called Cantimpra :anus, who 
tells the following: At th-5 time that 
Master Conrad was pr caching in 
Thuringia against the heretics and 
died a martyr at their hands, a certain 
heretic, thereto persuaded by demons, 
invited one of the Preaching Friars to 
embrace his heresy, and when he saw 
that he very firmly resisted him, said: 
“You hold very fast to your faith, and 
yet you have no proof of it save cer¬ 
tain writings. But if you w Duld believe 
my words, I would show you, as ocular 
proof, Christ and Plis Mother and the 
Saints.” The Friar soor. suspected 
some illusion of demons, but wishing 
to see what it would be, said: “You 
would verily deserve to be believed, if 
you fulfilled your projnises.” The 
heretic joyfully appointed 1 day for the 
Friar; but the Friar secretly brought 
with him under his hood a Pyx with the 
Sacrament of the Body of Christ. The 
heretic led the Friar to 1 cave in a 
mountain, as wide as a palace and 
marvellously lit; and as *oon as they 
reached the inner end of it they saw 
thrones, seemingly of the purest gold, 
on which sat a King surrounded with 
a dazzling brightness, 2nd next to 
him a most beautiful Quern, serene of 
countenance; and on each side were 
seats upon which sat the older Patri¬ 
archs and, as it were, Apostles, with a 
great multitude of Angels standing by; 
and all shone with a heavenly light: 
so that they could be thought to be 
nothing less than demons. As soon as 


BK. III. CH. IV. 


MALEFICARUM 


the heretic saw them he fell upon his 
face and worshipped; but the Friar 
stood motionless, yet mightily amazed 
at this spectacle. Soon the heretic 
turned to him and said: “Why do you 
not worship when you look upon the 
Son of God? Fall down and worship 
him whom you see, and you will learn 
the secrets of our faith from his lips. 55 
Then the Friar came near and drew 
out the Pyx and, offering It to the 
Queen sitting upon the throne, said: 
“If thou art the Queen, the Mother of 
Christ, behold there thy Son. If thou 
receive Him, I shall acknowledge thee 
to be the Mother of God. 55 At these 
words the whole of that phantasm 
vanished at once, and the brightness 
was extinguished, and the darkness was 
so thick that the Friar and his guide 
could hardly find their way back out 
on to the mountain. The heretic was 
then converted and returned to the 
Faith, and trembled with terror at the 
wonderful cunning of the devil. 

Here is another story, told by Pico 
della Mirandola in his De Strigibus. 
Fifteen years since, there dwelt in the 
Rhaetian Alps a certain good priest, 
and he had need to take the Eucharist 
to a man sick unto death, who lived a 
long distance away. Thinking that if 
he went on foot he would not reach 
him as quickly as he ought he mounted 
his horse, with the most Holy Body of 
Christ in a Pyx reverently fastened 
about his neck, and so rode as fast as 
he could. When he had gone some dis¬ 
tance he met a wayfarer who asked 
him to dismount and go with him to 
see a most wonderful sight. Rashly, 
from a desire to see this marvel, the 
priest obeyed; and hardly had he dis¬ 
mounted from his horse before he felt 
himself carried through the air with 
his companion, and in a short time set 
down upon the top of a very high 
mountain, where there was a fair plain 
full of lofty trees and surrounded by 
forbidding rocks. In the midst was a 
great company and games of all sorts, 
and tables loaded with various luxur¬ 
ies of food and drink; and a sound of 


J 9 1 

sweetest singing was heard; and there 
came women such as can enslave a 
man’s soul with their beauty and 
soften his very marrow with the sweet¬ 
ness they exhale. The simple good 
priest wholly astounded at this un¬ 
expected event was speechless for very 
wonder, not daring to open his mouth; 
yea, he was quite beyond himself and 
struck still with astonishment. Then 
his companion who had led him there 
asked him if he wished to worship as a 
suppliant before the Queen who was 
there present, and to offer her any gift. 
On a high throne sat a Queen of most 
beautiful appearance, adorned in royal 
splendour and marvellous rich jewels: 
and all who were there went up to her 
and prostrated themselves to the ground 
in two or four ranks in the fairest 
manner, and worshipped her and 
offered her various gifts. Hearing the 
word Queen, and seeing her so resplen¬ 
dent and surrounded by so many 
ministers, the priest thought that she 
was the Mother of Christ, Queen of 
Heaven and Earth; for he did not 
suspect any prestige or devilish 
glamour, or otherwise he would not 
have gone near to her. Considering 
with himself, then, what gift he should 
offer to her, he thought that none 
could be more grateful or acceptable 
than the Body of Her Son; and he 
went up and, kneeling as a suppliant at 
her feet, took the Pyx containing the 
Most August Sacrament from his neck 
and placed it upon the woman’s lap. 
Everything then at once vanished in a 
miraculous manner. Astounded at this 
strange experience the simple man saw 
that he had been ensnared by an illu¬ 
sion, and tremblingly began to beseech 
the help of God to bring him safe from 
such a wandering from the right way. 
For a long time he strayed through 
trackless places and vast forests until at 
last he found a shepherd who put him 
upon his road and informed him that 
he was a hundred miles from the place 
to which he wished to carry the Euchar¬ 
ist. At last he reached home again, 
and told the whole matter to the 


COMPENDIUM 


BK III. CH. IV. 


192 

Magistrates. This happened during 
the reign of Maximilian. 

S. Augustine (City of God , XXII, 8) 
tells us that a man named Hesperius, 
who had formerly been a tribune, 
possessed a farm called Zubedi in the 
district of Fussala; and on account of 
the sickness afflicting his animals and 
his servants he found that his house 
was suffering from the visitation of 
malignant spirits. Therefore, in my 
absence, he asked our priests to send 
one of their number; and they granted 
his request. A priest went, and offered 
these the Sacrifice of the Body of Christ, 
and prayed with all his might that that 
vexation should cease. And God at 
once had mercy, and it ceased. 

S. Augustine says again in the Ninth 
Book and also in the fifth chapter of his 
Collation that witches confess that they 
are freed from all vexation by the devil 
while they are hearing Mass; and there¬ 
fore they remain as long as they can at 
about midday in Catholic churches 
where many Masses are said. 

6. It is not Meet to Joke with Demons. 

Nider in his Formicarius says that he 
saw a Brother in a monastery at 
Cologne who was rather ribald of 
speech, but famous for his power of 
casting out demons. This man was 
casting a demon from the body of a 
possessed person in the precincts of the 
monastery at Cologne, and the demon 
asked him to give him a place to go to; 
whereupon the Brother jokingly said: 
“Go to my privy.” The demon went 
out; and in the night, when the 
Brother wished to purge his belly, the 
demon attacked him so fiercely in the 
privy that he escaped with difficulty 
with his life. 

Therefore the casting out of demons 
is a sacred matter, and should be 
undertaken most reverently. 

