chapter 23) that it is most rash to advance the contrary.... S. Thomas,

and most other theologians maintain this too. Wherefore the men or women who suffer these impudicities are sinners who either invite demons ... or who freely consent to demons when the evil spirits tempt them to commit such abominations. That these and other abandoned wretches may be violently assaulted by the demon we cannot doubt ... and I myself have known several persons who although they were greatly troubled on account of their crimes, and utterly loathed this foul intercourse with the demon, were nevertheless compelled sorely against their will to endure these assaults of Satan.”[53] It will be seen that great Saints and scholars and all moral theologians of importance affirm the possibility of commerce with incarnate evil intelligences. The demonologists also range themselves in a solid phalanx of assent. Hermann Thyraus, S.J.,[54] in his _De Spirituum apparitione_ says: “It is so rash and inept to deny these (things) that so to adopt this attitude you must needs reject and spurn the most weighty and considered judgements of most holy and authoritative writers, nay, you must wage war upon man’s sense and consciousness, whilst at the same time you expose your ignorance of the power of the Devil and the empery evil spirits may obtain over man.”[55] Delrio, in his _Disquisitiones Magicæ_, is even more emphatic: “So many sound authors and divines have upheld this belief that to differ from them is mere obstinacy and foolhardiness; for the Fathers, theologians, and all the wisest writers on philosophy agree upon this matter, the truth of which is furthermore proved by the experience of all ages and peoples.”[56] The erudite Sprenger in the _Malleus Maleficarum_ has much the same.[57] John Nider, O.P. (1380-1438) in his _Formicarius_, which may be described as a treatise on the theological, philosophical, and social problems of his day, with no small acumen remarks: “The reason why evil spirits appear as incubi and succubi would seem to be that ... they inflict a double hurt on man, both in his soul and body, and it is a supreme joy to devils thus to injure humankind.”[58] Paul Grilland in his _De Sortilegio_ (Lyons, 1533) writes: “A demon assumes the form of the succubus.... This is the explicit teaching of the theologians.”[59] “It has often been known by most certain and actual experience that women in spite of their resistance have been overpowered by demons.” Such are the words of the famous Alfonso de Castro, O.F.M.,[60] whose authoritative pronouncements upon Scripture carried such weight at the Council of Trent, and who was Archbishop-elect of Compostella when he died. Pierre Binsfeld, _De confessione maleficarum_, sums up: “This is a most solemn and undoubted fact not only proved by actual experience, but also by the opinion of all the ages, whatever some few doctors and legal writers may suppose.”[61] Gaspar Schott, S.J. (1608-66), physicist, doctor, and divine, “one of the most learned men of his day, his simple life and deep piety making him an object of veneration to the Protestants as well as to the Catholics of Augsburg,” where his declining years were spent, lays down: “So many writers of such high authority maintain this opinion, that it were impossible to reject it.”[62] Bodin, de Lancre, Boguet, Görres, Bizouard,[63] Gougenot des Mousseaux,[64] insist upon the same sad facts. And above all sounds the solemn thunder of the Bull of Innocent VIII announcing in no ambiguous phrase: “It has indeed come to our knowledge and deeply grieved are we to hear it, that many persons of both sexes, utterly forgetful of their souls’ salvation and straying far from the Catholic Faith, have (had commerce) with evil spirits, both incubi and succubi.”[65] I have quoted many and great names, men of science, men of learning, men of authority, men to whom the world yet looks up with admiration, nay, with reverence and love, inasmuch as to-day it is difficult, wellnigh inconceivable in most cases, for the modern mind to credit the possibility of these dark deeds of devilry, these foul lusts of incubi and succubi.[66] They seem to be some sick and loathly fantasy of dim mediæval days shrieked out on the rack by a poor wretch crazed with agony and fear, and written down in long-forgotten tomes by fanatics credulous to childishness and more ignorant than savages. “Even if such horrors ever could have taken place in the dark ages,”—those vague Dark Ages!—men say, “they would never be permitted now.” And he who knows, the priest sitting in the grated confessional, in whose ears are poured for shriving the filth and folly of the world, sighs to himself, “Would God that in truth it were so!” But the sceptics are happier in their singleness and their simplicity, happy that they do not, will not, realize the monstrous things that lie only just beneath the surface of our cracking civilization. It may not impertinently be inquired how demons or evil intelligences, since they are pure spiritual beings, can not only assume human flesh but perform the peculiarly carnal act of coition. Sinistrari, following the opinion of Guazzo, says that either the evil intelligence is able to animate the corpse of some human being, male or female, as the case may be, or that, from the mixture of other materials he shapes for himself a body endowed with motion, by means of which he is united to the human being: “ex mixtione aliarum materiarum effingit sibi corpus, quod mouet, et mediante quo homini unitur.”