[487] Johann. Saresberiens. Polycrat. c. xiv.-xvii.—Th. Aquin. Summ. Sec. Sec. xcv. 6.—Tertull. Apol. 23.

[488] Concil. Toletan. XVII. ann. 694, c. v.—Amador de los Rios (Revista de España, T. XVIII. p. 19).—Wright, Proceedings against Dame Alice Kyteler, pp. xxxii.-xxxiii.—D’Argentré, I. II. 344-5.

[489] MSS. Bib. Nat., fonds latin, No. 14930 fol. 229-30.—Doat, XXXVII. 258.—Vaissette, III. Pr. 374.—Bern. Guidon. Pract. P. v.

Molinier (Études sur quelques MSS. des Bibliothèques d’Italie, Paris, 1887, pp. 35, 45) mentions the occurrence of similar formulas in the other manuals of the period.

[490] Bern. Guidon. Pract. P. III. 42, 43; P. v. vii. 12.—Doat, XXVII. 150.

[491] Zanchini Tract. de Hæret c. xxii.—Statuta Criminalia Mediolani e tenebris in lucem edita c. 63 (Bergami, 1594).

[492] Differend de Boniface VIII. et de Ph. le Bel, Preuves, 103.—Rymer, Fœd. II. 931-4.—Joann. S. Victor. Vit. Clement. V. (Muratori S. R. I. III. II. 457).—Grandes Chroniques V. 217-20, 291.—Guill. Nangiac. Contin. ann. 1315, 1325.—MSS. Bib. Nat., fonds latin, No. 4270 fol. 37-8, 144-5.

Enguerrand de Marigny had been all-powerful under Philippe le Bel, controlling the papal as well as the royal court, and his marvellous rise from obscurity led to the popular impression that he must be a skilful necromancer—

[493] Raynald. ann. 1317, No. 52-4; ann. 1318, No. 57; ann. 1320, No. 51; ann. 1327, No. 45.—Mag. Bull. Roman. I. 205.—Ripoll II. 192.—Arch. des Frères Prêcheurs de Toulouse (Doat, XXXIV. 181).—Arch. de l’Inq. de Carc. (Doat, XXXV. 89).—Vaissette, IV. Pr. 23.—Raynald. ann. 1374, No. 13.

[494] Molinier, Études de quelques MSS. des Bibliothèques d’Italie, Paris, 1887, pp. 102-3.—Doat, XXVII. 7 sqq., 140, 156, 177, 192; XXVIII. 161.

[495] Guill. Nangiac. Contin. ann. 1323.—Grandes Chroniques V. 269-73.—Statut Ord. Cisterc. ann. 1290 c. 2 (Martene Thesaur. IV. 1485).

[496] Archives de l’Inq. de Carcassonne (Doat, XXVII. 150).

[497] Matt. Neoburg. (Alb. Argentorat.) ann. 1323 (Urstisii II. 123).—Chronik des Jacob v. Königshofen (Chroniken der deutschen Städte, VII. 467).

[498] Wright’s Contemporary Narrative of the Proceedings against Dame Alice Kyteler, Camden Soc., 1843.

[499] Wright, op. cit. pp. xxiii.-xxix.—Vaissette, IV. Pr. 173.—Raynald. ann. 1337, No. 30.

[500] Lilienthal, Die Hexenprocesse der beiden Städte Braunsberg, p. 113.—Concil. Carnotens. ann. 1366 c. 11 (Martene Ampl. Coll. VII. 1368).—Florez, España Sagrada, XLIX. 188.—Acquoy. Gerardi Magni Epistt. pp. 107-11.—Concil. Pragens. ann. 1355 c. 61 (Hartzheim, IV. 400).—Statuta brevia Arnesti ann. 1353 (Höfler, Prager Concilien, p. 2).—Concil. Pragens. ann. 1381 c. 7 (Ib. p. 28).—Statut. Synod. Pragens. ann. 1407, No. 6 (Ib. p. 59).—Dubrav. Hist. Bohem. Lib. XXIII.—Raynald. ann. 1400, No. 14.

[501] Bodini de Magor. Demonoman. Lib. IV. c. 1.

