COMPENDIUM MALEFICARUM: Book 1 - AUDIOBOOK

Compendium maleficent book one chapter one the nature and extent of the force of imagination argument many authors have written at length concerning the force of imagination for example pico della miranda and countless others all are agreed that the imagination is a Most potent force and both by argument and by experience they prove that a man's own body may be most extensively affected by his imagination for they argue that as the imagination examines the images of objects perceived by the senses it excites in the appetite of faculty either fear or shame or anger or sorrow and

these emotions so affect a man with heat or cold that his body either grows pale or reddens and he consequently becomes joyful and Exultant or torpid and dejected therefore s thomas contra gent ill 103 has well said that a man's body can be affected by his imagination in every way which is naturally correspondent with the imaginative faculty such as local motion in those who are asleep but that is other bodily dispositions which bear no natural relation with the imagination cannot be So affected so that imagination cannot for example cause any man to add one cubit

to his stature the argument is proved also by the daily experience of sleepwalkers who do wonderful things in their sleep for it is agreed that such things are done through the power of imagination while the senses are asleep many such matters are discussed by martin del rio examples Martin del rio tells of what happened at a monastery at liege a few years ago there was a certain lay brother whose duty it was during the day to teach the rudiments of the catechism to a class of boys and when he slept his thoughts were occupied with

the same subject so that he used to teach in his sleep encouraging and scolding the boys as loudly and fervently as he did when he was awake and in this way he disturbed the sleep of those near him Another lay brother who slept next to him often complained to him about it and one day he jokingly threatened that if he made the noise again he would get up in the night and go to his bed and beat him with a rope whip and what did gun dislouse as his name was do in the middle of

the night he arose in his sleep and went from his bed to his fellow's cubicle with a pair of scissors in his hand which he pointed straight at The bed of the other who had threatened him but see the providence of god the moon was shining and the night was clear and cloudless so that the brother who was awake saw him coming and at once threw himself from the bed on that side where the partition was farthest removed the sleeper came up to the bed and stabbed the mattress three or four times with the scissors

and quickly went back where he came from In the morning he was questioned and said that he remembered nothing of it adding that he had never had the least thought of doing such a thing but that he had only contemplated frightening that brother and driving him off with the scissors if he had approached him with a whip two friends were traveling together back to their own country and came one day to a town where one of them had an acquaintance with whom he lodged while The other went to an inn for the night intended ig

to resume their journey the next day but while his guest was sleeping the innkeeper conceiving a greedy desire to take his money killed him and having done so began to think how he could smuggle the body out of the town to bury it the same night the murdered man appeared in a dream to his companion who was sleeping in his friend's house and said My friend my friend help me for the innkeeper means to kill me an hour or two later he appeared again saying ah my friend you did not help me and behold the

cruel innkeeper has destroyed me a little later on the same night he came the third time in his dream and said my friend you did not help me to escape from my murderer's hands and now i am lying dead And the murderer is considering how to dispose of and bury my body in the fields outside the town walls and already he has hidden it in a cart load of dung i beg you as you love me not to allow this but at least to see to it that i go to my burial in an honorable

and befitting manner in the morning the man awoke and terrified by his dream went to look for his Friend he asked the innkeeper where is my friend he answered in the words of cain am i his keeper he arose and went away taking his belongings with him i do not know where he went the friend stood for a while in doubt what he should do but meanwhile he saw in the yard cart laden with don the unhappy man was then struck with the vision he had seen in his imagination And since he could not find

his friend quietly thought the matter over with himself he waited some time to see whether his friend would come back and when he did not return he said that perhaps he had started on his journey and added goodbye then if my friend comes say that i have gone on and tell him to follow me he then went straight to the mayor and told what had happened to his friend Mentioning the load of dung and adding all other necessary information the mayor sent his officers who stood at a distance and watched what the innkeeper would do

the murderer thinking that all was safe since the dead man's friend had gone away started off with his cart to go out of the town seeing this the officers ran up and said where are you off to my good fellow and what is this done for We have been ordered to take possession of it and overturning the cart they found the murdered man lying amidst the dung the murderer was taken and met with the terrible punishment which his crime deserved chapter 2 of artificial magic argument magic is of two kinds natural and artificial natural or

legitimate magic Was together with all other knowledge a gift from god to adam who by peopling the world handed it down to posterity this as celes de demonibus and proclasse f demagia have noted is no more than a more exact knowledge of the secrets of nature which by observing the courses and influence of the stars in the heavens and the sympathies and antipathy subsisting between separate things compares one thing with another and so affects marvels which to the ignorance Seem to be miracles or illusions as when tobias dispersed his father's blindness with the gallbladder of

a fish a virtue which galen and many others attribute to the dragonet also the sound of a drum maid from a wolf skin will burst a drum maid from the skin of a lamb many other notable examples are mentioned by us augustine such as the peacock's flesh which cannot decompose chaff which by Its coldness preserves snow and by its heat ripens fruit a chalk which is set on fire by water but will not burn if all be poured upon it the salt of jugenti which melts in fire but becomes hardened groans in water and many

other such things the other kind is artificial magic which affects marvels by means of human skill this again is two-fold mathematic and proxy digital Mathematical magic involves the principles of geometry arithmetic or astronomy and examples of this are the setting fire to the ships at the siege of syracuse x by means of mirrors the flying wooden doves of architectures of taranturn the golden singing birds of the emperor leo and such matters yet we affirm that by this means nothing can be affected which you oppose to the nature of things but rather that it necessarily requires

the help of natural Causes and the correct application of certain movements and dimensions the other sort which may be called prestadictal is ludicrous and illusionary and its effects are not such as they seem to be to this sort belongs much that is believed to be done by conjure s and rope walkers by means of feigned incantations as well as by the agility of their hands and feet such feats are at times performed by can Fully trained brute animals sometimes they are affected by the stealthy movements of hidden persons as too the case of the priests

of bell who claimed that the food was eaten by the dragon now thormaturgy and ratul magic are in themselves good and lawful as any artist of itself good but it may happen to become unlawful first when it is done for an evil purpose second when it gives rise to Scandal being thought to be done with the help of demons third when it involves any spiritual or totally danger to the conjurer or the spectators and it must be noted that for every 10 tricks of presta digital illusion these men perform one of pure slight of hand

so as to foster the belief that there is no illusion or sorcery in anything that they do but that all is done by pure skill and dexterity ulrika's molotov states that the devil Is able to make one thing seem as if it were another and naida f tells us that many other tricks are practiced by conjurers this presta digital art was taught by the giant demons before the flood and from them have learned it and from him the egyptians then the chaldeans and persians and so in succession s clement in his recognitions 4 says zoroaster

was the first of the chaldeans And he was struck by lightning as a fit reward for his deeds examples a certain virgin of cologne was said to have performed in the presence of the nobles wonders which seemed to be due to magic art for she was said to have torn up a napkin and suddenly to have pieced it together again before the eyes of all she threw a glass vessel against the wall and broke it and in a moment men did it again and other like things she did She escaped from the hands of the

inquisition with a sentence of excommunication from the same source we hear of a conjurer in france named choices chels who in the sight of all and in the presence of charles ix called the praiseworthy king charmed from a certain nobleman standing at a distance from him the rings of his necklace so that they flew one by one into his hand as it seemed and yet the Necklace was soon found to be whole and uninjured this man was convicted of many actions which could not have been due to human art or skill or any natural cause

and confessed that they were all devil's work although he had obstinately denied this before john trithemius tells that much earlier in the year 876 during the time of the emperor louis a certain zadikias a jew by religion and A physician by profession worked wonders in the presence of princes for he appeared to devour a cart loaded with straw together with the horses and the driver he used to cut off men's heads and hands and feet and exhibit them in a bowl dripping with blood and then suddenly he would restore the men unharmed each to his

own place and in midwinter he created in caesar's palace a most beautiful garden with trees grass flowers and the singing of Suddenly produced birds thomas fazelli op relates in his daribasiculus decade two v two also december i three one wonders of a certain digest commonly known as liodorus who was endowed with magikart and flourished at catonya by means of his marvelous skill in Illusions this man by the force of his incantations appeared to change men into brute beasts to affect a metamorphosis of nearly all things into new shapes and instantly to bring to himself objects

very far distant from him moreover by slandering and insulting and reviling the people of catania he bound them with such vain credulity that he incited them to worship him when he was delivered up to be punished With death by means of his preeminent skill in incantations he had himself carried out of his galas hands through the air from catonya to byzantium to which sicily was then subject and back again from byzantium to catonya in a very short space of time and the people so wondered at this magic that they thought there was some divine power

in him and in sacrilegious era began to worship him at length leo the bishop of catonya Received a sudden power from god and in the midst of the city caused him to be cast in the sight of all into a furnace of fire in which he was burned in this way divine justice prevailed for he who had escaped death at the two lenient hands of the judges could not escape from the hands of the holy man in our own times they say that one cesaire a maltese was captured by the parisians but clooney igly escaped

from prison and this among other charges was Brought up against him in judgment by bazias the inquisitor but as he was being exhorted to fear damnation and the government earner of that time had required the ecclesiastical judges to preside over the inquiry he broke away into the midst of the court and there began to do many fresh marvels he caused another person to hold magic cards in his hands and standing at a distance he altered their appearance two Or three times he charmed to himself vessels placed on another part of the table by merely moving

a small piece of glass at times he divined the thoughts of others as when he scattered on the table a great number of small grains of sugar and told each man which grain he was thinking of and even if anyone was doubtful of his choice he would then come to a decision after a little hesitation Boasting that he had long before known wickle they would choose and many other such marvels he claimed to perform therefore he was a third time called to trial by the illustrious archbishop of malini's the learned hovius f in their 1600

and though he undertook to appear he escaped to a refuge with the prince who was the chief champion of antichrist prince who unlawfully kept the conjurer from the judge's authority hardly lived two years longer but died in the prime Of his life and after he had undertaken the defense of an evil cause nothing prospered in his government from this it is clear that god never leaves unpunished those princes who defend his enemies for he has expressly commanded thou shalt not suffer a witch to live exodus psy 18 three whether this magic can produce true effects

argument A n y man who maintained that all the effects of magic were true or who believed that they were all illusions would be rather radish than a man most often the devil being the father of lies deceives us and blinds our eyes or mocks our other senses with vain illusory images and not seldom god prevents him from achieving on behalf of which is what he would and could truly say and when he sees that this is so he is recourse to glamours So that his impotence may not be perceived but when god permits it

and the devil wishes to produce a true effect provided that it does not exceed his power then there is nothing to prevent him from affecting a genuine result for he then applies active to passive principles and natural causes in gender a true effect dionysius of athens de dioinis nominibus for proves this when he affirms that the Devil did not in sinning lose his natural gifts so that he has the greatest natural strength together with age long and unlimited experience to enable him to produce a true effect when he desired but witch's works are illusions not

real but apparent this is shown by glickers where he speaks of the egyptian magicians who seem to do as moses did and says they indeed changed their rods into serpents But the rod of moses swallowed their rods and they also changed the water into blood but once it had been changed they could not restore it to its former state they brought forth frogs also but they were unable to protect the houses of the egyptians from them they had power to plague the egyptians but they had no power to ease their afflictions rather did god afflict

the magicians With the same boils and blames as the rest of the people suffered that it might be shown that not only were they unable to avert the divine punishment but they must themselves partake of it examples we read that the sorcerer passeth by means of certain enchantments caused a sumptuous feast to appear and again he made all vanish at his pleasure he used also to buy things and count out the price and shortly the money would be Found to have passed back secretly from the seller to the buyer in s clement of rome we

also read much concerning simon magus that he made a new man out of air him he could render invisible at will that he could pierce stones as if they were clay that he brought statues to life but when cast into the fire he was not burned that he had two faces like another janus that he could change Himself into a ram or a goat that he flew in the air that he suddenly produced a great quantity of gold that he could set up kings and cast them down that he commanded a scythe to go and

reap of itself and that it went and reaped ten times as much as the others and that when a certain harlot named celine was in a tower and a great crowd had run to see her and had entirely surrounded that tower he caused her to appear simultaneously at All the windows and exhibit herself to all the people anastasius of nakia says simon magus made statues walk and when thrown into the fire he did not burn and he flew in the air and made bread from stones he changed himself into the form of a serpent and

other beasts he had two faces he was changed into gold he would cause all sorts of specters to appear at feasts he caused many shades to go before him Which he said were the souls of the departed he made the vessels in a house move as though of their own accord with apparently none to carry them bishop gibravsky f of olmerts tells that a bohemian sorceress ito j exhibited his skill now in his own appearance and form and now under that of another also that he appeared before the king in purple and silk which suddenly

changed to sordid woolen rags and that he walked upon the ground as if he was sailing Over water sometimes he would d-drive in a full-wheeled coach drawn by he used also to make sport in many ways with the king's guests sometimes causing them to be unable to reach their hands to the dishes by changing their hands ink the hooves of oxen or horses and sometimes he fixed spreading stags and earth to their foreheads when they looked out at window at some passing spectacle so that they Could not draw their heads in again he made 30

fat pigs out of bundles of straw and drove them to a certain rich baker nam id michael saying that he might buy them at his own price only he warned the buyer not to drive his new herd to the river to water the baker took no notice of the warning and saw his pig sink into the water while bundatus of straw floated on the top he then sought out the cellar and at last found him in a tavern lying Stretched out on a bench and when he angrily tried to stir him by pulling one of

his legs zito caused his foot and leg to come away in the other's hand [Music] zito then loudly complained and seizing him by the throat had him taken before the judge the baker seemed to have been caught in a manifest erim and suffered punishment in addition to his loss For this power of estroceras to throw off their limbs cp inni books 25 26 and 28 and all i dot s jellies book 10 chapter 12 chapter 4 that witches affect their marvels with the help of the devil argument th e demon can affect the most rapid

local movement of bodies so that he can withdraw an object from sight and substitute another so quickly that he Deletes the understanding and the eyes of the onlookers into a belief that the first object has been changed into the second we must believe that the metamorphoses of the heathen were of this sort such as the transformation of diam's companions into birds and of iphigenia into a hind as s augustine observes these deceptions were exposed by asterius also whose deeds were saved From oblivion by eusebius we must then consider marvels as of two kinds the first

is when the effect is not due to any local motion and is beyond the sphere of applied natural causes as for example the raising of the dead or the healing of true blindness for in such there is always some glamour or deception the other is when a visible object suddenly vanishes and this is due to Some presta digital contrivance an example of the first is when a source replaces in a room a bow made of a certain wood and an arrow of another wood and a string of a certain material and shoots the arrow and

causes a river to appear in the place as wide as the length of the bow shot of the second when a horse appears to be torn in pieces and then is found to be whole of the same sort is that trick mentioned by nice eaters after which we shall Refer later in which a conjurer produces what appears to be a serpent but for a better understanding of this it must be known that the devil deceives our senses in many different ways first when he holy or in part hides from our eyes and object which is

present secondly when he so affects the medium of our vision that an object seen through it seems different from what it is as when salt is mixed with acid and a linen cloth soaked in it If that cloth be lighted at a candle the faces of those present will assume a ghastly appearance or if a candle made from an acid semen and wax be lighted all those present appear to have asses heads thirdly when the vapors of the intermediate air are thickened and so it appears that a is drawing along a beam when it is

really only a straw fourthly when objects seem to move through the air as trees appear to Sailors to move along together with their ship fifthly when there is shown to the onlookers an aerial or a fantastic body similar to that which they suppose it to be sixthly by a swift agitation or a sudden concealment of visible objects and by various secret arrangements and divisions of them as conjurers do with strings and little balls etc seventhly if the bodily humours be Agitated or disturbed things appear to be different from what they are as dot happens to

drunkards and madmen finally i say that the devil can so compound and arrange phantasms that even when a man may be said to be awake he is as one who sleeps and thinks he sees what he does not see according to gaitani two pounds 2 q 95 arctic 3. Examples at caesarea philippi which the phoenicians call paniase it is said that at a certain festival of the heathen a woman was solemnly sacrificed and thrown into the spring which there arises from the base of mount panius from which the jordan is said to flow and this

woman through the potent might of the demon vanished in a wonderful manner from their eyes so that they thought that a memorable miracle had been performed On one occasion a serious chance to be present while this was being done and seeing so many people dumbfounded with wonder at this thing he had pity on their ignorance and raising his eyes to heaven prayed god the ruler of all through the mediation of christ to restrain from his deception that demon who had so blinded the people with error and to prevent him from those illusions with which he

used to mock them When he had thus prayed to god the victim suddenly appeared floating on the water and this matter which had caused so great wonder came to nothing so that thereafter the like was no more practiced in that place michael sissodites looked from a high place in the palace of constantinople and saw a ship laden with pots and dishes and by a magic spell he caused the captain to rise and start beating those dishes until they were reduced to Powder soon when his blindness had passed the wretched man tore his beard and began

to utter loud lamentations and when he was asked why he had treated his merchandise in that manner he sorrowfully answered that while he was intent upon his oars he saw a horrible serpent stretched upon the dishes and glaring at him as if it were about to devour him and that it had not ceased from its twistings and contortions until all the dishes were Broken here another example which is so well told an instructive that i cannot refrain from relating it in the time of sigismundi king of poland jacob melstinch the mayor of the town of

brazilian was induced by some likeness of the mnd to take upon himself the authority and name of christ he chose peter zakowski of krakow and 11 other robbers like him and gave them the names of the apostles but himself he Called jesus christ they visited the tombs doing miracles after the manner of conjurers they suborned other rogues and robbers to feign death and raised them to life they planted fish in muddy marsh's w here they could not naturally be and then in the name of christ caught them in their hands they hid loaves in ovens

and then in the name of their christ brought them out as if they had not been there before to the great Wonder of the simple vulgar people at one time he came with his disciples to chanster f a monastery famous for its picture of the blessed virgin mary and staying there some days incited one of their number to behave as if you were possessed of the devil and by means of this man the obtained food for he went among the guest rooms and snatched maya from the kitchen and threw it to his comrades who blessed

the Meat with the cross and ate it and when there was a great gathering of people before the holy image these rogues led their possessed companion to the altar wearing a two-fold robe wi chin which he could secrete what was required they put stones within his garment as he was being led to the altar he broke away from their hands raging and rushed upon the altar which was covered with arms money which he seized and Thrust between his two-fold garment the monk who was at the altar broke off the divine office and fled and the

other monks ran up and undid the man's belt the stones then fell to the ground but the money remained between the folds of his garment the monks thought that the money had been changed into stones by the devil and tried by exorcisms to restore it to its proper shape but when the stone still remained the exorcist angrily Threw down the holy book saying we have never had such a devil depart with him to all the devils the rogues escaped with the real money into silesha where in a certain village they approached a noble matron who

in the absence of her husband would not receive them they asked her to give them at least a napkin or a piece of flax's arms and she offered them a bundle of flax upon which they said this we will taken christ will Bless you that your linen may increase more abundantly show us if you have it another bundle and when they would likewise have taken this the woman fearing her husband refused whereupon they secretly put a piece of lighted tinder in the flax as they returned it to her and so by means of the flax

the house was set on fire and burned when the husband returned the woman said that this was a just punishment for her Bad behavior to christ and his disciples but the husband was smitten with anger and said there has been no christ here but a very vile rogue so with his neighbors he went in pursuit and found them in a certain town then the false christ said to him he called peter now my passion draws near peter and the cup which i am to drink peter answered and lord i think it threatens me also he

replied peter I can in no other wise escape from this than by the window peter answered and as long as i live i will not leave you but will follow you wherever you go so they escaped through the window and the other apostles by whatever means they could but the peasants followed them smiting them with staves and ropes saying prophecy unto us thou christ and thy apostles in what forest did these sticks grow So being chastened with blows they thereafter chastened their lives saying it is hard for us to bear the passion of christ in

the persecutions of the apostles as well this story is told in the chronicles of poland chapter five the men of old accredited witches with marvelous deeds argument john of salisbury says that when god Permits witches can with the help of demons shake the elements together and alter the true appearance of things they can foretell much of the future they confuse the minds of men with dreams and merely by the potency of their charms can cause death etc saxo gramaticus f writes that giants and sorcerers in the north practiced unheard of wonders with various illusions and

could so skillfully deceive men's eyes That they hid their own features and those of others under various phantasms and obscured the true shape of things under seductive forms and did other marvels like those which we have already told of simon magus pythagoras made his thigh appear to be golden and by his spells tamed an eagle with which he often conversed bayanis the king of bulgaria was seen to change himself whenever he would into a wolf or any other animal and sometimes Did so in such a manner that no one perceived it glycos tells of simon

magus besides what we have already mentioned that once when caesar would have apprehended him he was stricken with terror and escaped by leaving another man in his own likeness he says also that he had a dog chained to the door of his house which devoured those who tried to come in without his permission but the dog told us peter to enter and announced in human Speech that s peter was present you see how the power of the devil yielded to the divine virtue in s peter for that cerberus formed upon us peter and was unable

to harm him nema pompilius produced a sumptuous feast when he had no food in his house olarus sailed over the open sea on an enchanted bone as if it were a ship as we are told by john trithemius in his chronica hassogiensis Eric king of the goths could draw a favorable wind from any quarter by turning his hat towards it apulius f himself according to many was skilled in magic and he relates a wonderful story of two women the first of whom was a queen among witches as follows examples this woman because her lover had

seduced another woman changed him with one word into a beaver since that animal when it Is in fear of being caught escapes its pursuers by cutting off its stones and so also it happened to this man because he had loved another woman she changed a neighboring innkeeper into a frog because he was jealous of her and now says apulius in his old age he swims about in a large vessel of his own wine and squatting in the dregs of it greets his former customers with horse serval croakings ah Other man who spoke against her in

