They implicated twenty or thirty witches, who went about causing women
to miscarry, bringing down the lightning of heaven, and making maidens
bring forth toads. To this latter fact several girls were found to
swear most positively! Stadlin confessed that he had killed seven
infants in the womb of one woman.
Bodinus highly praises the exertions of a witchfinder, named Nider, in
France, who prosecuted so many that he could not calculate them. Some
of these witches could, by a single word, cause people to fall down
dead; others made women go with child three years instead of nine
months; while others, by certain invocations and ceremonies, could turn
the faces of their enemies upside down, or twist them round to their
backs. Although no witness was ever procured who saw persons in this
horrible state, the witches confessed that they had the power, and
exercised it. Nothing more was wanting to insure the stake.
At Amsterdam a crazy girl confessed that she could cause sterility in
cattle, and bewitch pigs and poultry by merely repeating the magic
words Turius und Shurius Inturius! She was hanged and burned. Another
woman in the same city, named Kornelis Van Purmerund, was arrested in
consequence of some disclosures the former had made. A witness came
forward and swore that she one day looked through the window of her
hut, and saw Kornelis sitting before a fire muttering something to the
devil. She was sure it was to the devil, because she heard him answer
her. Shortly afterwards twelve black cats ascended out of the floor,
and danced on their hind legs around the witch for the space of about
half an hour. They then vanished with a horrid noise, and leaving a
disagreeable smell behind them. She also was hanged and burned.
At Bamberg, in Bavaria, the executions from the year 1610 to 1640 were
at the rate of about a hundred annually. One woman, suspected of
witchcraft, was seized because, having immoderately praised the beauty
of a child, it had shortly afterwards fallen ill and died. She
confessed upon the rack that the devil had given her the power to work
evil upon those she hated, by speaking words in their praise. If she
said with unwonted fervour, "What a strong man!" "What a lovely woman!"
"What a sweet child!" the devil understood her, and afflicted them with
diseases immediately. It is quite unnecessary to state the end of this
poor creature. Many women were executed for causing strange substances
to lodge in the bodies of those who offended them. Bits of wood, nails,
hair, eggshells, bits of glass, shreds of linen and woollen cloth,
pebbles, and even hot cinders and knives, were the articles generally
chosen. These were believed to remain in the body till the witches
confessed or were executed, when they were voided from the bowels, or
by the mouth, nostrils, or ears. Modern physicians have often had cases
of a similar description under their care, where girls have swallowed
needles, which have been voided on the arms, legs, and other parts of
the body. But the science of that day could not account for these
phenomena otherwise than by the power of the devil; and every needle
swallowed by a servant maid cost an old woman her life. Nay, if no more
than one suffered in consequence, the district might think itself
fortunate. The commissioners seldom stopped short at one victim. The
revelations of the rack in most cases implicated half a score.
Of all the records of the witch-trials preserved for the wonder of
succeeding ages, that of Wurzburg, from 1627 to 1629, is the most
frightful. Hauber, who has preserved this list in his "Acta et Scripta
Magica," says, in a note at the end, that it is far from complete, and
that there were a great many other burnings too numerous to specify.
This record, which relates to the city only, and not to the province of
Wurzburg, contains the names of one hundred and fifty-seven persons,
who were burned in two years in twenty-nine burnings, averaging from
five to six at a time. The list comprises three play-actors, four
innkeepers, three common councilmen of Wurzburg, fourteen vicars of the
cathedral, the burgomaster's lady, an apothecary's wife and daughter,
two choristers of the cathedral, Gobel Babelin the prettiest girl in
the town, and the wife, the two little sons, and the daughter of the
councillor Stolzenberg. Rich and poor, young and old, suffered alike.
