-mat- brandy * Hexen * Malleus Malificarum * Part III * Last change: 17. Dezember 1995
THE MALLEUS MALIFICARUM
of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger
Part III
- (page 197)..by inspecting the astrolabe, he might find out some
hidden thing. And this, they say, is pure divination or sortilege.
...or they meet together to practise heretical sortes, or make
predictions by means of blood...
- (page 212) ... he shall first cause his house to be searched
unexpectedly, and all chests to be opened and all boxes in the
corners, and all implements of witchcraft which are found to be taken
away.
- (page 213) ... Again, let her be asked why she persists in a state
of adultery or concubinage; for although this is beside the point,
yet such questions engender more suspicion than would be the case
with a chaste and honest woman who stood accused.
- (page 214) ... It is therefore concluded that it is most just if the
Judge proceeds in that manner with his questions and the depositions
of witnesses, since, as has been said, he can in a case concerning
the Faith conduct matters quite plainly and in a short and summary
manner; and it is meet that he should consign the accused to prison
for a time, or for several years, in the case perhaps, being
depressed after a year of the squalor of prison, she may confess her
crimes.
- (page 225) ... the Judge shall use his own persuasions and those of
other honest men zealous for the faith to induce her to confess the
truth voluntarily; and if she will not, let him order the officers to
bind her with cords, and apply her to some engine of torture; and
then let them obey at once but not joyfully, rather appearing to be
disturbed by their duty.
- (page 226) ... And while this is being done, let the Notary write
all down, how she is tortured and what questions are asked and how
she answers.
- (page 228) ... And if it can be conveniently done, the witch should
be led backward into the presence of the Judge and his assessors.
The third precaution to be observed in this tenth action is that the
hair should be shaved from every part of her body. The reason for
this is the same as that for stripping her of her clothes, which we
have already mentioned, for in order to preserve their power of
silence they are in the habit of hiding some superstitious object in
their clothes or in their hair, or even in the most secret parts of
their bodies which must not be named.
- (page 229) ... But what is to be said of a case that happened in the
Diocese of Ratisbon? Certain heretics were convicted by their own
confession not only as impenitent but as open advocates of that
perfidy; and when they are condemend to death it happened that they
remained unharmed in the fire. At length their sentence was altered
to death by drowning, but this was no more effective.
- (page 230) ... But in other countries the Inquisitors order the
witch to be shaved all over her body. And the Inquisitor Como has
informed us that last year, that is, in 1485, he ordered forty-one
witches to be burned, after they had been shaved all over. And this
was in the district and county of Burbia, commonly called Wormserbad,
in the territory of the Archduke of Austria, towards Milan.
- (page 231) ... And while she is raised from the ground, if she is
being tortured in this way, let the Judge read or cause to be read to
her the depositions of the witnesses with their names, saying: "See!
You are convicted by the witnesses." Also, if the witnesses are
willing to confront her face to face, the Judge shall ask her if she
will confess if the witnesses are brought before her. And if she
consents, let the witnesses be brought in and stand before her, so
that she may be constrained or shamed into confessing some of her
crimes.
- (page 234) ...for we learn from naturalists that if the hands be
anointed with the juice of a certain herb they are protected from
burning.
- (page 235) ...When she was being tortured and questioned, wishing to
escape from their hands, she appealed to the trial by red-hot iron;
and the Count, being young and inexperienced, allowed it. And she
then carried the red-hot iron not only for the stipulated three
paces, but for six, and offered to carry it even farther. Then,
although they ought to have taken this as a manifest proof that she
was a witch (since none of the Saints dared to tempt the help of God
in this manner), she was released from her chains and lives to the
present time, not without grave scandal to the Faith in those parts.
- (page 236) ... First, when the prisoner is a pregnant woman; and
then the sentence shall be delayed until she had given birth.
- (page 268-9) ... Secondly, they sometimes undertake to cure the
injury or spell of one person, but will have nothing to do with that
of another. For in the Diocese of Spires there is a witch in a
certain place called Zunhofen who, although she seems to heal many
persons, confesses that she can in no way heal certain others.
Fourthly, they sometimes themselves observe, or cause to be observed,
certain superstitious ceremonies. For instance, they fix some such
time as before sunrise for people to visit them; or say that they
cannot heal injuries which were caused beyond the limits of the
estate on which they live; or that they can only heal two or three
persons in a year.
A copy of
joan@ucmb.uln.ac.be, with some enhancements from
-mat- brandy.
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