public she changed into iran also when her lover's wife who was heavy with child loaded her with insults she closed up the woman's womb and by checking the growth of the fetus condemned her to a perpetual pregnancy so that it is agreed that the wretched woman went for eight years swollen like an elephant jay about to give birth the same author writes of one pamphlet who was said to be a witch of the first Order and a mistress of every necromantic spell this woman by breathing eukan pebbles and twigs and such small articles could plunge

the heavenly light of the world into hellish and primeval darkness again when she saw any beautiful youth she was at once smitten by his charms and turned her whole eyes and soul upon him but if tlay would not comply with her or proved in any way defective she would detest them and at once change Them into rocks or cattle or some other animal while some she killed outright it is certain that all the wonders we have just instanced were due to some magic illusion but the saints as s paul says heber 11 34 performed miracles

and wonders in the name of god and in perfect faith the saints through faith quenched the violence of fire as did the hebrew Children and s francis of paula and many others here the following example of faith praiseworthy religious obedience bernardino scadion writes as follows a certain dominica prior of the preaching friars was invited to dine with the jesuits the sons of blessed john columbini and sat down to the meal when the food had been removed and leave was given to talk this prayer began to Speak of the passion of our lord and his sufferings

in good set phrase indeed but somewhat arrogantly tacitly criticizing his hosts because although they were monks they did not as other monks did make public and private profession of the three vows to this the jesuit prior a simple man but prudent and beloved of god answered since we have fallen into this talk father do you agree that we see whether one of our brothers who has humbly Devoted himself to god or that companion of yours who has publicly professed the three vows will show the more sincere obedience to his superior without thinking the other willingly

agreed then the jesuit turned to our brother mark here as he ministered to those at the table and said brother mark our guests are cold in the name of your holy obedience Bring them quickly from the kitchen in your bare hands some burning coals that they may be warmed at once the brother promptly and unhesitatingly obeyed not dreaming that anything could be impossible which he was commanded to do in the name of his obedience and brought straight from the kitchen to the table as many burning coals as he could hold in his two hands without

taking the slightest hurt And offered them to the two guests to warm themselves with and at the prior's command to the wonder of all he then carried them back again to the place where he had fetched them from the dominican prior was beyond measure astonished and looked at his companion as if you were about to command him to do likewise but this man recognizing this thought there was not a moment to lose and broke out into the following words i beg you father not to command me To tempt god if you wish i will bring

you fire as i always do in a potsherd but not in my hands the other monks were looking at each other in silent amazement at this great miracle but when they heard him blurt out those words they quietly smiled at each other chapter six of the which is packed with the devil argument Th he pact formed between a witch and the devil may be either expressed or tacit the expressed pact consists of a solemn vow of fidelity and homage made in the presence of witnesses to the devil visibly present in some bodily form the tacit

pact involves the offering of a written petition to the devil and may be done by proxy through a witch or some third person when the contracting party is afraid to see or have speech with the Devil grilland calls this a tacit pact yet although it is made with another person than the devil it is expressly made in the devil's name as is clear from the examples he gives perhaps we should class as an expressed pact that rather rare instance of a german woman who jumping backwards out of her bath said as far as i thus

leap away from christ so much nearer may i come to the devil But there are certain matters common to all their pacts with the devil and these may be arranged under 11 heads first they deny the christian faith and withdraw their allegiance from god they repudiate the protection of the blessed virgin mary keeping the vilest insults upon her and calling her harlot etc and the devil arrogates honor to himself as s augustine notes contra force denim cap 22 therefore s hippolytus the martyr writes that the devil compels them to say i deny the creator of

heaven and earth i deny my baptism i deny the worship i formally paid to god i cleave to thee and in the i believe the devil then places his claw upon their brow as a sign that he rubs off the holy chrism and destroys the mark of Their baptism second he bathes them in a new mock baptism third they forswear their old name and are given a new one as for example de la revere of cuneo was renamed barbicapra fourth he makes them deny their godfathers and godmothers both of baptism and confirmation and assigns them

fresh ones fifth they give the devil some piece of their clothing For the devil is eager to make them his own in every particular of their spiritual goods he takes their faith and baptism of their bodily goods he claims their blood as in the sacrifices to ball of their natural goods he claims their children as will be shown later and of their acquired goods he claims a piece of their clothing sixth they swear allegiance to the devil within a circle traced upon the ground Perhaps this is because a circle is the symbol of divinity and

the earth is god's footstool and so he wishes to persuade them that he is the god of heaven and earth seventh they pray the devil to strike them out of the book of life and to inscribe them in the book of death so we can read written in a black book the names of the witches of avenian eighth they promised to sacrifice to him and certain fiendish hags as bartolomeo Spina tells vow to strangle or suffocate for him one child every month or two weeks ninth they must every year make some gift to their demon

masters to avoid being beaten by them or to purchase exemption from such of their pledged undertakings as are obnoxious to them but as nicolas remy says these gifts are only legit when they are completely black in color tenth he places his mark upon some part Or other of their bodies as fugitive slaves are branded and this branding is sometimes painless and sometimes painful as we learn from examples of it he does not however mark them all but only those whom he thinks will prove inconstant and the mark is not always of the same description for

at times it is like the footprint of a hair sometimes like a toad or a spider or a dog or a doormouse neither does he always mark them upon The same place for on men it is generally found on the eyelids of the armpit or lips or shoulder or posterior whereas on woman it is found on the breasts or private parts as has been observed by lambert dano and bodin and godelman and just as god in the old testament with the sign of the holy cross which took place of circumcision according to st gregory nazianzen

and s t jerome so also the devil who loves to imitate god has From the very infancy of the church marked those heretics who were implicated in witchcraft with a certain sign as we learn from irenaeus i 24 11. when they have been so much they make many vowels as never to adore the uterus that they will both in word indeed continual insults and revealing upon the blessed virgin mary and other saints and they will trample upon and defile and break all the relics and images of the Saints that they will abstain from using the

sign of the cross holy water blessed salt and bread and other things consecrated by the church that they will never make full confessions of their sins to a priest that day will maintain an obstinate silence concerning their bargain with the devil and that's uncertain dated days they will if they can fly to the witch's sabbat and zealously take Part in its activities and finally that d will recruit all that can enter the service of the devil and the devil in the turn promises that you will always stand by them that you will fulfill their prayers

in the world and bring them to happiness after death it must be known to that as read me notes it is an inevitable ruling among which is that when several of them are met together for the purpose Of doing ill to some person and through the will of god their plans come to nothing since perhaps he whom they wish to harm daily commends himself to god in his prayers defending himself from the devilish works with holy water and sacramento then they have to settle among themselves which of their number shall herself incur the evil so

that day may absurd their contract which provides that if They try to send this fortune upon another and feel it must be returned upon themselves for the double will not injured that the injunctions he has laid upon them should all come to nothing and she to whom the fateful lot falls has to suffer the evil for them all the devil exacted this condition in the case of catherine priebot in the town of freising this woman had a wish to poison the only Daughter of her neighborhood mackel cocos and tried often to do so but in

vain for the mother guarded her every day with prayers and lustrations against the evil of witchcraft and finally the devil repeatedly accused her of cheating him of his prey and in the end the wretched woman was forced to poison her own son odilo a babe in his cradle but to return to our argument the way to the pact between the devil and witches And the vow of service and allegiance seem to be prepared by some sympathy in wickedness between the witches and the devil which gives rise to a familiarity approaching friendship and so to a

gradual feeling of confidence and this begets in the weaker party a certain presumptuousness and boldness in making requests from the stronger and in the strongest some pleasure in fulfilling his federates requests And so it comes that the witch confides in the devil thinking that he can command him and the devil pretends to acknowledge his power this has been well and fully proved by abbott trithemus question 8 5 such packs with the devil are usually vain and empty for the devil never keeps faith nor thinks himself bound by any promise who dared to lie to christ

when he said all these will i give to thee if Thou wilt fall down and worship me he promised the sorcerer cyprian that he should enjoy justina and yet he did not keep his word for it is the height of madness to expect the truth from the father of lies but these pacts with the devil are not only vain and useless they are also dangerous and immeasurably pernicious as i shall show by the two following examples and by many others in their proper places examples Remy i nine relates that a youth named theodore mayo desired

in marriage a maiden of very wealthy family but was quite without hope of winning her since he was poor and of humble birth and his family was engaged in commerce which was then despised as ignoble therefore he could see no honorable means of declaring his love now when matters are desperate and entirely without hope men readily turn to any conceivable remedy and engage Themselves to follow any plan whether it be lawful or not consequently young mario approached a fellow servant from germany who as he had heard had a demon always at his service and told

him of his trouble asking him not to begrudge him any help that he could give him for he would not prove ungrateful the german gladly accepted this chance for such were the terms of his pact with the demon that he was compelled within a Few days either to deliver up another man to take his own debt upon him or to have his neck twisted and be killed by the demon he therefore appointed the following day at dawn for their business at a close and secret place and they had hardly met there before the doors suddenly

opened and there entered a maiden of the most beautiful and pleasing aspect for so the demon chose to appear at first lest mario should be revolted by his Terrible appearance who said that she would easily bring to pass the marriage which he so ardently desired on condition that he would follow her instructions and as he waited in anxious suspense she gave him her advice first she said that he must abstain from theft obscenity lust blasphemy and other vices which soil the soul and must practice piety and relieve the poor according to his ability and fast

twice a week and not cease from solemn prayer Every day and be diligent in doing all that befits and becomes a christian man and that if he would bind himself by an oath tc do all this he would without difficult obtain the marriage he desired saying this and having appointed a day foi his answer she went out at the door [Music] mario seeing that so great a benefit was offered him on such holy and honorable conditions thought tiati need have no Hesitation in gratefully and willingly accepting them but on thinking more and more deeply of

the matter and being tossed between hope and fear there was that in his face which caused a certain priest of his house to guess that there was some cause for his distraction this priest approached him kindly and searched out what was troubling his mind and succeeded in persuading him not to sink to any further communing with the Devil the german thus cheated of his hope soon after paid the debt of his pact for not many days later he fell onto his head from his horse on a level an open road and v as instantly killed

johann naida formicarius carrick jay relates that a little before the present general counsel there dwelt in lesser basil a man of evil life and strongly suspected of witchcraft whose daughter was married and living in her father's House at length the old lava began to sicken and showing his daughter and son-in-law a certain casket said do not move this chest but let it rest in its place even after my d eth or you will be sorry a for it soon afterwards he died after some time had passed neither the doggleton nor her husband paid much attention

to her father's words but as they were moving the rest of their Furniture to a new house the man began to carry the chest which was only a s mall 1 to their new dwelling on the way it began to grow so heavy that it was too much for his strength and he called on his wife to help him do not know whether the woman opened the casket afterwards in the house or whether she rashly interfered with it in some other way but it is certain that when they entered their new house with the child

that had been born to them the Woman suddenly became stark lunatic and rushed upon the cradle to kill the child seeing this the husband forcibly restrained her recognizing that she was possessed by a demon she was exercised whereupon the demon threatened that he would not come out without killing her and so it happened under the very hands of the exorcist the next day as the husband was walking in public a stone suddenly fell from the top of a conduit and by the agency of The devil as it seemed struck him in the face and so

deformed him that he no longer looked human see how the demon exacted payment in accordance with the pact which he had no doubt formed with the old father namely that he should kill whoever opened or moved the casket pierre crespit has much to say concerning such imprisoned demons namely that in serving their masters some are saturnine some jovial some venereal some Mercurial etc that they must be approached with a certain ritual and that at certain times in the night they arouse their owners and require to be worshipped by them if they do not demand a

worse thing it remains to quote another instance of how when a witch attempts to do evil and fails the evil rebounds upon herself as i said in my argument at pricing on the 4th of september 1589 catherine privot whom i have mentioned Before told the following with her own lips several of us witches met together to plot how to bewitch the cattle of a certain shoemaker of thricing but in some way we were thwarted so that we could not do this nevertheless our bargain had to be fulfilled so that he who was awaiting a sure

prize should not be disappointed so we decided to cast lots to see who should suffer for it and it fell upon Agnes azwitz the vilest and wickedest of all us women she did not hesitate but with the utmost readiness gave a drug drink to her 20 year old son peter in the presence of his companions which soon caused his whole body to become monstrously distorted and deformed this was doubtless done so that he might suffer pains even worse than death at the hands of the demon who never forgoes One tittle of his bargain chapter 7

by their terrible deeds and imprecations witches produce rain and hail etc argument i.t is most clearly proved by experience that witches can control not only the rain and the hail and the wind but even the lightning when god permits therefore andreas esalpino in his demonum in uesta gacio peripatetica says that men have been known who could raise Not only hail storms but lightning also but they confessed that they could not injure whomsoever they pleased but only those whom god had forsaken that is for so i understand it those who had fallen from god's grace by

mortal sin they can also evoke darkness wherefore we read in marco polo that the tartars are so potent in devilish illusions that they can cause darkness when and where they will and that he once narrowly Escaped from robbers through the protection of this art bishop hatoff of basil also tells that when the tata army was being beaten in battle the witch vexillarius encompassed their enemies with a thick darkness by means of his spells so that they rallied and won the victory they can moreover cause rivers to stop flowing and dry up springs and irrigate the

land with fresh springs produced from rocks and stones they can make the Water of a river turn back and flow to its source a thing which pliny says happened in his time 2 103 many examples are to be found in remy of which i shall quote a few here examples in the district of trevz a peasant was planting cabbages in his garden with his eight-year old daughter and praised the girl highly for her skill in the work the young maid whose sex and age combined to make her talkative boasted That she could do more wonderful

things than that and when her father asked what they were she said go away a little and i will quickly make it rain on whatever part of the garden you wish he was astonished and said come then i will go a little away and when he had withdrawn the girl dug a trench and pissed in it and beat the water with a stick muttering i know not what and behold there fell from the clouds a sudden rain upon the said place The astounded father asked who taught you to do this she answered my mother did

and she is very clever at this and other things like it the peasant nobly faced his right in plain duty sc a few days later on the pretense tie he had been invited to a wedding he took his wife and daughter dressed in festival wedding robes to the neighboring town where he handed them Over to the judge to be punished for the crime of witchcraft it is recorded in the malius malefic room that certain inquisitors determined to prove by mere esova which whom they had in custody the truth of the power claimed by witches of

staring up tempests they therefore released her since it is certain that as long as they remain in prison all magic powers desert them essie then went to a thickly wooded Place in their duggar trench with her hands and filled it with water which she continued to stir with her finger until there arose from it a vapor which grew into a dense cloud this cloud at once became alive with thunder and lightning to the great orange of the onlookers but she said be of good heart i will cause all this cloud to be removed to whatever

place you wish and when they've named a desert place Nearby the cloud was at once born neither by the force of the wind and tempest and let loose its hail upon the rocks so confining all its damage within the prescribed and indicated limits the following example is very like the first a swabian peasant was bitterly complaining of the drought from which they were suffering and as he was doing so his daughter who was eight or ten Years old came to him and said that if he wished she would at once bring a heavy shower upon

the field in which they were together when the father said that he very greatly wished it she asked him to give her a little water so they came to a neighboring stream where she beat the water in the name of that master as she said to whom her mother was dedicated and there upon their fell rain from the skies Abundantly enough to water that field while it left all the other fields as dry as they were before remy relates how a witch named alexia grangine told that she was once being carried through the clouds and

came to a place where from her point of vantage she could see a man named johann vihon pasturing his horses suddenly there appeared to her a huge black man who as if eager to serve her asked her whether she had any grudge Against that peasant for he would quickly avenge her upon him she answered that she hated the man bitterly because he had once beaten her only son nearly to death while he was pasturing his horse very well replied he i agree to avenge you at once so saying he quickly rose up in the air

so high that no i could see him and there upon the lightning with a mighty flash and thunder fell upon the horses And smote down two of them while the peasant looked on in terror about 30 paces away according to his own evidence giovanni ponteno asterisk tells that ferdinand ii king of naples laid close siege to cesar orranca which is situated near monte massaco now this town was for the house of andrew and he hoped to force it to surrender through lack of water but a number of wicked priests dared to Summon rain by means

of magic for some of the besieged townsmen went out in the dark of night evading the camp centuries and stealthily made their way to the seashore dragging with them over rugged rocks the image of the crucifix which these excitable sinners reviled with foul curses and incantations and then cast into the sea at the same time certain priests the vilest sinners of all men being anxious To assist the soldiers profane practices performed a wicked right in order to produce rain of this sort they stood an ass before the church door and sang a funeral dirge as

for a living soul then they placed the divine uterus in its mouth and continued their funeral chants about the living ass and finally buried it before the church doors hardly had this right been performed before the air grew dark and the sea began to be lashed with the wind and at Midday the darkness of night descended and now the heavens were rent with lightning and now all was black darkness and the heavens and the earth shook with thunder and trees were held through the air by the wind and rocks were split by lightning and filled

the air with crashing explosions and so heavy a downpour of rain fell from the clouds that the cisterns were not adequate to collect the water But the torrents swept away stones and rocks which had before been parched and dried by the sun the king therefore whose whole hope of taking the town had rested upon the townsman's thirst was baffled in his intention and returned to his former camp by the river savone i purposely set down this example reader that you may be advised of what abuses have crept into certain regions such as dragging the crucifix

and the images of The saints over the ground in germany and aquitaine also they boldly resort to such evil means for ensuring seasonable weather and martin de alz has written against similar foul practices revealing in spain in his book on superstitions chapter 8 the power of witches over external things argument i.t is one of the obligations that Witches owe to the devil that when they assemble at the sabbath they must show that they have wrought some fresh evil since the last meeting and if they cannot do so they do not escape with impunity and that

they may not be able to plead ignorance as an excuse their evil master instructs them in all those activities which he demands from them as in infesting the trees and fruits with locusts caterpillars slugs butterflies Cankerworms and such pestilent vermin which devour everything seeds leave some fruit or in bewitching cattle or in casting a spell on the crops so that they are destroyed by leeches or wasted in some other way or in the use of poisons and in working as far as in them lies for the destruction of the whole human race for all this

we know from their own confessions as for example those of helena of armenties at dowsie on the 30th of september 1586 of anna ruffa at the same place and time of jean the fisher at gerber villa on the 13th of may 1585 of his wife colette and of several others whom we pass over for the sake of brevity for these see remy bukai chap 22 and elsewhere they can also destroy the flocks and herds either by scattering poison or by sending into their bodies a demon which Throws them down and strangles them or tears them

in pieces they can remove a man's crops and fruits to another place ss is told by serbius in ecklog verg annapulius in apologia and by s augustine sue day eight they can cause houses to be consumed by fire as was done in a certain town of Swabia in the year 1533 by a certain witch as we shall tell in the proper place they can conjure up feasts and these are either silly fantastic like those of skotov of palmer from whose banquets the guests departed apparently satisfied but soon they were tortured by hunger or else they

may be composed of true food but bad tasting and of an evil odor since god does not permit them to conjure savoury food Generally salt is lacking and often bred perhaps because salt is used in baptism and in the eucharist we are fed with the life-giving flesh of our lord christ veiled under the form or accident of bread but with god's permission they can also produce bread and salt and savory foods as the witches themselves have confessed to their judges but this is rarely the case again when god wills they can buy mere Local motion

free captives from their prisons and fetters but this does but require the breaking of something and since this can be done by men why not by a devil trithemius narrates a story worth recording which we shall tell later examples there was put to death at trev some years ago a very famous which who had inserted a pipe into the wall of her house through which she charmed all the Milk of her neighbor's cows that is to say the demon milked the cows and instantly carried the milk to her house remy tells i 23 of a

certain peasant named desire finance who dwelt among the vostes mountains and who whenever he sat down to eat in company had a dog lying at his feet from which he used secretly to take poison which he then administered to whomever he wished and by him a considerable number of men were killed before any suspicion rested Upon him as being the cause of it the same author tells that antoine welsh was asked to lend the garden of his house for the approaching celebration of the witch's sabbath at first he said that he could not do so

because he had to go out that night but when they still continued to press him and insist upon it as their right he knew that he was over persuaded yet as he had said he himself went out when he came home in the morning and Happened to go into his garden he found it all devoured by caterpillars and slugs and the whole garden filled with such animals but he bought all in silence recognizing the usual traces of that ungodly assembly in the year 1323 frederick duke of austria marched against the emperor louis of bavaria and

was defeated in a great battle between atinjin and moldova and was captured by louis who placed him under guard in his fortified citadel Meanwhile a witch promised his brother leopold in austria that he would buy his art bring back frederick within an hour if he should have a sufficient reward and the prince made liberal promises the demon then flew to frederick in bavaria and entered his prison in the form of a pilgrim saying if you wish to be freed from captivity mount this horse and i will take you safe into austria to your brother leopold

the duke asked who are you But he answered do not ask who i am for that does not concern you but mount this horse which i bring you but when even this most valiant duke was seized with horror and protected himself with the sign of the cross the ale spirit disappeared together with his black horse and went back empty to him who had sent him in reply to whose complaints that he had not brought the captive home he told all that had happened Among the swedes oleris attained to such fame in arms by means of

his magic art that as saxo grammaticus hissed dan three says he was thought to be divine the same author writes as follows book five of the danish pirate odo he sailed the seas without any ship and by raising up storms often wrecked his enemies fleets he was a foe to merchants and a friend to barbarians He embarked upon a war with the normans and by his spells so deluded his enemies e is that they thought they could see the flashing of the danish swords at a distance so that when it came to hand to hand