At the seventh of these recorded burnings, the victims are described as
a wandering boy, twelve years of age, and four strange men and women,
found sleeping in the market-place. Thirty-two of the whole number
appear to have been vagrants, of both sexes, who, failing to give a
satisfactory account of themselves, were accused and found guilty of
witchcraft. The number of children on the list is horrible to think
upon. The thirteenth and fourteenth burnings comprised four persons,
who are stated to have been a little maiden nine years of age, a maiden
still less, her sister, their mother, and their aunt, a pretty young
woman of twenty-four. At the eighteenth burning the victims were two
boys of twelve, and a girl of fifteen; at the nineteenth, the young
heir of the noble house of Rotenhahn, aged nine, and two other boys,
one aged ten, and the other twelve. Among other entries appear the
names of Baunach, the fattest, and Steinacher, the richest burgher in
Wurzburg. What tended to keep up the delusion in this unhappy city,
and indeed all over Europe, was the number of hypochondriac and
diseased persons who came voluntarily forward, and made confession of
witchcraft. Several of the victims in the foregoing list, had only
themselves to blame for their fate. Many again, including the
apothecary's wife and daughter already mentioned, pretended to sorcery,
and sold poisons, or attempted by means of charms and incantations to
raise the devil. But throughout all this fearful period the delusion of
the criminals was as great as that of the judges. Depraved persons who,
in ordinary times, would have been thieves or murderers, added the
desire of sorcery to their depravity, sometimes with the hope of
acquiring power over their fellows, and sometimes with the hope of
securing impunity in this world by the protection of Satan. One of the
persons executed at the first burning, a prostitute, was heard
repeating the exorcism, which was supposed to have the power of raising
the arch enemy in the form of a goat. This precious specimen of human
folly has been preserved by Horst, in his "Zauberbibliothek." It ran as
follows, and was to be repeated slowly, with many ceremonies and
waivings of the hand:--
"Lalle, Bachera, Magotte, Baphia, Dajam,
Vagoth Heneche Ammi Nagaz, Adomator
Raphael Immanuel Christus, Tetragrammaton
Agra Jod Loi. Konig! Konig!"
The two last words were uttered quickly, and with a sort of scream, and
were supposed to be highly agreeable to Satan, who loved to be called a
king. If he did not appear immediately, it was necessary to repeat a
further exorcism. The one in greatest repute was as follows, and was to
be read backwards, with the exception of the last two words
"Anion, Lalle, Sabolos, Sado, Pater, Aziel
Adonai Sado Vagoth Agra, Jod,
Baphra! Komm! Komm!"
When the witch wanted to get rid of the devil, who was sometimes in the
habit of prolonging his visits to an unconscionable length, she had
only to repeat the following, also backwards, when he generally
disappeared, leaving behind him a suffocating smell:--
"Zellianelle Heotti Bonus Vagotha
Plisos sother osech unicus Beelzebub
Dax! Komm! Komm!"
This nonsensical jargon soon became known to all the idle and foolish
boys of Germany. Many an unhappy urchin, who in a youthful frolic had
repeated it, paid for his folly the penalty of his life. Three, whose
ages varied from ten to fifteen, were burned alive at Wurzburg for no
other offence. Of course every other boy in the city became still more
convinced of the power of the charm. One boy confessed that he would
willingly have sold himself to the devil, if he could have raised him,
for a good dinner and cakes every day of his life, and a pony to ride
upon. This luxurious youngster, instead of being horsewhipped for his
folly, was hanged and burned.
The small district of Lindheim was, if possible, even more notorious
than Wurzburg for the number of its witch-burnings. In the year 1633 a
famous witch, named Pomp Anna, who could cause her foes to fall sick by
merely looking at them, was discovered and burned, along with three of
her companions. Every year in this parish, consisting at most of a
thousand persons, the average number of executions was five. Between
the years 1660 and 1664, the number consumed was thirty. If the
executions all over Germany had been in this frightful proportion,
hardly a family could have escaped losing one of its members.