[502] Registre Criminel du Châtelet de Paris, I. 332-63 (Paris, 1861).

[503] Chassaing, Spicilegium Brivatense, pp. 438-46.

[504] D’Argentré I. II. 154. Cf. Bodin. de Magor. Demonoman.—Murner Tract. de Python. Contractu.—Basin de Artibus Magiæ.—Pegnæ Comment. in Eymeric. p. 346.

[505] Gersoni Tract. de Error. circa Artem Magicam (Opp. Ed. 1494, xxi. G-H).—Mall. Maleficar. P. I. Q. 1, 8.

[506] Religieux de S. Denis, Hist. de Charles VI., Liv. XVII. ch. i., Liv. XVIII. ch. 8.—Juvenal des Ursins, Hist. de Charles VI. ann. 1403.—Raynald. ann. 1404, No. 22-3.—Concil. Suessionens. ann. 1403 c. 7.—Monstrelet, I. 39 (Ed. Buchon, 1843, pp. 80-3).—Chron. de P. Cochon (Ed. Vallet de Viriville, p. 385).

Valentine of Milan, wife of Louis of Orleans, and her father, Galeazzo Visconti, had the reputation of being addicted to magic and of being privy to the attempt on the life of the king (ubi sup.).

[507] Wright, Dame Kyteler, pp. ix., xv.-xx.—Rymer, Fœd. VII. 427; X. 505; XI. 851.

[508] Monstrelet, II. 248.—Jean Chartier, Hist. de Charles VII. ann. 1440 (Ed. Godefroy, p. 106).—Rob. Gaguin. Hist. Franc. Lib. X. c. 3.

[509] Bossard et Maulde, Gilles de Rais, dit Barbe-bleue, Paris, 1886, pp. 16, 43, 49-51, 53, 57, Pr. p. clvii.

[510] Bossard et Maulde, Gilles de Rais, dit Barbe-bleue, Paris, 1886, Pr. pp. liii., lxxvii., clii.

[511] Ibid. p. 21; Pr. pp. xlix., lviii.

[512] Ib. pp. 48-51; Pr. pp. xxi.-xxvi., xlvi., xlix.

[513] Bossard et Maulde, Gilles de Rais, dit Barbe-bleue, Paris, 1886, pp. 61-66, 72-3, 78-81, 92-116, 173, 269; Pr. pp. cliv.-clv., clvii, clix.—Très-Ancien Coutume de Bretagne c. 83 (Bourdot de Richebourg, IV. 220).—D’Argentré, Comment. in Consuetud. Britann. pp. 1647-55.

[514] Bossard et Maulde, Pr. pp. lxxxiv.-xcii., xcv.-xcix.

[515] Bossard et Maulde, Pr. pp. xxvi., xxxiv., xlvii.-lii., lv.-lvi., lxii.-lxxii., lxxxviii., xcviii., ci., cxvii.—Monstrelet, II. 248.

[516] Bossard et Maulde, Pr. pp. lxxv., lxxvii., lxxxviii.-xcii., xcv.-xcix., cxvii.-cxl.

[517] Bossard et Maulde, pp. 212-13; Pr. pp. xxiv., 1.

[518] Bossard et Maulde, Pr. pp xxvii.-xxviii., xlvi., xlvii., lii., lv., lviii., lxxii., lxxx.

[519] Bossard et Maulde, pp. 231-5; Pr. pp. xxix., cii.-cxvi., cliv.

[520] Très Anc. Cout. de Bretagne c. 62 (Bourdot de Richebourg IV. 216).—Bossard et Maulde, pp. 235-6; Pr. pp. liii., lxxi.

[521] Bossard et Maulde, Pr. pp. i., ii., vi.-ix.

[522] Ibid. Pr. pp. iii.-iv., v.—Jean Chartier Hist. de Charles VII. ann. 1440 (Ed. Godefroy, p. 106).

[523] Bossard et Maulde, Pr. pp. vi.-ix.

[524] Ibid. pp. ix., xii.

[525] Bossard et Maulde, Pr. pp. xi-xii.

