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INNOCENTIVS . VIII . PAPA GENVENSIS

4

MALLEUS

MALEFIC

ARUM translated

with an Introduction, Biblio¬ graphy and Notes by the Rev. Montague Summers

THE PUSHKIN PRESS LONDON

FIRST EDITION I JOHN RODKER 1 928 FIRST PRINTED IN THIS FORM 1 948

Bv'/S. A A 14-

PRINTED

BY THE REPLIKA

PROCESS

IN GREAT BRITAIN BY

LUND HUMPHRIES LONDON • BRADFORD

CONTENTS

PAOE

INTRODUCTION xi

A NOTE UPON THE BIBLIOGRAPHY xvii

THE BULL OF INNOCENT VIII xix

THE FIRST PART

TREATING OF THE THREE NECESSARY CONCOMITANTS OF WITCHCRAFT WHICH ARE THE DEVIL. A WITCH, AND THE

PERMISSION OF

*

PART ONE

Question I.

Whether the Belief that there are such Beings as Witches is so Essential a Part of the Catholic Faith that Obstinacy to maintain the Opposite Opinion manifestly savours of Heresy page i

Question II.

If it be in Accordance with the Catholic Faith to maintain that in Order to bring about some Effect of Magic, the Devil must intimately co-operate with the Witch, or whether one without the other, that is to say, the Devil without the Witch, or conversely, could produce such an Effect 12

Question III.

Whether Children can be Generated by Incubi and Succubi 21

Question IV.

By which Devils are the Operations of Incubus and Succubus Practised? 28

Question V.

What is the Source of the Increase of Works of Witchcraft? Whence comes it that the Practice of Witchcraft hath so notably increased? 31

Question VI.

Concerning Witches who copulate with Devils. Why is it that Women are chiefly addicted to Evil Superstitions? / 41

Question VII.

Whether Witches can Sway the Minds of Men to Love or Hatred 48

Question VIII.

Whether Witches can Hebetate the Powers of Generation or Obstruct the Venereal Act 54

Question IX.

Whether Witches may work some Prestidigitatory Illusion so that the Male Organ appears to be entirely removed and separate from the Body 58

Question X.

Whether Witches can by some Glamour Change Men into Beasts 61

ALMIGHTY GOD

Question XI.

That Witches who are Midwives in Various Ways Kill the Child Conceived in the Womb, and Pro¬ cure an Abortion; or if they do not this, Offer New-born Children to Devils page 66

Question XII.

Whether the Permission of Almighty God is an Accompaniment of Witchcraft 66

Question XIII.

Herein is set forth the Question concerning the Two Divine Permissions which God justly allows, namely, that the Devil, the Author of all Evil, should Sin, and that our First Parents should Fall, from which Origins the Works of Witches are justly suffered to take place 71

Solutions of the Arguments.

Question XIV.

The Enormity of Witches is Considered, and it is shown that the Whole Matter should be rightly Set Forth and Declared 73

Question XV.

It is Shown that, on Account of the Sins of Witches, the Innocent are often Bewitched, yea, Sometimes even for their Own Sins 77

Question XVI.

The Foregoing Truths are Set out in Particular; this by a Comparison of the Works of Witches with Other Baleful Superstitions 80

Question XVII.

A Comparison of their Crimes under Fourteen Heads, with the Sins of the Devils of all and every Kind 82

Question XVIII.

Here follows the Method of Preaching against and Controverting Five Arguments of Laymen and Lewd Folk, which seem to be Variously Ap¬ proved, that God does not Allow so Great rower to the Devil and Witches as is Involved in the Performance of such Mighty Works of Witch¬ craft 84

Vll

VI 11

CONTENTS

THE SECOND PART

TREATING OF THE METHODS BY WHICH THE WORKS OF WITCHCRAFT ARE WROUGHT AND DIRECTED, AND HOW THEY MAY BE SUCCESSFULLY ANNULLED AND DISSOLVED

Resolved in but two Questions, yet these are divided into many Chapters.

QUESTION I

Of those against whom the Power of Witches availeth not at all page 89

Here followeth Various Ways

Chapter XIV. how Witches Injure

in

Cattle page 144

Chapter I.

Of the several Methods by which Devils through Witches Entice and Allure the Innocent to the Increase of that Horrid Craft and Company 96

Chapter II.

Of the Way whereby a Formal Pact with Evil is made gg

Chap ter III.

How they arc Transported from Place to Place 104

Chapter IV.

Here follows the Way whereby Witches copulate with those Devils known as Incubi 109

Chapter V.

Witches commonly perform their Spells through the Sacraments of the Church. And how they Impair the Powers of Generation, and how they may Cause other Ills to happen to God’s Creatures of all Kinds. But herein we except the Question of the Influence of the Stars 1 14

Chapter VI.

How Witches Impede and Prevent the Power of Procreation 1 j 7

Chapter VII.

How, as it were, they Deprive Man of his Virile Member 1 1 8

Chapter VIII.

Of the Maimer whereby they Change Men into the Shapes of Beasts 122

Chapter IX.

How Devils may enter the Human Body and the Head without doing any Hurt, when they cause such Metamorphosis by Means of Prestidigita¬ tion 124

Chapter X.

Of the Method by which Devils through the Operations of Witches sometimes actually possess Men I28

Chapter XI.

Of the Method by which they can Inflict Every Sort of Infirmity, generally Ills of the Graver Kind 134

Chapter XII.

Of the Way how in Particular they Afflict Men with Other Like Infirmities 137

Chapter XV.

mi ■ lilii m

How they Raise and Stir up Hailstorms and Tempests, and Cause Lightning to Blast both Men and Beasts 147

Chapter XVI.

Of Three Ways in which Men and not Women may be Discovered to be Addicted to Witchcraft: Divided into Three Heads: and First of the Witchcraft of Archers 1 50

QUESTION II

THE METHODS OF DESTROYING AND CURING WITCHCRAFT

Introduction, wherein is Set Forth the Difficulty of this

Question.

Chapter I.

The Remedies prescribed by Holy Church against Incubus and Succubus Devils 164

Chapter II.

Remedies prescribed for Those who are Bewitched by the Limitation of the Generative Power 167

Chapter III.

Remedies prescribed for those who are Bewitched by being Inflamed with Inordinate Love or Extraordinary Hatred 1 70

Chapter IV.

Remedies prescribed for those who by Prestidi- gitatory Art have lost their Virile Members or have seemingly been Transformed into the Shapes of Beasts 1 73

Chapter V.

Prescribed Remedies for those who are Obsessed owing to some Spell 1 75

Chapter VI.

Prescribed Remedies ; to wit, the Lawful Exorcisms of the Church, for all Sorts of Infirmities and Ills due to Witchcraft; and the Method of Exorcising those who are Bewitched 1 7g

Chapter VII.

Remedies prescribed against Hailstorms, and for Animals that are Bewitched 188

Chapter XIII.

How Witch Midwives commit most Horrid Crimes when they either Kill Children or Offer them to Devils in most Accursed Wise 140

Chapter VIII.

Certain Remedies prescribed against those Dark and Horrid Harms with which Devils may Afflict Men 1 92

CONTENTS

ix

THE THIRD PART

RELATING TO THE JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS IN BOTH THE ECCLESIASTICAL AND CIVIL COURTS AGAINST WITCHES AND INDEED ALL HERETICS

Containing XXXV Questions in which are most Clearly set out the Formal Rules for Initiating a Process of Justice, how it should be Conducted, and the Method of Pronouncing Sentence.

QUESTION I General and Introductory

Who are the Fit and Proper Judges in the Trial of Witches? page 194

THE FIRST HEAD

Question I.

The Method of Initiating a Process 205

Question II.

Of the Number of the Witnesses 208

Question III.

Of the Solemn Adjuration and Re-examination of Witnesses 209

Question IV.

Of the Quality and Condition of Witnesses 209

Question V.

Whether Mortal Enemies may be Admitted as

Witnesses 209

THE SECOND HEAD

Question VI.

How the Trial is to be Proceeded with and Con¬ tinued. And how the Witnesses are to be Examined in the Presence of Four Other Persons, and how the Accused is to be Questioned in Two Ways 2 1 o

Question VII.

In Which Various Doubts are Set Forth with Regard to the Foregoing Questions and Negative Answers. Whether the Accused is to be Im¬ prisoned, and when she is to be considered as Manifestly Taken in the Foul Heresy of Witch¬ craft. This is the Second Action 213

Question VIII.

Which Follows from the Preceding Question, Whether the Witch is to be Imprisoned, and of the Method of Taking her. This is the Third Action of the Judge 2 14

Question IX.

What is to be done after the Arrest, and whether the Names of the Witnesses should be made Known to the Accused. This is the Fourth Action 216

Question X.

What Kind of Defence may be Allowed, and of the Appointment of an Advocate. This is the Fifth Action 217

Question XI.

What Course the Advocate should Adopt when the Names of the Witnesses are not Revealed to him. The Sixth Action 218

Question XII.

Of the Same Matter, Declaring more Particularly how the Question of Personal Enmity is to be Investigated. The Seventh Action. page 220

Question XIII.

Of the Points to be Observed by the Judge before the Formal Examination in the Place of Deten¬ tion and Torture. This is the Eighth Action 222

Question XIV.

Of the Method of Sentencing the Accused to be Questioned: and How she must be Questioned on the First Day; and Whether she may be Promised her Life. The Ninth Action 225

Question XV.

Of the Continuing of the Torture, and of the Devices and Signs by which the Judge can Recognize a Witch ; and how he ought to Protect himself from their Spells. Also how they are to be Shaved in those Parts where they use to Conceal the Devil’s Masks and Tokens ; to¬ gether with the due Setting Forth of Various Means of Overcoming their Obstinacy in Keeping Silence and Refusal to Confess. And it is the Tenth Action 227

Question XVI.

Of the fit Time and of the Method of the Second Examination. And it is the Eleventh Action, concerning the Final Precautions to be Observed by the Judge 230

THE THIRD HEAD

Which is the last Part of this Work. How the Process is to be Concluded by the Pronounce¬ ment of a Definite and Just Sentence 232

Question XVII.

Of Common Purgation, and especially of the Trial by Red-hot Iron, to which Witches Appeal 233

Question XVIII.

Of the Manner of Pronouncing a Sentence which is Final and Definitive 235

Question XIX.

Of the Various Degrees of Overt Suspicion which render the Accused liable to be Sentenced 236

Question XX.

Of the First Method of Pronouncing Sentence 240 Question XXL

Of the Second Method of Pronouncing Sentence, when the Accused is no more than Defamed 241

Question XXII.

Of the Third Kind of Sentence, to be Pronounced on one who is Defamed, and who is to be put to the Question 242

X

CONTENTS

Question XXI1J.

The Fourth Method of Sentencing, in the Case of one Accused upon a Light Suspicion page 244

Question XXIV.

The Fifth Manner of Sentence, in the Case of one under Strong Suspicion 246

Question XXV.

The Sixth Kind of Sentence, in the Case of one who is Gravely Suspect 248

Question XXVI.

The Method of passing Sentence upon one who is both Suspect and Defamed 250

Question XXVII.

The Method of passing Sentence upon one who hath Confessed to Heresy, but is not Penitent 252

Question XXVIII.

The Method of passing Sentence upon one who hath Confessed to Heresy but is Relapsed,

Albeit now Penitent 254

Question XXIX.

The Method of passing Sentence upon one who hath Confessed to Heresy but is Impenitent,

although not Relapsed 257

Question XXX.

Of One who has Confessed to Heresy, is Relapsed, and is also Impenitent page 258

Question XXXI.

Of One Taken and Convicted, but Denying Everything 259

Question XXXII.

Of One who is Convicted but who hath Fled or who Contumaciously Absents himself 261

Question XXXIII.

Of the Method of passing Sentence upon one who has been Accused by another Witch, who has been or is to be Burned at the Stake 264

Question XXXIV.

Of the Method of passing Sentence upon a Witch who Annuls Spells wrought by Witchcraft ; and of Witch Midwives and Archer-Wizards 268

Question XXXV.

Finally, of the Method of passing Sentence upon Witches who Enter or Cause to be Entered an Appeal, whether such be Frivolous or Legitimate and Just 2^x

INTRODUCTION

IT has been observed that “it is quite impossible to appreciate and understand the true and inner lives of men and women in Elizabethan and Stuart England, in the France of Louis XIII and during the long reign of his son and successor, in Italy of the Renaissance and the Catholic Reaction — to name but three European coun¬ tries and a few definite periods — unless we have some realization of the part that Witchcraft played in those ages amid the affairs of these Kingdoms. All classes were affected and concerned from Pope to peasant, from Queen to cottage girl.”

Witchcraft was inextricably mixed with politics. Matthew Paris tells us how in 1232 the Chief Justice Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, (Shakespeare’s “gentle Hubert” in King John), was, amongst other crimes, openly accused by Peter de Roches, Bishop of Win¬ chester, of having won the favour of Henry III through “charms and incan¬ tations”. In 1324 there was a terrific scandal at Coventry when it was dis¬ covered that a number of the richest and most influential burghers of the town had long been consulting with Master John, a professional necro¬ mancer, and paying him large sums to bring about by his arts the death of Edward II and several nobles of the court. Alice Perrers, the mistress of Edward III, was not only reputed to have infatuated the old King by occult spells, but her physician (believed to be a mighty sorcerer) was arrested on a charge of confecting love philtres and talismans. Henry V, in the autumn of 1419, prosecuted his stepmother, Joan of Navarre, for attempting to kill him by witchcraft, “in the most horrible manner that one could devise.” The conqueror of Agincourt was exceeding¬ ly worried about the whole wretched business, as also was the Archbishop of Canterbury, who ordered public prayers

for the King’s safety. In the reign of his son, Henry VI, in 1441, one of the highest and noblest ladies in the realm, Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Glouces¬ ter, was arraigned for conspiring with “a clerk”, Roger Bolingbroke, “a most notorious evoker of demons”, and “the most famous scholar in the whole world in astrology in magic”, to procure the death of the young monarch by sorcery, so that the Duke of Gloucester, Henry’s uncle and guardian, might succeed to the crown. In this plot were further involved Canon Thomas Southwell, and a “relapsed witch”, that is to say, one who had previously (eleven years before) been incarcerated upon grave suspicion of black magic, Margery Jourdemayne. Bolingbroke, whose con¬ fession implicated the Duchess, was hanged ; Canon Southwell died in prison; the witch in Smithfield was “burn’d to Ashes”, since her offence was high treason. The Duchess was sentenced to a most degrading public penance, and imprisoned for life in Peel Castle, Isle of Man. Richard III, upon seizing the throne in 1483, declared that the marriage of his brother, Edward IV, with the Lady Elizabeth Grey, had been brought about by “sorcery and witchcraft”, and further that “Edward’s wife, that mon¬ strous witch,” has plotted with Jane Shore to waste and wither his body. Poor Jane Shore did most exemplary penance, walking the flinty streets of London barefoot in her kirtle. In the |j same year when Richard wanted to get rid of the Duke of Buckingham, his former ally, one of the chief accusations he launched was that the Duke con¬ sulted with a Cambridge “necroman¬ cer” to compass and devise his death.

One of the most serious and frighten¬ ing events in the life of James VII of Scotland (afterwards James I of Eng¬ land) was the great conspiracy of 1 590, organized by the Earl of Bothwell.

xi

Xll

INTRODUCTION

James with good reason feared and hated Bothwell, who, events amply proved, was Grand Master of a com¬ pany of more than one hundred witches, all adepts in poisoning, and all eager to do away with the King. In other words, Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, was the centre and head of a vast political plot. A widespread popular panic was the result of the discovery of this murderous conspiracy.

In France as early as 583, when the infant son and heir of King Chilperic, died of dysentery, as the doctors diag¬ nosed it, it came to light that Mum- molus, one of the leading officials of the court, had been secretly administering to the child medicines, which he ob¬ tained from “certain witches of Paris”. These potions were pronounced by the physicians to be strong poisons. In 1308, Guichard, Bishop of Troyes, was accused of having slain by sorcery the Queen of Philip IV of France (1285-1314), Jeanne of Navarre, who died three years before. The trial dragged on from 1308 to 1313, and many witnesses attested on oath that the prelate had continually visited certain notorious witches, who supplied him philtres and draughts. In 1315, during the brief reign (1314-1316) of Louis X, the eldest son of Philip IV, was hanged Enguerrand de Marigny, chamberlain, privy councillor, and chief favourite of Philip, whom, it was alleged, he had bewitched to gain the royal favour. The fact, however, which sealed his doom was his consultation with one Jacobus de Lor, a warlock, who was to furnish a nostrum warranted to put a very short term to the life of King Louis. Jacobus strangled himself in prison.

In 1317 Hugues Geraud, Bishop of Cahors, was executed by Pope John XXII, who reigned 1316-1334, resid¬ ing at Avignon. Langlois says that the Bishop had attempted the Pontiff’s life by poison procured from witches.

Perhaps the most resounding of all scandals of this kind in France was the La Voison case, 1679-1682, when it was discovered that Madame de Mon¬ tespan had for years been trafficking with a gang of poisoners and sorcerers, who plotted the death of the Queen and the Dauphin, so that Louis XIV might be free to wed Athenais de Montespan,

whose children should inherit the throne. The Duchesse de Fontanges, a beautiful young country girl, who had for a while attracted the wayward fancy of Louis, they poisoned out of hand. Money was poured out like water, and it has been said that “the entire flood- tide of poison, witchcraft and diabolism was unloosed” to attain the ends of that “marvellous beauty” (so Mme. de Sevigne calls her), the haughty and reckless Marquise de Montespan. In her thwarted fury she well nigh resolved to sacrifice Louis himself to her over¬ weening ambition and her boundless pride. The highest names in France — the Princesse de Tingry, the Duchesse de Vitry, the Duchesse de Lusignan, the Duchesse de Bouillon, the Comtesse de Soissons, the Due de Luxembourg, the Marquis de Cessac — scores of the oldest aristocracy, were involved, whilst literally hundreds of venal apothecaries, druggists, pseudo-alchemists, astrolo¬ gers, quacks, warlocks, magicians, char¬ latans, who revolved round the ominous and terrible figure of Catherine La Voisin, professional seeress, fortune¬ teller, herbalist, beauty-specialist, were caught in the meshes of the law. No less than eleven volumes of Francois Ravais- son’s huge work, Archives de la Bastille , are occupied with this evil crew and their doings, their sorceries and their poisonings.