7. Of Prayer. 

In the year 1549 a man confessed to 
a Jesuit Father that while he was per¬ 


forming in the middle of tl ie night the 
penance set him by his confessor, he 



suddenly saw squadrons of cats, mice, 
and other beasts, black in colour and 
of a terrible appearance, sd numerous 
that they seemed to fill the whole 
bedroom. Terrified by this sight he 
began to tremble for fear lest he should 
be seized alive by those beasts; and in 
his fear he ran to an image of Our 
Lord crying aloud for His Help. 
Thereupon all the animals suddenly 
vanished, with such a commotion and 
shrieking and outcry that t seemed as 
if the house would fall down. 

At Bungo in Japan thero was in the 
year 1555 a family which had been 
tormented by demons for a hundred 
years, so that the evil became as it 
were hereditary in thal family of 
shepherds. The father had spent all 
his wealth in placating idols, but the 
evil rather grew than abated. His son, 
now thirty years old, was possessed by 
a demon so that he did not know his 
father and mother, and took no food 
for fifteen days. At the md of that 
time one of the Jesuit Fathers came to 
him and bade him ca.l upon S. 
Michael; but when he named the Saint 
he was struck with a violent trembling 
and threw his limbs about in such a 
way as to frighten those who were by. 
But when the priest invoked God the 
Father, and the Son, and the Holy 
Ghost, he was incontinently delivered 
from the demon. A few days later his 








BK. III. CH. IV. 


MALEFICARUM 


sister was beset by the demon’s moles¬ 
tations ; and in the midst of her agony 
she cried out in the hearing of the 
Jesuits that she wished to become a 
Christian. When she was brought to 
the sacred font and tried to protect 
herself with the holy sign of the Cross, 
she began to shake and tremble vio¬ 
lently. The priest poured forth fervid 
prayers; and she herself strove to 
utter the Sacred Name of Jesus and 
that of S. Michael, but the demon only 
plagued her the more, forcibly sealing 
her mouth fast. At last, however, she 
burst out into a kind of refrain and 
cried: “If we reject the Idols Xacca 
(Shaka) and Amida, the founders of 
the Japanese religion, there is no one 
left who should be worshipped.” And 
much more she said of this sort, which 
no one could understand. One day, 
when many Christians were present, 
the priest celebrated Mass, and the 
possessed woman also was there. When 
he had finished he asked her how she 
was, and she answered: “Very well.” 
But when she was told to pronounce 
the name of S. Michael, she began to 
shake and gnash her teeth, and the 
demon said that he would come out 
but, because he had for so many years 
used that family as his lodging, it was 
against his will to depart. The priest 
again bade her utter the name of S. 
Michael, and she answered that it was 
very troublesome to her, and shed tears 
and complainingly said: “Whither 
shall I go?” Then all the Christians 
joined in prayer; and when they had 
prayed enough the demon departed 
from her whom he had till then pos¬ 
sessed. The woman at once asked for a 
drink to be given her; and when she 
was bidden to invoke the Names of 
Jesus and Mary, she pronounced them 
with such sweetness that it seemed like 
the voice of an Angel. 

In the year 1588 there was in a 
hospital at Briinn in Moravia a 
woman who was so bitterly plagued 
by the devil that sometimes she tried 
to drown herself, and sometimes tried 
to do away with herself with a knife 
o 


193 

which she deliberately seized in order 
to injure herself; but she was pre¬ 
vented by all the others in the 
hospital. After she had been thus 
afflicted for three years, she was 
stricken with apoplexy; and her 
tongue was tied up so that she could 
not speak. A request was sent to the 
priests to ask for the prayers of the 
people: and God heard their prayers, 
for first the knot of her tongue was 
unloosed and then that of her soul, 
as was proved after she had made a 
good Confession, and received Sacra¬ 
mental absolution. 

In the Letters of Luis Froes (anno 
1596) there is the following history: 

A certain Nobleman formerly of 
great honour and authority who lived 
near Funai had a daughter who was 
married to a heathen, her mother 
and all her family being heathens also, 
and none being a Christian except 
the said Nobleman, who was a good 
and religious man. It happened that 
his daughter fell suddenly ill and in 
six days was near to death; and it was 
said that she was possessed by a 
demon, because her gestures were so 
frantic and strange that she could 
hardly be held by two or three men. 
Her husband and father-in-law im¬ 
plored the Bonzes for help; but they 
could help her no whit with their vain 
rites and superstitious trifling. When 
the woman seemed to be at death’s 
door they told her father, who dwelt 
eighteen miles away. He hurried to 
her as quickly as he could and found 
his daughter alive indeed, but so 
delirious that she did not recognise 
her father. He then ordered the 
Bonzes and the other heathens about 
the bed to be removed; and taking 
his Rosary recited the Lord’s Prayer 
three times and was commencing the 
Angelic Salutation. Meanwhile the 
woman became no better, but rather 
was convulsed with more terrible 
spasms than before, so that now many 
men could hardly hold her down. Her 
father again had recourse to the 
Rosary, and beat her back with it 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. III. CH. IV. 


194 

saying: “You seem to me to be some 
demon. Depart from this body. 55 And 
the demon answered: “I shall not 
depart.” The father, being a man of 
eminent virtue, threw the Rosary 
about her neck, saying: “Whether you 
will or no, you shall depart.” Then 
the demon said: “Take away the 
Rosary, for it tears my neck; and then 
I will depart.” The father answered: 
“I shall not take it away.” Then he 
took some ropes and threatened that 
he would whip him; and so the demon 
departed and left the woman free. 

8 . Of the Guardian Angel. 



Ferdinand of Castile,* the Historian 
of the Order of S. Dominic, relates 
the following: At Vouzella, a town 
in the district of Coimbra, was born 
one Egidius (or Giles) of noble parents. 
Whilst he was still but a youth, owing 
to his own natural talents and family 
influence he obtained no less than 
three rich benefices and also a Priory. 
But now he abandoned himself to 


* “Ferdinand of Castile” “Historia gener- 
alis Ordinis Praedicatorum,” Pars primal- 
liber secundus; cap. Ixxii. The history of 
Blessed Gil of Santarem , O.P., who was born 
c. 1185 and died at Santarem , 14 May , 1265, 
is related by all Dominican hagiographers and 
chroniclers. The cult of Blessed Gil was ratified 
by Benedict XIV on 9 March , 1748. Hisfeast 
is kept throughout the Order on 14 May as a 
semi-duplex. 