[526] Ibid. Pr. pp. xiii.-xiv.

[527] Bossard et Maulde, Pr. pp. xvii.-xxx.

[528] Bossard et Maulde, Pr. pp. xxxii.-xxxvi., xxxvii.-xxxviii., lxiv.-lxxii., lxxiii.-lxxxi., lxxxii.-xcii., xciii.-ci.

[529] Ibid. Pr. pp. xli.-xlii.

[530] Bossard et Maulde, Pr. pp. xliii.-xlv.

[531] Ibid. Pr. pp. xlv.-xlvii.

[532] Bossard et Maulde, Pr. pp. xlviii.-lviii.

[533] Ibid. Pr. pp. lxiii.-lxiv.

[534] Bossard et Maulde, Pr. pp. lx.-lxi.

[535] Bossard et Maulde, p. 333; Pr. pp. cxli.-cxliv.

[536] Bossard et Maulde, pp. 337-41.

[537] Très-Anc. Cout. de Bretagne c. 118 (Bourdot de Richebourg, IV. 228).—Bossard et Maulde, pp. 357, 377.

[538] Bossard et Maulde, pp. 370-82.

[539] Ibid. pp. 380; Pr. pp. cxlv.-cxlvi.

[540] Bossard et Maulde, pp. 406, 408, 412.

[541] La Puente Epit. de la Chronica del Rey don Juan II. Lib. III. c. 23; Lib. V. c. 27 (Fernan Perez de Guzman).—Monteiro, Hist. da Santa Inquisição, P. I. Lib. II. c. 40.—Paramo, p. 131.—La Fuente, Hist. Gen. de España, IX. 60.—Pelayo, Heterodoxos Españoles I. 582, 608-11.—Amador de los Rios, Revista de España, T. XVIII. pp. 15-16.

[542] Weber, Indische Skizzen, p. 112.—Wagenseilii Comment. ad Mishna, Sootah, I. 5.—Grimm’s Teuton. Mythol. III. 1044.

[543] Frag. Capitular. c. 13 (Baluz. II. 365).—Reginon. de Eccles. Discip. II. 364.—Burchard. Decret. XI. 1, XIX. 5.—Ivon. Decret. XI. 30.—Gratian. Decret. II. XXVII. v. 12.—Servius in Virgil. Æneid. IV. 511, VI. 118.—Vit. S. Cæsar. Arelat. Lib. II. c. 2.—Raynald. ann. 1317, No. 53.—Grimm’s Teut. Mythol. I. 268 sqq.—Finn Magnusen Boreal. Mythol. Lexicon, pp. 7, 71, 567.—Lib. de Spiritu et Anima c. 28.—Augerii Cenomanens. Statut. (Du Cange s.v. Diana).—Conc. Trevirens. ann. 1310 c. 81 (Martene Thesaur. IV. 257).—Conc. Ambianens. cap. iii. No. 8 (Martene Ampl. Coll. VII. 1241).—Johann. Saresberiens. Polycrat. II. xvii.—Grimm’s Teut. Mythol. III. 1055-7.—Wright’s Dame Kyteler, pp. iv., xxxvi.—Gervas. Tilberiens. Otia Imp. Decis. III. c. 86, 93.—Jean de Meung says—

A story in Jac. de Voragine’s life of St. Germain l’Auxerrois illustrates the genesis of the belief concerning the Dame Habonde and her troop, who assisted in household work. On visiting a certain house St. Germain found that the supper-table was set by “the good women who walk by night.” He remained up and saw a crowd of demons, in the shape of men and women, who came to set it; he commanded them to stay, and woke the family, who recognized in the intruders their neighbors, but the latter, on investigation, were found in their beds, and the demons confessed that the likenesses were assumed for the purpose of deception.—Jac. de Vorag. s.v. S. Germanus.

[544] Pauli Carnot. Vet. Agano. Lib. VI. c. 3.—Adhemari Cabannens. ann. 1022.—Gualteri Mapes de Nugis Curialium Dist. I. c. 30.—Alani de Insulis contra Hæret. Lib. I. c. 63.