fighting they were so dazzled that they could not see to fight and were thus defeated by magic bishop martin cromer writes as follows of the memorable victory of the tartars over the poles in the year 1240 the poles joined battle with the tartars near Legnets and pressed them strongly and were putting them to route in the extreme rear of the tata army there was among other banners a notable one bearing a picture of the letter x while at the top was a hideous bearded black head as the standard bearer strongly waved this banner it excelled

a dense and horribly stinking clovedy of smoke which not only hid the barbarians from the poles but even killed the poles with its Overpowering stench the tartars had done this by their spells for they were much addicted to consultation with soothsayers and diviners especially in why but also in peace in order to foreknow the future when they saw that the poles were in a panic the barbarians roused themselves and charged them and put them to route with great sign peter so great a number of christians was killed in that battle that nine huge Sacks were

filled with the ears that were cut off one from each dead man the chinese according to juan gonzalez de mendoza worshiped the virgin noema as sacred and he says that she owed her cult to magikart for when a certain captain named kompo had by order of the king taken the fleet to a certain island he could by no force way anchored to sail away again but at last he suddenly saw noema sitting in the stern of his ship He approached reverently and begged her for help and advice and she replied that the chinese would never

win the victory except under her leadership she set out with the fleet therefore and though the enemy relied upon their magic spells she defeated them with more potent charms for the enemy threw their god into the sea and made the chinese fleet appear to be burning and everything to be consumed in the false flames but no ima put the Flames out and by her more powerful art sent a similar spell upon the enemy who finding that all their efforts were unavailing surrendered themselves to compo as the people of pergamos also once tried to raise a

siege of the town by means of magic but without success as paul the deacon tells rirum roman erum twenty in the time of leosaurus masama's the saracen chief occupied pergamos with no difficulty although the citizens Trusting to a witch had offered up a terrible sacrifice to the devil by cutting open a pregnant woman and taking out the living fetus which they boiled in a pot and all the soldiers defiled their right sleeves with this abominable sacrifice theophanes is our authority for this duke rattislaw the founder of breslau says enia silvius went to war with his

grandson gramos islav duke of bohemia there was a woman who foretold that her Own son-in-law together with rattuslaw and the greater part of the people would fall in that war but that the young man could escape if he would obey her when the youth answered that he would obey her commands she told him to kill the first man he met then to make the sign of the cross with his sword on the ground between his horse's forefeet then to cut off both the dead man's ears and put them in a bag and make haste to

flee the battle was fought in a plane near Tuscas and when rattuslaw had been killed the young man having done as the old woman bad him returned safe to his home but he found his dearly loved wife killed and with her ears cut off and her breast pierced and was amazed and grieved to find that the ears he had cut off from his enemy were those of his wife this was indeed a fit reward for consulting with a witch and it may be that the wife also was a witch and had Joined in the battle

after the manner of bohemian women or else the demon set some deadly image in the battle and transferred the wounds which it received to the wretched woman in the house chapter 9. whether the devil can truly enrich his subjects argument [Music] w e read that stupious paid his army With magic money selles writes that the devil cannot veritably fulfill any of his promises but only offers empty mockeries to his worshippers but this view while it may be true of some of the things that the devil is said to do is false if it be made

applicable to everything that he is able to do for i say that the devil if god permits and he himself wishes can enrich his subjects and if god commanded him to do So he would be compelled to obey however unwilling he were but only rarely does the devil wish this and never does god command it and very seldom does god permit it the devil's reluctance in this matter is clear since we see that he most often cheats his subjects and although he enriches a few with a little money at times as he did doctor of

late at trives he usually deceives them with empty hope and vain appearances Remy proves this by many examples taken from eyewitnesses as follows at dowsie on the 30th of september 1586 it transpired that senile of armentiers having received from the devil what appeared to be a gift of money hurried home rejoicing to count it but when she shook out her ears she found nothing but chardots of clay and coal [Music] catherine of mets on the 31st of october 1586 Found nothing but pig's excrement claude morrell at bar in december 1586 benedict bridgette at heracord in

january dominique petro9 at pagne in october 1586 all were proved to have been similarly deceived jean de banz at shalon cermon in july 1585 stated that she found on the road a sum of money wrapped in paper as the demon had foretold and gleefully showed it to Her husband but to her shame she found that instead of gold she had a rusty looking pebble which crumbled at the first touch others have been given the leaves of a tree for money but katherine ruffa at valdeville near the mizell in 1587 admitted that she had once been

given three genuine coins i have freely quoted these examples because they are publicly vouched for in the courts of justice I could add many more but think it unnecessary since the above are sufficient lorenzo anania de natura two additions another reason why the devil is loathed to enrich his voters he says that evil spirits are given to avarice and that they amassed treasures and money to meet the needs of antichrist the son of perdition and that a certain soothsayer was told this by a demon And although the demon is a liar and little faith can

be placed in him yet this is our far from the truth but we are nearer to the true reason when we say that god never bids the devil to enrich his voters since he has no part in evil and only very rarely pen knits it for indeed these to whom the devil promises riches dignity honours and the favor of princes are the most vile abject needy and despicable and if they were Rich before they become poor and if they were poor they never become rich and those who seek to acquire riches at thai instance of

the devil by their magic and against human laws as may be seen from the first canon lord of the sauro are the devil frightens to death or cruelly strangles andre the veth cosmog eight one tells that he heard from an eye dash witness that a certain greek named marianas was looking for treasure In the island of porros and was swallowed up by the earth anastasius quote sidrinus as telling the like and many others have such stories one of which i shall set down as being a wonder not unworthy of record examples about the year 1520

at basil a certain simple-minded tailor afflicted with a stammer somehow or other entered the cave which has its entrance at orcs and going further into it than any had ever Gone before said that he saw marvellous sights he said that after burning consecrated corn he went into the cave and first went through an iron gate and then from one room to another and so into a most beautiful flower garden in the midst was a magnificently decorated hall where he saw a very beautiful virgin with a golden diadem upon her head and her hair flowing loose

but the lower part of her body ended in A horrible serpent this virgin led him by the hand to an iron chest which was guarded by two black molossian hounds which by their being prevented any from approaching but the virgin in some wonderful manner calmed them and taking a bunch of keys from her neck opened the chest and displayed every sort of gold silver and copper money and he said that the virgin gave him no small sum of this money which he brought Back out of the cave he added that the virgin said that she

was a king's daughter who had always led a devout life but that she had been changed by an evil spell into that monstrous shape and that there was no other hope of her recovery than for her to be kissed three times by a youth of unimpaired chastity for then she would be restored to her former shape and would give us dowry to her liberator The whole treasure hidden in that place he asserted also that he twice kissed the virgin and twice saw upon her face such a horrible gloating at the thought of her liberation that

he was afraid that he would not escape from her with his life afterwards he was taken by some loose boys into a brothel and could never thereafter find the approach to the cave to say nothing of entering it again who does not understand the illusion The young man was not quite in his right senses or a devil of the class of the lamey tempted him to kiss her so that she might devour him after the third kiss but god did not permit it the two dogs were other demons or may have been the true or

pretended guardians of the treasure the money was perhaps real and given with the permission of god some years later another citizen of basil entered that cave purposing to Relieve his family's poverty he found nothing but the bones of human corpses and seized with a sudden panic rushed out and behaved so extravagantly that he perished miserably in three days see stampers as above and beta's renonus book three historia german aurum a few years before a certain prior of margulina being in search of treasure went with two companions into a pit in the cave of king salah's

near pozuoli and met with a wretched death never Being seen again this i have from jacques de villamorn les voyages liver eye 23 andreas of rattus bonjay writes we know that many treasures have been collected by magic art but it is not known who obtained possession of them in our own time certain men began to dig for treasure at pisa but at last were beaten by the difficulty of the work and ceased from it finally last year men started to dig Where nero's palace is said to have stood in a place which is today a

cloister for holy virgins where there is a huge pine tree but they were so tormented by devils that fear compelled them to desist from the work which they had begun and meanwhile many of the nuns dwelling in that place were possessed by devils and what wonder when they permitted this unlawful treasure search in their own grounds Therefore god punished them in this life that he might pardon them in the future paul grilland de sortileg q 3n 12 writes more exactly on this subject than do any others chapter 10 whether witches can buy their art create

any living thing [Music] argument I t is the opinion of s augustine to trinitate three seven supported by all other theologians particularly s thomas n s bonaventura that witches can in a moment produce imperfect animals such as flies worms frogs and such insects and other animals which are generated by putrefaction not by creating them but by applying active to passive principles it is usually the demon who In accordance with his pact with the witch produces such animals by the application of active to passive forces for the witches themselves for the most part do not know

how they are produced anna ignorant of the causes as when the devil gives a witch a little dust which she throws into the air and there are born various kinds of locusts and grasshoppers and mice and caterpillars and such like animals the devil could also having produced Such things tend them and nourish them and give them breath in remote places where they appear to be generated as among rocks where imperfect animals are often born such as flies and mice and similar things and i believe that this is what happened in the case of those dogs

mentioned by william of newburgh hist anglo-rum i 28 as follows a huge stone was being split open in a certain quarry when there appeared two Dogs equal in size to that stone and from no perceptible hole there sprang these same dogs which were of the kind called harriers but fierce looking strongly smelling and very shaggy and one of them it is said quickly disappeared but the other which is said to have been extraordinarily voracious was kept in luxury for several days by henry bishop of winchester these dogs could not i think have been Generated except

from prolific semen but the devil was able to take them from their mother's womb and hide them in that place demons can also bring forth strange monsters like that in brazil which is 17. arms high has a lizard skin very swollen paps the four legs of a lion deadly eyes and a flaming tongue or like those monsters in the forests of saxony of half-human appearance which were captured in 1240 anania de Natura iv [Music] unless pe wraps such were the issue of an abominable coalition of men and beasts which is you endowed teddy the cause

of most monsters for in this way in the massic war acipay gave birth to an elephant and alexander a b alexandra 2 tells us that in the year 1278 in switzerland a woman gave birth to a lion So in 1471 pavilla one produced a cat and another at bricks in a dog so in 1531 a woman of oxberg brought forth at one birth first a human head covered in a call then a two-legged serpent and thirdly a complete pig we read of many such births in more recent times but the most astounding of all is

that recorded in the chronicles of portugal examples a woman was deported for some crime to a Desert island in their left and was at once surrounded by a chattering crowd of apes of which there were many in that place then one larger than the rest for whom they all made way came and took her gently by the hand and led her into a big cave where he and some other apes brought her a plentiful variety of fruit and nuts and roots and signed to her to eat finally she was forced into foul sin With the

ape and so continued for many days until she gave birth to two children by the animal [Music] the wretched woman lived in this way for some years until god took pity up on her and sent a ship there from portugal from which some sailors came ashore to fetch water from a spring which was near her cave it happened that the eight was not at hand so the woman ran up to the men Who's like she had not seen for so long and throwing herself at their feet implored them to set her free from her criminal

and disastrous servitude they consented having pity on her misfortune and she embarked upon the ship with them but behold the ape then appeared calling with extra vacant gestures and groans to his wife who was not his wife and when he saw the sales set for departure he quickly ran and held out one of her Children to the mother threatening to drown it in the sea if she did not come back and he was not slow to carry out his threat then he ran back to the cave and as quickly came again to the shore with

the other child which he likewise threatened and drowned after this in his fury he swam after the ship until he was overcome by the waves this story became the talk of all Portugal and the woman was condemned by the king of lisbon to be burned but certain men petitioned for her and her sentence was committed to imprisonment for life does this surprise you reader hear what saxo gramaticus and two great bishops of upsalas say they say that the gothic king sprang from a bear and a nobly born virgin and joao de barrows says that the

pagusian and cyanide indians originated from the Physical union of a dog and a woman yet i am skeptical in this matter for man must be generated by man and if there is any truth in what we have just told i shall say that an incubus devil injected the warm semen of those animals into the women and as for the report concerning the gothic kings i think this is to be said that the devil in the form of those beasts tumbled the women and that he can do this as shown by the Next example and the

following chapter there was a lead fellow in belgium who had to do with a cow and the cow soon became pregnant and after some months gave birth to a male fetus which was not a calf but human there were many present who saw it come from its mother's womb and they picked it up from the ground and gave it to a nurse the boy grew up and was baptized and instructed in the christian life and Applied himself seriously to piety and works of penance for his father and so came to manhood but he felt in

himself certain bovine propensities as that of eating grass and chewing the cud what must be thought of this was he not a man certainly i believe he was but i deny that his mother was a cow what then the devil was aware of his father's sin And that his pleasure made the cow appear to be pregnant he then secretly brought an infant from elsewhere and so placed it by the labouring cow which was big only with wind that it seemed to be born from the cow [Music] chapter 11 whether there truly are incubus and succubus

devils and whether children can be generated by copulation with them argument Almost all the theologians and learned philosophers are agreed and it has been the experience of all times and all nations that witches practice coalition with demons the men with succubus devils and the women with incubus devils plato in the catalyst philo josephus and the old synagogue s cyprian s justin marta clement of alexandria tatullion and others have clearly proved that devils cannot will fornicate with Women but a more substantial proof is to be found in s jerome on ephesians 6 and s augustine civilian

day [Music] 15 23 who is followed by the consensus of all theologians and especially by s isidore chapter 8 the same belief is championed in the Ball of pope innocent viii against witches this truth can be proved by argument for demons can assume the bodies of dead men or make for themselves out of their palpable body like that of flesh and to these they can impart motion and heat at their will they can therefore create the appearance of sex which is net naturally present and show themselves to men in a feminine form and to women

in a masculine form And lie with each accordingly and they can also produce semen which they have brought from elsewhere and i knitting the natural ejaculation of it i add that a child can be born of such copulation with an incubus devil to make this clear it mute be known that the devil can collect semen from another place as from a man's vain dreams and by his speed and experience of physical laws can preserve that semen in its Fertilizing warmth however subtle and airy and volatile it be and injected into a woman's womb at the

moment when she is most disposed to conceive making it appear to be done in the natural way and so mingling it with the woman's over yet it is true that the devils cannot as animals do procreate children by virtue of their own strength and substance for neither between themselves have they any propagation of their own kind nor are They endowed with any semen which can in the least degree prove fertile and how should they have semen of their own since semen is a vital part of the corporeal substance and according to symposianus in his problems

a secretion from well-digested food whereas devils are substances without corporeal bodies we say then that a child can be born from the copulating of an incubus with a woman but that the father of such a child is not the demon but that man Whose semen the demon has misused there are countless examples told by many our thoughts and luprand that the huns were descended from the union of thorns w ith gothic witches chiesa hist pern 2 27 writes that in spanish america a demon named coracota lies with women and that there are born children with

two horns The japanese claim that their shakka is of the same sort nor are there wanting those who place luther in this class and not 10 years ago a woman was punished in the chief city of brabant because she had been brought to bed by a demon it remains for us to reply to the arguments which are brought forward to contradict this belief the first argument is that of remy as Follows devils and human beings are of a different species and therefore no issue can come of a copulation between them i answer that this argument

bears no weight for from a horse and an ass and from other differing animals are born mules wolves leopards panthers etc also the procreation is not ascribed to the demon but to the man who semen is used as s thomas says quad lib Six art six and eight the second argument is that the devil has no part in life but is the source of death therefore he cannot be the author and origin of the vital act i answer that this vital force is not in the devil but in the semen itself just as the warming

virtue of wine is not in the vat or the goblet but in the wine itself cs Thomas as above and the malius maleficent i for the third argument is that witches confess that the semen injected by the devil is cold and that the act brings them no pleasure but rather horror and therefore no issue can come of such a union this is the argument of mark of ephesus who is followed by remy and it is based on the confessions of witches who say that such copulations are entirely Devoid of pleasure and that they rather feel

the most acute pain in them i answer that when the devil wishes to disguise himself in the form of a certain man and would not have it known that he is a devil then he must as far as possible imitate every detail of true copulation between a man and a woman and then if he wishes any issue to result which is very rare for he never desires propagation for his own sake since Nothing of like nature to himself can be generated although sometimes at least he humours the woman's wish and seeks to make her pregnant

by means of another semen he must necessarily take care to provide everything needful for procreation therefore he seeks for fertile semen and having found it conserves it and so quickly transports it that its vital essence is not wasted and when need is He injects it but when he does not mean to beget issue he injects some substance in the likeness of semen which is warm so that the deception may not be detected as for the cold semen that is only found in the case of witches who are fully aware that he is a devil moreover

as springer says maliusem i one see 4 he usually asks the woman if she wishes to become pregnant and if she Does he provides true semen from another source as i have described the fourth argument was that it is incredible that god should allow such a thing to be done or would endow with a living soul anything born of such a union for this would be adding the final touch to the devil's work the answer to this is that as far as natural operation is concerned the devil is only the instrument which applies the principal

agent namely true human semen And therefore god concurs in the final disposition of an organic bodyborne from human semen although it is abnormal and the sin lies entirely at the door of the witch and the devil's malice god the author of nature delights in all things natural but if this argument held good since he is not the author or a better of sin no issue could be born of fornication or adultery or uncleanness or incest It is further objected that the root of all procreation is the heart and that when the necessary cordial heat and

virtue are wanting there can be no procreation the answer is that whether its source is the heart or the brain the vital fertilizing germ is contained in the semen in the actual ejaculation of that semen from the human body and that the devil can preserve that germ in its necessary warmth We shall set down certain instances of the activities of succubus devils as well as some more of incubus devils examples fifteen years ago at bamberg a certain peter stumpf was sentenced to death because he had sinned with a succubus devil for more than 28 years

this devil had given him a girdle which he had only to put on and it appeared both to himself and others that he was changed into a wolf He tried to devour two of his daughters-in-law he lived with his own daughter and her godmother as his wives this is all vouched for in the court records and is memorized in pictures carved in brass which are for sale remy tells an example which he heard from a trustworthy man named melchio erico taken from the most closely guarded secrets of the most serene duke of lorraine There was

at hemingham says this man while i was watching my lord's interests in that place a certain warlock who when he was asked by the judge how he had first been led into such wickedness and especially by what whilst the devil had seduced him freely and openly declared as follows i was a common herdsman and that dawn of day was gathering my herds from their several houses when of all the girls who let the cattle out of the stables one Especially fired my soul with love and i began to think more and more of her by

night and by day at last as i was burning with desire for her at my solitary pasturage there appeared to me one like her coily hiding behind a bush i ran to my longed for prize with her and at last embraced her although against her will but after some repulses she consented to make me free of her condition that i acknowledged her as my Mistress and behaved to her as if she were god himself i accepted the condition and possessed her but she also so possessed me that from that time i have been unhappily subject

to know will but hers hector bowie dariba scottishus liber8 tells that in the coasts around murray firth a highly born girl of great beauty refused several noblemen in marriage and fell into an abominable familiarity with an incubus devil When her parents commanded her to tell whether this were true and to discover her paramore she said that a marvelously beautiful youth had frequent intercourse with her by night and sometimes by day but that she did not know whence he came or whether he went her parents did not entirely believe the girl and formed a plan by

which they should learn more exactly who it was who had stormed the fortress of their daughter's virginity and when three days Later they were informed by a serving maid that the paramour was precental they bolted the house doors and lighting many torches went into the bedroom where they saw in their daughters arms a horrible monster whose appearance was terrible beyond human imagination others quickly ran up to see the foul sight among them a driest of most holy life not unlearned i dot eye rituals and exorcism who while the rest were running away in terror or

stood rooted to the Ground with horror began to recite the gospel of s john and when he had come to the word was made flesh 55 the evil demon gave a terrible cry set fire to all the furniture and departed carrying with him the roof f the bed chamber the girl having escaped from this danger gave birth to a monster of utterly loathsome appearance such as had never before been seen as it was said unless it should be seen and bring disgrace Upon her family the midwives lit a huge fire and quickly burned it a

little earlier the same author tells of a succubus devil as follows in the district of garriotha in a village not 14 miles from aberdeen a young man of great beauty openly complained before the bishop of aberdeen that for many months he had been tormented by a succubus devil as they say more beautiful than any woman that he had ever seen He said that she came to him by night through locked doors coaxed and forced him into her embraces and went away as the dawn began to break with scarcely any sound and that he could by

no means though he had tried many be delivered from so great and fowler madness the excellent bishop at once ordered the young man to remove himself to another place and to apply his mind more than usual to the christian religion with more devout fasting and prayer and so Following the advice of the venerable bishop the young man was after a few days delivered from the succubus devil elsewhere i shall describe other examples chapter 12 whether witches are really transported from place to place to their nightly assemblies argument a ny of the followers of luther and