every vice. He was well versed in the 
humane sciences, and determined to 
acquire a complete k lowledge of 
Philosophy and Medicine, thinking 
that this would provice him with 
greater opportunity to practise his 
iniquities. Accordingly he set out for 
Pans with that object in view. On 
his way he fell in with a demon in 
human shape; and his evil travelling 
companion (who knew him well, 
though Egidius did not know what he 
was) by degrees began to ask ques¬ 
tions ; and when he hear i the purpose 
of his journey, he said: c Why do you 
not rather listen to me? I will give 
you knowledge which is both easy to 
acquire and is chief!) of use for 
obtaining those honours and pleasures 
which you have in mind, being the 
very perfection of all medicine. It 
is Necromancy I mean ” With these 
words he persuaded Eg dius, and led 
him away to a vast cavern near the 
City of Toledo, where be was joyfully 
met and received by men and demons 
in human form; and they entered the 
cavern. Not only was an oath of 
secrecy exacted from hi tl, but he was 
made to swear perpetual allegiance 
and homage; yet he did this full 
willingly, confirming hi; promise with 
a paper signed with his own blood. 
For seven years after i his he deeply 
studied the Black Arts and Magic, 
and then proceeded to Paris where in 
a short time he made marvellous pro¬ 
gress among the followers of Hippo¬ 
crates and obtained :he degree of 
Doctor. He began to give way to 
viler and viler enorm.ties and sins, 
and rushed headlong from crime to 
crime, so that it was c oubtful which 
waxed the greater, the fame of his 
learning or the infamy of his wicked¬ 
ness. But oh! the goodness of God! 
For since He could net lead him by 
gentleness He would have him by 
force. Behold there came a horseman 
brandishing a spear, and, looking at 
the miserable man with an angry 
countenance, cried to him threaten¬ 
ingly: “Leave this life and these evil 
























BK. III. CH. IV. 


MALEFICARUM 


ways, and turn again to the practice 
of good.” Egidius was seized with a 
sudden panic, but as soon as it had 
passed he was unwilling to change his 
manner of life and returned to wallow 
in his filth. Three days later the same 
horseman appeared looking even more 
terrible and not only used the same 
threatening words, telling him to 
change his manner of life, but pierced 
his breast with his spear, wounding it 
slightly. This broke his spirit, and he 
said: “I yield myself: I shall do what 
you command, Lord.” You would 
have said that he was Saul fallen 
prostrate upon the ground. He fully 
determined to give himself entirely to 
God and, obeying some inner impulse 
(which, as I think, was inspired by his 
Guardian Angel who had appeared to 
him), resolved to join some Religious 
Order. In this mind he started back 
for Paris, and while he was passing 
through Palencia, where the Domini¬ 
can Brothers were then building a 
monastery, he felt a sudden wish to 
observe the work. He saw men of 
evident sanctity and learning, some 
of them aged and enfeebled, who had 
formerly been delicately nurtured, 
mixing mortar, cutting wood, shaping 
stone, and bearing loads upon their 
shoulders with the greatest cheerful¬ 
ness and alacrity. He wished to join 
them, and at once asked to be 
admitted and was granted his request. 
He fulfilled his novitiate under the 
spur of a great hope of future sanctity, 
and after some years was sent to 
Santarem in Portugal where he 
increased in prayer and in his victory 
over himself. The one regret which 
tortured him was that that obscene 
and execrable paper was still in the 
possession of the demon. Therefore 
he commended himself the more fer¬ 
vently to the Queen of Heaven, pray¬ 
ing not without tears and frequent 
sighing for some remedy for this evil. 
What can the Mother of Mercy deny 
to one who prays in such a manner? 
One day as he was praying with great 
fervour in a chapel of the church, 


195 

there appeared to him a demon of 
terrifying aspect howling dismally, 
who made an outcry against him, 
petulantly reminding him of the 
allegiance he had vowed and the 
benefits he had received. At last, 
after many idle and impudent threats, 
he said: “I shall pay you for your 
monasticism and the violence which 
compels me to restore to you this 
paper; for you will never cease to 
regret it.” He then threw the paper 
down at the feet of Egidius and 
vanished. Egidius took up the paper 
and tore it to bits. But the demon’s 
threat was not vain: for he tormented 
him for more than seven years after in 
a marvellous manner. Withoutreckon- 
ing his other vexations, he assumed 
the likeness of a certain friar who 
dwelt in the same monastery, and so 
plagued Egidius with every domestic 
discomfort that can possibly be 
imagined. After suffering this, Egidius 
at last, in grief that the evil should 
lurk hidden and that the Brother (as 
he thought him) should so continually 
offend against God, took the matter to 
the Prior and asked to be sent else¬ 
where, telling him the reason. Upon 
this the matter was brought to light; 
and the calumniator, being exposed 
and nowfor the first time overcome not, 
as before, by Egidius but by them all, 
ceased to torment his victor. Egidius 
lived on, and was famous not only for 
his many virtues, but for various 
miracles. 

In the year 1265 he left this world 
to be born again in Heaven, and was 
buried at Santarem where he is 
worshipped as a Saint. See what a 
mighty protection against demons 
there is in the Virgin Mother of God, 
and what inducement to a good life 
in a man’s Guardian Angel. 

John of Salisbury ( Polycraticus , II, 
28) writes as follows: In my boyhood 
I was sent to learn the Psalms from a 
priest who unfortunately was given 
to crystal gazing. One day he made 
me sit at his feet with one of my com¬ 
panions who was rather older than 


COMPENDIUM 


BP. III. CH. IV. 


I96 

I, after having uttered certain spells, 
in order to use us in those profane 
mysteries so that we might be able to 
tell him what he asked. He rubbed our 
finger nails with some oil or holy 
ointment, and we gazed at them 
as also into a highly polished and 
shining bowl. After the priest had 
pronounced some strange names 
which seemed to me merely by reason 
of the horror I felt at them to be the 
names of demons, and had muttered 
some adjurations, which cannot have 
been in the name of God, my com¬ 
panion told him that he had seen 
certain ghostly and cloudlike figures; 
whereas I was so blind to them that I 
saw nothing but my finger-nails and 
the bowl and such things as had before 
been visible to me. From that time I 
was considered to be of no use for 
these divinations; and I was forbidden 
to come near them, as being a 
hindrance to their sacrilege: and 
every time they determined to prac¬ 
tise these mysteries, I was kept away 
from them as an impediment. Thus 
did God (as I think, through my 
Guardian Angel) show favour to me 
in my childhood; and from that day 
the horror which I conceived for this 
crime increased as I grew older, and 
was but the more deeply printed 
upon my soul by the miserable end to 
which I saw many such Diviners come. 
For I have never known one who did 
not die before his time, or through 
some extraordinary mischance, or 
by the hands of his enemies; not to 
speak of others whom I have seen 
with my own eyes stricken to the 
ground by the vengeance of Heaven, 
and destroyed. Yet I must mention 
two, of whom one was this priest I 
speak of, and the other a certain 
deacon, who fled in terror from the 
horrors of the magic crystal, one to a 
Chapter of Canons and the other to a 
cell at Cluny, where they assumed the 
religious habit. And from that time I 
have felt great compassion for those 
two poor men, who have suffered even 
more than the rest of their companions. 