During the reign of Urban VIII, Maffeo Barberini, 1623-1644, there was a resounding scandal at Rome when it was discovered that “after many invo¬ cations of demons” Giacinto Contini, nephew of the Cardinal d’Ascoli, had been plotting with various accomplices to put an end to the Pope’s life, and thus make way for the succession of his uncle to the Chair of Peter. Tommaso Orsolini of Recanate, moreover, after consulting with certain scryers and planetarians, readers of the stars, was endeavouring to bribe the apothecary Carcurasio of Naples to furnish him with a quick poison, which might be mingled with the tonics and electuaries prescribed for the ailing Pontiff, (Ranke, History of the Popes, ed. 1901, Vol. III, PP- 375-6)-

To sum up, as is well observed by Professor Kittredge, who more than once emphasized “I have no belief in

INTRODUCTION

Xlll

the black art or in the interference of demons in the daily life of mortals”, it makes no difference whether any of the charges were true or whether the whole affairs were hideous political chicanery. “Anyhow, it reveals the beliefs and the practices of the age.”

Throughout the centuries witchcraft was universally held to be a dark and horrible reality; it was an ever-present, fearfully ominous menace, a thing most active, most perilous, most powerful and true. Some may consider these mysteries and cantrips and invocations, these sabbats and rendezvous, to have been .merest mummery and pantomime, but there is no question that the psychological effect was incalculable, and harmful in the highest degree. It was, to use a modern phrase, “a war of nerves”. Jean Bodin, the famous juris¬ consult (1530-90) whom Montaigne acclaims to be the highest literary genius of his time, and who, as a lead¬ ing member of the Parlement de Paris, presided over important trials, gives it as his opinion that there existed, not only in France, a complete organization of witches, immensely wealthy, of al¬ most infinite potentialities, most clever¬ ly captained, with centres and cells in every district, utilizing an espionage in every land, with high-placed adherents at court, with humble servitors in the cottage. This organization, witchcraft, maintained a relentless and ruthless war against the prevailing order and settled state. No design was too trea¬ cherous, no betrayal was too cowardly, no blackmail too base and foul. The Masters lured their subjects with mag¬ nificent promises, they lured and delu¬ ded and victimized. Not the least dreaded and dreadful weapon in their armament was the ancient and secret knowledge of poisons ( veneficia ), of herbs healing and hurtful, a tradition and a lore which had been handed down from remotest antiquity.

Little wonder, then, that later social historians, such as Charles Mackay and Lecky, both absolutely impartial and unprejudiced writers, sceptical even, devote many pages, the result of long and laborious research, to witchcraft. They did not believe in witchcraft as in any sense supernatural, although perhaps abnormal. But the centuries of

which they were writing believed in¬ tensely in it, and it was their business as scholars to examine and explain the reasons for such belief. It was by no means all mediaeval credulity and ignorance and superstition. Mackay and Lecky fully recognized this, as indeed they were in all honesty bound to do. They met with facts, hard facts, which could neither have been acci¬ dents nor motiveless, and these facts must be accounted for and elucidated. The profoundest thinkers, the acutest and most liberal minds of their day, such men as Cardan; Trithemius; the encyclopaedic Delrio; Bishop Binsfeld; the learned physician, Caspar Peucer; Jean Bodin; Sir Edward Coke, “father of the English law”; Francis Bacon; Malebranche; Bayle; Glanvil; Sir Thomas Browne; Cotton Mather; all these, and scores besides, were con¬ vinced of the dark reality of witchcraft, of the witch organization. Such a con¬ sensus of opinion throughout the years cannot be lightly dismissed.

The literature of the subject, dis¬ cussing it in every detail, from every point of view, from every angle, is enormous. For example, such a Biblio¬ graphy as that of Yve-Plessis, 1900, which deals only with leading French cases and purports to be no more than a supplement to the Bibliographies of Graesse, the Catalogues of the Abbe Sepher, Ouvaroff, the comte d’Ourches, the forty-six volumes of Dr. Hoefer, Schieble, Stanislas de Guaita, and many more, lists nearly 2,000 items, and in a note we are warned that the work is very far from complete. The Manuel Bibliographique , 3 vols., 1912, of Albert L. Caillet, gives 1 1 ,648 items. Caillet has many omissions, some being trea¬ tises of the first importance. The library of witchcraft may without exaggeration be said to be incalculable.

It is hardly disputed that in the whole vast literature of witchcraft, the most prominent, the most important, the most authoritative volume is the Malleus Maleficarum ( The Witch Hammer) of Heinrich Kramer (Henricus Insti¬ toris) and James Sprenger. The date of the first edition of the Malleus cannot be fixed with absolute certainty, but the likeliest year is i486. There were, at any rate, fourteen editions between 1487

XIV

INTRODUCTION

♦

and 1520, and at least sixteen editions between 1574 and 1669. These were issued from the leading German, French and Italian presses. The latest reprint of the original text of the Malleus is to be found in the noble four volume collection of Treatises on Witchcraft, “sumptibus Claudii Bourgeat”, 4to., Lyons, 1669. There is a modern Ger¬ man translation by J. W. R. Schmidt, Der Hexenhammer, 3 vols., Berlin, 1906; second edition, 1922-3. There is also an English translation with Introduction, Bibliography, and Notes by Montague Summers, published John Rodker, 1928.

The Malleus acquired especial weight and dignity from the famous Bull of Pope Innocent VIII, Summis deside¬ rantes affectibus of 9 December, 1484, in which the Pontiff, lamenting the power and prevalence of the witch organiza¬ tion, delegates Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger as inquisitors of these pravities throughout Northern Ger¬ many, particularly in the provinces and dioceses of Mainz, Cologne, Treves, Salzburg, and Bremen, granting both and either of them an exceptional authorization, and by Letters Apostolic requiring the Bishop of Strasburg, Albrecht von Bayern (1478-1506), not only to take all steps to publish and proclaim the Bull, but further to afford Kramer and Sprenger every assistance, even calling in, if necessary, the help of the secular arm.

This Bull, which was printed as the Preface to the Malleus , was thus, com¬ ments Dr. H. C. Lea, “spread broad¬ cast over Europe”. In fact, “it fastened on European jurisprudence for nearly three centuries the duty of combating” the Society of Witches. The Malleus lay on the bench of every judge, on the desk of every magistrate. It was the ultimate, irrefutable, unarguable au¬ thority. It was implicitly accepted not only by Catholic but by Protestant legislature. In fine, it is not too much to say that the Malleus Maleficarum is among the most important, wisest, and weightiest books of the world.

„ It has been asked whether Kramer or Sprenger was principally responsible for the Malleus , but in the case of so close a collaboration any such inquiry seems singularly superfluous and nuga¬ tory. With regard to instances of joint

authorship, unless there be some defi¬ nite declaration on the part of one of the authors as to his particular share in a work, or unless there be some unusual and special circumstances bearing on the point, such perquisitions and analy¬ ses almost inevitably resolve thefnselves into a cloud of guess-work and bootless hazardry and vague perhaps. It be¬ comes a game of literary blind-man’s- buff.

Heinrich Kramer was born at Schlettstadt, a town of Lower Alsace, situated some twenty-six miles south¬ west of Strasburg. At an early age he entered the Order of S. Dominic, and so remarkable was his genius that whilst still a young man he was appointed to the position of Prior of the Dominican House at his native town, Schlettstadt. He was a Preacher-General and a Master of Sacred Theology, P.G. and S.T.M., two high distinctions in the Dominican Order. At some date before 1474 he was appointed an Inquisitor for the Tyrol, Salzburg, Bohemia, and Moravia. His eloquence in the pulpit and tireless activity received due recog¬ nition at Rome, and for many years he was Spiritual Director of the great Dominican church at Salzburg, and the right-hand of the Archbishop of Salzburg, a munificent prelate who praises him highly in a letter which is still extant. In the late autumn or winter of 1485 Kramer had already drawn up a learned instruction or treatise on the subject of witchcraft. This circulated in manuscript, and is (almost in its entirety) incorporated in the Malleus. By the Bull of Innocent VIII in December, 1484, he had already been associated with James Sprenger to make inquisition for and try witches and sorcerers. In 1495, the Master General of the Order, Fr. Joaquin de Torres, O.P., summoned Kramer to Venice in order that he might give public lectures, disputations which attracted crowded audiences, and which were honoured by the presence and patronage of the Patriarch of Venice. He also strenuously defended the Papal supremacy, confuting the De Monarchia of the Paduan jurisconsult, Antonio degli Roselli. At Venice he resided at the priory of Santi Giovanni e Paolo (S. Zanipolo). During the

INTRODUCTION

xv

summer of 1497, he had returned to Germany, and was living at the convent of Rohr, near Regensburg. On 31 January, 1500, Alexander VI appointed him as Nuncio and Inquisitor of Bohemia and Moravia, in which pro¬ vinces he was deputed and empowered to proceed against the Waldenses and Picards, as well as against the adherents of the witch-society. He wrote and preached with great fervour until the end. He died in Bohemia in 1505.

His chief works, in addition to the Malleus , are: Several Discourses and Vari¬ ous Sermons upon the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist ; Nuremberg, 1496; A Tract Confuting the Errors of Master Antonio degli Roselli ; Venice, 1499; and The Shield of Defence of the Holy Roman Church Against the Picards and Waldenses ; an incunabulum, without date, but almost certainly 1499-1500. Many learned authors quote' and refer to these treatises in terms of highest praise.

James Sprenger was born in Basel, 1436-8. He was admitted a novice in the Dominican house of this town in 1452. His extraordinary genius attrac¬ ted immediate attention, and his rise to a responsible position was very rapid. According to Pierre Helyot, the Fran¬ ciscan (1680-1716), Histoire des Ordres Religieux , III (1715), ch. XXVI, in 1389 Conrad of Prussia abolished cer¬ tain relaxations and abuses which had crept into the Teutonic Province of the Order of S. Dominic, and restored the Primitive and Strict Obedience. He was closely followed by Sprenger, whose zealous reform was so warmly approved that in 1468 the General Chapter ordered him to lecture on the Sentences of Peter Lombard at the University of Cologne, to which he was thus officially attached. A few years later he proceeded Master of Theology, and was elected Prior and Regent of Studies of the Cologne Convent, one of the most famous and frequented Houses of the Order. On 30 June, 1480, he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University. His lecture-room was thronged, and in the following year, at the Chapter held in Rome, the Master General of the Order, Fra Salvo Cassetta, appointed him Inquisitor Extraordinary for the Provinces of Mainz, Treves, and Cologne. His

activities were enormous, and deman¬ ded constant journeyings through the very extensive district to which he had been assigned. In 1488 he was elected Provincial of the whole German Pro¬ vince, an office of the first importance. It is said that his piety and his learning impressed all who came in contact with him. In 1495 he was residing at Cologne, and here he received a letter from Alexander VI praising his en¬ thusiasm and his energy. He died rather suddenly, in the odour of sanctity — some chronicles call him Beatus” — on 6 December, 1495, a* Strasburg, where he is buried.

Among Sprenger’s other writings, excepting the Malleus , are The Para¬ doxes of John of Westphalia Refuted , Mainz, 1479, a closely argued treatise; and The Institution and Approbation of the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary , which was first erected at Cologne on 8 September in the year 1475, Cologne, 1475. Sprenger may well be called the Apostle of the Rosary”. None more fervent than he in spreading this Dominican elevation. His zeal enrolled thousands, including the Emperor Fred¬ erick III, in the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary, which was enriched with many indulgences by a Bull of Sixtus IV. It has been observed that the writings of Father James Sprenger on the Rosary are well approved by many learned men, Pontiffs, Saints and Theo¬ logians alike. There can be no doubt that Sprenger was a mystic of the high¬ est order, a man of most saintly life.

The Dominican chroniclers, such as Quetif and Echard, number Kramer and Sprenger among the glories and heroes of their Order.

Certain it is that the Malleus Malefi¬ carum is the most solid, the most impor¬ tant work in the whole vast library of witchcraft. One turns to it again and again with edification and interest. From the point of psychology, from the point of jurisprudence, from the point of history, it is supreme. It is hardly too much to say that later writers, great as they are, have done little more than draw from the seemingly inexhaustible wells of wisdom which the two Domini¬ cans, Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, have given us in the Malleus Maleficarum.

B

XVI

INTRODUCTION

What is most surprising is the modernity of the book. There is hardly a problem, a complex, a difficulty, which they have not foreseen, and discussed, and resolved.

Here are cases which occur in the law-courts to-day, set out with the greatest clarity, argued with unflinch¬ ing logic, and judged with scrupulous impartiality.

It is a work which must irresistibly capture the attention of all men who

think, all who see, or are endeavouring to see, the ultimate reality beyond the accidents of matter, time and space.

The Malleus Maleficarum is one of the world's few books written sub specie aeternitatis.

Montague Summers.

7 October, 1946.

In Festo SS . Rosarii.

NOTA. — To Dr. //. J. Norman I wish to express my grateful thanks for his kindness in having read through the proofs of the Malleus Maleficarum. Those who realize the labour and sacrifice of time such a task demands will best appreciate the value of such generous assistance.

M.S.

A NOTE UPON THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE MALLEUS MALEFICARUM

The Bibliography of the Malleus Maleficarum is extremely intricate and difficult, as many of the earlier editions both folio and quarto are without place or date. Thus the British Museum possesses a copy (Press-Mark I B, 1606), folio, which in the catalogue stands as ‘T485?”, but this can hardly be correct. The British Museum has five editions of the fifteenth century: 4to, 1490? (I A 8634) ;

folio, 1490 (IB 8615); 4to, 1494 (IA 7468) ; folio, 1494 (IB 5064); 4to, 1496 (IA 75^3)* **

Graesse, Bibliotheca Magica , Leipzig, 1843, gives the editions of the fifteenth century as Nuremberg, both 4to and folio, 1494 and 1496. He also mentions an early folio and an early 4to without date or place. He further records a 4to published at Cologne in 1489, and a folio published at Cologne, 1494.

Malleus Maleficarum , 8vo, Paris, an edition to which the British Museum cata¬ logue assigns the date “1510?”.

Malleus Maleficarum , 8vo, “Colonie. Per me Henricu de Nussia,” 1511.

Malleus Maleficarum , 8vo, Coloniae , J. Gymnicus, 1520. (Copies of these two Cologne editions are in the British Museum.)

Malleus Maleficarum . . . per F. Raffaelem Majfeum Venetum et D. Jacobi a Judeca instituti Seruorum summo studio illustratus et a multis erroribus vindicatus . . . Venetiis Ad Candentis Salamandrae insigne. MD. LXXVI, 8vo. (This is a disappointing reprint, and it is difficult to see in what consisted the editorial care of the Servite Raffaelo Maffei, who may or may not have been some relation of the famous humanist of the same name (d. 25 January, 1522), and who was of the monastery of San Giacomo della Guidecca. He might have produced a critical edition of the greatest value, but as it is there are no glosses, there is no excursus, and the text is poor. For example, in a very difficult passage, Principalis Quaestio II, Pars II, where the earliest texts read “die dominico sotularia iuuenum fungia . . . perun¬ gunt,” Venice, 1576, has “ die dominica solutaria iuuenum fungia . . . perungunt.”)

Malleus Maleficarum, Impressum Francofurti ad Moenum apud Nicolaum Bassaeum . . . 8vo, 1580.

Malleus Maleficarum, . . . Francofurti . . . apud Nicolaum Bassaeum . . . 8vo, 1582.

Malleus Maleficarum, . . . Francofurti . . . apud Nicolaum Bassaeum, 2 vols., 8vo, 1588. This edition also contains in Vol. I extracts from Nider’s Formicarius. Vo'l. II, which is dedicated to John Mundzenberg, Prior of the Carmelite House at Frankfort, contains the following nine Tractates :

Bernard Basin, De artibus magicis. (1482.)

Ulrich Molitor, De lamiis. (1489.)

Girolamo Menghi, O.S.F.C., Flagellum Daemonum. (1578.)

John Gerson, De probatione Spirituum, [circa 1404.)

Thomas Murner, O.M., De Pythonico contractu. (1499.)

Felix Hemmerlin, De exorcismis. ( circa 1445.)

Eiusdem, De credulitate Daemonibus adhibenda. (1454.)

Bartolomeo Spina, O.P., De strigibus. (1523.)

Eiusdem, Apologiae III aduersus Ioann. Franc. Ponzinibium. (1525.)

The title-page announces that these works are “Omnes de integro nunc demum in ordinem congestos, notis & explicationibus illustratos, atque ab innumeris ^quibus ad nauseam usque scatebant mendis in usum communem uindicatos.” It is true that the earlier editions did swarm with errors, and some of

* Jules Baissac, “Les grands Jours de la Sorcellerie ,” 1890, p. 19, says — I do not know on

what authority — “La /re edition du Malleus Maleficarum ’ est de 1489, in — 4, Cologne , cinq ans apres la publication de la Bulle Summis desiderantes .”

XVII

XV111

A NOTE UPON THE BIBLIOGRAPHY

these blemishes have been duly corrected, but there still remains much to be done in the way of emendation. It is to be wished that even the litde care given to Vol. II had been bestowed on the text of the Malleus Maleficarum in Vol. I, for this is very poor and faulty.

Malleus Maleficarum , Lyons, 8vo, 1595. (Graesse.)

Malleus Maleficarum , Friburg, 1598.

Malleus Maleficarum , Lyons, 8vo, 1600.

Malleus Maleficarum , Lyons, “multo auctior,” 8vo, 1620.

Malleus Maleficarum , Friburg, 8vo, 1660.

Malleus Maleficarum , 4to, Lyons, 1666. (Graesse.)

Malleus Maleficarum , 4 vols., “sumptibus Claudii Bourgeat,” 4U), Lyons, 1669. This would appear to be the latest edition of the Malleus Maleficarum , and the text has here and there received some revision. For example, in the passage to which reference has already been made, Principalis Quaestio II, Pars II, where the former reading was “sotularia iuuenum fungia . . . perungunt,” we have the correct “axungia”* instead of “fungia.” I have given in the Introduction a list of the collections contained in these four noble volumes.

Quetif-Echard, Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum , 2 vols., Paris, 1719, Vol. I, p. 881, mention a French translation of the Malleus Maleficarum , Le Mail let des Sorcides, as having been published, quarto, at Lyons by Stephanus Gueynard. No date, however, is given, and as this book cannot be traced, it seems highly probable that one of the many Lyons reprints of the Malleus Maleficarum was mistakenly supposed to be a French rendering of the original. In answer to my inquiries M. le Directeur of the Bibliotheque Nationale has kindly informed me: “L’ouv- rage de Sprenger, Le Maillet des Sorderes, edition de Lyon, ne se trouve point a la Bibliotheque Nationale. Mais, de plus, je me suis reporte a Fexcellente biblio¬ graphic lyonnaise de .Baudrier, XI® serie, 1914, et la non plus, P edition de Stephanus Gueynard ne se trouve point.” Le Maillet des Sorderes , 4to, Lyons, by Stephanus Gueynard, does not occur in the valuable Essai d'une Bibliographic Frangaise meth - odique et raisonnee de la Sorcellerie of R. Yve-Plessis, Paris, 1900.

