bull of Pope Innocent, written in barbarous Latin worthy of its
subject.[46] We must, however, give some account of its contents. "The
serf of God's serfs" begins by testifying the care which as the guardian
of souls he must exercise in promoting the growth of the Catholic faith
and driving the infamy of heresy far from the proximity of the faithful.
"But," he continues, "it is not without profound grief that I have learned
recently that persons of both sexes, forgetting their own eternal welfare
and erring from the Catholic faith, mix with devils, with _incubi_ and
_succubi_, and injure by witch songs, conjurations and other shameful
practices, revelries, and crimes, the unborn children of women, the young
of animals, the harvests of the fields, the grapes of the vineyards and
the fruit of the trees; that they also destroy, suffocate and annihilate
men, women, sheep and cattle, vineyards, orchards, meadows, and the like;
visit men, women, cattle and other animals with internal and external
pains and sickness; prevent men from procreation and women from
conception, and render them entirely unfit for their mutual duties, and
cause them to recant, besides, with sacrilegious lips, the very faith
which they have received in baptism."... The pope therefore appoints his
beloved sons, the professors of theology Henry Institor and Jacob
Sprenger, to be prime inquisitors with absolute power over all districts
which are contaminated with those diseases; and since he knows that there
are persons who are not ashamed to insist upon their perverse assertion
that such crimes are only imaginary, and should not be punished, he
threatens them, whatever be their position or dignity, with the severest
punishments, in case they dare to counteract in any way the inquisitors,
or interfere in behalf of the accused. Finally, he proclaims that no
appeal from the tribunals of the inquisitors to other courts, not even to
the pope himself, will be allowed. The inquisitors and their assistants
are invested with unlimited power over life and death, and are exhorted to
fulfil their commission with zeal and severity.
The bull contains no further indications as to how the judges should
proceed in the trial of witches. The "Witch-hammer" was allowed to
establish its own norm of procedure. It is of importance here to give a
resume of the contents of this book, since it became a juridical authority
which was followed in all countries, even in the Protestant, until after
the beginning of the eighteenth century. The spirit of the time can not be
better characterized than by this book; in no clearer or more tangible
way can it be shown whither supernatural ideas in cosmic philosophy will
lead, and how they finally will destroy reason, morality, human feeling,
and change the world into a mad-house.
The book to which the bull of Pope Innocent and a diploma from the emperor
Maximilian serve as a commendatory introduction, begins with an apology
intended to show that its author does not introduce any thing novel and
untried, but that its theories are entirely founded upon the Scriptures.
To prove this he quotes passages from the Old and New Testaments, from the
fathers, the decrees of the councils, the canonical letters, from the
writings of Thomas Aquinas, Damianus and others. The devil, says the
"Witch-hammer," has no power indeed to suspend natural laws, but the Bible
shows incontestably that God has vouchsafed him a wide dominion over the
natural powers of corporeal things. Witness only the history of Job, and
the temptation of Jesus in the desert. Further, the existence of the many
demoniacs spoken of in the New Testament proves that Satan can dwell in
man and use the human body as his implement. "But," says the
"Witch-hammer," constantly aiming to deduce all its conclusions ostensibly
according to logic, "there must be no confusion between demoniacs and
witches. The existence of the former does not prove the existence of the
latter; this must be demonstrated in a different way. And this is the
proof: The devil as a spiritual being is not capable of a real corporeal
contact. He must therefore make use of an instrument to which he imparts
his power; for every bodily effect is produced by contact. These
instruments are the sorcerers and the witches. It being then incontestable
on the one side that the power of the devil is great, and on the other
that he can accomplish nothing without the aid of sorcerers and witches,
the necessary conclusion is that these must exist. This conclusion is for
the rest most decisively confirmed by the Bible. Moses ordains that
witches should be put to death, a command which would be entirely
superfluous if witches had not existed. He who asserts that there are no
witches must therefore rightly be accounted a heretic."
The "Witch-hammer" then broaches the question, why it is that women are
especially addicted to sorcery, and answers it as follows: The holy
fathers have often said that there are three things which have no
moderation in good or evil: _the tongue_, a _priest_, and a _woman_.