9. The Singular Help of the Blessed 
Virgin Mary. 



Besides other example; which I have 
already quoted, I will add another 
most certain story to shew the present 
help of the Virgin Mother of God. 
Orazio Torsellino,* the writer of the 
History of Our Blessed Lady of Loreto , 
relates a happening which was as 
beautiful as it was true: 

“Moreover the patronage of the 
B. Virgin of Loreto saved another 
young man, whom raring lust drew 
headlong to utter perdition. For being 
of desperate affectior, desire and 
audacity, he gave hirrself wholly to 
forbidden pleasures; and overcoming 
many motions with his dishonesty, he 
burned with the excessive love of a 
certain woman, whom: eeing he could 


* “Orazio Torsellino.” The historical 
works. of Orazio Torsellino , S.J., are still 
held in high estimation. So? nmervogeVs “ Bib - 
liotheque des ecrivains de la Compagnie de 
Jesus 55 (10 vols., Brussels , i8go-igio) may be 
consulted. For this passage the translation of 
Thomas Price ( 1608 ) has been used. The refer¬ 
ence is III , 33. 





























BK. III. GH. IV. 


MALEFICARUM 


gain neither by entreaty nor money, 
nor force, nor deceit, he determined 
to experience the most desperate 
course of all. Making means therefore 
to the devil by Art magic, he 
requested to be made partaker of his 
desire, shewing himself ready to con¬ 
descend to all, to enjoy that which he 
so earnestly sought. Whereupon by 
commandment of the devil, he for¬ 
sook Christ, and gave and delivered 
himself wholly to him, and what is 
more, did also swear unto him by 
proscript words, and bound himself 
unto it by hand-writing: so far doth 
the love of pleasure bind impure 
minds. But when he had obtained his 
desire, satiety (as it happeneth) bred 
loathsomeness, and by the goodness 
and grace of God he weighed the 
greatness of his offence with mature 
consideration. And being truly peni¬ 
tent for his wicked sin, and conceiving 
some hope of pardon, he began to 
seek for heavenly help, and to call on 
Almighty God and His B. Mother, 
Meantime the B. Virgin of Loreto, 
and the priests of the sacred House 
(endowed with most ample faculty to 
release sins) coming to his mind, with¬ 
out delay made him go to Loreto, 
Almighty God being the author and 
guide of his journey; not doubting 
but there to find remedy against so 
many evils. His hope deceived him 
not. For as soon as he came thither, 
making means to confer with a dis¬ 
creet priest, he declared unto him his 
mournful state, and asked him, 
whether he might have any hope to 
be saved. At first the priest remained 
somewhat amazed at the grievousness 
of the offence, but then declaring 
unto him the greatness thereof; he 
put him in hope of salvation, if by 
prayer, fasting, and voluntary punish¬ 
ment of his body, he would wholly 
give himself to pacify Almighty God. 
When he refused no punishment at 
all, the priest promised him, if he did 
what was commanded, he would 
willingly hear him, and by the grace 
of God would also take away so great 


197 

an offence. At parting he exhorted 
him to punish his body, with fasting, 
with hair-cloth and stripes, for the 
space of three days, to implore the 
help of the B. Virgin, and by her to 
ask humble pardon of Almighty God 
for his grievous sin; and he also 
promised to say Mass for his salvation 
all that time, whereby there was good 
confidence on either side. The three 
days being so spent, before he gave 
him absolution the priest thought 
good to wrest his hand-writing from 
the devil, that he might have no right 
nor interest at all in him. Therefore 
he exhorted the Penitent to retire 
himself into the most Majestical 
Chapel, and earnestly to importune 
the Mother of God with prayer and 
tears, until he got his hand-writing 
out of the devil’s hands. He obeyed, 
very desirous of salvation and security, 
with undoubted hope to obtain it by 
the intercession of the B. Virgin 
Mother of God. Whereupon prostrat¬ 
ing his body before the B. Virgin, with 
flowing tears he earnestly besought 
her, that she would vouchsafe to get 
him his wicked hand-writing, and to 
work his salvation and health. By a 
great miracle he had his desire. For 
as he repeated these verses with all 
devotion: 

A Mother show thyself, 

He take our plaints by thee, 

That being for us born, 

Vouchsafed thy Son to be. 

he saw the hand-writing fall suddenly 
into his hands, and scarce crediting 
himself for the unexpected joy thereof, 
with new tears he gave manifold 
thanks to the B. Virgin. Whereupon 
departing presently out of the sacred 
Chapel, he went joyfully unto the 
priest, and showed him his hand¬ 
writing gotten again by the benefit of 
the Mother of God, which was stuffed 
with so many horrible execrations and 
curses against Christ, and himself that 
wrote it, that it may easily appear to 
be dictated by the everlasting Enemy 
of mankind. Notwithstanding the 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. HI. CH. IV. 


198 

power of God, more potent than all 
diabolical deceit, loosed so great a 
band, whereby that sinful soul given 
by vow to hell itself, by favour of the 
Mother of God was set in the liberty 
of the children of God, that no wicked 
nor desperate man should despair of 
salvation (if he himself will not peri sh) 
nor doubt of the clemency of God 
who hath freely given his B. Mother 
a Patroness to offenders for their 
salvation.” 


10. Of the Sign of the Holy Cross. 



Of the many further examples 
which I could adduce, be content with 
this one which is both rare and 
marvellous. A certain priest dwelling 
at Arona in the year 1591 had made a 
vow to God that he would enter the 
Society of Jesus, and made his inten¬ 
tion known to one of the Fathers. But 
the devil took this ill and turned to his 
wonted weapons; for he so plagued 
the man with impure thoughts that he 
prevented him from sleeping. The 
soldier of Christ arose from his bed 
and passed sleepless nights reading the 
lives of the Saints; but the Adversary 
would not endure even this, for he 
threw down the lamp which was 
hanging upon the wall so that the oil 


was spilled and dirtied the whole 
book. Not satisfied with 1 his, he burst 
into the midst of suppe.” like a foul 
wind, so that the priest at once went 
from the table to his cubicle and fell 
prostrate upon the grou:id in prayer 
to God, giving his body s ripes instead 
of food. And when even so he yet felt 
the fire of blind desire plucking at 
him, he stood barefoct upon the 
ground for two or three hours while 
that importunate heat should be 
cooled, and then threw himself wearily 
upon his bed. Lying in he same bed 
he seemed to see a woman, and to put 
out his hand and touch her hair; 
therefore he quickly leaped out in 
amazement and, turning his eyes to 
the bed, saw nothing : and this hap¬ 
pened two or three times. He feared 
that he was suffering a delusion of the 
eyes, and affirmed that tie same thing 
happened on many nights; until at 
last it reached such a pass that, when 
the unhappy man went t d bed, he used 
to tie down his arms ard hands with 
bands for fear lest his hands should 
wander for some vain purpose in his 
dreams: but it was unavailing, for no 
sooner had sleep bound up his senses 
than, in a short time, r unbound his 
arms. But how wonderf ll is the mercy 
of God, who does not allow the devil 
to tempt us beyond our strength! The 
priest, obstinately fighting for his 
chastity, put the devil to flight; but 
though beaten he returned to the 
combat with marvellous cunning. 
One day the priest wen: out to escape 
from the heat of the iown and was 
walking by a lake saying the Hours of 
Our Lady. He had hardly gone two 
hundred paces when he was over¬ 
taken by a man with a long reddish 
beard, in very costly raiment, and 
sitting upon a very beautiful black 
horse like no other in those parts, and 
accompanied by two foot-servants. 
Approaching the priest he greeted 
him with great politeness and asked: 
“Have you come to the Jubilate yet?” 
Now it happened that the priest was 
just then reciting that Psalm; but 











BK. III. CH. IV. 