There is a modern German translation of the Malleus Maleficarum by J. W. R. Schmidt, Der Hexenhammer , 3 vols., Berlin, 1906; second edition, 1922-3.

In 1912 Oswald Weigel, the famous “Antiquariat & Auktions-Institut” of Leipzig, sold an exceptionally fine, if not — should it be once permissible to use a much over-worked word — a unique collection of books dealing with witchcraft. This Library contained no fewer than twenty-nine exemplars of the Malleus Maleficarum , of which the dates were catalogued as follows : ( 1 ) Argentorati (Strasburg), J. Priiss, ca. 1487. (2) Spirae, Peter Drach, ca. 1487. (3) Spirae, Peter Drach, ca. 1490; or Basle, J. von Amorbach, ca. 1490?. (4) No place nor date. With inscription “Codex moasterij seti Martini prope Treuirim.” (5) Koln, J. Koelhoff, 1494. (6) Nurnberg, Anton Koberger, 1494. (7) Niimberg, Anton Koberger, 1496. (8) [Paris], Jehan Petit, ca. 1497. (9) Coin, Henricus de Nussia, 1511. (10) [Paris, Jehan Petit, no date.] (11) Lyon, J. Marion, 1519. (12) Nurn¬ berg, Frederick Peypus, 1519. (13) Koln, J. Gymnicus, 1520. (14) Venetiis, Io. Antonius Bertanus, 1574. (15) Venetiis, ibid., 1576. (16) Francofurti, apud Nicolaum Bassaeum, 1580. (17) Francofurti, ibid., 1582. (18) Lugduni, apud Ioannam Iacobi Iuntae, 2 tomi, 1584. In this edition the title is misprinted Malleus Maleficorum. (19) Francofurti, Sumptibus Nicolai Bassaei, 1588. (20) Duplicate of 19. (21) Lugduni, Petri Landry, 2 tomi, 1595. (22) Francofurti, Sumptibus Nicolai Bassaei, 2 tomi, 1600. (23) Lugduni, Sumptibus Petri Landry, 3 tomi, 1604. (24) Lugduni, ibid., 1614. (25) Lugduni, ibid., 1615. (26) Lug¬ duni, Sumptibus Clavdii Landry, 3 tomi, 1620. (27) Lugduni, 3 tomi,

1620-21. (28) Lugduni, 4 tomi, 1069. (29) The modern German translation of the Malleus Maleficarum by J. W. R. Schmidt, Der Hexenhammer, 3 vols., Berlin, 1906.

* Axis-ungo. See Palladius, I, xvii, 3. Also Vegetius, “ De Arte Veterinaria ,” IV, x, 3 ; also IV, xii, 3.

THE BULL OF INNOCENT VIII

Innocent, Bishop, Servant of the servants of God, for an eternal

remembrance.

DESIRING with the most heartfelt anxiety, even as Our Apostle- ship requires, that the Catholic Faith should especially m this Our day increase and flourish everywhere, and that all heretical depravity should be driven far from the frontiers and bournes of the Faithful, We very gladly proclaim and even restate those particular means and methods whereby Our pious desire may obtain its wished effect, since when all errors are uprooted by Our diligent avocation as by the hoe of a provident husbandman, a zeal for, and the regular observ¬ ance of, Our holy Faith will be all the more strongly impressed upon the hearts of the faithful.

It has indeed lately come to Our ears, not without afflicting Us with bitter sorrow, that in some parts of Northern Germany, as well as in the provinces, townships, territories, districts, and dioceses of Mainz, Cologne, Treves, Salzburg, and Bremen, many persons of both sexes, unmindful of their own salvation and straying from the Catholic Faith, have abandoned themselves to devils, incubi and succubi, and by their incantations, spells, conjurations, and other accursed charms and crafts, enormities and horrid offences, have slain infants yet in the mother’s womb, as also the offspring of cattle, have blasted the produce of the earth, the grapes of the vine, the fruits of trees, nay, men and women, beasts of burthen, herd-beasts, as well as animals of other kinds, vineyards, orchards, meadows, pasture- land, corn, wheat, and all other cereals; these wretches furthermore afflict and torment men and women, beasts of burthen, herd-beasts, as well as animals of other kinds, with terrible and piteous pains and sore diseases, both internal and external ; they hinder men from performing the sexual act and women from conceiving, whence husbands cannot know their wives nor wives receive their husbands ; over and above this, they blasphemously renounce that Faith which is theirs by the Sacra¬ ment of Baptism, and at the instigation of the Enemy of Mankind they do not shrink from committing and perpetrating the foulest abominations and filthiest excesses to the deadly peril of their own souls, whereby they outrage the Divine Majesty and are a cause of scandal and danger to very many. And although Our dear sons Henry Kramer and James Sprenger, Professors of Theology, of the Order of Friars Preachers, have been by Letters Apostolic delegated as Inquisitors of these heretical pravities, and still are Inquisitors, the first in the aforesaid parts of Northern Ger¬ many, wherein are included those aforesaid townships, districts, dioceses, and other specified localities, and the second in certain territories which lie along the borders of the Rhine, nevertheless not a few clerics and lay ? ) folk of those countries, seeking too curiously to know more than concerns them, since in the aforesaid delegatory letters there is no express and specific mention by name of these provinces, townships, dioceses, and

xix

XX

THE BULL OF INNOCENT VIII

districts, and further since the two delegates themselves and the abomina¬ tions they are to encounter are not designated in detailed and particular j fashion, these persons are not ashamed to contend with the most unblush¬ ing effrontery that these enormities are not practised in those provinces, and consequently the aforesaid Inquisitors have no legal right to exercise their powers of inquisition in the provinces, townships, dioceses, districts, and territories, which have been rehearsed, and that the Inquisitors may not proceed to punish, imprison, and penalize criminals convicted of the heinous offences and many wickednesses which have been set forth. Accordingly in the aforesaid provinces, townships, dioceses, and districts, the abominations and enormities in question remain unpunished not without open danger to the souls of many and peril of eternal damnation.

Wherefore We, as is Our duty, being wholly desirous of removing all hindrances and obstacles by which the good work of the Inquisitors may be let and tarded, as also of applying potent remedies to prevent the disease of heresy and other turpitudes diffusing their poison to the destruc¬ tion of many innocent souls, since Our zeal for the Faith especially incites us, lest that the provinces, townships, dioceses, districts, and territories of Germany, which We have specified, be deprived of the benefits of the Holy Office thereto assigned, by the tenor of these presents in virtue of Our Apostolic authority We decree and enjoin that the aforesaid In¬ quisitors be empowered to proceed to the just correction, imprisonment, and punishment of any persons, without let or hindrance, in every way as if the provinces, townships, dioceses, districts, territories, yea, even the persons and their crimes in this kind were named and particularly desig¬ nated in Our letters. Moreover, for greater surety We extend these letters deputing this authority to cover all the aforesaid provinces, townships, dioceses, districts, and territories, persons, and crimes newly rehearsed, and We grant permission to the aforesaid Inquisitors, to one separately or to both, as also to Our dear son John Gremper, priest of the diocese of Constance, Master of Arts, their notary, or to any other public notary, who shall be by them, or by one of them, temporarily delegated to those provinces, townships, dioceses, districts, and aforesaid territories, to pro¬ ceed, according to the regulations of the Inquisition, against any persons of whatsoever rank and high estate, correcting, mulcting, imprisoning, punishing, as their crimes merit, those whom they have found guilty, the penalty being adapted to the offence. Moreover, they shall enjoy a full and perfect faculty of expounding and preaching the word of God to the faithful, so often as opportunity may offer and it may seem good to them, in each and every parish church of the said provinces, and they shall freely and lawfully perform any rites or execute any business which may appear advisable in the aforesaid cases. By Our supreme authority We grant them anew full and complete faculties.

At the same time by Letters Apostolic We require Our venerable Brother, the Bishop of Strasburg,* that he himself shall announce, or by some other or others cause to be announced, the burthen of Our Bull, which he shall solemnly publish when and so often as he deems it neces¬ sary, or when he shall be requested so to do by the Inquisitors or by one of them. Nor shall he suffer them in disobedience to the tenor of these presents to be molested or hindered by any authority whatsoever, but he shall threaten all who endeavour to hinder or harass the Inquisitors, all who oppose them, all rebels, of whatsoever rank, estate, position, pre-

* Albrecht von Bayern , 1478-1506.

THE BULL OF INNOCENT VIII

xxt

eminence, dignity, or any condition they may be, or whatsoever privilege of exemption they may claim, with excommunication, suspension, inter¬ dict, and yet more terrible penalties, censures, and punishment, as may seem good to him, and that without any right of appeal, and if he will he may by Our authority aggravate and renew these penalties as often as he list, calling in, if so please him, the help of the secular arm.

Non obstantibus . . . Let no man therefore . . . But if any dare to do so, which God forbid, let him know that upon him will fall the wrath of Almighty God, and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.

Given at Rome, at S. Peter’s, on the 9 December of the Year of the Incarnation of Our Lord one thousand four hundred and eighty-four, in the first Year of Our Pontificate.

The translation of this Bull is reprinted by permission from “ The Geography of Witchcraft,” by

Montague Summers, pp. 533-6 ( Kegan Paul).

.

MALLEUS M A L E F I C

ARUM

THE FIRST PART TREAT¬ ING OF THE THREE NECES¬ SARY CONCOMITANTS OF WITCHCRAFT, WHICH ARE THE DEVIL, A WITCH, AND THE PERMISSION OF ALMIGHTY GOD

☆

PART I

QUESTION I

Here beginneth auspiciously the first part of this work. Question the First.

HETHER the belief that there are such beings as witches is so essential a part of the Catholic faith that obstinately to maintain the oppo¬ site opinion manifestly savours of heresy. And it is argued that a firm belief in witches is not a Catholic doctrine : see chapter 26, question 5, of the work of Episcopus. Whoever

believes that any creature can be changed for the better or the worse, or transformed into another kind or likeness, except by the Creator of all things, is worse than a pagan and a heretic. And so when they report such things are done by witches it is not Catholic, but plainly heretical, to maintain this opinion.

Moreover, no operation of witchcraft has a permanent effect among us. And this is the proof thereof: For if it were so, it would be effected by the opera¬ tion of demons. But to maintain that the devil has power to change human bodies or to do them permanent harm does not seem in accordance with the teaching of the Church. For in this way they could destroy the whole world, and bring it to utter confusion.

Moreover, every alteration that takes place in a human body — for example, a state of health or a state of sickness — can be brought down to a question of natural causes, as Aristotle has shown in his 7th book of Physics. And the greatest of these is the influence of the stars. But the devils cannot interfere with the movement of the stars. This is the opinion of Dionysius in his epistle to S. Polycarp. For this alone God can do. Therefore it is evident the demons

2

MALLEUS

Part. I. Question i.

cannot actually effect any permanent transformation in human bodies ; that is to say, no real metamorphosis. And so we must refer the appearance of any such change to some dark and occult cause.

And the power of God is stronger than the power of the devil, so divine works are more true than demoniac operations. Whence inasmuch as evil is powerful in the world, then it must be the work of the devil always conflicting with the work of God. Therefore as it is un¬ lawful to hold that the devil’s evil craft can apparently exceed the work of God, so it is unlawful to believe that the noblest works of creation, that is to say, man and beast, can be harmed and spoiled by the power of the devil.

Moreover, that which is under the influence of a material object cannot have power over corporeal objects. But devils are subservient to certain influences of the stars, because magicians observe the course of certain stars in order to evoke the devils. Therefore they have not the power of effecting any change in a corporeal object, and it follows that witches have even less power than the demons possess.

For devils have no power at all save by a certain subtle art. But an art cannot permanently produce a true form. (And a certain author says : Writers on Alchemy know that there is no hope of any real transmutation.) Therefore the devils for their part, making use of the utmost of their craft, cannot bring about any permanent cure — or permanent disease. But if these states exist it is in truth owing to some other cause, which may be un¬ known, and has nothing to do with the operations of either devils or witches.

But according to the Decretals (33) the contrary is the case. “If by witch¬ craft or any magic art permitted by the secret but most just will of God, and aided by the power of the devil, etc. . . .” The reference here is to any act of witchcraft which may hinder the end of marriage, and for this impediment to take effect three things can concur, that is to say, witchcraft, the devil, and the permission of God. Moreover, the stronger can influence that which is less strong. But the power of the devil is stronger than any human power {Job xl). There is no power upon earth which can be compared to him, who was created so that he fears none.

Answer. Here are three heretical errors which must be met, and when they have been disproved the truth will be plain. For certain writers, pretending to oase their opinion upon the words of S. Thomas (iv, 24) when he treats of impediments brought about by magic charms, have tried to maintain that there is not such a thing as magic, that it only exists in the imagination of those men who ascribe natural effects, the causes whereof are not known, to witch¬ craft and spells. There are others who acknowledge indeed that witches exist, but they declare that the influence of magic and the effects of charms are purely imaginary ana phantasmical. A third class of writers maintain that the effects said to be wrought by magic spells are altogether illusory and fanci¬ ful, although it may be that the devil does really lend his aid to some witch.

The errors held by each one of these persons may thus be set forth and thus confuted. For in the very first place they are shown to be plainly heretical by many orthodox writers, and especi¬ ally by S. Thomas, who lays down that such an opinion is altogether contrary to the authority of the saints and is founded upon absolute infidelity. Be¬ cause the authority of the Holy Scrip¬ tures says that devils have power over the bodies and over the minds of men, when God allows them to exercise this power, as is plain from very many passages in the Holy Scriptures. Therefore those err who say that there is no such thing as witchcraft, but that it is purely imaginary, even although they do not believe that devils exist except in the imagination of the ignorant and vulgar, and the natural accidents which happen to a man he wrongly attributes to some supposed devil. For the imagina¬ tion of some men is so vivid that they think they see actual figures and appear¬ ances which are but the reflection of their thoughts, and then these are believed to be the apparitions of evil spirits or even the spectres of witches. But this is contrary to the true faith, which teaches us that certain angels fell from heaven and are now devils, and we are bound to acknowledge that by their very nature they can do many wonderful things which we cannot do. And those who try to induce others to perform such evil wonders are called witches. And because infidelity in a person who has been baptized is technically called

Part I. Question i.

MALEFICARUM

3

heresy, therefore such persons are plainly heretics.

As regards those who hold the other two errors, those, that is to say, who do not deny that there are demons and that demons possess a natural power, but who differ among themselves con¬ cerning the possible effects of magic and the possible operations of witches: the one school holding that a witch can truly bring about certain effects, yet these effects are not real but phantas- tical, the other school allowing that some real harm does befall the person or persons injured, but that when a witch imagines this damage is the effect of her arts she is grossly deceived. This error seems to be based upon two pas¬ sages from the Canons where certain women are condemned who falsely imagine that during the night they ride abroad with Diana or Herodias.* This may be read in the Canon. Yet because such things often happen by illusion

* “ Diana or Herodias” This decree , which was often attributed to a General Council of Ancyra, but which is now held to be of a later date , was in any case authoritative, since it passed into the “De ecclesiasticis disciplinis ” ascribed to Regino of Prum ( 906 ), and thence to the canonists S. Ivo of Chartres and Johannes Gratian. Section 364 of the Benedictine Abbot’s work relates that “ certain abandoned women turning aside to follow Satan, being seduced by the illusions and phantasms of demons, believe and openly profess that in the dead of night they ride upon certain beasts with the pagan goddess Diana and a countless horde of women, and that in these silent hours they fly over vast tracks of country and obey her as their mistress, while on other nights they are sullen to pay her homage .” John of Salisbury, who died in 1180, in his “ Policraticus ,” I, xvii, speaks of the popular be¬ lief in a witch-queen named Herodias, who called together the sorcerers to meeting at night. In a MS., “De Sortilegis ,” the following passage occurs: “ We next inquire concerning certain wicked crones who believe and profess that in the night-time they ride abroad with Diana, the heathen goddess, ’or else with Herodias, and an innumerable host of women, upon certain beasts, and that in a silent covey at the dead of night they pass over immense distances, obeying her commands as their mistress, and that they are summoned by her on appointed nights, and they declare that they have the power to change human beings for better or for worse, ay, even to turn them into some other semblance or shape. Concerning such women I answer according to the decrees of the Council of Alexandria, that the minds of the faithful are disordered by such fantasies owing to the inspiration of no good spirit but of the devil.”

and merely in the imagination, those who suppose that all the effects of witchcraft are mere illusion and im¬ agination are very greatly deceived. Secondly, with regard to a man who believes or maintains that a creature can be made, or changed for better or for worse, or transformed into some other kind or likeness by anyone save by God, the Creator of all things, alone, is an infidel and worse than a heathen. Wherefore on account of these words “ changed for the worse ” they say that such an effect if wrought by witchcraft cannot be real but must be purely phantastical.

But inasmuch as these errors savour of heresy and contradict the obviops meaning of the Canon, we will first prove our points by the divine law, as also by ecclesiastical and civil law, and first in general.

To commence, the expressions of the Canon must be treated of in detail (although the sense of the Canon will be even more clearly elucidated in the following question). For the divine law in many places commands that witches are not only to be avoided, but also they are to be put to death, and it would not impose the extreme penalty of this kind if witches did not really and truly make a compact with devils in order to bring about real and true hurts and harms. For the penalty of death is not inflicted except for some grave and notorious crime, but it is otherwise with death of the soul, which can be brought about by the power of a phantastical illusion or even by the stress of temptation. This is the opinion of S. Thomas when he discusses whether it be evil to make use gf the help of devils (ii. 7). For in the 1 8th chapter of Deuteronomy it is commanded that all wizards and charmers are to be destroyed. Also the 19th chapter of Leviticus says : The soul which goeth to wizards and sooth¬ sayers to commit fornication with them,

I will set my face against that soul, and destroy it out of the midst of my people. And again, 20 : A man, or woman, in whom there is a pythonical or divining spirit dying, let them die: they shall stone them. Those persons are said to be pythons in whom the devil works extraordinary things.

Moreover, this must be borne in mind, that on account of this sin Ochozias fell sick and died, IV. Kings 1. Also Saul, 1 Paralipomenon , 10. We have,

4

MALLEUS

Part I. Question i.

moreover, the weighty opinions of the Fathers who have written upon the scriptures and who have treated at length of the power of demons and of magic arts. The writings of many doctors upon Book 2 of the Sentences may be consulted, and it will be found that they all agree, that there are \ wizards and sorcerers who by the power of the devil can produce real and ex-

E Drdinary effects, and these effects not imaginary, and God permits tmrtobe. I will Hot mention those very many other places where S. Thomas in great detail discusses operations of this kind. As, for example, in his Summa contra Gentiles , Book 3, c. 1 and 2, in part one, question 114, argument 4. And in the Second of the Second , questions 92 and 94. We may further consult the Com¬ mentators and the Exegetes who have written upon the wise men and the magicians of Pharao, Exodus vii. We may also consult what S. Augustine says in The City of God* Book 18, c. 17. See further his second book On Christian Doctrine .f Very many other doctors advance the same opinion, and it would be the height of folly for any man to contradict all these, and he could not be held to be clear of the guilt of heresy. For any man who gravely errs in an exposition of Holy Scripture is rightly considered to be a heretic. And who¬ soever thinks otherwise concerning these matters which touch the faith that the Holy Roman Church holds is a heretic. There is the Faith.