Concerning woman this is evident. All ages have made complaints against
her. The wise Solomon, who was himself tempted to idolatry by women, has
often in his writings given the feminine sex a sad, but true, testimonial;
and the holy Chrysostom says: "What is woman but an enemy of friendship,
an unavoidable punishment, a necessary coil, a natural temptation, a
desirable affliction, a constantly flowing source of tears, a wicked work
of nature covered with a shining varnish?" Already had the first woman
entered into a sort of compact with the devil; should not then her
daughters do it also? The very word _femina_ (woman) means _one wanting in
faith_; for _fe_ means "faith," and _minus_ "less."[47] Since she was
formed of a crooked rib, her entire spiritual nature has been distorted
and inclined more towards sin than virtue. If we here compare the words of
Seneca, "Woman either loves or hates; there is no third possibility," it
is easy to see that when she does not love God she must resort to the
opposite extreme and hate him. It is thus clear why women especially are
addicted to the practice of sorcery.[48]
It might now be asked: How is it possible that God permits sorcery? The
"Witch-hammer" answers that God has allowed, without any detriment to his
perfections, the fall of angels and of our first parents; and as he
formerly sanctioned persecutions against the Christians, that the glory of
the martyr might be increased, so he also now permits sorcery that the
faith of the just may be the more manifest.
The crime of the witches exceeds all other. They unite in one person the
heretic, the apostate, and the murderer. The "Witch-hammer" proves that
they are worse than the devil himself, for he has fallen once for all, and
Christ has not suffered for him. The devil sins therefore only against the
Creator, but the witch both against the Creator and the Redeemer.
It is with these and similar questions that the first part of the
"Witch-hammer" is occupied. The second part, describing the various kinds
and effects of witchcraft and the celebration of the Witches' Sabbath is
prefaced with an account of the power of witches. They produce hail,
thunder and storms whenever they wish; they fly through the air from one
place to another; they can make themselves insensible on the rack; they
often subdue the judge's mind by charms, and _confuse him through
compassion_; they deprive men and animals of reproductive power; they can
see the absent, and predict coming events; they can fill, at their
pleasure, human hearts with relentless hatred and passionate love; they
destroy the foetus in the womb, cause miscarriages, change themselves
and others into cats and were-wolfs; nay, they are able to enchant and
kill men and beasts by their very looks. Their strongest passion is to eat
the flesh of children; still they eat only unchristened children: if at
any time a baptized child is taken by them, it happens by special divine
concession.
Their compact with the devil is of two kinds: either a solemn one entered
into with all formalities, or a mere private contract. The former is
concluded as follows: The witches assemble upon a day set apart by the
devil. He appears in the assembly, exhorts them to faithfulness, and
promises them glory, happiness and long life, and orders the older
witches to introduce the novices whom he puts to the test and causes to
take the oath of allegiance; whereupon he teaches them to prepare from the
limbs of new-born babes witch-potions and witch-salves, and presents them
with a powder, instructing them how it is to be used to the injury of men
and beasts.[49] When then the novice has renewed the ceremony of
allegiance on the next Witch Sabbath she is a genuine witch. The children
needed for the witches' kettles and the sabbath banquets are obtained as
follows: The victims are killed by looks or by the above-mentioned powder,
when they lie in their cradle or in bed with their mothers. Simple people
will then believe that they have died from some natural cause,--from
sickness or suffocation. Then when buried the witches steal them from the
grave. It has happened that judges have opened, after similar confessions,
the grave and found the child in it; but in such cases the judge must
consider that the devil is a great taskmaster who may have cheated the
eyes of the servants of justice, in order to protect his servants, and in
such a case the confession of the witch (forced from her by torture)
should prove more than the easily deluded vision of the judge. [What a
triumph of supernaturalistic argumentation!]
The witch accomplishes her aerial voyages, says the "Witch-hammer," by
smearing a vessel, a broom and a rake, a broomstick and a piece of linen,
with the witch-salve; then rising she moves forth through the air, visible
or invisible, according to her choice. The "Witch-hammer" reminds those
who doubt these air-voyages, of Matt. iv. 5, where it is related how the
devil carried Jesus up through the air to the pinnacle of the temple.
We now proceed to the third part of the "Witch-hammer," the criminal law
of the witch-courts, which gives instructions how "sorcerers, witches and
heretics are to be tried before spiritual as well as civil tribunals."
In regard to preliminary forms of procedure, the "Witch-hammer" lays down
first, "That the trial may commence without any previous accusation, and
on the strength of a simple report that witches are found somewhere; for
it is the duty of the judge in a case fraught with many dangers to the
soul, not to wait for an informer or accuser, but, _ex officio_, to
institute immediate inquiry." When an inquisitor comes to a city or a
village, he must exhort every body by means of proclamations nailed to the
doors of churches and town-halls, and by threats of excommunication and
punishment, to give information of all persons in any way suspected of
the least connection with the practice of witchcraft, or otherwise of bad
repute. The informers may be rewarded if the inquisitor thinks it well, by
the blessing of the Church, and with money. A box to receive the
statements of such informers as wish to be unknown should be placed in the
Church.