MALEFIC ARUM 


the wonder was that he was doing it 
so quietly that he could hardly hear 
himself. Then the horseman and the 
priest began to converse as follows. 
First the horseman asked enquiringly: 
“What is it that is worrying you so 
deeply? 55 But the priest tried to put 
him off, and said: “I am quite well 
and happy. Your question is wide of 
the mark. 55 But the other answered: 
“My friend, it is hard to bandy words 
with me; for I have long had from 
God the gift of reading the inmost 
thoughts of men. 55 The priest stood 
rooted to the spot with wonder and 
amazement, staring at the speaker’s 
clothing and his whole person; but at 
last he took heart and said: “If you 
have that power, tell me what it is 
that is troubling me, if you know more 
about my affairs than I do myself. 55 
The other answered him: “It is your 
vow to the Society of Jesus which is 
pricking you and will not leave you 
in peace. But you must order your 
life in a different manner, for there is 
no door open to you in that direction. 55 
The priest, suspecting that the other 
had somehow heard that the Jesuits 
were undecided whether or not to 
accept his vow, replied: “If the 
Fathers will not have me, I shall not 
be disheartened nor torture myself; 
for there is not only one way of serving 
God piously and devoutly. 55 “That is 
right, 55 said the horseman; “put that 
trouble from your heart. Your mind 
and body are of such a nature that, 
even in your present manner of life, 
you are able to preserve your inno¬ 
cence. But if you will listen to me, you 
shall see another country where you 
shall live for God and yourself. 
Leave Arona and follow me. You 
shall not have cause to regret it, for 
you will be excellently placed with me. 
And here is proof that my promises 
are not idle. 55 Saying this, he shook a 
purse full of money in his hand. The 
priest thanked him, saying: “I do not 
at present need your generosity, for I 
must keep faith with the Church at 
Arona. 55 The horseman at once inter¬ 


199 

rupted him, saying: “What obligation 
have you? It has not been publicly 
witnessed, or put in writing. Can they 
claim you in return for fifty-three 
pounds of bronze? For that is all you 
receive, and you will never get more. 55 
The priest, not without wonder, 
admitted the truth of this; but was 
led to suspect that his companion had 
been told everything by someone 
in Arona. Then, gaining a little con¬ 
fidence, he asked: “But where are you 
going? Where do you live? 55 “In 
Pallanza, 55 he answered; “and the 
boat which is approaching us is mine 
and at the service of my friends. 55 
This boat was propelled by an oars¬ 
man on each side, and the priest 
wondered that he had not seen it 
before. “Now if you accept my con¬ 
dition, you shall have all you desire 
in Pallanza with me. If you are 
determined to embrace the religious 
life, I shall see to it that you are 
admitted into a famous and most holy 
House. 55 “I thank your exceeding 
civility towards a stranger, but I have 
my reasons for declining. 55 When, 
after this exchange of conversation, 
the priest was constrained to wait a 
little, he said: “Go forward, Master: 
I shall follow a little behind 55 ; and.he 
did as he said. Then he made the sign 
of the Cross upon his brow and over 
his heart, and taking in his hands the 
rosary with which he had been count¬ 
ing his prayers, followed the other. 
But at the sign of the Cross, the horse¬ 
man, the servants, the boat and the 
rowers all vanished. See how the 
tortuous wiles of the Serpent were all 
dissipated like a cloud by one sign of 
the Cross. 

11. Of Holy, or Lustral Water. 

At Wurzburg in the year 1583 a 
priest’s house not far from the city 
was haunted either by an evil spirit or 
by some illusion. The priest himself 
and his confidential servants used to 
say that everything in the house was 
hurled violently to the floor; moreover 


200 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. III. CH. IV. 


lighted torches, even when placed in 
great numbers in a room free from 



all draughts, were blown out at one 

f rnff; beds were forcibly dragged away 
rom them when they went to lie on 
them; and many of the servants had 
such an obstruction in the throat that 
they were nearly suffocated. Finally 
many horrible things were seen and 
heard in the house. The wretched 
priest, at his wits 5 end, went to other 
riests and told them how he was 
eing plagued, and asked the rector 
to depute some priest to be his pro¬ 
tection. One was entrusted with this 
duty, and towards evening went fast¬ 
ing to the place; but hardly had he 
crossed the threshold before he him¬ 
self saw what he had been told of. For 
in the actual sight both of him and his 
companion a salver was hurled against 
the wall with such force and violence 
that it frightened those present nearly 
to death. This priest bade them all be 
of good heart and urged the parish 
priest to prepare to approach the 
tribunal of Penance; and then putting 
on a surplice and stole he went up to 
the upper part of the house where the 
demon was chiefly wont to rage. He 
employed the usual rites of the Church 
for putting demons to flight; and when 
there was no answer and no presence 
was evoked by the priest’s voice, he 
turned to exhorting the servants, 
especially to throw aside heresy and 
to expiate their sins by a good con¬ 


fession. Then, having daly purified 
the place, he returned 10 his house 
with a great harvest of souls. For it 
is agreed that many weie reclaimed 
from heresy to the Church; and that 
the house was freed from all its former 
molestation, as the parish priest after¬ 
wards testified. 

We read in Epiphanus (II) of a 
certain Josephus who, while he was 
yet a Jew, restored a sick man to 
health by making the sign of the Cross 
upon him in water. Paliadius* testi¬ 
fies the same of a woman whom 
through magic glamour seemed to 
be changed into a maie: for when 
S. Macarius blessed wat(r and having 
prayed sprinkled it upoi. her head, it 
became clear to all that the woman 
stood there in her own proper shape. 

Theodoret (lib. 5, hist., cap. 21) 
records that, when Bishop Marcellus 
was destroying the Temple of Jupiter 
at Apjamea, he saw a alack demon 
restraining the force of the flames so 
that they should not consume the 
wooden material. He fortified and 
blessed water with the sign of the 
Cross and ordered it 10 be thrown 
upon the flames; and :he evil spirit 
could not endure this conduct and 
fled. But the flames were aroused by 
the water as if it had been oil, and 
consumed the Temple in a moment. 