[67] In the first instance, advantage might be taken, no doubt, of a person in a mediumistic trance or hypnotic sleep. But the second explanation seems by far the more probable. Can we not look to the phenomena observed in connexion with ectoplasm as an adequate explanation of this? It must fairly be admitted that this explanation is certainly borne out by the phenomena of the materializing séance where physical forms which may be touched and handled are built up and disintegrated again in a few moments of time. Miss Scatcherd, in a symposium, _Survival_,[68] gives certain of her own experiences that go far to prove the partial re-materialization of the dead by the utilization of the material substance and ectoplasmic emanations of the living. And if disembodied spirits can upon occasion, however rare, thus materialize, why not evil intelligences whose efforts at corporeality are urged and aided by the longing thoughts and concentrated will power of those who eagerly seek them? This explanation is further rendered the more probable by the recorded fact that the incubus can assume the shape of some person whose embraces the witch may desire.[69] Brignoli, in his _Alexicacon_, relates that when he was at Bergamo in 1650, a young man, twenty-two years of age, sought him out and made a long and ample confession. This youth avowed that some months before, when he was in bed, the chamber door opened and a maiden, Teresa, whom he loved, stealthily entered the room. To his surprise she informed him that she had been driven from home and had taken refuge with him. Although he more than suspected some delusion, after a short while he consented to her solicitations and passed a night of unbounded indulgence in her arms. Before dawn, however, the visitant revealed the true nature of the deceit, and the young man realized he had lain with a succubus. None the less such was his doting folly that the same debauchery was repeated night after night, until struck with terror and remorse, he sought the priest to confess and be delivered from this abomination. “This monstrous connexion lasted several months; but at last God delivered him by my humble means, and he was truly penitent for his sins.”[70] Not infrequently the Devil or the familiar assigned to the new witch at the Sabbat when she was admitted must obviously have been a man, one of the assembly, who either approached her in some demoniacal disguise or else embraced her without any attempt at concealment of his individuality, some lusty varlet who would afterwards hold himself at her disposition. For we must always bear in mind that throughout these witch-trials there is often much in the evidence which may be explained by the agency of human beings; not that this essentially meliorates their offences, for they were all bond-slaves of Satan, acting under his direction and by the inspiration of hell. When the fiend has ministers devoted to his service there is, perhaps, less need for his interposition _in propria persona_. Howbeit, again and again in these cases we meet with that uncanny quota, by no means insignificant and unimportant, which seemingly admits of no solution save by the materialization of evil intelligences of power. And detailed as is the evidence we possess, it not unseldom becomes a matter of great difficulty, when we are considering a particular case, to decide whether it be an instance of a witch having had actual commerce and communion with the fiend, or whether she was cheated by the devils, who mocked her, and allowing her to deem herself in overt union with them, thus led the wretch on to misery and death, duped as she was by the father of lies, sold for a delusion and by profitless endeavour in evil. There are, of course, also many cases which stand on the border-line, half hallucination, half reality. Sylvine de la Plaine, a witch of twenty-three, who was condemned by the Parliament of Paris, 17 May, 1616, was one of these.[71] Antoinette Brenichon, a married woman, aged thirty, made a confession in almost exactly the same words. Sylvine, her husband Barthélemi Minguet, and Brenichon were hanged and their bodies burned. Henri Boguet, a Judge of the High Court of Burgundy, in his _Discours des Sorciers_, devotes chapter xii to “The carnal connexion of the Demons with Witches and Sorcerers.” He discusses: 1. The Devil knows all the Witches, & why. 2. He takes a female shape to pleasure the Sorcerers, & why. 3. Other reasons why the Devil (has to do) with warlocks and witches.[72] Françoise Secretain, Clauda Ianprost, Iaquema Paget, Antoine Tornier, Antoine Gandillon, Clauda Ianguillaume, Thieuenne Paget, Rolande du Vernois, Ianne Platet, Clauda Paget, and a number of other witches confessed “their dealings with the Devil.”[73] Pierre Gandillon and his son George also confessed to commerce with the Demon. Under his third division Boguet lays down explicit statements on the matter.[74][75] This unnatural physical coldness of the Demon is commented upon again and again by witches at their trials in every country of Europe throughout the centuries. I have already suggested that in some cases there was a full materialization due to ectoplasmic emanations. Now, ectoplasm is described[76] as being to the touch a cold and viscous mass comparable to contact with a reptile, and this certainly seems to throw a flood of light upon these details. It may be that here indeed we have a solution of the whole mystery. In 1645 the widow Bash, a Suffolk witch, of Barton, said that the Devil who appeared to her as a dark swarthy youth “was colder than man.”[77] Isobel Goudie and Janet Breadheid, of the Auldearne coven, 1662, both asserted that the Devil was “a meikle, blak, rock man, werie cold; and I fand his nature als cold, a spring-well-water.”