Melanthon maintained that witches went to their sabbath in imagination only and that there was some diabolical illusion in the matter alleging that their bodies had often been found lying at home in their beds and had never moved from them and they support their contention with that passage in the life of s t germany's concerning the women who met together as it seemed in a feast and yet were all the time sleeping at home It is certain that such women are very often the victims of illusion but it is not proved that this is always so

but as mikhail the wife of david deceived the soldiers of her father saul by putting in imogene david's room so we say that the devil can and does place a false body in the bed to deceive the husband while a witch has gone to the sabbath and in order that the husband may not suspect she is absent he either causes him to fall into a Heavy sleep or substitutes a likeness of his wife so that the husband on awakening may think that it is indeed his wife nicolas remy proves this from judicial records a baba's

wife confessed at four bark honest september 1587 that she had often done this to her husband bertrand and had put him to so deep asleep by anointing him with a certain ointment That she could tweak him by the ear without rousing him and she used the same ointment upon herself when she wished to go to the sabbath on the same day at the same place ella the wife of a beadle of atinjin was said to have substituted for her own body a child's cradle or as some said a bundle of twigs marked with the name

of her familia and so often duped her husband at homburg on the 5th of june 1590 maria the wife of a tailor in metze Bundle of straw and so created an illusion which vanished as soon as she herself returned to the house catherine ruffa declared that the devil himself had at times taken her place in bed and acted in her stead these instances are taken from remy d manila treya i 12. further i hold it to be very true that sometimes witches are really transported from place to place by the devil who in the shape

of a goat or some other Fantastic animal both carries them bodily to the sabbath and himself is present at its obscenities this is the general opinion of the theologians and juris consults of italy spain and catholic germany while a great many others are of a like opinion tara cremator torquamada on grylland de sortileg libra ii queue seven num Eight remy d manolatre 1 14 24 29 s peter damien epist 4 17 francesco sylvester in werbo hakrasis num 3. gayatani on s mark iv quest 47 alfonso a castro f sisto of siena crespit spina contraponzinibium anania

and very many others whom for the sake of brevity i emit but it must be knowing that before they go to the sabbath they anoint themselves Upon some part of their bodies with an anger tea made from various foul and filthy ingredients but chiefly from murdered children and so anointed they are carried away on a cow staff or a broom or a reed a cleft stick or a distaff or even a shovel which things they ride at times they are mounted upon an ox or a goat or a dog and so are carried to their

feast and yet again they go on foot when the Place is not far distant examples of all these were to be found in remy i 14. when these members of the devil have met together they generally light a foul and horrid fire the devil is president of the assembly and sits on a throne in some terrible shape as of a goat or a dog and they approach him to adore him but not always in the same manner For sometimes they bend their knees as supplements and sometimes stand with their backs turned and sometimes kick their

legs high up so that their heads are bent back and their chins point to the sky then they offer him pitch black candles or infants naval cords and kiss him upon the buttocks in sign of homage having committed these in similar crimes and executable abominations they proceed to other infamies as we shall tell later But first let us discuss the hour of their sabbath remy says that he learned from the witch's own answers at their trials that the fixed time for the nocturnal assembly of witches is one or two hours before midnight this being most

suitable an opportune not only for such assemblies but also for certain other devils five terrors sports runnings about and hubbub which follow and are not at such and are so obnoxious Witches do not explain the cause of this neither do i inquire into it but it has been sworn to by johanna sevilla and argentina the wife of francis the taylor this one thing will i add that no hours of the night are more suspect nor more favorable to the apparition of fearful and terrifying shades indeed it is known from experience that such hours are chiefly

notorious for specters and hideous ghosts as the Classical authors have testified in their writings for example aristamines in apulius golden ass bk i pliny 7 6 pliny the younger je purcell 7 and among more modern writers alexander a b alexandro genial diron v 24 tells that he heard in the silence of midnight a terrible noise of ghosts from certain houses in rome and authors of weight say that this silent time is the dead of night which Comes according to sensoriness to die natalie capp ksiv just before the stroke of midnight eusebius of caesarea argues that

the untimely hour of the night is just before cockroach and that this is the most suited to the demon's wicked purposes service in the fifth book of the enid says that it is the middle of the night microbious that it is just after midnight since such time as aptus to the Prince of darkness for his dealings with men being an uncouth and vacant time and to return to the same place says that he had it in judicial examination from a witch named latoma that nothing more baleful and hostile to them could happen than that the

should crow while they were still about their business johann palmer and his wife decederia both of them witches likewise deposed in court that their masters often used to Cry out when it was nearly time to break up the sabbath now go quickly away all for the begin to crow and this can only mean that they are unable to prolong their business any further but i know not the reason of their fear of the crow from pliny and alien i know that the crow is feared by lions and scholapendry also that it portends much when they

Crow out of time during the night a zakia dieval terror philology libra 25 records it to have happened on the birth night of the eldest sewer of matteo visconti the great lord of milan for on that night the cox did not cease from crowing to the point of tediousness or therefore the child was armed galizzo and grew up to great eloquence and military glory as paolo jovio tells remy i i i tells that the witches Themselves assert that a great number of both sexes meet at their nocturnal sabbats but that there are far more women

than men this was affirmed by barbalina our ale of blaineville la grande on the 13th of january 1587. in 1585 jean clee bands and nicole garnett from the town of mines in lorraine said that they were sometimes present among so great a number of witches that they felt no small pity for The human race when they saw it assailed by so manned enemies and betrayers and that it was indeed wonderful that mortals did not suffer more harm from them catherine ruffa of valdeville near the mizell said in july 1587 that she saw no less than

500 on that night when she was first lured into their number there are tables placed and drawn up and they sit and start to eat of the food which the demon has provided or which They have themselves brought but all who have sat down to such tables confess that the feasts are all foul either in appearance or in smell so that they would easily nauseate the most ravenously hungry stomach the above mentioned barbalina and sybil moral said at balduc in september 1586 that all sorts of food were there but so vile and mean and badly

cooked that they were scarcely worth eating at baldurk in february 1587 nicholas Morrell said that their taste was so evil and dry and bitter that he had to spew them out as soon as he had eaten them and that the demon was so angry when he saw this that he hardly kept his hands from him their wine also is black like stale blood and is given to the feasters in some filthy sort of drinking horn they say that there is plenty of everything except bread and salt in 1583 at roboville near the chateau de Gersberg

dominique isabel added that human flesh was also set out and that this was a frequent practice among the scythian witches we learn from belle forest cosmography 2 6 most of the partakers of such feast say that the food and drink satisfy neither their hunger nor their first but they are just as hungry and thirsty afterwards as they were before joanna michaelis of chateau celines in 1590 added that the eyes of those who Attend such assemblies are not sure and clear of sight but that all is confused and disturbed and appears vague to them like those

who are blinded by drunkenness or some sin or some magic thus which is sometimes actually present at the sabbath and often again they are fast asleep at home and yet think that they are at the sabbath for the devil deceives their senses and through his illusions many imaginings may enter the minds of sleepers Leaving them with a conviction of their reality when they awake as if it were not a dream but an actual experience and an undoubted physical action for so for the most part does the crafty devil manage his affairs then follow dances which

are performed in a circle but always round to the left and just as our dances are for pleasure so their dances and measures bring them labour and fatigue in the greatest toil and they return home from them so weary According to the confession of barbarina and nearly all witches who have attended them that they have often had to lie a bed for a full two days and the most sorry and most iniquitous thing about it is that no one is allowed to excuse herself from the dance and if any of them by reason of ill

health or old age shirks that labor she is soon beaten and bruised by fists and feet just as salted fish is beaten with hammers When they approach the demons to venerate them they turn their backs and going backwards like crabs put out their hands behind them to touch him in supplication when they speak they turn their faces to the ground and they do all things in a manner altogether foreign to the use of other men indeed it is sufficiently clear from our own experience that the desire of men for wanton dancing and treading light Measures

nearly always lead by evil example to more lust and sin in his day this was complained of by scipio emilianus in his oration contra lego judiciarium to beryigarki and by microbius saturnalia 3 4. sometimes they dance before eating and sometimes after the repast some three or four tables are set apart for the richest and most honored among them sometimes each sits next to his own Familiar spirit sometimes the witches on one side and the demons opposite them there is not lacking a grace said at this table worthy of such an assembly composed of blasphemous words

in which beelzebub himself is acclaimed the creator and giver and preserver of all the same spirit inspires their actions after the tables have been removed for when the banquet is done each demon takes by the hand the disciple under his guardianship and all the rights are Performed with the utmost absurdity in a frenzied ring with hands joined in back to back and so they dance throwing their heads like frantic folk sometimes holding in their hands the candles which they have before used in worshipping the devil they sing in honor of the devil the most see

be seen songs to the sound of a body pipe and taba played by one seated in the fork of a tree and then in the foulest manner to copulate with their Demon lovers they come to these sabbats as we have said in the silence of midnight when the powers of darkness are strong but sometimes they even meet at noon tide and this is referred to in the passage of the psalms xi 6 where it speaks of the noonday demon they have also fixed days which differ in various localities in italy they meet about midnight on

thursday according to sebastian Michaelis the witches of lorraine meet on wednesday night and on saturday night with the sunday following according to remy and i have read that others meet on tuesday night from what we have already described therefore and from the confessions of witches themselves before their judges it is clearer than light and will be confirmed by particular instances that witches are carried bodily through The air to the sabbath by demons and not only are they themselves so carried but with the help of the devil they can carry others on their own shoulders as

the examples will show sometimes indeed when the sabbath has been suddenly dizest tables and silver furnishings are they been found and recognized by their owners which the women have confessed that they have carried with them to the sabbath only i will add this that they who Assert that all this is not true but only a dream or an illusion certainly sin in lack of true reverence to our mother the church for the catholic church punishes no crime that is not evident and manifest and counts no one a heretic unless he has been caught in patent

heresy now for many years the church has counted witches as heretics and has ordered that they be punished by the inquisitors and handed over to the Secular courts as is clear from the works of springer nida nicolas jacquia effin michaelis as well as from our own knowledge therefore either the church is in error or they who maintain this belief but he who says that the church is in error over a matter concerning the faith is anathema maranatha i conclude therefore that witches are most often actually transported by the devil and that sometimes they go effort

And when they wish to be transported bodily they anoint themselves as i have said already with an ointment made from the fat of infants bodies but when they wish to attend the sabbath only in dream they lie down on their left side but when they prefer to keep awake and yet see what is done at the sabbath as if they were present at it then by some devil's work they send a thick vapor from their mouths in which They can see all that is done as if in a mirror it is stated by some authors

as a fact that there have been women who have manifestly spent the night in bed with their husbands and yet on the next morning have confidently remembered and spoken about many things pertaining to the sabbath at which they have maintained that they were present in the preceding night others have been observed by their Family in relations who have formed some suspicion of them to start violently in their sleep as if they were in great pain or even to bestride a chair or some other object as if it were a horse and spare it on with

their heels yet they have not gone out of the house but on awaking have been as tired as if they had returned from a long journey and have told of marvelous things which they thought they had done and what is more they are angry and Incensed against those who do not believe them this has led many to believe that this is no more than a matter of dreams sent by the devil into the minds of those whom he has caught in his net examples in the county of york in england a wonderful thing happened which

is recorded by martin del rio of the society of jesus who quotes from william of newburgh to whom it was known from Boyhood for it was not far from the birthplace of this historian there is a village some miles from the north sea near which are those famous waters which the common people call the gypsies or the race a certain peasant went on a visit from thai village to a neighboring village to see a friend and as he was returning late at night not very sober behold from a mound some two or three furlongs from

the village came the sound Of voices singing and of people feasting he wondered who could be t reeking the silence of the night in that place with these formal celebrations and was curious enough to wish to inquire into it and seeing an open door in the side of the mound he went and looked in and saw a wide and well-lit hall filled with men and women sitting down to a grand feast but one of the servers saw him standing at the door and brought him a cup which He took but purposely refused to drink from

it for he spilled its contents and at once went away with the cup an outcry rose among the fe asters at the theft of the cup and the guests went in pursuit of him but he escaped thanks to the speed of his horse and came back to the village with his rare prize afterwards this cup which was of unknown material aid unusual colour and uncommon shape was offered as a gift to henry the first king of england and then to the Brother of the queen of david king of scotland and was for many years kept

in the treasury of scotland as may be read in the first book rerum anglicarum cap 28. sebastian michaelis tells that among the witches of aveni and a boy was taken who told the judge that he had been led by his father to the synagogue for so they called their assembly and had there seen many wicked and Horrible things done so that in his terror he had signed himself with the cross and said jesus what is this and as soon as he had said this the whole route disappeared leaving him there alone and the next day

he returned home which was three german miles distant from the place of the synagogue and brought his father before the judges and therefore in that district the boy was given the name maskian that is little magician and this boy was still In captivity at avenian when michaelis wrote this in 1582. bartolomeo de spina de strig tom 2 p 11 cap 17 relates the following master society a famous physician of ferrara who was public intendant of the sick in that city lately told me as the faithful truth that when he was in the country about three

years ago to see after his Properties he fell into conversation with his bailiff about witches the physician said that all the talk about witches was madness especially that they could be bodily transported wherever they wished but the bailiff who is still living won thomasino paul astros from the district of miranda but now living in the place called clavica malaguzi replied that there was Another peasant living close by he said that he had seen great numbers of men and women dancing in the night and abandoning themselves to pleasures the physician was astounded and asked the bailiff

to bring that peasant to him and when he was brought and asked about those things he answered as follows one night i rose about three hours before dawn and came with my own oxen and wagon to this bailiff of yours to help him in a job of Work and i had got as far as that plane i am pointing to for it was nearby when i saw afar off a big fire in different places like great lights among which i saw a great crowd of men and women wrestling or dancing together going nearer i saw

more than six thousand people in the clear light of the fires and tables spread and some of them eating and drinking but more were dancing and playing different sorts of Games while most of them were acting bawdy in a way that it is not right to speak of i saw some men and women among them whom i knew and spoke to some of them but after an hour's signal was given and they all seemed to run away very quickly indeed and they were nowhere to be seen as if they had been carried away in a

cloud on hearing this evidence the physician Changed his opinion and not only believed that what he had formally thought to be madness was possible but that it did actually happen the following which is a witch's own statement is taken from grilland after she had paid her homage the chief of the devils once appointed as her guardian a demon who must never leave her but serve her in all that she wished and whenever their rendezvous and games were to be held he Was to inform her of it and take her there fully instructed and this demon

used her carnally as a husband serves his wife she said that witches often go to these assemblies where a great number of women meet and that it is no matter of a mere mental or intellectual or apparent vision for in their true and natural shape they go to such places in the following manner a day or two before the sabbath the Witch is told by her guardian demon to prepare to go to the games on suclier night at such an hour and if she has any just cause to hinder her she addresses it and is

heard provided that it is a true and legitimate excuse but if she invents a false reason to excuse her attendance she is not carried there against her will but remains in her house yet as a punishment for her lies the demons so Mightily torments her both in mind and body with continuous torture of the sharpest degree and aches and pains both within and without that she can have no rest by day or by night but is always plagued and everything that she does comes to nothing and is abortive so that to put an end to

such great pain she must confess her fault and promise on oath that she will no more refuse to go to the sabbath When she has so promised as soon as the night and the hour have arrived she is summoned in a sort of human voice by the demon himself whom she does not call demon but little master or martinet master or martinellis and on this summons she goes out of her house and always finds her little master waiting by the door in the form of a goat upon which this woman said that she wrote holding

tightly to its hair and the goat rose into the air and in The shortest time carried her to the wizard walnut tree of bernavento and gently put her down there paul grilland to sortileg 2 7 tells that in 1524 there was brought to him as inquisitor a certain lucretia who while she was being carried home from the sabbath came at dawn within sound of the bells calling the people to mourning prayer and was suddenly left by the devil who was carrying her near river in a field Covered with thorns it happened that a young man

well known to her was walking across it and the unhappy woman called to him by his name the young man seeing her quite naked except for a covering over her private parts and with her hair all loose was afraid to go near her but she coaxed him with flattering words and at last he went up to her and asked her how she came to be there in that state at first she invented many lies but the Young man did not believe her and said he would not help her unless she told the truth then binding

him to secrecy she told the truth of what had happened to her and the reason for it the young man took her secretly to her home and she gave him many gifts but in the end he forgot his promise and spoke of the matter first to one and then to another and so by degrees the disgraceful story was spread abroad and The woman was taken and the young man was compelled to give evidence of the truth and he told all this to grill and a woman in the diocese of sabina practiced this diabolic srt and

her husband becoming suspicious repeatedly questioned her but she always denied the change but the husband retained his suspicions and anxiously sought to know the truth and contrived so cunningly that one Night he saw her anointing herself with some ointment after which she flew away as quickly as a bird he followed to see where she was going but lost sight of her and going to the door of the house he formed it shut which caused him great air price on the following day he again asked his wife what he's so eager wish to know and she

firmly denied all knowledge until so that she could no longer plead ignorance he openly told her all that he had seen Her do the night before and t iron soundly thrashed her since it is wisely said that an obstinate heart is broken by the rod and he threatened to beat her even more severely unless she told the truth promising her a full pardon if she would freely confess the woman seeing that she could no longer hide it told the truth and asked pardon of her husband which he granted on condition That she would take him

to the sabbath to obtain forgiveness she readily promised this and with the permission of satan fulfilled her word the husband was taken to the place of the sabbath and saw the games and dances and everything else and finally sat down with the rest at the tables to eat but finding the food insipid he asked for salt and although there was none on the table kept asking again and again for it but was not given any until after much Importunacy and long waiting then he said praise be to god for at last the salt has come

as soon as he had uttered these words the demons immediately departed and all the rest vanished and the lights were put out and he remained there alone and naked in the morning he saw some shepherds whom he asked in what country he was and they answered that it was banavento in the kingdom of naples which was a Hundred miles from the man's own country so although he was a rich man he had to beg his way home and on his arrival he at once accused his wife of the crime of witchcraft and told the judges

the whole story and how she had departed and when they had well and duly examined the matter they found all that we have related to be true and it was all confirmed by the woman's own confession bartolomeo spina master of the sacred palace records some equally certain Examples one of which is as follows a girl who lived with her mother at bigamo was found one night at venice in her brother-in-law's bed in the morning she was found naked and was recognized as a kinswoman and was asked why she had come there when they had clothed

her she told with tears the following story last night i was lying in bed awake and saw my mother who thought i was asleep from her bed and take off her vest and Anoint her body with an unguent from a pot which she took from a secret place and then she mounted a staff which was at hand as if it were a horse and rose up and was carried through the window so that i could no longer see her then i also rose from bed and anointed my body as my mother had done and was

at once born through the window and brought to this place where i saw my mother threatening with horrid gestures the boy lying in this bed I was frightened at this and saw that my mother also was disturbed by my appearance and began to menace me so i called upon the name of the lord jesus and of his mother and then i no longer saw my mother and was left here alone and naked when they heard these words of the girl [Music] her brother-in-law wrote all down and brought it before the inquisitor general of bigamo who

took the woman into Custody she was exposed to torture and confirmed everything in confession adding that the demon had carried her more than 50 times to kill the son of that brother-in-law but that she had never succeeded in doing so because she had always found him too well protected by his parents with the sign of the cross and holy prayers spina also relates that to certain antonio leone a charcoal burner of Ferrara who was then living in the valtalina that very same year attested that he knew intimately the man to whom the following occurred in

his native district this man on account of many hints which had been given him suspected his wife of going to the witch's sabbath while he himself was asleep one night therefore he pretended to be in a deep sleep and saw his wife rise from her bed and anoint herself from a Hidden vas and immediately vanish in astonishment not unmixed with curiosity the man also rose from his bed and did as his wife had done and at once as it seemed to him he was carried up the chimney just as his wife appeared to have been

into the wine cellar of a certain noble count where he found his wife together with many others when she saw him his wife and all the rest of the company made a certain Occult sign and disappeared the husband being left all alone in that place there he was found in the morning by the servants of the house who raised an outcry and seizing him as a thief hailed him before the count when he had been granted leave to speak he shamefacely told what had happened and so his wife was accused before the inquisitor and at

last confessed and suffered the punishment well merited by her crimes Nicolas remy i 14 tells the following examples at lutz at the foot of the vostis mountains in may 1589 the villagers were celebrating a pagan festival claude kothis was returning in the evening from that village to the next which is called weisenbach and had already climbed a good part of the hill which separates the two villages when he was suddenly caught in a whirlwind and stood looking about him in Amazement to see if he could find any cause for such an unusual occurrence for the

air was most calm and still everywhere else then he saw in a sheltered place six which women dancing around a table sumptuously decked with gold and silver tossing their heads about like people afflicted with madness and near them was a man like a black bull watching them as if he were a casual passerby he therefore stood still for a while Collecting himself and making sure that he saw quite clearly and when he had done so they all suddenly vanished from his sight recovering from his fright he then started on his road again and had already

passed the top of the hill when behold those women were following him from behind throwing their heads about as before and keeping a deep silence while before them went a man with a black face and hands curved like talons With which he would have clawed his forehead if i had not turned and opposed him with his drawn sword but then the man ceased to threaten him and vanished as if in fear of his life the women showed themselves yet again and with them the man like a bull who as i have said was looking on

at their dances kothis now fell more confident towards this man cnd went up to him saying are not you my friend desiree gazette For so he was named i beg you to protect me if you can for i promise you that i will tell no one anything of what i have seen hardly had he said this when he was encompassed by a fresh whirlwind or cloud and when he had come out of it as soon as he could he went home three days after he had given evidence as above he was recalled for examination by

the judge and added the following that he remembered that when he had gone Near the table to see what food there was upon it the demon had instantly flown his face with his talons and that while he was defending himself with his sword he had been lifted up by a violent wind and carried to the cataracts of coma hill which was less than 200 paces award unless anyone should think that this was the imagining of a drunken man frightened by the darkness in jolitude the story was confirmed at st die in June 1589 by barbaline

gazette one of the women in question who told it in almost the same words to the inquisitor adding that her husband desiree gazette had given to cothby's as a gift three measures of wheat and as many cows cheeses which he kept it in and that she had seen them all this was admitted and agreed to except that barber line said that the demon had not raised his hands against kothis because he came near the table as He had falsely stated in his evidence but because he was about to steal a golden cup from it when