In 1627 a ballad entitled the "Druten Zeitung," or the "Witches
Gazette," was very popular in Germany. It detailed, according to the
titlepage of a copy printed at Smalcald in 1627, "an account of the
remarkable events which took place in Franconia, Bamberg, and Wurzburg,
with those wretches who from avarice or ambition have sold themselves
to the devil, and how they had their reward at last: set to music, and
to be sung to the tune of Dorothea." The sufferings of the witches at
the stake are explained in it with great minuteness, the poet waxing
extremely witty when he describes the horrible contortions of pain upon
their countenances, and the shrieks that rent the air when any one of
more than common guilt was burned alive. A trick resorted to in order
to force one witch to confess, is told in this doggrel as an excellent
joke. As she obstinately refused to own that she was in league with the
powers of evil, the commissioners suggested that the hangman should
dress himself in a bear's skin, with the horns, tail, and all the et
ceteras, and in this form penetrate into her dungeon. The woman, in the
darkness of her cell, could not detect the imposture, aided as it was
by her own superstitious fears. She thought she was actually in the
presence of the prince of hell; and when she was told to keep up her
courage, and that she should be relieved from the power of her enemies,
she fell on her knees before the supposed devil, and swore to dedicate
herself hereafter body and soul to his service. Germany is, perhaps,
the only country in Europe where the delusion was so great as to have
made such detestable verses as these the favourites of the people:--
"Man shickt ein Henkersknecht
Zu ihr in Gefangniss n'unter,
Den man hat kleidet recht,
Mir einer Barnhaute,
Als wenns der Teufel war;
Als ihm die Drut anschaute
Meints ihr Buhl kam daher.
"Sie sprach zu ihm behende,
Wie lasst du mich so lang
In der Obrigkeit Hande?
Hilf mir aus ihren Zwang,
Wie du mir hast verheissen,
Ich bin ja eben dein,
Thu mich aus der Angst entreissen
O liebster Buhle mein?
[They sent a hangman's assistant down to her in her prison; they
clothed him properly in a bear's skin, as if he were the devil. Him,
when the witch saw, she thought he was her familiar. She said to him
quickly, "Why hast thou left me so long in the magistrate's hands?
Help me out of their power, as thou hast promised, and I will be thine
alone. Help me from this anguish, O thou dearest devil (or lover),
mine?"]
This rare poet adds, that in making such an appeal to the hangman, the
witch never imagined the roast that was to be made of her, and puts in,
by way of parenthesis, "was not that fine fun!" "Was das war fur ein
Spiel!" As feathers thrown into the air show how the wind blows, so
this trumpery ballad serves to show the current of popular feeling at
the time of its composition.
All readers of history are familiar with the celebrated trial of the
Marechale d'Ancre, who was executed in Paris in the year 1617.
Although witchcraft was one of the accusations brought against her, the
real crime for which she suffered was her ascendency over the mind of
Mary of Medicis, and the consequent influence she exercised indirectly
over the unworthy King, Louis XIII. Her coachman gave evidence that she
had sacrificed a cock at midnight, in one of the churches, and others
swore they had seen her go secretly into the house of a noted witch,
named Isabella. When asked by what means she had acquired so
extraordinary an influence over the mind of the Queen Mother, she
replied boldly, that she exercised no other power over her, than that
which a strong mind can always exercise over the weak. She died with
great firmness.
In two years afterwards scenes far more horrible than any that had yet
taken place in France were enacted at Labourt, at the foot of the
Pyrenees. The Parliament of Bourdeaux, scandalised at the number of
witches who were said to infest Labourt and its neighbourhood, deputed
one of its own members, the noted Pierre de l'Ancre, and its President,
Espaignel, to inquire into the matter, with full powers to punish the
offenders. They arrived at Labourt in May 1619. De l'Ancre wrote a
book, setting forth all his great deeds, in this battle against the
powers of evil. It is full of obscenity and absurdity; but the facts
may be relied on as far as they relate to the number of trials and
executions, and the strange confessions which torture forced from the
unhappy criminals.