Two or three witnesses are sufficient to prove guilt. In case so many do
not present themselves, then the judge may take means to find and summon
them, and force them to tell the truth under oath. He has also the right
to examine witnesses previous to the actual trial. As for the
qualifications necessary to appear as witnesses, the "Witch-hammer"
declares that the excommunicate, accomplices, outlawed, runaway and
dissolute women are irreproachable witnesses in cases where the faith is
involved. A witch is allowed to testify against a witch, wife against
husband, husband against wife, children against parents and so on, but if
the testimonies of accomplices or relatives are to the advantage of the
accused, then they are of no validity; _for blood is of course thicker
than water_, and one raven does not willingly pick out the eyes of
another.
The "Witch-hammer" allows an accused to have an advocate, but adds: "If
the counsellor defends his suspected client too warmly, it is right and
reasonable that he should be considered as far more criminal than the
sorcerer or the witch herself; that is to say, as the protector of witches
and heretics, he is more dangerous than the sorcerer. He should be looked
upon with suspicion in the same degree as he makes a zealous defence." But
a trial may be difficult enough without being clogged and hampered by a
cunning advocate. In order to confuse such a one and ensnare the accused,
it is necessary, says the "Witch-hammer," that a judge should remember the
words of the apostle, "_Being crafty I caught you with guile_," and show
himself crafty. The "Witch-hammer" informs the judge of five "honest and
apostolical tricks" (these are the very words of the book); one of them
consists in embodying in the copy of the proceedings which is given to the
defending lawyer, a number of facts that have not occurred in the trial,
and in mixing the names of the witnesses. "By that means the accused and
their lawyer may be so confused that they nowise know who has said any
thing, or what has been said."
Among the questions to be put to a person under accusation, the
"Witch-hammer" recommends a number, the quality of which may be
appreciated by reading the following examples: "Do you know that people
hold you to be a witch? Why have you been observed upon the precincts of
N. N.? Why have you touched N. N.'s child (or cow)? How did it happen that
the child (or the cow) soon after fell sick? What was your business
outside of your house when the storm broke forth? How can you explain that
your cow yields three times as much milk as the cows of others?"
Sprenger's work gives a detailed account of the treatment to which a
person who is accused of sorcery and handed over to the judge must be
subjected. Before the trial the accused must be put on the rack in order
that his mind may be inclined to confession. Some, rather than confess
their guilt, allow themselves to be torn asunder limb by limb; they are
"the worst witches," and their endurance is explained by the supposition
"that the devil hardens them against their tortures." Others who have been
less faithful to him he abandons, and are thus easily induced to confess.
"If no confession has been wrung from the witch during the first day"--we
quote the "Witch-hammer" literally--"the torture is to be continued the
second and the third day. The civil law forbids, to be sure, to _repeat_
the torture, when no proof has been adduced, but it may be _continued_."
The judge should therefore use the following formula: "We ordain that the
torture shall be _continued_ (not _repeated_) to-morrow."
The second day the instruments of torture are to be exhibited to the
accused, and an attending priest shall read the following adjuration: "I
adjure thee, N. N., in the name of the Holy Trinity, by the bitter tears
of Jesus Christ which he shed upon the cross ... by the tears of God's
saints and elect which they have shed over the world ... that, if thou art
innocent, thou pour forth immediately abundant tears; but, if thou art
guilty, no tears at all. In the name of God our Father, the Son and the
Holy Ghost. Amen."
The person thus adjured seldom weeps. But if this should occur, the judge
should see that it be not saliva or some other fluid that moistens the eye
of the witch. The witch must be led into the court-room backwards, that
the judge may see her before she sees him. Otherwise she may enchant him
and move him to criminal compassion.
Before the examination of witnesses, the accused must be stripped of all
her clothing and have all the hair on her body shaved off, and her limbs
must be carefully examined to ascertain if they bear marks, for the
devil marks his own. It must be further ascertained by pricking with a
needle if any part of the body is devoid of feeling, for that is a sure
sign of a witch. Still the absence of such a sign nowise proves innocence.
If the witch can not be made to confess by any means, then the judge must
send her to a distant prison. The janitor, some friend and chaste women
are to be persuaded to visit the prisoner, and promise to help her to
escape, if she will only inform them of some of her arts. In this way,
remarks the author of the "Witch-hammer," many a one has been ensnared by
us.
We conclude here our account of Sprenger's dreadful book. The reader has
contemplated sufficiently this fruit on the tree of the devil.--It may
fill us with loathing to consider it, but its teachings are instructive.
May we know the tree from the fruit, and may we tear it up with its
roots--with those roots yet so abundantly watered by men who know not what
they are doing. The fires which the bull of Pope Innocent kindled all
over Europe, threw their weird light far into the times which have been
called the modern,--far in the eighteenth century. To count these victims
of the stake would be impossible. It is, however, sometimes attempted in
our days; archives are searched through and discoveries are made which
surpass every anticipation. The victims amount to millions.
No age was spared. Children were brought to the stake with their mothers.
