522 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
maleficarum, — already referred to, is the most important and nefarious legacy the world has received on witchcraft. Dr. Lea pronounces it "the most portentous monument of superstition the world has produced." ^ These two documents were the official literature which determined the progress and methods of the new crusade.
The Witches ITatnmer, published in 1486, proceeded from the hands of^the DomimcairTiiquisitors, Heinrich Ins^itoris, whose German name was Kramer, and Jacob Sprenger. The plea cannot be made that they were uneducated men. They occupied high positions in their order and at the University of Cologne. Their book is divided into three parts : the first proves the existence of witchcraft ; the second sets forth the forms in which it manifested itself; the third describes the rules for its detection and prosecution. In the last quarter of the 15th century the world, so it states, was more given over to the devil than in any preceding age. It was flooded with all kinds of wickedness. In affirming the antics of witches and other malefics, appeal is made to the Scriptures and to the teachings of the Church and especially to Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. Witches and sorcerers, whose father is the devil, are at last bound together in an organized body or sect. They meet at the weekly sabbats and do the devil homage by kissing his posterior parts. He appears among them as a tom-cat, goat, dog, bull or black man, as whim and convenience suggest. Demons of both sexes swarm at the meetings. Baptism and the eucharist are subjected to ridicule, the cross trampled upon. After an abundant repast the lights are extinguished and, at the devil's command " Mix, mix," there follow scenes of unutterable lewdness. The devil, however, is a strict disciplinarian and applies the whip to refractory members.
The human members of the fraternity are instructed in all sorts of fell arts. They are transported through the air. They kill unbaptized children, keeping them in this way out of lieaven. At the sabbats such children are eaten. Of the carnal intercourse, implied in the words succubus and incubus, ^ Inq\usition, III. 543.
§ 59. WITCHCRAFT AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 523
the authors say, there can be no doubt. To quote them, " it is common to all sorcerers and witches to practise carnal lust with demons." 1 To this particular subject are devoted two full chapters, and it is taken up again and again.
In evidence of the reality of their charges, the authors draw upon their own extensive experience and declare that, in 48 cases of witches brought before them and burnt, all the victims confessed to having practised such abominable whoredoms for from 10 to 30 years.
Among the precautions which the book prescribed against being bewitched, are the Lord's Prayer, the cross, holy water and salt and the Church formulas of exorcism. It also adds that inner grace is a preservative. ^
The directions for the prosecution of witches, given in the third part of the treatise, are set forth with great explicitness. Public rumor was a sufficient cause for an indictment. The accused were to be subjected to the indignity of having the hair shaved off from their bodies, especially the more secret parts, lest perchance some imp or charm might be hidden there. Careful rules were given to the inquisitors for preserving themselves against being bewitched, and Institoris and Sprenger took occasion to congratulate themselves that, in their long experience, they had been able to avoid this calamity. In case the defender of a witch seemed to show an excess of zeal, this was to be treated as presumptive evidence that he was himself under the same influence. One of the
^ Hoc est commune omnium maleficarum spurcitias carnales cum dcemonibus exercere, 3Ialleus, II. 4. The author goes into all the details of the demon's procedure, the demon as he approaches men being known as the succubtis, and women as the incubus. Many of the details are too vile to repeat. Such passages of Scripture are quoted as Gen. vi. 2 and 1 Cor. xi. 10, which is made to teach that the woman wears a covering on her head to guard herself against the looks of lustful angels. The demons, in becoming succubi and incubi, are not actuated by carnal lust, so the author asserts, but by a desire to make their victims susceptible to all sorts of vices.
2 Many cases are given to show the eflScacy of these preservatives. For example, a man in Ravensburg, who was tempted by the devil in the shape of a woman, became much concerned, and at last, recalling what a priest had said in the pulpit, sprinkled himself with salt and at once escaped the devil's influence.