[78] Isabel, who had been rebaptized at a Sabbat held one midnight in Auldearne parish church, and to whom was assigned a familiar named the Red Riever, albeit he was always clad in black, gave further details of the Devil’s person: “He is abler for ws that way than any man can be, onlie he ves heavie lyk a malt-sek; a hudg nature, uerie cold, as yce.”[79] In many of the cases of debauchery at Sabbats so freely and fully confessed by the witches their partners were undoubtedly the males who were present; the Grand Master, Officer, or President of the Assembly, exercising the right to select first for his own pleasures such women as he chose. This is clear from a passage in De Lancre: “The Devil at the Sabbat performs marriages between the warlocks and witches, and joining their hands, he pronounces aloud Esta es buena parati Esta parati lo toma.”[80] And in many cases it is obvious that use must have been made of an instrument, an artificial phallus employed.[81] The artificial penis was a commonplace among the erotica of ancient civilizations; there is abundant evidence of its use in Egypt, Assyria, India, Mexico, all over the world. It has been found in tombs; frequently was it to be seen as an ex-voto; in a slightly modified form it is yet the favourite mascot of Southern Italy.[82] Often enough they do not trouble to disguise the form. Aristophanes mentions the object in his _Lysistrata_ (411 B.C.), and one of the most spirited dialogues (VI) of Herodas (_circa_ 300-250 B.C.) is that where Koritto and Metro prattle prettily of their βαύβων, whilst (in another mime, VII) the ladies visit Kerdon the leather-worker who has fashioned this masterpiece. Truly Herodas is as modern to-day in London or in Paris as he ever was those centuries ago in the isle of Cos. _Fascinum_, explains the _Glossarium Eroticum Linguæ Latinæ_,[83] “Penis fictitius ex corio, aut pannis lineis uel sericis, quibus mulieres uirum mentiebantur. Antiquissima libido, lesbiis et milesiis feminis præsertim usitatissima. _Fascinis_ illis abutebantur meretrices in tardos ascensores.” As one might expect Petronius has something to say on the subject in a famous passage where that savage old hag[84] Œnothea fairly frightened Encolpius with her _scorteum fascinum_, upon which an erudite Spanish scholar, Don Antonio Gonzalez de Salas, glosses: “Rubrum penem coriaceum ut Suidas exsertim tradit uoce φαλλόι. Confecti & ex uaria materia uarios in usus olim _phalli_ ex ligno, _ficu_ potissimum qui _ficulnei_ sæpius adpellati, ex _ebore_, ex _auro_, ex _serico_, & ex _lineo panno_, quibus Lesbiæ tribades abutebantur.”[85] And Tibullus, speaking of the image of Priapus, has:[86] Placet Priape? qui sub arboris coma Soles sacrum reuincte pampino caput Ruber sedere cum rubente fascino. The Church, of course, condemned with unhesitating voice all such practices, whether they were connected (in however slight a degree) with Witchcraft or not. Arnobius, who regards all such offences as detestable, in his _Aduersus Nationes_, V (_circa_ A.D. 296), relates a curiously obscene anecdote which seems to point to the use of the fascinum by the Galli, the priests of Berecynthian Cybele,[87] whose orgies were closely akin to those of Dionysus. And the same story is related by Clement of Alexandria Προτρεπτικὸς πρὸς Ἕλληνας (_circa_ A.D. 190); by Julius Firmicus Maternus, _De Errore profanarum Religionum_ (A.D. 337-350); by Nicetas (_ob._ _circa_ A.D. 414) in a commentary on S. Gregory of Nanzianzus, oratio XXXIX; and by Theodoret (_ob._ _circa_ A.D. 457) _Sermo octaua de Martyribus_. Obviously some very primitive rite is in question. Lactantius, in his _De Falsa Religione_ (_Diuinarum Institutionum_, I, _circa_ A.D. 304), speaks of a phallic superstition, akin to the fascinum, as favoured by the vestals, and implies it was notoriously current in his day. That eminent father, S. Augustine, _De Ciuitate Dei_, VII, 21, gives some account of the fascinum as used in the rites of Bacchus, and when he is detailing the marriage ceremonies (VI, 9), he writes: “Sed quid hoc dicam, cum tibi sit et Priapus nimius masculus, super cuius immanissimum et turpissimum fascinum sedere nona nupta iubeatur, more honestissimo et religiosissimo matronarum.” The historian, Evagrius Scholasticus (_ob._ post A.D. 504), in his _Historia Ecclesiastica_ (XI, 2), says that the ritual of Priapus was quite open in his day, and the fascinum widely known. Nicephorus Calixtus, a later Byzantine, who died about the middle of the fourteenth century but whose Chronicle closed with the death of Leo Philosophus, A.D. 911, speaks of phallic ceremonies and of the use of ithy-phalli.[88] Council after council forbade the use of the fascinum, and their very insistence of prohibition show how deeply these abominations had taken root. The Second Council of Châlon-sur-Saône (813) is quite plain and unequivocal; so are the synods of de Mano (1247) and Tours (1396). Burchard of Worms (died 25 Aug., 1025) in his famous _Decretum_ has: “Fecisti quod quædam mulieres facere solent, ut facere quoddam molimen aut mechinamentum in modum uirilis membri, ad mensuram tuæ uoluptatis, et illud loco uerendorum tuorum, aut alterius, cum aliquibus ligaturis colligares, et fornicationem faceres cum aliis mulierculis, uel aliæ eodem instrumento, siue alio, tecum? Si fecisti, quinque annos per legitimas ferias pœniteas.” And again: “Fecisti quod quædam mulieres facere solent, ut iam supra dicto molimine uel alio aliquo machinamento, tu ipsa in te solam faceres fornicationem? Si fecisti, unum annum per legitimas ferias pœniteas.” Other old Penitentials have: “Mulier