The History of Witchcraft and Demonology

[1] Paris. Jacques du Puys. 4to. 1580. The preface, addressed to De Thou, is signed: “De Laon, ce xx iour de Decembre, M.D.LXXIX.” There were nine editions before 1604. The most complete is Paris, 4to. 1587. In addition to the text it contains ten extra pages only found here giving the trial of a sorcerer, Abel de la Rue, executed in 1582.

[2] The first Papal bull dealing with sorcery was issued by Alexander IV, 13 December, 1258. The last Papal Constitution concerned with this crime is that of Urban VIII, Inscrutabilis iudiciorum Dei altitudo, 1 April, 1631. The last regular English trial seems to have been that of an old woman and her son, acquitted at Leicester in 1717. In 1722 the last execution of a Scottish witch took place at Loth; both English and Scottish statutes were repealed in 1735. The Irish Statute was not repealed until 1821. At Kempten in Bavaria, a mad heretic, a woman, was executed for sorcery in 1775. In the Swiss canton of Glaris, a wench named Anna Goeldi, was hanged as a witch, 17 June, 1782. Two hags were burned in Poland on the same charge as late as 1793.

[3] Roland Brévannes. Les Messes Noires, Iⁱᵉʳ tableau, scène VII.

[4] I have actually heard it categorically laid down by a speaker in a Shakespearean debate, a litterateur of professed culture, that the Elizabethans could not, of course, really have believed in witchcraft.

[5] In the Exhibition of this artist’s work at the Leicester Galleries, London, in March, 1925.

[6] ... qu’elle, & sa mère montoient sur vne ramasse, & que sortans le contremont de la cheminée elles alloient par l’air en ceste façon au Sabbat. Boguet, Discours, p. 104.

[7] Glanvill, Part II. p. 194.

[8] Julius Wellhausen. Reste arabischen Heidenthums, p. 159. Berlin, 1897.

[9] Apud Miss Murray’s The Witch-Cult. (1921). Appendix V. pp. 279-80.

[10] Boguet, Discours. XVI. 4.

[11] Benjamin Thorpe, Monumenta Ecclesiastica, II. p. 34. London, 1840. The Liber Pœnitentialis was first published complete by Wasserschleben in 1851; a convenient edition is Migne, P.L. XCIX.

[12] Calendar of State Papers. Domestic, 1584.

[13] Sir Walter Scott, Demonology and Witchcraft, Letter V, gives the narrative of this case, but in the light of later research his version must be slightly corrected.

[14] Pitcairn. I. pt. ii. p. 162.

[15] Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, New Series, vol. X. Edinburgh.

[16] Sir James Melville, Memoirs. Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh. pp. 395-6.

[17] London. “for William Wright.” N.D. [1591]. The woodcut is on the title-page verso, and signature [c.ij.] verso. The pages are not numbered.

[18] Flying Ointments. Apud Miss Murray’s Witch-Cult in Western Europe, p. 279. It may be noted that the scandals of the Black Mass under Louis XIV were closely concerned with wholesale accusations of poisoning. La Voisin was a notorious vendor of toxic philtres. The possibility of poisoning the King, the Dauphin, Colbert and others was frequently debated.

[19] Dio Cassius. XLIX. 43. p. 756. ed. Sturz.

[20] Idem. LII. 36. p. 149.

[21] Suetonius. Augustus. 31.

[22] Tacitus. Annales. II. 32. More prisco. “Ut eum infelici arbori alligatum uirgis cædi, et postremo securi percuti iuberent.” Muret.

[24] Suetonius. Vitellius. 14.

[25] Dio Cassius. LXVI. 10.

[26] La Magie et la Sorcellerie. Paris. (1912.) I. p. 33.

[27] Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions, II. p. 117.

[28] The dates are as inaccurate as the statements. Giovanni Battista Cibò was elected Pope 29 August, 1484; and the Bull was issued in the December of that year, not in 1488.

[29] Rise and Influence of Rationalism in Europe, c. 1.

[30] Dictionary of Universal Biography. VIII. (1890).

[31] A more detailed treatment will be found in the present writer’s The Geography of Witchcraft, where the Bull is given in extenso.

[32] Epist., c.n. 1.

[33] Hom., XLVI. c. 1.