De l'Ancre states as a reason why so many witches were to be found at
Labourt, that the country was mountainous and sterile! He discovered
many of them from their partiality to smoking tobacco. It may be
inferred from this, that he was of the opinion of King James, that
tobacco was the "devil's weed." When the commission first sat, the
number of persons brought to trial was about forty a day. The
acquittals did not average so many as five per cent. All the witches
confessed that they had been present at the great Domdaniel, or
Sabbath. At these saturnalia the devil sat upon a large gilded throne,
sometimes in the form of a goat; sometimes as a gentleman, dressed all
in black, with boots, spurs, and sword; and very often as a shapeless
mass, resembling the trunk of a blasted tree, seen indistinctly amid
the darkness. They generally proceeded to the Domdaniel, riding on
spits, pitchforks, or broomsticks, and, on their arrival, indulged with
the fiends in every species of debauchery. Upon one occasion they had
had the audacity to celebrate this festival in the very heart of the
city of Bourdeaux. The throne of the arch fiend was placed in the
middle of the Place de Gallienne, and the whole space was covered with
the multitude of witches and wizards, who flocked to it from far and
near; some arriving even from distant Scotland.
After two hundred poor wretches had been hanged and burned, there
seemed no diminution in the number of criminals to be tried. Many of
the latter were asked upon the rack what Satan had said, when he found
that the commissioners were proceeding with such severity? The general
reply was, that he did not seem to care much about it. Some of them
asserted, that they had boldly reproached him for suffering the
execution of their friends, saying, "Out upon thee, false fiend! thy
promise was, that they should not die! Look! how thou hast kept thy
word! They have been burned, and are a heap of ashes!" Upon these
occasions he was never offended. He would give orders that the sports
of the Domdaniel should cease, and producing illusory fires that did
not burn, he encouraged them to walk through, assuring them that the
fires lighted by the executioner gave no more pain than those. They
would then ask him, where their friends were, since they had not
suffered; to which the "Father of Lies" invariably replied, that they
were happy in a far country, and could see and hear all that was then
passing; and that, if they called by name those they wished to converse
with, they might hear their voices in reply. Satan then imitated the
voices of the defunct witches so successfully, that they were all
deceived. Having answered all objections, the orgies recommenced, and
lasted till the cock crew.
De l'Ancre was also very zealous in the trial of unhappy monomaniacs
for the crime of lycanthropy. Several who were arrested confessed,
without being tortured, that they were weir-wolves, and that, at night,
they rushed out among the flocks and herds, killing and devouring. One
young man at Besancon, with the full consciousness of the awful fate
that awaited him, voluntarily gave himself up to the commissioner
Espaignel, and confessed that he was the servant of a strong fiend, who
was known by the name of "Lord of the Forests." By his power, he was
transformed into the likeness of a wolf. The "Lord of the Forests"
assumed the same shape, but was much larger, fiercer, and stronger.
They prowled about the pastures together at midnight, strangling the
watch-dogs that defended the folds, and killing more sheep than they
could devour. He felt, he said, a fierce pleasure in these excursions,
and howled in excess of joy as he tore with his fangs the warm flesh of
the sheep asunder. This youth was not alone in this horrid confession;
many others voluntarily owned that they were weir-wolves, and many more
were forced by torture to make the same avowal. Such criminals were
thought to be too atrocious to be hanged first, and then burned: they
were generally sentenced to be burned alive, and their ashes to be
scattered to the winds. Grave and learned doctors of divinity openly
sustained the possibility of these transformations, relying mainly upon
the history of Nebuchadnezzar. They could not imagine why, if he had
been an ox, modern men could not become wolves, by Divine permission
and the power of the devil. They also contended that, if men should
confess, it was evidence enough, if there had been no other. Delrio
mentions that one gentleman accused of lycanthropy was put to the
torture no less than twenty times, but still he would not confess. An
intoxicating draught was then given him, and under its influence he
confessed that he was a weir-wolf. Delrio cites this to show the
extreme equity of the commissioners. They never burned anybody till he
confessed; and if one course of torture would not suffice, their
patience was not exhausted, and they tried him again and again, even to
the twentieth time! Well may we exclaim, when such atrocities have been
committed in the name of religion,
"Quel lion, quel tigre egale en cruaute,
Une injuste fureur qu'arme la piete?"