qualicumque molimine aut per seipsum aut cum altera fornicans, tres annos pœniteat; unum ex his in pane et aqua.” “Cum sanctimoniali per machinam fornicans annos septem pœniteat; duos ex his in pane et aqua.” “Mulia qualicumque molimine aut seipsam polluens, aut cum altera fornicans, quatuor annos. Sanctimonialis femina cum sanctimoniali per machinamentum polluta, septem annos.” It is demonstrable, then, that artificial methods of coition, common in pagan antiquity, have been unblushingly practised throughout all the ages, as indeed they are at the present day, and that they have been repeatedly banned and reprobated by the voice of the Church. This very fact would recommend them to the favour of the Satanists, and there can be no doubt that amid the dark debaucheries which celebrated the Sabbats such practice was wellnigh universal. Yet when we sift the evidence, detailed and exact, of the trials, we find there foul and hideous mysteries of lust which neither human intercourse nor the employ of a mechanical property can explain. Howbeit, the theologians and the inquisitors are fully aware what unspeakable horror lurks in the blackness beyond. The animal familiar was quite distinct from the familiar in human shape. In England particularly there is abundance of evidence concerning them, and even to-day who pictures a witch with nut-cracker jaws, steeple hat, red cloak, hobbling along on her crutch, without her big black cat beside her? It is worth remark that in other countries the domestic animal familiar is rare, and Bishop Francis Hutchinson even says: “I meet with little mention of _Imps_ in any Country but ours, where the Law makes the feeding, suckling, or rewarding of them to be Felony.”[89] Curiously enough this familiar is most frequently met with in Essex, Suffolk, and the Eastern counties. We find that animals of all kinds were regarded as familiars; dogs, cats, ferrets, weasels, toads, rats, mice, birds, hedgehogs, hares, even wasps, moths, bees, and flies. It is piteous to think that in many cases some miserable creature who, shunned and detested by her fellows, has sought friendship in the love of a cat or a dog, whom she has fondled and lovingly fed with the best tit-bits she could give, on the strength of this affection alone was dragged to the gallows or the stake. But very frequently the witch did actually keep some small animal which she nourished on a diet of milk and bread and her own blood in order that she might divine by its means. The details of this particular method of augury are by no means clear. Probably the witch observed the gait of the animals, its action, the tones of its voice easily interpreted to bear some fanciful meaning, and no doubt a dog, or such a bird as a raven, a daw, could be taught tricks to impress the simplicity of inquirers. The exceeding importance of blood in life has doubtless been evident to man from the earliest times. Man experienced a feeling of weakness after the loss of blood, therefore blood was strength, life itself, and throughout the ages blood has been considered to be of the greatest therapeutic, and the profoundest magical, value. The few drops of blood the witch gave her familiar were not only a reward, a renewal of strength, but also they established a closer connexion between herself and the dog, cat, or bird as the case might be. Blood formed a psychic copula. At the trial of Elizabeth Francis, Chelmsford, 1556, the accused confessed that her familiar, given to her by her grandmother, a notorious witch, was “in the lykenesse of a whyte spotted Catte,” and her grandmother “taughte her to feede the sayde Catte with breade and mylke, and she did so, also she taughte her to cal it by the name of Sattan and to kepe it in a basket. Item that euery tyme that he did any thynge for her, she sayde that he required a drop of bloude, which she gaue him by prycking herselfe, sometime in one place and then in another.”[90] It is superfluous to multiply instances; in the witch-trials of Essex, particularly whilst Matthew Hopkins and his satellite John Stearne were hot at work from 1645 to 1647 the animal familiar is mentioned again and again in the records. As late as 1694 at Bury St. Edmunds, when old Mother Munnings of Hartis, in Suffolk, was haled before Lord Chief Justice Holt, it was asserted that she had an imp like a polecat. But the judge pooh-poohed the evidence of a pack of clodpate rustics and directed the jury to bring a verdict of Not Guilty.[91] “Upon particular Enquiry,” says Hutchinson, “of several in or near the Town, I find most are satisfied it was a very right Judgement.” In 1712 the familiar of Jane Wenham, the witch of Walkerne, in Hertfordshire, was, at her trial, stated to be a cat. In Ford and Dekker’s _The Witch of Edmonton_ the familiar appears upon the stage as a dog. This, of course, is directly taken from Henry Goodcole’s pamphlet _The Wonderfull Discouerie of Elizabeth Sawyer_ (London, 4to, 1621), where in answer to this question the witch confesses that the Devil came to her in the shape of a dog, and of two colours, sometimes of black and sometimes of white. Some children had informed the Court that they had seen her feeding imps, two white ferrets, with white bread and milk, but this she steadfastly denied. In Goethe’s _Faust_, Part I, Scene 2, Mephistopheles first appears to Faust outside the city gates as a black poodle and accompanies him back to his study, snarling and yelping when _In Principio_ is read. This is part of the old legend. Manlius (1590), in the report of his conversation with Melanchthon, quotes the latter as having said: “He [Faust] had a dog with him, which