That to deny the existence of witches is contrary to the obvious sense of the Canon is shown by ecclesiastical law. For we have the opinions of the com¬ mentators on the Canon which com¬ mences: If anyone by magic arts or witchcraft . . . And again, there are those writers who speak of men im¬ potent and bewitched, and therefore by this impediment brought about by witchcraft they are unable to copulate, and so the contract of marriage is rendered void and matrimony in their cases has become impossible. For they say, and S. Thomas agrees with them,

* “ The City of God.” S. Augustine's great work “De Ciuitate Dei” was written 413-26.

t “On Christian Doctrine .” The “ De Doc¬ trina Christiana” was originally written in 337, but S. Augustine revised his work with addition in 427, leaving a monument of hermeneutics.

that if witchcraft takes effect in the event of a marriage before there has been carnal copulation, then if it is lasting it annuls and destroys the con¬ tract of marriage, and it is quite plain that such a condition cannot in any way be said to be illusory and the effect: of imagination.

Upon this point see what Blessed Henry of Segusio J has so fully written in his Summa: also Godfrey of Fon¬ taines § and S. Raymond of Penafort,|| who have discussed this question in detail very clearly, not asking whether such a physical condition could be thought imaginary and unreal, but taking it to be an actual and proven fact, and then they lay down whether it

+ “ Blessed Henry.” Blessed Henry of Segusio , usually called Hostiensis , the famous Italian canonist of the thirteenth century , was born at Susa, and died at Lyons , 23 October , 1271. After a most distinguished career, on 4 December, 1261, he became Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and Velletri, whence his name Hostiensis. His “ Summa super titulis Decretalium ” ( Stras - burg, 1312; Cologne, 1612; Venice, 1605), which was also known as “ Summa aurea,” or “ Summa archiepiscopi,” since it was written whilst he was Archbishop of Embrun, won for its author the title “Monarcha iuris, lumen lucidis¬ simum Decretorum .” One portion of this work, the “Summa, siue Tractatus de poenitentia et remissionibus,” was very popular, and is con¬ tinually referred to as of high authority. The book was written between 1230 and 1261.

§ “Godfrey.” Godfrey of Fontaines, Doctor Venerandus, scholastic philosopher and theo¬ logian, was born near Liege within the first half of the thirteenth century; he became a canon of his native diocese , and also of Paris and Cologne. In 1300 he was elected to the See of Tournai, which he declined. During the last quarter of the century he taught theology with great distinction at the University of Paris. His vast work, “XIV Qiiodlibeta,” which in manuscript was exten¬ sively studied in the mediaeval schools, has recently been published for the first time with an ample commentary.

|j “S. Raymond.” One of the most dis¬ tinguished names of the Dominican Order. Born in 1175, he professed Canon law at Barcelona and Bologna. At the request of his superiors he published his “Summa Casuum ,” of which several editions appeared in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. His reputation as a jurist was so great that in 1230 he was called to Rome by Gregory IX, who directed him to re¬ arrange and codify the ecclesiastical canons. Having completed the work, he refused all honours , and returned to Spain. He died at Barcelona, 6 January, 1273. FftV feast is celebrated on 23 January.

Part I. Question i.

MALEFICARUM

5

is to be treated as a lasting or temporary infirmity if it continued for more than the space of three years, and they do not doubt that it may be brought about by the power of witchcraft, although it is true that this condition may be inter¬ mittent. But what is a fact beyond dis- ute is that such impotency can be rought about through the power of the devil by means of a contract made with him, or even by the devil himself with¬ out the assistance of any witch, al¬ though this most rarely happens in the Church, since marriage is a most ex¬ cellent sacrament. But amongst Pagans this actually does happen, and this is because evil spirits act as if they had a certain legitimate dominion over them, as Peter of Palude* in his fourth book relates, when he tells of the young man who had pledged himself in wed¬ lock to a certain idol, and who never¬ theless contracted marriage with a young maiden, but he was unable to have any connexion with her because the devil always intervened, actually appearing in bodily form. But never¬ theless in the Church the devil prefers to operate through the medium of witches and to bring about such effects for his own gain, that is to say, for the loss of souls. And in what manner he is able to do this, and by what means, will be discussed a little later, where we shall treat of the seven ways of doing harm to men by smuIaF^perations. And of the other questions which Theologians and Canonists have raised with reference to these points, one is very important, since they discuss how such impotence can be cured and whether it is permissible to cure it by some counter-charm, and what is to be done if the witch who cast the spell is dead, a circumstance of which Godfrey of Fontaines treats in his Summa . And these questions will be amply elucidated in the Third Part of this work.

This then is the reason why the Canonists have so carefully drawn up a table of the various differing penalties, making a distinction between the private and open practice of witchcraft, or rather of divination, since this foul superstition has various species and

* “ Peter of Palude .” Peter of Palude, who died 1342, of the Order of S. Dominic , was one of the most distinguished Thomistic theologians during the first half of the fourteenth century.

degrees, so that anyone who is notori¬ ously given to it must be refused Com¬ munion. If it be secretly practised the culprit must do penance for forty days. And if he be a cleric he is to be sus¬ pended and confined in a monastery. If he be a layman he shall be excom¬ municated, wherefore all such in-/ famous persons must be punished, to¬ gether with all those who resort to them, and no excuse at all is to be allowed.

The same penalty too is prescribed by the civil law. For Azo,f in his Summa upon Book 9 of the Codex, the rubric concerning sorcerers, 2 after the lex Cor¬ nelia, % concerning assassins and mur¬ derers, lays down : Let it be known that all those who are commonly called sorcerers, and those too who are skilled in the art of divination, incur the penalty of death. The same penalty is enforced yet again. For this is the exact sentence of these laws : It is unlawful for any man to practise divination ; and if he does so his reward shall be death by the sword of the executioner. There are others too who by their magic charms endeavour to take the lives of innocent people, who turn the passions of women to lusts ol every kind, and these criminals are to be thrown to the wild beasts. And the laws allow that any ) witness whatsoever is to be admitted as evidence against them. This the Canon treating of the defence of the Faith

f “Ago.” Early in the thirteenth century Portius Ago stood at the head of the Bolognese school of law which was accomplishing the resuscitation of the classical Roman law. He was the pupil of the celebrated Johannes Bassianus, and his fame so eclipsed all his contemporaries that in 1203 Thomas of Marlborough, after¬ wards Abbot of Evesham, spent six months at Bologna hearing his lectures every day. Ago was saluted as “ Master of all the Masters of the laws,” and the highest praise that could be given another canonist was to declare him to be “ second only to Ago.” Savigrey says that Ago was alive as late as 1230. His chief work is a “Summa” of the first nine books of the Code , to which he added a “Summa” of the Institutes. No less than thirty-one editions appeared between 1482 and 1610; of which five are earlier than 1300. Throughout the Middle Ages these treatises were in highest repute.

J “Lex Cornelia.” De Sicariis et Ueneficis. Passed circa 81 b.c. This law dealt with incendiarism as well as open assassination and poisoning, and laid down penalties for accessories to the fact.

6

MALLEUS

Part I. Question i.

explicitly enjoins. And the same pro¬ cedure is allowable in a charge of heresy. When such an accusation is brought, any witness may come forward to give evidence, just as he may in a case of lese-majesty. For witchcraft is high treason against God’s Majesty. And so j they are to be put to the torture in order to make them confess. Any person, whatever his rank or position, upon such an accusation may be put to the torture, and he who is found guilty, even if he confesses his crime, let him be racked, let him suffer all other tortures pre¬ scribed by law in order that he may be punished in proportion to his offences.

Note : In days of old such criminals suffered a double penalty and were often thrown to wild beasts to be de- \ voured by them. Nowadays they are burnt at the stake, and probably this is because the majority of them are women.

The civil law also forbids any con¬ niving at or joining in such practices, for it did not allow a diviner even to enter another person’s house ; and often it ordered that all their possessions should be burnt, nor was anyone allowed to patronize or to consult them ; very often they were deported to some distant and deserted island and all their goods sold by public auction. Moreover, those who consulted or re¬ sorted to witches were punished with exile and the confiscation of all their property. These penalties were set in operation by the common consent of all nations and rulers, and they have greatly conduced to the suppression of the practice of such forbidden arts.

It should be observed that the laws highly commend those who seek to nullify the charms of witches. And those who take great pains that the work of man shall not be harmed by the force of tempests or by hailstorms are worthy of a great reward rather than of any punishment. How such damage may lawfully be prevented will be dis¬ cussed in full below. Accordingly, how can it be that the denial or frivolous contradiction of any of these proposi¬ tions can be free from the mark of some notable heresy? Let every man judge for himself unless indeed his ignorance excuse him. But what sort of ignorance may excuse him we shall very shortly roceed to explain. From what has een already said we draw the following conclusion: It is a most certain and

most Catholic opinion that there are sorcerers and witches who by the help I of the devil, on account of a compact which they have entered into with him, are able, since God allows this, to pro¬ duce real and actual evils and harm, which does not render it unlikely that they can also bring about visionary and phantastical illusions by some extra¬ ordinary and peculiar means. The scope of the present inquiry, however, is witchcraft, and this very widely differs from these other arts, and therefore a consideration of them would be nothing to the purpose, since those who practise them may with greater accuracy be termed fortune-tellers and soothsayers rather than sorcerers.

It must particularly be noticed that these two last errors are founded upon a complete misunderstanding of the words of the Canon (I will not speak of the first error, which stands obviously self-condemned, since it is clean con¬ trary to the teaching of Holy Scripture) . And so let us proceed to a right under¬ standing of the Canon. And first we will speak against the first error, which says that the mean is mere illusion al¬ though the two extremes are realities.

Here it must be noticed that there are fourteen distinct species which come under the genus superstition, but these for the sake of brevity it is hardly necessary to detail, since they have been most clearly set out by S. Isidore* in his Etymologiae , Book 8, and by S. Thomas in his Second of the Second , question 92. Moreover, there will be explicit men¬ tion of these rather lower when we dis¬ cuss the gravity of this heresy, and this will be in the last question of our First Part.

The category in which women of this sort are to be ranked is called the category of Pythons, persons in or by whom the devil either speaks or per-

* “St. Isidore The “Etymologiae ,” or “ Origines ” as it is sometimes called, must be regarded as the most important and best known of the works of S. Isidore of Seville, born circa 560; died 4 April, 636. It has been described as “a vast storehouse in which is gathered, systema - tized, and condensed, all the learning possessed by that time.” Throughout the greater part of the Middle Ages it was the text-book most in use in educational institutions. Arevalo, who is regarded as the most authoritative editor of S. Isidore (7 vols., Rome, 1797-1803), tells us that it was printed no less than ten times between 1470 and J529'

Part I. Question i.

MALEFICARUM

7

forms some astonishing operation, and this is often the first category in order. But the category under which sorcerers come is called the category of Sorcerers.

And inasmuch as these persons differ greatly one from another, it would not be correct that they should not be comprised in that species under which so many others are confined : Where¬ fore, since the Canon makes explicit mention of certain women, but does not in so many words speak of witches ; therefore they are entirely wrong who 1 understand the Canon only to speak of imaginary voyages and goings to and fro in the body and who wish to reduce every kind of superstition to this illusion : for as those women are trans¬ ported in their imagination, so are witches actually and bodily trans- ported. And he who wishes to argue jj fironi this Canon that the effects of j witchcraft, the infliction of disease or 1 any sickness, are purely imaginary, utterly mistakes the tenor of the Canon, and errs most grossly.

Further, it is to be observed that those who, whilst they allow the two extremes, that is to say, some operation of the devil and the effect, a sensible disease, to be actual and real, at the same time deny that any instrument is the means thereof; that is to say, they deny that any witch could have participated in such a cause and effect, these, I say, err most gravely: for, in philosophy, the mean must always partake of the nature of the two extremes.

Moreover it is useless to argue that any result of witchcraft may be a phantasy and unreal, because such a phantasy cannot be procured without resort to the power of the devil, and it is necessary that there should be made a contract with the devil, by which con¬ tract the witch truly and actually binds herself to be the servant of the devil and devotes herself to the devil, and this is not done -in any dream or under any illusion, but she herself bodily and truly co-operates with, and conjoins herself to, the devil. For this indeed is the end of all witchcraft; whether it be the casting of spells by a look or by a formula of words or by some other charm, it is all of the devil, as will be made clear in the following question.

In truth, if anyone cares to read the words of the Canon, there are four points which must particularly strike

him. And the first point is this: It is absolutely incumbent upon all crea¬ tures and Priests, and upon all who have the cure of souls, to teach their flocks that there is one, only, true God, and that to none other in Heaven or earth may worship be given. The second point is this, that although these women imagine they are riding (as they think and say) with Diana or with Herodias, in truth they are riding with the devil, j who calls himself by some such heathen name and throws a glamour before their eyes. And the third point is this, that the act of riding abroad may be merely illusory, since the devil has extra¬ ordinary power over the minds of those who have given themselves up to him, so that what they do in pure imagina¬ tion, they believe they have actually and really done in the body. And the fourth point is this : Witches have made a compact to obey the devil in all things, wherefore that the words of the Canon should be extended to include and comprise every act of witchcraft is absurd, since witches do much more than these women, and witches actually are of a very different kind.

Whether witches by their magic arts are actually and bodily transported from place to place, or whether this merely happens in imagination, as is the case with regard to those women who are called Pythons, will be dealt with later in this work, and we shall also discuss how they are conveyed.

So now we have explained two errors at least, and we have arrived at a clear understanding of the sense of the Canon.

Moreover, a third error, which mis¬ taking the words of the Canon says that all magic arts are illusions, may be corrected from the very words of the Canon itself. For inasmuch as it says that he who believes any creature can be made or transformed for the better or the worse, or metamorphosed into some other species or likeness, save it be by the Creator of all things Him¬ self, etc. ... he is worse than an infidel. These three propositions, if they are thus understood as they might appear on the bare face of them, are clean contrary to the sense of Holy Scripture and the commentaries of the doctors of the Church. For the follow- t ing Canon clearly says that creatures can be made by witches, although they j

8

MALLEUS

Part I. Question i.

necessarily must be very imperfect creatures, and probably in some way deformed. And it is plain that the sense of the Canon agrees with what S. Augustine tells us concerning the magicians at the court of Pharao, who turned their rods into serpents, as the holy doctor writes upon the 7th chapter of Exodus , ver. 1 1 , — and Pharao called the wise men and the magicians. . . . We may also refer

Ito the commentaries of Strabo, who says that devils hurry up and down over the whole earth, when by their incanta¬ tions witches are employing them at various operations, and these devils are able to collect various germs or seeds, and from these germs or seeds they are able to cause various species to grow. We may also refer to Blessed Albertus Magnus,* De animalibus. And also S. Thomas, Part 1, question 114, article 4. For the sake of conciseness we will not quote them at length here, but this I? remains proven, that it is possible for i certain creatures to be created in this way.

With reference to the second point, that a creature may be changed for better or for worse, it is always to be understood that this can only be done by the permission and indeed by the power of God, and that this is only done in order to correct or to punish, but that God very often allows devils to act as His ministers and His servants, but throughout all it is God alone who can

* “ Blessed Albertus ." Albert the Great, the Dominican doctor, scientist, philosopher, and theologian. Born circa 1206; died at Cologne, /5 November, 1280. He is called “ the Great " and “ Doctor Uniuer salis" on account of his extraordinary genius and encyclopaedic know¬ ledge, for he surpassed all his contemporaries in every branch of learning cultivated in his day. He is certainly one of the glories of the Order of Preachers. Ulrich Endelbert speaks of him as: "Uir in omni scientia adeo diuinus, ut nostri temporis stupor et miraculum congrue uocari possit ” (“De summo bono," III, iv). Perhaps at the present day his extraordinary genius is not sufficiently recognized, for he was certainly one of the most learned men of all time. The latest edition of his complete works , Paris ( Louis Vives), 1890-99, in thirty-eight quarto volumes, was published under the direction of the Abbe Auguste Borgnet, of the diocese of Reims. “De animalibus" will be found in Vols. XI-XII. The feast of Albertus Magnus is celebrated on /5 November. He was beatified by Gregory XV in 1622, so in this translation I call him “ Blessed " by anticipation.

afflict and it is He alone who can heal, for “ I kill and I make alive” (Deuter¬ onomy xxxii, 39). And so evil angels may and do perform the will of God. To this also S. Augustine bears witness when he says: There are in truths magic spells and evil charms, which ■ not only often afflict men with diseases ? but even kill them outright. We mustj also endeavour clearly to understand what actually happens when nowadays by the power of the devil wizards and witches are changed into wolves and other savage beasts. The Canon, how- 4 ever, speaks of some bodily and lasting change, and does ndt dlSciiss " those extraordinary things which may be done by glamour of which S. Augustine speaks in the 18th book and the 17th chapter of Of the City of God, when he reports many strange tales of that ) famous witch Circe, and of the com-/ panions of Diomedes and of the father of Praestantius. This will be discussed in detail in the Second Part.

Whether it be a Heresy to Maintain that Witches Exist.

The second part of our inquiry is this, whether obstinately to maintain that witches exist is heretical. The question arises whether people who hold that witches do not exist are to be regarded as notorious heretics, or whether they are to be regarded as gravely suspect of holding heretical opinions. It seems that the first opinion is the correct one. For this is un¬ doubtedly in accordance with the opinion of the learned Bernard. And yet those persons who openly and obstinately persevere in heresy must be proved to be heretics by unshaken evidence, and such demonstration is generally one of three kinds; either a man has openly preached and pro¬ claimed heretical doctrines ; or he is proved to be a heretic by the evidence of trustworthy witnesses ; or he is proved to be a heretic by his own free confession. And yet there are some who rashly opposing themselves to all authority publicly proclaim that witches do not exist, or at any rate that they can in no way afflict and hurt mankind. Wherefore, strictly speaking those who are convicted of such evil doctrine may according to the com¬ mentary of Bernard be excommuni¬ cated, since they are openly and un-

Part I. Question i.