[545] Concil. Trevirens. ann. 1310 c. 81 (Martene Thes. IV. 257).—Concil. Ambianens. c. 1410 cap. iii. No. 8 (Martene Ampl. Coll. VII. 1241).—Eymeric. p. 341.—Alonso de Spina, Fortalic. Fidei, fol. 284.—Albertini Repertor. Inquisit. s. v. Xorguinœ.

[546] Thom. Cantimprat. Bonum universal. Lib. II. c. 56.—Alonso de Spina, Fortalic. Fidei, fol. 284.—Bern. Basin de Artibus Magicis.—Ulric. Molitor. de Python. Mulierib. Conclus. IV.—Th. Cantimprat. ubi sup.—Mall. Maleficar. P. ii. Q. i. c. 3.—Prieriat. de Strigimag. Lib. i. c. xiv., Lib. ii. c. 1.

Friar Thomas gives circumstantial contemporary instances occurring in Flanders, where women were carried away and their images were on the point of burial, when the deception was accidentally discovered, and the images, on being cut open, were found to consist of rotten wood covered with skin. He admits his inability to explain these cases, and says that on consulting Albertus Magnus about them the latter evaded a positive answer (Bonum universale, ubi sup.).

[547] Fr. Nich. Jaquerii Flagellum Hæret. Fascinar. c. vii., xxviii.—Mall. Malef. P. I. Q. i. c. 10; P. II. Q. i. c. 3, 9.—G.F. Pico della Mirandola, La Strega, Milano, 1864, pp. 61, 73.—Bernardi Comensis de Strigiis c. 3-6.

[548] Ponzinib. de Lamiis c. 49, 50, 52-3, 61-3, 65-6.—Prieriat. de Strigimagar. Lib. II. c. 1.

Paramo (De Orig. Offic. S. Inq. p. 296) also adopts the date of 1404 as that of the origin of the sect of witches. This is probably founded on confusing Innocent VIII., who commenced to reign in 1484, with Innocent VII., who began in 1404. In the former’s bull Summis desiderantes, dated in his first regnal year, he speaks of witches as a new sect, and Prierias refers this to 1404.

[549] Ponzinib. de Lamiis c. 65.—Bart. Spinei de Strigibus, p. 175, Romæ, 1575.

[550] Mémoires de Jacques du Clercq, Liv. IV. ch. 4.—Chron. Cornel. Zantfliet ann. 1460 (Martene Ampl. Coll. V. 502).—Bernardi Comensis de Strigiis c. 3.—Prieriat. de Strigimag. Lib. I. c. 2, 14; Lib. II. c. 1, 4.

[551] Mall. Maleficar. P. II. Q. i. c. 2, 4, 11, 15; Q. ii. c. 4.—Prieriat. de Strigimag. Lib. II. c. 7, 9.—Ulric. Molitor. de Python. Mulierib.—Ripoll III. 193.—Pico della Mirandola, La Strega, pp. 84-5.—Bernardi Comens. de Strigiis c. 7.

It is the universal testimony of the demonologists that vastly more women than men were thus involved in the toils of the Devil. To explain this, Sprenger indulges in a most bitter tirade against women, and piously thanks God for preserving the male sex from such wickedness (Mall. Malef. P. I. Q. vii.).

[552] Burchardi Decret. XIX. 5.—Johann. Saresberiens. Polycrat. II. xvii.—Grimm, Teut. Mythol. III. 1059.—Rapp, Die Hexenprocesse und ihre Gegner aus Tyrol, Innsbruck, 1874, p. 146.—P. Vayra, Le Streghe nel Canavese (Curiosità di Storia Subalpina, 1874, pp. 229, 234-5).—Bernardi Comensis de Strigiis c. 8.

A development of this belief is seen in the feat, referred to in the preceding chapter, of Zyto, the magician of the Emperor Wenceslas, who swallowed a rival conjurer and discharged him alive in a vessel of water.

Yet concurrently with this the belief existed in the absolute eating of children. Peter of Berne told Nider that in his district thirteen were thus despatched in a short time, and he learned from a captured witch that they were killed in their cradles with incantations, dug up after burial, and boiled in a caldron. The magic unguent was made out of the flesh, while the soup had the power of winning over to the sect of Devil-worshippers whoever partook of it.—Nider Formicar. Lib. V. c. iii.