was the devil.” Paolo Jovio relates[92] that the famous Cornelius Agrippa always kept a demon attendant upon him in the shape of a black dog. But John Weye, in his well-known work _De Præstigiis Dæmonum_,[93] informs us that he had lived for years in daily attendance upon Agrippa and that the black dog, _Monsieur_, respecting which such strange stories were spread was a perfectly innocent animal which he had often led about himself in its leash. Agrippa was much attached to his dog, which used to eat off the table with him and of nights lie in his bed. Since he was a profound scholar and a great recluse he never troubled to contradict the idle gossip his neighbours clacked at window and door. It is hardly surprising when one considers the hermetic works which go under Agrippa’s name that even in his lifetime this great man should have acquired the reputation of a mighty magician. Grotesque names were generally given to the familiar: Lizabet; Verd-Joli; Maître Persil (parsley); Verdelet; Martinet; Abrahel (a succubus); and to animal familiars in England, Tissy; Grissell; Greedigut; Blackman; Jezebel (a succubus); Ilemanzar; Jarmara; Pyewackett. The familiar in human shape often companied with the witch and was visible to clairvoyants. Thus in 1324 one of the accusations brought against Lady Alice Kyteler was that a demon came to her “quandoque in specie cuiusdam æthiopis cum duobus sociis.” The society met with at Sabbats is not so easily shaken off as might be wished. NOTES TO CHAPTER III. [1] Two local Milanese Orders, the Apostolini of S. Barnabas and the Congregation of S. Ambrose _ad Nemus_, were united by a Brief of Sixtus V, 15 August, 1589. 11 January, 1606, Paul V approved the new Constitutions. The Congregation retaining very few members was dissolved by Innocent X in 1650. The habit was a tunic, broad scapular, and capuche of chestnut brown. They were calced, and in the streets a wide cloak of the same colour as the habit. [2] E. Goldsmid, _Confessions of Witches under Torture_, Edinburgh, 1886. [3] ... renoncer & renier son Createur, la saincte Vierge, les Saincts, le Baptesme, pere, mere, parens, le ciel, la terre & tout ce qui est au monde. _Tableau de l’Inconstance des mauvais Anges_, Paris, 1613. [4] Je, Louis Gaufridi, renonce à tous les biens tant spirituels que temporels qui me pourraient être conferés de la part de Dieu, de la Vierge Marie, de tous les Saints et Saintes du Paradis, particulièrement de mon patron Saint Jean-Baptiste, Saints Pierre, Paul, et François, et me donne corps et âme à vous Lucifer ici présent, avec tous les biens que je posséderai jamais (excepté la valeur des sacrements pour le regard de ceux qui les recurent). Ainsi j’ai signé et attesté. _Confession faicte par messire Loys Gaufridi, prestre en l’église des Accoules de Marseille, prince des magiciens ... à deux pères capucins du couvent d’Aix, la veille de Pasques le onzième avril mil six cent onze._ A Aix, par Jean Tholozan, MVCXI. [5] Je renonce entièrement de tout mon cœur, de toute ma force, et de toute ma puissance à Dieu le Père, au Fils et au Saint-Esprit, à la très Sainte Mère de Dieu, à tous les anges et spécialement à mon bon ange, à la passion de Notre Seigneur Jésus Christ, à Son Sang, à tous les mérites d’icelle, à ma part de Paradis, à toutes les inspirations que Dieu me pourrait donner à l’avenir, à toutes les prières qu’on a faites et pourrait faire pour moi. [6] S. Pius V, Bull _Consueuerunt_, 17 September, 1569: Bl. Francisco de Possadas, _Vida di Santo Domingo_, Madrid, 1721. [7] In England at this date it was felony to possess an _Agnus Dei_. [8] _Spondent quod ... ad conuentus nocturnos diligenter accedent._ [9] Coven, coeven, covine, curving, covey, are among the many spellings of this word. [10] R. Pitcairn, _Criminal Trials_, Edinburgh, 1833. [11] _Examination of Certain Witches_, Philobiblion Society, London, 1863-4. [12] Thomas Potts, _Discoverie of Witches_. [13] ... qu’elle a veu souuent baptiser des enfans au sabbat, qu’elle nous expliqua estre des enfans des sorcieres & non autres, lesquelles ont accoutumé faire plustost baptiser leurs enfans au sabbat qu’en l’église. Pierre de Lancre, _Tableau de l’Inconstance des mauvais Anges_, Paris, 1613. [14] ... qu’on baptise des enfans au Sabbat auec du Cresme, que des femmes apportent, & frottent la verge de quelque homme, & en font sortir de la semence qu’elles amassent, and la meslent auec le Cresme, puis mettant cela sur la teste de l’enfant en prononçant quelques paroles en Latin. Contemporary tract, _Arrest & procedure faicte par le Lieutenant Criminel d’Orleans contre Siluain Neuillon_. [15] ... dit que sa mère le presenta (dit-on) en l’aage de trois ans au Sabbat, à vn bouc, qu’on appelloit l’Aspic. Dit qu’il fut baptisé au Sabbat, au Carrior d’Oliuet, auec quatorze ou quinze autres, & que Jeanne Geraut porta du Chresme qui estoit jaune dans vn pot, & que ledit Neuillon ietta de la semence dans ledit pot, & vn nommé Semelle, & brouilloient cela auec vne petite cuilliere de bois, & puis leur en mirent à tous sur la teste. [16] J’advoue comme on baptise au Sabath et comme chacun sorcier fait vœu particulièrement se donnant au diable et faire baptiser tous ses enfants au Sabath (si faire se peut). Comme aussi l’on impose des noms à chacun de ceux qui sont au Sabath, différents de leur propre nom. J’advoue comme au baptême on se sert de l’eau, du soufre et du sel: le soufre rend esclave le diable et le sel pour confirmer le baptême au service du diable. J’advoue comme la forme et l’intention est de baptiser au nom de Lucifer, de Belzebuth et autres diables faisant le signe de la croix en le