MALEFICARUM

9

mistakably to be convicted of false doctrine. The reader may consult the works of Bernard, where he will find that this sentence is just, right, and true. Yet perhaps this may seem to be alto¬ gether too severe a judgement mainly because of the penalties which follow upon excommunication : for the Canon prescribes that a cleric is to be degraded and that a layman is to be handed over to the power of the secular courts, who are admonished to punish him as his offence deserves. Moreover, we must take into consideration the very great numbers of persons who, owing to their ignorance, will surely be found guilty \ of this error. And since the error is very common the rigor of strict justice may be tempered with mercy. And it is indeed our intention to try to make excuses for those who are guilty of this heresy rather than to accuse them of being infected with the malice of heresy. It is preferable then that if a man should be even gravely suspected of holding this false opinion he should not be immediately condemned for the grave crime of heresy. (See the gloss of Bernard* upon the word Con¬ demned.) One may in truth proceed against such a man as against a person who is gravely suspect, but he is not to be condemned in his absence and with¬ out a hearing. And yet the suspicion may be very grave, and we cannot refrain from suspecting these people, for their frivolous assertions do cer¬ tainly seem to affect the purity of the faith. For there are three kinds of suspicion — a light suspicion, a serious suspicion, and a grave suspicion. These are treated of in the chapter on Accusa¬ tions and in the chapter on Contumacy, Book 6, On Heretics. And these things come under the cognizance of the archidiaconal court. Reference may also be made to the commentaries of

* “Bernard." Junior , or Modernus , a canon¬ ist who lived in the middle of the thirteenth cen¬ tury, -called “ Compos tellanus' ’ from the fact that he possessed an ecclesiastical benefice in Compo- stella. He was also known as Brignadius from his birthplace in Galicia , Spain. Bernard was chaplain to Innocent IV, who reigned 1243—54, and was himself a noted canonist. Bernard's Commentaries on Canon law are very copious and very celebrated. He is termed Modernus to dis¬ tinguish him from Bernard Antiquus , a canonist of the early thirteenth century, a native of Compostella, who became Professor of Canon law in the University of Bologna ,

Giovanni d’ Andrea, f and in particular to his glosses upon the phrases Accused; Gravely suspect ; and his note upon a presumption of heresy. It is certain too that some who lay down the law on this subject do not realize that they are holding false doctrines and errors, for there are many who have no know¬ ledge of the Canon law, and there are some who, owing to the fact that they are badly informed and insufficiently read, waver in their opinions and cannot make up their minds, and since an idea merely kept to oneself is not heresy unless it be afterwards put forward, obstinately and openly main¬ tained, it should certainly be said that persons such as we have just mentioned are not to be openly condemned for the crime of heresy. But let no man think he may escape by pleading ignorance. For those who have gone astray through ignorance of this kind may be found to have sinned very gravely. For although there are many degrees of ignorance, nevertheless those who have the cure of souls cannot plead invincible ignorance, nor that par¬ ticular ignorance, as the philosophers call it, which by the writers on Canon law and by the Theologians is called Ignorance of the Fact. But what is to be blamed in these persons is Universal ignorance, that is to say, an ignorance of the divine law, which, as Pope Nicholas^ has laid down, they must and should know. For he says : The dis¬ pensation of these divine teachings is entrusted to our charge: and woe be unto us if we do not sow the good seed, woe be unto us if we do not teach our flocks. And so those who have the charge of souls are bound to have a sound knowledge of the Sacred Scrip-

| “Giovanni d’ Andrea." This distinguished canonist was born at Mugello, near Florence, about 1275; died 1348. He was educated at the University of Bologna,, where he afterwards became Professor of Canon law. He had previously taught at Padua and Pisa, and his career as a lecturer extended for nearly half a century. His works are “Glossarium in VI decretalium librum ," Venice and Lyons, 1472; “Glossarium in Clementinas" ; “ Nouella , siue Commentarius in decretales epistolas Gregarii IX," Venice, 1581; “Mercuriales, siue com¬ mentarius in regulas sexti"; “Liber de laudibus S. Hieronymi "; “Additamenta ad speculum Durand" ( 1347 ).

+ “Pope Nicholas." Nicholas V, 1397-1455, the great patron of learning.

IO

MALLEUS

Part I. Question i.

tures. It is true that according to Raymond of Sabunde* and S. Thomas, those who have the cure of souls are certainly not bound to be men of any extraordinary learning, but they cer¬ tainly should have a competent know¬ ledge, that is to say, knowledge sufficient to carry out the duties of their state.

And yet, and this may be some small consolation to them, the theoretical severity of the law is often balanced by the actual practice, and they may know that this ignorance of the Canon law, although sometimes it may be culpable and worthy of blame, is considered from two points of view. For sometimes persons do not know, they do not wish to know, and they have no intention of knowing. For such persons there is no excuse, but they are altogether to be condemned. And of these the Psalmist speaks: He would not understand in order that he might do good. But secondly, there are those who are ignorant, yet not from any desire not to know. And this diminishes the gravity of the sin, because there is no actual consent of the will. And such a case is this, when anyone ought to know something, but cannot realize that he ought to know it, as S. Paul says in his ist Epistle to Timothy (i, 13) : But I obtained the mercy of God, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And this is technically said to be an ignorance, which indirectly at least is the fault of the person, insomuch as on account of many other occupations he neglects to inform himself of matters which he ought to know, and he does not use any endeavour ta make himself acquainted with them, and this ignor¬ ance does not entirely excuse him, but it excuses him to a certain degree. So S. Ambrose,! writing upon that passage

* “ Raymond of Sabunde .” Born at Bar¬ celona , Spain, towards the end of the fourteenth century; died 1432. From 1430 to his death he taught theology, philosophy, and medicine at the University of Toulouse. Of his many works only one remains, “ Theologia Naturalis .” It was first written in Spanish, and translated into Latin at various times: Deventer, 1487; Strasburg, 1436; Paris, 1503; Venice, 1381, etc. Montaigne, who translated the book into French, Paris, 1363 , bears witness to the extraordinary popularity it enjoyed in his own day.

I “ S . Ambrose .” “On disigne depuis le XV Ie siecle sous le nom d' Ambrosiaster (= pseudo-Ambroise ) Vauteur anonyme d'un com¬ mentate sur les Epitres de saint Paul {a lex-

in the Romans (ii, 4) : Knowest thou not, that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance? says, If thou dost not know through thine own fault then thy sin is very great and grievous. More especially then in these days, when souls are beset with so many dangers, we must take measures to dispel all ignor¬ ance, and we must always have before our eyes that severe judgement which will be passed upon us if we do not use, everyone according to his proper ability, the one talent which has been given. In this way our ignorance will be neither thick nor stupid, for meta¬ phorically we speak of men as thick and stupid who do not see what lies directly in their very way.

And in the Flores regularum moralium the Roman Chancellor commenting upon the second rule says : A culpable ignorance of the Divine law does not of necessity affect the ignorant person. The reason is this: the Holy Spirit is able directly to instruct a man in all that knowledge essential to salvation, if these things are too difficult for him to grasp unaided by his own natural intellect.

The answer to the first objection then is a clear and correct understanding of the Canon. To the second objection Peter of Tarentaise (Blessed Innocent VJ) replies: No doubt the devil, owing to his malice which he harbours against the human race, would destroy man¬ kind if he were allowed by God to do so. The fact that God allows him some¬ times to do harm and that sometimes God hinders and prevents him, mani¬ festly brings the devil into more open contempt and loathing, since in all

elusion de VEpitre aux Hibreux) , qui au moyen - age, peut-etre meme des Vepoque de Cassiodore , fut impute inexactement a saint Ambroise. Cette paraphrase est tout a fait remarquable; Pest rune des plus intiressantes que Vantiquite chretienne nous ait legumes.” Labriolle, “ His - toire de la Litter ature Latine ChrUiennej c. III.

{ “ Innocent V .” Petrus a Tarentasia, born in Tarentaise, towards 1223, elected at Arezzo , 21 January, 1276; died at Rome, 22 June, 1276. At the age of sixteen he joined the Dominican Order, and he won great distinction as a Pro¬ fessor at the University of Paris, whence he is known as Doctor Famosissimus. He is the author of several works dealing with philosophy, theology, and Canon law, some of which are still unpublished. The principal of these is the “ Com - mentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard.” I have used the edition, Toulouse . 1632 .

Part I. Question i.

MALEFICARUM

ii

things, to the manifestation of His glory, God is using the devil, unwilling though he be, as a servant and slave. With regard to the third objection, that the infliction of sickness or some other harm is always the result of human effort, whereby the witch sub¬ mits her will to evil, and so actually as any other evil-doer, by the volition of her will can afflict some person or bring about some damage or perform some villainous act. If it be asked whether the movement of material objects from place to place by the devil may be paralleled by the movement of the spheres, the answer is No. Because material objects are not thus moved by any natural inherent power of their own, but they are only moved by a certain obedience to the power of the devil, who by the virtue of his own nature has a certain dominion over bodies and material things ; he has this certain power, I affirm, yet he is not able to add to created material objects any form or shape, be it substantial or accidental, without some admixture of or compounding with another created natural object. But since, by the will of God, he is able actually to move material objects from place to place then by the conjunction of various objects he can produce disease or some circumstance such as he will. Wherefore the spells and effects of witchcraft are not governed by the movement of the spheres, nor is the devil himself thus governed, inasmuch as he may often make use of these conditions to do him service.

The answer to the fourth objection. The work of God can be destroyed by the work of the devil in accordance with what we are now saying with reference to the power and effects of witchcraft. But since this can only be by the permission of God, it does not at all follow that the devil is stronger than God. Again, he cannot use so much violence as he wishes to harm the works of God, because if he were unrestricted he would utterly destroy all the works of God.

The answer to the fifth objection may be clearly stated thus: The planets and stars have no power to coerce and compel devils to perform any actions against their will, although seemingly demons are readier to appear when summoned by magicians under the

influence of certain stars. It appears that they do this for two reasons. First, Because they know that the power of that planet will aid the effect which the magicians desire. Secondly, They do this in order to deceive men, thus mak¬ ing them suppose that the stars have some divine power or actual divinity, and we know that in days of old this j veneration of the stars led to the vilest { idolatry.

With reference to the last objection, which is founded upon the argument that gold is made by alchemists, we may put forward the opinion of S. Thomas when he discusses the power of the devil and "how he works : Al¬ though certain forms having a sub¬ stance may be brought about by art and the power of a natural agent, as, for example, the form of fire is brought about by art employed on wood : nevertheless, this cannot be done uni¬ versally, because art cannot always either find or yet mix together the proper agents in the proper propor¬ tions, and yet it can produce something similar. And thus alchemists make something similar to gold, that is to say, in so far as the external accidents are concerned, but nevertheless they do not make true gold, because the substance of gold is not formed by the heat of fire which alchemists employ, but by the heat of the sun, acting and reacting upon a certain spot where mineral power is concentrated and amassed, and therefore such gold is of the same likeness as, but is not of the same species as, natural gold. And the same argument applies to all their other operations.

This then is our proposition: devils' ? by their art do bring about evil effects through witchcraft, yet it is true that without the assistance of some agent they cannot make any form, either substantial or accidental, and we do not j maintain that they can inflict damage ! without the assistance of some agent, but with such an agent diseases, and any other human passions or ailments, can be brought about, and these are real and true. How these agents or how the employment of such means can be rendered effective in co-operation with 1 devils will be made clear in the follow- J | ing chapters. }

☆

12

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 2.

QUESTION II

IF it be in accordance with the Catholic Faith to maintain that in order to bring about some effect of magic, the devil must intimately co¬ operate with the witch, or whether one without the other, that is to say, the devil without the witch, or conversely, could produce such an effect.

And the first argument is this : That the devil can bring about an effect of magic without the co-operation of any witch. So S. Augustine holds. All things which visibly happen so that they can be seen, may (it is believed) be the work of the inferior powers of the air. But bodily ills and ailments are cer¬ tainly not invisible, nay rather, they are evident to the senses, therefore they can be brought about by devils. Moreover, we learn from the Holy Scriptures of the disasters which fell upon Job, how fire fell from heaven and striking the sheep and the servants consumed them, and how a violent wind threw down the four corners of a house so that it fell upon his children and slew them all. The devil by himself without the co¬ operation of any witches, but merely by God’s permission alone, was able to bring about all these disasters. Therefore he can certainly do many things which are often ascribed to the work of witches.

And this is obvious from the account of the seven husbands of the maiden Sara, whom a devil killed. Moreover, whatever a superior power is able to do, it is able to do without reference to a power superior to it, and a superior power can all the more work without reference to an inferior power. But an inferior power can cause hailstorms and bring about diseases without the help of a power greater than itself. For Blessed Albertus Magnus in his work De pas - j sionibus aeris * says that rotten sage, if used as he explains, and thrown into running water, will arouse most fearful tempests and storms.

Moreover, it may be said that the devil makes use of a witch, not because he has need of any such agent, but because he is seeking the perdition of the witch. We may refer to what Aris¬ totle says in the 3rd book of his Ethics. Evil is a voluntary act which is proved

* ‘ "De passionibus . 5 ’ This treatise on physical science may be found in Vol. IX. of Abbe Borg- net's edition of the “ Opera omnia."

by the fact that nobody performs an unjust action merely for the sake of doing an unjust action, and a man who commits a rape does this for the sake of pleasure, not merely doing evil for evil’s sake. Yet the law punishes those who have done evil as if they had acted merely for the sake of doing evil. Therefore if the devil works by means of a witch he is merely employing an instrument; and since an instrument depends upon the will of the person who employs it and does not act of its own free will, therefore the guilt of the action ought not to be laid to the charge of the witch, and in consequence she should not be punished.

But an opposite opinion holds that the devil cannot so easily and readily do harm by himself to mankind, as he can harm them through the instru¬ mentality of witches, although they are his servants. In the first place we may consider the act of generation. But for every act which has an effect upon another some kind of contact must be established, and because the devil, who is a spirit, can have no such actual con¬ tact with a human body, since there is nothing common of this kind between them, therefore he uses some human instruments, and upon these he bestows the power of hurting by bodily touch. And many hold this to be proven by the text, and the gloss upon the text, in the 3rd chapter of S. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians: f O senseless Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? And the gloss upon this passage refers to those who have singularly fiery and baleful eyes, who by a mere look can harm others, espe¬ cially young children. And AvicennaJ

f “ Galatians .” Hi, i. The original Greek is TQ <£v67)toi TaXarai, t£<; u|xa<; e@acncavev Tfl aX7)0ei<? (XT) 7TC'.0ea0aa; Curtius doubts the etymo¬ logical connexion between paoxcdvar and Latin ‘ fascino ” as from a root <X>A£. In classical times the charm was dissolved by spitting thrice. Cf. Theocritus, VI, jg: {xrj paaxavQco 8£,

rplq eiq !(xov eTCxuaa x6X7rov.

X “Avicenna." Abn Ali Al Hosian Ibn Addallah Ibn Sina, Arabian physician and philosopher, born at Kharmaithen, in the province of Bokhara, g8o; died at Hamadan, in Northern Persia, 1037. It should be noted that the Schoolmen were aware of the pantheistic tendencies of Avicenna' s philosophical works, and accordingly were reluctant to trust to his exposition of Aristotle.

Part I. Question 2.

MALEFICARUM

13

also bears this out, Naturalium , Book 3, c. the last, when he says : “Very often the soul may have as much influence upon the body of another to the same extent as it has upon its own body, for such is the influence of the eyes of any¬ one who by his glance attracts and fas¬ cinates another.” And the same opinion is maintained by Al-Gazali* in the 5th book and 10th c. of his Physics. Avi¬ cenna also suggests, although he does not put this opinion forward as irrefut¬ able, that the power of the imagination can actually change or seem to change extraneous bodies, in cases where the power of the imagination is too unre¬ strained ; and hence we gather that the power of the imagination is not to be considered as distinct from a man’s other sensible powers, since it is com¬ mon to them all, but to some extent it includes all those other powers. And this is true, because such a power of th6 imagination can change adjacent bodies, as, for example, when a man is able to walk along some narrow beam which is stretched down the middle of a street. But yet if this beam were sus¬ pended over deep water he would not dare to walk along it, because his imagination would most strongly im¬ press upon his mind the idea of falling, and therefore his body and the power of his limbs would obey his imagination, and they would not obey the contrary thereto, that is to say, walking directly and without hesitation. This change may be compared to the influence exer¬ cised by the eyes of a person who has such influence, and so a mental change is brought about although there is not any actual and bodily change.

Moreover, if it be argued that such a change is caused by a living body owing to the influence of the mind upon some other living body, this answer may be given. In the presence of a murderer blood flows from the wounds in the corpse of the person he has slain. There¬ fore without any mental powers bodies

* “ Al-Gazali .” Abu Hamid Mohammed Ibn Mohammed , the celebrated Arabian philoso¬ pher, born at Tous in Khorasan in 1038; died at Nissapour in mi. He passed through complete scepticism to the mysticism of the Sufis. It is often said that Blessed Albertus Magnus wrote

thus: “ Non approbo dictum Auicennae et Algazel de fascinatione, quia credo quod non nocet fascinatio, nec nocere potest ars magica, nec facit aliquid ex his quae timentur de talibus .** But this passage is more than suspicious.

can produce wonderful effects, and so a living man if he pass by near the corpse of a murdered man, although he may not be aware of the dead body, is often seized with fear.

Again, there are some things in nature which have certain hidden powers, the reason for which man does not know; such, for example, is the lodestone, which attracts steel and many other such things, which S. Augustine men¬ tions in the 20th book Of the City of God.

And so women in order to bring about changes in fhe bodies of others sometimes make use of certain things, which exceed our knowledge, but this is without any aid from the devil. And because these remedies are mysterious we must not therefore ascribe them to the power of the devil as we should ascribe evil spells wrought by witches.

Moreover, witches use certain images and other strange periapts, which they are wont to place under the lintels of the doors of houses, or in those meadows where flocks are herding, or even where men congregate, and thus they cast spells over their victims, who have oft- times been known to die. But because such extraordinary effects can proceed from these images it would appear that the influence of these images is in pro¬ portion to the influence of the stars over human bodies, for as natural bodies are influenced by heavenly bodies, so may artificial bodies likewise be thus influenced. But natural bodies may find the benefit of certain secret but good influences. Therefore artificial bodies may receive such influence. Hence it is ' plain that those who perform works of healing may well perform them by means of such good influences, and this has no connexion at all with any evil power.

Moreover, it would seem that most extraordinary and miraculous events come to pass by the working of the powers of nature. For wonderful and terrible and amazing things happen owing to natural forces. And this S. Gregory points out in his Second Dia¬ logue. f The Saints perform miracles,

t “ Second Dialogue .” The “ Dialogorum Libri IV” is one of the most famous of S. Gregory's works, and very many separate editions have appeared.

J4

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 2.

sometimes by a prayer, sometimes by their power alone. There are examples of each : S. Peter by praying raised to lifeTabitha, who was dead.* By rebuk¬ ing Ananias and Sapphira, who were telling a lie, he slew them without any prayer. Therefore a man by his mental influence can change a material body into another, or he can change such a body from health to sickness and con¬ versely.