johan of hembach was scarcely more than a child his witch mother took him to the nocturnal assembly of demons and because he was so clever a crowder ordered him to play his kit and to climb up a tree from which he could be heard better he did so and having leisure to watch their lead reels and rigger dunes found It very unusual for everything at their sabbat was uncouth and ridiculous and cried out good god once came that extraordinary mob of madman no sooner had he said this than he fell to the ground and hurt

his shoulder and when he called for help he found himself alone he told this story openly and various opinions were formed about it some saying that it was only a vision whilst others contended that it had really Happened but not long afterwards the opportunity arose to remove all doubt for catherine privot one of those who had taken part in those dances was soon afterwards taken on suspicion of witchcraft and confessed the whole matter as we have told it although she was unaware of the story told by johann and was not pressed by any questions as

nicole lang bernard was returning home from moraine villa to igni avrecord In july 1590 and was walking at full noonday along a wooded path she saw in a neighboring filled a company of men and women dancing in a ring [Music] not in the usual manner of men but in the opposite direction and with their backs turned she looked more closely and saw further some who were deformed with hooves like goats or oxen among the dancers and being struck with terror she began to Call upon the most holy name of jesus and earnestly to pray that

she might come back safe and unharmed to her own people thereupon all the dancers vanished except one named peter and he quickly rose into the air and was seen to let fall to the earth a little brush of the salt used by bakers to clean their ovens before they bake bread meanwhile she was caught in a violent wind so that she could hardly draw her Breath and then returned home where she lay sick for three whole days this thing became known through the talk of herself and her neighbours and had soon spread all over the

village this peter lest by ignoring the story he should seem to admit and confess to so heavy a charge went first to the judge and angrily laid a complaint before him but in the end he was afraid he would lose his suit and lay himself open to a greater danger and so desisted from it This brought him into far greater suspicion of the crime since many were of opinion that his guilty conscience had caused him to withdraw the complaint which he had started so bitterly against her accordingly the judge made diligent inquiry into his life

and character and found some indications that this was no empty suspicion and arrested him at daiyu's february 1591 And he was with little trouble induced to confess his guilt and finally to name and indicate those others who had been partners in that crime among whom were barbielia the wife of johann latoma and maya the wife of laurentius the chief magistrate all of whom told the same story of their dancing back to back with the cloven-hoofed creatures maintaining that it was all true their confession was yet further Substantiated by johann michel a herdsman who stated that

during those proceedings he had been playing upon his pipes beating time with his foot and moving his fingers quickly over the pipes but when nicole in panic called upon jesus and moreover signed herself with the cross he fell from the high branch of an oak on which he was sitting and was then caught in a whirlwind and carried to a field called valor in which He had shorty before left his flock grazing but the gravest and weightiest proof was that the place where the dance had been performed had been found on the day following that

mentioned by nicole marked with a ring such as is seen in circuses where horses run round in a circle and there were recent tracks of goats or oxen all of which could be seen until that field was again plowed up in the Following winter in holland there was in the village of eastbrook not far from maharastrict a widow woman whose circumstances required her to keep her manservant to manage the affairs of the house this man was like most servants inquisitive and often used to look through a window and see his mistress go at the dead

of every night as soon as the servants had gone to sleep to a certain fixed spot in the stables where She stretched up and laid fast hold of the nearest rack of hay at last wondering what she could be about he made up his mind to do the same just once unbeknown to his mistress and to try the same venture so when his mistress went as usual to that place and seemed to be out of sight he followed and looked about the place and as his mistress had done grasped the hay then he was at

once carried to the town Of which into a secret underground cave where he found himself in the midst of a company of witches brewing their evil plots the mistress was surprised at her servant's unexpected appearance and asked how he had managed to come there in a moment of time he told her how it was and she waxed very angry and highly incensed being afraid lest by this means their nocturnal and clandestine meetings Should become known she therefore asked her associates what they advised in this doubtful pass and they at length agreed that he should be

received in friendly fashion and be sworn to keep silence and that he would never communicate or tell to anyone those mysteries which chance had allowed him to witness beyond his desert or expectation he gave his promise and spoke fairly to them and that they might treat him more Leniently pretended that his one chief wish was that they should thereafter admit him into the fellowship and company of witches meanwhile the hours passed until it was time for their return a and c then a new question was posed by key mistress whether he should be sent back

home to be a danger to the whole assembly or whether he should be lulled for the general good they arrived at the more merciful Decision of binding him by an oath and sending him home [Music] this duty was undertaken by his mistress who promised that when he had given his oath she would carry him home on her shoulders and to this business they set themselves and were carried by an east wind through the air but when they had covered the greater part of their journey a lake overgrown with reed's cane in sight and the old

Witch fearing lest the young man should be led dui penitence to disclose what he had seen at those frantic orgies saw her see why ants of getting rid of him and to cast him from her as she flew hoping as it is thought that he would die either from the violence of his fall or in the deep waters of the lake but god who is merciful and desireth not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live frustrated the evil design of that witch And did not allow the

innocent young man to be drowned bull most justly granted that he should live to this very day as he fell among the reeds he received no mortal hurt indeed for the violence of his fall was a little broken by the reeds but the unhappy man was unable to do anything but use his tongue and lay there till daylight in the most dreadful agony sighing and groaning until some passers-by was surprised to hear this unusual lamentation and Searched and found a young man with both his hips dislocated they asked how to had fallen into such misfortune

and when he had told all they took him in a cart to maharastrict their a nobleman johann chulenburg the mayor of the city being struck by the strangeness of the affair wanderingly inquired into it all and having examined the matter he ordered the youth's mistress to be seized and put in chains as soon as she fell into the hands of The mayor she denied nothing but confessed to every particular bernard of como in his distribus three tells that about 60 years ago in the diocese of como proceedings were being taken against such witches by an

inquisitor named master bartolomeo de with master lorenzo d.a concarezzo the podesta and giovanni d.a fossato as notary one day the podesta out of curiosity wish to prove by experience whether Witches go to the sabbath really and in their bodies accordingly he agreed to go one thursday evening with his notary and another companion to a lace outside the town which had been indicated by the witches while they were standing there they saw many people assembled before one who was the devil in the form of a goat enthroned like some great lord and behold at the command

of the devil all those persons their assembled fell upon That magistrate and his companions and with god's permission so beat them with sticks that they all three died from their blows within fifteen days floriman de raymond senator of the king at the parliament of bordeaux a pious catholic and learned man in his el antichrist seven tells of some unspeakable and sacrilegious rights in the following words at this court in the year 1594 was tried A young girl of aquitaine a wench of intelligent appearance who without being tortured freely confessed that she had been corrupted at

a tender age by a certain italian in the middle of the night before the day of s john baptist the italian had led her to a certain field where he had traced a circle on the ground with a beach twig muttering some words out of a black book suddenly there appeared a large and Perfectly black goat well horned and accompanied by two women and soon there came up a man clothed and vested like a priest the goat asked the italian what girl that was and he answered that she had been brought by him to be

enrolled among the goat subjects hearing this the goat ordered her to make the sign of the cross with her left hand and all who were present to approach and perform their act of Veneration thereupon they all kissed him with their lips under his tail [Music] between the goats horns a black candle gave a horrid light and from this they all lit the candles they were holding and as they worshipped the goat they dropped money in a bowl this is what happened the first time afterwards the italian again took the girl to the same place and

then the goat Asked her for a tress or lock of her hair which the italian cut off and gave to him by this sign the goat led her apart as his bride into a neighboring wooden pressing her against the ground penetrated her but the girl said that she found this operation quite lacking in any sensation of pleasure for she rather experienced a very keen pain and sense of horror of the goat semen which was as cold as ice On a wednesday and a friday in each month these rights were performed by the well of dome

and she attended them countless times with more than 60 others all of whom brought candles with them which the goat lit by blowing upon them from his behind after which they danced round with joined hands and their backs turned they also performed a travesty of the mass celebrated by one clothed in a black cope with no cross woven upon it At the time of the holy sacrifice and the elevation of the host he lifted up a segment or round of turnip stained black upon which they all with one voice cried out master help us the

chalice contained water instead of wine and they made their holy water as follows the goat pissed into a hole dug in the ground and with this undiluted water the celebrant sprinkled them all with a black aspergillum in this assembly each which has his or Her particular duty assigned and each gives a report of what he has done so writes raymond and he discusses the question of poisons spells charms and magic remedies as also the destruction of the fruits of the earth and many such crimes let us now consider how witches are born through the clouds

by demons at other times than that of the nocturnal assembly in belgium a nobleman of proved faith Named vanderbirch dean of the cathedral chapter and an honored citizen of mecklen was walking outside the town with an aquabus when suddenly he heard the screaming of crows and crowds of obscene crows and pies in a tree near his path he levelled his aquabus and discharged it at them and thought he had fairly hit one and brought it down from the tree but all he found was an iron key from a woman's girdle He took this home and

told a friend what had happened asking whether he recognized the key his friend said that he knew it for the key of a neighboring house they then went to the house who id the door locked opened it with their key and shutting the door behind him went in since they were acquainted with the good man of the house and there they found a woman the owner's wife wounded in the side with an aquabus shot martin del rio Disc magic v three makes the following observation i was at the new lay bridge at calais when it

was stormed under the auspicious leadership of the serenae archduke albert and held by soldiers of his catholic majesty a company from valone was stationed as outpost to keep a watch upon the men of bulon who were then on the enemy's side and towards the evening two of these men Saw a black cloud floating out of the clear sky and from the midst of it there seemed to come a confused sound of many voices although no one could be seen at last the boulder of these two men said what is this are we safe if you

consent i will discharge my aquabus into that cloud his comrade agreed and after the report of the aquabus there fell to their feet From the clouded drunken naked woman very fat and of middle age wounded rig it through the thigh on being seized she pretended to be feeble mere dead and would answer nothing to their questions but are you friends or foes now what do they say to this who deny that these witches are transported they will say that they do not believe it then let them remain skeptical for they will not believe any number

of Eyewitnesses when i could produce why because they themselves have never seen or heard such a thing and they have examined certain witnesses who have maintained that they knew nothing of such happenings so says del rio now reader i will take further instances from nicholas remy the truth of which has been sworn on oath and given in evidence at trials There is he says at jiren court in the vosters province a strong-built castle which was struck by lightning so that some of its roofing was torn away not long afterwards namely in october 1580 one sebastian

picard was accused of witchcraft in that village and confessed to the judge that this had been the work of herself and her demon 4 she said we together rushed from a cloud upon the castle meaning to bring it entirely to ruin but it was not in Our power to do so and we could only inflict a little damage so that our attempt should not be altogether abortive the following instance is similar a man named kunin who was a magistrate in the bailiwick of s clement in ronchamp was attending to his hay with his servants on

the the 1st of december 1586 when he noticed the sky grow very stormy he was getting ready to go home when Suddenly he saw six oak trees near him struck by lightning and torn up by the roots and a seventh appeared as if it had been all rent and lacerated with claws he then made the more haste towards home in his hurry leaving behind his hat and all his tools and again heard the crash of lightning striking and saw perched in the top of an oak near him a woman who seemed to have come from

the clouds he looked at her more closely and Recognized her as an old neighbor of his and at once began to revile her as follows a notchy that vile hag margarite warens who as i now find thoroughly deserve the general suspicion of witchcraft which everyone has long harbored against you whence coming out in that costume to this she answered spare me i intrigue you and keep silent about what you now see if you will promise me this i will Manage so that no harm at all shall ever come from me to you and yours unless

any should doubt the truth of this let him know that it was proved not only by the evidence of cunin but by the confession of that very awareness which was often repeated even without the stimulus of torture and confirmed by her in the hearing of many at the very last moment of her life to the same effect are instances arising out of other capital trials vouched for As true by those who conducted them a great thunderstorm arose while some shepherds were watching their flocks in the vosters and since they were exposed in the open they

took shelter in the neighboring woods they're all at once they saw two peasants perched or rather entangled in the tops of the trees so terrified that it was easy to see that they were not there of their own will but quite by accident and through some unexpected Impetus but then the filth and muddiness of their clothing and the fact that they were all scratched with brambles gave rise to an increasing suspicion that they had been cast out and hurled into that place by their master after he had dragged them hither and neither according to his

custom this suspicion was the more confirmed because after they had sat there long enough for the shepherd's eyes to make Sure that they saw clearly in an instant without anyone marking how they seemed to fall to the ground finally all doubt was removed when their own words and the report of the shepherds were fully borne out by spontaneous confession when they were questioned in prison there is also a village lying to the left as you go from belmont to vittle where the same two peasants fell headlong from a storm cloud onto the top Of a

roof one of them whose name was rui was terribly troubled as to how they could get safely to ground from so difficult to place but the other ammont had been led into the devil service by his parents as soon as he reached puberty and very soon adapted himself to the conditions saying cheer up you fool for he in his power we are his master of far more difficult matters than this And will very soon manage this affair for us and no sooner said than done for they were suddenly caught up together in a whirlwind and

set down safe on the ground while the house itself shook so that it seemed to be torn from its foundations this was told by each of them separately in the same words moreover their story agreed in every respect with that of the villagers as to the day the storm and All the anarch finally they who in life had been associated together in crime perished in one fire by the judge's sentence so says remy chapter 13 whether witches can transmute bodies from one form to another argument no one can doubt but that all the arts and

metamorphoses by which witches change men into beasts are deceptive Illusions and opposed to all nature i add that anyone who holds the contrary opinion is in danger of anathema and in this i am supported by the opinion of sd augustine as also by logical reasoning for a human soul cannot inform the body of a beast any more than the soul of a lion can inhabit the body of a horse or the soul of a horse the body of a man because every substantial form to be true to its own nature requires the peculiarly adapted Dispositions

and physical organism which are natural to its own body and the soul regulates the motions of the organic body therefore as i have said no animal soul can inform the human body and no human soul and animal's body the belief in such monstrous transformation is nothing new but was firmly held by the ancients many ages ago uanthe an author of great note says that It is recorded in the annals of arcadia that there was a certain family of the tribe of anthous which used every so many years to go to a certain pool across which

having taken off their clothes they swam and they were at once changed from men into beasts and after nine years if they had not in that time tasted human blood they returned to their former shape peridotus in melpamine and so inus in the polyhista chapter 8 required that The nuri who live by the river nipper are changed into wolves on certain days in every year and after the appointed time has elapsed their return to their true shape but this did not happen to them only in times before the light of christian truth shone upon the

were id for in bulgaria a certain official had in his charge the son of that simeon who had formally ruled over tbe country and this boycott when he wished change Himself into a wolf or any other animal by black magic and a certain russian chieftai hearing that there was in his territory a man who could change himself to whatever form he pleased summoned him and put him in chains and commanded him to give instant proof of his power the man said he would willingly do so if he might withdraw into the next room for a

while and when this had been granted he suddenly came back in the form of a Wolf but still bound with his chains to the great astonishment of all who were present but the chieftain had two very fierce dogs at hand which fell upon the unhappy creature and tore him to pieces but as i have already said no one must let himself think that a man can really be changed into a beast or a beast into a real man for these are magic and illusions having the form but not the reality of those things which they

Present to our site for the devil as i have said elsewhere deceives our senses in various ways sometimes he substitutes another body while the witches themselves are absent or hidden apart in some secret place and himself assumes the body of a wolf formed from the air and wrapped about him and does those actions which men think are done by the wretched absent which who is asleep william of paris tells how a certain Holy man made this stratagem clear to all sometimes in accordance with his pact he surrounds a witch with an aerial effigy of a

beast each part of which fits onto the correspondent part of the witch's body head to head mouth to mouth belly to belly foot to foot an arm to arm but this only happens when they use certain ointments and words as in the case of the above example of the man who was torn in pieces by dogs and Then they leave the footprints of a wolf upon the ground but in this last case it is no matter for wonder if they are afterwards found with an actual wound in those parts of their human body where they

were wounded when in the appearance of a beast for the enveloping air easily yields and the true body receives the wound but when the witch is not bodily present at all then the devil wounds her in that part of her absent body corresponding to The wound which he knows to have been received by the beast's body bartolomeo spiner tells the following example of this sort examples a certain day laborer named philip bought witness in this very city of ferrara to this apparent conversion of witches into cats for he swore to me on oath that three

months before a saturn which had told him not to drive them away if he saw any Cats come coined playfully up to his son whom she had strongly bewitched and had undertaken to cure the same day about an hour after she had gone away he and his wife saw a big cat which they had never seen before go deliberately up to the boy they were frightened and kept driving it off and were at last guided to exasperation by its insistence and the man shut the door and chased it about for a long time striking it

with a stick Until finally he made it jump out of a high window so that the cat's body seemed to be all bruised and broken after that the old witch kept her bed for many days with a bruised and broken body consequently where there had already been a slight suspicion that she was a witch and had bewitched the boy who lay very sick under the spell of his infirmity This now grew into a strong and grave suspicion for the blows and wounds which were given to the cat were found upon the corresponding parts of the

witch's body remy 2 5 writes that nearly all those who came into his hands charged with witchcraft told him that they changed themselves into cats whenever they wished to enter other people's houses in secret so that they could scatter their poison there by night Barber line rail at blaineville la grande on the 1st of january 1587 confessed that she was turned into a cat so that in that shape she might more easily enter the house of gene louis and wonder about it in greater safety and when she had done so and found his two-year-old infant

unguarded she dusted it with a drugged powder which she held in the pad of her paw and killed it the shepherd petronio who was tried at Dalheim in 1581 whenever he felt moved with hatred or envy against the shepherds of neighboring flocks as is the way of such men used to change himself into a wolf by the use of certain incantations and so for a long time escaped all suspicion of being the cause of the mutilation and death of his neighbor's sheep the following example is told by the famous count of somme chief gentleman of

The bed chamber at the palace of lorraine in hesselanghow over which town he was lord the inhabitants in accordance with the ancient custom came to pay him their yearly tribute of labor as they came with their cartloads of timber and waited in turn for their reward of food the dogs which were with them began to fight in the castle hall one of these dogs hid itself in one of the bathroom furnaces and the rest Barked violently at it one of the townsmen looked at it and finding it uglier than the rest began to suspect the

truth for that part is said to be infested with witches so he thrust his weapon into its face and grievously wounded it whereupon it rushed out of the door and was no more seen then a rumor crept all over the town that there was an old woman in bed with a wound of which no one knew where she had received it They all began to suspect the truth namely that she was the mad dog who had been wounded in the castle hall this suspicion on the top of a long-standing rumor that she was a witch

led to her being seized and imprisoned and at last after she had been carefully questioned she freely confessed all that has just been told together with very many other sorceries here also what remy reports to have been told him by the noble baroness lady Diana of denmark the wife of the illustrious prince charles philip of croy marquis of horreck as follows not long since there was in file court a village of that country a woman addicted to these evil practices and credited with the power of assuming different shapes with the help of the devil this

woman had conceived a bitter hatred against the village shepard on account of his having bested her in some money transaction and fell in the form of a Wolf upon his flock as it was feeding the shepherd ran up only wounded her in the thigh with an axe so grievously that in her weakness she was forced to flee into a neighboring thicket he followed her there and found her trying to stop the freely flowing blood by binding her wound with strips torn from her clothes with this evidence against her she was taken into custody and acknowledged

all that we have said and finally expiated Her crimes at the stake in flanders at a tavern not jar from dick's meda peasant was drinking at an ale house with his son a lively youth and watched the hostess scoring up the beer which she brought him he noticed that she marked up double the quantity that he drank but kept quiet until he had finished drinking then he called the hostess and asked what he owed and she demanded the amount that she had scored He refused to pay it and thrusting many persons aside threw onto the

table what he knew to be a sufficient sum of money and was going out the enraged hoster said you will not owe home today or my name is not owen so but he went away despising the woman's threats he came to a stream where he had left his boat but he could not however much he tried even with the help of his son who was a lusty lad move it from the Bank so that you would have said that it was nailed to the very ground two or three soldiers happened to come that way and

he called to them saying good friends come and help me launch this boat from the bank and i will give you a good drink they came and exerted themselves to the utmost for a long time in vain till one of them panting and sweating said let us unload the boat perhaps when it is empty we shall manage Better and behold when the goods were exposed to view a lurid great toad stood in the road looking at them with gleaming eyes one of the soldiers at once spitted it through the throat with his sword and threw

it into the water where it floated belly upwards as if dead the rest gave it more wounds as it floated and suddenly the boat was launched the overjoyed peasant took his helpers Back to the same inn and ordered beer this was brought by a serving maid and he asked where the hostess was he was told that she was very ill in bed what said he do you think i am drunk you fool it is hardly half an hour since i left her as well as you are i am going to see what the matter is

he went into the bedroom and found that the woman had died from wounds in the Neck and stomach how did she get these wounds he exclaimed the serving maid said she did not know in that to her knowledge she had not set foot outside the house they went to the magistrate and the cuts and stabs were found to be in the same places as those in which the soldiers had wounded to death the toad which was never found chapter 14 Whether witches have power to make beasts talk argument at times it happens that god grants

the power of speech to that which naturally has no such power as in the case of balaams as in holy scripture how this may be none knows but he who is the author of all speech but i think that for the most part it is the voice of an angel speaking in such inanimate objects or brutes As for brute animal speech is created in their own bodies and is a physical action of the beast itself yet such action is intellectual only on the part of the angel this is true of such animals as have organs

adapted to speech as magpies parrots ravens and their like but when the animals organs are not so adapted as in arses oxen etc i think that the angel creates a voice from the air about the animal The same would be true in the case of inanimate objects such as fire water earth air or corpses which likewise could easily be made to appear to speak porphyry considering the question whether magicians can truly understand the speech of animals writes that in his own time it used to be said of apollonius of tayana that having heard a sparrow