A silent, gloomy presentiment seized every community when the proclamation
on the church doors announced that the inquisitor had arrived. All work in
the shops and fields ceased, and all the evil passions flared up into
greater activity. He who had an open enemy, or suspected secret envy, knew
beforehand that he was lost. It was considered better to anticipate than
to be anticipated in denouncing; and the tribunal had hardly commenced its
activity, ere it was overcrowded with informers. "When they had commenced
in one place to burn witches," says an author of the seventeenth century,
"more were found in proportion as they were burned." In various
communities in Germany and France _all_ the women were sent to the stake.
In many instances it went so far that princes and potentates were forced,
from fear of seeing their subjects exterminated, to stay by _authoritative
command_ the madness of the inquisitors. Greed brought fuel to the flames
which superstition and hatred kindled. We will quote but one example from
the history of the Scotch witch-processes. A man named Hopkins who was
sent to the gallows, convicted of murder, confessed there that he had
brought two hundred women to the stake, and for a recompense of twenty
shillings each,--a sum with which the judge rewarded him.
And there was heard in all Europe for many centuries not a single voice
raised in the effort to stay the murder with weapons of reason or
religion! If there was any who did not share the madness of his time, fear
paralyzed his tongue, and learning and religion, far from impeding the
evil, had yoked themselves to its triumphal ear. With the Bible in their
hands, the theologians sanctioned these barbarous proceedings, and the
learned defended them with reasons drawn from the fathers and with subtle
argumentation. The Protestant theologians vied with the Catholic in
learning. Even Luther and the first reformers did not check, but promoted,
the belief in devils. If paganism had been described by the fathers as
Satan's work and empire, Luther referred the preceding life of the Church
from the beginning of papacy to the same sphere, and changed the whole
history of humankind to a diabolical drama. The struggle between the
Reformation and Catholicism contributed in still another way to intensify
the faith in devils. The religious contest stirred the mind of the age in
its innermost depths. Many who occupied middle ground between the
reforming preacher on the one hand and the Catholic priest on the other,
were hesitating between the old and the new, and many consciences which
had already embraced the new were agitated by uneasiness and doubt. The
Catholic divine saw in these doubts the beginning of the victory over
Satanic error; the Protestant theologian declared the same doubts to be
inspired by the originator of papacy, the devil. We can appreciate this
state of things by reading Luther's "Tischreden." Men terrified, for
instance, by a dream or a strange noise in the night (nothing more than
this was required for such an effect) hurried to their pastor to lay their
troubles before him. They were then informed, on the one hand, that the
dream or the voice was caused by the devil, to whom their apostacy had
bound them over, or, on the other, that Satan was trying to frighten them
back into the errors which they had abandoned. In both cases the archfiend
was the agent. "He was in the castle of the knight, the palaces of the
mighty, the libraries of the learned, on every page of the Bible, in the
churches, in the halls of justice, in the lawyer's chambers, in the
laboratories of physicians and naturalists, in cottages, farmyards,
stalls,--everywhere."[50]
He was indeed everywhere, and Christendom had become a hell. "The belief
in the devil," says a British author,[51] speaking upon this subject, "had
had the effect, that all rational knowledge had disappeared, that all
sound philosophy was denounced, that the morality of the people was
poisoned and humanity sunk in a whirlpool of folly, godlessness and
brutality. All classes were carried away by this whirlpool. The God of
nature and Revelation had no longer the reins of the world in his hand.
The powers of hell and darkness, born of a diseased imagination, reigned
upon the earth."
* * * * *
Throwing its gloomy shadow even into the eighteenth century, it was,
however, during the Middle Ages that the belief in sorcery sent down its
deep and mighty roots. This is not to be wondered at. The men of the
Middle Ages lived less in the real than in a world of magic, in a world
resembling more the paintings of "Helvetes-Breughels" than the
descriptions of Armidas isle. The air was saturated with demoniacal
vapors. The popular literature consisted of legends of saints and stories
about the devil. The Church, the general asylum against the devil, saw and
taught the people to see everywhere the play of evil powers which must be
conquered by magical practices, and amidst Ahriman and his hosts who had
now established themselves in the Occident, and as heirs to the horns and
tails of Pans and fauns, a crowd of native spirits moved; imps, giants,
trolls, forest-spirits, elves and hobgoblins in and on the earth; nicks,
river-sprites in the water, fiends in the air, and salamanders in the
fire. And to these elementary spirits were added a whole fauna of
monsters, such as dragons, griffins, were-wolves, witch-kine,
Thor's-swine, and so on. But this does not conclude the review: spectres,
ghosts, vampires, spirits causing the nightmare, and so on,--supernatural
beings derived from the human world, but of dimmer outlines than the
preceding,--conclude the motley procession. The mandrake has a place in
it also. This being deserves a few lines here, inasmuch as it has now
faded from the popular superstitions.