Moreover, the human body is nobler than any other body, but because of the passions of the mind the human body changes and becomes hot or cold, as is the case with angry men or men who are afraid: and so an even greater change takes place with regard to the effects of sickness and death, which by their power can greatly change a material body.

But certain objections must be al¬ lowed. The influence of the mind can¬ not make an impression upon any form except by the intervention of some agent, as we have said above. And these are the words of S. Augustine in the book which we have already quoted: It is incredible that the angels who fell from Heaven should be obedient to any material things, for they obey God only. And much less can a man of his natural power bring about extraordin¬ ary and evil effects. The answer must be made, there are even to-day many who err greatly on this point, making excuses for witches and laying the whole blame upon the craft of the devil, or ascribing the changes that they work to some natural alteration. These errors may be easily made clear. First, by the description of witches which S. Isidore gives in his Etymologiae , c. 9 : Witches are so called on account of the blackness of their guilt, that is to say, their deeds are more evil than those of any other malefactors. He con¬ tinues : They stir up and confound the elements by the aid of the devil, and arouse terrible hailstorms and tem¬ pests. Moreover, he says they distract the minds of men, driving them to madness, insane hatred, and inordinate lusts. Again, he continues, by the ter¬ rible influence of their spells alone, as it were by a draught of poison, they can destroy life.

And the words of S. Augustine in his

* “S. Peter "Acts of the Apostles ,” ix, 36-42; and Vy 1-11.

book on The City of God are very much to the point, for he tells us who magi¬ cians and witches really are. Magi¬ cians, who are commonly called witches, ^are thus termed on account of the mag¬ nitude of their evil deeds. These are they who by the permission of God disturb the elements, who drive to dis¬ traction the minds of men, such as have lost their trust in God, and by the ter¬ rible power of their evil spells, without any actual draught or poison, kill human beings. As Lucan says : A mind which has not been corrupted by any noxious drink perishes forspoken by some evil charm. For having sum¬ moned devils to their aid they actually dare to heap harms upon mankind, ancj even to destroy their enemies by their^ 1 evil spells. And it is certain that operations of this kind the witch works ! in close conjunction with the devil f Secondly, punishments are of four kinds: beneficial, hurtful, wrought by witch¬ craft, and natural. Beneficial punish¬ ments are meted out by the ministry of good Angels, just as hurtful punish¬ ments proceed from evil spirits. Moses smote Egypt with ten plagues by the ministry of good Angels, and the magi¬ cians were only able to perform three of these miracles by the aid of the devil. And the pestilence which fell upon the people for three days because of the sin of David who numbered the people, and the 72,000 men who were slain in one night in the army of Sennacherib, were miracles wrought by the Angels of God, that is, by good Angels who feared God and knew that they were carrying out His commands.

Destructive harm, however, is wrought by the medium of bad angels, at whose hands the children of Israel in the desert were often afflicted. And those harms which are simply evil and nothing more are brought about by the devil, who works through the medium of sorcerers and witches. There are also natural harms which in some manner depend upon the conjunction of heavenly bodies, such as dearth, drought, tempests, and similar effects of nature.

It is obvious that there is a vast differ¬ ence between all these causes, circum¬ stances, and happenings. For Job was afflicted by the devil with a harmful disease, but this is nothing to the pur¬ pose. And if anybody who is too clever

Part I. Question 2.

MALEFICARUM

*5

and over-curious asks how it was that Job was afflicted with this disease by the devil without the aid of some sor¬ cerer or witch, let him know that he is merely beating the air and not inform¬ ing himself as to the real truth. For in \ the time of Job there were no sorcerers » and witches, and such abominations were not yet practised. But the provi¬ dence of God wished that by the ex¬ ample of Job the power of the devil even over good men might be mani¬ fested, so that we might learn to be on our guard against Satan, and, more¬ over, by the example of this holy patriarch the glory of God shines abroad, since nothing happens save what is permitted by God.

With regard to the time at which this evil superstition, witchcraft, appeared, we must first distinguish the worshippers of the devil from those who were merely idolaters. And Vincent of Beauvais* in his Speculum historiale , quoting many learned authorities, says that he who first practised the arts of magic and of astrology was Zoroaster, f who is said to have been Cham! the son of Noe.

* “Vincent” Little is known of the personal history of this celebrated encyclopaedist. The years of his birth and death are uncertain , but the dates most frequently assigned are 1190 and 1264 respectively. It is thought that he joined the Dominicans in Paris shortly after 1218, and that he passed practically his whole life in his monastery at Beauvais , where he occupied himself incessantly upon his enormous work , the general title of which is “ Speculum Maius,” containing 80 books , divided into 9885 chapters. The third party “ Speculum Historiale,” in 91 books and 3793 chapters, brings the History of the World down to a.d. 1250.

f “ /fro aster .” Pliny, “ Historia Naturalis,” XXX, ii, says of magic: “ Sine dubio illic orta in Perside a Zoroastre, ut inter auctores conuenit. Sed unus hic fuerit, an postea et alius, non satis constat.” Apuleius, “De Magia,” XXVI, mentions fproaster and Oromazus as the in¬ ventors of sorcery. “ Audis tisne magiam . . . artem esse dis immortalibus acceptam .. .a Zoroastro et Oromazo auctoribus suis nobilem, caelitum antistitam?”

+ “Cham.” “A. V.” Ham. Lenglet du Fres- noy in his “History of the Hermetic Philosophy” repeats an old tradition: “Most alchemists pre¬ tended that Cham, or Chem, the son of Noe, was an adept in the art , and thought it highly probable that the words ‘ Chemistry ’ and ‘ Alchemy ’ are both derived from his name.” Lactantius, “De Origine Erroris,” II, says of the descendants of Cham: “ Omnium primi qui Aegyptum occu-

And according to S. Augustine in his book Of the City of God, Cham laughed aloud when he was bom, and thus showed that he was a servant of the devil, and he, although he was a great and mighty king, was conquered by Ninus the son of Belus, who built Ninive, whose reign was the beginning of the kingdom of Assyria in the time of Abraham.

This Ninus, owing to his insane love for his father, when his father was dead, ordered a statue of his father to be made, and whatever criminal took refuge there was free from any punish¬ ment which he might have incurred. From this time men began to worship images as though they were gods; but this was after the earliest years of his¬ tory, for in the very first ages there was no idolatry, since in the earliest times men still preserved some remembrance of the creation of the world, as S. Thomas says, Book 2, question 95, article 4. Or it may have originated

pauerunt; caelestia suspicere, atque adorare coeperunt.”

“Realite de la Magie et des Apparitions,” Paris, 1819 (pp. xii-xiii), has: “Le monde, purgt par le deluge, f ut repeuple par les trois fis de Noe. Sem et Japhet imiter ent la ver tu de leur pere, et furent justes comme lui. Cham, au contraire, donna entrSe au dimon dans son coeur, remit au jour V art exkrable de la magie, en composa les regies, et en instruisit son fils Misraim.

“Cent trente ans apres le deluge, Sem habitait la Perse. Ses enfans pratiquaient la religion naturelle, que Dieu mit dans le coeur du premier homme; et leurs vieillards se nommaient mages, qui veut dire “sages” en notre langue. Dans la suite, les descendant de Cham se partagerent, et quelques-uns passerent en Perse; Cham, qui vivait encore, etait a leur te te. II opera tant de prodiges par ses charmes et ses enchantements, que les Bactriens lui donnerent le nom de Zoroastre, c’est-d-dire, ‘astre vivant et trans¬ porter ent d ceux de sa secte le nom honor¬ able de “mages,” que les adorateurs du vrai Dieu abandonnerent, des qu’ils le virent ainsi profane: et Vest de la que nous est venu le nom de ‘magie? pour signifer le culte du demon.

“Cham, ou Zoiroastre,fut encore Vinventeur de Vastrologie judiciaire; il regarda les astres comme autant de divinitis, et persuada aux hommes que tout leur destin dependait de leurs bonnes ou mauvaises influences. Ainsi Von commenga d leur rendre un culte religieux, qui fut V origine de Vidoldtrie. La Chaldie fut le premier thMtre de ces igar emens; et alors , ‘ Chaldeen , astrologue et magicien ’ etaient trois mots synonymes.”

i6

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 2.

with Nembroth,* who compelled men to worship fire ; and thus in the second age of the world there began Idolatry, which is the first of all superstitions, as Divination is the second, and the Ob¬ serving of Times and Seasons the third.

The practices of witches are included in the second kind of superstition, which is to say Divination, since they expressly invoke the devil. And there are three kinds of this superstition : — Necromancy, Astrology, or rather Astromancy, the superstitious observation of the stars, and Oneiromancy.

I have explained all this at length that the reader may understand that these evil arts did not suddenly burst upon the world, but rather were devel¬ oped in the process of time, and there¬ fore it was not impertinent to point out that there were no witches in the days of Job. For as the years went by, as S. Gregory says in his Moralia , the knowledge of the Saints grew : and therefore the evil craft of the devil like¬ wise increased. The prophet Isaias says: The earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord (xi, 6). And so in this twilight and evening of the world, when sin is flourishing on every side and in every place, when charity is growing cold, the evil of witches and their iniquities superabound.

And since Zoroaster was wholly given up to the magic arts, it was the devil alone who inspired him to study and observe the stars. Very early did sor¬ cerers and witches make compacts with the devil and connive with him to bring harm upon human beings. This is proved in the seventh chapter of Exodus, where the magicians of Pharao by the power of the devil wrought extraordinary wonders, imitating those plagues which Moses had brought upon Egypt by the power of good angels.

Hence follows the Catholic teaching, that in order to bring about evil a witch can and does co-operate with the

* “Nembroth” S. Augustine, “ De Ciuitate Dei ,” XVI, 3, quotes: “ Chus autem genuit Nebroth; hic coepit esse gigans super terram. Hic erat gigans uenator contra Dominum Deum.” Nebroth is the English Nimrod, who was con¬ sidered a past master of magic, and even by later ages a demon. So we have: “ Nembroth . Un des esprits que les magiciens consultent . Le mardi lui est consacri , et on Vivoque cejour-ld: il fautfpour le r envoy er, luijeter- une pierre; ce qui est facile ” Collin de Plancy (“Dictionnaire Infernal,” sixieme Edition, i86f) .

devil. And any objections to this may briefly be answered thus.

1. In the first place, nobody denies that certain harms and damages which actually and visibly afflict men, animals, the fruits of the earth, and which often come about by the influence of the stars, may yet often be brought about by demons, when God permits them so to act. For as S. Augustine says in the 4th book Of the City of God: Demons may make use of both fire and air if God allow them so to do. And a commen¬ tator remarks: God punishes by the power of evil angels.

2. From this obviously follows the answer to any objection concerning Job, and to any objections which may be raised to our account of the begin¬ nings of magic in the world.

3. With regard to the fact that rotten sage which is thrown into running water is said to produce some evil effect without the help of the devil, although it may not be wholly disconnected with the influence of certain stars, we would point out that we do not intend to discuss the good or evil influence of the stars, but only witchcraft, and therefore this is beside the point.

4. With regard to the fourth argu¬ ment, it is certainly true that the devil only employs witches to bring about their bale and destruction. But when it is deduced that they are not to be punished, because they only act as in¬ struments which are moved not by their own volition but at the will and pleasure of the principal and agent, there is a ready answer: For they are human instruments and free agents, and although they have made a compact \ and a contract with the devil, neverthe¬ less they do enjoy absolute liberty : for, as has been learnt from their own reve- \ lations — and I speak of women who have been convicted and burned at the stake and who were compelled to wreak vengeance and evil and damage if they wished to escape punishments and blows inflicted by the devil — yet these women do co-operate with the devil although they are bound to him by that profession by which at first they freely and willingly gave themselves over into his power.

With regard to these other arguments, in which it is proved that certain old women have an occult knowledge which

Part I. Question 2.

MALEFICARUM

17

enables them to bring about extra¬ ordinary and indeed evil effects without the aid of the devil. It must be under¬ stood that from one particular to con¬ clude a universal argument is contrary to all sound reason. And when, as it seems, throughout the whole of the Scriptures no such instance can be found, save where it speaks of the charms and spells old women practise, therefore we must not hence conclude that this is always the case. Moreover, the authorities on these passages leave the matter open to question, that is to say, whether such charms have any efficacy without the co-operation of the devil. These charms or fascinations seem capable of division into three kinds. First, the senses are deluded, and this may truly be done by magic, that is to say, by the power of the devil, if God permit it. And the senses may be enlightened by the power of good angels. Secondly, fascination may bring about a certain glamour and a leading astray, as when the apostle says : Who hath bewitched you? Galatians iii, 1.

I In the third place, there may be a cer¬ tain fascination cast by the eyes* over another person, and this may be harm¬ ful and bad.

And it is of this fascination that Avicenna and Al-Gazali have spoken; S. Thomas too thus mentions this fas¬ cination, Part 1, question 117. For he says the mind of a man may be changed by the influence of another mind. And that influence which is exerted over another often proceeds from the eyes, for in the eyes a certain subtle influence may be concentrated. For the eyes direct their glance upon a certain ob¬ ject without taking notice of other things, and although the vision be per¬ fectly clear, yet at the sight of some impurity, such as, for example, a woman during her monthly periods, the eyes will as it were contract a certain impurity. This is what Aristotle says in his work On Sleep and Waking, f and thus if anybody’s spirit be inflamed with malice or rage, as is often the case with old women, then their disturbed spirit

* “Cast by the eyes .” In Ireland it was sup¬ posed that certain witches could cast a spell at a glance, and they were commonly called “ 'eye- biting witches .”

t “On Sleeps This is one of the smaller treatises connected with Aristotle's great work “On the Soul," rcepi

looks through their eyes, for their coun¬ tenances are most evil and harmful, and often terrify young children of tender! years, who are extremely impression-; able. And it may be that this is often natural, permitted by God ; on the other hand, it may be that these evil looks are often inspired by the malice of the devil, with whom old witches have made some secret contract.

The next question arises with regard to the influence of the heavenly bodies, and here we find three very common errors, but these will be answered as we proceed to explain other matters.

With regard to operations of witch¬ craft, we find that some of these may be due to mental influence over others, and in some cases such mental influence might be a good one, but it is the motive which makes it evil.

And there are four principal argu¬ ments which are to be objected against those who deny that there are witches, or magical operations, which may be performed at the conjunction of certain planets and stars, and that by the malice of human beings harm may be wrought through fashioning images, through the use of spells, and by the writing of mysterious characters. All theologians and philosophers agree that the heav¬ enly bodies are guided and directed by certain spiritual mediums. But those spirits are superior to our minds and souls, just as the heavenly bodies are superior to other bodies, and therefore they can influence both the mind and body of a man, so that he is persuaded and directed to perform some human act. But in order yet more fully to attempt a solution of these matters, we may consider certain difficulties from a discussion of which we shall yet more clearly arrive at the truth. First, spirit- j ual substances cannot change bodies to] some other natural form unless it be through the mediumship of some agent. Therefore, however strong a mental influence may be, it cannot effect any change in a man’s mind or disposition. Moreover, several universities, especially that of Paris, have condemned the fol¬ lowing article: — That an enchanter is able to cast a camel into a deep ditch merely by directing his gaze upon it. And so this article is condemned, that a corporeal body should obey some spiritual substance if this be understood simply, that is to say, if the obedience

i8

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 2.

entails some actual change or trans¬ formation. For in regard to this it is God alone Who is absolutely obeyed. Bearing these points in mind we may soon see how that fascination, or in¬ fluence of the eyes of which we have spoken, is possible, and in what respects it is not possible. For it is not possible that a man through the natural powers of his mind should direct such pov/er from his eyes that, without the agency of his own body or of some other medium, he should be able to do harm to the body of another man. Nor is it possible that a man through the natural owers of his mind should at his will ring about some change, and by directing this power through the mediumship of his eyes entirely trans¬ form the body, of a man, upon whom he fixes his gaze, just as his will and pleasure may be.

And therefore in neither of these ways can one man influence and fascinate another, for no man by the natural powers of his mind alone possesses such an extraordinary influence. Therefore, to wish to prove that evil effects can be produced by some natural power is to say that this natural power is the power of the devil, which is very far indeed from the truth.

* Nevertheless, we may more clearly set forth how it is possible for a careful gaze to do harm. It may so happen that if a man or a woman gaze steadfastly at some child, the child, owing to its power of sight and power of imagination, may receive some very sensible and direct impression. And an impression of this kind is often accompanied by a bodily change, and since the eyes are one of the tenderest organs of the body, there¬ fore they are very liable to such im¬ pressions. Therefore it may well hap¬ pen that the eyes receive some bad impression and change for the worse, since very often the thoughts of the mind or the motions of the body are particularly impressed upon and shown by the eyes. And so it may happen that some angry and evil gaze, if it has been steadfastly fixed and directed upon a child, may so impress itself upon that child’s memory and imagination that it may reflect itself in the gaze of the child, and actual results will follow, as, for example, he may lose his appetite and be unable to take food, he may sicken and fall ill. And sometimes we see that the sight of a man who is

suffering from his eyes may cause the eyes of those who gaze upon him to dazzle and feel weak, although to a large extent this is nothing else but the effect of pure imagination. Several other examples of the same sort might be discussed here, but for the sake of conciseness we will not discuss them in any further detail.

All this is borne out by the commen¬ tators upon the Psalm, Qui timent te uidebunt me. * There is a great power in the eyes, and this appears even in natural things. For if a wolf see a man first, the man is struck dumb. More¬ over, if a basilisk see a man first its look is fatal ; but if he see it first he may be < able to kill it; and the reason why the basilisk is able to kill a man by its gaze is because when it sees him, owing to its anger a certain terrible poison is set in motion throughout its body, and this ^ it can dart from its eyes, thus infecting the atmosphere with deadly venom. And thus the man breathes in the air which it has infected and is stupefied and dies. But when the beast is first seen by the man, in a case when the man wishes to kill the basilisk, he fur¬ nishes himself with mirrors, and the beast seeing itself in the mirrors darts out poison towards its reflection, but ! the poison recoils and the animal dies.

It does not seem plain, however, why the man who thus kills the basilisk should not die too, and we can only conclude that this is on account of some reason not clearly understood.

So far we have set down our opinions absolutely without prejudice and re¬ fraining from any hasty or rash judge¬ ment, not deviating from the teachings and writings of the Saints. We con¬ clude, therefore, that the Catholic truth is this, that to bring about these evils which form the subject of discussion, witches and the devil always work together, and that in so far as these matters are concerned one can do nothing without the aid and assistance of the other.

We have already treated of this fas¬ cination. And now with reference to the second point, namely, that blood will flow from a corpse in the presence of a murderer. According to the Speculum naturale of Vincent of Beauvais, c. 13, the

* “Qui timent .” Psalm li , 8: Uidebunt iusti et timebunt.