[553] Mall. Malef. P. II. Q. i. c. 13; P. III. Q. xxxiv.

[554] Mall. Malef. P. I. Q. xii., xv.

[555] In England, where torture was illegal, the growth of witchcraft was much slower. When the craze came an efficient substitute for torture was found in “pricking” or thrusting long needles in every part of the victim’s body in search of the insensible spot which was a characteristic of the witch.

[556] Ripoll III. 193.—Pegnæ Append. ad Eymeric. pp. 83, 84, 85, 99, 105.—Approbat. Univ. Coloniens. in Mall. Malef.

For an official selection of papal bulls on the subject see Lib. Sept. Decret. Lib. V. Tit. xii.

[557] Bernardi Comens. de Strigiis c. 14.—Mall. Maleficar. P. II. Q. i., ii.—P. Vayra, Le Streghe nel Canavese, op. cit. p. 230.—Artic. Univers. Paris. No. 5.—Concil. Lingonens, ann. 1403 c. 4.—Prieriat de Strigimag. Lib. II. c. 10.—Bodini Magor. Dæmonoman. p. 288.

[558] Prieriat. Lib. III. c. 3.—Mall. Malef. P. II. Q. ii.

[559] Bernard. Comens. de Strigiis c. 14.

[560] Mall. Maleficar. P. II. Q. i.; P. II. Q. viii.; P. III. Q. xv.—Prieriat. Lib. II. c. 9; Lib. III. c. 3.—Nider Formicar. Lib. v. c. 7.

[561] Mall. Malef. P. II. Q i.; Q. i. c. 4, 11; P. III. Q. xv.—Prieriat. Lib. III. c. 2.—Jahn, Hexenwesen und Zauberei in Pommern, Breslau, 1886, p. 8.

[562] Raynald. ann. 1374, No. 13; ann. 1437, No. 27.—Ripoll II. 566-7; III. 193, 301.—Prieriat. Lib. III. c. 1.—Mall. Maleficar. P. II. Q. i. c. 16; P. III. Q. i.—Anon. Carthus. de Relig. Orig. c. xxvi. (Martene Ampl. Coll. VI. 59).

[563] Mémoires de Jacques du Clercq, Liv. IV. ch. xxiii.

The constant recurrence of the toad in all the operations of witchcraft opens a suggestive question in zoological mythology. Space will not admit its discussion here, but I may mention, as a proof of the antiquity of the superstitions connected with the animal, that in Mazdeism the toad was one of the special creations of Ahriman, and was devoted to his service. It was a toad which he set to destroying the Gokard, or Tree of all plants, and which will always be endeavoring to do so until the resurrection (Bundehesh, ch. xviii.).

[564] Ulric. Molitoris de Python. Mulierib. c. iv.

[565] Prieriat. Lib. III. c. 3.—Mall. Maleficar. P. II. Q. vii., xvi.; P. III. Q. xiii., xiv.

[566] Concil. Rotomagens. ann. 1445 c. 6 (Bessin Concil. Rotomagens. I. 184).—C. Lexoviens. ann. 1448 c. 9 (Ibid. II. 482).—Nic. Jaquerii Flagellum Hæret. Fascinar. c. 27.—Mall. Malef. P. I. Q. xiv.; P. II. Q. i. c. 3, 16.—Prieriat. de Strigimag. Lib. III. c. 3.

[567] Mall. Maleficar. P. II. Q. xiv.—P. Vayra, Le Streghe nel Canavese, op. cit. pp. 218-21, 232.

[568] Prieriat. Lib. III. c. 3.—Mall. Maleficar. P. III. Q. xii.

[569] Mall. Maleficar. P. III. Q. x., xi., xxxv.—Prieriat Lib. III. c. 3.

[570] P. Vayra, Le Streghe nel Canavese, op. cit. pp. 658-715.