S. Theodore the Archimandrite 
used to drive away all harms with 
Holy Water, even sickr ess caused by 
demons, as he did from hat Phentinus 
near Tantendia who m*t a demon in 
the form of a dog whi:h, by merely 
gaping at him, struck him with a most 
grievous malady; and as he did from 
the house of one Theodore, a Tribune, 
where both men and all the animals 
were tormented by demons; so that 
when they would dine, stones were 
hurled upon the table to the great 


* “ Palladius .” Born in Galatia, 368; died 
probably before 431. Authoi of the “Historia 
Lausiacaf an account of the monks of Egypt 
and Palestine. The first edition was a Latin 
version by Gentianus Hervet is, Paris , 1355. 



















BK. III. CH. IV. 


MALEFICARUM 


201 


terror of all, and the women’s beds 
were broken, and the house was 
infested by so many snakes and mice 
that everybody was afraid to enter it. 
So the servant of God went in and 
spent the whole night worshipping 
and praying to God; and by sprink¬ 
ling the whole house with Holy Water, 
delivered it from the unclean spirits. 
This we learn from Gregory the 
Priest, whom we have often quoted. 

He recalls also the following illus¬ 
trious miracle: The inhabitants of a 
village in the district of Como had 
killed an ox in order to feed upon 
the roasted flesh, but it so happened that 
all who ate of it became ill and lay as 
if they were dead, and whatever meat 
they had left went black and stinking. 
Those, therefore, who had not tasted 
of the meat told what had happened 
to a holy man; who answered that the 
misfortune must have come from a 
company of demons in the cooking 
pots, and since he could not at that 
time go with them he blessed water 
and sent it by one of the Brethren to 
sprinkle it over those who were in 
danger and to offer it to them to 
drink. When this was done they all 
arose as if from sleep, except one who 
was dead. For this man’s brother, 
John the Bailiff, would not wait for 
the blessing of the servant of God but 
ran for help to a witch; and while he 
was applying her charm to his brother, 
he lost his life. 

Great armies of devils invaded the 
dwelling of S. Hubert the Bishop of 
Liege, a veritable scourge of demons. 
Seeing this, the man of God said to his 
page: “Go, and let there be brought 
here water which a priest has con¬ 
secrated by mingling salt therewith, 
and which has been impregnated by 
the power of prayer for putting to 
flight the Enemy’s malice; and oil 
(that is, the Chrism) blessed by 
apostolic authority; for by the asper¬ 
sion and unction of these the pestilent 
phantasms of the Enemy will soon be 
so routed, that he will not dare to 
renew his machinations.” So says 


the anonymous author, that disciple 
of S. Hubert who wrote a life of the 
Saint. 

In the year 1583 at Riga one 
Ruthenus was often admonished to 
return to the bosom of the Roman 
Church, but he always refused to 
listen and went away impenitent. 
But from that time various spectres 
were seen by his servants in his house: 
the tables were removed from them 
when they sat down, yet there was no 
one to be seen; the bedroom doors, 
although secured not only with bolts 
but with bars across them, were torn 
right off their hinges; from the top 
of the house were hurled huge stones 
covered with pitch, which a Jesuit 
Father writes that he himself has 
handled. And a certain Pole, whom 
that priest asserts that he saw, was so 
grievously wounded upon the head 
that he lay half dead for some days. 
There was also much straw in that 
house, and this was all cut up into the 
most minute pieces. In short these 
and other such terrible manifestations 
led the man to have no doubt that 
Satan had taken possession of that 
house as his by right. The priest whom 
I have mentioned went into the house 
with one companion and purified it 
with Holy Water and incense, and by 
this exorcism all the disturbance of 
the demons was allayed, wherefore 
they returned great thanks in the 
House of God. 

About 1587 the Jesuits established 
a colony at Patzcuaro in Mexico. 
Here there was an Indian woman with 
a child, and every night when she 
slept it seemed as if the child were 
snatched from her side and then 
replaced, but she did not know where 
he was taken to. Meanwhile the boy 
himself lost strength every day and 
was slowly wasting to his death. He 
was brought into the church and was 
saved by the application of Holy 
Water, with prayer. 

In 1588, the following year, a 
peasant woman of Treves offered a 
man some eggs. The man’s lackey 


r 


202 


COMPENDIUM 


BK. III. CH. IV. 


took the eggs in his hat and, after 
removing them, replaced his hat upon 
his head; and was at once stricken 
with such pain that he nearly went 
mad. Not knowing what he was 
doing, he rushed into a church and 
plunged his burning head into the 
Holy Water stoup which stood there, 
and was cured. The witch, on being 
seized and examined, said that the 
eggs had been so poisoned that they 
would kill whoever ate them, and 
would cause those who touched them 
to swell. 

At Pont-a-Mousson in Lorraine in 
the year 1593 a virgin of advanced 
age was subject to such fits that she 
was held to be possessed: another 
woman was bewitched, and another 
tormented by an evil spirit. After a 
priest had recited Litanies, and they 
had drunk Holy Water, and had hung 
blessed Agnus Deis about their necks, 
they came to their senses and, after 
confessing their sins, soon departed 
this life while they were intent upon 
their prayers. 

Francisco Lopez Gomara, in his 
Historia Mexicana, testifies that among 
the Indians there are three chief 
remedies against the illusions and 
apparitions of demons. The worship¬ 
ful Presence of the most potent Sacra¬ 
ment of the Eucharist; the Crucifix, 
and Holy Water. And he says that 
the cacodemons themselves have con¬ 
fessed as much to the Indians more 
than once. 


12. Of the Virtue of Salt, Bread, Wax, 
and the Blessed Agnus Dei 

At Trapani in the year 1585 there 
was a householder in whose house it 
was reported that certain voices had 
been heard for some months; and this 
was a familiar demon who in various 
ways tried to delude men. He would 
hurl great stones, but without wound¬ 
ing anyone’s head, and would cast 
down the household vessels from on 
high without breaking them. And 
when a boy of the house was wont to 


sing hymns, the demon 1 rolled out 
lascivious songs in the hearing of all 



to the accompaniment of a harp, and 
openly boasted that he was a demon. 
When the master of the house and his 
wife were starting on the: r business to 
a certain town, the den .on attached 
himself to their company; and when 
the man was drenched v'ith rain and 
was coming back, the evil spirit went 
before shouting on his way, and began 
to warn the servants to build a fire, 
for the master was at the door soaked 
through with rain. But so soon as the 
master of the house understood how 
he was being deluded, he threatened 
the demon that he woulc fetch a priest 
to drive him from his house: and the 
demon began to exclaiir that he must 
not do this, and threatened him with 
his enmity and hatred, l aying that he 
would keep himself hide en for as long 
as the priest should be in the house. 
Nevertheless the master went to a 
priest and told him all that had hap¬ 
pened, and even changed his house in 
order to free himself frem that haunt¬ 
ing. But the priest, fearing to arouse 
the curiosity of the ig norant multi¬ 
tude who would flock thither to see 
what would happen, decided not to 
go with him; only he at [vised him and 
all his household to cle mse their souls 
by a general confession and strengthen 
themselves with the Heavenly Bread, 
and to take care that none of the 
servants or anyone else should fall 









BK. III. CH. IV. 