Part I. Question 2.

MALEFICARUM

19

wound is, as it were, influenced by the mind of the murderer, and that wound receives a certain atmosphere which has been impressed by and is permeated with his violence and hatred, and when the murderer draws near, the blood wells up and gushes forth from the corpse. For it would seem that this atmosphere, which was caused and as it were entered the wound owing to the murderer, at his presence is disturbed and greatly moved, and it is owing to this movement that the blood streams out of the dead body. There are some who declare that it is due to some other causes, and they say that this gushing forth of the blood is the voice of the blood crying from the earth against the murderer who is present, and that this is on account of the curse pronounced against the first murderer Cain. And with regard to that horror which a person feels when he is passing near the corpse of a man who has been mur¬ dered, although he may not be in any way cognizant of the vicinity of a dead body, this horror is psychic, it infects the atmosphere and conveys a thrill of fear to the mind. But all these explana¬ tions, be it noted, do not in any way affect the truth of the evil wrought by witches, since they are all perfectly natural and arise from natural causes.

In the third place, as we have already said above, the operations and rites of witches are placed in that second cate¬ gory of superstition which is called Divination ; and of this divination there are three kinds, but the argument does not hold good with reference to the third kind, which belongs to a different species, for witchcraft is not merely any divination, but it is that divination, the operations of which are performed by express and explicit invocations of the devil; and this may be done in very many ways, as by Necromancy, Geo- mancy, Hydromancy, etc.

Wherefore this divination, which is used when they are working their spells, must be judged to be the height of criminal wickedness, although some have attempted to regard it from another point of view. And they argue thus, that as we do not know the hidden powers of nature, it may be that the witches are merely employing or seeking to employ these hidden powers : assur¬ edly if they are employing the natural j powers of natural things to bring about a natural effect, this must be perfectly

lawful, as indeed is obvious enough, f Or even let us conceive that if they superstitiously employ natural things, as, for example, by writing down cer¬ tain characters or unknown names of some kind, and that then they use these runes for restoring a person to health, or for inducing friendship, or with some useful end, and not at all for doing any damage or harm, in such cases, it may be granted, I say, that there is no ex¬ press invocation of demons; neverthe¬ less it cannot be that these spells are employed without a tacit invocation, wherefore all such charms must be judged to be wholly unlawful.

And because these and many other charms like to them may be placed in the third category of superstition, that is to say, idle and vain observing of times and seasons, this is by no means a relevant argument as to the heresy of witches. But of this category, the ob¬ serving of times and seasons, there are four distinct species : A man may use such observations to acquire certain knowledge : or he may in this way seek to inform himself concerning lucky or unlucky days and things : or he may use sacred words and prayers as a charm with no reference to their meaning : or he may intend and desire to bring about some beneficial change in some body. All this S. Thomas has amply treated in that question where he asks, Whether such observing be lawful, especially if it be to bring about a beneficial change in a body, that is to say, the restoration of persons to health. But when witches observe times and seasons, their prac¬ tices must be held to belong to the second kind of superstition, and there¬ fore, in so far as they are concerned, questions concerning this third class are wholly impertinent.

We now proceed to a fourth proposi¬ tion, inasmuch as from observations of the kind we have discussed certain charts and images are wont to be made, but these are of two separate sorts, which differ entirely one from the other ; and these are Astronomical and Necro¬ mantic. Now in Necromancy there is always an express and particular invo¬ cation of demons, for this craft implies that there has been an express compact and contract with them. Let us there¬ fore only consider Astrology. In Astro¬ logy there is no compact, and therefore there is no invocation, unless by chance there be some kind of tacit invocation.

20

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 2.

since the figures of demons and their names sometimes appear in Astrological charts. And again, Necromantic signs are written under the influence of cer¬ tain stars in order to counteract the influence and oppositions of other heavenly bodies, and these are inscribed, for signs and characters of this kind are often engraved upon rings, gems, or some other precious metal, but magic signs are engraved without any refer¬ ence to the influence of the stars, and often upon any substance, nay, even upon vile and sordid substances, which when buried in certain places bring about damage and harm and disease. But we are discussing charts which are made with reference to the stars. And these Necromantic charts and images have no reference to any heavenly body. Therefore a consideration of them does not enter into the present discussion.

Moreover, many of these images which have been made with super¬ stitious rites have no efficacy at all, that is to say, in so far as the fashioning of them is concerned, although it may be that the material of which they are made does possess a certain power, although this is not due to the fact that they were made under the influence of certain stars. Yet many hold that it is in any case unlawful to make use even of images like these. But the images made by witches have no natural power at all, nor has the material of which they are formed any power; but they fashion such images by command of the devil, that by so doing they may, as it were, mock the work of the Creator, and that they may provoke Him to anger so that in punishment of their misdeeds He may suffer plagues to fall upon the earth. And in order to in¬ crease their guilt they delight especially to fashion many such images at the more solemn seasons of the year.

With regard to the fifth point, S. Gregory is there speaking of the power of grace and not of the power of nature. And since, as S. John says, we are born of God, what wonder then that the sons of God enjoy extraordinary powers.

With regard to the last point we will say this, that a mere likeness is irrele¬ vant, because the influence of one’s own mind on one’s own body is different from its influence upon another body. For since the mind is united to the body as though the body were the material form of the mind, and the emotions are

an act of the body, but separate, there¬ fore the emotion can be changed by the influence of the mind whensoever there is some bodily change, heat or cold, or any alteration, even to death itself. But to change the actual body, no act of the mind is sufficient by itself, unless there can be some physical result which alters the body. Whence witches, by the exercise of no natural power, but only by the help of the devil, are able to bring about harmful effects. And the devils themselves can only do this by the use of material objects as their instruments, such as bones, hair, wood, iron, and all sorts of objects of this kind, concerning which operation we shall treat more fully a little later.

Now with regard to the tenor of the Bull of our Most Holy Father the Pope, we will discuss the origin of witches, and how it is that of recent years their works have so multiplied among us. And it must be borne in mind that for this to take place, three things concur, the devil, the witch, and the permission of God who suffers such things to be. For S. Augustine says, that the abomi¬ nation of witchcraft arose from this foul connexion of mankind with the devil. Therefore it is plain that the origin and the increase of this heresy arises from this foul connexion, a fact which many authors approve.

We must especially observe that this heresy,jyitcfficraft, not only differs from all other heresy in this, that not merely by a tacit compact, but by a compact which is exactly defined and expressed it blasphemes the Creator and en¬ deavours to the utmost to profane Him and to harm His creatures, for all other simple heresies have made no open compact with the devil, no compact, that is, either tacit or exactly expressed, although their errors and misbelief are directly to be attributed to the Father of errors and lies. Moreover, witchcraft differs from all other harmful and mys¬ terious arts in this point, that of all superstition it is essentially the vilest, the most evil and the worst, wherefore it derives its name from doing evil, and from blaspheming the true faith. ( Male¬ ficae dictae a Maleficiendo , seu a male de fide sentiendo .)

Let us especially note too that in the practice of this abominable evil, four points in particular are required. First, most profanely to renounce the Catholic Faith, or at any rate to deny

Part I. Question 3.

MALEFICARUM

21

certain dogmas of the faith; secondly, to devote themselves body and soul to all evil ; thirdly, to offer up unbaptized children to Satan; fourthly, to indulge in every kind of carnal lust with Incubi and Succubi and all manner of filthy \ delights.

Would to God that we might sup¬ pose all this to be untrue and merely Imaginary, if only our Holy Mother the Church were free from the leprosy of such abomination. Alas, the judgement of the Apostolic See, who is alone the Mistress and the Teacher of all truth, that judgement, I say, which has been expressed in the Bull of our Holy Father the Pope, assures us and makes us aware that these crimes and evils flourish amongst us, and we dare not refrain from inquiring into them lest we imperil our own salvation. And therefore we must discuss at length the origin and the increase of these abominations; it has been a work of much labour indeed, but we trust that every detail will most exactly and most carefully be weighed by those who read this book, for herein will be found nothing contrary to sound reason, nothing which differs from the words of Scripture and the tradition of the Fathers.

Now there are two circumstances which are certainly very common at the \ present day, that is to say, the con¬ nexion of witches with familiars, Incubi and Succubi, and the horrible sacrifices of smalPcThldren. Therefore we shall

, particularly deal with these matters, so * that in the first place we shall discuss these demons themselves, secondly, the witches and their works, and thirdly, we will inquire wherefore such things are suffered to be. Now these demons work owing to their influence upon man’s mind and upon his free will, and

(they choose to copulate under the in¬ fluence of certain stars rather than under the influence of others, for it would seem that at certain times their semen can more easily generate and

beget children. Accordingly, we must inquire why the demons should act at the conjunction of certain stars, and what times these are.

''There aJeTHree^hief points to dis¬ cuss. First, whether these abominable heresies can be multiplied throughout the world by those who give themselves to Incubi and Succubi. Secondly, whether their actiSns have not a cer¬

tain extraordinary power when per¬ formed under the influence of certain stars. Thirdly, whether this abominable * heresy is not widely spread by those who profanely sacrifice children to Satan. Moreover, when we have dis¬ cussed the second, point, before we pro¬ ceed to the third, we must consider the influence of the stars, and what power \\ they have in acts of witchcraft.

With regard to the first question there are three difficulties which need eluci¬ dation.

The first is a general consideration of J these demons, which are called Incubi.

The second question is more particu¬ lar, for we must inquire, How can these } Incubi perform the human act of copu- 1 lation?

The third question is also a special | one, How do witches bind themselves to and copulate with these devils?

☆

QUESTION III

Whether children can be generated by Incubi and Succubi.

AT first it may truly seem that it is not in accordance with the Catho¬ lic Faith to maintain that children can be begotten by devils, that is to say, by Incubi* and Succubi : for God Himself, before sin came into the world, insti¬ tuted human procreation, since He created woman from the rib of man to be a helpmeet unto man : And to them He said : Increase and multiply, Genesis i, 28. And again Adam being inspired by God said : They shall be two in one flesh, Genesis ii, 24. Likewise after sin had come into the world, it was said to Noe : Increase, and multiply, Genesis ix,

1. In the time of the new law also, Christ confirmed this union : Have ye not read, that he who made man from the beginning, Made them male and female? S. Matthew xix, 4. Therefore men cannot be begotten in any other way than this.

But it may be argued that devils take their part in this generation not as the essential cause, but as a secondary and artificial cause, since they busy them-

* “Incubi.” For a very full discussion of the j f whole subject see SinistrarVs “ Demoniality ” I with my Commentary and glosses , Fortune Press , 1927. "

22

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 3.

selves by interfering with the process of normal copulation and conception, by obtaining human semen, and them¬ selves transferring it.

Objection. The devil can perform this act in every state of life, that is to say, in the matrimonial state, or not in the matrimonial state. Or he can perform it in one only state. Now he cannot perform it in the first state, because then the act of the devil would be more powerful than the act of God, Who in¬ stituted and confirmed this holy estate, since it is a state of continence and wedlock. Nor can he effect this in any other estate : since we never read in Scripture that children can be begotten in one state and not in another.

Moreover, to beget a child is the act of a living body, but devils cannot be¬ stow life upon the bodies which they assume ; because life formally only pro¬ ceeds from the soul, and the act of generation is the act of the physical organs which have bodily life. There¬ fore bodies which are assumed in this way cannot either beget or bear.

Yet it may be said that these devils assume a body not in order that they may bestow life upon it, but that they may by the means of this body preserve human semen, and pass the semen on to another body.

Objection. As in the action of angels, whether they be good or bad, there is nothing superfluous and useless, nor is there anything superfluous and useless in nature. But the devil by his natural power, which is far greater than any human bodily power, can perform any spiritual action, and perform it again and again although man may not be able to discern it. Therefore he is able to perform this action, although man may not be able to discern when the devil is concerned therewith. For all bodily and material things are on a lower scale than pure and spiritual in¬ telligences. But the angels, whether they be good or whether they be evil, are pure and spiritual intelligences. Therefore they can control what is be¬ low them. Therefore the devil can col¬ lect and make use as he will of human semen which belongs to the body.

However, to collect human semen from one person and to transfer it to another implies certain local actions. But devils cannot locally move bodies from place to place. And this is the

argument they put forward. The soul is purely a spiritual essence, so is the devil : but the soul cannot move a body from place to place except it be that body in which it lives and to which it ives life : whence if any member of the ody perishes it becomes dead and im¬ movable. Therefore devils cannot move a body from place to place, except it be a body to which they give life. It has been shown, however, and is acknow¬ ledged that devils do not bestow life on anybody, therefore they cannot move human semen locally, that is, from place to place, from body to body.

Moreover, every action is performed by contact, and especially the act of generation. But it does not seem pos¬ sible that there can be any contact between the demon and human bodies, since he has no actual point of contact with them. Therefore he cannot inject semen into a human body, and there¬ fore since this needs a certain bodily action, it would seem that the devil cannot accomplish it.

Besides, devils have no power to move those bodies which in a natural order are more closely related to them, for example the heavenly bodies, therefore they have no power to move those bodies which are more distant and dis¬ tinct from them. The major is proved, since the power that moves and the movement are one and the same thing according to Aristotle in his Physics. It follows, therefore, that devils who move heavenly bodies must be in heaven, which is wholly untrue, both in our opinion and in the opinion of the Platonists.

Moreover, S. Augustine, On the Trinity , III, says that devils do indeed collect human semen, by means of which they are able to produce bodily effects : but this cannot be done without some local movement, therefore demons can transfer the semen which they have collected and inject it into the bodies of others. But, as Walafrid Strabo says in his commentary upon Exodus vii, 1 1 : And Pharao called the wise men and the magicians: Devils go about the earth collecting every sort of seed, and can by working upon them broadcast various species. See also the gloss on those words (Pharao called). And again in Genesis vi the gloss makes two com¬ ments on the words: And the sons of God saw the daughters of men. First, that by the sons of God are meant the

Part I. Question 3.

MALEFICARUM

23

sons of Seth, and by the daughters of men, the daughters of Cain. Second, that Giants were created not by some incredible act of men, but by certain devils, which are shameless towards women. For the Bible says, Giants were upon the earth. Moreover, even after the Flood the bodies not only of men, but also of women, were pre-eminently and incredibly beautiful.

Answer. For the sake of brevity much concerning the power of the devil and his works in the matter of the effects of witchcraft is left out; for the pious reader either accepts it as proved, or he may, if he wish to inquire, find every point clearly elucidated in the second Book of Sentences , 5. For he will see that the devils perform all their works con¬ sciously and voluntarily ; for the nature that was given them has not been changed. See Dionysius* in his fourth chapter on this subject; their nature remained intact and very splendid, although they cannot use it for any good purpose.

And as to their intelligence, he will find that they excel in three points of understanding, that is, in the subtlety of their nature, in their age-long experi¬ ence, and in the revelation of the higher spirits. He will find also how, through the influence of the stars, they learn the dominating characteristics of men, and so discover that some are more disposed to work witchcraft than others, and that they molest these chiefly for the purpose of such works.

* “Dionysius” A series of famous writings was attributed to S. Dionysius the Areopagite (“Acts” xvii, 34), who was also popularly identified with the Martyr of Gaul , the first Bishop of Paris. The writings themselves form a collection of four treatises and ten letters. These will all be found in Migne , “Patres Graeci,” III. The treatises are generally re¬ ferred to under their Latin names , “De Diuinis nominibus” ; “Caelestis hier archia” ; “Ecclesi¬ astica hierarchda” ; “Theologia mystica .” The main source from which the Middle Ages obtained a knowledge of Dionysius and his doctrine was undoubtedly the Latin translation by Scotus Eriugena, made about 838. There are ample commen taries by many great writers such as Hugh of Saint-Victor, Blessed Albertus Magnus, S. T 'homas, and Denys the Carthusian. The works of ‘ Dionysius the Areopagite and the identification >of this writer with S. Denys were accepted by S'aints and Schoolmen, and perhaps we should do well to follow them without curious questions anal impertinent discussion.

And as to their will, the reader will find that it cleaves unchangeably to evil, and that they continuously sin in pride, envy, and gross covetousness; and that God, for his own glory, per¬ mits them to work against His will. He will also understand how with these two qualities of intellect and will devils do marvels, so that there is no power in earth which can be compared to them : Job xli. There is no power on the earth which can be compared with him, who was created that he should fear no one. But here the gloss says, Although he fears no one he is yet subject to the merits of the Saints.

He will find also how the devil knows the thoughts of our hearts ; how he can substantially and disastrously meta¬ morphose bodies with the help of an agent ; how he can move bodies locally, and alter the outward and inner feelings to every conceivable extent; and how he can change the intellect and will of a man, however indirectly.

For although all this is pertinent to our present inquiry, we wish only to draw some conclusion therefrom as to the nature of devils, and so proceed to the discussion of our question.

Now the Theologians have ascribed to them certain qualities, as that they are unclean spirits, yet not by very nature unclean. For according to Dio¬ nysius there is in them a natural mad¬ ness, a rabid concupiscence, a wanton fancy, as is seen from their spiritual sins of pride, envy, and wrath. For this reason they are the enemies of the human race : rational in mind, but reasoning without words ; subtle in wickedness, eager to do hurt ; ever fer¬ tile in fresh deceptions, they change the perceptions and befoul the emotions of men, they confound the watchful, and in dreams disturb the sleeping; they bring diseases, stir up tempests, disguise themselves as angels of light, bear Hell always about them; from witches they usurp to themselves the worship of God, and by this means magic spells are made; they seek to get a mastery over the good, and molest them to the most of their power; to the elect they are given as a temptation, and always they lie in wait for the destruction of men.

And although they have a thousand ways of doing harm, and have tried ever since their downfall to bring about schisms in the Church, to disable charity, to infect with the gall of envy

1

24

MALLEUS

the sweetness of the acts of the Saints, and in every way to subvert and per¬ turb the human race; yet their power remains confined to the privy parts and the navel. See Job xli. For through the wantonness of the flesh they have much power over men ; and in men the source of wantonness lies in the privy parts, since it is from them that the semen falls, just as in women it falls from the navel.