commençant par le travers et puis le poursuivant par les pieds et finissant à la tête. Contemporary tract, _Confession faicte par messire Loys Gaufridi, prestre en l’église des Accoules de Marseille, prince des magiciens_, MVCXI. [17] Anthony Hornech’s appendix to Glanvill’s _Sadducismus Triumphatus_, London, 1681. [18] _Newes from Scotland_, London, W. Wright, 1592. [19] Præstant Dæmoni ... iuramentum super circulo in terram sculpto fortasse quia cum circulus sit Symbolum Divinitatis, & terra scabellum Dei sic certe uellet eos credere se esse Dominum cœli & terræ. Guazzo, _Compendium_, I. 7, p. 38. I have corrected the text, which runs “uellet eos credere eum esset ...” [20] Even by so industrious a searcher as Miss M. A. Murray. [21] Dressant quelque forme d’autel sur des colon̅es infernales, & sur iceluy sans dire le _Confiteor_, ny l’_Alleluya_, tournant les feuillets d’vn certain liure qu’il a en main, il commence à marmoter quelques mots de la Messe. De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 401. [22] ... que le Sabbat se tenoit dans vne maison.... Vit aussi vn grand homme noir à l’opposite de celuy de la cheminée, qui regardoit dans vn liure, dont les feuillets estoient noirs & bleuds, & marmotait entre ses dents sans entendre ce qu’il disoit, leuoit vne hostie noire, puis vn calice de meschant estain tout crasseux. [23] On dit la Messe, & que c’est le Diable qui la dit, qu’il a vne Chasuble qui a vne croix: mais qu’elle n’a que trois barres: & tourne le dos à l’Autel quand il veut leuer l’Hostie & le Calice, qui sont noirs, & marmote dans vn liure, duquel le couuerture est toute velue comme d’vne peau de loup, auec des feuillets blancs & rouges, d’autres noirs. [24] On lisait la messe dans le livre des blasphèmes, qui servait de canon et qu’on employait aussi dans les processions. Il renfermait les plus horribles malédictions contre la sainte Trinité, le Saint Sacrement de l’autel, les autres sacrements et les cérémonies de l’Eglise, et il était écrit dans une langue qui m’était inconnue. Görres, _La Mystique Divine_, trad., Charles Sainte-Foi, V. p. 230. There is a critical recension of _Die christliche Mystik_ by Boretius and Krause, Hanover, 1893-7. [25] _Newes from Scotland_, London, W. Wright (1592). [26] Book III. p. 42. [27] T. B. Howell, _State Trials_, London, 1816. IV, 844, 846. [28] S. Caleb, _Les Messes Noires_, Paris, s.d. [29] Après ce que nous ont appris les livres et les âmes, il ne nous est pas permis de douter, et notre devoir est de combattre, ne fût-ce que par un simple affirmation, les nombreux auteurs qui, effrontément ou témérairement, traitent ces horreurs de fables ou d’hallucinations. _La Mystique Divine_, nouvelle édition, Paris, 1902. III, pp. 269, 270. [30] Ces histoires, loin d’être fabuleuses, ont toute l’authenticité que peut leur donner une procédure instruite avec tout le zèle et le talent que pouvaient y apporter des magistrats éclairés et consciencieux, auxquels, à toutes les époques, les faits ne manquaient pas. Libre III. c. 8. [31] _De Ciuitate Dei_, xv. 23. I quote Healey’s translation, 1610. [32] Esse eorum (qui usualiter incubi uel succubi nominantur) et concupiscentiam eorum libidinosam, necnon et generationem ab eis esse famosam atque credibilem fecerunt testimonia uirorum et mulierem qui illusiones ipsorum, molestiasque et improbitates, necnon et uiolentias libidinis ipsorum, se passos fuisse testificati sunt et adhuc asserunt. _De Universitate_, Secunda Pars, III. 25. [33] Si tamen ex coitu dæmonum aliqui interdum nascuntur, hoc non est per semen ab eis decisum, aut a corporibus assumptis; sed per semen alicuius hominis ad hoc acceptum, utpote quod idem dæmon qui est succubus ad uirum, fiat incubus ad mulierem. _Summa_, Pars Prima, quæstio 1, a 3. at 6. [34] Succumbunt uiris in specie mulieris, et ex eis semen pollutionis suscipiunt, et quadam sagacitate ipsum in sua uirtute custodiunt, et postmodum, Deo permittente, fiunt incubi et in uasa mulierum transfundunt. _Sententiarum_, Liber II, d. viii, Pars Prima, a 3. q. 1. [35] Docet S. Thomas ... et consentiunt communiter reliqui theologi.... Ratio huius sententiæ est quia tota illa actio non excedit potestatem naturalem dæmonis, usus autem talis potestatis est ualde conformis prauæ uoluntati dæmonis, et iuste a Deo permitti potest propter aliquorum hominum peccata. Ergo non potest cum fundamento negari, et ideo non immerito dixit Augustinus, cum de illo usu multis experientiis et testimoniis constet, non sine impudentia negari. _De Angelis_, l. iv. c. 38. nn. 10, 11. [36] Begun in 1665 by Fra Francisco de Jésus-Maria (_ob._ 1677). [37] Negant aliqui, credentes impossible esse quod dæmones actum carnalem cum hominibus exercere ualent. Sed tenenda est ut omnino certa contraria sententia. _Theologia moralis_, Tr. xxi. c. 11. p. 10. nn. 180, 181. [38] Idem dæmon qui est succubus ad uirum potest fieri incubus ad mulierem. In his monumental _Summa S. Thomæ hodiernis Academiarum moribus accomodata_, 19 vols. Liège, 1746-51. [39] _De Seruonem Dei Beatificatione_, Romæ, MDCCXC, Cura Aloysii Salvioni. Tom. VII. pp. 30-33. [40] Quæ leguntur de Dæmonibus incubis et succubis.... Quamuis enim prædicti concubitus communiter admittantur, sed generatis a nonnullis excludetur ... alii, tamen, tum concubitum, tum generationem fieri posse, et factam fuisse existimauerunt, modo quodam nouo et inusitate, et hominibus incognito. Sancho de Avila, bishop of Murcia, Jaen, and Siguenza, S. Teresa’s confessor (_ob._ December, 1625), in a commentary on Exodus discusses the curious question: _An Angeli de se generare possint?