[34] Sententianum, III. iv. nn. 4-6.

[35] Theodosius II. Nouellæ, tit. III. A.D. 438.

[36] Uanissimus [Priscillianus] et plus iusto inflatior profanarum rerum scientia: quin et magicas artes ab adolescentia cum exercuisse creditum est. Sulpicius Severus. II. 47.

[37] H. C. Lea in his History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages, (1888) I. 215, asserts that Leo I justified the act, and that successive edicts against heresy were due to ecclesiastical influence. This is the exact opposite of historical truth, and the writer has not hesitated to transfer words of the Emperor to the Pope.

[38] In a sermon published in 1896 by Dom Morin Revue benédictine, c. xiii. p. 205.

[39] Epistola Elipandi ad Alcuinum, Migne. Pat. Lat. CXCVI. p. 872. Alcuin. Opera Omnia. Migne Pat. Lat. C-CI, especially Liber Albini contra hæresim Felicis; Libri VII aduersus Felicem; Aduersus Elipandum Libri IV. Florez, España sagrada. V. p. 562. Menendez y Pelayo, Historia de los heterodoxos españoles, Madrid, 1880, I. p. 274.

[40] The martyrdom of S. Peter is a well-known subject in art. Titian’s masterpiece in the Dominican church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo at Venice was destroyed by a fire on 16 August, 1867. But there are exquisite paintings of the scene by Lorenzo Lotto and Bellini. S. Peter, whose shrine is in San Eustorgio, Milan, was canonized 25 March, 1253, by Innocent IV. Major Feast, 29 April.

[41] Muratori. Antiquitates italicæ medii æui, Milan, 1738-42.

[42] Gabriel Rossetti, Disquisitions, vol. I. p. 27.

[43] Gervasius Dorobernensis, Chronicon.

[44] Vita S. Romanæ. n. 10; Acta SS. die, 3 Oct. p. 138. S. Gregorii VII. Lib. I. Epistola 75, ad Philippum.

[45] Labbe. Sacrosancta concilia. 18 vols. folio. 1671. Vol. X. col. 84.

[46] Quarum rerum rex uester, qui non rex sed tyrannus dicendus est, suadente diabolo, caput et causa est, qui omnem aetatem suam flagitiis et facinoribus polluit. Idem, vol. X. col. 72.

[47] Sane ... prouinciali ordinis prædicatorum in eodem regno dedimus in mandatis, ut aliquibus fratribus suis aptis ad hoc, inquisitionem contra illos committeret in regno præfato ... fraternitati tuæ ... mandamus quatenus ... per alios qui ad hoc idonei uidebuntur, festines ... procedere in inquisitionis negotio et ad dominicum certamen accingi. Ripoll et Brémond, Bullarium ordinis S. Dominici, I. p. 80. (8 vols. Romæ. 1737, sqq.).

[48] Fratres ... qui ad prædicandum crucem uel inquirendum contra prauitatem hæreticam ... sunt deputati. Wadding. Annales Minorum. ed. secunda. 24 vols. Romæ, 1732, sqq. III. 144.

[49] Gnostic Heresies.

[50] Jules Bois. Le Satanisme et la Magie, c. 6.

[51] It is true that S. Augustine does not bring a charge of depravity against the Manichæans, but they veiled their vices with the greatest caution, and S. Augustine was simply a catechumen, one of the Auditors, who would have known nothing of these esoteric abominations.

[52] Extra ciuitatis educti muros in quodam tuguriolo copioso igne accenso ... cremati sunt. Gesta synodi Aurelianensis. Arnould. L’Inquisition. (Paris, 1869). VI. p. 46.