[571] It will be remembered (Vol. II. p. 158) that by this time in France, Vaudois and Vaudoisie had become the designation of all deviations from faith, and was especially applied to sorcery. Hence is derived the word Voodooism, descriptive of the negro sorcery of the French colonies, transmitted to the United States through Louisiana.

[572] There was some debate whether the evidence of a witch as to those whom she had seen in the Sabbat was to be received, but it was settled in favor of the faith by the unanswerable argument that otherwise the principal means of detecting witches would be lost. If the accused alleged that the devil had caused an apparition resembling him to be present, he was to be required to prove the fact, which was not easy (Jaquerii Flagell. Hæret. Fascinar. c. 26).—Bernardo di Como (de Strigiis, c. 13, 14) says that the mere accusation of being seen in the Sabbat is not sufficient to justify arrest, as the individual may be personated by a demon, but it has to be reinforced by “conjectures and presumptions,” which, of course, were never lacking.

[573] MSS. Bib. Roy. de Bruxelles, No. 11209.

[574] This was, doubtless, in commutation for confiscation, and reveals the object of the whole affair. To estimate the magnitude of the fines, it may be mentioned that de Beauffort’s annual revenue was estimated at five hundred livres. The richest citizens of Arras who were arrested were said to be worth from four hundred to five hundred livres a year.

[575] The belief in the imminent advent of Antichrist was as strong in the fifteenth century as in its predecessors. In 1445 the University of Paris was astonished by a young Spaniard, about twenty years of age, who came there and overcame the most learned schoolmen and theologians in disputation. He appeared equally at home in all branches of learning, including medicine and law; he was matchless with the sword, and played ravishingly on all instruments of music. After confounding Paris, he went to the Duke of Burgundy, at Ghent, and thence passed into Germany. The doctors of the University pondered over the apparition, and finally concluded that he was Antichrist, who, it was well known, would possess all arts and sciences by the secret aid of Satan, and would be a good Christian until he attained the age of twenty-eight (Chron. de Mathieu de Coussy, ch. VIII.). The wonderful stranger was Fernando de Cordoba, who settled in the papal court, and wrote several books, which have been forgotten. See Nich. Anton. Biblioth. Hispan. Lib. x. cap. xiii. No. 734-9.

[576] The Chronicler of Arras tells us that at this time there was no enforcement of the laws in Arras; every one did as he pleased, and no one was punished but the friendless. His statement is borne out by the cases of homicide and other crimes which he relates, and of which no notice was taken (Mém. de Jacques du Clercq, Liv. IV. ch. 22, 24, 40, 41). Yet vigorous search was made for the author of this pasquinade, and Jacotin Maupetit was arrested by an usher-at-arms of the duke on the charge of writing it. He adroitly slipped out of his doublet, and sought asylum in three successive churches, finally succeeding in getting to Paris, where he constituted himself a prisoner of the Parlement, and returned to Arras free, to find that, meanwhile, his property had been confiscated and sold. (Ibid. ch. 24.)

[577] The details of this case have, fortunately, been preserved for us in the Mémoires de Jacques du Clercq, Livre IV., with the decree of Parlement in the appendix. Mathieu de Coussy (Chronique ch. 129) and Cornelius Zantfliet (Martene, Ampl. Coll. V. 501) also give brief accounts. Some details omitted by du Clercq are to be found in the learned sketch of Duverger, “La Vauderie dans les États de Philippe le Bon,” Arras, 1885, which, it is to be hoped, will be followed by the more elaborate work promised by the author.

[578] Du Clercq, Liv. IV. ch. 10-11.

[579] Du Clercq, Liv. IV. ch. 14, 15, 28; Append, II.

[580] Du Clercq, Liv. IV. ch. 4, 8.

[581] Du Clercq, Liv. IV. ch. 6, 11, 14, 28.—A copy of Jean Taincture’s tract is in the Bib. Roy. de Bruxelles, MSS. No. 2296.—About this time Jeannin, a peasant of Inchy, was executed at Cambrai, and at Lille Catharine Patée was condemned as a witch, but escaped with banishment, and the same was the case with Marguerite d’Escornay at Nivelles. One unfortunate, Noel Fern of Amiens, became insane on the subject, and after wandering over the land, accused himself at Mantes of belonging to the accursed sect. He was burned August 26, 1460. His wife, whom he had implicated, escaped sharing his fate by an appeal to the Parlement—Duverger, La Vauderie dans les États de Philippe le Bon, pp. 52-3, 84.