_ [41] Quidam hos dæmones incubos uel succubos dari negarunt; sed communiter id affirmant auctores. [42] Ad bestialitatem autem reuocatur peccatum cum dæmone succubo, uel incubo; cui peccato superadditur malitia contra religionem; et præterea etiam sodomiæ, adulterii, uel incestus, si affectu uiri, uel mulieris, sodomitico, adulterino uel incestuoso cum dæmone coeat. Lib. III, Tract iv. c. 2. Dubium 3. [43] The word bestialitas has theologically a far wider signification than the word _bestiality_. In 1222 a deacon, having been tried before Archbishop Langton, was burned at Oxford on a charge of bestiality. He had embraced Judaism in order to marry a Jewess. Professor E. P. Evans remarks: “It seems rather odd that the Christian lawgivers should have adopted the Jewish code against sexual intercourse with beasts, and then enlarged it so as to include the Jews themselves. The question was gravely discussed by jurists whether cohabitation of a Christian with a Jewess, or _vice versa_, constitutes sodomy. Damhouder (_Prax. rer. crim._ c. 96 n. 48) is of the opinion that it does, and Nicolaus Boer (_Decis._, 136, n. 5) cites the case of a certain Johannes Alardus, or Jean Alard, who kept a Jewess in his house in Paris and had several children by her: he was convicted of sodomy on account of this relation and burned, together with his paramour, ‘since coition with a Jewess is precisely the same as if a man should copulate with a dog’ (_Dopl. Theat._ ii, p. 157). Damhouder includes Turks and Saracens in the same category.” _The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals_, p. 152. London, 1906. [44] An oblate of S. Charles, d. 1631. [45] 1566-1622. His _Synopsis Theologiæ Moralis_ is a posthumous work, published 1626. [46] Bene ait Busembaum quod congressus cum dæmone reducitur ad peccatum bestialitatis. Hermann Busembaum, S.J., 1600-1668. [47] _Theologia moralis decalogalis et sacramentalis._ Venice, 1731. [48] Præter autem crimen bestialitatis accedit scelus superstitionis. An autem, qui coit cum dæmone apparente in forma conjugatæ, monialis, aut consanguiniæ, peccet semper affective peccato adulterii, sacrilegii, aut incestus? Uidetur uniuerse affirmare Busembaum cum aliis ut supra. [49] Paris, 1883. [50] A private manual only delivered to priests. [51] Omnes theologi loquuntur de congressu cum dæmone in forma uiri, mulieris aut alicuius bestiæ apparente, uel ut præsente per imaginationem repræsentato, dicuntque tale peccatum ad genus bestialitatis reuocandum esse, et specialem habere malitiam in confessione declarandam, scilicet superstitionem in pacto cum dæmone consistentem. In hoc igitur scelere duæ necessario reperiuntur malitiæ, una contra castitatem, et altera contra uirtutem religionis. Si quis ad dæmonem sub specie uiri apparentem affectu sodomitico accedat, tertia est species peccati, ut patet. Item si sub specie consanguineæ aut mulieris conjugatæ fingatur apparere, adest species incestus uel adulterii; si sub specie bestiæ, adest bestialitas. [52] 1722-1797. He was a monk of Bans, near Bamberg. [53] Quæri potest utrum dæmon per turpem concubitum possit uiolenter opprimere marem uel feminam cuius obsessio permissa sit ob finem perfectionis et contemplationis acquirendæ. Ut autem uera a falsis separemus, sciendum est quod dæmones (incubi et succubi, quidquid dicant increduli) uere dantur: immo hoc iuxta doctrinam Augustini (lib. 15, _de Ciuit. Dei_, cap. 23) sine aliqua impudentia negati nequit: ... Hoc idem asserit D. Thomas, aliique communiter. Hic uero, qui talia patiuntur, sunt peccatores qui uel dæmones ad hos nefandos concubitus inuitant, uel dæmonibus turpia hæc facinora intentantibus ultro assentiuntur. Quod autem hi aliique praui homines possint per uiolentiam a dæmone opprimi non dubitamus: ... et ego ipse plures inueni qui quamuis de admissis sceleribus dolerent; et hoc nefarium diaboli commercium exsecrarentur, tamen illud pati cogebantur inuiti. D. Schram, _Theologia Mystica_, I. 233, scholium 3, p. 408. Paris, 1848. [54] 1532-1591. Provincial of the Jesuit province of the Rhine. [55] Congressus hos dæmonum cum utriusque sexus hominibus negare, ita temerarium est, ut necessarium sit simul conuellas et sanctissimorum et grauissimorum hominum grauissimas sententias, et humanis sensibus bellum indicas, et te ignorare fatearis quanta sit illorum spirituum in hæc corpora uis utque potestas. C. x. n. 3. [56] Placuit enim affirmatio axiomatis adeo multis, ut uerendum sit ne pertinaciæ et audaciæ sit ab eis discedere; communis namque hæc est sententia Patrum, theologorum et philosophorum doctiorum, et omnium fere sæculorum atque nationum experientia comprobata. Liber II, quæstio 15. [57] Asserere per incubos et succubos dæmones homines interdum procreari in tantum est catholicum, quod eius oppositum asserere est nedum dictis Sanctorum, sed et traditioni sacræ Scripturæ contrarium. _Pars prima, quæstio_ 3. [58] Causa autem quare dæmones se incubos faciunt uel succubos esse uidetur, ut per luxuriæ uitium hominis utramque naturam lædant, corporis uidelicet et animæ, qua in læsione præcipue delectari uidentur. This divine was a prominent figure at the Council of Bâle. I have used the Douai edition, 5 vols. 1602. [59] Dæmon in forma succubi se transformat, et habet coitum cum uiro ...; accedit ad mulierem in forma scilicet uiri.... Ita firmant communiter Theologi. [60] Certissima experientia sæpe cognitum est fœminas etiam inuitas a dæmonibus fuisse compressas. _De justa hæreticorum punitione_, Lib. I. c. xviii. Salamanca, 1547. [61] Hæc est indubitata ueritas quam non solum experientia certissima comprobat, sed etiam antiquitas confirmat, quidquid quidam medici et iurisperiti opinentur. _Conclusio