These things, then, being granted for a proper understanding of the question of Incubi and Succubi, it must be said that it is just as Catholic a view to hold that men may at times be begotten by means of Incubi and Succubi, as it is contrary to the words of the Saints and even to the tradition of Holy Scripture to maintain the opposite opinion. And this is proved as follows. S. Augustine in one place raises this question, not indeed as regards witches, but with reference to the very works of devils, and to the fables of the poets, and leaves the matter in some doubt ; though later on he is definite in the matter of Holy Scripture. For in his De Ciuitate Dei , Book 3, chapter 2, he says: We leave open the question whether it was possible for Venus to give birth to Aeneas through coition with Anchises. For a similar question arises in the Scriptures, where it is asked whether evil angels lay with the daughters of men, and thereby the earth was then filled with giants, that is to say, preter- naturally big and strong men. But he settles the question in Book 5, chapter 23, in these words: It is a very general belief, the truth of which is vouched for by many from their own experience, or at least from hearsay as having been experienced by men of undoubted trustworthiness, that Satyrs and Fauns (which are commonly called Incubi) have appeared to wanton women and have sought and obtained coition with them. And that certain devils (which the Gauls call Dusii) assiduously at¬ tempt and achieve this filthiness is vouched for by so many credible wit¬ nesses that it would seem impudent to < deny it.

Later in the same book he settles the second contention, namely, that the passage in Genesis about the sons of God (that is Seth) and the daughters of men (that is Gain) does not speak only of Incubi, since the existence of such is not credible. In this connexion

Part I. Question 3.

there is the gloss which we have touched upon before. He says that it is not outside belief that the Giants of whom the Scripture speaks were begotten nott by men, but by Angels or certain devils/? who lust after women. To the samer effect is the gloss on Esaias xiii,* * * § where the prophet foretells the desolation of Babylon, and the monsters that should inhabit it. He says : Owls shall dwell there, and Satyrs shall dance there./ By Satyrs here devils are meant ; as the gloss says, Satyrs are wild shaggy crea¬ tures of the woods, which are a certain kind of devils called Incubi. And again in Esaias xxxiv, where he prophesies the desolation of the land of the Idumeans because they persecuted the Jews, he says: And it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls. The wild beasts also of the desert shall meet . . . The interlinear gloss interprets this as monsters and devils. And in the same place Blessed Gregory explains these to be woodland gods under another name^ not those which the Greeks called Pans, and the Latins Incubi.

Similarly Blessed Isidore, in the last chapter of his 8th book, says: Satyrs are they who are called Pans in Greek*" and Incubi in Latin. And they are called Incubi from their practice oT Overlaying, f that is debauching. Fof they often lust lecherously after women, and copulate with them ; and the Gauls* hame them Dusii, | because they are diligent in this beastliness. But the devj|

! which the common people call an In-} cubus, the Romans called a fig Faun;$'

I ■ 0

* ‘'Esaias” See my gloss upon this passage , “ Demoniality ,” Introduction , xxvi—xxviii.

t “ Overlaying .” Nider, “ Formicarius ,” ix, writes: “Incubi dicuntur ab incumbendo , hoc est struprando.”

t “Dusii” “De Ciuitate Dei ” XV, 23, where S. Augustine has: “Et quosdam daemones , quos Dusios Galli nuncupant , adsidue hanc immunditiam et tentare et efficere , plures talesque adseuerant, ut hoc negare impudentiae uideatur.”

§ “A Fig Faun.” “Jeremias” l, 33, the desolation of Babylon, has: Propterea habitabunt dracones cum faunis ficariis: et habitabunt in ea struthiones: et non inhabitabitur ultra usque in sempiternum, nec exstruetur usque ad genera¬ tionem, et generationem. Which Douay trans¬ lates: “Therefore shall dragons dwell there with the fig fauns: and ostriches shall dwell therein , and it shall be no more inherited for ever, neither shall it be built up from generation to generation.” The English gloss says: ‘ ‘ Eig fau ns. 5 Monsters

Part I. Question 3.

MALEFICARUM

25

to which Horace said, “O Faunus, lover of fleeing nymphs, go gently over my lands and smiling fields.’* *

As to that of S. Paul in I. Corinthians xi, A woman ought to have a covering on her head, because of the angels,

, many Catholics believe that “because 1 of the angels” refers to Incubi. Of the same opinion is the Venerable Bede in his History of the English ;* also William of Parisj *n his book De Uniuerso, the

\ of the desert , or demons in monstrous shapes: such as the ancients called fauns' and ‘ satyrs' : and as they imagined them to live upon wild figs , they called them fauni ficarii ' or fig fauns' " Mirabeau , “ Erotika Biblion” ( pseudo-Rome ), 1783, under “ Behemah " writes: “Les satyr es, les faunes, les Sgypans, toutes ces fables en sont une tradition trh remar quable. Satan en arabe signifie bouc ; et lebouc expiatoire nefut ordonnS par Moyse que pour ditourner les Israelites du gout quits avoient pour cet animal lascifi ( Maimonide dans le More Nevochin, p. 111, c. xlvi, s’ e tend sur les cultes des boucs.) Comme il est dit dans V Exode qu'on ne pouvoit voir la face des dieux, les Israelites etoient persuades que les demons si faisoient voir sous cette forme. ... On a ensuite confondu les incubes et les succubes avec les veritables produits. Jeremie parle de faunes suffoquans. (Jerem., I, 33. Faunis sicariis et non pas ficariis. Car des faunes qui avoient des figues ne youdroit Fen dire. Cependant. Saci la traduit ainsi; car les Jansenistes affectent la plus grande purete des moeurs, mais Berruyer soutient le ‘ Sicarii ' et rend ses faunes tres actifs.) Heraclite a decrit des satyr es qui vivoient dans les bois, et jouissoient en commun des femmes dont ils s' emparoient . ' 5 But the Vulgate has “ Fauni ficarii," which settles the point. That the reading was very disputed is clear from Nider,

“ Formicarius who has: “ Quem autem uulgo Incubonem uocant, hunc Romani uicarium dicunt. Ad quem Horatius dicit: Faune Nympharum fugientium amator meos per fines et aprica rura lenis incedas. Insuper illud Apostoli I Cor. xi. Mulier debet uelamen habere super caput suum propter Angelos: Multi Catholici exponunt quod sequitur, propter angelos, id est Incubos." The quotation from Horaee is “Carminum," III, 18.

* “Bede." Born 672 or 673, died 733. This great work, “ Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum," giving an account of Christianity in England from the beginning until his own day, has been recognized as a masterpiece by the scholars of all ages and countries. An authorita¬ tive edition was published by Plummer, two vols., Oxford, 1836.

t “William of Paris." William of Auvergne , the celebrated philosopher and theologian , was born at Aurillac in Auvergne towards the end of thy twelfth century, and died at Paris, of which city he had in 1228 been consecrated Bishop, in f 49- Although not a “Summa theologica," his de Universo" is a practical endeavour to found

D

last part of the 6th treatise. Moreover, S. Thomas speaks of this (I. 25 and II. 8, and elsewhere; also on Esaias xii and xiv). Therefore he says that it is rash to deny such things. For that which appears true to many cannot be altogether false, according to Aristotle (at the end of the De somno et uigilia , and in the 2nd Ethics ). I say nothing of the many authentic histories, both Catholic and heathen, which openly affirm the existence of Incubi.

But the reason that devils turn them¬ selves into Incubi or Succubi is not for the cause of pleasure, since a spirit has not flesh and blood; but chiefly it is with this intention, that through the vice of luxury they may work a twofold harm against men, that is, in body and in soul, that so men may be more given to all vices. And there is no doubt that they know under which stars the semen is most vigorous, and that men so con¬ ceived will be always perverted by witchcraft.

When Almighty God had enumerated many vices of luxury rife among the unbelievers and heretics, from which He wished His people to be clean, He says in Leviticus xviii: Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things : for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you : and the land is defiled : therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it. The gloss explains the word “nations” as meaning devils who, on account of their multitude, are called the nations of the world, and rejoice in all sin, especially in fornication and idolatry^ because by these are defiled f he body and the soul, and the whole man, which is called “the land.” For every sin that a man commits is outside his body, but the man who commits fornication sins in his body. If anyone wishes to study further the histories concerning Incubi and Succubi, let him read (as has been said) Bede in his f ? History of the English , and William, and finally Thomas of Brabant in his book About Bees.

To return to the matter in hand.

a science of reality on principles opposed to those of the Arabian commentators upon and perverters of Aristotle. His theological works are par¬ ticularly interesting as devotmg much attention to a refutation of the Manichees, whose heresies had been recently revived. There is a good study by Valois, “ Guillaume d' Auvergne," Paris . 1880.

26

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 3.

And first for the natural act of propa¬ gation instituted by God, that is, be¬ tween male and female ; that as though by the permission of God the Sacrament of Matrimony can be made void by the work of the devil through witchcraft, as has been shown above. And the same is much more strongly true of any other venereal act between man and woman.

But if it is asked why the devil is allowed to cast spells upon the venereal act, rather than upon any other human act, it is answered that many reasons are assigned by the Doctors, which will be discussed later in the part concerning the divine permission. For the present the reason that has been mentioned before must suffice, namely, that the power of the devil lies in the privy parts of men. For of all struggles those are the hardest where the fight is continuous and victory rare. And it is unsound to argue that in that case the work of the devil is stronger than the work of God, since the matrimonial act instituted by God can be made void : for the devil does not make it void by violence, since he has no power at all in the matter except as he is permitted by God. Therefore it would be better to argue from this that he is powerless.

Secondly, it is true that to procreate a man is the act of a living body. But when it is said that devils cannot give life, because that flows formally from the soul, it is true; but materially life springs from the semen, and an Incubus devil can, with God’s permissioh7~ac- c.omplish this by coition. And the semen does not so much spring from him, as it is another man’s semen received by him for this purpose (see S. Thomas, I. 51, art. 3). For the devil is jSuccubus^to a I man, and becomes Incubus "to a woman. In just the same way they absorb the seeds of other things for the generating of various things, as S. Augustine says, de Trinitate 3.

Now it may be asked, of whom is a child so born the son? It is clear, that he is not the son of the devil, but of the man whose semen was received. But when it is urged that, just as in the works of Nature, so there is no super¬ fluity in the works of angels, that is granted; but when it is inferred that the devil can receive and inject semen invisibly, this also is true ; but he prefers to perform this visibly as a Succubus and an Incubus, that by such filthiness

he may infect body and soul of all humanity, that is, of both woman and man, there being, as it were, actual bodily contact.

Moreover, devils can do invisibly more things which they are not per¬ mitted to do visibly, even if they so wished; but they are allowed to do them invisibly, either as a trial for the good, or as a punishment for the wicked. Finally, it may happen that another devil may take the place of the Suc¬ cubus, receive the semen from him, and become an Incubus in the place of the other devil; and this for a threefold reason. Perhaps because one devil, allotted to a woman, should receive semen from another devil? allotted to a man, that in this way each of them should be commissioned by the prince of devils to work some witchcraft ; since to each one is allotted his own angel, eTen^bnr^amongHEhe because of the filthiness of the deed, which one devil would abhor to com¬

mit. For in many inquiries it is clearly shown that certain devils, out of some nobility in their natures, would shrink from a filthy action. Or it may be m order that the Incubus may, instead of a man’s semen, by interposing himself on to a woman, invisibly inject his own semen, that is, that which he has in¬ visibly received. And it is not foreign to his nature or power to effect such an interposition ; since even in bodily form he can interpose himself invisibly and without physical contact, as was shown in the case of the young man who was betrothed to an idol.

Thirdly, it is said that the power of an angel belongs in an infinite degree to the higher things ; that is to say, that his power cannot be comprehended by the lower orders, but is always superior to them, so that it is not limited to one effect only. For the highest powers have most unbounded influence over crea¬ tion. But because he is said to be infi¬ nitely superior, that is not to say that he is indifferently powerful for any work that is propounded for him ; for then he might just as well be said to be infinitely inferior, as superior.

But there must be some proportion between the agent and the patient, and there can be no proportion between a purely spiritual substance and a cor¬ poreal one. Therefore not even the devils have any power to cause an effect, except through some other active

Part I. Question 3. MALEF

medium. And this is why they use the seeds of things to produce their effects ; see S. Augustine, de Trinitate , 3. Where¬ fore this argument goes back to the pre¬ ceding one, and is not strengthened by it, unless anyone wishes for S. Augus¬ tine’s explanation why the Intelligences are said to have infinite powers .of the higher and not of the lower degree, given to them in the order of things corporeal and of the celestial bodies, which can influence many and infinite effects. But this is not because of the weakness of the inferior powers. And the conclusion is that devils, even without assuming bodies, can work transmutations in semen ; although this is no argument against the present pro¬ position, concerning Incubi and Suc- cubi, whose actions they cannot perform except by assuming bodily shape, as has been considered above.

For the fourth argument, that devils cannot move bodies or semen locally, which is substantiated by the analogy of the soul. It must be said that it is one thing to speak of the spiritual substance of the actual angel or devil, and another thing to speak of the actual soul. For the reason why the soul cannot locally move a body unless it has given life to it, or else by contact of a living body with one that is not living, is this: that the soul occupies by far the lowest grade in the order of spiritual beings, and therefore it follows that there must be some proportionate relation between it and the body which it is able to move by contact. But it is not so with devils, whose power altogether exceeds cor¬ poreal power.

And fifthly, it must be said that the contact of a devil with a body, either in the way of semen or in any other way, is not a corporeal but a virtual contact, and takes place in accordance with the suitable proportion of both the mover and the moved ; provided that the body which is moved does not exceed the proportion of the devil’s power. And such bodies are the celestial bodies, and even the whole earth or the elements of the world, the power of which we may call superior on the authority of S. Thomas in his questions concerning Sin (quest. 10, de Daemonibus). For this is either because of the essence of nature, or because of condemnation for sin. For there is a due order in things, in accord¬ ance both with their very nature and with their motion. And just as the

GARUM 27

higher heavenly bodies are moved by the higher spiritual substances, as are the good Angels, so are the lower bodies moved by the lower spiritual substances, as are the devils. And if this limitation of the devils’ power is due to the essence of nature, it is held by some that the devils are not of the order of those higher angels, but are part of this terres¬ trial order created by God; and this was the opinion of the Philosophers. And if it is due to condemnation for sin, as is held by the Theologians, then they were thrust from the regions of heaven into this lower atmosphere for a punish¬ ment, and therefore are not able to move either it or the earth.

This has been said on account of two easily dispelled arguments: — One, re¬ garding the heavenly bodies, that the devils could also move these, if they were able to move bodies locally, since the stars are nearer to them in nature, as also the last argument alleges. The answer is that this is not valid; for if the former opinion holds good, those bodies exceed the proportion of the devils’ power : and if the second is true, then again they cannot move them, because of their punishment for sin.

Also there is the argument that ob¬ jects that the motion of the whole and of the part is the same thing, just as Aristotle in his 4th Physics instances the case of the whole earth and a clod of soil; and that therefore if the devils could move a part of the earth, they could also move the whole earth. But this is not valid, as is clear to anyone who examines the distinction. But to collect the semen of things and apply it to certain effects does not exceed their natural power, with the permission of God, as is self-evident.

In conclusion, in spite of the conten¬ tion of some that devils in bodily shape can in no way generate children, and that by the “sons of God” is meant the sons of Seth and not Incubi devils, just as by the “daughters of men” is meant the descendants of Cain; nevertheless the contrary is clearly affirmed by many. And that which seems true to many cannot be altogether false, ac¬ cording to Aristotle in his 6th Ethics and at the end of the de Somno et Uigilia. And \ now also in modern times we have the well-attested deeds and words of witches who truly and actually perform such things.

Therefore we make three proposi-

28

MALLEUS

Part I. Question 4.

tions. First, that the foulest venereal acts are performed by such devils, not for the sake of delectation, but for the pollution of the souls and bodies of those to whom they act as Succubi or Incubi. Second, that through such action com¬ plete conception and generation by women can take place, inasmuch as they can deposit human semen in the suitable place of a woman’s womb where there is already a corresponding substance. In the same way they can also collect the seeds of other things for the working of other effects. Third, that in the begetting of such children only the local motion is to be attributed to devils, and not the actual begetting, which arises not from the power of the devil or of the body which he assumes, but from the virtue of him whose semen it was; wherefore the child is the son not of the devil, but of some man.

And here there is a clear answer to those who would contend that there are two reasons why devils cannot generate children : — First, that generation is ef¬ fected by the formative virtue which exists in semen released from a living body; and that because the body as¬ sumed by devils is not of such a sort, therefore, etc. The answer is clear, that the devil deposits naturally formative semen in its proper place, etc. Secondly, it may be argued that semen has no power of generation except as long as the heat of life is retained in it, and that this must be lost when it is carried great distances. The answer is that devils are able to store the semen safely, so that its vital heat is not lost; or even that it cannot evaporate so easily on account of the great speed at which they move by reason of the superiority of the mover over the thing moved.

☆

QUESTION IV

By which Devils are the Operations of Incubus and Succubus Practised ?

IS it Catholic to affirm that the func¬ tions of Incubi and Succubi belong indifferently and equally to all unclean spirits ? And it seems that it is so ; for to affirm the opposite would be to main¬ tain that there is some good order among them. It is argued that just as in the computation of the Good there are degrees and orders (see S. Augustine in

his book on the nature of the Good), so also the computation of the Evil is based upon confusion. But as among the good Angels nothing can be without order, so among the bad all is disorder, and there¬ fore they all indifferently follow these practices. See Job x. : A land of dark¬ ness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.

Again, if they do not all indifferently follow these practices, this quality in them comes either from their nature, or from sin, or from punishment. But it does not come from their nature, since they are all without distinction given to sin, as was set out in the preceding question. For they are by nature impure spirits, yet not so unclean as to pejorate theii good parts ; subtle in wickedness, eager to do harm, swollen with pride, etc. There¬ fore these practices in them are due either to sin or to punishment. Then again, where the sin is greater, there is the punishment greater ; and the higher angels sinned more greatly, therefore for their punishment they have the more to follow these filthy practices. If this is not so, another reason will be given why they do not indifferently practise these things.

And again, it is argued that where there is no discipline or obedience, there all work without distinction; and it is submitted that there is no discipline or obedience among devils, and no agree¬ ment. Proverbs xiii. : Among the proud there is always contention.

Again, just as because of sin they will all equally be cast into Hell after the Day of Judgement, so before that time they are detained in the lower mists on account of the duties assigned to them. We do not read that there is equality on account of emancipation, therefore neither is there equality in the matter of duty and temptation.

But against this there is the first gloss on 1 Corinthians xv : As long as the ' world endures Angels are set over j Angels, men over men, and devils over ! devils. Also in Job xl it speaks of the ^ scales of Leviathan, which signify the 1’ members of the devil, how one cleaves to another. Therefore there is among them diversity both of order and of action.

Another question arises, whether or not the devils can be restrained by the good Angels from pursuing these foul practices. It must be said that the

MALEFICARUM

29

Part I. Question 4.

Angels to whose command the adverse Influences are subject are called Powers, as S. Gregory says, and S. Augustine [de Trinitate , 3). A rebellious and sinful spirit of life is subject to an obedient, pious and just spirit of life. And those Creatures which are more perfect and nearer to God have authority over the others : for the whole order of preference is originally and in the first place in God, and is shared by His creatures according as they approach more nearly to Him. Therefore the good