The trial of the unhappy Urbain Grandier, the curate of Loudun, for
bewitching a number of girls in the convent of the Ursulines in that
town, was, like that of the Marechale d'Ancre, an accusation resorted
to by his enemies to ruin one against whom no other charge could be
brought so readily. This noted affair, which kept France in commotion
for months, and the true character of which was known even at that
time, merits no more than a passing notice in this place. It did not
spring from the epidemic dread of sorcery then so prevalent, but was
carried on by wretched intriguers, who had sworn to have the life of
their foe. Such a charge could not be refuted in 1634: the accused
could not, as Bodinus expresses it, "make the malice of the prosecutors
more clear than the sun;" and his own denial, however intelligible,
honest, and straightforward, was held as nothing in refutation of the
testimony of the crazy women who imagined themselves bewitched. The
more absurd and contradictory their assertions, the stronger the
argument employed by his enemies that the devil was in them. He was
burned alive, under circumstances of great cruelty. [A very graphic
account of the execution of this unfortunate gentleman is to be found
in the excellent romance of M. Alfred de Vigny, entitled "Cinq Mars;"
but if the reader wishes for a full and accurate detail of all the
circumstances of one of the most extraordinary trials upon record, he
is referred to a work published anonymously, at Amsterdam, in 1693,
entitled "Histoire des Diables de Loudun, ou de la Possession des
Religieuses Ursulines, et de la Condemnation et du Supplice d'Urbain
Grandier."]
A singular instance of the epidemic fear of witchcraft occurred at
Lille, in 1639. A pious, but not very sane lady, named Antoinette
Bourignon, founded a school, or hospice, in that city. One day, on
entering the school-room, she imagined that she saw a great number of
little black angels flying about the heads of the children. In great
alarm, she told her pupils of what she had seen, warning them to beware
of the devil, whose imps were hovering about them. The foolish woman
continued daily to repeat the same story, and Satan and his power
became the only subject of conversation, not only between the girls
themselves, but between them and their instructors. One of them at this
time ran away from the school. On being brought back and interrogated,
she said she had not run away, but had been carried away by the
devil--she was a witch, and had been one since the age of seven. Some
other little girls in the school went into fits at this announcement,
and, on their recovery, confessed that they also were witches. At last,
the whole of them, to the number of fifty, worked upon each other's
imaginations to such a degree that they also confessed that they were
witches--that they attended the Domdaniel, or meeting of the
fiends--that they could ride through the air on broom-sticks, feast on
infants' flesh, or creep through a key-hole.
The citizens of Lille were astounded at these disclosures. The clergy
hastened to investigate the matter; many of them, to their credit,
openly expressed their opinion that the whole affair was an imposture:
not so the majority--they strenuously insisted that the confessions of
the children were valid, and that it was necessary to make an example
by burning them all for witches. The poor parents, alarmed for their
offspring, implored the examining Capuchins with tears in their eyes to
save their young lives, insisting that they were bewitched, and not
bewitching. This opinion also gained ground in the town. Antoinette
Bourignon, who had put these absurd notions into the heads of the
children, was accused of witchcraft, and examined before the council.
The circumstances of the case seemed so unfavourable towards her that
she would not stay for a second examination. Disguising herself as she
best could, she hastened out of Lille and escaped pursuit. If she had
remained four hours longer, she would have been burned by judicial
sentence, as a witch and a heretic. It is to be hoped that, wherever
she went, she learned the danger of tampering with youthful minds, and
was never again entrusted with the management of children.