[53] Sed antequam ad conflictum ueniamus, de cibo illo, qui cœlestis ab illis dicebatur, quali arte conficiebatur, nescientibus demonstrare curabo. Congregabantur si quidem certis noctibus in domo denominata, singuli lucernas tenentes in manibus, ad instar letaniæ demonum nomina declamabant, donec subito Dæmonem in similitudine cuiuslibet bestiolæ inter eos uiderent descendere. Qui statim, ut uisibilis ille uidebatur uisio, omnibus extinctis luminaribus, quamprimum quisque poterat, mulierem, quæ ad manum sibi ueniebat, ad abutendum arripiebat, sine peccati respectu, et utrum mater, aut soror, aut monacha haberetur, pro sanctitate et religione eius concubitus ab illis æstimabatur; ex quo spurcissimo concubitu infans generatus, octaua die in medio eorum copioso igne accenso probabatur per ignem more antiquorum Paganorum; et sic in igne cremabatur. Cuius cinis tanta ueneratione colligebatur atque custodiebatur, ut Christiana religiositas Corpus Christi custodire solet, ægris dandum de hoc sæculo exituris ad uiaticum. Inerat enim tanta uis diabolicæ fraudis in ipso cinere ut quicumque de præfata hæresi imbutus fuisset, et de eodem cinere quamuis sumendo parum prælibauisset, uix unquam postea de eadem heresi gressum mentis ad uiam ueritatis dirigere ualeret. De qua re parum dixisse sufficiat, ut Christicolæ caueant se ab hoc nefario opere, non ut studeant sectando imitari. Schmidt. Histoire et doctrine des Cathares ou Albigeois. Paris. 1849. I. p. 31.

[54] G. R. Kinloch. Reliquiæ Antiquæ Scoticæ. Edinburgh, 1848.

[55] Adhémar de Chabannes. (A monk of Angoulême.) Chronicon, Recueil des historicus, vol. X. p. 163.

[56] Fabré Palaprat. Recherches Historiques sur les Templiers, Paris. 1835.

[57] Cambridge University Press, 1925.

[58] The Philosopher, July-August, 1924.

[59] The Philosopher, January-March, 1925. The Albigenses, pp. 20-25. The whole article, which is written with extraordinary restraint, should be read.

[60] He is the author of Éléments d’Astrologie; Un disciple de Cl. de Saint-Martin, Dutoit-Membrini; Premiers Éléments d’Occultisme; La petite Église anticoncordataire, son histoire, son état actuel; J. K. Huysmans et le Satanisme; Huysmans, Occultiste et Magicien.

[61] In Uerrem. IV. 43.

[62] H. Th. Pyl, Die griechischen Rundbauten, 1861, pp. 67, sqq.

[63] Plutarch, Theseus 36; Cimon 8.

[64] Pausanias is the chief authority on this point. See Rohde Psyche, I. p. 161.

[65] Clarendon Press, 1921.

[66] The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, p. 16. It is true that the Brethren of the Free Spirit, anarchists, who vaunted the Adamite heresy, in the Thirteenth century, went to the stake with pæans of joy. But they were probably drugged. J. L. Mosheim, Ecclesiastical History. London. 1819. III. p. 278. sqq. The Adamites were a licentious sect who called their church Paradise and worshipped in a state of stark nudity. They were Gnostics and claimed complete emancipation from the moral law. They lived in shameful communism. Bohemian Adamites existed as late as 1849. In Russia the teleschi, a branch of the sect known as the “Divine Men,” performed their religious rites in a state of nature, following the example, as they asserted, of Adam and Eve in Paradise. These assemblies were wont to end in promiscuous debauchery.

[67] Idem. p. 161.

[68] Witch-Cult in Western Europe, p. 161.

[69] Additional Notices of Major Weir and his Sister; Sinclar’s Satan’s Invisible World. (Reprint. 1875).

[70] Criminal Trials, 1536-1784; Hugo Arnot, 4to, 1785.

[71] Ravillac Rediuius, Dr. George Hickes, 4to, 1678.

[72] Iubemus namque, auctores quidem et principes, una cum abominandis scripturis eorum seueriori pœnæ subiici, ita ut flammeis ignibus exurantur. Baronius, 287, 4.

[73] Scio multos [Proconsules] et ad bestias damnasse sacrilegos, nonnullos etiam uiuos exussisse. Lex Romana Visigothorum nouella, XLVIII. tit. xiii. c. 6-7.

[74] Plures etiam per Italiam tunc huius pestiferi dogmatis sunt reperti, qui aut gladiis, aut incendiis perierunt.