twittering to a flock of its fellows he explained to his friends who were with him that The sparrow was telling the others that an asladan with corn had fallen by the city gate and the corn had been spilled on the ground in this way apollonius wished to pretend that he could understand the chattering of birds but such a thing is incredible yet we have daily evidence of the fact that beasts at any rate those of the same kind understand each other and paul free tried to prove this for when a fish has broken from the

net It warns the others of the danger so that no more fish of that sort will be caught that day petrus gregorius in his to republican 15 mentions this matter prudently adding that animals are incapable of true intelligence and conversation examples antonius bomfinius f in his histories three writes that about three years after the defeat of the emperor sigismund by the turks at turnover A number of people went to the battlefield and heard a voice from among the bones calling upon the names of jesus christ the savior and the virgin mary and a talking head

among the corpses seeing that there were men standing by said why do you stand so amazed oh men [Music] i am a christian who died in this battle unconfessed but mary our mother would not have me condemned to eternal Punishment and has granted me to keep my power of speech till now so that i may confess my sins and purge my soul with holy absolution i beg you then to bring me a priest to hear my confession and give me absolution [Music] when he was asked how he had earned so greater benefit from the virgin

he answered that he had been peculiarly devout to her during his life and had With great reverence observed her seven yearly feasts fasting religiously on bread and water there or a priest was brought from the next village who julie heard the confession and when the head had obtained remission and absolution for all its sins it at once and forever fell silent the devil who is the ape of god at times performs many false miracles of a similar nature which god permits in his Own avenging justice fleegan of trolls says that political itis married a locrian

woman and after having slept with her for three nights died on the third day leaving her pregnant the woman gave birth to an hermaphrodite monster which was brought before a council of the people to decide what it portended and what should be done about it and then the ghost of politus appeared in The midst of the people and foretold a massacre of the low anatolians and with the people powerless to interfere he took off the head of his monstrous son arne devoured him and vanished and afterwards the head also spoke of the same massacre the

same author quotes the following from antisthenes the peripatetic philosopher when the ccncs cecilius glabro conquered antioquelas king of asia the romans were Frightened by oracles from invading asia any further and the roman general publius moved as it is though white with a divine madness foretold that he would be devoured by a wolf which would leave his head and this had made a long speech for showing the coming defeat of the romans with the help of a demon a witch can easily vitiate a man organ so that while trying to speak he barks or howls or

clucks or nays for we have known many Such cases we read that in 1546 margarita a vesseling had pains in her belly and that it swelled to such a size as completely to hide her face being more than 10 palms in circumference those who stood about her bed heard the crowing of the clucking of hens the braying of asses the barking of dogs the bleating of sheep the grunting of pigs the lowing of oxen and the naying of horses then she voided from her side About 150 worms and serpents this was believed to be a

miracle but it was in truth only a devil's illusion created by the girl's mother for the sake of gain chapter 15 whether the devil can make men insensible to torture argument dealing with the question whether the devil can render incention that which is naturally sensitive so that for example A man should feel no pain when put to torture iamblichus de mister egypt writes that many heathen seers have been thrown into the fire and have either not been burned or have not felt their burning or any other tortures and he says that this is due to

some god who drives back the flames or nullifies the other tortures and what is this god of the sorcerer ayambicha's beef cacao demon miracles What are those seers but witches in our own day there are impeach soldiers who think that they are invulnerable if their armor is charmed with a certain spell or if they have the hardy hood to commit the sacrilege of piercing threatening or breaking the image of the crucifix so baptista kodranchief demorbis eunephysis 3 12 tells that they wear a shirt inscribed with a terrible and most horrid character which they call the

Shirt of hell or else they wear trinkets engraved with various magic signs or they make use of prayers which the sorceress blasphemously and falsely ascribed to us leo or charlemagne invoking the mighty names of god so does the devil delude his own as may be seen from the examples examples martin del rio dm [Music] I 21 tells that he knew a certain law student named kirino a bachelor of law who relying upon such a charm boldly mingled in brawls and fights and though often struck was never wounded at last in 1572 or 1573 he was

killed at a drinking bout in rome through some trifling wound the following example is similar nida writes in his formicarius that in the district of bernar was a notorious which named scavias He dared to boast publicly that whenever he wished he could change himself into a mouse in the sight of all his rivals and so he is said to have often escaped from the hands of his mortal enemies when it was the will of divine justice to make an end of his wickedness his enemies stole upon him as he was sitting in a warm bath

by the window suspecting no attack and suddenly struck him through the window with swords and spears so that he perished miserably for His crimes it is a common matter for witches to escape the torture of the rack for they overcome all the pain by laughter or sleep or silence lois chirandes le carrenth in his antichristian masked i tells a wonderful story of this sort as follows he knew a woman of 50 who endured boiling fat poured over her whole body and severe racking of all her limbs without feeling anything For she was taken from the

rack free from any sense of pain whole and uninjured except that her great toe which had been torn off during her questioning was not restored but this did not hinder or hurt her at all after she had undergone every torture and had obstinately denied all her crimes she cut her throat in prison so the devil having accused her of witchcraft through the mouth of a possessed woman killed her Near amiens in 1599 a girl which was imprisoned who felt nothing when her feet were cruelly burned or when she was heavily scourged until at the suggestion

of a priest they hung about her neck a waxen image of the blessed lamb then by virtue of the sacred amulet the whiles and guile of the devil were defatted and she began to feel the force of pain therefore it is clear that this indifference to torture which even Tostado in genes him 13 recognizes springs from no physical cause that is due to the devil's work remy i five tells the following [Music] when isabella pardia was seized for witchcraft at a panel on the the sixth of may 1588 and had shown the magistrate apart of

her body branded by the devil it occurred to the magistrate to test the truth of this alleged insensitiveness to pain So ie ordered a pin to be thrust and pressed deeply into her and this was doula in the presence of sufficient witnesses and no blood flowed from the wound and the witch gave not the least sign of pain at brindassai in november 1590 when claudia begatta was about to be tortured she was closely shaved as the custom is and so a scar was exposed on the top of her bare brow the inquisitor then suspecting the

truth Namely that it was a mark made by the devil's claw which had before been hidden by her hair ordered a pin to be thrust deep into it and when this was done she neither felt any pain nor did so much as a drop of blood come from the wound yet she persisted in denying the truth saying that her insensitiveness was caused by an old blow from a stone but when she was brought to the torture she not only acknowledged that the scar Had been given her by the devil but confessed to many other abominable

crimes which she had committed in june 1591 at iec a village a mile distant from brindassai the judge ordered a gala to search magetta who was charged with witchcraft the gala therefore stripped her to see if he could find any devil's mark and at last found on her left thy a mark like a shell into this he thrust his weapon with all His force but magetta uttered no cry nor could he get one drop of blood from the wound but when he lightly pricked the place next to the mark she roared aloud in pain and

much blood flowed from it chapter 16 whether by witchcraft and devils work the sexes can be interchanged argument cornelius gemma inquires into the mutation of the feminine into the masculine sex and the masculine into the Feminine which is admitted by modern physicians to be natural we read of many women who have become men hippocrates writes that at abdirafichula the wife of pythius had borne him children but when her husband was sent into exile after a few months her menstrual courses ceased and she was smitten with terrible pains all over her body and acquired the physical

features of a man He says that the same thing happened to anamizia the wife of gorjipus at faiso's livy tells the same story in book 24 despolitana muglier pliny says that it is no fable that women are changed into men martin del rio uses the following words quoting from pliny historian naturalist seven for i myself saw in africa l cassius a tistritanian citizen changed into a man on his wedding day s t Augustine mentions heathen records of women becoming men and of hence being changed into the masculine sex not however by witchcraft but naturally for

witches cannot actually do this thing but only in appearance to deceive us by casting a glamour over our senses with the help of the devil as we have shown elsewhere examples giovanni pontenov hissed tells that at gator a woman changed into A man after having been married for 14 years to a fisherman and another named emilia after having been for 12 years the wife of antonio spencer a citizen of eboli dissolved her marriage married a wife and begot children he speaks also of another woman who had borne one son to her husband and suddenly assumed

virility left her husband and married a woman who bore children to her coccia sibelicus has some similar Stories which i shall emit and will set down two instances which occurred in spain in our own time and were faithfully described by antonio de terracremeter in his jar dander last floor as curiosas in the town of isgaera in portugal about nine leagues from coinbra there lived a nobleman who had a daughter named maria pacheco when this girl was at the age when a woman's monthly courses usually begin Instead of a fluid excretion there broke or otherwise grew

from those parts of viral member and so from being a girl she suddenly became a pubic young man endowed with virility and assumed the name of manuel pacheco he then took ship for india and endured much hardship and performed great deeds as a soldier returning to his country he married a noble wife yet amethyst the portuguese writing in his centuries makes no mention of any children But says that he remained unbearded and with a feminine cast of countenance these being indications of imperfect virility finally talk nada adds that he heard this from a most trustworthy

friend of great authority not far from beneventana in spain the wife of a farmer cf moderate fortune was ill-treated by her husband because she was barren weary of such bad treatment she ran away One night dressed as a manservant and in this guys went from place to place earning her living by menial work after some time either because of the efficacy of her natural heat or through imagination in used and strengthened by her continuous masculine clothing and work she found that she had actually turned into a man therefore she who had long been a wife

determined to act the husband and consummated her marriage with a woman The secret was kept for a long time sir dot ee she did not dare to tell it to anyone until a certain man who had been very well known to her noticed that she was in face very like that farmer's wife who had run away he asked if he were her brother whereupon she told him the whole story as it happened and so it came surprised face light baptista fragoso j exemplarum i six writes as follows At naples in the reign of ferdinand eye

ludovico guana a citizen of saleno had five daughters the two youngest of whom were named francesca and corolla when these two girls reached the age of 15 the genital parts of both of the ends sprouted into masculinity so that they changed their clothes and were taken for men being called francesco anc carollo at a bowling in the same region a girl had been betrothed for four years On the first night of her marriage she went to bed with her husband but either owing to the friction or to some other unknown cause when the hymen which

gave her tea the appearance of a woman was broken a male organ stood out she then went home and sued in the courts for a return of her dowry and was thereafter reckoned as a man fleegan writes a virgin-born smyrna named philotis was on reaching maturity given by her parents in marriage to a Man but a masculine organ appeared and she changed into a man also in laodicea in syria a woman named ita was changed into a man while in the very act with her husband etitus this was when macronus was governor of athens and

lucius lamia and elianus were consuls at rome michel de montaigne says that in his time there was admiring a girl named maria who as she was dancing rather vigorously Was suddenly made a man by the sprouting of male organs and was given in the sacrament of confirmation by the bishop of soy since the name of german by which she began to be known beard grew upon her chin and she lived long even to a decrepit old age but never married a wife if this can come about naturally as so many authors maintain i should think

that with god's Permission it is possible to the devil relying upon natural causes chapter 17 whether the spirits of the dead can appear to men argument all the faithful of christ are agreed that through the power and might of god the souls of the departed can and do at times appear to the living for we read that christ appeared to us peter when the apostle was fleeing from Persecution and said that he was going to rome to be crucified again our holy father ambrose bears witness to the appearance of spirit in his contra auxincum de

bacillusistradendes dionisius the areopagite writes that jesus appeared with a great company of angels and blamed him for his harshness in seeking to punish the sins of his brother and seducer s t justin mata testifies that the souls of The dead return and at times appear maintaining that the spirit of samuel was actually called up tertullian supports this view in the following words but if the divine power has recalled the souls of some to their bodies to witness to his truth we must not on that account give credence to the claims of witches to elusive dreams

autopoetic fables origen speaks as follows in refutation of celsius the wicked spirit which is Bound to the earth by horrid crimes so that it may not aspire to heaven goes wandering about the earth haunting graveyards and in such places shadowy ghosts are most often seen dwelling upon this earth and it is to be thought that of such sort are the spirits of those in every age who have been snared and bound in witchcraft and in the time of origen the blessed patamina ap paired to the Murderer.basilides and converted him to the faith as we are

told by eusebius and by origen himself contra celsum bk i s gregory of nissa in his most authoritative life of s gregory the thormaturge writes that the blessed virgin mary in s john the evangelist appeared to him see also s Cyprian de uzianaibus nocturneys epist 12 and 69 where he argues against those who despise such visions s ambrose in sermon go says that while her family were watching by the tomb of s agnes one night she appeared to them and said do not mourn for me as dead my kinsmen etc in the year of our

lord 300 christ appeared to us peter of alexandria in the form of a boy Asking for his robe which had been torn by aryas suryas tom 6 the 15th of november see also pope adrian i epist tom 2 decret it's synod 7. conceal nicene two act two s gregory of tools apart laurentium tom six 12 tk december s Gregory of neocesaria in aeration de nicina sonodo nicephuras 8 23 s basil de ureoginitate paulo post-medium ns gregory of nazianzus in narration in lordum caesarea in the year 400 the death of s martin was made known to

us severey nus and s ambrose when they were absent from him this is told also by us gregory of tours in his book on the Miracles of s martin and in his book on the glory of the confessors we have the authority of s augustine that ss javasis and protagous appeared to us ambrose and told him where their bodies were lying about the year 429 the blessed virgin mary with us john the baptist and s john the evangelist appeared to abbot Siriakis and said that she would not enter his cell because unknown to him there

were in it two books by the heretic nestorius written against the blessed virgin mary there is the signal authority of s jerome which at one blows silences all the heretics who say that the spirits are all held imprisoned until the day of judgment these rs jerome's own words thou sayest that the Souls of the apostles and martyrs abide in abraham's bosom or in the outer cold or under the altar of god and that they cannot appear at their tombs or wherever they wish for they are foreseeth of senatorial dignity and are shut not in a

foul prison together with murderers but in free and honorable keeping in the islands of the blessed and the elysian fields wilt thou make laws for god wilt thou put chains upon the apostles So that they should be held in bondage up to the day of judgment and not be with their lord of whom it is written that they follow the lamb wherever he goes they therefore who are with the lamb must be believed to go everywhere if the lamb goes everywhere and can the devdel and his demons wander all over the earth and with great

speed appear in every place while the murders after their blood has been shed Are shut down in a box and cannot come out from it so says s jerome a juices vigilantium but we must understand that such apparitions are not the ordinary rule but occur in accordance with the special and singular permission of god s augustine de cara agenda c thirteen wrote about his mother in words Which oh you opponents have scandalously twisted against us as follows if the souls of the dead were concerned with the affairs of the living i am sure that my

mother to say nothing of any others would not fail to visit me every night elsewhere he speaks openly about that exceptional permission saying in chapter 15 that it is no common or ordinary thing for the souls of the dead to appear to the living but That the appearance of samuel and moses in the scriptures proves that they can do so to conclude shortly there is unlimited authority on th's matter therefore that i may not t e tedious i will only quote the authority of sir time theologians such as richard de middleton peter of pollute j

4 distinct 45 q 3 scotus quest 1 art 4 denies the carthusian compendium theologicum four distinct forty-five seven i and in his work on the four last things and in his book inscribed to the novices of his order dominic soto and peltanas in their several treatises de purgatorio cap 5. s peter carnis is.j4 and gregory of valencia sj in the third part of his comment tari Theological distinction 6 9 and 11.1 deposit eleven quest one part one and very many others let us now turn to some examples examples socrates and roofiness record that s spyridian

had a daughter named irene who having well ministered to him died a virgin after her death there came a man who said that he had given her something to Keep for him the father knew nothing about it but searched the whole house without finding what the man wanted but he insisted and said with tears that he would lose his life unless he recovered the thing the old man was touched by his tears and went to his daughter's tomb and called her by name then she said from the tomb what do you wish father He answered

where did you put that thing which this man gave you to keep she indicated the place saying if you dig there you will find it he went home and found it just as his daughter had said and gave the thing to the man if she could speak could she not also appear certainly she could hear also how the dead subscribed to the council of nakia Gregory of neoceria records the following marvel writing of the council of nikea two holy bishops chrysanthus and muzonius happened by god's will to die before they had appended their signatures to

the council's decisions so the holy fathers met together at the last resting place of the two who had gone before and when they were where they could be heard they said brethren and fathers you have fought a noble Fight with us and have run your course and kept your faith if therefore in the light of your clearer knowledge you judge that our decisions are pleasing to god let there be nothing to prevent you also from adding your signatures saying this and leaving there the signed decisions of the holy fathers they passed all that night in

prayer and on the next day when they came there they found added to their own signatures Those of the two holy fathers in the following words we chrysanthus and mizonius who sat with all the fathers in the first holy ecumenical council although we are translated in body with our hands we agreed to and sign this document from this it is clear that with god's permission the souls of the dead can return to us blessed paul the deacon not s paul of nola says in his life of s Ambrose on the day of his death the

letter was received from the east by his venna abel successor simpliciones written by s ambrose as if you were still living and this letter is still preserved in a monastery at milan he appeared to certain saintly men praying with them and laying his hands upon them and we found that the letter bore the same date as that of his death and in tuscany at florence where the Good zenobius is now bishop because he had promised that he would often visit them he was seen praying at the altar in the ambrosian basilica which had been built

there by him as we learn from zenobius himself when radar guys the ostrogoth was besieging florence and the citizens were in despair he appeared to someone in the house where eugenius lay sick and promised that they would be relieved in two days and at this the citizens took Heart and on the second day count stiliko came with an army and defeated the enemy the following we learned from pan sophia a religious woman who was mother of the boy pansophius when massazelle was in despair for his own safety and that of his army which he was

leading against gildo s ambrose appeared to him in a vision at night holding a stick and when massizel cast himself at the saints feet the old Man struck the ground with his stick and said here here here pointing out the place and giving the man who had been deemed worthy of the visitation to understand that in the same place where he had seen the saint he would in three days gain the victory and so he brought his war to a prosperous conclusion but we who are dwellers in milan know these things on the authority of

Massachusetts himself for in this our province he related this matter to many priests and therefore we have set it down in our book with the greater confidence further we received at milan with the greatest reverence thai relics of the martyrs cecinius and alexandrinus who in our time after the death of us ambrose gained the martyr's crown in the parts of a narnia through the persecution of the heathen And we know that on that day t yerry came a blind man who touched the coffin in which the relics of the saints were being carried and received

his sight for in a dream he had seen a ship coming to the shore with a number of men clothed in white and as they came to the shore he prayed one of them to tell him who the why were and was told that they were s ambrose and his companions fearing this name he prayed that he Might receive his sight and was told tai the man go to milan to my brethren who will come there on such a day and you shall receive your sight for the blind man was as he said himself from

the coast of dalmatia and had never been to the city before he came straight to the holy relics although he was yet blind and when he had touched them began to see constantius presbyter in his life of s german of augusta chapter 17 writes as Follows the saint was fearlessly abiding in a ghost haunted house when suddenly there appeared before the master of the house a terrible shade which slowly raised itself before his eyes and the stone walls were hidden by a cloud in terror the man begged for the priest's protection and the saint ran

forward and saw a fearful apparition he first invoked the name of christ and then asked who he was and what he did there The specter at once put off its empty frightfulness and answered humbly as a suppliant that he and his companion had been guilty of many crimes and lay unburied and therefore they haunted men because they themselves could not rest quiet and he asked him to pray god for them that they might be granted rest the saint was grieved at this and asked to be shown the place where they lay and the ghost went

before them and by the Light of a wax taper at dead of night among ruins most difficult of access showed them the place where they had been thrown when it was light he called upon the neighbors and urged them both by word and his own example and they threw aside all the rubbish and searched the place with rakes and at last found the bodies lying quite disordered with the bones still bound in chains He directed a grave to be dug freed the bodies from their chains and clothed them in shrouds and buried them decently in

the ground uttering a prayer of intercession over them and so the dead found rest after that day the house was happily inhabited without any sign of haunting every faith may be placed in the following history of sinesius bishop of cyren and the philosopher of agrius Which is preserved by safronius asterisk from leontius sinesius try diligently to convert ivagrius to christianity but he objected that he could only regard as fables the christian doctrine of the resurrection of the body and the teaching that arms giving would be rewarded a hundred fold after this life at last however

by sparing no effort the bishop persuaded him to Become a christian and to be baptized together with his children not long after his baptism he gave the bishop 300 pieces of gold for the use of the poor saying take this gold and distribute it to the poor and give me a written undertaking that christ will restore it to me in the next life 55 he took the gold and at once gave him the undertaking required the philosopher lived for some years after his baptism and at last fell sick To death when he was near his

end he said to his sons when you arrange for my funeral put the paper in my hand and bury it with me when he was dead they did as he had asked and buried the paper with him on the third day after his burial he appeared to the bishop as he was sleeping at night and said come to the tomb where i lie and take your paper for i have received my debt and am satisfied and to convince you of this i have Signed it with my own hand 55 now the bishop did not know

that they had buried that paper in the morning he went to the sons and asked did you place anything in the grave with your father they thinking that he was asking about money said nothing lord except the customary garments what did you not bury a certain paper with him then the sons remembered and said Certainly lord for when he was dying he gave us a paper and said when you bury me place this paper in my hand but we did not know what it contained then the bishop told them his dream which he had seen

in the night and taking them with the clergy and elders of the city to the philosopher's grave they opened it and found the philosopher lying holding in his hand a paper written in the bishop's writing they took it from his hand and opened it And found newly written in the philosoph fairs handwriting the following words i ivagrius the philosopher to thee sinesius the most reverend lord bishop greeting i have received the debt stated by you in this letter and am satisfied and i have no legal claim against you for the gold which i gave to

