520 WITCHCRAFT. beautiful ballads in honor of the Virgin, and who was a general favorite, though, as he was popularly known as the Abbe-de-peu- de-sens, he was probably not a very sedate character.* Pierre le Brousart, the Inquisitor of Arras, was present at the chapter, and on his return he lost no time in looking after the accused. Deniselle was soon arrested and thrown into the episcopal prison ; Jean, Bishop of Arras, whom we have seen promoted to the cardi- nalate for his services in procuring the repeal of the Pragmatic Sanction, was then in Pome ; his suffragan was a Dominican, Jean, titular Bishop of Beirut, formerly a papal penitentiary, and his vicars were Pierre du Hamel, Jean Thibault, Jean Pochon, and Mathieu du Hamel. These took up the matter warmly and were earnestly supported by Jacques du Boys, a doctor of laws and dean of the chapter, who thrust himself into the affair and pushed it with relentless vigor. After repeated torture, Deniselle con- fessed to have attended the Sabbat and named various persons seen there, among them Jean la Yitte. He had already been com- promised by Pobinet, and had gone into hiding, but the inquisitor hunted him up at Abbeville, arrested him, and brought him to Arras, when he was no sooner in prison than in despair he tried to cut out his tongue with a pocket-knife, so as to prevent himself from confessing. He did not succeed, but though he was long unable to speak, this did not save him from torture, for he could use the pen and was obliged to write out his confession. Forced to name all whom he had seen in the Sabbat, he implicated a large number, including nobles, ecclesiastics, and common folk. Six more arrests were made among the latter, including several women of the town ; the affair threatened to spread farther than had at first been expected ; the vicars grew timid and concluded to dis-
- There was some debate whether the evidence of a witch as to those whom
she had seen in the Sabbat was to be received, but it was settled in favor of the faith by the unanswerable argument that otherwise the principal means of de- tecting witches would be lost. If the accused alleged that the devil had caused an apparition resembling him to be present, he was to be required to prove the fact, which was not easy (Jaquerii Flagell. Haeret. Fascinar. c. 26). — Bernardo di Como (de Strigiis, c. 13, 14) says that the mere accusation of being seen in the Sabbat is not sufficient to justify arrest, as the individual may be personated by a demon, but it has to be reinforced by " conjectures and presumptions, which, of course, were never lacking.