[582] Nider Formicar. Lib. V. c. 3, 4, 7.—Grimm’s Teutonic Mythol. III. 1066.—Soldan, Geschichte der Hexenprocesse, Stuttgart, 1843, p. 186.—Bernardi Comensis de Strigiis c. 4.—Steph. Infessuræ Diar. Urb. Romæ ann. 1424 (Eccard. Corp. Hist. II. 1874-5).

Peter of Berne’s efforts to purify his territory were fruitless, for we hear of witches burned in 1482 at Murten, Canton Berne (Valerius Anshelm, Berner-Chronik, Bern, 1884, I. 224).

[583] Duverger, La Vauderie dans les États de Philippe le Bon, p. 22.—Anon. Carthus. de Relig. Orig. c. 25-6 (Martene Ampl. Coll. VI. 57-9).—Jean Chartier, Hist. de Charles VII. ann. 1453.—Mémoires de Jacques du Clercq, Liv. III. ch. 11.—D’Argentré, I. II. 251.—Soldan, Gesch. der Hexenprocesse, p. 198.—Lilienthal, Die Hexenprocesse der beiden Städte Braunsberg, p. 70.

[584] Alonso de Spina, Fortalic. Fidei, fol. 284.—Bernardi Comens. de Strigiis c. 3.—Chron. Cornel. Zantfliet, ann. 1456 (Martene Ampl. Coll. V. 491).—Raynald. ann. 1459, No. 30.—Guill. Gruel, Chroniques d’Artus III. (Ed. Buchon, p. 405).

[585] Du Cange, s.v. Sortiarius.

[586] Mall. Malef. P. I. Q. i. c. 1.

[587] Mall. Malef. P. I. Q. xi.; P. II. Q. i. c. 4, 12; P. III. Q. 15.

[588] Mall. Malef. P. II. Q. i. c. 4.

Innocent’s bull was not confined to Germany alone, but was operative everywhere. In an Italian inquisitorial manual of the period it is included in a collection of bulls “contra hereticam pravitatem,” which also contains a letter on the subject from the future Emperor Maximilian, dated Brussels, November 6, 1486.—Molinier, Études sur quelques MSS. des Bibliothèques d’Italie, Paris, 1887, p. 72.

[589] Rapp, Die Hexenprocesse und ihre Gegner aus Tirol, pp. 5-8, 12-13, 143 sqq.—Mall. Maleficar. P. II. Q. 1, c. 12; P. III. Q. 15.

[590] Molitoris Dial. de Pythonicis Mulieribus c. 1, 10.

The absurd contrast between the illimitable powers ascribed to the witch and her personal wretchedness was explained under torture by the victims as the result of the faithlessness of Satan, who desired to keep them in poverty. When steeped in misery he would appear to them and allure them into his service by the most attractive promises, but when he had attained his end those promises were never kept. Gold given to them would always disappear before it could be used. As one of the Tyrolese witches in 1506 declared, “The devil is a Schalk (knave).” (Rapp, Die Hexenprocesse und ihre Gegner aus Tirol, p. 147.)

[591] Diefenbach, the latest writer on witchcraft (Die Hexenwahn, Mainz, 1886). sees clearly enough that the witch-madness was the result of the means adopted for the suppression of witchcraft, but in his eagerness to relieve the Church from the responsibility he attributes its origin to the Carolina, or criminal code of Charles V., issued in 1531, and expressly asserts that ecclesiastical law had nothing to do with it (p. 176). Other recent writers ascribe the horrors of the witch-process to the bull of Innocent VIII., and the Malleus Maleficarum (Ib. pp. 222-6). We have been able to trace, however, the definite development of the madness and the means adopted for its cure from the beliefs and the practice of preceding ages. It was, as we have seen, a process of purely natural evolution from the principles which the Church had succeeded in establishing.