you and through you to christ our lord and savior hugh etherianis relates the same story in history animal a b inverse 16 hugh Therianis relates how the abbott meaners told that he heard s eulogist of alexandria say as follows when i had set out for constantinople i was lodging with master gregory archdeacon of rome and a famous man who told me the following concerning the most holy and blessed pope leo he said that pope leo had written in the church at rome a letter to s flavian bishop of constantinople against the heretic sutishes and nestorius

and That he laced the letter upon the tomb of peter the first of the apostles and devoted himself to prayers and vigils and fasts beseeching the mighty apostle as follows if i being but a man have put anything in this letter ill-advisedly do thou to whom this church and see were committed by our lord and savior jesus christ amend it after four days the apostle appeared to him and said i have read and amended it then he took the letter from s Peter sepulcher and on opening it found it amended by the apostles hand theodore

the holy bishop of dorner in libya told us as follows when i was lodging with the holy father eulogist i saw in a dream a man in the habit of a monk and a huge stature who said to me announce my arrival to eulogious i said who are you who tell me to announce you he answered i am leo the pope of Rome 55 so i went and told him saying the most holy and blessed pope leo bishop of rome desires you to come to him 55 hearing this father eulogies quickly arose and ran to

him and they saluted each other and having prayed sat down together then the exalted lord leo said to us eulogists do you know why i have come to you 55 and when he said no 55 he told him to Thank you for your just an eloquent defense of my letter which i wired to my brother flavian patriarch of constantinople expounding its sense and meaning and closing the mouths of heretics for know my brother that your holy zeal and labour were not for me only but also for us peter the chief of the apostles and for

him whose truth we all preach namely christ our lord I saw this vision not once only but twice and three times and so being assured of its truth i told it to s eulogists about the year 587 a vision of this sort appeared to king guntram about chil parrik that terrible tyrant of the franks and the king related it as follows to us gregory of tours and i saw another vision which all told the death of this Man for he was led before me in chains by three bishops the first of whom was tetricus the

second agricola and the third nicetis of lions two of these bishops were saying loose him i beg in scourge him and let him go 5bu the third bishop answered them bitterly not so but he shall be burned in the fire for his crimes five while they were disputing together at great lakes i saw at a distance a Bronze vest l set on a fire and glowing fiercely then as i wept they seized chilparic and broke his limbs and threw him into the pot where he was soon dissolved by the flames so that no trace remained

of him in the year 600 the most blessed gregory the first pope of rome and doctor of the church tells dialogue 4 17 the following of s musa one night there appeared to her in a Vision the blessed mother of god the virgin mary together with some maidens of her own age clothed in white she wished to mingle with these but dared not but she heard the voice of the blessed virgin mary ask if she wished to be of their company and live in her service the girls said that she did and was at once

ordered to behave in no foolish or girlish manner and to abstain from laughter and joking for she must know That on the 30th day from then she would enter her service with those other virgins this was after his death deputed to the heat of the hot rooms where he was compelled to attend carefully upon the bathers he had performed this duty to a priest of sivitavecchia more than once when in charity the priest gave him two pieces of blessed bread but he weeping and lamenting said why do You give me this father this bread is

holy and i cannot eat it for i whom you see was once the master of this place but for my sins i was deputed after my death to serve here if however you wish to help me offer this bread for me to almighty god and intercede for my sins and you will know that you have been heard when you come here and do not find me saying this he disappeared and so showed that although he seemed to be a man he Was a spirit in the year 1139 alfonso king of portugal when about to join

battle with five saracen kings was told by christ in a dream to be of good heart and to use in the battleless standard on which the five wounds were depicted he won a notable victory which was the foundation of the glory of the kingdom of portugal fourteen years later alfonso king of castile was besieging bazer when s Isidor appeared to him and advised him to make an assault which resulted in one of the most remarkable victories ever won a very wonderful thing is told as an eyewitness by bishop constantine concerning the translation of the relics

of s euphemia the mata in order to put a stop to her marvellous miracles leo ilch the assorian secretly removed the martyrs relics putting dry Bones in their place and throwing into the see the true relics in their coffin some sailors chanced upon this coffin knowing nothing about it and thinking some treasure was hidden in it they took it and opened it but by the miraculous scent which came from it they knew that they were holy relics while they were still ignorant of whose they were on the same night they saw lights and candles and

men wondrously Chanting and praising god and when they had reached levinum and had gone to sleep in the quiet of the night they saw glycerius the martyr come to euphemia the virgin and embrace and kiss her congratulating her on her arrival and so they knew whose relics they were three times they sailed from that place and three times the winds drove them back again at last s Euphemia came to them in a dream and told them what would happen saying that she wished to remain in that place from which she had been cast into the

sea by the impeach leo in the year 800 remiso eye king of spain fought fiercely all day with a mighty host of saracens towards night he retired to a hill with a small band of his followers as he was watching and praying to god s james appeared to him and commanded that They should all purge themselves by confession and take the uterus and then give battle [Music] in the morning when they had all obeyed the divine warning they advanced their standards and slew 60 000 of the enemy in that battle the apostle was seen riding

on a white horse bearing a snow white banner with a red transverse cross upon it this is told by bishop roderick in his Chronicum generate alfonsi regis and by mariana tbk seven thirteen in the year 1117 amorg other prodigies which were appalling italy an infant was lying in its cradle at cremona wrapped in clouts and contrary to all nature opened its mouth and began to speak calling from her bodily cares its mother as she was preparing food for its elder brother who was crying for something to ease the babe said that it had seen mary

The mother of god standing before thj judgment seat of christ interceding with him with the most earnest prayers for the doom which was coming upon the world because of its sins after this it ceased to speak until the actual time for a child to begin tailing this is told by dodecanus in his history fragoso exemplarum 9 12 tells the following since udo bishop of magdeburg would not Law any sign and warnings from god keep himself from impedicity certain religious men prayed god either to correct or to remove the bishop one night as one of these

cannon freder ck was so praying in the cathedral of s maurice all the lights of the church was suddenly put out by a violent gust of wind and soon afterwards two young men came bearing lighted wax candles and following them came christ with his morthar and the apostles calling upon Him holy men whose bones were resting in the church among these cameras maurice who spoke gravely and at length in denunciation of bishop udo soon afterwards christ passed sentence that udo should be brought there naked by two of them the bishop struggled and one of those

who were fetching him struck him i dot i the belly and he vomited into the chalice upon the altar the host which i He had taken the day before in command iron pluto was struck down with an axe and then all that vision vanishes frederick was greatly frightened and went up to the altar where he saw the chalice with the host in it and the dead body of the bishop lying on the ground he then roused the other religious men who took the bishop's body away and buried it in a field two rich merchants of

no mean birth were Entering france by the mourne jenny's pass when they met a man of more than human stature who ordered them as follows speak to my brother lodovico's forza and give him this letter in my name as they stood wondering who he was he told them that he was galizo schwarzer and soon vanished from them they had once returned to milan and thenced to vegeno where the moore lived they delivered the duke's letter which Was written in these terms oh oh oh lodovico beware for the venetians and french are about to come against

you and destroy your dukedom but if you will give me three 000 pieces of gold i will help you to conciliate the spirits and avert your evil fate and this i hope to do if you do not oppose me farewell [Music] The signature was the spirit of your brother galizzo and though some may laugh at this thing yet it is true that not long afterwards the duke was thrust from his dukedom by louis xii king of france and was led away captive bernard devals testifies that he was an eyewitness of this the father of lodovico

alidosai the lord of imola not long after he died appeared like one on horseback with a hawk to a Man secretly sent by his son lodovico to ferrara as he went on his way and told him to tell his son to meet him in that place on the next day for he had a matter of great importance to say to him when lodovico heard this both because he did not believe it and because he feared a trap he sent another in his place to whom the same shade appeared and bitterly grieved that his son had

not come for he said that he had been going To tell him much more but that now he would only say that after 22 years and one month on a specified day he would lose the lordship of the city that he then enjoyed when the time predicted by the shade had come although the greatest precautions were taken on the night indicated by his father's spirit the confederate army of duke philip of milan set up ladders since the moats were frozen over and captured the town and its prince This is from mark antonio coxias cebelicus francesco

gucardini says that there was a popular rumor that the spirit of ferdinand king of naples appeared on three different nights to jacapo the surgeon of his son king alfonso and first with mild and gentle words but afterwards with threats and commands had ordered him to acquaint alfonso that he must not buy himself with a vain hope of withstanding the french power for it Was written in the book of destiny that the house of aragon must be subject to untold misfortunes and finally be cast out from the kingdom the venn cesaire baronio relates that michelle mccartis

the elder was bound by a strong friendship to marcelio fasino by reason of their common interest in platonic philosophy they happened one day to be discussing as they frequently did plato's theory of The survival of the human soul after death and not without reverential or they decided that his open arms could not stand without the support of the christian faith a record is extant of that argument in a learned letter concerning god and the immortality of the soul written by marcilio to michelle mccartis when they had argued this matter for a long time they concluded

it in the following manner they joined hands and Agreed that whichever of them died first should if you were permitted reassure the other concerning the next life having sworn this together they parted not long afterwards it happened that as michelle was engaged in philosophical speculations at high morning he suddenly heard the sound of a horse galloping and stopping in front of his house in the voice of marsilio crying michelle michelle is it true is it true marveling at the spirit voice Michelle rose and opened the window and saw him whom he had heard riding away

upon a white horse he cried after him marcilio marcilio and watched until he disappeared from the view wondering at this strange occurrence and feeling anxious about marcilio he went to seek for him at florence where he was living when he died and found that he had died At the seymour that he had heard and seen him not many years ago when el sandro for farnese i was conducting him admirable siege of antwerp the highlanders in english made a fierce onslaught upon him in order to relieve the besieged who at the same time made a sally

and having captured from the royal army their offensive works they seemed to have won safely than a few of the king's Soldiers saw standing by the works pedro de paz a spanish tribune famous as a soldier and for his piety who had died a few months before he was seen fully armed just as he used to lead his regiment and beckoning to his former soldiers he ordered them to follow him the front ranking courage and the second in there second the third and so on And they all saw the same thing and marveled and taking

courage followed their well-known leader he went in front and lead them straight against the enemy that battle was fought and hollanders were forced to retreat to their ships leaving the works to the royal army in that moment that impregnable town i lost all hope of victory or the defending itself this is confirmed by The evidence of many soldiers who are i witnessed of the event in the diocese and not far from the city of pavia we read that a horrible thing happened in april of the year 1601 at a town called carreto the funeral rights

of a certain notary were being performed in the church when suddenly the corpse rose up in its coffin and turning to one of the relatives who was attending the funeral said Go quickly to my house and take a certain written instrument and restore it to such a place where it justly belongs for because i suppressed this instrument when i died i was sentenced by god's judgment to the fires of hell [Music] having said this he laid his head down as before this was permitted by god that morals should know what heavy punishment awaits such dishonest

lawyers who Embezzle the lead just legacies of the pious in the year 1590 occurred the following event which is most worthy to be recorded it is taken from a collection of pervian letters and the writer is said to be franchiso benzio and by others you gospes patilla in a certain lady's house there was a native made about 16 who had been captured in war and had been baptized in The name of katherine as she grew older she developed a sad freedom and dislikeness of behavior and frequently had to be scolded and punished by her mistress

at least she became so wicked that she associated secretly with certain lost souls yes she did not neglect confusion although she kept silent as to this sin lest she should be thought of a harlot lost of all shame on august 1st 1590 she fell ill and Summoned a priest to whom she opened the sins upon her soul but not holy further the priest came and went away from her nine times during that same sickness she laughed contemptuously and said to the other service that she had committed another thing which she would not confess among her

sins and she added such filthy and obscene words that the others were offended and Went and told all this to their mistress the lady shouldered catherine as she deserved and then with gentle looks and kind words asked her what were those sins which she would not confess to the father she may know difficulty about answering and said that as often as she summoned the father in her sickness in order to purge herself with confession there stood at her left hand one like in ethiopian who told her not to confess because they were very little sense

of No importance and if she confessed them to the father would only think her to be more dissolute well on her right hand it appears saint mary magdalene urging her to get to rid herself of whatever send it was so the father was summoned again and the lady told him how matters of were and he tried by every means to induce her to make a full confession but in vain for the more he urged her the more obstinate she became so that she would not even Under the name of jesus another time when they offered

her a crucifix that she might look upon it and consider in her soul that christ was crucified for us she answered with the greatest indignation and perturbation of spirit i know that but what would you have me do mistress said that you should turn to christ who will remit at your sins if you acknowledge them in confession To this catherine replied i beseech you to cease from troubling me and when her mistress had gone away she began to sing about her loves and her shame with and continued to do so for several days until one

night her mistress and some of the maidservants came to her and she broke out into these words i am in the greatest torture and anguish of spirit because of my violent Confession and from that are up to midnight her whole body became rigid so that the thought that she was dead and began to think about her burial but she came to ourself and the priest was called but she in no way changed her former behavior with regard to confession three hours later a little before she died the servants urged her to take in her hand

the cross and holy candle and To call upon the name of jesus but she said who is this jesus and do i not know him and she sat up on the end of the bed and was heard talking to someone else who was invisible and another servant who was lying sick in the same room urgently begged her mistress to move her to another room because she said she could see certain black demons which terrified her On the night that catherine died the house was full with such a fetid and puted stench that the corpse had

to be placed in the open air the lady's brother was dragged out of the bed by his arms a serving maid was struck on the shoulder by a stone and bore the mark for the blow for several days a most gentle horse went kicking its heels against the wall and rushing madly About all through the night and the dogs went running about and barking after the body was buried one of the maids entered the room where catherine had lied and through no one was there she felt a vessel which stood on the table hurled at

her and over the greater part of the town tiles and slates were seen to be held about with great uproar to a distance of two miles not that there are many tiles or slates in the suburbs of kalau as the Houses of that city are nearly all roofed with palm leaves another maid servant was in the sight of many people dragged for a long way by her foot although no one could be seen dragging her on the 7th of october when a serving maid went into the wardrobe to fetch a certain garment she saw catherine

standing stiff upon her feet and as she ran away the apparition took up a vessel and hurled it against the wall with such Violence that it was smashed into a thousand pieces the next day across was fixed upon the wardrobe door but it was torn down and rent in three pieces before their eyes the same day as the lady was dining in the garden a brick was hulled and overturned the whole dinner and at the same time her four year old son began to cry out mama mama catherine is suffocating me They then hung holy

relics about his neck and so delivered him from that pain these occurrences compelled the lady to change her house and she went and lodged with a kinswoman leaving her own house in charge of some servants on the 10th of the same month one of the servants went into the housekeeper's office and heard herself called three times by catherine and was so overcome with fear that the other servants urged her to call upon Our lord for help and to take a lighted holy candle and go back with two of the boldest of them this she did

safely and the dead woman then told her to send the others away and throw away her candle since it hurt her and to remain alone catherine sent out flames from all her joints with an incredible stench and was a fire from head to foot and was skirt with a blazing girdle eight or ten fingers wide the ends of which fell to The ground which seemed to be some punishment for her lust and acknowledged lewdness seeing this spectre the servant began to tremble and grow pale and the wretched corpse said to her come here how many

times have i called you the servant nearly dead replied good jesus who would not be terrified to see you when she had said this there came down to that place a most beautiful youth in White garments who told the servant to lay aside her fear and be of good courage and to take careful note of what she heard from catherine and spread it among the others and to expiate all her sins by confession as soon as she left that pace then catherine spoke as follows know that i am sent from hell and that i am

subjected to the most terrible punishment because when i went to confess my sins to the priest i Confessed only the least of them as that i was garrulous and talkative and prone to anger and such thing but was silent about my lusts and my habitual meetings with young men do you then learn to confess well and to keep no sin back i give you this warning because i am so commanded and am compelled to speak of thy matter as an example for others then the bell was heard ringing for the Angelus and the dead woman

quickly withdrew into a corner and vanished and the angel for such was that beautiful young man told the servant to go to her companions which she did we have set down this well at ist story because all the kinds of apparition are found in it angels s mary magdalene the devil in the form of an ethiopian and a damn spirit in an assumed body knot i think its own but one formed of air in the likeness of its Own body at naples about the year 1370 it happened in a dominican friary as brother antonio of

siena says in the chronic and fratron predicatorum that after he had completed his last duty of the day the friar whose task it was to look after the refectory entered it and found it filled with friars wearing hoods who were sitting down as if it was the alpha supper and they were expecting a meal [Music] he at once ran and told the prior of it but the prior thought he was mad or dreaming yet as he insisted went with him and saw and believed at this he also was perturbed and at once consulted with the

gravest and most prudent fathers of the house on their advice he put on sacred vestments and bearing the holy body of christ proceeded with all the brethren to the refectory and addressing him who Sat in the seat of honor adjured him to say who they were and for what they had come and urged him to answer in the name of that lord whom he bore in his hands when the prior appeared thus before them with the holy sacrament they all rose and bowed their heads but they kept their faces so hooded that they could not

be seen then they sat down and being commanded by the prior to answer his questions Nodded in agreement at last the chief among them said we formally belong to this same religious order and were for the most part masters priors superiors lectors or holders of other offices and he went on to say that they had all been judged to damnation because they had been guilty of ambition pride envy and many such mortal crimes but that by the mercy of god they had been commanded to come there to warn them and All of their order to

be content in their vocation for because they had thought too little of it they were all damned and were being burned in eternal flames and in sign of the truth of this let them all look upon them saying this they opened their hoods and each of them was seen to be surrounded by flames of fire then their leader struck the table as a signal and they all vanished and the Whole convent was mightily disturbed with fear in proof of this i will add another no less credible authority in the year 1599 at naples fra tiberio

a most holy man who was superior of the dominican house says that the following happened to him one night when he was going the rounds to see if the brethren were in bed as usual he went through the refectory and there saw many lights and heard the Voice of a man reading from a lectin and saw men serving finally he who sat in the chief place gave a signal upon the table and spoke as follows ambition and gluttony led us to hell and even now there is a scar upon the table as if it had

been burned blessed peter of clooney tells the following which he had from a spanish noble when king alfonso of aragon f succeeded to the kingdom of the greater King alfonso of spain at his death it happened that he was gathering an army against certain rebels in castile and issued an edict that each house of his kingdom should send so many horse or foot obeying this command i sent to the army one of my servants named sancho some days passed and when all who had been in that expedition were returned to their homes he also came

back but not long afterwards as is the way of men he Fell ill and died for months after his death while i was lying in bed near the fire in my winter house near estella the same sanctuary suddenly appeared to me at midnight i being still awake and sat down by the fire and stirred the coals so as to give more light or heat and so made it far easier for me to recognize him he was naked except for a slight covering upon his shameful parts When i saw him i said who are you he

humbly answered i am your servant sancho what are you doing here i am going to castile and a great army accompanies me on the road but we may do penance for our sins in the place where we sinned and why i asked have you turned aside here i have hope he said of pardon and if you will have pity on me you can obtain an Early arrest for me how when i was lately in the expedition you know of i was seduced by satan's wiles to enter a church with some companions and despoiled it of

its contents and stole away with the priestly vestments and on this account especially i am punished and with all my might i pray you as my master to help me for you can give me many spiritual benefits if you will Further i beg that you will ask my lady your wife not to delay in pain the eight soldier which she owed me for my service and to devote that money which she would have paid me for the needs of the flesh if i was still alive to the far greater needs of my soul by distributing

it amongst the poor taking more courage after this conversation i said what has happened to our fellow citizen peter deoka who lately died Tell me what you know of him he answered because of his frequent works of mercy and especially because of his gifts to the poor during the late famine he has earned the rest of the blessed and is a sharer in eternal life when i heard him answer so promptly and easily i added and do you know anything of our other fellow citizen benicio who died a little while since he is in hell

for when he was appointed To determine the boundaries of this town he gave many unjust decisions owing to having received bribes or favors and because he did not shrink from taking from a poor widow her only pig which was the sustenance of her life then being incited to ask greater things i said can you know anything of our king alfonzo who died a few years ago at this another voice spoke to me from a window near my head do not ask him this For he does not know it for he has but recently come among

us and has not yet been permitted to know this thing but i have been ian dead for five years and no more than he what you ask of the kin percent he cannot know i was astonished surprised face here this fresh voice and wishing to see him turn to the window and by the light of the moon which then lit up the whole court very clearly saw a man sitting on The sill of he window clothed just as the other was who are you i asked and he said i am his friend and i'm going

to castile with him and many others and you know as he said anything of king alfonso i know where he was but i do not know where he is for he was for a time terribly tortured in purgatory but was delivered from There by the monks of clooney and what has happened to him since i do not know saying this he addressed his friend who was sitting by the fire rise and let us now resume our journey for the army cfr companions fills all the roads to castile and we must join them at this sancho

arose and tearfully repeated his former request groaning master i implore you not to forget me and that you will persuade my lady or wife to restore in mercy for my soul What she owed to my body when he had said this they both at once vanished but i called my wife and aroused her as she lay by me in bed and before i told her what i had seen and heard asked her whether she owed anything to sancho our servant for his services she answered what i had never heard from any except the dead man

that she owed sancho eight soldie i could no longer doubt the truth since My wife had confirmed the dead man's story in the morning i took the eight soldier from my wife and myself adding what i thought suitable distributed the money among the poor for the soul of him who had appeared to me and had the priests say mass for him and spared no expense to obtain for him pardon of his sins in this clear certain and most edifying vision we are taught that men's deeds follow them in Death chapter 18 of apparitions of demons