quinta._ [62] Affirmatiuam sententiam tam multi et graues tuentur auctores, ut sine pertinaciæ nota ab illa discedi non posse uidatur. [63] _Rapports de l’homme avec le démon._ [64] _Les hauts phénomènes de la magic._ [65] Sane ad nostrum, non sine ingenti molestia, peruenit auditum quod ... complures utriusque sexus personæ, propriæ salutis immemores et a fide catholica deuiantes, cum dæmonibus incubis et succubis abuti. [66] The Dean of S. Paul’s (_Christian Mysticism_, 1899, p. 265) urbanely dismisses the whole subject with a quotation from Lucretius: Hunc igitur terrorem animi, tenebrasque necessest Non radii solis, neque lucida tela diei Discutiant, sed naturæ species ratioque. (I. 147-49.) These Fears, that darkness that o’erspreads our Souls, Day can’t disperse, but those _eternal_ rules Which from firm Premises true _Reason_ draws, And a deep insight into _Natures_ laws. (_Creech._) [67] _De Dæmonialitate_, 24. [68] _Survival_, by various authors. Edited by Sir James Marchant, K.B.E., LL.D. London and New York. [69] So in Middleton’s _The Witch_, when the young gallant Almachildes visits Hecate’s abode, she exclaims: ’Tis Almachildes—the fresh blood stirs in me— The man that I have lusted to enjoy: I’ve had him thrice in incubus already. And in a previous scene Hecate has said: What young man can we wish to pleasure us, But we enjoy him in an incubus? [70] Ce commerce monstreux dura plusiers mois; mais Dieu le délivra enfin par mon entremise et il fit pénitence de ses péchés. [71] Auoir esté au Sabbat; ne sçait comme elle y fut transportée ... qu’au Sabbat le Diable cogneust charnellement toutes les femmes qui y estoient, & elle aussi la marqua en deux endroicts.... Que le Diable la cogneu vne autrefois, & qu’il a le membre faict comme un cheual, en entrant est froid comme glace, iette la semence fort froide, & en sortant la brusse comme si c’estoit du feu. Qu’elle receut tout mescontentement que lors qu’il eut habité auec elle au Sabbat, vn autre homme qu’elle ne cognoist fit le semblable en presence de tous, que son mary s’appercut quand le Diable eut affaire auec elle, & que le Diable se vint coucher auprez d’elle fort froid, luy mit la main sur le bas du ventre, dont elle effrayée en ayant aduerty son mary, il luy dict ces mots, Taise-toy folle, taise-toy. Que son mary vit quand le Diable la cogneust au Sabbat, ensemble cet autre qui la cogneust après. [72] L’accouplement du Demon avec la Sorcière et le Sorcier.... 1. Le Demon cognoit toutes les Sorcieres, & pourquoy. 2. Il se met aussi en femme pour les Sorciers, & pourquoy. 3. Autres raisons pour lesquelles le Demon cognoit les Sorciers, & Sorcieres. [73] ... qui Satan l’auoit cogneue charnellement.... Et pource que les hommes ne cedent guieres aux femmes en lubricité. [74] Il y a encor deux autres raisons pour lesquelles le Diable s’accouple auec le Sorcier: La premiere, que l’offense est de tant plus grande: Car si Dieu a en si grande haine l’accouplement du fidelle auec l’infidele (Exodus xxxiv., Deuteronomy xxxvii.), à combien plus forte raison détesterait celuy de l’homme auec le Diable. La seconde raison est, que parce moyen la semence naturelle de l’homme se pert, d’où vient que l’amitié qui est entre l’homme & la femme, se conuertit le plus souuent en haine, qui est l’vn des plus grands mal-heurs, qui pourroient arriuer au mariage. [75] In chapter xiii Boguet decides: l’accouplement de Satan auec le Sorcier est réel & non imaginaire.... Les vns donc s’en mocque̅t ... mais les confessions des Sorciers qui j’ay eu en main, me font croire qu’il en est quelque chose! dautant qu’ils ont tout recogneu, qu’ils auoient esté couplez auec le Diable, & que la semence qu’il iettoit estoit fort froide ... Iaquema Paget adioustoit, qu’elle auoit empoigné plusiers fois auec la main le me̅bre du Demon, qui la cognoissoit, & que le membre estoit froid comme glace, lo̅g d’vn bon doigt, & moindre en grosseur que celuy d’vn homme: Tieuenne Paget, & Antoine Tornier adioustoient aussi, que le membre de leurs Demons estoit long, & gros comme l’vn de leurs doigts. [76] Heuze, _Do the Dead Live?_ 1923. [77] John Stearne’s _Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft_. [78] Robert Pitcairn, _Criminal Trials_, Edinburgh, 1833, III. pp. 603, 611, 617. [79] _Idem._ [80] Le Diable faict des mariages au Sabbat entre les Sorciers & Sorcieres, & leur joignant les mains, il leur diet hautement Esta es buena parati Esta parati lo toma. Mais auant qu’ils couchent ensemble, il s’accouple auec elles, oste la virginité des filles. Lancre, _Tableau de l’Inconstance_, p. 132. [81] This has been emphasized by Miss Murray in _The Witch-Cult in Western Europe_ (“The Rites”), but she did not realize that the fascinum was well-known to demonologists, and the use thereof severely reprobated _sub mortali_ by the Church. [82] See G. Belluci, _Amuletti Italiani antichi e contemporanei_; also _Amuletti italiani contemporanei_. Perugia, 1898. [83] Auctore P.P. Parisiis, MDCCCXXVI. [84] Crudelissima anus. _Petronii Satirae._ 138. p. 105. Tertium edidit Buecheler. Berlin. 1895. [85] _Titi Petronii Satyricon_, Concinnante Michaele Hadrianide. Amstelodami, 1669. Amongst the figures on the engraved title-page is a witch mounted on her broomstick. [86] _Priapeia._ LXXXIV. [87] For whose impudicities see S. Augustine, _De Ciuitate Dei_, VII. 26. [88] Priapi lignei in honorem Bacchi. [89] Francis Hutchinson, _Historical Essay_, London, 1718. [90] _Witches at Chelmsford_, Philobiblion Society, VIII. [91] Francis Hutchinson, _Historical Essay on Witchcraft_, 1718. [92] _Elogia Doctorum Uirorum_, c. 101. [93] Liber II.; c. v.; 11, 12.