MALEFICARUM 


into conversation with the Enemy, nor 
seek to know from him what was 
hidden, as they had done; but rather 
they were to laugh at anything he 
said, and despise it as coming from 
the Father of Lies. They all promised 
to do so, and the priest gave them an 
image of the Celestial Lamb in blessed 
wax to hang by a thread round the 
necks of those who were chiefly 
troubled by the demon. The demon 
was in terror of that wax and threat¬ 
ened that, if they did not throw it 
away, he would twist their necks and 
kill them. But they followed the sage 
counsel and advice of the priest and 
gave him no answer, but fortified 
themselves against the Enemy with 
the weapons of the Sacraments and 
were easily saved from his guile and 
molestation. 

The country of Treves is even now 
infested with witches, one of whom 
with her spells and charms enticed a 
boy, about eight years of age, to that 
place where, under the cover of dark¬ 
ness and night, they perform their 
execrable games. The boy was given 
his part to play; for while the rest 
joined hands and danced, he beat the 
measure upon a tabor. Neither was he 
a looker-on at their dances and games 
only, but often witnessed the magic 
with which they do hurt to human 
bodies and the fruits of the earth. 
The Archbishop ordered the boy to 
be kept in custody in his Palace and 
to be taught the catechism, of which 
he was quite ignorant. He had an 
Agnus Dei hung round his neck, and 
a demon came to him at night and 
scolded him bitterly for having let 
himself be deceived so easily, and 
ordered him to throw away that 
waxen image if he did not wish to be 
beaten. The boy, in terror, obeyed; 
and at once the demon, since the 
object of his fear had been removed, 
carried him to the town walls and 
placed him upon a black goat and 
took him in a moment to the most 
obscene spots haunted and infested 
by witches. After he had remained 


203 

some time with the witches he was 
again restored to the Palace, with the 
cord broken from which the waxen 
image had hung. At the request of 
the Archbishop and the whole city, 
the boy was sent to a house of the 
Jesuits, and kept till he should learn 
what was necessary to the Christian 
discipline, so that he might after¬ 
wards return to the Palace piously 
fortified by the Sacraments and free 
from the snares of demons. And so, 
finally, this came to pass; although it 
is said that after some years he re¬ 
lapsed and paid the penalty of his 
crime. 

In 1586 in the same district there 
was a young peasant, less than fifteen 
years old, of very keen intelligence. 
He had been more than once to the 
hellish place where men mingled with 
women, and young with old, with the 
demon presiding, in feasting at night 
with all sense of shame forgotten. But 
he had not yet renounced God and 
the Mother of God, nor had pro¬ 
nounced after the demon the exe¬ 
crable prayers: only he had eaten the 
brain of a cat in his food when the 
moon was waning, and felt that his 
own brain had become smaller. He 
entered the city of Treves which he 
had never seen before, doubtless being 
lured to his punishment by the same 
hand that had led him to the sin of 
witchcraft; and was taken as posses¬ 
sed into the Prince’s Palace to be 
guarded apart, that the demon might 
be driven from him. But the demon 
gave him no rest at night, beating 
him and tearing the Agnus Dei from 
his neck. The Archbishop then deter¬ 
mined to send him to the College of 
the Jesuits; but even there the poor 
boy had no peace until his cubicle 
was solemnly exorcised. It will be 
worth while to record some of his 
statements; for he told the Bishop as 
follows: “While we were holding our 
Sabbat there was one of your retainers 
who boasted that on such and such a 
night he had poured a poisoned drink 
into you as you slept, having found 


COMPENDIUM 


BEC. III. CH. IV. 


204 

the way open to you because you had 
imprudently left your Agnus Dei on 
the table when you went to bed; and 
if the cup had been a little larger, you 
would not have escaped death. 55 And 
indeed the Bishop said that he had 
been so ill after that particular night 
that he had been forced to keep his 
bed for some days. When this state¬ 
ment did not convince the great com¬ 
pany of nobles who were present, the 
boy said to the Burgomaster of the 
city: “And our witches have attacked 
you twice; but they were repulsed by 
that little locket which you always 
wear, containing two images and 
some consecrated object. 55 (He meant 
the Agnus Dei.) The Burgomaster 
admitted that he always wore these 
holy things. 

Another man possessed by a demon 
appeared more like a snarling, bark¬ 
ing dog than a reasoning and speaking 
man. He was brought from Burgundy 
to us and with great difficulty forced 
into the church; and he did not cease 
to act like a dog until an Agnus Dei 
was put about his neck. Then at last 
he grew quiet and behaved like a man 
again, and purged his soul with the 
healing grace of confession. The same 
amulet similarly benefited another 
who laboured under the same afflic¬ 
tion. 

In the Province of Innspruck an 
apt medicine for the gravest maladies 
is much in use, and the terrors of the 
devil are counteracted in many places 
by the use of sacred amulets. Many 
incidents are told in proof of this. 
One man asserted that he was destined 
to hell because of his crimes, and in 
his convulsions invoked the devil, 
making it clear by his behaviour to 
the panic-stricken bystanders that the 
Fiend had appeared to him. But the 
man was cured: for a priest soothed 
him at first with gentle words, and so 
led him to make his confession, having 
given him an Agnus Dei to place 
devoutly in his bosom. Another man 
had in time past pledged his soul and 
body to the terrible Snatcher of souls; 


and as his time was at hand the un¬ 
happy wretch went to a. priest and 
sought his advice with trembling lips 
and uneasy eyes. In a sudden panic 
he cried out: “Help! Father, make 
haste to help a poor wretch with some 
holy thing. 55 The priest asked what 
was the matter, and he answered 
“The Enemy is standing at the door 
waiting for me to come out, and 
looking threateningly al me because 
of my broken vow. 55 This man also 
was cured by the same remedy. The 
following story also is not unknown. 
A certain peasant heaid that there 
were in Innspruck men who had a 
sure medicine to drive away witch¬ 
craft and delusions: so he came to 
them for the medicine against the 
devil; for so he called it . When asked 
what he meant by a medicine, he 
answered: “I do not mow. I only 
know what I have heaid: but what¬ 
ever it is, it is something that drives 
the devil away. 55 So he was given a 
piece of blessed wax, 2nd soon after 
found great benefit from it: so that 
now, whenever a Jesuit Father goes 
through that town, he needs more 
than seventy pieces of blessed wax to 
satisfy their clamorous 'equirements. 

About the same time at Avignon a 
woman was tormented by an evil 
spirit; and a friend advised her to go 
to a priest, and meanwhile he gave 
her parents an Agnus Dei which they 
sewed in her garment unbeknown to 
her. She either forgot this advice, or 
put off going; and sie was seized 
through the window by four seeming 
cats and carried up on to the roof of 
the house; then she heard a human 
voice threatening to hurl her down 
unless she threw away the waxen 
image which she had in her clothes. 
She understood what that must be, 
and recognised that hey were evil 
counsellors: therefore v/ith great cour¬ 
age she refused to do so, and at once 
turned to her prayers, and was left 
perched upon the roof. For there her 
husband, roused by her cries, found 
her. 