[75] Tanchelinus, Tandemus, Tanchelmus. The history of this important revolutionary movement has been carefully studied. The following authoritative books are a few from many of great value and learning. Corpus documentorum Inquisitionis hereticæ prauitatis neerlandicæ, ed. Dr. Paul Frédéricq, vol. I, p. 15 et sqq. Ghent. 1889; Tanchelijn by Janssen in the Annales de l’académie Royale d’archéologie de Belgique, vol. XXIII, p. 448 et sqq. 1867; Foppens, Historia Episcopatus Antuerpiensis, p. 8 and p. 146, Brussels, 1717; Dierxsens, Antuerpia Christo nascens et crescens, vol. I, p. 88, Antwerp, 1773; Poncelet, Saint Norbert et Tanchelin in the Analecta bollandiniana, vol. XIII, p. 441, 1893; Schools, Saint Norbert et Tanchelin à Anvers in the Bibliothèque norbertine, vol. II, p. 97, 1900; De Schapper, Réponse à la question: Faites connaître l’hérésiarque Tanchelin et les erreurs qu’il répandit au commencement du XIIIᵉ siècle [an error for XIIᵉ siècle] in the Collationes Brugenses, vol. XVII, p. 107, 1912. L. Vander Essen, De Katterij van Tanchelm in de XIIᵉ eeuw in Ons Geloof, vol. II, p. 354, 1912; Antwerpen en de H. Norbertus in the Bode van Onze Lieve Vrouw van het H. Hert van Averbode, Nos. 18 and 19, pp. 207-211 and 217-220, 1914.

[76] “That most vile and abandoned scoundrel had become so open and utterly depraved an enemy to the Christian faith and all religious observance that he denied any respect was due to Bishops and priests; moreover, he affirmed that the reception of the most holy Body and Blood of Our Lord availed nothing to eternal life and man’s salvation.” “Erat quidem ille sceleratissimus et christianæ fidei et totius religionis inimicus in tantum ut obsequium episcoporum et sacerdotum nihil esse diceret, et sacrosancti corporiset sanguinis Domini J. C. perceptionem ad salutem perpetuam prodesse denegeret.” Vita Noberti archiepiscopi Magdeburgensis, Vita A. Monument. Germ. Scriptores, vol. XII. p. 690, ed. G. A. Pertz, Hanover, Berlin.

[77] “Immo uere ipse angelus Sathanæ declamabat eccelsias Dei lupinaria esse reputanda. Nihil esse, quod sacerdotum officio in mensa dominica conficeretur; pollutiones, non sacramenta nominanda.” Lettre des chanoines d’Utrecht au nom de leur diocèse à Frédéric, archevêque de Cologne. Apud Frédéricq, vol. I. n. 11.

[78] Talibus nequitiæ successibus miscro homini tanta sceleris accessit audacia, ut etiam se Deum diceret, asserens, quia, si Christus ideo Deus est, quia Spiritum Sanctum habuisset, se non inferius nec dissimilius Deum, quia plenitudinem Spiritus Sancti accepisset. Idem.

[79] Qui tandem post multos errores et cædes, dum nauigaret, a quodam presbytero percussus in cerebro occubuit. Sigiberti continuatio. Apud Monument. Germ. Scriptores, vol. VI, p. 449. See also, Johannes Trithemius, Annales Hirsaugienses, vol. I, p. 387, Saint-Gall, 1690; Du Plessis d’Argentré, Collectio iudiciorum, vol. I, p. 11 sqq. Paris, 1728; Schmidt, Histoire et doctrine des Cathares ou Albigeois, vol. I, p. 49, Paris, 1849.

[80] There is a contemporary Uita Norberti of which two recensions have been published: Uita A. by R. Wilmans in the Mon. Germ. Hag., SS., vol. XIII, pp. 663-706, Hanover, 1853; Uita B. by Surius, De probatis Sanctorum historiis, vol. III, pp. 517-547, Cologne, 1572. Other authoritative works are: J. Van der Sterse, Uita S. Norberti, Antwerp, 1622; Du Pré, La Vie du bienheureux saint Norbert, Paris, 1627; Ch. Hugo, La Vie de St. Norbert, Luxembourg, 1704; G. Madelaine, Histoire de St. Norbert, Lille, 1886; B. Wazasek, Der Hl. Norbert, Vienna, 1914. An excellent brief but scholarly account is The Life of S. Norbert, London, 1886, by my late revered friend Abbot Geudens, C.R.P.