in detail and at some length in order to show how constantly and continually in various countries and at various times witchcraft and magical practices were mixed up with political plots and anarchical agitation. There can be no doubt—and this is a fact which is so often not recognized (or it may be forgotten) that one cannot emphasize it too frequently—that witchcraft in its myriad aspects and myriad ramifications is a huge conspiracy against civilization. It was as such that the Inquisitors knew it, and it was this which gave rise to the extensive literature on the subject, those treatises of which the Malleus Maleficarum is perhaps the best known among the other writers. As early as 600 S. Gregory I[1] had spoken in severest terms, enjoining the punishment of sorcerers and those who trafficked in black magic. It will be noted that he speaks of them as more often belonging to that class termed serui, that is to say, the very people from whom for the most part Nihilists and Bolsheviks have sprung in modern days. Writing to Januarius, Bishop of Cagliari, the Pope says: “Contra idolorum cultores, uel aruspices atque sortilegos, fraternitatem uestram uehementius pastorali hortamur inuigilare custodia … et si quidem serui sunt, uerberibus cruciatibusque, quibus ad emendationem peruenire ualeant, castigare, si uero sunt liberi, inclusione digna districtaque sunt in poenitentiam redigendi….” But the first Papal ordinance directly dealing with witchcraft may not unfairly be said to be the Bull addressed in 1233 by Pope Gregory IX (Ugolino, Count of Segni)[2] to the famous Conrad of Marburg, bidding him proceed against the Luciferians, who were overtly given over to Satanism. If this ardent Dominican must not strictly be considered as having introduced the Inquisition into Germany, he at any rate employed Inquisitorial methods. Generally, perhaps, he is best known as the stern and unbending spiritual director of that gentle soul S. Elizabeth of Hungary. Conrad of Marburg is certainly a type of the strictest and most austere judge, but it should be remembered that he spared himself no more than he spared others, that he was swayed by no fear of persons or danger of death, that even if he were inflexible and perhaps fanatical, the terrible situation with which he had to deal demanded such a man, and he was throughout supported by the supreme authority of Gregory IX. That he was harsh and unlovable is, perhaps, true enough, but it is more than doubtful whether a man of gentler disposition could have faced the difficulties that presented themselves on every side. Even his most prejudiced critics have never denied the singleness of his convictions and his courage. He was murdered on the highway, 30 July, 1233, in the pursuit of his duties, but it has been well said that “it is, perhaps, significant that the Church has never set the seal of canonization upon his martyrdom.”[3]
On 13 December, 1258, Pope Alexander IV (Rinaldo Conti)[4] issued a Bull to the Franciscan Inquisitors bidding them refrain from judging any cases of witchcraft unless there was some very strong reason to suppose that heretical practice could also be amply proved. On 10 January, 1260, the same Pontiff addressed a similar Bull to the Dominicans. But it is clear that by now the two things could not be disentangled.
The Bull Dudum ad audientiam nostram peruenit of Boniface VIII (Benedetto Gaetani)[5] deals with the charges against Walter Langton, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield,[6] but it may be classed as individual rather than general.
Several Bulls were published by John XXII (Jacques d’Euse)[7] and by Benedict XII (Jacques Fournier, O. Cist),[8] both Avignon Popes, and these weighty documents deal with witchcraft in the fullest detail, anathematizing all such abominations. Gregory XI (Pierre Roger de Beaufort);[9] Alexander V (Petros Filartis, a Cretan), who ruled but eleven months, from June 1409 to May 1410; and Martin V
- ↑ Reigned 590–604.
- ↑ Reigned 1227–41. He was almost one hundred years old at the time of his death.
- ↑ A. L. Maycock, “The Inquisition,” 1926, p. 235.
- ↑ Reigned 1254–61.
- ↑ 24 December, 1294–11 October, 1303.
- ↑ A close investigation was made, but the Bishop completely cleared himself of the charges.
- ↑ 7 August, 1316–4 December, 1334.
- ↑ 20 December, 1334–25 April, 1342.
- ↑ 30 December, 1370–27 March, 1378.