BK. III. GH. IV. 


MALEFICARUM 


At Treves in the year 1590 a young 
man received a great wrong involving 
much loss at the hands of those from 
whom he should least have expected 
it; and he resented this more than 
was becoming to a Christian. Black 
with grief and brooding immoder¬ 
ately, as he was walking alone in the 
twilight he met a demon who, seeing 
his chance, was not slow to take it. 
He was in the form of a noble man, 
very dark, and at first caused the 
young man some terror; but he 
greeted him and so removed his fear, 
and asked him the cause of his sorrow. 
The young man explained what was 
the matter; and the demon told him 
that by himself he had no hope of 
recovering his money, since it had 
fallen into the hands of very powerful 
persons; but if he would follow him, 
he would very easily recover every¬ 
thing. The young man answered him: 
“I have been imposed upon by men 
whom I know, and by my friends: 
shall I, then, put my trust in a 
stranger, whom I now see for the 

first time? Good God- 55 At these 

last words the man-monster vanished 
into the air like lightning. On the 
next day at the same time, as the 
young man was pondering the same 
thoughts, there appeared to him a 
woman of noble mien who begged him 
to retire with her for a short time. 
But the young man refused, and kept 
resisting her importunate persuasions, 
until she advised him to draw his 
sword from the bedside and pierce 
the wall with it. He refused at first; 
but at last, not knowing what he did 
(for he was nearly mad with worry), 
he obeyed; and as he struck the wall 
he cried: “God turn it to good!” 
This again drove off the second 
demon like lightning. But the demon 
came a third time (for his moody 
anxiety was deeply implanted in the 
man’s mind, and the tempter would 
not leave him alone), and took the 
form of a woman in the flower of life 
and of great beauty, who, both by 
word and gesture, lasciviously invited 


205 

him to sin. She did not stop short at 
words, but forcibly tried to drag him 
to her. The young man cried aloud 
for help, and when the servants ran 
quickly to him that wicked apparition 
vanished, and the man was found 
utterly spent and nearly dying. When 
he was asked the reason of his fear and 
his screams, he could not even open 
his mouth, but lay with glazing eyes 
like a dead man, having lost his voice 
through fright. He was therefore 
placed upon a bed and tended, and 
recovered his courage as soon as he 
was sprinkled with Holy Water; and 
the next day he told the whole story, 
and at the advice of a priest fortified 
himself with waxen images conse¬ 
crated by the sacred mysteries, and 
other weapons feared by the devil, 
and in this way so frightened his 
Enemy that he ceased to appear to 
him. But sometimes it happens, with 
God’s permission, that this remedy is 
of no avail, especially when God has 
willed to gain a more glorious victory 
by some other means, as for example 
by the bare name of Jesus or of Mary. 

This was proved by what hap¬ 
pened at Augsburg in the year 1591, 
where the wearing of consecrated wax 
stamped with the image of the Lamb 
was for many a present remedy against 
the horrid monsters of the devil and 
his nightly terrors. But to one man 
the demon appeared openly, as if in 
contempt, and bribed him with much 
money to commit a crime, having 
broken the cord by which the disc 
hung, and thrown away the Agnus Dei. 
Yet the man was saved when he called 
upon the names of Jesus and Mary. 

In the year 1589 there was a woman 
who had written a Deed with her own 
blood and vowed herself to the devil. 
After she had repented of this, the 
demon often showed her the Deed; 
but she trusted in the protection of 
the Divine Lamb with whose image 
she had fortified her breast, and 
ordered him to return to her her 
hand-writing. At last she saw it fall 
at her feet, burned to glowing ashes. 



206 


COMPENDIUM MALEFICARUM 


B £. III. CH. IV. 


13. Of the Sound of Bells 

We have elsewhere given proof of 
the efficacy of the sound of bells 
against demons. And this is main¬ 
tained also by the Council of Cologne, 
cap. 24; and confirmed by an example 
quoted by Peter the Venerable, Abbot 
of Cluny, who writes as follows 
(De miraculis , I, 13): A certain Italian 
Brother named Giovanni became 
weary of the severity of the unvarying 
discipline, and even thought of escap¬ 
ing from the monastery. The devil 
himself appeared to him in the form 
of an abbot accompanied by two 
demons in the guise of monks, while 
this Brother was sitting alone in a 
remote part of the monastery in deep 
thought; and thinking the moment 
ripe for deceiving him, he appeared 
to him and said: “Brother, I have 
lately come here to lodge. But, hap¬ 
pening to see you, I recognised that 
you are in some great trouble and are 
turning over many thoughts in your 
mind. Now I have inquired, and in 
part know the cause of your trouble; 
but if you would tell it to me openly, 
perhaps I shall be able to give you 
some advice. Therefore tell me, as a 
friend, who you are and why you are 
so sad and sorry. 5 ’ And when that 
brother hesitated to open the secrets 
of his heart to one whom he supposed 
a stranger, and only answered that he 
was of Italian nationality; one of the 
demons in the form of a monk added: 
“And I am an abbot in that very 
district, and can be of good help to 
you in all things: for I know, although 
you keep silent, that the abbot of this 
monastery, and the others, treat you 
badly, not respecting you as you de¬ 
serve, and moreover putting you to 
much indignity. Therefore I advise 
you to consult your own interest and 
leave this utterly pernicious place and 
come away with me; for I am ready 
to take you from these evils to my 
abbey, which is called Grotta Ferrata 


where you will receive every honour. 55 
To this the Brother answered: “I can 
by no means leave here; for the gates 
of the monastery are shut, and I am 
surrounded with a crowd of monks. 55 
Then the devil said: “A; long as you 
remain here, I can give you no help. 
But find some way to break out of the 
monastery, and I shall at once be by 
your side and take you to my place as 
I said. 55 But merciful G)d, who does 
not allow us to be temptc d beyond our 
strength, did not permit the Enemy to 
proceed any further. But as it is written 
[Job xx, 24), “He shill flee from 
the iron weapon. 55 For as they were 
thus disputing, the company of monks 
were sitting down to supper in the 
refectory at their accustomed hour, 
and when they had finis led the Prior, 
as was his custom, struck one blow 
upon the bell. Hearing this sound, the 
demon who was preteniing to be an 
abbot, was by the act of God snatched 
away from the Brother, who was 
speaking to him, and driven with 
great speed and violence to the privies 
which were close by, ai.d in the sight 
of the said Brother plunged right into 
them. 

It is commonly confessed by witches 
that if, when they are being carried 
by a demon to the Sabbat, or back 
home from it, the sound of bells is 
heard, the demons carrying them at 
once set down their for 1 burdens and 
escape in terror. This 1 have already 
explained in the propel place. 

Finis. 


☆ 


Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord, 
That Thy people may escape the con¬ 
tamination of the Devil, and may with 
a pure mind follow Thee, the only 
God, Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, 
Our Lord, &c.