or specters argument it must be known that there are many kinds of demons differing among themselves by fixed degrees the first kind is the fiery for they dwell in the upper air and will never sink to the lower regions until the day of judgment and these have no dealings on earth with men The second is the aerial for they dwell in the air about us these can descend to hell and by assuming bodies formed from the denser air can at times appear to men more often with the permission of god they disturb the air and

race thunders and tempests and they all conspire together for the ruin of the human race the third sword is terrestrial and we may not doubt that these were cast from heaven upon earth for their sins Some of these devils dwell in woods and forests and lay snares for hunters some dwell in the fields and lead nightfairs astray others dwell in hidden places and caverns while others delight to live in secret with men a fourth sort is of the water for they dwell under water in rivers and lakes and are full of roth turbulent unquiet and

fraudulent they raise up storms at sea sink ships in the deep and destroy life in the Waters when such demons appear they are more often women than men for they live in humid places and lead a softer manner of life but those which live in drier and harder places usually appear as men the fifth sword is subterranean for they live in caves and caverns in the mountains these demons are of the worst disposition and chiefly molest those who Dig pits or mines and look for treasure in the earth and they are ever ready to harm

the human race they cause earthquakes and winds and fires and shake the foundations of houses the sixth sort is called lucifigus because they chiefly abhor and detest the light and never appear by day nor can they assume a bodily form except at night this kind of demons is altogether Inscrutable and of a nature beyond human understanding being all dark within and shaken with icy passions malicious restless and perturbed and when they meet men at night they violently oppress them and with the permission of god often kill them by some breath or touch of this sort

perhaps was that asmodeus asterisk of whom we read in the story of tobias this kind of demons has no dealings with witches neither can they be kept away by Incantations for they shun the light and the voices of men and every sort of noise it is further to be noted that the demon manifests himself in many various forms of specters such as dogs cats goats oxen men women or a horned owl but that his deceptions may be made known to us almighty god will not allow him to appear in certain other forms such as doves

lambs or sheep for the true lamb is christ the good shepherd And the holy spirit is one to make his appearance in the form of a dove also because these animals are without guile and do no harm god does not permit him to appear in their form but because the human form is in all respects the most perfect and beautiful therefore he generally appears in that form to us four as marilee writes the human form is adapted to nearly every purpose examples A certain wagoner from nancy was in a fanny cops on the outskirts of

the town of nancy cutting wood when a fierce storm suddenly arose he made haste towards a cottage to find shelter and on the way rested under a thick wide spreading tree and waited for the storm to abate there he was surprised to see standing near him another woodman and when he looked at him more closely as we do when we meet a stranger He saw that his nose kept shooting out to the length of a stick and then quickly contracting to its former shape and size that his feet were cloven hooves and that his whole

body was of a moderate size he was struck nearly dead with sheer terror at this and then as is the christian custom in difficulties made the sign of the cross after which he found himself alone as before but he remained so stupefied by his Experience that though he was used to say that he could find his way about nancy blindfold now he could not do so even with the most diligent attention but came to that city with his tongue sticking and his eyes staring and so trembling all over that it was easy to believe what

he said hara happened [Music] this belief was largely borne out by the report of what some other woodmen had Seen at a distance for they said that it had appeared to them that in that place the air had become thick and wrapped in a dense cloud in the same chapter remy tells of a similar occurrence in 1588 one nicolas stephen had been commissioned by master desiderius the mayor salomon to buy some wine vessels for him and having done so he sent his wife jake better who was a witch time and again to ask for the

purchase money To be paid to him but in vain jacobetta grew tired of asking an angry so much waste of time and trouble and turned her whole attention to finding the means an occasion to punish desiderius for his tricks and subterfuges meanwhile it fell aptly enough that desiderius was forced by an outbreak of t e plague in his house to take refuge in the open fields and lived there away from his household in a heart And he was there with his only son there appeared to him late at night through the agency of jacobetta a

demon with so terrible a shrieking and groaning that it seemed as if the whole leaven had burst from its foundations and was falling upon his heart and that this was no faint terror maliciously assumed by desiderius as it was emptily rumored was afterwards proved by the fact that he and his son became so ill because of it that Everybody who saw them despaired of them the following happened within our own memory at cold beers a village six miles from tcul at the extreme end of the village where the road goes to southshore a peasant lived

in a humble cottage which was however as clean and neat as his means would allow and had our ever been rumored to be haunted by specters yet it became occupied byr a demon who was at first content with throwing Stones at night at the servants without hurting them but as they grew used to this they ignored it and treated it as a joke the demon could not tolerate this contempt so one dark night he set fire to the cottage which was quickly burned almost to the ground some days later i was traveling that way and

heard of this from the inhabitants so i went myself to see the ruins of the cottage so that i could tell the story To others more clearly and with the greater authority the spanish author antonio de terre crematore torquamada writes as follows in his native tongue and this is from his jardin de las flores curiosis at salamanca there was a matron whose house was popularly said to be haunted by stone throwing the mayor of the city was incited by this rumor to test for himself whether the persistent report concerning that House was true or whether

it was not rather invented by the servants in order to cover some naughty pranks of theirs for there were among them two young girls of no mean beauty and it was suspected that the whole of this story had been fabricated in order to facilitate their meetings with their lovers so the mayor went to the house at the time when the stoning was said to be most frequent and there went with him no Less than 20 of the townsmen some of whom he sent with the light to search the upper part of the house to see

who it was who threw stones at the servants they searched diligently everywhere and came back and said they had found nothing at all alarming he then decided to examine the sellers to which some steps led down from the dining room and to spend some time in a further search in that direction and lo Hardly had they reached the place before there was a great noise and stones began to be hurled at them and swept them off their legs but without harming them so they were sent again to see where this shower of stones came from

and although they found no one in the place the shower of stones kept falling this went far to confirm the opinion which many had formed that the phenomena were all due to devil's work and magic and this belief they more stoutly Maintained as the stones kept falling about their heads some of them there rushed from the house in terror but one of them feeling bolder at a safe distance took up and carefully noted the appearance of one particular stone and threw it into the house saying if this came from you oh demon throw the same

stone back at me and when this was at once done there was no more room for doubt that the house was haunted by demons as the Matron had said i remember when the plague was raging at toulouse about the year 1563 i was in orch spending the night gaming and playing in a manner fitting my age in leisure with my good friend master abel a member of the cathedral chapter and to all of us who were in the house a petulant demon of this sort manifested as we were playing no slight disturbance hurling stones roughly

here and there Although they fell to the ground without hurting anyone the room was locked from the inside and there was no furniture except the gaming table and the seats so that there was no place where any mechanical device could have been hidden in such ways do good and evil demons approach men with hatred terror hurt and injury so says remy as above quoted nida in his formicarius relates that When the kingdom of bohemia was shaken with tumults and massacres because of its heresies near a valley on the boundary of that country there were heard

shouts at night and the clashing together of horsemen who were often seen to be clothed in various colors there were two bold standard bearers in the camp not far from the valley of specters who determined to learn the whole truth and what these visions Portended so they went one night to the haunted valley and saw the usual specters but before they dared to come near to it one of them grew afraid and said to the other it is quite enough that we have seen these things at a distance i shall not go near to them

for it is an old saying that no one should joke with such matters the other called him a coward and spurred his horse forward and drew near To the whole ghostly amy whereupon one of them came and cut off his head and returned to his companions when the one who had loitered behind owing to his apprehensions saw this he took to flight and spread the news of this horror and the next day they found the headless body and the head in the valley where the armies had been seen but there was no trace of man

or horse and only the marks of some birds were seen in muddy Places nida adds another story worthy of belief which was told him by the bishop of mayans he said that he knew a soldier from the rhine whose son was still living where he heard this story he was remarkable for his intrepidity in warfare and because of his boldness and pugnacity others were often involved in quarrels on account of which he used frequently to ride by night to suitable Meeting places one night he was thus riding with his attendants and came into a wood

near the rhine but before coming out of the wood since a wide plane lay beyond it he sent one of his attendants as is the habit of those who suspect an ambush to discover if there were any lacking enemies lying in wait for him in the plane at the end of the wood was a clear moonlight and starlit night and he had no difficulty in seeing so The attendant spied through the branches of the trees and saw a wonderful army extending right across the plain and advancing on horseback and came back and told his master

he said let us stand still a little for it is likely that a rearguard will follow this army and we will ride up to those and inquire whether the main army are friends or enemies nor will we be afraid of a few men 55 after a short pause the soldier and His attendants came into the plane and found no one except one man riding a horse and leading another by the bridle the soldier went up to him and asked are you not my cook 55 for so it seemed to him at a distance that cook

had died a little before this and now answered am he master the soldier then asked what are you doing here and who are those who went before The dead man answered master they who went before are nobles and knights and he named many of them by name and they and i must this night be at jerusalem for that is our punishment the squire then asked what is the meaning of this horse which you lead without a rider that he said is for your use if you will come with me to the holy land be assured

by the chris ian faith that i shall bring you back alive and safe if You obey my words then said the soldier in my key i have done marvels and i will not shrink from adventure too and though his attendance tried to dissuade him he dismounted from his own horse and mounted that of the dead man and they both vanished from their sight on the next day as his attendants were waiting by the same place the soldier and the dead man returned to the place where they hack First met and the dead man said lest

you should think that this is not ling but a false phantasm i give you two rare things which you must keep in memory of me a small piece of cloth no fire can burn or scorch and a knife in a sheath the first when it is dirty you must clean in the flames the second you must handle with care for whoever is wounded by it is poisoned cromerus a diligent author tells the following Ratislawi king of poland was besieging dramberg a very strong city of pomerania one moonlight night the century saw a great host of

armed enemies riding over the open fields and attacking the polish lines and when this happened many times the poles became angry because they could never engage these enemies in hand-to-hand fighting so one night when this enemy army was announced to be at hand they charged furiously out of the camp troop after Troop and pursued the fleeing enemy for a long way in vain hearing this uproar in the polish camp and seeing their charge from the camp the besieged army made a sudden sortie and set fire to the military works and soldiers quarters with burning straw

and reeds and so since only a few had been left to guard the camp easily burned all the works in the greater part of the camp it is said that these were shadows of The night who with divine permission disturbed the poles in this way because in contempt of the usage and institutions of the catholic church they had dared on a former expedition to desecrate the solemn 40 days fast of all christians by the ungodly eating of flesh arid milk foods god sometimes permits such apparitions because of sin either as a trial for the righteous

or to announce plagues wars changes in kingdoms and such things as The following examples show on the night before the sedition avenge a huge woman of formidable appearance was seen beating a bronze shield so violently that the sound was heard all over the city gennadius patriarch of constantinople went one night to the altar to pray to god for the public safety when there appeared to him a horrible specter which on being conjured according to the sacred ritual of exorcism Said that as long as junaidius lived he was not allowed to inflict the injuries which were

threatening the church but that when he was dead he would rage terribly against it king of persia heard that on the boundary between persia and india in a strongly fortified place named there was a huge treasure of precious stones and gold and silver guarded by demons who kept all mortals from coming near he therefore set out with an army and Tried to take the place by storm but the demons fought fiercely and drove him off he then tried the arts of the jews and magicians but these were equally useless at last he was persuaded that

he could win his desire by the prayer of christians to god and asked help from a christian bishop living in persia this bishop ordered the christians to fast and with prayers performed the divine mysteries before the congregation and going to the place conjured the Demons living there and drove them out and with no trouble gave the fortress to cabades of this sort was that demon of basil which we have already mentioned felinion the daughter of demostratus and charito fell in love with their guest machats but since her parents refused to countenance this she died of

grief and was publicly buried six months after her death machats returned to that house and fellinion Entered to him and took supper with him and was entwined with him more than once that evening and machetz gave her an iron ring and a gold cup while she gave him a gold ring and a girdle now as her old nurse came to make sure that the guest lacked nothing she saw her charge lying in bed with him and joyfully told it to the girl's parents they ran up in astonishment and the next morning found them both and

with cries of joy embraced their daughter as she Lay sleeping with their guests but felinian looked at them with stern eyes and said are you cruel parents to your daughter did you then begrudge me three short days in my father's house with my machaps whether it be curiosity or cruelty on your part it will bring you great misfortune for you will renew your former grief and once more bury your daughter when she had said this she grew pale and Fell down like the dead corpse which she actually was and her parents were overcome with sorrow

when this matter became known to the people and the magistrate they ordered the tomb to be opened and found it empty of any corpse for there were in it only an iron ring and a gold cup the gifts of machats but the corpse of felinion was found in the bed in his bedroom and on the advice of a certain seer named hillis it was Cast out of the city as a prodigy to be devoured by the birds and beasts as for machaz when he saw that he had been mocked by a specter he would not

bear the ignominy of it and before long he laid violent hands upon himself such are the many false resurrections of the heathen and just as it is agreed that the devil has to do with witches in an assumed body either as incubus or succubus so also in this kind of spectre and nauseating channel smell is Perceived among the writings of the germans says remy i too there is a popular story of a certain auricus who received news of his wife's death and of the manner of her burial he at once returned home to see to

his domestic concerns and as he kept thinking of his wife during the night as is usual when anyone has a deep-seated desire for anything he saw her undressing herself as usual ready to Come to bed with him he made some effort to prevent her from doing this since he had been assured that she was dead but he was overborn by the sound of her voice and the sight of her body and allowed her to lie down with him and so he continued for some days until the potent v ords of an exorcist drove away the

demon who had inhabited the corpse in order to delude and if he could destroy the husband And certainly this could not have been done if the body had been informed with its downed proper soul but just as the law has power to eject in usurper so let no one who knows the power of adorations and exorcisms wonder that the demon can be cast out from his insidious occupation of a dead body filler stratus in the life of apollonius of tayana for xxv records that a similar thing once happened to manipus the disciple of demetrius the

genic He was going from corinth to century when he met a graceful and apparently rich foreign girl who said that she was seized with love for him and familially invited him to turn aside into her house since he and his tan was taken with love for her he lay with her many times and began to think of marrying her for she had a house deck like a king's palace but as soon as apollonius looked at the house he cried out that she was a lamia who would soon either entirely devour Him or bring some terrible

injury upon him thomas of brabant in his dibono universali 2 57 relates the following history in gnapp a sober and noted town of brabant a certain young man loved a girl who was a virgin and spoke to her parents with a view to marrying her but they refused in the middle of the night the girl fell into an acute fever and grew so ill that They all thought she was dead and they mourned and told the bell as if for the dead the young man her lover was going that evening from that town to another

and as he was going by a thicket he heard the sound of a woman weeping he anxiously ran up and seeking for the woman he had heard found the girl whom he thought to be dead and said to her your parents are mourning you as dead whence have you come here See she cried the man going before me who led me away the young man was astonished at this since he saw no one except the girl and he boldly caught her up and hit her in a house outside the town returning to the town he

spoke to his friends and then went to the girl's father as he sat with his friends at the funeral feast and asked him if he would give him his daughter whom he was mourning as dead The father answered in surprise are you god to raise up and wed the dead but the young man said only promise me that i shall have your daughter as my wife if i bring her back alive and safe to this the father agreed and confirmed his promise in presence of them all the young man then raised the shroud which hid

the body and they found an image so wonderful that it could have been the work of no man for they who have seen such images made By the devil say that they are like rotten wood inside but are covered outside with a delicate skin after this the girl was brought back safe and sound to her father and a few days later married the young man and lived safely right up to our own times an old author tells in the life of us robert the abbot that one night the holy man saw a foul demon standing

at the entrance of the choir and repeatedly trying to enter but in vain He had the form of a peasant in a rough smock with long bare legs carrying a basket on his back and a piece of wood slung in front of him and he kept going about the choir with his neck stretched out looking attentively at the brothers to see whether he could find in any of them equality favorable to himself the man of god prayed earnestly and roused the brothers from their tulpa and when the wicked spy had waited a long Time in

vain and saw that he was meeting with no success he mocked the sleepy brothers with bitter laughter and leaping about with extraordinary agility applauded them whenever their thoughts were turning to evil at last he found among them a young brother whose thoughts kept wandering upon forbidden things his body only being present in that place for he was even meditating a secret flight seeing that this man was right for his Purpose the devil seized him with his pitchfork and thrust him into his basket and quickly ran away with him perceiving this the holy man was in

great anxiety for that brother's safety and diligently sought for him in the morning but he had escaped before the dawn and had become an outcast throwing off the easy oak of christ and following the enemy for he joined himself with the worst criminals and gave himself up to Brigandage and was not long afterwards captured and miserably punished with death ranul ranulfiden the author of the polychronicon writes that count richard went one night alone into the church to pray and found there a coffin with a corpse in it while the count was praying the corpse burst

from its shroud with a great cry and rushed with arms outstretched as if to embrace him The count made the sign of the cross on his brow and having a jawed it in vain to depart drew his sword and cut it in two and he then ordered that the office for the dead with requiem masses should be solemnly sung throughout the whole land more wonderful than any is the following taken from the description of muscovy by guanines he writes that certain inhabitants of the livonian district of russia die Every year on the 27th of november

on account of the intense cold just like swallows and frogs and on the 24th of april in the next spring they come to life again he adds that when they feel their annual death approaching they put their possessions in a certain place and their neighbors the ruthenians and corlanders take these away leaving equivalent goods in their place when they come to life again they take Their goods if they seem to be just but if they do not appear just they demand their own back and therefore much strife and warfare are said to arise between them

sigismund baron herberstein it is true relates the same story in his rerun mosquitarum commentary but he makes it quite clear that he regards it as a mere fable chapter 19 that caco demons exercise their magic Powers of their own will argument on this subject taster do on job xl argue strongly as follows it must not be maintained one that men can constrain or confine a demon to any particular place except by divine power that is by exorcisms and adorations but witches do not claim to subject a demon to themselves except by the power of their

spells and signs or by deeds very foreign to the Christian religion therefore it is impossible for the lesser power which is man's to subject to itself the greater which is the demons since there is no power on earth which can be compared with the power of demons therefore there can be no natural or ritual means by which a man can compel the demons to appear or to answer him or to do anything except as i have said by means of the exorcisms of the church for then it may be said that they are Poor under

compulsion either to depart from the bodies of those whom they possess or to refrain from injuring them and this was instituted by god to be performed by the church and the power of god is in such exorcisms but god is not present in the operation of witches by which they claim to master demons for such a contrary to the honor of god the demons themselves play false and Pretend that they are compelled for in this lies their chief power of persuasion but demons cannot really be mastered by men through witchcraft or if they could they

would not themselves teach men the way to master them for the demons would be in a sorry case indeed if they could be mastered by men so they pretend that they are subject when they are not that they may deceive men they pretend to be caught that they May catch you to be bound that they may bind you that they are subject to your commands that they may make you subject to them that they are imprisoned that they may imprison you forever they pretend that they are in bondage to your art or image or charm

that they may bring you to hell bound by the chords of your sins therefore in short they pretend that they are under compulsion when they are really serving of their own will and Voluntarily until such time as seems good to them examples giovanni francesco pico de la miranda the younger in his dupree notion says that two magicians met in the hall of the queen of england to give an entertainment having mutually agreed to obey each other implicitly the first ordered the second to look out of the window and when he had done so stag's horns

grew from his head and he Was for a long time exposed to the ridicule and jokes of all so since he had been powerless under this outrage and wished to avenge himself with a worse one he drew a human figure with charcoal on the wall and ordered the first sorcerer to stand under that figure and walk through the wall the first magician saw instant death in this and was afraid and began to beg to be excused but when the other reminded Him of their agreement he was compelled to obey and he was seen to walk

through the wall but he was never found afterwards for the demon with his higher power had killed him and hidden his body in some deserted place or cave i will give another example taken from a certain german juriscansel dot fa conjurer a man of high estate for the public amusement and at the request of his fellow guests cut off the head of His host servant but when he wanted to restore his head to him he found that there was another sorcerer who was preventing this he asked the man not to do so but when after

many warnings he still persisted the first conjurer caused a lily to grow upon the table and no sooner had he cut off its head and leaves than that second sorcerer who had been thwarting him fell headless from the table and the conqueror replaced the head upon The servant with no difficulty having done this he immediately fled from the house and city lest he should be taken by the magistrate for murder this pretended cutting off the head and its restoration as well as the production and cutting off of the lily must all be ascribed to magical

illusion there was a contest between the demons of the two sorcerers and the weaker of them was strong enough to hinder the success of the glamour but was compelled By the stronger though not unwillingly as i think to agree to his client's death which was a matter of fact and no illusion johannesbrovsky bishop of olmeats in his historia rerun behemikaram 23 tells the following [Music] wenslaus the emperor and king of the bohemians formed an alliance with prince john of bavaria by marrying his daughter sophia And since the prince knew that his son-in-law took a delight

in ludicrous shows and magical illusions he took a wagon full of buffoons and conjurers to prague they're the most skillful of the conjurers was giving an exhibition of his power to deceive the eyes when there came amongst the spectator zeto the magician of wenslaus with his mouth stretched open to the ears he came nearer and ate up that bavarian Conjurer with all his apparatus except his shoes which he spat out because they were muddy he then retired to rid his belly of its unwanted burden and voided it into a tub full of water and thus

he restored the dripping conjurer to be laughed at on all sides by the spectators after this his companions also stopped their tricks now that eating of the kunjura was mere illusion but the wretched man was really Snatched up and thrown into the tub of water by a demon and was not voided through the other's bowels o lord's magnus 3 20 writes that a certain magician named i gilbert was quarreling with his master catilla as to which of them was superior in their art the master then i wrote him a little stick carved with gothic or

ruthenian characters which he seized and at once became stiff and was carried bound to an island in the lake called weta in the Country of the astrographs and they're imprisoned in an underground cavern you